separate, baptize us with the Holy Ghost and with power ! — that —
as, in the upper room, they had to struggle together a long time,
to commune together, to pray together ; and it was only at the
end that the Holy Ghost came on them : and then, whithersoever
they were scattered, they carried with them the glad tidings which
brought the kingdoms of this world to the obedience of faith — so may
it be with us ! Whithersoever the Lord carries us, may He carry
with us the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace !

The Resolution was then put, and carried.

The Rev. Robert Eckett. — I rise to move :

" That the assembled Brethren humbly express their gratitude to Almighty God,
for the protection afforded to His servants, in travelling from Fortign lands,
and from various parts of this Country, to attend the Conference ; for the

I i



482



EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.



preservation of their health ; and for those refreshing interchanges of brotherly
affection which they have been permitted to enjoy, in the hospitalities of domestic
and social life: and they now commend one another, and especially the Brethren
who are about to return to distant parts of the World, to the same merciful
and Fatherly care, — in the devout hope, that they may be restored to their
families and their Churches in safety and comfort, and in the fulness of the
blessing of the Gospel of Christ ; and, in order to this end, they suggest, that
British Christians will make special mention of them in their various services,
during the present and ensuing week."
I am very sorry that I am not able to do justice to this Resolution ; it
is an important and interesting one. I am sure, we have all felt very
great delight ourselves, from the presence of our Brethren from
Foreign lands, and are all disposed heartily to unite in expressions of
thankfulness toAlmighty God, the Author andGiver of every good and
perfect gift, for His preserving care in bringing many of them from
so great a distance to meet us on so auspicious an occasion. I am
sure, those Brethren especially, who have come from America, have
given a very strong proof of their ardent attachment to the princi-
ples of Christian Union. Nothing but the strongest possible at-
tachment to our object could have induced them to have undertaken
so long a voyage — a voyage which must ever be considered as
connected with some amount of peiil. I am sure, we ought
all to feel deeply grateful to them, and more especially grate-
ful to God, that He put it in their hearts to come, and to
meet us on this occasion. We have only heard of one case in
which any particular calamity has befallen a Brother. I have been
informed, that a Brother, introduced yesterday, had met with a
serious disaster, by which he was detained twenty days. He was
shipwrecked : but, by God's mercy, he arrived in safety. I refer to
our coloured Brother, who appeared amongst us yesterday. When
I heard that he had suffered shipwreck on the voyage, I felt no
little degree of gratitude to God, that he also, in common with our
Brethren, had been permitted to arrive before the Conference broke
up. And now we wish, with one heart and voice, to commend him
to the care of the Father of mercies. I rejoice in that expression of
affection towards our coloured Brother, to whose case I have briefly
adverted. And now, having met our American Brethren, and other
Brethren from Foreign lands, I am sure our affection towards them
is very greatly increased : and, I doubt not, in future years, — if
God shall spare our lives, — we shall have communications from them,
from time to time, which will cheer our spirits, and gladden our
hearts. Our prayers will go with them ; our affections will go
with them also ; and I trust, that, by God's grace, the bonds of
Union, which have already been formed, will go on increasing in



THIRTEENTH DAY — MORNING SESSION. 483

strength, till we all meet in the Kingdom of our common Father in
Heaven. I have great pleasure in proposing the adoption of the
Resolution.

The Chairman, addressing Rev. M. M. Clark, the gentleman
adverted to, (who entered the room while Mr. Eckett was speaking)
said, — Your shipwreck has been referred to. Our sympathies for
you in those circumstances have been expressed. Our joy is not less
sincere and grateful, that you are permitted at the close to be
amongst us, a Friend — a Brother beloved for Christ's sake.

