/.dj. PRINCETON, N. J. Purchased by the Mrs. Robert Lenox Kennedy Church History Fund. Division Section. 2)8.1 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/historyofmethodiOOdubo_0 A HISTORY JAN HI OF METHODISM BEING A VOLUME SUPPLEMENTAL TO "A HISTORY OF METHOD- ISM" BY HOLLAND N. Mc T YE IRE, D.D., LATE ONE OF THE BISHOPS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH bringing The Story of Methodism, with Special, Reference to the History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Down to the Year 1916 HORACE M. DU BOSE, D.D. Nashville, Tenn. Dallas, Tex.; Richmond, Va. Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South Smith & Lamar, Agents 1916 Copyright, 1916 BY Smith & Lamar PEEPACE. IT has long been accepted as a truism that no generation can write its own history. Time, it is claimed, must first be left to assuage the excesses of human feeling and properly assess the merit of hu- man motives before a just view of any period of thought or action can be taken. Many histories and historians of the past contradict this notion; in fact, nearly all the histories written in classic times were by men who described the life, manners, and thought of the genera- tions to which they belonged. The material facts of history can only be recorded by the generation of whose life they are the output. A philosophy of history becomes possible after the facts have been passed as new concepts through the mind of a new generation, or after experi- ence has tested their objective effect upon life. The philosopher looks at history in a long retrospect, but the annalist takes it fresh from the arena of action. The annalist, therefore, is more essential to the facts of history than is the philosopher. Church history is next in importance to Church theology. A written and digested theology holds the Church's spiritual life to a standard and abides as a test of interpretation. A correct and current record of its history helps to hold the functional and conventional life of the Church to a purpose and preserves the denominational spirit from disunity and indirection. The preponderating element in Church his- tory is biography, of which the eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a sam- ple. This appeal of the life personal becomes a reduplicated gospel on every page of the Church's history. A long perspective is not neces- sary to the portrayal of character. "By their fruits ye shall know them." It is in character that history lives. If Luke, the close com- panion of St. Paul, had not written his memoirs, who, then, could have done it? Had they not been written, who can imagine what ef- fect the lack would have had upon the gospel? The kingdom of God has always appealed to its record; and that record, without important exception, has been the work of "eyewitnesses." The early records of Methodism are often embarrassingly imperfect, for the reason that men were not at hand, or were not concerned, to set in order the record as it was being made. The present-day historian writing of those times must depend upon the too fragmen- tary notes of conferences or such chance illumination as comes from letters and incidental communications. Fortunately, as time has passed the official records of the Church have become constantly fuller, so that there no more exists a serious difficulty for the his- torian. Methodism now writes in its journals and minutes a his- tory of its doings and thinking from year to year. But the very full- ness of this record becomes to the average student and reader a diffi- (3) 4 History of Methodism. culty almcst, if not quite, as great as was the old-time paucity. These records have multiplied until they are no longer volumes, but tomes and libraries. The purse and the book space of the average churchman do net admit of the assembling of them; and if they do, there is not time to ransack them and set their coDtents in order. To reach the essential facts in these records is the task of straining gold from the sands or winnowing wheat from the husks. The historian — the man of a self-imposed task of patience and painstaking industry — must do it in the spirit of the prophet and the reformer; that is, as the servant of all and out of a sheer love of his work. This is the spirit in which the present volume has been written, and these are the incentives which have cheered and strengthened the writer as he has gone on, stage by stage, in the articulation of these records of a half century — the mightiest half century of Methodism and the world. The Church has long needed a volume bringing its history up to date, a history full in detail and faithful in taking ac- count of denominational spirit and labors, neither extenuating through sectional and sectarian prejudice nor following the lead of novelty and untested sentiment. I trust to have met in some measure worthy of approval the urgent need for such a work as has been my ideal, and one which may in some small degree prove a worthy companion to that "History" which the Church has so long and so highly es- teemed as its masterpiece. Horace M. Du Bose. September 1, 1916. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page. Reestablished Fraternal Relations of American Methodism — The Centenary Conference of 1884 — Significance of Post-Bellum Meth- odist History — Fifth Southern General Conference — Lay Repre- sentation and Other Legislation — The Veto Power and the Con- stitution— Accretions from Other Bodies — Beginning of Frater- nity— Missions and the Colored Work — Episcopal Retirements and Elections — Death of Bishop Joshua Soule — Returning Prosperity — Worldly Amusements — New Conference Lines — Publishing House Claim — Sundry General Conference Actions — First Frater- nal Delegation — Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America — Southern General Conference of 1878 — Deaths of Bishops and Other Distinguished Ministers — Elections — 1866-1883 9 CHAPTER II. Deaths of Distinguished Ministers — Mexican Missionary — Indian Apostle — A Roster of Distinguished Lay Methodists — The First Ecumenical Conference — Dr. Osborn — Influence of the Ecumeni- cal Conference— 1866-1883 (Concluded) 28 CHAPTER III. The Centenary Fund — Session of the Centenary Conference — Con- ventional Forces — Literary Activity — Facing the New Age — A Ring of Triumph — Colored Education — Comity and Federation — General Conference Acts — Change of Name — Deceased Bishops — Connectional Elections — The Hymn Book — The Quarterly Review —1884-1889 42 CHAPTER IV. Fraternal Visitors — Other Fallen Workers — Deaths of Leaders in the North— General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 1888 — Missionary Epis- copate— Methodist Protestants and Lesser Bodies — Episcopalian- ism — Canadian Methodism — British Methodism — World Mission- ary Conference — Australia and Africa — Colored Churches — 1884- 1889 (Concluded) 57 CHAPTER V. The Young People's Movement — Organization of the Epworth League — Centennial of First Conferences Held in Mississippi Val- ley— New England Centenary — New York Book Concern — Gen- eral Conference of 1890 — Work in the West — Church Union in Ja- pan— Jewish Missions — Education — Board of Trustees — Fraternal Greeting — Episcopal and Other Elections — Centenary of Wesley's Death — Second Ecumenical Conference — Barnes Hospital — Scar- ritt Bible and Training School — The Holiness Movement — 1890- 1893 73 (5) 6 History of Methodism. CHAPTER VI. Page. k General Conference in the West — The Organic Law — Revivals and Missions — World's Fair — First Ep worth League Convention — Assemblies — Death Roll — Canada Methodism — In the Wesleyan Connection — Bishop Galloway, First Delegate to the Conference in England— Legal Hundred— 1800-1893 (Concluded) 92 CHAPTER VII. Significance of the General Conference — Twelfth General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South — Fifty Years of His- tory— A Fraternal Document — The Epicorth Era — Sundry Acts of the General Conference — Board of Education — The Veto Pow- er— Federation— 1894-1897 107 CHAPTER VIII. Origin of Specific Legislation — Kelley-Hargrove Case — District Con- ference Empowered to License Preachers — Insurance — Hague Tribunal — Basis of Representation — Evangelism — Fraternal Ad- dresses— Elections — Necrology, North and South — General Con- ference in the North — Women Delegates — Seniority — Elections — Publication Crux — Deaconess Work — Church in Canada — British Conference — Difficult Social Problems — Plymouth — Junior Socie- ties— Depression — Peter McKenzie — Irish Conference — Dr. Mc- Cutcheon— South Africa— Australia— 1894-1897 (Concluded) 124 CHAPTER IX. Baltimore and Early Methodism — Southern General Conference of 1898 — Close of Century — Statistics — Jubilee of Missions — Retire- ment of Bishop Keener — Report of Commission on Articles of Re- ligion— "Candidating" — Andrew Hunter — Legislation — Spanish- American War — Death of Gladstone — Fraternal Visitors — Elec- tions— Collection of War Claim — History of the Publishing House —History of the Sunday School Department— 1898-1901 141 CHAPTER X. The Christian Advocate — Death of Dr. David Morton — Board of Church Extension — Leaders of the Period — World's Missionary Conference — Twenty-Third Delegated General Conference, Church North— An Inter-Methodist Document — Proceedings of Confer- ence— Church of Canada— English Connection — 1898-1901 (Con- cluded) 161 CHAPTER XI. General Conference in Texas — Total of Twentieth-Century Offering — Great Church Buildings — A Trained and Equipped Ministry — On Connectionalism — Order of Deaconess — Issues before the Con- ference— Cordial Fraternity — Conference Greetings — Child Labor — World's Fair — Board of Insurance — Episcopal Rulings — Review Made a Quarterly — "Worldly Amusements" — Reports cf Fraternal Delegates — Episcopal and Other Elections — Contrast of Old and New — Personnel of Conference — Historv of "War Claim" — 1902- 1905 180 Contents. 7 CHAPTER XII. Pane. Romance of the Middle Southwest — Andrew Hunter— The Nashville Community — Robert A. Young — Revival of the Methodist Review — John W. Hinton — Men of Northern Birth — W. M. Prottsman and Church Extension — H. C. Settle — Experiences in Missouri — E. K. Miller — Samuel Lander and Lander College — Death of Bishops Keener and Hargrove — J. D. Barbee — "The Apostle to the Cubans" — John D. Vincil — Other Well-Known Men — Westward- — Northern General Conference of 1904 — Episcopal Address — The New Century — Superannuation of Bishops — Dr. Kilgo, Fraternal Messenger — A Constitutional Question — New Bishops — Connec- tional Elections — Canadian Methodism — General Church Union in Canada — English Methodism — English Leaders — In Ireland — In Australia— 1902-1905 (Concluded) 197 CHAPTER XIII. A Magic City — Southern General Conference of 1906 — Southern Prosperity — Statistics — Bishops' Address — Young J. Allen — Meth- odist Church of Japan — Commission on Federal Council of Churches — Colored Education — Congo Outrages — A Colored Mis- sionary— Related Matters — Jamestown Tercentenary — San Fran- cisco Earthquake — Vanderbilt University Commission — Unifica- tion of Missionary Boards — Consolidation of Church Papers — Leg- islation— Proposed Restatement of Faith — Fraternal Sessions — Episcopal Elections — Bishops Tigert and Ward — Connectional Offi- cers—P. H. Whisner— The Last of the Patriarchs of 1844— Bish- ops Granbery and Smith — Some Methodist Historians — Death of Young J. Allen— Paul Whitehead— John J. Lafferty— Other Edi- tors—Bishop Duncan— 1906-1909 218 CHAPTER XIV. Death of Bishop Galloway — Sam P. Jones — William E. Munsey — Jacob Ditzler — Other Evangelists — Centenary of the Constitution — General Conference, North — The Church and Prohibition — Deaths — Many Tongues — Education — Labor — Mission Fields — Methodist Protestants and Union — The New Statement of Faith — Memorial Day — President Roosevelt — Elections — Fraternal Ad- dress — Canadian Methodism — British Wesleyanism — English Leaders — Irish Methodism — The Australasian Connection — 1906- 1909 (Concluded) 240 CHAPTER XV. New-Century Manifestations — New Leaders — Spirit of the Method- ism of the South — Second Methodist Body of the World — Property — Growth — Government of Law — Canada and Bishop Soule — Laity Rights — Tobacco — African Mission — Retirement of Bishop Key — Bishop Fitzgerald — Fraternal Addresses — Japanese Church — Prince Yun — Episcopal and Other Elections — Consolidation of Missionary Boards and Societies — History of Church Missions— 1910-1913 262 s History of Methodism. CHAPTER XVI. Page. The Vanderbilt University Case — History of "Central University" — The Memphis Convention — Charter Granted — Commodore Vander- bilt's Gift — Action of the Conferences — A New Chancellor — Gen- eral Conference Made Sole Member of Vanderbilt University Cor- poration— Period of Alienation Begins — Action of General Confer- ence of 1906 — Vanderbilt Commission Appointed — Commission Re- ports— Visitorial Powers — Attempt to Pass Bill in Tennessee Leg- islature— Action of General Conference of 1910 — Suit Begun by Bishops — Chancery Court Decides for the Church —Sweeping Vic- tory— Appeal by Trustees — A Million Dollars Solicited by Chan- cellor— Given on Condition that the Trustees Should Win Suit — Church Loses Suit in Highest State Court — Action of General Conference of 1914 — A Broader Educational Platform for the Church— Victory Out of Wrong and Defeat— 1910-1913 (Con- tinued) 288 "Comity and Federation" — Two Soldiers — Historians — Other Nota- bles— World Missionary Conference — Canadian General Confer- ence of 1910 — General Superintendents — Acts of Conference — Elec- tions— Centenary of the Constitution — General Conference, North — Deaths of Bishops — Acts of the Conference — Negro Bishops — Age Limit — New Bishops — Other Elections — Wesleyan Conference Sittings — King's Oath — Membership Discussion — Obituaries — In- cidents of the Sessions — Australasian Methodism — Fourth Ecu- menical Conference— World Address— 1910-1913 (Concluded) 322 A Deceptive Peace — Pragmatism — General Conference of 1914 — Episcopal Address — Laymen's Missionary Movement — Federal Council — Student Volunteer Movement — Junaluska — The Vander- bilt Case — New Universities — Retirement of Bishop Wilson — Sen- ior Bishop — National Prohibition — Mexico — Pan-American Exposi- tion— Lay Leaders — Japan Methodism — Committee on Appeals — Limited Episcopacy — Evangelism — Board of Education — Apostles' Creed — Order of Worshin — New Conferences — Fifth Ecumenical — Elections — Fraternal Messages — Death Roll — Canadian Method- ism—English Methodism — Conclusion— 1914-1916 350 CHAPTER XVII. CHAPTER XVIII. CHAPTER XIX. Sketches of Annual Conferences 380 CHAPTER XX. Sketches of Annual Conferences (Continued) 426 CHAPTER XXL Schools of Southern Methodism 474 CHAPTER XXII. The Weekly Methodist Press Appendix: Colleges of the Methodist Episcopal Chv.rch. South. 551 573 HISTORY OF METHODISM. CHAPTER I. Reestablished Fraternal Relations of American Methodism — The Cente- nary Conference of 1884 — Significance of Post-Bellum Methodist His- tory— Fifth Southern General Conference — Lay Representation and Other Legislation — The Veto Power and the Constitution — Accretions from Other Bodies — Beginning of Fraternity — Missions and the Col- ored Work — Episcopal Retirements and Elections — Death of Bishop Joshua Soule — Returning Prosperity — Worldly Amusements — New Conference Lines — Publishing House Claim — Sundry General Confer- ence Actions — First Fraternal Delegation — Colored Methodist Episco- pal Church in America — Southern General Conference of 1878 — Deaths of Bishops and Other Distinguished Ministers — Elections — 1866-1883. THE concluding chapter of the "History of Methodism," by Bishop H. N. McTyeire, contains an account of the re- established fraternal relations of American Episcopal Meth- odism and of the newly instituted movement looking toward cooperation and the fruits of unity. This recital, conducted in the fine narrative style of its author, proved a happy climax for his task. It pointed to a stage set for the action of a new time; it signaled the coming of an era of historic readjust- ment and expansion. The use made of his opportunity by the historian stamped him as having been providentially selected for his office and fixed his work as a standard for the judgment of times to be. He found in the facts with which he dealt a vantage from which to review the sweep of the first hundred years of American Methodist history and to look prophetically forward to a future of conquest and settlement. As a seer he abated no title or claim of the past, but in his vision saw the cause and protest of his people vindicated in the perfect unities and consistencies of that last for which the first was made. The terminus ad quern of Bishop McTyeire's History was the Centenary Conference, called to meet in Baltimore December 7- 17, 18S4, in time and place agreeing with the Christmas Confer- ence of a hundred years before. Tn the proceedings of this Conference was read an earnest of the fraternity and mutual (9) LO History <>) Methodism. triumphs of the new Methodist age. It became a focal of his- tory, ;i prism of fellowship and concession through which the light destined to illumine the paths of millions was passed for sifting and restitution. The hour of a new noon had struck. The long-repressed spirit of Methodism found an opportunity to assert itself. With constantly accumulating force it has asserted itself to the present hour. History is a syllogism in which the time element is the major premise. Definitively, Wesleyan theology and ideal spoke them- selves into the problems and realizations of the early religions and social life of the republic, but it was reserved for the days of the present — more comprehensively described as the years succeeding the War between the States — to discover the true potency of Methodism, its historic vantage, its reactions upon its own multiform differentiations, its direct and reflex in- fluences on national life, and its prophetic share in that life "centuries or perhaps millenniums hence." If it be true, as Macaulay and Lecky have agreed, that the history of modern England cannot be written without reference to John Wesley and the work which he did in the United Kingdom, no less is it true that the history of these Western commonwealths cannot be correctly recorded without large and due credit to that "Society" which John Wesley gave to America near the middle of the eighteenth century. Like another mountain of transfiguration, that Society looms over the terrane of Ameri- can history. In the lengthening vistas of a century and a half its outline grows ever more distinct. The dissevered connec- tions of American Methodism to-day easily hold the secret which is the prophetic balance in American unity and religious and social ideal. What American Methodism owes to itself to-day it owes not less to the nation and to the wider kingdom of God. It would be easy to moralize at length on the rela- tions and conjunctions of the history which we have set out to write, but the facts themselves, when properly ordered, will suf- ficiently emphasize their own importance and enforce their own teaching. This sentiment lives, an inarticulate undertone, in the closing chapters of Bishop McTyeire's History. It is to become a distinct and overt utterance in this addendum. Of the important events of the twenty years preceding the Fifth General Conference. II centenary period of American Methodism, Bishop McTyeire has given but a brief summary in his work. For this reason, and properly to relate this section of the narrative to that which goes before, it becomes necessary to review these events with some degree of particularity. This review will also serve to throw into relief and unity the whole history of the American Church, and particularly that of the South, during its most interesting and significant period. The fifth General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (being the twentieth General Conference since the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America in 1784*), met in New Orleans April 4, 1866. What should have been the fifth General Conference was scheduled to meet in the same city in May, 1862; but it did not assemble, the date fixed for its sitting having fallen at the height of the War between the States. At the session of 1866 there were present one hundred and forty-nine delegates, representing twenty-five Annual Conferences. In this number were included the Rio Grande Conference, organized in 1858, and the Baltimore Con- ference, which, having separated from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America in 1860, united with the Church, South, in 1835. The action of Bishop Early in receiving this Conference into the Connection was approved, and its delegates were formally seated. The Rev. Jacob Ditz- ler, from the Christian Union Church, was received on the footing of a fraternal delegate, when he began negotiations which resulted in the Church to which he belonged becoming the Illinois Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. On the third day of the session the Episcopal Address was read. It vividly reviewed the history of the Church during the eight preceding years, half of which years had been marked by the devastations of war. The bishops explained that, when it was impossible to call a General Conference, they had con- sulted with the Book Committee and other representatives on Church policies, and that, after the war — that is, in August. ♦Journal of General Conference of 1894. This notation will be ob- served throughout this history. It is a settled record of the Church. 12 History of Methodism. 18C5 — a general meeting of the Board of Bishops had been called for special consultation. They had assumed great re- sponsibilities and had undertaken some things not strictly within constitutional limits, but war had laid upon them a necessity which permitted no other choice. In this the wisdom of the episcopal office was fully demonstrated. The Church had held together and had gone forward despite the rage of war. A new hope had come after strife. The revival of the Church papers and the renewal of the general publication work of the Connection had stimulated a new purpose and drawn the scattered elements together. The sadly wasted condition of the Church's colleges and schools was the cause of deepest concern. The need of education was never more certainly felt, and both the Church and the social community recognized the necessity for self-reliance. It was the riddle of Samson. Out of the weak must come strength ; out of the bitter must come sweet. The land was filled with orphans and poverty. The means of educating the one must be drawn from the pleni- tude of the other. The question of lay representation was easily the command- ing issue before the General Conference. The new Methodism of the land was prefigured in this old-new departure. It was also foreseen that the episcopal office must be considerably strengthened, and not before in the history of any of the houses of Methodism had such deep concern been felt regard- ing the men who were to be set apart for this responsibility. Israel was never before so much in need of a strong leader- ship. But the men had been in making through a prevenient providence and were within reach, though at that particular moment at least one of them was hid amongst the stuff in a far-distant place. So many and so great were the prospective changes in polity and so strong was the demand for changing the name of the Church that a special committee, known as the Committee on Economy, was appointed to consider memorials and other papers relating to these matters. \ strong petition requested the adoption of a form for the reception of members into the Church. This paper had due consideration and accounts for the very impressive present-day completeness of our Church ritual Constitutional Questions. at that point. It early became evident that the measure of lay representation would be adopted; also that the pastoral term would either be extended or the limit taken off entirely. That the name of the Church would be changed, so far as the General Conference had power to change it, was a foregone judgment. After days of debate on each of these three points, lay representation, championed by H. N. McTyeire and others, was adopted practically in the form of the present clauses on that subject in the chapters of the Discipline concerning the government of the Annual and General Conferences. Under the constitution, the measure went to the Annual Conferences for a three-fourths vote and was adopted in 1867. The General Conference voted to change the name of the Church to "The Episcopal Methodist Church," but the measure failed of con- firmation when later presented to the Annual Conferences. The body also actually voted by a clear majority to remove the time limit from the pastorate and also resolved to refer it to the Annual Conferences for confirmation; but before adjourn- ment the vote was reconsidered, and the term was changed from two to four years, as it now stands. Rev. W. A. Smith, D.D., the author of the so-called "Bishops' Veto" in the General Conference of 1854, and who saw a de- fect in the provision adopted — namely, that not the Board of Bishops, but the body of traveling elders or the Annual Con- ferences, are the real veto power — sought to correct the defect ; but his effort failed, and the present veto law was not success- fully enacted until 1870. Dr. L. M. Lee, of Virginia, was the author of the final draft. A fuller review of this legislation will be given in a later chapter. A subject kindred to this was taken up at the same time and expressed in a resolution asking the bishops to prepare a commentary on the Book of Discipline. This may fairly be regarded as the origin of the present-day "Manual of the Discipline," a volume the va^ue of which has been attested through nearly half a century. In this connection also it may be noted that at this sitting: Dr. J. Hamilton, of Alabama, prospnted a resolution asking; for the identification of the constitution. Thus early was felt the need of defining: the Church's fundamental law, but it remains undefined to the present day. About this also there remains not a little to be 1 1 History of Methodism. said in the course of this history. While in a legal mood the General Conference declared by formal resolution that the Church "stood aloof from party politics" and must not inter- meddle in ' political affairs, which at bottom is a sound prin- ciple, but has needed and received very constant explication in later times. One of the features of this Conference, as we have already seen, was the number and strength of the several accretions which came to the connectional body. On the fourth day of the session a communication was received from the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church proposing or- ganic union. This communication was favorably considered, and the action soon resulted in the coming into the Connection of a considerable body of members and ministers from thai communion. On the same day a fraternal message was received from the New York East Conference of the Church, North, suggesting the subject of fraternity and reunion. A courteous and formal response was made to the same in which the position of the Church, South, was plainly stated, which was that fraternity must be established before union could be discussed. No further steps were taken looking to this end until 1870, when Bishop Janes and Dr. W. L. Harris, of the Church, North, appeared before the Conference with a communication from a Hoard of Commissioners appointed by that Church to "treat with other Methodist Churches on the subject of union." The visitors were cordially received, as had been the former com- munication. Interchanges of views were had between them and the Conference; but as the Conference judged that the letter of their appointment did not authorize such formal offer as w:is made, no action beyond a fraternal recognition was taken. The incident, however, wTas felicitous and led to a formal fra- ternal visitation at the ensuing session. The missionary work of the Church was at this time divided into "foreign and domestic" boards. The war had all but wrecked the Church's missions and had entailed upon the Board a heavy debt. This debt was provided for, and new plans were laid for the future. Tn nothing did the wasted and burdened Church show more spirit than in planning for the Ante-Bellum Missionary Debt — Colored Work. L5 payment of its missionary debt and for new and larger en- deavors. This missionary debt bad behind it a unique and in- structive history. As far back as 1855 the Board had entered into a formal arrangement with the Agents of the Book Con- cern of the Church, North, to indorse or countersign its drafts sent out to the missionaries in China. This plan worked with- out embarrassment nntil 1861. When the drafts for 18G0 reached New York, the war had already broken out, and inter- course between the North and South had ceased. Efforts either for collection or payment would have been fruitless. The obli- gation, aggregating in all abont |10,000, was placed by the New York Agents on their suspended account. So soon after the war as the forces of the Church could be rallied, the South- ern Board collected the money and put it into the hands of an agent to liquidate the debt. But the funds were in some way dissipated. Almost immediately, however, the amount was again raised and paid to the Book Concern by the then Secre- tary of Missions, Dr. Alpheus W. Wilson, now senior bishop of the Church.* The cause of the colored people engaged a large and tender interest of the whole Church and was given careful considera- tion by the General Conference. An elaborate plan was devised for organizing them into circuits, missions, districts, and An- nual Conferences, and ultimately into a General Conference to bear a close relation to the Southern Church. This was the ♦Bishop E. E. Hoss, who had direct information and personal knowl- edge of these facts, in a letter to Zion's Herald (Boston), under date of March 29, 1916, after reciting the details of the case, as above, says: "But the unexpected occurred. When the last drafts for 1860 got back to the United States, war had broken out, and all intercourse between the North and the South was suspended; wherefore, to protect his own credit as well as ours, Dr. Carlton, the Senior Book Agent, paid the drafts — about $10,000, as I remember. But he was so much afraid of being censured for doing it that he charged the item as a debit against Brown Brothers, of London, through whom his affairs in the Orient were conducted, and then carried it to the suspended assets account. Thus it stood till the close of the war. But at the very first meeting of our Board of Missions after the war, plans were made to reimburse the Book Concern and relieve the embarrassment of Dr. Carlton, whose ac- tion in the premises was highly appreciated." in History of Methodism. origin of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, about which a complete record remains to be entered. Because of their age and infirmities, Bishops Andrew and Early were retired from the active responsibilities of the epis- copacy. An unsuccessful effort was made to establish dis- trict, or diocesan, episcopacy, an institution which has found little sympathy with those who have written Methodist law and constitution. The Conference, having decided to elect four additional bishops, in due time ordered a ballot, with the following results: On the first ballot William M. TVightman and Enoch M. Marvin were elected, and on the third ballot David S. Doggett and Holland X. McTyeire were named. After the ordination of the four bishops-elect and the retirement of Bishops Andrew and Early, a resolution was offered asking for the election of a fifth bishop, but it failed of adoption. The election of connectional officers resulted as follows : Book Agent, A. H. Bedford; Book Editor, T. O. Summers; Mission- ary Secretary, E. W. Sehon ; Secretary Board of Domestic- Missions, J. B. McFerrin. The year which followed the famous General Conference of 1866 w^as doubly saddened to the people called Methodists by reason of the death of their great bishop, Joshua Soule, which occurred in Nashville, Tenn., March 6, 1867, in the eighty- sixth year of his life and the sixty-eighth year of his itinerant ministry. At the time of his death he was spoken of as being probably the oldest traveling preacher in America, if not the oldest in the world. His mighty personality was the link be- tween the days of Asbury and the fathers and those of the men who mourned his absence from their fellowship. From almost every viewpoint of his character he was a remarkable man, distinguished for qualities of natural greatness and for the attainment of strength in conviction, purpose, and thought. His chief distinction — the greatest which can be claimed for any American Methodist — was that of being the author of the Church's constitution. He had occupied many of the highest positions of the Church and had been the preeminent figure in all the great connectional controversies from 1820 down to IS 14. His adhesion to the cause of the South was character- istic of his temper and judgment. As a preacher, though not BisJwp Soule — Period of Activity. 17 absolutely great, he ranked amongst the most effective ex- pounders of the Word. He was unswerving in his fidelity to principle, blamelessly pure and devout, attaining to the estate of perfect sainthood. His life was one of exceptional useful- ness, his end simple and marked by a sublime triumph of faith. The last time Bishop Soule appeared in the General Con- ference was at the famous session held in 1858 in the Hall of Representatives of the Tennessee Capitol. He was then in all but the completest sense a superannuate, and yet he was able to be in more or less constant attendance upon the sittings. In that now famous work of art, the steel engraving by Buttre, of New York, which shows the Conference of 1858 in one of its sittings, his majestic face and form assert a silent primacy over the assembly of leaders. By resolution of the Conference, he was asked to preach at some hour during the session when his strength would seem to admit of the necessary physical exertion. This he agreed to do, but no indication can be found in the Journal that he was ever able to fulfill his promise. The benediction of his presence was to his brethren more elo- quent and effective than any sermon could have been. His life had been a sermon which called through all men's hearts.* The Church had now entered upon a period of pronounced spiritual activity and experience. The impoverished financial condition of the South and the disturbed state of its industries seemed to emphasize the sense of general need for spiritual enlargement. A sound of revival was heard from one border to the other. The connectional journals teemed with news of a fruitful evangelism. The bishops sent out an address ex- horting the Church to a consideration of the doctrine of "per- fect love." The membership was urged to "go on to this per- fection of sanctifying grace." The old Wesleyan doctrines were being preached in their purity. No glosses had been invoked to soften their terms. The age of internal contro- versy had not yet come. Controversial gusts raged without, but all was quiet within. The discussion of "water baptism" by the immersionists and a lingering contest with the Calvin- ists over the decrees, and the always-argued fiction of "apos- 2 *"Life of Joshua Soule." 18 History of Methodism. tolic succession," only served to make the lines of Methodism more distinct both in polity and doctrine. Later the swollen waters and the boisterous winds of outside disputation were to be assuaged and all but silenced in the presence of factional differences over the Wesleyan teachings of perfect love. Hap- pily, however, both have fallen into a common ebb. At the General Conference which met in Memphis in 1870 a pastoral address was ordered to be prepared. It was the forerunner of that of 1874, which dealt with the subject of worldly amusements and was later given the force of a statute, being printed in the Book of Discipline. At the latter session the bishops were asked to take the matter in hand and elab- orate a letter on the several subjects of class meetings, private and family prayer, fasting, reading the Holy Scriptures, and on worldly amusements. This letter was also printed in the Book of Discipline and remained there during successive quad- renniums. It is one of the best known of our official papers, but w^as finally removed from the Discipline, perhaps through the conviction that the General Bules sufficiently cover all the matters discussed therein and that special legislation is un- wise, more particularly that expressed in inhibitive terms. The Church is unqualifiedly opposed to sinful social practices and worldly amusements which in any way militate against the high standard of Christian experience and purity in thought and manners. It occupies unchangeably the old posi- tion of Wesley and the fathers, the position expressed in the General Rules. Xew Annual Conference lines began now to be extensively laid out. The Western North. Carolina Conference was au- thorized to be erected. The first Mission Conference in Mexico was planned. The Columbia Conference was set off from the Pacific Conference, leaving as the territory of the former the vast undeveloped field in the States of Oregon and Wash- ington. The name of the Wichita Conference was changed to that of the Little Rock Conference. The order for these latter changes originated in a former General Conference. A special permit was voted the bishops to erect Annual Conferences in any part of the United States where there was not then already a Conference of the Church, South. This Sundry General Conference Actions. authority resulted in the early erection of a Conference in the State of Indiana. The bishops were also authorized to appoint continuously Dr. Charles F. Deems to be pastor of the Church of the Strangers in New York City, which Church at this time existed as an extension of the pastorate of the Southern Con- nection. A question in apposition arising, the bishops decided that one General Conference cannot pass by a majority vote a measure which requires a two-thirds vote of a succeeding Gen- eral Conference to amend or alter. It may be pertinently writ- ten here that the episcopal veto, reference to which has al- ready been made and about which, in the way of future devel- opment, a record yet remains, was at this time formally passed. The war claim of the Publishing House, which was finally settled in 1808, took shape at this time in a report from the Committee on Books and Periodicals, recommending that "a commission be appointed by the General Conference to present and prosecute a claim for rents and damage to the Southern Methodist Publishing House against the government of the United States." The Book Agent was authorized to begin the publication of the Southern Monthly Magazine, for which financial provision was made, as also for the printing of a new edition of the Hymn and Tune Book, the compiling of which was given to a commission. The most distinguishing action of the General Conference of 1870 — an action that might well distinguish the proceedings of any body — was the election to the episcopacy of Rev. John Christian Keener, D.D., of the Louisiana Conference. It was the only election ordered, and Dr. Keener was chosen on the third ballot. A man of lionlike spirit and faith, he gave to the Church in this office many years of illustrious and his- toric service. In the election of connectional officers, which followed the vote for bishop, Dr. A. H. Bedford, Book Agent, Dr. T. O. Summers, Book Editor and Editor of the Christian Advocate, and Dr. J. B. McFerrin, Missionary Secretary, were reelected. Dr. W. P. Harrison was made Editor of the Southern Monthly. In the new quadrennium,. which began in 1870 and closed in 1874, wonderful progress was noted in church-building, both 20 History of Methodism', as to the number of bouses and the style of architecture. A new spirit and inspiration bad also come into the Church's educational work. The munificent gift of Commodore Vander- bilt for the founding of a Church university had raised the hope of the whole Connection and had ripened into enthusiasm and rejoicing. Peace and prosi>erity were again coming to the whole land; dissent and resistance inside the Church were al- most wholly unknown. One of the certain signs of general advance Avas expressed in the desire for the organization of a Woman's Missionary Society, but favorable action was not taken in this matter until some years later — that is, in 1878. The general missionary spirit was rising, and a corresponding faith was reaching out to plan for new fields and possibilities. A mission for Guatemala was considered. The Brazilian Mis- sion was ordered to be begun, and it was decided that one of the bishops should visit China. This commission fell to Bishop Marvin, whose official journey to the Orient — the first ever made by a Southern bishop — became famous in the history of the Church. The bishops were ordered to ordain native preachers on the foreign fields. The Denver Conference was created. It consisted of the States of Colorado and New Mex- ico. At the same time the Montana Conference was ordered to be erected. The name of the West St. Louis Conference was changed to the Southwest Missouri. The name of Trinity Con- ference was changed to the North Texas Conference. The State of Indiana, except New Albany and Jeffersonville, in the Louisville Conference, was placed in the Illinois Conference. The German work in Texas and Louisiana was erected into an independent Conference known as the German Mission Con- ference. The first formally appointed fraternal delegation from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America to the Church, South, appeared at the General Conference of 1874. It consisted of the following-named: Dr. A. S. Hunt, Dr. C. H. Fowler, and Gen. Clinton B. Fisk. These distin- guished brethren were introduced to the Conference and de- livered addresses couched in the most fraternal terms and "characterized by excellent taste and great ability." It was the real beginning of fraternal relations between the two Formal Fraternity — Colored Methodist Church. '21 Churches. The General Conference adopted a lengthy reply, responding in terms cordially fraternal and reciting the whole history of the "Separation" and the negotiations between the two bodies. The Conference also created a commission, to meet a similar commission from the Church, North, to adjust all differences between the two bodies and to settle a basis of formal fraternity. To this request the General Conference of the Church, North, responded in 187C, and the joint delegations became the famous "Cape May Commission." The bishops reported, to this General Conference the success- ful establishment of the Colored Methodist Church and the holding of its first General Conference, in which, as the bishops declared, the best religious welfare of the colored people in the Southern States was involved. They recommended that the Church, South, aid the people of color to build up needed schools. In this recommendation began the history of Lane Institute and Paine College. A collection was at once taken for beginning a fund for building and endowment. The negro race had no truer friend than Bishop James O. Andrew. It is, therefore, a significant sequence that the rec- ord of his death falls in its order after the recital contained in the above paragraph. He died in the city of Mobile March 2, 1871, that day being the eightieth anniversary of the death of John Wesley. Few lives have more thoroughly illustrated the exalting power of faith than did his. Narrow was the ho- rizon of his youthful years, his birthplace a cabin in the pine reaches of Eastern Georgia, his opportunities those of the son of the average American pioneer squatter ; but he came at last, through grace and self-devotion, to stand on "fortune's crown- ing slope," the pillar and center of a cause which has written itself amongst the inextinguishable records of time. With lit- tle early training, he attained to real power and greatness as a preacher and naturally and effectively entered into the highest office of the Church. His life story is too well known to require enlargement here; his character and service are too well au- thenticated to need either defense or explication. He both de- fends and explains himself. Bishop John Early, who on November 5, 1873, followed his colleague. Bishop Andrew, through the gates, is also to be 22 History of Methodism. written down as one who loved his fellow men. He began his ministerial life in 180G as a preacher to the negro slaves on the plantation of President Thomas Jefferson, in the State of Vir- ginia. Born January 1, 1780, he was nineteen years of age when he joined the Virginia Conference. A distinguished record of service as pastor, presiding elder, and Publishing Agent of the Church is credited to him between 1807 and 1854, when he was called to the episcopal office. To strength of opinion and the quality of fearlessness he added high-minded - ness and the highest elements of Christian manhood and patri- otism. Because of his strong convictions, he was sometimes thought to be exacting of those who came under his administra- tion; but the testimony of thousands of brethren qualified these offenses into idiosyncrasies and mistakes of judgment. "Thousands were brought to Christ through his ministry." His flaming zeal, unshaken devotion, and peaceful end testify concerning the life that has gone to its final record in "the books." The General Conference which met in Atlanta in May, 1878, had before it a question of law and privilege which became the subject of much controversy throughout the Connection and also of certain acts of legislation. The right of Logan D. Dameron, a lay delegate from the St. Louis Conference, to a seat in the body was challenged on legal grounds — namely, questions affecting the tenure of his Church membership. The issue was never settled, the delegate retaining his seat de facto to the end. The Conference, dealing with another case, settled for the time being the principle that a delegate-elect to the General Conference does not forfeit his seat though he should remove to another Annual Conference than the one which elected him. This was on the theory that the Church is a Connection. In later years, however, this legislation has been reversed, and the rule is that a delegate must be in living membership with the Annual Conference whose representative liis credentials show him to be. Tt was officially announced that the Church had not "en- joyed richer evidences of divine favor nor possessed greater ele- ments of divine power and prosperity" than during this ouad- rennium. Startling forms of unbelief were, however, beginning World Conditions — Death of Bishop Marvin. 23 to manifest themselves in the thought life of the times, but set against them was the growing power of the evangel. A pronounced financial stringency began to depress the busi- ness interests of the day, but was answered by a spirit of devo tion and sacrifice in the Church. The quieting political con- dition of the republic was a matter of note. The gigantic- struggle between Russia and Turkey was impressing the re- ligious mind of the whole race, while the beginning of the dis- establishment of papacy in the kingdoms of Europe was in full view. The homogeneity of the Church in the South was never more certainly attested, and the continued frequency and power of revivals were accepted as pledges of complete rehabilitation and triumph. 'The death of Bishop Enoch M. Marvin, which occurred in the midst of these hopeful manifestations in December, 1877, was a great shock to the Church. At the meridian of his strength, having only a brief while before accomplished one of the then most noteworthy of missionary journeys, with lit- tle warning to his family and none to the Church, he was called from the high duties to which he had been assigned scarcely more than a decade before. His rank as a preacher was exceptional, and his efficiency in the episcopal office had been thoroughly tested. At the time of his election to this office, in 1866, he was not a member of the General Confer- ence, nor was he even present at its sitting; but his fitness for the work was well known, and the decision of the Church was given with confidence. Endowed with exalted natural abili- ties, he was able to overcome the handicap of an early lack of advantages and to take his place in the rank of the most favored. "A true soldier of the cross, a faithful servant of the Church, he retired at noon from the battle field at the com- mand of the Captain." In passing a eulogy upon the memory and character of Bishop Marvin, the General Conference of 1878 said: A special emphasis is given to our sorrow by the fact that the Church of God is not permitted to reap the full benefit of his wise ob- servations in his extended Eastern tour. Commissioned to go to the millions who sit in the region and shadow of death in heathen lands, he went as a messenger of light into their midst; and his accurate ob- History of Methodism. servation and comprehensive appreciation of the situation placed him in possession of a wealth of facts that would have been of incalculable benefit in the Church's great missionary work. His holy zeal for the kingdom of Christ, kindled into an intenser flame by the sight of mil- lions under the pall of pagan darkness, would have infused itself into the Church, and her arm would have been nerved afresh for the conquest of the world to the Son of God. But the Head of the Church dismissed him from a field in which it was fondly hoped he would achieve such grand results. We bow to the mysterious dispensation, assured that, though we know not now what He doeth, we shall know. The session of the General Conference of 1878 is particularly notable as the one which formally adopted the Woman's Mis- sionary Society, devising a charter for the government of the same. This society has wrought wonderfully in the Church. Its history is written in nearly all the modern missionary movements of the Connection. The changes made in the connectional force of the Church were in the election of Dr. A. W. Wilson to be Missionary Secre- tary, Dr. O. P. Fitzgerald to be Editor of the Christian Advo- cate, and Dr. W. G. E. Cunnyngham to be Editor of the Sunday School Literature. Dr. J. B. McFerrin became Book Agent. Four years after this date it was reported that the Woman's Missionary Society had justified the recognition given it. The bond scheme for the relief of the Publishing House had suc- ceeded. Plans for the organization of a Church Extension So- ciety were taking shape. The Sunday school, under a new ar- rangement, was enjoying much prosperity, and the fact was noted that the negro population of the South was again "be- coming accessible to the influences of the Church." An effort was made to secure the election of a "missionary bishop," but the suggestion found no encouragement. The report of the committee on education affirmed the partial success of the plan to establish district high schools. It also expressed the belief that the Church could not abandon the work of higher educa- tion to the State and argued that the effort to establish a sys- tem of correlated schools and colleges must be continued in the Church. Each one of these items might be elaborated into a chapter, but as here briefly exhibited they suggest the real concern and foresightedness of the men who were dealing with the problems of their day. Translation of the Archons. 2f) Death, the great change maker in the plans and histories of men, began at the very outset of this eventful era to deplete the ranks of the archons. The first conspicuous name to be written in the roll of translation was that of the Rev. S. D. Baldwin, D.D., author of the one-time famous book, "Arma- geddon," and one of the most magical and entrancing preach- ers of his day. Comely in person, commanding in presence, and possessed of a clear and mellow voice of full compass, he had been thoroughly educated in youth and had brought his mind to exceptional ripeness through study and catholic reading. In language and antiquities he excelled to a degree beyond all his Conference associates. As a Christian he was consistent, uniform in life and testimony, and approved of God and men. The evangelistic note in his preaching was deep and genuine, welling clear from a personal experience that whelmed his own consciousness. His parents were Pres- byterians and had named him for the great Dr. Davies, the colonial educator and preacher. Born in Ohio November 24, 1818, he received his education at Woodward College, Cincin- nati. Having a special admiration and affection for the peo- ple of the South, after his conversion and choice of the min- istry of the Methodist Church he entered the Kentucky Con- ference. Five years later he was given a transfer to Tennes- see and there wrought in abundant labors, both as a faith- ful and distinguished preacher and as a successful literary man, until his death, which occurred in the city of Nashville October 8, 1886. In the same year in which Dr. Baldwin died occurred the death of Rev. Andrew Jackson Crawford, of the Mobile Con- ference, a pioneer of Alabama and, indeed, of the Southwest. A native of Tennessee, he fought in the battle of New Or- leans, in the War of 1812, under the distinguished general for whom he was named. Going to Alabama as an official in the Land Department of the general government, he preached amongst the Indians, whose lands he had been sent to survey. Later he joined the Alabama Conference and lived to an old age, "the good gray head that all men loved." To this record belong many other names which had come to 26 History of Methodism, be known beyond the bounds of the Conferences in which they were enrolled. Amongst them may be mentioned the following ■ — viz. : The Rev. Thomas M. Capers, a nephew of Bishop William Capers, a man possessed of the spirit of his ancestors and who had seen service in several parts of the Connection, but who died a member of the Florida Conference October 15, 18GG; Prof. H. K. Stringfield, son of Rev. Thomas Stringfield, dis- tinguished as an early editor of the Church, who died June 2, 1870 ; Rev. N. G. Berryman, latterly remembered as an active member of the General Conference of 1844, who died in 1872; Rev. Thomas Owens, an eccentric but powerfully evangelistic pioneer itinerant of the Mississippi Conference, whose death occurred July 1, 1808; Rev. X. F. Reid, a man of consecration and culture and a leader of the North Carolina Conference, who died June G, 1873; Rev. W. J. Parks, a pioneer and greatly honored member of the Xorth Georgia Conference, who died October 1G, 1S73 ; Rev. Joseph H. Linn, one of the best-known pastors of his time, who served many important pulpits in the Connection and died as a member of the Louisville Conference December 7, 187G. To the long list of those who entered into reward in the years immediately following this record are to be added the name of Bishop David S. Doggett, who died October 20, 1880, and that of Bishop William M. Wightman, who followed him on Febru- ary 15, 1882. Bishop Doggett was born January 23, 1810, in Lancaster County, Va. lie was well taught in his youth and for a while before entering the ministry was himself a teacher. While chaplain of the University of Virginia he took turns at class work in that institution. His itinerant ministry began in the Virginia Conference in the year 1820. His pastoral serv- ice was given to the larger Churches of his Conference. For four years he was professor in Randolph-Macon College and for eight years served as editor of the Southern Methodist Quarterly Review. He was called to the episcopacy in 1866. As a preacher Bishop Dogcrett surpassed most of the men of his day; the pulpit was his throne of power. The episcopacy was adorned and strengthened by his years of service therein, nc fillfd honorably and faithfully every position to which he was Death of Bishops Doggett and Wight man — Elections. 27 called. Amid severe sufferings his earthly life closed, to leave a memory of blessedness to those who followed him. Bishop William May Wightman was born in Charleston, S. C, January 8, 1808. His conversion occurred under a sermon preached by Bishop Andrew. His education was received at the Charleston College, from which institution he graduated in 1827. The next year he became a member of the South Carolina Conference. As pastor, professor in Randolph-Macon College, and editor of the Southern Christian Advocate, he filled up years of active service until 1854, when he became President of Wofford College. In 1859 he accepted the chan- cellorship of the Southern University and in 18G6 was elected to the office of bishop. Like his colleague, Bishop Doggett, he was by nature and preparation a preacher. All other sta- tions only served as a means of making his pulpit ministry more effective. As a bishop he was loved and welcomed by the Conferences in every part of the Connection. His work was rendered with willing cheerfulness. "His witness is in heaven, and his record is on high." The General Conference following the death of these two General Superintendents elected five additional bishops — name- ly, Alpheus W. Wilson, Linus Parker, A. G. Haygood, John C. Granbery, and Robert K. Hargrove. On the day following these elections Bishop-elect Haygood addressed a note to the Conference declining ordination. The reason given for this course was the great responsibility upon him in connection with the presidency of Emory College and other educational enterprises, which turned upon his personality as a pivot. The only changes made in the other connectional offices at this time were in the election of Dr. Robert A. Young to succeed Bishop Wilson as Missionary Secretary, and of Dr. W. P. Har- rison to succeed as Book Editor Dr. T. O. Summers, who had died during the session of the General Conference. CHAPTER II. Deaths of Distinguished Ministers — Mexican Missionary — Indian Apostle — A Roster of Distinguished Lay Methodists — The First Ecumenical Conference — Dr. Osborn — Influence of the Ecumenical Conference — 1866-18S3 (Concluded). AS already noted, in the period between 1866 and the Cen- tenary Conference many of the fathers and early leaders of the Methodism of the South passed away. Amongst the most distinguished and revered of these was the venerable Lovick Pierce, in the truest sense, next to Bishop Soule, the patriarch of the Church. His death occurred at the home of his son, Bishop George F. Pierce, in Sparta, Ga., November 9, 1S70. His life practically began with the life of organic American Methodism, his birthday being March 24, 1785, just three months after the Christmas Conference. Having been converted in 1803, he entered the Church and in 1805, near the close of his twentieth year, became an itinerant preacher. There was no great variety in his life of service in the min- istry, which extended over more than seventy-four years. As pastor, presiding elder, college agent, and trustee, he completed his course. Awhile he was military chaplain during the War of 1S12, and later he studied medicine, giving a time to its practice, but at last returned to a calling which was to him over all. He was an active participant in the stirring contests which marked the General Conference of 1844; was fraternal messenger to the Church, North, in 1848, a mission rejected of that body; again, in 1884, he was named fraternal delegate, but through feebleness was prevented from carrying out his commission. Like the names of Punshon, Simpson, and Ar- thur, the name of Lovick Pierce belongs to all Methodism. Two names of these immortal dead which had close associa- tion in life are those of William A. Smith and Leroy M. Lee, both Virginians and both dying in a mature and fruitful age, the former in 1K70, the latter in 1882. Of each of these some- thing has already been said and somewhat will always remain to be recorder!. Dr. Smith was born in Fredericksburg, Va.. November 20. 1S02. With small early educational furnishing. (28) Memoirs of Leaders. lie became an intellectual and educational leader. After most successful work in the pastorate, he entered the presidency of Randolph-Macon College, which institution he helped to lift from the slough of despond and make the power which it has become. Later he was transferred to Missouri and undertook a similar task at Central College, in that State; but failing health and death cut short his great plans. Dr. Smith was an exceptionally prominent figure in the General Conference of 1844. He will always be known as the author of the "Epis- copal Veto," as well as of other strong legal devices in the government of the Southern Church. Dr. Lee acknowledged Dr. Smith as his spiritual father, he having been converted under the ministry of the former in 1827. Leroy M. Lee was of preeminent Methodist descent. His grandparents had known the ministry of Devereux Jar- ratt, the friend and fellow worker of Bishop Asbury ; and Dr. Lee himself was a nephew of Jesse Lee, famous in the earlier annals of the Church. At twenty years of age he entered the traveling connection. In 1836 he was appointed to be the first editor of the Sentinel, a Methodist journal projected in Rich- mond and which in time came to be the Richmond Christian Advocate. His mind was profoundly legal and philosophical. As a member of many of the earlier councils of the Church, particularly of the General Conference of 1844 and of the Louisville Convention in 1845, he left his impress upon the organic life of both Connections. As an author he will be best remembered for his "Life and Times of the Rev. Jesse Lee." The Tennessee Conference, during the year 1874, lost two of its most representative men, the Rev. A. L. P. Green, D.D., and the Rev. Fountain E. Pitts, D.D. Born about a year apart in the neighboring States of Tennessee and Kentucky, they lived together in close intercourse in the same Conference and died within a few weeks of the same day, lacking but a few years of filling out the allotted term of threescore and ten. Dr. Green has been described as a man of "both telescopic and microscopic intellect." A preacher of great power and in his ministry effective to an extraordinary extent, he yet followed no laws of the orator or rhetorician. He was natural, convinced and convincing. Possessed of ample personal means, he was History of Methodism. yet a true itinerant. In the General Conference and other as- semblies of the Church he was second to none in influence, but himself neither sought nor cared for connectional office. In the social circle he was a prince ; in the pastorate he was that servant of all whom the Master loves to honor. Rev. Fountain E. Pitts was born in Georgetown, Ky., July 4, 1808. He began life with the heritage of a good education, good antecedents, and an agreeable personality. He entered the Kentucky Conference in 1824, but in the next year became a member of the Tennessee Conference. His good start in life was in addition to strong natural endowments. His intellectual powers were of a high order; his voice was full, clear, and musical, his enunciation distinct, and his manner deliberate and always impressive. To any subject which he discussed he brought the aptest language. He knew the way to the hearts and heads of men. "His life was a success; he won many souls for Christ." With his colleague, Dr. Green, he was often in the great assemblies of the Church and was trusted in counsel and leadership. He passed away on May 12, 1874, surrounded by friends, and especially by a number of the great men with whom he had labored in life. The "Old Baltimore Conference," the keystone of the Ameri- can Methodist arch, was particularly represented in two names in the beadroll of this period. These were the names of Thomas B. Sargent and Norval Wilson. Rev. Thomas B. Sargent was the son of Rev. Thomas F. Sargent, a close friend of Bishop Asbury. He was born in Baltimore in March, 1805. Receiving his education at the University of Pennsylvania, at the age of eighteen he entered the ministry. Possessed of a hand- some figure, a musical voice, highly cultivated manners, and invariably wearing an infectious smile, to a wide circle of friends he became a very glass of human grace. The famous John Summerfield was his contemporary and close personal friend. They were much alike in habits of thought and in wonderful pulpit gifts. Bishop Soule chose Sargent to be his traveling companion when in 1842 he went as fraternal dele- gate to the British Wesleyan Conference. It was no surprise that he was selected as Secretary of the General Conference of 1844. Being a member of the Baltimore Conference, he re- Drs. Norval Wilson and Alexander Means. 31 niained with that body through its changes until 186G, when he followed the "old guard" and the majority into the fellowship of the Church, South. He died October 13, 1879. Rev. Norval Wilson, great and distinguished in his own right, is well known to modern Methodists as the father of Bishop Alpheus W. Wilson. Born December 24, 1802, and converted in his seventeenth year, he entered the itinerancy in the Baltimore Conference in the year 1821. His early education was liberal, and throughout life he wrought and ap- plied himself as a student. He was especially deeply grounded in the doctrines of Methodism and the teachings of the New Testament. Dr. Wilson was President of the Baltimore Con- ference when in 1806 the decisive step was taken which placed the Conference in the Southern Connection. He was fearless and self-devoted and always a man of God. At all times and everywhere his words betrayed the consciousness and con- viction of the life within him. He expired at his home, in Vir- ginia, August 9, 1876. Three men who were particularly distinguished in the educa- tional work of the Church in this earlier and formative period were Alexander Means, LL.D., of Georgia, Braxton Craven, D.D., of North Carolina, and James A. Duncan, D.D., of Vir- ginia. Alexander Means was born in Statesville, N. C, February 6, 1801. His education as to its primary stage was secured in the schools of his native place. Removing to Georgia in his younger manhood, he there for a time engaged in the occupa- tion of school-teaching. When about twenty-five years of age, he took up the study of medicine, going to Transylvania College for a course of lectures. In 1834 the Georgia Conference en- terprised at Covington, in that State, the Manual Laibor School, of which Dr. Means was made Principal. Four years there- after the movement to organize and endow Emory College was begun, and Dr. Means was selected as Professor of Phys- ical Science. To fit himself for this task he spent a time in taking special lectures in chemistry in Jefferson Medical Col- lege, Philadelphia. In 1840 he accepted the chair of chemistry in the medical branch of the State University at Augusta. Ten years later he made a visit through Europe, increasing his 32 History of Methodism. knowledge of the history of science and arts and widening his fellowship amongst the learned men in classic countries. In the course of his career he was honored with many marks of recognition from the schools and circles of the learned. In 18G8 the Governor of Georgia made him State Chemist. Many learned societies in this and other countries chose him to hon- orary membership. But above all these honors and recogni- tions he prized his calling as a preacher. It was given him, as perhaps to no other man, to show the unities of God's plans in grace and nature. His gospel was a challenge to the wisest and greatest and a comfort to the humblest. At the death of Dr. Wilbur Fisk, of the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., Dr. Means was selected to preach the funeral sermon. In 1850 he was selected to render the same service on the oc- casion of the death of President Taylor. This service occurred in the city of Philadelphia. "For seventy-five years he preached the gospel and pointed sinners to the cross, himself enjoying consciously that religion which he preached to others." James A. Duncan, D.D., was born in Norfolk, Va., April 14, 1830. His father was the venerable David Duncan, who was prominent through two generations in the education of the youth of the South. While his son James was a child he accepted the presidency of Randolph-Macon College, so that the son grew to manhood amid the associations and influences of college life. In 1847 he was converted in a revival which reached and involved members of all the college classes. The next year he received license to preach and in 1849 was ap- pointed to the pastorate of the Church in Alexandria. His thor- ough education, his brilliant gifts, and his complete consecra- tion to his work were prophecies of success which began at once to be fulfilled. A great revival attended his earliest labors. After the pastorate in Alexandria, he went to Leesburg, Wash- ington, and other near-by stations, following which came nine years in the city of Richmond. In that city he took front rank amongst the pulpit orators of the day. All denominations flocked to hear him and cultivated his friendship. But these honors and preferences he received with dignity and modesty, always behaving himself with godly simplicity. During the era of the War between the States, when Richmond was the Distinguished Educators. 33 capital of the Confederacy, his star was ascendant. During this time, in addition to his pastoral labors, he edited the Richmond Christian Advocate and won in the literary field a recognition equal to that which he had won in the pulpit. In 1858 he was chosen to be President of Randolph-Macon College, thus coming into the succession of his honored father and other distinguished men who had served in that position. It was ordained that here he should finish his work, but the ten years which remained to him were filled with opportunities and calls to do and serve in the largest interests and concerns of the Church. Elected to membership in the General Confer- ences of 18G6, 1870, and 1874, his name is found in connection with many of the important acts of the earlier and latter of those sessions. In 1876 he attended the General Conference of the Church, North, as one of the three fraternal messengers from the Methodism of the South. His address on that occa- sion is one of the memorable utterances heard during the period when fraternity and cooperation were taking shape. If he had lived until the General Conference of 1878, he no doubt would have been called to the office of the episcopacy. No man of his day was more popular; no man was more beloved. But, weak- ened and exhausted by ceaseless toils and travels in the interest of the institution over which he presided, he was seized with a fever which, though he outlived its paroxysms, left in his frame the seeds of death ; and after lingering some months, he passed away on the 24th of September, 1877. The life history of Braxton Craven is one of those miracles and apocalypses of providence upon which men of faith love to think. He was born amid conditions as helpless as ever sur- rounded the beginnings of a human life. In puling infancy he was given into the hands of kind and tender people who nour- ished him to childhood and youthhood, and helped him to the beginnings and hope of manhood. His sponsor or protector, Mr. Nathan Cox, was a sturdy Quaker and put him in boyhood in the Quaker school at Guilford, N. C. Later he entered Union Institute, the predecessor of the opulent foundation now known as Trinity College. There he remained until 1842, which rounded out his twentieth year, he having been born August 26, 1822. The Principal, Mr. York, leaving in this 3 34 History of Methodism. year, Craven became his successor. In 1849 he went as a stu- dent to Randolph-Macon College. After this experience, he returned to his post at the institute, where, with the excep- tion of a single year, he spent the remainder of his life. Union Institute becoming Trinity College, he devoted himself to the work of realizing a large ideal in its endowment and organiza- tion. It stands to-day as the best monument of his life. He joined the North Carolina Conference about the year 1840; and while education was the chief concern of his years of labor, he was a true evangelist and a faithful minister of the Word. The life of Braxton Craven is a book for the youth of the Church to study and to be instructed from. What is said here is scarcely so much as a preface to all that is written within. Philip P. Neely, born in Rutherford County, Tenn., Sep- tember 9, 1819, and Edmund W. Sehon, born in Hardy County, Va., April 14, 1808, possessed some unusual qualities in com- mon. Both were men of uncommon natural powers and large attainments, and both were the incarnation of native and acquired eloquence, the acknowledged masters of assemblies. Dr. Neely began his career in the Tennessee Conference in 1837. After serving for a time in that State, he was transferred to the State of Alabama, where he remained in pastoral work until the time of his death, which resulted from an attack of yellow fever in the city of Mobile June 7, 1878. Dr. Sehon was the son of a well-to-do family and one which occupied a high social position in the proudest section of Kentucky. He was by his father destined to the law; but after his conversion lie answered the Spirit's call to the ministry, entering the Ohio Conference in 1828. In 1843 he was selected as a delegate to the General Conference. In the bitter discussions and issues which distracted that Conference he sympathized with the South, and after the Separation transferred to Tennessee. In that State and in Kentucky he finished his course of service and devotion to his calling. From 1850 to 1868 he was at the head of the Church's eonneetional missionary affairs. In 1860 he received a large vote for the episcopacy, being, with Dr. J. B. McFerrin, next to Dr. H. N. McTyeire when he was chosen for that office. His last days were spent in his home Confer- ence, in the pastorate, in which he died June 7, 1876. Three Methodist Commoners. 35 Jefferson Hamilton, of the Alabama Conference, Edward H. Myers, of the South Georgia Conference, and Robert Alexan- der, of the Texas Conference, were commoners of Methodism in the truest and highest sense. Jefferson Hamilton was a native of Worcester County, Mass., where he was born August 23, 1805. He had the great good fortune, as had so many of the Methodist preachers who began life in his day, to be a student under the great Dr. Fisk. Here he laid the foundation not only of true and masterful learning? but of a truly noble manhood. In May, 1831, he joined the New England Conference; but after a few years, his health becoming poor, he transferred to the South, meaning to remain only so long as it was necessary to recuperate his strength, but his heart laid hold upon the land and the people of his pilgrimhood, and there he joyfully remained. His first appoint- ment in the South was in New Orleans, but he was soon trans- ferred to the Alabama Conference, where he finished the re- mainder of his earthly years. "His acknowledged ability, his theological attainments, his eloquence in the pulpit, and his abundant labors" placed him almost at once at the head of his Conference. This primacy he never lost, but maintained his hold upon his 'brethren to the end, which came at Opelika, in the State of his adoption, December 16, 1874. Edward H. Myers, D.D., was born in Orange County, N. Y., on the 9th of January, 1816. His father emigrated to Florida during his childhood, and there he grew to the years of ma- turity. At Randolph-Macon College, in Virginia, he received a thorough training. Upon leaving college he entered himself upon the work of teaching, being employed in the labor school at Covington and later as tutor in Emory College. His min- istry began as a member of the Georgia Conference in 1841, and he continued in the pastorate until 1845, when he became a professor in Wesleyan Female College. In 1854 he was elected to the editorship of the Southern Christian Advocate, which post he filled for seventeen years, returning in 1871 to Wes- leyan College as its President. After three years of service in this post, he returned to the regular pastorate, that being the work which he preferred to everything else. His biographer says of him that "he was a master workman in all departments 36 History of Methodism. of labor. ... He was a Christian teacher and sought the religious welfare of his people." Dr. Myers is distinguished as the chief spokesman and most active member on the South- ern delegation of the famous Cape May Convention. His book, ''The Two Methodisms," resulted from his experience in the discharge of that historic task. He was a man born to lead, and that through the sympathy and confidence which he in- spired by reason of his fellowship with men, his love of truth, and his ability to live and walk on the plane of everyday human need. Robert Alexander, along with Homer S. Thrall, Martin Reuter, and Littleton Fowler, made his name synonymous with the early history of Texas, both as a republic and as an American State. He was born in Tennessee August 7, 1811, and joined the Tennessee Conference in 1830. Later he served in various parts of the State of Mississippi, but in 1837 went as one of the first missionaries to Texas. Scarcely had he crossed the Sabine River when he began to preach and plant missions. This work continued until he had belted the laud from its eastern border to the remotest American settlements of the frontier. In 1840 the republic of Texas was divided by the General Conference into two mission fields, of which Little- ton Fowler and Robert Alexander became superintendents. The Texas Conference was organized by Bishop Waugh at Reutersville on Christmas Day, 1840. From that time forward the personality of Robert Alexander became preeminent in the whole land. He appointed the mission stations, worked out the educational plans, and directed the destinies of the grow- ing Church both as by divine direction and with the cordial consent of his fellow laborers. He left his impress upon his own Church, and every communion in the State was indebted to him for much of its life and growth. Public men were in- fluenced by his ministry, while his heroic virtues and unwaver- ing testimony mingled with the volume of refining and Chris- tianizing influences which constantly trailed after the acces- sions of population from the older and more civilized parts of the country. Dr. Alexander was a member of the Louisville Convention of 1845 and was in many other ways prominently active in the early history of the Connection. Ale jo Hernandez and Samuel Chioote. Distinction and service of another sort, though to no dif- ferent end than those already described, were expressed in the lives and confirmed in the death of Alejo Hernandez and Sam- uel Chicote, the one an Aztec, the other a Creek Indian, but both devoted to the gospel and faithful exponents of Meth- odist experience and doctrines. Alejo Hernandez may be called the father of the Church's mission in Mexico. He was born in the State of Aguascalien- tes ; but the date is not known, though it may be fixed at about 1844. His father was a hidalgo, a man of wealth and social rank, who put his son in college with a view to training him for a profession. But in college the son imbibed infidel no- tions and, leaving his classes, joined the native army against Maximilian. He was captured by the French and finally drifted to the Texas border, where, through reading Protestant literature, he became interested in personal religion. At a Methodist meeting held in Brownsville, Tex., he was awakened, though he understood no word in the service. Becoming later a Church member, he sought to bring his own people into the < same light. At first he was employed as a missionary on the border ; but when Bishop Keener opened the mission in Mexico City, Hernandez was appointed to work in that station. Soon after this, however, on September 27, 1875, he died, leaving a testimony which has been as a star and a song to the people of his nation. Samuel Chicote, a chief of the Creek Nation and a Meth- odist preacher, was born on the Chattahoochee Kiver, in the State of Alabama, in the year 1819. As a boy he was a little while in the Methodist mission school at Fort Mitchell, near the reservation of his people. In 1839, with his parents and other groups of his tribe, he went across the Mississippi River to the Creek lands in what is now the State of Oklahoma. For a time savagery engulfed him and his people, but eventually they were rescued by the missionaries. Restored to his early faith and becoming himself an active Christian, he took up the work of teacher and missionary amongst the settlements of his tribe. Here he suffered great persecution, often to the point of personal violence. In 1852 he joined the Indian Mis- sion Conference; and while filling the office of chief of the 3S History of Methodism. Creek Nation he continued to serve in his ministerial office, sometimes as pastor, sometimes as presiding elder. He was a delegate to the first Ecumenical Conference, which met in Lon- don in 1881. Both as a representative of his race and as a man of faith and experience he excited the interest and the sympathy of the delegations. When the Centenary Conference was appointed to meet in 1881, Chicote was again selected as a delegate to represent his people; but the life journey of the apostle of the wilderness was nearing its end, and before the time appointed he breathed his last, September 4, 1884. He was not only a pioneer in Indian evangelization, but preem- inently a pioneer in the movement for Indian education. The Church not only found that lay representation in the General Conference did not disturb the old-time order and dig- nity of legislation and administration, but soon realized that it brought a new and virile force into the processes of both. The advice and help of laymen added wisdom to the connection- al counsels, and the exercise of new functions by the laymen stimulated their own activity in every branch of the Church. The names of many laymen prominent in public life — legis- lators, jurists, officials of the State and Federal governments, educators, journalists, capitalists, and leaders of industry — now began to be familiar to the records of the General Confer- ence. Amongst these, for the earlier era, may be mentioned Dr. James H. Carlisle, of South Carolina, the veteran educator, churchman, and citizen; Mr. D'Arcy Paul, of Virginia, uni- versally loved and honored for his exalted character; Hon. A. H. Colquitt, of Georgia, Governor and United States Senator; Col. L. D. Palmer, long connected with the Church's publish- ing interests ; Hon. W. H. Foster, of Louisiana ; Judge James E. Watts, of Mississippi, Christian jurist; Dr. L. C. Garland, the first Chancellor of Vanderbilt University and of unsullied fame and honor; Judge John F. House, of Tennessee, states- man and author; Hon. R. B. Vance, of North Carolina, member of Congress and a saint of the toga; Hon. Trusten Polk, of Missouri, the adviser of Israel; Col. W. L. Nugent and Judge A. G. Mayers, both of Mississippi and eminent for learning and loyalty ; Hon. W. H. N. Magruder, of Louisiana, philanthropist : Dr. Charles K. Marshall, the eloquent local preacher; Ex-Gov- Great Lay Leaders. 39 ernor H. W. Foote, of Mississippi ; Judge J. C. 0. Winch and Col. Thomas R. Bonner, both of Texas and untiring in service and sacrifice; Prof. R. M. Mcintosh, of Georgia, the "Asaph" of Methodism ; Gov. G. D. Shands, of Mississippi, publicist and educator ; Judge Lucius Q. C. Lamar, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and one of the most elo- quent men of modern times; Mr. Samuel Cupples and Mr. R. M. Scruggs, both of Missouri, liberal in benefactions; Gov- ernors Comer and Seay, of Alabama ; Hon. W. W. Garland, of Arkansas; Hon. J. Wofford Tucker, of Florida; Hon. W. H. Goodale, of Louisiana, a rare and gentle spirit ; Gov. J. R. Hind- man, of Kentucky ; Mr. Asa Holt, of Texas ; Maj. C. C. Clay, of California; Judge Walter B. Hill, of Georgia, Justice of the Supreme Court ; Col. E. W. Cole, of Tennessee ; Governor Sam- ford, of Alabama ; Maj. R. W. Millsaps, founder and patron of Millsaps College; Judge J. D. Thomas, of Texas; and Dr. W. W. Smith, the distinguished organizer and Chancellor of the Randolph-Macon System of Education in Virginia. Many of these great lay leaders of the Church have passed away, but not a few remain, and some are still active in Conference and connectional affairs. A new army of their peers has come on in recent years, whose names and services will find mention later. The first Ecumenical Conference, to which reference has al- ready been made, held in London September 7, 1881, in its refluent influence fittingly emphasized the growing spirit of fraternity in America and stood as a mighty pillared porch, inviting into the life and unity of the new Wesleyan house. Its potencies became more real than even its most ardent pro- moters had dreamed. Its proceedings were briefly adverted to by Bishop McTyeire in the last paragraph of his History. A more detailed record, however, is due to be entered here. The sessions of this Conference were held in City Road Chap- el. There could be no difference of opinion as to the proprie- ty of selecting that place for that gathering. The following Churches of Methodism were represented — namely: Wesleyan Methodist, Irish Methodist, Methodist New Connection, Primi- tive Methodist, Bible Christian, United Methodist Free Churches, Wesleyan Reform Union, United Free Gospel 40 History of Methodism. Churches, French Methodist, and Australian Methodist Church. These were all in Great Britain, excepting the last two, and all were known as in the Eastern Section. In the Western Set tion, including Canada, were the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Prot- estant Church, the Evangelical Association, the United Breth- ren,* the American Weslevan Church, the Free Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodist Church in the United States, the Independent Methodist, Congregational Methodist, Afri- can Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Colored Methodist Episcopal Church of America, Methodist Church of Canada, Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, Primitive Methodist Church of Canada, Canadian Bible Chris- tians, and British Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada — being in all eighteen different bodies in the United States and Canada and ten from the Eastern Section, making twenty- eight different Methodist bodies. Thus were gathered together six million Methodists, representing a population of twenty- five million in many countries of the world. The advance from 1739 to 1881 was too apparent to be missed. The Rev. George Osborn, D.D., President of the British Wes- levan Conference, conducted the opening exercises, after which Bishop Simpson delivered the Conference sermon. As has been usual at all such gatherings, the sermon was followed by the administration of the Lord's Supper. The themes discussed covered a wide range of thought and Weslevan nomenclature One of the great meetings of the Conference was held in Exeter Hall on September 15, 1881. This was called the fra- ternal session, at which the delegates from other Christian bodies were received. Representatives came from the Pan- Presbyterian Council, the Presbyterian Church of England, the United Brethren Church, the Baptist Churches of Great Britain, Congregational Churches of England, and the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. Tt was a time of world-wide fellowship, perhaps the point of largest contact ever made by the different Protestant denomi- *Ttie United Brethren Church did not send representatives, holding itself to he a non-Methodist hody. The First Ecumenical Conference. 41 nations of the earth. The occasion attracted much attention from the press of London and the whole English-speaking world. The question of the union of Wesleyanisni and Angli- canism was then receiving much attention in some quarters. Upon this possibility the London Times remarked that if Methodism should coalesce with the English Establishment and its Episcopal affluents, it would furnish the elements of another vast internal convulsion that might rival the Wesleyan revolt of the eighteenth century. The Daily Chronicle said : "This wondrous system — Methodism — is of comparatively re- cent growth, and there is no sign of lessened vitality." Amid such comments and awakened surprises the great gathering came to its close. The Methodist Church claims to have an ecumenical creed, its Articles of Religion being a rescension of the Anglican Articles, whose descent from the Nicene Statement by the way of the Augsburg Confession has been well established. It was, therefore, fitting choice of title when Methodists elected to call their world gathering an Ecumenical Conference, thus uniting a term of ancient churchly nomenclature with the peculiar Wesleyan designation for an assembly. The thought was retrospective, affirmative, and prophetic. The men who conceived, planned, and realized the first Ecumenical Confer- ence did not fully comprehend the significance of their own work ; but it was an inspiration, the fullness of whose fruitage is to be gathered in times not wholly out of sight. CHAPTER III. The Centenary Fund — Session of the Centenary Conference — Conven- tional Forces — Literary Activity — Facing the New Age — A Ring of Triumph — Colored Education — Comity and Federation — General Con- ference Acts — Change of Name — Deceased Bishops — Connectional Elections— The Hymn Book— The Quarterly .Review— 1884-1889. THE Centenary Conference, participated in by the whole body of American Methodists without distinction of name or polity, was preceded by a year of special activities, meant to deepen the general religious consciousness, emphasize Wes- leyan doctrines, and put forward in a material and financial way the connectional enterprises of the several and separate Methodist bodies. At the session of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, held in Nashville, Tenn., in May, 1882, it had been determined to attempt the raising of a centenary fund of two millions of dollars, to be equally applied to the causes of education, Church extension, and missions. The entire sum raised under this call was $1,- 375,000, but was mostly devoted to the building and endow- ment of schools and colleges and to local church equipment, which causes received a marked impulse from the widespread celebrations and their resultants of enthusiasm and quickened generosity. The Northern parts of the republic being then much more prosperous than the States of the South, the ma- terial returns had from the celebrations in the territory of the Methodist Episcopal Church were even more marked; nor were the general spiritual benefits therein obtained less con- siderable. Perhaps at no time since the days which made the height of the Asburian era had American Methodism felt so certain and so abiding an uplift as that which came of these celebrations. The wastes of war had already been fairly re- paired, sectional animosities were subsiding an era of im- proved feeling was coming on in national politics, great social reforms were under way, and Church fraternity had been placed upon a certain and workable basis. The new century thus began in the calendar of human emotions a decade and a half before it was noted by the keepers of dates. (42) The Centenary Conference. 43 The Centenary Conference met at the time and place ap- pointed. It consisted of four hundred and forty-four mem- bers, ten of whom represented the non-Episcopal Methodist Churches of the continent. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was present in a body of one hundred and twenty-seven delegates. The majority inhered in the delegations from the North. This Conference proved in every way worthy of the potent memories which its call had awakened and of the large influences which it was meant to set in motion. To the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, belongs the honor of first proposing the cen- tenary celebration of 1884. In the General Conference which met in Atlanta in May, 1878, the conception had its first for- mal expression. At the Ecumenical Conference held in Lon- don in 1881 the American delegates, to the number of eighty- one, signed a formal call for the gathering of this Conference. At the General Conference of the Southern Church held in May, 1882, a committee of correspondence was appointed and representation in the Conference provided for. Kesponding to this action, the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church appointed a committee of equal number to cooperate with the committee from the South. After full consultation, all details were agreed upon. Bishop Andrews, of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, was made chairman of the General Executive Committee, and to him is due great credit for the success of the undertaking. The first function of the Conference was an informal gather- ing on December 8 in the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Baltimore, the lineal successor of Lovely Lane Chapel, in which the Christmas Conference of 1784 assembled. The ad- dress of Bishop Andrews welcoming the delegations was re- sponded to by Dr. J. B. McPerrin and others. The first ses- sion of the Conference proper opened in Mount Vernon Church, Baltimore, the religious services being conducted by Bishop Granbery. The opening sermon was preached by Bishop R. S. Foster and is traditionally described as "a masterly discourse, which occupied over two hours in delivery." It produced a profound and enduring impression. The themes discussed in the Conference were varied and of far-reaching interest. The History of Methodism. spirit of fraternity developed rapidly, and all the proceedings were conducive thereto. The great Conference closed with an old-fashioned love feast. Testimonies were given by men of ripe experience in the two greater Methodist Churches and also by an African and an Indian. The historic gathering ended in a glow of spirit which sent its influence down the years. But though the leaders felt the inspiration of the new relationship, they were not without serious concern that these things, deeply and soulfully felt, should be realized in the actualities of Methodist history. Dr. Frederick N. Merrick, of Ohio, a patriarch of Methodism, uttered this warning: "Methodism is still on probation, and peccability is a condition of probation. Other Churches have fallen away ; Methodism may. Our prosperity as a Church organization brings with it many subtle and powerful tempta- tions. We need to watch and pray that we be not led into temptation." With these solemn words the Conference came to an end. A noteworthy feature of the Christian activity of the latter half of the nineteenth century was the number and ramifica tions of its conventional forces. Bodies of men and women, comprising millions in the aggregate, following the close of the War between the States, assembled under all manner of auspices and looking to the furtherance of all manner of ends. It was preeminently the age of conventions. The present cen- tury received the popular assembly as a comparatively spent force, but it cannot be denied that the use made of it in the antecedent era was monumental and effective. Especially was this true of the more popular, but still representative, gather- ings of the Churches. Many of these became educational Pente- costs, and not only signaled advance, hut supplied inspiration for the zeal of vast multitudes who had not otherwise partici- pated in the wider consciousness. The Centenary Conference was not only commemorative of consummations past and set- tled . but it was typical of the age. It was the first full pulse beat of American Methodism after the lamentable, but his- torically necessary, events of 1844. Its fraternal intercourse and the understandings reached by it became the fitting back- ground of a new scene in the religious activities of the Western Census of Methodism — Tenth General Conference. 45 world. "Slowly gathered upon many fields, the weight of its testimony was well-nigh that of a revelation."* This closing celebration of the centenary year furnished an opportunity for taking a general census-survey of the field of Methodism. The figures presented at that time showed in the several Connections in America, Great Britain, and the Antip- odes, with their several missionary dependencies, the following aggregates — viz. : Traveling preachers, 34,989 ; local preachers, 77,053 ; lay communicants, 5,319,493. The next year the mem- bership of the Southern Church was reported to be 990,994, being an increase of 448,505 since 18G0, notwithstanding the loss in the white membership from 1860 to 1865 was reported as being 113,265.f . The number of colored members in the Church in 1866 was reported at 78,742. A very large majority of these were in that year gathered into a separate jurisdiction created by act of the Southern General Conference and known as the "Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America." The special activity of the centennial year served to quicken the literary impulse of American Methodists. Keminiscential and biographical writings were the order of the day. Many valuable additions were thus made to the bibliographies of the Churches, North and South. The reading tastes of the people were sharpened, and the incentives to authorship were multiplied. The publishing interests of the several Connec- tions were correspondingly enhanced and set in the way of a new going. The present answered to the past in making in- creased demands upon the future. The tenth General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (being the twenty-fifth General Conference since the organization of the Church, in 1784), met in Rich- mond, Va., May 5, 1886. As a body it consciously faced a new age and the openings of new destinies in the kingdom of God. The Episcopal Address, written and read by Bishop John C. Keener, struck a high note. This must needs have been so, considering the personality which brought it forth. Of mas- sive intellect and exceptionally evangelistic in temper and ex- *Episcopal Address, 1886. tMcTyeire's "History of Methodism," Chapter XLVI., page 664. 4G History of Methodism. perience, he was masterful in Methodism throughout the years of his ministry. Speaking for his colleagues and for the Con- nection in general, in the document read at this propitious hour he emphasized the doctrines of Methodism and the tradi- tional Wesleyan testimony of soundness in faith and experi- ence. The innovating tides of the new and liberal theologies had not then touched so much as the peripheries of the South. The whole land lay under the cloudless heavens of the old confessions. The intellectual manner of the people was clas- sic, and the religious thought of the day was wholly ortho- dox. The conditions were singularly favorable to the program of religion in general and that of Methodism in particular. Revivals in the Churches were frequent and fruitful, and the General Conference was called upon to devise larger plans and create new departments of administration for circuit, station, district, Annual Conference, and the general jurisdiction. For the first time in the history of the Church since the Separation there was a ring of triumph in the missionary re- ports. The opening of a mission in Japan was noted. The missions in China and Brazil wrere erected into Annual Con- ferences. The contributions to foreign missions for the quad- rennium had exceeded those of any previous four years by four hundred thousand dollars. The work of the newly organized Woman's Foreign Missionary Board was highly praised. The Board of Church Extension had already "turned the atten- tion of the Church in the direction of church-building" and had potently influenced the centenary offerings. The Sunday School Department's x>rosperity, as also that of the Publishing House, was gratefully mentioned. Significantly enough, the first calendar item to which the bishops directed the attention of the General Conference in their new century address was that of the educational work to be undertaken for the people of color. Announcement was made of the establishment during the previous quadrennium of a school, known as Paine College, at Augusta, Ga., to which the Rev. Moses U. Payne, of Missouri, had given the first f25,- 000 of endowment. Through changing experiences and condi- tions of stress this school has lived and grown and has been one of the choice agencies in the evangelization and education Legislation — "Manual of Discipline?' — Federation. 47 of the colored race. The effect of its history and work upon the Church which founded it and which has contributed its main support has been salutary and providential. Its future should be one of the large concerns of Southern Methodism. A matter of early legislation at this time was to levy an assessment for the self-support of future General Conferences. This session ended the plan of free entertainment. The in- creased business of a Methodist general assembly robs it of time for social leisure. The crux is to bring its affairs within a reasonable allotment of days. A question also arose concerning the authority of "A Manual of the Discipline," by Bishop McTyeire. The Bishop explained the origin of the work — namely, that it grew out of a request made of him by his colleagues to prepare a commentary upon the laws and canons of the Church. It had been passed upon by them and stood as a consensus of their best judgment. The importance and authority of this work hold with the passing years. On May 10 a most significant resolution on "Comity and Federation," signed by M. B. Chapman and others, was offered. It asked for a commission, to meet a similar commission from the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of Amer- ica, to devise plans for federation both at home and in the for- eign field, and to "compile a common hymnal for Methodism." This is the first use of the word "federation" in any General Conference and certainly may be considered the first impulse toward a movement now potent with prophecy. The idea did not prevail at this session, but the momentum given it caused it to take shape in 1894, eight years later. An effort was made to put the domestic mission work under the direction of the Board of Church Extension. It did not succeed, but is of interest in view of similar propositions which have since been made. Certain institutes and original devices for securing popular administration were now taking shape. Chiefest amongst these was what is to-day known as the District Conference. This Conference, as a possible integrant of Methodist conven- tion, was freely discussed in the General Conference of I860 and was recommended as an experiment. But it was not 48 History of Methodism. canonically established until 1870, when the General Confer- ence of that year placed in the Book of Discipline a chapter under the title "Of the District Conference." From the van- tage of 1886 the bishops were able to say that they had found the District Conference to be "an increasingly efficient part of our system." It had been particularly useful in organizing and maintaining district schools and seminaries and had thus in an unexpected way helped forward the cause of religious education. "Children's Day" in the Sunday school was ordered to be observed, the beginning of a new and fruitful departure. Some important changes were also made in the ritual for the bap- tism of both infants and adults. Dr. McFerrin and others protested against the change in the baptismal office as being a stroke "at the doctrine of original or birth sin." Happily, the leaders of Methodism, almost without exception, have been tenacious of the old doctrines, even to the point of defending traditional interpretations. A system of colportage was provided for, practically the system which exists to-day. The "war claim" against the government received less attention at this time than it had before and much less than it was destined to receive in future sessions. It became the center of an era of protracted discus- sion and disturbance, the details of which will be treated in their proper connection. The German work in Louisiana and Mississippi was merged into the English-speaking Conferences, showing the disappear- ance of the German language and the peculiarly German tra- ditions of the membership of the former German organizations. At this session the "temporary court of appeal in an adjoin- ing Annual Conference" was constituted for the relief of preachers under charges who wished to have an early hearing of their cases in review. It was not a satisfactory law and was soon repealed. The existing disciplinary rule on divorce was also enacted at this time. It fully expressed the con- science of Methodism on this most important and enhancing question of the sanctity of the institution of marriage. At this General Conference the bishops reported the official vote of the Annual Conferences on the proposition to change Change of Name — Deaths of Bishops. 49 the name of the Church from that of "Methodist Episcopal Church, South," to that of "Methodist Episcopal Church in America," which, reference had been ordered by action of the General Conference of 1882. This vote was: Yeas, 91; nays, 3,415. The demand for a change of the Church's corporate name has been a persistent one since 18G6. At the General Conference in that year a proposition to change the name to "Episcopal Methodist Church" was sent down to the Annual Conferences, but was defeated ny a decisive vote. Again, in 1910, in response to many memorials asking for a change, the General Conference resubmitted the proposition of 1882 — namely, to change the title to the "Methodist Episcopal Church in America." The vote of the Annual Conferences, given in 1913, while showing a marked advance of the sentiment for change, was still decidedly against the proposition. It now seems probable that no change of the present name and title of the Church can occur except through a continental read- justment of Methodist relations. It is, therefore, a question wrapped up with the Church's ultimate problems. At the session of 1886 appropriate official notice was taken of the fact that four of the chief pastors of the Church had been called during the quadrennium from their labors into re- ward. These were : Bishop Hubbard Hinde Kavanaugh, Bishop George Foster Pierce, Bishop Robert Paine, and Bishop Linus Parker. Two of these had attained to patriarchal years, Bishop Paine being eighty-four and Bishop Kavanaugh eighty- two years of age. Bishop Pierce had reached the very ripe age of seven ty -three ; but Bishop Parker had been summoned at the time of his strength, being in the fifty-sixth year of his life and the third of his episcopacy. Bishops Kavanaugh and Pierce were elected to the episco- pacy in 1854. Within a few months of each other they passed away, Bishop Kavanaugh dying on March 19, 1884, and Bishop Pierce on September 3 of the same year. A tremendous and persuasive eloquence marked the preaching of each of these; but their personalities were cast in different molds, and they were dissimilar in mood and tendencies of mind. The former, with his complement of Celtic blood and characteristics, edu- cated and trained largely through his own mastery, in answer- 4 50 History of Metlwdism. ing to the needs and providences of the time that made him showed that he belonged to that time and to its great and ex- ceptional opportunities. Action in stress and the challenge of a voice commanding in physical compass and matched with the urgency of a prophecy of fire made his ministry notable. He served his generation in the spirit of the ancieuts. In the years of war, separated from his colleagues and the main body of his coreligionists by the lines of the hostile army, lie held together and superintended all the border segments of Methodism. He also found opportunity to give episcopal over- sight to the distressed and widely separated circuits on the Pacific Coast. With the clearing away of the smoke of war, he came to the General Conference of 1866, leading the dele- gations from these Conferences and giving account of a stew- ardship discharged in troublous times. The younger colleague, Bishop Pierce, was Saxon in stature, temper, and tradition. His education was of the schools, and his mental movements were classic; but it is clear that his eloquence and power as a preacher streamed from the deeps of a consciousness in which the life of God moved like an undertow of the ocean. His life left a lasting fragrance upon the places that knew him, and his memory speaks in the silence. Bishop Paine was a man of quiet spirit, handsome and com- manding of person, a scholar by training, and more adapted to the work of teaching than to the demands of public speak- ing and administration. He was, however, not without cer- tain marks of distinction both as preacher and administrator. He came to an early leadership, being an active member of the General Conference of 1844 and one of the committee of nine appointed to draw up the Plan of Separation. He was also active in the Louisville Convention of 1845, which organized the Southern Conferences into a separate ecclesiastical juris- diction, thus completing the action of the General Conference of the undivided Church. As the author of "The Life of Bishop McKendree" he rendered the Church a lasting service, leaving in that work a repository of invaluable first-hand information concerning the period of the administration of the first native American bishop. His death occurred October 10, 1882. Bishop Parker was a native of the State of New York, but Death of Bishop Parker — Connectional Officer*. 51 he came to the South at an early age and fully identified him- self with the social and religious life of his adopted people. He was a man of impressive presence; his mind was cultured and richly stored with the results of discriminating study; ''his heart was radiant with the image and superscription of God." He made a faithful record as pastor and presiding elder; but his most noteworthy service to the Church before his election to the episcopal office was rendered as editor of the yew Orleans Christian Advocate, which post has been occu- pied by several of the most distinguished men known to the history of the Connection. His death, which occurred March 5, 1885, was unexpected and proved a great shock to the Church. The saying that "God buries his workmen and carries on his work" is well illustrated in the conjunction of the memo- rial and electoral functions of a Methodist General Conference. After taking sad and reverent leave of the fallen chief pastors, the delegations turned to the task of electing their successors. On May 18, 188G, William W. Duncan, Charles B. Galloway, Eugene R. Hendrix, and Joseph S. Key were duly elected to the episcopacy. Of these, the two first-named have fulfilled the days of their earthly office and have gone into the fellow- ship of the immortals; the third, by order of active incum- bency, is senior of the Episcopal College ; and the fourth is on the retired roll, being well past the eightieth year of his life, so rapidly does time bring its changes and fulfillments. In proper connections these names of the dead and the living will have fuller presentation in this narrative. Next in point of interest after the selections made by a General Conference for the life-term office of the episcopacy are the elections held to fill the various connectional editor- ships and secretarial posts. The importance of these selec- tions does not suffer by comparison with the responsibility of episcopal oversight. If possible, these connectional responsi- bilities more directly and vitally touch the actual being of the Church. Consciously and unconsciously, the departmental administrations shape and determine ecclesiastical policies. The aggregate of influence exercised through them is the chief determinative in connectional affairs. This serves to empha- 52 History of Methodism. size the need of faithfulness and loyalty in assigning men to these trusts. They might easily be turned to selfish or partisan ends; it is a test of character when they are not. The charge of ecclesiastical politics has often been brought in connection with the seeking and administration of Church office. Perhaps the charge has not always been wholly groundless; human nature is rarely exempt from some degree of just impugnment. But it may be confidently asserted here that the men who have represented official Methodism in these latitudes have been as free from the often-brought charge of self-seeking, as also from the selfish use of office, as any body of ecclesiastics on earth. Nomination in any form for official recognition has happily been frowned upon, and the vice of electioneering has been counted a mortal sin. Perhaps there have been abate- ments and shrivings on the part of forbearing constituencies, but the rule has been healthily and persistently maintained. Woe worth the day that brings an abrogation of it! On May 21 the General Conference began balloting for con- nectional officers, with the result that the following-named in- cumbents were reelected: J. B. McFerrin, Book Agent; W. P. Harrison, Book Editor; O. P. Fitzgerald, Editor Christian Advocate; W. G. E. Cunnyngham, Sunday School Editor; David Morton, Church Extension Secretary. I. G. John was elected Secretary of the Board of Missions. With a single ex- ception, these distinguished men served through the quadren- nium for which they were elected. The one to fall was the tallest cedar of the grove, John B. McFerrin. On May 10, 1887, he expired at his post. He was mighty and valorous in the kingdom of spiritual men. His was another generation than that to which his last service was given. He belonged to the fellowship of Sonle and Kavanaugh, of Green and Paine. Lacking but a single month of being eighty years of age, lie had outlived all his compeers, not only bringing a memory of the old order over to the new, but fixing that memory in the place of assemblies. He was active and masterful to the Inst year of his life. Gaelic in blood, with a rugged and muscu- lar body that might have descended from the Anakim, he accentuated the ministry of righteousness in heroic deeds of sacrifice and self-devotion. His mighty voice matched a An Archon — Church Psalmody. 