History of the Christian church (Volume 5) online

In 1867 the Freedmen's Aid Society, which has
done so much where there was greatest need, was
organized. In 1869, Boston University was founded,
and the same year, in the same city, the Woman's
Foreign Missionary Society. In 1869 and 1870 a vote
of the membership declared in favor of lay represen-
tation. This was concurred in by the members of the
Annual Conferences. ^ These years saw many of the
strong men of the Church removed.

Bishop Thomson died March 22, 1870; Bishop
Kingsley, April 6, 1870; Bishop Clark, May 23, 1871 ;
and Bishop Baker, December 8, 187 1. With these
went the sturdy educator, editor, and controversialist,
Dr. Charles Elliott, January 6, 1869; and the accom-
plished John McClintock, president of Drew Theo-
logical Seminary, perhaps at that time the most
scholarly mind in Methodism, March 4, 1870. He
39



6io History of the Christian Church

originated, and Dr. Strong carried to completion,
" McClintock and Strong's Encyclopedia," a work
needing such revision as Herzog's Encyclopedia in
German is now receiving, but still the best religious
Encyclopedia in the English language.

In 1872 the General Conference opened the new
and larger sphere of action and influence for the
Church in admitting laj'^men to member-
ship to the General Conference (the An-
nual Conferences as before were composed of minis-
ters), and by electing eight bishops: Thomas
Bowman, William Iv. Harris, Randolph S. Foster,
Isaac W. Wiley, Stephen M. Merrill, Gilbert Haven,
Edward G. Andrews, and Jesse T. Peck. Of these,
Bishop Bowman was the president of Indiana Asbury
University, Bishop Foster of Drew Theological Semi-
nary, Bishop Harris was Missionary Secretary, Bishop
Wiley was editor of the Ladies' Repository , Bishop
Merrill of the Western Christian Advocate, Bishop
Gilbert Haven of Zion's Herald, and Bishops Peck
and Andrews came from the pastorate.

This Conference opened the way for fraternal re-
lations with the South, and allowed separate colored
Conferences. It also ordered a greatly-needed work,
which was well done, the revision of the Hymnal.
Soon institutions for the colored people of the South
sprung up, like Clark University, at Atlanta, Ga.;
New Orleans University, at New Orleans; Wiley
University, at Marshall, Texas ; and Claflin Univer-
sity, at Orangeburg, S. C. Bishop Ames (i 806-1 879)
died April 25, 1879. Bishop Janes (1807-1876) died
September 18, 1876; he was a deeply spiritual man
and tireless in his work. Bishop Gilbert Haven (1821-



Christian Church in United States. 6ii

1880) died January 3, 1880; he was the first of the
younger bishops to be called from their work ; he had
proved himself a brilliant and a versatile man.

In the General Conference of 1880, Henry W.
Warren was called from a most successful pastorate ;
Cyrus D. Foss from an exceptionally able ^^^^
presidency of Wesleyan University at Mid-
dletown, Conn.; John F. Hurst, the Church historian
of Methodism, from the presidency of Drew Theolog-
ical Seminary ; and Erastus O. Haven, after having
been a popular college president at Michigan State,
Northwestern, and Syracuse Universities, from the
secretaryship of the Board of Education, to the re
sponsibilities of the Episcopacy.

Dr. James M. Buckley was elected editor of the
Christian Advocate, a position he held with ability and
usefulness until the end of our period, surpassing all
his predecessors in length of service, and for it de-
clining the Episcopacy.

The Ecumenical Conference at London, England,
September, 1881, marked a new stadium in the de-
velopment of world-wide Methodism. In 1880 the
Woman's Home Missionary Society was organized,
and in the same year the University of Denver was
founded. In 1865 had been founded the Philadelphia
Home for the Aged; in 1879, the Bennett Orphan
Asylum at the same city; and in 1887, the Brooklyn
Hospital, the beginning of the charitable institutional
work of Episcopal Methodism on a large scale. The
German Methodists began their work in Orphan
Asylums in 1864.

