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METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHS

 

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SCIONS

IN THE SOUTH.

BY

DANIEL STEVENSON, D.D

CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & STOWE.

NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON.
1892.

      
THE

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

IN THE SOUTH.

BY

DANIEL STEVENSON, D.D.

CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & STOWE.
NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON.
1892.
A.a391¢7

Copyright
BY CRANSTON & STOWE,

1892.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
IN THE SOUTH.

o-

I.
ITS RIGHT TO BE IN THE SOUTH.

 

 

S the Methodist Episcopal Church, by its efforts to es-
tablish and extend itself in the States which were once
known as Slave States, violating any right of any other
Church; and this, of course, means any right of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South?
, In trying to answer this question, I have in mind, at
the present moment, not so much what may have been
said at any time by ministers of our own Church in the
North, as what ministers and members of our Church, in
the prosecution of their work in the South, are not unfre-
quently compelled to hear from ministers and members of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in regard to our
presence in their midst.

It is affirmed by them that we are out of our place in
being in the South; that, agreeably to the Plan of Sepa-
ration adopted by the General Conference of 1844, the
South was set apart as the field of operation for the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church, South, while the Methodist Epis-
copal Church was expected to limit its labors to the
North.

To some of our friends it might be deemed sufficient,
in response to this, to say that the great body of the min-
isters and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
who took much intcrest in the discussions which for several
4 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

years followed the adoption of that Plan, never regarded
the division which took place in 1845 as having taken
place in strict accordance with the provisions of the Plan.
But to other persons it will be deemed necessary that
something more be said; for, whatever might be urged in
regard to the manner in which the organization took
place, the fact that it did take place has to be accepted ;
and the Supreme Court of the United States recognized
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South—and the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church has since done the same thing—as
one of the two great branches of Episcopal Methodism.

Without saying anything, therefore, in regard to what
preceded the organization of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, I proceed to consider the course taken by
that Church, immediately after its organization, in regard
to the rules of boundary set forth in the Plan.

These rules were undoubtedly as binding on the one of
the two great parties to the division as on the other. The
Plan would hold good, so far as these rules were con-
cerned, only so long as neither party violated them by un-
dertaking to organize societies within the territory of the
other; and any violation of them by the one party would,
of necessity, release the other party from its obligations to
observe them, since there was no tribunal to which a com-
plaint could be taken by either party against the other but
that of public opinion. The Supreme Court of the United
States could settle questions of property, but could never
say that either Church should not be allowed to establish
itself in any part of the land where people desired to unite
with it.

Asa matter of fact, the Church South did, at a very
early day after its organization, seek to establish, and did
establish, itself in parts of the country north of the limit
laid down for it in the Plan.

The idea embraced in the Plan seems to have been
that the new Church, if formed, should be limited to the
ITS RIGHT TO BE IN THE SOUTI. 5

Slave States. Just how high up toward the dividing line
between siavery and freedom its northern boundary was to
extend, was to depend upon the wishes of the ministers
and members of the Church just south of that dividing
line. All along the border the ‘‘societics, stations, and
Conferences” were to have the right of voting and deter-
mining for themselves.whether they would go with the
new organization or continue in connection with the
Methodist Episcopal Church. The Baltimore and Dela-
ware Conferences did the latter. If the other Border
Conferences had elected to do the same thing, the line of
division between the two Churches would have run south
of the first range of Southern Conferences. The Meth-
odist Episcopal Church would, in that event, have had
not only all the North, but also a large strip of the South
for its field. It did, in fact, in addition to retaining a
slight strip along the other parts of the border, extend as
far southward as the southern limits of the Baltimore, the
Delaware, and the Ohio Conferences extended. The last-
mentioned Conference at that time embraced a part of
West Virginia within its limits. While the Methodist
Episcopal Church might and did thus extend into the
South, it does not seem to have been in contemplation of
those who adopted the Plan that the Church South should
extend into the North.

But this idea was not adhered to. When the delegates
of the Southern Conferences came together in convention
at Louisville, in 1845, they began to think about the un-
settled position of their northern boundary, and adopted a
resolution indicating a purpose to extend it as far north as
possible.

Very soon thereafter complaints began to be heard that
the Church South was encroaching upon the territory of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and at the General Con-
ference of the latter, in 1848, these complaints were
deemed worthy of reference to a committee. In the re-
6 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

port which the committee presented to the Conference,
they referred to the resolution of the Convention at Louis-
ville, and said that infractions of the Plan had been en-
couraged thereafter by the General Conference of the
Church South, which met at Petersburg, Virginia, in 1846,
by the bishops of that Church, by its Annual Conferences,
and by its presiding elders and other leading ministers.
As a part of their report the committee submitted a state-
ment, signed by Bishops Hedding, Waugh, Morris, Ham-
line, and Janes, enumerating cases of infractiuns of the
Plan, of which they had either personal knowledge or re-
liable information. The Church South had, according to
this statement, endeavored to go beyond its legitimate
boundaries, and to establish itself within the limits of the
Baltimore, the Philadelphia, and the Ohio Conferences,
The last-mentioned Conference extended, as has already
been stated, into West Virginia. Preachers were sent by
the Kentucky Conference of the Church South into that
territority to organize Churches, and two Southern Meth-
odist Churches were organized in the heart of Cincinnati,
and were named in honor of the two bishops who had pre-
sided over the Convention at Louisville, respectively, Soule
Chapel and Andrew Chapel.

That some of the Churches thus organized—for instance,
the two in Cincinnati—did, in the course of time, cease to
exist, was owing, not to any disposition on the part of the
Church South to withdraw from Northern territory, but
to the impossibility of its maintaining its position on free
soil. Anti-slavery sentiment was increasing rapidly in the
North, and pro-slavery sentiment in the South, and South-
ern Methodist Churches were looked upon by the people
of the North as distinctively Southern and pro-slavery.

It did continue to hold a part of the ground thus oe-
cupied, howéver—that part which lay in Slave States.
Had it been possible for it to hold it all, there can be
little reason to doubt that it would have done so; nay,
ITS RIGHT TO BE IN THE SOUTH. qT

there can be little reason to doubt that it would have ex-
tended its borders far into the North, if the public senti-
ment of the North had not been unfavorable to its thriv-
ing there.

That it has ever been ready to extend itself into the
North is evidenced by the fact that, as soon as it became
possible for it to do so, it began to renew its efforts in that
direction. During the war there were persons in the
North who became disaffected toward the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, and whenever any of these showed a will-
ingness to unite with the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, that Church showed an equal willingness to receive
them into its communion. A Methodist Church South
was established in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and it has been
regularly supplied with pastors from the Louisville Con-
ference. A number of charges in the heart of Illinois
were organized into what is known as the Illinois Confer-
ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, did not hesitate to
extend itself into the free territory of the West.

It will be remembered that a number of ministers and
members of the old Baltimore Conference, which extended
down into the valley of Virginia, withdrew from the
Methodist Episcopal Church during the war, on account
of their sympathies with the Southern Confederacy, and
for a time were an independent body. Very soon, how-
ever, they offered to unite with the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, and it gave to them a cordial reception,

So far as I know, that Church has received every
minister and member, and every station and circuit, that
has offered to unite with it.