53 mighty conviction of the truth of his message. When he spoke men listened, and listened to tremble and believe. In his early ministry he was a missionary to the Cherokee Indians, whose language he spoke. He was also circuit rider, station preacher, presiding elder, Missionary Secretary, and Publishing Agent. More than once he was within a stride of the episcopacy ; and the failure of the delegations to call him was not due to as- sessed unfitness, but to the presence in his Conference of other men of commanding fitness whose popularity divided the bal- lots at the times of choosing. To his enthusiastic leadership as a human means the cause of missions in the Church owes the fact of its having lived through the crucial times immedi- ately following the War between the States. It was also under his leadership that the Publishing House at Nashville was rescued from bankruptcy between 1878 and 1882. He was the Church's champion in many an exigency. His place amongst the archons is large and secure. The psalmody of Methodism has from the beginning been its confessional literature preeminent. The ordo salutis of its theology has been written in its songs. Therethrough its doctrines of repentance, faith, and the experience of salvation have been voiced. Many years ago a Unitarian expressed the belief that Christianity had been kept Trinitarian by the constant singing of Bishop Ken's doxology, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." It is not too much to say that the constant singing of Charles Wesley's hymns will prove a mighty help in maintaining through the years the soundness of Methodist faith. From the organization of the General Con- ference, in 1846, to the meeting of the tenth (twenty-fifth) Gen- eral Conference, in 1886, a period of forty years, the Southern Church had not cared to revise its hymn book, which was plethoric both of numbers and lines. An abridged edition had been put out, but the shape of each was unsatisfactory. New and unauthorized hymns were coming into use in the pulpits and social meetings of the Church. It was the nascent era of the so-called gospel song, the rondel that trips to lighter notes than do the chorals of the older collections. In calling atten- tion to this innovation, the bishops said: "Among subtle in- fluences for mischief which the passing years have more dis- 51 History of Methodism. tinctlv brought out is the introduction of a foreign psalmody into our social meetings, our Sunday schools, and occasionally into our pulpits. . . . The General Conference should as- sume full control of our psalmody." As a means of preventing the threatened substitution of the Methodist hyinnary, the General Conference resolved to order a revision of the old hymn book. The commission appointed to accomplish this revision went promptly to its work. The new arrangement presented a hymnal reduced in bulk and containing many new hymns and songs. It became immensely popular and went far toward arresting the tendency complained of. This hymn book maintained its hold for nearly twenty years, when it was superseded by the Hymnal now in use. This last-named Hymnal was prepared by a joint commission of the two Churches, North and South, after labors extending over nearly four years. The General Conference of the Southern Church in 1886 had expressed the wish that some day this con- summation might come. The Conference, by resolution, said : "It is pleasant to hope that a day may come when the inheritors of a common faith may use a common Hymnal. It is well to keep this ideal tfefore us." In 1894 the General Conference of the Church, South, in response to a suggestion of the Ecumen- ical Conference of 1801, appointed a general commission on federation, inviting the Church, North, to appoint a similar body to act with it. The General Conference of that Church which met in Chicago in 1806 accepted this invitation. The two commissions met in joint session in Foundry Church, Wash- ington, D. C, in January, 1808. One of the conclusions reached at this meeting was to the effect that the time had come for the two Churches to join in the preparation of a common Hym- nal. The recommendation being made to the two General Con- ferences, it was formally adopted by each. The Joint Hymnal Commission held its first session in Nashville, Tenn.. in Jan- uary. 1003, and finished its work in Washington City in De- cember of the same year. The book was finally published with the imprint of the two Churches in 1006. being the first ripe fruit of Methodist cooperation. In connection with this rec- ord it is to be noted that a commission similarly originated and, working simultaneously, returned the Joint Catechism Order of Service — Quarterly Review. 55 now in use in the two Churches, as also the present admirably adapted common Order of Service; which several mutualities have tended to strengthen the bonds of union and fraternity. Amongst the many publication problems of the Church dur- ing the period of rehabilitation following the War between the States, none had been more difficult than that of maintain- ing the Quarterly Review. A literary organ of the highest grade has always been regarded as indispensable in the pub- lication lists of a Church. The Church needs, and the logic of its thought demands that there be maintained, a medium through which it may sound the testing notes of doctrinal in- tegrity and orthodoxy. This office falls to the Church Review as to no other denominational agency. At the session of the first General Conference of the Southern Church, held in May, 1846, the publication of the Quarterly Review was authorized, and Dr. Henry B. Bascom was named as its editor. He had carried it into its fourth volume, when the General Conference of 1850 called him to the episcopacy. Dr. David S. Doggett, a man of fine qualities and many accomplishments, was named as his successor. For eight years — from 1850 to 1858 — he con- tinued to carry this responsibility, which, because the Review did not yield an adequate revenue, had to be supported in con- nection with other tasks. At the General Conference of 1858 the conduct of the Review was made a function of the Book Editorship, to which post, in the beginning of a long and fruit- ful incumbency, was elected Thomas O. Summers, without draw- ing upon the results of whose labors the history of the Meth- odism of the South for a full quarter century could not well be written. With the seizure of the Publishing House at Nash- ville by the Federal military authorities in 18G2, and the con- sequent collapse of its business, the publication of the Review was suspended. ^Resumption of publication in the years im- mediately succeeding the war was impossible; but in January, 1867, Albert Taylor Bledsoe began in Baltimore the publica- tion of a quarterly known as the Southern Review. No peri- odical published in the Southern half of the continent had ever attained so wide and certain an influence. This influence ex- tended beyond the Sv?a, where its editor was freely spoken of as "America's great thinker." The Review not only dealt with 56 History of Methodism. American social and political problems, but the pen of its editor cultivated the wider fields of philosophy, literature, and theology. The editorial output was truly astonishing, both as to quantity and range of theme. A demiurge seemed to have concreted all masteries into a single brain and taken his place upon the tripod. Its editor being a Methodist layman, who a little later entered the local ministry, the people called Meth- odists felt a peculiar loyalty for the Review. In 1870 the Gen- eral Conference accepted the proposition of Dr. Bledsoe to adopt the Review as its representative connectional publica- tion. That relation began with the issue of July, 1870. The subsequent numbers, continuing to the close of 1877, in De- cember of which year the distinguished editor passed away, are a repository of theological and philosophical thought of such excellence as to constitute a library in themselves. Mrs. Sophia Bledsoe Herrick, daughter of Dr. Bledsoe, who for some time before his death had been associated with her father in the editorial conduct of the Review, continued its publication for a year, when it ceased. This distinguished woman at this writing (February, 1916) is still living at a venerable age, and in her home, in Berkeley, Cal., is engaged in literary pur- suits. Tn 1878 the Church again took up the question of publishing a quarterly. At the General Conference of that year it was determined to resuscitate the enterprise. A committee of pub- lication was appointed, and Rev. J. W. Hinton, D.D., of the South Georgia Conference, was chosen as editor. For two years he carried the burden of this office without remuneration. In 18S0 the task was again laid upon the hands of Dr. Sum- mers, who continued to carry it until May, 1882, at which time he died while discharging the office of Secretary of the Gen- eral Conference. Since then the Review has been edited by the successive Book Editors of the Church, W. P. Harrison, J. J. Tigert, Gross Alexander, and H. M. Du Bose, as a fixed part of their official duty. CHAPTER IV. Fraternal Visitors — Other Fallen Workers — Deaths of Leaders in the North — General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 1888 — Missionary Episcopate — Methodist Protestants and Lesser Bodies — Episcopalianism — Canadian Method- ism— British Methodism — World Missionary Conference — Australia and Africa— Colored Churches— 1884-1889 (Concluded). THE new times had brought general and cordial fraternal visitation amongst the continental Methodist Churches. As early as 1878 the Methodist Church in Canada had ac- credited fraternal messengers to the Church in the South. These first visitors were the Rev. George Douglass, LL.D., Vice President of the Canadian body, a man almost unsur- passed for eloquence in his time, and Hon. Judge Wilmot, D.C.L. The message and personality of Dr. Douglass left a memory which passed unimpaired to another generation. In 1882 the Rev. Howard Sprague, A.M., was messenger; and in 1886 the Rev. William Briggs, D.D., the present venerable Book Steward of the Church, as messenger established himself in an acquaintanceship with the preachers of the South which has kept his name all but as familiarly before them as that of one of their own leaders. To this Conference came also the Rev. John Miley, D.D., to speak the greetings of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. His mes- sage and the reception given him described a new stage in the advance of fraternity. The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America was represented by the Rev. C. H. Phillips, since made a bishop in that Connection. Formal visits with the British Connection began to be exchanged at a later date. The three years which included and succeeded the year in which was held the Centenary Conference witnessed the pass- ing away of a number of the later leaders of the Methodism of the South. Amongst these are to be recorded the names of Charles W. Miller, D.D., of the Kentucky Conference, and Albert H. Bedford, D.D., of the Louisville Conference. Dr. Miller, who died January 10, 1885, had been a member of every General Conference following the close of the War between (57) 58 History of Methodism. the States. He was author, controversialist, and successful preacher and pastor. Dr. Bedford wrote a number of valuable books, amongst them a "History of the Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South," and "Life and Times of Bishop Kavanaugh." He was Book Agent from 1866 to 1878, the period in which the publishing interests of the Church reached a point of great depression through distressed condi- tions of the country's finances. He died October 17, 1884. The Louisville Conference, paying a tribute to the memory of Dr. Bedford, said: A spirit of forgiveness to all mankind sweetened his last hours. On his deathbed he testified to the integrity of his intentions and his fidelity to the trusts committed to his hands, believing that his business trans- actions were right, as well as the state of his heart. His last utter- ances were full of triumph and exultation. ... So passed the clos- ing scenes of an eventful life. So passed away one who had been for many years as influential and as much honored as any man whose name was ever recorded on the roll of the honored of the Louisville Conference. Elsewhere in the Connection death had levied tribute of the ranks of the leaders. Bev. Francis Asbury Mood, D.D., who died at Waco, Tex., November 11, 1884, was the founder of the Southwestern University, an institution out of which has grown the magnificent new educational movement known as the Southern Methodist University. He was a native of South Carolina and of distinguished descent. To the Bev. Harvey F. Johnson, D.D., of the Mississippi Conference, is largely due the honor of rehabilitating the cause of female education in the Southwest after the years of war. The Whitworth Female College, in Mississippi, stands as an enduring monument to "his tireless labors and foresight. He died August 4, 1886. Bev. Hugh A. C. Walker, D.D., a leader of South Carolina Meth- odism, passed away on the 22d of May, 1886. Affectionate tribute was paid to his memory by the General Conference, then sitting in the city of Richmond. The year following this General Conference the Virginia and the South Carolina Con- ferences were called upon to mourn the death, each, of a great man and an educational leader. The Bev. William Wallace Bennett, D.D., was for nine years President of Bandolph- Deaths of Representative Men. 59 Macon College at "a crucial period of its history," but left it "an enduring monument to his heroic devotion." For a num- ber of years also he was editor of the Richmond Christian Advocate. His death occurred June 7, 1887. Rev. A. M. Shipp, D.D., was a preeminent scholar and was also esteemed an "Israelite without guile." Most of his labors were given di- rectly to the cause of Christian education. As Professor of History in the University of North Carolina, President of Wof- ford College, and Professor and Dean of the Theological De- partment of Vanderbilt University, as well as Vice Chancellor, he completed thirty-five years of continuous educational work. His death occurred at his home, in South Carolina, June 27, 1887. In the list of. remembered dead for the year 1887 appears the name of the Rev. A. R. Winfield, D.D., of the Little Rock Conference, an unusually brilliant preacher, Church editor, and legislator. His name, with that of Andrew Hunter, eclipses every other name in the Methodist annals of Arkansas. He expired, after a brief illness, on December 26, 1887. The Rev. N. H. D. Wilson, D.D., of the North Carolina Conference, who died in May of the same year, was a member of the old guard, a trusted representative of his brethren in many con- nectional responsibilities. No voice or face was more familiar than was his in the General Conferences of his time. Much important legislation was both suggested and influenced by him. But the Church's crown of sorrow came this year in the death of its historian, lawyer, and prince of administrators, Bishop Holland N. McTyeire. Bishop McTyeire was born in Barnwell District, S. C, July 24, 1824, of an ancestry which supported the best traditions of that State. After preparatory training at Cokesbury and Collinswood schools, he matricu- lated at Randolph-Macon College, in Virginia, from which in- stitution he graduated and immediately entered the traveling connection. His ministry began in 1845, the year of the Louis- ville Convention, so that he became one of the earliest recruits of the itinerancy of the new jurisdiction. His first appoint- ment was at Williamsburg, the early capital of Virginia, the scene of Patrick Henry's famous oration. The next year he was 60 History of Methodism. transferred to Alabama. In 1840 he became a member of the Louisiana Conference, being stationed at New Orleans. From 1851 to 1858 he was editor of the New Orleans Christian Ad- vocate. At the memorable General Conference of 1S58 he was made editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate. The mili- tary occupation of Nashville in 1862 put an end to the publi- cation of that journal, and its editor retired to Alabama to become a pastor in Montgomery, where he was serving at the time of his election to the episcopacy, in 1866. Bishop McTyeire was a man of marked individuality. From any viewpoint, his character challenges study and commands respect. His manner often seemed stern. He was constantly reticent and not seldom appeared to be unsympathetic; but those who knew him intimately found him to be the contrary of all these. Desire for accuracy made him slow of speech and commitment. The sense of responsibility made him reserved and so gave him the appearance of lacking warmth and cor- diality. But in social intercourse he exhibited a princely courtesy and was most engaging in conversation. He never indulged in metaphors nor affected surprising utterances, but he was full, ready, and exact. Eminently practical, he was never taken at a disadvantage and always returned an ef- fective answer. He had looked through the subjects and things with which he was called to deal. As a Church editor he used a style of terseness and perspicacity which has been the de- spair of his successors. Dr. W. P. Harrison, himself a master of English, likened his sentences to the sententious proverbs of "Lacon." He carried some elements of this style into his "History of Methodism," by which work he is to be best and longest remembered. Worthily acquired was his distinction of being a champion of soundness in doctrine and loyalty to Wesley an standards. Himself of heroic faith and exemplary walk, he called to obedience and loyalty from out the white light which beat upon the station to which convention and providence had advanced him. Tn both figure and spirit he was sublime. He had been born to lead. That achievement of Bishop McTyeire which in his life- time was as a garland of bays about his brow lias been made to become to his memory as a wreath of rosemary and rue. Alienation of Vanderbilt — Deaths in the North. Gl In securing for the Church he loved the munificent gift out of which came Vanderbilt University, he wrought wisely and well, and the achievement should have been his enduring monu- ment. But, alas! the graven uncials upon the urn that rises above his dust and that of a mighty kindred have become a mockery, and the beauty that circles them about is smothered in regret. Yet that urn will stand as a protest against the faithlessness which has turned a sacred trust from its history- consecrated use. During this time the Church in the North had also suffered the loss through death of not a few of its most distinguished men. At the head of the list came the name of Bishop Mat- thew Simpson, one of the truly great preachers of America. The fame of his pulpit power was world-wide, and in a true sense he belonged to the Church universal. He died June 18, J 884, only a few days after the close of the General Conference of that year. Scarcely less well known was the Rev. D. D. Whedon, D.D., who as commentator and editor came to be to Methodism in the Western continent what Adam Clarke or Joseph Benson had been to the Connection in England. His broad and fraternal spirit was a prophecy of the new and hap- pier conditions which prevail to-day. His death occurred at Atlantic Highlands June 8, 1885. His compeer, the Rev. Dan- iel Curry, D.D., educator and editor, followed on August 17, 1887. On September 2 of the same year passed away Bishop W. L. Harris, who more than any other American churchman of his time had come to know the world-field of Christian missions. In 1883 the Indiana Asbury University became the beneficiary of a munificent gift from the Hon. Washington C. De Pauw, a venerable Methodist layman. Against his protest the authorities of the institution changed its name to that of De Pauw University. Three years after this change was made, May 5, 1887, the benefactor was translated, leaving his gift to multiply its blessings through future generations. On Au- gust 3, 1886, the Rev. George C. Haddock, pastor of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church at Sioux City, la., an active and earnest advocate of temperance reform, was brutally assas- sinated. His death, which was procured through a conspiracy of saloon keepers, produced a profound sensation in every G2 History of Methodism. part of the continent and operated powerfully toward the fur- therance of general prohibition legislation. A reference to the Prohibition issue in this period calls to memory the name of Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, no less distin- guished as a loyal Methodist layman than as a publicist and philanthropist. In 1888 he was a candidate for the Presidency on the Prohibition ticket. Of course his election was not ex- pected— least of all did he himself expect it — but it was char- acteristic of him to stand for principle even at his own cost. Many of the great reforms and eleemosynary movements of his time had felt and benefited by his powerful advocacy. He gave liberally to the cause of education, being especially influential in the founding of Fisk University, a school for the negro race, at Nashville, Tenn. He died in New York City in July, 1800. The twenty-sixth session of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church met in New York City May 1, 1888. Bishop Bowman, senior General Superintendent, on be- half of his colleagues, presented a paper calling attention to several new problems which had arisen under the operation of the law providing for lay representation in that body. Several women delegates had been returned by Annual Con- ferences in the Middle and Western States, and several non- resident laymen had been selected by Conferences in the mis- sion field. The bishops, in their judgment expressed in this formal way, deferred to the action of the Conference; and so both went to committees. The seating of nonresident delegates wTas disallowed, while the verdict in the case of the women wns that female representation was not provided for in the Book of Discipline. Five women delegates, headed by Miss Frances E. Willard, the famous temperance and prohibition advocate, were present claiming seats. It was the emergence of the question of female representation. Though failing at this ses- sion, their claims were destined to persist and prevail at a later date. During 1liis qnadrennium the membership in the Nortli I >;isscd the two-million mark, a figure reached by the Church, Son Hi, twenty-six years afterwards and showing a record of growth which surpasses that of any other Christian body in Prosperity — Skepticism — Worship — Constitution. 63 the history of the world. The increase from 186G to 1015 was more than a million and a half. This was a time of great prosperity throughout the whole of the northern part of the Union. Secular values were rising with fabulous rapidity, and the departmental work of the Church in that section was moving as never before. Twelve theological seminaries, fifty-four colleges, and one hundred and twenty secondary schools were reported, with gross endow- ments and property holdings of twenty -five million dollars. One hundred and eleven Conferences, with twelve missions, represented the divisions of that Connection as finally arranged for the quadrennium. In their address the bishops called attention to "the subtle and ever-varying forms of skepticism rife in our times" and to "the astounding self-assurance with which philosophical va- garies long since exploded are dealt out as brilliant novel- ties." The era of discussional pragmatism was well begun in the latitudes of both the Churches. In this connection the bishops also deplored the fact that the ministerial supply was falling far short of the Church's demands, both in its home and its foreign field. The matter of an "order of worship" was at this time brought into view for legislative consideration. No direct action was taken, but the incident may be accepted as the his- toric beginning of the idea now embodied in the joint Order of Worship adopted by the commissions of the two Churches nearly ten years ago. The question of "What is the constitution of the Church?" came up under the discussion on laity rights and other issues injected into it. This important legal matter — the identifica- tion of constitutional paragraphs — was some years afterwards settled in an arrangement of the Discipline which leaves the issue quiescent, but not a finality. The whole constitutional question is in a flux in the councils and legislation of the Church, South. It is preeminently a problem of the here and the hereafter of Methodism. When settled, the record will occupy a much smaller space than is now generally suspected. But a manual of history should not be made a forum for the discussion of unsettled issues. The lists are still open. 64 History of Methodism. The General Conference at this time received fully upon its shield, and at last yielded to, several historic innovations. The more important of these were the adoption of the principle of the missionary bishopric, the restoration of the ancient order of deaconess, and the extension of the pastoral term. The un- limited pastoral term, however, was reached by stages. At this time a rule was passed fixing the tenure at five years in ten for stations and circuits and six years in twelve for the presiding eldership. In 1884 the Rev. William Taylor, D.D., had been elected missionary bishop of Africa. The demand for an extension of the missionary episcopate raised the question of the juris- diction of the incumbent. The original bishops had general jurisdiction. Should the missionary bishops have jurisdic- tion only in their own districts or fields? The General Con- ference defined the office thus : 1. A missionary bishop is for a special field. 2. He is not a General Superintendent. 3. He is coordinate with the General Superintendents in his own field. 4. He cannot become a General Superintendent except by elec- tion of the General Conference. In further illustration of its faith in the principle thus adopted, the Conference at this sitting elected the Rev. John M. Thoburn, D.D., to be mis- sionary bishop of India and Malaysia. It also elected the fol- lowing-named ministers to the general super in tendency — viz.: The Rev. J. H. Vincent, D.D., the Rev. J. X. FitzGerald, D.D., the Rev. Isaac W. Joyce, D.D., the Rev. John P. Newman, D.D., and the Rev. David A. Goodsell, D.D., the first-named of whom alone survives. The fraternal greetings of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, were borne to this sitting by the Rev. Samuel A. Steel, D.D., a man of brilliant gifts, who prophesied the complete reconciliation of Methodism and extolled the blessedness of fraternity. The address stands as a notable utterance. The General Conference rounded out its work by the election of eonnectional officers as follows: John M. Phillips and Sand- ford Hunt, Publishing Agents at New York ; Earl Cranston and W. P. Stowe, Cincinnati; C. C. McCabe, J. O. Peck, and A. B. Leonard. Missionary Secretaries; A. J. Kynett, Secre- tary Board of Church Extension ; J. L. Hurlbut. Secretary Further Losses — Methodist Protestants — Smaller Bodies. 65 Sunday School Union and Tract Society; 0. H. Payne, Sec- retary Board of Education; J. W. Mendenhall, Editor Meth- odist Review; and J. M. Buckley, Editor Christian Advocate. Following the session of the General Conference, the Church suffered further losses from death in the ranks of its leading ministers. Dr. J. M. Phillips, whose election as Publishing Agent has been noted, died January 15, 1889, and was suc- ceeded by Dr. Homer Eaton. On August 4 of the same year died Dr. J. H. Bayliss, noted as successful pastor and editor. On May 7, 1890, the name of Dr. Joseph Cummings, President of Northwestern University, Evanston, was added to this list. The men of both Churches who had belonged to the age of the Separation were passing away. The Methodist Protestant Church, though incomparably smaller in membership than the Episcopal Methodist com- munions, is yet not behind in reputable standing in its spheres of influence. Indeed, this Church has always been represented by men of unusual force and personality. It has been fully recognized in the commissional and fraternal movements of the past thirty years. It shared materially in the growth fol- lowing the centenary period. Soon after its organization, in 1824, it claimed about fifty thousand members. By 1890 this number had reached the neighborhood of a hundred thousand. The organization of a connectional Missionary Society and a Woman's Board belongs to the centenary period. Its mission field is chiefly in China and Japan. Its educational and pub- lication record is most praiseworthy. A few still smaller Methodist bodies are represented on the continent, as : The Wesleyan Methodist Church, or Connection, of America, organized in 1843; the Free Methodist Church, organized in I860 ; the Primitive Methodist Church, introduced from England; the Independent Methodist Churches, sporadic in Maryland, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia; and the Congregational Methodists, originating in 1852 and 1881. The causes of the origin of most of these having passed away be- fore the period of revival, their growth was small and has continued to be so. Except the Independent and the Congre- gational bodies, they are little known in the field of the South. Before and since 1890 several of the Independent congrega- 5 60 History of Methodism. tions entered the Conferences of one or the other of the two Episcopal Methodist Connections, while about the same time a considerable section of the Congregational body went over to the Calvinistic Congregational Synod of New England, thus giving that denomination a footing in several parts of the South, especially in Georgia. The spirit engendered by the Centenary Movement seems to have wrought even beyond the borders of Methodism. While fraternal exchanges were going on between kindred commun- ions, a rapprochement was begun in the Protestant Episcopal Church. The relations between Methodism and Episcopalian- ism have always been unique. Mr. Wesley died an Episco- palian.* It was long before Asbury would consent to cut loose from the Church of England. All, or most, of the early Meth- odist preachers had great reverence for that communion. In fact, American Methodism has always regarded itself as the true successor of Anglicanism (as that term is theologically and historically defined ) in the Western world. It has re- garded the American Episcopal Church as a sister of later birth. Thus, for various reasons, Episcopalianism has never been thought of by Methodists as a rival of their system. The relationship has always been one of enforced estrangement, held in kindness and without weight of concern. As early as 1888 addresses were sent from the heads of the Episcopal com- munion to one or another of the American Methodist bodies suggesting agreement and coalescence. A formal propositiun of union was at this time addressed from the Episcopal con- vention to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; but as the address mentioned the acceptance of "the historic episcopate'' as a basis of negotiation, the proposition could not be officially considered. It is only just to add here that in more recent years the councils of that Church have made a commendable movement toward Christian union and have shown a disposi- tion to considerably modify the early High-Church conditions of accommodation. The centenary year witnessed the complete union into one *Mr. Wesley also considered himself a bishop in the American Meth- odist Church. Canadia n Ch urch es . 67 body of the several Methodist Churches of the Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland. The leaven of union had been at work for a decade or two before, the first coalescence of separate bodies having occurred in 1874; but it was not until the meeting of the Ecumenical Conference of 1881 that the movement acquired the momentum which insured complete in- tegration. Lawrence Coughlan, who afterwards attached himself to the Church of England, was the first Methodist to preach on the soil of Canada. He reached Newfoundland in 1705, one year before Philip Embury began his work in New York, but four or five years later than the beginning of Strawbridge's labors in Maryland.* In 1779 Wesleyan Methodism was established in Nova Scotia. From this and the beginning in Newfound- land the Wesleyan Church developed its work in the Maritime Provinces. William Black, in charge of the work in Nova Scotia, attended the Christmas Conference in Baltimore in 1784. At this time the work was left to be a part of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church in America and was manned by preach- ers from the United States. About the year 1790 William Losee planted Methodism in Canada proper. Bishop Asbury visited a portion of this field in 1811. The work had prospered, but was destined to be disturbed and all but destroyed by the effects of the War of 1812. The Canadians then appealed to the Wesleyan Societies in Nova Scotia for ministerial help. This help was sent,, but the preachers claimed the fruits of their labors for the Wesleyan Conference. Much friction re- sulted in consequence and in 1820 led to a division of Upper and Lower Canada, the former going to the American preach- ers and the latter to the Wesleyans. In 1828 the American, or Methodist Episcopal, Societies in Canada were erected into the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada. In 1829 the Prim- itive Methodists of England established a mission in the Do- minion, and the same year was formed the Wesleyan Meth- odist Church of Canada, which latter absorbed all the Wes- *The fact of the beginning of Strawbridge's ministry in Maryland as early as 1762 was established through the inquiries of a joint commis- sion which met in Baltimore, Md., February, 1916, as noted later in this history. 68 History of Methodism. leyan work in the provinces. In 1831 the Bible Christians of England also began work here. Important changes now look place. In 1833 the Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada united with the British Wesleyan Confer- ence ; but a considerable segment of the body refused to accept the arrangement and soon afterwards reorganized the Meth- odist Episcopal Church of Canada on a new foundation. A fun her increase in the number of Methodist bodies occurred in 1837, when the missions of The Methodist New Connection were established. Thus originated the five Methodist Churches in the British dominions in North America, which in 1884 en- tered into actual and harmonious union as the Methodist Church of Canada. In later years has been taken the aston- ishing step of planning a union of all the Churches in that country into a single Protestant body. At times the plan has seemed near being realized, but it is still to be conventionally ratified. The statistics of the united Methodist Churches in 1884 showed a total membership of 171,554, with 10,044 ministers. The united Connection started on its new career with a strong institutional equipment in the way of a pub- lishing plant, schools, and missionary and Sunday school or- ganizations. The Rev. Albert Carman, D.D., who had been a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, was named the first General Superintendent, with tenure of eight years. He has been regularly reelected since that time and still survives at a venerable age, one of the best beloved and most honored men in universal Methodism. With the new era ushered in by the first Ecumenical Con- ference, British Methodism began to develop new resources and to exhibit the consciousness of a new vision. Through the en- ergy of Charles Brest, Charles Garrett, and others, it had al ready equipped itself with a variety of organizations showing ingenuity in beneficence and elasticity in method." Under the leadership of men like T. Bowman Stephenson and Hugh Price Hughes, these organizations assumed large and impor- tant proportions in the period of which we are now writ ing. Influential and wealthy laymen, distinguished amongst whom was Sir Robert Perks, well known to American Meth- odists, gave more than money to this movement. Work for Hugh Price J I ughes — United Methodist Church. 69 soldiers, homes for orphans, the deaconess work, home and lay mission work in destitute parts, and particularly the erecting of great mission halls in London and other large cities, de- scribed the details of this practical evangelism. With the last of these organizations, that of the mission hall plan of evan- gelization, is particularly associated the name of Hugh Price Hughes, a name familiar to most Americans of the last gen- eration. Established at St. James Hall, in Piccadilly, in 1887, he began a work which gave impetus to the Forward Movement not only in England, but throughout the English-speaking world. Hughes was a Welshman, born in 1847. Possessed of the fervor of his race and of natural gifts of a high order, his education gave him fluency of speech and a comprehensive grasp of the problems of life and thought. He was a peerless debater, a preacher of evangelistic earnestness and convincing- logic. His ministry was an integrating force. Multitudes heard him, were drawn to Christ and held in loyalty of faith and service. He had the power to clothe old truths in current dress, but his devotion was to the old truths above all. He had become editor of the Methodist Times in 1885 and carried that journal to a point of great success. He also became wide- ly known as an author. His books, "Social Christianity" and "Philanthropy of God," wTere measures of the reach of his pow- ers and sympathies. The Rev. Mark Guy Pearse, associated with him in the London mission work, became also a world figure in Methodism and was well known as the author of "Daniel Quorm." He visited this country several times, as also did Mr. Hughes. Mr. Hughes died in London in 1902, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. A great numerical growth was being recorded in the Wes- leyan Methodist Connection during the years of this period. At the end of the decade this growth showed practically a hundred per cent increase for the forty years reckoned from 1851. The smaller Methodist bodies in England were also sharing in the prosperity and gravitating toward union. The United Free Church had come of a union of several bodies in 1857. The resultant body and those known as the Methodist New Connection and the Bible Christians now began to dis- cuss a basis of coalescence and, if we may so far anticipate 70 History of Methodism, our dates, consummated the plans of union in 1007. The body which resulted is known as the United Methodist Church. Ai the time of union the three Churches numbered nearly two hundred thousand members. Thus was Methodism in Great Britain and Ireland gathered into three principal bodies, the Wesleyan Methodists (including Churches in Scotland and Wales and the Irish Conference), the Primitive Methodist Church, and the United Methodist Church. Only two very small bodies, the Wesleyan Reform Union and the Independ- ent Methodist Churches, remain to be accounted for. The memberships of all these to-day aggregate about one million. Up to and including this period the Wesleyan Methodist Connection had remained in the condition of a ''Society," as it had been left by Wesley in the Deed of Declaration; but at this time was begun a general agitation for changing that status. The movement rapidly crystallized into action, and by an act of Parliament in 1801 the Wesleyan Societies be- came the Wesleyan Methodist Church. The missionary zeal of the new age was well voiced in a World Missionary Conference held in London in June, 1888. The Methodism of the Motherland in its Forward Movement had generated a grateful atmosphere for such a gathering: and its representatives, together with their brethren from North America, were able to give a good account of Methodist missionary operations throughout the world. More than fif- teen hundred men and women, from all lands and speaking almost every tongue, participated. It was aptly described as "a remarkable exhibition of the growth and power of the mis- sionary movement." One of the potent memories of the gath- ering was the labors of Bishop Coke, the founder of Methodist missions, who died and was sepultured in the Indian Ocean while on his way to establish a mission in India. In far-off Australia the integrating and expanding power of the new gospel movement was also being felt and answered. The first step looking toward the union of the Methodist Churches in Australasia was taken in 1888. At this time the New Connection Churches united either with the Wesleyan or the Bible Christian Conferences, thus preparing the way for that larger union which came in the new century, putting tin' Australian, Soutli African, and Colored Churches. 71 Wesleyan Churches of Australia and Polynesia practically into one body known as the ''Methodist Church of Australasia." Methodism was planted in Australia in 1815 by the Rev. Samuel Leigh. From the beginning the cause grew steadily and maintained its growth with that of the country. We shall he able to give a fuller view of this history when retrospecting it from the vantage of the Ecumenical Conferences, whose pro- ceedings are yet to be reviewed. Methodism in South Africa, the vast English- and Dutch- speaking confederation under the Southern Cross, is still in the missionary state; but the vision of an independent and united Connection there is a certain prophecy. The Wesleyan gospel was first preached at Capetown by George Middlemiss, a British soldier. It took strong root in that growing city and with the English population spread into the new settle- ments northward. After the Boer War, the Methodists began work in the Transvaal and the former Orange Free State. The advance which appears to have been made there is equaled only by the readiness with which the people have assimilated Eng- lish ideals and imbibed English loyalty. The tale of Meth- odism in the remainder of the "Dark Continent" is a part of the general missionary history of the Church. This reference to Africa, the racial fatherland, naturally suggests a review of the work done during this period by the colored Churches in America. We have already indicated something of the advance registered by the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, especially in its educational affairs. Sev- eral new schools were either originated or greatly strength- ened during the period following the sitting of the Centenary Conference. Amongst these may be mentioned Paine and Lane College, at Jackson, Tenn. ; Texas College, at Tyler, Tex.; and other schools of high grade in Mississippi and Alabama. Dur- ing this time the membership of the Church, which in 1866 was about sixty thousand, was more than doubled. The circumstances of the organization, in Philadelphia in 1816, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church have been fully set forth in the sections of Bishop McTyeire's History. After the War between the States, the membership experienced a steady growth, large numbers of the colored contingent of 71' History of Methodism. the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, going over to its con- gregations. Also, as the result of negotiations begun in 1880, the British African Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada amalgamated with it, thus extending its territory and increas- ing its numbers. At this time it experienced a great mission- ary awakening. Previously it had maintained missions in Africa and the West Indies, but now it planted stations in South America and Hawaii. In Africa its missions soon re- ported twelve thousand converts. Bishops Campbell and Ar- nett, of this Church, have been described as "notable orators" and as having secured "admiration for themselves and respect for their race/*' The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is about equal in membership with the above-named body. It established a Foreign Mission Board in 1884 and otherwise extended and strengthened its connectional equipment. Besides these three large bodies of colored Methodists, there are in the country several smaller bodies, as the African Meth- odist Protestant Church, the Evangelist Missionary Church (organized in 1886), the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Zion Union Apostolic Church ; but they have a small membership and have not to any marked extent shared in the growth noted in the other colored bodies. Much cor- respondence has been had amongst the colored Methodists looking toward organic union, and at times the prospect of amalgamation has seemed bright. CHAPTEK V. The Young People's Movement — Organization of the Epworth League — ■ Centennial of First Conferences Held in Mississippi Valley — New England Centenary — New York Book Concern — General Conference of 1890 — Work in the West — Church Union in Japan — Jewish Mis- sions— Education — Board of Trustees — Fraternal Greeting — Episcopal and Other Elections — Centenary of Wesley's Death — Second Ecumen- ical Conference — Barnes Hospital — Scarritt Bible and Training School— The Holiness Movement— 1890-1893. THE characteristic expression of American Methodism dur- ing the first quarter of its second century was found in the awakened life and testimony of its young people. This phenomenon was in a way to be noticed throughout the whole family of evangelical Churches; but in the Methodist Church the movement was marked by a tendency to emphasize de- nominational life and loyalty, while in the non-Methodist Churches it was generally diffusive and nondenominational. It is, perhaps, even yet too early to attempt to assess the value of this so-called Young People's Movement, though the far- reaching and cumulative effects of its testimony are beyond any question. Nor is it by any means a spent force. That the ebullient enthusiasm of its early stages has declined cannot be denied; but its relevancy abides, and its sphere has long been determined and made secure. Like the forms of Church polity and organization, it must undergo change and modi- fication; but its residuals after test are, for the present and the future, a widened spiritual vision and multiplied forces of activity in the Church. Beyond any doubt, the pioneer organization in this field of youthful lay activity was the Society of Christian Endeavor, of which the Rev. Francis E. Clark, D.D., a pastor of the Con- gregational Church, was the founder and promoter. But the emergence of the Christian Endeavor ideal was only a symp- tom of the fermentation of desire in the heart of youthful Christianity in general. The existence of these societies was a sign of the times. It demonstrated the presence of "a power in the Church that was growing restless of its limitations and (73) 74 History of Methodism. demanding greater and more varied opportunity." It was saying: "There is a force in the youth of the Church which is not being utilized; there is more Lightning here than has been harnessed." The Epworth League, which embodied this movement, as developed in the Episcopal Methodist Churches, is the logical reproduction of the Holy Club of Oxford, that fellowship of youthful zeal and spiritual cooperation which is the recognized source of Methodism. As early as the Centenary Conference, societies of the scope and object of the League existed in both Methodisms. About 1S83 one such was organized in Shearn Church, Houston, Tex. Its existence had a direct bearing on the future emergence of the Epworth League in Southern Methodism. But in 1889, at a convention held in Cleveland, Ohio, a number of young peo- ple's societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church wTere amal- gamated into a union known from that time forward as the Epworth League. About the same time, or at least in the same year, several similarly organized young people's societies in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in California and in some other Western States were brought into cooperation through the use of a common constitution and plan of work. In May, 1890, the young people's society of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of Los Angeles, Cal., being the pio- neer society in this cooperation, addressed through the Church Conference a memorial to the General Conference, already con- vened in St. Louis, Mo., asking that the organization be recog- nized by the Church and made a part of its order. This me- morial was favorably acted upon, the General Conference or- dering the formation of Leagues for the "promotion of piety and loyalty to our Church among the young people, their edu- cation in the Bible and Christian literature and in the mis- sionary work of the Church, and their encouragement in works of grace and charity." Thus it happened that the Church in the South was the first of the Christian bodies to make its young people's work a part of its organic system. The Leagues were at first put under the control of the Sun- day School Board. Later on, however, certain adaptations and modifications having been made, the League in the South and that of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Church in The Epworth League — Two Early Conferences. T.~» Canada were conformed, and so an affiliation was established. It had already been decided that the Southern League should take the common name of Epworth, in memory of the birth- place of the Wesleys and the maternal faithfulness of their mother. In 1804 the General Conference of the Southern Church erected the League into a separate connectional de- partment, and the publication of a League paper was author- ized, Rev. S. A. Steel, D.D., successful and prominent in the pastorate, being elected Secretary and Editor. The Church in the North, though later than the Church of the South in making the League an organic part of its system, showed greater faith in its outcome. As early as 1892 it was made a connectional department, and its work and administra- tion were generously provided for. The Epworth Herald had already been enterprised and under its first editor, Dr. J. F. Berry, afterwards elected bishop, attained to a great circula- tion and influence. By 1893 the membership of the League in the North was reported at nearly half a million. During the next decade the figures advanced to a million. In the South the proportion of these numbers was never attained; but the membership grew with remarkable rapidity, and the work of the League steadily leavened the life of the whole Connection. In some cases it revolutionized Church finances, particularly in the receipts for missions. It was an inkhorn scribe that marked the elect and choice of younger Israel. It may almost be said to have trained a generation of men and women for service; it widely influenced the going of young men into the ministry and constantly replenished the ranks of the mis- sionary workers. It also created a taste for good literature and promoted the spirit of courtesy and sanctifying friend- ship amongst thousands of the Church's youth. Old memories and new ideals began to have constant and inspiring conjunction in the dates of this period. On May 15, 1790, at a point near Lexington, Ky., Bishop Asbury held the first Conference of the Church west of the Alleghany Moun- tains. Curtiss, the author of "A Manual of Methodist His- tory," says that this was the first Conference held "in the Mis- sissippi Valley," which is an error. The first Conference held west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the Mississippi Val- 70 History of Methodism. ley was gathered on May 11, 1888, at Key wood, Va., in the terri- tory of the Holston Conference. But this Conference of 1800 was of great historic significance. It became a memorial cen- ter to a group of more than fifty Annual Conferences. Exer- cises commemorative of the early sitting were held May 15, 1890, in Lexington, Ky. In these exercises both Churches par- ticipated. The old log house in which Asbury conducted this Conference was standing at the time of the celebration. It is located at a village known as Master-son's Station and is de- scribed as being "a two-story log house, about six miles from Lexington. The two rooms and stairway remain as they were a century ago, and the original wide fireplace, all in a good state of preservation." The scene of the next event of this character is laid in New- England. In October, 1890, the centennial of the introduction of Methodism into that quarter of the republic was duly cele- brated by a great gathering in Faneuil Hall, Boston. While stopping in company with Bishop Asbury at an inn in Cheraw, S. C, some weeks following the Christmas Conference, Jesse Lee was told by the clerk of the inn, who was a native of New England, of the state of religion in that quarter. The en- thusiastic young Virginian determined to ask for a mission to "the land of the Presbyterians/' as Bishop Asbury persisted in calling it; but it was five years before his wish was realized. With the ardor of an ar>ostle, Lee threw himself into the work and, with the aid of his assistants, continued his march until he had published his message in the region of the Kennebec and of the Penobscot. It was from this last-named region that the Church received Joshua Soule, the author of its con- stitution and the first senior bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In the language of our historian, "Jesse Lee in his most brilliant daydreams could not have anticipated such a wonderful growth of Methodist Christianity as was displayed in this centennial celebration."* Yet another celebration which expressed the tremendous century growth of Methodism occurred in New York City February 11, 1890. This was the dedication of the new Meth- *Curtiss's "Manual of Methodist History.' Book Concern — General Conference of 1800. 77 odist Publishing Building at 150 Fifth Avenue. This building and its equipment to-day, beyond question, represent the most considerable publishing concern maintained by any Protestant body on the continent, possibly in the whole world. The Book Concern had previously occupied two other sites in the me- tropolis— namely, 200 Mulberry Street and 805 Broadway. With these two older locations the undivided Methodism from the Asburian era to 1844 had been identified. The second session of the Southern General Conference met in St. Louis in 1850. Just forty years from that date, on May 7, 1890, the eleventh session (being the twenty-sixth session since 1784) was held in the same city and, as was its early predecessor, in Centenary Church. This fact not only called up historic memories, but also suggested a practical retrospect. In that time the Church had multiplied more than threefold in membership and other material interests, had maintained the integrity of its doctrine, the standard of its experience, and was firmly established as one of the leading Protestant communions of the world. The membership was reported at 1,117,150, being an increase of 186,156 for the four years. The Episcopal Address, read by Bishop Alpheus W. Wilson, contained an utterance which, in view of future developments, became notable and prophetic. It said : We have reason to be grateful that the intellectual and moral activ- ity of the age has disclosed no need of a change in our Articles of Reli- gion or standards of doctrine, nor has there been among us any serious demand for such change. The great body of our preachers and people hold firmly to the Methodist statement of truth as being in full agree- ment with the "words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine which is according to godliness." That statement has been subjected to close scrutiny by reason of its unavoidable relations to other forms of teach- ing and has been fully tested in its application to individual and social life, and the results show it to be sufficient as the rule of faith and practice. Occasional sporadic efforts have been made to induce the Church either to renounce its ancient confession or to put upon it an interpretation not warranted by reason or by the "analogy of faith." These have been successfully resisted by the fidelity of our people to the teachings out of which the organic life of the Church has grown and by which its spiritual life has been nourished. We trust that the unity and power of the Church may remain to the end of time unimpaired by the intrusion of heresies destructive to the simplicity and purity of faith. 78 History of Methodism. An account of the effort to "restate" the "Ait ides of Re- ligion," which created a temporary stir throughout American Methodism, does not belong to the present chapter; but the reflection quoted above may well be kept in the mind of the reader against the chronological juncture which will bring its record into view. The Conferences of Southern Methodism in the farther West had been making steady progress nnder difficulties not easily appreciated by the people at the home base. With aid from the Church Extension Board, church buildings and parson- ages had been erected at a number of strategic points. With aid from the Mission Board, difficult fields had been held and strengthened. It may also be mentioned in this connection that at this time the Woman's Parsonage and Home Mission Society was chartered by the General Conference. It soon became a notable force in supporting the work of extension in the Western and border fields, as well as in the needy dis- tricts of older territory. A token of growth in the West was the organization of the New Mexico and the East Columbia Conferences, the one out of the westernmost districts of the West Texas Conference and the other out of the eastern half of the Columbia Conference. Dating from an early period, the Church had held in Oregon a tenuous claim upon a large State appropriation of lands for educational purposes. In the use of this appropriation it maintained for a decade or two a technological school at Cor- vallis; but about this time the State, through the courts, an- nulled the grant. Later a Conference school was established at Milton, in Oregon, and has made a good record. By far the most important development in connection with the work in the West at this time was the plan for establish- ing a connectional newspaper for the Conferences on the Pacific Coast. The Pacific Methodist, with a history going back al- most to the days of the California Argonauts and originally edited by Dr. O. P. Fitzgerald (afterwards bishop), and the Los Angeles Christian Advocate, projected by W. B. Stradley about 1886, were offered to the General Conference, to be consolidated into one representative journal. The offer was accepted, and the Conference appropriated f 10,000 for the Pacific Coast Paper — Missionary Policy — Japan. 70 establishment of the new enterprise. The name Pacific Meth- odist Advocate was settled upon, and the first issue of the connectional organ appeared early in 1891, with H. M. Du Bose as editor. From 1894 to 1901 R. P. Wilson was editor; since the latter date W. E. Vaughn has filled the editorial chair, being regularly reelected. Though at this date the figures will seem disparagingly small, the Church ordered, as a means of "going forward," an assessment of $350,000 for missions. It was also decided to elect three Missionary Secretaries and otherwise increase the administrative efficiency of the Mission Board. This policy was extended to affiliated organizations. The constitution of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was recast, and the So- ciety was authorized to extend its work to the North American Indians and to the people of Latin America. This marked the beginning of a new activity in the school work of the Woman's Board. In Mexico particularly the schools of the Board pros- pered to a remarkable degree, and so continued until arrested by the long series of revolutions which have wasted that un- happy country. Even this early the question of Methodist union in Japan had come up. In all the Methodist communions the feeling had grown strong that the Japanese missions were now able to maintain a native Connection. Indeed, it had come to be a policy that autonomous native Churches should be organized in all mission lands where the progress of the gospel and the spirit of the people seemed to justify it. With reference to Japan, the time had seemed to come sooner than was antici- pated; but although this was recognized, no final action was had until some years later. As a special feature of work in the home field, the Board of Missions, under direction of the General Conference, began a mission to the Hebrews. Prof. Julius Magath, now of Emory University, a native of Russia, a minister in orders, and a capable Hebrew scholar, was put in charge of this mission. The work has not grown as it was expected to do, but only through lack of being pushed with faith and vigor. It is a cause to which the Church should give more whole-hearted attention. From time to time Jewish families have accepted Christ and en- 80 7/ istory of Methodism. tered the membership of our Churches. In a few cases our min- istry has contained men of the Jewish race, faithful and de- voted. These facts illustrate the possibilities of the work. The need of a more aggressive organization of the Church's educational forces had long been felt. The cause of education had grown mostly as nature grows, and one wonders that it should have been so long left to the law of selection and sur- vival. Nature makes species and kinds, but intensive culture methods and forcing plants alone can superinduce exceptional variety and fecundity. Of all moral concerns, the work of education most needs method and intensive treatment. It is astonishing, in view of this principle, that up to this time few of the Churches had an organized central bureau for the ad- ministration of their schools. The General Conference of 1890 ordered the formation of a Board of Education, but almost im- mediately rescinded the action. The cause, therefore, went over for a quadrennium. It is doubly difficult to account for this particular reaction, so clear was the need of the thing denied. In spite of the lack of responsible oversight, however, the schools of the Connection prospered. In Virginia the Ran- dolph-Macon system grew into splendid proportions, binding the different sections of the Old Dominion together with a correlation of high-grade institutions and academic adjuncts. Trinity College in North Carolina, Emory College (now Emory University ) in Georgia, and the splendid new foundation in Mississippi, Millsaps College, particularly went to the front of American schools of the first class. A number of other male and some female colleges also added greatly to their equip- ments and endowments. Wesley an Female College, Macon, Ga., became the recipient of several large donations. An ideal prosperity was being prophesied, but it was the eve before the day of those large "foundations" which disparaged denomina- tional schools by their discriminations in favor of State and nonreligious education. The struggle since has been one of more than outside inequalities. It has been a test of the life and meaning of religion as the base of true culture.* *See table, "Colleges of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South," in Appendix, which gives in figures the history of higher education in the Church since the beginning. Counectional Board of Trustees. XI The Church has always been at a disadvantage in every field of secular contention. Not only has it had constantly to re- sist materialism, but it has met no end of difficulties in the technicalities of law and administration, often lightly con- strued against its interests. Frequently it has permitted titles to lapse or rights to go by default because of the diffi- culty of maintaining legal issues or because of the unseemli- ness of its doing so, even when justice was apparent. To meet the legal necessities of ownership and to maintain a central attorneyship of title and record and to hold its funds and be- quests, the creation of a connectional legal entity was needed. The General Conference of 1890, therefore, directed that "there shall be located at Nashville, Tenn., an incorporated Board of Trustees under the name, style, and title of the 'Board of Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,' composed of eight members, four ministers and four laymen, appointed by the General Conference." In pursuance of this action, R. K. Brown, E. W. Cole, J. L. Farkes, D. C. Scales, J. S. Frazer, J. J. Tigert, T. M. Finney, Anson West, and Samuel Cupples were appointed. They applied to the State of Tennessee for a charter of incorporation "to hold in trust for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, any and all donations, bequests, de- vises, legacies, grants of land, personal property, or funds in trust, etc., and to exercise such other and like power as the State has given to such corporations by virtue of the acts of the same." The general powers of this Board of Trustees are : To sue and be sued in its corporate name ; to have and use a common seal ; to purchase and to hold or receive by gift, bequest, or devise, in addition to the personal property owned by the corporation, real estate necessary for the transaction of the corporate busi- ness, and also to purchase and accept any real estate in pay- ment of any debt due to the corporation and sell the same; to establish by-laws and make all rules and regulations not inconsistent with the laws and constitution; and to appoint such subordinate officers and agents, in addition to a president, secretary, and treasurer, as the corporation may require, desig- nate the name of the office and fix the compensation of the of- ficers. 6 82 History of Methodism. Since this body is of such importance to the fiscal affairs and material well-being of the Connection, it has been thought well to exhibit here the rules under which it acts. It was authorized by the legislature of Tennessee in 1915 under the following act — viz. : An act to authorize eleemosynary and educational corporations to amend their charters so as to vest in the governing body of a religious society or denomination the power to name the directors or trustees of such corporation, increase or diminish their number, fix their terms of office, fill and provide for filling any vacancies occurring. Said di- rectors or trustees to be thereafter governed by the laws, rules, regula- tions, and usages of such religious society or denomination so far as the same are consistent with the constitution and laws of the State of Tennessee and of these United States. The security of the Church's fiduciary trusts under this regulation can be seen. A sad experience in the past has taught the leaders of the Connection a lesson in title-making, in the application of which they have sought the aid of State legislation. The General Conference of 1906 increased the members of the Board of Trustees to ten, equally represented by ministers and laymen. Since the organization of the Board of Trustees it has per- formed many of its prescribed functions, receiving and admin- istering bequests for missions, for building churches, for educa- tional purposes, and for the benefit of Conference claimants. Funds are invested and managed for several of the Annual Conferences, for the personal benefit of superannuated preach- ers and the widows and children of deceased ministers. By far the most important duty left with this Board has been that of raising a capital fund of five millions of dollars for the bene- fit of the superannuated preachers and their families, known as the Superannuate Endowment Fund. Tin's fund was or- ganized in 1902, and the Board of Trustees was made its cus- todian, with instruction to employ such agencies for its in- crease as might seem desirable. Rev. A. F. Watkins, D.D., of the Mississippi Conference, was named as the first agent of this fund. After several years of service, he was succeeded by the Rev. J. R. Stewart, who as Secrotnry-Treasurer of the Board is acting agent for this fund. Interest in the growth Fraternal Addresses — Dr. D. J. Waller. 83 of this fund is increasing. The source of its regular and de- pendable income is a uniform assessment levied on the Annual Conferences. Many bequests have also been made to it, and a goodly number of annuity bonds have been sold. J Is com- pletion is one of the comforting outlooks of Methodism. The fraternal exchanges of the quadrennium which was now closing were particularly happy. To the General Conference of 1800 Dr. Steel and Bishop Galloway made report of their visits to the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Church of Canada, respectively. Dr. D. J. Waller was the fra- ternal representative from the Wesleyan Conference in Eng- land. His visit was noteworthy in that it was the first which had been paid the Church in the South from the Methodists of the Motherland. To this fact Dr. Waller referred in the fol- lov/ing excerpt from his address : The British Conference has appointed me as its first representa- tive to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. . . . This delegation has enabled me to satisfy a long-cher- ished desire to visit your great country and to see something of Ameri- can Methodism, which in point of numbers has far outgrown the original British stock. It has also afforded me the pleasure of seeing this great representative gathering of Southern Methodism and of assuring you in the name of your brethren in England that they rejoice exceed- ingly in your growth and prosperity. From what I have seen since I landed on your shores and from what I now see before me, I feel that I belong to a greater Methodism. The address was impressive throughout. It summarized in an engaging and instructive way the whole story of the English Wesleyan Forward Movement, referred to in a preceding chap- ter, and was replete with sentiments of fraternity and catho- licity. The speaker closed with this eloquent peroration : As I crossed the Atlantic we had a day of storm and rain; but toward the evening the sun broke forth, and on the receding showers there ap- peared a magnificent rainbow. There in one unbroken span it stretched from the uttermost verge of one horizon to the other. I thought of what a beautiful symbol that was of the Church of the living God. The colors of that glorious arch of God are distinct, varied, beautifully blended, and yet one. The different colors are all the refraction in the raindrops of the same rays of light. As I looked upon that "covenant bow," which no earthquake can shatter or storm cloud destroy, the words of the Apocrypha came into my mind: "When thou seest the 84 History of Methodism. rainbow, bless him that made it; very beautiful it is to look upon, and the hands of the Almighty have bended it." Nothing is of more im- portance to Christian civilization than that the bow of peace should always stretch across the American and English nations, and nothing will tend more to secure this than a fraternal relationship between the great Methodist Churches. Rev. F. M. Bristol, D.D., later elected bishop, and Hon. Robert E. Pattison, ex-Governor of Pennsylvania, spoke the greetings of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their cordial and fervent salutations stirred all hearts and were responded to by Bishop Keener in a spirited and ready style, of which he was master. The character of Dr. Bristol's address may be judged from the following extract : We have watched your triumphant advances against the strongholds of sin and idolatry and the world's unrighteousness, not with the eye of envy, but as Lafayette at Yorktown watched the gallant assault of Ham- ilton upon the works of the enemy, with an eye of grateful admiration. "We hail your achievements with thanksgiving and pray the blessing of God upon you and your great work in multiplied grace and power. We felicitate ourselves that this joy in the success of Methodism is mutual, and our congratulations are reciprocal. As a people and a ministry that glory in nothing but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have reached "the purer air and the broader view" where we can join each other to hail the victories of the cross; and we are ever ready to raise the holy paean, whoever may be the honored head to lead the standard on and win another field for God and righteousness. The Methodist Church of Canada was represented by the Rev. S. G. Stone, D.D. Greetings were also sent by the Col- ored Methodist Church and from the Southern Baptist Gen- eral Convention. In view of this last delegation, it is inter- esting to say that the old spirit of controversy, so long a bar to perfect fellowship between the immersionists and their pedobaptist brethren in the South, had by this time so effec- tually declined that all were being brought together in the fel- lowship of unity and evangelization. Although the Episcopal College had been weakened by the death of but one of its members, Bishop H. X. McTyeire, ii was voted to elect two additional General Superintendents. The balloting resulted in the selection of Dr. At liens G. Hay- good, of Georgia, and Dr. O. P. Fitzgerald, editor of the Chris- Episcopal Residence — Elections — Death of Wesley. 85 tian Advocate. By vote of the Conference, one of the bishops was requested to reside on the Pacific Coast. This residence was chosen by Bishop Haygood. A memorial requesting that the bishops be made ex officio members of the General Confer- ence had been presented, but was nonconcurred in on constitu- tional and expediential grounds — namely, that it would admit them to both legislative and judicial functions. The list of connectional elections for the quadrennium was returned as follows: Editor Christian Advocate, E. E. Hoss; Assistant Editor, E. M. Bounds; Book Editor, W. P. Harri- son; Book Agent, J. D. Barbee; Assistant, D. M. Smith; Mis- sionary Secretaries, I. G. John, A. Coke Smith, and H. C. Mor- rison; Church Extension Secretary, David Morton; Assistant Secretary, J. C. Morris; Sunday School Editor, W. G. E. Cun- nyngham. When John Wesley died, on March 2, 1791, he left behind him little else except the memory of his own personality and the Methodist Church; but the world then had no such view of either as it had gained a hundred years later. More quietly observed than any of the other recurring memorials of this time, throughout the Methodist world the centenary of Wes- ley's death was made the occasion of a reverent study of his character, his teachings, and his work. Church newspapers printed lengthy sketches of his life and labors and repledged the people called Methodists to renewed consecration of life and substance "on the old Methodist plan"; many Churches appropriately observed the occasion in ways 'both simple and solemn, meant to act directly upon the religious experience of the congregations — a means of remembrance which all felt their spiritual father would have approved. A motto of this me- morial everywhere was the thousand-times-repeated Wesley an- ism : "Our people die well." One of the complementing acts of the Southern General Con- ference of 1800 was to provide for representation in the second Ecumenical Conference to meet in Washington City October 7, 1891. This gathering, coming in turn to the Western conti- nent, awakened the greatest interest throughout the Connec- tions in the United States and Canada. The committee on program, under the chairmanship of Bishop John F. Hurst, ar- 86 History of Methodism. ranged a catena of topics in keeping with the spirit and needs of the times. The divisional topics were: "Ecumenical Meth- odism," "The Christian Church— Its Essential Union and Gen- uine Catholicity/' "The Church and Scientific Thought," "The Church and Her Agencies," "Education," "Temperance," "So- cial Problems," "Missions," "War and Peace," "The Church and Public Morality," "The Outlook." As in the case of the first Ecumenical, ten years before, arrangements had been made for gathering the addresses, papers, and discussions, and putting them into the form of a permanent volume. The official list of allotments showed the following numbers in delegations — viz., for the Eastern, or European, Section, 184 delegates, distributed as follows : To the Wesley an Church, 77 ; Irish Methodist, 12 ; Methodist New Connection, 12 ; Primitive Methodist, 31; Bible Christian, 10; United Free Church, 31; French Methodist, 2; Australian Methodist, 10; Independent Methodist, 2 ; Wesleyan Keform Union, 4 ; South African Meth- odist, 1; and West Indian Methodist, 2. To the Western Sec- tion were assigned 311 delegates, distributed as follows : Meth- odist Episcopal Church, 12G; Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 64 ; Methodist Church in Canada, 24 ; African Methodist Episcopal Church, 19; African Methodist Episcopal Zion, 15; Colored Methodist Episcopal, 9; Methodist Protestant, 9; United Brethren in Christ, 7; American Wesleyan Church, 6; Union American Methodist Episcopal, 3 ; African Union, Meth- odist Protestant, 3; Free Methodist, 3; Congregational Meth- odist, 3; Primitive Methodist, 3; British Methodist Episcopal, 3; Independent Methodist, 2; and United Brethren in Christ (old constitution), 2. The session was formally opened under the presidency of Bishop Thomas Bowman, of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and Bishop John C. Keener, of the Southern Church, led in the opening prayer, the great audience joining in the Lord's Prayer. It is seldom that so impressive an occasion has come to the peo- ple of any fellowship. The power of unity was consciously felt. Bishop Wayman, of the African Church, led the assembly in repeating the Apostles' Creed. The Rev. William Arthur, ex-President of the Wesleyan Con- ference, had been appointed to deliver the opening sermon. Dr. Arthur's Sermon — President Harrison's Address. 87 The fitness of this selection was recognized on all hands. Dr. Arthur, then nearing the end of his seventy-third year and not only honored as the patriarch of the Ecumenical Church, but as the author of "The Tongue of Fire," was more widely known than any of his contemporaries. His learning and mastery were surpassed only by his piety and self -dedication. At this time he was spoken of as being the greatest living master of the English tongue. That was much to claim in an age which had been led by the. forensic and pulpit masteries of William E. Gladstone, Henry Ward Beecher, and William Frederick Farrar. Dr. Arthur was present at the Conference, but was unable to deliver his discourse, the enfeebled condition of his voice being unequal to the task. The sermon was, therefore, read by his colleague, Dr. T. Bowman Stephenson, the Presi- dent incumbent of the Wesleyan Conference. The reader's voice was clear and strong, and the effect produced by the ser- mon was profound and lasting. During its sittings the Conference was the recipient of many courtesies from the officials of the American government and the diplomats of English-speaking countries, who cordially rec- ognized the significance of its presence. The Hon. Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, was particularly gracious in these courtesies. On October 12 he received and en- tertained the delegates at the White House. The occasion was marked by the frank and informal personal greetings of the President and his wife and was conducted throughout with democratic simplicity. On October 17 the President, unat- tended, visited the session of the Conference and was formally introduced. It was a happy coincidence that at that juncture the body was discussing the topic of "International Arbitra- tion." Being asked to speak, Mr. Harrison addressed himself to the point of the program and in a manner which both pleased and instructed the Conference discussed the subject in its high- er ethical and religious relations. These incidents gave the English delegates a new view of American politics and also of American social and official customs. It was foreseen that, even more than its predecessor of 1881, this Conference was to affect the general spirit and plans of the people called Methodists. A Pastoral Address, meant to 88 History of Methodism. conserve the results of the Conference, signed by the presi- dents of the several sessions and the secretaries, was therefore sent out to the Church in all lands. The following admirable summary of this address is found in Curtiss's "Manual of Meth- odist History",: It recognized the substantial unity which exists among the various Methodist Churches. "The time has come for a closer cooperation of these Churches, both at home and abroad, which shall prevent waste of power and unhallowed rivalry." It eloquently pleaded for the salvation of the millions who have a hard lot in life; the bringing of them into sympathy with the Church; the purity of woman; care for the Chris- tian Sabbath, the sanctity of home, and the uprooting and extermina- tion of intemperance, "the fruitful mother of a brood of evils"; the dis- countenancing of betting and gambling; reckless speculation in busi- ness, unfair competition, and for courts of arbitration to take the place of "aggressive war." It gave wise counsel concerning economy of Methodist resources; . . . care for the children of the Church, the Epworth League, the education of the young people, and the foreign missions of all the Connections. The Church was recommended to use "the pulpit and the press, the school and the university, science and art, social influence and the ballot box." Two outstanding events in the Southern Church belong to the year immediately following the close of the second Ecu- menical Conference. One of these was the bequest of a mil- lion dollars made by Mr. Robert A. Barnes, of St. Louis, for the erection in that city of a hospital to be administered under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The other was the founding and opening of the Scarritt Bible and Training School, at Kansas City, largely through the liberality of Rev. Nathan Scarritt, a retired minister of the Connection. Mr. Barnes, though not a Methodist, had long been a liberal supporter of the causes of Methodism. His reason for making the Church the beneficiary and guardian of his bequest was strikingly expressed. "A person," he said, "ought to invest his money for doing good as he invests it in his business, where it will bring the largest returns. While the Methodist Church is one of the largest Protestant denominations, it is one of the poorest financially; yet it does more work among the poor than any of the others, so I think my fortune will do most good with it.* The gift of Dp. Scarritt has perhaps returned more sub- Scarritt Bible School — ''Holiness" Question. 89 stantial results to the cause of Christ as represented by women than almost any similar investment made in our country. J)r. Scarritt was a man of remarkable power in the pulpit and a natural leader. He died in May, 1890, near the close of the General Conference of that year, of which body he was a mem- ber in the lay delegation from the Southwest Missouri Annual Conference. The so-called "Holiness" question, a controversy which has its roots in the doctrines and experience of Wesleyanism, came to a point of unusual development about the middle years of this quadrennium. Mr. Wesley taught the doctrine of Chris- tian perfection — that is, the ripening of Christian motive and experience into the measure of the "perfect man in Christ Jesus." He urged this attainment as a privilege and duty and as being necessarily deducible from the teachings of the New Testament ; but when it came to dealing with the psychic and subjective aspects of the experience, he found himself oscillat- ing between conclusions varying with the different stages of his own inquiry. It is true also that he matured his more per- sonal and exceptional theological views slowly, working from stage to stage, until his vision was cloudless and complete. It seems certain that, while he taught both the doctrine of entire sanctification and Christian perfection as goals of the regener- ate life and that he also taught this attainment both through dynamic changes wrought of the Spirit and through stages of growth, he did not for himself set down any record of absolute attainment. Also in dealing with the doctrine of "inbred" or "remaining" sin, which is determinative of the "theory" of sanctification, he has left to his spiritual followers the psychic difficulties which he himself encountered and which, in fact, are to be accepted as the common heritage of those who attain through faith. No two experiences can ever be exactly the same or be expressed in identical terms. The vast majority of Methodists have generally accepted this as a rule to guide them in their relations to this great matter. But from time to time there have been formed groups, sometimes of the best and most spiritual, who have adopted the view that there is a "second cleansing," distinct and dissimilar from regeneration and ex- perimentally necessary to Christian character. In this pre- 90 History of Methodism. supposition is grounded the teaching, generally so stated, that regeneration removes the guilt of sin from the life, but does not cleanse the heart of its pollution. At the high tide of the "Holiness" movement this doctrine had permeated several of the Annual Conferences. In some of these had been formed associations, distinct from the general fellowship, for the pro- motion of that view. It was not denied that in many, perhaps in most, instances the teachers of this view and their adherents were not only zealous, but quite sincere; but the propaganda was none the less divisive and disturbing. Much good came of the agitation through the inquiries which it excited into fun- damental matters of belief and experience; but in the subsid- ence, which was inevitable, it left many discouraged, some embittered, and caused not a few to walk in the paths of other fellowships. It is worth while, however, to consider that such by-results come of all agitations in which truth and righteous- ness are involved. This movement was symptomatic of an un- rest and a deeper inquiry in the hearts of the men and women of all Churches, and especially those of the Wesleyan family. Beyond a doubt it served a purpose in calling attention, and that in terms of life, to the fact that holiness attained through sanctification and realized in life is not only a doctrine of Methodism, but is the doctrine which explains its presence amongst the Churches of Christendom. The bishops in their Pastoral Address for 1894 (which we may here anticipate) thus referred to this agitation, which had perhaps then reached its culmination : The privilege of believers to attain unto the state of entire sanctifica- tion, or perfect love, and to abide therein is a well-known teaching of Methodism. Witnesses to this experience have never been wanting in our Church, though few in comparison with the whole membership. Among them have been men and women of beautiful consistency and seraphic ardor, jewels of the Church. Let the doctrine still be pro- claimed and the experience still be testified. But there has sprung up among us a party with "holiness" as a watchword; they have holiness associations, holiness meetings, holiness preachers, holiness evangelists, and holiness property. Religious experience is represented as if it con- sists of only two steps, the first step out of condemnation into peace and the next step into Christian perfection. The effect is to disparage the new birth and all stages of spiritual growth from the blade to the full corn in the ear, if there be not professed perfect holiness. Such Bishops' Address on Holiness. 91 Scriptural terms as "saints," "sanctified," "pure in heart," "holy," "dead to sin," "filled with the Spirit," and "made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light," are restricted to the few who have reached the height of perfect purity and love and improperly denied to the body of believers; and not only to those who are new or weak in the faith, but also to mature Christians who by walking with God in blessed fellowship and by patient continuance in well-doing, ever increas- ing in the knowledge of God, and being fruitful in every good work, adorn the doctrines of God our Saviour in all things, and are pillars in the Church. We do not question the sincerity and zeal of these breth- ren; we desire the Church to profit by their earnest preaching and godly example; but we deplore their teaching and methods in so far as they claim a monopoly of the experience, practice, and advocacy of holiness and separate themselves from the body of ministers and disciples. As time passes it becomes increasingly apparent that the generally sincere spirit of the Church concerning all its doc- trines, and that of holiness in particular, is a guarantee of fu- ture faithfulness and fraternal understanding. After many years of controversy, the defenders of different theories of Chris- tian perfection see themselves not so far apart as they thought concerning the central truth, holiness itself; and the hope is strong that the old contest may not recur, but that the "love which casteth out fear" may control throughout. CHAPTER VI. A General Conference in the West — The Organic Law — Revivals and Missions — World's Fair — First Epworth League Convention — Assem- blies— Death Roll — Canada Methodism — In the Wesleyan Connection — Bishop Galloway, First Delegate to the Conference in England — Legal Hundred— 1890-1893 (Concluded). A N evidence that the geographical center of Methodism, fx with that of the general life of the republic, was moving westward was seen in the fact that the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of Amer- ica for 1802 was held in Omaha, Nebr. When in 1830 the Gen- eral Conference of the undivided Church met in Cincinnati, it was in recognition of the existence of a newly created Western empire. A "West" then barely dreamed of was now to wel- come the larger representative of that original, and yet another "West" — that of the ultimate shore — was a dozen year* later to be host of the same body. Thus in the space of a little more than one hundred years Methodism accomplished its official progress from the Atlantic to the Pacific. At the sitting in Omaha a departure was taken in the plan of seating the two orders of delegates. The motion to arrange the sittings of the lay delegates separate from the ministers, but under the same presidency, was discussed and adopted. It was at this sitting also that a commission, originated in 1888, to define the constitution made its report. To this subject reference was made in a former chapter. Directions had been given the commission to report "a formal definition or identi- fication of the organic law of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the constitution of the General Conference." The com- mission brought in both a majority and a minority report. After much discussion, indicating great divergence of judg- ment on the points presented, the question went over for a quadrennium. The proposition to change the constitution bo ns to make women eligible to scats in the General Conference had also been dealt with during the four previous years. A vote on the proposed amendment making women eligible to membership had been taken in the Annual Conferences, A (92) "A Constitutional History" — Address — Elections. 93 favorable majority had been returned, but not the necessary three-fourths. With other demands for organic changes, the question of eligibility also went over. An interesting fact in connection with the constitutional questions arising at tins time was the presence at the Confer- ence of the Rev. John J. Tigert, LL.D., fraternal messenger from the Southern Church. Dr. Tigert, afterwards bishop, was an authority on Methodist constitution and was the author of "A Constitutional History of American Episcopal Methodism," perhaps the most exhaustive work which has ever been written on that subject. It has often been referred to as authoritative in the deliberative bodies of both Churches. The bishops in their address at Omaha spoke of lessening emotion in the experience of the people, but expressed the be- lief that there had come instead an "increase of religious sta- bility." Revivals were still maintained. The increase in mem- bership for the four years wras 442,000, carrying the aggregate of the Church membership to more than two and a quarter million. The benevolences of the Connection had increased from about six million dollars to eight million dollars. The net capital of the two Book Concerns went well beyond three million dollars, while the sales for the quadrennium went be- yond seven million. Bishops Thoburn and Taylor thrilled the General Confer- ence with their accounts of the progress of the gospel in India and Africa, their respective episcopal districts. Bishop Tho- burn reported 55,000 members in the Indian Mission Sunday schools and 1,039 day schools with 29,083 pupils, of whom more than eleven thousand were Christians. At that time the converts in Methodist missions in India were aggregating nearly ten thousand yearly. In the connectional elections for the quadrennium Sandford Hunt and Homer Eaton were elected Publishing Agents ; J. W. Mendenhall, Editor Methodist Review; J. M. Buckley, Editor Christian Advocate; C. C. McCabe, J. O. Peck, and A. B. Leon- ard, Missionary Secretaries ; and J. F. Berry, Editor Epworth Herald. The year 1893 was distinguished in the country's history by the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago. 94 History of Methodism. This was in commemoration of the four-hundredth anniver- sary of the discovery of America. It marked the high tide of American prosperity and brought to a new expression na- tional unity and patriotism. The unique feature of the pro- gram of the great celebration was the World's Parliament of Religions, in which representatives of all the principal re- ligions of the world participated. The immediate or remote utility of this meeting has been seriously questioned, but the interest which conceived and promoted it was characteristic of the age. The parliament was, indeed, the blossom of the century's plant of electic ideals in religious thought. Per- haps it was through such processes as this parliament repre- sented that the thought of Christendom was to mature the conclusion that "there are comparative religions, but Chris- tianity is not one of them." It is certain that Christianity did not suffer in the effulgence of comparative exposition brought to bear upon the issues in this parliament. Not a few Meth- odist leaders of the time were on the program and took part in the discussions. It was during the course of the Columbian Exposition that the first of those huge gatherings of the Epworth League known as International Conventions, or Conferences, was held at Cleveland, Ohio, in October, 1803. This gathering was par- ticipated in by representatives from the Epworth Leagues of the Churches North and South and of Canada. William Mc- Kinley, a Methodist layman and local preacher, then Governor of Ohio, welcomed the thousands of delegates in an address which glowed with fervor and devotion. This simple, loyal Christian disciple was afterwards elected President of the United States and was assassinated in the city of Buffalo on the day of a great civic and international celebration. This tragedy occurred almost at the hour of the opening of the third Ecumenical Conference in London and was the occasion of an expression of world sorrow and sympathy. The Epworth Leagues of Methodism were afterwards gath- ered in other international conventions more largely attended than was even this. Indeed, for ten to a dozen years the at- tendance continued to increase, until, as at the convention held at Detroit in 1001, it was estimated that not fewer than twenty League "Conferences" — Assemblies — Deaths. 95 thousand representatives were in attendance. Conventions of this character, besides the ones at Cleveland and Detroit, were held at Chattanooga, Toronto, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, and Buffalo. The age of such conventions may have passed, but the memories of the unity and Christian zeal engendered by these are like ointment poured forth. Another particular manifestation of the conventional zeal and constructiveness of the Young People's Movement in its earlier stages was the "summer assembly" idea. This was an adaptation of the Chautauqua scheme for combining coopera- tive intellectual improvement and religious effort and study with recreation and vacational leisure. The plan had a wide extension and very perceptibly affected many lines of Church work in which young people were engaged. It also preserved some of the uses and traditions of the old-time camp meetings of the mid-continent Asburian days. These adjuncts of the movement promise to abide. During the four years from 1890 to 1893, inclusive, the minutes of the Southern Annual Conferences reported the death of three hundred and fifty-one ministers. The vast ma- jority of these were, of course, from the ranks of the quiet messengers of the evangel, whose fame extended no farther than the limits of their own stations or circuits ; but a few be- longed to the larger annals of Methodism and wrote the epis- tles of their lives in letters too large to be dimmed by an early passing time. Amongst those who thus found place in the pantheon of Southern Methodism may be mentioned the fol- lowing— viz.: Jesse Boring, North Georgia; Richard Abbey, Mississippi; Weyman H. Potter, North Georgia; J. W. Lam- buth, Japan Mission ; Thomas N. Ralston, Kentucky ; Leonidas Rosser, Virginia; Whitefoord Smith, South Carolina; Peter A. Peterson, Virginia; Ephraim E. Wiley, Holston; Oliver R. Blue, Alabama; Thomas Stanford, Northwest Texas; Joseph B. West, Tennessee ; and W. H. Anderson, Kentucky. Jesse Boring was particularly distinguished as the man who "discovered Bishop McTyeire" and who became the pioneer of Protestant missions on the Pacific Coast. While he was serv- ing as presiding elder of the Mobile (Ala.) District in 1846, an undergraduate preacher twenty -two years of age was serv- 96 History of Methodism. ing as pastor of the Church at Demopolis, a charge in the said district. Upon this young man the presiding elder placed his finger as the future leader of Methodism. That young man was Holland X. McTyeire. In 1849, soon after the discovery of gold in California and following the first migration of Americans to those shores, Dr. Boring accepted from his Church the duty of opening and establishing there a mission, which was the beginning of Methodism and also of Protestant- ism on the Pacific Coast. Here he continued to labor until 1854, "accomplishing a monumental work." Dr. Boring be- longed to the class of "self-educated" men, of which the itiner- ancy of Methodism has been prolific. Beginning life with little training, by means of self-help he advanced until near mid- dle age, when he took a course in medicine and science and came "to hold a high place among distinguished associates." Later in life he assisted in opening the missions in West Texas, where, as the record recounts, his labors were attended "with far-reaching results." After this he returned to his native State of Georgia, where, as presiding elder of the Griffin, At- lanta, La Grange, and Augusta Districts, successively, he fin- ished his active ministry. The North Georgia Orphans' Home, at Decatur, was founded chiefly through his instrumentality. A discreet contemporary appraised him as "the peer of any man in the American pulpit." He died in 1890. John E. Edwards was the pastor-preacher preeminent of his day. Born in North Carolina August 1, 1814, and joining the Virginia Conference in 1835, he spent fifty-six years in the itinerancy, dying on March 31, 1891, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. His pastorates, almost without exception, were in the larger cities. He was never located, never served as presiding elder, nor ever filled any secretarial or collateral of- fice, but was always a pastor only, and met the requirements of that office as few have done. He served in every General Con- ference of the Church from 1858 to 1890, being the head of his delegation in the latter year. In councils he was first amongst all. His preaching was marked by spiritual unction and the output of cultivated taste. He also achieved reputable stand- ing as an author and was well known as a contributor to the connection al press. Abb ey — Po t ter — Lam bath. !)7 Richard Abbey was born near Rochester, N. Y., November 1(>, 1805. In early youth he went to the State of Mississippi and there connected himself with the Methodist Church, enter- ing its ministry in 1841. Belonging also in the class of "self- made" men, the extent and quality of his attainments justified the term to an exceptional degree. In mental equipment and philosophical insight he was scarcely inferior to Herbert Spen- cer and, in fact, bore a facial likeness to the great monist. In another land and under more favoring conditions his ca- pacity for philosophical thinking might easily have brought him renown. In his book "Diuturnity" he anticipated not a few of the positions reached in the cosmological philosophy of later decades. In "Ecclesiastical Constitution," a work of an- other sort, he displayed his familiarity with Church history and canon law. But the greatest service which he rendered the Church was in connection with its publishing interests. In 1858 he was named Financial Agent of the Publishing House at Nashville. During the days of war he remained almost alone as the protector of the physical property of the House and was largely instrumental in steering it through the finan- cial vortices of after years. His death occurred at Yazoo City, Miss., October 23, 1891. Weyman H. Potter was a native of South Carolina, born April 11, 1828. At the age of twenty-five he entered the itin- erancy, having previously graduated with the highest honors from Emory College, now Emory University. His liberal training rested upon a fine intellectual foundation. As preacher, college president, and Church editor, he displayed such fitness and achieved such success as easily put him amongst the leaders of the Connection. However, it is as editor of the Wesley an Christian Advocate and as Missionary Secretary, to which latter office he was elected in 1890, that he is chiefly known to the Church. He served but a year and five months as Missionary Secretary, dying October 11, 1891. John W. Lambuth was the virtual founder of the missions of Southern Methodism in Eastern Asia. Pew had made foot- prints before him. He and Dr. Charles Taylor and Dr. Young J. Allen constitute a trio of "master missionaries," preeminent in the history of connectional missions. He was born in Ala- 7 98 History of Methodism. bama on March 2, 1830, but early removed with his parents to Mississippi, from the university of which State he graduated. Soon after leaving college he joined the Mississippi Confer- ence and was immediately assigned by Bishop Andrew to the China Mission. In 1854, with his wife, D. C. Kelley, J. L. Belton, and their families, he sailed to Shanghai, China, where he began a missionary career which ended only at the grave, on April 28, 1892. The history of the mission in China for thirty-two years was the history of his life. At the time of his death it was written: "There is scarcely a station in our mis- sion that he did not open, nor a branch of its work that does not show the impress of his hand." In July, 1880, with his son, W. R. Lambuth (afterwards bishop) , and Dr. A. O. Dukes, Dr. Lambuth opened the mission in Japan. It was at his post in that field that he fell, transmitting to the home Church the urgent message by which he will ever be remembered : "Send more men !" Thomas N. Ralston is best remembered as the author of "Elements of Divinity," long a standard in the Church and a textbook in the Conference course for ministers, and as the editor of the works of Bishop Bascom. Of the "Elements of Divinity" an eminent preacher of the Connection is reported to have said : "It has not yet been followed by an equal in its department." But Dr. Ralston was also recognized as a preacher of unusual power, and his evangelistic labors were fruitful of very large results. Several times he was made Secretary of the General Conference. He died March 25, 1891, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. Leonid as Rosser, a native of Petersburg, Va., was born July 31, 1811. He was educated at Wesleyan University, Middle- town, Conn., then under the presidency of that princely man and scholar, Wilbur Fisk. For a time he served in the New York Conference, but was later transferred to Virginia, where he spent the remainder of his long and fruitful ministry. He was at one time chaplain to the University of Virginia, for several years editor of the Richmond Christian Advocate, and a member of several General Conferences. His death occurred at Ashland, Va., January 25, 1892. Peter A. Peterson, a colleague of Dr. Rosser, was also born Peterson — Whitefoord Smith — Wiley. 09 in Petersburg, the date of his birth being September 28, 1828. Described as "a man having a genius for work," he exempli tied the saying. First of all, by prodigious efforts he brought him- self up to respectable scholarship and efficiency from a begin- ning distressed with many deficiencies and limitations. Then he applied himself to the task of mastering the genius and disci- pline of his Church, in addition to the happier task of learning theology and the duties of the pastoral office. It was thus that he came early to stand amongst the first Church lawyers of his day. A consecrated preacher and a faithful pastor, he yet found time for much study and library work. His "History of the Revision of the Discipline" is a volume of much canonical value, appreciated most by those who understand the pains- taking care and research necessary to produce it. His death, which occurred October 6, 1893, removed a forensic master from the assemblies of Methodism. Whitefoord Smith, born in South Carolina November 7, 1812, was reared as a Scotch Presbyterian, but in early life joined the Methodist Church and entered its ministry in 1833. To the pastorate he brought not only unusual natural endow- ments, but a thorough training, having graduated from the South Carolina University at a time when the Etonian per- sonal touch in the ideal of Southern education was at its best. He had been soundly converted in his eighteenth year and thus added an experience of spiritual fire to the native fervor of his Scottish eloquence. The latter years of his active life were spent in educational work as President of Columbia College and as Professor in Wofford College, at which latter institu- tion, as Professor Emeritus, he died April 27, 1893. Dr. Smith was a member of the Louisville Convention of 1845, which completed the separation of the Church into North and South. He was also a member of the commission of three which pre- pared the first Southern Hymnal. Regularly after 1846, dur- ing the remainder of his active ministry, he was a member of the General Conference and was trusted with its responsible concerns. Ephraim E. Wiley, affectionately known as "the old master," was born in Boston, Mass. Described as being "in blood and lineage an unmixed Puritan," he presented a larger-sidedncss 100 History of Methodism. of all that is best in human culture and conviction. His father was a member of the New England Conference. Like Dr. Ros- ser, Dr. Wiley received his education at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. His memories of Wilbur Fisk and of Daniel D. Whedon, then a professor in the university, were an asset ana inspiration of all his after life. Fortune later put him and Dr. Whedon on opposite sides in a great historic crisis, but he never lost veneration for the learning and sin- cerity of the teacher of his youth. In 1830, through the advice of Dr. Fisk, who died that same year, young Wiley went to Virginia to assume the presidency of Emory and Henry Col- lege, where, he spent the remainder of a long and illustrious life; dying there on March 13, 1893, he was buried in the little cemetery on the hillside overlooking the college campus, than which there is no sunnier spot nor one more hallowed in all the Old Dominion. Dr. Wiley was first and above all the teacher — a scholar, a master in the things he taught. Hellenist and Latinist, he not only knew how to induct others into that fellowship, but how to make the classics serve in teaching the most direct truths of Christianity. During the long years of his presidency at Emory and Henry he was "college preacher," always heard with profit and remembered with affection. In- fluenced by no schemes of personal ambition, he was from 1854 onward through his life a member of the General Conferences. Several times he received a large vote for the episcopacy, an office which he would have greatly adorned ; but it is believed that he discouraged his friends from considering him in that connection. The Church of the South was blessed in his serv- ice, as the whole land of the South was honored in his citizen- ship. Oliver R. Blue, who was born in Montgomery, Ala., March 24, 1822, and who died June 8, 1803, was so prominently iden- tified with the Church in his native State that his biographer could say: "The record of his life would be a history of Meth- odism in Alabama for full fifty years." Bishop McTyeire re- garded him as the ablest debater he had ever seen on a Con ference floor. In the absence of bishops, he was twice elected President of his Conference. By the votes of his brethren he was seven times successively designated to sit in the General Losses, North and South In Canada. 101 Conference. He had an unusual command of pure English. His preaching was strong and evangelistic and betrayed a deeply spiritual personal experience. His memory abides in the land of the Church of his birth. Thomas Stanford, a member of the Northwest Texas Con- ference, forty-four years a minister, and "one of the most im- portant figures in the history of Methodism in Texas," though not to be ranked in degree with the greater men of the Con- nection, fairly won the place of distinction which his memory holds in the affections of a new generation. He was a member of six General Conferences. His death occurred in 1892. Joseph B. West, a preacher of extraordinary power and of happy experience and influence, died in Clarksville, Tenn., May 22, 1802. His whole ministerial career was spent in the Tennessee Conference, whose most important pulpits he filled. William H. Anderson, preacher and educator, a graduate of Wesleyan University during the time of the presidency of Wilbur Fisk, an associate of Bishop Bascom at Transylvania University, and a member of the Kentucky Conference, died May 2, 1893. He was a man of learning and consecration, and his preaching was blessed with much success. Not a few leading men in the Church in the North had also passed away during this time. Amongst these are to be men- tioned the names of Rev. Jeremiah H. Bayliss, D.D., editor of the Western Christian Advocate, whose death occurred August 14, 1889; Dr. Joseph Cummings, President of Northwestern University, died May 7, 1890 ; Dr. Daniel P. Kidder, preacher, educator, and editor, died July 9, 1891 ; Dr. Benjamin St. James Fry, editor of the Central Christian Advocate, St. Louis, died February 5, 1892; Dr. J. W. Mendenhall, editor of the Meth- odist Review, died June 18, 1892. The deaths of these distin- guished brethren were felt as a loss throughout all American Methodism. The Church in Canada found the centenary of the death of Wesley an occasion doubly to be remembered. While the Founder was passing from earth in 1791, Methodist Societies were being planted in Upper Canada, now the center of the heaviest Methodist population in the whole Dominion. This fact was celebrated by the publication in 1891, by order of the 102 History of Methodism. General Conference, of a volume entitled "The Centennial of Canadian Methodism." This period closed the discussions which had attended the movement for unity; the abundant fruits of unity were being reaped; a new educational policy, that of building Church schools in connection with the great State schools so as to secure the benefits of their ample equip- ments, was being entered upon; fresh missionary fields were being sought in the neglected j>arts 0f heathenism; and the Church was planning the spiritual conquest of the Pacific and Middle Continental West, as well as an advance upon the so- cial and reform problems of the older seats of British-Ameri- can civilization. In this last work the Churches of Canada have set an example for the whole of Christendom. During the four years the record of which is contained in this section of our history, or from 1890 to 1803, inclusive, the English YYesleyan Conference met successively at Bristol, Not- tingham, Bradford, and Cardiff. The Conference which met in Bristol (July, 1890) was memorable. One hundred years before, in the same city, the Conference had met Mr. Wesley for the last time. Concerning the appearance of the Founder, Charles Atmore wrote: At this Conference I parted with Mr. Wesley, to see him no more until the resurrection of the just. He appeared very feeble. His eye- sight had failed so much that he could not see to give out hymns, yet his voice was strong, his spirit remarkably lively, and the powers of his mind and his love toward his fellow creatures were as bright and as ardent as ever. This centenary year was made the occasion of a retrospect of the hundred years of the Connection's corporate existence, especially of the latter fifty years, including the Wesleyan Forward Movement, reference to which has already been made. "The Address of the Conference to the Methodist Societies," which takes the place of the Episcopal Address common to the American Churches, said : As we look back over the century we mark the hand of God in the growth of our ecclesiastical constitution, in the creation of our Church institutions, in the literary embodiment of our theology, in the con- tinuance of our type of spiritual and evangelical life, and in the exten- sion of the Methodist form of Christianity to many lands. In the Wesley an Connection. 