History of the Christian church (Volume 5) online

They certainly anticipated other Methodist Churches
in lay representation, and the arbitrary action of
Bishops Soule and Hedding in the next decade would
not increase their love for the Episcopacy. But when
this is granted, it must be stated that the Episcopacy
has been an immense advantage to the Church, and
as constant an aid to its growth as to its stability. It
is difficult to see how an effective itinerancy, as dis-
tinguished from a congregational pastorate, could



3IO History of the Christian Church.

exist in the Methodist Churches without the office
and work of presiding elders. Both the Episcopacy
and the presiding eldership are much less autocratic
than in 1827.

In this decade the educational work was still fur-
ther advanced. In 1831, Genesee Wesleyan Seminary
was founded at Lima, N. Y. The same
1830M840. y^^^' Wesleyan University, the real mother
of the colleges of American Methodism,
was opened at Middletown, Conn., under Wilbur Fisk.
In 1832, Randolph-Macon College was founded in
Virginia. In 1834, Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa.,
came under Methodist control, with John P. Durbin as
president. In the same year Allegheny College was
established at Meadville, Pa.; also Vermont Conference
Seminary and the school founded at Lebanon, 111., in
1828 became McKendree College. Kmory College was
founded in 1837, and Indiana Asbury opened in 1838
with Matthew Simpson as president.

In 1830 the Methodist Magazine became the Meth-
odist Quarterly Review. In 1834 the Western Chris-
tian Advocate was founded, and the Pitts-
Press ^ b^'^g Christian Advocate the year preceding.
In 1836 the Methodist Book Concern at
New York burned, causing a loss of $200,000. It soon
rose from its ashes larger and more prosperous than
ever.

In 1832 the first Methodist missionaries were sent

to foreign lands. Melville B. Cox went to Liberia, where

he soon finished his course, sending back

Missions. , ^,

to the Church the watch-cry, " Let a thou-
sand die, but let not Africa be given up." William
Nast began preaching among the Germans in 1835, and



The Christian Church in America. 311

founded Der Christliche Apologete in 1839. In 1832,
James O. Andrew (1794-1874) and John Kmory (1789-
JS35) were elected bishops ; in 1836, Beverly Waugh
(1789-1858) and Thomas A. Morris (1794-1874) were
chosen to the same office. Wilbur Fisk, who had been
elected to the Episcopacy, declined ordination. In 1 839
the centennial of the founding of Methodism was cele-
brated ; $600,000 was raised for its work by the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church.

But the interest of this decade, as of each of those
following until the Civil War, centered in the ques-
tion of Negro bondage.

In 1832 the New England Antislavery Society was
formed, and the American Antislavery Society the
year following. The General Conference
of 1836 censured George Storrs and Samuel
Norris, two of its delegates, for speaking at an Anti-
slavery meeting. In 1837 the first Methodist Anti-
slavery Society was formed at Cazenovia, N. Y. Bishop
Hedding presided at the New England Conference in
1838, and read a very long address against the Anti-
slavery movement. La Roy Sunderland was brought
to trial four times, and aquitted each time, for his work
in connection with the Antislavery propaganda, Na-
than Bangs being his chief prosecutor. In 1840 he
was accused of libeling Bishop Soule, and tried by the
Conference at which that bishop presided. Soule
showed his usual overbearing disposition. He replied
to Sunderland from the chair, saying no man ever
spoke to him so before. "Thank God," said Sunder-
land, *'you have lived long enough to find one man to
tell you to your face what others say behind your
back." Sunderland was found guilty, but sentenced



312 History of the Christian Church.

only to publish the finding of the Committee in his
paper.

At the General Conference in 1840, Robert New-
ton was the delegate from the English Wesleyans, and
was enthusiastically received. The resolutions on
slavery were not as belligerent against the Abolition-
ists as in 1836, but were a meaningless compromise.

La Roy Sunderland had located in 1 840. He, with
Orange Scott, Luther Lee, and others, at Utica, N. Y.,
May 31, 1843, formed the Wesleyan Connection on an
iron-clad Antislavery basis, also forbidding member-
ship in secret societies.

