YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

^merixan fraternal (Sreetinp

TO THE

IBeglepn (Sentences in frelanfcr
anb dBnglantr

)hW. HAMILTON
One of the Fraternal Delegates

Printed for Private Circulation

CINCINNATI, OHIO
lf£ Weztim ^Ktettrobtat $ook Concern

Our mother country has many spots Ivithin her do
minions %>hich are dear to the hearts of the lovers
of religious and civil liberty in both hemispheres.
—ROBERT C. WINTHROP.

To Our Friends in America
By Wm. L. Watkinson
Ex-Pkesident of the English Conference

Lose no opportunity of declaring to all men that
the SMethodists are one people in all the <world.
—JOHN WESLEY.

LET me say, in a word, that the visit to
our shores of your fraternal delegate, Dr.
Hamilton, has been greatly appreciated by
our Conference and people. Our only regret
is, that the crowded season in which such
visits are necessarily made, renders impossible
that fullness of fellowship with our guests
which we all so ardently desire. Dr. Ham
ilton's natural, manly, frank style of address
at once captivated our people and won all
hearts. The utility of international courtesies
is a commonplace, but when these courtesies
are exchanged on the higher plane of the
Christian Church they possess a significance
and exert a benign influence which no lan
guage can adequately express. The visit of
your delegates fell at a peculiarly opportune
moment. Your struggle with Spain has made
you the cynosure of all eyes, and drawn to
you the heart of this nation. Dr. Hamilton
5

made the best of a great opportunity; his
orations were received with enthusiam by
crowded Conferences, and they have been
read with interest and delight in thousands of
the homes of Knglish and Irish Methodism.
As he artistically grouped the main facts of
our common Methodist history, and feelingly
drew out their great teachings, we felt our
heart once more "strangely warmed." The
picturesqueness of the address appealed imme
diately to the listening audience, but it con
tained profound passages which our people in
their leisure will not fail to ponder, especially
those portions of his argument bearing upon
the unifying power of a common faith in
international life. The spider's silk, size for
size, is far tougher than a bar of steel, and
fine spiritual sympathies unite nations much
more intimately and firmly than do the cruder
bonds of diplomacy and commerce. Our
twin nations are made indissolubly one by
no tangible threads of interest or statesman
ship, any more than that the stars are knitted
6

into bright brotherhoods by threads spun in a
Lancashire cotton factory; deeper even than
ties of blood are the subtler ties of faith, and
these are the final guarantees of our mutual
harmonious progress. This great lesson Dr.
Hamilton powerfully suggested and illus
trated. We are also indebted to him for
freshly stating the vital truth that our several
nations desire close alliance, not for any selfish
end, but only that they may best together
serve the race. Darwinism assures us that
the organization of a creature is determined
strictly by its own needs; no animal possesses
any organ that has been fashioned with a
view to the welfare or safety of any other
animal. The Christian heart, then, differen
tiates us from mere animals ; we have an organ
that contemplates the welfare of others, and
which urges us to make even mighty sacri
fices on their behalf. Your delegate elo
quently reminded us of this glorious fact,
and urged, in his own persuasive way, the
great truth that Milton set forth when he
7

declared that it was " the mission of England
to teach the nations how to live." Your rep
resentative has done us inspiring service.
His speech was full of hope and aspiration.
He made us feel that in our age time has
been reborn, and that magnificent moral vic
tories await the Christian Church, in which
victories our loved community is bound to
have its full share. All hail !
Yours in the bonds of Christian love and
service,

^/¦tt/oM*

trX>x<*G> tn+^"

Appointment and List of Fraternal Dele
gates to and from the General Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the
United States of America and the Wes-
leyan Methodist Conferences in Ireland and
England

Letter to the Reverend Ezekiel Cooper, of
Philadelphia.
My Dear Brother: . . . We vjant some of
you to give us a connected relation of what our
Lord has been doing in (America from the time
'Richard cBoardman accepted the invitation, and
left his country to serve you. —JOHN WESLEY.

The first preliminary question proposed in
the first Methodist Conference which was
held at the Foundry in London, and began on
Monday, June 25, 1744, was, " How far does
each of us agree to submit to the unanimous
judgment of the rest?" It was answered:
"In speculative things, each can only submit
so far as his judgment shall be convinced —
in every practical point, so far as we can,
without wounding our several consciences."
The right of private judgment was conceded,
and the extent of submission to ecclesiastical
authority determined.
In the first Methodist Conference in Amer
ica, which was held at St. George's Church
in Philadelphia, and began on Wednesday,
the 14th of July, 1773, the first "query pro
posed to every preacher" was, "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?" The answer was, "Yes."

"At that time the Methodists in America,"
says Jesse Lee in "A Short History of the
Methodists," "considered themselves as much
under the direction of Mr. Wesley as were
the European Methodists ; for they were de
pendent on him to send them preachers, and
such directions as he thought best. . . .
This resolution, entered into by the preachers,
was both wise and prudent, and tended to
keep them united together ; and afterwards it
had the same good effects among the private
members." At the Christmas Conference, which was
held at Lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore, and
began its session on Friday, December 24,
1784, among the first regulations adopted was
the following: "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 commands.
And we do engage, after his death, to do
everything that we judge consistent with the
cause of religion in America, and the polit-
cal interests of these States, to preserve and
promote our union with the Methodists in
Europe."

In the Annual Minutes of the Conferences
of 1789 the bishops of the Methodist Epis
copal Church introduced the following ques
tion and answer : " Question. Who are the
persons that exercise the episcopal office
in the Methodist Church in Europe and
America? Answer. John Wesley, Thomas
Coke, and Francis Asbury, by regular order
and succession."
Evidently it was the intention of the
Methodists in America to maintain the closest
possible relations with the Wesleyans in
Great Britain. The War of the Revolu
tion severed the relations which made it
possible to have only one Church in both
countries. But Methodism was fortunate in
having Englishmen in America who were
Americans, and British subjects in Ireland and
England who were intensely Methodist ; they
would not suffer differences to divide them.
To no one more than to the first American
bishop, Thomas Coke, are the two Churches
indebted for their sympathies and close fra
ternal relations. As American bishop, he
congratulated, officially, George Washington
on his election to the Presidency of the
13

United States of America. As citizen of
Great Britain and member of the Wesleyan
Conference, he held the confidence of English
Methodists, and was elected president of the
English Conference, and continued to act as
the president of the Irish Conference while
he was still the American bishop. He was
itinerant in both countries, and was the fra
ternal delegate to and from both Churches,
without being so designated, as long as he
lived. The letters which the several fraternal
delegates have been charged to bear respect
ively to and from the two Churches, were not
only first given to him, bat continued during
his lifetime to be occasioned or inspired by
him. It was not difficult to appoint the fra
ternal delegates after he had ceased to go to
and fro. It is true the conflicting interests of
the missions in Canada led up to the first ap
pointments after Bishop Coke's death ; but the
way was open, and the cordial welcome was al
ways extended to the several representatives,
even when they came and went to adjust
differences. The bishop died on the Indian Ocean,
either on the 2d or 3d of May, 1814. And,
14

notwithstanding the "War of 1812" was so
recently over, Messrs. Black and Bennett, the
representatives of the London Methodist Mis
sionary Society, were received by a commit
tee of the General Conference in 18 16, and
later presented with one hundred dollars by
the members of the Conference.
In 1820, Messrs. Black and Jones, who
were Wesleyan preachers, and in Baltimore
during the session of the General Conference,
were invited by letter to sit among the vis
itors to the Conference.
It was at this same Conference that the
bishops were authorized to appoint the first
fraternal delegate to the British Conference.
They appointed John Emory. The Confer
ence also addressed the British Conference on
the subject of a mutual exchange of delegates
as representatives of the one Conference to the
other. Not only did the British Conference
receive Mr. Emory most cordially, but it "was
rejoiced to recognize that great principle, that
the Wesleyan Methodists are one body in
every part of the world;" and pledged itself
that, " prior to the time of the next General
Conference in America," it would " appoint one
15

or more" of its "body to visit" its brethren
there, "and to be present at their General
Conference." The man who was "from his
shoulders and upwards higher than" almost
"any of the people" in the Conference in
1829, was the eloquent Robert Newton. "A
committee, consisting of all the men who had
been presidents" of the Conference, "with
Mr. Robert Mills," sought to induce Mr.
Newton to consent to go; but he declined,
and Richard Reece and John Hannah were
appointed. The bishops were unable to agree on the ap
pointment for the quadrennium between 1824
and 1828. There were four bishops, and
there were two who favored the appointment
of William Capers, and two who favored that
of Wilbur Fisk. The relation of William
Capers to the slavery question made it impos
sible for him to receive the support of the
bishops "with Northern sympathies." No
one was appointed ; but William Capers was
elected the delegate by ballot in the General
Conference of 1828, defeating Wilbur Fisk by
only a few votes. Since then the custom has
obtained to send delegates once during the
16

quadrennium, from America to Great Britain,
and from Great Britain to America, to every
General Conference. When, in a few in
stances, for local reasons, the appointments
have not been made, or the delegates have
failed to come or go, the Conferences have
been usually represented by official letters.
Since 1856, the Irish Wesleyan Conference
has sent its own delegate or delegates.
Following is the record of representatives :
Fraternal Delegates
Fraternal Delegates from the General
from British and Irish Conference of the
Conferences. Methodist Episcopal
Church.
1808.
Printed address and letters Committee of Correspond-
from Dr. Coke. ence to draft reply. Let
ters only.
1812.
Letter from Dr. Coke. Bishop Asbury speaks of
visiting Europe.
1816.
Messrs. Black and Bennett Committee appointed to
from'the London Meth- draft an address in re-
odist Missionary Society. sponse to the representa
tives of the Montreal So
cieties : Nathan Bangs,
John Emory, T. L. Doug
lass.
2 17

1820.