103 This address was signed by Dr. W. F. Moulton, President, and Dr. D. J. Waller, Secretary. Addresses were also re- ceived and sent to the Irish Conference, the Conference in France and Switzerland, the Conference in South Africa, and that in the West Indies, all being in administrative relations to the Legal Conference in Great Britain. At this time nine hundred and twelve circuits and stations were reported in Great Britain and Ireland, sixteen in France and Switzer- land, one hundred and thirty-three in South Africa, twenty- eight in the West Indies, three hundred and twenty-three in foreign missions (in Europe, India, China, Burma, Africa, and South and Central America). The constitutional and administrative machinery of the Wesleyan Connection, though by derivation the oldest of the Methodist polities, is so dissimilar from those of the other Connections that it may be well here to outline it. As is well known, the constitution of the Wesleyan Methodist Church inheres in the Deed of Declaration, or the Deed Poll, as it is often called, executed by Mr. Wesley on February 28, 1784. By the Deed Poll Mr. Wesley vested the governing authority of the Methodist Societies in a Legal Conference of one hundred preachers, provided for the filling by the Conference of vacan- cies as they should from time to time occur, defined the powers and duties of the Conference, and prescribed certain condi- tions which were to be permanent. Thus the "Conference," or governing body of the Church, consists of one hundred mem- bers. Forty of these constitute a quorum. From this body of one hundred the president and secretary of the Conference are selected. No man can be president more than one year in eight. The secretary may be regularly reelected. The act of a majority is the act of the Conference, and until repealed it is the law of the Church. Vacancies in the "Legal Hundred" occur in three ways — namely, through death, through absence of members for two successive years without the consent or direction of the body, and through the act of the Legal Hun- dred in declaring that certain persons, as superannuates, two- year supernumeraries, etc., are no longer members. An ex- president is a member for life. Ten of the Legal Hundred are always taken from the preachers in Ireland. The presi- 104 History of Methodism. dent has the voting power of two members and is the head of the Church for the twelve months following his election, or until his successor is installed. He presides in the District Synods and other connectional meetings. The chief powers of the Conference, or Legal Hundred, are thus denned : The chief powers confided to the Conference by the Deed of Declara- tion relate (1) to the admission of persons to be "preachers and ex- pounders of God's Holy Word'' or, upon trial for this office, in connection with them; (2) the putting out of any member of the Legal Conference from being a member thereof and of 'any person admitted as a preacher into connection with them or, upon trial, "for any cause which to the Conference may seem fit or necessary"; and (3) the appointment of preachers "to the use and enjoyment of, or to preach and expound God's Holy Word in, any of the chapels" of the Connection. (4) The exercise of this last power is restricted by the provision that the Conference shall not, nor may, appoint any person for more than three years suc- cessively to the use and enjoyment of any chapels and premises which are subject to the provisions of the said Deed of Declaration, except ordained ministers of the Church of England. The Deed Poll requires that the Conference send yearly a delegate or delegates to Ireland, and the action of the said delegate or delegates in making appointments and performing other acts in the Irish Conference are the acts of the Legal Hundred. But this authority, as used, is that of legal form only. In Ireland and in the affiliated Connections in France. South Africa, and the West Indies, the Conferences elect their own presidents, but they are confirmed by the yearly Confer- ence, or Legal Hundred, in England. This is the constitution and this the legal administration which it guarantees. But from the first the Legal Conference has associated with itself a larger Conference which, in distinc- tion from the Legal Hundred, is called the Representative Con- ference. It is composed (a) of assistant secretaries of the Con- ference not members of the Legal Hundred, (b) the chairmen of districts in Great Britain not members of the Legal Hun- dred, (c) six ministers from the foreign mission field, (d) ministerial delegates elected yearly by the District Synods in England. A delegation of laymen equal to the body of min- isters is also contained in this larger Conference. One-eighth of these laymen are elected by the yearly Conference, and in this Hie English Conference — Wesley Centenary. 105 one-eighth are included those laymen who are connected with the various boards and administrations of the Church. The other seven-eighths are elected by the lay members of the Dis- trict Synods, much as lay elections are had in America. There are two distinct sessions of the Conference when fully constituted. The first is that known as the representative session, composed of all the ministers (members of the Legal Hundred and those otherwise designated) and all lay dele- gates, however returned. At this representative session the vacancies of the Legal Hundred are filled up, the president and secretary are elected, and all matters of finance and gen- eral policy are considered and acted upon. Following this ses- sion comes the pastoral session, composed solely of the min- isters, members of the Legal Hundred, those clerical delegates returned from the District Synods or otherwise designated. The business of this session is to consider ministerial char- acter, receive, retire, and dismiss ministerial members, and fix the appointments. No minister can be a member of Con- ference or vote who has not traveled ten years ; no person can be elected to membership in the Legal Hundred who has not been fourteen years in the ministry. A layman must have been five years a member of the Church to be eligible to sit in the representative session. Any clerical member may nominate a member for any office, from president down, and every other vacancy occurring in the Legal Hundred is filled by the vote of the Pastoral Conference. However, all acts of both sessions to become legal must be ratified by the Legal Hundred. But so democratic and representative is the spirit of Wesleyanism that this also has become little more than a legal formality. Many of the important administrative changes now expressed in the order of the Conference sessions came about in the period to which this chapter belongs. In 1891 Dr. T. Bowman Stephenson was the President of the Conference, with Dr. Waller still in the secretaryship. It was, as we have seen, the centenary year of John Wesley's death, and the Nonconformist Churches of England, the Churches of Scotland, the Society of Friends, and the Mo- ravians paid tribute to the memory of the great leader by sending delegations and addresses to the Conference. Formal 106 History of Methodism. recognitions were also noted from representative ministers of the Established Chinch. The event connected with the next year's session which was of chief interest to American Methodists, especially those of the South, was the official visit paid the Wesleyan Confer- ence (Dr. J. H. Rigg, President) by Bishop Charles B. Gallo- way, the first fraternal delegate from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to the mother Connection. The Conference of 180.3 recognized this visit in the following address: The Conference, assembled to-day in its representative session and consisting of the representatives of both the ministry and laity of our Church, has instructed us by unanimous resolution to communicate its most cordial fraternal greetings to the bishops, ministers, and members of your Church appointed to meet in General Conference in the spring of next year. It remembers with pleasure the visit of your distin- guished delegate, Bishop Galloway, whose stirring words strengthened not only our interest in your great work, but also the bonds that already bound our Church with yours in sympathy, respect, and hope. . . . Faithfully yours, Henry J. Pope, President; David J. Waller. Secretary. The list of the Legal Hundred at this time carried such well- known names as Henry J. Pope, David J. Waller, William Arthur, James H. Bigg, William F. Moulton, Charles H. Kelly, T. Bowman Stephenson, William L. Watkinson, Mark Guy Pearse, Hugh Price Hughes, and Joseph Agar Beet. The whole Methodist world was saddened by the death, on April 18, 1891, of Dr. George Osborn, twice President of the Con- ference and one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance. Not since Wesley had a more commanding and masterful man occupied the presidential chair, and the venerable age in which he came to the second incumbency of that post distinctly re- called the circumstances of Mr. Wesley's last presidency, in 1700. CHAPTER VII. Significance of the General Conference — Twelfth. General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South— Fifty Years of History — A Fraternal Document — The Epworth Era — Sundry Acts of the General Conference — Board of Education — The Veto Power — Federation — 1894-1897. ~A /TORE and more the General Conference in Methodism has 1 V I come to be not only the cumulative expression of the fiscal and temporal activities of the various Connections, but has also come to be the chief determinant in the historical problems of the Church. In this Conference the work and testimony of the people called Methodists reach, their most pronounced expression. At first the minutes, or journals, of this general gathering were a negligible incident. Brief notes were kept by the secretary, but were not intended for publica- tion. As time went by, destiny began to be manifest, and the law of evolution asserted itself. It was seen that the Journal was to be of value, immediate and historic. Behold it now, grown into a mighty volume, a blue book of the kingdom. The repository of the Episcopal Address, the fraternal mes- sages, the reports of committees and commissions appointed to scrutinize and revise the details of temporal and spiritual administrations, the credenda and agenda of the Church's life, it becomes the integration of denominational history. Not only so as to its canonical voice, but the Conference also comes to be a silent factor in shaping sentiment and determin- ing the value and effectiveness of dates. It validates times and changes of times. The Olympiad not only marked the correla- tion of years for the Greeks and helped to preserve their racial unity ; it registered and determined the course of the currents of Hellenic thought and life. After its theology, the Con- ference system of Methodism is the secret of its success and influence. It is the instrumentality which articulates all its activities. The twelfth General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (being the twenty-seventh since 1784), met in Memphis, Tenn., May 3, 1894. The date recalled the fact that (107) 108 History of Methodism. just fifty years before the American Church had been divided into two cognate bodies, North and South, by the "Plan of Sep- aration/' authorized by the General Conference of 1814. It is now too late to need to argue the merits of the issues involved in the record of Separation. They are carried upon the face of the discussions and legislation in which this Separation originated ; they were sealed by the action of the highest courts of the land and afterwards conventionally recognized by the two Churches interested. Happily, also the factional feelings and prejudices of an earlier time have almost wholly passed away. The increment of this chronological and spiritual jubilee was effectively referred to by the bishops of the Southern Church in their address to the General Conference of this year : To-day we recall the last General Conference of the undivided Meth- odist Episcopal Church, which sat in the city of New York fifty years ago. Under the Plan of Separation then adopted the Methodist Episco- pal Church, South, was organized. We desire to record our gratitude to God for his good hand upon us, hy which we have heen led and pros- pered during the half century of our separate history. We humbly and penitently confess that we have come far short of doing our whole duty and improving fully our great opportunity, hut we thank God and take courage in review of the good work which hy his providence and grace we have been able to accomplish in conserving and spreading Scrip- tural holiness through these lands. ... A special tie binds us to the Wesleyan families in our own and other countries. With warm fraternal regard we note the growth and prosperity of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which has a common history with us from the begin- ning of Methodism on this continent down to 1844. Each of these Churches has its own genius, its own distinctive spirit, views, and meth- ods, whose development without injurious strife and obstruction de- mands as a condition the preservation of its denominational integrity and independence. Their many points of agreement furnish a basis and motive for cordial cooperation with each other in any judicious meas- ures to reduce whatever friction and waste of resources result from the relations now existing between them. As historically and sentimentally fitting this utterance and as memorabilia of the new days of fraternity and good will, and also as a recorded pledge of maturing Methodist unity, certain statements coming from "a literary staff" composed of leading ministers in the North should be entered here. These statements are contained in a publication known as "A TTi<- 1 Fraternal Document — Present History. L09 tory of the General Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church" and authoritatively printed by the l>ook Concern, New York and Cincinnati, in 1000: Meanwhile some of the Northern Conferences had failed to ratify the Plan of Separation, and the claim began to be set up that on this account the Southern Church was not entitled to any share in the prop- erty of the Book Concern. They had been pushed to a position from which retreat was impossible, and yet it was alleged that they were "seceders," because Northern Conferences had denied them the right to go in peace. The South had done all that was possible on its part to carry out the Plan of Separation as mutually agreed upon in the Gen- eral Conference of 1844, and then to be called "seceders" was more than flesh and blood could bear. Commissioners on both sides were appoint- ed for the adjustment of difficulties, but those of the North refused to act and referred the South to the General Conference of 1848. That assembly has been well characterized as "a reactionary body elected in a revolutionary period." Very few of the members of 1844 reappeared. The temper of the Conference was averse to a Southern Methodism, nearly all of its members having been elected on a pledge to repudi- ate the Plan of Separation. . . . The Southern brethren could not fail to be impressed by this change of attitude as to the powers of the Gen- eral Conference. In 1844 Dr. Hamline had carried the great majority of the body enthusiastically with him while he showed that the Con- ference possessed plenary powers and was entitled to take whatever action it pleased, except in so far as such action might be prohibited by the Restrictive Rules. There was no restrictive rule which forbade the Conference to expel or suspend a bishop without form of trial; there- fore the Conference had the power and right to expel or suspend Bishop Andrew. But now the opposite theory was maintained. It was some- how discovered that the General Conference possessed no powers except such as were specifically given to it by the Discipline; therefore the Conference of 1844 had no authority to enact a Plan of Separation, and that of 1848 had no power to divide any. Church property. This latter doctrine was as convenient for the majority of 1848 as was the oppo- site doctrine for the majority of 1844. Failing thus to obtain what they believed to be their rights, the Church, South, "appealed to Caesar." And "Caesar" vindicated them. The present history from the viewpoint of the Southern Church, the writing of which has originated in somewhat the same way as the volume from which the above excerpts are taken, is a proper repository for these frank and noteworthy sentiments meant as a peace offering to the men of the South by their brethren of "the other part" and uttered at the golden dawn of the new century. Mutual concessions and mutual 110 History of Methodism. recognitions constitute the basis upon which Methodist frater- nity has been solidly built. Thus grounded, its tenure cannot be doubtful. Several important issues and departures were at the point of emergence in the Methodism of the South when the General Conference met at Memphis in 1894. First, the Young People's Movement asked for, and was given, an official organ, which when launched was known as the Epworth Era; second, a plan for the formation of an Educational Department was suc- cessfully brought forward and adopted ; third, the episcopal veto, or arrestive objection of the bishops to unconstitutional legislation, was for the first time invoked and sustained. For the rest it may be said the ratio of representation in the Gen- eral Conference was changed from a basis of thirty-six to a basis of forty-eight members of the Annual Conference; the functions of the Annual Conferences were enlarged by giving to them the appointment of committees of trial and thus the or- ganization of the Church courts; while to the District Confer- ence wras given the oversight and licensing of local preachers, formerly a function of the Quarterly Conference. The impor tant subject of the Federation of Methodism was given its first practical setting at this time in the appointment of a commis- sion, to meet a similar commission from the Methodist Epis- copal Church, to consider a plan of federation. This commis- sion was constituted, and thus was begun a history which has brought the diplomacy of the Churches to an interesting and pleasing conjunction. The Board of Education was organized by the election of the following-named members to serve for four years — viz. : C. B. Galloway, E. R. Hendrix, W. W. Smith, W. A. Candler, J. D. Hammond, J. H. McLean, J. H. Kirkland, R. E. Crockett. .J. H. Carlisle, W. B. Hitt, A. Coke Smith, B. N. Duke, E. W. Cole, E. H. B. Anderson, and J. S. Kennedy. The purpose of organization, as set forth in the preamble of the report adopted in May, 1894, is as follows: "To apply more effectively the powers of education to the advancement of the kingdom of Christ by the upbuilding of existing educational institutions of our Church, the establishment of new cues, and the union of all into a harmonious system, and by assisting those pre Hoard of Education. Ill paring for our foreign or home ministry and other worthy students of limited means to attend our schools." Soon after its organization the Board made a declaration of "aim and policy" as follows : In discharging the duty of supervising and giving direction, so far as its powers extend, to the great work of education by our Church, it will be the aim of this Board (1) to promote the endowment of existing colleges which have the elements of success and the necessary condi- tions of usefulness; (2) to repress the tendency to multiply institutions with inadequate prospects of support which has strewed our territory with the ruins of more colleges than we have now in operation and dragged to the dust with them the credit of the indorsing Conferences; (3) to encourage the establishment of academies, which are especially demanded by present educational conditions and are easily within the reach of our means and should be placed in close correlation with such institutions of our Church as the Annual Conferences may direct; (4) to complete our system by correlating as rapidly as possible our Con- ference colleges with the graduate and professional departments of Van- derbilt University.* To carry out these purposes we propose (1) to bring into cooperation with the General Board the Conference Boards of Education as already provided by law, and for the more perfect organ- ization of the educational work in the several Conferences we ask that each Conference appoint a Secretary of Education; (2) to secure full and accurate statistics of our educational work so far as possible and to deliver addresses and prepare and print pamphlets, tracts, and arti- cles on the subject of Christian education and the condition and needs of our work; (3) to urge upon our Annual Conferences to make such assessments for the educational work in their respective bounds, under the law of the Church as indicated in the Discipline, as shall be ade- quate to maintain them upon a plane worthy of the confidence of the public and patronage of our Church; (4) to invite and seek contribu- tions of money for the following purposes: (a) To aid, to such extent as may be necessary, young men properly certified to secure a sufficient training for the work of the ministry of our Church, this chiefly in our weaker Conferences; (&) to assist colleges already founded to a solid position and adequate facilities by offering contributions from the Board, on condition that their immediate friends and supporters shall do what is necessary to assure the proposed result (no money will ♦Vanderbilt University at this time was the property of the Church and under the jurisdiction of the Conferences. That ownership has since been destroyed and the institution removed from the circle of the Church's oversight. The substance of this declaration applies legally to the ''graduate and professional departments" of Emory University, at Atlanta, Ga., and Southern Methodist University, at Dallas, Tex. 112 History of Methodism. be appropriated merely to maintain institutions as they are) ; (c) to place the two institutions for colored people which are under our care upon a firm and satisfactory footing. To aid the Board in its work of properly relating the schools of the Church, the General Conference of 1898 provided for the appointment of a Commission on Education. It is the duty of this commission "to protect the educational standards of the Church. They shall prescribe the minimum requirements to be demanded of the several classes of institutions belonging to or controlled by the Church." The commission is required to revise its work at least once during each quadrennium and to report the same to the Board of Education. The General Conference of 1902 authorized the Board of Education to establish a Bureau of Correspondence which should prepare courses to be offered to all ministers or candi- dates for the ministry under such regulations as may officially be approved. In pursuance of the above order the Board or- ganized the Correspondence School of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This department was ready for work early in the fiscal year of 1902. This proved to be an important de- parture, and the work expanded to such an extent that the General Conference of 1914 made provision for giving it a separate existence, designating it the "Department of Minis- terial Supply and Training." The purpose of the department is declared to be "to develop a more efficient ministry by keep- ing before the Church its responsibility in raising up young men for this service; by inspiring young ministers and candi- dates for the ministry with the high ideal of their work and stimulating them to a thorough preparation therefor; by de- veloping and correlating the ministerial education of the Church ; by giving financial assistance to young men preparing for the ministry from the Ministerial Education Loan Fund and from other such funds as may be in the hands of the Board for this purpose; by conducting correspondence courses for the benefit of preachers, teachers, and other Christian work- ers; and by such other methods as the Board may from time to time deem desirable." The question of a veto of legislation in the General Confer ence has long been at the fore of Methodist discussion. In the The So-Called "Episcopal Veto. 113 two Episcopal Methodist bodies divers views have been held, and divers methods have been employed to check unconstitu- tional departures. The Church in the North has considered the General Conference to be the judge of the constitutionality of its own acts. In the Church of the South the matter very early took a radically different turn. At the General Confer- ence of 1854 the following measure was passed — viz. : Provided, That when any rule or regulation is adopted by the General Conference which, in the opinion of the bishops, is unconstitutional, the said bishops may present to the General Conference their objec- tions to such rule or regulation, with the reasons thereof; and if, after hearing the objections and reasons of the bishops, two-thirds of the members of the General Conference present shall still vote in favor of the rule or regulation so objected to, it shall have the force of law; otherwise it shall be null and void. This order was given a place in the Book of Discipline in the chapter on the General Conference and was thus incor- porated as a part of the Restrictive Rules of the constitution. That the provision, because of the method of its enactment and incorporation, was unconstitutional should have gone upon the face of it ; but the constitutional atmosphere was at that time hazy, and but few precedents had been established. However, the author of the rule, Dr. W. A. Smith, of the Virginia Con- ference, became convinced of its deficiency and sought to remedy the same. This he no doubt would have done, except for the interregnum from 1858 to 1866 imposed by the War between the States. In 1866 the matter was up in the New Orleans General Conference, but the crowded condition of the calendar of that memorable sitting caused it again to be left over. At the General Conference of 1870 it came up as a primary item. In the meantime, however, the great leader and Church states- man who conceived and wrote the provision had died; but in the chairman of the committee to which it was referred, the Rev. Le Roy M. Lee, D.D., of Virginia, it found such exposi- tion and correction as have served to make it one of the hap- piest and safest departures in Church polity. The report of Dr. Lee on this provision has become one of the great State papers of Methodism. It is, in fact, a priceless dissertation on the constitution and particularly stresses the rights of the 8 114 History of Methodism. body of the elders, from whom the constitution was derived (or rather their successors, the clerical and lay members of the present-day Annual Conferences), to determine the processes by which unconstitutional acts of the General Conference may be arrested, thus paralleling with remarkable exactness the principles of the national Constitution. The inherent correct- ness of the original veto measure was admitted in the report and strongly supported by its arguments; only the method of its adoption was disallowed. Dr. Lee said : The General Conference is a dependent and responsible body — depend- ent for its being and authority upon the original body of elders and re- sponsible to them for its fidelity in the use of the powers delegated to it. But without some provision of the constitution, such as was aimed to be established in the proviso under consideration, there is no legitimate or authoritative mode, either of questioning the constitution- ality of its acts or of remitting them to another tribunal for adjudica- tion. And in the absence of suitable provision for this purpose the General Conference may exercise the power, even if it does not claim the right, of determining the constitutionality of its own acts; and in such event the General Conference absorbs all power into itself, its respon- sibility ceases, and it can "revoke, alter, change, or destroy" even the constitution itself at its own will and by its own act. Such power was not given to it nor intended to be given. But all this power would have been given if in what was given had been included the right of determining the constitutionality of its own acts. The original body of elders delegated everything of power they possessed, if they delegated this power. They reserved nothing to themselves if they did not reserve the right to guard their own constitution, if they did not reserve the right of determining the constitutionality of the acts of the delegated body, if they did not reserve the right to hold their agents and repre- sentatives in the grasp of a grave, dignified, and ceaseless responsibility to themselves as the ultimate and only legitimate judge of their acts and of their fidelity to the engagements and obligations of the constitu- tion made and provided for their especial guidance and government. It is incredible that such a body of men as those who inaugurated the constitution of the Church and checked and restrained the General Conference, with such limitations and such restraints upon their power, coujd have been so incautious and inconsiderate as to dispossess and deprive themselves so utterly of any further and all future relations to and control over those to whom they intrusted their rights and dele- gated their powers. Such a supposition would be an assault upon their integrity and intelligence as unjust as it is unmerited. . . . The report then recommended that, on a concurrent two- thirds favorable vote of the General Conference and a three- Final Adoption of "Veto" Provision. 115 fourths majority vote of the members of the Annual Confer- ences, the following be made a pari of the Restrictive Rules of the constitution: Provided, That when any rule or regulation is adopted by the Gener- al Conference which, in the opinion of the bishops, is unconstitutional,* the bishops may present to the General Conference which passed said rule or regulation their objections thereto, with their reasons, in writ- ing; and if then the General Conference shall by a two-thirds vote ad- here to its action on said rule or regulation, it shall take the course prescribed for altering a restrictive rule; and if thus passed upon af- firmatively, the bishops shall announce that such rule or regulation takes effect from that time. This rule went through the required constitutional process and was duly incorporated in the Discipline. It remained un- invoked, however, until near the end of the century. The first occasion for its use was created at the General Conference of 1894. At the previous General Conference a commission was appointed to revise Chapters VII. and VIII. of the Book of Discipline. These chapters, entitled "The Administration of Discipline," contained at that time the laws governing the trial and appeal of bishops, preachers, and laymen. At the General Conference of 1894, a sitting marked by strong senti- ments of reaction, the commission reported a revision of these chapters. The report was discussed, committed to a new spe- cial committee, and finally adopted without having been fully read. One of the changes effected by the revision was thus expressed : "Every case to be tried shall be referred to a com- mittee of not less than nine nor more than thirteen, who shall be selected by lot from the members of the Conference, who in the presence of a bishop or a chairman whom the President of the Conference shall appoint, and one or more of the secre- taries, shall have full power to try the case; and their decision shall be final, save as to the right of appeal." The effect of this was to make laymen eligible to membership on the committees appointed for the trial of ministers. This the College of Bishops held to be a violation of the plan, constitutionally *It will be noted that the bishops cannot arrest a statutory action of the General Conference, as could be done were the power given them a real veto. 110 History of Methodism. adopted, under which lay representation had been incorporated as a principle of the constitution — namely, that laymen were to be permitted to "participate in all the business of the Con- ference except such as involves ministerial character." On this ground they interposed their objection, and, the Conference not dissenting, the work of revision went for naught. And here it should be noted that a majority vote on a constitutional ques- tion is not a vote in fact, and therefore the action of the bish- ops is only to call attention to the defect. Should the Confer- ence thereupon give the necessary two-thirds vote, the legisla- tion is put in normal course and goes to the Annual Confer- ences. Repeated references have been made in this history to what has become technically and historically known in the Ameri- can Methodist Churches as "federation." A succinct account of its rise and progress will here fall into a proper relation. Almost at the close of the War between the States efforts at Methodist rapprochement were begun. As has been seen, the sentiment wras much accelerated by the events attending and following the Centenary Conference, held in 1884; but it was ten years later, and at the session of the Southern General Conference, that the matter took shape in conventional action. That body, after reciting the recommendations made by the second Ecumenical Conference, held in 1801, passed the fol- lowing resolutions : Resolved oy the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, now in session: 1. That, while we do not in the least recog- nize the Ecumenical Conference as having any legislative power, the bishops be requested to appoint a Commission on Federation consisting of three bishops, three ministers, and three laymen, and that the Secre- tary be instructed to notify the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of this action and to request it to appoint a similar commission. 2. That this commission shall have power to enter into negotiations with said similar commission from the Methodist Episcopal Church, if one shall be appointed, and with similar commissions from other Meth- odist bodies, with a view to abating hurtful competitions and the waste of men and money in home and foreign fields. 3. That any arrangements which such commission may make shall be reported to the next General Conference for adoption, alteration, or re- jection. Federation — Fj,r changes of Fields. 117 The commission appointed under this order consisted of the following-named members: Bishops Granbery, Hargrove, Dun- can; Revs. E. E. Hose, George G. N. MacDonell, J. H. Dye; Judge Walter Clark, R. W. Jones, and Asa Holt. The Church in the North responded to this invitation by appointing at its session in 1890 the following-named commis- sioners: Bishops S. M. Merrill, W. X. Ninde, and J. N. Fitz- Gerald; Revs. R. J. Cooke, J. F. Goucher, L. B. Wilson; Thomas H. Murray and R. T. Miller. The Joint Commission met in Foundry Church, Washington, D. C, January 7, 1898. After two days of deliberation, the commission voted to recommend "joint administration of publishing interests in China and Japan"; "a common order of public worship"; "that where either Church is doing the work expected of Methodism the other Church shall not organize a society nor erect a church building until the bishop having jurisdiction in the work shall be consulted and his approval obtained"; the transfer of a minister from one Church to the other "without the formality of having his orders recognized" ; consideration of "authorita- tive regulations" of Epworth League conventions. With slight alterations, the General Conference of the Church, North, adopted these recommendations, simply adding the advice of the presiding elders and the preachers in charge to that of the bishop in the case of proposed duplication of the Churches. The recommendations of the commission bore early and his- toric fruit. In 1901 the Board of Missions of the Church, North, transferred its work in Brazil to the jurisdiction of the Church, South. To that Church also fell the island of Cuba, while the island of Porto Rico and the Philippine Archi- pelago went to the Mission Board of the Church, North. The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, held in 1902 by formal action approved and adopted "the acts passed by the Joint Commission on Federation of the two Churches" and recognized those that had been "adopted by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church as having the force of law." The same Conference continued the commission through the ensuing quadrennium. The spirit and letter of this action were fully met by the General Conference 118 History of Methodism. of the Methodist Episcopal Church which convened in 1908. The sentiments of the Church, South, regarding rival Church enterprises were cordially accepted, and the adjustment of such cases was left to the bishop in charge. The commission of the Church, North, was also continued through the quadrennium. The Joint Commission met in Cincinnati in March, 1910, when a most important step was taken — namely, that of or- ganizing a Federal Council for Methodism, the first dim out- lines of the long-hoped-for organic reunion of the two Connec- tions. This Council was to be given "final power to hear and determine, without appeal from its decisions, all cases of con- flict or misunderstanding between the two branches of Meth- odism." The charter of this Council as first adopted by the General Conference of the Church, South, in 1910, and two years later by that of the Church in the North, is, "in language identical," as follows: Said Federal Council shall be intrusted with advisory powers in regard to world-wide Christian education and the evangelization of the unchurched masses, and also shall have full power to hear and finally determine, without appeal from its decisions, all cases of conflict or misunderstanding between the two branches of Methodism. This Fed- eral Council shall consist of eighteen members, equally divided between the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The membership of the Council shall be as follows: Six bish- ops, six traveling preachers, and six laymen. The nine members from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, shall be elected quadrennially by the General Conference upon nomination by the Committee on Church Relations. Vacancies occurring during the quadrennium shall be filled by our commissioners. Annual Conferences shall have authority to ap- point local commissions on federation, to meet with similar commis- sions from a Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to hear and determine cases of local irritation and conflict. Said local com- missions shall have advisory power. All cases which fail of settlement shall be carried to the Federal Council for final adjudication. At a session of the Federal Council held in Nashville, Tenn., January 21, 1914, rules were adopted both for the administra- tion of the Council and for the settlement of issues and causes in the Annual Conferences. The Council consists of six bishops, six traveling preachers, and six laymen, equally di- vided between the two Churches. It is charged with advisory powers in regard to world-wide missions, Christian education, Union — Plan of Procedure. 119 and the evangelization of the unchurched masses; and it also has power to hear and finally determine, without appeal from its decision, all cases of conflict or misunderstanding between the two branches of Methodism. The sentiment of unity and agreement, if not the actual march toward union, advanced rapidly. A meeting of the Joint Commission was held in Baltimore in December, 1910, at which sitting appeared an authorized delegation from the Methodist Protestant Church. It was understood that the topic of con- versation and the subject of prospective action were to be the organic union of the Churches, the Church in the North and the Protestant Church having through their General Conferences requested this moot. The commission of the Church, North, therefore, submitted the following statement — viz. : During the session of our General Conference held in this city in 1908 a commission was appointed, with our Senior Bishop as chairman, to visit the General Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, then in session at Pittsburgh, bearing a cordial invitation to that body to unite with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The commission was graciously welcomed, and a delegation was sent in return to make reply to the overtures which had been so cordially forwarded. Subsequently the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church directed its Commission on Federation to invite the Evangelical Association, the United Brethren, and such other branches of Methodism as it might believe to be sympathetic, to confer through similar commissions con- cerning federation or organic union as, in the judgment of the said Churches, respectively, might be most desirable, and to report to the General Conference of 1912. . . . It is our conviction that the time has come when it is due to our people, as well as to an interested public, that the desirability and prac- ticability of organic union shall be discussed between us; and if the pre- ponderance of judgment be found against either the desirability or prac- ticability of organic union, that the reasons be clearly set before our Churches in order that, being informed as to the same, they may the more intelligently judge the work of their commissions and conform their own utterances and actions to the conditions as thus developed. We believe they have a right to this knowledge and that we owe it to them to give them this opportunity to measure the difficulties and, as far as possible, to remove them or adjust themselves to actual con- ditions. The submission of this paper was followed by "a long and searching debate." At the close of the debate a select commit- ll>0 History of Methodism. tee of three from each commission was appointed to prepare "A Plan of Procedure." This committee reported, declaring the Churches, North and South, to have had "a common origin in the Methodist Episcopal Church, organized in 1784," and to be "joint heirs of the traditions and doctrinal standards of the fathers" ; that "the fathers settled the issues of the past con- scientiously for themselves," and that it "appears to be our im- perative duty earnestly to consider the expediency and practica- bility of some form of unification." It was, therefore, agreed : That a joint committee of nine, three from each commission here represented, be appointed to consider the causes which produce friction and waste and injury rather than promote the common cause — namely, the spreading of Scriptural holiness through these and other lands and, if found practicable, to bring to this Joint Commission a plan for sub- mission to the General Conference and people of the respective Churches, said plan to provide for such unification through reorganization of the Methodist Churches concerned as shall insure unity of purpose, admin- istration, evangelistic effort, and all other functions for which our Meth- odism has stood from the beginning. This "Plan" being adopted, the following-named commis- sioners were appointed as the "Committee of Nine" — viz.: Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Earl Cranston, Dr. J. F. Goucher, R. T. Miller, LL.D. ; Methodist Protestant Church, Dr. T. H. Lewis, Dr. M. S. Jennings, Mr. S. R. Harris; Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, Bishop E. E. Hoss, Dr. F. M. Thomas, and Hon. M. L. Walton. The Committee of Nine met in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 18, 1911. Each section of the commission submitted a statement as representative of the views of its particular Church concerning the plans of unifi- cation which seemed feasible and desirable. The representa- tives of the Churches, North and South, amended their first statements with later drafts. These, with the statement sub- mitted by the representatives of the Methodist Protestant Church, made five separate documents to be considered. The final report of the whole committee to be made to the Joint Commission recommended that the three Chnrches be reor- ganized into one Connection, to be known as the Methodist Episcopal Church in America or the Methodist Church of America; that the reorganized Church have common articles of faith, common conditions of membership, a common hym- A Historic fa per. nal, catechism, and ritual; that the governing power be vested in a General Conference and three or four Quadrennial Con- ferences; that the General Conference consist of two houses; that the Quadrennial Conferences choose the bishops ; that the Annual Conference be preserved ; that neither the General Con- ference nor the Quadrennial Conferences be left to interpret the constitutionality of their own acts. The Joint Commission on Federation met in Chattanooga, Tenn., May 10, 1911, and, after discussing the recommenda- tions of the Committee of Nine, adopted the following, which is destined to become a historic paper in Methodism : 1. We suggest as a plan of reorganization the merging of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, and the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, into one Church, to be known as the Methodist Episcopal Church in America or the Methodist Church in America. .2. We suggest that this Church shall have throughout common arti- cles of faith, common conditions of membership, a common hymnal, a common catechism, and a common ritual. 3. We suggest that the governing power of the reorganized Church shall be vested in one General Conference and three or four Quadren- nial Conferences, both General and Quadrennial Conferences to exer- cise their powers under constitutional provisions and restrictions, the General Conference to have full legislative power over all matters dis- tinctively connectional, and the Quadrennial Conferences to have full legislative power over distinctively local affairs. We suggest that the colored membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, and such organizations of colored Methodists as may enter into agreement with them, may be constituted and recognized as one of the Quadrennial or Jurisdictional Conferences of the proposed reorganization. 4. We suggest that the General Conference shall consist of two houses, each house to be composed of equal numbers of ministerial and lay delegates. The delegates in the first house shall be apportioned equally among the Quadrennial Conferences and elected under equitable rules to be provided therefor. The ministerial delegates in the second house shall be elected by the ministerial members in the Annual Conferences and the lay delegates by the laity within the Annual Conferences under equitable rules to be provided therefor. Each Annual Conference shall have at least one ministerial and one lay delegate. The larger Confer- ences shall have one additional ministerial and one additional lay dele- gate for every ministerial members of the Conference, also an additional ministerial and lay delegate where there is an excess of two- 122 History of Methodism. thirds of the fixed rate of representation. All legislation of the General Conference shall require the concurrent action of the two houses. 5. We suggest that the Quadrennial Conferences shall be composed of an equal number of ministerial and lay delegates, to be chosen by the Annual Conferences within their several jurisdictions according to an equitable plan to be provided therefor. 6. We suggest that the Quadrennial Conferences shall fix the bounda- ries of the Annual Conferences within their respective jurisdictions, and that the Annual Conferences shall be composed of all traveling preachers in full connection therewith and one lay representative from each pastoral charge. 7. We suggest that the Quadrennial Conferences shall name the bish- ops from their several jurisdictions, the same to be confirmed by the first house of the General Conference. 8. We suggest that neither the General Conference nor any of the Quadrennial Conferences be invested with final authority to interpret the constitutionality of its own actions. In 1912 the General Conferences of the Methodist Protestant Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, both bodies hav- ing met in that year, each ''approved the work of its commis- sion in moving along the lines indicated, but did not take definite action on the suggestions looking toward reorganiza- tion/' The General Conference of the Church, South, however, met the situation squarely in the following action taken at its sitting in Oklahoma City in May, 1911 : 1. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, considers the plan out- lined in the suggestions that were adopted by the Joint Commission representing the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and reported to the General Conferences of their respective Churches, as tentative, but, nevertheless, as containing the basic principles of a genuine unification of the Methodist bodies in the United States and especially of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, by the method of reorganization. 2. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, regards the unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, by the plan proposed by the Joint Commission on Federation as feasible and desirable, and hereby declares itself in favor of the unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in accordance with this general plan of reorganization, and in favor of the unification of all or any Methodist bodies that accept this proposed plan after it has been accepted by the Methodist Episcopal Church. However, we recom- Federation and Unification. 12:\ mend that the colored membership of the various Methodist bodies be formed into an independent organization holding fraternal relations with the reorganized and united Church. The results of the application of the plans of federation have not been as large as was once hoped. The Federal Coun- cil has held but few meetings, and at no time has its voice car- ried any certain authority. The whole scheme of federation, however, has been overshadowed by the larger question of uni- fication, which stands like a balanced tide, to ebb or to flow in answer to conditions now unseen. A review of the action of the 1916 session of the General Conference of the Church, North, remains to be added to this record. CHAPTER VIII. Origin of Specific Legislation — Kelley-Hargrove Case — District Con- ference Empowered to License Preachers — Insurance — Hague Tribu- nal— Basis of Representation — Evangelism — Fraternal Addresses — Elections — Necrology, North and South — General Conference in the North — Women Delegates — Seniority — Elections — Publication Crux — Deaconess Work — Church in Canada — British Conference — Difficult Social Problems — Plymouth — Junior Societies — Depression — Peter McKenzie — Irish Conference — Dr. McCutcheon — South Africa — Aus- tralia— 1894-1897 (Concluded). MUCH of the legislation of the Methodist Churches has grown out of the difficulties arising in the processes of administration. Previous to 1894 it was the custom in the Southern Church for the presiding bishop to appoint the trial committee in the Annual Conferences. At the Memphis ses- sion (1894) a famous trial case came up for review. This was known as the Kelley-Hargrove case. Dr. D. C. Kelley, who had served in many high stations in the Church and who had won distinction as a Confederate soldier, became a candidate for Governor of the State of Tennessee in 1892 on the plat- form of the Prohibition party. He procured a supply for his appointment as a pastor in the Conference, but it was alleged that he had "left his charge" without having been canonic-ally excused. The cause was, therefore, brought before the Con- ference, and the bishop, against certain formal protests, ap- pointed the committees called for by the Book of Discipline. The case having come to trial, Dr. Kelley was temporarily sus- pended from the functions of the ministry. From this verdict he took an appeal to the General Conference, charging mal- administration against the bishop. Both the Committee on Episcopacy and the Committee on Appeals sat many days dis- cussing those features of the case over which they had re- spective jurisdiction. The Committee on Episcopacy found the bishop "guilty of no intentional wrong." and so passed his character. The Committee on Appeals, reviewing the legal aspects of the case, gave a verdict for Df. Kelley, reversing the action of the Tennessee Conference which had suspended (124) Kelley-Har grove Case — Acts of (Jem nil Conference. L26 him. As a result of the issues of this case and the discussions attending its hearing, the General Conference passed a law giving to the x\nnual Conferences the right to name trial and other committees. Such is often the influence of incidental hapi>enings. Another important act of legislation completed at this Con- ference transferred the licensing and reports of local preach- ers from the Quarterly Conference to the District Conference. Missionary secretaries for the Annual Conferences were au- thorized, thus increasing the means of connectional appeal tq the congregation. Plans for the incorporation and for the bet- ter protection through insurance of Church property were adopted. As indicative of the world sympathies of the delega- tions, it may be noted that the Conference took strong ground in favor of international arbitration and especially committed itself to the principles represented by the Hague Tribunal. The basis of representation in the General Conference was changed from one for each thirty-six members of the Annual Conference to one for each forty-eight members, the present ratio. As an illustration of the increase in the itinerant ranks, it may be remarked here that the membership of the General Conference of 1898, consisting of the first delegations to be returned under the new ratio, numbered four hundred and thirty-seven ; while that of 1914, sixteen years later and under the decreased ratio, numbered five hundred and thirty-five. The Episcopal Address at the Memphis sitting reported a net increase of 170,179 in the membership of the Connection for the four years from 1890 to 1894. The question of evangelism had become acute during the quadrennium preceding this session. Unauthorized evangelism had greatly increased in connection with the "holiness" agita- tion, to which attention has already been called. "The signal success of a few evangelists of burning zeal, effective speech, and skill in leadership" had led a multitude of less competent and sometimes quite incompetent men to enter the revivalistic field. The results were generally confusing, not seldom ex- hibiting a schismatic and divisive spirit. A remedy was sought. The bishops recommended a strong rule against the invasion of parishes by unauthorized evangelists. Legislation 12G History of Methodism. looking to this end was introduced, but the famous statute known as "Paragraph 301/' meant to strengthen the hands of the pastor against such invasion, was not enacted until 1898. In recent years the Church has fully recognized the principle of special evangelism and has put the evangelists under the direction of the Home Department of the General Board of Missions. The fraternal addresses made before the General Confer- ence of 1894 were especially felicitous and further marked the advance of inter-Methodist agreement. Dr. John F. Goucher and Dr. Henry Wade Rodgers represented the Methodist Epis- copal Church in addresses memorable for their cordial fra- ternity. In the course of his address Dr. Goucher said : "A Pan-American Methodist Conference, large enough to be rep- resentative but small enough to be deliberative, advisory but without legislative functions, meeting at stated times, might be helpful in securing a comity of relations." This was clear- ly prophetic of the Federal Council and possibly of a yet-to-be- realized device of Pan-Methodist administration. Dr. Rodgers said: "As we have rejoiced with you in your prosperity, so have we mourned with you in the hours of your sorrow. A great man fell in Israel when Holland Nimmons McTyeire was gathered to his fathers. As you shed tears over the bier of Matthew Simpson, we wept over the grave of McTyeire." Dr. Alexander Sutherland, who represented the Church of Canada, said: "It is a great mistake to suppose that every age needs a new gospel. Christ is the contemporary of every age, and human thought and progress never outrun his teachings. A recognition of this fact would save many so-called leaders of thought from perpetual blunders and many a minister from the fatal mistake of preaching an emasculated gospel under the delusion that he is improving upon the old truth." Dr. T. Bowman Stephenson, though not an official visitor, spoke for the mother Church in England. "I venture to express the hope," he said, "that no future General Conference of this great Church will meet without some British voice, duly accredited for the purpose, bringing to you a message of respect and af- fection from the mother Conference." In addition to Dr. Stephenson's speech, a written communication from the Wes- Fraternal Messengers — Elections — Necrology. 127 leyan Conference was read. Bishop Galloway, fraternal mes- senger to that body, reported, as did also Dr. R. N. Bledd, messenger to the Church of Canada, and Dr. J. J. Tigert, mes- senger to the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United Stales of America. The connectional elections for the quadrennium returned the following selections — viz.: J. D. Barbee, Book Agent; D. M. Smith, Assistant; E. E. Hoss, Editor Christian Advocate; J. J. Tigert, Book Editor; W. D. Kirkland, Sunday School Editor; H. C. Morrison and W. R. Lambuth, Missionary Sec- retaries; David Morton, Church Extension Secretary; S. A. Steel, Secretary Epworth League ; and W. W. Smith, Secretary Board of Education. R. P. Wilson, Editor Pacific Methodist Advocate, was selected by the Book Committee. The necrology of the Methodism of the South for the quad- rennium of 1894-97, inclusive, contained not a few distin- guished names. For the first the Church was called upon to mourn the death of one of the greatest leaders known to its history, Bishop Atticus Greene Haygood. Bishop Haygood was born in Watkinsville, Ga., November 19, 1839. Both his father and his mother were people of education and of first-class so- cial extraction. In the early youth of their son they removed to Atlanta, where, when about fifteen years of age, the future bishop, having subscribed twenty-five dollars toward the erec- tion of the first Trinity Church building in the capital and not having the funds to pay it when due, worked out the sum in carrying the hod and otherwise assisting the builders. In 1856 he entered Emory College (now Emory University) in the sophomore class, graduating in 1859, and immediately be- gan to serve as an itinerant preacher. About the time of his graduation he was married to Miss Mollie Yarbrough, who survived him a number of years. Although his Alma Mater at that time had no theological course, he privately pursued theology with such diligence and devotion that at the time of his admission into the Conference his preparation for the min- istry was pronounced to oe "comprehensive and thorough. " From the beginning he was theologian and preacher. Besides these distinctions, he was master in other spheres. As edu- cator, editor, lecturer, missionary leader, and social reformer, 128 History of Methodism, he fairly overtopped the men of his fellowship. For eleven years he filled the leading stations and districts in Georgia, when in 1870 he was elected Sunday School Editor for the Church. He reorganized and rehabilitated this most impor- tant connectional department, languishing from 1he destructive effects of the war. During his Sunday school editorship he served as Associate Missionary Secretary and stirred the Church with his appeals for nobler endeavors in that cause. After five years of brilliant service in this dual responsibility, he resigned to become President of Emory College. It was here that he did his greatest wTork and during his ten years of presidency attracted toward himself the religious eyes of the whole nation. Enlisting the interest of men of philanthropy and wealth, especially one, Mr. George I. Seney, of New" York, he equipped and endowed not only Emory, but Wesley an Col- lege also, in a way that made them incalculably potent in- fluences for the future. Through tireless effort and much self- denial he maintained at Emory College a continuous company of poor young men whom he put through the classes and gave to his country and his Church. It was during this period (1882) that he was first called to the episcopacy and declined consecration because he could not see the way to leave his "boys" and the school. In 1885 he accepted the agency of the Slater Educational Fund, but retained an emeritus relation to the college. In this position his influence so widened that on all sides he was recognized as the most conspicuous and potent personality in any department of life in the whole South. His book, "Our Brother in Black," written about this time, did more than any single essay of the post-bellum era to bring to both sections sanity of thinking concerning the negro problem. This book enjoyed an immense circulation and may very well be spoken of as a national textbook for that time. Upon the merits of another volume, "The Man of Galilee," circulated in English and Spanish, will chiefly rest his fame as a theologian and an author. When the moun- tain-piled tomes of German criticism have melted away under the shining of the sun of the new age, "The Man of Galilee'' may still be read with joy and profit. In 1800 Dr. Haygood was elected to the episcopacy for the second time, and, feeling Hayyood — Anderson — Clark. 129 that his educational obligations had been met, he accepted the post ; but his episcopal career was comparatively short. After four or five years, his health began to fail. The day labors and midnight toils of former years began to take toll of his strength. A paralysis suddenly developed, and the strong frame was smitten like an oak by the lightnings. On .January 21, 1890, he died, and was gathered to his pest in the cemetery at the village of Oxford, the place which he loved more than all the dwellings of Israel. William D. Anderson, D.D., was born in Marietta, Ga., June 24, 1839, the birth year of Bishop Haygood. His father was Judge of the State Superior Court, and he was himself edu- cated for the law, graduating from the State University in 1859. He served with distinction in the Confederate army, successfully entered into politics in the years immediately fol- lowing, becoming Speaker of the Lower House of the General Assembly and being otherwise honored by his colleagues. In 1876, having meditated deeply his course, he resigned all po- litical responsibilities and joined the North Georgia Confer: ence, in which he served as pastor of the first Churches in Athens, Rome, Atlanta, and elsewhere, as also on the leading districts. He was prominent in the General Conference and in the leadership of the Annual Conference. His death oc- curred in December, 1894. In the same year, on September 4, died James O. A. Clark, D.D., who was born in Savannah, Ga., October 6, 1827. Dr. Clark was educated at Andover College and Brown University, having graduated with distinction from the latter school under the presidency of that eminent educator, Dr. Wayland. He too was destined for the law ; but, having been converted in a great revival in 1853, he heard a call to the ministry and joined the Georgia Conference in 1854. He enjoyed a reputation for consecration and devotion to his calling and also was regarded as the best-educated man in his Conference. His scholarship was classic; he knew the Greek Testament by heart. During his ministry he wrote a number of pleasing and instructive books. "For forty years he was a most important factor in the growth and development of Methodism in Georgia." Though not one of the greatest, measured by the ordinary 9 130 History of Methodism. canon of greatness, yet one of the most remarkable men known to the Church in the Southwest was Homer S. Thrall, D.D., a member of the West Texas Conference, who died October 12, 1894. Born in Vermont December 19, 1819, he was converted at an early age and in a time when experience in Methodism was paramount. His education was received at the Ohio Wesleyan University. In 1840 he joined the Ohio Conference; but when in 1842 the republic of Texas was opened to the missionaries, he transferred to that country and became one of the most indomitable of the band of evangelists who planted the gospel on the frontier bordered by the Rio Grande. Though never for a day out of the itinerancy during his nearly fifty years of active life in the West, he yet found opportunity to take legitimate part in the civic affairs of the country, while preaching the kingdom of spiritual things. He knew, and was on intimate and oftentimes advisory relations with, the fathers of the republic of Texas and the leaders of the State — Houston, Rusk, Lamar, and others. His "History of Texas" was, up to the time of his death, a standard in the schools and administra- tive offices of the State; while his "History of Methodism in Texas" must be had in requisition by wThoever in future shall write the ecclesiastical history of the Southwest. He was a member of several General Conferences and exercised a wide connectional influence. Seldom has the Church sustained a greater loss or felt more certainly that loss than in the death of William P. Harrison, D.D., LL.D., which occurred at Columbus, Ga., February 7. lSOo. A man of large and varied learning, he is yet to be put in that class of self-taught men of whom Methodism knows so much and of whom she has given so many to history in the ranks of her itinerant ministry. In the case of Dr. Harrison it seems all but impossible that one should attain to the variety and accuracy of such learning as he was known to possess through methods of self-help alone. His early educational advantages were few. He spent a brief time at Emory Col- lege, only long enough to distress his own sense of lack and yet long enough to confirm his purpose to pursue to the end. Having entered the itinerancy, from 1850 to 1870 he Berved Churches in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, everywhere H arrison — Mc Anally — Rodger s. 13] leaving tokens of his power as a preacher. In 1870 he was elected editor of the Methodist Magazine. In 1878 he was ap pointed chaplain to Congress, being the third Southern Metli- odist minister to occupy that position. In 1882 he was elected Rook Editor of the Church and continued to occupy that post until failing health forced his retirement in 1804. One of his earliest books, "Theophilus Walton/' was a Church classic during the age of doctrinal controversy. His "Living Christ" was a volume which best illustrated his powers as an author and his resources as a theologian, while his "Methodist Union'' is a book that might profitably be read to-day. As an example to younger ministers and scholars, the life of Dr. Harrison is replete with inspiration. David R. McAnally, D.D., was long a conspicuous figure in connectional Methodism in the South. As pastor, educator, and editor he filled up the days of a career extending through sixty and seven years. Born February 17, 1810, and dying July 11, 1895, he lacked but fifteen and a half years of having lived coeval with the entire nineteenth century. For many years he was editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate, in which position he was best known to the Church. As a preacher his work was marked by fruitful results ; nor was he unknown in the field of authorship. He wrote the "History of Methodism in Missouri," but will be longest remembered as the biographer of Bishop Enoch M. Marvin. Another editor of the Church, Dr. Samuel Rodgers, of the Baltimore Episcopal Methodist, died within the twelve months in which occurred the death of Dr. McAnally. Born July 29, 1825, of Scotch-Irish parentage, Dr. Rodgers was brought up in the Presbyterian faith. Being converted in a Methodist meeting in 1840, his mind turned toward the ministry, and he joined the Baltimore Conference in 1846. As pastor and as chaplain in the Confederate army he made a memorable record. In 1808 he was stationed at Lexington, Va., where he became a close personal friend of Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the intimacy of this friendship ended only with the great soldier's death. It was through the influence of General Lee that Washington and Lee University conferred upon his preacher-friend the title of Doctor of Divinity. Dr. Rodgers was six times, successively. 132 History of Methodism. made a member of the General Conference. He died in Balti more November 1, 1894. Few men in the ministry of the Methodist Church during the latter half of the nineteenth century established a more certain reputation for pulpit eloquence than did John W. Hanner, D.D., of the Tennessee Conference, who died October 28, 1895. After a long career of great usefulness, his life was temporarily clouded by reason of charges of indiscretion brought against him in the Conference; but he died assured of the love and veneration of his fellow churchmen. William D. Kirkland, D.D., who died May 31, 1890, while incumbent in the office of connection al Sunday School Editor, was a man of many gifts. Graduating from Wofford College in 1870, he went almost immediately into the pastorate, where, with the exception of a brief time as professor in Columbia College, he served until 1885, when he was elected editor of the Southern Christian Advocate. In 1894 he was designated by the General Conference to be the editor of the Sunday school periodicals. He was but forty-seven years of age at the time of his death. The far Western work of the Church throughout its history has been represented in its itinerancy by men of heroic mold. Perhaps the sturdiest frontiersman known to the entire history of Methodism was Learner B. Stateler, who was born in Ohio County, Ky., July 7, 1811, and who died in Corvallis, Mont., May 1, 1806. His greatness was that of John the Baptist and other wilderness pioneers of the kingdom of God — quenchless zeal and untiring self-devotion. Stateler joined the Kentucky Conference in 1831 and at once responded as a volunteer for service in the then distant and uncultivated field of Missouri. During his experience in that State he held charges at St. Louis and other points and was missionary to the Choctaw In- dians. About 1830 he was sent to what is now the State of Iowa, being the first Methodist preacher to enter that region. Here he organized the beginnings of Methodism west of the Upper Mississippi. For fourteen years thereafter he served amongst the tribes of the Indian Territory, assisting in the organization of the Indian Mission Conference. After lv"l lie labored in the Kansas Mission Conference, being there in Stateler — John — Deaths in the North. 133 the days of the bitter border warfare of the antislavery con icst. Iii 1862 lie crossed the Rocky Mountains and organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Denver and amid many sufferings and hardships planted the Church in the val- leys and villages contiguous thereto. In 1864, with his family, he started across the mountain roof of the continent for Mon- tana, where again he became the Church's pioneer and left as a monument to his zeal and devotion the congregations and the Annual Conference organization in that land of peaks and infant rivers. Not content with sowing here, he crossed the farther Rockies into Oregon, literally chopping his way through the mountain chaparral, and preached a time in the Willamette Valley, thus practically belting the continent with his mis- sionary labors. From Oregon he returned to Montana, where he finished his course. He was without the culture of the schools, but left an effective written record of his many labors. To be placed in the same category as the name of Homer S. Thrall is the name of Isaac G. John. Born in Indiana Jan- uary 14, 1827, he went to Texas in 1845, entered the Confer- ence there in 1847, and gave almost exactly fifty years to the work of an itinerant. Though not a man of large learning, he was yet possessed of fine natural endowments, was liberally informed, and was a user of strong and effective English, both in speaking and writing. He rejoiced in a characteristic Wes- leyan experience and was a successful preacher and pastor. After twenty years of service in circuits and stations and on districts, in 1866 he was made Editor of the Texas Christian Advocate, in which post he served with noteworthy success until 1884. At the General Conference of 1886 he was elected Missionary Secretary. In that office he served acceptably for eight years, when failing health made it necessary for him to retire; however, he continued to do such light editorial work as his strength made possible. He died March 17, 1897. The number of deaths occurring amongst the connectional officials in the Church, North, during this quadrennium was unusually large. Dr. Sanford Hunt, Senior Publishing Agent, died February 10, 1896; Dr. Jonas O. Peck, Associate Mis- sionary Secretary, May 17, 1894; Dr. Henry Liebhart, Editor of Haus and Herd, January 26, 1895; Dr. John M. Reid, Honor- 134 History of Methodism. ary Secretary of the Mission Board, May, 1S9G; and Dr. B. F. ( Jrary, Editor of California Christian Advocate, March 16, 1895. The General Conference of the Church in the North con- vened in the city of Cleveland on Friday, May 1, 1896. The representation consisted of five hundred and thirty-eight dele- gates. The initial action of the Conference was to hear a protest, signed by Dr. J. M. Buckley and others, against the admission to membership of those women who had been elected by certain electoral conferences and whose names appeared on the roll. A special committee was ordered to report on this protest. On the following day this committee submitted both a majority and a minority report. The majority report dis- allowed the protest and favored the seating of the female dele- gates. The minority, on the contrary, held that this course was clearly illegal in view of the action of the General Con- ference of 1872, which admitted laymen to membership in the general body. Prior to the presentation of these reports, how- ever, the secretary read a communication from these ladies relinquishing, for the sake of peace, all claims to membership in the Conference. They did not waive the claims of women to sit as delegates in future sessions, but believed that the ac- tion which they proposed was best for the time being. There- upon both the reports of the committee on eligibility were re- committed for further consideration. The final report of this committee was that the question of eligibility was a constitutional one, and that as the General Conference has power to interpret the constitution it should determine the status of the case by formal action. They further recommended that no form of decision of the question be made at that time, but that, as the challenge had not been judicially passed upon, the women then occupying seats should continue to do so under a title in dispute, yet without prejudice or the establishment of a precedent. The committee finally recom- mended that the second Restrictive Rule be amended so as to remove from it any question of sex in the lay delegations to be returned from the Conferences. This proposition was agreed to, and the bishops were instructed to submit the proposed amendment to the Annual Conferences during the ensuing quadrennium. The question of equal representation of min- Sen tori ty — Elec t ions — A Crux. 135 isters and laymen in the General Conference was also ordered to be submitted for constitutional ratification. At this time the rule of seniority began to be rigidly applied to the members of the Episcopal Board. Bishops Bowman and Foster were retired from the effective list, and Missionary Bishop Taylor was also retired as noneffective through age. The Conference ordered that the episcopacy be strengthened by the election of two additional General Superintendents and that a missionary bishop be selected for service in Africa. On May 15 the elections were held, two-thirds of the ballots cast being necessary to a choice. This resulted in a prolonged vote; only on the fifteenth ballot the first election, that of Charles C. McCabe, was had. On the sixteenth ballot Earl Cranston was elected, with three hundred and sixty-six votes. Joseph C. Hartzell was elected missionary bishop for Africa. The elections for connectional officials resulted as follows: Publishing Agents, New York, Homer Eaton and George P. Mains; Cincinnati, Lewis Curts and Henry C. Jennings; Editor Methodist Review, William V. Kelley; Editor Christian Advo- cate, J. M. Buckley; Editor Sunday School Publications, Jesse L. Hurl but; Corresponding Secretaries Missionary So- ciety, A. B. Leonard, A. J. Palmer, and W. T. Smith; Editor Epworth Herald, Joseph F. Berry; Secretaries Church Exten- sion, A. J. Kynett and W. A. Spencer. A crux which has constantly vexed the publication adminis- tration of all the American Churches was dealt with at this sitting. The Book Committee was instructed to take under advisement the diminution of the number of Church news- papers and report the results of their study to the General Conference of 1900. The committee was also authorized to discontinue any depository or periodical when the interests of the Church or of the Book Concern demanded it. A book depository was authorized to be established in Detroit, Mich. The deaconess work was found to be growing to proportions of importance. The bishops were authorized to prepare a form for the consecration of deaconesses, which form was to be in- serted in the Appendix to the Discipline. Pastors of charges were forbidden to engage evangelists other than those ap- 130 History of Methodism, pointed by the bishops of their respective Conferences unless consent were given by the presiding elder. There w as a strong protest against this order. In both Churches at this time the question of evangelism was delicate and crucial. At the close of this quadrennium (1804-97, inclusive! the Church in Canada reported 2.000 ministers, 3,000 local preach- ers, 7,750 class leaders, and 32,600 Sunday school teachers, with a revised roll of 278,000 members. The Dominion census reported a Methodist population of 847,000. The universities and colleges of the Church occupied no second place in the edu- cational work of the country. They reported 2.000 students, with good foundation in endowments. The Publishing House of the Connection reported an annual business of not less than $1,000,000. The circulation of denominational literature was general and healthy. The Missionary Society reported in its Indian, -French, and foreign fields 175 missionaries, with 430 in the home field. The yearly income of the Society, with that of the Woman's Board, had reached nearly $300,000. Grati- fying advance had been made in the work of creating super- annuate and other funds of relief. As always throughout its history, the Church was then engaged "in the holy war against the unholy liquor traffic." The sessions of the British Wesleyan Conference for the years 1894-97, inclusive, were held as follows — viz. : Tuesday, July 17, 1894, at Birmingham, the Rev. Walford Green, Presi- dent, and the Rev. David J. Waller, Secretary ; Tuesday, July 23, 1895, at Plymouth, the Rev. David J. Waller, D.D., Presi- dent, and the Rev. Marshall Hartley, Secretary; Tuesday, July 21, 1890, at Liverpool, the Rev. Marshall Randies, D.D., Presi- dent, and the Rev. Marshall Hartley, Secretary ; Tuesday, July 20, 1897, at Leeds, the Rev. W. L. Watkinson, President, and the Rev. Marshall Hartley, Secretary. In 1894 the Rev. James Chapman became a member of the Legal Hundred. This honor was also conferred upon the Rev. Henry Haigh in 1896. Both of these distinguished brethren have been fraternal delegates to the American Churches. Referring to the progress of an important arm of the Church's work for 1894, the Conference address says: "The work of our Central Missions is increasing in interest, impor- British Missions — Criticism — Civic Problems. 137 tance, and success, and continues 4o inspire our deepest grati- tude and largest hope. In the history of these missions we see how much may be accomplished by the wise adaptation of methods to social conditions and needs and how greatly the spiritual ends of the gospel may be aided by its ministry to material sorrows and wants." These missions were particu- larly the product of the sowing of Hugh Price Hughes and his fellow reformers. The attitude of the Conference toward the criticism of the age was one of confidence in the Bible and its teachings. That age demanded that all beliefs and records should be tested by the same methods of investigation as those applied to secular and philosophical issues. The Conference did not consider this demand unreasonable, nor did it feel fear concerning the outcome. If faith in the gospel is to continue to have su- premacy over the minds of men, it must not only show its harmony with truth of every kind, but must commend itself to the highest intelligence of the age and show its super- excellence in every contest. "The infallibility of the Bible as a revelation of spiritual truth," said the Conference, "will be- come more firmly established as its contents and credentials are more carefully examined. The word of God and human reason have the same Author, and the truth of one is confirmed by its fitness to illumine and guide the other." The British Methodists, at this juncture, were confronted with many difficult civic and social problems. While no more than in America has Methodism in England been political, the Methodists in England have always done all in their power to make the law of Christ supreme over every department of national, social, and economic life. At this time they were es- pecially impressed that "the application of Christian princi- ples to public questions was one of the urgent needs" of their day. Those Methodists who dwelt in villages were specially reminded of their opportunity for promoting the welfare of the community. They were urged to enter the holy warfare against gambling and intemperance in all their forms and to promote such "repressive and prohibitive legislation as shall diminish the temptations to these evils and render their prac- tice more difficult and inexcusable." Commercial gambling 138 History oj Methodism. was outlawed as "a cowardly, dishonest practice and one which cannot fail to be visited with the most terrible retribution." Plymouth, though an important and ancient city and often and successfully visited by Mr. Wesley, had not witnessed a session of the Methodist Conference until 1895. It was do1 surprising, therefore, that the gathering was attended by large numbers, who came in "the spirit of expectation and prayer.'' The Conference, through its address, advised that "Methodism is essentially and emphatically a spiritual force." The Junior Society classes in the Wesleyan congregations greatly increased during this year. This proved a doubly happy coincident, for it was now that plans were put on foot for the organization of the Young People's Guild. This Guild corresponds in almost every particular to the Epworth League in the American Churches and became prosperous and influen- tial in the years immediately following its organization. At a number of the great International League gatherings in this country the Guild has had representation and has helped to contribute to the world-wide spirit generated by the movement. Through depression at home and expansion in the mission field the Wesleyan Connection was carrying a heavy debt in its Mission Board, but plans were now begun for its liquidation. This was accomplished by means of concentrated activities centered about special days of prayer and intercession. Scarce- ly since the days of Wesley had there been noted a more ear- nest desire amongst the people to hear the Word, and This was particularly true of the younger people. It wa»s found that nearly a million had been enrolled and were in weekly attend- ance in the Sunday schools of the Connection. Thus the yea~ ended in great confidence and mope. In contrast with the buoyant spiritual atmosphere about the Conference which met at Plymouth in 1805, the one which met at Liverpool in 1806 gave out a note of sadness, though not of pronounced discouragement. Whereas the years 1804 and 1895 had each reported a large increase in the connectional mem- bership, the reports for 1806 showed a net loss; also both in the home and foreign fields the Church had through death suf- fered great loss from the ranks of its workers. Nearly six thousand lay members had died in the homeland. Other de- Peter McKenzie. pressing items were noted; but attendance upon Church serv- ices and the Sunday school continued to hold up to the former high standard. Also the missionary debt had been fully dis charged, and the various auxiliary organizations — social, tem- perance, educational, and philanthropic — were accomplishing the purposes for which they were designed. On November 21, 1895, died in England Peter McKenzie, whose origin and remarkable career recall the memory of such early American itinerants as Lorenzo Dow and Peter Cart- wright. McKenzie was born in Glen Shee, Scotland, on No- vember 11, 1824. Early in life he removed to the north of England, where he found work in the coal mines. In 1849 he was converted and became a local preacher. Almost at once he began to have success as a soul winner. As a lay evangelist he spent four years in the Bishop Aukland Circuit. Being pro- posed as a candidate for the ministry in 1858, he was accepted by the Conference. The year following this action he spent at Didsbury College, where it was proposed that he should receive ministerial training; but, owing to the widespread demand for his service, most of the time was given to evangelistic work. He now began to gain that popularity which increased steadily through all his after years, most of which were spent in the north of England. His services as preacher and lecturer were eagerly coveted, and in the effort to respond to the calls made upon him he labored almost incessantly for forty years. Strangely enough, it is reported that during all this time he neglected no circuit work or other charge committed to him. Permission was given him from the Conference in 1896 to re- linquish circuit work and devote the whole of his time and energy to the Connection at large. This he did with unvary- ing assiduity and self-denial. His gifts were both ample and unique; a diligent cultivation conserved their freshness and enhanced their effect. A man of prayer, he combined with his sanctity the qualities of humor, sympathy, pathos, and dramatic power. These, aided by a vivacious and radiant personality, made him one of the best known and most widely loved of English Methodist preachers.* ♦Minutes of the Wesleyan Methodist Church for 1896. 140 Hist or if of Methodism. The reports from the Irish Conference during the period now being covered were indicative of a uniform, if not phe- nomenal, advance. The Conference discharged a heavy in- debtedness resting upon Belfast College, one of its two insular denominational schools, and was also able materially to extend its home mission field, thereby impressing the Roman Catholic population by which its membership is surrounded. Irish Methodism at this time was particularly set over against a rising tide of sacerdotalism, not only in the Episcopal Churches, but also in some of. those of the Nonconformists. It suffered also from a constant depletion of membership through emigration, a thing which has been the bane of Irish Meth- odism since its beginning. This Conference also mourned in this year the death of not a few of its workers and leaders, chiefest amongst whom was the Rev. Dr. McCutcheon, "the value of whose wise and ungrudgingly devoted service to the Conference could hardly be overstated." Thus testified his spiritual sons and surviving comrades in the work he loved. In 1804 the Wesleyan Conference transferred the whole of Zululand to the South African Methodist Conference. At that time the South African body reported its membership as being little short of fifty thousand, with nearly eight thousand in Junior Societies. By 1806 this number had been increased by nearly eight thousand more, though the work of the Con- ference, especially in its native and up-continent mission fields, suffered from the unrest which boded the coming of the disastrous Boer War, a war at last compensated for in botli civic and religious returns. YVe have already traced the course of Methodist union in Australia and have anticipated the date of its consummation. At the time of the record now being made (1804 ) the move- ment was fully under way. The General Conference of the Wesleyan body in the South Sea continent had accepted the basis of union and had sent a referendum to the Annual Con- ferences. The result is already well known to the reader. In this year a Methodist mission was regularly established in New Guinea, the success of which has been one of the religious interests of the South Seas. CHAPTER IX. Baltimore and Early Methodism — Southern General Conference of 1898 — Close of Century — Statistics — Jubilee of Missions — Retirement of Bishop Keener — Report of Commission on Articles of Religion — "Candidating" — Andrew Hunter — Legislation — Spanish- American \Na,r — Death of Gladstone — Fraternal Visitors — Elections — Collec- tion of War Claim — History of the Publishing House — History of the Sunday School Department— 1898-1901. r I THE early history of organic Methodism in America is I closely associated with the city of Baltimore. It was upon Baltimore that the affections of Bishop Asbury were con- stantly and particularly centered. Baltimore he called his home ; there and thereabout were many of his choicest friends, and in its ancient cemetery his ashes found their final rest. At Baltimore the Methodist Societies were erected into a Church and sent on their way of glory and triumph. The Bal- timore session of the Conference, previous to the settlement of exclusive powers of legislation upon a quadrennial General Conference in 1792, was regarded as the "Upper House of Methodism." It became the habit to carry questions of canon and administration to the Baltimore session for confirmation. This and other considerations early crystallized into the senti- ment that the General Conference should not meet elsewhere than in Baltimore, and from 1784 to 1808, inclusive, all the general sessions were held in that city. The early bishops — Asbury, Whatcoat, McKendree, George, Roberts, Soule, and Hedding — were all chosen and consecrated here. And it was here also, in 1808, that the constitution of the Church was written and adopted, changing the old order into a new by putting the General Conference on the basis of a delegated as- sembly. When, therefore, the thirteenth General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (being the twenty- eighth session since 1784), met in Baltimore in May, 1898, the opening exercises were marked by appropriate references to the historic conjunction which was then formed. - Another circumstance called for note and comment: the sit- ting was within two years of the close of the world's greatest (141) 142 History of Methodism. century. The Conference felt the logic of this situation and sought to gauge its opportunities and realize its momentous obligations. Perhaps to this consideration was due the fad that remarkably little radical legislation was undertaken and that the Conference adjourned after a session of only eighteen days. The bishops reported the total membership of the Church to be 1,478,431; ministers, local and itinerant, 11,G74. The total value of Church property was shown to be $35,000,000, an in- crease of |2,000,000 for the quadrennium. During the same time f2,067,955 was contributed to the cause of missions. In this connection it is interesting to note that the session marked the jubilee of the opening of the China Mission, out of which the work in Japan and Korea has grown. Dr. Young J. Allen, the veteran missionary of the Church, addressed the Conference in appropriate allusion to this jubilee and in a great discussion of the issues which are to be worked out in Oriental lands. When the Conference was but fairly opened, Bishop John C. Keener, amid deep solemnity and in a paper of rare point and eloquence, asked, on account of his age, to be relieved of the active duties of the episcopal office. "The new birth," the Bishop said, reviewing the spiritual life and teachings of the Church, "is the keystone of Wesleyan doctrine. This is the 'Scriptural holiness' which Mr. Wesley sought to spread throughout England and America: that 'the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'" The paper was appropriately responded to by Bishop Galloway on the part of the College of Bishops, and in due process the Conference granted Bishop Keener' s request, mak- ing response to his address in formal resolution, as follows : The General Conference has heard with deep emotion the address of our beloved Senior Bishop, John Christian Keener, and desires to make some record of its appreciation of his high character and long service. It could not but be that a man of such pronounced strength at so many points would be placed in positions of great trust and useful- ness. . . . For the long period of twenty-eight years he has borne the burdens of the episcopal office and for the past nine years has been the Senior Bishop. He has discharged the weighty and delicate duties of his office faithfully. . . . We pray that our Heavenly Father may Bishop Keener — Articles of Religion. L43 long spare his aged servant to bless the Church with his presence, inter- est, and love. Resolved, That we recommend that Bishop Keener be released from official duties, assuring him that such work as his strength may enable him to perform will be greatly appreciated by our whole Church. By order of the General Conference of 1894 a commission, consisting of Bishop E. R. Hendrix, Collins Denny, W. P. Har- rison, W. G. E. Cunnyngham, and John J. Tigert, was ap- pointed to examine the text of the Articles of Religion, to pub- lish in the Church newspapers the results of this examination, and to submit to the General Conference of 1898 such recom- mendations as might seem to be necessary. The commission met in June, 1895, and adopted a report, which was published in the Methodist Review for September-October, 1895, and also in other Church periodicals. This report, slightly altered, was submitted to the General Conference of 1898. The report re- vealed the fact that the commission had discovered that, while no changes affecting the doctrinal integrity of the Articles had occurred, a number of inaccuracies and typographical errors had crept in. It was also shown that the General Conference of 1804, a session which occurred before the adoption of the constitution and therefore possessed of plenary powers, had changed Article XXIII. by adding the word "President." Two unauthorized changes were noted, as follows : Article I., as adopted in 1784, at the organization of the Church, read: "There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions/' etc In the Discipline of 1786 and till the present time (1898) the Article reads: "There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts," etc. Article II., as adopted in 1784, at the organization of the Church, read: "The Son, who is the Word of the Father, begotten from ever- lasting of the Father, the very and eternal God," etc. In the Discipline of 1786 and till the present time (1898) the Article reads: "The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God," etc. The commission recommended the adoption of the following, which was indorsed by the Conference : 1. That the General Conference declare the text of the Articles of Religion contained in the report to be the standard text of the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. History of Methodism. 2. That the footnote to Article XXIII. shall stand as amended by the General Conference of 1854.* 3. That the Book Editor and Book Agents shall cause the text, with the footnote, to be put into plates, and the text thus put into plates shall thereafter constitute the standard copy of our Articles of Religion and shall be placed in the custody of the bishops; and that the Book Editor shall attach to the Articles of Religion published in the Discipline, hymn book, and other works a certificate that he has compared the Articles of Religion contained in the publication with the standard text and has found them to agree therewith. Apropos of a statement already made in these pages con- cerning candidating for Church, office, the Conference in a formal resolution entered its ''serious protest against the pub- lication of any article, either editorial or communicated, in any of our Church organs or other Church periodicals and against any other methods which may tend to foster in any measure an unwarranted rivalry for official preferment." The venerable Andrew Hunter, of Arkansas, being a super- annuate and present at the Conference as a visitor, was of- ficially invited to a seat on the platform and was shown other marks of respect and veneration. Another delicate act of the body was to request Bishop O. P. Fitzgerald to write a vol ume of reminiscences covering the long years of his service in the ministry of the Church. It is likely that only failing health, which soon became pronounced, prevented the Bishop from compliance with this request. Some years afterwards he did print a small volume somewhat of this character, entitled "Sun- set Views." A number of more or less important items of legislation may be summarized. The Annual Conference Committee on Ad- missions to the Itinerancy was ordered. This committee in- quires into the fitness of the applicants for admission into the pastoral office. The White River Conference was authorized to merge with the other Conferences in Arkansas when the commis *The text of this note is as follows: "As far as it respects civil affairs, we believe it the duty of Christians, and especially all Christian min- isters, to be subject to the supreme authority of the country where they may reside, and to use all laudable means to enjoin obedience to the powers that be; and therefore it is expected that all our preachers and people will behave themselves as peaceable and orderly subjects." Legisla Hon — Spanish- A merican War — G ladstone. 145 sions from the several Conferences should so agree. The Book Committee was instructed to enlarge the Christian Advocate and otherwise improve its letterpress. The salaries of con- nectional editors and secretaries were placed at $3,000 per annum. The Book Committee was authorized to establish a Publishing House in China, provision for which had already been made. The sum of $50,000 was appropriated for this use. An interesting and important order was passed to the effect that "any traveling or local preacher or layman is prohibited from holding services in the bounds of any charge of the Church when requested by the preacher in charge not to hold such service." This was the famous "Paragraph 301." The crucial hours of the Spanish-American War were rapid- ly approaching when the Conference opened its session. In recognition of the gravity of the issue and of the humane and statesmanlike attitude of the President of the United States, Mr. McKinley, the Conference passed a series of resolutions commending the President's efforts to avoid war and assuring him of the prayerful and patriotic support of Methodist peo- ple in prosecuting the contest to "the ends of justice, right- eousness, and truth." These resolutions were dispatched through the secretary to the executive mansion at Washing- ton, and in due time a response was received. The President expressed "sincere appreciation of the commendation and good will" of the Conference. Soon afterwards the war was prac- tically closed in the great sea battle off Santiago. On May 18 newrs was received in the Conference room of the death of the Hon. William E. Gladstone at Hawarden, and the body suspended its proceedings to adopt formal resolutions touching the sad event. "We join with the stricken nation of which he was the chief ornament in life," said the eulogy, "in tendering our sympathies and our sorrows at the loss, not only to the English-speaking people, but to the world, of a man so great in every department of thought that engaged his atten- tion ; and we will not cease to do honor to his memory and to mingle our sorrows with our brothers across the water that his face shall be seen no more on earth." The fraternal messages and reports at this Conference made an unusually interesting and cheering chapter. The Rev. W. 10 no History of Methodism. S. Griffin, D.D., of the Methodist Church of Canada, was in- troduced and delivered an able and felicitous address. Iu a generally noteworthy message the following utterance may be emphasized : We recognize also that you are placed in widely different circum- stances from perhaps any other Methodist Church in the world. In your country there are two races whose true relation to each other has been exhaustively discussed by the ablest men of both races; and as I understand it, there is to-day a consensus of opinion which takes this form of expression: Equality before the law, with social distinctness. It has afforded us unspeakable pleasure to note with what valor you that are strong have espoused the cause of the weak. Holding in your hands so much of the nation's wealth and so many resources of its civil power, you have come to the rescue of those whose disadvantages and disabilities were everywhere known and by your liberality and labor of love have helped them in their struggle upward to that place in civil government, educational advantages, and religious liberty which they now enjoy; and whatever more they are entitled to, I know you will help them to gain. Bishop Cyrus D. Foss, of the Church, North, unofficially visiting the Conference, was introduced and was heard with great satisfaction. Dr. Joseph F. Berry (later elected bishop) and Hon. J. P. Dolliver, M.C., fraternal delegates from the same Church, brought eloquent greetings. . Dr. Berry's address contained this most happy reference to pertinent historic ante- cedents : During the last few days it has been my privilege to visit places sacred to all our hearts because they are so closely associated with the illustrious pioneers of our Church. I have traveled the Sam's Creek Circuit, stood under the great oak near the Paulson House where Robert Strawbridge often preached, rested for a time in the Evans House, the oldest Methodist meetinghouse now standing upon the continent, and lingered in the prophet's chamber of the old Warfield home, where Mo- Kendree often lodged and Asbury wrote large portions of his journals. Only this afternoon I stood in delightful reverie at the side of Lovely Lane Chapel, where assembled the Christmas Conference. In fancy I saw the historic group. There was Coke, strong, fearless, evangelistic. There also was Asbury, sympathetic, spiritual, tireless. With these leaders were eighty-three intrepid pioneers, half of them scarcely more than boys. . . . That, you remember, was when the sun of the eight- eenth century was sinking in the west. Fraternal Messengers — Bishop-Elect. 147 Dr. W. T. Davison, fraternal delegate from the Wesley ;m Connection, was heard with boundless delight. "To your Church, sir," he said, "it is my privilege to bring from the British Wesleyan Conference the most hearty greeting. Lei it be couched in the old apostolic phraseology: 'Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Je- sus Christ.' Grace, peace — the blessings of the upper and the nether springs. Grace — that is the perennial fountain among the everlasting hills of God's unfailing and changeless love. Out of that grace spring all the good we have, all the pardon that is needed for sinners, all the purity that is needed for saints, all the power that is needed for the maintenance of Church life and enterprise. May the grace of God, with all the blessings that it brings, be with you always !" Dr. J. C. Morris, fraternal delegate to the General Confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and Dr. E. E. Hoss, delegate to the General Confer- ence of the Canadian Church, made their reports. Bishop C. C Petty, of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, brought an appreciated message from his branch of the colored Meth- odist family. Dr. John A. Rice was appointed fraternal dele- gate to the General Conference of the Colored Methodist Epis- copal Church in America then in session. The bishops in their quadrennial address having recom- mended the election of two additional General Superintendents, and the Conference by resolution having indorsed the sugges- tion, on May 17 the episcopal elections were ordered. On the first ballot E. E. Hoss received 102 votes ; H. C. Morrison, 101 ; and W. A. Candler, 100. Necessary to a choice, 127. The Chair declared that there was no election. On the second ballot W. A. Candler received 148 votes ; H. C. Morrison, 140 ; and E. E. Hoss, 129 — being a majority for each. The result was anoma- lous; the elections exceeded the order. It was proposed to re- consider the vote by which it was determined to elect only two bishops and make the number three, but Dr. Hoss objected so strenuously that the proposition was not carried out. Drs. Candler and Morrison were duly consecrated. At the General Conference four years later Dr. Hoss was elected to the epis- copacy on the first ballot by a remarkably large majority. 148 History of Methodism. Dr. Candler, as the successor of Bishop Haygood in the presi- dency of Emory College, had achieved marked success. Nor had his work as pastor and Assistant Editor of the Christian Advo- cate been less successful. He was forty-one years of age. Dr. Morrison had filled a number of prominent pastorates in the Church and had just finished a particularly successful quad renniurn as Missionary Secretary. He was within a few days of his fifty-sixth birthday at the time of his election. The election for connectional officers resulted as follows : E. E. Hoss, Editor Christian Advocate; P. H. Whisner, Secre- tary of the Board of Church Extension; W. R. Lambuth and J. H. Pritchett, Missionary Secretaries; J. I). Barbee and D. M. Smith, Book Agents; John J. Tigert, Book Editor; James Atkins, Sunday School Editor; H. M. Du Bose, Epworth League Secretary and Editor; W. B. Murrah, Secretary of Education. It was at the session of the Baltimore General Conference that official announcement was first made of the success of the efforts to collect the long-standing claims of the Publish- ing House against the Federal government for use of its prop- erty during the War between the States. The sum collected was *2S8,000. Much gratification was felt over this transac- tion, and the Agents and the Book Committee were warmly congratulated upon the same. One could not then have fore- casted the bitterness of the storm destined a little later to break over the Church on account of certain official statements made concerning the collection of this indemnity, and particn larly concerning certain actions taken thereupon in the United States Senate. But this will be discussed in another and more exactly chronological connection. This is, however, a fitting place from which to take a survey of the past history of that vast concern of the Church known as its "publishing interests.*' largely both effective and expressive of its life and the results of its labors. From the beginning of the eighteenth -century revival, Meth odism has appreciated the value of the printing press as an evangelistic agency. Mr. Wesley used the press freely in the publication of books, tracts, and other periodicals; and as Methodism has grown into many different ecclesiastical con- History of the Publishing house 149 nections, each has organized its own agency of publication. The history of the publishing enterprises of American Meth- odism has the interest of a romance. Next to the pulpit, Hie Methodist press in these lands has been a source of power. It was effective in England; it has been doubly so in America. Like the sun, it has sent forth light into every quarter; it has been a voice of exhortation, of admonition, of reproof, of warn- ing, heard in the wilderness, heard in the village, heard in every part of the continent. Tt has flowed like the tides; it has glowed like the stars; it has been dynamical like the light- nings; it has been nourishing like the showers of rain. But almost as marvelous as the sum of its accomplishments is the record of its humble and quiet beginning. The first Methodist books published in America are to be credited to Robert Wil- liams, a local Wesleyan preacher, who came to the continent in 1769, four years before the meeting of the first American Conference, which occurred in 1773. This Conference ordered that no books should be published in the name of the Meth- odists without official consent. From that date to 1780 not a few imprints, including editions of the Discipline, minutes, hymnals, and other official books, were ordered by the Confer- ence. It was, however, not until the latter year that the yearly Conference determined to establish an official printing interest. This interest was known as the "Book Concern," a title which did not appear in the Conference minutes until the year 1792. To John Dickins, a native of England, the most literary man amongst the early preachers and otherwise capable, the work was committed. He was the stationed preacher in Philadel- phia, with a work heavy enough for one man. But he accepted the additional duties of Book Steward and, willing soul that he was, served in that post also and without additional compen- sation. The "book rooms" were a chamber in his parsonage, which was itself a "hired house." He loaned the institution |600 of his private means, and that was the capital upon which it began its great and destiny-making task. For ten years Dickins devoted himself to his duties and saw "one hundred and fourteen thousand volumes of books" go out from the presses which he hired to do his work. During his incumbency the Book Concern owned no presses and had no offices or 150 History of Methodism. storehouse, and he, with little assistance, did all the work of every character which the post demanded. A scourge of yel- low fever visited Philadelphia in the late summer or autumn of 1700, and the faithful Dickins was claimed as one of its vic- tims. Ezekiel Cooper succeeded and continued in office until 1808. The General Conference of 1804 removed the offices from Philadelphia to New York, where one of the chief pub- lishing plants of Methodism has since existed. The business greatly expanded under the agency of Cooper; and when he retired, in 1808, the capital invested was nearly fifty thousand dollars. Cooper was succeeded by John Wilson, who for the four previous years had been his assistant. Wilson, who had fine gifts and possessed a considerable degree of culture, died in 1810 and was succeeded by Daniel Hitt, a close friend and associate of Bishop Asbury's. He, with Thomas Ware, con- tinued the work up to the General Conference of 1810, when Joshua Soule was called to take up the enterprise, which, though it had enjoyed no little prosperity, was now arrived at a stage where great skill and heroic faith must be used to bring it through depressing conditions. The Concern needed funds, its stock was old and all but valueless, a money crisis was on in the commercial world, and the paper of the Book Steward could not be discounted in New York. Soule showed himself the man of providence. He placed a large loan in a bank in Baltimore, two personal friends indorsing for him, and, opening up new books, he proceeded to rejuvenate the Concern. The era of modern Methodist printing and publish- ing begins with his administration. He carried the work up to 1820 and passed to the hands of Nathan Bangs the well- realized beginnings of that arm of service which was one of Methodism's chief means of propagation during the nineteenth century.* In the years immediately preceding the division of the Church, in 1844, its publishing interests had assumed large pro- portions and were represented by two flourishing publishing houses, the one located in Cincinnati, the other in New York. The Louisville Convention, which organized into an inde *"Life of Bishop Joshua Soule." Southern Publishing House. 