The Methodist Episcopal Church is in the South, in so
far as much of the border is concerned, for the reason that
the Plan of Separation provided that ‘‘ societies, stations,
and Conferences” south of the old dividing line between
slavery and frecdom should make their own selection as to
8 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Church relations, and many societies and stations, together
with two entire Conferences in the South, never united
with the Church South; and it is in the remainder of the
South for the reason, so far as the question of right is
concerned, that whatever binding force there was in the
Plan whereby boundaries were to be determined, was de-
stroyed by the Church South, by its efforts, as soon as it
was formally organized, to establish itself within the limits
of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

What renders our being in the South a ground of
special objecion on the part of our brethren of the
Southern Methodist Church is not so much the fact that
we are here, as the fact that we are here in such force.
Were we Jess numerous than we are, and did we make
our preseuce less felt than we do, they could afford to be
unconcerned about our presence here. The Church South
occupics a comparatively small part of the territory of the
North. In much the greatest part of the North there is
no sign of its presence, and it is only known by its name,
while the Methodist Episcopal Church covers the entire
South with its Conferences, to say nothing of its institu-
tions of learning. The Church South is not known as a
factor at all in the molding of public sentiment in the
North; the Methodist Episcopal Church is recognized as a
factor of no mean potency in the molding of public senti-
ment in the South, and its influence is becoming increas-
ingly powerful year by year. The increase of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church in the South at the end of every
three or four years, since 1864, has been as great as the
eutire actual membership of the Church South at the end
of every one of these intervals, in all the world outside of the
South. The objection that is made to our being in the South
is not made by the Church South as such, but by individual
ministers and members of the Church, though the effect is
the same, since the individual objectors are understood by
the public to voice the scutiment of the Church.
ITS RIGHT TO BE IN THE SOUTH. 9

The Church, as such, could not consistently make the
objection, since to do so would be to condemn itself for its
own disregard of the terms of the Plan of Separation. But
besides this, it has shut itself up to silence on this subject
by the fact that, in accepting our offer of fraternity, it
accepted it with the distinct announcement on our part,
at the time of making it, that we were in the South, and
that we had no thought of withdrawing ourselves from
Southern territory. This announcement is made promi-
nent in the preamble to the resolution adopted by us, in
the General Conference of 1872, to send fraternal delegates
to the General Conference of the Church South.

The preamble contains the following words: ‘ Within
the parts of the country in which the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, has nearly all its membership and institu-
tions (to wit: all the States formerly known as Slave States,
except Maryland and Delaware), over three hundred thou-
sand of our members reside, with their houses of worship,
institutions of learning, and other Church arrangements.
Our Church is as really settled in that region as in any
part of the land, and every consideration of good faith to
our own people and of regard to the integrity of our
Church, and especially of the unmistakable evidence of the
favor of God toward our efforts there, forbids the thought
of relaxing our labors in that part of our work. We must,
therefore, continue to occupy that part of the country in
perpetuity ; and we have need to strengthen and re-enforce
our work in it as God shall give us the means and the
opportunities.”

It was on the basis of the paper containing this extract
that Drs. Hunt and Fowler, and General Fisk, were re-
ceived by the General Conference of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, in 1874, and fraternal delegates sent
by that Church to the ensuing General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.

At this General Conference of the Church South,
10 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

commissioners were ordered to be appointed to meet with
commissioners, if such should be appointed, from the
Methodist Episcopal Church, to settle all questions of
property between the two Churches. At the General
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church which fol-
lowed, commissioners were appointed, who met with those
from the Church South at Cape May, in August, 1876.
The cases which came before this body of men were from
the States of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Tennes-
see, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Not
one case was presented from any Northern State; and the
entire action of the General Conferences in appointing the
commissioners, and of the commissioners themselves when
they came together, was in acceptance of the fact that the
one Church as much as the other had a right to be in the
South. All questions were settled on this basis. No ques-
tion in regard to the right of the Methodist Episcopal
Church to be in the South was raised. Had it been, after
all that had gone before, the commissioners would have
separated without coming to any agreement.

In some instances, when no question is raised in regard
to our right to be in the South, some of our friends of
the Church South endeavor to throw obstacles in our
way by affirming that, in organizing societies and building
church edifices in localities in which the Church South
already has an existence, we are acting in disregard of
the advice given by the Cape May commissioners. To
this it is to be answered that the commissioners gave no
advice which would tend to prevent us from forming
societies and building church edifices in any towns or in any
neighborhoods in which the people might desire to unite
with us. The commissioners were appointed to settle cases
in controversy in which both denominations claimed to
have rights of property; and to cases of this kind they
limited their decisions and their advice. Whatever was
said or done by them had cases of this kind in view, and
ITS RIGHT TO BE IN THE SOUTH. 11

no others. They came tugether to settle controversies
which had already arisen; and so far from doing or advis-
ing anything which could in the slightest degree look as
if they designed to lay down rules capable of such an in-
terpretation as these our friends of the Church South put
upon them, they did exactly the opposite.

I quote from one of their decisions: ‘The case of a
church-house and lot at Ebenezer, on Fairfield Circuit,
Lexington District, Baltimore Conference, Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South. It was adjudged that the property
shall belong to the society of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, at that place, provided they shall pay the
sum of $500 to the society of members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, for the purpose of erecting a church-
house at that place for their use; and if said society of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, decline to pay the
sum of $500, the church property shall belong to the mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and they shall
pay the like sum of $500 to the members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South.”

Here was a case in which the decision of the commis-
sioners must, in the very nature of things, result in there
being two houses of worship near to each other, the one
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the other of the
Church South. I repeat, therefore, that the decisions of
the Cape May commissioners did not have, and that they.
were not designed to have, any bearing whatever upon
the manner in which we were to prosecute our work in
the South.

We are here, therefore, in violation of no right of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and as to the man-
ner in which we shall push our work forward, we have
no other rules than those which govern us in other parts
of the world; and whoever undertakes to lay down rules
for us other than these, is going out of his way to hinder
and hamper us, and is therefore interfering with our rights.
II.
ITS PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH.

T the close of the year 1864 the Conferences which

lay, wholly or partly, in what had been known as
Slave States, were the Baltimore, the Central German, the
East Baltimore, the Kentucky, the Missouri and Arkansas,
the Southwestern German, the West Virginia, the Del-
aware, the Philadelphia, and the Washington. For these
Conferences, in so far, and only in so far, as they ex-
tended into the Slave States at that time, I have summed
up the white and colored members separately, together
with the Church property devoted to the use of each of
these classes of members, in the following tables:

TABLES FOR 1864.
WHITE Work.

 

CONFERENCES. Mem- |Churches|Valuation.| Parson-| Valna-
bers. ages. tion.

 

2,699) 140 $506,220} 27 $76,300

Baltimore ...... 12,6
12,009| 157 337,575] 9 14 30,100

East Baltimor ce ce

 
 

 

Central German. 595 5 25,000 2 2,060
Kentucky icc 2,667; 38 50,1201 7 3,200
Missour & Arkansas.| 7,034 45 139,825 13 10,100
Philadelphia ............ 21,7638 251 529,775 32 58,650
Southwest German....) 2,058 32 43,400] 14 6,160
West Virginia........... 15 049) = 226 175,500| 26 15,175

Total ss ccornweswscss 74,474 924 |$1,803,415) 135 |$201,685

 

CoLorepd Work.

