YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

O *~\ n.

o

•V

LIVES

OF

METHODIST SlSHOPS.

EDITED BY

THEODORE L. FLOOD, D.D.

AND

JOHN W. HAMILTON, D.D.

NEW YORK :
DEP H I Xj T_i I IE? S cfc HUNT.
CINCINNATI :
WALDEN & STOWE.
1882.

TO
OUR REVEREND FATHERS IN GOD,
AND
TO THEIR OBEDIENT SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN THE GOSPEL
throughout all _
OUR UNITED SOCIETIES,
is
(phis Volume Affectionately Inscribed
BY THE EDITORS.

PREFACE.

HISTORY is only a compilation of biographies, and the true study
of history is from the stand-point of the men who make it. But
because it is philosophical, it is none the less pleasurable thus to study
it. There is enough of romance in the personal struggles, ambitions
and successes, disappointments and defeats, of the historic men in
the world, to exhilarate the mind through a deal of otherwise dull and
distasteful details concerning simple events. And some such romance
must go into the account of ecclesiastical events, or Church history
will find few persons either pious enough or studious enough to read
it, much less to study it. The histories which are the most read are
the biographies which are the best written.
In these Life Sketches we have furnished the reader with a history
of Episcopal Methodism from the stand-point of the men who have
come down to us from the beginning of the Societies, and who,
because of their position and influence, have not only had much to do
with formulating the doctrines and polity of the Church, but were
themselves personally related to preachers and people throughout the
connection. Methodism is rich in the biographies of her people, and many
eminent and worthy ministers who were not bishops, as well as many
eminent and worthy laymen, have afforded their biographers an abun
dance of material for the best of life-stories. But no one of all the
bishops has made it impossible, by a stain of character, for his biog
raphy to be written and read as a creditable legacy to the Church.
Not even the Churches laying claim to an uninterrupted succession of
bishops by Divine appointment have been as fdrtunate in this regard.
Our chief pastors have brought no dishonor to our communion.
These pen portraits reveal a sagacity of mind, a depth of piety,
and a strength of character belonging to the men, worthy of the high

8 Preface.
calling to which they had been chosen. In no instance has the office
been one of ease or emolument. Not unf requently have the men, like
the first apostles, after much sacrifice and toil, suffered martyrdom.
We have chosen to write in full concerning only the deceased
bishops — the men whose work is ended — that no personal element
might enter into a judgment of their characters or ministry. But an
Appendix has been added in which is given a brief outline of the life
of each living bishop, to make the succession complete.
While an occasional biography of some one of the bishops has
appeared at intervals in the history of the Church, this volume will
present the only complete and connected account of all the men and
their work which has been published. In selecting the men to write
the sketches, we sought always to find persons who, by reason of their
relations to the deceased bishops, or some special study of their lives,
were best able to give full and impartial estimates of their characters
and work. We may speak freely, as our work has been chiefly that
of editors. The task of bringing together so many excellent things in
the unity of a book will be abundantly compensated by the pleasure
of possessing such an admirable collection of rare portraits by eminent
artists — a gallery in itself.
The preparation of such a volume has also given an opportunity
for collecting many important but hitherto unwritten facts and inci
dents from the older men among us, which ought to be preserved in
some permanent form before their generation shall have passed away.
The order of arrangement in the plan of the book has been to fol
low the different branches of the Church in the natural order of their
development. And no attempt has been made to show the organic
unity of Methodism, or to claim superior excellence in any particular
of doctrine or government for one branch of the Church over another.
We have simply given the story of how these men wrought their
work in the Church, finished their course in the world, and kept their
faith in the Son of God.
The plates used for the illustrations have been obtained with great
difficulty and at no little expense. In some instances we were almost
ready to abandon the search for pictures of the earlier bishops, when
from some neglected quarter we would receive through distant rela
tives an indistinct daguerreotype, or a much worn portrait on wood.

Preface. 9
These the artists have been able to use so satisfactorily as to obtain
plates for even better engravings than the most intimate friends and
relatives of the bishops could have anticipated.
It is with great pleasure we acknowledge our indebtedness to the
many contributors who have so readily and cheerfully acceded to our
requests, in devoting their time and study to the preparation of the
sketches, which has necessarily called them aside from a great pressure
of duties in other and not infrequently official directions. For valu
able assistance and advice we recognize special acknowledgment due to
the Rev. Bishop Matthew Simpson, D.D., LL.D. ; and to the memories
of the late Rev. Bishops E. S. Janes, D.D., LL.D., Edward Raymond
Ames, D.D., LL.D., and Gilbert Haven, D.D., LL.D. We also return
thanks to many of our brethren in the ministry, and to the relatives
of many of the deceased bishops, for the interesting and important
material they have furnished for preparing the sketches, and the great
assistance they have rendered in procuring the pictures and portraits.
The enterprising Agents of the Methodist Book Concern, Messrs.
Phillips & Hunt, are justly entitled to the great credit they have
secured to themselves by the character of the engravings with which
the book is illustrated, and the style in which it is prepared.
While, as Editors, we have only produced the first volume of a
series which must remain incomplete as long as bishops continue in
the Church, we have hoped that it might, at least in the estimate of
Episcopal Methodists, retain its place as Volume First in the Lives of
the Methodist Bishops.
John W. Hamilton,
Theodore L. Flood.

INTRODUCTION".

THE office of a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church was provi
dentially conferred upon, and assumed by, the father and founder
of the Wesleyan Societies in England and America. But it was never
wholly conferred upon him in an ecclesiastical way, nor arbitrarily as
sumed in an tmecclesiastical way. The first preacher who exercised the
office of bishop among the Methodists was not elected to the episcopacy
by any body of Christian believers, and was not, so far as we know,
ordained to that office in accordance with the usage of any branch of
the Christian Church. The second preacher who exercised the episco
pal functions, but who has usually been called the first bishop, was ap
pointed to the office without an election, and ordained by the imposition
of the hands of the first. But the Methodist Church has never offered
an apology for the existence of her Episcopacy, and will allow no one
to question the right of a single one of her bishops to exercise the
duties. of his office.
The Greek word episcopos, Latin episcopus, and English bishop, have
occasioned frequent controversies in the Church, and often separated
the disputants into widely differing denominations. But these very
differences have proved the safeguards of the spirit-life in the Church.
To believe one definition of episcopos right, is not to argue another
wrong. Episcopalians may and do differ among themselves as widely
as they may differ from Presbyterians. " It ought to be understood,"
says Dr. Samuel Miller, "that among those who espouse the episcopal
side, there are three classes.
"The first consists of those who believe that neither Christ nor his
apostles laid down any particular form of ecclesiastical government to
which the Church is bound to adhere in all ages. That every Church
is free, consistently with' the divine will, to frame her own constitution
agreeably to her own views, to the state of society, and the exigen
cies of particular times. These prefer the episcopal government, and
some of them believe it was the primitive form ; but they consider it

12 Introduction;
resting on the ground of human expediency alone, and not of divine
appointment. This is well known to have been the opinion of Archbishops Cran-
mer, Grindal, Whitgift, Leighton, and Tillotson ; of Bishops Jewel,
Reynolds, Burnet, and Croft ; of Drs. Whitaker, Stillingfleet, and of a
long list of the most learned and pious divines of the Church of En
gland, from the Reformation down to the present day.
"Another class of Episcopalians go further. They suppose that the
government of the Church by bishops, as a superior order to presbyters,
was sanctioned by apostolic example, and that it is the duty of all the
Churches to imitate this example. But while they consider episcopacy
as necessary to the perfection of the Church, they grant that it is by
no means necessary to her existence ; and accordingly, without hesita
tion, acknowledge as true Churches of Christ many in which the episco
pal doctrine is rejected and presbyterian principles made the basis of
ecclesiastical government. The advocates of this opinion, also, have
been numerous and respectable, both among the clerical and lay mem
bers of the Episcopal Churches in England and the United States. In
this list appear the venerable names of Bishop Hall, Bishop Downham,
Bishop Bancroft, Bishop Andrews, Archbishop Usher, Bishop Forbes,
the learned Chillingworth, Archbishop Wake, Bishop Hoadley, and
many more.
"A third class go much beyond either of the former. While they
grant that God has left men at liberty to modify every other kind of
government according to circumstances, they contend that one form of
government for the Church is unalterably fixed by divine appointment ;
that this form is episcopal ; that it is absolutely essential to the existence
of the Church ; that, of course, wherever it is wanting there is no Church,
no regular ministry, no valid ordinances ; and that all who are united
with religious societies not conforming to this order are ' aliens from
Christ,' ' out of the appointed way to heaven,' and have no hope but in
the uncovenanted mercies of God."
"It is confidently believed," continues Dr. Miller, "that the two
former classes, taken together, embrace at least nineteen parts out of
twenty of all the Episcopalians in Great Britain and the United States ;
while, so far as can be learned from the most respectable writings, and
other authentic sources of information, it is only the small remaining
proportion who hold the extravagant opinions assigned to the third and
last of these classes."

Introduction. 1 3
Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury, in their Notes to the Discipline, published
at the request of the General Conference shortly after they were made
bishops, declared that " the most bigoted devotees to religious estab
lishments (the clergy of the Church of Rome excepted) are now
ashamed to support the doctrine of the apostolic, uninterrupted succes
sion of bishops ; and yet nothing but an apostolic, uninterrupted succes
sion, can possibly confine the right of episcopacy to any particular Church.
The idea of an apostolic succession being exploded, it follows that the
Methodist Church has every thing which is scriptural and essential to
justify its episcopacy."
We have said that the office of bishop in the Methodist Episcopal
Church was providentially conferred, and this we have said believing
"plain John Wesley the fountain. of our episcopal authority.'' Called
of God to his place in the history of the Christian Church as certainly
as Paul was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles, he was providentially
appointed and spiritually ordained a bishop from his very relation to
his followers, who in England were discarded by the Establishment,
and in America were shepherdless wanderers. This is the divine
element in our Wesleyan episcopacy. Mr. Etheridge, Doctor in Phi
losophy in the University of Heidelberg, says in his life of Rev. Thomas
Coke, " Both Mr. Wesley and Dr. Coke recognized an apostolical succes
sion, viewed as implying a due transmission of the Christian ministry.
How could they do' otherwise, believing as they did the promise of
Christ : ' Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world ? ' —
words which indicate the certainty of a perpetual succession, with the
persons composing which Jesus declares he would be always. The
Methodists, who retain the sentiments of their founder, believe in the
perpetuation of the Christian ministry in its pure teachings, its holy
zeal, its earnest labors, and its saving effects, by the agency of men
spiritually qualified for it, and openly recognized and appointed as the
servants and ministers of Christ, and under him the pastors and shepherds
of his Church. This succession is an historical and visible fact. This it
was which led Mr. Wesley to the headship in the college of Methodist
bishops. He had a clear discernment of the providential leadings in the
matter. ' You,' said he to Mr. Asbury, ' are the elder brother of the
American Methodists ; I am, under God, the father of the whole family.
Therefore I naturally care for you all in a manner no other person can.
Therefore I, in a measure, provide for you all.' "
And Mr. Moore, in his " Life of Wesley," tells us that Mr. Wesley did

14 Introduction.
himself assert that he believed himself to be a scriptural emaKotrog, epis
copos, as much as any man in England or Europe. Mr. Coke, in giving
his consent to receive the Wesleyan ordination prior to sailing for
America, wrote to Mr. Wesley as follows : —
"The more maturely I consider the subject the more expedient it
seems to me that the power of ordaining others should be received by
me from you by the imposition of your hands. . . . An authority formally
received from you will (I am conscious of it) be fully admitted by the
people, and my exercising the office of ordination without that formal
authority may be disputed, if there be any opposition on any other ac
count. I could, therefore, earnestly wish you would exercise that power
iii this instance, which J have not the shadow of a doubt but God hath
invested you with, for the good of the Connection."
But the episcopacy had a legitimate human appointment. Mr. Wes
ley had been ordained both a deacon and a presbyter in the Church of
England. Dr. Emory, in "A Defense of our Fathers," says : " Lord
King maintains that bishops and presbyters in the Primitive Church
were the same order. Yet he expressly says that the bishops, when
chosen such from among the presbyters, were ordained as bishops by im
position of hands." " The extension of the jurisdiction of the bishop,"
he continues, "in consequence of the extension of the Church, is not
the creating any new office, and certainly cannot make it less proper
that he should be solemnly ordained by imposition of hands, and fur
nished with suitable credentials. The revival of such an itinerant ex
tensive, personal oversight and inspection, is the revival of the apostolic
practice, and, as Mr. Wesley says, well agrees both with their practice
and with their writings." And " the idea that equals," he forcibly re
marks, '" cannot, from among themselves, constitute an officer who as an
officer, shall be superior to any of those by whom he was constituted is
contradicted by all experience and history, both civil and ecclesiastical
and equally by common sense. The contrary is too plain to require
illustration." The third ordination in the Christian ministry is therefore to a juris
dictional office whose functions are peculiar to itself, and do not belong
in the privileges and duties of a presbyter. They are not wholly govern
mental, as the Church, which is " the true original subject of all power "
has committed to this office, wherever it exists, the right to ordain. Cer
tainly no greater necessity could have existed for the assumption of such
jurisdictional office than that found in the neglect of the Wesleyan

Introduction. 15
Societies by the English Church. And, as Dr. Bangs declared, "Mr.
Wesley possessed a right over the Methodists which no man else did or
could possess, because they were his spiritual children, raised up under
his preaching and superintendence, and hence they justly looked to him
for a supply of the ordinances of Jesus Christ." It was incumbent upon
him as founder of his Societies, and not simply because of any right in
herent in him as a presbyter, to institute a jurisdictional episcopacy, and
ordain men to the office to assist him in the government of his people,
and perpetuate their organization after his death.
If he had not provided for his own, and especially for those of his
own house, he would have denied the faith, and been worse than an infi
del. And the choice that he made in selecting an episcopal form of
government comported well with his own training, as well as with what
he deemed to be the need of the people whom he served, for his wish to
the last was, that they would conform themselves to " the discipline of the
Church of England."
Taken Mr. Wesley's right of relation to his followers as father and
founder, and the right of the presbytery to originate an episcopate, what
ordination ever was or could have been accomplished more " decently and
in order," than the appointment and consecration of the Rev. Dr. Coke to
the office of bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church ? Four presby
ters of the Established Church were present to assist in the ceremonies.
" Looked at from the canonical side," says Mr. Etheridge, " we admit it
was an irregularity, and one which, to his own feelings as a churchman,
was warranted only by necessity. But considered from a scriptural
point of view it was no irregularity at all, but a transaction in thorough
harmony with apostolic principle and practice. And indeed," he adds,
" there were once bishops of this presbyterian type in the British Church.
Beda, mentioning Cedda, one of the most active missionaries among the
Saxons, writes that he 'had received episcopal consecration from a bishop
who had himself been ordained by the presbyters of Iona." But when
Dr. Coke was ordained a bishop the Methodist episcopate was not yet
perfected. So far it was only a Wesleyan and English appointment and
ordination. When the Christmas Conference which convened in Baltimore,
A.D. 1784, for the reception of Dr. Coke and the organization of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, at the suggestion of Mr. Asbury had voted
unanimously to receive the bishop who had been appointed and or
dained for them, and had also elected and witnessed the ordination of

1 6 Introduction.
Mr. Asbury as joint bishop, the work was ended, and the episcopal order
established. Had the American Societies remained a part of the En
glish work, both the appointments and ordinations of Mr. Wesley would
have remained a valid and sufficient episcopacy. But once separated from
Mr. Wesley, the right to appoint and ordain bishops reverted to the
presbyters, the only remaining representatives of the Church in such
matters — just where the right would rest to-day were all the bishops
to die. It is true the bishops were called superintendents, but Mr. Wesley
considered the term " superintendent " as synonymous with " bishop."
The Rev. Wm. Watters, who was present at the organization of the
Church, also declares, "from first to last the business of general assist
ant, superintendent, or bishop, has been the same ; only since we have
become a distinct Church he has, with the assistance of two or three
elders, ordained our ministers." Mr. Wesley objected to the name
" bishop " because of the English association, but never to the functions
and duties of the office. The name of " bishop " was substituted for
" superintendent " in the " Discipline " printed by Dr. Coke and Mr.
Asbury two or three years after they came into the office, and at the
next Conference the change was approved by the preachers. The super
intendents came to be styled, as they now remain, bishops in the Metiiodist
Episcopal Church, having the executive authority and office in the
Church. Hence, by an original providential selection and a script-
urally authoritative ordination, and an unmistakably Wesleyan succes
sion, we have a genuinely apostolic bishopric among the Methodists.
And, as Dr. Stevens has said, "The Methodist bishops were the first
Protestant bishops, and Methodism was the first Protestant Episcopal
Church of the New World ; and as Wesley had given it the Anglican
Articles of Religion and the Liturgy, wisely abridged, it became, both
by its precedent organization and its subsequent .numerical importance,
the real successor to the Anglican Church in America."
John W. Hamilton,
Theodore L. Flood.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Introduction  11
Sketch of Methodist Episcopal
Church  21
John "Wesley  23
Thomas Coke  41
Francis Asbury  75
Richard "Whatooat.  101
William M'Kendree. .'  129
Enoch George  149
Robert Richford Roberts  167
Elijah Hedding  189
John Emory  203
Beverly Waugh  225
Thomas Asbury Morris  265
Leonidas Lent Hamline  ; . . . . 289
Edmund Storer Janes  309
Osmon Oleander Baker  327
Edward Raymond Ames  353
Francis Burns  373
Davis Wasgatt Clark  393
Edward Thomson  425
Calvin Kingsley  451
John Wright Roberts  475
Gilbert Haven  483
Erastus Otis Haven  501
Orioin of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South  509
Joshua Soule  515
James Osgood Andrew  533
John Early  545
William Capers  557
Henry Bidleman Bascom  575

PAGE
Enoch Mather Marvin  595
David Seth Doggett  611
Sketch op Evangelical Association. 626
Jacob Albright  629
John Seybert  639
Joseph Long  643
African Methodist Episcopal Church 645
Richard Allen  649
William Paul Quinn  659
Morris Brown  669
Edward Waters  677
African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church  679
Solomon T. Scott  681
James Varic  685
Christopher Rush  687
William Miller   691
George Galbreath  693
Methodist Episcopal Church of Can
ada  699
John Reynolds  700
John Alley  715
Philander Smith  725
James Richardson  745
British Methodist Episcopal Church. 755
Willis Nazrey  756
The British Methodist Episcopal
Church of North America  761
Augustus R. Green  762

18

Contents.

APPENDIX
Sketches of Living Bishops.

Methodist Episcopal Church :
Levi Scott  768
Matthew Simpson  768
Thomas Bowman  769
William L. Harris  769
Randolph S. Foster  770
I. W. Wiley  771
Stephen M. Merrill  771
E. G. Andrews  772
Jesse T. Peck  772.
Henry W. Warren  773
Cyrus D. Foss  774
John F. Hurst  774
Methodist Episcopal Church, South .-
Robert Paine  775
George F. Pierce  775
H. H. Kavanaugh  776
William M. Wightman  776
Holland N. M'Tyeire  777
John Christian Keener  778
Alpheus Waters Wilson  778
Linus Parker  779
John Cooper Granberry  780
Robert Kennon Hargrove  781

Evangelical Association:
J. J. Esher  782
Rudolph Dubbs  782
Reuben Teakel  783
Thomas Bowman  783
African Methodist Episcopal Church:
Daniel Payne  784
A. W. Weyman  784
Jabez Pitt Campbell  784
James A. Shorter.  785
John M. Brown  786
African M. E. Zion Church:
Joseph J. Clinton  787
John J. Moore  787
Singleton T. Jones  787
James W. Hood  788
Sampson D. Talbot  788
Canadian M. E. Church:
Albert Carman  790
Colored Methodist Episcopal Church
of America:
W. H. Miles  791
L. H. Holsey  791
Isaac Lane  791

PORTRAITS.

PAGE
John. Wesley  Front.
Thomas Coke  40
Francis Asbury  74
Richard Whatcoat  106
William M'Kendree  128
Euoch George  149
Robert Richford Roberts  166
Elijah Heddiug  188
John Emory  202
Beverly Waugh  224
Thomas Asbury Morris  264
Leonidas Lent Hamline  288
Edmund Storer Janes  308
Osmon Oleander Baker  326
Edward Raymond Ames  352
Francis Burns  372
Davis Wasgatt Clark  392
Edward Thomson  424
Calvin Kingsley  450
2

PAGE
John Wright Roberts  474
Gilbert Haven  482
Erastus Otis Haven  500
Joshua Soule  514
James Osgood Andrew  532
John Early  544
William Capers  556
Henry Bidleman Bascom  574
Enoch Mather Marvin  594
David Seth Doggett  610
Jacob Albright  628
John Seybert  639
Joseph Long  642
Richard Allen  648
William Paul Quinn  658
Morris Brown  668
Edward Waters  676
Philander Smith  724
Willis Nazrey  754

THE BISHOPS

OF THB

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

A BRIEF HISTORICAL STATEMENT.
THIS Church is a legitimate child of British Methodism. The
gospel seed which the Rev. John Wesley sowed among the de
scendants of the exiled Teutonic population in Ireland was transplanted
by them to the soil of the New World. The first centenary of Amer
ican Methodism was celebrated in the year 1866. The date was thus
chosen because just a hundred years previously two Wesleyan local
preachers, Philip Embury and Eobert Strawbridge, began to preach in
this country, the first in the city of New York, and the latter in Mary
land. A few months later Thomas Webb, a British officer and Meth
odist local preacher, stationed at Albany, also preached in ]STew York.
Prolific was the seed they sowed. In 1773 the first Annual Conference
was held in Philadelphia, with ten preachers representing 1,160 mem
bers. The first General Conference convened in Baltimore, on
Christmas-day, 1784. There and then was organized the " Methodist
Episcopal Church in the United States of America." At the same
time was formally adopted a system of government, with Articles of
Religion, Liturgy, Discipline, etc.
This was the first Episcopal organization on the Western Hemi
sphere. The history from that time to the present it is the plan of this
work to present in the lives of the men whom this organization has
called to its episcopal office. These will tell of struggles and triumphs,

22 Bishops of the M. E. Church.
of dark hours of fear and bright days of victory, of wondrous pros
perity, of far-reaching branches touching every State and Territory,
and of yet further growth to lands beyond the seas, and of the divine
blessing there.
To-day the Church embraces one hundred and one Annual Con
ferences and fifteen Missions. Twenty General Conference periodi
cals, and forty-three others, are published within the Church. Its edu
cational work is being, performed by eight theological schools, thirty-
eight colleges and universities, fourteen female colleges, and sixty-one
Conference seminaries. In the United States there are 12,323 itinerant
ministers, 12,323 local preachers, 'and 1,717,567 lay members. Whole
number of missionaries and teachers in foreign lands and to the In
dians and foreign population in the United States and Territories,
4,077 ; members in foreign and home mission Churches, 63,081. Con
tributions for the support of missions for the year 1881 : by the
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, $85,090 13 ; Parent Society,
$521,793 70. For the year 1880 there are reported 21,093 Sunday-
schools, 222,374 officers and teachers, and 1,602,334 scholars.
But these figures afford only a partial representation of the great
work this one branch of the Church has accomplished during her his
tory of less than one hundred years. • She must certainly claim an in
terest in all other branches of Episcopal Methodism, and these alone
would add to her numbers, until the itinerant ministry aggregate
33,484, the local ministry 33,017, and the lay members 3,633,048.
She is also the parent Church of the Episcopal Methodists in Canada
as well as of many non-Episcopal Methodists both in the United States
and Canada, making a grand total of 132,360 itinerant and local
preachers, 4,917,183 members, besides a vast number of stated hearers.
Figures alone, however, will trace only a very limited account of
the workings of a denomination whose spirit and life have been abroad
in all the Churches, until her doctrines and experience have become
the common heritage of almost all evangelical believers, and her polity
has influenced, more or less, the methods of every other branch of the
Christian Church.

John Wesley.

BY REV. J. W. HAMILTON.

JOHN" WESLEY, by right and with authority, was the first bishop
of the United Societies in England and the Church in America
called Methodist. His name does not stand in the list of bishops, as
commonly printed ; but that he so considered himself, and was so
recognized by the Churches and people during his ministry, and is
so designated in the official Minutes and general literature of the
Church, it will be the purpose of this sketch to show. His biog
raphies and the lesser sketches of his life are so numerous that only
the phases of his character and work which have a bearing upon his
episcopal authority and relations will be here introduced.
The Wesleys were the children of the Church of England. The
father of John and Charles, in his adherence to both the doctrines and
polity of the Establishment, was among the highest of the High Church
party in Great Britain. And in his love for and adherence to the
English Church, John was " his father's child." He very early in life
became religiously inclined, and at the age of eight years was admitted
by his father to partake of the sacrament. As he grew older he be
came a favorite with Churchmen, and particularly was his fellowship at
Oxford marked by a most studious devotion to the Church. Dr. Rigg,
in the preface to his book on " The Relations of John Wesley and of
Wesleyan Methodism with the Church of England," says, " that so far
and so long as Wesley was a mere English Churchman, he was among
the most extreme of High Churchmen — was, in truth, an intolerant
and ritualizing High Churchman." To use his own words, in speaking
of himself, he " made antiquity a co-ordinate rule with Scripture."
And it may be added, that if a divergence from the dogmas and gov
ernment of the Church can be shown to exist in his later life, never
theless the influence of both upon his mind and heart will also be
clearly traceajble throughout the whole history of his relations with the
Methodism and Methodists of both worlds. So fully did he believe

24 Methodist Bishops.
in the truth of the main doctrines and perfection of the general gov
ernment of the Episcopal Church, that he sought only to make of the
Methodist Societies a body of Christian believers, faithful and consist
ent in their adherence to both, without adopting the errors of either.
In one of his latest letters a most pathetic appeal was addressed to one
of the English bishops, pleading with him not to drive the Societies
away from the Church by his persecution ; for, said he, " The Meth
odists in general, my lord, are members of the Church of England.
They hold all her doctrines, attend her service, and partake of her
sacraments." There can be no well-sustained denial of the fact that Mr. Wesley
intended his Societies to remain within the pale of the English
Church. And it can be shown, that when the Methodists were com
pelled to hold relations apart from the Church, he strictly adhered to
her forms and ceremonies in assuming the responsibilities and per
forming the ministrations which, on account of her worldliness, her
repudiation of his work, and the growth of the Methodist Societies,
were providentially imposed upon him. The necessities of his work
occasioned whatever change of views he held in relation to Church
government, whatever the evidences may have been which came irt to
cause it. The State clergy were not adapted to serve a converted
people, and hence his Societies were left without the sacraments. He
was himself compelled to authorize persons to preach who were
called of God from among his own followers, and to provide his peo
ple with an ordained ministry.
In tracing the change of views which he experienced, and in
giving some account of the ecclesiastical economy which he instituted,
it will be necessary first to follow his work among the Societies in
England, and next to discover his relations with the Societies and
Church in America.
John Wesley was, by his very nature, bold, aggressive, and self-
reliant. He never waited for a leader, for by inheritance he was
endowed with the rights and gifts of leadership himself. And so
great were his powers and tact in this direction that few of his fol
lowers ever questioned his authority in the matter. Born with an
ambition adequate to his gifts, his first opportunities gave him full
possession of his surroundings, and the first position among his

John Wesley. 25
associates. When he joined the little company of Methodists at
Oxford, they committed its management to him, and his father, in
writing of this matter shortly afterward, said : " I hear my son John
has the honor of being styled the ' father of the Holy Club ! ' If it be
so I am sure I must be the grandfather of it ; and I need not say that
I had rather any. of my sons should be so dignified and distinguished
than to have the title of ' His Holiness.' "
In every advance movement that Mr. Wesley made he was more
inclined to a study of his convictions and of events than to listen to
the advice of his more conservative or over-prudent friends. He was
ordained a deacon in the English Church, September 19th, 1725, by
Dr. Potter, at that time bishop of Oxford ; and March 17th, 1726,
he was elected fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford; and September
22d, 1728, he was ordained an elder by the same bishop who had
ordained him a deacon. When urged by his brother and father and
friends to take the charge of a parish priest, he declined, and in his
choice was sustained by the bishop, who indorsed the interpretation
he had given to his ordination vows, which he claimed permitted him
to preach without being confined to such a settlement. In this matter
he evinced an independence of thought and action characteristic of the
man throughout his whole life. He evidently was inclined to the
work of an evangelist thus early in his ministry.
When he came to Georgia a few years later he fell among the
Moravians, and his ecclesiasticism began to give way to even a greater
extent. " The character of his mind," says Mr. Watson, " was emi
nently practical ; he was in earnest, and he valued things just as they
appeared to be adapted to promote the edification and salvation of
those committed to his charge." He became favorably impressed
with the Moravians, whose mode of proceeding in the election and
ordination of a bishop carried him back, he says, to those primitive
times "when form and state were not; but Paul, the tent-maker,
and Peter, the fisherman, presided ; yet with demonstration of the
Spirit and power."
When he arrived in London, on his return from America, in
September, 1738, his " future course of life," Mr. Watson tells us,
" does not appear to have been shaped out in his mind," but " that he
was averse to settle as a parish minister is certain ; and the man who

26 Methodist Bishops.
regarded the world as his parish must have had large views of
usefulness." We find him, however, strongly disapproving of the
practice of the High Church in rebaptizing persons who had been
baptized by Dissenters.
The first open difficulty which Mr. Wesley met, and in which his
churchly prejudices had to be overcome, grew out of a necessity
for the employment of persons to assist him. " Mr. Charles Wesley
had discouraged this from the beginning, and even he himself hesi
tated ; but with John the promotion of religion was the first concern,
and church order the second, although inferior in consideration to that
only. With Charles these views were often reversed." But John was
cautioned by his prudent and godly mother, who said to . him concern
ing the first young man who came to him for examination : " John,
you know what my sentiments have been. You cannot suspect me of
favoring readily any thing of this kind. But take care what you do
with respect to that young man, for he is as surely called of God to
preach as you are. Examine what have been the fruits of his preach
ing, and hear him also yourself." Taking her advice, he could not
forbid him. As the laborers increased, the persecution from the
Church came on, and Mr. Wesley was compelled to resign his fellow
ship at Oxford. The Societies had spread through various parts of
the kingdom, and " a number of preachers, under the name of as
sistants and helpers, the former being superintendents of the latter,
had been engaged in the work," and the necessity for some consult
ation and plan for carrying forward the good work led to the call
ing of the first Conference, which was held in June, 1744, in
London. The superintendency, which was to lead directly to an
episcopacy, here formally began. The oversight was with the two
brothers, but more particularly with Mr. John Wesley. At this early
period a separation of the Societies from the Church was contem
plated as a possible tr ing, but the Conference resolved, that " we do
and will do all we can to prevent those consequences which are
supposed to be likely to happen after our death ; but we cannot in
good conscience neglect the present opportunity of saving souls while
we live, for fear of consequences which may possibly happen after
we are dead." So great was the opposition stirred up by this ear
nestly religious movement, that even Count Zinzendorf was enlisted

John Wesley. 27
against the Wesleys through fear of their influence upon the Mo
ravians, and he was induced to say that they would " soon run their
heads against a wall." But Mr. Wesley only replied, by saying, " We
will not, if we can help it."
The government of the preachers and Societies had now been
providentially assumed, and the mind of the superintendents was given
to a study of the proper form of Church government to be employed.
In the Minutes of the second Annual Conference, held August, 1745,
we find the attention of the preachers called to the matter by the fol
lowing question : " Is episcopal, presbyterian, or independent church
government most agreeable to reason ? " And evidently the opinion
of Mr. Wesley was even then well formed, for the following answer is
there given to the question : —
" The plain origin of Church government seems to be this : Christ
sends forth a person to preach the gospel, some of those who hear
him repent and believe in Christ ; they then desire him to watch over
them, to build them up in faith, and to guide their souls into paths of
righteousness. Here, then, is an independent congregation ; subject to
no pastor but their own, neither liable to be controlled in things
spiritual by any other man or body of men whatever. But soon after,
some from other parts, who were occasionally present while he was
speaking in the name of the Lord, beseech him to come over and help
them also. He complies, yet not till he confers with the wisest and
holiest of his congregation, and with their consent appoints one who
has gifts and grace to watch over his flock in his absence. If it please
God to raise another flock in the new place before he leaves them, he
does the same thing, appointing one whom God hath fitted for the
work to watch over these souls also. In like manner in every place where
it pleases God to gather a little flock by his word, he appoints one in
his absence to take the oversight of the rest, to assist them as of the
ability which God giveth.
" These are deacons or servants of the Church, and they look upon
their first pastor as the common father of all these congregations, and
regard him in the same light, and esteem him still as the shepherd of
their souls. These congregations are not strictly independent, as they
depend upon one pastor, though not upon each other. As these con
gregations increase, and the deacons grow in years and grace, they need

28 Methodist Bishops.
other subordinate deacons and helpers, in respect of whom they may
be called presbyters or elders, as their father in the Lord may be called
the bishop or overseer of them all."
Mr. Watson, in speaking of this answer to the Conference question,
says : " This passage is important, as it shows that from the first he
regarded his preachers, when called out and devoted to 'the work, as,
in respect of primitive antiquity and the universal Church, parallel to
deacons and presbyters. He also then thought himself a scriptural
bishop. Lord King's researches into antiquity served to confirm these
sentiments, and corrected his former notion as to a distinction of orders."
Certain it was that Mr. Wesley had formed Societies, called out
preachers, and originated a distinct religious community governed by
its own laws. The Societies were one, but the center of union was
first Mr. Wesley, then the Conference of preachers. " That he should
feel compelled," says Mr. Watson, "to superintend -every part of the
system he had put into operation, and attend to every thing great or
little which he conceived to accelerate or retard its motion, was the
natural consequence, and became with him a matter of imperative con
science." The care of the Churches had thus come upon him, and
was increasing. Still "he did not go beyond the necessity of the hour.
But he never hesitated to take the episcopal direction and superintend
ence of all his Societies, to appoint ordinances, and to ordain the men
called of God to assist him in the ministry ; and he " refers to himself
as the father and bishop of the whole .of the Societies, while he tacitly
compares his ' assistants ' to the ' ancient presbyters,' and his helpers
' to the ancient deacons.' "
He became more a bishop than any of his successors, by the right
and authority of a Founder. In legislation he was the law, in judg
ment the judge, and in government the governor. And while the
word of God was the law of truth and life, yet he became its inter
preter, with authority in all matters of polity and doctrine. Under
his hand the United Societies were molded, while he was alive, into
whatever of form they possessed in England, and into the Methodist
Episcopal Church in America. The Methodist Church is, therefore a
child of the episcopate, rather than the episcopal office a child of the
Church. We will proceed to show that Mr. Wesley not only possessed
the prerogatives of a bishop, but that he exercised the functions of

John Wesley. 2?
his office more arbitrarily than any of his successors have ever ventured
to do. In organizing the Societies in England he was permitted to direct
in all matters of detail, as well as in the more general government of
the Methodists throughout the kingdom. He was not only permitted,
but was expected to provide for his people, as certainly as if there
had been no parent Church in existence. To them there was none in
existence. And called of God, as he was, to raise up a people who
should honor him by their faith and good works, and spiritually
endowed to be their minister, he was as duly qualified for this work
as were the apostles in planting and training the Church in Asia
Minor. In the matter of his relation to his Societies, he was as much
an apostle as Paul when he went into Arabia, for he was not "an apos
tle of men, neither by man ; " neither went he up to Jerusalem to them
which were apostles before him. And in his relations to the ceremo
nies of the existing Church John Wesley was more an apostle than Paul
at any time, for he was at least twice ordained of men, and that, too,
in the Church of the succession. It is true that Church had one more
" order," or " office," to confer ; but that " order," or " office," by vir
tue of his right as the father and founder of the United Societies and
the Methodist Episcopal Church, he was entitled from the " exigency
of necessity" to assume. The distinctions made between the words
" order " and " office," as used to designate classes in the ministry,
have occasioned much needless and profitless dispute, for what is an
"order" but a conferred right to enjoy certain religious privileges,
and to perform certain religious services ? Methodists have generally
believed that Wesley taught " that no particular form of ecclesias
tical polity is of divine prescription, and that therefore the mode of
governing the Church is left to its own discretion and the exigencies
of time and place." That there were two orders only in the apostolic
Church has not determined how many more or less there might be, or
should be, in any other Church, for, as Dr. Stevens has well said,
" Let us not be understood to say that the two orders of presbyters
and deacons were permanently appointed by divine authority. If
any section of the Church should find these orders or any other
arrangements of Church polity incompatible with its circumstances,
it can dispense with them and assume any arrangement whatever

30 Methodist Bishops.
which will secure its prosperity and not interfere with the word of
God." It does not signify, if in the early Church presbyter and bishops
were synonymous terms for one and the same " order " and " office."
They did not continue synonymous terms, and do not now designate
the same " order " or " office." Mosheim assures us that it was in the
second century that the title of bishop began to be appropriated dis
tinctively to the elder who presided* in the consultations or meetings
of the presbyters of each Church. Ignatius is the first writer who
notices this fact, but Jerome, in the fifth century, not only asserts the
same thing, but, as Dr. Stevens adds in his comments upon the fact,
" declares the manner in which the name bishop was changed from
its indiscriminate application to all presbyters to its distinctive appli
cation to the presiding presbyter." And St. Augustine also tells us
" the office of a bishop is above the office of a priest."
Nor, indeed, is it a matter for our consideration if there be found
Churches which claim three " orders " of ministers by divine appoint
ment. If no satisfactory evidence exists for two divinely-appointed
" orders," wherefore need we trouble about the third one ? There are,
however, three "orders" of ministers in the Methodist Episcopal
Church. It matters not whether we say "offices" or "orders;" but
to call two of them " orders " and the third one an " office " is to make
a distinction not ecclesiastically clear nor historically correct. That
God appoints a man a deacon and then an elder, but not a bishop, the
lowest of the Low Church Methodists will scarcely admit. That the
Church appoints to all three " orders " the men called of God to the
Christian ministry no one will readily deny.
There is no more reason for calling the Wesleyan bishopric a Pres
byterian episcopacy than any other. In the Church of the Wesleys
the " order " of deacon differs from the " order " of elder, but no more
than the " office " or " order " of bishop differs from the order of pres
byter. The presbyter, as presbyter only, is never a bishop. To say a
bishop is only aprinceps inter pares — a president among equals  is
misleading. He is not an equal among equals.
Dr. Stillingfleet's analysis of the office of a bishop fails at a vital
point. " The extending of any ministerial power," he says, " is not
the appointing of any new office, because every minister of the gospel

John Wesley. 31
hath a relation in actu prvmo" (primarily) "to the whole Church of
God ; the restraint and enlargement of which power is subject to pos
itive determinations of prudence and conveniency ; and, therefore, if
the Church see it fit for some men to have this power enlarged for
better government in some, and restrained in others,, that enlargement
is the appointing no new office, but the making use of a power already
enjoyed for the benefit of the Church of God." He assumes too
much. "Every presbyter" does not "primarily and inherently pos
sess a capacity for" all as well as "the highest ministerial acts."
Every presbytery may possess such capacity, but each single presbyter
does not. The presbyter, by act of the presbytery delegating such
capacity to him, may become qualified " quoad aptithidinem " (as to
the capacity or fitness) " for the highest ministerial acts." Or in the
" exigency of necessity " he may become the representative of a pres
bytery without even their official act or sanction at the time, and as
such become qualified " for the highest ministerial acts." The right
to ordain does not inhere in the power belonging to the presbyter as a
presbyter alone, but to the jurisdictional power of the presbytery who
in the matter represent " a Church constituted " or organized.
Mr. Wesley did not ordain as a presbyter, but as presbyter pro
moted to an " office " or " order," having among its belongings the
right and power to govern and the right to ordain. It was not com
petent for any one of Mr. Wesley's followers to ordain him as he
ordained others to a superintendency or episcopacy in the< Church.
He came to his promotion by being the founder and father of the So
cieties and the Church ; others may come to equal position, as his suc
cessors came to succeed him, by appointment or election and ordination.
The one advancement to the " office " or " order" is no less valid than
the other, else how were it possible to create a new Church. And
both are as valid as the advancement of the Bishop of London to his
"order" or "office" in the Church of England. And some less
formal setting apart to the " office " may take the place of the ordi
nation, for the ordination is but the setting apart, and the setting apart
is but the ordination to the duties and privileges of the " order " or
" office." So far as we know, the promotion cf Mr. Wesley to his
episcopacy de facto was without the ceremonies of ordination at all.
Had he never been ordained until his Societies had grown up around

32 Methodist Bishops.
him as numerously as they did, he might have been successively or
dained deacon, elder, and bishop by his own followers ; but satisfied
with his ordinations to the two "orders" in the Establishment, they
accepted his promotion to the episcopate as resulting from his rela
tions to his people.
The founder of the Church may with the tacit or openly expressed
consent of his followers rightfully appoint and ordain- his successor, or
his followers alone may elect and set apart his successor; else how
were it possible to continue a new Church if the founder were to die ?
Appointments by the founder, or elections by the Church, are only
the human part of the divine selection of servants in the kingdom of
Christ ; either may conserve the interests of the Church, and carry
forward the work of God in the earth. Ordination, then, is an appro
priate ecclesiastical ceremony, scripturally exampled, and to be re
tained in the Church as the public recognition or act of official pub
licity by which the " order " or " office " is brought to the man whom
God has selected, through the Church, to exercise its functions. He
does not officially know, nor is the Church officially apprised, that he
is the person selected thus to serve in the " order " or " office," until the
ordination has taken place. The classes in the ministry and the cere
monies attending their promotion in the Methodist Episcopal Church,
handed down from the founder himself, fully warrant the admission
of Dr. Nathan Bangs, more than half a century ago, that " I consider
it a simple statement of a matter of fact, that the Methodist Episcopal
Church acknowledges three orders of ministers, deacons, elders, and
bishops, which fact certainly no one can contradict." John Wesley
was a bishop as well as a presbyter and a deacon in the Church of
God. That he not only possessed the prerogatives, but exercised the
functions of the office, will appear further from some account of
the episcopal relations he continued to hold with his people, and
the episcopal work he accomplished among them. In his sermon
on "A Catholic Spirit," he says: "I believe the episcopal form of
Church government to be scriptural and apostolical." " Here," says
Mr. Watson, "he took his stand; and he proceeded to call forth
preachers and set them apart, or ordain them, to the sacred office
and to enlarge the work by their means, under the full conviction

John Wesley. 33
of his acting under as clear a scriptural authority as could be
pleaded by Churchmen for episcopacy, by the Presbyterians for
presbytery, or by the Congregationalists for independency. He
could make this scriptural appointment of ministers and ordinances
without renouncing communion with the national Church, and there
fore he did not renounce it."
We are told that "the duty of obeying bishops was considered
at the very first Conference, that of 1744." At the Conference
held in Leeds, May 6, 1755, the question of separation from the
Church was considered at length, and Mr. Charles Perronet and
some others, for whom Mr. Wesley had great respect, urged him " to
make full provision for the spiritual wants of his people, as being
in fact in a state of real and hopeless separation from the Church."
And at the Conference of 1769 we have the first sketch of an eccles
iastical constitution for the body, and "from this time," says Mr.
Watson, " he gave up all hope of a formal connection with even the
pious clergy." It is a significant matter that at this Conference the
first call was made for preachers to go to America.
Mr. Wesley had always exercised absolute control over .his Soci
eties, originating plans and amending forms of government, no more
than administering discipline throughout the local organizations. He
had drawn up the "General Rules," appointed the class-meetings,
prayer-meetings, and watch-night meetings, and ordered Band Soci
eties. Where he found members of the Societies who " were either
triflers or disorderly walkers," he said, " I make short work by cutting
off all such at a stroke." And his presence in the public, as well as at
the private, means of grace, was a very inspiration to his followers.
He was equally the center of power and influence with the preachers.
Dr. Stevens has said that " the proverbial conservatism of Methodism,
notwithstanding its equally proverbial energy, has been owing almost
as much to the impression which Wesley's personal character has
left upon its ministry as to the discipline which he gave it." He
presided in all the Conferences, examined the character of the min
isters, corrected the minutes after all debate was ended, decided the
questions himself without a vote of the Conference, appointed the
preachers to their charges, ordered pastoral visitation from house to
house by his assistants and helpers, originated the circuit system,

34 Methodist Bishops.
licensed the helpers, led them into the fields to preach, prepared the
Prayer Book and Liturgy, authorized the building of churches, wrote
the deeds for the property, and gave the preachers authority to admin
ister the sacraments. And finally, the act of ordination, in connection
with the appointment of the* superintendents to the work in America,
fully committed him to an assumption of the episcopacy.
He remained a presbyter in the Church of England, but throughout
the United Societies he was recognized as a bishop of rightful author
ity and with full powers. He not only ordained preachers for Amer
ica, but, as Mr. Daniels, in his " Illustrated History of Methodism,"
has said, "having taken the momentous first step, the second was
comparatively easy, and in July, 1785, he set apart three well-tried
preachers, John Pawson, Thomas Hanby, and Joseph Taylor, to min
ister in Scotland." And " a year afterward," according to Mr. Tyer-
man, " at the Conference of 1786, he ordained Joshua. Keighley and
Charles Atmore for Scotland ; William Warrener for Antigua, and
William Hammet for Newfoundland. A year later five others were
ordained ; in 1778, when Wesley was in Scotland, John Barber and
Joseph Cownley received ordination at his hands; and at the ensu
ing Conference seven others, including Alexander Mather, who was
ordained to the office not only of deacon and elder, but of superi/n-
tendent. On Ash Wednesday, in 1789, Wesley ordained Henry
Moore and Thomas Rankin ; and this, we believe, completes the list
of those upon whom Mr. Wesley laid his hands.
"All these ordinations were in private ; and many of them at four
o'clock in the morning. Some of the favored ones were intended for
Scotland, some for foreign missions, and a few, as Mather, Moore, and
Rankin, were employed in England. In most instances, probably in
all, they were ordained deacons on one day, and on the following
received the ordination of elders, Wesley giving to each letters testi
monial." Little is known of the work of Superintendent Mather, but there
can be no question but that Mr. Wesley desired a successor with
whom should remain the leadership of the Societies after his death.
" From Mr. Charles Wesley, who had become a family man, and had
nearly given up traveling, he had no hope as a successor, and even then
a further settlement would have been necessary, because he could not be

John Wesley. 35
expected long to survive his brother ; " and, as Mr. Watson continues,
" he directed his attention to Mr. Fletcher, and warmly invited him to
come forth into the work, and allow himself to be introduced by him
to the Societies and preachers as their future head." The failure
to secure the consent of Mr. Fletcher, but more certainly the rela
tion of the Societies to the State Church, determined against Mr.
Wesley's wishes, and in favor of the present polity of the English
Wesleyans. But if it has been found that John Wesley exercised the functions
of the episcopal office in the English Societies, it will unquestionably
be admitted that he was the first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in America.
At the twenty-seventh yearly Conference, held in London, Au
gust 7, 1770, fifty circuits were reported, and the last in the list of
the appointments printed in the " Minutes," reads : " Fiftieth, Amer
ica — Joseph Pilmoor, Richard Boardman, Robert Williams, John
King." The first two named were the first regular itinerant Method
ist preachers that ever came to these United States, and they came by
the appointment of Mr. Wesley. The first new meeting-house built
in this country was called Wesleys Chapel — John-street, New York —
the first Societies organized were governed by the " General Rules "
drawn up by Mr. Wesley in England, and the Band Societies were under
the same directions that he had given to the organizations at home.
In October, 1771, Francis Asbury and Richard Wright, hav
ing also been appointed by Mr. Wesley to America, landed in Phila
delphia, and in October of the year following, " Mr. Asbury received
a letter from Mr. Wesley, appointing him to be the assistant in Amer
ica." Mr. Lee, in his " Short History of the Methodists," says, " Mr.
Wesley, being the founder of the Society, was considered as the head ;
and all the preachers were considered as helpers to Mr. Wesley in
their different stations. In this country they formerly stood in three
grades : 1. Helpers ; 2. Assistants ; 3. General Assistants. The
helper was the young preacher in each circuit where there were gen
erally two preachers in a circuit. The assistant was the oldest preacher
in the circuit, who had the charge of the young preacher, and of the
business of the circuit. The general assistant was the preacher who
had the particular charge of all the circuits, and of all the preachers,
3

36 Methodist Bishops.
and appointed all the preachers to their several circuits, and changed
them as he judged to be necessary for the good of the preachers or
the benefit of the people. His being called a general assistant also
signified that he was to assist Mr. Wesley in carrying on the work of
God in a general way, without being confined to a particular circuit as
another preacher."
In the spring of the year 1773 Mr. Wesley sent two more
preachers to America, namely, Thomas Rankin and George Shadford,
and "from that time Mr. Rankin had the superintendency of the
Methodist connection in America, and was styled " general assistant."
The first Conference of all the traveling preachers in America was
held on the 14th of July, 1773, in Philadelphia, and in the " Minutes "
of that Conference appear the following questions and answers : —
1. Ought not the authority of Mr. Wesley and the English Conference to
extend to the preachers and people in America as well as in Great Britain and
Ireland ?
Answer. Yes.
2. Ought not the doctrine and discipline of the Methodists, as contained in
the English "Minutes," to be the rule of our conduct, who labor in the congre
gation with Mr. Wesley ?
A. Yes.
3. If so, does it not follow that, if preachers deviate from the "Minutes"
we can have no fellowship with them till they change their conduct?
A. Yes.
Mr. Lee says, concerning this action, " The Methodists in America
considered themselves as much under the direction of Mr. Wesley as
were the European Methodists." The same Conference put a stop to
the printing of Mr. Wesley's books without his authority.
When Mr. Rankin returned to England Mr. Asbury was appointed
by Mr. Wesley the general assistant, which office he held until elected
to be a bishop.
When the separation of- the colonies occurred, and their independ
ence of the mother country was assured as a result of the Revolution,
Mr. Wesley planned the organization of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Not only were his plans adopted, but his ordinations ac
cepted, and his elders and superintendents unanimously received by
the new Church. And so far as becoming independent of Mr. Wes-

John Wesley. 37
ley, the Church voted the very opposite, as appears from the action of
the Conference, which is printed in the " Minutes " as follows : —
What can be done in order to the future union of the Methodists ?
During the life of the Rev. Mr. Wesley we acknowledge ourselves his sons in
the gospel, ready, in matters belonging to church government, to obey his com
mands. And we do engage, after his death, to do every thing that we judge
consistent with the cause of religion in America, and the political interests of
these States, to preserve and promote our union with the Methodists in Europe.
It has been said that this action was reversed in 1787, when
Mr. Wesley directed that Richard Whatcoat should be ordained a
joint superintendent with Mr. Asbury. But it does not appear that
his relations to the Church were wholly changed by the Conference
refusing to approve of his directions in this single matter. Though
the engagement given above was not printed in the next year's " Min
utes," Mr. Lee says it was " argued that Mr. Wesley, while in
England, could not tell what man was qualified to govern us as well
as we could, who were present, and were to be governed. We
believed, also, that if Mr. Wesley were here himself he would be
of the same opinion with us. We then wrote a long and loving
letter to Mr. Wesley, and requested him to come over to America
and visit his spiritual children." Moreover, it was feared, if Mr.
Whatcoat was ordained a joint superintendent, that Mr. Wesley
would likely recall Mr. Asbury, and it is probable that this fear,
more than any difference of opinion as to the qualifications of Mr.
Whatcoat, influenced the action of the Conference, for what Mr.
Wesley then recommended was afterward done by the Conference
when Mr. Whatcoat did become a superintendent. And the follow
ing question and answer was afterward inserted in the annual " Min
utes " of the Conference of 1789 :—
Question. Who are the persons that exercise the episcopal office in the Meth
odist Church in Europe and America?
Answer. John Wesley, Thomas Coke, and Francis Asbury, by regular order
and succession.
Mr. Wesley was so fully conscious of his relation to the Societies
in England, and the Church in America, that his episcopal authority
was maintained with an unrelenting " care of all the Churches " on his

38 Methodist Bishops.
mind and heart to the very last days of his life. And his most arbi
trary demands were almost, without exception, met with an unre
served submission and obedience upon the part of preachers and
people, even when he was nearly ninety years of age. " His genius
for government," says Macaulay, " was not inferior to that of Riche
lieu." There were those who criticised his love of power. But he
replied, " What is that power ? It is a power of admitting into and
excluding from the Societies under my care ; of choosing and remov
ing stewards ; of receiving or not receiving helpers ; of appointing
them when, where, and how to help me, and of desiring any of them
to confer with me when I see good. And as it was merely in obe
dience to the providence of God and for the good of the people that I
first accepted this power, which I never sought, so it is on the same
consideration, not for profit, honor, or pleasure, that I use it at this
day. "'But several gentlemen are offended at your having so much
power.' I did not seek any part of it ; but when it was come
unawares, not daring to bury that talent, I used it to the best of my
judgment. Yet I never was fond of it. I always did, and do now,
bear it as my burden, the burden which God lays upon me, and, there
fore, I dare not lay it down. But if you can tell me any one, or any
five men, to whom I may transfer this burden, who can and will do
just as I do now, I will heartily thank both them and you." It thus
appears that John Wesley, as we have shown, with the consent of his
followers, and, as he believed, in the providence of God, was authorized
to exercise the functions of the episcopal office both in England and
America.

MMW? TlSmWAS, (D©IKIKt .TLIL.HD.

OF TTTc; !J fSTVEKSJ Tf OI-- OK/\j}t-

Thomas Coke.

BY REV. W. M. PUNSH0N, D.D.

THERE are many heroes whom the world is slow to acknowledge,
partly because there is a general fallacy as to the conditions of
real heroism, and partly because it requires for its manifestation an
unselfishness of patient endurance which can be approved only by time.
But the principles of Christianity are gradually leavening the nations,
and as the world gets wiser and better its admiration for the ancient
objects of its hero-worship will be dispensed with prudent parsimony,
and the names of men who have been great in goodness, who have
spared neither effort nor sacrifice for the good of others, and who have
been avowedly prompted by high and spiritual motives, will be the
names which will not die.
Thomas Coke was one of these men. He labored with no thought
of fame, and prophesied no far-reaching result of his toil ; but though
he knew it not, his life was making history ; and we of this generation
are but offering some installment of our debt to the past by telling
how he lived and died.
At' the confluence of the Honddu and the Usk, whose united
waters make a goodly river, stands the little Welsh town of Brecon,
charmingly situated. It is not altogether out of the influence of mod
ern progress, but its ivy-covered chateau, in ruins, and the remains of
its Benedictine priory, link it with the romantic past, to which it
seems rather to belong. Here, on the 9th of September, 1747, Thomas
Coke was born. His father, Bartholomew Coke, was an apothecary,
and also practiced medicine, according to the custom of those times.
His later years were spent in the public service of his native town, of
which he was several times chosen chief magistrate ; and his personal,
professional, and public virtues are honorably, commemorated on a tab
let in the chancel of the Priory Church. The wife of this worthy
alderman was Anne, daughter of Thomas Phillips, Esq., of a respecta
ble Breconshire family, after whom the future bishop was called. The

42 Methodist Bishops.
only trouble of their married life was in the death of two fair children ;
and this was a sore trial to them, for they dreaded a childless old age.
Hence, on the birth of another son they were ready to say, We " have
gotten a man from the Lord ; " and to the Lord they dedicated him in
solemn covenant. The father was spared to witness his son's entry
into priest's orders in the Church of England, and died about a year
after his ordination. The mother " pondered " in her heart the mys
terious way .in which the Lord was leading her child ; and, herself fol
lowing the luminous cloud, became partaker of the reproach and glory
of Methodism. The child thus given and consecrated grew up into boyhood dark-
haired, low of stature, with a sunny countenance, sanguine hopes, and
an impetuous temper ; and, although not precocious, gifted with fair
mental powers. He was first trained at the " college " in Brecon, then
under the rectorship of the Rev. Thomas Griffiths, and the advantages
of this endowed grammar-school were not abused. In his sixteenth
year he was sent to the University of Oxford, and entered as a gentle
man-commoner of Jesus College, where Welshmen " most do congre
gate," because it was founded by a former clergyman of Brecon, and
appeals to the amor patriae of the natives of the Principality. The
moral state of Oxford appears at this time to have been truly deplora
ble. A deistical taint had spread far and wide among the colleges ; and
even among the tutors and professors — the accredited guardians of
faith and morals — there was much of that looseness of thought which
too frequently introduces looseness of life. Coke's own tutor was au
infidel and a drunkard. With blameworthy flippancy and sad betrayal
of trust he sought, though mainly when intoxicated, to undermine his
pupil's faith in the grand verities in which he had been carefully
trained. Surrounded by influences like these, and with a nature which
responded to every claim of good fellowship, it is no marvel that he
yielded to the temptation of unhallowed pleasure and of fashionable
folly. But even in the unseemly revel memory lingered regretfully
upon soberer days, and conscience, the man within the man, was a
stern and strong reprover. Hence he seemed as if he could not run,
with his companions, " to the same excess of riot." Of course there was
no happiness for him as long as this " war within " should last. He
had loosed off from his ancestral moorings, and was now drifting with

Thomas Coke. 43
no anchorage for the soul. He had abandoned his old creed, but had
found no rest in a system of negations. It is a fearful thing to destroy
even a blind trust in a blind divinity. To expel the old without intro
ducing the new and the better faith is the refinement of cruelty. Any
God, even the idol of Micah, is better than none. In this state of sor
rowful indecision it happened to Thomas Coke to spend a vacation
with a clergyman of some standing in the Principality, from whose lips
he listened to a discourse on the prominent truths of Christianity,
written in a style so cogent and sprightly, and delivered with so much
apparent heartiness, as greatly to impress his mind. After service was
over he remarked upon the discourse to his friend, spoke of the glow
of feeling which it had kindled within him, and proceeded to refer to
the mental conflicts of the past few months, when, to his surprise and
disgust, the clergyman smiled at his doubts, assured him that what he
had heard from the pulpit was a purely professional utterance, and
that he himself did not believe a word of the truth which he had
so zealously proclaimed. This discovery of perfidious dealing,
which might have hardened many a man in skepticism, produced in
the mind of Coke the revulsion of an honest nature against an acted
lie. He saw the dishonesty of infidelity which could thus " make war
upon the Lamb " in robes on which the cross was broidered, and he
thenceforward determined thoroughly to investigate the matter, and
not to rest until he was able to discover some true resting-place for his
bewildered intellect and heart. At this crisis the discourses of Bishop
Sherlock providentially fell into his hands. He read them with atten
tion and avidity, and the reading was blessed to the removal of the
films from his eyes. So thoroughly was he convinced of the objective
truth of Christianity that from that moment to the day of his death
he never doubted again. The moral education underlying all these
initial difficulties was being all the while carried on. It has sometimes
been said, that " he who ne'er doubted ne'er believed ; " and it is cer
tain that he to whom these mental conflicts are familiar, who has grap
pled with these agitating problems, and has been led, painfully but
surely, from doubt to faith, will be likely to hold his faith more firmly
than he in whom it was cradled, and who has grown up into its pro
fession, as of an heir-loom which his father had bequeathed.
In 1768 Coke finished his course at Oxford, taking his bachelor's

44 Methodist Bishops.
degree, and for the next few years resided in Brecon, filling the mu
nicipal offices which had become almost hereditary in his family, until
at twenty-five years of age he was elected chief magistrate of the bor
ough. Here, also, we see the overrulings of " the divinity which
shapes our ends " in the preparation for that life of usefulness which
was before him. In the college he had studied books, in the court he
studied men. No teaching for practical purposes is so valuable as the
rough contact with common men. It rounds off the angles of a man,
clears away the bookish notions which are sometimes too exalted for
common sense, and fits him for the work of a world where men, wail
ing, working, striving, suffering, are the chief factors after all. MorP/-
over, some knowledge of the law, and some practice in the art of pub
lic speaking, were helpful elements in the formation of the character,
and tended to make him ready of speech and skillful in administration.
Man cannot forecast the influence of apparent trifles, but God sees the
end from the beginning.
During these years in Brecon, Coke never lost the idea of ultimately
" entering the Church," as taking orders in the Episcopalian ministry
is somewhat loosely called. His official position in the town had ena
bled him to render aid to the member for the borough in Parliament,
and this gentleman, one of the Morgan family, (which, with a few ex
ceptions, has furnished a representative to Brecon almost ever since,)
encouraged him to expect preferment through his influence, and hinted
at a prebendal stall in Worcester Cathedral as the most likely embodi
ment of his gratitude. Some county magnate of higher rank was yet
more profuse in his promises, but they were promises only, and as the
conviction of duty grew within him he obtained a curacy at South
Petherton, a small country town in Somersetshire, was ordained deacon
in 1770, and priest in 1771, taking the degree of Master of Arts in the
former year, and proceeding to the degree of Doctor of Civil Law in
1775. His ordination to the Christian ministry preceded his conversion.
He felt, almost to agony, the solemnity of the vows which he had taken,
and was faithful to his light, an honest, sincere, self-denying teacher.
He entered the profession which he had chosen (it was not yet a
vocation to which he felt himself divinely called) with no unworthy
motives, either of ambition or desire for wealth. The perusal of such

Thomas Coke. 45
works as " Witherspoon on Regeneration " had partially cleared his
mind for the reception of the reality of truth, but he had not experi
enced its saving power; yet from the first he was an earnest and
zealous preacher, handling evangelical topics, and throwing over them
the glow of a warm eloquence which attracted many hearers. Two of
these South Petherton sermons, in their original manuscripts, are in
my possession. One, from the text Matt, xiii, 43, seems to have been
so much of a favorite with him that he delivered it twice from the
same pulpit at an interval of two years. The other is on the inimita
ble parable of the Prodigal Son. They show that he was struggling
into freedom, and when a man is determined to be spiritually free,
God will see to it that he shall have no lack of helpers in his brave
endeavor. The church filled so rapidly under his ministry that he ap
plied to the vestry to erect a' gallery at the expense of the parish.
The officials refused his request ; so, with characteristic zeal, he paid
for its erection himself. This was the first fair springing of that
noble liberality which became a ruling passion in his soul, and by
which he was prompted to lay successive fortunes at the feet of his
Master. The astonished farmers, whose souls were too small to com
prehend this self-devotion, were amazed and suspicious ; some sapient
shake-the-head covertly whispered " Methodism ;" the " lewd fellows
of the baser sort " took up the whisper and swelled it into a cry ; and
so — Sauls among the prophets, but not of stature so goodly — the village
rabble baptized him into Methodism before he knew who the " people
called Methodists " were.
Thomas' Maxfield, the first Methodist lay preacher, had been
ordained by the Bishop of Derry to assist Mr. Wesley, " that he might
not work himself to death." He had subsequently separated himself
from Mr. Wesley and fixed his residence in Somersetshire, retaining,
however, his love of the doctrines of evangelical Christianity. The
report of Methodism circulated against the young clergyman at once
inclined the love of this good man to go out after the South Petherton
curate. He sought an interview, and instructed the young Apollos in
the " way of God more perfectly." By repeated conversations with
this true friend, and by the reading of Alleine's " Alarm," which
affected his heart, as Sherlock's Discourses had satisfied his under
standing, Dr. Coke was led into the light, and became an eminent

46 Methodist Bishops.
seeker for the salvation of God. He waited for God, however, not in
folding of hands, but in redoubled effort and service. He established
preaching throughout his parish, and it was in one of his own cottage
services that he entered into the liberty of the gospel, and was intro
duced to the conscious joy which is the privilege of those who believe.
From this time his ministry was more bold and notable than ever.
His manuscripts, which had been interlined as the light dawned with
passages more intensely evangelical, or more direct in appeal, were, for
the most part, forsaken, and he went bravely forward as a master in
Israel. But there were many adversaries. He was irregular. He preached
without a book. He received " publicans and sinners." He aimed at
the fifth rib. What could be the lot of such a man but hinderance and
insult ? His brother clergymen complained ; the squirarchy had
twinges of face and conscience and were offended ; the choir — fruitful
seed of discord strangely growing out of harmony — resented the intro
duction of hymns ; the zeal of the man discomposed the genteel, and
his directness startled the profane among his hearers. Bishops listened
to their recital of the parish grievances, but were either half in sym
pathy with the zealous preacher, or were disposed to regard him as
incorrigible ; so the rector was persuaded to dismiss him, which he did
abruptly on a Sabbath without notice, and in the presence of the peo
ple ; the church bells chimed him out of doors, and so South Pether
ton rid itself of the " pestilent fellow."
Meanwhile God was preparing for him a more congenial ecclesias
tical home. In Wesley's Journal, under the date of August 18th,
1776, there is the following entry : " I preached at Taunton, and after
ward went with Mr. Brown to Kingston, where I found a clergyman,
Dr. Coke, late a gentleman-commoner of Jesus College, in Oxford,
who came twenty miles on purpose [to meet me.] I had much con
versation with him, and a union then began which, I trust, shall
never end." In the Journal of August 19th, 1777, there is this further
entry : " I went forward to Taunton with Dr. Coke, who, being dis
missed from his curacy, has bidden adieu to his honorable name, and is
determined to cast in his lot with us." This fixes the date of the dis
missal from South Petherton, about which there has been some doubt,
as having occurred some time in the spring of 1777. After the first

Thomas Coke. 47
interview Mr. Wesley advised him to return to his parish, " doing all
the good he could, visiting from house to house, omitting no part of
his clerical duty, and avoiding every reasonable ground of offense."
Faith can afford to wait, knowing that " he that believeth shall not
make haste." On this wise counsel Coke acted until his dismissal from
his curacy, for two Sabbaths after which he preached in the church-yard.
Then was the threat of open opposition, and hampers of stones were
gathered by which it was intended to do him grievous hurt, if not to
re-enact the martyrdom of Stephen ; but God raised up for him some
influential friends, so that the cowardice which always waits upon
cruelty dared not " cast the first stone." Thus was he enabled to
testify that he was not ashamed of the " reproach of Christ," and to
depart from the place which had become so eventful in his history
with the consoling thought, " Liberavi animam meam."
The Conference of 1777 was held in Bristol ; Dr. Coke was present
and there became acquainted with Benson and other Methodist worthies,
and especially with John Fletcher, whom, above all men, he had longed
to know. He became more deeply impressed by their singleness of
purpose and by their transparent honesty. He found he had discovered
men who were lifted as by an inspiration above common cares and aims,
and whose life-work involved the destiny of millions ; and, following
out the newly-awakened impulses of the regenerate soul, he determined
at all hazards to cast in his lot with these. Mr. Wesley, with charac
teristic sagacity, seems to have given him an interval in which to count
the cost ; or, perhaps, knowing human nature, and aware that even then
flattering offers of preferment were made to him from high quarters,
he wished to test the fidelity of the new ally. Hence his name does
not appear on the Minutes of Conference until the following year,
although he was doubtless the companion of many of those evangelistic
journeys which made up so large a portion of Wesley's life and work.
From the first his preaching was popular among the London Societies
and congregations. At the Foundery, in West-street, Seven Dials, and
in other places of Methodist resort, the places became too strait for the
worshipers, so that he went into the open air, and in many of the fields
around the metropolis — all covered with mansions, now — might be
seen the handsome young clergyman, short of stature but great in
soul and purpose, preaching in gown and cassock to listening multi-

48 Methodist Bishops.
tudes the unsearchable riches of Christ. If his style had not the calm
logical persuasiveness of Wesley's, if he was incapable of those Niag
ara bursts of impassioned eloquence which often poured from the full
ness of Whitefield's soul, there were a simplicity and winsomeness
about his preaching which had an attraction and a power of their own.
Surely the providence of God was working, in raising up just at
this juncture so able a helper for the cause and work of Methodism.
Whitefield, after a course flame-bright as that of a seraph, had gone
from Newburyport to heaven, as in a chariot of fire. Charles Wesley
was in comparative retirement, confining his labors almost entirely to
London and Bristol, and haunted, moreover, by many misgivings as to
the " whereunto " of his more active brother. John Wesley was up
ward of eighty years old, and needed a man of counsel in whom his
soul could surely trust as his right hand. Fletcher had no administra
tive skill. He was the Moses whose " face shone," tender in spirit, and
mighty in prayer. There wanted a Joshua to lead the hosts when they
should need a leader, and in the meantime to be helper, and often rep
resentative, of the captain of the Lord. Thomas Coke became that
man, for, as always in God's ripening plans, when the hour struck the
man for its duty was ready.
Coke's journeys became as extensive, and almost as acceptable, as
Wesley's. He was incessantly engaged in all parts of the country.
Ireland became familiar to him as home. He presided at the first
Irish Conference, held in 1782, and continued to preside, with occa
sional intermission, during his whole life. Every shire in England,
and not a few of its secluded hamlets, were visited on the errand of
mercy. Sometimes persecution was coarse and cruel, and Dr. Coke
had his share of it. Sometimes there was the sunshine of recompense
for former wrong. In one of his tours South Petherton lay in his
way. Reflection had succeeded to excitement, and the influence of
the gentle life of their sometime curate had made itself gradually felt.
The people received him as an angel of God, and even the rulers of
the belfry atoned for their former turbulency. " We chimed him out,"
they said ; " now we will ring him in."
Dr. Coke's relation to Wesley, his speedy insight into Methodist
affairs, the heartiness with which he made them his own, his indefati
gable industry, and a certain looking to the future which personal ambi-

Thomas Coke. 49
tion may or may not have unconsciously prompted, combined to extend
and consolidate the influence which he was rapidly acquiring, though
there were not wanting the jealousies which were to some extent
natural when veterans saw the latest recruit in counsel preferred to
them. The celebrated " Deed of Declaration," the legal instrument
which perpetuated Methodism as a coherent system, was suggested by
Dr. Coke, who had obtained legal opinion of the danger both to union
and property which the indefiniteness of the primitive arrangements
threatened. The Conference of 1782 saw this danger. The perpe
tuity of Methodism rested upon the frail life of a man on whose head
were the snows of eighty winters. It was a crisis as grave, and as di
vinely averted, as when the Church in the wilderness floated in the
fragile ark of bulrushes upon the waters of the Nile. The Deed,
which defined the Conference and limited it in its legal aspect to one
hundred ministers, was drawn up and enrolled in Chancery, and in its
initiation Dr. Coke took a prominent part. As his name was included
in " the Hundred," some of those who were omitted conceived that
they owed to the doctor's influence this imaginary mark of disrespect ;
and as human nature is ever willing to believe evil, he suffered re
proach and loss in this regard. Wesley was not slow to vindicate the
injured. " Non vult, non potuit," was his epigrammatic reply to the in
sinuation — " He would not if he could, and he could not if he would" —
and then emphatically declares, " In naming these preachers I had no
adviser." Coke's views seem, indeed, to have been at once sagacious
and liberal, and for his act and part in procuring this charter of incor
poration he deserves the gratitude of posterity, and is enrolled among
the prescient statesmen of the Methodist Church.
True religion expands the sympathies. Disdaining all proscription
of tinge or feature, overleaping geographical boundaries, asking no
introduction but distress — Christianity, in her truest expressions, is
essentially missionary in her character. Hence the hearts which are
influenced by the indwelling love of Christ must be catholic. They
would fain, in their breadth of charity, make the world a neighbor
hood, and win it, in its fullness, for Christ.
Circumstances were now converging to introduce Dr. Coke to the
great missionary work of his life. The original English colonists on
the Western Continent, re-enforced by new accessions, had grown into

50 • Methodist Bishops.
the bulk of an empire. The earth had been subdued and replenished..
The wilderness had become a garden, and fair cities had arisen upon
the banks of rivers previously unknown to song. The ministry of
Whitefield, exercised at intervals between 1738 and his death, in 1770,
had stirred the land as with the blast of a clarion ; but the impression
was too often transitory, arising from the absence of any attempt to
organize into Churches those who had been impressed and saved. Mr.
Wesley's idea of gathering together small companies of those who be
lieved, for mutual help and comfort, was yet to supply this lack in
America, as it had so largely done in England. The beginnings were
obscure and lowly. God magnifies his doings by the smallness of the
events which he uses as his instruments. " Her hap was to light on a
part of the field belonging to Boaz," says the touching narrative of
Ruth ; but from that chance gleaning in the harvest-field sprang the
sweet Psalmist of Israel, and the blessed Redeemer, " great David's
greater Son." There is a hamlet in the west of Ireland called Court
Mattress, where some Germans from the Palatinate had settled in the
reign of Queen Anne. Among this community — an oasis in a desert,
so far as good manners were concerned — Mr. Wesley on one of his
journeys found a young man called Philip Embury, whom he licensed
as a local preacher. This young man emigrated to America, and,
• stirred, as is well known, by Barbara Heck, like another Deborah stim
ulating Barak to heroism, he, the carpenter, spoke in his own house to
a congregation of five persons, of the grace and truth of Him of whom
they said of old, " Is not this the carpenter's son ? " This was the first
Methodist sermon ever preached in America. The five who composed
the congregation were the first Methodist Society, and the germ of
one of the grandest associated developments of Christianity which the
world has ever seen. Captain Webb, then lieutenant in the British
army, heard, on coming into quarters at Albany, of the little flock of
New York Methodists. He " assayed to join himself to them," though
at first an object of suspicion, and under his preaching the congrega
tions increased so rapidly that the room became too small. A rigging- (
loft was taken, and in turn deserted ; two years afterward the first
American Methodist chapel was built, and in 1769 Mr. Wesley sent,
from " one of the most loving Conferences ever held," Richard Board-
man and Joseph Pilmoor "to help our brethren in America." "We

Thomas Coke. 51
determined," says Wesley, "to send them fifty pounds as a token of our
brotherly love ;"' let it stand as an everlasting memorial to the Churches !
Surely it is worthy of a record, that the first Methodist missionary col
lection was made among themselves by the Methodist preachers, who
out of their poverty showed the abundance of their liberality, and sent
it to the infant Church across the ocean " by the hands of Barnabas
and Saul." On the arrival of these pioneer missionaries they were
surprised to find a Society of a hundred members, great teachableness,
and a hunger of heart for the word " the like of which they.never saw
before." In the following year, the year of Whitefield's death — such
is the divine law of compensation — Francis Asbury landed on the
American continent, the " rex atque sacerdos " of American Method
ism, its most affluent benefactor, and its most historic name. The
record of this remarkable man will be drawn by another hand, but it
is impossible to refrain, in passing, from a tribute of exceeding rever
ence to that master-spirit, so firm, so unselfish, so devoted, so grandly
proportioned in differing elements of character ; so full of light, be
cause he brought down the glory of the mount on which he often lin
gered ; so full of love, because, like John, his favorite resting-place was
where he could feel the beating of the Saviour's heart. The Churches
of all lands, and of all time, ought to glorify God in him.
The sky grew dark shortly after Asbury's arrival ; the portents of the
tempest gathered, and the struggle began which issued in the dismem
berment of the Colonies from England, and the recognition of their
independence as the United States of America. These political
changes, and the distraction to which they gave rise, had a notable
influence upon the religious life of the country, and many controver
sies which had arisen were summarily settled by the stern logic of
events. Mr. Wesley, as is well known, expressed himself strongly in the
" Calm Address to the Colonists " in opposition to the Revolutionary
movement ; and the English preachers in America, most of whom were
in sympathy with his views, became objects of popular odium, and were
regarded as tools of a despotic power. Hence, as the feeling intensified,
they were obliged, being in peril of their lives, to retreat to England.
Asbury alone remained, "single, but undismayed." If he had fled
with the others, or if he had been a less skillful pilot, or, rather, we

52 Methodist Bishops.
ought to say, a less single-eyed and spiritual man, Methodism might
have perished in the hour of storm. But there was an eye over it
which never slumbered ; and so by the Lord's inspiration he was like
Caleb, of " another spirit " than his brethren. At last the War of the
Revolution was over, and the great American Republic took its place
among the powers of the world. There was something royal in the
confession of King George III., as he received the credentials of the
newly-appointed Minister of the United States, " I was the last man
in mj kingdom to acknowledge your independence, and I will be the
last to violate it." The war had not swept over the continent without
disastrous results to those who were successful. These results were
seen not only in desolated hearths and an impoverished exchequer, but
in scattered Churches and ruined altars, and as one collateral result the
" Church of England in America had virtually ceased to be." The
Methodist Societies, which had now become numerous, were deprived
by the flight of the clergy of the sacraments of the Church. There
were no Episcopalian clergymen to administer them, and they could
only enter the Presbyterian communion by forsaking their own.
Who can wonder, then, that the people became impatient of the re
straints which, out of deference to Mr. Wesley and Mr. Asbury, they
had long submitted to ? Prejudice melted in the presence of distress,
and sacerdotalism, when there was hunger for the refreshing ordinances
of the Lord's house, was regarded as a mediaeval folly. Hence arose
the problem of Church government which Wesley had foreseen and
pondered, and which he was now to essay to solve.
The Founder of Methodism had no new views to promulgate.
The convictions which he was now to embody in daring spiritual ac
tion had been his cherished principles for years. " Lord King's Ac
count of the Primitive Church convinced me many years ago that
bishops and presbyters are the same order, and consequently have the
same right to ordain." In this terse sentence he justified the action
which, in the exigency, he deemed it right to take in order to supply
the famine of a nation which cried aloud for the bread and for the " cup
of blessing," as well as for the consolidation of church order in their
midst. Any hesitation which he might feel arose from the gravity of
the occasion, from questions of religious expediency, and from his
habitual practice to seek counsel and guidance in prayer. The lawful-

Thomas Coke. 53
ness of separation from the Church of England in America was not in
question, for that Church had no existence ; and hence the simple
inquiry was, whether there were to be scattered Societies with no bond
of cohesion, or a church polity which should be rooted and should
endure. All Wesleyan convictions as well as traditions were in favor
of a government which should be episcopal in essence if not in name.
In Dr. Coke he thought he had found one likely to become a true
scriptural episcopos, and slowly but surely arrived at the conviction
that it was his duty to ordain him Superintendent of the Churches in
America. In February, 1784, Coke was startled in the little study at City
Road, which so many American pilgrims have visited, by the divulg
ing of the determined purpose. Wesley gave his reasons and asked
Coke to ponder them. He reviewed the Revolution and its results,
the abolition of the Established Church in America, the anxious and
suffering Societies as " sheep having no shepherd," their desire for the
sacraments, the appeals which had reached him both from preachers
and people to provide for this acknowledged need, his own conviction
that a presbyter, being analogous to a bishop, had an equal right to or
dain, (the practice of the Church at Alexandria for two hundred years,)
and then asked Dr. Coke to accept ordination at his hands. Certain
uncandid writers have stated that the request for ordination came from
Coke, and have censured his ambition pretty freely. This is not the
fact. Coke was bewildered, almost dismayed, at the proposal, and it was
not until after two months' study of the Bible, and those records of the
Primitive Church which can be gathered from the writings of the Fa
thers, that he intimated his conviction of the soundness of the argu
ment, and his willingness to accept the office of " overseer and ruler."
At the Conference, which was held in Leeds, the matter was brought
forward and referred to a select committee, every man of whom was in
the beginning opposed to it ; but Fletcher indorsed it heartily, and it
ultimately received unanimous approval.
Quietly, without ostentation, but with sober and earnest realization
of the divine presence and blessing, was the ceremony performed. The
Rev. Mr. Creighton, an ordained clergyman, who was one of Mr. Wes
ley's helpers, joined Dr. Coke and Mr. Wesley in the setting apart of
Messrs. Whatcoat and Vasey as presbyters for America ; and then, in

54 Methodist Bishops.
the very room in which Asbury had offered for service in America,
Mr. Wesley ordained Dr. Coke for the office of Superintendent " by
the imposition of hands and prayer." Three weeks afterward Dr.
Coke was on the ocean, with his companions, on the way to his new
diocese of a continent. The record of his voyage is extant in a Jour
nal which he diligently kept, and which shows how assiduously he
improved his time, both in personal improvement and in efforts for
the good of others. He landed in New York on the 3d of November,
and on the 14th, when preaching somewhere in the State of Delaware, a
plain, robust man stepped up to him in the pulpit after the sermon, and
kissed him. This he thought " could be no other than Asbury," and
on this wise was the first meeting of these two men — a meeting
grander in its issues than when, amid waving banners and martial
music, monarchs greeted each other on the "Field of the Cloth of
Gold." Coke was furnished with two documents : 1. Letters of Ordi
nation ; and, 2. A Circular Letter from Mr. Wesley to the Societies- in
the United States. A conference was hastily summoned in the City
of Baltimore; sixty out of the eighty-three preachers attended, to
whom the whole plan was submitted, and who indorsed it by unani
mous vote. Asbury, who had at first hesitated and been " shocked "
at the proposal, was brought, by thought and prayer, to believe that it
was of God. He was, therefore, ordained by Dr. Coke to the office
of Superintendent, having been previously ordained deacon and
elder. Twelve other preachers received elders' ordination, and thus
the organization of that vast community was completed. The effect
of that day's doings upon the social and religious life of a new world
only eternity can adequately unfold.
While it was beyond doubt Mr. Wesley's intention to establish
episcopacy in America, and while he had no scruples as to the script
ural lawfulness of his course, he did not authorize the assumption of
the title of bishop ; but as the office existed, the name could not long be
withheld, and although Dr. Coke, in sanctioning its use, may have ex
ceeded his powers, and perhaps been influenced by unconscious ambition
or forecasting wisdom, it was rendered necessary by the progress of
events ; and as we review all these incidents of a long-past age we
mark how wonderfully men were led in a way they knew not to work
for and with God. Time has given to their work its magnificent

Thomas Coke. 55
attestation, and the years have confirmed it with the visible benediction
of Heaven. Coke's Journal tells artlessly of the nature, variety, and extent of
the missionary bishop's labors. When he was expected in the country,
Asbury had arranged for'him " a little tour of eight hundred miles,"
and during the five months of his stay on this first visit he had an ex
perience of incessant and romantic toil. Narrow escapes by freshet and
flood, now nearly carried away by a swollen torrent, now wandering
helplessly for hours amid a pathless wilderness of trees ; wet to the
skin full oft, and his saddle-bags drenched with rain ; riding through
morasses ; sleeping at way-side shanties, sometimes three in a bed ; in
peril because of his denunciations of slavery, " a high-headed lady," as
he calls her, having offered fifty pounds to the rowdies if they would
flog the little doctor as he left the barn ; preaching every-where, at all
hours, and in all sorts of places ; presiding at conferences, administer
ing the sacraments, delivering a funeral sermon in a part of the coun
try where such things were so popular that a funeral sermon was
preached over every one who died, " except the blacks," who, being chat
tels, were without benefit of clergy ; begging money for literary insti
tutions, such as Cokesbury College ; appealing to men in print ; codify
ing and publishing the first Book of Discipline — it is a wonderful and
stimulating story of episcopal travel.
The doctor returned to England in the month of June. He says
he had not for many years felt himself so effeminate as in parting
from the preachers ; to which Asbury's Journal gives the counterpart
record, " We parted with heavy hearts." He took farewell of the Con
ference on the 3d of the month, and a vessel with the well-omened
name of the " Olive Branch " bore him swiftly to his native shores.
While the results of the great experiment were being so success
fully worked out in the United States, there were those in England who
gathered up the garments of their Churchmanship and refused to look
cordially on any movement which did good to men in an irregular way.
There was a misgiving in many minds that there might be a renewal
of the experiment of separate organization in England ; and hence,
though Dr. Coke had the comfort of John Wesley's approval and sup
port, he had to contend with the opposition of his warm-hearted,
sacramentarian, but gloriously inconsistent brother. Charles Wesley

56 Methodist Bishops.
lacked his brother's prescience and " ecumenical grandeur of mind."
No man among the early Methodists was so rigid a Churchman, in
theory, and so arrant a Dissenter in practice. He systematically vio
lated the canons, the obligation of which he upheld with forceful em
phasis of pen and tongue. He would argue and suffer for " apostol
ical succession," but lampooned the " licensed servants of the State "
without mercy, speaking of them as
"Eager each the whole to engross,
As Churchmen never satisfied,
First they nail Him to the cross,
And then the spoils divide."
When he learned that his brother had ordained Coke a bishop he
broke out into the wailing, " I have lived on earth too long, who have
lived to see this evil day." On Coke's return to England he was
assailed privately by Charles Wesley's sarcastic wit, and publicly by
" Strictures " on his ordination sermon at Baltimore, from Charles
Wesley's pen. To this public assault the doctor deemed it necessary
to make a pubhc answer. The main charges of Charles Wesley's pam
phlet were four. There was an allusion in the sermon to alleged dis
advantages in a union of Church and State. On this was founded an
accusation that he condemned the Constitution of his country. He in
dignantly denies the charge, but takes occasion to observe that the
Constitution would be more perfect in its kind if there were the disso
ciation of that equivocal alliance. A second accusation was, that he
vilified his brethren with the names of parasites and hirelings. To
this he rejoined, that the persons he described never were his brethren
and that in general, with noticeable exceptions, " at whose feet I should
think it an honor to sit," " they were about as wretched a set as per
haps ever disgraced the Church of God." The " Strictures " complain,
also, that Dr. Coke contradicted the uniform declaration of the broth
ers Wesley respecting their adherence to the Church of England for
near fifty years. The easy answer to this is that he had done nothing,
save in the exercise of a power which had been directly delegated by
John Wesley himself. His censor finally alleges that he had " charged
the preachers with gross duplicity and hypocrisy, by saying that they
did in general constantly exhort the people to attend the service of the

Thomas Coke. 57
Church of England, from a full persuasion, drawn from experience,
that there was no other alternative to preserve the Society but an ad
herence to that Church, or the formation of ourselves into an inde
pendent one." Coke explains that he was speaking only of the Meth
odists of America ; vindicates his action by a reference to the state of
feeling there, of which Charles Wesley was profoundly ignorant ; and
of the further fact, that not five thousand out of at least a hundred
thousand composing Methodist congregations in that part of the globe,
had ever attended any ministry but that of the Methodists. These
were the main points of the dispute, which even drew the brothers
Wesley into -brief polemic antagonism. John sums up his estimate of
the merits in a characteristic sentence , " I tbelieve Dr. Coke is as free
from ambition as from covetousness. He has done nothing rashly, that
I know ; but he has spoken rashly, which he retracted the moment I
spoke to him of it. . . . If you will not or cannot help me yourself,
do not hinder those who can and will. I must and will save as many
souls as I can while I live, without being careful about what may pos
sibly be when I die."
In justice to Charles Wesley let it be stated, that his objections
were to the expediency, rather than to the lawfulness, of this particular
act, because, in their correspondence, he admits that his brother was a
bishop in the New Testament sense of that title ; and although he
maintained his rigid churchmanship to the last, and would not even
think of being interred in " unconsecrated " ground, as he drew near
the close of life he became less hostile to his brother's ordinations, and
within twelve months of his death, writing to his brother, he says :
" Stand to your own proposals. Let us agree to differ. I leave Amer
ica and Scotland to your latest thoughts and recognitions. Keep your
authority while you live, and after your death, detur dignioribus."
In 1786 Dr. Coke was again in America, having gone thither by
way of the West Indies, a providential deviation to which more special
reference may hereafter be made. He traveled through Georgia,
South Carolina, and Yirginia, " visiting and confirming the Churches,"
and attended the third Conference in Baltimore in the following
April. There was at this time a feeling among the preachers that he
was disposed to exceed his legitimate powers ; and it was instanced
(mistakenly, however, for the thing was done by Mr. Wesley) that he

58 Methodist Bishops.
had altered, on his own authority, the time and place for the meeting
of Conference after these matters had been determined by the Confer
ence itself. He listened to these complaints with respectful attention,
and drew up and signed a definite pledge by which he bound himself
to " exercise no government whatever " over the Church in America
during his absence, nor any privilege when present but that of ordina
tion according to rule, of presiding by virtue of his office, and of trav
eling at large. This curious document, given under his hand " on the
2d day of May, 1787," while it indicates the vigilance with which the
preachers guarded what they deemed their rights — unconsciously inten
sified, perhaps, by the thought that the supposed infractor of them was
not a citizen of the republic — indicates also the inherent greatness of
the Bishop's soul, the spirit of Christian love in which he lived and
moved, and that infallible criterion of superiority, the disposition to be
frank in the acknowledgment of even unwitting error, and prompt in
the offer of reparation for the wrong which had been unconsciously
done. At this Conference two notable things were done. The term
" bishop " first appears in the printed Minutes, and the declaration
that " during the lifetime of Mr. Wesley they were ready to obey his
commands in matters belonging to Church government," was for the
first time omitted therefrom. However Mr. Wesley may have thought
that both these things had come about with unseemly speed, he was
too shrewd to be astonished at the inevitable logical sequence from his
own act, and too much of a statesman to believe that his ipse dixit
could permanently control an organization three thousand miles away.
Dr. Coke's third landing in America was in February, 1789. At
the ensuing Conference, as certain changes amounting to a new Con
stitution had been given to the United States, and had been confirmed
at a Congress in New York, in which city the Conference was assem
bled, it was resolved to deliver a congratulatory address to General
Washington, who had been elected President, and which the two Bish
ops were appointed to deliver. It was considered that this address
which, after expressed congratulations on the General's appointment
to the presidency, went on to eulogize " the most excellent Constitu
tion of the United States," the present admiration and future exemplar
of the world, could not, with propriety, be presented by Dr. Coke,
although the senior Bishop, because he was not an American citizen.

Thomas Coke. 59
He, however, signed it in behalf of the Church, and the difficult posi
tion into which his dual character as an American Bishop and an En
glish subject plunged him became a source of complication and embar
rassment. He pleased, in fact, neither side of the water, although
there can be no manner of doubt that he had the best intentions toward
both. He was charged with duplicity in the American newspapers,
and suspected of disloyalty by some of his brethren at home. Hence,
on his arrival at the British Conference, he felt that the countenances
of his brethren were changed toward him ; and when the question of
character was before the Conference there was a pause at the name of
Thomas Coke, and the Bishop-doctor, the Anglo-American, was put
upon his defense. The Conference was unanimous in its judgment
that he had sinned against prudence in appending his signature to the
address ; that its phraseology, in several parts, was such as no loyal
British subject could lawfully use ; that it cast, by implication, reflec
tions upon the Government to which he had sworn allegiance ; and
especially, that from the prominent position which he occupied, no
utterance from his lips could be regarded as purely individual, and
that, therefore, he had been betrayed into an act which might com
promise the whole Methodist body in England, and subject them to be
suspected of disaffection to the Crown. The doctor heard the allega
tions in respectful silence. He saw, that from an English stand-point
he had erred, and was not disposed to deny his indiscretion, though he
was conscious that only regard for official propriety as senior Bishop
of the American Church had prompted him to the action which was
questioned. The Conference, indeed, though it deemed it a duty to
visit him with some mark of disapproval, was alive to the difficulties
of his position, and more concerned to vindicate itself than to brand
or punish him. They knew the man and loved him, and the proceed
ings of the Conference, after this matter had been decided, showed that
their affection and confidence were not a whit withdrawn. As we in
later times, now that the haze has cleared away, review the occurrence,
we are more disposed to pity his perplexity than to sit in judgment on
his course.The omission of a sentence or two in the address would have solved
all the difficulty. If it had been as carefully worded as the General's
reply — than which nothing could be more skillful, catholic, and happy —

60 Methodist Bishops.
there need have been no embarrassment. On the one hand, it would
have been discourteous and unbecoming if the address from the Meth
odist Society of the United States to the chief officer of the Govern
ment had lacked the signature of the senior bishop : on the other
hand, the Conference, having regard to the delicate position of Dr.
Coke in his dual relationships, should have framed the address so that
he could have signed it without reserve or misgiving, dwelling only
upon those general topics to which the illustrious Washington confines
his reply. But in such matters it is easy to be wise after the event.
If in endeavoring to avoid the perils of Scylla he fell into those of
Charybdis, it is for us to be thankful that neither the rocks nor the
whirlpool did either him or Methodism any grievous harm.
In October, 1790, Dr. Coke was again on the ocean, bound for the
West Indies and America. There were by this time seven Annual
Conferences, embracing a territorial area of two thousand miles, and
he had to preside at them all. He was in the midst of this vast visita
tion, having already been refreshed in spirit at the South Carolina,
Georgia, North Carolina, and two Virginia Conferences, when he saw
in a Philadelphia paper an account of the death of Mr. Wesley, and
at once deemed it his duty to shape his course for England. After a
tolerably pleasant voyage they came in sight of the Cornish coast, and
the doctor, not wishing to be delayed while the ship crept round to the
Thames, bargained with some outlying fishing-boats, made haste to land
at Redruth, and traveled by coach to London. In Cornwall he met
with a minister who apprised him of what had been done by the lead
ing preachers since the death of Mr. Wesley. He learned that the
idea which found most favor among them was, that the kingdom should
be divided into districts, each composed of a group of neighboring
circuits, and placed under the supervision of a chairman, who, like the
President of the Conference, should be elected for one year only. He
was told that the virtual autocracy which had been tacitly conceded to
Mr. Wesley during his life-time would die with him, nay, had already
died, beyond hope of a resurrection. While this information was being
communicated, it is left on record that Dr. Coke thought aloud, and
the thought found expression in the significant words, " It is a weight
too great to attempt to wield." It is not for us to affirm or deny that
there had been in the doctor's mind a half-confessed ambition to sue-

Thomas Coke. 61
ceed Mr. Wesley, which had quickened his steps homeward. Certainly,
there was a suspicion among the preachers to that effect. If it was so,
however, he showed, as has been said, " both wisdom and grace " in
dismissing the aspiration forever. Unlimited power is too great a peril
for any man. Nothing but the peculiar circumstances of Mr. Wesley's
position, and the transparent singleness of aim which characterized
him, and redeemed him, even in his mistakes, from the suspicion of
intentional injustice, could have justified the absoluteness of the au
thority which he wielded. Now that he had gone to his reward there
must be no Czar in Methodism. So determined were the brethren on
this point, that at the Irish Conference, over which Dr. Coke had al
ways presided by Mr. Wesley's appointment, they declined to allow
him the presidential chair ; and in the ensuing English Conference, the
first after Wesley's death, they designedly passed over the men whom
Wesley had ordained, and elected neither Coke nor Mather, but good,
prudent, zealous William Thompson to preside over them. Having
thus vindicated their principles, they showed their esteem for Dr.
Coke by making him the secretary of the Conference, an office which
he filled with some efficiency for a series of years. «
Some years afterward Coke seems to have been drawn again toward
America, where the work was becoming too arduous for Asbury's fail
ing strength, and at the Baltimore Conference of 1796 he offered him
self as Asbury's colleague " wholly for America." This, however, was
an impulse, and there were many considerations which placed him " in
a strait betwixt two." He had by this time become to some extent
identified with the missionary work, and the British Conference was
startled at the idea of losing him entirely. On his seventh voyage to
the new world he was sent to negotiate with the American Churches
as to his future place of abode. His administrative skill, his persuasive
preaching, his unmistakable earnestness, and the heart which he threw
into all he undertook, had endeared him to American Methodists.
Perhaps, also, they were attracted in spite of themselves by his episco
pal predilections, and because they regarded him as a living, winsome,
intelligent bond of connection between them and the mother Church.
The Lord reigneth, however, and his wisdom overruled all deliberations
and preferences, that his servant might be set free for the work which
he had yet to do. At this Conference they consented to his " partial "

62 Methodist Bishops.
continuance with the British Conference, to which they " lent him for
a season." The growing infirmities of Asbury, however, and the in
creasing magnitude of the work, necessitated a more constant super
vision than was consistent with even partial absence, and by the ordi
nation of Whatcoat as Bishop they prepared the way for the final
severance in ecclesiastical relations, although he was one with them in
heart unto the end.
Dr. Coke would have been a greater statesman if he had had fewer
" devices," and had cogitated longer upon those which his brain con
ceived. He damaged his own reputation, and gave occasion for sus
picion that he was actuated by meaner motives than the noble ones from
which he habitually acted, by hasty and injudicious proposals. Thus
he dreamed of a consolidation between the Methodist and Anglican
Churches, both at home and in America, and supposed, in his innocence,
that this could be accomplished without any abnegation of ministerial
status or surrender of connectional usage, although he declared his
readiness to submit to re-ordination if that were imposed as a pre
liminary condition. In this spirit he opened correspondence with Bishop
White, in America, and with Bishop Porteus, in England. Of course,
the negotiations failed ; of course, also, they were disclosed to the public.
Such things, as if by a law, always become public property, and the dis
closure did not enhance among the doctor's friends his reputation for
sagacity, while it furnished those who, like wizards, "peep and
mutter," with choice morsels of scandal and derision. In later life,
when he had set his heart upon the establishment of a mission in
India, and was, perhaps, depressed because his brethren were not as
enthusiastic in the project as himself, he learned that the government had
some thought of establishing a bishopric in India, and wrote at once to
Lord Liverpool, offering himself as 'a candidate, and promising, if ap
pointed, " to return most fully into the bosom of the Established
Church." This step will be variously estimated according to the pre
dilections, or it may be, prejudices, of those who judge of it. That it
was inconsiderate and Utopian no one can deny. But he was one of
those men "Who think what others only dream about,
And do what others think, and glory in
What others dare but do."

Thomas Coke. 63
But far down in the region of motive who shall say that there was
any thing unworthy ? There might be a mingling of selfishness with
simplicity — both infantile, and, therefore, harmless ; or there might be a
superb integrity of intention which lost sight both of the embarrass
ment to others and the honor to self in the prospect of coveted spirit
ual good. At any rate let him have the benefit of stating, in his own
words, his estimate of the labor which such an office involved.
In one of his latest charges to the American Conference, speaking of
himself and Bishop Asbury, he says : " We lay no claim to the epis
copal state of the Latin, Greek, English, or Lutheran Churches. It
will be easily seen that we are so unlike each other that we are not
even third cousins. Will their bishops, ride from five to six thou
sand miles in nine months for eighty dollars a year, making arrange
ments for seven hundred preachers, and ordain one hundred men an
nually ; ride through all kinds of weather and roads at our time of life,
the one fifty-six, and the other sixty-nine years of age ? " Noble am
bitions these ! If he desired " the office of a bishop," he desired " a
good work," in the most laborious and self-denying sense that can be
applied to that word. He was covetous of the responsibility, of the un
remitting toil, of the untrammeled opportunities for doing good which
the bishopric would bring him, rather than of the lawn, the miter, and
the palace — those post-apostolic appendages to the office, which tend
only to weight the wings of the " angels " who have " the everlasting
gospel to preach " in their flight through the " midst of heaven."
Coke was not a man of extensive literary labor or renown. How
could he be ? The men who make history have no time to write it.
He " gained the loss " of a considerable sum of money by his publica
tions, and achieved but scanty reputation in return. His Commentary,
prepared at the request of the Conference, is a fair compilation. He
"gutted" many folios, as Father Sutcliffe said in reference to his own
commentary, and his selections are skillfully made. He also published
a few sermons, letters, pamphlets, journals, accounts of various mis
sions, a " History of the West Indies," the " Cottager's Bible," and,
jointly with Henry Moore, a " Life of Wesley." He " thought he
could do some good through the press ; " but G od had other work for
him and he wrought cheerfully in God's way, " charmed to confess
the voice divine."

64 Methodist Bishops.
Dr. Coke was identified with so many of the notabiUa of Method
ism that to write of his life is to write a Methodist history. His con
nection with the " Deed of Declaration " has been already referred to.
Chosen President of the English Conference in 1797, he appended his
signature to the famous Plan of Pacification — the magna charta of our
Church — by which the controversies about the sacrament were ended,
and the mutual privileges and liberties of preachers and people consol
idated in some good measure. Of Irish Methodism he was for many
years an attached friend and an honored presiding officer. The mis
sions into Wales, his own country, awoke all the enthusiasm of his soul,
and were astonishingly successful. He was close upon the heels of
Brackenbury in the Channel Isles, and organized the first Society there,
avowedly regarding them as a " point d'avantage " from which to
make a merciful swoop into France.
He was the inspiration of the first missionary attack upon Gibral
tar, which, with a sublime unity of purpose, he regarded as the key
to Spain, and from this the army and navy work began. To him be
longs, in large measure, the honor of having initiated the Home Mis
sion, which is now so energetically conducted by the British Confer
ence. At the Conference of 1805, when he was elected President for
the second time, he made an urgent appeal for the setting apart of an '
" extra circuit ministry," specially to do the work of evangelists, and
was soon able to mark out eight missionary districts, which were so suc
cessfully worked that they became, in a few years, incorporated with
the ordinary circuits of the Connection. To this principle Methodism
has of late years reverted, as absolutely needful to supplement existing
pastorates if there is to be any chance of raising the rural populations
into Christian life, or of overtaking that worst of all paganism — the
paganism of forgotten Christianity among the seething masses of large
cities and towns. Meanwhile, all things conspired to intensify the
flame already kindled, and which impelled him to " the regions be
yond." It is to his connection with foreign missions that we must
look for the crowning sublimity of his hero-life. The great mission
ary organizations of the present were not in existence. The mission
ary spirit had struggled fitfully to show itself and approve its doings
ever since the Reformation. Let the Church of Rome have its due.
She had her missionaries, some of them, like Xavier, " worthies in

Thomas Coke. 65
whom an apostle might have gloried ; " and in 1622 Pope Urban insti
tuted the " Gongregatio de Propaganda Fide" whose machinery has
become cosmopolitan, whose presses have types in all the languages of
human literature, and whose messengers are found in all parts of the
habitable world. We have rasped off the errors of Rome. It is well
that we have not rasped off all the substantial features of her piety.
The papal missionaries, however, while they have been zealous agents
of popery, have been for most part poor preachers of the truth as it is
in Jesus. They have but baptized heathenism with a Christian name,
and there has been no laver of regeneration at the ceremony. Whole
sale baptisms have multiplied converts, but the old man has flaunted
in the new garment, and the worse in some respects for the change.
Nine years after the death of Luther, the Genevan Church pitied the
North American Indians, and sent fourteen missionaries to teach them
the better way. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was
shortly afterward established. Eliot and others had gone out under
Nonconformist auspices, and he had not only become " an apostle to
the Indians," but had translated the Scriptures into their language,
giving them to " see in their own tongue, the wonderful works of
God." The Moravian Church, to their eternal honor be it written,
is the only Church which has been missionary from its beginning.
Scarcely were they settled as a Communion, when they sent mes
sengers among the heathen to " testify the gospel of the grace of
God." Indeed, so ardently burned the missionary flame in their
hearts that at one time one member in every fifty was a missionary ;
and they have preferred, in their Samaritanism of charity, those on
the verge — the outcasts — of humanity, whom ordinary philanthropy
had passed by.
This was the condition of missionary enterprise when Dr. Coke
became fired with the holy impulse : and it is hardly too much to say,
that if it is now a fact that missions have come to be regarded as es
sentials of Church life — if the Church that is not a missionary Church
gets hardly credit for being a living Church — if every important evan
gelical communion has its organizations to carry on its missions to the
heathen — then of all this Dr. Coke was the pioneer, and, to a large ex
tent, the inspiration. None ever entered more truly into the apostolic
experience, " that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gen-

66 Methodist Bishops.
tiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles
might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost." Drifted,
as it seemed by an unfriendly tempest, to the West Indies, when his
destination was Nova Scotia, he took up the work which had been be
gun by Gilbert and Baxter, until the whole archipelago had heard the
glad sound of grace and freedom. Persecution arose : the negroes
were flogged, sometimes to death, for their religion ; some of the mis
sionaries suffered personal violence, others were cast into prison, " but
the word of God grew mightily, and prevailed." Flourishing Churches
were formed on almost every island, and the West Indian missions, as
they are among the oldest, have not been the least remunerative of
the missions of the Methodist Church. The heart of the Missionary
Bishop yearned, also, toward Africa. The Foulah Mission, which was
first begun, was a failure ; but succ.ess the most glorious attended subse
quent endeavors ; and although Sierre Leone was so fatal to European
life as to make it a costly experiment, and laborers fell so rapidly at
their posts that it became known as the Missionary's Grave, there were
never wanting those who aspired to be " baptized for the dead," and
there has been a plenteous harvest to reward the sowers' toil.
From the year 1786 Coke had the principal management of the
foreign missions. He was designated General Superintendent ; and he
did superintend, both by personal visitation where practicable, and by
attention to every minute detail of their financial management. The
British Conference gave him a carte-blanche to obtain funds where he
could, and besides giving of his own substance, he almost literally
begged from door to door. As early as 1784 he published a circular
headed, "A Plan of the Society for the Establishment of Missions
among the Heathen," and on the second page is a list of subscriptions
amounting to £QQ 3s, including two guineas from himself, and two
more from the Rev. Mr. Simpson, the clergyman of Macclesfield. He
was proof against insult and denial, and succeeded in quarters where it
seemed almost like the repetition of the miracle at Meribah. "Do
you know any thing," said a naval captain to his friend, " of a little
fellow called Coke, who goes about begging for money to send mis
sionaries to the heathen ? He seems to be a heavenly-minded little
devil ; he coaxed me out of two guineas this morning." He was in
earnest, and his earnestness became contagious, and awakened, even in

Thomas Coke. 67
hearts unused to feel so strongly, a kindred enthusiasm. " Go on," he
writes to the committee in London, as he incloses a remittance, " I will
beg hard for you." " I could not satisfy myself," he says further,
" till I had resolved to sacrifice all my literary labors, and to be noth
ing but a preacher and a beggar." The possession of the soul by one
heroic passion will make it stoop to any drudgery, and will bring the
refined to mingle with the coarse-minded, that they may be lifted
above the common clay. Coke's passion was to win the world for
Christ ; and if he thought any effort, or sacrifice, or apparent humilia
tion, would contribute to this, he was willing to be abased, if only his
Master was exalted and extolled.
Within the space of three years Dr. Coke had been much purified
in the furnace of affliction. To his fifty-eighth year he had remained
a celibate. In that year he married, and lived happily for six years
following, when he " mourned his dead." He remarried after some
time, but when little more than a year had elapsed, was again a wid
ower. Then he felt that his domestic history had closed, and with
renewed consecration married his work, chose the world for his home,
and made it " his meat and drink," as necessary and as pleasant to him
as his daily sustenance, " to do the will " of his Father in heaven.
Henceforward the great thought of his closing work became familiar
to him. He turned his face to the Orient, and longed to see those vast
countries of the morning radiant with the true light of life. His soul
had long coveted India for Christ, and after the failure of his negotia
tions about the bishopric, he had correspondence with Sir Alexander
Johnston, a pious judge from Ceylon, who urged that the Methodist
missions should be established in that beautiful isle. This was the
opening of Providence, and as such he regarded it. The continent of
India, under the sway of the East India Company, was hermetically
sealed to any organized missionary operations. But Ceylon, the Ta-
probana of the ancients, was under the freer policy of the king's minis
ters. Some of the European languages, moreover, had currency there,
— notably the Dutch and Portuguese. Claudius Buchanan, and other
gentlemen of Indian experience, strongly encouraged the selection of
Ceylon as a field of likely labor, and Coke's mind became possessed
with the idea. His friends remonstrated that he was wanted in En
gland, that it was now autumn-time with him, when it behooved him to

68 Methodist Bishops.
seek well-earned repose ; that it was his province now rather to sit on
the mount controlling, while younger warriors fought the foe in the
plain. He had but one answer: " God himself has said to me, Go to
Ceylon. I had rather be set naked on the coast without clothes and
without a friend, than not go there." The Conference met, and there
was strong opposition to the plan. The discussion was so protracted
that it was adjourned to the following day. Dr. Coke was so depressed
that he wept in the street. There was a change in the temper of the
Conference next morning. Much of the night had been spent by the
doctor on the floor of his chamber in prayer for India. How far these
two sentences sustain to each other the relations of cause and effect
who shall tell ? The doctor addressed the Conference in the morning,
strongly urging the commencement of the mission, and ended 'by saying,
that if the Conference could not furnish the expense, he would be pre
pared to defray the expenditure necessary to the outfit and commence
ment of the work to the extent of £6,000. This was the spirit which
conquered the Conference, and won for the ardent-hearted the greatest
moral victory of his life. The -Conference authorized and appointed
Dr. Coke to undertake a mission to Ceylon and Java, and allowed him
to take six missionaries, exclusive of one for the Cape of Good Hope.
Thus fortified, he went to work to prepare for departure. He had
long been communicating with the men whom he designed to accom
pany him. He had never doubted that the scheme would be approved.
Hence his recruits were ready. William Ault, who had been five
years in the ministry at home, and who, after a brief but useful career,
was the first to " fall on sleep " in the island, his bones, like those of
Joseph, taking possession of the land in the name of the God of Israel.
James Lynch, who had also been five years in the ministry, a shrewd,
witty, earnest-hearted Irishman, who died in Leeds at a very advanced
age. George ErsJcine, who had just completed his probation, who
aftewards went to Australia, and died peacefully in Sydney. William
Martin Harvard, a handsome, gentlemanly, refined, and blameless
man, who, after a course of honor in the East, served reputably in the
ranks of the ministry at home, and left to the Methodist Connection a
legacy of three worthy sons. Thomas Hall Squance, a full-souled,
honest, energetic spirit, whose long life was a record of unbroken faith
and labor, and whose many converts have ere now welcomed him at

Thomas Coke. 69
heaven's gate with singing ; and Benjamin Clough, youngest and dear
est, both to the doctor and his present biographer, a ripe Oriental
scholar, whose Singhalese Dictionary has been the basis of all oth
ers, and whose Pali Grammar is unrivaled in its sphere yet ; to whom
was given the honor of being instrumental in the conversion of the first
Buddhist priest who was made Christian, who remained at his post for
twenty-five years, a cheerful, manly, brotherly, brave spirit, whose
faith, like fire, transmuted every thing around it into its own substance,
and sent all upward in a bright offering of praise.
Benjamin Clough, with whom the writer enjoyed the intimacy of a
relative, and from whom he received the kindness of a son, was spoken
of to Dr. Coke as one who was likely to make him a suitable traveling
companion. Clough has recorded the interview : " How soon could
you be ready ? " asked the Doctor. " As soon as you please," was the
reply. " What, could you be ready by to-morrow morning ? " " Yes,
if necessary." So in five minutes the business was settled. The young
"man soon found himself " in a missionary atmosphere," and was led on
insensibly to be a partaker of the Doctor's enthusiasm. He relates how-
amazed he was at the composure of Dr. Coke as they -passed out of
London to Portsmouth on their way for embarkation. He seemed to
have no lingering regret, and uttered no farewells, Clough said, as they
were rolling through the suburbs of the city in the carriage : " It
will be a long while, Doctor, before we see these scenes again." The
only answer was, " Excuse me, brother, I am dead to all things but
India." Clough thought, " Well, I am here in a peculiar situation. I
have been brought into this position by no seeking of my own, and
though I feel some regret at parting from friends and native land, I
must look forward and upward. At that moment that note in the
gospel narrative struck me, ' They left all, and followed him.' This
raised my almost sinking spirits, and I began singing
" ' Gladly the toys of earth we leave —
Wealth, pleasure, fame — for Thee alone;
To thee our will, soul, flesh, we give;
O take, O seal them for thine own !
Thou art the God; thou art the Lord:
Be thou by all thy works adored.'
in which the doctor joined with great cheerfulness and spirit."
5

70 Methodist Bishops. •
This is very fine ! One knows not in which to most glorify the grace
of God : the veteran of Christ, in whom the ardor and the wisdom of
manhood blended with venerable age, possessed with one purpose so
strongly that the city was a solitude, and he could leave home and
friends without regret or faltering ; or the devoted youth of tender
heart and quick susceptibility, amazed at his emotionless companion,
yielding to a momentary sorrow, and then casting himself upon di
vine fidelity, and driving away the evil spirit from his soul, as David
from the melancholy Saul, with a burst of sacred song.
After the decision of the Conference, all the days and many of the
nights of the doctor were crowded with the cares of preparation. He
drew up a plan for the general sustentation of the missions, which,
after his death, ripened into the Wesleyan Missionary Society. He
settled his own temporal affairs, leaving his property, with the noble
generosity which distinguished him, to assist the provision for the
aged and disabled ministers. He assembled his little band, and set
them to work to study the languages with which they needed to be
familiar. He could not meet with a professor either of Singhalese or
Tamul in London, but a master instructed them in Dutch, and a Por
tuguese priest in a classical Portuguese, which was very different from
the patois spoken by the natives in Ceylon. He also provided letters
of introduction for his party from Earl Bathurst to the Governor of
Ceylon, and from other notable personages to their friends in India.
The outfit, which he took care should be of the best, occupied much
time and thought, and at last the missionaries were ordained, the pas
sage taken for himself, with Messrs. Harvard and Clough, in the " Ca-
balva," commanded by Captain Birch ; for the rest, in the " Lady Mel
ville," commanded by Captain Lochner ; the London valedictory serv
ices held, and the party were in Portsmouth, awaiting the departure
of the fleet with which they were to voyage. A Sabbath or two inter
vened before they set sail, and on one of these days Dr. Coke preached
for the last time his grand missionary sermon from the text, " Ethio
pia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God." Toward the close of
this sermon he thus triumphed in his victorious faith, and flung his
soul into a prophecy : — •
" This is, perhaps, the last time I shall ever have an opportunity of
addressing you. Within a few days we shall bid adieu to England,

Thomas Coke. 71
and, probably, forever. ... I am perfectly convinced that God will
bless our labors, though to what extent and in what manner, may be
unknown. We are in the hands of Omnipotence, and under the Di
vine protection ; and here we repose in safety and peace. It is of lit
tle consequence whether we take our flight to glory from the land of
our nativity, from the trackless ocean, or from the shores of Ceylon.
" 'I cannot go
Where universal Love shines not around :
And where He vital breathes, there must be joy.' . . .
" We can appeal to Heaven for the purity of our motives, and we look
into eternity for our final reward. Full of this conviction, we trust
that God, having made us instrumental in turning the hearts of the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just, will give us part in the first
resurrection, that on us the second death may have no power."
Thus spoke the veteran evangelist, as full of hope and faith as in
his youthful prime, while, though he knew it not, the sun was slop
ing quickly to the horizon, and in heaven his welcome was being
made ready, and the horses were being harnessed into the chariot of
fire. For the first few months the voyage proceeded with the usual
monotony, the doctor's chief study being his Portuguese Bible. He
says: "I have loved the word of God since I came into this ship
more than ever I did before.
" ' Jesus gives me in his word
Food and medicine, shield and sword.' "
In the comparative inactivity of ship-board there was room for the
testing of principles, and for the examination of the grounds on which
they rested. But he never wavered, and while he rejoiced in com
parative leisure, and felt more than ever the value of retirement and
silence, he had not a regret for the hours of " glorious drudgery "
which he had spent in the mission cause. Mrs. Ault's death and Mr.
Squance's sickness were the first sad incidents which depressed the
party, and aroused the doctor's sympathy. But the greater mystery
was at hand. In the neighborhood of the equator Dr. Coke's health
showed symptoms of declension which aroused the apprehensions of his

72 Methodist Bishops.
friends. Mr. Clough privately consulted the ship's surgeon, who
shared his convictions that incessant apphcation to study was sapping
his strength, and that it was impossible for a man in his seventh dec
ade of life to follow his accustomed pursuits in all climates with
equal assiduity. It was but rarely, however, that even affectionate re
monstrance could prevail on him to suspend his labors. Clough's win
some ingenuity was taxed incessantly to devise expedients to lure the
doctor out of his cabin. If a whale appeared, or the dorsal fin of some
villainous shark — if a dolphin chased a shoal of flying-fish, or a ship
came within hail — Clough would hasten to the cabin, and constrain the
doctor from his books to the deck, but the vital energy was innerly
wasting away. On May 2d, 1814, the venerable countenance seemed
shaded with unusual languor. It was a premonition of a startling
change. It was, in fact, as the voice of warning which the sons of. the
prophets spake unto Elisha, " Knowest thou that the Lord will take
away thy master from thy head to-day ? " Dr. Coke was found the
next morning lifeless in his cabin. Eighteen times had he crossed the
Atlantic in his Master's service ; he had spent a fortune in furthering
the cause of missions ; he had gathered up his remaining life for one
magnificent achievement ; he had been permitted to conduct his party
within the limits of Asia ; the brave thought of his heart was accepted
for the accomplished deed ; and then the Lord said, " It is enough,"
and the large heart became still. The mansion was ready. The fire-
chariot came silently, and in the still night, amid the pomp of watch
ing stars, the spirit which God loved went home.
It was impossible to delay the funeral, nor, although private feel
ings wished it, would it have been fitting. He had desired that in the
event of his death measures might be adopted for the transmission of
his remains to England for interment in the family vault at Brecon.
But God wanted a world-famed monument reared on the "silent
highway," and so, the sea became his grander sepulcher, as if so large
a heart could not rest in a narrower grave.

a:^R-K^--'^§i:;

FiS&MC OS A§[g(!JOSY0

EayJ by _ff fi.HaRJt '-.T.tijm.tn, cJd.fiml:

Francis Asbury.

BY REV. C. II. FOWLER, D.D., LL.D.

HI HIS name represents a character whose shortest axis was always
-L perpendicular to the plane of obligation. Therefore all his motion
was along the line of duty. Perhaps no man in modern times more
fully than he embodied the eternal grip of oughtness. In him the
gospel typed for a wilderness campaign. Like the great apostle to
the Gentiles, this great apostle of American Methodism has left a
double personal image or representation of himself in the mind of the
Church he founded. Measured by his oft infirmities he is too feeble
to be imposing : his bodily presence seems weak. Measured by the
magnitude of his labors, he towers up alone, the one colossal form of
the first half century of the Church. His words and works are most
weighty. He seems like the idea of duty in work-day clothes. His
life was a simple problem in multiplication — given so much ability, and
so much opportunity to find the product. In him Methodism went
down into the vineyard to work.
A monograph, to recapitulate his deeds, woujd be a history of
American Methodism for the fifty years in which she was making his
tory, and would swell up into a quarto; which every body would be
glad to own, and which nobody might be willing to read. It is a good
thing for a boy to have a father, and be up in his census history, but it
is far better for him to be familiar with his greatness and virtue. So
it is a good thing for a Church to have a founder, and to be up in his
census history, but it is far better for her to understand the great moral
currents that flowed through his years, and comprehend the soul-con
vulsions that lifted his work above the waters into everlasting remem
brance. A wise government erects its public buildings to stand for
a thousand years. Patiently it chisels them out of granite. The style
may grow old and odd, but the walls defy fire and frost. Among
building materials Asbury was granite. The prudent banker puts his
treasures behind chilled -steel. Asbury was chilled-steel. The belated

76 Methodist Bishops.
stranger searches the heavens for the polar star, and with his eye on
that he makes his way in safety. Asbury was the North star, not
transcendently brilliant, but clear, steady, and always in the same place.
Any stranger or bewildered mariner could safely follow his light.
His plans required centuries for their consummation. He seemed like
one sowing the desert with acorns to be harvested by another genera
tion. He worked like one seeing the invisible and believing the
impossible. Great men and great events are God's ordained and anointed teach
ers of the race. Such men stand nearest to the. Infinite. They catch •
the secret of his working. They form a league with events. When
they come into the world humanity goes down on her knees to receive
them and the message they are sent to deliver. The bulk of history
is only biography — writings about lives. We call it history — his-story
— the story of the man who caused the things to come to pass.
Francis Asbury grew in the saint-bearing soil of the world, in that
social formation where there is too much poverty for idleness, and too
much wealth for dishonesty. At the top, (in our way of seeing, God
may reverse the order,) indolence begets crime. At the bottom, (or
top ?) helplessness issues letters of marque and reprisal. Asbury was
saved from both extremes. In Staffordshire, near " the foot of Hemp
stead Bridge," (so says the old chronicle, without pausing to explain
where the head of the Bridge could be,) hard by Birmingham, he was
born and endowed with English sense. It was on the 20th day of Au
gust, 1745. His parents' names were Joseph and Elizabeth ; good
Bible names, and they were " amiable and respectable " people.
Francis accomplished the feats of other English children, and nothing
more, if we except two factors that entered into and modified his whole
life. One was the death of his only sister, a sweet and most lovable
spirit, whose departure left Francis the only child in the family, and
turned his sorrowing heart toward heaven. The other was the per
sistent life of his only teacher, one Arthur Taylor, of Sneal's Green.
This creature's cruelty, and not dying, drove young Asbury from his
chance for early training. Doubtless this was overruled for good. But
that did not rob it of its essential guilt and meanness. Taken from
school to prevent his being taken from the world, he shortly after be
came an inmate of a wealthy family, where he was tested in another

Francis Asbury. 77
way. The family was fashionable, but not religious. Spiritually, the
young believer suffered more from this worldly treatment than he had
from Master Taylor's fiendish treatment. It is the old story over again :
the captive's pit is safer than the prince's palace.
At the early age of seven he was devoted and sober and thought
ful. But, seven years later, by forming the acquaintance of a pious
man, he was set on more careful self-scrutiny. Hearing of the Meth
odists, he asked his mother who they were and what manner of people
they were. She spoke well of them. He went to Wednesbury to
hear them " pray without reading, and preach without writing." The
Divine Spirit awakened him. Shortly after, while earnestly praying
in his father's barn, his soul was filled with joy in believing, and he
had the witness of the Spirit to his pardon and adoption. Immedi
ately he began to exercise his gifts in exhortation and preaching. Five
years later he joined the Wesleyan Conference. From this hour for
ward he knew nothing but this one work.
His preaching in England was marked by great success ; multitudes
thronged to hear the " boy preacher." There was a ruggedness and
directness, accompanied with youthful fire, that made all the shire-
world wonder. His work grew on his hands, and he grew on the
hands of the Conference.
In August of 1771, after about nine years of successful labor, he
went up to the British Conference with his heart set on America. It
was not a dream. He was no dreamer. It was a call as certain as
Abraham's. It was a voice as clear as that of Joan of Arc. If the
way opened he would go to America. The way opened in Mr. Wes
ley's call for volunteers. Asbury offered, was accepted, adjusted his
matters, gained the consent of his parents, and in the summer of 1771
he sailed for America.
Ease did not ship with him. Fame did not call him by his given
name. Wealth did not beckon to him. In that day America was a
wilderness. Methodism was the newest thing in the New World. The
few scattered members had no powerful and well-salaried pulpits. He
expected " to work hard, fare hard, and be used hard," and he was not
disappointed. He heard only the voice of duty. The infant Church
furnishes few, if any, better specimens of sacrifice. He that will lose
his life shall find it.

78 Methodist Bishops.
The period from his landing in Philadelphia, October, 1771, till
the Christmas Conference of 1784, forms a long and peculiar chapter
in his life. He received his appointments from the Conference with
the other preachers. At first they were changed every three months.
If Methodism were not of God it could not survive its poor treatment.
He was now in a new land, built on such a vast scale that its very
magnificence was wearisome. The rivers, plains, and mountains of
his far-away native land seemed only pocket-models compared with
those over whose greatness he was to journey and grow great. He
came on a mission, and waited only opportunity to begin his work.
He was not seeking a cathedral, nor waiting for a throng. Wherever,
in city or wilderness, in church or hamlet, he found room on which
to stand, there he had a pulpit ; and wherever he found an open ear,
there he had an audience. With such a spirit, and with such a gos
pel, such a man could not be idle. On the evening of the day he
landed he attended service in the old St. George's Church, in Philadel
phia, and heard a good sermon from Rev. Joseph Pilmoor. The next
day\he enjoyed the same privilege, intensified by the opportunity to
labor personally with inquirers. Immediately he began visiting from
house to house, talking and praying with the people. Soon he preached
his first sermon, and " felt his mind opened, and his tongue unloosed."
On the 6th of November he preached, for this ten-days' visit, his last
sermon in Philadelphia. The church in that city felt the inspiration
of a master workman.
, From Philadelphia he went to Burlington, and preached in the
Court-house. Next he preached on Staten Island for a few days.
Then he made his first appearance in New York, and, in the old John-
street Methodist Episcopal Church, preached his first sermon on Tues
day, November 13, 1771, from the text, "I determined not to know
any thing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Here he
met Richard Boardman. Together they cultivated New York and Phila
delphia, usually changing every three months. Asbury did not con
fine his labors to the cities. He traversed all the accessible regions,
preaching in Westchester and other "back settlements."
Francis Asbury initiated the first regular circuit work in Amer
ica. I had rather have such a productive idea truthfully mentioned
on my tomb than the celebrated epitaph dictated by Thomas Jefferson,

Francis Asbury. 79
" Thomas Jefferson, the Author of the Declaration of Independence,
and the Founder of the University of Virginia." Asbury saw that
the preachers preferred the cities, and he resolved to be an itinerant
m deed and in truth, and "go where the people wanted [needed] him
the most."
While he and Boardman were working in New York he wrote in
his Journal : " I remain in New York, though unsatisfied with our be
ing both in town together. I have not yet the thing which I seek, a
circulation of the preachers to avoid partiality and popularity. How
ever, I wa. fixed to the Methodist plan, and do what I do faithfully as
unto God. I expect trouble is at hand. This I expected when I left
England, and I am willing to suffer, yea, to die, rather than betray so
good a cause by any means. It will be a' hard matter to stand against
all opposition ' As an iron pillar strong,
And steadfast as a wall of brass,'
but, through Christ strengthening me, I can do all things. My brethren
seem unwilling to leave the cities, but I will show them the way. I
have nothing to seek but the glory of God ; nothing to fear but his dis
pleasure. I have come to this country with an upright intention, and
through the grace of God I will make it appear. I am determined
that no man shall bias me with soft words and fair speeches ; nor will
I ever fear the face of man, or know any man after the flesh, if I beg
my bread from door to door ; but, whomsoever I please or displease, I
will be faithful to God, to the people, and to my own soul." This is the
germ of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Given this initial impulse,
and the conquest of the continent is only a question of time. These
words, dictated by the Holy Ghost, no less than those other memorable
words, " I count all things but loss," — nor less than those yet other
words, " I come to do thy will, O God," — these words give us the spirit,
the ' power, the government, and the organization of Methodism in
America. The little city of New Y irk, with twenty-five thousand inhabitants
scattered between the Battery and Beekman-street, could not contain a
man with such a purpose, impelled by such an inspiration.
Stationed a part of the next year in Philadelphia, he visited Bur-

80 Methodist Bishops.
lington, Wilmington, Greenwich, Trenton, Gloucester, and other points.
He was a born itinerant. With the sign in his legs, he must go.
Mr. Wesley created Methodism, and held, by common consent, the
directing power. His word was law. On the 10th of October, 1772,
Mr. Asbury received a letter from Mr. Wesley appointing him Super
intendent of the Societies in America. He bore this responsibility
for about two years. He traveled frequently from New York to Balti
more, visiting and preaching from point to point. New York, Phila
delphia, Baltimore, Newcastle, Wilmington, Trenton, and Burlington,
were the principal centers from which he radiated into the rural dis
tricts. There were with him six or seven assistants, with definite ap
pointments. The chief difficulty in administering upon the interests of the
Church was, then as now, in the general tendency to laxness of living.
Any thing can swim down stream. Only live fish can swim up stream.
The members chafed under the rule concerning class-meetings, and the
preachers dreaded the long circuits. In 1772 Mr. Wesley re-enforced
the work in America by sending Thomas Rankin and George Shad-
ford. Some little time after this, in accordance with the custom of
Methodism, Mr. Rankin, being older than Mr. Asbury, was appointed
Superintendent in America, and during his five-years' stay in the
country discharged the duties of the office. Mr. Asbury received
his appointments from the Conference with the other preachers.
Mr. Asbury felt thankful to be relieved from the responsibility of
caring for the Church, and hoped Mr. Rankin would prove all that the
Church needed. After hearing him. preach, he thought Mr. Rankin
would never be very popular as a preacher, but would be useful as a
disciplinarian. The order of Providence and the constitution of their
minds separated these men farther than either wished. Both sought
the same ends, the establishment of Methodism in America, and the
enforcement of the rules of English Methodism, but by different
processes. Rankin was English. Asbury was English Americanized.
Rankin acted on asserted authority. Asbury veiled his authority by
persuasion. " He was firm, yet conciliatory ; efficient, yet unassuming ;
decided, yet not dictatorial ; strict, yet mild." Thus there grew up an
estrangement between them.
In 1774 Mr. Asbury suffered much from poor health, and asked

Francis Asbury. 81
Mr. Rankin not to send him to the " low country." Rankin differed
from him in judgment, and suggested that it would be vain for him to
try to be stationed in Baltimore. " This," Asbury says, " is somewhat
grievous, that he should prevent my going to Baltimore, after being
acquainted with my engagements, and the importunities of my friends
there." I am glad to meet this passage. Physicians often dislike
their own prescriptions, yet it is sometimes a good thing for them to
swallow them, regardless of preferences. The dictatorship of Rankin
closed with his flight from the Colonies, whose cause he could not es
pouse, but it had instructed Asbury in the secret of power. The su
perintendency falling again upon him, was handled with the utmost
wisdom and discretion.
His time was occupied by the habit of his life, and by the pressure
of his work. While the number of the preachers was small and the
Conferences few, yet the times were most troubled, and the Church
needed both creating and sustaining. His health giving way under
the pressure of care and work, he visited the Warm Sulphur Springs
in Virginia for rest. That his time might not be wholly lost during
this, he adopted the following rule : " To read one hundred pages a day,
to pray in public five times a day, to preach in the open air every other
day, and to lecture in prayer-meeting every other evening." This was
recreation at a watering-place, toned down to suit a worn-out worker !
But the strangest thing is to come. He says, " The size of the house
in which we live is twenty feet by sixteen, and there are seven beds
and sixteen persons, besides some noisy children." With this treat
ment for the sick, it would be interesting to know what the well did
and endured. After five weeks of this " rest" he left the Springs dis
gusted, calling them " the best and worst place I was ever in — good
for health, but most injurious for religion."
His relations to the Colonies were embarrassed by his relations to
English Methodism. This gave him one of the sorest trials of his
entire life. Early in his experiences in America he became convinced
that the Methodism of this country could not always be appended to
the Methodism of Great Britain. Slowly he worked his way up
through the many questions that entangled his path. The spirit of
the Colonies rose higher and higher as the years of the war passed
by. Every man was scrutinized. And these English preachers, trav-

82 Methodist Bishops.
eling up and down the land, needed to give good account of themselves
or suffer the consequences. All the missionaries sent over by Wesley
left the country except Asbury. Rankin urged upon him the neces
sity of their all leaving while they had a chance. Asbury declined.
His associates might go if they pleased, but he would stand by the
souls who looked to him for care whatever the consequences might be.
He told Mr. Rankin that the Americans would never be satisfied
with any thing short of independence, that he felt a presentiment that
God Almighty designed America to be free and independent, and that
a great American Methodist people would be gathered in this country.
On this conviction he determined to stand by the Colonies and Ameri
can Methodism. This view, doing such credit to his statesmanship,
maintained with such courage in spite of the desertion of all his coun
trymen, and in spite of his veneration for Wesley, ought to have made
him friends among the Colonists. It is exactly in this line that we
recall his personal friendship for Washington, which was cordially re
turned by that leader. It is told in his utterances on the occasion of
Washington's death, " Washington, the calm, intrepid chief, the disin
terested friend, first father and temporal saviour of his country. . . .
I am disposed to lose sight of all but Washington — matchless man ! "
In spite of these views, so loyal to the Colonies and so honorable to
the man, he was misrepresented and misunderstood. Having a hor
ror for war, and feeling daily the embarrassment of' the Church and
the peril of the cause of Christ, he went quietly about the work of
preaching the gospel, never referring to the questions at issue, seek
ing only to do what he could. to save sinners. But he was an English
man, and those unacquainted with his heart felt sure he must be a Tory.
His steps were followed, and his field of usefulness narrowed. He
was preaching in Baltimore when he was required to take the oath of
allegiance. There were some things in the State oath to which he could
not subscribe, and so he conscientiously refused, because it was "pre
posterously rigid" and "unreasonable." He could then preach no
more in Maryland. He retired to Delaware, where a State oath
was not required of clergymen. " He could have taken," he says,
" with a good conscience, the Delaware oath, had it been required."
He retired to an asylum at the residence of Thomas White, Esq.,
in Delaware. He rested in this family about one month, when

Francis Asbury. 83
circumstances made it necessary for him to leave for a season. He
went forth, not knowing where he should find shelter. He came
upon a house of mourning, and acted as minister to comfort
the sorrowing ; then journeyed on with no objective point, wishing
simply to go from, not to. The way was winding, lonely, and depress
ing. Late at night, weary and sick, he found a shelter. The next day
he felt constrained by other events to move on again. He went out
into a dark and dismal swamp and remained till night, when a friend
took him in and protected him. In this swamp he drank the dregs of his
cup, and sank lower in his feelings than ever before. But his motives
were pure. He trusted in Providence, and so waited for deliverance.
At this point news reached him that Rev. Joseph Hartley had been
imprisoned, and that the amiable Freeborn Garrettson had been mobbed
and nearly killed. The patriotism of the ignorant was often made to
accomplish the purposes of bigots, who could not endure the rebuke
of righteousness. After a month he returned to Judge White's, where he remained
till the troubles were passed. He preached about in the neighborhood
as he could find opportunity. But Delaware was too small for him,
and he was depressed till he was again about his great work. It
was not a home, nor a few friends, nor quiet, nor rest he wanted ; but
he must be about his Master's business, and nothing less than the con
tinent-could satisfy him.
Threatened separation of the Church in the South from the Church
in the North claimed Mr. Asbury's earliest attention after leaving his
retreat. Having become a citizen of Delaware, he went to Baltimore
with recommendations from the Governor of Delaware that opened
his way to work in Maryland without restraint. It was high time he
was in the field. Troubles were rife on all the hard questions of
Church polity. The Methodist Church in England had always been
regarded as a part of the English Church. They were only Societies in
the body of the Church. The Wesleys were clergymen of the En
glish Church, and did not understand that they were actually creating
a gigantic Church. This same idea came to the Colonies with Meth
odism. Methodism, therefore, had no ordained ministers, and no sacra
ments. The people and preachers went alike to the clergy of tho En
glish Church for the sacraments. These men were neither numerous

84 Methodist Bishops.
nor often eminent for piety. The people began to ask, Why cannot
our preachers, who teach us, and in whose piety we have confidence,
administer the sacraments as well as these wine-drinking, ease-seeking
ministers, or as well as the Presbyterian and Baptist ministers ?
This unnatural relation could not endure the shock of revolution.
In the South, where Methodism found congenial soil, and where native
preachers were more abundant, and English influence less marked, the
preachers and people became restless. By and by it culminated. The
Virginia preachers indicated resistance to the unnatural practice. The
Conference of Northern preachers, in 1779, sent a judicious and con
ciliatory letter to their Southern brethren. It accomplished nothing.
At the Conference, held in Virginia a few weeks later, the preachers
resolved to proceed with the necessary work upon which they had en
tered. They appointed a committee of the most respectable and el
derly men among them to ordain the preachers. The committee first
ordained themselves, and then the other members of the Conference.
Then they administered the ordinances among the people.
Soon this reached Asbury and troubled him exceedingly. It was
not Methodistic. He forgot that Methodism means always doing the
best thing possible to-day. He set himself with all his might to re
claim them. He wrote both arguments and love. But they answered,
" The people will not go to the clergy of the Episcopal Church." Just
before the session of the Northern Conference, in 1780, Asbury re
ceived an encouraging letter from one of the Virginia preachers.
This renewed his efforts. The Southern Conference refused to adopt
Asbury's plan, which offered union on condition that the dissentients
should ordain no more, that they should not presume to administer
the ordinances where there was a decent Episcopal minister, and that
they would hold with the North a Union Conference. Failing in this,
Asbury offered a resolution that a committee be appointed to proceed
to the Southern Conference, and to propose the suspension of all pro
ceedings respecting the ordinances for one year. This prevailed. As
bury, William Watters, the oldest native preacher, and the loving and
able Freeborn Garrettson, were appointed the committee. In fear
they went to Virginia.
The Conference met and asked Asbury to open the case. He read
Wesley's " Thoughts against Separation " from the Church, exhibited

Francis Asbury. 85
his own private instructions from Wesley, and explained the views of
the Conferences held at Delaware and at Baltimore. He then preached
to the Conference a prudent gospel sermon. The prospect seemed
good. But the intermission at noon undid all that had been done. In
the afternoon he explained mildly the conditions of union, and left
them to act. Shortly a committee from the Conference come to no
tify him that the Conference could not accept the terms. This de,
cision overwhelmed Asbury and his associates. Methodism must
henceforth be divided in America, and the different sections must war
upon each other. The picture was too dark. He burst into tears, and
the other brethren wept with him. All hope of union and peace was
gone. Almost broken-hearted, Asbury went to his room and poured
out his soul to God, asking for deliverance. Then he went round to
the Conference to take his leave of them. It is impossible to describe
his joy on being told, at the Conference door, that the Conference had
reversed its decision, and concurred in the plan of union. Who shall
say that Asbury's tears and prayers did not prevail ? This is evident,
that his management of this most difficult case — so prudent, so gentle,
so tearful, so firm, so manly — demonstrated his ability. Where such a
man sits, there must be the head of the table.
His work for the next four years was riding, preaching, swimming,
shivering, holding Conferences, raising money for the Church, as it
had been in the past.
The Christmas Conference deserves liberal space. This session of
the Conference, in 1784, is, without doubt, the most important meeting
of Methodist preachers ever held -on this continent. It was the or
ganization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. The form
of government, the constitution, and the character of the Church
were fixed by this session. It was no accidental gathering. It was
the culmination of years of preparation. The time had fully come.
The war of the Revolution had settled the relations between England
and the United States. The Churches this side of the Atlantic must
be separate from those in England. After mature deliberation Mr.
Wesley resolved upon establishing the Methodists of America as a
Church distinct from the Episcopal Church of this country, and for
this purpose ordained Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as Elders
for the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. He then appointed

86 Methodist Bishops.
Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury joint Superintendents over the Methodists
in America, and he ordained Coke as bishop. Coke, Whatcoat, and
Vasey arrived in America in the autumn of 1784. They communicated
the object of their mission to Mr. Asbury and others. A Conference
of all the preachers was called to meet in Baltimore, on Christmas-day,
1784. They met, read Mr. Wesley's letter, adopted his plan of gov
ernment. But, true to the practice of his life and the instincts of his
nature, Mr. Asbury refused to accept the office as Mr. Wesley's ap
pointee. He referred it to the preachers to elect. Thus the office o*
bishop was to be filled by election. On the motion of John Dickins,
the new Church was named the Methodist Episcopal Church. Then
Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury were unanimously elected bishops. Mr.
Asbury was ordained deacon, December 25, elder, December 26, and
consecrated bishop, December 27, and Dr. Coke gave him one parch
ment covering the three ceremonies. That is the shortest time on
record in which any one ever passed from the laity to the episcopacy.
This could not have been done had not there been a vast amount of
episcopal material in the subject.
It is worthy of note, that the very first thing done by the new
Church after its organization was to establish a seminary of learning
for the education of youth.
The history of Bishop Asbury after the Christmas Conference is a
story of long journeys through dangerous forests, many cares, much
exposure, frequent distresses, often infirmities, perpetual poverty, and
great usefulness. As we recall the varied scenes of his life, enough
will appear to fill out this vast outline of character.
St. Paul thought it good for the Church to have a few glances at
fhe difficulties that he encountered in his work. So it may encourage
our faith to glance over the difficulties met and vanquished by this
pioneer bishop. His first and constant difficulty was poverty. Work
ing for $64 a year and traveling expenses could not secure a speedy
fortune : yet there were not wanting men who charged him with
making a fortune out of his office. An appeal to Mr. Dickins, Book
Agent, who audited his accounts, developed a clear account of Asbury's
business habits. He took his salary, $64 per year, and made the most
of it. Not another cent came to him from any other source. Every
thing above this was credited to the Church and accounted for.

Francis Asbury. 87
He gives us a graphic picture of a ride he took with Bishop
M'Kendree, in Georgia. He says, "We are riding in a poor $30
chaise, in partnership, two bishops of us. But it must be confessed
it tallies well with the weight of our purses. What bishops ! Well,
but we have great times. Each Western, Southern, and Virginia Con
ference will have a thousand souls truly converted to God. And is
not this an equivalent for a light purse ? Are we not well paid for
starving and toil ? " In 1804 he says, " The superintendent bishop of
the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, being reduced to two
dollars, was obliged to make his wants known." Another window
through which we can look for revelations is found in 1806, while he
was attending the Western Conference. He says, " The brethren
were in want, and could not suit' themselves, so I parted with my
watch, my cloak, and my shirt." The bishop of five hundred preach
ers and of one hundred and thirty thousand members selling his
watch, cloak, and shirt, to help the preachers that were even poorer
than himself ! Nothing is impossible under such a leader. The old
story of the military commander pouring out a little water rather than
drink it when his soldiers were famishing is outdone, and need not
seek corroboration.
The untamed character of the country was a constant enemy to
his ease. The roads were rough or only bridle paths. He crossed
wide districts with no guide but the sun and stars; clambered over
mountains with no path but the trail of the savage or the track of
wild animals ; swam rivers filled with floating ice ; slept on the ground
in the rain ; crowded into the cabins of the settlers ; endured all things,
and hoped all things. There seems to remain no form of peril or
exposure which he did not encounter. In May, 1782, during the two
weeks following the Baltimore Conference, Asbury traveled through
Maryland and Pennsylvania, a distance of more than two hundred
miles, crossing the mountain on foot, and preaching seventeen times
in the huts and cabins. We soon became accustomed to see this man
ride forty or fifty miles a day, preach once or twice, and swim the
rivers in his pathway. Search the records of civilized nations and of
barbarians, and you shall find no form of exposure to which you can
not find a duplicate in the life of Asbury.
In 1795 he spent January and February in Charleston, S. C, to
6

88 Methodist Bishops.
secure the help of a mild climate for his delicate health. But the
wickedness of the city shocked him beyond endurance. He says, " I
was insulted on the pavement with some as horrible sayings as could
come out of the mouth of a creature this side of hell. When I pray
in my room with a few poor old women, those who walk the streets
will shout at me." If he went to the plantations he encountered sin
in other and equally horrid forms. He says, "If a man-of-war be a
floating hell, the Southern rice plantations are standing ones."
The intensity of these trials was increased by the fact that they
had to be borne alone. The membership of the Church was small,
and the members were scattered far and wide. They were poor, in
little cabins on the border, and scattered along the streams. Asbury
was not solicited by wealthy and cultivated Church committees to
come to large and opulent congregations. He had no attentive com
mittee to put an elegant home richly furnished in order for his recep
tion. He had no treasurer to take full charge of his bills and see that
no worldly care be allowed to disturb his studies and meditation. His
work was of a different character. He mounted his horse, and rode
forty pr fifty miles daily through the mud and rain, swam the streams,
often slept on the ground in the rain, went without his food, search
ing among the cabins for sinners to save, and for room in which to
plant the Redeemer's kingdom. Frequently wandering in the wilder
ness, weary, wet, hungry, he would make his way to some solitary
light to be greeted by curses, and to have the dog hissed after him, or
receive such a cold greeting that he felt he was not welcome, when he
invariably went out, regardless of the rain, or darkness, or hunger, or
even the exhaustion of his horse, and sought more hospitable quarters
under the shelter of some forest tree. Often when received into the
privations of border life he found his greatest need, in his own sharp
language, to be " a brimstone shirt." It would require volumes to
repeat, in the simplest way, his experiences of this character. Not
only was he without members on whom to rely, but, of course, he had
no places in which to preach except as he created them for the hour.
Visiting Yorktown, he writes, " York, lately the seat of war ! Here
Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the combined armies of America and
France. The inhabitants are desolate and careless. I preached to a
few women, and then lodged in the poor-house." A little later, visiting

Francis Asbury. 89
Bath Springs, Va., he " preached in the theater, and lodged under the
same roof with the play-actors." Not having churches, he transformed
the whole land into a vast cathedral, and preached up and down each
aisle, and at each pew-door. There is hardly a rock or mountain or
brooklet, from New York to the Gulf, between the sea and the summit
of the Alleghanies, that did not hear his voice or echo his cry of life.
But even his destitutions and hardships did not shield him from
abuse. He could not become too poor to be robbed, nor sink too low
to be slandered. To enemies he says, " The Methodists acknowledge
no superiority but what is founded on seniority, election, and long
and faithful services. For myself, I pity those who cannot distin
guish between a pope of Rome and an old worn man of about sixty
years, who has the powers given him of riding five thousand miles a
year at a salary of eighty dollars, through summer's heat and winter's
cold ; traveling in all weathers ; preaching in all places ; his best cover
ing from rains often a blanket ; the surest sharpener of his wit, hunger,
from fasts voluntary and involuntary ; his best fare for six months in
the year, coarse kindness ; and his reward from too many, suspicion,
murmurings, and envy all the year round."
Prejudice and bigotry and ignorance combined to load him down
with difficulties and disabilities. Once in Kent County, Maryland, an
officious Episcopal preacher demanded by what authority he preached,
ordered him to desist, and threatened to proceed against him according
to law. Asbury disregarded him and his assumptions. Somewhat
discomfited the preacher said, " You will create a schism." Asbury
replied, " Do not horse-races hinder the people ? " He insolently
asked, " What is your work ? " " To turn sinners to God," said Asbury.
The parson laughed and said, " Yon are a fine fellow, indeed." Soon
he got angry. But Asbury went calmly on, as he was wont to do,
meeting all manner of abuse from saints and sinners, ordained and
unordained. These human wolves were soon forgotten amid the howl
ing of forest and wilderness wolves.
Outside perils proved no mean tests of courage. Do you doubt it ?
Go with him to yonder Dismal Swamp, in South Carolina. He was
" every-where surrounded with a wide sweep of waters and deep
morasses." Yet how jollily he takes it for such a grim and resolute
soul. He says, " Three miles on the water and three more on roads

90 Methodist Bishops.
under water made our jaunt unpleasant." Overtaken by a terrific
storm in the mountains, he says, " We were spoken to on our way by
most awful thunder and lightning, accompanied by heavy rain."
Once traveling all day in a chilly rain, while suffering with a blinding
headache and fever, he crossed the Wautawga, swimming his horse
behind a canoe, and was overtaken in the mountains by night. He
says, " I was ready to faint. The mountain was steep on both sides.
I prayed to the Lord for help. Presently a profuse sweat broke out
upon me, and my fever entirely subsided." When every thing else
failed he prayed things through. In a few days we find him again
crossing the Alleghanies " at a bad passage." He writes, " We came
to an old, forsaken habitation in Tygart's Valley, where our horses
browsed and we cooked our lunch. Midnight brought us to J.'s. The
old man awoke us at four next morning. We journeyed on through
devious, lonely wilds, where no food might be found except what
grew in the woods or was carried with us. Near midnight we stopped
at A.'s, who hissed his dogs at us. So we journeyed on. . . That night
our poor horses got no corn, and next morning they had to swim
across the Monongahela. Man and beast were so outdone that it took
ten hours to accomplish the next twenty miles." Once in crossing the
Catawba, at Howe's Ford, he came near losing his life. He entered
the river at the wrong place, and was soon among the rocks and whirl
pools. His head swam, and his horse was affrighted. In the good
order of Providence he was delivered from that bear into the lion's
mouth — darkness. Night came. It rained. He lost his way. Wan
dered till past midnight. Found a house ; called. The settler answered,
asking, "Who is there?" Asbury replied, "It is raining too power
fully for talk." The door opened, and " dear old Father Harper " cried
out in astonishment, " God bless your soul ! Is it Brother Asbury ?
Wife, get up." This experience is varied only by greater emphasis.
Hear him say, "My dear M'Kendree had to lift me up and down from
my horse like a helpless child." Still he went on. No wonder that
he was often compelled to sit while preaching. I only wonder that
he did not preach habitually in his coffin. See him hurrying through
the wilds of Kentucky, three hundred miles over mountains and
through vast stretches of unbroken reeds, threatened and harassed by
hostile savages, protected only by ten men, and making the entire

Francis Asbury. 91
journey in six days. The strangeness of the scene, the danger to him
self and company, and the disordered condition of his health, all conspired
to rob him of his sleep. Between care and picket-duty he slept less
than one hour in twenty-four. This soon brought on delirium.
Surely such work was a full measure of his endurance. The record
of his journeys demonstrates that even such fatigue and disease could
not long hinder him. From January, 1785, to January, 1790, he made
twenty visits to Virginia, ten to North Carolina, seven to South Car
olina, nineteen to Maryland, seven to Pennsylvania, ten to New
Jersey, seven to Delaware, five to New York, and two to Georgia.
He gives us a glance at one year's work, 1791. Traveled a circuit
embracing thirteen States, over which were scattered two hundred and
fifty preachers and sixty-three thousand members ; attended seventeen
Conferences, and superintended the complicated and multiplied interests
of the Church ; traveled from thirty to fifty miles every day ; preached
from one to five times a day ; talked and prayed in every house at
which he called ; examined, received, stationed, and changed the preach
ers ; provided means for sustaining a college in Maryland, and for found
ing schools in other places. Having his years filled in this manner is
what enabled him to say, in 1814 : " I have crossed the Alleghanies more
than sixty times." This gives the grand aggregate of his travel at
more than three hundred thousand miles. Add now the preaching df
twenty-five thousand sermons, and the writing of fifty thousand letters,
and you crowd his life with such plans and work that all this travel is
an unnoticed incident. As the standing of the orator during the deliv
ery of a great oration is lost to his consciousness in the mighty work of
his brain, so all this wide traveling and sacrifice and exposure were
unheeded in the care of all the Churches that came upon him daily.
It must also be remembered that these journeys were not made in a
palace car, but on horseback and on foot, through mud and rain, over
trackless mountains and fordless rivers. He walked, wandered, waded,
swam, browsed, starved, dripped, shivered, and died daily. It must
also be remembered that these journeys were not inspired by love of
money, or of ease, or of pleasure, or by ambition ; but were endured
in the hope of saving sinners and establishing the kingdom of Christ.
Seen from this stand-point Asbury takes his place by the side of Paul.
The creative part of his work makes a most remarkable element in

92 Methodist Bishops.
his character. Watching is shared by the cat ; traveling by birds of
passage ; expressing ideas by all animate nature ; going through
routine, by all instinct; but creating distinguishes from the animal,
exalts among the human, and allies to the divine. Asbury created
American Methodism. He did not sit down and think it out at once,
evolve it from his internal consciousness, as the German philosopher
did the camel. But he fashioned the living materials, and caused
them to grow into shape under his hand.
He began at the beginning, and went through in the order of
growth. Almost every distinctive feature can be traced to him.
To him we are indebted for the initiation in America of the circuit
system. It grew out of the necessities of calling an unsaved and
scattered people, and was framed into law by this great statesman. He
actualized the itinerancy in this country. From the same organizing
brain we received the first copy of our Discipline, in 1785. He gave
shape and character to the Christmas Conference, making the Bishops
elective, the superintendency general, and the Conference supreme.
Five years before the Christmas Conference he prepared a subscrip
tion for a Methodist school, and to him belongs the honor of instituting
district denominational schools, perpetuated in Conference Seminaries.
We trace the Methodist Book Concern, from its present palatial
quarters on Broadway, New York, and Fourth-street, Cincinnati, back
to Mulberry-street, Crosby-street, Chatham-square, back to John-street
in 1804, to Philadelphia, then up into Asbury's brain. It is worthy
of mention, that in his earliest reference to this great enterprise, as
early as 1787, the first object specified by him as the recipient of the
profits was " the college." Methodist missions were born of his zeal.
" The Chartered Fund " came from his foresight. The Preachers'
Fund was first known as " The Asbury Mite Fund." There is hardly
a benevolence in the Church which he did not create and fashion.
It is honor enough for him, or for any man, to have brought forth
these great productive, self -projecting ideas. Above all, be it forever
remembered, he was the first man on the continent to introduce
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. In 1186, five years before any one else moved in the matter, he or
ganized a Sabbath-school in Hanover County, Virginia, in the house
of Thomas Crenshaw.

Francis Asbury. 93
He devoted much time and thought to " the schools for charity
boys " in Georgia. He seems to have been created with special gifts
for creating and preparing great enterprises. Study the great societies
of Methodism, Educational, Missionary, Bible, Preachers' Relief,
Tract and Sunday-School Societies, and Camp-meetings, borrowed
from the Presbyterians, but adopted and adapted to our uses; also
the Delegated General Conference, with the Restrictive Rules, the
Charter of the Church, harmonizing all the peculiarities of the denom
ination ; moreover, Methodism itself, in all its history and develop
ments ; study all these, and you have demonstration of greatness in
Asbury rarely given to mortals. Surely we have found one of God's
great workers.
The progress of such a man in his work is marked by a trail of
light. When he enters a State or city a fight above the brightness of
the noon-day sun shines into and in it. ' The first years of his ministry
in this country were devoted to the coast between New York city and
Charleston. Attacking this continent of sin, he opened fire all along
the Atlantic coast. With his cause well intrenched he pushed for
ward toward the interior. In 1781 he pushed up the south branch of
the Potomac to the foot of the Alleghany Mountains. And not until
1786 was he permitted to stand on the summit of the Alleghanies and
look down upon the site of the nation of the future. In 1788, from
the Baltimore Conference, he went out through the Western counties
of North Carolina, and shoved on up into the mountains. He crossed
three ranges which, on account of their ruggedness, he called steel, stone,
and iron. This journey tried the temper of the man. He was over
taken and almost overwhelmed in one of the dark valleys with a ter
rific thunder storm. Late at night he reached the solitary cabin of a
settler. The next night also found him in the mountains. By a
helpful Providence at a late hour he found another shelter. On the
third day, from the summit of the third range, he looked down into
the valley of the Holston river. After many hours of hard riding
he reached the river and crossed over to his destination. This was his
first entrance into Tennessee. Two years earlier he had sent two
preachers into this wild region, and that took him into this wilderness.
He must go anywhere he would send his preachers. In 1790 he made
a most perilous journey over the mountains, through the wilderness,

94 Methodist Bishops.
and got his first sight of Kentucky. In 1791 he first visited New
England. Jesse Lee had been two years spreading terror. among the
hosts of sin, and awakening hope in the bosoms of sinners. This was
one of his most memorable journeys. The advanced state of civiliza
tion, attested by the neat houses and frequent school-houses and
churches, contrasted sharply with the wilderness and cabins with which
he was familiar in most of his journeys. This was not the only con
trast. The coldness and assumption of the people made him wish for
the heartiness and candor of his border friends. Among other places
he visited New Haven, and got a view of the college and of their hospi
tality. He preached. He says " every thing was quiet." He had one
Stiles, incumbent of the college presidency at .that time, and some
collegians and a few students to hear his sermon. When he had
finished no man spoke to him. He visited the college chapel at the
hour of prayer, wishing to look through the building, but no one
invited him. He says : " Should Cokesbury ever furnish the oppor
tunity, I, in my turn, will requite their behavior by treating them as
friends, brethren, and gentlemen." It is strange how things come
round. It may not be impossible that this name of Stiles, like that
of Malchus, in the New Testament, will find its immortality by being
mentioned by this apostle, to -whom he would not speak. Asbury
left New Haven without finding a place therein in which to eat or
sleep. He also visited Middletown, and preached to a large and atten
tive audience in the Congregational Church. But no one invited him
home. Should he walk through the streets of Middletown to-day the
very pavements would sink beneath his feet, like the waves of the
sea, and unnumbered multitudes, accepting his faith, would pronounce
him blessed.
On this same journey he also visited Boston. There was no Meth
odist Church there, and he had an appointment to preach in Dr. Mur
ray's church, where he found twenty hearers in a very large room.
Preached again the next night, and, by preaching very loud, drummed
up a larger congregation. He admired their public buildings more
than their hospitality ; no man invited him home. In 1794 he entered
Vermont for the first time, and in 1798 he entered Maine. This con
secrated to Methodism and righteousness all the United States and
Territories.

Francis Asbury. 95
Asbury was permitted to see the cause he so dearly cherished, and
the Church he so bravely and widely extended over these vast regions,
prosper even beyond his fondest hope. When he came to America
there were six hundred members and seven preachers. Before he left
it for heaven there were two hundred thousand members and seven
hundred preachers. Surely this was good seed, well planted, well
watered, and divinely multiplied.
Asbury's administration needs no vindication. American Meth
odism, created, molded, vitalized, is sufficient. He had all the ele
ments necessary to a great executive. He seemed to have an intuitive
knowledge of men. He read them like an open "page. He carried
scales into which he put all his colaborers, and marked them with
their gross and net weight. It is remarkable how many very good-
sized men are nearly all packages. This gift of a well-poised and quick
judgment was of incalculable value to a bishop whose work must be
left in the care of men with whom his acquaintance must often be
very limited. Distant fields, filled with undeveloped difficulties, could
not be successfully handled by chance experimenting. Men must be
sent who would secure success on the first attempt, who would jump
ashore at one jump. Asbury's gift in penetrating the fiber of men's
minds and character often made him- seem severe, but it saved the
struggling cause from many rebuffs.
In one of the Western Conferences, after a sweeping revival, two •
young men of note, one of them the son of a distinguished, learned
teacher, the other the son of a distinguished and wealth}' general, were
presented with recommendations to the traveling connection. The
Conference discussed them, with the evident conviction that they were
doing a great business and making Methodism respectable. By and
by Asbury, after studying the candidates carefully, broke his long
silence, saying, " Yes, yes, in all probability they both will disgrace
you and themselves before the year is out." In nine months both
were out of the Church. This insight is the gift of all commanders
who are compelled to intrust their interests in critical moments to the
care of others. Once in an inn in Virginia he was interrupted by the
coming of a company of young men, returning from a duel. He soon
saw they were cultivated men, and he understood their business. In
the free conversation in which he engaged with them, he gave them a

96 Methodist Bishops.
parable of a wounded buck, which presented the enormity of their
crime, and caused the "a all simultaneously to arise and take their car-
riage^and drive where their secret was unknown.
His knowledge of men rested upon his close observation, and this
extended to every department of life. Perhaps no man was ever more
familiar with the Atlantic States than Bishop Asbury. His estimates
of the value and character of different sections were pre-statements
of history. Of New Hampshire, he says, '^The soil, though barren,
exhibits in the abundant productions of grass, oats, barley, rye, and
potatoes what the arm of labor and the habits of economy and industry
will do. Out of doors there is a well-kept stock of cattle, sheep, and
hogs ; in-doors you see plenty of cheese, butter, milk, and of fish
from the mill-ponds, which are wonderfully frequent, producing the
finest trout and pike. The people are the pictures of health." Of
the women, he said, " The simplicity and frugality of New England
is desirable. You see the woman a mother, mistress, maid, and wife,
and in all these characters a conversable woman. She sees to her own
house, parlor, kitchen, and dairy. Here are no noisy negroes running
and lounging. If you wish breakfast at six or seven o'clock there is
no setting the table an hour before the provisions can be produced."
These peculiarities of thrift must have struck him with great force in
contrast with large portions of the South. He also notes the things
¦that seem offensive in Yankee character. He was greatly amused
with a " congregation that sold their priest to another congregation in
Boston for $1,000, and hired out the money at the unlawful interest
of twenty-five or thirty per cent. How will it do to tell the South
that priests are among the notions of Yankee traffic ? "
The work of stationing the preachers never ceased to be a great
care on his mind. The later years of his administration there were
five hundred and upward. These he had to comprehend and adjust
to the work. Success vindicated his judgment.
His life as bishop was one of constant watchfulness. He was sel
dom, if ever, without new enterprises which he was pushing for the
advancement of the Church. Begging money for the schools and for
the benevolent causes, he seemed a living embodiment of tenderness
and strength and wisdom.
In the spring of 1814 Bishop Asbury's health, long precarious, be-

Francis Asbury. 97
gan rapidly to decline. His constitution gave way. In reviewing his
life at that date he says, " I look back on a martyr's life of toil and
privation and pain, and I am ready for a martyr's death. The purity
of my intentions, my diligence in the labors to which God has been
pleased to call me, the unknown sufferings I have endured, what are
all these? The merit and atonement and righteousness of Christ
alone make my plea."
In feebleness and pain he made his way to Cincinnati to meet the
Ohio Conference. But he was too feeble to preside. Thence he went
to the Tennessee Conference, held in Logan County, Ky. Thence to
ward Milledgeville, Ga., to meet the South Carolina Conference. He
preached as he went, sitting in his wagon, often interrupted by seasons
of coughing and hemorrhage. Thence to Albany, N. Y., in May,
1815. Thence to New Hampshire, to meet the New England Confer
ence. Health declining, he abandpned his long journey through New
England, and returned to Philadelphia. He spent some time in New
York correcting his Journal, saying, " If truth and I have been wronged,
we have both witnessed our day of triumph." From New York
he journeyed on to meet the Ohio Conference, at Lebanon. Here he
had a long talk with Bishop M'Kendree. Next he went to the Ten
nessee Conference, where for the first time he relinquished the busi
ness of stationing the preachers. He notes, in spite of feeble health,
"My mind enjoys great peace and divine consolation." Thence he
turned South, traveling and preaching. One day he traveled forty
miles, but said of it, " This will not do ; I must halt or order my
grave." He reached South Carolina on the first of December, and
was attacked by influenza about three weeks later. Consumption
pushed the assault against his strength. Asbury turned toward Balti
more to meet the General Conference in May, 1816. He reached
Richmond, March 24, where he preached his last sermon. He was car
ried from the carriage to the church, and placed on a table. Sitting
as easily as he could, he preached nearly an hour. He resumed his
journey toward Baltimore. When he reached the house of his old
friend, George Arnold, about twenty miles south of Fredericksbnrgh,
in Virginia, he was not able to proceed. He was taken from his car
riage on Friday, March 29, for the last time, and on Sunday morning,
March 31, during the hour of family worship, he was very calm and

98 Methodist Bishops.
peaceful. Shortly after the service, as he was sitting in his chair, his
head resting on the hand of his beloved attendant, Rev. J. W. Bond,
he fell asleep in Jesus. It was a quiet stepping from one world into
another. Nothing could be more peaceful. This aged apostle, who
had no home but in the bosom of the Church, did not lack a home in
which to die, and the last words that fell on his ears as he went up
from earth to God were the words of family worship. Though he
had no children, except in the gospel, yet he was permitted to be cared
for by most tender affection. The change from the love of holy men
on earth to the love of holy angels in heaven was so slight that the
ascending and adoring soul felt, perhaps, no shock of inexperienced
joys- He was buried in Mr. Arnold's family burying-ground. But the
General Conference, meeting in a few weeks, ordered his body placed
beneath the pulpit of the Eutaw-street Church. His body belonged to
the General Conference. His reinterment was a most solemn and im
posing event. Bishop M'Kendree led the procession, followed by the
members of the Gener^l Conference, and the vast concourse of weep
ing people. M'Kendree pronounced the oration. Over the vault is
inscribed the following epitaph : •
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
REV. FRANCIS ASBURY,
BISHOP OF THE
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
HE WAS BORN IN ENGLAND, AUG. 20, 1745 ;
ENTERED THE MINISTRY AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN"
CAME A MISSIONARY TO AMERICA 1771 ;
WAS ORDAINED BISHOP IN THIS CITY DEC. 27, 1734;
ANNUALLY VISITED THE CONFERENCES IN THE UNITED STATES-
WITH MUCH ZEAL CONTINUED TO " PREACH THE WORD " '
FOR MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY;
AND
LITERALLY ENDED HIS LABORS WITH HIS LIFE,
NEAR FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA,
IN THE FULL TRIUMPH OF FAITH, ON THE 31ST OF MARCH 1816,
AGED 70 YEARS, 7 MONTHS, AND 11 DAYS.
HIS REMAINS WERE DEPOSITED IN THIS VAULT MAY 10, 1816,
BY THE GENERAL CONFERENCE THEN SITTING IN THIS CITY.
HIS JOURNALS WILL EXHIBIT TO POSTERITY HIS LABORS
HIS DIFFICULTIES, HIS SUFFERINGS,
HIS PATIENCE, HIS PERSEVERANCE, HIS LOVE TO GOD AND MAN.