151 pendent jurisdiction that part of the divided Church hence- forth to be known as the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, elected two Book Agents, John Early and J. B. McFerrin, who held office until the meeting of the General Conference of 184(>. In pursuance of plans presented, as is supposed, by Early and McFerrin, this Conference provided for a Publishing Agency, naming John Early as incumbent. It also ordered depositories to be established at Louisville, Ky., Charleston, S. C, and Rich- mond, Va. The work of these depositories appears to have been limited in volume. A report made by the Book Agents in 1849 shows their assets to have totaled only $45,972.73, while their liabilities were placed in round figures at the sum of $29,000. There had arisen difficulties in carrying out the Plan of Sep- aration as agreed upon in the General Conference of 1844, and it had become necessary for the Southern Church to enter the United States courts in order to secure an equitable division of the connectional property held by the undivided Church. The legal proceedings were concluded in a decision of the Su- preme Court of the United States handed down on April 25, 1854. This decision awarded to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, cash and other values totaling a sum of $414,- 000. When the General Conference met in May, 1854, in the city of Columbus, Ga., it had before it competitive propositions from a number of cities, each offering valuable considerations for the location of the Publishing House within its limits. Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee, Augusta and Columbus in Georgia, Prattville in Alabama, New Orleans in Louisiana, Louisville in Kentucky, St. Louis in Missouri, and Richmond in Virginia, presented various but attractive propositions. After thoroughly canvassing all the offers, the Conference de- cided to accept the one presented by Nashville, Tenn., as being on the whole the best for the Church's uses. The House was, therefore, located at Nashville. Edward Stevenson, D.D., and James E. Evans, D.D., were elected Publishing Agents. Dr. Evans resigned before the expiration of his term of office, and Rev. F. A. Owen, D.D., was elected to fill the vacancy. Shortly after the meeting of the General Conference of 1854 the Publishing House began operations, with available assets 152 History of Methodism. estimated at not less than £386,000. But it was a time of great financial stress; the field was new, and the House had to organ- ize its constituency. When the General Conference of 1858 met, it was found that the Publishing House was in financial dif- ficulties, the immediate cause being a sharp money panic which fell in the autumn of the year before. It was then that the of- fice of Financial Secretary of Publishing Interests was created, and Dr. Richard Abbey, of Mississippi, was elected to the place, while Dr. John B. McFerrin was designated to be Book Agent. Dr. McFerrin was thus in active charge of the Pub- lishing House until the beginning of the War between the States. In that great crisis Dr. Abbey assumed charge and continued to be the custodian of the property until the meet- ing of the General Conference in 1866, no session having been held in 1862. As we have seen, the House was occupied and its machinery and stock were used by the United States military authorities from 1862 to the close of the war, in 1865. Xear the end of the latter year Dr. McFerrin made a visit to Washington City, had an interview with President Johnson, and secured from him an order for the immediate restoration of the property to its owners. When the House was returned to the Church, there was practically nothing left except the walls and the roof of its building, the machinery having been worn out or destroyed and the stock used in military print- ing. The General Conference of 1866 elected A. H. Bedford, D.D.. of Kentucky, to be Publishing Agent, and committed to him one of the most difficult and burdensome tasks ever laid upon mortal man. He was regularly reelected in 1870 and 1874. and so continued in charge until 1878. It was during his ad- ministration, in 1872, that the Publishing House building was entirely destroyed by fire. The effect of this disaster was most depressing to the whole Connection ; but notwithstanding the poverty and hardships of the times, the people of the Churches rose bravely to the situation, and a new and commodious structure soon replaced the ruins of the old. Owing to many causes, among them the lack of proper working capital and the heavy losses through the fire, the House did not prosj>er. When the General Conference met in Atlanta in 1S7S. the I * it hi i siting House Debts. L53 state of its publication interests seemed desperate. A thor- ough investigation was undertaken. The investigation revealed the fact that the House was insolvent. Its assets were valued at a little more than $230,000, while its liabilities amounted to more than $350,000. Dr. J. B. McFerrin was named as Book Agent, and he, with the Book Committee, was virtually in- structed to wind up the business, provided no way was found to save and continue it, of which at that time there seemed little hope. These brethren hit upon the plan of issuing $300,- 000 in four per cent bonds, running thirty to forty years, the interest payable semiannually on the 1st of January and July, secured by first mortgage on all the property of the House. These bonds were promptly taken by the Methodist people, and the Publishing House was saved to the Church. To the task of liquidating this debt the members of the Book Committee de- voted their time and talents without stint. They also per- sonally invested large sums in the relief bonds. Their names are deserving of record in this history. They are as follows: James Whitworth, President; W. H. Morgan, Secretary; Dempsey Weaver, T. D. Fite, Nathaniel Baxter, William Mor- row, E. H. East, R. K. Hargrove, R. A. Young, John A. Carter, S. H. Dunscomb, A. G. Haygood, and Allen S. Andrews. The interest on these bonds was promptly paid, and the bonds retired through repurchase before 1902, which was quite a good while before the date of maturity. In August, 1878, Mr. L. D. Palmer was, on recommendation of ,Dr. McFerrin, em- ployed as Business Manager of the House and rendered faith- ful service in that office until May, 1888, when he resigned. Dr. McFerrin was reelected Agent in 1882 and 1886 and served with characteristic efficiency until his death, in 1887. His suc- cessor was Dr. James D. Barbee, who was elected by the Book Committee in July, 1887. Under Dr. Barbee the House ex- perienced the greatest degree of prosperity which it had known up to that time in its history. In 1888, on the nomination of Dr. Barbee, Mr. D. M. Smith was elected Business Manager. The General Conference of 1800 provided for an Assistant Book Agent, and to this office Mr. Smith succeeded. Together with Dr. Barbee, he was reelected by the General Conferences of 1804 and 1898. It was during the latter quadrennium that 154 History of Methodism. the Publishing House's claim against the Federal government was allowed and paid, as noted in a previous paragraph. T)r. Barbee having declined to stand for reelection, the Gen- eral Conference of 1002 designated R. J. Bigham and D. M. Smith as Agent and Assistant Agent, respectively. In July, 1903, Dr. Bigham resigned, and shortly thereafter the Book Committee advanced Mr. Smith to the post of Agent and named Dr. A. J. Lamar, of the Alabama Conference, to be Assistant. The General Conference of 1906, recognizing the increasing responsibility of the Agency, provided for two in- cumbents of coordinate functions and authority, changing the designation to that of Publishing Agents. Mr. Smith and Dr. Lamar were reelected at this sitting, as also in 1010 and 1014. During 1004-05, the business of the House having outgrown the capacity of the building in which it had been so long con- ducted, the Agents and the Book Committee projected a new and larger building upon another site. A structure planned from the viewpoint of the most modern needs of the publish- ing business was erected on the corner of Broadway and Ninth Avenue, in the city of Nashville, in which the business of the House has since been conducted. Branch Houses have been established as follows: At Shanghai, China, in 1808; at Dal- las. Tex., in 1800; and at Richmond, Va., in 1012. All these branches are in successful and profitable operation. Mr. W. C. Everett, who was named as manager of the branch Publishing House at Dallas, has continued to occupy the post and has made a record of great efficiency. Rev. R. P. Wilson, D.D., who had been for a number of years editor and manager of the Pacific Methodist Advocate and was well known as an expert bookman and as possessed of fine managerial talent, was put by the Agents and Book Committee in charge of the branch House in China. Mr. Walter Pierce has been in charge of the Richmond branch since its establishment. He had com- mended himself through long service in the House at Nashville. The latest reports of the holdings of the Publishing House put its assets at the sum of f 1,404,040.48. The net proceeds of the business are by constitutional provision devoted to the relief of the superannuates of the Connection and to the widows and orphans of its preachers. To these claimants a substantial Sunday School Literature. appropriation is paid each year. The General Conference of 1914 gave direction for the removal and relocation of the cen- tral Publishing House at Nashville when the Annual Confer- ences shall have voted upon the conditions of removal and the city selected for the new location. To no section of its periodical publications is the Church so much indebted for the surprising fiscal prosperity of its Publishing House as to its Sunday school literature. Once developed into outline and detail, the Sunday School Depart- ment, through its literary output, has not only fed the spiritual life of millions, but has largely supplied the sinews of war for the Church's other needed and purposeful publication cam- paigns. Organized Methodism in America and the Sunday school movement practically began together. To Bishop As- bury is due the distinction of having first used the Sunday school idea in America and, indeed, of having organized the first Sunday school on the continent. In the Old World this honor is also due to John Wesley, who anticipated Robert Raikes in that field by several years. The earliest* book of Discipline (1785) gives directions for the holding of wreekly meetings for the instruction of children of Methodist parents and prescribes a book for use in such meetings. These meet- ings were generally held on the Sabbath. The directions given are as follows: " Where there are ten children whose parents are in society, meet them an hour once a week ; but where this is impracticable, meet them once in two weeks. Procure our instructions for them and let all who can read and commit them to memory. Explain them and impress them upon their hearts.'* In the Conference of 1784 was asked and answered this question : What can be done for the rising generation? Let the elders, deacons, and helpers place the children of our friends in proper classes as far as it is practicable, meet them as far as possible, and commit them during their absence into the care of proper persons who may meet them at least weekly. In a yet later Conference this conversation is reported as having occurred : 156 History of Methodism. What can be done to instruct poor children, white and black, to read? Let us labor as the heart and soul of one man to establish Sunday schools in or near the place of public worship. Let persons be appoint- ed by the bishops, elders, deacons, or preachers to teach gratis all who will attend and who have a capacity to learn from six o'clock in the morning till ten and from two o'clock in the afternoon till six, where it does not interfere with public worship. The Council* shall compile a proper schoolbook to teach them learning and piety. The tenth edition of the Discipline, bearing date of 1700 and compiled by Francis Asbury and Thomas (Joke, calls for the establishment of Sunday schools in fulfillment of the dis- ciplinary requirement. Thus it will be seen that Methodist Sunday schools are rather a development from the original children's classes than a succession of the ideals obtaining in the original Robert Raikes movement. "Methodist Sunday schools, therefore, are indebted to the Raikes movement for their name only; for their aim, curriculum of study, and pro- gram, they are indebted to the religious-educational purpose and program of the Church, first expressed in the children's meeting."! It was the dominance of this ideal that led the General Conference of 1824 to order the preparation of a catechism and other textbooks for Methodist Sunday schools. A further step in this evolution was the organization of the Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1840 a charter was prepared for this Union, under which it operated for a number of years. The first General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, held in Petersburg, Va.. in May, 1846, ap- pointed a Committee on Sunday Schools. No great changes, however, were made in existing rules and plans, and the Sun- day schools of the Church continued to work on under the scheme of the old Sunday School Union. At the General Con- ference of 1850, held in St. Louis, the ministers of the Church were instructed to "recommend everywhere to heads of fami- lies connected with our Church to form their children and servants into Sunday schools in all such places as are removed ♦The Council was an early device for the administration of the af- fairs of the Connection. It preceded the General Conference of 1792 and consisted of the bishops and a number of elders. f'The Encyclopedia of Sunday Schools and Religious Education." The Sunday School (In ion. L57 from our regular Sunday schools." This Conference also or- dered the formation of a connectional Sunday School Union, ordered a Sunday school journal to be published at Charles- toil, S. C, and elected an editor who was to edit all Sunday school publications. This editor was Dr. Thomas O. Summers, and the publication which was then launched was the lineal predecessor of the Sunday School Visitor, so widely known in the Connection to-day. A strong committee, with Dr. Lovick Pierce as chairman, was constituted by the General Conference of 1854 thorough ly to consider the whole Sunday school subject. In then- report this committee said: "We are satisfied that to a very great extent the future success of all evangelical Churches, especially in the older States and more established congrega- tions, must and will be in almost exact proportion to the wise and Scriptural indoctrination of the youthful mind, and that this seeding of the mind must be effected chiefly in the nur- sery and the Sunday school. The idea that we can permanent- ly enlarge and establish the Church we represent by merely a missionary system of preaching is, in our opinion, entirely Utopian. In such portions of our great field of labor (the older States) we must look for sound conversions more as the blessed sequence of a system of thorough religious education than as a result of those sudden and overwhelming conver- sions which characterized those times when such training was impossible. ... In the present state of society we regard Sunday schools as indispensable to carrying out the will of God as expressed in his Word regarding the indoctrination of the youthful mind with evangelical truth." The committee ended by presenting a constitution for the government of a Sunday school society. The report was adopted, and a board of managers, consisting of sixty-eight members, was appointed. This scheme had not had time to demonstrate its practicability when the years of the war left it a wreck, with much of the rest of the Church's machinery. In 1866, the year of nearly all beginnings, provision was made for a "suitable and appropriate liturgical service for the opening and closing of religious exercises in the Sunday schools; a new series of catechisms was provided for. These 158 History of Methodism. catechisms were to be doctrinal, with special reference to Wes- leyan teachings, and "graduated to the several stages of the learners." The Sunday School Visitor, the publication of which had been for several years suspended, was revived; sacred music was ordered to be made a feature of Sunday schools; and the Book Editor was directed to prepare suitable song books for use. He was also directed to prepare a list of books to be used as a Sunday school library and from time to time add such volumes thereto as were calculated to increase its at- tractiveness and usefulness. A decidedly forward step was taken in 1870 when the General Conference elected a Sunday School Secretary, to whom was committed the direction of the entire department of Sunday school literature and requisites, lie was directed to select and recommend the best system of uniform lessons to be procured. Dr. A. G. Haygood was named for this responsible post and immediately went about the diffi- cult task in a way that soon brought order and system out of what had become chaos. The Berean course of lessons was adopted and became the antecedent of the International Uni- form Lessons of to-day, together with their more recent develop- ment known as the Graded Series. Before the end of Dr. Hay- good's term of office, a distinct prophecy had been made of the splendid success which has attended our Sunday school work in later decades. The title of Sunday School Secretary was changed to that of Sunday School Editor by the General Conference of 1878. A new and compact arrangement was settled upon to meet the new conditions. A Sunday School Board, consisting of six members, with the Sunday School Editor as chairman, was constituted, to have charge of all connectional Sunday school interests. Few radical changes have been made in this early settled device of administration. One high, persistent ideal has been steadily followed — namely, that of making the Sun- day school what it was designed to be, a means of leading children to Christ and of developing their Christian characters. The administration of the Board has greatly stimulated the Sunday school and increased its influence for good. To its original plans it has in more recent years added the Teacher- Training Department and that of the Wesley Adult Bible Class. "Children's Day" — Sunday School Board. 1 59 A great institution has also been created in what is known as Children's Day, a day which has become a festival throughoul Methodism. On that day a large fund is annually raised for the extension of Sunday schools in destitute parts and for other missionary extension. The General Conference of 1906 authorized the establishment of a "Chair of Religious Pedagogy and Sunday Schools" in Vanderbilt University and directed that $50,000 should be raised for this purpose. The unhappy conditions which have obtained in connection with Vanderbilt University since that time have rendered this plan abortive; but with the happier educational program which has emerged in the Church it may be expected that the idea will experience enlargement, rather than decrease, in connection with the two great universities now in process of evolution. A thorough reorganization of the Sunday School Depart- ment was undertaken at the General Conference of 1914. The work was at that time committed to a Board "composed of one effective bishop, ten traveling preachers, and ten laymen." To these wrere added the following-named ex officio members: The Sunday School Editor, the Assistant Sunday School Ed- itor, the Superintendent of Teacher-Training, the Superintend- ent of the Wesley Adult Bible Class Department, the Educa- tional Secretary of the Board of Missions, and such other gen- eral officers as the Board may elect. This organization extends into the Annual Conferences. Each Annual Conference is directed to appoint a Sunday School Board, to be composed of one layman from each district and an equal number of traveling ministers. They are also empow- ered to employ a Conference Field Secretary or such other worker as may be deemed necessary. The Conference Boards hold anniversaries in connection with the sessions of the An- nual Conferences. Sunday school institutes are also held in connection with the District Conferences, or at any time the presiding elder may appoint. The Quarterly Conference has the management and oversight of Sunday schools in the local congregation. The following-named periodicals are regularly issued by the Sunday School Board : Sunday School Magazine, Senior, Intermediate, Junior, and Home Department Quarter- lies, Primary Teacher, Our Little People, Olivet Picture Cards, 160 History of Methodism, Adult Student j Visitor (an eight-page weekly), and Boys and Girls (a four-page weekly). To this list is to be added the Graded Lessons. The combined circulation of these publica- tions is millions of copies annually. During its history the Sunday School Department of the Church has had the follow- ing-named regularly elected heads — to wit: Dr. Thomas O. Summers was from 1846 to 1S70 editor of all the Sunday school publications. In the latter year he was succeeded by Dr. A. G. Haygood, afterwards made bishop, who served until 1S75. The successor of Dr. Haygood was Dr. W. G. E. Cunnyngham, who served in the office for nineteen years. Dr. W. D. Kirkland was elected in 1894, but died during the quadrennium, and was suc- ceeded by Dr. James Atkins, who continued incumbent until his election to the episcopacy, in 1006. His successor was Dr. E. B. Chappell, the present incumbent, who has carried the work of his department to a point of almost unrivaled excel- lence. The names of Rev. J. A. Lyons, Dr. L. F. Beaty, and Dr. Charles D. Bulla, as faithful administrators of subdepartments in the general Sunday school work, are due a place in these rec- ords. Mr. J. L. Kirby, the long-time efficient assistant in the Book Editor's office, was the first and (with but one exception during a brief space) the only assistant to Dr. Haygood for three years of his term as head of the Sunday School Depart- ment, and to Dr. Cunnyngham in the same office for nineteen years — an unbroken service of twenty-two years. That and his twenty-two years of work in the Book Editor's office make a record unparalleled in the Church. CHAPTEE X. The Christian Advocate — Death of Dr. David Morton — Board of Church Extension — Leaders of the Period — World's Missionary Conference — Twenty-Third Delegated General Conference, Church North — An In- ter-Methodist Document — Proceedings of Conference — Church of Can- ada—English Connection— 1898-1901 (Concluded). THE publication which has been inseparably associated with the Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, since its first establishment, though long ante- dating it, is the Christian Advocate, the official organ of the Connection. Nearly the earliest weekly periodical of the undi- vided Church, and the publication of which was begun in New York in 1826, was called the Christian Advocate. With it was combined in 1828 the Wesleyan Journal, of Charleston, S. C, and Zion's Herald, of Boston, Mass., with Nathan Bangs as ed- itor. Later the Herald was reestablished on its old foundation at Boston, and the New York publication continued as the Ad- vocate and Journal. The demand for journalistic representa- tion in an ever-growing field caused the General Conference which met at Cincinnati in 1836 to establish at Nashville, Tenn., the Southwestern Christian Advocate. Of this paper the Rev. Thomas Stringfield, of the Holston Conference, was made editor. He gave a quadrennium of time and labor to the editorship, but in 1840 declined reelection. Stringfield was a man well informed in the doctrines and history of the Church, was well trained for the times, and was effectively read in general literature. He had a turn toward controversy and was an antagonist to be respected. The Advocate acquired character and influence under his direction. In 1840 Dr. John B. McFerrin, through the nomination of the Tennessee Conference, was elected to fill the Advocate's vacant editorial chair. Being successively reelected, he remained in this post for eighteen years, or until 1858, a date far past the di- vision of the Church. The General Conference of 1846 changed the name of the paper from Southwestern Christian Advocate to that of the Nashville Christian Advocate and appointed Rev. Moses M. Henkle as assistant editor. Henkle later became 11 (161) 162 History oj Methodism, editor of that interesting old-time monthly known as the Lady's Companion. Dr. McFerrin being elected to the Book Agency in 1858, Dr. Holland N. McTyeire, who had already made editorial reputation on the New Orleans Advocate, was elected to the editorship of the Advocate at Nashville. At the same time another change was made in the title of the paper. The Church having permanently established publication headquar- ters in the capital of Tennessee, the weekly journal printed there was recognized as the "official organ" of the Connection. The word "Nashville" was, therefore, dropped from its title lines, and it was henceforth to be known as the Christian Ad- vocate. We have already seen how the editorship of Dr. Mc- Tyeire was interrupted by the Federal invasion and the com- mandeering of the Publishing House and its presses. When the General Conference met in 1806, Dr. McTyeire was made bishop, and Dr. Thomas O. Summers, of the Alabama Confer- ence, was chosen to be editor of the Christian Advocate. Dr. Summers was incumbent until 1878, when he was elected Book Editor, and was succeeded on the Advocate by Dr. O. P. Fitz- gerald, of the Pacific Conference. Dr. Fitzgerald's editorship extended over a period of twelve years, when in 1800 he was elected to the episcopacy, being succeeded in the editorship by Dr. E. E. Hoss, whose term in office also measured out twelve consecutive years. Dr. George B. Winton succeeded to the editorship in 1002 and after eight years was followed by Dr. Thomas X. Ivey, the editor incumbent. Thus is traced in briefest outline the eighty years' history of the Church's official organ. In all these years it has been to Methodism as a ban- ner, an ensign, leading to battle and to victory. The election of a new Secretary of the Board of Church Extension in 1808 sadly recalled the death, less than two months before the session of the Conference, of Rev. David Morton, D.D., the man with whose life that movement in the Chnrch had been identified from the day of its beginning. Few men so fully held the love and confidence of the Church, and few. if any, had ever more completely justified that confidence. Born in Russell ville, Ky.. June 4. 1833, he received a liberal , training in the very fine school kept in his native place by Pro- fessor Wines. His father being a prosperous business man of David Morton — Church Extension 1<>:J broad intellectual vision, he profited in a practical and educa- tional way by being employed in the management of the family interests. His knowledge of public affairs was widened by reason of a period of service in the office of the clerk of Logan County. Both his parents were deeply religious, and his con- version occurred logically at an early age. It was at a com- munion service in 1851 that his religious experience came to be consciously complete, and he accepted a call to the Christian ministry. In 1852 he received a license to preach and in 185.°> was received on trial into the Louisville Annual Conference. Only ten years of his ministerial life were spent in the pas- torate, a portion of which time was given in Montana and else- where to concerns of the kingdom which needed his help. He was the founder of Logan Female College, an institution of the Church in his native city. To this and to other like educational enterprises he gave tireless devotion and wise oversight. His experience in the West matured and broadened his always catholic sympathies, enlarged his views of the spiritual needs of the continent, and fitted him for the work of leading the Connection in the incipient Church Extension Movement. He returned from Montana sometime before the General Confer- ence of 1878, filled with a vision of the new enterprise; but the idea was not sufficiently advanced in the Connection to be realized in Conference action. During the four years ensuing plans for such an organization were discussed ; while in the Montana and other Western Conferences local Church exten- sion was organized. But the first official record in the history of the Church Extension Movement is found in the Journal of the General Conference of 1882 and is as follows : I. There shall he a Board of Church Extension, consisting of a Presi- dent, Vice President, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, and thirteen Managers, to be elected quadrennially by the General Conference and to continue in office until their successors are elected and accept. The bishops shall be ex officio members of the Board. The Board shall fill all vacancies that may occur during the intervals of the General Confer- ence. II. The officers elected by this General Conference shall, as soon as practicable, procure, under the general or special law of the State of Kentucky, an incorporation, whereby they and their successors in of- fice, in perpetual succession, shall be made a body corporate under the 164 History of Methodism. name of "Board of Church Extension," with powers of contracting and being contracted writh, suing and being sued, and all other powers deemed necessary for the successful prosecution of the work not in- consistent with these articles. Dr. Morton was elected Corresponding Secretary of the new Board and was thereafter regularly returned to this post by the vote of those General Conferences which met before his death. He lacked but a few months of completing twelve years of service in what was in a double sense the crowning work of his life. In his book, "David Morton : A Biography," Bishop E. E. Hoss says : When Mr. Morton entered upon his office, he had nothing but the au- thority of the Church with which to start. Two great tasks lay before him: First, to organize his office; and, second, to secure funds for carry- ing out the enterprise in hand. Neither of these tasks was light. If his business capacity had been smaller, he would have failed. But he knew how to begin intelligently, and in less than a year he had every- thing running on definite schedules. . . . The charter which he obtained from the Kentucky Legislature, and which was drawn up under his eye, if not by his hand, is an ideal one. When the Com- mission on Charters, appointed by the General Conference of 1914, went through it a few months ago, it did not find a single defect in it nor make a single suggestion in the way of altering and improving. The experience of Dr. Morton from this time forward be- came one of almost unparalleled activity. High-pressure office work, wide circuits of travel covered on railway trains in church enterprising and supervision, and, in addition to his own particular task, participation in many kinds of connec tional and evangelistic responsibilities, drew heavily upon his frame, though organized, like that of Atlas, to bear up celes- tial burdens, and at last exhausted it. The wisdom of the Church in organizing the Board was early and fully vindicated, as was also the wisdom of the Board's management. At the end of its first year it was able to report the building of four hundred and fifty-one "Exten- sion" churches, distributed not only over large sections of the South, but in many parts of the Far West. These numbers have grown into thousands and thousands in the years connect- ing that beginning with the present. Soon after the organiza- tion of the Church Extension Board the women of the Church, Miss Helm — The Two Andrewses — Boswcll — Callaway. 165 led chiefly by Miss Lucinda B. Helm, of Kentucky, asked to be permitted to share in the work. To this request Dr. .Morton gave ready and sympathetic interest and directed the matter with such skill as to bring about the organization of the Wom- an's Parsonage Aid Society, which later became a separate department known as the Woman's Home Mission Board, but still later to be absorbed in the general missionary organiza- tion. For nearly half a century the Methodism of Alabama was blessed with the labors of two distinguished men of the same name, but not related in blood. These were Allen S. Andrews, D.D., and Mark S. Andrews, D.D. Both having lived beyond the age of threescore and ten, their deaths occurred within a few months of each other, in 1898. Both were men of rare natural gifts and of scholarly attainments, both were emi- nent in the pulpit, and both were leaders in the cause of Chris- tian education. Dr. A. S. Andrews was at one time President of the Southern University, at Greensboro, and later editor of the Alabama Christian Advocate. Both were prominent in many sessions of the General Conference, and both represented the Connection in the Ecumenical Conferences of their day. The memorials of their lives abide. On April 12, 1898, in his home, at Macon, Tenn., died Thomas L. Boswell, D.D., a member of the Memphis Conference, in the eighty-second year of his age. Dr. Boswell was in his day dis- tinguished as a preacher and leader in the Connection. Both in the Annual Conference and in the general gatherings his in- fluence as a. man of exceptional sanctity and wisdom was felt and acknowledged. His son, the Rev. John W. Boswell, D.D., has filled many places of importance in the Church and is one of the best known of our living connectional editors. The men who earliest gave themselves to the work of per- sonally teaching in the schools established by the Church for colored education were thought to practice no common quality of self-denial. And, indeed, the observation was not without reason. The first President of Paine College, the Church's school meant for the education of colored preachers, was Mor- gan Callawray, D.D., who died at Oxford, Ga., January 16, 1899. Dr. Callaway was born in Washington, Ga., September 16, 166 History oj Methodism. 1831. At twenty years of age he entered the ministry of the Church. In education and general fitness he was marked for the work of a teacher; and, with the exception of three or four years in the pastorate, the Church kept him busy w ith the cause of education. At first he was President of Andrew Fe- male College, Cuthbert, Ga.; later he succeeded to the presi- dency of La Grange College and then to a professorship in, and the vice presidency of, Emory College, where his greatest work was done and where he remained until called upon to take up the already-mentioned new and untested work of colored edu- cation. Through his loyalty to the Master and the sublime sacrifices of his life he purchased to himself a good degree and left behind him an enduring memory. More, perhaps, than any other modern branch of the Chris- tian Church, Methodism has depended for its propagation and success upon the single work of preaching. It is, therefore, a most natural consequence that it has produced men whose whole thought and concern have moved to the end of preach- ing; men whose supreme distinction has been that of being preachers. Robert Newton Sledd, D.D., a member of the Vir- ginia Conference, who died May 15, 1809, was a type of this personal greatness in Methodism. With talents and culture that would have fitted him for any calling, he gave himself to the work of the pastorate and the pulpit. Joining the Virginia Conference in 1857, he spent forty-two years in the ministry, all in the bounds of one Conference. Half of this long min- istry was given to three Churches. From 1878 to 1808 he was a member of each succeeding General Conference. In 1802 he received a vote for the episcopal office which lacked but a few points of election. In connection with his pastoral work he for several - years conducted a widely circulated preachers' journal known as the Theological and Homiletical Monthly. His biographer says of him: "His style was clear, chaste, ele- gant, rising at times to a lofty beauty, but never loaded with verbiage nor encumbered with too much illustration ; . . . a pleasant voice, always under control, never disagreeably loud; a manner dignified, solemn, in good taste, animated, and without extravagance." His son. Dr. Andrew Sledd, has recently been called to a chair in the new Emory University. Richardson — Vordenbaumen — Cunnyngham. 167 An itinerant who combined some of the qualities of Jesse Lee and Lorenzo Dow and who exhibited much of the spirit of Peter Cartwright was Simon Peter Richardson, known as the "model" which so powerfully and effectively influenced the career of that marvelous evangelist and lecturer, Sam P. Jones. Simon Peter Richardson had a style and manner which gave peculiar emphasis and vitality to his message. Possessed of profound convictions, fearless and original, he left a trail of fire through his ministry of fifty years. He was born May 13, 1818, and died June 1G, 1899. The fervor of his spirit and the directness of his testimony live in the ministry of many of his successors. An autobiographical sketch, giving the rich experiences and engaging details of the story of his long min- istry, has been widely read by the present generation. It was in this year (1899) that the German Conference was called upon to mourn the death of its patriarch, the Rev. Frederick Vordenbaumen. Born in Bergholzhausen, Germany, July 17, 1824, he came in early life to America. A formal member of the Lutheran Church, he was in 1849 soundly con- verted. At this time his residence was in Galveston, Tex., where four years later he became a preacher, joined the Meth- odist Conference, and was honored as one of the founders of the Church's German work in the great State of Texas. His singu- lar piety and his loyalty to the standards of the Church helped to give character to the devotion and faithfulness of the Ger- man Methodists which has distinguished them through many years. Reference has already been made to the service rendered the Sunday School Department of the Church by the Rev. William G. E. Cunnyngham, D.D., one of the early editors of its litera- ture. This service was eminent and successful, coming at a time when the interest to which it was given was but begin- ning to take shape, both from the waste of war and under the exactions of new and testing standards. The life of this godly and useful man went out on the rising tide of the new cen- tury March 31, 1900, he being then in his seventieth year. His father, the Rev. Jesse Cunnyngham, of North Carolina, was one of the pioneer preachers of Methodism and one whose name is embalmed in an especially blessed memory. The simple, 168 History of Methodism. beautiful sketch of the son appearing in the General Minutes concludes with these words : ''His faith was strong and steady and his spirit as serene as the stars. It may be said of him now, as was said of him at fifty-six annual sessions of the Con- ference : 'There is nothing against him.' " Another name amongst those who during these years shared in the advanced activities and leadership of the Connection remains to be written in the roll of the dead. Thomas M. Fin- ney, D.D., of the St. Louis Conference, whose death occurred October 1, 1900, belonged to the type of men in the ministry who are properly described as "administrators." He possessed no striking pulpit powers, but as pastor and presiding elder showed himself a man of "the fullest foresight and strongest business sense." His ministry of fifty years was spent largely in the city of St. Louis, wmere he was instrumental in build- ing many of the churches of that great district. For a num- ber of years he edited the St. Louis Christian Advocate, during which time he secured the funds with which was established the Southwestern Book and Publishing Company, a collateral Methodist printing enterprise. To the cause of Christian edu- cation he rendered valuable service as Curator of Central Col- lege and as a member of the directories of other denominational schools. As a member of the Cape May Commission he assisted in giving to the cause of fraternity an early and happy direc- tion. He is best remembered as the biographer of Bishop Mar- vin, to the writing of whose life he brought an affectionate and intimate personal knowledge of the subject. It will be recalled that representatives of the world's mis- sionary forces met for the first time in an ecumenical gather- ing in London in June, 1888. In April, 1900, a similar meet- ing was held in 2sew York City and was described as "the largest religious gathering of modern times." The influence of these two great ecumenical assemblages is distinctly trace- able through the missionary activities of all the Churches of Protestant Christendom for a quarter of a century. In both of these gatherings the Methodist Churches of the world made a showing in keeping with their traditions. While the New York Ecumenical Missionary Conference was in session, and after the prophetic significance of its testimony Southern Missionary Conference. 1(>!) had been well developed, the delegates from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, met as a denominational confer- ence. The unanimous conclusion then reached was thai a meeting of similar character should be held at an early day within the bounds of the Southern jurisdiction for the purpose of studying and advancing the missions of the Southern Church. A committee was appointed to report this conclu- sion to the Board of Missions at its coming session. The plan met with the hearty approval of the Board, which appointed an Executive Committee to arrange for the proposed confer- ence. This conference assembled in the city of New Orleans on April 24, 1901, and continued its sittings for six consecutive days. It is well remembered as one of the greatest and most influential representative gatherings ever held in the Church. It was the first meeting of this character called by a single denomination. Its proceedings were marked by extensive and expert discussion of the subject of missions and related mat- ters of interest in the plans of Church work. The opening day was given to a consideration of the spiritual basis of missions. The chief speaker was Dr. Alexander Sutherland, of the Canadian Mission Board. Bishop James M. Thoburn, missionary bishop in India, also spoke. On the second day foreign missions in general was the subject considered. The discussion was participated in by many representatives from the Church's mission fields. The third day was given to the discussion of the problem of home and domestic missions. On the fourth day the cause of woman's work was well emphasized in the addresses of many distinguished women, amongst whom was Miss Jane Addams, of the Hull House Mission, Chicago. The fifth day of the conference was distinguished by a scene of liberality which has rarely been equaled in any gathering. After a stirring missionary address by Bishop Galloway, the audience began spontaneously to proffer gifts in money and subscriptions. Bishop Wilson, taking the platform, conducted the impromptu "heave" offering which resulted in a subscrip- tion of more than $50,000, the largest single collection for missions known in the history of the Southern Church. It was out of this munificent sum that the money came for founding the Soochow University. The Chinese citizens of that city had 170 History o] Methodism. pledged $25,000, which, added to the funds now in hand, put the work forward in a way that soon brought it to complete success. The sixth day of the conference was devoted to the consideration of the missionary work of the young people. The last day of the sitting was spent in reviewing the work and laying plans for the conquests of a great future which every one then realized to be before the Church in its mission fields. A meeting of lesser proportions, but modeled after the New Orleans gathering, was held in Waco, Tex., in May, 1904. The Church in the North also held a number of similar regional meetings. The twenty-third delegated General Conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church in the United States of America met in Chicago May 2, 1900. Some notion of the growth of Meth- odism during the nineteenth century may be gathered from the fact that the Journals of all the General Conferences from 1796 to 1836, a period of forty years, make a book of five hun- dred pages, while the proceedings of this single Conference fill a volume of more than eight hundred pages. The first Episco- pal Address, read by Bishop McKendree in 1S12, consisted of about nine hundred words, while the Episcopal Address sub- mitted at this time probably exceeded fifteen thousand words. So has Methodism expanded in its record and writing. The address could not fail to take note of the fact that the session fell at the beginning of the new century and that since the session of 1800 marvelous changes had passed over the American State and Church. It recalled the fact that the western boundary of the young republic was then the Missis- sippi River and that the Spanish Floridas shut it entirely from the Gulf of Mexico. The population was then five and one- quarter million, one-sixth of this number being slaves. Fewer than four hundred thousand persons, not including Indians, lived west of the Alleghanies. In all the land there was no power loom, no power press, nor any large manufactory of any character. The possibilities of electricity were not dreamed of. The cotton gin was little more than an industrial toy. The postal service was slow, and transportation was primitive and difficult. The republic was still in the stages of its testing. To the General Conference of 1800 the mem- General Conference in the North. 171 bers went on horseback. The printed Journal of that Confer- ence filled sixteen pages, contains no roll of members, and is defective in very many important points. No Methodist schools then surviving, all regulations for education were stricken from the Discipline. There was no Church periodical, boards and societies were unknown, and the vast and exhausting range of the circuit work made a highly organized system impossible. The following excerpt has an inter-Methodist, not to say an inter-Church, ring which gives it special significance at this point : During the century the various Methodist Churches in the United States, all being derivatives from the one Church of 1800, have In- creased from sixty-one thousand communicants to nearly six million. That is, in a population which has increased fourteen fold the Meth- odist Churches have increased more than ninety-seven fold. Com- mensurate with this, or even beyond it, has been the increase of the ministry, of Churches and Church property, and of Church literature. The Church school, which had no existence in 1800, has been founded and in its various grades is now numbered by the hundreds. Mean- time the great benevolences of the Church have been successively or- ganized. Our mission fields are on all continents, and God grants gracious increase among many races. New philanthropies, exponents of the grace of Him who went about doing good, have risen in all our chief cities. The successive additions to the republic, from the Louisiana Purchase to the islands and island groups recently acquired from Spain, have all been occupied by our vast itinerant system. But it is the interior and spiritual view of the century of Church life which profoundly moves the thoughtful soul. Spiritual results, in- deed, admit no arithmetical measurement. We cannot even approxi- mately estimate them. What multitudes for whom Christ died have through this ministration been saved from sin and enriched and en- nobled for the service of this present life! At this sitting it was formally announced that the consti- tutional provision for lay representation in the General Con- ference had been carried. The measure, therefore, became law, and the lay electoral conference came on as a part of the machinery of the Annual Conference. It was at this time also that the commission appointed for that purpose reported on the organic law, or constitution, of the Church. This draft was fully discussed in the general body, adopted, and sent to the Annual Conferences, by which bodies it was ratified in the following year. This constitution must be distinguished from 172 History of Methodism. the historic constitution inhering in the chapter on the Gen- eral Conference as drafted by Joshua Soule in 1808 and regu- larly amended from time to time. It contained that constitu- tion, but also much else not before of its character, as the Articles of Religion, the General Rules, the organization of Annual and subsidiary Conferences, etc. These became parts of the constitution by constitutional action of the General and Annual Conferences. Another important departure was taken in the action re- moving the time limit from the pastorate. The disciplinary direction was made to read: "He (the bishop) shall appoint the preachers to the pastoral charges annually." This action, preceding the adoption of the constitution described above, did not need to go to the Annual Conferences, being then of a statutory character. The institution of the pastoral limit in original Methodism was through the personal direction of Wesley as patriarch or by majority action of the Conference. In the Church, South, it is still a conventional regulation and subject only to majority action. As a fitting emphasis of the close of the old century and the opening of the new, the bishops had appealed through a com- mission to the Church to raise a twenty-million-dollar "Twen- tieth-Century Offering" for education and other causes. The commission reported that about ten million dollars of this fund had been subscribed. Other matters of general interest acted upon were: Resolutions in appreciation of the great evangelist, D. L. Moody, whose death had occurred but a brief time before; memorials to Congress against Mormonism and polygamy; a strengthening of the Church's law on divorce: and a protest to the Federal government against sectarian ap- propriations for public schools. This last action related par- ticularly to grants of money- by the general government to the schools of the Roman Catholic Church on Indian reser- vations, such grants having been declined by the Protestant Churches. The fraternal exchanges of this occasion were happy and in keeping with the spirit of the new century. Rev. E. E. Hoss, LL.D., editor of the Christian Advocate, represented the Church, South, in these fraternal exchanges. His address was Dr. Eoss — Deaths in the North — Elections. \7:\ an epoch-marking utterance. The character of it may be well judged from this selection: We have a common Methodism. Everything beyond 1844 belongs to us both alike. Wesley and Whitefield, Embury and Strawbridge, Coke and Asbury, McKendree and Soule, and the whole brotherhood of itinerants that rode round the continent preaching the most rational, the most joyous, the most commanding gospel that this world has ever heard, "all are ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's." The achievements that they wrought cannot be selfishly and exclusive- ly claimed by either section. If the South sent Freeborn Garrettson and Jesse Lee and Peter Akers and John P. Durbin to the North, the North sent Joshua Soule and William Winans and Jefferson Hamilton and Stephen Olin to the South, the last to be converted in a humble Methodist home in Carolina and returned to his native New England as a burning and shining light. The tides of personal ac- tivity and of religious influence flowed backward and forward over all imaginary lines. In those early days we were one in every sense. Nor can any unprejudiced man read the proceedings of the great con- vocation that issued in disruption without feeling that the participants in the debates, instead of being angry partisans, anxious to precipitate a crisis, were thoughtful and godly men, most solicitous to avoid a catastrophe. What was done was done in sorrow, not in anger. The parting caused a thousand heartaches. The anger came later and flamed out at last in bitter and passionate speech. Many things were said by your representatives and by ours that in our cooler moments we cannot possibly justify, things that must have grieved the heart of the compassionate Christ who died for us. They ought to be buried in oblivion. The Church in the North mourned during this period the death of Bishop John Philip Newman, a man of eloquence and rare intellectual attainments and well known throughout the families of Methodism. Dr. Alpha J. Kynett, for thirty-four years Secretary of the Board of Church Extension ; Dr. Charles H. Payne, Secretary of the Board of Education; Dr. Franz L. Nagler, Editor of Haus and Herd; Dr. William Nast, the father of German Methodism in the Northwest; Dr. Luke Hitchcock, the wise Publishing Agent; and Dr. William But- ler, the founder of Methodist missions in India, were also numbered amongst those who ceased from life and labor. The Conference, having ordered the election of two bishops, proceeded to ballot, with the result that David H. Moore and John W. Hamilton wrere elected to that office. Dr. William 174 History of Methodism. V. Kelley was elected Editor of the Methodist Review, Dr. James M. Buckley, Editor of the Christian Advocate, and Dr. Joseph F. Berry, Editor of the Epicorth Herald. Before ad- journing, the Conference appointed a commission which, with the bishops, was empowered to name delegates to the third Ecumenical Conference, called to meet in London September 4, 1901. The Methodist Church in Canada was, during this great new time, meeting and mastering many difficulties both in its older and its newer fields. One of these difficulties was furnished by the tribes of Indians in the vast Northwest of the Domin- ion and by the influx of Chinese and Hindus. About this time were reported a number of industrial schools for these in- digenous and imported populations with ninety-one mission- aries and five hundred Indian members enrolled in the mis- sions. For the Church at large the following figures were given : Ministers and probationers, 2,016 ; Church members, 280,162; local preachers, 2,264; exhorters, 1,125; class leaders. 0,162; churches, 4,334. The number enrolled in the Sunday schools was reported at 270,000, with thirty-three thousand of- ficers and teachers. The membership of the Epworth League was 71,000. For all purposes a contribution of flO per mem- ber was figured out. The property of the Church aggregated #15,500,000. The Book and Publishing House in Toronto was then the largest concern of its kind in the Dominion and con- tributed .$40,000 each quadrennium to the Superannuate Fund. The educational institutions of the Church numbered nine- teen, and of these ten were of college grade. The collections on the Twentieth-Century Fund were reported at $1,200,000, of which sum $700,000 was appropriated to the lifting of debts upon churches and schools. The collections of the Missionary Societies exceeded a quarter of a million dollars, being on an average of $1.25 per member. This showing gave the leaders of the Church confidence in fixing the standard of giving as "half a million dollars for missions." The reports of prosperity in the Motherland were not less reassuring. Despite the peculiar difficulties and disabilities incident to nonconformity in England, the Wesleyan Meth- odist Chnrch advanced rapidly. It was now in point of mini- Prosperity in England — Third Ecumenical. L75 bers the leading free Church of England. The year 1000 wit- nessed the largest accession to its membership during a period of nearly twenty years. Church extension went on apace, both in replacing old structures by handsome and commodious buildings and in providing for the spiritual needs of the over- growing populations of large towns and cities. As in Amer- ica the movement for a twentieth-century fund had brought large results. It had greatly stimulated the Forward Move- ment. The purpose to raise one million guineas and the plan for building a great central church house in London for hous- ing all the movements and enterprises of the Connection filled the people called Methodists with an almost unprecedented enthusiasm. Early in the movement the committees were able to report eight hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling in bank, with the assurance that a round million would be de- posited by the end of the year. The capital enterprise of the building of the sumptuous central home for Methodism was duly accomplished, and the same was sometime afterwards dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. The third Ecumenical Conference opened in Wesley Chapel, City Road, London, on Wednesday, September 4, 1901. Near- ly all of the five hundred delegates from the Eastern and Western Sections were reported present, and a great throng of visitors filled the galleries. The venerable building in which the Conference met is itself a center of interest to world- wide Methodism. It had been renewed and beautified for its present use. Despite the happy surroundings of the place and time, however, the whole Methodist heart was saddened by rea- son of the recent death of Dr. William Arthur, the patriarch of the English Church. The first session was opened by the Rev. W. T. Davison, D.D., President of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference. A simple form of service had been printed and was followed. It consisted of Scripture sentences, the exhortation, general con- fession, a collect, the Lord's Prayer, responsive prayers, a psalm, two brief Scripture lessons, the Te Deum, the Apostles' Creed, prayers for the Church, the King, other rulers, minis- ters, and people, and the prayer of St. Chrysostom. The Conference sermon was preached by Bishop C. B. Gal- 176 History of Methodism. loway, D.D., LL.D., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The subject of this notable discourse was, "Christian Experi- ence: Its Supreme Value and Crowning Evidence." It was divided into three main sections: I. Regeneration a Conscious Experience; II. The Irrepressible in Christian Testimony; III. The Crowning Evidence. As a sample of the eloquent argument of this now historic sermon, we give this quotation : God has made us a great people because we have been a witnessing people. Our itinerants, from Wesley to the present day, have preached doctrines verified by their own experiences. Not always have they spoken in the terminology of the schools or with the precision of dialecticians, but out of full hearts and by the constraint of Christ's love. Theirs has been a religion of knowledge. Each could say: "I know whom I have believed." The Ecumenical Conference, sitting, as it does, but once in ten years, has become a point "of definition and calculation." It admits of a recapitulation of the work and victories of world- wide Methodism. Very pertinently, therefore, the topic of this Conference was the relation of Methodism to world problems of evangelization, reformation, and missions. The second ses- sion was given to the pleasant formalities of welcome addresses from the British Section to the visitors from all lands. At this session the Rev. Dr. Davison presided and made the ini- tial address, which was responded to by representatives of all the other bodies. The opening session of the second day was presided over by Bishop A. W. Wilson, LL.D., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the work of discussion was fairly and earnestly begun. The many set speeches and discussions of the session from day to day make a large and healthy volume, which is in some valuable sort a history of the Methodism of an entire decade and much more a prophecy of the achieve- ments in decades to come. One of the pleasing early episodes of the Conference was a communication from the venerable Archbishop of Canterbury. In both a formal letter and a telegram he expressed himself as being in cordial sympathy with the spirit of Methodism and invoked the blessings of God upon the Conference and its de- liberations. The letter, unfortunately, had an irregular de- Archbishop and Bishop — Sad Tidings. 177 livery, but the telegram was cordial and direct. It read as follows : The Archbishop of Canterbury desires to express his hearty good will to the great Methodist gathering now meeting in London, and prays earnestly that God's blessings may rest upon its deliberations. In response to this telegram the Conference sent the follow- ing reply : The Ecumenical Methodist Conference, representing more than seven millions of communicants, earnestly prays that you may be spared for many years to fulfill the duties of your great office, and that the blessing of God may abundantly rest upon the Reformed Church of England, over which you preside. The Bishop of London sent a communication in much the same vein, to which the Conference replied at length, pleasant- ly and courteously pointing out the difficulties in the way of a union of Methodism and Anglicanism, which His Lordship had as pleasantly and as courteously suggested in his letter of greeting. The Conference was not less pleased, and felt equally honored, in receiving an informal and most hearty note of greeting from the venerable Dr. Joseph Parker, pastor of the London Temple. In that note the renowned pastor said: "I need not tell you that I always thrive in the warm atmosphere of Methodism and that my heart is with you in all this sacred festival. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus." To these several courteous communications is to be added one from the Curacy of Epworth Church and Rectory, the early home of the Wesleys, this communication offering the freedom of that sa- cred shrine to the members of the Conference and especially to the foreign delegates during their stay in the realm. The happy order of the proceedings of the Conference was interrupted on September 7 by news of the attempted assas- sination of President McKinley. Twenty years before, when the first Ecumenical Conference was in session in the same place, its proceedings were shadowed by the assassination of President Garfield, and the Conference passed through the painful experience of holding a memorial service to pay re- spect to the memory of the dead and to manifest the sympathy 12 178 History of Methodism. of the two great English-speaking nations in which Methodism has its chief representation. The news of the attempt to as- sassinate President McKinley was doubly distressing because he was not only the President of the great republic, but was one of the most honored Methodists of the world. The Con- ference took appropriate notice of the sorrowful event, and from day to day bulletins were read showing the progress or decline of the distinguished patient. On September 14 the sad news that the President had died was officially read to the Conference. One of the last acts of the body was to hold a memorial service in Wesley Chapel, in which representatives of Ecumenical Methodism took feeling and eloquent part. On this occasion the Rev. T. Bowman Stephenson, D.D., LL.D., who, by reason of his frequent visits to this country, had come to be regarded as all but an American, made these impressive statements : When, eight months ago, the best woman who ever sat on a throne, Queen Victoria, lay dead in her home over the Solent, it seemed to us that we could almost hear the bells tolling across the Atlantic and that we could almost see the Stars and Stripes drooping at half-mast over the White House at Washington. Little did we think then that eight months afterwards the bells would be tolling on this side and the flags flying at half-mast here for the good and generous man who had ordered that mark of respect for the Queen's memory and of sym- pathy with the British nation; but so it is. Just before entering upon the solemn service in memory of the dead President the Conference had sent formal greetings to His Majesty, King Edward VII., in which the following oc- curred : Meeting, as we have done, in the capital of your vast empire, we have felt it a duty and privilege to address Your Majesty a respectful greeting. We assure you that in the grief which overtook yourself, your family, and the empire through the decease of the late beloved and revered Queen Victoria the citizens of the United States share sym- pathetically and sincerely; and in the congratulations which greeted your accession to the throne they join not less heartily. To this message the King sent a cordial response, acknowl- edging the courtesy of the action as expressive of the senti ment of the countries represented in the Conference. 'A Terrible and Bloody War. 17!) Though but a decade and a half have passed since the record of these events, so completely do they belong to another time and action, and so sadly and bitterly have they been separated from the present by a terrible and bloody world war, that they seem, indeed, to be of the history of a remote past. By every token it is a new age which the Church and the secular world are now called to face. Nor is it impertinent here to add that one of the purposes of this history is to contribute to the new world feeling which is coming to the consciousness of Meth- odism and in a marked degree to the Methodism of the South. An enlarged share in the thought activities of the race and an invited responsibility for the wider Church program of evan- gelization are the manifest destiny of the Methodism of these parallels. And it is through a proper and sober study of our past that these new opportunities of the present are to be real- ized. It is not that any loyal people are to be humiliated by a study of the records of their antecedents, but that they are to find in these the true meaning of their destiny which waits for a fuller working out. He is the best historian who has tarried long enough in the company of the prophets to catch the contagion of their spirit. CHAPTER XI. General Conference in Texas — Total of Twentieth-Century Offering- Great Church Buildings — A Trained and Equipped Ministry — On Connectionalism — Order of Deaconess — Issues before the Confer- ence^— Cordial Fraternity — Conference Greetings — Child Labor — World's Fair — Board of Insurance — Episcopal Rulings — Review Made a Quarterly — "Worldly Amusements" — Reports of Fraternal Delegates — Episcopal and Other Elections — Contrast of Old and New — Per- sonnel of Conference— History of "War Claim"— 1902-1905. THE growth of Methodism in the Southwest had been very marked during the two or three quadrenniums immedi- ately preceding the General Conference of the Southern Church held in 1002. This growth had been particularly notewor- thy in Texas, where all the interests of the Connection had been put forward and where approximately one-seventh of the Church's membership was then to be found. These facts, used as an argument, secured for Dallas, the chief commercial city of the State, the session of the General Conference, the sitting beginning on May 7. As had been done by the Conference in the North, the body improved the occasion as an opportunity for reviewing the history of the Church and the nation during the century so recently closed. The quadrennium whose labors and events were coming up for special review had been marked by great world movements in which the Church could but feel a direct and lively interest and which were destined to affect its policies, particularly in the mission field and in its social endeavors. Disturbances in Eastern Asia, including the Boxer- troubles, were indications of portentous changes in the affairs of those oldest peoples of the earth; the war in South Africa had put the Dark Continent in a new relation to civilization and the prospects of the future; while the successful conclu- sion of the Spanish-American War had added an imperial is- land domain to American territory, started new currents of political thought and sympathy for the people of America in general, and created new obligations for the Churches. Tn the distribution of this insular territory the new republic of Cuba fell wholly to the Church, South, as a Methodist mission field. Q80) Thanh Offering — ChurclirBuilding — Ministry. 181 With the other Methodist bodies, the Church in the South had pushed the cause of the Twentieth-Century Thank Offer- ing. This offering was designed especially to aid the cause of education. The subscription totaled the sum of $2,031,948.17. This was applied mostly to local enterprises, in increasing the endowment of secondary schools, and in enlarging the equip- ment of colleges already established. About this time began in the Connection a revival in church- building which resulted in the erection and furnishing in many cities of the land and even in smaller towns, as sometimes in country districts, of a large number of church edifices of ex- ceptional sumptuousness and architectural beauty. The Renais- sance, or Greek order, became the prevailing type, an adapta- tion which has many points to commend it. In Atlanta, St. Louis, Memphis, Houston, Louisville, New Orleans, Kansas City, Norfolk, Fort Worth, and other cities the first congrega- tions led the movement in creating places of worship that have become monuments to the Church's spirit and enterprise. This movement extended also to the building of new and commodious houses for the pastors of Churches, so that the property hold- ings of the Connection and its efficiency in material equipment were vastly increased. In this connection may be mentioned the plan for building a representative church in Washington City, which took shape about this time. The funds for this undertaking have been pushed as a connectional claim until the needed amount has been approximately realized. A lot has been purchased, and the work of erection is expected to be- gin soon. This movement from the South has, it is reported, stimulated other denominations to like undertakings in the capital of the nation. It was not unnatural that the advance in material prepara- tion should go hand in hand with another and more significant advance, that of a larger and better preparation of the ministry for its part in the work. The demand for a properly-equipped ministry both caused, and was caused by, the material enlarge- ment already noted. The laity of the Church, through pressure of the intellectual forces of the age, came to feel the need of an authoritatively interpreted gospel, nor less to see the need of a better-housed Church and the proper support of 182 History of Methodism. the men who were to furnish interpretations. The early Meth- odist itinerant was generally a celibate and always a homeless wanderer; but in this modern time the preacher must contend with static conditions and meet the needs of a settled popula- tion and one constantly increasing in wealth and social oppor- tunities. He himself, therefore, must be settled, at least for the time being; must be intellectually furnished; must have a library and other means of constant and varied mental refresh- ment; must be as free as possible from fiscal cares; and for the delivery of his message must have a place which will attract and interest a congregation drawn from all classes. The great- est gifts and preparations are crippled by lack of these acces- sories; but the most elaborate preparations count for little if the man who is to use them is lacking in fitness for his task. The positive side of these doctrines is expressed in the en- larged Church equipments and in the increased facilities for theological training in our day. An issue somewhat related to the matters just discussed be- came more or less acute about this time. It grew out of what was described as a "weakened sense of connectionalism." The Methodist communion is not an association of many inde- pendent Churches, but is one Church, or Ecclesia, expressing its life and order through many and separate congregations. Likewise in the beginning of Methodism there was but one Conference, and the different bodies so called, when there came to be more than one, were regarded as separate sittings of the one Conference. So now the Annual Conferences are not dif- ferent organizations, but parts of the one organic whole, which is called the Connection. However, the temptation to both ministers and laymen has been to think to the contrary of this and to set Conference against Conference in matters where per- sonal interests are involved. Very early in the history of the Church, because of these local interests in opposition, the bish- ops began to find it difficult to transfer the preachers from one Conference to another. The growth, too, of a large connec- tional officiary and the administration of connectional trusts, which seemed to create a class rlistinct from the regular or- ders, resulted in not a little quiet disaffection, all of which naturally weakened the general bond. At one time there was Connectionalism" — Order of Deaconess. 183 fear that this "disconnectional" feeling might lead to serious results; but a distinct reaction soon set in, and certain great controversies which have since ensued have very thoroughly tested the connectional loyalty of both the ministry and the laity. However, the manifestation of "disconnectionalism," re- ferred to above, in some degree still persists. It may be well, therefore, to enter here an utterance of the bishops bearing upon it. The address of 1902 said : We deem it advisable that your attention be directed to a tendency, which seems to be growing in some of the Conferences, to lose sight of the connectional character of our Church. "While it has been the general usage among us to appoint the preachers within the bounds of the Conference of which they are members, still it is the genius of our system and the law of our Church that the bishops, as General Super- intendents of our Church, make such disposition of the itinerant preachers as in their judgment will best serve the whole Church. The itinerancy of a preacher does not mean his traveling only in one Con- ference, and that of his own selection, but in any Conference of the Connection, when in the judgment of the appointing power it is needful that he change his mere Conference relation. Your General Superin- tendents never insist upon the enforcement of this connectional idea except when the exigencies of the work demand it. It is a gratifying fact that our preachers very rarely, if ever, seek a transfer in order that they may be advanced in place and position. Almost invariably the transfer to the most desirable and important charges in the Church originates with the bishops and the charges to be served, and not with the appointee; and we deplore the disposition of some to use offensive epithets when referring to the transferred preacher as well as the at- tributing to him of unworthy motives. The Church in the South, had steadfastly and, as many of its leaders felt, wisely declined to recognize the order of deaconess, holding that the office in the ancient Church was an incident and not an established order or institution. But it now began to be plain that the demand for its recognition could not much longer be denied. Though its advocates had not been able to succeed directly with their plans, they had so far strengthened their cause as to give assurance of early success. That success came at this meeting of the General Conference. The deaconess movement was only one of a number of like issues pending. The mind of the Connection was being sown over with interro- 184 History of Methodism. gation points, and ideas once rated as novelties were now pa- rading in the attire of the commonplace and practical. Such were the conditions amid which the General Confer- ence of 1902 met in the city of Dallas. It was understood by the delegates that grave questions were to be met; a very Lit- ter controversy over the war claim collected by the Publish- ing Agents and the Book Committee had to be answered ; many difficult public positions in the Church were to be filled, while new policies for the new times had to be worked out and an- nounced. Never before, perhaps, had the party spirit been so manifest nor the counsels of the Church so divided; certainly at no time since has the situation been so distressing as then. But for all this, the session was memorable for the number and fervor of fraternal messages and exchanges. In addition to the usual visitation from the Church in the North, the Church of Canada, and the British Wesleyan Connection, mes- sengers or messages were received from the Methodist Prot- estant Church, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Southern Presbyterian Assembly, the Southern Baptist Con- vention, the African Methodist Church, the Colored Methodist Church, the Federation of Churches in America, and from the American Bible Society. The Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America had happily selected as its representatives President DeWitt C. Huntington, D.D., and the Hon. John L. Bates. Dr. Huntington, a scholar and educator, dealt largely in his fraternal address with those Biblical questions which were acute at the time. This paragraph from his address is well worthy of being put within easy reach of the young ministers and Bible students of to-day : Students generally among us have been led to distinguish more par- ticularly than ever before between the essential and the nonessential in Christian teaching. They understand that the fact of inspiration is of greater importance than its mode. Whether Moses wrote all the Pen- tateuch, whether there were two Isaiahs or only one, whether the in- spired writers incorporated historical and genealogical material which they found at hand, may be interesting subjects of investigation to Bib- lical critics; but, however decided, they in no way determine whether God has revealed himself to man or man can be saved through Jesus Christ. This criticism has, however, produced a modified view of in- Fraternal Messengers from the Church, North. 185 spiration. This was needed. Strictly speaking, God inspired men, not books. In the words of your lamented Haygood: "Why should any lover of the Bible contend one moment for a verbal and mechanical in- spiration? Had that been necessary in order to giving man saving truth, God would, we cannot doubt, have used holy men as mere pen points. In that case, however, holy men would not have been necessary. One man would have done as well as another, if he wrote a good hand." Christian apologetics sorely needed a deeper and higher idea of what constitutes inspiration. A view was demanded which holds fast to the speaking Spirit of God, makes room for the normal activity of human minds, and is in no way embarrassed by the human elements which are involved in the divine communications. Christian belief is made stronger by reason of the change. The address of Mr. Bates was popular, humorous at times, and overflowing with fraternity, good sense, and good feeling. When he said, "We live in the present, and many are the rea- sons which fill our hearts with hopes for the future," he seemed to play upon the hearts of his auditors as upon an instrument answering to a multiple harmony. The Rev. Ralph Brecken, D.D., and the Rev. Luke Wiseman, B.A., the former representing the Church of Canada and the latter the British Connection, of whose Legal Conference he later became President, spoke with the earnest and illuminating directness characteristic of the leaders of their Churches. Dr. Brecken's address was an epitomized history of the work of the Canadian Connection in its newly reorganized shape. Speaking of the lay ministry of the British Connection, Dr. Wiseman said : Our ordained ministry is nobly supplemented by our great order of lay (or, as we call them, local) preachers. Some of the most prominent members of our Church, men whose ability and worth were by our late gracious sovereign recognized with royal favor — members of Parlia- ment, justices of the peace, city and town councilors, members of the learned professions — are to be found in the ranks of this noble order. Without the aid of the local preacher, Methodism in the rural districts would soon become extinct. It is no uncommon thing for a circuit with two traveling preachers to have from eighteen to twenty-five places on the plan. It is obvious that the majority of these must be supplied by local preachers; and, as a matter of fact, every Sunday five out of every seven pulpits of Methodism are occupied by these devoted, self- sacrificing men. 186 History of Methodism. The episcopacy had suffered no loss from death during the quadrennium ; but several members of the college were in feeble health, and some were even unable to attend the session of the General Conference. Bishops Granbery, Hargrove, and Fitz- gerald were, at their own request, placed upon the retired list. The affectionate greetings of the Conference were transmitted to Bishop Keener, who, at his own request, had been retired four years before. Messages of remembrance were also sent to the Rev. Jerome C. Berryman, of Missouri, and the Rev. Andrew Hunter, of Arkansas, the "only surviving members of the General Conference of 1844." Rev. B. M. Palmer, D.D., the distinguished Presbyterian divine of New Orleans, then near the end of his venerable life, was remembered by the Con- ference in a message tendering its sympathies and prayers. The agitation against child labor had engaged a wide public- interest, and the Conference took notice of the same in the dis- cussion of a series of resolutions dealing therewith. Later the departmental literature of the Church gave much attention to the study of this abuse and was, with other similar agencies, instrumental in mitigating it and in securing proper laws against it in the States where it most prevailed. The St. Louis World's Fair, held in commemoration of the Louisiana Purchase, was to come on in 1904, and the Confer- ence recommended that the connectional boards of the Church make, in connection therewith, "a suitable exhibit of the mis- sionary, educational, and other interests" in their hands. A large and prosperous part of the Church's field is now included in the territories embraced in the Louisiana Purchase. An important piece of legislation, establishing a Board of Insurance, was enacted. A part of the text of the enacting resolution is as follows : Resolved, That a Board of Insurance shall be appointed by this Gen- eral Conference, upon nomination of the Committee on Church Exten- sion, which shall consist of eleven members, and a majority of whom shall reside in or near the city of Louisville, Ky. It shall be the duty of said Board to make arrangements for the more general and adequate insurance of our Church property against destruction by fire, lightning, or storm. Said Board shall have authority either to organize a com- pany for said purposes, to be operated under the authority and patron- age of the General Conference, or to make arrangements with some ex- Insurance — Legislation — Fraternal Reports — Elections. 187 isting company whereby the trustees of our Church property may be enabled to secure adequate protection for the same upon terms more favorable than can now be obtained at the established rates of the lead- ing commercial companies. The Board shall have no authority to in- volve the Church or any department thereof in any pecuniary obliga- tion or liability by its acts. The members of said Board shall serve for a term of four years and until their successors shall have been elected; but the Board shall have authority at any meeting to fill vacancies oc- curring in its membership. The College of Bishops was directed to furnish the General Conference at each session a copy of all official rulings upon matters of law arising during each quadrennium. It was also provided that no episcopal ruling should be authoritative, ex- cept in the case pending, until such decision shall have been passed upon by the whole college in session. The Methodist Review was, by order of this Conference, changed from a bimonthly to a quarterly publication. The Book Editor was ordered to print in the Book of Discipline a uniform text of the Apostles' Creed for use in all the services and offices of the Church. The address on "Worldly Amuse- ments" was ordered to be retained as an official interpreta- tion of the general rules bearing on that subject. Bishop Hendrix reported as fraternal delegate to the Wes- leyan Conference, Dr. E. E. Hoss as delegate to the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States of America, and Dr. A. Coke Smith as delegate to the Church of Canada. The Com- mittee on Episcopacy having recommended the election of two bishops, the Conference proceeded to ballot, with the result that Dr. Hoss and Dr. Smith were chosen for that office. Bishop Smith did not live through the quadrennium. An ap- propriate sketch of his life and work will appear in its place in a future paragraph of this narrative. The connectional elections resulted as follows : Book Agents, R. J. Bigham and D. M. Smith; Book Editor, J. J. Tigert; Editor Christian Advocate, George B. Winton; Sunday School Secretary and Editor, James Atkins; Epworth League Secre- tary and Editor, H. M. Du Bose; Missionary Secretary, W. R. Lambuth; Secretary Board of Church Extension, Peter H. Whisner; Secretary Board of Education, John D. Hammond. This first General Conference of the new century affords an 188 // is tor y of Methodism. opportunity for a study and contrast of the new and old lead- ership of the Connection. It is interesting to note how one familiar with the Church's history associates certain names with the earlier and more eventful sessions of the General Con- ferences. Besides those of whom more or less extended sketches have already been given in this connection, one recalls for the first twenty years, including and following the epochal General Conference of 1866, such names as those of Eldridge R. Yeitch, Samuel Roszell, Leonidas Rosser, Shadrach Hargiss, Charles F. Deems, Nelson Head, L. D. Burkhead, Sidi H. Brown, Sam- uel Anthony, John W. Glenn, H. H. Parks, Josephus Ander- son, Joseph Cottrell, A. H. Mitchell, Joseph B. Walker, Robert J. Harp, W. E. M. Linfield, John G. Jones, H. H. Montgomery, George W. D. Harris, William C. Johnson, John W. Hanner, Thomas Maddin, Wellborn Mooney, James S. Kennedy, John W. McTeer, Robert Hiner, George M. Winton, John H. Harrell, W. H. Hughes, J. W. P. McKenzie, J. M. Binkley. Asbury Da- vidson, Josiah W. Whipple, William H. Seat, and W. R. Gober. These are names worthy, each, of a detailed story. Their record is in their share of the labors which planned and shaped the earlier legislation of the new era upon which its fabric rests so well. The middle times brought to the roll of the General Confer- ences the names of others whose tasks were of enduring signifi- cance in linking up the issues of the century. Of these were: W. V. Tudor, Alex G. Brown, W. P. Mouzon, X. A. Cravens, W. H. Watkius. David Sullins. Ira P. Walker. Horace Jewell. Or- cenith Fisher, Rumsey Smithson, T. S. Wade, R. X. Price. J. O. A. Clark, J. M. Poland, George H. Hayes, J. H. Pritchett, J. H. McLean, H. A. Bourland, M. H. Xeely, John Adams, H. D. Moore, J. W. Rush, Frank Richardson, B. M. Messick, R. H. Mahon, J. L. Wheat, William Murrah, H. V. Philpott, John B. McGehee, Charles B. Dowman. E. A. Yates, T. H. B. Anderson, and J. M. Mason. A number of these names appeared on the roll of the General Conference of 1800, but in the membership of 1902 the recur- ring number was small. In the sessions which filled up the interval of these years appeared many names which have be- come known to the Connection. Amongst these are John A. Clerical and Lay Leaders — War Claim. 189 Kern, J. W. Tarboux, D. W. Carter, A. P. Parker, James Camp- bell, D. Atkins, J. H. Weaver, W. C. McCoy, Frank L. Reid, W. H. Anderson, W. C. Lovett, J. O. Branch, W. F. Glenn, S. A. Steel, John O. Willson, John O. Keener, C. H. Briggs, John W. Heidt, S. H. Werlein, S. A. Weber, and C. C. Woods. The General Conference of 1902 has already been referred to as a forensic session. A number of important, not to say ex- citing, questions were on the calendar, and there was no lack of earnest argument. Several times the discussions became heated and helped to make the sitting a memorable one. The debates and committee proceedings were actively participated in by many who had already become experienced in the work of legislation and by others new to the lists, some of whom have since become leaders in discerning the things that Israel ought to do. Amongst those not already mentioned were: A. F. Wat- kins, F. N. Parker, Stonewall Anderson, F. S. H. Johnston, James Cannon, Jr., J. Powell Garland, B. F. Lipscomb, J. C. Rowe, R. A. Childs, R. D. Smart, H. P. Hamill, C. F. Reid, V. A. Godbey, A. J. Weeks, James A. Burrow, R. P. Howell, T. F. Brewer, S. H. Wainright, W. E. Vaughan, Samuel S. Keener, Fielding Marvin, John P. McFerrin, W. P. Love joy, Horace Bishop, I. W. Clark, W. L. Nelms, John R. Nelson, John M. Barcus, and J. J . N. Kenney. The lay delegations were also abreast of the interest and ac- tivities of the session. Amongst those well known in the Con- nection were: W. F. Vandiver, Arthur B. Pugh, T. T. Fish- burne, T. S. Garrison, E. C. Reeves, Creed F. Bates, J. H. Hine- mon, Wilbur F. Barclay, John R. Pepper, R. W. Millsaps, E. B. Craighead, J. R. Bingham, B. M. Burgher, L. Blaylock, R. S. Hyer, W. R. Webb, J. A. Odell, and F. M. Daniels. By far the most absorbing and distracting question which came before the General Conference of 1902 was that which in- volved its action in final disposition of the war claim. This matter is of such historical interest and importance that a full record of it may well be entered here. It is a fact familiar to the readers of this history that the Church had a legitimate claim against the Federal government for the use and abuse of its Publishing House at Nashville, Tenn., during the War be- tween the States. This claim was estimated as something like 190 History of Methodism. half a million dollars. Nearly thirty years had been spent in vain and expensive efforts to secure an indemnity, when about 1894 the Book Committee and the Book Agents employed Mr. E. B. Stahlman, an attorney at Nashville, to prosecute the claim. For his services he was to receive thirty-five per cent of the sum collected. This was not an unusual fee, the government itself, it is asserted, in certain Indian claims having allowed an even larger fee to agents. But it was agreed between the Church's attorney, Mr. Stahlman, and the representatives of the Publishing House that all legal and business communica- tions should be made through the attorney and that all in- quiries should be referred to him for answer. This was also understood to accord with the usual custom governing such attorneyships. The work of Mr. Stahlman was pressed with such vigor that by March, 1898, a bill allowing the Church $288,000, or about fifty per cent of its claim, had passed without incident the Lower House of Congress and was sent to the Senate for its action. Sometime previous to this Senator Bate, of Tennessee, wired to the Agents certain questions concerning the claim. To these inquiries Dr. Barbee, Senior Book Agent, sent the following telegram from Bryan, Tex., he being at that point on official business: Your telegram mailed me here. Confer with Stahlman, who under- stands the case thoroughly and has full authority. On March 5 Senator Pasco, of Florida, who had taken much interest in the bill, wrote the Book Agents the following letter : Dear Sirs: Some malicious persons are circulating a slanderous story about the Capitol, with the evident purpose to obstruct the passage of our bill. It is to the effect that you have made a contract with Mr. Stahlman to pay him forty per cent of the amount recovered. It was not necessary for me to get any contradiction, because I knew very well that the Agents of the Publishing House knew better how to conduct their trust than to make such an improvident bargain. I knew also that there was no power to make such a contract, so I did not hesitate to denounce it as a malicious slander; and I am sure also that the Sena- tors who came to me for information upon the subject are thoroughly satisfied with my statement. But, as a matter of caution, it will be very well for me to have a positive denial from you, which I can use if it appears necessary, either before the bill comes up for action or on the War Claim Letters and Telegrams. 101 floor of the Senate. So I suggest that you send me a telegram on Mon- day as to the facts of the case and authorizing me, as I am sure you can, to deny this statement. I am glad to say that there is a very fair prospect of getting the bill up for consideration by Tuesday, and every- thing indicates that our efforts will be successful. I have had a good many conferences with Senators with reference to it, and the many as- surances of support that have been given to me and others who have taken an interest in the matter convince me that it has gained strength since it came to the Senate. Senator Bate has been unceasing in his efforts to bring the matter to a successful conclusion, and we shall con- tinue to do all in our power to get a vote as early as is possible. This letter was received by the Book Agents on March 7, and they immediately sent the following telegram in reply thereto : The statement is untrue, and you are hereby authorized to deny it. Thirty minutes later, fearing, as the testimony shows, that this telegram might prove misleading or be insufficient, and mindful of their contract, as they claimed, with the Church's attorney, the Book Agents sent another wire as follows : Have asked Mr. Stahlman to call at once and see you. He is a gen- tleman upon whose statement you may implicitly rely. He is our friend and neighbor and an official member of our Church, whose in- terest in our behalf reaches beyond and above pecuniary considerations. On the same day (March 7) Senator Bate, of Tennessee, sent the Book Agents the following telegram : Telegraph to-day answer to Senator Pasco's letter to you Saturday as to Stahlman having fee of forty per cent, or any other fee, in case of payment of your claim. I should like to hear from you also. In my judgment, if true, it will endanger the bill. In answer to this telegram the Book Agents sent a wire re- peating their first telegram to Senator Pasco. On the day fol- lowing this exchange of messages the Senate bill passed on its final reading. In the concluding arguments in favor of the bill the telegrams of the Book Agents were read, but dissoci- ated from the letter that called them out, and, as it appears, to prove that no percentage was to be paid the attorney. (The letter of Senator Pasco had asked if forty per cent was to be paid.) It was held that if this letter and the one from Senator Bate had been read before the Senate, the famous war claim 192 History of Methodism. controversy would never have had a record. The Agents al- ways contended that they did not object to its being known — they supposed, indeed, that it was known — that the Church's attorney was to receive compensation. They objected only to giving, and felt under obligations not to give, the details of their contract except through their attorney; and this informa- tion, as an explanation satisfactory to their questioners, they sought to convey by wiring their attorney to visit them. The attorney obeyed and reported that the interview was satis- factory.* They had not sought a correspondence with Senators, but had simply and briefly answered their inquiries in a way which, they believed, would lead to the information which the Senators sought, at the same time conforming to the obliga- tions of their contract with the attorney. The plan miscarried, but this was not charged to any immoral or dishonorable motive on the part of the Book Agents. In the light of history fulfilled, it is easy to see how the affair might have been con- ducted differently; but the demand of the moment, imposing necessity for telegraTjhic quickness, left little opportunity for reflection. If mistakes of judgment were made by the Book- Agents, the United States Senators involved in the correspond- ence were equally open to the charge of falling into mistake. With better knowledge of all the situation, the Book Agents could have gone more directly at the issue. Doubtless it is also equally true that had the Senators understood the viewpoint of the Agents the controversy would never have come about. The after record shows that the Church and the general public took this view of the case. The Book Agents a little later put their case together in the following letter to Senator Pasco : Bear Sir: On the 7th of March we received a letter from you, under the date of March 5, in which you stated among other things: "Some malicious persons are circulating a slanderous story about the Capitol, with the evident purpose to obstruct the passage of our bill. It is to the effect that you have made a contract with Mr. Stahlman to pay him forty per cent of any amount recovered." To this we responded: "Letter of 5th received. The statement is untrue, and you are hereby authorized to deny it." ♦"Life of Barbee." Book Agents and Senators — Payment. 193 We also, on the 7th of March, received a telegram from Senator Bate on the same subject and repeated to him the telegram we had sent to you. We should not deem it necessary to say anything further on the subject but for the fact that during the discussion of our bill in the Senate (as shown in the Congressional Record, which we have just read) statements were made by one or two Senators which, by infer- ence at least, were calculated to create the impression that nothing was to be paid by the Publishing House to any attorney or representative of the Book Agents. The claim, as you are aware, was pending in Con- gress for nearly thirty years. During several years of that period we had a Washington attorney (Mr. Moyers) employed on a percentage basis. This arrangement was made with the full knowledge and con- sent of our Book Committee (the Book Agents, as very properly stated to you, having no authority to make such contracts without the consent of the committee). For reasons satisfactory to our friends in the Sen- ate and House, we declined to renew the contract when it expired and instead accepted the proffered assistance of others, some of whom were devoted friends and members of our Church, and one of whom, even as early as 1891, and before the agreement with the Washington attorney expired, had rendered valuable assistance in our endeavors to pass the bill. This gentleman was as earnest in his endeavor to help us then as he was subsequently; the only difference being that formerly much of his time was occuDied in other pursuits, while during the past two and a half years he has had time which he could call his own, and a good portion of which during his extended sojourn in Washington he has seen fit to devote largely to our interests. It is hardly to be presumed that this gentleman and others who assisted him should be willing to serve the Publishing House and incur the large expense of staying in Washington without some compensation; and if, therefore, in the final adjustment it was deemed proper to pay these gentlemen a reasonable compensation for their services and expenses, and this compensation was paid with the consent of the proper authorities of the Church, you, as well as other Senators, we are sure, will agree that it was not an im- proper thing to do. The indemnity allowed by the Senate bill was promptly paid into the hands of the Book Agents, who thereupon made settle- ment with their attorney on the contract basis of thirty-five per cent of the whole sum. Sometime later — that is to say, in June of the same year — charges, as before stated, were made to the effect that the Senate had been misled in allowing the claim, and the telegrams above quoted were made the basis of these charges. A formal investigation was ordered and under- taken by the Senate as a body. The Book Agents joined in the request for this investigation, saying: 13 194 History of Methodism. We hope the resolution will pass and that a thorough investigation may follow. We do not care to discuss the matter now. All we ask is that you and other Senators who supported the claim shall suspend judgment and refrain from comment or criticism until the committee shall have done its work. We are persuaded that we shall be able to show to the satisfaction of the committee and the Senate that all statements made by us designed to promote the passage of the bill were justified by the facts and circumstances of the case. The investigation prosecuted by the Senate committee was largely informal and was confined to a single passage in the history of the case — namely, the purpose and effect of the before-mentioned telegrams. The Book Agents appeared before the committee and entered their contention in answer to the charges of evasion and concealment. This answer was that categorical replies had been given to categorical questions and that in withholding specific information as to the fees of their attorney the Book Agents had acted within what they believed to be their rights and in respect to their contract. The claim being just, it followed, as they contended, that the represent- atives of the Church had a right to employ an attorney and pay him such fee as they judged equitable, their responsibility being only to their constituency, the general body. Further- more, they disclaimed any purpose to deceive or mislead those responsible for the allowance of the claim. After being a number of days in session, the Senate com- mittee reported, declaring that "no censure should rest upon the Church for any action of its Agents or representatives." and concluding with this finding — viz. : The committee has not thought it proper to suggest to the Senate any action concerning this matter, it appearing to the committee that the governing authority of the Church must be allowed to take such measures as it may think proper after it has been fully acquainted with the facts concerning the passage of the bill and the final dispo- sition of the money appropriated by it. After this action the College of Bishops, speaking for the whole Church, transmitted to the Vice President of the United States, as the presiding officer of the Senate, the following: While reaffirming the justness of our claim, payment of which has been sought for twenty-five years, we insist that the Church cannot afford to accept it as a gratuity or on conditions that reflect upon its honor. Senatorial Investigation — General Conference Action. 11)5 Inasmuch, therefore, as some Senators have affirmed on the floor of the Senate that they were induced to support the claim by misleading statements on the part of the representatives of the Church — state- ments, however, which do not affect the merits of our claim — we here- by give this assurance: That if the Senate, by affirmative action, de- clares that the passage of the bill was due to such misleading state- ments, we will take the proper steps to have the entire amount returned to the government. This communication having been referred to the Senate Committee on Claims, the said committee reported that mis- statements and concealments complained of affected only the beneficiaries of the fund and not the United States and that, therefore, the Senate should take no further action in the mat- ter. When this report was made to the open Senate, a resolu- tion accepting the finding of the committee was adopted with- out a dissenting vote. Later, replying to a communication from one or more of the bishops, a letter was written and signed by seventy-nine Senators, including a majority of the Senators who had voted for the bill, in which the following statement was made: The resolution adopted by the Senate was a distinct reply to that offer [the offer made by the bishops], declining to recognize the pro- priety of the repayment by the Church of this money to the govern- ment. In view of this record, we are unable to see upon what ground there can be based the contention that the Church should make a sec- ond offer and invoke a second refusal from the government or any de- partment thereof. The report of the committee and the resolution, both adopted by the Senate in explicit terms, exonerates the Church from all blame or ground of criticism for anything which occurred in con- nection with the passage of the bill and is a clear expression of opinion that there is no obligation on the part of the Church to repay the money to the government or to make further offer to do so. The General Conference at great length, both of time and argument, discussed the issues involved in the settlement of this claim. As a result of the investigation of that body, a de- cision was entered in its officially closed record, the Journal. The "summary of that entry is as follows : First, that the Church had a historic, just, and legal claim against the government for the use and abuse of its Publishing House. Second, that the amount finally received and accepted as payment in full of this claim was not equal to the loss sustained. Third, that, in 19G History oj Methodism. answer to the complaint that this payment had been secured through misleading statements of the Church's representatives, the bishops of the Church had offered to secure the return to the government of the whole sum paid (which action was in- dorsed by the General Conference ) , but that the offer had been declined. Fourth, that the Church repudiated "all the acts of concealment, misstatement, or unfairness on the part of any or all persons representing the Church in the prosecution of this claim before Congress.'' Fifth, this action was declared to be "a final settlement of the whole matter." This settlement was accepted with satisfaction by the Church at large, and the affair became closed for all time. CHAPTER XII. Romance of the Middle Southwest — Andrew Hunter — The Nashville Community — Robert A. Young — Revival of the Methodist Review — John W. Hinton — Men of Northern Birth — W. M. Prottsman and Church Extension — H. C. Settle — Experiences in Missouri — E. K. Miller — Samuel Lander and Lander College — Death of Bishops Keener and Hargrove — J. D. Barbee — "The Apostle to the Cubans" — John D. Vincil — Other Well-Known Men — Westward — Northern Gen- eral Conference of 1904 — Episcopal Address — The New Century — Superannuation of Bishops — Dr. Kilgo, Fraternal Messenger — A Con- stitutional Question — New Bishops — Connectional Elections — Cana- dian Methodism — General Church Union in Canada — English Meth- odism— English Leaders — In Ireland — In Australia — 1902-1905 (Con- cluded). THE history of the Middle Southwest, which particularly describes the lower reaches of Missouri, the State of Arkansas, and the Indian lands, carried an aroma of romance from the earliest times. At first this romance attached to the adventures of trappers, trail makers, and explorers of the vast hunting grounds which lay in these regions. But immediately the trails were struck, and the rudimentary settlements were visited, by the Methodist itinerants. There are many names in a recent history of the Church which, when mentioned, call to mind the wealth of these early stories of adventure. Mention has already been made in these pages of the name of Andrew Hunter, the most distinguished of the pioneer preachers of Arkansas. This remarkable man died on June 3, 1902, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. Born in County Antrim, Ire- land, December 20, 1813, he came in early youth with his parents to America. The first settlement of the family was in Pennsylvania. In younger manhood the father was not reli- gious, but the mother had been turned from Catholicism to Protestantism while yet in the old country. Through the influ- ence of a faithful Methodist preacher, the whole family, includ- ing the father, who died in Pennsylvania while the son was yet a youth, were brought into the Methodist Church. In 1835 young Hunter went West and took up the work of school- teaching in Missouri. Having a sound religious experience, his (197) 198 History of Methodism. mind naturally turned toward the ministry. Before he had fully settled his mind as to the clearness of his call, an oppor- tunity arose to teach in a mission school for the Indians. This took him into the Indian Territory, to a point near the present city of Muskogee, where, an occasion arising, he began to preach before having received a license. Being licensed at a later day, on the organization of the Arkansas Conference in 1836, he was received into the traveling connection. Then began a career of apostolic labors exceptional even in a land and time of exceptional records in the Methodist itinerancy. Sixty-six years his ministry continued, and during this time he was never located and never transferred. Many times the Confer- ence lines were changed, but he remained with the historic segment. As circuit preacher, presiding elder, pastor in city charges, agent of the American Bible Society, agent for the Book and Tract Society, he maintained an unbroken and un- faltering record. Some of his earliest circuits and districts were hundreds of miles in extent, and the course of the itiner- ant was through trackless wildernesses and over unbridged rivers. He became to Arkansas what Asbury and McKendree had been to the continent. His influence was mighty through- out the young commonwealth. Nor was it less in the general councils of the Church. Elected a delegate to the General Con- ference in 1843, he became a member of the famous sitting of 1814 and was returned to eleven of the subsequent sittings in the Southern Church. For nearly a decade before his death he was reported to be one of the two surviving members of the body which divided the Church. Five times he presided over the Annual Conference in the absence of the bishop and was often de facto in important exigencies. In the distressing times which followed the War between the States he consented to sit in the State Senate of Arkansas and was by the legisla- ture elected to the Senate of the United States, but did not serve in that post because of the Federal reconstruction act which shortly went into force. A few years later he was ten- dered indorsement for the governorship of the State and might easily have been elected, but declined the honor, saying he could not abandon the work of a Methodist preacher for even the governorship of Arkansas. His honors were more than Andrew Hunter — R. A. Young. 199 those of the civic bays; they were in the hearts of the people, and these he had won through the faithfulness of his ministry, which at one time or another touched every part of the terri- tory of the State. "His mellow, vibrant voice made his speech impressive," wrote a contemporary who had felt the power of his message. This message, and not himself, was his one con- cern. Thus it was that his message made him great. The local community at Nashville, Tenn., was long noted for the number and distinction of its Methodist leaders. Not only of the men drawn thither by reason of its being the Church's connectional center, but of those to the manner born, as it were, came in an earlier day a preponderance of leaders, clerical and lay, who were trusted to say what Israel should do. A name worthy of association with this distinguished memory is that of Robert A. Young, D.D., who died February 7, 1902. Dr. Young was for many years prominently connected with the missionary and educational enterprises of the Church, serving a term as General Missionary Secretary and twenty-eight years as Secretary of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University. He was also the first financial agent of that institution and gave valuable aid in raising funds for its equipment in the times before cupidity and disloyalty had plotted the destruc- tion of the Church's title thereto. Dr. Young was converted in 1842 during his student days in Washington College, from which institution he graduated in 1844. Having begun the study of medicine, he was planning to devote his life to its practice when the call to the ministry became so strong that he turned about and, offering himself to the Holston Confer- ence in 1845, was received on trial and at once began the work of an itinerant. In the following year he transferred to the Tennessee Conference, where from that date to 1852 he served in various posts, including the pulpits in Lebanon and Hunts- ville, the latter and the regions thereabout being then in the Tennessee Conference. At the end of 1852 he was transferred to the First Church, St. Louis. In 1860 he returned to Ten- nessee, where he continued in an unbroken relation until the end of his life. Dr. Young was first, elected to the General Conference in 1865 and sat in the six succeeding sessions of that body. For twenty-four consecutive years he was Secretary 200 History of Methodism. of the Tennessee Conference. At the time of his death he was Regent of Belmont College. A contemporary estimate of him as a preacher was that he "was clear, forceful, and command ing." In the pastorate he was wise, sympathetic, and diligent. He was the author of several interesting volumes, as, "Celebri- ties I Have Known," "Twenty Thousand Miles Over Land and Sea," and "Sketchy Pages of Foreign Travel." Dr. Young was largely instrumental in reviving the publica- tion of the Methodist Review after the death of Dr. Bledsoe, in 1877, and the suspension of the old Southern Review. As- sociated with him and others was Dr. J. W. Hinton, of the South Georgia Conference, who became the first editor of the revived publication. Dr. Hinton was in several respects a re- markable man. Of astute intellect, indomitable will, and provi- dentially placed at the vantage of a real opportunity for leadership, it was inevitable that his life of spiritual power and consecration should count in an unusual way. He was a native of Georgia, born in Wilkes County, the habitat of many really great men, January 3, 1826. Cokesbury College, South Carolina, has the honor of having conducted the processes of his early education, which, however, were kept up through his whole life, for he was always a student. For several years he was in the local ranks, entering the itinerancy in 1847. No man in the Southern Connection was more familiar with its history and the personnel of its leadership, the reason being that he had grown up in sympathetic knowledge of the unfold- ing of events from 1844 onward. During a ministry of fifty- two years he filled nearly all the important stations in his Conference, superannuating in 1899. He was a mem-ber-elect of the General Conference of 1866 and from then on of every General Conference until the time of his superannuation. In a tribute to his memory by the Conference appeared this pas- sage: "For fifty years a glorious preacher of the gospel, keep- ing, amid innumerable false doctrines, his loyalty, love, and zeal; white-browed, white-handed, white-shod, despite the flood- ing iniquities of the earth." The ministry of the Southern Church at the time of the Separation, in 1844, contained a number of men of Northern birth, and after that time many more came to it from that see- Men of Northern Birth — The Border. 