Bishop Levi Scott (1802-1882), leaving a name
fragrant as a Christian, died July 13, 1882. Bishop



6i2 History of the Christian Church.

Jesse T. Peck (1811-1883), versatile in occupation and
achievement, who left his main impress upon the
Church in the founding ol Syracuse University, died
May 17, 1883.

In 1884, William X. Ninde, president of North-
western University; John M. Walden, agent of the

Western Book Concern ; William F. Mai-
188^

lalieu, presiding elder; and Charles H.

Fowler, who had been president of Northwestern

University, editor of the Christian Advocate ^ and was

then missionary secretary, were elected bishops. In

the same year, in December, was held at Baltimore

the Centennial commemoration of the organization

of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

June 18, 1884, Bishop Simpson (1811-1884) en-
tered into rest, leaving a peerless name among Amer-
ican Methodists. Bishop Wiley (1825-1884) died in
China, November 22, 1884, where in early life he had
been a missionary. Bishop Harris (18 17-1887), the
first of the bishops to make an episcopal tour of the
globe, and a wise administrator, died September 2,
1887.

In 1888, the General Conference elected as bishops,
John H. Vincent, secretary of the Sunday-school
Union; James N. FitzGerald, recording-
secretary of the Missionary Society ; Isaac
W. Joyce, from the pastorate at Cincinnati; John P.
Newman, pastor at Washington ; and Daniel A. Good-
sell, who had spent his life in influential pastorates,
but was at that time secretary of the Board of Educa-
tion. It also extended the pastoral term from three
to five years, and authorized the Deaconess Movement,
order, and institutions.



Christian Church in United States. 613

In 1884, William Taylor, of world-wide fame as an
evangelist, was elected Missionary Bishop for Africa ;
in 1888, James M. Thoburn, the Indian missionary of
his Church, was elected Missionary Bishop for India.

In October, 1891, the second Ecumenical Confer-
ence was held at Washington. The General Confer-
ence of 1892 recognized the organization
of the Epworth League for the young peo- ,892.
pie, which had been founded May 14, 1889.

In 1896 the General Conference elected Charles C.
McCabe and Earl Cranston bishops. Bishop McCabe
served as chaplain in the army, and raised ^^^^
large sums of money for the Christian Com-
mission during the war. He originated the Loan
Fund of the Church Extension Society, and carried it
well towards a million of dollars, which it has since
far passed. He also carried the Missionary Society to
enlarged usefulness by his cry of "A Million for Mis-
sions from Collections Only," which has been greatly
exceeded. Bishop McCabe has probably sung the
gospel to more people than any other Methodist
preacher in the world. Bishop Cranston made his
reputation as an able preacher and wise administrator
as presiding elder in Colorado, as pastor, and as Agent
of the Western Book Concern at Cincinnati. Bishops
Bowman, Foster, and Taylor were retired on account
of age. Joseph C. Hartzell, for many years secretary
of the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education So-
ciety, was made Missionary Bishop of Africa.

The General Conference of 1900 was an epoch-
making body. It admitted the laymen in ^^^^
equal numbers to the General Conference.
It adopted a constitution for the Methodist Episcopal



6 14 History of the Christian Church.

Church, which received the necessary concurrent votes
of the Annual Conferences. This settled the question
of the admission of women as delegates to the Gen-
eral Conference, which had been a burning question
since 1888, by making legal their election. It also re-
moved the time-limit from service in the pastorate in
the Methodist Episcopal Church. It fixed a term of
five years for the supernumary relation, and assigned
the bishops to Episcopal residences. The laymen
made their influence felt in the reduction of mission-
ary secretaries, and in a determined movement for the
consolidation of the publishing interests and of the
Church benevolences.