 

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONFERENCES, Mem- |Churehes| Valuation} Parson-) Valua-
bers. ages. tion.
Baltimore vcs... -cevee eee 8 572 18 $50,000
East Baltimore «| 1,897 15 11,500) ..
Delaware... «| 4,257 22 17,900] ..
Missouri & Ak: Mig, (GB | sossciietahacsseel| -aintllelaancint
Philadelphia ... {6,681 52 34,800
Washington. .cceeee 8,194 19 81,000
Totals..cccecceece: 29,664, 196 | $195,200) eee | cc eeeeees

 

 
ITS PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH. 13

TOTALS FOR WHITE AND CoLoreD Work.

 

Mem- |Churches|Valuation.|Parson-) Valua-
bers. ages. tion.

 

Totals for white work) 74,474, 924 11,803,415] 1385 -/$201,685
“ for colored work| 29,664] 126 195,200| ......00

 

 

Totals for both works] 104,138] 1,050 |$1,998,615| 135 | $201,685

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1865, the war being over, and slavery abolished,
efforts began to be made to establish the Church in parts
of the South not already occupied by it, and from that
time to the present the work has been pushed forward,
and steady progress has been made in gathering in mem-
bers, in building churches and parsonages, and in establish-
ing schools. Thenumber of schoolsand colleges established
and maintained by the Freedmen’s Aid and Southern Ed-
ucation Society in the South is forty-one—twenty-two for
the colored people and nineteen for the whites. In addi-
tion to these, there are other schools and colleges, for
whites, not under the management of this Society. The
whole number of educational institutions under the pat-
ronage and control of the Methodist Episcopal Church in
the South is estimated to be well on toward two hundred,
of which, probably, as many as one-third are of a high
grade.

The good that these institutions are accomplishing is
inestimable. They are sending forth, annually, young men
and young women fitted, by the training they have thus
been enabled to receive, for occupations of usefulness in
the various walks of life.

That the steadiness of the progress that has been made
in gathering in members and building churches may be
seen, I give statistics for three several periods; first, for
the years 1881-2; secondly, for the year 1885; and
thirdly, for the year 1891. The following are the tables
for the first period :
14

TABLES FOR 1881-2.

Write Work.

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHULCH.

 

 

   
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONFERENCES. Year|M’mb’rs|Ch’ch’s| Valuation. e Valuation.
Arkansai.....ecseceee ceee {1882} 4,589) 51 $24,775
Baltimore. {1881} 35,584} 356 | 2,460,068
Blue Ridge.. {1881} 65,2321 71 29,451
East German.. {1881 417 4 60,500
Florida...... - {1882 172 3 19,400
Louisiana. .|1881 99 1 40,000
Mississippi. 1882 275 9 2,750
Missouri .. 1881} 16,366) 190 289,400
St. Louis.. L882] 15,044 1513 AlG, 993
Virginia .. 1882] 7,712) = 106 "125, 340
Pens ait -{1881] 29,518) 297 | 1 (176,225
Alabama... 1881} 4,705) LOL 19,572
Austin... . {1881} 1,264 18 62,900
Central German... 18s 1,309) 11 87,570
Central Tennessee. 5417) 118k 62,675
Georgia ......- 3,018} 724 37,000
Holston. 19,889] 201 168,830
Kentucky. 18,695, 192 306,350
St. Louis German.. 27601 45 124,200
southern German. 1,896 26 44,675
Western German... 1,347; 25 34,025
Northwest Swedish Bal ecient: frsaeueaseratiien
West Virginia... 33,167} 414 575,250
South Carolina 69 1 250

GTO S ya ed wecweadd canteen 208,12 2| 204 1 S60, 108,129

Cotorep Work.
J

CONFERENCES. Year} M’ib'rs Ch’ch’s) Valuation. FI Valuation
Florida w.cscscsececeeees INS2} 3.414) 52] $18,986] 11) $2,889
Lexington . altel) <Lolsl 4th 91,340) 12 BATS
Little Rock “asst} vso9} a2al lores} 3 350
Louisiana... « {1881} 10,704! 112 177,135] 27 7,201
Mississippi. «. {1882} 24,560) 295 117,415 31) 10,435
Missourt....... «| 1881] 3,773) 23 21,500) 6 1,385
North Carolina..........]1882| 7,488] 93 49,942) & 1,275
Washington... --- (1881) 30,920} 248 608,606] 36} 31,030
Central ‘Alabama.....-..|1881 6,901} 107 15,840| 3 900
Delaware .......... se fES8S81] 13,421) 187 170,364] 32) 13,350
East Tennessce + /1881| 2,986) = 26 14,280] 1 50
Savannah....... - {L881} 14,368) 170 122,505) 24 7,450
Tennessee . {1881} 7,569 98 60,525! 7 1,379
Texas... {1881} 11,477] 91 73,866) 27 5,430
West Texas [1881] 7.0321 73 48,727| 10 1,725
St. Louis....... (1882) 3,036) 393 47,032| 15 4.920
South Carolina... /1881] 35,804, 271 196,385) 35) 12,200

Totals.eccecseseseceee|seeees 189,570, L97L | $I 845,283 28x! $107,504

 

 
% ITS PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH. 15

TOTALS FOR WHITE AND GoLorReD WorK.

 

4
M’mb’rs,/Ch’ch’s} Valuation. 5 Valuation,

 

Totals for White Work...... 208,122] 2.464 | $6,168,129|468] $674,236
Totals for Colored Work...) 189,570)1,971 | 1,845,233/288] 107,504

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Totals for both Works | 397,692] 4,435 | $8,013,362/756| $781,740

 

Showing the wonderful increase from 1864 of 293,554
members, 3,385 churches at a valuation of $6,014,747, and
621 parsonages at a valuation of $580,055.

Passing on to 1885, the strength of the Church for
that year is seen in the following tables:

TABLES FOR 1885.

Wuite Work.

 

 

   
 
 
 
 
 
  

 
  
   
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONFERENCES. oe Churches| Valuation. | P87S0N-lValuation
ers. ages.

Arkansas. ......csceseeees 5,607 6534 $69,655}. 18 $3,530
Baltimore...........0.. 37, 390! 381 2,516,525] 103 | 244,753
Blue Ridge.. i 5, 85 59,785 4 1,900
East German... 4 4 60,500) 3 9,000
Florida........ 451 10 35,200 2 8,650
Louisiana... 67 1 50,000 | vasassavest] sevance eves
Mississippi.. 159) 5 BOO ees seccea| seaeredewons
Missouri .. 16,154, 201% 343,565] 63 47,755
St. Louis.. 15,692) 176 488,625] 56 53,615
Virginia... t 113 98,035 16 3,000
Wilmington 31,309] 317 1,312,790) 83 | 169,100
Alabama... 6,643] = 123 46,150) 4 2,435
Austib.......... w-]| 1,801 21 96,000} 14 14,200
Central German...... 1,441 11 105,600 6 17,900
Central Tennessee...| 4,929} 121 67,350) 13 6,440
Georgia ice 74 42,960) 7 1,490
Holston.... 217 248,005} 17 8,700
Kentucky... oe 221 388,900} 22 43,110
St. Louis German ... 3,164) 46 135,625} 24 25,200
Southern German...| 1,633 30 53,450] = 21 16,833
West German ......... 68 146,750) 41 34,675
N. W. Swedish........ 71 2 A100 cA scevases| veetacecicns
West Virginia... 452 631,385, 74 85,175
Pittsburg 4 1,000 2 3,700

Totalsive*sews 2,76814| $7,012,755] 593 | $811,161

 

 
16 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

CoLorReD Work.