Messrs. Black and Jones, of
the British Connection,
invited to sit as visitors.

Letter carried by John Em
ory, who was appointed
by the bishops, at the re
quest of the Conference.

1824.

Richard Reece and John
Hannah.

Thanks of the Conference
to Mr. Emory. Bishops
authorized to appoint a
delegate and companion
to the British Conference.

1828.

None.

William Capers, elected by
the Conference. Bishops
to appoint a substitute if
necessary.

1832.
J. Crafts (unofficial) invited Letters only.
to sit as an honorary
member. 1836.

William Lord.

Wilbur Fisk, already in
England, appointed dele
gate, and authorized to
present General Confer
ence letter at once ; or
Bishop Soule to take, in
1837, reply to British
Conference address.

18

1840.
Robert Newton; Joseph Joshua Soule and T, B. Sar-
Sowter, Esq., " traveling gent. By resolution of
companion." Conference.
1844.
Letters accrediting Messrs. Letters only.
Richey and Case as rep
resenting the Missionary
Committee of the Wes
leyan Methodist Church.

James Dixon and Joseph Elijah Hedding, or substi-
Stinson. The latter did tute appointed by the
not attend. bishops. No one seems
to have gone.
1852.
No delegate. Reply to let- Letter regretting that no

reply had been received to
communication of 1848.

ter of 1848 also failed to
arrive ; had been drafted,
however, and printed in
British Minutes. 1856.
John Hannah and F. J. Job- Matthew Simpson and John

son. First deputation
from the Irish Confer
ence: Robinson C^ott,
William Arthur, and
Robert G. Cather. i860.

McClintock ; both a t-
tended the Irish Confer
ence. Elected by ballot.

Letters only. Robinson
Scott from the Irish Con
ference.

Bishop Janes informally (?)
present at English and
Irish Conferences.

19

1864.
William Lockwood Thorn- Edmund S. Janes and Thos.
ton and W. B. Pope (who Bowman (who did not
did not come) ; Robinson go) ; to visit Irish Con-
Scott from Irish Confer- ference also. " Deputed
ence. by the Conference."
1868.
William Morley Punshon. Edward R. Ames (Matthew
From Ireland, letters Simpson, substitute) and
only. Randolph S. Foster,
elected by ballot. Only
the latter went to Ireland.
1872.
Appointed, William Arthur William L. Harris and J. A.
(who became ill) and McCauley. "Deputed by
Geo. T. Perks (daughter the Conference."
ill). Substitutes, Luke
H. Wiseman and William
Morley Punshon. From
the Irish Conference, Jo
seph W. McKay. 1876.
W. B. Pope and James H. Thos. Bowman and Erastus
Rigg. O. Haven. "Bishops to
nominate and appoint."
Failed to visit Irish Con
ference.
1880.
William Arthur and Fred- William F. Warren. Ap-
erick McDonald. From pointed by the bishops.
the Irish Conference, Attended both Confer-
Wallace McMullen. ences.
20

Robert Newton Young and Cyrus Foss and Albert S.
Sylvester Whitehead, Hunt. The latter at-
substitute for William F. tended the Irish Con-
Moulton (prevented). ference.
1888.
Charles H. Kelly. From Henry W. Warren and
the Irish Conference, Charles J. Little. Went
Wesley Guard. to the Irish Conference
also.
1892.
William Fiddian Moulton. Edw. G. Andrews and Hon.
From the Irish Confer- Theodore Runyon (pre-
ence, letter only. vented). To visit Irish
Conference also.
1896.
W. L. Watkinson. R. Craw- Charles H. Fowler and John
ford Johnson, from the W. Hamilton. Went to
Irish Conference. both Conferences.
Dr. Olin attended the British Conference
of 1839.
Rev. Wm. Reilly (1856-1857) and Wm.
MacArthur, Esq. (in 1866), were companions
of Robinson Scott in his mission to the
American Churches.

Credentials of the First Delegate to the
British Conference

He executed this delicate mission to the entire satis
faction of all parties concerned, and, by the dignity and
urbanity of his manner, his Christian meekness, his un
affected piety, and the remarkable ability displayed in his
speeches and sermons, he left a strong impression in
favor, not only of his ovjn personal character, but also
of the Church and nation vahich he represented, in the
minds of the 'British cMethodists. —JOHN mcCLINTOCK.

JOHN EMORY
First American Fraternal Delegate

"To John Emory, a member of the Baltimore
Annual Conference
" In compliance with a resolution of the
General Conference of the Methodist Episco
pal Church, now in session in this city, we
hereby appoint you to be a delegate from this
Conference to the Conference of Methodist
ministers and preachers to meet in Liverpool,
in the kingdom of Great Britain, in the
month of July next.
" In virtue of this appointment, we in
struct you,
"First — To express to the said Conference
our earnest desire, and the desire of this Gen
eral Conference, to cultivate the most friendly
and harmonious relations with our brethren
of the British connection, and to ascertain
their view of the expediency of a mutual
interchange of delegates for this purpose once
in four years.
" Secondly — To endeavor, by all prudent
and practicable means, to effect an amicable
25

and permanent adjustment of the unpleasant
difficulties which have existed between us in
the Canadas; in order to which you will
make such use of the reports and other docu
ments on this subject in your possession as,
on examination, you may judge most ad
visable. " Thirdly — We are of opinion that the
most effectual means to prevent collisions in
future will be, to establish a specific line by
which our field of labor shall be bounded on
one side, and the British missionaries on the
other. With this view you are at liberty to
stipulate that our preachers shall confine
their labors in Canada to the upper province,
provided the British missionaries will confine
theirs to the lower.
" We remain yours, etc.,
Wm. McKendree,
Enoch George,
R. R. Roberts.
"Baltimore, May 27, 1820."

Address of the General Conference of the
cMethodist Episcopal Church in the United
States of America, to the British Confer
ence of ministers and preachers, late in
connection tvith the Rev, John Wesley,
the Response of the British Conference,
Resolutions, and Extract from the Minutes,
of the Conference

Letters are among the most significant memorials. -GOETHE.

"Address of the General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church in the United
States of America, to the British Conference
of ministers and preachers, late in connection
ivith the Ret>, John Wesley
" Reverend and Dear Brethren, —
Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied to
you, and to the Israel of God under your
charge, both at home and in foreign coun
tries. With a sincere and earnest desire to es
tablish and preserve the most perfect harmony
and peace with you, our elder brethren, we have
adopted measures for opening such friendly
intercourse as will, we devoutly pray, tend to
the accomplishment of this desirable end.
" Situated so remotely from each other, and
under different forms of civil government,
it is believed that no mode of correspond
ence will so effectually unite the European
and American Methodists as an interchange
of delegates from our respective Conferences.
" We are encouraged to hope that such
correspondence will be acceptable to you,
29

from the consideration of the visit of Messrs.
Black and Bennett, at our last session, and
from the friendly opinion of our dear brother,
the Rev. William Black, who has been with
us during our present sitting in this city.
" Should such a friendly intercourse be ap
proved, we shall receive with cordiality your
representative at our succeeding sessions, and,
with the most sincere friendship and affec
tion, reciprocate the visit.
" The prosperity of your missions, both at
home and in foreign countries, is matter of
praise and thanksgiving to the great Head of
the Church ; and our unceasing prayer is, that
they still may increase more and more.
" The last four years have been distin
guished by no ordinary success within the
field of our labor: our borders have been
greatly enlarged, and the wilderness has bud
ded and blossomed as the rose. The last
year especially has been attended with an
abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and
the increase of our numbers has exceeded
that of any former year.
" The field of missionary labors is open
ing and extending before us, and Divine
30

Providence appears to be preparing the way
for the conversion of the Indian tribes on this
vast continent.
" The bearer, the Rev. John Emory, has
been appointed our delegate to your bod)',
and will be able to give you a more particu
lar account of the work under our charge,
and especially of our commencement and
progress in the missionary cause.
" Most earnestly praying that the Meth
odists may be identified in their doctrine, ex
perience, and practice, in every part of the
world, and that the Father of lights may pour
upon you and upon us the Spirit of grace,
and preserve us in the unity of faith and in
the fellowship and peace of his Son Jesus
Christ, we remain, reverend and dear breth
ren, yours in the gospel of our common
Lord. " Signed by order and in behalf of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
"Enoch George, President.
" Alexander McCaine, Secretary.
"Baltimore, May 27, 1820."