Francis Asbury. 99
The character of this great man is not so difficult to analyze as it is
to present and impress. It is like a sphere, largest seen from every
stand-point. The three points through which his greatest circle is de
scribed are common sense, conscience, and industry. These, about
equally mixed in friendly proportions, kept him remarkably free from
mistakes, from sins, and from waste. Nothing left his hand too quick,
or stuck to it too long. He tied up all the veins and arteries, so that
no enterprise bled to death. Many men pour life enough into their
undertakings to make them omnipotent, but they allow them to die for
want 'of healing care. They waste all in the fragments. Not so with
Asbury. He so organized his force that it kept itself and helped him.
All his habits were close and sharp. It ¦ is interesting to note that in
1765, the year Mr. Asbury was admitted to Conference, to the
question about endeavoring not to speak too long or too loud, was
added "not lolling with your elbows." Nothing slovenly was to pass
into Conference. His sense always discovered the fitness of things,
and made the most of circumstances. He preached to a regiment of
soldiers just starting for the front, from the words : " And the soldiers
likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do ? And he
said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely ;
and be content with your wages." Luke iii, 14. It was a practical ser
mon about the evils of war, and how to remedy them. At the close
of the sermon the regiment filed by him. As the commander ap
proached, the bishop placed his hands on his head and prayed for
him, and so with each officer, and he shook hands with every soldier.
All were bathed in tears. It seemed like the benediction of a father,
and the blessing of a saint.
The supremacy of his conscience was manifest in his turning to the
work of the ministry regardless of the criticisms of others concerning
his parents. In a letter to his mother he writes, " As for me, I know
what I am called to ; it is to give up all. . . . Let others condemn me
as being without natural affection, stubborn, disobedient to parents, or
what they will. It does not alter the case. It is a small matter to be
judged of man." His elevation to the episcopate did not inflate him.
He was oppressed with its responsibility, " was not high-minded, but
feared." He sought to place himself in the position of his brethren,
and treat them as he woujd be treated. To gain that grace which was

100 Methodist Bishops*
"pure, peaceable," "without partiality," he spent many a midnight
hour in agonizing prayer. This spirit made him so successful in har
monizing difficulties in the Church, and in smoothing the rough places
for the trembling feet of his brethren. He wrote to O'Kelly, a popu
lar and powerful presiding elder who was jealous of Asbury, and
seeking to divide the Church, saying, " I will take my seat in counsel
as another member, and in that point, at least, waive the claims of
episcopacy ; yea, I will lie down and be trodden upon rather than in
jure one soul." He says of his distribution of time, " I am impartial.
... I know no Maryland or Delaware after the flesh, more than Ken
tucky, Cumberland, Georgia, or the Carolinas. ... It is our duty to
make particular appointments for some important charges." When
he entered a house, every occupant received his attention. He in
structed the slaves and the master, the poorest and the richest, in the
same gospel. On one occasion he says, "I was happy last evening
with the poor slaves in Brother Well's kitchen, while our white broth
ers held a sacramental service in the front parlor up stairs." Some
artist will yet make himself immortal by presenting this scene.
His benevolence to his aged parents, and his devotion to the inter
ests of the Church, manifested their power in his perpetual celibacy.
He puts the case very adroitly : " If I should die in celibacy, which I
think quite probable, I give the following reasons for what can scarcely
be called my choice : I was called to preach in my fourteenth year ; I
began my public exercises between sixteen and seventeen ; at twenty-
one I entered the traveling connection ; at twenty-six I came to Amer
ica. Thus far I had reasons enough for a single life. It had been my
intention to return to Europe, but the war continued, and it was ten
years before we had settled, lasting peace. This was no time to marry
or be given in marriage. At forty-nine I was ordained superintendent
or bishop in America. Among the duties imposed upon me by my
office was that of traveling extensively, and I could hardly expect to
find a woman with grace enough to enable her to live but one week
out of the fifty-two with her husband ; besides, what right has any man
to take advantage of the affections of a woman, make her his wife, and
by voluntary absence subvert the whole order and economy of the mar
riage state, by separating those whom neither God, nature, nor the
requirements of civil society permit long to be put asunder? It

Francis Asbury. 101
is neither just nor generous. I may add to this, that I had but little
money, and with this little I administered to the necessities of a be
loved mother till I was fifty-seven. If I have done wrong, I hope
God and the sex will forgive me. It is my duty now to bestow the
pittance I have to spare upon the widows and fatherless girls and
poor married men." This is the grimmest passage in Asbury's
writings. If it were not for his solemn character and advanced
bachelorhood, I should call this his model joke. It has not the
ring of earnestness. His devotion to the Church and lack of time
and lack of money doubtless were the determining elements in
this problem. Filial love, so strong in his heart, was also involved.
He cared for his parents most tenderly. He writes his father, say-
mg, " I last evening made arrangements for a remittance to you ; . . .
my salary is sixty-four dollars ; I have sold my watch and library, and
will sell my shirts before you should want. . . . Your son Francis is a
man of honor and conscience. As my father and mother never dis
graced me by an act of dishonesty, I hope to echo back the same sound
of an upright man. I am well satisfied that the Lord saw fit that you
should be my parents rather than the king and queen, or any of the
great." In 1798 he received the sad news of -his father's death, and
writes, " I now feel myself an orphan." In 1802 Asbury received the
intelligence of the death of his mother, and writes of her, " She was
of a masculine understanding. Nevertheless, ' so kindly were all the
elements mixed in her,' that her strong and quick mind felt the sub
duing influence of Christian sympathy. ... As a woman, she was
modest, blameless ; as a mother, ardently affectionate ; as a friend, gen
erous, true, and constant." ¦ Once, in a letter to his mother, he said of
his work and himself, " Hard wear and hard fare ; but I am healthy
and lean, gray-headed and dim-sighted." Once he wrote her, " I lay
by in Virginia ; when you hear that name you will love it unseen, for
you will say, ' That is where my Frankie was sick.' " Thus he kept
them up in his changes. And his love for them satisfied him like a
child. There was a deep current of sympathy running through his nature.
It did not break over its banks, but it was deep, strong, and perpetual.
He seldom wept. But a few times tears defied his control. On one
occasion, calling on the sister of one of the preachers, he found her

102 Methodist Bishops.
weeping for her absent brother. Immediately he thought of his own
mother, waiting in loneliness, thinking of her far-away son, and he
burst into tears. His sympathy usually took a practical turn, as when
at the Western- Conference he gave his watch, cloak, and shirt, to the
poorer preachers.
It .would be inexcusable to omit particular reference to Asbury's
scholarship. He was not trained in the schools, but it is a mistake to
think of him as an untrained or ignorant man. He had extended prac
tical experience. He was pre-eminently a man of affairs. We see
him most of the time in this field, and, therefore, come naturally to
think of him as a business man. But he is a scholar. He bears favor
able comparison with most of the college graduates of his day in the
mere matter of book-learning. He was a thorough scholar in Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew. He read the Scriptures in their original languages
habitually, and with great ease. It is difficult to see how he mastered
them. His education was very limited when he was called to the min
istry at the age of fourteen. His life was crowded with active duties.
He soon had the care of a continent on his heart and hands, yet he
did achieve high and close scholarship. Besides his knowledge of the
dead languages, he was acquainted with several branches of polite
literature. He was also always fully up with the history of his times.
More than this, his literary labors far exceeded the labors of the ma
jority of college men. His Journals required more time and thought
for their preparation than is required for mastering a college course of
study. They are rough in many places, but they are often elegant, and
always strong. It is not necessary to make allowance for the disad
vantages under which they were prepared. They were written " in
log-cabins, crowded with talkative women, noisy children, and barking
dogs ; with cold fingers, frozen ink, impracticable pens, and rumpled
paper; and suffering from headache, teethache, chills, fever, sore
throat, and every other form of ill that flesh is heir to." Room may
be taken for a few sentences. After his experience in New Haven, he
writes, "New Haven! thou seat of science and of sin! Can thy dry
bones live ? 0 Lord, thou knowest." He describes one place in the
South, saying, " They had more gold than grace ; " another, " They had
neither dollars nor discipline, being sadly deficient in both." " Boston
is famous for poor religion and bad water." One community he dis-

Francis Asbury. 103
tinguished for " talking about religion and stealing horses." There is a
directness and strength about his writing that will bear examination.
The secret of his scholarship is found in his method. He obeyed
this rule when not traveling : " Rise at four o'clock every morning,
spend two hours in prayer and meditation, two hours in reading and
study, and one in recreation and conversation." Ten hours out of six
teen were spent in reading the Hebrew Bible and other books. He
retired to his room at eight o'clock when not in meeting, and spent an
hour in prayer, then retired. This made him a scholar. We are not
surprised to strike rich veins of poetry in the quartz of this rugged
mind. It is natural for him to say of the Ohio on one occasion, " The
great river was covered with a mist until nine o'clock, when the airy
curtain rose slowly from the waters, gliding along in expanded and silent
majesty." There is no low grade of culture or shallow stream of sentiment in
these words concerning one session of the New York Conference, and
his return to the country : " It would require a volume to tell the rest
less tossings I have had, the difficulties and anxieties I have felt about
the preachers and people here and elsewhere, alternate joy and sor
row ; but I am done, I am gone ! New York, once more farewell ! "
Reaching the country, he says, " How sweet to me are all the calm scenes
of life which now surround me on every side ! The quiet country
houses, the fields and orchards bearing the promise of a fruitful year,
the flocks and herds, the hills and vales and dewy meads, the gliding
streams and murmuring brooks, and thou, too, Solitude, with thy at
tendants, Silence and Meditation, how dost thou solace my pensive mind
after the tempest of fear and care and tumult and talk of the noisy,
bustling city."
In reviewing such a life as this one cannot avoid the conviction
that Francis Asbury was the human instrument for the creation of
the Methodist episcopacy. It was a great work, and required a
transcendent character. The assumptions necessary to originate and
sanctify the prerogatives of the episcopacy were possible only in the
presence of the actual kingship in labor and in sacrifice. When
Asbury's peers saw him preaching, exhorting, praying, riding, sacri
ficing — more than all others — they naturally accepted his leadership.
Being servant of all he came to be greatest of all. After a hundred
7

104 Methodist Bishops.
years of experience it remains true that greatness in the offices of
the Church consists in the greatness of the service. The forces that
created the Methodist episcopacy can perpetuate it. While an Asbury
sits on the bench it will be revered by the Church.
This great apostle of American Methodism, this pioneer bishop of
an endless circuit and continental diocese, is a worthy man to be the
founder of a great Church, whether we measure him by the girth of his
intellect, the clarity of his vision, the wisdom of his statesmanship, the
variety and magnitude of his plans, the success of his enterprises, the
productiveness of his brain, the accumulation of his study, the depths
of his philosophy, the vigorous beauty of his imagination, the practi
cality of his sense, the certainty of his judgment, the elevation of his
morals, the purity of his religion, the poise of his piety, the heroism of
his sacrifices, the freshness of his sympathies, the warmth of his
affection, the endurance of his purposes, the power of his faith, the
dominance of his conscience, the regularity of his benevolence, the
ubiquity of his vigilance, the tirelessness of his industry, or the
creations of his genius. Measured by what he did, Francis Asbury is
without a peer in the religious annals of America.

£&£ ^ "byAERiixtae

iBOSKKEftP WKlATSffiATTo

Richard Whatcoat.

BY REV. LUKE H. WISEMAN, A.M.

THE name of Richard Whatcoat is one which must ever occupy a
prominent place in the annals of Methodism. He was one of the
missionaries appointed by Wesley, and was elected one of the superin
tendents at the General Conference held May, 1800. He was the first
member of the episcopate who exchanged mortality for life. With
the exception of a brief autobiography, drawn up in the sixty-eighth
year of his age, comparatively few memorials are left of this holy man.
He kept no journal, and but few of his letters have been preserved ;
but his memory is precious, as that of one who " walked with God."
He was bora February 23, 1736, in the Parish of Quinton, in the
County of Gloucester, England.
His parents were members of the Established Church ; his father
died while comparatively young, leaving a widow and five children.
They enjoyed what was rare in those days, the ministry of a con
verted and evangelical clergyman, who, besides preaching twice on the
Lord's day, frequently held meetings in his parsonage house and other
places. " I believe," he writes, " my mother walked in the form and
enjoyed the power of godliness more than thirty years, and died in the
triumph of faith in the year 1771. The children were all brought
under a wonderful work of grace about the same time of life, begin
ning with the eldest and so down to the youngest." At the age of
thirteen Richard was apprenticed to Mr. Joseph Jones, of Birming
ham, who shortly afterward removed to the neighboring town of Dar-
laston, in which vicinity both John and Charles Wesley were assailed
by furious mobs, and were more than once in imminent danger of
their lives. During the eight years of his apprenticeship " I was
never heard," he relates, "to swear a vain oath, nor was ever given
to lying, gaming, drunkenness, or any other presumptuous sin, but
was commended for my honesty and sobriety, and from my child
hood I had, at times, serious thoughts on death and eternity."

L08 Methodist Bishops.
Removing at the age of twenty-one to the neighboring town of
Wednesbury, he was placed in a family " where nothing was wanting
but the fear of God," and where he found himself " in continual dan
ger of losing the little religion he had." From this abode of worldly
plenty and spiritual apathy he soon removed ; " A kind providence
directed me to a family that feared God and wrought righteousness."
With them he attended the services of the Methodists, and after five
months " the word was made light and power " to his soul.
" When the preacher was describing the fall of man, I think he
spoke as if he had known every thing that was in my heart. When he
described the nature and fruits of faith, I was conscious I had it not ;
and though I believed all the Scripture to be of God, yet I had not
the marks of a Christian believer, and I was convinced that if I died
in the state wherein I then was, I should be miserable forever. Yet I
could not conceive how I, who had lived so sober a life, could be the
chief of sinners. But this was not long ; for I no sooner discovered the
spirituality of the law, and the enmity that was in my heart against
God, than I could heartily agree to it. The thoughts of death and
judgment now struck me with terrible fear. I had a keen apprehen
sion of the wrath of God, and of the fiery indignation due to sinners ;
so that I could have wished myself to be annihilated, or to be the
vilest creature, if I could but escape judgment.
" In this state I was when one told me, ' I know God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven <all my sins, and his Spirit witnesseth with my spirit
that I am a child of God.' This gave me a good deal of encourage
ment, and I determined never to rest until I had a testimony in myself
that my sins also were forgiven. But in the meantime, such was the
darkness I was in, such my consciousness of guilt and the just dis
pleasure of almighty God, that I could find no rest day nor night either
for soul or body ; so that life was a burden, and I became regardless of
all things under the sun. Now all my virtues, which I had some
reliance on once, appeared as filthy, and many discouraging thoughts
were put into my soul ; as, ' Many are called, but few chosen ;' ' Hath
not the potter power over the clay?' from which it was suggested
to me that I was made to dishonor, and so must inevitably perish."
After some months of this spiritual anguish, light broke in
suddenly upon him. The story is best continued in his own words :

Richard Whatcoat. x 109
" On September 3, 1758, being overwhelmed with guilt and fear, as
I was reading it was as if one whispered to me, ' Thou hadst better
read no more ; for the more thou readest, the more thou wilt know ;
and he that knoweth his Lord's will and doeth it not, shall be beaten
with many stripes.' I paused a little, and then resolved, ' Let the con
sequence be what it may, I will proceed.' When I came to those
words, ' The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
the children of God ;' as I fixed my eyes upon them, in a moment my
darkness was removed, and the Spirit did bear witness with my spirit,
that I was a child of God. ¦
" In the same instant I was filled with unspeakable peace and joy
in believing ; and all fear of death, judgment, and hell suddenly van
ished away. Before this I was kept awake by anguish and fear, so
that I could not get an hour's sound sleep in a night. Now I wanted
not sleep, being abundantly refreshed by contemplating the rich dis
play of God's mercy in ¦ adopting so unworthy a creature as I was to
be an heir of the kingdom of heaven."
The way by which this sincere and conscientious young man was
conducted to spiritual light and peace, was the way by which most of
Wesley's preachers were led. Weeks and months of distress were
succeeded by the joy of pardon, coming suddenly as a flash of light
ning, but not as suddenly disappearing. Yet the young believer soon
entered again into doubt and perplexity. " This joy and peace con
tinued about three weeks ; after which it was suggested to me, ' Hast
thou not deceived thyself ? ' This threw me into great heaviness, but
it did not continue long; for as I gave myself unto prayer, and to
reading and hearing the word of God at all opportunities, my evidence
became clearer and clearer, my faith and love stronger and stronger."
Still he saw that he was " not wholly sanctified." Evils still appeared
in his heart, which hindered him in holy exercises, and he could
have no peace till they were rooted out. He studied the promises of
sanctification ; he saw " it was the gift of God, and consequently to
be received by mere faith;" and at length the joyful hour arrived.
" After many sharp and painful conflicts, and many gracious visita
tions, on March 28, 1761, my spirit was drawn out and engaged in
wrestling with God for about two hours, in a manner I never did be
fore. Suddenly I was stripped of all but love. I was all love, and

110 Methodist Bishops.
prayer, and praise ; and in this happy state, rejoicing evermore, and in
every thing giving thanks, I continued for some years, wanting
nothing for soul or body more than I received from day to day."
During these years Mr. Whatcoat continued in business in Wednes
bury, and served the Church as band-leader, as class-leader, and as
steward. In 1766 business took him to London, where he was laid prostrate
for six months with fever. Returning to Wednesbury, he " began to
hold religious meetings in the country places adjacent, and exhort and
preach to the people," in which work he found such encouragement
that he resolved to give himself wholly to the work of the ministry.
"Therefore," he writes, "about July, 1769, I informed Mr. John
Pawson, the assistant preacher, of my intention to join the traveling
connection, if he and the Conference thought proper." It may be
inferred that Whatcoat was now a widower ; for five years later the
name of Charles Whatcoat appears among the boys admitted to Wes
ley's school for the sons of the preachers at Kingswood.*
In those days the tedious system of examinations now prescribed
to candidates by the English Conference did not exist.
Mr. Pawson went to Leeds to attend the Conference, and "from
Leeds he wrote to let me know that he had proposed me at the Con
ference, and that I was accepted as a probationer, and stationed on
Oxfordshire Circuit." To his appointed station he accordingly went.
The brevity of his record is instructive, and characteristic of old
Methodist times. "Having settled my temporal affairs with all the
expedition I could, I went into the circuit, where I traveled until
about Christmas."
Mr. Whatcoat was not a novice when he received from his breth
ren the call to devote himself to the work of the ministry. He was
thirty-three years of age ; and a course of years spent in various de
partments of church service had prepared him, more fully than most,
for the duties to which he was henceforth to be devoted.
His reception in the circuit encouraged him. " I was received,"
he relates, "far better than I expected, and I found that affection for
the people which never since wore off." His circuit embraced the
entire county of Oxford, and part of his native county of Gloucester.
* Minutes of Conference, vol. i, p. 1 13.

Richard Whatcoat. Ill
But he only remained there a few months, when he was transferred
to Bedfordshire, in which circuit he remained till the Conference of
1771. Methodism had already gained a footing in that part of En
gland ; the roads were comparatively good, and the people kind and
hospitable, and the period is described as one of peace and harmony.
Very different were his next two circuits, of which he thus speaks
. in his autobiography : " At the Conference of 1771 I was appointed
for Enniskillen, in the north of Ireland. Now my trials came on ; for
I had a great aversion to sea voyages. But what troubled me most
was, when I called to see. my dear old mother, to find she was very
far advanced in a dropsy. I stayed with her a fortnight, and then
took my final farewell of her. She knew and loved the work I was
engaged in, and therefore gave me up willingly. She lived but a few
weeks after. This circuit took us eight weeks to go through it ; we
commonly preached two or three times a day. By this year's labors
and sufferings my strength was exhausted ; but what sweetened labor
and made affliction tolerable was a blessed revival, for we had nearly
three hundred souls turned to the Lord this year." The next year he
was appointed to Armagh ; but before he could reach the place he be
came alarmingly ill, doubtless as the result of scanty fare and con
stant exposure. A kind family took charge of him for three months ;
but his removal to his circuit proved to be premature. " Going out
before I had sufficiently recovered my strength, the cold seized upon
me, and caused such a humor to settle in my legs, that for some time
I could not set my feet to the ground. But my mind being set upon
my work, I little regarded the pain of my body, so long as I was able
to sit on my horse, or 6tand and speak to the people." His life was
despaired of ; but after a few months health returned, and the self-
denying missionary was again upon his rounds.
He came to London to attend the Conference of 1773, when "an
easy, agreeable, and profitable station " was found for him, Pembroke,
in Wales, where the difference of language prevented him from ad
dressing any but the few English who at that day were settled there.
Two more years were spent in another Welsh circuit, where English
was understood by only a small portion of the people ; " some fruit
appeared. here," he states, "but nothing great."
These were years of comparatively easy work, and a life which

112 Methodist Bishops.
might otherwise have been sacrificed, was spared to render invaluable
services through a long series of subsequent years.
In 1776 he received an appointment to Cornwall West — a wide
circuit where all his powers would be brought into requisition. He
had to traverse almost the entire county ; but " the congregations and
Societies were large and lively." The following year was spent in
the same county, where his "heart was almost broke" on account
of the conduct of some disorderly members. Two years of labor in
the Wiltshire Circuit followed. In addition to the chalky uplands of
that county, the circuit extended a hundred miles southward, and in
cluded the Isle of Wight. Here there was an extensive revival of
religion ; Captain Webb and Mr- Robert Carr Brackenbury, a gentle
man of large property who also shared the toils of an itinerant, being
united with Whatcoat in these happy services. The historian of
Methodism in the Isle of Wight, remarking on Whatcoat, says that
" he was sent to the Church as a sample, to show to what a life of
peace and holiness Christians may attain on earth, where sincerity,
privation, love of divine communion, and humble and active faith, do
meet and center."* In 1780 his appointment was to Northampton,
which had formed part of the Bedfordshire Circuit, in which he had
traveled ten years before, where his heart was refreshed at witnessing
the progress which had been made in the interval.
After a year at Canterbury he spent a year in Norfolk. Here the
poverty of the people was extreme, so that he sold his horse and
walked the Circuit ; but he had his reward in witnessing, as was likely
with such an example of self-denial, "great harmony and some in
crease." His last English circuit was Norwich, where Adam Clarke
was one of his colleagues. The distinguished commentator has left on
record a brief characteristic note, in the following terms : " Whatcoat
was a very holy man of God,' a good and sound preacher, but not of
splendid abilities. He was diligent and orderly in his work, and a fine
example of practical piety in all his conduct."f
The Norwich Society had given Mr. Wesley more trouble and
anxiety than almost any other. More than once he had expressed
his determination " either to mend them or end them ;" but the year
* Dyson's " Methodism in the Isle of Wight," pp. 91, 95.
f Life of "Adam Clarke," vol. i, p. 197.

Richard Whatcoat. 113
spent in that city by Mr. Whatcoat was passed in peace. > He does not
appear to have perceived the pre-eminent ability of his young colleague,
Adam Clarke, merely mentioning him with another as "two young
men of promising abilities." The writer of this sketch well remem
bers William Lorkin, an old class-leader of Norwich, and the historian
of Methodism in that city, who was accustomed to speak in enthusi
astic terms of the year which " Mr. Whatcoat and young Mr. Clarke "
spent in that ancient city. His admiration of the former had not
abated, although nearly half a century had passed away. In his " his
tory " the following passage occurs. " In August, 1783, Mr. Richard
Whatcoat was appointed to the Norwich Circuit, and was made a special
blessing to many. He was an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no
guile. Such profound and amiable piety I remembered never to
have witnessed in any man."*
Such a testimony forms an appropriate conclusion to the record,
necessarily very brief, of fifteen years spent in the Methodist circuits of
England. On leaving Norwich and the English circuit work, he left
on record the following meditation : —
" July 28th, 1784. Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of
him? My God, thou hast been very gracious to me, thy servant,
through every period of my life. I bless thee for that salvation thou
hast made known to me, and for the dispensation of the gospel thou
hast committed to me, and for that success given to my small ende-av-
ors ; for that perfect resignation thou hast given me to every dispen
sation of thy providence."
In the Minutes of the British Conference of 1784 " America "
reappears as one of the stations, after having been unmentioned for
several years. At that Conference Mr. Wesley declared his intention
of sending Dr. Coke and some other preachers to that country. What
coat, who was present, thus describes the mental process which ended
in his becoming a volunteer for the service : " At first it appeared to
me as though I was not concerned in the matter. But soon my mind
was drawn to meditate on the subject ; the power of God came upon
me, and my heart was remarkably melted with love to God and man.
A prospect of some troubles I was like to go through, if I engaged in
that part of the Lord's work, appeared to me, upon which I set apart
* Lorkin's " Methodism in Norwich," p. 25.

114 Methodist Bishops.
a day for fasting and prayer ; after which, seeing nothing in my way
but the cross and my own inability for so great a work, I offered my
self, if my dear aged father, John Wesley, and my brethren thought
proper." His offer, together with that of Mr. Thomas Vasey, was
accepted, and the two proceeded together from Leeds to London and
Bristol on horseback, an enchanting ride at that season of the year,
of three hundred miles. They visited the Societies as they passed
along. Friends abounded in kindness ; so that when they embarked
nothing was wanting to make their voyage "as comfortable as the
nature of things would admit."
At Bristol they were met by Mr. Wesley and Dr. Coke, and
received ordination as presbyters. In vindication of this act, which, to
this day, English Churchmen regard as grossly irregular, Wesley pub
lished a letter, in which he pleaded, that America being now politically
severed from England, he was at liberty to do what in England would
be a violation of law. As to the scriptural validity of the orders con
ferred by him on the two brethren, he felt no doubt whatever ; having
been convinced for many years that " bishops and presbyters are the
same order, and consequently have the same right to ordain." He
objected to the proposal that his American preachers should be ordained
by Anglican bishops, because, " if they would ordain them now, they
would also expect to govern them ; " adding, "As our American breth
ren are now totally disentangled both from the State and from the
English hierarchy, we dare not entangle them again either with the
one or the other." * Acting on these convictions, Wesley, assisted by
one or two other clergymen, on the first of September ordained the
brethren Whatcoat and Vasey " to act as elders by baptizing and ad
ministering the Lord's Supper." Wesley furnished them with letters
of introduction ; he also prepared at this time an abridgment of the
Book of Common Prayer for the use of the congregations in America,
and further ordained or set apart his copresbyter, Dr. Coke, to be a
" joint superintendent with Mr. Asbury over the brethren in North
America." Their embarkation did not take place till the 18th, when
Coke, Whatcoat, and Vasey, sailed from King Road, Bristol. A voyage
to America was then a very different thing from what it is in these
days of rapid and easy transit. In Coke's Journal there is a minute
•Wesley's "Works," Am. 8vo. edit., vol. vii, p. 219.

Richard Whatcoat. 115
account of the incidents of the passage, which occupied six weeks,
passed, after the first few days of sea-sickness, " on the whole very
agreeably." On the 3d of November they landed at New York, and
on the following day, Friday, they set out for Philadelphia in the stage-
wagon, reaching that city on Saturday evening. Dr. Coke preached ;
Whatcoat and Vasey exercised their newly given authority by assist
ing to administer the sacrament to some hundreds. This was suc
ceeded by a love-feast, " and a more comfortable time," says Whatcoat,
" I had not enjoyed for some years."
At the time of his landing in America Mr. Whatcoat had reached,
if he had not passed, his prime. There is a portrait of him, " aged
forty-six," in the " Arminian Magazine " for 1781, which Father
Boehm has pronounced a correct likeness, allowing for difference of
years. The face is roundish, the eyes dark and brilliant ; the dark hair
is allowed to grow long behind, but cut straight across the forehead,
after the fashion of those days. Dr. Laban Clark describes him as
" Something above the middle size, but not corpulent. His manly
form, plain attire, and dignified manners, gave him a venerable appear
ance. His countenance told of a well-disciplined mind, and a heart
habitually kept in contact with the gracious influences of the gos
pel." * The plain attire thus referred to is more particularly described
by Father Boehm as "in the Methodist-minister style, a shad-belly
coat, and vest buttoned snug up to the neck." He further relates that
" a few years before death Bishop Whatcoat lost his hair, so that he
became entirely bald; some time after, it began to grow, and came
out thick and beautiful, so that when he died he had a fine head of
dark hair, not even sprinkled with gray."f When he arrived in
America his preaching powers were at their best. " He could melt
and move an audience," says Boehm, " as few men ever did." His
saintliness of character, in which he resembled Fletcher, shone in the
kindling expression of his countenance as he expatiated on the great
themes of his ministry. " With such force of argument and all-sub
duing pathos did he urge holiness of heart and life," says Dr. Clark,
"that the whole congregation were moved as the leaves of a forest by
the power of a mighty wind." % " His preaching," remarks Dr. Bangs,
* Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit," p. 107.
f Boehm's "Reminiscences," p. 142. % Sprague, p. 101.

116 Methodist Bishops.
" is said to have been generally attended with remarkable unction from
the Holy One. The softness of his persuasions won upon the affec
tions of the heart, while the rich flow of gospel truth which dropped
from his lips enlightened the understanding." * Such was his acquaint
ance with the Scriptures that he was called a living concordance ; and
when he attended service as a hearer, he usually arrived half an hour
before time, and occupied himself in reading his pocket Testament.
Another witness testifies, " Of all who preached sanctification, What
coat was pre-eminent. He did, indeed, walk in the light of God's
countenance, enjoying the blessing of perfect love more than forty
years." f " The distinguishing trait of his character," says Dr. Bangs,
" was a meekness and modesty of spirit which, united with simplicity
of intention and gravity of deportment, commended him as a pattern
worthy of imitation. So dear is he in the recollection of those who,
from personal intercourse, best knew and appreciated his worth, that
I have heard many such say, that they would give much could they
possess themselves of a correct resemblance of him upon canvas." X
Such was the man who landed upon our shores in company with Dr.
Coke — a living embodiment of the qualities which St. Paul declares it
to be necessary that a bishop should have.
His strength lay not in intellectual greatness, or in acquired learn
ing, but in the meekness of an utterly unworldly spirit, in holy self-
denial, in habitual purity of heart. Under the guise of a modest and
unassuming manner he also possessed, like his old friend and class
mate, Asbury, though in an inferior degree, the gift and faculty of
authority ; and, doubtless, it was the perception of this which, added to
the recommendation of Mr. Wesley, led to his being elected to the
episcopal office.
That election did not take place, however, until Mr. Whatcoat had
been more than fifteen years in the country. At the General Confer
ence of 1784, just before his arrival, it had been enacted that no per
son should be elected superintendent or elder without the consent of
a majority of the Conference ; and, although the brethren might not
have objected to Whatcoat as an elder, they were not prepared to sanc
tion Wesley's recommendation of him in 17S6 to the episcopal office.
?Bangs's " History," vol. ii, pp. 188, 189. f " Life of James Quinn," p. 262.
% Bangs's " History," vol. ii, p. 189.

Richard Whatcoat. 117
" The chief reason," says Dr. Abel Stevens, " for declining the elec
tion of Whatcoat was the apprehension of the Conference that if he
were elected Wesley would recall Asbury to England." Coke, who
was present, reminded the Conference that they had promised, during
Mr. Wesley's lifetime, as his sons in the gospel, to obey his com
mands." The reply was, in substance, that the pledge was unfor
tunate, and that they who gave it could revoke it. To this reply
Asbury, who had never approved of the pledge being given, offered
no objection, and Whatcoat himself concurred.
On Christmas-eve, 1784, a few weeks only after his arrival at New
York, a Conference, hastily summoned by Coke and Asbury, opened
its sittings in Baltimore. Several days had been spent in preparation
by Asbury and the three brethren whom Wesley had just sent from
England ; and the result may be given in Whatcoat's own words : " We
began our Conference, in which we agreed to form a Methodist Epis
copal Church, in which the liturgy (as presented by the Rev. John
Wesley) should be read, sacraments to be administered by a superin
tendent, elders, deacons, who shall be ordained by a presbytery,
according to the episcopal form, as prescribed in the Rev. J. Wesley's
prayer-book." Accordingly on Christmas-day Asbury was ordained
deacon, on the next day elder, and on the day following super
intendent, or bishop. On subsequent days fourteen were ordained
deacons or elders ; Whatcoat's ordination in England seems to have
been considered sufficient.
From this time till the year 1800 this holy and laborious servant
of the Church was occupied partly in circuit duty, but chiefly in
discharging the functions of presiding elder, in the various districts
to which he was successively appointed. " Preaching almost every
day," he writes, " and sometimes twice a day, with the administering
of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper, kept me in full
employ." On one day he baptized thirty-six children at morning
service, and fifty at another place in the afternoon. In September,
1786, he received an appointment to Philadelphia Circuit, and in
the May following to Baltimore ; but in a few weeks circuit duties
were exchanged for those of the eldership.
During the summer of 1789 he traveled with Asbury to New
York, returning by New Jersey and Philadelphia — a journey which,

118 Methodist Bishops.
with daily preaching, occupied about four months, and was succeeded
by another journey of similar length, in the same company, through
Virginia and North Carolina to Charleston. In February, 1790, a
Conference was held in Baltimore, "where the Lord was present
in power; the saints were glad, and the wicked were offended."
In March they held Conference in Georgia, traveling afterward
through Kentucky, where they were in dangter from Indians, so that
watch had to be kept all night. "We traveled in jeopardy," says
Whatcoat ; " but I think I never traveled with more solemn awe and
serenity of mind. As we fed our horses three times a day, so we
had prayer three times." On one occasion, " suspecting danger from
the savages, we traveled one night and two days without lying down
to rest." Similar journeys occupied the time till May, 1791, when
Conference was held in New York, and Mr. Whatcoat was appointed
to labor in that city. There he remained .till September of the following
year, and for two years subsequently in the city of Baltimore. In both
these cities they had " many refreshing times, and were much united."
In the fall of 1794 he was appointed presiding elder in Maryland,
and during the next two years many of the circuits were visited
in an extraordinary manner. "Many were suddenly struck with,
convictions, and fell to the ground in a state of insensibility, after
awhile standing up and praising God as though heaven had come
into their souls ; others were as much concerned for a clean heart,
and as fully delivered."
After the Baltimore General Conference of 1796 Mr. Whatcoat
accompanied Coke and Asbury through Virginia, where he received
an appointment as presiding elder over a district which embraced
thirty counties. Great revivals occurred. "But," says the diary,
" the slave-trade seems to hinder the progress of Christianity in these
regions." In the autumn of 1798 he had an equally extensive district in
North Carolina, and found " a few precious souls even here also."
" I filled up my time," he writes, " with a good degree of peace and
consolation." With Jesse Lee and William M'Kendree he attended
Conference in Maryland, on the 1st of May, 1800 ; and during the
next week, at the General Conference held in Baltimore, he was
elected bishop.

Richard Whatcoat. 119
The entry in his diary is characteristic of his self-forgetfulness
and humility. During that Conference a great awakening took place
in Baltimore, and the new bishop appears to have thought much more
of the great work of God then in progress than of the dignity with
which he had himself been invested. " At our General Conference held
at Baltimore, in Maryland, May 6, 1800, I was elected and ordained to
the episcopal office. We had a most blessed time and much preach
ing, fervent prayers, and strong exhortations through the city, while
the high praises of a glorious God reverberated from street to street,
and from house to house, which greatly alarmed the citizens. It was
thought that not less than two hundred were converted during the
sitting of our Conference."
Asbury's account of the Conference is much more business-like.
" We had much talk but little work : two days were spent in consider
ing about Dr. Coke's return to Europe ; part of two days more on
Richard Whatcoat, for a bishop ; and one day in raising the salaries of
itinerant preachers from sixty-four to eighty dollars per year. We
had one hundred and sixteen members present. On the 18th of May,
1800, Elder Whatcoat was ordained to the office of a bishop, after
being elected by a majority of four votes more than Jesse Lee." *
The narrowness of the majority, and the two days spent in delib
eration, are indications of the keenness with which this election was
contested. Asbury's declining health rendered a new election neces
sary ; and there can be no doubt that Lee had entertained the expec
tation of being chosen ; moreover, his disappointment at the result was
no secret. Nor was such an expectation unnatural. He was one of
the foremost spirits of his time, full of vivacity and humor, laborious
and self-denying. A stanch supporter of the primitive simplicity of
Methodism, and a pioneer to whose zealous tenacity of purpose and
fearless energy New England Methodism owes, under God, its exist
ence, it is not surprising that while Whatcoat was elected by a ballot
of fifty-nine votes, Lee should have received as many as fifty-five.
It was further debated whether the new bishop should be only an
assistant to Asbury, and in the absence of his principal should have
power to station the preachers only with the advice and concurrence
of a committee appointed by an Annual Conference. The decision
* Asbury's " Journal," vol. ii, p. 451.

120 Methodist Bishops.
was, that they should be in all respects equal ; and on the 18th of
May the new bishop was consecrated as a joint superintendent with
Asbury by prayer and the imposition of the hands of Bishops Coke
and Asbury, assisted by some elders.*
Within a fortnight of his election to the episcopal office Bishop
Whatcoat was engaged in holding his first Conference, at Duck Creek-
Cross Roads, in Delaware. " This," he writes, " was a glorious time ;
such a spirit of faith, prayer, and zeal rested on the preachers and
people, that it exceeded any thing of the kind I ever saw before.
O the strong cries, groans, and agonies of the mourners ! enough to
pierce the hardest heart ; but when the Deliverer set their souls at
liberty, their ecstasies of joy were inexpressibly great, so that the
high praises of the Redeemer's name sounded through the town, until
solemnity appeared on every countenance ; the effect of which was, that
on the Thursday following one hundred and fifteen persons joined the
Society in that town, while the divine flame spread greatly through
the adjacent Societies." After this congenial commencement we
find him at the New York Conference in three weeks, where " a few
souls were converted ; " thence five hundred and ninety miles by a
circuitous route to Lynn, Mass., where Conference opened on the 18th
of July, and revealed " a promising appearance of a good work in these
Eastern States." " From thence," continues the bishop, " we passed
through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary
land, Virginia, and Tennessee, to Bethel, in Kentucky, a course of one
thousand three hundred miles. Here we held a little Conference on
the sixth and seventh of October." On the 19th of the same month;
with Asbury and M'Kendree, he was preaching at Nashville, and on
the following day " we attended the Presbyterian sacramental meeting,
which continued four days and nights." The three Methodist min
isters were requested to address the communicants ; "the power of the
Lord was present to wound and to heal ; several found peace that
evening." A ride of two hundred and twenty miles through drench
ing rain brought the two bishops to Knoxville, Tennessee ; but, says
Whatcoat, " it was trying to our delicate constitutions to encamp on
the wet ground in the night, the wind and rain beating hard upon us."
A similar ride of three hundred and forty miles brought them to
* Bangs's " History M. E. Church," vol. ii, p. 93.

Richard Whatcoat. 121
Augusta. " But 0 ! " exclaims our diarist, " what mountains and
rocks we passed over." However, as they preached here and there to
small companies in their solitary way, they were " comforted on seeing
and hearing of the prosperity of Zion," and a farther journey of three
hundred miles brought them in safety, preaching every day on their
route, to Camden in South Carolina, where Conference was opened
" in Smith's house " on the first of January, 1801.
On his eastward ride thence Bishop Whatcoat makes one of the
very few entries respecting his reading. It is characteristic of the
man, of his singleness of aim and purpose, and of (it may be said with
out offense) the limited range of his studies. "I read a part of
Prince's ' Christian History,' containing accounts of the revivals and
propagation of religion in Great Britain and America for the year
1743. Its features, tendencies, and effects were similar to what has
appeared in our day." He further alludes to some observations of
Jonathan Edwards, in his well-known sermon on the Distinguishing
Marks of the Spirit of God, pointing out resemblances between the
effects produced in 1625 during revivals in Scotland, and those which
had occurred in New England in his own time. Bishop Whatcoat was
remarkable for the intense concentration of all his powers on one
object — the salvation of souls and the sanctification of believers,
according to the type and pattern with which his own experience
had happily rendered him familiar.
The year 1801 was spent principally in company with Asbury, in
traveling through the Southern States. On the 8th of May they reached
Baltimore, he having traveled in the twelve months since his conse
cration to the episcopal office, according to his own computation — and
he was remarkably exact in computing and registering distances — not
less than four thousand one hundred and eighty-four miles. Their
stay in Baltimore was brief indeed. After three days we find the
indefatigable servants of the Church again in the saddle, passing
through Delaware and Pennsylvania, and recording " a most glorious
revival of religion on this peninsula ; on two circuits, not less than a
thousand on each circuit joined the Society in one year, and most of
them found peace with God." After the Philadelphia Conference, in
June, Asbury being ill, Whatcoat proceeded alone, holding Conferences
at New York, and at Lynn, Mass. ; thence along the shores of Lakes
8

122 Methodist Bishops.
Erie and Ontario, and returning in company with Sylvester Hutch
inson, to Frederick, Md., where Asbury rejoined them. "We
formed a plan," says Asbury, " for our future journeyings and labors ;
they to visit Maryland, by the way of Baltimore and Annapolis, and
thence on to Richmond and the towns on the route to Camden, in
South Carolina, and southward to Georgia : I, in company with
Nicholas Snethen, go out to the Western Conference." * This plan
was carried out, and at the close of October Whatcoat and Hutch
inson again met Asbury in Georgia, where a further campaign was
planned. Before starting, Whatcoat preached in the new and elegant
church at Augusta ; but, says Asbury, " I heard of no conversions ;
the time for these has not yet come." f The arrangement was, that
Whatcoat should go through eastern, and Asbury through western,
Georgia. The eastern part of the State was very thinly settled; in some
parts the people had not heard a sermon for twelve months ; in other
places fever prevailed, and great depression. At Savannah he was
greatly afflicted by seeing, in utter ruin, the Orphan House, built by
Whitefield sixty years before ! And riding on through a lone country,
much of which was under water, and inhabited by negroes who worked
in the rice-fields, he came to Charleston, and thence to Camden, where
Conference was opened on the 1st of January, 1803. Up to this time,
or nearly so, the two bishops had pursued their journeys together, and
even when not traveling exactly the same road, their meetings were
frequent. The work extended so rapidly, however, that it became
necessary to divide their labors. "We shall not be able to meet
all the Conferences if we keep together," Asbury wrote to Coke,
" though our bones were brass and our flesh iron. The Conferences
are extended near one thousand three hundred miles along our world,
besides the Western Conference, which will call our attention every
year, from seven to eight or nine hundred miles from the coast." %
What would he have said could he have foreseen the ninety-three
Conferences of the present time! Yet, notwithstanding the geo
graphical extension of the work, the advance of practical science
renders its supervision a much easier matter now, so far as the mere
?Asbury's "Journal," vol. iii, p. 32. f Ibid. p. 40.
X" Methodist Magazine," 1802, p. 217.

Richard Whatcoat. 123
distances are concerned, than at any former period. But how monot
onous and dull is our present mode of being whirled through the
country, compared with 'the romance of the days of the rifle, the ax,
and the saddle-bags !
Bishop Whatcoat now began to feel the infirmities of age. A con
stitution naturally robust had been debilitated by hardships and
exposures in Ireland, and being now in his sixty-seventh year, a contin
uance of such journeys as he had recently undertaken was impossible.
Yet during the first six months of 1803 his journeys were of consid
erable length, although frequently taken in great bodily pain. Con
ferences were held — in March, at Petersburgh, where a service which
began at eleven and ended at nine at night' was held in the woods, and
many were converted ; and in April, at Baltimore. On April 6th this
entry occurs : " In the last twelve months I have traveled about three
thousand seven hundred and seven miles, and in the sixty-seventh year
of my age, though I have had considerable afflictions which have
greatly shaken this house of clay." Notwithstanding, we find him
starting on the 11th with Asbury on a three-weeks' journey to a Con
ference in Delaware, "where we had a very large gathering of
preachers and people, and were indulged with the privilege of holding
our Conference in the Friends' Meeting-house ; " and from thence to
Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, where Conference was opened
on the 9th of June.
Acting on Asbury's advice the venerable man now entered into a
period of comparative rest. His symptoms were serious, and riding
on horseback was all but impossible. Yet his preaching was attended
with extraordinary power. In May of this year, as he was preaching
at Dover from the words, " Be clothed with humility," such was the
effect of the sermon that the people were unable or unwilling to leave
the building for hours after its conclusion ; and an eye-witness remarks,
" The recollection of such days of power and glory is enough to make
an old man renew his youth." * Traveling slowly, as he was able, he
reached Baltimore in the month of August, and continued in that city,
preaching usually once on the Lord's day, till July, 1804. In May of
that year the General Conference was held in Baltimore, but he was
able to be present only during. part of the session. " It closed," he
* Boehm's " Reminiscences," p. 86.

124 Methodist Bishops.
writes, " in great peace and much love." On July 17th he set out,
ridino- slowly, for Greene County, Pennsylvania, where he found his
colleague prostrate with fever, and stayed in attendance upon him for
an entire month. The two then started together, but when they had
proceeded about ninety miles Asbury's weakness compelled him to
return, while Whatcoat " took the wilderness," and preached, visited
the Societies, and encouraged the brethren in Tennessee and South
Carolina. His ride of twelve hundred miles terminated at Charleston,
where a Conference was arranged to open on the first day of 1805.
Asbury had contrived to reach the Conference, and afterward the two
bishops traveled together for many weeks, preaching daily on their
route, until they reached Chestertown, Maryland, where they held a
Conference commencing on the 1st of May. " We had great search-
ings of heart, strict discipline, good order, much preaching to large
congregations, and very comfortable times."
Still traveling northward they held a conference in June at Ash-
grove, New York. " Then Bishop Asbury and I parted ; he went to
the New England Conference, and I returned to the West." His
journey was continued to Wheeling, where, after mentioning that he
had crossed the Ohio, his autobiography abruptly terminates, just
twelve months before he was called to rest from his labors.
In the absence of this invaluable guide it becomes difficult to
trace, with precision, the course of Bishop Whatcoat's official journeys.
That his labors, notwithstanding the physical torture incident to his
malady, were continued almost without abatement to the end may be
inferred from Asbury's statement, that during the last year of his life
he traveled three thousand miles. Wherever he appeared he was re
garded with veneration, even in New England. Notwithstanding that
he had been the competitor of Lee, their favorite candidate for the
episcopal office, he was always received with a heartfelt regard, which
ripened, on the occasion of his later visits, into reverence. In April,
1806, after attending the Philadelphia Conference, he undertook a
journey on horseback of several hundred miles. On his way he was
seized with a severe attack of gravel, causing intense agony. " We did
not know," says Asbury, "but he would die on the road." At Dover,
Delaware, he was obliged to make a halt, which proved to be his last.
The illness was of several weeks' duration. So unworldly was his spirit,

Richard Whatcoat. 125
and so inadequate was the maintenance then provided for a bishop,
that he had no means of defraying the expenses of his sickness. But
He who feeds the fowls of the air and clothes the lilies of the field,
did not permit His faithful servant to remain destitute of those loving
attentions which smooth the dying pillow. At the house of Mr. Bas
set, who had previously been governor of the State, he was kindly
entertained until the moment arrived when he could dispense with all
earthly succors. A few weeks before his decease, in a letter to Dr.
Coke, he stated that his eyes were very weak and his nerves so much
shaken that he could seldom write ; but after reporting various partic
ulars connected with his work, he concluded by expressing the full
ness of his gratitude and hope. "I have filled up seventy years
among the living, and now bless God that ever I was born, and espe
cially that I was born again. My soul is looking out for a happy
eternity." On the 4th of July he was called home, and his mortal
remains were deposited in the Wesley Church, in Dover. Four days
afterward his friend and companion, Bishop Asbury, who had mani
fested the most touching grief, wrote as follows in his Journal : " That
father in Israel, and my faithful friend for forty years ; a man of solid
parts, a self-denying man of God ! Whoever heard him speak an idle
word ? When was guile found in his mouth ? He had been thirty-eight
years in the ministry ; sixteen years in England and twenty-two years
in America ; twelve years as presiding elder, and six years in the super
intendency. A man so uniformly good I have not known in Europe
or America. He had long been afflicted with gravel and stone, in
which affliction, nevertheless, he traveled a great deal, three thousand
miles the last year. He bore in the last three months excessively pain
ful illness with the most exemplary patience. At his taking leave of
the South Carolina Conference I thought his time was short. I
changed my route to visit him, but only reached within one hundred
and thirty miles; death was too quick for me."* In the funeral
sermon, preached sometime afterward, his old companion and survivor
further remarked: "I have known him intimately for nearly fifty
years, and tried him most accurately in respect to the soundness of
his faith. I have known the holy manner of his life ; his attention to
duty at all times, in all places, as a Christian and as a minister ; his
* Asbury's "Journal," vol. iii, p. 230.

126 Methodist Bishops.
long-suffering and endurance in great affliction of body and of mind,
having been exercised with severe diseases and great labors. But
these did not abate his charity — his love of God and man. He bore
with resignation and patience great temptations, bodily labors, and
inexpressible pain. In life or death he was placid and calm ; as he
lived, so he died."
" We do not claim for him," says Dr. Bangs, " deep erudition nor
extensive science ; but he was profoundly learned in the sacred Script
ures, thoroughly acquainted with Wesleyan theology, and well versed
in all the varying systems of divinity with which the Christian
Church has been loaded. For gravity of deportment, meekness of
spirit, deadness to the world, and deep devotion to God, perhaps he
was not excelled, if, indeed, equaled, by any of his contemporaries or
successors."* Three weeks after Bishop Whatcoat's death an article was pub
lished in the "Federal Gazette," a daily journal of Baltimore,
speaking of him as " a man of deep humility and solid piety, and a
lively, experimental, and practical preacher of the Gospel."f " Sober
without sadness," says the official record of his death, " and cheerful
without levity, he was equally removed from the severe austerity of
the gloomy monk and likeness of the facetious and empty-brained
witling. His words were weighed in the balance of the sanctuary,
and when uttered, even in the way of rebuke, admonition, or instruc
tion, they were calculated to minister grace to the hearer."
So lived and died Richard Whatcoat, a man eminently fitted by
natural gravity and solidity of character, and by the abounding grace
of God leading him into the enjoyment of that perfect love which
casteth out fear, for the duties which he was called upon to fulfill in
the Church of Christ. Though possessing comparatively little of the
"knowledge that puffeth up," there was given to him in abundance
the charity that edifieth ; and while prophecy may fail, and tongues
may cease, and knowledge may vanish away, this charity that never
faileth must ever remain the highest gift, the gift most to be desired,
in the shepherd of souls.
* Bangs, vol. ii, p. 187. \ Methodist " Magazine," 1807, p. 190.

llOL WD[L(LOA^ Rfl? KEN ©IRE IE,

Bishop of ihF.Mnho^ si j-.:j-..iflcnp^l Chur

William M'Kendree.

BY EEV. T. O. SUMMERS, D.D.

WILLIAM M'KENDREE was born in King William County,
Virginia, July 6, 1757. He was the oldest child of John and
Mary M'Kendree, who were Virginians by birth. When William was
about seven years of age his parents removed to James City County,
near WiUiamsburgh, the seat of William and Mary College. A few
years after they settled in Greenville County, on the Meherrin River.
John M'Kendree was a planter, and brought up his son in his own
vocation. Besides William he had seven other children, to wit:
Lucinda, Dorotha, Frances, John, Thomas, James, and Nancy; of
these, three became somewhat noted in the annals of Methodism.
Frances became the wife of the Rev. Nathaniel Moore, to whom
she was married by Bishop Asbury. She died without issue, in holy
triumph, near Columbia, Tennessee, January 3, 1835.
James, the seventh child, became the father of a large family.
His house was the bishop's center. There his father died, and there
he ended his life.
Nancy, the eighth child, survived them all. She was never mar
ried. Her father, her sister Frances, and the Bishop, died in her
arms ; and when she passed away she was buried at the head of the
Bishop's grave.
The M'Kendree family removed from Virginia to Tennessee in
1810. The venerable patriarch, and his sons James and William, and
his daughter Nancy, ended their days near Fountain Head, in Sumner
County, and there they sleep together in their rural sepulcher. They
were a loving family, the domestic affections being strong in all the
members. When the' War of the Revolution broke out William M'Kendree
was about twenty years of age. He was at that time in Virginia.
He responded to the call of his country, and joined a company of
volunteers. He was an adjutant in the service, and for some time he

130 Methodist Bishops.
was in the commissary department. He displayed great energy in
procuring supplies to sustain the allied armies of Washington and
Rochambeau. He was at the battle of Yorktown when Cornwallis
was taken— which virtually closed the war. He bravely and faith
fully discharged the duties of a patriot soldier ; but after the struggle
was over he had not the vanity to fight his battles over again, nor the
cupidity to seek a pension for his services. He did his duty, and
thought no more about it. This was characteristic of the man during
his whole life.
As might be supposed, his advantages in the way of education
were very limited. But he improved such as fell in his way; and
by application, industry, and perseverance, acquired a sufficient amount
of knowledge to qualify him to teach school before he entered the
ministry. He had strong common sense, an indomitable will, and
a retentive memory, so that he acquired a large store of information,
and the capacity to turn it to profitable account. I have examined
many of his papers — they evince the characteristics of an auto di-
daskalos — one who had not been much indebted to "tutors and
governors " for his education, but who had made good use of the
faculties with which he was endowed, and the opportunities of ac
quiring knowledge and wisdom with which he was favored. No
doubt he experienced great embarrassment from his lack of early
culture ; but then this lack was not altogether a misfortune, as he was
thus thrown upon his own resources, and a spirit of independence was
developed which made him the man for the times and for the work
to which he was called.
The parents of William M'Kendree belonged to the old colonial
Church in Virginia, in which, of course, he was baptized and trained.
His early life was moral. He says that he never but once swore an
oath, and he abstained from the vices of the age ; but he remained
for years a stranger to the life and power of godliness.
When about nineteen years of age the Methodist preachers came
into his neighborhood, and he was awakened by their ministry. He
"joined the Society," and remained "in connection" for several years,
without realizing renewing grace. "I then," says he, "peacefully
retired from the Society, while my conduct continued to secure their
friendship."

William M'Kendree. 131
He remained in this condition till the year 1787, when he was
about thirty years of age. At that time a great revival took place in
Brunswick Circuit, under the ministry of that extraordinary man, the
Rev. John Easter. William M'Kendree became a subject of convert
ing grace at that time. He passed through most painful processes of
repentance, which, however, soon resulted in all joy and peace in
believing. The description of his conversion, in a letter which he
wrote to Bishop Asbury some sixteen years after, is exceedingly
graphic, and shows how pungent were his convictions of sin; how
earnest his struggles for deliverance ; how painful were his tempta
tions, and doubts, and fears ; and how glorious was the change which
took place when he was turned "from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan unto God."
He was immediately filled with great concern for the unconverted,
and manifested much zeal for their salvation. Still, he did not
imagine that he was called to preach, till one day, as he sat at table,
his father said to him : " William, has not the Lord called you to
preach the gospel ? " William answered : " I cannot tell ; I do not
know what a call to preach the gospel implies." The old gentleman
responded: "I believe he has; and I charge you not to quench the
Spirit." He continued undecided till he was laid on a bed of affliction,
and was visited by Mr. Easter, who prayed with peculiar fervor for
his recovery, and that he might be thrust into the ministry. Re
covering his health, he spoke more freely and frequently in public.
Shortly after, Bishop Asbury, at a District Conference, held in
Petersburgh, appointed him to Mecklenburgh Circuit, as the colleague
of Philip Cox. This was in 1788. The appointment was like an
electric shock ! But being encouraged by Mr. Easter and others, and
feeling " the burden of the Lord " resting upon him, he obeyed the
call. He went to the circuit fully expecting that the experiment
would prove a failure. But the preachers and people thought other
wise ; and the result shows that they were right.
The next year, 1789, he was appointed to Cumberland Circuit ;
but after traveling on it a part of the year he was transferred to
Mecklenburgh, his first circuit. During this year his doubts subsided,
and he settled down on the conviction that he was really called of
God to the sacred office.

132 Methodist Bishops.
On June 15, 1790, at the Conference held in Petersburgh, Bishop
Asbury ordained him deacon. He spent the ensuing Conference year
partly on Portsmouth, and partly on Surrey Circuit ; and he was happy
and successful in his work.
At the Conference held in Petersburgh, April, 1791, he was ap
pointed to. Amelia Circuit. Bishops Coke and Asbury were both in
attendance at that Conference, the former being just about to return
to England on account of the recent death of Mr. Wesley.
M'Kendree was ordained elder at a Conference held by Bishop
Asbury at Lane's Chapel, December 25, 1791, and was appointed to
Greenville Circuit. This embraced his old home, and he was appre
hensive that the old proverb would be realized in his case: "No
prophet is accepted in his own country." But in this he was agree
ably disappointed. He says, "I, believe I never went through the
business of a circuit with more ease." He makes this suggestive
remark : " Although many were turned out, there were no fixed
prejudices in consequence of the administration that I know of." He
appears to have been a rather rigid disciplinarian at that time— as,
indeed, were most of the early preachers.
At the " General Conference," in November, 1792, he fell in with
certain preachers who prejudiced him against Bishop Asbury and
" his creatures," who were charged with dark and ambitious designs,
popery, etc. They were determined to have a Church of their own
— a glorious Church ! He was so far influenced by them that he left
the Conference without taking an appointment. But a few days after
he providentially met the bishop and presiding elder, and received
an appointment to Norfolk station, went to his work, looked more
closely into the system, was satisfied with regard to its scriptural
character and the purity and integrity of the bishop, and went on his
way rejoicing. His old presiding elder, James O'Kelly, was the
cause of all this disaffection. He died shortly after, and the secession
of which he was the originator came to naught.
The severe ordeal through which M'Kendree passed at this early
period of his ministry made him more devoted to the system of
Episcopal Methodism, and prepared him in his mature life to take the
lead in its healthful development and successful defense.
At the Conference held in Petersburgh, November, 1793, he was

William M'Kendree. 133
appointed to Union Circuit, in South Carolina, Philip Bruce' being his
presiding elder. He spent three months, however, in traveling with
Bishop Asbury — a circumstance which had an important bearing on
his future life.
At the next Conference he was appointed to Botetourt Circuit,
Virginia. The next three years he presided over a district which extended
from the Chesapeake Bay over the Blue Ridge and Alleghany
Mountains, to a vast region of territory upon the western waters.
In 1798 he was appointed to a district within the bounds of the
Baltimore Conference ; and in the spring of 1800 he was returned to
his former district.
In October, 1800, he accompanied Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat
to the Western Conference, at Bethel, Kentucky.
He then took charge of a district which embraced the present States
of Ohio and Kentucky, and large tracts in Western Virginia, Illinois,
Tennessee, and Mississippi. It was fifteen hundred miles in compass.
He was the very man for this work. The hand of Providence
was manifestly seen in this appointment. He spent eight years in
this frontier pioneer work, and he always considered them as the
most laborious and successful years of his life. There were perils
in the wilderness, exposure, fatigue, privation ; but there was a fas
cinating romance in this pioneering work which relieved it of much
of its'repulsiveness ; and the conviction that he was laying deep and
broad the foundations of the Church in those vast solitudes, with the
blessing of Heaven, sustained him amid all his sacrifices and toils.
His own graphic account of his work at that period will be read with
interest. He says : —
" While on the way through these frontier settlements, if we came
to a creek or river we had the privilege* of swimming it ; and when
safely landed on the other bank it was a consolation to reflect we had
left that obstruction behind, and that the way to the next lay open and
plain before us. If 'night overtook us before we could reach a house,
it was our privilege to gather wood where we could find it, make
a fire, eat our morsel, and supplicate a throne of grace with as
free access as in a palace or a church. Being weary, we rested
sweetly and securely- under the divine protection ; and when we

134 Methodist Bishops.
arrived at our destination, if the accommodations were of the hum
blest kind we had the inexpressible satisfaction of being received with
a hearty welcome, and accommodated with the best the family could
afford ; and though very inferior in the estimation of the delicate, and
those accustomed to sumptuous fare, yet all the real wants of nature
were supplied. We ate heartily, slept sweetly, and rejoiced with the
pious and affectionate people, who received and treated the ministers
of the gospel as angels of God ; and, above all, when the time arrived
for us to deliver our message the people flocked together, and seemed
to want to hear what God the Lord would say. The prayers of the
pious ascended the hill of the Lord ; divine power attended the preach
ing of the word ; sinners were convicted, many were converted to
God, and the Church was enlarged and built up in the faith once
delivered to the saints. My appointment required much riding. I
preached often, and sustained a great charge ; and yet I esteem these
among the happiest days of my life. Strange as it may seem, there,
in the midst of exposure and many privations, my impaired constitu
tion was restored, and my general health greatly improved. I en
joyed peace and consolation through faith, and was enabled to walk
with God."
It is astonishing on what small pittances the preachers subsisted in
those days. During M'Kendree's first year's service as presiding elder
in the West he received only $20 ; the second year, $43 67 ; and so
of other years. This embraced all his perquisites, which, according to
the rule at that time, had to be reported ! But we hear of no com
plaint of " hard times ! "
It was fortunate for the cause of Methodism and a pure Chris
tianity that M'Kendree labored those eight years in that region. " The
great revival," as it was called, took place in Kentucky and Tennessee
at that time. The Methodists labored- in union with a part of the
Presbyterian Church. But it was not long before difficulties arose.
The old Presbyterians would not sanction the employment of men as
ministers who had not received a liberal education* ; and they required
a strict adherence to the Confession of Faith. But many who labored
in this revival would not be so restricted. They were determined to
employ men whom they considered called to the ministry, whether
liberally educated or not ; and they repudiated the dogma of absolute

William M'Kendree. 135
and unconditional election and reprobation, and cognate points, as
inconsistent with the offer of salvation to all men.
This led to the organization of a new sect called " Cumberland
Presbyterians," from the Cumberland country, in which they origi
nated. Then there was an invasion by the Shakers, who led off some of
the Presbyterian ministers into their insane delusion. Then " Stone-
ites," " New Lights," and other erratic sects were developed. Jerking,
jumping, barking, and the like, disgraced the revival scenes, and
brought them into disrepute.
Fanaticism, the work of man and of the devil, got mixed up with
the work of God, and the cause was greatly imperiled. It required a
cool brain and a sound judgment, a steady hand and constant vigilance,
to direct the movement in such circumstances. M'Kendree was the
man for the occasion. He brought the Methodists through without
any entangling alliance, and with comparatively little defection. There
were times when, for the sake of catholicity and compromise, the
temptation was strong to keep particular doctrines in abeyance, and to
forego certain rules of the Discipline. But M'Kendree was equal to
the trial. He was friendly to all who sincerely labored to promote
the work of God ; but he knew the mission of Methodism too well to
give up any part of its glorious system.
It is proper to say that his colaborers were men of like spirit with
himself. Since the apostolic age a nobler corps of evangelists has not,
perhaps, been seen than that composed of such men as Burke, Black-
man, Walker, Sale, Wilkinson, Henry Smith, Gibson, Jacob Young,
Lewis Garrett, James Gwyn, Page, Watson, and others, with M'Ken
dree as their trusty and honored leader..
M'Kendree speaks of a great camp-meeting which they held west
of the Mississippi, in what is now the State of Missouri — the first oi
the sort ever held in that region. On the last day of the meeting one
hundred joined the Church.
As neither Asbury nor Whatcoat was able to attend the Western
Conference, and Coke was absent in Europe, M'Kendree presided at
the session of 1804. He did this so well that when a new bishop was
needed — as Whatcoat died in 1806 — attention was directed to M'Ken
dree as the proper man. He continued on the Cumberland District
fill the General Conference, which was held in Baltimore, May, 1808.

136 Methodist Bishops.
On the Sunday before the Conference opened its session M'Ken
dree was appointed to preach in Light-street Church. He entered
the pulpit in coarse attire, such as he wore in the backwoods. Dr.
Bangs says he looked at him with distrust, saying to himself, " I won
der what awkward backwoodsman they have put in the pulpit this
morning, to disgrace us with his mawkish and uncouth phraseology ? "
He faltered in his speech, clipped some of his words at the end, hesi
tated and stumbled, till he got fairly into his subject, then he bore down all
before him. The congregation was overwhelmed ; there were sudden
shrieks of distress, and then shouts of joy ; many were bathed in tears ;
some were prostrated in their pews ; a large athletic preacher fell upon
his seat as if pierced by a bullet. Dr. Bangs says : " I felt my heart
melting under emotions which I could not resist. When the preacher
descended from the pulpit all were filled with admiration of his
talents, and were ready to ' magnify the grace of God in him,' as a
chosen messenger of good tidings to the lost, saying in their hearts,
' This is the man whom God delights to honor.' " Bishop Asbury,
who was present, said, " That sermon will make him a bishop."
M'Kendree was elected bishop May 12th, and consecrated by
Bishop Asbury May 18, 1808. He was the first native American that
ever filled that office in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His creden
tials are still preserved among his papers. They were written by
Bishop Asbury's own hand, and as they are somewhat of a curiosity,
they are here reproduced verbatim et literatim : — 1
" Know all men by these presents, that I, Francis Asbury, originally of Great
Britain, in great Barr, Staffordshire, the Parish of Handsworth, for some years a
member of the Methodist Society, and a local preacher ; afterwards a member of
the British Conference. In the year 1771 I came a Missionary to the British
Provinces in America; afterwards General Assistant, and I had the oversight of
the Methodist Society's. On the 27th day of December, 1784, at a General Con
ference in Baltimore, after being ordained Deacon and Elder, I was elected to
the office of Superintendent or Bishop, by the unanimous voice of the General
Conference held in Baltimore, December 24, 1784. The following persons assisted
in my ordination, viz., Thomas Coke, Doctor of Civil Law of Jesus College in the
University of Oxford, Presbyter of the Church of England, Superintendent of the
Methodist Episcopal Church in America, by the ordination and appointment of
Mr. John Wesley, and other clergymen of the Church of England; also assisted
in the ordination, William Otterbine, Minister of the German Presbyterian

William M'Kendree. 137
Church, and Richard Whatcoat with Thomas Vasey, regularly ordained Elders bv
John Wesley : these four solemnly set me apart for a Superintendent of the Meth
odist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. And now be it known
to all whom it may concern, that William McKbndeee was ordained Deacon in
the year 1790, and I did set him apart to the office of an Elder by my hands, in
December of the year 1791. I have, this eighteenth day of May, one thousand
eight hundred and eight, set apart William McKendree,* by the laying on of
hands and prayer, assisted by Freeborn Garrettson, Philip Bruce, Jesse Lee, and
Thomas Ware, all of them Elders in the Church ; to the office and rank of a Super
intendent or Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, (after he had been elected
by a majority — i.e., 95 out of 128 members of General Conference,) as a man
whom we judge well qualified for the office of a Superintendent, and one of the
Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and fit to preside over and Feed the
Flock of Christ, so long as his spirit, practice, and doctrine is such as becometh
the Gospel of Christ, and he shall submit to the Discipline and order of the said
Methodist Episcopal Church in America.
"And I have hereunto set my hand and soal, this eighteenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight.
' ' Francis Asbury, [Seal.]
' ' Jesse Lee,
[Seal.] " Freeborn Garrettson,
' ' Thomas Ware,
' ' Philip Bruce.
"Done in Light-Street Church, Baltimore, State of Maryland."
"*Born in King William County, State of Virginia, July 6, 1757."
A clumsy, anacoluthic document, it must be confessed ! But its
simplicity and subjective detail invest it with great historic interest.
M'Kendree's episcopal credentials are more prized by us in this
homely English than they would have been in sonorous Latin.
M'Kendree shrank from the responsibility of the episcopal office.
" Deeply conscious," said he, " that I did not possess qualifications
adequate to the important station, yet confident of support from my
brethren, and relying on divine aid, I reluctantly and tremblingly
submitted." Bishop Asbury was rejoiced at his appointment. " The burden,"
said he, " is now borne by two pairs of shoulders instead of one — the
care is cast upon two hearts and heads."
He said two, because Bishop Coke had virtually retired from the
episcopal work in America, as he was inaugurating Methodist mis-

138 Methodist Bishops.
sions in other parts of the world. But he was deeply concerned for
the welfare of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, and
wrote to Bishop M'Kendree from Wales, October 5, 1808 :
' ' To Bishop M'Kendree : — I write to you, my very dear brother and friend, not
to congratulate you on your election to the office of a bishop, (for I believe you
regard not office nor honor any further than you may serve God thereby,) but to
express my regard for you, and the pleasure I feel (notwithstanding what -I have
written above) at your being united to my old and venerable Brother Asbury, in
the great work in which he is engaged. I am persuaded God has chosen you to
help my dear brother, and that you will go with him in perfect union in
blessing the American continent under divine grace.
"You are mild, you are moderately and properly reserved, and do not aim
at an overbearing exercise of power. I have not had a large acquaintance with
you, but your person and your voice are fresh to me, as if you were now with
me in the same room, aud I greatly mistake if I do not taste your spirit. . Go
on, brother, walking with God and united to him. Your field of action is
great. You have, perhaps, ten thousand pulpits open to you. But the grand
point, which must be engraven continually on your forehead, as it were, and
on your heart, is the harmony and union of the Methodist Connection in America.
God bless you ! My dearest wife joins me in love to you. Pray for us.
"I am, very dear brother and friend, yours affectionately and faithfully, "T. Coke."
"P. S. — Please write to me."
What a beautiful spirit of devoted friendship and fervent piety
pervades that letter ! What a debt the world owes that self-sacrificing
and apostolic man !
M'Kendree's first episcopal tour of fifteen hundred miles on
horseback took him through large portions of Virginia, Tennessee,
Illinois, and Missouri. He astonished and delighted the people on
the frontier with the simplicity of his manners, the plainness of his
attire, his affability in social life, and his rare pulpit talents.
The first Conference that he held was the Western, at Liberty
Hill, Tennessee, October 1, 1808, and admirably did he conduct its
business, vindicating the wisdom of his appointment to the episcopal
office. He continued in the performance of his arduous duties, riding
through the connection every year, attending camp-meetings and
other great occasions, preaching and presiding in Conferences, with
unquenchable zeal, universal acceptance, and wonderful success.

William M'Kendree. 139
M'Kendree was the first bishop who conducted the business of an
Annual Conference according to parliamentary rules. Bishop Asbury
cared but little about rules of order; but M'Kendree knew their
importance. Asbury was a patriarch — a man of sound judgment and
large experience ; so that the preachers would defer to his method of
proceeding in the Conferences, whatever it might have been ; but
M'Kendree sustained a different relation to those over whom he was
called to preside. Hence he wisely induced the Conferences to
adopt rules of order; and he made himself master of them, and
rigidly but mildly enforced them. Competent judges said, that as a
moderator he was unsurpassed in Church or State. He was very
rarely, if ever, known to make an episcopal decision from which a
majority dissented. He was prompt, impartial, courteous, firm — a
model president.
Bishop Paine, who was much with him — and who trod in his
footsteps, being a capital presiding officer himself — says that he is
decidedly of the opinion that he has never seen any man who so
impressed and controlled a body of men as Bishop M'Kendree did
in his palmy days. There were always quietness, order, and a respect
ful manner among all the members of Conference when he presided.
His adherence to recognized rules of order was of vast importance
in conducting the business of the General Conference. When that
body met in New York, in 1812, Bishop7 M'Kendree submitted to it
an address in writing, in which he called attention to this subject, and
introduced the custom, which has been perpetuated, of laying out the
business of the session and transacting it in regular order. In
allusion to this the late venerable Henry Smith, in a letter to Bishop
Paine, says : —
"Previous to the first delegated General Conference, May 1, 1812,
Bishop M'Kendree drew up a plan of business to be brought before
the General Conference. His address was read in the Conference ; but
as it was a new thing, the aged bishop (Asbury) rose to his feet im
mediately after the paper was read, and addressed the junior bishop
to the following effect : ' I have something to say to you before the
Conference.' The junior also rose to his feet, and they stood face to
face. Bishop Asbury went on to say, ' This is a new thing. I never
did business in this way, and why is this new thing introduced?'
9

140 Methodist Bishops.
The junior bishop promptly replied, ' You are our father, we are
your sons ; you never had need of it. I am only a brother, and I have
need of it.? Bishop Asbury said no more, but sat down with a smile
on his face. The scene is now before me. I believe the bishops have
pursued the plan ever since."
Indeed, Bishop Asbury was so impressed with the superior man
ner in which M'Kendree conducted Conference business that he
seldom afterward presided, leaving the chair to his colleague.
In the summer of 1814 Bishop M'Kendree was much injured by
a fall from a horse, which laid him aside for awhile from his work.
In the spring of 1816 he was laid up with rheumatism at the
house of D. Wilkins, in Baltimore. To add to his afflictions, on
March 31, 1816, his venerable colleague, Bishop Asbury, died, leaving
him the sole surviving bishop of the Church.
When the second delegated General Conference met in Baltimore,
May, 1816, he delivered an address to the Conference on the general
state of the work, and the necessity of strengthening the episcopacy.
Agreeably to his suggestion the Conference gave him two col
leagues, Bishops George and Roberts.
In 1818, while on his way to the Mississippi Conference, he ex
perienced what he called " a very uncommon shock." It affected his
head, and, indeed, his whole system, so that for a time he could not move.
The Conference was held at a private house near a camp-meeting.
It consisted of only ten members. On the second day of the session
they met in his room — he being in bed. On Sunday he was taken to
the camp-ground, and lay in a bed during the sermon ; after which,
being held up by two preachers, he performed the ordination service.
Being unable to travel on horseback, Judge M'Gehee— one of
God's noblemen, who still resides at Woodville, Mississippi- — gave
him a light Jersey wagon, in which he traveled to Tennessee, camping
out eight nights, and reaching his brother's house, at Fountain Head,
in improved health.
When the General Conference met in Baltimore, May, 1820,
Bishop M'Kendree submitted an address to the Conference, in which
he indicated the wants of the connection, especially calling attention
to the importance of " strengthening the episcopacy," in view of his
increasing infirmities.

William M'Kendree. 141
The Conference approved of his administration and that of his
colleagues, requested him to take such work as he might feel able to
accomplish, and proceeded to elect another bishop. Their choice fell
upon the very man for the office — Joshua Soule.
But after they had elected him they passed certain resolutions
declaring that in future presiding elders should be nominated by the
bishops, and elected by the Annual Conference; and that they
should constitute a council with the bishop for the appointment of
the preachers. If these measures had been adopted by the delegated
General Conference they would have been a serious infringement
of the constitution — they would have overthrown the government
of the Church. Bishop George, who Was presiding at the time,
seems to have had no fixed principles on the subject ; and Bishop
Roberts, though admitting the unconstitutionality of the measures,
was disposed, with Bishop George, because a majority favored the
innovations, to submit to them.
Not so Bishop M'Kendree, who, as soon as he was informed of the
proposed change, (being sick at the time,) declared that he would
not submit to it. Joshua Soule, who had framed the Restrictive
Rules which were thus to be impinged upon, declared that he would
not receive consecration if these measures were not rescinded.
By the firmness of these two men the government of the Church
was saved, and transmitted intact to our times. Bishop M'Kendree
should be held in everlastjng remembrance for the determined rer
sistance which he made to these unconstitutional measures.
After the session of the General Conference he addressed an
elaborate paper to the Annual Conferences, setting forth his objec
tions to the revolutionary scheme. This document evinces great
wisdom, and a perfect acquaintance with Methodist economy and
the philosophy of its peculiar polity. It is preserved in Bishop
Paine's " Life of Bishop M'Kendree."
The resolutions were suspended, and never more saw the light. At
the next General Conference (1824) Joshua Soule and Elijah Hedding
were elected and consecrated Bishops on the old constitutional basis.
During the next quadrennium Bishop M'Kendree labored in
cessantly, as far as his infirmities would allow. He took a special
interest in the organization of missions to the Indians and negroes,

142 Methodist Bishops.
for whose salvation he was deeply concerned. In November, 1823,
he attended a session of the Tennessee Conference at Huntsville,
Alabama; but while presiding he had an attack of vertigo, which
admonished him that his work was drawing within restricted limits.
Early in March, however, in company with Thomas L. Douglass
and Robert Paine, he started in his barouche to Baltimore, to attend
the session of the General Conference. The journey was accom
plished with great difficulty, the bishop being nearly exhausted on
the route. In passing through Virginia he would frequently say to
Mr. Paine, " Robert, I must stop awhile here. I knew the old folks,
and must look after the children." What an affecting manifestation
of apostolic devotion and zeal !
Bishop M'Kendree was very desirous that the bishops should be
invested with the power of vetoing any action of the General Con
ference which, in their judgment, impinged upon the constitution.
The General Conference of 1824 adopted a resolution favoring this
"constitutional test," as it was called, much to the joy of Bishop
M'Kendree. In his address to the Conference at its close — reported
by John Summerfield and Robert Paine — he said : " I was pleased
with an adjustment which is calculated to heal the past by the peace-
measure proposed, and to guard against a recurrence by the constitu
tional test."
After that General Conference he made an episcopal visitation to
the north-west, including the national council of the Wyandottes,
with whom he had a most interesting interview. He remained some
time among the Indians, visiting them from house to house, and com
municating with them through an interpreter. He ever after spoke
with delight of that visit.
He then returned to his friends in Tennessee, with whom he spent
the winter, and witnessed the triumphant death of his sister Frances.
He wrote to his colleagues from Nashville, December 12, 1824,
that he could no longer perform active episcopal service. He urged
the establishment of a mission at Liberia, the better instruction of the
Indians, and a greater devotion to pastoral work.
But he did not desist from traveling ; he visited all parts of the
connection, and preached and presided at Conferences, till the next ses
sion of the General Conference, which was in 1828, at Pittsburgh.

William M'Kendree. 143
Having received an affecting letter from the Wyandottes, thanking
him for his fatherly care, and expressing a strong desire that he should
visit them again, he did so in June, 1827, much to their gratification
and his own.
After the General Conference of 1828 he returned to Tennessee,
attended the Kentucky Conference and other important meetings;
visited the Cherokee Indians in their national council, and went to
Athens, in Georgia, and ordained Stephen Olin, who was then
professor in Franklin College; itinerated largely through Georgia
and South Carolina ; presided at the South Carolina Conference, in
Charleston ; proceeded through North Carolina and Virginia, attending
the Virginia Conference at Lynchburgh ; thence to Baltimore, attend
ing the Conference ; thence through Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
attending the Philadelphia Conference; thence to Urbana, where he
attended the Ohio Conference; thence to Lexington, attending the
Kentucky Conference ; thence to Nashville, where he spent the winter
of 1829-30. Feeble as he was he preached at camp-meetings, sometimes to six
thousand people, so as to be distinctly heard by all.
In the early part of 1830, accompanied by his attached friend Alex
ander L. P. Green, he visited Mississippi and Louisiana, purposing to
extend his tour through the West, South, and East ; but he was unable
to do so.
He, however, attended the Kentucky Conference, in Russellville,
and then crossed the mountains for the sixtieth time, to attend the
Holston Conference at Ebenezer, Greene County, Tennessee, Novem
ber 4. But he had to be carried in the arms of his attendants, and could
visit the Conference but once, and then but for a few minutes. He
still purposed to continue his tour, but his friends remonstrated with
him, and he yielded, saying with tears, " I approve your judgment,
and submit."
After spending the winter with his friends in Tennessee, he
attended the General Conference, in Philadelphia, May, 1832 ; but was
not able to be present at many of its sessions. He, however, preached
an impressive sermon, and presided at 'the ordination of Bishops An
drew and Emory.
The Conference continued his superannuated relation, allowing him

144 Methodist Bishops.
two hundred and fifty dollars a year for extra traveling expenses,
besides one hundred dollars for his traveling companion.
The day before the Conference adjourned, leaning on his staff, his
eyes suffused with tears, and his voice trembling with emotion, the
whole assembly rising to their feet, he said : —
"Let all things be done without strife or vainglory, and try to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. My brethren and
children, love one another." Then, spreading forth his hands and
raising his eyes to heaven, he pronounced in faltering accents the
apostolic benediction. He then left the assembly to return no more.
After spending a few weeks in Baltimore, he took final leave of
his friends east of the mountains and returned to Tennessee. He
lay in a bed in his carriage a great part of the way, being unable to
sit up. But he so far rallied as to be able to travel extensively in 1833.
He attended the session of the Tennessee Conference at Pulaski,
though he was not able to preside, being confined to his bed most of
the time.
On the first Sunday in December he preached in Nashville, and
administered the Lord's Supper. He preached there also on Christ
mas-day. He held a watch-meeting there on the last night of the
year, and the next day left for Mississippi and Louisiana, preaching at
various points. He then returned to Tennessee and attended the
session of the Conference at Lebanon, November 5, 1834— the last he
ever attended. The Tennessee Conference requested him to write
an autobiography, and he promised to do what he could, which he
feared would be very little, and so it proved. After the session he re
turned to Nashville, and was prevailed upon to preach, November 23,
1834, in the church which bears his name. The house was filled to
overflowing. Rev. Dr. Green, who was present, says : —
" I can, in my imagination, see him this moment, as he last stood
on the walls of Zion with his sickle in his hand ; the gray hairs thinly
covering his forehead, his pale and withered face, his benignant coun
tenance, his speaking eye ; while a deep undercurrent of thought,
scarcely veiled by the external lineaments, took form in words, and
fell from his trembling lips, as, by the eye of faith, he transcended the
boundaries of time and entered upon the eternal world. But he is

William M'Kendree. 145
drawing to the close of his sermon. Now, for the last time, he bends
himself and reaches his sickle forth to reap the fields ripe for the har
vest. How balmy the name of Christ as he breathes it forth, standing,
as it were, midway between heaven and earth, and pointing to the
home of the faithful in the sky. I look up again ; the sickle sways in
his hand, his strength is measured out, and he closes up his ministerial
labors on earth with the words, ' I add no more,' while imagination
hears the response from the invisible glory, ' It is enough.' "
About December 22d, he left Nashville for his brother's residence
in Sumner County, under a presentiment, as is supposed, that his end
was near, and in accordance with a long-cherished wish to die at home,
and be buried there. But before he started on his last trip, a little
portion of the skin by the side of the nail on the forefinger of his right
hand had become loosened ; in pulling it off, it reached the quick, and
made it sore. Presently it inflamed, and became swollen and very
painful. He thought that the ink from his pen had got into it and
poisoned it. The inflammation and the pain increased until his rest
and sleep were much interrupted, yet he was enabled to reach his
brother's before Christmas. The "incorrigible tumor" on his finger,
however, continued to give him excrutiating pain, in spite of all
medical aid, until his finger wasted away, while the agony seemed to
involve, by sympathy, his back and head.
He continued to decline till March 5, 1835, when he closed his long
life of service and suffering " with a triumphant end." He frequently
repeated, during his sickness, "All is well ! "
Speaking of his interment, he said : " I wish to be buried in the
ancient Methodist style, like an old Christian minister." He was. ac
cordingly shrouded in black silk, put in a plain walnut coffin, and laid
on the left side of his father, about forty yards from the old family
mansion, where he died.
While attending a District Conference a few years since, at Foun
tain Head, I visited the sacred, sequestered spot. The inclosure of
the tomb had been broken down by sacrilegious soldiers during the
war, and the grave-stone had been removed from its place, but it was
still on the ground. It bears an inscription written by an unknown
hand, and unworthy of the subject. It is as follows, verbatim et liter
atim etpunctuatim : —

146 Methodist Bishops.
sacked
TO THE MEMORY OF THE REV. WILLIAM MoKENDREE,
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church In the
United States of America
Born King William County Virginia July 6th 1757
Died at his Brothers Dr James McKendrees
In Sumner County Ten. March 5th 1835
Be was elected and ordained Bishop
In the city of Baltimore, May 1808
He labored in the ministry of the Gospel 47 years
With uncommon zeal ability and usefulness,
And for near 27 years discharged the duties
Of the episcopal office with such wisdom
Rectitude fidelity as to secure the
Confidence respect and esteem of the
Ministers and people of his official
Oversight in travels and labors for
The advancement of the Redeemers
Kingdom and the salvation of the
Souls of men. He occupied an elevated
Position among the most eminent ministers
Of Christ and has furnished an illustrious
Example for Christian pastors and Bishops
He finished his course in peace and triumph
Proclaiming in his last moments
'All is well.'
Some unskilled friend, it would seem, drew up this uncouth epi
taph, and trusted the inscription to an ignorant stone-cutter !
The Tennessee Conference wished to remove the sacred remains to
Nashville, and lay them beside those of. his colleague, Bishop Soule,
and to place a decent, durable monument over them ; but the relatives
wish them to remain undisturbed till the resurrection morn, duly in
closed and protected.
From the foregoing facts in the life of Bishop M'Kendree it will
be seen that he was no ordinary man. He possessed a good mind,
well stored by reading and observation, a fine logical faculty, "the
power of convincing speech," uncommon administrative abilities, flam
ing zeal, self-sacrificing devotion, and large attainments in the divine
life. His personnel corresponded with the inner man. He was nearly
six feet in height, and at different periods of his life weighed from one
hundred and forty to one hundred and eighty pounds. He was well
proportioned, possessed great physical strength and personal comeli
ness. He had fair skin, large dark-blue eyes — to some seeming hazel,

William M'Kendree. 147
to others* black— and dark hair. He was generally close shaved.
When in full dress he appeared in a long-waisted, single-breasted
coat of black cloth, waistcoat and breeches, with knee-buckles, and
long, black stockings, well-polished shoes with silver buckles, a white
linen stock, and broad-brimmed hat. In the latter part of his life he
sometimes wore pantaloons ; but he was always seen in a dignified cos
tume. He was truly venerable in his appearance.
He was simple in his tastes. After he was troubled with dyspep
sia he was very particular in his diet. He ate plain corn bread, or cold
wheat bread, with very little if any butter, seldom eating meat, except
a small relish of broiled bacon — unlike his friend, Bishop Soule, who
would not eat swine's flesh. He sometimes took a cup of tea, but
usually drank milk in water.
He was gentle, and kind, and condescending. The servants held
him in great reverence, and children delighted in his society. When
I was editor of the " Sunday-school Visitor," a communication ad
dressed to children, was sent to that paper, by the late Mrs. Mabry, of
Petersburgh, Virginia, daughter of Mrs. Davis, in whose house M'Ken
dree was ordained deacon, and where he often stayed. Among other
interesting things which she says of Bishop M'Kendree, she observes : —
* It would seem that Bishop M'Kendree's eyes were as changeable in color as a chame
leon. In 1861, when on a visit to Bishop Soule, he took me into his parlor, and pointed to
a. portrait of himself, executed in London, and to portraits of Bishops Asbury and M'Ken
dree, taken, I believe, by Paradise, saying, in his rotund manner of speaking : " I give you
these pictures for the Southern University, at Greensborough, Ala. ; and if at any time that
University should go down, then they are to be given to some other Methodist institution in
the Confederate States of America." He considered these two pictures fine likenesses of his
" venerable friends." I have just carefully examined them. The eyes of Bishop Asbury
are blue ; those of Bishop M'Kendree seem to be hazel. The likeness was taken when he was
in his prime. Dr. and Mrs. M'Ferrin, who knew the bishop, say that was the color — "hazel
or brown." Bishop Paine says they were " dark." Mrs. Mabry says they were " black."
Rev. Richard Abbey says, that the last sermon Bishop M'Kendree preached in Nashville was
in his parlor ; he was present, and well remembers the appearance of the bishop ; he says his
eyes were " black." Rev. Dr. A. L. P. Green, the bishop's intimate friend and traveling com
panion, and who is remarkable for his powers of observation and description, assures me again,
as he has uniformly done, that the bishop's eyes were " blue." A short time before the bishop's
death, John Grimes, a celebrated painter in Nashville, executed the bishop's portrait. I first
saw that picture in 1842, suspended in " the bishops' room," iu Harry Hill's house, Nashville.
It is now made over to " the bishops' room " in the Publishing House. I examined it the
other day in company with Mr. Washington Cooper, the eminent portrait painter. We both
determined that the eyes were "dark blue." Blue eyes, we are told, owe their shade to the
brown pigment which lines the other side of the iris ; this brown or hazel hue seems to have been
more observable in Bishop M'Kendree's younger days, and the blue tinge was less apparent.

148 Methodist Bishops.
"He was remarkably fond of children. He liked very much to
have his hair combed, and I would stand perhaps an hour at a time,
in my little chair, combing his beautiful black hair, which curled
naturally, and twining it around my tiny fingers. It was all cut short,
except behind, and there it was just long enough to curl. He would
almost fall asleep while I was amusing myself behind him. When I
came to arrange it in front he would take me on his knee; and
when I was done, a very sweet kiss would be my reward, and many
thanks also. I would then take my little chair and sit close by him,
and count the buttons at his knees — there were five at each knee ; and
he wore buckles on his shoes, too. I shall never forget his appearance,
for, in my opinion, he was perfectly beautiful. His eyes were bright
and black, and the expression of his countenance was mild and
benignant. He had a holy, happy look."
He was cautious and happy in forming his friendships ; and his
fidelity to his friends was very strong and affecting. He extended
the sentiment to his " poor relatives "—the horses on which he de
pended for his transportation. Hence, he made provision in his will
for his old horse " Gray " — which was nearly as well known as his
master. He bequeathed to this faithful animal, on whicli he had
repeatedly traversed the United States, sufficient to furnish him with
plenty of food, a good stable, blue-grass pasture, and an honorable
burial — which he duly inherited. The remains of horse and rider
molder alike in the grave, and one can scarcely suppress the senti
ment attributed by Pope to the Indian in regard to his dog — applying
it to the good bishop and his noble steed — that

• Admitted to that equal sky,

His faithful horse shall bear him company ! "
No— not his "faithful horse," but thousands of faithful followers
of the Lamb, who, through his instrumentality — directly or indirectly
—have been, and shall continue to be, brought into the kingdom of
grace on earth, " shall bear him company " in the kingdom of glory on
high.

REV. ENOCH GEORGE

Enoch George.

BY EBV. DAVID SHEEMAN, D.D.

IN retracing the course of history one is often reminded of the fact
that some names, which were conspicuous in their, day, fade with
the lapse of time, while others attain to more than their original
luster. It is natural to suppose that the later estimate, made on
careful review and often with the aid of fresh data, is the more correct
and just ; but that this is not invariably, or even generally, the case,
may be clearly seen by a careful re-examination of almost any chapter
of remote history. Names start into importance which had- been
nearly forgotten, and others, which remain living realities, require to
be reduced in their proportions. Time bears upon its current not
always the more solid or valuable qualities, but those most trans
missible. The glow and fame of the orator may be dissipated in the
passage across centuries, while the great qualities of the author who
lives in his works, or of the founder or legislator who continues to
speak in his laws or institutions, remain undiminished by lapse of years.
Our denominational history furnishes instances. The names of
Wesley, Coke, Asbury, remain familiar to the current generation,
while those of Whatcoat, George, and even that of Lee, are becoming
obscured. They are seen as shadows along the lines of history — as
names — and will soon be only the shades of names, faintly traced on
her pages. And yet in their day they, as well as their more fortunate
compeers, were potentialities ; often most vividly and forcibly im
pressing the current generation, but not in a way to last through
coming years. The former were preachers adapted to move the
masses about them by their words and personal magnetism ; the latter
were organizers and lawgivers, who perpetuate the memory of their
virtues in their deeds and the institutions they bequeathed to the
future. If the one class deserves remembrance for wise counsels and
broad plans, the other has an equal claim for furnishing the zeal and
enthusiasm by which those plans became vital, as without these the

150 Mi.thodist Bishops.
best plans and the most complete organizations would be juiceless
theories and lifeless associations.
In the band of men in the last century who contributed to enkindle
the piety and to intensify the devotion of the Church, and thereby to
set the continent aflame, Enoch George holds a conspicuous and
honored place. He was born in Virginia, a State memorable as the
mother of bishops as well as of presidents, and a part of that great
middle section where Methodism early took root, and whence pro
ceeded many of her great apostles and evangelists on their mission of
preaching and spreading " Scripture holiness " over other sections of
the land. Here was the home of Ware, Losee, and Garrettson, who
bore the banner toward the north star ; of Burke, Wade, Poythress,
Willis, and M'Kendree, who carried the torch to the South and into
the interminable wilderness of the West ; and of Lee, Pickering, Brush,
Smith, and Roberts, who roused by the blast of their trumpets the
waning piety of New England.
Lancaster County, on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, the
birthplace of Mr. George, possessed a thin, light soil, and was long
cursed with slave labor, which tended to reduce the people to poverty.
The family of George belonged to the planter class, and thus occupied
an honorable position in the community ; but, from the causes named,
became reduced in their material resources, and found it necessary to
struggle to maintain their position among the "first families." Of
his father, the bishop said, " he labored much for that which profited
little." To us who look back upon " an institution " that has perished
in the fierce storm of war, it seems strange that it should have been
cherished by a people who so well knew that the foot of the slave
scorches the soil it treads upon, and brings the curse of barrenness
upon all the land. But man often most nourishes the evil which
produces only bitter fruit. The planter, in view of the poverty and
disgrace that must inevitably attend his course of life, clung to his
" peculiar institution " even while groaning over a sterile soil, want,
and general discontent.
The state of morals and religion in Virginia at this period was de
plorable. The colony was settled by a few leading families and a large
mass of the abandoned classes of the old world, neither of which paid
any great regard to religion. The English Church, which became

Enoch George. 151
legally established in the colony, maintained little more than a form
of religion. The clergy were often worldly men, sometimes of loose
and exceptionable morals, more given to sports than to the work oi
preaching the gospel ; and of course the people, under such guides.
could be expected to occupy only a low moral position. The picture
of the state of society given by Mr. George is vivid and expressive : —
"I well remember," he says, "that among both the aged and
young but few had a clear and satisfactory knowledge of the moral
obligations connected with the precepts of the gospel. We went to
church on the Lord's day, and when we returned the old spent their
time in eating and drinking, and the young in vanity and wickedness.
Our country abounded with dancing schools and dancing masters.
Young ladies and gentlemen, before they could appear in the circles
of polished society, had to learn systematically the arts of reveling and
dissipation, and all the eccentric and odd gesticulations that they and
their teachers could invent."
Among such a people he received his early training, and almost
necessarily felt the infection of the evil examples by which he was
surrounded, from the direct consequences of which he was saved only
by wise parental counsels and the instructions of exceptionably faith
ful ministers. Lessons of industry and labor, usually neglected and
despised in a slave-holding community, were inculcated by his father,
and they secured to him that physical vigor, energy of character, and
hopeful courage which became such important elements in prosecuting
the duties of his itinerant career. The battle of that day was against
giants, and required in the combatants robust and sturdy men, who
shrank from no labor and feared no contest or struggle.
With this prudential training Mr. George received the amount and
kind of religious instruction usual in a family where religion is merely
a form. They attended the Church of England, rather because it was
fashionable than as a means of spiritual instruction and edification.
That this attendance on public worship was a mere form is evident
from the fact that all religious services were absent from the household,
and that the hours of recreation were spent in dancing and amusement.
The moral and religious condition here described appears the more
remarkable when we remember that the community was blessed with
the labors of such a minister as the Rev. Devereaux Jarratt, whose

152 Methodist Bishops.
reputation for zeal, holiness, sound doctrine, and evangelistic labors
for the salvation of the people extended through all the Churches.
He was a Methodist before Methodism; a voice in the wilderness
earnestly preaching repentance ; " a bright and shining light," unfold
ing the whole counsel of God in law and gospel, and by his fervid
appeals to the conscience rousing many to seek a better experience.
Among those who profited by the faithful labors of this man of
God was our subject, who plainly saw that within the husk of external
services there was to be sought and found a germ of religious life — a
personal experience — which .could be produced only by the Spirit in
co-operation with the individual agent. The earnest denunciations of
sin produced in him deep conviction, and the view of the promises
induced him to cry to God for salvation. For some months this state
continued, and with suitable encouragement he would no doubt have
persevered till he came into a state of religious peace and joy ; but, sur
rounded as he was by the dead forms of Christianity, his feelings were
concealed, and he relapsed into a condition of coldness and indifference.
Meantime the family removed to another locality, thus depriving
them of the faithful ministrations and Christian example of Mr. Jar-
ratt, but introducing them to a new sect, then every-where spoken
against, but destined to prove influential in giving a new direction and
shape to the life of young George. Methodism, then beginning to
penetrate that region and to excite the opposition of the formal and
decayed Churches, was a name of reproach. The preachers were
mostly Englishmen, some of them designing to remain here only tem
porarily, and hence refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the Revo
lutionary Government, which lent to the whole sect the suspicion of
Toryism, a name in that day exceedingly odious. From a sect so sus
picious no good seemed attainable, and in the services in the parish
shurch there was still less to hope, for the clergyman, like many in
;he region, was so immoral that no one could repose confidence in
nm. Drinking, gaming, and horse-racing allowed little place to the
svord of God.
The situation of the_ family in this new condition appears deplora-
ale in the extreme, and liable to conduct them to utter irreligion and
immorality. But Providence was leading them more wisely than they
knew. They were to find in the despised sect of Methodists the

Enoch George. 153
messengers of God who were to open to them the hidden treasures
of the gospel, and to conduct their feet into the paths of peace.
The first agent who was to bear the glad tidings to this family
was John Easter, an evangelist renowned in his day, and whose mem
ory in the Church will ever remain fresh. Young George at first
heard his message with levity, but on being reproved for his con
duct by his father, he gave more candid attention to the gospel. He
accompanied the family to the service, and, after a plain and practical
sermon by a circuit preacher, John Easter arose to give an exhorta
tion, " and his words came with such power that the multitude trem
bled, and numbers began to cry aloud for mercy." As the speaker
continued, growing more effective as he progressed, some began to fall
down and weep. One of these persons fell so near Mr. George that
he was at once frightened and convicted. He tried to leave the spot,
but found himself unable. When the meeting was over, he resolved
that he would never be found at a Methodist revival meeting
again.* Notwithstanding his dislike of the service, he was induced by his
father on the ensuing Sabbath to go again, and as the work deepened
about him in the community he found himself almost irresistibly
attracted to the cross, and his soul emerged into the light and beauty
of the gospel. The evidence of his acceptance was not at first clear,
but he continued to pray and struggle till he realized the witness of
the Spirit to the fact of his adoption. " From that day until now,"
he said in the latter part of his life, "I have never doubted my
conversion to Christ, and my adoption into his family."
Having entered this satisfactory religious state of mind, the ques
tion of Church membership became an important one. What Church
should he join ? The Episcopal was the one in which he had been
trained, and for which his family cherished old-time attachments ; but,
on the other hand, the new Methodist organization presented evidences
of spiritual life in which the Episcopal Church of that day was exceed
ingly deficient. The clergyman of the- place was not regarded as a
converted man, and, of course, could not be expected to be in deep
sympathy with vital religion, or to preach the deeply-spiritual truths of
the gospel. These considerations formed an almost insuperable barrier
* Fry's "Life of George," p. 17.

154 Methodist Bishops.
to his continued connection with the Church of his birth, and induced
the family to cast in their lot with the disciples of Wesley.
In the new associations, from which so much good had been real
ized, he expected to find all the members unexceptionable in conduct
and life ; but, like many before him, he was doomed to be disap
pointed. The Church on earth is composed of fallible men who, at
best, are struggling to become conformed to the divine image, and
may become the refuge of those who do not seek this conformity, of
which Mr. George soon found evidence. After joining the class he
had set up the family altar in his father's house, and expected in all
other Methodist families to find the same service. What was his sur
prise to find that the family where he boarded at school maintained no
family worship, and that the head of the family was addicted to the
use of intoxicating liquors ! Religion with them was a mere show
and pretense. The trial of his faith at this revelation of hypocrisy
was severe, but in the end proved beneficial, in showing him the
weakness of man, and in cutting him loose from human support.
In those earnest days of Methodism converts at once engaged in
the public services, in prayer and exhortations ; and in the exercise of
these gifts the talents of young George became known to the Church,
and so favorably impressed the leading men that he was at once thought
to be divinely designated to the work of the ministry. The suggestion
of these convictions of his brethren was the occasion of great pain and
struggles to one who cherished both an exalted opinion of the respon
sibilities of the ministerial office, and of his own deficiencies for the
work. ITe would have shrunk from the task, but at the instance of
the whole Church, he was induced to try his gift at exhortation.
The experiment is given us in his own words : " The circuit preacher
having officiated at a watch-night, they induced him to call on me for
a word of exhortation. That he was intending to do this I was aware
before the meeting began, and by going late and hiding myself, I
expected to escape. In this fancied concealment I sat and listened to
an insipid sermon, which was no sooner concluded than the preacher
called for me by name. This so affrighted me that I sat down upon the
floor ; but he continued calling me till an acquaintance answered that
I was there, and a friend led me to the table, where, with trembling
and weeping, I exhorted. This was the beginning of my ministry."

Enoch George. 155
This unpromising commencement proved to be the starting-point
of an admirable career in the itinerancy, the record of which can here
be only slightly touched. In 1789 he began to travel with Philip Cox,
who was not only a traveling preacher, but also the " book steward "
of the Church, and who became the theological tutor of his new col
league, and inducted him into all the mysteries of the itinerant work.
He remained with Cox only until the latter had an opportunity to
present him to Asbury.
" In our course," says George, " we met Bishop Asbury, and Brother
Cox said to him, ' I have brought you a boy, and if you have any thing
for him to do you may set him to work.' The bishop looked at me for
some time ; at length calling me to him, he laid my head upon his knee,
and stroking my face with his hand, he said, ' Why, he is a beardless
boy, and can do nothing.' I then thought my traveling was at an end."
The result, however, was better than he anticipated, for he was assigned
to the itinerant ranks, and sent to assist David Asbury on the Pamlico
Circuit in North Carolina, a field peculiarly difficult to cultivate on
account of the indifference and worldliness of the people, and of their
prejudice against the doctrines and modes of the Methodists.
That a young man just starting out in the ministry should feel
these discouragements was natural, but a few words from Asbury, his
great chief and counselor, inspired in him fresh courage, and sent him
on his way with a glad heart.
In 1790 he was admitted on probation in the Conference, and
appointed with Henry Ledbetter to travel the Pamlico Circuit. In the
course of the year, by a usage of the times to change the men in the
intervals of Conference, he traveled the Caswell and Roanoke Circuits
with a fair degree of success.
In 1791 he returned to the Caswell Circuit. In 1792 he enjoyed
an extensive revival on Guilford Circuit, adjoining his former field,
and aided, so far as he was able, to allay the troubles occasioned by
the secession of James O'Kelly, a schismatic who denounced and left
the -Church because the appointing power was not taken from the
bishop and. placed in the hands of local men, a plan which would have
given us several ecclesiastical fragments instead of the grand Church
of Methodism of to-day.
The movement had thus far been confined mostly to the middle
10

156 Methodist Bishops.
States ; but the great soul of Asbury longed to extend the glad tidings
to the remotest sections of the land. He was often embarrassed by
the localizing tendency of the preachers, who found it easier to culti
vate the fields already occupied than to open new ones in the new and
remote parts of the continent. At the Conference he called for
recruits to go to the South. George, inspired with the missionary spirit,
volunteered to go to South Carolina, where he remained until 1797.
"My labors," he says, in speaking of this field, "were of the most
painful kind ; in a desert land among almost impassable swamps, and
under bilious diseases of every kind, which unfitted me for duty while
in Charleston, or among the hospitable inhabitants of the Pine Barrens.
In the midst of all this .my mind was stayed upon God, and kept in
perfect peace. Prospects in general were encouraging." The spiritual
dearth of this region was, however, the occasion of greater pain than
the labors and hardships of his itinerancy. " When God was reviving
his work he was always happy, whatever might be the state of his
health, and no labor was too hard if souls could be converted to God."
In 1796 he was made presiding elder of the Charleston District,
and the next year of the Georgia District, where he witnessed exten
sive revivals of religion. In the course of the year the rupture of a
blood-vessel obliged him to desist from his labors, and to return north.
In 1798 he undertook to travel the Brunswick Circuit, but proved to
be too feeble in health to continue to the close of the year, which
induced him to ask a location.
On retiring from the itinerancy he engaged in teaching, but he
was too deeply interested in the extension of the work of God to
refrain from preaching. Hence we soon find him again proclaiming
the gospel on the Rockingham Circuit ; and in 1800 he was re-admitted,
and made presiding elder of the Potomac District, where again his
health soon failed, and at the Conference of 1801 he once more asked
for a location, because he would not depend on his brethren when
unable to labor with them.
As the hope of being able to re-enter the itinerancy was abandoned,
he now retired to Winchester, and resumed his former occupation of
teaching. Thoughts of a settlement for life led him to enter the mar
riage relation, which seemed to exclude him forever from the hope of
a further participation in -labors with his itinerant brethren. The

Enoch George. 157
duties of his school absorbed his attention ; but, at the same time, he
could not be content merely to communicate secular knowledge. He
labored and prayed for the conversion and spiritual elevation of his
pupils, a course which resulted in an extensive and gracious revival.
He was still the preacher in his school as well as out of it ; and the
measure of success here enjoyed inflamed anew his desire to enter a
broader field. The season was one of extensive revivals in that whole
region, and the labors in carrying them on were fully participated in
by Mr. George. No work was to him so agreeable as that of preach
ing, 'and of leading souls to the Lord Jesus. Under its stimulus his
health improved, and he came to feel an insatiable desire to be in the
regular work.
In 1803 we find him uniting with the Baltimore Conference, and
laboring with great zeal and success on the Frederick Circuit. His
popular gifts and wise counsels induced the bishop in 1804 to place
him on the Baltimore District, where he enjoyed great popularity and
success ; and in 1805-6 he administered, with equal wisdom, the affairs
of the Alexandria District. Those were the days of great quarterly
meetings, when the labors of the presiding elder were extensive and
arduous ; and the strain upon the physical constitution of Mr. George
proved again to be too great, so that he returned the next year to a
station. He filled successively the Georgetown, Frederick, Mont
gomery, and Baltimore charges, in all of which he enjoyed his former
measure of popularity, and was allowed to witness precious fruits of
his labor. The succeeding four years (1811-1815) were spent in discharging
the duties of presiding elder on the Potomac District, with many
tokens of the divine favor. The quarterly meetings were occasions of
great power, the multitudes in attendance being often thrilled by his
ardent and eloquent words.
The season was not, however, one of unalloyed satisfaction. His
popular and attractive gifts were tempered by affliction in his house
hold. The removal of his beloved wife by death left in his care the
children with which God had blessed them, a charge which was to
him the occasion of no little anxiety, as he desired to train them in
" the nurture and admonition of the Lord," and in order to do so it
seemed necessary to keep them together. But how could they

158 Methodist Bishops.
remain together during his protracted and necessary absences ? How
could he find persons who would properly care for their habits, train
ing, and religious culture ?
The General Conference of 1816, of which he had been chosen a
member, assembled in May, in the City of Baltimore, to review the
interest and work of the Church. The efforts of the handful of
itinerants who had been sweeping through the land, had been greatly
blessed; large numbers of people had been gathered into the fold
through the agency of the many precious revivals in which Mr. George
had borne a conspicuous part.
But, amid all their prosperity, changes were passing over the
leaders of the militant host. The venerable Asbury, who had gone in
and out before them from the beginning, had just passed off the
stage ; and M'Kendree, the only surviving bishop, was too feeble to per
form the many onerous duties of his extensive charge. This state of
things rendered the strengthening of the episcopacy needful ; and, in
casting about for candidates, Enoch George and Robert R. Roberts were
elected. Mr. George was elected on the 14th of May, by fifty-seven
out of one hundred and six votes. " His commanding power and suc
cess as a preacher," observes one of his associates, "no doubt elevated
him to the episcopacy."
That he felt the office to be no sinecure will be evident to the
reader from the reflections he has left on the subject :
" I can truly say that my mind was ' tossed with tempest ' on this
occasion. I must leave my children for one and two years together,
without the possibility of doing any thing personally for them, or
neglect the duties of my high and responsible station. But my duty
to God and the Church prevailed, and I gave myself and children to
him who clothes the lilies of the field, and feeds the sparrows, and in
whose eyes we are of much more value than they. I then gave
myself to the work. In it all my views were realized, and I found
that the office of an American superintendent or bishop is the most
arduous and responsible in the Church. He who discharges the duties
of this office will find no time for loitering or self-indulgence. He
must diligently, regularly, steadily, and perseveringly hold on his
course to the end, ' not counting his life dear unto him.' "
As here intimated, the twelve years he spent as a bishop were full

Enoch George. 159
of labors and cares. Who is able in this day of railroads and steam
boats to estimate the toilsome journeys he made from Canada to the
Gulf of Mexico, and from the far east of Maine to the far west of the
Mississippi valley % These labors were the more arduous as there was
a heavy demand on him, not only for administrative services on
account of the feebleness of his colleague's health, but also for preach
ing, which he greatly enjoyed, though it proved to be a severe tax on
his strength. The election, in 1824, of Soule and Hedding, afforded
him relief, as they were able to take more than their share of the bur
dens and responsibilities of the office. Though eased in his work, he
continued to labor, as strength and opportunity allowed, to the end ;
so that " he ceased at once to work and live."
The closing scenes of his life were marked by Christian peace and
holy triumph. At the close of the General Conference of 1828, which
had been an occasion of unusual care and responsibility, he started on
his southern tour to attend, among others, the Holston Conference. As
was the custom of the time, he often preached on his route. On the
30th of August he preached at Harrisonville, under the pressure of a
severe indisposition ; but the next day, anxious to reach the seat of
the Conference, he pressed forward some twenty-four miles to Staun
ton, Va., where an attack of dysentery obliged him to desist. Rev.
Basil Barry, the preacher in charge of the circuit, visited him and
learned that he had been so severely affected as to be often obliged on
the way to lie down upon the ground.
Though so severely afflicted, he did not appear to be at all alarmed,
as he retired to rest without calling a physician, in the hope that rest
would restore him; but in this he was entirely mistaken, as the
disorder continued with unabated violence, even after a physician
had been called.
On Thursday, September 14th, while a number of his brethren
were sitting about him, he said, " Brethren, you must excuse me, I
am too weak to talk to you. All I can say is, if I die, I am going to
glory ! For this I have been living forty years."
The next day, he sent for Rev. Mr. Barry, and stated to him
that he was very low, and requested him, in case of death, that he
would bear the tidings to his friends in Baltimore. At the bishop's
suggestion he then read the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of St.

160 Methodist Bishops.
John's Gospel. At the close of the reading the bishop offered some
reflections on the passages, closing with saying, " What a body of
divinity and valuable truth is contained in these chapters ! "
Although death was near, he still cherished the hope of being able
soon to pursue his journey. On the 20th of September, at his request,
arrangements were made for that purpose ; but he was found to be
too feeble to ride. Nature was prostrated ; but he endured intense
pain with great patience. The next day, yielding all hope of recovery,
he said to his friends, " I feel now that a change has taken place."
Alarmed at this suggestion, they called in three physicians for consul
tation ; but in this advanced stage of the disease the utmost medical
skill was unavailing. To some of his brethren present he said,
" Rejoice with ine ; I am going to glory." The expression was
repeated many times during the day. The earth appeared to him to
be receding, and as heaven burst upon his vision he grew rapturous
in the deeper revelations of glory. As the day advanced he attained
a still higher spiritual elevation, till, amid the waves of rapturous joy
and holy triumph, clasping his hands, he exclaimed, "Shout glory
to God ! The best of all is, God is with us."
At night he requested to be left alone. On being asked if he had
any business matters to arrange, he said, " Nothing of importance," and,
his mind absorbed in spiritual contemplation, he added, " I am going
to glory ! I have been many years trying to lead others to glory, and
now thither I am going. For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.
Jesus is precious ! " These were his last words. As the morning of
Saturday, September 23d, 1828, dawned, his happy spirit took its
flight from earth. He died among strangers; but he lived in the
memory of multitudes who had been led by him to the Lamb of God.
At the General Conference of 1832 Bishop M'Kendree, by
request, commemorated his virtues and labors in a funeral discourse.
The humility of the bishop was such that he would never consent
to have his portrait taken. He lives only in the descriptions of those
who were associated with him. According to these accounts he pos
sessed a large, well-formed person, a noble bearing, an earnest aspect.
In conversation or meditation he stood erect, often with his hands
crossed behind his back ; but when walking he was slightly inclined,
and moved with a quick, short step.

Enoch George. 161
"His face was broad," says one who knew him, "his forehead
prominent and well spread ; his nose large and rather flat ; his eyes of a
blue cast and deep set in their sockets ; his eyebrows dark and consid
erably projected ; his mouth and lips were in due proportion with the
other features of his face. He had a full suit of hair, dark and mixed
with gray. It appeared rather neglected, yet graceful, hanging about
his neck. His complexion, which was originally fair, had became sal
low through excessive exposure and fatigue. Whatever impression
his strongly-marked countenance might have been calculated to give
had it been molded by the internal workings of corrupt and malig
nant passions, in the light of the holy affections which beamed in it
there were charms displayed that rendered it lovely, and will impress
its image indelibly on the affectionate remembrance of the numerous
friends who had the pleasure of his acquaintance."
In the work of stationing the preachers he was kind and sym
pathetic, but firm. He had a heart to feel all the sorrows of his
brethren in carrying on the itinerant work, but a clear head and firm
purpose to see and sustain the true interests of the cause. The work,
with him, was of vital consequence ; the men, both lay and clerical,
were deemed of less importance.
In one of his last years, when presiding at the New York Confer
ence, a brother was wanted in the 'work in Vermont ; but he wished
to be appointed near his wife's friends in the vicinity of New York.
The bishop sent him to a circuit in that region, probably not in the
grade he expected. The preacher made an outcry : —
" I thought you was to give me an appointment to accommodate
me near my wife."
The bishop replied : " We could not give you the church where
your wife lives ;' we sent you as near as we could."
" You have not accommodated me at all," he continued ; " and I
cannot go to my appointment."
" Go home, then, and take care of your wife and stay with her."
" But what will the circuit do ? "
" I will take care of the circuit," added the bishop. " You Only
take care of your wife."
In the days of struggle and labor in which George had the fortune
to live, peculiar force and energy of character were required to in-

16'2 Methodist Bishops.
sure success. In George these traits were conspicuous to the very
close of his life. ,
" He could not bear the tardiness of great numbers about him,"
one remarks, " for he thought rapidly, spoke fluently, and made his
decisions with great promptness. This spirit was carried into the
conference work, and on some occasions it gave cause for feelings of
offense on the part of his brethren ; for his disposition to press every
thing rapidly forward inclined him to signify his disapprobation of any
course of proceeding that retarded the progress of business, especially
protracted and unimportant discussion." In this respect his good quali
ties were in excess. He was adapted rather to the public congregation,
where great activity and zeal are in demand, than to the deliberative
body, where matters move with a more measured and slower tread.
In private life the character of Bishop George shone in a clear and
mellow light. In the family and social circle he was an enjoyable
companion and friend. Of a hopeful and sunny temperament, disposed
to view the more favorable side of things, he was prepared to con
tribute to the happiness of all with whom he came in intimate contact.
Religion, in his case, came in to aid nature, for his religion was of a
hopeful and jubilant kind. He had no love for a sour godliness, a ¦
depreciatory view of the gracious provisions of mercy in the gospel.
As might be supposed from these characteristics, his piety was
deep, ardent, and permanent. The new life in him was no evanescent
fire, but a pure and perpetual flame. " It was in his religious life,"
says Stevens, " that his characteristics shone most conspicuously. His
piety was profound and tender, and glowed till he seemed at times
incandescent with divine light."
His devotion was exhibited in his habits of private prayer. " He
certainly exceeded," says one of his friends, who was well acquainted
with him in private life, " any person I ever knew in private prayer.
Wrapping his cloak about him, he would continue over half an hour,
praying, groaning, wrestling, and agonizing ; thus had he close and
intimate communion with God. This accounts for the holy unction
that generally attended his preaching."
In traveling he often found many inconveniences in attending to
his duty, and on these occasions he not unfrequently resorted to the
open field or to the grove early in the morning or during the twilight

Enoch George. 163
of the evening, usually taking with him a friend when one was at hand.
He used to say to his intimate friends, " This is the principal relief
and comfort my poor soul receives in the midst of my incessant travels
and constant pressure of business."
The great Wesleyan doctrine of perfect love, so prominent a
feature in the preaching of the early Methodists, was embraced and
cherished by Bishop George. " His theme," says Rev. A. Atwood,
" was holiness, in the pulpit and out of it, because he enjoyed it
himself. It burned in his soul like a fire that is unquenchable. All
who heard him knew and felt that he held steady communion with
God. To the praise of men and the honors of the world he appeared
to be as dead as was the sainted Fletcher. In the midst of his sermon
I have often seen him stop, and, lifting his eyes toward heaven, cry
out, in a plaintive tone, ' 0 Thou who lightest the lamps, of glory, save
the Methodist Church from freezing up ! ' And amens would follow
it all over the congregation, in old Methodist style : the sympathy and
feeling would be so intense that the house seemed filled with praise.
Bishop George used the word glory in a manner and with a tone a
little different from all others."
The devotional spirit exhibited in this admirable man could not
fail to give color and tone to his preaching. It led him to treat of
the higher and richer features of the gospel, and to labor to secure
the immediate salvation of men. As a preacher he was evangelical,
searching, earnest ; and at the same time warm, genial, and cheerful/
As a revivalist he possessed eminent qualities in his deep and
intense zeal and devotion, in his love of souls, and in his fine gifts for
convincing and persuading men. He lived in a revival period, imbibed
the revival spirit, and led many souls to the Lord Jesus.
" He was," says Stevens, " among the most effective preachers of
his day. An extraordinary pathos melted his audiences and himself,
and he often had to pause in the midst of his sermons and ask his
hearers to join him in utterances of thanksgiving, while with tears
streaming down his weather-worn face he would raise his spectacles,
and with uplifted eyes and hands offer praises to God, bearing aloft his
thronged congregations, thrilled, weeping, and adoring. The elder
Methodists throughout the country still recall him with veneration as
the weeping prophet of the episcopacy."

164 Methodist Bishops.
" His sermons," says another, " were full of energy, pathos, and the
Holy Ghost ; they were calculated to do much good." Says another,
" He was a good minister of the New Testament, great in zeal, great
in energy, great in usefulness, and if he had no abiding place here,
he had a home in heaven." Dr. Bangs, who knew him well, refers to
him as " naturally eloquent, and his eloquence was all natural."
The pathos exhibited in his preaching is often referred to in
records left by his contemporaries. " You northern men," he said after
listening to a northern preacher, " are always for system ; but we
southern men like to wet the eyes of our congregations." " Although
I have heard him many times," says one, " I never heard him preach
a dry sermon."
Bishop George was a favorite preacher on special occasions, such
as dedications,, camp-meetings, and Conferences, when his eloquence
often became overpowering on his large audiences. His commanding
presence, full and sonorous voice, and personal enthusiasm seldom failed
to meet the demands of the occasion. Men who heard him never
failed in such times to be impressed. In one of those seasons Rev.
W. C. Larrabee describes his experience thus : " I wept, whether for
joy or sadness I could not tell ; I wept and could not help it. I had,
however, no reason to try to help it, for on looking over the congre
gation I perceived all others as much affected as myself, and even
more so ; for many of the people were laughing, crying, and shouting
at- the same time."
From another of his hearers I have received a similar description.
" His text," says Rev. C. L. M'Curdy, who heard him in his last years,
" was Matt, xxiv, 14 : ' This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
all the world.' He began by thrice repeating the text with variations
of the emphasis. ' This gospel shall be preached ; ' again, ' this
gospel shall be preached / ' and still again, ' This gospel shall be
preached in all the world' After this repetition, pausing with emo
tion as the tears fell from his uplifted eyes and were wiped away with
the fingers of both hands, he shouted triumphantly, ' Glory, glory to
God in the highest ! ' ' This gospel will be preached in all the world.'
Thus launched into the heart of his discourse, he went on to the close
amid the shouts and tears of the people."

pamtmg

ffiE«o ISOUIET MQOOTfflB MMIE

//'¦/¦>>y^-r'A„i-4*f' A/*ujf

Robert Richford Roberts.

BY EEV. MATTHEW SIMPSON, D.D., LL.D.

SIXTH on the list of Methodist bishops stands the name of Robeet
Riohfoed Robeets, a man of apostolical simplicity, purity, and
labor. In his history is exemplified the providential care exercised by
the Head of the Church in qualifying his laborers for their peculiar
work. He was called to be the superintendent of an active and grow
ing branch of the Christian Church in the midst of a new and rapidly
increasing population. In his work he must be exposed to dangers
and privations. He must thread his way through dense forests, or
across the unsettled prairie. He must climb the mountain or swim
the swollen river. He must lodge in the rude cabin or in the open
air. He must not only face the dangers of nature, but must bear the
obloquy and reproach, the taunts and persecutions, to which the early
apostles of Methodism were so frequently exposed. Yet, withal, he
must be kind and gentle, "in meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves." He must have a loving spirit, joined with great firmness
and decision, and with executive ability and tact. He must organize and
unify elements widely diverse, and bring into loving association people
from almost every land, and from every phase of society. For such a
work he needed a strong physical constitution, and great power of
endurance ; a clear, calm intellect, and steady purpose ; the skill and
daring of a general, and the meekness and love of a saint ; the heart
of a lion, and the tenderness and gentleness of a woman. To develop
such a character the associations of his youth and early manhood were
eminently fitted.
He was born in Frederick County, Maryland, August 2, 1778, and
was the third son of Robert Morgan Roberts and Mary Richford, both
of whom were natives of Maryland. His father's ancestors were from
Wales, his mother's from Ireland. Early in the revolutionary struggle,
his father, who was a farmer, entered the army, and was in the battles
of Brandywine, Germantown, and White Plains.

168 Methodist Bishops.
At about four years of age young Roberts was placed in school,
where he continued until he was seven. He there acquired the knowl
edge of the simple elements of an English education, which in later
years would have been for him impracticable. Shortly after the close
of the war, public attention was called to the country west of the
Alleghany Mountains. Its cheap lands, healthy climate, and fertile soil,
attracted many a farmer, and a tide of immigration flowed westward.
In 1785 Mr. Roberts's father sold his property in Maryland, and
removed to Ligonier Valley, in Westmoreland County, Pa. The coun
try was new, schools were few and distant, and the necessity for labor
in opening a new farm required constant attention. The opportuni
ties for education were thus very restricted, and what young Roberts
acquired subsequently was chiefly the result of his reading, observa
tion, and study. He had been taught from infancy by a pious mother
the knowledge and worship of God, and his habits were pure and
simple. His parents had been attached to the Church of England,
and prior to their removal west he had attended that service, and had
been instructed in its catechism and prayers, having been baptized in
infancy by a minister of that Church. In western Pennsylvania the
early settlers were chiefly Presbyterians of the different branches then
existing in Scotland and in the north of Ireland, from which many of
the immigrants came. Before his removal his father had been warned
by his clergyman against any religious alliance with the "sects,"
especially with the Methodists, who were represented as very danger
ous. In consequence of this admonition the family seldom attended
religious services, and were almost deprived of religious privileges,
other than reading the Holy Scriptures, a few religious books, and on
Sabbath some forms of prayer.
About three years after their removal, a Methodist preacher visited
the neighborhood, and held services at a private house. Notwith
standing their prejudices the younger members of the family began
to attend. They, becoming interested and reporting favorably, were
followed by their parents, who subsequently invited the minister to
hold the services in their house. This step was of immense impor
tance to young Roberts. Thoughtful and serious, he enjoyed the con
versation and instruction of the preachers, and read with avidity the
books which they from time to time furnished him. He became

Eobert Eichford Eoberts. 169
deeply interested, prayed in secret, and his deportment was so circum
spect that when only thirteen years of age, and before he had united
with the Church, he was appointed as the catechist for the children of
the neighborhood, who met weekly, and learned the " Instructions for
Children." In his fourteenth year he experienced a consciousness of pardon,
which he thus relates : " One day about sunrise, in the month of May,
I was in the corner of the fence praying, when, I humbly trust, my
sins were pardoned, and God, for Christ's sake, accepted me. Before
that time I had frequently had sweet intimations of the goodness
and mercy of the Lord. My heart was tender, and I felt as if I could
love God and his people. But yet, until that morning, my mind was
not at rest. Then every thing seemed changed. Nature wore a new
aspect as I arose and went to my work with cheerfulness ; though, I
own, I did not then know whether I had received all that I should
look for in conversion. I never had such alarming views of my con
dition as some have experienced ; my mind was gradually opened, and
although I had always led a moral life, I firmly believed my heart
must be changed. Owing to my youth, I cannot now remember the
precise day of my conversion, though the scene as it occurred that
morning has ever been deeply printed on my memory."
Partly through timidity, and partly because his father advised
against it on account 'of his youth, he did not immediately unite with
the Church. He was, however, diligently attentive to the means of
grace, and in his sixteenth year he was received as a member. Shortly
after this period a deep impression took possession of his mind that
he must preach. He studied the outlines of sermons, and sometimes
alone, or in the presence of children, gave utterance to his thoughts.
His serious manner, and his deeply religious life, led to his designation
by common consent as a preacher. But his consciousness of lack of
education, as well as his natural timidity, oppressed him. During one
winter he embraced the opportunity of attending a school some miles
from his home, working in a family every morning and evening for
his boarding, and returning to labor for his parents on the farm on
Saturdays. At this school he made unusual progress, and commanded
the high respect as well of the scholars as of the teacher, who ever
afterward was his warm friend and admirer.

170 Methodist Bishops.
Meanwhile his labor on the farm had developed a fine physical
frame and a strong and vigorous constitution. He was athletic- and
active, and an expert marksman in securing the game with which the
country abounded. He was also sympathetic and generous. At that
period there was little wealth in the country. The Atlantic border
had been devastated by war, and the West was an almost undeveloped
wilderness. Most of the immigrants had scanty means. Their little
stock of furniture and equipage was oftentimes packed in a single
wagon drawn by horses or oxen. The men drove the team and cattle,
if any, while the women walked or rode, as health and opportunity
would permit. They took their meals by the way-side, and camped at
night -where wood and water could be procured for fire and cooking,
and where, if possible, the weary animals might find grass or other
forage on whicli to browse. Thus they made their long and tiresome
journeys across the Alleghany Mountains and along the western streams.
Reaching their destination, kind-hearted neighbors, though often
miles distant, helped them to cut logs and erect simple cabin shelter.
Thus chiefly the frontier border moved westward, and the country
west of the Alleghany Mountains was filled with hardy and advent
urous settlers. Young Roberts was ever ready to welcome the new
immigrants, and to lend a helping hand to aid in their arrangements.
While thus active on the farm and in out-door toils, he was also
much in his mother's society. She was in delicate health, and the
family was large. His older brothers could not well be spared from
their toil, and while he was young his mother needed his assistance.
Pie gladly aided her, and probably in this association he acquired much
of that peculiar gentleness and suavity of manner that even to old age
marked his intercourse in society. It also furnished him with a
knowledge of domestic duties which prepared him more fully for the
life of a pioneer.
The Legislature of Pennsylvania, to promote the settlement of the
country, offered four hundred acres of land on easy conditions to every
settler in the north-western part of the State. When about eighteen
years of age he started with a few friends to explore the Chenango Val
ley, and in the following year he made a permanent improvement on a
farm in that region. In opening the farms the settlers were obliged to
rely greatly on the game which the woods abundantly furnished. He

Eobert Eichford Eoberts. 171
thus became more skillful as a marksman, and was accustomed to trace
and follow obscure paths, and to mark courses in the densest forests.
His tastes and habits were simple, and he could accustom himself to
hardship and privation with but little inconvenience. Better educated
than most of the early settlers, with mild and gentle manners, and
withal hardy and adventurous, he became recognized as the leading
man in society. His cabin became the central place of the neighbor
hood, and in it consultations were held and plans formed. It was
also open to religious services.
But whether on his father's farm or himself the pioneer in a new
country — whether cultivating the ground or pursuing the game —
whether aiding new settlers in making selections of farms or planning
works of improvement in his neighborhood— he was constantly
haunted with the impression that he must preach the gospel of
Christ. His books, though comparatively few, were chiefly of a relig
ious character, and were carefully studied, and the whole current of
his life was directed toward the ministry of the word.
In his twenty-first year he was married to Miss Elizabeth Oldham,
a ¦ daughter of one of the early settlers, and a friend of his father's
family. She was a young, woman of more than ordinary strength of
character, and was well fitted to share the inconveniences and difficul
ties of a pastor's life. She was a careful and economical housekeeper,
and was in full sympathy with her husband in reference to the min
istry. In the summer of 1800 he was induced to accept license as an
exhorter, but could seldom be persuaded to engage in public services.
After much deliberation and prayer, and after many mental' conflicts,
he finally resolved, in 1802, to give himself wholly to the work of the
ministry. Under the advice of Rev. James Quinn he was licensed as
a preacher, at Holmes' Meeting-house, near Cadiz, Ohio, where he was
also recommended for admission into the Baltimore Conference. His
first appointment was on Carlisle Circuit, under the charge of Rev.
James Smith, and his residence was in York, Pa. The circuit em
braced York, Carlisle, Millerstown, and Thompsontown on the Juniata,
and Shippensburgh, Chambersburgh, Gettysburgh, and other points,
having about thirty appointments in four weeks. Such a circuit would
appall even the adventurous minister of that day, yet by such toils and
sacrifices were the foundations of Methodism laid. His introduction

172 Methodist Bishops.
into the ministry was attended with more than ordinary suffering and
discouragement, for before he had completed his third round on his
circuit he had the small-pox by inoculation, and subsequently the
measles. He also lost the two horses belonging to himself and his
wife, and which constituted the chief part of his means. The field
was in many respects a difficult one. The whole country was under
strong Calvinistic influence; the Methodist Societies were few and
poor, and were held by other Churches generally in low estimation.
Not unfrequently were their doctrines violently assailed, and their
usages denounced and ridiculed. Yet his ministry was largely attended
by the most intelligent portions of the community. The next year he
was appointed to Montgomery Circuit, Maryland. During the sum
mer, Rev. Nicholas Snethen, a man of superior abilities, and who
subsequently became one of the leaders in the Methodist Protestant
Church, visited his circuit. He had traveled with Bishop Asbury in
the West, and had come East for the purpose of introducing
camp-meetings. These meetings had commenced in the West among
the Presbyterians, especially in the Cumberland Valley, and were
extensively held by both Presbyterians and Methodists. Remarkable
excitements and strange phenomena of falling and of various contortions
sometimes accompanied them, and people came in their wagons from
twenty to forty miles and remained for several days at them. Mr.
Roberts took a deep interest in the arrangements, and attended the
services. But when, under the preaching of Mr. Snethen, the people
became excited and many fell in different parts of the congregation,
he became very much troubled. To him all this was new. Quiet
and thoughtful, though deeply devotional, his feelings were not in
harmony with such manifestations. After, however, witnessing the
results, and engaging earnestly in secret prayer, he was able to enter
actively into the services.
About this time he became acquainted with the German Method
ists called Otterbeins, after Rev. Mr. Otterbein, of the German
Reformed Church. This eminent man had assisted in the ordination
of Bishop Asbury. He adopted the general usages of the Methodist
services and had a remarkable revival among his people. Mr. Roberts
found the Otterbeins very friendly, they attending his services and
he attending theirs. He ever regretted that there had not then been

Eobert Eichford Eoberts. 173
a systematic effort to establish regular Methodist services in the Ger
man language. Some of their ministers did apply for admission into
the Conference, but, having families, they were rejected. As the
result they were alienated from the Methodist Episcopal Church. In
his broad views he was in advance of his Church, but he lived to see
and to rejoice in the establishment of such services a third of a
century later.
At the Conference of 1804 he was admitted into full connection,
having passed his probation very acceptably, and being already favor
ably noticed for ministerial promise and power. At this Conference
Bishops Coke and Asbury were in attendance, and there was also
another minister named Roberts in the Conference. When Bishop
Asbury called the name Robert R. Roberts, he added, in a tone of
pleasantry, "mountain-headed Roberts, not city Roberts," referring
probably to the fact that he preferred the country, while his namesake
preferred the city, and also to his large and stately appearance. His
colleague in charge of the circuit replied, that he was unblemished in
moral character, and that his head was a " complete magazine." He
was ordained deacon by Bishop Asbury April 28th, 1804, and was
appointed to Frederick Circuit, Maryland. As the General Confer
ence commenced a few days after, he had the opportunity of
attending, where he saw and listened to the fathers of American
Methodism. Among them were Bishops Coke, Asbury, and What
coat ; and also M'Kendree, Lee, Garrettson, and other famous men.
Little did he then fancy the position which he would in a few years
be called to take among them.
In 1805 he was appointed to Chenango Circuit. It extended over
Butler and Beaver Counties, Pa., and into Ohio as far as Yellow
Creek, where Wellsville now stands ; there were also several appoint
ments on the Western Reserve. At that time there was no Meth
odist preaching in Pittsburgh, though a small Society had been or
ganized through the efforts of Mr. Wrenshall. He was a merchant
on Market-street, was originally from England, and was a local
preacher. He was a man of talent and influence, and one of his
grand-daughters is the esteemed wife of our distinguished ex-Pres
ident Grant. At his invitation Mr. Roberts visited Pittsburgh, and
preached in the old court-house, in the Diamond. But those who were
11

174 Methodist Bishops.
hostile to Methodism met and commenced dancing up stairs. This so
annoyed the congregation that they were obliged to leave. Mr.
Wrenshall promptly opened his house for services, and at the same
time his large yard. But such was the spirit of opposition to the
services that apples and sticks were frequently thrown at the preacher.
Notwithstanding all opposition, however, he continued his services,
and made a favorable impression on the public by his able sermons
and dignified deportment.
During the year Mr. Roberts was changed by his presiding elder
to the Erie Circuit. As this circuit embraced the farm which he had
opened, and on which there was water-power, he undertook to super
intend the erection of a mill. He did this because he supposed it
would be profitable for the support of his family, and would relieve
him from pecuniary anxiety. He regretted this course subsequently,
and remarked to the writer, when giving him a sketch of his life in
1842, as follows :—
" I would advise all preachers never to quit the work of the Lord to
serve tables. However fair their prospects of making money may be,
they are frequently delusive, and such ministers are losers in the end.
As I had but little support from quarterage, I thought my family
could be maintained from a mill and I should be better able to travel
without anxiety. But it was not so ; it embarrassed my mind and
took up my attention ; and though for awhile it did well, it event
ually proved a loss."
In 1806 he was ordained elder by Bishop Asbury, in Baltimore,
and was re-appointed to Erie Circuit. He commenced religious serv
ices in Meadville, Pa., in Jamestown, N. Y., and in other young and
growing towns. But the labor was very severe, as much of the coun
try was unsettled'. He was obliged frequently to make long jour
neys through forests with scarcely a path, and to 6wim streams so
swollen that they were exceedingly dangerous. Oftentimes he was
obliged to sleep either on the ground or in some open cottage on the
bare floor.
In 1807 he was appointed to the Pittsburgh Circuit. It then
embraced the entire country between Laurel Hill and the Alleghany
River, extending to Conemaugh, and Black Lick, and Brush Creek.
It included Pittsburgh, Ligonier Valley, Greensburgh, Connellsville,

Eobert Eichford Eoberts. 175
Sewickley, and the regions between the Youghiogheny and Alleghany
Rivers. The city of Pittsburgh, owing to opposition and discourage
ments, had been dropped from the appointments by his predecessor,
but he resumed preaching in the second story of a workroom which
had been used as sail-loft. Strange is it that so many of our city
congregations worshiped for a time in sail-lofts. It is essentially the
same story in New York^ Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh ;
was it emblematical of a tendency to rapid diffusion ?
As the circuit was large, and his family resided in Chenango, and
as he desired to attend the General Conference, of which all traveling
elders were then members, he did not attend the Annual Conference,
which held its session in Georgetown, in the District of Columbia.
In his absence complaint was made that he had neglected some of his
appointments. The secretary was directed to write to him and to an
other absent minister, Mr. Page, a letter of admonition. Mr. Page
was so offended that he located and remained so for several years.
But Mr. Roberts said, that if they deserved reproof it was the duty of
the Conference to give it ; if they did not deserve it, as he believed
they did not, it was their duty to bear it as a cross. They ought not
to leave the Lord's work merely because the Conference had not
rightly understood their case. He thus manifested his patience and
humility, and evinced that spirit of submission to authority which
is necessary for true order, and which is essential to one who is to
govern wisely and well.
At the Conference he was appointed to West Wheeling Circuit.
Leaving his wife with an aunt, near Cadiz, he prepared for General
Conference ; but, disappointed financially, he found himself with only
two dollars for a journey of three hundred miles on horseback. Sup
plying himself, however, with some oats for his horse and with bread
and cheese for himself, he succeeded in reaching Baltimore with fifty-
four cents of his money left.
At this General Conference the plan of a delegated General Con
ference was adopted after a long and earnest discussion. Prior to the
adoption of the Restrictive Rules, which were designed to limit the
powers of the General Conference, and to secure on a permanent basis
the economy of the Church, the question of electing presiding elders
by the Annual Conferences was fully discussed and finally negatived.

176 Methodist Bishops.
Mr. Roberts at that time favored the measure, and voted for it ; but,
after observing the effect of elections in creating and sustaining party
spirit, and after considering more fully the question of efficiency in
action, he subsequently changed his opinions, as did also Dr. Bangs,
and other leading men who at one time favored the measure.
During this visit to Baltimore, though he wore the simple and
even coarse garb of a " backwoodsman," his preaching attracted large
audiences, and Bishop Asbury was earnestly requested to station him
in that city. The following November he received a letter from the
bishop directing him to leave West Wheeling Circuit and to proceed
to Baltimore. The letter was so unexpected, and so contrary to his
taste, that he was unwilling to go. He was modest and timid, and so
distrusted his ability that he thought himself not qualified for the
position. He had no money to pay traveling expenses, and he re
solved he would not go. Bishop Asbury wrote again, insisting on his
removal, and sent a preacher to supply his place. Still he hesitated
— unlike many, who press for city appointments — even after the urgent
solicitation of the bishop, and was on the point of retiring from the
work. His wife, however, as she had done on other occasions, urged
him to duty, saying : " Bishop Asbury has great confidence in you,
and it is your duty to obey him. We have already undertaken many
difficult journeys, and though we have neither money nor means we
can accomplish this." Raising a few dollars, they set out on horse
back, stopping at night with acquaintances formed' in ministerial
travels, and during the day supplying themselves with the simplest
fare, which they carried with them.
So popular were his ministrations that his re-appointment was re
quested the next spring, and the following year he was stationed at
Fell's Point. In 1811 he was appointed to Alexandria, Virginia, where
he frequently changed pulpits with a Protestant Episcopal minister,
for at that day, in Virginia, the present exclusive notions of apostol
ical succession did not prevail. In 1812 he was appointed to George
town. There he was introduced to President Madison, who was so
pleased with him that he invited him to visit him privately. This he
had the pleasure of doing, and he closed his interview with him and
his lady with prayer. In 1813 and 1814 he was stationed in Philadel
phia, where he was treated by persons of all denominations with great

Eobert Eichford Eoberts. 177
respect. He preached a number of charity sermons among the Pres
byterians as well as in his own denomination, greatly to their satisfac
tion. In 1815 he was appointed presiding elder of the Schuylkill
District, which embraced Philadelphia, his residence being the third
story of the parsonage of St. George's Church.
During that year occurred the secession of the colored membership
in Philadelphia, which formed, under Richard Allen, the African
Methodist Episcopal Church.
In the spring of 1816 Bishop Asbury died, and as Bishop M'Ken
dree was in feeble health, there was no bishop to attend the Philadel
phia Conference. Although Mr. Roberts was the youngest of the pre
siding elders, and had only recently become a member of that Confer
ence, he was chosen president by a decided majority. He presided
with such mildness, propriety, and dignity as to command universal
respect, and to attract the attention of ministers who were present.
Several delegates from the New York, New England, and Genesee
Conferences were visiting Philadelphia, on their way to the General
Conference in Baltimore. So favorably impressed were they with his
appearance, with his bearing, his tact, and his executive ability, that
he was at once selected as a probable nominee for bishop. Further
acquaintance at General Conference confirmed their impressions, and
on May 14, 1816, he was elected bishop, and was ordained by Bishop
. M'Kendree on the 17th. Rev. James Quinn, of Ohio, writing of this
event, said : " Thus fifteen years after I heard him deliver his first
exhortation I saw him placed in the episcopacy by the election of
the General Conference and the ordination of Bishop M'Kendree.
Though elevated to the most important office in the Church, he still
retained the character of being a modest, unassuming man."
Such were his timidity and modesty that he thought his brethren
had erred in his election, and only after a severe mental conflict and
on the advice of intimate friends did he consent to be ordained.
We have now traced the steps by which the young pioneer
advanced in his ministerial career until he was crowned with the
highest honor which his Church could bestow. Never did he seek
advancement, and scarcely was he will ing to accept the " greatness
thrust upon him." Nor is it marvelous that a thoughtful spirit
should shrink from the vast responsibilities which rest upon a bishop

178 Methodist Bishops.
in the Methodist Episcopal Church. It is his duty to aid in guid
ing the work of thousands of ministers, and of hundreds of thousands
of people. His supervision is not confined to one locality or State,
but is co-extensive with the boundaries of the Church. There must
also be an element of unrest in a community which grows with great
rapidity. When Bishop Roberts entered the ministry, in 1802, the
membership numbered 86,734. In 1816 it amounted to 214,235.
Making allowance for deaths, more than two thirds of the member
ship had been added in fourteen years. That increase, too, must have
been chiefly from those who had been either ignorant of our economy
or hostile to it. In such a membership there must have been a great
variety of views, and nothing but earnest activity and revival zeal
could mold the diverse elements into a homogeneous body. The
history of Methodism shows that whenever and wherever these have
declined disintegration and secession have ensued. Having accepted
the episcopal office, his first question was, where should he reside ? It
would have been comfortable for him to have remained in Philadel
phia ; but the condition of the Church seemed to require his removal.
Bishops Asbury, Whatcoat, and M'Kendree were unmarried men,
and their expenses had been comparatively small. Though Bishop
Roberts had no children, yet he must have a residence, and some
company for his wife in his long absences from home. In the West,
on his farm or at some other point, he could live much more cheaply.
The financial question thus drew him westward. Above all, however,
his heart yearned for the scenes of his youth and for the multitudes
who were constantly on the borders of civilization. His associations
had been chiefly with them, and his sympathy was with them still.
Along that western border, unlike the present day, improvements
progressed slowly. Not only were there no railroads, but turnpikes
were almost unknown, and transportation was exceedingly difficult.
Few of the streams were bridged, and stages were on very few of the
routes. To supply such a population with religious services was no
easy task. Congregations were slowly gathered, few church edifices
could be built, and these of only the plainest character. In few
places were the people able to support a pastor, and services could
only be established by ministers who were willing to travel to and
fro in the midst of hardship and poverty. To direct such a ministry,

Eobert Eichford Eoberts. 179
and to infuse energy and activity into their movements, required one
of a strong constitution, a person who himself perfectly understood
western society, and who could thus command the sympathy of both
preachers and people. Just such a leader the Church had found in
Bishop Roberts, and to just such work he addressed all his energies.
For three years his home was on his Chenango farm ; but in 1819, feel
ing that he ought to be more in the center of his work, he removed
to Lawrence County, Indiana, whither some of his friends had preceded
him. Here was his plain and cmiet home until the day of his death.
Many of his friends desired his removal to a more prominent point,
and the Indiana Conference once passed resolutions requesting him to
change his residence. Yet so simple were his tastes, and so fond of
quiet and retirement was Mrs. Roberts, that they preferred to remain
on their farm.
Having determined the question of residence, some friends in Balti
more procured for him Bishop Asbury's carriage and traveling trunk,
and himself, wife, and nephew were promptly on their way across the
mountains. Scarcely had he time to arrange his domestic matters
properly until he was called to start for his fall and winter Confer
ences. The journey was long and difficult, and performed chiefly on
horseback. He attended the Mississippi Conference, at Natchez, and
thence traveled through the South until the following spring. On the
Mississippi he contracted the fever and ague, and was sick among the
Indians. He was confined at Port Gibson for three or four weeks.
No marvel that he was sick, as he was compelled to live almost wholly
on sour hominy.
Unfortunately for us, and for the Church, Bishop Roberts did not
write a journal, nor was his correspondence carefully preserved. The
" General Minutes " did not then report what bishop presided in
each Conference, and there were no weekly religious papers before
1824 to report and preserve the proceedings. Hence there is no means
of accurately tracing the work which he did on the journeys which he
performed. We catch occasional glimpses of him, however, in some
of his letters, and in items preserved by the memory of friends. We
find him in the winter and early spring of 1818 coming from the South
to the Virginia and Baltimore Conferences. On his route he lies out
one night and holds his horse by the bridle to prevent his running

180 Methodist Bishops.
away. At Alexandria his wife meets him, having traveled all the way
on' horseback. After spending a few weeks, and visiting Philadelphia,
their old home, she returns West, while he passes to New York, New
England, and Genesee. On his way home, in July, he subsisted for
three days on blackberries. In 1819, as has been stated, he removed
to Indiana, and we find him in a cabin, not only plain but unfinished.
The evening meal is of roasted potatoes, the table being a hewed log
raised a foot or two from the floor. He asks a blessing with a grateful
heart ; but a fourteen-year-old niece retires to a corner, muttering that
she could not see why her uncle should return thanks for a supper of
nothing else in the world but roasted potatoes. That night the wolves
howl around the cabin, to which there are neither doors nor windows,
but a bright fire kept briskly burning prevents any attack. A few
days, however, witnessed quite a change in the cabin and its surround
ings. Such was frontier life. Nothing daunted or discouraged, the
bishop went quietly and calmly forward. Though we cannot trace his
work in detail, yet every four years the General Conference, composed
of delegates from every Annual Conference, set their seal of approval
to his administration, and gave him strong proofs of their affection
and confidence.
As he traveled in the simplest manner, and was excessively modest,
many humorous incidents are told of young preachers mistaking him
for some old farmer, and treating him scarcely with civility, while
members of the Church with whom he lodged were often surprised to
find they were entertaining an angel "unawares." An incident
extensively published with the heading "Bishop George and the
Young Preacher," really occurred to Bishop Roberts, but the name of
the young preacher he ever refused to give.
As a presiding officer in the Conference he was calm and dignified,
prompt and impartial. Though decided and firm, he was kind and
patient. In his appointments he carefully studied the interests of
both preachers and people, and endeavored to accommodate all as far
as practicable. No "amount of care, however, could prevent some min
isters from being afflicted, and there arose from 1820 to 1828 a strong
party in the Church which endeavored to revolutionize its economy,
and to overthrow the episcopacy. For this purpose a paper was pub
lished called the " Mutual Rights." The contest commenced on the

Eobert Eichford Eoberts. 181
question of electing presiding elders. In 1808, "before the adoption of
the Restrictive Rules, the matter was discussed and negatived. It was
supposed by those who framed the Restrictions that no change could
afterward be made affecting the appointing power without a reference
of the question to the Annual Conferences. But some brethren
thought differently, and in 1816 they proposed as a modification that
the bishop should announce his nomination of presiding elder to the
Conference, who should approve or reject without debate. If they
rejected, he should nominate two others, one of whom the Conference
should choose. It was thought that this would not conflict with the
Restrictive Rule, as in each case the bishop would appoint. But after
discussion the resolution was voted down.* It may be remarked, in
passing, that at that time no proposition to elect by the Conference
was seriously discussed. In 1820 a resolution was adopted that the
bishop should nominate three ministers, one of whom the Conference
should choose, j- Bishop Soule, however, who had drawn up the Re
strictive Rules, and who had been elected bishop at that Conference,
declared that the plan was a violation of the rules, and as he could
not administer what he believed to be an unconstitutional law, he
declined to accept the office. Bishop M'Kendree joined in the opinion
that the action was unconstitutional, as did also a large minority of the
Conference. Under these circumstances the change was suspended
for four years. X It was understood that this was to give the members
of the Annual Conferences an opportunity of expressing their opinion
of its constitutionality. It was laid before the different Conferences,
and pronounced by a majority to be unconstitutional. § The report
was made in 1824, and thereupon Bishop Soule was re-elected, and
accepted. The Conference of 1828 pronounced the resolutions "re
scinded and void." |
But the dissatisfied ministers then attacked the episcopacy as a
tyrannical institution, and represented that the people were oppressed.
They became the advocates of lay delegation, to excite the people
against the order of the Church. So bitter and acrimonious did the
controversy become, that several of the most violent were expelled.
The action of the General Conference of 1828 in disapproving the
* " General Conference Journal," vol. i, pp. 135, 140, 141. flbid., p. 221. X Ibid-> P- 237-
§ " General Conference Journal," vol. i, p. 2Y8. j Ibid., p. 332.

182 Methodist Bishops
agitation, and in approving the maintenance of the Discipline, deter
mined the leaders to secede. They claimed that a majority of the
people were with them. In the fall of 1828 a convention was held,
which issued ultimately in the formation of the Methodist Protestant
Church. This body retained the doctrines and usages and general
order of the Church, but abolished the episcopacy and presiding elder
ship. The seceders were greatly disappointed as to the number of
members who followed them. The Minutes of Conferences show a
regular increase of members, more than supplying the places of those
who withdrew. Thus from 1820 to 1824 the increase was about
72,000 ; from 1824 to 1828, about 93,000 ; and from 1828 to 1832, the
period of secession, about 127,000. The separation of the Canada
Conference also took place in this period, diminishing the number
nearly 10,000. The Methodist Protestant Church has ever been
respectable both in the number and character of its members, but its
progress has not satisfied the expectations of its friends.
The presiding eldership and the episcopacy were again attacked in
the antislavery excitement, which culminated in the formation of the
Wesleyan Methodist Church. This event occurred about the time of
the death of Bishop Roberts, but the controversy had been in progress
years before. That Church also, in its organization, rejected both the
episcopacy and presiding eldership. Its subsequent history is well
known. While during these excitements severe and exciting denunciations
of the bishops were publicly made — while they were called " popes "
and " usurpers "—the patriarchal appearance and the humble and loving
manner of Bishop Roberts disarmed prejudice wherever he went. The
shafts of calumny fell harmless at his feet, and the heart of the Church
throbbed for him and his colleagues with sympathy and love.
Notwithstanding that the period of his episcopacy was one of trial,
as we have just seen, it was also one of vast moment in the Church's
history. When he was elected, in 1816, the members were, as has been
stated, 214,235. In 1843, the year of his death, they amounted to
1,068,525, having almost quintupled in twenty-seven years. Nor was
the prosperity shown only by numbers. The books issued by its press
had vastly multiplied. A monthly magazine had been commenced in
1818, which was afterward merged into the " Quarterly Review." The

Eobert Eichford Eoberts. 183
" Christian Advocate " had begun its grand career in 1826, and Church
papers were also established in Cincinnati, Nashville, Charleston, and
Richmond. Besides these, Annual Conferences had patronized papers
at Boston and Pittsburgh.
Seminaries and colleges had also been established in various locali
ties, both North and South, and a deep interest had been awakened on
the subject of education. The Missionary Society had been instituted
in 1819, and had sent ministers to several tribes of Indians on the
frontier, and also to the Flat Head Indians, in Oregon. Missions had
also been established in Liberia and South America. Preaching in the
German language had been commenced by Dr. Nast, and encouraging
progress had been made, and a German newspaper and religious books
were published in Cincinnati.
Unfortunately the excitement on the question of slavery had
become very great, and the elements were gathering for that great
storm which swept over the Church in 1844 and 1845, and which
resulted in the separation of a large part of the work in the slave-
holding States.
In the winter of 1834 Bishop Roberts was severely ill in Louis
ville, and for some days there seemed little hope of his recovery.
He, however, gradually but slowly recovered. Feeling his health
impaired, in 1836 he proposed to tender to the General Conference his
resignation of the office of bishop, but was persuaded by his friends
not to do so. The General Conference, however, passed a resolution
requesting him to undertake only such work as would be consistent
with his impaired health. The bishop, nevertheless, insisted on his
colleagues giving him a fair share of the work. From this period until
1842 he continued to attend the Conferences in his regular turn,
generally spending a portion of the winter in the South. In the
early spring of 1842 he resolved to visit the Indian missions, in which
he had taken a very deep interest. Taking a steamboat at New
Albany, Indiana, he passed down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to
Montgomery Point, thence by another steamer to Little Rock,
Arkansas, and thence to Fort Smith, preaching by the way both
at the Point and at Little Rock. After visiting the Cherokee Indians
he was joined by Rev. E. R. Ames, Western Secretary of the Mission
ary Society, who had been visiting among the Choctaws. Thence

184 Methodist Bishops.
they visited the Seneca nation, and from thence went to the Shawnee
mission, near the present city of Wyandotte. Notwithstanding all the
disagreeable incidents of such a journey, such as camping out. fording
difficult streams, breaking carriage and harness, etc., yet the bishop
enjoyed the trip greatly. The Indians were in turn highly delighted
to see and hear the venerable patriarch. Bishop Ames informs us, that
one of them said, " It made my heart feel so warm to think a bishop
would come to stay with me." Another, on seeing him, inquired who
he was, and was answered that he was the grandfather of all the mis
sionaries. "Well," said the Indian, looking at his fine countenance
and gray hairs, " he look like it." On this trip, stopping to warm at
the fire where some Indians had camped, he found one reading a
portion of the New Testament translated into the Delaware language.
After visiting the mission among the Shawnees and Delawares the
bishop found himself compelled to abandon his contemplated trip to
the Upper Mississippi, and returned homeward.
At their previous session the Indiana Conference had requested
the bishop to sit for his portrait. As a favorable opportunity oc
curred, he was invited to visit Greencastle, where he spent some ten
days, and the portrait was painted, which is now in the Indiana Asbury
University. During that period the writer persuaded him to give the
incidents of his early life and ministry, which were written chiefly in
his own words. It was also agreed that the next summer he would
return and a full sketch of his life could be written. But, alas ! before
the next summer came he was called to his reward. He continued to
visit the Conferences as usual that fall, preaching during the year in
six different States and among four distinct Indian tribes. He pre
sided at four Annual Conferences, and traveled on horseback and in
carriages, steamboats and stages, over five thousand miles. The
winter which followed was unusually early and severe. An asthmatic
complaint with which he had been afflicted increased in severity, and
in December his nephew, of whom he had charge from his boyhood,
and who had been to him as a son, was taken sick and died. The
bishop was much depressed, but attended meetings in the vicinity,
especially on the watch-night at the close of that year. The next day
he preached a sermon which is described as one of melting tenderness
and of thrilling eloquence, and closed by saying, " My work is almost

Eobert Eichford Eoberts. 185
done. These trembling hands, these whitened locks, portend a speedy
dissolution. I expect soon to fall ; but it concerns me little where or
when I fall, so I but rest in the arms of my Saviour." He was so
exhausted that he could scarcely assist in the communion service
which followed. The following Sabbath he preached his last sermon,
on " blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God." For a few
weeks he was able to walk about, but his asthma increased, and, taking
a fresh cold, he sank into typhus fever. Those who were permitted
to be with him testify to his strong faith and unwavering confidence.
The quiet calmness of his Christian life remained unbroken in the
dying hour. His last expression to a visiting minister was, "I feel
that if I die, I shall die in the Lord, and if I live, I shall live for the
Lord." To his brother he said, "I want to be decently buried;
nothing more; no 'pomp — no show. This poor tenement is worth
nothing more than a decent covering." He appeared to suffer but
little pain until near his end. He retained his consciousness to the
last, and just before he expired he raised his hands, as if in the act
of offering himself to God, and in a few minutes ceased to breathe.
Thus passed away one of earth's purest and noblest sons, at half past
one o'clock on Sunday morning, March 26, 1843. He was interred
temporarily on his own farm, but, at the request of the Indiana Con
ference, and with the consent of his widow, his remains were removed
the following winter to Greencastle, where they were interred in the
University campus. The spot is marked by a neat monument. The
hundreds of young men who issue from the University halls will, it
is to be hoped, study the lessons of his life and emulate his purity
and devotion.
Bishop Roberts was a man of great benevolence of feeling, though
he had but limited means, and he had relatives who were more or
less dependent upon him. Bishop Morris tells us that in 1825-26
Bishop Roberts visited New Orleans, where the brethren were en
deavoring to build a small frame chapel. To assist them he sold
his horse for $100, and presented the amount to the trustees, taking
his passage on a steamboat to Louisville. On the way the boat struck
a snag, and the captain called for blankets to secure the breach. The
bishop at once flung down both blanket and bed. The boat sunk, but
the passengers were saved, and the cold, cheerless night was spent on

186 Methodist Bishops.
a desolate shore. Next day he shouldered his baggage and walked
seven miles. There he bought a small pony and Spanish saddle, but
the pony gave out under him, as he was quite corpulent. He suc
ceeded with difficulty in reaching Nashville, where he received aid to
return home
He also manifested his benevolence as well as his interest in
literary institutions in his bequest to the Indiana Asbury University,
making it his residuary legatee, though, unfortunately, owing to the
failure of some friends, very little was realized.
As a man Robert R. Roberts was true, noble, and generous ; as a
Christian he was humble, self-denying, and consistent ; as a preacher
he was clear, instructive, earnest, and oftentimes eloquent ; as a bishop
he was faithful and diligent, loving his brethren much, the Church
still more, and his Saviour and God supremely. May his mantle rest
on those who survive him !

mm'.. ieilujiam med:©)! he.bj.

'Jf^f '//.//> ,uf cf f>y .. /'t.sfin/sj' A -'.'Ji >///¦';'- r/m'/r:?,

r i
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Elijah Hedding.

by eev. beadfoed k. PEIECE, D.D.