201 tion. Bishop Soule, Bishop Linus Parker, Dr. E. E. Wiley, Dr. S. D. Baldwin, Dr. E. H. Myers, and Dr. Homer S. Thrall were amongst those men of Northern birth who gave peculiar loyalty and devotion to the Church in the land of their adop- tion. In this list the name of W. M. Prottsman, identified with Missouri Methodism, is in happy remembrance. A native of Ohio, born February 19, 1817, he went first to Virginia as a teacher, there joined the Conference, and later served in Kentucky. In 1850 he went to Missouri, where, with the ex- ception of two or three years on the Pacific Coast, he spent the remainder of his long ministry. The records show him to have been active in the work of several General Conferences. He wrote the Constitution of the Board of Church Extension. As a Christian, a man, and a preacher, his rank was high. A man described by his Conference contemporaries as "one of the most commanding figures ever in the Louisville Confer- ence" was Dr. Henry Clay Settle, who was born May 26, 1836, and whose death came on January 11, 1903. His father, a journalist, was a familiar of the late George D. Prentice, of Louisville, and a close political associate of Henry Clay, for whom he named his son. Young Settle, well equipped in educa- tion, went to California to pursue the calling of a journalist and to take up the practice of law, but was there converted and entered the ministry, becoming a member of the Pacific Conference. In 1860 he returned to Kentucky and finished a brilliant 'and consecrated career in the Conference in his native State. He was possessed of a handsome personality, but was always frail in health, which latter fact kept him back from an even larger usefulness and prominence. The sacrifices and self-devotion of many of the ministers of the Southern Church on the border, and especially in Missouri, from 1860 to 1865, make a story of romance and heroism out of the ordinary. The life history of Rev. E. K. Miller, D.D., is typical of this record. A native of the State, having been born in Marion County October 3, 1829, he was converted in young manhood and while engaged in teaching answered the call to the ministry. In the autumn of 1851 he joined the Missouri Conference and at once rose to distinction and in- fluence. Being elected in 1861 to the General Conference sched- 202 History of Methodism. uled to meet in Xew Orleans in 1862, be started southward, in company with Dr. Enoch M. Marvin, to join his compeers. This course was forbidden by the local Federal authorities, but he chose to obey God rather than men. On his return, after learning that the Conference had been indefinitely post- poned, he was arrested and imprisoned, first at Jefferson City and then at Alton, 111. After a year or two he was condi- tionally released, it appearing that he was suffering from a malady that must end in death if his confinement continued. President Lincoln later made his release unconditional. But still, with others, notably S. S. Headlee, who was murdered hy a factional mob sometime afterwards while attending one of his appointments, he suffered from unreasonable men and po- litical persecutors. In 1864 he went to Xevada and the next year took work in the Pacific Conference, where for eighteen years he served with success and ability. In 1878 a transfer was given him back to his home Conference in Missouri, where he resumed his place in the affections and preferences of his brethren. He served in several General Conferences as a dele- gate from both the Pacific and the Missouri Conferences. He was a man of massive frame, strong character, and pos- sessed of a spirit redolent of the highest graces of religion. His death occurred March 14, 1004. The obituary pages of these years carry a tribute to the memory of the Rev. Samuel Lander, D.D., who died July 14, 1004. Dr. Lander was the child of Irish parents, but both of them were of long Protestant antecedents. The son was born in Virginia and educated in Randolph-Macon College, graduat- ing with first honors. At the beginning of his active life his attention was given to the study of law; but this he soon gave up for the work of teaching. In [North and South Carolina he filled important educational posts. Having entered into a deep religious experience, he gave himself to the ministry and in 1804 joined the South Carolina Conference. Besides doing cir- cuit work, he served for several years as President of Daven- port College and other schools. About 1873 he was providen- tially led to establish the Williamston Female College, of which he remained President until the day of his death. This school was for a long time one of the educational landmarks of South Lander College — Death of Bishop Keener. 20.°> Carolina Methodism. It survives to-day in its lineal successor, Lander College, of Greenwood. The Christian master lives in the lives of thousands of the mothers of South Carolina and other Southern commonwealths whom he trained to imitate the walk and spirit of the women of Galilee. The quadrennium which closed with the General Conference of 1906 added more than the usual measure of loss through death to the long roll of the Church's fallen servants. On Jan- uary 19, 1906, Bishop John Christian Keener, senior bishop of the Connection, died at his home, in New Orleans. At the time of his death he was the most majestic personality in Meth- odism. Of commanding stature and presence, his intellectual powers so emphasized these as to express themselves even in his moods of silence. Few faces seen in his generation were so striking in repose; and his genius, both in public utterance and in private conversation, was an affluent never assuaged. As a conversational wit he belonged to the class of Sidney Smith and as a pulpit orator to the class of Massillon. Uni- formly, his sermons ranged into the realms of higher thought and were fervid with an eloquence both of nature and mastery. At times his utterances attained a sublimity which seemed to transport his auditors and to make them forget their surround- ings and, indeed, all things except their own deeper mental concerns. Nor was he impractical in matters of fiscal responsi- bility and administration, as so many men of great gifts have been. Conservative, oftentimes almost to the point of reac- tion, he was yet wise, far-seeing, and trustworthy in great and trying exigencies, so many of which came upon the Church during the thirty-six years of his episcopacy. His talents were not only of a high order throughout, but were remarkably varied. His employment as pastor, presiding elder, educa- tional leader, and bishop gave full play to these powers. To the proper tasks of his office he added authorship, and with no indifferent success. His thoughts and literary conceits, ex- pressed both in prose and verse, delighted and instructed the generation to which he belonged. His story, "Post Oak Cir- cuit," has been described, not improperly, as a classic. Had its natural field been wider, it might have been a competitor of "Silas Marner." A sacred lyric, "The Eternal Son," has much 201 History of Methodism. more poetic merit than the ecclesiastical verse which has given Charles Kingsley a place amongst English poets. Bishop Keener was long a patient student of biological and evolu- tional science; but he had given a too self-committed allegiance to the school of the literalists to be able to accept the conclu- sions of modern science where, even to a less open mind, under different conditions, they had become both self-evident and necessary. Theology was his field, and to this he drew his studies and thought. The ultimate doctrines of Christology, soteriology, and eschatology were his master subjects. It was familiarity with these that gave to his preaching so distinct an unction and spiritual power. He had brought his religious experience and emotions to answer to the fundamentals of the Christ life, the Christ power, and the Christ glory. The doc- trine of the Atonement was the streaming sea out of which his faith and inspired fancy drew those celestial burdens of appeal and description which in his sermons broke like cloudbursts upon his audiences. Bishop Keener was born in the city of Baltimore, Md., Feb- ruary 7, 1819. When about eighteen years of age he went to the State of Alabama, where he was converted in 1837. Five years later he entered the ministry and joined the Mobile Con- ference. But a little while after this he was transferred to Louisiana and given work in New Orleans. As pastor, pre- siding elder, and editor of the Xew Orleans Christian Advocate, he rose rapidly and surely, his labors being marked by infalli- ble proofs of efficiency in the salvation of men. At the Gen- eral Conference of 1870, held in Memphis, Term., he was elected to the episcopacy. At the General Conference held in Balti- more in 1808, being then in his eightieth year, he asked to be retired from the active work of the episcopal office. The scene created by this request, which has been adverted to in a for- mer chapter, was one of great dignity and impressiveness. He not only outlived nearly all the members of his own family, but the associates and compeers of his younger ministry. The memory which he left is that of a mighty man — mighty in the power of God and in the gifts which that power stimulated. Bishop Robert K. Hargrove preceded his great colleague. Bishop Keener, into reward by the space of five months, dying Death of Bishop Hargrove. 205 on August 3, 1905. As compared with Bishop Keener, Bishop Hargrove belonged to another intellectual mold entirely and had been influenced by vastly different intellectual ideals. Educated and trained in the schools and giving much of the time of his earlier ministry to educational work, Bishop Har- grove never aspired to go beyond the necessary homiletic work of his study or the routine preparation for his classroom. He was not a man of the pen or of specialties. His sermons were conceived and built upon lines of severity in style and plain- ness and unadorned simplicity of statement. His methods were logical, sound, direct, and earnest; but he was never rhetorical, never ornate. He rarely appeared in the public prints of the Church. As a pastor he was painstaking, dili- gent, and faithful. As a teacher his work was honest and ef- fective. His colleagues esteemed him to be an unusually safe and conservative counselor, never hasty in advising an issue. Bishop McTyeire ranked him as one of the most statesmanlike and far-seeing churchmen of his day. Though he differed from Bishop Keener in intellectual temperament, he much "resembled him in his sturdier qualities. Unlike Bishop Keener, he was but an indifferent conversationalist and seldom or never scintil- lated with wit or humor ; yet when grave matters were up, his words were measured and sage. His loyalty to duty and con- viction became proverbial and cost him not a little in the way of critical judgment; but he lived unmoved by gibe or criti- cism. Bishop Hargrove was born in Pickens County, Ala., September 17, 1829. His family was related to that of Bishop McKendree. With the best antecedents, he had an ideal start in life, graduating from the University of Alabama and having health, family influence, and a competence. He immediately became a professor in his Alma Mater and continued to fill a chair therein until, with the deepening of his religious life, he chose the ministry and joined the Alabama Conference in 1857. For nearly ten years he filled important stations in that Con- ference and for two years was at the head of Centenary Insti- tute. In 1868 he was transferred to Kentucky, but at the end of one year was retransf erred to Tennessee, where, in station, school, and district work, he continued until May, 1882, when he was elected to the episcopacy, though not at the time a 206 History of Methodism. member of the General Conference. After the death of Bishop McTyeire, he became the President of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University, continuing in that office until the time of his death. A death which brought general sorrow to the Connection was that of Rev. James D. Barbee, D.D., which occurred in Nashville, Tenn., December 5, 1904. Consideration has already been given to the work of Dr. Barbee as Publishing Agent and also to the part which he took in the collection of the war claim of the Church against the general government. But the record of his life as a servant of the Church and one of its most dis- tinguished ministers was written large before his call to fiscal responsibility. He was born in Lawrence County, Ala., March 16, 1832. Exceedingly rudimentary was the intellectual train- ing which he received in youth, but it was characteristic of him that he should have displayed an early and unusual thirst for knowledge; nor was it less characteristic that he should have fallen unaided upon those unusual and effective expedi- ents which led him to a goal of real intellectual greatness. When but eighteen years of age, young Barbee offered himself as a teacher for his neighborhood school. The test of his life came when he found himself accepted for that office. Distrust- ing his fitness, he hesitated, but at last with characteristic pur- pose he entered upon the task. The work of a teacher proved congenial, and he showed unexpected aptitude in the work. During two years he taught this school, and of all those in it it is safe to say that the one who made the most distinct prog- ress was the young teacher himself. In October, 1.852, he was received on trial into the Tennessee Conference. His rise to popularity and success was rapid, and he was soon filling the first stations and districts of the Conference. In 1886, while serving his fourth year at McKendree Church, then the leading pulpit of the Connection, he was elected Book Agent to suc- ceed Dr. J. B. McFerrin. deceased. In this office he continued until 1002. While serving as presiding elder of the Nashville District he frequently expressed the belief that he was doing the best work of his life. He had entered upon those last duties with a peculiar zest and was contented pud happy while he ripened toward the kingdom of God. A great concourse of J. D. Barbee—C. A. Fulwood — /. D. Vinci I. 207 people from every walk of life attended li is funeral and paid tribute to his worth and greatness. A detailed study of the ministerial life of Dr. Barbee would furnish material for a manual of superior value to young preachers. Each lower station was quitted for a higher with the approving sense that he had wrought his best. There was little of the blandishment of style and almost nothing of the actor in his pulpit work. His language was strong, direct, and perspicuous. He would have been marked in any assembly as a man of note. His ancestors were soldiers, reformers, and builders of the commonwealth. With little aid from masters and in contradiction of precedents, he made good the pledges of his blood. Above all these he put on a coat of fervent charity and lived in the presence of his God. The Rev. Charles A. Fulwood, of the Florida Conference, who died during the session of that body in December, 1905, was entitled to be called "the apostle to the Cubans/' he being the founder of the earliest of the missions of the Church for that people. There was nothing in his life to distinguish him from other consecrated men of his station, except the zeal and in- telligent efforts which he gave to the cause of Cuban evangeli- zation. He not only organized the Cuban work in Key West, but became the first superintendent of the mission in the is- land of Cuba. His ministry extended over a period of sixty years, spent successfully as circuit rider, station preacher, presiding elder, and missionary extraordinary. Born in 1826, he was, consequently, at the time of his death nearly eighty years of age. He died suddenly during a sitting of the Con- ference and just after he had addressed the body. Rev. John D. Vincil, D.D., for forty-one years Secretary of the Missouri Conference, had a large place in the hearts of his ministerial and lay brethren, by whom he was honored in being made their representative in the General Conference and in other assemblies. As a preacher he was noted for the spirit- ual power and soundness of his sermons. In his biography great stress is laid on his loyalty to, and his services in, the Church during the sad and trying days in Missouri following the War between the States. At a time when the Church in that region seemed all but destroyed, and without hope of re- 208 History of Methodism. organization, he was one who blew a trumpet and called the scattered ranks of Israel to a new advance. With Rev. C. I. Vandeventer, Rev. W. M. Rush, Rev. W. W. McMurry, Rev. W. M. Leftwich, and other heroic leaders, he not only saved the Church from complete disintegration, but led it to glorious victory. He was born August 24, 1830, and died October 12, 1904. Amongst other names of well-known ministers whose deaths occurred this year are those of the Rev. Morris Evans, D.D., of the Kentucky Conference, who had given service in the Pacific, the Baltimore, and the Kentucky Conferences, and who died January 7, 1905, at the age of seventy-five; Rev. John W. Rush, D.D., of the Alabama Conference, whose record as pastor, pre- siding elder, and editor is written with the history of his Con- ference for more than half a century, a record of honor, use- fulness, and exalted personal worth, born March 22, 1833, died October 6, 1905; Rev. W. F. Quillian, D.D., of the North Geor- gia Conference, representative of one of the largest and most influential families in the State, a firm and enthusiastic friend of education, a mighty gospel preacher, and described by Bishop Candler as "one of the noblest men Georgia Methodism has ever produced," born August 7, 1843, died November 21, 1905 ; Rev. Alexander D. McVoy, D.D., of the Louisiana Conference, a man of princely personality, a graduate of Wesleyan Univer- sity, Middletown, Conn., of unusual culture, a strong and in- structive preacher, and one whose life was chiefly given to the Christian education of women — born in Elizabeth City, N. J., May 7, 1838, died in San Antonio, Tex., April 11, 1905. The Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America illustrated the Berkeleian saying, "Westward the star of empire takes its way," by selecting Los Angeles as the seat of its General Conference for the year 1904. This great body convened on May 4 and, after some delay caused by the deten- tion of several delegations en route, entered into one of the most eventful sessions of its history. The Bishops' Address, read by the veteran Senior Bishop Foss. was a very elaborate document, covering a variety of topics, and occupied much time and space in pointing out cur- rent evils, and, as described by a connection al editor of the General Conference of 190%. 209 North, was "noncommittal and colorless with regard to the time limit, the missionary episcopate, and some other matters upon which leadership is needed, but presented a very valuable and suggestive chapter on popular amusements to be placed under the head of 'Advices' in the Discipline, should the Gen- eral Conference so decide." Attention was called by the bishops to the fact that during the quadrennium the Church had lost through death more of its bishops than in any similar period preceding. Five of the General Superintendents, dissimilar in many points and alike in little else than ability and steadfast devotion to their work, were numbered amongst those translated to the higher ranks. These were Parker, Taylor, Ninde, Foster, and Hurst. Their colleagues made this summary of the personality and gifts of their departed brethren — viz.: Parker, stalwart, resourceful, tireless, a great missionary, fell under the torrid sky of India, to whose salvation he had been devoted for forty-one years. Taylor, a world-famous evangelist and strenuous advocate of self-supporting missions, was halted in his swift career a few years before his final summons, which reached him near the scenes of his early triumphs as a preacher. Ninde, serene, cul- tured, saintly, had just returned from a tour of Conferences in the South, hastened forth from his home on an errand of sym- pathy, came in exhausted, and during the following night he felt the thrill of the eternal sunburst. Foster was stately, learned, the soul of honor, superbly eloquent ; Hurst, scholarly, many-sided, a prodigy of industry and persistency. They were, successively, Presidents of Drew Seminary, were among the ablest and most voluminous authors of Methodism, and depart- ed this life within thirty- six hours of each other, while their colleagues were assembled in their annual meeting. The deaths of three other general officers of the Church were also announced — namely : Dr. Arthur Edwards, the veteran editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, who had ren- dered long and efficient service to the Church and humanity ; Dr. William A. Spencer and Dr. Manley S. Hard, who had both been Corresponding Secretaries of the Board of Church Exten- sion and who had both been conspicuous in the advocacy of the great cause which they represented; Dr. Stephen L. Baldwin, 14. 210 History of Methodism. Recording Secretary of the Missionary Society ; and thirty min- isterial and lay delegates who had served in the previous Gen- eral Conference. The Episcopal Address reported a steady and healthful, but not a rapid, increase in the general membership of the Church. The total was somewhat more than three million, an increase of about one hundred and thirty -eight thousand for the quad- rennium. The increase in the number of Sunday school officers, teachers, and scholars was reported at one hundred and nine- teen thousand; and the membership of the Sunday school was somewhat greater than the general membership of the Church. It will be remembered that the General Conference in the North had not provided for a Twentieth-Century Offering, but that it was provided for by special call from the bishops. The transition of the world from one century to another was an event which so great a body of Christians could not afford to overlook. The bishops proposed a plan "so vast and far- reaching that it was at first received with startled surprise, but presently with enthusiasm and heroic cooperation." The call was for twenty million dollars, one-half for educational institutions and one-half for Church debts and other causes of philanthropy and charity. A previous General Conference had planned for a great Mis- sionary, or "Open-Door Emergency," Convention, which was held in Cleveland in October, 1902. That convention became historic as a season of Pentecostal uplift and consecration. Its proceedings thrilled and inspired the thousands who were present with a deep missionary interest and conviction. The bishops now reported that in one solemn and memorable hour pledges and offerings were made to the extent of three hundred and forty thousand dollars, all of which was to be distinctly additional to the regular missionary contributions. The follow- ing selection from the Episcopal Address, pertinent to the greal age then beginning, is worthy of record for review and study : In view of the signal honor which God has thus put upon Methodism, both within and beyond its own borders, and of the close and manifestly causal relation between the life and the experience of Wesley and such unparalleled successes, it behooves us to "stand m the way and seek for the old paths," so that we may hand on to coming ages, unimpaired and Episcopal Address — Superannuates — Fraternal Address. 211 augmented, the marvelous heritage we have received; for, beyond all question, John Wesley must have ascertained and built upon funda- mental and imperishable truths, else the world would never have heard of Methodism. Among those truths which he lifted out of the dust of ages were at least these: The deep guilt of sin; the equal redemption of all men by the vicarious atonement; the absolute freedom of the hu- man will; the entire practicability of salvation now for any sinner; the attainability of perfect cleansing and perfect love in this life; the in- finite and impartial love of the seeking Father God; the real and com- plete humanity and the proper and absolute deity of Jesus Christ; the personality and omnipresence of the Holy Ghost as a transforming and witnessing Spirit; and the nearness of a real and eternal heaven and a real and eternal hell. No doubt the vast mass of the Methodists in all lands can sincerely say of these truths, so vital to Methodism and to any real progress of Christianity: "All these things I steadfastly be- lieve." An early and astonishing action of the Conference was to superannuate six of the General Superintendents at one time. These were: Bishop Merrill, in his seventy-ninth year; Bishop E. G. Andrews, also seventy -nine ; Bishop Cyrus D. Foss, seventy-one years of age; Bishop John M. Walden, seventy- three years of age; Bishop Willard F. Mallalieu, in his seventy- sixth year; and Bishop John H. Vincent, aged seventy-two. Thus was established the "age limit" in that jurisdiction — a rule which has been very steadily observed, the bishops retiring automatically after the age of seventy. The fraternal visitations at this Conference were very felici- tous. The fraternal representative of the Church, South, was Dr. John C. Kilgo, since made a bishop. Of his visit and ad- dress, a discriminating correspondent said: "His faculty for extemporaneous speech, his old-fashioned fervor, his fervid eloquence, his honest avowal of love for his section, the sunny South, and of a larger and more comprehensive love for the nation, his tributes to the old-fashioned circuit rider, his description of the part which that character has taken in the building of our American civilization, and his glorious sermon on a Sunday in our First Church here, heard by twenty-five hundred enraptured people — all this greatly endeared him to us. He worthily represented his constituency." A great constitutional question came up and was tested out in the lists. Tt was: "Has the General Conference the au- 212 History of Methodism. thority under the constitution to form groups of Annual Con- ferences and district the General Superintendents so that a bishop, by the direction of the General Conference, shall be re- quired to administer the Conferences in his district, and those only, for four years or longer?" Dr. T. B. Neely and other de- baters defended this position, but they were overwhelmingly defeated. Dr. C. W. Smith, author of the new constitution, took the opposite side and, with others, by a plain course of argu- ment, settled this as a principle : "That, while the bishops them- selves may arrange their work in groups and even, perhaps, district one or more of their number, such function is a purely episcopal prerogative guaranteed by the constitution, and that any attempt of the General Conference to do this thing is for- bidden by the third Restrictive Rule of the organic law of the Church." Seven new bishops were elected at this sitting, as follows: Dr. Joseph F. Berry, forty -eight years of age; Dr. Henry Spell- meyer, fifty-six years of age ; Dr. W. F. McDowell, Dr. James W. Bashford, Dr. William Burt, Dr. Luther B. Wilson, and Dr. Thomas B. Neely. An eighth bishop was elected, Chan- cellor James R. Day, of Syracuse University; but after deep consideration of the matter he felt impelled to decline the honor. Three other such declinations are on record : Wilbur Fisk, who declined ordination in 1836; Joshua Soule, who de- clined ordination in 1820; and Atticus G. Haygood, who de- clined ordination in 1882, but who, upon his second election, in 1890, accepted the responsibility. Connectional officers were elected as follows — viz. : Dr. W. F. Anderson, Secretary of the Board of Education; Dr. John T. MacFarland, Editor of Sunday School Publications; Dr. Ed- ward M. Randall, Secretary of Epworth Leagues; and Dr. S. J. Herben, Editor of the Eptcorth Herald. Dr. J. M. Buckley, long Editor of the Christian Advocate, was returned to the editorship of that journal ; and Dr. W. V. Kelley, to the editor- ship of the Methodist Review. Before adjourning, the Conference wrestled with the prob- lem of consolidating a number of its boards, its publishing enterprises, and in otherwise reducing the intricacies and ex- penses of administration. It was but the beginning of a method Canadian Methodism — Union. 213 of reorganizing and readjusting Church departments which is in operation in both of the Connections. The problems of Canadian Methodism, noted in paragraphs covering the history of a former quadrenniuin, were being em- phasized during this period. The ends of the earth were meet- ing on the great Western prairies of the Dominion and creating new fields and new tasks of evangelism faster than the Church's resources availed to meet them. The common school system — thanks to a Methodist preacher, the late Eugene Ryerson, who had determined and impressed the system as no other man had — was meeting the direct intellectual needs of the people; but their spiritual needs were with the Church, and Methodism, as the chief religious force of the Dominion, was being looked to for leadership in evangelization. The population of the whole of Canada was then about five and one-half million. The membership of the Church was a little less than 310,000, or something less than one out of ten of all the people. The membership in the Sunday school was reported to be 321,492, or one out of every three of all the children in the Dominion. The Canadian Methodist Missionary Society, then under the direction of Dr. Sutherland, who was in the thirty-second year of continuous service in that office, reported for 1905 a total of |336,000 for missions — an average of $1.10 per member — a record which has been seldom reached, not to say surpassed. The Financial Board reported eleven colleges at which were registered 3,000 students in arts and theology. At this time the Union Movement amongst the Protestant Churches of Canada had reached the height of its development. The Methodists, Presbyterians, and Congregational ists seemed to be near the point of doctrinal and organic coalescence. This movement had been largely influenced by the confederation into one government of all the British possessions in North America. At the meeting of the Canadian General Conference in the city of Winnipeg in September, 1902, a resolution was unani- mously passed declaring that "the Conference would view with great satisfaction a movement looking toward the ultimate organic union of the Presbyterian, Congregational, and Meth- odist Churches of Canada." This resolution was in due course 214 History of Methodism. far-warded to the Presbyterian General Assembly, which met in the following year, and also to the Congregational Union, the representative body of that denomination. In response to the resolutions, these bodies appointed committees which soon afterwards met in joint session in the Wesley Buildings in Toronto. After much deliberation and earnest conversation, the joint committee unanimously reached the conclusion that union was not only desirable, but practicable ; and the commit- tee pledged itself to do everything in its power to bring that union about. The Presbyterian General Assembly which met in the fol- lowing June appointed a still larger and more representative committee to consider the wThole question. Similar committees were constituted from the other Churches and held a second meeting in Toronto in the following December. Subcommittees being appointed to consider various relevant details, a third meeting was held one year later. At this meeting it was found that the Committee on Doctrines had reached a basis outlined in nineteen articles, one on each of the following subjects — viz. : God, Revelation, the Divine Purpose, Creation and Provi- dence, the Sin of Man, the Grace of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Faith and Regeneration, the Church, the Sacraments, the Ministry, Church Order and Fellowship, the Resurrection, the Last Judgment, the Future Life, Christian Service, and Final Triumph. After more than fourteen years, as already noted in these pages, these particular and well-matured plans of union have not been realized. Each of the Churches seems more or less doubt- ful of the expediency and, it may even be said, the possibility of such a union. The chief difficulty is that of doctrine. Men's interpretations of the gospel and their convictions concerning orders, ordinances, and ritual are the last things of the mind to be yielded ; and often when concessions have been made on these points the private consciences of individuals have protested against pact and agreement. The plausible and fascinating scheme of doctrinal restatement exhibited in these plans of the Canadians led to an inexplicable, but rather romantic, misad- venture of a somewhat like character in the Southern General Conference of 1006, of which a full account is to be given later. Wesleyan Leaders and Discipline. 215 The Kev. Charles H. Kelly, D.D., President of the British Wesleyan Conference for the second time, in 15)05 reported that the efforts of the Church in the Motherland "to reach the un- saved multitudes" had been "crowned with notable success. " Besides Dr. Kelly, then more than seventy years of age, but alive with enthusiasm and enterprise, the Connection was still blessed with the presence and counsel of Dr. Rigg, "the greatest intellect of modern English Methodism" ; Dr. Waller, ex-Presi- dent of the Conference, educational expert, master of assem- blies, and ecclesiastical lawyer; Dr. Henry Pope, "aflame with passion for the spiritual conquest of England" ; Dr. W. T. Davi- son, an eloquent and rarely cultured man, well known, as is Dr. Waller, on this side the Atlantic ; Ex-President McDonald, whom Morley Punshon described as "wise and winsome, cul- tured and consecrated, a Hebrew of the Hebrews"; Dr. W. L. Watkinson ; and, by no means least, the noble layman, Sir Rob- ert W. Perks, as also many others known to universal Method- ism. The English Methodists were in these years described as being zealous for their discipline, faithful to the class meet- ings, and devoted to the general work of the Connection. They were loyal, but not bigoted. Following the spirit of their former great leader, they could say : "We are glad to warm our hands at another man's fireside; but, after all, we love our own fire- side best." The relations between Methodism and the other Nonconformist Churches have always been frank and most cor- dial. The Home Missionary Department of the Connection was re- ported to be virile and effective to a degree surpassing any former record. In the great cities large halls were being built, as in a former time, into which were being gathered great multitudes of people to hear the gospel. Not one of these was found uncrowded on Sabbath evenings, and the average seating capacity was not less than twenty-five hundred. The men and women who went into these halls would not have gone into the ordinary churches. For these halls the best ministers of the Connection were picked. It has already been seen that the beginning of this movement was led by such men as Hugh Price Hughes and Mark Guy Pearse. Besides the City Hall 210 History of Methodism. work, the home mission service was being extended to the army and navy. Much attention was also being given to the estab- lishment and use of institutional Churches, dispensaries, and other agencies for meeting the needs of the neglected poor of the cities. In addition to these notes of progress was added one concerning the work of the young people. The Wesley Guilds were doing an excellent work in inspiring the young men and women with a knowledge of Methodist history and k'with the fine contagion of the hereditary Methodist spirit." England was also waking up, through its Churches and es- pecially through Methodism, to the evil of drink. The lessons of reform have been tremendously emphasized in more recent years. The Children's Home work and that of the deaconess organization were found to fit well in the large plans of modern English Methodism. Contrary to the experience of all the Methodist communities in North America, the Wesleyan Meth- odists reported an unprecedented interest in their Church lit- erature, especially in their weekly journals and other connec- tional periodical publications. English Methodism had also its sad records of losses through death. The death date of Hugh Price Hughes was anticipated in a statement made in an earlier chapter of this history. '•Ardent evangelist, splendid defender of the faith, eloquent orator, apologist-debater," his loss to the Connection was in a way irreparable. Dr. Ebenezer Jenkins, a great divine and noble type of cultured and consecrated Methodist, was a name to be added to that of the great Church commoner and mis- sionary leader. The Conferences in Ireland and England are really one, the Irish body existing for convenience of administration. Though Methodism numerically has never been strong in Ireland, it has yielded great results in the souls and minds of the men and women it has given to the house of Wesley. Robert Straw- bridge, who first preached the gospel of Methodism in America, was an Irishman. William Thompson, the first President of the English Conference after the death of John Wesley, was also an Irishman, ns were Adam Clarke, the grent Method- ist commentator. Dr. William Arthur, author of "The Tongue of Fire." and Sir William McArthur, the great Methodist Irish and Australian Methodism. 217 layman, one-time Lord Mayor of London. The statistics of the Irish Connection, as given at this time, were: Members, 62,000; ministers, 200; circuits, 130; local preachers, 700. But the real membership of the Irish Methodist Church, then as now, is to be found in the Methodisms of all the countries of the English-speaking world. The Irish immigrant has been an ever-present recruit in the congregations of American Meth- odism. Eeports from the Methodism of Australia were gratifying and showed the largest increase in all its interests recorded for many years. The net additions were: New South Wales, 1,152 ; Victoria and Tasmania, 1,505; South Australia, 500; New Zealand, 764; Queensland, 235; and West Australia, 268 — a total of 4,424. This remarkable growth was attributable to an extraordinary evangelistic effort throughout the Antipodes. The returns of Sunday school scholars and teachers was in keeping with this record. The schools and colleges also made a good showing. Queen's University College, in Melbourne, had more applicants than it could accommodate. Wesley College, a secondary school in Melbourne, and the Method- ist Ladies' College had to refuse applications for entrance. Prince Alfred College, of Adelaide, headed the list with four hundred students. The test of Methodism in Australia has been its competition with the Roman Catholic Church, strongly represented in large elements of earlier and later immigration ; but the spirit of Wesleyanism has laid a strong and persistent hold upon the Land of the South Seas. CHAPTER XIII. A Magic City — Southern General Conference of 1906 — Southern Pros- perity— Statistics — Bishops' Address — Young J. Allen— Methodist Church of Japan — Commission on Federal Council of Churches — Col- ored Education — Congo Outrages — A Colored Missionary — Related Matters — Jamestown Tercentenary — San Francisco Earthquake — Vanderbilt University Commission — Unification of Missionary Boards — Consolidation of Church Papers — Legislation — Proposed Restate- ment of Faith — Fraternal Sessions — Episcopal Elections — Bishops Tigert and Ward — Connectional Officers — P. H. Whisner — The Last of the Patriarchs of 1844 — Bishops Granbery and Smith — Some Meth- odist Historians — Death of Young J. Allen — Paul Whitehead — John J. Lafferty— Other Editors— Bishop Duncan— 1906-1909. I F the material prosperity of the States of the South was 1 thought a matter worthy of special comment in summing up the advances of other quadrenniums, the conditions amid which the General Conference of 1906 met were calculated to inspire feelings of thanksgiving and confidence. The session was held in the auditorium of the magnificent First Church, Birmingham, Ala., a city which, like its English original, has well merited the title of "Magic." The conjunction of place and time was fitting. The delegations had before them, not the task of planning for the refilling of depleted treasuries or the building up of a wasted heritage, but that of administering a vastly augmented trust, as also that of adjusting the ma- chinery of the Church to the cultivation of multiplying fields in a golden land. The completion of the Isthmian Canal was in contemplation. The effect of the prospect was already being felt in the industrial, commercial, and financial plannings of the people. The population of the South was experiencing a surprising growth. It was then 25,000,000, as against only about 34,000,000 for all the rest of the country twenty-five years before. In the manufacture of cotton goods, the output of coal and iron, and in the value of farm products, the ratio of increase had ceased to be a matter of percentage and had become one of reduplication. New Orleans was now the second port of importance on the continent, and Galveston was third in the matter of exportations. Contagious fevers and other (218) Remarkable Growth — Galloway — Young J. Allen. 219 epidemic diseases, once the terror of the land, had been stamped out along the entire Southern seacoast, and its cities had be- come resorts for comfort-seeking multitudes, both in winter and summer. The system of common school education, with accessories for teaching the higher branches, had been brought to a surprising degree of perfection in most of the cotton States. The statistical returns of the Church for these years were not unworthy to be compared with the exhibits of material advance in the section in which it had its chief representation. The increase in Church membership was 100,427, as against 38,085 for the previous four years. The total membership of the Southern Connection was now more than 1,600,000, with more than 1,000,000 scholars in its Sunday schools and 120,- 000 members in the Epworth League. The receipts of the Foreign Mission Board were reported at f 1,659,941, an increase over the previous quadrennium of $645,673. When the receipts of the Woman's Board were added to those of the General and Annual Conference Boards, the total raised for missions in the Church during the year 1905 aggregated a sum equal to nearly $1,000,000. Other departments shared this prosperity. The receipts of the Church Extension Board were nearly doubled, and the gifts to education and other causes were many and substantial. The Episcopal Address, an eloquent and optimistic docu- ment, dealing with every phase of the Church's need and prog- ress then emergent, was read by Bishop Charles B. Galloway. This was the last session of the general body at which this dis- tinguished preacher and leader was seen. His death occurred before the close of the next quadrennium. Even then it was shown to his brethren that the seeds of the disease which was to take him away had been sown. Another distinguished son of the Church whose face was no more to be seen in the General Conference was Dr. Young J. Allen, the veteran missionary of Southern Methodism in the Chinese Empire. The Conference in a formal resolution in- vited him to deliver an address on his experience and observa- tion during a residence of more than fifty years in that field. This he did, and his remarks were stenographically reported 220 History of Methodism. and printed in the Journal, constituting one of the Church's enduring public documents. A question which came up in the Conference for early dis- cussion was that of the creation of an autonomous native Methodist Church in the empire of Japan. The growth of Christian missions in Japan and the rapid assimilation of Western ideas by its peoples had been such that it seemed wise to bring into a closer union the Methodist missions exist- ing there. The question was laid before the representative bodies of the different Churches interested, with the result that commissions were appointed and clothed with power to act. On January 3. 1006, commissioners from the Methodist Church in Canada, the. Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church met in Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, for a joint session. No definite conclusion was reached at this sitting. Later the commissioners met in the Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn. At This time (March 1, 1906) the following resolution was adopted : That the Joint Commission do now adjourn, subject to call as formerly provided, leaving each commission free to proceed with such action as may be thought wise to effect a union with one or more bodies in Japan, under the authority granted by their several General Conferences. The commissioners of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America and the Methodist Episcopal Church. South, met in joint session immediately and resolved to proceed at once to effect the union of the two Churches in Japan. To this compact the Canadian Methodist Church joined itself at a later date. On July 18, 1906, the representatives of the three Churches met in Buffalo, X. Y., and completed the plans of union. Eighteen Articles of Religion, embodying the essentials of the Twenty-Five Articles of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America (1784 ) and mainly expressed in the language of the original, were adopted for the new Church. The Japanese juris- diction is episcopal in form of government and conforms in nearly every particular to the polity of its original. Tn accord- ance with these arrangements and this settlement, a General Conference was convened in Tokyo, Japan, on May 22. 1907, composed of delegates previously elected by the Annual ronfer- Japanese Church — Federal Council. 221 ences of the three uniting Churches, which proceeded to organ- ize the Nippon Methodist Kyokwai, or Japanese Methodist Church. The relation of the mother Churches in the United States and Canada is cooperative and advisory. The mission- aries from the American Connections hold their membership in their home Conferences and are supported by their home Boards; but they exercise the privileges of membership in the Japanese Annual Conferences to which they are officially as- signed, except in matters affecting the character of Japanese ministers. The Rev. Y. Honda was elected bishop of the Church, and he proved a wise and faithful overseer ; but he was not long spared to the infant Connection, his death occurring in the second quadrennium of his service. The Japanese Meth- odist Church began its independent existence with more than one hundred American missionaries, seventy-five Japanese preachers, seven thousand members, one hundred and eighty- nine Sunday schools with twelve thousand scholars, thirty- nine schools and colleges with three thousand and fifty-six stu- dents, one publishing house, and two hundred thousand dol- lars' worth of property. In recent years a strong and effective organization, known as the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, has attracted a large share of Christian public interest and has received a wide indorsement throughout the evangelical Churches. The cause of this organization came officially be- fore the General Conference at Birmingham for the first time. An Interchurch Conference on Federation, which convened in the city of New York November 15-21, 1905, gave shape to the plan for the Federal Council of the Churches, and the Confer- ence was asked to elect its quota of members in the same, the number of representatives to which the Church was entitled being thirty-six. The College of Bishops was authorized to make the assignments, with instructions that of the number- six should be from the College of Bishops, and that for the remainder an equal number of ministers and laymen should be designated. The purpose of this organization is the pro- motion of fraternity and cooperation amongst the Christian Churches and the institution and encouragement of great mor- al, social, and spiritual reforms in the nation. 222 H istory of Methodism. The readers of this history will have perceived that the Church in the South has been constant, if not always self- sacrificing, in its efforts to advance the religious and educa- tional interests of the people of color, and particularly of that segment of the race represented in the jurisdiction which itself created. It is interesting to note that a very practical turn was at this time given to the Church's solicitude for its colored affiliants. As this action has led to certain distinct and ef- fective measures for holding theological institutes on a large scale for ministers of all the colored Churches, it is thought well to reproduce the main member of the empowering resolu- tions : Resolved, That the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, assembled in Birmingham, hereby requests the College of Bishops to appoint a commission of five to meet a similar commis- sion of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, to be provided by the General Conference now in session in the city of Memphis, Tenn., which commissions shall be authorized to confer with each other con- cerning the holding of institutes for colored preachers, the furtherance of educational work, the promotion of missionary efforts at home and abroad, and such questions as may pertain to federation and union of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America with other Colored Methodist Churches in the United States. In its order, and otherwise pertinently, comes in this con- nection the action of the Conference on the then world-en- gaging matter of Belgian administrative abuses in the Congo Free State. For a decade or more the stories of atrocities committed upon the native inhabitants of the Congo Basin were the scandal of the world. The action of the Conference was: "That we earnestly insist, in the name of Christ and for the human race for which he sacrificed his life, that nothing less than the immediate, thoroughgoing, and permanent right ing of these tragic wrongs can satisfy the common conscience of Christendom." This Congo Basin is the scene of the Church's latest missionary enterprise. Apropos of the action above reported. Rev. W. H. H. Bhep- pard, a native American negro missionary of the Southern Presbyterian Church to the Congo, was introduced and made an address full of instruction concerning the people and the conditions of that benighted region. It is now interesting to Africa — Immigration — Jamestown — San Francisco. 223 recall that Bishop Joshua Soule, the first senior bishop of the Southern Church, was planning, just prior to the Separation in 1844, to go in person to the West African Coast for the purpose of looking out and opening a missionary field to be cultivated by the Church. Only the untoward course of events prevented his carrying out his purpose. A number of more or less related matters which became sub- jects of General Conference action may be here adverted to. The controversy between the American and Japanese govern- ments concerning Japanese immigration and the agrarian rights of Japanese subjects in America was at its height. The Conference requested of the authorities at Washington "such interpretation of existing laws as will not allow injustice or discourtesy to Japanese or Chinese merchants, teachers, stu- dents, and others of good class who may seek to visit our ter- ritory"; and further requested "that our dealings with the Orient be inspired by due regard for the welfare of those peo- ples as well as for the safety of our own land." To these reso- lutions the Washington government sent a formal but respect- ful reply, announcing that the action of the Conference had been "carefully noted." The Jamestown Tercentenary Exposition being scheduled to open in 1907, and the enterprise having come under the direc- tion of the general government, the President and Congress were formally asked to secure the closing of its gate on the Sabbath, which end was eventually secured. By formal action the Conference joined the interchurch movement for securing better and more Scriptural national laws on the subject of divorce. A committee was also appointed to consider resolu- tions of protest against the seating in the United States Senate of Reed Smoot, one of the apostles of the Mormon Church, and a legally proven polygamist. Less than one month before the meeting of the Conference — that is, on April 16, 1906 — San Francisco and an extended sec- tion of the adjacent coast were visited by a destructive earth- quake, and in consequence much suffering had come upon the people. Resolutions of sympathy and measures for immediate financial relief were passed at an early sitting of the body. From the time of its founding in 1873 to the end of the 224 History of Methodism. century, a period of more than twenty-five years, there was never a question as to the Church's ownership of, and its right of control over, Vanderbilt University; but during the first quadrennium of the new century it began to be insinuated, in both a semipublic and a public way, that the Church was not the real owner of the property and that the bishops, who were the Church's legal representatives, had no authority over the institution except through the sufferance and patronage of the Board of Trust. At first these insinuations were not treated seriously, but they grew in volume and seemed to emanate from cryptic and inspired sources. Finally, in 1005 an effort was made by the majority of the Board of Trust to procure a new charter and at the same time to overthrow the charter rights of the bishops as the Church's containers of special administrative authority over the institution. It then began to be suspected that a deeply laid scheme was brewing to vitiate altogether the Church's claim and dispossess it of its property. In response, therefore, to numerous memorial's from Annual Conferences and in answer to a general demand, the General Conference of 1006 constituted a commission of five laymen to inquire into and determine the relation of the University to the Church ; to perfect the title to the same, if not then found perfect; and to define the charter rights of the bishops as the Church's representatives. The following-named gentlemen were appointed to constitute this commission — viz.: Judge Ed- ward O'Rear, of Kentucky; Judge John Richard, of Missouri; Judge Edward KewTman, of Virginia; Judge Joseph McOol- lough, of South Carolina; and Hon. Creed F. Bates, of Tennes- see. The commission was urged to proceed in the matter as promptly as possible and was directed to make simultaneous report of its findings to the College of Bishops and to the Board of Trust of the university. The developments in this now celebrated case during the eight years following this ac- tion make a chapter sad and surprising, which has meant em- barrassment and discomfiture to not a few in Israel, and is one which must remain amongst the most painful memories laid up for the coming generations of Methodists. But an ac- count of the case belongs to a future chapter, where it will be Missions — Journalism — League Assemblies, Etc, 225 found treated without abatement of any detail necessary to an understanding of it. The inception of a movement looking toward the unification of all the missionary interests of the Connection, including the Church Extension Board, was had in the report of the Com- mittee on Missions. A commission of thirteen members was appointed "to study the question during the next four years and report to the General Conference of 1910 a plan of co- operation or union." The commission reported such a plan in 1910, and the General Conference adopted it. A full account of the constitution and administrative functions of the new organization will be found in a general sketch of the Mission Board in Chapter XV. of this volume. For years the conviction has been strong that a consolida- tion of the weekly newspapers of the Connection should be brought about, in order to secure a more representative and better-circulated type of periodical literature. On every side praise is given the journalistic promoters and writers of our weekly press for faithful and heroic service; but all Meth- odists, including the promoters and writers themselves, have acknowledged higher ideals and felt the need of better results than those hitherto realized in our journalism. Consolidation, it has been believed, is the process by which this end is to be reached. So thought a majority of the General Conference of 1906. The bishops recommended consideration of the plan, and the Conference discussed it and made recommendations accordingly. The situation remains unchanged, however, and presents a problem well worthy the thought of layman and minister. Mere incidents in themselves, but at the same time sug- gestive of longitudinal movement, were the following sepa- rate items of legislation — viz. : The empowerment of Epworth League Conferences to acquire and hold property for assembly and other religious and educational uses; the establishment of missionary training schools ; the empowering of unordained pastors to perform the rites of matrimony and to administer the ordinance of baptism; the changing of the title "Book Agent" to that of "Publishing Agent"; the recommendation of a constitutional alteration in the Twenty-Third Article of Re- 15 220 History of Methodism. ligion, uOi the duty of Christian men to the civil authority." so as to make it applicable to the citizens of all countries where the Church may be established. This reference to an Article of the Confession naturally suggests an account of the proceedings of the Conference in connection with what was. by all consent, the most interesting, but at last the most abor- tive, business upon which it entered — namely, the attempted restatement of the Church's creed, or the rewriting of the Ar- ticles of Religion. Prom the beginning Methodism has been more a religion of experience than of dogma and has looked to the naked Scrip- tures for authority and instruction rather than to creedal glosses and tenets derived from antiquity. Nevertheless, American Methodism received and has cherished a rescension of the creed of early English Protestantism, but more as a sign of its Anglican descent than as a symbolic necessity. Meth- odism in the Motherland has no confession, nor any symbol, save that found in the Wesley an homilies and notes. The Bible is its sufficient statement. The spirit of the Methodism of America is in this not different from that of England; only the "Articles" are a birthright and have both a theological and a historical value. Materially to alter their forms or terms would be to destroy their value, however great an im- provement the alteration might appear to be. The modern Church does not need a written creed; but this symbol, reach- ing back through the Anglican and the Augsburg statements and by unquestionable tokens to the Nicene formula, has be- come to the Church as the Apostles' Creed and the "Gloria Patri." When, therefore, all unannounced and unheralded, a propo- sition to write a new doctrinal statement for the Church was precipitated on the General Conference of 1006, surprise and sensation overflowed the assembly; and later, when it was dis- covered that the novel adventure had carried by a decisive ma- jority, the feeling for a time bordered on consternation. The principal section of the resolution was as follows : Believing that the different branches of world-wide Methodism that are represented in the Ecumenical Methodist Conference can and should unite in the preparation of such a statement of our common New Statement of Faith — Fraternal Visitors. l'l'7 faith as is needed, and believing that this General Conference should take such steps as may be necessary to secure in the early future the cooperation of other representative Methodist Churches in the prepara- tion of a new statement of our faith, we therefore offer the following resolution: Resolved, That the College of Bishops be requested to appoint a commission of five members, one of whom shall be a bishop, who shall be members of the next Ecumenical Conference; this commission to invite other branches of Methodism to unite with us in the prepara- tion of our doctrinal system as it is called for in our day, and this commission shall represent our Church in the preparation of the same. It was soon seen that the movement had been stillborn. Tn the other Methodist Connections in America but a doubtful iu- terest was expressed in it, while in England it met with only indifference and disparagement. Efforts were made to put it before representative assemblies, but these were parried; and in the end the matter went by default, not a single committee in any Methodist body giving it consideration. Nevertheless, the affair had its instructive and stimulating side and enlisted the interest and advocacy of not a few worthy and able men. The fraternal sessions of the Conference of 1006 were of more than usual interest. The Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America was represented by the Rev. W. S. Matthew, D.D., and the Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, Vice President of the United States ; the English Wesleyan Church was represented by the Rev. Dinsdale T. Young, who left a deep impression upon the body; while Rev. J. W. Sparling, D.D., brought greetings from the Church of Canada. Besides these distinguished messengers, there were representatives from the colored Churches and messages from a number of sister Christian bodies, especially the Baptist General Convention and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. Vice President Fairbanks closed his address with this perora- tion, which was worthy the occasion and the messenger: My brethren, our lines have fallen in pleasant places. We live in a fortunate hour in the history of the world. A great responsibility rests upon us, and that is to live well our day and serve well our generation. We are, in the fullest and best sense, trustees of a mighty trust. Fidelity to it is the watchword. We are the adherents of a Church of great potency. We give to it our loyal allegiance; for we have faith in it, and we love it. We should serve it and transmit it 228 History of Methodism. to those who shall follow us with power increased and honor un- dimmed. Methodism is progressive. It moves forward majestically, meeting new conditions and the advancing needs of the world; meet- ing in full measure the increasing duties which God Almighty lays upon it. No finite intelligence can set the boundaries of its future influence. We look back upon what it has done with profound satis- faction and forward with the utmost confidence. We believe that, in- spired by all the sacred memories of the past, the mighty army of Methodism will go forward, doing its full share in lifting humanity to a still higher and holier life. Dr. Young, the English delegate, thrilled the Conference with these remarks, made at the very opening of his address : Mr. Chairman, since your last General Conference we have had, as English Methodists and as American Methodists, sorrow and rejoicing together. You have had your shadows. You have had your great be- reavements. We have known them, and we have mourned with you. The great, stalwart, picturesque, romantic, splendid figure, Bishop Keener, was greatly honored in English Methodism, and you have our affectionate condolence in the great impoverishment that has come upon you in the withdrawal of so magnificent a man. . . . Who can say how many of the spirits of just men made perfect throng this place to-night? They are gone, and yet they are with us. We are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses. The episcopacy was strengthened at this session by the elec- tion of three additional bishops — namely, John James Tigert. Seth Ward, and James Atkins. Of these, the two first-named, each being under fifty years of age, died during the quadren- nium which followed their election. Bishop Tigert was one of the truly great men of Methodism. Of robust strength, sound health, and optimistic temperament, he seemed to have many years of life before him. ''But in such a time as ye know not" the summons comes ; and to him it came unexpectedly, suddenly, almost tragically. That providence which cannot be understood must yet be trusted with an un- faltering confidence. Bishop Tigert was a strong writer, with a logical mind, and familiar with the walks of philosophy and literature. Author ship became naturally and early one of his chief concerns. In the course of a busy life as pastor, college professor, and editor, he produced a number of books of unusual value and excellence. Perhaps the greatest work of any Methodist author in the Bishop John J. TigeH. 229 South, or even on the continent, is his "Constitutional History of American Episcopal Methodism." Other titles of his books are : ''Theism, a Survey of the Paths That Lead to God," "The Christianity of Christ and His Apostles," "The Making- of Methodism," "Handbook of Logic," "The Preacher Himself," etc. Besides these volumes, he edited and put through the press a number of standard works on theology and related subjects and was a constant contributor to the current dis- cussional literature of both this country and England. For twelve years he filled the office of Book Editor and Editor of the Methodist Review, It was in that position that he con- firmed the high judgment which the Church and the Christian public had passed upon him during the earlier years of his min- istry. His capacity for work was great, and the careful and systematic methods which he brought to his tasks produced results of great value and correctness. As a preacher Bishop Tigert's rank was high, but he was not in the technical class of orators. His style was too severely logical and his thought methods too constantly moved along the plane of philosophy to take the charm of rhetoric. Moreover, his voice was lacking in those tones and modulations which make the musician; but his message was always commanding and illuminating. Bishop Tigert was born in the city of Louisville, Ky., Novem- ber 25, 1856. Fortune placed him in a godly home, and he grew up in the faith. Converted in early youth, he also accepted an early call to the ministry. His academic and theological educa- tion was obtained in the best schools, Vanderbilt University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary being the in- stitutions from which he received diplomas. His ministry be- gan in 1877. For several years he was a professor in Vander- bilt University and for a time pastor in Kansas City. In 1802 he went as fraternal messenger to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. He had himself been a member of five General Conferences, and of these he was the Secretary of four sessions. He proved himself at all times an able and skillful debater, as well as a constructive legislator. In 1894 he became Book Editor and Editor of the Methodist Review, which post he filled until his election to the episcopacy. He had held the session of but one 230 History of Methodism. Annual Conference, the Illinois, when, proceeding to the seat of his second Conference, the Oklahoma, at Tulsa, he was at- tacked by a violent fever and congestion, produced by the lodg- ment of a fragment of bone in his throat, and died November 21, 1906, having been but six months in the episcopal office. Many circumstances of the life and death of Bishop Tigert re- call the history of Bishop Bascom. The life story of Bishop Seth Ward, though devoid of the accompaniment of brilliant surprises, is a chapter of gospel power and beauty which the younger men of the Church must always read to inspiration and profit. He was descended from a worthy parentage, though born amid humble surroundings. From childhood he manifested a thirst for knowledge which, despite many limitations and difficulties, found satisfaction in the mastery of great books and in the training of his powers of independent thinking. From wrork upon quiet country cir- cuits he soon succeeded to the pulpits of the leading Churches of his native State, and was by his brethren intrusted with a leadership of responsibility which put him at once into the most important relations of the Connection. He early evinced an interest in, and an insight into, the cause of missions which marked him as a leader in that important work. Being chosen as Assistant Missionary Secretary in 1002, he soon impressed the Connection not only with his proficiency in the work of that department, but also with aptitudes for the highest office of administration in the Church. It was not a matter of surprise, therefore, that he was selected for the episcopacy in 1006. At their meeting in 1009 his colleagues laid upon him the duty of visiting the mission stations in Eastern Asia, and it was while upon this journey that he died, in Kobe, Japan, September 20, 1909. Bishop Ward was a man of impressive modesty, very faithful in his friend ships, very delicate in his courtesies, of deep religious experience, and profoundly devoted to the cause of Jesus Christ. The connectional elections for the quadrennium of 1906-10 were as follows — viz.: Publishing Agents, D. M. Smith and A. J. Lamar; Book Editor and Editor of the Quarterly Re- view, Gross Alexander; Editor of the Christian Advocate, George B. Winton ; Sunday School Editor. Edwin B. Chappell; Elections — Berryman — Bishops Smith and (Jranbery. 2.°>1 Editor Epworth Era, Horace M. Du Bose; Missionary Secre- tary, Walter R. Lambuth ; Secretary Board of Education, John D. Hammond; Secretary Board of Church Extension, W. F. McMurry. In his election to the Secretaryship of the Board of Church Extension, Dr. McMurry became the successor of Dr. Peter H. Whisner, whose death occurred in Baltimore April 21, 190G, less than a month before the session of the General Conference. Dr. Whisner had been thirty-five years a member of the Balti- more Conference when, in 1898, he was elected Secretary of the Board of Church Extension. His administration of the office for eight consecutive years was highly satisfactory. In the ministry he was found faithful, a man of God and a loyal son of the Church. The honors which came to him were unsought, but were worthily borne. During the earlier days of the session of 1906 the General Conference sent a message of greeting to the Rev. Jerome C. Berryman, the patriarch of the Church and the sole surviving member of the General Conference of 1844. A few days later, on May 8, this venerable man passed away to join the assembly of his associates on high. The names of Bishop John C. Granbery and Bishop A. Coke Smith had been mentioned with tender solicitude by their col- leagues, and the Conference had formally released each of them from the responsibilities of his office. Within less than a year of the adjournment their names were written on the roll of the Church triumphant. Alexander Coke Smith was born in a parsonage and so grew up in the atmosphere of the itinerancy. Religious from- boy- hood, he early dedicated himself to the ministry, following in the footsteps of his father. Graduating from Wofford College in 1872, he joined the South Carolina Conference in the same year and at once entered upon the work of the pastorate. After fourteen years of service as a pastor, he became a pro- fessor in Wofford College. In 1890 he was elected Associate Missionary Secretary, but within a few months resigned that post to accept the chair of Practical Theology in Vanderbilt University. Returning to the pastorate in 1892, he filled sev- eral important stations in the Virginia Conference before his 232 History of Methodism. election to the episcopacy, in 1902. Bishop Smith was endowed with large mental powers, which had been cultivated and ef- fectively employed in working out the leads of great theological and philosophical subjects. He was an uncommonly engaging and instructive preacher, often eloquent, never dull. Witty and brilliant in conversation, he recalled the character of a certain distinguished prebend of St. Paul's who bore the same name. Few preachers of his day were so much sought after or preached to larger and more delighted and better-instructed audiences. His active service in the episcopacy was brief, his health having failed within two or three years after his con- secration. He died December 27, 1906. John Cowper Granbery, elected to the episcopacy in 1882, was a saintly and scholarly man, worthy of the honors con- ferred upon him and meriting the tribute paid to his memory. After graduating with distinction from Randolph-Macon Col- lege, he was in 1848 admitted into the traveling connection in the Virginia Conference. In 1858 he was pastor in Washington City and at the breaking out of the War between the States was chaplain of the University of Virginia. Accepting a chaplaincy in the Confederate army, he was wounded and captured and later imprisoned at Fort Warren, Boston, Mass., but was soon exchanged. In 1875 he was called to the chair of Homiletics in Vanderbilt University and was in that post when elected to the episcopacy. During his twenty years of active service as bishop he grew steadily in the affections of preachers and laymen, and his life is remembered as a constant and un- changing benediction to the Church. He died April 1, 1907. Along with these ranking commanders of the host, John C. Simmons, the historian of Pacific Methodism and a true soldier of Jesus Christ, caught the step of the immortals. After fifty- seven years as an itinerant, fifty-four of which were spent in California, he died on April 21, 1906. Methodism has not pro- duced a more interesting character nor known a more devoted son. Born in Georgia in 1827 and joining the Conference in 1849, he was one of the first itinerants to volunteer for servico in California, whose shores he reached in 1852 at the height of the gold excitement of that era. His earliest work was amongst the miners. The Southern Church, being the first on that field, John C. Simmons — Other Church Historians. 233 for a long time, and until the tide of immigration ceased to flow from Missouri and the South, was the chief missionary force on the Pacific Coast. From the mines to the growing young cities of the land the early preachers were called, and Simmons amongst the foremost. He became known everywhere and was universally loved. His golden heart of faith and zeal matched the Golden Land he learned to call his own. His "History of Southern Methodism on the Pacific Coast" will cause his name to be long remembered ; but his life, which was for fifty years a part of California, cannot quite go away from the hills and valleys which it blessed. Three other historians of the Church were canonized coe- taneously with the memorial of the heroic Simmons. These were: Anson West, D.D., author of the "History of Alabama Methodism"; A. M. Chreitzberg, author of "Early Methodism in the Carolinas" ; and James Edward Armstrong, D.D., author of the "History of the Old Baltimore Conference." Anson West was a man of iron. Formed and fashioned in the fires of early necessity and test, his mind matured inflexible convictions, and his soul settled into steadfastness of faith and loyalty. Born in North Carolina in 1832, he was early brought by his family to the Southwest, where few educational advantages could be provided him; but he quickly found the golden key to knowledge in the reading of books, and so made his way to an estate of general and effective information. Be- sides his History, he wrote a theological work, "The Old and New Man," which exhibited fruits of respectable scholarship as well as a spirit of soundness and zeal for the truth. He was an acknowledged leader in the Annual and General Conferences and a champion of Christian education. Birmingham College owes its existence to his untiring zeal. Abel McKee Chreitzberg, D.D., was born in 1820 and at his death lacked but a few weeks of being eighty-eight years of age. By acclaim of his brethren, he was "the Nestor of the South Carolina Conference and the 'Old Man Eloquent.' " He was a man of rare education, apostolic faith, and a preacher preeminently. His ministry covered a period of nearly seventy years, spent wholly in the pastorate. The history of the "Old Baltimore" Conference describes the 234 History of Methodism. top sheaf in the shock of American Methodist ingatherings. This sheaf is the harvest from the seed planted by Robert Strawbridge, the first Methodist preacher to proclaim his mes- sage in the New World and the organizer of the first Methodist Society on this side of the Atlantic. Baltimore was also the pivot of the restless episcopate of Francis Asbury. To have the honor of writing its story was no small mark of the favor of Providence. That honor fell to James E. Armstrong, who was born in Alexandria, Ya., October L5, 1830, and died April 6, 1908. With the birthright of a gentleman and the rich en- duements of religion. Dr. Armstrong impressed his generation in no ordinary way. For twenty years he was the Secretary of his Conference and for thirty years before was the assistant of Dr. John S. Martin. Their two names mingle, like the glow of binary stars, in the memorials of the "Old Baltimore." Dr. Young J. Allen, the veteran missionary, returned to China from the session of the General Conference, only to yield up his life in the land to which he had given forty-seven years of laborious and loving service. Born in Georgia in 1830, lie went with the wife of his youth as a missionary to China, ar- riving in Shanghai in 1860. He readily acquired a working knowledge of the language and began to preach. When he went to China there were no newspapers there. His quick percep- tion suggested the newspaper as a means of reaching the native mind. Accordingly, he began the publication of the first news- paper ever printed in the Chinese language, the Wan Kuoh Rung Pao (Review of the Times). He also began to priut books. This attracted the attention of the Chinese government, and during the American War, 1861-G5, he was employed by the imperial authorities to translate books and teach in the gov- ernment schools. This gave him an influence in the empire which grewr steadily during his lifetime. It is doubtful if any foreigner, except "Chinese" Gordon, ever had more influence over the Chinese mind. Dr. Allen was instrumental in estab- lishing the Anglo-Chinese College at Shanghai and also aided in founding the Soochow7 University. His name is written high in the list of "master missionaries." To think of a General Conference in the South between the years 1870 and 100G, a period of more than a third of a cen- Paul Whitehead — John J. Lafferty. 235 tury, is to associate with its proceedings the name of P;nil Whitehead, of Virginia, the peerless debater and unmatched parliamentarian and Church lawyer. Dr. Whitehead was born in 1830 and was nearing the close of his seventy-seventh year when his death occurred, April 3, 1907. For fifty years he served in the office of Secretary of the Virginia Conference, which is believed to be the longest similar record in the history of Methodism, saving that of Dr. Armstrong, already referred to. Of scholarly habits, very gentle and courteous, and devout in spirit, Paul Whitehead was a prince of the household of faith. After the gospel, his passion was botany, and his love of nature gave a fragrance to his learning. More than any of his compeers, he shaped the Church's legislation. On every hand his mastery in Church law was admitted. In sundry connections this history has appraised the sig- nificance and influence of Methodist journalism. The pulpit and pastorate have brought into prominence many characters of native strength and have afforded opportunities to many men of classic and consecrated culture; but the press of the Church has afforded to a quite limited number of men ex- ceptional opportunities for the display of both native talent and acquired ability. John J. Lafferty, for more than forty years connected with the editorship of the Richmond Christian Advocate, was, with James M. Buckley, the most brilliant, original, and forceful - editor of American Methodism, and amongst those longest in service. Wit, humor, and not seldom something akin to satire and invective mingled in his phrasings with pathos, classic elegance, and the drive of mighty thought. Sometimes he blew the reeds of Pan ; sometimes he clutched the haft of the hammer of Thor; sometimes his leaders were devout meditations, missals, and canticles; again, they were philippics against real or fancied abusers of clerical power and privilege or iconoclastic rushes on customs too confidently indulged. Sometimes his paragraphs were honeyed courtesies; sometimes they were curt thrusts at a derelict or an opponent ; but always they were brilliant, engaging, and readable. He was "the wizard of the inkhorn," preeminent in his guild. Had he es- sayed literature in some severer fashion, he no doubt would have immortalized his genius. As it was, he ran his race with 236 History of Methodism. the handicap which denominational journalism imposes, and also employed methods which, though not ethically incorrect, belong to the field of secular letters rather than to the policies of Church journalism. The sincerity of his life and the gen- uineness of his faith were not questioned. He passed away with the love and admiration of many, but by some was judged to the last. John B. A. Ahrens, who was born in Rinehausen, Germany, in 1836 and died in New Orleans April 19, 1906, was a charter member of the German Conference and the first editor of its literature, having established and edited its early journals, the Familienfreund and the Kinder j 're and. Dr. Ahrens was the foremost preacher of his race in the American world, possessing many gifts, much culture, and being profoundly religious. He spoke fluently and with equal effect in both German and Eng- lish. Besides his editorial writings, he made translations into and from the German, composed hymns, and contributed let- ters and monographs to a number of journals. He was the author of a "History of Mexico," written in German. A gifted editorial writer and a man descended from a fam- ily of Methodist patricians was Thomas Roberts Pierce, once editor of the Texas Christian Advocate. Born in Georgia in 1852, and entering the North Georgia Conference in 1871, he served a while in the pastorates of that State and then trans- ferred to the North Texas Conference, where his pulpit work was marked by force and effectiveness. In 1894 he was made editor of the Advocate and at once attracted wide attention by reason of the strength, soundness, and literary finish of his writings. He no doubt would have been called to a place in connectional journalism, but a fatal and lingering malady un- dermined his health and brought him to a premature death on September 1, 1909. The successor of Dr. Pierce as editor of the Texas Christian Advocate was Rev. George C. Rankin, D.D., who was born in Tennessee in 1819 and died in Texas in 1915. First a pastor in Tennessee, then in Missouri, he was in 1892 transferred to Texas, and after a pastorate of eight years became editor of the Conference organ. During the years of his editorship he acquired a great personal influence in the State, both as a Rankin — Palmore — Carter — Black. 1M Church leader and as an advocate of the cause of prohibition and law enforcement. Indeed, it was freely conceded that his influence in the State, both as a citizen and as a religious teach- er, was second to that of no other man. He had conquered many obstacles in early life and had acquired the equipment neces- sary for the unusual and successful tasks allotted him. His editorials were never brilliant, never rose to the higher levels of literary style, nor carried unusual forms of statement, but were strong, argumentative, perspicuous, and served the use for which they were intended — to be read by the people. He left an indelible impression upon the religious and civic life of his adopted State. One of the most widely traveled men of the century was William B. Palmore, who in 1890 became chief owner and editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate and whose death occurred July 5, 1914. It is believed that Dr. Palmore had visited every political division of the earth and had traveled carefully and leisurely through all Bible lands, as well as through the historic countries of the Levant and Orient. His travels brought him into close sympathy with Christian mis- sions, and as a result of that sympathy he founded two mis- sion schools which bear his name, one in Japan and one in Mexico. Under his direction and editorship, the Advocate be- came the most influential Conference newspaper in the Connec- tion. Dr. Palmore was an instructive lecturer, as well as an earnest and able preacher of the Word. The tripod of the New Orleans Christian Advocate has been occupied by4 a succession of exceptionally able men, four of them — H. N. McTyeire, J. C. Keener, Linus Parker, and Charles B. Galloway — succeeding to the episcopacy. Other two of that succession, Charles W. Carter and Warren C. Black, have finished their tasks and joined their predecessors in the com- pany of just men made perfect. Charles W. Carter, D.D., was a native of Louisiana, born in 1833. A vigorous thinker, a preacher of the type of Phillips Brooks, and a writer of pure and undefiled English, he lived a life of rounded usefulness and self-devotion. Besides his pastoral and editorial work, he was a force in the wider life of the Connection, being often a member of the General Con- 238 History of Methodism. ference, where his talents were prized and used by his co- delegates. His death occurred December 20, 1912. The successor of Dr. Carter as editor of the New Orleans Christian Advocate, Rev. Warren C. Black, D.D., was born in Mississippi May 24, 1843. As a preacher, writer, and lecturer. Dr. Black successfully challenged his generation. Like many another embryo itinerant, in preparing himself for his calling he met difficulties hard to overcome; but he overcame them, and that with a balance in his favor. Next to Bishop Gallo- way, he was credited with having contributed more to the suc- cess of prohibition in Mississippi than any other man. He was succeeded in the editorship by the present able incumbent, R. A. Meek, D.D., also a native of the State which gave Galloway and Black to the Church. Of great pastors which the Methodism of the South has known, no name is written higher in the record than that of John Mathews, D.D., who died in a rich, ripe old age on Sep- tember 1, 1907. The greatest pulpits of the Connection knew his ministry. In Mobile, in New Orleans, in Kansas City, in St. Louis, and in Nashville, he filled pastorates, always serving the legal limit. A true gospel preacher, persuasive, eloquent, evangelical, as also evangelistic, he brought men and women into the kingdom by scores and hundreds. Every week wit- nessed a revival about the chancel of his church and in the prayer meeting. Nor was he less a pastor for being so diligent a preacher. No man ever excelled him as a shepherd of souls; few have equaled him. Who can imagine the fullness of rest which in Paradise comes to a soul like this! During the quadrennium between 1906 and 1910 the Church suffered the loss through death of six of its General Superin- tendents— namely, Bishops Granbery, Tigert, Smith, Duncan, Galloway, and Ward. Bishop William Wallace Duncan, the eighteenth General Su- perintendent of the Church, was born in 1839 and entered the ministry in 1858. He was elected to the episcopacy in 188G and died March 2, 1908. Like his elder brother. Dr. James A. Duncan, he grew up in a college and, it might well be said, was a scholar by birth; nor was he less a true and reverent Chris- tian. Much of his ministry was given to the education of the Bishop William Wallace Duncan. *2:v.) youth of Methodism. The service which he rendered the Church as an executive officer and as an adviser in its councils cannot well be estimated. "His ideal was high, and nothing ever caused him to lower his standards." Oftentimes plain-spoken, sometimes severe, even stern, there was yet a kindly, sunny background to his manner which always broke through clouds and relieved all situations for which he felt a real responsi- bility. No kindlier gentleman, no purer Christian has served the Church and the social life of Methodism in our day. CHAPTEK XIV. Death of Bishop Galloway — Sam P. Jones — William E. Munsey — Jacob Ditzler — Other Evangelists — Centenary of the Constitution — General Conference, North — The Church and Prohibition — Deaths — Many Tongues — Education — Labor — Mission Fields — Methodist Protestants and Union — The New Statement of Faith — Memorial Day — President Roosevelt — Elections — Fraternal Address — Canadian Methodism — British Wesleyanism — English Leaders — Irish Methodism — The Aus- tralasian Connection— 1906-1909 (Concluded). N the house of the Methodism of the South the golden bowl 1 was broken and the silver cord was loosed on that morning in May, in the year 1909, on which announcement was made of the death of Charles B. Galloway, the youngest man ever elect- ed to the Methodist episcopacy, and dying in his fifty-ninth year. Not since the death of McTyeire or Soule had the Church felt so deep and so general a sorrow. Charles Betts Galloway was born in Kosciusko, Miss., Sep- tember 1, 1849. Sometime in the summer of 1868 he was li- censed to preach by the Quarterly Conference of the Canton charge. Even in his college days Bishop Galloway gave prom- ise of remarkable powers as an orator, and his brilliant and useful career in the pulpit wTas foreshadowed. One of the pro- fessors in the University of Mississippi, from which institu- tion the Bishop graduated, was the late Associate Justice La- mar, of the United States Supreme Court. When young Gal- loway was leaving his Alma Mater, the great jurist said : "Char- lie, others, as well as myself, are glad to learn that you are to enter the ministry. Some of us would like to go to Congress from this district." The transcendent powers of the Mississippi youth, as afterwards displayed before great audiences in both the Old and the New World, showed that his preceptor had not overestimated the possibilities of his future. In personal appearance Bishop Galloway was distinguished and commanding. Tall and admirably proportioned, his body approached the sculptor's ideal of completeness. His features were fascinating, but classically masculine. A contagious fire flashed from his eyes, and an oracular light kindled about his (240) Character of Bishop Galloway. 241 brow. Firmness and tenderness clasped hands at the portal of his lips. His voice matched well his frame and eye and, though not of unusual compass, both its undertones and its full notes were extraordinarily musical and persuasive. In his intona- tions he could simulate the sound of thunders and counterfeit the rhythm of low winds and rustling corn blades. The modu- lations of his voice were particularly adapted to the expression of those qualities of truth and sympathy in the gospel which, being humanlike, need a perfect human instrument for their interpretation. But not less truly could those organ tones ut- ter forth the highest spiritual teachings of the evangel. His manners were easy and dignified, his movements and gestures pleasing and effective, but unstudied and unconscious. In any company he would have been marked as a man in favor with destiny and one to whom it was ordained that deference should be paid. With whatever confraternity allied, it was inevitable that he should have become a leader and a teacher. Both God and nature set upon him the seal of mastery. This was the physical crown of his personality. His devotion to his native State was a passion, and yet he was perhaps the most cosmopolitan man to be found in the republic. He was truly a son and a citizen of the common- wealth of Mississippi. In youth and in manhood alike, in the village obscurity of his early career and in the white light of his world-wide fame, his lips overflowed with artless words of praise for the State of his T>irth. Nor was his love for the mother greater than her pride in her son. It is a true testi- mony, borne by a member of this Conference, that "in all the world none so delighted to do him honor as those among whom he made his home." His accession to the highest official responsibility in his Church widened his sphere of usefulness and introduced him to the fellowship of the world's leaders, but it neither de- stroyed nor diminished his home attachments. From honors and preferments in the world's high places he returned to his home in the quiet little capital of Mississippi, not only to rest and renew his strength, but to live himself more fully and more tenderly back into the memories and ties of home and friend- ship. The very vines that guarded his porch and the oak- 16 242 History of Methodism. shadowed street that passed his door grew dearer to him every year, and the love of his own and the widening hopes of his neighbors were more to him than the pledges of his fame. Thus were his highest loyalties those of the heart. But his patriotism and his sectional sympathies were matched with a sense of judgment and justice. Though he never failed to defend his people and his section against prejudice and unjust criticism, he was never betrayed into special pleadings on their behalf nor into extenuation of those things in which they were to be blamed. It is the opinion of a distinguished Northern critic that, though "his lectures on Justice Lamar and Jeffer- son Davis were more satisfactory to the South than they were to the North, they were tempered with utterances the Southern people needed to hear"; and this verdict there will not be found so much as one to dispute. Fraternal in matter of both Church and State, he never by any speech either betrayed or compromised his own people. While conceding to the people of other sections and to their forbears perfect sincerity of motive and honesty of judgment, he insisted that no less should be conceded to his own and to their fathers. Fraternity and cooperation he would have spurned had they been offered in exchange for the faith and pride of his brethren and countrymen. It was on this platform that he won. If the genuineness of the religious life and experience of Bishop Galloway needed testifying to by his brethren, there would rise up a multitude in vocal witness. But this is not needed. The testimony was in himself and in his walk. His con version was genuine and marked with the definite fea- tures of time and place. He lived in intimate and conscious communion with God. In the pastorate he exhibited the ten- derness, sympathy, and faithfulness of a disciple sent directly from the Lord. In the pulpit he delivered the message which the Master had given him in secret. In the episcopal office he used the authority conferred upon him to promote the kingdom of Christ. As a bishop his preaching was not different from that which he did as a pastor; it was sound, evangelical, and quick with nascent throes, the offspring of his own experience. The service which Bishop Galloway rendered the Church 'Foreign Minister of Methodism" — Sam Jones. 24: J was large and varied. His relations to ecumenical Methodism were perhaps more extensive than those of any other Wesleyan of his day. He fairly won the distinction — first worn by Dr. Coke, the earliest bishop of the Church — of being styled "the foreign minister of Methodism." He was sent abroad more frequently than any other bishop of the Church, and served in all these capacities with such effectiveness and ability as to make him not only the best known, but also the most influen- tial, personality in universal Methodism. For several years before his going away Bishop Galloway's health had been declining, and his malady had become so pro- nounced during the last few months of his life that his death was almost daily expected. On the twelfth of May — the Nizan of our Southern year — he was translated. With what sorrow and what sense of loss and amid what throngs of his brethren, neighbors, and fellow citizens his dust was laid to rest, is a story that will long abide with the Church and the land that loved him well. Through its regular pastorate and the offices of its connec- tional administration the Methodism of the South has pro- duced a number of men of continent-wide reputation. It has also produced a group of men who in providentially discovered and providentially developed gifts have distinguished their Church and section. At the head of this list stands the name of Samuel P. Jones, who was born in 1847 and died in 1906. As an evangelist and lecturer "Sam" Jones, as he was univer- sally known, attained a popularity and achieved a success with- out parallel. He addressed more and greater audiences than any other man of the century. Probably no preacher of any age ever reached so many people in the aggregate. Nor was this all. For the time of his ministry no preacher probably ever wielded so wide an influence. His speech was homely, his style direct, and his subjects were selected from the common- places of life; but there was an inconceivable charm in his voice and manner and a tremendous earnestness in his utter- ances. His gospel was simple and sound, evangelistic and ethical. For a time he was an itinerant in the North Georgia Conference, but located that he might be free to meet the call of the continent. He compiled* a number of books of his sen- 214 History of Methodism. tentious, explosive, and challenging sayings. The preaching of Sam Jones marked an era in the religious life of the Church and in the conscience of the people concerning civic righteous- ness. Rev. George R. Stuart, D.D., formerly a local preacher, but latterly a member of the Holston Conference, was an associate of Sam Jones and has had an unusual career in the wider evangelistic field, carrying his message to every part of the continent. He has also had remarkable success in his later work in the pastorate. The Rev. H. C. Morrison, D.D., has also covered a wide field in his evangelistic labors and has had a fruitful ministry in many parts of the Connection. A preacher and lecturer of extraordinary, though erratic, genius was William E. Munsey, who died in 1877, after a ca- reer marked by sufferings and triumphs. No preacher of the age possessed similar gifts. His style is properly described as a "sorcery of words." The imageries of his discourses were overwhelming. Nor were his marvelous creations of fancy and rhetoric at the expense of gospel soundness and directness of appeal. The multitudes who heard him were melted to peni- tence and tears. He was a century plant that filled the land with an almost unearthly perfume; but the flower of his aston- ishing genius was also its fruit, and the plant died with its blossom. It was an impossible product. If not itself the off- spring of dying, it made such drafts upon brain and fiber that the penalty was death, cumulative and certain. The two vol- umes of Dr. Munsey's sermons and lectures were once much read and admired. Perhaps the most successful and effective controversialist produced by American Methodism is Jacob Ditzler, a native of Germany, born about 1825. The better part of the years of a long ministerial life and the better part of his powers have been given to the task of defending the doctrines of Christian ity and the polity and usages of Methodism against the infidel and the ecclesiastical marauder. With a thorough grounding in the original languages of Scripture, with the results of an exhaustive research into Christian history and antiquities in hand, and with a natural love of onset, he has been an antago- nist whom the disputer has had cause to dread. Centenary of the Constitution. 245 For a quarter of a century or more following its first cycle the Methodism of North America moved amid an inspiring re- currence of memorable dates. First came the centenary year, then all but innumerable memorials of the Asburian episcopate, to which was added the jubilee of the organization of the Meth- odist Church in the South. An instructive and widely interest- ing centennial was also that of the constitution, which fell at the session of the General Conference of the Methodist Episco- pal Church in the United States of America at Baltimore in May, 1908. This interesting celebration came on May 7, the day upon which the General Conference opened its session. It was an occasion upon which the thought of both Methodisms could appropriately center. A representative from the South was, therefore, invited to deliver an address on behalf of the Methodism of that section. This service was rendered by H. M. Du Bose, D.D., at that time General Secretary of the Ep- worth League. The subject assigned him was "The Methodism of 1808," naturally suggesting the time when Methodism in North America was one. Dr. Charles W. Smith, editor of the Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, later elected bishop, read a pa- per on "The Constitution" from the viewpoint of the then re- cently codified fundamental law of the Church, North. This paper had many points of permanent value. Dr. McConnell, of the Brooklyn pastorate, and Bishop Warren delivered ad- dresses on "The Methodism of To-Day" and "The Methodism of To-Morrow," respectively. This celebration served to deepen the interest in Methodist law and canon which had already had a pronounced revival in both Connections. The twenty-fifth delegated session, being the thirtieth from the beginning, of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America convened in Lyric Hall, Baltimore, May 7, 1908. The spot was not far from the scene of the General Conference which a hundred years before had adopted a con- stitution for the government of the lawmaking body of the then united Connection. Baltimore had welcomed each of the six successive General Conferences from 1784 to 1808. From that time the scepter departed, to return fitfully after being wielded in other great and growing centers. Yet the sessions of 1816, 1820, and 1824 were convened in that city; and in 1840 the 246 History of Methodism. last session of the undivided body returned to its long-accus- tomed place. Since 1840 two sessions of the General Confer- ence of the Church. North — viz., 187G and 1008 — and one ses- sion of the Southern body — viz., 1898 — have met in the city by the Chesapeake. Here the first regular missionaries of the Church, Garrettson and Cromwell, were sent out in 1784 to Nova Scotia. Here, too, the first educational program of early Methodism was created in the ideal of Cokesbury College. These and scores of other memories have preserved to Baltimore an undying interest for all American Methodists. The Episcopal Address, as is the usual custom in Methodism, was read at the opening session. It was a great paper and dealt masterfully with a multitude of important matters. It emphasized the relations of growing cordiality and fraternity with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, declared against a restatement of Methodist doctrine, and also pronounced against special legislation on the question of worldly amuse- ments, advocating a return to the basis of the General Rules and the position of primitive Methodism. It was especially a clear call on the issue of the legal prohibition of the whisky traffic. A sublime spectacle was witnessed when two thousand people, including eight hundred official delegates, arose and cheered the episcopal utterance. Methodism has everywhere been a unit on prohibition. It has been the most potent religious force on the whole continent. Its voice has been heard. As a record of the confidence and directness with which Methodist bodies have spoken on this subject, we give here an excerpt from this memorable address: When, some years ago, the General Conference planted our Church on the heights of legal and constitutional prohibition, some in the Church and many in the world felt that we had passed from sobriety of judgment to fanaticism and, in short, had become "intemperately temperate." To-day we find that State after State has climbed to our position and that unexpected aid has reached us from railway and other corporations, as well as from some trades unions. States which have been notoriously unfriendly to any temperance legislation, except gener- al license, have passed local-option laws which have been accepted by county after county until almost the whole State has banished the sa- loon. We can measure the sincerity of the organs of the liquor traffic, as well as of the politicians they control, in saying that "prohibition General Conference of 1908. 247 does not prohibit," by their frantic efforts to defeat all prohibitive or restrictive legislation. The well-wishers of mankind will sing doxol- ogies in view of the astonishing progress of the prohibitive idea — a progress so great that the middle-aged may hope to see this curse of curses, alcoholic liquor, put in the cabinet of drugs and no more freely sold than any other irritant or soporific poison. For a long time it has given joy to your General Superintendents to observe that this evil traffic has known that when a Methodist Episcopal minister arrived in town, no matter how he came, an unsparing, no-quarter enemy had ar- rived. On this account our ministers have been frequently chosen to lead the temperance army, whether fighting for local, State, or national prohibition; and we unfeignedly rejoice that the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, so recently led by a sainted member of our Church, aided by the Anti-Saloon League, has prevented the reestablishment of the canteen and the fouling again of the nation's hand by direct partici- pation in the sale of liquor. When, in the call of the College of Bishops, the names of Bishops Joyce, Merrill, McCabe, FitzGerald, Andrews, and Fowler were reached, there was no response ; but Bishop War- ren, answering, said : "Transferred to the Church triumphant." In the course of official reports the very interesting state- ment was made that the ministry of the Church was preaching the gospel in one hundred and forty languages and dialects. This ministry had substituted in a multitude of hearts the truth of Christianity for the errors of Buddhism and had given to many the brotherhood of Jesus for the caste of Brahmanism, the hope of the apostolic gospel for the fatalism of Mohammed, and the leaven of grace and peace for the stern philosophy of Confucius. "In India, Siva surrenders to Jesus ; in Africa, the fetish gives way to the Lamb of God." For the quadrennium it was reported that the net increase in the number of commu- nicants totaled 278,357, the greatest gain for sixteen years. The number of ministers in the Annual Conferences was 19,353, an increase of 1,171 in four years. The number subject to ap- pointment as pastors was 15,722. The number of local preach- ers serving as pastors was 4,439. Thus the pastoral army num- bered 20,161. The answer to the roll call in the General Con- ference was from every country. The returns from the work of education were imposing in their aggregates. A total of $25,761,547 was reported as the investments in educational enterprises, an increase of $4,682,- 248 History of Metlwdism. 539 for the quadrennium. The total of endowments was $23,- 850,486, an increase for the quadrennium of §5,800,384. Thus the whole amount invested in education was §47,509,532, an increase of more than eleven million dollars. The figures on Church property were not less suggestive. The gain in value of churches was $28,149,024, and the gain in value of parson- ages was $4,528,871. The total valuation of churches and par- sonages was but little less than one hundred and ninety million dollars. The Church of Jesus Christ can never be indifferent to any reform involving either moral questions or the physical well- being of the race. It is only natural, therefore, that the Meth- odist Churches have always spoken out frankly on all matters which have an ethical and social bearing. The utterances of this General Conference concerning the rights of labor and the demands for political honor and social purity were not a whit behind the convictions expressed by the other great Christian denominations. It said : We see clearly that within the next generation there are to be great social changes. The influence of wealth on political life and measures is to grow less, whether it be in the hands of individuals or corpora- tions. The workingmen are to have more power, the idlers less. Anarchistic movements are less successful here than abroad, because of universal suffrage and the ease with which land can be transferred and the relative ease with which the workingman can secure a home. The man who owns is the man who wants peace. In this connection it is interesting to note that a telegram was sent to the Congress of the United Stares asking thai sa- loons be not allowed in soldiers' homes. The reception of this motion was the beginning of the tide of temperance enthusiasm which marked the whole session. The iniquity of the "canteen" — that is, the saloon in barracks and soldiers' homes — soon be- came a thing of memory, the Churches and the civic institutions of the country becoming a unit for its destruction. The reports from the broad mission fields of the Church were a particular feature of this Conference. Bishop Oldham re- ported upon Southern Asia, and Bishop Bashford upon China. Bishop Oldham read a detailed account of the achievements and needs in Tndia. Malaysia, and the Philippines. The life Of Missionary Interests. 249 of these countries was being quickened by the gospel. The sense of personality and responsibility was growing as a reve- lation. The people were beginning to find themselves. Bishop Bashford recounted the movements of awakening life in the vast empire of China. Over his accounts of famine men wept ; over his appeals for help "amens" were uttered. After the report of these two bishops, Bishop Thoburn spoke for India. He was described as "the Christ-led leader of the Methodist advance, the man who laid the plans of campaign and who lived to hear the first shouts of the returning victors." The report of Bishop Burt, who had charge of the work in Europe, followed next in order. As a climax he said : "We must save Europe and America if we are to save the heathen world, and we must save the heathen world if we are to save ourselves." We have already given a somewhat particular account of the erection of the Japanese missions into a national Church. At this time the General Conference passed resolutions which were meant to establish the exact relationship sustained by its Mis- sion Board to that field. While the general question of missions was under consider- ation, the following resolution was introduced — namely : "That if the Committee on Episcopacy should deem it advisable to elect the missionary bishops General Superintendents, then said committee is to report to the General Conference how many General Superintendents shall be elected to give the Church and missions the same superintendency now enjoyed." This effort to do away with the missionary episcopate signally failed ; but it is to be noted that Bishop Oldham, one of the missionary bishops, was consecrated to the general superintendency in 1908. On the retirement of Bishop James M. Thoburn at this time (1908) Dr. J. M. Buckley said: Mr. President, there has never been a man like unto James M. Tho- burn in the Methodist Episcopal Church for the purpose to which he devoted his life. With simplicity mingled with sagacity; with straight- forward English, and yet at times under inspiration reaching the spirit and the words of the ancient prophets, but more frequently the apostle John, he has persuaded us when he could not convince, and convinced us when he could not persuade. Consequently he has had his way, which he believed was God's way. 250 History of Methodism. The Conference modified the conditions of probationary mem- bership from the old standard requirements to the following: "Let no one be admitted into full membership in the Church until he has been recommended by the official board or the leaders' and stewards' meeting, with the approval of the pas- tor, has been baptized, and, on examination, has given satis- factory assurance both of the correctness of his faith and of his willingness to observe and keep the rules of the Church." A somewhat formal proposition for union came from the Methodist Protestant Church. This proposition was probably one of the insistent influences which have led up to the formal and hopeful negotiations for a general Methodist union. Mem- orable utterances were indulged on this occasion. Amongst the speakers were Dr. J. M. Buckley, who referred to Thomas Stockton, Alexander Clark, and other Methodist Protestant leaders, and told how bitterly the fathers had fought that Church ; though in the spirit and by the methods illustrated in more recent dealings with the question of the admission of lay- men and women into the General Conference, they might have been adjusted without a separation. He seconded the resolu- tions and said further: The Methodist Protestant Church is in itself a very respectable body, so much so that a body having nothing in common — namely, Congre- gationalism— has stretched out its hands to welcome them to its bosom. This is the finest thing that has ever been brought before the body. I assure you that I have no sympathy with the fetish of corporate mani- festations, but I do believe that all Methodists should try to unite all through the world. I do not want to affiliate externally with the Roman Catholic Church; though if men accuse it of too many things, I will take a brief for it. I do not wish to be connected with the Prot- estant Episcopal Church, because I do not want any man who believes in a third order to have the opportunity of ruling me. I look upon the Presbyterian Church with the greatest delight, and I have a very great respect for the Congregational body and for the Baptists. But I can- not join any of them, for I do not agree in all the fundamentals. But with Methodists I can agree. They know their doctrines without a new statement. They know their spirit, and they know just what they are. Now one hundred and seventy-five thousand of these men may come to us. In their address the bishops recommended unfavorable action on the invitation to join in a new statement of Methodist faith. Failure of Restatement. 