Bishop John P. Newman (i 826-1 899), an impress-
ive, pulpit orator, and the lifelong friend of General
Grant, died July 5, 1899. In 1900, David H. Moore,
editor of the Western Christian Advocate^ and former
chancellor of the University of Denver, was elected
Bishop. John W. Hamilton, secretary of the Freed-
men's Aid and Southern Education Society, and for-
merly pastor of the People's Church in Boston, was
chosen to the same office. Edwin W. Parker and
Frank W. Warne were chosen Missionary Bishops for
Southern Asia.

Three men largely affected the life of this Church

in the earlier years of this period. John P. Durbin

^ ^ ^. ( 1 800-1 876) was a most excellent orator.

Dr. Durbin. ,

and the man who made the Missionary So-
ciety take its rightful place in the love and service of
the people. Born in Kentucky, he was converted at
seventeen, and at twenty joined the Ohio Conference.
From 1822 to 1825 he attended the Miami and Cincin-
nati Universities. In 1 830-1 832 he was professor in



Christian Church in United States. 615

Augusta College. In 1 832-1 834 he edited the Ckris-
tiaii Advocate. In 1 834-1 850 he was president of
Dickinson College. In 1 842-1 843 he visited Europe.
In 1 850-1 876 he was the missionary secretary in his
Church. In him a powerful spirit, equal to great
efforts, dwelt in a slight and frail physical tenement.

Daniel Curry (i 809-1 887) possessed one of the
strongest minds that guided the Methodist press. His
command of terse and expressive English
was remarkable. He made the Christian
Advocate such a power as it had never been. In the
first half of this period few men were so influential in
the Church. He strenuously opposed lay representa-
tion, but gracefully yielded when it became the law
and the fact. He was graduated from Wesleyan Univer-
sity in 1837. He taught in Troy Conference Academy
and Georgia Female Seminary, Macon, Ga., 1 837-1 839.
He was in the pastorate in Georgia, 1844 ; then in
the North in the pastorate. In 1 854-1 857 he was
professor in Indiana Asbury University ; then again
in the pastorate. In 1 864-1 876 he was editor of the
Christian Advocate ; 1 876-1 880, of the Natiojial Reposi_
tory; N. Y., 1884-1887,-of the Methodist Quarterly Re.
view. He was a stanch antislavery man, and, with
Matthew Simpson, was most instrumental in declar-
ing the Plan of Separation null and void.

Daniel D. Whedon (1808- 1885) was, after Wilbur
Fisk, one of the first Methodist preachers to receive a
college education. In 1828 he was graduated

° ^ Dr. Whedon.

from Hamilton College, and then studied
law at Rochester, N. Y. In 1831-1833 he was a tutor
at Hamilton, and for the next ten years was professor
in Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn. In



6i6 History of the Christian Church,

1 843- 1 845 he was in the pastorate. Then for the
next ten years he taught Rhetoric and Logic in the
University of Michigan. After a year in the pastorate,
he was elected editor of the Methodist Quarterly Re-
view, a position he occupied from 1856 to 1884. His
chief work was a treatise ** On the Will." He was a
controversialist of courtesy, but of remarkable vigor.
His notes to a Calvinistic article caused The Independ-
ent to say that they gave a new meaning to the term
"foot-notes." The Quarterly of these twenty-eight
years is his monument.

Two men made memorable their service for the
Church in these years through their authorship.

Charles W. Bennett (1828-1891) was graduated at
Wesley, 1852 ; he then, for ten years, taught, joining the
Conference in 1862. From 1864 to 1866 he
^BennetT* ^^^ principal of Genesee Wesleyan Semi-
nary at Lima, N. Y. ; 1 866-1869 he spent in
study abroad, chiefly at Berlin. On his return he was
two years in the pastorate. From 1871 to 1889 he was
Professor of History in Syracuse University; 1889-
1 89 1 he was Professor of Church History in Garrett
Biblical Institute at Evanston. His " Christian Archae-
ology" is the fruit of the ripest scholarship of the
Methodist Church in any land. The curator of the
Museum for Christian Archaeology at Berlin, Professor
Nicholas Miiller, told the author that it was always
open on his table.