Rev. Richard Reece, (an octogenarian, and the patriarch of
the Wesleyan Ministry.) — I could not find it possible to attend the
early sittings of this Conference : but, since I have been enabled to
be among you, I have felt my mind deeply impressed. Though I
have not been able to take a part in your discussions, I have been
glad to find, that the old safe Christian maxim has had its proper
influence on the Meeting — " Bear, and forbear :" so that senti-
ments have been expressed on different subjects, without any
hostile or unchristian feeling. I may say, that I have belonged
to one section of the Christian Church from my youth up ; and a
great maxim of that Church has been, " the friend of all, the enemy
of none." For more than sixty years I have been devoting my
labours and my life to promote, in that and every section of the
Church where I could have any influence, Christian Truth,
Christian Holiness, and Christian Love. That has been my great
object since I first felt the power of the Bible. For fifty-nine
years I have been devoted to the public service of God. I have
seen the operations of His Truth at home, on the Continent of
America, and elsewhere ; and now, at the close of a long life of
labour, I am retiring from public work, to trim my lamp, and to
prepare to give in my account. I have seen, — what has greatly
gladdened and encouraged my heart in the whole of my course, —
the prosperity of the Cause of Christ on the Continent of America.
At the beginning of my life, there were 28,000 — a few more or
less — belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church. There are
now more than a million of members belonging to that section of
Christ's Church on that Continent. As connected with our own
Body at home, I found 95,000 ; and now we number several
hundred thousands. — What hath God wrought ! But, when I look
at the other sections of the Church, at home and abroad, how
great has been every where the progress of truth and love ! And
now, at the close of my life, I have witnessed this extraordinarv
step in advance towards the great object of the universal spread of
the Kingdom of Christ, — of His truth and His grace, every where

i i2



484 EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.

in the World. I have rejoiced in all its movements as I have
become acquainted with them. I was especially delighted with the
relief afforded to our American friends by the labours of the Com-
mittee. It was my own conviction, that — under the former pro-
posed state of things — they could not have returned to their own
Country with comfort, or with the hope of succeeding. Now they
will return with gladdened hearts : they will be cordially received
when they go home. I pray, that the same Providence, which was
over them in coming to this Country, may spread its shield round
about them, and conduct them safely home again. May that shield
be upon all our distant friends — unknown to me, but still my
Brethren in Christ ! We are told, that the Disciples went every
where preaching the Gospel, as the result of the Pentecostal
shower at Jerusalem, when they were scattered abroad. We are
not scattered by persecution, as they were. But I trust, that
all our Foreign Brethren will be a savour of truth and grace
wherever they go, and thus bless the World. I second the Reso-
lution.

The Chairman. — Allow me, as I have occupied so very little
of the time of the Meeting, — having considered it my duty and
privilege to sit still and learn during the whole of the Conference, —
to make one observation on the Resolution, in which I most heartily
concur. I beg publicly, before our friends who have visited us
from America, to express to them my sincere obligations for those
instructions I have been endeavouring to learn from them. I have
endeavoured, since my introduction to the Meeting, to regard my-
self as one endeavouring to learn how I should walk, so as to be an
effective Member of the Alliance. I have listened to the Brethren
with peculiar pleasure and satisfaction ; and I hope I am made
better by their counsel and example, and that I shall take every
opportunity of showing it. I am thankful to be placed in circum-
stances favourable for the cultivation of union. I am connected, as
most of you are aware, with an institution to which little reference
has been made, — the British and Foreign Bible Society. I remem-
ber, that there once came a proposition from America, that, within a
short period, arrangements should be made for supplying every
person capable of reading the Scriptures with a copy. Although
the proposition could not then be entertained, I have had their
enlarged hearts so frequently before me, that I could not cease to
esteem and love those who had originated it. If it had been
possible to have had a reference to this subject in our Meeting, we
might have approached nearer to the period when that object will
be attained. We acknowledge the Authority of the Holy Scriptures,



THIRTEENTH DAY — MORNING SESSION. 455

and the Right of Private Judgement : and, as so doing, we should
consider it our privilege, to hasten the time when the wishes of our
American Brethren will be realized, that every one may possess a
copy of the Scriptures, in order that he may learn the mind of
God.

The Resolution was then put, and carried.