OUR personal memories of this model bishop, commencing in our
boyhood, are of the pleasantest character. He was very fond
of young people, always had a kindly word of welcome as he met
them, was playful in their society, and never failed to win their warm
est regards. With all this familiarity he carried with- him a gentle
dignity, awakening the profoundest reverence of the children, upon
whose heads he loved to permit his hands to rest in apostolic benedic
tions. In presence, he was of noble proportions ; in countenance, full
of benignity ; in manner, a pattern of Christian simplicity ; in judg
ment, a man of rare insight and of marked wisdom and prudence;
and as a preacher, calm, clear, comprehensive, and persuasive — always
justifying the choice of his brethren in his elevation to the highest
office in the Church.
Elijah Hedding was born in the State of New York, in Dutchess
County, near what is now the town of Pine Plains, June 7, 1780.
His family were of very reputable English origin. Neither of his
parents were Church members, but his mother was a woman of deep
religious convictions, devout in her habits, and faithful in instructing
her son in the doctrines and duties of religion. In 1789 that
wonderful Methodist evangelist Benjamin Abbott, whose works still
follow him on the fields of his great spiritual victories, although he
has long since rested from his labors, was stationed upon Dutchess
Circuit, and enjoyed a sweeping work of grace in connection with
his labors. Hedding was then a lad of nine or ten years of age.
His mother, grandmother, and other relatives, were gathered into the
Church during this revival, and he retained himself, ever after, the
most lively recollections of the remarkable scenes attending this
work. In 1791 his parents removed to the town of Starksborough, Ver
mont, and he, in his youth, aided in the labors and suffered in the

190 Methodist Bishops.
privations of frontier life ; the subjugation of a wild country, and the
cultivation of a farm just snatched from the wilderness. His educa
tional opportunities must have been small. His mind, however, was
very active ; he was fond of discussion ; he availed himself of all the
scant privileges for mental improvement that -he could seize, and,
being of a positive character, and very athletic, he became, as he
ripened toward his early manhood, a leader among his companions in
every respect. At the close of the war a general demoralization was
witnessed throughout the country. Infidel books and theories were
busily disseminated on all sides. These met the eye and reached the
ear of young Hedding in the most perilous period of his life, and
before he had experienced the saving power of the gospel. But his
conscience, developed and nurtured by a mother's faithfulness, held
him in all these hours of fearful temptation. "My conscience," he
says at this time, " bore awful testimony, for it then was awful to
me, that there is a God ; " and the Bible that his mother had read
to him still seemed like God's voice speaking directly to his soul.
Thus this great preacher bears the same testimony that thousands
of others have given to the invincible power of early and faithful
religious training.
For several years after the Hedding family reached Starksborough
there were no public religious services held in the town ; but a Meth
odist family moved into the place about this time and opened Sabbath
services in their house. Printed sermons were read on these occa
sions, principally Wesley's. As young Hedding was a good reader, he
was persuaded to fill this office, although his conduct at this time was
such as rendered him, in his own estimation, a very unsuitable person
for such a position. He became, however, somewhat interested in
this duty. The devout and intelligent Methodist couple, who, doubt
less, saw great promise in him, made him a subject of prayer and
constant instruction. They induced him to read their Wesleyan
books ; so that he became remarkably well informed in Arminian the
ology, and familiar with the recorded personal experiences of eminent
Wesleyans, before he yielded his own heart to the power of the
gospel. In 1798 the Methodist itinerants made their appearance in this
part of Vermont, and Joseph Mitchell, a flaming evangelist, opened

Elijah Hedding. 191
his commission in this region. His power over those frontier audi
ences was amazing. Where he held his meetings all secular business
ceased. On one occasion, as related by Lorenzo Dow, after one of his
overwhelming exhortations, for eleven hours there was no cessation to
the loud cries and supplications of the^audience, save when a shout of
victory or song of triumph interrupted the prayers of penitents.
Young Hedding resisted the subduing influences of these meetings
for a long time. He was cool, thoughtful, and resolute. But his
judgment had already been convinced, and his heart was powerfully
moved. In a grove, by himself, in 1798, he says, " I solemnly made
a dedication of myself to God. I laid my all — soul, body, goods, and
all — for time and for eternity, upon the altar, and I have never (he says
this after fifty years from this hour) never taken them back." It was
a long and bitter struggle, however, with self, sin, and doubt, before
he secured, as he finally did, an undoubted and glorious witness of the
Holy Spirit to his adoption into the divine family. Such a positive
and powerful experience was indispensable for the work that God had
in store for his young disciple. December 17, 1798, his burden gone,
his soul at rest, his heart full of the peace passing all understanding,
he became a probationer in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
From a very early period after his conversion he seemed to have
had an impression, which he himself strenuously resisted, that he
would be called to preach the gospel. He commenced the careful
study of the Bible, was faithful in attendance upon all public and
social religious services, and, in accordance with the custom of the
period and the opportunities of the Church, was encouraged to exer
cise his gifts in prayer and exhortation. The circuit preacher, discern
ing his talents, at once secured his company and assistance in his
appointments, and his own heart was greatly quickened as he saw
the salvation of men following his word of exhortation and his tender
prayers. In 1799 the eccentric but devoted Lorenzo Dow, being sent to
Essex Circuit, which then embraced the whole tract of country lying
between Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains, and from Onion
River some twenty or thirty miles into Canada, suddenly imagined he
had a divine call to preach in Ireland, and immediately sailed for that
country. Young Hedding, who had thus far simply exhorted on the
12

192 Methodist Bishops.
Sabbath without taking a text, was called upon by the elder in
charge to enter upon this vacant field. With his characteristic
modesty he hesitated, but when once convinced of his duty, he never
again wavered. Under extraordinary embarrassments, with heroic
endurance he preached the word with power, and revivals broke forth
in every direction. In the enjoyment of a very rich and triumphant
personal experience, he continued to labor with good success, under
the presiding elder, until June 16, 1801, when he was admitted on
probation into the New York Annual Conference, at its session held
in the old John-street Church, under Bishop Whatcoat.
Into such a work as this, with a mind of more than average
breadth, quickened into development by the active discussions upon
Atheism, Deism, and Universalism vigorously going on around him
during his youth, cultivated by a habit of reading, which he resolutely
followed while riding his circuit ; thoroughly grounded in the views
of Mr. Wesley ; an ardent student of the Bible ; a man six feet in
height with a large frame and robust health ; an excellent singer ; and
having a remarkably rich and powerful experience, he went out into
the unsubdued northern portion of New York and Vermont and the
adjoining wilderness of Canada, to preach the gospel to a scattered,
poor, but spiritually hungry people. His first circuit was the Platts-
burgh, on the west side of Lake Champlain, requiring a journey of
three hundred miles to compass it.
Hedding soon showed himself to be a king among men. His
intelligence, his prudence, his moral power and consecration attracted
at once the notice of his ministerial brethren. He was not a brilliant
preacher, was rather disposed to be controversial. His most powerful
discourses were leveled against the high, antinomian Calvinism of
the period, and against Universalism and Infidelity. He had, how
ever, the persuasive unction of a positive conviction, and the warmth,
earnestness, and pathos of one full of the' Holy Spirit. His audiences
were often powerfully moved. His clear, calm, argumentative dis
courses eminently fitted him for tho New England habit of mind, and
made him early conspicuous in her ministerial ranks as a man of
intellectual power and marked ability.
At the session of his Conference in 1803, at Ashgrove, in the town
of Cambridge, where repose the ashes of Embury, Hedding was

Elijah Hedding. 193
admitted into full connection, and ordained deacon by Bishop What
coat. He was appointed to Bridgewater Circuit, lying nearly in the
center of the State of New Hampshire. It was rough and hilly,
requiring one hundred miles travel each week, two sermons on each
week-day, and three on the Sabbath. -Sweeping revivals broke out in
every portion of the circuit, but the labor and exposure were too
severe even for the iron constitution of the heroic itinerant. He was
brought to death's door, and, hurrying too soon to his work upon
a partial recovery, he had a terrible relapse, which, at first, threatened
to leave him a cripple for life, and from the results of which he never
fully recovered. This protracted sickness was a serious trial to his faith.
His next appointment upon the Hanover Circuit gave him a little
more time for study, and he commenced that thorough self -training in
the rudiments and grammar of the English language which made him
the exact scholar and logician that he was in after years.
In the division that occurred in the New York Conference, in
1805, Hedding fell into the New England branch, and attended the
first Conference, in Lynn, July 12, 1805. About forty preachers were
present at this Conference. It comprised 5 districts, 48 stations and
circuits, 77 preachers in all, and 8,540 members. Only fifteen years
had elapsed since Jesse Lee opened his mission in Eastern New En
gland, under Liberty Tree, on Boston Common.
On Barre and Vershire Circuits, whither Hedding was successively
sent, his labors were attended with encouraging success. He came at
this time into frequent personal controversies with settled Calvinistic
clergymen, winning for himself in these encounters ultimately the re
spect and even warm regard of his opponents ; not more by his quick
wit, his knowledge of the holy Scriptures, and his keen logic, than by
his agreeable temper and his Christian spirit. At the session of the
Conference held in Boston, in 1807, he was made presiding elder of
New Hampshire District, with eleven ministers under his care. The
district at that time embraced nearly the whole State and a portion of
Vermont, requiring to complete his rounds no less than three thousand
miles of travel. A significant incident occurred about this time.
It was during his first year in the enjoyment of his elevated office
that his salary, over his expenses, amounted to less than $5. Not far
from the bounds of his district, on one side, resided an old associate

194 Methodist Bishops.
of his youth, and Hedding turned from his route to see him. He
was not a Christian. He had been greatly prospered in his temporal
fortunes ; had a large, fine farm, and every thing to minister to his
comfort, ease, and taste. "I take great pleasure in thinking," he
said, " that I shall leave, at least, one spot on the earth better than I
found it." The amazing contrast between their earthly condition—
the ease and affluence of the one, the poverty and toil of the' other, and
the probabilities in the future of them both — at first occasioned a little
depression in the mind of Hedding. A few years before, his own
worldly prospects had been equally as good as were those of his friend.
But then he thought, " If he finds comfort in thinking that the world
will be better for his having lived in it, how much greater source of
happiness have I, who am devoting all my time and energies to doing
good in the world." This thought removed all disquiet and filled his
heart with peace.
At the session of the New England Conference in 1809 he was
appointed to the New London District, which embraced all the State
of Connecticut east of -the river of the same name, and all of Rhode
Island west of Narragansett Bay. During this year he held a camp-
meeting at Hebron, the first enjoyed in that part of the country.
The most remarkable results attended its services. On the fourth
day the multitude was bowed under the power of the Holy Spirit,
and within the space of five minutes four hundred persons were pros
trate and helpless upon the earth. Physicians came from the town, and
passed among the crowds lying speechless, feeling their pulses. All were
amazed, and stood reverent, as in the presence of a mighty manifestation
of divine power. The whole district was wrapped in a revival flame.
January 10, 1810, Mr. Hedding was married to Miss LucyBlish, of
Gilsum, N. H. Her parents were attendants upon the Congregational
Church, but at eighteen years of age, while visiting a married sister,
on the west side of Lake Champlain, she heard for the first time a
Methodist preacher. She was happily converted, returned to her
home, and persuaded her parents to invite the Methodist preachers to
the house. The result was, they found themselves the way of peace,
established regular preaching in the vicinity, and built up a Church.
Mrs. Hedding was a noble woman, of dignified and sweet presence, of
much personal beauty, a consecrated woman, and fit companion for the

Elijah Hedding. 195
beloved husband whose labors she largely shared, and whose life she
cheered down to its close — remaining out of heaven behind him but a
very short period. Her dignified form, her benign countenance, her
daily piety, and her good works, are still fresh in the minds of the
older members of the Lynn Common Church, where they lived for
many years, and of which she was an active member.
At the Conference in 1811 Hedding was elected a co-delegate
with G. Pickering to the first General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, the two receiving all the votes cast except their
own. He was also appointed to Boston. _ It was during this year,
while preaching in Bromfield-street, that E. T. Taylor, the great
apostle to seamen, then a rough and ignorant sailor, heard him, and
was touched to the heart. He came, when invited, to the altar, and
cried aloud for mercy. The preacher, whom he never forgot, but
ever loved as a child might love a father, and was in return loved with
a fatherly affection, pointed him to his Saviour until he saw him by
faith, and awaked to a newness of life, and sprung eagerly forward
in a wonderful career of usefulness.
In the important debates of this first and seminal General Confer
ence, upon the " presiding elder question," and others, the calm, sound,
clear reasoning of Hedding had great weight, and made for him, from
that time, a conspicuous name in the whole Church.
He filled in succession, after the close of his Boston pastorate, the
pulpits of Nantucket and Lynn, and in 1815 was stationed for the
second time in Boston. His popularity in Boston, as a preacher, was
at this time great. These years formed a very important era in the
history of Methodism in that city. His abilities commanded respect,
persons from a higher social circle than heretofore, as in the instance
of the niece of John Hancock, united with the Church. The serious
financial troubles which threatened to overwhelm the Church were
happily removed by his vigorous and prudent management. New
preaching places were established in the adjoining towns, and the
whole aspect of the denomination, in the very center of Congrega
tionalism, began to take on a more encouraging appearance. In 1818
and 1819 he was stationed in Lynn ; in the latter year being again sent
as a delegate to the General Conference. In 1820 he was the pastor
of the Church in New London, and in 1821 was made presiding elder

196 Methodist Bishops.
of Boston District. At the Conference in 1822, held in Bath, Me., he
was once more returned to Boston as a pastor. He preached at this
time his memorable Conference Sermon, which was published, by the
request of his brethren, in the " Methodist Magazine." It was upon
the divinity of Christ, and is an able and exhaustive Scripture argu
ment. His third pastorate in Boston was signalized by his active, per
sonal interest in the establisment of the first weekly religious paper
originated and sustained by the denomination, the " Zien's Herald."
The Conference of 1822 had appointed a committee for this purpose,
under his inspiration, and he was placed upon it. " Wisdom is justified
of her children." He laid, during this year, the corner-stone of the
first East Cambridge Methodist Episcopal Church. Daniel Fillmore,
of precious memory, greatly beloved and appreciated by Mr. Hedding,
was his colleague at this time. The preachers alternated between
Bromfield-street and Methodist Alley, and the crowd followed Hed
ding. Brother Fillmore used to tell, with great satisfaction, a back
handed compliment that he received at this time. Preaching one
afternoon to a small audience in Bromfield-street, an old sister said
to him, as he came down the pulpit stairs, " People run after Brother
Hedding, but I don't ; Hike shallow preachin' the best! "
At the Conference of 1823, for the fourth time, he was elected a
delegate to the ensuing General Conference. In all these elections he
never lacked more than two or three of the whole vote cast.
This quadrennial Conference, which was held in the city of Balti
more, was a very important one. It discussed at length the Book Con
cern, the education of the children, Sunday-schools, slavery, lay delega
tion, and the inevitable presiding-elder question. Elijah Hedding, now
a recognized power and authority in the Church, took a large share in
its deliberations. At this Conference he was elected bishop. Against
the nomination, (made by Rev. Enoch Mudge,) he remonstrated, and
with tears urged many objections. When the election was declared,
amid the rejoicings of friends, he was overwhelmed with a sense of
unfitness for the responsible place. He hesitated long before consent
ing to receive ordination. Weepingly he requested time to consider
the subject, and to pray for divine direction. Immediately upon his
leaving the church, Drs. Capers and Winans, who had widely differed
with him in debate upon the questions before the General Conference,

Elijah Hedding. 197
introduced a resolution expressing the " unlimited confidence " of the
Conference " in the integrity and ministerial worth of (their) beloved
brother, Elijah Hedding," and affectionately requesting him " to sub
mit himself to the call of Providence and the Church." Mr. Hedding
was much moved by this unanimous opinion of his brethren. He
returned to the church, and said that he must esteem this call of the
Church as the voice of God, and would submit to their direction.
Mr. Hedding was now forty-four years of age, in the prime of his
intellectual powers, but in somewhat delicate physical health, arising
from a long course of most exacting labors. There were now five
bishops in the Church, (but M'Kendree was to feeble to render much
aid,) and fifteen Annual Conferences. It might, at first view,1 seem a
much less onerous service than the immense statistics of the Church
now bring upon only twice as many superintendents. But at this
time there were no railroads, the work had not been systematized,
and nearly the whole care of the Churches fell upon the shoulders
of these devoted and tireless apostolic men. A journey from Lynn to
Philadelphia in those days occupied a week.
At his first Conference, in Barnard, Vermont, Revs. A. D. Merrill
and A. D. Sargeant, still surviving, were ordained in a grove near the
old church. The Conference met him with a hearty and loving wel
come, requesting him and his family to locate within their bounds ;
a request to which he cheerfully acceded. And they never ceased to
love him. Even during the painful years of the antislavery contro
versy, although many of its members differed in judgment with him
upon points of administration, they never lost their fraternal, and, on
the part of the younger members, filial, love and reverence for him.
In the height of the controversy he removed from his new England
home. He was grieved at heart by what, at the time, seemed ungrate
ful to him, in the treatment he received at the hand of his former
Conference. But this all passed away long before he died. Every
thing was explained. Time and divine Providence rectified opinions
and harmonized diverse judgments. The old, hearty, tender welcome
was proffered, and his last days were brightened with these affectionate
and sincere assurances from a body of brethren with whom he had
been, for so many years, personally connected.
It is not necessary to follow closely the steps of our venerated

198 Methodist Bishops.
subject during the score and a half of years that he filled the high
commission which had been intrusted to his hands. He entered into
common labors with his respected colleagues and their successors, and
his words and acts, with theirs, have entered into the written and
unwritten history of the Church. His episcopal life covers the most
important era in her history. During his period of office, and with
his active personal supervision and counsels, every important interest
of the Church has been considered, adjusted to the whole system, and
given permanent form. The only point of the administration in
which he suffered the criticism of his brethren, especially in New
England, was upon the vexed antislavery question, in the height of
one of the most violent controversies that ever convulsed a nation
or a Church. He represented a great connectional interest, and was
embarrassed by the practical operations of ecclesiastical measures in
portions of the wide-spread denomination where long years of per
mitted existence, and the influence of education and public sentiment
had perverted conscience, sanctified oppression, and warped the judg
ment of apparently devout Christian men ; while his New England
brethren, fanned only by the free winds from the Atlantic, and unem
barrassed by selfish or social interests, only looked upon the absolute
right or wrong of the question under discussion, and were impatient
when an imminent human right was balanced, even temporarily,
against a national or ecclesiastical question of expediency. In the
sharpest hour of the struggle, when the great and irresistible move
ment seemed temporarily delayed by the hand of the favorite New
England bishop, and unkind words were uttered in the heat of the
moment, no one lost the slightest confidence in the probity or piety
of the great and good man whose heart was rent by this struggle
between a clear conviction of duty and sincere affection for his friends
of many years, and by the painful relations, also, into which he was
reluctantly thrust by the hurried movement of events. When the
crisis came in the discussion precipitated upon the General Confer
ence of 1844 by the domestic embarrassments of Bishop Andrew,
he remained firm to the antislavery interpretation of the Discipline,
and strengthened his brethren in a solemn act that immediately
divided the Church, and ultimately threatened the nation, but re
sulted in the destruction of the direful cause itself of all the trouble.

Elijah Hedding. 199
During these years, as bishop, he was always progressive, grasping
in his clear intelligence the great elements of growth, and the requisi
tions of the hour. Uuder his hand the course of ministerial study
was extended. He was greatly interested in all the educational move
ments of the Church, from the conference academy— the value of
which he fully appreciated — to the theological school which enjoyed
his final benedictions. The ecclesiastical law of the Church was
expounded with remarkable clearness in his repeated and unques
tioned decisions. Her literature was a subject of his constant
thought, and was enriched by the publication of his simple, evangel
ical, and impressive discourses. He was an admirable presiding
officer, familiar with parliamentary law, quiet, good-natured, often
humorous, but always holding his Conferences in hand. He was
particularly impressive in the discharge of his episcopal duties ; his
addresses to the young ministers were simple, fatherly, full of good
sense, spiritual, and solemn. His sermons at Conferences were models
of comprehensiveness ; they were eminently scriptural, experimental,
and warmly enforced. His ordination services, especially in his later
years, were peculiarly apostolic and affecting. He embodied in his
person, and in his simple, sincere piety, the ideal of a Christian bishop.
At the General Conference of 1848, which was held in the city
of Pittsburgh, and which he opened by the reading of the Scriptures,
his bodily infirmities had become so evident, that by formal resolution
he was relieved from all episcopal and pastoral labor save that which
he might voluntarily perform. He was desired to prepare for publi
cation his own biography, and his views upon the Methodist pastorate
and the various grades of office in the Church. His rapidly failing
health, however, forbade the execution of a request which would
have given to the Church such an exposition of her economy as had
never been made before, and which he would have been happy to
have accomplished.
The bishop, after this General Conference, leisurely visited several
Annual Conferences, in connection with the younger and newly
elected members of the episcopacy.
At his home in Poughkeepsie, in the opening of 1851, he writes the
touching reflections which form the closing pages of Bishop Clark's
interesting biography. " I am now," he says, " beyond three-score and

200 Methodist Bishops.
ten ; my strength to labor in the vineyard is gone ; I am daily looking
forward to the hour when I must give an account of my stewardship ;
but through the merit of Christ I look into eternity with hope and
comfort." In the spring of 1851 the unmistakable signs of approach
ing dissolution were manifested, but the soul of the dying saint
became more and more exultant. " His conversation during the last
months and weeks of his life were heavenly and edifying in a high
degree." In the autumn of 1851, on the first Sabbath in November,
he went to Church, entered the pulpit, and closed the service with
prayer, or rather, praise. His broken and trembling voice labored to
express his sense of the divine presence and grace. The entire
audience was bathed in tears, while an expression of joy lingered
upon his countenance as he feebly arose from his knees. Bishops
and ministers of the Church visited him at this time to receive his
final blessing, and to witness the grace with which he was enabled to
triumph over great bodily weakness and pain. After partaking of the
communion in his sick room, sitting in his chair, unable to kneel, as
his limbs were so terribly swollen, he said, with a voice choked with
emotion, " I am about to go hence. My body is going to the dust ; but
I have a good hope that niy soul will go to God in heaven. I am a
poor, weak, wretched creature ; have many imperfections and many
sins ; but I hope for, and expect to receive, salvation through our
Lord Jesus Christ." He then referred to his fifty years of active
service, to the blessed results of these labors, to the triumphant deaths
he had witnessed; and he exhorted the ministers present "to preach
Christ and call lost sinners to the Saviour." He continued until his
strength utterly failed, and his wife, overwhelmed by emotion, en
treated him to spare himself. On the 31st of March, in an hour of
great feebleness, he had a remarkable experience. "I have served
God," he said, "for more than fifty years; I have generally had
peace ; but I never saw such glory before — such light, such clearness,
such beauty ! 0, I want to tell it to all the world ! " His last words
were, " My God is my best friend, and I trust him with all my
heart." Pausing for breath, he added, " ' Because I live, ye shall five
also.' What a promise ! " Then his speech failed, and his life ebbed
away until " he was not, for God took him." He died, April 9, 1852.

Engraved by J B Longacro from »Paintai[< by 1 Jackson R. A taken in England in 1620.

BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

John Emory.

BY EEV. WM. LAEEABEE.

THE career of Bishop Emory was an important one in its relation
to the Methodist Episcopal Church. His term of active life was
short; yet he exerted a degree of influence in shaping the thought
and polity of the Church, and advancing its interests, that has been
equaled by few men in Methodism. He was fitted by nature and
education for the work he did. His family and social connections
were of the best. His literary and professional training was liberal
according to the standards of his time and of the place of his nativity,
and was supplemented by extensive after-studies. He had risen to
a successful practice of the law, and was enjoying a bright promise of
wealth and reputation in the future, when he gave up all to enter the
service of the Church. He carried with him the original and ac
quired advantages of his position, with the personal gifts of practical
acquaintance with life and business, strong logical power, clear judg
ment, habits of accuracy, thoroughness, systematic industry, and
entire devotion to whatever work he might be engaged in, and
turned them all to the use and advantage of Methodism. He labored
with effect to meet the wants of the Church in his time, and his
agency was conspicuous in the preparation of measures to increase
the breadth and permanence of its work, to extend and improve its
system of education, and particularly to provide more adequately for
the publication and circulation of its literature.
John Emory was born at Spaniard's Neck, Queen Anne County,
Eastern Shore of Maryland, April 11, 1789. His father, " a man of
great industry, probity, liberality, and firmness of purpose," was a
class-leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church ; was at different times
an Associate Justice of the County Court, Justice of the Peace, and
Justice of the Orphans' Court ; and was often sought in counsel
by his neighbors and made arbitrator in their difficulties. His mother
had been brought up in the Protestant Episcopal Church. She was

204 Methodist Bishops.
converted under the preaching of Garrettson and his fellow-laborers,
and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church shortly after her mar
riage. " It was her custom," says the Rev. Dr. Robert Emory, in his
biography of the bishop, "when company came to the house, to take
the female visitors into a private room, not to interchange the gossip
of the neighborhood but to unite in prayer ; and whenever her image
is recalled by the writer of these pages, it is either in the attitude of
prayer, or with the Bible on her lap." Her piety was made attractive
by a uniformly cheerful spirit. The house of the Emorys was a hos
pitable home to the preachers of the circuit, " to whose company and
conversation," the bishop says, in an autobiographical sketch he wrote,
"I was consequently accustomed from my infancy." It was the
custom of the family to attend the religious meetings of the circuit
together. All of the children were converted at these meetings
except two, who were converted at family prayers. John first made
a profession of religion while at school, at Easton, when he was be
tween ten and thirteen years of age. He never had any doubt of its
sincerity. But, as he has recorded, he became discouraged shortly
afterward in consequence of having yielded to the temptation to
climb a tree to view a distant horse-race, and gave up his profession.
He received the full experience of saving grace at a quarterly meet
ing held at Roe's'Cross Roads, in August, 1806. From this time his
piety never flagged, but he exhibited a zeal and earnestness in the
advancement of religion which seemed to increase steadily with his
growing years, and at length determined the course of his after life.
Mr. Emory's father having designed him for the law, John was
placed under classical instruction before he was ten years old. His
academical education was completed at Washington College, Mary
land. In the spring of .1805 he became a law student in the office of
Richard Tilghman Earle, of Centerville. He already began to ex
hibit that methodical diligence and power of concentration which
became distinguishing traits with him. He rose early, conscientiously
devoted every moment to some duty, habitually studied till he
induced a pressure in his chest — and studied on. He accustomed
himself to investigate to the bottom all questions which engaged his
attention, and to take comprehensive but not voluminous notes of all
he read. He was admitted to the bar on the first of July, 1808, two

John Emory. 20 j
years before he reached his majority. A prosperous business opened.
fast before him. In a little more than a year he had, according to
one of his contemporaries, Kensey Harrison, Esq., of Centerville,
gained a "good practice for a young man, and had every prospect
before him of acquiring wealth and fame," and had, according to
another, given promise "without a shadow of doubt" of attaining
" a most conspicuous eminence," when he received and obeyed the
call to the ministry. At this time, says Dr. Stevens, in his " History
of the Methodist Episcopal Church," hardly any young man in his
native State had more flattering prospects."
Mr. Emory has himself recorded that his mother at his birth made
a solemn dedication of him to God, earnestly praying and desiring that
he might be called to the ministry, and that she had always been
impressed with the conviction that her petition would be granted.
Her husband had never sympathized with her desires, but had ap
pointed his son, when still very young, to a different profession, and
had educated him with reference to it. He now resolutely opposed
John's determination to change his work. Even after it had become
fully carried out, and John had actually become a traveling preacher,
whose efforts had been attended with blessings, he would not be recon
ciled to the change. He refused to hear his son preach, and would
not write to him, or suffer himself to be written to by him. Under
these circumstances the resolution to devote himself to the ministry
cost Mr. Emory a struggle, the pain of which is probably only faintly
depicted in his journal. In this he wrote : " It was on the ninth of
October, 1809, that I made a covenant on my knees, wrote and signed
it, to give up the law, after much reading, prayer, and meditation,
and on the tenth I did so, though my father was very unwilling." In
a letter to the Rev. James Bateman, November 2, he wrote : " The
moment I entered into this covenant, I felt my mind relieved, and
the peace and love of God to flow through my soul, though I had
before lost almost all the comforts of religion."
Mr. Emory had become a class-leader and exhorter shortly after
he was converted, and had afterward been licensed as a local preacher.
While still a law-student he was accustomed to preach often in the
town where he resided and in the surrounding country. He held
a very modest view of his qualifications for this office, and was often

208 Methodist Bishops.
seen, it was said by one who used to hear him, melted into tears from
a sense of his " inability and unfitness." His efforts were, however,
highly appreciated by his hearers, and bore good fruit.
He joined the Philadelphia Conference in 1810, and was appointed
to the Caroline Circuit, Maryland. His next appointment was upon
the Cambridge Circuit, Maryland. Here he was associated with the
Rev. George Sheets, who afterward became a Protestant Episcopal
minister. This gentleman wrote, several years afterward, of Mr.
Emory's qualities as manifested in this charge, and of the impression
they made upon him. "He never lost sight of the dignity and
sanctity of the Christian and ministerial character. . . There was one
great and all-absorbing object which he had constantly in view — the
attaining of all that knowledge which was best calculated to qualify
for a faithful and useful discharge of ministerial duty." Of his
preaching, Mr. Sheets said : " There was no effort to secure the ap
plause of men ; no beautiful tropes and figures ; no rhetorical flourishes ;
no theatrical gestures and airs, to secure the plaudits of the vain and
gay. But there was, in rich abundance, the purest milk of the word
for babes, and also the strongest meat for those of full age." On
another point, Mr. Sheets remarked : " Although it was only his sec
ond year in the ministry, I soon found that, in intricate cases, as it
regarded the execution of discipline, I had in him an assistant whose
mind was matured far beyond his years, and with whom I could take
counsel with the greatest advantage and safety."
At the Conference of 1812 Bishop Asbury called for volunteers
to go to Montreal and Quebec. Mr. Emory authorized his presiding
elder to place his name at the bishop's disposal ; but the presiding
elder omitted to do so, and advised him not to go. On the next day
volunteers were asked for to go West ; Mr. Emory handed the bishop
a letter, offering to go anywhere within the territories of our govern
ment, if it was thought proper to send him.
During this Conference year Mr. Emory was called upon to part
with his father. The old gentleman had gradually become recon
ciled to his son's new plan of life. The first sign of his yielding
was manifested in the grant of permission to take a horse from home
for use in circuit duty. Mr. Emory wrote in his diary, April 12, 1812 :
" I had a free conversation with my father, with abundance of tears.

John Emory. 207
He acknowledged that he prayed for me every day, and still loved me
as a child, permitted me to write to him (which he had not done before,
though I had written, notwithstanding,) and confirmed to me the gift
of a horse, but declared himself of his first opinion as to my traveling.
. . . To-day he heard me preach for the first time since I have been
traveling." The work of reconciliation was completed with the
approach of death to the father. Mr. Emory was called home ; had
the gratification of seeing his dying father look to him to minister to
his comfort, and the consolation " to receive from his lips the last
triumphant assurance of his undoubting expectation of eternal life."
Mr. Emory ministered at the Academy, or Union Station, Philadel
phia, in 1813 and 1814. During the latter year he was engaged in a
correspondence with the African Bethel Church in the same city,
which proved to be a forerunner of the organization of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. By the terms of its charter, the Bethel
Church was to remain under the disciplinary regulations of the
Methodist Episcopal Church and the jurisdiction of a white elder
appointed by the Philadelphia Conference. Contentions arose re
specting the relations of the Church to the Conference, the case was
taken to the courts, and the Church assumed an independent position.
Mr. Emory wrote a circular letter to the officers and members of the
Church, deprecating the attitude they had assumed, and admonishing
them that if they wished to continue connected with the Methodist
Episcopal Church they must be connected according to its Discipline,
must receive its preachers, and fulfill the obligations of the charter of
their Church. On these conditions " we are ready," he said, " still
to serve you. We leave it entirely with yourselves to determine
whether you will be connected with us according to our Discipline ; but
you cannot be connected with us in any other way." Dr. Stevens justly
describes this document as " temperate and kindly," and as being a
simple statement of facts ; and it does not in any way justify the asser
tion in the preface to the Discipline of the African Methodist Episco
pal Church, that in it the Africans were " disowned " by the Methodists.
Mr. Emory was elected a delegate to the General Conference of
1816. It was the first General Conference to whicli he was eligible.
Of the part he took in this body, it is mentioned only' that the report
on local preachers was in his hand- writ ing, and that he advocated the

208 Methodist Bishops.
election of presiding elders. In 1818 he was stationed at the
Foundry Church, Washington, D. C, and became a member of the
Baltimore Conference. He was made a corresponding secretary for
the Conference of the newly formed Missionary and Bible Society ;
and was chosen a delegate to the General Conference of 1820. He
took an active part in the. most important proceedings of this body,
and greatly commended himself by his readiness and efficiency. He
was a member of the Committee on Episcopacy, and was one of the
committee selected from the advocates of both sides of the con
troversy on the election of presiding elders, to whom was given
the duty of preparing a plan for the adjustment of differences. He
interested himself in the cause of missions, and the favorable report
which was adopted on that subject is believed to have been written
by him. He moved the resolution by virtue of which a book of
tunes adapted to the Methodist hymns was published.
The General Conference having directed a delegate to be sent to the
British Conference to endeavor to settle some perplexing questions
which had arisen between the American and English Methodists, the
bishops appointed Mr. Emory. His mission was an extremely delicate
one. In the presence of international difficulties fraternal intercourse
between the Methodists of the two countries had been suspended for
several years. A dispute had arisen in reference to the Churches in
Canada. The work of the American ministers in Canada begun in 1791,
and steadily continued up to this time, had been much blessed, and pros
perous Churches had been built up under it. The work of the British
ministers was begun several years later in Lower Canada, and had been
gradually extended toward the fields occupied by the Americans.
Conflicts of interest soon arose, and were made more unpleasant,
perhaps, by political differences. A church in Montreal, which had
been built chiefly with money collected in the United States, but with
the help, in a small part, of English contributions, was taken posses
sion of by the English ministers. Bishop Asbury complained of the
aggression in a letter to Mr. Benson, written in January, 1816. A
proposition was made to the General Conference in the same year,
in behalf of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, for a division of the
work of the two bodies by the line which separated Upper and Lower
Canada. The General Conference declined to give up any of its

John Emory. 209
societies or chapels in the provinces. By its direction, Mr. Emory
addressed a temperate and friendly letter to the Wesleyan Missionary
Society, setting forth in full the America^ view of the case. The British
Conference determined to strengthen its missions, while it advised
the ministers to avoid disputes, and consented to give up the chapel
in Montreal. The difficulties between the missionaries continued,
nevertheless, till it was at length determined by the General Confer
ence to send a delegate to England, properly empowered, to try to
effect an harmonious and permanent settlement. Mr. Emory was
instructed : 1. To ascertain the views of the British Conference upon
the expediency of an interchange of fraternal delegates once in four
years. 2. To endeavor by prudent and practical means, to adjust the
difficulties in Canada. 3. To propose to draw a specific line between
the American and British fields, of labor.
His mission was fully successful. At a free conference with the
Wesleyan missionary committee he corrected many erroneous impres
sions which he found to be existing, and convinced them that the
view held by the American Church was a just one, and ought to be
so recognized by the Conference. His proposition for a settlement
was agreed to by the committee, and accepted by the Conference.
The boundary line between the Upper and Lower provinces was
made the dividing line between the work of the two connections,
except as to Montreal, where both were to continue their ministra
tions, the Americans keeping the chapel. In closing its action on
the subject, the British Conference adopted a resolution declaring
that it embraced " with pleasure the opportunity of recognizing that
principle, which, it is hoped, will be permanently maintained, that
the Wesleyan Methodists are one body in every part of the world."
The regular exchange of delegates every four years was renewed.
When it became desirable, in 1828, for the American Churches in
Canada to separate from the General Conference, a constitutional
difficulty was interposed, the committee to whom the subject was
referred by the General Conference reporting that by the terms of
-the compact by which it existed, it "was the duty of the General Con
ference to preserve the Church entire, and not to sanction a division
of it. Mr. Emory solved the difficulty by suggesting that the mis
sionaries to Canada had gone out, not by appointment, but as volun-
13

210 Methodist Bishops.
teers ; and that, therefore, the bond between them and the Church in
the United States was not of constitutional obligation, but was of
such a character that it could be dissolved at any time by mutual
consent. A proposition for the election of presiding elders by the Annual
Conferences was actively discussed in the General Conference of
1820. The subject was first introduced in the General Conference of
1808, and was supported by a strong vote. Mr. Emory offered a reso
lution in its favor in the General Conference of 1816. The prospect
seemed very favorable at this session for carrying the measure. Some
of the bishops approved it. It being desirous to harmonize conflicting
views as far as possible, a " committee of conciliation " was appointed
consisting of six members, three from each side. The committee was
composed of Ezekiel Cooper, Joshua. Wells, S. G. Roszel, N. Bangs,
W. Capers, and Mr. Emory. They reported the so-called " suspended
resolutions." These resolutions provided that the presiding bishop at
each Annual Conference should nominate three times the number of
persons wanted to fill vacancies in the office of presiding elder, from
whom the Conference should elect by ballot, one at a time, the number
wanted. The power to fill vacancies occurring during the intervals
between the sessions of the Conference was reserved to the bishops.
The presiding elders were made an advisory council to the bishops in
the stationing of preachers. The resolutions as reported by^the com
mittee were passed by a majority of more than two thirds of the
General Conference. Shortly after they were passed, the Conference
were informed that Joshua Soule, who had been elected bishop, con
sidered them unconstitutional, and was determined, if ordained, not to
carry them into execution, and that he was supported in his position
by Bishop M'Kendree. Thereupon the resolutions were suspended
for four years. During this interval the majority of the Annual
Conferences declared against them. The suspension was continued at
the General Conference of 1824, and the resolutions were at length
rescinded in 1828. Mr. Soule declined the election of bishop in 1820,
but was chosen again, and ordained, in 1824.
Mr. Emory had taken a foremost part in advocacy of the principle
of electing presiding elders, and had helped to frame, and supported,
the " suspended resolutions." His Conference differed with him on

John Emory. 211
this subject. For this reason he was not returned to the General
Conference of 1824. He was, however, appointed secretary of that
body. On the election of bishops he received fifty-nine votes, or
within six votes of enough to elect him ; but after the second ballot,
declined to be a candidate. Afterward, Dr. Bangs having been chosen
principal Book Agent, Mr. Emory was selected as Assistant Agent.
In 1828 he was made Agent, and Beverly Waugh, afterward Bishop
Waugh, Assistant Agent. Mr. Emory's most distinguished services
to the Church were given in his connection with the Book Concern.
He introduced improvements in its methods of doing business by
which its power for usefulness was largely promoted, and organized
liberal plans for the extension of its operations. He may be fairly
said to have had the principal part in laying the foundations for the
prosperity and prominent position among publishing houses which it
has since attained. When he first went into the Concern his health
was poor, and his constitution had been damaged by hard work. He
devoted himself to such duties as he could perform, and they were,
fortunately, of a kind that could be made to contribute indirectly to his
restoration. He visited the Conferences in the interest of the business.
He entered fully into the plan which the Agents had been considering
for the consolidation of the several organs of the Church into one
central paper. In 1827 he purchased the "Zion's Herald," and
merged it in the " Christian Advocate." Some years afterward, how
ever, other parties commenced a new publication under the same
name. Having made himself acquainted with the business arrangements
of the Concern, he was prepared before the close of his first term to
make suggestions for their 'improvement. Hitherto the sale of books
had been conducted, and accounts kept, in a complicated commission
system. The books were sent out to the districts, and charged to the
presiding elders. They were then distributed to the preachers on the
circuits, to be sold by them. The preachers accounted to the presiding
elders, paying or giving notes for the books they had sold, and giving
account of those which remained unsold. Thus, a large amount of
stock was scattered through the country with at least a very uncertain
security for its being safely kept, or adequately accounted for. As
the preachers and presiding elders were changed frequently, the stocks

212 Methodist Bishops.
and accounts had to be transferred very often, and a certain degree of
confusion was inevitable. A continual source of expense existed in the
necessity of keeping a large amount of capital invested in the books
thus scattered. Interest had to be paid upon the value of the stock,
while none was expected from the preachers ; and the risk of loss in
many ways was great. A more defective way of doing business could
hardly be imagined. Mr. Emory said of the operation of the system,
in his report to the General Conference of 1832, that it was demon
strable that under it " the Concern might have been ruined, and the
connection greatly embarrassed, notwithstanding the show of a large
annual increase of stock, since there was, with the large apparent
increase of stock, also a real increase of debt, but not of dividends, nor
could there have been any real profit." He suggested that a system
of actual sales for cash or notes be substituted for this cumbrous
method. The senior Agent approved his plan, and the General Con
ference of 1828 sanctioned it. Steps were taken for the sale of unpro
ductive stock and the collection of outstanding debts, and the allow
ances in making up the estimates of discounts on stock, debts, etc., and
for contingent losses, were increased. The success of these measures
was reported in 1832 to have not only equaled, but even exceeded, the
most sanguine expectations. Bishop Waugh, the assistant Agent
during the last four years of Mr. Emory's term, declared several years
afterward that the ability, skill, diligence, and perseverance whicli he
displayed in the measures devised by him to extinguish the debts of
the Concern, and effect a sale of the stock on hand, had " seldom been
equaled, and perhaps never surpassed, by the most practiced business
man." At the time Mr. Emory went into the Concern it was indebted,
according to Bishop Waugh, upward of one hundred thousand dollars,
more than two thirds of which sum was for borrowed capital. At the
close of his administration, in 1832, the annual dividends of the Con
cern had been greatly enlarged to an increased number of Conferences ;
ground had been bought, and buildings put up suited to the wants of
the growing business, and the Agent was able to report the property
and business quite free from debt. The net value of the capital and
stock had grown from $221,459 78 in 1824 to $438,017 32 in 1832.
The duties of the book agent at this time were combined
with those of editor of the books and of the "Methodist Magazine."

John Emory. 213
Dr. Emory, as editor, prepared a complete edition of Wesley's
works, and several other valuable books. He changed the magazine
from a monthly to a quarterly publication, enlarged the amount of
original matter, and contributed much of it himself, and may justly
be regarded as the founder of the "Methodist Quarterly Review."
The Church was at this period suffering under the excitement of the
so-called "radical controversy," and was also the object of frequent
hostile attacks from without. It seemed the clear duty of its official
organs to maintain and defend its doctrines and the peculiar features
of its polity as they were then generally understood. Consequently
the '"Magazine and Review" was forced to assume a controversial
position, an attitude which was little to Dr. Emory's taste. Never
theless, having taken his stand, he maintained it with signal ability
and cleverness. His arguments were advanced with a clearness and
directness which gave them great force, and often made them severe,
but always in good temper and legitimately.
Dr. Emory opposed from its beginning the "reform" movement
in favor of lay delegation, which resulted eventually in the with
drawal of a number of ministers and members from the Methodist
Episcopal Church. He wrote the report which was adopted by the
General Conference of 1816, adverse to the application of the local
preachers to be represented in that body. The prominent part which
he afterward took in favor of the election of presiding elders led
many at one time to believe that he sympathized for a time with the
efforts of the reformers to effect other changes in the economy of
the Church, but this has been proved to have been a mistake.
Alexander M'Caine having written, in 1827, " The History and Mys
tery of Methodist Episcopacy " — a bitter attack on the institutions of
the Methodist Episcopal Church — Dr. Emory replied to it in the
"Defense of our Fathers, and of the Original Organization of the
Methodist Episcopal Church." It was a work of great ability, and
exerted a powerful influence in favor of the principles it sought to
sustain. The Baltimore Conference in 1828 gave its author a vote of
thanks for having produced it. Mr. M'Caine replied several months
afterward with " A Defense of the Truth, as set forth in ' The His
tory and Mystery of the Methodist Episcopacy,' " and Dr. Emory
replied to this work in several forcible articles in the " Methodist

214 Methodist Bishops.
Magazine and Quarterly Review." Numerous petitions were pre
sented to the General Conference of 1828, asking for lay repre
sentation, the representation of local preachers, and the particular
changes in the rules of the Church which were sought by the
" reform " party. Dr. Emory was chairman of the committee to
whom they were referred, whose report was adopted without a
dissenting voice. He introduced the resolutions providing condition
ally for the restoration to membership of those persons who had been
expelled from the Church in consequence of their acts in the radical
controversy, which were adopted by the Conference. It was hoped
that they would heal the breach which had been. made. The motions
to adopt the report and the resolutions were made by the Rev. Asa
Shinn, one of the reform party. He afterward published a reply to
the report. This gave Dr. Emory an opportunity to publish in the
"Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Review" an article fully re
viewing the questions at issue. This article, and the report adopted
by the General Conference, were regarded as constituting a complete
vindication of the policy of the Church on the questions in dispute,
as it was understood and carried out at the time. Now, since the
bitterness of the controversy has long ago passed away, and lay
delegation has been peacefully carried into effect, it is difficult to
comprehend the intensity of the excitement which then prevailed in
the Church, or to see matters as the overwhelming majority of min
isters and members viewed them. It is certain, however, that Dr.
Emory faithfully represented the spirit and opinion of the Church.
Dr. Emory was elected bishop at the General Conference of 1832.
Though the prospect of his elevation to this office had been much
spoken of, and he had been voted for several times, he had never
conversed about it, it is said, even with members of his family. The
modesty and grace with which he announced his election to his wife
can hardly be surpassed. He wrote to her, the day after he was
ordained : " The General Conference having determined to constitute
two additional bishops at this session, the election took place on
Tuesday last, and resulted in the choice of the Rev. James O.
Andrew, of Georgia, and your husband. Perhaps, from the oc
casional intimations of partial friends, your mind may have been in
some measure prepared for this, and I trust the trial to you will not,

John Emory. 215
consequently, be so great as it might otherwise have been. The office
is, indeed, a high and holy one, and I trust I am not wanting in
a becoming sensibility of its great responsibility and weight. If you
partake, as you cannot but do, in a sense of the obligation I am
under for so distinguished a mark of the favor and confidence
of my brethren assembled in General Conference from all parts
of our wide-spread charge throughout the United States, I hope I
may receive not only your consent and approbation for the fulfillment
of their wishes, but your self-denying and pious counsels and prayers
to assist and encourage me under so great and heavy a burden.
Indeed, I must inform you, that, anticipating your kind and holy
self-devotion in a cause of such importance, and under such a call of
the Lord and Master of us all, as I humbly trust, I have already
submitted to take upon me at the holy altar the solemn vows of
office in the midst of many prayers and supplications. The consecra
tion took place yesterday, in the Academy, (Union Church,) in the
presence of the General Conference, and of a crowded audience, after
a sermon by Bishop M'Kendree, designed both for a funeral sermon
in memory of Bishop George, and for an ordination sermon. The
rite of ordination was performed by the laying on of the hands of
the four bishops, M'Kendree, Roberts, Soule, and Hedding, and of
Thomas Ware and Ezekiel Cooper, the two latter being the oldest
elders present."
The newly elected bishop presided at the closing night session
of the same General Conference, under circumstances which might
have tried the most experiencd parliamentarians. He promptly re
pressed the confusion which arose, as it always does at such times, and
secured a methodical and satisfactory transaction of the business
remaining to. be adjusted.
Having settled his family in Baltimore, he started in July, 1832,
on his first episcopal tour to the Pittsburgh, Ohio, Kentucky, and
Holston Conferences, from which he did not return till December.
During this journey he visited the mission to the Wyandotte Indians,
at Little Sandusky, Ohio, and held a Conference with the Indian
exhorters and leaders in the interests of the work. His report of this
interview to the Secretary of the Missionary Society has been pre
served in the biography which was prepared by the Rev. Dr. Robert

216 Methodist Bishops.
Emory and published by the Book Concern. In the spring of 1833
he assisted Bishop Hedding at the Virginia, Baltimore, and Phila
delphia Conferences. His second episcopal tour, which was begun
in September of the same year, embraced the extreme Southern
Conferences, called for about three thousand miles of travel, most of
which was done on horseback, and occupied about six months. In
1835 he attended the Virginia, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York,
New England, Maine, New Hampshire, and Troy Conferences. The
antislavery excitement was high at this time, and a very strong
feeling on the subject was found to be prevailing among the ministers
of the New England and the New Hampshire Conferences. Bishops
Emory and Hedding together addressed a letter of warning to the
ministers, in which they represented that the agitation was only likely
to disturb the country and the Church, without resulting in any
practical good. They made their own position on the question clear
by saying, " That the New Testament Scriptures, or the preaching
or practice of our Lord and his apostles, were ever intended to
justify the condition of slavery we do not believe. Yet we are as
well satisfied that the present course of immediate abolitionists is
equally foreign from the practical examples furnished by those high
and sacred authorities, and in circumstances less difficult than ours."
The views embodied in their letter agree with those which were
entertained at the time by the Church and the American people at
large. Very soon after he entered upon the episcopal office Bishop
Emory began to devise and urge plans to secure and maintain
uniformity in general administration, and to improve and extend
the course of education for ministers. For the former purpose he
suggested to the bishops that they should keep a record of all the
decisions they might make ; that they should communicate them to
each other ; and endeavor to arrive at some common understanding on
those points on which different rulings might have been made ; and
that they should meet periodically to settle all points remaining
unsettled, and to agree upon recommendations to be made in the
future. His plan also contemplated records to be kept by the
presiding elders of their decisions ; and a system of consultations
under which preachers could refer questions of difficulty or doubt

John Emory. 217
to the presiding elders, and the presiding elders refer them to the
bishops. The course of study for ministers, which had been prepared in ac
cordance with the recommendation of the General Conference of 1816,
was confessedly defective. It virtually ended with the second year.
The method of examination which had been pursued in connection
with it seems to have been ill-adapted to test the knowledge of the
student, or to insure thoroughness.. Bishop Emory, with the co
operation of Bishop Hedding, prepared a schedule for an improved
course, which was adopted by the Philadelphia Conference in 1833.
It was afterward adopted by several of the Southern Conferences,
and was so divided as to extend over the entire four years of prepara
tion for entrance into full connection, and was thus made to apply to
candidates for elder's as well as for deacon's orders. A more adequate
method of conducting the examinations of candidates was also intro
duced. These changes were at length generally accepted by the
Annual Conferences, and Bishop Emory's plan, receiving the approval
of the General Conference, became the foundation of the present
liberal course of study, to which the great advance since made by the
Methodist ministry in culture may be largely traced.
Bishop Emory interested himself actively in the cause of general
education. He was prominent in advancing tho enterprises which
were undertaken in his time for establishing schools of the higher
order, particularly within the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was
one of the Committee appointed by the New York Conference
to superintend the organization of the Wesleyan University. He
took part in a convention of literary men which met in New York
City, in 1830, to consider the subject of establishing a large university
there, and was a member of the standing committee of the proposed
institution. In 1833 he assisted the joint committee of the Baltimore
and Philadelphia Conferences in arranging the transfer of Dickinson
College to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was for a long time
president of the board of trustees of this institution. He fully dis
cussed the subject of the higher education in an article which he
wrote for the " Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Review," in 1831.
He considered in this paper the details of the organization of schools,
and the relative importance, that should be attached to each branch

218 Methodist Bishops.
of study. The article might have been accepted as a draft of a com
plete and comprehensive system of instruction. While he awarded
a just measure of appreciation to the classical studies, it is especially
worthy of remark that the views he expressed as to the degree of
importance and honor which should be attached to the sciences and
modern literature were in close agreement with those advanced by the
advocates of a more general scientific culture, and in accordance with
which the courses of many colleges are undergoing the process of
remodeling. There was found among his papers after his death the
draft of a General Education Society of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, the object of which was to be to help youth in the Church —
both those contemplating the ministry and others — in obtaining a use
ful and liberal education. The idea embodied in this sketch has since
been carried out, in principle^ in the Board of Education, of which the
Rev. Dr. E. 0. Haven is secretary.
Bishop Emory's services in the cause of education received fitting
acknowledgment in many ways. In 1816 he was invited to take
charge of the Wesleyan seminary about to be opened in New York
city, but declined the call. In 1824 he was elected president of
Asbury College, Baltimore, a suspended institution which its friends
were trying to revive ; but the Church called him to the Book Agency.
He was afterward invited in succession to the presidency of Madison
and Alleghany Colleges, Pennsylvania, and the presidency, and pro
fessorship of moral science, in Randolph Macon College, Virginia.
He declined these positions because he did not consider his health
vigorous enough to bear the strain which the proper discharge of their
duties would impose upon him. He received the degree of A. M.
from St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland, in 1822, and that of
D. D. from Washington College, Maryland, in 1823. His name,
however, always appeared in his publications without a title. Several
institutions were named after him ; among them, Emory Academy,
of the Mississippi Conference ; Emory and Henry College, of the
Holston Conference ; and Emory College, of the Georgia Conference.
Bishop Emory was an earnest advocate of the missionary cause.
He was an active supporter of the Methodist Missionary Society in its
earlier days ; he spoke for it and assisted in establishing branch socie
ties. He was prominent in forwarding the Methodist Bible and Tract

John Emohy. 219
Society ; he wrote several letters sketching the principles on which it
should be organized, and the details of organization. He defended the
policy of keeping enterprises of this kind separate within the Church,
instead of having them absorbed in societies which the Church could
not control. He originated a scheme to establish a publishing fund in
aid of the Bible, Sunday-school, and Tract Societies of the Church, the
object of which was to lay a permanent foundation for conducting the
enterprises of those societies on a more extensive scale, and enable them
to reduce the prices of their publications to the lowest practicable rates.
Besides the articles and works of which we have spoken, Bishop
Emory wrote several works in vindication of the doctrines, institutions,
and orders of the Methodist Episcopal Church, against attacks upon
them by members of other denominations. Bishop White, of the Prot
estant Episcopal Church, in 1817, published in the " Christian Register "
an essay entitled " Objections against the Personal Assurance of the Par
don of Sin by a Direct Communication of the Holy Spirit." Mr. Em
ory wrote two pamphlets in reply to this article. In 1818 a Mr. Wright
published in the " National Messenger," Georgetown, D. C, an article
against the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. Mr. Emory replied in
several communications to the same journal, which were afterward pub-
fished in a pamphlet. He was engaged at the time of his death upon
a new and profound work in defense of the polity of the Church, to
which was given the title of " The Episcopal Controversy Reviewed."
Only one of his sermons has been preserved. It was the one
which he preached before the British Conference, in 1820 ; a sermon
of great strength and beauty, which was much admired in England
and the United States. His preaching, as described by his son, was
characterized by cogent arguments and striking illustrations, with
exhortations enforced by earnest remonstrances and pathetic appeals.
" Despising all affectation, whether of pomp or carelessness, he strove,
both in reading and speaking, to be perfectly natural, and perhaps
few have been more successful in that difficult effort. With a voice
naturally feeble, he was able, by the distinctness of his enunciation,
to make himself heard through the largest assemblies." In debate, he
spoke to the point, carefully presenting his arguments in a clear and
effective manner, and the substance of his address always justified its
being made. His intellectual superiority, the. accuracy of his thought,

220 Methodist Bishops.
and the thoroughness of his knowledge, were manifested in all that
he said or did ; and he was as ready as he was accurate and thorough.
Bishop Emory died just when he had attained his highest vigor
and his most active usefulness. On the 16th of December, 1835, he
started in the morning from his home in Reisterstown, Maryland, for
Baltimore, six miles distant. He was thrown out of his carriage while
descending a hill, in some manner which has never been ascertained,
and was shortly afterward found lying insensible in the road, with
his skull fractured from having struck a stone. He never'recovered
consciousness, but died the same evening. He left a widow and five
children, in comfortable circumstances. He had inherited a good
estate, and his wife was also possessed of property.
Bishop Emory's first wife was Caroline, daughter of Francis Sel
lers, Et>q., of Hillsborough, Md., to whom he was married in 1813.
She died in 1815, while he was stationed in Wilmington, Del. He
was married a second time to Anna, daughter of Thomas Wright,
Esq., of Queen Anne County, Md., an esteemed local preacher of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. She survived him several years.
The character of Bishop Emory was fully revealed in the work
he did for the Church, and was accredited in the highest manner in
the succession of honors which it hastened to confer upon him. A
careful review of his life brings out with strong force the fact that
he allowed his personality to be sunk to an extraordinary degree in
his ministerial and official character. It is ever to be regretted
that so little of his private life has been placed upon record. It
could not have failed to be rich in personal incident and advent
ure, and in reminiscences of the distinguished men with whom he
came in contact. Nothing of it remains, however, except a few
allusions in private letters, and some notices of his delightful sojourn
in England while a messenger to the British Conference, in which
he described with particular pleasure his visit to the family of Dr.
Adam Clarke. His family life is known to have been rich in affec
tion, and his social life one of refined and genial intercourse with
his intimates, official and personal. Those who knew him best have
failed to give such a clear picture of his personality as it would be
desirable to have.
The Rev. Dr. M'Clintock, who was a clerk in the Book Con-

John Emory. 221
cern during Dr. Emory's administration, has left > a careful estimate
of his personal qualities as they were observed by his subordinates,
but it presents him as a man of business rather than in his private
character. He was prompt, so that "no man," says Dr. M'Clin-
tock, "ever knew him unprepared for an emergency; none ever
found him behindhand with his engagements. . . . He was never
seen ' unemployed — never triflingly employed.' ... I do not remem
ber to have known him once to spend fifteen minutes in occasional
conversation with preachers and others dropping in. He would
exchange the common courtesies of society, and if any business was
to be attended to he was ready for it ; if not, he very soon let it
be known that he had occupations on hand which were not to be
neglected." He showed himself to be as accurate in his knowledge
of the details of the business as he was comprehensive in his con
ception of it as a whole. Uniformity " was a striking feature of
his character in all its aspects," and " gave additional value to his
varied talents by insuring their constant and unwavering activity."
His manner toward visitors and subordinates was uniformly court
eous. " The same urbanity," says Dr. M'Clintock, " that marked his
intercourse with men of his own age and standing, characterized
his conduct toward the youngest clerk in the Boole Concern. He
never forgot the rules of genuine politeness ; he was, in the truest
sense of the word, a gentleman." While his mental habits "caused
a directness in his communications which those who did not know
him might suppose to be sternness, no one ever received from him
a word calculated to wound the feelings or to hurt the tenderest
susceptibility." He was exact in money matters, as in other concerns, and it is
doubted if he ever gained a dollar by the offices which he had in
the Church. It is related of him that at the close of one year's
ministerial service in Washington, the station being straitened for
funds, he returned to the stewards all of the money appropriated
for the support of himself and his family which had not been
actually spent.
No good portrait of him exists. The Rev. Dr. Robert Emory,
describing his personal appearance, says that he was rather under
the ordinary size, though very well proportioned, and weighed about

222 Methodist Bishops.
one hundred and twenty-five pounds. His countenance was manly,
and his features had a "classic regularity." "When at rest, there
was a thoughtfulness impressed upon his countenance which might
sometimes be mistaken for sternness ; but/' in social intercourse,
although he was scarcely ever known to laugh, his face was often
lighted by a smile, while the benignity of his heart beamed from
his eye. He always carried himself very erect. . . . From his youth
he was an early riser; and the practice was continued, even when
the distressing sleeplessness by which he was for some years afflicted
might have pleaded for greater indulgence. But he was equally
careful to retire early." He was careful as to the cleanliness of his
person and the neatness of his dress, but " conscientiously refrained
from the display or the extravagance of fashion. Over his appetite
he seemed to have the most complete control," and "was emphat
ically a redeemer of time."
His friends and the Church are able to recall every feature of his
career with unalloyed satisfaction ; but they look back to his manage
ment of the Book Concern as constituting his especial title to be hon
orably remembered. He might have rendered equally, perhaps more,
valuable service as bishop had he lived to carry out the plans he had
formed. He was* given time as Book Agent to finish what he under
took, and give the Church a complete and permanent work. Bishop
Waugh closed an account of his character and services by saying :
" Not only will Dr. Emory's name be of precious memory as a man, a
Christian, a minister of Christ, and a Methodist bishop, but in the
annals of Methodism he will stand unrivaled as the sagacious, enter
prising, and indefatigable head of the Methodist Book Concern."

J . r .E.Srud'homiiie sc

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Beverly Waugh.

BY EEV. H. B. EIDGAWAY, D.D,

THE wise and devout Fenelon, alluding to the rarity of good men,
says : " The comparison only makes us too highly prize those
persons who are true, gentle, trustworthy, reasonable, susceptible of
friendship, and superior to all self-interest." * Bishop Waugh may be.
recalled as. one of those rare good men in whom the qualities here
mentioned were so united as to constitute him not only a person of
eminent worth, but also such a character as to lead men every-where
to lean upon him, and to feel more hopeful of their race because he
was one of them.
Beverly Waugh was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, on the 28th
of October, 1789. His parents were James and Henrietta Waugh.
Mr. James Waugh was a substantial farmer, and a captain in the State
militia. In the latter capacity he led a company from his native
county during the Revolutionary War to assist in repelling Lord
Cornwallis from Virginia, and it is likely that he was present at the
surrender at Yorktown. The childhood of Beverly was spent at
home, surrounded by the genial influences which in that early period
pervaded the best Virginia families. He received such education as
the limited opportunities of his neighborhood afforded. His morals
were carefully guarded, and he grew up without contracting the vices
to which youths too often become subject. At the age of fifteen years
he was converted to God, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church
under the ministry of the Rev. Thomas F. Sargent, who was then the
preacher in charge at Alexandria, Va.
Just where young Waugh lived from 1804 to 1807 does not
appear from any record at hand; but I infer he was employed during
this time in one of the government offices in Washington City. It
was in this position he acquired the admirable chirography and the
aptitude for accounts which afterward so distinguished him. In
* Sainte Beuve's " Monday Chats." Mathews.

226 Methodist Bishops.
1807, while residing at Alexandria, and serving as a clerk in the store
of a Mr. Robbins, he began keeping a journal of the main facts of his
life, a custom whicli was continued until within a few years of his
death. This journal comprises several manuscript volumes, the first
of which is superscribed in his own neat handwriting: "Beverly
Waugh's Journal, March 7, 1807, Alexandria."
The first entry is characteristic of the jealous care he ever after
ward exercised over his heart : " I have been sorely buffeted by Satan
for some days back. Do thou, 0 Lord, grant me a deliverance from
every snare." Two days later he is struggling to be wholly the Lord's,
and begins already to feel intimations of a call to preach the gospel : " I
bless God for the desire I have to be wholly given up to God and his
work. I think I am willing to become any thing or nothing so I may
but enjoy the smile of my God. ... I feel too much of a trifling,
laughing spirit, and yet I have been for some days back tempted (I think
I may venture to say) to believe I shall be a preacher of God's holy
word ! I pray God if it be a temptation it may be done away, and if
it be from God it may be increased. With regard to this I feel that
if it be the will of God to send by me, I should be happy to be the
servant of God, though I am the most unworthy of all God's people,
and as weak as a child in things of this nature ; but I know God has
chosen, and may again choose, the weak things of this world to con
found the mighty. I am, I say, willing if God calls, to obey, but I
hope I shall never thrust myself out. My trust is in God. I hope
he will make my way and duty plain."
Again : " I have not been so much exercised about my ever being
called to preach, and have had awful fears that I shall get so much
attached to this vain world that I shall at last get again into sin. I
pray God to reign in me, and deliver me out of all my troubles."
When eighteen years of age Mr. Waugh removed to Middleburgh,
Loudon County, where he kept a grocery for Mr. Robbins, his em
ployer. January 11, 1808, he writes : " Soon after my arrival here I
was tempted in so powerful a manner that I was afraid I should at
last give way to the tempter, and again grieve the Holy Spirit of
promise. But hallelujah to my God, his grace has been sufficient for
me. . . . My intention in coming here was to have an opportunity to
purchase me a horse, etc., and I intend in course of next summer to go

Beverly Waugh. 227
around on some circuit with one of the preachers, in order that I may
find out and do the will of God." In • due time the horse was pur
chased, and the young store-keeper was wont to ride out in the even
ings to points adjacent to the village to attend prayer-meetings;
and thus his gifts were exercised in prayer and exhortation. He was
appointed a class-leader. The conviction of a further and greater
vocation continued to press upon him.
" But 0, my soul, there is yet another duty required. And must
I take up the cross and follow Jesus? Must I give up my dear
relations ; my father, , his house, his lands, my brothers and sisters ?
And must I give up my own will, and be directed by God to call
sinners to repentance or I cannot be his disciple ? I must ; the word
of truth declares I must. ... I want to be a faithful and obedient
servant of God. Yet O, the greatness of the work ! To preach the
gospel, who is able ? Lord, if I must speak for thee, and declare thy
counsel to men, speak, O speak through me, and by me, or rather
never let me attempt it."
Soon after this record of his feelings he began to preach at differ
ent " appointments " in the neighborhood. On July 29, 1808, after
having made it matter of prayer that God would show him his duty,
he started to go with " Brother Rowan " one " round " on Stafford
Circuit. Instead of turning back within a few days, as he expected,
he was so far encouraged that he completed the round. Then after
a camp-meeting near Leesburgh, he agreed to take the Rev. Mr. Hemp
hill's appointment, on Fairfax Circuit, while Mr. Hemphill attended
the Winchester camp-meeting. Thus he continued, first with one
preacher and then with another, trying his wing — sometimes encour
aged with his efforts, and sometimes so disheartened that he was ready
to go home. What more admirable system was ever devised to break
in young preachers, especially at a period when educational facilities
were scarce, and the necessities of evangelistic work were urgent !
In October, 1808, Mr. Waugh took the step which finally committed
him to the itinerant ministry : " I go now with Rev. H. Jefferson, pre
siding elder, to Lancaster Circuit, which station I am to take for the
. winter." On this circuit, in a section known as the Northern Neck of
Virginia, he preached and worked incessantly, having, as he tells us,
" some painful exercises," " being convinced that there is no station in
14

228 Methodist Bishops.
the world which has not its peculiar attendant trials," but withal
breathing after holiness and usefulness, and imposing on his heart
increased watchfulness. January 7, 1809, he says : " I am now on my
last round on this part of the circuit. ... I mourn on account of the
little good that appears to have been done, and that the signs and
seals of my mission are scarcely visible at all ; yet I hope I shall de
liver my soul. ... I long to see better times ; to enjoy more of the
love of God in my soul. I see the need of more watchfulness, of
more stability, of more seriousness, and more attention to my studies
and reading. . . . How bad, how disagreeable, to be drawn from
things of more substance and importance to things not worth a
thought ! . . . I find my trials arising from a source where I never
suspected they would ; every moment dangers and snares surround
me. I once thought, that of all people in the religious world
preachers of the gospel were the happiest, and had the fewest
trials, . . . but my opinion is now changed, and I know not but
they, of all men, have the most trials. But hold ! I fear I am too
ready to complain."
The next entry is as follows: "This night I hope will ever be
ranked by me one of the best nights. While we were pouring out
our souls in family prayer, the power of the Lord came down upon
us, and prostrate to the floor did I fall, when I felt the power and
presence of my dear Master and merciful God, while some of the
sinners wept and trembled. 0 glory be to God, for his favors and
blessings ! "
These extracts indicate at the very commencement of Mr. Waugh's
ministry the special traits which ever after marked his career. His
emotional nature was very strong, and much of his power lay in the
wealth of his sensibilities. At the same time the substantial moral
and intellectual convictions are foreshown, which did always underlie
his tender feelings.
In the spring of 1809 he was received on trial in the Baltimore
Conference, and appointed as junior preacher to Stafford Circuit,
Virginia. He entered hopefully upon the new field, but soon had
occasion to complain of the low state of religion and the carelessness
of sinners. In the month of August he attended a camp-meeting in
Fairfax Circuit, where he was greatly refreshed by seeing sinners

Beverly "Waugh. 229
converted, and especially by the conversion of his own brother Towns-
hend. " Glory be given to God," is a,t this time Mr. Waugh's entry in
his journal, "for his tender mercies bestowed on me. I have felt
much engaged for three or four days in declaring the counsel of God.
I still long for perfect love, perfect humility, and perfect resigna
tion." The next spring he was assigned to Greenbrier Circuit, in the
mountainous regions of south-west Virginia. The change for the
youthful preacher from the settled country of old Virginia, and the
neighborhood of home, to the comparative wilds of the western
part of the State, was at first depressing, but he aroused himself and
was soon happy in his new work. His refined nature accepted all
the ills of a rude civilization with cheerfulness. In long-after years
he used to recount with much zest the experiences of his Greenbrier
days. In the highlands as in the lowlands he is found manifesting
the same zeal and activity, and through his journal there breathes the
same yearning after God. "I feel much concerned to have all my
thoughts, tempers, words, and actions under the proper direction of
the Holy Spirit of God. I see the many imperfections which follow
and are mingled with all my performances."
The keen observation of the authorities of the Church already dis
cerned the promise there was in young Mr. Waugh, and he was accord
ingly transferred the next year from his remote mountainous circuit
to the city of Washington, and stationed at the Navy Yard Church.
" May 6, 1811. My labors in this place are not severe — public preaching
three times a week, two public prayer-meetings, and generally one
class to meet each week, an official meeting to attend once every two
weeks, and also to visit from house to house to sing and pray, together
with visiting the sick, and the instruction of the children, etc., will
include nearly all the external labor of the station." Quite enough of
external work for a young man of twenty-one years ! It is not sur
prising he should say in his very next record, " I think it would be
better were I on a circuit." He soon missed the exhilaration of horse
back riding in the open country, and the variety of preaching on
successive Sabbaths to different congregations. And now, in addition
to labors external and internal connected with the charge, his youthful
breast began to be agitated with the gentle passion. Thoughts of mar
riage obtruded unbidden upon his mind. "I have considered the

230 Methodist Bishops.
exercise as proceeding, perhaps," (a very hopeful perhaps,) " from an
evil source ; consequently have prayed for its removal. I do not want to
entangle myself, for fear of neglecting the work of an itinerant preacher,
to which I am at present in affection inseparably attached." He did
not pray successfully against his " perhaps," and events hastened him
forward toward matrimony. Not, however, until the next spring does he
record : " Tuesday night, April 21, 1812, after prayer for direction
and mature reflection, I was married to Catharine B. Bushby, of Wash
ington City, by the Rev. N. Snethen." Miss Bushby, who henceforth
became the faithful wife of Mr. Waugh, was of good English and
Methodist extraction. She was the daughter of Mr. William Bushby,
one of the original twelve or fourteen members who, in 1788, founded
the first Methodist Society at Alexandria, Va.
In the spring of 1812 Mr. Waugh was appointed to Stephensburgh
Circuit, in the valley of Virginia. From that date there is no entry in
his journal until 1818. A registry, however, which contains the texts
of Scripture from which he preached, and the number of miles he
traveled, was faithfully kept. A round of twenty-three preaching-
places, covering a large extent of country, necessitating preaching
almost every day in the week, with rough roads and swollen streams
to encounter, was the scene of his first year of wedded life. At the
time when his journal was resumed, he is again stationed in Washing
ton City. Meanwhile, he had been appointed successively to Balti
more City, (1813,) to Montgomery Circuit, Maryland, (1814, 1815,) to
Berkeley Circuit, Va., (1816,) and to Washington, (1817.)
" January 23, 1818. Near six years are gone since I last wrote in
this book. In this period, short as it has been, I have passed through
scenes and trials that I never knew before. I thank God, his mercy
has not failed. He has been astonishingly good." During these years
three children were born to him, and from the references to tempta
tions and trials, it is easy to suppose that the ardent itinerant had been
assailed at the point at which so many of the earlier traveling preachers
were attacked — -the temptation "to take a location." Many of the
ablest and best men of early Methodism, in the struggle between
natural affection and devotion to the itinerancy yielded to the former,
and were lost to the pastoral work.
Sunday, January 25, 1818, had been a day of unusual refreshing

Beverly Waugh. 231
while preaching. He records in his journal, " 0 how sorry I am that
I have not had more true zeal for the glory of God and the salvation
of souls. It seems to me that I have just awaked out of sleep. I
have always found a great difficulty in ordering my conversation aright
on the subject of religion. I have always been too general. I am
now determined, by divine help, to be more abundant, more pointed,
and more particular in my conversations with my fellow-men on this
important and interesting subject." It is well to note this resolution.
The remarkable faculty for religious conversation which he was subse
quently known to possess may be traced to the determination thus
early formed to cultivate this rare and useful gift.
Another gap occurs in his journal. His text registry, however,
shows how constantly and fully he labored in the Baltimore City
Station, (1818,) in the Fells' Point Station, Baltimore, (1819, 1820,)
and in Georgetown Station, D. C, (1821, 1822.) The omission in the
journal is the more to be regretted because the young minister began
in this interval to be designated as a leading man among his brethren.
He was elected by the Baltimore Conference to represent it in the
second and third delegated General Conferences of the Church, those
of 1816 and 1820. In the proceedings of these Conferences, in which
it was sought to definitely shape the polity of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, he took rather advanced ground, and on the question of an
elective presiding eldership he voted affirmatively with such men as
Elijah Hedding, John Emory, and Alfred Griffith, on what are known
as the resolutions of 1820. These resolutions not only made the incum
bents of the presiding eldership elective, but also constituted them an
advisory council of the bishop in stationing preachers. The resolu
tions, notwithstanding they were passed by a two-thirds vote, were
suspended mainly because of the opposition of Bishop M'Kendree
and the Rev. Joshua Soule. Mr. Soule had been elected to the office
of a general superintendent, but declined ordination on account of
these resolutions, deeming them, as he maintained, an invasion of epis
copal authority. The opposition of such men as Mr. Soule led to a
heated controversy in the interval of the years 1820 and 1824. The
Baltimore Conference arrayed itself against the resolutions, and the
party of Mr. Waugh being in a minority, he failed of an election to
the General Conference of 1824.

232 Methodist Bishops.
As might be supposed, sharp and even bitter words were spoken
during the agitation pending this election. Mr. Waugh did not escape
his share of the hard epithets. A letter written by him to Bishop
George about this period deserves a place here, but for want of space
I can give only such portions as are sufficient to indicate his feelings.
After narrating the unselfish motives which led him to join the itiner
ancy he says : " Notwithstanding I have seen (as I conceive) the pro
priety of a modification of our government, still I wish to be known
as the dutiful son, and not the unnatural monster that would destroy
that which gave him life and being. Modified and administered as it
is at present," [alluding to the government of the Methodist Episcopal
Church,] " I am happy in being able to say I can, and by the help of
God intend to, continue with you, although I hope it will ever be my
fixed purpose to do what I shall believe to be my duty in regard to the
improvement of our system in theory and practice, and from which
duty nothing shall ever induce me to shrink — -neither promises nor
threatenings, neither rewards nor punishment. My ground is taken."
Bishop George had talked with him about stationing him at Pitts
burgh, Pa., and also returning him to a circuit, and the conversation
led him, in the same letter, to speak of the itinerancy in a manner
which foreshadows the views which he entertained after he himself
had been elected to the episcopacy : " I presume every true lover of
the itinerancy will be willing to make the necessary sacrifices. If not,
let them get out of the way. All that can be required is, that there
shall be an equality in labors and sacrifices as near as can be. If
it fall to my lot to break the ice, I submit cheerfully, and will promptly
obey. This is the way, sir, to ascertain who are the true friends of
the itinerancy. ... It is an easy matter when a man has a firm anchor
cast in a safe harbor to talk of the necessity and excellency of navigat
ing the ocean, however stormy it may be, to all who are, like himself,
safely moored for the season."
After assuring Bishop George of his readiness to go either to Pitts
burgh or to a circuit, and df his appreciation of the bishop's consider
ation for him, he continues : " If, sir, in any place the people think
that I would be to them a burden, I pray you appoint me not to
serve. I cannot serve a people under such circumstances. And
whenever the people shall become tired of me, I shall consider my

Beverly Waugh. 233
mission ended, and it will give me neither pain nor mortification to
retire. But let me be satisfied that it is the people, and not the
presiding elder, who complain."
As I have previously stated, Mr. Waugh was sent to Georgetown,
D. C, and neither to Pittsburgh nor a circuit, and thus -was, possibly
saved by the considerate action of the episcopacy from becoming a
radical in Church politics. Had he been punished for his views,
his mind might have been warped by what he might have regarded
as Unjust treatment, and his sincere questionings as to wholesome
modifications would probably have been precipitated into a demand
for radical changes. As events followed, while there is no proof
that his opinion as to the desirableness and constitutionality of an
elective presiding eldership was ever abandoned, it is evident that he
became reconciled to the usage of the Church, and stopped short,
as did many of those who agreed with his views, of joining the
ranks of those who subsequently advocated revolutionary measures.
As late as 1827 he received a letter from the Rev. S. G. Roszell,
asking him to say distinctly whether he was in favor of the suspended
resolutions. Whereupon he remarks : "And wherefore does he make
this inquiry? God forbid that the spirit of electioneering should
ever prevail among the preachers."
There are no further entries in Mr. Waugh's journal until toward
the close of his pastorate in Georgetown. These give proof of his
untiring devotion to pastoral work, and of his constant efforts for
improvement as a preacher. He studied such books as Brown's
" Philosophy of the Mind," and treasured up some of its most
important reflections. Another extract from his journal reads as
follows : —
" January 2, 1823. This day I have been enabled in some tolerable
degree to have my mind stayed on God in prayer and watchfulness.
But I have not the deep communion with God which I believe to be
the privilege of holy souls. 0 my God, quicken and revive my soul !
I want more zeal for God. Religion in Georgetown is at a very low
ebb. My situation is far from agreeable ; this, however, would com
paratively be of small concern if I could have evidences that my labors
are owned of God, and consequently useful." He found genial, social
relaxation during these years in the hospitable mansion of Mr. Foxall,

234 Methodist Bishops.
whom he regarded as " a rich man who promises fair to enter into the
kingdom df heaven."
For the years 1823 and 1824 Mr. Waugh was preacher in charge
of Frederick Circuit, which covered the fairest and most fertile por
tion of Western Maryland. He found the state of religion low, but
was gratified with increased congregations and growth in "spirituality
through the first year. Returning from the Conference session at
Winchester, Va., April, 1824,'he remarks : " I wish I may forget some
circumstances connected with this Conference, especially in relation to
the election of delegates to the General Conference. Alas ! what is
man ? What are good men ? Imperfection incarnated ! " From Win
chester he rode home with Bishop George, "with whom," he says,
" I had some conversation on the subject of lay delegation. He is
decidedly opposed to it." Mr. Waugh visited the General Conference
at Baltimore, concerning which he says, " I was not gratified with my
visit. I very much fear that there is a more alarming declension
from the spirit and power of religion among us than we are willing
to admit. O God, restore us ! O God, revive us ! "
' At their camp-meeting this summer the people of Frederick were
favored with a visit from the Rev. H. B. Bascom, chaplain of the
national House of Representatives. It is interesting to see how Mr.
Bascom's preaching impressed Mr. Waugh. "At four o'clock Brother
Bascom preached ; his theme was ' practical Christianity.' I have
heard what I, until now, considered extravagant eulogies on his tal
ents, but, having heard for myself, I must say he is the greatest man I
ever heard, in the pulpit, at the bar, or in the legislative hall. He is
a prodigy." Again : " We prevailed on Brother Bascom to give us
another sermon. He preached on the 'Evidences of Christianity,'
and was even greater than he was yesterday. A man of endless
resources. The half was never told me of him." Scores of persons
were converted during this meeting, and a revival followed throughout
the circuit. The year closed with large additions, but the labors and
exposures greatly impaired Mr. Waugh's health, so far so that he suf
fered ever after from their effects.'
In April 1825, Mr. Waugh was appointed, by Bishop Soule, to
Severn Circuit, Md. For domestic reasons he was transferred to
Baltimore City Station : " The manner in which the whole affair was

Beverly Waugh. 235
conducted made it peculiarly grateful," he says, " to my feelings. Is
not the hand of Providence seen in all this ? I am sure I can never
forget those circumstances so long as I have memory." The change
was made principally through the intervention of Messrs. J. Berry and
R. Armstrong, to whom his distress was apparent, and who represented
his condition to the bishop without his knowledge. I remember in
after years to have had this incident substantially from Colonel Berry's
own lips. The colonel evidently regarded it as a crisis in Mr. Waugh's
itinerant life, and properly congratulated himself that he had a share
in saving to the Church a future bishop. What man may not need,
at some time in his career, the opportune offices of friendship \
From this period Mr. Waugh's star was ever in the ascendant. His
career was onward and upward, and gathered momentum and fullness
to its close. He was in his thirty-sixth year, with an admirable phys
ique, tall, and well-formed, weighing at least two hundred pounds ; his
intellect was rapidly expanding ; his religious experience had attained
much ripeness ; and his whole character was fast assuming the propor
tions which were clearly pointing him out as a leader among his peers.
His official position was subordinate to that of Rev. Samuel Merwin,
who was the preacher in charge. He was immediately the recipient
of those kind attentions for which the Methodists of Baltimore have
always been noted. His family were removed to a more commodious
house, and he was welcomed by frequent invitations, in connection
with his colleagues, to the hospitable homes of the people. The City
Station at that time included the whole of Baltimore City except
Fells's Point, or East Baltimore, and comprised four white and two
colored congregations.
His journal for the year records continued and faithful work in
preaching, pastoral visitation, class-leading, and counsel. All was not
encouraging. Of a love-feast at Eutaw-street Church, he says : " It
was dull, dull, dull." ..." We had not so many children at catechis
ing. . . . O, the criminal neglect and indifference of parents toward
their children ! . . . I heard some criticism to-day on my morning's
discourse of yesterday. One kindly said it was a good sermon;
another truly, I was unpleasantly tedious in getting at my text,
etc. I must endeavor to improve in the matter and manner of my
preaching. O my God, help me ! "

236 Methodist Bishops.
The custom of attending camp-meetings was early adopted by the
Baltimore Methodists, and this year Mr. Waugh and his colleagues
were found promptly on the ground, surrounded by large numbers of
their own people, and of the people of the adjacent country. The
Sabbath of the meeting was a great day : " Brother J. Frye again
preached at the eight o'clock morning meeting, and the people were
much affected. At ten o'clock there was an immense concourse pres
ent, to whom Brother Soule " [a modest appellation for a bishop]
"preached, and was followed in half an hour by Brother Merwin.
Doctor Bond preached a good sermon at night, and I exhorted. . . .
This was the greatest night of all. O glory ! glory ! I was never at
camp-meeting before when I felt so much religious influence on my
heart. The work of God gloriously revives." The influence of the
meeting was at once felt in promoting a general revival in the city
Churches. Exeter-street was especially favored. But while Exeter
was revived Eutaw slumbered. After Mr. J. N. Maffit had preached
at the latter he inquired : " Why was not the effect of his dis
courses greater ? O, Eutaw, what is the matter ? Search and prove
us, 0 God."
Thus the year glided on, affording evidences not only of his devo
tion to work, but also to self -improvement. He read but little, and
digested it well. He heard scientific lectures. He listened with
patience and teachableness to suggestions on his style of preaching:
"Brother Yearly, with whom I supped, and who is a man of con
siderable mind, very tenderly suggested that I occupied too much
time in the introduction of my discourses, and also that I was too
much in the habit of apologizing in the close of my sermons. I
must endeavor to profit by his hints." During this year Mr. Waugh
was a party to the formation of the Preachers' Aid Society of the
Baltimore Conference. He was also active in the movement which
committed the Conference to the cause of Christian missions and of
Sunday-school instruction. I find him also predicting the troubles
which the agitation on "reform" was likely to bring upon the
Church, and seeking to prevent them by advising a course of frank
ness and conciliation. He went so far as to prepare an address, which,
after being approved by Bishop M'Kendree, he presented to a com
mittee at the approaching Conference ; but the majority " rejected it,

Beverly Waugh. 237
professing it as their opinion that it would do no good." " My motives
have been impugned, but God is my judge. I have done what I
thought ought to be done. Time will make it manifest."
At this Conference (1826) he was returned to the City Station in
charge, with Messrs. Paynter, Steele, Slicer, and Evans as colleagues.
Mr. Henry Slicer was then a young man, and already gave promise of
future eminence. No one more quickly discovered, or more promptly
conceded, his abilities than did Mr. Waugh. The year was one of
harmony and success. The preachers worked heartily together, and
under the efficient direction of the preacher in charge the affairs of
the station, with its various social conditions and heavy financial
obligations, were managed with entire satisfaction. But if St. Paul
was in " deaths oft," Mr. Waugh was in trials oft ; hardly a week
elapsed that some member, either white or colored, was not arraigned
for breach of the rules. That was a day when the Discipline was
enforced, and every effort was made, so far as administration could
effect it, to keep the Church pure. Perhaps at the time as great
a mistake was made in having Church trials upon every pretext, as is
now in the almost total disuse of them, even for the gravest offenses.
The arrangement for the appointments for the year (referring to
the so-called " plan " of preaching on successive Sundays) was un
satisfactory to the colored preachers, and they remonstrated in a body.
Mr. Waugh, with his usual tact and kindliness, explained the matter
to them in a way which caused them to leave his presence in good
humor. The occurrence, however, caused him some grave apprehen
sions : " I had some painful reflections while they spoke — reflections
caused by many things which were said in regard to distinctions,
feelings, oppressions, etc., etc. . . . O my country, what scenes of
horror and blood await thee from this portion of thy population ! I
cannot bear to meditate on this subject. Merciful God ! interpose for
our deliverance by opening a way to remove this fearful evil."
The whole air of Baltimore Conference Methodism was now filled
with talk of " reform," " mutual rights, etc." Mr. Waugh began to
feel the matter would not end with talk : " O, that we were more
concerned to have a reform in our individual cases ! then we should
not be so troubled about the government of the Church. There will
be a division in the Methodist Episcopal Church before four years

238 Methodist Bishops.
from this time, or else I cannot foretell." The _ agitation was be
coming animated, but had not yet reached the bitterness which
subsequently marked its progress. Possibly this was due to his wise
management. Whatever may have been his views of ^he controversy
in its first stages, he was never an advocate of extreme measures,
and we find him promptly drawing back from the radical changes to
which some well meaning but misguided men were hurrying the
Church. He was not prepared for such steps -as the abolishment of
the offices of presiding elder and of general superintendency. The
final issue in the City Station, where the opposing parties were con
centrated, did not come during his administration; but his journals
show how earnestly he sought to check violent controversy and
action, not so much, indeed, by controversy as by the exercise of a
firm and -considerate policy.
At the Conference of April 12, 1827, Mr. Waugh was secretary
of the Conference and a member of the Book Committee ; but not
withstanding the labors these positions imposed, he was found keenly
alive for the spirituality of the session. On his motion special
devotional exercises were appointed, and Good Friday was observed
as a day of fasting and prayer. At this session the custom of holding
a missionary anniversary was introduced. The Conference saw fit
to discipline one of- its members for agitation in the reform move
ment. Mr. Waugh expresses himself thus : " I fear that the im
prudence of a leader in our Conference may have carried us too
far in deciding in the case of D. B. Dorsey, one of our preachers.
He, poor man, is far from being right, but this should not cause us
to do wrong. ... It is, indeed, difficult to decide on the proper course
to be pursued in relation to those who are usually denominated
' radicals.' " He was this spring placed in charge of East Baltimore
Station, which embraced what was known as Fells's Point and con
tiguous territory. The principal Churches were Wilk-street, Caroline-
street, and Strawberry Alley.
In making out the plan for preaching this year, Mr. Hanson,
preacher in charge of the City Station, and himself, gave grave
offense to the Reform party by leaving off all the " Mutual Rights "
local preachers. It is due to Mr. Waugh that I should give his own
words as to his position on the general question of reform : " After

Beverly Waugh. 239
having investigated the subject for some years, ... I have doubts
whether (all things considered) we could materially improve our
system. ... I cannot agree to such measures as would unquestionably
change the character of the ministry from itinerant to local or
settled. But the itinerant system cannot be kept in operation, with
out an active and efficient superintendency. In a different state of
things I might seek to have the power of the superintendent some
what abridged and better guarded, but at present I am satisfied to
attempt nothing, for this reason — that we might injure the vitals of
our system in providing for imaginary defects, or at most in furnish
ing a remedy for possible evils which circumstances may never
permit to take place actually." Again, " I find that there is a growing
disposition on the part of many of our friends in the City Station to
have the Mutual Rights men arraigned for breach of discipline. I
fear lest there should be more zeal than prudence in this business. I
have no doubt, however, that a separation must take place at no dis
tant period, and if they do not voluntarily leave us, they will be
repudiated." ..." I have this day got hold of Dr. Bond's pamphlet.*
It is not unworthy of the cause and the man. He has certainly .very
much exceeded my expectations. This little book will give much un
easiness to Messrs. Shinn, Bascom, Snethen, and M'Caine, who are all
occasionally touched with the point and ability of a Fletcher's pen."
At the session of the Baltimore Conference, April, 1828, he was
again elected a delegate to the General Conference, which met the
following May at Pittsburgh, Pa. " Our General Conference com
menced at 9 A. M.," (Thursday, May 1, 1828.) " One hundred and
seventy-seven members were returned elected, but only one hun
dred and twenty-five were present. There was much confusion in
making the arrangements for doing the business. We have quite as
many speakers as we ought to have unless they were more capable."
Mr. Waugh was a member of the Committee on the Book Concern,
and his business qualifications became so apparent in the work of the
committee that his name was suggested for the important position of
assistant agent at New York : " I find that there has been much man
agement in relation to the assistant book agent, in which some who
would have me to believe that they are my friends, appear to have
* " An Appeal to Methodists," etc.

240 Methodist Bishops.
participated. This is somewhat mortifying and vexatious. I have no
solicitude, . . . but it does not cause me to fellowship the means
which have been resorted to for the purpose of keeping me from
it." ... "I was informed to-day that the Northern delegates have
determined to run me for the book agency. This seems to have
thrown the South and West somewhat into confusion. Will they be
defeated at last ? I have taken no agency in any of this arrangement.
I have asked no man to vote for me, either directly or indirectly, and
yet, without having any desire for that office, there is something in
me which takes pleasure in being victorious over a coalition which I
think was formed not in a proper spirit nor by suitable means. What
is this ? Pride or revenge ? If it be either, God have mercy on me !
It may be that I have judged with too little charity."
Mr. Waugh was elected assistant editor and book agent by a
majority of thirty-five votes over his competitor. Immediately on
his return to Baltimore he was busied with preparations for the re
moval of his family to New York, where, by midsummer, he was
again settled at housekeeping. The change from the freedom of the
pastorate to the confinement of the book agency was far from being
agreeable; but he threw himself with all his might into the new
position. Dr. John Emory, the principal agent, was a man of feeble
body, and unavoidably called much away, and thus almost the whole
direction came upon him. He also took charge of the book-keeping,
in order to save the Concern the expense of a clerk. Although con
stantly occupied during the secular week, he preached twice well-nigh
every Sunday in New York or vicinity. So, in the midst of business
his heart was found yearning after God. " I have not, I fear, during
the past week, been as spiritual as I ought to have been ; and yet,
glory to God ! I think I have been enabled to overcome some of my
enemies. 0, shall I ever be perfect in love?" Further along he
writes : " My present situation is by no means favorable to mental or
moral culture, but what of this ? I want a religion so universal and
so uniform that no changes of season or place will make any change in
my mind."
After attending the dedication of a new church at Newark, New
Jersey, in June, 1829, he- returned home sighing for his old liberty :
" I felt considerably recruited with the excursion, and hope that my

Beverly Waugh. 241
going over was not altogether in vain. How much more congenial to
my inclination and habits than to be shut up in a counting-house ! If
I live to see the day of liberty return (1832) I think it will be hailed
with delight, and that I shall not again consent to be imprisoned
another four years in New York."
The day of anticipated freedom came — the General Conference of
1832 — and Mr. Waugh was not released, but unanimously returned as
principal agent in the place of Dr. Emory, who had been elected to
the episcopacy. He was not a delegate to the Conference, and so his
election was all the more creditable. Writing of the proceedings as
late as the following autumn, he says : " I was not altogether pleased
with the electioneering spirit which I witnessed, particularly in re
gard to the bishops who were elected. I fear there was not all the
simplicity of the fathers manifested by many of the preachers." He
was pleased, however, with those who were elevated to " that awfully
responsible " station, especially so with the election of his " esteemed
colleague, Brother Emory."
The business of the Book Concern had so rapidly expanded that
it was necessary to provide it with new and larger accommodations.
" November 24, 1833. We this day received proposals for our Book
Room on Mulberry-street. It will cost about $30,000, which is
$5,000 more than I expected. It is to be a first-rate building,
however." Soon after is the first allusion he makes to "pewed"
churches : "I last Sabbath attempted to preach twice, the latter
time in the Vestry-street church, which has been just opened and
dedicated to God. It is pewed ; at least, they rent the seats. How
this will work time will determine. I fear it is the introduction of
an inauspicious custom. I did not, however, think that I ought to
refuse to preach the gospel even in a church with pews. I en
deavored to speak plainly, and was heard attentively." The humble,
almost mortifying views he entertained at this time of his preaching
appear in all his entries. " I was at Duane-street, where I attempted
to preach ; but ah me ! how helpless ! how insipid ! I wonder that
any should remain in the church during such a performance! I
hastened home to humble myself before God, and implore his forgive
ness ; but even here, how cold and unbelieving was my soul ! Lord
Jesus, pity me, and have mercy on me ! "

242 Methodist Bishops.
The session of the Baltimore Conference was held at Alexandria,
Virginia, and while attending it Mr. Waugh had the happiness of
being the guest of his former employer, Mr. Robbins, and of renewing
the associations from which he " started to itinerate as a Methodist
preacher twenty-five years since." New York, he tells us, was the
scene of violent mobs during the summer, caused by "the injurious
conduct of the abolitionists." In the autumn, while visiting the
Oneida and Genesee Conferences, he was thrown from a carriage near
Rochester, N. Y., but escaped without hurt. The day after the
accident he writes : " I reached the conclusion of the forty-fifth year
of my earthly pilgrimage. Alas, to what little good purpose have I
lived so long on earth ! And yet how many mercies have I received
from my divine benefactor. May I yet live through grace to glorify
my God, and be of some use to my fellow beings ! "
There seemed to Mr. Waugh a general declension of vital religion
in the Churches : " Yet some of our leading men appear to think that
it is owing to our not changing our measures and modes so as to keep
pace with the progress of the social and civil community. Is not this
ominous ? " He was deeply pained this winter by the untimely death
of Bishop Emory : " The most mournful intelligence which I could
have received reached me this day. Bishop Emory is dead ! . . . I
feel that I have lost my best personal friend. Yet he will be a
greater loss to our Zion than to others. I had calculated much on the
intelligence, the integrity, the piety, and zeal of this truly Methodist
bishop, whom I have long and intimately known."
The year 1836 opened atispiciously, and Mr. Waugh little imagined
what an additional calamity was soon to fall upon him and the Church
of which he was so unselfish a servant. " Thursday, February 18, 1836.
How sadly memorable will this day be in the annals of Methodism !
This day the noble establishment at 200 Mulberry-street was con
sumed by fire. . . . The loss was nearly total, and amounted to
upward of $200,000. Never were the hopes of mortal more disap
pointed than mine on this mournful occasion. I had nearly reached
the end of my second term, and was about preparing my report to the
General Conference, and had every prospect of returning the charge
which has so heavily pressed on me for nearly eight years free of'
debt, with vastly increased capital and avails — in fact, in the most

Beverly Waugh. 243
healthy and vigorous state which had ever marked its onward course —
when, suddenly and violently, the cup was dashed from my lips."
Mr. Waugh did not suffer in the estimation of the Church because
of this great calamity. The following spring, although he was not a
member of the General Conference, which met at Cincinnati, Ohio,
May 1, 1836, he was by that body elevated to the general superin
tendency of the Church. No higher proof could have been given of
the confidence of those who had the best opportunities of acquainting
themselves with his personal and official fidelity. In accepting the
high office he made the following modest and dignified address. : —
" Fathers and Brethren : Deep and strong emotions agitate my
bosom on this occasion. . . . Deeply conscious of my utter inadequacy
to the duties of the station which you have assigned me, I have
anxiously inquired in my own mind whether it was not my privilege,
if not my duty, to decline the responsibility of so great a charge. Up
to the very last moment I have trembled and have been dismayed alike
in view of the affirmative and negative of the question which I have
been called to decide. May I be permitted, fathers and brethren, to
say, .that I humbly trust, if no higher motives have governed in the
conclusion at which I have arrived, a fear of sinning against God
and offending against you, rather than a desire for distinction, . . .
has been greatly influential ? . . . I need not remind you . . . how
much I shall need your forbearance and indulgence. . . . Ask for me
wisdom, heavenly and divine wisdom; ask for me unction of the
Holy Spirit ; ask for my feebleness the seal of divine approbation.
Of myself I can promise nothing. Ah! my fellow-laborers, how
greatly does the thought oppress me that my subsequent course of
conduct is to determine the wisdom or folly of the General Confer
ence in selecting one to assist in the oversight of its vast interests,
who at best is so unworthy of the trust. But I throw myself on your
indulgence, and depart to my labor in confident reliance on Him who
saith, ' Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' "
In these plain, heartfelt words addressed to the General Confer
ence is seen the same sincerity, quiet dignity, and firm adherence to
duty which had distinguished him since his first entrance upon the
sacred ministry. The Rev. Richard W. Petherbridge, who was pres
ent at his ordination to the episcopacy, wrote after his death : " I shall
15

244 Methodist Bishops.
never forget when he stood at the altar to be ordained to the highest
office in our Church, what agitation seized him, and how every muscle
of his body shook, until copious tears came to his relief. He felt the
weight of the responsibilities he was about to assume, and he was a
man of exquisite sensibilities."
Bishop Waugh had ¦ given the best proof of his fitness for the
episcopacy by the efficiency with whicli he had discharged the duties
of every trust hitherto committed to him. And although he must
have felt gratified with the confidence which his brethren thus placed
in him, yet those who knew him intimately could never question the
genuineness of the modesty which led him to feel surprised at his
election, and hesitation in accepting the office. "Who could have
thought it ? " he writes in his journal. " It was without any agency
of mine, of course. But, much as I feel my utter inadequacy to the
important work, I could not take myself out of the hands of my
brethren. ... I beheld terror and dismay arrayed with acceptance,
and I saw them associated with a refusal to accept."
Other than this reference to his election and consecration to the
general superintendency — as he always liked to call the episcopacy —
Mr. Waugh makes but little allusion in his journal to the business of
the General Conference. The location of the Book Room was con
tinued in New York. " Abolitionism " was already present as an
agitating element. After a decisive vote condemning it, he adds:
" Can it be hoped that this question has been put to rest ? I fear that
there is no ground on which to predicate such an expectation." He
thus showed how correctly he read the signs of the times.
The Troy Annual Conference was the first over which Bishop
Waugh presided. The session was held at Pawlet, Vt., beginning
June 22, 1836. " This to me is a novel work, and how strangely do I
find myself called to its performance ! . . . Without divine aid I must
fail." Presiding elders, he thinks, " should always be wise, good, and
tried men, since" they must assist "in the important, difficult, and
awfully responsible work of stationing the preachers." "But how
much did I at once perceive the necessity of knowing the preachers
and the people, in order to a judicious distribution of laborers."
In his journal at this Conference, as always, there breathes a tender
and painful solicitude touching " making the appointments." To

Beverly Waugh. 245
balance the claims of men and of the Churches, and to adjust them
wisely and harmoniously, was his deepest concern. Elevation to office
did not separate him from the fellowship of his former comrades, nor
cause him to forget that he himself was once liable to suffer from
being misunderstood and misplaced; hence he was always ready to
listen kindly and patiently to the representations of both preachers
and people.
At the close of the session, thankful to God for the harmony
which had prevailed, and for the general satisfaction which the
preachers showed with their appointments, he hastened to New York,
and there found the New York Conference, Bishop Hedding pre
siding, still in session. He saw in council " the difficulty of station
ing the New York Conference. . I almost trembled when I thought
that this will be my work another year."
After removing his family back to Baltimore, Maryland, and
getting settled once again, he remarks, " I must now recommence my
studies, after an interval of about eight years. I shall doubtless find
it more difficult now than ever ; but it will not do to be intimidated
by difficulties. M.a,j the study of my own heart and the word of God
come in for a good share of my time and attention ! " He promptly
gave himself to all the local enterprises of Baltimore and vicinity,
lending a guiding and helping hand to every good work. The sum
mer was mostly spent in assisting at various camp-meetings. As the
autumn approached he was obliged to prepare for his first long
episcopal visitation. " August 22, 1836. After a nearly sleepless
night I arose at four o'clock to prepare for my northern route. My
poor Mrs. Waugh was greatly affected, but said nothing. I felt more
than I expected, but I must commit all to God. At six o'clock I
left the wharf, and expect not to return for nearly three months. It
was well Bishop Asbury was not a married man. How much do I
need more faith, love, and zeal ! "
On his northern journey he touched for a short time at the resi
dence of the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, near Rhinebeck-on-the-Hudson,
then, as since, so famous for its graceful hospitality. At Utica, New
York, he was well pleased with the evidences of growing civilization
which he saw among the Oneida Indians. September 1 he held the
first session of the Black River Conference, at Watertown, and was

246 Methodist Bishops.
especially impressed with the missionary meeting which took place on
the Sabbath evening of the session : " The effect was general and
deep. The collection, including the subscriptions, fell only a little
short of $400 ! A result without a parallel in the country."
His next point was Binghamton, the seat of the Oneida Confer
ence. Taking Cazenovia in his way, he saw the Conference Seminary
located there. Here, for the first time in his life, he saw, at a wedding
of one of the professors, water substituted for wine, and "hopes it
may not be the last time." The journey was performed in a private
carriage : " We stopped at a tavern to dine. I do not know what the
horses got, but the poor men had to dine on salt — very salt — codfish
and potatoes. Miserable taverns are ye all in this region ! "
At the Conference he says: "How necessary are these annual
meetings ! If they were omitted for a year much would be lost and
more endangered. ... I have had to set my face like flint against
recognizing relations which are unknown to the Discipline. I must
be firm. O that I may be modest and mild ! I find considerable
difficulty in making out the appointments in this Conference, chiefly
because of the located state of the preachers' families. If this
encroachment cannot be resisted and checked it will destroy the
itinerancy. I shall endeavor to discountenance it." His next Con
ference was the Genesee, at Canandaigua. He made a brief call
on the Rev. Mr. Hibbard, at Geneva, and in company with Mr. Hib-
bard he came to Canandaigua, " a most beautiful village, where we
have a good church, but only a few members." At this Conference
he met the same difficulty in stationing the preachers as at the
Oneida : " The presiding elders appear to be mainly concerned for
the accommodation of the preachers ; so that I had to say more than
once, The people, the people ! Who will care for the people ? If this
evil cannot be remedied, in twenty years itinerancy will little more than
exist by name in the Genesee Conference." After resting a day
or two on the margin of the lovely lake on which the village is
situated, he took up his journey homeward; and at home, on the
29th of October, he writes : " O that my return to my family for
a season may be the means of good to them as well as of enjoyment
to me ! "
He was immediately absorbed with local and general church work.

Beverly Waugh. 247
" November 21. At night I attended the meeting at Light-street for
the relief of the Methodist Book Concern. It was not numerously
attended. . . . The subscription was only a little upward of $2,000.
Alas ! poor Baltimore. How art thou fallen from thy former mag
nanimity ! " Again he was at Light-street, at the annual collection
for the poor: "There were not more than two hundred persons
present, and I fear there was but little contributed. I think I shall
not again shortly undertake the difficult task of drawing forth money
from a Baltimore audience." The bishop, however, never had occa
sion to complain of the meagerness of the Baltimore dinners : " I
dined in company with several of the preachers, perhaps all of them,
at Brother Newman's. The company was, of course, agreeable, but
was the time profitably spent? I fear not. What can be done to
make these social interviews more religious ? By making them more
intellectual and more spiritual they would become more profitable.
But who will introduce such a measure ? The dinner was too profuse
for Christians."
Mr. Waugh, having become a bishop after the order of Asbury,
could not rest at home, and accordingly in the interval of his Confer
ences he was found during this winter making a tour among the
Churches of the Maryland and Delaware peninsula. The so-called
Reform movement, which resulted in the organization of the Methodist
Protestant Church, had sorely rent the old Church in this favored field
of its earlier triumphs. Amid these onerous labors he took the most
discouraging view of his efforts : " Alas ! alas ! how much cause there
is for me to be cast down. ... I consider my services since I left
home to have been of too much worthlessness to justify either the
labor of performing or the pain of attending on them. ... 0 that I
may also be humbled ! " A little secret connected with his election to
the episcopacy came to his eyes about this time, which, if known at the
time of his election, might have led him to decline the office : "If I
had heard of the same before my ordination, I. had in all probability
never known the perplexities and responsibilities with which the
remnant of my days must be more or less familiar, unless, indeed, I
resign my present relation to the Church. . . . May I never feel
toward any man any thing but love, even when I have been misrepre
sented, not to say slandered ! "

248 Methodist Bishops.
After his return from the eastern shore of Maryland he made a
short visit to Washington, D. 0. There he preached, heard Mr. Clay,
of Kentucky, in his great speech on the Bank Deposits, visited his
brother Townshend, and met in social intercourse distinguished per
sons. " There are several members of our Church in Congress, with,
I fear, very little benefit either to themselves or us." He was now
anticipating quiet with his family for the rest of the winter, when he
was immediately obliged, on account of Bishop Andrew's illness, to
attend the session of the Virginia Conference, at Petersburgh, Va.
A very successful missionary meeting, at which $1,500 were contrib
uted, was the chief feature of this session. A record appears in
his journal, February 23d, which probably shows the origin of what are
now known as the bishops' semi-annual meetings : " I this day was
employed in writing to my colleagues, with a view to uniform admin
istration of the Discipline. How desirable and how expedient an
annual meeting of the superintendents would be, if it were practi
cable ! " The facilities of travel have rendered such a meeting prac
ticable; and now the semi-annual meetings of the board of bishops
have become distinctive events of our ecclesiastical year.
In the spring of 1837 Bishop Waugh presided over the Baltimore
Conference instead of Bishop Andrew, who had been detained, and
immediately at its close hastened to the Philadelphia Conference. He left
a sick wife and sick children at home, and was much depressed in body
and mind : " But what were all these to an itinerant bishop ! I reached
Philadelphia cold and hungry, for I could not think of .paying seventy-
five cents for dinner on the boat." Of the Conference he says, " The
business progresses very well. . . . Committees ! Committees ! Was
there ever any thing like the number and size of the Philadelphia
committees ? " His next Conference was the New Jersey, at Newark.
Thence he went to the New York, at Brooklyn. Here he found some
difficulty in moderating the feelings between the abolition and anti-
abolition parties, but more in making the appointments. " 0, these
committees ! Will they not break up the itinerant ministry ? I fear."
His next presidency was that of the New England Conference, at
Nantucket, Mass. Because of the intense antislavery feeling prevail
ing in that body, he looked forward to its session with unusual solicitude.
On reaching the seat of the Conference (June 6th) he was immediately

Beverly Waugh. 249
waited upon by a committee of the antislavery society of the Confer
ence, and asked if he would allow memorials to be presented on the sub
ject of slavery I He requested time for consideration, and called together
some of the older and more conservative preachers for consultation. At
his suggestion a deputation conferred with the antislavery brethren, and
urged their consent to attend to the business embraced in the memori
als in their capacity as an antislavery society, and not to bring it into
the Conference. They declined, and in a very respectful paper
addressed to the bishop, insisted upon their right to have the Confer
ence in its regular sessions act upon the memorials. The bishop, in an
equally respectful and well guarded communication, replied that he
should be obliged, on disciplinary and other grounds, to deny the right
claimed. Notwithstanding this assurance the antislavery men perse
vered, and brought the matter to an issue in open session by reading
several memorials, and moving their reference to a special committee.
The bishop ruled the motion out of order, and gave his reasons quite
at length. In closing his address he said, " And now, brethren and
fellow-laborers, allow me most affectionately to address you for a
moment or two. I repeat, that I very much regret the necessity which
has urged me to this decision ; but I beg you to believe that in the best
light which I have been able to obtain, it became my imperious duty
to take this ground. Let not this produce any unpleasant personal
feeling toward each other. I not only can, but I do, believe that you
are most conscientious in the course you have adopted. Let us be
lovers one of another, and still prosecute our calling and work." . . .
At the conclusion of these remarks the Conference proceeded quietly
to the regular business, and before the close of the session, on motion
of " two leading abolitionist brethren," he was thanked for his " digni
fied, able, and impartial presidency," and invited " to visit them when it
might be practicable." Bishop AVaugh was favored with the compan
ionship and counsel of Bishop Hedding at this Conference. They left
Nantucket together, and visited Father Taylor, of the Mariners' Church,
Boston. Thence he went eastward to hold the Maine Conference at Hallo-
well, Me. The Sabbath intervening was spent at Portland. " This is
a handsome place. I preached ... as they call it here, all day, in
the Methodist church. . . . Here they have an organ to assist their

250 Methodist Bishops.
devotions. It is the first Methodist church in the United States in
which an organ is placed. May it be the last ! If, indeed, instrumental
music must obtain, I would prefer the organ to any other instrument ;
but I think the fruit of the lips and the feeling of the heart may very
well answer to this part of the worship of God." He was pleased with
the Maine Conference : " If the spirit of abolitionism does not injure
it, this Conference will soon be one among our best Conferences."
After the adjournment of the Conference he immediately returned to
Baltimore, and the ensuing summer and autumn he was absorbed in
visiting various camp-meetings and Churches.
Amid all these official cares it is well to take a peep into the bishop's
inward fife : " This day (Sept. 29th) I observed as a day of solemn fast
ing and prayer. It was to me a day of great humiliation, and I trust
of lasting profit. I was enabled to mourn and lament before a just
God, and to pray and plead with a merciful Saviour. I humbly trust
that this will be to me the beginning of a new era in my Christian
experience. 0 that my soul may be fully sanctified ! and may it be
hereafter my single aim to please God ! "
Bishop Waugh made another tour to the " Peninsula," during the
winter of 1837, landing at Cambridge, Md., and going as far south as
the lowest village of Northampton, Va., and visited parts where they
had never before seen a Methodist bishop. He spent, in all, thirty-
three days, and preached on an average once a day. He was also active
on the western shore of Maryland, and in the District of Columbia.
The winter over, we find him assisting Bishop Morris at the Balti
more, and Bishop Hedding at the Philadelphia Conferences. In con
nection with the session of the latter Conference an opinion occurs in
his journal which was afterward embodied in the legislation of the
Church, but which after a few years' trial was abandoned : " I hope
that the next General Conference will fix a limit beyond which we may
not continue a preacher in the same city, no matter how many charges
it may contain, otherwise it may come to pass that the same man may
be stationed in one city for life, and what sort of an itinerancy would
this be ? This is a point which should be well looked to."
In May, 1838, the first mention is made of the meeting of the
bishops. " Thursday, 24th, the superintendents met an hour this
morning before the Conference (New York) opened. ... At my

Beverly Waugh. 251
instance Brother Fisk * was invited to meet with us, which he did, but
he did not express definitely his determination in regard to his accept
ance of the office to which he was elected at the last General Confer
ence. Brother Andrew and myself expressed to him, in the presence
of Bishops Soule and Morris, our desire that he would come out, if
his health admitted of it. Bishop Hedding had then left for Confer
ence. I do not know whether Brother Fisk is waiting to be called out
by the unanimous voice of all the superintendents, or for some other
contingency. All the bishops except Bishop Roberts were present at
this first meeting, and it was resolved to hold another, April, 1839, in
Philadelphia." July 11, 1838, the bishop took leave of his family for a tour of the
western Conferences. At Cadiz, O., he met the Pittsburgh. Tarrying
at Wheeling over Sabbath en route for this Conference, he preached in
the morning, and heard the Rev. Professor Simpson (now Bishop) at
night. His estimate of the sermon was not very high : " It was only a
tolerable performance." When Maurice, of Nassau, was reproached by
the old generals and advisers of his father, William, that he was only a
sapling, he quickly retorted, " But the sapling shall grow into a tree."
The session of the Pittsburgh Conference closed, Bishop Waugh passed
rapidly through eastern Ohio, touching at Canton, Akron, and Hudson,
and noticing every-where " the blighting effect of abolitionism," and
came to Painesville, where he met the Erie Conference. From Paines-
ville he went to Cleveland : " There has been a large business done here,
and in time it will be a large city. There are about seven or eight
thousand inhabitants, and some good-looking houses. The Methodist
Society here is small and without much influence, and withal, it is in
a divided state." His route was still westward to Tiffin, where he
presided over the Michigan Conference. At Tiffin he was made at
home with old friends from Maryland who had settled there. Here he
heard a sermon at night from another of the future strong men of
Methodism : " One of unique character, full of fancy and very senti
mental, by Dr. Thomson. How he would tickle the ears of a New York
or Baltimore congregation ! He is a preacher of great originality."
The Ohio Conference, at Columbus, was his next point. He
preached on Sunday morning, September 30, and ordained twenty
?The Rev. Wilbur Fisk, D.D.

252 Methodist Bishops.
deacons: "Brother Trimble preached at night. There were many
mourners at the altar. ... I was pleased with the zeal of the
preachers. The anniversary of the missionary meeting was good.
. . . Brother Hamline made a splendid address on the occasion."
On October 6th he reached Cincinnati, and found "a cordial wel
come" with his "old friend Reeves." On the 11th he set out, in
company with Bishop Morris and two others, in a private carriage
"kindly loaned by Brother Neff," for Danville, Ky., where he met
the Kentucky Conference. He found this Conference composed of
about one hundred effective preachers, several of whom he " estimated
as among the best of our preachers in any of the Conferences." He
was obliged to wrestle a little with slavery : " I found great apathy
on the subject of slavery, and had to watch closely the movement of
the Conference on these questions. I gave them to understand that
I could not ordain any slave-holder in Kentucky, because the laws of
the State admit of emancipation, and also permit the emancipated
person to enjoy freedom under certain limitations. One of the trav
eling and one of the local preachers were required to execute a bill
of emancipation before I would agree to ordain them, although the
Conference had not required this in order to their election. They
believed me when I said, I was in sentiment and in habit antislavery,
and that I was not less antiabolitionist."
From the Kentucky Conference he hastened home as fast as the
stage-coaches would take him. The following spring he was greatly
troubled and perplexed, so much so that under date of April 7,
1839, while attending the Philadelphia Conference, he writes :
"Who is sufficient for the duties, privations, and labors of a gen
eral superintendency of the Methodist Episcopal Church? Certainly
not I. For several months past I have been seriously exercised on
the subject of -resigning my office at the General Conference. May
the Lord direct and overrule me in this and in every other step!"
During the spring months he attended the bishops' meeting, at
Philadelphia; assisted in organizing plans in Baltimore for the
observance of the centenary of Methodism ; and presided over the
New Jersey, New York, New England, and Maine Conferences.
Friday, October 25th, was his fiftieth birthday, and also the day
6et apart for the general celebration of the "Centenary." He had

Beverly Waugh. 253
been invited to preach the Centenary Sermon, at Light-street, but,
partly from the expectation that he might be called away to attend
the Holston Conference, and partly from a "withering apprehen
sion " that he might fail to measure up to the occasion, he declined :
"I was criminally fearful of criticism from both friends and foes."
... "I have had much conflict with Satan and my own heart for
some weeks past, and I pray that it may end in a great victory."
The bishop was much cheered the ensuing winter by the prevalence
of a general revival of religion in Baltimore. He participated very
actively in the work at Light-street, in which the Rev. Francis
Hodgson, then of the New York Conference, was mainly instru
mental : " The conversions in the general have not been powerful,
yet, having conversed with many, I have no reason to doubt their
genuineness, except that they seem not to have the witness of the
Spirit. In this respect it differs from any great revival I have ever
witnessed among us."
The General Conference convened in Baltimore on the 1st of
May, 1840. The Bishop says, in reference to it : "I had feared
much for the results of this Conference, but I think it closed with
more harmony of views and feelings than the last Conference, four
years since, did. There were five new Conferences formed, but no
additional superintendent. This will make hard work for the pres
ent superintendents, especially for the three younger ones. We
have planned our work and divided it among ourselves. ... I have
a tour of perhaps from six to seven thousand miles to make : from
this to the north of Illinois, thence south through the State to Mis
souri and Arkansas, and finally to Texas ; for we are to have an
Annual Conference in Texas. It will take me from my family
about seven months ! hard on me, harder on them ! but what of
these if Methodism is to be spread over these lands ? " The General
Conference had come; the disheartened bishop not only did not re
sign, but his faltering courage seems to have been renewed. He was
charmed at this Conference with the presence of the Rev. Robert
Newton, fraternal delegate from the English Wesleyans, and heartily
approved the appointment of Bishop Soule, with the Rev. T. B.
Sargent for traveling companion, as fraternal delegate from the
Methodist Episcopal Church to the Wesleyan Conference of England.

254 Methodist Bishops.
The time for leaving on his long tour had come : "August 4th,
after weeping before God with such feelings as could only be intel
ligible to that Being who sees not as man seeth," he parted with his
family and started for the north-west, going by way of Philadelphia
and New York. He gratified himself with a look at Niagara Falls ;
" too deeply impressed with the sublimity of the scene to attempt
a description." He passed a Sunday at Detroit, Mich., and thence
went on to Marshall, where he presided over the Michigan Confer
ence. From Marshall he rode across the State of Michigan, and on
the lake he "took a miserable boat, without a redeeming quality,"
by which he came to Chicago. Here, on Sunday, August 23d, he
preached in the morning in the Methodist, and in the evening in
the Presbyterian Church : " The Methodist meeting-house here is
small, but there was apparently an intelligent audience present. . . .
Monday, August 24th, we left Chicago at day-break. This place
did not meet my expectations altogether. It had not the business
air which I expected. . . . Nevertheless, it is a growing place, and
will in time be a city of some note." He proceeded over the prai
ries — "not a tree or shrub was to be seen. . . . Men, women, and
children looking sickly, poorly fed and clothed, and worse lodged
in miserable cabins, not fit to house cattle in " — until he reached
" Squire Hitt's," near Mount Morris. At a camp-meeting in a grove
about a mile away he organized the Rock River Conference Au
gust 26th : " The Conference met in a log-pen three hundred yards
from the encampment. ... It was about twelve feet by eighteen, built
somewhat in the form of a shed. The lower side was five logs high,
the upper, about seven. The logs were rough and crooked, and,
where the openings were from eight to ten inches between the logs,
they were partially closed by putting in a smaller log or split timber.
There was a long opening for the entrance, but no door to close it
after we had entered. Several portions of an old roof were laid over
the top, which might nearly have been called a flat roof, and in
this pen, open on all sides, and at the top, too, as we soon found
by the entering rain, we commenced and progressed with the busi
ness of the Conference. . . . This, in time, will be an interesting
Conference. The spirit of the brethren is patient and kind. The
preachers are very poorly supported on their circuits, but I never

Beverly Waugh. 255
heard a single complaint." Forty years only have elapsed, and Chi
cago has 500,000 population, and the Rock River Conference hun
dreds of preachers and thousands of members, and they worship in
substantial edifices, and their sons and daughters have access to a
noble university! Such has been the growth of Methodism. Such
the foundations which were laid by our early bishops.
Many are the instructive and even naive remarks, dropped by
the bishop on his tour through Illinois. Of one place where he
stopped this is a sample : " They could not be prevailed upon to
take any thing, saying they were glad we had called on them.
What a combination of Christian kindness and dirtiness was here ! "
Here is another : " Here I found a good mattress to lie on in a neat
bed-chamber. What a luxury to one in my circumstances ! "
During September and October Bishop Waugh presided over the
Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas Conferences, and preached before the
Legislature and State officers of the last-named State. Speaking of
the slaves on his way down to New Orleans, he says : " But disguise
it as we may, slavery is a bitter pill and a great evil. But will not
ultimate great good result by the overrulings of a wise and beneficent
Providence ? "
From New Orleans he crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston,
Texas. Here he was met by the Rev. T. O. Summers, formerly of
the Baltimore Conference, who was stationed at Galveston, and who
became his traveling companion while he was in Texas. December
19th, he writes : " We had about forty miles to Austin. It came
on to rain about the time we started, but we continued to travel
on through rain, mud, and wet. Covered with mud, and hungry
and fatigued, we came to Austin about dark, and put up at the prin
cipal boarding house in the place. . . . Here we were in the midst of
the assembled wisdom and valor of 'the Republic with one star.'
Senators, judges, lawyers, majors, colonels, generals, together with
ministers plenipotentiary, and even a nuncio from his holiness the
Pope, formed the circle into which we had now entered." He was
invited to open the House of Representatives of the national Congress
with prayer, and was treated with much courtesy. At Rutersville he
met the preachers who were engaged in the Texas work. " Decem
ber 25th. This day we organized the Texas Conference. Our begin-

256 Methodist Bishops.
ning was small indeed — there being only nine members ; yet shall this
Conference continue and increase until this land shall abound with
the fruits of Methodism." He left Texas very hopeful of its political
and religious future. The Methodist Episcopal Church already
included nearly two thousand members, and was the leading de
nomination. He arrived in Baltimore, January 7, 1841. "How
thankful," he writes, " I am to get back safely, . . . and to find all
my family alive and well. O for gratitude deep, warm, and abiding ! "
The remainder of the winter, and the spring and summer of 1841
passed, and no record of presiding at Conferences occurs. October
19th he attended the Tennessee Conference, at Clarksville, Tennessee.
Then followed the Memphis Conference, at Memphis, and the Mis
sissippi, at New Orleans. At the last he says : " I gave some heavy
blows to cotton-growing and land-speculating preachers. I do not
think it was relished by some who heard it. In the evening there
were a number of converts — a new thing in New Orleans." Thence
he turned eastward, and held the Alabama Conference, at Mobile ; the
Georgia Conference, at Milledgeville, Ga. ; and .the South Carolina
Conference, at Charlotte, N. C. After this Conference, in company
with Rev. E. S. Janes, Financial Agent of the American Bible Society,
he traveled north. By stage or wagon, over rough and muddy roads,
the two pursued their way — the vehicle sometimes needing an extra
team to drag it out of the mud, and once upset — until they reached
Raleigh, N. C. February 6, 1842, he was once more at home.
In the spring of 1842 Bishop Waugh was present at the Baltimore
Conference, over which Bishop Soule presided. He then held all Bishop
Soule's Conferences, in addition to his own, while Bishop Soule was
absent in Europe. This led him to preside over the Philadelphia,
New Jersey, Providence, New York, New England, and Maine Con
ferences in rapid succession. The camp-meeting season over, and with
but two days to get ready, he was again off for an autumn tour of
three months, during which he held the Kentucky, Holston, North
Carolina, and Virginia Conferences, traveling most of the time by
carriage roads. Among the items of interest on this tour is his
account of meeting a grandniece of the celebrated Patrick Henry,
and seeing the place,, near Raleigh, N. C, where Mr. Asbury and Dr.
Coke held a Conference soon after the organization of the Methodist

Beverly Waugh. 257
Episcopal Church. The ensuing winter was spent at home, but work
ing all the while. June 4, 1843, he was, for the second time, at the
Troy Conference, which he notes "has more than doubled since 1836."
He tarried a Sunday in Troy after the adjournment of Conference,
and preached at one of the principal churches. He afterward held
the New Hampshire, Black River, Oneida, and Genesee Conferences,
and resting a few days at Saratoga Springs, returned to Baltimore.
October 24th, his fifty-fifth birthday, he exclaims : " Startling
fact ! I am verging on toward old age. And are my palmiest days
numbered ? 0 to what little purpose have I lived ! ... On my part
I see nothing of which there is not cause to blush before God on
account of what I am and what I do. And yet, 0 the goodness of
God ! I see on his part nothing but mercy and grace." His self-
depreciatory views are further seen in a later entry: "January 28,
1844, I went to church with much prayer and some hope that I
should be assisted and blessed. But it was otherwise. Left to my
self, what could my weakness do ? Nothing but exhibit itself. For
myself it is of but small concern, but the cause of Methodism — the
cause of religion — what ought not to be felt on their account ! Still
will I hope for better times. It is, indeed, late in the day for much
promise, but when will not an effort well meant and honestly put
forth receive the blessing of God ? When I have less reliance oh self
I may have more on God, and his blessing will give success." Only
one more record appears on the bishop's journal before the session of
the noted General Conference of 1844, and after that, none until
November 11th. He then writes : " More than eight months have
elapsed since an entry was made in the journal. Not because they
have passed away without incident. No — they have been painfully
prolific of events which will constitute an unwelcome era in the
history of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The unpleasantness of
these occurrences has prevented a minute record of them ; and if they
could become oblivious by this failure to note them, there would now
appear no record in this place to let it be known hereafter that they
ever transpired in our history." He proceeds briefly to recite the
action of the General Conference at New York in the cases of the
Rev. Francis A. Harding and of Bishop Andrew, and then adds : —
" After the final adjournment of the General Conference, on the

258 Methodist Bishops.
next day, Bishops Soule, Hedding, Morris, Hamline, Janes, and my
self, met to arrange the plan of episcopal visitation for the ensuing
four years. Bishop Andrew, although aware of such an arrangement
in conformity with established usage, had left for Georgia without
expressing his wish or purpose in regard to the plan. When the ques
tion arose in regard to the partition of the work, whether we should
include him in the division of the oversight, Bishops Hedding,
Morris, and myself thought, as the General Conference had clearly
intended to throw the whole responsibility of acting in his official
character on Bishop Andrew alone, and as he was not present to speak
for himself and had not signified his desire or intention in relation
thereto, we could not see our way clear to put his name in our plan,
or to apportion any part of the work to him. In this opinion, I think,
Bishop Hamline also concurred ; but as well as I recollect, Bishop
Janes did not express an opinion, for as he was avowed by the
Southern delegates to be of their nomination, I was desirous that he
should not express himself on any question which might involve him
with the South. Bishop Soule was favorable to giving Bishop
Andrew a portion of the oversight. . . . We proceeded to arrange
our plan without his name. It was, however, agreed by us all, that
should Bishop Andrew make a written demand for his portion of the
general oversight he should have it, and accordingly a second plan
was made out, having his name appended to a due proportion of all
the Conferences, which was left in the hands (I think) of Bishop
Soule, to be published as superseding our first plan whenever the
written application of Bishop Andrew should be received, which
letter was to be published in connection with the plan, so as to show
that we had not assumed any part of the responsibility which we
believed the General Conference had devolved on Bishop Andrew."
As indicative of Bishop Waugh's own feelings he says, " It is need
less to record, even if I could, the great afflictions which I have felt
in this unfortunate case. It has pressed almost without alleviation on
my heart day and night. . . . What will be the final issue, what
mortal can tell ? Alas ! alas ! that I have lived to see these things,
without ability or influence to remedy the fearful evils which rage and
threaten to drive asunder those whose union has been to a great de
gree their strength. . . . Perhaps a sifting was needed more than we

Beverly Waugh. 259
had been wont to suppose, and the time and the circumstances have
come which will try men's hearts and develop them to the Church
and the world." No further reference is made to this embarrassing
topic until January 2, 1853. " Nearly eight years have elapsed since
I made my last entry. . . . The principal cause is to be found in the
division of the Methodist Episcopal Church by the secession of the
Southern and South-western Conferences, and their formation into
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This so much afflicted and
distressed me that I could not bring myself to the task of recording it.
I mourned it then — I mourn it now. I am fully persuaded it was
wrong and productive of great evil. It may be overruled, and good
may be educed from it by Him ' who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will.' . . . Although the prospects before us are
not without some haze, either in Church or State, yet, praise be given
to God, in both they are more promising than in 1845, when I made
my last entry." Since the death of Bishop Hedding, April 9, 1852,
Bishop Waugh had been senior bishop of the Church ; and owing to
Bishop Hedding's protracted sickness, and the sickness and resignation
of Bishop Hamline, he and Bishops Morris and Janes had to perform
herculean labors until, in 1852, they were re-enforced by the election
of Bishops Scott, Simpson, and Ames.
The entries in his journal now grow less and less frequent.
August 5, 1856, he writes, with hand very plain and light, but not
so firm and precise as heretofore : "I did not fail, however, to attend
all my Conferences ; nor have I failed to attend every Conference as
signed to me for the last twenty years, besides a number of those of my
colleagues. I make this record with gratitude to my heavenly Father
for his preserving care. If I had attended to every other duty with
as much fidelity as has marked my attendance of my Conferences, how
much better I should have been and how much better I should have
done ! So that I feel that while I have cause of great gratitude to
God for all his benefits to me, I have cause to pray, God be merciful
to me, an unfaithful and unprofitable servant ! "
Here the journal ends ; and all too soon the life of which it was
the faithful, though inadequate transcript, was to end. A corre
spondent of the " North-western Christian Advocate," writing from
the seat of the Detroit Conference, September 19, 1857, alludes to an
16

260 Methodist Bishops.
impressive address delivered by the bishop at the opening of the
session, in which, after an appeal for earnest preaching, he made some
personal references, and closed with the hope that he might " lay down
his life with his charge, and cease at once to work and live." This
was about the last, if not the very last, Conference over which he
presided, and the wish there expressed was destined to be literally
fulfilled. He returned to Baltimore, and spent the time, as was his custom
when at home, in agreeable social intercourse, and in frequent visits to
the Churches. He could rarely resist an appeal from any source for
help, and accordingly, in the dead of winter, although at the time very
feeble in body, he yielded to a request from Carlisle, Pennsylvania,
where a great revival was in progress, to visit that borough. He
reached the town on the 23d of January and remained several days,
preaching every day, besides entering with zeal into all the meetings.
On the last evening the pastor, the Rev. R. D. Chambers, requested
him to address the young converts, and at an early hour about one
hundred persons came forward, and he spoke to them upon Christian
duty. Among other things he said, " as he stood before them with
whitened locks and trembling limbs, he felt happy in looking forward
to the period (which he was confident was not far off) when the great
Shepherd of souls would bestow upon him the reward provided in the
gospel of the grace of God. He could testify to the fact that religion
would comfort and sustain the possessor in the midst of the trials and
sufferings of life." It was proposed to relieve him from further
services that evening ; but on taking his seat he remarked, " I greatly '
prefer preaching," and again he arose and preached on Acts xvi, 30 :
" Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? " " The delivery of the dis
course," says Mr. Chambers, "the last one which fell from his lips,
occupied just one hour. It was remarkable to witness the power with
which he preached. His soul seemed to be under an unusual unction
from on high. God was evidently crowning with triumph the close
of a long and useful life. . . . From the pulpit he proceeded to the
altar, entreating sinners to seek salvation. Seeing his physical pros
tration, ... I proposed to accompany him to his lodgings. He re
plied that he felt very much fatigued, but he preferred staying among
those who were seeking salvation until the services closed. He mani-

Beverly Waugh. 261
fested deep interest in the welfare of those who were at the altar,
sometimes kneeling at their side and giving a word of instruction."
Immediately on his return to Baltimore he was seized with the
illness of which he had had premonitory symptoms at Carlisle. The
disease assumed the form of erysipelas. After the lapse of a week he
was thought to be better, and hopes were entertained of his ultimate
recovery. His intimate friends were freely admitted to his room, one
of whom, the Rev. Isaac P. Cook, writes me, " I saw him in his last
illness, happy in God, death not expected. His face was discolored to
arrest erysipelas. Others mourned ; I made him smile by saying, ' You
must get well. You do not look like my pretty bishop. ' " This was
Sunday, February 7th. The next morning he was so improved as to
assist in the family devotions, Mrs. Waugh reading the Scriptures, while
he, lying in bed, offered the prayer. During the day he was able to
walk about the room. At night he retired at the usual hour. Soon after
a member of the family heard his well-known voice in prayer. " She
listened, and heard him pleading, in low and earnest tones, first, for the
Church of Jesus Christ ; then for the missionary cause, beseeching God
to raise up men and women for this great work, and to put it into the
hearts of the Churches and congregations to give the cause their
liberal support ; he then, in a tone and manner that cannot be ex
pressed, commended his wife and family to God's fatherly protection
and heavenly goodness ; then his voice became lower and more quiet
as he commended himself tq his heavenly 'Father ; and thus ceasing
he lay quietly as in a sleep." About ten o'clock he was heard to utter
a groan, as though in sharp pain. His wife, supposing that he was
seized with a paroxysm of the stomach and heart, tried to turn him.
He said to her, " Never mind, my dear." These were the last words
he spoke. The family physician was sent for, and he hastened to his
bedside, but the venerable patient was already dead.
Bishop Waugh passed thus peacefully to the heavenly rest at one
o'clock on the morning of February 9, 1858, in the sixty-eighth year
of his age. He was for fifty-four years a member, for forty-seven years
a minister, and for twenty-two years a bishop of the Methodist Episco
pal Church. His funeral services took place in the presence of a vast
throng of people of all denominations, in old Light-street Church, on
Wednesday, February 11th. Bishop Janes delivered the memorial

262 Methodist Bishops.
sermon, founded upon Acts vi, 2, 5, 8 ; vii, 55, 56, 59, 60 ; and viii, 2.
His remains were buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, near the dust of
Asbury, Emory, and others of the sainted dead of Methodism.
American Methodism may have had greater men than Bishop
Waugh, but never a better one. His piety was a living fire, which
burned on steadily with increasing light and heat unto the close of
life. His zeal was fervent without the slightest mixture of fanaticism
or bigotry. There was nothing in his opinions and bearing which
either repelled the better educated or chilled the lowly and illiterate.
Wherever he moved he attracted all eyes by his dignity, and won all
hearts by his modesty. Little children loved him. Nothing was
more common in his visits where there were children than to see
him caressing them in the most playful and familiar way. He
possessed, in a rare degree, the gift of introducing religion into
ordinary conversation, and of drawing into wholesome and judicious
talk all with whom he chanced to meet. His power in prayer was
simply marvelous. In public assemblies, when called upon to lead
the devotions, he would pour forth a stream of adoration, thanks
giving, and supplication, which would impress every mind as exactly
fitted to the occasion, and which seemed to gather up and express
the thoughts and aspirations of every worshiper present. As an
administrator of law he was firm without harshness, and pliant with
out weakness. In things indifferent — in all things so long as argu
ment and persuasion could be used — he was gentle, patient, and
yielding ; but when reason had been exhausted, and action was needed,
he was prompt in execution, and in his decisions he was as immovable
as the rocks. His preaching was plain and evangelical, dealing
almost wholly with the cardinal truths of religion. If the introduc
tions to his sermons were sometimes tedious, and the discussions
seemingly involved — caused, most likely by a natural timidity never
wholly conquered — his applications of the word were always pertinent
and forcible, and the conclusions of his sermons oftentimes over
whelming in their popular effects. He aimed to be a useful rather
than a great preacher, and this desire, which controlled him as to his
preaching, was uppermost in his life. He lived to do good.

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Thomas Asbury Morris.

BY EEV. THE0D0EE L. FLOOD, D.D

THOMAS A. MORRIS was elected to fill the office of a bishop
in the Methodist Episcopal Church after he had served for
twenty years as pastor, presiding elder, and editor of the "Western
Christian Advocate." He was forty-two years old at the time of '
his election. Thirty-six years he was connected with the Church as
a bishop, and sixteen years of this time he held the relation to his
colleagues and the Church of senior bishop. When he entered upon
the duties of his new position there were five other bishops asso
ciated with him in the episcopal supervision of the Church : Robert
R. Roberts, Joshua Soule, Elijah Hedding, James O. Andrew, and
Beverly Waugh. Bishop Morris was the junior in this list, and he
outlived them all. Bishops Emory and M'Kendree died the year
before Bishop Morris was elected.
Bishop Morris saw seven men raised to the distinction of the
bishopric after his election, and then saw them fall by death before
his own hour of departure came. They were : Leonidas L. Hamline,
Osmon C. Baker, Francis Burns, Davis W. Clark, Edward Thomson,
Calvin Kingsley, and John W. Roberts.
Two years previous to Bishop Morris's death the Methodist Episco
pal Church had grown to such proportions, numerically, and had been
established in so many different countries, that the work of the gen
eral superintendency became burdensome, and the episcopal force was
from necessity increased to twelve bishops besides himself : Edmund
S. Janes, Levi Scott, Matthew Simpson, Edward R. Ames, Thomas
Bowman, William L. Harris, Randolph S. Foster, Isaac W. Wiley,
Stephen M. Merrill, Edward G. Andrews, Gilbert Haven, and Jesse
T. Peck. Three of these have already been gathered to their fathers.
Bishop Morris outlived his generation, and became the connect
ing link between the old and the new. He saw customs and usages
which were deemed sacred among the members of the Church of his

266' MethOdist Bishops.
early days become obsolete, and witnessed the setting in of a. new
order of things. A man who passed through such a remarkable expe
rience among his associates in an office to which but few men were
called, must, in the nature of things, have had an exceptional expe
rience, and his life-story must have a peculiar charm for people who
love the true and the good.
Thomas A. Morris was born April 28, 1794, in Kanawha County,
Va., five miles above Charlestown, on the west side of the Kanawha
River. John Morris, his father, was a native of Culpeper County,
and . his mother, Margaret Morris, was born in Augusta County.
They settled with the first band of pioneers who located on the
Kanawha River, about the year 1785. They endured the perils of an
Indian war previous to Wagner's treaty of 1795. Some of their land
was used for a cemetery, where many of their neighbors and friends
who were slain by the Indians were buried. Thomas was one of
eleven children, eight of whom married in early life. Their parents
experienced the saving grace of God, and, after living together
forty years, died peacefully in the same year, 1818, full of hope
that they would spend a happy immortality in the mansions of
heaven. When Thomas was three years old he was deeply impressed by the
death of his sister Frances, and that of his maternal grandmother.
These were losses which he seemed to feel at that early age, and they
exerted a favorable influence upon his early life.
At seven years of age he led the ordinary life of country boys on
the farm — using the hoe, holding the plow, gathering sheaves in har
vest, tramping the hay in the mow, and swinging the ax ; when ten
years old, in the wild woods, clearing new land to be cultivated, and
guarding the flocks from wolves and other wild beasts, which were
numerous, acquiring a strength of body and calmness of judgment
which aided him in the life of labor which was to follow.
The opportunities for the education of children in the north-west
ern part of Virginia, where Mr. Morris resided, were limited. The cus
tom obtained of holding three months of school during the year in the
winter season. This was taught by such teachers as could be procured
t— competent or incompetent — only so the school was kept in motion.
The branches taught were spelling, reading, writing, and ciphering to

Thomas Asbury Morris. 267
the rule of three. At eighteen Thomas entered a grammar class in
a school taught by Mr. William Paine, an English gentleman, who pos
sessed the reputation of being a fine teacher, and with forty years'
experience back of him he occupied a good vantage-ground for doing
his work.
During these years at school Thomas developed a taste for educa
tion, and was finally possessed of a conviction that the farm was not to
be his field of labor. After spending about eight years with his father
in this work he accepted an invitation from his brother Edmund, who-
held the clerkship of Cabell County, to come into the office and serve
as his assistant. He was now nearly seventeen years old, teachable,
and a willing worker ; he remained in the office for more than three
years. The business transactions that passed under his notice, his
intercourse with business and professional men, and the practical
turn given to the action of his mind in keeping the records of the
county, requiring accuracy and fidelity, developed traits of character
in the young man which neither the farm nor school-room had yet
evolved. One disadvantage arose from the radical change in his
vocation. The sedentary habits he was obliged to adopt in connec
tion with office life disarranged his physical system, and generated
a disease which followed him through life. It neutralized the courage
and hope of his soul ; he grew feeble in health, and very often was
filled with suspicions and forebodings of death. His prospects in the
future came under the shadow of this all-pervading fear, and this was
followed by a loss of self-confidence, and the uprising of discourage
ments concerning his future life.
While in the midst of this annoying experience he was drafted to
serve with the militia six months in a war with the British and
Indians. Though only eighteen years old, there was no alternative
but to obey his country's call. He took leave of his friends, but when
on the second day's march from home, on his way to meet the enemy,
his brother William overtook the company with a substitute, which his
father had provided, who was placed in the ranks, and Thomas was
released and returned home with his brother.
He seems to have inherited an industrious habit of mind, which
led him to think more seriously on his future calling for life when he
returned from the militia movement, than he was inclined to at any

268 Methodist Bishops.
previous time. He returned to the office with his brother. It was
here that his intercourse with the lawyers, and his observations in the
court room, excited in him a desire to choose the law as his profession.
He looked upon it as the highway to places of distinction, and there
was a charm about it whicli shut out every other profession from his
vision. But his natural diffidence, poverty, and a poor education,
embarrassed him in the attempts he made to lay plans to enter upon a
course of study in law. For months he was possessed of a purpose to
carry out his design and become a lawyer ; but his efforts to make the
necessary preparation were failures, and he finally decided that he
never could succeed, so he abandoned the purpose. We infer from
his own writings that his extreme bashfulness, more than any thing
else, detained him from choosing this profession, where self-confidence
plays so prominent a part in its greatest achievements.
His parents were members of the Baptist Church. They carefully
instructed their children to reverence God, to practice the outward
duties of morality, and trained them to attend public worship; but
neglected to teach them the duty of prayer in childhood. Nor did
they use any influence to lead them to adopt a religious course of life.
They held the faith, " You must wait the Lord's good time." This
view of religious duty seemed to neutralize all the other religious
teachings Thomas received.
There was a strange indifference on the part of not only Mr. and
Mrs. Morris, but of all church-going people in the community, in the
observance of the Sabbath. It was used as a day of freedom ; business
was not transacted, nor labor performed, but the young people used
the day for sporting, visiting, and receiving visitors.
In his boyhood Thomas came under the influence of his father's
hired men on the farm ; they hurt his moral character by their evil
communications, and became his tutors in many of the vices and evil
habits in vogue among the irreligious men of his times. One thing
saved him in the midst of these perils — he had a natural affection for
spiritual things. This was manifested in a sort of " pious appearance,"
and he was fortunate in adopting good habits of life, so that his
practice, outwardly at least, was in an opposite direction from the
examples before him in his father's men. It was in his inner life
that he experienced the injury done by these bad associations : wrong

Thomas Asbury Morris. 269
thoughts were excited, evil desires that might never have struggled in
his soul were incited to life and action. One fortunate combination
existed — his outward life won for him the confidence and esteem of
the community, and this he valued so highly that he jealously guarded
his moral character.
Thomas adopted skeptical notions of the Bible, and used them as
an excuse for neglecting a religious course of life. He did not
venture to declare his skepticism publicly, because it had not put on a
positive form in his own mind. His views of Christian people were
helpful to his own final triumph over sin and its follies. He believed
in the practical piety of the Church, but the remainder of the argu
ment, in his own judgment, was in favor of Christ and his salvation.
When eighteen years old he witnessed the earthquakes of 1811 and
1812 ; his fears were alarmed lest he should be lost, and while in a
state of excitement he found a place of comfort in a revival of relig
ion that was in progress among the Methodists. He knew but little
about these people, though he had heard much to their disparagement.
He commenced to attend their meetings with a strong prejudice
against some of their customs. It was not long, however, before
the excitement of their altar services, singing, praying, exhorting,
preaching, and shouting, combined to impress his interested soul that
he was in great need of a new heart and spirit. He formed a resolu
tion immediately to abandon the use of improper words. After
pondering the subject for more than a year, he found one of the
greatest difficulties confronting him was, to give up fashionable
society, and adopt the plain attire and customs of the Methodist
people. It was not until he was in his nineteenth year that he began
to pray for mercy ; for six months it was his practice to pray in
secret, all the time carefully concealing the fact from the public.
He found this an embarrassing and unprofitable practice, because he
labored under the impression that it would be best for him to openly
acknowledge his convictions, choose religion, and make Christian
people his companions. But he vacillated so long that his confidence
grew weak, in his own ability to so seek God that he might obtain
spiritual life. He attended a camp-meeting, and heard the Rev.
David Young preach a sermon on the parable of the sower, which
produced such conviction in his mind that he began to pray in great

270 Methodist Bishops.
earnestness for pardon. The training of his childhood created a strong
attachment for the Baptist Church, while the religious convictions he
experienced through the Methodists enlisted his sympathies for this
people. He was undecided, for a time, which Church he would make
his spiritual home, but he finally determined to join the Methodist
Episcopal Church as a probationer. This was in 1813, while he was
yet seeking converting grace. Nine months passed away before he
received a sense of pardon. It was when alone, in the clerk's office,
while standing at his desk, and, singing —
"O that day, when, freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face, —
that the Spirit shone into his heart, and imparted peace, love, and joy.
Now he knew he was saved. It was the way he " long had sought ; "
now it was found and his soul was satisfied. While Thomas was
an unexpected accession to the Methodist people, they gave him a
hearty welcome, and soon assigned him to important work. They
made him a class-leader while he was yet a probationer in the Church,
and called on him to conduct meetings for prayer. He made his first
exhortation before a meeting that was called for prayer on a Christ
mas-day, and preached his first sermon to a large promiscuous audience
the same evening. He has not recorded in his diary any definite
call from the Spirit to preach the gospel, though the evidence is both
strong and abundant that he received such a call, and acted under the
divine impulse in obeying the voice of the Church to fill the places
of trust she assigned him. On February 1, 1814, without solicitation
on his part, he received his first license to exhort. This he used to
the credit of the Church, and did much good in his new office. These
steps — and one more — had all been taken before he was baptized : he
appeared before the Quarterly Conference, April 2, 1814, and was
examined in doctrine by the presiding elder, Rev. David Young, and
granted a license as a local preacher on condition that he should first
be baptized. This condition was promptly met. On the following
Sabbath he presented himself at the edge of a large stream of water,
and was baptized by the water being poured on his head.
Mr. Moms selected for his partner in life Miss Abigail Scales, and

Thomas Asbury Morris. 271
on January 23, 1 814, " the marriage ceremony was performed by Rev.
Stephen Spurloek, in the presence of only a few friends, without
levity or display of any sort." The call for preachers came up from
all parts of the work, and young men of any promise were hurried
into the pulpit and pastorate. Iience Thomas was sent out immed
iately as a supply for three months, under an older and more experi
enced minister. The laymen, as well as his senior in office, seeing his
gifts, grace, and usefulness, had him recommended by a Quarterly
Conference for membership in the Ohio Annual Conference before
his first three months expired.
The way was not all smooth, neither was his soul placid in the
midst of his accumulating responsibilities. He was embarrassed by.
his lack of qualifications, a weak constitution, and a family to support
on a very small salary. Doubts, too, as to whether God called him
to the forsaking of friends, and to the preaching of the word, harassed
his mind. But he put his trust in God, and ventured out on the new
way, and a divine Hand led him. Over against the discouragements
he met at the beginning of his ministry, he saw these things to
encourage him : — his clear conversion, an intense desire to invite men
to embrace Christ as their Saviour; the openings of providence, as
seen in the unsolicited call of the Church to enter her ministry ; the
conversion of souls under his labors ; and the triumphant death of
two persons a few months after they were led to Jesus by his first
sermon. These were the best signs that he was called of God to
preach the gospel; but it was not until they were arrayed before
his mind, and, like a vision, impressed him, that he had victory over
his doubts and was fully impressed that God assigned to him as his
life-work. When the choice was fully made, and he saw the work of his
ministry on every hand, he went to it cheerfully, and met the opposi
tion and persecution which were so common, fearlessly but kindly,
always aiming to be a blessing to the erring, and to offer salvation as
an antidote for every wrong and wound in the souls of men. In his
zeal for souls he did not neglect the furnishing of his mind. On the
contrary, he regarded a well-disciplined mind as a necessary qualifi
cation to preach the gospel successfully. Like most young men in
the Methodist ministry of his day, he had gathered a few books, and

272 Methodist Bishops.
carried one or more with him into the- field or woods, and when he
had a few leisure moments from labor he would read a page, more or
less, and then ponder it while pursuing his work. He adopted the cus
tom of his fraternity, as soon as he commenced to travel, of carrying
books in his saddle-bags, reading them and sermonizing on horseback.
The four years' course of study in history, theology, and Church econ
omy, required of every young minister by his Church, and the annual
examination by a committee of experienced ministers, gave him a
good opportunity, in common with all young preachers, to prepare
himself while at his work for future usefulness, and right well did
Thomas A. Morris use his advantages, and grow to be a workman that
. needed not to be ashamed.
The usage of his Church required every man who entered her
ministry to travel or be stationed four years before he could receive
elder's orders, which is the highest ordination known in the con- '
nection. At the expiration of his two years' probation, in 1818, Mr.
Morris was ordained deacon at Steuben ville, Ohio, by Bishop George.
This ordination gave him authority to marry, baptize, preach, and
assist the elders in administering the Lord's Supper ; besides, it secured
to him all the rights and privileges of a member of the Annual Con
ference. Five years later, at Chillicothe, in 1820, he was ordained
elder by Bishop Roberts. He now had received authority to conse
crate the emblems at the Lord's Supper, and was made eligible to the
highest offices in the Church. Mr. Morris spent the first two years of
his ministry on Marietta Circuit, where he traveled on horseback
7,500 miles ; preached about 920 public discourses, being on an average
more than one per day ; and besides those reported by his colleague,
Mr. Morris received about 250 individuals into the Church at different
points on his charge. His second appointment was Zanesville Circuit,
where, with one colleague the first year and two the second, he la
bored successfully, traveling on horseback these two years 5,500 miles,
and preaching about 500 sermons; he and his colleague received
200 persons into the Church. Mr. Morris was now fully inducted
into the ministry ; but his health was so impaired and his old trouble
aggravated that his vocal organs were enfeebled to such an extent that
he represented his case in open Conference and left it with his
brethren, stating that he would receive their decision as the voice of

Thomas Asbury Morris. 273
Providence. He was finally appointed to Lancaster Station, and
rendered effective service.
While yet young and inexperienced as a minister, he impressed
the authorities of the Chnrch with his tact for business and sagacity
as an organizer. At Steubenville, the first Conference young Morris
attended, Bishop M'Kendree employed him as his private secretary.
They occupied the same room, with two beds. As Mr. Morris was
appointed to preach before the Conference, at five o'clock Monday
morning, he was " wakeful " during the night, and on waking, about
two o'clock in the morning, he observed a light in the room, and heard
the bishop naming stations and preachers, and scratching with his
pen, following Bishop Asbury's example of making out the appoint
ments all alone without his associates or the presiding elders being
present. Mr. Morris listened attentively, and presently the bishop
said, in a low whisper, Barnesville, T. A. Morris, Barnesville, T. A.
Morris. Then he heard the bishop's pen writing, as he supposed, his
name. Young Morris was pleased because it was one of the best
circuits in the Conference. But the bishop's plans were broken, and
when the appointments were read the young preacher was greatly dis
appointed to hear the announcement, Zanesville Circuit, T. A. Morris.
It requires peculiar gifts to do Conference business ; it is a kind
of service for which a man receives a fitness by first possessing a taste
for it, and, secondly, by acquiring an experience in it. A conference
room is an ecclesiastical congress, where the presiding bishop and
committees prepare the business and bring it forward for the whole
Conference to finally dispose of. Mr. Morris was pre-eminently a
lover of Conference and its business, and he became a hard-working
member of the body — always taking an active interest in church
extension, Sunday-schools, missions, and education, as well as all local
matters that rose to the surface for conference action. It was in this
way that he became known to the preachers, and knowing concerning
them and the vital movements of the Church. By his urbanity,
practical common sense, earnestness, and talents, joined to success in
his fields' of labor as a preacher, he won the confidence and sympathy
of his brethren in the Conference ; and at an earlier time in life than
was common he exerted almost unconsciously a strong influence in
shaping the action of preachers in church affairs.

274 Methodist Bishops.
There were but few large churches in the Conference, and no places
of ease. The circuits embraced from ten to thirty preaching appoint
ments, and required the preacher to travel, mostly on horseback, from
two hundred to five or seven hundred miles to get round or over his
circuit, and involved long absences from home and much exposure
to all kinds of weather. The places of worship were log-churches,
school-houses, halls, court-houses, barns, and private dwellings.
Mr. Morris was assigned to important fields of labor from the be
ginning of his ministry. He commenced on Marietta Circuit, was then
on Zanesville Circuit, and then at Lancaster Station. After laboring
on these charges his appointed time, he was transferred from the Ohio
to the Kentucky Conference and stationed on Lexington Circuit. His
second appointment in the Kentucky Conference, in 1825, was as pre
siding elder of Green River District. He continued two years in this
position when impaired health and sickness in his family led him to ask
for a different kind of work. The suffering he endured from a shock
of paralysis, which came upon him in 1826, while preaching at Dover,
Tennessee, was a great affliction. The congregation was assembled in
the court-house. Though ill for several days previous, and still feeble,
Mr. Morris preached, and at the close of the service his left hand and
feet were cold and his left eye singularly affected ; he suffered from
momentary blindness and deafness, and a suspension of intellection.
In a few hours after the shock he gathered strength and journeyed to
his next appointment. He records that during the three years follow
ing he had probably from two to three hundred shocks of paralysis,
which grew lighter and lighter until they ceased entirely.
For his first twelve years' service as a preacher he received $2,000
and had spent nearly all the surplus funds he had accumulated before
he decided to enter the ministry. He broke down two horses the two
first years he served as presiding elder, and received for his labors less
than the horses cost him. His next appointment was Louisville, and
at the close of his term of service here he was transferred to the" Ohio
Conference in 1828, and appointed to Lebanon Circuit, where he had
Bishop Soule's family for near neighbors, and had the pleasure of
seeing four of the bishop's children unite with the Church under his
ministry. From here he went to Columbus, and then to Cincinnati.
While stationed in Cincinnati the Asiatic cholera swept through the

Thomas Asbury Morris. 275
city and caused a great destruction of life. During the ravages of the
disease funerals could be seen on the streets every hour in the day
from seven o'clock in the morning till dark in the evening ; business
was suspended, and the city wore the appearance of a Sabbath-day.
Fifty members of the Methodist Episcopal Church died in Cincinnati
that year. Mr. Morris remained at his work, visiting the sick and
dying,, comforting the bereaved, and by his noble example inspiring
the fearful to lend help in the hour of the city's greatest calamity.
A wonderful work of grace followed the epidemic, so that there were
about one thousand probationers added to the Methodist Churches
alone. Affliction and grace made this a memorable year in his min
istry. In 1833 Mr. Morris was appointed presiding elder of
Cincinnati District. For the sake of convenience and economy, he
moved his family to Madisonville, eight miles from the city, into a
house for which he paid $3 per month, and on a salary of $320 per
year he purchased a horse and wagon and commenced his work, count
ing it a pleasant field of labor.
Mr. Morris was a genial-looking gentleman, portly, and of medium
height, and in later life he usually walked with a cane. He possessed
a full face, with features so evenly blended that mildness and sympathy
were companions in his usual expression. His clear eyes peered
through glasses ; the forehead was high and full, the intellect pressing
itself into prominence. He possessed decision happily blended with
kindness, and conservativeness with positiveness.
As a preacher Mr. Morris was plain, both in his matter and man
ner. He adopted the language of the common people, without using
the undignified phrases or slang sayings in vogue among the masses ;
there was no overreaching in his discourses to bring in scholastic ex
pressions, or learned historical allusions. Cant and philosophy, as such,
were excluded. The natural overflow of his devoutly pious and earnest
soul made his sermons impressive, and they were invariably on themes
adapted to the immediate necessities of his hearers. He never allowed
himself to use novelty to excite curiosity, and then come to the gospel
for his conclusions. Good common sense and the pure word of God
made a happy union in both his extempore and written discourses. He
was not a man of brilliant gifts. His early efforts at preaching and
writing left the impression upon his auditors that he possessed a plain

276 Methodist Bishops.
mind, no one faculty of which seemed to express itself with more of
force or beauty than another. His mind was a complete whole, and
very evenly balanced, when viewed from the stand-point of practical
work. He was not the author of theories or mere speculations, but
could always apply himself, with a rare adaptation, to the wants of the
hour ; combining practical reasons thatTwere found in the surroundings,
to enforce his ideas of justice, repentance, the perseverance of the
saints, or any subject he discussed. Having come from among the
common people he never forgot the fact. This was one of the hidden
ties which bound him to the masses, and it wielded a powerful influ
ence over his thought and feelings, and contributed to make him the
practical man he was. His language and forms of thought, personal
habits, and official acts, illustrated this one ruling motive of his fife,
" The poor [shall] have the gospel preached unto them." Neither race
nor complexion made that difference among men in his judgment that
is so common among the thoughtless and superficial. Measured by
the standard of common sense, utility, and success in leading men to
God, Thomas A. Morris was an able and successful preacher.
Every great organization has positions of trust which are often
places of great usefulness, and at the same time they afford rare oppor
tunities for exerting a wide-spread influence for either good or evil upon
men. The Methodist Episcopal Church was increasing in numerical
strength so rapidly when Mr. Morris was in his prime, that new offices
were necessarily created, as well as more officers of the existing orders
needed to carry on the work of the Church. As a rule, men were
selected to fill the chief offices of the Church because of their ability
and grace, as well as other good qualities, especially success in doing
their work. No fact stands out more prominently in the history of
Methodism than this. That the successful men in her ministry have
always been advanced to more important trusts, while the indolent
and unsuccessful men have fallen out of sight.
The Kentucky and Ohio Conferences recognized Mr. Morris as a
successful Methodist minister. Once he filled the office of presiding
elder in the Kentucky Conference, and twice did this body elect him
to the General Conference. In the Ohio Conference he was made
presiding elder of the chief district, and twice did his brethren in
Ohio send him to the General Conference. A time had now come in

Thomas Asbury Morris. 277
the movements of the Church, when it was deemed necessary that a
paper be established at Cincinnati, which should be the advocate of
Bible doctrines as held by the Methodist people. Arrangements were
made to try the experiment, the paper was named the "Western
Christian Advocate," and Thomas A. Morris was chosen the editor.
He accepted the position, moved his family back to Cincinnati, and
located them in a cottage about a mile from his office.
It was a new project throughout. The paper must be made, cor
respondents secured, subscribers won, and the enterprise must be a
success, or very likely it would be. abandoned by the next General
Conference. Mr. Morris had no experience in editorial work, but he
relied on his resources of mind and heart, by which he had won suc
cess in other difficult places of trust. He made a wise use of his
opportunity, and immediately planted the paper so deeply in the con
fidence and affections of the people that it soon became a necessity in
the Methodism of the West, and it very early took a leading rank
among religious papers in the country, and still holds its position.
During the last year Mr. Morris was editor the Book Committee
examined the accounts of the publishers of the paper, and embodied
in their annual report to the Ohio Conference, of which the editor was
then a member, the following facts : " The ' Western Advocate ' has
5,500 subscribers, and the number is increasing ; we are happy to be
able to say to the Conference, that it is not in debt. They own the
press and type, and all the apparatus necessary for its publication.
There is due on this volume $2,541 56, besides paper on hand for its
publication say two months. The profits up to August, 1835 were
$2,892 17."
Mr. Morris says, in his diary, " The third volume commenced with
8,200 subscribers."
The General Conference of 1836 met in Cincinnati. It seemed to
be a foregone conclusion that two or three men would be elected to
fill the office of bishop at this session. It had frequently been sug
gested in Church circles that Mr. Morris would make a good bishop.
He was prominently before the denomination as editor, and being
widely known, and highly appreciated by his intimate friends, they
were quick to embrace the opportunity by presenting his name as a
candidate. This was done in the city where he had served as a pastor,
17

278 Methodist Bishops.
presiding elder, and editor. Beverly Waugh and Wilbur Fisk were
elected on the first ballot, and Mr. Morris lacked only one vote of an
election. Mr. Morris rose in the midst of the balloting, and requested
the Conference to consider his name withdrawn, and not to vote for
him. When they reached the fifth ballot he again came within one
vote of an election. Twice it was in his power to have elected him
self, but by voting for another candidate he delayed his destiny until
the sixth ballot, when he was chosen by a considerable majority.
Mrs. Morris had now shared all the blessings of advancement that
accrued to her husband, as an exhorter, local preacher, deacon,
elder, presiding elder, member of the General Conference, editor, and
bishop, in the Church. She was a partaker in his toils and triumphs,
joys and sorrows, through all his ministry until the 17th of May,
1842, when she died joyfully, and passed to the Christian's home in
heaven. Like most men who have edited a paper, Bishop Morris ever after
retained his love for writing to the great public. He published a
sermon on Bishop Waugh after his death, and one on Dr. Nevins, in
pamphlet form. His work on " Church Polity " exhibits sound judg
ment, executive skill, and administrative ability. It is a comprehen
sive statement of the government of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
combining many practical suggestions with elaborate definitions of
duties that belong to the chief officers of the Church. It makes a
simple and able defense of the peculiar form of government adopted
by the Methodist people. As a controversialist he was firm but
kind, loyal to the Church of his choice in the best sense, and fearless
in making a defense of her usages and doctrines. He met innovations,
whether they originated within or without the Church, with a sus
picion which resembled a contempt for disloyalty.
He published a volume of sermons on practical subjects which
has had a good sale. These, with a volume of " Miscellany," constitute
his published works. The "Miscellany" is made up mostly of edi
torials prepared for the " Western Christian Advocate." His books,
like his preaching, are plain in style and practical in their teachings.
Bishop Morris evidently loved John Wesley's plainness of expression,
and the practical bearing of what he wrote, and followed him as an
example, both in his preaching and writing.

Thomas Asbury Morris. 279
Bishop Morris was always among the radical men in the Church,
but he was the conservative among the radicals. When the old style
of churches was passing away he wrote in the " Western Advocate," as
follows : " Can we reasonably expect to see the people brought to
Christ by gorgeous churches in our cities, with steeples, and bells,
musical • instruments, fashionably affected choirs, decorated pulpits,
cushioned pews, and a popular oratory, adapted to the whole. Do we
by these means expect to save ourselves and them that hear us ? As
well might we undertake to save our houses when on fire by the
application of oil instead of water, for these things feed the carnal
mind rather than crucify it." He contended earnestly for the sim
plicity which characterized the Methodist people of early times.
Writing about the attractions of home for young people he expressed
himself thus : —
" To render the parlor where they resort attractive, the most
costly furniture must be displayed. The central table must be well
supplied with romances, flutes, backgammon, boxes, and other articles
of fancy or amusement. The daughters, to keep up their credit, must
have a piano-forte, worth at least $300, (what a miserable appropria
tion of our Lord's money is this to be made by a Methodist,) and
whatever else they remain ignorant of, they must know how • to
entertain the circle of fashionable visitants with some of its lighter
airs, which they generally prefer to the songs of Zion."
On the temperance question he advocated total abstinence as early
as 1835. When he saw that the admission of laymen to the law
making body of his Church was to be a question of reform, he quite
early advocated the change. Though he took his position and held
it in the most conservative manner, it was a remarkable part of his
history, from the fact that he was one of the fathers in his Church
when the reform put on its most positive shape. He had been
identified with early Methodism and knew its' successful workings ;
and while many of the early Methodists objected to the innovation,
Bishop Morris indorsed it in his old age. While he could not be
assigned a place among the leaders in Church reforms, yet he was
a friend of reforms, but one who followed rather than led.
The greatest trial of his episcopal life was occasioned by the
separation of the Southern portion of Methodism from the parent

280 Methodist Bishops.
Church. Slavery was making encroachments upon the denomination,
as it was upon the territory of the country, and the attempt to stay
its progress produced an open eruption which resulted in a division
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Morris was a native of
Virginia, and had spent most of his life, previous to his election as
bishop, in that State and Kentucky. When the trouble came, in 1844,
Methodist people throughout the country were anxious to know which
side of the question this conservative bishop would take. We give
the following notes from his Diary, which he wrote with the caution
of an historian : " I cannot recur to the scenes of 1844 and 1845 with
out the deepest regret and most poignant grief. I regard the unhappy
division of the Methodist Episcopal Church as a public calamity to
the country, injuriously affecting the interests of Protestant Chris
tianity in general, and inflicting on Methodism the severest wound it
ever received. . . . The whole affair originated, progressed, and
terminated in the most consummate folly that wise and good men
were ever guilty of. There was really no necessity for it, especially
in the ruinous form in which it occurred ; and even after the unfor
tunate plan of separation, contingently providing for it, was adopted ;
if the editors of the weekly Church papers and the Annual Confer
ences had proved as conciliatory as the bishop, there would either
have been no separation or a friendly one without loss of mutual confi
dence or brotherly feeling. I think it is no breach of charity to
express an opinion, that the leaders of both parties were fallen men
— fallen from the love that suffereth long and is kind : ' By this shall
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another.' . . .
As to my own course in the premises, I sought the blessing pertaining
to a 'peace-maker,' by aiming to conciliate both parties. But what
was my feeble voice amid the conflict of passion ? No more than a frail
signal of distress in a sweeping tempest. My conservatism was not
strong enough for the views of the new organization and too strong
for those of the old, so that I measurably lost cast with both, which
greatly strengthens my belief that I was about right, together with
all moderate men who occupied the same ground. Conservatives will
have to meet a far less fearful reckoning, in my opinion, than they
who took the awful responsibility of severing the Church of Christ,
and I would rather forfeit the good opinion of such than to incur his

Thomas Asbury Morris. 281
displeasure." In June, 1844, Bishop Morris married the widow of
Dr. Merriwether. She was a resident of Louisville, Kentucky, and
the bishop was her third husband. Mrs. Merriwether being a South
ern lady, and the Church storm raging the most furiously at the time
the nuptials were celebrated, it excited the publication of an article in
the New York " Commercial Advertiser," in which the bishop was
stigmatized as a " slave-holder " by marriage, to which he replied as
follows : Milwaukee, W. T., July 23, 1844.
Mr. F. Hall, Editor of "Commercial Advertiser:"
Dear Sir — I have just seen in the "Albany Journal" of the 12th inst., an
article headed. "Another Slave-holding Bishop," and credited to the "Com
mercial Advertiser," highly injurious to me and the Methodist Episcopal
Church, which I hope you will have the goodness to correct. There is but
one truth in the whole article, namely, that Bishop Morris had married a widow
lady in Kentucky. The statement that she is possessed of slaves is incorrect,
and the report of my executing a contract previous 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
husband'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 act of marriage
annulled the will, and severed that nominal connection. Neither my wife nor
myself have any interest in slave property, direct or indirect ; nor has either of
us any connection with slavery in fact or form. Yours respectfully, Thomas A. Morris.
Bishop Morris records this as his judgment after a visit through
the Southern States in 1845 : " You may reason with a man's judg
ment, but not with his passions, either North or South, whatevei
may have been suspected to the contrary by violent partisans. In
view of the whole ground of difficulty, as presented in 1845, 1 relin
quished my southern route (his Conferences) in favor of Bishop Soule,
and he relinquished his north-western route in my favor."
The year 1848 was an eventful one in the history of Methodism.
The evils as well as blessings of Church division had been quite fully
developed, hence the action of the coming General Conference was
anticipated with unusual solicitude. It was a trying time for all
Methodist people, but more especially for the bishops, because they

282 Methodist Bishops.
were in the front of the contest. Bishop Morris realized that he
would occupy a very trying position, and, with his usual sagacity, he
penned the following rules for his own self-government : —
Subjects for Reflection during the General Conference Fast, Friday, April 28, 1848.
1. This day I am 54 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 1 am — except sin and misery — I owe to the Methodist
Episcopal Church under God. May I never prove recreant to her, or ungrateful
to him. 3. Having been a member nearly thirty-five years, aud a traveling preacher
more tlian thirty-two years, though much of the time unfaithful and unprofit
able, 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 Conferences her peace has been much
disturbed by angry controversy on both sides of the line. Many difficult ques
tions remain unsettled ; much trouble may be expected during and after the Gen
eral Conference of 1848. O for heavenly wisdom and Christian forbearance.
Help, Lord, for vain is the help of man without thy blessing.
5. The doings of the General Conference will exert a powerful influence for
weal or woe upon the interests of Protestant Christianity in general ; and espe
cially 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 moderation; "united we stand,
divided we fall." No difference 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 par
ticipate in measures ruinous to the peace of the Church and dangerous to the
country : and I am with them still. Beyond this point how can I go ? May
I not be put to the trial. T. A. Morris.
Pittsburgh, Pa., April 28, 1848.
His decision to remain with the Methodist Episcopal Church,
where he had been honored and beloved, allayed the suspicions of the

Thomas Asbury Morris. 283
people in the North, and settled the expectations and prophecies of the
people in the South, by making it appear that Thomas A. Morris was
not in sympathy with slavery. While editor of the " Western Chris
tian Advocate " he wrote an editorial on the message of Governor
M'Duffie, in which he says : " For slavery as a system we have no
apology to make and never had ; neither have we any to make for the
means which abolitionists propose for its extermination. We are a
Methodist, and Methodism has no fellowship with the principles of
oppression on one hand or those of political incendiarism on the other.
Methodism, as it ever has been, is in favor of gradual, peaceable, con
stitutional emancipation." This was his position as an editor, and
when he was brought to the test it was the same as a bishop. A con
servative man always appears to disadvantage while the contest is rag
ing, however earnestly he may explain his motives and aim. Those
more conservative and those more radical than himself will criticise
him severely and judge him harshly. Bishop Morris waited for events
to occur through which his record would receive a new shading, and
incite a charitable interpretation. He grew in the esteem of his
Church as the years rolled away, and he rendered a service which was
conciliatory in its nature. Peculiarly adapted by constitutional tend
encies and education to fill the office of a peace-maker, he improved
the opportunity presented by the division of his Church, and enjoyed
even on earth the peace-maker's blessing.
Bishop Morris was peculiarly endowed with the genius of labor,
and by this, as much as by any other power, he achieved success in
every position he held. As a presiding officer he won the confidence
and esteem of the ministry. He was dignified, and quick to grasp the
situation in a stormy debate, and successful in calming the discordant
elements. He was diligent in looking after the details of his work,
and zealous as a preacher, pastor, writer, and overseer of the
Churches committed to his care. In the winter of 1842 he visited
ten towns and cities, and labored in each place a week, preaching
and encouraging the ministers and people in the work of the Church.
This effort, with the duties he performed in the general work, came
near. costing him his life. Notwithstanding this he labored several
weeks in 1843 at camp-meetings. But he soon learned that it was
impossible for one man to do every thing he- saw undone. His ina-

284 Methodist Bishops.
bility to meet every call, and to gratify every desire for work, led him
to adopt greater caution in economizing his physical energies for the
special duties of the episcopacy.
His duties were both numerous and onerous. In 1850 he presided
over the Baltimore Conference, Providence, New England, New
Hampshire, Troy, Vermont, East Maine, Maine, Ohio, Indiana,
North Ohio, and Michigan. He met the bishops at Philadelphia,
and attended the meeting of the General Missionary Committee, at
New York, and dedicated a church at WiUiamsburgh. These labors
were all performed between the first of March and last of October.
He had general supervision of the foreign missions of the Church
from May, 1849, to May, 1851. During this time he appointed one
missionary to Liberia, two to China, five to Germany, one to New
Mexico, and some dozen or fifteen to Oregon and California.
He assigned to their fields of labor during his life not less than
30,000 ministers, traveled this country to the outer edge of its civiliza
tion over and over again, and had preached sermons innumerable, and
only ceased to labor when labor became physically impossible.
He could say with Paul, " in perils often." We find by his own
record, that from the time he entered the ministry till he retired from
the work, he was thrown from a horse twice ; tipped over in a
stage with Bishop Soule when going home from General Conference ;
at another time he was thrown twelve feet from a bridge in a buggy
with his horse ; his life was threatened by a Southern desperado.
In 1851, when on his way to the North Indiana Conference, in a
stage drawn by four horses and manned by two drivers, the horses
took fright about ten o'clock at night, ran away, capsized the stage,
mashed his hat, broke his spectacles, bruised his head, and fractured a
bone in one of his fingers.
In 1855, when returning from Louisville in a train, it came in con
tact with a cow and was thrown from the track ; two of the cars rolled
down a bank six to eight feet high, and were badly broken, but no
person was killed and only two persons injured. This was the third
train that was thrown from the tract when he was a passenger, but in
no case did he receive any injury.
He closes the record of one year, with this note, " So passed off
another year of toil and peril."