31

" To the General Superintendents of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in the United States of
America
" Dear Brethren, — We inclose to your
care the resolutions passed by the Conference,
after the letters addressed to us by the Amer
ican General Conference, and delivered by
the Rev. John Emory, had been read and
considered. " In addition to the expression of our sen
timents contained in those resolutions, on
the renewal of intercourse between the two
Conferences, we are directed to request you
to convey to your next General Conference
our warmest thanks for those declarations of
unabated brotherly affection toward us and
the connection which your letters contain,
and for the appointment of Mr, Emory as
your representative.
" In him we have recognized the purity of
your doctrine, and the fervor and simplicity
of your piety. We have received him, not as
32

RICHARD REECE
First English Fraternal Delegate

a stranger, but as a 'brother beloved.' Our
hearts are as his heart, and it will be remem
bered as one of the most pleasing circum
stances connected with the Conference held
in this town, that our personal intercourse
with you was here restored, and that this
' work of love ' was committed to so able and
excellent a brother, whose public ministra
tions and addresses in our Conference have
been equally gratifying and instructive to us
and to our people.
" From the statements made by Mr. Em-
ory, as to the progress of the work of God in
the United States, we have received the great
est satisfaction. We offered our united
thanksgivings to God, that the doctrines of
primitive Methodism, the preaching of which
God has so eminently owned in the salvation
of men, and the edification of believers, are
not only continued among you in their purity,
but have been so widely extended by your
great and persevering efforts, and that the
same holy discipline, in all its essential parts,
continues, whenever you form societies, to
guard and confirm the work which God has
made to prosper in your hands.
3 33

"For the state of our affairs in Great Brit
ain and Ireland, and in our missionary sta
tions, we refer you to Mr. Emory, who, as
health would allow, has attended our sittings,
and to those publications with which, before
his departure, we shall be happy to furnish
him, to be laid before you.
" You will see that we have had to rejoice
with you in the great extension of the work
of God into the various parts of the British
Empire, and that the institutions of Method
ism, which we have proved to be so well
adapted to promote and to preserve true re
ligion, are known and valued in every quar
ter of the globe. May we, with you, be the
honored instruments of turning the disobedi
ent to the wisdom of the just in every place,
and of hastening the universal kingdom of
our Lord.
"The resolutions on the disputes in the
Canadas were adopted after a calm and pa
tient consideration of the case, in which we
were greatly assisted by Mr. Emory. We
hope that they will lead to a full adjustment
of those disputes, and that the affection
which exists between the two connections
34

generally, will extend itself to the brethren
and societies in the Canadas. This is the
disposition which we shall earnestly inculcate
upon those under our care in those provinces :
and we have full confidence that the same
care will be taken by you to extinguish every
feeling contrary to love among those over
whom you have control and influence.
" With earnest prayers for you, dear and
honored brethren, in particular, on whom de
volves the general direction of the affairs of
the great body of Methodists in the Western
World, and whose labors are so severe, but so
glorious ; that you may be filled with wisdom
for counsel, and strength to fulfill the duties
of your great office ; and also for all your
Churches, that they may have rest, and, walk
ing in the fear of the Lord and in the com
forts of the Holy Ghost, may be abundantly
multiplied, we are, dear brethren, yours most
affectionately in Christ Jesus.
" Jabez Bunting, President.
" George Marsden, Secretary.
"Liverpool, August 7, 1820."

"Resolutions of the British Conference in reference
to their relation •with the American General
Conference
" The Rev. John Emory, having been in
troduced to the Conference as the accredited
representative in our body of the General
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
in the United States of America, presented a
letter from that Conference, and gave an in
teresting and encouraging statement of the
prosperity of the work of God in the United
States, which account the Conference received
with much satisfaction, and unanimously
agreed to the following resolutions on the oc
casion, viz.:
"i. That the Conference embrace with
pleasure this opportunity of recognizing that
great principle — which, it is hoped, will be
permanently maintained — that the Wesleyan
Methodists are one body in every part of the
world. " 2. That the British Conference have fre-
36

quently rejoiced in the very favorable ac
counts which have been received, year after
year, of the great and glorious work which
God is graciously carrying on in the United
States of America, but that it is with peculiar
pleasure that they receive a representative
from the General Conference in America.
The statement given by our beloved brother,
Mr. Emory, of the present state of Method
ism in America, has been received with much
joy ; and the Conference hereby expresses its
high satisfaction, not only in the declaration,
but in the proof, of the love of our American
brethren in fully opening the way for a
brotherly intercourse between the European
and the American societies.
"3. That the Conference particularly re
joices in the zeal which is manifested by our
American brethren, in carrying the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ to the Indian tribes,
and in the success which God has already
given to their labors in that natural and moral
wilderness ; and hopes that the time is draw
ing near when the aborigines of that vast
continent shall become the mild and gentle
followers of our gracious Redeemer.
37

"4. That it is the earnest wish of this
Conference, that the kind and friendly inter
course which is now opened between the
British and American Conferences should be
continued ; and that, prior to the time of the
next General Conference in America, the
British Conference will appoint one or more
of their body to visit our brethren in Amer
ica, and to be present at their General Con
ference. "5. That a letter shall be sent to the
American brethren, containing these resolu
tions, and strongly expressing our high appro
bation of the selection of our highly-esteemed
brother, Mr. Emory, as their representative to
our Conference, and our earnest desire and
prayer that, in the spirit of Christian love, we
may ever be one in Christ Jesus.
"6. That there shall be a regular exchange
of Minutes, magazines, missionary reports and
notices, and of all new original works, pub
lished by the European and American Meth
odists, from their respective book-rooms."

JOHN HANNAH
First English "Traveling Companion'

Extract from the Minutes of the British Confer
ence for the Year 1820
" The Conference has felt peculiar satis
faction in receiving a representative from the
General American Conference, after a suspen
sion of personal communication for some
years. Circumstances, and not any diminu
tion of affection, had interrupted this grateful
interchange of brotherly affection and mutual
esteem. The renewal of it by the deputation
of our excellent and beloved Brother Emory
has given us great joy. Through him we
have received the , assurances of that regard
which is felt by our brethren in the United
States toward the Methodists of Great Brit
ain, by whom that work which now diffuses
light and life through the vast space of that
great and rising country was first commenced,
and of their desire that a regular intercourse
by deputation from each Conference should
be established. All the expressions of kind
ness thus communicated to us by Brother
39

Emory, in the name and on the behalf of the
General American Conference, have been
echoed back by the sympathies of our hearts.
We could not hear his statements, as to the
state and progress of the common work in the
United States of America, without being
deeply affected with gratitude to God and
admiration of the ardor and enterprise of our
brethren there in the cause of Christ. Their
unwearied labors have not only, by the Divine
blessing, raised up large and flourishing soci
eties in the principal cities and towns of the
Union, but they have erected the altars of
God in the distant wilderness, and connected
the insulated settlements of men with the
hopes, the joys, and the worship of the uni
versal Church. As the tide of population has
extended itself over that vast country, they
have followed it, embracing every opportu
nity to reach, and submitting to great difficul
ties and privations to save souls. To these
labors they were long animated by the noble
example of the venerable Asbury, a man of
apostolic labors, whose spirit of patient zeal
and self-denying piety has abundantly de
scended upon the excellent general superin-
40

tendents, who now direct those vast means
which exist in a state of increasing activity in
the American continent, for the extension of the
hallowing influence of true religion through
the growing population of the Anglo-Ameri
can empire. The present number of travel
ing preachers in the American Methodist
connection is reported by Mr. Emory to be
near nine hundred ; of local preachers, three
thousand ; of members, at least two hundred
and fifty-seven thousand ; making an increase
for the last year of upward of sixteen thou
sand. Such has been the glorious result of
little more than half a century, and of that
feeble commencement of the work which
took place in 1766. An efficient religious
system, operating wide as that extensive
country, has been thus created, whch al
ready has begun to extend itself beyond its
bounds, ample as they are, to the pagan
Indians on its borders, and promises, un
der Divine Providence, to disperse the rays of
truth to the still benighted parts of that great
continent, on the north, the west, and the
south, — to parts where civilization is silently
laying the foundation of future States, but
41

now involved in superstition or the bewilder
ing darkness of paganism and idolatry. To
these great successes, and still greater pros
pects, our hearts have been delightfully di
rected by the kind visit of our beloved
brother, and with invigorated affection we
have embraced our distant brethren, one with
us in doctrine, one in the object of their la
bors, and one in our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ."

42

Address to the Irish Conference in Grosve-
nor Hall, Dublin, Ireland, Friday Evening,
June 24, t898
By J. W. Hamilton

/ remember with what devoted earnestness, with what
unfaltering zeal, Ireland has carried on so many years
the struggle for her (Hon freedom. It is from such men,
•whose hearts lost no jot of their faith in the grave of
Emmet; over whose zeal the loss of Curran and Grattan
could throvj no damp ; <who are now turning the trophies
of one field into weapons for new conquest; whom a hire
ling press and prejudiced public could never sever a moment
from O'Connett's side, — it is from the sympathy of such
men that we have a right to hope much. —WENDELL PHILLIPS.

Mr. President, Fathers, and Broth
ers, — We bring you the greetings of more
than ten millions of Methodists. The Meth
odist Episcopal Church has nearly three
millions of members, and there are three ad
herents to one communicant. The General
Conference has deputed us to bring you the
Wesleyan salutation — If thy heart is as my
heart, give me thy hand. I am only cup
bearer to the king. But I am not commanded
to restrain my feelings in bringing to you my
message, nor to conceal my appreciation of
the welcome you have already so cordially
extended to us. The peasant is permitted to
have as much heart as his potentate.
We are not without some knowledge of the
people to whom we are sent. We are only
come out of the new Ireland into the old
Ireland, and, we sometimes think, from people
who are "more Irish than the Irish." During
the last half century more of your people
have come to live with us than you now have
45

left at home. We keep open house for all the
world. There came to our shores last year
more guests than there is population in Dub
lin, and those visitors all came to stay. But
there is more of Irish blood in our veins than
that of any other emigrants. There were
half as many Irish people came to America
last year as can be found in the city of Cork,
and more than can be found in all Limerick.
There are more Irish in the city of New York
than in Belfast.
In all our Southern States there is great
respect for the "aristocracies" of Virginia.
In the nomenclature of the Old Dominion
the hereditary families bear the authoritative
stamp of approval. None are genuine who
can not wear for their insignia the flattering
letters F. F. V. — First Families of Virginia.
It is the mark of their nobility; a sort of
inscription for their coat of arms. The Rev.
Dr. Lanahan, the venerable Agent of our book
depository in Baltimore, has given a new ren
dering to these upright capitals. He says:
"I am from one of the F. F. V.'s myself; that
is to say, one of the first families to arrive in
Virginia from Ireland." He thus pertinently
46