Rev. J. V. Himes. — If it would not be out of order, I should
be happy to make a single remark in consequence of our Brother —
the representative of the Slave — being now present. I do not
wish to create any disturbance this morning ; but I know that all
our hearts will agree to that which I wish to state. The Slaves
have sent our Brother Clark. He resides in the City of Washing-
ton, and iiis church is within sight of the Capitol and of the
Auction Stand. I would only say, that I should be glad, and I
am sure my Brethren will join me in the request, that Mr. Clark
should be heard.

Rev. Dr. Patton. — I am extremely happy that the Brother has
appeared here. To me it is a source of high gratification, that
there should be a delegate from that portion of our Brethren in
Christ. I can assure the Meeting, that it will be a very great
happiness to them to hear him ; because I have no doubt he will
speak in the full spirit of this Alliance, with brotherly love and
kindness. I am exceedingly happy that he arrived, though at so
late a period. I am sorry, as far as it is proper to be sorry for
anything which the Providence of God brings about, that he should
have been shipwrecked. I should have been glad to have had him as
a fellow passenger, and so would my friend Dr. Cox, in the vessel
which, in the Providence of God, brought us in safety to your
shores.

Rev. Molliston Madison Clauk. — As a Member of the
Evangelical Alliance, from the United States of America, having
been disappointed in arriving in London at the commencement of
the Meeting, in consequence of an accident on the sea, — the ship
Empire , of New York, being dismasted July 26, and compelled to
return to New York, — I humbly beg leave, at the close, to present
one or two thoughts upon the object of this glorious and holy
Christian Alliance.

I feel unfeignedly thankful to Almighty God, for the preserva-
tion of my life in the midst of the most imminent danger of the
sea, and for my safe arrival at the City of London ; and for my
admission as a Member, unworthy though I am, of this great
Assembly, — composed of the wise, the good, the learned, the
talented, and holy servants of our common Lord and Saviour Jesus



486 EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.

Christ, from the four quarters of the Christian World. But
while, at the same time, I feel devoutly thankful for past and
present blessings and favours, I deeply regret my loss, in not
being permitted to witness the whole proceedings of the Meeting,
and to derive the great advantages which I should have done from
its deliberations : but, though it has been my loss, this Meeting
will prove the World's exceeding gain. The Christian Commu-
nity throughout the World, will peruse, with studious attention,
the published documents of this Alliance, and will derive from
them that instruction they will be so highly capable of imparting.
They will find their way, like ministering angels, into all private
society, and into all public associations of the Church, — diffusing
the wisdom of the universal, united Ministry through every channel
of wide-spread Christendom.

That most worthy and heaven-like Christian Alliance, which has
here been created and nurtured, will go on to maturity: the
Christian World will sit under the same healing stream, and will
be baptized in the same baptismal font of holy Christian Alliance ;
and, in this mighty phalanx, the Church will go forth, in the strength
of her Divine Master, conquering and to conquer.

Representing, as I do, over seventeen thousand professing Chris-
tians in the United States of America, Members of the Afncan
Methodist Episcopal Denomination, — and, more or less remot"e*fy?
three millions of my race, — I feel the sacred and high honour, as
well as the great responsibility. They are men — possessing, in
common with the rest of the human family, great interests both in
heaven and upon earth ; and, though they may for a time be de-
prived, by frail human policy, of some of the privileges of the
latter, yet they have faith to believe, that, through the everlasting
Atonement, they will for ever enjoy the glory and happiness of the
former.

They were of opinion, that their temporal and spiritual interests
would be promoted by sending a delegate to this Meeting, — be-
lieving, as they did, that he would be admitted a Member (if pro-
perly empowered and recommended) of this grand Christian
Alliance. They believed it on the ground of their faith in British
soil. They believed their temporal interests would be advanced by
their delegate being witness of the proceedings of this Body on the
subject of Slavery, and reporting to them what he should see and
hear. And here their delegate would beg leave to say, that he has
been highly gratified with that part of the proceedings upon that
subject which he has witnessed. He thinks, the Church has this
great work to accomplish, — and that all she wants to effect it is, that