Thomas Asbury Morris. 285
This is the record at the close of another year : " I got home by
the middle of October, and felt like singing,"
" ' Through many dangers, snares, and deaths
I have already come ;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.' "
In 1860 Bishop Morris suffered from impaired health, but he was
able to attend the General Conference, which met in Buffalo, New
York. It was before this body that he preached the sermon on the
life and labors of his deceased friend Bishop Waugh. His exhaustion
under the effort was noticeable by the whole audience, and the Con
ference exonerated him from doing the full work of a bishop. In
the fall of this year he presided over three Conferences and met his
colleagues and the General Missionary Committee in New York. He
had a neat and comfortable home in Springfield, Ohio, which he pur
chased in 1860. To this he returned from the General Conference of
1864, so feeble in health as to be unfitted for the kind of active service
he had so long rendered the Church. In 1868 he appeared in the
General Conference and called the body to order. He was present
during the session of 1872, and occupied a seat on the platform with
his colleagues. In 1871 Mrs. Lucy Morris died in great peace at the
family home in Springfield. On the 6th day of June; 1872, Bishop
Morris was married to Miss Sarah Bruscup, of Lockland, Ohio.
The bishop's health began to fail rapidly in August, 1874, and as
if impressed with his coming change from earth, he wrote the follow
ing letter to his brethren in the Cincinnati Conference.
Springfield, Ohio, August 24, 1874.
To Rev. Bishop Foster and the Cincinnati Conference, in Conference assembled : —
Dear Brethren: I wish to say a few things to you in regard to my health,
and some other matters. The 28th of last April I entered my eighty-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 aud 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

286 Methodist Bishops.
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, deal-
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 bat
tle, leading forth the conquering hosts to certain 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 associates 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 cannot stay here much longer ; but beneath me are the everlast
ing 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, permit 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
Conference, I am, dear brethren, Yours, fraternally, T. A. Morris.
It was like a bugle call from a faithful commander, who was about
to quit the field. After it was read to his brethren they returned a
reply signed by four ministers and adopted by a rising vote of the
Conference. Two days after he wrote this letter, on the 26th of
August, while sinking rapidly, he said to his wife, "All is well,"
" All is right." On the 31st his wife expressed a fear that he
might soon be called away; he said promptly, "All is right," "All
is right." When asked by his wife, " How does the future look ? "
he responded, " The future looks bright." With this experience he
lingered until Wednesday, September 2, when he fell asleep in
Jesus. Good men carried him to his burial, and his dust rests in
Fern Cliff Cemetery, at Springfield, waiting for the resurrection of
the just.

<^£e^ _

Leonidas Lent Hamline.

LEONID AS L. HAMLINE was born in Burlington, Hartford Co.,
Connecticut, May 10, 1797 ; he died at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, March
23, 1865. The events crowded into the active and suffering life be
tween these extremes may be thus epitomized : Partially educated for
the ministry, but turning to the profession of the law, he was admitted
to the bar in the State of Ohio, and gave promise of legal eminence.
Being, however, convicted of sin and converted in 1828, he immedi
ately commenced preaching, and, after one year in the local ranks, was
admitted into the pastorate of the Methodist Episcopal Church by the
Ohio Conference. Commencing his work as a circuit preacher in a
rough region of country, it was soon discovered that he was a master
of pulpit eloquence, and he soon was placed in the first charges in the
cities of Ohio. From 1836 to 1844 he served the Church as editor,
being from 1836 to 1840 associated with Dr. Charles Elliott in the
management of the " Western Christian Advocate," and from 1840 to
1844 editor of the "Ladies' Repository." In 1844 he was elected
bishop, and in 1852, in consequence of broken health, and in accord
ance with his expressed views of the episcopacy, he resigned the office
and assumed a superannuated relation in his beloved Ohio Conference,
in which he remained until his triumphant death.
He was twice married, namely : in 1824 to Miss Eliza Price, of
Zanesville, Ohio. Of this marriage four children were born, of whom
Dr. Leo P. Hamline, of Evanston, Illinois, is sole survivor. He was
married again in 1836 to Mrs. Malinda Truesdale, of Cincinnati, Ohio,
who still survives him. Religious Chaeactee.
But these meager lines make no picture. First in importance is
his religious experience and character. He was descended from a
Huguenot ancestry, and his father, Mark Hamline, was as noted for his

290 Methodist Bishops.
strong Hopkinsian faith as for stalwart moral decision. Leonidas grew
up in that faith. "Edwards on the Will" was his favorite polemic.
Hence his acceptance of Methodism demanded, as a condition prece
dent, a thorough change of theological beliefs. He accepted some of
the more rugged features of Calvinian faith with logical firmness and
defended them intrepidly. Prior to his conversion a gentleman of the
Methodist Church held a conversation with him from which we make
some extracts : —
E. " Now, Mr. Hamline, I have one question. In what consists
the sinfulness of human action ? "
H. " That is a difficult question to answer. If we say it lies in
the deed, we contradict reason and Scripture ; if we place it in the
volition or in will, we seem to make God the sinner and acquit man
of blame ; yet there is a philosophical necessity to predicate sin of the
will, which I do, and resort to certain explanations to avoid the con
clusion that Deity sins."
E. " What are those explanations ? "
II. " There is a difference between the author and the agent of
sin. Its author provides for its commission but does not actually
commit it. The guilt lies in commission, not in provision. God,
for instance, bestows on man the powers of his nature, the relations of
his being, and generates in his bosom thoughts, affections, and voli
tions, either good or bad. These in the wicked are a divine provision
for sinning ; but man is the agent for their use ; of course man, not
God, is the sinner."
E. " Is not their use inevitable ? "
II. " Certainly ; inevitable, yet free."
E. " How is that possible ? "
H. " Just as water flows freely, yet inevitably, down hill ; or the
vapors ascend spontaneously, yet necessarily*"
This system of remorseless logic enveloped him as an atmosphere,
put iron in his blood, and cold decision into his brain, but carried him
into semi-skepticism. But conviction of sin came ; conviction which
would not down. He saw his personal guilt, and the necessity of the
new birth. He had a bitter and protracted struggle in darkness and
wretchedness, emerging at last into the kingdom of righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. In this crisis of his life he passed

Leonidas Lent Hamline. 291
through a theological and metaphysical revolution, and became a dis
ciple of Fletcher and not of Edwards. He was thereafter a thorough
Wesleyan Arminian, and was a grand leader in the contests of his
day on the mooted questions lying within the domain of the " five
points." It was natural that such a struggle and deliverance as his should
make him a most thorough believer in supernaturalism. Conversion
was an epoch, regeneration a miracle, the new creation as real an act
of power — and power projected from without — from God, as was the
first, and the Eden of the saved soul a more real paradise than the
one watered by the four rivers and watched by Adam. God became
to him intensely real and personal. God in Christ was so near that he
could be spoken to and could answer. He, therefore, believed in pray
er as do few men of that or other times. The personal God in Christ
Jesus was at hand to be asked, supplicated, adored, and was able,
willing, and ready to help men, women, and children wanting help.
Yet he was a Christian called to conflict ; partly, it may be, from
physical temperament ; partly from disease ; partly, perhaps, from pa
ternal discipline : he was obliged to wrestle for his faith. Pie was
compelled to stand guard over his spiritual treasures. His record of
experience reminds us of the fiery struggles of Bunyan. But he
found arms and armor, and endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
He became a witness and teacher of the privilege of the Christian
to enter into perfected rest in Christ, and to attain the fullness of per
fect love. He was profoundly conscious of the paramount obligation
of submitting himself unto God, soul, body, and spirit, and this he
was enabled to do. He was distinctly conscious that the ever-blessed
Holy Spirit could deliver the surrendered life from sin, fill it with
the light and sweetness of love, and so keep it unto the day of the
Lord. Few men have so clearly and impressively stated this great
duty and privilege of Christian life, and few have so constantly walked
in its blessedness.
The Peeachee.
He was tested in almost every department of ministerial service.
He began in the rugged discipline of circuit life, preaching in private
houses, school-houses, barns, in the green wood, in country chapels,
and in spacious city churches. His physique was in his favor. It

292 Methodist Bishops.
may be termed majestic. Sufficiently full in person to give an ap
pearance of dignity ; sufficiently athletic to give a sense of reserved
power ; his dark features were expressive of thought and emotion
held in control : he stood master of the situation. His voice was per
fection. It was musical, yet deep-toned and commanding. There
was a power in his eye the writer yet feels, though years have passed
since he came under its blazing influence.
There appeared to be perfect self-possession in his bearing. This
was so in the pulpit, on the platform, or the Conference floor. He
was ordinarily thoroughly prepared. Not always by full written
composition, although he often employed that method in the con
struction of his sermons, while his celebrated speech in 1844 on the
powers of the General Conference was not previously written, but was
delivered from a few notes written in pencil on a sheet of note paper.
Yet it was compact, smoothly fitted, its logic inexorable, and its
rhetoric finished. His colleagues well said of him, "He rarely de
livered a discourse which might not have been printed word for word
as it fell from his lips."
He had a logic peculiarly his own. It was compact, vigorous,,
manly, but used with the paraphernalia of logic out of sight. But
there was no escaping his conclusions. His links were well riveted
and of flawless metal. He was a masterly advocate of the truth. He
championed it fearlessly and wisely ;. but his argument was made clear
to the minds of unread hearers as well as trained thinkers.
His theological tenets were carefully generalized, ably put, and
defended with unanswerable cogency. His sermons on the Trinity,
the Atonement, the Witness of the Spirit, the Nature and Mode of
Baptism, and on Perfect Love, were models of doctrinal exposition.
Yet this gigantic thinker, this great theologian, this princely orator,
was one of the most efficient of revival preachers. He believed in
revivals ; fully accepted and relied upon the supernatural element in
them. We doubt if any man in the Methodist Episcopal Church
labored more devotedly, or preached more sermons in revival meetings
than he during the eight years of editorial life he spent in Cincinnati,
from 1836 to 1844. The record is a remarkable one. The writer, in
1842, was junior on a western circuit, and learning that Mr. Hamline
was preaching in a village some fifteen miles distant, went thither,

Leonidas Lent Hamline. 293
arriving at nightfall Mr. Hamline entered the pulpit and read the
hymn — "Thou Shepherd of Israel and mine,
The joy and desire of my heart," etc.,
and, after singing, offered a brief prayer, full of earnest appeal to the
divine Helper. Without additional singing he announced his text :
"Am I my brother's keeper ? " The sermon searched the heart and
conscience, and there was no escape from its conclusions. It was
direct, terrible in its presentation of human responsibility, and at
the last tender in its appeals to receive mercy. It was followed by
a prayer-meeting for penitents. The preacher of the hour led that
service also.
The following morning he preached again on these words : " For
ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." It was the
same man in another phase of pulpit character. He was dealing
with exposition ; he was helping souls into the rich grace of life.
He exalted faith, and made its exercise appear at once both majestic
and simple. This, again, was succeeded by a prayer-meeting, in
which he sought to lead men singly into the liberty of the sons of
God. Often, at camp-meeting or Conference, he broke forth into direct
exhortation and persuasive entreaty. He was in earnest for human
salvation, and pressed his vantage to the point of immediate sur
render. His combination of powers gave him unusual excellence
on the platform, where he often appeared as the advocate of mis
sions, the Bible cause, etc.
That he had superiors in single lines of eloquence is conceded ;
but who combined so many elements of pulpit power ? It was the
opinion oi many that he was the peer of the ablest preachers of
the Church.
He did not always maintain his full power. Occasionally his
strong pinions temporarily drooped.- This was at times caused by
disease, or, in later years, by the pressure of official cares ; and as
one of his followers has said, " Perhaps he erred, after he became a
bishop, in supposing that he ought not to study the graces which
marked his earlier productions."
It is not fair to his memory to infer that he ever ceased to be

294 Methodist Bishops.
careful and painstaking in the matter of his sermons. There are
men who act as though they had outgrown the necessity of thorough
study for the pulpit, and decline of power and influence invariably
comes with cessation from the beating of oil for the sanctuary, and the
loss of power from such a cause is little less than crime. Nay, is it
less ? Is it not rather a crime before which ordinary negligences are
dwarfed ?
In the case of Bishop Hamline, however, his prostration of
health soon after entering upon his episcopal functions, was the
check upon his pulpit efficiency. He continued to preach grandly
until disease shook him over the grave, and retiracy was enforced.
Bishop Peck gives this estimate of his preaching :—
" In the pulpit Bishop Hamline was greater than himself. He
rose with the inspiration of the hour into a sphere of thought and
impassioned eloquence which held his vast audiences spell-bound. His
gifts of oratory, including attitude, voice, and expression, were ren
dered more extraordinary by the deep pathos of love, and the unction
of the Holy Ghost which fell upon him in almost every sermon. De
nominational pride, the curiosity of strangers, and the spirit of criti
cism, were all subdued and lost amid the general feeling that we
were listening to a message from God. He was unquestionably one
of the greatest pulpit orators of his times, and men went away from
the scene of his masterly efforts loathing their inward corruption, and
panting for holiness."
Dr. F. G. Hibbard bears a similar testimony : —
" Without disparagement to any other quality or function, I think
it must be awarded him that his distinguishing glory was in the pulpit.
It was his divine call as a preacher of the cross which absorbed all the
lesser distinctions of ecclesiastical office and social position, and made
him forget all other honors, aye, even the infirmities of a shattered
constitution. It was to this point that the full capabilities of his great
soul converged. Here he massed the forces of his vigorous intellect,
and summoned the resources of his knowledge, his logic, his tact at
debate, and his admirable power of delivery. . . . His use of words
was never redundant, remarkably Saxon in their selection, and always
within the ready comprehension of his hearers. His purity of lan
guage shows that he had made that subject a special study in early

Leonidas Lent Hamline. 295
life, and his training at the bar previous to his conversion gave him
great precision of style as well as argument. The dignity of his posi
tion as an embassador of Christ was never compromised for a moment.
. . . His words flowed easily, and without care ; his gestures were
simple, dictated by the sentiments and emotions of the speaker ; his
voice smooth, agreeable, round, and deep ; his articulation distinct ;
his enunciation full, and his delivery without labor."
In the opinion of the writer Bishop Hamline was one of the clear
est theologians Methodism has known. He studied the divine system
as a whole, and consequently, while he pressed analysis to almost its
last condition, yet his sermons as a whole were a grand synthesis,
embodying the cardinal doctrines of evangelical truth. It is supposed
by many that his sermons were almost wholly on one topic of the
gospel, but the reverse is true. His pulpit dealt with law, depravity,
repentance, the incarnation, justification, providence, retribution, as
well as with the loftier phases of Christian attainment. It is well to
give a few specimens of his pulpit thoughts : —
Believing and Confessing.
We must not forget that confession is itself one of the most important works
of faith. It is the genesis of them all, and its omission betrays a want of ear
nestness in religion, a state of heart unfruitful in all good works. He whose zeal
does not confess will limp and lag in other duties. The power which cannot
turn her wheels will never move the steamer. As a general rule, the grace which
has force enough to act will move its subject to proclaim God's saving mercies.
"I have believed, and therefore have I spoken," was the experience of early
times. ""We also believe, and therefore speak." Here the word therefore
involves a vital principle, namely, faith speaks. Its very instinct is to vent itself
in words. . . .
To the renewed affections [of speaking faith] the cross is a home tragedy
where science is a mockery, but the yielding heart dissolves amid the death-
throes of the Son of God.
Here is an extract from a sermon on "God the Righteous Judge,"
which might have been written for the day of Tyndall, Huxley, and
Youmans :
Much is said of the laws of nature, and much to proclaim the folly of those
who say it.' Let it be granted that nature has laws by which her operations are
now conducted. Then it must be conceded that God upholds those laws, makes
them efficient, and that their force or efficiency is naught but his power. If
18

296 Methodist Bishops.
these laws be the instruments of divine power in ruling the world, they only
serve to remove the divine hand a little farther off. And is God less the gov
ernor of the world because, instead of laying his naked hand upon it, he moves
a spring which produces all other motions around us ? Assume the extremest
position consistent with the lowest type of Theism — the theory of development
and order in nature from the operation of laws impressed upon the primitive
monads of matter — and still, if we reject atheism on the one hand and panthe
ism on the other, and adhere to the doctrine of a personal God, we are forced to
acknowledge him as the Creator, and the wise Being who gave to matter those
laws, and that his intelligence foresaw an end, and his benevolence determined
that end to be good ; and thus he projected the entire scheme of government for
beneficient ends. The distance of time, or the multiplication of subordinate
agencies between the efficient cause and the final end of things can make nothing
against the wisdom, power, goodness, and glory, much less the reality of the
government of all things, by the one originating and supreme God.
Concerning Final Restoration. [From the sermon on "The Wages
of Sin."-]
Do you still say that God can, in eternity, renew the ruined soul and fashion
it for pure and heavenly entertainments ? I answer, Yes, and in the same in
stant he can, if it be a question of power and independence, transform the
sainted spirits who, through tears, and pains, and blood, have entered heaven, and
fashion them for all the woes and agonies of hell. But Ice will not do either. One
event is just as probable as the other with the self-assumed obligations of his
eternal truth. He cannot do it. Once he sought the privilege at your hand of
effecting your renewal. He sent his word, and his ministers, and his provi
dence, and his Son, and his Spirit to perform this blessed work. These waited
all the time probation lasted. He bounded that probation and warned you of
the fact. You mocked his gracious offers till you had passed its limits, and as
he proved to you his goodness and mercy while you lived, he will prove to you
his decision and his justice. How ? He will suit your wages to your work aud
your reward to your capacity.
The Baptismal Covenant. [From the sermon on " Christian
Baptism."] And now, if, as we have seen, the commission given by Jesus to his disciples
embraces all nations and every [human] creature; if infants are capable of sus
taining a covenant relation to God by the act of parents ; if they have been em
braced in every leading covenant which God has made with mankind; if the
seals of these covenants have always been put upon them; if Jesus Christ pro
nounced them members of the Church — what presumption is it in mortals to
shut the door of the Church which he left so wide open, saying, " Suffer

Leonidas Lent Hamline. 297
them to come unto me ! " Do they who take on themselves this responsibility
imagine that they will succeed ? When the millennium shall have come, and
all nations shall be gathered in. . . shall infants alone be then excluded from the
visible kingdom of God ? Without baptism they must be excluded. Shall all
be permitted to approach the tree of life. . . shall all be the seed of the promise
and the circumcised of the Lord, except little children? Was it left to the
Gospel alone— that Gospel which was intended to be the most expanded and
catholic covenant of God with man — that Gospel which was intended to break
over the contracted bounds of all former covenants and embrace a world — was it
left to this Gospel of mercy to do what none of the partial and exclusive cove
nants had ever done, namely, shut out from its purview and sacraments the
sinless portion of our race — those that were unfortunate, but not actually guilty
— those whose natures were defiled, but whose wills have not transgressed ? Is
it true that the good news announced at the advent embraced the disfranchise
ment of helpless and suffering infancy which, till then, had been embraced in
every covenant of mercy ? Blessed Jesus! Thou who hast sanctified infancy by
passing through all its stages and assuming all its weaknesses and prerogatives,
have mercy on those who would select the objects of thine unconditional compla
cency as the only beings in this redeemed world who may not share in thy cov
enanted smiles, who may not claim those exceeding great and precious promises
whicli were intended as crowning tokens of thy universal and lasting love.
In his sermon on the " Incarnation " are these words : —
It is usually understood that Deity is impassive, or in other words is unsus
ceptible of suffering. This doctrine may be taught in the Bible and may be
confirmed by reason ; but I suppose it does not imply that God cannot exercise
compassion. If so, I, for one, reject it. I know that the lament of Jesus
over Jerusalem, and his tears at the grave of Lazarus, are ascribed to his
humanity — and that may be according to truth ; but certainly his language and
behavior on those occasions scarcely equal in pathos the following: How shall
I give thee up, Ephraim ? how shall I deliver thee, Israel ? how shall I make thee
as Admah ? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me, my
repentings are kindled together.
Is not this the language of compassion? It may be said that it is "accom
modated to our conceptions." Then it surely teaches that God is not all
intellect; for it expresses " to our conceptions" the most benevolent and intense
sympathies. If he is susceptible of no sucli emotions how are "our concep
tions" aided by language which indicates them ? I feel warranted by this and
many similar texts to maintain, as an article in my creed, that the infinite God is
susceptible of compassion, or at least of a sentiment which can be designated by
no better word in our language. I mean by compassion, in this instance, a benevo
lent state of the divine affections, under the hinderance of Cod's charity or mercy
through the perverse tempers of free moral agents.

298 Methodist Bishops.
From the sketch on " Blessedness of Hungering and Thirsting
after Righteousness " we take another extract :
A sinner, careless and reckless, is all at once observed to change his deport
ment. He grows more and more anxious, till at last a change comes over him in
an agony of desire. He cries, " Give me pardon or I die." Just then, when he
hungers and thirsts, pardon comes.
A sober Christian, well-behaved, is found solemn and anxious. Watch him ;
he becomes more and more anxious, till his soul is again in a struggle — not for
pardon, he has it; but he is weary of life through inbred sin, and cries out, —
" 'Tis worse than death my God to love,
And not my God alone."
Thus struggling, another change comes. As a general rule the change comes
just in the struggle itself, when the soul hungers and thirsts after righteousness,
— the righteousness of entire sanctification.
Go to the first one just risen from the altar, where, in an agony as of death he
had struggled, and ask, What did you seek? Pardon. Have you found it? Tes.
How many of your sins are pardoned? All, all! Dare you believe it? Yes, all!
"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he separated my sins from me."
Then he is filled; he can have no more of pardon. Gabriel is^iot more free
from guilt than he. " There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus." He hungered for pardon, and is filled with the righteousness
of pardon. Did one sin remained unpardoned he would not be filled.
Go to the sanctified — ask him what he hungered and thirsted for? To be holy
in heart. Have you received it? Yes. How far have you received it? The
Lord has cleansed me from all my filthiness, and from all my idols. He has
cleansed me from all unrighteousness. He hungered and thirsted for holiness and
is filled. If one pollution remained unwashed away he would not be filled with
the righteousness of purity.
These selections, taken almost at random from the two volumes
collected by Dr. Hibbard, indicate the broad field he traversed. He
could not have been otherwise than a many-sided preacher of truth.
It is true that he often presented and urged, with commanding
eloquence and wondrous unction, the great experience of Christian
perfection. His statements of its nature were most felicitous, transpa
rent, and in full accordance with the earlier writers of our Church.
But he preached a whole and full gospel. He had fitting truth for
souls sphered in sin, for trusting penitence, and for Christian believers,
crying out for " all the height of holiness."

Leonidas Lent Hamline. 299
The Editoe.
In adition to the high vocation of the preacher, Bishop Hamline
was disciplined in part, for his future elevation to the episcopate, by a
participation in editorial toils, vexations, and responsibilities. At the
General Conference of 1836 Charles Elliott and William Phillips
were elected editors of the " Western Christian Advocate." The latter
died soon after his election, and the Ohio Conference, which had the
prerogative of filling vacancies, elected L. L. Hamline. The strong,
majestic preacher entered upon a new fife. True, the demands upon a
Church editor were then less onerous in many regards than now, but
most emphatically, editorial resources were fewer. There were no
editorial contributors, no fund provided to pay for matter, and com
paratively few in the Church had developed the ability for newspaper
writing. Mr. Hamline carried his high sense of honor and detestation of
coarseness and vituperation into his editorial rooms. His pen, amid
the ceaseless temptations of his lot, scarcely wrote a line "which,
dying, he would wish to blot." In 1840 he was chosen editor of the
" Ladies' Repository," and the editorship of the books published by the
Western Book Concern was devolved upon him. The means at his
disposal were small. Yet it is not too much to say that his success was
not only respectable, it was really most remarkable. During this quad-
rennium several editorial articles appeared of such merit as to impress
the entire Church. Hamline's editorial life was a success.
It has passed into a proverb that officialism in the Methodist Epis
copal Church is injurious to pulpit power. Too many examples con
firm the rule, and the reasons can easily be given. Preaching is a
jealous mistress, to whom divided affections are offensive. He who
permits any other work to come into his life so great as to command
him from pulpit preparation and pastoral oversight, loses the pos
sibility of ever attaining his maximum of preaching power. Editorial
life is also dissipating in the extreme. Besides all this, a man must be
charged with the care of souls if his best capabilities as a preacher are
to be developed. He must preach with a sense of responsibility such
as only the pastoral office gives. Fully believing all this, yet the writer
must say that during no part of Bishop Hamline's career was his
preaching more powerful or successful than during his eight years of

300 Methodist Bishops.
tripod-work. He did an immense amount of it. He blazed in revivals,
and was called in all directions on special occasions. More than proba
bly this excessive labor laid the foundation for his prostration of
health, and occasioned his early retirement from active labor.
The Bishop.
How came he to be elected ? The answer is not far to seek. In
the West, where he was best known, he had steadily risen in public
estimation as an able minister of the New Testament. His fame had
gone beyond the West, and had become connectional. His editorial
success had turned the eye of the Church upon him as an able defender
of Methodist doctrines and polity. In the General Conference of
1840, though modest and reticent, observing men had seen and meas
ured his power.
The crisis of that celebrated Conference of 1844 brought him at
last to his feet in a historic speech on the powers of the General Con
ference. He made scarcely an allusion to the case then pending,
called no names, expressed no opinion on the merits of the controversy,
but with a logic entirely inexorable, and rhetoric truly Ciceronic, he
pressed his conclusion as to the complete and unquestionable compe
tency of the General Conference to deal with all questions of that
kind, and at its option to vacate either or all of its episcopal chairs.
The controversies of that stormy time, succeeded by a long train
of woes, let us hope have passed ; the writer would do nothing to revive
them. But in this historic sketch it is necessary to say that it was dis
covered by that General Conference that the eminent preacher and
accomplished editor was also an able ecclesiastical jurist, and from that
hour his election to the episcopacy was a foregone conclusion, and
none were surprised when, on the 8th of June, 1844, the count of bal
lots cast in the Greene-street Church, in the city of New York, L. L.
Hamline received one hundred and two votes, a majority of the whole,
and was declared duly elected.
On the 12th of June, only four days after his election, he was in
the chair, presiding over the deliberations of the New York Confer
ence, assisting Bishop Hedding. On the 19th of the same month he
opened his first Conference, the Troy, at Poultney, Yt., and there
occurred one of those severe shocks of sickness prophetic of the break-

Leonidas Lent Hamline. 301
ing down which was to compel his early retiring from the place of
primus inter pares.
As a Conference president, as long as his health continued even
tolerably firm, he was remarkable for solemnity and efficiency. He
promptly repressed every tendency to levity by suggestions of a devo
tional character. There were not wanting those who felt that he
sometimes pressed this feature of his administration too far. A little
pleasantry occasionally enlivens business, checks asperity, and lubri
cates the heavy wheels of work. Bishop Hamline inclined to look
upon it as beneath the dignity of a grave convocation of Christian
ministers, who were pledged to do every thing as in the immediate
presence of God, and that communion with God was the best prepara
tion for the transaction of the solemn functions of such a body.
His rulings upon points of order were ready and rarely con
troverted. Without parliamentary finesse he had thoroughly mastered
parliamentary detail. His decisions of law points were clear. His
judicial training had strengthened his naturally legal turn of mind.
In the period of his episcopacy trials of traveling preachers mostly
occurred in open Conference, and Bishop Hamline had his share, some
of them being of an unusually perplexing character. Yet he met the
expectations of the Church in this regard.
There were also occurrences demanding from him action most
painful to himself and for which the past had afforded no precedent.
Exhausting all possible forbearance and courtesy, at the last his posi
tion was taken quietly, with dignity, but with granite firmness. The
senior members of the Ohio Conference will distinctly remember one
memorable instance of this kind.
In his Conference sermons he preserved the same general sweep
of which mention is made above, but it is due to say that he attended
no Annual Conference where he did not clearly state and earnestly
commend the great experience of " being made perfect in love."
Holding, as he did, that this is a grand distinguishing feature of Meth
odism, and a secret of religious success, he could not restrain either
testimony or exhortation.
It was known at the time of his election to the episcopacy that his
health was frail, and the development of aggravated disease of the
heart soon caused him to feel that he was constantly preaching under

302 Methodist Bishops.
the shadow of the cloud, and also occasioned painful apprehension
throughout the Church that his useful life would be cut short. But
down to 1850 there was no abatement of labor. He held his Confer
ences, and added to ordinary routine labor; he labored in revivals,
delivered missionary addresses, preached almost constantly. The
record of those six years' work is absolutely amazing. "In labors
more abundant," may well be said of him.
From 1850 to 1852 his work was, per force, less. His health was
broken^ he attended some Conferences, preached occasionally, and
did what he could. As the General Conference of 1852 approached,
he carefully considered his duty, and after protracted prayer and medi
tation decided to resign the episcopal office. It was not broken health
alone which led him to this decision, or a desire to be entirely free from
care. He was actuated by a sense of high consistency. In 1844 he
held and maintained with great force that the Methodist episcopate is
not an exalted order of the holy ministry, but an office.; — of grave
responsibility and dignity, it is true, but still an office, and one which
can be vacated for disqualification by the General Conference without
the formality of an impeachment, or by the voluntary retirement of
the officer. He had never hesitated to wield its full authority if occa
sion required ; and now he would do the Church the service of show
ing, by example, that it could be vacated by the resignation of an
incumbent. He meant in 1852 to emphasize the doctrine he taught
eight years before.
Finding that he could not reach Boston, the seat of the General
Conference, he addressed to that body a letter, in which he recited the
condition of his health at the time of his election, its subsequent
improvement, and the work of six years ; its failure in 1850, and the
judgment of eminent physicians that his heart was so diseased as to
forbid future labor. He adds : —
Under my official responsibilities, to be unable to discharge my duties was an
affliction, especially as it bore heavily on the effective superintendents; but I was
comforted under this affliction, and being persuaded that I had done all I could,
more than physicians and counseling friends deemed incumbent or even war
rantable, I have much of the time been calmly and cheerfully resigned to this
trying inactivity, and now I think that the circumstances warrant my declining
the episcopal office.

Leonidas Lent Hamline. 303
Eight years ago I felt that divine Providence had strangely called me to the
office; I now feel that the same Providence permits me to retire. I therefore
tender my resignation, and request to be released from my official responsibilities
as soon as the way shall be prepared by the action of the episcopal committee.
Relieved of my officiiil obligations, I think of nothing but cleaving to Christ
with all my heart, and in my feeble retirement aiding to promote his blessed
cause. I mourn over my unworthiness, both personal and official, but trust in
our great Prophet, Priest, and King, for acquittal, cleansing, and eternal life.
The Committee on Episcopacy reported on this letter an expression
" of sympathy with our beloved superintendent in his afflictions ;"
also recommended the passage of his character, and that the resig
nation be accepted. A brief, but historic, debate followed. And the
final action of acceptance was an assertion of the Low-Church theory
of the Episcopacy. An additional resolution was moved by John A.
Collins, and adopted, in which the Conference voted, " That the
bishops be, and hereby are, respectfully requested to convey to Bishop
Hamline the acceptance of his resignation as a superintendent of the
Methodist Episcopal Church by the General Conference, accompanied
with a communication expressing the profound regret of this body
that the condition of his health has, in his judgment, rendered it
proper for him to relinquish his official position ; assuring him also of
our continued confidence and affection, and that our fervent prayers
will be offered to the throne of grace that his health may be restored,
and his life prolonged to the Church."
Such was the termination of his episcopal career, and it was
worthy of the man. He had asserted a grave principle, he now
vindicated it in his own person, and the Methodist Episcopal Church,
by accepting his proffered retirement, forever rendered prelacy impos
sible in its episcopacy. Evening.
And now with his intellectual powers in their golden maturity,
and with such ripe experience as would richly endow him for his
work, with fields white to the harvest, Mr. Hamline calmly hangs his
sickle on the wall and retires from the field. He had known unsparing
toil, and comprehended the meaning of the words " hard work," but
the Master had never set him so difficult a task as was now before
him. But he accepted it cheerfully.

304 Methodist Bishops.
His property had increased in value, and he made liberal donations
to the various causes of Christian benevolence. Dr. Elliott says, " his
liberality in distribution of his temporal means was liberal to a fault."
Twenty-five thousand dollars were given to a Western college, besides
most liberal donations to others, and various grants made to Churches
and the great societies. He did not escape sharp criticism from some
whose applications were denied. He selected his own objects of
beneficence, and aided them according to his own carefully chosen
plan, and endured the murmurs of the disappointed with all meekness.
Nor was this all ; before he should choose that quiet western home,
where the evening of his days was to be spent, a storm of unprec
edented violence was to burst upon him. Charges of gravest character
were made by a party who, like himself, was responsible to an
Annual Conference. It is enough to say that the Conference, deem
ing the charges clearly malicious, and regarding them as deliberate
slander, by a unanimous vote expelled the offender. He availed
himself of his privilege of appeal, and after a protracted hearing of
the appellant, the General Conference affirmed the decision of the
Cincinnati Conference. Bishop Hamline did not attend the latter
Conference during the investigation, but, though his character
appeared to be suspended upon the result, he left all to God and
the Church, remaining at his residence in Schenectady.
The years 1853, 1854 were mostly spent in Hillsdale, New York.
He returned to Schenectady and remained there until 1857, when the
family removed to Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, the place providentially chosen
as the scene of his latest sufferings and triumphs, and from whence
his ascension was to be made. Here the still more rapid decline of
his health rendered his remaining necessary. All who knew him
during this period of his life saw that he was ripening rapidly for
glory. His correspondence was redolent of heaven, and in the
sharpest and sorest of physical sufferings he was wonderfully sus
tained. In 1860 he thus wrote :
I am now impelled to write down, for my family, intimate friends, and for
my own edification, a few of God's dealings with my poor soul. I have witli
comfort to myself spent thirty-two years in the ministry of God's holy word,
and believe the Lord called me to the work. ... I am thankful now, in closing
up life and its labors, that I did not refuse to enter on the work and strive to

Leonidas Lent Hamline. 305
preach Christ. . . . For eight years I have been superannuated, and God has
tried me as silver istried ; but he has often sweetened those trials by his presence
in a marvelous manner, and now, day by day, my fellowship is with the Father
and his Son Jesus Christ.
In this retirement and suffering his . mind was active. He sur
veyed the great mission field of the Church, saw the difficulties and
the possibilities as with an eagle's eye, and from his sick room sent
words of cheer and exhortation. He was thoroughly roused at the
announcement of the terrible Civil War, and his letters to Senator
Harlan and others show not only an intense loyalty, but also a wise
prevision of the measures necessary to insure peace.
About the first of July, 1863, I visited him. Providentially, in
one of my two calls, I found him comfortable, and able to converse
freely. His home was plain, but delightful. Adjoining the main
building he had caused a class-room to be constructed, and supplied
with all the appurtenances of worship. Here was his Bethel. He
was no longer able to go to the public service, but in that consecrated
room choice spirits came to enjoy with him and his excellent wife
the communion of saints. There he sometimes expounded briefly the
great and special promises, or listened to others, and there sometimes
he bowed at the holy Supper. In appearance he had greatly changed.
His hair was white, but retained its thickness, while his full beard
was of a silver shade. His appearance was eminently patriarchal.
At the second call, after disposing of an item of business relating to a
church site on his property in Chicago, former days, past events,
common friends, the state of 'the Church and the country, were talked
over. His voice had its old sweetness, and his style was never clearer
or more forcible. Some remarks on . the relations of Christians to
scientific thought, and sense expositions of holy writ, I regret not
having preserved. His spiritual sky was clear, and the joy-birds came
at morning and evening to accompany his devotions.
Through all of 1864 his approach to the grave grew perceptibly
more rapid, his sufferings grew sharper, and his faith more constant
and radiant. He dwelt lovingly upon the power of Christ to save
unto the uttermost ; and on the depth, sweetness, and power of perfect
love. The brain became so abnormally sensitive that conversation
was impossible, the voice even of a friend jarring him fearfully, and

306 Methodist Bishops.
conversation was by means of a slate. Yet ever and anon the tide of
love surged over, and joyful or sublimely trustful whispers witnessed
that all was going on well. At times he gave most thrilling exhor
tations, and again would break forth into prayers sublimely compre
hensive, and resplendent with glowing faith. One of the last of his
utterances is recorded by a friend as follows : —
I do not want one thought that is not fit for heaven. I have of late thought
much of that, and when any wrong thought comes into my mind I say, That is
not fit for heaven, till I get rid of it. . . . Jesus is able to give us victory over
our hearts. O wonderful I wonderful! He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. He goes out and seeks them, hunts them up and saves them.
Just think of it — out seeking those that are wandering and bringing them back.
... I KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE."
At last, on the 23d of March, 1865, the final struggle came in
terrific physical agony. Few have endured more suffering in the last
hour. He endured it with patience until the day which had com
menced with fervent prayer was consummated by the bliss of heaven.
His old friend, Dr. Charles Elliott, officiated at his funeral.
He was temporarily interred at Mount Pleasant, and subsequently
removed to Rosehill Cemetery, between Chicago and Evanston, where
a slab of gray Scottish syenite marks his grave, inscribed simply Leon
idas L. Hamline. There is no title and no panegyric. In accord
ance with the request of the sleeper no words are added. There is
nothing which tells that all that could die of the strong thinker, the
majestic preacher, and eminent bishop, is there buried. May not his
own words be fitly read at his grave ?
The grave of every saint is blessed. Jesus wrought the work when he lay
in the tomb. He is, therefore, said to have perfumed the grave, because as
fragrance delights our senses, so, through his death and burial, the tomb has
pleasant odors. Its prisoners rest in hope. Christ has almost wedded the grave
and the everlasting throne. He passed from crucifixion to burial, and from
burial to heaven. Thus, greatly to our comfort, he has blended in close union
death, the grave, and the glory which shall follow.
The writer of the above sketch acknowledges material obligations
to the admirable volumes collected and edited by Dr. F. G. Hibbard,
" Hamline's Works," and also to " The Life and Letters of Leonidas
L. Hamline," by Walter C. Palmer, M.D.

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Edmund Storer Janes.

BY EEV. JAMES M. BUCKLEY, D.D.

IN presenting to our readers a sketch of the life of Bishop Edmund
Storer Janes, one of the most revered of the " dear fathers and
brethren " of the Methodist Episcopal Church, so widely known and
but recently deceased, we are met at the beginning by jieculiar diffi
culties. To record facts known to the whole Church, and such facts only,
would seem barren of interest ; to omit them would conceal from all
living who were not personally acquainted with our subject, and from
the new generation of Methodists about to enter and to continue enter
ing the Church for which he did so much, the materials necessary
to the formation of a true idea of the man and of his work
Another perplexity arises from the completeness and symmetry of
his career. He was not a "man of war," nor was he the hero of
thrilling adventures, nor yet the leader of a party. He was neither
eccentric in manners, nor of extraordinary presence, nor did he seek
notoriety. He was not desirous of attracting attention outside of his
own denomination, nor did he seek to come before the public in
the secular or even in the religious press. He was not a writer of
books, nor a lecturer, nor found in fashionable centers, literary, com
mercial, or social. He was never impeached or attacked, and never
assailed others ; and left to those who enjoyed it or had taste or time
for it, the conception and promotion of brilliant schemes in Church
and State. He was never shipwrecked nor imprisoned, nor charged
with immorality or ministerial or personal " indiscretion."
Thus, as the artist finds it more difficult to make a striking picture
in representing a dome than in portraying a more irregular structure ;
so, from the very completeness of the character of Bishop Janes, and
his devotion to the work of his life, it becomes more difficult to
worthily represent that life.
If the task be more perplexing it is, nevertheless, more pleasant ;

310 Methodist Bishops.
for here, at least, there is nothing to conceal, nothing t& varnish, little
to extenuate. It is also important, for the life to be portrayed for
imitation is not that whicli dazzles, but that which leads those who
emulate it to go about doing good.
And let it not be thought there is a paucity of materials out of
which to weave an interesting narrative. The difference we point out
is that between the orbit of a planet and the apparently eccentric
movements of a comet or a meteor. It is to the superficial observer
only that the latter may be more striking than the former. The
astronomer is equally impressed by the phenomena of law and force
wherever they are manifested ; and those who reflect on the career of
Bishop E. S. Janes, and are competent to weigh it, will accord to him
as lofty a tribute as any friends, however ardent, if discriminating,
would desire.
The outline facts of his life until he enters the ministry are as
follows : He was the son of Benjamin and Sarah Janes, who resided
at the time of his birth at the small town of Sheffield, Massachusetts.
The date of his birth is April 27, 1807, and he was named Edmund
Storer Janes. His father was a carpenter in moderate circumstances ;
that is, he had saved something, but not enough to live without strict
attention to business, which in that trade in a country place means
exposure and hard work. The sons of such parents have the great
advantage, for the loss of which no other inheritance can compensate
them, of being early impressed with the necessity of taking care of
themselves, of earning their living, and making their own way in the
world. Hence the "simple annals" of his early life are in these
words : " He took care of himself, working on a farm in the summer
and going to school in the winter, until he was seventeen years old."
To how many of the most influential and learned men of this country,
in every denomination and profession, in the commercial and political
worlds, would these words not apply ? A small minority. Such
labors imposed on the youth of fifty years ago, and often at the pres
ent time, imply no less affection in the hearts of parents than is felt
by those who gratify every propensity or caprice of their children by
lavish expenditure. But " necessity knows no law," and often the
father and mother looked upon the hard working boy with unutter
able love and pity. But the pity was misplaced, for a man was grow-

Edmund Storer Janes. 311
ing. Childhood was to be transient and preliminary, not perpetual.
He improved rapidly, and from the time he was seventeen until he
was twenty he taught school continuously. He is said to have been
converted, and to have united with the Methodist Episcopal Church,
when he was but thirteen years of age. In his twentieth year he
began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar. It is also af
firmed that the " sudden death of his prospective partner led him to
serious reflection, and he gave himself to the work of the ministry."
This may or may not have been the deciding cause. Very often
young men hesitate a long time, and when they reach a decision it is
attributed to the last improtant circumstance which preceded the
final action. There is every reason to suppose that Edmund S. Janes,
if he had retained his piety, sooner or later would have found his
way into the ministry whether any thing extraordinary had occurred
or not. To many characters this remark would not apply ; but his whole
nature would have cried out for entire devotion to ministerial life,
and would have been restless without it. Nor would the Church have
overlooked his gifts, nor the Spirit have failed to guide him. Ex
ternal events had their due effect, but it is impossible that he never
thought earnestly of the ministry till a "sudden death led him to
serious reflection."
In the year 1830 he was received into the Philadelphia Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church " on trial." The Conference at
that time included the State of New Jersey within its limits, and
opposite the word Elizabethtown, in the Minutes for 1830, we find
the name of E. S. Janes ; and the. same entry was made in 1831. In
1832, having remained during the full term of two years, he was
stationed at Orange, and re-appointed at the next session of the Con
ference. During these four years he exhibited business qualities of a
high order ; in particular a singular clearness of statement, which made
financial questions intelligible and not uninteresting to an ordinary
mind, and so, impressive to an audience. This led to his appointment,
in 1834, as agent for Dickinson College. In 1835 he was re-appointed
to this position, having as his colleague Charles Pitman. The " Cyclo
pedia of Methodism" states that he was appointed agent for Dickinson
College in 1838. But reference to the Minutes of the Philadelphia

312 Methodist Bishops.
Conference would have preserved the compiler of the article from
the error. In 1836 he was stationed at the Fifth-street Church,
in Philadelphia, and in 1837 he was transferred to Nazareth, in the
same city, and re-appointed in 1838. At the close of his full term at
Nazareth his connection with the Philadelphia Conference ended by
his being transferred to the New York Conference and made the
pastor of the Mulberry-street Church. This society was the founda
tion of the present St. Paul's. Here he remained two years. The
same qualities which led to his appointment to the agency of Dickin
son College, and which he had signally exhibited in the prosecution of
that work, now led to his selection as " the financial secretary of the
American Bible Society." This position he filled until he was elected
in June, 1844, to the office of bishop.
In 1841, 1842, and '43 his name appears in the "Minutes of the
New York Conference" as appointed financial secretary of the
American Bible Society ; but in 1844 no allusion whatever is made
to him. It would be impossible to determine from a study of the
"Minutes" of 1844 whether he had died, withdrawn, been expelled,
become superannuate or supernumerary, located, or been trans
ferred. His name simply disappears. The explanation of which is,
that in 1844 the New York Conference did not assemble till June
12, after the adjournment of the General Conference in the same
city; but at that General Conference E. S. Janes had been made
a bishop ; and as the Conference had no further jurisdiction over
him, the secretary had no right to call his name, nor could his
character be passed upon there. It would appear, however, that
some entry should have been made to complete the account of all
who, in 1843, had received appointments at that Conference. The
custom now becoming general, of publishing the names and histo
ries in epitome of the members of the Conference at the close of
the " Minutes," and of continuing in the list the name of any mem
ber of the Conference who may have been elected bishop, will,
perhaps, cover this point. From 1844 until his death he was
engaged in the duties of the episcopal office.
When the General Conference met, in 1840, the bishops were
Robert R. Roberts, Joshua Soule, Elijah Hedding, James O. Andrew,
Beverly Waugh, Thomas A. Morris. In the interval Robert R. Roberts

Edmund Storer Janes. 313
had died, so that Joshua Soule became the senior bishop, and the
others remained the same, and signed the address to the General
Conference of 1844. At that Conference James 0. Andrew was
disqualified to act except on conditions with which he refused to
comply. Leonidas L. Hamline and Edmund Storer Janes were
elected and ordained, and the records were attested by Joshua Soule,
Elijah Hedding, Beverly Waugh, Thomas A. Morris, Leonidas L.
Hamline, and Edmund Storer Janes.
Subsequently the Church was divided, so that E. S. Janes was
the last bishop to receive the vote of the original undivided Meth
odist Episcopal Church. Soon afterward the Southern Conferences
seceded and established the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and
the senior bishop, Joshua Soule, and Bishop Andrew, went with them.
In 1852 Bishop Hedding died, in 1858 Bishop Waugh also died, and
in 1874 Bishop Morris ended his long life. In 1852 Bishop Hamline
resigned, which left- Thomas A. Morris senior bishop; but he for
many years being very infirm, and necessarily inactive, Bishop Janes
was practically the senior bishop for nearly twenty years.
The circumstances, of 'his election were remarkable. In the first
place, he was only thirty-seven years old; the youngest man ever
elected bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United
States. R. R. Roberts and James O. Andrew were thirty-eight ;
Francis Asbury, thirty-nine; and Joshua Soule thirty-nine when he
was first elected and declined, and forty-three when he was ordained.
Bishops Whatcoat and Peck were over sixty ; M'Kendree, Scott,
Thomson, Kingsley, Bowman, Harris, Foster, and Haven, were over
fifty ; and George, Hedding, Emory, Waugh, Fisk, (who declined,)
Hamline, Simpson, Ames, Clark, Wiley, Merrill, Andrews, were
over forty ; and seven of these last nearer fifty than forty. 0. C.
Baker lacked a few weeks of being forty, and T. A. Morris had
just passed his fortieth birthday. It is undoubtedly the case, whether
it bodes good or ill, that the importance attached to age in this
country, both in Church and State, as one of the essential qualifica
tions for positions of unusual responsibility, has steadily diminished ;
but the ages of the bishops elected in the Methodist Episcopal Church
for the past forty years — in fact, from the beginning — have been suf
ficiently advanced, in view of the work demanded of them. That,
19

314 Methodist Bishops.
however, at the most critical period in the history of the denomina
tion the youngest man ever elected should have been placed in that
position, is a fact worthy of special examination.
It is also true that E. S. Janes had never been a member of any
General C6nference, and was not a member of that which elected
him. The following extract from the "Journal of the General Con
ference of 1844," is also of great significance: —
First ballot for bishops : On counting the votes cast in the first ballot, it
was ascertained that no one had received a majority of all the votes. The
chair therefore announced that there was no choice. On counting the votes
in the second balloting it appeared that there was a larger number of votes
than members of Conference. . . . Dr. Capers moved that the Conference, by
a rising vote, confirm the election of Edmund S. Janes.
This did not prevail, and on the third ballot L. L. Hamline and
Edmund S. Janes were elected.
The philosophy of the election of this young man and of the
motion of Dr. Capers, the leader of the South Carolina Conference,
to elect him by acclamation, now deserves attention. The piety, pru
dence, and excellent intellectual qualities of E. S. Janes had become
widely known. As agent of Dickinson College, and as financial
secretary of the American Bible Society, he had made many per
sonal friends in the South, and in both positions there was not only
no need for him to take a partisan attitude, but it would have been
fatal to his success if he had done so. Literature and the Bible are
nonpartisan, whatever the use made of them in advocacy of special
causes. As he was not a member of the General Conference of 1844, he
had no responsible connection with the fierce and heated controver
sies that took place in that assembly, but preserved relations of
"amity and comity" with the members from all sections.
No distinctively Southern man could have been elected at that
Conference, and not more than one Northern man who took an
active part in the controversy. In times of great commotion one
leader will generally concentrate the full strength of those whom
he represents, but upon others there will be division. Hamline was
elected on the issue which he represented, but none of the other
leaders could have been. Many in the North had no objection to

Edmund Storer Janes. 315
Bishop Janes, and none in the South had. So that Dr. Capers had
it in his heart to move to make his election unanimous. This
probably caused some of the more radical of the Northern delegates
to regard E. S. Janes with suspicion. But if he had been a member
of the General Conference he would have been drawn into the
debates or would have tried to preserve a noncommittal position.
If he had attempted the latter he would have failed, and "would
have fallen to the ground between two stools." In the former case,
his youth and the bitterness of feeling excited, would have rendered
his election impossible. An attentive study of the situation leads
to the conclusion that his election resulted from his not being a
member of the General Conference, his occupying positions that
shielded him from controversy, his acquaintance with, and the high
esteem in which he was held in, the South, the desire of many to
have one bishop who would be equally acceptable North and South,
the general recognition of his fitness for the position, and the impos
sibility of alleging any thing against him.
If it be mentioned that his pre-eminent fitness alone is sufficient
to explain it, we reply that his pre-eminent fitness was then undemon-
strated ; it was rendered probable by his previous career, and though
that probability under ordinary circumstances might have led to his
election later in life, it is improbable that had he taken an active part
either in or out of the General Conference in the controversies then
raging, he would at that time have been elected one of the bishops of
the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Since that event his career has been known to the whole Church ;
and has afforded abundant material for an analysis of his intellectual
and moral endowments, as well as a delineation of his personal qual
ities. His religious character had several strongly marked features, of
which the following may be pointed out as alike obvious and es
timable. He was a man of inflexible uprightness. What he believed
to be right he did not shrink from, and his views of the right were
generally clear and consistent. He was " happy in that he condemned
not himself in the things which he allowed." His conscientiousness
appeared to be extreme, and extended to the smallest details of duty as
scrupulously as to the great outlines of moral and religious obligation.

316 Methodist Bishops.
This rendered him thoroughly reliable. Every thing he felt that
he ought to do he endeavored to do ; whatever he promised he surely
performed. He was characterized by great spirituality — we may say,
unusual spirituality ; but not of the dreamy, contemplative sort, which
at the best is but a reverie, and at the worst a delusion, but genuine
devotion that never lost sight of duty. This gave him an average
power far greater than that of those sometimes appearing, to sweep
the skies in a chariot of fire, but usually either creeping the ground
or hidden in the clouds of mysticism. He was a man of great liber
ality ; ready to give, giving both from principle and impulse. His
religion did not obstruct the flow of natural generosity, or weigh
every act of kindness ; but usually the impulse prompted the deed, and
reason interpreting Christian principle was ofttimes called in rather to
restrain than to impel. Of some it may be said, that they never give
except when duty calls ; of him it might be said, that he seldom
restrained his benevolent impulses except when duty required. He
was a man of regular religious habits and of seriousness ; and when
he prayed, he prayed for that which most absorbed him at the time,
rather than repeated an inventory of suitable petitions. Of his
intellectual qualities it may be observed that he had clearness of
perception and tenacity of grasp, two things quite different and not
always united, and it is difficult to determine whicli is the more
essential : clearness without tenacity being incompatible with energy
and influence, and tenacity without clearness degenerating into mere
brute obstinacy.
He had an indomitable will. In that respect he was a study.
With mildness of manner, softness of voice, and deep religiousness,
there was never a man more determined and persistent than he.
Growing out of this he had unsurpassed perseverance. This he illus
trated on every occasion, and none attest it more thoroughly than
those whom he befriended. A merchant now of high standing came
to New York twenty years ago poor and sick, with a family to support ;
Bishop Janes, becoming interested in him, determined to get him a
position, and did so after repeated trials. The merchant has since
informed the writer that he never saw such perseverance, and that it in
spired him with the purpose to succeed ; for if another, so pressed with
care as was Bishop Janes, could do so much for him, what should he

Edmund Storer Janes. 317
not do for himself ? His acquirements were great. We have already
spoken of his study of the law, and have now to add that during his
residence in Philadelphia he thoroughly pursued the study of med
icine, not designing practice as a physician, but for the love of
knowledge and to further qualify himself for the prosecution of his
work in the ministry. He understood the mutual helpfulness of the
professions, and knew that human nature is many-sided, and that
many maladies are not curable by either spiritual or physical medica
ments alone. His reading and acquisitions were in these fields rather
than in general literature ; although he had accumulated considerable
information in all departments of thought and action. His self-
possession certainly was unusual. If he was ever consciously em
barrassed in later years he never exposed it to the most careful
scrutiny. On one occasion he gave to the writer certain suggestions concern
ing public speaking, which depended upon the speaker's being entirely
self-possessed. On the writer's observing that those suggestions
would not be of the slightest use if the speaker lost his self-control,
Bishop Janes replied : " A minister of our Lord Jesus Christ who
means to do his duty, and has the Holy Spirit to keep him, ought
always to be self-possessed. What right has such a man to be em
barrassed ? " Once, when he was preaching in California, the lights
suddenly went out, on which the bishop remarked: "The gospel
light shineth in dark places," and went on with his discourse, the
audience remaining quiet until lights were brought. It has been
observed that men who attain such a high degree of self-control
generally pay a very high price for it, no less than the loss of oratoric
fervor — of the susceptibility of being thorougly aroused by a subject
or an occasion. But Bishop Janes retained that susceptibility to the
very last, and in his sermons, platform addresses, and debates in the
missionary and other boards with which he was connected, would
often thrill and sometimes astonish his hearers, and carry his point as
much by his fervency as by the weight of the considerations which he
submitted. He was a man of great readiness in speech ; and had a mastery of
two great elements in a perfect style, namely, simplicity and purity of
language. His most unaffected talks, stenographically reported, read

318 Methodist Bishops.
like extracts from some of the more chaste and terse of the old
English divines. In the second year of the writer's ministry he
formed the acquaintance of a lawyer noted for his critical knowledge
of the English language, who was at that time, had been for many
years, and continued for a long time, the superintendent of the board
of education in his native city. He was not a member of the Method
ist Episcopal Church, nor of any other. Said he to the author:
" What has become of that small man, a minister of your Church
who traveled through this country twenty years ago representing the
American Bible Society ? " On being told that he was then bishop, he
replied : " He spoke the purest English of all the ministers whom I
have heard. I thought his name was Janes, and knew that there was
a bishop of that name, but was not aware that he was the same. I
have always remembered him as a master of his native tongue."
He spoke extemporaneously in the Attic simplicity with which
Bishop Doane, of New Jersey, wrote; both modeled on Addison
rather than on the ponderous Johnson, or the florid speakers and
writers since so popular. The chief faults of extemporaneous speech
are extravagance, repetition, and want of proportion. It will be
conceded that the sermons and addresses of Bishop Janes were free
from these defects. He often expressed the same ideas in different
language, but not in the same sermon or address ; and when he
repeated his sermons they were never verbatim, much being added
or omitted, and the parts retained couched in other forms of speech.
He never, or very seldom, wrote his sermons, but prepared a
speech resembling a lawyer's brief. Yet that he could compose in
the best style, the " Bishops' Address to the General Conference of
1876 " abundantly shows, since, though the expression of all the bish
ops, and containing suggestions from all, it was principally, and its
composition wholly, the work of Bishop Janes. So fine a piece of
work was it, that it extorted from one of the most competent and yet
merciless critics in that body the tribute, " The finest thing he ever
did or ever will do, even if he has been incubating it for months."
He was a man of great practical sagacity, which he exhibited in
his dealing with the much-debated questions of lay delegation and
the management of the Book Concern. His judgment of measures
was, however, more generally correct than his estimate of men. In

Edmund Stqrer Janes. 319
the former he rarely failed, but in the latter he was often deceived
and imposed upon. In fact, it may be assumed that this was the
chief, perhaps the only point, where his penetration was often at
fault. As a presiding officer his abilities were of a high order, his nat
ural clearness, and legal training, fitted him for a parliamentarian.
If his somewhat autocratic temper occasionally led him to infringe
upon the prerogatives of the assembly in his desire to facilitate
the business, the moment his attention was called to it his decis
ions would 'be conformed to the strict letter of the law. Of his
industry it is only necessary to say that he kept the rules laid
down by Wesley ; he was " never unemployed," " never triflingly
employed, never remained any longer at any one place than was
strictly necessary."
We may now offer some reflections upon his views as affect
ing his discharge of his episcopal functions. He had a high esti
mate of the powers, responsibilities, duties, and prerogatives of his
office. He was in thought and feeling, yet in no bad sense,
" every inch a bishop." Coming to the position of senior bishop
in the maturity of his powers, on account of having been elected
at the age of thirty-seven, and the early retirement of L. L.
Hamline, responsibilities were early placed upon him which devel
oped a prelatical tendency, which, had it not been modified by
his unfeigned humility and genuine spirituality would have been
inharmonious with the genius of Methodism; but as it was thus
modified, the result was beneficent.
In the Roman Catholic Church he would have taken rank with
the most renowned of confessors and propagandists, for the tend
ency of his mind was to place the Church, and loyalty to- the
Church, before all human interests and passions. Ease, rest, pleas
ure, were mere words to him. He carried every detail of the
Church on his own mind ; and in his own house he was, through
the pressure of episcopal duty, " only a visitor," yet ever the most
delightful one the household entertained. His theories concerning
work would ruin many, but he carried them into practice himself.
He did not " lay burdens grievous to be borne upon other men,"
without being willing to bear as much.

320 Methodist Bishops.
The "cabinet," when he held the Conference, was no place of
ease, nor were the presiding elders able to spend much time in
society life; but to the last moment of the session he kept them
at work conscientiously comparing, adjusting, changing, in the hope
of doing just that which was, all things considered, the best thing
to be done. With all his marvelous self-possession he never could
throw off the weight of care. He recognized the fact that Meth
odism is in a state of transition; and when changes which he did
not originally approve became inevitable, instead of vainly denounc
ing the innovation, and exalting the past at the expense of the
present, he applied himself to making the most of the situation for
the Church. Thus, though not in the outset in favor of the intro
duction of laymen into the General Conference, when he saw. that
it would either prevail or be lost by a small deficiency, the latter
alternative, if it became a fact, to be followed by further agitation
and final reversal, he threw his influence powerfully in favor of the
movement, and assisted in its subsequent adjustment by friendly
and sagacious counsels.
In like manner, for many years, he doubted the expediency of
distinctive theological institutions in the Methodist Episcopal Church,
fearing that they would tend to assimilate Methodist preaching to
the cold and scholastic style formerly general in other denomina
tions, and that they might become hot-beds of heresy; but when
they were established he exhibited the liveliest interest in them,
and expressed himself gratified with their progress and influence
thus far.
The question may arise in the mind of the reader whether a
mere eulogy is designed, and not a just analysis of the man and his
work. To this it is replied that we have reserved to this part of
our sketch the impediments with which he had to contend.
His "personal appearance was weak," until long after he had
passed middle life ; he seemed to lack masculine vigor ; in fact, his
appearance would be described as effeminate. Like many others,
however, to whom this remark would apply in early life, as he grew
older he greatly increased in weight, so that for the last twenty
xyears he would not have been called a "little man," except in con
trast with some of his gigantic colleagues, nor did he wear the aspect

Edmund Storer Janes. 321
of feebleness. His voice also was weak, high pitched, and of lim
ited compass, having no natural strength in the lower tones. It
did not, therefore, counteract the impression produced by his
appearance, but intensified it. It had, however, two redeeming
qualities — it was exceedingly clear, and it was musical ; and he
had attained great distinctness of utterance, and in a quiet assem
bly, however large, he was better heard, or at least more easily
understood, than many speakers possessing sonorous voices. He
could not command a tumultuous assembly, and when in England,
on being introduced to a vast concourse in a building of rather
inferior acoustic properties, he could not make himself heard. As
is always the case in England, and often every-where, an audience
that cannot hear becomes noisy, and, after a few ineffective at
tempts to command attention, Bishop Janes took his seat. The
chairman had the courtesy to say, in a voice loud enough to be
heard a great distance, " It is not, bishop, that they do not
wish to hear you, but that they cannot hear you, that they are
uneasy." He was of a rather irritable temperament, or, if not naturally
so, his overwork and ill health had made him sensitive to inter
ruption, to blunders, and neglects by others. On one occasion, at
the close of one of the longest sessions of an Annual Conference
ever held, in which there had been much confusion and many
things to try him, and in which he had shown that he was greatly
tried, he said, just before reading the appointments, that "he had
endeavored to transact the business thoroughly', and to possess his
soul with patience, and if he had failed in any degree he begged
the Conference to believe that nothing incompatible with Christian
love was allowed to dwell in his heart ; but that a constitution now
systematically overworked for a quarter of a century, gave him
much to contend with." For many years he was a very sick man,
yet he gave himself no rest, and it is wonderful that he controlled
himself to the degree he did. To the sustaining grace of God
he attributed it; and that, no doubt, taken in connection with his
exceeding conscientiousness and native good sense, and his high
regard for propriety, is its explanation.
¦Bishop Janes was a grave man, but he was ordinarily a cheerful

322 Methodist Bishops.
man, and by no means destitute of a sense of humor. The writer
once heard him say to a class of candidates for admission into full
connection with the Conference: "Brethren, if people sleep under
your preaching it is your fault. Interest -them and they will keep
awake." But one of his colleagues, infirm and just returned from a
long journey, was at that moment in the pulpit behind him, asleep.
In the "cabinet" that afternoon he was told of the coincidence.
He enjoyed it very much, and one of the presiding elders said that
many times afterward he would smile and say, "Well, the bishop
was asleep, was he? The young men must have thought that
my doctrine was not sound, or that I gave them a precept without
practice." The influence of Bishop Janes on the whole Church was deeply
religious. He had a profound sense of the reality of revealed religion,
and he impressed it upon all whom he met. He exerted a special influ
ence on the ministry. He was never light, never extravagant ; there
was nothing of the "pulpit jester" in him. His piety was never
questioned, and he was never accused of worldliness. Every-where
he went he promoted the real interests of the Church. He had both
knowledge and grace. His goodness elevated his intellect, and his
intellectual qualities gave a peculiar luster to his unaffected piety.
Considering the agitated condition of the Church when he was
elected one of its "superintendents," and its immediate disruption,
and the " troublous times " that followed, we may thankfully adore
the wisdom of God in his selection.
His domestic life' was unusually happy, though his work as bishop
for many years greatly interfered with his enjoyment of home. He
married Miss Charlotte Thibou, a lady of refinement and piety, in
every way adapted to promote his happiness and usefulness. Their
children were four in number, three daughters, of whom one, Matilda,
died in the peace of God at the age of sixteen ; another, Charlotte, is
the wife of the Rev. Charles E. Harris, of the New York East Con
ference ; and the third, Miss Sarah E. Janes, remained with her
parents until they died ; and one son, the Rev. Lewis T. Janes, now
preaching in the West.
The family lived simply, in comfort, but without display. The
z'ichest and the poorest of his guests could sit in his parlor or at his

Edmund Storer Janes. 323
table without the former seeing any thing to criticise as defective, or
the latter led "to suspect the host of extravagance or worldly-minded-
ness. In this respect his example might with propriety be followed
not only by all ministers, but by all the members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church whose means would allow the moderate expendi
tures which he made. His financial affairs toward the end of his
life were affected by the generally depressed condition of the country,
and he died before the return of prosperity.
Mrs. Janes, after a most painful sickness of eleven months, died
on the 18th of August, 1876. This event made a profound impres
sion on the already greatly weakened constitution of Bishop Janes,
and " about a month after, returning from the Book Room to his
house, he was seized with his last illness." The writer was among
those who reverently gazed upon him as he lay in his usual attire,
slowly and painlessly dying. No change had taken place in his ap
pearance, and it seemed as if he must open his eyes, and ask his usual
questions : " How are you, my brother, and how is your ministry
prospering ? " But he never spoke again.
It is almost superfluous to ask how such a man died. There was
but one way for him to die. Having lived the fife of the righteous,
his "last end was like his." For him to express himself satisfied,
or to say, as he is reported to have said, "I am not disappointed,"
is superior to all the flights of fancy which have made some death
beds celebrated, and furnished materials for glowing description in
speech and song.
It is, indeed, a pleasant thing to hear from the lips of a dying
friend words of triumph and encouragement, to be relieved from the
necessity of trying to strengthen the timid, and to find our own grief
diminished by the vivid delineations which the departing give of the
visions which open before them. How fondly we recall their " last
words ! " But it is far better to have a whole life of piety to remem
ber than to be dependent on death-bed conversations for evidence
either that our friends love us or that they love our Lord and Saviour.
Bishop Janes had expressed his views of death and of the future state
on many occasions, to the great comfort of those who had been
bereaved, and his piety visibly deepened as his years declined toward
the tomb, so that with much less exaggeration than is often seen, it

324 Methodist Bishops.
may be said that his life and death furnish an illustration of God's
word, " Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright : for the end of
that man is peace."
And the Methodist Episcopal Church will long cherish his
memory. "As, in the heavens, the urns divine
Of golden light forever shine ;
Though clouds may darken, storms may rage,
They still shine on from age to age ;
"So, through the oceau-tide of years,
The memory of the just appears :
So, through the tempest and the gloom,
The good man's virtues light the tomb."

OlfE OF THE BISHOP 5 OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Osmon Cleander Baker.

A MODERN critic has said: "He who leaves a useful idea to
posterity leaves a legacy." But the richest bequest ever left
by man to his survivors is a strong and spotless character. As the
present is born of the past, it may be safely said that our chief
inheritance of good and evil has come to us, under God's arrange
ment, from our predecessors.
It is the chief purpose of biography to encourage this transfer
from age to age of all that should repeat itself in society, and to stop,
as far as possible, all currents that corrupt the popular mind and
morals. Such is the mission of the modern press ; and if true to its
high and holy calling, what speedy and powerful revolutions would
be wrought in commerce, politics, and literature !
All who, like the writer, would contribute their item to such an
object, find their work beset with neither few nor small difficulties.
To read and delineate character correctly is as difficult as it is re
sponsible. Perversion, through ignorance or prejudice, seems almost
inevitable. A sound judgment, a critical taste, and unyielding integ
rity, alone can be trusted. A translator is expected to reproduce
his original with no dazzling ornaments added. It is the pride of
many scholars that they have completed their knowledge .of the Iliad
by translating it.
It were no small nor unworthy aspiration to imbibe the spirit
and character of a Homer; but if the present writer and reader
may hope to approach the noble character of the subject of this
fragmentary biography, it would be " a consummation most devoutly
to be wished."
When I was a boy, perhaps in 1833, I heard my father ask our
circuit minister : " Have you in your Church any young man com
ing on who will fill the place of Dr. Fisk when he is gone ? " " Yes,
sir," was the prompt reply, " we have a young man in college now,

328 Methodist Bishops.
Osmon Oleander Baker, who bids fair (if he takes a good course)
to become his equal." From that day our youthful curiosity fol
lowed the subject of this writing.
Osmon Oleander Baker was born in Marlow, N. H., July 30,
1812, and was the son of Dr. Isaac and Abigail Baker, who were
persons of piety and more than ordinary culture. Without great afflu
ence, competency, comfort, and quiet refinement gave character to
the happy household. Osmon was the youngest of three sons, with
two sisters, also older. His Boyhood and Youth
Exhibited nothing remarkable except the quiet refinement and mod
est bearing that he showed all through his ripe manhood. Rev.
Eleazer Smith, of the New Hampshire Conference, a life-long com
panion, speaks of him at four years of age as a beautiful boy,
bashful, modest, and manly, of an excellent disposition, and disin
clined to great activity in either work or play.
Beyond the common school advantages Osmon, while young, at
tended more or less on the Chesterfield Academy. His parents be
came Christians in 1826, and became acquainted with Rev. Dr. Fisk
only a short time before he took charge of the Wilbraham Academy.
In Dr. Fisk's association with Dr. Baker's family young Osmon
attracted his attention. And when the doctor went into Wilbraham
Academy he took with him his promising young friend. Dr. Fisk
and other efficient fathers in our Church looked after the coming man.
Here, in 1828, being about sixteen years of age, yet unconverted,
he was duly enrolled a student at Wilbraham. In the boarding-house
there, March 14, 1828, he records his happy conversion to Christ, and
was baptized by Dr. Fisk on April 13th, and joined the Methodist
Episcopal Church on probation the next day. The day after his
reception into the Church, two days after his baptism, he speaks of
receiving " a great blessing at Stony Hill."
After his conversion he commenced a diary, which is very regular
and full. Notwithstanding the narrow limit of this article, we shall
quote sufficiently to show the mind, character, and habits of the man,
and how tliey were formed. From the first to the last stroke of his
pen, the ruling feeling shown is a longing desire for more grace, and

Osman Oleander Baker. 329
a deeper religious experience. He seemed to comprehend at once the
most exalted view of Christian growth and maturity. Scarcely a
date or record that does not breathe this strong desire, and restless
ness with all that he saw before him as his duty and privilege.
But he was singularly free from all cant, or technicalities about the
degrees of his religious attainments. Yet his standard was high and
pre-eminently scriptural.
He followed his studies in the academy for some time before
any indications occur in his diary of any plan for future work.
This is first shown by his frequent allusions, though incidental and
very brief, to " the theolog'ical class," in such expressions as these :
" The theological class met to-night at Dr. Fisk's ; " " Felt the press
ure of God at the theological class this evening;" "A. B. joined
the theological class this ' evening," etc., etc. Very little he says
about the purposes or exercises of this class while he remained at
Wibraham. The most that can be gathered from his unsatisfactory
allusions to it is, that nothing but the most primary and general
exercises were had. No recitations are spoken of; but doctrinal
discussions, and plans of sermons, or an essay for the " New England
Herald," are spoken of in the class. It evidently met only weekly,
and in the evening.
Quite early in his Christian experience he shows a careful inquiry
into the doctrines of Scripture. To this field of thought the noble
Fisk turned the attention of his Christian young men. As early as
May 26, 1829, it is recorded in his diary : " Conversed to-day with
my roommate upon unconditional election. To my mind there is
nothing in the Scriptures or in reason to support his views." At
another time he says : " Brother Hamilton conversed with my chum
on doctrine. O that he might be dug from the mire of Calvinism !
The more I examine that system the more I see its deformity and
inconsistency." He speaks afterward of writing on that doctrine, by
appointment of the class, for the " New England Herald."
Much of the larger portion of his journal relates to personal and
experimental religion. He seems almost afraid to allude to any thing
else, and feels so rebuked when he does, that he drops it in the
shortest way he can. He frequently refers to the hinderances to his
own growth in piety. He says : " Some of the young converts are

330 Methodist Bishops.
very much cast down; they are so much addicted to laughter and
lightness of mind." To this subject he often recurs. He laments
almost continually his own free disposition to laughter; and often
attributes his lack of spirituality and comfort to this cause. Loud
laughter he thought was wicked. Judged by the present common
standard of Christian judgment, even, his conscience on this point
was morbid. For smiling, even, he condemned himself. Many times
he refers to it in his diary, in one year. Then and there, we judge,
he trained himself to his future habit of laughing without noise. His
nature was cheerful and kind. Keen and chaste wit he greatly en
joyed, and even repartee ; but he seldom perpetrated a joke or
encouraged mirthfulness. Our acquaintance with his ripe manhood,
has not suggested to us, as his journal has, that his great reserve and
quietness were so largely the result of his early, continued, and
severe discipline. Yet in after years he grew more liberal with
himself on this subject, and no doubt smiled at his early asceticism.
To be sober was cardinal in his practical theology; and if others
tempted him to smile, he would go away to long agonies of prayer.
But he gives us no clue to the origin of this singular conviction of
his. He records, July 30, 1829 : "This day, I am seventeen years old."
Up to this time he has spoken often of " the theological class," doctrinal
discussions, sketch writing, talking in social meetings in the seminary,
and neighborhood ; but no word has been dropped about the ministry,
except this brief minute, June 21, 1829 : " I have been in some
agitation this afternoon and evening about preaching and exhorting.
I wish to know and do my duty. I do not wish to be set about the
work by the devil, who, doubtless, influences many to take the work
of the ministry upon them when they are not called of God. O
that God would direct me aright in all things ! "
In August, 1829, he shows great anxiety and trouble of mind
about preaching and going to college. Went into the pulpit for the
first time, September 6, 1829, in his native town, with Brothers Fay
and Tenny. He says he " went with trembling steps ; but had con
siderable liberty in exhorting and praying." September 16 he
started again for Wilbraham, with this remark: "Some think I had
better enter the old Methodist College (the itinerant ministry) and

Osmon Oleander Baker. 331
complete my education there." Five days later, he adds : " Com
menced to-day my studies in the languages." But all this time he
is filled with great hungerings for more grace and deeper piety.
December 13, 1829 : " This morning went with Brother Jason
Lee to Springfield Plains, and spoke to the people from Lamentations
iii, 27, ' It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.' I
was quite well prepared for speaking, and enjoyed considerable liberty.
Spoke about three-quarters of an hour. Before I went I was full of
fear and doubt; but after I had spoken my heart enjoyed a calm
peace. This is the first time I ever attempted to speak from a text.
I have many temptations about preaching; but I am determined to
serve the Lord, even if I have to preach the gospel."
December 25, 1829, we find this minute : " Theological class met
this evening. Dr. Fisk asked the minds of the brethren about grant
ing Brothers Patten, Hill, and myself, exhorter's license, though we
had not applied. We were recommended."
In a crisis hour of his life, December 29, 1829, he writes thus :
" This evening prayed in the family, but did not have quite my usual
liberty, and this laid the foundation for many trials. It has been
a day of trials and afflictions in meditating upon preaching. This
evening I walked out, and reflecting upon this subject as I traversed
the lonely fields, my reasonings were as follows : I have not the gifts
of expression which some have, and I think that this is my greatest
obstruction. But yet, I say, if it is the will of God that I should
preach I will do so. But then the conclusion seems to be this : if my
utterance was perfect, then I should not consider my present con
victions as sufficient evidence of my call. And, again, if I was
in reality called of God to preach the gospel, I should have clearer
evidence of it than I now have ; therefore, the difficulty of com
munication should not be a hinderance. Again, if all things were
perfect, then there would be no growth in abilities. These things
troubled my mind to such an extent that it was with much
difficulty that I could study. I have conversed considerably upon
this subject with Brothers Patten and Hill. I have been tempted to
give up my religion, or to go to New Hampshire. But yet I am
resolved to serve the Lord. I am sensible it has hurt my enjoyment,
and that I do not stand as high in Christian experience as I have
20

332 Methodist Bishops.
done. This evening Dr. Fisk preached in the hall concerning the
witness ^of the Spirit. After meeting, my chum and myself got into
the spirit of laughter. O that I might have control over myself
through grace ! "
January 1, 1830, his journal states : " This evening the theological
class met in No. 3. After prayer, Brothers Patten, Hill, and myself,
received license to hold prayer and exhortation meetings in the Meth
odist Episcopal Church, signed by David Kilburn, presiding elder, in
behalf of the Quarterly Conference of Wilbraham Circuit." Before
this, however, he had prepared and delivered many discourses which
he deemed unworthy to be called sermons.
Just at this point a little of his experience will be read with in
terest and profit : " This afternoon I have been writing on Solomon's
Song, ii, 16. It is my practice to write my discourses before I deliver
them. Neither nature nor grace have given me the happy art of
doing things as some can, without deep thought and research, and 'this
I can do best on paper. ... If a person who is called of God does
not have his mind dwell on the subject before he speaks, then I am
not called." Very much like this not a few young men have been
heard to talk, since the commencement of young Baker to preach. To
any soul who may read this we commend a subsequent fragment of his
experience. Sabbath, January 31, 1829, he had, with a brother, an appointment
to preach in an adjoining town. But he says : " My colleague, Brother
Lee, had gone to B. to hold a meeting, and the whole appointment lay
upon my own shoulders. Some of my brethren (especially Brother P.)
had led me to suppose that they would bear half the burden. Yet this
morning it so happened that it was not thought desirable for P. to go
with me. Brother W. also declined on account of some things which
he thought an ample excuse. Brother H. (my chum) declined for want
of a disposition. Thus was I brought into the strait. I argued the
case very zealously, as I had prepared but one discourse, and as I had
written all my discourses previously. My courage failed not ; and I
was determined to go and do the best I could, and trust in the Lord.
As I had a few skeletons written, I took one of them, on 2 Peter
iii, 18, and started for my appointment. I prepared and arranged my
first discourse, on Peter, while I was traveling, in the best manner I

Osmon Oleander Baker. 333
could in my present circumstances. The meeting commenced, and I
had good liberty. From these mercies of God I learn to trust in
him in all things, knowing that God will stand by his word, and that
I should be more fully engaged in his service:"
At this point of his diary is a note of reference to a comment oi
his on this matter nine years later, in these words : " In the morning
[in the unwritten discourse] I felt more liberty in declaring the truth
than I did in the afternoon. Thus my confidence in myself was
increased ; and from that day to the present my public exercises have
been extemporaneous." Let timid young men who lack faith in
themselves and in God go and do likewise; but, "prepare and
arrange," as he did, without dependence on paper.
His hard struggle with temptation, and his deep experience, are
well set forth in the following : " This morning, before meeting, I
was disconsolate — felt I was cast off by my brethren. In meeting
held a long conversation with the adversary, and felt no good result
ing from it. It appeared some of the time that the jaws of hell were
clinched around me. And, by tracing back effects to causes, I find
why it is so. The fault is wholly in me. It flows from pride and
unwillingness to do duty, running round the cross, and a distrust of
God. These things ought not so to be. It appears that I cannot,
neither would it be best for me, to do any thing in our public meet
ings, unless God has sanctified my soul wholly. I look around, and
there are not many who profess this blessing. If they live the
blessing of justification without striving for full salvation, I am sensi
ble that I cannot. I have written for that blessing ; I have exhorted
publicly ; I have contended in private conversation for it ; I have in
some degree lived for it ; but, alas, I have not believed for full and
perfect salvation. ... I cannot live without a sanctified heart. The
devil attacks me on every hand — preaching, sanctification, etc., etc.
But, after all, I rest in hope." Thus the convert and feeble Christian
can see how the great and good of other times have struggled with
Satan, and with the same doubts and fears they now suffer.
At another time he speaks of a terrible temptation about " a re
vised Epicurean system," — the origin of the material world — the
pleasures and the troubles of the imagination ; but in every successive
assault, with the simplicity of a child, he sought refuge only in prayer

334 Methodist Bishops.
and holy trust. His childhood education had most thoroughly taught
him the subordination of all things to the Supreme Ruler of the
universe, from which no storms of Satanic rage could shake him.
The spirit of his school-boy days, and the cast of his mind, are well
indicated in the following extract from his journal, March 18, 1829 :
" This evening there was a prayer-meeting held in the dining hall.
During prayer time divine worship was seriously disturbed by the
irreverent responses of one of the students. After rising from our
knees Brother L. turned to him and addressed him in the following
words : ' Thou child of the devil ; thou limb of Satan ; thou firebrand
of hell ; thinkest thou that we cannot discern between the voice of
the sheep and of the goats ? ' The propriety of using such language
in a religious meeting I very much question. Yet, perhaps, I may
gain some wisdom by noting the effects which this produced." Here
is seen the gentle, cautious, but analectic cast of his mind.
He took much interest, and spent much time, both while at Wil
braham and at Middletown, in holding social meetings, and in visiting
and preaching in adjoining towns and neighborhoods : so much so
that Dr. Fisk remarked that it somewhat retarded his studies. Yet
he expressed no wish to have him do less of that work. The doctor
understood and believed in practical education.
We have now sufficiently opened to the reader's mind, especially
to the young minister, the history and character of young Baker's
early years ; before his great life work was either commenced or fully
determined upon. His was a boyhood that all young persons, par
ticularly young men, can safely and profitably study.
After this date he records great struggles and great doubts about
his duty. He especially felt himself, at times, called to preach ; but
his health and voice were weak and his lungs not strong. Then, too,
with many kind and appreciative words from friends about his early
efforts at preaching, he had received, as it was best he should, some
pointed criticisms, which had the effect to shake his confidence in his
call. One decided criticism which he had heard of, came from a
brother who, to his face, had complimented his sermons. This greatly
shocked his pure and unsophisticated mind.
About going to college, also, he was in doubt. " My feelings," he
says, June 21, 1830, " have been quite averse to entering college. I

Osmon Oleander Baker. 335
am afraid if I enter I shall lose my religion, and consequently, my
soul. The Lord direct! . . . When I look toward the college it
appears to me that I could not live so holy, as I might in traveling a
circuit. I never saw a person who, in time of college studies, was
shining in gospel purity." July 12, 1830 : " Conversed with Dr. Fisk
upon my present and future course. It is his mind that I enter col
lege. ... I am doubtful concerning duty about college. It appears
to me that should I commence traveling at present, I should preach
all I know in once going around the circuit ; so that a famine of the
bread of life would so evidently ensue, that it might in truth be said,
Ovtwc ispevc ovrug Xaog. Later he says, " I am at a great loss to know
what course to pursue in reference to my future life. I have a thou
sand plans suggested to my mind, but none of them perfectly suit me.
I have about entirely given up the idea of ever entering the ministry.
My constitution is weak, and particularly my lungs. When I enjoy
tolerable health my lungs do not trouble me in ordinary business, but
when I attempt to preach they fail me." Soon after this he adds :
" I have been considering the propriety of commencing the study of
medicine. I desire the sanction of Heaven upon my course. Life is
so short and important, that I wish to have it well improved. May
Wisdom divine guide me aright in all things ! " fie did commence
the study of anatomy, not knowing, he said, whether he should ever
use it ; and three years after he entered college he was not fully
settled about his calling in life. Query : Was this setting back of his
religious life in college — this doubt and hesitation for three years of
college life — the result of what he feared three years before, if he
went to college ? We have looked carefully to find in his journal
while in college some expression of happy disappointment of his fears
as to its religious influences, but have looked in vain. Therefore we
are left, from his experience on this subject, to the conclusion that
more than forty years since, as we judge it is now, the religious influ
ence of our seminaries was much greater than that of the college.
That there is the least necessity for this presumed state of things in
college we have no idea. Why, then, is it allowed to exist, if it does
exist ? and if it does not, how comes it to be the impression and testi
mony of the students who pass through both seminaries and colleges ?
October 6, 1830, he makes this record : " Started in the stage this

336 Methodist Bishops. i
morning at half past six o'clock, with Brother Patten, for Middletown,
Connecticut, by the request of my parents and friends and the candid
advice of the preachers and brethren, and the corresponding feelings
of my own heart. I have started for the college grove."
But his journal does not seem so full during his college course as
while he was in the seminary. He treats mostly of his religious expe
riences, and touches lightly and seldom his studies or other outside
matters. In his sophomore year he was appointed class-leader in college, and
seems to have been faithful and useful therein, continually expressing
desires for a full salvation, as had been the case with him from the
day of his conversion.
In March, 1831, he speaks of a great baptism of the Spirit on him
self and others in a prayer-meeting. Some of them found themselves
" prostrate on the floor." Toward the latter part of the course he
writes : " I have been seeking sanctification ; and because I did not
obtain it, felt sometimes discouraged, or permitted a stupid frame of
mind to take possession of me. I have been striving to pray for grace
to live now. Sanctification will not give us a stock of grace which
will be inexhaustible, and always support us : it will only enable us to
give the whole soul to God continually, and live in the flames of love."
Osmon exhibited from his earliest experience remarkably clear and
correct views of Scripture doctrines and Christian morality. His con
science was well informed, and very authoritative. He observed a
weekly fast, living by simple, strict, and uniform rules. When
Paley's "Evidences," as a text-book, was introduced as a Monday
morning recitation, with either the requirement or the habit of pre
paring the lesson on the Sabbath, he left this wholesome minute on
the subject : " I think I shall not study in this manner any more on
the Sabbath. I would rather leave college than be bound to prepare
any collegiate study on the Sabbath." And during our acquaintance
with him, of more than thirty-five years, we never saw his conscience
toned lower than this on any point of Christian morality.
Nothing more need be said to indicate the elements and formation
of Bishop Baker's character. His later modes or habits of life, and
the noble work he did for Christ and the Church, only remain to be
considered.

Osmon Oleander Baker. 337
His Mature Life and Character.
He left college on account of illness a little before he had com
pleted his course of study, but finished it afterward, and took the
second degree with his class.
Soon after this he married Miss Mehitabel Perley, of Lempster,
N. H., who was of excellent parentage, culture, and consistent piety.
They mutually understood and appreciated each other. The happi
ness of their domestic life was unclouded, save by the shadows that
death threw over them in the removal of three beautiful and promis
ing children.
Bishop Baker appreciated and loved his friends, taking great pleas
ure in their company, and in entertaining them. In idle gossip he had
no interest; but all educational, religious, and ecclesiastical subjects
shared his close attention, and drew out all the life, sympathy, and
energy of his great soul. That portion of society interested in such
subjects was drawn toward him, and not to be disappointed. His bus
iness or financial ability, also, was known and appreciated by his best
acquaintances ; and in the city of his longest residence, Concord, he
held office in one or more of the banks. His counsels were widely
sought in financial matters by his numerous acquaintances, as well as
by the clergymen and societies around him. And it is quite safe to
say, that seldom, if ever, was a Church or a friend injuriously involved
in business matters who strictly followed his advice.
The most striking peculiarities of his mind were clearness, precis
ion, and quickness. In clothing his thoughts with language he was
not as ready and rapid as many, but singularly accurate. He seldom
changed a word or mended an expression. Thoughts were conceived
more rapidly than they were uttered. The whole situation he com
prehended at a glance ; but spoke with deliberation. The result was,
few mistakes or occasions to " mend his translation."
His feelings, as his thoughts, were quick and sensitive. His love
and sympathy, his sorrow and disappointment, were as quickly appar
ent as his far-reaching perception. If he ever exhibited anger we
never saw or heard of it. Sudden and unexpected opposition he
seemed powerless to resist; but with the artlessness of a child .he
looked around for some one to assist him. Once, in his strong man
hood, we saw him by a sudden and unprovoked assault completely

338 Methodist Bishops.
thrown. It was on the floor of his own Conference. The assault was
uncalled for, and by a life-long friend ; but sudden and rough. He was
struck dumb. His perfect rectitude was apparent at once to all ; but
the surprise unfitted him to state clearly his own case. The shock was
too much for his exquisite nervous system. We never, before or after,
saw him under a guerrilla fire. That was not his mode of warfare.
The highest order of thought and the most perfect refinement of
feeling constituted his realm of action. He was at his ease nowhere else.
When the Newbury Seminary was opened, in 1834, the year after
he left college, he was elected professor ; Rev. Charles Adams, princi
pal. In this capacity he served the Church in faithful and modest
toil for five years, when, on the resignation of Principal Adams, he
was elected to fill that position, with Rev. C. T. Hinman as his first
professor. Five years he remained principal of the institution. As a
teacher he was most remarkable for his clearness, conciseness, and
lively interest. He read his pupils at once through and through, and,
without comment on them, he set himself to develop them as best he
could. And with what success hundreds have pleasant recollections.
These ten years of continuous instruction imparted to his pulpit
style in after life something of the easy, cool, and precise manner of
the professor's chair, as distinguished from a declamatory style. As a
disciplinarian he was of few words, mild, firm, and uniform. His
pupils all loved him, for, on thorough acquaintance, they never failed
to discover, beneath his peculiar reticence, the uniform and tender
sympathy of an unselfish soul. Those who saw but little of him, and
that at a distance, knew him not at all. He had not the faculty of
easily and readily forming acquaintances. The seminary was pros
perous under his care, and the board of trustees, as well as the pupils,
greatly lamented his resignation.
But the ministry was the great object of his desire, as well as of
his admiration. Being already a member of the New Hampshire
Conference, he asked, in 1844, for a pastoral appointment. After
having been stationed at Rochester and Elm-street, Manchester, he
was, by the unanimous and urgent request of the preachers, appointed
presiding elder on the Dover district. Greatly beloved by his preach
ers and official members, we are of opinion that this was one of the
happiest years of his life.

Osmon Oleander Baker. 339
Before his first year on the district expired he was elected professor
in the General Biblical Institute, which had just been removed from
Newbury, Vt., and located, as a separate and independent institution,
at Concord, N. H. He was doubtful about accepting. He was happy
on his district, and his preachers clung to him. But then, on the
other hand, he had been an early and chief mover in originating a
Methodist theological school, now, for the first, taking form. He was
urged to accept, and did so, with Rev. John Dempster, D.D., and
Rev. Charles Adams as his associate professors, followed by Rev.
S. M. Vail, D.D., Rev. David Patten, D.D., and Rev. J. W. Merrill,
D.D. It was said in the board of trustees that elected the first faculty
at Concord, " Professor Baker has done more to organize and give
shape to this new institution than any other man ; and he is now
looked to as one of the chief men to fashion its future."
Here he became more widely known and appreciated. No student
in that school ever left without carrying with him for life more or less
of Professor Baker's impressions. A more detailed account of how he
made that strong impression on the pupils, we think, would be of
much service to our present and future theological professors, as
his methods were largely different from others with which we are ac
quainted. Our limits forbid any thing but a word or two in that direc
tion. Aside from his regular recitations, he spent much time with his
pupils in hearing and criticising plans of sermons, their arrangement,
doctrines, delivery, language, grammar, rhetoric, and elocution. This,
too, he long practiced in the Conference Seminary at Newbury, and is
what should to-day be practiced in all our Conference seminaries. In
these exercises he breathed hope and courage into the timid, took the
conceit out of the vain, rounded off the rough corners of the unpolished,
and tore out by the root those unconscious bad habits of the other
wise promising ones, which hindered their rising to a higher plane of
popular usefulness. These criticisms were always in the most gentle
spirit, and in respectful language, but with the most unbending fidelity.
Surprise and grief sometimes followed, but tears of joy and gratitude
were the final results. The pupils were allowed to see their good and
strong points, as well as made to feel their bad and weak ones.
In the institute he prepared and delivered to each class an exten
sive course of lectures on " Clerical Manners and Habits." These

340 Methodist Bishops.
should have been published long since. They are exhaustive and
invaluable, not for young ministers only, but for all young persons.
He says, in his introduction to them : " I shall descend to the minutest
particulars, and shall comment on the several topics with plainess and
severity." The following are some of the topics of the lectures :
" Clerical Manners and Habits : — In the pulpit — Gesture — Voice —
In the family — Visiting with his family — The pastor's horse — The
pastor in the street — The pastor receiving presents — Conversation —
Political — At the table — In the parlor — Pastoral visitation — Manner
of introducing religion — The infidel — The backslider — Visiting the
rich — Visiting the poor — Visiting the sick — Visiting enemies — Visit
ing other denominations — Conversing with strangers," etc., etc. One
of these lectures, on " Conversation," has forty-three points or sugges
tions. They are all replete with incident and illustration. Our young
clerical readers with good habits of composition will receive some
idea of this course of lectures, by filling up in their imaginations the
following outline of the first lecture on the topic : " The Minister in
the Pulpit. Never hurry or bustle along the aisles to the pulpit as
if on a wager. Rev.  fell, running up the pulpit steps. Never
survey the congregation as you ascend the pulpit stairs. Never sit
carelessly in the pulpit. Do not squint about, as if counting the con
gregation. Rev.  turns his whole body as if to see who is behind
a pillar or stove-pipe. Do not spring or leap up in the pulpit, but rise
slowly and solemnly. Assume no airs. Avoid all singular movements.
Rev.  was supposed to have the St. Vitus' dance. Do not flourish
or play with pocket-handkerchief, or thrust it into improper places.
Avoid all unnecessary movements in the pulpit. Make no unnecessary
noise, hemming or coughing. Rev.  used to hem at the close of
every sentence," etc., etc.
During the five years he spent in the Biblical Institute he per
formed a vast amount of literary labor, of which his most intimate
friends had no knowledge until after his death. Looking over his
manuscripts, which he left unpublished, we find among the many :
" The Life of Augustine," " The Birth and Childhood of our Lord,"
"Exegesis of the Acts of the Apostles," "Exegesis of the Epistles,"
with many and able dedication and ordination sermons, missionary
addresses, etc.

Osmon Oleander Baker. 341
During his visit to Kansas, California, and Oregon, early in his epis
copal duties, he wrote and published a series of full and able letters
descriptive of those portions of the country, and especially of our do
mestic and Indian missions. When he had the episcopal supervision of
our China and Indian missions he published in " Zion's Herald " very
extensive and minute accounts of those missions. These letters will
be valuable some time in making up the history of our vast missionary
work. It is proper to notice how this quiet and undemonstrative man was
so suddenly, and to many unexpectedly, raised to the highest position
of honor and trust in the Church.
It was not until 1 848, when he was first elected a delegate to the
General Conference, held in Pittsburgh, that he began to be known
beyond the bounds of his own Conference. Nor did he then, or sub
sequently, make any marked impression abroad, as he had a constitu
tional aversion to all public demonstrations. Plis influence was at once
felt, however, on several important committees. Still it was essentially
true, that his name and influence went abroad from New England
through his friends at home. He never, up to this time, made for
himself any special reputation abroad, as he traveled but little, and
had written comparatively nothing for the press.
It was his strong and growing home reputation that first suggested
his name as a suitable, and then as a probable, candidate for the epis
copacy. Hence it was not strange that when, prior to the General
Conference of 1852, his name was used in connection with the office,
and it became known that the first choice of New England for bishop
would probably be Professor O. C. Baker, the inquiry at once arose,
" Who is this Professor Baker, of New Hampshire ? " Most of his
writings for the press up to that time had been to aid in the establish
ment of a theological school, and in that he had been mostly personally
unknown. At the General Conference of 1852, held in Boston, he was elected
bishop on the same ballot with Dr. Scott, Dr. Simpson, and Dr. Ames.
. And though he knew his name had been mentioned in that connection,
and that some of his New England friends would probably vote for
him, yet his election was evidently a surprise to him. After his elec
tion, and before his ordination, he sought a private interview with the

342 Methodist Bishops.
writer, during a long and lonely walk, to ask advice whether or not
he should accept the office. His own mind was evidently undeter
mined as to his duty. He exhibited the deepest and most prayerful
solicitude. The editor of " Zion's Herald," Dr. A. Stevens, on the occasion of
his election, says of him : " Like Dr. Ames, he is round and blooming
with health. His features present a very interesting expression. There
is a manifest modesty about them. You would take him to be incapa
ble of any discourtesy, however slight or sudden, of any egotism or
obtrusion. His head is large and intellectual ; his eyes of hazel color,
and protected by spectacles; his nose is prominent, and his mouth
large and expressive of generosity. His brethren have shown their
confidence in him by two elections to the General Conference, and by
electing him secretary of his own Conference for quite a number of
years. An occasional sermon, and a Sabbath-school gift-book, 'The
Last Witness,' are all the books he has published. He has a volume
in manuscript to which we have occasionally alluded. It is entitled,
' The Methodist Preacher's Hand-Book.' We hope it may be pub
lished before long. Bishop Baker is a thorough Greek scholar, a rare
instructor, and noted among us for his familiar acquaintance with the
Methodist economy. His place in our biblical school cannot be easily
filled. New England feels not only satisfied, but honored in his
election." The spirit of the man as well as his delicate modesty are shown in
the brief and unpretentious address he gave before the New Hamp
shire Conference over which he first presided : —
Dear Brethren — It is not expected, I presume, that I should make any ex
tended remarks to you on the opening of this session ; but as my name is about
to be stricken from your roll, I cannot allow the erasure to be made without a
passing remark. It is now about thirteen years that my name has been as
sociated with this body ; and with some of these venerable men it has been my
happiness to hold intercourse for more than a score of years. It is not strange,
therefore, that in severing those relations my heart should he deeply moved.
The kindness and affection which my brethren have ever shown me, I cordially
appreciate, and I take this opportunity to express to them my grateful acknowl
edgment. My connection with them has been every way most grateful to my
feelings. There has been but one consideration which has marred my pleasure;
in accepting those offices and laboring in those fields where my brethren have

Osmon_ Oleander Baker. 343
placed me, I have always felt that I did not bear my share of toil and suffering
with them.
In accepting my present office, I trust that no unworthy motives influenced
me. If there is honor connected with the office, I liave not sought it, and
lightly esteem it. I liave been happy in my work — iu the ordinary duties of my
calling as a Methodist preacher. I am happy in my domestic relations, but if I
am called to toil, privations, and sufferings for Christ, why should I claim ex
emption? I have seen too much of the goodness of the Lord to withhold from
his cause any service which I can render. I enter upon my work trusting in the
arm of God, and relying upon the indulgence and aid of my brethren, and con
secrating to Christ all the powers of my being.
We have assembled, my brethren, to consult upon the most important inter
est of the Church of Christ. Our action will have a most important bearing
upon the interest of religion in this State during the coming year, and, perhaps,
during the distant ages of futurity. I trust, therefore, that we have come
together with prayerful hearts, looking to God for divine guidance. May the
great Head of the Church shine upon all our counsels. Let us cherish the deep
est sentiments of affection for each other, and endeavor to promote, as far as
we are able, the cause of Christ among us.
For the episcopal office he seemed to combine almost every de
sirable quality. With a perfectly balanced judgment, great sympathy,
a quick and tender conscience, delicacy and refinement of feeling,
with ease and dignity in the chair, he was a superior presiding and
cabinet officer. None were his superiors in parliamentary law and
usage. Hence, without hurry or confusion, he was ready and rapid
in dispatching business.
Some unknown writer who was present at the first Conference
over which he presided, speaks thus of him in " Zion's Herald : " He
is so calm and dignified, so deliberate and judicious, that you would
not think him new, were you unacquainted with the fact. Indeed,
there is hardly friction enough about him to make you feel that he
has not yet been used. You insensibly forget to extend that kind of
sympathy which you suppose all beginners have a right to claim.
As you sit in the Conference, remembering that he was not a bishop
a month ago, you expect, and even desire, the novelty of an occasional
blunder. . . . You have now waited session after session for a single
mistake that may comfort you, and all is still marked by consummate
wisdom and prudence . . . and you exclaim, How perfectly adapted

344 Methodist Bishops.
to his office ! What a selection ! What an excellent man 1 " Though
this sounds almost like flattery, yet, no one who was present on that
occasion will pronounce it over-wrought.
In making the appointments of the pastors he was very conscien
tious and prayerful. While as tender and careful of the interests and
feelings of all parties concerned as the circumstances would possibly
allow, he regarded the great interests of Christ's Church as of the
first importance and entitled to the first consideration. Still, it never
came to our knowledge that in a single case he was ever accused of
coldness or indifference toward the personal or family interests of the
preachers. The resolutions of approval and admiration passed by the
Conferences over which he presided would fill many pages of this
volume. So, too, the correspondents of the press were abundant
in his praises, and almost invidious in their comparisons.
Wherein was the great power and usefulness of the lamented
Bishop Baker ? We cannot claim for him the pulpit eloquence and
enthusiasm of some other deceased or living bishop. His strength
was in another direction, just as positive and marked, when his life
and character are correctly analyzed.
We are impressed with his great usefulness during fifteen of his
best years in one of our earliest and largest Conference Seminaries,
and in the pioneer Theological School of our Church, together with
his scholarly pulpit efforts almost continually from 1829 to 1866,
when he was stricken down on the mountains of Colorado, crushed
with the unreasonable burden and exposure of his office.
The great and lasting service he rendered the Church during his
active and useful life cannot be further considered within the brief
limits of this article. It remains for us, however, to notice two
particulars in his life-work, in which the character and ability of the
bishop were specially, shown and powerfully felt. In a quiet and
modest way he was the leading instrument of introducing and work
ing measures that have already resulted in an epoch in our Church
history and usage.
His " Guide-Book in the Administration of the Discipline " — the
result of years of research — has wrought a sudden and almost entire
change in the administration of discipline in our Church. Prior to
this great work of the bishop several causes led to a very lax, diver-

Osmon Oleander Baker. 345
sified, and irregular administration of our Discipline. The book of
Discipline itself is small and condensed— multum inparvo — and with
out note or comment. It is of authority over this whole continent,
and in all our foreign missions on the Eastern Continent. Our
ministry in the years gone by had not been generally trained in
colleges or theological schools ; therefore, any thing like a careful
and exact administration could not be expected. The result was
irregular and even maladministration, by which thousands of val
uable members were lost to the Church — nor are we yet exempt from
this evil. But a marked change for the better has come over us. No
pastor now considers himself any more prepared for the administra
tion of our Church affairs without " Baker on the Discipline," than
he considers himself prepared to preach without a Scripture com
mentary. Hence now, in most cases, our Church trials, appeals, and
arbitrations, are conducted with about as much regularity and pre
cision as are the civil courts. Thanks to God and Bishop Baker f or
this new regime, so invaluable to the Church.
Providence as manifestly raised up that judicial mind to supply
an urgent want in our Church of his day as he raised up a Fletcher and
Fisk to check the Calvinism and Universalism of their day. Those
of us who have long been pastors have a sad knowledge of the
vast amount of disaster and loss to the Church through the ignorant,
careless, weak, or selfish work of lax administrators. But now what
a remedy for this, and what a help to the young and anxious pastor,
is found in this " Guide-Book ! " Not even yet has the ministry fully
realized its obligation.
The second great providential work accomplished by him was his
leading agency in introducing what, at that time, was the greatest of
all human aids that the Methodist Episcopal Church required — some
kind of a theological school.
His true position in the history of this great movement, theolog
ical education, is not generally known. This we aver from our per
sonal knowledge, having been associated with him at the time. His
great modesty concealed his name in much that he did to accomplish
that object. Hence we will state briefly, but carefully, the historic
facts justly attributable to his name in this matter.
When Professor Baker took charge of the Newbury Seminary, as

346 Methodist Bishops.
far as we can learn there was not in existence in the Methodist Epis
copal Church any theological school, nor even what could be properly
called a theological class in any college or seminary of ours. Yet
before this Dr. Fisk, at Wilbraham and Middletown, had a class, so-
called, which met weekly, (for a time,) holding some sort of exercises
appropriate for young men who were looking to the ministry, but with
no regular studies or recitations. As we have already shown, young
Baker was a member of this class. Our impression, however, is, that
it was not long kept up, either at Wilbraham or Middletown, after
Dr. Fisk's day. Some six or seven years after (in 1840 or 1841) Pro
fessor Baker left Middletown, he organized in the Newbury Seminary
a class much after the style, we judge, of the one under Dr. Fisk at
Wilbraham, only more extended and regular in its course of study.
At first he probably contemplated nothing more than a class or depart
ment in that seminary. But the class and its importance grew on his
hands and in his heart. At that time our Church was opposed — seri
ously and ludicrously opposed — to all theological schools. Still, the first
result of the Newbury claSs, which became- a daily class, was the forma
tion of a "Theological Society" at Newbury, of which Professor
Baker was president, Rev. L. D. Barrows, (pastor,) was vice-president,
and of which Revs. O. Scott, Solomon Sias, B. R. Hoyt, E. Adams,
Clark T. Hinman, and all traveling and local preachers in the school
and town were members. It was largely in this " Society " there grew
up the idea, first of a large department, and after considerable discus
sion and delay, also the idea of a separate and independent theological
school named "Biblical Institute," as a compromise with the wide
spread and fearful prejudice against all theological schools. Professor
William M. Willett, of New York, was called to the department, and
labored four or five years efficiently with Professor Baker to build it
up ; and to him much credit is due. From this small beginning under
Professor Baker and his helpers sprang all our theological schools.
That little root has its three branches, Boston, Evanston, and Madison.
The method of its growth was briefly this: This theological
society at Newbury, under the leadership of Professor Baker and
Professor Willett, acting at first with and through the trustees of the
Newbury Seminary, proposed to all New England Methodism through
its Annual Conferences to unite in a general, separate, and independ-

Osmon Oleander Baker. 347
ent school, to be located by a new board of trust appointed by the
united and patronizing Conferences. At this point of its history Rev.
John Dempster, D.D., was called into its service, who probably did
more than any other man to remove the prejudices of the Church
against the school, and by his clear, logic and lofty eloquence to raise
endowment funds. But the silent and working power, as well as
shaping hand behind all this, was Professor Baker. His published
articles — not over his own name — were clear and convincing in defense
of the school. Many other men did much thus early to aid and pre
pare the way, which a full history should here name. The Confer
ences that entered into the arrangement (all the New England, Troy,
and Black River Conferences) raised funds and appointed trustees,
and located the school at Concord, where in 1847, it went into opera
tion. Thence it was subsequently removed to Boston. To this school
at Concord Professor Baker gave his best and, untiring energies until
he was elected bishop, in 1852, nor do we think any of his worthy
and efficient associate professors will be grieved with our opinion that
he, more than any other man, gave shape and tone to the school while
in it. He was elected president of the school after he entered the
episcopal office.
Professor Willett, who taught Hebrew at Middletown with Dr.
Fisk, while he had his theological class there, says : " Dr. Fisk felt the
necessity of proceeding in his new undertaking with great caution, so
as not unnecessarily to awaken prejudice against what he deemed an
important. step in the education of the ministry. ... In Newbury,
Vermont, the case was different. They breathed a freer air, and soon
the New Hampshire and Vermont Conferences united in a hearty sup
port of the new school. Bishop Baker was one of the warmest friends
of the new enterprise ; and, as we have intimated, so far as his other
duties would allow, cordially united in the effort to make the school
what it became. Professor Hinman and Dr. Barrows (then stationed
preachers at Newbury) were also strong and ardent friends of the
school. This was, in fact, the origin of what are now called theolog
ical schools in the Methodist Episcopal Church, though the first germ
was planted in the Wesleyan University." (Letter in " Zion's Herald,"
December .25, 1871.)
Different opinions were held of Professor Baker as a preacher.
21

348 Methodist Bishops.
All, however, were agreed that his sermons were thoroughly prepared,
clear, logical, and very instructive. Also, that his style was chaste,
simple, and impressive, rather than boisterous or powerful. He ad
dressed himself directly to the understanding and best moral feelings of
the hearer. There was not with him the slightest approach to attempts
at display, only so far as unadorned gospel truth would lead. With
no affectation, and little gesture, you saw evident sincerity and deep
devotion to the truth he uttered. But his eloquence was far removed
from the stump-orator kind. His voice was pleasant, but not strong,
nor was it well trained. His elocution could not be called good. This
he seemed never to have studied, which was about the only noticeable
defect in his pulpit efforts. More of the imaginative and poetic, and
less of the professor's style, would doubtless have made him more
effective as a public speaker for the masses. His modesty was usually
thought to be extreme ; and in some cases, no doubt, it diminished his
influence, but in other cases it gave him increased power.
In his own home the bishop was one of the happiest of men.
Having a competency without affluence, with a wife every way worthy
such a husband, showing herself neither above nor below her position,
with two mature and cultivated daughters, the sun of domestic hap
piness was long unclouded in that happy home. He always enjoyed
the society of his friends, while his nature shrank from rough contact
with his fellows. Bland, sensible, and brief as were his utterances,
they were cheerful, but never trifling. Coarse and flippant words in
his presence were never invited, but received only the silent rebuke of
an uplifted look of surprise and grief. A life-long companion of his,
Rev. Eleazer Smith, says : " From his boyhood I have known him inti
mately, and for ten years I lived but a few steps from his door ; and
yet, in all these seasons of confidential intercourse I never heard a
sentence that savored of envy, uncharitableness, or bigotry, or that
might not have been safely spoken in the presence of any one who
was the subject of our conversation." What a record for the tomb
stone of any mortal man is this ! Blessed is such a memory !
But the last few years of his life were spent in a cloud. In June,
1866, fourteen years after *his election to the episcopacy, traveling in
Colorado to meet the Conference at Empire City, he was arrested by
a partial paralysis, particularly of the vocal organs. He had traveled

Osmon Oleander Baker. 349
by a hard stage route some five hundred miles, with no rest, and poor
and irregular food, before his attack. He reached the seat of the
Conference, however, and examined and ordained the candidates in his
own private room. Fully aware of the serious nature of his illness,
he turned his steps homeward over the same dreaded and intolerable
route, as the only one open to him. That he reached his home alive
was wonderful.
With the best care and medical treatment he slightly improved,
and as his mental faculties seemed unimpared, for two or three
years he met several of his Conferences and attended the episcopal
meetings. He was able to travel, visit, and attend worship at his
home church, in Concord, till within a few days of his death. But
at length his noble frame and constitution gradually sunk away, and
his power of utterance slowly failed. But he gave utterance to a
uniform peace with God. He said that " through all his feebleness
he had felt fully resigned to the will of God ; and enjoyed an un
interrupted evidence of his acceptance with him." To his dear com
panion, just before his death, he expressed perfect peace in Jesus,
and entire trust in him. Among his last expressions were thanks
to his brother for coming to visit him, thanks and love to the writer
of this brief sketch, (who was then in Georgia,) with the expressed
hope to meet him in heaven. Then, on the 20th of December,
1871, in the bosom of his own dear family, he peacefully passed away
from scenes of suffering and toil to one of heavenly repose and holy
delight. " Devout men carried [him] to his burial, and made great lamenta
tion over him." In a few weeks after his death, the eldest daughter,
Mrs. Rev. E. F. Pitcher, a lady of rare culture and piety, followed
him to her final rest, joining the precious tender branches of the
family gone before, where, in blissful enjoyment, they still wait the
coming of the wife, the mother, and surviving daughter, who will
restore and complete, in God's good time, the now broken circle.
His funeral, at Concord, was numerously attended, a large depu
tation being present from the Boston Preacher's Meeting. Rev.
Brothers Adams, Manson, Drew, Kellogg, Haven, Warren, Upham,
Smith, Patten, and Pike, took part in the solemn exercises. Dr.
Warren spoke of the bishop as the president of the first theological

350 Methodist Bishops.
school of our Church. Dr. Upham said, a discourse he heard him
preach at Middletown had influenced the whole course of his life.
Rev. Eleazer Smith said he had known him from a little boy, beloved,
mild, and dutiful, and he could not recall a single harsh or improper
word of his. Dr. Patten had met him more than forty-three years
before, at the seminary in Wilbraham, and they went to Middle-
town together, roomed, studied, prayed, and were licensed to preach
together ; and for fourteen years have dwelt side by side in Concord ;
and he felt that his place was among the mourners, etc.
At the request of the Boston Preacher's Meeting, memorial serv
ices were held there subsequently. Here, Rev. Elisha Adams, D.D.
read a well-written and appreciative eulogy.
He showed how the lamented bishop filled the apostolic episcopal
character given by Paul. Blameless, sound in doctrine, the husband
of one wife, (a suitable one,) vigilant, sober-minded, of good behavior,
given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not given
to filthy lucre, patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well
his own house, not a novice, of good report of those which are without.
The religious and secular press followed with many appreciative
notices and eulogies, and the whole Church and citizens, especially
of New England, joined in the more intense sorrow of the ministry
and family, for all felt there had fallen a prince in Israel.

iBIE¥o IEo IRo IaBILE S « LQDo IDA,
"7 THE BISHOPS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Edward Raymond Ames.

BY BISHOP GILBEKT HAVEN.

DEATH is the problem of the ages. Life is according to visible
and working law. Not so death. " Thou makest life in man and
brute," is perceivable with the eye of reason. " Thou makest death,"
is without reason. " He cometh forth as a flower," one can believe
rational. " He is cut down," is irrational. Evolution does not require
this disruption and corruption. It does not demand that the form
which was the abode of the highest living, should become dust and
nothingness. It does not admit of that event in its line of progress.
Death breaks into its law, defies it, destroys it.
Many thoughts arise within us as we pause at the pausing bier that
bears all that is mortal of Bishop Ames. They may be classified thus :
His powers, his work, his influence.
His powers, original and developed. His native ability was of
no mean order. Few men have appeared in this land, prolific of great
men as any land, that have been his equals ; none, in his line, his supe
rior. Born of the best New England stock, a kinsman of Fisher
Ames and all that not unknown family, artist, judge, orator, inventor,
manufacturer, the uniter of the continent with the railway that has
also united Asia and Europe by way of America, surely there is some
thing in the blood that tells. The first of the name came over iu
1633 and settled in South Braintree, adjoining Dorchester. One
son survived that sire. From him all of that name have descended,
of whom this last is, in no few respects, the first.
His father moved to Ohio in 1787, and he was born in a town that
bears his family name, in 1806. To his father and others who went
out with him from this section, of whom was, notably, Col. Battelle,
from whom have descended several Methodist preachers, is it due that
Methodism was introduced into that part of the State. Sternest of
Puritans, they became the most active of Methodists. It was at the
State College of Ohio that he met his change and fate. Dr. Trimble

354 Methodist Bishops.
tells the story in his semi-centennial sermon of last year. They were
classmates, roommates. A revival broke out. He went first to the
altar, and his slower companion followed. At a camp-meeting he says
he heard a little girl pleading in prayer for her mother, and his proud
heart broke, his strong will surrendered. A little child did lead him.
Each entered into Christ then and there. He had thought of entering
the law, but he was thrust into the ministry. A license was forced
upon him, and he was constrained, within and without, to enter on
the sacred calling.
He went by direction of Bishop Roberts into Illinois, then a region'
of miasma, wolves, and Indians. Among its scattered settlers he
began his work. His clear-headed, strong-headed qualities soon revealed
themselves. He rose almost instantly to that not unimportant super
intendency, the headship of the educational department of the Church
in that State. Hence he was called to the pastorate, and early in his
ministerial career to the district eldership. The wise superintendent
who had taken him from an Ohio college for work on the Mississippi,
put him into yet higher work on the farther frontier. Bishop Ames
never tired of talking of Bishop Roberts. He had many a quaint
story to tell of the pioneer Bishop who first broke the line of a celibate
epjscopacy, and that, too, by New England votes and management.
He revered him as his real Church father. This first of the anti-
celibate Bishops was the last of the exclusively horseback Bishops.
He" used to tell how greatly Bishop Roberts deplored the degeneracy
of the age when he learned that Bishop Soule had sold his horse and
taken to the stage-coach. The Church had lost its power when its
superintendents indulged in such luxuries ! What would the Indiana
forester have said had he seen his successors flying over the land at
thirty, and even forty, miles an hour, lapped in the luxury of a
Pullman car ? But without such luxury their lives would cease much
sooner than if riding on the old Methodist horse, best of its class, as
stories told even of Bishop Roberts show, who was like Ariel, not in
style but in swiftness, and who rode, like him,
"Thorough bush, thorough briar,
Thorough flood, thorough Are."
This westernmost Bishop having enticed the Ohio youth to Indiana

Edward Katmond Ames. 355
and Illinois, now gets him across the Mississippi as missionary to the
Indians. The old blood that probably fought King Philip, and had no
small share in those first wars of the colonies, was still powerful to
contrive and conquer, but was directed in another channel. It was not
to fight, but to protect, the Indian that he went. From the great
Lake to Texas he rode,, visited, preached, organized, became every
where the friend and confidant of the red man. He sat at their council
fires as still as they. He spoke as few words and as weighty. He
subsided into silence after speaking, as stolidly. He was their master
in their own line.
A story reported of him strikingly illustrates this Indian-like trait.
Then- law of hospitality forbids their murdering a guest. A chief,
deadly hostile to the whites, killed every such a one who came within
his domain. Mr. Ames was warned by another chief of this habit.
He walked into his lodge, flung his blanket on the ground and said,
" I shall sleep here to-night." A white man slain was thrown across
his body in the night. He quietly removed him, said not a word, rose
in the morning, and left. That was out-Indianing the Indian. And
this when a young man but little rising thirty. He soon began to
attract public attention. At the General Conference of 1840, of which
he was a delegate when only thirty-four, he was elected to the mis
sionary secretaryship for the frontier. He traveled six thousand miles,'
or round the earth, in that quadrennium. In 1844 his name was more
prominently before the Conference for Bishop than that of any other
western man, but he himself declined in favor of Dr. Hamline, who
was thereby elected. He labored in the general work for eight years,
when he was placed in that chair. How admirably he has filled it all
the Church knows.
The Christian Church, which is one and the same in all ages, always
proves its divine origin by its providential leaders. States rise and
fall, fall when it seems as if they must continue to rise. They have
no more real life in themselves than individuals. They have a mission
while they live, as have certain men, but no continuity of life. No
scholar has yet been able to explain how it was that the long-haired,
yellow-haired Achaians on the rocky isthmus of Corinth, shot up into
such a wonder of literature, and art, and arms, and laws, and every
thing that makes a State, even to a new religion, most beautiful of all

356 Methodist Bishops.
non-Christian faiths; how they bred poets, philosophers, warriors,
sculptors, architects, orators, every sort of genius to its utmost capacity,
and then in four or five centuries as completely and utterly disappeared
as an originating force. From Achilles to Alexander — that is, about
the length of time from Joshua to Daniel — this Greek life existed.
Whence came it, why went it, none can tell. Equally marvelous and
mysterious is the Egyptian age. We know not even its chronology.
We should not even know of its existence but for the startling monu
ments that yet stare at us, with wide dilating orbs, out of the slime
of the Nile. " We only know they came and went."
Thus, too, with later and older empires. * Assyria, Babylon, Persia,
what are they now ? What have they been these twenty and thirty
centuries ? What, too, are now the Moorish splendors of Spain, or
even the greater splendors of the Spain of Charles and Philip ? What
has -Holland to do with the world ? Yet it filled the world's eye when
Alva sought to extinguish it, and when the Silent William saved it.
But contrast this decay of empires with the Church. Even the apos
tate and apostatizing Churches exist. Rome would have never been
heard of again, after the overthrow of the fourth century, but .for the
Church. When Constantine created the new Rome on the Bosphorus,
the old Rome was ready to vanish away — did vanish away. The Tiber
covered its palaces with its mud. The streets were empty of people ;
there was no sound nor language ; their voice was not heard. Then
a minister of the Church kept the old flame alive, nursed the old spirit,
fought for old Rome, and split the Church because new Rome refused
to recognize his supremacy, and set up again the throne of the Caesars
as it is unto this day.
What keeps the Greek Church alive ? As in the days of Polycarp,
is Smyrna to-day. As in the days of John, is Patmos. As in the
days of Chrysostom, will be Constantinople. No one doubts, least of
all the Sultan, that St. Sophia will yet, and ere long, hear the bursts of
sacred song, the Gregorian chant and hymns of John of Damascus,
which our own Hymnal contains ; will yet repeat the prayer of St.
Chrysostom, which the English prayer book daily repeats ; will yet
listen to the voices that shall proclaim, not " God is great and Moham
med is his Prophet," but, " God is Love, and Christ Jesus is his Son,
our Saviour." The Church lives, not men, not nations, save as they

Edward Raymond Ames. 357
live in it. Weak, perishable, contentious, corrupt even, it does not die.
It struggles out of its weakness and corruption, fights its own sins,
raises up foes of its own household to save the house, creates new
branches of the same vine, finds Athanasius, Augustine, Huss, Luther,
Calvin, Knox, Cranmer, Wesley, whenever the exigency calls, always
finds them, and thus moves on and up, eternal alternation, but eternal
existence. This law of all time, traceable on the life map of man as clearly
as the seasons are traced on the face of the earth — this law, which
bred Enoch, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, as the
age required, as surely works to day, and in our and every true
Church of Christ.
It brought forth a Fletcher, as even an enemy of our Church asserts
in his late history of the Church of England, to uphold the great doc
trines of Wesleyan Methodism when Wesley himself had neither time
nor.training for that especial work. It brought forth Coke to run
through the earth, and get the world ready for the coming of that
formal and organized Church. It brought forth Asbury, taking him
from the sheepf old to make him the founder of our American Israel
— the David whose kingdom, despite many a revolt and conflict within
and without, shall never be taken away from him. It brought forth
a M'Kendree to open the vast West with his eloquence and organize
it with his common-sense. It brought forth a Lee to attack and capt
ure the granite hills and hearts and heads of New England, and who,
had he been like faithful with M'Kendree to the Church Wesley had
created and Asbury was governing, to its instincts and aims, would
have also been co-administrator with M'Kendree and Asbury over the
regions his eloquence, piety, and faith had conquered.
Under what line of providential interposition does Edward Ray
mond Ames appear ? A glance at the Church at his coming on the
stage will show. Born in Oxford, reborn in Baltimore, our Church
was compelled to go through all the conditions of infancy and vassal
age. It was a child in its nurse's arms in England during all the life
of Wesley, up to the creation of the Methodist Episcopal Church in
America. Of high birth, it was of low breeding. The first scholar
of his country begat it, as did the first scholar of his country, the Gen
tile Church ; but neither Wesley nor Paul could make the Church

358 Methodist Bishops.
which, under God the Holy Ghost they had created, instantly self-
reliant or socially recognized. It was of slaves and freedmen in the
days of Paul; it was of miners, and those of no reputation, in the
days of Wesley. Not many mighty were called. Yet each in its
own order. The Gentile Church slowly grew to its imperial height,
assimilating school and State to its own vital idea. The Church of
Wesley has grown according to its law until school and State recog
nize its power and largely acknowledge its sway.
To do this needful work new instruments were needed. Neither
Paul nor Wesley could have done the work the Church demanded a
century after their time. Lesser men, perhaps — lesser certainly in
creative gifts — would be larger men at that later hour of its growth.
Wesley could not be an Adam Clarke nor a Richard Watson. Asbury
could not be a Wilbur Fisk. "New times demand. new measures and
new men."
The new measures the Church demanded at the incoming of Ames
were twofold : those relating to its own internal structure, those adjust
ing its relations to the State and the whole world. In a word, there
was needed a careful study of its economy or polity, that it might
be the more equable, more pliable, and more forceful ; and a no less
careful study of the Church as a unit in its work .outside of its central
idea, the saving and sanctifying of souls, that is, its educational, literary,
political, missionary duties.
The Church came out of the conflict of '44 a vastly different
organization from what it went in, even as the nation came out of its
conflict for right and for existence a vastly different being from what
it was at the beginning of the war. Both Church and State in that
struggle with the slave power reeled and staggered, and well-nigh be
came first its slave and then its victim.
How near the Church came to that enslavement can be seen by
reading that dreadful decree issued in Baltimore in 1840, forbidding
the saintliest sister testifying against the most corrupt man who had his
name on the Church books at a Church trial, if so be said destroyer
was a white man, and said sister was a slave, be she black, brown,
yellow, or, as not a few of them were, white. .
Then the Church bowed itself; then it well-nigh tumbled into
destruction. Even so, close to the hour of the Church's humiliation
/

Edward Raymond Ames. 359
did the State bow down, banish from the mails written or printed
words favoring human liberty, forbid the right of petition, and at last,
in 1850, order every man to help rescue a freeman flying from slavery
on penalty of fine and imprisonment.
See how this leader showed that he was the new man for the new
measures. He was of the old States-right, pro-slavery school of poli
tics, the political friend of Jesse Bright and his school. So prominent
was he in their councils, so wise and weighty, that he was offered a
United States Senatorship from that State when that offer meant, to a
man of his capacity, the Presidency. Yet he left that school ecclesi
astically before the Conference of 1844. He came back from those
long tours through the wilderness full of blood and youth and sagacity
a free man, a free minister, determined to aid in establishing a free
Church. Full of phlegm and purpose, quiet as the Indian with whom
he had so long associated, and as intense, he appears in New York to
take part in the great work of saving the Church from becoming the
slave of the slave power. Not known in debates, he is known in
council, in caucus — that wise but much-abused word — in planning
and pushing on the side of Christ and humanity. He emerges
next to the front, the leading nominee who nominates the successful
candidate. Eight years later the young man, now ripe with middle-life, takes
the helm. The Church is yet distracted and enfeebled, is yet rent
with internal divisions on the great and ever-increasing problem.
How will this adherent of the party that had been changed from its
original aim of universal liberty to becoming the adherent and propa
gator of human bondage ; how will this man, as full of prejudices as
an Indian, and these prejudices all against the abolitionists, deport
himself toward the growing question ? Let a single incident answer.
He came officially to the New England Conference at its session
in Lynn in 1854. Great curiosity, and I may truly say, great wrath,
awaited his coming. At a session . of the Philadelphia Conference
held a few weeks before, a few brethren — Lamb and Long and one or
two more, zealous for the enforcement of the Church law against min
isterial slave-holding — had arrested the character of several super
numeraries, able men, some of them, on the ground that they held
slaves. The young Bishop curtly, and in his style so familiar for so

360 Methodist Bishops.
many years, said to the questioners as to whether they held slaves,
" Why don't you ask them if they washed their faces this morning ? "
Of course our Conference raved, and we hot-heads determined that he
should answer for the insult when he came here. The news was hardly
cold when he walked up the aisle of the old church in his old style,
quiet, dignified, resolute.
Nothing betokened his knowledge of any thing peculiar to New
England, or of this controversy that was racking the Church, until the
report on slavery was read. It was an off year, and a mild brother
had drawn a mild report. As soon as it was read the Bishop said,
" That report needs to be strengthened. It is not up to the doctrine
of the Church. Our fathers knew what they were about when they
legislated on slavery." Such a " laying out " of the abolitionists was
never seen in this antislavery body. Of course there was an inward
chuckle, and his victory over the Conference was complete.
This word illustrates the sort of man he was. He detected the
weak point in his adversary, and struck it hard and quick and deadly.
He was not merciful in these blows. He loved sarcasm for its own
sake. Like the biting Johnson he enjoyed keenly his victories. He
delighted to lay his antagonist dead with a rapier thrust that appeared
accidental, so indifferently, seemingly, was it driven home.
It also reveals another trait in his character, adhesion to law. " Our
fathers understood what they were about." " The Discipline, the Dis
cipline is the Constitution of the Church," was his motto. It may be
wrong, but it must be legally made right. His was a judicial mind
that studied the bearings of his every official act in the light of law.
When petitioned earnestly to re-appoint a brother in this Conference,
whom another Bishop had appointed, as he judged, beyond his right
to do, on the plea that nobody would know it, " What I do here
meets me in Oregon," was his reply. And when the next General
Conference censured his colleague for that act, and a gift of $30,000
was saved to the Church only by that censure, the wisdom of the
refusal of Bishop Ames came potently to every eye, and to none more
clearly than to the Church he had refused to favor. " I have sought
through 'your record," said a distinguished adversary of his, "to find
occasion to complain of your administration, and I can find none."
" Because I never give occasion for such complaint," was the confident

Edward Raymond Ames. 361
reply. This was the first characteristic of his nature, " Obey the law
as it is."
The second was like unto it, Move slowly to its modification. How
slowly he did move often ! How we complained that he set himself
so firmly against all new movements ! How the radical in polity or
principles often denounced him ! Yet, strangely enough, when the
victory was won, he was the first to be at the coronation. He probably
had more triumphs of this sort than any of his colleagues. He was
the first Bishop who presided at a Conference when a colored man was
voted into membership with his white brethren. It was at the New
England Conference, when our honored Brother Mars was seated at
our side. He was the first to appoint such a brother to a Church
chiefly of white members ; and when he was told that, a year or two
later, that brother was invited to such a Church, " Had I been presid
ing," he said, " I would have appointed him." He was the first to
preside over a lay Conference. With an eye to that fact, for he had
an eye to every thing, he took the East Maine Conference, in 1871,
where the first Electoral Conference was to be held. Though he had
opposed the movement, he had done it so as to give force and stability
to it. When it had conquered, he still determined to give it force
and stability. Invited to preside at this lay Conference, he remarked,
" I will go. This is history." The address made on that occasion, full of
loyalty to the Church, was the key-note of every subsequent Confer
ence and address.
He was slow to accept a new idea. Steadily he fought against the
ministerializing of woman. Yet, had he lived, we doubt not, some'
General Conference, not far off, with his approval, would have given
her official and clerical recognition, and his hands would have been
the first to have been placed upon her head.
Chaffing an ardent devotee of the black man, he said, "I sat at
the table with colored ministers at New Orleans, though I confess it
rose against the gorge so to do." " O," said the other brother, " I did
that years ago." " Cock crowing at midnight," was his curt reply.
He never crowed till dawn of day. At midnight, like the wise virgin,
he slumbered and slept, but he was always ready at break of day to
hail the morn, and lead it with his shrill clarion, up the skies. That
wise sleeping was his mode of wise working. He did not so much

362 Methodist Bishops.
oppose as slumber. He was not hostile, he was indifferent. In this
respect other men labored and he entered into their labors.
In all this tumultuous season between 1844 and I860, when papers
were being established to confront the rising idea, when General Con
ferences were full of debate as to how to settle the unsettleable, he
was silent. He gave the enemy no help, if he gave the cause none.
He steadied the ark, as a priest had a right to do, while it went slowly
moving up the rough hill to Zion's chosen seat. When he saw the
tide rising he waited, seemingly indifferent, slightly hostile, never
helpful. When it was at its full he " took the flood and rode to pros
perous fortune." He managed successful ideas rather than labored to
make them successful.
This quality of his nature gave him the claim to his title of the
statesman of the Episcopacy. It is the function of a statesman to
manage the ship of State now, not yesterday, not to-morrow. What
makes Beaconsfield rule, and Bismarck, is that they discern the times.
What gave Washington his pre-eminence is his knowing just what and
when and how much to do. Adams, a far keener intellect, lacked the
governmental faculty. Bishop Ames had this faculty in excess. It
was his strength and his weakness. It made him wise in the hour of
triumph, but sometimes too slow in seeing the necessity and surety of
triumph. He threw obstacles in the way because he wished the
progress, if it was to be, to be slow. The same quality of nature
made the leaders of thought cry out against Lincoln, and made Lincoln
himself say, twenty days before he issued his edict of emancipation, "It
is the Pope's bull against the comet." He did not see that the hour
was ripe until it was fully ripe. That twenty days changed Lincoln's
whole point of view and of duty. " These are my views to-day," said
the same wise leader. " I can't say what they will be to-morrow. I
let events bunt up against me." So did Bishop Ames. He never ran
after events. They rose to him. When he felt them he accepted
and led them.
He was ready to improve the workings of our system, so that it
should run the more easily. Bishop Janes introduced into the work
of the appointments the more patient investigation of every Church
and preacher. Bishop Ames added to it the open Conference with
Church and minister. Some of you well remember the intense secrecy

Edward Raymond Ames. 363
which brooded over those meetings, wheu not a leak was sprung
through a whole week of intense excitement. I remember when a
member of a Conference, expecting to return, took his seat in a side
pew to see the faces of the other brethren as the announcement shot
them up or down. The second name he heard was his own, and he
heard no more. Sometimes that secrecy yet partially prevails, but the
silence is for the most part broken. This silence was broken first by
Bishop Ames. As we were walking once in the corridors of the
Senate Chamber at Washington he remarked that he was the first to
request the elders to confer with the brethren as to their appointments.
He broke that silence so that to-day the preacher on the poorest work
is as apt to know where he is going as his most popular brother. He
also was the first, at least in this generation, to hold only afternoon
sessions of his cabinet. This usage he rarely, if ever, violated.
His admirable business habits, his rapid faculty of generalization,
his quick perception of men, his almost unerring instinct, which made
shams hardly even dare to presume to be realities in his presence —
these gave him an easy mas'tery both of Conference business and of
the complicated work of arranging preacher and Church.
These qualities of mind found a satisfactory realm for their fullest
exercise in the office and work of a Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal
Church. He was never possessed with the fault-finding spirit as to his
own Church. As years wore on and wore him down, his confidence
and joy in his Church grew and prevailed. He found for all his
faculties amplest room and verge in her communion. Pier doctrines
it was his delight to preach. He did not cavil and palter in a double
sense, but preached the fullness of her truths from the fullness of his
soul, mind, and strength. Pie had no new gospel either of the Bible
or of Methodism. Plow rich were his sneers at modern sciolists, too
often in the ministry of our Church, who think they have new light
on inspiration, the atonement, the resurrection of the body, or any
other great Bible doctrine ! Gaussen was good enough for him on in
spiration, and equally stalwart works on other Christian doctrines.
No less faithful was his attachment to the order of the Church. He
had no sciolism here. It had served him well even while on his hardest
circuits. It could serve no son of his worse or better than himself . He
was proud of its doctrines and discipline, of its position and prospects,

364 Methodist Bishops.
of past and future. He had seen it grow from the day of his accession
to the superintendency to such port and power as attracted universal
attention. A broken, dismembered, distracted Church, cleft in twain
from top to bottom by ecclesiastical civil war, he lived to see it fill the
whole land. He believed in its organic idea before he became one of
its rulers, as well as when he ruled so wisely and so well.
He never questioned the Church idea, was never looking enviously
at his neighbor's Christianity, never aspiring to the prelacy of papacy,
or mere Episcopalianism ; nor was he, on the other hand, belittling his
own Church, and wishing it to be like the less organized bodies about
it. He was Wesley to the core, and that mighty master would have
found no more congenial or appreciative spirit in all his followers than
that of this ascended son.
Bishop Ames was a grand American. As his Church was good
enough and great enough for him, so was Ids country. He never saw
a foreign shore except on the opposite side of the St. Lawrence. How
often has he been urged to visit England, that he might give our
illustrious brothers of that illustrious land an American specimen
unlike any of his distinguished brethren whom we have sent, and who
have so nobly represented us ! His wit and wisdom, his pathos and
penetration, his pure English gift of cold, cutting sarcasm, that gives
its leader control of Parliament, would have amazed and delighted
our British cousins. And that vast fabric of social and civil life, ven
erable, and potent, would have reinspired him. It will be a long regret
that he never saw England, and that England never saw him.
But his love for his own country was not unlike their love for
theirs. It was a passion. It possessed him wholly. He had not
threaded those pathless forests, rode, solitary and alone, over those
more pathless prairies, and not felt the sweeping power of the patriotic
passion. Pie grasped the grandeur of America as fully as did his
grandfather at Valley Forge, whose inspiration was drawn from that
fount which kindled a co-operative spark at Lexington, and which
blazes forth yet on the monument on its green, " Sacred to liberty and
the rights of mankind." Sacred, indeed, is the soil of America, sacred
to man and to Christ. Our friend felt this in every fiber of his soul.
He was firsf, last, always American.
But we must keep the bier waiting no longer. Time would fail

Edward Raymond Ames. 365
us to tell his many traits of strength, his keen blade of satire, which
was not always judiciously, though often judicially, swung ; his giant's
strength, which he sometimes, forgetting, used as a giant ; his pene
trative preaching, so wisely dividing the word of truth, making the
driest fact and theme blossom as Aaron's rod under the touch of his
quickening spirit. Pie was pre-eminently a preacher to preachers.
Not so crowd-drawing as some, he was clergy-drawing above almost
every rival. Condones ad clerum might his sermons and addresses
well be called. How greatly is it to be regretted that these wonderful
talks at Conference, talks in his chair, talks at odd moments, and for
but a moment, have not been gathered up ? For years I have felt that
a stenographer should have accompanied him from Conference to Con
ference, unknown to him, and have taken down these sententious
sayings. Alas ! they are as water spilled upon the ground. They
can never be gathered up. No Plato will reproduce this Methodist
Socrates ; no Boswell this American Johnson.
Like Johnson he was a good talker, like him a clubable man. He
loved to talk, man to man. He could say his best, which was often
his worst, face to face. He disliked oratory. He was a conversation
alist of high degree. His stories were as numerous and odd as Lin
coln's, with more of a sting to their point, though no more to their
teller. For he struck the blow from love of striking, and scattered
his firebrand, and felt, if he did not say, it is sport. Yet it should be
said that no man treated better those who struck back. He liked blow
for blow, took as well as gave, respected a fair foe, and never held
malice in his heart. Plow many an encounter have his brethren wit
nessed in his Conferences. Yet the low smile that just gleamed about
mouth and eyes betokened the feeling within, that he wished to make
a point and not to kill his adversary. No keener wit has been seen in
our Church or out of it. South was not more brilliant ; Father Taylor
and Cartwright and Lee and Eddy, and other Methodist celebrities in
their line were not his superiors. He was like and unlike himself all
the time, original, often extraordinary. Could a volume of his say
ings be secured, they would be prized as a literary phenomenon.
But another touch should here be given to the portrait. He was
not a mere wit, cutting without cause. A punster, cheapest of wits,
he never was. He disdained that college height of intellectual sport
22

366 Methodist Bishops.
as below the dignity of a man. He never lost his dignity, not false
and strained, but natural and easy. To a stiff-laced brother, he said,
in his low but shrill tones, " You groom your dignity carefully, put on
a brass-mounted harness, drive it about in a very stately style. Mine
runs loose on the prairie ; but I reckon I have as good an article as
you." That was the key of his nature. He was ever self-conscious,
self-respectful. He carefully fulfilled Bacon's direction, " Out of office
assume not ; in office, be as if born to it."
He was the most dignified of all his colleagues when in official
place. No one ever, became the royal seat better than he. His very
jests put on the purple robe. They were distinguishing jests, keep
ing him and those he was talking with, each in his place. He was
every inch a king.
As a preacher he was persuasive as well as practical. His last
tour of camp-meetings illustrated this trait. For years his enfeebling
health had prevented these old-time deeds. But the year after the
last General Conference he made up a list of camp-meeting visita
tions. Stories are told of his marvelous power over those great con
gregations. Feeble health made him begin almost in a whisper, but
he rose in feeling and voice till his tones resounded through the
woods. The old-time shout was in the camp. Ministers were sur
prised and shaken. He strode round the platform, shaking hands and
shouting. The younger men had never seen him after this fashion,
only the old men of Indiana and the trans-Mississippi. To one look
ing a little cool, an editor, and therefore officially critical, the Bishop,
as he gave him his hand, seeing his critical displeasure, said : " I do
not often get excited, but when I do, I'm as wild as an Indian."
That tour undoubtedly shortened his days, but it also carried out
his idea, which he never abandoned, to cease at once to work and live.
He knew he was past the allotted boundary. He knew the earthly
house of his tabernacle was dissolving. He meant it should dissolve
heroically. The old chief would die at the head of the army. He
would shout on the embattled hosts as he dropped from the saddle.
But few specimens of his sermons survive. Dr. Eddy has por
trayed him in a sketch published in his life. Dr. Stevens also. A
scrap lies before me which gives a faint idea of one type of his power.
It may be worth your hearing as a specimen of one style : —

Edward Raymond Ames. 367
I imagine when Christ calls home his old, scarred, battered veterans of the
cross, who have stood up against sin, hell, and the devil and wicked men 
stood as the anvil to the stroke — when God lets them in through the gates into
that city, the angels will say to each other, "Look! there is the travail of his
soul ; there is the purchase of his blood ; there are human beings from the
dusty battle-fields of earth — from that land of sin ; there are those who stood
up for God — who counted not their lives, fortunes, or any thing else -dear to
them, that they might win Christ." I don't know about this, but some of us
will know before long. We shall be introduced to those who have gone home
before. We shall not be ashamed of Christ, but rejoice in that he counted us
worthy to suffer for his name's sake. I think when that time comes, every
redeemed soul from earth will be a sort of walking wonder in the golden
streets, to be gazed at and admired of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then we shall hear the finale of the whole matter, "Well done! " Brother, did
you ever think what that means when God Almighty speaks it? That ''well
doneT' means heaven, glory, immortality, eternal life! When God says, "Well
done !" there are no temptations, trials, or dangers after that.
We must bring this life to its close. He died as he lived, loving
his Church, loving his Saviour, not weak in either love, not unmanly.
To Bishop Simpson he talked, only the day before his death, of men
and matters pertaining to the Church.
He talked freely with Dr. Edwards, Presiding Elder of the dis
trict, where he lived. He spoke of the resurrection as a living reality,
not as a coining out of Hades, not a mere going up from the body,
but as a truth, the word of God, simple, clear, sublime. One night,
when he could not sleep, he said he had passed it contrasting his own
condition with that of the early Christians. " What a difference be
tween this room as a place to meet death and the caves and dungeons
where many of God's saints have been compelled to die ! I would
sin if I murmured." The day before his death, to Dr. Kynett and
Bishop Simpson, he remarked, " In my Father's house are many man
sions, some here, some there. I go from these to those." How could
that be said better !
He often dwelt on the truth of the Gospel, on the pledge of the
Lord Jesus. "Dying gives me no concern," he said. "The Lord
has engaged to look after that, and if he fails to carry out his word
he will lose more than I .will. I have tried honestly and faithfully
to serve him. I have done it very imperfectly. I know I am an

368 Methodist Bishops.
unprofitable servant. But the atonement covers my shortcomings.
I think the Lord makes much of good intentions when they are
backed up by the right kind of effort to please him. He is not going
to give me up now, when I have never meant to give him up." How
characteristic that expression. So is this: "Death is only a paren
thesis-thrown into life." " We only begin to live after we die." "I
can have a comfortable time to-day," he said on Easter Sunday, " in
communing with a living Saviour. Because he lives I shall live also."
The last hours were after the same pattern. " I am so weary,"
was the cry of nature. " 0 land of rest," the cry of faith. " Very
weak," was his dying whisper. " All right ! " his ascending shout.
Surely, " How blest the righteous when he dies !" How true in his
case what, alas ! was far from true in his who penned the grand lines :
" Life, like a dome of many-colored glass,
Stains the white radiance of eternity,
Until death tramples it to fragments. Die,
If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek !
Follow where all is fled ! O hasten thither !
No more let life divide what death can join together."
Two thoughts, and the bier moves on. Bishop Ames was like all
men, finite, and finite means limited. None would have condemned
indiscriminate praise more sharply than he. While a general reader
in his youth, and a liberal quoter in his sermons prepared- at that
period from the older British poets, pre-eminently Pope, he did
not pursue literature as largely as he might in his later days. His
reading was in lines. In those lines he was an expert. He read
every work on Africa as soon as it came out ; a standing order -to
send such books being at the depository in Baltimore. He watched
with steadfast eye the journalism of the Church, not only as to its
loyalty, but as to its ability. Still, he lacked somewhat the graces
of scholarship. He did not seek to improve his talent, which he
could have greatly done.
He erred in not using the pen more. Like his great colleague
who had just passed on before him, he put nothing to paper. Had he
committed his thoughts to paper the Church would have had a
treasury that would have grown richer and richer with advancing
generations. What stories of Indian life, of pioneer experiences, of

Edward Raymond Ames. 369
planting the Church on the Pacific coast ; what suggestions, what
opinions, what conceptions would not the book have contained ! It is
too much to hope that some secret closet may hide such a treasure.
Wesley lives more after death than before, by his written words, and
when his journal is all published and his cryptograph translated, he
will rule the world and the Church yet more.
Still, while, he personally neglected this duty, he encouraged it
in others. The first articles published by one of his colleagues after
his election, which were over-much adversely criticised because they
dealt with national duties, were advised by him, and one of them
written at his house. For a long while he urged a Bishops' Year
book, which should give extracts of their annual work, the profits of
which should be a fund at their disposal for helping the Church
where they might decide to dispense it. To him was due the seal
of your every parchment. Till his election, each Bishop had his own,
as they of the Church South have to-day. He suggested a common
seal, and its device an open Bible and the motto, " Preach the word."
Bishop Morris wished the pastoral work referred to, and added,
" Feed my sheep."
Thus he was not cultureless, though too little inclined to certain
kinds of desirable culture. The same defect exhibited itself in his
indifference to art. No picture hangs on his walls ; no thought of
music, or art, or such like polish, seems to have been craved by him,
though it should be said that the tender melodies of the Church easily
drew tears from his eyes. He was to the last something of the In
dian, with whom he was so long identified. He despised much which
society solicits. He almost seemed at times, in his proud, stalking
indifference, to verify Longfellow's hexameter :
"How canst thou walk in our streets, who hast trod the green paths of the
prairies."
This defect was adjoined to a like characteristic scorn of pomp
and parade. Simplex munditiis was his idea of house and person.
Gravely, neatly, not over-richly dressed was house or person. A
costly house, but costly with simplicity, was his idea. In others he
liked display, just as he liked in others art and literature ; for himself
he exhibited a stately indifference, not unworthy of a nobleman of
high degree.

370 Methodist Bishops.
He was fortunate or otherwise in accumulating wealth. It came
easily to him ; too easily, perhaps. But the defect attending such
accumulation was alike easy. It is not easy for a clergyman to
increase in riches, and not have set his heart upon them. It is not
germane to his profession. He can increase in scholarship, govern
mental ability, pulpit renown, and not be covetous of these proper
results and rewards of his profession. But accumulation of wealth
is not ministerial, is, in fact, antiministerial. And he that too as
siduously seeks money is in danger of becoming its idolater. Grand
as have been the vision and the aims of this Churchman, the means
afforded to further those aims have not been commensurate. A little
hardness the heart revealed when these appeals came before it. May
we hope that the reported accumulations which he acquired may
ultimately find outlets upon the many active church enterprises he
inaugurated or so widely expanded ?
A man has four periods after he is a man : The first ten years, from
thirty to forty, give him his position; the second, his achievements
in his position; the third, his confirmation or establishment of his
achievements ; the fourth, the adjustment of these achievements to
those which the men of the second decade behind him have brought
into human evolution ; and then he takes his place among the stars
and " rains influence " upon the generations following.
Among those who will rain such influence from the heavens is
Edward Raymond Ames. His grave, unfortunately separated from
his predecessors — Asbury, Lee, and Waugh — but in the same city, will
be visited by many and many a youthful preacher of his Church.
His name will be a tower of strength to those who love that Church,
and who will pass it on to the future more strong, more perfect, after
its original idea. They will find in his life the stimulus to the ut
most zeal and the utmost freedom.

-EngrtLVei "by J, CSiaitre, ftamaH-Ambiolype "by Brafly.

mETV. JFffiANCIIS IBUTIE.Ki

MISSIONARY BISHOP OF THE M.E. CHURCH IrT "WESTERN AFRICA.

Francis Burns.

THE time was December 5, 1809 ; the place, an obscure street in
the city of Albany, N. Y. ; a small unpainted cottage, of two
rooms, and a single story, a few plain articles of household furniture,
a low cot bed in one corner of a small room. Here, on the above-
named day, a man-child is born. The humble and poor parents are
black, but respectable, hard-toiling persons. Whether they or their
ancestors had been in the house of bondage we cannot say; yet the
probabilities are, that at some past period they had been under the
yoke, as there are very few colored people among us whose fathers did
not pass through that fire ; but the parents of this new-born child bore
the badge of an oppressed race ; an incubus is upon them which they
cannot throw off. Here is poverty, here is ostracism, here is the
demon of a baptized diabolism, projecting its dark shadow even into a
free State, and claiming the right to brand this child,, and fix its status
for all time.
There is a bitter satire in the picture of William A. Seward, at
this time a lad of eight years, born and living in the same State,
declaiming in the village school the stirring words : " We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among
which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Well and
bravely said, Master William, and you shall thunder these words in
tingling ears of recreant senators and truckling politicians. They
are ringing words, which have shaken the world for a hundred years,
and now, at last, have thrown the moloch, slavery, from his pedestal,
and shattered his kingdom.
But how about this child just now born ? Many other children
have been born since we have been looking into this cabin, in all por
tions of the earth : white children, red children, tawny children, to
each of whom, of whatever nationality, the " glittering generalities "

374 Methodist Bishops.
above quoted have a clear and fitting application : each may go on his
way to build his own future, to mold his own character, to shape his
own immortality, with nothing to oppose him or obstruct his way, save
the common ills of humanity. But this waif thus cast upon the wild
current, (his parents will call him Francis, their patronymic is Burns,)
has a black skin, and the scant covering of his little round head is
curly, like lamb's wool. "And what of that ? " asks a portly specta
tor with a gold-headed cane, and large, ancient seal dangling from his
fob, who happens to be present. " What of that ? " Why, much of
that, Mr. Burgher, and your honorable burghers of the good old
Dutch city of Albany ; much to this poor child lying before us : your
sons will call him a " nigger ! " Your schools will furnish for him no
form, nor make provision for his education ; your church doors will be
closed against him. Not one of your mechanics will take him as an
apprentice to learn the "art, trade, or mystery" of even a "cord-
wainer ; " no one will admit him as a clerk in your grand warehouses,
or employ him as messenger in your State-house, or as turnkey for
your jail, nor, depth of meanness ! can he be admitted to your com
mon poor-house. But, bless you, the child need not die for all that ;
he can do something for a living ! Yes, gentlemen, he can, perhaps,
become a barber, and perform the symbolic act of taking your aristo
cratic noses between his thumb and finger and shaving you ; and there
is a grim humor in the fact that his race have commenced this tonso-
rial operation in some places in a sense somewhat above the original
appreciation. Yes, he can, and will, do something, and be either a
barber or a bishop !
And so we leave the little stranger for four years, when we again
revisit the cottage, and there he is, toddling about, the prospective
barber of the white man's election, the true bishop of Jehovah's
choice. A puny looking child, slim, with sloping shoulders, (he takes
after his mother in this,) with a head altogether disproportioned to his
body ; too large for a barber, unwieldy for a boot-black ; his eyes large,
serious, and dreamy ; his perceptive faculties well developed, causality
large, and a good show of ideality ; his organ of benevolence is large,
and he has full conscientiousness, so that he will not be likely to drive
a very hard bargain with the patrons of his future calling ; while the
back part of his head, where firmness sits enthroned, stands well up,

Francis Burns. 375
indicating that he will be likely to stick to his calling, be it barber or
bishop. His mother says he is a home boy ; he is not inclined to ramble, or
seek the society of other lads ; he has the art of self-amusement. But
the times are hard, we are at war with England, it is 1813, and pov
erty lays its hand heavily upon the little cottage. The father finds it
difficult to provide for the wants of his growing family in the narrow
limits of his labors, as he is permitted to do only negro's work. He
can sweep out a store, or push a hand-cart, provided no white men
wish to monopolize those employments. Any raw, unwashed, and
uncombed scallawag just landed from the old world, if he has a Cau
casian complexion, may crowd to the wall this native-born American.
The wife does all she can to help to keep the wolf from the door, and
to keep her children together. But the struggle is vain — some of
them must go, which shall it be ? But the eye of the All-seeing is
upon this poor dwelling, and a call comes to this little four-year-old,
just as clear and distinct, as shown by the circumstances and results,
as that which came to his illustrious predecessor in founding a new era,
"TJp and get thee out of thy father's house, and I will make of
thee " a bishop of my people. True, he did not hear a voice, or
receive an impression, even ; he heard only his mother's sad sigh as
she sent them to a supperless bed. She did not hear it ; she heard
only her own moaning over the sufferings of her little flock.
But God is preparing a warm nest for this little fledgling. If he
stays at home he will die, and there will be no Bishop Burns, and so
he must go out. But where ? how ?
Just at this time there came one day to the city of Albany, with
the products of his land, and for supplies, a farmer from Greene
County by the name of Atwood. In some way,' perhaps in passing
the humble home, he saw this little child and took a fancy to him,
and the parents offered to give him to Mr. Atwood if he would take
him home, to which he assented. He takes the baby into his car
riage, and drives home. We would like to have been there when
he unrolled the treasures from the city, among which was a black
baby! And it was a gift, a princely gift for the poor parents to
make ; for in a southern market, or in the capital of Washington, he
would have brought from $300 to $500 in gold, and there were plenty

376 Methodist Bishops.
of white-faced scoundrels who would have been only too glad to have
negotiated the sale for a percentage ; and it would not have been the
first baby, by many thousands, sold to replenish the Lord's treasury.
It must have been a divine impulse which moved the heart of this
man to assume such a responsibility. Years must pass before the child
can be of any service in the family. It was not that they were child
less; they had children of their own. But God wanted Francis
Burns, and Burns must have a home where he can be fitted for his life
work. But Mr. Atwood and his pious wife, who was herself a class-leader,
a most devoted Christian, shall live forever in the annals of the Church
and the gratitude of all Christian people for this heroic act, in the face
of such prejudice, to receive into their house as one of the family, not
a grown man or woman who could pay their way and more, but a
helpless black baby, whose condition demanded constant care and nurs
ing, and who could give in return not even the prospective promise of
repaying the debt when age and infirmities should rest upon his bene
factors. They had often read, " I was a stranger and ye took me in ;"
and ere this, where they all gather around the throne, they have heard
the words : " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye
have done it unto me."
And now our little hero has enough to eat, warm clothing to wear,
and a Christian home, and is removed from numerous temptations
which would have beset him in his old home in Albany. He has the
same care, and the same culture, moral and intellectual, as is bestowed
on the other children of the family. He is put into the summer
school. He is four years of age, life is just opening to his personal
consciousness ; he will remember but very indistinctly facts, scenes,
and incidents prior lo his translation to this paradise.
The dusky faces of his father and mother, with the tears of the
parting scene, will gradually fade from his memory ; the old Albany
home, with its privations and want, will soon be as though they had
not been, while his new home with its comforts fill his young heart.
He will soon begin to receive the rich lessons God teaches through
nature. He is out in the green fields, out of the crowded and filthy
streets of a great city ; the birds sing to him, and the brooks murmur
in his ear, and the cloud-shadows gambol over the shimmering glades,

Francis Burns. 377
and the sun-beams creep into his little chamber through climbing
vines and rustling leaves. He will begin to think he is among white
associates altogether, and so his African idiomatic language will be
changed, and he is hedged in by strong religious influences. His
musical ear is daily filled with Christian song, not the puerile trash
often heard in our modern Sabbath-schools, but the grand old hymns
of the Wesleys and Watts, and he bows with the Christian family in
prayer. Who can doubt that the guiding hand of God was in all
this, as in the infant life of Moses ? If he is not a Christian from
childhood, he is saved from many of the vices of that impressible
period ; the seed is being sown in a good soil, and while we do not
know if his pious foster parents lived to witness the full harvest, we
do know that they lived to see that their "labor was not in vain in
the Lord."
Thus four years more of his life pass. Mr. Atwood is satisfied
that the experiment will prove a success, and, fearing lest the boy
should be enticed from his home, just as he may be of some service
to himself, goes to Albany, and the parents of Francis execute legal
indentures by which the lad is bound to Mr. Atwood until his ma
jority, " to learn the art, trade, and mystery of an agriculturist."
He is in school with the white children of the district, who mani
fest no repugnance to associating with " Squire Atwood's colored boy,"
though in Albany the popular sentiment would hardly have tolerated
such freedom with the son of the " negro Burns."
Country schools, it is well known, are periodical, not continuous as
in cities and large towns ; two or three months in the winter for the
older scholars, and a few months of a " woman's school," in summer
for the little ones who are of no use on the farm. It was this sum
mer school which Francis attended at first, and his application and
great proficiency were most gratifying to his teacher and friends, and
he thus demonstrated that the difference between the white and colored
scholars was in the pigment under the epidermis, rather than in the
brain. Mr. Atwood, pleased with his attainments, and fearing for his
health, as some symptoms appeared indicating a pulmonary affection,
kept him in school both summer and winter.
He is now to take an advanced step in his career, he is not a

378 Methodist Bishops.
Christian by experience, although he had a thorough Christian
training. Upright, honest, serious beyond his years, he had the
entire confidence of his foster parents, and the respect of the whole
community, and on this he reposed ; he had not raised the great ques
tion, " What is sin ? " and his introspection had revealed nothing
wrong. He had not consciously broken any law of God or man, and
so was not a sinner, like many he saw around him. " What have I
done?" he would ask when urged to repent; he had not been in
circumstances to test his integrity, and to show his self-righteousness.
But a change came on this wise : The teacher of the summer
school which he attended was a Miss Stewart, daughter of a Baptist
clergyman of that town. Pious and devoted, she looked as carefully to
the hearts of her young charge as to the heads. She drew the hearts
of her pupils to her by a powerful attraction ; she shall not be for
gotten. Mr. Burns himself bears a positive testimony to her piety,
intelligence, firmness, and impartiality. She cherished a lively in
terest for this colored boy, the only one in all that region, and
watched him with a motherly, care, while he in return gave her the
confidence and love of his ardent nature.
One day (she tells the story) he had been guilty of some misde
meanor, and on being called to answer, to screen himself he framed a
falsehood. To detect her favorite pupil in a deliberate lie was a
most painful thing to the teacher. She took him alone, laid the
whole matter clearly before him, with tears in her eyes she told him
of his sin, of God's cognizance of his guilt, and the peril of his soul,
and brought him to repent and turn from his sinful course.
The arrow went to his heart; his self -righteousness received a
fearful shock, his self-respect was gone ; he had betrayed the trust
and forfeited the confidence of his kind teacher, and grieved the
Spirit of God ; he was in great tribulation, " the pains of death got
hold upon me, and the sorrows of hell compassed me about ; " and
then " called he upon the name of the Lord ; " he earnestly sought
and found regenerating grace ; he was filled with peace and joy in
the Holy Ghost.
His conversion was as distinctly marked as had been his self-right
eousness ; his mouth was filled with praise ; and now the bright colored
boy is a Christian, to the delight of his numerous friends : and the

Francis Burns. 379
immediate exercise of his gifts in public were listened to with wonder
and joy by the whole community.
Two years slip by ; he is now seventeen ; still at school, but at
work on the farm in the vacations. He is a growing Christian ; he
has a faithful leader in the person of the pious Mrs. Atwood. He is
baptized and received into the Methodist Episcopal Church, where
God had prepared for him a wide field of labor. And now the Spirit
began to move him in the camp; his public testimonies became more
methodical and moving ; he evidently possessed gifts of a high order.
Of. colored preachers he had never heard ; no one had opened the
subject of a divine call to him, and yet, he is impressed that he must
preach the gospel.
But all earthly considerations are against him. He is a black man,
subject to the opposition and prejudices of his race; he is a mere
boy ; he is bound until twenty-one ; four years yet remain of service ;
he is deficient in the educational qualifications for such a work ; all is
against him, he cannot go. But with this decision he has great
sorrow and darkness of soul; he struggles on sinking deeper and
deeper in the slough of despond ; at last he compromises the matter
with God and his conscience ; if he can be excused until he is of age,
he will go ; he finds in this comparative quiet.
But now he must be educated; his thirst for knowledge is a
torture. He has about exhausted the resources of a common country
school ; he can " read, write, and cipher," as far as the " rule of
three," and this was the " u lima thule " of these young explorers ; but
our young friend from this point looks out upon the illimitable sea
beyond with the intense longing of a Columbus gazing upon the open
Atlantic. For years it has been his habit to carry a book in his pocket, with
the addition of a small pocket-dictionary, and his leisure moments
were employed in reading, with constant reference to his lexicon.
He is now struck with the fact that for his present necessities here is
a vast redundancy of words, a much smaller vocabulary answers his
purpose quite as well. As his eye ran over this bewildering mass of
terms, he said to himself : " I must know the meaning of more of
them, these words must have a signification ; somebody must need
them for the expression of thought ; to such they have significance,

380 Methodist Bishops.
why not to me ? " The vast expanse of science, art, and philosophy,
spread out before him, he must enter and explore these fields ; he is
athirst, he must find the spring.
Let no cynical, color-hating reader say, " O, this was the aspira
tion of the white blood — this was the Caucasian element that stirred
within him." Thank God ! he hadn't any white blood in his veins ;
no touch of the Saxon ; he was God's type of the black race, and
was raised up to illustrate the unity of humanity. Look on his manly
face, black as night, " black, but comely." A noble manhood stirred
and moved his heart : touched by that Spirit which " brooded the dark
elements, and order brought from chaos," he felt the impulse and
followed the drawings. " Self-made, was he ? " Of course, self-made.
All men who are made at all, and who make any thing, are self-
made: they seize the opportunity and employ the instrumentalities.
You cannot, with all the complicated enginery of educational institu
tions, pump true manliness, with force and power, into a passive and
indifferent soul. One must go out after the treasures of knowledge —
must " separate himself, and seek and intermeddle with all wisdom,"
in order to find it. On such seeking God smiles, and gratifies the
desire. It is not the college or university that makes the student or the
man ; these are the helps, but the man must make himself. Year by
year there come throngs from college halls — human forms, polished,
wrapped in tissue-paper, bound, corded, stamped with the maker's
trade-mark, a diploma of strange words signifying nothing, not even
" sound and fury," put on the car of transportation, and dumped into
eternity, that's all. " Self-made ! " Of course this child of misfortune
will be self-made. He is bursting through the hard, superincumbent
mass of prejudice and poverty, and all the debris which human
diabolism could heap upon a race. He is struggling to free himself,
like Milton's coming lion, — "Now half appeared
The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts ; then springs as broke from bonds,
And, rampant, shakes his brindled mane."
Every thing seemed against young Burns but God, and how wonder
fully He cleared his way !