Under these circumstances met the General Con-
ference of 1844. It became known that Bishop James

General ^' Andrew had, through his wife, become
Conference a slaveholder. If the bishop had emanci-
of 1844. p^^g(j ^jjg slaves in the North, if not in the
South; if he had agreed to suspend his Episcopal
functions until he had become disconnected with
slavery ; or if he had resigned, — the crisis would not
at that time have occurred. Future generations will
wonder how he could have allowed himself to be put
in the position of dividing the greatest of American
Churches on an issue so personal to himself and so
repugnant to the moral sense of Christendom. But
the Southern delegates were sensitive on the subject
of slavery, and determined to resent any action which
should imply that the holding of slaves was any stain
on the Christian or ministerial character. On the other
hand, it was known that the Northern Conferences
would not tolerate the presidency of a slaveholding
bishop. Realizing these antagonisms of feeling and
the delicacy of the situation they caused, and with a



The Christian Church in America. 313

lack of Church consciousness which is astounding,
both sides concurred in a Plan of Separation in case
there should be dissatisfaction with the course of the
General Conference. Dr. Charles Elliott thought the
denomination already too large. The whole debate
showed abundance of brotherly feeling and a desire to
concede where possible, especially on the part of the
North. That any body of delegates should suppose
themselves authorized to divide the Church without
any reference to either ministers or laity, and to plan
for such division in advance of any action demanding
such a change, will always seem one of the wonders of
American ecclesiastical history.

Nevertheless, the report of the committee recom-
mending the Plan of Separation was adopted by a vote
of 139 to 17. A convention was immediately called to
be held at lyouisville, Ky., in 1845, and a General Con-
ference called at Petersburg, Va., May i, 1846. Thus
was organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South ;
1,519 preachers and 459,569 members formed its min-
istry and membership. The General Conference of
1844 elected Edmund S. Janes (i 807-1 876) and Leoni-
das L. Hamline (1797-1867) bishops; the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, chose William Capers (1790-
1855) and Robert Paine (1799-1882) to the same oj0&ce
among them.

When the General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church met in 1848 there was a loss, as
compared with 1844, ^^ 7^0 ministers and 532,000
members. The Conference decided that the Plan of
Separation was unconstitutional, and declined to admit
Dr. Lovick Pierce as a fraternal delegate. That the
separation was unconstitutional in ecclesiastical law



314 History of the Christian Church.

was doubtless true ; but, on the other hand, there was
good reason for the surprise and indignation of the
Methodist Church, South, at the repudiation of the
almost unanimous vote of the Conference of 1844.

The question of the division of the funds of the
Book Concern went to the Supreme Court of the
United States, and was decided in favor of the Method-
ist Church, South. The whole action shows how
vague was the idea of a Church in the minds of lead-
ing men of all parties. Thank God, there has been
some progress since that day. The Methodist Church
still had Conferences and slaveholding members in
the Border States. The efforts of the Antislavery
element continued to change the Discipline so as to
make slaveholding illegal in the Church. In i860
preachers and members were admonished to keep
themselves from this great evil ; but slaveholding was
not prohibited until arms had decided the debate
in 1864.

The second General Conference of the Church
South was held in 1850. Henry B. Bascom was
elected bishop, but died the same year. In 1848 the
first foreign missionaries were sent out to Shanghai,
China.

In the Methodist Protestant Church there were
compromise resolutions adopted on the subject of
slavery in 1842 and 1846. In 1850 the question was
referred to the Annual Conferences, but even this did
not prevent a division which took place as late as
1858. This greatest of the ecclesiastical divisions
could not fail to influence the action of the North and
South in national politics. It did not escape the keen
and patriotic gaze of Henry Clay, who wrote a letter



The Christian Church in America. 315

in April, 1845, deprecating the division, which ensued
the next month, and its influence on the question of
National Union.

It is easy to say the separation was unavoidable in
Church and State, and the arbitrament of arms una-
voidable ; but it is lamentable that there was shown
in the American Churches so little prevision and
sagacity. Had there been more Churches and less
denominations, the ties of Union would have been
stronger, and stronger would have been those forces
in the South which favored the political union of the
American people.

In 1844 Willamette University was founded at
Salem, Oregon. Jason' Lee went there as a mission-
ary in 1834; Marcus Whitman, a Congre- Methodist
gationalist, in 1836. Isaac Owen went out ^l^^^l^^
in 1849, and William Taylor, afterward Education.
bishop, in the same year, to California. '840-1850.
Baldwin Institute, at Berea, Ohio, was founded in
1841 ; and Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware in
1844. New Hampshire Conference Seminary was
founded in 1845, ^"^^ Dickinson Seminary, Williams-
port, Pa., in 1848.