Dr. John Miley (18 13-1895) was honored and suc-
cessful as Professor of Systematic Theology at Drew
^ „.. Theological Seminary. He was the author

Dr. Miley. ^ , »^, .

of "The Atonement m Christ, "1879, and
of " Systematic Theology," 2 vols., 1892, which is the



Christian Church in United States. 617

standard work for Methodist preachers in the Course
of Study.

Dr. James Strong's work culminated in his monu-
mental achievement, the greatest of concordances,
*' The Exhaustive Concordance," a concordance of the
Holy Scripture in the original Greek and Hebrew, as
well as English.

John Morrison Reid (1820- 1896) developed a many-
sided activity. He was graduated from the Univer-
sity of the City of New York in 1839. For

â– ^ "^ "^ Dr. Reid.

the next five years he was principal of the
school connected with the Mechanics' Institute of that
city. He was graduated from the Union Theological
Seminary in 1844, and joined Conference the same
year. After successful years in the pastorate, he was
chosen president of Genesee College, 1 858-1 864. In
1864 he was chosen editor of the Western Christian
Advocate y and in 1868 of the Northwestern Christian
Advocate. In 1872 he became missionary secretary,
which post he held until his death. He purchased
and gave the Von Ranke library to Syracuse Univer-
sity. In 1880 he published a " History of the Mission-
ary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church," two
volumes.

Bishop John F. Hurst (i 834-1903) was easily the
first writer on Church history in his Church in this
period. With a fine acquaintance with the

^ . ^ Bishop Hurst.

German language and literature from study
in the Fatherland, he always read widely. He did
excellent work as professor at Drew Theological
Seminary, besides securing a permanent endowment
for the institution. In his earlier works he is in some
respects at his best, as in his " History of Rationalism "



6i8 History of the Christian Church,

and translation of Hagenbach's "Church History of
the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries." His
"Shorter History of the Christian Church" is a good
book. In his later work the best is often by other
hands, as in his " History of the Christian Church,"
two volumes. His greatest influence was in his irenic
spirit and in his scientific method of the study of
Church history. One of the best things from his pen
was the last article from him published in the Meth-
odist Review on the " Counter Reformation." The
American University at Washington will be the en-
during monument of his breadth and clearness of
vision as well as of his faith and courage.

Dr. Sheldon, of Boston School of Theology, pub-
lished a most valuable " History of Doctrine," two
volumes, and in 1894 his Church history

Sheldon. , ' ^^. ^ , ^, . .

lectures as a History of the Christian
Church," a work of enduring value. Dr. Bradford P.
Raymond, published a "System of Theology."

The succession in Methodist hymnology in this
period fell to Mrs. Frances Crosby Van Alstyne, who
has published more popular hymns and
sacred songs than any other author of her
time. Her songs, with their accompanying music,
won many who would not have cared for the statelier
and more enduring songs of the Church. Never
great, her work has always been good in sentiment
and taste and helpful to the Christian life.

The General Conference of 1854 made Nashville,

Tenn., the headquarters of the Methodist Episcopal

The Methodist Church, South. It chose, as bishops,

chi?ch"' George F. Pierce, who died in 1884, and

South.' Hubbard K. Kavanaugh, who died in the

same year, and John Early, who died in 1873.



Christian Church in United States. 619

, The next General Conference met in Nashville in
1858, and struck out of the Discipline all reference to
slavery ; but, alas ! this did not abolish the fact. In
i860 there were reported 757,205 members. Then
came the Civil War, and the besom of destruction
passed over the South. The General Conference did
not meet again until 1866, in New Orleans. There
were then reported 511,161 members, a loss of nearly
one- third since i860. Many of these were in bloody
graves, for this Church was as zealous in the cause of
the South as the Methodist Episcopal Church was
in behalf of the Union. This General Conference
adopted lay representation in equal numbers in the
General Conference, and also in the Annual Confer-
ences. It abolished membership on probation, and
extended the pastoral term from two to four years.
It elected as bishops, W. M. Wightman, who died in
1882 ; E. M. Marvin, died in 1877 ; D. S. Doggett, died
in 1880; H. N. McTyeire, died in 1889.