Francis Burns. 381
There is a high school at Lexington Heights, Greene County,
under the tutorship of William M'Lauren, and he is advised by his
spiritual guide, Be v. D. Terry, to apply for admission to its classic
halls. It seemed the wildest and most absurd attempt — no colored
student had ever been admitted to a high school or academy in the
country — a black man in an aristocratic white high school ? Impossi
ble ! He can hardly hope for success in his application. But Francis
believed in God. He might secure his admission, and if he should
gain admission it would be next to heaven. He will, instead of a
direct application to the trustees, first apply at head-quarters; the
school belongs to his Father — He will not reject his application. He
goes to his closet, talks with his best friend about it, reminds him of
the covenant between them, of his wants and unfitness for his pros
pective life work, and comes out with an assurance of success. He
makes his application in person. His modesty, his earnestness, his
reputation, his good character, so long maintained in the community,
favorably impress the gentlemanly principal, and he is admitted ; the
first instance of the kind on record ojithis continent. Heretofore a
colored maifwho desiredTan education must go to Europe in order to
pursue a course of study on terms of equality with whites. There
stands, in one corner of my parlor, a guitar which the writer pur
chased of a fine looking young colored man, in 1849, who wished to
raise funds to reach England that he might enter a medical school, as
all doors were closed against him in the United States.
Not one word was uttered against our young hero in or out of the
school ; nay, he was treated with marked respect by both pupils and
teachers. He won their confidence and love by his gentleness, his
Christian deportment, and his application and remarkable proficiency
in his studies.
He does hot relax in his religious zeal; he grows in grace, and
seeks and finds a full consecration to God, and proves in his deep
experience, that the " blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin."
He lives in a new world, there is to him a " new heaven and a new
earth." " The joy of the Lord is his strength."
He now begins to " hold meetings " in the neighboring school-
houses, and the delighted brethren hear with surprise his clear and
persuasive exhortations ; and the conviction is strengthened that he is ¦

382 Methodist Bishops.
indeed a "chosen vessel unto the Lord ;" and in this conviction, judg
ing him to be a suitable person, as he has clearly " gifts, grace, and
usefulness," the Church adds her outward to the Spirit's inward call
to the ministry of the word.
After a quarterly meeting, held on the Windham Circuit, he was
given a license as local preacher, now about twenty years of age. He
is not idle, his license was no mere compliment, but authority by the
Church to call sinners to repentance, and he enters every open door,
aided and encouraged by the circuit preachers.
But now appears another remarkable phenomenon in the career of
this man. He is engaged to teach the common school in his own
neighborhood — the first colored teacher of white youth in the land.
His success was marked. He had the confidence of the entire com
munity. By his consistent Christian life and affectionate, kindly dis
position, he had endeared himself to all the people. He had honored
God, and now God gives him favor with the people.
It is now 1830, Mr. Burns is twenty-one years of age. A great
and wide-spread interest is awakened for Africa, whose degraded
millions appealed to the American Churches for help. Her stolen
children had enriched our land by their unpaid toil ; we can do no
less than to send the gospel back to them. At once men volunteered
to go. Cox, Wright, and others went out to suffer and to die ; and one
after another they fell, and their dust awaits the resurrection call in the
cemetery at Monrovia. It was soon demonstrated that white men can
not five in Africa, and that if the work is prosecuted at all it must be by
colored men, or such as have been acclimated in hot, malarial climates.
But the dying Cox had struck the key-note of the enterprise in his
last utterance : " Though thousands fall, let not Africa be given up."
Bev. David Terry traveled the Windham Circuit, which was the
residence of Mr. Burns. He had noticed the young colored man in
the congregation, was impressed with his manly bearing, and heard
with much interest his testimony in a class-meeting after the public
Bervice. He sought and obtained an interview with him, learned the
main facts in his history, and advised him to turn his attention to
theological reading, with such studies as would fit him for ministerial
work among his own people here or in Africa ; and at the same time
Burns gave him an order for a copy of Clarke's Commentary.

Francis Burns. 383
In 1833 the New York Annual Conference met in Poughkeepsie,
and the young colored man was introduced to Bishop Hedding, who,
after a brief examination, was satisfied that he was a laborer specially
prepared for the new field in Africa. He was struck 'by the marks
of divine providence in his history. Like his great prototype, he was
providentially raised up and fitted for a leader of his people. His
lowly birth, his casting out. by his parents under the law of poverty,
more flexible than the law of Pharoah ; his rescue and nursing by a
greater than the daughter of the Egyptian king, that " elect lady,"
Mrs. Atwood ; his sojourn in his Midian, keeping the flocks of his
benefactor ; the burning bush, the white high school, which gave him
authority by fitting him for his work ; and now his call to go and
lead his people out of their long servitude, are all interesting coinci
dences, fanciful only to the unbelieving.
But such a man is wanted just at this time for a special work, and
he is found in the " hill country " of New York, where he has been
in preparation for two decades of years, and now comes to the front
at the call of circumstances. If a peculiarly shaped stone is wanted
in the erection of a building, and one is found among the material
which fits the place, and no where else, it is fair to infer it was
designed for it. You may call it chance, we call it divine providence,
watching his work and providing for exigencies.
The year following the interview with Bishop Hedding a man
arrived in this country from the West Indies, who had been long in
the missionary work among the blacks in those islands. He was at
once engaged to go to Liberia to superintend our mission work ; and
so this man, Bev. John Seys, became the Aaron of our Moses, and our
Albany waif, the student, the scholar, the pious and devoted young
local preacher, is engaged to accompany him to that distant and peril
ous field of toil.
Light now flashes on all his dark past, and God says to him, " For
this same purpose have I raised thee up." This is just the field he
would have selected had it been left to his choice ; his heart exults in
the prospect.
September, 1834, sees them off, the second division of the forlorn
hope hurled against the citadel of superstition, barbarism, and bestial
ity in that land " shadowed with wings " of error.
23

384 Methodist Bishops.
After weary months of sailing, the low shores and dark mangrove
swamps of Africa appear on the horizon. But, alas ! no warm wel
come greets them from successful predecessors ; they are all in their
graves ! A handful of converts greet them, but the terrible fever has
been nearly as fatal to the colored immigrants as to the whites. Color
is no certain defense against the fatal malarial fever ; Mr. Burns was
at once prostrated by the foe, and for two years he suffered constantly-
returning attacks, but his strong constitution triumphed.
He had entered upon his work as a teacher in Monrovia Seminary,
and now added to that task the wearing work of an itinerant preacher,
which he faithfully prosecuted for ten years, when he returned to this
country for a short rest, and to receive ordination, having " purchased
to himself a good degree." He was ordained by Bishop Janes deacon
and elder in succession. He spent a few months in visiting the
Churches and presenting the claims of the African mission, and his
stirring addresses will not be soon forgotten. He then returned to his
field of labor. He was appointed principal of the Monrovia Confer
ence Seminary ; he was editor of " Africa's Luminary ; " he was pre
siding elder of Cape Palmas district, and preacher in charge of Cape
Palmas station ; and for six years he was appointed president of the
Liberia Annual Conference. " Who is weak, and I am not weak ? "
he might well exclaim. No mortal man could long stand a strain like
that. Yet he never complained, nor asked to be relieved. His letters
to the board of the Missionary Society at New York were full of
cheering news and statistical information, so that the managers at
home knew quite as well the state of the work as though on the spot
themselves. His was a true apostolic life, modeled after that of the great apos
tle to the Gentiles. He had laid himself upon the altar without
reserve, and he would not spare himself. The Church gave him her
entire confidence, the world held him in profound respect, while the
friends of the abolition of slavery pointed exultantly to him as a
demonstration of the capabilities of the African race.
The General Conference of 1856 took up and discussed the ques
tion of a missionary bishop for Africa. It was almost certain death
for a white man to visit and remain any length of time in that region :
and then the superintendency by one of their own race would, it

Francis Burns. 385
was thought, strengthen the work by throwing them more and more
upon their own resources. The day was passing when white pastors
were a necessity to colored Churches. " Throw them upon their own
manhood," said the advocates of this measure ; " confide in their hon-
Ist integrity ; let them feel that their friends and patrons expect them
to Walk alone, and you lift them above a feeling of dependence." And
so it was voted that the Liberia Annual Conference should elect a
superintendent for themselves, and the choice was Francis Burns.
This was in 1858. It was a well-earned honor — none more so.
But this movement was anomalous, and entirely outside of Meth
odist usages and constitutional guarantees. There was no provision in
the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church for a diocesan or lim
ited episcopate. One is bishop, if properly constituted, of the whole
Church, of co-ordinate authority and equality of privilege. He is
elected by the representatives of all the Annual Conferences in their
quadrennial convention, and set apart for the work of a superintend
ent by the imposition of the hands of the acting bishops ; not raised
to a higher order, as in other episcopal bodies, but to a distinct office.
His duty is, in part, " to travel through the connection at large," says
the Discipline, and "To oversee the spiritual and temporal business of
our Church." »
The General Conference authorized the Liberia Annual Confer
ence to elect a candidate for the superintendency instead of doing it
themselves, and so gave their sanction to the election, calling home the
candidate for ordination. Mr. Burns obeyed the call, came to the
United States, and Bishops Janes and Baker set him apart to the office
and work of a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The act
was performed at the session of the Genesee Annual Conference, held
in Buffalo, N. Y., 1858._ It was an occasion of surpassing interest. It
wasthe first act of the kind in the history of the Methodist Episcopal 1
Church. The sable candidate for episcopal honors was a native of New
York, and was, therefore, at home. Crowds were gathered at the seat
of the Conference, eager to see the man of whom they had heard so
much, and to witness the ceremony. Mr. Burns had frequently
preached since his return with great power, and his missionary addresses
had stirred the hearts of the people as they had seldom been moved.
" He had the polished manners of a gentleman," says an eye witness,

386 Methodist Bishops.
" with great sweetness of disposition, and retiring and attractive mod
esty, a highly cultivated mind, stored with choice knowledge, which
made his company exceedingly interesting." And now, when this
man knelt at the chancel, and the hands of the officiating bishops and
elders were laid upon his head, and in the hush of that vast assembly}
the solemn words were heard, " Keceive the Holy Ghost for the office
and work of a bishop in the Church of God now committed unto thee
by the imposition of oiir hands, in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost ! " there was not a dry eye in the house.
It was a great event — the veil had begun to rend, the sun went forward
many degrees on the dial-plate of humanity ; Africa was redeemed.
And now the little child of poverty, who was " given away " by his
parents .and adopted by strangers, is a bishop in the Church of God.
With all the irregularities attending his election, he bears the title,
and has earned the honor. If deep and uniform piety, close applir
cation to study, profound and ripe scholarship, rare devotion to his
work as a servant of God, with marked success, are essential qualifica
tions for the office of a bishop, then was Francis Burns worthy of
the office of an overseer in the Church of God, while the undivided
ballots of his brethren, the voice of the entire Church, and the solemn
imposition of episcopal hands, surely confirm that cla^m ; and he might
go a step farther, and appeal to a higher test, and say, " Are they
[apostles ?] so am I. Are they ministers of Christ ? I am more : in
labors more abundant*. . . in journeyings often, in perils of waters,
in perils tjf robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by
the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness ... in
weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in
fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all " Africa !
The^olntion of this vexed question of the ecclesiastical legality of
Bishop Burns's ordination, which at the time created so much excite
ment and drew out so much discussion is, that he was a black man,
and the time was 1858-59. It would never do to have a black
bishop traveling at large through the land, presiding at Annual Con
ferences, stationing white preachers, aud ordaining them ; hence he
must be styled a " missionary bishop ! " But point out in the Disci
pline, as it then stood, your authority for such an office. Show in the

Francis Burns. 387
ordination service the distinction. Do we make the same distinction
in our Scandinavian, German, or Chinese work ? If the bishop who
goes to superintend the Liberia Conference is a missionary bishop,
so is he who visits Germany and China and the East Indies a mission
ary bishop for the time, but when the term of such service expires he
takes Ms place among his peers. And so if the acts of election and
ordination give and secure to these officers of the Church this equality,
Anthony Burns, when here, was among his peers ; and had he, on his
final return to this country, in 1863, claimed all the rights, privileges,
and powers of a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the
absence of all disciplinary limitations and restrictions, there is not a
legal tribunal in the land but would have granted the claim. But
those were days when slavery ruled Church and State, and.the time
had not yet arrived when a white bishop could dine and take an airing
in the carriage of a respectable colored dentist and family without pro
ducing an earthquake, and ending this mundane conflict.
Our new bishop gave himself brief repose, but at once sailed for
his distant field of labor, where he threw himself again into his loved
work with a zeal which knew . no abatement, and a heart that never
grew cold; he would not spare himself. He had the care of the
schools, of the printing press, and of the Churches and ministers ; he
must be every-where in the supervision of these interests, and this
not for a few weeks, as in the case of a visiting bishop, and then off
for home, but this strain was unremitting ; the close of the year only
introducing another of increasing care as the good work spread. And
thus passed four years of additional toil. But the bow which had
retained its strength for thirty years began to give way, and to lose its
elasticity. His long exposure to that terrible climate, the frequent
attacks of malarial fever he had suffered, and his herculean labors, had
about exhausted a constitution not naturally strong, and he broke
down. His physician commanded instant cessation from labor, and
a return to the States.
He reached his native land in the darkest days of our struggle with
the proud foe of his race. He was intensely excited. The land trem
bled under the tread of armed hosts, and he must have experienced a
rare delight in seeing thousands of his own race marching to the field
under the Stars and Stripes. But a greater joy awaited this toil-worn

S88 Methodist Bishops.
son of oppressed Africa. On the second day of September, 1862, the
nation was startled by the famous Proclamation of Emancipation, issued
by President Lincoln, and on January 1, 1863, slavery ceased to exist
in the United States. Some three months after that event Bishop
Burns arrived in Baltimore, but only to die. His work was done ;
nature failed to rally her exhausted powers ; and on the 18th of April,
1863, he quietly fell asleep in Jesus.
Bishop Francis Burns was a remarkable man in talent, attainments,
piety, and self-sacrifice. Our excellent Bishop Janes sums up all in a
letter kindly furnished to the writer in which he says : " I had a good
deal of correspondence with him, and became very much attached to
him. I esteemed him very highly as a minister of deep piety, refine
ment, general intelligence, mental force, and devotion to his work.
The sermon which he preached before the Genesee Conference, at the
time of his ordination as bishop, would have been creditable to any of
our bishops."
Bishop Burns was married after his elevation to the episcopate, and
as this event was as strongly marked by a mysterious over-ruling Provi
dence as his own remarkable career, it deserves, and shall have, a sepa
rate and special notice.
Our heroic bishop was in no haste to wed, believing that He who
said, " It is not good for man to be alone," would in due time, without
the aid of the Darwinian dogma of " natural selection," bring to him
the other half of the Adam thus left alone. He did not, as soon as
he entered the Christian ministry, begin to peer about in search of a
wife, and hence he avoided embarrassing engagements, and no morsel
was furnished to the tooth of slander. He waited for her to come.
" When I want a wife I will not call in the aid of that class of mis
chief-makers, the match-makers ; I believe the God who has guided
me through all these years, and whom I serve, will provide one," he
said quietly to himself. Alone he toiled on in the burning air of
Africa for twenty-five years, gathering souls into the fold of Christ.
No breath of calumny rested upon him, no act of indiscretion marred
the beauty of his life, but still there was found no " helpmeet for him."
But the same wise and gracious Providence which had always
guided his affairs was with him still, and had been for all these years
of labor and sacrifice, preparing for him a true helper.

Francis Burns. 389
Just about the time of his first visit to Africa a little girl of mixed
blood, at the age of three years, was left an orphan, and thrown upon
the charities of the world ; her name was Lucinda J. Harvard, a native
of the State of Connecticut, but in what town born we do not know.
A kind-hearted man by the name of Warren Humphrey, and his pious
wife, adopted the little outcast. In this kind family she was a cherished
pet for seven years, when Mrs. Humphrey died. To the poor child
this was a great loss. " It was," says Mrs. Dr. Baymond, from whom
we have derived these facts, " the first great affliction of her life." In
this family she toiled on in household labor until nearly twenty years
of age, without remuneration, saving only food and clothing. She
then, being of age, went into another family at stipulated wages of one
dollar and a half per week. She was intent on securing an education
which should fit her for teaching. In the course of two years she had
saved of her small wages fifty dollars, with which she started for Wil
braham Seminary, then under charge of Bev. Minor Baymond, D.D.
She at once entered upon her course of study, which she diligently and
successfully prosecuted for some three years, a part of her expenses
being paid by the Missionary Society, and in part by her own labor in
the family of the principal, Dr. Baymond. Her heart was drawn
toward Liberia as her field of labor. She sailed for Africa in the same
ship which bore back to his field of toil the newly ordained Bishop
Burns. On this long voyage they, of necessity, formed intimate
acquaintance with each other, which grew into strong mutual attach
ment. They then entered into a matrimonial engagement. She taught
for a season at White Plains Seminary, Liberia, and there they were
married January 5, 1859.
They at once removed to Monrovia, the residence of the bishop,
and took possession of the episcopal palace ! Let not the reader smile
incredulously at this. You shall have a picture of this palatial resi
dence drawn by her own hand: "It was," she writes, "three stories
in height, built of wood, with two rooms to each story, old and leaky ;
neither ceiled, plastered, nor papered — simply like a barn."
She bore no children, but adopted a number of poor outcasts. We
cannot better describe her life in Africa than is done by her own pen
in a letter to that " elect " lady, Mrs. Baymond, who has kindly fur
nished a copy for information, and in answer to the question, " Was she

390 Methodist Bishops.
[the bishop's wife] a helpmeet ? " " The two eldest [adopted] daugh
ters are married, so there are but five children at home, four girls, and
a boy three years old. Mr. Burns, myself, and the children are all
that sit at table daily. I have no hired woman constantly, but get one
by the day as I need. As soon as it is light we are up. Mr. B. goes
to his study, which is in another house, as there is no spare room in
this. Some of us prepare the breakfast, while others make the chil
dren's beds, do the sweeping, and so forth. At eight o'clock Mr. B.
comes home, when we have prayers and breakfast. Then the children
go to school. We dine at two, but get no supper. Through the day
I am attending to my housework, making and mending clothes for old
and young, boys and girls, or visiting the sick and poor — giving this
poor woman and that orphan child something to eat, drink, or wear.
And O, there is so much of this to do ! Not a day passes but some
one is at the door begging, and, of course, I must satisfy myself that
it is a worthy and needy case."
Mrs. E. writes, " Although the white and negro races were equally
represented in her blood, and she herself was quite dark, yet she natu
rally shrank from contact with colored people, as all her associations
had been with white people. Yet she writes : ' I recollect how I used
to feel about talking and praying with the natives ; yet all I regret
about that is, that I do not have more of it to do.' "
When the worn and dying bishop came to this country with the
hope of improving his health she accompanied him, nursed and com
forted him in his last hours, and closed his eyes in their final sleep :
then, taking his remains with her, returned over the wide waste of
waters to her desolate home. She kept her family together and also
taught a school. But the climate had broken her robust frame, and she
soon sank under her increased burdens, and is laid by the side of her
noble husband under the palms of the land they both loved to the death.
" They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death they
were not divided."

Jjrlyirr&Cc^k

Davis Wasgatt Clark.

1VTEARLY all of the chief men of American Methodism have
-Ll been of the class popularly styled "self-made." It may.be
doubted, however, whether that designation truthfully applies to any
man ; for every one is more or less shaped by his conditions. Or if
the use of such conditions by the individual is especially referred to
by that term, then all who usually succeed are self-made. There is,
however, a sense in which that form o'f expression may be taken that
is not only true, but also eminently suggestive and worthy of attention.
These men were chiefly from the middle grades of society: sons of
plain and comparatively poor and only moderately educated parents,
and were accustomed from childhood to frugal living, to labor, and
to rely largely upon their own efforts for their present livelihood,
and any possible higher attainments in the future. And these things,
no doubt, contributed largely to their success in life ; and the habits
of industry imposed by necessity, coupled with the moral and religious
influences of their Christian homes, made them such as they now
appear — giants in manly virtues and heroes in the service of their
God and of his people.
Of this goodly company of Christian worthies he of whom we
now write was one, and by no means the least. Davis Wasgatt
Clark was descended on the side of both parents from a good Massa
chusetts stock. His ancestors on both sides had in the generations
before him removed into the Province of Maine, then an integral
part of the State of Massachusetts, and settled in the new country
near the sea-coast, to the eastward of the southern extremity of the
•
province. The island of Mount Desert, so named from its character
by the early French colony that first occupied this territory, lies just
off the mainland, and upon this the grandparents of our subject —
both paternal and maternal — made their homes. Here Davis Wasgatt,
his maternal grandfather, whose honored name he has made still more

394 Methodist Bishops.
honorable, after having served his country in the army during the
whole period of the war of the Bevolution, resided for more than
three score years, chosen by his townsmen to the principal places in
their gift, both civil and ecclesiastical. Here, too, resided John Clark,
a young farmer of good character, who wooed and won the hand of
Sarah Wasgatt, and of the union so formed came, as their oldest
son, the subject of this sketch. The traveler of these later times
who may explore the interior of that island will find in the shel
tered inland nook known as Beach Hill Yalley a grave-yard, and
among the tombstones two bearing, respectively, the names of John
Clark and Sarah Clark. Not far off is the site, now houseless, upon
which stood the modest dwelling in which, on. the 25th day of
February, 1812, was born he whom the great world has come to
know as Davis Wasgatt Clark, D.D., bishop of the Methodist Epis
copal Church.
The remote island home into which this future celebrity was born
could offer him but scanty advantages beyond those of the household
itself. By reason of its isolation and comparative poverty, it possessed
but few of the advantages of advanced civilization. Its school,
though kept in existence, afforded only the most limited primary
instruction. A Congregational Church was established and main
tained in the neighborhood, of which the venerable Wasgatt was for
two generations an office-bearer ; but the current of its religious life
had become very feeble, and consequently its power was quite insuf
ficient to restrain and renew the uncultured children of the forests
and the sea who made up the population of the island. But there
were better things in reserve for them. In the year 1815 a Free-will
Baptist preacher visited the island as an evangelist, preaching in
private houses, and wherever he could obtain access to the people.
A remarkable religious awakening followed, and among the converts
were John and Sarah Clark. The stranger evangelist presently de
parted, leaving his converts to thecare of others, and many of them
found their way into the only Church on the island. A religious
revolution, now took place in the household of which our subject was
a child of scarcely four years old. The family altar was set up, and
the daily oblation of prayer and praise was offered, and 'in all its
affairs it was manifested that salvation had come to that house. With

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 395
a child's quickness to perceive, and sympathy to feel; the little boy
took notice of these things, and felt their awe-inspiring expressiveness.
The seed thus sown became abundantly fruitful in after life. But there
arose an insuperable obstacle in the way of both the parents of our sub
ject coming into the fellowship of the Congregational Church. It was
required of all who sought to unite with that Church that they should
accept and believe all its doctrines, including the extreme tenets of
Calvinism, which neither of them could do. They, therefore, re-
• mained without formal Church fellowship, but kindled and kept alive
the fires of their devotions upon their own domestic altar.
Here in the loneliness of that island home childhood grew into
youth, and the unfolding intellect asked for a wider field, and the
young heart struggled for larger sympathies. His home afforded
these only to a very limited extent. He soon attained to all the
learning that the local school could give him ; he devoured with very
little discrimination, because there was very little room for choice, all
the books that fell within his reach, and through them caught
glimpses of the great outside world. He mingled with and listened
to the stories of the sailors and fishermen who had been out upon the
great deep, and his rising ambition prompted him to be a sailor.
But God had other work for him ; and while the youth was thus
marking out for himself another way of life than that designed by
Providence, an event occurred which changed forever the course of
his life.
In 1828, while our subject was in his seventeenth year, Mount
Desert was first visited by a Methodist preacher, with the design to
permanently occupy it. Bev. David Stimson was then in charge of
Benobscot Circuit, with Bufus C. Bailey for colleague. The latter
was a young man, and was sent over to the hitherto unvisited island, if
it might be, to do something there for God and Methodism. He soon
found his way to the island dell, under the shadow of Beach Hill, and
preached Christ and a free and impartial gospel to the people. More
than ten years had passed, during which some of those who received
the word of God as preached by the stranger evangelist had earnestly
waited the advent of another who should, in like manner, tell them
of God's free grace. These were found a people prepared to receive
the coming messenger of salvation. Among the names of the mem-

396 Methodist Bishops.
bers of the class first formed were those of Sarah Clark, and her son
Davis W. Clark. And this record was, especially to the latter, sig
nificant of much more than appeared upon the surface. He had be
come the subject of a profound moral and religious transformation —
was born again. This raised him into a new life, with broader, deeper,
and more spiritual views than he had before entertained ; and he
entered at once upon a new career, the end of which he had but little
understood, but into which he consented to be led by the divine
Spirit to whose guidance he had submitted himself.
Two or three years more were passed at the paternal home, not
idly, however, nor unprofitably, either for himself or others ; though
still he saw not how the pillar of the divine Providence would lead
him out into the wider activities for which his heart was burning. He
felt his lack of the needed mental preparation for the work to which
his heart aspired, but saw not the way to obtain it. He had heard of
schools and institutions where young men were prepared for their high
career in life, but they appeared to be as utterly inaccessible to him as
if they were in another world. They seemed to come nearer to him,
however, when he heard of such institutions patronized and controlled
by his own Church, and his desires grew with the faintest hope of
their being gratified. The Maine Wesleyan Seminary had been
founded a few years before, with a manual labor department, by
which it was too fondly hoped that young men would be able to
largely meet their expenses by devoting a part of their time to
manual labor. This prospect decided his course, and in the spring
of 1831 young Clark, at the age of nineteen,- left his father's house
and proceeded to Beadfield, the seat of the seminary, and began
his student life. His father reluctantly parted with his boy, already
his chief dependence in all his farm work, but sent him out with
all he had to give — ^his blessing. His services as a school-teacher in
his own neighborhood had gained for him a small sum of money,
and with that, and a strong heart, he went forth. He went to the
seminary to obtain learning, but with only the most indefinite no
tions as to what all that signified — what he was to learn, to what
extent he would proceed, or how the necessary expenses should be
met. But time and events resolved all these. He continued at the
seminary (with long absences, chiefly occupied with school-teaching)

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 397
for about three years ; and in 1834 he entered the Wesleyan Uni
versity at a somewhat advanced stage of its course of studies, and
two years later he left it, bearing with him the diploma of a Bach
elor of Arts.
His career in college seems not to have excited any very special
attention from his instructors or others. His class-standing was
always respectable, but not the highest, as it could not be expected
that it should, since he usually had one or two more studies than
properly belonged to his class. He was, however, graduated with
honor, and the education he had obtained was to a good degree com
plete in both its extent and his mastery of the matters taken in
hand. But though released from the exactions of student life, he was
not at liberty to pause and enjoy the much-needed leisure so appro
priate to such a time. Only a few weeks later he entered upon his
duties as teacher of mathematics at Amenia Seminary, Dutchess
County, N. Y. Soon afterward he was licensed to preach, so that
now double responsibilities were laid upon him. That seminary had
then been in operation only about two years. Bev. (now Dr..) C.
K. True was its first principal, who retired at the end of one year,
and Rev. F. Merrick, (afterward president of Ohio Wesleyan Uni
versity,) was now at its head. Under his able- and skillful manage
ment, and after him under that of his not less able successor, the
institution grew up to a high degree of prosperity, and became a
great blessing to a multitude of young persons of both sexes, who
availed themselves of the advantages that it offered.
About two years later two marked events occurred in Mr. Clark's
affairs. On the 25th of July, 1838, he was united in marriage with
Miss Mary J. Bedman, daughter of Jesse and Frances Bedman, of
Trenton, N. J. Their acquaintance had begun at the seminary, and
was extended and consummated in marriage, at the home of her
who now became his bride. There is evidence, that, while Mr. Clark
was not without the sentiment common to young persons in such
cases, he also entered upon the state of matrimony with sincere and
deep religious feelings. Life had ever been with him too intensely
real to be now given up to sentimentality.
" Thus far," he wrote on the occasion of his marriage, " the

398 Methodist Bishops.
Lord has led me on, and still he continues to bless and prosper me.
O, that we may continue to walk in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blameless."
The other event referred to was his election, by the trustees of
the seminary, to succeed the late principal, Mr. Merrick, who at that
time retired from the position he had so ably and successfully
filled. The election was made unanimously, and accompanied with
a strongly-expressed wish that he should accept the position. And
the events more than justified the wisdom of the selection. He
entered upon his duties resolved to make the institution something
more than a school for secular learning. " These schools," he wrote,
" must be conducted on religious principles, and must have teachers of
genuine piety, and not merely formally religious." How fully and
successfully he reduced this resolve to practice is shown by the history
of the seminary while under his superintendency.
The whole term of Mr. Clark's connection with Amenia Seminary
was seven years ; the first two as an assistant, having charge of the
department of mathematics, and the subsequent five years as principal
and instructor in mental and moral philosophy and English literature.
The government of the institution was entirely in his hands, with only
a few general instructions from the board of trustees, and yet with a
large body of pupils of both sexes, and many of them of adult age,
there were very few occasions for discipline during the whole term of
his administration. The attendance of pupils was large during the
whole time, many of them drawn by the reputation of the institution
from remote parts of the country. The grade of instruction was high,
even -for an academy, and many of its older boys and young men were
pursuing the studies required before entering college. Of those who
then and there pursued their preparatory studies, a considerable num
ber have achieved a good reputation among scholars.
As an educator having the oversight of a body of young persons,
Mr. Clark recognized his relations as devolving upon him the most
sacred responsibilities in respect to the religious training of his pupils.
The seminary was, by the design of its founders and official guardians,
specifically a Methodist institution. Mr. Clark sought also to make it
eminently an evangelical agency. There were regular services on Sab
bath in the seminary chapel, at which the principal usually officiated.

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 399
A high state of spiritual prosperity prevailed during most of the
time of his presidency over the institution, with extensive revivals
during most of the terms ; and because he took charge of these exer
cises, and was himself at the head of all the religious proceedings, any
tendency to extravagance or fanaticism was entirely avoided.
In 1839, a year after their marriage, Mr. Clark and his young wife
made a journey to the home of his childhood. A little more than
eight years before he had gone out from that home, and by repeated
removes he had gone farther and farther away, and with the lapse of
years his returns had become less and less frequent. Evidently this
enforced separation occasioned him real sorrow. His father's family
was eminently a private one, and he seldom spoke of it except in the
most delicate manner, and yet his heart dwelt in it with an affection
that neither distance nor time could efface. His parents still survived,
and his brother and sisters were yet about them, and his venerable
maternal grandfather, whose honored name he bore, now a patriarch of
ninety, still lingered with his descendants. Into that sacred seclusion
the young minister, bringing with him his youthful bride, now came
to look once again upon the scenes of his childhood, and to bless and
be blessed among those who held his earliest love ! His mother, espe
cially, with the intuitions of a mother, now looked with a kind of pro
phetic awe upon this son of her solicitudes and hopes, and as he went
forth again, followed him with her prayers and benedictions into that
great world into which she saw him departing, led by a propitious
providence. In his new department of instruction he was brought into intimate
contact with the more advanced minds of his pupils, and accordingly
his own mind was drawn into a higher range of contemplation. His
mental tendencies led him to take broad and deep views of things, and
his literary tastes were gratified and strengthed by the studies to which
he was called. And here, as through all his after life, he did more
than to simply compass the routine of his duties. He extended his
studies over the whole field in which he was called to labor, and he
noted down for the use of others the matured result of his studies.
As the great purpose of his teaching was to quicken and fashion the
minds of his pupils after his own elevated ideal, and apprehending
that labor and self-discipline were the necessary means to that end, he

400 Methodist Bishops.
made the art of self-culture and discipline a subject of special study.
His studies and meditations upon this subject at length took form in a
well-digested treatise on " Mental Discipline," which was published by
him in 1847, the earliest of his literary productions in the form of a
volume. But while thus earnestly devoting his mind and heart to the work
immediately in hand, he was consciously drawn toward another and
still more sacred calling. He had gone forth from the home of his
childhood with the Christian ministry as the great objective point
toward which his heart was leading him. That point was, indeed,
apparently a great way off, and the path by which it was to be reached
was far from being plain to his vision ; but he never lost sight of his
object, nor failed to hope that it would be attained. To preach the
gospel, and to serve as the religious guide and instructor of the people,
he recognized as his paramount duty and his highest and most sacred
calling. He therefore submitted, somewhat restively, to the restraints
laid upon him by pecuniary obligation incurred in prosecuting his
educational career, which induced him to consider and to condemn the
practice of his Church in wholly failing to make provision for the
assistance of young men preparing for the ministry of the gospel. His
first essays as a writer for the press were accordingly directed to that
subject, pleading that provisions should be made by which young men,
duly approved, should be brought forward by the Church and aided in
procuring the required preparation for the work of the ministry. His
convictions respecting this matter were evidently quickened, and his
feelings intensified, by his own experiences ; but beyond any thing per
sonal in the relations of the subject, the breadth and fitness of the
views expressed, and the manner of their statement, indicate the men
tal and literary growth to which their writer had already attained.
The mind of the Church at that time was passing forward to more
adequate views of the utility and necessity of a thoroughly educated
ministry ; and while wise and pious men saw dangers in the changes
proposed, others, their equals in both wisdom and devotion, saw in
these things the guiding hand of Providence pointing out to his peo
ple the way in which they should go forward. Time and events have
indicated <the wisdom of the proposed changes of administrative policy
in the Methodist Episcopal Church as to education for the ministry,

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 401
in relation to whicli changes the name of D. W. Clark aeservedly
stands forth as a leader of the advancing column.
While thus engaged in his labors and studies at the seminary,
Mr. Clark was also pursuing an extensive course of reading in the
ology and general literature ; and whatever he read he set down in
regular and systematic order. He, therefore, became, almost without
purposing it, a reviewer. He accordingly prepared a number of
elaborate papers, as studies from his library and lecture room, which
were printed in the " Methodist Quarterly Beview." For more than
ten years, beginning soon after 1840, and continuing till he entered
upon the more engrossing duties of an official editorship, he was a
not infrequent contributor to that periodical ; and these papers, so
published, secured for him a valuable reputation as an able thinker
and a scholarly writer. There was about these productions a robust
ness of thought and manliness of utterance that pleased more than
the finest rhetoric or poetic embellishments, though these qualities
were not altogether wanting.
In the early part of the year 1843, after a residence of nearly seven
years at Amenia, Mr. Clark determined to resign his place in the
Seminary, and to enter upon the regular work of the ministry. His
administration, it was universally confessed, had been eminently suc
cessful. In the address delivered among the closing exercises of his
administration, reviewing his work, it was stated that more than a
thousand young persons had come under his instructions ; that of these
more than eighty had entered upon a course of preparation for some
one of the learned professions ; and that about thirty had devoted them
selves to the sacred calling of the Christian ministry. More than two
hundred had been converted during that time — a fact of the highest
interest of all. He thus terminated his first great public responsibility,
which doubtless was, as to himself, the formation and fixing of his
character, and his preparation for the still more conspicuous places to
which he ascended.
The New York Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
held its session for the year 1843 in the city of New York, com
mencing on the 17th of May. At that session Mr. Clark, having
been duly recommended by the Church at Amenia, appeared as a can
didate for the traveling connection, and was admitted on trial. His
24

402 Methodist Bishops.
first appointment was to Winsted, in the State of Connecticut. At
that time the subject of slavery was producing no little agitation in
the Church, and especially within the New England States. The
New York Conference, however, as a body, held strongly to the con
servative side of the question, seeking to repress all attempts at
agitation, and even censuring any of its own members that dared to
declare openly against the morality or even the policy of slave-holding.
With this controversy, in its partisan aspects, Mr. Clark had taken
no part, though personally he most decidedly disliked the accursed
thing. The Church to which he was now appointed was most thor
oughly and intensely antislavery ; and suspecting that any minister
that might be sent to them from the Confrence would be in sympa
thy with its spirit and opinions rather than theirs, the church authori
ties had made no provision for receiving or providing for any. Ac
cordingly when the new minister came among them, with his family,
he was coolly and rather inhospitably received. But however much
he may have been saddened by the nature of his reception he was
not disheartened, but went earnestly about his appropriate work,
avoiding any controversy or discussions about the subject of slavery.
Having to preach to his people twice each Sabbath, besides perform
ing many other ministerial aud pastoral duties among the people, he
had abundance of labor upon his hands ; and his Church, seeing him
diligently "and faithfully engaged in these, forgot their prejudices
against him for reasons foreign to himself, and learned to honor him
for his Christian fidelity and ministerial ability. Before he left the
place he was confessed to be a good enough " abolitionist " for them.
He received a salary of $350 a year, with a modest dwelling, for the
two years of his pastorate at Winsted ; and with this modest income
he was content, because it enabled him and his family to live com
fortably and respectably. His two years' service at this first appoint
ment was long remembered by those whom he served with peculiar
satisfaction. Having been two years at Winsted, the law of the Methodist
itineracy required his removal to another place ; he, therefore, closed
up his work at that place in April, 1845, and repaired to the session of
the Conference. His two years' service on trial having proved satis
factory, he was admitted to full membership in the body, and clothed

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 403
with the full powers of the eldership. His next appointment was
Salisbury, whose Methodist Episcopal Church was among the oldest
of that denomination in all that part of the country,- and of very
considerable financial strength and social standing. The congregation
was large and intelligent, but not especially devout. It was, in addi
tion to the ordinary causes of spiritual decline, suffering from the
prevalence of the " Mifierite " delusion, and a terrible reaction had
followed the former fanaticism, by which many had been alienated
•in spirit, and some had quite made shipwreck of their faith. But
without complainings or confessed discouragement he labored dili
gently for the building up of the desolation, and under the divine
blessing his labors proved abundantly successful. A spirit of quick
ening began to be manifested during the ensuing winter, which at
length broke out into a deep and extensive revival. For several
weeks the whole town was pervaded by a wonderful religious influ
ence, during which almost every day religious exercises were held in
the church. A deep religious impression was made upon the whole
community, and about one hundred persons were converted and added
to the Church. His two years of service at this Church were emi
nently successful; and the zeal and fidelity of their minister was
warmly appreciated by the favored Church and congregation.
The session of the New York Conference for 1847 was held in the
city of New York. For nearly three years the whole Church had been
agitated by means of the action of the General Conference of 1844 with
reference to slavery, and the subsequent separation of the Conferences
in the Southern States, and the relations which the new organization
and the Methodist Episcopal Church should bear to each other. As
these questions involved the subject of the Church's relations to slav
ery, Mr. Clark's position could not be an uncertain one. He disap
proved the "Plan of Separation," and united with many others to
demand its abrogation, and rejoiced that the Church had been brought
to a more pronounced attitude toward slavery and slave holding by its
members. At that session the delegates to the General Conference to
be held the ne*xt year at Pittsburgh were chosen, and Mr. Clark, though
merely eligible by time of service, was chosen one of the alternative
delegates, but was not called upon to serve. His appointment, given
at the close of the session, was to Sullivan-street Church in the city of

404 Methodist Bishops.
New York — a church of some three hundred members, not rich nor yet
poor in its temporalities, and in its spiritual affairs not below the
average Churches of the city. After two years he was removed to
Yestry-street Church, where he also continued two years. At neither
of these Churches were there during these years any occurrences of a
character that calls for their special notice. His ability as a preacher
of the gospel, and his zeal and fidelity in his pastoral labors, were
recognized by all ; and through many succeeding years the fragrance
of his memory remained with them.
During these years Mr. Clark was especially active in his studies
and literary pursuits, for which his residence in the city offered him
many opportunities and incitements. Several of the papers that ap
peared in the " Methodist Quarterly " were prepared during this time.
He also engaged in the business of newspaper correspondence, writing
statedly, and somewhat frequently, for the " Pittsburgh Christian Ad
vocate," during several successive years, and also for the " Northern
Christian Advocate," published at Auburn, in the State of New York.
As a newspaper writer he possessed some decidedly valuable qualifica
tions. He was well-informed, versatile, and ready, and at once vivacious
and solid — gossipy, but very distinct in his utterances. He also occu
pied some of his spare hours in the preparation of two volumes for the
press. The " Methodist Episcopal Pulpit," a volume of sermons pre
pared by some twenty living ministers expressly for that work ; and
" Death-bed Scenes," a work of very considerable merit, made up of
records of the last hours of a large number of noted persons. This
latter one was not published till some time later.
During the years of Mr. Clark's residence in New York the
slavery controversy was especially earnest and bitter; and since in
such a case none can stand neutral, his opinions and sentiments could
not be concealed. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
sent a thrill of horror through all the land, and brought home the
conflict to every one. At first, as always hitherto had been the case,
there seemed to be an acquiescence in the frequently iniquitous
determination of Congress : but there were even then, us in the days
of the old prophet, a remnant who refused to bow to this modern
Baal. Among these was the subject of these pages.
In the early part of 1851 the feelings of the people were greatly

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 405
moved by several exceedingly painful cases of slave-catching, the
result of which upon the already irritated feelings of a large and
influential share of the people was saddening and provocative of
resentment. Acting under this influence, the Methodist preachers of
the city, at their weekly meeting, adopted a series of resolutions
deprecating the enactment and enforcement of the Fugitive Slave
Law as contrary to the spirit of the gospel and the explicit words of
the Bible. The paper passed by the meeting was offered by Mr.
Clark as a substitute for another of a more denunciatory and sweep
ing character. Owing to the morbidly sensitive condition of the
public mind this action, apparently so inconsiderable, produced no little
agitation among both politicians and ecclesiastics. A portion of the
Methodist laymen, fearing that they might become compromised by
this action of their ministers, publicly and formally protested against
it, and made haste to record their " loyalty " to the laws of the land,
and especially to the Fugitive Slave Law. Mr. Clark, because he was
known as the author of the offending paper, was in a peculiar sense the
object of the objurgations of the apologists for that piece of patent
and flagrant wrong imposed by the Congress of the nation; but he
quietly and bravely bided his time till the storm passed by.
In the summer of 1851 Mr. Clark received, entirely unsought by
himself, from his alma mater the honorary degree of Doctor of Di
vinity, the first ever conferred by that institution upon any one of its
own alumni. The bestowment in this case, was felt to have been well
and deservedly made. Two years later, when the presidency of that
University became vacant by the decease of Bev. Dr. Olin, he was
supported by his friends for the succession. At this time, and still
more at a later date, he was often earnestly requested to accept like
positions in other literary institutions, all of which were declined.
At the session of the New York Conference for 1851 Dr. Clark,
having been stationed in New York city for four consecutive years,
was by law no longer eligible to an appointment in that city. He
was, therefore, sent to one of the Churches at Poughkeepsie, on the
Hudson. Of his pastorate over that Church, which extended to a
year and a half, as it was marked by no remarkable event, so no
special account need be given. Here he was brought into very inti
mate relations with Bishop Hedding, who was then passing the closing

406 Methodist Bishops.
years of his eventful life at that place. The good bishop was steadily
sinking under a complication of diseases, but was richly sustained by
divine grace, and, as far as they were able, he was kindly cared for by
the two Methodist pastors of Poughkeepsie, Bev. Dr. Clark, and W.
H. Ferris, both of whom he seemed to regard with peculiar con
fidence and affection, and to the former of them at his decease, in the
spring of 1852, he committed the difficult and delicate task of pre
paring his biography. The work was accordingly undertaken, and
nearly three years later it was given to the public. Of its character
and merits but little needs to be said in this place. In respect to its
illustrious subject it is a faithful and appreciative life-sketch ; and
with his personal history is naturally interwoven much of the history
of the Church he so well and faithfully served for half a century.
Certain matters as to which Bishop Hedding's administration was
somewhat earnestly criticised in his life-time, the biographer examines
fearlessly and fairly, sometimes apologetically and sometimes with
strong approval, but always so as to vindicate the illustrious deceased
from the slightest suspicion of any lack of purity of motives. The
work was issued by the Methodist Book Concern in the year 1855,
and was most favorably received by the Church and the public. It
forms a valuable contribution to our American Church history, both
denominational and general.
At the General Conference held in Boston, in May, 1852, Bev.
William C. Larrabee, of Indiana, was elected editor of the "Ladies'
Repository " at Cincinnati, to succeed Dr. B. F. Teffts, who had con
ducted that publication for nearly six years previous to that time. But
before fully entering upon his editorial duties, Mr. Larrabee, having
been appointed to a responsible position in his own State, declined the
former place. To the vacancy thus created Dr. Clark was now chosen
by those charged with that duty, and after due deliberation, being
strongly urged to do so by the publishers, he accepted the appointment.
That magazine was then in its twelfth year, having been projected at
the General Conference of 1840, and its first number issued at the
beginning of the next year. Rev. L. L. Hamline was its editor
during its first three and a half years, and when he was made bishop,
in 1844, he was succeeded in his editorship by Rev. Edward Thomson.
But the new appointee retained his position less than two years, and

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 407
was succeeded* by Dr. B. F. Tefft, who, after filling out the broken
term for which Dr. Thomson had been chosen, served still four years
longer, having been elected by the General Conference of 1848. It
thus appears of the persons chosen by the General Conference to the
control of that magazine, to the time now under notice, three were
afterward called to the episcopacy. Since then Dr. Clark's successor
in that place, Rev. Dr. Wiley, has also followed his editorial pred
ecessor into the more exalted position.
Following the requirements of his newly assumed position, the
new editor removed to Cincinnati, which continued to be his place
of residence to the end of his life. His editorial term extended over
nearly twelve years, being twice renewed by elections at the General
Conferences of 1856 and 1860. Of his adaptation to the work of a
literary editor, and how well he succeeded in it, the limits assigned to
this sketch precludes any extended examination; his repeated re
election to the place indicates the appreciation of his performance of
it by the proper authorities of the Church ; and while the improve
ment of the magazine itself is the best proof of his editorial skill and
ability, the steady enlargement of its circulation indicates the estimate
set upon it by its readers. Tried by these standards, wMch are perhaps
as nearly just as any that may be selected, Dr. Clark's career, as editor
of the "Ladies' Repository" was highly successful. He took to the
duties of his position with a good degree of zeal, and labored in them
with a steadiness that was characteristic of the man in all he did, and
with a cheerfulness which showed that his duties were not irksome.
He was well read in general literature, both standard and current, and
possessed a correct and somewhat cultivated taste for belles-lettres;
and these qualities of mind were now rendered available in his official
duties. But the daily life of an editor is not usually marked with
notable incidents, and, therefore, it affords very little matter for the
biographer. In his ecclesiastic relations Dr. Clark never belonged to any other
than the New York Conference, with which he retained his connec
tion during all the years of his editorship, and he seldom or never
failed to attend its annual sessions. At the session of 1852 he was
called to preach the " Conference " sermon, which he did, taking for
his text St. Paul's profession of exclusive devotion to the " cross of

408 Methodist Bishops.
Christ." That sermqn produced a profound impression upon all who
heard it, both by its matter and the forcibleness with which it was
delivered. It was published, by request of the Conference, and has
had the rare good fortune to pass to a second or third edition. Of its
high grade of merit as an able and deeply spiritual discourse the
printed copies are sufficient demonstration, even without the peculiar
force and unction that evidently attended its delivery. In 1855 his
Conference chose him as one of its delegates to the General Confer
ence to be held at Indianapolis in May, 1856. He accordingly served
in that body, and was recognized in it as a wise, able, and safe
counselor, and, though not a prominent debater, yet he was felt to
be a not inconsiderable member.
His editorial duties extended not only to the " Bepository," but
also to all the books issued by the Western Book Concern. How
much he did in this department of work to give form and substance
and presentibleness to other people's productions can never be known
nor guessed, except by those who have been called to render similar
services. He also engaged in the more congenial work of compiling
books for general reading, and especially for youth. Among those
produced were a set of five volumes, bearing the common name of
" The Fireside Library," a collection of much more than the average
excellence of its class. During these years the " Ladies' Bepository "
presented a large number of female characters, illustrated both
pictorially and biographically. These were afterward collected in
a superb volume, with the title, " Celebrated Women." A companion
volume soon followed this, called "Home Yiews," with over sixty
landscape views, and accompanying letter-press description. He had
some years earlier prepared and published his " Death-Bed Scenes,"
to which he now proposed a companion and alternative work, " Man
all Immortal," presenting arguments for, and illustrations of, the
future life.
His home history about the time may perhaps cast some light
upon the origin and character of the last-named work. He was
eminently in all his feelings a family man, and from the time that
he became the head of a family his domestic affairs had been
peculiarly happy and prosperous. His children had somewhat multi
plied around him, and during these happy years death had not invaded

Davis Wasgatp Clark. 409
the sacred precincts of his household. But in the autumn of 1853
came their first great sorrow, by the sudden death of a daughter of
only a little more than a year old, followed only a few weeks later by
the departure of another of. six years old. The stricken parents
received these smitings of the Father's love with chastened and
submissive grief; but the experience opened to their hearts new
or deeper subjects of meditation. The future life became to them
nearer and more real because of those who had gone into it from
their own circle, and the theme of immortality became all the more
sacred. During his residence in Cincinnati, though not formally connected
with any local ecclesiastical body, Dr. Clark engaged zealously, and
wrought effectively, in the religious enterprises of the place. He
preached frequently in not only the Methodist pulpits of the city, but
also in those of most of the other evangelical denominations, and he
was often called to officiate on. public occasions in places at a distance.
He also engaged in all the chief movements for the. advancement of
Methodism in those parts, in church building enterprises, and in the
establishment of the Wesleyan Female College, and in a still wider and
more catholic movement — the founding of a Theological and Religious
Library Association, designed to bring within the reach of ministers and
others of all denominations, at very little cost, the best religious litera
ture of the age. He also co-operated actively with the Evangelical
Alliance of the city, and had the honor to be chosen its first presi
dent. In the stirring times of the Rebellion he manifested his devo
tion to his country by earnestly advocating the cause of the Govern
ment against the insurgents, not refusing, when impending danger
called every man to the defense of his home, to enroll himself, and
take his place in the ranks of the city's defenders. At all times dur
ing these terrible years of conflict and suspense his influence was
freely and earnestly given in favor of his country's cause ; and at its
successful close he rejoiced exceedingly, not only that the war had
ceased, but also that the country was saved, and its worst curse, slavery,
removed. The General Conference of 1860 met at Buffalo, and Dr. Clark
was again of the New York delegation, leading it by virtue of the
largest majority of votes. He was selected by his delegation to serve

410 Methodist Bishops.
on the Committee on Missions, of which he was made the chairman,
and on that of Bevisals. That session was greatly agitated by the con
test over the slavery question, which resulted at that time in the adop
tion of a declaration of the sense of the Conference, that the holding
of slaves, "to be used as chattels," was an immorality, so placing
the Church on a distinctively antislavery basis. This action had Dr.
Clark's full sympathy and support; and he greatly rejoiced that he
at length saw his beloved Methodism fully vindicated in this matter.
The General Conference of 1864 was held in Philadelphia. The
nation was still engaged in the struggles of civil war, but the new day
of peace was already dawning, and the changed position of the Gov
ernment in respect to slavery was already assured, and the Church
found itself securely entrenched in the position it had taken four years
before. Dr. Clark was again a delegate from the New York Confer
ence, and served on the Committee of Revisals, (of which he was chair
man,) where he was especially concerned in preparing and carrying
through the Conference the revised ritual of the Church, of whicli
he was, more than any other, the author. Three new bishops were also
to be chosen, and that fact very naturally occasioned no little interest.
As there were no party divisions in the body, so there seems to have
been a most commendable absence of all objectionable methods for
obtaining votes for favorite candidates, and especially for any of those
that were finally elected. The balloting took place on the twentieth
of May, in open Conference, but without any open nominations having
been made. The first ballot gave D. W. Clark, 124 votes ; Edward
Thomson, 123 ; and Calvin Kingsley, 100. A hundred and nine votes
were required for election ; and, therefore, Clark and Thomson were
chosen on the first ballot. On the second, Kingsley had 114, and was
declared duly elected. The ordinations occurred four days later, and
so the tranformation of our subject "into something new," if not
" strange," was complete. The General Conference closed its session
only three days later, having sat just four weeks, a shorter time than
almost any other, and the newly-chosen bishops entered at once upon
their high duties. A strange providence is that by which, in so short
a time, all of them closed their useful ' and successful careers in
death. Bishop Clark's first assignment of episcopal duty was to the

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 411
Conferences on the Pacific Coast, and in the Rocky Mountains. It was
intended that he should proceed by the overland route by the mail
stages, stopping at Denver to hold the Colorado Conference. It was
afterward deemed best that he should first visit the Conferences far
thest west, and hold the Colorado Conference on his return. Accord
ingly he left New York on the 28th of June for San Francisco, by
the Isthmus route, where he arrived on the 30th of July. As the
Oregon Conference was the first to meet, on the 9th of August,
Bishop Clark took steamer at San Francisco for Bortland, but through
stress of weather and other difficulties, the place of destination was
not reached for more than a week. He accordingly did not reach the
seat of the Conference, at Salem, till Saturday evening, the Conference
having been in session for three or four days, and accomplished nearly
all its duties. Enough, however, remained to be done to afford him
his first taste of Annual Conference work. He returned southward
by the Willamette Biver, the Umpqua, and the Bogue Biver, over the
Sjskion and the Trinity Mountains, to the base of Mount Shasta and
the head-waters of the Sacramento Biver — the region since made fa
mous by the horrors of the Modoc war. On the 10th of September
he dedicated a church at Nevada City, and after visiting Grass Yalley
took steamer for San Francisco, where he arrived on the 15th, and
three days later dedicated a new German church in that city, and
on the afternoon of the same day another new church on Mission-street.
On the 21st he opened the California Conference, which sat for
eleven days, but with the best of order, notwithstanding the pecul
iar difficulties that were encountered. He then turned his face east
ward, but learning that the passage through the Rocky Mountains was
rendered impracticable by reason of Indian wars, he reluctantly
accepted his only alternative, and returned by way of the Isthmus,
arriving at home about the first of November, having in four months
traveled eleven thousand three hundred miles by ocean steamers ; two
hundred and eighty by river steamers ; six hundred and fifty by stage ;
and nineteen hundred and thirty-six by railroads.
About the middle of November Bishop Clark was called to New
York to attend the semi-annual meeting of the' bishops. After this
he was allowed a few weeks of respite with his family, and then again
was off upon his tour of spring Conferences. He first went to Cleve-

412 Methodist Bishops.
land, to meet with the committee appointed by the General Conference
to make arrangements for the coming Centenary of American Meth
odism. Next he proceeded to Baltimore, to attend the session of that
venerable body ; and two weeks later he was at the Philadelphia Con
ference. After three weeks more he was at Yermont Conference,
and from the third to the eighth of May he was engaged with the
Maine Conference. Thence he returned by the way of Boston and
New York to his home in Cincinnati.
We have next to notice certain matters in Bishop Clark's official
labors of very great interest — the opening up of our Church in the
middle region of the Southern States, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama,
and Georgia. Some little had already been done in those parts, when,
near the last of May, 1865, he went out thither for the purpose of
fully organizing the Methodist Episcopal Church in those parts. On
the first day of June he met, by appointment, a large number of
ministers at Knoxville, East Tennessee, whom he was authorized to
organize into an Annual Conference. Of these, six were regular
ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, transferred from other
Conferences for the purpose of forming a Conference in this part of
the country. - Forty other ministers were admitted, chiefly from the
Church South, most of them into full connection, but some on trial.
All these were duly appointed to appropriate fields of labor, and so
the Holston Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which had
disappeared from our records twenty years before, now reappeared.
A respite of two or three months was now enjoyed, yet not without
laborious duties and perplexing occupations ; and then came the fall
Conferences. Bishop Clark had for his part, Cincinnati, August 30 ;
Detroit, September 13th ; and Ohio, September 21st. A trip to New
York in November to attend the annual session of the General Mis
sionary Committee, and later to Philadelphia, where the semi-annual
meeting of the bishops was held, closed the official record for the year,
the second of Bishop Clark's episcopate.
The Conferences assigned to Bishop Clark for the spring of 1866
were, with a single exception, to the south of the Ohio River ; they
were Kentucky, West Virginia, North Indiana, and Holston. With
the last of these he was especially interested, and to it he devoted
more than the usual amount of time and labor. It was appointed to

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 413
be held at Greenville, on the 17th of May. Leaving Cincinnati
about a week in advance of that day, the bishop proceeded leisurely
by way of Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, to the
place of meeting. The assembling of the Conference was like the
return of the seventy disciples of Christ, a season of wonder and of
great joy. Bishop Clark found himself among old friends, doubly
endeared to him and he to them by the reminiscences of the past
two years. The reports showed that the work had greatly prospered
since the last session. The membership, including four thousand pro
bationers, was over eighteen thousand in number, and all departments
of the work were in a prosperous condition. Fifty-seven preachers
were appointed for the ensuing year. At the end of its first year
from its reorganization the Holston Conference took its rank as by
no means the least considerable of the sisterhood of Annual Con
ferences. Bishop Clark's Conferences for the latter half of the year 1866
were Central Ohio, Wisconsin, Bock Biver, and North-west German,
all of which were duly attended by him. It was also resolved by the
bishops at their late meeting, that the time had fully come for the
organization of the work in that larger portion of Tennessee not
included in the Holston Conference, and that in northern Alabama
and western Georgia into Conferences, and the execution of that task
was assigned to Bishop Clark. Measures were accordingly taken to
bring together all the, available elements out of which to form a Con
ference for middle and western Tennessee at Murfreesborough, on
the 11th day of October, 1866. A nucleus of seventeen traveling
preachers appeared at the appointed time, and the organization of the
Tennessee Conference was readily effected. The proceedings were
harmonious, and the prospect full of promise for abundant labors and
successes. About forty ministers were appointed to fields of labor ;
fourteen colored preachers were ordained, and a number of them
admitted into the Conference.
During Bishop Clark's connection with the southern work he
became thoroughly convinced that a prime demand of that work
lay in the direction of schools for the general instruction of the peo
ple, and especially of the children and young people of the colored
race, and the more so because upon them the Church must rely for its

414 Methodist Bishops.
future supply of ministers for their own race. Under this conviction
he was led to project the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, which was organized at Cincinnati, soon after his
return from Tennessee, and of which he was the first president. It
existed as an independent association till the session of the General
Conference of 1868, when it became a regular institution of the
Church, and in 1872 it was placed upon the same footing with the
other benevolent institutions of the Church.
In November, 1866, Bishop Clark attended the annual meeting of
the General Missionary Committee at New York, where, in addition
to looking after the general missionary interests of the Church, he
had to care especially for the southern work, for which he sought and
obtained liberal provisions. About the same time the bishops held
their semi-annual meeting for the distribution among themselves of
the spring Conferences. To Bishop Clark was assigned for the spring
New York East, Troy, and East Maine ; for the early autumn, North
Ohio, Central German, Michigan, and Des Moines, and also, still later,
the three newer Conferences in the South : Tennessee, Georgia, and
Alabama. At the same meeting was adopted and sent forth an appeal
to the Church in behalf of the measures already adopted by the Church
for securing the education of the freedmen, which, though officially
the work of the whole body of the bishops, was no doubt Bishop
Clark's, as to both its inspiration and its composition.
With the opening of the spring of 1867 Bishop Clark set out on
his tour of eastern Conferences, going first to the New York East, at
New Haven, Conn. Here he was among some of the associates of his
early ministry ; and the meeting was evidently alike agreeable to both
himself and them. He was domiciled duriug the session at the house
of the venerable Heman Bangs, between whom and himself there had
existed a warm attachment for many years, and of whom a touching
sketch is given in his notes of this Conference. Two weeks later came
the Troy Conference, at Pittsfield, Mass., and on the 2d of May the
East Maine Conference, at Wiscassett. This Conference embraced in
its territory the island of Mount Desert ; but though so near his native
place, very few of the ministers of that body remembered the young
man that was growing up among them more than thirty years before.
His four Conferences in the north-west occurred on successive

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 415
weeks, concluding with the Des Moines, which closed on the 23d of •
September. And now he once more turned his face southward. The
Tennessee Conference, organized the preceding year, met for its sec
ond session at Shelbyville, on the 3d of October. The past year had
been one of great labor with the preachers, and also one of eminent
success ; and they came together filled with exultations for the past,
and high hopes for the future, in all of which the bishop very fully
participated. About fifty preachers were stationed, ten were trans
ferred to the yet unorganized Georgia Conference, and one to that of
Alabama. His next point of operation was Atlanta, Ga. The work
in that State had been carried on during the past year with marked
success, as a district of the Tennessee Conference ; it was now to be
organized as a distinct Conference. More than fifty preachers met
him at his coming, and their reports from various portions of the
State were of the most encouraging character. The session was a
season of intense interest. At its close about sixty preachers received
their appointments, and went forth gladly to their designated fields of
labor. Thence he proceeded to Talladega, Ala., where the scenes
lately witnessed at Atlanta were repeated, though scarcely on so broad
a scale. Forty-two preachers were admitted on trial, and at the close
of the session there were in the Conference eighteen elders, nineteen
deacons, and seven unordained preachers. The work was distributed
into seven presiding elders' districts, covering nearly the whole State,
though the membership was chiefly in the northern part. This was
the fourth Annual Conference organized by Bishop Clark in what was
called the " Middle District " of the South. There were now in these
four Conferences not less than 500 preachers, traveling and local, and
38,000 Church members. This work had been from the beginning
chiefly under his supervision, and perhaps no other part of his life's
work was more fruitful of results, whether immediate or prospec
tive, and none more decidedly marked by his characteristic zeal and
discretion. For the spring of 1868 Bishop Clark received for his oversight the
East Baltimore, Newark, New York, and Oneida Conferences, all of
which he attended in their order. These several bodies now chose
their delegates to the General Conference, to be held at Chicago in
May of that year ; and to that session both the bishop and the chosen

416 Methodist Bishops.
delegates almost immediately repaired. This was the first General
Conference to which Bishop Clark had come to render an account of
his episcopal administration. At the beginning of the four years'
term, during which he had discharged the high functions of a bishop
in the Church, there were nine bishops, two of whom were unfitted
for service by infirmity or disease, leaving seven effective men to do
the work of the episcopacy ; and since that work had been satisfac
torily performed by them it was not deemed necessary to add to their
number. The session of the General Conference was harmonious,
though not unmarked with several features of considerable interest.
The progress of the Church's affairs during the preceding four years
had been such as greatly to encourage all hearts, and to stimulate to
still greater efforts in the future.
After the close of the General Conference, and a few weeks of
respite, Bishop Clark began his autumn tour of Conferences, attend
ing first the Cincinnati, and next the South-east Indiana Conference,
and then he turned his face again to the South. On the 1st of
October he met the Tennessee Conference, at M'Minnville, and was
again permitted to rejoice with the heroic men whom he had sent out
into that difficult but promising field at each of their two preceding
sessions. It was both to himself and to them an occasion of unusual
interest. Of the sixty names on the Conference roll, forty-one were.
of preachers on trial, about half of them colored men. The past had
been a year alike of severe trials and of marked successes. The heroic
element abounded in the body, and was largely increased during the
session ; and at the close each man went forth with an inflamed zeal
to labor and suffer in the cause of the divine Master. Only a week
later was the session of the Holston Conference, at Chattanooga, the
fourth held by that body, all but one of which were presided over by
Bishop Clark. There had been a net gain of 2,000 members, and
twenty preachers were received on trial. As the people of East
Tennessee were generally loyal to the Union, there was much less per
secution in this Conference than in some others ; and all parts of the
work showed an encouraging advance. Yet a week later Bishop Clark
again met the Georgia Conference, at Atlanta, where, of course, he
was received and greeted as their apostle. The body was in fine con
dition, and the reports showed that it had been a year of success.

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 417
Twelve preachers were received on trial, three ordained elders and
eight deacons — five of these were colored men. There had been a net
increase in members of 4,500, making an aggregate for the Conference
of about 15,000. Next, and only a week later, came the session of the
Alabama Conference, at Murphree's Valley. Fifteen preachers were
admitted on trial, and the increase of members amounted to 2,300.
At the end of this route the bishop spoke of it as laborious but pros
perous ; and of the work in all the region visited as " consolidated,
strengthened, and wonderfully enlarged."
For his spring labors Bishop Clark accepted the presidency of no
less than seven Conferences : Baltimore, New Jersey, New Hamp
shire, Providence, Black Biver, Maine, and East Maine ; attendance
upon which occupied him during nearly the whole of the three spring
months. The last of these brought him into the neighborhood of his
childhood and youth, and he availed himself of the opportunity to
visit the place of his birth and such of his surviving relatives as still
remained in those parts.
For the autumn of that year he had five Conferences in the north
west : Des Moines, North-west Indiana, North-west German, Upper
Iowa, and Bock River ; all of which were duly attended and success
fully presided over. In November following he was in New York,
attending upon the annual meeting of the General Missionary Com
mittee. At that -time the Book Committee was also in session,
engaged in the perplexing duties devolved upon them by the strifes
between one of the Book Agents, against his colleague and superior in
office, and others connected with the Concern. Upon these things
Bishop Clark was known to have decided convictions, which he did
not hesitate to express, though he was not at any time called to act
upon the case, else, probably, the results reached would have differed
from those arrived at.
For the next spring, 1870, five Conferences, chiefly south-western,
were assigned to Bishop Clark : St. Louis, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska,
and North Indiana. His trips through Missouri and Kansas gave him
an experience of frontiering in spring time such as he had not had
before, and for which he seemed to feel no special favor. It was while
engaged in this episcopal tour that he was shocked and saddened
by the news of the sudden death of his colleague and personal friend,
25

418 Methodist Bishops.
Bishop Thomson, which occurred at Wheeling, West Virginia, early
in March ; and soon after his return, he was again startled by the news
of the death of Bishop Kingsley, at Beyroot, Syria. His own health
had not maintained its usual robustness during all these trying labors,
though neither he nor his friends then apprehended the character of
the disease that began to be felt in his system. He returned to his
home wearied with his labor, and saddened on account of the depart
ure of his honored and beloved colleagues, but also refreshed in his
spirit and strong in faith and hope. His summer vacation was devoted
to a health-seeking excursion, with a portion of his family, among the
mountains of New Hampshire and in Maine, including a visit of some
extent to his native place, by which he seemed to be restored to his
usual health and buoyancy of spirits, giving occasion for hopes that
were to be all too soon blasted.
The now greatly lessened episcopal force of Methodism found a
heavier burden to be borne by them in attending the Conference ses
sions for the ensuing year, and, therefore, it became neccessary that each
one of them should undertake all that his strength would enable him
to perform. To Bishop Clark were assigned nine Conferences, to be
held between the latter part of August and the end of October.
These were chiefly in the North-west — -Detroit, Michigan, Central
Ohio, Central German, Erie, North-west German, West Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Wisconsin. The hopes entertained of restored health and
strength at his return from his eastern excursion, were soon proved
to be not well founded, and he soon came to realize that he stood
" hourly in the face of death." And yet he went forward in his work,
met all of his Conferences, and performed his duties in each, though
evidently laboring in great distress, and confessing that it was painful
to thus drag himself along, and to whip himself up to duty by day,
and then to sink back into exhaustion, and to spend the night with
out rest. Only the force of his will, sustained by faith in God, car
ried him through these arduous labors for one so burdened with disease.
But he would accept of no release while able to be about, and accord
ingly he proceeded to New York in November, and then returned to
his home, where he remained during the winter. But with the ap
proach of spring, his strength having somewhat rallied during his
winter's repose, he was again off to his episcopal work, of which he

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 419
had compelled his colleagues to give him his full share. He first
attended the Lexington Conference, which met on the 23d of Febru
ary ; after that the Kentucky Conference, at Louisville, when his phy
sician warned him to " stop work " as he valued his life. Thence he
proceeded to the West Virginia Conference, at Parkersburgh, and after
that to the Pittsburgh Conference, at Steubenville, Ohio ; but before
that was closed there were manifest tokens of failing strength, though
its duties were properly performed, and, though in evident weakness,
yet somewhat comfortably. Next came the long journey to Boston,
and the session of the New England Conference, through which he
struggled painfully, keeping himself up by the force of an indomi
table purpose to defer the crisis of entire failure as long as possible.
Only one more Conference remained to be held, and to that he had
looked forward with the liveliest interest. The New York Confer
ence for 1871 met at Peekskill, on the Hudson, April 6th. Thither
Bishop Clark proceeded, attended by his ever faithful and devoted
wife, who had attended him during all his journeys and waitings since
he last left his home, acting in the double relation of traveling com
panion and nurse, and appeared in the Conference room at the
appointed hour, and proceeded to open the Conference session. He
first gave out, with manifest emotion, as though its language was
peculiarly appropriate to the occasion, the hymn beginning —
' ' And are we yet alive,
And see each other's face ? "
Prayer was offered by another ; next the roll was called, and the
organization of the body completed. The administration of the
Lord's Supper was the next thing in order, at which he officiated so
far as to commune himself and to distribute the elements to those
around the table. After this he briefly, but with marked tenderness,
addressed the Conference, speaking of his long and endeared con
nection with them, and of the ravages which death had made among
them, with extremely delicate yet evident references to his own
failing strength and evidently brief future stay among things earthly.
He then yielded the chair to Bishop Simpson, who, aware of the
feeble condition of his beloved colleague, had taken pains to be with
him on that occasion, and as far as possible to lighten his burdens ; he
passed out of the Church. His work was done.

420 Methodist Bishops.
He returned to his temporary home in a state of almost complete
prostration, against which he now for the first time seemed to cease
to struggle. But through the kind offices of friends, and especially
of Mrs. Clark, who attended him as a guardian angel, he at length so
far rallied as to be able to be conveyed to his distant home — a thing
made possible only by the improved modern facilities for traveling.
Attended by his loving wife, and two ministers of the New York
Conference and his attending physician, he took his place in one of
the sleeping cars of the Hudson River Railroad, and after a journey
of nearly a thousand miles, and without any great prostration, he
reached his destination early on the 19th of April. He was now at
home. His children came about him, and a few near friends were
permitted to see him, and among these sacred surroundings his
spirits and also his physical strength were rallied into new vigor.
His chamber now became a scene of holy peace and rejoicing. His
faith was unshaken, and the fear of death quite gone. He lingered
in much pain at times, but always in great peace, which sometimes
rose to a holy triumph, till the 23d day of May, when he gently fell
asleep. He expired at his home and in the bosom of his family,
surrounded by those who loved him. His remains were borne by
loving hands to their last resting-place ; and the bereaved Church,
which he served with eminent ability and fidelity, mourned his de
parture, not for his, but for her own loss.
In person Bishop Clark was above middle size, with well-developed
members, and of rather full habit. He was of a fair complexion,
a little florid, and with dark auburn hair. In a promiscuous com
pany he would attract the eye of a stranger, and be recognized as a
more than ordinary man. His manner was quiet,, and in all things
he seemed to be thoroughly well-poised. Till attacked by the disease
to which he at length succumbed his physical condition seemed to
be almost perfect. His muscular system was well-developed, and his
vital forces strong and steady. His mental characteristics cor
responded with those of his body. He was both able to work and
inclined to mental activity, and thus he was enabled to achieve
valuable results. He attained to a good degree in both learning
and culture, not by any special aptitude or genius, but by well-directed
efforts made with due energy and persistence of effort.

Davis Wasgatt Clark. 421
His moral qualities were especially largely developed and always
active. He detected the right or wrong of whatever subject having
moral qualities or relations might be presented, and what his en
lightened conscience condemned, he at once rejected. Duty was his
ever-governing law of conduct, even though following out its pre
cepts cost him many painful sacrifices. He was not, perhaps,
incapable of erring in his decisions or actions ; but if he did so the
error must begin in his perceptions of duty, and the misleadings of
an understanding not sufficiently enlightened. Whatever his con
science dictated that he would surely do.
His religious life pervaded his nature and fashioned his whole
career, and yet it was not especially demonstrative or emotional. He
very clearly apprehended both the law and the gospel, and accordingly
his humiliation and repentance toward God were deep and sincere,
and his trust in the availing worth of the atonement of Christ was
complete and altogether satisfying. His piety was deep and stead
fast; and though he was not especially communicative as to his
spiritual affairs, yet those who knew him best could attest both the
genuineness and the depth of his religious experience.
We have placed Bishop Clark in the category of self-made men,
and as that matter is commonly reckoned, few have been more fairly
entitled to that place. He was, indeed, endowed by nature with a
sound mind in a sound body, and in addition to this his early sur
roundings were favorable for the beginning of a wholesome develop
ment of mind and character. His aims were from the beginning
in the right direction, and as high as the circumstances allowed. And
he steadily rose with his opportunities, and so was able to achieve
greatness. In his ecclesiastical relations Bishop Clark seems to have been at
all times satisfied, and even happy. He held the great doctrines of
Christianity as set forth in the standards of Methodism with a Arm
and intelligent faith. His effectiveness as a Christian minister
suffered no abatement by reason of painful and paralyzing doubts in
his own mind in respect to the things that he was called to declare.
He was also sincerely devoted to the polity and traditional administra
tion of Methodism, which he sought to preserve, and to modify only
to correct any previous departure from its original and essential spirit.

422

Methodist Bishops.

He accepted cheerfully the work assigned to him, in the order of the
Church, and in every case he magnified his office by faithfully per
forming its duties. He was eminently fitted for his last and highest
position in the Church, and in all future times he will be remembered
as a model Methodist episcopos.
The contemplation of such a career and character suggests the
thought of success in well-doing. Bishop Clark was, indeed, in the
best sense of the expression, a successful man. He rose steadily from
small beginnings to greatness, and better still, to eminent usefulness.
Forty years of active manhood was afforded him, and at the beginning
of life's decadence, before decrepitude had marred the symmetry of
that manhood, he was removed to a higher and holier sphere, leaving
to his survivors only the remembrance of his excellences.

THE GREAT HEEEAFTEE.
During the last illness of Bishop Clark his mind ran much on one
of Otway Curry's poems, which had been published in the " Ladies'
Bepository " while under the editorial management of Dr. (afterward
Bishop) Thomson. To one of the ministers who watched with him
one night he repeated the greater part of the poem. It follows : —

'Tis sweet to think, when struggling
The goal of life to win,
That just beyond the shores of time
The better years begin.
When through the nameless ages
I cast my longing eyes,
Before me, like a boundless sea,
The Great Hereafter lies.
Along its brimming bosom
Perpetual summer smiles,
And gathers like a golden robe
Around the emerald isles.
There, in the blue, long distance,
By lulling breezes fanned,

I seem to see the flowering groves
Of the old Beulah land :
And far beyond the islands,
That gem the waves serene,
The image of the cloudless shore
Of holy heaven is seen.
Unto the Great Hereafter —
Aforetime dim and dark —
I freely now and gladly give
Of life the wand'riDg bark.
And in the far-off haven,
When shadowy seas are passed,
By angel hands its quivering sails
Shall all be furled at last.

Edward Thomson.

BY BISHOP GILBERT HAVEN.

IN a great house there are not only vessels of silver and of gold, but
of wood and of earth. Bishop Thomson, in the great house of
the Church of God, was a vessel of gold. His career from childhood
to age, from birth to death, was symmetrical. Not a flaw lurked in
the material, not a defect was wrought into the work. The substance
was good, and the form and finish equally excellent.
Edward Thomson was born at Portsea, England, October 12, 1810.
This place is the seaward portion of the harbor of Portsmouth. Port-
sea is situated on the southern shore of England, and among her
softest and richest scenery. The Isle of Wight, not far off, has long
been selected by Tennyson as his home because of the rare combina
tions of rough water and smooth land, of mild and stimulant breezes,
of wild and cultured scenery. Here, too, the Queen finds her favorite
home, alternating it with the mountain fastness of Balmoral. The
same shore is historic with the triumphs of William, whose immediate
descendants cling to it from its proximity to Normandy. The ashes
of many of the earlier members of the royal house repose in the
Cathedral of Winchester, almost within sight of the coast, and within
easy reach of Portsmouth. In his letters from England, written on a
tour thither for the purpose of purchasing books for the library of the
Ohio Wesleyan University, Dr. Thomson gives an account of a visit
to his native town, and dwells on its features with evident delight.
Thus he refers to his entrance into the city :
The bells were ringing a merry peal, the roar of artillery -was booming over
the sea, and military bands were playing martial airs as I entered my native
city. This all might have been intended for the lords of the admiralty, who
arrived in the same train that I did; but then it answered just as well as if it
had been exclusively to greet my appearance. Entering a carriage, I was soon
put down at the George Hotel, where all the lords of the admiralty put up.
After they had inspected the port they gave a grand ball, which, however, I
did not attend for several reasons, one of which was that I was not invited.

426 Methodist Bishops.
Southsea is a charming promenade. On one side you have handsome
terraces, on the other the groves and buildings of the "King's Rooms,'' a cele
brated watering place. Here you may obtain hot, cold, or shower baths. The
prospects from the terraces and from the colonnade of the "King's Rooms " are
enchanting — the shipping, the Isle of Wight with its majestic hills, the inner
harbor with its fortresses, the gun-wharf and the dock-yard, the castle and tbe
open sea. At one end of the Clarence esplanade are statues of Wellington and
Nelson. The fortifications, which were the favorite scene of my childhood's
rambles and gambols, were commenced in the time of Edward IV., and com
pleted, nearly as they now are, in the reign of William III.
Wandering about, we meet with a number of monuments to remind us that
we are in an old country. On a venerable building where, before the intro
duction of the electric telegraph rose the semaphore, from which signals were
made to ships and communication held with London, is a bust of Charles I.
with this inscription: "King Charles the First, after his travels through France
and Spain, and having passed many dangers both by sea and land, he arrived
here the tenth day of October, 1623." The object of his travels was to see his
intended bride, the daughter of the Spanish king. Happy for him, and perhaps
for his country too, had he never returned.
On High-street two objects attracted notice, one on one side, the other on
the opposite; the one a spacious and elegant Unitarian church, erected 1719,
long before, as I supposed, this form of heterodoxy had obtained much influence
in England ; the other, an antique house, celebrated as the one in which the
Duke of Buckingham was assassinated by Felton, August 22, 1628. In the
"Portsmouth Church" there is a monument to the duke. It consists of an urn
surmounted by a. phoenix, having on each side pyramids of warlike instruments;
above are the arms of the house of Villiers; beneath, the figures of Fame and
Sincerity. On the tablet is a Latin inscription, attributing to the noble per
sonage to whom it is consecrated the most exalted abilities and the most
charming excellences. Verily, it would be hard to prove human depravity from
grave-stones. This Portsmouth Church is one of the most noticeable objects in
the place. It 'was originally built in 1220, and dedicated to Thomas Becket,
but was rebuilt in 1693, except the chancel and transept, which are those of
the original structure. The marriage registry book of the Church is an object
of great curiosity, because of the register of the marriage of Charles II. with
the infanta of Portugal, 1662.
In the museum of the city he saw the figure-head of the " Besolu-
tion," the ship in which Captain Cook circumnavigated the globe.
Three miles and a half out of the city stands Portchester Castle,
twenty miles from Southampton and Chichester, which lie in oppo
site directions from it. It is a Boman fortification, built between the

Edward Thomson. 427
reigns of Claudius, A. D. 42, and of Yespasian, A. D. 80. In A. D.
286 this port was the chief naval arsenal of Carusius. It was long
the strong point for Boman, and afterward for Anglo-Saxon, defense.
Dr. Thomson passes from these historic celebrities connected with
his native town to incidents which pertained to his family :
Returning to the city, I took, next day, a more select walk, in company with
a relative; and you may imagine my feelings as he, in passing, said: "Here is
where your grandfather made his money. This is the house where he lived in
retirement, and where your mother was married. This is the house where you
was born. That is the house where your father sank his fortune," etc.
Off to Kingston now, to look among the graves. Here lie the ashes of my
ancestors for successive generations; the faithful, moss-grown stones still bear
their names and dates. I picked a daisy for my mother from her father's grave.
The old sexton, inquiring my residence, leaped iu ecstasy.
" Ohio! dear me, I have just been reading a story about a gal that lived on
the Ohio." Taking me back to his bouse, and calling his wife, he said:
"Betsy! here, Betsy! see, here is a man from Ohio! just see: from the very
place we have been reading about. Get the paper! get the paper ! " He showed
me the tale, but I have forgotten the title.
I was but seven years old when I left my native land, and could, therefore,
recognize nothing. Although I have forgotten the abodes and scenes of child
hood, I have not forgotten the persons associated with my early years.
These references show that he was well born. Not in the titled
ranks, probably not in those which are technically known as the
families of gentlemen, but in the higher ranks of the professional
and mercantile classes. His father, meeting with reverses, and living
at the port whence so many had sailed westward, even from the times
of the Bilgrims until now, was easily impressed with a desire to
renew his fortunes in the distant West. His son Edward was in his
ninth year when the family emigrated to America. It consisted of
his father, his mother, his sisters Jane and Elizabeth, his brothers
James and Benjamin, and himself. He was the middle one of the
five children. Before starting for this continent they passed over to
Erance in 1817, and spent about a year in that country. On April 28,
1818, they left for this country, which the}' reached in the June
following. On the way they were run down and boarded by pirates.
The captain of their vessel and the captain of the pirate craft were
brothers, who had not met for eighteen years. They recognized each

428 Methodist Bishops.
other at once, and the wild Esau of the sea supplied his steady
brother with water and bread, and departed. Who can say that this
sickly boy was not the cause of that providential preservation ?
The family lingered in New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh
for about a year, hesitating where to settle. "But in May, 1819, they
made their permanent home in Wooster, Ohio, where the father
engaged in the business of a druggist.
Edward was soon sent to school, where he remained for four or
five years, assisting his father out of school hours and in vacations in
his store. Pie was very fond of his books, and pursued his studies,
and especially his reading, with great ardor in these youthful days.
His father's business directed his attention to the study of medicine,
and he early exhibited a desire to make that profession his life-work.
He went to Philadelphia to attend medical lectures, and before he
was twenty-one he graduated and begun his career as a physician
in what was to him the place of his native town : for here he had
spent his youth and early manhood in that development of conscious
ness and self-reliance which the period of " the teens " first unfolds
and enlarges.
This town was eminently fitted for these embryonic processes.
Snuggled among lowly hills, whose soft and rich slopes were covered
with magnificent forests, then untouched by the spoiler, watered
by a beautiful stream whose banks were shaded with tall trees and
hanging vines, it possessed every charm to nurture the brave and
tender soul that was embosomed in its influences.
The little township contained some fifteen hundred persons, whose
society afforded the human stimulus needful for his spirit's growth.
Like all coast towns, there was in it a higher grade of culture and
more activity of thought than in more purely rural and retired com
munities. So that young Thomson had opportunities of develop
ment and incitements that were of a superior sort, and which he also
faithfully used. His profession was itself stimulating to intellect,
but not to" faith. A young man, not yet entered on his majority, hav
ing studied in the most famous schools of his art, and in one of the
chief centers of national wealth, population, and culture, he commenced
in his practically native American village the practice of the pro
fession that, more than all others, tempts to doubt. For, being of

Edwaed Thomson. 429
the earth, it naturally tends to the earthy. Engaged exclusively in
the investigations of the body, it is apt to exclude belief from the soul.
Studying disease that is material, it is inclined to ignore the disease
that is spiritual. Though every step in this profession should lead
to those in the higher one of theology, observation teaches that now,
as in the days of Chaucer and before, the physician is not so easily
inclined to faith as those of less material profession.
Dr. Thomson was not unlike his school. His teachers had af
fected his mind with doubt, which his profession seemed to encourage.
A gentleman and a scholar, of composed demeanor, and ambitious to
excel, he was yet a stranger to the covenant of promise, an alien from
the commonwealth of Israel, without God, and therefore without
hope in the world. This may sound sharp to the unregenerate man,
but it is true. And true this intelligent gentleman found it to be.
His professor had infused skeptical sentiments into his teachings and
pupils. How would that same professor have condemned the prac
tice that would have injected poisons into the healthy physical sys
tem ! How much more should his conscience have condemned him for
infusing poison into the healthy moral system, always to its injury,
and often to its everlasting ruin !
But as a healthy body may reject poison, so may a healthy soul.
It may even be profitable for it to receive such treatment, as thus it
knows by experience the condition of others similarly affected. It
seems fated to every strong spirit that it shall be tempted to in
fidelity. The first man, Adam, and the second, Christ, were thus
tried in the fires of unbelief — the first to his and our ruin, the
second to his and our triumph. So has every other leader of men.
Moses, David, Elijah, and Baul were thus proved. Thus, too, the
great leaders of later times. Augustine and Abelard, Calvin and
Luther, Bunyan and Whitefield, Pascal and Edwards, Wesley and
Cowper. Thus, undoubtedly, would the hidden life of almost every
Christian leader, if revealed, disclose a fierce fight with the adversary
upon the very foundations of faith.
The only difference between Christian and antichristian leaders
is, that the Christian have fought through the ranks of the enemy
into the heights of truth and faith beyond ; the antichristian have
been captured by the foe, and made to serve in his army against God

430 Methodist Bishops.
and his Spirit. Thus Celsus was caught while Origen broke through
the lines. Thus Arius was captured while Athanasius conquered.
Thus Yoltaire surrendered and Pascal overcame.
Dr. Thomson, the physician, found himself in the midst of this
conflict. He came very near sinking under his foes. He was ten years
fighting through it. It was a personal Iliad that powerfully affected
all his ministerial words. He was led by steps he had not known, and
that he desired not to know, to see the results of the surrender of his
soul to the tempter. His first acknowledged step in the divine direc
tion was on January 1, 1826. He had then been practicing medicine
about six years, and was of recognized standing in the community.
The Methodist preacher stationed in Wooster, Bev. H. 0. Sheldon,
had preached an earnest sermon, appropriate to the commencement
of the year, and at the close of the service invited all who wished to
live a religious life to tarry. None left, and nearly all promised to
make full consecration of themselves to God. Dr. Thomson after
ward informed the preacher that he remained with the rest of the
audience. But he was lost in the mass, and did not presume to in
dividualize himself, as every one must do if he would secure individ
ual salvation.
It was not till three years and a half after this, in the summer of
1829, that the second conscious step toward the divine life was taken.
This time it was not as free and self-impelled as the first. He had
become so indifferent, that, though a regular, or at least a frequent,
attendant on divine worship, he was not apparently affected by it. He
himself tells the story of this second conscious visitation of the Spirit
in this vivid narrative of the man and the sermon whereby he was
aroused. His literary skill is evinced in the composition of the story :
Russell Bigelow was an extraordinary man, and his merits were never fully
appreciated even by the Church. He emigrated, at an early age, from New En
gland to the West, and from his youth being accustomed to read the Bible upon
his knees, he soon became remarkable for his piety. It is probable that be was
favored with no more than a good common-school education before he entered
the itinerancy, of which he was so conspicuous an ornament.
I was a student in the beautiful village of Wooster, where I first heard of
him. Opposite our office was a coppersmith, a man of remarkable mind and
character. He had been reared without any education, and had been unfortunate
in his business relations; but, having spent his leisure iu reading, and in conver-

Edward Thomson. 431
sation with persons of better attainments, he had acquired a stock of valuable
knowledge which his grappling intellect well knew how to use. He was an active
politician. In times of excitement he gathered the multitude around him, and
often arrested our studies by his stentorian voice, which could drown the clatter
of his hammers and the confusion even of Bedlam. I think I may safely say,
that for many years he wielded the political destinies of his county. Never in office
himself, his will determined who should be. This man had imbibed skeptical
opinions, which he often inculcated with terrific energy. He rarely went to the
house of God, and when he did, I suppose he might as well have stayed at home,
for I should have thought it as easy to melt a rock with a fagot as to subdue his
heart by the "foolishness of preaching."
One Saturday evening he came into our office with a peculiar expression of
countenance. The tear started from his eye as he said, "I have been to meeting,
and, by the grace of God, I will continue as long as it lasts. Come, young gentle
men, come and hear Bigelow. He will show you the world and the human heart
and the Bible and the cross in such a light as you have never before seen them ! "
I trembled beneath the announcement; for, if the preacher had prostnited a
fainting multitude at his feet, he would not have given me as convincing a proof
of his power as that which stood before me. This was the first account I ever
heard of Bigelow, and from that time I avoided the Methodist Church till he
left the village.
One morning of the ensuing summer my preceptor came in and said, "Thom
son, come, mount old Black, aud go with me to camp-meeting."
" Excuse me, sir, I have no desire to go to such a nursery of vice and enthu
siasm." "O, you are too bigoted. Presbyterian as I am, I confess I like camp-meet
ings. There a man can forget the business of life, and listen to the truth without
distraction, and then ponder on it and pray over it and feel it. Good impres
sions are made every Sabbath; but they rarely bring forth fruit; they are worn
away by the business of tbe week. At camp-meeting the heart can first be heated,
and then, while yet warm, placed upon the anvil and beaten into shape."
"I was once at a camp-meeting two hours, and that satisfied me. The heart
may be warmed there, but I doubt the purity of the fire which heats it."
"A truce to argument. I have a patient there I want you to see. You have
no objection to go professionally ? "
"No, sir, I will go anywhere to see a patient.''
It was a lovely morning. The sun was shining from a cloudless sky, and the
fresh breezes fanned us as we rode by well-cultivated aud fertile fields, waving
with their rich and ripening harvests. After a short journey we came to the
encampment. A broad beam of daylight showed things to advantage, and I
could but think, as I gazed from an elevated point, and drank in the sweet songs
that reverberated through the grove, of some of tbe scenes of Scripture. My

432 Methodist Bishops.
rebel heart was constrained to cry within me, " How goodly are thy tents, 0 Jacob,
and thy taoernacles, O Israel ! As the valleys are they spread forth — as gardens
by the river's side." Having visited the sick whom we had come to see, we were
invited, with great kindness and cordiality, to partake of refreshments. The
warmth of our reception excited my gratitude, and instead of starting home
when the horn blew for preaching, I sat down respectfully to hear the sermon.
Bigelow was to preach. I dreaded the occasion, but had always been taught to
venerate religion, and had never seen the day when I could ridicule or disturb
even the Mohammedan at his prayer or the pagan at his idol. In the pulpit were
many clergymen, two of whom I knew and esteemed — the one a tall, majestic
man, whose vigorous frame symbolized his noble mind and generous heart; the
other a small, delicate, graceful gentleman, whom nature had fitted for a uni
versal favorite. Had I been consulted, one of them should have occupied the
pulpit at that time. All was stillness and attention when the Presiding Elder
stepped forward. Never was I so disappointed in a man's personal appearance.
He was below the middle stature, and clad in coarse, ill-made garments. His
uncombed hair hung loosely over his forehead. His attitudes and motions were
exceedingly ungraceful, and every feature of his countenance was unprepossess
ing. Upon minutely examining him, however, I became better pleased. The
long hair that came down to his cheeks covered a broad and prominent forehead;
the keen eye that peered from beneath his heavy and overjetting eyebrows beamed
with deep and penetrating intelligence; the prominent cheekbones, projecting
chin, and large nose, indicated any thing but intellectual feebleness ; while the
wide mouth, depressed at its corners, the slightly expanded nostril, and the tout
ensemble, indicated sorrow and love, and well assorted with the message, " Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
As ho commenced I determined to watch for his faults; but before he had
closed his introduction I concluded that his words were pure and well chosen,
his accents never misplaced, his sentences grammatical, artistically constructed,-
and well arranged, both for harmony and effect; and when he entered fully upon
his subject I was disposed to resign myself to the argument, and leave the speaker
in the hands of more skillful critics. Having stated and illustrated his position
clearly, he laid broad the foundation of his argument, and piled stone upon stone,
hewed and polished, till be stood on a majestic pyramid, with heaven's own light
around him, pointing the astonished multitude to a brighter home beyond the sun,
and bidding defiance to the enemy to move one fragment of the rock on which
his feet were planted.
His argument being completed, his peroration commenced. This was grand
beyond description. The whole universe seemed animated by its Creator to aid
him in persuading the sinner to return to God, and tbe angels commissioned to
open heaven and come down to strengthen him. Now he opens the mouth of
the pit, and takes us through its gloomy avenues, while the bolts retreat, and the

Edwaed Thomson. 433
doors of damnation burst open, and the wail of the lost enters our ears. And
now he opens heaven, transports us to the flowery plains, stands us amid the
armies of the blest, to sweep, with celestial fingers,. angelic harps, and' join the
eternal chorus, "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb." As he closed bis discourse
every energy of his boily and mind was stretched to the utmost point of tension.
His soul appeared to be too great for its tenement, and every moment ready to
burst through and soar away, as the eagle soars toward heaven. His lungs labored,
his arms rose, the perspiration flowed in a steady stream upon the floor, and every
thing about him seemed to say, "0 that my head were waters! " But the audi
ence thought not of the struggling body, nor even of the giant mind within, for
they were paralyzed beneath the avalanche of thought that descended upon
them. But Thomson was not yet ready to surrender. Even this marvel
ous sermon left him still with a heart like an adamantine stone. The
lightnings struck the rock, and the torrents poured upon a marble
soul. It was cleft asunder, but not broken in pieces. Two years and
a half after this the hour of crumbling came. His pastor, who had
preached the first sermon to which he had responded, January, 1826,
was again his pastor six years later. Let him tell the story of the
great change : —
In 1829 Dr. Thomson heard a discourse from Rev. Russell Bigelow, which
shook his infidelity, but he built himself up in his unbelief. Often in Wooster
he attended our preaching at night, but not in the day-time. On the second
Sabbath (11th) of December, 1831, a revival having been in progress some eight
months, Dr. Thomson was sitting in his room at his father's house entirely disen
gaged. He heard an inward voice, "Read the Bible." Lifting his eye, it fell
on the Bible upon a shelf. He opened it at random and read tbe Epistle of
James, by which he was at once convinced of the truth of Christianity and of
that of Methodist doctrine.
He began to reason : If Christianity is true, it is of all truths the most im
portant. I must be a Christian. But I don't know how. What he had read came
up : "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." But I am entirely ignorant.
" He giveth to all men liberally.'" But I am a skeptic. I have blasphemed bis
name; I have scoffed at his religion; I have ridiculed his people; he will spurn
me from his presence. "He giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not."
How then shall I ask ? "Ask in faith; nothing wavering." Not like a wave,
advancing and receding from the shore, but like a living stream, flowing on and
on till it loses itself in the ocean. Then I must attend to all the duties of Chris
tianity ; I must join a Church. Which 1 My patients are Presbyterians, but I
don't believe their doctrine. My parents are Calvinistic Baptists. I don't believe

434 Methodist Bishops.
theirs. There is a people who make a business of religion ; I'll be a Methodist.
He then kneeled and prayed until his soul was filled with peace and love. Com
ing down stairs he met his mother in the hall, to whom he said, "Mother, I am
convinced of the truth of Methodism, and I am going to see Mr. Sheldon." She
expressed great surprise. He came. I had left for country appointments. When
I returned my wife said, "An interesting young man called last Sabbath,
who was very anxious to see you. I told him you would be at home on Friday
night." Just then I heard a modest rap at the front door. In came Dr. Thomson, who
said, "Mr. S., I have lately become convinced of the truth of Methodism, and I
wish further acquaintance with it. I understand you have a library; I wish to
borrow a book." " Do you wish a general or a particular acquaintance? " "I
wish both a general and particular acquaintance." "Excuse me. I asked merely
to know what book to recommend. For a general, I recommend Watson's ' Life
of Wesley.' For a particular, 'Watson's Institutes.'" I brought botiuto him,
and said, "Please excuse me, as I have a select prayer-meeting to attend now."
"Ah," said he, "I'll go with you." On our way to Dr. Shaffer's, who had been
converted six months before, and in whose parlor we held a weekly prayer-
meeting to which none were invited but seekers, and a few spiritual Christians, he
remarked, "I am perfectly aware of the obloquy which will be cast upon me for
the step I am about to take; but I am a dying man, and must henceforth live for
eternity." At the prayer-meeting we met his special friend, Samuel Richey, like
Thomson a gifted son of genius, who was in pursuit of fame; who had lately
won important verdicts over accomplished lawyers in doubtful cases; to whom
Dr. T., on the afternoon of his conversion, had written a most admirable letter,
(a copy of which he showed me,) on the evidences of Christianity. Both rose for
prayers. At the close, Dr. T. joined on probation. This was December 16,
1831. The town was electrified. It was in the mouth of every one, "Edward
Thomson has joined the Methodists!"
Thus we see it was after six years of occasional and acknowledged
conviction, that he fought his way through the ranks of unbelief, and
came out on the Lord's side. He was of the ripe age of thirty-one,
ripe in profession, ripe in influence, ripe in social position.
All these he cast away. Nay, he must go through a deeper expe
rience. He must be rejected of father and mother. His father, a
deacon in the Presbyterian Church, the morning after he had joined
the Church, said to him :
" Edward, my son, why did you join the Methodists ? "
"Because I believe their doctrines. They are so simple that a
child can understand them."

Edward Thomson. 435
" But why did you not join the Presbyterians ? There are no men
of intelligence among the Methodists."
"Why, father, among the Presbyterians and Baptists we can only
have a little amen-hope-so religion, without being enthusiasts. But
among the Methodists we can have as much as we live for."
" But you knew," says the father, concluding the debate as most men
in authority terminate unpleasant and unconquerable arguments, " that it
would be very much against my feelings, and you must leave my house."
"Well, father," retorted the young Methodist, but not young
thinker, " I can go, but you did not refuse me your house when I was
an infidel, advocating infidel doctrines. I do not know as I am less
affectionate or respectful."
" True," said the father, " your spirit is very much improved. But
you knew it would be very much against my feelings."
The father, however, did not execute his threat. The Methodist
minister called on the deacon the next evening, and said, " I consider
it providential that Edward, with his rich and varied learning, has
been influenced by the Lord to join the Methodists at the time that .we
are turning our attention to literary institutions : he may yet become
a Bishop." The father yielded to the doctrine of divine Providence,
and relented toward his son.
Three months after his pastor visited the doctor, and gave him an
account of his own call to the ministry. The youthful convert said,
" You surprise me ; you have related my feelings precisely. I thought
I would go to Jefferson College a couple of years, and then, perhaps,
the Methodists would give me license to preach." "We have a
better school," said his pastor ; " we call it Brush College." He was
baptized April 29, 1832, and the next day was licensed to exhort.
The scene of his baptism was very impressive. A large concourse
was assembled when the gentle and good physician accepted his vows
in that public manner. He immediately gave up practice and taught
school for a living. For six weeks he accompanied his pastor over
his circuit, and the preaching was addressed to the neophyte oftener
than to the rest of the congregation. July 1, 1832, he was licensed
to preach, and recommended to the Annual Conference.
His first sermon was preached shortly after. It was a two-days'
meeting where the small, weakly looking young man was " set up " to
26

436 Methodist Bishops.
preach. His friend and pastor speaks of his first sermon in this
manner :
His text was, "Thou art my God, and I will praise thee." He preached
most admirably ; but before he was through he was powerfully tempted to think
(contrary to the fact) that I wished him to stop, and he broke off abruptly. I
arose, related circumstantially the experience of an intelligent young man, his
skepticism, his conversion, and subsequent happy enjoyments; carefully conceal
ing the person until the close, then saying, the last time I saw him was, naming
the day, house, placej, and text of his discourse, and now all who are willing to
repent of your sins, forsake all, make a full surrender, and go with him to heaven,
repair with us to the Church, and come to Christ for salvation ! About sixty
came to the altar as penitents, forty-six of whom joined on probation at
that meeting. He was eminently useful. We received seven hundred that
year. Edward Thomson was received into Conference on probation the
twenty-second of September following, (1832,) and appointed junior
preacher with his old pastor on the Norwalk Circuit.
This was the opening of Providence, according to the suggestion
of his pastor to his father. On this circuit was a seminary, where he
was to open the educational work of his Church in that State, and in
all the West, and thus more completely fulfill his prophecy, a few
years after. His first year was passed on this circuit. His second he
rose to a city appointment, that of the city of Sandusky, which was
within the bounds of the circuit. Here he made the acquaintance of
the Hon. E. Cooke, father of Jay Cooke, Esq., who regularly attended
his ministry. At that time, writes his predecessor at this appoint
ment, Bev. L. B. Gurley, his personal appearance " was so youthful
and delicate and diffident, that at first sight the sympathy and fears of
the people were awakened lest he should fail in his attempt to preach,
but when he opened his lips, apparently without effort, beautiful
thoughts, clothed in golden words, like coin fresh from the mint, fell
on the charmed ears of his audience. As to pulpit preparation he
was careful from the beginning, frequently writing his sermons in full,
but very seldom using a manuscript in preaching." Mr. Gurley's
father, a local preacher, who had received his license from Mr.
Wesley in Ireland, after hearing Mr. Thomson preach, remarked of
him, " He is a small man, but, mark my word, he will yet become
a great one."

Edward Thomson. 437
Dr. Thomson's third appointment was in Cincinnati. This was
partly out of regard to his talents, and partly because he wished to
pursue his medical studies more thoroughly. He became so much
disheartened, perhaps because of the partial division of heart, that he
proposed to leave the ministry. He had won the valedictory at the
medical college, but he had lost the hearts of his people. He blamed
them when he should have blamed himself. He was persuaded to
continue in the work by the brother who had first introduced him into
it, returned to Conference, and was admitted to full connection, and
stationed on Wooster Circuit at his own request. The next year, 1836,
he was stationed in the city of Detroit. Here he had a wonderful
year, one that is remembered in that city unto this day. His sermons
drew crowds, and his popularity was unbounded. Governor Cass
was among his auditors and admirers.
While stationed in this city he married, in July, 1836, Miss Maria
Louisa, daughter of Hon. Mordecai Bartley, member of Congress
from Ohio, and afterward governor of the State. Of her children, a
son bearing his own name, and a .daughter, are living.
From this charge, the next year, 1837, he entered on the new
form of ministerial life for which his first pastor had prophesied that
he was called to the ministry of his Church. In the town of Norwalk
was an abandoned school, of which his Church proceeded to take
possession. He was called to its principalship. He was deficient in
some branches of classic learning, but he set himself diligently to
pursue the curriculum which was to be taught, and so successful
did he become that it was said in the later years of his presidency
at Delaware, he could fill any chair that was temporarily vacant.
Here, too, he began that form of literary labor into which his
life-work most choicely wrought itself — the religious essay. His
first effort in this direction was entitled " Close Thought." It stands
first in his three volumes of essays, Moral, Educational, and Biograph
ical. It was republished in England, and won for him a prominent
name in literary circles, and a leading one in his own denomination.
This beginning of his strength is a fresh and vivid production, worthy
still of a place on a minister's or student's table. Thus it starts forth :
Thought is the foundation of all intellectual excellence. What is it that con
stitutes darkness in the individual or the age ? The absence of thought — strong

438 Methodist Bishops.
thought. What is it that has handed down innumerable errors from generation
to generation ? The want of thought. What is it that entombed the world's
mind for ages ? The world's fearful experiment to dispense with thought.
What was it that burst the chains of religious bondage and gave to Europe moral
freedom ? What is it that has spread before our vision so many natural truths —
that has opened so wide the path of discovery — has crowded it with so
many anxious iuquirers, and is preparing the way for the general education of
the human race ? Thought!
He shows the outgrowth of a single thought, and the labor neces
sary for its elucidation ; that it is more difficult to set the mind to
labor than it is the body, and that only as it puts its sweat into its
work will it produce aught that is permanent and powerful.
This essay was followed by others less enthusiastic in expression,
but not less deep or powerful in idea and influence. They cover the
field of popular addresses to scholastic assemblies, including such
topics as "General Education," "Mental Symmetry," "The Path to
Success," " The Conflicts of Life," and many other topics. This last
is a very inspiriting ode, to Duty, as ringing and almost as rhythmical
as Wordsworth's Ode. Here are specimens of its vigor :
Go to your Congress of Nations. See those two champion statesmen meet in
fierce and final struggle. A nation's arguments, a nation's feelings, a nation's
interests crowd upon each aching head and press each throbbing heart! The
world's wit and wisdom crowd the halls, and beauty, in the glittering gallery,
watches the approaching conflict; the multitudes besiege the doors, and aisles,
and windows, anxious to witness the scene and herald the issue; the champions
rise upon the tempest of human passions; they raise storm after storm, and
throw thunderbolt on thunderbolt at each other; they soar, wing to wing, into
the loftiest regions; they grapple with each other, soul to soul! Then is the
purest, deepest, sweetest rapture, save that which comes from heaven! It were
cheap to buy one draught with the crown of empire I
Difficulties, when overcome, insure honor. What laurels can be gathered
from the field of sham battle ? No enemy, no glory. The brave man scorns
the feeble adversary; the greater the foe the more noble the victory. Rome
gave her best honors to Scipio because he prostrated Hannibal ; America honors
Washington because he drove the giant forces of Britain ; England awards to
Wellington her highest praises, because he struck down Napoleon, her mightiest
foe. Mark the aged Christian pilgrim as he rises from some fearful conflict in
holy triumph. Hark ! methinks I hear him say, " O, glorious Gospel of the

Edward Thomson. 439
blessed God! Because thou dost task all my powers; because thou dost lead me
to the arena; because thou dost bring me to the mightiest foes — to princi
palities and powers, leagued for our destruction; to rulers of darkness, and
wicked spirits, panting for our everlasting death ; to the world and tbe flesh ;
to earth and to hell, thus making me a spectacle to infernal and heavenly
worlds; to God the Spirit, God the Son, and God the Father; therefore will
I glory in thee." Go ask the blood-washed throng if they would erase one
trial from their history. Ask David, on yon mount of glory, why the angels
fold their wings, and drop their harps to listen to his story. Would you have
an honored life, an honored memory, a blessed immortality? Shrink not from
conflict. We measure a man's intellect by his achievements ; we estimate his achieve
ments by their difficulties. Think you that honor can come without difficulty ?
Try it. Go build baby houses, join mice to a little wagon, play at even and
odd, and ride on a long pole, and see what laurels the world will award you.
We will give you the crown of empire. Now go, like Sardanapalus, wrap
ping yourself in petticoats, dress wool among a flock of women, and see if
Honor would not stamp his angry foot, and shake his hoary locks, and spurn
you from his presence.
Difficulties give courage. Look at the raw recruit. How timid, how fear
ful of the foe, how willing to avoid an engagement! See him on the eve of
strife'; his imagination pictures the smoke and din of battle from afar ; the
plain crimsoned with blood; the piercing cries and gaping wounds of the dying
and the dead. He longs for the home of his childhood, the embrace of his
mother, the quiet of peace. But mark the hardy veteran by his side, who
carries in his body the bullets of the foe, and bears upon his face the marks of
their sabers. He stands firm ; he thinks only of the image of his country, the
punishment of the invader, and the laurels of the conqueror, and lies down to
rest, longing for the reveille that shall wake him to the strife.
His success as an educator was such that the halls were crowded.
Other institutions began to look toward the humble seminary and its
petit, but powerful, principal. In 1843 Michigan offered him the
chancellorship of her University. Transylvania made the offer of her
presidency. He hesitated, especially as to the proposal from Michi
gan. The other college, located in a slave State, was not in a con
genial field or atmosphere to his nature, which abhorred that evil,
and wrought steadfastly against it. He was only receiving six
hundred dollars a year at Norwalk, and these places offered thrice
and four times that salary. Yet his love for his Church withstood the
temptation. He preferred to work through its channels.

440 Methodist Bishops.
The following spring the General Conference elected him editor
of the " Ladies' Bepository." Into this chair he put the same genius
for writing that he had previously exhibited for speaking. His essays
were racy, original, and graceful. They touched many themes and
adorned whatsoever they touched. There was a playfulness in them
which ran into humor, but rarely flashed in wit. They were deep
without darkness, and fresh without weakness.
He ruled in this chair only one year, when Ohio Methodism, hav
ing outgrown its academic status, began to put on the gown of a
University. It, of course, turned its eyes instantly and constantly to
the pale little editor at its Book Concern in Cincinnati. Allowed
to carry off the honors of a second election, he was summoned to the
headship of the Ohio Wesleyan University. He used to say that he
found, as its only endowment, a debt. But he soon got rid of that
endowment, and changed its minus quantity into a respectable and
growing plus.
He increased its income, buildings, students, and reputation. For
fifteen years he ruled, the unquestioned master of Western educational
Methodism, and with no superior in the East. His fame spread far
and wide. His halls were crowded. Especially were the lectures,
which he began at Norwalk, developed into an institution. At three
o'clock Sunday afternoons, the emptiest hour of the Sabbath in all
parts of the nation save New England, the pretty town of Delaware
poured its people of every Church into the chapel of the University.
The slim, pale, small student occupied the plain platform, while the
throng crowded every nook and crevice with expectant faces. His
essays were sermons, and his sermons essays. They lifted up the Gos
pel into high places of literature, and made many a skeptic tremble
before the simple but sublime proclamation. Bent over his manu
script, from which he hardly lifted his eyes, with slightest gesture,
with smallest change of tone, he carried his audience captive on the
wings of deepest thought and deepest feeling. President Edwards,
in his powerful preaching, seems never to have been matched so com
pletely in American pulpit history as- by President Thomson. Here
was pronounced that sublime discourse on the Sublimity of the Script
ures; here other brilliant pulpit poems, that deserve and will obtain
a long if not an immortal life, burst upon entranced ears. The history

Edward Thomson. 441
of the college is a history of his work, and its fame centers and
towers in him. With able coadjutors, it will be universally acknowl
edged that he was its life and glory and power.
In the course of his presidential duties he visited England for the
first time since his departure in childhood. It was then that he made
that visit to his home which has been referred to at the beginning of
this memoir. He was a loyal American when on his native heath.
No more of an American ever trod the streets of London than this
English-born gentleman. He details a conversation which occurred
at Portsmouth, which shows how thoroughly he was imbued with our.
national sentiments. To rebuke the charge of boasting, which was
then more willingly laid against us than it is to-day, he proudly re
plies : " As to nobility, it perhaps has never occurred to you that we
have nobody to make nobles of. We realize Pyrrhus's idea of the
Bomans — a nation of kings." Then, with all the pomposity he could
assume, he made his bow, and said : " You are now in the company
of one of the royal family of the United States of America." This
conceit was entirely unnatural to him, and therefore was not resented
by them. This tour resulted in a series of letters, which were
afterward collected into a volume.
After a long and splendid service he was called again to the chair
editorial. This time to a stirring field. Hitherto his career had been
placid as an Englisfi stream. Now it was to be stormy as the English
Channel. The question of slavery, which had been rising and rising
in vehement debate in every field of Church, State, business, and
society, was fast getting into battle array. The Church was seeking
to put itself right in its legislation, and especially in its editorial
utterances. Its chief journal, located in New York, had not satisfied
its radical leaders. Though edited with great ability, it seemed to
these persons to be giving an uncertain sound in this supreme hour.
A change of editorship was demanded. Dr. Thomson was put for
ward for the place. A fierce fight followed, and he was elected. He
came where he was not wanted. The Church elite of that city had other
tastes. Not that they loved him less, but their choice allies and writers
more. They established a rival sheet. They frowned on the meek
intruder. But he was equal to the exigencies. His editorials were
graceful, genial, yet faithful and bold ; and, as the war cloud darkened,

442 Methodist Bishops.
and its murderous thunders roared, the strong pen of the editor
rose to the occasion and gave the Church serene and steadfast guid
ance amid the storm. He won the recalcitrant brethren by his meek
ness of wisdom, and conquered the pulpit also. His thoughtful,
polished discourses were appreciated, and ere he left his chair friend
and foe acknowledged his sway.
But the Church was about to call him to her final honors and
labors. In 1864, at the General Conference in Philadelphia, on the
first ballot, he was elected by the next to the highest vote to her
general superintendency.
Fortunately for our Church constitution, it contains no provision
that limits its utmost honors, privileges, and duties, as that of the
nation unwisely does, to those of native origin. Our executive is
open to all who are citizens of our spiritual commonwealth. Bishop
Thomson is a proof of the excellence of this catholicity. Had he
entered other vocations, with all his marked fitness for leadership he
could never have attained the supreme honor; and the fact of this
inability to fully employ his powers would have prevented their
greatest development. Opportunity stimulates genius. Such oppor
tunity was offered in the Church, but not in the State. We shall
never see the highest generalship and statesmanship that our foreign-
born citizens can exhibit until every impediment to their exercise is
removed by removing that clause which forbids their aspiration to
the highest honor and dnty in the gift of the Bepublic.
Our Church grants this liberty. Its first three Bishops were
English-born, though two of them wrought in their life-work before,
as well as subsequent to, their elevation to the superintendency upon
American soil. After the lapse of fifty years another of the same
nativity succeeded them. He proved his fitness not the least by his
unswerving devotion to the land of his adoption. No truer American
ever lived. Still, as became a general officer in a catholic Church,
which existed equally and officially in every continent, none sur
passed him in the fullness of such breadth. He was without partiality
to any blood, or tongue, or tribe, or nation. All were to him equal
and fraternal.
Bishop Thomson immediately began to devote himself to the ard
uous labors of his new work. He, first of all our Bishops, visited the

Edward Thomson. 443
Asiatic work, thus evincing, at the beginning, his breadth of soul. The
tour round the world was performed, or rather, attempted, without
completion, by his co-elected brother, Bishop Kingsley ; for he fell
with the journey half done, on the borders of the Holy Land, by the
side of the Great Sea. Bishop Thomson did not essay a journey round
the world, but he did a more difficult task. For to make the jour
ney eastward to China and westward from China, is greater than to
cross from China to California. This feat he undertook and success
fully carried out. He left New York August, 1864, within three
months of his election, and completed his tour in the following May.
His visit to India and China was very encouraging to our missionaries
and members, and to this day no sweeter name lingers on their
tongue than that of Bishop Thomson. His journals are animated and
instructive transcripts of his experiences and observations in those
novel climes.. His colleague, following soon after, and giving his
observations also in the form of a book, makes comparisons inevit
able between the two. Such comparisons give Thomson the prefer
ence in finish of style, and Kingsley in a certain piquancy and gayety
of spirit. Both are fine observers and expert narrators. Both left
powerful impressions on those ancient lands and faiths.
On Bishop Thomson's return he plunged into the work of the
superintendency with a zeal that was unabated, but that was rapidly
consuming his slender capital. His wife had died during his editor
ship in New York, and he was married, May 9, 1866, to Miss Annie
E. Howe, an accomplished lady of Delaware, Ohio. She accompanied
him on a tour to the Pacific coast, and into the Southern States. He
was the first to organize a Conference with members of the ostracized,
and, to many eyes yet of the accursed, hue, mingling with their
white brethren. A photograph was taken of the group, the first
picture of that sort that was probably ever made on this Continent.
The city of New Orleans was the seat of this Conference. It will
yet be prouder of this token of the great change that is passing over
the South, and of this foregleaming of the rising sun of pure and per
fect Christianity, than of any past event that has graced its history.
For six years he was in labors most abundant. His last literary
work wa6 the revising of his Oriental letters, the preface to which is
dated March, 1870. He was then leaving home for the last time.

444 Methodist Bishops.
He had won for himself high esteem as a president and a preacher ;
was accessible to all and beloved by all. His list of spring Confer
ences was the unusually large number of twelve. Of them three had
been already attended. He was on his way from the West Virginia
Conference to the New Jersey, when he rested over at Wheeling.
He arrived here on Thursday morning, March 17. He had had a chill
the night before, but was not very ill. He kept his room Thursday,
and on Friday, feeling better, received his friends and walked about
the city. That day he wrote his last article for the press, which he
sent to the " Zion's Herald." It may not have all been written that
day, though its date and that of the note accompanying it was Wheel
ing, March 18, 1870. It was a very racy talk entitled " A Walk on the
Borders of our Zion," and gave a number of amusing incidents of his
notes and observations in the Lexington, Kentucky, and West Vir
ginia Conferences, all of which he had just visited. It closed with
this striking remark, which was made at a love-feast of the Lexington
Conference : " Brethren, I am not of this world. We belong to a
better country ; and I intend, when the bell rings, to have my trunk
packed ; so I pack a little every day."
Little did he think as he wrote those words and closed his epistle
that they were so soon to be fulfilled in him. Did the pain he then
complained of suffering suggest the fast-rushing agony of dissolution ?
By morning he was sick enongh to acknowledge it, and to seek his
room and bed. By noon pneumonia set in. During the Sabbath his
symptoms slightly improved, though debility increased. At mid
night a marked change occurred. His own medical training made
him quick to discern the change, and he asked his physician to tell
him the truth, saying that he was prepared for any event of God's
will. He was informed of the probabilities of the speedy termina
tion of his life. After a few minutes of solemn silence, he dictated
messages to his wife, to which, they being written out and read to
him, he affixed his signature. He then said : " If this be dying it is
very easy." A few minutes after, opening his eyes with such an
expression of tranquillity, the doctor was encouraged* to ask him,
"Have you full peace? " he answered, " O yes, O yes ! "
In the evening he appeared comfortable, but with a very rapid pulse.
His face was bathed, the Twenty-third Psalm was read, and prayers

Edward Thomson. 445
were offered. At about eight the pain in his stomach set in with
renewed intensity. He saw his hour had come. He was only anxious
to live until his wife could reach him. This she could not do before
twelve o'clock. But his feeble frame could not last that long. He
was sorely tried by this disappointment. Looking up at Brother
Logan, he said, " The Master said to Beter, ' Satan hath desired to
have thee that he might sift thee as wheat, but I have prayed for thee
that thy faith fail not.' " And he repeated, " that thy faith fail not."
A short time after he said to Dr. Homer J. Clark, " Doctor, pray for
me,-that my faith fail not." Dr. Clark asked him if he found sup
port in this hour, and he replied, " O yes, and that is the best, that is
the best." He asked him to pray, and he himself responded warmly.
Almost instantly after, easily and without a struggle, he fell asleep in
Jesus. His body was carried to his beloved city of Delaware, the home
of his most active, most numerous, and not least famous years, and,
with much weeping and lamentation, with eulogies from students,
alumni, professors, and preachers, it was borne to its long home.
Under the peaceful foliage of its pleasant city of the dead it awaits
the dawn and the glory and the joy of the resurrection morning.
Before proceeding to the summing up of this life, it will be proper
to notice his last work, which did not appear till after his death. It
was a series of discourses entitled, " Evidences of Bevealed Beligion."
These discourses were pronounced before the schools of theology at
Boston and Evanston the winter before his death. They are the con
summate flower of his thoughts. They stand out grandly. " God " is
the first theme. He shows that his existence is in debate among mod
ern schools of philosophy, and proves against them all a personal, an
intelligent, a creative, a governing God. His argument against an
impersonal force developing nature is exceeding fresh and strong.
How well he puts the anticlimax of the development theorists. If
men are developed upward, why not downward ? As thus, " Here is
one who has a fondness for foxes. He admires their characters,
studies their habits, imitates their ways, so much so, that his friends
say, ' He is foxy.' His attitudes, his halt, his looks, his practices, all
resemble those of the fox ; and whenever we see him, either in the
world or the Church, we are reminded of this scripture, ' Go tell that

446 Methodist Bishops.
fox.' It is easy to see that his son may be more of a fox than the father,
the grandson than the son ; and so after centuries or eons or millenni
ums, if you please, a real fox may be produced. . . . Another man is
a snake in the grass. He crawls rather than walks, stings rather than
talks, the poison of asps is under his tongue ; he delights in conceal
ment ; he never does any thing directly that he can do indirectly. He
has no sense of gratitude, but will bite the bosom that warms and pro
tects him. Suppose his feelings, strengthened in his posterity from
generation to generation, until they become a generation of vipers — a
nest of copperheads."
This theory of degeneration is an. apt and unanswerable offset to
the theory of development. It is the argument of reductio ad
absurdum admirably applied. The greatest lecture of the course
next to the first, is that on miracles. This theme is powerfully han
dled. He shows that miracles are possible, probable, provable, proved.
He revels in logical analysis of Strauss and Hume, and well delivers
any one who is captured in that snare of the devil, if so be he is not
held captive by him at his will. Immortality, too, is grandly treated.
As if he were conscious that it brooded over him, and was soon to
break upon him.
Very strongly put are the arguments for a moral government of
God, and " Life a Probation." Painfully powerful is his defense of the
dreadful truth of future punishment, and gloriously grand his out
bursts on the necessity and advantages of the Gospel, on "Christ, our
Prophet, Priest, aud King." Superbly does he close the last discourse
with what should be the closing psalm of the volume : —
He is a King; and slowly, but steadily, through the ages, amid the shock of
armies and the ruins of empires, he has been organizing that kingdom whose
emblem is the woman clothed with the sun, sandaled with the moon, and crowned
with the stars, aud whose offspring is worthy to be caught up by God. His prin
ciples, destroying all false philosophies, and freeing, rousing, energizing the
human mind — his civilization, bridging Niagara, touching mountains, cutting
asunder continents by canals, and uniting them by lines of lightning beneath
the seas, and links of fire above them — his Churches, bestudding Europe and
America with radiant points of light — millions of Sabbath-schools, with palm-
branches and hosannas — missions girding the globe with curtains of truth and
love, pushing back the belt of error and vice, and opening the way to commerce,
science, justice, liberty, and good-will — kingdoms and empires opening their

Edward Thomson. 447
gates to the hosts of God's elect, advancing fair as the moon, clear as the sun,
and terrible as an army with banners, while the drums of divine Providence are
beating the reveille of the millennium morning— prove that Christ is King. But
the triumphs that are seen are nothing to those that are not seen, both past and
future. A Sabbath-school superintendent wishing to have a great commemoration of
the happy Christmas-time, built up tier after tier in the spacious catliedral, and
arranged trees between them, hanging cages of canaries among the fragrant
branches. Over the cages he suspended blankets. When the time arrived, and
the children filled the aisles and transept, and the charmed spectators crowded
the galleries, all at once the blankets were lifted, and the sunlight, the warmth,
the fragrant trees, woke up the slumbering birds, who broke forth in tuneful
song, filling the whole space with one wave of delicious music. To complete
the charm, the children raised their harmonious voices, and gallery on n-allery
swelled the great volume of melody as it ascended in that grand song: '-All
hail the power of Jesus' name ! V So Christ is building tier on tier in the temple
of the heavens, where he is suspending the caged birds of melodious voices
among the invisible groves of the tree of life. Soon will the high day arrive,
the angel's trumpet sound, and the blankets of the grave be raised, and the
warmth and light and beauty of heaven will waken every tuneful power, and
the assembled angels and archangels will sing with the redeemed and astonished
saints : "All hail the power of Jesus' name! " filling the whole heaven with
one volume of unequaled song, great as the voice of many waters and of mighty
thunderings, harmonious as the concert of ten thousand harps.
Well might he rise on this wave of his rapture into that triumphal
host whose glory he so brilliantly depicted !
The subtlety and profundity of his thinking processes sometimes
resulted in ludicrous blunders. Soon after his first marriage he took
his wife to his parsonage at Detroit. Immersed in " Close Thought,"
even before he wrote his first essay on that subject, and often after
ward, he was in the midst of a party who were holding his wedding
festival. Suddenly emerging from his cloud of thought, he dimly
recognized his friends, and remarked of the lady before him, just
made his wife, that he believed he had seen her somewhere, but he
could not recall where.
On hearing a class in logic, he got so far beyond his pupils and his
text-book that he took up a large . marking-book before him, and,
supposing it was his hat, spread it over his head, and began to leave the
room. A shout of laughter from his class recalled him to his senses.

448 Methodist Bishops.
One of the strangest of these mental reversals transpired when a
friend had submitted his manuscript to him for inspection. He called
for his paper. The doctor said he had read it, and approved its publi
cation. He looked for it, but could not find it. He made due search
without effect, when, recovering himself, he said he had a desire to
expectorate at the same time that he intended to put the manuscript
on the table. Whereupon he had spit on the table, and put the paper
in the stove. There were the approved ashes before the astonished
friend, and more astonished critic. This absent-mindedness affected
him somewhat in his last official career, and with a slight deafness
made him crave the seclusion of his college rather than the publicity and
perpetua] whirl of his last office. Yet his calm, clear judgment, his
quick instincts, his genial nature, made him the beloved angel of the
Church, and his official visits were looked forward to with increasing
pleasure. His character and career need no summing up. They are patent
to every one. " An Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile,"
will be the universal testimony of every friend and acquaintance. He
was the John of the apostles, the seer and sayer of the severest truths.
He had found the Grail which others have so vainly sought.
"His strength was as the strength often,
Because his heart was pure."
He has left the inspiration of a sweet and noble life for the delight
and strength of his Church, and his successors in the ministry of
reconciliation. May their hearts be the sensitive-plate that shall catch
that sacred impression, and their lives evince not merely its external
impression, but its inward power, for their illumination and edification !

&,^£^^y^z^i,

Calvin Kingsley.

BY EEV. WM. IIUNTEE, D.D.

IN the year 1836 there came to Alleghany College a young man
about twenty-four years of age, robust of build, fresh from a very
rural district, clad in rustic attire — a roundabout, coarse, low shoes,
blue stockings, and pantaloons all too short for him — awkward and
"green looking," yet with something pleasing in his countenance, a
genial twinkle of the eye, that bespoke good nature, and a gleaming
out of common sense that soon made him a general favorite. That
young man was destined, in time, to outstrip all his compeers who
might have been tempted, on his first appearance in college halls, to
smile at his crude exterior, or verdancy of manners. His name was
Calvin Kingsley, the ardent and persevering student, the accom
plished and successful preceptor, the faithful and zealous preacher, the
skillful and indomitable polemic, the talented and influential editor,
the instructive and popular letter-writer, the enterprising and self-
sacrificing Bishop, who was the first in the discharge of his episcopal
functions to attempt the circumnavigation of the globe.
He was born in Annsville, Oneida County, N. Y., in 1812. His
parents, originally from Connecticut, were honest and pious people,
of limited fortune and moderate culture. The name of their first
born son has been supposed to indicate their theological proclivities,
which supposition, however, we learn, is a mistake, so far, at least, as
his father was concerned, though at the time of his birth, and for
eighteen years afterward, his parents were not members of any Church.
Indeed, Calvin seems to have led the way in the conversion of the
family. Strange to say, though born in Oneida County, N. Y., he
never came in contact with that well-nigh ubiquitous people, the
Methodists, until after the family removed to Ellington, Chautauqua
County, in 1826. Calvin was then fourteen. The form and spirit of
devotional exercises among the Methodists was something new to young
Kingsley, and impressed him deeply. He had always been a thoughtful

452 Methodist Bishops.
and conscientious boy, fully persuaded of the- necessity of a moral
change wrought by the Spirit of God. But he had known nothing
of the hopefulness and joyfulness of spirit which he perceived among
the Methodists. This new presentation of religion was startling, but
not uncongenial. The clear, happy experiences of the Methodists,
their ardent prayers, their emotional singing, commended them to his
head and heart. After mature deliberation he united with the Meth
odist Episcopal Church, resolved on a higher Christian life. He was
then about eighteen years of age.
As an illustration of his character, which shone out even at that
early day, the fact should be mentioned that soon after his conversion
he was impressed with the conviction that he ought to conduct family
worship in his father's house. He consulted his parents, and with
their consent established the family altar, leading the devotions morn
ing and evening. This proceeding of the youth indicated the consci
entiousness and faithfulness to duty which always distinguished the
man in after life. It exhibited the cross-bearing and self-denying spirit
which was ever one of his characteristics. It was not long before such
an example of piety and fidelity had its natural effect on his father's
household. His parents soon sought, and found for therdselves, the
comforts of experimental religion ; and in the course of time the
whole family followed in their footsteps. One or two of his brothers
became ministers of the Gospel.
Like many another youth, from the time of his conversion his
soul was athirst for knowledge. As the years passed on, and he heard
of Alleghany College, then just established under Methodist auspices,
he longed to go there ; but how to perform that which he would, he.
found not. Being the oldest son, he was greatly needed on his father's
farm. For two years after the family came into Chautauqua County,
there had been no schools in the neighborhood. His father, however,
had taken an active part in the establishment of one. Here Calvin
went to school three months in the winter, working on the farm the
other nine months of the year. Thus three years were spent, and
such was his progress in learning that the trustees employed him to
teach the school for two successive winters. Teaching is itself an
excellent schoolmaster, and he availed himself of its benefits not
merely in the way of direct mental culture, but also in procuring

Calvin Kingsley. 453
the means of greater knowledge, in the form of books. He had
before this obtained a few books besides those of the school-room.
The first installment of these was gotten by working, on shares, a
sugar place of one of the neighbors. The product could not have
been very great, as it is said that he carried it ten miles on his shoul
ders to Jamestown, where he bartered it off for the coveted books.
These he studied with the eagerness and enjoyment of a mind panting
for knowledge. His chief time for study was at night. It was long
before the days of carbon oil ; and even tallow candles were a rare
luxury. But the " fat pine," with its resinous knots, was plenty.
This made a pretty good light, with an abundance of black smoke.
It was thus that Calvin Kingsley, often while the family was asleep,
sought an education under difficulties. In the course of time, both
to improve his education and to assist his father, he taught a school
through the year at Bandolph, Cattaraugus County, devoting his earn
ings chiefly to clearing the land of the farm. His opportunities of
study were then better, but, like many another ambitious youth, he
paid too dearly for them. By the cessation of active outdoor labor,
and too intense devotion to teaching and books, he injured his health.
After nearly two years spent in this way he was compelled to desist
from teaching. Nevertheless, after a few months' rest and healthful
recreation on the farm, he was able again, in somewhat improved
health, to resume his duties in the school-room. With a portion
of the avails of his last winter's teaching he sought the halls of
Alleghany College.
Brior to this time Calvin had become acquainted with Bev. Hiram
Kinsley, the Presiding Elder of the district, and long a leading mem
ber of the Erie Conference. This good man had strongly encouraged
the young school-master to seek a collegiate education. But for the
encouragement thus received he might never have deemed it possible
to acquire a college course; and he always expressed himself in
the strongest terms of gratitude concerning Elder Kinsley, for the
invaluable service, thus rendered him. This was not unfrequently
accompanied with a regret that other ministers did not always pursue
the same course with young men.
Bev. Samuel Gregg, author of the " History of Methodism in the
Erie Conference," then stationed in Jamestown, also rendered him
• 27

454 Methodist Bishops.
important help. One Saturday evening young Kingsley made his
appearance at the parsonage door, with a bundle slung over his shoul
der on a stick. He was then on his way to • college, sixty miles dis
tant, and had called to consult Mr. Gregg on the subject. It was at a
time of the year when the roads through the then comparatively wil
derness country between Jamestown and Meadville were exceedingly
bad. There was no public conveyance but by the round-about way of
Erie. Mr. Gregg suggested that route. But this would cost $10 or
$12, and he had only $20 in his pocket. He had no notion of spend
ing half his fortune in getting to college by public conveyance, when
he had a pair of stout legs that would carry him for a trifle. Bemain-
ing, by invitation, with Mr. Gregg over Sunday, it was found on Mon
day morning that there were three other young men who wished to
go to college. The four hired a farmer for a reasonable sum of money
to take them and their baggage in a farm wagon.
Arriving at Meadville he presented a note from Mr. Gregg to the
president of the college, and stated his case — that he was poor, had
only a few dollars, but was able and willing to work a part of the
time at any thing he could get to do. The kind-hearted president
spoke words of comfort, and in order to help him proposed the jani-
torship ; that is, to sweep the rooms, make the fires, ring the bell, and
have a general care of the college building. He was thus at once
inducted into office, and became what he afterward playfully called
Professor of Dust and Ashes. But the proceeds of this useful,
though not very dignified, office, were meager and insufficient, and he
supplemented it by any other work that he could get to do — sometimes
taking a contract of wood-chopping or wood-sawing, and sometimes
cultivating potatoes on a corner of the college grounds. Twice dur
ing his course he was compelled to retire and teach for awhile, in
order to replenish his exhausted exchequer.
His tastes as a student inclined him to mathematics and the related
sciences, rather than to classical studies. He entered into the study
of mathematics with great zest. Geometry especially interested him
wonderfully ; he seemed amused and delighted with it. As its truths
aud methods of reasoning unfolded themselves to his mind, he found
in them the highest enjoyment. His mind, however, by no means
grasped the subject like Isaac Newton's, as if by intuition. On the

Calvin Kingsley. 455
contrary, it required from him patient study ; but he gave it all it did
require, and by somewhat slow degrees mastered it, so as to make it
thoroughly his own. This it was that furnished the discipline he
needed to develop and strengthen his mental powers. It constituted
the very basis of his education ; and whatever of logical method and
dialectic skill he subsequently evinced — and that was no little — seemed
the result and natural outgrowth of his training in the exact sciences.
At the end of five years he had worked his way through the scientific
course, and graduated with honor. This year, 1841, was an eventful
one in his history. He graduated, was elected assistant professor
of mathematics, and married. His wife, whose maiden name was
Delia Scudder, a most excellent and devoted Christian woman, cheered
the remainder of his life's pathway, and now deeply mourns him
departed. In 1842 he was elected Professor of Mathematics and
Civil Engineering in Alleghany College, a chair previously filled by a
distinguished graduate of West Point, but which lost none of its dig
nity by Prof. Kingsley's occupancy. In this position he developed
remarkable ability and large resources, giving eminent satisfaction.
He possessed a remarkable faculty of elucidation, and rarely failed to
make difficult problems plain to the dullest understanding. In his
relations with his pupils he was just and genial, and his memory is
now cherished by them as that of a faithful friend. His bearing
toward his colleagues in the Faculty was highly honorable and consid
erate. He cared scrupulously for the interests of all with whom he
was associated, whether in professional or social life.
Professor Kingsley was not long undisturbed in his chair. In
1843 the State, which had for a number of years made appropriations
to the collegeswithin its bounds, withdrew its subsidies, and Alleghany
College, having no endowment, was compelled to suspend. A plan
of endowment, calledrthe Cheap Scholarship Plan, was devised by the
President, Dr. Homer J. Clark ; and Prof. Kingsley, with Dr. Clark
and others, was employed as an agent. He spent one year in this
work, and the next year was appointed to the charge of Erie Station.
He was re-appointed to this station the following year, I ut before it
expired, the college re-opened and he returned to his professorship.
His pastorate was very satisfactory, both to himself and his parish
ioners. He would have preferred to remain in the pastoral work,

456 Methodist Bishops.
and had actually resigned his chair ; but the college could not spare
him, and the authorities had declined to accept his resignation. At
great personal sacrifice and self-denial he went back to the college,
warmly welcomed by his old friends and associates, and entered at
once upon his professional duties. This was in the spring of 1846.
In 1854 he attained to the honor of the vice-presidency of the college.
During the last two or three years of his connection with the institu
tion he was again employed as an agent for the establishment of a
biblical professorship. In this work he labored hard, as usual, on light
pay, but had the satisfaction of a reasonable measure of success.
In the year 1843, when acting as an agent for Alleghany College,
he had occasion to step forth in defense of the Church against one of
the strongest men of the day, a leader in what was called the " Wes
leyan" Secession. The "logical Lee," as the elder Dr. Bond called
him, seems to have been over-matched by the logical Kingsley. The
debate lasted for several days at Portland, New York, and was renewed
again three months subsequently at Jamestown, where it continued
four and a half days. Several disputants took part on either side, but
Kingsley wound up the contest in a speech which has been described
as masterly and overpowering. Bev. Thomas Graham, who participated
in the discussion, speaking of that closing speech, says : " It was one
of the most eloquent and entrancing appeals I ever heard in my life.
He held that congregation more perfectly spell-bound for half an hour
than they had ever been held before. Bev. J. J. Steadman (who had
also taken part, and was himself a most accomplished debater) was per
fectly carried away with the power of the man on that occasion, and
particularly with his last effort. He and I rode home together in the
same carriage. Two or three times Steadman would' cease talking,
and after awhile, starting up from his meditations, would whip up his
horse, shouting, ' Glory to God ! wasn't Kingsley eloquent ! ' There
could not have been a happier effort. When I think of it now, (though
it was over thirty years ago,) I am thrilled with something of the same
feeling which inspired me then. This was the first great debate the
Bishop had ever been in. At first he did not seem to be perfectly at
home. But after one day's practice he came up well, and proved him
self a giant."
It was at Erie the next year, 1844, in which he had his great debate

Calvin Kingsley. 457
on Universalism, lasting for eight days. That city had for some time
enjoyed the ministry of a champion of the Universalist faith, who,
like Goliath of Gath, was in the habit of challenging all the hosts of
the orthodox to single combat. He had even sent in a challenge to
the Conference that sat there that year. But, of course, no attention
was paid to it. After Kingsley went to the charge he accepted the
challenge. Considering the reputed ability of his opponent, and his
own comparative youth, there was some tremor for the result among
the adherents of " orthodoxy." But their fears were groundless. In
an eight days' discussion Kingsley ably defended the common faith,
and showed himself a workman that needed not to be ashamed. Grati
fying acknowledgments came from other denominations for the service
rendered to the common cause.*
After his return to Meadville, in 1845, by invitation from gentle
men of different Churches he delivered a series of lectures on the
distinctive features of Unitarianism, defending with masterly ability
the great truths of the orthodox faith. These lectures, which were
listened to by the great mass of the people, were productive of much
good. They are yet in manuscript, and it is thought by those
acquainted with them, that if brought out in book form they would
prove a valuable addition to our theological literature. Nor should
we here forget the masterly and valuable contribution to the same —
his work on " The Besurrection " — a review of Prof. Bush, and issued
by our own Bublishing House.
Professor Kingsley's first appearance in the General Conference was
in 1852, in Boston. He then led his delegation, and in the election for
Bishops received forty votes for that office. Considering "his compar
ative youth, and that this was the first General Conference of which
he was a member, this vote was highly complimentary. He was again
at the head of his delegation at Indianapolis in 1856. Owing to an
attack of sickness, he took but little part in the business of the Con
ference. Nevertheless, before the close, he was elected editor of the
" Western Christian Advocate," then, as still, one of the leading Church
papers. In 1860 he was once more in the lead of his delegation at the
* So serious were the effects, physically, upon his opponent, that shortly after the debate
closed he lost his voice entirely ; and whether he ever recovered it the writer is not in
formed. The fact was generally attributed to over-excitement of the nervous system.

458 Methodist Bishops.
Buffalo General Conference, and was elected chairman of the Committee
on Slavery, then the most responsible chairmanship in the body. The
question of slavery was the great question in both Church and State.
During the session of that Conference, the Bepublican Convention
which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, sat in Chicago.
The agitation had been increasing in the Church for many years, and
was now approaching a culmination. Already one separation (that of
the Church South) and one secession (that of the Wesleyans, so-called)
had taken place ; and another disruption was threatened. The country
was on the eve of a tremendous civil war, into which it was precip
itated in less than a year from that time. The members from what
was called " the Border " were deeply impressed with the dangers of
the period ; and though, with few exceptions, true antislavery men,
they naturally dreaded and opposed any change in the disciplinary
enactments concerning slavery. They feared that the chief effect of
any change would be to hasten the impending crisis of civil secession,
and another division of the Church. On the other hand, the majority
of the Northern men were, from their circumstances, naturally impa
tient for an advance ; and the dangers apprehended by " the border
men " seemed to them in a great degree imaginary. " Pass the new
rule," said one of the leaders, " and all will be quiet on the border in
three months ! "
It will thus be seen that Dr. Kingsley, as chairman of the com
mittee on slavery, occupied a most delicate, responsible, and difficult
position. He was himself an honest, consistent, and unfaltering, but
by no means an ultra, antislavery man. It is doubtful if he ever
accepted, without qualification, the fundamental dogma of abolition
ism, that " slavery is a sin under all circumstances." But he was an
earnest hater of the "peculiar institution," and believed that the
Church should take advanced ground on the subject. That he was
equal to the occasion may be inferred from the fact that he acquitted
himself to the entire satisfaction, and we may say to the admiration,
of those who were on his side of the question, and caused as little
complaint as could be expected from the opposition. He brought
in a very elaborate report, a part of which was a change of "the
general rule" on slavery, (requiring a two-thirds vote,) which was
not adopted; and a "new chapter," (requiring only a majority

Calvin Kingsley. 459
vote,) which was adopted, and remains in the Discipline to this day.
(See Discipline.)
Dr. Kingsley was, at this Conference, again elected editor of the
" Western Christian Advocate." This term of service covered nearly
the entire period of the war, during which it was no light task to
conduct wisely and well a great weekly religious sheet. Partisan
feeling ran high in the Church and the nation. Suffice it to say, that
it would be difficult to imagine how any one could have done better,
under the circumstances, than did Dr. Kingsley. He was intensely
loyal to his country and his God — prudent, clear-sighted, and vigilant.
His editorials were marked by sound judgment and discretion ; lucid,
rather than brilliant, and commanding general respect. In 1864 Dr.
Kingsley was elected the fourth time to the General Conference. It
sat in Philadelphia. He was now, as always before, placed at the
head of his delegation, a proof that he was a great favorite with his
own Conference (Erie). His influence in that body was commanding.
He was not a great or frequent talker on the Conference floor ; but a
few pleasant words from him would often tide over a difficult point.
At this General Conference of 1864 he was elected to the office of
Bishop. Bishops Clark and Thomson were elected at the same time,
all of them, alas ! to fall in death in the quadrennium next succeeding
that in whicli they were elected. Calvin Kingsley, the whilom rustic
youth from the woods of Chautauqua, had now, in less than three
decades after his debut at Alleghany College, attained to the highest
office, honors, and responsibilities of the Church ! How well he dis
charged his high functions is known to the body, which still mourns
his unexpected, and to mortal eyes untimely, removal.
At the next session after his election his old Conference invited
him to make his residence among them ; and his friends took measures
to procure him a pleasant home in Cleveland. His family resided
there until his departure on his great episcopal tour around the world.
" The episcopal career of Bishop Kingsley," says Dr. (now Bishop)
Wiley :
was short, but brilliant; it was characterized throughout by the most unreserved
consecration and the most unwearied devotion. He recognized the magnitude of
his office, the full weight of its responsibilities, the almost world-wide extent of
its supervision, and gave himself wholly to it. During his episcopate of six

460 Methodist Bishops.
. years, his labors were constant, and his joumeyings almost unremitting. Though
he fell before he had quite consummated his great tour around the world, yet in
his various episcopal visitations he had, in distance, more than circumnavigated
the globe. Our limits will not allow us to follow him fully in his visitations
to the several Conferences, nor to dwell on his labors in connection
with them. As a specimen, however, of his travels and toils, we
quote, from his memoir by Dr. Wiley, the following abridged sketch
of his work during the few years ensuing his election :
In the year 1865 the supervision of the Conferences beyond the Rocky
Mountains was assigned to him. In the early part of May he left Cleveland for
Idaho and California, by the overland route. He attended the Colorado Con
ference at Denver, from June 22 to 26. Finding it impossible to reach Cali
fornia by this route on account of an Indian outbreak, he hastened back to
the East, reaching Cleveland July 12, and almost immediately left for New
York, whence he embarked by the Panama route on Saturday, July 22, and
reached San Francisco August 11. He hastened to Virginia City to meet the
Nevada Conference on the 7th of September. He returned to San Francisco,
and met the California Conference September 20. On October 3 he sailed from
San Francisco and reached New York October 26. His prompt return from
Colorado, where his way was blocked up by the Indians, ar.d his voyage by
sea to reach his appointments, was ah illustration of the indomitable purpose
and indefatigable energy of the man.
In 1866 the visitation of the Pacific Conferences was assigned to Bishop
Baker, who started on his journey by the overland route. He was overtaken
in this tour by a stroke of paralysis from which he never recovered. Bishop
Kingsley, with his accustomed heroism, sprang into the breach. He sailed
from New York in July and reached San Francisco on the 15th of August.
He met the California Conference on the 19th, at San JosS, and the Nevada
Conference on the 5th of September, at Washoe. Not being able to reach
the Oregon Conference in time, he returned to New York hy sea, reaching that
city October 21.
In 1867 the supervision of the European Mission Conferences fell to his lot.
But before leaving for Europe he presided over the Baltimore, East Baltimore,
and New Hampshire Conferences, and after his return, over the Holston and
Oneida. He left New York May 5, and reached Ireland on the 26th. He
attended the German and Switzerland Mission Conference June 20, and
visited the Scandinavian Missions in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. He
sailed from Bremen August 26, and reached New York September 7. In 1868
he presided over the following Conferences : Central German, Erie, Genesee,
Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Calvin Kingsley. 461
This was also the year of the General Conference in Chicago, in
which, of course, he took part. As this year furnished him the only
opportunity of presiding over his own original Conference, it will be
interesting to know how he deported himself there.
We pause a moment here to relate some things which his brethren
and companions report concerning him ; and all the more readily, as
the,y give a true representation of the man. Such as he was in the
chair of the Erie Conference he was elsewhere. One of his brethren
(Prof. L. D. Williams) says of him, that he wore his honors with
graceful modesty, nor seemed for a moment to think he was greater
than his brethren because he was a Bishop. He was called to this
work to serve the Church, not to aggrandize himself. In the chair of
the Erie Conference he evidently felt the delicacy and difficulty of the
situation. Here were men who were strong when he was a boy —
men who had taken him by the hand and guided his footsteps when
his way seemed dark, and had counseled and encouraged him in the
day of need. The Conference was large, embracing men of talent,
learning, and influence. These men he was about to assign to their
fields of labor, and it devolved on him to preside over their delibera
tions. But he was the same Brother Kingsley as aforetime, when he
met with them and mingled in their discussions.
As not unfrequently happens, the regular Conference business
proceeded faster than the work . in the Cabinet. On the last day of
the session there were some cases that still hung in suspense, and but
little time remained to perfect the work. The Conference was to
adjourn at the close of the forenoon session. The Bishop and Pre
siding Elders retired to their council-room, and left the Conference
to finish up the business while they completed the list of appoint
ments. In the Conference the committees reported, the usual resolu
tions of thanks were passed to citizens, editors, pastors, etc., and
nothing now remained but to receive the appointments and adjourn.
The Bishop and his council still lingered. A member arose and
pleasantly moved that a committee be appointed to wait on the
Bishop and inform him that the Conference had finished its business
and was ready to receive any communication he had to make. The
motion prevailed, and the mover was appointed a committee of one
to perform the service. He repaired to the council-room, and dis-

462 Methodist Bishops.
charged the duty assigned him with all due formality. The Bishop,
who always enjoyed a bit of pleasantry, and often contributed his part
in producing it, looked up from his1 table with a genial smile and his
own peculiar twinkle of the eye, which all knew how to interpret, and
said : " Please tell the brethren that they might, perhaps, profitably
spend a little time in telling their religious experience."
But the appointments were soon ready, and he entered the Confer
ence. As usual, he prefaced the reading of them with a brief address,
which no one present will ever forget. He reminded them of his pecul
iar relation to them, as having grown up among them and been one of
them. He felt that he was one of them still. Some had been
fathers to him, and all were brothers. In assigning them their work
for the year, with the aid and counsel of his advisers, he felt that the
task was a delicate and responsible one. But he trusted that his
brethren knew him too well to indulge the thought, for a moment,
that he could be influenced by any other than the most sincere desire
to do the best possible thing for all concerned. He was not vested
with authority to lord it over God's heritage. If he suspected that
he had a drop of the kind of blood in his veins that would prompt
to such ambition, he would " call in a doctor and be bled."
The year 1869 is the memorable epoch of Bishop Kingsley's life,
and was destined to be the last full year of his pilgrimage and war
fare. The General Conference of 1868 had clothed the mission Con
ferences in Europe, Asia, and Africa with full Conference powers,
and ordered an Episcopal visitation. At the meeting of the Bishops
the question arose, who will go for us ? Thomson, the saintly and
heroic, who had previously visited the Missions in Europe, India, and
China, volunteered, and the work was assigned him. But, for some
reason, the question was reconsidered. Bishop Kingsley willingly
offered himself, and the honorable task was given to him.
He first met the Troy Conference, April 14, and then began his
preparations for the great tour. He left Cincinnati on the 10th of
May, in vigorous health, hopeful in spirit, and full of determined pur
pose to fulfill his mission at whatever cost of labor, strength, or even
of life itself. His wife and one of his daughters accompanied him to
California by the new Pacific Bailroad. He attended the Colorado,
the Oregon, the Nevada, and the California Conferences, and sailed

Calvin Kingsley. 463
from San Francisco, on the 8th of September, for China. He visited
Japan on the way, and reached China early in October. He visited
Shanghai, Peking, and other northern cities. In November he reached
Foochow, our oldest and most flourishing China Mission. On
Tuesday, the 16th, he opened the meeting or Conference of the China
Mission. It had been intended at this meeting to organize the Mis
sion into a Conference with full powers, which the Bishop was
authorized to do. But, after a more perfect understanding of the
case, this matter was postponed. He did, however, after much
thought and prayer, and with the full consent of the missionaries,
ordain seven of the licensed native preachers to the office of deacon,
and four of this number, also, to the order of elder. These were
the first ordained men of the native Methodist Episcopal Church in
China. The ordination scene was very solemn and impressive. One of
the missionaries first delivered an appropriate .sermon. The Bishop
then ordained them deacons according to the usual forms. In the
evening of the same day the four candidates for elders' orders were
ordained. The Methodist missionaries and two American Pres
byterian missionaries participated in the service, joining with the
Bishop in the imposition of hands. The ordination formula was
translated in each case by the senior missionary, Dr. Maclay. The
ordination was followed by the celebration of the Lord's Supper, at
which foreign Christians, American and English, partook, as did a
large number of the Chinese. The newly ordained elders and dea
cons assisted in the administration of the Supper on this memorable
occasion. The body of the native preachers and helpers met on next
morning (Monday) and received their appointments for the coming
year. It is fitting that the names of these seven, the first ordained
of the native Methodist Episcopal Church, should be here recorded.
They were : Elders, Hu Po Mi, Hu Yong Mi, Ling Ching Ting, Sia
Sek Ong ; Deacons, Yek Ing Kwang, Li Yu Mi, Hu Sing Mi.
To show the appreciation of Bishop Kingsley by the Chinese
brethren, we may mention a remarkable scene which occurred at a
prayer-meeting subsequent to the ordination :
Five of the ordained men, the others having gone away, without any notice
or warning, walked into the room, each conveying. a valuable present consisting

464 Methodist Bishops.
of Japan or Foochow lacquered boxes of superior workmanship, and a beautiful
fan, an indispensable article in China, which some one afterward suggested was
intended for Mrs. Kingsley. On these the names of the donors were neatly in
scribed. Without a word they placed these articles on the center table and
remained standing near it. The senior missionary, Dr. Maclay, addressed the
Bishop, who arose, while Dr. Maclay expressed to him the esteem in which he
was held by the brethren. The fraternal salutations and farewells of the ordained
men were then presented. The Bisliop replied in a brief speech, (which was
translated,) in which he thanked them for the beautiful tokens of friendship
which he valued highly, and would show to his friends in America. He also
expressed his great pleasure in having met them, and his satisfaction with their
character as Christian ministers.
Soon after one of the missionaries approached him with a heavy volume con
taining fifty or sixty large and superior photographic views of Foochow and
the adjacent scenery, which he presented in the name of the Methodist mission
aries. He read a short, well-worded address, which set forth their gratitude for
his official services, and their sense of the profit which they and their families
had derived from his visit, with their best wishes for his happiness, etc. The
Bishop was taken by surprise, and remarked that he could not make a lengthy
speech, but would imitate the example of President Grant on similar occasions,
and say from his heart, " I thank you."
Having completed the second stage of his great journey, Bishop
Kingsley left Foochow November 26, and reached Hongkong on
the 29th. He sailed the next morning for Calcutta, reaching Singa
pore December 6. On the 14th he touched and went ashore for a
few hours at Point de Galle, on the south-west coast of Ceylon. He
reached Madras on the 18th. The vessel entered the river Hoogly,
one of the mouths of the Ganges, on the 21st, and on the 22d reached
Calcutta, where the Bishop remained only two days.
A journey of eight hundred, miles through the interior provinces,
including a visit to Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus, brought
him to Lucknow, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Oudh. Here
he arrived on the 29th of December in excellent health and spirits,
and anxious at once to acquaint himself with the working of our
missions in India. On January 20, 1870, he opened the sixth an
nual session of the India Mission Conference at Bareilly. Fifteen
Americans and four natives answered to their names. All the wives
and children of the missionaries were also present. On the Sabbath
the Bishop ordained five deacons, (natives,) three of them local minis-

Calvin Kingsley. 465
ters, and two native elders. The Conference closed on the 27th, and
the Bishop hastened on his journey.
His face was now turned homeward, and we trace him by his
letters, in the Arabian Sea on February 10 ; in the Gulf of Aden,
February 20 ; in the Bed Sea, February 23, arriving at Cairo March 1.
He turned aside to visit the pyramids, and on the 4th of March was
in Alexandria. His visit to the Holy Land was a detour for his own
gratification. His great episcopal tour still embraced the missions in
Bulgaria, the presidency of the Germany and Switzerland Conference,
at Carlsruhe, May 26 ; a visit to Switzerland, and to the Irish and
British Conferences, to which he was a fraternal delegate from the
Church in this country. After this still he was to visit the missions
in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. He was expected to return home
early in September. The tour was substantially the same as that
which Bishop Harris afterward made.
He sailed from Alexandria for Jaffa (Joppa) on the 6th of March.
He was now within one month of the end of his earthly pilgrimage,
and our principal means of tracing his footsteps is by his letters to his
family and friends, and those of two of his traveling companions,
Dr. Bannister, and Miss Frances E. Willard. Every word of these
letters is precious. In a letter dated at Jerusalem, March 15, he
writes :
This trip to Jerusalem is vastly more fatiguing than I had any idea of. If I
had known beforehand how hard it would be, I should not have engaged in it.
The day I got here I was more nearly tired to death than ever before in my life.
There is no way but to come on horseback, and being unaccustomed to ride in
that way, and having a miserable horse and worse saddle and bridle, it altogether
nearly killed me. . . . After about ten miles from Joppa, we climbed mountains
all the way to Jerusalem, which is itself on the mountains.
Since I have been here I have visited the temple of Solomon, or what was
once the temple ; the tower and the tomb of David ; the tombs of Absalom,
Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah; have been to the top of the mount of Olives; at
the garden of Gethsemane; at Bethany, where Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, lived;
through the valleys of Jehoshaphat, Kedron, and Gehenna; into the upper room
where the sacrament was instituted ; into the place where Christ was scourged,
into the place where judgment was pronounced against him by Pilate ; at the place
where he was crucified, and into the sepulcher where he was buried; have seen
where he wept over Jerusalem, and where he ascended to heaven. Day before
yesterday I went to Bethlehem, where Christ was born; saw the manger where

466 Methodist Bishops.
he was laid ; saw the tomb of Rachel, and the place where Elijah hid himself
from Jezebel.
Again he wrote on the 16th:
I have been into the temple of Solomon as it now is ; that is, into the mosque
of Omar, which stands on the site of the old temple. Every thing in Jerusalem
has been destroyed about twenty times in the wars that have swept over the place.
It is dry and hot here now, and the country around Jerusalem for many miles is
very barren, being all covered over with rocks. Jerusalem is all stone. The
walls, floors, stairs, roofs of houses, every thing is made of stone. It would be
impossible to burn the city with fire.
Bishop Kingsley was in Jerusalem about eight days. There he
met, as he expected, Dr. Bannister and a number of other Americans,
among whom was Miss Willard, of Chicago, whom he had previously
met at Suez, on his way to Egypt. But we must let Miss Willard, in
her own beautiful and affecting language, as she writes to Mrs. Kings-
ley, relate the principal scenes of his few last days :
On the evening of February 28th, arriving at Suez from Cairo, I met the
Bishop, who had just come from India, and who told me, in his kind and cordial
¦ manner, upon being introduced, that he had heard Mrs. Kingsley speak of me.
How well he looked— the picture of health — and with that well-known twinkle in
his eye, that no one who ever saw him could fail to recall ! He inquired anxiously
for Dr. Bannister, and seemed much pleased by the prospect of meeting him at
Jerusalem. And there we all met a few days later, the Bishop coming from
Alexandria, the doctor from mount Sinai and the desert; and it was arranged
that the doctor's company of eight gentlemen, and ours of one gentleman and
three ladies, should unite forthe trip through Palestine to Beyroot. Subsequently,
Bishop Kingsley joined us, and we had the pleasure of his company throughout
the entire journey.
On the 18th of March we left Jerusalem for the Dead Sea, the Jordan, and
Jericho, and as our long line wound along the valley of Jehoshaphat — the path
on the brow of Olivet by which Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem —
to Bethany, and over the stony hill-sides to the solemn sea, none was more cheer
ful, in better health and spirits, and certainly none was a more delightful com
panion, than the Bishop, whose face and form stand out before me with startling
clearness a9 I recall the day. Mounted on a mettlesome gray horse, and wearing
the kepiah, a large white cloth used by all eastern travelers, wrapped around his
broad-brimmed felt hat, with carefully drawn bridle-rein, and a bright lookout
for every object of interest, he usually rode am ongthe last, to prevent any un
pleasant encounter between his horse and the rest. And near him on that day,
and on how many others, I rode, listening to his stories of travel, his vivid descrip-

Calvin Kingsley. 467
tions of the manners and customs in the strange lands he had traveled, with an
eye so observant of all their peculiarities. China and India and California were
the countries of which he spoke with most interest; and his fund of anecdotes
was so exhaustless, his memory so clear, and his judgment so correct, that it was
a source of keen enjoyment to listen while he talked. Often some feature of
the landscape, some bird or tree or flower, would suggest comparison with what
he had seen elsewhere ; and I owe to his appreciative observations many a hint
and many a lesson drawn from the changing panorama of the Holy Land.
Of the missions and the missionaries he spoke quite frequently, and with the
deepest interest. His opinions as to the conduct of our vast enterprises in this
region, as to the duties of the Church, and the prerogatives of our faithful mis
sionary bands in all parts of the world, were fully hiatured, and the most liberal
and enlightened I have ever had the privilege of hearing expressed by one in
authority, as they were assuredly based upon knowledge the most extended that
a Christian heart has ever brought to this important subject. Bishop Kingsley
was a brother to every toiling missionary whom he had encountered in his
wide journeyings. His sympathies were thoroughly aroused for them, and he
had plans concerning them and their noble tasks which make his loss irreparable
to them. I remember telling him one day how impressive was the thought to me that
he was the first man who ever sailed around the world on an errand worthy of /
Christ's Gospel; that it seemed a record so bright, so hopeful for our race, that
the age had dawned in which a Christian heart had proved itself capable of so
grand a work as this; and I asked, if the time did not seem long since he saw
you and all those dearest to him. He answered me with that pleasant, patient
smile,' so vivid to my memory at this moment, saying, "O, yes, I should like
greatly to be with them, and sometimes I get tired; but this is my duty, you
know, and that is enough."
Our first Sabbath was spent at Bethel, and at our unanimous request the
Bishop preached to us from these words : " The kingdom of heaven is not meat
and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost." His sermon
was about heaven, for the most part, and I have never heard a more interesting
presentation of the subject. ... He dwelt eloquently upon the three character
istics of the kingdom of God enumerated in the text, and at the close touched
us all to tears by picturing the delights with which a wanderer returns to the
home of his youth, thus illustrating that sweeter home-going to our Father's
house in the skies.
On the next Sabbath they were at Nazareth, and the Bev. Mr.
Calhoun, for thirty years a missionary in Syria, conducted the services.
There were about thirty Americans present who chanced to be en
camped there. The subject was the youth of the Saviour, on which

468 Methodist Bishops.
the Bishop also made some remarks, and made the closing prayer.
Miss Willard speaks of his simple, clear exposition of Scripture, and
of his fervent prayer: "Many denominations were there represented,
but I have repeatedly heard the remark from those present, that the
place, the theme, and spirit of kindliest fellowship manifested, made
it the most delightful service of their whole lives.
The next day they reached Tiberias, and, to use the language of
Miss W. again : " Sat upon the musical shore of Lake Gennesareth. I
remember that the Bishop said, as he looked out over the placid
waters : 'Ever since I wished for any thing, I have desired to see this
sacred shore, these hills, this quiet Lake of Galilee.' But these mem
ories, so touching as I look back upon them now, must not too long
beguile me. I, with others, went to bid him good-bye the night before
he was to sail for Constantinople. He seemed in perfect health, and
said cheerfully, ' Good-bye, until we meet in America," his last words
to us. In the night we set out for Damascus, at ten in the morning
the Bishop died."
The closing scene must be described by Dr. Bannister, almost the
only witness :
We arrived in Beyroot on April 3d, and took lodgings together at the Hotel
d'Orient. On Tuesday, the 5th, we visited the excellent missionary establish
ment of the American Board, and later, procured our tickets for passage in the
Russian steamer, to sail for Constantinople on the evening of the 6th. Wednes
day morning he arose in good health, and ascended the house-top with me to
view the snowy heights of Lebanon. Taking breakfast at the usual time, we
re2)aired to our room to arrange for our voyage in the evening. At about nine he
began to complain of acute neuralgic pains in the left breast and side, extending
through his arms to his fingers' ends. After lying down awhile he arose and
took from his satchel a vial labeled "Pain Reliever,'' and applied the medicine
to the parts affected, and drank some of it. He seemed cheerful and uncon
cerned, and spoke of his pains in gentle aad patient utterances. Finding his
feet cold, and much perspiration on his face, a hot foot-bath was at once ordered
by me. In this he kept his feet some ten minutes with apparent relief. He rose
when this was over, during which time he had groaned a little, and spoken in a
lower voice than usual. He said, "I shall soon get over this, and we shall go on
board this afternoon." Adjusting himself to lie down again, he spoke lowly of
some bad feelings still, and at that instant staggered, and, before I could reach
him, fell gradually to the floor. Attempting in vain to raise him, I called for
help, and while it was coming his eyes opened, but they were glassy, yet

Calvin Kinosley. 469
expressed, as I fancied, surprise. He was immediately lifted to his bed, but heart
and pulse were still. At considerable intervals he made two heavy gasps, between
which the physician, who had been called, arrived. Fifteen or twenty minutes
from his fall upon the floor it was all over with him. He died about 10 A. M.,
on April 6th. The whole scene was so astoundingly sudden and stunning, that,
perhaps, my measure of time may not be precisely accurate; but I have given the
facts as accurately as they now occur to me. Till he was raised upon the bed I
supposed the case only a fainting fit.
The post-mortem, examination, in which Dr. Bannister acquiesced,
in order to make certain the cause of his death, revealed the case as
disease of the heart, and one in which no help could have been given
by the most prompt remedial aid.
The remains of the Bishop were interred in the Bussian Protestant
Cemetery, a beautiful and firmly secured inclosure. All proper courte
sies and attentions were manifested by the American Consul, and by
the missionaries of the American Board.
One more touching paragraph from Miss Willard, the closing one
of her letter to Mrs. Kingsley :
One week later, just before sailing for Europe, we rode out to the quiet,
almost beautiful, German "God's Acre," near Beyroot, to visit your dear hus
band's grave, with our thoughts full of sadness for you and for ourselves. The
afternoon sun shed long golden beams upon the grave, mingled with shadows
from a large fig-tree near its head, from which I gathered you these leaves.
That night, as we sailed out into the wide blue sea, I stood at the ship's stern
and looked long and sadly back upon the lovely landscape, hallowed for me,
not alone because of its name and history, but more nearly and dearly by your
husband's new-made grave.
That was an impressive scene at the General Conference of 1872,
when, on the 18th of May, the " Memorial Services " were held for the
four Bishops who had died during the quadrennium, namely : Osmon
C. Baker, Davis W. Clark, Edward Thomson, and Calvin Kingsley.
After devotional exercises, Dr. Hibbard in the chair, Bishop Simpson
first read a short biographical sketch of each. Then followed brief
eulogies on the departed by personal friends. Dr. Curry spoke of
Bishop Thomson ; Bev. B. L. Thayer, of Bishop Baker ; Dr. Hitch
cock, of Bishop Clark; and Dr. Moses Hill, to whose admirable
sketch published in the " Ladies' Bepository," May, 1865, we are
chiefly indebted for the facts of his earlier fife, spoke of Bishop
28

470 Methodist Bishops.
Kingsley. He and the Bishop were long intimate friends, and he
spoke both appreciatively and feelingly of the noble traits of charac
ter exhibited by the Bishop. Dr. Hill testified to his profound
ability, his unflinching integrity, his outgushing kindness and sym
pathy. Speaking of the execution of the mission in which he laid
down his life, Dr. Hill said :
He always seemed to be a man of destiny. Men come up slowly to great
things. Ever since the apostles' days the Church has been striving- to push
farther and farther the conquests of the Cross, and extend the out-posts of Zion ;
the work progressed too slowly. When the Church and the world were ready for
the mission, and when they were inquiring, "Who shall go for us?" Kingsley
seemed to say, " Here am I, send me; " and he was the first man who was sent
out with a definite purpose to girdle the world for Christ; to go through all
her paths, and note all the places of strength, and bring back the report, and to
realize what Wesley uttered, "The world is my parish." But on this long
iourney he fainted and fell ; and when that news came along the lines of the
sacramental host, all said that a prince and a mighty man had fallen.
Another noticeable act of the General Conference was to take
measures for the erection of a suitable monument at his grave. A
member of the New York East Conference, who had been in Syria
and visited the Bishop's grave, returning to this country, had first
called the attention of his own Conference to the matter, and the
consent of the Bishop's family having been obtained that his grave
should remain in Syria, an invitation was given to the Church to con
tribute for the purpose of procuring a suitable monument. About
$750 had been already collected for this purpose. The General Con
ference, on the 15th of May, adopted the report of the committee
favorable to this undertaking, and a subscription was immediately
taken up, amounting to $1,750, which, with the sum before named,
made $2,500. The execution of the whole matter was referred to a
committee consisting of Bishops Simpson and Ames, Bev. G. W.
Woodruff, A. S. Hunt, and Oliver Hoyt, Esq., who have subsequently
so discharged their trust that a solid granite monument, prepared in
this country, was sent out to Syria ; and, according to the report of
the United States Consul at Jerusalem, Bev. Dr. De Hass, was placed
at his grave at Beyroot, on September 23, 1874.*
It may not be unfitting here to quote the eloquent words of
* See " Pittsburgh Christian Advocate," October 27, 1874.