 

 

 
 
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

|
CONFERENCES. Mem- [Churches Valuation. | P8tS0n-| valuation
bers. ages.

Florida. .......0. ceeseeeee 3,130 50 $13,675] 31 $5,175
Lexington... 6,346 Tl 140,128} 18 8,830
Little Rock. 2,605 44 26,790 3 550
Louisiana.... 11,473) 186 180,200) 4 20,570
Mississippi... 27,230} = 321 157,804) 9 41 15,271
Missour........ 2,139 27 25,850 9 2,300
North Carolina.. 8,521 99 71,711 9 1,858
Washington ............ : 293 672,035] 50 33,910
Central Alabama..... 6,827 84 38,300) 8 1,975
Delaware................ 15,190} 188 181,260) 40 22,789
East Tennessee. 2,641 30 20,063} 7 2,490
Savannah... 15,228} 185 150,249} 31 9,727
8,298) 114 103,742; 13 4,200

Shuai 11,357} = 138 116,539] 40 14,400

7,962| 85 78,345] 24 8,450

| 3,569) 44 71,675, = 21 6,975

South Carolina........} 38,645) 297 233,771] 52 16,52)
Total 8ccccodetece 203,048] 2,212 | $2,312,867) 422 | $9175,991

 

 

 

Making totals for both works for that year of 425,118
members; 4,980 churches, at a valuation of $9,325,622 ;
and 1,015 parsonages, at a valuation of $987,152; and
showing an increase in less than four years of 27,425 mem-
bers; 545 churches, at a valuation of $1,312,260; and of
250 parsonages, at a valuation of $205,412.

The strength of the Church in the South at the present
time is shown in the following tables:

TABLES OF THE MOST RECENT STATISTICS.
Write Work.

 

 

 

 

 

 
  

 

 

CONFERENCES. Year. | Mem- |ch’hes| Valuation.| P8?’n-) Valuation.
bers. ages.

Alabama... 1891 8,109) 158) = $130,871 4 $4,925
Arkansas..........) L891 5,639) 79 102,345] = 28 8,830
Austin... 1x91 1,517 23) 144,700; 12 15,975
Baltimore.........,) LSOL | 42,975) 389) 3,109,230) 111 381,510
Blue Ridge........ 1291 7333] 123) 79,775| 15 6,525
East German....| 181 426 4 70,500 3 9,050
St. John’s River] 1891 927 Ox) TNF 8 30,600
Louisiana 445) 5 56,600) 1 3,000
Missouri..... 24,105} 209 481,300) 83 64,600
St. Lonis.. he 23,451] 241 916,517, 79 112,950
Virginia............ Rxe6) 19 118,700} = 20 18,475

 
ITS PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH.

1

S

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONFERENCES. | Year. eat Ch’hes| Valuation. ote Valuation.
Wilmington ..... 1891 | 38,273) 372) $1,451,875] 123 | $233,050
Central German} 1891 | 1,615 9 25,500 7 22,000
Cent. Tennessee] 1891 5,755] 124 81,685] 18 8,895
Georgia ............] 1891 | 3,686] 79 51150} 9 4,266
Up. Mississippi} 1891 210 5 1,000 1 250
Holston............ 1891 | 23,226] 288} 426,240) 26 14,160
Kentucky......... 1891 | 22,334) 249} 488,622) 37 64,635
St. Louis Ger’n| 1890 | 3,655) 50} = 159,900} 26 30,200
South’n German| 1891 | 1,945) 39) 77,2%5| = 26 24,725
West German...| 1890 1,469) 25 81,300} 12 13,500
N. W. Swedish..| 1890 227 3 12,250) 2 1,050
West Virginia...| 1891 | 42,323} 330) 745,812] 107 124,331
Pittsburg ......... 1890 341 3 12,900) 2 2,200

Totals veccsccsre axseceses 269,372] 3,062] $8,959,222| 750 ($1,199,702
Cotorep Work

CONFERENCES. Year, a Ch'hes| Valuation. ee Valuation.
Florida............. 4,435 73) $65,956 18 $7,035
Lexington.. 6,801 90 178,050) 22 12,45
Little Rock. 4,142 74, 51,675 19 6,745
Louisiana ... 1891 | 15,039) 181) 228,754) 73 34,068
Mississippi........ Ix01 | 15,286) 176! «105,254 38 | 11.500
Up. Mississippi] 1891 | 17,686) 203) =117,668; 31 11,079
Cent. Missouri..| 1891 8,213. 106 123,285, 42 16,72
North Carolina..| 1891 OA0y) 125. 73,905], 23 6,325
Washington .....) 1891 | 31,251] 296 838,055! 61 67,025
Cent. Alabama..| 1891 | 10,438) 143) 114,602] 28 9,929
Delaware ......... 1891 | 14,306} 208 193,621; 51 30,000
East Tennessee..| 1891 5,119 68 94,400) 18 9,525
Savannah ......... 1891 | 17,694} 209 189.632} 40 16,930
Tennessee.. 1891 | 9,700} 125 92,405) 20 7,430
Texas ...............| 1891 | 13,286) 179; 167,232) 60 24,944
West Texas......) 1891 | 8,717) 103) 107,808] 35 11,585
South Carolina..| 1891 | 42,786] 333] 325,420) 69 33,105

TOGA Sse coset 234,036] 2,692] $3,062,782] 643 | $323,382

ToTats FoR WHITE AND CoLorepD Work.

oe Ch'hes| Valuation. pees Valuation.

Totals for white work] 269,372) 3,062) $8,959,222) 750 | 1,199,702
Totals for col’red work|234,036] 2,692] 3,062,782! 643 323,382
Totals for both works] 503,408} 5,754} 12,022,004) 1,393 |$1,523,084
Increase since 1885.....) 78,290} 774) $2,696,382) 378 | $535,932
Increase since 1264.....| 399,270] 4,704} 10,023,389] 1,258 | 1,321,399

 

 

 

 

This is unparalleled in the history of the Church.

2
Iit.
ITS WHITE WORK IN THE SOUTH.

HUS far consideration has been given to our entire
work in the South, without reference to distinction of
color. Concerning our work among the colored people,
it has been the custom, the fashion, ‘‘ the thing to do,” to
speak favorably of it; but concerning our work among
the whites such has not always been the case. Not only
has it been opposed in the South, and especially by our
Southern Methodist friends, but it has been depreciated in
the North by ministers and members of our own Church.
Many of our brethren of the North have no clear con-
ception of its magnitude, its growth, its influence in the
South, and its necessity in the work of harmonizing the
sentiments of the South with those of the other parts of the
country. The opinions which many of them have formed
of it have been formed from partial knowledge. Occasion-
ally a minister has gone to the Gulf States, where the
colored work is strongest, and the white work weakest, and
staid there a few days, or, possibly, a few weeks, and on
returning to the North has set forth his opinions with the
utmost confidence in their correctness, and has been listened
to with eager interest, as if the shorter his stay the wiser
he must have become. It has sometimes happéned that min-
isters of our Church from the North, in visiting the South,
have received their impressions of the white work from
persons either unfriendly to it or ignorant of its true con-
dition and prospects, and have returned to the North with
prejudiced views in regard to it, and have thus prejudiced

others against it.
The progress of both white and colored works Las been

18
ITS WHITE WORK IN THE SOUTH. 19

given. Let us glance at the progress of the white work,
separately.