The work was begun in 1814 among the Indians.
It was carried on with much sacrifice and at times
with excellent results. It has continued Mission work
until this day, and, with a better educa- ^^^^''j^i^^
tional system, has borne more permanent Episcopal
fruit. The mission among the Germans church,
in America, under the leadership of William Nast, was
founded in 1838, and in these years just began to form
the foundation of a large Christian Church, with scores
of thousands of members. Ludwig S. Jacoby, con-



31 6 History of the Christian Church.

verted here, began the work in Germany at Bremen
in 1849. Few missions, both directly and indirectly,
have yielded larger results. The mission to South
America was begun by Dr. John Dempster, in 1836,
at Buenos Ayres, but it was confined to English-
speaking residents until 1864. Since then it has been
actively pushed among the Spanish Americans. In
1847 missions to Asiatic lands were begun in China at
Foo-Chow by Judson Dwight Collins and Moses C.
White. Only the beginning was made of what is to
become a great Oriental Church.

The United Brethren in Christ were organized as
an Evangelical Church in 1785. In 1800 Philip Wil-

ji^g liam Otterbein and Martin Boehm were

United chosen bishops. The first General Confer-

'^®"' ence was held in 18 15. The bishops are

elected for four 3^ears. This Church has taken a strong

stand against secret societies. After the first General

Conference services began to be held in English.

The Evangelical Association was formed by Jacob
Albright (i 759-1 808), a friend of Bishop Asbury's.

^^g The first Council of three ministers and
Evangelical fourteen laymen was held November 3
Association, ^g^^ ^^^ ^^^^ Auuual Conference was

convened, with twenty-eight present, in 1807. Jacob
Albright was elected bishop. After his death, George
Miller was the leading man in the Church. In 18 14
John Driesbach had a conversation with Bishop As-
bury in relation to a union with the Methodist Epis-
copal Church. Bishop Asbury would not consent to
the services of the Methodist Episcopal Church being
held in German. Thus the Evangelical Association felt
they had the same call to work among the Germans



The Christian Church in America. 317

as the Methodists among English-speaking people.
Their bishops also are elected for four years. One of
the most remarkable itinerants of the time was Bishop
John Seybert ( 1 79 1 - 1 860) . He was converted in 1 8 1 o,
and began to preach in 1819. Joining Conference in
1 82 1, he was presiding elder in 1825, Conference mis-
sionary in T834, and bishop in 1839. Like Asbury, he
never married, and was an indefatigable traveler. He
traversed one hundred and seventy-five thousand
miles on horseback, and preached nine thousand eight
hundred and fifty sermons.

In 1837 was established the Christliche Botschafter ^
and in 1847 the Evangelical Messenger for English
readers. This Church, like the United Brethren, lays
special stress on the experience of perfect love.

In 1800 there were, of all Methodists, 287 minis-
ters and 64,284 members. In 1850 the Methodist
Episcopal Church had d.,129 ministers and

, ^.\ \- ^ • . statistics.

693,811 members; Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, 1,556 ministers, 514,299 members;
African Methodist Episcopal Church, 127 ministers,
122,127 members; African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church, 71 ministers, 4,817 members; Methodist
Protestant Church, 807 ministers, 65,815 members;
Wesleyan Methodist Church, 400 ministers, 21,400
members; Primitive Methodist Church, 12 ministers,
1,112 members; Reformed Methodist Church, 50 min-
isters, 2,050 members; Congregational Methodist
Church (Colored), 200 members; or a total of 7,152
ministers, and 1,325,631 members.

The most influential bishops of this period were
Joshua Soule and Elijah Hedding. Joshua Soule
(1781-1867) was born at Bristol, Me., and converted



3i8 History of the Christian Church.

at the age of eighteen. Two years later he joined the

Conference. In 1804 he was appointed presiding elder,

an ofl&ce he held, with the exception of

Joshua Soule. ., ^ ^ _ ^ ^ ,

one year, until 18 16. In 1808 he was
the main instrument in formulating the Plan under
which the General Conference came into existence,
and he always felt like a father to the Constitution.
From 18 1 6 to 1820 he was Book Agent at New York.
For the next two years he was pastor at Baltimore.
Having declined the Episcopate in 1820, he accepted
the office in 1824, as he had caused his views in re-
gard to the election of presiding elders to prevail. In
1 845 he and Bishop Andrew went over to the Method-
ist Church, South. He sympathized with the South
in the Civil War, and died two 3^ears after it closed.
Bishop Soule was energetic and strong-willed ; not an
intellectual man, but a good administrator; in his
earlier years an impressive preacher and a leader of
men.