The General Conference of 1880 gave the Episco-
pate power to veto acts which they deemed unconsti-
tutional. Then they could only be enacted by a two-
thirds vote. This General Conference constituted the
" Colored Methodist Episcopal Church " as a separate
organization under its care, with 60,000 members.
Colored schools also were founded for this Church at
Augusta, Ga., and Jackson, Tenn. The Southern Re-
view was accepted as a General Conference periodical.
John C. Keener was elected bishop. In 1871 died
Bishop J. O. Andrew, the original occasion of the
separation of 1844. In 1874 the membership had risen
to 712,717 members, nearly the number in i860, which,
however was not passed until 1878, at 798,862 mem-
bers. This session witnessed the first reception of



620 History of the Christian Church,

fraternal delegates from the Methodist Episcopal
Church,— Dr. Albert S. Hunt, Dr. Charles H. Fowler,
and General Clinton B. Fisk.

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., was
founded in April, 1874, and opened in 1875. The
veteran editor, T. O. Summers, died May 3, 1882. In
1882 the Board of Church Extension was founded.
In 1886 a rapid increase in membership was reported.
There were elected bishops, W. W. Duncan, C. B.
Galloway, E. R. Hendrix, and J. S. Key.

Dr. J. B. McFerrin, probably for the previous
thirty years the most influential member of this
Church, died May, 1887. For many years he had
charge of its publishing interests. In 1890, the broad-
minded and greatly-loved Atticus G. Haygood was
elected bishop, and also O. P. Fitzgerald.

The Centennial Offering of 1884 was $1,382,771.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church saw
Wilberforce University founded in Ohio, for the
education of Negroes, in 1856, and since its transfer
to the care of that Church, it has done much for its
work.

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church endured
a schism in 1 852-1 860, which was then healed. Its
periodical is the Star of Zion. In 1880, Livingstone
College was founded at Salisbury, North Carolina.

The Methodist Protestant Church has grown dur-
ing this period, though not as rapidly as those with
an Episcopal form of government. In 1857, Adrian
College, a flourishing institution, was founded at
Adrian, Mich.; in 1868, Western Maryland College,
at Westminster, Md.; and in 1896, Kansas City Uni-
versity, at Kansas City, Kan., came into being.

The United Brethren Church founded its theolog-



Christian Church in United States. 621



ical school at Dayton, Ohio, in 1871, and its Young
People's Christian Union in 1890. In 1890 this Church
suffered a division because the rule against secret so-
cieties was relaxed. Sixteen thousand members with-
drew. Now less than half the services are in German.
In 1 86 1 the Northwestern College of the Evangel-
ical Association was founded at Napierville.. near
Chicago. The Ebenezer Orphan Home was estab-
lished at Flat Rock, Ohio, in 1870. The Young Peo-
ple's Alliance began its work in 1890. In consequence
of a division in the Episcopacy in 1891, twenty- five
thousand members withdrew; but one hundred and
twenty-five thousand remained, and the breach has
been well-nigh healed.

Statistics in 1900.
Parsonages, 11,202; value, $19,486,073. Churches,
27,382; value, $126,293,871. Sunday-schools, 32,119;
teachers, 350,271; scholars, 2,700,543.





Churches.


Clergy.


Members.


Methodist Episcopal, ....

1850-1900 : Gain

Methodist Episcopal, South,

1850-1900 : Gain,

African Methodist Episcopal

1850-1900 : Gain,

African Methodist Episcopal :

18S0-1900: Gain,

Methodist Protestant, ....