THIRTEENTH DAY MORNING SESSION. 487

her concentrated energies be brought to bear, with wisdom, prudence,
and discretion, upon the enlightened conscience of the World ; and,
under the guidance of the Divine Hand, the work will steadily
and safely go forward, till it shall be perfected. They believed their
.spiritual interests would be enhanced by their delegate making
this Body acquainted with their existence as a Denomination of
professing Christians, and by asking for them an interest in the
prayers of the servants of our common Lord ; and also by stating,
that they endeavour to maintain among them the acknowledged and
pure doctrines of revelation ; that they ask to be considered and
known by this great Meeting as a constituent part of the allied
Church of Christ, — knowing but one God — one Saviour, Jesus
Christ — one Spirit, the Holy Ghost — and one Divine Revelation,
given by the Second Person of the adorable Trinity.

Feeling very thankful for that kind and Christian reception with
which I have met, I subscribe myself,

Your fellow labourer in the vineyard of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ,

M. M. Clark.

Allow me also to present a short Statistical Account of the Afri-
can Methodist Episcopal Church, in the United States of America.

"Members 18000

Ministers 300

Day Schools 150

Scholars 1500

Sabbath Schools . . . . 100

Scholars 2000

Temperance Societies ... 80

Members of do. . . . 1200

" Method of sustaining the Ministry : —
" 1. By the Societies ;

" 2. By Associations of Females, denominated * Daughters of Conference.'
Societies of these Females exist in the cities of New York, Brooklyn, Phila-
delphia, and Washington, numbering in Membership 1100. The Connexion is
endeavouring to establish Schools, upon the manual labour system, for the educa-
tion of their youth, and also for the education of their Ministers : thus, in the
various ways specified, they are striving to diffuse among themselves intelligence
and useful instruction. In the City of Washington, District of Columbia, U. S.,
there is what is termed the " Coloured Sabbath School Union," — composed of the
various Coloured Denominations, the teachers of which meet in Union Meetings
monthly, and the Schools meet quarterly.— M. M. Clark."

[[The reading of these statements was received with reiterated
cheers.]]

Rev. Dr. Bunting. — Allow me to have the very peculiar pleasure



488 EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.

— and I feel it to be a distinguished honour, after what we hare
heard — of moving, that the document which has been read as a
speech by our excellent friend — (for excellent he must be, from the
spirit in which that document has been drawn up, and the cautious
prudence which has evidently been used in repressing every thing
that might have occasioned a difference of opinion) — allow me the
privilege and honour of moving, that it be entered on the Minutes.
Rev. Dr. S. H. Cox. — I desire, with all my heart, the privilege
of seconding that Resolution. Some have accused me of inclining
more to the Pope's Latin than to the Queen's English.

" Non tali auxilio, nee defensoribus istia
Tempus eget."

I wanted to have a reference to the speech of this blessed Brother.
I believe there is not a Christian heart in America that would not
have been as ours. In hearing the Cause of Brethren, three millions
of those who are down-trodden in America, pleaded by a Brother
who can speak in this way, — so wise, so temperate, so Christian, so
eloquent, — I do not wish to say more than this : I bless God, that
He has put such a spirit in him ; and I shall be glad to make his
acquaintance, if he returns to America, and to help him on in
every way I can. I say, the more of such men we have, the better ;
they are the best representatives; they tell more than abstract
arguments can do, that a coloured man may be a Christian — and that
a man may be a Christian, of whatever colour he is. I have been
wonderstruck with the fact, that from seventy to a hundred men
have come to the Alliance from America, and I have not heard of
the least accident before this. Our Brother, however, has been
brought in safety to these shores : I thank God for it : and, pro-
bably, one reason of that Providence was, to entrench him more
deeply in our affections on his arrival. I pray God to be with him
when he returns, and to bless his labours. I believe that an
influence like his will win a thousand men's hearts, — while bustle
and severity will never do it. I hope God will give him wisdom
and grace all his days, — and that every Member of the Alliance will
be his cordial, fast, public and private friend.