reminds any who are disposed to be a bit
arrogant of the presence of their own immi
grant generation a little farther back.
It is possible I was selected to come here
because of the inheritance I have in common
with you. By birth I am an American, but
by the birth of my grandfather I am an Irish
man; by the birth of some of the grand
fathers of my grandfather I am a Scotchman.
Though "my name is" not "Norval," "my
fathers fed their flocks on the Grampian
Hills." It was a remark of Lord Rosebery
that wherever one goes in this world and sees
a good thing, one generally finds a Scotchman
sitting down beside it; but I may add that
when the Scotchman gets there he usually
finds an Irishman has been there sitting down
beside that good thing for at least some little
time. Whether the Scots came from Ireland,
or the Irish from Scotland, or both came of
invaders from England and the Continent, the
Scots and the Irish both, and the Scotch-Irish
and the Irish-Scots are found everywhere in
America. The dispersion from Scotland and Ireland
at first distributed itself in some parts of the
47

country, for various reasons, much more freely
than in others. Speaking of this immigra
tion in the South at an early period, Thomas
Nelson Page, in his book entitled "The Old
South," says: "By a strange destiny the vital
ity of the colony received an infusion of an
other element, which became in the sequel a
strong part of that life which, in its devel
opment, made 'the Southern civilization.'"
After speaking of the arrival of John Lewis
from Ireland, and the circumstances which
influenced his coming, he says: "He was fol
lowed by the McDowells, Alexanders, Pres-
tons, Grahams, Reids, McLaughlins, Moores,
Campbells, Waddels, Greenlees, Bowyers, An
dersons, Breckinridges, Paxtons, Houstons,
Stuarts, Gambles, McCorkles, Wilsons, Mc-
Nutts, and many others, whose descendants
have held the highest offices in the land which
their fortitude created, and who have ever
thrown on the side of principle the courage,
resolution, and loyalty with which they have
held out for liberty and Protestantism in the
land from which they came."
As I travel our country over I am some
times led to conclude that there are no per-
48

sons in all the States and Territories who are
not Scotch-Irish people or Irish-Scotch people,
or who have not been mixed up in their fam
ilies with them in some way or other, so that
they are Scotch-Irish-Puritans, or Scotch-
Irish-Huguenots, Scotch-Irish-Jews, Scotch-
Irish-Greeks, Scotch -Irish -bond — no, there
are no bondsmen there — but Scotch-Irish-free.
The map of the United States seems to have
been laid out for a game of "hop-Scotch" or
Irish processions.
If it were not for the prevailing modesty
of the Irish people I would be inclined to tell
you some good things about j'ourselves. I
can not now see, any way, how I can well for
bear. My case is like that of blind Allan of
the Highlands of Scotland. He became the
family piper of Colonel Ronaldson MacDonald,
of Glengarry, a notable man in his day. He
once told the piper he would give the best
cow on his estate if he would sing the doings
of the day without once mentioning his name.
With ready adroitness, he said :
" Sooner the day without the sun,
Or without salt the sea,
Than a song from me, most honored chief,
Without the praise of thee."
4 49

Knowing that I am on Irish soil, and that
we are away off here alone, I presume no one
will speak of it if I do not wholly forbear. I
have not forgotten that John Wesley said the
Irish people were "an immeasurably loving-
people" — "the politest people he had ever
met; and that in their wretched cabins could
be seen as thorough courtesy as at the courts
of London or Paris."
As for Belfast, I have felt that I 've been
in courtly circles ever since I came here.
Your families are of the house of them that
wrought fine linen. I am quite sure I could
come to Belfast to live, if I felt equally sure
that I could withstand the temptations of your
good fortune. I fear I might not always have
in mind the fate of that certain rich man
who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and
fared sumptuously every day. There has
been one protection for us since we have been
here. Like that of all other Americans, "our
stomach for good fortune is bottomless," as
Schopenhauer has said, who gets his pessim
ism in everywhere, "but the entrance to it is
narrow." Very early you set a guard to your
life and character in this city. In the very
50

year in which we were printing our first
newspaper in Boston, you were printing in
Belfast one of the first editions of the Bible
published in Ireland. That was in 1704.
" Your devotion, eloquence, and patriotism,"
said Wendell Phillips, "is seldom paralleled in
history. Who have been your leaders ? Dean
Swift, according to Addison, 'the greatest
genius of his age " — Pope called him ' the
incomparable;' Henry Flood, 'eloquent for
even an Irishman, and sagacious as he was
eloquent;' Grattan, 'with all the courage,
and more than the eloquence of his race' —
Fox welcomed him to the House of Commons
as 'the Demosthenes of Ireland;' Emmet in
the field; Sheridan in the Senate; Curran at
the bar; and, above all, Edmund Burke,
whose name makes eulogy superfluous, ' more
than Cicero in the Senate, almost Plato in
the Academy.' "
And in America we can never forget Daniel
O'Connell. "When I was in Naples," con
tinued Mr. Phillips, "I asked Sir Thomas
Fowell Buxton, a Tory, 'Is O'Connell an
honest man?' 'As honest a man as ever
breathed,' said he, and then told me his
51

story." "When, in 1830, O'Connell entered
Parliament, the anti-slavery cause was so
weak that it had only Lushington and myself
to speak for it, and we agreed that when he
spoke I should cheer him, and when I spoke
he should cheer me; and these were the only
cheers we ever got. O'Connell came, with
one Irish member to support him. A large
number of members (I think Buxton said
twenty-seven), whom we called the West India
interest, the Bristol party, the slave party,
went to him, saying, 'O'Connell, at last you
are in the House, with one helper; if you will
never go down to Freemason's Hall with
Buxton and Brougham, here are twenty-seven
votes for you on every Irish question. If you
work with those Abolitionists, count us always
against you.'
" It was a terrible temptation. How many
so-called statesmen would have yielded?
O'Connell said, 'Gentlemen, God knows I
speak for the saddest people the sun sees;
but may my right hand forget its cunning, and
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if, to
save Ireland, even Ireland, I forget the Negro
one single hour!' 'From that day,' said
52

Buxton, 'Lushington and I never went into
the lobby that O'Connell did not follow us.' "
And this other incident gives him a high
place in the affections of a whole race in
America. It was also narrated by Mr. Phillips.
"Some years afterwards," he said, "I went
into Conciliation Hall, where O'Connell was
arguing for repeal. He lifted from the table
a thousand-pound note, sent them from New
Orleans, and said to be from the slaveholders
of that city. Coming to the front of the plat
form, he said : 'This is a draft of one thousand
pounds from the slaveholders of New Orleans,
the unpaid wages of the Negro. Mr. Treas
urer, I suppose the treasury is empty?' The
treasurer nodded to show him that it was, and
he went on, 'Old Ireland is very poor; but,
thank God, she is not poor enough to take the
unpaid wages of anybody. Send it back.' "
That is good enough material out of which
to make the American citizen. If we were
able to make such a division of the social
structure as to secure exact information con
cerning the influence of national character
istics, we should discover how much was due
to the character of your people in shaping the
53

institutions of our country. When Dr. Lori-
mer was speaking at the reception of my
friend and successor, Dr. Brady, the pastor of
the People's Church, Boston, he congratulated
the city on the arrival of an Irishman who
was not to be a policeman. But all our Irish
men are not simply policemen, if all our
policemen are Irishmen. When good enough
material gets to America — and it does — it may
have to wait a generation or so ; but the time
comes when we open the door of our White
House in Washington, and bid the good stuff
come in and make itself at home. When
have we done better than when we opened
wide the portals and bid the good Irishman
and Methodist who is now there, and whose
name is in all the earth, to come in — William
McKinley, President of the United States?
We can't get on without Irishmen in
America. They must be here, and there, and
everywhere. It is said when our Civil War
was on, and we were about to engage in the
first battle, the commanding officer rode down
the line, and cried aloud with evident anxiety,
"Is Dennis McCarthy in this army?" In
stantly there stepped out of the ranks a tall
54

and superb young man, muscular and brawny,
who presented arms and responded promptly,
"Dennis McCarthy is all here." The officer
then said with stentorian voice, as he turned
and complacently rode back, "Let the battle
proceed." Mr. Morgan, commoner of Christ Church,
the son of an Irish gentleman, was a member
of the Holy Club, at Oxford, one of the first
Methodists, and, as he was the first to die, the
first Methodist in heaven was an Irishman.
When John Wesley first came to Ireland,
he found great hearts awaiting him, and
strong minds ready to receive his doctrine.
Men and women were raised up who have
carried Methodism the world over. Bishop
Janes once said : " Wherever English-speak
ing Methodism exists out of England, it has
been planted by Irishmen ; and English-
speaking Methodism is Irish Methodism the
world over."
It is not only to the Irish Palatines we are
indebted for the founders of our American
Methodism, but it is from an Irish ancestry
we have received the brilliant Maffitt, the
doughty Elliott, the scholarly McClintock, the
55

eloquent Simpson, and multitudes of the rank
and file of our preachers and laymen.
The revered and greatly-beloved William
Butler is a member of my own Conference.
Having founded our missions in India and
Mexico, he has come home, and is waiting in a
good old age to be gathered to his fathers.
What golden threads link the mental and
spiritual gifts and excellencies of a hundred
years ago with your history to-day! The
memory of " that ever-living man," Thomas
Walsh, comes down to us through all the gen
erations like rain upon the mown grass, as
showers that water the earth. Wesley said
he was so thoroughly acquainted with the
Bible that if he was questioned concerning
any Hebrew word in the Old, or any Greek
in the New Testament, he would tell, after a
brief pause, not only how often the one or the
other occurred in the Bible, but what it meant
in every place. Such a master of Biblical
knowledge, he said, he never saw before, and
never expected to see again. Gideon Ousley
is remembered as the veritable St. Patrick of
Irish Methodism, and Father Tom of Irish
Protestantism. Adam Clarke, who was three
56