It has been seen that in 1864 the statistics for the white
work were as follows: Members, 74,474; churches, 924,
at a valuation of $1,803,415; and parsonages, 135, at a
valuation of $201,685; and that at the present time we
have as follows: Members, 269,372; churches, 3,062, at
a valuation of $8,959,222; and parsonages, 750, at a
valuation of $1,199,702. From these figures we find that
there has been an increase as follows: Of members, 194,-
898; of churches, 2,138, at a valuation of $7,145,807;
and of parsonages, 615, at a valuation of $998,017.

By recurrence to the tables, it will be seen that, while
the increase of colored members and of property devoted
to their use was greatest at first, that of white members
and of property devoted to their use has kept a more
steady and even pace, and at the present time is relatively
more rapid than that of the colored members and their
property. The colored members came to us, at the close
of the war, in large numbers. There was nothing to
hinder, but everything to favor, their coming. Social
influences did not affect them, and the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, did not want them. But the relations of
the whites were different, and their coming was not made
easy by their circumstances. They came in the face of
all the influences which surrounded them, and it could not
have seemed astonishing to any one acquainted with the
bitter prejudices which prevailed among the great majority
of the whites in the South against everything that was
not Southern, if the progress in gathering members into
the Church had, except in those parts of the South occu-
pied by it at the close of the war, been almost exclusively
among the colored people.

It was great among them, but hardly less great among
the whites. The progress among the colored people was
from 29,664 members, in 1864, to 189,570 in 1881-2, giv-
20 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCIL

ing an increase of 159,906 in the intervening seventeen
years. The progress among the whites was from 74,474
members, in 1864, to 208,122 in 1881-2, giving an increase
of 183,648 in the same time.

During this period the increase of colored members
was 26,258 greater than the increase of white members.
But with the close of this period the more rapid increase
of colored than of white members ceased. During the
next period, from 1881-2 to 1885, it was a little less than
that of the whites. That of the colored members was
from 189,570, in 1881-2, to 203,048 in 1885—in other
words, 18,478; while that of white members was from
208,122, in 1881-2, to 222,070 in 1885—in other words,
13,948, or 470 more than that of the colored members.

During the period from 1885 to 1891 the difference in
favor of the whites is more marked. The whole number
of colored members at the end of this period is 234,036,
showing an increase since 1885 of 30,988; while the whole
number of white members at the end of the period is 269,-
372, showing an increase of 47,802. It is reasonable to
suppose that this change of relative difference of increase
in favor of the whites is fixed, and that while the colored
members in the South will go on increasing, the white
members will increase yet more and more rapidly. The
idea has genera!ly prevailed that the colored members in
the South have been more numerous than the white mem-
bers. This has arisen from the fact that the colored work
has been much more emphasized in appeals in behalf of
the Freedmen’s Aid Society than the white work. But
from the beginning the white membership has been more
numerous than the colored, and to-day there are 35,336
more white members in the South than there are colored.
This fact, taken in connection with the fact just stated, of
the change of relative increase in favor of the whites,
affords ground for thoughtful consideration in regard to
the relative importance of the two works for the future.
ITS WHITE WORK IN THE SOUTH. 21

The progress of our Church in the South, embracing
both works, has been duly emphasized. I now affirm that
the progress made among the whites alone is unequaled by
that made in an equal number of years in any other part
of the world, except, perhaps, in the West of our own
country, where the rapid growth of the Church has been
due to the immense tide of population which has rolled
thither from the East.

At the end of twenty-six years from 1739, when the
corner-stone of the first Methodist chapel was Jaid at
Bristol, England, there were only about 25,000 members
of the Methodist societies in Great Britain; and more than
sixty years elapsed before the number in all places where
Methodism was established, equaled the increase of our
white membership in the South in the twenty-six years
since our movement southward began.

Methodist societies began to be organized in America
in 1766. Not till the end of forty-six years—1812—had
its growth reached the size of our increase of white mcm-
bers in the South in these twenty-six years.

In 1790 Jesse Lee entered New England. It has now
been 102 years since that event, and the whole number of
members in the six Conferences of the New England
States amounts to just 117,773, which is 77,125 less than
our increase of white members in the South in about one-
fourth of the time.

The first foreign mission-field of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church was Liberia. The work was begun in this
field in 1833, fifty-nine years ago. The whole number of
members in our work in Africa to-day is just 3,427.

The work in South America was begun in 1836, fifty-
six years ago. The whole number of members there to-
day is 1,865.

The work in China was begun in 1847, forty-five years
ago. The whole number of members there to-day is 7,062.

The work in Germany and Switzcrland was begun in
oe TIE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

1849, fifty-three years ago. The whole number of members
in those countries to-day is 16,872.

The work in Scandinavia was begun in 1853, thirty-

nine years ago. The whole number of members in that
part of the world to-day is 28,182.

The work in India was begun in 1856, thirty-six years
avo. The whole number of members in that empire to-
day is 17,989,

The work in Bulgaria was begun in 1857, thirty-five
years ago. The whole number of members there to-day
is 203.

Summing up the members in all our foreign mission-
fields, including those in Italy, Mexico, Korea, and Malay-
sin—7,188—we find that we have a total of 77,188 at the
en of fifty-seven years from the time of the establishment
of our first mission station in Liberia. This is cousider-
ably less than one-half the increase of our white members
in the South in twenty-six years.

Some things have been said in regard to the amount
of missionary appropriations to our works in the South,
and especially to our white work. From data before me
I find that the missionary appropriations to our entire
work in the South for the last twenty-six years have
amounted to about $3,700,000. How much of this has
been for our white work it is impossible to know, since,
for some years after the organization of Conferences in the
South began, a number of the Couferences were mixed.
A fair estimate would place the amount at not more than
$2,250,000, Let this amount be placed alongside of the
appropriations to our foreign missions, and it will be seen
that the latter greatly exceed it. The exact amount ap-
propriated to these missions during the last twenty-six
years I have no means of knowing; but it is reasonable
to suppose that it has been at least one-half of the whole
amount raised during that time by the Church for mis-

 
ITS WHITE WORK IN TILL SOUTH. 23

sionary purposes. The amount thus raised has been about
$19,480,800—one-half of this would be $9,740,400—but
for the sake of perfect fairness let this be reduced to
$9,000,000.

We have already seen that the whole number of mem-
bers in our foreign fields at the present time is 777188.
Assuming that as many as 60,000 of these have been
gathered into the Church within the period named, as the
result of the expenditure of the $9,000,000, we find that
for every member thus added to the Church there has
been an expenditure of missionary money amounting to
$116.59, whereas for every member helping to compose
the increase in our work among the whites in the South
for the time stated, there has been an expenditure of
about $11.06.

In regard to the appropriations for the ten years end-
ing with 1891, we are not left to conjecture, but are
furnished with exact knowledge by the Missionary Report
for that year. The whole amount appropriated to the
foreign fields during this decade was $4,767,064, being
more than twice as much as was appropriated to the
white work of the South in the twenty-six years from
1864, or more than an average of five times as much per
annum.