251 The Committee of Fifteen appointed to report on this matter submitted the following paper, which was adopted : Your committee have pondered with care the gravity of this impor- tant proposal and of its possible consequences. We remember with gladness, in this year 1908 especially, our common origin, our common traditions, and our common faith. We desire also to reciprocate most cordially every manifestation of fraternity. We are, nevertheless, compelled, in the presence of this overture, to recall the earnest wish of our fathers that our Articles of Religion and our Standards of Doctrine should remain unchanged; and having weighed the arguments in favor of it, we are not convinced of the neces- sity or the expediency of the proposed new statement of our doctrines. Accordingly, we unanimously recommend that this General Confer- ence respectfully decline to take the action requested, at the same time renewing the expression of our fraternal love for the Methodist Episco- cal Church, South. As a side light on this matter, an excerpt from the fraternal address of the Rev. John S. Simon, of the British Wesleyan Conference, before the session of the General Conference of the Church, South, in 1910, may be appreciated. He said : Now, in England we have no Twenty-Five Articles, and certainly we have not "Thirty-Nine Articles." That would be — what was it? "Forty stripes save one." We have simply the sermons of Wesley; we have the notes on the New Testament; and our standard of orthodoxy is this, that we shall preach nothing contrary to what is contained in these standards. We may preach an individual gospel, but it must not antagonize those standards. We have the broadest creed in Christen- dom. And if you ask me why we have very few doctrinal controversies in England, I would say the reason is this: that we are not tied to a hidebound creed. Memorial Day coming during the sitting of the Conference, it was celebrated as one of the calendar features of the session. Senator Beveridge, a Methodist layman and a member of the Conference, was orator. He eschewed politics in his discussion and took for his text the decision of the Supreme Court : "That when a common evil cannot be arrested by a State, then the Federal government should interfere." "Intemperance, child labor, and immoral literature should be suppressed by statu- torial enactments." He said the North had emancipated the negro, but had left a million white children in the slavery of factories, mines, and sweatshops. He earnestly pleaded for a 252 History of Method ism. rising throughout the whole country against this immolation of childhood and against the enemies of home and motherhood in the shape of the licensed liquor traffic. To this address the Conference gave enthusiastic indorsement. An interesting side event of the Conference session was a visit of the body to Washington City, on which occasion the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, then President of the United States, delivered a notable address. One paragraph, at least, of that utterance deserves a place in this history. The President said : And now, friends, it is indeed a pleasure to be with you to-day and to bid you welcome on behalf of the nation, here in the capital' of the nation. I am glad to meet here good Methodists from so many lands. The Methodist Church plays a great part in many lands, and yet I think I can say that in none other has it played so great and peculiar a part as here in the United States. Its history is indissolubly interwoven with the history of our country for the sixscore years since the constitutional convention made us really a nation. Methodism in America entered on its period of rapid growth just about the time of Washington's first presidency. Its essential democracy, its fiery and restless energy of spirit, and the wide play that it gave to individual initiative — all tended to make it peculiarly congenial to a hardy and virile folk, dem- ocratic to the core, prizing individual independence above all earthly pos- sessions, and engaged in the rough and stern work of conquering a con- tinent. Methodism spread even among the old communities and long- settled districts of the Atlantic tidewater, but its phenomenal growth was from these regions westward. The whole country is under a debt of gratitude to the Methodist circuit riders, the Methodist pioneer preachers, whose movement westward kept pace with the movement of the frontier, who shared all the hardships in the life of the frontiers- man, while at the same time ministering to that frontiersman's spiritual needs and seeing that his pressing material cares and the hard and grinding poverty of his life did not wholly extinguish the divine fire within his soul. The Conference having decided upon the election of eight additional bishops, the following-named were chosen — viz. : William F. Anderson, John L. Nuelsen, William A. Quayle, Charles W. Smith. Wilson S. Lewis, Edwin H. Hughes, Robert Mclntyre, and Frank M. Bristol. In 1888 the General Confer- ence had determined that two-thirds of the votes casl should be required for the election of a bishop. This fact so multiplied the ballots that a week was consumed in securing these elections. Bishop Anderson was born April 22, I860. In 1904 he Elections — Fraternal Addresses. ur>:; was elected to succeed Bishop McDowell as Secretary of the Board of Education, in which post he was serving at the time of his election. Bishop Nuelsen was born in Switzerland in 1867, his father being a missionary to that country. In the course of his education he had accomplished himself not only in English, but in French and German. Bishop Quayle was born in 1861. Even before his election he was one of the most popular preachers and lecturers on the continent. Bishop Smith is the oldest man who has ever been elected to the Meth- odist episcopacy. He was born in 1840 and was, therefore, sixty-eight years of age at the time of his election. Bishop Lewis is said to have owed his election to his deep religious experience, his brotherly kindness, and his great success as an educator. Bishop Hughes had spent all his ministerial life in the pastorate, except a brief incumbency of the presidency of De Pauw University, in which position he was serving at the time of his election. He is still reckoned amongst the younger men of the Connection. Bishop Mclntyre was of Scotch par- entage and was deemed one of the most eloquent and accom- plished men in the Church. His death occurred in 1915. Bish- op Bristol spent his entire ministerial life in the pastorate be- fore his election to the episcopacy. He is rated as a man of preeminent gifts. The election of connectional officers resulted as follows: Publishing Agents, Homer Eaton, George P. Mains, Henry C. Jennings, and E. K. Graham; Secretary of the Board of Mis- sions, A. B. Leonard; Secretary of the Board of Education, Thomas Nicholson; Secretary of the Sunday School Board, David G. Downey; Secretary of the Epworth League, E. M. Randall ; Editor of the Methodist Review, W. V. Kelley ; Editor of the Christian Advocate, James M. Buckley; Editor of the Epworth Herald, S. J. Herben. Fraternal addresses were heard from many Churches besides those within the Methodist circle. The British Wesleyan Con- ference and the Irish Church were represented by the Rev. John Goodman, who introduced himself as a "circuit preacher" and insisted upon the appellation. The Canadian Church was rep- resented by the Rev. James Henderson, D.D., and the Hon. N. W. Rowell, K.C. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was 254 History of Methodism. represented by the Rev. Collins Denny, D.D., afterwards elected bishop. Amongst other things characteristically and frankly expressed, Dr. Denny said : We are told that the Old South is gone — gone never to return. These many years we have heard much of a New South. The underly- ing assumption seems^ to be that the old race is dead and buried and that a new race, wholly disconnected from the old, has taken its place. Let us not delude ourselves; for delusion is not light, but darkness. The South to-day — the New South — is not a different race, but the same race. The branch is different, but the root is the same. The blood of the Old South is our blood, and its racial traits are our racial traits. A variation of conditions may have affected the form; it has not changed the substance. Human life is always developmental, never cataclysmal. To the law that nature does not proceed by leaps the South cannot be an exception. Tersely and truly did the genial Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes say: "Every man is an omnibus in which all his ancestors ride." Within our lives are inclosed our ancestors. Our care should be, and shall be, that nothing great and noble in them shall be lacking in us. Were they chivalrous? The true chivalry which manifests itself not in show, but in readiness of renunciation, must also be our possession. Were they high-minded? We, too, must have the height of mind which is slow to make a demand, but quick to do a kindness. Were they tender in honor? Be it also ours to develop a character that instinctively recoils from every form of baseness. Changed conditions may alter the form of our hospitality, but God forbid that we should ever become inhospitable to truth and sympathy and charity! For visitors from these and kindred realms may the doors of our hearts ever be wide open and our boards always laden with welcoming nourishment! These are social obligations that bind all of us. Such ideals as these I covet for the South, yea, for our whole dear country, irrespective of section; for in the very presence of God they can be unblushingly avowed, and, welcomed into our lives, they will become our guardian angels which "in clear dream and sol- emn vision tell us of things that no gross ear can hear." Indeed, they will be like those ministering spirits who, the apostle tells us, are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation; for, rightly understood, these are fruits of the Spirit. At the close of this period the Church in Canada was rejoic- ing in continued prosperity and was laying great stress upon the character and work of its pulpit. This work was described as taking four different types, corresponding to the four periods through which Methodism has passed — namely: the revivalistic, or early Wesleyan, type ; the controversial, or militant, type; the expositive, or teaching, type; and the practical and ethical, or Canada and Missions — Fraternal Address. '1 55 more modern, type. The direct and reviyalistic type was domi- nant, however; and the results were seen in the Church's annua] reports. The great home missionary problem of Canada was still that of its native Indian population. To this was added the everlasting complexity of the Asiatic problem — the Japa- nese, the Chinese, and the Hindus. In every report made by representatives of Dominion Methodism the issues created by the presence of these peoples were uppermost. The Church reported six hundred and thirty-eight missionaries in China, Japan, and Western Canada. For all purposes the Church was contributing considerably more than four million dollars an- nually. These figures had little significance when compared with the larger gifts of American Methodists; but, as we have already seen, in the average per capita they put Canadian Methodism in an uncontested class. As the Churches in the United States had united in a great Missionary Conference, so the Churches of Canada gathered themselves in April, 1909, for a similar fellowship and study. Some four thousand men, representing all Churches and coming from all parts of the Dominion, met in Massey Hall, Toronto, and spent nearly one week considering how best to accomplish the sublime task which had already been proposed, "the evan- gelization of the world in the present generation." The result of the gathering was to give a great inspiration to the move- ment for missions in those far northern lands. Like the Church in England, the Church in Canada some time ago divided its mission work into twro separate departments, home and foreign, each under the direction of a separate secretary, but all con- trolled by a general board. The Rev. W. B. Murrah, D.D., since elected to the episcopacy, was fraternal delegate from the Southern Church to the Cana- dian General Conference at its session in 1902 and made his report to the General Conference of 1906. In adverting to conditions in the South, Dr. Murrah said : I think I may fairly claim that the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is possessed of a spirit of aggressiveness not surpassed in any previous period of our history. We are not unmindful of the demands imposed by modern conditions. We recognize the fact that with every age there have been associated peculiar responsibilities and that our 256 History of Methodism. times are not exceptional in this regard. Responsibilities imperative and exacting confront us. Problems of the gravest kind, problems in- separable from the times in which we live, meet us on every hand. To ignore them would be folly, to shun them would be cowardice, and to try to cope with them with inadequate equipment would involve noth- ing less than confusion and defeat. The same difficulty of comparison noted in the case of the Methodism of Canada obtains in connection with the Method ism of Great Britain and the Conferences tributary to the Mother Connection. Yet the facts connected with the advance of the work throughout that Connection were of the greatest interest and suggest a constantly profitable study. Great Brit- ain at this time was divided into about eight hundred circuits. In Ireland there were seven hundred and fifty more. A cir- cuit in the Wesleyan Connection differs from a circuit in the American Conferences. It consists of a town with a population more or less large and gathered around it a number of village churches. With Louth, for instance, there were thirty two villages. Three ministers were appointed to this group of churches. They were constantly aided by an army of local preachers, who, with the pastors, carefully cultivated the field. This statement of fact will illuminate and give cogency to the statistics reported in the Wesleyan Minutes for the year 1908. They are as follows: Three thousand six hundred ministers, thirty thousand lay preachers, eight hundred thousand Church members, one hundred and fifty thousand Sunday school offi- cers and teachers, nearly one and a quarter million Sunday school children, and four million worshipers. These figures roughly described the work of Wesleyan Methodism in Great Britain and in the Conferences over which the Mother Confer- ence had supervision. A well-approved method of the time in England was to equip gospel cars to traverse the lanes and hamlets of outlying places. The work of the detachments carried by these cars was to dis- tribute literature, preach the gospel on village greens, and oth- erwise make appeals of salvation to the people. In view of these facts proceeding in the open light of day, one does not wonder at the saying of Prof. Adolph Harnack, of Berlin, in 1904: "The Methodist Church is the richest in it* experience Deaths of Prominent English Methodists. 1OT of salvation, the most active in its operations, and the most fruitful in results of all the post-Reformation Churches." Every year not only brings its green and fruitful branches upon every tree, but also its blight and fading of death. With the songs of triumph and the reports of successful workers come again and again the tidings of death. Among the promi- nent workers in England removed from their places during this period is to be mentioned the name of the oldest living min- ister of the Connection, Richard Rymer, who had enjoyed the friendship of Robert Newton, Richard Watson, and Jabez Bun- ting. Of the younger men and those in the meridian of life, the three most famous — famous through faithful service and merit — were Albert Clayton, President of the Conference, James Robertson, and William Gorman. Only a little while before his death James Robertson was present in Albert Hall, London, at a great foreign missionary meeting, when nine thou- sand Methodists gathered, and half as many more tried in vain to secure admission. On that occasion he uttered a prayer of great power and spiritual eloquence. Not long after came his translation. Albert Clayton, the President of the Conference, was a mau deeply loved and honored amongst his brethren, a commoner in the kingdom of God. He had gone through all the stages of a Methodist preacher's advancement — circuit minister, depart- ment officer, District Chairman, Secretary, and President of the Conference. It was written of him at the time that "his im- mortality, his earthly immortality, will consist in the fact that, with Mr. R. W. Perks (afterwards made a knight), he created, directed, and completed the Million Guinea Fund, a movement which some of the other Churches of the land enjoyed." William Gorman was an Irishman and was the poet-preacher of Irish Methodism. He made preaching a fine art, a divine art. "He was of imagination all compact." In the second Ecumenical Conference, in Washington City, he delivered a thrilling address on "The Enfranchisement of Woman." These were men who made the measure of modern Methodism in England and who helped to carry its causes into the broad- est light of the new century. In 1908 Methodism in England rejoiced in the presence of 17 258 History of Methodism. the first peer of the realm in its lay membership. Sir Henry Fowler, who had been Secretary of State for India and who had enjoyed the special confidence of Queen Victoria, to whom he was a private counselor, was honored with elevation to a seat in the House of Lords. Another distinguished layman, the Hon. Walter Runciman, was also prominent in the govern- ment at this time. The Conference had taken a new step in arranging rules of Church membership. The committee appointed to complete this important business made its report, showing that these rules covered the following doctrinal heads: ''The Nature of the Church," "The Church Universal and Particular,'- "The Minis try and the Sacraments," "The Methodist Fellowship," "The Rules of Society," "The Conditions of Membership," "Member- ship on Trial," "Entrance into Full Membership," "Church Membership — Its Privileges and Obligations." These rules were disciplinary and administrative. The anniversary meeting for this year brought out the inter- esting report that the membership on the foreign field was 112,724, an increase of 4,282 for the year. The contributions had risen from twenty-four thousand pounds to twenty-five thousand pounds. The home contributions for foreign missions were found to be four hundred pounds — i. e., two thousand dollars — increase for the year. The total income of the Mission Board was more than two hundred thousand pounds, or above one million dollars. There were more than two hundred and twenty thousand children in training on the foreign field. Essentially missionary as British Methodism had always been, it was never more so than at this period. Her many missions, both at home and abroad, displayed vitality and un- surpassed enterprise. The home and foreign missions were ad- ministered by two distinct departments. The home mission roduced. It was a discussion of the practical unity possible to American Methodism. Per- haps no utterance listened to in a Southern Conference lias so perceptibly and consciously advanced the cause of Methodist fraternity. Amongst an almost countless number of quotable Fraternal Intercourse. 271 paragraphs in his address, the following may be selected ;is typical : Divisions among Methodists have always proceeded along mechanical lines. We have disputed about names and foolish questions and geneal- ogies and fightings about the law, which are unprofitable and vain. But the spiritual unity of Methodism has never been broken. This is its seamless robe, which it would be sacrilege to rend or to cast lots for. And every division among Methodists to-day is an anomaly; it is a con- tradiction of that unity of inner spiritual life and of outer spiritual activity which makes us Methodists, which we receive not from men, neither were we taught it; but it came to us through the revelation of Jesus Christ. In the presence of this holiest fact of Methodism and of the holiest law of unity we have the right to demand: "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." The Rev. Naphtali Luccock, D.D., and the Hon. J. Frank Hanly brought to the Conference the greetings of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The names of these distinguished men — the first a pastor of almost unequaled success in his Connection, the second the ex-Gov- ernor of a great commonwealth, a national legislator, and one of the most conspicuous leaders of prohibition — were a pledge beforehand of the great messages which they delivered. Two years later Dr. Luccock was elevated to the episcopacy and was fulfilling the measure of great promise in his selection, but in the midst of his labors and before the end of his first quadrennium he was called to the Connection of the skies. In his fraternal address, referring to a peculiar problem of the Southern Church, Dr. Luccock said: When Maximilian was sent to Mexico, Louis Napoleon explained that one purpose of the expedition was the settlement of the Latin question on the American continent. He did not settle it; he did not have the right formula. God sent you later with his own great gospel to those nations sitting in the twilight, to help solve the problems of sin and salvation, of emancipation and enlightenment, and to regulate inci- dentally the Latin question on the American continent. We have sent many a shout to heaven for your triumph in Cuba and have watched with thrilling interest the movement of your flag through the valley of the Amazon and across the map of Brazil. An incident of unusual interest was the presence at the Con- ference, the introduction, and the addresses of Bishop Y. Hon- 272 History of Methodism. da, of the Japan Methodist Church, and the Rev. Minekitsu Hori, the fraternal delegate accredited from that Church. Bishop Hendrix introduced Bishop Honda as the "Asbury of Japan." Bev. Mr. Hori said: Although I come from the Nippon Methodist Church, I am here as one born in your Church in Japan and as your own son in the gospel. . . . I am very sorry that I cannot convey in full how our new Church feels toward you. If I were allowed to speak in my own tongue, I would be able to express our thoughts and feeling somewhat better. It is very fortunate for me to have with me our good Bishop Honda, who will speak for the Church. Bishop Honda added : Whatever may be our present organization, we are your children. The independence and autonomy of the Japanese Church were one un- avoidable result of the union, and we all believe it was the best means of forwarding the kingdom of God in Japan. Our chief aim was not autonomy itself, but the best means of promoting the evangelization of Japan. The Committee on Missions reported to the Conference, ex- pressing a deep sense of gratitude to Almighty God for the successful union of the three great Methodisms at work in the Japanese Empire. The committee also recommended that in the case of Japanese preachers doing missionary work in the territory of the United States the same privileges be granted in connection with our Conferences that are granted to our missionaries in connection with the Church in Japan, and that reciprocal arrangements be adopted under which ministers and members may be transferred. The growth of the Japan Methodist Church has been most encouraging. At the close of the session of the third General Conference the following sta- tistical statement was made: A total of 15,364 members, a growth of 2,909 since the last General Conference. The Sun- day schools showed a total of 28,438 officers and pupils, or a gain of 1,204, and 113 Epworth League Chapters having a membership of 3,103, a gain of 1,403. But the most strikiDg gain was reported on the finance sheets. The gifts of the Church had doubled in four years, growing from a yearly total of |32,278 gold in 1910 to #63,548 in 1914. When the Japan Methodist Church was organized there were but sixteen con- Asiatic Churchmen — Prince Yun. 27.°, gregations that were wholly self-supporting. At the time of the second General Conference the number had grown to twenty. The last report showed a total of twenty-five. In addition to these, there are eighty Churches receiving aid, sixty-eight preaching places, and a total of ninety-six other points in charge of missionaries — a grand total of two hundred and sixty-nine places from which Methodism is proclaiming the gospel in the Japanese Empire. Besides the native bishop and the fraternal delegate from the Asiatic General Conference, there was present Prince T. H. Yun, of Korea, who was introduced to the Conference and received with marks of profound sympathy and respect. Prince Yun, who had been a member of the Imperial Cabinet of the old Korean Empire, was a graduate of a Southern Methodist school and was then, and is now, in the ranks of the local ministry of the same Church. He has been for many years one of the most enlightened, cultivated, and beloved men of the whole Korean race. He has given his time, his talents, and his substance to the planting of the gospel in his native land. During the recent Russo-Japanese War he fell under the dis- pleasure of the provincial Japanese government in that reor- ganized country. It was charged that he had sympathized with, and abetted, a conspiracy against the life of the provin- cial governor, the representative of the Japanese Empire. On this charge he was tried, condemned, and sent to prison, where he remained for several years. His case aroused the sympathy of all civilized peoples. The universal belief was that the charges were groundless and that the punishment was inflicted through what was supposed to be a political necessity. The Japanese government finally listened to the protests of hu- manity and the recommendations which came, more or less officially, from the American government and granted his re- lease. The prisoner's health was much impaired by his long confinement; but he still lives, a most worthy representative of the gospel in its work amongst a former pagan people. To the Conference Dr. Collins Denny and Dr. James H. Mc- Coy made their reports as fraternal representatives to the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America and the Methodist Church of Canada, respectively. Shortly 18 274 History of Methodism. after these reports the two brethren were elected to the epis- copacy, together with the Rev. John C. Kilgo, D.D., the Rev. W. B. Murrah, D.D., the Rev. W. R. Lambuth, D.D., the Rev. R. G. Waterhouse, D.D., and the Rev. E. D. Mouzon, D.D. Bishop Denny early achieved distinction as a pastor ; but being called to a professorship in Vanderbilt University, he showed that his education and preparation peculiarly fitted him for the work of teaching. During his incumbency at Vanderbilt he was for a number of years Chairman of the Book Committee and faithfully and successfully administered that important trust. Bishop Kilgo had also spent a number of years in the pastorate before entering upon the responsible duties of the presidency of Trinity College, which institution reached its point of greatest prosperity under his administration. Bishop Lambuth, born in China, showed an almost prenatal devotion to the cause of Christian missions. After many years of serv- ice on the mission field, he was made Missionary Secretary and was freely spoken of as one of the greatest of living missionary leaders. Bishop Murrah, like his colleagues, Bishops Denny and Kilgo, had been first a pastor and had then entered the work of education, being the first President of Millsaps Col- lege, which he saw grow from a splendid beginning to a still more splendid maturity. Bishop Waterhouse had been for a number of years successively President of Emory aud Henry College, an institution whose history is inseparably linked with the memory of Ephraim E. Wiley. Bishop Mouzon had given most of his ministerial life to the pastorate, but at the time of his election to the episcopacy was Dean of the Theological De- partment of the Southwestern University. Bishop McCoy had been both pastor and editor, but was at the time of his elec- tion President of Birmingham College. Tn the connectional elections which followed this election of bishops the following choices were made : Publishing Agents, D. M. Smith and A. J. Lamar; Book Editor and Editor of the Methodist Review, Gross Alexander; Editor Christian Advo- cate, Thomas N. Ivey; Epworth League Secretary and Editor Epxoorth Era, F. S. Parker; Editor Sunday School Litera- ture, Edwin B. Chappell; Secretary Board of Missions. W. \V Unification of Mission Boards. 275 Pinson; Secretary Board of Church Extension, W. F. Mc- Murry ; Secretary Board of Education, James E. Dickey. It will be remembered that the General Conference of 1906 appointed a commission to report to the session to sit four years later a plan for the unification of the several Missionary Societies and Boards of the Church. This report, as adopted at this session, settled the missionary administration of the Con- nection within the following lines: A Board was established to which was given the charge of foreign missions and of such home missions as are not provided for by the Annual Confer- ences. This Board was empowered to carry on its operations under two departments — viz., the Department of Foreign Mis- sions and the Department of Home Missions. This included the woman's work, the work of the Educational and Editorial Secretaries, and whatever other connectional missionary plans were then extant. The Board was made to consist of a Presi- dent, Vice President, a General Secretary, two Secretaries for the Department of Foreign Missions, two Secretaries for the Department of Home Missions, two Educational Secretaries, two Editorial Secretaries (one of which Secretaries in each case must be a woman), and thirty Managers, of whom ten shall be preachers, ten laymen, and ten women, one of whom shall be the President of the Woman's Missionary Council. The Bishops, the Treasurer of the Board and an Assistant Treasurer, who shall be a woman, the Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Church Extension, and the President of the Laymen's Missionary Movement were made ex officio members. This Board is to be elected quadrennially by the General Con- ference in the following manner: The President, Vice Presi- dent, and Managers, on nomination of the Committee on Mis- sions; the General Secretary, by ballot of the General Confer- ence. The members elected continue in office until their suc- cessors are chosen. The Board fills all vacancies that may occur. The Secretaries for Foreign Missions, the Secretaries for Home Missions, the Educational Secretaries, the Editorial Secretaries, and the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer are elected quadrennially by the Board, the women on the nomina- tion of the Woman's Missionary Council. The Department of Foreign Missions is empowered to ad- 276 History of Methodism. minister all missions of the Church in foreign lands and the funds appropriated for the same. The appointments in this field are subject to the bishop in charge. The Department of Home Missions is empowered to administer the home mission enterprises of the Church, except that the Annual Conference Boards have charge of all missions which they may establish and provide for within their Conference bounds. Candidates for mission work, the deaconess work, are accepted by and under the direction of this department. The Woman's Missionary Council, referred to above,' is thus constituted: The women of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, conduct missionary work through an organization known as the Missionary Council, having a Home and a For- eign Department. Its duty is to develop missionary work among women and children in accordance with a policy of the Board of Missions. It consists of a President, four Vice Presi- dents, two or more Secretaries, two Recording Secretaries, and a Corresponding Secretary, or alternate, of both the Wom- an's Foreign and Home Mission Societies of each Annual Con- ference. The Secretaries of the Board of Missions, Assistant Treasurer, and the women who are members of the Board of Missions are ex officio members of the Woman's Missionary Council. This, in general, is an outline of the new organiza- tion under which the missionary operations of the Church are at present being carried on. It is conceded that its adjust- ments are not perfect, and frequent discussion has looked into the direction of modifying its details. The above recital suggests the propriety of appending here an account of the missionary enterprises of the Church since the beginning. The germ of the missionary movement in all the American Methodist Churches is traced to the form for solicitation of funds for poor charges and the opening up of the work in the West by Bishop Asbury as early as 1812. In 1819 there was organized in New York City what has always been known as the Parent Missionary Society. This Society resulted from a spontaneous missionary interest, and not through Conference action. William McHenry. Enoch George, "Robert R. Roberts. Nathan Bangs, and Joshua Soule were active movers in the organization or became connected with it First Missionary Societies. 277 at an early stage of its history. The motto of the movement was the sending of the gospel to the regions abroad as well as to needy places in the home field. It is surprising to read that it met with strong opposition, due to a preference for the home field. Joshua Soule said when the opposition was greatest : "The time will come when every man who assisted in the or- ganization of this Society and persevered in the undertaking will consider it one of the most -honorable connections of his life." Soon after this the Churches began to organize auxiliary societies. The first such auxiliary was composed of women and called "The Female Missionary Society in the State of New York." The next society was organized by a company of young men. The Episcopal Address at the General Conference of 1820 indorsed these related movements and said: "Methodism itself is a missionary system. Yield to missionary spirit, and you yield the lifeblood of the cause." Acting upon the address, the General Conference organized the Society, and from that time forward it was no longer known as the New York So- ciety, but as "The Missionary Society of the Methodist Epis- copal Church." The Annual Conferences very quickly caught step with the movement, and Bishop Soule's words had an earlier verification than he had dreamed. The first work seriously undertaken was amongst the col- ored people on the plantations. Soon after this Bishop Capers became identified with this particular branch of the work and justly acquired the title of "Founder of the Missions to the Slaves," As early as 1843 the first missionary was sent by the So- ciety to a foreign field. This was Melville B. Cox, a member of the Virginia Conference, who went to the newly opened Black Republic of Liberia. He was supported by the Young Men's Missionary Society of New York. With 1844 the Conferences in the South began to look for new missionary fields upon which to bestow their labors, it being thought wisest and best not to seek to divide the field occupied by an undivided Methodism. The first printed re- port of its missionary work was issued by the Church in 1846. Joshua Soule was President of the new Society, and James O. Andrew was one of its Vice Presidents. Attention had at first 278 History of Methodism. been almost wholly given to home missions — that is, to foreign missions in the home field. The German missions in New Or- leans, Mobile, Charleston, and Galveston were being provided for. The items of the report were as follows: To the people of color, Indians, Texas Mission, German Mission, and French Mission. The first General Conference of the Southern juris- diction, held in 1S4G, recommended the establishment; of a mission in the middle and unoccupied regions of the Chinese Empire and also in France. A mission to West Africa was discussed. It is a well-known fact that Bishop Soule himself proposed to go to Africa in 1843, but was prevented from doing so by the excited state of public opinion over slavery. It was no doubt through his recommendation that the early mission to Africa was planned. In this early report the Board recognized the cause of mis- sions as the first great enterprise of the Church. It pledged the South to a full and faithful performance of duty and de- clared that, side by side with the foremost, its motto must be to take position in the strength of God to do battle in the cause of truth and righteousness. A missionary constitution was adopted at this General Conference, the first article of which read: "This Association, denominated the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is estab- lished for the purpose of affording to the several Annual Con- ferences of said Church the facility for common organization, under the control of the General Conference, for carrying on their missionary labors at home and in foreign countries." This constitution contained twelve other articles, more or less similar to the ones now in force. At the first General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, a foreign mission was projected, but it was not until 1847 that the China Mission appears in the Church's reports. It was in 1848 that the first missionaries were sent to that field. Ten years later — that is, at the General Con- ference of 1858 — the bishops in their address recommended im- portant changes in the constitution of the Missionary Society. Some of their suggestions were carried in+o immediate effect; others were left in abeyance. This early, however, the matter of special missionary support was emphasized in a resolution Two Boards — Woman's Work. 279 looking to responsibility for particular fields by Annual Con- ferences. As early as 1859 the annual reports of the Mission Board made distinction between foreign and domestic missions, Con- ference missions being designated as domestic and distin- guished from Colored, Indian, German, and China, which were classified under the head of foreign. It goes without saying that the missionary operations of the Church were sadly de- moralized as a consequence of the War between the States. The Episcopal Address of 1866 said: "Our missionary work, once the glory of our Church, has been well-nigh ruined." The General Conference which met in this year established a con- nectional Domestic Mission Board. The entire section in the Discipline on foreign missions was substituted by a new con- stitution, which gave all home missions into the hands of the Domestic Board. One-tenth of all the mission funds raised in the Annual Conferences was to go to this Board. Each An- nual Conference was to organize an auxiliary Board. Dr. E. W. Sehon was elected Secretary of the Foreign Board, and Dr. John B. McFerrin was named as Secretary of the Do- mestic Board. As we have seen, this arrangement lasted for but four years. The experiment was unsatisfactory, and the next General Conference returned to the old plan. The movement for the organization of a Woman's Auxiliary, or a Woman's Board, began as early as 1874, but the action was not consummated until the General Conference of 1878. This consummation, with other advanced legislation, was the token of a new interest and a new opportunity. A remarkable increase in the missionary income of the Boards was immedi- ately chronicled, one hundred thousand dollars being the ex- cess for the first quadrennium. In 1890 the General Confer- ence revised the constitution of the Woman's Society and au- thorized the organization of a Woman's Parsonage and Home Mission Society, to be operated under a distinct constitution. A forward step was taken when, in 1894, the General Confer- ence authorized the election of Missionary Secretaries in the Annual Conferences. These Secretaries have been of great service, not only in putting the work of the Boards before the people, but in the way of a general and an effective missionary 2ND History of Methodism. evangelism. By the year 190G the Connection was ready for a new step, and the General Conference authorized that these Secretaries be called together annually in a conference for the discussion of missionary themes and the opening up of new missionary plans. A later act of legislation put candidates for city mission work on the same basis as candidates for work in the foreign field, an examination as to fitness being required in each case. The same rule as to tenure of service also was made to apply to each. The following sketch will give a view of the official person- nel of the Board since its organization : In 1840 Rev. Edmund W. Sehon was elected Secretary of the Board of Missions, but declined the office, and Rev. Edward Stevenson was elected. In 18G0 Dr. Sehon was elected and held the office until 1800, when the General Conference established a Board of Domestic Mis sions and a Board of Foreign Missions. Rev. John B. Mc- Ferrin, D.D., was elected Secretary of the Board of Domestic- Missions and Dr. Sehon Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions. In 1870 the Boards were united, and Dr. McFerrin was elected Secretary and held the office eight years. He was elected Book Agent in 1878, and Rev. A. W. Wilson, D.D., was elected Secretary. Dr. Wilson was elected bishop in 1882, and Rev. R. A. Young wras made Missionary Secretary. In 1886 Rev. I. G. John was elected Secretary and held the position two terms. In 1894 the General Conference decided to elect two Secretaries, and Rev. H. C. Morrison, D.D., and Rev. W. R. Lambuth, D.D., were chosen. In 1898 Dr. Morrison was elected bishop, and the new Secretaries were Dr. W. R. Lambuth and Dr. J. H. Pritchett. In 1902 the General Conference returned to the old plan of one Secretary, and Dr. Lambuth was chosen. Dr. Seth Ward was chosen Assistant Secretary by the Board. In 1906 Dr. Lambuth was reelected Secretary, and the Board chose W. W. Pinson Assistant Secretary, Rev. John R. Nel- son Assistant Secretary for the Home Department, and Rev. E. F. Cook Educational Secretary. After the organization of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, Mr. W. B. Stubbs was made Secretary of that department. The officiary of the Board for the years of 1910-14 was as follows: Bishop A. W. Wilson. President: Bishop W. R. Lam- Missionary Officials — Wives of Missionaries. 281 birth, Vice President; Rev. W. W. Pinson, D.D., Secretary; Rev. Ed F. Cook, D.D., and Mrs. J. B. Cobb, Secretaries of Foreign Department; Rev. John M. Moore, D.D., and Mrs. K. W. MacDonell, Secretaries of Home Department; Rev. E. II. Rawlings, D.D., and Miss Mabel Head, Secretaries of Edu- cational Department; Rev. G. B. Winton, D.D., and Mrs. A. L. Marshall, Editorial Secretaries; Mr. J. D. Hamilton, Treas- urer, and Mrs. F. H. E. Ross, Assistant Treasurer; Rev. C. F. Reid, D.D., Secretary of Laymen's Missionary Movement. For 1914-18 the officiary stands as follows: John R. Pepper, President; Bishop W. R. Lambuth, Vice President; Rev. W. W. Pinson, D.D., General Secretary; Rev. Ed F. Cook, D.D., and Miss Mabel Head, Secretaries of Foreign Department ; Rev. John M. Moore, D.D., and Mrs. R. W. MacDonell, Sec- retaries of Home Department ; Rev. E. H. Rawlings, D.D., and Mrs. H. R. Steele, Educational Secretaries; Mr. R. B. Eleazer and Mrs. E. B. Chappell, Editorial Secretaries; Mr. J. D. Hamilton, Treasurer, and Mrs. F. H. E. Ross, Assistant Treas- urer. Upon the death of Dr. Reid, Rev. E. H. Rawlings, D.D., became Secretary of the Laymen's Missionary Movement. The fact that for thirty-four years previous to 1878 the women of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, had no organized mission work is accounted for in the disturbed social and po- litical condition of the country then prevailing. But notwith standing this lack, the influence of women was much felt in the missionary efforts of that period. The wives of the mis- sionaries to China — Mrs. Cunnyngham, Mrs. Lambuth, Mrs. Belton, and Mrs. Allen — not only gave their husbands loyal sympathy, but added wise and unselfish labors to the general cause. Mrs. Cunnyngham learned both to speak and to write the Chinese language. She then translated several books into Chinese for the use of native women. Beginning with her own servants, she formed a class and later started in her own house a school for girls. Mrs. Lambuth was not less interested in the womanhood of China. A class gathered by her became the prosperous native institution long known as the Clopton School. The work and success of the women in the Church, North, greatly stimulated the purpose of their sisters in the South. 282 History of Methodism. In 18G9 the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of that Church was organized at Boston. A local society had long existed in certain Baltimore congregations. Mrs. Lavinia Kel- ley, the mother of Dr. D. C. Kelley, was the first woman in the Southern Church to seek to promote the efforts of Christian women for heathen women. Her work was first carried on within the bounds of the Lebanon Circuit, Tennessee Confer- ence. Her society was pledged to help in the support of Mrs. Lambuth's school in China. She was able to secure subscrip- tions for nine scholarships, when her noble endeavors were put to an end by the war of 18G1-G5. Eleven years later, in 1872, Mrs. Kelley renewed her self-imposed labors for Chinese wom- en. At that time her residence was in Nashville; but though her field was thus widened, the newness of the work and the stress of the times made progress slow. The first organization was effected at McKendree Church in 1873. Besides Mrs. Kel- ley, only three women had responded to the call — namely, Mrs. D. H. McGavock, Mrs. T. D. Fite, and Miss Lucie Ross. This is declared to have been the first Woman's Foreign Missionary Society organized in the Connection. But in this same year the cause had a more prophetic and determined beginning in a movement in the Trinity congregation in Baltimore. Mrs. Juliana Ha}Tes, a woman marked from the outset to be the leader of this cause, provoked the local Home Mission So- ciety to begin foreign work. Thus the fruitful connectional plant sprang from two separate and faith-nourished roots, to become the effective ministry which it is seen to be to-day. From its small beginning the Nashville Society grew to important proportions. Its object, as stated in the constitution, was "to engage and unite Christian women in the work of sending the word of God to the foreign mission fields of our Church and to provide for the Christian education of girls in those fields." From the inception of their work the women have placed em- phasis on the subject of Christian education. The cumulative results of their work stirred the women to great enthusiasm. Letters from Dr. and Mrs. Lambuth read like chapters from the Acts of the Apostles. Many homes in the Church were permeated with missionary sentiment. Wom- en in many congregations planned to organize missionary so- Organization of Woman's Board. 288 cieties. A memorial from the Nashville Society went up to the General Conference of 1874 asking authorization for a con- nectional organization. Left upon a crowded calendar, the paper was never acted upon. Undaunted by their failure, the women went forward, collecting funds and sending them to the workers on the foreign fields. In 1877 Bishop Marvin, with his traveling companion, Dr. Hendrix, returned from the mission stations in Eastern Asia and made urgent appeals for a general enlistment of women in the work of missions. Many other leaders of the Church joined their voices to this appeal. Confident that the General Conference of 1808 would authorize organization, the women went forward with their work, even to the calling for volunteer missionaries to be sent out when this authorization should be given. The General Conference acted promptly and decisively. The organization was effected May 23, 1878, and was known as the Woman's Missionary Society. The plan called for auxiliaries in the several Conferences, and the Corresponding Secretary of each auxiliary, in connection with the Executive Committee, formed a legislative body known as the General Executive Association. The officers of the con- nectional Society, appointed by the bishops, were: President, Mrs. Juliana Hayes; Vice Presidents, Mrs. Robert Paine, Mrs. George F. Pierce, Mrs. H. H. Kavanaugh, Mrs. W. M. Wight- man, Mrs. E. M. Marvin, Mrs. David S. Doggett, Mrs. H. N. McTyeire, Mrs. John C. Keener; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. D. H. McGavock; Treasurer, Mrs. James Whitworth. Twenty-three Managers were appointed from the Church at large. Mrs. McGavock, Mrs. Hayes, and Mrs. Whitworth, fol- lowing the organization, took out a charter in Tennessee and at once entered upon their duties. Mrs. Kelley, called the in- spiring genius of the movement, did not live to see the con- summation of these plans. Her death occurred in November, 1877. Miss Lochie Rankin, the first missionary of the Woman's Board, appointed to assist Mrs. Lambuth in the Clopton School at Shanghai, sailed for China in 1878. The first annual meet- ing of the new organization was held at Louisville. Ky., in May, 1879. At this meeting there were reported fifteen Con- ference societies, with two hundred and eighteen auxiliaries, 284 History of Methodism. nearly six thousand members, and collections amounting to more than four thousand dollars. The work now grew so rapidly that new schemes multiplied upon the hands of the women. Dr. Walter Lambuth urged that a boarding school be started at Nantziang, China, and $1,500 was appropriated for that purpose. Miss Lochie Ran- kin was put in charge of the new school; and her sister, Miss Dora Rankin, the second woman missionary, was sent to her assistance. Appeals were presented from Brazil and Mexico and granted. Mrs. Norwood's school at Laredo was given $500, and an equal amount was sent to Miss Newman's school at Piracicaba. These schools were under the General Board of Missions. Miss Dora Rankin joined her sister in China in Oc- tober, 1879. By the end of the second year there were twenty-two Con- ference societies organized, with 475 auxiliaries, 12,548 mem- bers, and si::. 775. 97 reported. In 1880 the Woman's Mission- ary Advocate was started at Nashville, with Mrs. F. A. Butler editor. Mrs. Butler filled this position most ably for thirty years. About 1880 Miss Rebecca Toland was sent by the Wom- an's Missionary Society to Mexico; and in February, 1881, Miss Mattie Watts went to Brazil, where she opened a school at Piracicaba. The work grew- in the three fields, and soon its success proved an embarrassment to the Society at home. Ap- peals were numerous and urgent, and funds were limited. In 1881 a constitution was prepared for juvenile societies.* The history of the Woman's Home Mission work in the Church is also a record full of interest. In connection with the paragraphs devoted to the Church Extension Board, we have briefly referred to the work of Miss Lucinda B. Helm, the original mover in this department of effort. This remark- able woman, of high social extraction and thoroughly educated, was led through grace and the misfortune of inherited ill health to devote her whole life to labors for the spiritual sal- vation of others. From the first she was an enthusiastic advo- cate and an exponent of the women's foreign work. She also gave early and earnest help to the Church Extension organiza- *Report of Woman's Board. Woman's Home Board — Miss Helm. 235 tion. In 1885 it was reported that a number of Western charges had been abandoned because of the lack of homes for the preachers and missionaries. Miss Helm immediately came forward with a plan to meet this need and also to minister in other important lines. The needs in the city slums, the, moun- tain districts, among the negroes, the immigrants, and else- where, had touched deeply her loving heart, and her plan in- cluded the various phases of local home mission work. But the Board of Church Extension opposed this comprehensive plan ; so she was forced to abandon the home mission features for a time and to submit a second plan bearing on parsonage work only. This she did in April, 1880. The plan was adopted by the General Conference in May, 1886, and the Woman's Department of Church Extension was authorized to raise funds for purchasing and securing parsonages. These funds were subject to the control of the General and Local Boards of Church Extension. The officers of the new organization were a General Secretary (to be appointed by the Board of Church Extension), a Secretary and Treasurer of each Annual Con- ference, and a District Secretary (to be appointed by the Con- ference Boards). Fifty per cent of the funds in the Annual Conference was to be sent to the General Board and fifty per cent retained by the Conference Board. Lucinda Helm was appointed General Secretary and at once entered on her new work with faith, energy, and intelligence. Though frail, she was untiring; and whether on the train, the platform, or at her desk, her zeal never flagged. At the end of the first year, in addition to the great interest created, she had organized 35 Conference societies with 1,595 members, 60 children's societies, and 23 parsonages were aided. Boxes were sent to preachers, Sunday school literature provided, and $4,- 579 secured for local work, in addition to the regular dues. With no assistance, Miss Helm directed and supervised a large work. Her time was spent in traveling, writing, plan- ning, and frequently she worked all night. Letters poured in from all quarters asking for advice, information, plans, and methods. Interest increased, the bishops approved, hundreds of women were inspired to work and to give — all because one woman, magnificently endowed for leadership, had a great History of Methodism. vision. She was not content to supply parsonages ; she wanted the women of the Church to undertake a complete program of home mission work. With the aid of Mrs. J. D. Hammond, Bishop H. C. Morrison, Dr. Young J. Allen, and other sympa- thizers, she secured a change of charter from the General Con- ference of 1890 in the face of protests and opposition. The new charter was issued to the Parsonage and Home Mission Society. There was a Central Committee, with the following officers: Mis. E. E. Wiley, President; Miss Lucinda B. Helm, General Secretary; Mrs. George P. Kendrick, General Treas- urer; Mrs. R. K. Hargrove, Mrs. Xathan Scarritt, Mrs. D. Atkins, Mrs. S. S. King, Miss Emily M. Allen, Mrs. Maria Carter, Mrs. Ellen Burdette, Mrs. John Carter, and Miss Belle H. Bennett, Managers. The new work prospered from the beginning. Loan funds were raised, parsonages built, and soon plans were made for a school in the mountains of Kentucky. This latter became the Sue Bennett School, at London, Ky. Lines were thrown out by the General Secretary for the various phases of home mission work, for training workers, and for publishing a paper. In 1892 the publication of a magazine called Our Homes was begun, with Lucinda B. Helm as editor. In 1893 she resigned as General Secretary because of overwork and spent her re- maining years editing Our Homes. She brought to this labor of love the ripe experience, mature judgment, and sound taste that made the paper a power for righteousness. With her pen she gave invaluable assistance to the development of mountain schools, city missions, the Pacific Coast and Gulf Coast work, and all the lines of home mission activity. The present broad scope and magnificent standards in this department are largely due to the untiring efforts, the faith, and the zeal of Lucinda Helm. Faithfulness and truth were woven into the texture of her being. Honesty, sympathy, love, loyalty, humility, cour- age, buoyancy, fortitude, and appreciation of friends were characteristics of this great and gifted woman. With her frail body worn out with the too heavy demands made on it for years, her friends realized in the summer of 1897 that she was gradually slipping away from them. The end came peacefully on November 15, 1897. She is buried on At Rest — The Matter of Education. 287 the sunny hillside at Helm Place, Kentucky, with great forest trees doing sentinel duty over her grave. There, surrounded by the dust of loved ones, she awaits with them the resurrec- tion morn. On the stone at her head are engraved the words : "She hath done what she could."* Not only in the cause of missions was the Church moving and planning for a still farther advance, but the matter of education was enlisting a new and Connection-wide interest. However, a struggle in Methodist consciousness, like the pre- natal struggles of Esau and Jacob, was being felt. An unde- fined force within the Church had aligned itself with, and was borrowing inspiration from, the secularizing and anti-Church movements which had deeply planned the exclusion of organ- ized religion from the field of higher education and was at that moment at the height of its development. Since that time the volume of these movements has suffered perceptible diminution, some of their bizarre and overt methods of disaffecting the fac- ulties of Church schools through superannuate annuities and financial retention having met with fiscal disaster. But while the forces of the movement were at their height they were brought to bear upon the educational holdings of the Method- ism of the South in a way that produced a historic climax, to be described in the following chapter. Dr. James E. Dickey, who by the General Conference of 1910 was elected Secretary of the Board of Education, found that obligations incurred as President of Emory College precluded the possibility of his accepting the proffered post. He there- fore declined the headship of the Board of Education, and the Board filled the vacancy by the election of Rev. Stonewall An- derson, D.D., at that time President of Hendrix College. Dr. Anderson is in the third quadrennium of his service as Secre- tary of Education. *"Life and Works of Lucinda B. Helm," by Mrs. Arabel W. Alexander. CHAPTER XVI. The Vanderbilt University Case — History of "Central University" — The Memphis Convention — Charter Granted — Commodore Vander- bilt's Gift — Action of the Conferences — A New Chancellor — General Conference Made Sole Member of Vanderbilt University Corporation — Period of Alienation Begins — Action of General Conference of 1906 — Vanderbilt Commission Appointed — Commission Reports — Visito- rial Powers — Attempt to Pass Bill in Tennessee Legislature — Action of General Conference of 1910 — Suit Begun by Bishops — Chancery Court Decides for the Church — Sweeping Victory — Appeal by Trus- tees— A Million Dollars Solicited by Chancellor — Given on Condition that the Trustees Should Win Suit — Church Loses Suit in Highest State Court — Action of General Conference of 1914 — A Broader Edu- cational Platform for the Church — Victory Out of Wrong and Defeat —1910-1913 (Continued). X a former chapter was introduced the series of convention- 1 al and commissional actions in that long-drawn-out drama known as the Vanderbilt University case. In that chapter was noted the fact of the appointment by the General Confer- ence of 1906 of a commission to inquire into the status of Vanderbilt University as a property of the Church and to de- termine the relations of the bishops as the charter representa- tives of the Church to said property. This commission, being duly organized, went carefully and patiently through all the records and history of the property and reported ad interim to the bishops and to the Board of Trust. They found: First, that the Church was the founder and owner of the university ; second, that the trustees were only the agents of the Church ; and, third, that the bishops were common-law visitors, or super- visors of the property for the Church, with veto powers over the acts of the Board of Trustees. The commission also rec- ommended that, though the title was already perfect in the General Conference, to which the university had been trans- ferred by the originally incorporating Conferences, the Con- ferences should be advised to pass a uniform resolution, or act of transfer, as a matter of record. These statements set the famous case in the light of its last stage before the issue became crucial and before it became clear to all open-minded men that the alienation of the trust (288) Historic Plan for University. 289 was the ultimate purpose of the Chancellor and a majority of the trustees. In order, therefore, that the whole history of the case may become a record in this volume, we have thought it well to give a complete survey of the events connected with the founding of the university, the long and unquestioned owner- ship and administration of the property by the Church, the emergence of the plans of alienation, the contest entered upon by the Church to maintain its history-attested claims, the legal processes by which the property passed from the control of the Church, and the action of the Church in dissolving the tenuous and discrediting relationship left between it and the school by the final decree of the court. "The Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South," the name by which Vanderbilt University was at first known, was established by certain Annual Conferences in order to provide for the education of the youth of the Church and the country at large. This was to be an institution founded upon a permanent basis, primarily for the education of a min- istry for the Church, but where could be "prosecuted as well literary, scientific, and professional studies to an extent as great and in a manner as thorough as the wants of the students might demand and their means admit." The need of such an institution had long been felt by the leaders of Methodism, nor was this their first attempt to establish a great central university under Church control. Prior to 1858 such an insti- tution of learning had been contemplated. In that year the General Conference passed the following order: Whereas the charter of the Central University of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, obtained from the Legislature of the State of Ten- nessee, has been presented to this Conference for its reception; Resolved, That the Tennessee Annual Conference at its next ses- sion take into consideration the propriety of receiving said institution under its care and management, and that any other Annual Confer- ence that may choose to do so join the Tennessee Conference in this measure, and that steps be taken to have the charter so changed as to conform it to this arrangement. The State of Tennessee had specially authorized the organi- zation of such an institution and had incorporated a number of members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for 19 290 History of Methodism. establishing and maintaining the same in the name of the Church. The enterprise would then, no doubt, have been car- ried to completion, but the War between the States brought the great plan to naught, and the successful inception of the work was left to a new and happier time. The first authoritative step taken in the revival of this ante- bellum movement was the adoption of a resolution offered by the Rev. Wellborn Moonev at the Tennessee Conference held at Lebanon, Tenn., October 4-9, 1871, which read as follows : Resolved, That we request the presiding bishop to appoint a com- mittee of three to confer with the Memphis, North Alabama, North Mississippi, and any other Conferences likely to cooperate with us in reference to the establishment and endowment of a Methodist univer- sity of high grade and large endowment. A committee, consisting of Drs. D. C. Kelley, A. L. P. Green, and R. A. Young, was appointed by the presiding bishop to carry out the provisions expressed in this resolution. The session of the Memphis Conference held at Trenton, Tenn., November 17, 1871, after hearing an address by Dr. Green, authorized the appointment of a committee of three to confer with the committee appointed by the Tennessee Conference. Rev. W. C. Johnson, Rev. S. W. Moore, and Rev. T. L. Boswell were named to constitute this committee. Later it was re- solved to add to the committee the names of three laymen and that Conferences acting thereafter in favor of the enterprise be requested each to appoint a committee of six, three preachers and three laymen, and that the committees already appointed be requested to nominate to the bishops who preside at their sessions proper persons as their colleagues. The bishop pre- siding at the Memphis Conference appointed the following- named laymen — viz., Hons. Milton Brown, R. J. Morgan, and M. J. Wicks. The enterprise was now put fully under way, when similar action was taken and committees appointed by the North Alabama Conference, the Mississippi Conference, the North Mississippi Conference, the Alabama Conference, the Arkansas Conference, and the White River Conference, all in the same year. When these committees, together with Bishops McTyeire and Paine, met in the city of Memphis. Tenn., on the twenty-fourth The "Memphis Convention, 201 day of January, 1872, they constituted the gathering which afterwards became famous as the "Memphis Convention. 99 This convention lasted until and including the twenty-seventh day of January. At this convention, called solely for the pur- pose of taking steps to establish a university under the patron- age and control of such Conferences of the Church as elected to participate, the following resolutions (afterwards known as "the Memphis resolutions") were adopted: • Resolved by the Convention: 1. That measures be adopted looking to the establishment as speedily as practicable of an institution of learning of the highest order and upon the surest basis, where the youth of the Church and country may prosecute theological, literary, scientific, and professional studies to an extent as great and in a man- ner as thorough as their wants demand. 2. That this institution shall be called the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 3. That it shall consist at present of five schools or departments — viz.: (1) A theological school for the training of our young preachers, who, on application for admission, shall present a recommendation from a Quarterly or an Annuax Conference and shall have attained a standard of education equal to that required for admission on trial into an Annual Conference, and instruction to them shall be free both in the theological and the literary and scientific departments; (2) a literary and scientific school; (3) a normal school; (4) a law school; (5) a medical school. 4. That the sum of one million dollars is necessary in order to real- ize fully the object desired, and not less than five hundred thousand dollars must be secured as a condition precedent to the opening of any department of the university. 5. That the location of the university shall be left to the decision of the College of Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 6. That the carrying out of this whole scheme is hereby committed to the following persons — viz.: William C. Johnson, Robert J. Morgan, Smith W. Moore, Miltor. Brown, Alexander L. P. Green, Jordan Stokes, David C. Kelley, Edward H. East, Robert A. Young, Landon C. Garland, Philip Tuggle, John M. Steel, James H. McFerrin, Christo- pher D. Oliver, William Dickson, Edward Wadsworth, William M. Brice, William L. C. Hunnicutt, Thomas Christian, James S. Borden, William H. Foster, Andrew Hunter, James L. DeYampert, and David T. Reynolds, who shall take immediate steps for securing a suitable charter and incorporation and shall be a Board of Trust, with power to solicit and invest funds, appoint an agent or agents, and do what- ever else is necessary for the extension of this scheme. 7. That seven of the Board of Trust at any meeting regularly called shall constitute a quorum. 292 History of Methodism. 8. That provisions be made in the charter for giving a fair represen- tation in the management of the university to any Annual Conference hereafter cooperating with us. 9. That the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, be and hereby are requested to act as a Board of Supervision of the uni- versity or any of ^departments and, jointly with the Board of Trust, to elect officers and professors and prescribe the course of study and the plan of government. Following the sitting of this convention and in accordance with these resolutions, the parties named in paragraph f; em- ployed as counsel the Hon. Thomas H. Malone, a lawyer of Nashville, who prepared a petition which was presented to the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tenn., reciting the fact of the sitting of the Memphis Convention and the resolutions adopted by it and praying for a charter of incorporation under the laws of the State of Tennessee. At its April term, 1872, the court granted a charter of incorporation to the "Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South/' in the following words and figures — viz. : The Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Ex Parte. This matter came up on this day to be heard before the Hon. Na- thaniel Baxter, Judge, etc., of the Circuit Court of Davidson County, sitting by interchange with the Hon. Edward H. East, the Chancellor presiding, but who was incompetent to preside and hear this cause for the reason that he was interested herein; and the same was heard upon the petition of W. C. Johnson, Robert J. Morgan, Smith W. Moore, and Milton Brown, citizens and residents of the State of Tennessee and representatives of the Memphis Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South; and Alexander L. P. Green, Jordan Stokes, David C. Kelley, Edward H. East, David T. Reynolds, and Robert A. Young, citizens and residents of Tennessee and representatives of the Tennes- see Conference; and Landon C. Garland, a citizen and resident of Mis- sissippi; and Philip Tuggle, a citizen and resident of Tennessee, the two latter representing the North Mississippi Conference; and James H. McFerrin and John M. Steel, citizens of the State of Arkansas and representatives of the White River Conference; and Christopher D. Oliver and William Dickson, citizens of the State of Alabama and representatives of the North Alabama Conference; and Edward Wads- worth and W. W. Byrd, citizens of the State of Alabama and repre- sentatives of the Alabama Conference; and W. L. C. Hunnicutt and Thomas Christian, citizens of the State of Mississippi and representa- tives of the Mississippi Conference; and James L. Borden and William Charter of "Central University" 293 H. Foster, citizens of the State of Louisiana and representatives of the Louisiana Conference; and Andrew Hunter and J. L. DeYampert, citi- zens of the State of Arkansas and representatives of the Little Rock Conference; and it appearing to the court that said persons in their said petition prayed to be incorporated under the name and style of the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the ob- ject and plan of said university having been fully set forth in reso- lutions passed by the delegates of said Conferences at a convention of the same held in the city of Memphis on January 24, 25, 26, and 27, 1872, and which resolutions are in words and figures as follows: "Resolved by the Convention: 1. That measures be adopted looking to the establishment as speedily as practicable of an institution of learning of the highest order and upon the surest basis where the youth of the Church and country may prosecute theological, literary, scientific, and professional studies to an extent as great and in manner as thorough as their wants demand. "2. That this institution shall be called the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. "3. That it shall consist at present of five schools or departments — viz.: (1) A theological school for the training of our young preach- ers, who, on application for admission, shall present a recommendation from a Quarterly or an Annual Conference and shall have attained a standard of education equal to that required for admission on trial into an Annual Conference, and instruction to them shall be free both in the theological and the literary and scientific departments; (2) a literary and scientific school; (3) a normal school; (4) a law school; (5) a medical school. "4. That the sum of one million dollars is necessary in order to realize fully the object desired, and not less than five hundred thou- sand dollars must be secured as a condition precedent to the opening of any department of the university. "5. That the location of the university shall be left to the decision of the College of Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. "6. That the carrying out of this whole scheme is hereby committed to the following persons — viz.: William C. Johnson, Robert J. Morgan, Smith W. Moore, Milton Brown, Alexander L. P. Green, Jordan Stokes, David C. Kelley, Edward H. East, Robert A. Young, Landon C. Garland, Philip Tuggle, John M. Steel, James H. McFerrin, Christopher D. Oliver, William Dickson, Edward Wadsworth, William M. Bryce, Wil- liam L. C. Hunnicutt, Thomas Christian, James L. Borden, William. H. Foster, Andrew Hunter, James L. DeYampert, and David T. Rey- nolds, who shall take immediate steps for securing a suitable charter and incorporation, and shall be a Board of Trust, with power to so- licit and invest funds, appoint an agent or agents, and do whatever else is necessary for the extension of this scheme. "7. That seven of the Board of Trust at any meeting regularly called shall constitute a quorum. 204 History of Methodism. "8. That provision be made in the charter for giving a fair repre- sentation in the management of the university to any Annual Confer- ence hereafter cooperating with us. "9. That the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, be and hereby are requested to act as a Board of Supervision of the uni- versity or any of its departments and jointly with the Board of Trust to elect officers and professors and prescribe the course of study and the plan of government." And it further appearing to the court that, upon the filing of said petition, the Clerk and Master of this court caused, by an order at rules, the same to be advertised, in pursuance of the statute in such cases made and prescribed; and it further appearing to the court that no one has appeared and made known any objection to' the granting of the prayer of the petition, and the court, upon inspection of the designs and objects of said corporation, finds nothing therein contained to be against public policy or good morals or in conflict with the con- stitution and laws of the State or of the United States, is pleased to grant the prayer of the same, and doth hereby order and adjudge and decree that the petitioners be declared a body politic and corporate under the name and style of "The Central University of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South," and in that name may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, in the courts of this State or of the other States of the Union or of the United States of America; may have a common seal, which may be altered at pleasure; shall have perpetual succession; may solicit and receive subscriptions, donations, legacies, and devises; may hold real estate and personal property in such amounts as the business of the corporation requires, and may re- ceive the same by contract, gift, will, or devise, and shall hold the same for the purpose of said corporation, with all the lawful conditions im- posed by the donor; may appoint such subordinate officers and agents as the business of the corporation requires, prescribe their duties and fix their compensation; may make by-laws not inconsistent with the laws of the land or this charter or the resolutions of the convention at Memphis, as set out herein, which resolutions are hereby adopted as a part of this charter, but shall make all by-laws necessary and proper to carry out the objects of said resolutions, as well as for the man- agement of its property and the regulation of its affairs; and may also have power to pass all by-laws necessary to the use of the powers there- in given, or which by law may hereafter be conferred; and all said powers, rights, and privileges, together with such others as are not herein specially given and referred to, are hereby conferred upon said corporation in as full, complete, and ample manner as by the laws of the State the same can or might be; and said corporation shall have the power to confer all the degrees of merit and honor usually con- ferred by universities. It is further decreed that petitioners pay the costs of this proceeding and that the Clerk and Master issue to them a certified copy of this decree. Nathaniel Baxter, Judge. Action of the Conferences. 295 This charter was duly attested by a . master in chancery and was accepted by the incorporators as legal and valid. As agents and servants of their Annual Conferences, the incor- porators reported to the several sessions the action thus taken, as also concerning the Memphis Convention and the resolutions adopted — in a word, the whole history and process of the in- corporation. In addition, the incorporators, who by the char- ter were made the first Board of Trust, requested the nomina- tion of four members by each Conference to constitute a regu- lar Board. The Conferences took action as follows: The Ten- nessee Conference at its meeting in Nashville October 16-23, 1872, received the report of the committee and, with altera- tions and amendments proposed by Dr. McFerrin, unanimously adopted it. The presiding bishop was requested to appoint an agent for Central University, to operate within the bounds of the Conference. A. L. P. Green, D. C. Kelley, R. A. Young, E. H. East, Jordan Stokes, and D. T. Reynolds were continued as the representatives of the Conference on the Board. Dr. A. L. P. Green was appointed General Secretary of the uni- versity. At the Memphis Conference held at Somerville No- vember 20-25, 1872, the report was submitted and approved. Dr. Green, Treasurer of the Board of Trust, was invited to visit the charges of the Conference, and the bishop was re- quested to appoint W. M. Patterson to cooperate with him in canvassing for an endowment fund. The Conference also nominated W. C. Johnson, S. W. Moore, R. J. Morgan, and Milton Brown to represent the Conference on the Board. At the White River Conference, held in the same year, the report was accepted, and the following-named were selected as trus- tees— to wit: John M. Steel, George Dannelly, James H. Mc- Ferrin, and J. W. Stayton. The Arkansas Conference, meet- ing about the same time, indorsed the report and nominated four of its members to represent it on the Board of Trust under the provision of the charter already obtained. The North Mississippi Conference, meeting November 28, 1872, in- dorsed the report and appointed Philip Tuggle, L. C. Garland, T. Y. Ramsey, and L. Q. C. Lamar to be members of the Board. Tt also requested that the presiding bishop appoint an agent to solicit subscriptions in aid of the university. The North 296 History of Methodism. Alabama Conference was late in acting, but at its annual ses- sion held at Huntsville in November, 1874, it elected the fol- lowing members to represent it on the Board of Trust: C. D. Oliver, Anson West, W. B. Wood, and J. J. Dument. Thus by the action of the Conferences the university as in- corporated was adopted and the members of the Board of Trust selected. The sole, exceptional, and complete person- ality of the Church is thus seen to have been present in this first and most important stage of the university's building. It must also be noticed how completely the incorporators con- sidered themselves the agents and servants of the Church and in no sense principals. The Board of Trust thus selected by the several Annual Con- ferences held their first meeting in Brownsville, Tenn., on January 17, 1873, and adopted by-laws for the government of the corporation. The seventh by-law was as follows: VII. Each cooperating Conference being entitled to four members or representatives in the Board of Trust, should any vacancy or vacancies occur, the Board shall fill the same upon the nomination of the Con- ference to be represented. This -by-law remained in force until the 3d of May, 1875. when it was found to be best simply to reverse the order of nomination. On motion of Judge East, the following by-law was, therefore, adopted : Each cooperating Conference being entitled to four members or rep- resentatives in this Board of Trust, should any vacancy occur in the representation of any Conference, the same shall be filled upon the nomination of this Board to the Conference in which the vacancy oc- curred and stand subject to its nomination. This was no change in the fundamental principle; but by both of the by-laws adopted by the Board of Trust there was recognition by the then members, who had themselves been chosen by the several patronizing Conferences, that these Con- ferences were the members of the corporation and had the right to select their representatives as the members of the Board of Trust, and that the Board of Trust was constituted, and should remain constituted at all future times, by members either nominated by the Board of Trust and confirmed by the Call for Funds — Commodore Vanderbilt's (lift. 297 Conferences or named by the Conferences themselves, as in the beginning. The Board of Trust, selected as above described, met in January, 1873, and issued an address setting forth the or- ganization of the corporation and the purposes as specified by the Memphis resolutions and called for funds with which to endow the university. And now came an unexpected good for- tune to the institution. Through Bishop McTyeire this appeal, together with the plan and scope of the work, was presented to Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, of New York, with the result that a munificent sum was by him donated to the university as de- scribed in the following letter: New York, March 17, 1873. To Bishop H. N. McTyeire, of Nashville: I make the following offer, through you, to the corporation known as "The Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South": 1. I authorize you to procure suitable grounds, not less than from twenty to fifty acres, properly located for the erection of the following work: 2. To erect thereon suitable buildings for the uses of the university. 3. You to procure plans and specifications for such buildings and submit them to me; and when approved, the money for the foregoing objects to be furnished by me as it is needed. 4. The sum included in the foregoing items, together with the "en- dowment fund" and the "library fund," shall not be less in the aggre- gate than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000); and these last two funds shall be furnished to the corporation so soon as the build- ings for the university are completed and ready to be used. The foregoing being subject to the following conditions: 1. That you accept the presidency of the Board of Trust, receiving therefor a salary of three thousand dollars per annum and the use of a dwelling house, free of rent, on or near the university grounds. 2. Upon your death or resignation the Board of Trust shall elect a President. 3. To check hasty or injudicious appropriations or measures, the President shall have authority, whenever he objects to any act of the Board, to signify his objections in writing within ten days after its enactment; and no such act is to be valid unless, upon reconsideration, it be passed by a three-fourths vote of the Board. 4. The amount set apart by me as an "endowment fund" shall be forever inviolable and shall be kept safely invested, and the interest and revenue only used in carrying on the university. The form of investment which I prefer, and in which I reserve the privilege to give the money for the said fund, is in seven per cent first mortgage 298 History of Methodism. bonds of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, to be "registered" in the name of the corporation and to be transferred only upon a special vote of the Board of Trust. 5. The university is to be located in or near Nashville, Tenn. Respectfully submitted. C. Vanderbilt. This offer of Mr. Vanderbilt was, on the twenty-sixth day of March, 1873, accepted by the Board, which passed appropriate resolutions of thanks and appointed a committee to ask the Chancery Court to change the name and style of the corpora- tion from "The Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South," to "Vanderbilt University," and that the insti- tution, thus endowed and chartered, should be from that time known by this name. The Hon. M. Brown, the Hon. E. H. East, and the Rev. D. C. Kelley, D.D., were authorized and re- quested to act on this committee. The Secretary was directed to convey to Mr. Vanderbilt the sincere thanks of the Board for his munificent gift. To the action of the Board Mr. Vanderbilt replied on the thirty-first day of March, 1873, as follows : My Dear Sir: Your favor of the twenty-seventh inst, inclosing a resolution of the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, passed the twenty-sixth inst., is received and is very satisfactory. Very respectfully yours, C. Vanderbilt. It is important to remember that at the time of making this donation to the university Mr. Vanderbilt did not suggest any change in the charter or in the membership of the corporation or in the relation of the patronizing Conferences to the uni- versity. The only change that was made or suggested at the time was of the name of the university, as a token of apprecia- tion of Mr. Vanderbilt's gift; and this suggestion emanated from the Board of Trust, which Board considered itself the agent and servant of the Church. Its actions were referred to the several patronizing Conferences, members of the corpora- tion, which authorized the change of name to "Vanderbilt University." The North Mississippi Conference which met at Grenada November 20, 1873, not only joined in this action, but sub- scribed ten thousand dollars to be added to the funds of the university. The Arkansas Conference agreed to unite in rais- Further Conference Actions. 299 ing the two hundred thousand dollars asked for by the Board of Trust and appointed Dr. Winfield as agent to raise its share of the same. The Memphis Conference, after hearing an address by Dr. Young in behalf of the university, made a sub- scription of five thousand dollars to the endowment fund. The Tennessee Conference confirmed Drs. Green and Young in the positions to which they had been elected by the Board of Trust and at the same time named R. A. Young as Agent and A. L. P. Green as Treasurer of the university. By these several actions Vanderbilt University was launched by the Conferences which were members of the corporation. For twenty-five years thereafter the Board of Trust and the patronizing Conferences acted in harmony, the Conferences agreeing generally to the recommendations of the Board, but with no thought upon the part of either that the Conferences should surrender their rights as the owners of the university. As an evidence of the unquestioned authority and corporation rights of the Church, the following action of the Tennessee Conference, taken in October, 1874, may be cited : Resolved: 1. That we proceed to nominate one of our members to fill the vacancy in the Board of Trust caused by the death of Dr. Green and that we nominate Dr. R. A. Young. 2. That, in response to the request of the Board of Trust, we con- sent to modify the original contract, so that hereafter, when a vacancy occurs, the Board may nominate one of our members to us for con- firmation, the nominee not to be a member of the Board until con- firmed by us. The Memphis Conference held at Paducah November 23, 1875, declared that: "With the brethren of other Conferences, we have vested rights in the university which we hold sacred and will do our part in making it a blessing to the Church, to our children, and to generations yet to come." Speaking be- fore the North Mississippi Conference, of which he was a mem- ber, Chancellor Garland said in November, 1874, that Van- derbilt University was "an institution of high learning, partly under the control of this Conference and entirely under the control of the Church." Constantly, year by year, almost without exception, the min- utes of the Tennessee, the Memphis, the North Mississippi, the 300 History of Methodism. North Alabama, the Arkansas, and the Mississippi Confer- ences show that Dr. Young, Secretary of the university, regu- larly appeared before those bodies and usually received con- tributions for the endowment fund. Committees on education in almost every instance made reports on Vanderbilt Uni- versity. From its foundation it was recognized as a Church institution, commended to the people of the Church, patron- ized and superintended by these Conferences, and finally was by them turned over to the General Conference. After years of experience, it was thought wise to make cer- tain changes in the manner of electing members of the Board of Trust and in the official tenure of the same. In 1888 the following report was, therefore, made to the Board : Having carefully considered the matter referred to us, your com- mittee respectfully recommends the adoption of the following by-law therein: The Board of Trust shall, after the expiration of the terms of the present members as hereinafter provided, consist of two members, one clerical and one lay, from each of the patronizing Conferences. These shall be divided into four classes, as follows: The members from the Tennessee and North Alabama Conferences shall constitute one class, and their terms of office shall expire in 1890; the members from the Memphis and North Mississippi Conferences shall constitute one class, and their terms of office shall expire in 1892; the members from the Louisville and Little Rock Conferences shall constitute one class, and their terms of office shall expire in 1894; the members from the Arkansas and White River Conferences shall constitute one class, and their terms of office shall expire in 1896. At its annual meeting in 1890, and every two years thereafter, the Board shall elect, as now provided by law, subject to the confirmation of the Conference concerned, members to take the places of those whose terms then expired. The members so elected shall hold their office for a term of eight years, unless sooner removed for cause, and until their successors are elected and confirmed. When vacancies shall occur, they shall be filled as now required by law, but only for the re- mainder of the unexpired term or terms. Resolved, That the Executive Committee are hereby directed to take all steps necessary to make the foregoing a part of the organic law of the university. From this action it appears that the Board of Trust under- stood that in order to make changes as suggested in the above report a change must be wrought in the organic law of the uni- versity. The resolution of the Board was, therefore, submitted Rights — New Chancellor — Ex Officio. 301 to the Annual Conferences, which alone could make the change, and this after the adoption of the name of "Vanderbilt Uni- versity," showing that no new status had been created by that incident. The Tennessee Conference of 1888 asserted its rights and those of the other constituent Conferences in the following action : Provided, that the charter of the university be so amended as to secure the right of the several cooperating Conferences to act upon all nominations to fill vacancies before any party nominated by the Board can become a member thereof; and provided, also, that no amendment to the charter shall affect the ex officio members of the Board. The North Mississippi and the Memphis Conferences, par- ticularly, indorsed the action of the Tennessee Conference, passing it as an identical proviso. The charter was not changed. In 1893 James H. Kirkland became Chancellor of the uni- versity. Being the son of a Methodist preacher, and having been educated as a son of the Church, it was felt that his pro- motion to this important post was a guarantee of prosperity and security to the Church's most important institution of learning. History must say how far this confidence was borne out by the sequel. To meet the wishes of the incorporators, the bishops and Chancellor of the university in 1895 were declared to be mem- bers ex officio of the Board of Trust. Let it be understood that this was not an order which the Board had a right to institute, but simply the declaration of a constitutional fact. The con- fidence which afterwards described it as a "courtesy to the bishops," to be withdrawn at the pleasure of the Board, was characteristic of the genius of the drama. The powers of the bishops under the charter were immensely larger than those of ex officio membership on the Board* At the session of the Tennessee Conference, October 23-28, the report of the Board of Education, which was adopted by the Conference, contained notice of the resignation of J. H. Kirkland, lay representative of the Conference on the Board of Trust. It was, therefore, recommended that the Conference fill the vacancy by the elec- tion of E. W. Cole. This was done. Of course this action was 302 History of Methodism. accepted by the Board of Trust. It could not have done other- wise, being the servant of the Conferences which had created it. But it was exactly the same action as that taken by the General Conference in 1910 in electing three trustees to fill existing vacancies. This will be clearly seen in a later con- nection. The growth of the university was rapid, and soon it was de- sired that other Conferences should be admitted to member- ship in the corporation, as was provided for in the Memphis resolutions. Both the Church and the then majority of the Board of Trust desired the university to become the central university of Southern Methodism, and for it to become re- lated in a connectional way with the entire Church instead of with the patronizing Conferences; and it was determined by all parties that this could be effectuated by having the uni- versity related to the General Conference, and thus through the General Conference all the Annual Conferences could be- come patrons of the university in law as in fact. The Board of Trust as early as 1890 took steps to bring about the suc- cession by the General Conference to membership in the cor- poration theretofore held and enjoyed by the patronizing Con- ferences. At the meeting of the Board of Trust held in 1806 the fol- lowing report was presented : Ycur committee to whom was referred the question as to a change in the manner of electing trustees beg leave to report: 1. We think it very important that Vanderbilt University should be closely allied to the whole Church as the central university of Southern Methodism. 2. We believe this can be partially effected by increasing the num- ber of trustees who are elected independently of our eight patronizing Conferences. 3. We recommend that the by-laws be amended so as to give only one representative to each pf the eight patronizing Conferences, and that the eight vacancies thus created be filled by the selection of rep- resentative men without geographical limitation. 4. As the best method of effecting this result, we suggest that each patronizing Conference be requested to approve this change in the by- laws and adopt the reduction from two to one representative. In the light of a history now gone to permanent record, this document suggests an extraordinary contradiction. Its ad- General Conference Ownership. 303 missions are a verdict of official self-condemnation. But mat- ters were progressing, and again in 1897 the following report was made to the Board of Trust ; We recommend that, in order that Vanderbilt University may be related to the Church as the central university of Southern Meth- odism and may assume a connectional relationship to the whole Church as the crowning feature of our educational system, the con- sent of the patronizing Conferences be asked to the proposition that hereafter the Board of Trustees be selected from the entire Church, without regard to geographical limitation, and to be confirmed by the General Conference. In order to secure such consent the Chancellor of the university is requested to submit this proposition to the several patronizing Conferences at the next annual sessions. We further sug- gest that a resolution be submitted to the next General Conference ask- ing the adoption of this university as the central institution of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The recommendations of the above report were adopted by the Board, and the Chancellor of the university went before the patronizing Conferences and requested the action recom- mended, thus recognizing the supreme authority of the Con- ferences. In the fall of 1897 all the incorporating Confer- ences, with the exception of the Tennessee and the Louisville, assented to the arrangement. Later these Conferences gave their adhesion to the plan. At the session of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, held in Baltimore in May, 1898, ap- peared a committee of the Board of Trust of the university and presented the following memorial : To the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in session in Baltimore, May, 1898: The undersigned, constituting a committee appointed by the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University to make a special report to the Gen- eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, beg leave to present this communication with reference to the university and its relation to the whole Church. Vanderbilt University, as is well known, has heretofore been the central institution of eight patronizing Confer- ences. The title to the property is vested in a Board, to be held in trust for these Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. For several years the Board has had under consideration a plan to make the university entirely connectional and relate it directly to the whole Church. The plan proposed is to have the patronizing Confer- ences transfer their rights in the university to the General Conference 3(H History of Methodism. and to have the General Conference, by proper resolution, accept the patronage of the university and consent to assume toward this enter- prise the same relation heretofore held by the separate Conferences. The Board of Trust has officially expressed its approval of this plan, and most of the patronizing Conferences have done the same thing. By the charter of the university the Board of Trust is vested with the power and obligation to fill its own vacancies; but the election of any member is not valid under the law of the university until said member has been confirmed by the Conference which he is designed to represent. Under the new plan the Board would be at liberty to se- lect its members without geographical restrictions of any kind, and the General Conference would confirm or reject the appointment. This duty could be exercised either by the General Conference as a body, or it could be delegated by the Conference to some Board, itself the crea- ture of the General Conference. Naturally the Board of Education will be thought of in this connection. This Board meets every year and is likely to be charged more and more with the oversight of our institutions of learning. It is now trying to devise methods for cor- relating all our colleges and universities, and it would be appropriate for the General Conference to exercise its control of Vanderbilt Uni- versity largely through the Board. In that manner vacancies in the Board of Trust of the university could be filled every year, and it would not be necessary to wait four years for action that might be promptly needed. As a committee, therefore, of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt Uni- versity, we beg to present this matter to the General Conference and invite such action as may be adjudged right and proper. The action of the General Conference in accepting this trans- fer was embodied in the following resolution : 1. That the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, hereby accepts the proposed relation and control of the Vander- bilt University and commits to the General Board of Education the confirmation of all trustees selected by the Board of Trust of Vander- bilt University. 2. That this resolution take effect as soon as the consent of all the present patronizing Conferences has been obtained, all the necessary legal steps taken, and preliminary details arranged. In view of this record, the following judicial analysis of the status of the trust is unescapable: By the action of the patronizing Conferences in transferring their rights in the university to the General Conference and the latter's accept- ance of the same and also the control of the university — which was done at the request of the Board of Trust — the General The "Member" of the University, 305 Conference became the member of Vanderbilt University and exercised the right of the Conference to con linn nominations of the Board, and did so confirm them through its Board of Education until 1910. From the founding of the institution up to that year the ownership of the Church was always recog- nized by the Board of Trust. In addition to the history-and- charter-witnessed membership of the patronizing Conferences, it is a fact that the founders of the university vested in the bishops visitorial power, which is the power of superintend- ency and correction. This power is derived from the ninth paragraph of the Memphis resolutions. But the bishops did not find it necessary to exercise this power until 1910, and until after the course of the Board of Trust in resisting the action of the General Conference, hereinafter to be noted. The members of the College of Bishops had been in some doubt prior to 1894 as to whether the bishops were members of the Board of Trust ex officio as a charter right or whether the Board of Trust should be composed of members elected or confirmed by the Conferences and the College of Bishops joint- ly. In order to settle any doubt on this point and to make clear what was regarded by the then existing Board as their charter rights, the following by-law was adopted : Each of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, is ex officio declared to be a member of the Board of Trust, and the Chan- cellor of the university is also by his office a member of said Board of Trust. At a later day this resolution, which, so far as it related to the bishops, was passed and stood as an interpretation of the charter of the university, was described as a courtesy and was repealed by the majority. But subsequent to the adoption of this by-law the bishops of the Methodist Church were recog- nized by the Board of Trust by virtue of their position estab- lished under the charter. In 1905 the by-law recognizing their ex officio relation was rescinded, and five of the effective bish- ops, in the order of seniority; were nominated to the Board of Education for confirmation. And now is seen the first step in the complicated plan to dissociate the university from the Church and alienate its titles. Little was this plan then suspected by those on the 20 30« History of Methodism. outside. To the meeting of the Board of 1905 the Chancellor submitted a report advising that a new charter be procured for the institution. The announcement of these plans brought on the first stage of that long contest between the Church and the disloyal members of the Board. The protests against the proposed new charter were loud and general. Distrust of the management of the university was frankly and generally ex- pressed. Certain of the patronizing Conferences memorialized the General Conference to be held in 1906 to consider and act upon all matters involving the ownership and control of the university, and especially to direct what changes, if any, should be made in the terms of the original charter and to set on foot such plans as would more perfectly secure the interests of the Church and guarantee the support of the university. It was also demanded of the Board of Trust that application for a new charter be deferred until after the meeting of the General Conference. As a result of this action the General Conference of 1906, as already related, ordered a commission to inquire into the question of ownership, charter details, and relations of the bishops to the university. In accordance with the action of the General Conference, the commission, whose constitution has already been described, met at Nashville, Tenn., August 15, 1906, and later in the same city on October 24-29, inclusive. This commission took careful survey of the whole case and reported its findings as follows : (a) That Vanderbilt University was established and was managed by the patronizing Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, up to 1898; that up to said date said patronizing Conferences were the members of the corporation; held the right to select its trus- tees and control its polity so long as it regards the purpose of the trust and violates no condition imposed by any donor. (ft) That no further action was necessary to transfer the rights of the patronizing Conferences to the General Conference, which had be- come, and was, the successor to the rights of the patronizing Confer- ences; but in order that formal recognition of this transfer might be made and that the said patronizing Conferences might take such steps as would forever quiet the right and title of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to act as the member of said corporation, they recommend the adoption of the following resolution: "Whereas by resolution prior to the General Conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. South, of 1898, this Conference memorialized Action of the Vanderbilt Commission. :\()7 the General Conference to take over the charge of the responsibility of Vanderbilt University; and whereas the said General Conference has agreed to do so and has done so, which has been approved by the as- sent of this Conference; now to confirm the original purpose of this Conference and to unify the title in the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, be it "Resolved, That this Conference do now cede, and there is hereby ceded, to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, all rights, privileges, and authority which this Conference had as a member of the corporation known as Vanderbilt University." (c) Determined that the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, were, by the action of the founders — to wit, the patronizing Conferences and the Memphis Convention — made common-law visitors of the university, defining their duties to be judicial, not executive or legislative. They are "to judge whether the acts of the trustees are within the law of the institution and whether their by-laws are in the spirit of the trust." The visitor is in no sense above the law of the institution, but his judgment within the law is necessarily supreme. The patronizing Conferences promptly acquiesced in the findings of the commission and adopted resolutions in con formity therewith. The bishops also formally agreed to act under the same findings. The Board of Trust of the university, upon receiving the report of the commission, passed the fol- lowing resolutions: Whereas the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in session at Birmingham, Ala., May, 1906, appointed a commis- sion to report upon the following matters: 1. To inquire into and determine the present relations of Vander- bilt University to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; 2. To take legal steps, if necessary, to perfect the transfer of the university from the patronizing Conferences to the General Confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; 3. To define the charter rights of the bishops of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South. And whereas the commission has concluded its labors and reported the result of its deliberations to the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt Uni- versity ; Resolved: 1. That we cordially receive the same and direct that it be filed with the records of this Board. 2. That we hereby express our appreciation of the ability and fidelity with which the members of the commission have discharged their im- portant duties. 3. That, recognizing and rejoicing in the ownership of the Church in the university and all the responsibilities arising therefrom, we 308 History of Methodism. welcome any supervision by the College of Bishops that may aid us in executing the great trust committed to our hands so as to insure the observance of the charter, the conditions of specific gifts, and the statutes of the State. If one has been made to wonder at other actions recorded in this case, in the light of subsequent facts he can but be amazed at the complacency and disingenuousness of the above. It particularly forms a strange juncture with a bill, originat- ing with and publicly advocated by the Chancellor, which was attempted to be passed through the Tennessee Legislature, which bill was at the time described by the author of this his- tory as having been framed "with a view to accommodating between Vanderbilt and the Peabody School an alliance which could only be hurtful to, and finally destructive of, the Church's interest in the former." The judgment of the legis- lature was formed with great clearness from the representa- tions then made, and the bill was ignominiously defeated. The report of the Vanderbilt Commission was presented to the General Conference at its session in Asheville, N. C, in May, 1910, and the following action was taken thereon : Resolved: 1. That this General Conference hereby accepts the re- port of the Vanderbilt Commission as a definition of the rights of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to Vanderbilt University; more- over, that it accepts the judgment of the commission that the College of Bishops is a board of common-law visitors of the university; and, furthermore, that it accepts the finding of the commission that the General Conference has the right to select the Board of Trustees in such manner as it may elect, either by direct election by the Confer- ence itself or through such agency or agencies as it may designate. 2. That it is the sense of this General Conference that its right to select the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University and fill vacancies in the same should now be exercised, and hereafter at its discretion; and it being ascertained that vacancies now exist in the Board of Trust of said university, the following-named members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, are hereby elected to fill said vacancies — namely: . . . 3. That, following this election, the General Conference will for the future continue the method of choosing the trustees' adopted by the General Conference held at Baltimore in 1898, when it committed "to the General Board of Education the confirmation of all trustees by the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University." 4. That the General Conference approves the action of the bishops in en- tering upon the discharge of their duties as visitors of the university. General Conference Takes Action. .'>()!