Calvin Kingsley. 471
Bev. Dr. William Morley Punshon, at the same General Conference
when, speaking of the several distinguished men who had fallen during
the four years past, he said: "Kingsley, the brave and brotherly,
snatched away from you in the fullness of his ripe manhood, and
before he had drawn upon his reserve power, dying with the con
secration upon him of his apostolic travels ; and, as if the sight of the
Holy Land had but whetted his desire to go to the Holy Place, that
from the tracks of the Man of Sorrows he might go to see the King
in his beauty."
Space fails. Few must be the concluding words. No minute
delineation of character can be attempted, nor is it necessary. Bishop
Kingsley's life unveiled his character. . He was a man — every inch of
him — a true Christian man, noble of soul, unselfish, self-sacrificing.
Duty was as great in his eyes as in those of England's " Iron Duke."
He was at the utmost remove from every thing little, low, or mean.
He had a supreme contempt for petty self-seeking. Though unos
tentatious, and by no means self-asserting, he nevertheless stood
firmly by what he believed to be the truth and the right. Cheerful,
affable, good-humored, companionable, entertaining, he was the joy
and delight of his friends ; and those who knew him best loved him
most. As a preacher he was not always eloquent, certainly not fluent.
He often hesitated for words, especially at the beginning of a dis
course. But there were times when he carried every thing before
him like the mountain avalanche. His mind seemed like a ponderous
engine, difficult to set in motion, but once under full headway, resist
less in its momentum. He was more careful of his matter than of his
manner — was more solid than brilliant. Yet was he not wanting in
the graces of style, whether in writing or speaking. His letters,
written upon his travels, are admirable specimens of that kind of
literature. His pen pictures are vivid, and his descriptions of persons,
places, and scenes are clear, striking, entertaining, and instructive.
He was, perhaps, not what should be called quick in judgment. He
required time to think and decide. But, time given, no man's judg
ment was sounder or more reliable. His piety was neither of the
moody nor extravagant order. But he was devout, serious, fixed in
his principles, and ready and able to defend them. He had a quiet,
steadfast zeal for God and his cause, which led him to shrink at no

472 Methodist Bishops.
trial, danger, or sacrifice in doing what he believed to be his duty.
His career serves as the highest inspiration to young men seeking an
education under difficulties. His very difficulties made him, in great
part, what he was. They were his discipline, his education, his
future strength. Devotedly attached to his family, and finding his
highest earthly enjoyment around his own fireside, he was, neverthe
less, ready and prompt at the call of duty to go to the farthest part
of the continent, or to circumnavigate the globe, to endure fatigue
and pain, and to encounter death itself, if need be, in the service of
his divine Lord. So lived, so labored, so died Bishop Kingsley, the
first of our American-born Methodist Bishops to lay his body on a
foreign shore. Fittingly he sleeps at the foot of snow-crowned
Lebanon, waiting for " the voice of the archangel " and the trump of
God.

REV JOHN WRIGHT ROBERTS

LATE MISSIONARY BISHOP FOP AFRICA.

John Wright Roberts.

THE history of the missionary operations of the Methodist Episco
pal Church in Africa embraces the life-story of Bishop J. W.
Boberts. The planting of the Church in that sunny land was at
tended with many hardships, much exposure of life, and the death
of a number of heroic men and women. The policy of the Church
there has necessarily been one of experiments, because of the crude
condition of the people and the dangers of the climate to any but
natives. At first it was thought expedient to organize and conduct
the mission under a superintendent, as in other foreign countries, the
Bishops and Missionary Secretaries of Jhe Church in America giving
direction to the work through the local superintendent. This plan
continued in operation until 1856, when the General Conference
made provision for the election of a Missionary Bishop, whose juris
diction should be limited to Africa.
Mr. Monroe, President of the United States, in March, 1819,
approved an act of Congress by which all Africans recaptured from
slavery should be restored to the coasts of Africa and committed to
the care of agents of the Government of the United States. The
American Colonization Society undertook the work of restoring these
people to their own country; and, strange as it may seem, through
their labors the Methodist Episcopal Church of Africa was organized
on a vessel at sea, proving again that " truth is stranger than fiction."
On February 6, 1820, the Bev. Daniel C'oker, with a number of
other emigrants, took passage on board the " Elizabeth," and set sail
for Africa. While at sea Mr. Coker organized a few of the passen
gers, who were godly people, into a Methodist Episcopal Church.
They trained their new Church with songs and prayers, testimony
and preaching, while tossed on a restless sea, a prototype of what was
in waiting for the young Church when it would be transplanted from
the vessel to the land. This body of colonists settled at Sherbro,

476 Methodist Bishops.
whence they were driven to Sierra Leone, where at last they felt
secure with a good promise of a healthy growth.
In 1825 Mrs. Eoberts, a colored woman of great force of char
acter, who had escaped from slavery, and who had become a resident
of Virginia, seeing the evils of slavery, determined to take her chil
dren, and leave what was in name, but to her not in fact, a free coun
try, to seek freedom in another land. Accordingly, she embarked on
a vessel for Africa, under the direction of the Colonization Society.
They went to Monrovia. Here she saw her three sons converted
and joined to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Joseph Jenkins
Eoberts entered the mercantile business on the coast and was very
successful, making several trips to New York, where he made most
of his purchases of goods. He turned his attention to pofitics, and
was appointed governor of the Colony under the administration of
the Colonization Society. After the adoption of the Constitution,
and when the Bepublic was organized, he was elected the first Presi
dent, and was re-elected for the fourth term.
Henry J. Eoberts was the youngest brother. He read medicine,
first under the direction of the physicians sent out by the Coloniza
tion Society; afterward he was sent to New York, where he con
tinued his studies until he graduated with honor. He then returned
to Africa, where he served his people as a physician, and where he
filled several important offices in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
He, as well as his older brother, the President, served as a local
preacher. John Wright Eoberts was a young man of studious habits, and
he utilized his opportunities in the Mission to gather information.
Soon after his conversion he began the study of theology under the
direction of the preacher in charge at Monrovia. Before long he
was licensed as an exhorter. It is not until 1838 that we find him
recognized as a member of the Conference. In 1841 he was elected
to elders' orders.
The time had now come in the history of the Mission when the
Bishops determined to employ colored men in the higher offices of
the Church. Accordingly, the Bev. Francis Burns was appointed
to preside over the Conference in January, 1851. They also
directed the division of the Conference into three districts, namely,

John Weight Roberts. 477
Monrovia, Cape Palmas, and Bassa Districts. Mr. Boberts was made
Presiding Elder of Monrovia, and Mr. Burns Presiding Elder of Cape
Palmas District.
Up to this time, 1851, there had been $271,218 17 expended by
the Missionary Society to establish this Mission, and for this year
there was an appropriation of $19,432 89. The results were
eighteen preachers in the field, and 1,204 members and probationers
enrolled in the Mission. Certainly it was a prudent investment of
funds, when compared with a similar expenditure in a single Church
establishment in America and the results that followed in the con
version of men. But in Africa the money was invested in living
preachers, and in setting in motion new agencies, numerous Churches,
camp-meetings, educational institutions, organizing a Conference, and
appointing Presiding Elders as overseers of the work. This was a
memorable year in this Church, because in it we see Francis Burns
and John Wright Boberts, (afterward the first two missionary Bishops
of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the world,) advanced to the
prominent and responsible office of Presiding Elder. They were thus
fairly on their way, in the providence of God, to the bishopric.
In 1853 Bishop Scott sailed from Baltimore for Africa, and upon
his arrival there he presided over the Liberia Conference and visited
all the preaching appointments on the coast. He was accompanied
by the Bev. J. W. Home.* One result of this visit was, that Bishop
Scott brought home a practical knowledge of the need of more or
dained men in the African work, and the necessity of a bishop resid
ing among them. After Bishop Scott returned, a change of plan was
decided upon, which took shape in so amending the restrictive rule of
the Discipline as to allow the General Conference to appoint a mission
ary Bishop for any of our foreign missions, confining his jurisdiction
to the limits of his missionary field. The power to elect the Bishop
was delegated to the Mission Conference, but the man elected must
present himself in the United States for ordination. In January,
1858, the Liberia Conference elected Francis Burns. He served his
Church five years in this office, and died in Baltimore, in April, 1863.
The General Conference of 1864 delegated power to the Liberia
* We are under obligations to this gentleman for many of our facts in the life of
Bishop Roberts.

478 Methodist Bishops.
Conference to elect a successor to Bishop Burns. The Conference
in 1866, elected the Bev. John Wright Boberts to fill the office.
He immediately came to New York, where he was ordained on
the 20th of June the same year, in St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal
Church, by Bishops Scott and Janes, assisted by the Bev. Henry
Boehm and Doctors Harris, Carlton, Holdich, and Borter. He re
mained in the city only five days after his ordination, when he started
for his field of labor. He had presided over the sessions of his Con
ference after the death of Bishop Burns until he was elected, and,
having given the various branches of the work his special attention,
he was not now a stranger to the preachers, to the work in the in
terior, to the Churches, or the educational interests over which he
was placed as a Bishop. To all of these departments he now gave his'
undivided attention. The Sunday-school work received the special
care of Bishops Burns and Eoberts, and greatly prospered under
their supervision.
In personal appearance Bishop Boberts was a man of more than
medium height, erect in bearing, and of noble proportions ; he was a
fair mulatto, with light, close curling hair, and a countenance with
features well defined. He was neat and rather particular in his dress,
and partial to the clerical black and the white necktie. He was gen
tlemanly and dignified in his manners, a genial companion for men
of the Church and his profession, greatly at ease in social life, though
elsewhere he was always regarded as reserved in his habits. One might
have fancied when looking upon him that he was . a strong character,
and that he had inherited a peculiar wealth of nature. He had some
good qualifications for the office of a Bishop. He was wise and sober,
prudent and conciliatory, but firm and manly. He presided over his
Conference with ease ; nothing ruffled his disposition ; he treated his
brethren with a degree of impartiality and kindness which won their
respect and esteem.
As a preacher he did not attempt to carry his congregation by
storm, for he lacked enthusiasm, and was not a powerful preacher.
But he was a pleasing speaker, clear in his statements of truth,
thoughtful and spiritual, and his sermons always did his hearers good.
He was a favorite among the earnest spiritual workers in every
part of the Mission. One incident will illustrate how fondly this

John "Wright Roberts. 479
class of people clung to his name. As far back as 1839 a revival is
reported at Heddington Station.*
In a letter of September 20, 1889, Rev. George S. Brown tells the Board
that up to that time fifty-nine of the natives had been converted, and the good
work was still spreading. The previous July Mr. Brown had written to Mr.
Seys: "For Christ's sake come to Heddington quickly. Let nothing but sick
ness prevent. Come up and see the bush burn. Come up and see the desert
blossom. Come up and see God convert the heathen. ... Do not stop to
change your clothes, to eat or drink or sleep. Salute no man by the way. . . .
Glory! glory I glory be to God for his wonderful work among the heathen!"
On the 7th of July nineteen were received into the Church, and among them
King Tom. On the same day nine were converted in the morning meeting, six
more in a later meeting. Thirty-six in all on that one day for Christ. The
king said: "The debely gone long, long way from this town, and spose he
come back, he pray God for kill him one time." Great assemblies of natives met
every day and heard the word, and were deeply moved. Tears gushed from peni
tent eyes, and shoutings leaped to redeemed lips. It was a Pentecost, aDd its
power, like that of a Pentecost, spread, and surrounding towns caught its flame.
The "Luminary." says: uHere were Veys, Queahs, and Deys, whom we
heard speak the wonderful works of God. It was too incredible for some.
The set time to favor Ethiopia seemed to have come." The work possessed
many distinguishing marks of genuineness. Yet it is not surprising that the
haters of God should hate so glorious a demonstration of his power and love,
and the "awakening" was openly and severely assailed. It was even feared
by some that Methodism was about to take the Colony if not the Continent.
The converts were steadfast. Their voice in the later love-feasts was, ' ' First
time I get religion I love God true, but this time I love him pass first time."
Zoda Quee, a celebrated chief of the Queah tribe, had at this time removed
near to Heddington, with a large company of his people, and commenced a
new town. To this Brother Taylor was sent, and Zoda came to hear the word,
and was personally entreated to give his heart to God. After one of these
sermons this tall, majestic, noble-looking African arose from his seat, and, walk
ing down the aisle, knelt at the altar. Here he prayed and wrestled for a time,
and at length fell prostrate on the floor. He arose a new creature in Christ
Jesus ; others followed their chief. Mr. Taylor was appointed to be shepherd of
this newly gathered flock. The town received the name of Kobertsville, in honor
of Bishop Roberts.
In the selection of Bishop Boberts the Conference made a wise
choice. While under his care the Mission had a fair degree of pros-
* " Missions and Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.'' By Kev. J. M.
Reid, D.D., to whose valuable work we are indebted for several items in this sketch.

480 Methodist Bishops.
perity. There was unity and harmony, and some progress, but, like
Bishop Burns, and, indeed, all the chief leaders in this mission station,
his term of service was brief ; only nine years elapsed from the time
he was elected till he died. He was now past his sixtieth year.
General debility, brought on through exposure and attacks of fever,
unfitted him for further service. The Conference was to assemble
on January 28, 1875, in Greenville, Sinoe County. Early in the
month Bishop Boberts left his work on the circuit for the purpose of
engaging a vessel to take the preachers down the coast. The vessel
was provided, but it stranded, and the Conference was held at Mon
rovia. When the preachers came together the Bishop was sick and
confined to the house. Being unable to meet them, they opened the
Conference and elected a president from their number. On the 30th
of January, 1875, on the second day of the session, the members of
the Conference gathered at the bedside of the Bisliop and saw him
die in the peace of the Gospel he had so long and faithfully preached.
His death was lamented by the ministers and Church of God through
out Liberia. He left a widow and several children, all of whom are
attached to the Church of their father, and give promise of usefulness
in the ranks of her membership in the future.
Bishop Boberts was the last of the missionary Bishops in the
Church. For some reasons which do not appear, no successor has
been elected. Bishop Haven visited Africa in November, 1876, and
labored for three months among the Churches and presided over the
Conference. His visit was a blessing to the pastors and struggling
Churches. He brought home much valuable information, concerning
the condition of the work within the bounds of the' Liberia Confer
ence, and of the importance of an aggressive movement into the
interior. The spirit of the lamented Cox still pervades the Church.
During his last visit to Middletown, Connecticut, he said to one of
the students of Wesleyan University, " If I die in Africa you must
come over and write my epitaph." " I will," replied the youth, " but
what shall I write ? " " Write," said Cox, " ' Let a thousand fall be
fore Africa be given up.' "

V-fr^t^^/

Gilbert Haven.

BY EEV. THE0D0EE L. FLOOD.

GILBEBT HA YEN was born September 19, 1821, at Maiden, a
suburb of Boston, Mass. In this quiet but pleasant village, the
early years of his life were spent, and in itsischools he acquired the
rudiments of an ordinary education. During these years he is said to
have evinced no especial talent of any kind, and was known at school
simply as a good scholar of fair ability. He was a vigorous, robust
youth, having a fine physical development ; and is remembered by his
old associates as a wide-awake boy, fond of sport, and full of merri
ment. The period of his boyhood was uneventful, and but few inci
dents have been narrated concerning it ; and none of these are of such
a nature as to indicate what manner of man he was to become, or in
any way to foreshadow the brilliant career that was to be his.
At the age of fourteen he was employed as a clerk in a store in
his native village of Maiden, and after two years of service behind
the counter, he entered the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Mass.
While there he devoted himself especially to the study of language,
literature, rhetoric, and oratory, and made such rapid progress in his
chosen studies, that he soon became known as a fluent speaker and
graceful declaimer. During his stay at the seminary a gracious revival
occurred, and young Haven, then in his nineteenth year, was con
verted, and at once united with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The validity of his conversion was attested by his steadfast faithful
ness to the cause of God and the Church of his choice through all
the vicissitudes of his subsequent career. In 1840 he left the academy
and returned to his former pursuits, and spent two years in Boston as
a clerk in a large mercantile establishment. His close and careful
attention to business, combined with his well-known integrity, made
him a successful clerk ; while his ready wit and his genial ways gave
him great popularity both with his employers and associates. While in
Boston he became convinced that it was his duty to devote himself to the

484 Methodist Bishops.
work of the ministry ; but unlike many young men, he did not deem him
self competent to undertake so great a work without first making the
most thorough and complete preparation. Hence, before entering on
his career as a minister, he determined to qualify himself thoroughly
for his vocation. He accordingly left Boston, relinquishing all
thoughts of secular preferment, and re-entered the seminary at Wil
braham in order to complete his preparation for college. In the
autumn of 1842 he entered the Wesleyan University, at Middletown,
Conn., as a freshman, and at once took rank among the first students
of the university. While here, his studies were not confined to the
college curriculum, but ranged at large over the field of general litera
ture. His reading was varied and extensive, and he speedily became
conversant with the works of the best English authors, and also
acquired that excellence of composition and facility as a writer which
added so much to his renown in after years.
He soon became a vigorous and independent thinker, as well as a
brilliant writer. He was already an avowed abolitionist, and entered
heartily into the discussions which were then so prevalent on that sub
ject. He never, at that or any other period of his life, sought to con
ceal his convictions or to disguise his sentiments, no matter how
unpopular they might be, but always was an outspoken advocate of
what he thought to be true and right.
He graduated in 1846, in the twenty -fifth year of his age, and
immediately became associated as a teacher with his cousin, now Bishop
E. O. Haven, in the seminary at Amenia, N. Y. He entered upon
his work in the seminary with much enthusiasm, and at once became a
popular and successful teacher. The same year he also began to
preach in the chapel of the seminary and in the neighboring churdies.
His conception of the responsibilities of the ministerial office may be
learned from the following extract from his diary, written while
still at Amenia. He says : " I love to preach usually, probably better
than others love to hear, yet I shrink from the title of 'reverend.'
Nothing but the most solemn, conscientious, and unwavering conviction
of duty could have le.d me into the pulpit." These words show that
he regarded the ministry not as a profession but as a vocation, so
sacred in its character that only those who felt themselves called of
God to this work should presume to take its vows upon them.

Gilbert Haven. 485
In 1848 he was elected principal of the seminary at Amenia, and
occupied that position for three years. His connection with the semi
nary was beneficial to himself and profitable to the institution. In
1851, as he was about to leave his position for active work in the min
istry, he wrote, " My duties here have been beneficial. My studies
have enlarged my knowledge ; reflection, my ideas. I have been
advancing, I trust, in knowledge, holiness, practical wisdom, mental
power, and spiritual purity. Prayer and meditation have drawn me
nearer to Christ. I go forth in the name of my Saviour. I feel that
1 am willing to be any thing or nothing so that I may win Christ."
Going forth in such a spirit he could not fail of success. He was
received on trial in the New England Conference in March, 1851, and
for nine years devoted himself faithfully to the work of the ministry.
His first appointment was Northampton, a mission so poor that the
society was unable to employ a sexton, and the work of building the
fire and sweeping the church often devolved upon the pastor. He
soon proved himself worthy of better things, and was appointed, suc
cessively to Wilbraham and Cambridge, and, besides becoming an
attractive preacher, was successful in winning souls to Christ. , Dur
ing all the years of his ministry, though busy with the many concerns
that devolved upon the pastor of a large Church, Bishop Haven
statedly kept up his habits of reading and study, and in this respect
presents an example especially worthy of imitation by the young min
isters of the present day, who desire to attain to a life-long efficiency
in their chosen work.
While stationed at Cambridge he was called upon to mourn the
loss of his wife, whom he had married while principal at Amenia, nine
years before, and to whom he was most devotedly attached. His home
being thus broken up, he removed with his two children to his
mother's, at Maiden. At the breaking out of the war, in 1861, he
became a chaplain in the army. A part of the year 1863 Avas spent
in traveling in Europe and in the East. From 1863 to 1865 he was
pastor of a prominent Church in Boston. In 1867 he was elected
editor of " Zion's Herald," whicli position he continued to occupy till
1872, when, at the General Conference held at Brooklyn, N. Y., he was
elected to the episcopal office.
Having thus briefly sketched in outline the life of Bishop Haven,

486 Methodist Bishops.
it remains to consider him in those relations in which he attained
especial prominence. These are as a Writer, as a Eeforiner, as a
Preacher, and as a Bishop.
1. He excelled as a Writer. Nature had conferred on him a splendid
gift for using the pen. He had a racy style of putting on paper Avhat
he saAV in his travels, of men, Churches, governments, countries,
and the customs of people ; and Avas also able to express the pro
foundest thought in the most lucid manner. He was possessed of a
vivid imagination, fine Aoav of language, and a ready wit, all of -which
contributed to his success as a writer and a journalist. By untiring
industry and application he attained a high degree of mental culture,
and took a high rank among educated men. He was thoroughly versed
in ancient and modern literature, and it was at these fountains that his
soul caught the inspiration to become a Avriter. Love of the pen was
a passion of his soul. What he saw and felt he Avas always ready to
tell. He Avas not a miser, gathering information, and then, like a
secluded monk, retiring from the ignorant world to enjoy his knowl
edge alone. His was a large and generous soul, and what he received
he freely gave for the good of all. He wrote as a teacher teaches, and
as a preacher preaches, to enlighten and bless men, to lift them to a
higher plane of life, to improve society, to spiritualize the Church, to
elevate public opinion, and to purify the government. His power of
composition was mai*Arelous. When a group of friends were chatting
around him, or Avhile riding in the cars, he was able to write with the
same facility, as when sitting in his study or sanctum. Amid the
routine of Conference business he would write interesting letters to
private correspondents, or pen articles for leading newspapers, full of
striking thoughts and sparkling wit, and yet conduct the affairs of the
Conference with efficiency and dispatch. A part of his book on
" Mexico " Avas written Avhile riding in a stage-coach through the coun
try he described. His ability to write under all circumstances will
account for the great number of his productions.
Like every man avIio gets the eye of the world as an editor of a
paper, and wields a great influence, he gave himself up almost exclu
sively to that work for a long time. He loved his work, and his love
gave inspiration to his pen, so that from it flowed "thoughts that
breathed, and words that burned." " Zion's Herald," the official organ

Gilbert Haven. 487
of Methodism in New England, was his throne of power for nearly
five years ; here he sat and smote fearlessly and forcefully the
evils of the day — the rum traffic, spiritualism, political conniption,
dishonesty, skepticism, and infidelity. He lifted up Jesus Christ as
the divine Son of God and the son of man ; he taught the great
doctrines of the Bible and the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures so
plainly, that no man had occasion to inquire what he believed. As
a Christian editor he was strong, brilliant, and brave.
Bishop Haven wrote but few books. A "Yolume of Sermons,"
"The Pilgrim's Wallet," "The Life of Father Taylor, the Sailor
Preacher," " Mexico ; or, Our Next-door Neighbor," compose the list
of his publications. Although his books were few, yet he was indus
trious with his pen, being almost constantly engaged during his leisure
moments in preparing articles for the press on an endless variety of
topics. He chose the newspaper as a sort of pulpit where he could
write, and influence public opinion on the questions of the day dur
ing the passing hour. After he became a Bishop he continued to
write for most, if not all, of the Church papers, and "The Inde
pendent." Whenever he went into a section of the Church from
which the people had heard but little, he poured out his soul, giving
information as fast as he could gather it. His letters from the South
with the poetic title, " Feathers from a Flying Wing," and his letters
from Africa, Mexico, and California, greatly increased the knowledge
of Methodist people every-where in reference to the condition and
needs of the Church in these different fields.
It is not extravagant to say that since the days of Wesley, Meth
odism has not produced a writer to whom the- masses of the people
Avere more warmly attached than they were to Bishop Haven, and with
good reason. He wrote in the most fascinating and instructive man
ner about the things people desired to learn concerning the Church
and her progress, so that it was both entertaining and profitable to
read his letters. As a writer, he shot across the sky of the Church
like a meteor. His place no man can fill. He was singular and orig
inal, and possessed a genius for continuous writing such as has been
given to but few men. He will be missed, perhaps, more in the relig
ious papers than anywhere else. His letters were sermons without
texts, and more in number than that of any other American preacher.

488 Methodist Bishops.
Hence, it is in this department that his loss is especially felt by
the Church, for her brightest light in the newspaper world has gone
out, and there is reason to mourn, because in our day the pen is mightier
than the sword, and our religious press is a bulwark of defense to the
Church. To properly man the Church papers with writers whose
souls glow with truth, and whose pens are ever ready to defend it, is
quite as important as to have pure and loyal men in the pulpits. As
a writer for the religious press, Bishop Haven had few equals and no
superiors. The Church will not soon see his like again.
2. Bishop Haven was a Reformer. He used the office which he
held in the Church to promote the reforms which he advocated. The
ministry, the editorship, and the bishopric, were each and all employed
by him for this purpose. He looked upon the success of moral and
political reforms as helpful to the spread of Christianity, and hence he
was always ready to give them his influence, and used both the pulpit and
the press to advocate his cause. His talents commanded the respect
of men whenever he met them in the battles of life, and when he
could plant himself among them and lift up the standard of truth he
did it ; but he always made Christianity and its triumphs his ultimate
aim. He was not a politician, but a reformer. He was charged again
and again with being in league with political men in carrying out
their schemes, but those who made the charge did not understand him.
He advocated principles, not methods. He was careless as to the way
things were done, but he was in terrible earnest to have the truth
planted in the public mind, whether it related to government, society,
or the Church.
William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner, and Wendell Phillips,
all of Avhom were his personal friends, have been greater than party
men. They have done more for their country and humanity than
mere partisans could have done. Conservative men have hated and
persecuted them ; nevertheless, their place in history will be that of
statesmen and reformers. Bishop Haven was like them as a reformer ;
equally radical and brave in uttering his convictions, but he differed
from them in that he was a Methodist in doctrine and education, in
policy and practice ; and, unlike them, he found full scope for his radi
calism without antagonizing the Church or Christianity. He stood in
the van, and sometimes alone, as a Methodist reformer in his day.

Gilbert Haven. 489
Other men in the Church held vieAvs similar to his, but they did not
give them a voice. A man can be almost any thing in his own thoughts
and feelings, and not give offense if he does not speak or act. But
he spoke what he thought, and acted out what he was.
He labored especially to promote three reforms. Chief among
these was the antislavery reform, which set his soul all aglow. On the
platform, in the pulpit, and in the press, he appeared as the advocate
of this cause, and never ceased his efforts in this direction till slavery
was overthrown. He manifested such interest and friendship for the
slaves, that, without consulting him, Bishop Ames, at the close of the
war, sent him a transfer to the South, and stationed him as pastor over
a colored Church in Yicksburgh. He held the transfer for a time,
and, like the loyal man that he was, he designed to go to his designated
field of labor, but the transfer was revoked. The fact was one to
which he used often to refer afterward in a playful mood by saying
that he was once pastor of the Church in Yicksburgh for several days.
Little did he or his friends then think that the day would come when
he should go into that Southern field as one of the highest officers of
the Church, and that all that country Avould be given him to cultivate
for God.
After the close of the war he was as stanch a friend of the freed
men as he had been of the slaves. On every possible occasion he
pleaded for them as a father would plead for his children, and his
numerous and thrilling appeals aroused the Church to give of her
means for their benefit. During his residence in the South he was
devoted to their interests, and labored earnestly for their elevation
and enlightenment, doing every thing in his power to provide for
their welfare and to secure their rights as Christian citizens. He gave
practical illustrations of his sympathy and -regard for the race which
he had sought to serve by associating with them, both in private and
public, and by eating at their tables, and sleeping in their humble
dwellings. He not only endeavored to persuade the Church and
individuals to give of their means for their benefit, but he himself
set the example, and only a short time before his death he gave
from his own resources $1,000 to assist in building a college for col
ored students at Atlanta, and in addition to this, he gave his personal
obligation to raise $10,000 for the same institution, which was one
29

490 Methodist Bishops.
third of its entire cost. On his death-bed he said: "I do not
think the Master will find fault with me for my work in the South."
In the death of Bishop Haven the African race lost one of the
truest and stanchest friends this country ever gaAre them ; and it is
not to be wondered at that there was mourning in many a dusky
household when the news was heralded abroad that Gilbert Haven
was dead.
The temperance reform found also in him a firm supporter. He
realized that intemperance was both a curse and a crime. Total ab
stinence was with him a cardinal virtue. Moral suasion he believed
in and used, but civil law he regarded as the best and surest means
for the overthrow of the liquor traffic. He was a radical prohibition
ist from first to last. He was fully convinced that half-way meas
ures never would eradicate this great and growing evil, but he firmly
believed that prohibition would accomplish this result ; and hence he
championed the cause of prohibition with characteristic ardor. His
steady and persistent advocacy of temperance principles during his
entire public career doubtless contributed greatly to increase and
deepen the temperance sentiment of the country.
He was also an ardent advocate of enlarging the sphere of woman's
activities. He believed and taught that woman should haAre the
ballot ; that she should be clothed with all the rights and powers of
citizenship. After he was raised to the Episcopate he was elected
President of the Woman's National Suffrage Association, and pre
sided over their deliberations. He also lectured and participated in
public debates in the interest of this reform.
It will be seen from these facts that he was peculiar and radical .in
his views, as a friend of the colored people, as a prohibitionist, and as
an advocate of woman's suffrage. He was born near Boston and
grew up in that city, and during his early life drank in the spirit of
its great reformers, who pleaded for equality among all men. The
natural bent of his mind, his early training, and the fact that he was
a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which has always been
the friend of the poor and oppressed, account for his radicalism.
It Avas as a reformer that he made a stir in the world. He pro
jected his peculiar views into the public mind by means of sermons,
editorials, lectures, and debates. He planted himself firmly by the

Gilbert Haven. 491
side of the poor and oppressed, the wronged and helpless, and fought
their battles for them, but he always fought in the name of God.
He' was the dauntless champion of every good cause, and every worthy
reform found in him an able advocate.
3. As a Preacher, Bishop Haven was distinguished more for pro
gressive thought than for eloquence or power over an audience. His
voice seemed to be muffled, his style was heavy, and his enunciation
defective. His manner was not that of an orator. He lacked ability
to put emotion into his words. There was no magnetism in his
address. His convictions were deep and always manifested them
selves in a positive form in his sermons. Thoughtful, candid people
heard him gladly and appreciated him ; but in his early life he never
carried his congregations by storm. His sermons were scholarly ; too
much so for the masses. In his early ministry he aimed at journalism.
He set up his mark and worked toward it, and reached it. He did
it, however, at a sacrifice of pulpit power ; for he had the ability, had
it been properly cultivated, to have made one of the foremost preach
ers of the age.
When he was made a Bishop his eyes were opened to the impor
tance of gathering strength for his pulpit work, and, notwithstanding
the fact that he was past fifty years of age at the time of his election,
his mind was so flexible and active that he developed wonderfully
in pulpit power. One thing annoyed him as a preacher, and it, per
haps, spurred him to seek this new gift. When he went into the
South as a Bishop he found that his sermons did not move the col
ored people. They had more regard for his office than for his preach
ing. He noticed that an illiterate white or colored preacher could, by
a plain, homely, but fervid exhortation, readily stir a colored congre
gation, and create a shout in the camp ; but when he preached they
would sit and hear attentively and respectfully, but remained unmoved
until the end. Hence, he was led to change his style, and his ef
fectiveness in the pulpit was greatly increased during the last years
of his life. The "New York Tribune," and many other leading
journals in the country, quoted from, and spoke of, his discourse on
the Chisholm murder, delivered in the Metropolitan Church, in Wash
ington, as something indeed wonderful. He seemed to speak with a
special and powerful inspiration from God, moving his audience to a

492 Methodist Bishops.
high pitch of enthusiasm. The occasion, the terrible facts, his burn
ing indignation, and the sympathy which he exhibited, combined, many
think, to make this the most wonderful pulpit effort of his life.
During all his ministry he preached the plain Gospel. From the
day he united with the Church until the day of his death he was
thoroughly Methodistic in doctrine. He did not believe in a few
doctrines of his Church and reject or conceal others, but he believed
the Scriptures as interpreted by the articles of faith, in the standard
works of theology, and he preached them freely, fully, and bravely.
He always gave truth a bold and strong setting. In this he was true
to his ordination vows. He despised deception, and entertained a
holy contempt for sermons which aimed at pleasing men by sacrific
ing an opportunity to do them good. He was preeminently a min
ister of the New Testament. His sermons often bristled with his
radical views as a reformer ; and on the principle that ideas are power
ful, he accomplished more by his ideas than many men do with a finer
oratory. As a preacher he used all the agencies and machinery of
his Church, women as well as men, in the pulpit, revival meetings,
camp-meeting's, Conferences, preachers' meetings, institutions of learn
ing, and the press, to promote the work of the Church.
4. When Gilbert Haven was elected one of the Bishops of his
Church, conservative people were surprised, while radicals and re
formers could hardly believe the report, because they knew that men
of positive views on live issues were not in favor with the people at
election times. People have always been accustomed to read views in
advance of their own on questions of the day, both to gratify curi
osity and to get a better understanding of coming reforms; but to
elect one of the most radical of preachers, editors, and reformers, to
an office that has been pronounced from the beginning to be conserva
tive in its workings, as well as in its demands upon the incumbent, was
a departure more radical than was the man who was called to fill it.
And this is. more especially notable, as he owed his election largely to
the laity, who, since their association with the ministry in the great
deliberative body which makes laws and chooses officers for the Church,
have proved in general much more conservative than their ministerial
brethren. His presence in the episcopal circle created no commotion.
Things moved on as before. No minister or layman was harmed

Gilbert Haven. 493
by this new type of bishop. On the contrary, he was an inspiration
to his brethren, and a careful overseer of the Church at large. The
position of a general superintendent afforded him scope for the exer
cise of some of his highest qualifications, and he soon came to be
regarded by the entire Church as a man of commanding talents, and
of great force of character.
While occupying the episcopal office Bishop Haven was thoroughly
identified with all the great undertakings of the Church, and sought
diligently to promote them. He was active and persevering in his
endeavors to extend the triumphs of the Church, as is seen in his
work in Mexico, where it required great tact and organizing skill, a£
well as patience and courage of the highest order ; and also as exhib
ited in his work in Africa, where, in spite of the dangers and embar
rassments confronting him, he laid plans for extending Church work
into the interior. He Avas continually making appeals for men and
money to extend the work of the Church in the South, on the Pacific
coast, and, indeed, every-where.
He was the friend and advocate of education. When the idea of
founding a Methodist University in Boston was broached by him, the
friends of the Wesleyan University at Middletown objected, and con
tended that it was unwise and impracticable ; that one university was
enough for the Church in New England. But notwithstanding the
Wesleyan was his "alma mater," he pleaded for a " Boston University;"
and when his bosom friend, Isaac Eich, of Boston, died, (the man who
had furnished the money to publish the Bishop's book entitled, " The
Pilgrim's Wallet,") it was found that he had left property then valued
at $1,500,000 to found the new university in Boston.
Bishop Haven also performed a prodigious amount of work to
further the interests of the Church in the South. There are now
nearly 400,000 members in that section of the country, and 18 semi
naries, colleges, and theological schools. There have been 60,000 dif
ferent pupils taught in these schools since their organization. There
are two church papers there — one at Atlanta and the other at New
Orleans. Bishop Haven toiled to build up the Church there in all its
departments, by constantly writing for the papers, visiting the schools,
preaching sermons, delivering addresses to the students, visiting the
colored preachers in their work, dedicating their humble churches,

494 Methodist Bishops
and preaching at their camp-meetings. The colored people were
warmly attached to him, and esteemed him as the advocate of their
cause and as their friend and benefactor. The work he did in the
South was more than one man should have done ; and yet his labors
as a Bishop were not confined to that country or people.
In 1872 he visited Mexico, by appointment of the Board of Bishops.
The country was under the c'ontrol of the Catholic Church. Bishop
Haven, assisted by Dr. Butler, bought $10,000 worth of property in
Puebla, and planted the Methodist Episcopal Church in that city. In
the City of Mexico he made a remarkable and most fortunate purchase
for Church and mission purposes. Dr. Beid says, it forms one of the
most complete mission establishments in the world. It is located on
one of the widest streets in the city. It consists of a church with
vestries and class-rooms, a bookstore and printing-office, two parsonages
and a school-room, an orphanage, and also a school of the ladies' mis
sion, and a home for their missionary, with room to spare. This
purchase was made for $16,300, and to-day belongs to the Missionary
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Clavijero, the Jesuit his
torian of Mexico, says of this property : " It was on this spot that the
impetuous Cortez seized the person of the emperor, and, in the name
of Charles Y. and the Pope, confiscated his country and all his treas
ures to the crown of Spain." The Church of Borne held it as their
head-quarters in Mexico for about three hundred years ; but through
Bishop Haven's remarkable business tact and enterprise it has been
converted into the head-quarters of Methodism in that land, and con
stitutes a grand establishment for the spread of Christianity, and for
the overthrow of superstition, ignorance, and crime.
Bishop Haven received the blow that cost him his life by his visit
to Africa. He left New York, by appointment of his colleagues, in
the bark " Jasper," November 1, 1876, and reached Monrovia, December
16, 1876. He presided over the Liberia Conference, held at Monrovia,
December 18th. He visited all the principal stations of the Confer
ence, but never remained on land at night. The country was suffering
from the Grebo war, which excited apprehensions, among loyal men,
for the safety of the government. The Bishop, amid the excitement
coincident with war, aimed at extending his Church into the interior
of Liberia, and set in motion agencies to effect this result, which are

Gilbert Haven. 495
still in operation. When this work was finished he went to the Canary
Islands, and from thence to Spain, where he made a careful and
extended examination of the Protestant work in that country, visiting
Cadiz, Seville, Cordova, Grenada, Madrid, and other points.
As a Bishop, Gilbert Haven was a blessing and an honor to the
Church. Wherever he went he was an earnest and successful worker.
He made a good presiding officer, being well versed in parliamentary
usages, and a good disciplinarian. He was an overseer of the flock of
God, who impressed the world, as well as the Church, with the fact
that he lived to serve God and his Church.
Bishop Haven built up a remarkable character, and upon this he
built the superstructure at which we have glanced. His heart was
right toward God and men. A modern writer has said, "He who
leaves a useful idea to posterity leaves a legacy;" but we say the
richest bequest ever left by man to his survivors is a pure and spot
less character; and in this particular Bishop Haven has enriched his
family and his Church.
He has been represented as a man of theories, visionary and im
practicable in his teachings ; but his friends understood him differently.
He. found enough that was practical in the Scriptures, in Jesus Christ,
and in the Church, to save him from his sins, and make him a child of
God, a herald of the truth, and an heir of heaven. The motives which
caused him to utter strange and startling truths were not born of
worldly ambitions, nor of crude human nature ; they were the out
growths of a soul that was in closest union with a personal Saviour.
The convictions which burned in his soul like fire were from above
the earth. He prayed in secret, in the family, and in the prayer-meeting.
This -was a marked feature of his life. His communion with God was
simple and earnest, marked with confidence and much assurance.
When he prayed, one felt that he talked face to face with God. His
soul was seasoned with grace. He had a blessed experience in Christ,
and was always joyous and hopeful. He guarded with a jealous eye
the gift of God's grace in the soul. It has been said of him that " he
was a mighty man ; " but his experience of the deep things of God
was the substratum of his greatness, strength, and power. He was
rich in faith and in good works.
He did not, however, seek to become rich in the things of earth.

496 Methodist Bishops.
From opportunities of this kind, which other men seek, he turned
away. In 1870 he declined an invitation from Mr. Henry C. Bowen,
to become editor of " The Independent," at a salary of $10,000 per
year. He preferred to serve the Church of his choice as editor of
" Zion's Herald," at $2,500, and afterward as Bishop at $3,500.
He was magnanimous in the treatment of those who misrepresented
and slandered him ; always believing the truth that a " soft answer
turneth away wrath." With all the abuse heaped upon him by min
isters and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and
amid the malignity manifested toward him in their newspapers, he
kept his temper, remained good-natured, held his ground, and saw his
Church in all her interests growing and flourishing around him. He
was charged Avith being a partisan ; but he was more than a partisan,
he was a patriot. He cared nothing for political parties only as they
would help important reforms, and the cause of humanity and God.
There is something beautiful in the beginning and ending of his
earthly life, itinerant minister and Bishop as he was. The town in
which he was born was the one in which he died. The mother who
tended him with loving care in his earliest infancy watched over him
when he fell asleep in death. Many of his friends in the ministry
who started with him, and stood by his side in the great and severe
straggles for the triumph of truth were in his room and at his side
when he knew that the hour of his departure was at hand.
For several weeks previous to his death none but his attendants
were permitted to see him. But when it became apparent that his
days on earth were numbered, and he was informed of this fact, his
instant request was, " Let me see my friends." They soon gathered
around him, and found him " joyful in hope," even on the verge of
the grave. His response to their earnest inquiries was, " It is all right.
The Master I have served so long will not desert me now." To a
group of ministerial friends he said, " Preach the whole Gospel. I
believe the Gospel all through." The last two words were uttered
with characteristic emphasis. Nor did he in his last hours forget the
people he had sought especially to serve. His last words to one who
had shared his labors in their behalf, were, " Stand by the colored man
when I am gone." On the afternoon that he died, he said to Dr.
Newhall, " There is light ahead." When Dr. Lindsay was about to

Gilbert Haven. 497
leave him he said, " It is good evening iioav„ but it will be good morn
ing when we meet again." It did not seem like a dying hour, save
that all Avere weeping in the room. And thus he gently passed away,
saying, " There is no death ! " " There is no river ! " "I am sur
rounded by angels." " I am floating aAvay — away ! " " Glory ! Yic-
tory through the blood of the Lamb ! "
The animated and cheerful view of this life taken by Bishop Haven
was at times so spirited as to shock the more sedate and sober among
his brethren. They not only misunderstood him, but often misjudged
him — regarded him as lacking in depth of sensibilities or great cult
ured piety. But could they have stood by his bedside when dying, he
would at once have so exhibited to them the anomaly of his vivacious
spirit enjoying an apostolic piety, as to have quickened their own spir
ituality with an apocalyptic vieAv of death, and settled forever their
unjust estimate of a lively Christian experience. It was possible for
him to laugh and gloriously die. Nothing Avas more characteristic
of the man, possibly, than the greeting Avith Avhich he met his eldest
sister, who came to the bed to bid him good-bye. " Well, Sarah,"
said the Bishop, " it is just as I told you it Avould be ; it's the
' Deacon's One-Hoss Shay,' all broken down at once." And after all
the shoutings and prayers of the day, Avhen the last minister was
gone, he said to his family, "Now the reception is over, and we
will be alone again." His sense of humor was simply irresistible,
even in death.
In the annals of the Church there are but feAV more triumphant
deaths recorded than that of Bishop Gilbert Haven, who died peace
fully in the home of his childhood, in Maiden, Mass., January 3, 1880.
Humanity and the Church, alike, have reason to thank God for his
life and labors.
" Like that memorable death-bed reception, his funeral was a sol
emn festival. It seemed as if the Bishop, instead of being the mere
occasion of the great assembling, was himself the chief and most vital
presence in the throng. The New England Conference were present
in a body, with almost full ranks. There were also large delegations
representing the General Missionary Society, the New York Preach
ers' Meeting, the Philadelphia Preachers' Meeting, and the Wesleyan
University." The stores and schools of the town closed in recognition

498 Methodist Bishops.
of his death, and the beautiful church, which had been his boast all
over the land, crowded to its utmost limit, gave an air of the Sabbath
to the whole community. And the spirit of the hour seized the whole
Church the wide world round. For no man in the Methodist Church
Avere so many eulogies pronounced since the days of Wesley, nor even
then. The town of Maiden, near Boston, twice touched all zones,
when Adoniram Judson and Gilbert Haven were born.

m

^m

Erastus Otis Haven.

BY EEV. H. H. M00EE.

IN this country pedigree and ancestry count but for little, or we
should undertake to trace the lineage of the subject of this sketch
back into the remote past. It is a true adage, that blood will tell,
and the fact that two distinguished Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal
Church have arisen in the same family, and in a single generation, is
proof that the Haven stock is purple- veined, and of a high mental
order. Suffice it to say that the subject of this sketch Avas of an
ancient New England stock, his ancestry being traced back to Bichard
Haven, who lived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1640, and that he
was the son of Eev. Jonathan Haven, of Frainingham, Massachusetts.
Erastus O. Haven was born in Boston, Massachusetts, November
1, 1820. At the age of twenty-two he was graduated Avith honor
from Wesleyan University, a brilliant, but a humble, young man.
While yet' in his childhood he became a decided Christian, and at the
age of elevTen his mind was drawn toward the ministry of the Gospel.
On leaving the university he was induced to take charge of a private
academy in Sudbury, Massachusetts, as that position afforded him the
desired opportunity to give his attention to the study of theology.
But, ever obedient to the call of duty to his Church, he accepted, in
1846, the presidency of Amenia Seminary, in Avhich he Avas also Pro
fessor of Natural Sciences. The same year he was married to Miss
Mary Frances Coles, daughter of Eev. George Coles, who for many
years was assistant editor of the New York "Christian Advocate."
In 1848 he joined the New York Conference, and entered
upon the work of the regular ministry, receiving ordination at the
hands of Bishop Janes. In 1848-49 he was pastor of the Twenty-
fourth-street, now Thirtieth-street, Church, New York city ; 1850-51
of Bed Hook Mission, New York ; in 1852 of Mulberry-street Church,
(now St. Paul's,) New York city. In 1853 he was called to the
Professorship of Latin in the Michigan State University, and the

502 Methodist Bishops.
next year, at his own request, he was made Professor of English
Language, Literature, and History.- He received in 1854 his degree
of Doctor of Divinity from Union College, and soon after the degree
of Doctor of Laws from the Ohio Wesleyan University. In 1856 he
was chosen editor of " Zion's Herald," Boston, which position he held
for seven years. It was while serving as editor of this paper that Dr.
Haven became more fully known to the Church and to the world.
The wide sweep of his information, his knowledge of belles-lettres,
his exquisite taste, his keen insight into the interests of the Church
and the affairs of the world, were soon recognized by the readers of
the " Herald." It was evident that a new and no common man was
at the helm. The New England Conferences became proud of their
home journal, and gave to it an unprecedented circulation. At the
same time he performed the work of pastor for the Maiden Methodist
Episcopal Church. Even the State itself took a lively interest in the
great ability of this Methodist editor. He was made an " Overseer "
of Harvard University — a great honor to be conferred at that time
upon a Methodist preacher ; he was elected a member of the State
Senate, and from 1858 to 1863 was a member of the State Board of
Education. All these positions Bought him, not simply to honor him,
but to receive for themselves the benefit of his sagacity and sound
judgment. In 1863 he was elected President of the State University
of Michigan, and he held that position till 1869. He then resigned
that honorable and agreeable office to accept the presidency of the
North-western University, at Evanston, Illinois. The General Con
ference of 1872 elected him to the office of Secretary of the Board
of Education, and in 1874 he was called to the chancellorship of the
new university at Syracuse. In 1880 he was elected to the office of
Bishop, and died in Salem, Oregon, August 2, 1881, in the midst of
the duties of his office.
Bishop Haven, physically, was not a strong man, but intellectually
and morally he was too evenly developed, too well rounded, and too
full orbed, to be pre-eminently great in any one particular. He had
not the flashing eloquence of Summerfield or of Bascom, yet in the
pulpit and on the platform he was superior to either as an instructive
and persuasive orator. He had not the searching analysis of Whedon,
nor the keen, discriminating, metaphysical insight of Bowne, nor the

Erastus Otis Haven. 503
brilliant wit of his cousin, Bishop Gilbert Haven, nor was his mind
characterized by any one pre-eminently great faculty. He was great
as a whole, not in any one of his faculties. His mind was like the
kaleidoscope, many-sided, and equally brilliant on all sides. He never
had a morbid feeling ; he was no dreamer ; he was not a poet.
He was a thinker and an actor. In his mind ideas always assumed
a logical form, and, once there, they stayed as a permanent intellectual
investment. Science, literature, theology, education, and the practical
affairs of life, received from him about the same measure of attention.
He seems to have been equally well adapted to the position of pastor,
educator, editor, writer, and of the episcopacy. In no respect was he
a weak or a, deficient man. The more complicated and difficult the
situation, the more brilliant appeared his resources and sagacity as a
manager. In war he would have made a dashing field-marshal ; as a
devotee of" the fine arts he would have succeeded. In these particu
lars his nature found gratification in the chivalrous activities of Meth
odism, in belles-lettres, and in elegant literature. He was master of
all the old masters in poetry and prose. His habit of reflection made
him so familiar with his subjects and the best use of language that
he wrote and spoke extemporaneously with equal facility. His plat
form addresses and baccalaureate sermons were full of the best
thoughts expressed in classic English.
Bishop Haven was a discriminating, not a gormandizing, reader,
and a close observer of men and things. To some extent he was an
original thinker. He studied man as man, he studied the rocks, the
ground, the trees, the birds, and nature was an ever-present and open
volume to his quick vision. From its store-house of fact and philoso
phy he drew many of the rich treasures with Avhich his mind was sup
plied. He sought scholarship, not for its own sake, but because it
furnished, at his command, the keys by Avhich he could enter and
explore the labyrinths of truth. History, literature, and speculative
philosophy found in him an admiring student. The shams of pre
tenders he was quick to detect and vigorous to expose. With the
modern positive philosophy he was patient, believing that the honesty
of its advocates would finally detect and discard its errors.
But over and above every other quality the Bisliop was a kind-
hearted Christian gentleman. Brought up at an altar at whicli his

504 Methodist Bishops.
father ministered as priest, he probably could never remember the
time when he was free from a sense of religious obligation. His
knowledge of justification by faith, of regeneration, and acceptance
with God, was the result of personal experience. If ever his mind
passed through seasons of doubt and depression, they left behind no
visible scars of the conflict. God and Christ and heaven were as
really present to his faith as was the ground to his feet. The spirit
ual nature in him was as active and inspiring in its realm of active
faith as was the intellect in its sphere of thinking. The religious
capacity grasped and enjoyed a world of spirituality as fully as intel
lect recognized a world of ideas. The religious overshadowed and
gave direction to every other faculty of his soul. He could say, with
St. Paul : " I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowl
edge of Christ Jesus my Lord."
This life was but a stage in human development, and this world
a stepping-stone to the next. Bishop Haven was a man of great
moral courage. He feared no danger, he never shrunk in the
presence of difficulty or of opposition. When it became necessary
that Dr. Tappan should vacate the presidency of the Michigan
State University he left behind him a bed of thorns for the recep
tion of his successor. Dr. Haven, who had formerly served the
university as professor, was elected to fill the vacancy. With a full
knowledge of all the difficulties of the case, and of all that could
be apprehended, he accepted the responsibility, and immediately
entered upon the discharge of its duties. The expected storm sud
denly arose and burst with merciless fury upon his head : opposition
in the form of an organized political campaign of lying, detraction,
and social ostracism, in which the local press and two large and influ
ential religious denominations enlisted, he found arrayed against him.
But such was the forecast of his mind that all this had been anticipated
and fully provided for. The new president entered upon his work
with that faith in God and in himself which brings present cheerful
ness and ultimate success. Silently and calmly he performed his work,
and did it well. Equal silence he enjoined upon his friends. He took
no time to repel attacks and made no accusations. He had no fears
of any truths they might tell, and as for the falsehoods, he estimated
them at their true value. Week after week the campaign raged, but

Erastus Otis Haven. 505
Haven was doing a great work and could not come down'to notice it.
The man Avas perfectly self-poised and self-controlled. Every move
ment he made soon gave new evidence of his far-seeing sagacity. His
work began to tell on the prosperity of the university, which was all
the defense he needed. Finally, for lack of fuel, the 'fire began to
burn low, the storm to spend its force ; Haven was completely victori
ous, and his bitterest enemies learned to admire the quiet man who
proved to be a Hercules in strength. No man ever conquered on
Christian principles more completely than Haven did at Ann Arbor.
The university more than doubled the number of its students, its
finances were well managed, order and morality were in the ascendant,
students from other States were knocking for admission to its halls,
and every body was satisfied that the State of Michigan had the right
man in the right place at Ann Arbor.
Bishop Haven loved the pulpit, the platform, and the arena of
debate. He was a kind-hearted, peaceful, forgiving man ; yet he had
the courage of his convictions, and in the heat of high debate his an
tagonist felt the full force of the most remorseless logic. He was as
insensible to the bitterness of disappointment as to the undue elation
of success. He Avas a large-hearted, catholic-spirited man, and yet he was as
true to the Methodist Episcopal Church as is the needle to the pole,
and was ever ready to respond to her calls. When the Amenia Semi
nary needed a principal the young graduate resigned a pleasant position
at Sudbury to supply the want. When the North-western Univer
sity, an institution at that time scarcely worth the name, with few
students, having neither funds nor friends, called upon him, as an
experienced educator and sagacious manager, to take it in charge, he
resigned his hard-earned and proud position at Ann Arbor to nurse and
care for the weak and sickly child at Evanston. He loved Michigan,
but he loved the Methodist Episcopal Church still more. He could
be useful at Ann Arbor, but still more so at Evanston. Bishop
Haven was ever the most fully himself when the most unselfish and
useful. In 1868, five years after Bishop Haven took charge of the Michi
gan University, and when that institution was enjoying a flood-tide of
prosperity, he took his seat for the second time in the General Confer-

506 Methodist Bishops.
ence, at Chicago, as a delegate. He had fought his great fight and
was well known to the Church as the victor. Many eyes were eager
to see the man whose single arm had not only vanquished, but made
friends of, so many foes. He was in the early prime of a ripe man
hood, and whatever he did was done easily and done well. All could
see in him the gentleness of a child and the strength of a great man.
His compeers were really proud of him as one of their number. His
Avas among the most influential minds in that body.
Bishop Haven was a man of great industry. Work was life. Our
periodical press for many years has been enriched by the best and
maturest thoughts of his fertile mind. His best-known books and
treatises are the " Young Man Advised," " Pillars of Truth," and
"Bhetoric;" and these have had an extensive circulation. In the
pulpit and on the rostrum he was perfectly self-possessed. Without
knowing it or thinking of it he felt a consciousness of the strength
that was in him, and of the resources he had at command. Breadth,
fullness, clearness, and grace, characterized his oratory. Qn the page
of history his name will stand among the preeminently successful
educators of his age and country. In this field of toil his successes
entitle him to a monument at both Ann Arbor and Evanston. Though
with fewer difficulties to encounter, he succeeded equally well as Chan
cellor of Syracuse University. Under his brief administration that
institution enjoyed uninterrupted success.
A pleasing episode in the Bishop's laborious life was his visit to
Great Britain as delegate to the Wesleyan Conference in 1879. The
ocean voyage, his wanderings and observations in Europe, together
Avith his visit as the authorized messenger of his Church to the
parent Methodist body, made up a valuable chapter of his life's history.
His urbane and cordial manners, his deep piety, his learning, and
chaste addresses, greatly endeared him to that great body of ministers.
Pie received every attention which it was in their power to bestow.
Only a little more than one year were the episcopal robes honored
by Bishop Haven. But he took to the peculiar work of that high
office as readily as to the other departments of labor which had engaged
his attention. His addresses delivered to the Conference graduating
classes could have come only from a mind and heart whicli was fully
imbued with the spirit of the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Erastus Oris Haven. 507
He presided over the deliberations of the preachers in Conference with
ease and dignity. The appointments made preserved the peace of the
Church and secured its continued prosperity.
Whether, at the age of sixty, it is wise to take a man from the
seclusion of his study and the halls of learning to fill the episcopal
office, is a question the Church should earnestly consider. A younger
man, and one accustomed to the saddle and to storms, might have
done the work as well and with greater safety to himself. What
Bishop Haven thought of this question we cannot say ; but his habit
had ever been to obey the call of the Church, and in this instance he
did not deviate from that rule. Had he at the age of forty been made
a Bishop, he might have lived long and taken his place as an able
administrator, by the side of Hedding and Janes ; as it was, he accom
plished all that could have been expected of him. .
After he became Bishop he took up his residence in San Francisco,
California. He was on the North Facific coast in the discharge of
the duties of his office when disease fastened its unyielding grip upon
him. Diseased kidneys poisoned his blood, and medical skill Avas of
no avail. A few days before his departure he dictated a letter to his
colleagues, informing them of his condition, from which they inferred
that his Avork was probably done. He was happy in the conscious
knowledge that the Christ whom he loved and served was with him
and accepted him as an heir of heaven. The last enemy over which
he triumphed was death. In the presence of his wife and one son he
peacefully breathed his last and passed away. " The workmen die,
but the Lord still carries on his work."
When the presiding officer in the General Conference of 1880 an
nounced the election of Bishop Haven, a venerable member of that
body observed to a friend near by, " Down the generations to come
Erastus will be mistaken for Gilbert, seeing that both the Havens are
Bishops now." "Never," said his friend, " Gilbert must remain Gil
bert to the end of time, and Erastus will yet take care of his memory
before he dies." Nothing could have been truer than the reply.
Both men were born and lived much of their lives where one might
have been mistaken for the other in the distant years to come if it
were not that a continent is between their graves. Surprise was ex
pressed every-where in the East that mother and son did not bring
30

508 Methodist Bishops.
the remains of husband and father home for burial. But they, who
expressed the surprise had not then learned that the Bishop requested
to be buried where he died. No more significant thing did he do
while he lived than make this last decision before he died. Both the
Bishops Haven went to the Columbia country, but Gilbert, finishing
the Avork of his appointment, came back to die. Erastus went there
by appointment to stay. If " Jason Lee was the original pathfinder
of empire," in going to the North-west coast Erastus O. Haven has
fastened his name no less to the place by being the first Methodist
Bishop buried along the great Pacific slope. It may be said of him,
as Hunter sang of Drummond, who died soon after his appointment
to the great South-west,
"He asked not a stone sculptured with verse,
He asked not that fame should his merits rehearse,
But he asked, as a boon when he gave up the ghost,
That his brethren might know that he died at his post."
A hundred other Bishops may die and be buried
"In the continuous woods
Where rolls the Oregon,"
but among all their graves Methodist pilgrims will seek as a shrine the
resting-place of Bishop Haven, because it was the foremost and first.

OEIGIN

OF THE

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.

THE Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized on May
1, 1845, at Louisville, Ely., by a Convention of Methodist minis
ters residing within the then slave-holding States ; and its first Gen
eral Conference was held at Petersburgh, Ya., on May 1, 1846. This
great movement was made in consequence of the action of the Gen
eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held at New
York, in 1844, in regard to Bishop James O. Andrew, who, "by
marriage or otherwise, had become connected with slavery." This
action was based upon the assumption that slave-holding by a Bishop
of that Church was a proper bar to the performance of the office.
Thereupon on the first day of June, on motion of Eev. J. B. Finley,
a resolution was passed by a majority of one hundred and eleven to
sixty-nine, that, " It is the sense of this General Conference that he
desist from the exercise of this office so long as this impediment
remains." This drew forth a long and animated discussion, conducted in a
spirit of eminent courtesy when the deep interests at stake are con
sidered. A solemn protest Avas made by the Southern delegation,
written by Dr., afterward Bishop, Henry B. Bascom, to which a

510 Methodist Bishops.
reply stating the Northern grounds, was furnished by Dr. John P.
Durbin. The former, it is curious to remark, was a native of the
North, the latter of the South. The Southern delegation affirmed
that it would be impossible to maintain the continued existence of
their Church if the movement was made, and the Northern equally
declared that disintegration of their own Churches would result if
the movement failed, so that the issue appeared to be, and truly was,
insurmountable. At length a Committee of Nine was appointed, who drew up what
has been called a " Plan of Separation," which provided that if the
Southern brethren found it necessary to organize a new Church, there
should be a certain boundary line, over which neither party should
pass. A division of the Church property was agreed upon, condi
tioned upon its being duly sanctioned by the Annual Conferences,
according to . the Bestrictive Bules. In due course of time the
proposal was put through the round of the Annual Conferences,
but failed of the requisite majority. A proposal to place the
question under arbitration was made by Southern brethren, but
was declined by the Northern, on the ground that they had no
constitutional power to dispose of the property of the Church,
except under authorization of law. Prosecution was, therefore, com
menced, and the memorable case was brought before the Supreme
Court of the United States and decided, Judge Nelson delivering the
opinion of the Court, April 25, 1854, that the Church was duly
divided, and that the division of the property should be completed.
From the two Book Concerns at New York and Cincinnati, and from
the Chartered Fund, there were paid over to the Church South about
$300,000. Though in regard to the justice and legality of this decis
ion different opinions have been held by the two Churches, yet as it
received from this decision the compulsory force of law, it was, of
course, promptly obeyed ; and probably very feAV, of either Church,
now regret that the payment, legally or equitably binding or not,
was completely made. It seems clear that the existence of the two
Churches was practically necessary. The opposite public sentiment
on the subject of slavery in the two sections obliged the measure,
and we may, perhaps, truly say a separation was the best thing
attainable.

Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 511
During the ensuing four years not a little discord continued, aris
ing from alleged over-passing the boundary line. When the General
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church met, in 1848, at Pitts
burgh the venerable Dr. Lovick Pierce appeared, duly accredited
as fraternal delegate from the Church South. He was received, per
sonally, with great courtesy, and invited to a seat within the bar;
but objections were made to any fraternal intercourse with the Church
South. Its validity as a Church was, indeed, not questioned. But
an extended statement was made of the difficulties arising from an
imputed transgression of the boundary, and made the basis of non-
intercourse. Dr. Pierce, with characteristic dignity, declined the
courtesies offered to* his personal, and not to his official, character ;
and departed, declaring that his Church was ready to listen to any del
egate from the Methodist Episcopal Church upon the basis of the
" Plan of Separation."
In consequence of the above alleged violations and other reasons
assigned in their statement, the General Conference declared the
" Plan of Separation " null and void, thus making it no longer a bar
rier to the transition of either Church into the other section. Under
the adverse fortunes of the late Civil War the Church South suffered
great disintegrations. But with returning peace her Conferences
were resumed, her periodicals and Publishing House re-established,
and her churchly prosperity and power have rapidly advanced. In
her Yanderbilt University she has one of the noblest Southern lit
erary institutions; she has 6 Bishops, 41 Conferences, and 847,703
members. Before the war no efforts were made at restoring fraternal inter
changes between the two Churches. But under the benign influ
ences of restored peace, after several movements had proved abortive,
under authority of the two General Conferences a convention of dele
gates from both Churches assembled at Cape May, in August, 1876,
and settled the terms of Christian communion. The impracticability
of redrawing the old boundary line of 1844, or, indeed, of any geo
graphical division, was recognized ; but all future unmanly strifes
about Church properties were provided against ; the old estrangement
of feeling was removed, and it was agreed that as two sister Churches
we should rejoice in each other's prosperity, and seek to fulfill together

512 Methodist Bishops.
our mission of holiness. Upon this has followed our London Ecu
menical Conference, which has thrilled the hearts of all our Method-
isms, Episcopal and non-Episcopal, North and South, East and West,
white and colored, with a new spirit of Christian amity. An Ameri
can General Conference of our entire Methodism, clothed, not with
legislative, but with advisory powers, will more than confirm this
happy state of things. And, surely, the richest blessings of Heaven
will rest down upon this scene of fraternal union. May no future
strife, civil or religious, ever again divide us !

IKIEVolM§!ltolP.J©SlHlMA SODJIUE, IIDoUBo

Joshua Soule.

BY EEV. BENJAMIN FEANKLIN TEEFT, D.D., LL.D.
THE life of Joshua Soule, though a great and good one, was not
remarkable for striking historical events. He was born in the
town of Bristol, Me., not far from the celebrated settlement of Pem-
aquid, on the first day of August, in the year of our Lord, 1781. His
father had lived at a place called Bound Pond, on a farm known as the
Chamberlain Place, till August 13, 1773. This farm was sold on that
day to the Eev. A. M'Lean, a gentleman of considerable note in the
early history of that ancient town ; and Mr. Soule's father, Avhose
name was also Joshua, at once removed to a neighboring farm on Broad
Cove, where the future Bishop first saw the light of life.
It is not quite certain how long the family remained on the Broad
Cove farm. The next thing we hear of them, they had removed to
the town of Avon, in a fertile region of Maine known as the Sandy
Eiver country ; and it is a region, too, it may be said in this connection,
eminently productive of celebrated men.
Pains have been taken to search out and determine the intellectual
and moral character, as well as the social standing, of the parents of
our distinguished subject ; and it is found that the father was a man
of consequence in both the towns, and in every locality where he lived.
His name frequently occurs in the records of the town of Bristol. He
is often spoken of in official documents, as well as in the local histo
ries, as Captain Soule ; and he was one of the Board of Selectmen of
Bristol the very year when his most eminent son was born. No public
record is found of the mother of the Bishop ; but the writer of this
sketch has the force of tradition for the declaration, that, though a
woman of few words, she was noted for the strength and breadth of
her intellect, and not less for the remarkable decision of character
evinced by her on all occasions. She was evidently a woman of well-
defined opinions; and, like her son, she was never afraid to state
them.

516 Methodist Bishops.
Society, in the modern sense of the term, was something then quite
unknown in these provincial towns pertaining to Massachusetts. Some
of the best blood of the old Bay State, though then a colony, had been
poured into the veins of this Maine population ; and England, as well
as France, had contributed not a little to its further improvement.
The most aristocratic, of families, however, are apt to become demo
cratic by the daily popular contact so characteristic of all new set
tlements. Men of the largest brain and highest culture soon mingle
Avith the general mass from sheer necessity ; and all attempts at exclu
siveness or selection are commonly frowned down, if there is any one
family bold enough to make the undertaking. It was so at the time
spoken of in these rural localities in Maine. ' No one person was in
the Avay of seeing so many people that he found it essential to his
comfort to draw any social lines ; nor does it appear that any one, in
those early days, sought seclusion ; and, consequently, what was then
known as society was the whole neighborhood, where the entire popu
lation stood upon the same general level. It is asserted, however, that
the family of Bishop Soule's father were a little inclined to be particu
lar about the social position of their acquaintances ; and it is probably
for this reason that they have been, from the earliest times, spoken of as
somewhat too consequential, or, as some would style it, aristocratic.
Methodism, as a religious denomination, was at this time just
beginning to be known in the United States. Wesley had commenced
preaching in England in 1739 ; he had spent a little time as a mis
sionary in Georgia a few years later ; and in 1784 Dr. Thomas Coke
had been ordained by him to come over and lay the foundations of the
American Methodist Church. This work had been accomplished at
the celebrated Christmas Conference, a called convention of all the
Methodist ministers in the country, on the Christmas-day of 1785,
which not only acknowledged the authority of Dr. Coke as Superin
tendent under Wesley, but elected the Bev. Francis Asbury, an English
Methodist then residing and preaching in this country, as joint Super
intendent, or Bishop, of all the Methodist Societies then existing in the
United States. At the time of Mr. Wesley's death, on March 2, 1791,
there were only one hundred and ninety-eight Methodist preachers,
traveling and local, on this side of the Atlantic ; and it was not till
August 3, 1792, that the Methodists of New England felt strong or

Joshua Soule. 517
numerous enough to hold an Annual Conference. This first conven
tion was held in the then unfinished meeting-house belonging to the
Methodists of Lynn. It was the first building of its kind in Massa
chusetts. Only nine persons, including Bishop Asbury himself, attended
on that occasion. Near to Asbury sat the great apostle of NeAV En
gland Methodism, the Eev. Jesse Lee, who afterward brought the tid
ings of the new Gospel to the valleys and hills of Maine. Another
man sat there, however, in that Lynn Conference, who, though born
in New Jersey in 1768, was the first sent to take official oversight as
Presiding Elder of the Methodist work in this noAV flourishing State.
That man was the BeAT. Joshua Taylor, Avhose field of labor covered
the whole province, and Avho, in the providence of God, was the instru
ment of bringing young Soule into the ministry of the Methodist
Church. It happened in this manner : In 1798 while Taylor was still
in charge of the Maine District, a young man of about seventeen
years of age came to him one day, and requested the privilege of going
with him in his travels, and aiding him in his work by exhortation,
prayer, or preaching, as circumstances might suggest. This young man
was Joshua Soule. The overture was at once accepted. The youthful
itinerant soon afterward presented himself, riding a good horse, on
whose back he had thrown a pair of ordinary saddle-bags, in which he
had stowed all his worldly goods, including a change of clothing, a
Bible and hymn book, and a few articles essential to a decent toilet.
He had, of his own free will, joined a Methodist class about one year
before. He now set forth on the mission of his life.
At the time this connection was formed between the two itiner
ants, Soule was seventeen, and Taylor thirty years of age ; and it is easy
to one Avell acquainted with the backwoods of Maine, in early times,
to realize in fancy the picture of this young man and boy riding over
the sparely settled country, stopping now and then at a friendly but
humble settler's house, talking earnestly, and then praying with his
family, taking such cheap but healthful refreshments as their board
supplied, all the time and every-where pressing the subject of per
sonal religion upon every one they met along the way, and stopping
here and there to deliver a, sermon and an exhortation, sometimes in a
school-house, at other times in a farmer's kitchen, and occasionally in
some empty barn, which had been swept and seated for the purpose.

518 Methodist Bishops.
It cannot be said that either of these men was educated, in any
ordinary sense of the term, at the time here mentioned. Taylor had
been born in Princeton, New Jersey, a place, even in his day, noted
for its attention to education ; and the schools of the place, as well as
the society he found there, must have given him some considerable
erudition and refinement. He was certainly a person of exact speech,
of wide information, and of great refinement, in the closing period of
his life, when the writer of this sketch used to know him. But Soule,
at the time of forming this connection with Taylor, was truly a back
woods boy — tall and lean in person, straight as an arrow, Avith large
prominent eyes, a high Avell-developed forehead, and a head apparently
too large and heavy for the slender trunk it stood on ; and his step
was so firm, his carriage so high, and his general aspect so command
ing, even at that age, that he was always at first sight thought to be
naturally aristocratic, if not a little haughty. A more intimate
acquaintance, h6wever, never failed to remove this unjust suspicion.
He was ever found to be, in spite of all this natural dignity of man
ner, sensible, self-distrusting, even modest in his real nature. It can
not be said, indeed, that he felt conscious of inferiority to those about
him. This would be the same as to accuse him of not being sensible.
He certainly was conscious of his mental power ; and even at seven
teen he seldom met a person so strong of intellect that he had not the
right to feel that nature had made him a little stronger. Nor can such
a fact be conceded by any amount of natural modesty.
Even at the beginning of his career, he showed himself the mas
ter. Taylor, as we have seen, was his superior in age and rank ; he
was also an easy, fluent, and elegant speaker, and he was consequently
very popular in every rural pulpit. But it was soon discovered by
him and others that whenever it was known that Soule was going to
preach at any point, the congregation was always larger than usual —
sometimes more than twice as large. A portion of this popularity
was due, of course, to his extreme youthfulness, for he was generally
spoken of as " the boy preacher ; " but his matter, always profound,
and his manner, dignified and commanding, had still more to do with
making him impressive ; and then his pure and simple life, his con
stant application to his work, together with his great earnestness of
spirit, a deep sincerity being eyident in every word he uttered, con-

Joshua Soule. 519'
spired to make him an object of admiration from the very commence
ment of his ministry.
Loved, followed, and admired as he was, however, his field of
labor was not always a field of roses. He met with opposition, as
such men always do, in proportion to his consequence. Small men
will oftentimes slip quietly along through the Avorld, meeting with no
rebuffs, because they never make themselves of consequence enough
to call out antagonism. Men of real power, on the contrary, are
always doing something ; they disturb the foundations of other peo
ple ; many have to get out of their way or be trampled on ; and so
they have to meet, because they necessarily create, opposition. And
Joshua Soule, from his earliest days, was a person of this character.
Not only did he recommend piety and enforce religion, as he under
stood these things, but he was in the habit of striking down opposing
theories, thrusting from his path injurious obstacles, and clearing the
way before him by removing whatever threatened to stop his prog
ress. This part of his work made him appear combative. He was
soon looked upon as a controversial preacher, because he saw the
necessity of overturning the Calvinistic, the Unitarian, the Universal-
ist systems of speculation, before he could cause the people to re
ceive the doctrines of original Christianity as he had come to under
stand them. He was not naturally given to polemics, but these
things stood in his way ; and, like he would have done on his father's
farm, he sought to clear off the rubbish before he could successfully
scatter the good seed.
Still, in spite of all these discouragements, the work went bravely
and grandly forward. And in this connection there is no name
worthy of greater honor than that of the young itinerant, Joshua
Soule. No one has reason to suppose that a young man of the back
woods of Maine, brought up in labor upon his father's farm, spending
his young years with so few of the privileges of school, could now
step forth at the age of seventeen, with the intellectual wealth and
polish of a scholar, or endowed with the penetration and power of a
man of practical logical abilities. But there were traits about him of
the most striking and impressive character. His tall and erect person,
his large head, his brilliant eyes, his grave demeanor, his dignified
earnestness of spirit, were quite enough, even at that early age, to

520 Methodist Bishops.
attract and fasten the attention of an audience. His slow, deliberate,
thoughtful manner of speaking, in which every word meant some
thing, and where a thought was never weakened by boyish haste,
made him appear to be a much older man than he really was ; and his
words seemed to have a weight proportionate to the cool deliberation
with which they were dealt out to the listening multitude. He was
always careful not to overstate his point, and this care of himself gave
him greater authority over his most intelligent audiences. But it was
riot his style alone that clothed him with this strong personal influence.
His matter was, in general, quite equal to his manner. It was always
b'eyond all that could have been expected of one so youthful and so
imprepared by education. His hearers were ever in a state of wonder
as to the mystery of his possessing such a fund of ideas of things
that he had apparently never studied. But, in his way, and without
knowing it, young Soule was a person of real genius ; and, like all
of his class, he had knowledge that he himself could not have traced
b'ack to the time and manner of obtaining it. It had come to him
spontaneously, by intuition, or in whatever way ideas habitually
spring up in the minds of men of genius.
Joshua Soule at the age of seventeen was licensed to preach. This
first license was given him by Joshua Taylor, in 1798. He was or
dained elder in 1802, and would have received the ordination earlier,
had it been consistent with the rules of the denomination ; and in 1804
he was put in charge of the entire Methodist work in Maine, as pre
siding elder, having all the veteran preachers under him at the age of
twenty-three. Methodism in Maine at that time consisted of twelve circuits and
one station, and covered a territory whose circumference measured
rhore than twelve hundred miles. The amount of travel required of
him in this vast field was enormous. No railways existed in those days.
The common highways, even, were seldom safe for a light one-horse
vehicle. All these great distances were to be passed over four times
a year, and all the riding was to be done on horseback. Many of the
rivers were yet destitute of bridges. A few ferries had been estab
lished, but generally all the streams to be crossed, in the spring and
summer seasons, and all the way on through the fall freshets, were
forded by horseback tourists. In after life Mr. Soule used to relate

Joshua Soule. 521
many instances where he came near being drowned by the unex
pected depth of the swollen water. On one occasion, when fording a
river, his horse plunged and threw him. Loaded with thick boots
and a heavy coat, whose pockets were still further weighted dow.n
by being stuffed with books, the most he could do was to keep him
self afloat. But his cool and deliberate style of doing all things served
a good purpose in this emergency. Seeing a jam of logs which had
lodged on a rock below him, he worked himself into the current set
ting in that direction ; and he there found a way, by using one of the
looser logs as a raft, to paddle himself to shore without the loss of any
of his property. His horse, however, left thus to his own freedom, had
made off to the door-yard of a friend, where he had often found a
hitching-place and sometimes a stable. Here the itinerant, as he ex
pected, found him. But the preacher had an appointment for that
evening, and so, after drying himself a little before an open fire, such
as they had in those primeval times, he proceeded on his journey.
It was the custom in those days for Methodist ministers to hold
meetings and preach sermons at every place where it was know.n
that they were to stay over night. They thus averaged four or five
discourses during the week, and they nearly always preached three
times on Sunday. This amount of public speaking would have. killed
off all the preachers, had it not been for their incessant horseback
riding ; and the riding would have killed them, had it not been for
the rest or recreation brought about by all this preaching. The one
was a relief, an antidote, to the other. Mr. Soule's pulpit recreations
must have been quite sufficient for any quantity of horseback labor,
for his sermons were always long, and they grew more and more so
as he advanced in years and took higher rank in the denomination.
In the early days of American Methodism the preachers were so
few that, though widely scattered, they all held the right of attending
upon the regular meetings of the ministers, which were known as
Conferences. But in a few years' the number had so multiplied that
it was found difficult to get them all together, or to find a society
large enough to entertain them. These circumstances led to a change
of polity, and in 1808, when the annual gathering was held in Balti
more, the plan of a delegated General Conference was adopted, whicli
was to meet every fourth year, while the whole work was divided

522 Methodist Bishops.
into geographical sections, within each of which a sectional Con
ference was to be* held every year, to be presided over by one of
the Bishops. No wiser, more effective, or more thoroughly sys
tematic plan could have been devised. It has given to American
Methodism its order, harmony, and strength. And it is a proof of
the great abilities of the subject of these memorials, that this new con
stitution, which still remains the fundamental law of the denomination,
was drawn up by Joshua Soule. He had then been only ten years in
the ministry, and, what is still more remarkable, he was only twenty-
seven years of age.
This profound legislator and powerful preacher, however, was in
no Avay unduly elated by his success. After the close of the Balti
more Conference he returned to his work in the province of Maine
as if nothing had happened, the same dignified and yet humble and
conscientious young man he was before. All the people were aware,
indeed, that he had suddenly risen to the first rank among the re
markable men of his generation ; but not a word — no allusion to it—
ever came from him. Conscious of his powers, as he evidently was,
he seemed to take the honors given him as a matter of course, or
probably as no honors at all, but rather as additional responsibilities
and work. But work he liked ; nor did responsibility, even, sit very
heavily upon him, for he always felt equal to every newly-imposed
labor. And so he came again to Maine, willing to perform any
duties called for by the groAving cause.
Between the years 1807 and 1811, Soule had charge of the Port
land district, Me., when, his term having expired, he was stationed at
Lynn, Mass. No one event in his useful life appears more marked than
the rest in the general tenor of his career. The same hard work was
attendant on him through all these years. He rode, visited, preached,
exposed himself, and studied, as in the years before. If any change
occurred to him at all, it was in the character of his daily studies. Prior
to this period his chief intellectual concern had been theology. He
now had taken a brief look into the great world ; and he had, doubt
less, fallen in with some men who knew more of mankind in general
than he could claim to know. But he was a person who could neArer
consent to be humbled by such comparisons, so long as there was the
smallest chance to rise above them. He seemed now determined not

Joshua Soule. 523
to stand, in respect to general knowledge, below the most knowing of
his distinguished ministerial brethren. He had always been a close
and persevering student. He now became a general, though still a
careful, reader. He never read a book for mere amusement. Every
page selected by him must be loaded with useful information. His
poAverful memory, aided by his slow and thoughtful way of reading,
grasped and held every fact as firmly as if fastened in a vise. He
has been heard to say that he never forgot any thing which he ever
really kneAV. His mind, by this retentive power, soon became a rich
storehouse of intellectual wealth. He never, indeed, became a
scholar, for scholarship was not the thing he aimed at ; and he was
now too old to begin the work anew and lay the foundation of a
thorough education. But he soon was noted as a man of general
knowledge and extensive information. One of the judges of the
supreme judicial court of Maine, who had known him in his boyhood,
and who spent a whole evening with him in the winter of 1812,
expressed great surprise at the transformation wrought upon him in
so short a time. When Soule began to preach, his photograph, as
given us by Enoch Mudge, was this : " He had a precocious mind,
a strong memory, a manly and dignified turn, although his appear
ance was exceedingly rustic." In 1812, as seen by the learned judge,
he had become "a man of wonderful information, knowing almost
every thing, and the most polished gentleman I know." Such is the
change that grace and hard study will work out for every genuine
and earnest man.
No very noticeable eA'ents took place in the life of the rising
young minister, beyond the hard work and constant study already
mentioned, for the four years next succeeding. In Maine, and for a
part of the time in Massachusetts, he went on working for the exten
sion of Methodism, which he in his heart received as the best extant
realization of the teachings of the Son of God. With him, the ideal
of apostolic Christianity, both in faith and worship, in substance and
in form, in doctrine and in discipline, was in Methodism almost per
fectly restored. He thoroughly believed that salvation was now again
offered to the world, as well as conserved in living ceremonies and
institutions, for the support of those obtaining it, precisely as in
the apostolic times. Eejoicing, too, in his own personal salvation,

524 Methodist Bishops.
which made him a happy and a useful man, and which he valued
beyond the value of all things on earth, his single ambition seemed to
be to make others as happy and as useful as himself ; and his zeal in
the great work — the loftiest possible to a human being — sustained by
his now general knowledge and great natural talents, to many made
his life seem morally sublime.
In the year 1812 he was sent as a delegate to the first delegated
\ General Conference of Methodism within the limits of the United
States. By this time the young itinerant from the backwoods of
Maine was known throughout the Connection in our country. He
was now, at thirty-five, near the full maturity of his intellectual
strength. Tall, dignified, commanding in his personal appearance, as
well as polite though reserved in his general bearing, he presented a
figure in the Conference sufficiently prominent and engaging to attract
all eyes. But he never was a man to push himself into prominence
by any effort of his own. So far as he himself was concerned, he
always allowed things to take their course. When a labor was imposed
upon him, or he had a duty to perform, he was ever at his post ; and
whatever he undertook, he worked on it faithfully, and generally
attained success.
At the New England Conference held June 1, 1815, Mr. Soule
was again elected to the approaching General Conference of May,
1816, he being at the time the Presiding Elder of the Kennebeck
District. To those who have studied the history of this impor
tant crisis in American Methodism, his name takes rank with the
very first; the committees he headed, and the work reported by
him, were of the highest importance ; and when the Conference
had completed its session and adjourned, the Methodist world
favorably received the not-unexpected information that the young
backwoodsman had been taken from the itinerant hardships of the
great field in Maine, placed in the then highest literary seat of the
denomination, and set down to live amid the rising splendors of
the metropolitan city of New York!
The post now given him, in a word, was that of Book Agent, or
Publisher, for American Methodism ; and to this office was attached
that of editor of the " Methodist Magazine," at that time the only
literary publication of the American Methodist Church. At the time

Joshua Soule. 525
of this Conference, in fact, it was not a publication, but a project,
which is said to have sprung from the prolific as well as organizing
brain of Joshua Soule. There is, however, no absolute certainty of
this statement. It is certain, indeed, that Mr. Soule was the warmest
advocate of the establishment of such a work ; and when it appeared
in the world two years afterward, it very fittingly bore his name as
editor upon its title-page.
But Mr. Soule was not, as we have previously seen, a literary man.
Nor Avas he competent for the place of editor of a truly literary pub
lication. The consequence was, that in his hands the "Methodist
Magazine " was scarcely worthy of being 'called a literary work. It
Avas, in fact, religious rather than literary. Not only Avas the editor
destitute of the genuine literary education, taste, and zeal, and thus
incapable of giving tone to a purely literary publication, but there
were at that time not a sufficient number of good English writers
within the bounds of the denomination to supply its pages with matter
of the true literary stamp. Great pulpit orators, of which we had an
abundance, are very frequently the very Aveakest and poorest writers.
The result was that, between the insufficiency of the editor and the
almost total lack of competent contributors, the " Magazine " became
rather a slim performance. As a religious journal, containing many
valuable religious notes of the times, and particularly as a repository
of biographical sketches of the deceased preachers, it has its value for
all coming centuries within the denomination.
It is, hoAvever, fair to say that its editor was loaded down with the
labors and responsibilities of another office. As publisher of all the
books of the denomination, which included those coming to us from
English Methodism, Mr. Soule had quite enough to do without try
ing to perform the uncongenial duties of a magazine editor. He also,
Avithout doubt, devoted his time and strength to the book department ;
for in this a large amount of money had been invested ; and his first
ambition seemed to be to make this investment a success. In his
hands, too, it was a success ; for both money and influence were made
for the cause by the works he issued from the press. It has been said, in
deed, that the writings and fame of the authors thus put to print— those
of the Wesleys, of Fletcher, of Adam Clarke, and of the other great
English Wesleyan writers — were enough to insure the fortune of any
31

526 Methodist Bishops.
publishing house, however it might have been conducted ; and it has
been also stated that Mr. Soule, though methodical, laborious, and ear
nest, no less than honest in his work, was out of his element as an office
man and publisher of books. There is probably some truth in this
remark. But it must be admitted, on the other hand, that he carried
with him the good solid argument of success ; and this, in the minds
of many people, is a sure defense against every possible complaint.
It is, however, well known that Mr. Soule had made up his mind not
to accept a re-election to the office of Book Agent.
When the time came for putting this resolution into practical
effect, as it did at the General Conference of 1820, the retiring editor
and publisher found no occasion to say or do much about it ; for the
delegates, he discovered, had made up their minds to lift him out of
this semi-secular work and raise him to the office of a Bisliop. But
the leading question of that Conference was, whether those men
known in the Connection as Presiding Elders, who were heads of the
districts into which all the annual Conferences were divided, should
be appointed by the Bishop of a Conference or elected by its voting
members. A long and boisterous debate ensued. Clergymen, indeed,
are confessedly more boisterous, at least more stubborn, in such debates,
than more worldly men ; for they know nothing, and care less, about
mere expediency ; and their positions are more apt to be taken on
what they severally deem the solid ground of conscience, to ignore or
betray which would seem to them to be the abandonment of all gen
uine religious character. This sort of conscientious stubbornness pre
vailed on this occasion. Days and days were spent in the grand dis
cussion. Soule, though knowing himself to be a candidate for the
highest dignity within the denomination, made no concealment of his
views upon the subject. He mixed freely and fully in the long and
loud debate. He was himself, indeed, both long and loud in argu
ment, but ever dignified aud unpersonal. He struck at the thoughts
offered, not at the men avIio offered them. He was never known,
under any circumstances, to undertake to weaken the effect of a man's
opinions by weakening him. But the blows delivered by him at this
Conference on the great question are still remembered as falling like
strokes of lightning, or bursting thunderbolts, upon the heads of the
party in opposition. They wished to make the office of Presiding

Joshua Soule. 527
Elder elective by the Annual Conferences. Soule took the ground
that that would break the unity, and thus ruin the efficiency, of the
episcopal supervision. But his opponents, planting themselves on the
republican model of our national and State governments, prevailed
against him in the final vote. The presiding eldership was to be
made elective ; and the natural consequence would have been, in an
assembly governed by political ideas, that Soule's candidacy for the
episcopacy would be at once abandoned. This body of Methodist
clergymen, hoAvever, were not politicians. Believing Soule to have
been actuated by conscientious motives, as they themselves had been,
they at once took up his case and elected him their Bishop. But the
man thus dignified was not to be handled in this manner. Having
come to the deliberate conclusion that no man could efficiently work
the Methodist organization as a Bishop with his chief executive
officers elected by a body over which he was to have no control, and
in Avhich he had no voice, he promptly rose in his place and declined
ordination. He had debated from principle ; and he now showed his
electors that he was capable of acting from no lower motive.
Whatever may at the time have been thought of this quick decision,
it must now be looked back to by the candid memorialist as one of
the grandest acts within the limits of a long and noble life. It was
an act of honest, unselfish, self-denying manhood. Mr. Soule had
been elected by a combination of his coadjutors and opponents. His
opponents, indeed, to a large extent, were the most active in his eleva
tion ; and he certainly owed his election to their exertions, as they
were a majority of the Conference. Such a compliment — first to vote
against a man's policy, then to elect him to the highest office — was
probably never witnessed in any deliberative body before or since. It
was a compliment to the man, and Soule thus clearly understood it.
At the close of this General Conference of 1820 Mr. Soule re
entered the ranks of the traveling ministry, where his greatest Avork had
been performed, and in the duties of which he felt so entirely at home.
His record for the next four years is brief but honorable. For the
year 1820 he was stationed in the city of New York. The appoint
ment held over till 1 821 ; and this is the year made memorable by the
advent of that wonderful pulpit orator, the Bev. John Summerfield,
who scattered the beauty and bloom of summer over every scene he

528 Methodist Bishops.
entered. As Soule was then the crowned man . of American Meth
odism in the national metropolis, it is a matter of interest to see how
he received this inspired son of Irish Methodism, who at once became
the idol of the thousands that flocked to hear him. Summerfield had
been born in the very year of Soule's entrance upon the ministry.
Soule was, therefore, the senior of the gifted Summerfield by just
seventeen years, the young Irish orator being twenty-three, and the
subject of this sketch about forty years of age.
Mr. Soule, at the close of his first year, was re-appointed to the
city of New York, and had the charge given him over all the work
centering at that important point. From New York he Avent to
Baltimore, a place of still higher position in the Methodist denom
ination than New York itself, and here he was at once received as a
man of no secondary character. He held in Baltimore the rank of
preacher in charge of what was then known as the City Station ; and
his sermons soon attracted general attention and made a strong im
pression on the public mind. By all religious people of every denomi
nation he was looked upon as a very strong man.
We now come, however, to the period of Mr. Soule's grandest
triumph. The year 1824, the year of another General Conference,
will always be looked to as the year of years in this great man's
history. He was again a member of the General Conference, repre
senting therein the Baltimore Annual Conference. The reader has
only to call to mind the question and the scenes and debates of 1820,
to understand the nature and import of the good man's victory. Let
it be remembered that he was then elected to the episcopacy by those
who had voted him down on the question of elective presiding elder
ships ; that he had opposed the measure with all his might, as a meas
ure subversive of the executive strength of the denomination; that
he had declared, in the most positive terms, that the work ceased to be
a unit, and that consequently it could not prove a success with this sub
division, or rather destruction, of its executive force. Numbers of the
leading members who had before voted against Mr. Soule now came
to him and acknowledged their mistake. They confessed his prescience
to be greater than their own. They even lauded him in the most
unmeasured terms ; and begged him, now that the only question ever
dividing them had been given up, to accept the office he had before,

Joshua Soule. 529
for conscience' sake, rejected. He was in due time ordained.; and
from that day the backwoods boy of the little town of Avon, in the
wilds of Maine, was known to the world as Bishop Soule.
It is no longer essential, therefore, to follow in detail the life of
this distinguished clergyman. In his case, as in that of most great
men, the charm continues while he is rising from obscurity to the
summit of his power and fame ; for the career becomes monotonous
when the summit level has been reached ; and the daily duties while
crossing the high plain of the dusty years before him would be as
wearisome to the reader as they doubtless were to the great man him
self. From the day of his election, in 1824, to the memorable General
Conference of 1844, a period of twenty years, he successfully per
formed the dry routine duties of his office ; and his only respite from
these episcopal cares was his* brief visit to the British Wesleyan Con
ference in 1842, as the representative of the General Conference of
the United. States. After fulfilling that appointment, he made a short
tour of travel in the British Islands, and went a little way into France.
He was, of course, always addressed by his American traveling com
panion as Bishop ; and this circumstance led to some very amusing
incidents ; for the natives on hearing him thus called at once began
addressing him as My Lord, a title which his great majesty of carriage
would very readily support. At the decease of Bishop Boberts,
March 26, 1843, he became senior Bisliop ; and it was about this time,
or a little earlier, that his natural dignity of bearing began to seem
somewhat oppressive. President Fisk never admired the Bishop's lofty
manner, and he used to tell with great humor how magnificently the
prelate once proclaimed the superiority for the cure of a cold which a
tea made of catnip possessed over any sort of decoction that could be
made from tansy. Stories used to be told, too, about the inconsistency
in matters of taste between his instructions and his practices. Once, in
the village of Winthrop, in the State of Maine, in 1838, there was
held an annual missionary meeting. Bishop Soule was invited to
make the first speech ; he was to be followed by three or four other
speakers, one of whom was the writer of this memoir. The services
began at three o'clock in the afternoon ; the Bishop at first declined
speaking, on the reasonable ground that he was worn out with travel
and Conference labor ; but, waiving this objection, he finally took the

530 Methodist Bishops.
platform and spoke till nearly sundown. Excepting what had to be
said in taking up the collection, there was not another word spoken.
Next day he went to Kent's Hill, the seat of the Maine Conference
that year. On addressing the candidates, he warned them at great .
length, and in a powerful voice, against speaking "too loud and too
long," very justly saying, that true eloquence required only strength
of voice enough to be easily heard, and that lengthy discourses were
apt to weary rather than impress an audience. The Eev. Joseph
Hawkes, still a member of that Conference, was then one of the can
didates addressed. On returning to his seat he remarked to the writer,
that, as the Bishop was to preach next day, he meant to time him.
He did time him, and the report he made was, that the Bishop spoke
just forty minutes before he came to " firstly."
These, however, were trivial blemishes in a great man's life. A
more serious matter occurred at the General Conference in New York
in 1844. Bishop Andrew had married a woman owning slaves. The
Conference wished him to desist from the exercise of his episcopal
functions till this incumbrance should be removed. He declined the
proposition ; his Southern brethren in the Conference sustained him ;
and the Church was in consequence divided. Bishop Soule adhered
to the M. E. Church, South, which received him with open arms, but
without expecting much labor from him. In 1848 he appeared at the
General Conference of the M. E. Church at Pittsburgh, but was
received and treated as a A'isitor, not as a Bishop or even delegate. In
1853 he made an episcopal tour in California, to see what could be
done for Southern Methodism in that quarter, but without results.
He returned with disappointment ; and being now a worn-out man,
he soon after retired from all public duties at the ripe age of seventy-
two. Bemaining in this condition of honorable retirement for the
space of fourteen years, respected and revered by all, he departed this
life on March 6, 1867, in the city of Nashville, where he lies by the
side of his wife, who had died some years before. His grave may
be found in the city cemetery — his name on the records of a great
and growing denomination — his memory and the fruit of his noble
life in every quarter and section of the country he loved, labored for,
and adorned.

RAVED ET TB.WELGH'FWLVFRL'M JJ DAGUERREOTYPE

BEV. JAMES l.finiiMW.S.E

f^Ki//// ////y/y /(',-¦//?, \f/j/ (yf/yyiyy'A-yy/ ^y/yyyyy../>,Q >£'////
/ / / /

James Osgood Andrew.

BY PE0F. W. G. WILLIAMS, A.M.

JAMES OSGOOD ANDEEW was born in Wilkes County, Ga.,
in 1794. His father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. He was a man of deep piety and consecration to the work
of the ministerial office. The mother was a fitting companion for the
Methodist itinerant that her husband was. She cheerfully assumed
and faithfully performed a large share in the training of their numer
ous family. Their children, both by precept and parental example,
were trained " in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." James
Osgood Avas early susceptible to these Christian influences. He be
came a member of the Church of his parents at ten, and was licensed
to preach seven years later, when he had reached his eighteenth
year. Like most of our preachers at that early period, the father had
but limited means, and hence could not afford an extensive educa
tional training for his promising son. But an original mind, exten
sive reading, and fine powers of observation, went far in later life
to supply his early deficiencies. He inherited the genius of industry,
which, with strong natural powers, sanctified by a deep piety, gave
him a career of great influence and usefulness.
Immediately after being licensed to preach he joined the South
Carolina Conference in 1812. He was recommended to the Annual
Conference for admission on trial by the late Bev. -Dr. Lovick Pierce,
then Presiding Elder of the district. Mr. Pierce felt a deep, almost
paternal, interest in the aAvkward, little-tutored boy whom he intro
duced to the itinerancy. He thought he saw the elements of growth
and power, and it soon became a great delight to him to note the
rapid unfolding and increasing usefulness of his young friend and
brother. It is a significant comment upon our system of ministerial training
that under it a mere boy, with the bare rudiments of a common-

534 Methodist Bishops.
school education, can rise in a few years to take high ranlc among
the preachers of his day. Mr. Andrew rose to be the peer of such
men as Olin and Capers, whose rare powers and scholarship adorned,
in those days, the pulpit of our then united Methodism.
The first twenty years of his ministerial life were years of con
stant labor amid the duties of pastor and Presiding Elder. From the
first he endeared himself to those among whom he labored by his
social disposition, popular style of preaching, and zeal for the con
version of souls. He won the confidence and friendship of men, and
then used his power to open the way for Christ to the heart. Many
are the incidents, told by loving friends, of his early ministry, illus
trative of his power, tact, and devotion. One is related of him while
a young circuit preacher in the year 1825, at Fern's Bridge, Ga. A
young convert under his ministry was holding a series of prayer-
meetings in a country 6chool-house near his circuit, and was very
much annoyed and hindered by the opposition of an infidel, who
violated the order of the meeting and threatened still greater inter
ruption. Mr. Andrew, passing to an appointment, was induced by
he knew not what, to turn aside from his own and attend this meet
ing. He found the condition of things as described. He took charge
of the meeting of the evening, giving out the hymn " Shall I, for fear
of feeble man," etc. He then led in prayer; kneeling beside the
infidel, he prayed mightily to God to convict and convert the wicked
man at his side. When he concluded he tapped the man on the back
and said : " Now you pray for yourself." The man did pray. The
Lord had answered Mr. Andrew's prayer, and he who had been the
disturbing element was now crying earnestly for salvation. He was
converted that night, became an efficient minister of the Gospel, and
Mr. Andrew always believed, as he had a right to, that God had sent
him to that meeting on that night.
By nature the subject of this sketch was a man of large sympa
thies. His heart sympathized in the sufferings and trials of all about
him. As he grew in experience and rose to high position, he ever
turned back in sympathy and helpfulness to his younger brethren in
the ministry. He remembered his own early struggles and embar
rassments, and was ever prompt to speak the encouraging word.
The following beautiful tribute to Bishop Andrew's delicacy of

James Osgood Andrew. 535
feeling and sympathetic nature, is by Bishop Pierce, of the Church
South :
At different times, and under some circumstances to me peculiarly trying, I
was indebted to hini for judicious advice and a truly fatherly interest. In the
second year of my ministry I was sent as a junior preacher with him to Augusta,
Ga. I lived in his house, saw him daily, mingled with him in the ease and
freedom of domestic life; and there my boyish awe of the great preacher soft
ened into filial reverence ; my admiration resolved itself into love. The thought
that I was to preach alternately with such a man was a source of alarm and
torture to me. For weeks and weeks, when my turn came round, I besought
him to go out to spare me the embarrassment of his presence. With kind, for
bearing sympathy he yielded to my wishes. He remembered his own struggles
with timidity, and he deferred to the foolish and yet real fears of his youthful
assistant ; but after a season he announced to me that his sense of duty could
not longer allow him to absent himself from the house of God, and to relieve
me, he gave me advice, the assurance of his assistance, and the promise of his
prayers. Bishop Andrew took a deep interest in the missionary work of
the Church. He sought, by all the influence he could wield, to
awaken his own Conference, and after he became a Bishop the Con
ferences wherever he visited them, to greater zeal in behalf of the
foreign and home fields. It is said that the greatest displays of his
eloquence were when appealing to the Church in the interest of those
without the light of the Gospel. He Avas much concerned for the
Church on the Pacific slope in the days when, in eager quest for
gold, men seemed to forget God and his laws. Pie wanted to see
that region, so blessed with rich mineral deposits, have the greater
blessing of the dominion of Christ in men's hearts. In 1855 he
visited California, and wrote a series of letters to the New Orleans
AdArocate, discussing the morals and Church interests of that State.
In November of the same year he presided at the North Carolina Con
ference, and at the Missionary Anniversary made one of his charac
teristic appeals. On this occasion he plead that the Gospel might be
carried into the neighboring South American States. He urged that
" the opening door in the Spanish States south of us should be entered
at once, and the ' saddle-bag ' pioneers take possession of the land in
the name of Christ."
But any account of Bishop Andrew would be only partial which

536 Methodist Bishops.
did not speak somewhat in detail of his views and conduct with
regard to the once prevailing institution of American slavery. He
was born in that part of the Federal Union where slavery existed
and was protected by the laws. Not in his own Methodist home, but
at those of the neighbors, he met the slave every day. With his own
eyes he must have beheld the revolting features of the system. He
Avas reared in the bosom of a Church which had pronounced against
it from the beginning. The position of the Methodist Episcopal
Church as touching the monster evil and sin of slavery was never
equivocal. Her General Conference steadily bore record against it.
The Discipline branded it as against the law of God. But the Church
made one concession. She tolerated the evil among her members for
policy's sake — a sadly mistaken policy, as the sequel revealed, in the
manifest rebuke of God. But, though in the slave States slave
holders had membership in the Church, the ministry held aloof from
all participation in the trafic. The sentiment was too deep and posi
tive for him who took in his hand the sacred emblems of the body
and blood of the great Emancipator to hold by the same hand, as
common chattels, the body and blood of a fellow-man.
But slavery was taking deeper rogt as the years went on, and our
Church in the South became more and more infected by it. Apolo
gists, if not defenders of the system, were gradually increasing, and
sentiment became more lax. Meanwhile the antislavery sentiment
of the North was growing more determined. With every year it
became intenser. With every year upon this issue the Church in the
North and the Church in the South were receding from each other.
It needed little foresight to discern the coming crisis. Clouds were
already in the sky, and others gathering, and the storm must soon
break forth. In the hour of threatening, to the nation as well as to
the Church, Providence assigned a leading part to the Methodist
Episcopal organization. More by accident, however, than by his own
choice, we believe, Bishop Andrew figured conspicuously in these
exciting scenes. We do not learn that in all his career, up to the
General Conference of 1844, he had ever been the voluntary spokes
man or. champion of the pro-slavery element of the Church. He was
not an agitator in its behalf; nor, on the other hand, did he ever
criticise or denounce the system. We know not that he ever uttered

James Osgood Andrew. 537
an abolition word. He gave not the might of his eloquence and great
influence to break the shackles from his fellow-man. He accepted the
institution as he found it, and sought to make no change. But there
are some things we ought not to forget. The society in which he
Avas born and reared was closely identified with slavery. Both
socially and financially it was committed to the system. Even in that
part of the Church in which he grew up and ahvays lived it Avas
allowed and sanctioned. The natural effect upon the youth growing
up amid such surroundings, we must admit, was to obscure the vision
and soften the features of the great wrong. But although, as we
have said, he expressed no condemnation — although he sought to effect
no change in the political and social condition of the black man —
Bishop Andrew manifested a deep interest in his spiritual welfare.
He preached to the slave and pointed him to the Lamb of God. He
says of himself :
When I was yet a mere boy I taught a Sunday-school of slaves, in which I
taught a number of them to read, and from that period till this day I have de
voted my energies to the promotion of their happiness and salvation. With all
my influence, in public, in private, with my tongue, with my pen, I have assidu
ously endeavored to promote their present and eternal happiness.
The following extract from the " Southern Methodist Quarterly "
is to the same point :
At the session of the South Carolina Conference, early in 1832, a decided
and memorable impulse was given to the missionary spirit, particularly among
the preachers, by a speech delivered at the anniversary of the Missionary Society by
the Rev. James O. — now Bishop — Andrew. Professor Parks, of Virginia, was in
attendance at the Conference. His fame as an orator had preceded him, and
the highest expectations were excited at the announcement tliat he would address
the meeting.
After the usual preparatory exercises Mr. Andrew was introduced to the
meeting, and read the following resolution : " That while we consider false views
of religion as being every way mischievous, and judge from the past that much
evil has resulted from that cause among the slave population of this country, we
are fully persuaded that it is not only safe, but highly expedient to society at
large, to furnish the slaves, as fully as possible, with the means of true scriptural
instruction and the worship of God." We have heard many good and clever
speeches in our time, a few that deserved to be called great ; but foremost in our
recollection stands the remarkable speech made by Bishop Andre won that occasion.

538 Methodist Bishops.
He drew a picture of the irreligious, neglected plantation negro. He pointed out
his degradation, rendered but the deeper and darker from the fitful and tran
sient flashings-up of desires which felt after God — scintillations of the immortal
blood-bought spirit within him, which ever and anon gleamed amid the dark
ness of his untutored mind. He pointed to the converted negro — the noblest
prize of the Gospel — the most unanswerable proof of its efficiency, etc."
With sentiments and a record upon the slavery question such as
the foregoing reveals, the name of James O. Andrew was presented
to the General Conference of 1832 for the office of Bishop. He was
elected on the first ballot, receiving the highest number of votes.
Bishop Emory was elected by the same Conference. The former was
the representative of the South, the latter of the North. Bishop
Andrew was as acceptable with the Northern Conferences as could be
any man with Southern feelings and sentiments in those days. He
had never had any personal connection with slavery ; and was regarded
a man of moderate views and high personal character. During the
twelve-years' interval betAveen the General Conferences of 1832 and
1844 he traveled extensively throughout the whole connection, though
his episcopal appointments were mostly in the South. He lost the
wife of his youth and mother of his children dnring the qfladrennium
preceding the General Conference of 1844. A few weeks before the
assembling of this General Conference he married again. His second
wife, a Georgian lady, was the owner of several slaves. The report
that one of our Bishops had thus, by his marriage, become a slave
holder, caused great excitement among the delegates of the North,
many of whom had first heard of it on their way to or after arriving
at New York, where the Conference was held. It was plain that the
hour of the culminating struggle between the antislavery and pro-
slayery elements of the Church was at hand. In the early days of the
session the Episcopal Committee waited upon the Bishop and learned
the fact of his slave connection from his own lips. For twelve days the
case was before the Conference. Perhaps no other General Confer
ence has witnessed as stormy debates as this discussion elicited. It
was a battle in which was involved, as some men thought, a principle
dearer than life. The talent of the North and South was there. Every
weapon of logic and wit, of sarcasm and impassioned utterance, was
wielded by the respective partisans of the controversy for many days.

James Osgood Andrew. 539
The question of General Conference poAvers over the episcopal
officer, its right to deprive of office or suspend, its power mandatory
or advisory, these were the chief points of Uxav in the case, Avhich Avero
discussed with eminent ability.
The moral phase of the question, that is, Bishop AndreAv's act of
marriage under the circumstances, and how it would affect the Church,
were also much and warmly debated. Upon this phase of the case the
following points Avere urged by the Northern delegates :
1. The Church ahvays had testified against slavery.
2. It only tolerates it through necessity.
3. Non-slave-holding Bishops were never unacceptable in the South.
4. Slave-holding Bishops could not be tolerated in the North.
5. It would encourage a slave-holding ministry.
6. A Bisliop belongs to the whole Church.
7. It Avould sanction slavery.
8. No necessity impelled Bishop AndreAV.
9. The South formerly opposed it.
The embarrassment of the case Avas deeply felt by all parties.
The wife of Bishop AndreAV had inherited the slaves from her former
husband, who had secured them to her by a deed of trust, which made
manumission impossible. The laAV of Georgia required that the slaves
be held or transferred to another to be held as such, under heavy and
painful penalties. The only extrication for Bishop AndreAV seemed
to be removal from the State of Georgia.
Throughout all the heated discussion all personal reference to
Bishop Andrew Avas in kindliest words and manner. In his OAvn
speech, after the trial had been in progress for ten days, he testifies to
the uniform courtesy and kindness with whicli he had been alluded to
personally. The folloAving extract" from his speech on that occasion
may interest the reader of this biographical sketch :
At length, however, I came into the possession of slaves, and I am a slave
holder, (as I have already explained to the Conference,) and I cannot help myself.
It is known that I have waded through deep sorrows at the South during the last
four years. I have buried the wife of my youth and the mother of my children,
who needed a friend and a mother. I sought to make my home a happy one,
and I have done so. Sir, I have no apology to make. It has been said, I did
this thing voluntarily, and with my eyes open. I did so deliberately and in the

540 Methodist Bishops.
fear of God. I might have resorted to a trick by making over these slaves to
my wife before marriage, or by doing as a friend suggested, having my wife
make over these negroes to her children, securing to herself an annuity from
them, who might have abused and maltreated them. Sir, my conscience would
not let me do this. Strange as it may seem to the brethren, I am a slave-holder
for conscience' sake.
He concluded by asking that the discussion come to an end. The
result Avas inevitable, and why delay it longer ? The case was ended
by a vote of 111 to 69, adopting the folloAving resolution :
Resolved, That it is the sense of this General Conference that he [Bishop An
drew] desist from the exercise of this office so long as this impediment remains.
Bishop Andrew retired from NeAV York deeply afflicted by the
action of the Conference. He thought he had been harshly dealt
with. He did not attend the Bishops' meeting, and received no
appointment for the following year.
In May, 1845, a convention of the Southern Conferences met in
Louisville. Bishops Soule and Andrew presided over their delibera
tions, while the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized.
Bishop AndreAV adhered to the Southern Church, and traveled through
out its bounds, performing episcopal labor until 1866. After the
death of Bishop Soule, in 1867, he was the senior Bisliop of his
Church, and did much by his experienced counsels and unceasing
labor to advance its interests. As he grew to old age he grew more
and more in the affections of the Church he had so long served. He
came at last to be the patriarch in the midst of his people. Con
ferences throughout the Connection greeted his coming with cordial
welcome. He was honored and beloved by colleagues, preachers, and
laymen. At the General Conference of 1866, having passed the
allotted age of threescore and ten, and conscious of his growing infirm
ities, he asked the Conference to relieve him from active duties, and
retired from the regular work. But even in the feebleness of the
five years which he yet lived after his retirement he could not refrain
from preaching Christ on all occasions when his strength permitted.
He would visit the churches where he had preached, and talk to the
people of Jesus and glory, and, thinking to see them no more in the
flesh, he would shake hands with them in farewell, and bid them come
on to heaven.

James Osgood Andrew. 541
At the residence of his son-in-law, in Mobile, Ala., under the roof
of his own daughter, on the second day of March, 1871, Bishop
Andrew died. He had lived seventy-seven years in the world, had been
a member of the Methodist Church sixty-seven years, a preacher fifty-
nine years, and a Bishop thirty-nine years. His death-chamber was
made glorious by the presence of God. He was serene and happy as
he rested on the margin of the river. He had " the peace of God
which passeth all understanding." He spoke much of his " going
home," and of a happy reception there through Christ. To his dear
friend Bishop Pierce he sent the f ollowing message : " Tell him that
I love him, and that I have a home on the other side." He also re
quested that Bishop Pierce should preach his funeral sermon. He
sent word to his colleagues, the Bishops : " Tell them that I would
like to meet them in May, but I cannot, for I am fully persuaded that
my time to go is near at hand ; that in them I have the fullest confi
dence, and die rejoicing that God has put the Church in their care
and superintendency ; and that they must ahvays live in love and
harmony." In this tranquil state he lingered for several days, expect
ing to go at any moment. His bed was surrounded by his children,
grandchildren, and many of his brethren in the ministry. At last,
when he knew himself going, he turned to his weeping relatives and
friends and exclaimed, " God bless you all ! Yictory, victory!" and
died. Bishop Andrew is described as of moderate height and of full but
not plethoric habit. His round body and broad, full chest bespoke
great physical strength. His face was of the Eoman mold, his coun
tenance placid and grave, indicating great self-possession. His eye
was gray and ordinarily calm and lusterless, but kindling ever when
his characteristic Arein was sprung.
Intellectually he was in many respects a great man. His mind
was comprehensive and swift in its operation. His judgment Avas
sound, strong, and discriminating. Hence, he was always regarded as
a safe and wise counselor. He wielded the pen with great facility.
His two published works, " Household Government " and " Miscella
nies," reveal the author's rich, easy style of composition. He was a
great reader, and gathered large stores of information ; but for the
want of early training was never very methodical. He digested the

542 Methodist Bishops.
material which he gathered in a way peculiar to himself, never failing,
however, to give it the stamp of his own personality.
As a preacher he was unique. His style was his OAvn. It was
unstudied, but free, full, and flowing. He never dAvelt in propositions ;
had nothing to do with divisions, firstly, secondly, thirdly, and lastly.
He dealt with one great leading idea, concentrating upon it his won
derful power of amplification. He loathed the bony bareness of pul
pit " skeletons," and declared his unAvillingness to limit his range of
thought to the " textual trisections of anatomical sermonizers." His
voice was deep-toned and impressive, speedily arresting and enchaining
the attention of his audience. A writer says : " The first half of his
sermons was always the best — often grand, imperial in the range of
thought, the sweep of imagination, the wealth of words. The latter
half was commonly colloquial, simple, sometimes commonplace. It
seemed to me that in prayer and meditation and communion with
God, he had ascended some lofty elevation, some bright mount of
vision ; and when he entered the pulpit and announced his text he
launched out, on bold, broad pinions, like an angel flying through the
midst of the heavens." In his personal religious experience he was
never demonstrative. His religion was deep and quiet. From the
day he became a minister he never turned aside to pursue any other
calling. He loved the Avork his Master had given him to do, and
made it his one business. He knew by experience the trials and sor
rows and disappointments of a preacher's life, yet on his 'dying bed
he said, that if he could live his life over again, he would be a Meth
odist preacher still — the only change, greater loyalty to the Lord
Jesus.

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John Early.

BY EEV. LEONIDAS K0SSEE, D. D.

JOHN EAELY was born in Bedford County, Ya., January 1, 1786,
and died at his own home in Lynchburgh, Ya., November 5, 1873,
aged nearly eighty-eight years — having lived almost a century in the
most eventful period of American Methodism — an era of moral hero
ism second in resplendence only to the apostolic.
His parents were Baptists. At eighteen years of age, on April
22, 1804, he was converted under the powerful ministry of Stith Mead
— joined the Methodist Church — was licensed to preach in 1806, and
under the direction of the presiding elder began his ministry among
the slaves of President Jefferson, and the poor. He Avas admitted on
trial into the Yirginia Conference in 1807, in 1809 was ordained dea
con, in 1811 was ordained elder; and in 1813 and 1814 Bishops
Asbury and M'Kendree, perceiving his administrative genius, ap
pointed him Presiding Elder of the Meherrin District, extending then
from Eichmond to Lynchburgh. In 1815 he located to adjust his
temporal affairs to his sacred work, and returned, with " every Aveight "
laid aside, to his old district in 1821.
Now his zeal knew no bounds. His district flamed from end to
end with great revivals. His eye scanned the whole field, and like a
general he marshaled and led the hosts to triumph on every hand. I
quote from authentic records : " On the Greenville Circuit he received
five hundred members into the Church. At the memorable camp-
meeting at Prospect, Prince Edward County, Ya., to the august glory
of which Weems, in his 'Life of Washington,' makes special refer
ence, it is said, one thousand persons were converted in seven days."
A volume might be written descriptive of the extraordinary revivals
that attended and followed his labors wherever he went at this pente-
costal period of Yirginia Methodism. Meantime, his ability for organ
ization and administration shone with equal luster, and was adequate
to the demands of revival. What he reaped he gathered straightway
32

546 Methodist Bishops.
into the garher. Moreover, his great soul now flamed also with mis
sionary fire. He organized five branches of the Missionary Society,
and devised four others oh his district. Hear him in his own words :
" Cold is the heart that takes no interest in the missionary cause, espe
cially if it be found among the prophets ! Let my right hand forget
its cunning, if I forget thee, O, Jerusalem ! Let my tongue cleave
to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief
joy!" From 1824 to 1826, inclusive, he was Conference missionary ; in
1827 he was one of the three preachers on Bedford Circuit, and in
1828 he was left without appointment at his own request. From 1829
to 1832 he was again at work as Presiding Elder. From 1833 to 1840,
inclusive, he was Agent for Bandolph Macon College. He was one
of the committee, in 1825, who drew up a report on education, out of
¦which the college grew. He was for many years the President of its
Board of Trustees. From 1841 to 1846 he again appears as Presiding
Elder on the Lynchburgh and Petersburgh Districts. This brought
him down to the first General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, held in Petersburgh, Ya., in 1846.
In 1812, but five' years after his admission on trial into the Yirginia
Conference, he was sent as one of the eleven delegates to the first
delegated General Conference, which met in the City of New York
in 1812. He was a member of the General Conferences from 1828
to 1844. To his practical wisdom we owe, Avhat have been aptly termed
those time-saving and convenient institutions, Standing Committees.
The first General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, to meet the demands of the Southern Church for its publica
tions — the Northern Book Concern not having paid the Southern
Church its share — resolved on the enterprise of a Book Agency. A
man of superior tact, experience, and capacity, was required, and John
Early was elected as the man needed. He opened his office in Eich-
mond, and carried on the work successfully until 1854, when the
Publishing House was established in Nashville. In this agency he
continued till he was elected Bishop, at the General Conference which
met in Columbus, Ga., in 1854. Unaltered in resolution, undimin
ished in zeal, and inflexible in integrity, he continued actively engaged
in the duties of the episcopacy till, at the General Conference in New

John Eaelt. 547
Orleans, in 1866, with Bishops Soule and Andrew, he was voted a super
annuated relation. He was now in his eightieth year. But he did not
cease to work, to the last demand of his high office, and the last limit
of his mind and body, till he died.
I now quote at length from the " tribute " of the Yirginia Con
ference to his memory, prepared by a special committee, and recorded
on the Conference Journal :
In 1866 — the year of his superannuation — he was severely hurt in a railroad
accident, and for awhile it was feared he would die. The vigor of his consti
tution, however, triumphed, but left him greatly disabled. From that time on
ward to his death his physical forces gradually failed, and his public ministra
tions became less frequent. The opinion has often been expressed thut but for
the shock which his nervous system sustained by that accident, he would proba
bly have reached his hundredth year. His tenacity of purpose and resoluteness
of will often sustained him when other signs prophesied imminent death. The
weight of years, and the repeated shocks of an old malady, at last wore him
down, and on the morning of November 5, 1873, at a quarter to nine o'clock, he
sweetly and calmly fell asleep, and passed away to the rewards of a well-spent
life. For twelve months or more before his death he was unable to attend upon
•any of the public services of the Church. But through all his long confinement,
and amid all its alternations of suffering and repose, he jnanifested a wonderful
cheerfulness, patience, and resignation. The secret of these was found in his
abiding, unshaken faith in God. He never seemed for a moment to question
either the wisdom or goodness of God in his dealings with him.
As to death, he regarded his life-work as a preparation for it, and betrayed
no fear of its approach. When he spoke of it, it was with a calm composure, and
when he looked beyond it, it was often with the joyful anticipation of assured
victory, and glorious greetings of tbe loved ones who had preceded him. There
were several things which came out with such pleasing emphasis during the last
years of his life, and down to the last week thereof, that they deserve mention
in this paper.
First. We notice the readiness and zest with which he always entered into
any act of religious worship. The visits of Christian friends, and especially
his brethren in the ministry, the singing of the songs of Zion, and prayer around
his family altar, or at his bedside, never failed to arouse the deeper responses of
his soul.
Second. The frequency and fervor with whicli he spoke of his being at peace
with his Maker and all men, were often touching, and especially to those who
knew of the many trying and stormy periods of his active life. His noted
strength of opinions, and independent boldness in their expression, had often
led men to misconstrue his motives, misinterpret his spirit, and form harsh judg-

548 Methodist Bishops.
ments concerning him, and therein to antagonize him in both feeling and action.
But over all these asperities, engendered by such conflict of judgments, his soul
had triumphed, and its holy impulses had gathered in peaceful benediction upon
• all men.Another feature marking him was, his fatherly spirit toward his younger
brethren in the ministry. For them his tenderness seemed to deepen as his days
grew apace ; and his respectful and even deferential manner toward them gave
a mellowing charm to his intercourse with them.
Then, too, there was conspicuous to the last his deep interest in the general
prosperity of the Church. Truly his soul loved our Zion. In the opening up of
our mission fields, and especially that in Mexico — in the growing prosperity of
our educational interests, and especially that of Randolph Macon College — in
the success of the ministry — in the signs of a growing spirit of unity between
the different Protestant Churches — in the welfare of the young — he ever took
the warmest interest, and of all these he was often wont to speak, and in such
terms as showed the fires of a holy zeal still burning upon the altar of his heart,
and they burned there to the last. Of him it may be truly said: "He had
fought a good fight, and kept the faith." The result was, his end was peace.
Quietly, irom the bosom of his family, and from the home which had sheltered
him for fifty years, he passed away to his heavenly home.
His death produced a profound impression upon the community of Lynch
burgh. There, where he had been so long and so well known, his character had
made a deep impression.
Presidents of the United States, governors of his own beloved State, poli
ticians and citizens, had time and again invoked his superior practical wisdom
for the management of important civil trusts, hut he yielded to none save in an
incidental way. Not that he was wanting in devotion to the material as well as
the spiritual prosperity of his beloved State. But it is a significant fact, and
one which serves to illustrate his remarkable character, that, while he responded
to some of these calls, he never allowed them to interfere with his ministerial
duties; nor did his participation in any public State interests compromise his
standing and influence as a Christian minister. - The natural result was, respect
had blended with esteem until it ripened into veneration for him.
To strength of opinion and fearlessness in its expression, he had so uniformly
added evidence of integrity and highmindedness as a Christian, that all classes,
however different in their opinions, had learned to cherish him as a man,
as a patriot, as a Christian, and as a faithful minister of the Gospel of Christ.
When he died, therefore, public sentiment testified a great and good man had
fallen. His funeral obsequies furnished another evidence of the high esteem in which
he was held. The closing of business houses and post-office; the adjournment
by its judge of the Circuit Court, then in session ; the public and private

John Early. 549
expressions of grief, the large concourse at his funeral, all bespoke the public
sense of loss occasioned by his death.
In other cities and places such action was taken by our ministers and people
as shows that our one sentiment as a Church is, "A prince and a great man
has fallen in Israel." His name had long been a household word through our
borders. He was one of the great historic characters of American Methodism,
and especially of Southern Methodism.
With this Conference he had been identified in labors and love for sixty-
six years. But two of our members survive Avho entered the Conference
before him, and none who so long were engaged in the active work of the
ministry. We therefore feel ourselves bereaved of an honored leader and a conspicuous
landmark. But our rejoicing is this: That he was not only spared to us so long,
but that the grace of God abounded toward his aged servant, and through a long
and most eventful life enabled him to work a mighty work. Thousands were
brought to Christ through his ministry ; and his flaming zeal, his unshaken devo
tion, and his peaceful end, are the beacon lights to guide us, and the heritage of
our memories over which we are given to rejoice, and through which, though
deadj he yet speaketh. Of him we may well say —
" Servant of God, well done !
Rest from thy loved employ,
The battle fought, the victory won,
Enter thy Master's joy."
In concluding this brief paper, we beg to offer the following resolutions :
1. Resolved, That we receive with profound sensibility this visitation of God in the removal,
by death, of our beloved Bishop ; but recognizing the fact that our God doeth all things
well, we bow with resignation to his sovereign will.
2. Resolved, That we recognize in Bishop Early a man of rare endowments, embodying
originality and boldness without rashness, quickness of perception with caution in the for
mation of opinions, and developing in his life a tenacity of purpose based upon deep con
victions, an unbending integrity, a fearless courage, a practical wisdom, anH an executive
power that gave to his character a force which was ever progressive yet always conserva
tive, and which stamped him at once as a leader among men.
3. Resolved, That we recognize in him a Christian and a Minister of the Gospel of Christ,
whose one watch-word through life was Duty, whose inspiration for the discharge of duty
was Love, and who, in the performance of duty faltered at no sacrifice or danger, but through
a long and most eventful life, in all the stations of high trust and grave responsibility to
which his Church could call him, displayed a zeal worthy a disciple of Christ, and which
showed that, in the work of the ministry, he amply met his highest ambition.
4. Resolved,. That in his life of piety we have a cherished example for our imitation of
Christian devotedness, and in his peaceful death another cheering encouragement to fidelity
in our work as ministers of the Gospel of Christ.
5. Resolved, That as a Conference, with which he had been so long identified, we tender
to his bereaved family our sympathies, and assurances of prayer for the richest blessings of
their father's God to rest upon them.

550 Methodist Bishops.
John Early was one of the fathers of American Methodism, whose
career from his earliest ministry proceeded on the only basis of an
increasing and enduring fame. For sixty years occupying an upper
most seat in the supreme councils of the Church, he faithfully dis
charged the solemn trusts committed to him with a frank, firm, and
undisguised integrity — an integrity which he never compromitted,
and a responsibility which he never evaded. Always conspicuous with
the foremost in promptly and prudently resisting every innovation
attempted in constitutional Methodism, and always an incorruptible
friend to civil liberty, he boldly opposed every effort of the ministry
or membership that in the remotest manner tended to encroachment
upon the civil jurisdiction of the country. In doctrine and deed he
always wore the fresh and fadeless complexion of evangelical truth
and republican purity — a countenance of majesty that inspired the
timid with courage, and caused even obtrusive leaders of party feuds to
retire. The influence of his presence in Church and State was
a sort of inspiration, exciting a confidence which the most pow
erful eloquence and massive logic could not strengthen, and the most
formidable opposition could not diminish — an effluence of character,
the product and supporter of truth itself. " A very rock and pillar of
the Church." A word from him was the index of past Methodism,
and his judgment prophetic of her future history. Possessing wisdom,
prudence, experience, sagacity, and firmness * — those higher qual
ities of true greatness — he was capable of estimating . causes ever vig
orously at work, and of determining their momentous results, however
remote. His was not the heart to quail, nor the will to waver, nor the
* Dr. Bennett, editor of the " Richmond Christian Advocate," who last year visited the
site of " the Great Camp-meeting " already referred to, says : " We have heard an incident
of this meeting which is well worth preserving. It is authentic, as it was related only a
few days since by the venerable Bishop Early to Rev. E. N. S. Blogg. On Tuesday of the
meeting, after a sermon by Mr. Early, among many other penitents a young lady presented
herself at the altar. In a few moments a young man entered the altar with horse-whip in
hand, and, seizing the young lady, who was his sister, took her away. On Friday following,
while Mr. Early was in the midst of his sermon, a young man rushed up to the stand, and
catching hold of the preacher's coat, cried out: 'Stop, sir, stop, sir, pray for me, pray for
me ! ' The minister paused, and looking him in the face, said : ' No, sir, no, sir ; go and
bring that young lady back you took from the altar, and we will pray for you.' He left,
and in a few moments after re-appeared leading the young lady to the pulpit, and again
asked the preacher to pray for him. ' No, sir,' said Mr. Early, ' not here ; go and kneel
down in the dust in the altar, and then we will pray for you.' They did so, and soon both
were happily converted.1'

John Early. 551
hand to tremble, nor the conscience to swerve, when those causes came
before him for adjustment, direction, and control. Such as he was,
" The rude and storm-vexed times required ;
A pilot formed by nature to command."
He was no abstractionist in theory or in action. Analysis and
synthesis were intuitive and simultaneous with him, coalesced instantly
in action, and then his constitutional resolution yielded only to im
possibilities. His impetuosity in debate was grand. His soul was
set on fire by the velocity of its purpose. He did not stop to con
sider whether he was impelled by his own innate energy or by the
immediate inspiration of the Spirit, for the two so blended as to
render the former indistinguishable, and both perfectly irresistible.
Nor did he pause a moment for circumstance, obstacle, or opponent,
however formidable, in the executions of his genius and faith. Never
was a leader less dependent on others for his resources, his triumphs,
or his fame.
Inspired by no provincial or selfish spirit, and profoundly con
scious of the wisdom and justice of his convictions, he was content to
refer his verdict to the future, and in that verdict he has long since
not only had the satisfaction of his friends, but the approval of his
opposers. At his grave friend, rival, and opponent meet and unite
in the recognition of his greatness and his merit. Nor is this all. In
the impartial exercises of the legitimate functions of his episcopal
office, when he sometimes encountered the dissatisfaction of strong
men in some of the Conferences, the general prosperity of the Church
that followed was the convincing attestation of the Spirit to his
wisdom and integrity. I have often heard it observed by old men
of the Yirginia Conference that no Bisliop ever stationed the
preachers in that Conference more wisely than Bishop Early did.
His preaching, if not always arrayed in the polished and refined
graces of oratory, was always dignified, simple, and impressive, and
sometimes, as in debate, perfectly overwhelming. He was convincing
without the formulas of logic; persuasive without the embellishments
of rhetoric ; captivating without the decorations of learning ; exhibiting
native greatness, radiant with a resplendence divine. O, I have im
agined him at times like Peter on the day of Pentecost, or John,

552 Methodist Bishops.
preaching the eternal word from the " secret places of thunder."
The majesty of truth and the dignity of the sacred office he never
compromised. Like his own character, the truth mysteriously, in
sensibly, and ofttimes irresistibly, subdued the largest and most pol
ished assemblies, and thousands upon thousands of souls in his own
Yirginia were seals to his ministry. In confirmation of the power of
his preaching in many places, he could employ the language of St.
Paul to the Church at Corinth : " Am I not an apostle ? . . . If I be
not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you : for the seal of
mine apostleship are ye in the Lord." In a remarkable manner, truly,
Avas his preaching accompanied with " signs, and wonders, and mighty
deeds." Persons of all degrees and all tastes and all pursuits and all
ages — the vain, the formal, the fashionable, the gay, the moral, the
dissolute, the rich, the poor, the refined, the rude, the skeptic, the
infidel, the backslider, the penitent, the Christian, the statesman, the
politician, and the scholar — all have bowed before the uncontrollable
power of his preaching. It is not surprising that from such scenes
passing before his eyes his sagacity shonld have discovered and his
judgment selected some of the most thrilling incidents, which he
often interwove so appropriately and with such effect in his preaching
as to elevate the soul to its acme of excitement — a faculty which few
possess, and a method that sometimes produces more profound and
lasting impression than the most brilliant oratory or the most per
suasive elocution. His soul was fathomless with genuine religious
enthusiasm, ever ready to guide the believer, old and young, as in a
chariot of fire toward heaven, or interpose between the wicked and
the infinite depths of hell. Plis large blue eye flashed with a
tranquil luster, his powerful voice, like the blast of a trumpet, roused
every feeling and shook every nerve ; his erect and imperial form
heaved with irrepressible emotion ; and his countenance beamed with
an intensity no words can describe, as he reached the crisis of his dis
courses and vanished in the dazzling glory that followed.
In 1858 I heard him preach at Amherst Court-house, Ya. He
was buoyant as in the prime of life. It Avas pleasant to follow his
mind, gliding along, unfolding in beautiful simplicity and great force
eArery part of the text. The sermon abounded with discriminations,
illustrations, expositions, appeals, bursts of eloquence, flashes of rhet-

John Early. 553
oric, and flights of commanding oratory — all his own — exhibiting
conspicuously the solid excellences of the earlier Methodist preachers,
and unequaled by the artificial refinements of his elegant sons around
him. The crowded throng was overwhelmed by a sublime and ten
der power. He was one of the few men whose preaching filled me
with unutterable tenderness and excited me to irrepressible tears.
He was a revivalist of the highest order. It is generally conceded
that fie traveled more, had more souls converted under his ministry,
and received more persons into the Church, than any of his contem
poraries. Within one step of Wesley, inasmuch as he received the
prophet's mantle from Asbury, he bore the torch of revival down to
our day, and left it in our hands to illumine distant ages. Probably
more ministers were converted under his preaching than can be claimed
by any other man in America. O the greetings when he entered
heaven ! And his crown on the coronation day ! And his place be
fore the eternal throne !
Wilbur Fisk at the North and John Early at the South were
among the first to initiate and promote a collegiate education in the
Methodist ministry, and the Wesleyan University and Bandolph Ma
con College are their enduring monuments. Yet it is a question of
the greatest importance whether we have not lost more in zeal than-
we have gained in education; and declined in "the demonstration of the
Spirit," as we have improved in " excellency of speech " and " enticing
words of man's wisdom : " a consequence which B.ishop Early by no
means believed to be inevitable, and yet a danger which he foresaw im
pending, and against which, from the beginning, he uttered the most
solemn admonitions and warnings, while he exerted his utmost to the
last in behalf of his loved Bandolph Macon College. May the colleges
of to-day blaze with the old Methodist fire, like the burning bush, out
of which God spoke !
Dr. Abel Stevens, in -his "History of the Methodist Episcopal
Church," speaks of the subject of this memoir: John Early began
" his public labors among Mr. Jefferson's slaves at Poplar Forest, and,
notwithstanding his adherence to the policy of the Church South re
specting the slavery controversy, he has been noted from the begin
ning for his interest in the religious welfare of the colored race. Pos
sessing an iron constitution, a practical but ardent mind, a notably

554 Methodist Bishops.
resolute will, and habits rigorously systematic and laborious, he became
a favorite coadjutor, a confidential counselor of Asbury, M'Kendree,
Bruce, Jesse Lee, and their associate leaders of the denomination.
He was a renowned, if not, indeed, a dreaded, disciplinarian. Every
interest of the Church received his devoted and persistent attention.
He was a chief founder of Bandolph Macon College, and has con
tinued to be its rector down to our day."
August man of God ! One such as he were enough to immortalize
an age. The memory of him is a living presence in our councils, our
Churches, and at our firesides. His influence is a sort of omnipres
ence, checking our levity, restraining excess, and rebuking presump
tion. His body sleeps in the shadow of his own Blue Hills, but his
spirit, like a presiding genius, abides with us, inalienable and vener
able, pointing to the " old paths," and beckoning us onward.

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William Capers.

BY EEV. W. M. WIGHTMAN, D.D.

AMONG the eminent men who filled the Methodist pulpits of
the South, and carried forward the Methodistic movement in
the generation immediately succeeding Asbury and M'Kendree,
William Capers holds no mean rank. He was born in South Caro
lina, in January, 1790. His father, who had been an officer in the
war of the Bevolution, became a Christian and a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church on the first introduction of the ministry
of that Church into South Carolina. He died late in 1812, and was
a pattern of piety, illustrating in his life the consistency, simplicity,
and power of religion, and on his death-bed its surpassing triumph.
William passed through a childhood of innocence, simple pastimes,
gladsome sympathies, in the happy world of a country home. As
he grew up he had the training of suitable schools, and in his six
teenth year was admitted to the Sophomore class of the South Caro
lina College. Under the strain of excessive study, however, his
health gave way, and he left college at the close of the Junior year.
He then spent some time in the study of law ; but before his ad
mission to the bar the providence and Spirit of God opened before
him a very different career. By the conversion of a dear sister and
brother-in-law he was powerfully impressed with the truth and im
portance of spiritual religion, and led to seek most earnestly its
manifestation in his own soul. In this state of mind, and in order
" to break with the world " formally and entirely, he joined the
Methodist Episcopal Church ; and in a few weeks after, at a Quarterly
Meeting, he found the unspeakable blessing he had been seeking — " the
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." He saw, felt, and
knew that Christ was his, and that through him he had received the
Spirit of grace, and was become a child of God. The conviction that
he was called to preach soon became clear and strong. Following up
these impressions of imperative duty, he abandoned law, and gave

558 Methodist Bishops.
himself to the work of the ministry. At a Conference held in
Greene County, Ga., in December, 1808, and attended by Bishops
Asbury and M'Kendree, he was admitted on trial in the South
Carolina Conference. Few young men of his day had fairer worldly
prospects. In addition to the social position of his family, his fine
personal appearance and agreeable manners made him popular in all
circles ; and the force and variety of his intellect, together Mrith the
power of sustained mental application, promised ample success in the
profession originally chosen. It was a very genuine conversion whicli
led him to " break " with the world which held out to him the
promise of a brilliant career, enhanced by the glamor thrown over
it by youthful enthusiasm. Without a sigh he turned away from
all this, and consecrated his life, Avhile yet the sparkle was on its
dewy morning, to that ministry which he had received of the Lord
Jesus, " to testify the gospel of the grace of God." What things
were gain to him he counted loss for Christ.
After four years of hard service on circuits and stations he was
married to a charming young woman, gentle, refined, deeply pious,
of noble courage and surpassing beauty. The tovrn at which he was
stationed this first year of his married life was one of the three in
the Conference which possessed a parsonage. The building so called
had two stories, the lower eight feet high, the upper just high
enough to allow a man of ordinary height to stand upright with his
hat off. So meager were the collections for his support that less
than two hundred dollars was all that was paid him for the year's
work ; and, of course, private resources had to be drawn on. Yet
I cannot doubt but that the " peace of God which passeth all under
standing," and the smile of that beautiful young wife, turned the
shanty into a palace. The first visitors who pronounced their bene
dictions upon the young housekeepers were Francis Asbury and his
traveling companion, Henry Boehm. This year's work laid the
foundation for a society Avhich afterward reckoned among its mem
bers some of the best, most intelligent, and influential Methodists
known anywhere.
The next circuit of Mr. Capers was among his relatives, where
he required no parsonage, and where, of course, his abilities and
disinterested zeal were highly appreciated. The year ran its course,

William Capers. 559
filled up with duty and usefulness ; but its close brought the greatest
trial and conflict of his earlier ministerial life. The Church made no
adequate provision for family men ; on the contrary, the usage then
was for married preachers, after serving a year or two and exhaust
ing their own means of support in making up deficiencies of salary,
to retire honorably and quietly from the active service of the regular
ministry, and sustain thenceforward the relation of located preachers
— finding support in secular pursuits, exercising the ministerial
functions only as occasion served. Mr. Capers was in the full vigor
of early manhood. He had the promise of many years of dis
tinguished usefulness before him. He had admiring friends who
anticipated for him wide and noble influence ; and besides, the vows
of God were upon him to consecrate time, strength, and faculty to
the exclusive work of the ministry. All the force of obligations of
this sort was felt by him; yet, on the other hand, there was the
usage of the Annual Conference of which he was a member ; the
stern fact that the Church at whose altars he was serving seemed
oblivious of its part of the obligation. To think of being able to get
on with a year's salary consisting of eighty dollars for himself and
eighty dollars for his wife, with traveling expenses, and no more, was
chimerical ; and beyond this the Book of Discipline required no
provision to be made. After much trouble of mind and anxious
consideration he felt compelled to locate. His wife, when consulted-,
doubted, hesitated, and objected to his taking this step, and at last
yielded with extreme reluctance, saying to her husband : " If you are
clear in your mind, you must do it ; but I fear you will do it too much
on my account." And now a small farm that had been given him by
his father before his marriage was put in working order. Things
went on well until the close of the year. Then suddenly, at one
sharp stroke, that lovely wife — the desire of his eyes, the idol of his
heart — is taken from him. In the morning he had seen her, the
perfection of beauty, the joy of his life ; at night her spirit had fled !
Enough of the farm now. The blow was sudden, but the solemn
lesson was well improved. As soon as suitable arrangements could
be made he resumed his great life-work, and thenceforth, to the end
of life, he gave himself, talent and fortune, energy and activity, in
full consecration to the sole work of the gospel ministry.

560 Methodist Bishops.
He was re-admitted into the South Carolina Annual Conference
in 1818, having married again — this time, also, very happily. This
lady, whom I long knew and honored highly, possessed eminently
many of the qualities required in the wife of a Methodist traveling
preacher. She had a fine face, a sweet voice, an excellent judgment,
an amiable temper, a noble endurance, and the spirit of unreserved
self-sacrifice. She loAred God with all her heart, and was to her
husband a wife who did him " good and not evil, all the days of her
life." She survived him but a few years, and died in Charleston,
S. C, in 1860, in the arms of a beloved son who had just been re
peating for her the beautiful lines beginning, " Over the river they
beckon to me.'?
In 1820 Mr. Capers was elected a delegate to the General Con
ference held in Baltimore, and at once took rank in that body as an
able debater and man of affairs. The year before, he had been sta
tioned at Savannah, Ga. He had crowded congregations, preached three
times on Sunday, and, besides one or two prayer-meetings, preached
on Wednesday evenings, and visited the classes weekly. When the
sickly season came on, yellow fever desolated the city. Day and
night he was in the thick of the pestilence, ministering to the sick
and dying. This endeared him greatly to the community. Among
those who died that autumn was a distinguished and noble minister
of a large Congregationalist Church, Dr. Kollock. Mr. Capers was
sincerely attached to him, and during his illness preached for him
once on every Sunday. After the doctor's death the pastorship of
the Church was respectfully tendered to him. The position was
highly influential. It involved no sacrifice of doctrinal views. The
salary offered was among the highest at that time paid to any minister
in the United States. But this exchange of the hard, ever-shifting,
poorly-paid service of a Methodist traveling preacher, for affluence,
a permanent home, and high social respectability, he declined without
hesitation. Mr. Capers was always very popular with the colored people.
He was ever deeply solicitous for their religious welfare. Some of
them were highly esteemed by him as men of intelligence and piety,
who read the Scriptures and understood them, were consistent pro
fessors of religion, and zealous for its spread among people of

William Capebs. 561
their own color. The most remarkable of all whom he had
known was Henry Evans, of Fayetteville, N. C. Evans was, con
fessedly, the father of the Methodist Church, white and black, in
that town.
The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was
organized in New York in 1819, and at the General Conference held
the next year the Constitution was amended, and branch societies were
recommended to be formed in all the Annual Conferences. The first
mission established was among the Wyandot Indians in Ohio. The
next was a mission in the South — to the Creek Indians, who then
occupied lands east and west of the Chattahoochee Biver, in Georgia
and Alabama. In 1821, at the session of the South Carolina Confer
ence, which then embraced Georgia, Mr. Capers was selected by Bishop
M'Kendree to set on foot this mission. He gave, during a couple of
years, his full strength and time to its establishment. Protracted
absences from his family, long journeys on horseback, and no small
amount of preaching in Georgia and South Carolina, were involved.
This was the earliest illustration of that noble devotion to the cause
of missions which characterized his whole life. He continued super
intendent of the mission a couple of years longer, though stationed at
Milledgeville, Ga. He was a member of the General Conferences of
1824 and 1828. At the latter of these he was elected as the Bepre-
sentative of the Methodist Episcopal Church to the British Wesleyan
Conference. The duties of this honorable mission he discharged to
the great satisfaction of the English Methodists. He had the ease and
elegance of finished manners, a simple and devout spirit, fine conver
sational poAvers, and the charm of .genuine eloquence in the pulpit.
The Conference assured him, in one of their resolutions, that he
should long retain a high place in their affectionate remembrance.
He had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Bunting, who was President
of the Conference, preach ; and pronounced him the finest preacher
he had ever heard. He spent an afternoon and night with Dr. Adam
Clarke, at Haydon Hall. He describes the doctor's manners as being
" as easy, playful, and familiar, as can be conceived ; such as in turn
would equally interest a scholar and a child. In preaching, his utter
ance is rapid, and his language always clear, strong, and simple." This
visit was just four years before Dr. Clarke's death. Dr. Newton is

562 Methodist Bishops.
mentioned as " the Apollos of the Wesleyan Methodists as a public
speaker, and particularly so on the platform. His manners are very
dignified, and yet exceedingly pleasant ; he converses freely, is very
witty, and full of anecdote, and is a finished gentleman as well as a
very able man." Of Eichard Watson : " Such a forehead as Mr.
Watson's I never looked at in my life. He is very thin and pale, with
a wan face which looks even narrower than it might be on account of
the unusual size of his forehead. Mr. Watson is rather above six feet
high, but I suppose he would not weigh much, if any thing, more
than I do. He is acknowledged on all hands to be the ablest man in
the Connection."
Shortly after Mr. Capers's return to the United States the degree
of D.D. was conferred upon him ; and he was elected Professor of Moral
Philosophy and Belles-lettres in Franklin College, the State Institution
of Georgia. A year or two afterward the Presidency of La Grange
College was offered him. These honorable positions, however, he
declined to accept.
Dr. Capers had now been preaching some twenty years. He was in
the prime of his powers, and had a national reputation. Suppose
we pause, and inquire as to the leading characteristics of that
preaching. Beginning with the physique : he had in great perfection the natural
elements which go to make up the pulpit orator, and AA'hich give vast
power over popular assemblies. He was a fine-looking man. His face
was strikingly handsome ; his forehead finely molded ; his eye lus
trous, black, and full of power ; his chin delicate, but firm-set ; his
hands and his feet were small. Every movement was graceful, natural,
utterly free from affectation. He had the ease of the most refined
breeding, the composure of entire self-possession. His voice, while it
had compass enough to be heard distinctly by more than a thousand
listeners, was yet sweet and musical ; its tones always on the right key ;
its management always under perfect control. So that it was a matter
of pleasure to a popular assembly just to look at and listen to him.
The time and sphere allotted him by the providence of God, in the
great movements of American Methodism, called for clear, strong, ex
temporaneous preaching ; for a vigorous, masculine, intellectual faculty ;
for keen and quick observation, profound knowledge of men, and the

William Capebs. 563
power of sustained activity. Amid the constant changes and the
miscellaneous engagements of a traveling preacher forty or fifty years
ago, severe systematic study was very much out of the question. Dr.
Capers was far more a man of vigorous, original thinking, than a man
of books. His reading was select, and embraced only a few of the
masterpieces of sacred literature, Jeremy Taylor being among his
favorite authors. He appreciated high scholarship ; but he made no
pretensions to extensive and various learning, the result of nothing
less than years of patient study.
He had trained himself to rapid mental combinations — to the readi
ness and alertness which come from concentrated reflection. The rules
which influenced his practice early in his ministry, he tells us, were to
keep strictly to the text, never bringing in matter which did not
directly spring from it ; to keep the mind constantly directed to the
subject of preaching, and so to conduct reading and thinking as to be
on the alert to find preaching matter ; and after preaching a sermon, to
" put out the tracks " as soon as possible by not recollecting any thing
of it. "To be an off-hand preacher "—such was his view of the mat
ter — "requires indispensably that one keep his work alAvays in mind,
and so actively as to press into his service for the pulpit whatever may
be desirable for it. And if one would have new matter in every dis
course, he must look for it in what has come under his observation in
books, in men, in every thing he has met with since he preached last.
But, above all things else, it is by studying the Scriptures with an
active preaching mind, that we may bring forth to effect things new
and old in all our pulpit efforts."
His preaching, the result of the habitual application of such rules,
was strictly extemporaneous, aided by no manuscript or brief, grounded
on no memoriter preparations. He never used formal divisions or
subdivisions of his subject. He discussed the great principle or les
son of his text 'with no artificial helps of heads of discourse formally
announced. This leading principle once attained, formed the main
point of view of the discourse. The powers of clear discrimination,
fertile illustration, earnest appeal to the conscience, were brought into
. play to unfold the relations of the main point, and to give effect to
the truths involved. Occasionally, but not often, you heard the grand
thunder. It must be some camp-meeting scene, some special call upon
33

564 Methodist Bishops.
the deep emotions — then his eloquence " flew on» eagle flight, forth
and right on."
Several very remarkable instances of the sort occurred in his
earlier ministry. Ordinarily, in the place of vehement, irresistible
impulse, and torrent-like rush of thought and emotion, there was the
more refined, graceful, and self-restrained delivery. Fancy, indeed,
distinguished his mind, rather than imagination. His preaching par
took, for the most part, not so much of the grand as of the pleasing
and instructive. It reminded you of a beautiful summer sunrise, with
the sparkle of its dew-drops, and its breezy freshness, rather than of
the sea swept by mighty winds, and "deep calling unto deep."
Bishop George F. Pierce — a prince among pulpit orators — says of his
preaching :
At other times he was transfigured. His very form dilated, his eye beamed
¦with celestial beauty, soft -with the light of love, yet radiant with the joy of his
rapt and ravished spirit, and his voice, mellowed by emotion, spell-bound while
it inspired the heaving multitude. When the Spirit of the Lord was upon him,
when the angel touched his lips with a coal from the altar, O, he was a charm
ing preacher ! I have heard him, when the consolations of the Gospel distilled
from his tongue as honey from the rock, and the message of salvation came down
like the angelic song upon the shepherds of Bethlehem. Anon, I have seen him
clothe himself with terrible majesty, as when a prophet proclaimed the venge
ance of the Almighty; and then the thunder of the violated law from his lips
pealed like the trump of doom, and the pallid, awe-struck assembly told that the
preacher had power with God, and had prevailed.
I need hardly add, that Dr. Capers's preaching was always evan
gelical, in the strict and proper sense of that somewhat abused word.
He had realized in his own soul the divine life. He knew as the
result of personal consciousness and daily experience, " the new and
living way to God by the blood of Jesus." He had the spiritual
insight that comes of deep spiritual life. He gave utterance, there
fore, to what he considered no doubtful speculations, when he declared
the freeness and fullness of Christ's atoning sacrifice as the ground of
man's justification, and the poAver and grace of the Holy Ghost as
the efficient cause of man's regeneration and sanctification. He held
the essentially simple and grand Methodistic point of view — justifica
tion by faith alone to all who feel their guilt and danger and turn
from sin with the repentance of a broken and contrite heart ; faith, as

William Capers. 565
a personal trust in, and commitment of the soul to, Christ, for present
salvation ; the promise of God, as sufficiently free and ample to warrant
an instant application to Christ for salvation ; the witness of pardon
by the Holy Spirit, as the common privilege of believers ; this comfort
ing assurance being maintained by the lively exercise of the same faith
which justifies the soul ; the result of the whole, holiness and useful
ness here, and eternal life in the world to come. These doctrinal
rudiments, which throw their blended glory around the cross of Christ,
constituted, in ample variety, richness, and force of application, the
Gospel preached by this eminent man.
Dr. Capers's reverence for revealed truth was sincere and profound.
The speculative faculty in his mental constitution was held in strict
subordination to the " mind of the Spirit," as presented in the word
of God. In matters of religious faith he subscribed, ex animo, to the
fine sentiment of Bichard Watson : " Where eternal reason has not
beamed, human reason cannot be enlightened." Accordingly, where
the heaA-enly illumination stopped, he stopped. He felt no anxious
longing to overstep the limits which separate the unknown from the
known. The bounds beyond which all things are dark and impenetra
ble, were clearly discerned by him ; and no mental appetite urged him
on to break through and attempt to gaze. That Christianity was from
heaven, he had the most irrefragable of proofs — he had tried it and
found it divine. Satisfied with the authority of Scripture, his mind
sought, with becoming humility and dependence on God, to find out,
by comparing Scripture with Scripture, the principal sense, the great
substance and body of truth, therein revealed. This furnished him
materials for preaching.
How necessary he judged the office and work of the Holy Spirit
to be in all successful preaching his own words will strikingly set forth :
The Gospel is the vehicle of the gracious power of the Holy Ghost, and is
nothing less. To preach the Gospel is to set this vehicle in motion. It is en
joined to be preached because the Holy is in it ; and for this cause, and no other,
it ought to be preached to "every creature," at any cost; life itself being despised
for it. Yes, the Gospel which Christ has commanded to be preached conveys to
men actual salvation — forgiveness and regeneration and sanctification, by the
Holy Ghost, whose word it is. " Quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-
edged sword," how little is it like the poor stuff of preaching, which, alas! has
come in place of it.

566 Methodist Bishops.
These were the views Dr. Capers entertained, both of the Gospel
itself and of the spirit in which it should be preached. His testi
mony to the kind and quality of the primitive Methodist preaching
of this country is worth considering :
Methodism was neither poverty nor rags, nor a clown's coat and blundering
speech, nor- an unfurnished, half-provisioned house or no house at all for the
preacher; but it was the Gospel simply believed and faithfully followed, and
earnestly, vehemently insisted on. It was powerful, not because it was poor, but
because it was the living, breathing, active, urgent testimony of the Gospel of
the Son of God. It apprehended Christ's presence, and took hold on his author
ity to perform its work. Its every utterance was a "Thus saith the Lord." The
Bible, the Bible, was ever on its lips. Nothing but the Bible, and just as the
Bible holds it, was its testimony of truth. It was all spiritual, experimental,
practical; not speculative, abstracted, or metaphysical. When it preached, it
was to testify of "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ;" and to both, and to every degree of both, for the time present. When
it exhorted, it was to enforce its preaching, as it ever saw sinners sporting on
the brink of a precipice and believers in danger of being seduced from their
duty and safety. And, preaching or exhorting, its inexhaustible argument was,
eternity ; eternity at hand — an eternity of heaven or hell for every soul of man.
Its great element was spirituality — a spirituality not to be reached by a sublimat
ing mental process, but by a hearty entertaining of the truths of the Gospel as
they challenge the conscience, and appeal to the heart for credence in the name
of Christ crucified, whenever and wherever the Gospel is preached. And this,
together with a moral discipline answering to it, I understand to be Methodism
still, and God forbid there should come any other in its name.
With profound convictions of this sort, no wonder that his min
istry never made the attempt to plunge into the vortexes of tran
scendental metaphysics, nor wound its painful way through the laby
rinths of ontological science ; that it affected neither casuistic subtle
ties nor psychological speculation. Nor did that ministry seek to
awaken the poetic susceptibilities of our nature, and afford mere
delight to taste and imagination. On the contrary, it insisted with all
possible urgency on the necessity of that spiritual change which pro
duces a holy life in this dark, polluted world ; which leads us " to Avor
ship God in the spirit, to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and to have no con
fidence in the flesh." A very genuine humility characterized and
imbued his whole spirit in the pulpit and out of it. The celebrated
Harriet Martineau, when in South Carolina years ago, expressed to a

William Capers. 567
friend of Dr. Capers a strong desire to hear him preach. To the
inquiry of this friend the doctor returned the following note :
I expect to preach in the morning — a poor stick for such a service. If Miss
Martinenu pleases, she may come to hear me. She would do better, though,
would she simply come to hear the Lord's commands, not minding the mouth
through which they may have utterance.
Miss Martineau did go, and was deeply impressed as well as
charmed by the sermon she heard.
He was, for a year or two, editor of the " Southern Christian Advo
cate," exhibiting a manly vigor and well-sustained ability ; but he was
adapted neither by temperament nor taste to this department of
Church work. As soon as it became practicable he gave up to other
hands the management of the paper, and at the General Conference
of 1840 received the appointment of Missionary Secretary for the
South. For several years he was actively and incessantly engaged in
the laborious duties of this office. His name is identified, however,
most honorably with a particular department of this missionary work,
commenced a few years before, which embraced the blacks on the rice
and cotton plantations of the low country of the Carolinas and Geor
gia. The colored population of the cities and healthier portions of
the country had access every-where to Church privileges — to the
enlightening and elevating influences which go along with a Christian
civilization. But this was not the case in the localities just mentioned.
On the large plantations which lined the river deltas you might find
thousands of Africans, descendants of those brought into the country
in the time of the slave-trade, and who enjoyed a congenial climate
where scarce a score of white persons could live at all during half the
year. Eeligiously considered, their condition was little better than in
Africa. This state of things was matter of great concern to Dr.
Capers. The providence of God opened the way into this important
field of missionary operations ; and the doctor, at that time Presiding
Elder of the Charleston District, was led to take the preliminary
measures necessary to the establishment of missions among these
blacks at the instance of the Hon. Charles C. Pinckney, and other
gentlemen owning large properties. Two mission stations were set on
foot at the next session of the South Carolina Conference, to which
two of the preachers of the Conference were sent — the whole arrange-

568 Methodist Bishops.
ment being under the supervision of Dr. Capers. One of these mis
sionaries died at his post in the succeeding autumn, from fever con
tracted by exposure in the swamps where his mission lay. In 1833
there were 4 missions, with 4 missionaries, and a membership of 1,495.
The missionary collections for this work amounted to $2,247. In
1843 the missionary stations amounted to 14, served by 12 preachers ;
the number of members 6,110, and the revenue $10,155. In 1853
there were 22 missions, 29 missionaries, 11,653 members of the
Church, and the collections taken for the support of the missions had
reached $25,049. By the close of the next decade it appeared that
little less than a half million of dollars had been contributed in all
for this object in the South Carolina Conference alone. These statis
tics will show that no small measure of interest was felt during those
thirty years in the religious welfare of even the most destitute of the
African population. In 1845 Dr. Capers said in one of his reports :
We are more than ever convinced of our bounden duty, and we feel it deeply
at heart, to preach the Gospel to the slaves throughout the country, and in doing
so to adapt our ministrations to their peculiar wants, that we labor not iu vain.
And we exhort the missionaries who stand foremost in this godly work to take
courage, to be diligent, using plain language, (but never what is mean and
broken,) as well in their sermons and exhortations as in their ordinary intercourse
with their people; teaching them patiently and with great pains the way of life.
And in view of the greatness and difficulty of this work, we repeat to them the
expression of our decided judgment, that too much of their time can hardly be
devoted to catechetical instruction, both to adults and children; and we add
that this, in connection with preaching and visiting the sick, must make it neces
sary for a missionary to be employed not less than four or five days in every week
continually, if not all his time.
This will serve to show the profound interest felt by Dr. Capers
in this department of the missionary work, and the judicious measures
advocated and put in operation by him to promote the religious
welfare of the colored population of the Southern country. He held
the appointment of Missionary Secretary for the South from 1840 to
the time of his election to the episcopate.
This election took place at the first General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, held at Petersburgh, Ya., in May,
1846. The venerable Joshua Soule presided at the solemn service
of the ordination, Bishop Andrew taking part. This honor came,

William Capers. 569
as all others before had come, unsought — the spontaneous testimonial
on the part of his brethren of their esteem for his character and past
services ; of their confidence in his ability to discharge faithfully and
Avell the duties of this highest position in the Church. The same
scrupulous delicacy and nice sense of propriety which had character
ized him through life marked his conduct in reference to this elec
tion. Writing to his Avife on the occasion, after expressing the sur
prise to himself which the occurrence had produced, he says :
I felt that the favor ofGod and the confidence of the Church was our best estate,
and best patrimony for our children; and whether or not, I dare not, I would not
draw back. To-day I feel that we are on the altar together; and O, have I not
felt that "the altar sanctifieth the gift ? " I have only to cast all my care ou
God, all my multiform unworthiness on his divine goodness and condescension
in Christ, and go on. I have so reverenced the work and office of a Bishop and
the Bishops themselves that that itself embarrasses me. I cannot feel myself
a Bishop; but, thank God ! I feel what is better — an abiding sense of being ac
cepted of him, in an humble and sincere devotion of myself without stint, to
his service. For nine years he filled the responsible office, maintaining, with
blended dignity and kindness, and with undeviating fidelity, the form
of sound words and godly discipline which had been intrusted to his
keeping at his ordination — a precious deposit from the fathers of the
Church. His official visitations embraced all the Annual Conferences
in the Connection, first and last. Several of his tours were made, for
the most part, on horseback. Beferring to his second tour of visita
tions, which carried him to Arkansas and Texas, he makes pleasant
mention of his horse :
I rode him a thousand miles, over mountains not a few, without his once
stumbling with me, though he could not have been much used before I got him,
being under five years old ; and he was equal to the best of horses I traveled
with, and, except one, decidedly superior as a traveler, both for the easiness of
his action and his progress on the road. A pleasant horse was Mac, and very
lucky was I in procuring him. White, nearly every hair of him, just fifteen
hands high, thin-shouldered, deep-chested, light-footed. Bought and sold for
sixty dollars.
If in these days of railroads Methodist preachers had the use for
horses which their fathers had, it might be worth while to emphasize
the points of a good riding-horse laid down by the Bisliop.

570 Methodist Bishops.
Just before his sixtieth birthday, he completed his fourth round
of episcopal visitations. He refers to the superintending providence
of God during this tour in the following words :
After the manner of the most kind Providence, which has attended me all
along the way of my journeying from the beginning till now, I have threaded
the dangerous navigation of the Red River, up and down, from New Orleans to
Shreveport and back again, without port or haven. Every boat, I was told,
that had ascended Red River this season, not excepting the one after me, lost
some passengers by cholera ; but my boat, and one of the worst and dirtiest I
was ever on, though crowded to excess, so that the clerk told me we had, little
and big, black and white, five hundred passengers on board, had not one case.
One old man died on board of asthma. I have no asthma. What is to come
may well be confided to the " will Divine ; " but in all my traveling for more
than forty years, by stage-coach, by railroad, by ship, and by steamboat, no
accident has ever happened to hurt me, or any one else traveling with me, to
this day. Verily, there is a Providence which watches over men.
The last year or two of the good Bishop's second quadrennial term
were marked by occasional ill health and the advancing feebleness
brought on by exacting labors at his time of life. Nevertheless, he
faltered not in his course. He had finished his tour of annual visita
tions, and had returned home in comfortable health and excellent
spirits, and with the prospect before, him of several years of service
to the Church, when he was suddenly attacked on the midnight of
January 25, 1855 — the day on which he completed his sixty-fifth year
— with angina pectoris, and after an illness of three days, at sunrise
on the 29th, he finished his course and entered into his rest — " the
joy of his Lord." When the attack of illness first came, his two
daughters were awakened by their mother calling to them in great
alarm. They hastened to the Bishop's room and found him sitting
up, but suffering great agony. He said, " My precious children, give
me up to God. 0 that more of you were here ! But I bless God that
I have so lately seen you all." Then turning to his daughter Mary,
he said : " I want you to finish my minutes to-morrow, and send them
off." The preparation of those minutes of his last Conference was
the last official act of his life ; and it is touching to observe how his
habits of promptness, punctuality, and order were manifested at a
crisis so solemn. A physician was soon with him, and succeeded in pro
ducing temporary relief. After being removed to his bed, he asked

William Capers. 571
the hour, and on being told, said : " What, only three hours since I
have been suffering such torture ? Only three hours ! What, then,
must be the voice of the bird that cries ' Eternity, eternity,' " (refer
ring, no doubt, to a strange occurrence mentioned in the writings of
Melanchthon.) " Three hours have taken away all but my religion ! "
Yes, all but his religion. Darkness lay upon the valley and foot-hills
now ; but the Alpine summits were all aglow with celestial radiance !
During the next day he suffered much, but was constantly en
gaged in prayer, especially for his family. On Sunday he was
better. At daylight the next morning Dr. Jones, his son-in-law, who
had come from his circuit the night before, approached his bedside
and inquired how he was. He answered, " I feel decidedly better,
and would like to get up that your mother may be able to sleep."
Dr. Jones said : " The doctor wishes you to take a small dose of
castor oil."
"Well," said he, "give it to me in a table-spoon, for I ha\'e no
taste." Being assisted to raise himself, he took the spoon, drank the oil,
then took a tumbler of water and rinsed his mouth over a basin.
Mrs. Capers turned from the bed to put aside the tumbler and basin,
and in a moment he breathed his last. His countenance expressed
the utmost composure ; no single sigh or convulsive movement
marked the approach of death. Gently as dies the latest whisper
of summer Avinds, his life passed away. His fond and faithful wife
could not believe that this was death. She thought it must be only
a fainting fit, and . that she should again see the light of those dear
eyes, and once more hear the voice of her beloved husband. All the •
restoratives within reach were applied for some time in the hopeless
endeavor to recover him to consciousness. But the pleadings of
affection fell on " the cold, dull ear of death." The immortal spirit
had joined the innumerable company before the throne !
Thus ended the long and brilliant career of this great man. The
whole course of his ministry tended to the edification of the Church.
He was meant by the divine Head of the Church to be a standard-
bearer in the host, and so he was. His large views, his catholic
spirit, his eminent abilities, his powers of action and endurance, his
readiness to submit, for the Gospel's sake, to privation, hardship, self-

572 Methodist Bishops.
sacrifice ; his loyalty to Christ ; his disinterested attachment to the
itinerant ministry, proof against all assaults from without, all fears
from within ; a character spotless, well poised, mighty in influence,
exhibiting from first to last the highest forms of virtue, holiness, and
usefulness — all this placed William Capers, in the midst of his own
generation, as a shining pillar hung around with trophies of victory,
and will make his name illustrious in the coming generations.