The amount appropriated to Africa, which, as we have
seen, has only 3,427 members, was $69,100, or more than
$21, not for every member received into the Church dur-
ing that period of ten years (for I have no means of know-
ing how many were received within that time), but for
every member now there. The ainount to South America,
which has only 1,865 members, was $377,551, or a little
more than $202 for every member now in that part of
the world. The amount tu China, which has only 7,062
members, was $943,263, or a little over $133 for every
member now there.
24 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

But without going into further detail, let us conclude
with Bulgaria. In this field there was expended in the
ten years named, $165,275, making the very large amount
of $814.16 for every one of its 203 members.

It is to be admitted, in modification of what has been
said, that much of the missionary money that is appro-
priated to foreign fields is used for building churches and
meeting other demands of the work. But after making
all allowance for this fact, it remains that, taking member
for member and year for year, the foreign work has been
largely more costly than the white work in the South,
while the collections from the latter for missionary and
other benevolences have been much larger than similar
collections from the foreign fields.

For the ten years ending with 1890 the amount
returned for missions from the white work in the South
was more than $700,000.

Tn addition to these facts it is proper, in this connection,
to call attention again to the matter of the Church property
connected with the white work in the South. There are, as
has been seen, 3,062 churches, at a valuation of $8,959,-
222, and 750 parsonages, at a valuation of $1,199,702,
making a total of Church property of $10,158,924, which
is an increase since 186-4 of $7,958,624. Probably as much
as $6,000,000 of this was contributed by the members
themselves, exclusive of any aid from the Church Exten-
sion Society. In addition, these Conferences have been
contributing to the other benevolences of the Church.

So much in regard to our work among the whites in
the entire South. Of course, much the greater part of this
work is in the Border States, precisely as much the greater
part of the colored work is in the Gulf States. But no
mean portion of our strength among the whites lies in the
States south of the border, where progress has been, as was
to be expected, much more difficult.

Excluding from the list every Border Conference, and
ITS WHITE WORK IN THE SOUTH. 25

taking only those Conferences which have been furmed
since the war, we have the fullowing:

TaBLe OF WHITE Work SouTtu of THE BorDer Conrenr-
ENCES FOR 1891,

 

 

  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONFERENCES. M’mb’rs|Churches| Valuation. | P ae Valu'tion.
Alabama... 8,109 158) $130,871 4| $4,925
Arkansas. 5,639 79) = 102,345 28) = 8,830
Austin... 1,517 23) 144,700 12] 15,975
Blue Ridge... vel 7,833 128 79,775 15) 6,525
St. John’s River...... 927 28} = 133,175 8] 30,600
Louisiana ......:c.eee 445 5 56,600) 1 38,000
Virginia...ccee cece 8,886 129} 118,700) 20) 18,475
Central Tennessee...) 5,755 124 81,685 18 8,895
Georgia... «| 8,686 79 51,150 9) = 4,266
Upper Mississippi... 210 5 1,000) 1 2F0
PASI vccentnevrentatnans 23,226 288 426,240) 26) 14,160
Southern Gerwan....| 1,945 39 77,275 26| 24,725

TOtalS acccocmoveee 68,178 1,085} $1,403,516 168] $140,626

 

 

 

These figures show a progress which every candid man,
every unprejudiced man, every man who is not predeter-
mined to depreciate the work in the part of the South in
which these Conferences lie, will be constrained to say is
remarkable. In the parts of the South covered by these
Conferences there was not, at the close of the year 1864,
a single member, a single church, a single parsonage—ex-
cept, perhaps, in the States of Virginia and Arkansas.
What we have there now is almost entirely the result of
only twenty-six years of labor. Has it been equaled in
the history of the Church, except in the West, where rapid
growth has been due in greatest part to rapid immigra-
tion? Emigration from the North has not given to us these
68,178 members, with their churches and _parsonages.
Nine-tenths of all who have thus been gathered into the
Church were born and reared in the South. They repre-
sent a sentiment which, though overshadowed and silenced
during the war, still lived in the hearts of many of the
people of the South—that the Nation is more than the
26 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

South, and that a Methodism that bears not a sectional
name is preferable to one that, by its name, puts its mem-
bers always on the offensive or the defensive as citizens
of the South.

Compare this progress with that of Methodism in the
beginning in England, or in this country, or in New Eng-
land, or in our mission-fields, and it will be seen that it
outstrips them all; and if the question of appropriations
be raised, the results will be found to be far greater in
this field than in our foreign missions for the amount of
of money expended, while the returns, in the way of be-
nevolent collections, have been fully as great as could
reasonably have been expected.

It must be remembered that these Conferences having
been newly formed, there has been much attention given
to the building of church edifices; that there being fewer
towns and cities in the South than in the North, for the
same extent of territory, there are more circuits and fewer
stations in these Conferences than there would be for the
same number of members in the North; and that it is in
the South as it is in every other part of the world—that
the people are less trained to liberal giving in the country
than in the towns and cities. ,

But there has been quite an improvement in the collec-
tions for missions in these Conferences. In 1852 the col-
lections fur this object amounted to $2,985; in 1890 they
amounted to about $8,000; and what is true in regard to
collections for missions is true in regard to collections for
the other benevolences of the Church. And these will
all undoubtedly continue to increase, if the work be prop-
erly sustained.
Iv.

SHALL OUR WORK AMONG THE WHITES IN
THE SOUTH BE SUSTAINED?

NY whisper of not sustaining a similar work in any

other part of the world would be regarded as the
height of folly; and, perhaps, no man whose opinion is
worthy of consideration, for its own sake, has entertained
the idea of the withdrawal of our white work from the
entire South; yet the idea of withdrawal from the lower
parts of the South has been so expressed as to give éoun-
tenance to the idea of the abandonment of our white
work altogether in the South, at least in all that part of
the South not occupied by us before the war.

Let it be imagined that this were done; that we had
no white members, and no church property for the use of
white members south of the lines that divided the Method-
ist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, in 1864. Very soon the colored members, being
thus isolated, would leave us, and the Methodist Episcopal
Church would have no representation in the South, and
no partin molding its sentiments and influencing its
action. All the fruit of its twenty-six years of labor
and sacrifice would have been lost to it. The Church
South, with its sectional ideas, would, so far as Methodism
is concerned, exert almost supreme sway in the South,
and that, in consequence of our own unforced surrender of
tLe ground which it had been possible for us to hold.
Our activen would be tantamount to our saying to that
Church: ‘We turn over to you all that we have hitherto
held, of position or place, of influence or power, in the
South. We no longer feel any responsibility in regard

27
28 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CUURCH.

to that section. Teach its people what ideas seem most
pleasing to you. Indoctrinate them thoroughly in all that
is implied by the name you bear. We leave the whole
matter to you. We shall never cross the line again with
an idea, a conviction, a message. That is your country
and not ours.”

What would this be but recreancy to duty and ,to
right, and treason to conscience and to God? It would
be to do for ourselves in our own country what we should
not be willing to do for ourselves in any other country
under the sun—to shut ourselves up to a limited portion
of it, and act toward the rest as if we had no interest in it.
Jt would be to yield to and encourage that sectional spirit
which came near destroying our Nation, and in efforts to
dethrone and conquer which so many thousands of lives
were offered upon the altars of the country. It would be
to make the South, once svlid, but now softened by the
better influences which have been brought to bear upon
it, solid again; and with a solid South we should have a
solid North, and thus an imperiled Union; for though
slavery is gone, it is not impossible that other occasions,
if not causes, might arise to bring the sections again to a
clash of arms.