> 5. That the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, shall provide whatever means may be necessary to sustain the finding of the Vanderbilt Commission if it shall at any time be called in question in the civil courts. In such event the bishops of the Church are hereby instructed to take whatever steps they may deem necessary to maintain the rights and claims of the Church. At this time there existed three vacancies in the Board of Trust, and to fill these the General Conference named Rev. V. A. Godbey, D.D., of Texas; Hon. N. E. Harris, of Georgia; and Judge Albert W. Biggs, of Tennessee. The Board of Trust at its meeting on June 11, 12, 1910, declined to receive these mem- bers and in lieu thereof named the following — viz.: Claude Waller, of Nashville, Tenn. ; Robert F. Jackson, of Nashville, Tenn.; and James A. Robins, of McKenzie, Tenn. Immedi- ately thereafter the Board rescinded the by-law adopted in 1898 and confirmed by the General Conference, requiring the confirmation of all members of the Board of Trust by the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. This action was clearty meant by the majority of the Board of Trust as a defiance of the Church, and it constituted the first act absolutely denying Church ownership. The following- named members of the Board of Trust voted in the affirmative on this action — viz. : Bishop E. R. Hendrix, Mr. Allen R. Car- ter, Judge W. C. Ratcliffe, Mr. Samuel Cupples, Mr. William L. Moose, Mr. W. T. Sanders, Prof. W. H. Hughes, Chancellor J. H. Kirkland, Mr. W. R. Cole, Mr. G. M. Neely, Rev. G. B. Winton, Mr. Charles N. Burch, Mr. R. F. Maddox, Rev. C. W. Byrd, Mr. J. C. McReynolds, Mr. E. J. Buffington, Mr. N. Bax- ter, Mr. G. W. Martin, and Mr. E. H. Jones. The following- named members of the Board voted "No" : Bishop A. W. Wil- son, Mr. John R. Pepper, Maj. R. W. Millsaps, Rev. E. B. Chap- pell, Rev. W. J. Young, Rev. R. W. Browder, Rev. W. D. Brad- field, and Rev. J. H. Dye. Credulity and consistency swooned together in the presence of this action of the majority of the Board, taken immediately after the above-recorded vote: The right of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to appoint the trustees of this university being denied by this Board of Trustees, great unrest is likely to follow to the damage History of Methodism. of the university and the Church. To allay as much as possible this unrest and to guard as far as possible the interests of the university, this Board hereby declares the trust it holds is a trust for the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, and that Vanderbilt University belongs to said Church. It was now evident to all that the Church must appeal to Caesar against its disobedient and inscrutable agents. The College of Bishops, therefore, met at Nashville on the twelfth day of July, 1010, as visitors of the university, to consider the action of the Board of Trust in declining to recognize the trustees elected by the General Conference and in proceeding to elect other members contrary to the fundamental law of the university. Reviewing this action, the bishops passed the fol- lowing resolution : Resolved, That the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, acting as a Board of Visitors and as representatives of the General Conference of the Church, refuse to approve the action of the Board of Trustees and declare it null and void. A secondary stage in the plan of alienation began now to develop. A long-nourished scheme, for colluding the Vander- bilt foundation with that of the George Peabody Fund for a Teachers' University at Nashville, came to light. Reference to a certain bill meant to facilitate this collusion, but which was defeated before the legislature, has already been referred to. The unauthorized negotiations with the George Peabody trustees became the basis of a legal appeal by the bishops for injunction and judgment to the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tenn. The bishops in their complaint charged that \ majority of the Board of Trust were vltra vires the power of said Board and contrary, as they are advised, to the charter and fundamental law of the corporation. They charged that by its action as aforesaid the Board had violated its trust and repudiated the right of the patronizing Conferences as the first members of the corporation and the right of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as represented by its General Con- ference as their successor, and had attempted to set itself up as above the charter and the law. They charged that the Board, in assuming the authority to elect its own successors, had usurped the right of the General Conference as the member of Trustees' Action Vetoed — injunction. 311 said corporation and had assumed the said membership to be in the present trustees, who were then claiming that they were a self-perpetuating body; that by said action in asserting its right to self-perpetuation it had attempted to sever all bonds connecting it with the Church. As visitors, relators declared that the aforesaid action upon the part of the Board of Trust was illegal and that they had so adjudged and declared. Messrs. Harris, Godbey, and Biggs joined in this complaint and de- clared that the defendants, Waller, Jackson, and Robins, were usurping the offices to which themselves had been elected. The bishops further complained that it was- the purpose of the Board of Trust not only to consider and to act upon a proposed affiliation of Vanderbilt University with the George Peabody College for Teachers, the exact proposal being un- known to them, the real supervisors of the university, but that it embraced not only the interchange of work between the said universities, but also the exchange or sale of real property be- longing to the Vanderbilt corporation. The bishops, there- fore, asked that it be adjudged and decreed that the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, by and through its General Confer- ence, should be entitled as a member of Vanderbilt University to select, nominate, or confirm, either by itself or through its General Board of Education, members of the Board of Trust of said university ; that it be adjudged and decreed that Van- derbilt University was established by the patronizing Confer- ences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as alleged in the bill, and that it is being maintained and patronized by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and by the General Con- ference thereof, and that the General Conference as the repre- sentative governing body of the said • Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has the power and authority and nas exercised the option to elect and provide for the election of the members of the Board of Trust and to fill vacancies therein. The bishops further asked that a writ of injunction issue enjoining the defendant Board of Trust from holding or at- tempting to hold any special or regular meeting of said Board without notice to the relators Harris, Godbey, and Biggs, and without permitting the said relators to participate in said meetings; also that an injunction issue enjoining defendants 312 History of Methodism. Waller, Jackson, and Kobins from meeting with said Board of Trust or exercising the duties and) privileges as members there- of; also that the defendant Board of Trust.be enjoined from selling, transferring, or disposing of or exchanging to George Peabody College for Teachers any part of the real property belonging to the defendant Vanderbilt University; and that such other further and general relief be granted as the facts of the case may demand and as to equity and good conscience belong. The distinguished and efficient counsel of the Church in this celebrated case consisted of the firms of Fitzhugh and Biggs, of Memphis, Tenn. ; Percy D. Maddin, of Nashville, Tenn. ; Harris and Harris, of Macon, Ga. ; and Edward C. O'Rear, of Kentucky. The cause of the Church was duly presented and argued by these distinguished jurists; and in answer to the prayer of their client, the honorable Chancery Court, Judge John Allison presiding, issued a decree of injunction and later handed down a fuller mandate, as follows: 1. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, acting through certain of its Annual Conferences, established and legally founded the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the name of which was subsequently changed to Vanderbilt University. The ob- jects and purposes of said charity so established were set forth in what is known as the Memphis resolutions, which were adopted by repre- sentatives of said Conferences in a convention held in Memphis in January, 1872; and these resolutions constitute the true articles of foundation of said charity and lawful conditions annexed to every gift made to the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or to Vanderbilt University. 2. To carry out the purposes and objects of the Annual Conferences, as expressed in the Memphis resolutions, and to make perpetual and permanent the trust thereby established, the parties named in the sixth section of the Memphis resolutions, acting as representatives of the said Annual Conferences, secured a charter of incorporation, the said charter being granted under Chapter 54 of the Acts of 1870-71 by the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tenn. 3. The Memphis resolutions are the very essence of said charter and embody the real life, substance, and meaning thereof, and therefore in no sense could be held to be surplusage. 4. The only effect cf the amendment to the charter of the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, made on the sixteenth day of June, 1873, was to change the name cf the corpora- Text of Injun clion. 313 tion from Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to Vanderbilt University, and not to eliminate from the charter the Memphis resolutions or any part thereof. 5. The effect of securing the charter of incorporation was to make the Church, through its Annual Conferences, the member of the cor- poration which was simply the holder of the naked legal title to the property donated, bequeathed, or devised to it in trust for the purpose of more conveniently carrying into effect the purposes and objects of the founders, as set forth in the Memphis resolutions; the members of the Board of Trust were never, and are not now, the members of the corporation and do not possess, and have never possessed, the right and power to fill vacancies in said Board of Trust; but the patronizing An- nual Conferences representing the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, had the right under said charter and under the law to fill vacancies on said Board. 6. By the eighth section of the Memphis resolutions, incorporated in the charter, provision was made for giving to other Annual Con- ferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which might there- after cooperate with these Conferences which founded said institu- tion, an equal voice in the control of said institution, and such Annual Conferences then cooperating and such others as might thereafter be admitted to membership had the legal right to fill all vacancies that might occur on said Board. 7. The original patronizing Conferences and those which had be- come members of the corporation prior to 1898 did in that year (with the exception of the Louisville Conference) transfer their rights to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which is superior to, and is composed of, members chosen by the various An- nual Conferences of the Church, the said General Conference being the representative governing body and the highest judicatory of that Church; and thereafter, in the same year, the Louisville Conference transferred and ceded its rights to the General Conference. In 1898 the said General Conference became the legal member of said corpora- tion, with right and power to fill all vacancies on said Board of Trust and to exercise all other rights as a member under the law. 8. The right of filling vacancies on the Board of Trust at its option was exercised by the General Conference at its meeting in Asheville in 1910 by the election of the said Messrs. Harris, Godbey, and Biggs to fill the vacancies then existing upon said Board, and by virtue of said action of the General Conference said relators became legal members of the Board of Trust; and the action of the Board of Trust of Vander- bilt University on the eleventh and twelfth of June, 1910, in refusing to recognize them as members of the Board of Trust was illegal, con- trary to the fundamental law of the corporation, and ultra vires the authority of said Board of Trust. 9. The action of the Board of Trust in June, 1910, in attempting to elect the defendants, Messrs. Jackson, Waller, and Robins, members of r>14 History of Methodism. the Board of Trust in place of the said Messrs. Harris, Godbey, and Biggs, and in attempting to fill vacancies occurring in said Board of Trust, after the action of the General Conference in May, 1910, was illegal and void and conferred no right, power, or authority on the per- sons so attempted to be elected. 10. The Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, now Vanderbilt University, was established and founded in the legal sense by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, acting by and through certain of its Annual Conferences; said university from its establishment has been, and is now, being maintained and patronized by the said Church in the true sense, meaning, and spirit of an act passed by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, being Chap- ter 6 of the Acts of 1895; said act in all respects is a valid and con- stitutional law; as applied to this case, it merely furnishes additional confirmation of the legal right conferred upon the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1898, as the successor to the Annual Conferences of said Church. 11. The ninth section of the Memphis resolutions conferred general visitorial power on the College of Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of said university and all its departments; the visito- rial power was not vested in the corporation or in the Board of Trust, and all gifts and donations which have been made, either to the Cen- tral University of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or to Vander- bilt University, are subject to such visitorial power; said power was validly exercised by the College of Bishops in annulling the action of the Board of Trust in June, 1910, as set forth in the original bill. 12. The corporation can pass no by-law inconsistent with the Mem- phis resolutions, or the charter, or the general laws of the land, but is required to pass such by-laws as may be necessary and proper to carry out the purposes and objects for which said corporation was formed, as expressed in the Memphis resolutions. 13. The by-law adopted by the Board of Trust in June, 1910, providing that all vacancies thereafter occuring in said Board should be filled by it, is contrary to the charter of said corporation, to the articles of foundation and the laws of the land, and is illegal and void; the pre- liminary injunction granted restraining the defendants, Messrs. Jack- son, Waller, and Robins, from acting as members of the Board is made perpetual, and the university and the defendant trustees are forever en- joined from failing or refusing to recognize the said Messrs. Harris, Godbey, and Biggs as members of the Board of Trust or interfering in any way with the free and full exercise of their rights and powers as duly elected members of said Board. 14. And the defendant trustees are enjoined from admitting or at- tempting to admit to membership in the Board any person or persons not elected or chosen in the manner authorized by the General Conference of said Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and from exercising or as- serting the right to perpetuate themselves in power and office or inter- Appeal — One Million Dollars. ;5l.r> fering with the exclusive right of the General Conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, by itself or through its designated agencies, to fill all vacancies occurring in said Board. From this decree the majority of the trustees appealed to the Supreme Court of Tennessee, having retained legal counsel and advice for that purpose. Pending the hearing of this appeal — that is to say, on May 1, 1913 — Chancellor Kirkland, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trust of Vander- bilt University, addressed a letter to Mr. Andrew Carnegie, soliciting him to give a million dollars to Vanderbilt Univer sity for the purpose of furnishing and endowing the Medical Department. To this letter Mr. Carnegie replied on May 20 as follows: My Dear Sir: I have given careful consideration to your letter of May 1, written on behalf of the trustees of Vanderbilt University, in- viting me to contribute a million dollars for the establishment upon a sound foundation of a medical school of modern type in the South. After consultation with those familiar with medical education in this country, I am convinced that the sum of money you mention could be wisely devoted to a medical school in Nashville. I approve thoroughly your suggestion that this gift be conditioned on the appointment of a small board of seven persons to govern the medical school, who shall be chosen absolutely without reference to denominational considerations and purely upon the ground of fitness for their duties. There is, however, one factor in your university situation which leaves the policy for the future in doubt. A suit is now before the courts to test the question whether the ' university shall be governed by an independent, self-perpetuating board, as at present,* or whether the trustees shall be chosen by the representatives of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with which denomination the university has been since its beginning in sympathetic relations. Should the trustees finally receive an adverse verdict, I understand that the university will then be under distinctive denominational control. This result would seem to me to be unfortunate for the future progress and well-being of the institution. I do not believe that it is wise for any sect to con- trol educational institutions, such as universities, whether the organiza- tion be a Methodist Conference or a Presbyterian Assembly or a Catholic order. For this reason, therefore, while I am anxious to make this gift, *This observation was true in fact, for by this time the majority of the Board of the University had usurped every power of the corporation and had become a law to itself. 316 History of Methodism. which, I believe, would be of high value to the whole South, I hesitate to do so until the question of denominational control has been settled by the courts. I make the following proposition for your consideration: I will fur- nish the $200,000 now needed for the laboratories, and the remaining $800,000 shall remain in the custody of the Carnegie Corporation at Xew York, interest at four per cent to be paid to the university for the use of the medical school until such time as the question of denomi- national control has been settled by the court of last resort, its final dis- position to be then determined. . . . Andrew Carnegie.* Under the.se conditions the case, on final appeal to the Su- preme Court of Tennessee, came to a hearing. After lengthy presentations and arguments on both sides, the court handed down on March 21, 1914, a decision which reversed practically every point in the decree of the Chancery Court. The Su- preme Court held that the Church was neither the founder nor owner of Vanderbilt University; that Cornelius Vanderbilt was its founder ; that the Board of Trust was an independent, self-perpetuating Board ; that the bishops had no power over the corporation whatever, being neither members of the Board of Trustees, common-law visitors, nor otherwise by the charter invested with authority. The sole and single vestige of right decreed to the Church was that it should exercise the per- functory office of confirming the selections made by the Board of Trustees to fill vacancies as they occurred. Should the Church refuse to act upon such selections, it was to be adjudged guilty of contumacy, and the selections of the Board became *The Board of Trust, or rather the reactionary majority thereof, ac- cepted this gift, with all its discrediting references to the Church. When the bishops met as a Board of Visitors in June, 1913, the record of the action of the trustees was requested. The request was denied. But a report of the minority of the trustees was submitted, which brought the information up in official form. With this information before them, the bishops vetoed the action of the trustees on the ground that it was a breach of the trust committed to them by the Memphis Convention; that it was ultra vires their power to accept a gift under such conditions; that it constituted a diversion of a large part of the funds and property of the university, in that it put the medical de- partment under a new and alien trusteeship, which was contrary to the terms of other gifts to the university. They, therefore, declared the action illegal, null and void, and vetoed it in every part thereof. Decision of Supreme Court. 317 members without further formality. The court decreed that Messrs. Harris, Godbey, and Biggs were not entitled to member- ship on the Board. It further decreed that because of the fail- ure of the General Conference to act on the cases of Messrs. Waller, Jackson, and Robins the said Waller, Jackson, and Robins were members of the Board and would so remain until the General Conference took action. The bill of the Church was, therefore, dismissed at its cost. This astounding decision was received by the Church with becoming dignity and civic loyalty. The sense of the injustice which had been inflicted was felt profoundly throughout the Connection ; but the Church which teaches submission to civil authority must be obedient to constituted powers, even when it feels that its own rights have been passed by in the adminis- tration of public affairs. In order to make the record complete, we have thought it necessary so far to anticipate in this recital as to include an action taken by the General Conference of 1914, the session following the decision of the Supreme Court. At that session this matter was committed for study and report to a committee of fifteen, as follows — viz. : D. H. Linebaugh, Chairman ; Frank M. Thomas, Secretary; J. R. Bond, A. J. Lamar, H. M. Du Bose, N. E. Harris, E. V. Regester, R. A. Meek, Plato Durham, T. S. Garrison, H. N. Snyder, J. W. Perry, T. D. Samford, C. M. Hay, W. A. Christian, and J. M. McCormick. The commit- tee submitted a report, which was adopted by the General Con- ference. The following excerpts from the report refer to the final disposition made of the Vanderbilt case: We have read with regret the decision of the Supreme Court of Ten- nessee that the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, did not, through the representatives of certain Annual Conferences, found Vanderbilt University and that the Church does not own said university. As the highest representative body of our Church, we herewith place on rec- ord our sincere and positive conviction that the opinion does not fully determine the real equities involved. In the expression of this convic- tion we are not unmindful of the respect that should be accorded to the legally constituted civil authorities; but there are times when it is a duty to enter a solemn protest against the action of the civil authorities, lest injustice should become common and the courts be brought into contempt. 318 History of Methodism. We believe that the statements of the court in reference to the pos- sibility of contumacy on the part of the Church is a needless and gra- tuitous reflection. We maintain that the charter of Vanderbilt University, containing, among other provisions, what is known as the "Memphis Resolutions," secured to the founders — the patronizing Conferences adopting such resolutions — the ownership and control of the university and, by the ninth paragraph thereof, secured unto the bishops of the Church the right to "act as a Board of Supervisors of the university or any of its departments and, jointly with the Board of Trustees, to elect officers and professors and prescribe the plan of study and form of govern- ment." But the Supreme Court of the State of Tennessee, the highest judicial tribunal in that State, in an opinion rendered on the twenty- first day of March, 1914, with reference to said ninth article of said Memphis resolutions, say in one portion of said opinion: "Whether the seventh and ninth of these resolutions do not attempt an unwar- rantable and illegal interference with the normal and legitimate pow- ers of a Tennessee corporation and its governing body of directors or trustees, presents a very serious question; but it is not an issue here, and for that reason not discussed and decided." And in another por- tion say: "Whether this resolution invests them with legal power of any kind, we very much doubt." And the court in this opinion further say: "We are further of the opinion that the inherent power of the Board of Trustees to fill vacan- cies in its own body authorizes it to elect and install members to fill vacancies, and that such new members are entitled to their seats on the Board ad interim, until such time as they may be rejected by the Gen- eral Conference or its Board of Education acting for it and under its authority. It has the right to keep its membership full and cannot legally divest itself of that power and duty except conditionally upon the refusal of the General Conference to confirm its appointees." And as to the right of confirmation declared by the court to be in the General Conference, the court say: "Of course at any time, if it should voluntarily surrender or renounce this relation or contuma- ciously refuse to confirm members elected and cease to cooperate with the university, its rights to representation in the Board of Trustees and its management would as a consequence cease." We are of the opinion that said decision of the Supreme Court of the State of Tennessee, as to the parties litigant, construing the stat- ute of said State, is final, authoritative, and determinative of the ques- tions of law involved, so far as the courts of Tennessee are concerned. We are also of the opinion that under said decision of the Supreme Court of Tennessee the control of the General Conference of Vander- bilt University is so small and remote as to be difficult of effective en- forcement. We believe that the differences that have arisen between the Van- derbilt Board of Trustees and the General Conference of the Methodist Committee of Fifteen. Episcopal Church, South, so long as conditions remain as they are, are irreconcilable for the following reasons: (a) In the pleadings in the cause before the Supreme Court of Ten- nessee the Board of Trustees denied the ownership and control of our Church over the affairs of the university. (&) The Board of Trustees accepted a gift of one million dollars from Mr. Andrew Carnegie, which gift was tendered by the giver with cer- tain statements and conditions, the acceptance of which was declared by the College of Bishops in their "veto" and "statement to the Church" to be in breach of our trust and dishonoring to our Church. (c) The Church, through its ministers and representative laymen, as- sembled in our Annual Conferences throughout the Connection, almost unanimously indorsed and approved the position of the bishops and their statement that the acceptance of this gift would be a breach of our trust and a dishonor to our Church. (d) The Board of Trustees, in our opinion, have failed to execute their trust in such manner as to conserve the interest either of the origi- nal patronizing Conferences or of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In the light of the considerations above, we express the belief that the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to prevent injury to itself or to the university and to subserve the high interest of all parties concerned, should return to the patronizing Con- ferences the rights received from them in and to Vanderbilt University. Therefore be it Resolved: 1. That a commission be, and is hereby, created, to be appointed by the College of Bishops of our Church, to be composed of sixteen members, four of whom shall be bishops, four ministers other than bishops, and eight laymen, to be known as the Educational Com- mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 2. That said commission, when appointed, be, and they are hereby, given full power and authority and directed to transfer and reconvey unto the patronizing Annual Conferences of said Vanderbilt Univer- sity— to wit, the Tennessee, Memphis, North Mississippi, Little Rock, Arkansas, White River, North Alabama, and Louisville Annual Con- ferences— all right, title, and interest, authority over and control in, said university that the General Conference of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, South, as such, has or may have, by virtue of the resolu- tions of conveyance to it adopted by the Annual Conferences in and to the property, right of supervision and control, or confirmation of the members of the Board of Trustees of Vanderbilt University. 3. We recommend to said patronizing Conferences that they assert, by proper legal proceedings, their right to the ownership and control of said university, guaranteed to them by the charter of said univer- sity, and as establishers and founders of Vanderbilt University, a charitable trust. Should said recommendation be favorably acted upon by said patronizing Conferences, the expenses of such litigation shall 820 History of Method/ism. be paid by the Board of Education of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, under the direction and supervision of the commission hereinbefore provided for. 4. That the patronizing Conferences of Vanderbilt University are requested to elect one commissioner each to work in cooperation with the Educational Commission authorized and created hereunder, in the accomplishment of the transfer of the rights to the said aforementioned patronizing Conferences and the legal procedure necessary to enforce the same and to act for and on behalf of the patronizing Conferences in the assertion of the rights to Vanderbilt University. 5. That the General Conference hereby commits to the General Board of Education, until such time as the transfer to the patronizing Conferences is complete, the responsible work of the confirmation of the trustees of Vanderbilt University. This right of confirmation, we believe, implies of necessity the right to reject any person selected by the Board of Trustees who, in the judgment of the General Conference or of its agents, the Board of Education, will net properly discharge the duties pertaining to the office; that the Board of Education is here- by instructed that in the performance of this duty it shall confirm no person as a trustee of Vanderbilt University unless satisfied that such person will in the performance of his duty as trustee fairly rep- resent the interests of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in said university. 6. The General Conference instructs the aforesaid Board to safe- guard to the utmost the interests of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Vanderbilt University by confirming as trustees those per- sons only who will endeavor to carry out most heartily the aims and purposes of those who founded and who labored to develop the great university for the training of our ministers and in every other depart- ment in the training of our young men; and who will magnify our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, honor his Church, and emphasize by life and teaching his preeminence and leadership in all the works of life. 7. In case it be found impossible to effect this transfer, we hereby authorize and instruct the commission herein named to take such steps as in their opinion may be necessary to preserve and defend the inter- est and honor of the Church. 8. That the commission herein provided for shall have all the power and authority of this General Conference to complete and make ef- fectual the formal surrender and transfer of the powers, relations, and rights of the General Conference over said university to the said pat- ronizing Conferences, and to take all steps necessary to carry out the said transfer so as to make the same effective and complete. Tt is sufficient here to add that none of the patronizing Con- ferences desired to take up the matter of further contending in this case before the courts. The commission, which had heen A Closed Case. 321 given plenary power, therefore formally and officially closed the whole matter by deciding that the contest was at an end. The Church felt that it could well afford to leave to Caesar and the disloyal trustees the whole case as it had been by them concluded. To another chapter belongs the task of showing how the Church turned with hope and enthusiasm to laying other and broader foundations for its higher educa- tional work in lieu of that which it had lost through the ver- dict of the courts. Note. — The material used in making up the preceding chapter was gathered largely from the briefs of the Church's attorneys in the Van- derbilt case, from other court records, and from the journals of the Gen- eral Conference. The author, however, claims a personal knowledge of the material details of this case from its inception to its close. 21 CHAPTER XVII. "Comity and Federation" — Two Soldiers — Historians — Other Notables — World Missionary Conference — Canadian General Conference of 1910 — General Superintendents — Acts of Conference — Elections — Cente- nary of the Constitution — General Conference, North — Deaths of Bish- ops— Acts of the Conference — Negro Bishops — Age Limit — New Bish- ops— Other Elections — Wesleyan Conference Sittings — King's Oath — Membership Discussion — Obituaries — Incidents of the Sessions — Aus- tralasian Methodism — Fourth Ecumenical Conference — World Ad- dress—1910-1913 (Concluded). r I ^HE very earliest definite movement toward "comity and I federation" in American Methodism was embodied in a paper submitted to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at its session in Richmond, Va., in 1886. This paper was signed by M. B. Chapman, W. G. Miller, A. S. Andrews, A. H. Mitchell, and D. C. Kelley. Dr. Chapman was its author. It recited the agreements contained in the Cape May Commission as a basis of fraternal action between the two Methodist Churches. It then asked that a commission consisting of four ministers and three laymen be appointed to meet a similar commission which the General Conference in the North was asked to appoint; and that this Joint Commission should be charged with the duty of devising a plan of Method- ist comity and federation, whereby might be avoided, as far as possible, the sin and folly of the two Churches occupying the same territory either at home or in the foreign field. This is believed to have been the real beginning of the long and happy negotiations which have brought the two Churches to their present improved relations of fraternity and administrative understanding. On July 2, 1910, the originator of this early scheme of Methodist rapprochement, Dr. Marcus Boatner Chapman, was gathered to his fathers. He was born in Clinton, La., Oc- tober 22, 1846. Converted in early childhood, he received either a local preacher's license or an exhorter's certificate at the remarkably early age of fourteen. Not unnaturally he was styled the "boy preacher." His first work was to the slaves, (322) Two Soldiers. but the planter and his neighbors soon became so much inter- ested in the youthful missionary that they constantly attended his meetings and were amongst his most interested and de lighted auditors. Near the middle period of the War between the States he enlisted in the Confederate army as a chaplain and was soon after transferred to the army of General Lee in Virginia, being then only sixteen years of age. There he became junior chaplain under Dr. John C. Granbery (later made a bishop). After the close of the war, young Chapman entered Southern University, at Greensboro, Ala., from which institu- tion he graduated. His subsequent career was filled with suc- cess and was crowned with the approbation of his Church. He filled many of the most prominent stations in the Connection, from St. Joseph, Mo., to Baltimore, Md. For four years he was editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate and proved himself a brilliant and effective journalistic writer. In 1886 he began and completed a tour of the world. The results of his studies and observations during this journey were embodied in two books which enjoyed much popularity — namely, "The Lands of the Orient" and "Mounds, Monuments, and Inscriptions." Of the former, Bishop Galloway said that it was the very best book of travel he had ever read. His friends and familiars loved to refer to him as "soldier, author, and preacher." A soldier of Christ he was, and a preacher of righteousness. The title of "soldier" calls to memory the name of another leader in Methodism, one associated with Dr. Chapman in sign- ing the document on "Comity and Federation," and who pre- ceded his brother itinerant by some months into the kingdom on high. David Campbell Kelley is a name which has already frequently appeared in this narrative. With most of the affairs of Methodism he was connected in one way or another for more than fifty years. Becoming a Methodist preacher at the age of nineteen, in 1852, the War between the States found him a man still under thirty years of age. Although by conviction an abolitionist, he gave his allegiance to the State of Tennessee, raised a company of cavalry, and became its first captain. In the command of General Bedford Forrest, the great military strategist, he rose to the rank of colonel and was often the rank- History of Methodism. ing officer during important engagements, only one of which he is reported to have lost. General Lord Wolseley described him as being "as brave a man as ever smelled gunpowder." He had been the Church's missionary in China from 1852 to 1855. After the war he began to take a leading part in the public affairs of the Connection. While serving as pastor, presiding elder, Missionary Treasurer, Secretary of Vanderbilt Univer- sity, and trustee of many other interests, he was prominent in Annual and General Conference affairs, and thus impressed himself in an unusual way upon the Connection. In 1890 he became a candidate for Governor of Tennessee on the Prohibi- tion ticket, receiving the largest vote ever jjolled by that party in the State. Reference has been made elsewhere to the techni- cal charge against him which grew out of this candidacy as it related to his pastoral standing. His advocacy of prohibition during this campaign is, however, believed to have greatly en- hanced the cause in Tennessee and the South. Becoming a su- perannuate, he still longed to serve, and died while filling as a supply a charge in the mining district of McMinn County, Tenn. About his head many storms, other than those of actual war, had raged and broken. Often he was at variance with familiars and former comrades, but throughout he was accorded the meed of honest purpose and loyal devotion to the cause of Christ. He lived to hear the last storm die out and himself passed away amid perfect peace and calm. The concluding sentence of Bish- op Hoss's eulogy delivered on the occasion of his funeral was expressive of a sentiment characteristic of both the subject and the eulogist : "Good soldier of the Confederacy, good soldier of Jesus Christ, farewell !" In the accessions to the Church in the South, which came in the early post-war period from the Methodist Protestant Church, there were not a few men of great gifts and demon- strated leadership. Of these, Samuel Keener Cox, who became a member of the Baltimore Conference and who died Novem- ber 27, 1909, was perhaps the most conspicuous in character and the most effective in service. His father, Rev. Luther J. Cox, was one of the founders of the Methodist Protestant Church. His wife, the mother of Samuel Keener Cox, was an 8. K. Cox— 0. 0. N. MacDoncll. 325 aunt of Bishop Keener, so that the son and nephew were cous- ins-german. The son was well educated and happily started upon his career. Entering the ministry of the Church of his parents, he served during a number of years pastorates in Washington, D. C. ; Wilmington, Del.; Charleston, S. C. ; and Georgetown, D. C. In 1853 he was called to do educational work in Pennsylvania, but, for reasons of sentiment, soon re- moved to the far South, where he continued in school and pas- toral work until 1806, when, as did many of his fellow Church- men, he entered the ministry and membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. As a member of the Baltimore Con- ference, his w^ork and ministry became a part of the history of that body for nearly forty years. As pastor and as editor of the Baltimore Episcopal Methodist and, later, of the Baltimore Christian Advocate, he served his Church and generation in a way that made his memory to be as ointment poured forth. Savannah, the remotest historic outpost of American Meth- odism, has, despite a somewhat sinister civic record in modern times, remained a strong and testifying center of Methodist life and has given to the Church a number of faithful leaders and preachers. The Kev. George G. N. MacDonell, who was born in that city September 4, 1831, and died there May 19, 1910, was a type of the sturdy, faithful, and effective evangelists who, for the most part, have made up the ranks of Methodist preacherhood. Not a scholar in any technical sense, not a great preacher according* to the standards of men, but apostolic, self- devoted, and intrepid, he came to be intrusted by his brethren with the highest responsibilities of their councils and adminis- trations. In the Annual Conference and in the General Con- ference he was made their spokesman and leader, and never once was the confidence thus expressed betrayed or ill served. One of the earliest commissioners on federation, he showed the spirit of true fraternity and helped to bring on the rare good feeling of an after time. Dr. MacDonell began his minis- try in Savannah amid the scenes of the terrible yellow fever epidemic of 1854, being the Father Damien of the period of that awful scourge. At that time he organized the Young Men's Benevolent Association, a society which exists to-day. In No- vember, 1854, he joined the Georgia Conference, having for fel- 326 History of Methodism. low members in his class O. P. Fitzgerald, afterwards bishop ; John W. Burk, distinguished as a publisher of the Church; J. O. A. Clark, scholar and author; and T. T. Christian, a veteran pastor and presiding elder. Rev. Robert W. MacDonell, a son of Dr. MacDonell, who became a medical missionary to Mexico, died of yellow fever at his post in that laud, a reminder to the Church of the early loyalty and intrepidity of the father. In a former connection appraisement was made of the life and work of several ministers who had separately earned the title of "Church historian." During the period now under review the names of two others worthy to be put in that list were no more called at the yearly gathering of their brethren. George Gillman Smith, born December 24, 1836, started in life with good educational equipment, a sound religious experience, and a most definite purpose of self-devotion to his chosen work. At the age of twenty-one he was licensed to preach. In 1861 he went out as a chaplain in the Confederate army. About a year thereafter he received a nearly fatal wound, from the effects of which he never wholly recovered, suffering from it, oftentimes acutely, through all his after years. As a pastor or as a sec- retary of Church interests, he served in the Baltimore and the North Georgia Conferences until 1888, when the superannuate relation was given him. In retirement he devoted himself to authorship and produced a number of useful and enduring volumes. Amongst these are: "The Life of Bishop Francis Asbury," "The Life of Bishop James O. Andrew," "The Life of Bishop George F. Pierce," "The History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida," and "The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People." Thomas Hart Benton Anderson, D.D., was born in Missouri, but early removed with his parents to California, where, at the age of twenty years, he was licensed to preach and entered the itinerancy in the Pacific Conference. His gifts were unusual, and he used his limited advantages with faithful industry, and thus rose rapidly to distinction. Few men in his time in the West were more widely or favorably known, ne was influent ial in connectional matters. For a time he served in the Missouri Conference, but later returned as a superannuate to the Pacific Conference, where he engaged in the work of writing a history The Andersons — Walker — Edwards — Mason — Moore. 327 of the planting of Methodism on the Pacific Coast. His style as a writer was vigorous and fascinating. As a preacher he was strong and convincing. A near-nonogenarian was Josephus Anderson, D.D., of the Florida Conference, whose death occurred August 11, 1913. For nearly sixty-five years he was a Methodist preacher, deeply spiritual, faithful, eloquent, tireless. First in the Virginia Con- ference, then in the White River and Florida Conferences, he gave his time and strength to the gospel. For fourteen years he was editor of the Florida Christian Advocate. Methodists of the ante-bellum generation remember him as one of the gal- axy of preachers whose sermons made up that classic and pop- ular volume known as "The Methodist Pulpit, South." In connection with the efforts of the Church to educate a ministry for the Colored Church, and particularly in connec- tion with the story of the founding of Paine College, a eulogy was passed upon the self-sacrificing labors of Dr. Morgan Calla- way, the first President of that institution. His immediate successor, the Rev. George Williams Walker, is entitled to a no less grateful and hearty remembrance. He was the son of Dr. H. A. C. Walker, great and honored as a Methodist preach- er. While at the meridian of a strong and hopeful manhood, he gave himself to what was then a most trying task — one which meant all but social immolation. With heroic devotion he spent his full physical and intellectual force in lifting up a helpless race and in giving them teachers and leaders. His brethren hailed him as "Christian gentleman and true mission- ary." In him these titles blended well. To be added to the list of those who departed from labors during this period are several names of ministers who, by rea- son of their exercise of peculiar gifts, became more or less well known throughout the Connection. Rev. F. M. Edwards, D.D., of the Virginia Conference, who died November 30, 1910, was a man of strong personality, a successful preacher and pastor, and an author of considerable local note. Rev. James M. Ma- son, of the Alabama Conference, whose death occurred Febru- ary 3, 1909, and Rev. Warner Moore, of the Memphis Confer- ence, whose death occurred March 3, 1909, were leaders in the respective bodies to which they belonged and were highly es- 328 History of Methodism teemed and trusted by their brethren. The North Carolina Con Terence was greatly bereaved in the death, on May 4, 1909, of Rev. Edwin A. Yates, D.D., long a stalwart representative of the ranks and a faithful preacher of Christ. Rev. R. G. Porter, of the North Mississippi Conference, who died October 0, 1908, was one of the best-known Advocate correspondents of the Connection. His books and stories were much read, espe- cially by the young. Rev. P. L. Stanton was styled "a citizen of Jerusalem," because, after an extended itinerant career, he made his home in the Holy City and from that vantage ex- plored the Holy Land and wrote many sketches of its scenery and people. He died May 28, 1911. Rev. Frank Richardson, D.D., was an honored leader of Holston Methodism and at one time was editor of the Conference organ. Frequently, in the delegations to the General Conference, he fully justified the confidence of his brethren and supported their interests. In the pulpit he was cyclonic and in debate irresistible. His death occurred April 4, 1912. Yet others who passed away during or just previous to this period were: Revs. W. H. Browning, Little Rock Conference; Rev. P. L. Groome, Western North Carolina Conference; Well- born Mooney, Memphis Conference; Samuel H. Zimmerman, South Carolina Conference; E. A. Bailey, Northwest Texas Conference; E. B. Prettyman, Baltimore Conference; C. I. Vandeventer, Missouri Conference; John W. Heidt, North Georgia Conference; W. L. C. Hunnicutt, Mississippi Confer- ence; W. A. Parkes, North Georgia Conference; W. B. Lewis, Mississippi Conference; John S. Hutchinson, Baltimore Con- ference; T. S. Wade, Western Virginia Conference; W. L. Grissom, Western North Carolina Conference; G. H. Hayes. Louisville Conference; S. S. Keener, Louisiana Conference: J. A. Orman, Tennessee Conference; Walker Lewis, North Georgia Conference; M. H. Neely, North Texas Conference; John H. Riggin, Little Rock Conference; and J. B. Robins, North Georgia Conference. These all obtained a good report and have entered into the heritage which is deathless. In 1910 another of those great world missionary Conferences, such as had been held in London, was gathered in Edinburgh. Very many American and European Methodists participated World Missionary Conference — Canada. 329 in its proceedings. The late Dr. H. M. Hamill, one of the world's great Sunday school leaders and a minister of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, summarized the actions of this notable Conference as follows : 1. The appointment of a Continuation Committee to carry out the findings of the Conference, to complete its work, and to prepare for another Conference in 1920 or earlier, probably in Canada. 2. To effect all possible unity and cooperation of plan and money and agencies on the mission fields, in order to economize good Christian money given to missions. 3. To encourage and aid in the organization of native, independent, self-acting, and self-centered Churches as soon as the natives are ready for it, giving them all authority, yet continuing to help as needed and desired. 4. To emphasize the great educational work of schools and colleges in mission fields and make them trainers of native leaders and teach- ers to the utmost. 5. To insist upon a more careful selection of missionaries by home Boards and a much higher and fuller preparation for their missionary ministry. 6. To seek the best things in Old World pagan religions as a ground- work on which to build the Christian religion and always to foster and honor native patriotism and loyalty to worthy traditions and customs. 7. To magnify only the vital and essential things in the Christian faith and to preach and teach and live a simple Christ life and doctrine without doubt or pessimism, and with larger sympathy and love for the heathen himself and less of the professionalism of the official mission- ary preacher and teacher. The westering spirit possessed the Methodist Church of Can- ada during the latter years of the first decade of the twentieth century, and on August 15, 1910, its General Conference was assembled in the city of Victoria, on the island of Vancouver, at the extreme western limit of the Dominion. Victoria is a beautiful residential city of about fifty thousand inhabitants, and its spirit and hospitality answered well to the ideals of the vigorous young Church, whose legislative assembly it received as guest. The Rev. Albert Carman, D.D., who had been the General Superintendent of the United Church from its beginning, pre- sided and was, as always before, its chief parliamentary factor. In this respect he has been a most remarkable man, smother- ing in his skillful fist the lightnings of many an incipient par- 330 History of Methodism. liamentary storm and always guiding the assembly to a quiet haven. The Conference was composed of three hundred and twenty delegates, one-half of whom were laymen, and all were elected at the preceding sessions of the Annual Conferences. One of the movements of interest was the agitation in favor of making General Conference officers ex officio members of the General Conference, a question which has been mooted in other Methodist general bodies. Only the General Superintendents are, under the constitution, ex officio members of the lawmak- ing body. This is in pursuance of the early Methodist idea that the bishops should take part in the deliberations of the Gener- al Conference, a privilege which, in the American Church, disap- peared with the adoption of the constitution in 1S0S, although since that date bishops have sometimes been heard upon the floor or platform of the different bodies. The work of the General Superintendent in the Canadian Church differs from that of a bishop in very many respects. The largest part of his labors comes during the session of the General Conference; but he is also the chairman of the General Conference committees and has much labor in connection with the Annual Conferences, although to him does not fall the duty of appointing the pastors, as is the case with the General Su- perintendents in the Episcopal Methodist bodies. At this ses- sion of the General Conference the question of strengthening the superintendency was a live one and resulted in the election of Rev. S. D. Chown, D.D., as Associate Superintendent, his term being designated as four years against that of eight years for his senior. Dr. Chown is a man of exceptional ability and has a masterly grasp of Church affairs. The somewhat momentous time-limit question was settled during the sittings of the first week, and settled by leaving the rule unchanged, which is a tenure of four years. The debate was spirited. A majority favored the status quo, a result which seemed "a little surprising in view of the strong sentiment in favor of Canadian Church union, which must go far toward bringing a settled pastorate. By a tremendous majority the Conference voted to cordially receive the basis of union pro- posed by the commission to the work of which reference has already been made. It is doubted if the English Parliament Canadian General Conference. 333 or the American Congress ever showed finer or more resilient edges than some of those which flashed out during the discus sion of the report of this commission and other matters. The President announced the particular issue as a momentous one, the most important which ever had or ever could come before Canadian Methodism, and the debaters seemed to accept the question in this light. A decidedly critical matter coming before the General Con- ference was that relating to theological professors in the edu- cational institutions of the Church and their responsibility in regard to doctrinal teaching. This issue had been made acute through the action of Dr. George Jackson, a professor in Vic- toria College, the leading educational institution of the Church. Professor Jackson was at that time a member of the British Conference and yet was employed in a Canadian Methodist college. He had recently put out a book, dealing with Old Testament problems, which many thought to be unsound. His peculiar relationship to the Church made the case a difficult one to deal with, but it was thought to have been settled in a happy way. A Committee of Examination was constituted, to which complaint might be made concerning any theological pro- fessor thought to be teaching contrary to the standards and spirit of the Church, trial to follow in case charges were con- sidered to be serious. A resolution was also passed declaring the Church's faith in the great fundamentals, calling for a full degree of liberty of thought and teaching, and giving a reassur- ing message to the Church at large. A remarkable feature of the Conference was the absence of competition for connectional offices. In no case was more than one ballot required to secure an election, and in most cases the vote was practically unanimous. Dr. Briggs was reelected Book Steward ; the Kev. W. B. Creighton was reelected Editor of the Christian Guardian; the Rev. T. E. E. Shore was made Secretary of Foreign Missions; and Rev. J. W. Graham, D.D., was named as Secretary of Education. The Conference mourned the passing away during the quadrennium of three of its strongest men, and all of them occupants of connectional posts. These were: Rev. John Potts, D.D., Secretary of Edu- cation; Rev. W. H. Withrow, D.D., Editor of Sunday School 332 History of Methodism. Publications; and Dr. Alexander Sutherland, Secretary of For- eign Missions. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was represented by H. M. Du Bose, D.D., the then retiring Secretary of the Ep- worth League, as fraternal messenger. The Wesleyan Connec- tion was represented by the Rev. Dr. Henry Haigh, and the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America by the Rev. Dr. F. D. Bovard. At this time the Methodist Church of Canada reported a membership of three hundred and forty thousand, an increase of twenty-two thousand three hundred and seventy-four for the quadrennium. The reports of the Missionary Society showed about six hundred thousand dollars for the year 1900-10. The spirit of hope in the Church was running high. The first delegated General Conference of the undivided American Methodist Church met in New York City, and prob- ably in John Street Church, May 1, 1812. That was the prac- tical beginning of the era of the constitution. In that first delegated session were present ninety members, all preachers. The first formal episcopal address ever read to a General Con- ference was presented by Bishop McKendree. This communica- tion was supplemented with an informal statement by Bishop Asbury. Both bishops were concerned to present the condi- tions and the legislative needs of the Connection, the member- ship of which at that time was one hundred and ninety thou- sand, with seven hundred itinerants and two thousand local preachers. This was twenty-eight years after the Christmas Conference. At the end of the next one hundred years the num- ber of American Methodists exceeded seven millions, with more than ninety thousand ministers, local and itinerant, having the world for their field. The one hundredth anniversary of the meeting of the first delegated General Conference was marked by the assembling of the twenty-sixth delegated session of the Methodist Episco- pal Church in the United States of America (being the thirty- fifth since 1784), in Minneapolis, Minn., May 1, 1012. This fact was appropriately adverted to by the bishops in their address, a document of impressive length and filled with studious re- lictions upon the progress and needs of the Church. At the Northern General Conference of 1912. 833 call of the names of the bishops by the Secretary of the Con- ference, it was officially announced that four members of the college had died during the quadrennium — namely : Cyrus D. Foss, Willard F. Mallalieu, Daniel A. Goodsell, and Henry Spellmeyer. Bishop Goodsell died December 5, 1909. He was a man of noble presence, winsome in manners and conversation, deeply spiritual, and devoted to his great mission. In utterance he was chaste, scholarly, and eloquent. His style as a writer was luminous and engaging. His biographer describes him as "a bishop for his epoch, an honor to the Church that honored him." Bishop Foss died in Philadelphia January 29, 1910. With a Christian experience ever fresh and exalted, always dignified, serious, and thorough in his administration, he was earnestly loved and profoundly honored. His messages and arguments were "like wedges and were driven home by forceful utterance." As an archon of Methodism his name will abide. Suddenly, alone, and at night, in his hotel at Atlantic City during the session of the New Jersey Conference, died Bishop Spellmeyer on March 10, 1910. He was modest, but strong in character and lucid and forceful in speech. He was a representative in the episcopacy of the ranks of the pastorate. Bishop Mal- lalieu died August 1, 1911. Of him his colleagues said: "He never dodged an issue, never furled his flag, never shirked a battle." At the opening of this General Conference a resolution was brought in asking that the Committee on Episcopacy make an early report on the number of bishops to be elected. The Con- ference by a large majority expressed the judgment that all bishops should be relieved of official responsibility after reach- ing the age of seventy years. This rule put upon the retired list Bishops Warren, Cranston, Moore, and Neely. The General Conference of the North has never been slow to put itself on record in favor of civic and even political issues, when such issues appealed to the feeling of the majority. At this session the administration of President Taft and the at- titude of his Secretary of Agriculture came in for words of censure. The charge was the too evident disposition to favor the liquor interests of the country, as shown by the acceptance 331 History of Methodism. on the part of the Secretary of Agriculture of the chairman- ship of the International Brewers' Convention, at Chicago, in 1911. The same frankness of sentiment characterized the ut- terances of the Conference and of individual members when re- ports were made on the work in South America, Mexico, the Philippine Islands, Rome, and France. Romanism, which is dominant in these countries, was characterized as still main- taining the spirit of the Inquisition; and the attitude of the American administration, as touching Romanism in the Phil- ippines, was plainly resented. These strictures on Rome stirred the wrath of Archbishop Ireland, the resident Romish prelate of Minneapolis. A continent-wide sensation resulted from the onset of the Archbishop and the replies of the Methodists. The constantly increasing delegations in the General Con- ference in the North had already become a source of much con- cern. A committee appointed to report as to the needs of change, or reduction of ratio, reported favorably on a proposi- tion of reduction, but the General Conference rejected the re- port by an overwhelming vote. At a previous session the General Conference had appointed a commission to submit a plan for the establishment of a Court of Appeals, and especially such a body as should have power to review and pass upon the acts of the General Conference. At this session the commission submitted its report, favoring the establishment of such a court. This has always been a crux in the legislation and administration of the Church in the North. The report of the commission was very ably discussed from both the positive and the negative viewpoints ; but it soon became clear that either the plans submitted were not definite enough or that the mind of the Conference had not sufficiently ripened toward the ideal of an extraneous check to surrender primacy over its own acts. The report, therefore, went by de- fault. The question of a negro incumbent in the Episcopal College has been a vexing demand in the Northern Connection since 1872. It was clamant at this session. The colored people de- sired the election of a General Superintendent who might be assigned by the other bishops to continually preside over the colored Conferences, but who should be in all other respects a Colored Bishops — Age Limit — New Bishops. B35 bishop among equals. To this request it was replied that such a General Superintendent would stand upon an unconstitu- tional footing. The colored delegates requested that a special commission be appointed to consider the whole question. The commission reported as follows: "It is not desired by the col- ored Conferences and, under present conditions of public senti- ment, it is not practicable to elect a colored superintendent who shall preside over white Conferences and supervise our white work. Under the constitution we cannot elect a colored bishop exclusively for colored Conferences, as any bishop elected must be a General Superintendent. That fact was recognized by the General Conference of 1904 in submitting the proposed change of the constitution to provide for bishops for races and languages." The commission concluded by recommending that the General Conference submit to the Annual Conferences an amendment to the constitution providing for a bishop for the negro race in the United States of America and limiting his supervision to the same. The report was accepted by the Con- ference. This action and others akin thereto lead to the obser- vation that the Church in the North grows steadily more con- servative. Its radicalism was once its distinguishing charac- teristic, but that has been modified until it moves within lines that have become traditional and prophetic. This fact was strongly emphasized in the adoption of the comprehensive con- stitution of 1904 and the constant tendency toward the estab- lishment of other restrictions. The fixing of the age limit for the episcopacy was not accom- plished without great opposition. A pronounced effort was also made to restore the time limit to the pastorate, and in keeping with this output of conservatism was a renewed effort to have considered the age-long demand for an elective presid- ing eldership. The defeat of this movement showed that the mind of the Connection had at least reached a standstill con- cerning further efforts to change or modify the episcopacy. The Committee on Episcopacy reported, recommending the election of eight new bishops. The Conference proceeded to this election and took twenty-eight ballots before completing its choice. The balloting occupied nine full days. The bishops elected were: Homer C. Stuntz, Theodore S. Henderson, W. O. 336 History of Methodism. Shepard, Naphtali Luccock, Francis J. McConnell, Frederick D. Leete, Richard J. Cooke, and William P. Thirkield. Bishop Stuntz was fifty-odd years of age at the time of his election. A man of large culture, a prince of the platform, and having had a wide experience in the administrations of the missions of the Church, he was eminently fitted for his new office. Bishop Henderson, about the same age of Bishop Stuntz, was from the pastorate of Hanson Place Church, Brooklyn. He was well known throughout the Connection, college-bred, capable, spiritual, and well fitted for leadership. Bishop Shepard, fifty years of age, was also from the pas- torate. He was described at the time as being a thoughtful and evangelistic preacher and a good administrator. Bishop Luccock, somewhat older than his three comrades just named, was one of the best-loved men in the two Method- isms. He was also from the pastorate, a pastor of pastors. As a preacher he was eloquent, strong, spiritual, and evangelistic. But, alas! he was not long to be spared to the Church. His death occurred during the quadrennium following his election. Bishop McConnell was President of De Pauw University and an author of considerable note, as well as a man of recognized ability in the pulpit and on the platform. He has become one of the great men in the episcopacy of his Church. Bishop Leete came from the pastorate in Detroit. He had a reputation for organization, and since his election to the episcopacy has been stationed in difficult and testing po- sitions of service. He is a man of cordial spirit, accomplished and effective in his ministry. Bishop Cooke was well known to the Methodists of the South, having been long a member of the Holston Conference of his Church. He was Book Editor at the time of his election and had proved his ability as preacher, educator, and author. Bishop Thirkield was also well known to the ministers and members of the Southern Connection, having spent many years of service in the colored work in the South. His wide knowl- edge of that work, his fine spirit, and his generally large capa- bilities recommended him for the office of bishop. Since his election his work has been entirely in the South. Missionary Bishops — Officers — Fraternal Address. .'537 The two missionary bishops elected at this session of the Conference were Dr. J. W. Robinson, for Southern Asia, and Dr. W. P. Eveland, for Southeastern Asia. Bishop Eveland met a tragic death in August, 1910, being electrocuted through the contact of a steel fishing rod with a surcharged overhead wire while fishing in a trout brook in the State of Pennsyl- vania. Other elections had at this session of the Conference were: Dr. S. Earl Taylor and Bishop W. F. Oldham, Secretaries of the Board of Foreign Missions; Drs. F. M. North, Robert Forbes, Ward Piatt, and C. M. Boswell, Secretaries of the Board of Home Missions; Dr. Thomas Nicholson, Secretary of the Board of Education; Dr. D. G. Downey, Secretary of the Sunday School Board ; and Dr. J. B. Hingeley, Secretary of the Board of Conference Claimants. Dr. George P. Eckman was elected Editor of the New York Christian A dvocate, to succeed Dr. J. M. Buckley, who declined reelection. Dr. W. V. Kelley was reelected Editor of the Methodist Review; Dr. John T. MacFarland, Editor of the Sunday School Publications; and Dr. Dan B. Brummitt, Editor of the Epworth Herald. The fraternal messenger of the Church, South, to this Gen- eral Conference was Rev. F. M. Thomas, D.D., at that time pre- siding elder of the Louisville District. His address made a remarkably happy impression. Dr. Thomas had been a member of the Joint Commission on Federation and had taken part in the negotiations looking toward unification. His periods were shot through with a fine sentiment of unity and were eloquently and effectively phrased. Amongst other noteworthy things, he said: When we consider the forces in American life which are rapidly overcoming the sectionalism of the past, it is high time that all lovers of Methodism should address themselves to the task of producing on this continent a truly national Methodism, one that can strike root and flourish everywhere in our republic. It is a sad commentary on human nature that the social and political forces working for homo- geneity have far outstripped the Churches. This is due in part to the fact that the religious feeling is the deepest emotion of life, and in the effort to protect itself from change it not infrequently clings tena- ciously to all the bitterness and misunderstandings associated with its history. One of your distinguished ministers recently remarked: 22 338 J I i.story of Methodism. "While fraternal messages are being delivered, we are all love; but afterwards we get down to business and make appropriations to invade each other's territory." The one hundred and sixty-seventh Annual Conference of the Wesleyan Connection, in England, held its session in July, 1910, in Bradford, England. At that time it was able to report more than eight hundred thousand members. The vigorous life and active testimony of the Connection were never more apparent than at this time. The Rev. John Hornabrook was the Presi- dent incumbent for this year. During this quadrennium the Conference had the presidency, besides that of Dr. Hornabrook, of two men well known to American Methodists — namely, the Rev. Luke Wiseman, D.D., and the Rev. Henry Haigh, D.D. The basis of Church membership, about which we have al- ready written, was a point of much interest at the 1910 session in England. In the debates on this matter it was freely charged that there was much looseness in the rules governing member- ship and that great losses had resulted to the Connection through this laxity. The result of the discussion and the vot- ing was that the plan should be continued, but that provision should be made for recognizing all devout communicants as members of the Church. About this time in England the King's declaration, or the oath to be taken by the King of England at the time of his coronation, was a matter of deep interest to all the people of the British Isles. It was not unnatural that it should get be- fore the religious bodies. Sir Robert Perks advocated a resolu- tion asking for the elimination from the oath of certain words offensive to Roman Catholics. Other lay members of the Con- ference, as Arthur Henderson, M.P., and Hon. Walter Runci- man, his associate, advocated nonaction on the part of the Con- ference. The result was to leave the matter as it was found. At this session the "woman question" was up for discus-ion and settlement. Dr. Scott Lidgett became an ardent advocate of the cause of female suffrage in the Church, and it was large ly through his advocacy that the affirmative side of the issue carried. Women are now eligible to election by the synods to seats in the Annual Conference. It would seem that at this time the issue as jtetween a Time Limit — Wesleyan Conference. 3.°>9 limited and an unlimited pastorate was contagious through- out Methodism. Both the Southern and the Canadian General Conferences discussed it in their general sittings, and it was taken up lyy the Wesleyan Conference in a spirit of unusual in- terest and insistency. After much discussion, however, it be- came plain that a final conclusion could not be reached. The Conference therefore passed this resolution : "That, in the judg- ment of this Conference, the opinion of our people upon the ex- tension of the pastoral term should be ascertained ; but before this step is taken, all the conditions and necessary safeguards involved, including the principle itself and the method of se- curing this enlarged power, should be discussed and prepared by a special committee to report to the next Conference." The Wesleyan Conference for 1911 met for the second time in Cardiff, Wales. Thirteen or fourteen female delegates appeared and took their seats. Mrs. Hughes, the widow of the famous London missionary, was their leader. The President of the Conference was Rev. Henry Haigh, of whom we have already spoken as being well known to our American Methodists. The session of the Conference for 1912 was convened in Liver- pool, a city not only great in the civic and industrial life of England, but also of grateful memory to Methodists. The Con- ference was the occasion for a review of the history of a cen- tury. The fathers of 1812 would have been astonished at the growth of one hundred years. The Methodist societies of the world then had 3G7,401 members, of whom 170,000 were in the United States and the remainder in Great Britain. Dr. Coke was Superintendent of the Irish, Welsh, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland Missions. Dr. Adam Clarke was retained in London as the factotum of the Bible Society and for other pub- lic engagements. The session for 1913 met on July 16 in the city of Plymouth, a city which had before welcomed the historic body. Dr. Wal- ler was the President when the Conference met there in 1895, but this great man was now no more. Rev. Luke Wiseman, a man whose voice has frequently been heard on this side of the waters, the ex-President of the Conference, spoke strong words concerning the new sense of sin which is a characteristic of our day and emphasized the duty of the Church to tell men where 340 History of Methodism salvation from sin may be found. The Conference appointed Dr. Wiseman Secretary of the Home Mission Board in succes- sion of Dr. H. J. Pope, whose name had been entered in the list of those translated to the Connection of the skies. The great membership discussion, of which a good deal has been written, was brought to a happy conclusion at this session of the Conference. That conclusion was embodied in the fol- lowing canons: "(1) All persons are welcomed into member- ship who sincerely desire to be saved from their sins through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who seek to have fellowship with Christ himself and his people in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. (2) All such shall have their names entered on a class book, shall be placed under the pastoral care of a class leader, and shall be members of the weekly class meeting. . . . (5) It is expected of all members that they attend as regularly as possible all the means of grace, public and private. Such are : The worship of God in the congregation, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, class and society meetings, and the observance of family and private prayer. ... (9) Any member who, without sufficient reason, persistently absents himself from the Lord's Supper and the meetings for Christian fellowship shall be visited both by his leader and minister in order that full opportunity for his return to fellowship may be accorded. The names of any who by prolonged absence from our assemblies sever themselves from Church membership shall be removed by the minister acting in consultation with the leaders' meet- ing." The list of obituaries presented to the several sessions of the Conference during the four years now under consideration con- tained some of the most distinguished names known to modern Wesleyan Methodism. Amongst these were the names of Rev. Henry J. Foster, the noted Methodist antiquarian and editor for the Wesley Historical Society; Rev. Robert Culley, who had for two and a half years been Book Steward of the Church ; William H. Dahlinger, who had used his microscope in the seventies in the battle against materialism and who had se- cured high praise from both Darwin and Tyndall ; Rev. Charles H. Kelley, the veteran ex-President of the Conference, who, to his other great services to the Church and his country, had Wesleyan Leaders — Bishop Wilson — Fernley Lectures. 34 1 added that of minister extraordinary to the soldiers of Eng- land. His obituary spoke of his wonderful influence as a mili- tary chaplain. "The word preached at parade services or spoken in personal intercourse was the power of God unto sal- vation to hundreds of private soldiers, marines, noncommis- sioned and commissioned officers. He had the heart of a Chris- tian soldier, and all his life long was forward to strike a blow for truth and justice." To the great loss which the Connection sustained in the death of Dr. Kelley was added that of the death of Drs. Waller and Stephenson, both ex-Presidents of the Conference and both well known to American Methodists. Dr. Waller was particularly endeared to the Methodists of the South. He never missed an opportunity of saying a word that might promote close friendly relations with Southern Method- ism. He had occupied many of the foremost positions in his Church and had filled them all with credit and distinction. Dr. Stephenson will be remembered on this side the waters as a man of great tenderness, warmth of heart, a master of genuine learning, and a preacher of profound evangelistic earnestness. The Connection had scarcely recovered from the shock produced by the death of other distinguished leaders when it was called to mourn the passing away of Dr. Pope, its veteran home mis- sionary leader and an ex-President of the Conference. At the session of the Conference in 1912 a beautiful memorial service was held for Drs. Pope and Stephenson and Mrs. Wiseman, the wife of the ex-President of the Conference. At the session of the Conference in 1912 Bishop Alpheus W. Wilson, of the Church, South, was present as fraternal messen ger. His address delivered at an open session of the Confer- ence was at the time described as masterly and making one think of the utterances of the great Dr. Rigg. The most anxious hours of the Conference of 1913 were caused by the Fernley Lectures of 1912. These lectures are on a foun- dation meant to promote theological thought and discussion on the basis of the doctrinal standards and consciousness of Wes- leyan Methodism. Dr. Jackson, to whom reference has been made in connection with the Canadian Methodist Church, was the lecturer for 1912. Much complaint had been expressed con- cerning the utterances of Dr. Jackson in these lectures. Sev- 342 History of Methodism. eral pamphlets had been issued, and in the representative Con- ference two laymen brought forward a motion that the pas- toral Conference be requested not to appoint Dr. Jackson as tutor at Didsbury, for which post his name was being urged. The Conference, after fully considering the contentions of the accusers and the accused, passed a resolution to the effect that while regretting that Dr. Jackson had indulged in utterances so unhappily expressed as likely to be misunderstood, it was agreed that, rightly understood, his teachings were not un- sound. Dr. Jackson went to Didsbury. In 1855 the first Methodist Conference held in the Southern Hemisphere met in Sydney, in the continent of Australia. In the previous year the mother Conference of England had re- solved that the missions in Australia, Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, the Friendly Islands, and the Fiji Islands should be formally organized as the Australian Methodist Connection, with an Annual Conference of its own. The fourth General Conference of the United Australasian Church, but which was the thirteenth since the first organization, met in the city of Brisbane, Queensland, on June 12, 1013. Sixty-three ministers from the five Annual Conferences and an equal number of lay representatives were present. Those from West Australia had traveled nearly three thousand miles — a fact which gives an un- derstanding of the vast territorial extent over which the Church of the Antipodes must spread its gospel. The session was held in Albert Street Church, a noble and attractive building, one of the evidences of the sx>irit and advance of the Australia of the present day. The ex-President, Eev. Dr. Youngman, delivered an address dealing with events which had transpired during the triennium. The Conference meets every three years. The business of greatest importance, and that which claimed and received the greatest attention, was that of foreign mis- sions. The Sydney Board of Management reported that since the General Conference at Adelaide, three years before, the in- come had increased by thirt}r-nine per cent, the last year's re- turn being more than two hundred thousand dollars. The needs of the unoccupied areas of New Britain, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands, together with those of the large Indian popu- lation in Fiji, then numbering fifty thousand, were strongly In the South Seas. 343 urged. The cry of the regions beyond in the South Seas also found expression. A self-supporting district embracing the whole of Fiji was established. Similar action was taken with reference to Samoa. Reunion of the Free Church of Tonga with the Methodist Church was earnestly discussed, and plans for the same were put forward. Resolutions recognizing that the Free Church is true to Methodist doctrine and showing great liberality, and asking that reunion be considered, were adopted without a dissentient voice. On the question of Church membership the Australasian Church was having difficulty, as were the others. A committee was appointed to report. It was resolved that baptized children should be more carefully looked after, and modern methods in Sunday school work were heartily Commended. In 1893 the Methodist people of New Zealand were gathered into a separate and independent Connection, to exist under the title of the Methodist Church of New Zealand. It has juris diction in the dominion of New Zealand and the dependencies thereof, as at present constituted, and in such other parts of Australasia as shall from time to time be agreed upon between the General Conference of Australasia and itself. It has full powers of legislation, subject only to the limitations of the Gen- eral Conference. The history of Methodism in New Zealand is full of interest. The Rev. S. Leigh, the first Wesleyan minister in Australia, opened a mission to the Maoris in that island in 1818. After that the work seems to have been neglected for a time. Later it was reenforced and formed a part of the Tonga District. When the islands were proclaimed an English colony in 1840, services began to be held amongst the settlers. The work immediately prospered. In 1874 the Churches which had been organized, both amongst the natives and the English set- tlers, were formed into an Annual Conference. But the vast distance between the islands and the mainland created a de- sire for an independent organization. In 1896 the Bible Chris- tians and the United Methodist Churches coalesced with the Wesleyan Church of New Zealand. The Primitive Methodists at first declined to join in the movement and agreed to do so only on the prospect of an independent organization in the is- land ; so the Australasian General Conference, by an almost 344 History of Methodism. unanimous vote, acceded to the demand, and the independence of the young Connection began from January, 1013. The Church membership, adult and junior, numbered at this time twenty-six thousand. Over thirty thousand children were in the Sunday schools. The United Conference began its session February 6, 1913, the Rev. Dr. Youngman, President of the Australasian General Conference, being present as ex officio President. The steady recurrence of the Ecumenical, or World Method- ist, Conference has served to make it seem as fixed an institu- tion of Methodism as are the yearly and General Conferences. That large and salutary results have flowed from these decen- nial gatherings is a fact which becomes constantly more appar- ent. The present-day sense of Methodist unity and solidarity is particularly a product of ecumenical fellowship. The time may be when these world assemblages will come to be endowed with a kind of administrative, and even legislative, authority. Such realized prognostication would only be a return of his- tory to its own precedents. The fourth Ecumenical Conference was convened in Metro- politan Church, Toronto, Canada, October 4, 1911. It consisted of five hundred accredited delegates, about equally distributed between laymen and ministers. The delegations were divided into two sections, three hundred being from the Western or American Section and two hundred from the Eastern or Euro- pean and Australasian Section. The following-named Churches were represented — viz. : The Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Church of Canada, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, the Primitive Methodist Church, the Tnion American Methodist Episcopal Church, the British Meth- odist Episcopal Church, and the Japanese Methodist Church — all of the Western Section; In the Eastern Section were the following bodies: Wesleyan Methodist Church, Primitive Meth- odist Church, United Methodist Church, Australasian Method- ist Church, Iiisli Methodist Church. Wesleyan Reform Union. Fourth Ecumenical Conference. 345 Independent Methodist Church, French Methodist Church, and South African Methodist Church. The Conference opened with an invocation by the Rev. Albert Carman, D.D., Senior General Superintendent of the Canadian Church. Dr. S. D. Chown, Associate Superintendent of the same body, led the Conference in the responsive reading of the nineteenth Psalm. The Conference sermon was preached by the Rev. Henry Haigh, D.D., President of the British Wesleyan Conference. This sermon was based on Matthew ix. 36-38: "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with com- passion," etc. The preacher showed that Methodism has been an expression of the spirit and attitude of Christ toward the multitude. "What do we want," he asked, "that the Church may become efficient? Surely we want a less divided Chris- tendom. The trouble for a long time past has been that each denomination has been working for its own hand, and all have not joined in working for the universal good. . . . But the Church wants something besides unity. It wants that touch of compassion which made Christ the harvester that he was. . . . We want a wider catholicity. The Church keeps out many peo- ple who at the bottom have a right to come in, because it is narrow, crude. We have set up certain standards, and we say : 'These are eternal, and any one who comes into the Church must come over the wall of these standards.' Our Master did not do that. He approached men from another point of view, and we must learn from him to interpret the best that is in men in order that sympathetically we may reach them and win them. ... If that comes as a result of this Conference, it will be historic." In the afternoon of the first day the Conference was organ- ized, with Bishop A. W. Wilson presiding. Dr. H. K. Carroll, Dr. James Chapman, Alderman Snape, and Bishop Phillips were elected Secretaries, Dr. Carroll being named as Secretary in Chief. The formal address of welcome was delivered by Dr. William Briggs, Book Steward of the Church of Canada. He was followed by Bishop Hamilton, of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; Bishop Parks, of the African Methodist Church ; and Bishop Hoss, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In the course of his address Bishop Hoss said : "Our stock in trade 346 History of Methodism. is our religion. When that goes, we shall be the most poverty- stricken people on the face of the earth, for we shall have noth- ing left to fall back upon — no long-stretching centuries of his- tory', no moss-covered cathedrals, no monumental volumes of theology, no elaborate ritual of worship. God himself, con- sciously known, worshiped, adored, and loved, through Jesus Christ, is our only and our everlasting portion." Responses to the addresses of welcome were made by Rev. Henry Haigh, D.D., Sir Robert W. Perks, Bart, Rev. S. S. Henshaw, and Mr. R. W. Essex, M.P., these gentlemen all speak- ing for the Eastern Section. In the course of his very felicitous address Sir Robert Perks, Bart., made the following state- ment: "We have passed through thirty years of momentous change. What are the next thirty years going to bring about? Greater population, greater power, greater wealth, greater- learning, marvelous invention, the development of industrial resources of this and other dominions of the British crown and corners of the earth. But what are all these unless beyond is a religious and godly and moral opinion? And it is, I believe, by this test, and this alone, that this Conference shall be tried." The second day opened with an address on "Methodism in the Western Section during the Last Ten Years" by Dr; Carroll. "Methodism is a life," said Dr. Carroll, "therefore Methodist growth is both natural and necessary." This essay was fol- lowed by an address on the same topic by Bishop Hendrix, whose remarks applied particularly to the growth and progress of the Church in the South. An address by the Rev. Howard Sprague, D.D., of the Canadian Church, took much the same range with reference to the Church of Canada. A doubly in- teresting contribution to this session was the address by the Rev. S. Ogata, of the Japan Methodist Church. The afternoon session of the second day was distinguished by a discriminating address delivered by the Rev. Simpson Johnson, of the British Wesleyan Church. All these discourses were appropriately added to with pertinent remarks and impromptu discussions by members of the Conference. On the third day Dr. W. H. Fitchett, of the Austrnlinn Church, delivered a characteristic address on "Methodism : Its Place in tlie Church Universal." Other addresses delivered on tin's day were by Rev. N. Luccock, Ecumenical Addresses. D.D., Prof. J. A. Bray, Dr. T. H. Lewis, of the Methodist Protestant Church, Bishop William Burt, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and M. le Pasteur Thomas Ilocart, of the French Methodist Church. In the afternoon Rev. A. B. Leon- ard, D.D., and Bishop Hoss occupied the platform. On the fourth and fifth days addresses were delivered on "Methodist Theology" and on "The Religious Aspects of Industry and Commerce." On the latter topic was heard Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, ex- Vice President of the United States. In the morning of the Sabbath Dr. James R. Day preached in Metro- politan Church, and at the evening hour Dr. Fitchett filled the pulpit at the same place. On Monday, the sixth day, "The Results of Bible Criticism" was discussed by Dr. A. S. Peak, of the Primitive Methodist Church. In the afternoon the dis- cussion was continued by Dr. H. C. Sheldon, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Dr. H. Maldwyn Hughes, of the Wes- leyan Church. The subjects taken up during the remainder of the session were: "The Church and Modern Life," "The Church and the Nation," "The Church and the Message," "The Church and Social Service," "The Church in the Household," "The Church and the Child," "The Church and the Young Peo- ple," "Larger Use of Lay Agencies," "Woman's Claims and Re- sponsibilities," "The Church and Temperance," "The Training of the Ministry," "The Church and Education," "Methodist Literature," "The Relations between the Methodist Churches." Some of the principal speakers under these topics were: Rev. S. D. Chown, D.D.; Mr. N. W. Rowell, K.C., of the Canadian Church ; Dr. J. Scott Lidgett, of the Wesleyan Church ; Rev. Gross Alexander, D.D., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; Bishop Quayle, of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Bishop Candler, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; Rev. W. J. Molton, of the Wesleyan Church ; and others. These discussions, as would naturally be expected, took a very wide range; varying and divergent shades of theological opinion found expression ; conservative and radical opinions concerning social, industrial, and ecclesiastical matters came into juxtapo- sition. One got the impression very readily that the men of world-wide Methodism were doing their share of thinking, some within traditional lines, some upon latitudinarian grounds. 348 History of Methodism. Upon the whole, however, the note sounded was one of ortho- doxy and doctrinal safeness. On Wednesday, October 11, at the evening hour, a fraternal session was held, at which messages of greeting were heard from representatives of the world bodies of the Baptist, Presby- terian, and Congregational Churches. Eepresenting the Bap- tist Church was Rev. J. H. Farmer, LL.D., Dean of McMaster University. To the Conference Dr. Farmer said : "You and we are facing the future together — I trust with a common love to Him who has redeemed us, with a common faith in Him, a com- mon confidence in His gospel that will make us strong and courageous and true." For the National Congregational Coun- cil, Dr. S. P. Cadman, D.D., of Brooklyn, X. Y., was spokes- man. Characterizing the field of Methodism, Dr. Cadman said : "It has been granted to you to occupy a large place in the Church universal ; your people have won their spheres as moral leaders and social and political guides. The list of your trained and educated men, both among the clergy and the laity, has in- creased with every decade." The Alliance of Reformed Churches throughout the world, holding the Presbyterian system, was represented by Dr. John Somerville, of Toronto, Canada, and Mr. Hamilton Cassels, K.C., of the Province of Quebec. These addresses of greetings from non-Methodist world bodies were replied to by Rev. F. L. Wiseman, B.A., of the British Wesleyan Methodist Church, and Rev. H. M. Du Bose, D.D., of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South. On the ninth day of this session was presented the "Mess;iL,re of the Conference to the Methodist Churches of the World." It was read by its author, the Rev. Scott Lidgett, D.D. This ring- ing message contained, amongst other relevant periods, the fol- lowing : Side by side with the endeavor after a world-embracing evangelism must go the ceaseless effort to establish a Christian civilization in every land. The salvation of Christ must find its complete manifesta- tion in collective as well as in individual life. This is implied alike in his universal Lordship, in his office as Redeemer, and in his religion as perfect love. The witness of Christianity to the world must be fulfilled in its social aspects and ideals. The supremacy of love in heaven must be made manifest in its advancing triumph upon earth. "As is heaven, so on earth," is the only ideal that is correlative with World Methodist Address. 349 the Divine Fatherhood that Christ revealed. The eternal sovereignty of love demands its temporal and all-embracing expression. Hence we are constrained by the inner logic of faith to assert the supremacy of Christ over every realm of human affairs by the application of his law of love to every relationship and interest of mankind. As citi- zens we must seek to secure in righteousness, wisdom, and complete unselfishness a truly Christian, and therefore human, character for all law, administration, and public policy. This governing principle supplies practical guidance as to the objects that must be pursued by both our personal and collective, our private and public influence. So far as our several commonwealths are concerned, we must promote all measures that will effectively tend to eliminate the degrading pov- erty that injures the spiritual as well as the temporal well-being of multitudes, that implies the negation of Christian brotherhood, and that brings disgrace upon Christendom in the eyes of the non-Christian world. We must labor ceaselessly so to transform the material en- vironment of the peoples that it may promote, and not hamper, the possibilities of a completely Christian life, with all its moral, intel- lectual, and even physical implications, for the weakest members of the community. We must put forth our utmost efforts to destroy the organized inducements to intemperance and impurity that bring mammon worship and self-indulgence into devastating, alliance. We must strive with all our might to protect the Christian integrity of marriage and of the home. We must direct our utmost endeavors to secure the truly Christian education of the young. We must welcome and seek to extend the influence of women in the councils of the Church and in the service of the community. We must guard in all wisdom the sanctity of the Lord's day, showing that its due observ- ance is as precious to all the higher needs of personal character, home life, and human efficiency as it is to the fulfillment of religious serv- ice. We must uphold Christian standards of morality and humanity in the production, distribution, and use of material wealth. In the sphere of international relations we must exert all our influence to abolish war, to remove all causes of suspicion and estrangement be- tween nations, and to allay all outbursts of warlike passion when- ever they arise. In this connection the Conference, in union with the Methodist Church throughout the world, offers unfeigned thanksgiving to the God of Peace that he has put it into the heart of his servant, the President of the United States, to initiate with far-sighted wisdom and noble courage a policy of universal arbitration, and that the re- sponse of the British government has enabled him to inaugurate a league of peace into which we may well hope that all the nations of the world will eventually enter. Further, we must be constantly so- licitous that the contact of the more powerful and progressive races with the more backward may be so ordered as to respect the rights and promote the highest interests of our weaker brethren; never to sacrifice them to greed, contempt, or credulity. CHAPTER XVIII. A Deceptive Peace — Pragmatism — General Conference of 1914 — Epis- copal Address — Laymen's Missionary Movement — Federal Council — Student Volunteer Movement — Junaluska — The Vanderbilt Case — New Universities — Retirement of Bishop Wilson — Senior Bishop — National Prohibition — Mexico — Pan-American Exposition — Lay Lead- ers— Japan Methodism — Committee on Appeals — Limited Episcopacy — Evangelism — Board of Education — Apostles' Creed — Order of Wor- ship— New Conferences — Fifth Ecumenical — Elections — Fraternal Messages — Death Roll — Canadian Methodism — English Methodism — Conclusion— 1914-1916. nV yf^AY of the year 1014 found the world wrrapped in the 1 V I quietness of a universal peace which seemed to have promise of perpetual continuance. Although the principal na- tions of Europe had for many years borne much the appearance of an armed camp, so greatly had their armies been augmented, and although each was constantly building new dreadnaughts and otherwise adding to the weight of its navy, yet men be- lieved peace to be all but as steadfast as the stars and ac- cepted each new increase in the armaments of the nations as a new guarantee of peace. Nobody, except a few of the military lords of Europe, wTas sensible of the near approach of the red Armageddon which was staged for the wrorld a few wTeeks later. The whole planet, and especially the religious bodies, had be- come steeped in the infection of peace. Universal evangelism was being prophesied on the basis of international comities. Arbitration wras the instrumentality looked to for the adjust- ment and removal of annoying differences between the nations. The Hague Tribunal, though it had returned but a minimum of the results promised by it, wras still believed to be the power- ful influence which was to dominate international politics and to secure the respect of kings and diets. The Continental call to arms which in August, 1014, sounded "from Calpe unto Caucasus" disillusionized the prophets of peace. Perhaps the thought and faith of the world, despite their boast of enlargement and advance, had fallen to the levels of apathy and had started on a drift toward conditions of life- lossness and stagnation. Pragmatism had begun to dominate (350) New Order — General Conference — Bishops' Address. 351 discussional and theological literature, materialism was neu- tralizing the evangelism of an earlier period, and the schools had begun to show signs of accepting unmodified the ideals of Continental critical interpretation, an interpretation which had long before lost its soul of reverence. Perhaps there was need of a dynamical change, a world-quaking reversal of the old order. History has a consciousness, and he has been but an indifferent student of recent events who has not noted the symptoms of change and turning about, whatever their cause, and who has not read the challenge of a new and compelling age which is fast approaching. But the record of these incipient changes had not begun to be written nor had any syllable of this challenge been spoken when on the 6th day of May, 1914, the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, met in Oklahoma City. However, the recurrence of many memorials and his- toric dates during the two or three decades before had given to the Conference the habit of reminiscence and outlook. In the Bishops' Address, of wThich Bishop Candler was the author and which he read to the Conference, came an early paragraph emphasizing an interesting and important conjunction of his- tory and one which set the vital statistics of the Southern Church in imposing relief. The address said : "We unite with you in devout thanksgiving to the great Head of the Church for the evident tokens of the divine favor amid which the General Conference convenes at this time and place. Great prosper- ity prevails throughout our widely extended Connection; and our peo- ple, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, are multiplied. One hundred years ago, when Thomas Coke, the first bishop of Methodism in America, was buried, on May 3, 1814, be- neath the waves of the Indian Ocean, as he was sailing the seas in prosecution of his high mission as "the foreign minister" of the Church, the whole number of Methodists in the world was no more than 465,000. Now they number upward of 9,000,000, of whom more than 2,000,000 are members of our own beloved Church. In all the branches of Methodism in America there are now nearly or quite as many members as there were people in the United States when Bishop Coke died, and about one- third of them are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The field in which we have been called to labor most has always been a friendly soil for Methodism. If the relative density of population be taken into account, it will appear that the South contains a larger pro- 352 History of Methodism. portion of Methodists than any other section of our country; and our branch of Methodism in America has occupied more fully the territory in which its base is laid than any other Methodist Church in the United States has possessed the region which it has been called to cultivate. In both the home and foreign fields God has blessed the labor of our hands and given us abundant fruits for our toils. The quadrennium now closing, like all the quadrennial periods of our history, shows large gains in both the number of our members and the increase of our re- sources as a Church, the increase in our membership being 171,237 and the total being 2,006,209. It was noted in the Ecumenical Methodist Con- ference, held in Toronto, Canada, in October, 1911, that the total increase of members in all the Methodist bodies of the world for the decade from 1900 to 1910 was 1,109,331, of which increase 401,145, or more than one-third, was in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It was also brought out on the same occasion that approximately one-half of the total increase in all the branches of American Methodism was in our Church. This spirited address also discussed important problems of thought life, social movements, and doctrines. "The Church is companionless among the organizations which work with men, as Jesus is unique among the sons of men," it declared in discussing the divine mission of the Church. The large questions which relate the Church to human progress, human social betterment, and education were set forth in luminous and vigorous statement. The issues of education, those which are general and those which had particular relation to Meth- odism, were brought forward and discussed, as were the rela- tions of the Church to certain extraneous and inter-Church organizations expositive of the cooperative spirit of the age, especially the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, to which the General Conference of the South was the first of the great religious bodies to give indorsement. It will be proper to enter here a brief account of the several organizations referred to above, with an indication of the nexus between each of them and the Church. In addition to the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ, are to be mentioned the Laymen's Missionary Movement, the Missionary Educa- tion Movement, the Home Mission Council, and the Student Volunteer Movement. The touch with the Federal Council is by the Church as a whole, but contact with the other organiza- tions is chiefly through the general Board of Missions. Affiliated Movements. The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America was organized in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1008, with thirty con- stituent bodies. It was founded to promote the spirit of unity. This federation was born of the conviction that the Churches of Christ were agreed in more things, and in things more im- portant, than those in which they differed, and that they could do their best work, not in separation, but in heartfelt co- operation. Through the Council sixteen millions of Christian men and women have become members one of another. The Federal Council represents unity without concern for uni- formity and strives to bring forth in each of its constituent bodies its very best and to blend that best with the best in the others. In spiritual life and service, in national and inter- national brotherhood and peace, in education and evangeliza- tion, it seeks the highest ideal of all. It stands as a great advisory body to Protestant Christendom in America. The Student Volunteer Movement grew out of intercessions on the part, first, of a small group of individual workers and later of a conference assembled at Northfield, Mass., in 1886. The purpose of the Movement is to enlist volunteers for the evangelization of the world. In the pursuance of this end it has shown itself to be one of the truly great forces of evangeli- zation in modern Christian life. The Movement keeps the Mis- sion Boards of the various Churches in touch with such of their members as volunteer for special service. In this way a thoroughly committed army of ready workers is always at hand. The Laymen's Missionary Movement had something of a Southern origin, as the story of its beginning is officially re- corded. This story is to the effect that when the Student Vol- unteer Convention met in Nashville, Tenn., in February, 1906, a layman in attendance was struck with the possibilities of the idea if it could be extended to the laity of the Church. He said within himself : "If these young people can give their lives to the cause of God in the mission fields, surely the laymen of the Churches can provide the money to send them." Sometime later, in a prayer meeting held in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City, the Laymen's Missionary Movement was organized and set upon its career of almost unexampled 23 ^54 History oj Methodism. usefulness. It has a strong organization and at the present time maintains offices in several of the larger cities of the United States and Canada. In cooperation with the Laymen's Missionary Movements of the various denominations, great results are being secured by the Churches in enlisting men in the work of world evangelization. The Missionary Education Movement was organized in 1902, representatives of forty-seven Mission Boards being aligned to- gether in its membership. The advantages of this Movement are obvious. Through it a unified plan of missionary educa- tion becomes possible in all denominations. This concert of action also results in large economy, as one editorial and edu- cational department accomplishes the work of forty-seven. Much literature is issued by the Board. Mission study text- books and other material are made readily available to all the Church Boards. Summer conferences are conducted at strate- gic points throughout North America. The Missionary Educa- tion Movement came into being through the efforts of a small group of men meeting for mutual counsel first in New York and later at Silver Bay, on Lake George, famous as a resort of the intensive-minded. As set forth in the constitution of the Home Mission Coun- cil, the purpose of the organization known by that name is "to promote fellowship, conference, and cooperation among Chris- tian organizations doing missionary work in the United States and its dependencies." Any missionary organization of any religious denomination doing work of general scope in the territory above specified may become a member of this Coun- cil by application to and approval of the Executive Committee. It may be represented in the Council by any or all of its of- ficials or members of its official Boards whose scope of respon- sibility is -coextensive with that of the organization they rep- resent. The Southern center of these potential inter-Church in- fluences, so far as the Methodism of the section is concerned, is Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, where, partly through ac- tion of some of the official Boards of the Church and partly through private enterprise, a magnificent residential resort has been opened up. In the midst of the transcendently beautiful Junaluska — Educa tional Com in ission 355 mountains of the North Carolina range and beside a splendid lake which has been created through a triumphant feat of engi- neering, a meeting place has been provided for the summer ses- sions of the Missionary, Sunday School, Epworth League, and other Boards of the Church, and for a School of Theology. A very large sum of money has been expended in equipping this ideal resort, and every year adds to the prospect of its com- plete success. As already intimated, the Bishops' Address in 1010 reviewed the whole history of the Vanderbilt University case, and the matter of dealing with the final aspects of the same was com- mended to the Conference for action through its regular proc- esses of reference and legislation. In the chapter devoted in this volume to the legal history of the Vanderbilt case we have anticipated the action of the Gen- eral Conference of 1914 down to the point where the Educa- tional Commission of sixteen members was ordered to be ap- pointed. The bishops, responding to this order of the General Conference, designated the following-named as members of the commission: Bishop W. B. Murrah, Bishop W. A. Candler, Bishop James H. McCoy, and Bishop John C. Kilgo; Rev. Plato Durham, D.D., of the Western North Carolina Confer- ence; Rev. Forrest J. Prettyman, D.D., of the Baltimore Con- ference; Rev. A. J. Lamar, D.D., of the Alabama Conference; Rev. William D. Bradfield, D.D., of the West Texas Confer- ence; Hon. G. T. Pitzhugh, Memphis, Tenn. ; Mr. Asa Candler, Atlanta, Ga. ; Hon. W. G. M. Thomas, Chattanooga, Tenn. ; Dr. John P. Scott, Shreveport, La.; Mr. H. D. Fitzgerald, Dan- ville, Va. ; Judge J. E. Cockrell, Dallas, Tex. ; Mr. T. T. Fish- burne, Roanoke, Va. ; and William D. Thompson, Esq., At- lanta, Ga. It will be seen that this commission, according to the direction of the General Conference, consists of four bish- ops, four ministers other than bishops, and eight laymen. It was resolved by the Conference that this commission, being ap- pointed, should provide at the earliest possible time for the establishment and maintenance of a Biblical school for the teaching and training of young men for the ministry. The commission was also directed to consider the advisability of establishing an institution or institutions of the grade of a History of Methodism. university, to be maintained by the Church. This direction was defined to be authority on the part of the commission to estab- lish and provide for the location, maintenance, and endowment of a school or schools of theology and to act in the same on behalf of the General Conference as fully and as freely as the Conference could or would act for itself. In addition to the instructions concerning the establishment of a School of The- ology, the commission was authorized to receive bids, dona- tions, and gifts for the establishment of the two universities concerning which the Conference had previously taken action. In pursuance of these instructions, the commission in 1014 opened the Candler School of Theology in the Wesley Memorial Building, at Atlanta, and made provision for its perpetual con- tinuance. The maintenance of this school was provided for out of the munificent gift of Mr. Asa Candler, whose donation of a million dollars was one of the earliest prophecies of the suc- cess of the Church's new program of education. The commis- sion further recognized the foundation of the Southern Meth- odist University, at Dallas, Tex., as the Church's university west of the Mississippi River. With the large gift of Mr. Candler, a donation of half a million dollars from the city of Atlanta, the tender of the properties of the Wesley Memorial Hospital, the Atlanta Medical College, and the magnificent foundation and equipment of Emory College, Oxford, the com- mission began to create a great new institution at Atlanta, Ga., to be known as Emory University. The two foundations of Emory and of Southern Methodist University at the outset of the new enterprise aggregated values and endowments of only a little less than six millions of dollars, a sum which represented about double of all the amount involved in the property of Vanderbilt University. In the chapter on the edu- cational institutions of the Church we have given a full ac- count of the founding of these two institutions and of the his- tory of their antecedent interests. When the Committee on Episcopacy had considered the ef- fectiveness of the members of the episcopal college and had fully surveyed the needs of the field, it was decided that no strengthening of the episcopal force was required ; and al- though an effort was made by individual members of the Con- The Senior Bishop. .