Ho IB . B AS (D ®M „ HD.B.IULJ).

GA7J OF TBI! BISHOPS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. SOUTI

Henry Bidleman Bascom.

BY EEV. W. H. MILBUEN, D.D.

HENBY BIDLEMAN BASCOM, who for nearly forty years did
the work of a Methodist preacher on circuits, in stations and
agencies, in colleges, and for a few months filled the office of Bishop,
was born on the 27th of May, 1796, and died on the 8th of Septem
ber, 1850, aged a little over fifty-four years. Few men in this country
have filled a larger space in the admiration and love of their contem
poraries, but aftertimes will be obliged to accept tradition as the
guarantee of his greatness, for he has left nothing in print to justify
his fame. One reads with pain, not to say shame, the feeble and dis
torted praise of newspapers which his biographer has sprinkled through
his memoirs, and would gladly accept in lieu of the glamour which
genius cast upon a gaping crowd, the calm judgment of an apprecia
tive hearer. Toward the close of his life I knew and loved him Avell,
and in telling the story of his career, and stating an estimate of his
powers and character, must be allowed to do so as one who feels that
his was one of the sweetest and noblest souls that ever looked through
human eyes.
Bascom was born amid the picturesque scenery of Delaware County,
N. Y., when that region was almost a wilderness. By his father's
side the blood of the Huguenots was in his veins, which accounted
for his vivacity and brilliancy of speech and action, and for much of
the trouble and misconception which he encountered through life. The
Bascoms left France while the religious wars were raging, and found •
an asylum in the north of England, whence his ancestor emigrated in
1650, during the troubles with the Protectorate, and settled in North
ampton, Massachusetts. Thence Henry's father, Alpheus, removed
beyond the Catskills to settle on the beautiful banks of the East Fork
of the Delaware, and here he found Hannah Houk, the first of his
three wives. She was of German descent, and is spoken of as comely
in person, sweet in temper, of rare grace and excellence as wife and

576 Methodist Bishops.
mother. She bore eight children to Alpheus Bascom, of whom
Henry was the second ; and the fond hold which she took of his heart
was only loosened more than five and thirty years after her own
decease, when the hand of death stilled his pulse.
Mountains were the friends of his boyhood, and the clear flowing
stream taught him many a lesson, deep and long. Hunters and rafts
men were the only guests at his father's fireside, and poverty was
among his earliest acquaintances. But fine blood went out and in
the portals of his heart ; his form, cast in Nature's finest mold, grew
sinewy and strong ; his senses, vivid and alert in the discipline of bor
der life; while his quick eye grew sensitive to Nature's forms of
beauty and majesty around him, clad in the year's ever-shifting hues ;
and the mind, with her best nurse, Contemplation, in those solitudes
found scope " to plume her feathers and let grow her wings." Toil,
self-reliance, and self-denial were the rigorous lessons of his early years,
but sweetened and made easy by his mother's love and his reverent obedi
ence to his father's word. A dame's school and a few months with
a cruel master were his only opportunity for a lettered tuition until
his eighth year, and then four years at school in Greenwich, New
Jersey, across the river from Easton-on-the-Delaware, completed his
academic training. When twelve years of age he removed with his
father's family to Little Yalley, on the banks of the Alleghany, in
South-western New York, and thenceforth Bascom knew the school
room no more until he entered the halls of Madison and Augusta
Colleges as a professor. The region of late so famous for the pro
duction of petroleum, where so many men have " struck oil," which
has been the means of self-indulgence, luxury, and ruin, was where
Henry found the oil that filled the lamps of the wise virgins, by
whose light they entered the marriage supper with the bridegroom.
• In this wild district, peopled by a few whites and a large body of
Seneca Indians, where the love of Christ was preached only by a few
Methodist circuit-riders and exhorters, the poor, illiterate and friend
less boy obtained the pearl of great price, and was able to testify from
the depth of a regenerate heart and life that God had, for Christ's
sake, pardoned his sins. This sweetest, strongest sense the human
soul can know decided his career and shaped his future. Boy as he
was, the passion seized him to proclaim the unsearchable riches of

Henry Bidleman Bascom. 577
Christ, that he might lead men to repentance. For this purpose he
performed long journeys on foot through the wilderness, and soon,
by his zeal and fluency, attracted the notice and then gained the re
gard of Mr. Gilmore, somewhat older than Henry, by trade a pump-
maker, but at the same time a licensed Methodist exhorter. His
friendship took a definite shape in an offer to teach Henry his craft,
to take him as a partner, and also to become his tutor in theology.
Together they crossed the mountains on foot — a weary way — and
spent the summer on the west branch of the Susquehanna, gaining
two or three dollars a day by pump-making, and also trying to draAV
Avater from the well of life. They gave all the time they could spare
from the labor of their hands to prayer and study, to prepare them
for their abundant public labors in school-houses and in private houses,
which were thronged with large gatherings of people^ drawn by the
fame of the boy preacher. Not often has it happened that precocity
has developed into real greatness, for boy preachers generally die
before their time, or give their friends reason to wish they had.
Alpheus Bascom seems to have been an unprosperous man — about
this time like a rolling stone — for in the following year we find him
removing with his family to the neighborhood of Maysville, Kentucky ;
and a few months later across the river into Ohio, five miles, on the
road to Bipley. Through these changes of scene, the temptations of
flat-boat life, the stern exactions of poverty and farm labor, Henry's
purpose held firm, nor did it falter through all the after years of dis
couragement and trial. It seemed as if a. fire was in his bones, and
he could not rest until it kindled the hearts of others.
The old Western Conference, which included within its bounds
the whole valley of the Mississippi, had been divided at the General
Conference of 1812 into the Tennessee and Ohio Conferences, and in
September of that year the latter was to hold its session in Chillicothe.
I can remember the interest, made up of admiration, love, and rever
ence, which used to glow in my boyish breast in the gathering of the
way-worn veterans of the saddle-bags on the frontier, and can, there
fore, understand Bascom's feelings when, in September, 1812, he Avent
to Maysville to meet the preachers on their way to Conference.
Saturday night came, but none of the brethren had arrived, and young
Bascom was " put up " to exhort. His discourse astonished the con-

578 Methodist Bishops.
gregation, and made no little talk in the village. The next morning
the brethren came pouring in, and William M'Mahon, one of the
young men of promise, preached. While thus engaged he noticed a
remarkably handsome youth, whose flashing eye and mantling cheek
told how deep was his interest in the sermon. After the service he
asked who the lad was, and heard for the first time the name of
Bascom, and, moreover, of his startling exhortation the night before.
He sought him at once, and in time the souls of these men were
knitted together as were those of David and Jonathan.
Henry had long desired to attend the Conference, but had no
outfit, and his father was too poor to furnish one. A neighbor having
offered him work, he had spent the preceding summer in the woods
with his ax, felling trees and splitting rails at the fate of twenty-five
cents a hundred. His horse, saddle, bridle, saddle-bags, and wardrobe
being thus provided, he was now ready for a ride to Chillicothe to
see and hear the venerable Asbury, the great M'Kendree, and the
company of backwoods preachers, more illustrious to his imagination
than the paladins of the Bound- Table or the knights of chivalry.
Bascom gladly accepted M'Mahon's invitation to become his traA-eling
companion to the Conference. Arrived at Chillicothe, the preacher
in charge curtly informed them that provision was made only for
members of the Conferences, and as Bascom was nothing but an ex
horter he was turning away with a flushed cheek and wounded heart
for a lonely ride home, when M'Mahon happily bethought him to in
quire of the brusque parson who was to share his bed ; and, informed
that he had it alone, asked Bascom to share it with him ; and thus
the boy attended his first Conference. That year he traveled Brush
Creek Circuit, in which his father lived, and the next, 1813, was re
ceived as a preacher on trial, and appointed to Deer Creek Circuit.
It is not my purpose to follow him through the list of his appoint
ments, nor to narrate all his trials and dangers from hardships, ex
posure from wild beasts and wilder men, and, hardest to bear of all,
from the prejudice and ill-will of his brethren. Many were his perils
and hair-breadth escapes by flood and field. He was chased by In
dians, and to save himself was obliged to force his horse through a
river filled with floating ice, and he emerged unscathed, but in a frozen
coat of mail. He was chased by wolves and barely escaped with life ;

Henry Bidleman Bascom. 579
had a fight with a bear, in which Bruin had well-nigh been victorious,
and the voice of the future great preacher silenced. On the wintry
mountain's side his bed has been a hollow tree, while night was made
hideous with the howling of wolves. Once he barely escaped death
from a panther ; and again his guard at night, through a mountain
fastness beset with wild beasts, was two stout, ruddy-cheeked damsels,
armed with clubs and attended by a pack of dogs. His way lay
through pathless forests, through tangled thickets of undergrowth,
over trackless mountains and treacherous quagmires, through fever-
breeding swamps and bottoms, " where pestilence walked in darkness
and destruction wasted at noon-day."
His studies were pursued on horseback in the forest glade beset
by wild-cats and rattlesnakes, or in the settler's cabin, where snapping
hounds, crying children, a scolding woman, and a growling squatter,
taxed his powers of concentration by day, and the snoring at night was
the musical undertone as he lay prone on the hearth, trying to follow
the page by the dubious light of a quivering pine-knot. It was his
misfortune, at least so many of his brethren esteemed it, to be uncom
monly handsome, and they seemed disposed to visit it upon him as a
fault. It may be doubted whether a person of nobler and more impos
ing aspect has been clad in the habiliments of modern society ; and had
he lived among the old beauty-loving Greeks, his faultless form would
have lent grace to many an antique statue, whose torso might have
told the later world how divine was Phidias's dream of manly beauty.
But an Apollo in homespun was not the man for a Methodist preacher,
whispered the old brethren. Dear old heroes ! Lofty in courage,
valiant in self-sacrifice, glorious in achievement and endurance, worthy
to be had in everlasting remembrance ! but it must be confessed they
were a little narrow. Lithe and sinewy as an Indian, buoyant of step,
his frame instinct with grace and dignity ; his kingly head carried in
kingly wise ; his large dark eye the organ of expression to every mood,
from the dreamy calm of meditation to the lightning flash of inspira
tion ; his features as perfect as if chiseled by the hand of a master ; his
high broad forehead wreathed with a crown of glossy black hair ; every
attitude and gesture spontaneous, yet commanding ; he arrested every
eye, and as he passed, you instinctively turned to gaze upon him until
the crowd hid him from your sight. I have been told by persons

580 Methodist Bishops.
who lived in Lexington, Kentucky, his home for many years, where
he was as well known as was Henry Clay, that in his daily walks every
man, woman, and child, white and black, to whom he was familiar as
a household word, would stop and turn to look at him again as they
had done a thousand times before. Custom could not stale nor famil
iarity blunt their admiration ; moreover, he had a way of looking well
in his clothes — whatever he had on. In the commonest garb he
appeared like a sculptor's model, or as if ready to enter a royal draw
ing-room. Many of the old brethren, therefore, to whom elownishness
was near akin to godliness, could not but take offense at his mien and
port, and expressed the fear that he was of such stuff as dandies are
made of, and not parsons, at least not pioneer parsons. They looked
askance at him, and although his first circuit was hard and rough
enough, they determined to put him to the proof, and in his second
year sent him to what was known in the Conference as Botany Bay —
Guyandotte Circuit, Western Yirginia. The people were, for the
most part, poor hunters, who gained a precarious livelihood by the
trap and rifle. The houses were cabins of a single room ; the fare,
venison, bear meat, and corn-dodgers ; the costumes of his people
were made of dressed deerskin for the men, and linsey-woolsey for
the women ; the roads, if any, were bridle jiaths or blazed tracks over
the mountains ; while his way often took him by the brink of yawning
chasms, whose precipices would have made a less firm brain dizzy;
or over swollen torrents that periled life and limb to cross. This cir
cuit, the old brethren thought, would . break Ms pride, and drive him
from the itinerant ranks. Little did they know the man, for he went
to his work from a sick-bed, traveled three thousand- miles on foot
and horseback, preached four hundred times in three hundred days,
and received twelve dollars and ten cents for his year's labor. When,
at the end of two years' trial, he came up for admission into full con
nection, and for deacon's orders, he was rudely refused by the vote of
the Conference, but as an act of grace was "continued on trial"
another year. At the end of the third year he was again refused,, and
yet there was no charge or even complaint against his moral or minis
terial character and labors, but the brethren thought he did not look
like a Methodist preacher. Stung to the quick by the injustice and
unkindness of his brethren, whose rebukes and buffets he had meekly

Henry Bidleman Bascom. 581
borne, and in all humility striven to conform' himself to the require
ments of their wise and godly judgment, he turned with a bursting
heart to quit the ranks in which he burned to serve, but for which he
was thought unfit because it had pleased God to make him a supremely
handsome man, and was preparing to return disgraced to his home,
when the wise Bishop M'Kendree said to the Conference : " Brethren,
if you have no use for that boy, I have," and transferred him.
In the Tennessee Conference he had to run another gauntlet of
narrow-mindedness on account of his superb appearance. I have else
where told a story which will bear repetition here, as it illustrates the
feeling against him. An old layman, who was Bascom's well-wisher,
but shared in the orthodox disapprobation, undertook to remonstrate
with him upon the foppery of his appearance. Henry assured him
that he couldn't help the way that he was made, and that as he was
too poor to buy clothes, he had to wear whatever was given to him.
The brother said triumphantly, " Will you wear a suit if I have it
made for you ? " " Gladly," said Henry. The old man chuckled at
the thought of the metamorphosis he was about to effect by changing
a dandy into the similitude of a preacher. When Bascom came
round the circuit again the old gentleman had the clothes ready, and,
taking him out into the grove for a dressing-room, bade him don the
new attire. When he was arrayed the old gentleman exultantly
approached, but soon his expression of pleasure gave way to that of
pain, as surprise, mortification, and anger, chased each other over his
features. He drew near, and retired ; drew near again, turned Bas
com round and round, surveyed him from every point in every light.
There it was, the Quaker garb affected by the old preachers as a sign
of orthodoxy : the straight, cut-close vest and shad-belly coat : but all
would not do, and the old man, irritated, roared out, "Bascom, take
off them clothes ; they make you more of a dandy than ever." But
the preacher wore them until they were threadbare. Under this
matchless exterior Bascom had an exquisite nervous organization, the
source at once of his strength and weakness. By reason of its sur
charge of electrical power, he at times produced marvelous, almost
incredible effects upon Iris congregations ; but the predominance and
delicacy of his nerve filaments made him the life-long victim of em
barrassed shyness and tremulous diffidence.
34

582 Methodist Bishops.
It was not an uncommon thing ior him before preaching on some
important occasion, to pace the floor for three days and nights, sleep
less, and almost without food. In mixed society he was never at ease,
and his reserve looked to strangers like indifference or haughtiness.
His was the temperament of poets, and, belonging to the genus irrita-
bile, he never gained the easy self-command and quiet complacency
which much and varied contact with the world imparts to less finely-
strung natures. He looked as regal as the palm-tree, but was as
impressionable as the mimosa. This physical sensibility was inscruta
ble to men of tougher fiber, and they judged it as such persons are
apt to dispose of the enigmas of idiosyncrasy — if not harshly, at least
without sympathy. They could not understand how one who, in the
presence of breathless thousands, seemed to wield their judgments and
feelings at his pleasure, should be as silent and timid as a blush
ing maiden in the company of ordinary men. The small change of
society-chat, gossip, lively satire, and scandal, was never on his lips.
He admitted few to his intimacy, especially after the rough discipline
of his early years ; and it is not strange that men of small imagination
and narrow sympathies called him proud, haughty, arrogant, and I
know not what, besides.
These, then, were the causes which doomed him to years of mis
conception and misinterpretation at the hands of his brethren, and
throughout life made him a riddle to the mass of his acquaintances.
Yet never did there beat a truer, kindlier, tenderer heart than Bas-
com's. Nothing could exceed the beauty of his filial piety and deArotion,
the gracious, self-denying, exhaustless affection he bestowed upon his
friends, the generosity he extended to his enemies, his life-long self-
sacrifice for the honor of the Church and the good of the world.
NotAvithstanding the uncharitable treatment he received, he went
to his hard circuits without a murmur, and did his work bravely and
Avith fidelity. He made rapid strides toward mental and spiritual
poAA'er, and grew in favor with God if not always with man. Greedy
of knowledge, he sought it as men search for hid treasure ; he redeemed
the time to devour books, and stored his wealth- of facts, ideas, and
suggestions in a capacious and retentive memory ; or, to speak more
accurately, assimilated his intellectual food, and, using the strength
daily acquired in the ceaseless labors of his ministry, gained rapidly

Henry Bidleman Bascom. 583
in mental and moral breadth and heighth. Of course, nothing could
atone for the want of a thorough early education, and from this he
suffered all his days. With few books at hand and fewer of the best,
with no one to direct his reading, school his taste, and give him the
advantage of a genial, appreciative, yet rigid criticism, it is not to be
wondered at that the gifted and brilliant boy fell into faults of style
and manner from which he never recovered. Had it been his lot to
possess in youth and early manhood the fortune of a thorough academic
training until his imagination and sensibilities had become imbued
with the spirit, aud his memory furnished with the forms, of the best
ancient and modern literature, it cannot be doubted that his masculine
and brilliant genius would have given to after times many a page so
written that the world would not willingly let die. He did the best
his circumstance allowed ; and noble was the work and nobler still the
spirit of the man. The misuse which has been made of the phrase
"pulpit oratory" has brought it into disrepute. Its free bestowal
updn the productions of every stripling avIio desecrates the desk to
scrape the sky for a rubbish of stars, clouds, and sunsets, and ransacks
earth for wreaths from amaranthine bowers, gems of priceless hue,
and whispering zephyrs, or gathers an idle multitude to gape at flimsy
rhetoric or sensational antics, has made " pulpit oratory " a stench.
But Bascom's was not of that kind. He was an orator born, not made.
It cannot be denied that he Avas betrayed, at times, into exaggeration,
indeed, into extravagance ; but it was the redundance of tropical
wealth unpruned by the hand of art ; and his wildest flights and ex
uberant style were redeemed by his simple and lofty aim — not to
gain applause — but to turn men from darkness to light, from the
power of Satan to the' living God. To this high end all the great
powers of his body and soul were bent. His wonderful preaching
soon gathered crowds, and his reputation increased apace. Men and
women would make long journeys to hear him. By the time he had
been a preacher ten years his fame had extended through the West
ern and South-western States, and when it was announced he would
preach, no edifice could hold half the multitude. I remember going
when a boy to a church where he was to officiate at eleven o'clock,
and found the street thronged at eight.
In 1823, at the instance of Henry Clay, he was chosen Chaplain to

584 Methodist Bishops.
Congress. His first sermon in the capital was a failure, and his
chagrin at the mortification of his friends and the loudly expressed
disappointment of the public, had such a morbid effect upon him that
he never regained his equipoise in the federal city, or preached there
Avith pleasure to himself or satisfaction to his hearers. At the close
of the session he was anxious to hasten across the mountains to hide
his diminished head among his friends in the West, bent upon never
revisiting the sea-board. But the sickness of a friend detained him ;
and ere long he was persuaded to visit a camp-meeting in the neigh
borhood of Annapolis, where he regained his power and preached in
such a way as to astonish, nay, transport, all who heard him. Thence
he went to Baltimore, to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, to Philadel
phia, where like effects were produced. It was agreed on all hands
that rumor had been outrun by reality, and that not half the story of
Bascom's greatness had been told. From this period to 1839 he was
in his prime, and it may well be questioned whether any preacher on
the American Continent has ever wielded such extraordinary power
and produced such immediate, remarkable, and startling effects as
Bascom did in those years, both in the East and the West.
It would be difficult — impossible — to convey to a person who never
heard him, an adequate idea of his appearance, manner, voice, and in
fluence in preaching. There was the breathless multitude, packed al
most to suffocation, while eager crowds thronged every avenue to the
church, filled the windows and doors, and stood far beyond the sound
of the preacher's voice as if to catch the echo. Thus had they waited
for hours. As the time draws near the preacher is helped through a
window at the back of the pulpit, and after his brief priA-ate devotions
the service begins. As he rises, pale and quivering, to announce the
hymn, the leaves rustle, and in his agitation the book almost drops
from his hand. The reading is hurried, the prayer brief but earnest,
sometimes almost an agony. Again he rises, to giA'e the text, and
pauses for a minute which seems an age. You almost pity him as he
stands there white as marble, his eye dreamy or fixed on vacancy ; he
is asking God for help and summoning his self-possession. At length
the painful hush is broken and the verse is read. He attempts to be
deliberate, but cannot, and starts at speed. You brace yourself in the
calm attitude of critical attention, and resolve that, let others do as

Henry Bidleman Bascom. 585
they may, you will keep cool, and by patient analysis find the secret
of his spell. You are interested at once, but ever and again offended
by a high-sounding word, a turgid phrase, an occasional bit of gran
diloquence. But after a brief introduction you find that the grip of
the subject is masculine ; here is no boy's play of sophomoric fire-works,
but a Christian preacher, who reasons of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgment to come— an embassador for God, beseeching you iu Christ's
stead to be reconciled to God. Argument, imagery, appeal, warning,
denunciation, entreaty, come thick and fast — thicker and faster. The
voice clear, full, strong, yet musical, capable of every modulation,
from the shriek to the whisper, running through the octaves of feel
ing with sympathetic tone ; the enunciation so perfect, so wonderful,
that he distinctly utters three hundred and fifty words a minute
throughout a sermon ; the attitude and gestures dramatic, yet uncon
scious ; the face like an ever-shifting transparency with a burning
naphtha lamp behind it, and the eye iridescent with every phase of
feeling ; now steeped in tears, now pleading with unutterable tender
ness, now blazing grandly at the thought of God's pity to sinners, or
in scorn at the weak devices behind which sin would screen itself.
There is something more than the torrent-like rush of words, the
lambent play of the eagle eye, the pose, the movement which Garrick
would have studied with delight, the sweep of argument, the croAvd
of images, the fiery earnestness, the depth of passion that holds that
vast assembly spell-bound as the Ancient Mariner held the Avedding
guest. At every pause there is a convulsive gasp as the multitude
strives to breathe, and that is the only sound save the preacher's voice
in the great edifice. At times you almost hear your own heart beat,
so violent are its throbs ; and again its pulse seems to stop. You
loose your eye from the thrall of the preacher's glance, which appears
armed with double sight to read your thoughts. You turn your head,
and lo ! the mass of the people are on their feet, standing statue-like,
staring in a dazed way at the enchanter who has robbed them of the
sense of time, place, and posture, and who holds them in a trance of
fear, terror, love, or rapture. Again the light of his eye arrests you, and
you cannot slip his despotic hold. Criticism is disarmed, perception, re
flection, imagination, emotion, are all mastered ; you see, hear, feel,
think, only as he allows, your heart and brain are flooded by his

586 Methodist. Bishops.
personality, and this is only to make way for his august theme. His
impetuosity increases, his mastery of your every faculty is complete.
If you have hidden under refuges of lies, he tears them down and
leaves you exposed to the hailstones of wrath ; if you are a trembling
penitent, he encourages and comforts, and you behold the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the world ; if you are a hopeful
believer, you see the great white throne with a rainbow round about
it, in sight like unto an emerald, and in the midst of the throne a
Lamb as it had been slain, and almost hear the song of the four beasts,
and four and twenty elders, and of the multitude that no man can
number. Halleluia! halleluia!
He ceases, and you find yourself, when restored to consciousness,
upon your feet where you have been for half an hour, and as your
benumbed frame drops into the seat you shudder with a strange min
gling of pain and delight, and find yourself almost exhausted from the
mighty strain. I know that this will appear an exaggeration, the
vapor of an idle brain, to those who never heard Bascom in his prime ;
but to those who have been thrilled to ecstasy by his resistless elo
quence, it will fall short of the memory — how far below the experi
ence! Let me here quote the description of a sermon delivered by him
in old Light-street Church, Baltimore, at the General Conference, in
May, 1840, written by the beloved Bishop Wightman :
The throng was as dense as could crowd into the spacious building, the ad
joining street being filled with people who could not find entrance into the
church. His text was, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world ! " The sermon embraced all the cardinal elements of the Christian
system, set forth in a light so vivid, under illustrations so overpoweringly mag
nificent, and with a vehemence so rushing and pauseless, as to hold the vast
audience spell-bound. At particular passages, several of which we distinctly
remember, the effect was awful. The sentences came like sharp zig-zag light
ning, the tones of the preacher's voice were like articulate thunder. The hearer
cowered under the weight of thought piled upon thought, and was driven
almost beside himself by the rapid whirl of dazzling imagery. The sermon,
artistically considered, had the strange fault of being too great. It covered too
vast a field of thought ; it was marred by an excess of grandeur. You were
bewildered by the quick succession of vivid pictures thrown off as by the turn
of some grand kaleidoscope. The impassioned fervor of the preacher seemed

Henry Bidleman Bascom. 587
too self-consuming. We felt, as some one has happily remarked respecting
Chalmers, that powers and resources such as these were indeed not needed by
the Gospel, but much needed by gospel-rejecting man.
This incident may be added, which I had from Bascom's own lips.
He Avas preaching in a large country church on a bright Sabbath
morning. The house was crowded to its utmost capacity ; the windows
were all open, one of which Avas immediately behind the pulpit, over
looking the rural graveyard. The preacher was describing the various
typical forms and manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Spell-bound and
breathless, the congregation hung upon his lips. It was the baptism
in Jordan ; with John they saw the opening heaven, and the Spirit of
God in the form of a dove descending upon the Son of Man, when
silently, suddenly, as an apparition, a milk-white dove flew through
the pulpit window and rested on the preacher's shoulder. Astounded,
he paused ; an instant it sat, then rose, and three times describing a
circle around his head, away flew the snowy bird to the summer woods.
The effect of this startling coincidence must be left to the imagination.
It would hardly be credited if I were to attempt a record of the
manifest results of his preaching — how strong men fell from their
seats in swoons, how some were even carried from the church in de
lirium, or how thousands on a camp-ground were lifted to their feet
and swayed as trees are swayed by the wind, or carried by an invisible
yet irresistible current in a mass toAvard the pulpit. Let it not be
supposed that these were chance successes ; for at his home, where he
preached most frequently, his ministry was most highly prized. Who
can doubt that Avhile his physical beauty, genius, and the reservoir of
magnetic power in his nervous system had much to do with these
phenomena, the rapt earnestness, the prophet-like self-abandonment,
and, above all, the power of the Holy Ghost, were necessary to com
plete the results ? In this way he would sometimes preach day after
day for weeks ; but it was at a fearful discount of the threescore
years and ten, or even fourscore years, of man's allotted time ; for no
electric battery in mortal could long endure such vast expenditure. A
premature failure of his vocal organs and magnetic power, and death
long before his time, were the consequences.
More attractive to me, however, than his dazzling eloquence is the
story of his domestic virtues and his homely affections. I have said

588 Methodist Bishops.
that Alpheus Bascom was not a prosperous man — save that it pleased
God to grant him three wives and twelve children, if that be prosperity.
Henry's mother died in 1815, his father in 1833, and during this
interval of eighteen years Alpheus had two wives and four children.
At the beginning of his ministry Henry went in debt to help his
father, and until the grave received him he carried that crushing
burden. The narrow stipend of a Methodist preacher did not afford
much margin for beneficence, but all he could make and save was
given to his family. Not only so, but while followed by delighted
thousands, his praise filling all the Churches, he would hasten to the
banks of the Ohio, and with his own hands cut and haul the family's
fire-wood for the winter, help in harvesting, mend the fences, patch
the house, and do all that in his power lay to promote the comfort
of the household. While he was a very young man, traveling a rough
circuit in Kentucky, one of his sisters died, leaving two orphan
daughters commended to his care. He accepted the trust, provided
for and educated them, as he did in the case of all his younger
brothers and sisters, and declined to marry until all were settled in life
except his younger step-sister, who was bred as a daughter under his
own roof, and then given in marriage. When his aged father came to
die Henry was at his side, as he had been for months, tending him with
all a woman's care. The mortal sickness had been long and attended
by great suffering. Henry was his father's minister to body and soul.
The old man asked him to give the sacrament of our Lord's body and
blood. The Holy rite was performed, and a great peace rested on the
dying man. The open shutters let in the growing light of a wintry
morning ; the father's arm was around the form of his ministering son
who kneeled at his bed-side, the gray hairs of the one mingled with
the glossy jet curls of the other upon the pillow ; " Glory to God,"
fell from the lips of the dying man, and an unearthly light lingered for
a moment upon his wan features, and Alpheus Bascom passed from the ,
chilly dawn of earth to that city which hath no need of the light of
the sun, and where there is no night. Henry felt that the one man
who understood him thoroughly and loved him wholly was gone ; and
great, admired, famous as he was, he stood orphaned, desolate. Never
has a family been more bravely wrought for and tenderly nurtured
than was that of Alpheus Bascom by his son Henry.

Henry Bidleman Bascom. 589
The step-mother and all his younger brothers and sisters were at
once taken into his home, and ever remained as his own mother and
children. It must not be forgotten that in those days the current
notion as to the support of Methodist preachers was low and stinted.
" If the Lord will keep you humble," said an old steward, welcoming
a new preacher to his circuit, " we will see to it that you are kept poor
enough." Bascom's allowance from the Church for the first thirteen years of
his ministry was $100 per annum ; and for more than half the time
he did not receive half that pittance. The help, therefore, which he
gave to his father's family involved him in debt, and from the meshes
of that net he never succeeded in releasing himself. Even when his
income became larger, when filling the chair of a college professor, or
acting as the president of a university, it was yet so meager, and the
necessary expenses of his station were so increased, that there was no
chance of relief from his growing embarrassment. Again and again
he made desperate exertions to free himself from the wretched entan
glement. His quick and honorable spirit chafed at the sense of
slavery which debt always imposes. At length, almost driven to mad
ness, he continued to lecture night after night to tear himself free
from these chains, while the vulture gnawed at his vitals — notwith
standing an attack of bronchitis demanded rest and silence for a time —
and thus was destroyed his trumpet-like voice, and for the last eleven
years of his life he was obliged to struggle on with sadly impaired
vocal organs. It is pitiable to remember that while hundreds of thou
sands of men and women enjoyed the loftiest and most vivid pleasure
of their lives as the gift of his toil and genius, they suffered him,
through cold neglect, to pine in want, shivering with the dread of dis
honor ; and forgot the sacred word, " Do ye not know that they which
minister about holy things five of the things of the temple ; and they
which wait at- the altar are partakers with the altar % Even so hath
the Lord ordained that they whicli preach the Gospel should live
of the Gospel."
So unremitting had been his labors as a student, despite the almost
insuperable difficulties of his lot, and so brilliant were his faculties for
the acquisition of knowledge, that by the time he had been fourteen
years a preacher he was called to the headship of a nascent institution

590 Methodist Bishops.
of learning styled Madison College, at Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
From causes beyond his control the venture was not a success, and at
the end of three years he resigned. He then acted as the Agent of
the American Colonization Society ; and in 1832 Avas called to the
chair of Intellectual and Moral Science in Augusta College, Kentucky,
a position filled for ten years with credit to himself and advantage to
the institution. He was then elected to the presidency of Transyl
vania University, at Lexington, Kentucky, which, with much reluc
tance, he accepted, and discharged its duties with his accustomed zeal
and fidelity until about a year before his death. For some years
before 1828 he was much interested, and took an active part in the
discussion of the question of ecclesiastical reform, AA-hich issued in the
establishment that year of the Methodist Protestant Church. Although
in favor at the time of most of the changes proposed, and especially
urgent upon the right of agitation, whicli it was thought had been
rudely denied in some quarters, he did not take the final step of the
reformers. He was a member of the General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church from 1828 to 1844. Although no man in these
gatherings compared with him in the fame or the power of his ser
mons, he never opened his lips in debate. This was partly due to his
diffidence, and partly owing to his great dislike, amounting almost to
disgust, for the speech-making habit, so general and so baneful in
deliberative assemblies, and such a delight with common-place men.
He was, nevertheless, earnest and faithful here as every-where, doing
his duty upon committees, for which he wrote many able reports. At
the General Conference of 1844, although, 1 think, almost eA-ery
other man on the floor made a speech, he resolutely held his peace,
but when the time for action arrived he voted with the minority, and
cast in his lot with the delegates from the Southern Conferences.
He was a commanding member, although silent, of the Louisville
Convention of 1845, at AA'hich the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
Avas organized, and of the General Conference held at Petersburgh,
Yirginia, in 1856. It was his pen that Avrote most of the important
papers on his side of the question in the memorable division of the
Church. In the last-named year he was elected the editor of the
" Southern Methodist Quarterly Beview," and also one of the com-

Henry Bidleman Bascom. 591
missioners to arrange the question in dispute between the two bodies.
The duties of his three positions — the presidency of a university, the
editorship of a quarterly, and a commissionership charged with numerous
delicate and vexing questions, were too much for his waning strength
and unwearied industry, and all the time he was worried by debt.
In May, 1850, he was elected to be one of the Bishops of the Meth
odist Episcopal Church, South, but lived only long enough to preside
at one Annual Conference — the St. Louis — held at Independence,
Mo., in July. His superb physique had for years been yielding to
the exhaustion resulting from undue labors, and to the pressure of
care and sorrow upon an abnormally sensitive organization. The
Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Bivers, along Avhich his route lay,
were very low, and navigation was, therefore, much obstructed and
wearisome ; the voyage Avas made in the scorching heat of mid-sum
mer, and the cholera was making frightful ravages throughout the
region. On his way home from the Conference he stopped at St.
Louis, and was importuned to preach. At first he declined on account
of sickness and wasted strength, but then bethought himself and said,
" I will, for it may be my last opportunity." A great congregation
gathered in the afternoon, and hung entranced upon his lips — but it
was for the last time. The next day he pursued his way, and after
much delay arrived at Louisville, hoping to reach his home in Lexing
ton. But it was denied him to die under his own roof. He made a
last effort, and against the remonstrance of his friend, the Bev. Dr.
Stevenson, took the coach from his door at three in the morning, but
was brought back in an hour a dying man. He breathed his last on
Sunday morning, September 8, 1850, just at the hour when, for
almost forty years, he had been used to meet the thousands Avho gath
ered to learn from him the way of life more perfectly. As those
matchless lips were closing he said, " My only trust is in the goodness
of Almighty God through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." His
noble form was followed to the grave by thousands of mourners, while
his Avhole Church felt with unspeakable sorrow, " That a prince and a
mighty man hath fallen that day in Israel."
Bishop Bascom was married in 1839 to Miss Yan Antwerp, of
New York. His wife, a daughter, and son, survived him. The son
has since passed away.

592 Methodist Bishops.
This is not the place for a critical estimate of Dr. Bascom's life,
labors, and character, nor am I the man to make it. I honored and
loved him while he lived, and now reverently and tenderly cherish his
memory. Other hands than mine, then, must use the scalpel. His
contemporaries believed him — and with reason — to be, among Ameri
can Christian orators, facile princeps. and I knew him to be true and
tender as a woman, sweet and artless as a child. The invidious dis
paragement of another's merits so often hurled from clerical lips
never polluted his ; and pretense of critical acumen was never used
by him as a cloak for a jealous hostility. He loved and honored his
brethren of high and low degree, and especially was the friend and
helper of the young preachers, and of those who were unfortunate.
I suspect that the only speeches he ever made in Annual Conferences
were in behalf of men who were in trouble. He was the last to believe
evil of a brother, and nothing but sun-bright proof could convince
him. He was never known to utter detraction ; and always found
good in the poorest sermon when the preacher had honesty and sim
plicity. His knightly heart would peril influence and reputation,
or even life itself, upon a friend's behalf, and though his purse was
scantily supplied, it was ever open to the needy. His inflexible will
and dauntless courage bore him through trials so sore, and over oppo
sitions so fierce, that a less resolute man would haAre cowered in dis
may. His colossal genius and burning eloquence were consecrated to
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The crown he wore was wrought
of iron, and on it was graven Self-renunciation. As the departing
traveler looks back upon the receding city at night, he beholds the
myriad lights grouping themselves into a single glow ; as he who looks
upon the heavens beholds a constellation gleaming in the light of a
single star ; so he who recalls the past of Methodism on this continent,
the labors, the sorrows, self-sacrifices, almost martyrdom, and the tri
umphs of its sons, finds rising to his lips the loved, the honored, the
revered name of Henry B. Bascom.

KX^tSK.1 y/

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Jul, Glimli era , Ml.Tmrr. ¦ S Ulrai j Mo

Enoch Mather Marvin.

BY EEV. LUCIUS H. BUGBEE, D.D.

AMONG Americans there is no pride more pardonable, and, withal,
more gratifying, than that which traces lineage back to the Puri
tan fathers. We do not know that Bishop Marvin ever indulged this
pride ; nevertheless, he had good reason to feel gratified in thinking
of his ancestors, for the Marvins were among the earliest settlers of
New England, and his great-grandfather, Elisha Marvin, married into
the celebrated Cotton Mather family.
Under date of " 15th April, 1635," an official record in England
specified that the Marvyn family were registered to " imbarque in the
ship ' Increase,' Eobert Lea, Master, to New England." Among the
original settlers of Hartford, Conn., were two brothers, Matthew
and Eeinold Marvin. Eeinold's will is recorded among the Colony
records of Saybrook. In this will he directs that to each of his grand
children "there be provided and given a Bible as soon as they are
capable of using them." Members of the family held good positions
as intelligent and useful citizens, and were marked by fine social quali
ties — a feature of character Avhich was agreeably felt by all who came
within the sphere of Bishop Marvin's influence. There were among
them Church deacons, captains and lieutenants in the Indian wars
and in the Colonial army, and representatives in the General Court.
Elisha Marvin, great-grandson of Eeinold Marvin, was born in
Lyme, Conn., 1717, and died in 1801. He married Catherine Mather,
avIio was related to Cotton Mather, of whose learning and literary
industry all readers of American literature are well aware. Cotton
Mather, D.D., published three hundred and eighty-tAvo volumes, some
of them very large, and at his death, in 1728, he was reputed the
greatest scholar and author America had then produced. Enoch, son
of Elisha Marvin, was born in 1747. He married Euth Ely, and
removed to Berkshire, Mass., where his son, Wells Ely, was born. He
died in 1841, in Missouri, whither he had gone with his son in 1817.
Wells Ely Marvin married a lady whose ancestors were Welsh, and

596 Methodist Bishops.
had settled in Missouri the same year with himself. He made his
home in Warren County, where he built a double log-cabin after the
best fashion of those times, covering it with clapboards weighted down
with poles. Here his third child, Enoch Mather Marvin, was born
June 12, 1823.
Wells Ely Marvin was not a member of any Church. He died
December 30, 1856, and was buried in the family grave-yard on the
home place. One year after this, January 1, 1858, his wife died. She
was a devout woman, a member of the Baptist Church, and by pre
cept and example instructed her children in the principles of Chris
tianity from their earliest years. That she was a woman of intelli
gence and energy may be inferred from the fact that in a small house,
built for the purpose in the yard,, she taught school, imparting to her
own children and the youth of the neighborhood the elements of an
English education.
At the age of sixteen, in August, 1839, Enoch Mather Marvin joined
the Methodist Episcopal Church as an anxious inquirer after salvation,
but not until December, 1840, was he conscious of the believer's sense
of pardon and acceptance with God. That he placed a high value
upon his Church membership may be inferred from the following
passage taken from one of his best sermons, " Christ and the Church : "
•
Soon after I had united wi:h the Church I had an experience I am sure I
can never forget. I was in the saddle, on the Lord's day, on my way to a social
meeting in the country. The aspects of the autumn scenery are as distinct in
my memory as if it had been only yesterday ; the warm sun lay upon the mottled
foliage, and there seemed the hush of a hallowed peace upon the face of nature.
All at once the thought came to me, "I am in the Church, and it is in my power
now, by my unholy living, to bring a blot on the Church, and to dishonor the
Saviour." For a time the reflection seemed insupportable; it was almost more
than I could bear.
This incident furnishes, at this early period of his career, a forcible
illustration of the tenderness of his conscience, a characteristic often
manifested in his later life ; indeed, at times, in his self-examinations,
his scrutiny of motives seemed almost morbid. His mind, eager for
knoAvledge and desirous to prove all things, was much agitated on
points of dispute between Immersionists and Pedo-baptists. A tract
on Baptism, by Bev. Peter Doub, of North Carolina, settled his doubts.

Enoch Mather Marvin. 597
He was licensed to preach in 1841, that year was admitted on
trial into the Missouri Conference, and in 1843 was ordained dea
con, and elder in 1845. This year he Avas married to her who proved
herself a helpmeet indeed to him, and with whom his life was bound
up, as that characteristic and delicate tribute to his wife in the dedi
cation of his late book of sermons testifies. Of his domestic traits
we shall have occasion to speak" further on.
After much experience in mission, circuit, and station work, he
was made Presiding Elder of St. Charles District, in 1852. He was
financial agent for St. Charles' College in 1854-55, and the result of
his labors in that sphere was an endowment fund, the existence of
which at present is testimony of its usefulness ; for it is one of the
very few of that date that survives among us. He Avas next appointed
to the pastoral charge of Centenary Church, St. Louis, and up to
1862 filled other appointments in that city.
During his pastorate of Centenary Church occurred an event
which brought him prominently before the public, and illustrated the
strength of his convictions and how unsAvervingly zealous he was in
the discharge of duties he thought incumbent upon him. In the
autumn of 1859 a Eoman Catholic priest delivered in the city a course
of lectures on questions at issue between Eomanism and Protestant
ism. Being published in the " Missouri Bepublican," these lectures
were extensively circulated. The pastor of Centenary Church felt
bound by his ordination vow to " be ready with all faithful diligence
to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines, contrary
to God's word ; " and, in obedience to his convictions, commenced a
series of replies. Although his lectures extended to twenty-three, he
had large audiences throughout, who warmly testified to his ability in
defending the faith. They were published in the ".Bepublican," and
had a wide reading. They were afterward issued in book form — his
first book, " Marvin's Lectures," a 12mo of 333 pages.
In consequence of his Southern sympathies during the civil war,
he found it necessary to leave St. Louis in 1862. This Avas a turning-
point in his life. His eminently unselfish nature found ample
scope for its exercise and development in the arduous duties of chap
lain to the armies in Arkansas and Texas, in preaching to the soldiers
in camp and on the march, and ministering to them in hospitals.

598 Methodist Bishops.
Under his stirring eloquence and vivid presentation of gospel truths
many conversions took place, and in consequence he became widely
known as a preacher. His work during the war had separated him
for a long time from his family, but upon being appointed to the
pastoral charge of the Church in Marshall, Texas, about the close of
the war, he was rejoined by them. He became widely known and
was every-where favorably spoken of for his power and unction as a
preacher and his unequaled social excellence as a man ; and for some
time before the meeting of the General Conference, at New Orleans,
in the spring of 1866, the preachers and people of the South-west and
the trans-Mississippi department had him in view as the first new Bish
op that would be made. Knowing that he had been talked of as a can
didate for the episcopal office, his sensitive nature would not allow him
to be present at the Conference until the election was over ; he wished
to avoid even the appearance of personal influence. This was com
mendable modesty. He was elected on the first ballot, receiving 73
out of 144 votes.
The manner in whicli he discharged the duties of the episcopal
office proved his fitness for it, and the wisdom of his election. His
first episcopal tour took in the Indian nation, and he signalized his
first year in the Episcopacy by an act of characteristic self-sacrifice,
but for which the Indian Mission Conference must have ceased to
exist. It was during the late civil war, and both armies had so preyed
on the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek Indians that they
were greatly impoverished, the people being reduced to the point of
starvation, and there appeared but little hope of being able to support
the preachers. The vital question was, Could the organization of the
Conference be kept up 1 In this emergency Bisliop Marvin showed
that Christian spirit of disinterested self-sacrifice which has endeared
him to the whole Church, and proved how deeply he felt his responsi
bility for the success of the Gospel. The Conference was held, preach
ers were appointed to their circuits, and for their support he drew on
himself for $5,000, in quarterly installments ; and having finished the
routine of official work, he spent the winter traveling through the
Church at large, pleading, in his eloquent and forcible way, the cause
of the Indians, and reimbursing the empty treasury to meet his drafts.
This is but one instance of many such acts of Christian devotion, which

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David Seth Doggett. 617
wit, and repartee. There were times, however, when he seemed lost
in abstraction and in a sort of reverie, and when it required the
stimulus of some particular topic in which he felt a lively personal
interest to awake hiin to his surroundings, and to engage him in
conversation. He was not demonstrative, even in his warmest friend
ships, but he was as true as steel in his attachment to one whom he
knew to be worthy of his confidence. He had a keen and high sense
of honor. Nothing could be tolerated by him that was perfidious, or
even truculent and unmanly. All the noble virtues, as a whole, had
assumed a crystallized form in Bishop Doggett, and each facet of the
crystallization was sharply defined by clear-cut angles, and stood' out
alone and conspicuously bright, and yet< each facet blended harmoni
ously into symmetrical combination with all the other facets, preserv
ing the unity and homogeneity of the whole, and constituting a many-
sided jewel of peerless beauty and priceless value.
His election to the office of Bishop was somewhat of a surprise to
himself. He entered on his work Avith not a little distrust of his own
qualifications for the responsibilities and duties of the office. As a
member of the General Conference in his Church, a position he had
filled at each session from 1850 until his election to the Episcopacy in
1866, he had never taken a very active part in the deliberations as a
debater or leader. At more than one session he had been chairman
of the Committee on Education, and had written reports that were
characterized by great beauty and elegance of style, as well, also, as by
their breadth of thought. His judgment was good, and he was always
safe and judicious in counsel, but was, nevertheless, a little wary about
committing himself at once to any doubtful measure. When once he
reached the point of committal he was bold and fearless in his advo
cacy of the cause. Some small degree of apprehension was enter
tained by his friends and those who knew him best as to whether his
administrative tact and ability would be equal to the demands and
emergencies of his new position. But he had not been long in the
episcopal chair as President of an Annual Conference, and in the cab
inet of presiding elders as the chief official in making out the appoint
ments, ere he inspired confidence in his capabilities to meet all the
requirements of his office. He soon became a favorite as a presiding
officer, and became strongly intrenched in the affections of the whole
36

618 Methodist Bishops.
Church, commanding the respect and confidence of all with whom he
was brought into association. His official administration passed each
succeeding General Conference with approval. His escutcheon is
untarnished, and he has gone to his honored grave with the affections
of his colleagues clustering round him, and the benediction of the
Church, which he served with unswerving fidelity, following him to
his latest breath in life. In his episcopal visitations he traversed
the length and breadth of Southern Methodism ; and whether in Yir
ginia or Oregon, in Kansas or Texas, in Missouri or Georgia, he bound
his Church, ministry and laity, to him as " with hooks of steel."
"Bishop Doggett was the friend and patron of education. He was
for many years a trustee of Bandolph Macon College — an institution
whose charter bears an earlier date than any other Methodist college
North or South. He was always ready -to respond to invitations to
deliver baccalaureate sermons and commencement addresses, and
some of the best productions of his pen are to be found in this line
of service. For many years Bishop Doggett was an actiA'e member of the
Board of Managers of the Yirginia Bible Society, organized in 1814,
two years before the American Bible Society — and at the time of his
death he was its president. He was deeply interested in the work of
Bible distribution. Some of the very best addresses and discourses
. delivered by him were in the interest and advocacy of the Bible
cause. At Bible society anniversaries, and on the adoption of the
reports of committees on the Bible cause at Annual Conferences,
as also at special meetings called for the purpose of raising money
to aid in the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, " without note or
comment," the Bishop was a ready and Avilling respondent to the call
for a speech. Some of the most felicitous efforts of his life, as a
public speaker, were made on such occasions ; and on his death-bed
he spoke of his devotion to the Bible cause, and said that he esteemed
it an honor to represent his denomination in this department of Chris
tian activity, as the President of the Yirginia Bible Society.
The Bishop Avas a pronounced and decided Methodist in all his
convictions and preferences, and yet he was a man of the largest
Christian charity. In the city of his long residence — Bichmond, Ya. —
he was a favorite with all Christian denominations, and often supplied

David Seth Doggett. 619
their pulpits, on special call, to the edification and delight of the
congregations. There was no man in the Southern Methodist Church, occupying
a high and influential position, that was more deeply interested in
Christian fraternity as between the North and South, than Bishop
Doggett. He favored nothing that involved a compromise of any
vital principle ; and yet he advocated charitable constructions and lib
eral concessions, and earnestly desired to keep the " unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace." He was the friend and supporter of
all suitable measures to inaugurate and maintain the interchange of
fraternal messengers between the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
and the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. Person
ally, he visited the Bound Lake Camp-meeting, and other like occa
sions, and showed his faith by his works. He was the advocate of the
Ecumenical Council, and lent his influence to the furtherance of
all proper and legitimate plans and schemes looking to a closer and
more efficient unification of Methodism in the world. However
earnest he may have been at any time in defense of the steps taken
which resulted in the independent organization of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, as a co-ordinate sister of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, enjoying a common heritage, and invested with the
same immunities, he never uttered an uncharitable expression, or per
formed a single act, that was not in consonance and harmony AA'ith the
highest demands of Christian charity.
What we have said in the foregoing part of this article relates
more especially to Bishop Doggett as a man, a preacher, a Church
official, and a public character. But it is as a Christian that the Bishop
rises in the majesty and grandeur of his noble and well-spent life to
our backward gaze and contemplation. He was, by pre-eminence, a
Christian. Barely has there been a more beautiful and perfect embodi
ment of all the Christian graces and virtues that enter into the life
and character of the highest style of the godly saint, than was exem
plified in the daily walk and conversation of the subject of this sketch.
He was consciously, experimentally, converted to God in spiritual
regeneration while he was yet a youth. His talents were consecrated
to God when he entered the ministry. He devoted himself with
ceaseless and untiring energy to the best and most effective prepara-

620 Methodist Bishops.
tion for preaching the Gospel. He was pure in sentiment, chaste in
language, circumspect in deportment, and blameless in life. He pre
served an unblemished record, unimpeached and unimpeachable in all
the relations of life — domestic, social, public, and official — from his
boyhood till threescore and ten, and died, leaving a name and memory
behind him that is fragrant with the precious odors of the ." Lily of
the Y alley," and the perfume distilled by the leaves and fruitage of
that Tree which is for " the healing of the nations." On his death
bed he said, "I claim to have lived above reproach as a minister of
the Gospel." This was no idle vaunting. No man ever sustained a
more irreproachable character.
Bishop Doggett married Miss Gwathney in 1834, with whom he
lived in holy wedlock for the space of more than forty-six years,
and when he died he left her a widow with five living children —
three sons and two daughters — all of whom have arrived at the state
of manhood and womanhood. He had provided for them a compe
tency, and left his estate free from any embarrassments. In the
domestic relations of life he had suffered terrifically distressing and
painful bereavements. Two of his children, sweet little girls, by a
strange coincidence were burned to death by having their clothes
caught in flames. This occurred with an interval of several years
between the two accidents : the first, while he was Professor in Ban-
dolph Macon College, the latter, during his later residence in the city
of Bichmond. At a still later period he lost, by death, a grown
daughter in the beauty and strength of early womanhood. She was
bright, gifted, and versatile ; handsome in person and sprightly in
intellect. These bereavements lacerated his heart, and ground him as
betAveen the upper and nether mill-stones, and yet he bowed submis
sively to God's chastening hand, and said, " The Lord gave, and the
Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord."
It is very natural for the reader to inquire, "How did Bishop
Doggett die ? " We answer, Grandly, sublimely. To this point we
shall, therefore, devote the remainder of this fragmentary sketch.
Bishop Doggett had been prostrated several times during the later
years of his life with attacks of illness supposed to have been occa
sioned by impaired digestion. Just one year before his death he was
extremely ill for several weeks with one of these attacks, and serious

David Seth Doggett. 621
apprehensions were entertained that he would not recover ; but he did
so far regain his strength as to go out on his tour of episcopal visita
tions to the several Conferences assigned to him in the distribution of
the episcopal work for the year. Having performed his work he
returned home about the first of June, 1880, in improved health.
Llere he spent the remainder of the summer with his family, and had
completed all his arrangements to leave for his fall and early winter
Conferences in Colorado, Montana, and on the Pacific coast. A feAV
days before his anticipated departure he was stricken down with an
attack similar to the one from which he suffered the previous year.
At first he hoped it would be of short duration, and that, if he
failed to reach his Conference at Pueblo, Colorado, he would overtake
his work in Montana, and proceed with his round of Conferences in
Oregon and California. In this he was disappointed, and it cost
him a painful struggle. He was not, at first, confined to his bed, but
was unable to go out of his house, or even to keep up his correspond
ence. This was about the middle of August.
Living, as I then did, in Eichmond, and being on terms of great
intimacy with him, I was daily advised of his condition. On Monday,
August 16 th, I called in company with two other ministers of the city
to see him. We found him lying on his sofa, and looking weak and
faint. He seemed to be very much depressed in his feelings. We
were hardly prepared to find him taking such a desponding view of
his condition. Speaking of his disappointment in not being able to
leave for his Conferences he said, " I am praying, and trying to rally
to my work, but I cannot see how it will go with me. My work may
be done," he said thoughtfully ; and added, " but I cannot exactly see
how it Avill be." He then said, "When I was sick a year ago I did
not then feel that my work was done ; but I cannot say so now."
After a pause he went on to say, " I have dismissed all solicitude as
to the Pacific Coast Conferences. I have done all I could to get ready
to go, but God has ordered it otherwise, as it appears to me. His will
be done. I am content." He then observed that he was comfortable
religiously ; and that on the day before (Sunday) he had a pleasant
and delightful day. He asked us all to pray for him that God might
order all things for the best. At his request I led in prayer. He
was very devotional.

622 Methodist Bishops.
Not till the Friday following did I have an opportunity of con
versing with him again. He seemed something better, but he con
versed pretty much in the same strain as in the previous interview.
Lie said he was perfectly resigned to God's will. Said he, " I cannot
go to my Conferences ; God knows best. My work may be done. I
cannot see my way clear in that direction. I am content ; his will be
done." At longer or shorter intervals I saw the Bishop, and con-
A^ersed with him. He was often suffering with nausea, and could not
see company or converse with any one. Sometimes, for a day or two,
he seemed to be something better; sometimes he was much worse.
In an interview about the first of September I found him greatly
changed in appearance. He said :
" I am a Arery sick man."
" What can I do for you, Bishop ? " I inquired.
He responded, " Bray for me. I thought I would request you to
call the elders of the Church together, and to pray for me, that God
may help me to be submissive, meek, and patient ; but," said he, " do
as you think best."
After a few other sentences, he added : " And now let God be glo
rified and praised, and his will be done."
He did not speak hopefully of his recovery. He was not despond
ent or gloomy ; on the contrary, he was as cheerful as his condition,
suffering as he did, would allow him to be. His trust in God was
child-like. There was no decided change in the Bishop's condition
one way or another for seA^eral weeks. When in a condition to see
his brethren in the ministry they were admitted to his bedside, and
his conversations were always of the most cheerful and delightful
character as to his own religious state and his prospects beyond the
grave. Many of these conversations were preserved, but they would
occupy a disproportionate amount of space in this sketch if recorded
in detail. Passing over other visits, I saw him September 24th. His condi
tion was thought to be extremely critical. He was glad to see me, and
after some endearing expressions of friendship, and a reference to the
brotherly intimacy existing between us for so many years, he said, " I
have just been talking with my family, and a precious talk it has been."
Then turning more directly to me, he said, " Hitherto the Lord hath

David Seth Doggett. 623
helped me, and let his name be praised forever ! " After a moment's
pause, I asked him what he thought of his own condition, and of his
prospects of recovery. He replied very promptly, " I have never
been hopeful of recovery from this attack since I have been sick ;
but," he continued, " I have no solicitude whatever about its issue. I
am at peace." He then added after a little pause, " As I get near the
gates of the city the prospect is grand. The idea," said he, " that I
shall pass over and land on the eternal shore is unspeakably sublime ;
and all through Jesus Christ, my Lord." He then added with very
decided emphasis, " Yes, through Jesus Christ, my Lord. I believe
in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God — that," said he, in a sort of
parenthesis, " is my doctrine — the eternal Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me."
In this conversation I said to him that his colleagues in the Epis
copacy were all anxious about his condition, and had written me kind
and tender letters of inquiry, and sent messages of love and sympathy
to him ; and asked if he had any messages for them in return ? He
responded, " Give them all my unfeigned love, and tell them that I
love them all, and that if I see them no more on earth, I hope and
expect to meet them all on the eternal shore." He then consigned
his manuscripts to my charge, and said that his library would remain
in his family, and would be free to his brethren in the ministry to use
at pleasure. During the interview now under notice, the Eev. W. E. Judkins,
one of the Methodist pastors in the . city, came into the room. To
him the Bishop said, in reply to an inquiry as to his condition, " I have
had peace, gospel peace, uninterruptedly, ever since I have been on
this bed of affliction." While we were still listening to the Bishop
as he reviewed his life, giving us interesting reminiscences of his min
istry as his strength would permit, the Bev. Charles H. Bead, D.D.,
pastor of the Grace-street Presbyterian Church, in the city, came into
the room ; and without taking a seat, knelt by the bedside. The
Bishop expressed great gratification on seeing him. Dr. Bead com
menced by saying that he had a message of sympathy from the Board
of Managers of the Yirginia Bible Society to him. The Bishop inter
posed by saying, " Let me say a word before you deliver your mes
sage'." He then remarked, in substance, what has before been stated,

624 Methodist Bishops.
that he felt it an honor to be President of the Society ; and that while
he had been able to do but little in furtherance of its objects, he still
felt a deep and abiding interest in its fortunes. Dr. Bead then deliv
ered the message from the Board, whicli had just held a meeting.
The conversation then turned on the subject which most occupied the
Bishop's mind. He spoke of what he denominated his sweet enjoy
ment of the blessing of God upon his soul, and then said, " The blood
of Jesus Christ is on me ; that is my platform." Dr. Bead signified
his acceptance of it, when the Bishop replied, " We differ doctrinally
on some minor points of theology, but we agree in this." Dr. Bead
remarked, " The difference is just wide enough to give full play to
Christian charity." It would occupy too much space to give a recital
of all that took place in this interview, which the Bishop thought
Would be his last, as, in fact, it was the last of any extended length.
The Bishop said to Dr. Bead, who was still kneeling at his bedside,
" Doctor, pray us a short prayer." We all, at his request, knelt around
his bed, and Dr. Bead led in prayer ; and as we arose from our knees
the Bishop extended his hands and pronounced the benediction with
impressive solemnity, as if he were dismissing the great congregation,
and we all silently left the room.
Barely has there been in the history of the Church a more com
plete triumph over death and the grave than was evinced in the clos
ing scenes of Bishop Doggett's life. He was ready, waiting, and even
anxious to die, and to be with Christ. On one occasion he said, " I
have known life with its imperfections and frailties, and I am now
anxious to be gone that I may know it in its perfection." To one
of his brethren he said, " I have never been ambitious for office ;
but I have been ambitious, so to speak, to preach the Gospel with the
highest efficiency and success within the compass of my ability; and
O, how I have enjoyed it ! "
The Bishop lingered till the night of October 27, but his con
dition was such that he but rarely received any company, or attempted
any conversation. Like a weary, worn-out child he lay upon his bed,
unable to turn himself — waiting for the Master's call. To his daughter,
Mrs. Fitzgerald, who was near his bed on the afternoon of the day
before he died, he said, " Pattie, unless God, my Father, were to take
me up in his arms and nurse me, as a mother nurses her baby, I

David Seth Doggett. 625
could not get well." Indeed, from the beginning of the attack he
never expected to recover. On Wednesday night, October 27, 1880,
about nine o'clock, he was suddenly seized with a fatal turn, and in
a few minutes his spirit had taken its mysterious flight into eternity.
Ministers of all denominations in Eichmond attended the Bishop's
funeral services ; and a representative from each leading denomina
tion paid a glowing tribute to his memory. He was buried in Holly
wood Cemetery. Memorial meetings were held all over the country
embraced in Southern Methodism, sermons and addresses delivered,
and resolutions adopted, all expressive of the high estimate in Avhich
the Bishop was held by the Church at whose altars he had ministered,
and in whose councils he had occupied a position of prominence for so
many years.
The following letter, from Bishop Eobert Paine, D.D., senior
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is given merely
as a sample of the letters received from various sources, indicating
the estimate in which Bishop Doggett was held, both by his col
leagues and by the Church at large : Aberdeen, Miss., August 28, 1880.
Dear Doctor Edwards : Yours of the 24th inst. just received, informing
me of the dangerous illness of my dear colleague, Bishop Doggett. It startles
and pains me inexpressibly. His death would be felt by many thousands as a
great calamity. Have we overworked him? Have we been too proud of him ?
I confess that, during many years of intimate association and uninterrupted
friendship, he has been constantly growing on my confidence and love, until my
admiration for his rare endowments as a preacher has been equaled by my high
respect for him as a high-toned gentleman and devout Christian. I pray and trust
that God may spare him to us ! We need him — do not see how we can do with
out him. Yet our divine Master knows it all. Do keep me advised.
Your Brother, R. Paine.

EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION.

THIS body took its rise in the year 1800, in the Eastern part
of Pennsylvania. It Avas composed of German-speaking peo
ple, avIio had been formed into classes by the Eev. Jacob Albright,
the story of whose life will explain the planting and growth of his
Church. In course of time, as the work increased and laborers multiplied,
Annual Conferences were held, and in 1816, sixteen years after the
organization of the Church, a General Conference was held in Union
County, Pa., which consisted of all the elders in the ministry. Since
1843 a General Conference, composed of delegates elected from
among their elders, has held quadrennial sessions. Their Bishops are
elected quadrennially. For the last forty-eight years the Association
has struggled against fierce opposition, but their groAArth has been
rapid. They numbered, in 1879, 828 itinerant preachers, 540 local
preachers, and 105,013 lay members. They have a publishing house,
located in Cleveland, Ohio, where their Church periodicals and au
elaborate catalogue of books are printed in the German language.

En|.By b&c KoevQBts.S^'

REV JACOB ALBRIGHT.

Jacob Albright.

BY EEV. TIIE0D0BE L. FLOOD.

THE dividing and subdividing of the Methodist Church from the
day she was organized in the United States until the present,
illustrates the restlessness of the human mind, besides shoAviug Iioav
many men there are in the Church Avho think they Avere born to rule.
Every departure from the original Methodist family has been made
ostensibly in the interest of what the reformers thought to be sound
doctrine, or a revival of spiritual religion, a moral reform, or a better
form of church government.
Jacob Albright came into the Methodist Church because she
preached the Gospel with a plainness and directness whicli satisfied
his soul, and he went out from her that he might use the same Gos
pel and methods to awaken and save the Germans of Eastern Penn-
syhrania. The pleasing story of his eventful life, whicli is mostly translated
from the German, giA'es the account of his success in laying the
foundation of what is, to-day, the most flourishing branch of inde
pendent Episcopal Methodism among the Germans of this country.
John Albright, the father of Jacob, came from Germany in a
year to us unknown, in the eighteenth century, and settled in Mont
gomery County, Pa., in a place then called Foxbury, about three miles
south east from PottstoAvn. Here Jacob was born on the first day of
May, 1759, of poor parents, in a house which, having been simply
and strongly built, is still standing. His parents being devoted mem
bers of the EArangelical Lutheran Church, Jacob received baptism in
his infancy at the hands of a Lutheran minister. In his boyhood he
learned the trade of brick and tile making. He Avas an industrious
and skillful Avorkman, and in very early life he accumulated con
siderable property. By his honest dealing he earned from his
neighbors and customers the enviable title of " The Honest Brick-
inaker." In 17S5 he was married to Miss Catherine Cope, and soon

630 Methodist Bishops.
after moved to Lancaster County} Pa. From this union they had
nine children, of whom only three, two sons and one daughter, out
lived him.
His education was limited. The schools of his time were few
and imperfectly adapted to the education of young men for profes
sional life ; accordingly, Mr. Albright's accomplishments in scholar
ship were not numerous or profound. It was in a private school that
he learned to read and write and to reckon in the German language.
In addition to the Pennsylvania Dutch, spoken all around him, he
mastered high German, and sufficient English to enable hiin, on
occasion, to preach fluently in either tongue. His library was made
up of the hymn book, Catechism, and a Bible Commentary, which
he prized very highly.
In his boyhood he was instructed in the Catechism and rules of
the Church, thoroughly indoctrinated, and then he was confirmed and
admitted to membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Douglass Township, Montgomery County.
At this time the German Church in Eastern Pennsylvania was in
a deplorable condition ; nothing was heard among them of true con
versions, of prayer-meetings, Bible meetings, Sunday-schools, or the
conviction of sin. The people held "the form of godliness," but
denied the poAver ; " the salt had lost its savor." Of this period of his
life Mr. Albright says : " I Avalked thoughtlessly in the ways of the
world, was gay with the gay, thought little on the object of life,
esteemed not the duty of men, still less that of Christians. I lived
as though this life, a span long, Avould last forever, and committed
many sins for which God has threatened severe punishment." Church
membership was by him, as by others, used as a license for sinning,
and instead of groAving better he grew worse. Yet his conscience
troubled him, and he made resolution after resolution to reform, but
did not put them into immediate effect.
In 1790 his family was A'isited with sickness and death. He
passed through deep waters. His heart was made sore by the blows
of Providence. He looked upon the death of some of his children
as a sign of God's displeasure. He became humble and teachable,
so that the preaching of the Eev. Anthony Hentz, a Lutheran minis
ter, at the burial of his children, awakened him, and he forthwith

Jacob Albright. 631
determined to seek the Lord. The two-edged sword cut deep. The
voice of conscience disturbed the quiet of his soul. He wrote with
his own pen, " O if I only had my life to live over again, how differ
ently I would act ! A sense of my miAvorthiness, augmented by por
tions of the Catechism I could recall, almost drove me to despair ;
but I was led to pray. I fell upon my knees : bitter tears of peni
tence flowed over my cheeks, and a long, burning, fervent prayer for
grace and the forgiveness of my sing rose to the throne of the Most
High." The conflict was severe, and the trial of his soul great. He
sought counsel of men, but found little help until the Lord brought
to him a plain, simple man, Avho was to do for him what Ananias did
for Saul, and the old brother in the cloister at Erfurt did for Martin
Luther. Of this, Bishop John Seybert writes : " Albright commenced
to weep, fast, and pray. After he had sought counsel and help of God
and man for a long time, a man named Adam Eiegel visited him, a
warm-hearted, zealous minister, who preached whenever the people
would hear him. He undertook the cause of Mr. Albright. He
worked and prayed with him until he obtained the forgiveness of
sins and a hope of eternal life. This happened in Eiegel's house.
Mr. Albright was so overcome with heavenly joy and blessing that
he hardly knew how to praise and glorify God."
This declaration of Bishop Seybert, avIio was not only Mr. Ah
bright's contemporary, but was also born in the neighborhood where
the Bishop was, should forever set aside the unfounded report that
Albright was converted in a Methodist meeting at Mr. Butterfield's,
or that he was brought to the Lord through the efforts of the United
Brethren. Mr. Albright writes that he was filled with joy, that comfort and
consolation filled his breast, the witness of the Spirit and an inde
scribable joy were given him, so that his prayers were mingled with
tears and thanksgiving. His feet out of the clay, a new song in his
mouth, he strongly wished that his neighbors might see, and come and
fear the same God. He immediately stirred up an old Baptist preacher
(a non-possessor) by telling him, in the language that then obtained,
" You must be converted or you will go to hell." "We are not told
whether it produced a permanent change in the preacher or not.
Mr. Albright was' full of zeal and affection for his Master, and

632 Methodist Bishops.
saw at once the necessity of joining the Church. But as in the
Lutheran Church he found himself mocked and persecuted by those
who lived ungodly, he was under the necessity of seeking elsewhere
a church home and fellowship. At first he united with several others
to form a kind of independent society, which was known under vari
ous names. This society was without discipline ; each member stood
for himself ; but all were united in the Christian spirit. Later they
learned that without other bonds they could not grow and prosper ;
they then took upon themselves the name they still bear, " United
Brethren in Christ."
Mr. Albright was dissatisfied with the lack of order. Among
the different societies of his acquaintance, none appeared more to his
taste than the Methodist ; their Church services, doctrines, and Church
government attracted his attention, and, in order to understand the
Methodist Church fully, he studied, diligently the English language,
acquainted himself thoroughly with the Discipline, and rigidly judged
himself by it. At this time the Methodists, few in number, were a
despised and persecuted people. To Mr. Albright this mattered not ;
they preached Christ from their pulpits and in their lives, and ac
cordingly he joined the Methodist Church, and became a member of
Isaac Davies' class, which met at the leader's house for their class and
prayer-meetings. Here he felt at home, and when afterward God led
him into another field of labor, the experience here acquired was full
of profit. He was attentive to the means of grace, passing through
severe conflicts, and receiving strength from his victories. Among
the Methodists he learned of Christian perfection, as taught by Mr.
Wesley and others. Earnestly desiring, he sought for this neAV ex
perience with his Avhole heart. Nor did he seek in vain, as his after
testimony proves. Before setting out as a traveling preacher he says :
!' In possession of such grace, the gift of God, thoroughly equipped
with the strength of his righteousness and holiness, sealed by his
Spirit, and in love, faith and hope I addressed myself to the journey."
From the Methodists he received a license to exhort, a privilege
he used faithfully, and soon developed his native talent for speaking.
He thought not of becoming a minister of the Gospel, but his soul
Avas stirred for the condition of his countrymen, and he daily prayed
for them. Soon the voice was heard speaking to him, " Go, work

Jacob Albright. 633
in my vineyard, and announce to my children the glad tidings of the
Gospel. Trust in my fatherly love, that all those who will hear and
believe may have part in my salvation."
Mr. Albright had never thought of such a call to such a work.
Doubts arose, but the call was too distinct to be mistaken. He was
uneducated, feeble in body, and deemed himself incapable ; hence, he
earnestly prayed that God would send some one more competent than
himself. But he had no rest day or night while he thus hesitated. At
one time he would be almost entranced by visions of the glory that
, awaited him if he entered upon this course of life and faithfully per
formed its duties ; at another his heart failed him as he thought of his
want of ability for the work. But he finally decided to obey the call
and serve God as best he could. Not at once, however, for one hin
dering cause after another presented itself to his eyes, until he was
chastised, as he thought, by a severe sickness. His nerves were
attacked with unceasing pain, and his limbs were tormented Avith
almost unendurable suffering ; but greater than either was the mental
anguish to which he was subjected. He recognized the hand of God,
and turned humbly to him, promising that if he were raised up he
would preach anywhere and begin immediately. Peace of mind ensued
on this determination, and healing of body followed speedily. He was
restored, and 'without further delay he committed himself to God's
care, saying, " Here am I, send me." He sought preparation for his
work in prayer and searching the Scriptures, and consecrating his
body, " that no passion, covetousness, or love of ease, might hinder his
course." He fasted sometimes for a whole Aveek, endeavoring to
bring his body into subjection, that Christ might dwell in his heart
richly ; and God blessed him in these endeavors, so that he was enabled
to be temperate in all things, to love God with all his heart, and his
neighbor as himself. But, having no adviser, he Avent almost too
far in these practices, to the injury of his health. While Paul kept
his body under, he himself gives directions to us to preserve the
temple of the living God.
It seemed necessary to Mr. Albright that his OAvn heart and life
should be pure, because he noAV felt that there Avas set before him the
task of trying to save the Germans. He evidently saw the hand of
God pointing him toward them as the field he must occupy; his

634 Methodist Bishops.
thoughts were of them, and his convictions moved him that way, and
the rich experience in grace he obtained from God among the Meth
odists opened his eyes to see, more clearly than ever, the need of a
spiritual ministry to teach the Germans the word of God.
At this time godly living' in the German Church was an almost
unknown thing ; many preachers and office-holders were living in open
sin, and only here and there was there an appearance of Christianity.
The rules of Church order were trampled under foot, and the wild
swine laid waste the vineyard of the Lord in a frightful manner. It is
true, there were a feAV who had not defiled their garments, but they.
Avere conspicuous among the multitude who lived in sin.
Conversion was a strange word, and conviction unknown. Cock
fights, horse-races, bowling-alleys, and dog and bear fights were much
more numerously attended than God's house. Every-where darkness
covered the land. Open sins, as cursing, swearing, Sabbath-breaking,
drunkenness, etc., were freely indulged in. The extent of their
religion was to be baptized, confirmed, and occasionally to receive the
Lord's Supper. The German Church and people in America needed
a thorough awakening and converting, and to this work God called a
simple, practical man, and furnished him for his work by giving him
a deep, heart-felt experience, and sending him forth to preach from
the heart to the heart.
Mr. Albright mounted his horse as a Methodist itinerant, and went
to the field with his preparation not of men, but of God. It was
October, 1796, when he started. He traversed a great part of Penn-
sylvania and Yirginia, preaching in churches, school-houses, and private
dwellings, and meeting with great success, many souls being awakened
and converted. At SchaferstoAvn, Pa., a newly built church was to be
consecrated. Mr. Albright Avent thither, but so large a crowd collected
that he entered a neighboring market-house, and from a pile of boards
so effectually preached the word that many were cut to the heart.
Some roughs cried out, " The man is out of his head," and proceeded
to abuse him. He only escaped by the aid of a muscular man defend
ing him, and by taking refuge in a house. Having preached with
great power at Upper Hanover, Montgomery County, Pa., he was
driven out by the persecution which the arch-enemy excited. Satan
raged as he saw his kingdom of darkness invaded, and he instigated

Jacob Albright. 635
the ease-loving ministers to warn their people to beware of him who
came to them " in sheep's clothing, but inwardly Avas a ravening wolf."
Nevertheless, Mr. Albright continued on his way, preaching sometimes
in the street, crying aloud, and sparing not ; forming classes and
appointing leaders wherever he could, and every-where faithfully
warning the people to flee the wrath to come. Sometimes, under his
powerful preaching, sinners would fall down unconscious, and many
called aloud upon God to save them. To inquirers he would give
such advice as this : " You must pray diligently, humble yourself, take
the cross of Christ upon you, and believe with all your heart, and you
will soon find the grace of God."
It was by no means Mr. Albright's intention to found a Church of
another name, he merely sought to do God's will and save souls ; but in
1800 he undertook to organize those converted under him into regular
classes, after the fashion of Mr. Wesley's societies. The first three
societies were established in Bucks, Herts, and Northampton Counties,
respectively, and others soon followed. These were organized as
Methodist class-meetings under the Discipline of the Church. It does
not appear that Mr. Albright exercised any higher authority than a
local preacher in the Methodist Church, or that he ever became a mem
ber of an Annual Conference ; but he had power to organize classes,
and to preach the word, as Mr. Wesley had done before him, and this
power he used every-where he went. Once he came to preach at a
place where a " frolic " was being held at the inn. He mounted a
millstone used as a mounting-block, and commenced to preach. Soon
he had broken up the " frolic," which so enraged the innkeeper that
he, in turn, brought out his whip and tried to break up the meeting,
but failed in his attempt.
At another time, when preaching to about a thousand people, he
had such influence over them that one said, " See his face, he looks
like an angel." Satan's minions looked upon him very differently.
One of them said, "If I only had powder that would not make a noise,
I'd shoot him down."
He astonished his host sometimes by declining to drink whisky, then
the universal drink. He would say, when invited to drink : " I love
people. I do not drink ; I do not need it ; can do well without it ;
but you must not take any offense at me for declining."
31

636 Methodist Bishops.
On November 3, 1803, a council of the different societies he had
organized met. This council constituted Mr. Albright a genuine
evangelical preacher, and ordained him their teacher. They also
adopted the Old and the New Testaments as the rule of their faith
and living. During the same session, J. Walter and A. L. J. Albrecht
Avere also ordained preachers and elders by laying on of hands.
The year 1804 is a gap in Mr. Albright's history that cannot be
filled out.
In 1805 Mr. Albright was at a place in Center«County, Pa. He
received permission to preach in the house of Mr. Bachman. In the
meantime, Christopher Spangler, from Brush Yalley, came to Mr.
Bachman's house. Mr. Bachman said to him, " Listen, Spangler, there
has come a man at this time to my house to preach." Spangler replied,
"Tell him to come to my house, too, and preach." When Albright
went, he entered with this speech, " You have a beautiful house, but
if you were only converted, it would be much more beautiful." As a
result of similar plain talk, Mr. Spangler repented and soon found
peace in Christ, #nd in his old age was accustomed to speak with great
animation of Mr. Albright as his spiritual father.
In 1807 Mr. Albright had been eleven years in the ministry.
The results Avere several hundred conversions, four traveling preachers,
three stationed preachers, and twenty class-leaders and exhorters. It
was noAV necessary to hold a regular Conference. The first was held
in Lebanon County, Pa., in 1807. All the preachers and leaders,
tAventy-seven in number, were present. At this Conference the Eev.
Jacob Albright was elected Bishop, G. Miller was made an elder, and
J. Dreisbach and Jacob Frey received as preachers on trial. It was
also determined that Bishop Albright should draw up articles of faith
and Church rules if his health should permit. The Avork was too
severe for the now sickly man. It Avas a disappointment to all his
friends to even think that in a few months his race would be run.
By the documents of this Conference it is eA'ident that, as yet, the
newly organized society had no particular name. They called them
selves " Our Society." At the second Conference, in 1809, they used
the name "Albright People," but afterward changed it to "Evangel
ical Association."
For a time the first Conference called itself " The newlv formed

Jacob Albright. 637
Methodist Conference," because they accepted the polity of the Meth
odist Church, their doctrines and customs of worship, as Bishop Al
bright had introduced them among his people wherever he preached.
The fact is, that for seven years this people were a part of the Meth
odist Church, from 1800 till 1807. Without doubt, Bisliop Albright
was embarrassed because his preachers and people were Germans, and
the English-speaking Methodists were equally embarrassed Avith the
question of organic unity, when they thought of receiving them as a
part of the Methodist family. This is the only obstacle that appeared
to be in the way of Bishop Albright leading his followers into the
Methodist Church. It was formidable enough to cause him to consent
to the adoption of a new name, after a trial of seven years, outside of
any Church organization. If the trial had come in later years, when
the Methodist Episcopal Church organized German Conferences, and
received German preachers, and published a German literature, Ave
seriously doubt if there would be such a religious organization in exist
ence as the " Evangelical Association."
From the time of the Conference in 1S07, Bishop Albright's health
continued to fail, yet he worked constantly, and as much as possible,
until he went to his rest.
His career as a Bisliop was short. He lived only one year after his
election, to serve the struggling societies that looked up to him as
children to a father. His friends believed that if he had lived and been
favored with physical health, he would have made a substantial and
brilliant record as a Bishop, but Providence ordered it differently, and
he Avas cut off in the midst of his years.
Bishop Albright was endowed with a sound mind and a clear
understanding. His habit of mind was reflective, and he was favored
with a good share of mother wit, which in later years he used with
telling effect upon his persecutors.
In person he was of more than middle height; his frame was closely
and well built, with a clear, high forehead ; blue, penetrating eyes ;
Slightly arched nose; a well proportioned mouth and chin; his face
Avas small, but long for its width ; his hair was black, and he wore it
long; his temperament was sanguine, and his movements lively and
always graceful. He was one of nature's orators, though his modesty
caused him to disclaim all pretensions to the gift. His words often

638 Methodist Bishops.
flowed majestically, and with power, at once astonishing and instruct
ing his congregation.
On one occasion, in 1808, while preaching at a private house in
Linglestown, Dauphin County, Pa., he was so direct in his remarks
that toward the close of the sermon one stood up, remarking aloud,
" That preaching is too cutting." Another arose and said, " Do you
mean me ? You've been preaching about me." " Yes, my friend,"
said the Bishop, " if I struck you, I meant you."
During one of his last meetings he gave his fellow-laborers this
memorable advice, " In all things that you do, or think of doing, let it
be your aim to promote God's glory, and extend the work of his grace,
and to lift it up as much in your own hearts as among your brethren
and sisters ; and may you be diligent workers in the way God has
indicated to you, and to which he will add his blessing."
His health now visibly failed, and he betook himself to his home
ward journey to die. His sickness had been brought on by too great
exertion. When he arrived at Muehlbach (now Kleinfeltersville,
Lebanon County) he could go no farther. He went to Mr. George
Becker's house and said, "Have you my bed ready? I have come to
die ! " He lay down, and never rose again.
He prayed for aid to triumph in the last hour. Victory came, and
he called upon the by-standers to help him praise God. They felt
God's presence and power making that chamber an ante-room of
heaven. Thus the good man lay for a few days, then he took an
affectionate leave of all, and gently sank to his rest. This occurred
on May 18, 1808, in his fiftieth year. His funeral took place two
days later, attended by a great crowd of people who were indebted to
him for his labors as a servant of God. On his plain tombstone, beside
the dates of birth and death, is the inscription, " Precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psa. cxvi, 15.
The testimony of friends is, that as a preacher he was very friendly '
and full of love, yet wise and prudent with every body. He rose early,
lived simply, and read much in the Bible. He came right from the
place of secret prayer to the meeting, and God's presence was with
him, and the people oft
" Saw upon his face the flame
Of love that from the heavens came."

iu Iciucm 52 fien llobmsjabv

John Seybert.

BY REV. C. W. CUSIIING, 1).T).

THE subject of this sketch was born in Manheim, Lancaster Co., Pa.,
July 7, 1791.
He was powerfully awakened at the age of fourteen, and the con
viction which seized upon him then never left him until he was con
verted, at nineteen years of age. " The Spirit," he says, " moved so
powerfully upon me that I was overwhelmed, and became almost peni
tent. I sought and prayed for peace, yet my will was not subjected
to the will of God, and I obtained no .comfort." In this condition he
remained struggling for five years, until, under the influence of a
sermon preached by Bev. Matthew Betz, he was led into the light.
" There," he says, when past fifty years of age, " I got a stroke from
the sword of the Spirit of God, and the hammer of the word, the
effect of which I feel to-day, and which I hope will last throughout
eternity." The Lord converted him while he was washing his face at
the well in the morning. " There," says he, " the Lord converted me
deep into eternal life." This occurred in 1810.
Very soon after he joined the Evangelical Association, and about
a year after, being recommended by his class, Bev. John Driesbach
gave him an exhorter's license. After this he was class-leader in tAvo
classes, where he served his Master with great acceptance and useful
ness. It was not until after this that he speaks of feeling any special
call to the work of the ministry, and when this conviction first came
to him he felt his incompetency so keenly that he concealed his im
pressions entirely. The Lord, however, had made known the call to
the Church as well as to him, so that in the year 1819, when nearly
twenty-eight years of age, the officers of the Church, without his
eeeking, took him up and gave him license as a local preacher. On
September 12, 1820, " I started as itinerant minister," he says. His
great success in bringing souls to Christ fully convinced him that he
had not mistaken his calling. His labors from this time until the close
of his life were " more abundant."

640 Methodist Bishops.
For forty years, through the Northern States and Canada, he con
tinued his travels, almost always with his horse and buggy, until many
thousands were led to Christ by him, and many scores, if not hundreds,
of young men, into the ministry. During these years, from 1820 to
1860, he traveled about 175,000 miles, preached 9,850 times, made
46,000 pastoral visits, led 6,000 prayer-meetings and 2,000 class-meet
ings, and visited about 10,000 sick persons. Surely these are labors
before which the faint-hearted may tremble.
At the General Conference of the Evangelical Association, held in
Center County, Pa., in 1839, the Conference voted unanimously for
him as Bishop ; and, says one of his biographers, " Such a humble,
faithful, godly Bishop was he that he was re-elected every four years
to this office, almost, if not quite, unanimously, and he remained
Bishop, loved and respected by all, until the day of his death. In
this high office he was willing to be the servant of all, and set a good
example to all."
Bishop Seybert was a clear and sound theologian, but his energies
were given to the elucidation of the practical bearings of the great
themes of the Gospel, rather than to their technical distinctions. He
was thoroughly Wesleyan in his views. His defense of the doctrine
of full salvation, or Christian holiness, was able, and, as it appeared
in his sermons, was often overwhelming. He preached with great
earnestness, and not unfrequently with very marked results.
As a superintendent in the Church he was consistent and discreet.
So far as we can learn, his administration was highly approved, and
secured for him the highest esteem. He was pre-eminently a godly
man, and his death was a fitting conclusion to a holy life, which for
forty years had been crowded with labors in the service of Christ. Tp
the last, he continued to hold up Christ to all who were around him.
His last words were, " How fearful must death be to a wicked person ! "
Pausing here for a moment, he continued, "It begins below and comes
upward through the body, and when it comes here [pointing to his
heart] then man is at his end. Thus I shall fall asleep once." Saying
this, he laid himself down, and his Avork was done. He slept, and
passed through the open gate. It was on December 20, 1859, at the
house of Mr. Parker, near Bellevue, Ohio.

-e-n-y H &. C.KoevoeA-S,E

REV. JOSEPH LONG.

Joseph Long.

BY BEV. C. W. CUSHING, D.D.

BISHOP JOSEPH LONG was born October 21, 1800, in Stras-
burgh, York County, Pa., and died June 23, 1869, at the age of
sixty-eight years, eight months, and two days.
From such records as have been accessible, the time and place
of his conversion could not be ascertained. He joined the traveling
ministry at the eighteenth annual session of the Evangelical Associa
tion, held in New Berlin, Pa., June 3, 1822, when he was at the
age of twenty-two years. His first appointment was Somerset Circuit,
under the charge of Bev. J. Baumgartner. At this time there were
only twenty-three itinerants in this branch of the Church.
In 1823 he was appointed as preacher in charge on Berkley and
Franklin Circuits. In 1824 he was ordained deacon, and appointed to
Lancaster Circuit, Ohio, where he remained two years. He was
ordained elder in 1826, and put in charge of Mansfield and Canton
Circuits, with the Bev. F. Hoffman as associate. The Conference
was divided at this session, and Mr. Long fell into what was known as
the Western Conference. The first session of this Conference was
held in Wayne County, Ohio, May 5, 1827, at which time he was
appointed to Canton Circuit. During one half of this year he acted
as Presiding Elder. In 1828 he was elected Presiding Elder of the
Western Conference District, which relation he held until 1833, when
he located. He was present as delegate at the fifth and sixth sessions of the
General Conferences held in 1835 and 1839, a privilege to which all
elders were entitled, as no regular delegates were elected. In 1841 he
returned to the traveling ministry, and was appointed to Harmony
Circuit. At the General Conference of 1843, which met at Greens-
burgh, Ohio, it was found that the work had grown so that it could
no longer be done by one Bishop. So, while Bev. John Seybert Avas
re-elected to the office of Bishop, the Bev. Joseph Long was elected

644 Methodist Bishops.
as his associate in office. From this time Bishop Long was re-elected
to this office at every General Conference until his death.
All who knew him represent, him as a very zealous man, and
unswerving in his fidelity. He had, naturally, a very strong constitu
tion, capable of enduring great labor; but his untiring exertions so
wore upon him, that for the last few years he was comparatively feeble,
though he labored on incessantly, despite bodily indisposition. Fail
ing at length, he wrote to a friend, Mr. Or wig, only a few days before
his death, saying he was conscious he was near death's door. But, " I
can adopt as my own the cheering truth found in the fifth verse of
the Thirty-first Psalm : ' Into thine hand I commit my spirit : thou hast
redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. ' "
Bishop Long was a representative man at a period when there was
great progress in his own Church. He represented the men of an age
that was past, and yet he kept so fully abreast of the times in which
he lived, that the young and progressive men looked to him as a rep
resentative man still. This, perhaps, was not attributable to intel
lectual superiority OATer other men of his time, so much as to his
sympathy with the immediate surroundings, and his rigid honesty.
Moreover, he was eminently unselfish — always ready to sacrifice for
the Church. This was so manifest, that his example was an inspira
tion to others who came under his influence. Says one writer : " His
example and influence in this respect were almost the greatest loss
which the Church sustained by his death."
By those who knew him, Bishop Long is spoken of as a powerful
preacher. His sermons were eminently scriptural, both in style and
argument. On ordinary occasions he often seemed to fail to impress
the people. But on special occasions, when all the latent energies of
his great soul were stirred to their depth, " he would launch forth a
torrent of irresistible eloquence, carrying every thing before him as by
storm." He was a very plain preacher, "and went straight forward as
a man does who believes heartily in the authority and veracity of his
message, and delivered it as to men who were held to believe with the
same implicitness." In the death of Bishop Long the Church lost a
leader highly respected, and one whose example Avas worthy of imita
tion. He died in great peace, leaving the legacy of an earnest Chris
tian life with the Church.

AFKICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHUECH.

THE separation of this Church from the Methodist Episcopal Church
began in Philadelphia, in 1787, when an association of colored
members was formed. A place of Avorship, separate from the whites,
was dedicated for them by Bishop Asbury, June 29, 1794, with Bich-
ard Allen (who aftei-Avard became Bisliop) as their pastor. The chief
purpose of the separate organization was declared to be to obviate
" the inconveniences Avhich had arisen from white people and people
of color mixing together in public assemblies." The name of the
church was called " Bethel." Allen was ordained by Bishop Asbury
in 1799. This congregation remained associated with St. George's
Methodist Episcopal Church until 1815, when, in consequence of new
and varied difficulties, a convention of colored people was called, and
held in Philadelphia, April 9, 1816. It was composed of five dele
gates from Philadelphia, seven from Baltimore, three from Attle-
borough, and one from Wilmington, Del., and one from Salem, N. J.
Daniel Coker was elected Bishop, but resigned the next day in favor
of Eichard Allen, who was elected in his stead. Of this Mr. Allen,
Dr. Bangs, in his " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church," thus
laudably speaks : " By habits of industry and economy, though born
a slave, in one of the Southern States, he had not only procured his
freedom, but acquired considerable wealth, and, since he had exercised
the office of a preacher and an elder, obtained great influence over his
brethren in the Church." Bishop Allen was consecrated by prayer
and the imposition of the hands of five colored elders, one of whom,
Absalom Jones, was a priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
The Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church (except that part
relating to the Presiding Eldership) was adopted entire. The organ
ization embraced about three thousand members.
In 1828 Bev. Mr. Brown was elected Bishop, and in 1836 Eev.
E. Waters was elected. The early growth of the Church was slow ;

646 Methodist Bishops
but since the breaking out of the late civil war it has been rapid, and
the statistics of membership at the opening of the year 1882 reported
a total of one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two itinerant minis
ters, nine thousand seven hundred and sixty local preachers, and three
hundred and ninety-one thousand and forty-four lay members. This
Church is, therefore, doing a good work, and its future would seem
to be assured.

REV RICHARD ALLEN.

Richard Allen.

THE subject of this sketch was bom in Philadelphia, Pa., February
14, 1760. Llis parents were the slaves of Benjamin Chew, of
that city. They, with four of their children, including Eichard, were
sold into the State of Delaware, to a man named Stokely.
Mr. Allen was instrumental in the conversion of his master, who
finally became convinced that it was wrong for him to hold slaves, and
accordingly he proposed to Mr. Allen and his brother that they
should purchase their time for £60 gold and silver, or $2,000 con
tinental money ; this they agreed to do.
When he left his master's house, Mr. Allen says (in a sketch of
his life written by himself) that he knew not what to do, as he was
nnused to hard work ; but he was determined to have his freedom,
and therefore he made persistent efforts to work, and not without
success. After a few trials his hands became accustomed to hard
work, and he sometimes sawed cord- wood, sometimes worked in
brick-yards, and at other times drove a wagon. Much of his leisure
time was spent in preaching, and he says that he enjoyed many
happy seasons in meditation and prayer, while occupied with his
work. After the Continental War ended, and peace was proclaimed,
he traveled extensively, striving to preach the Gospel. He left his
place of residence September 3, 1783. His lot was cast first in Wil
mington ; from there he went into New Jersey, and traveled, preach
ing the Gospel, until the spring of 1784. His labors in this State
were very successful ; he says : " My dear Lord was with me, and
blessed my labors, and gave me souls for my hire." In 1784 he left
New Jersey and went into Pennsylvania. He stopped first in Eadnor
township. Here he labored with much success, many being awakened
and converted under his preaching.
Up to this time he had performed his journeys from place to
place on foot ; but as he was about leaving this place a kind friend

650 Methodist Bishops.
gave him a horse, which greatly facilitated his labors as a minister of
the Gospel. From this place he proceeded to Lancaster, Pa. " Here,"
he says, "I found the people in general dead to religion, and with
scarcely a -form of godliness." After preaching for some time in this
neighborhood, he Avent into the State of Maryland.
In December, 1784, the first Methodist General Conference held
in America assembled in Baltimore. In 1795 the Bev. Eichard
Whatcoat was appointed to Baltimore Circuit. Mr. Allen traveled
much with him, and was finally appointed to the charge of a small
Church in the city of Baltimore. While here Bishop Asbury sent for
him, and expressed a desire to have him travel with him, stating that
he would give him his victuals and clothes; that he, Mr. Allen,
would frequently have to sleep in his carriage ; but that he must not,
when in slave States, intermingle with the slaves. Mr. Allen told the
Bishop that he could not consent to travel with him under any such
conditions, and although the Bishop still urged it, and gave him three
months to consider the matter, he remained firm in his refusal.
Shortly after this he returned to Pennsylvania, and traveled
several months on Lancaster Circuit, and in the autumn of 1785 re
turned again to Badnor. During this time Mr. Allen endured many
hardships. He received nothing from the Methodist connection ;
and while he preached, like Paul, his own hands administered to his
necessities. Lie says, " My usual method was, when I got bare of
clothes to stop traveling and go to work, so that no man could say
that I was chargeable to the connection."
In February, 1786, Mr. Allen came to Philadelphia and preached in
St. George's Church. After that he preached at several different places
in the city, established prayer-meetings, and during that year raised a
society of forty-two persons. He now saw it to be necessary that the
colored people should have a place of worship, and mentioned the
fact to some of them ; but in this he met great opposition, and was
obliged, for a time, to abandon the idea.
Mr. Allen was the first proposer of the African Church, and put
the first spade into the ground to dig a cellar for it. Finding that
the elder in charge of the St. George's Methodist Church was opposed
to their proceedings, and would not preach for them, or have any
thing to do with them, they held an election to determine what re-

Richard Allen. 651
ligious denomination they should unite with. Two were in favor of
the Methodist — Bev. Absalom Jones and Mr. Allen — and a large
majority in favor of the Church of England. Notwithstanding they
had been so persecuted, Mr. Allen and Mr. Jones were in favor of con
tinuing with the Methodist Episcopal Church ; " for," says the former,
" I was confident that there was no religious sect or denomination
that would suit the capacity of the colored people as well as the Meth
odist ; for the plain, simple Gospel suits best for any people, for the
unlearned can understand, and the learned are sure to understand."
A majority, however, were in favor of connecting themselves Avith
the Protestant Episcopal Church.
While engaged in these efforts the colored people suffered much
persecution from some of the Methodists, and the pastor of St.
George's threatened to turn them all out of the connection ; but they
still continued their efforts to establish a church of their oavii, and
finally succeeded in raising sufficient money to purchase a lot. A
committee was appointed to look for a lot, and they agreed upon one
situated near the corner of Sixth and Lombard-streets ; but after
they had agreed to take it some of the committee found another on
Fifth-street, which they bought, and the first lot was thrown upon
Mr. Allen's hands.
In 1793 a committee was appointed from .the newly established
Church to solicit Mr. Allen to become their minister, for there was no
colored preacher in Philadelphia at that time but he. This offer he
declined, telling them that he Avas a Methodist, and could not be any
thing else. He told them, however, that he would not do any thing
to retard the progress of their church, and that he would not start a
subscription list for a Methodist church until they had done soliciting
subscriptions for their church.
Mr. Allen now bought an old frame, which had been used as a
blacksmith's shop, and had it moved on the lot in Sixth-street, and
fitted it up, at his own expense, as a place of worship. In July, 1794,
he solicited Bishop Asbury, who was then in the city, to open the
church for them, ^-hich he did. New troubles noAV began : the min
ister at St. George's wished them to make over the Church to the
Conference. This they refused to do ; and finding they were firm in
their determination, he finally proposed that they should be incor-

652 Methodist Bishops.
porated, which they agreed to. He drew up the act of incorpora
tion for them, and incorporated the Church under the Conference.
Being ignorant of the character of this document, the colored people
agreed to it, and labored under the same for ten years, when another
minister was appointed, who demanded the keys of the church and
forbade them holding meetings except by his orders. But they re
fused to do this, and took counsel on the matter. They were in
formed that they had been taken in, but that the act of incorporation
could be altered by the consent of two thirds of the members. They
called a meeting, in which it was unanimously agreed to alter the
document. They then had another drawn up that took the church
from the Conference. The elder of St. George's refused to preach
for them unless they should give him $200 per year. This they
refused to pay, considering it too much, as they would only re
ceive five sermons ; and they were left alone for one year. After
some time Mr. Boberts, resident elder, came to Bethel and attempted
to take possession of the pulpit, but was defeated. His successor,
Bev. Eobert Burch, did the same, but with no better success. He,
however, appealed to the Supreme Court to know why the pulpit
was denied him. This brought on a lawsuit, which was decided in
favor of the African Church. " Thus," says Mr. Allen, " by the
providence of God, we were delivered from a long, distressing, and
expensive suit, which could not be resumed, having been determined
by the Supreme Court."
About the time that Mr. Allen and his brethren in Philadelphia
were having serious troubles and difficulties with some presiding
elders, preachers in charge, and boards of trustees in Philadelphia,
from 1787 to 1816, his colored friends in Baltimore were treated in
a similar' manner by the white preachers and trustees, and many who
were disposed to seek a place of worship for themselves, rather than
go to law about their houses of worship and their rights as members
of . the Methodist Episcopal Church were driven away from the
Church in that city.
Many of the colored people in other places were in a situation
nearly akin to those of Philadelphia and Baltimore. This state of
things, over which they had no possible control, induced them to
call a meeting — a convention, or general conference. Delegates from

Richard Allen. 653
Baltimore and other places met at the time and place appointed — in
Bethel Church, Philadelphia, Pa., April, 1816. They prayerfully
took into consideration their grievances, and in order to secure their
Christian .privileges, and promote unity and harmony of action among
themselves, it was resolved by the Convention, "That the colored
people of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other places in the United
States of America, should become one body, under the name and title
of the African Methodist Episcopal Church."
The Business and Publishing Committee, consisting of Eichard
Allen, Daniel Coker, and James Champion, say in their report,
(which report was received and unanimously adopted by the Conven
tion :)
"We have deemed it expedient to have a form of discipline, whereby we may
guide our people in the fear of God, in the unity of the Spirit, and in the bonds
of peace, and preserve us from that spiritual despotism which we have so re
cently experienced — remembering that we are not to lord it over God's heritage
as greedy dogs tliat can never have enough; but with long suffering and bowels
of compassion to bear each other's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,
praying that our mutual strivings together for the promulgation of the Gospel
may be crowned with abundant success.
We remain your affectionate servants in the kingdom and patience of the
Prince of Peace. Signed, Richard Allen,
Daniel Coker,
James Champion.
The organization of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
having been completed, the Bev. Eichard Allen, who had been or
dained seventeen years before by Bishop Asbury, was elected Super
intendent of the Church, and on April 11, 1816, Avas solemnly set
apart for the episcopal office, by prayer and the imposition of hands
of five regularly ordained ministers, one of whom was the Bev.
Absalom Jones, a priest of the .Brotestant Episcopal Church, of the
diocese of the Et. Eev. Bishop White, of Pennsylvania ; at which
time the Convention, or General Conference, did unanimously receive
him as their Bishop, being fully satisfied of the validity of his epis
copal ordination. This office he continued to fill with credit and
dignity fourteen years, nine months, and fifteen days, when it pleased
^the Lord to take him from labor to reward.
As a man, Eichard Allen was hard-working, honest, and indus-

654 Methodist Bishops.
trious, and a most excellent practical economist. By his industry
and economy he acquired more than was necessary to render him
comfortable. He became, not, indeed, a millionaire, but a man of
wealth, such as enabled him to support a large and expensiye family,
and to liberally educate his children. In this respect, as well as in
religion and morality of the purest kind, he was an example to his
race. He was to them a living example of industry, economy,
Christian liberality, and as a lover of all mankind, but especially
those of the household of faith. Suffering humanity found relief at
his hands, when known to him, without regard to race or color. He
was a most practical humanitarian.
His education did not extend much above that of the common
school, but he was a man possessing extraordinary natural endow
ments as a governor and as a preacher. No invidious distinction is
made when it is said, there has never been his equal among all his
successors in office : no one combining the same amount of intellect
ual strength, beauty, and force of character, that was found in
Eichard Allen. Lie was a perfect giant in native intellect and moral
greatness. Like Saul among the men of Israel, he stood head and
shoulders above his brethren. As a pastor in the Church and presi
dent in the Conference he commanded and received the respect of
all by his manly deportment. Men instinctively felt themselves
under the necessity of loving, respecting, and obeying him. They
felt that they must do so as a kind of agreeable necessity, which they
could not avoid, and had no desire, no inclination, to resist.
It Avas not the original intention of Bishop Allen and his brethren
to become an independent branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
They intended only to have separate meeting houses and societies
under one and the same doctrines, discipline, and government, with
their white brethren, enjoying with them the same rights and privi
leges in the Church of God, without distinction of race or color.
But the revelations of time convinced him and his brethren and
their white friends, that such a state of things could not exist while
slavery existed and slave-holders were allowed to become members
of the Methodist societies. He found that, to enjoy such privileges,
the colored people among the Methodists must not only have socie
ties, but, to make the matter complete, they must have a separate

, Richard Allen. 655
government, under their own control, managed by their own leaders
and rulers, of every sort and kind. It was on account of this unavoid
able necessity that they called a convention for the organization of a
Church, and being thus called, they organized, it. This Church was
not, in the literal sense of the term, a Church of seceders from Meth
odism or the Methodist economy ; but it was rather a branch — an off
shoot from the Methodist Episcopal Church — an additional branch of
American Methodism from the original trunk.
Mr. Allen succeeded in living upon the most friendly terms with
the ministers and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church all
the days of his long life, by whom he was always most highly re
spected. He and his people have never ceased to have a host of
faithful and true friends within the pale of that Church. This last
remark is also true of many Episcopalians, Quakers, (or members of
the Society of Friends,) Presbyterians, and some others, for all of
whom we return to God most devout thanksgiving and praise.
Mr. Allen was a man of deep, vital piety and godliness. He
made the Christian life a business. He believed in a doctrinal, ex
perimental, practical Christian life. He made no compromise with
sin and Satan.- He watched as well as prayed, day and night. Thus
he continued to live all the days of his Christian pilgrimage, growing
in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, until he was called from
labor to his reward in heaven.
For twelve years after his becoming a Bishop he labored and
fulfilled the duties of that office alone to the great satisfaction of the
Church and the ministry. In May, 1828, Bev. Morris Brown was
elected assistant Bishop, by whom Bishop Allen was relieved of a
portion of the work in the matter of traveling. But in other re
spects he continued to labor, to the extent of his ability, to the end
of his days, when he ceased " at once to work and live," taking leave
of his family, the Church, and his brethren in the ministry, in great
peace, and in hope of a most blessed and glorious resurrection. He
died March 26, 1831. " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord :
Yea, saith the Spirit ; that they may rest from their labors."
He astonished all who knew him in his life and public labors, by
his devotion, zeal, patience, and perseverance in the cause of God
and humanity, practicing as Avell as preaching the Gospel of the Son
38

656 Methodist Bishops.
of God, the Gospel of our salvation. And most earnestly and elo
quently did he persuade his fellow-men and brethren to do the same.
He always spoke from a heart filled with the Holy Ghost, and with
a faith like that of Stephen, by which he won many souls and brought
them to Christ, who will be stars in his crown of rejoicing in the day
of the Lord. He was not only great and good in public, but also in
private, life. He was not only able, but ready and willing, to com
municate to those who desired to receive information or instruction
from him. Easy of approach, his motto Avas : " Freely ye have re
ceived, freely give."
He was a man of unblemished character from his youth, through
all the journey of his seventy years. He had a -good report from
those who were without the pale of the Church as well as from
those within. He lived with a conscience void of offense toward
God and toward man. He was not ashamed of the Gospel among
high or low, rich or poor, bond or free, nor did he fear the face of
mortal man.
Though a man of such large natural endoAvments, they never
equaled his spiritual attainments — the graces of the Spirit which he
possessed, and the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy
Ghost which was given unto him. By these gifts he was always more
than conqueror through " Him that loved us, and washed us from our
sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and
his Father."
George Washington, the " Father of his country ; " Thomas Jeff
erson, first among American statesmen ; and Francis Asbury, the
wonderfully great and good pioneer Bishop of American Methodism,
Avere not one of them a whit greater, according to their advantages
and the demands made upon them, than was Eichard Allen, the father
and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, among the
slaves and free colored people of America.

REV WM. PAUL QUINT

AT

William Paul Quinn.

BY BISHOP JOHN M. BKOWN.

WILLIAM PAUL QUINN was born in obscurity. The precise
period of his birth is unknown. He was a native of Calcutta,
Hindustan. My relation to him from 1846 to 1855 as his private secretary,
gave me ample opportunity to learn something of the inner life of the
man, as our relations Avere then most intimate : indeed, they contin
ued so up to the time of his death. Very early in life he came to
the United States, and became a resident of Pennsylvania. His man
hood, development, and all that is great about his name, commenced
in the neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Mr. Quinn was converted in Maryland, just across the line. He
was educated in that region, and had all his associations with the
people of eastern Pennsylvania. He began his ministry under the
guidance of Bishop Allen.
He was, although young, immediately and intimately connected
with the founders of African Methodism. In the city where he
long lived and died is published a paper known as " The Eichmond
Independent," which is authority for the following statement : " His
age is variously stated by his family and friends, one of our oldest
citizens placing it at ninety-four, while those of his family think his age
to have been about seventy-six, though nothing definite can be ascer
tained. He was born at Calcutta, Hindustan, where his father and
uncle Avere extensively engaged in the mahogany trade, and his family
was considered one of the Avealthier of the Indian families. He wit
nessed the many cruelties inflicted by the Hindus upon each other from
an early age. These practices were, however, utterly repugnant to
him, which feeling was strengthened by the teachings and preaching of
Mary Walden, a missionary from the Society of Friends, who went to
that country from England. In consequence of this teaching, and his
belief in the doctrines advanced by her, Mr. Quinn was driven from

660 Methodist Bishops.
his home by his father, and went to England. There he came under
the notice of Elias Hicks, the founder of the sect of Quakers known
as the Hicksites, and he was by him brought to his home on Long
Island. After a short residence with Mr; Hicks he went to Mary
land, and during his sojourn there was converted and joined the
Methodist Church."
There are persons who have attempted to account for the discrep
ancy between the accounts given of his age, because of some probable
reference to the calendars of the Hindus, but there is no doubt the
date of his birth was indefinite in his own mind. " But what cares
the world who begat us, or who nestled us ? what cares it of the place
or the hour?" Pontus, the biographer of St. Cyprian, refuses to
inform us of his life previous to his conversion, and gives us as a
reason, that what a man does before his conversion to Christ is not
Avorth knowing.* The acts of William Paul Quinn as Christian and
minister are to us of the most interest. Was he useful ? Did he
accomplish any thing? These are the important questions.
The first time any mention is made of him is in connection with ec
clesiastical affairs. The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organ
ized at Philadelphia, at a convocation convened in that city, April, 1 816.
Though quite a young man, the old men often spoke of him " as mak
ing himself generally useful at the convention, though not a mem
ber." In person he was tall and commanding, so that his standing
position against one of the pillars of the church when he first came
in attracted general attention. His pleasant looks and manners were
remarked by a number of the old men present, whose hearts were at
once drawn toward him. Two years only passed before he entered
the army of the Lord, just then recruiting the men who were to do
battle valiantly. The minutes of the Conference of 1817 are not
at hand, and we have no evidence that he did not join the Confer
ence before 1818 ; but in the Minutes of that year (1818) we have the
following brethren named as members of the Conference, namely :
of Baltimore, Eevs. Daniel Coker, Eichard Williams, and Charles
Pierce ; of Philadelphia, Bishop Allen, Jacob Tapsiee, Clayton Dur
ham, and William Paul Quinn. Becoming associated with the men
who organized the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he at once
* Tanner's " Apology for African Methodism.''

William Paul Quinn. 661
became noted for his tireless zeal among his fellow-workers in the
vineyard of the Lord. He was the first man in the African Meth
odist Episcopal Church, who, in old-fashioned style, "mounted his
horse to itinerate." The logic of these old men, if not according to
the rules of Bacon, Whateley, Hamilton, or True, was powerful
and convincing. " There were giants in the earth in those days,"
and these were of them.
The days in which Quinn lived wonderfully influenced him. Eveny
man was, in some way, affected by the revolutionary sentiments then
prevalent in the country, and he, as well as thousands of our race
after our second great war, felt intensely the truthfulness of that
clause in the Declaration of Independence, "All men are created
equal." This, to him, was not a " rhetorical flourish," or " glittering
generality," but a reality born in him, and therefore a part of his
nature. The African Methodist Episcopal Church had two purposes
in its organization, one general, and the other special. " The general
purpose was to assist in bringing the world to a knowledge of the Son
of God ; the special purpose was to assist in relieving the African
race from their physical, mental, and moral bondage."
As in youth he had learned to hate and condemn the barbarous treat
ment of his race in India, so he learned to hate no less the oppression of
the sons of Africa in the United States. He saw their wrongs in Church
and State, and he determined to do all in his power to weaken the
6trong hold of the oppressor. His heart warmed toward humanity
every-where, and the love of Jesus led him to love the bondsman
specially — to live and work for him ; and when this new organization
made its purposes known, he at once embraced its doctrine, and faith
fully defended it. These were days of darkness ; the opposition was
fearful ; Church and State seemed leagued together to oppress ; but the
colored people made a bold move and firm stand for their convictions.
They were few in number, poor, and ignorant of letters ; yet they
arrayed themselves against that which seemed insurmountable. Many
thought their course umvise ; others derided them, and said, "If a fox
but run across the walls of their superstructure it must fall." Not
so it seems now ; for African Methodism, like the parent Church, hag
certainly had its mission.
That which has made Methodism in its polity a marvel of success

662 Methodist Bishops.
— the itinerant system — was at once adopted by the African Methodist
Episcopal Church. How these very poor men, with no experience,
came to adopt so readily such a self-sacrificing system we cannot divine,
unless we believe that they were imbued with the spirit of the apostles,
avIio were sent out two by two, and mounted to their ministry like the
sons of Wesley, who obeyed the command of Jesus to "Go," by
" preaching Christ and him crucified every-where." These colored
embassadors, not unlike the true sons of Wesley, left all to hunt up
and unite the scattered colored members of the household of faith.
Young Quinn, tall and straight, as we have said, was strong of body,
and his complexion of Indian type. His hair was straight, black, and
wavy, and he had a clear, full, and rich voice. His whole make-up
Avas such as to impress the observer that he was born to rule. Like
his people — the natives of India — he thought much on spiritual things.
He possessed large spiritual endowments. His preaching abounded in
symbolism. He was eloquent, he was earnest, he was plain-spoken to
a fault. The African Methodist Episcopal Church at this period was
confined to Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland,
and the District of Columbia. All over this region he traveled, and
was among the first to enter the City of New York, where he organ
ized a Church. He early determined to visit the West. Bishop
Payne, in his " Semi-Centennial Sketch of African Methodism," says :
"He traveled a few years in the Eastern Conferences, but they
were too circumscribed, and when he listened to reports of the land
that lay beyond the mountains, his soul was aflame for conquest and
victory. He invaded the land of the West, and no conqueror was ever
more gloriously triumphant. The fruits of his labors were not a
few individuals, nor yet Churches, but he laid whole Conferences at
the feet of his King." He also says, " While our Church was con
quering territory in a foreign land, she was also strengthening her
stakes, and enlarging her borders in the great West. This extension
was promoted chiefly through the wisdom, endurance, and activity of
William Paul Quinn." In a sermon preached on "The Life and
Death of Bishop Quinn," the Bev. B. W. Arnett remarked, that, "he
crossed the Alleghany mountains, and all along the Monongahela val
ley the voice of this pioneer was heard encouraging his people to arise
and call upon their God. Thousands gathered to hear the word of

William Paul Quinn. 663
truth that fell from his lips, and the multitudes listened with rapture
and delight to his message of salvation. He arrived at Pittsburgh,
and in an old foundery established a Church, and set Up the banner of
the living God. We next find him at Steubenville, Ohio, and here was
organized the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in that State.
Some say this was done as early as 1823. There were in this organi
zation twenty members. He organized the Churches at Mount Pleasant,
Belmont, Zanesville, Lancaster, and Chillicothe. He also visited Cin
cinnati, where he superintended the organization of the Church in
that city ; it was organized in an old lime shed. Many other Churches
in Ohio were either organized by him, or by his earnest efforts greatly
strengthened." So well had he done, and so well pleased were the members of the
General Conference of 1840, which met in Baltimore, Md., that they
made him general missionary to the West. In 1844 he made his
report to the General Conference as follows :
I submit a brief outline of the work committed to my hands :
Inhabitants of Indiana and Illinois.  18,000
Churches established  47
Communicants  1,030
Local Preachers  27
Traveling Preachers  20
Traveling Elders  7
Schools  40
Scholars  920
Colored Teachers  36
Teachers  40
Sabbath-schools  50
Sabbath-school Scholars  2,000
Sabbath-school Teachers  200
Colored Sabbath-school Teachers  100
Temperance Societies  40
Members  2,000
Camp-meetings held  17
These were the reports which cheered the hearts of those who had
labored hard and long for the cause of their Master. A Bisliop was
to be elected, and, as if by inspiration, they declared that this was the
man for the bishopric. The election was easy, opposition slight, (the
Eev. Eichard Bobinson, of the New York Conference, was his chief
competitor,) and on Sabbath morning, May 19, 1844, this self-sacrificing

664 Methodist Bishops.
and successful missionary was ordained the fourth Bishop of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church. Few men traveled more than
he. Up to 1856 he held the Conferences in Canada, and laid the foun
dation for the present British Methodist Episcopal Church, of which
the late Eev. Willis Nazry, was Bishop.
He was not educated in the schools, but was well versed in men
and things. Few men had a clearer insight into the duties of life, and
few accomplished so well the requirements of their chosen profession.
Plato, in numerous places, esteems as nothing the most shining
qualities and actions of those who govern if they do not tend to pro
mote the two great ends of the virtue and happiness of the people.
Did Bishop Quinn promote virtue and happiness % The many
Churches, Conferences, societies, and institutions organized by him
show that he labored ardently for the promotion of these ends.
When he entered the itinerant work, fifty-five years before his death,
there were but tAvo Annual Conferences, namely, the Philadelphia
and Baltimore ; but when he died, there were twenty-three of them.
At his entrance into the ministry there were but seven itinerant
preachers ; at his death there were nearly two thousand. The mem
bership increased from fifteen/ himdred to over three hundred thou
sand. All the living Bishops were ordained by him, namely, Bishops
Willis Nazry, of the British Methodist Episcopal Church, and Daniel
A. Payne, D.D., May, 1852, in New York; A. W. Wayman, and J.
P. Campbell, D.D., May, 1864, in Philadelphia, assisted by Bishops
Nazry and D. A. Payne ; J. A. Shorter, T. M. D. Ward, and J. M.
Brown, assisted by Bishops Payne, Wayman, and Campbell, in Wash
ington, D. O, May, 1868. When Bishop Quinn entered there were
but two meeting-houses, the value of which did not exceed $4,000 ;
but the value of church, parsonage, and school property was not
less than $10,000,000 at the time of his death. There was then no
Book Concern, Missionary Society, or Chartered Fund ; but at his
death these important institutions had been inaugurated and put in
successful operation. Bishop Quinn was always a firm friend to an
educated ministry, and gave his influence to promote the education
of pious men for the work of the ministry, and to suppress the
ignorance in the same. He was always kind to his younger brethren,
.and had a pleasant word for all. If a brother made a mistake and

William Paul Quinn. 665
fell into error, he always remembered the words of St. Paul : " Breth
ren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted." Ho was stern in his manners, but as tender as a
Avoman and as fatherly as David. Thus he saved to the Church many
who blundered. No one was more cheerful than he — a real Methodist
preacher for jokes. He thought, as did Pope, " gentle dullness ever
loves a joke ; " or, as Gay says :
" A witty joke our senses move —
To pleasant laughter."
None could be dull about him, but even in this he would turn his
joke to some good account, and make it tell for the cause nearest his
heart. He was very pious, and loved Christ with all his heart. He
had great faith in God, with uncommon love for the souls of men.
He long and earnestly prayed for the abolition of slavery, and lived
to see the last slave emancipated, enfranchised, and made a citizen of
the United States. At the General Conference which met in Nash
ville, May, 1872, because of his extreme age and many infirmities he
was placed on the retired list. He did not ask for it, but the mem
bers of that body thought it wise and prudent to retire him, but to
continue his support the same as the other Bishops.
February 21, 1873, the Church was startled by the sad neAvs of the
death of Bishop Quinn. Less than one year after he was relieved
from active duties his Master called him home to receive his eternal
reward. He had been in feeble health for nearly a year, but not until
the second Sabbath in December, 1872, was he confined to the house.
He then called for his neighbors and friends. Elder Nathan Twitch um,
of the Indiana Conference, came to see him, and by his assistance he
made his will, when he remarked, " I have settled my affairs, and am
at peace with God and man." " I am ready noAV," he said to Bev.
Johnson TAvitchum, just after a seA^ere attack ; " O, how wonderful is
God ! how he can uphold us ! " And again, " Another such surge, and
the war will be over ! I am so happy ; I see a light brighter than the
fire, along my path to heaven ! "
The Elder of Pearl-street Methodist Episcopal Church, said to him :
" Bishop, how is it with you ? " He replied, " My sky is clear, all is

666 Methodist Bishops.
well." Lie said to his attendant, Brother Evans, "Tell Mary (his
Avife) that I die in about an hour, and I will be with Jesus."
He had all through life been modest in appearance and manner,
and not fond of show or display. At the hour of death his desire to
avoid extravagance and ostentation did not leave him, as he gave the
directions to Bishop Shorter for his funeral, saying, "I want to be
buried in a plain manner. I want no fuss over me ; but if the people
Avant to sing and shout they can do so ; but bury me in a plain manner."
When the powers of speech failed him, he quietly fell asleep in the
arms of Jesus. His funeral occurred March 4, 1S73, from the Pearl-
street Methodist Episcopal Church. All ages and colors filled the
church to its utmost capacity. Bishop Quinn selected his own hymn,
and, by request, Bishop Shorter announced it :
"A solemn march we make,
Toward the silent grave."
Bishop Payne offered prayer and read the fifteenth chapter of First
Corinthians as the Scripture lesson. The sermon, by Bishop J. P.
Campbell, was from the text, " I have fought a good fight, I have fin
ished my course, I have kept the faith." At all of our Conferences
memorial sermons were delivered by his colleagues. Many of the
pastors of our Churches held memorial services.
Clark Wagoner, Esq., in speaking of his death, at Toledo, Ohio,
said, " Bishop Quinn's eminent success was due, not to the fact that
he was a noble specimen of human organism, standing over six feet in
height, well proportioned, and uniformly vigorous, but to the indwell
ing principle of the grace of God in his soul, whereby he was qualified
for the great heart-work of his valuable life. The same blessed power
must inspire and direct human actions to all truly noble ends."
He is dead whose usefulness had made a Bishop, and goodness and
faith a great man.

REY MORRIS BROWN.

Morris Brown.

BY BISHOP D. A. PAYNE.

MOEEIS BEOWN was born in Charleston, S. O, in 1770. His
parentage is not known. He was of light brown complexion,
and was about six feet two inches high, Avell proportioned, with
a slight tendency to corpulency. His head was large ; his eyes, clear
and expressive, shone from beneath shaggy eye-brows. According to
the1 general theory that bulk as well as brain is a necessary condition
of effectiveness in life, he ought to have been one of the greatest of
men. But as in the case of the best marble, if not quarried, squared,
and polished, its fine color and beautiful vein will forever be hidden ;
so, also, with man, if education does not perform her developing
functions upon him, his talents, although angelic, will never exhibit
their beautiful hues and elegant proportions.
Morris Brown was born and grew up to mature years in the
days of South Carolinian slavery. Some schools there were, but not
for black men. Some teachers, also, there were, but not for colored
children. Up to 1835 and later, the free colored people in South
Carolina were excluded from the schools in which children Avere taught.
Somewhere about 1808 or 1809 a white Methodist local preacher by the
name of Muns, from the British West Indies, and a colored man by
the name of Thomas S. Bonneau, opened private schools for free col
ored children ; but at that date Morris Brown Avas about thirty-eight
years old, with a growing family on his hands. The apostolic Asbury
knew Brown. He also knew slavery Avell ; hence his deep sympathy
with the blacks, of whom he made so many memoranda in his journal,
and in whose behalf he induced the General Conference of 1800 to
memorialize the General Assembly of South Carolina. More than
once, while some of his preachers were enjoying themselves in the
parlors with masters and household, he went into the kitchen to
comfort and instruct the slaves. Morris Brown did learn to read
the Bible, but when and by whom he was taught Ave cannot hoav

670 Methodist Bishops.
ascertain. Probably he was taught, as were a few free colored people
and a few slaves, by some white person, who was paid for his trouble
with baked sweet potatoes. Like Bishop Allen, he was unable td
write his own official letters ; hence he always employed an amanuen
sis. The writer of this sketch frequently enjoyed the happiness and
honor of conducting the episcopal correspondence of the latter.
" The child is father of the man." This truthf ul line of Words
worth was fully realized in the history of Morris Brown ; for as his
childhood was marked by docility, sweetness of temper, reverence for
age and authority, so, also, in maturer years these manly virtues
bloomed into their correspondent Christian graces. Early after he
had experienced a change of heart his daily conduct became marked
by meekness, dutifulness, patience, zeal for the glory of God in the
salvation of men, and benevolence toward all. A class-leader, an ex
horter, then a preacher, he gradually attained the rank and office of an
elder ; but by whom he was ordained we cannot tell. It was not
customary for Bisliop Asbury to record the names of those whom he
ordained. What induced him to name Daniel Coker and William Mil
lar, whom he ordained in the city of New York, on April 27, 1808,
I know not. These were more remarkable men — more remarkable
on account of their physique, more remarkable on account of their
talents and education. The former was the first Bishop elect of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church, but was not ordained, because
he declined the election. The latter became one of the superintend
ents of the Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church.
But that Morris Brown was one of the " colored missionaries " by
whom Bishop Asbury said " the Lord is doing wonders " in Charles
ton, S. G, I have not a shadow of doubt. He was not present at the
Convention of 1816, when the African Methodist Episcopal Church
was organized, but was present at the Baltimore Annual Conference
of 1818 as an elder, and was one of its most active business men. If
ordained by Bishop Allen, it must have been at the Philadelphia An
nual Conference of 1817. He was probably ordained a deacon and
elder during the session of that Conference.
That he was. the master mind of the thousands Avho withdrew from
the Methodist Episcopal Church after the death of the fatherly As
bury is certain, because he represented them at the Baltimore Annual

Morris Brown. •• 671
Conference of 1818, as elder, in charge of the increasing flock in
Charleston and its vicinity. In 1822 a plot for the overthrow of
slavery in South Carolina was discovered before it had reached ma
turity. Its six leaders, at the head of whom was Denmark Vesey,
were arrested and hung, at the same moment, on the same gallows.
Subsequently, twenty-two others of the conspirators were also hung,
simultaneously, on the same gallows. Be it known and remembered,
that not a drop of the blood of any slaveholder had been shed,
nor had the person of any Avhite man been assailed : the plot only Avas
conceived and maturing. But such was the panic of the slave-holders
that the very purpose of insurrection was punished before it was car
ried into overt act. The excitement produced in South Carolina Avas
fearful. Every free colored man a non-slave-holder, as well as every
slave, Avas Avatched, and grounds of suspicion sought against him. It
Avas, therefore, perfectly natural that Morris BroAvn, the leader of more
than three thousand black Christians, should also be closely watched, and
cause for action against him be diligently sought. All that was needed
for his arrest and death was the shadoAV of a proof. But General
James Hamilton, who at the time embodied the political sentiment
of South Carolina, being well acquainted Avith the lamb-like temper
of Brown, and his profound respect for law and authority, could not
indulge the suspicion that he was in any manner connected Avith the
contemplated insurrection ; and he therefore took him and kept him
in his own private residence till he could secure him a safe conduct
to the free North.
This event placed him in daily communication with Bishop Allen,
who made him acquainted with all his desires and intentions for the
improvement of the three Conferences then existing, and also Avith
his plans and measures for the extension of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church over the free States, and as far South as slavery
would permit it to go and operate. Bishop Allen had unbounded
confidence in the judgment and integrity of Elder BroAvn. This he
evinced by appointing him assistant Bishop, some two years prior to
his election by the General Conference of 1828, at whicli time he
was ordained the second Bishop of the Connection. Immediately
after this event he entered earnestly upon the duties of his office,
assisting Bishop Allen in devising and executing new plans for the

672 Methodist Bishops.
extension of the work which the Saviour had committed to their
hands. In March, 1831, Bisliop Allen was summoned to enjoy .the "saints'
everlasting rest," and then the whole duty of caring for all the
Churches became Bishop Brown's alone. This sacred burden he car
ried upon his broad shoulders meekly, patiently, gracefully ; and the
blessings of the great Head of the Church attended his ministrations,
both as a preacher and an overseer. For sixteen years he stood alone
at the head of all the movements of the Connection, ornamenting it
by his spotless piety, and blessing it by his successful labors. It is
true that Bev. Edward Waters was elected and ordained the third
Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1836, yet this
fact added nothing to the strength or efficiency of the episcopacy,
because he had neither taste nor qualifications for the office, and
because he never, excepting in two instances, performed the functions
of a Bishop ; and therefore the labors of Bishop Brown were not in
the least diminished. It was Bishop BroAvn who organized the Ohio
Annual Conference, at Hillsborough, O., in 1830, and appointed
Elder W. P. Quinn a general missionary, with the power of a pre
siding elder, for all the regions west of the State of Ohio. It was he
who organized the Canada Annual Conference, in July, 1840, and
the Indiana Annual Conference in October of the same year. At
this period, the field which he actually traversed extended from the
Atlantic to the great valley of the Mississippi. St. Louis was the
terminus of his route. In all these Western wilds his efficient co-
laborer was Elder Quinn, both of whom were well adapted for
pioneer work, because they were very robust.
During the episcopate of Bishop Brown the Connection was so
poor, and his dependent family so large, that he- was constrained to
act as pastor of the mother Church in Philadelphia; therefore he
devoted about half of each year to that particular pastorate. The
other half found him on the wing from Conference to Conference
and from station to station. This double charge he held from the
death of Bishop Allen until May, 1814, when the General Conference
deemed it proper to confine his labors to the episcopal work. We
have already stated that he was destitute of a good common-school
training; nevertheless, he was always the friend and advocate of

Morris Brown. 673
education. On all proper occasions, in private and in public, he stood
up nobly in its defense. His real opinions and sentiments touch
ing the education of the ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church were manifested on two occasions, to which I think proper -
here to refer.
Three candidates for the holy order of deacons were put into the
hands of an examining committee. This committee consisted of three,
a majority of which reported in favor of the candidates ; the minority,
a single man, reported against them, because they lacked the literary
qualifications required by the Discipline, Avhich then consisted of
nothing more than a knoAvledge of the rise and progress of the Con
nection, the divisions necessary in a discourse, the doctrines and gov
ernment of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
As soon as the counter-report Avas read, Bev. B. Collins sprang to
his feet and demanded whether it had come to pass that no one could
be ordained a deacon in the African Methodist Episcopal Church till
he could read Greek and Latin and Hebrew ; he then spoke for
about twenty or thirty minutes, during Avhich he emptied the vials of
his Avrath npon the head of the brother who had dared to oppose the
ordination of the said candidates.
To all this his opponent simply replied by referring to the report,
in which there was no allusion to Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, but simply
to the plain letter and spirit of the Discipline. Then, opening the Bible
upon 1 Timothy iii, 10, he read : " And let these also first be proved ;
then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless."
Again, from v, 22 : " Lay hands suddenly on no man." Intrench
ing himself behind these two bulwarks of truth, the young brother
discharged such bomb-shells into the ranks of the enemy that at the
end of the raking fire the good old Bishop Brown arose and said : "I
am placed in this chair not to carry out the opinions of any man or
set of men, but to execute this Discipline to its very letter ; and if the
whole Conference vote for the ordination of the said brethren, in
view of their disqualification I could not, and would not, ordain
them." Then he added : " When we send out men who are disquali
fied the people do not blame the Conference, but the Bishop, saying :
' Why does the Bishop send us such a man ? ' ' Whereupon the
minority report was adopted by an overwhelming majority.

674 Methodist Bishops.
The effect was wholesome. The young men returned next year
better qualified for the office to which they aspired.
The other occasion was in Philadelphia, Pa. Between June, 1843,
and May, 1844, the writer of this article had published five "Epistles
on the Education of the Ministry." These letters produced great
excitement among those local and itinerant preachers who believed
that, because they were called to preach, therefore they were also
inspired, as were the apostles, and therefore had no need of educa
tion. Hence the man who dared to oppose them was denounced
from Dan to Beersheba as an " infidel." Other hard epithets were
also applied to him, none of which he regarded; but he became
alarmed at the threat that if the approaching General Conference
of 1S44 would adopt his views on the subject of ministerial education,
and indorse the plan Avhich he proposed to secure that noble end, the
African Methodist Episcopal Church would be ruined, that is, split
from end to end. He therefore determined not to attend the Gen
eral Conference. As soon as Bishop Brown heard of this determina
tion, he said to the writer of " The Epistles on the Education of the
Ministry," " That you should stay away from the General Conference
is the very thing your opponents desire, in order that they may make a
successful opposition to your views and your plans ; therefore I advise
and urge you to be there." So the writer went to the General Con
ference, and his plan for the education of our young ministry was
adopted, incorporated into our Discipline, and has been ever since an
essential element in the work for the development of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. The least reflection will show how wise
and timely was the advice of the good Bishop, and hoAV an opposite
course of conduct would have retarded and damaged the work of
ministerial education among us.
On the 9th of May, 1849, about five o'clock in the morning, he
closed his eyes upon his Aveeping wife, children, and numerous friends,
to open them amid the light and the glory of the upper sanctuary.
Thus lived and thus died Morris Brown, the second Bishop of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church. The moral and religious ele
ments ruled his character and life ; so that, although he added nothing
to the science or literature of the world, his labors and life constitute a
solid contribution to its moral and religious wealth.

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REY EDWARD WATERS.
Edward Waters.

BY BISHOP A. W. WAYMAN.

EDWAED WATEES, third Bishop of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church, was born a slave in Maryland, perhaps at or
near West Biver. He came to Baltimore Avhen a young man, and
bought his freedom from one Mr. Duvall. He was a member of
the Methodist Episcopal Church until about 1816. At that time the
African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. He, Avith Daniel
Coker and several others, withdrew and formed a part of the new
organization. I have no record from which to ascertain Avhen he was
ordained a deacon and elder. But when he was ordained it was by
Eichard Allen, the first Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church. In 1831 Bishop Allen died. There was then a rule in the
Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church which required
the acting Bishop to choose an elder as an assistant. Bishop Morris
Brown selected Bev. Edward Waters. In 1832 the General Confer
ence met in Philadelphia. The most prominent candidate for the
position of Bishop Avas Bev. William Cornish ; and it was conceded
by most of the delegates that he would be elected. But some of the
older members regarded Brother Waters as a very safe man, and
urged his conservative nature as a very great argument in his favor.
When the day for the election came, Bev. EdAvard Waters was elected,
and ordained by Bishop Morris Brown.
As there were only four Annual Conferences of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church at that time, namely, the Philadelphia,
Baltimore, New York, and Ohio Conferences, Bisliop Waters Avas
only required to be present at the Conferences as an assistant Bisliop.
He never held an Annual Conference nor ordained a minister.
He received his appointments annually as the other itinerant min
isters, which were entirely confined to the State of Maryland, Avith
one single exception, and that Avas when, during one year, he served
one of the Clrunmes in Washington, D. C.
39

678 Methodist Bishops.
He was not a man of education in the schools, yet, having made
the Scriptures his special study, he was considered one of the ablest
Bible preachers of his day in our Church, and his manner of preaching
was much admired by the people. From 1832 to 1847 he filled his
place in the itinerant ranks, and generally did the most of his travel
ing on his circuits on foot, and whenever he said he was coming to an
appointment he Avas always sure to be there. He> often had said he
would never disappoint a congregation if it were possible to avoid it,
whatever the circumstances were. At one time, in the early part of
1847, he Avas returning home to Baltimore from one of his appointments
on foot, when some young men, who were driving a Arehicle of some
kind, either intentionally or accidently ran over him, and he was
severely injured. He managed, however, to reach the home of his
daughter, where he remained until he died.
The Baltimore Annual Conference met in Baltimore, April, 1847,
and Bishop Waters not being present at roll-call, which was so unusual
a thing for him, inquiry Avas at once made concerning him, when it
was first ascertained that he was injured. A committee consisting
of two of the oldest ministers were sent to visit him. Lie told the
committee to tell the Bisliop and Conference he had met them- for the
last time on earth, but that the principles of the Gospel he had
preached for so many years to others now afforded him solace in his
declining moments.
The Conference had scarcely adjourned, and the ministers reached
their work, before they were summoned to Baltimore again to attend
the funeral of Bisliop Waters.

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH.

THE organization of this branch of the Methodist family dates
from 1820, when a very large congregation of colored members
in New York, known as Zion Church, (formed in 1796,) seceded from
the Methodist Episcopal Church, under the leadership of James
M. Stilwell, a former pastor of John-street Church. The reason
assigned was, that the NeAV York Conference was about to take meas
ures in favor of vesting the title of Church property more securely
in the Conference, and thus infringe on the rights of the laity. They
sought, for a time, to be organized as a separate Conference under the
name of the African Methodist Conference, under the patronage and
government of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Philadelphia
Conference, learning of their desires and plans, and of their invitation
to Bishop M'Kendree to preside at a proposed Conference, adopted
the following resolution, and forwarded it to the New York Confer
ence, with which the separating Churches had been connected :
The Philadelphia Conference do advise and recommend that one of our Bish
ops do attend and preside in the African Conference appointed to sit in New
York, as an African Methodist Conference, under the patronage of our Bishops
and- Conference, agreeable to the proper plan, (if the New York Conference agree
Avith us,) to wit: 1. One of our members always to preside in the said Confer
ence, or in case no Bishop be present, then such white elders as the Bisliop may
appoint, are to preside. 2. Our Bishops to ordain their deacons and elders, such
as shall be elected by their own Conference and approved by the Bishop, and
educated for the office.
The New York Conference did not approve the resolution of the
Philadelphia Conference, but the Conference was held, (June 21, 1821,)
and Joshua Soule, afterward elected Bishop, and Dr. Phcebus, by
invitation, met with them. A Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal
Church was elected president, but no Bishop being present, Dr. Phoe
bus was chosen and presided, and Dr. Soule acted as secretary. Free-

680 Methodist Bishops.
born Garrettson was also present. A second Conference was held in
Philadelphia, in 1822, but the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, not believing they had authority to preside, declined to do
so, and James Varick was elected as the first Bishop. The first
Conference was organized with twenty-two preachers, reporting an
aggregate of one thousand four hundred and twenty six lay members.
The doctrines are the same as those of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. The Bishops are elected for four years, and are eligible
for re-election. The latest statistics reported show a total of
Organized in 1796.
Conferences, 22.
Bishops, 6, (Bishop Clinton died in 1881.)
Itinerant Preachers, 2,000.
Local Preachers, 2,950.
Lay Members, 300, 000.
College, 1, at Salisbury, N. C.
Zion Institute is at Lancaster, S. C.
Book Concern is at 183 Bleecker-street, N. Y. ; Jacob Thomas. Agent.
" The Star of Zion,'' the organ of the denomination, is published at Salis
bury, N. C.

Solomon T. Scott.

BY BISHOP S. T. JONES.

THE subject of this brief sketch was born in Smyrna, Del., August
26, 1790, and at an early period in life embraced religion, and
gave a firm adherence to Methodism, which he as firmly maintained
during life and in death.
He was united in marriage in May, 1819, then in the twenty-ninth
year of his age. His companion, who now mourns his departure in
aged widowhood, shared with him the cares and privations inseparable
from the life of an itinerant ministry for nearly half a century.
Possessed of a bold and fearless spirit, and ambitious to visit other
lands, he made choice, for a livelihood, of that hazardous occupation,
which, while it gratified his desire to behold the wonderful and the
beautiful abroad, nevertheless fearfully exposed him to the perils of
the deep. He became a useful mariner.
To what extent the awfully grand exhibitions of the matchless
power of God — sublime displays, alike, of his authority and care —
which the vast and boundless sea affords, influenced his future course,
we may never know. We doubt not, however, but that the great
Teacher, who had selected him from the thousands of Israel for a
special work, was meanwhile making use of all those thrilling inci
dents of his life at sea as so many instrumentalities by which he was
educating him for his work. .John, the forerunner of Jesus, was
schooled in the wilderness of Judea, rather than at the feet of some
learned doctor of the law, that he might be the better qualified to do
the vigorous work of preparing the way of the Lord. Dartmouth
and Yale, Princeton and Harvard, all great and grandly-useful insti
tutions of learning, may each, alike, be passed by, when the allwise
God selects and prepares men for his high and holy purposes ; and in
humbler, more obscure, and, to human ken, far less appropriate schools,
men may be fashioned for the duties and offices of God's house and
work. Not that scholastic training is unessential to fit the minister of

682 Methodist Bishops.
Christ for usefulness, or that the holy One refuses, in the main, to
accept the preparatory labors of men in carrying forward the plans of
Heaven ; but he is sometimes pleased to act so independently of the
ordinary human appliances so frequently relied upon, in painful dis
regard of the far more essential divine qualifications, that, passing by
the recognized agencies, he himself teaches him in the school not
founded by men, and from books of which he alone is the author.
Thus signally does the Father of all our mercies disappoint the
expectations and frustrate the plans of men. This strange, and in
man's judgment impolitic, and therefore unapproved course on the
part of Infinite Wisdom, so far from working deterioration, invari
ably surpasses in usefulness and in beneficial results the finest touches
of human skill ; thus demonstrating the divine origin, as well as the
divine direction and management, of the Church.
The wisdom of such selection and instruction is seen in the fact,
that the gospel message is presented to mankind in rich variety,
drawn from almost every profession and pursuit in life ; each instructor
making use of those things Avith whicli he is most familiar, (of which
the Scriptures furnish so many beautiful examples,) thereby illustrating
the great truths of God with a simplicity and forcibleness compre
hensible by all ; and thus appropriated and applied by the divine Spirit,
irresistibly carrying conviction to every heart.
The beneficial effects of this happy appropriation of the most sim
ple means to most important ends may be readily recognized by
those avIio can recall those instances in the public ministrations of
Bishop Scott, when he took for a text any passage of Scripture con
nected Avith the sea, vessels, or sailing, or, more than all, a text refer
ring to fishes or fishing. His unusual knowledge of and familiarity
with any, and almost every, thing belonging to the mighty deep; his
astonishing recollection of nearly all the names, localities, habits, and
peculiarities of the vast finny tribes ; his wonderful facility and appro
priateness in contrasting these peculiarities with the characters and dis
positions of men — now accurately describing the bold, bad man, now
the timid, now the penitent mourner, now the newly-born convert,
now the active Christian, the humble child of God, and now the luke
warm professor, by some corresponding disposition, trait of character,
or striking similarity found in some inhabitant of the sea, enabled him

Solomon T. Scott. 683
to wield a power and influence for good truly enviable. His cele
brated "Fish Sermon," written by his dictation, though shorn of
much of the beauty, because lacking the inspiration of the sermon as
preached by him, is, nevertheless, a most curious, interesting, and
instructive production.
Bishop Scott connected himself with the African Methodist Epis
copal Zion Church about 1830 ; joined the Philadelphia Conference
three or four years later ; and was ordained a deacon by Bishop Bush
in 1835. An emergency rendered it necessary for the Bishop to
ordain him elder the same year, and to place him in charge of the
Philadelphia station, left vacant by reason of the affliction of the reg
ularly appointed minister.
Serving with great zeal and distinction during his pastorate in that
city, and exhibiting unmistakable signs of future usefulness and avail
ability, Bishop Bush, with that keen penetration and far-seeing sagacity
for which he was distinguished, discoA'ered in the yoimg preacher
those qualities which fitted him for the rugged duties of a pioneer
life, and assigned him to new and untried fields. Here the unflinch
ing courage, the indomitable spirit, and the determined will, which had
often enabled him coolly to discharge the duties of a sailor under the
most trying circumstances, and in the midst of danger, admirably fitted
and sustained him in his new enterprise, and secured for him and the
Church many a victory of the most brilliant character, wrung from
the powers of darkness after the severest conflicts, where men of
ordinary courage must have utterly failed. Mounted on a good horse,
(for he would have none other,) this brave, undaunted sailor-preacher
would travel through a district now poorly served by ten or a dozen
itinerants, regularly administering the word of life in towns, villages,
and neighborhoods ; scaling mountains, traversing valleys, and thread
ing by-paths through forests and mountain- fastnesses, preaching alike
to the few or many, and scarcely receiving the absolute necessities, to
say nothing of the comforts and conveniences, of life. The Church
of his choice is very largely indebted to Bishop Scott for the flourish
ing condition of the work in Central and Western Pennsylvania,
Avhere his labors were principally bestowed.
Eminently fitted as he was by these trying, but instructive, experi
ences, and endeared to his brethren by his heroic labors, his unswerv-

684 Methodist Bishops.
ing attachment to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, as
well as by the most pleasant fraternal relations, he was elected to the
Episcopacy by the General Conference held in New York, in May,
1856, and for four years he served with considerable distinction. Be-
tiring from the position in 1860, he resumed, to him the more con
genial, work of a subordinate preacher, in which work he discharged
zealously its rugged duties, notwithstanding his advanced age and
slowly diminishing bodily strength, till within a few years of his last
illness and death.
On December 29, 1862, he passed away in sweet peace, and in
full hope of a glorious future, at the ripe age of seventy-two years,
in the same city (Philadelphia) where he began his ministerial labors
in early life.

James Varic.

BY BISHOP S. T. JONES.

THE very distinguished personage to whose memory the following
brief sketch' is dedicated, enjoyed the honor of being the first
who was elevated to 'the Episcopal Chair in the African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church in America. He was born in New York in
in 1795. Eeceiving a common school education, which eminently
fitted him for leadership among his race, and being endowed with
great native ability, he was destined to act a prominent part in shaping
the destiny of the Church-organization to which his subsequent labors
were principally confined.
It was his wisdom to have remembered his Creator in the days of
his youth, and he early gave his heart to God, and enjoyed that per
manent and satisfying peace which he retained to the last. The verity
of that consoling promise : " Them that honor me, I will honor," finds
abundant support and is beautifully illustrated in the history of Bishop
Varic* Firmly attached to the simple but comprehensive doctrines
taught by Methodism, in love with her principles and Discipline, lie
espoused that blessed cause, even in that period of its unpopularity and
numerical weakness. Taking his position in the denomination so early
in its history, he became an active and energetic participant in what
ever promised to advance her interest, or .glorify God. Thus steadily
increasing in spiritual strength and usefulness, our youthful hero
was licensed to preach in 1813, when but seventeen years of age.
Entered fully upon the work for which God and his nature had fitted
him, he took a prominent and most serviceable part in the discussions
engaged in at the several meetings held by the founders of the Con
nection, to determine as to the character of our episcopacy, and the
peculiar principles of the organization; and, no doubt, contributed
largely, if not mainly, to the final adoption of that purely Wesleyan
type and simple Methodistic character prominent in the government
of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

686 Methodist Bishops.
Endeared to his brethren by years of active service in their inter
ests, he had now become immeasurably more so, not only by his valu
able aid in establishing an incomparable form of itinerancy, but by
the unassuming, modest, and deferential manner which had character
ized his entire action. These characteristics, taken in connection with
that keen, far-seeing sagacity, logical and forcible argumentativeness,
practical thoughtfulness, and administrative ability, which he had
exhibited during these preliminary proceedings, plainly designated
him as the fit leader of the infant Church, and resulted in his ele
vation to the honorable position of the first Bishop of the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, in 1820. He entered upon the
duties of the office with the confidence and hopes of the humble
band of ministers who had thus honored him, filling the position with
marked ability and distinction during twelve years.
He was an able debater, and a most eloquent and forcible preacher.
As such, he was very popular with his white brethren of New York,
and preached on several occasions in the John-street Methodist Church
with great acceptability. He is said to have been a close reasoner, and
a very able advocate of the rights of his proscribed race, battling
against the prejudices of the American people, and especially the
insidious distinctions found in the Methodist Church at that early day.
After finishing a most brilliant and highly useful career, .justly
meriting the esteem of mankind, and particularly of that humble por
tion of it with whom he was more immediately identified, he died in
full hope of a blissful immortality, leaving three sons and four daugh
ters to mourn his loss.
It is worthy of remark that Bishop Varic assumed the honors and
dignity of the episcopate at the age of twenty-four. Few, if any, in
modern times, have reached so high a distinction in the Church so early
in life, and fewer still have borne those honors so creditably both to
himself and the Church.

Christopher Rush.

BY BISHOP 8. T. JONES.

"He lives nobly who lives for man,
Because he lives for God."
A GIANT in intellect, of great moral courage, of a strong and deter
mined will, and of vast powers of physical endurance, with a fair
share of. acquired ability, Christopher Bush was fitted to be at once
a bold and dauntless leader, a rigid disciplinarian, an energetic and
untiring Avorker, and an eminently useful man. He was born in
Cravens County, North Carolina, February 4, 1777, and inherited a
considerable share of the genial warmth of soul and ardency of spirit
characteristic of the people of that section. Embracing Christianity
at the early age of sixteen, at a period of our national progress when
simple habits, correct deportment, and aversion to licentiousness, were
marked features in almost every community, and more especially so
in rural districts, he may be said to have scarcely known, much less to
have been familiar with, most of the vices of our present times so
beguiling to youth and so frequently disastrous to its most brilliant
prospects. -Indeed, one possessed of such remarkable firmness and
decision of character as Avas Bishop Bush, having once set out to com
pass any commendable object, would hardly be turned aside from his
purpose even in this day of degeneracy. But confronted by compar
atively little opposition, and surrounded by so many incentives to a
pure and spotless life, he made rapid progress in the faith he had
espoused. Manumitted, or purchased through his OAvn industry or by the
benevolence of his friends, he moved to New York city in 1798 ;
Avhere, untrammeled in mind, he was able to investigate more thor
oughly with a view of determining his future course in life. Famil
iarizing himself with the teachings, doctrines, and philanthropic views
of the venerable founder of Methodism, whom he held in the highest
esteem, he witnessed with alarm the innovations introduced by the

688 Methodist Bishops.
dominant adherents to his religious tenets in America, especially
with reference to the Christian equality of the races. Deeply im
pressed with the truthful, manly, and God-like utterances of the
Declaration of American Independence, then fresh from the almost-
inspired pen of Jefferson, and seeing these principles so flagrantly
ignored with respect to his race by the same people for whose justifi
cation in throwing off an oppressive foreign yoke they had been pro
claimed, so soon after their own Heaven-secured deliverance, his soul
was roused to righteous indignation. Satisfied that prejudice born of
conscious injustice and wrong, and rendered invincible by large promise
of mercenary gain, having already taken firm hold on the American
heart, would present most formidable resistance alike to the humani
tarian and the Christian, whether in Church or State, he placed him
self squarely on the side of the unfortunate and victimized; here,
armed with Wesley's publicly expressed view that " American slavery
was the sum of all villainies," he enlisted with all his masterly pow
ers of mind and soul against its principles and practice, whether fos
tered by doubtful and ambiguous phrases in the Constitution, or toler
ated by the connivances of Church authorities. That his position on
this subject, and all else affecting the interests of the masses of his
race, might be the more conspicuously knoAvn, he united with the
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in 1803, shortly after its
organization as an itinerant body, where he found kindred spirits hold
ing kindred views, both of Church polity and humanitarian principles,
stoutly battling for the rights of his race, and taking active part in all
important interests connected with its amelioration. While preparing
himself, meanwhile, as best he could, for future usefulness among
them, he obtained license to preach in 1815 ; was advanced to deacons'
orders soon after, and was ordained an elder in 1822.
Thoroughly imbued with the spirit of evangelism, and recognizing
the potency and fitness of the itinerant ministry as its most appropri
ate and hopeful instrumentality, he had given important aid in shaping
that plan in the infant connection. With his vast powers of thought,
sound and reliable judgment, his rich and versatile store of informa
tion, and his decidedly Wesleyan training, he had been a most helpful
associate of Bey. James Varic, whose subordinate he then was, and
whose colleague and successor he was destined to be, in determining

Christopher Rush. 689
the simple but comprehensive forms of our present organization.
These valuable services had secured for him the full confidence, as
well as the affectionate regard, of his brethren ; and, as an evidence of
both, he was elected to the important office of the second Bisliop of
the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in America, in the
second General Conference, convened in Zion Church, New York
city, in 1828. For four years he shared the honors of the position
with his senior, Bishop Varic, but thenceforward, during a period of
twenty years, he was not only known and recognized as the distin
guished senior Bishop of his Church, but was the interesting, highly
appreciated, and important center around whom every interest of the
Zion Church gathered. Probably no man ever secured a more abso-
¦ lute control over a people, or exercised it in such complete subordina
tion to their most cherished interests. It was, therefore, inexpressibly
saddening to the Church, for the advancement of which he may be
said to have literally givenh is eyes, when, from loss of eyesight by
almost incessant reading, writing, and exposure, he was compelled to
retire from the active duties of the episcopacy at the General Confer
ence of 1852.
Loved almost to idolatry, it seemed scarcely possible that the won
derful man whose voice had been heard for so many years throughout
the Connection — in the pulpit, in the chair, and around thousands of
hearthstones, in the faithful discharge of the duties of office as preacher,
presiding officer, and pastor — should, henceforth, be confined to a single
place, never to be heard again by most of those who had listened to
him with ever-increasing interest and profit. The feeling of the Church
was evidently akin to that which rent the hearts of the hosts of the
Lord when Moses, their cherished leader, pronounced his last sad bene
diction, and took his paternal leave on his departure to Mount Nebo
to die. There was, however, in the case of Bishop Bush, a hope
somewhat consoling to the Church, that they might profit by his coun
sel and advice for many years to come. Such, indeed, was the case
during the twenty-one years which intervened from his retirement
to his final demise.
Bishop Bush was truly a man of mark. Born a slave, and there
fore familiar with the bitterness of that vile system, he labored most
arduously for its overthrow. God permitted him to hear of its abol-

690 Methodist Bishops.
ishment, though never to see, literally, its redeemed victims. When
the Emancipation Proclamation of the immortal Lincoln was read to
him, with uplifted hands he exclaimed, in the appropriate language of
the venerable Simeon : " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in
peace according to thy word ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
" I knew," said he, " that the justice of God could not sleep forever ;
he has called, and ever will raise up men to battle against political
error, till all unjust laws shall be forever wiped out." " The Almighty
hath decreed that the universal brotherhood of man shall be fully
acknowledged by the American people."
He was also deeply interested in the education of mankind, and
especially in that of his own neglected race, and took a very prom
inent part in the movement for the establishment of public schools for .
the education of colored children in the State of New York in 1812.
With a view to the better educational training of the ministry of
the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church he was instrumental
in securing a lot of ground in Essex County, New York, for the loca-
'tion of a school, and he did much toward the erection of suitable
buildings thereon for that purpose. He also distinguished himself to
some extent as a writer. His treatise, or Short Account of the Bise and
Progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, is a work
of considerable merit, and is valuable as the only authentic history of
the Church extant.
In short, Bishop Bush was altogether a most extraordinary man.
After a long life so fully devoted to the interests of humanity and
religion as to induce him to forego even the tender and endearing
ties of matrimonial alliance, lest he should encounter some serious
obstacle or hinderance in the work upon which he had set his heart,
he passed away on July 6, 1873, in the full triumphs of faith, having
reached the ninety-sixth year of his life.
As a tribute of respect to the venerable Bishop, a beautiful monu
ment has been erected to his memory in Cypress Hill Cemetery,
Brooklyn, New York.

William Miller.

BY BISHOP S. T. JONES.

VENEEABLE in age, but far more so in appearance, with a fine
manly form rather above the medium height, crowned with a
lavish head of hair of snowy white, and having a voice whose soft
melody revealed the tender emotions and generous impulses of a kind
and loving heart, Bishop Miller would have reminded you of the
sainted John of Ephesus. Indeed, during his life and since his death
he has been frequently compared to " the loving John," so innocently
tender, so harmlessly loving, and so eminently paternal was he. It
seldom falls to the lot of any individual, however distinguished he may
otherwise be, to possess at once .the characteristics of patient, gentle
love, and of extreme boldness and intrepidity. For purposes known
to Him who gives no account of his matters in these particulars, these
opposite qualities are rarely developed to any considerable extent in
the same person. It is not at all surprising, therefore, that the sub
ject of this sketch cannot be ranked as an organizer among those bold
and fearless pioneer fathers, like Eush and Varic, who preceded him in
the duties and honors of the episcopacy, or Galbreath and Scott, who
were his successors. But if the memory of these men is entitled
to our veneration because they were great organizers, Miller may be
as gratefully remembered for his possession and exercise of those qual
ities which won the hearts of the masses, and the exhibition of those
persuasive powers which not only retained them, but also induced
them to emulate his pious example. Easy of approach — by even the
most lowly — he was benevolent to the poor and the unfortunate, ten
derly loving and indulgent to children, kind and generous to all.
The rich and the poor, the virtuous and the vicious, were attracted
by his words, whether in the pulpit, around the hearthstone, or on the
highway. The facts are not positively known to the writer, but from the
most reliable information at command it is believed that Bishop

692 Methodist Bishops.
8
William Miller was born in Maryland about the year 1790 ; em
braced religion in his youth ; lived in Philadelphia, Pa., the greater
part of his lifetime ; united with the African Methodist Episcopal
Zion Church about the year 1826 ; and was ordained deacon and
elder prior to 1830. On the death of Bishop Varic, after the Gen
eral Conference of 1832, he became the friend and associate of Bishop
Eush in some important Church interests in Pennsylvania, and in
view of the valuable aid afforded by him, together with his devout
Christian life and pious example, he was elected by the General Con
ference of 1836 to the episcopal office as the third Bishop of the
African Methodist Episcopal Zion connection. From this time to
the hour of his death he gave himself unsparingly to the work . of
establishing the hearts of the ministry and membership of Zion wher
ever his influence extended, gently spreading the cement of Christian
' love, firmly uniting each stone in the spiritual edifice, and giving
shape to the whole structure by his own life, which was a constant
exhibition of that kind forbearance, sweet temper, and winning loveli
ness, by which his entire Christian bearing was distinguished.
Having faithfully served the Church and his race during a long and
useful Christian life, and having demonstrated in the most illustrious
manner the transforming power of Christianity, he departed this life
after a brief illness — which he endured with patience and calm resig
nation to the will of God — at his home in Philadelphia, in the spring
of 1846, in the full assurance of faith, after an episcopal career of
only ten years.

George Galbreath.

BY BISHOP S. T. JONES.

GEOEGE GALBEEATH,' the subject of the following sketch,
was born in Lancaster County, Pa., March 4, 1799. His
parents, Adam and Eve by name, were the slaves of Dr. Galbreath.
Lie was, however, raised in the family of Moses Wilson, of Hanover
Township, Pa. Possessing a manly spirit, pleasing manners, and
being of hopeful promise, he was permitted to attend school with the
children of the family, where, by industry and application, he acquired
a common-school education, such as the limited educational facilities
of that section afforded at that early day. He remained in the family
of this gentleman until a short time previous to his emancipation.
He subsequently learned the carpenter's trade with John Miller, of
Lancaster County, and worked at his trade in the employ of this gen
tleman for a considerable while, both in Pennsylvania and in Mary
land. He also learned the cabinetmaker's trade with John Okey, of
Middletown, Pa., where, in 1826, he experienced a change of heart
and life while attending a Winebrennarian meeting. But, having
familiarized himself with the simple and forcible doctrines of the
Bible as taught by Wesley, he connected himself with the Methodist
Episcopal Church, where he remained an active, earnest Christian,
until Eev. Jacob D. Eichardson organized a society there of the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, when he was enrolled among its
members, and shortly after received preacher's license.
Growing in influence and usefulness, and discovering thus early a
singular aptness to instruct the less informed of his brethren in the
great truths of the Scriptures, he was recommended by the Church
as one eminently fitted for the work of an itinerant minister, and was
received as such in the Philadelphia yearly Conference of his recently
adopted Church in June, 1830. Thus fully entered upon the work of
the ministry, his industry and faithful devotion so commended him to
the confidence and favor of his elder brethren that he was elected
40

694 Methodist Bishops.
and ordained deacon in the Conference session of 1832, and elder in
that of 1835. Starting out from this point with increased responsi
bilities, but with great zeal, and a constantly growing usefulness, he
was prominent in all the important interests of the Church, distin
guishing himself alike on the floor of the Conference and in the
more special duties of the pastorate. Whether as an efficient scribe,
an able debater, or a valuable committee-man, in the former, or as a
wise governor, an earnest and devoted pastor, or an able defender of
the doctrines, principles, and usages of our common Methodism, in
the latter, he was a most reliable and trustworthy minister, and con
tributed immeasurably to that buoyancy of spirit and unwavering
hope and faith which sustained the humble band of brethren with
whom he was identified, amid the trying scenes through which they
passed during that period.
Having, by his superior mental powers, now vastly improved by
study and application, forced his way to the forefront of leadership
among his brethren — and having, by his affable manner and manly
Christian bearing, won his way into their confidence and affection — he
was nominated by the proper committee selected by the General Con
ference, assembled in the parent church of the organization in the
city of New York, in May, 1848, and elected by that body to the
Episcopal office ; thus becoming the fourth Bishop of the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in America. His knowledge of the
rules governing deliberative bodies ; his careful study of the peculiar
genius of Methodism ; his minute survey of the entire field of opera
tion over which the Church had extended its fostering care ; together
with his pleasing address, accommodating disposition, and gentle
manly and dignified bearing, and his remarkable firmness and decision
of character, and promptness and dispatch in the execution of busi
ness, rendered him more distinguished, if possible, as a presiding
officer than he had been as a subordinate pastor. His rapid move
ments and general visitations through the entire connectional field,
cheering the ministry and encouraging the Churches, endeared him
alike to pastor and flock, rendering him, deservedly, a great favorite in
the popular esteem. His episcopal career, though distinguished for its
brilliancy and beneficial results, was destined to be short.
Yielding to the inevitable consequences of a life of unremitting

George Galbreath. 695
'toil, and a life burdened with the anxious cares imposed by poverty,
and a constitution broken by the severe hardships and privations of
eighteen years of itinerant pioneership, it was painfully apparent quite
early in his new and trying position that he was to be menaced by
disease whicli must seriously impair his usefulness. Battling with
these infirmities with the same heroic determination with which he
had encountered the toils and trials of his earlier life, he persevered
Avith an unabated zeal, "discharging the numerous and varied duties of
his office, and rallying like a great leader the hosts of the Lord, until
death arrested him in the very midst of his labors in little less than
five years after his election to the Episcopacy.
It may be justly said of Bishop Galbreath by those intimately
acquainted with him, as was the writer of this humble tribute to his
memory, that but few men ever presented more strikingly interesting
features of character. Eemarkable for his powers of mind, he was
not less remarkable for his physical endurance, which enable him to
travel on foot circuits of from one hundred and fifty to three hun
dred miles in length, laboring with a frequency, zeal, and success,
truly Avonderful. Animated with the cheering hope of adding stars
to his Master's crown, he was no more untiring in his efforts in the
pulpit than out of it ; whether in the family circle, the public inn, or
by the way-side. Domestic infelicity added greater trials to his min
istry than disease or poverty. He was thus beset in his ministerial
career with a succession of troubles following him into his later life ;
but he seldom complained, and even then, with such charitable exr
pressions as to reveal a patience and resignation truly enviable. In
his pulpit efforts during the early part of his ministry, though- dis
playing at times singular powers of eloquence, he was so possessed of
an uncontrollable stammering in his speech that his hearers often lost
the impressiveness and otherwise good effect of his discourses. For
years he struggled against this impediment. But, strange to say, by a
very extraordinary circumstance, the hinderance was suddenly and
permanently removed. His fast friends and yoke-fellows in the min
istry Avere Bevs. Jacob D. Eichardson and Samuel Johnson, most
gifted and powerful preachers of the same Church. The latter was
especially endeared to him by many kind offices and tender ties. Mu
tually sharing the toils, cares, and privations of the itinerancy in their

696 Methodist Bishops.
friendship, they were much like David and Jonathan. Necessarily
bold and aggressive, they were men of courage, but no more of cour
age than faith. Struck with the similarity of their own rugged life
experiences and those of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, they were
not only much together, but induced to enter into an agreement and
covenant to pray that the free speech of the elder should become the
possession of the younger of the two men, if not while he lived, then
as an inheritance when he died. The agreement was often remem
bered in their devotions, and was a matter of much faith between
them, but no perceptible improvement came to the utterance of
Galbreath. At length death came, releasing Johnson suddenly from his labors,
and Galbreath was as suddenly relieved of his stammering. Though
more than a hundred miles away from the scene of the death of his
co-laborer, and all unconscious of his sudden illness, Galbreath was
instantaneously seized by an uncontrollable power which prostrated
him to the earth. Becovering from the effects of the unaccountable
shock, it was not until several days had elapsed that he learned, by
mail, that his friend had died at the very moment he was thus strangely
prostrated. His next pulpit effort revealed the fact, not less to the
astonishment of his hearers than to himself, that God had honored
their simple faith — the mantle of his gifted, but now departed, brother
in Christ had rested on him.
Thenceforward to the day of his death George Galbreath was not
only possessed of an unexceptionable delivery, free from all impedi
ment, but for depth of thought, clearness of scriptural views, sound
ness in doctrine, and entrancing eloquence, that made him a marvel
to his audiences and to himself.
The following summary of his character and life is taken from the
very excellent memoir which has been published :
As a man, Galbreath possessed a vigorous, active, firm, and benevolent mind.
In, promptitude of conception and readiness of utterance few were his equals.
He was, in an eminent degree, a man of undaunted spirit; the firmness of hi?
mind was a leading trait, a prominent feature, of his whole character. It enabled
him in all the vicissitudes of life — and he was familiar with them — to maintain
an equanimity of conduct which seemed to flow from the fortitude of the phi
losopher, mingled with the patience and resignation of the Christian.