times President of the English Conference,
and who was first to decipher the Rosetta
Stone, has been declared by Theodore Parker
to be the scholar of a thousand years. I have
the good fortune to be the owner of what was
once his set of the Arminian Magazines. In
the volume in which is printed his portrait
he has written underneath the picture, " This
was done by Mr. Holoway, and is as like the
original as chalk is to cheese."
There is associated in my mind with your
history as a Conference a number of fraternal
delegates, who have left with us delightful
memories of their visits to America. That
strong man, Robinson Scott, came so often,
we accepted him as the American member of
the Irish Conference. I am come to Belfast
from the city in which is treasured the dust
of Robert Wallace. My honored predecessor,
the venerable Doctor Rust, now the honorary
secretary of the Freedmen's Aid and South
ern Education Society, told me a few days
ago that he called on Sunday morning where
Mr. Wallace was entertained in Cincinnati, at
the home of John M. Phillips, who was later
one of our publishing agents at New York,
57

to accompany him to the church where he
was expected to preach. He found he had
died of the cholera during the night. He
read the burial service at his grave. The
Methodists of Cincinnati built a monument
to his memory.
There is a living Irishman, whose name is
honored as a household word in America, as
everywhere over the Methodist earth. We
teach our children to know him through his
" Successful Merchant," and though his voice
is now hushed, it can not be forgotten. His
was the "Tongue of Fire," and will be to the
end of time.
The secretary of your Conference, who
came to us two years ago, can not come too
often. His welcome reaches from Maine to
Mexico. We need you all in America. We are
ready to annex your whole Conference, or to
have you annex us. Uncle Sam is rich
enough to give you all a farm.
I know Mr. Redmond has told us recently
in one of our Reviews that " the Catholics in
Ireland . . . have, all through the cen
tury, been three to one of the entire popu-
58

lation." And we have some people among
us who feel about their coming, much as
Bishop FitzGerald has said the Southern
States felt about the last Civil War. He il
lustrates the feeling with the story of a poor
boy in Virginia, who is the son of a widow.
He is fond of hot cakes, but his mother's
poverty makes it impossible for him ever to
get enough. Recently some friends sent the
good woman a good supply of cake flour.
She determined for once the boy should have
all he wanted. Plate after plate was filled
with the hot buttered cakes swimming in mo
lasses. At length, when a full plate of fresh
cakes had been set before him, the boy began
to cry. " What," said his mother, " Johnnie,
don't you like cakes?" "Yes, ma'am."
"Well, then, don't you want some more ?"
" No, ma'am," he managed to say, in the
midst of his crying, " I do n't want what I 've
had." I am not greatly troubled over the Roman
Catholics going to America, they turn to be
something else so soon after they get there.
They now admit themselves everywhere, that
if it were not for immigration, it would not
59

take long for them there to lose what they
have. If we would get them all at once, the
increase would be stopped. We could then
go to work to make them all Methodists. I
would not have you believe that superstition
is all done away among us. We have a Zoo
logical Garden in Cincinnati, which is one of
the great attractions of the city. A boat-load
of Irish soil was sent for recently, and re
ceived by the managers of this garden with
the expressed purpose to test the St. Patrick
legend concerning the disappearance of snakes
in Ireland. The soil has been spread out in
the sun, and the snakes turned loose upon it.
They were all doing well when I left. No,
there are many superstitious people among
us. But the miracle of our civilization is the
incontrovertible fact that, come to the United
States all who may, in the end we all speak
the same thing, and there are no divisions
among us. We are perfectly joined together
in the same mind, and in the same judgment.
It is the Christian and American idea that is
over all and in all.
When the first delegate, the Rev. John
Emory, came to the English Conference,
60

which was seventy-eight years ago, he was
twenty-six days crossing the ocean. He
landed at Brighton in England, and did not
arrive in London until the next day. In the
address of the General Conference to the
British Conference, which he carried with
him, it was said: "The last four years have
been distinguished by no ordinary success
within the field of our labor ; our borders
have been greatly enlarged, and the wilder
ness has budded and blossomed as the rose.
The last year especially has been attended
with an abundant outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, and the increase of our members has
exceeded that of any former years." But
when that message was written, there were
not as many members of the Church in the
United States as there are now Negro mem
bers, and one-sixth of the number then were
reported colored. There were only about as
many preachers as there are now in the New
York Preachers' Meeting. There were only
twelve Conferences and two effective bishops.
The Kentucky Conference, which is only
across the river from my office, was formed
during that year. The Ohio Conference,
61

which had not as many members as the Irish
Conference now has, was on the frontier, and
there had been started only a little time be
fore a mission to the Wyandot Indians.
What hath God wrought ! You have been
reading in our newspapers something of the
decline of Methodism among us. But I am
compelled to say of that rumor, as Mark
Twain said of the report of his death, " It
has been greatly exaggerated."
Pursuant to the action of the last General
Conference, we have been clearing up our
records, and the gain reported for the last year
has materially fallen off. Nevertheless, the
net gain in accessions aggregates more than
two-thirds of the membership of your entire
Conference, and the net gain for the last four
years exceeds the number of all the Sunday-
school scholars in the whole of Ireland, or
more than half the number of all the Epis
copalians in all our States and Territories.
We have no [longer any frontier, our pio
neers are mostly all gone.
" Behind the squaw's light birch canoe
The steamer rocks and raves,
And city lots are staked for sale
Above old Indian graves."
62

We are dependent hereafter for our gains
on the increase of our population, our immi
gration, and the sinners all among us, rather
than on any new peoples we will find in the
Far West.
There is one great field open to us in the
sixteen Southern States, which were slave
States until the Proclamation of Emancipation
by Abraham Lincoln. Our sister white de
nominations in that territory are not yet edu
cated to care for the black people among
them. The Northern Churches thus far are
the only mission Churches working to any
extent among the African people in the South.
The Methodist Episcopal Church has more
than thirty Annual Conferences in these
States, and a constituency of quite two mil
lion adherents. The Society which I have the
honor to represent has nearly fifty schools,
with more than 500 teachers, 10,000 students,
and two million dollars' worth of property.
The Church has expended ten millions of dol
lars in the South since the close of the Civil
War, of which nearly five millions have been
expended by the Freedmen's Aid and South
ern Education Society. 63

The magnitude of this great Southern
work is not yet understood by our people.
Nevertheless, one-half the gain in accessions
to the whole Church last year was in the
South, and less than one-fourth of that was
among the people of African descent. This
black population is increasing at the rate of
three hundred a day, and there are more per
sons now who are black that can not read and
write than there were slaves before the war.
I know no more promising field among us for
the safe investment of a little money than in
the minds and hearts of these lowly, poor
people. There came into my office, a day or
two before I left, a noble specimen of young
African manhood, who only a few years ago
was wheeling the ashes from the furnace in
one of our rolling mills. He said he was thus
engaged when, one day, one of the presidents
of our schools was passing, and he turned
towards him and said, "There is a young man
who ought to have an education." That was
enough. When he came to me he had grad
uated from one of our universities, and had a
good position in one of our State schools.
He asked me to give him an introduction to
64

the Bishop of Africa. He believed he was
called to go there as a missionary.
Our Missionary Society is equipped with
three strong men as secretaries, but they can
not meet the cry from the ends of the earth
calling for Methodist missionaries. Though
a great burden has fallen on them during the
times of depression through which we have
been passing, they promise us in a few weeks
to be able to cancel their great debt.
Our Church Extension Society continues
to build nearly two churches a day, resting
only on Sundays.
The Sunday-school Union and Tract Soci
ety are making the money very largely for our
Book Concerns ; their leaves are for the heal
ing of the nations.
I can not tell you the good works of our
Methodist women. I know this: the Lord
giveth the word. The women who publish
the tidings are a great host. They raised
$500,000 last year for their two Missionary
Societies, and no person can make a dollar go
farther than a woman.
The Epworth League is running our hearts
altogether. It is the most ecumenical thing
5 65

among us. Our Joint Commission on the
Federation of the two great dissevered com
munions was compelled to lift its hand to
stay the love of the young people. They are
likely to run us all into one Church before
we have loved up to it.
But I must not detain you. I thank you
profoundly for your cordial welcome and hos
pitality. I wanted to come this long journey,
if for no other reason, to thank your mem
bers of Parliament for the vote of sympathy
they have given us as we wage our war of the
daylight against the dark. Come over and
help us. We shall continue to look to you
for Methodist fathers and mothers. Ireland,
my fatherland ! Ireland for ever ! Erin go
bragh !

66

Address to the English Conference in Great
Thornton Street Chapel, Hull, England,
Monday Evening, July 25, i898
By J. W. Hamilton

We rejoice in the growing sense of kinship that marks
our relations with the United States. The efforts of our
brethren to disburden suffering peoples of the pitiless and
truculent misgovernments under which they have groaned
command our warmest sympathy, and our sympathy is
valued as never before. In fusing together the two great
divisions of the Anglo-Saxon race, the Churches have played
the chief part, although, like their Lord, they do not cry
nor uplift their voices in the highways of international
politics. Common Church ideals, the inbred passion for
civil and religious liberty, the fellowship of an evangel
ical faith that is one and undivided in alt essentials, are
perhaps stronger uniting and annealing forces than blood
and kinship. In fostering the spirit of brotherly kindness
between ourselves and the great Western world, you will
serve the interests of the faith in every land. — Extract
from the Pastoral Address of the English Wesleyan Con
ference, 1898.