The sundering of the ties which bound the Methodist
Church together was the first important event in that
series of events which resulted in the great civil war, and
the Union will not be fully and completely restored in
feeling, in aim, in purpose and in life, as well as in gov-
ernment and law, till there be either reunion of the dis-
severed parts or the extension and growth of that part
which bears no sectional name, and is national in spirit,
till it be recognized in every State and Territory of the
Union as the Methodism of the land.

But what shall be said in regard to the idea of with-
drawal from the more southern parts of the South? It
requires no great acumen to see that any action of the
SHALL OUR WORK BE SUSTAINED? 29

General Conference or of the Missionary Committee, or of
any other power or authority of the Church, looking to
this end, would go in its results beyond the purpose of
those taking it, if there were no countervailing influcnces
to prevent. Languishment, beginning in the most south-
ern parts of the work, would soon, like a contagious dis-
case, affect the parts proximate thereto, and the spirit of
discouragement and decay would go northward with un-
checked speed, so that the result would be the same event-
ually as if it had been the purpose at the start to make
the southern limit of the Church what it had been in 1864.

If we mean not this, there is only one line which we
can safely aim at, aud that is the line of extreme southern
limit of the United States, where the land is washed by
the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Any line north of this
will prove a delusion. We may not be quite down to the
Gulf at all points yet, but this line must always be kept
in view. It must be the line of thought, the line of aim,
the line of intention, the line of purpose, the line.of plan
and of effort.

The Methodist Episcopal Church has a mission, and a
most important mission in the South, and this mission is
not limited to the colored people; it is to the whites as
well. It has its ideas to impart to them, its influence to
exert upon them, that they in turn may become repre-
sentatives of its ideas, and exerters of its influence. All
who have been received into its communion thus far have
been the legitimate fruitage of its rightful labors. It has
not robbed any other Church of its members. Those who
have come to it have come precisely as people go into any
other Church, from conviction and choice. They have
come because they have seen somewhat in its idcas and
spirit and aims which has drawn them to it, somewhat
in which it differs from other Churches in the South. The
Church South has no mortgage on the people of the South,
white or colored, auy more than the Methodist Episcopal
80 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Church has, and we are not encroaching upon its rights.
If we are in its way, it is because of our ideas, not because
there are not enough white people in the South to form
congregations for it and us too. It agrees with us in doc-
trines and forms of worship; but in other respects it could
no more do the work which we are doing than the Presby-
terian or the Baptist Church could do it. We can not
safely, therefore, turn over our work to it. If the time
shall ever come when the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, can do the work which it has been committed to us
to do, it will be when it shall no longer bear the name of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, but be one with
us in ideas, in spirit, and in name, as well as in doctrines
and forms of worship. ,

When that time shall come it would be useless to con-
jecture. It seems farther off to-day than it did ten years
ago. Before the settlement of the questions of fraternity
and property, those questions seemed to stand in the way
of reunion. There is less talk favorable to reunion among
ministers of the Church South to-day than there was
while those questions were under consideration. Why, it
may be asked, is the Church South not favorable to re-
union? The size to which the united Church would sud-
denly have grown has been given as a reason. But that
reason does not seem to be the controlling one, for the
counter reason that that Church neither wishes nor ex-
pects to reach a certain size, and then, on account of its
size, deliberately set to work to divide itself into two
or more parts. Ministers and members of that Church
have suggestions to offer looking to the division of our
Church, but not to the division of their own.

Why, then, does the Church South not wish to unite
with us? I know no better answer to this question than
this, that it does not wish to unite with us, because it does
not WISH TO UNITE wilh us. The Church South may not be
supposed to be positively inimical to the Methodist Episco-
SHALL OUR WORK BE SUSTAINED? 31

pal Church, but it does not feel sufficiently friendly
toward it to be willing to become one with it. It is South-
ern, and prefers to be Southern; apd herein lies the great
difference between it and the Methodist Episcopal Church ;
and as long as that difference is great enough to keep us
apart as two distinct ecclesiastical organizations, it is great
enough to justify the Methodist Episcopal Church in
pushing forward its work, without evermore stopping to
inquire the news in regard to the feeling of the Church
South upon the subject of reunion. The Church South is
steadily pushing its lines in all directions. ‘‘ Philip is not
dead.” If ever reunion come, it will come, not in conse-
quence of any diminution of our force in the South, but
in consequence rather of our greater enlargement.

The war of swords ended twenty-seven years ago. The
clash of ideas continues to the present time. The Church
South is the most powerful exponent of the Southern side
of the contest. If that side seems to our friends of the
North not the best for the country, and if the Methodist
Episcopal Church seems to them a truer representative of
their ideas, then they would be most unwise to think for a
moment of doing anything that would tend to diminish its
influence in the South.

The Southern Methodist Church is, by the name it
bears, sectional, and must continue so as long as it retains
the name “South.” It is the defender, the advocate, and
the promoter of Southern ideas. Whether its leaders have
any plans with regard to the future, I know not; but that
their sentiments are more sectional than national, I
believe; and sentiments are not to be despised. From
sentiments grow thoughts; from thoughts, wishes; from
wishes, purposes; from purposes, plans; and from plans,
acts.

The only ecclesiastical body of any strength in the
South that is more national than sectional in its senti-
ments is the Methodist Episcopal Church; and as the
32 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

white people of the South have hitherto exerted, and will
continue to exert, the controlling influence in this part of
the country, it is tv the white part of our miuisters and
members in the South that we are to look for the pro-
mulgation of such sentiments in largest degree. The
Church South cares little or nothing for the existence of
the colored work in the South. It has no colored mem-
bers, and does not want any, and hence it fears no loss of
influence from that work. But its feelings toward the
white work are very different. Our white members are
brought into social relations with the great body of the
white people of the South—are a part of that body, and
are exerting an influence upon that body, and this in-
fluence is not to be despised, and is not despised, but, on
the contrary is becoming more powerful every year, in
destroying the sectional spirit of the South and harmoniz-
ing its public sentiment with that of the Nation, and thus
in hastening the day of perfect national peace.

These things being so, it should be our aim to establish
Methodist Episcopal Churches in every nook and corner
of the South where we are able to find white people
enough to form a nucleus for a congregation. We need
not seek to pull down any other Church; but we may
seek to gather into our fuld all who are willing to come to
us, precisely as other denominations do, being assured of
this that all who come will come because they see some-
thing in our ideas and aims which they do not see in the
ideas and aims of other Churches. And nobody need be
concerned lest we encroach upon the ground of others.
We are certain not to succeed where we are not wanted
and needed; and if in any place we meet with success, it
will be proof that we are wanted and needed there.

The Methodist Episcopal Church is sometimes in the
South called the Church ‘‘ North,” in contradistinction to
the Church South. Some people in the South and some
in the North think that the term ‘‘ North” belongs to it
SITALL OUR WORK BE SUSTAINED? 33

as the term ‘‘South” does to the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South. But we are constantly correcting this
error, and the better understanding of the unsectional
name of the Church is having its effect upon the rising
generation of the South. It is one thing to have a name
applied which can be thrown off with a word, and another
to be compelled to use it at all times and under all cir-
cumstances.