Elijah Hedding (1780-1852) was born at White
Plains, N. Y. Converted at eighteen, he joined Con-
ference at twenty-one. He was pastor from

HeddfiTg. ^^^^ ^^ ^^^7' ^^^ ^^°°^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^4'
presiding elder. In 1 810 he married. His

average salary for the previous ten years was forty-
five dollars. He favored the election of presiding
elders. In 1824 he was elected bishop. His pro-
slavery attitude, 1836-1840, was very offensive to the
Methodists of New England. After 1844 he showed
the feebleness of age. He was considered strong in
counsel and administration.

A man in many respects more able and influential
than these bishops was Nathan Bangs (i 778-1862).



The Christian Church in America. 319

He was born at Bridgeport, Conn., and at the age of
thirteen removed to Delaware County, N. Y. Hav-
ing pursued his education at the common
school, he began to teach at eighteen. ^^^^^
From 1799 to 1802 he was in Canada,
teaching school and surveying. He was converted in
1800, and joined Conference in 1802. The next six
years he preached in Canada. From 1808 to 1852 he
was a delegate to every General Conference. After
1810 he lived in New York. From 1820 to 1828 he
was Book Agent and editor of the Methodist Maga-
zine. From 1828 to 1832 he was editor of the Chris-
tian Advocate. From 1832 to 1836 he edited the
Quarterly Review and the books published by the
Church. From 1820 to 1836 he had served as the un-
paid secretary of the Missionary Society. For the
next five years he gave his attention to this work as
sole secretary. In the latter year he was elected
President of Wesleyan University. After a year in
that office he returned to the pastorate, serving until
1852. He was zealous in his proslavery views, but
changed with time. He was deeply devout and
greatly beloved. He is the author of a " History of
the Methodist Episcopal Church" in four volumes,
1839-1843, and of a "lyife of Freeborn Garrettson."
In far-reaching influence, no man of that genera-
tion was superior to Wilbur Fisk (i 792-1 838). He
was born at Brattleboro, Vt., and graduated

° . Wilbur Fisk.

from the University of Vermont m 18 15,
one of the first American Methodist preachers who
was a college graduate. He joined Conference in
1 81 8, in 1823 was presiding elder, and the next year a
delegate to the General Conference. In 1826 he



320 History of the Christian Church

found his vocation as principal of Wilbraham Acad-
emy. Four years later he was called to Middletown,
Conn., to organize Wesleyan University. In 1835-
1836 he was in Europe. In the latter year he de-
clined the Episcopacy. Two years later his course
was ended. Wibur Fisk was brilliant in intellect and
saintly in character. He experienced and preached
entire sanctification. He, more than any other, was
the founder of the work of the Methodist Church in
education.

The ablest Methodist preacher of that generation

was Stephen Olin (i 797-1 851). He was born at

lyeicester, Vt. His father was jud^e of the

Stephen Olin. „ ' ,• , « , ^

Supreme Court of that State, and afterward
member of Congress. He graduated at Middlebury
College, Vermont. Then for some years he taught in
South Carolina, where he was converted and joined
Conference in 1824. From 1826 to 1834 he was Pro-
fessor of English lyiterature in the University of
Georgia. In 1827 he married a Georgian lady, who
died in 1839. From 1834 to 1837 he was president of
Randolph-Macon College. From 1837 to 1841 he
traveled in Europe and the East. From 1842 to 1852
he was president of Wesleyan University, founded by
Wilbur Fisk. These two men gave it its early repu-
tation. In 1843 he married the daughter of Judge
Lynch, of New York. In 1846 he was present at the
first session of the Evangelical Alliance in London.

Dr. Olin had lived long in the South, and saw
slavery with Southern vision. Wilbur Fisk also had
no sympathy with the Abolitionists. Intellectual is
not always moral vision. Dr. Olin's mind was both
penetrating and profound. In the pulpit he was



The Christian Church in America. 321

master. His sermons were like Chalmers's, massive
and convincing. While charity and humility v^^ere
marked traits of his character, he was a prince of
educators.