Mr. President, Fathers, and Broth
ers, — The preachers and members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church in the United
States of America have always had sincere
affection for the English Wesleyan Meth
odists. Have they not Abraham to their
father? Can Jacob or Joseph forget the
cave in the field of Machpelah? Was not
this the home of John Wesley, the son of
Susannah, the brother of Charles and Sam
uel? Were not his sisters all here with
him? Your altars and fires are the altars
and fires of the American Methodists. Ep-
worth and Oxford, the Foundry, and City
Road Chapel come down to them as they
come down to you. When American Meth
odists, therefore, are come hither — you must
pardon the feeling, they can not resist it —
they feel that they are come home. And
there are no memories so tender and bind
ing as the memories that circle about the old
home. There is no word in all our speech
like that word. 69

My brother, our chief pastor, and I have
been deputed to come home with a friendly
and affectionate message. This, I take it, to
be our mission. In the first address of the
General Conference of the Methodist Epis
copal Church, which the first fraternal dele
gate, the Rev. John Emory, was charged to
present to the British Conference in 1820,
you were called our "elder brethren," and it
was said: "Situated so remotely from each
other, and under different forms of civil gov
ernment, it is believed that no mode of cor
respondence will so effectually unite the
European and American Methodists as an,
interchange of delegates from our respective
Conferences." It was promised,' "should
suth a friendly intercomr-s^be approved,"
not only Vhaf* your representative would be
received with cordiality by our Church, but
"with the most sincere friendship and affec
tion" we would reciprocate the visit. Our
credentials make us messengers of the same
affectionate salutation.
We are come to ask, Who are yet alive?
Are our fathers and brothers in good health?
And to tell you of our welfare. It was with
70

great grief we learned of your irreparable loss
in the death of William Fiddian Moulton.
He endeared himself to us all during his short
visit to America. His unaffected simplicity
and great learning commended him to all our
people irrespective of denomination. In the
notice of his death in the May number of the
Biblical World, which is one of the most
scholarly monthlies in the United States, and
is edited by a Baptist, it was said that his
death is a loss to New Testament scholarship
throughout the English-speaking world, and
that he was a noble representative of a most
noble type of Christian scholarship.
It gives us pleasure to greet again so many
members of your Conference whom we have
met in America. The visit of Dr. Watkin
son was refreshing to us, as a new epoch in
preaching — he is the evangelist of original
suggestion. It was good fortune that brought us to
your Conference in the year of your scheme
for chapel building and missionary jubilee. I
am reminded that this city and section were
once a part of the old "York Round." It was
when they were so included that two mis-

sionaries were found, both of whom were
bred on the circuit, who were willing to be
" Western Pioneers." The call had come over
from the little New York society to Wesley,
"We importune your assistance" — send us
" an able and experienced preacher." Then
it was said with glowing vision, there was " a
flame kindled which shall never stop until it
reaches the great South Sea."
What volumes of history were rolled up in
those nine brief lines found in the " Minutes "
of your Conference for 1769! On the 3d of
August, in the Conference at Leeds, Wesley
said, from the chair: "We have a pressing
call from our brethren of New York (who have
built a preaching-house) to come over and
help them. Who is willing to go? Richard
Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor. What can we
do further in token of our brotherly love ? Let
us now take a collection among ourselves.
This was immediately done, and out of it ^"50
were allotted toward the payment of their
debt, and about ^20 given to our brethren
for their passage."
The Conference over, the two Yorkshire-
men came to York. Sunday evening at five
72

o'clock Pilmoor preached in Peaseholme
Green Chapel, and lifted a collection of ten
shillings. Immortal ten shillings ! Then was
lifted the first collection ever taken in aid of
Methodist foreign missions ! I pray you, for
get not Peaseholme Green Chapel and the
York Circuit. There our missionary societies
were founded. How many are the stations
you have planted since in all lands ! We
have taken in our missionary collections in a
single year ^250,000, and our missions are
already on all continents and beside all seas.
We can fittingly join with you in repeat
ing the hymn which was written by James
Montgomery for your Centenary Celebra
tion : " One song of praise, one voice of prayer
Around, above, below,
Ye winds and waves the burden bear
A hundred years ago."
It is specially gratifying to me that we
have been privileged to meet you in the city
of Hull. So soon as I learned that I had
been appointed to come here, I recalled that
it was the birthplace of William Wilberforce.
I am permitted to bring you additional cre-
73

dentials to those which have been presented
to the Conference. The Board of Managers
of the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Educa
tion Society, at its last meeting, granted me
leave of absence to make this journey, and
then commended me to you as the represent
ative of more than a million Methodists of
the race for the defense of whom Wilberforce
was so honored in his life and death.
" Friend of the poor, the wronged, the fetter-galled,"
he it was who told us "Sympathy rules the
world." I shall go to the house in which he
was born, as I have been to the grave in the
Abbey where he is buried, with a profound
reverence for the man of whom the world was
not worthy — the apostle of humanity, who
lived through years of persecution to hear
the House of Commons burst into a hurri
cane of cheers when he rose to speak, and
to hear the announcement of the abolition
of slavery by the Government before he
died. I am reminded that you found it difficult
three years after his death to welcome the last
fraternal delegate who came from my own
74

Conference, because he was reported not to
be an "immediate and unconditional emanci
pationist " — Wilbur Fisk. No man was more
honored among us, and no one was more
worthy. He was twice elected a bishop, and
as often he declined. He was the bishop-
elect, but unordained, when he was received
by your Conference. It was, under the em
barrassing circumstances, a delicate mark of
esteem that your Conference manifested such
cordiality and respect. I have here a fac
simile of the medal that was made by order
of the Conference in honor of his presence
more than sixty years ago.
But is your Methodism — the Methodism
of the John Wesley and Charles Wesley
type — the Methodism that wrought more
than the diplomacies of Pitt, that spared
England a repetition of the French Revo
lution, that has sent millions to heaven,
and, what is better, kept twenty-five millions
here, if most of them are on the American
side of the ocean; the Methodism of the
college, of brains, of books, of doctrine, of
experience, of character, of fervor, of preach
ing, of praying, of singing, of free and full
75

salvation, of fire from heaven ; the Methodism
that turned the Churches upside down, and is
set for turning the world right side up? Is
your Methodism yet living? [Yes.J Are your
Methodists in the Cornish mines, Kingswood
collieries, court circles, yet alive? Do you
continue to live and still supply surplus life
enough, in the members you lend to all other
denominations, to keep them alive from John
O'Groat's to Land's End?
When the two Conferences first exchanged
greetings through their fraternal messengers
the Churches were not esteemed to be the
important bodies they now are. Nevertheless,
the structural formulas have not been changed.
What we are has come so largely of our
inheritance, we are more indebted for our
estate to our legacies than to all gains which
have come by the modifications we have made
of the original Methodism. Mr. Emory came
home from England and wrote the " Defense
of Our Fathers." He offered no apology for
our existence. In the appendix to the printed
sermon by Ezekiel Cooper on the death of
Bishop Asbury it is said, "The Methodist
Presbyterial Episcopacy is nearly that which
76

Archbishop Usher proposed and recommended
to King Charles I, for the national episcopacy
of the Church of England, and which the
king agreed to; but the irritation of parties
at that time ran so high, and the proposal of
Usher and the agreement of the king were
so long delayed, that the proposition was
rejected." But we have not been students of
a cold and tessellated heraldry that we might
exhume and adopt some mere post-Nicene —
nay, a much more mediaeval — mosaic of min
isterial succession, with pictured dress and a
flaming altar; we have rather sought to find
the Father himself, and draw near to Him
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. If I am not wrongly informed, it has been
said at some time in your history that you
never were a Church, that you were never
intended to be a Church. But I think I know
something of your origin, and Wesley's post
humous "Conference of the Methodist So
cieties." In America we have an honored
layman, Robert T. Miller, of Kentucky, who
has collected rare Methodist publications,
until he has the most valuable collection of
77

certain books and pamphlets to be found in
the country. He assures us from data in his
possession that Wesley fully intended to or
ganize as separate and permanent a Church
for the English Wesleyans as he suggested
for the American Methodists. But it is folly
to dispute longer the ecclesiastical claims of
the two Churches. Mr. Emory predicted that
the two bodies would yet compass the whole
world, and "shake hands at the Pacific," a
prophecy long since fulfilled. The Meth
odists, with one exception, now are the largest
English-speaking religious community in the
world. Their survival confirms our knowl
edge of their right to exist. In the historical
development of thought, theories of being
came before theories of knowing. The sys
tems of Spinoza and Leibnitz are funda
mentally theories of being. The systems of
Locke, Hume, and Kant are pre-eminently
theories of knowing. The systems of John
Wesley and Francis Asbury are the Wesleyan
Methodist Connection and the Methodist
Episcopal Church. We know — the world
knows — they are here. It doth not yet appear
what they shall be. 78

If we are Methodists, let us be such Meth
odists as were the founders of our faith. I
have great sympathy with Adam Clarke in
the testimony given one month before his
death. He said: "While I think well of, and
wish well to, all religious sects and parties,
and especially to all who love the Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity, yet, from long and thor
ough knowledge of the subject, I am led most
conscientiously to conclude that Christianity
itself, as existing among those called Wesleyan
Methodists, is the purest, the safest, and that
which is most to the glory of God and the
benefit of men ; and that both as to the creed
there professed, the form of discipline there
established, and the consequent moral practice
there vindicated. And I believe that among
them is to be found the best form and body
of divinity that has ever existed in the
Church of Christ from the promulgation of
Christianity to the present day. To him who
would ask, ' Dr. Clarke, are you not a bigot?'
without hesitation, I would answer, 'No,
I am not; for, by the grace of God, I am a
Methodist.' "
We shall have to say of the Churches as
79