No deed that is made to the Methodist Episcopal Church
has the term ‘‘ North” in it; every deed that is made to
the Church South must have the term “South” in it, to
be good in law. No tablet on the front of any Methodist
Episcopal Church has the term ‘‘ North” on it; every
tablet of every Methodist Episcopal Church, South, that
has been built since the division of the Church in 1844,
has the term ‘‘ South” on it, unless those who put it in its
place meant to deceive the public. No hymn-book, no
Discipline, no Sunday-school paper, nor other periodical of
the Methodist Episcopal Church has the term ‘‘ North ” on
it; every hymn-book, every Discipline, every Sunday-
school paper, and every other periodical of the Church
South has the term ‘South” on it. The publishing-
house is the ‘‘ Southern” Methodist Publishing-house ; its
bishops are “Southern” Methodist bishops; its presiding
elders are ‘‘Southern”” Methodist presiding elders, and its
preachers “ Southern” Methodist preachers. It is Southern
in all its parts and appointments.

When we are asked how it is that the one Church is the
Church South and the other is not the Church North, and
are able to give an answer, those who have asked the
question are put to thinking.

Our white work in the South is the part of our work
in the South that bas in it the elements and forces which
are most needed in the South; and to think fora moment of
withdrawing it is to think a most unwise thing, even if the
withdrawal were possible, which it is not. The work might
34 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

be weakened, but it could not be withdrawn. A work that
has 269,372 members and $10,158,924 worth of church
property, is too well established for the thought of with-
drawing it to be seriously entertained by any person who
knows the facts in the case. Nor can that part which lies
south of the border Conferences be withdrawn. Sixty-
eight thousand one hundred and seventy-eight members
are too many to talk about withdrawing; and their one
thousand and eighty-five churches and one hundred and
sixty-eight parsonages are not the impedimenta of an army,
to be wheeled back to a certain line at the will of some
one commanding at a distance. The talk about withdraw-
ing is not merely absurd, it is offensive. The persons who
compose our white membership in the South are not
blocks,” nor ‘‘stones,” nor ‘‘senseless things.” They
have clearness of perception and independence of thought
and action. Many of them are poor, but not all of them
by any means; and those of them who are poor, are so in
no other sense than that in which many of our members
in other parts of the country are poor. They are neither
pusillanimous in spirit nor aimless in life; and they have
self-respect, which does not go untouched, at the language
which is sometimes used in regard to them.

These people might be brought to feel that they are an
incumbrance. If so, would they quietly and helplessly
allow their course to be determined for them by those who
talk so lightly about withdrawal? Would they, like children,
submit to the decision of others as to their Church relations,
or would they consider the matter for themselves and
follow the dictates of their own judgments? They would
undoubtedly do the latter.

If the same style of talk, which is heard in regard to
our white work in the South, were uttered in regard to
any other work that has proved half so successful in the
same length of time and for the same amount of money
expended on it, it would be regarded as excecdingly im-
SHALL OUR WORK BE SUSTAINED? 35

proper and unkind. No such utterances are heard in
regard to our colored work. Our friends in the North
observe a most considerate delicacy in speaking about that
work. Nobody intimates a thought of withdrawing from
it or surrendering it, and nobody deems it proper to speak
any but the most kind things about it. Why is this?
Are the white members of the Methodist Episcopal Church
in the South less dear to the white members in the North
than the colored members in the South are? Is the soul
of a brother in white less valuable than the soul of a
brother in black, or does there yet linger some prejudice
against the whites of the South because of the colured
people? If so, the mark is missed so far as we are con-
cerned; the white members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in the South are the friends, not the enemies, of
the colored people. One thing is certain, that while the
white members of our Church in the South will never
willingly leave the Church, the considerations which pre-
sent themselves to the minds of some thoughtful persons
go to indicate that sooner or later the colored members
will leave us and unite with the other colored Methodists,
or form the fourth body of independent colored Methodists.
The feeling of kindness between the two races has grown
in the last several years, and will doubtless continue to
grow, but in respect to social relations they are no nearer
together to-day than they were twenty years ago. The
lines are clearly drawn, not harshly, but of preference.
The colored man prefers, and will continue to prefer, the
colored man, precisely as the white man prefers, and will
continue to prefer, the white man; and if occasion shall
arise, the colored man will go off with his colored brother.

The white members of our Church in the South stand
somewhat, in relation to the conflict of ideas which is now
going on in the South, as the white Unionists of the South
did to the conflict of arms during the Civil War. Much
has been said about the loyalty of the colored men of the
36 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

South during that terrible struggle, and I am willing to
give them credit for all that they did to preserve the
Union; but the white loyalists of the South will never
receive full credit for the part that they took in that war.
If the colored man had not been true to the flag, when
he saw that it was the sign and promise to him of free-
dom, he would have shown himself unworthy of so great
a boon. The white Unionists of the South imperiled
everything for the sake of the Union—their property,
their social position, their lives. If the cause of the Union
had failed, the colored people of the South would have
been just where they were before the war began; but the
white Unionists would have been compelled, if permitted
to live, to leave property, and home, and all that was dear
to them, except their love of liberty. Discredit was put
upon the white men then, while they were offering their
all upon the altars of their country, quietly, bravely, un-
hesitatingly; so now in this conflict of ideas.

The whites who are connected with the Methodist Epis-
copal Church in the South are asking for nothing but
proper respect and encouragement in their labors. They
make no demands for official positions, though doubtless
they have men among them who are worthy of such recog-
nition; but they are not willing to concede that the colored
part of the Church in the South is the only part that de-
serves consideration. They rejoice in all that the Church
has done and is doing for the colored people, but they
believe that it is to the white work in the South far more
certainly than to the colored that the Church will have to
look as the chief promoter of its ideas in this part of the
country; and that as the Church can not afford to withdraw
from any part of this work, so neither can it, with justice to
itself or with fidelity to the trust committed to it by the
Great Master, afford to support any part of it weakly and
hesitatingly. Such a course would be suicidal.
 
 
     
   
  

THE ORGANIC UNION OF AMERI-
CAN METHODISM.

BY BISHOP S. 74. WLERRILL, D.D., LL. D.

“Tue subject of the future relations of the dis-
severed branches of the Methodist family is suffi-
ciently important to attract attention to the utter-
ances of any one who feels moved to give expression
to thoughts which have become convictions, espe-
cially when clothed in the language of moderation
and sincerity."—Opening paragraph of Organic
Union.

12mo. Cloth. 112 pages. Price, 45 cents.

    
     
   
   
           

      
   
  

  

 
   
 
    
 
    

PAORY,

THE COLORED MAN
IN THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

BY REM. L. M. HAGOOD, MM. D.

Introduction by REV. JOHN BRADEN, D. D.,
President of Central Tennessee College.

  

VEVABY,

  

CEDY,

  
      
  
      
       
    

 

v7

 
 
 

“This book will wake up thought on a subject
on which the membership of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church need to think and act. The millions
of colored people in this country need to be held §
close to the heart of Protestant Christianity, so they
will be found on the side of the Church of God in
the struggle for the conquest of this world for
Christ.” —Lxtract from Introduction.

12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 327 pages.
Price, 90 cents.

 
 

VEY,

  
 

 
 

LEBY,

  

PEDERI LON

       
   
 

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CRANSTON & STOWE, Publishers,

CINCINNATI, CHICAGO, ST. LOUIS.

 

 
iii
ORE