^ion




14,190

5.852

i",8o8

2,341

506

92

857

1.427

2,367

4.898


17.752
13,622
5.950
4.354
5.630
5.503

ifi

1.505
1,698

595
195
65
53
975

2,039

1,106
2,465
2,015


2,924,764
2,235.863
1,468,390
954.091
675.462
553.335
536,271
531.454
183,714


1850-1900: Gain,

Wesleyan .... ....






117,899
17,201


1850-1900 : lyoss






3.209


Gain,

Free Methodist






5.437
27,292

204,972

i'57.33S""

135.694

265,935


Gain,






Gain,

Evangelical Association, . .

Gain

United Brethren






Gain






215.483


1850-1900: Gain








36,316


4.693.503



622 History of the Christian Church.

Total Methodists in the United States, and mis-
sions, in 1900, excluding the United Brethren and the
Evangelical Association, was 5,916,249, a gain since
1850 of 4,590,618.

The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal
Church raised for missions in 1900, $1,223,904. Of
this amount, $677,653, was for foreign missions.
The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society raised in
the same year $414,531, a total for foreign missions of
$1,092,184. The Missionary Society gave $460,710
to home missions, and the Woman's Home Missionary
added $240,911, making a total of $701,621 for home
missions.

The Missionary Society employs 546 foreign mis-
sionaries. Among them are not only men of devo-
tion, but of ability equal to the task of

The Workers. , . , ^ \ . r â– , r^-, â– 

laymg the strong foundation of the Chris-
tian Empire of the future. India and China have
been the greatest mission fields of this Church. It
has had large success also in Japan, Mexico, South
America, and in Europe.

In 1900, on the foreign fields of this Church, there
were 181,956 members and probationers. There were
in the United States, in 1900, 5,916,349 members in
Methodist Churches; in Canada, 284,901; in Great
Britain and her other dependencies, 1,202,663; a total
in world-wide Methodism of 7,403,913.

The Church Extension Society of the Methodist
Episcopal Church had, in 1900, a lyoan Fund of
$1,136,954, and its income from collec-
Benevoiences. ^^^^^ ^as $99,238. It has aided 11,677
Churches. The Freedmen's Aid and South-
ern Education Society, at the end of the century, had



Christian Church in United States. 623

forty-seven schools, nearly equally divided between
the white and colored people of the South. It had
lands and buildings worth $2,165,000. In 1900 its
receipts from collections from the Churches was $91,-
218, and from all sources, $355,805. It had, in 1900,
nearly 3,000 colored students in industrial work, be-
sides the scholastic training; $50,000 was collected
from the Churches in 1900 for the work of the Sunday-
school Union and the Tract Societies. The educa-
tional work of this Church is under the charge of its
Board of Education. The Children's-day collections
for the aid of students in Methodist schools, in 1900,
amounted to $60,328. In that year, 1,830 students
were assisted.

At the close of the nineteenth century the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church had three prosperous and
fairly-well-endowed theological schools : at
Boston ; Drew, at Madison, N. J. ; and Gar- stattstk:"*
rett, at Evanston, 111., besides the Iliff The-
ological School at Denver, Col. The attendance upon
these three schools was very evenly divided, ranging
from 173 to 178, an aggregate of 527 students. At
Atlanta, Ga., in connection with Clark University, is
Gammon Theological School, a well-endowed and
equipped school for colored men, with an attendance
of 83. In all, this Church had, at that date, including
theological schools on mission fields, 25 theological
institutions, with buildings valued at $1,659,136, an
endowment of $1,702,341, and 1,225 students. It also
had 56 colleges and universities, with buildings and
equipment, valued at $10,843,402, and endowment of
$12,093,404, and 28,619 students. Of these institu-
tions, six had an attendance of over one thousand stu-



624 History of the Christian Church.

dents each; nine others, of five hundred or more.
Four had an endowment of over $1,000,000, exclusive