Lord Salisbury said of the nations, in his
speech a few weeks ago: "There are only
two kinds, the living and the dying."
I am inclined to speak to you for a moment
of the influence of Methodism in America on
domestic habits, social customs, national life,.
rather than to rehearse the statistics of our
Methodist Almanac. Mr. Green, in his " His
tory of the English People," says: "The
Methodists themselves were the least result of
the Methodist revival." You know we are
big. You have heard so often that we have
three millions of members, and more than a
hundred million dollars worth of property,
that you must certainly know it now. Some
of us have quit counting in figures and gone
to looking up the impulses and great move
ments along the meridians. We have found
out that there is really nothing in this life
so humiliating as a big thing that is little.
We have not always felt that the people
living on this side of the globe have wholly
understood us in the United States. While
many of our people travel over the earth,
there is a sense in which we have been
intensely provincial. Not all your people
80

come to see us, and many of those who do,
look at us through our broad acres, and then
end for end, in such a way as to startle us
when they speak of it. Professor Fairbairn,
of Oxford, once told me it was of much more
importance for an Englishman to go to
America than for an American to go to Eng
land. He said: "Our history is your history,
and I find your people study it just as we do.
But we do not study your movements because
you are gone off so far alone."
The old folks forget that the young folks
who go off and set up for themselves, some
times get hold of some new things. They
may not always take them for people of
worth; and when they go to look for them,
they may not always know where to find
them. Saxe tells us that he met a man in
his foreign travel who had heard
" The Americans spoke English,
But he deemed it quite absurd ;
Yet he felt the deepest interest
In the missionary work ;
And would like to know if Georgia
Was in Boston or New York."
Andrew Lang told us, a little while ago, that
Mr. Kipling said we had no language in

America. I recall some inquiries of an emi
nent gentleman, a man of letters — Matthew
Arnold — who came to lecture to us a few
years ago. Among other questions he pro
pounded was this one : " Have you any
great or important speeches that will live
in literature?" It was modestly answered
that the speech of Abraham Lincoln at Get
tysburg was thought to be such a speech.
"Where is it?" he said, "I have never
seen it."
It is possible that some of the influ
ences of our Methodism may not be known
here, or, if known, not fully understood.
There has been a presiding genius, in the
history of our Church, which has given great
moral impulse and reformation of manners to
the life and movement of our members. It
has influenced and shaped the national char
acter ; it has made Methodist movements to
be national movements. They have been
progressive and refining movements. This
genius has been a militant and aggressive
spirit, an inward active principle of reforma
tion. " If the ghost that is in you, whatever
the essence of it," says Mr. Ruskin, " leaves
82

your hand a juggler's, and your heart a
cheat's, it is not a Holy Ghost, be assured of
that. And for the rest, all political economy,
as well as all higher virtue, depends first on
sound work."
There was a providential adaptedness in
the New World to Methodism, and Method
ism was itself an adaptation of the religious
life to the new conditions. The Methodist
preacher in America found congenial employ
ment in the new country and among the new
people he was to mold to his liking. He not
only became to them the example of all right
living, but he forced his way to all frontiers,
and always with a moral mastery. The elder
Harrison, who was President of the United
States, but not himself a Methodist, said the
early Methodist preachers, who were technic
ally denominated " circuit riders," " are a
body of men who, for zeal and fidelity in the
discharge of the duties they undertake, are
not exceeded by any others in the whole
world. I have been a witness of their con
duct in the Western country for nearly forty
years. They are men whom no labor tires,
no scenes disgust, no danger frightens in the
83

discharge of their duty. To gain recruits
for their Master's service they sedulously
seek out the victims of vice in the abodes
of misery and wretchedness. The vow of
poverty is not taken by these men ; but
their conduct is precisely such as it would
have been had they taken one. Their stipu
lated pay is barely sufficient to perform the
services assigned to them. With much the
larger portion the horse which carries them
is the only animated thing which they can call
their own, and the contents of their valise, or
saddle-bags, the sum total of their earthly
possessions. " If within the period I have mentioned a
traveler on the Western frontiers had met a
stranger in some obscure way, or assiduously
urging his course through the intricacies of a
tangled forest, his appearance staid and sober,
and a countenance indicating that he was in
search of some object in which his feelings
were deeply interested, his apparel plain but
entirely neat, and his little baggage adjusted
with peculiar compactness, he might be al
most certain that stranger was a Methodist
preacher, hurrying on to perform his daily
84

task of preaching to separate and distant con
gregations; and should the same traveler,
upon approaching some solitary, unfinished,
and scarcely habitable cabin, hear the praises of
the Creator chanted with peculiar melody, or
the doctrines ot the Savior urged upon the
attention of some six or eight individuals with
the same energy and zeal that he had seen
displayed in addresses to a crowded audience
in a populous city, he might be certain, with
out inquiry, that it was the voice of a Meth
odist preacher."
These men were admitted to all neighbor
hoods — if their coming was opposed, never
theless, they came, and came, and continued
to come, and stayed until they were made
welcome — and they sought admission to all
homes. All denominations and no denomina
tions were defenseless before them. They
literally foraged everywhere unmolested.
Among them were many great men who were
idolized by the people. Their influence is to
be measured, not only by the extent of surface
it covered, but by its kind. Great as was the
power of their preaching, and revolutionary
as was their doctrine, their influence was not
85

greater in overthrowing Calvinism, and there
fore undermining Unitarianism, than in re
forming the manners, elevating and regener
ating the characters and associations of the
people. On the far frontier, in the control of rough
and wicked men, no man had power superior
to Peter Cartwright. His services in planting
the Churches and determining the future of
the newer States and Territories can never be
fully estimated. There was a Methodist
preacher in Boston who, to use his own ex
pression, like the Indian on the prairie, walked
large. The most brilliant Unitarian preacher
of his day, in speaking of him, said : " He
knocked at every door, Orthodox, Episcopal,
Romish, Radical, and as in the Arabian
Nights tale, every door opened. He had the
freedom of the city." A sailor once said
he had been where the United States had
not been heard of, but never where Father
Taylor had not. His power went far out
of the pulpit. Doctor Bartol said: "Mr.
Webster ridiculed the Higher Law, compar
ing it to the Blue Ridge and other things
above all practical concern. Taylor said,
86

' Higher Law ! a meteoric stone : stand from
under!' It killed Mr. Webster." Men like
these on the new continent were
" Like an unbodied joy, whose race is just begun."
They set forth the functions of the Church
as designed to embrace the whole race of
mankind, all the activities and possessions
of all the people. They not only walked
large, but preached large. What did they
preach? Simply the preaching of Wesley
over again.
The)' began in the homes of the people
where they found them. They awakened
not only religious convictions, but taught
the people knowledge of the simplest do
mestic duties, and to have care for all their
conduct. They said what Wesley had said :
" Certainly, this is a duty, not a sin. Cleanli
ness is indeed next to godliness." " Be
cleanly. In this let the Methodists take pat
tern by the Quakers. Avoid all nastiness,
dirt, slovenliness, both in your person, clothes,
house, and all about you." The Methodists
were thus made to be examples of clean
liness to the rough riders of the frontier, to
87

the rude common people of the towns and
cities. They said, repeating again what Wesley
had said: "Whatever clothes you have, let
them be whole, no rents, no tatters, no rags.
These are a scandal to either man or woman,
being another fruit of vile laziness. Mend
your clothes, or I shall never expect you to
mend your lives. Let none ever see a ragged
Methodist." For more than one generation
our people literally imitated the Quakers in
the simplicity and plainness of their dress.
The Methodists everywhere were known by
their garb.
I have noted in many shop-windows over
Ireland and England groups of portraits,
which include illustrious essayists, poets,
statesmen, with these words printed under
them : " Great men, great thinkers, great
smokers." And I am bound to say we could
probably match these portraits with similar
ones, which could truthfully have the same
subscriptions. Nevertheless, the early Meth
odist preachers took Wesley at his word, and
they said, as he said : " Use no tobacco. It
is an uncleanly and unwholesome self-in-
88

dulgence — and the more customary it is,
the more resolutely should you break off
from every degree of that evil custom."
Now, wait; I want you to hear me. Oc
casionally there were amusing expositions of
Scripture to vindicate the preaching. Jacob
Gruber, the German Methodist preacher, con
structed an ingenious argument to show that
God never made tobacco. He said: "It is
written in the Gospel that a grain of mustard-
seed is less than all the seeds that be in the
earth — that is," he added, " all the seeds God
has made and knows anything about. But
anybody knows that a tobacco-seed is smaller
than a mustard-seed. God, therefore, never
made it — knew nothing about it." He con
cluded —
" It is a filthy, nasty weed,
And from the devil did proceed."
A sentiment now prevails among us which
leads every young preacher at the bar of the
Conference to promise he will wholly abstain
from the use of tobacco, before he is admitted
to membership. This self-restraint of our
preachers of African descent in the tobacco
country makes a profound impression.