Rev. Dr. Baird. — I wish to support this, as the practical way
of doing good with regard to the slaves in the United States, —
treating them as Brethren, and feeling an interest in every good
work going on among both blacks and whites. This Brother is
one of the great Methodist family in the United States. We have
there several Bodies of Methodists,— the greatest is called the
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which there are four or five



THIRTEENTH DAY MORNING SESSION. 489

Branches, that have the same forms of doctrine and government ;
and this Brother comes from one of these, — from the African Me-
thodist Episcopal Church. Let me state to you some facts which
will interest you, and which he has put on a paper I will now read.

[[Dr. Baird then read the Document already inserted in p. 487.]

This is an interesting statistical account of that Branch of the
Kingdom of Christ. Allow me to say, that, — although I have taken
the ground, as you well know, with my American Brethren, with
regard to the question of Slavery being introduced in this Alliance,
— I can say, (what they all can say,) we feel the deepest interest in
promoting the work of God among the slaves, as well as among
the whites, of the South ; and this, from the conviction that that
is the true way to destroy Slavery in that part of our Country.

Allow me to say further, that some of the happiest years of my
life have been spent in labouring for the interests of the coloured
man. For many years, I devoted a great deal of the Sabbath to
promote instruction in Sunday Schools. I have taught, from first
to last, many hundreds of them to read the Sacred Scriptures; and,
since I have been called to preach the Gospel of Christ, when I
have been in the Southern States, — and I have been in every one,
with the exception of Florida. — I have found the greatest delight
in preaching, not only to the Masters, but to the Slaves. I can
testify, that there are among the Slaves, and the free coloured per-
sons, in the South, a great, many pious people; — I should say, from
200,000 to 250,000 Members amongst the coloured people ; and a
great part of them are slaves. This Brother comes from a Church
in the City of Washington, where there are 250 Members; — some
are free coloured people, and some are slaves.

Rev. Dr. Olin. — I thank the Providence of God which has
brought this my beloved Brother to us, after all that has passed, as
a sort of seal of the understanding we have come to ; I consider
him a witness of the sentiments of the American Brethren. I am
acquainted, as a Methodist, with the Denomination to which our
Brother belongs, — and which he represents, I have no doubt, very
worthily : they have a little Church within a few roods of my
dwelling-place. I have been acquainted with them, and have
taken an interest in their welfare. A fact, with regard to that
little Church in the wilderness, will be worth more than mere de-
clamation. They have a coloured Minister, whom we are always
glad to see, and whom I have seen frequently at my house; their
Sabbath School is taught by the Ladies of the Professors of the
Institution of which I am the President. There is a large Church
of the same Denomination at Boston ; and I almost always see, in



490 EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.

the Clerical Meetings, the venerable Snowden : he has a seat with
them. He is a coloured man, and has been a Pastor, respected and
beloved as cordially as if he were a white man. I rejoice to see
this Brother. I think it will do good. He will remove doubts that
many may have on this subject, as to whether the Christians of the
United States are really hostile to the Coloured race, or whether they
find a cordial welcome? — whether he does not find in Washington
those that love him ? No man has come to the Conference over
whom I am more disposed to rejoice ; and I thank him for the kind
and modest tone in which he has addressed us.

Rev. Dr. Patton. — Dr. Cox and myself had a little strife ;
and, had he not been older and abler than myself, I should have got
the seconding of this Resolution. I am exceedingly anxious, that
the statement should be printed among your documents. I think
it not only sets forth the spirit of this Alliance, but is in happy
unison with it ; and I think it sets forth the truth with regard to
the way in which the evil is to be removed. It is happily expressed.
He thinks the Church has this great work to accomplish ; and that
all she wants to effect it is, that her concentrated energies should
be brought to bear, with wisdom, prudence, and discretion, upon
the enlightened conscience of the World ; and, under the guidance
of the Divine Hand, the work will steadily and safely go forward
till it shall be perfected. That is the true doctrine on this subject ;
and it stands apart from every form of political organization ; and
it does not go to the people with all the aspects of ambition and
political force, — setting forth the claims of those in one condition,
and denouncing all others. It exhibits the true manner in which
Christian men, deploring before God a great evil, and desiring to
relieve it, should go to work. I exceedingly desire, that this paper
should appear among your documents, as expressing the correct

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