The most influential man in the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, in these years, was William
Capers (i 790-1 855). His father was of
Huguenot descent, and had been a Revo- ^3'^^â„¢
lutionary soldier. He was born in South
Carolina, and received his education in South Caro-
lina College. He entered Conference in 1809, serving
until 1 81 5, when he located for three years. Re-
entering Conference, he was a delegate to the Gen-
eral Conference of 1820. In 1828 he was a fraternal
delegate to the Wesleyan Conference in England,
where he won golden opinions. In 1835 he was pro-
fessor in Columbia College, but the next year became
editor of the Southern Christian Advocate until 1840;
for the next four years he was missionary secretary.
In 1846 he was elected bishop. Although Bishop
Capers was a slaveholder, and went with the Method-
ist Episcopal Church, South, yet he was of too clear a
vision not to see that civilization and Christendom
were against slavery, and that it was doomed. Doubt-
less he felt as did Governor Wise and other intelli-
gent Southern gentlemen, before the war, to whom
the situation was intolerable, but who did not see the
way out. Men with less breadth of experience, or
less reflection, went more hopefully and more will-
ingly with the tide.

A man of great native eloquence was Henry B.
Bascom (i 795-1 850). He was born at Hancock,
N. Y., and converted at sixteen years of age. Two
21



322 History of the Christian Church.

years later lie began preaching. Ini823he was chosen
chaplain to Congress. In 1 8 27-1 829 he was pres-
ident of Madison College, Pennsylvania,
Henry B. ^^ institution afterward absorbed in Al-

Bascom.

legheny College, at Meadville. In 1829-
1832 he was agent of the American Colonization
Society. For the next ten years he was Professor of
Moral Philosophy at Augusta College, Kentucky. In
1842 he became president of Transylvania University.
From 1846 to 1850 he edited the Quarterly Review of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1850 he
was chosen bishop. In the somewhat florid style of
eloquence Bascom was an easy master, and was prob-
ably, in his later years, the most popular pulpit orator
in the United States. He wrote the Bill of Rights
for the General Conference of 1828, and the Protest
of the Southern members of the General Conference
of 1844 against the resolution requesting Bishop
Andrew to desist from the exercise of Episcopal
duties while the impediment of his being connected
with slavery existed. He, like the men of his time,
knew hardships. One year in his early ministry he
preached four hundred times, traveled five thousand
miles, and received $12.10 as his salary.

The Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church in the United States
grew slowly until the great tide of emigration set in,
in 1840. The Irish famine, 1 845-1 847, may be said to
have made a new epoch in the history of that Church
in the New World. Certain it is, it clearly divides
the years before from those that followed. Other
nationalities have sent large contingents to the Ro-



The Christian Church in America. 323

man Catholic Church in the United States, and have
found representation in her Episcopate ; but the Irish
prelates have ruled, as they have founded the Roman
Catholic Church in the United States. A glance at
the names of the collective Episcopate during the
nineteenth century makes this evident. If they can
not rule their own land from Dublin Green, they can
and do rule a larger population than Ireland ever con-
tained for the Pope of Rome. Few achievements of
the sons of Ireland are more memorable, more far-
reaching, or more worthy of record than this. And
while this is true, there is scarcely an Evangelical
Church in the United States which does not reckon
sons of Erin among the most eminent of her minis-
ters ; men who did not come from the ancestral Prot-
estants of Ulster, but men like Thomas Walsh of
Wesley's day, and Nicholas Murray, the invincible
antagonist of Archbishop Hughes, who were born and
reared in the Roman Catholic faith. Irishmen have
stood high in the military annals of England, France,
Spain, and the United States; they have made no
small fame as municipal politicians; but it is doubtful
if the Irish gifts of imagination, warmth of heart,
and spontaneous eloquence have found anywhere
wider scope or nobler exercise than in the ministry of
the Christian Church.

Bishop John Carroll died in 18 15. A Frenchman,
Ambrose Marechal, succeeded him in the See of Bal-
timore, 18 1 7-1828. The most noted of
the early bishops of the Roman Catholic England.
Church in the United States was John
England. For some time a papal junta had selected
the bishops for the United States from Irishmen, but



324 History of the Christian Church.

with little regard to either present or prospective fit-
ness. Bishop England was an exception, and the be-
ginning of a better order. He was a parish priest at
Bandon, Ireland. When chosen Bishop of Charles-
ton, S. C, in 1820, he refused to take oath to the gov-
ernment of Great Britain, as he intended to be a citi-
zen of the country of his adoption. His diocese in-
cluded North and South Carolina and Georgia; there
were in it but a few scattered churches. In 1833 he
went to Hayti, and the year following to Rome. He
founded the United States Catholic Miscellany , the
first Roman Catholic periodical in the United States.
He was a pioneer, and ardent controversialist, a good
administrator, and an eloquent preacher. He was the