Our Methodist preachers have gone ev
erywhere, repeating, for more than a hun
dred years, the words of Wesley on the
drink habit — " Touch no dram. It is liquid
fire. It is sure though slow poison. It
saps the very spring of life." No preacher
among us, if known to be addicted to only
moderate drinking, could enter a pulpit with
the consent of the people anywhere through
out the connection. And this is so gener
ally true of almost all other Churches in
America that the preachers are total ab
stainers. The sentiment in this direction
has grown to be so universal that, notwith
standing the people from wine-drinking and
beer-drinking countries are constantly over
running the States by immigration, commu
nicants in the Churches, as a rule, like
the preachers, are total abstainers. Notwith
standing the ruinous traffic which took from
the pockets of the people, and very largely
the poor people, during last year, in the city
of New York alone, more money than was
expended for missions by all the Churches in
all the United States for the same time, it is
gratifying to us to know that the statistics
90

published in Great Britain early in the year
give us credit for being the most temperate
people of all the nations.
But the calm bravery of the Methodist
Episcopal Church was equally well sustained
in that other close encounter of more than a
hundred years. And in the engagement, as
in all other conflicts, John Wesley led the
leaders. Though " perfectly calm and phleg
matic," as Robert Hall said of him, " the
quiescence of turbulence," he " set all in mo
tion." He could not brook the slave-trade
with all the world against him, and he would
not crouch to the slave trader nor holder.
His Anathema Maranatha rang out through
all generations above the judgments of all
other men. The incisive rebuke of his cour
ageous preaching was like a javelin thrown
through the buckler of the King's enemy.
When he declared the slave-trade " that ex
ecrable sum of all villainies," he struck home
a mortal blow. That was before Buxton and
Clarkson, and Brougham and Wilberforce;
long before Lundy and Garrison, and Phil
lips, and Sumner, and Gilbert Haven. Wes
ley's pamphlet, entitled " Thoughts on Slav-
91

ery," was printed in 1774, and though it
met with fierce opposition, it was reprinted
in America, and was made the text-book
of anti-slavery sentiment by philanthropists
throughout the' Colonies before the independ
ence of the States was established.
Methodist preachers went everywhere with
it, stirring the conscience against American
slavery, which Wesley in the last letter he
ever wrote — and it was written to Wilber-
force — declared to be "the vilest that ever saw
the sun." One of the preachers was the first
agitator to be arrested. The charge against
him was based on a sermon preached by him
at a camp-meeting in Maryland. He was
defended by the notable Roger Taney, after
ward Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ot
the United States, and author of the notori
ous Dred Scott decision. Mr. Taney said in
his defense : " It is well known that the grad
ual and peaceful abolition of slavery in these
States is one of the objects which the Meth
odist societies have steadily in view. No
slaveholder is allowed to be a minister in that
Church. Their preachers are accustomed, in
their sermons, to speak of the injustice and
92

oppression of slavery." The preacher was
acquitted. His arrest and trial only multi
plied Abolitionists. George Thompson was so
received by the Methodist preachers as to iden
tify them with him and his mission. Strong
men like Orange Scott, George Storrs, Lucius
Matlack, Cyrus Prindle, and scores of others,
made no compromise with the oppressors,
and the Methodist Church, at first slow to
follow where they led, at length threw the
nation into convulsions. "There are causes,"
as Mr. Morley has said, " that demand and
deserve fury and energy, and the public is
to be got at upon no other terms. Say, 'Anti-
slavery or reform !' and men are properly ad
jured to strip off coat and waistcoat, charm
or no charm."
Dissevered Methodism in 1844, according
to Henry Clay and other eminent politicians,
was the prodigious sign which foretokened
the dissolution of the Union of States, and
there are eminent statesmen among us who
believe the reunion will only be permanently
re-established when the two great Churches
shall be one again. It will not be with re
straint in some federation of differences, but
93

in an indissoluble and affectionate fellowship.
The only obstruction now is to be found in
the hesitation properly to receive and treat
our people of color. " You can not abolish
slavery by Act of Parliament, but can only
abolish the name of it, which is very little."
Underneath the statue of Henry Clay, in New
Orleans, are these words cut deep in the gran
ite pedestal : " If I could be instrumental in
eradicating this deepest stain, slavery, from
the character of our country, I would not ex
change the proud satisfaction which I should
enjoy for the honor of all the triumphs ever
decreed to the most successful conqueror."
The Methodist Episcopal Church is commit
ted to universal emancipation and the unre
strained fellowship of both hearts and hands ;
but not until the presence of the Christian
black brother or sister shall cease to hinder
such fellowship will slavery be abolished in
the Church. " Freedom is a new religion —
the religion of our time." It was Jesus him
self who said, "Ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free." His king
dom is the kingdom of the free, and
" His throne is with the outcast and the weak."
94

There is growing confidence among us in
a system of ethics for all organization. A
new and interesting book, which is fresh and
full of suggestion, has recently appeared, that
discusses in technical terms the questions of
"morality" and "immorality" in law and
the courts. It traces in the history of " pre
cedents" the evolution of " morality," and dis
covers the irrepealable code that is becoming
more and more determinate, and by which
all appellate and supreme courts must them
selves henceforth be bound. This code,
though simply Christian in its text, is made
to rest for its fastness and firmness upon the
appeal to the consensus of conscience.
There is demand for good men in public
life. The certainty of election depends more
upon the character of the candidate than the
strength of his opinions on public questions.
No greater evidence of security in the great
trial and struggle through which the United
States is now passing can be found than the
confidence of the people in the integrity and
Christian character of the President, who is a
faithful and consistent communicant of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. Resisting war
95

in the face of irrepressible public opinion, until
diplomacy had been exhausted, he made the
basis of the conflict, not one of vengeance or
conquest, but one consistent with the highest
possible purpose running through all our na
tional history — the philanthropic defense of
the oppressed as against the oppressor, in
vindication of the rights of man to life, lib
erty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The American ambassador summed up our
<;ase very fairly in his recent address in Lon
don, on the anniversary of our Independence-
day, when he said : " We have been preach
ing for a hundred years, not always consist
ently, not always in the best taste or with
the purest accent, a gospel the tendency of
which is forever toward the light, and the re
sult of which has been the breaking of fet
ters, the freeing of those who sat in darkness,
the lifting of cruel burdens from the shoul
ders of the poor."
You have heard something of our aspira
tions for the Methodist women, and many
doubters have been misled to think there are
those among us who are given only to idle
agitation. The opposition has been a great,
96

conscientious, conservative force, not easy to
overcome, and there is evident corrective dis
cipline in the conservative influence. But
rest assured of this, there are some great hearts
engaged in this controversy, who have not
the complacency to claim for themselves priv
ileges and great immunities which they would
deny to equal intelligence and integrity be
cause of some qualifications of being which
the Father never imposed to hinder the wid
est usefulness. All this, and more, is pro
foundly stated in a great book, which one of
our preachers has written, entitled the " De
mocracy of Christianity."
Just now in the movements of learning
there is a scholarly atmosphere, which you
breathe here with much the same freedom
that men breathe on the Continent. But the
atmosphere envelops the earth. We must
breathe too. Your fraternal delegate to the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the
learned, broadminded, accomplished Dr. Da
vison, told me the other day in Baltimore
that he had found we are reading the same
books in America that you are reading
here. 7 97

The earth is not large now. There are no
merely European studies in scholarship. Per
mit me to say the Methodists in America are
not afraid of limitless investigation. They
are jealous of supernatural revelation and ex
perience. When the great Baptist University
was founded a few years ago in Chicago, the
founders came to us for the heads of three
great departments. There are Methodists
among us who have national reputations.
What of the future ? We are living in
the midst of momentous affairs; our times
are not our own — they belong to God, to
religion, to mankind. Yesterday we lived
on yonder side of the Atlantic Ocean ; to
day we are living all over the world. We
are no longer provincial. Without intention
on our part, it looks to the rest of the world
as if we must make common cause with the
family of nations. Who can tell what is be
fore us? "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and
to-morrow." This I know : You are our brothers.
We are now one hundred and twenty-
five millions who are the English-speaking
people. We have our interests in common.

Our aims are one. Our sympathies will no
longer be repressed. The Atlantic Ocean is
no more a moat or chasm between our castles,
but the highway of all our hopes and fears,
pleasures and sorrows, responsibilities, obli
gations, and duties.
I hear much in these days of our common
interests of race, heritage, commerce — in a
word, our natural but necessitated alliance to
give us foremost rank in the files of time and
parliament of man. So mote it be ! Eng
land and America by the voice of the people,
one and inseparable, now and forever ! There
is all this, but more, which has been revealed
in our war with Spain. Nations, like men,
are here for high purposes and holy missions.
Governments must plan, like the Christian
Church, for the coming of the Great King.
Defend each other we must, but for purposes
only of service — the service of God and man
kind. To this end let all our union tend.
Our leadership must be one. Yesterday
we followed your great commoner, William
Ewart Gladstone, to Westminster Abbey as;
closely, as tenderly, as sincerely as did his
neighbors at Chester. He was our kinsman j
99

to you he was only this much more — your
countryman. But our leadership is not
merely one of men, but of that high ideal of
Christian conscience which educates history.
High "ideals are the world's masters." On
the birthday of Her Majesty, your Queen, I
walked along the streets of Cincinnati, in
Ohio, and saw the staff of the Union Jack
crossing that of the Stars and Stripes in the
windows of all our stores. In one window I
saw the two flags crossed over a shield, and
under the Star of Bethlehem, with these in
scriptions above, below — " One Tongue ! One
Purpose! Invincible in War! Triumphant
in Peace!'
Alliance ? " Thy heart is as my heart.
Give me thy hand." We are Methodists.
We must hold to our heritage. The world
needs nothing now more than a revival of
Evarfgelical Wesleyan Methodism — joyous,
soul-stirring, soul-saving Methodism — and a
eague offensive and defensive to spread Scrip
tural holiness over all lands.
" All hail a hundred years ago,
And when our lips are dumb,
Be millions heard rejoicing so
A hundred years to come."

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