George Galbreath. 69 f
As a husband, father, brother, and friend, he was singularly indulgent, ten
der, and affectionate ; but his benevolence was not confined to these limits, it led
him to be, in a peculiar manner, the friend of the oppressed ; he espoused their
cause and advanced their interest with the warmest zeal. It was his benevolent
temper, likewise, which rendered him so highly esteemed by almost every denom
ination of Christians, and which disposed him to unite an extensive charity for
those who differed from him in matters of faith or opinion, with an earnest con
tention for what he esteemed the truth. Benevolence was, indeed, a shining part
of his character; he took an exquisite pleasure in communicating or increasing
happiness whenever and wherever lie had opportunity. His desire and study was
to do all possible good to mankind in general, yet, without breaking in upon his
plan, some were the objects of his more peculiar attention.
As a scholar, he was considerably distinguished. He early discovered a thirst
for knowledge. Original genius was peculiarly his attribute. There was no
limit to his curiosity. His inquiries were spread over the whole field of nature.
The study of man seemed to be his delight, and if his genius had any special
bias it was in discovering those things that made men wiser and happier. In
short, he had the whole volume of nature as his field of research, and he dili
gently pursued it.
As a Christian, he shone conspicuously. The spirit of the Gospel seemed to
have tinctured his whole mind, and to possess a constant and powerful influence
on his heart. He was truly and remarkably an example of the life of God in
the soul. His faith in the divine promises was strong, active, and vigorous,
being conscious of having endeavored to the best of his ability to perform the
conditions on which they are suspended. With such faith and resignation as
this he went on from year to year promoting the glory of God, advancing the
happiness of his fellow-creatures, and performing the duties of his calling, till
at length, having perfected his work, and being ripe for immortality, God was
pleased to translate him from the wilderness of this world to the city of the
living God.
As a preacher, he was indefatigable, evangelical, and successful. He was
remarkably animated in his public addresses, and generally popular. An inti
mation that he was to preach was the sure signal for a crowded auditory. His
manner was always warm and forcible, and his instructions eminently practical.
He had a talent for touching the conscience and seizing the heart, almost peculiar
to himself. Arriving at Philadelphia, Pa., in March, 1853, after an extended
episcopal visitation through a large portion of the connectional field,
preaching often, and exposing his already shattered constitution to the
vicissitudes of winter's severities in the region of the Alleghany
mountains, he fell almost a martyr to the cause of God and the

698 Methodist Bishops.
interest of his lowly people. He died of asthma, after a brief but
painfully severe illness of a few weeks ; his physician declaring that
he had literally " blown out his life in the ministry." On being asked
by an old companion in the ministry — Bev. David Stevens — as to his
prospect of heaven, he expressed strong confidence in God, repeat
ing those blessed words of Job, " I know that my Bedeemer liveth."
" I am nothing," said he, " as one thrown among the rubbish ; yea, a
crumb, but God will magnify that crumb." Shortly before death he
cried out — these were his last words — " I am standing in the midst
of Jordan ; I have let the world go, and I have my right hand on
eternity." After a brief silence the tall, manly form of Bishop Galbreath
lay motionless in death ; the spirit which had animated it over half a
century, had winged its way to God !

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHUECH OF CANADA.

THE first society was founded in Canada, at Augusta, in 1778, num
bering among its first members Paul and Barbara Heck, and
Catherine Lawrence, (formerly Mrs. Philip Embury,) who were mem
bers of the first Methodist Church organized in the United States in
1766. The first Conference pastor was William Losee, sent by the
Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, in 1791 ; first class
organized in Kingston Circuit, February 20, 1791. The first Confer
ence was organized at Hallowell, August 25, 1824. The Methodist
Episcopal Church in Canada, (by friendly separation from the Meth
odist Episcopal Church in United States,) was organized October
2, 1828, and contained 4 districts, 48 traveling preachers, 7 superan
nuated preachers, and 32 circuits, with a total lay membership of
9,678. In 1832 the Canadian Conference, by vote, passed under the
officiating jurisdiction of the British Wesleyan Conference, and
adopted the general polity of that body. This gave offense to many,
and resulted in a Conference, in 1834, of the opposers of that union,
at which the resolution to remain in and reorganize the Methodist
Episcopal Church was adopted. The number remaining and uniting
in the reorganization embraced 14 preachers and 1,100 lay members.
The Methodist Church of Canada, embracing the Wesleyan and New
Connection bodies, was organized into a jurisdiction separate from
the British Churches in 1874. The latest official statistics, up to 1882,
showed a total of three Annual Conferences, 272 intinerant ministers,
255 local preachers, and 27,402 lay members.

John Reynolds.

BY EEV. T. WEBSTEK, D.D.

T) EV. JOHN EEYNOLDS, first Bishop of the Methodist Episco-
l\j pal Church in Canada, was born February 9, 1786, in or near
the place where the city of Hudson is now built, in the State of New
York. His childhood was spent on the beautiful banks of the magnificent
Hudson. Here his parents continued to reside until their son John
was about ten years of age. He and the other children of the family
acquired such elementary education as the schools of that period
afforded. In 1796 the father of young Beynolds decided on removing his
family to Western Canada. He was induced to take this step by
Governor Simcoe, of Canada, who promised him that if he would go
to the western part of Upper Canada, and locate a certain number
of families in the township of Dorchester, that he (Beynolds) should
have the remaining portion of the township for himself. This flatter
ing promise caused Mr. Beynolds, and several of his neighbors through
his representations, to leave comfortable homes along the banks of the
Hudson Biver, to brave all the privations and dangers of a forest life
in the then vast wilderness of Western Canada.
At this early period a journey to Upper Canada was no small
undertaking, even from the Hudson. What now can be accomplished
in a few hours in a railroad car, would then often require days of
toilsome traveling, and especially so when the company was largely
composed of women and children. But those were the days of heroic
enterprise and endurance with emigrating bands, and among the
pioneer Methodist preachers who followed them to their wilderness
homes. The Beynolds family and their fellow emigrants shared in
this spirit of the times, and, undaunted by the dangers to be encoun
tered by the way, they turned their backs on their old homes and
pressed onward to make new ones in the distant wilderness.

John Beynolds. 701
The removal to Canada having been decided on by Mr. Beynolds
and his party, they secured a sufficient number of open boats to con
vey themselves, their families, and luggage to the then far west. On
the day appointed for their departure our emigrants, having em
barked, began to ascend the Hudson, propelling their boats with oars,
and thus they made their way to Schenectady. Here was the start
ing point from the Hudson for Lake Ontario.
The route of transit used by the old colonists for nearly a century
on their way from New York to Upper Canada was this : The Hud
son Eiver was used from Manhattan, now New York, to Schenectady.
Thence up the Mohawk to Fort Stanwix, where the city of Eome is
now situated. Here was a short portage to Wood Creek, or, as it is .
now called by some writers, Norval Creek. Thence along the wind
ings of this stream into Oneida Lake, then through the lake to Three
Bivers Point, and then down the Oswego Eiver to Lake Ontario, and
then along the lake, keeping near the shore, until the nearest spot to
their destination accessible by water had been reached, and it became
necessary to take to the bush in order to reach the destined home in
the inland wilderness. This was the route taken by Mr, Beynolds
and his associates, keeping to the water till they arrived at the head
of Lake Ontario, and then westward through the woods to the wilder
ness of Dorchester, on the eastern branch of the river Thames, about
eight miles from the present city of London. This tedious and diffi
cult journey, beset with imminent dangers, as will be seen hereafter,
occupied over two months in the part of it accomplished by water,
namely, from the Hudson to Burlington Bay at the head of Lake
Ontario. The same journey may now be made in less than a day and
a night, in a comfortable railroad carriage.
As already stated, the little fleet of open boats had hard toiling up
the rivers, and were obliged to keep near the shore' when on the
lakes. To venture far out into the lake would have been an experi
ment likely to be attended with danger. If a storm had arisen the
boats would have been in danger of being SAvamped, and all on board
would probably have found a watery grave. But there was another
reason for keeping near the shore when on the lakes ; it was this : that
at night the voyagers had to go on shore, unload, and haul their boats
up out of the water and turn them upside down in order to make a

702 Methodist Bishops.
shelter for the protection of their respective families in case of a
storm. This Avas a sIoav and laborious method of traveling, to say
nothing of the discomfort and exposure of the families. To be able
to run into a small bay or into the mouth of a stream when the boats
were in danger from a storm, or to secure a night's rest, it may be
imagined, was a very agreeable circumstance. But this Avas not
always possible of accomplishment without hard work and experienc
ing great danger to life and property. To get on shore Avas often out
of the question, because of the high banks ; and then the mouth of a
creek or river into Avhich they could run, and be relieved from the
necessity of remaining in the boats all night, became a very desirable
, sight. Upon one occasion, while our voyagers were passing up the south
shore of Lake Ontario on their way from Oswego, the most imminent
danger threatened them. The morning was fine, and every thing, to
human appearance, betokened a delightful day. The boats put out to
the lake as usual, after a not only frugal, but rather scanty repast — for
the party was not unfrequently hard pressed for a sufficiency of food,
having to depend in part for a supply for their larder upon the waters
and the woods. On the morning spoken of, as they proceeded on
their way, they perceived a long point of land stretching far out into
the lake. To pass around the point skirting along the shore on both
its sides would have cost them much time and labor. They therefore,
calculating upon the continuance of the fine Aveather of the morning,
determined to put out into the lake and make directly for the ex
tremity of the point. But ere they had reached it the clouds gathered
blackness, and went dashing along the heavens, while the muttering
thunders were heard in the distance. The wind began to Woav furi
ously, and the " white caps " to break against and over the bows and
sides of the "boats, soon making them almost unmanageable. The
lightnings flashed along the inky sky, folloAved by booming thunders ;
and soon the rain came pouring down in torrents. The oarsmen
Avere rowing hard to make the land, " but the sea wrought, and was
tempestuous against them." The hearts of strong men quaked. It
was, however, no time to yield to fears. Steadily and skillfully they
plied their oars, realizing that the lives of the entire company de
pended, under God, upon their exertions.

John Beynolds. 703
The point was neared, when a small bay was seen which gave hope
of safety. The hope inspired new courage and lent fresh vigor to
their Aveary arms. Another and a fiercer struggle with the angry
waves, and the boats with their precious cargoes were safe within the
sheltering haven.
But the family of Mr. Beynolds had nearly perished from the
quantity of water that had accumulated in their boat. It came to
land in a sinking condition. All were drenched and well nigh ex
hausted. Mrs. Beynolds and her son John proved to have suffered
the greatest injury, for long years after that day of peril and exposure
the effects were seen and felt on the health of the mother and son.
But sick and wet and weary though they were, they had no roof to
shelter them, no comfortable couch on AAdiich to repose, and but a
small allowance of food to sustain their flagging energies.
After spending a day or two for rest and drying their clothing
and goods, they again put to sea and coasted along the lake shore, as
they had been accustomed to do before the " stormy morning " that
had so nearly terminated their voyage and launched them all into
eternity. Bishop Beynolds, once passing down the Lake Shore Boad in a car
riage with the writer of this brief sketch, to attend one of the Annual
Conferences,- related the above perilous incident of their voyage Avith
expressions of devout thankfulness to God who had so wonderfully
delivered himself and his fellow-voyagers from the dangers of the
deep. There was a work for Mr. Beynolds to do in coming years,
and his heavenly Father preserved his life that he might do it.
On arriving at the western part of Burlington Bay, at the head of
Lake Ontario, where the city of Hamilton is so beautifully situated
between the mountain and the bay, the Beynolds family, with the
whole company, resolved to rest for a feAV days before encountering the
fatigues of the forest road, or, rather, path. Their way along the waters
had been toilsome and dangerous, but the Avilderness had now to be
entered, and its dangers and privations to be grappled with and over
come. They had one comfort, at least, after their late experiences,
that now they had terra firma beneath their feet — always excepting
the swamps, marshes, etc.
Young Beynolds, the subject of our sketch, and his mother, were

704 Methodist Bishops.
still ill, and for their convenience, and that of other feeble members
of the party, oxen had to be procured from the settlements nearer the
Niagara Biver, so that the sick and the children unable to walk might
be conveyed on ox-sleds drawn along the bare ground. The travelers,
however, found it impracticable to continue their journey at that time
as far as Dorchester ; they therefore stopped in a small settlement
in the township of Burford, where the Beynolds family remained
till 1803.
The company now scattered and located themselves in other places,
some of them never aftenvard seeking to obtain their promised land
among the towering pines of Dorchester. The dreams on the banks of
the Hudson of large estates in Canada- were never realized. The far-
off fields that looked so green in the distance to the fancy of the elder
Mr. Beynolds and his adult companions, when inspected more nearly,
were found beset with so many difficulties that it required years of
preparation before they could be used to any advantage — even entered
upon with their families. So the world, without the salvation of Christ,
is a poor inheritance. It is often like a broken reed ; there is no de
pendence to be placed upon it, no permanent good to be derived
from it.
But while our emigrating party in search of earthly good were
obliged to come to a halt through failure to procure the necessary
supplies for proceeding farther, the indefatigable " circuit-rider," with
his faithful horse and indispensable saddle-bags, was on their track.
Mr. Beynolds remembered Methodist preachers visiting the settlement
in Burford during the stay of his father's family there.
James Coleman was on the Niagara Circuit in 1799, and Joseph
Sawyer in 1800. These ministers, it is quite probable, visited Bur
ford settlement and other parts in the then West.
In 1801 Joseph Jewell and Samuel Draper were appointed to
Upper Canada. This Avide circuit was evidently designed to reach
the outskirts of civilization. It did not embrace the Niagara Circuit
of the previous years, that being still continued as a distinct charge.
From some one, if not from all, of the above-named gospel mes
sengers, young Beynolds had an opportunity to hear the word of
life. He was moral, but not religious. His heart was tender, but
not cleansed from sin. In this position he continued for some time,

John Reynolds. 705
hoping and fearing, and sometimes longing, for the redeeming power
of divine grace.
In December, 1801, Nathan Bangs, Avho was that year travelino-
under the Presiding Elder on the Niagara Circuit, extended his labors
west of the Grand Biver, visiting Burford and Long Point, and even
pushing his way into Oxford. On some one of these visits young
Eeynolds heard him preach, and became convinced of his sinful con
dition, and alive to the importance of his soul's salvation ; and some
time afterward, under the labors of Mr. Bangs, the awakened youth
was enabled to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as his great Ee-
deemer. In 1803, or early in 1804, the Beynolds family proceeded to their
originally-designed destination, Dorchester township. They settled
on the banks of the Thames, just where a delightful stream emptied
its limpid waters into the river. Here was an excellent mill site.
The stream had sufficient water for mill purposes, and was of
steady flow. Here they commenced business, but as old Mr. Beyn
olds could not induce the requisite number of settlers to take up
lands among the Dorchester pines to meet the conditions of Gov
ernor Simcoe's proposal, the expectations founded upon that pro
posal, and which had led Mr. Eeynolds to bring his family into the
wilderness, failed of realization. Consequently, after all the suffer
ings, privations, and at times absolute want that the family had
endured, they got only a few hundred acres of land ; and the valu
able township passed into other hands. The place where the Eeyn
olds family settled is to this day known as Eeynolds' Mills, and is
only a short distance from the Dorchester station on the Great
Western Bailroad.
But though the emigration scheme partially failed in bringing
the advantages anticipated, the Beynolds family had settled in a very
convenient spot for a resting-place for the weary itinerant, and it
was not long before they were found out and visited.
It will be seen, by reference to the Minutes of 1804, that Nathan
Bangs was appointed to Eiver Le French. The road he had to travel
lay directly past Eeynolds' door. Here and at old Mr. Putnam's the
preacher used to stop on his way to his charge, and preach to the
few who could assemble to hear the word of life. The divine

706 Methodist Bishops.
message took a strong hold on the minds of the people, and numbers
were gathered into the Church. John Beynolds had given his heart
to the Lord before, and now, at his new home on the banks of the
Thames, he became a member of the Church in which he afterward
acted so prominent a part, and in whose communion he .continued
till the hour of his death.
Very early in his religious life he felt that a dispensation of the
Gospel had been committed to him, and he soon become very useful
as an exhorter, prayer-leader, etc.
Eeynolds' sawmill soon became an important institution. It could
cut more lumber in a week than the settlers would require for six
months. It was not long, however, before a market was found for
all the lumber the mill could furnish. There was direct water com
munication by the Thames and the St. Clair with Detroit, then the
largest and most enterprising town of the West. Detroit was by water
about one hundred and fifty miles from Eeynolds' Mills, although
nearer by the land route.
The majestic pines of Dorchester were manufactured into lumber,
formed into rafts, and floated to Detroit, where, at that time, the
best clear lumber sold for $4 per thousand feet ; sometimes for a little
more, but often for less money, according to the demand at the time.
Detroit for many years was furnished with lumber from Beynolds'
and other Canadian mills.
In this lumber business John Beynolds was occupied in connec
tion with the older members of the family; but, being always of
slender frame and more delicate constitution than some of his broth
ers, he was often left at home to assist in matters about the mill,
while his brothers, Avith such help as they could occasionally obtain,
got out the logs and floated off the lumber to market. Being so
much at home, fond of books, and of studious habits, John imjiroved
the slight education he had had the opportunity of. obtaining before
leaving his native home on the Hudson. His books Avere few, it is true,
and his opportunities rather limited, but he made a good use of them
and improved his intervals of leisure in reading. Thus he acquired
a respectable education for the time in which he lived. The founda
tion had been laid during his childhood at school — slight, indeed, but
upon this he built industriously both before and after he entered

John Reynolds. 707
the ministry, and he became " a workman that " needed " not to be
ashamed."
Mr. Beynolds was mild and amiable in his disposition, dignified
and courteous in his manners, a man of pleasing appearance, with a
handsome countenance and a fine person somewhat above middle
height, erect in his bearing, and most scrupulously neat in all his per
sonal appointments. By some of the preachers, and not a few of the
old members of the Church, his neatness and precision were mistaken
for pride, when they were, in fact, only evidences of his love of order,
cleanliness, and good taste.
His consistency of religious character ever after he united with
the Church, as Avell as his moral integrity before he made a profes
sion of godliness, gave him great influence with his brethren and with
the right-minded wherever he was knoAvn.
Mr. Eeynolds was, at the time of his conversion, about seventeen
or eighteen years of age ; and the success which attended his early
efforts in the prayer-circle and as an exhorter, soon pointed him out
to the Church as a young man of promise. His exhortations at class-
meeting and at the old-fashioned quarterly meeting prayer-meetings
soon brought him into notice, and gaATe him, by common consent, a
prominent place among- the members. After acting his part as a class-
leader, exhorter, and local preacher for between three and four years
after his conversion, he was urged by the proper authorities to go out
into the regular itinerant work.
In 1807 Eev. Nathan Bangs was appointed to the Niagara Cir
cuit, but the Presiding Elder soon found it necessary to send him
to Montreal ; that being an important charge a man who was in orders
was required for it, and the Niagara Circuit could be supplied with a
young man. Thus John Eeynolds was called out to supply the
place left vacant by the removal of Mr. Bangs. Mr. Beynolds,
provided with a horse, and equipped with saddle, bridle, and saddle
bags, according to the usual outfit of the itinerant of the times,
left his home to take the place of the preacher who had been
instrumental in his own conversion to God. The young man felt
his weakness and insufficiency for the work before him, but his
trust was in Him Avho he believed had committed to him a dispensa
tion of the Gospel, to be promulgated to the people. Bidding a

708 Methodist Bishops.
tearful farewell to the family, and especially to the fond mother
who had so tenderly cared for her delicate boy, he passed out of the
yard, and, turning his face to the east, set out for his circuit, pray
ing earnestly as he journeyed that God might be Avith him and guide
him in his efforts to lead sinners to Christ.
On his arrival on the circuit he was encouraged by the kindness
of his colleagues and his Presiding Elder, Bev. Joseph Sawyer, and
also by the hearty welcome given him by the members of the so
cieties, although some of the old brethren and sisters Avere somewhat
exercised in mind by his appearance, thinking that he was a little
" too much primped up." But his earnest preaching, his affable
manners, and his consistent piety, soon changed this feeling into
respect for the young preacher, and attention to the message of his
Master. The Niagara Circuit was at that time exceedingly large. It was
a six weeks' charge. The rides were, consequently, very extensive,
the roads bad, the food coarse, and the stopping-places, in many
instances, were very uncomfortable. But the people freely shared
Avith the preachers such conveniences as they possessed for them
selves, and the latter generally accepted the hospitalities extended
to them in the spirit in Avhich they Avere offered. This state of things
sometimes bore rather heavily on the young itinerant. But with
his Bible to comfort and guide him, his hymn-book to inspire his
taste for devotional poetry and to aid him in giving fitting expres
sion to the praises of God, Avhich he delighted in singing, and his
Discipline to direct him in Church administration, he went on from
strength to strength in Zion, doing the work of an evangelist.
The path of the preacher of those days often lay, for whole
days' journeys, directly through the forests. ' They had to find their
Avay by marked trees, plunging through deep SAvamps, and fording or
swimming dangerous rivers. Not unfrequently, in such cases, no
food could be obtained, and the journey would have to be per
formed fasting ; and sometimes the Aveary and hungry preacher
Avould have to spend the night, as well as the day, in the dark and
cheerless solitude of the wilderness, exposed to inclement weather,
without any other covering- than the vaulted heaAens and the foli
age of the trees. Such were some of the hardships at times en-

John Reynolds. 709
dured by the subject of this sketch, as also by many others of his
brethren. Having spent part of the year under the Presiding Elder, Mr.
Eeynolds was, in 1808, recommended to the NeAV York Conference
and was received on trial.
His first appointment from the Conference was to Augusta
Circuit, Eev. Daniel Pickett having charge of the work. Here,
as on Niagara, Mr. Eeynolds was highly esteemed by the people.
He was not only a pleasant speaker and a good preacher, but as a
singer he excelled. He had a sweet voice with a slight quaver in it,
which peculiarity rather added to its pleasing effect. His melodious
singing was often more than good ; it was delightful, and had, on
many occasions, great effect and influence over his congregations.
Conviction would sometimes take hold of the sinner during the time
of singing, and lead to his conversion before the services had ter
minated. It was customary in those days for ministers to occasionally sing
the second hymn from memory. Both hymn and tune were some
times new to the people, who listened with great earnestness and
edification. Many, at times, would be moved to tears, others to
prayer, and some to shout for joy. Mr. Beynolds would not un-
frequently move his audience surprisingly in this way. Those were
the days among Methodists of singing and shouting the praises of
the King of kings.
But the stern straggles of those old heroic times were not always
relieved by hospitable kindness. The log cabins were sometimes
shut against the weary circuit-rider, when amid cold or storm and
darkness he solicited only a place beside the fire, and long miles of
dreary forests stretched aAvay between that cabin and any other human
abode. When thus repulsed at one door they went on seeking
another, and trusting in Him Avho had "not where to lay his head."
Such repulses, it must be said, were of rare occurrence; for the
early settlers were generally very hospitable to strangers, and espe
cially so to the preachers, sharing with them their last loaf, or the
last ration of fish or venison.
Mr. Beynolds Avas, from the first, a good and acceptable preacher,
always uncompromising in declaring the whole counsel of God,
41

710 Methodist Bishops.
pleasing in style, and methodical in arrangement. He was powerful
in prayer, and attractive in singing. His voice, though not strong,
was clear and distinct, and in all his religious exercises he was pecul
iarly sympathetic in manner. These characteristics were great aids,
by the divine blessing, in his success as a gospel minister. Although
great awakenings attended his ministrations, he was quite as much
a son of consolation as a proclaimer of the terrors of the law.
Many of his favorite texts were such as " Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people, saith your God."
The prayers and the singing prepared the hearts of the people
for the reception of the word, which came with power and unction,
and many an "Amen" and shout of " Glory to God in the highest,"
with glad " Hallelujahs," were to be heard from the old members,
while penitents were often heard crying for mercy. And Avhile the
preacher related some touching incident in his own experience, or in
the life or experience of some one else, the audience Avould become
greatly affected, and some old Christian would cry out at the top of his
or her voice, " Lord, send down the power ! " And then would follow
a loud chorus of aniens from a multitude of men and women. The
preacher's searching appeals and holy ardor inspired the people with
deep religious feeling, the membership reacted upon the minister, and
the Holy Spirit touched the hearts of preacher and people with
quickening power, until the whole assembly was often moved to
intense ecstatic emotion. Few who have not witnessed such religious
fervor can have the least idea of the unction and poAver whicli ac
companied the labors of the early preachers among the people of
this country. It is no wonder that multitudes sought the Lord and
united with the Church. Many who came to mock remained to pray,
while others left the place of worship affrighted or in a great rage.
But the word of the Lord grew, and multitudes were added to the
Church continually. Such were the results that frequently attended
the services conducted by Mr. Beynolds, as well as by William Losee,
Darius Dunham, Nathan Bangs, Henry Byan, William Case, Bobert
Perry, and many others who were sent to Canada by the NeAV York
and Genesee Conferences. These men had wonderful power with
God and over the people. '
In 1809 Mr. Beynolds was appointed by the New York Con-

John Reynolds. 711
ference to the Young-street Circuit. This charge extended north
from Little York, now Toronto, and embraced the region known
as Young-street, that being a large section of country lying east and
west of the road called Young-street, which is a great highway from
Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe.
On horseback was the usual method of traveling adopted by the
Methodist preachers of those days, and generally by all parties who
were fortunate enough to have horses. To attend the yearly Con
ferences the preachers have gone on horseback from their circuits in
Canada to NeAV York and even to Philadelphia. The Genesee Con
ference was organized in 1810, and all Western Canada was embraced
"within its boundaries. The formation of this Conference was a very
great advantage to the preachers traveling in this land.
The Genesee Conference of 1810 was held at Lyons, in the State
of New York. Here Mr. Eeynolds was admitted into full connection
and received deacons' orders. He was that year sent to the Smith
Creek Circuit. In 1811 he was sent, with Bev. John Bhodes, to the
Augusta Charge, where he had traveled three years previously.
The long rides, exposed to heat, cold, and wet, together with constant
preaching and singing, began to tell injuriously on his health, which
had never been vigorous from the time of his exposure on the lake.
His lungs seemed weak, and fears were entertained that they were
likely to be seriously affected. Still he continued to attend to his
duties. He was again returned to Young-street, in 1812, with Bev. Isaac
Smith. This was a year of severe afflictions to the Methodist Socie
ties in Canada. The enemies of Methodism hoped to make it appear
that because the preachers were sent into this country by the
American Bishops, that therefore the preachers and people would
be found to be disloyal to the provincial authorities. But they
failed signally in substantiating the slander. Not a single charge
of sedition was ever truthfully laid at the door of any of the min
isters from the United States. Although some of them had to
leave this country, it was not for any violation of law or order,
but because of a Eoyal proclamation commanding all United States
citizens to leave the ¦ country within a limited period of time.
Eyan, Culp, Eeynolds, and several others continued at their posts,

712 Methodist Bishops.
keeping the societies together as best they could till the peace was
declared. During the war Eev. H. Eyan stationed the preachers who re
mained in the country, and called out others to supply the places
vacated ; but, as no record of Elder Eyan's appointments has been
preserved, we cannot now trace Mr. Beynolds' work during the
war. We know, however, from concurrent testimony, that he
continued to travel, receiving his appointments from Bev. Henry
Eyan, who was Presiding Elder. All communication with the Bish
ops and Conference having been cut off by the war, Elder Eyan
changed and stationed the preachers who remained in Canada as he
thought best for the interests of the distracted circuits until the
restoration of peace enabled the Genesee Conference to make pro
vision for the Canadian circuits as before.
The hardships which Mr. Eeynolds had to endure while the war
lasted so affected his health that he ceased to travel as an itinerant
preacher about the close of the war. Having previously married
Miss Mary Gilbert, whose early home was in the vicinity of Belle-
ville, he settled down in that town ; but he always assisted in the
Avork as a local preacher so far as his health would permit. Shortly
after his location he entered into the mercantile business, in which
he accumulated a large property. His love for the Church and joy
iii its advancement never abated. He took a deep interest in the
cause of Indian missions, largely aiding them by his means, ex
perience, and sound judgment. He was a trustee of the Grape
Island Mission property, and in various ways he assisted in the efforts
being made to rescue the red men of the forest from the darkness
of paganism. The first Canada Conference was held in 1824, at Hallowell. It
was attended by Bishops George and Hedding, and Eev. John
Eeynolds was there ordained elder by Bishop George, thus proving
the confidence reposed in him by the Church and ministry.
From 1824 to 1835 Mr. Eeynolds continued his business as in
previous years, but worked for the Church in a local capacity, con
tributing of his means to support the missions, and also in sustaining
the regular work as well as preaching when his health and cir
cumstances would admit. So popular was he among the people that

John Reynolds. 713
after the Marriage Act was passed he solemnized more marriages for
many years than any other minister in or near Belleville.
He was re-admitted into the Annual Conference in 1835, and
at a special General Conference, held the same year, he was elected
a General Superintendent, and ordained by the requisite number of
elders, according to the "Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal
Church," whicli makes provision for the ordination of a Bisliop,
when, by death, expulsion, or otherwise, there is no Bishop in the
Church. After the Bishop's election and consecration he made ar
rangements for transferring his business into the hands of his
son, and again prepared to enter upon the more public duties
of the Church. At his election, however, he had made this stip
ulation with the General Conference, that he was not to be
expected to travel through the work except as his health would
allow. Having an abundance of means of his own, Bishop Beynolds
not only refused to receive any remuneration for his services, but,
on the contrary, he contributed liberally to sustain the cause, and
toward the erection of the Church at Belleville. But his largest
contributions were given for the erection of our college buildings.
Shortly after the Bishop's election and consecration it became
clearly evident that he would not be able to travel through the
work. His years of rest from itinerant labor had not repaired the
injury to his constitution wrought by his early toils and exposure,
and it was found that his health would not admit of continuous labor.
This he realized as forcibly as any of his brethren. He therefore
urged repeatedly the election of another Bishop, as he found that
he could not do more than preside at the Annual and General
Conferences, assist at some of the dedications and anniversaries
of the Connection, and perform a few other occasional labors when
able to do 60.
After much deliberation his earnest request was complied with,
and the Bev. John Alley was elected and ordained to the episcopal
office in October, 1845.
After the death of Bishop Alley, in June, 1847, and the ap
pointment of Bishop Smith to the episcopacy in the same month,

714 Methodist Bishops.
Bishop Beynolds felt himself greatly relieved, and thenceforth he
decided to require of himself only to attend the Annual and General
Conferences. This he did so long as he was able to leave his
home. Bishop Beynolds had one or two very severe attacks of illness
during the year 'in which he died, which admonished him that his
dissolution was drawing near. But he had so long lived in the en
joyment of that holiness without which no man can see the Lord,
that he could look calmly forward to the anticipated change as a
mere recall from an outpost of duty to the immediate presence of
his King and his God. While on a visit to the city of Hamilton,
not very long before his death, he became so violently ill that his
life was despaired of. He, however, was enabled to return home,
but only to tarry there for a brief period and arrange his temporal
affairs ; for he never afterward made a journey of any considerable
length. The Bishop's greatest anxiety, as he saw his end approaching,
was to live long enough to see the college successfully established.
He saw the commencement, and greatly rejoiced in the accomplish-.
ment of his desire and the prospect of the benefits which he believed
would accrue from such an educational institution to the Church and
to the country.
He set an example worthy of imitation by all, in his constant
attendance on all the ordinances of God's house whenever he was
able to leave his home. He took special delight in the class and
prayer-meeting. His last illness was only of a few hours' duration
— a brief struggle in the grasp of the last enemy. He died in great
peace at his residence in Belleville, January 17, 1857, being in the
seventy-first year of his age and the fiftieth year of his ministry.

John Alley.

JOHN ALLEY, the second Bisliop of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in Canada, was a native of Upper Canada. He was born
in the township of Haldimand, September 21, 1799. His birthplace
is now embraced within the town of Cobourg.
The country along the banks of that part of Lake Ontario was
then "a vast howling wilderness," excepting only occasional settle
ments, where a few isolated families had located themselves along the
margin of the beautiful lake. But far as these had separated
themselves from the centers of civilization, wild and even dangerous
as were the dense forests that intervened between them and the set
tlements along the Bay of Quinte, rude and primitive as were their
surroundings, they were not left very long unvisited by the messengers
of salvation. As we glance now upon that fair landscape, dotted with
churches, literary institutions, and stately mansions, and contrast it in
mind with what it was on the day in which a solitary horseman emerged
from the woods, and alighting, presented himself at the door of a log-
cabin, with his saddle-bags on his arm, requested admittance, and while
enjoying the hospitality of his hosts, entreated them to open their
hearts to the benign influences of the Gospel of peace, we exclaim :
Do we not see in that solitary horseman, and in those who followed in
his footsteps, chief factors in the great changes which have here been
wrought ? Surely, our country owes much to the Methodist preachers
who came in here from the United States, hunting up the lost sheep
in the wilderness.
The Alley family were among those who enjoyed the ministrations
of these men of God ; heard them proclaim the necessity of " repent
ance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," and
learned of them to aspire to " the blessedness of saints on earth, and
then the joys of heaven."
These visitations and heavenly hopes were the golden gleams that

716 Methodist Bishops.
illumined many a life of toil and priAration among the early settlers of
Canada. And perhaps in no part of the country did the disagreeable
concomitants of bush-life press more heavily than along the borders
of Lake Ontario. And the Alley family were not exempt from the
hardships and dangers which were the common lot of the early inhab
itants of this colony during the latter part of the last century. But
the determination to succeed in making homes for themselves and their
families nerved them to brave danger and disregard toil. Persons
whose homes were distant from Niagara, York, (now Toronto,) Kings
ton, or Prescott, were often unable to obtain supplies even when they
had the means to pay for them. And it sometimes happened that
when the husband and father was obliged to leave the family unpro
tected, they were exposed to alarms and even danger from the Indians
and wild beasts.
The unavoidable absence of the men would sometimes compel the
women and children to go out into the woods in search of something
wherewith to appease the cravings of hunger ; or, the cows not hav
ing come home, a mother or one of her children was obliged to roam
about through the dreary recesses of the forest, seeking them.
When a small lad, John Alley, the subject of this imperfect sketch,
was sent into the woods to hunt the cattle. Being unsuccessful in his
search, he had gone far into the woods when a slight noise, which the
quickness of hearing developed by living amid the dangers of bush-
life enabled him to detect, attracted his attention. Peering anxiously
about him, he discovered a large wolf creeping stealthily toward him.
He saw at once-ihat to save himself by climbing a tree was impossible.
The wolf Avas too near. To run would be equally vain, and only give
his cowardly assailant the opportunity to seize him from behind, drag
him doAvn, and tear him to pieces. The brave boy preferred to face
the danger. Seizing a dry club that fortunately lay beside him, and
breathing a silent prayer to God for help, he placed himself against a
large tree that stood near. The ferocious beast, seeing by the boy's
movement that it was discovered, rushed forward with glaring eyes
and gnashing jaws. The courageous boy, with his eyes fixed upon
his fierce foe, and with upraised club, stood immovable as the tree.
Just as the wolf seemed ready to pounce, the lad, without suffering
his fixed gaze to waver in the least, uttered a succession of screams,

John Alley. 717
terrific almost as the animal's own midnight howls. The wolf halted
for an instant, watching the attitude of his intended prey, then wheel
ing, ran away, and was soon concealed from sight among the thick
bushes. This was, indeed, a providential deliverance, and through life Mr.
Alley so regarded it, and was accustomed to speak of it as such. Had
the wolf approached at his back, or on either hand, he might have
been torn to pieces, and devoured in a few moments. But in his case
God's promise was graciously fulfilled, " And the fear of you, and the
dread of you, shall be on every beast of the field."
It is a matter of much regret that so little is known respecting the
early part of Mr. Alley's life. We have ho means of tracing him
after he left Canada, in his boyhood, until he entered the ministry.
The family removed from Canada in 1811 or 1812, and settled in
the State of New York. At that time John, the subject of this
sketch, was about twelve or thirteen years of age.
What influence the visits of the early preachers had upon the
youth of John Alley, before or after his father removed from Canada
to the United States, can now be only inferred from the deep rever
ence with whicli he was wont to speak of these holy men. Nor can
we ascertain the period when he gave his heart to God and united
with the Church. These things the writer of this notice has been
unable to learn, although he has made diligent search in every proba
ble direction available.
We learn from the Minutes that John Alley united with the New
York Conference in 1830, and Avas appointed to the Ghent Circuit,
where he labored during the years 1830 and 1831.
When the Troy Conference was formed, Mr. Alley fell into that
Conference, and was ordained deacon in 1833, and elder in 1835. In
1832 he was sent to Leicester charge, in 1833 to Wallingford, in 1834
to Granville, 1835-36 to Dalton, in 1837-38 to Nassau, in 1839 to
Lansingburgh, in 1840 to Poultney, and in 1841 to Pittsford. In 1842
he was transferred to the 'Black Biver Conference, and filled that year
the work at Evans' Mills. In 1843 he was stationed at Borne, and in
1844-45 at Oswego.
Mr. Alley visited Canada in 1843 in relation to some matters of pri
vate business. While here, feeling a deep interest in the Methodism of

718 Methodist Bishops.
his native land, he associated freely with the Methodist people, noting
carefully and reflectively all that he saw and heard. Finding the Meth
odist Episcopal Church in Canada in nearly every respect identical with
his own, even to the use of the same hymn book, he felt himseK very
much at home while worshiping with us. He also preached in our
pulpits as opportunity offered, edifying the people and winning golden
opinions for himself.
Not long after his return a correspondence was commenced with
him by some of the Canadian preachers. One of these was Bishop
Beynolds. The result was, that Mr. Alley was invited to come to
Canada, and accept the office of General Superintendent in our con
nection. After consulting leading brethren in his own Church, he
consented to accept the invitation. With the consent of the proper
authorities in his own Church, Mr. Alley agreed to resign his charge
in Oswego, if elected to the office of Bishop in the Methodist Epis
copal Church in Canada.
A special General Conference was called according to the provisions
of the Discipline. This body met near Port Hope, October 31, 1845.
The General Conference having been duly organized, and having
attended to certain preliminary matters, proceeded to the election of a
Bishop, and Bev. John Alley was unanimously elected. On Sabbath,
November 1, 1845, he was ordained to his sacred office by Bishop
Beynolds, assisted by several elders. The action of the General Con
ference in the election of Bishop Alley gave the highest degree of
satisfaction to the ministry and membership throughout the Church.
Bishop Alley returned immediately to Oswego to arrange his affairs
there, and to make preparations for his removal to Canada.
He commenced his episcopal labors in a few weeks with the most
gratifying prospects of success. Wherever lie went the people received
him Avith delight, and in nearly everj place where circumstances were
at all favorable, crowds flocked out to hear him. During the entire
Avinter of 1845-46, Avith very slight interruptions, the Bishop continued
on the Aving— or, rather, on runners. Now preaching to large and
wealthy congregations in the towns, or rich old settlements, then mak
ing his way back to some of our outlying charges to cheer and encour
age the hard-worked missionary and the poor people amid their priva
tions. Sometimes losing his way, and wandering about in wrong

John Alley. 719
directions till obliged to crave the hospitality of some lone settler whose
habitation he was fortunate enough to find when the night was far
spent. The f ollowing brief notice of his labors at this time is extracted
from the " Genesee Evangelist : " " Bev. John Alley, lately appointed
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, we learn from
several sources is fairly in the field of his usefulness, flying like an
angel through the length and breadth of his work, comforting and
blessing the Church over which he is placed. With the blessing of
God, great benefit may result from this appointment."
Near the close of this winter an accident befell him, to which not a
few of his friends have attributed very serious results. It was this.
At one of his appointments he was standing for a moment outside the
church, when an unmanageable horse ran against him, throwing him
to the earth upon his right side, and severely bruising the right thigh.
From this injury, however, he appeared at the time to recover
speedily. In the spring of 1846 Bishop Alley visited five of the Annual
Conferences in the parent connection in the United States. Toward
the last of June he returned to Oswego, and packed up a large quan
tity of books and some other goods that he had yet in that place, and
shipped them for Hamilton, Canada West.
The weather was exceedingly warm. His exertions during the day,
walking about through the dust and heat attending to the packing and
shipping of his goods, left him at night feeling weary and exceedingly
uncomfortable. To relieve and refresh himself he very imprudently
immersed his feet and limbs up to and above the knees in cold water.
He felt ill that same evening, as though he had taken a severe cold,
but did not allow his illness to prevent him from carrying out his pre
vious purpose of proceeding at once to Canada. On the journey
he became worse, his limbs aching as though he had an attack of
rheumatism. During the month of July his suffering increased, a pain located
above the right knee having become intense. His ardent zeal in the
Master's cause, however, triumphed so far over physical pain that he
still preached occasionally. In August he attended and presided over
the Niagara Conference, held that year on Young-street. On Sab
bath he ordained both the deacons and the elders, Bishop Beynolds

720 Methodist Bishops.
having been prevented from being present. But these exertions, while
enduring such violent bodily distress, so completely exhausted him
that he had to be carried in a chair from the carriage that conveyed
him to the house in which he was a guest. Yet the next morning he
was again in the chair, and presided with his usual composure and
dignity, but without any improvement in his physical condition. The
Conference and the membership sympathized deeply with him in his
afflictions, and all that kindness could do was done by them and by
his physicians to alleviate his sufferings, but in vain. Some of his
physicians advised the amputation of the limb above the seat of
the pain, but the Bishop could not be persuaded to believe that
necessary. . He went to Belleville, where the Bay of Quinte Conference was to
meet in September, hoping that a few days' rest would restore him to
a sufficient degree of strength to enable him to perform his duties at
the Conference. But in this he was disappointed. When the Con
ference met, Bisliop Beynolds had to preside. During the entire ses
sion Bishop Alley was confined to his room, the victim of the most
excruciating pain.
Shortly after the close of the Bay of Quinte Conference, Bishop
Alley was walking from his sleeping apartment into his si-tting-room,
Avhen his foot caught under the edge of the carpet ; he tripped and
fell to the floor. It was then found that the bone at the point where
the agonizing pain had been so long located had become carious, and
had noAV separated.
He consulted an eminent doctor in Albany, in addition to his attend
ant physicians in Belleville. They all agreed that there was no hope
of preserving his life unless he would consent to the amputation of the
limb above the highest point to which the disease extended. By this
time symptoms appeared Avhich were regarded by himself and some
of his friends as indicating that the bones had commenced to re-unite,
and hope, ever delusive, again beguiled him into refusing to part with
the diseased member. During the continuance of the apparent
improvement which occurred at this time, he caused himself to be
removed to his home in Hamilton, going by steamer down the Bay of
Quinte, and up Lake Ontario to it's western extremity. On the journey
the Bishop was quite hopeful that the disease had been overcome, and

John Alley. 721
that his full recovery was only a question of time and care, and he
rejoiced in the anticipation of being again restored to active usefulness
in the cause of Christ. But his hopes were not to be realized, the
seeming improvement, was but a pause in the disease, which soon re-as
serted itself Avith increased violence. The winter and spring of 1847
were spent by the Bishop in such a condition of extreme suffering as
only the grace of God and the consciousness of his love can make
endurable with patience. Finally, the powers of his constitution
having become exhausted, on June 5, 1847,- he passed from suffering
to rest and enjoyment, having died in the triumphs of the faith he
so faithfully preached to others. He lies buried in a beautiful little
cemetery near Wellington Square, there to rest till the resurrection of
the just. A plain white marble tombstone, erected by his brethren of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and bearing only his name, dates
of his birth, death, etc., and a simple inscription, marks his resting-
place. Many of the Bishop's friends regretted that he had not submitted
to the judgment of his medical advisers with regard to the removal
of the limb, thinking, if he had done so, he might have lived many
years to bless the Church with his labors and his counsels. But it is
doubtful whether even the amputation of the diseased limb would
haA^e saved his valuable life at so advanced a stage of the disease as
that at which it was urged upon him.
The Bishop bore his extremely painful afflictions with the most
exemplary patience and gentleness, alAArays exercising thoughtful
consideration for his attendants, ever calmly resigned to the will of
God, and in the moments of the intensest agony able to say, "Even
so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." He was anxious to
have been engaged in his Avork in the wide field of usefulness spread
out before him in Canada, but the Master called him just then to
suffer, not to do ; and though he had wished rather to do, he was
resigned to suffer the Divine will, and could, in the midst of the fur
nace, rejoice in the " God and rock of his salvation."
Bishop Alley Avas a man of extended and liberal views, an able and
effective preacher, and a faithful worker in the Lord's vineyard. He
was intent upon his Master's business, and very industrious in every
department of the Church. He wrote largely for the press, both in

722 Methodist Bishops.
the United States and Canada, during his connection with the Church
in this country.
He was prepossessing in appearance, and distinguished by a mien
at once gracious and dignified. In person he was tall and straight,
somewhat dark in complexion, with abundant masses of dark hair, and
an eye like an eagle's.
Why he was so early removed from his episcopal labors seemed a
great mystery to his brethren and friends, but what we know not
now, we shall know hereafter.

¦ s

REV PHILANDER SMITH.

Philander Smith.

BY BISHOP ALBERT CABMAN, D.D

THIS Western World, in its freedom, manifests many new phases
of human life and presents many new aspects of human charac
ter. The limited territories and diverse tongues of the nations
of Europe restrict within a narrow compass the influences that bear
upon the growing man ; but here, the mingling of races, the ease
of intercourse, the broad domain, the enlarging prospects, the multi
form philosophies and religions, and all under one speech — "the
grand old Saxon tongue " — form a spirit and develop a man peculiar
to our own circumstances and times. Though the true man is by
no means the mere creature of circumstances, but their careful ob
server and director, yet certainly no one hath taken his present mold
of feeling and habit, or formed his line of thought and activity,
wholly independent of his relations to men and things, that is, of
his circumstances. In studying, then, the life and character of actors
in human scenes, we must faithfully observe the mental, social, and
moral forces that have borne strongly on them, and had much to do
in directing their course and shaping their destiny.
Of these general observations we have, likely, no better exemplifi
cation than the career and achievements of the pioneer Bishops of
Methodism on this continent. They combined in themselves numer
ous and diverse elements of power. Educated under the arousing
influences of their times, they gathered and directed the stupendous
moral and spiritual forces of the age with amazing strength and pre
cision. It was the power from above and the eye single to the
glory of God and the good of men. Born in Europe, trained amid
its venerable institutions and ancient civilizations, they caught their
inspiration in America. Or, born in the United States, flushed with
the hope and the ardor of the young Bepublic, they strengthened
into manhood under the robust polity and institutions of Britain trans
planted to Canada. In either case theirs was a noble inspiration. It

726 Methodist Bishops.
was a grand opportunity for a holy man, fired with the zeal of the
apostles, to have before him an entire continent open to Christian
enterprise, a vast domain to be conquered for Christ. Surely such a
prospect would have stirred the spirit of Paul. It was bright and
hopeful and full of divine promise, as when the Macedonian portals
were lifted to invite the restless apostle to push on with the proclama
tion of the word of life from the swarming millions of Asia to
the mighty nations of Europe : to Athens, in her philosophic re
finement, and Bome, in her imperial splendor. Not settled upon a
small diocese, nor restricted to a perfunctory routine, these pioneering
Bishops kept their squadron of evangelists abreast the columns of
immigration and settlement, so that the ring of the ax and the
crash of falling forests were mingled with the denunciations of sin,
the invitations of mercy, and the song and the shout of the sturdy
worshipers. They were not hemmed in by national lines ; they
were not restrained in their efforts by political sympathies ; but they
believed the Gospel to be designed for all men, and the commission
to preach it to be, " Go into all the world." The great Proprietor,
the universal Lord, had given the authority and set to his seal, and
how could any man, even any earthly king, fix bounds or interfere ?
Their noble zeal supplied the short and effective argument : men
every-where are exposed to ruin, yet they are immortal. God offers
pardon, peace, salvation, heaven.
"Salvation! O, salvation!
The joyful sound proclaim,
Till earth's remotest nation
Has learned Messiah's name."
It was of this spirit and by such men that the Methodist Episco
pal Church was planted in Canada. In 1790, six years after the close
of the Bevolutionary War and the ratification of peace, Bishop Asbury
sent William Losee as missionary into Canada. Two years after
he sent with him Darius Dunham. In 1802 Nathan Bangs, of
the New York Conference, who had removed to Canada in 1799 and
had been converted soon after, accompanied by Pickett and Anson,
traveled the region about the Bay of Quinte and Lake Ontario. It
was under the labors of Bangs, in 1803, that John Beynolds, after
ward a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, was

Philander Smith. 727
converted, and, by the New York Conference, was admitted on trial
in 1808. Thus the national lines made no difference whatever in
the ecclesiastical operations. The Canadian work was under the
jurisdiction of the New York Conference till 1812, in which year
it was placed in the care and control of the Genesee Conference.
During all these years such men as Bangs, Luckey, Whitehead, and
Gatchell traveled indifferently, according to their appointments, in
one country or the other. In 1817 the Genesee Conference held its
session in Elizabethtown, Upper Canada, under the presidency of
Bishop George. In 1820 the same Conference, with the same Bishop
presiding, sat at Lundy's Lane ; and again, in 1824, at Hallowell, now
Picton. A glorious revival attended the session at Elizabethtown, in
1817, during which Philander Smith, the subject of this sketch, was
converted. He was born at Blenheim, Schoharie County, in the State of
New York, April 27, 1796. His parents were of the pure English
stock of New England, of Puritan descent, members of the Presby
terian Church, and very strongly Calvinistic in their religious faith.
They were decidedly opposed to Methodism, and urged the family
to shun the Methodists, as they believed them to be influenced in
their shouting and excitement by demoniacal power. While Philan
der was yet a mere lad the family removed to Harpersfield, Delaware
County, in the same State. Here he enjoyed the advantages of a
school, and learned the trade of harness-making, which he sometimes
employed to advantage in subsequent life. At the close of the war,
in 1815, he decided to try his fortune in Canada. Faithfully warned
by his sincere parents to " shun the Methodists," and particularly to
" avoid their ranting meetings," he took up his abode in Elizabeth-
town, near Brockville, two years before that eventful Annual Con
ference at which he was converted to God. Settled in Canada, in
Canada he remained, and was loyally faithful to her interests, her
people, and her government till his death ; wherefore he used often
to say, with that humor that was a prominent characteristic of his
pleasant life, when he would hear native-born Canadians boasting
of their loyalty, " These men deserve no great credit ; they are
Canadians because they could not help themselves. I am one of my
own choice." 42

728 Methodist Bishops.
On his settlement in Canada he found that the disturbers of New
York had come hither also. Not able to get a place of alighting
without coming in contact with these people, he at length became
reconciled to take up his home in a Methodist family. Their domes
tic devotions were earnest and quiet, reading the same Bible he had
always heard, and offering sincere prayer to Almighty God. He ob
served for awhile, and then began to think that the Methodists of
Canada were not like those of New York. As there were no other
public religious services in the neighborhood, and being warmly invited
by his host, he reluctantly consented to attend upon the preaching
of the Methodist ministry, which he did at first very cautiously. And
here, whether his prejudices had died out through seeing for him
self, or he had become personally more interested, his previous convic
tion was strengthened that he had met a different people from those
against whom his parents had warned him. SomeAA'hat in this frame
of mind Bishop George and the Conference of 1817 found him.
Webster, in his " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in
Canada," says:
An Annual Conference in Canada was a new and strange thing indeed. It
was, in fact, an epoch in the history of the Province. Anxiously the people
awaited the day of its commencement, anticipating with delight the pleasure
to he derived from a visit of the Bishop and the other American preachers whom
they had never before seen. And many and earnest were the petitions offered
up in faith by the people of God, that he would be pleased to pour out his
Spirit, not only upou the Conference and themselves, but also on such as might,
from mere motives of curiosity, come to see and hear. Some, more earnest
even than the others, singled out particular individuals of their acquaintance,
and made them especial subjects of prayer for some time previous to the sitting
of the Conference. Among those who had been specially named in these ex
ercises was a young man formerly from Delaware County. New York, but then
residing not far from Elizabethtown. He had attended the Methodist meetings
a few times before the Conference met, and being desirous of gaining all the
information he could concerning these strange people, influenced no doubt by
the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer on his behalf, he attended the meetings
held in connection Avith it; and before its close the word had taken such a hold
upon his mind that he then and there sought and experienced a change of heart.
He at once cast in his lot with the once despised Methodists, and has since
devoted a long and honorable life to the promotion of the interests and advance
ment of his Master's kingdom. He became himself a Methodist preacher, and

Philander Smith. 729
was admitted into the Genesee Conference at the session held in 1820, at Lundy's
Lane, having been employed by the Presiding Elder the previous year. . . .
The Elizabethtown Conference is memorable as a spiritual birthplace, not only
to Bishop Smith, but to many others still living in the country. The religious
services on the Sabbath commenced at eight o'clock in the morning, and lasted,
with but little intermission, till eight at night. There were rive sermons
preached besides the exhortations given. Bishop George delivered a powerful
discourse, and it is estimated that over one hundred souls were awakened and
led to seek salvation at this Conference, or immediately after its close.
The reformation spirit here kindled was not confined to Elizabethtown
alone, but was carried by the preachers to their respective circuits. Hallowell,
Bay of Quinte, and Niagara shared largely in the revival influences. So wide
spread, indeed, was this revival, that, despite the interference of the English mis
sionaries, and the opposition of the executive,* influenced as it was by High-
Churchmen and the Family Compact, an increase of 1,624 members was re
ported at the Conference of 1818. In few countries did Methodism spread so
'rapidly or take so deep root among the people as it did in Upper Canada prior
to the coming of the English missionaries. Up to this time the people were
united, and the work of evangelization made almost miraculous progress. After
this there were dissension and strife, and a corresponding declension in the
progress of the Gospel.
Smith was ordained deacon in 1822, and elder at the Conference
at Hallowell in 1824, in which body Bishops George and Hedding
presided alternately, and performed the ordinations. The presence
of these two men at this Conference — now called the Canada Confer
ence — was but another evidence of the unabated interest of the Meth
odists of the United States in their brethren in Canada. In previous
years, on political and personal grounds, there had been much agita
tion in the Societies to effect an entire separation from the jurisdic
tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Family Compact and
High-Church party, then dominant in the country, had succeeded in
keeping from the Methodists the right to solemnize matrimony or
hold land on which to build their churches or bury their dead. The
plea for these disabilities was the imputation of disloyalty, cast upon
men Avhose very loyalty was the occasion of their settlement in
Canada. But it was a cry raised against good men for selfish pur
poses, and was steadily persevered in, not only till it had effected the
modification of relationship, in 1824, but also the complete separation
of the bodies, in 1828. By interested parties it was made to contrib-

730 Methodist Bishops.
ute to the overthrow of the episcopacy in 1833, to the union of the
majority of the Methodists of the Province with the British Wesley-
ans, and to the momentum of the repeated attempts to crush out the
minority that firmly held to the episcopal polity and order. Delega
tions from Canada appeared at the General Conference in Baltimore,
in 1824, the one regularly constituted praying for a distinct Canada
Conference, in proper relation to the General Conference ; the other,
irregularly appointed, praying for a complete separation. The former
prayer was granted by the General Conference in these resolutions :
That there shall be a Canada Conference under our superintendency, bounded
by the boundary lines of Upper Canada. That a circular shall be addressed to
our preachers and members included within the bounds of the Canada Confer
ence, expressive of our zeal for their prosperity, and urging the importance of
their maintaining union among themselves. That a respectful representation
be made to the British Conference of those points in the late agreement between
the two Connections which have not, on their part, been fulfilled.
The better to learn the minds of the people, and establish this
Conference, Bishop George entered the Province at the east and
traveled westward to Hallowell, while Bishop Hedding, accompanied
by Dr. Bangs, crossed at Niagara and moved eastward to meet his
associate and counselor at the seat of Conference. Surely these were
measures of a parental solicitude, and manifested a spirit that, had
it not been for the unseemly and peculiar political strifes in the
Province, and the personal rivalries in the Churches, would likely have
preserved on this continent to this day, according to the desire and
plan of Mr. Wesley, one undivided Episcopal Methodism.
The year of his ordination as elder the subject of our narrative
was appointed preacher in charge of Hallowell Circuit. In 1826 he
was made Presiding Elder of the Augusta District, having as his asso
ciates in that office in the Province Thomas Madden and William Case.
In 1828 his associates were the brothers John and William Byerson.
This was the year of the separation of the Canada Conference from
the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, and the organ
ization, under Bishop Hedding's direction and the action of the
General Conference, of a separate and distinct Methodist Episcopal
Church in Canada. This body then proceeded to the election of its
Bishop, which was fully accomplished. But from the unwillingness

Philander Smith. 731
to take a man of their own, and their inability to obtain a man from
the States, there was no acceptance of the office, and, consequently,
no ordination. Had certain uneasy spirits then been propitiated, or
had the Bishops elect residing in the States accepted, there is no
likelihood that the union with the British Conference would ever
have been a matter of history. But the elections failing to secure a
Bishop, and the union of 1833 being proposed, under the political
pressure of the times and the cry of disloyalty hurled at the Episcopal
Methodists because their organization had come from the United
States — especially as it was offered under the promise of a liberal
grant of money — it was eagerly embraced and earnestly advocated by
many of the members of Conference. It was as earnestly opposed by
some of the older and more prudent men, who were utterly unwilling
to relinquish episcopacy and abandon their polity for all the promised
advantages of the union. Such men were Philander Smith, Franklin
Metcalfe, James Eichardson, and others that might be named. They
opposed the measure — precipitated as it was by the Conference, even
without submission to the people for consideration, or to the Quarterly
Conferences for their action, according to the constitution — through
evTery stage of its progress. But when it came to the final vote, and
the choice lay between concurrence with the union and a divided
Church, for the sake of a united people and peace, they voted yea.
Before long they all saAV reason to regret this action. Metcalfe
virtually retired from the ministry. Smith and Eichardson withdrew
from the Conference in 1836, and in 1837 rejoined the Methodist
Episcopal Church in Canada — but a fragment, indeed, of the former
body, and a poor representation of her former strength, but composed
of laymen whose ecclesiastical rights had been violated, and whose
preferences for the episcopacy were decided, and of ministers in
good standing and full orders, and therefore competent to carry the
polity over the chasm and bear it through the storm.
Philander Smith was elected and duly consecrated to the episcopal
office at the General Conference held at Brighton in June, 1847. He
thus became the third occupant of this exalted place in the Methodist
Episcopal Church in Canada, having been preceded by Beynolds and
Alley, as Case was never elected with a design to his filling the
bishopric, and Fisk, Bangs, and Stratton declined the election. To

732 Methodist Bishops.
the duties of this office he devoted the energies of a long and conse
crated life, and died at Brooklin, Ontario, March 28, 1870, in the
seventy-fourth year of his age, and the twenty-third of his episcopate,
full of labors and ripe for his reward. It fell to his lot to bear the
burdens of this office under circumstances involving both severe toil
and continual reproach. We may, perhaps, safely say that Canada
has been peculiarly the suffering ground of Episcopal Methodism;
that is, the ground on which men have suffered much simply because
they were Episcopal Methodists. In solemn conviction of duty they
adhered to their principles and maintained this polity, when wealth
and power, in Church and State, were bound to crush them. Their
principles were entire separation of Church and State in their political
and civil relations and functions, and the maintenance of the Christian
ministry by the voluntary contributions of the people. They had
also the misfortune and the disgrace to have sprung from the Meth
odist Episcopal Church in the United States, and to bear a similarity
of name and constitution. To the prejudiced and narrow-minded, of
course no good could come out of Nazareth ; and, strange to say,
many that were most assiduous in seeking the friendship of the
Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States were the most
violent and unscrupulous in their attacks upon it in Canada. Its
very existence in the Province was a protest against measures and
principles that are at war with the liberties and happiness of the
people. One can readily see, then, that it would be rudely assailed,
and that the men who would commit themselves to its leadership
would become targets for the thick-flying shafts of hatred and scorn.
And this is precisely what Bishop Smith and those who acted with
him experienced. They bore a heaA-y burden when they bore it
largely alone, and fought a severe battle when obloquy and opposi
tion made up the most of their reward. But many of them lived to
see the triumph of their principles and the general recognition of
their worth, and to pass years of a serene age in the light and peace
of a liberty that their firm stand and bold contention had secured for
all the people.
In person Bishop Smith was of good height and a graceful bear
ing. As a speaker he was easy, pleasant, and copious. He had a
keen, discriminating judgment, and was a profound theologian. In

Philander Smith. 733
explaining the nice distinctions of Christian doctrine he was a master,
and as an expository preacher was not, probably, surpassed in his time.
His forte in the pulpit was to reason of righteousness, justification,
redemption, and the judgment to come. Yet he could well make the
impassioned appeal. His ministry was throughout very successful
and blessed of God, as he ever declared the truth with unction.
In social life the Bishop was every-where beloved. There was
always a play of pleasantry in his conversation and a freedom in his
manner that made him accessible to all, and coming nigh him you
found a safe counselor and true friend. The smile was not all upon
the countenance ; the radiance beamed forth from the intellect "and
shone out from the heart. He was ever heartily welcomed to the
homes of his people through all the land ; and many of the most
pleasant memories of the aged disciples in the Church to-day are of the
genial and pious visits of the venerated man of God. In his youth
sprightly and engaging, in his manhood vigorous and prudent, in his
age cheerful, venerable, and kind, his words are yet the joy of many
a heart and his example the light of many a life.
As an administrator of discipline his wisdom and skill were mani
fest in all the gradations of the ministry he occupied. The faithful
preacher, the successful presiding elder, he graduated into the ef
fective bishop. None of his contemporaries were better versed in
Methodist usages and discipline. From his conversion they were his
study, and, next to Holy Writ, his delight. He found in them the
simplicity, the majesty, and the power that the ordinary mind may un
derstand, but that only the mightiest mind and the humblest heart can
adopt and apply in their full force and effect. Here is an unostenta
tious yet expansive polity, a quiet yet energetic life, that can unfold
itself in a class of twelve, or hold together and urge onward a Church
of millions in all its agencies of pulpit and school and mission and
press throughout the world. He caught the spirit of this polity and
discipline. He apprehended its genius and true intent, and admin
istered it in love. Herein he had the heart of a true Bishop — the
primitive, scriptural episcopos. His Conference decisions were the
utterances of a father, and not the proclamations of a magistrate.
Given with calmness and deliberation, they were accepted without
question or appeal. He was a guileless man. Lie knew naught of the

734 Methodist Bishops.
authoritative or dictatorial. If he erred it was on the side of modesty
and retirement. Yet he nobly filled up his day of usefulness, and
accomplished grandly his work. He bravely met all opposition,
meekly bore all burdens, and has sweetly gone to rest. We look
upon such a career and upon such a termination of it, as we do upon
the track of the setting sun. It is the luster of the evening that shall
be brighter in the dew of the morning.

James Richardson.

THE lives of some men are the chronicles of their times ; their
biography is the history of their people. Leaders in thought
and word and deed, the masses think but with their minds, and de
cide but with their will. The masses but add momentum to the
moral, social, and spiritual forces that spring in their hearts and in
tensify their life. A faithful life of Francis Asbury is the review
of the rise and early progress of Methodism on this continent ; and a
statement of the career of the Anglican Bishop Strachan, of Toronto,
would unfold in detail the misrule of the Family Compact in Canada,
terminating in the rebellion of 1837, the great contest in the same
Province to establish a State Church, and the political causes that
worked the separation of the Methodists of Canada from those of the
United States, and that subsequently brought in divisions and a
perpetual strife among that otherwise happy and prosperous people.
In all these the life of a prominent man is a history of the time.
And it is particularly at the beginning of national life, or at crit
ical turns of events, when a few imperial minds direct the course of
affairs, that it is possible so to view all through the activities of one.
When society has advanced to wealth and intelligence, and become
settled in its ways, the work of government is done on the principles
of the division of labor, and the powers and efforts of even the
mightiest men are restricted within a narrower compass. At the
start one man has to do with all and possibly does all. A description
of his career is, then, all the history you need. But subsequently to
find a man foremost in a department of- public life and molding its
institutions, is as much as we dare expect. Yet, in all stages of
social progress, regal minds will rule. While living, they breathe
their spirit into the institutions of their land ; when dead, those
institutions preserve their memory and declare their worth. The
parliaments, courts, and cabinets are yet demanding the ability of the

736 Methodist Bishops.
statesman, the wisdom of the legislator, the eloquence of the adAro-
cate, and the sagacity of the judge. The Churches and the schools
are still requiring, yea, more than ever requiring, the profundity of the
theologian, the breadth of the scholar, and the grasp and clearness of
statement of the experienced instructor. The great commercial enter
prises are pressing more earnestly than ever for the boldness and
energy of the projector and the prudence and skill of the banker.
Yet, for strength of the individual man and nobility of the individual
character we must recur to the earlier generations, when there was
an aristocracy of strength and courage ; when one man was philos
opher, ruler, judge, prophet, and priest for a whole people, and led
them Avhither he would.
To such a time in the history of Canada belonged James Eichard
son. A detailed account of his life would bring us into contact with
the most important events in the growth of the country from the
earliest date to this hour. He was born with the Province in the
establishment of its Constitution in 1791, and he died but yesterday.
In 1791 the Constitutional Act was passed by the British Parlia
ment, erecting Canada into a colony under the Crown, placing the
government in the hands of a Governor and Council, and setting
apart one seventh of the entire lands of the Province for the main
tenance of the Protestant religion. These were what were called the
Clergy Beserves ; and this provision of the Constitution furnished
the occasion of the most violent and lasting contentions in the colony ;
the bishops and clergy of the Church of England claiming that they
were the Protestant clergy, and the only Protestant clergy intended
in the charter. At such a juncture was Eichardson born, and amid
such scenes and ideas was he nurtured into manhood. And in subse
quent years he was one of the most active opposers of the union of
Church and State, and one of the ablest and most persevering advo
cates of the secularization of the Beserves and the devotion of their
proceeds to the education of all the people.
These conflicts settled his conviction and determined his course.
He could never look with the least degree of allowance on any ten
dency of the Church to seek or even to receive public aid from the
State. A free Church in a free State was the regulating opinion of
his life in all these relations. Uncompromising voluntaryism, the

James Richardson. 737
support of the Gospel by the voluntary contributions of the people,
became a part of his mental texture, of his immovable principle and
every-day thought ; so that nothing would sooner start his indigna
tion, or bring the flash to his eye, than any proposition looking toward
an abandonment or even a modification of it.
In person Dr. Eichardson was of medium height, but robust
of limb and compact in build. Symmetrical in form and vigorous
in moA-ement, he was a man of strong constitution, and of immense
powers of physical endurance. Storms and cold he feared not ; but
even in advanced age Avould put to the blush young and healthy men,
by cheerfully encountering severities of Aveather they had no disposi
tion to face. Ahvays simple in his habits, and using only a plain, sub
stantial diet, he maintained a wonderful vitality to the very last. We
may observe, in passing, there is considerable human nature even in
bishops. It Avas a pleasure to him to rise by starlight on a brisk October
morning, and in the open air to break through the ice of a tub' at the
corner of his house, and wash himself well with the freezing water.
Fresh air, cleanliness, and light were his medicines. In public and in
private he uttered many a protest against the closed rooms and dark
ened windoAvs of our modern homes. He was ever at war with the
tight box stove, and declared that people dried themselves out like
mummies, and roasted themseh^es to death. " Why," said he " they
shut out light and air as though they were their greatest enemies."
His OAvn bright drawing-room at home was ever a model of .comfort
and cheer, Avith its large open windows, and in the winter its blazing
hearth. In his sailor-boy life he learned to love this freedom and
cheer ; and this sailor-boy joy kept radiance in his heart and home and
Avorks through all his days. Indeed, he had many qualities of mind
and heart, as well as his vigor of body, for Avhich credit might be given
to the effect of the splendid discipline of his youth in the English
navy upon a moral and intellectual fiber of the first order. A com
manding presence, a soldierly bearing, a coolness in difficulty or danger,
an admirable generalship, a polished gentility of manners, and the
keenest imaginable sense of personal honor, showed a noble nature
well Avrought for life's great crises and trials. But with these charac
teristics we shall have more to do.

738 Methodist Bishops.
James Eichardson was born at Kingston, Canada, Jan. 29, 1791,
and there he passed his childhood. His father was an enthusiastic
sailor, and had served under Admiral Eodney in his splendid exploits
on the high seas. The rehearsal of such experiences might well fire
a nature less susceptible than his son's. In this we have a satisfactory
explanation of two prominent features of the life and character of
the deceased Bishop : in his youth he was excessively fond of sailing ;
and he was ever devotedly attached in principle and affection to the
British Crown.
On the establishment of peace, in 1784, the elder Eichardson came
to Quebec, where he received an appointment in the king's service on
the lakes and rivers. This brought him to Kingston, where James,
of whom we write, was born. As at once the fort and the arsenal at
the foot of Lake Ontario, and at the head of the St. Lawrence, it was
then a point of great strategetic importance, and the center of naval
and military operations on and along the inland waters. Here, amid
sailors "and soldiers, fortifications and docks, barracks and men of war,
young Eichardson passed his childhood, and naturally enough caught
the spirit of the men who were ever in his eye, and the object of his
constant admiration. The opportunities of a fair English education
were, as in all British military posts, at hand ; and were well improved
in acquisitions that were immensely valuable to him and to the Church
in later years. lie used to say there was nothing noticeable during
this period of his life, except that he caused his parents much annoy
ance, and himself many sore chastisements, by his inveterate pro
pensity to dabble in the Avater and sail about in boats. But evi
dently a lover of nature, and susceptible of her charms, he was
drinking in pleasure, and gathering strength of which he was scarcely
conscious ; for, to his latest day, it Avas to him a joy, either in fact or
in imagination, to linger about the bays, and islands, and along the
shores where the happy hours of childhood Avere spent. And when
those scenes and associations became hallowed in his memory by the
activities of his youth and the struggles of his manhood — when they
thus became part and parcel of the history of his rising country — in
this aspect he dwelt on them with rapture, and recounted the advent
ures of earlier years with an intelligent satisfaction and a patriotic
delight. This was his theme : " When we think of what the country

James Richardson. 739
then was, and now behold its wonderful advancement, it seems incredi
ble. Its increased facilities of travel and intercourse ; of churches and
schools ! Who could have believed it ? It is a constant astonishment
to look upon these things. And if I had any desire to extend my
graciously protracted life, it would only be to see what would come
next." Bishop Eichardson was by no means a querulous old man, but, on
the other hand, was ever cheerful, hopeful. His time was not passed
in repining, or sighing that the former days were better than these ; but
in temper and expectation, like his venerable brother the senior Bisliop
Smith, and like every generous, true-hearted Christian, his years were
ever tending to a better time. And surely this should be our faith in
Christianity. At the age of thirteen Eichardson began sailing. In 1809, at the
age of eighteen, he entered the king's service in the marine on the
lakes and rivers ; and in 1812, at the age of twenty-one, he was ap
pointed lieutenant in the navy. The next year he served under Sir
James Yeo, who had been sent over by the British Government to
take charge of the fleet on the inland waters ; and for him performed
the double duty of master and pilot. His courage and address often
appeared in his perilous cruises upon Lake Ontario, keeping open the
lines of communication between the East and West. From Kingston
to Niagara he knew the lake perfectly, and in his age would beguile
many an hour, and enrich it with instruction, by recitals of pleasant
or thrilling incidents of the time of the war. To the day- of his death
he loved to meet his old companions in arms, and with them recount
their dangers and exploits. And in all these he was quick to see, and
joyful to acknowledge, the good hand of his God concerning him,
delivering him out of all evil, and directing his feet into the way of
the divine testimony.
In May, 1814, in charge of the " Wolf," a ship of twenty guns, he
was at the attack of the British on Fort Oswego, and had assigned to
his vessel the difficult and dangerous duty of running in close under
the fort to cover the landing of the troops. Thrice was the " Wolf " on
fire with the hot shot from the fort ; and for hours in this dread expos
ure Eichardson held his men to duty. Here, in brave and loyal
service, he lost his arm, and won by his coolness and courage in action

740 Methodist Bishops.
the honorable mention of his commander and the lasting gratitude
and respect of his countrymen. In the record of disbursements made
by the Loyal and Patriotic Society of Upper Canada in 1815, we have
the sum of £100 allotted on the 22cl of April to Mr. James Eichard
son, of the Midland District, with the following note appended : " This
gentleman was first in the provincial navy and behaved well ; he there
became principal pilot of the royal fleet, and by his modesty and
uncommon good conduct gained the esteem of all the officers of the
navy. He lost his arm at the taking of Oswego. The Society, in con
sideration of his services, requested his acceptance of £100." Subse
quently he was aAvarded a pension by the British Government of
£100 sterling per annum, which he continued to draw over fifty years,
up to the time of his death. On his recovery, after the amputation
of his arm, he again volunteered and served as lieutenant on board the
" St. LaAvrence," a vessel of one hundred and ten guns, guarding the
coasts of Lake Ontario. Often 'he used to say it ill became him, a
preacher of the religion of peace, to think or speak with pleasure of
scenes of war and blood. Still, there were things about the life, of
the true soldier or sailor he must admire. He was convinced a man
could be a soldier and serve his God. He deprecated war and its
misfortunes as earnestly as any one could ; but often it Avas the less of
two evils. Bather honorable Avar, than base, corrupt, or dangerous
peace. Bad men or bad measures sometimes can be corrected no other
way than by force. Violence must meet violence ; and mighty Avrong
be restrained by mightier right. He respected the motives of the
colonists in the war of the Bevolution, and rejoiced in their success,
because theirs was a revolt against unreasonable and arbitrary measures.
And he as fully believed the Canadians were not only loyal and heroic
in the Avar of 1812, but that they Avere also right. It was ever his
solemn conviction, often affirmed, that the God of armies was Avith
them, helping them against great odds, granting them signal victories,
and thus preserving this Northern land to the British Crown and to
a genuine liberty. In his philosophic reflections tracing effect to cause,
he regarded that preservation the providential procedure in the over
throw of slavery and the slave-trade on this continent. " For," said
he, " had we all been incorporated into the United States, there had
been no Northern star to guide the fugitive slave in his flight. There

James Richardson. 741
had then been no ray of hope to him, or incentive to attempt his free
dom. There had then been no Fugitive Slave Law ; then no uprising
of public indignation in the Northern States; no determination to
suppress so monstrous an evil ; no overthrow of so prodigious a rebell
ion." Whether this line of occasion and consequence be well traced
or not, there can be little doubt that the existence of a perfectly free
and spirited people, like the Canadians on their northern border, at
once excited the better minds of the great Eepublic to emulate their
example, and cheered the lovers of liberty in their persistent efforts
against the gigantic wrong. And be it firmly spoken and well under
stood, that the oppressed slave had no truer or more liberal friend than
James Eichardson ; nor had the people, of the United States in their
grand struggle to preserve their National Government, so well-nigh
wrecked in the expiring throes of slavery, any more earnest sympa
thizers than the liberty-loving Church of whicli James Eichardson
was Bishop. Her moral support was ever cordially with the Union,
and her prayers ever ascended for the success of the national arms.
Looking at the contest from the outside, free from the entanglements
of party strife and personal interest, she saw the question at issue
was liberty or slavery for a great nation ; it was, indeed, the existence
or the overthrow of the Government — the success or failure of the
Eepublic. How could she be true to Christianity, to humanity, to
universal liberty, and cast in her lot with slavery ? In the nation's
darkest hours she never forsook the cause of the Union, or despaired
of it ; for she had the faith that the controversy was of God, and that
the cause that Lincoln was leading on under his guidance must prevail.
And very much of this public sentiment of the Church was due to the
generous and discriminating minds of Bishop Eichardson and his
associates in the ministry.
Early in the war of 1812 he was married to Eebecca Dennis, daughter
of John Dennis, who had charge of the Kingston docks. By her he
had several children, all highly educated, and all in honorable positions
in life. A daughter was married to President Allen, of Girard Col
lege, Philadelphia ; and a son, after a most thorough training in Canada
and Europe, became one of the most eminent physicians of the prov
ince, and is now a leader in his profession in the country, and a mem
ber of the University Senate. The Bishop survived his devoted Avife

742 Methodist Bishops.
by several years, and passed them> without remarriage, among his
truly affectionate children in Toronto.
Having bought property when Toronto was muddy little York, and
always managed his affairs discreetly, in his age Bisliop Eichardson
had a competence. The sun that had towered in such majesty, and
declined with such splendor, set bright and serene. One could scarcely
ask a calmer termination of an active life. In the bosom of his family,
in the midst of comfort, revered by all, beloved by his people, he
passed away to his rest. With an unslackened faith in Christ, and an
undimmed hope of immortality, he ascended the skies. The closing
years of his earthly scenes were favorable to observation, study, and
meditation, and he retained his mental vigor to the last. His interest
in all political, social, and religious movements was unabated ; so that,
having the past by which to estimate the present, it was more profit
able to converse with him than to read any book ; and as he was indeed
the old man wise and eloquent, it was more delightful to listen to his
descriptions of early times, and his comparisons of the events, people,
and fashions of successive generations, than to commune Avith any one
of a thousand authors. He knew it and felt it, for he had seen it all.
On the declaration of peace, in 1815, Mr. Eichardson retired to
private life, and with a brother-in-law tried store-keeping at Point
Frederick, the principal station of the Kingston Arsenal. Soon after
ward he removed to Presque Isle, now the harbor of Brighton, on
Lake Ontario, and was appointed to take charge of the customs there,
and a.t the same time was honored, from his known loyalty and dis
cretion, Avith the commission of a justice of the peace. In these places
of civil authority he obtained a knowledge and an experience that
were of immense value to him in subsequent life. He was not all
ecclesiastical, all theological, but had a side to the world, to actual busi
ness, to practical life. In his sagacious episcopal administration he not
only evinced the qualities of mind that his military discipline and his
commercial training had developed, but showed also a familiarity
with laAV — an acquaintance with its bearing and procedure — that aston
ished all who did not take into consideration the engagements of his
earlier years. Preachers are not always the best business men in the
Avorld ; and in their Conferences would commit some strange blunders
till the venerable Bishop had corrected them by a touch of his knowl-

James Richardson. 743
edge and tact. Many times has it been remarked, that, had he given
himself to law, he would have made one of the most illustrious orna
ments of the bar and the bench. All the more precious were these
talents when consecrated to the direct service of God.
In the first year of his residence at Presque Isle, under the minis
try of the Bev. Wyatt Chamberlain, of the Genesee Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, he was led to a serious consideration
of the welfare of his soul. Beared in the Church of England, he had
always been accustomed to the forms of religion, and ever respectful
to the outward demands and duties of the sanctuary. But the heart-
life of godliness, the inner power of faith in Christ, he had never
experienced. His parents, he acknowledged, were assiduous in their
attention to Church ordinances, but had never learned of conversion till
his prayers and appeals had been instrumental in arousing them to a
more earnest examination of their spiritual condition, and the teach
ings of Christ and the apostles. Still, these early associations will
no doubt largely explain Bishop Bichardson's firm attachment to
the episcopal polity. He had been educated in it. After his conver
sion, its possession by the Methodists of the country at the time had
much to do in determining his Church relationship. And in 1833,
and subsequent years, when the majority of them had gone over to
another form and constitution, his mind was ill at ease till he again
found rest among those that had preserved Episcopacy in its integrity.
A question may well arise : " Why did he not himself stand firm ? "
And there may be many conjectures as to the result, had he and those
that thought with him done so. His explanation, and theirs, was :
" They went along for peace' sake." But they always thought they
paid too much for peace ; for, had they held their ground, they would
in the end have held the majority of the Church members and the
Church property with them ; and the deeds that were given in trust
to the Methodist Episcopal Church would in that Church have
remained. After three years of reflection, and the most candid exam
ination, he settled back again on the old foundations, and was immov
able in his convictions as to the orders and offices of the episcopal
polity. And so he remained to the end of his life.
Once awakened as to his spiritual condition, and truly convinced
of sin, for more than a year he sought the evidence of pardon, till,
43

744 Methodist Bishops.
in the autumn of 1818, in a quarterly meeting held in a barn (for
churches or chapels were then scarce) at Four Corners, township of
Haldimand, he was enabled to say he felt the spirit of adoption, and
cried, Abba, Father. Speaking of these times and events, he himself says :
Thus, under Providence, I became comfortably settled, as I then imagined,
for life, with a sweet, growing family, and every year increasing my means of
enjoyment. It is not, however, for man to direct his own steps ; a higher power
shapes his course, and leads him in paths he knows not of. I now approach the
great event of my life, on which my hopes with regard to the interminable future
depend. For the first time I heard the Gospel with effect. The subject was
communion with Christ in the heart, attained by faith. Yielding obedience to his
calls, I said to myself, while it carried conviction to my conscience, if this be
Christianity, alas! I am not a Christian, for I know not this. Here was the germ
of my conversion. Henceforth I searched to know if these things were so. But
slow was my progress. I was sincere iu my inquiries, but hesitating in my de
cisions. The Gospel has its sacrifices and duties, its crosses and self-denials, its
conflicts between flesh and spirit ; and more than a year elapsed from the time
of those incipient drawings of the Spirit till I was wholly resolved and given up
to God. But at length the auspicious time came when faith lent its realizing light.
God shone into my heart, and I saw light in his light. My chains fell off. My
soul was free. Then the blessed truth, of which my mind had for a length of time
been convinced, that Jesus loved me, and gave himself for me, came with power
to my heart. I felt the Spirit of adoption, and cried, Abba, Father. ... As to
chapels or meeting-houses in those days, there was none for many miles around,
in all that section of country. Nevertheless, the power of God was there ; and
in the work of preaching and praying the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, as pioneers, led the van. With this community of Christians I cast my
lot; and I said, "This people shall be my people, and their God my God." From
this meeting I returned home, burning to "tell to sinners round what a dear
Saviour I had found."
It will thus be seen how clear was his experience, and with what
intelligent views he held the doctrines of conversion, of adoption, and
of the witness of the Spirit. Of these grand New Testament doc
trines he was ever a living demonstration and a faithful preacher.
Always, always, was he warning the brethren against resting in the
outward form, and urging them to seek the inner power of godliness.
He was uncompromising in dealing with the ritualism of the day ; and
till his death he struck steady, effectual blows at the Antinomianism
of the Calvinist and the Eomanist's justification by works. Faith in

James Richardson. 745
Christ, faith in Christ, was his theme, and the sanctification of the
heart and life through the operation of the Holy Ghost. In relating
his experience of regeneration he loved to repeat Mr. Wesley's words,
" I felt my heart strangely warmed." And from out of a full heart and
a personal knowledge he proclaimed those precious truths through all
the land.
From 1819 to 1824 he was a local preacher and steward on the
Smith's Creek Circuit, as it was then called. The duties of these
offices he discharged with all fidelity and efficiency. During the latter
part of this period he gavre countenance to Elder Eyan, who was agi
tating the Societies to seek a separation from the Methodist Episcopal
Church in the States, and establish an independent Methodist Episco
pal Church in Canada. The plea was the disabilities under which the
Methodists were suffering ; though, it is said, personal motives were
not wholly absent from the elder's action. The Family Compact, which
then had the reins of power, and was set upon the establishment of
the Church of England as a State Church in the colony, did unques
tionably depriA-e other Churches of their rights, and urge particularly
that the Methodists were disloyal and unworthy because of their rela
tions to the American Conferences ; but steadiness on their part would
have as unquestionably vindicated their law-abiding character and
secured their rights, as satisfactorily shown by subsequent develop
ments. However, the agitation Avas pushed to a separation, and the
establishment of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, which
was constitutionally effected in 1828. The pleas of the memorialists
were : 1. The state of society requires it. 2. The separation appears
to be expedient on account of isolation from the General Superin
tendency. 3. Also, on account of existing jealousies lately awakened
by the Government of this country. 4. Also, on account of difficulties
of bishops reaching the country in event of war. 5. Also, in order to
secure certain privileges. Whereupon the General Conference resolved :
If the Annual Conference in Upper Canada shall definitely determine on this
course, and elect a General Superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church
in that province, this General Conference, does hereby authorize any one or more
of the General Superintendents of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United
States, with the assistance of two or more Elders, to ordain such General Super
intendent for the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada.

746 Methodist Bishops.
Based on this action the Canada Conference at Ernestown, in Octo
ber, 1828, with Bishop Hedding in the chair, resolved :
1. That it is expedient and necessary, and that the Canada Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church does now organize itself into an independent
Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada.
2. That we adopt the present Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church
as the basis of our Constitution and Discipline, except such alterations as may
appear necessary from our local circumstances.
Thus was completed a change on account of which several of the
older leading Methodists often expressed unfeigned sorrow, but the
reversal of which, they saw, might bring in greater agitation and evil
than the separation itself. The divisions and calamities that followed
because of the failure of the Canadians to elect a Bishop were ever
grievous memories to the sainted Eichardson, and sometimes even led
him to regret his own action and that of his brethren in giving any
countenance whatever to Eyan's agitation.
During all these years of secular life in the Church, Eichardson
felt he had a more direct spiritual work to do, a message from God to
deliver to the people. In September, 1824, he was taken out by
Thomas Madden, Presiding Elder of the Niagara District, and em
ployed as assistant to William H. Williams, the preacher in charge of
the Yonge-street Circuit, including the town of York and the adja
cent townships. He says :
At the ensuing Annual Conference, 1825, I Avas admitted on trial, and put in
charge of the same Yonge-street Circuit, reduced, however, by the cutting off
of the eastern section thereof. This enabled me to devote more time and labor
to the town of York, having for my assistant Rev. Egerton Ryerson, who, like
myself, had this year been admitted on trial. A more agreeable and useful col
league I could not desire. We labored together with one heart and mind; and
God was graciously pleased to crown our united efforts with success. We doubled
the members in the Society both in town and country, and all was harmony
and love. Political questions were not yet rife, indeed, scarcely known among
us. Our Church was an asylum for any who feared God and wrought righteous
ness, irrespective of any party whatever.
Sad enough that such harmony had not continued to the end!
Yet we may look with interest upon the opening of the doors of our
Annual Conference to admit two such men in the same year. They

James Richardson. 747
have both impressed their character upon the Canadian people, and
their works shall be remembered for many generations.
In 1826, from the Conference held in the township of Hamilton,
adjacent to Coburg, Bishop George sent Eichardson to Niagara, a
section abounding in the associations of his youth and reminiscences
of the war. In 1827, in the Conference held in the city of Ham
ilton, he was admitted into full connection, elected to deacon's orders,
and ordained thereto, to use his own words, by the " estimable Bishop
Hedding." This year he Avas appointed a missionary to the Chippewa
Indians at Port Credit. In 1828 in the ErnestoAvn Conference,
previously alluded to, at Switzer's Chapel, the same Bishop Hedding
in the chair, he was elected Secretary of the Conference, an office to
which he was annually elected for four successive years. "At this
Conference," he says, " was taken the decisive step of separation from
the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the
United States ; and we resolved ourselves into an independent Meth
odist Episcopal Church in Canada, in friendly relations to the former."
His appointment this year was to the Niagara Circuit, on which
charge he remained two years, having Gatchell and Stoney as col
leagues. In 1829 he was elected to elder's orders, but was not or
dained, as no Bishop was in attendance, on account of the separation
and non-election. Yet thus is it evident that the Church adhered to
the episcopal polity, and held to divers orders in the ministry. The
Conference of 1830 held its session at Kingston, and was visited by
Bishop Hedding. The Bishop, by cordial resolution of Conference,
was invited to take a seat in the Conference, and assist by his counsel
and advice. He was also earnestly requested to preside during the
religious services of the Sabbath, and ordain the preachers presented
to him as suitable persons for ordination. These measures show the
views of the Conference as to the continuity of the polity and the
necessity of episcopal ordination. He ordained six elders, one of
whom was Eichardson, and twenty-one deacons. "The Conference
of 1830," he says, " was a movable one between Belleville and King
ston. This was to meet Bishop Hedding at Kingston, who kindly
came there to ordain our elected deacons and elders. Among the lat
ter I received the imposition of his hands on August 22, 1830."
The Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, or, as some like to call

748 Methodist Bishops.
it, for a purpose, the Canada Conference, displayed at this time no
little energy. The preachers pushed on their work vigorously, and
the Societies were blessed with considerable increase. In 1829 the
"Christian Guardian" was established, and in 1830 were laid the
foundations of the Upper Canada Academy, now Victoria College, at
Coburg. In both these noble enterprises Eichardson was a prominent
actor ; and both were begun and prosecuted for years in the name,
title, and possession of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada.
Eev. Egerton Eyerson was the first editor of the " Guardian," and
made it a power for Voluntaryism in the land, and a terror to the
Family Compact and the partisans of a State Church. After having
passed 1830 on Kingston Circuit, and 1831 as Presiding Elder of the
Niagara District, in 1832 Eichardson was elected editor of the " Guard
ian," and well maintained its spirit and tone for the purity and
power of the Church and the rights of the people. Voluntaryism
with him was a settled principle of action. He thoroughly believed
Christ's Gospel should be proclaimed, and the ministry maintained,
through the free-will offerings of the people, and not the forced taxes
and tithes of the State. From this conviction he never swerved, and
he could not suffer any measure that had any tendency toward making
the support of the Gospel compulsory. Hence when he learned, in
1834—35, that, at least indirectly, Government money was received for
mission work, he could not tolerate the idea, but withdrew from the
Wesleyans, with whom he had for a little while gone. Hence also he
ever zealously opposed the sustenance of Church colleges and schools
by special annual grants directly under the control of the ministry of
the day, and, therefore, liable to abuse ; while, nevertheless, he advo
cated the bestowment of public money on those institutions under a
general measure by act of Parliament, bearing equally on all, and
from which all could obtain aid according to the public benefits they
were prepared to insure.
In 1833 and 1834 he was Presiding Elder of the York District.
In 1835, under the Wesleyan regime, his title was changed to Chair
man of the Toronto District. In 1836, dissatisfied with the union
with the British Conference and its consequences, he desisted from
traveling at his own request, and went to the United States, particu
larly for the education of his children. In 1837 he returned to

James Richardson. 749
Toronto, where he, as he often expressed it, providentially met Phi
lander Smith, who had also withdrawn from the Wesleyan Conference
for similar reasons, and went with him to the Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, just then in session at Willowdale, near
Toronto ; and there they two again united with the brethren who still
preferred the Episcopacy to the recent changes and had determined to
maintain it, as they did in unbroken continuity.
Eichardson and Smith often spoke of their feelings on that mem
orable occasion. The little Conference appeared feeble and unpromis
ing enough. The preachers were none too well clad, and looked like
men encountering labors and great hardships. Their deliberations were
solemn, their devotions ardent, and their faith in God mighty. The
two undecided visitors, inquiring the ways of Providence concerning
themselves, sat in thoughtfulness and observed them closely. At last
they said : " Brethren, we have been wandering, ill at rest, and unr
happy. We are convinced the Lord is with you, and though opposed
and oppressed, you have made a noble stand. But receive us again
and we shall be content." Then were there tears of joy and of grief,
of thanksgiving and sympathy, mingled unutterable emotions and
tears, and committals of all to God ; and rejoicings in his guidance
and deliverances, and pledges of renewed fidelity to him, and expecta
tions of privations and labors and scorn, and assurance of divine sup
port. And so went they forth, never faltering, but trusting in God
and continuing steadfast, abundant in labor till the day of their death.
In the spirit of Paul as he exclaimed, " None of these things move me,
neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my
course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord
Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."
These Avere eventful years for Methodism in Canada. As has
been shown, in 1828 it was set off by the General Conference to be a
Methodist Episcopal Church. It continued distinctly a Methodist
Episcopal Church till 1833, when the Conference, without previous
consultation or consent of the laymen, united with the British Wes
leyans, and formed the Wesleyan Church in Canada. The majority
of the laymen were subsequently led into the union, but many of the
societies and some of the preachers protested against such action from
the very beginning. They were unwilling to relinquish the episcopal

750 Methodist Bishops.
polity and order, or to be handed over to another body, without con
stitutional procedure. Some are very quick to say that no material
change was made, and that they were the same Church after the
change that they were before. But let an attempt be made to turn
the English Conference into Episcopalians, or the Methodist Episcopal
Church in the United States into Wesleyans, and see how willing
either body would be for the movement, or how readily it would con
ceive its continuity and identity had been preserved ! Fully one
twelfth of the membership in Upper Canada, especially laymen, pro
tested against the attempt from the outset, and thereby preserved the
polity given them of their fathers. Moreover, it is to be remembered
that these measures in the Church were entangled with the political
movements of the time, and the feelings of the colonists were thereby
intensified. Previous to the separation from the Church in the
United States there had been a distinct agreement between the Gen
eral Conference in America and the British Conference that the
American missionaries should confine themselves to Upper Canada,
and the British to the Lower Provinces. In the language of M'Ken
dree, " A transfer of societies and places of preaching will, of course,
follow. Our societies in Lower Canada are to be put under the care
of our British brethren, and theirs in the Upper Province under ours."
Notwithstanding this compact, the British missionaries, even against
the protest of the General Conference, remained in Upper Canada;
and unfortunately, in subsequent years, when the ruling poAver of the
colony, for political considerations, sought a division and weakening
of the Methodists because they always resisted the schemes for the
establishment of a State Church, afforded a facility of operation for
designing men that they were not slow to improve. And improve it
they did, and rent the Church and put off the day of justice for the
people. To many of the Methodists of the time there were, no doubt,
weighty and honest reasons for the course they took ; but subsequent
events would scarcely justify their action. And the issues of schemes
are their best comment and explanation. At all events, it was this
explanation that guided and settled Eichardson, Smith, and many
others in the following years.
In 1838 the subject of our narrative was appointed Agent of the
Upper Canada Bible Society. For eleven years he served this organ-

James Richardson. 751
ization with the greatest efficiency, traveling through most of the
province and extending at once his work and the sphere of his ac
quaintance. Some of his most valued friendships were with the men
of large views and kind hearts whom this work drew within the range
of his association. On his death the Board of Managers expressed
their grief in most complimentary terms, and appeared as a body in
the large procession that followed his remains to the Necropolis.
The Tract Society, in which he had taken special interest, the Tem
perance Society, and the York Pioneers, the venerable partners of his
early toils, did him similar honor. There was but one voice when
this great and good man died — the voice of a whole people in sincerest
sorrow and profoundest respect. He resigned the agency in 1849 on
account of personal and domestic affliction.
Thus detained at home for some years, he was useful to the Church
in co-operating in the founding of the Belleville Seminary, now
Albert College, at Belleville, Ontario. Under his nurturing care, as
President of the Board of Managers, and of the Senate, this noble
institution has grown into a vigorous support to the Church and an
honor to the country. It has always been conducted on the voluntary
principle, and in its prosperity under such a direction has done not a
little toward breaking down the system of special grants, so dangerous
in its tendencies.
He was again appointed Presiding Elder of the Toronto District
in 1857 ; and by the General Conference, at St. Davids, in August,
1858, was elected and consecrated Bisliop of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in Canada. The high and sacred responsibilities of this office
he continued to discharge, with the growing respect and love of preach
ers and people, till the day of his departure from earth. He died at
his home in Toronto, in the midst of his beloved family and many dear
brethren, March 9, 1875, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. Full
of years, full of honors, full of Christian faith and hope, he passed with
triumph into the realms of the ever-living ; with joy into the associa
tions of the patriarchs and prophets, the true and the good of all ages
and climes.
His character and his work may be readily gathered from this
brief sketch of his life. In every sphere of activity in which he
came he filled its full orb with his intelligence, energy, and goodness.

752 Methodist Bishops.
In the domestic circle, in society, in the Church, and in the nation
he was the complete man. He was firm without being dogmatic ; he
was mild without being easy and indifferent. He loved his home
without neglecting his country ; he served his country without slight
ing his home. In council the sage, in action the hero, in manner the
gentleman, in conversation the historian and philosopher, scarcely a
man in the land would have been so missed. Certainly none were more
deeply venerated or more ardently loved. As a soldier he was faith
ful and brave. As a man of business he was honorable and obliging.
As a preacher he was zealous and effective. As a Bishop and admin
istrator of Discipline he was candid, energetic, careful, and correct.
In plain exposition of the blessed doctrines of the Bible he had no
superior ; in knowledge of Church Discipline and ecclesiastical polity,
perhaps not an equal in the country. His were grand abilities, and
at the same time a steady equilibrium of faculties. And, best of all,
he was humble, and delighted to count all but loss that he might win
Christ, and lead his fellow-men to God. His highest praise : he led
many to righteousness.

BRITISH METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

11HIS body was originally a part of the African Methodist Episco
pal Church. It was organized as an independent body in 1856.
They adopted the episcopal form of government. The Bev. Willis
Nazrey was their first Bishop. He organized Conferences in Nova
Scotia, Bermuda, the West Indies, and British Guiana ; but the oldest
Conference is the Ontario. They publish a paper called the " Mission
ary Messenger," with a circulation of 22,000 copies, and have founded
a literary institution at Chatham, Ontario, called the " Amalgamated
Wilberforce and Nazrey Institute." Their statistics are not com
plete.

Willis Nazrey.

BY THEODORE L. FLOOD, D.D.

WILLIS NAZBEY was bom March 5, 1808, in Isle of Wight
County, Virginia. His parents, like most of their race, were
poor and lived in humble circumstances. No opportunities opened
before them for the education of their son. The construction of so
ciety and the appointments of the State were not friendly to his class.
When their labor would contribute to the wealth and prosperity of
their master and the perpetuity of slavery, then young Nazrey's people
had reached their highest privilege. To toil as slaves was thought to
be their normal condition. It is surprising that from such a condition
of servitude any considerable portion of people should rise to make
a Church of God, while it is still more astonishing that any one of the
down-trodden class should so deport himself that his own people
should create the office of Bishop and induct him into it. Certainly it
is a manifestation of the capacity of the race for self-government, and
that, too, under the most unfavorable circumstances.
To trace the early life of Bishop Nazrey would be impossible with
the meager amount of material he has left us. He moved from Vir
ginia to New York city, where, on August 22, 1832, he was married
to Miss Margaret Walker, the youngest daughter of John Walker, of
Virginia. She died peacefully on April 23, 1836. On the 3d day of
May, in 1843, he was married again to Miss Mary Ann Harris, daugh
ter of James Harris, of Philadelphia, who still survives.
Mr. Nazrey was in his twenty-ninth year before he was awakened
to see his need of a new life. When the Spirit strove with him in con
viction he yielded, and experienced a change of heart which was clear
and satisfactory to him as a work of God. This was about a year after
his wife died. He was a devoted husband, and the loss of his wife
exerted a peculiar influence upon him, and finally resulted in the
decision to join his fortunes with the people of God. He was very
emphatic in his testimony of a change of heart ; and he soon won the

REY WILLIS NAZREY.

Willis Nazrey. 757
confidence of Christian people as to the genuineness of the change he
professed that God had wrought in him.
Immediately following this new experience he received a distinct
call from God by the Ploly Spirit to preach the Gospel. Of it he
says : "lam as conscious of my call to preach the Gospel as I am of
my own existence." He immediately united with the African Meth
odist Episcopal Church in New York city.
In 1838 he was licensed as an exhorter, and in the spring of 1840
his brethren, by their voluntary action, granted him a license as a
local preacher. He labored with great success in New York and
vicinity as a licentiate, being kindly received by the people, and always
speaking strong and bold words for his Master.
He was recommended and received into the NeAV York Confer
ence Avhen he was thirty-three years old, just three years after his
conversion. He was immediately transferred to the Baltimore Con
ference, and stationed two years at Lewistown, Pa. , In 1842 he was
transferred to the Pennsylvania Conference and appointed to labor for
two years in Trenton, New Jersey. Afterward, two years in Prince
ton. In 1846-47 he was pastor of the Bethel Church, in Philadelphia,
and in 1848-49 he served the Union Church, in the same city. At
this point there is a break in his diary, so that for the two following
years we cannot trace his course. We have no doubt they were spent
in good service, for they precede immediately his election to the
episcopal office. He was ordained deacon in Baltimore, in 1841, and
elder in Philadelphia, in 1843, by Bishop Morris Brown.
Thus Mr. Nazrey came into the Church in the strength of his
manhood, and filled all the positions regularly on his way to the office
of an elder in the Church of God. His promotion was rapid, but not
any more so than the exigencies of the cause demanded, and it is
gratifying to note that the strides he made to important pulpits and
high offices were always followed by a uniform success in the perform
ance of his duties which justified the judgment of his brethren, both
in the laity and ministry, concerning his natural abilities and acquire
ments of culture and grace.
In the month of May, 1852, the General Conference of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church met in New York, and the Eev. Willis
Nazrey was elected to the office of Bishop. Twelve years had now

758 Methodist Bishops.
elapsed since he became ,an itinerant preacher. His work had been
done in great centers of population, under the eyes of many of the
most intelligent and influential men in his Church ; hence, it was a
high indorsement of his labors, and higher than is common when we*
remember his age when converted, and the comparatively brief time
he had spent in the office of the ministry.
The ordination of this man to the high office of a Bishop, on the
13th day of May, 1852, by Bishop Paul Quinn, was," all circumstances
considered, a remarkable event in this Church.
For twelve years Bishop Nazrey served the African Methodist
Episcopal Church in America, in his new office, with marked success.
His preaching was plain and eloquent, instructive and spiritual. In
the administration of discipline he was kind, but firm in the enforce
ment of rules. He guarded the name and honor of his Church with
a jealous eye in all his public and private intercourse with the people.
As a presiding officer he was dignified and urbane, preserving order,
and tiding a conference through a difficult place quite as much by
his quiet dignity, which indicated reserved resources, as by. his aggress
ive tact and skill in manipulating men and plans. Lie was a man of
great influence among his people. His career as a Bishop was not con
fined to the routine work he assumed at his ordination ; but with his
characteristic loyalty to the honest convictions of his heart he yielded
to the call of God and his Church to go into Canada and organize the
scattered forces of that country.
From the year 1816, the time when the Eev. Eichard Allen was
elected to the Episcopacy in the African Methodist Episcopal Church,
the work of the denomination spread rapidly over the various States
and into British North America. A great many slaves who had
escaped from their masters fled to Canada for liberty. Just as the
fathers of this country came out from England to secure religious
liberty in this Western world, so did these Christians and slaves seek
protection and a refuge under the folds of the British flag in the
Province of Canada.
They gradually increased in numbers and influence till about the
year 1835, when they petitioned the African Methodist Episcopal
Church in the United States to send missionaries to preach the Gospel
to them, gather the wanderers, and organize them into societies. The

Willis Nazrey. 759
Church was considerate and granted the prayer of the petitioners.
For more than twenty years this ecclesiastical relation continued be
tAveen the people in Canada and the Church in the United States.
As time passed aAvay the people became so numerous in the Canadian
portion of the work that conflicts in discipline between the two sec
tions were of frequent occurrence, and they decided to separate them
selves from the African (Bethel) Church in the United States. It
was at the General Conference held in Cincinnati, in 1856, that a peti
tion was presented from the people in Canada, asking for a separation
from the African Methodist Episcopal Church, when this prayer was
also granted.
Immediately, however, a discussion sprang up among the Method
ists of Canada concerning the form of church government to be
adopted ; whether it should be Congregational or Episcopal. Strange
as it may seem, in the discussion that folloAved some of their authori
ties claimed that " Mr. Wesley had established both forms ; " but as the
fathers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church had adopted the
latter form, and since their people had been led to God under it, they
decided that the African population in the British dominion could be
more successfully reached under the episcopal than under any other
form of government. They then named their organization the British
Methodist Episcopal Church. When the discussion was ended and
the question settled, the election of a Bishop was the next step to be
taken in perfecting their organization. The adaptation of Bishop
Willis Nazrey to the work of his office was recognized by his friends
in the ministry and laity in both countries, and when it was suggested
that he could be prevailed upon to accept the bishopric, he was im
mediately and officially invited so to do.
The separation of Bishop Nazrey from his former colleagues, and
his recognition as Bishop in his new field of labor, was harmoniously
effected. The following certificate was the authority on which his
brethren in Canada received him as their overseer :
To all whom it may concern, greeting .-—This certifies that the bearer, Rev.
Willis Nazrey, was ordained to the office of Bishop in the African Methodist
Episcopal Church on the 13th day of May, 1852, and has exercised the episcopal
functions in said Church with dignity and credit up to this date; and he has,
by mutual consent, resigned all official relations to the African Methodist

760 Methodist Bishops.
Episcopal Church in the United States of America, for tbe purpose of serving the
British Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, B. A.
We take great pleasure in commending him to the Christian world as a faith
ful shepherd of the Church of God.
(Signed) William Paul Quinn, )
Alexander W. Wayman, > Bishops.
[Seal.] John M. Brown, Secretary. Jabez P. Campbell, )
Philadelphia, June 30, 1864.
After his transfer, Bishop Nazrey set himself immediately to the
task of organizing Conferences and inspiring the preachers and people
for the work before them. He extended the border of the British
Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada by organizing Conferences in
Nova Scotia and Bermuda, the West Indies, and British Guiana. His
untiring zeal and organizing skill were of incalculable advantage to this
young Church in this new field. He accomplished a work that was
worthy an Asbury or a Coke; quietly but surely did he plant the
standard of his Church and won the people to it.
Bishop Nazrey accumulated some property, and purchased a farm
near the town of Chatham, Ontario, where he lived for many years.
Through his exertions an educational institute was established under
the authority of the British Methodist Episcopal Church, and incor
porated by Act of Parliament bearing date December 22, 1869, under
the title of the " Nazrey Institute." This school was afterward
merged with the " Wilberforce Institute," and the union being ap
proved, it was incorporated by Parliament, March 29, 1873, under
the title of the " Amalgamated Wilberforce and Nazrey Institute."
It is now in operation on the Nazrey Institute property, near Chat
ham, Ontario. Bishop Nazrey was a trustee and an active member
of the Board until his death.
After closing the Neva Scotia Conference at Shelburne, Nova
Scotia, August 6, 1875, Bishop Nazrey was taken sick on the follow
ing Sunday, August 8th. In perfect peace of mind, but much pain
of body, he lingered until Sunday, the 22d day of the same month,
when he fell asleep in Christ and was at rest, leaving the infant
Church he had organized in the care of a God whom he had learned
to trust in all the conflicts and toils of his eventful and useful life.

THE BRITISH METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH OE NORTH AMERICA.

THIS body was located in Canada, and composed of colored people,
most of whom left the United States in the days of slavery. It
was originally a part of the British Methodist Episcopal Church, but
in 1862 separated from that body. They were weak numerically,,
numbering about fifteen ministers ; their membership is not known..
Bishop Green was the only man who ever served in the episcopal office
among them. The Church, as a distinct organization, was merged
with the African Methodist Episcopal Church of America, after ten.
years of independent existence.
44

Augustus R. Green.

BY EEV. T. L. FLOOD, D.D.

THE subject of this sketch was born in Chambersburgh, Franklin
County, Pa., July 8, 1810. He was the third born among thir
teen children. His educational advantages were limited, owing to the
poverty of his parents and the prejudice that existed against his race.
The public schools, and all avenues to intellectual culture, were
closed against him until he was thirteen years old. At this time he.
secured a situation as " boy of all work " at the Pennsylvania Mili
tary College, at Gettysburgh, where he remained three years. His
spare moments here were utilized in reading and studying such books
as he could borrow from the teachers and students ; and with the aid
of the latter as his instructors he made good use of his opportunities,
and thereby acquired ja, great deal of valuable knowledge which was
helpful to him in his work in subsequent years.
During his stay at the college he attended the African Methodist
Episcopal Church, and under the labors of the Bev. Jeremiah Beulah,
he was awakened and converted, and united with this Church. When
he was sixteen years old he was placed as an apprentice to an edge-
tool manufacturer in Mercersburgh, where he remained a little over
a year. He was a nervous, active youth, and hence unwilling to settle
down to the routine work of an apprentice, notwithstanding the trade
gaAre him good promise of support in life as a skilled mechanic.
He went " West," as it was then called, though he only moved to
Pittsburgh. The journey was made on foot, with his bundle on his
back. Here he worked at his trade for about a year, and then he
moved to Fayette County, where he worked on a farm. Having accu
mulated some property, during his life, he afterward purchased this
farm, and for a time made it his home.
In all his travels from place to place he sought the Church as a
child seeks its home, and was always classed among her active and

Augustus B. Green. 763
positive friends. The Church in this locality found in him a valuable
working member, and it was in this vicinity that he was licensed as a
local preacher. For more than three years he had been impressed
by the Holy Spirit that he must preach, but his modest and retiring
disposition prevented his heeding the call. He pleaded his ignorance
and inability to such an extent, that it was not until the year 1S33
that he decided fully to enter upon the active work of the ministry.
He was plowing in a field one day close by the road, when he was
hailed by the Bev. Mr. Conyon, on horseback, who, having stopped
his horse, stated that he was on his way to the African Methodist Epis
copal Conference, and invited Mr. Green to go with him. They Avent
to the house together for dinner, where, in the leisure of the hour,
Mr. Conyon renewed his request that Mr. Green should accompany
him to the session of the Conference. Mrs. Green joined in the plead
ing, and at last he consented to go, more out of curiosity than from
a desire to witness' the proceedings of the body. The two men set
out for Conference together, Mr. Green not thinking that he was then
taking the step that would separate him permanently from his plow
and farm.
After they arrived at the seat of the Conference, which was Little
Washington, Pa., the plans of Mr. Green's companion were gradually
unfolded. When the Conference was opened the most poAverful per
sonal appeals were made to Mr. Green to unite with the body. Men
were in demand, the work Avas increasing on every hand, and appeals
from societies came up from many directions for preachers ; and, irreg
ular as it now seems in this Church, these solicitations were made that
he unite with the Conference without any further recommendation
than his local preacher's license, his character as a man of God, and
his reputation as a successful Christian worker. After several sleep
less nights and much prayer, he decided to give his name to the Con
ference ; it was accepted, and he was in the ranks of the ministry, and
his farm, with the plow out in the furrow, left behind.
He was appointed to the Washington Circuit. It was then, as it is
now, one of the important charges in the Conference. He remained
here three years, enjoying his field of labor and seeing many souls
converted. From here he was sent to Pittsburgh Station, then to Alle-
o-heny, and afterward to the Erie Circuit, which extended from Pitts-

764 Methodist Bishops.
burgh to Erie, including Beaver, Mercer, New Castle, Meadville, and
all the towns in North-western Pennsylvania. Lie traveled this terri
tory a part of the time on foot, and a part of the time on horseback,
his heart being cheered by the success that attended his labors
among the Churches.
• He was taken from the pastorate by being elected Superintendent
of the Book Concern and Editor of the " Christian Herald," the official
organ of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at Pitts
burgh. He returned to this city, which he left a few years previous
for the farm, and devoted himself to the work of his new offices with
a tact and zeal which impressed his Church that his election was a
wise choice. At the ensuing General Conference he was re-elected
by a unanimous vote, but he positively declined the place, preferring
the pastorate. Another was chosen to fill the offices, and Mr. Green
returned to pastoral work. He was now transferred to the Ohio Con
ference. We find him serving Churches in Cincinnati, Chillicothe,
Zanesville, Columbus, Toledo, and Detroit, Mich. His preaching
always aroused the Church and awakened sinners ; it was plain, and
imbued with the Spirit. Lie preached Avith unction, and frequently
with wonderful power. He saAV hundreds of men, women, and chil
dren, brought to the Lord and saA^ed. It was thought by many that
he was at this time the most conspicuous figure in the ranks of the
ministry in his Church in the State of Ohio. He was known and
recognized every-where in the State among his people as an able and
popular preacher and worker in the vineyard.
At the Annual Conference of 1860 he took a transfer to the
Canada Conference, which afterward severed its connection with the
African Methodist Episcopal Church of America, and was organized
under the name of the British Methodist Episcopal Church, under the
leadership of Bishop Willis Nazney.
While he served the British Methodist Episcopal Church at Wind
sor, 0- W., internal troubles arose, whicli, though they did not per
sonally affect him, yet caused him to join fortune with the party that
ultimately separated themselves from the British Methodist Episcopal
Church. The Church at Windsor was divided, and the division
extended over the entire Conference, and resulted in the organization
of a new Church that was called the " British Methodist Episcopal

Augustus R. Green. 765
Church of North America." Mr. Green was strenuously urged to
allow himself to be elected Bishop of the new organization, but he
resisted successfully for several months. Finally, however, he was
prevailed upon to yield to the entreaties of his friends, many of whom
were influenced to move from the United States to Canada by his rep
resentations, and since the new Church was composed largely of this
class of persons, he felt under peculiar obligations to them. When
he Avas elected the new Church numbered fourteen ministers. Bishop
Green established and edited for several years, " The True Eoyalist,"
a paper devoted to the spread of religious and secular intelligence.
He noAV came face to face with a great trial if not persecution. At
the instance of one or more ministers aud members in the old Church,
he was arrested and indicted at nine different times for exercising his
episcopal prerogative in ordaining his ministers, administering the
sacraments, and solemnizing matrimony ; old questions, to be sure, and
the renewal of an old contest in a new field and by another race, but
" history repeats itself," while the truth goes marching on.
The various charges and trials culminated at the spring assizes of
Middlesex County, C. W., in May, 1863, when, after a long and
desperately contested trial, he was found not guilty of any misde
meanor, and the jury further found that Augustus B. Green was the
true and only Bishop of the British Methodist Episcopal Church of
North America. It was a strange proceeding to American eyes for a
judicial court to decide ecclesiastical prerogatives, but such are the
issues where Church and State are united. The rendering of the
verdict was loudly applauded. Bishop Green was congratulated by
hundreds of friends, both white and black, and from that day his per
secutors ceased to trouble him. He went to the Avork of his office
Avith fresh courage and new hope, and saw his Church increase in
numbers and become a power in the land.
The issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation, by President Lin
coln, unsettled the foundations of this new Church organization.
The freedom of the slaves caused a large number of the people and
preachers in the Church to return to the United States, and Bishop
Green was himself led to believe that he could render a better service
to the cause of God in America than he could in Canada ; hence, in
1872 he made overtures to the African Methodist Episcopal Church

7.66 Methodist Bishops.
of the United States which were kindly received, and his entire Con
ference was accepted as worthy members of. the Indiana Confer
ence of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
After a service of nearly ten years, as a Bishop in Canada, Mr.
Green was transferred to the Baltimore Conference, and stationed as
pastor of Mount Hope Church, Washington, D. C. After a successful
pastorate of two years in this Church he was transferred to the Missis
sippi Conference, and made pastor of the Church in Vicksburgh.
Here he labored faithfully until that terrible scourge, the yellow fever,
broke out in 1878. He was advised by some of his friends to leave
the city, but he replied : " My Conference has sent me here, and it is
my duty to stand at my post of duty ; if it is the Lord's will that I
shall fall by this terrible disease, I am ready." He sent his wife and
the members of his household to a place of safety, and then gave him
self up to the task of caring for the sick and dying. While that ter
rible scourge was destroying the people, he could be seen day and
night going from house to house rendering whatever aid he could,
both of a physical and spiritual nature. It was his joy to bless the
sick with such earthly comforts as caused them to call him blessed,
and with his words of Christian counsel he presented Jesus Christ as
an all-sufficient Saviour.
On September 5, 1878, he was prostrated by the terrible fever,
and, notwithstanding he was a splendid specimen of a man, being six
feet in height, and weighing two hundred and eight pounds, in forty-
eight hours after the fever came he was dead, and his work on earth
was done.
While the nature of the disease forbade his friends coming to his
side, or attending his funeral, and though no dying testimony came
from his lips to comfort his family, or the multitudes he had inspired
to lead a better life, yet he fell at his post, and his own words, "I am
ready," are a testimony to the power of Christ to save a man from
selfishness in the face of danger and death.

APPENDIX.

EMBRACING SKETCHES OF THE LIVING BISHOPS IN THE
DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF EPISCOPAL METHODISM
IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.

SKETCHES OE THE LIVING BISHOPS

OF THE

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Bishop I^evi Scott, D.I)., was born near Odessa, Delaware,
October 11, 1802. He was married to Miss Sarah Ann Smith, at her
father's house, Philadelphia, November 22, 1830. He was converted
October 16, 1822, and the call to preach, then given, was not under
stood until some time afterward. He was received into the Phila
delphia Conference in April, 1826, and became a member of the New
Jersey Conference in 1836, but returned to the Philadelphia Confer
ence in 1837, by transfer. He was ordained deacon by Bishop
George in 1828, in Philadelphia, and elder by Bishop Hedding, in
1830. He has filled the following appointments : 1826, Talbot Cir
cuit, Md. ; 1827, Dover, Del. ; 1828-29, St. George's Charge, Phila
delphia; 1830-31, Westchester, Md. ; 1832, supernumerary; 1833,
Kent, Md. ; 1834-35, Delaware District ; 1836, Franklin-street,
Newark, N. J. ; 1837-38, Ebenezer, Philadelphia ; 1839, St. Paul's,
Philadelphia; 1840-42, Principal of Dickinson Grammar School;
1843-44, Union Church, Philadelphia; 1845-48, South Philadelphia
District; 1848-52, Assistant Book Agent, New York. He was
elected and ordained Bishop in 1852, in Boston, Mass. His home
is Odessa, Newcastle County, Del. He received the degree of A. M.
from Wesleyan University, and that of D.D. from Delaware College.
Bishop Matthew Simpson, D.D., L-JL.D., was born in
Cadiz, Ohio, June 21, 1811. He was educated at Madison College,
afterward merged into Alleghany College. He was married in Pitts
burgh, November 3, 1835, to Miss Ellen H. Yerner. He was con
verted in 1829, and licensed to preach in 1833. Lie joined the

Appendix. 769
Pittsburgh Conference in 1833, and has since been a member of the
Indiana and North Indiana Conferences. He was ordained deacon by
Bishop Eoberts, at Pittsburgh, in 1835, and elder by the same Bishop,
at Steubenville, Ohio. He has filled the following appointments:
St. Clairsville Circuit, 1833-34; Pittsburgh, 1834-36; Monongahela
City, 1836-37. He has held the following positions in connection with
the schools and other institutions of the Church : Yice-President of
and Professor of Natural Science in Alleghany College, 1837-39;
President of Indiana Asbury University, 1839-48 ; Editor of " West
ern Christian Advocate," 1848-52. He was elected and ordained
Bishop at Boston, in May, 1852. He resides in Philadelphia, Pa.
He received the degree of A.M. from Alleghany College, and those
of D.D. and LL.D. from Wesleyan University.
Bishop Thomas Bowman, D.D., lili.D., was born in
Berwick, Pa., July 15, 1817. He graduated at Dickinson College in
1837, and was married July 13, 1841, to Miss Matilda Hartman, of
York, Pa. He was converted January 1, 1833, and called to preach
during the summer of 1838. He entered the Conference, March, 1839,
and has been a member of the Baltimore, East Baltimore, South-east
Indiana, and North Indiana Conferences. He was ordained deacon and
elder in Baltimore, in both cases by Bishop Waugh. He has had the
following appointments : Beaver Meadow Mission, one year ; Prepar
atory Department of Dickinson College, three years ; Supernumerary,
with partial work at Berwick, Pa., five years ; Principal of Dickinson
Seminary, at Williamsport, Pa., ten years ; Pastor at Lewisburgh, Pa.,
one year; President of Indiana Asbury University, fourteen years.
He was elected and ordained Bishop at Brooklyn, N. Y., in May, 1872.
He received the degrees of A.B. and A.M. from Dickinson College,
in course ; of D.D. from Ohio Wesleyan University ; and of LL.D.
from Dickinson College. His home is St. Louis, Missouri.
Bishop W. Jj. Harris, D.D., Ii.L.D., was born in the town
of Troy, Bichland County, Ohio, November 4, 1817. He studied the
ancient languages and mathematics under Professor Chaplain, in Nor-
walk Seminary. He was married, August 9, 1840, in Avon, Ohio, to
Miss Atwell, of Dover, Ohio. He was converted June 10, 1834;
licensed to preach September, 1835 ; and admitted on trial in the
Michigan Conference in September, 1837. He has been a member of

770 Methodist Bishops.
the Michigan, North Ohio, and Central Ohio Conferences. Upon the
division of the first, in 1840, he fell into the North Ohio, and when
that was divided, in 1856, he fell into the Delaware, now the Central
Ohio. He was ordained deacon in September, 1839, at Ann Arbor,
Michigan, by Bishop Soule, and elder, September, 1841, at Wooster,
Ohio, by Bishop Eoberts. His appointments have been as follows :
1837-38, junior preacher on Dover Circuit ; 1838-39, the same on
Wooster Circuit ; 1839-40, the same on Mansfield Charge ; 1840-41,
took charge of Bellville Circuit ; 1841-43, Amity Circuit ; 1843-44,
Chesterville ; 1844^5, stationed in Delaware ; 1845-46, teacher in the
Ohio Wesleyan University; 1846-47, stationed in Toledo; 1847-48,
Norwalk ; 1848-51, Principal of Baldwin Institute, Berea, Ohio ;
1851-60, Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in Ohio Wes
leyan University; 1860-72, Assistant Corresponding Secretary of the
Missionary Society. He was elected and ordained Bishop in May,
1872, at Brooklyn, N. Y. The following degrees have been con
ferred upon him : A.M., by the Ohio Wesleyan University ; D.D., by
Alleghany College ; and LL.D., by Baldwin University. His present
residence is in New York city.
Bishop Randolph S. Foster, D.D., LL.D., was born in
WiUiamsburgh, Clermont County, O., February 22, 1820. He was
educated at Augusta College, Kentucky, and entered the ministry when
seventeen years old. He married Miss Sarah A. Miley. He was a
member of the Ohio Conference from 1837 to 1850 ; of the New York
Conference from September, 1850, to May, 1854 ; of the New York
East Conference from 1854 to 1856; and of the New York Con
ference from 1856 to 1872, when he was elected Bishop. He was
ordained deacon by Bishop Waugh, and elder by Bishop Hedding.
He filled the following appointments : Charleston Circuit, West Yir
ginia, one year; West Chester Circuit, Ohio, one year; West Union
Circuit, one year ; Hillsborough, one year ; Portsmouth Station, one
year ; Hillsborough Station, one year ; Ninth-street, Cincinnati, one
year ; Lancaster, two years ; Springfield, two years ; Wesley Chapel,
Cincinnati, two years ; Mulberry-street, New York, two years ; Pa
cific-street, Brooklyn, two years ; Trinity Church, New York, one
year ; President North-western University, three years ; Washington
Square, two years ; elected President of Troy University, and declined ;

Appendix. 771
Sing Sing, two years; Eighteenth-street, New York, three years;
Washington Square, New York, two years — the second year - served
as Professor of Systematic Theology in Drew Theological Seminary,
and was elected president in 1870. Lie was elected Bishop in 1872
at Brooklyn. He received the degrees of A.M. and D.D. from the
Ohio Wesleyan University, and LL.D. from North-western University.
He resides in Boston, Mass.
Bishop I. W. Wiley, D.D., was born at Lewistown, Pa.,
March 29, 1825. He graduated from the Medical Department of the
University of New York. He was married October 6, 1846, to Miss
Frances J. Martin, and May 21, 1867, to Miss A. Elizabeth Seegar. He
was converted at thirteen years of age, and began to preach at nine
teen, as local preacher. He joined the Genesee Conference in 1850,
was transferred to the Philadelphia Conference in 1851 ; transferred
to the New Jersey Conference in 1855, and fell into the Newark
Conference, by division, in 1856. He was ordained deacon by Bishop
Janes in 1850, and elder by the same in 1851. He has filled the
following appointments : Foochow, China, 1851-1855 ; Newark and
Jersey City, N. J., 1856-1858 ; five years (1859-1864) at Pennington
Collegiate Institute, N. J.; eight years (1864-1872) editor of "The
Ladies' Bepository.-" He was elected and ordained Bishop at Brook
lyn, May, 1872. He has received the following degrees : A.M., from
Dickinson College; M.D., from University of New York; D.D.,
from Wesleyan University. He resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Bishop Stephen M. Merrill, D.D., was born at Mount
Pleasant, Jefferson County^ O., September 16, 1825. His parents
-subsequently removed to Greenfield, O., where he joined the Method
ist Episcopal Church, October 31, 1842. He was licensed to preach
on April 5, 1845, and was employed under the presiding elder. He
was admitted in 1846 into the Ohio Conference, and appointed to
Monroe. To an elementary training he added, by careful study, a
knowledge of a wide circuit of literature, and was honored with the
degree of A.M. in 1864, from Indiana Asbury University. He was
presiding elder on Marietta District when, in 1868, he was elected
a delegate to the General Conference. He took an active part in
the debates in that body, and during the session was elected editor
of the " Western Christian Advocate." Having served four years

'772 Methodist Bishops.
in that office, he was, in 1872, elected Bishop. In the discharge of
the duties of his office he has traveled extensively over the United
States, and has visited Mexico. He is author of a work on " Christian
Baptism," and more recently on the " New Testament Idea of Llell."
He resided for a time in St. Paul, Minn., but at present is a resident
of Chicago. Bishop E. CJ-. Andrews, D.D., was born at New Hartford,
Oneida County, N. Y., August 7, 1825. He graduated at Wesleyan
University, at Middletown, Conn., in 1847. He was married at
Cheshire, Conn., to Miss Susan M. Hotchkiss, August 7, 1851. He
joined the Church when ten years old, and from early life was dedi
cated to the ministerial office and work. He became a member of
the Oneida Conference in 1848,- and of the New York East Confer
ence in 1864. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Janes in 1848 at
Owego, N. Y., and elder by Bishop Scott in 1850 at Utica, N. Y.
He has filled the following appointments : 1847-48, Morrisville Circuit,
N. Y., under the elder ; 1848-49, Hamilton and Leesville, N. Y. ;
1849-50, Hamilton ; 1850-52, Cooperstown, N. Y. ; 1852-54, Stock-
bridge, N. Y. ; 1854-64, Oneida Conference Seminary, in which he
was professor two years, and principal eight years ; 1864-67, Stam
ford, Conn.; 1867-68, Sands-street, Brooklyn; 1868-71, St. John's,
Brooklyn ; 1871-72, Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn. He was elected and
ordained Bishop in May, 1872, at Brooklyn, N. Y. His place of resi
dence is Washington, D. C. He has received the following degrees :
A.B. and A.M., by the Wesleyan University, in course, and D.D.,
by Genesee College.
Bishop Jesse T. Peck, D.D., LL.D., was born in Mid-
dlefield Center, Otsego County, N. Y., April 4, 1811. He was edu
cated under the direction of his brother, the Bev. Dr. George Beck,
and married Miss Persis Wing, at Cortland, N. Y., October 13, 1831.
He was converted, and called to preach, in the town of Brookfield,
Marion County, N. Y., March 30, 1827. He joined the Oneida Con
ference, July 12, 1832, and since has been a member of the Black
Biver, Troy, Baltimore, New York, and California Conferences. He
was ordained deacon by Bishop Hedding, at Auburn, N. Y., in 1834,
and elder by Bishop Waugh, at Watertown, N. Y., in 1836. He has
filled the following appointments : Dryden, N. Y., one year ; Newark

Appendix. 773
Valley, N. Y., one year; Skaneateles, N. Y., one year; Potsdam,
N. Y., two years; Foundry, Washington, D. C, two years; Greene-
street, New York, two years; Powell-street, San Francisco, Cal., two
years; Santa Clara; Howard-street, San Francisco, Cal.; Hudson-
street, Albany, N. Y. ; Centenary Church, Syracuse, N. Y. ; Sixth-
street, Sacramento, Cal- ; Presiding Elder San Francisco District, Cal.,
one year. He has held the following positions in connection with the
schools and other institutions of the Church: Principal of Genesee
Wesleyan Seminary four years; Principal of Troy Conference
Academy seven years ; President of Dickinson College four years ;
Secretary and Editor of Tract Department of the Methodist Episco
pal Church two years. He was elected and ordained Bishop at
Brooklyn, N. Y., May, 1872. Llis family residence is Syracuse, N. Y.
He received the degree of Master of Arts from Wesleyan University,
and Doctor of Divinity from Union College ; also the degree of LL.D.
from Willamette University.
Bishop Benry W. "Warren was born in WiUiamsburgh,
Mass., January 4, 1831. He was married in Lowell, Mass., in April,
1855, to Miss D. A. Kilgore. He was converted and called to preach
in October, 1848. Joined the New England Conference in April,
1855 ; was transferred to Philadelphia Conference in 1871 ; transferred
to the New York East Conference in 1874 ; and retransferred to the
Philadelphia Conference in 1877. ILe was ordained deacon in 1857
by Bishop Baker, and elder in 1859 by Bishop Ames. As a pastor
he has served Worcester, Mass., two years ; North Bussell-street, Bos
ton, Mass., two years; Tremont-street, Boston, St. Paul's, Lynn, and
Westfield, Mass., each two years; Trinity Church, Cambridgeport,
Trinity, Charlestown, Mass., three years each ; Arch-street, Philadel
phia, two terms, three years each ; St. John's, Brooklyn, N. Y., three
years, and Spring Garden-street, Bhiladelphia, two months, when he
was elected Bishop. He has filled the positions of teacher of Natural
Science in Amenia Seminary, N. Y., and teacher of Ancient Lan
guages at Wilbraham, Mass. He was elected and ordained Bishop in
May, 1880, in Cincinnati, O. He was educated at Wilbraham, Mass.,
and at Wesleyan University, Conn. The degree of A.B. was con
ferred upon him by Wesleyan University, and D.D. by Dickinson
College. His place of residence is Atlanta, Ga.

774 Appendix.
Bishop Cyrus D. Foss was born January 17, 1834, in King
ston, N. Y. He has been twice married : March, 1856, to Miss Mary
E. Bradley, who died September 7, 1863 ; and on May 10, 1865, to Miss
Amelia Bobertson, of Peekskill, N. Y. He was converted in 1852.
He joined the New York Conference in 1857, was transferred to the
New York East Conference in 1859, and retransferred to the New
York Conference in 1865. He was ordained deacon May 10, 1857, by
Bishop Baker, and elder May 8, 1859, by Bishop Janes. He has been
pastor in Chester, N. Y.; Fleet-street, Hanson Place, and South Fifth-
street, Brooklyn, N. Y., remaining two years in each place; at St.
Paul's, New York city, two terms of three years each ; and at Trinity,
New York, three years ; also at St. James', New York city, two years.
From 1854 to 1855 he was teacher of Mathematics in Amenia Sem
inary, Amenia, N. Y. ; and in 1856 he was made principal of the sem
inary. From 1875 to 1880 he was President of Wesleyan University,
Middletown, Conn., his Alma Mater. He was elected and ordained
Bishop in Cincinnati, O., in May, 1880. Llis degree of D.D. was
conferred by Wesleyan University, and LL.D. by Cornell University.
His place of residence is Minneapolis, Minn.
Bishop John F. Burst was born in Doncaster County,
Md., August 17, 1834, and married in May, 1859, to Catherine Eliza
beth La Monte. He was converted in March, 1849, and called to
preach in 1858. He joined the Newark Conference in 1858, was
transferred to the Germany and Switzerland Conference in 1866, and
retransferred to the Newark Conference in 1872. He was ordained
deacon in 1860 by Bishop Morris, and elder in 1862 by Bishop Scott.
He served as pastor in Irvington, N. J., one year; Passaic, N. J., two
years ; Fulton-street, Elizabeth, N. J., two years ; and at Water-street,
in the same city, two years. He was Professor in the Mission Insti
tute, Bremen and Frankfort, from 18&6 to 1871, then Professor of
Church History in Drew Theological Seminary, and President of
Drew Seminary from J873 to 1880. He was elected and ordained
Bishop in Cincinnati in May, 1880. He graduated from Dickinson
College, Carlisle, Pa., in 1854. His Alma Mater conferred upon him
the degree of D.D., and both Dickinson College and Indiana Asbury
University gave him that of LL.D. His residence is Des Moines,
Iowa.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHUECH, SOUTH.

Bishop Robert Paine, D.D., was born November 12, 1799,
in Pierson County, N. C. He has been married three times —
to S. C. Beck, at Nashville, Tenn. ; to A. M. Shaw, in Columbia,
Tenn. ; and to M. E. Millwater, of Northern Alabama. He was con
verted October 9, 1817, and began to preach that fall. After travel
ing a year under the direction of a presiding elder, he was admitted
on trial into the Tennessee Conference in the fall of 1818, and has
never been a member of any other Conference. He was ordained a
deacon by Bishop M'Kendree in 1821, and elder by the same Bishop
in 1823. He has filled the following appointments : Nashville, Flint
Eiver, Tuscaloosa, Murfreesborough, and Shelbyville, two years ;
Franklin and Lebanon, one year; Forked Deer District, one year;
Nashville Station, two years ; Nashville District, three years. He has
held the following positions in connection with the schools and other
institutions of the Church : Professor in La Grange College, sixteen
and a half years, and President of the Board of Trustees. He was
elected and ordained Bishop in May, 1846. His residence is Aber
deen, Miss. The degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by the Uni
versity of Nashville, and that of D.D. by the Wesleyan University.
Bishop George F. Pierce, D.D., LL.D., was born Feb
ruary 3, 1811, in Greene County, Ga. He was married to Miss Anna
Maria Waldron, of Savannah, Ga., February 4, 1834. He was con
verted October 5, 1826, in Athens, Ga., and licensed to preach in
March, 1830. He joined the first Georgia Conference, January,
1831, and was one year a member of the South Carolina Conference.
He was ordained deacon at La Grange, Ga., and elder at Columbia,
S. C. ; in both cases by Bishop Andrew. His appointments were as
follows : First year, Alcovi Circuit ; second year, Augusta, Ga. ;
third year, Savannah, Ga. ; fourth year, Charleston, S. C. ; fifth year,
Augusta, Ga. ; sixth, seventh, and eighth years, presiding elder of

776 Methodist Bishops.
Augusta District; ninth and tenth years, President of Georgia
Female College ; eleventh year, agent for the college ; twelfth year,
stationed at Macon; thirteenth and fourteenth years, Augusta; fif
teenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth years, Augusta District ; eighteenth
year, Columbus. He was President of Georgia Female College in
1839 and 1840; agent in 1841; at Macon, 1842; at Augusta, 18,43
and 1844 ; 1845, Presiding Elder on Augusta District ; and President
of Emory College, from. August 4, 18 — ¦ to July, 1854. He was
elected and ordained Bishop at Columbus, Ga., "1854. He has
received the degree of D.D. from Transylvania University, and LL.D.
from Bandolph Macon College. He resides at Sparta, Hancock
County, Ga.
Bishop B. B. Kavanaugh, D.D., was born January 14,
1802, in Clark County, Ky. He was first married, July 24, 1828, in
Woodford County, Ky., to Mrs. Margaret C. Green, and afterward
to Mrs. Martha D. Lewis. He was converted on the 2d day of
November, 1817, and became an exhorter in about a year after
ward. Under conviction of duty he accepted license to preach
in 1822 as a local preacher. He joined the Kentucky Conference,
September 24, 1823, and remained a • member until elected Bishop in
May, 1854. He was ordained deacon at Bussellville, Ky., by Bishop
M'Kendree, in the fall of 1825 ; and was ordained elder at Versailles,
Ky., by Bishop B. B. Boberts. He filled five appointments on cir
cuits, and then, (with the exception of two years as agent for Augusta
College, the last of which two years he also filled the office of Super
intendent of Public Instruction in the State of Kentucky, and two
years as presiding elder of Lexington District,) he filled stations in
many of the most important towns and cities of the Conference. He
was elected and ordained Bishop in 1854, at the General Conference
held in the month of May, in Columbus, Ga., Bishop Soule officiating,
with the aid of Bishops Andrew, Capers, and Paine. His home is
in the city of Louisville, Ky.
Bishop "William M. Wightman, D.D., was born in
Charleston, S. C, January 29, 1808. He Avas married to Miss Sarah
B. Shackelford, at Cokesbury, S. O, January 7, 1834, and after her
death, to Miss Maria D. Davis, November 14, 1863. He was con
verted in April, 1825, and licensed to preach the following year. He

Appendix. 777
was admitted on trial in the South Carolina Conference February 6,
1828, and into full connection two years after. He was transferred
to the Alabama Conference in 1859. He was ordained deacon by
Bishop Soule, at Columbia, S. C, and elder by Bishop Hedding, at
Darlington, S. C. Lie filled the following appointments: Pee Dee
Circuit, 1828 ; Orangeburgh, 1829 ; Charleston Station, 1830 ; Santee,
1831; Camden, 1832; Abbeville, 1833; Agent for Bandolph Macon
College, 1834-36 ; Professor of English Literature in Bandolph Ma
con College, 1837-38; presiding elder of the Cokesbury District,
1839-40; and editor of the "Southern Christian Advocate" to May,
1854. From 1854 to 1859 President of Woif&ford College, S. C. ;
then Chancellor of the Southern Uni\-ersity, Alabama, until July, 1867.
He was elected and ordained Bishop in May, 1866, at the General
Conference held in New Orleans. He received the following degrees.:
A.M., from the College of Charleston ; D.D., from Eandolph Macon
College ; and LL.D., from the College of Charleston. He resides in
Charleston, S. C.
Bishop Holland ST. M'Tyeire, D.D., was born July 28,
1824, in Barnwell District, S. C. He was married to Miss Amelia
Townsend in November, 1847. ' He was converted in 1837, and felt
called to preach while a student at Eandolph Macon College. He was
admitted on trial in the Yirginia Conference, November, 1845. He
was transferred in 1846 to the Alabama Conference, to fill Dr. T. O.
Summers' charge in Mobile. In 1848 he was transferred to the
Louisiana Conference and stationed in New Orleans, and in 1862 he
was transferred to the Montgomery Conference. He was ordained
deacon in Montgomery, Ala., by Bishop Paine, December, 1847, and
elder in Shreveport, La., by Bishop Capers, December, 1849. He
has filled the following appointments : Traveled with presiding elder
on Prince Edward Circuit, Yirginia Conference, from June to
November, 1845. In November, 1845, appointed to WiUiamsburgh
Station, Ya.; June, 1846, transferred to Mobile, Alabama Confer
ence ; January, 1847, Demopolis Station ; December, 1847, Co
lumbus Station, Miss. ; December, 1'848, New Orleans. He has held
the following positions in connection with the schools and other in
stitutions of the Church : Assistant Professor of Mathematics and
Ancient Languages in Bandolph Macon College; Editor of the
45

778 Methodist Bishops.
" New Orleans Christian Advocate ; " editor of " The Christian Ad
vocate," at Nashville, Tenn. ; and President of the Board of Trustees
of Yanderbilt University, at Nashville. He. was elected and ordained
Bishop at the General Conference held in New Orleans in 1866. He
has received the following degrees : A.B. and A.M., from Eandolph
Macon College, and the degree of D.D., from Wesleyan University,
Florence, Ala. His residence is at the Yanderbilt University, Nash
ville, Tenn.
Bishop John Christian Keener, D.D., was born in
Baltimore, Md., February 7, 1819. He prepared for college at Wil
braham Academy, and became a member of the first regular class
organized in Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn., where he
graduated in 1835. He was converted in Baltimore, Md., in 1838 ;
licensed to preach in Alabama, and was admitted on probation in the
Alabama Conference in 1843. In 1848 he was sent to New Orleans,
where he remained twenty years, being appointed successively to the
pastorate of the Poydras-street, Carondolet-street, and Felicity-street
Churches, and presiding elder of the New Orleans District. He was
also, from 1866, editor of " The New Orleans Christian Advocate."
He was elected and ordained Bishop in May, 1870. His residence is
in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Bishop Alpheus "Waters "Wilson, D.D., elected in 1882,
is the son of the late Bev. Norval Wilson, who was prominent in Mary
land and Yirginia, and in the councils of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. He is a native of Baltimore, Md., born in 1834 ; was converted
in early life, and a student at Columbian College, Washington city,
and for a while studied medicine. Entering the ministry at the early
age of nineteen, he was received into the Baltimore Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church in 1853, very soon took rank in the min
istry, and commanded some of the best appointments in Baltimore
and elsewhere. Health failing, he studied and practiced law awhile,
but soon resumed the itinerant ministry. When the Baltimore Con
ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized, he
was one of the foremost members ; his eminent abilities were soon
recognized, and he was honored from the first with a seat in the Gen
eral Conference, to which he has been elected four times. He has
. been honored with the title of Doctor of Divinity. At the General

Appendix. 779
Conference of 1878, at Atlanta, Ga., he was elected Secretary of the
Board of Missions, since which this department has been greatly
enlarged. His thorough canvass of the Churches, and vivid portrayals
of the need of more activity and larger gifts to missions, enabled the
Board to meet the growing wants of the foreign mission work. His
able pulpit and platform ministrations in behalf of this cause, and his
rare executive abilities, caused the Church to call him to the higher
work of the Episcopacy. He was a delegate to the great Ecumenical
Conference, at London, England, in September, 1881, and read a paper
on " The Influence of Methodism on Other Denominations," which
elicited high encomiums of praise. A work on " Missions " from his
pen has just appeared from the Southern .Methodist Publishing House,
which is highly spoken of. He has the elements of character to make
a leader, and will make his impress in the councils of the Church in
shaping her progressive movements. He is of medium height, com
pactly and muscularly built without being fleshy, with admirable equi
poise, a vigorous body and mind, face heavily bearded ; sociable, dig
nified, and gentlemanly in appearance. He was the only one elected
on the first ballot.
Bishop Linus Parker, D.D., has been a quarter of a cent
ury identified with the aggressive movements of the extreme South,
among the most difficult fields in the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, to build up Methodism, owing to the cosmopolitan character of
the people. A native of Borne, N. Y., born in 1829, he went to New
Orleans in his boyhood, and while engaged as a clerk supplemented
his meager home education by rising at four o'clock in the morning to
master Latin and Greek, before commencing the duties of the day.
Converted young, he commenced to preach soon after, and was received
into the Louisiana Conference in 1849, in his twenty-first year. After
four years of circuit work he was appointed to New Orleans, and has
been since then laboring in the chief stations— a good part of the
time as presiding elder on that district. Part of the time while in the
latter office he has performed the duties of editor of the " New Orleans
Christian Advocate," and so succeeded Bishops M'Tyeire and Keener,
who were both editors of that paper. It has risen to great popularity
in the Connection, and his polished editorials have won him journalistic
fame among the cultivated outside of the Church. Five times he has

780 Methodist Bishops.
been elected a delegate to General Conference, the last four times in suc
cession. As a writer he is clear, smooth, and forcible, and his editorials
ahvays contain food for thought. As a preacher he is eloquent and
profound, bringing out the hidden meaning of Scripture in his ser
mons. Coupled with his culture and scholarly attainments, his deep
piety, sound judgment, modest demeanor, meek spirit, amiability and
simplicity of manners, make him eminently fit to adorn any station in
the Church, or fill any office in her gift. A man of fine presence, tall
and large frame, well cushioned with flesh, without being unduly stout,
rather tawny skin, piercing black eyes, dignified and courtly appear
ance, and in fine vigorous health. He was elected Bishop in 1882.
Bishop John Cooper CSranberry, D.D., is a native of
the city of Norfolk, Ya., born December 5, 1829. Was noted in his
boyhood and youth for excellency of character. In his fifteenth year
he was converted. Entered Eandolph Macon College, and was grad
uated with the first honor of the class in 1848. The same year he was
admitted on trial in the Virginia Conference of the Methodist Epis
copal Church, South, and has been identified with that body ever since.
He soon took rank and filled the best appointments, including Wash
ington city, Eichmond, and Petersburgh ; was chaplain of both Ean
dolph Macon College and the University of Virginia, the former
honoring him with D.D. When the war began he entered the Con
federate army as a chaplain, and continued till the close of the struggle
— a service in which he fearlessly discharged his duties. He was
sorely wounded, which injured the sight of one of his eyes, and was
taken a prisoner. He was greatly beloved and honored by the soldiers
for his heroic devotion to their interests. He held for a time the posi
tion of Superintendent of Chaplains for the Virginia Conference. In
1875 he was elected professor in the Theological Department of Van
derbilt University, which position he has honored ; and if he had not
been elevated to the Episcopacy he would have been elected to take
the place of the late Dr. Summers as dean, because of his varied talents
and scholastic culture. He is not an author, but has Avritten a great
deal for the Church press which has attracted attention. He has been
a member of four General Conferences, and, although honored so
frequently by his Conference, he speaks but seldom, but has the repu
tation of being an elegant, chaste, scholarly, and eloquent preacher.

Appendix. 781
He possesses a clear analytical mind, is an able theologian, and has a
judicial tendency. Of the purest character, humble in his walk, retir
ing, smart, spirited. Of medium height, high forehead, good health
Avithout being stout, well bearded, and eyes shaded with glasses. He
was elected on the second ballot, and is fourth in the order of the new
Bishops elected in 1882.
Bishop Bobert Men non Hargrove, D.D., was not a
member of the General Conference which elected him a Bishop in
1882. He was born in Pickins County, Ala., September 17, 1829,
and was converted at the early -age of eleven years. He entered the
University of Alabama, and was graduated with signal honor ; joined
the Alabama Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
in 1857. He was soon recognized as an able preacher, and occupied
appointments at Mobile and other charges in Alabama; was trans
ferred to Kentucky, and stationed at Lexington ; and from thence
became a member of the Tennessee Conference, and was stationed at
M'Kendree Church, (the seat of the General Conference of 1882,) and
other points. Has been presiding elder of three districts— the Nash
ville, Franklin, and Clarkville Districts. The latter he vacates by his
election to the Episcopacy. Was honored with A.B. and A.M. by the
University of Alabama, and D.D. by Emory College. His first con
nection with educational institutions was as Adjunct Professor of
Mathematics at the University of Alabama; then President of Cen
tenary Institute, Alabama, and President of Tennessee Female College.
He was a member of the Cape May Commission, which adds to the
interest in his election throughout Methodism. Since the death of
Dr. Summers his name had been mentioned in connection with one of
the General Conference offices at Nashville had he not been elected
Bishop. He has been a member of three General Conferences previous
to this one, and a member of the Book Committee for the past four
years, and otherwise placed in trusts by the Church. He is a man of
broad culture and catholic spirit, with progressive views. Though not
widely known in authorship, he is a fine writer. It is believed that he
possesses all the desirable qualities for the Episcopal office, and will
meet the large expectations of the people. Of good height, large
frame well filled, pleasant countenance, dignified carriage, slight
beard, quite gray for his years, very genial and affable.

EVANGEIICAL ASSOCIATION.

Bishop J. J. Esher was born in Balderheim, Alsatia, France,
December 11, 1823. He was married- August 8, 1849, at Northfield,
111., to Miss Anna B. Schneider. He was converted and called to
preach in February, 1834. He joined the Illinois Conference in
June, 1845, having been an exhorter from his sixteenth year. He
was ordained deacon, June, 1847, and elder, June, 1849, by Bishop
John Seybert, at Napierville, 111. He filled the following appoint
ments : Bock Biver, one year ; Iowa Mission, tAvo years ; Milwaukee,
two years ; Elkhart, one year ; Wisconsin District, four years ; Chicago,
Wells-street Station, one year; Chicago District, four years: Plain-
field, two years. He was editor of Sunday-school literature, and
agent of North-western College. He was elected Bishop first at
Buffalo, October 9, 1863 ; second, at Pittsburgh, October, 1867; third,
at Napierville, 111., October, 1871. His place of residence is
Chicago, 111.
Bev. Rudolph Dubbs, D.D., was born a short distance
from the famous city of Worms, on the beautiful Biver Ehine. He
was educated partly in Germany. He emigrated with his parents to
this country in 1852, and settled in Stephenson County, 111. He
was converted in 1854, and began to preach in 1856. He served in
the Illinois and Iowa Conferences until called to be one of the agents
to establish the North-western College, at Napierville, 111. Here he
served two terms, then went back to Iowa, and served as district and
presiding elder for nearly four years. The General Conference, held
in Pittsburgh, Pa., 1867, elected him to the editorship of the " Christ-
liche Botschofter," the German organ of the Church. He served
eight years in this position. At the General Conference in Philadel
phia, Pa., 1875, he was elected Bishop, and re-elected in 1879. He
was fraternal delegate of his Church to the Methodist Episcopal

Appendix. 783
Church when the General Conference met in Chicago, and served
in the same capacity when the General Conference was held in Brook
lyn, N. Y.
Bishop Beuben Yeakel was born August 3, 1827, at Upper
Hanover, Pa. He was married March 28, 1855, to Miss Saraih
Schubert. He was converted October, 1847, and called to preaichi in
1850. He was licensed as local preacher June 10, 1852, and admitted
into the East Pennsylvania Conference February, 1854. He was
ordained deacon February, 1856, and elder in 1858 by Bishop Long-.
He served the following appointments: Montgomery, one year-;
Orwigsburgh, one year; Easton Mission, two years; Lebanon, two
years. He was Corresponding Secretary of the Missionary Society
of the Evangelical Association four years ; editor of Sunday-School
and Tract Department eight years, one year of which he was editor
of the "Evangelical Messenger." He was first elected Bishop at
Napierville, 111., in 1871; his second election was in 1875 at the
General Conference held in Philadelphia. His home is in Allen-
town,, Pa.
Bishop Thomas Bowman was born at Lehigh Gap, Pa.,
May 28, 1836. Entered East Pennsylvania Conference Evangelical
Association, in February, 1859. Ordained deacon two years- later at
Schuylkill Haven, Pa., by Bishop J. Long, and elder two years later
at Millersburgh, Pa., by Bishop W. W. Orwig. Traveled on Lehigli
Circuit one year, and on Northampton Circuit, Allentown Station,
Beading Mission, Pine Grove Station, Philadelphia Mission, each two
years ; on Schuylkill Haven Station one year. Was elected presiding
elder in 1871, and served four years on Pottsville District ; re-elected
in 1875 and stationed on Easton District. Elected Bishop October
26, 1875 by General Conference convened in Philadelphia ; re-elected
October 16, 1879. Now resides at Allentown, Pa.

AEKICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHUECH.

Bishop Daniel Payne, D.D., left Charleston, S. O, in
1834. He received his theological training in the Gettysburgh Semi
nary. He was distinguished while in Baltimore as a preacher, and
was elected and ordained Bishop in New York in 1852. Bishop
Payne is ex officio President of Wilberforce University, located at
Xenia, Ohio.
Bishop A. W. "Wayman was born September 21, 1821, in
Caroline County, Md. He was married, first, October 26, 1843, to
Sarah Ann Edgar ; second, September 21, 1861, to Mrs. Eachel Jane
Bobinson; third, May 17, 1864, to Mrs. Harriet A. E. Green, of Balti
more. He was coarverted August, 1835, and called to preach, August,
1839. He joined the Philadelphia Conference of the African Method
ist Episcopal Church, May, 1843, and continued a member of the
same until 1848 ; he was then transf erred to the Baltimore Conference.
He was ordained deacon in 1845, and elder in 1847, in Philadelphia,
by Bishop Quinm. He has filled the following appointments : West
Chester Circuit, Pa., two years; Wesley Church, Philadelphia, one
year ; Salem, N. J., one year ; Trenton, one year ; Union Bethel,
Washington, D. O, one year ; Israel Church, Washington, two years ;
Union Bethel, Washington, two years ; Port Deposit, Md., one yeai- ;
Ebenezer Church, Baltimore, one year ; Bethel Church, Baltimore, two
years ; Israel Church, Washington, two years ; Union Bethel, Wash
ington, one year; Frederick, Md., one year; Bethel Church, Balti
more, three years. He was corresponding editor of the " Christian
Becorder," four years. He was elected Bishop May 16, 1864, in
Philadelphia, :and ordained May 22, 1864. His residence is Balti
more, Md.
Bishop Jabez Pitt Campbell, S.T.D., LL.D., was born
in Slaughter Neck, Sussex County, Del., February 5, 1815. He was
married in the city of New York, October 23, 1844, to Mrs. Stella

Appendix. 785
Medley of Providence, E. I. After her death he was married to
Mrs. Mary Ann Shire, in Philadelphia, June 7, 1855. He was con
verted December 25, 1825. He became a member of the New York
Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in May, 1841 ;
joined the Philadelphia Conference, June, 1844 ; New York Confer
ence of Wesleyan Connection, April 11, 1846 ; and rejoined the New
York Conference, June, 1850. He was ordained deacon by Bishop
Morris Brown, June 20, 1841, in the city of Providence, E. I., and
elder in June, 1843, by the same Bishop in the city of New York.
His appointments were as follows : Bucks County Circuit, three years
and eight months ; Albany, one year ; Hudson City, two years ; Her
kimer and Schoharie Counties, 1847-49 ; Buffalo, N. Y., 1850-52 ;
Bethel Church, New York city, one year ; Flushing, L. I., one year ;
Union Church, Philadelphia, 1854-56; Wesley Church, Philadel
phia, 1859 ; Trenton, N. J., 1860-62 ; Bethel Church, Philadelphia,
1862-63. He has been a Trustee of Wilberforce University, editor
of " Christian Becorder," and General Book Steward or publisher of
the books and papers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
He was elected and ordained Bishop of the African Methodist Epis
copal Church in May, 1864. He has received the following degrees :
S.T.D. from the Wilberforce University, and the degree of LL.D.
from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in Philadelphia.
Bishop James A. Shorter was born February 4, 1817,
at Washington, D. C. Lie was married to his first wife, Julia Ann
Steward, at Philadelphia, September 12, 1839 ; and to his present
wife, Maria Carter, November 4, 1853. He was converted February,
1838, and called to preach, 1839. He joined the Baltimore Conference
in April, 1846, and was transferred to the Ohio Conference, April,
1857. He was ordained deacon in 1848, and elder in 1850, each time
in Washington, D. O, Bishop William P. Quinn, officiating. He has
filled the following appointments : First year, under elder Isaac B.
Parker, on Chambersburgh and LewistoAvn Circuits ; second year,
LewistoAvn Circuit ; third and fourth years, Penningtonville, Pa. ; fifth
year, Lancaster, Pa. ; sixth and seventh years, Israel Church, Washing
ton, "D. C. ; 1853-54, Bethel Church, Baltimore ; 1855-56, Ebenezer
Church, Baltimore ; transferred to the Ohio Conference, 1857, and
stationed at Columbus for two years ; next year stationed at Xenia,

786 Methodist Bishops.
next three years at Zanesville, next three years at Cincinnati. He was
agent for one year for the Wilberforce University. In April, 1867,
he was appointed to the Wylie-street Church, Pittsburgh. He was
elected and ordained Bishop in Washington, May, 1868. He resides.
at Wilberforce University, near Xenia, Ohio.
Bishop John M. Brown was born September 8, 1817, at
Cantwell's Bridge, New Castle County, Del. He was married to Miss
Mary Louisa Lewis, at Louisville, Ky., February 13, 1852. He was
converted December 29, 1835, and called to preach April, 1836. He
became a member of the Ohio Conference, September 15, 1848 ; the
Indiana Conference, August, 1.852; the Missouri Conference, 1855 ;
and the Baltimore Conference, May 6, 1858. He was ordained deacon
at Cincinnati, 0., September 20, 1846, and elder, October 16, 1847,
by Bishop Quinn. He has filled the following appointments : Detroit,
Mich., three years ; Columbus, O., three years ; New Orleans, La., two
years ; Asbury Chapel, Louisville, Ky., two years ; Bethel Church,
Baltimore, 1858-61 ; Ebenezer Church, Baltimore, 1861-63 ; Norfolk,
Va., 1863-66. He has held the following positions : Principal of
Union Seminary, Columbus, O. ; Principal of High School, New
Orleans ; Assistant Editor of " Christian Herald," of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church ; Editor of the " Bepository,'.' a monthly
periodical ; of the Missionary Eeporter ; and Corresponding Secretary
of the Missionary Society. He was elected and ordained Bishop at
Washington, D. C, May, 1868. He lives at Washington, D. C.

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH.

Bishop Joseph J. Clinton was bom in Philadelphia, Pa.,
October 3, 1823. He was married to Letitia Sisco, at Pittsburgh, Octo
ber 22, 1844. He was converted and called to preach in 1839. He
joined the Philadelphia Conference in June, 1843, and was transferred
to the Baltimore Conference in 1855. He was ordained deacon in
1845 and elder in 1846 by Bishop Bush. He has served the Church
in the following appointments : Trenton, N. J., one year ; George-
toAvn, D. O, one year ; Pittsburgh, Pa., two years ; Washington, D. O,
three years ; Harrisburgh, Pa., two years ; Allegheny, Pa., two years ;
Philadelphia, Pa., two years ; Baltimore, Md., two years. He was
eleeted and ordained Bishop at Philadelphia, in June, 1856. He lives
in Philadelphia, Pa.
Bishop John J. Moore was born in Martinsburgh, Ya.,
1811. He was married in 1837, at Harrisburgh, 'to Mrs. Frances
Berges. He was converted in 1824, and called to preach in 1826.
He joined the Philadelphia Conference in 1838. His appointments
were as follows : Huntingdon, Pa., two years ; Lewiston, Pa., two
years ; Gettysburgh, Pa., two years ; Chambersburgh, Pa., one year ;
York, Pa., tAvo years ; Philadelphia, Pa., one year ; Baltimore, Md.,
three years ; San Francisco, Cal., fourteen years. He was ordained
deacon at Philadelphia, by Superintendent George Galbraith, and
elder by Superintendent Christopher Bush. He has occupied the
following positions : President of Missionary Board, and Teacher of
Theological Class. He was elected Bishop at Washington, in 1868.
Lie resides at Lincolnton, North Carolina.
Bishop Singleton T. Jones was born March 8, 1825, at
Wrightsville, York County, Pa. He was married November 29, 1846,
to Miss Mary J. Talbot, of Allegheny, Pa. He was converted Febru
ary 8, 1842, and called to preach September, 1844. He united with
the Allegheny Conference, August 23, 1849 ; transferred to Baltimore

788 Methodist Bishops.
Conference, May, 1853 ; transferred to New York Conference, 1857 ;
transferred to Philadelphia Conference, 1859 ; transferred to New
York Conference, 1864; and transferred to Baltimore Conference,
June, 1866. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Bush, August, 1850,
and elder by Bishop Galbraith in 1857. His appointments have been
as follows : Brownsville, one year ; Blairsville, one year ; Bedford, two
years ; South Howard-street, Baltimore, Md., two years ; Washington,
D. C, two years ; Newark, N. J., two years ; Wesley Church, Phil
adelphia, Pa., two years; Harrisburgh, Pa., two years; Chambers-
burgh, Pa., one year ; Zion Church, N. J., two years ; Washington,
D.. O, two years. He has held the position of editor of "Zion's
Standard and Weekly Beview," and editor of the " Southern Beligious
Department " of " Zion's Standard and Beview." He was elected and
ordained Bishop in May, 1868. His place of residence is Washing
ton, D. C.
Bishop Jaanes W. Hood was born May 30, 1831, in Ken-
net Township, Chester County, Pa. He was married October 5, 1852,
in Philadelphia, to Miss Hannah L. Balph. After her death he was
married in Washington, D. O, to Miss Sophia J. Nugent. He was
converted in 1842, and called to preach in 1855. He joined the New
England Conference in 1859, and was transferred to the North Caro
lina Conference in 1864. He was ordained deacon in Boston, August
2, 1860, by Bishop J. J. Clinton, and elder in Hartford, Conn., by
Bishop William LI. Bishop. He was first appointed to New HaA'en,
where he remained one year ; af tenvard to missionary work in Nova
Scotia for three years ; Bridgeport, Conn., six months ; New Berne,
N. O, three years ; Fayetteville, N. C, two years ; Charlotte, N. O,
four years. He held the following positions : Agent for the Board of
Education for the State of North Carolina, and Assistant Superin
tendent of Public Instruction for the State. He Avas elected and
ordained Bishop at Charlotte, N. O, July, 1872. He lives in Fayette
ville, N. C.
Bishop Sampson D. Talbot was born in WestbridgeAvater,
Mass., in the year 1819. He was married to Sarah De Groot, in
Onondaga, N. Y., in 1844, and married his second wife, Sarah Gass-
aAvay, in December, 1865. He -was converted and called to preach in
1841. He became a member of the New York Conference of the

Appendix 789
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in 1844. He was ordained
deacon by Bishop Christopher Bush in 1844 and elder in 1845. His
appointments were among the most important in the connection, such
as New York, Boston, Newark, N. J., Bochester, and Syracuse, N. Y.,
Washington, D. O, Troy, N. Y., and others, and he usually remained
two years at each station. He was at one time Treasurer of the
Book Concern of his Connection. He was elected and ordained
Bishop at Philadelphia in 1864. He fives in Washington, D. C.

CANADIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Bishop Albert Carman, D.D., was bom at Iroquois, Matilda
County, Canada, June 27, 1833. He was married July 19, 1860, to
Mary J. Lisk. He was converted in February, 1834, and called to
preach in 1836. He was admitted on trial in the Bay Quinte Con
ference in 1837, and upon its division, in 1866, he fell into the
Ontario Conference. He was ordained deacon in 1860 by Bishop
Eichardson, and elder by Bishop Smith in 1864. Lie was appointed
Professor of Mathematics in Albert College in 1857, and President
in 1858. He had pastoral charge of Belleville one year, 1860. He
was elected and ordained Bishop in Napanee, Ontario, in 1874. He
graduated with the degree of A.B. from Yictoria College in 1855,
received the degree of M.D. in 1860, and D.D. from Indiana Asbury
University in 1874. He resides in Belleville, Province of Ontario,
Canada.

COLORED METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF
AMERICA.

Bishop W. H. Miles was born in Washington 'County, Ky.,
December 26, 1829. He was married to Miss Judy Hardin, and after
her death, to Miss Frances Cox, December 24, 1859. He was con
verted and called to preach in 1854. He joined the Kentucky Con
ference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and Avas ap
pointed missionary for the State in 1867; Center-street Station, 1868 ;
and was Presiding Elder of the Lexington District, from 1868 to 1871.
He has held the folloAving positions : Agent of the Board of Educa
tion, President of the Board of Trustees, and Business Manager of
the Book House. He was elected and ordained Bishop at Jackson,
Tenn., December 21, 1871, by Bishop M'Tyeire. His home is in
Louisville, Ky.
Bishop L. H. Holsey was bom July 3, 1841, near Sparta,
Hancock County, Ga. He was married November 8, 1862, to
Harriet Turner, at Bishop Pierce's home near Sparta, Ga, He was
converted May 10, 1855, and felt that he was called to preach from
childhood. He was admitted into the Georgia Conference, of which
he is still a member. He was ordained deacon January 7,-1869, at
Augusta, Ga., by Bishop Pierce, and elder, December, 1869, at
Macon, Ga., by the same Bishop. His appointments have been as
follows : Hancock Circuit, two years ; Savannah, one year ; taught
school, one year ; Augusta Station, two years and three months. He
was elected and ordained Bishop of the " Colored Methodist Episcopal
Church in America," in March, 1873. He resides in Augusta, Ga.
Bishop Isaac Lane was bom March 4, 1834, in Madison
County, Tenn. He was married to Frances Ann Boyer, December
24, 1853. He was converted and called to preach in 1854. He was
licensed to exhort in 1857, as the law of the State did not give
license to slaves to preach. He was licensed to preach in 1865,

792 Methodist Bishops.
and became a member of the Memphis Conference in November,
1866. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Eobert Paine, at Jackson,
Tenn., in 1866, and elder by the same Bishop in 1867. He filled
the following appointments : Jackson Station, two years ; Jackson
District from 1867 to 1871 ; afterward the station from 1872 to 1873.
He was elected and ordained Bishop at Augusta, Ga., March, 1873.
He lives at Jackson, Tenn.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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