°>57 ference to secure the election of two additional bishops, the proposition was voted down by a decisive majority. By action of the committee, Bishop Alpheus W. Wilson was recommended to be retired, and the Conference was asked to vote by ballot. It was the judgment of the body that Bishop Wilson retire. No man ever had a stronger hold upon the affections of the Church than Alpheus W. Wilson. He had reached the venerable age of eighty years; and although possessing still a measure of strength and of undoubted mental activity, the Church felt that he was entitled to be relieved of official duties. As a preacher he has been unequaled in his generation. Possessed of large culture, profound of thought, familiar with the Scriptures in the tongues of their original writing, deeply read in religious and theological lore, and devout and blameless in life, he has been masterful since the time of his showing to the Church in a young and vigorous manhood. First as a pastor in the Balti- more Conference, then as Secretary of the Board of Missions, and finally for many years as a bishop in the Church, he has been the center and pillar of the hope of his people. Unmoved and unafraid, he has gone in and out before the hosts of Israel ; and unmoved and untroubled, with a gentleness, a grace, and a dignity which have challenged all love and admiration, he has gone to the quietness of retirement to await the call to join the spirits of the archons in the house where the angels see the face of God. The retirement of Bishop Wilson left Bishop Eugene R. Hen- drix the acting senior bishop of the Church. The ability of Bishop Hendrix as a preacher, a writer, and an administrator in the episcopal office has been long recognized. As President of Central College he became well known to the Connection, especially in that section of it lying west of the Mississippi River; but in 1875, as the traveling companion of Bishop Mar- vin on his missionary tour of the world, his name became fa- miliar to the Methodists of every part of the South. In 1886 he was elected to the episcopacy with the beloved and lamented Charles B. Galloway. Since his coming into the episcopacy he has served in a number of important representative relations in the Church. At one time he was President of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, and was also 358 History of McfJiodism. President of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University dur- ing the greater part of the time of the Church's legal contest with the majority of ils members. That contest furnished an official situation which the Church, as a whole, has found it difficult to understand. The Committee on Episcopacy passed strong resolutions in commendation of Bishop Hoss's attitude and labors in connec- tion with the defense of the Vanderbilt case, expressed a tender and affectionate sympathy with him in the physical afflictions from which he had suffered, and recommended that the College of Bishops so arrange their plan of annual visitation as to give him a full year of rest. This recommendation was indorsed by the General Conference and favorably acted upon by the bishops. One of the early acts of the Conference was to indorse the Hobson amendment to a general bill in Congress providing for a vote on the national prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor. "Our people were long since wearied,'' said the resolution, "of the monster evil of the liquor traffic and are now praying for its extirpation." A copy of the reso lution was ordered to be sent to Captain Hobson. In the line of the larger civic and patriotic concern of the Church a reso- lution was introduced and adopted asking for an increase in the number of chaplains in the army and navy of the United States. This resolution recited the fact that in the navy there are only twenty-one chaplains and in the army sixty-seven. The attention of the President of the United States was there fore directed to the urgent need of providing more generally for the spiritual wants of sailors and soldiers. Coincident with the actions noted above, the Conference went on record as indorsing the action of Hon. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, in ordering the discontinuance of the officers' wine mess on naval ships of the United States government and oth- erwise completing the banishment of alcoholic drink from the vessels, yards, and barracks of the navy, as indicating not only new and higher ideals for the government, but as a guarantee of efficiency and discipline in the navy. Tt is pleasant in this place to note the fact that Mr. Daniels is an active and repre- sentative layman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mexico — Panama Exposition — Lay Leaders. :;r>!) At the time of the sitting of the Conference the political situation in Mexico had reached a point of extreme gravity. In view of this fact the Conference was called to a season of special prayers, asking the guidance of Heaven for the diplo- mats of our own country and Mexico in reaching a peaceable settlement of national and international difficulties. At this time a telegram was read from the missionaries in Mexico an- nouncing that all were well and were on the way to Vera Cruz. But the concern of the Church was not for the American mis- sionaries only, but for the native members and preachers of its mission in that country. The Conference, therefore, declared that "our Mexican brethren, preachers and people, are as dear to our hearts as they have ever been, and they have our deepest Christian love and are the subject of our daily prayers for their personal safety and welfare." The following telegram was sent to Rev. A. Portugal, the Church's representative in Mexico: "The General Conference profoundly sympathizes with Mexico in her troubles and offers special prayers for her peace. We deeply appreciate the faithfulness of our Mexican brethren." The Panama Exposition, commemorating the completion of the stupendous work of digging and equipping the Panama Canal, was soon to be opened in the city of San Francisco. It was an occasion not to be overlooked by the Conference, both on account of its intrinsic significance and the opportunities which it offered for a presentation of the causes of missions and evangelization. It was, therefore, recommended that a propaganda of Christian evangelism of commanding propor- tions be maintained in San Francisco during the entire time of the Exposition, and that the bishops be directed to appoint three representatives of the Church on the Pacific Coast to as- sist in the prosecution of this plan. Strong petitions and requests from the laymen's organiza- tion of the Church asking that lay leaders of the Annual and District Conferences be made members of the Annual Confer- ence were duly considered, and steps were taken to provide for such membership in the organization of the Annual Con- ferences. The proposition was sent to the Annual Conferences for concurrent action. P>ishop Murrah made report of his official visit to the Con- 3G0 History of Methodism. ference of the Japan Methodist Church which had been held in the city of Tokyo in October, 1911. An incident in line with the interest of this report was an address by Prof. T. C. Chao, of the China Mission Conference, who gave a native's view of the spiritual and intellectual needs of China. Rev. Yoshikuni Yoshioka, D.D., also spoke officially for the Japanese General Conference, having been accredited by that body as a fraternal delegate. As a part of the general missionary program it is to be noted here that the Publishing Agents and the Book Editor were authorized to bring out a Spanish translation of the forth- coming Book of Discipline. Action was also taken looking to the forming of a Texas Mexican Mission, the creation of a mis- sion out of territory west of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico and of Mexican work in California and Arizona. It was further resolved to create two Annual Conferences in Mexico, the Mexican Border and the Central Mexico Confer- ences. The proposition to erect an Indian Mission Conference in Oklahoma failed of favorable consideration. After the ses- sion of the General Conference of 1014, the officials of the Mission Board entered into elaborate negotiations with the Mission Boards of other Churches for the exchange of various territorial fields, or missionary spheres, in the Republic of Mexico. This involved the exchange not only of fields of work, but also of schools, churches, and other equipment. The plan was on the point of consummation, but met with such pro- nounced opposition from a number of missionaries, as also from a majority of the bishops and other Church leaders, thai its final consideration was indefinitely deferred. Further emendation of the plan and constitution of the Coin mittee on Appeals, an established court of the Chnrch, w as re- ported from the Committee on Itinerancy, and the amendments were indorsed by the Conference. This court was constituted for hearing appeals of traveling preachers who have been tried by the Annual Conferences and against whom penalties have been assessed. Formerly such appeals had to wait until the sessions of the general body; but the Committee on Appeals, meeting ad interim at the Publishing House in Nashville, gives timely and often urgent attention to these cases. The ques- tion of laity rights, which had engaged much of the time of the Laity Rights — Episcopacy — Evangelism. 361 General Conference of 1910, was again up with renewed em- phasis and insistency. Time was given for a full presentation of the request by representative women of the Church ; but after hearing the representations and arguments of the advo- cates of laity rights, the Conference rejected the measure by a vote of 105 to 171. It may be noted, however, that, as in the case of the movement to restore the ancient order of deaconess, the cause of female representation has shown a steady growth in securing committals amongst the legislators of the Church. The perennial questions of a limited episcopacy and an elective presiding eldership, with various other suggestions touching the appointment to pastoral service, were represented in memorials, petitions, and resolutions, and not a few of them found place on the calendar; but none developed a noteworthy interest in the process of legislation. It was provided that ministers coming from the Methodist Protestant Church shall be received on the same basis as those coming from the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Church of Canada, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church of England. Evangelism, both as a concrete and an abstract proposition of gospel advance, has had much consideration in recent Gener- al Conferences of the Church. Evangelistic movements, aside from the itinerant pastorate, were at one time much discounted in the sentiment of Methodism ; but in recent years the Church has sought to draw to itself and to put under direction the spontaneous emergence and activities of an evangelistic order. Evangelists have thus been recognized and the direction of their ministry given to the Home Department of the Board of Missions. At the session of 1914 a committee on evangelism was appointed to consider the whole question and to recom- mend such action as will promote a great revival of religion throughout the Church. The constitution of the Board of Education provides for a commission of practical educators, whose duties are to classify the educational institutions of the Church and otherwise fix the scholastic standards of the same. The College of Bishops announced as the members of this commission John O. Will- son, K. S. Hyer, F. N. Parker, J. H. Reynolds, J. J. Tigert, B. E. Blackwell, C. B. Jenkins, J. D. Simpson, Paul H. Linn, 3G2 History of Methodism. and W. P. Few. Another commission of importance established at this time was that known as the Commission on Charters. Its business is to investigate the charters of all the general Boards and other conneetional agencies and to inquire into the expediency of securing a charter for the general Church. When this commission shall find that any holdings of the Church are not properly chartered, it shall take steps to put the ownership and control of the same under unquestioned titles of the Church. It is confidently expected that the sad and oftentimes deplorable lapses of Methodist titles in the past is a record not likely to be repeated. The Commission on Charters was by this session of the General Conference au- thorized to consider the desirability of a relocation of the cen- tral Publishing House of the Church, now located in Nashville, Tenn. ; but before any removal of the publishing interests can be effected, the question will have to be referred to the Annual Conferences for a vote of indorsement. During the session of the Conference a spirited discussion arose over a proposition to change the text of the Apostles' Creed so as to read ''the Church of God," instead of "the holy catholic Church." At one time, very early in the history of the Southern Connection, this reading obtained in the text of the Creed as used in the services of the Church; but the original reading was formally restored at a later date, and most fully so by the adoption of the new Order of Worship. Many sensitive minds, however, have taken offense at the use of the word "catholic," contending that amongst the unlearned and ill-informed the term suggests the primacy of Romanism. These views were fully brought before the Conference, but on a final vote the proposition to revise the reading was lost by a clerical vote of 87 to 74 and a lay vote of 50 to 86, a difference of only fourteen for the nonrevisionists. The Conference, how ever, on another question of revision decided for the revision- ists. The word "man" in the marriage ceremony was substi- tuted by the word "husband," so that in declaring the marriage bond the minister must say "husband and wife" instead of the old form of "man and wife." Such is the finesse of a modern sentiment al ism. Various changes were made in the bounds of the Annual New Conference — Ecumenical — Elections. :;(;:; Conferences. The Arkansas and the White River Conferences were consolidated into a single body, to be known as the North Arkansas Conference. The South Carolina Conference was di- vided into two bodies, known as the South Carolina and the Upper South Carolina Conferences. A commission was ap- pointed to consider and make certain changes in the boundary between the Western Virginia and the Kentucky Conferences. Certain adjustments of boundaries were also ordered to be made in the Conferences in the State of Missouri, as also in Il- linois and Indiana. The approaching session of the Ecumenical Conference, to be held in London in 1921, was anticipated in the creation of an Ecumenical Commission to serve in the intervals of the decennial meetings, the bishops to appoint the ten members provided for in the adopted resolutions. The connectional elections which were had at this session of the Conference resulted as follows: Publishing Agents, D. M. Smith and A. J. Lamar; Book Editor and Editor Methodist Revieic, Gross Alexander; Editor Christian Advocate, Thomas N. Ivey ; Editor Sunday School Literature, Edwin B. Chappell ; Secretary Board of Missions, W. W. Finson ; Secretary Board of Education, Stonewall Anderson ; Secretary Board of Church Extension, W. F. McMurry; Secretary Epworth League and Editor Epworth Era, F. S. Parker. W. E. Vaughan was by the Book Committee reelected to the editorship^of the Pacific Methodist Advocate. The usual fraternal exchanges of the General Conference marked the days of exceptional interest at the session of 1914. The Rev. Dr. William Bradfield was fraternal messenger from the British Wesley an Conference. In view of the bitter ordeal of war and the clash of international forces which England was soon called to face, this passage from the address of Dr. Bradfield had a suggestion of contrast and of the veiled limi- tations of human foresight interesting to contemplate : I speak for rural England, with her lanes at this very time white with the May blossoms and her broad meadows gay with the buttercups, the cowslips, and the daisies; for the folk of the Yorkshire dales and the broad cornfields of Lincoln and the downs of the South; for the West country, home of Drake and Hawkins and the pioneers of Eliza- 364 History of Methodism. beth's reign; for Cornwall, where John Wesley, by God's abounding mercy, redeemed out of a darkness in which no man cared for their souls a people for God's own possession. My greetings come from "gallant little Wales," from Scotland, the "Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, Land of the mountain and the flood"; and from Erin's green isle, where pathos and laughter, poverty and joy, heartbreaks and inextinguishable hope stand now as ever, side by side, or rather are inextricably mixed up with each other. The Canadian Methodist Church was represented by the Rev. Dr. Samuel P. Kose. A notable passage in his address declared that lie represented a Methodism which believes in the sacred - ness of the call to preach and exercise of the gospel of social and national redemption ; that believes this call can be obeyed only in the spirit of full dedication. Dr. Kose was accompanied by Mr. G. F. Johnson, a layman of the Canadian Church, whose address moved upon a high plane of fraternal sentiment and wide-visioned faith in the accomplishments of the gospel. He held that the development for unity amongst the Churches of Canada and the remarkable record made by Methodism in im- pressing the life of the Dominion are but an epitome of a wider world movement. Wherever the doctrines and practices of Methodism have penetrated they have wrought for the uplift and emancipation of the human race, the establishment of rep- resentative institutions, universal education, and stable gov- ernment. The Rev. Matthew S. Hughes, 1 ).!)., LL.D., who two years later, at the session of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, was elected to the episcopacy, represented that body in a message full of the buoyancy of hope for the future of the Methodist spirit, strong with evangelical utterances, and eloquent in its every echo. In closing his address Dr. Hughes said : If I were to gather up in one sentence that which is in my mind and heart, it would be these immortal words, dear to all Methodist hearts: "The best of all is, God is with us." Men have played the prophet with Methodism. They have proclaimed it to be a self-limited movement. They have described it as a tidal wave of religious feeling. They have predicted its rapid decadence and its final disappearance. They have Fraternal Addresses — Death Roll. 365 set Its metes and bounds In history. They have appointed the time of its departure. But when we stand upon the apex of time and mark the living millions to which it ministers in holy things, when we find it well along into the third century in which it has played a part, with the dew of youth still on its brow and its spiritual forces unabated, we are constrained to say with holy awe: "God is with us." In addition to these messages of greeting, there were fra- ternal addresses from the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, from the Church of Japan, from the Federal Council of the Churches, and from the representative of the American Bible Society, the Rev. Dr. William I. Haven. The General Confer- ence of the Methodist Church of Australasia had sent formal greetings to the Church in the South and requested the pres- ence of a delegate from that Church on the occasion of the cele- bration of the centenary of Methodism in the Antipodes to fall in August, 1915. The Conference responded cordially to this message, and the bishops appointed Bishop E. E. Hoss to serve on that auspicious occasion, a reference to whose visit has been made in a former chapter. For the years 1914-15 the death rolls of the Annual Con- ferences exhibit the names of a number of well-known min- isters. The Rev. John Adams, D.D., who died in Tyler, Tex., June 3, 1914, was a man of unusual intellectual power, pro- foundly read in the Scriptures, a good Greek scholar, and of saintly spirit, who left behind him a record of long and faith- ful service in the ministry. He was a native of New Jersey, having been born in the city of Patterson May 7, 1830. The Rev. John Hamilton Brunner, D.D., was long and favorably known as a Methodist educator, having served many years as the President of Hiwassee College, in the bounds of the Holston Conference. Dr. Brunner was a scholar of the classic type, saturated with literature and history, a preacher whose style was terse and sententious, but whose arguments were lucid and convincing. He died February 18, 1914, lacking but little more than a year of being ninety years of age. Charles E. Dowman, D.D., another Methodist educator and well known also as a pastor, having filled a number of impor- tant pulpits, died during the session of the General Conference of 1914. One of the many contributions to the ministry of the History of Methodism. Southern Church from the motherland of England, having been born in the County of Kent August 28, 1849, he became a real American, blending the sturdy instincts of his native land with the broad-visioned temperament of a true citizen of the New World. Prom 1S98 to 1902 he was President of Emory College. When in 1911 a theological chair was established in Emory College, he was called from the pastorate to fill it. He was serving in this post with accustomed faithfulness and great acceptability at the time of his death. Isaac Stiles Hopkins, D.D., was a fine figure and a com- manding spirit amongst the men of his generation. Christian, preacher, scholar, gentleman are terms descriptive of the ex- perience, attainments, and qualities which made up in him a great personality. His life work was half divided between the pulpit and the office of teacher. The Georgia School of Tech- nology was largely the result of his prevision and wise plan- ning, and to it he gave some of the best years of his life as a worker and teacher. His name stands upon the honor list of those who were Presidents of Emory College before the merger which made it a part of the Emory University. Dr. Hopkins was born in Augusta, Ga., June 20, 1841, and died in Atlanta February 3, 1914. At the session of the General Conference held at Asheville, N. ft, in May, 1910, George H. Detwiler, D.D., a native of Find lay, Ohio, was pastor of the local Church and the host of the General Conference. He was thus brought prominently before the delegations and greatly impressed the whole body by his happy address of welcome as well as in other offices of courtesy. Subsequently he was transferred to the Tennessee Conference and stationed at the West End Chnrch, Nashville. During the next few years he became known as one of the strongest preach- ers and most successful pastors in the Connection. A tuber- cular trouble, which developed rapidly, soon undermined his strength and curtailed his distinguished labors, his death oc- curring July 5, 1914. As manager of the book depository of the Church at New Orleans during the trying experience of the Publishing House in the years following the War between the States, Rev. Robert, J. Harp, D.D., became one of the best-known ministers of the Death of Dr. Alexander. Church. Though never self-assertive, his taleuts were of a high order, and his life was described by one who knew him well as "an assurance of immortality." A tireless, restless spirit, he wrought in the work assigned him or in that line nearest at hand to the close of a life of eighty-five years. He died in Shreveport, La., July 24, 1914. The month of September, 1915, brought to the Church an all but irreparable loss. On the sixth day of that month died Gross Alexander, A.B., D.D., S.T.D., Book Editor and Editor of the Methodist Quarterly Review. Gross Alexander, the son of Dr. Charles H. Alexander, was born in Allen County, Ky., June 1, 1852. Though the family was not possessed of large means, he was kept in the best country schools until the re- moval of his father to Louisville, where, while still a youth, he began to enjoy superior educational advantages. Hav- ing had from childhood a vital religious experience, he early dedicated his future years and strength to the work of the Christian ministry. Accordingly, in 1875 he entered Drew Theological Seminary in order to prepare himself for his chosen labor. Prom this institution he graduated in 1877 and in the same year applied for admission into the Louisville Confer- ence. In the class for admission that year were John J. Tigert, afterwards bishop, and Robert W. Browder. Dr. Alexander's first appointment was at Portland, where he spent three years, during which time the famous Steve P. Holcombe was convert- ed under his ministry and by himself led to enter upon a ca- reer of soul-saving much resembling that of the famous Jere McAuley, of New York. The next few years were spent in pas- torates about Louisville, during which time he had the as- sistance of Dr. Broadus, the distinguished head of the Baptist Theological Seminary in that city, in reviewing his studies in New Testament Greek, a pursuit to which he had given himself with great assiduity. From 1884 to 1886 he was pastor of the West End Church in Nashville, having been specially solicited by Bishop McTyeire to take that post. At the end of this term he was elected to the chair of New Testament Exegesis in Vanderbilt University, when his great career as a teacher be- gan. In 1902 he returned to the pastorate, being made pre- siding elder of the Louisville District. On the election of Dr. 368 History of Methodism. Tigert to the episcopacy, iu 1006, he succeeded to the office of Book Editor and Editor of the Methodist Review, which posi- tion he continued to occupy until his death. As editor of the Methodist Review Dr. Alexander achieved an international rep- utation. "He was progressive in the best sense of the word, but likewise conservative in his hold upon things fundamen- tal." He kept in sympathetic touch with the intellectual move- ments of the world and displayed great skill in selecting the work of the best writers for the pages of his publication. He was a faithful friend, and all who knew him were assured of the genuineness of his spiritual experience and the pure mo- tives of his life and conduct. As an author Dr. Alexander's work will probably remain longer than that of any other man of his fellowship. He contributed articles to the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia. To a popular New Testament series he contrib- uted commentaries on "Ephesians" and "Colossians." In 1910 he was selected to be a member of the committee to revise the King James Version of the Bible for a Tercentenary Edition in 1911. "The Son of Man," "History of Methodism," and "The Life of Steve P. Holcombe" were volumes from his pen which had a wide reading. The issues of the Methodist Review under his editorship will themselves constitute a series of volumes to be valued for their intrinsic worth and also as a certain mark of the literary and intellectual advancement of the Church in the early years of the twentieth century. The Book Committee, in session in October, 1915, elected H. M. Du Bose, a member of the North Georgia Conference, to be Dr. Alexander's successor. If the general editorial and literary interests of the Church were made conscious of a great loss in the death of Dr. Alexan- der, the vast and important Sunday school concern of the Con- nection suffered in an equal way in the death of Dr. Howard M. Hamill, the head of the teacher-training of that depart- ment and the author of a line of Sunday school books of un- paralleled excellence. Dr. Hamill was born in Lowndesboro, Ala., August 10, 1847, and was well educated, having graduat- ed from the Polytechnic Institute of Alabama. In 1864 he be- came a soldier in the Confederate army, serving under that im- If. M. Hamill— C. F. Reid—W. F. Lloyd. 369 mortal man, Robert E. Lee, in the Army of Northern Virginia. Although residing out of the South for a number of years after the war, Dr. Hamill never lost his sense of identification with the section of his birth nor his passionate love for its ideals. In 1889 he accepted the position of Superintendent of Normal Work in the Illinois State Sunday School Association. Later he was made Field Secretary of the International Sunday School Work and in this position remained until he was called to take charge of the Department of Teacher-Training in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The work done in this capacity was of immeasurable value to the Church. His death occurred January 21, 1915. Rev. Clarence F. Reid, D.D., was one of a trio of remarkably useful and distinguished men, of which Drs. xVlexander and Hamill are the remaining members, who died following the ses- sion of the General Conference of 1914. Dr. Reid was Secre- tary of the Laymen's Missionary Movement at the time of his death and had shown great aptitude for the same, his visita- tions and addresses having deeply stirred the hearts of the laity from ocean to ocean. But his most distinguished service was given to the mission field. In 1878, just as he began to be about thirty years of age, he went as a missionary to China and there entered upon a career of sustained usefulness. In 1896 he became Superintendent of the Korea Mission, where he served until 1902, when he was given charge of the Oriental mission work on the Pacific Coast, from which work he passed into the secretaryship of the Laymen's Movement. Dr. Reid was twice President of the China Mission Conference, several times he was a delegate to the General Conference, and was an in- fluential member of the Ecumenical Conference of 1831. Dr. Reid was one of many men given to the ministry of the South from the land of the North. He was born in Chenango County, New York, July 19, 1849, and died in Kentucky October 7, 1915. During this period there passed away a number of other well-known ministers of the Connection whose spheres of ac- tivity, while not so wide as those of the distinguished men whose names appear in the foregoing list, were yet before the Church in abundant and acceptable labors. Amongst these were: William F. Lloyd, a member of the Central Texas Con- 24 370 If i s i o ) 7/ of Me tlx o dism. ference; John B. Robins and William I*. Lovejoy, of the North Georgia Conference; Richard D. Smart, of the Virginia Con- ference; W. A. Hanna, of the Missouri Conference; R. S. Clark, of the Montana Conference; Tobias P. Cobb, of the Southwest Missouri Conference; Samuel C. Littlepage, of the Central Texas Conference ; E. H. Pearce, of the Kentucky Con- ference; and John T. Wightman, of the Baltimore Conference. In addition to the sad losses in the ranks of its ministry, the Church mourned the death, on June 25, 1016, of Maj. Reu- ben W. Millsaps, the founder of Millsaps College, a man who had made a long record of usefulness and loyalty as a layman. Major Millsaps was born in Copiah County, Miss., May 30, 1833. He was educated at Hanover College, Indiana, and at Asbury (now De Pauw) University. In 1858 he received the degree of LL.B. from Harvard University. For a while in his early man- hood he was engaged in the mercantile business in Mississippi. Prom the first he began to be prosperous and in the end ac- cumulated a fortune which was considered very large for the section in which he lived. He made possible the founding of Millsaps College by his initial gift of $50,000. To this gift various sums have been added until the whole reaches a total of not much short of one million dollars. Major Millsaps was a member of a number of General Conferences. Quiet and un- assuming in manner, courteous but firm and steadfast in con- viction, genuinely religious and constant in service, he gave to the Church the memory of a life which is worthy of honor. The General Conferences of the Church, South, and of the Canadian Methodist Church fall in the same year, the one meeting in the latter spring and the other in the latter sum- mer. The Canadian General Conference for this year sal in Ottawa, the capital of the British dominions in North America. At first it was thought that the session of the Conference would have to be postponed on account of the disturbed condition of the country incident to the European war. Troops were mus- tering and drilling in the capital city, and the whole land was filled with intense and tragical excitement. Bnt the leaders became fully possessed with the idea that, no matter what the happenings of the world outside, the program of the Chnrch should be carried out without hesitation or fear: and so that Canadian Methodism — Dr. A ins worth. 371 Conference went forward with its work. The meeting of the Conference at the seat of government naturally attracted of- ficial attention, and the Governor-General and the Premier of the Dominion were represented in public addresses of welcome and in other functions of recognition. A distressing feature of the session was the absence of the fraternal delegate from the British Wesleyan Church, the Rev. W. Hodson Smith, who was prevented from attending by the disturbed condition of the British nation and the perils of ocean travel. Dr. Albert Carman, long the senior General Superintendent of the Church, presided at some of the opening sessions, but was by the Conference honorably retired to the position of Su- perintendent Emeritus. His retirement left Dr. S. D. Chown, his colleague in office, as the sole effective Superintendent of the Church. Dr. Chown's diocese includes the entire Dominion of Canada, the colony of Newfoundland, and the Bermuda Is- lands. The statistics of Canadian Methodism reported at the Gen- eral Conference of 1914 were as follows : Membership, 368,992, an increase of over ten thousand for the year 1913-14 and of nearly twenty-nine thousand for the quadrennium. The Church had 2,845 ministers, an increase for the quadrennium of 265. For all purposes it had raised during the four years over twenty-two million dollars. Its church and parsonage prop- erty was valued at thirty-four million dollars and its college property at over seven million dollars. For missions the Church had raised during the quadrennium just a little short of three million dollars, an advance of forty-three per cent on the givings of the previous quadrenniums. These figures did not include the offerings of the Woman's Missionary Society, which brought the sum up to the neighborhood of three and three-quarters of a million dollars. The publishing interests of the Church had made an exceptional record of progress. Every periodical in the Church showed an increase of circula- tion. The fraternal representative from the Methodism of the South to this General Conference was the Rev. W. N. Ains- worth, D.D. Of the address of Dr. Ainsworth an official editor of the Canadian Church said : "It was truly in demon- 372 History of Methodism. stration of the Spirit and in power, eloquent, comprehensive, forceful and convincing in delivery, apostolic in its earnestness and insistence upon fundamental truth. It was pronounced by hundreds who heard it one of the great addresses of a life- time." An incident of the Conference was "the coining of a strong deputation from the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches to present the matter of union." We have in a previous chapter adverted to the record of advance made by the Church union sentiment in the Dominion of Canada. At this sitting the cause was put visibly forward. At recent meet- ings of both the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches of the Dominion the prospects of union have been still further advanced; so that a united Canadian Christendom, with the exception of two of the more virile denominations, seems all but a certainty in the near future, so much have the sentiment and possibilities of union grown during the last two years. In England, far more even than in Canada, the Conference of the people called Methodists was meeting under conditions made stringent and distressful by the war. The session of the Conference for 1915 was held in Birmingham on July 14. It was the seventh in the order of Conferences to sit in that his- toric city. The first had met in 1836 under the presidency of Jabez Bunting. In 1854 John Farrar had . presided ; and in 1865 the African missionary, William Shaw, was in the chair, Benjamin Gregory in 1879, and in 1894 Walford Green. A I the session of 1915 the Bev. B. W. Moss, D.D., was the Presi- dent designate. He is the successor of Dr. W. D. Pope as the- ological tutor at Didsbury College. Dr. Telford presents some interesting notes concerning the first Birmingham Conference. Rev. Bobert Newton, so well known in the past history of the Connection, was Secretary. Dr. Bunting, in the name of the Conference, thanked him at the end of the session for his great service. Dr. Telford adds that it is amusing to find that gold medals were given the President and Secretary. It was at this session of the Conference that Dr. Wilbur Pisk, the famous early American Methodist educator, was present, not as a reg- ularly sent delegate, as supposed by Dr. Telford, but neverthe- less as a representative and welcome visitor. Dr. Fisk made an address before the Conference which, one is not surprised Wilbur Fish — English Methodism. 'Ml] to learn, thrilled and stirred the hearts of all. It was at this session of the Conference that ministers were first ordained by the imposition of hands, an act which Dr. Fisk said would greatly please the Methodists across the water. Despite the stress and destruction of the war, the reports of 1915 showed that the work had been wonderfully main- tained. Tens of thousands of the younger laymen of the Church were in the British armies in Flanders, in the Balkans, and on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Thousands had laid down their lives on these gory fields. We repeat no statistics for these years, as such showing would give no correct view of the growth of Methodism in a land so distressed. But the mission work of the Church, its* endeavors in the home field, especially in connection with the great evangelistic halls, and the work of preaching to the soldiers at drill and in the military camps revealed the spirit that made Methodism in the beginning. The report of the Book Steward, Rev. J. Albert Sharp, showed that, despite the strain of war, the publishing interests of the Church had prospered. He was able to report a grant of more than eleven thousand dollars to the Auxiliary Fund, the An- nuitant Fund, and other connectional objects, which was con- siderably more than was reported the year before. A memorable incident of the Conference was stated to be the ordination of young ministers who were going out as chap- lains to the various regiments. Dr. Telford relates that eleven men in khaki were thus ordained in one evening. This was only a part of the contingent assigned to the department of military evangelization. The Conference reported the death of fifty-seven ministers in Great Britain and two in Ireland, with seven in the foreign mission. The roll of the dead included the names of John Gould, who had rendered conspicuous service in East Anglia in leading a forward movement which resulted in the erection of eighty-six chapels and the restoration of twenty-five others. Another was the veteran Joseph Nettleton, who had been a leader in the early missionary triumphs in the Fiji Islands. The Rev. Charles H. Crookshank, of the Irish ministry, who in 1004 had been a fraternal messenger to the General Confer- ence of the North, was also numbered among the dead. 374 History of Methodism. Conclusion. A fitting close to the era of Methodist advance and expan- sion to which the chapters of this volume have been given was the sitting of the General Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in the United States of America at Saratoga Springs, New York, in May, 1916. The fraternal representa- tive of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at this sitting was the Rev. Edwin B. Chappell, D.D., Sunday School Editor of the Church. In his address he maintained and honored the record which the distinguished representatives of the Church, his predecessors in the same office, had made. His words were wise and earnest, and fragrant with the spirit of true frater- nity. In addition to the official fraternal visit and address of Dr. Chappell, Dr. James W. Lee, of the St. Louis Conference, was an invited guest and speaker at this Conference, delivering an address at the anniversary of the American Bible Society. The fact and the fine periods of Dr. Lee's address called to mind the historic address of Bishop Pierce, speaking in a similar capacity at the General Conference of 1844. In general, the acts of the great Methodist body which sat at Saratoga Springs are of too recent happening, and many of them too necessarily related to the changing thought and action of the current times, to be represented in the permanent record of history. The one great crowning action which looked both backward and forward, and which properly belongs to the history of universal Methodism, was the legislation of that body touching the long-pending question of Methodist unifica- tion. In an early chapter we have anticipated and fully traced the course of negotiations for the promotion of the related causes of comity, federation, and unification down to the ac- tion of the Southern General Conference in 1014. In will be re- membered that the Joint Commission on Federation developed as early as December, 1010, "negotiations concerning unifica- tion by reorganization," and that these negotiations involved the prospective union, or unification, of the Methodist Protes- tant Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Quadrennial Conferences — Reports on Unification. :>7.~> This plan suggested that the unified Church should have com mon Articles of Faith, common conditions of membership, a common hymnal, a common catechism, and a common ritual. The governing body was to be a General Conference and three or four Quadrennial Conferences. The colored membership of the Churches were to constitute one of these Quadrennial Con- ferences; the General Conference was to consist of two houses ; the Quadrennial Conferences were to name the bishops, to be confirmed by the general body. Neither the General Confer- ence nor the Quadrennial Conferences were to be invested with final authority to interpret the constitutionality of their ac- tions. The executive officers of the respective commissions were au- thorized to report to their several General Conferences the results of the deliberations of the Joint Commission, to be the basis of such specific action and authorization as might to these General Conferences appear desirable. We have already noted the fact that the General Conference of the Church in the North meeting in 1912 took no action upon these proposals. We have also adverted to the fact that the General Confer- ence of the Church in the South which sat in May, 1914, met the proposals in an explicit action; and while regarding the plan as tentative, it held it to contain "the basic principles of a genuine unification of the Methodist bodies in the United States and especially of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, by the method of re- organization." One modification of the plan was suggested by the General Conference in these words: "We recommend that the colored membership of the various Methodist bodies be formed into an independent organization holding fraternal relations with the reorganized and united Church." The General Conference of the Church in the North at its 1916 sitting appointed a committee of sixty members to de- liberate upon these propositions and make a report to the Con- ference. On May 16 the following report was submitted and adopted without dissent, amid expressions and demonstrations of great enthusiasm : Believing that the united Church will have greatly increased power In its conflict with evil in all lands; that it will be able to lay a more 376 History of Methodism. effective emphasis on the fundamentals of Christianity; that it will be more potent in developing the higher loyalty to the supremacy of our common Lord and Master, Jesus Christ; and that such a union will hasten the development of a truly world Church, which will make for the rapid advancement and final triumph of the kingdom of God in the world — the Committee on Unification makes the following recom- mendations: 1. The Methodist Episcopal Church considers the plan outlined in the suggestions that were adopted by the Joint Commission represent- ing the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and approved by the General Conference of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, South, with one modifying recommendation as tentative, but nevertheless as containing the basic principles of genuine unification of the Methodist bodies in the United States, and especially of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, by the method of reorganization. 2. The Methodist Episcopal Church regards the unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Protestant Church, and the Methodist Episcopal Church by the plan proposed by the Joint Commission on Federation as feasible and desirable, and hereby declares itself in favor of the unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, in accordance with this general plan of reorganization, with the following recommendations: (1) That the General Conference be made the supreme legislative, executive, and judicial body of the Church, under constitutional provi- sions and restrictions. (2) That the number of Quadrennial Conferences as stated in the pro- posed plan be so increased as to provide more adequately for the needs of the organized Church both at home and abroad. (3) That the General Conference consist of a single house, made up of delegates elected by the Quadrennial or Annual Conferences or both. We also favor the unification of all or any Methodist bodies who ac- cept this proposed plan after it has been accepted and perfected by both the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Episcopal Church. (4) That, conforming to the suggestion of the Joint Commission, the colored membership of the reorganized Church be constituted into one or more Quadrennial Conferences. The report of the committee as adopted by the General Con- ference authorized the bishops to appoint a commission of twenty-five members — five bishops, ten ministers, and ten lay- men— to confer with commissioners of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Protestant Church, and other Methodist bodies in the United States in elaborating and per- fecting the tentative plan proposed and in carrying forward Members of the Unification Commissions. Ml such negotiations as have for their purpose the unification in accordance with the basic principles enunciated by the Joint Commission and approved by the General Conferences of the two Episcopal Methodist bodies. The list of commissioners from the Church in the North was named as follows: Bishops: Earl Cranston, Washington, D. C. ; John W. Ham- ilton, Boston, Mass.; William F. McDowell, Washington, D. C; Frederick D. Leete, Atlanta, Ga. ; Richard J. Cooke, Helena, Mont. Ministers : Edgar Blake, Secretary Board of Sunday Schools, Chicago, 111. ; James R. Day, Chancellor of Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y. ; David G. Downey, Book Editor, New York City ; John F. Goucher, President Emeritus of Goucher College, Baltimore, Md. ; Robert E. Jones, Editor of Southwestern Chris- tian Advocate, New Orleans, La. ; Albert J. Nast, Editor of Christliche Apologete, Cincinnati, Ohio; Frank Neff, pastor, Tulsa, Okla. ; Edwin M. Randall, pastor, Seattle, Wash. ; Clau- dius B. Spencer, Editor of Central Christian Advocate, Kansas City, Mo. ; Joseph W. Van Cleve, Secretary of Commission on Finance, Methodist Book Concern, Chicago, 111. Laymen : George Warren Brown, St. Louis, Mo. ; Charles W. Fairbanks, former Vice President; Dr. Abraham W. Harris, Secretary of Education, New York; Charles W. Kinne, Jack- sonville, Fla. ; I. Garland Penn, Corresponding Secretary of Freedman's Aid Society, Cincinnati, Ohio; Ira E. Robinson, presiding Judge of Supreme Court, Charleston, W. Va. ; Henry Wade Rogers, Judge of United States Court, New Haven, Conn.; William Rule, Knoxville, Tenn., Editor of Tribune; Alex M. Simpson, Jr., attorney, Philadelphia, Pa.; Rolla V. Watt, San Francisco, Cal. In accordance with the directions given by the General Con- ference of 1914, the nine Southern members of the Federal Council of Methodism met at Tate Springs, Tenn., August 9, 1916, and by a ballot election added to their number sixteen others, so that the commission from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, on unification stands as follows : Bishop A. W. Wilson, Baltimore; Bishop E. E. Hoss, Muskogee; Bishop Col- lins Denny, Richmond; Bishop Edwin D. Mouzon, Dallas; Bishop W. A. Candler, Atlanta ; Rev. Frank M. Thomas, D.D., 378 History of Methodism. pastor Fourth Avenue Church, Louisville; Rev. W. J. Young, D.D., professor in Candler School of Theology, Atlanta; Rev. John M. Moore, D.D., Secretary of Home Missions, Nashville; Rev. C. M. Bishop, D.D., President of Southwestern University, Georgetown, Tex. ; Rev. E. B. Chappell, D.D., editor of Sunday School Literature, Nashville; Rev. T. N. Ivey, D.D., editor of Christian Advocate, Nashville; Rev. A. F. Watkins, D.D., Pres- ident of Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss.; Rev. H. M. Du Bose, D.D., editor of Methodist Review, Nashville; Rev. W. N. Ains- worth, D.D., pastor of Mulberry Street Church, Macon, Ga. ; Rev. A. J. Lamar, D.D., Publishing Agent, Nashville. Lay- men: Judge M. L. Walton, lawyer, Woodstock, Va. ; Dr. H. N. Snyder, President of Wofford College, Spartanburg, S. C. ; Mr. Percy D. Maddin, lawyer, Nashville; Dr. R. S. Hyer, Pres- ident of Southern Methodist University, Dallas ; Dr. J. H. Rey- nolds, President of Hendrix College, Conway, Ark.; Dr. R. E. Blackwell, President of Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Va. ; Judge J. L. Kelley, Supreme Court of Virginia, Bristol, Va.; Hon. T. D. Samford, United States District Attorney, Opelika, Ala. ; Mr. John R. Pepper, merchant and banker, Mem- phis, Tenn. ; Col. E. C. Reeves, lawyer, Johnson City, Tenn. Alternates were selected as follows: Bishop W. B. Murrah, Memphis; Bishop James Atkins, Waynesville, N. C; Rev. W. Asbury Christian, D.D., pastor, Richmond, Va.; Rev. E. V. Regester, D.D., pastor, Alexandria, Va. ; Rev. C H. Briggs, D.D., Sedalia, Mo. Laymen: Mr. H. H. White, lawyer, Alex- andria, La.; Judge E. W. Hines, attorney for Interstate Com- merce Commission, Washington, D. C. ; Mr. G. T. Fitzhugh, lawyer, Memphis, Tenn. This last record is of events which have fallen out just as the pages of this history are being finally given to the hands of the printer. Spirited discussion of the variations from the original plan devised by the Joint Commission and expressed in the action of the two General Conferences has gone on in the press of the two Connections. That there is profound interest in the movement for unification, and that there is universal desire for accommodation on a basis safe and satisfactory to both houses of Methodism and calculated to advance the interests of the kingdom of God, is doubted by none. Every devout and un- An Explanatory Note. selfish heart will pray for such a consummation. Its coming will be a foregleam and pledge of the dawning of Messiah's reign. Note. — The course of this history properly concludes with this chapter; but in order to give the fullest view of events and to adapt the volume to the uses of the largest possible number of readers, we have added certain chapters containing sketches of the Annual Conferences, connectional and Confer- ence schools, and the denominational press other than the con- nectional publications of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It will be perceived that these concluding chapters are less formal in conception and execution than are those in the body of the volume. They are meant to serve particularly a denominational use. The author has had to rely largely upon the local and official representatives of the Conferences and other interests treated, which will explain the diverse lengths of the sketches. In some cases it was found impossible to se- cure the cooperation necessary to assemble all the material desired. All that which has been used was, however, verified by official records. CHAPTER XIX. SKETCHES OF ANNUAL CONFERENCES.* THE vital components, the living integers, of that organic whole of Methodism known as the Connection are the An- nual Conferences. From them and through them flows the cor- porate life of the Church. The General Conference derives from them its existence and authority, and to them must be referred the arbitrament of every issue which arises under the restric- tions of the Constitution. At this time (since the General Conference of 1914) Southern Methodism consists of forty-six Annual Conferences and six missions. These missions are in Japan, Korea, Mexico, the West Indies, and Africa. The Con- ferences, with the exception of the China Mission Conference, the Conferences in Brazil, and a portion of the Mexican Border Conference, are all within the limits of the United States and chiefly in the Southern half of the republic. We have thought it well to give as a part of this history a brief but inclusive sketch of each of these Conferences and mis- sions, in order that the individuality and potency of each con- stituted body might become manifest to the reader. Baltimore Conference. "The old Baltimore Conference" dates its territorial existence from the year 1801, though its record goes much farther back. The Journal for 191G reads: "The one hundred and thirty-sec- ond session." The first Methodist Conference held in Baltimore was in the year 177(1, the ever-memorable year of American civic history. From that onward until 1808 Baltimore held a primacy in Methodist conventional life. In the year in which the Holy Club at Oxford was organized the town of Baltimore was being laid out. In the providence of God they were made *For much of the material contained in these sketches the author is indebted to several of the secretaries of the Annual Conferences. In other cases the matter has been worked up from the official records. In every case personal appraisement and estimates of leadership are on the merit of the author's own judgment. (380) Sketches of Annual Conferences. 381 the one to answer the other in the aid of the spiritual king- dom. As has already been noted, Kobert Strawbridge is adjudged to have been the pioneer Methodist preacher in the New World, having begun his ministry in Maryland as early as 17G0 to 1702. Fifteen persons or more constituted the "first society in Mary- land and America" at the house of Robert Strawbridge, as testi- fied to by Bishop Asbury in his Journal. The names of the members of this first society were: John Evans, William Dur- bin, William Daman, George Havener, Richard Smith, Thomas Leakin, James Crawford, Robert Walker, William Snader, Thomas Donaldson, Daniel Stephenson, Philip Mcodemus, An- drew Poulson, Jacob Cassell, George Logman (with their wives and some children). Later the following names were added to the society: John Todd, Alexander Saxton, Mrs. George War- field, Hezekiah Bonham, John and Paul Hagerty. Several of these names have been preeminent in the history of the laity of Methodism. The first society in Baltimore County was gathered by Straw- bridge at the home of Daniel Evans, near Baltimore City. Richard Owings, the first native American local preacher, was a member of this early society. The first visit of Bishop As- bury to Baltimore was in company with John King, somewhere near the middle of November, 1772. This was a brief call and meant only to spy out the land. One year later Mr. Asbury re- newed his visit and, "assisted by Jesse Hollinsworth, George Wells, Richard Moale, George Robinson, and John Woodward,'' purchased at five shillings a lot sixty feet wide on Strawberry Alley and seventy -five feet on Fleet Street, upon which to build a house of worship. This building, in its original state, has been preserved to the present day. In the following year two lots were purchased in another part of the city, and upon il was built the famous Lovely Lane Chapel, so closely associated with many of the happenings in the history of early Methodism. This chapel was the seat not only of the first Baltimore Con- ference, held in 1776, but also of the Christmas Conference, at which Bishop Asbury was consecrated to the episcopacy. At the 1776 session of the Conference nine applicants were received on trial into the traveling connection. They were: 382 History of Methodism. Xicbolas Watters, John Siglnan, Joseph Hartley, Francis Poy- thress, James Foster, Freeborn Garrettson, Thomas McClure, Isom Tatum, William Wrenne. Disunion and controversy distressed the whole Connection of Methodists in the colonies, then warring with the mother coun- try, in 1779. A majority of the Conference, of which there was then but one yearly session, had ordained a presbytery of nine members, who were authorized to administer the sacraments. This office they were regularly discharging. A minority of the members of the Conference adhered with Mr. Asbury in the "'little Conference" of the same year in protest against this ac- tion. The society seemed hopelessly divided. This "little" Conference met in April, 1780, in the city of Baltimore, and sent three of its members — Asbury, Watters, and Garrettson — to visit the larger Conference to be held in May at Mannakin- town, Va. After agonizing and apparently hopeless interviews, the Virginia brethren acceded to the request of Mr. Asbury and referred their necessities to Mr. Wesley. From that time Mr. Asbury became again the superintendent of the united societies in the Old World and so continued until he was made bishop de jure by the Christinas Conference. In 1782 two sessions of the Conference were held, but were considered as a continuous sitting. The first Conference met at Ellis Chapel, Va., April 17, and adjourned to meet in Balti- more May 21. These double sessions continued until 1784. It was during this period that the Baltimore session acquired the distinction of becoming the "upper house" of Methodism. All questions of general importance arising in the first session were carried to the Baltimore sitting for a final vote and determina- tion. From 177:i to 1784 the heading of the Conference min- utes was: "Of some conversations between the preachers in connection with the Rev. John Wesley." From 1785 onward to a late date the legend was: "Minutes taken at the several A nn nal Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church." Previ- ous to 1801 the several circuits of the Connection were grouped together, without general geograr>hical designation, and each group under a presiding elder. In 1801 these groups were desi^ nated as districts, and along with the others there appeared a Baltimore District. In 1802 (the arrangement having been ef- Sketches of Annual Conferences. 383 fected in 1801) these districts were grouped into seven Confer- ences, several districts to the Conference. In the Baltimore Conference were the Alexandria, the Pittsburgh, and the Balti- more Districts, describing somewhat the same territory as that now embraced in that body. The liveliest memory of Baltimore Methodism is in connec- tion with the Christmas Conference of 1784. It was in honor of this sitting that the famous Centenary Conference of 1884 was held. Almost immediately after the Christmas Conference steps were taken to build a larger and more commodious house of worship in Baltimore City. This movement was the begin- ning of Light Street Chapel, which also played an important part as the meeting place of early Methodist bodies. From 1802 onward it is quite easy to trace the history of the Baltimore Conference and also to note the record of the preach- ers who are chief in its leadership. The minutes for 1802 show Daniel Hitt, Thornton Fleming, and Wilson Lee as presiding elders of the districts. William Watters was pastor at George- town and Washington City. Watters was famous as being the first native American Methodist itinerant and also as having been left by Rankin in charge of the societies at the time of his departure for England and the retirement of Mr. Asbury into Delaware. Joshua Wells was in charge of Baltimore City. In 1803 a new district appeared, the Greenbrier, with James P. Ward as elder. In 1804 the minutes show Enoch George as presiding elder of the Baltimore District. Two new districts appear for this year, the Monongahela, with Thornton Flem- ing as presiding elder, and the Susquehanna, presided over by James Smith. In the year 1808, the year in which the last of the undelegated General Conferences met, the Baltimore minutes show the fol- lowing question and answer : "Who are admitted on trial? An- swer: Henry Mon tooth, Joshua Monroe, John Kimberlin, Eli Henkle, James Wilson, Jacob Snyder, John Rhoades, Allen Green, and Daniel Stansbury." The list of obituaries con- tains the names of George Dougharty, Bennet Kendrick, Henry Willis, and Richard Swain. A note in the minutes says : "Dan- iel Hitt travels with Bishop Asbury until General Conference." Nelson Reed was this year made presiding elder of the Balti- 384 History of Methodism. more District, and Joshua Wells w as stationed al Washington City. The delegates from the Baltimore Conference to the first delegated General Conference, which met in New York City in 1812, were as follows: Nelson Reed, Joseph Toy. Joshua Wells, Nicholas Snethen, Enoch George, Asa Shinn, Hamilton Jeffer- son, Jacob Gruber, Robert R. Roberts, William Ryland, Chris- topher Fry, James Smith, Robert Burch, Henry Smith, and Andrew Hemphill. In the turbulent years between 1820 and 1828 the Baltimore Conference was represented in the General body by such as Joseph Frye, John Emory, Stephen G. Roszell, Beverley Waugh, Nelson Reed, Alfred Griffith, Daniel Hitt, Joshua Soule, and Richard Ty dings. In 1844, the year of disruption and division, the statistics of the Baltimore Conference showed a total enrolled membership of 55,852 white and 16,973 colored. The appointments showed John A. Collins as presiding elder of the Baltimore District, Thomas B. Sargent, presiding elder of the Potomac District, while John S. Martin was one of the preachers assigned to Baltimore City, and Norval Wilson was pastor of Wesley Chap- el, in Washington. The representatives of the Conference in the famous General Conference of 1844 were: Henry Slicer, John A. Collins. John Davis, Alfred Griffith, John A. Gare, John Bear, Nicholas J. B. Morgan, Thomas B. Sargent, Charles B. Tippet, and George Hildt. A division of the Baltimore Conference into Baltimore and East Baltimore occurred in 1857. We have already given an account of the events which fell out in the period between this date and 1861, when the old Baltimore Conference separated itself from the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America and became an independent body. We have also traced the course of its history until 1860, when the old guard — a majority of the membership — trans- ferred itself to the ministry and membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The representatives of the Baltimore Conference in the General Conference of 18GG were: Samuel Iiegester, John S. Martin, Eldridge R. Veitch, Norval Wilson, S. G. Roszell, William G. Eggleston, and John Poisal. Since that date the history of the Conference has been one with the Sketches of Annual Conferences. 385 other bodies of the Southern Church. The clerical leaders of that great Conference to-day are : Forrest Prettyman, Chaplain to Congress, E. V. Regester, T. J. Lambert, H. M. Canter, D. H. Kern, C. D. Bulla, C. D. Harris, editor of the Baltimore Southern Methodist, J. A. Anderson, H. P. Hamill, J. A. Kern, H. H. Sherman, W. S. Hammond, J. H. Wells, and others. Amongst its leading laymen are: L. W. Davis, T. T. Fishburne, F. E. Thomas, E. S. Conrad, M. L. Walton, A. B. Pugh, E. C. Bare, and John A. Taylor Virginia Conference. The Virginia Annual Conference dates its sessions from the meeting held at Mason's, Brunswick County, Va., in May, 1785, the year following the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in December, 1784. The Conference included originally a large part of the terri- tory now belonging to the North Carolina Conference. In 1810 and until 1813 there were six districts, three in North Caro- lina and three in Virginia. In 1837 the North Carolina terri- tory, with the exception of a few charges, was set off from the Virginia Conference, taking with it nearly one-half of the lay and clerical membership. In 1894 the remaining territory, ly- ing within the State of North Carolina — nine pastoral charges — was transferred to the North Carolina Conference. The first twenty-six sessions of the Virginia Conference were presided over by Bishop Asbury; then Bishop McKendree oc- cupied the chair for eight consecutive sessions. After him came Bishop Roberts for two sessions and Bishop George for five. In 1810 there were forty-five pastoral charges, with a mem- bership of 25,000. In 1915, a little more than a century later, there were 267 charges, reporting a membership of 123,550, the largest in the Connection. In the matter of ministerial support and benevolent contri- butions the Virginia Conference stands at the head of the list. The total contributed for all purposes in 1915 fell not far short of one million dollars, an average of about eight dollars per member. In the field of education this Conference has a most honorable record. Randolph-Macon College, originally at Boydton, in 25 38G History of Methodism. Mecklenburg County, but now at Ashland, Va., was the first Methodist college incorporated in America. From this vener- able institution as a nucleus there has been evolved in the last quarter of a century, under the guiding hand of that prince of educators the late William W. Smith, the Randolph-Macon System of Schools and Colleges, which has already won an en- viable reputation throughout the country. It includes two first-class colleges, one for men at Ashland and one for women at Lynchburg, Va. ; two academies for boys, at Bedford City and Front Royal respectively; and a training school for girls al Danville, Va. This magnificent educational outfit is valued al about one million dollars and shows an enrollment of fourteen hundred pupils. Next to the Randolph-Macon System stands the Blackstone College for Girls, an institution of comparatively recent origin, but with a large and steadily increasing patronage. The Virginia Conference has given to the Church seven of her bishops — namely, William McKendree, Enoch George, John Early, David S. Doggett, John C. Granbery, and A. Coke Smith. Besides these may be mentioned, as conspicuous for abil- ity and as abundant in labors: Jesse Lee, Philip Bruce, James O'Kelly, Hezekiah G. Leigh, William A. Smith; and, in more recent years, Leroy M. Lee, editor and polemic; James A. Dun- can, the silver-tongued orator; William W. Bennett, historian of Virginia Methodism; John E. Edwards, the eloquent preach- er and indefatigable pastor; Alex. G. Brown, who, as Chair- man of its Board of Finance for many years, did much to shape the financial policy of his Conference; Peter A. Peter- son, the beloved disciple whose noble countenance and fine fig ure arrested attention in every assembly; John J. Lafferty, the brilliant paragraphisi ; Robert N. Sledd, the polished preacher; Leonidas Rosser, the fiery evangelist; and last, but by no means least, Paul Whitehead, the prolific writer and the parliamen- tarian of the General Conference, who ably filled the secretary- ship of his Conference for forty-seven years consecutively, a rec- ord probably without a parallel in the history of American Methodism. Worthy successors of these noble men are still to be found in the ministry of this historic Conference, as: B. F. Lipscomb, Sketches of Annual Conferences. 387 W. J. Young, James Cannon, W. A. Christian, W. H. Bennett, J. W. Bledsoe, W. A. Smart, J. C. 0. Newton, W. B. Beau champ, E. H. Rawlings, J. D. Peters, II. C. Hatcher, T. McN. Simpson, C. F. Comer, G. H. Lambeth, J. C. Reed, W. H. Ed- wards, W. T. Green, and G. W. Jones. Amongst prominent lay leaders in recent General Conferences have been : J. P. Branch, H. E. Barrow, E. F. Story, Frank Talbot, T. S. Southgate, J. T. Catlin, W. W. Vickar, W. E. Ivey, W. H. Vincent, and T. J. Barham. Western Virginia Conference. The General Conference of 1850 provided for the organization of the Western Virginia Conference in the following reso- tion: "That a new Annual Conference be erected to be called the Western Virginia, and that this new Conference include all that part of the State of Virginia which is or may be under our jurisdiction not included in the present Virginia, North Caro- lina, and Holston Conferences." On September 4, 1850, the first session was held. At that time there were twenty-three preachers, twenty-four appointments, and about five thousand members. By 1855 these figures had been doubled. The pre- siding elders assigned to the three districts at the first sitting- were E. C. Thornton, S. Kelley, and S. K. Vaught. The Western Virginia Conference suffered as none of its sister bodies did during the terrible days of the War between the States. In the General Minutes from 1861 to 1865, in- clusive, is read the somber entry : "No minutes received." That meant more than fiscal blankness. In 1860 the reports of pas- tors showed 12,505 members. When the Conference reas- sembled in 1866, the only entry made in the place of statistics was: "No report possible in consequence of the derangements caused by the war." In 1867, when some semblance of reports could be compiled, the number of members was found to be only 6,685, showing that one-half of the Church had been lost or scattered. But the heroic itinerants and their faithful parish- ioners went to the task of rebuilding the waste places of Zion. In 1915 pastoral reports showed a membership of 31,487, an increase of 1,628 for the year, a result hardly equaled in all Methodism. The hero and patriarch of the Conference was the Rev. T. S. 388 History of Methodism. Wade, who died July 2, 1911. U. V. W. Darlington, W. I. Can- ter, and H. M. Smith have represented the Conference in the General Conference in recent years. The Conference has many faithful and loyal men in its ranks. North Carolina Conference. The North Carolina Annual Conference was formed by the General Conference which was held in Cincinnati in May, 1836, the territory embraced in the new Conference being cut off from the Virginia Conference. The boundaries, as defined at that time, were as follows: "North Carolina Conference shall be bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean ; on the north by Albemarle Sound, Roanoke and Staunton Rivers ; on the west by the top of the Blue Ridge, including the counties of Wilkes and Iredell ; on the south by the south lines of Iredell, Rowan, Davidson, Randolph, and Chatham ; thence by Cape Fear River, except those appointments now included in the Wilmington and Lincolnton Districts." In February, 1837, the Conference met with the Virginia Conference in Petersburg, Va., and the first session of the Con- ference as a separate body was held in Greensboro, IT. C, one year later. At this session of the Conference Bishop T. A. Morris presided, and Rev. Hezekiah G. Leigh was elected Sec- retary. Some of the names on the roll of the Conference at that time, which are still familiar to North Carolina Method- ists, are: James Reid, H. G. Leigh, Peter Doub, Moses Brock, R. O. Burton, D. B. Nicholson, Alfred Norman, W. E. Pell, Thomas R. Brame, William Closs, Daniel Culbreth, and John E. Edwards. S. D. Bumpas was an undergraduate, and Ira T. Wyche and James D. Lumsden were admitted on trial. At this the first session of the North Carolina Conference due consideration was given to the subject of Christian education. Leasburg Academy and Clemmonsville Academy were given the indorsement of the Conference, and trustees for each were appointed. Action was taken looking to the establishment of Greensboro Female Collegiate Institute, and special prayer was offered for Randolph-Macon College. Since the formation of the Conference, changes in the bound- aries have been made from time to time. In 1850 a part of the Sketches of Annual Conferences. 389 North Carolina territory in the South Carolina Conference was transferred to the North Carolina Conference, and the remain- ing portion of this territory was transferred in 1870. In 1890, at the General Conference which was held in St. Louis, the Western North Carolina Conference was formed, taking from the North Carolina Conference that part of its territory then lying west of the line now dividing the two Conferences. At the same time the North Carolina territory lying between the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers was transferred frorii the Virginia Conference to the North Carolina Conference. Four years later the remaining portion of the Virginia Conference in North Carolina, that lying north of the Chowan River, was transferred to the North Carolina Conference. In 1837, when the Conference began its existence as a sepa- rate body, the white membership reported was 15,062. In 1850 a change in boundaries was made, and the membership was near- ly 21,110. The next year, including the membership trans- ferred from the South Carolina Conference, the number report- ed was 2G,092. In 1SG9 the membership reported was 33,310. The next year, after the transfer of other territory, the mem- bership was 46,250. During the next two decades, before any other change in boundaries was made, the membership was nearly doubled, the number reported in 1889 being 92,242. Aft- er the formation of the Western North Carolina Conference, in 1890, the North Carolina Conference was left with 52,S95 mem- bers. After twenty-five years the Conference has now nearly as large a membership as it had before the formation of the Western North Carolina Conference, the number reported in 1915 being 89,704. The figures given in the above paragraph include only white members. The number of colored members first reported in 1837 was 3,666. The colored membership continued to grow until 1860, when the number reported was 12,043. After that year there was a decline in colored membership from year to year until 1897, when the number reported was 23. Since then there has been no colored membership reported. During the seventy-nine years of its history there have been thirty-one bishops to preside over the North Carolina Confer- ence. Three of these have held seven sessions each — viz., Bish- History of Methodism. ops Andrew, Pierce, and Wilson. Bishop Keener lias held six; Bishop Paine, five; Bishops Morris and Early, four each; Bish- ops Capers and Hargrove, three each. The following have held two each: Bishops Wightman, Kavanaugh, Granbery, Gallo- way, Duncan, Hendrix, and Candler. These have held one each : Bishops Wangh, Soule, Marvin, McTyeire, Parker, Key, Fitzgerald, Morrison, Smith, Hoss, Denny, McCoy, Water- house, and Kilgo. On two occasions no bishop was present, and a member of the Conference was elected President. Tn 1841 Rev. Moses Brock was elected President, and in 1864 Rev. D. B. Nicholson. The Conference lias had eleven Secretaries. Hezekiah G. Leigh served three years ; S. S. Bryant, eight years ; C. F. Deems, three years; I. T. Wyche, six years; W. E. Pell, five years; J. W. Lewis, fouryears; B. Craven, sixteen years; A. W. Mangnm, one year; D. W. Bain, nine years; W. L. Cnninggim, nineteen years; B. H. Willis, five years. The names of T. X. Ivey, editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate, L. S. Massey, editor of the Raleigh Christian Ad- vocate, T. M. Plyler, J. E. Underwood, M. Bradshaw, N. E. Coltrane, G. T. Adams, J. H. Hall, J. L. Cuninggim, E. Mc Whorter, and J. M. Cnlbreth are amongst those of the members of the Conference who have been active and representative in Conference and connectional work. Western North Carolina Conference. The Western North Carolina Conference was authorized and established by the General Conference at St. Louis in 1890 and embraces all the territory in the State of North Carolina west of the eastern boundary lines of Rockingham, Guilford, Ran- dolph, Stanley, and Anson Counties. This territory was origi- nally in the North Carolina and Holston Conferences. The first session of this new Conference was held in Concord, N. C, in December, 1890, by Bishop Keener, and the bishops who have presided over the Conference since have been: Gallo- way, Hendrix, Duncan, Wilson, Key, Fitzgerald, Morrison, Hargrove, Smith, Atkins, Denny, McCoy, Waterhouse, and Lambuth. Bishop Kilgo has been assigned to hold the session of 1916. Sketches of Annual Conferences. 391 Charles G. Montgomery, of Concord, was Secretary of the first, second, third, and fourth sessions of the Conference, but in 1894 William L. Sherrill was elected Secretary and has been reelected to this position at every session since. The Conference has grown steadily since its organization, in 1890. There were 130 pastoral charges and 56,524 members; now it has 235 charges and 100,503 members. In 1890 there were 38,188 Sunday school scholars; now there are 87,882 scholars. In 1890 no Epworth Leagues were reported ; now the Leagues are numerous and prosperous. In 1890 its Church property was valued at $678,380; now it is worth $3,068,160. In 1890 there was raised for the support of preachers in charge and presiding elders $73,341; in 1915 $211,791 was raised for these. In 1890 the total money raised for all purposes was 1160,692; in 1915 the total was $577,499 for all purposes. Among the prominent preachers and active Conference leaders during this period may be mentioned Dr. John R. Brooks, long a presiding elder and author of "Scriptural Holiness" ; Dr. H. T. Hudson, author of "Methodist Armor" ; W. L. Grissom, au- thor of "History of Methodism in North Carolina." Dr. G. H. Detwiler and W. S. Creasy were great gospel preachers. All of these have passed to their reward. Dr. J. H. Weaver, Dr. T. F. Marr, Dr. W. W. Bays, Dr. Charles W. Byrd, Dr. S. B. Turrentine, Dr. J. R. Scroggs, Dr. P. T. Durham, Dr. G. T. Rowe, and Dr. H. M. Blair, who for fifteen years has been the efficient editor of the North Caro- lina Christian Advocate and in this capacity has rendered to the Church and Conference invaluable service, are amongst the living leaders of the Conference. Amongst the laymen who have been prominent in service and leadership during these years are: J. S. Martin (deceased), J. A. Odell, W. R. Odell, D. B. Coltrane, F. S. Lambeth, H. G. Chatham, C. H. Ireland, D. Matt Thompson^ J. L. Nelson, F. M. Weaver, Dr. W. G. Bradshaw (deceased), Dred Peacock, and W. D. Turner. Holston Conference. The first circuit in the Holston country was organized in 1783, with a membership of sixty. In 1802 the Holston terri- 302 History of Methodism. tory, comprising a district of six circuits, with a membership of 2,980, fell into the Western Conference. When the Western was divided in 1812, the Holston District, with nine circuits and a membership of 6,335, fell into the Tennessee Conference. The first Conference west of the Appalachians was held at Keywood's, in Washington County, Ya., May 13-15, 1788, Bish- op Asbury presiding. Recently a tablet commemorating this event was unveiled on the site of the Keywood house. In 1824 the Holston Conference was organized, with three districts, twenty-six circuits, and a membership of 14,034. The first session met in Knoxville, Tenn., with Bishop Roberts pre- siding and John Tevis at the Secretary's table. During the ninety-two years the Presidents have been : Bishops Roberts, Soule, McKendree, Hedding, Emory, Andrew, Capers, Morris, Waugh, Paine, Pierce, Early, MeTyeire, WTightman, Doggett, Kavanaugh, Keener, Wilson, Hargrove, Galloway, Fitzgerald, Duncan, Granbery, Key, Hendrix, Morrison, Hoss, Smith, Can- dler, Kilgo, Denny, Waterhouse, and Murrah. In 1834 John Henninger was elected President in the absence of a bishop, and in 1841 Samuel Patton was likewise elected. The Secre- taries have been: John Tevis, Thomas Stringfield, Elbert P. Sevier, L. S. Marshall, D. R. McAnally, C. D. Smith, W. C. Graves, J. X. Huffaker, 1). Sullins, J. H. Brunner, E. E. Wiley, R. X. Price, F. Richardson, B. W. S. Bishop, W. C. Garden, and J. A. Burrow. The first session of the Holston Conference, after the organ- ization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was held in Athens, Tenn., beginning October 8, 1845, with Bishop Andrew presiding. The Conference passed resolutions, adhering to the Southern division of the Church, in strict accordance with the provisions of the Plan of Separation adopted by t lie General Conference in New York in May, 1844. During the War be- tween the States the Federal armies took possession of East Tennessee. Societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church wrere organized. The General Conference of 1864 provided for the organization of a Northern Holston Conference, the first ses- sion of which was held at Athens, Tenn., in 1865. The Holston Conference. Methodist Episcopal Chnrch, South, lost two presiding elders' districts by the action of our General Sketches of Annual Conferences. 393 Conference of 1888, forming the Western North Carolina Con- ference, into which fell the Asheville and Franklin Districts. In the details of the history of Holston Methodism it will ap- pear that the Conference has at one time or another embraced Southwestern Virginia west of New River, including two coun- ties of what is now West Virginia, the whole of East Tennessee, Western North Carolina west of Blue Ridge, together with a portion of McDowell County east of it, and small portions of Upper South Carolina and North Georgia. The Conference at the present time includes only Southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee, with a part of Dade County, Ga., and of Mercer and McDowell Counties, W. Va. If the question is asked, "How did Methodism get into this country?" the answer is, "By em- igration." On the tides of emigration, which in the eight- eenth century flowed to this high and healthful region, came local preachers, exhorters, and private men of the Methodist Societies. Emigrants came mainly from Maryland, Eastern and Central Virginia, and North Carolina. From the arrival of the first missionaries in America, in 1770, Methodist preach- ers had been very active and successful in the section from which the principal emigration flowed to the Holston country. The importance of Holston Methodist history can be under- stood only when it is borne in mind that the Holston country was the gateway to the West and Southwest ; that from these heights Methodist gospel light radiated to the "dark and bloody ground" of Kentucky, the fertile plains of Ohio, the great Northwest, the broad and beautiful savannas of the Southwest. It was four years after the Holston territory was set off as a separate circuit before Methodist missionaries found their way into the Cumberland country, now Middle Tennes- see. The Holston Conference from the beginning has been famous for strong preachers and extensive revivals. Timothy and David Sullins, E. C. Wexler, R. N. Price, Frank Richardson, and many others, preached a strong and pure gospel, and the old-time religion showed itself in loud shouting. Wexler was a man of superior ability, and when Gen. John B. Floyd was on his deathbed he sent for Brother Wexler. William E. Munsey was a Holston man and an extraordinary preacher. Bishop 394 History of Methodism. Keener, bearing him unfavorably mentioned by some young preachers, quieted them by saying: "If William E. Munsey was not a great man, we never had a great man." W. G. E. Cun- nyngham was a Holston man, and he had the faculty of suc- ceeding in everything he undertook. D. R. McAnally was a Holston man. Thomas Stringfield, the first editor of the Nash- ville Christian Advocate, was a Holston man, and as preacher and editor he had few equals. The mountain country of Hol- ston has given to the world much oratory. Landon C. Haynes and Robert L. Taylor, in the matter of charming speech, were1 much beyond the average. Haynes went from the Methodist pul- pit into politics, while Taylor's father (N. G. Taylor ) was both an eminent Methodist preacher and a Congressman. Prominent among the men of Holston history have been : James Axley, George Ekin, Thomas Wilkerson, John Hen- ninger, Charles Collins, Thomas Stringfield, Creed Fulton, Samuel Patton, Elbert F. Sevier, William G. Brownlow, Thomas K. Catlett, Rufus M. Stevens, John M. McTeer, Wil- liam E. Munsey, E. E. Wiley, John H. Brunner, George C. Ran- kin, and Frank Richardson. Among those still living are: Dr. R. N. Price, Dr. David Sullins, Bishop E. E. Hoss, Bishop James Atkins, and Bishop R. G. Waterhouse. Modern leaders in the Conference are as follows: James A. Burrow, I. P. Martin, J. WT. Perry, E. A. Shugart, P. L. Cobb, S. B. Vaught, E. H. Cassidy, T. J. Eskridge, George R. Stuart, J. A. Baylor, T. C. Schuler, J. C. Orr, W. S. Neighbors; and amongst the laymen, E. C. Reeves, F. A. Carter, Isaac Harr, J. Milton Browne, Creed P. Bates, H. C. Stuart, G. L. Hard wicke, and J. W. Savior. The Holston Conference at this writing (September, 191 G) has lost by death lf>9 preachers. It now has 20G local preach- ers, 242 traveling preachers (including the worn-out list), 31 undergraduates, and 35 supplies; 81,470 members, 850 classes, 213 pastoral charges, and 171 parsonages. Kentucky Conference. In May, 1788, at Keywood, Va., Bishop Asbury held the first Conference to meet in the vast region known as the Mississippi Valley. In May, 1790, at Masterson's Station, not far from Lex- Sketches of Annual Conferences. ington, Ky., in the very heart of the present Kentucky Confer ence, he held the first Conference to meet west of the Alleghany Mountains. Trior to 1812 this old Western Conference (the mother of Conferences) embraced a vast territory, including what is now Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mis souri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The General Con- ference of 1812 divided this great field into two Conferences, the Ohio and the Tennessee, the dividing line splitting the State of Kentucky into two. The General Conference of 1820 created the Kentucky Conference, consisting of the State of Kentucky, a part of West Virginia, and a small portion of the State of Tennessee. In this territory there were then 20,666 white and 2,750 colored members. In this same territory there are now approximately 150,000 Methodists. The Louisville Conference was carved out of the original territory of the Kentucky Con- ference in 1846. The Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, now numbering about 24,000, was organized in 1853. The Paducah District, of the Memphis Conference, and the Ashland and Huntington Districts, of the Western Virginia Conference, were originally parts of this Conference. Bishops Asbury and McKendree often presided over the old Western Conference. Bishop Asbury died before the Kentucky Conference was established. Bishop McKendree was often pres- ent at its sessions and was frequently in the chair, though his name never was appended to the minutes as President. In this connection the name of Bishop R. R. Roberts appears ten times ; Bishops Soule and Kavanaugh, each, seven times ; Bishop Hen- drix, six times; Bishops Andrew, Paine, McTyeire, and Wil- son, each, five times; Bishops Pierce and Keener, each, four times; Bishops George, Capers, and Early, each, three times; Bishops Waugh, Morris, Doggett, Wightman, Granbery, Har- grove, Morrison, Candler, and Kilgo, each, twice; and Bish- ops Hedding, Emory, Janes, Marvin, Galloway, Duncan, Hay good, Key, Smith, Hoss, McCoy, and Atkins, each, once. The following-named Secretaries have served the Conference since its first session, in 1821 : William Adams, thirteen years; Richard D. Neale, one year ; William Phillips, one year ; George McNeilly, three years ; T. N. Ralston, eleven years ; George W. Smiley, two years; J. H. D. Corwine, one year; Daniel Steven- 39G History of Methodism. son, ten years; T. F. Vanmeter, twenty-two years; George B. Savage, two years; J. H. Young, two years; J. Reeves, eight years; F. S. Pollitt, five years; J. L. Clark, six years; W. E. Arnold, eight years. Among the leaders of the Conference dating back to the be- ginning, William McKendree, Thomas A. Morris, H. B. Bascom, and H. H. Kavanaugh have been made bishops. Francis Poy- thress, William Burke, Jesse Walker, Peter Cartwright, Jona- than Stamper, B. T. Crouch, and others were great presiding elders. As educators, Martin Ruter, Peter Akers, Joseph 8. Tomlinson, and T. J. Dodd were unsurpassed. T. N. Ralston was the equal of any theologian of his day. Benjamin M. Drake and William Winans both began their ministry in the Kentucky Conference. Among the later leaders, 0. W. Miller, Robert Hiner, H. P. Walker, J. W. Fitch, W. F. Taylor, W. E. Arnold, E. G. B. Mann, E. L. Southgate, J. D. Redd, C. H. Greer, G. W. Crutchfield, B. C. Horton, C. K. Dickey, J. O. A. Vaught, and F. K. Struve are each worthy of a place. Among the mission- aries are: Littleton Fowler, L. B. Stateler, Fountain E. Pitts, Charles Taylor, C. F. Reid, and J. C. C. Newton. Kentucky has been a battle ground of the centuries. Before the coming of the white man, it was the borderland between the Northern and Southern Indian tribes. Neither could occupy it as a home, but here they engaged in many a bloody fray. From its location, the State was compelled to act as a buffer for the North and South during the War between the States. At no point was this conflict more truly fratricidal. Religiously, it has likewise been a battle ground. In no part of our coun- try have the issues between Calvinism and Arminianism been more vehemently argued than here. This is the field upon which the Immersionists, Baptists, and Campbellites have waged their incessant warfare. When American Methodism was di- vided, in 1844, Kentucky was affected as few other States; and the stand made by Kentucky Methodists saved the South much territory and many members. At the close of the war, in 1S65, eighteen of the leading members of the Kentucky Conference located, went into the Methodist Episcopal Church, and suc- ceeded in dividing nearly every Church of considerable strength in the Conference. Sketches of Annual Conferences. 397 South Carolina Conference. South Carolina was one of the six original Conferences first formally named and set apart in 1796. The territory included South Carolina, Georgia, and the remainder of North Caro- lina not included in the Virginia Conference, which was that portion south of the Cape Fear River and that situated on the branches of the Yadkin. Methodism, however, existed in the State long prior to this. The Wesleys and Whitefield visited and preached in Charles- ton as early as 1736. Francis Asbury came into the State on his first episcopal tour in 1785, again in 1786, and with Bishop Coke held the first session of the Conference in Charleston March 22, 1787, nine years before the Conference was formally established by General Conference action. Beginning with the Conference session in 1787, Asbury held — with the exception of the Conference in 17C8, when he was unable to be present on account of illness — twenty-nine con- secutive sessions of the South Carolina Conference, and usually spent from three weeks to a month within the State. Bishop Coke was associated with Bishop Asbury in five sessions of the South Carolina Conference, Bishop Whatcoat in three, and Bishop McKendree in seven. Besides the seven sessions associated with Asbury, Bishop McKendree presided over six sessions, Bishop George being associated in two and Bishops Roberts and Soule in one. Bishop Roberts presided over three sessions in addition to the one with McKendree and Soule. Bishop George presided over three sessions in addition to the two with McKendree. Bishop Joshua Soule presided over five sessions besides the two with McKendree and Roberts. Bishop Elijah Hedding presided over one session ; Bishop J. O. Andrew, over eleven, besides one with Bishop Emory; Bishop Beverly Waugh presided over one; Bishop Thomas A. Morris, two ; Bishop William Capers, three ; Bishop Robert Paine, six; Bishop G. F. Pierce, six; Bishop John Early, three; Bishop William M. Wightman, four; Bishop 1). S. Doggett, two; Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh, two; Bishop H. N. McTyeire, four; Bishop E. M. Marvin, one; Bishop John C. Keener, five; Bishop A. W. Wilson, five, besides one with Bish- :i98 History of Methodism. op Collins Denny; Bishop John C. Granbery, three; Bishop YV. \V. Duncan, four; Bishop E. R. Hendrix, two; Bishop K. K. Hargrove, two; Bishop C. B. Galloway, two; Bishop J. S. Key, one; Bishop A. Coke Smith, one; Bishop W. A. Candler, one; Bishop H. C. Morrison, one; Bishop John C. Kilgo, two; and Bishop Collins Denny, two, besides one with Bishop Wilson. Four Presidents have been elected in the absence of a bishop — viz.: Jonathan Jackson, YY. M. Kennedy, Malcolm McPher- son, and A. M. Shipp. The Secretary of the first twelve sessions is unknown. Since 1799 the following have served as Secretary: Jesse Ixje, two years; J. Norman, one: N. Snethen, three; John MeVean, one; James Hill, one; Lewis Myers, two; W. M. Kennedy, four; A. Tally, three; S. K. Hodges, four; John Howard, one; S. YY. Capers, ore; W. M. Wightman, eight; William Capers, one; J. H. Wheeler, five; P. A. M. Williams, thirteen ; F. A. Mood, ten; F. M. Kennedy, four; W. C. Power, fifteen; H. F. Chreitzberg, six; and E. O. Watson, the present Secretary, twenty-three. Minor changes in the boundary were made in 1804, 1812, and 1824. In 1830 Georgia was set off as a separate Conference. Slight changes affecting the North Carolina territory were made in 1832, 183G, and 1850. In 1870 the South Carolina Con- ference was made to include only the State of South Carolina. In 1914 the State was divided into two Conferences by a line running from east to west, practically dividing the State equally as to territory, membership, churches, and financial strength, leaving six districts in the upper portion of the State to be called the "Upper South Carolina Conference'* and six districts in the lower portion retaining the original name, historical records, chronological roll, and session num- ber. Under a plan of division adopted by the Conference be- fore division, the colleges, schools, the one orphanage, and the Southern Christian Advocate are owned and managed jointly by the two Conferences. The reports rendered at the last session of the Conference covering the whole State (1914) showed 200 pastoral charges, with 224 parsonages, valued at 8001,505; 830 Church organiza- tions, with 786 church buildings, valued at S2.057.039; 707 Pnnday schools, nearly one for every Church, with an enroll- Sketches of Annual Conferences. 399 ment of S4,41G. More than a quarter of a million dollars was raised for pastoral support and some $05,000 for missions and Church extension. The schools, colleges, and orphanage now operated and owned by Methodism in South Carolina are, in the order of their establishment: Cokesbury Conference School, begun as Tabernacle under Stephen Olin in 1821; Wofford, at Spartan- burg, established in 1854; Columbia College, Columbia, S. C, 1859; Lander College, founded at Williamston by Dr. Samuel Lander in 1873, removed to Greenwood, and received by the Conference in 1904; Wofford Pitting School, at Spartanburg, 1887; Carlisle School for Boys and Girls, Bamberg, S. C, 1893; Epworth Orphanage, Columbia, S. C., 1894 ; Textile Industrial School, Spartanburg, S. C, founded by Kev. D. E. Camak in 1911 for the young men and women of the cotton mills; Horry Industrial School, Horry County, near Conway, S. C, founded by Dr. E. O. Watson for poor boys and girls of the rural dis- tricts in 1913 and received by the Conference as a mission school in 1915. These institutions have a property valuation of 11,000,000, an endowment of a little more than a quarter of a million dollars, eighty teachers, and thirteen hundred students. Steady progress has characterized all the work of Methodism through the years. South Carolina has been foremost in many things, never laggard in anything. The salaries paid for pas- toral support have steadily increased, markedly so within the last decade; and wrhile no unusually large salaries are paid, the average is very near a living wage, and few salaries are now below it. The rule of the Conference is: A comfortable, well-furnished home for every pastor and presiding elder. An era of church- and parsonage-building has been on, especially during the last decade, and Methodism now rejoices in many beautiful churches and elegant parsonage homes. The Conference has been blessed with great leaders, preach- ers and laymen, of consecrated ability. Dr. James H. Car- lisle, for fifty-five years with Wofford College, by common con- sent recognized as the greatest teacher of the South and fore- most layman of the Church, contributed largely to the best things in the State, and his influence lingers as a blessed bene- diction. Dr. Henry Nelson Snyder, President of Wofford, is 400 History of Methodism. a worthy successor, who not only maintains the ideals of Wof- ford, but advances the standard and improves the equipment of that great institution. Bishops William Capers, William M. Wightman, William Wallace Duncan, and A. Coke Smith, men of rare character and power in their Conference before their election to the episcopacy, added honor to South Carolina in the high service rendered by them throughout the Church. Bishop John C. Kilgo — born in a South Carolina Methodist parsonage, a leader while laboring in South Carolina, the in- strument in the hands of God, when transferred to North Caro- lina, in securing a great equipment for Trinity College — and Bishop E. D. Mouzon are South Carolina men now serving the Church in the episcopacy. Beginning with Dr. Charles Taylor and Benjamin Jenkins, the first Southern Methodist missionaries to China, forty-one have gone forth from the South Carolina Conference to labor in foreign fields. A full list of those who as leaders have spent themselves within the bounds of South Carolina or are now laboring faith- fully and efficiently for the building of the kingdom cannot be given here. There were many great names in the past; there are many in the present. God wrought mightily through those who have gone before and is working through those who live to-day. The division of the State into two Conferences was without schism, but for the better prosecution of the rapidly growing work. In generous rivalry the two Conferences are carrying on the work, it is hoped and believed, with larger pos- sibilities than ever before. Upper South Carolina Conference. The beginnings of Methodism in South Carolina date back to the early days. It was at the close of the Christmas Confer- ence, at Baltimore, Md., in 1784, that Francis Asbury, Jesse Lee, and Henry Willis set out for Charleston, S. C. They arrived at Georgetown February 2.°>, 1875. Here Asbury preached, and the Word brought forth fruit. The next day they continued their journey toward Charleston. Reaching that city, Asbury's first sermon there was on March 2. At the end of that year the record shows ;i membership of thirty-five whites Sketches of Annual Conferences. 401 and twenty-three colored and that the preachers had received $425 for their support. The first session of the South Carolina Annual Conference was held in Charleston March 22, 1787, presided over by Coke and Asbury. The statistical reports rendered at that Confer- ence show a membership of 2,075 whites and 141 colored. At the session of the Conference held at Columbia, S. C, January 27, 1830, Joshua Soule presiding, the Georgia Confer- ence was set off. The reports for that year show a membership of 40,335 whites and 24,554 colored. At the Conference held at Cheraw, S. C, December 15, 18G9, H. H. Kavanaugh presiding, a large section in the State of North Carolina was transferred to the South Carolina Annual Conference. The records indicate that the membership had increased to 42,926 whites, while only 1,536 colored members were reported. From 1870 to 1914 the South Carolina Annual Conference included all of the State of South Carolina. The Upper South Carolina Annual Conference is the young- est of all of the Annual Conferences of our Southern Method- ism. As its name indicates, it includes only the upper half of the State, the Piedmont section. For many years there had been a minority sentiment in favor *»f division. The first definite and successful effort toward di- vision was made at the session of the South Carolina Annual Conference held at Rock Hill, S. C, November 26 to December 1, 1913. At that Conference resolutions were offered favoring the division of the Conference into two bodies. These resolutions were adopted by a vote of 123 to 80. A committee was ap- pointed to prepare a memorial to the General Conference pray- ing that the division be made. The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which met in Oklahoma City, Oida., in May, 1914, acted favorably on the memorial and "made it the duty of the South Carolina Conference at its next session to fix the line of division so as to make two Confer- ences in the State of South Carolina." At the session of the South Carolina Annual Conference held at Sumter, S. C, in November, 1914, after full discussion, the line of division was fixed by a vote of 174 to 80. The first session of the Upper South Carolina Annual Con- 26 402 History of Methodism. fereuce was held in Bethel Methodist Church, Spartanburg, S. C, November 24-29, 1915. The organization was as follows: Bishop Collins Denny, President; P. B. Wells, Secretary; W. J. Snyder, Assistant Secretary; R. E. Turnipseed, Statistical Secretary; J. R. T. Major, Assistant Statistical Secretary; S. O. Cantey, Assistant Statistical Secretary; R. E. Sharp, As- sistant Statistical Secretary; Legal Conference, J. C. Roper, President; Conference Brotherhood, John O. Willson, Presi- dent; Historical Society, M. L. Carlisle, President; Board of Education, E. T. Hodges, President; Board of Missions, J. W. Speake, President ; Board of Church Extension, A. N. Brunson, President; Sunday School Board, L. F. Beaty, President; Ep- worth League Board, J. C. Smith (a layman), President; Bi- ble Society Board, E. Z. James, President; Minute Board, D. W. Keller, President; Joint Board of Finance, L. P. McGee, President. The following are the presiding elders : T. C. O'Dell, W. I. Herbert, J. W. Kilgo, M. L. Carlisle, P. B. Wells, and R. E. Stackhouse. Among the leaders of the Conference, the following may be mentioned: John O. Willson, P. B. Wells, L. F. Beaty, M. L. Carlisle, J. W. Kilgo, P. F. Kilgo, R. E. Stackhouse, W. I. Herbert, T. C. O'Dell, J. R. T. Major, J. C. Roper, E. T. Hodges, J. B. Traywick, E. S. Jones, L. P. McGee, R. E. Turnipseed, C. C. Herbert, J. W. Speake, A. N. Brunson, and W. J. Snyder. The minutes of the Conference show 141 appointments, not including those to educational institutions and connectional offices, and a membership of 51,000. This Conference has a great future. Florida Conference. The memorable General Conference of 1844 gave authoriza- tion for the erection of a number of new Annual Conferences, amongst which the Florida Conference was prominent. Pre- vious to that time its territory had belonged to the old Geor- gia Conference, divided in 18G6 into North and South Geor- gia. The original charter of the Florida Conference, as found in the Journal of the General Conference of 1844, is in these words: "The Florida Conference shall include all that part of the State of Georgia not included in the Georgia Conference, and East and Middle Florida." That part of the latter State Sketches of Annual Conferences. 403 known as West Florida — a "panhandle" running along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico — has been in the Alabama Con- ference since its organization, having originally constituted a part of the Mississippi Conference. The first session of the Florida Conference was held at Tal- lahassee February 8, 1845, Bishop Joshua Soule presiding. The new jurisdiction consisted of four districts — the Quincy, the Tallahassee, the Newnansville, and the St. Mary's Dis- tricts. Of these, Reuben H. Luckey, Peyton P. Smith, John W. Yarbrough, and Thomas Denning were, respectively, the presiding elders. It was at this Conference that Simon Peter Richardson was elected and ordained an elder. His appoint- ment for the year was St. Augustine Mission. Seven candi- dates were received on trial into the traveling connection. In this list appear the names of John C. Ley and N. M. Lowe, names that are still represented on the roll of the Conference. One of the acts of this initial sitting of the Florida Confer- ence was to pass upon the Plan of Separation sent down from the General Conference of 1844. This plan was discussed in a spirited and interested way and was promptly and fully in- dorsed, after which the Conference selected a delegation to sit in the Louisville Convention. This convention met in the city of Louisville on May 1, 1845, and formally completed the di- vision of the Church according to the agreement of the ma- jority of delegates in the General Conference. • The delegation of the Florida Conference which sat in the Louisville Conven- tion consisted of but two members, Peyton P. Smith and Thom- as C. Penning. The Florida Conference began its history as a distinct or- ganization with about seven thousand members and thirty-six pastoral charges, including the headship of the districts. The country was then new as an American State and was but thin- ly populated. It is only since the War between the States that it has known the phenomenal growth which has brought its lands and climate to the wide public notice which has made its present greatness. But Methodism, being early upon the field, was planted in advantageous places and has grown with the growth of the country. The Minutes of 1915 show a mem- bership of 38,329, worshiping in 338 churches, valued in the 404 History of Methodism. tables of the Conference at approximately one and a quarter million dollars. There are 187 pastoral appointments, cov- ering every available part of the territory of the State — north, south, east, and west. The organization of the Conference is excellent; and its progress in all departments of local and connectional work — as Missions, Education, Sunday School, and Epworth League — has been steady. There are 379 Sunday schools, with about 40,000 officers, teachers, and members; 171 Epworth Leagues, with a membership of about 0,000. During its history the Conference has had but eight differ- ent Secretaries — namely : T. C. Benning, P. P. Smith, N. T. Gardner, J. C. Ley, F. A. Branch, J. D. De Pass, U. S. Bird, and Frederick Pasco. Dr. Pasco has served continuously since 1874, a period of forty-two years and a record which equals that of the ancients. All the older bishops and many of the newer panel have presided over the body. The Florida Conference delegates in recent General Confer- ences have been: Clerical — Ira S. Patterson, L. W. Moore, J. P. Hilburn, Smith Harding, W. J. Carpenter, M. H. Norton, G. S. Roberts, J. F. Bell, J. A. Hendry, and J. R. Cason. Lay— C. E. Brinkley, L. J. Cooper, F. D. Jackson, B. H. Johnson, J. W. Pennington, H. D. Bassett. The names of Fullwood, Anderson, Householder, Wilson, Partridge, Barnett, Sweat, Thrower, Williams, and many others are well known in con- nection with this southernmost of the American Conferences. South Georgia Conference. The General Conference which met in New Orleans in May, 1SGG, authorized the division of the Georgia Conference; and the last session of that Conference was held in Americus, Ga., November 28, 1866, Bishop H. X. McTyeire presiding. At this sitting Caleb W. Key, Samuel Anthony, and W. J. Parks were "appointed a committee to prepare business for the ac- tion of the Conference in reference to a division." This com- mittee recommended "that, in view of all the circumstances and the general good of the Church, the division should take place." After much discussion, the recommendation was adopt- ed by a vote of sixty-five for division and fifty-one against it. The line fixed at that time was the same as that which now Sketches of Annual Conferences. 405 exists and which is described in the Book of Discipline under the subject, "Boundaries of the Annual Conferences." The names chosen for the two Conferences were North Georgia and South Georgia. At the time of the division there were in the Georgia Conference 51,219 white members and 20,789 white pupils in the Sunday schools. The total amount paid for preachers in charge was $50,221.59 and for presiding elders 16,699.05. The amount paid for Conference claimants was 15,454.20 and for missions $7,010.68. The first session of the South Georgia Conference was held in the lecture room of Trinity Church, Savannah, Bishop George P. Pierce presiding. J. Blakely Smith, who had been the Sec- retary of the Georgia Conference for eighteen years, was elected Secretary. Among the leading members who came to the South Georgia Conference in the division were : Lovick Pierce, Joseph S. Key, James W. Hinton, Isaac S. Hopkins, G. G. N. MacDon- ell, E. H. Myers, J. O. A. Clark, James E. Evans, A. M. Wynn. W. A. Parks, J. B. McGehee, J. O. A. Cook, T. T. Christian, and J. Blakely Smith. At the close of its first year the Conference had 19,626 while members and 206 Sunday schools, with 9,003 pupils. There were seven districts, with eighty-six pastoral charges; also three colored districts. The amount raised for ministerial support this year was as follows: Preachers in charge, $37,- 825.21 ; presiding elders, $6,925.56. Other amounts raised were as follows: Conference claimants, $2,933.27; domestic mis sions, $2,719.31 ; foreign missions, $546.35 ; Sunday schools, $3, 137.82. The value of all Church property was $479,385. As showing something of the growth of the Conference, the following figures are taken from the statistics of the forty- ninth session, held in Cordele, November 24-29, 1915: Ten dis- tricts ; 239 pastoral charges, with 93,056 members ; 712 Sunday schools, with 65,165 scholars enrolled during the year. The following amounts were reported : For preachers in charge, $213,597; for presiding elders, $25,834; for Conference claim- ants, $15,604 ; for home and Conference missions, $24,561 ; for foreign missions, $28,059; for Sunday schools, $42,427. The total amount raised for all purposes in 1915 was $661,219. The 406 History of Methodism. present value of Church property is $2,673,894. This does not include the schools and colleges. During the forty-nine years of its history twenty-two bishops have presided over the sessions of the South Georgia Conference, as follows: George F. Pierce, eight; W. M. Wightman, two; H. H. Kavanaugh, two ; E. M. Marvin, one ; Robert Paine, one ; D. S. Doggett, two; H. N. McTyeire, two; J. C. Keener, two; J. C. Granbery, two; A. W. Wilson, five; E. R. Hendrix, two; W. W. Duncan, four; R. K. Hargrove, two; A. G. Haygood, one; O. P. Fitzgerald, one; C. B. Galloway, three; J. S. Key, two; W. A. Candler, three; Seth Ward, one; James Atkins, one; H. C. Morrison, two; and J. C. Kilgo, one. During these years there have been five Secretaries — to wit : J. Blakely Smith, who had been Secretary of the Georgia Con- ference eighteen years, was Secretary of the South Georgia Conference four years ; Stephen D. Clements, ten years ; R. B. Bryan, eight years ; W. C. Lovett, eight years ; and the present Secretary, W. F. Smith, son of J. Blakely Smith, eighteen years. Only twice during the forty-nine years has the bishop failed to appear at the opening session of the Conference. In 1879 Bishop Doggett was detained on account of illness, and Dr. J. W. Hinton was elected President. Bishop Doggett took the chair during the first day's session. In 1896 Bishop Keener was assigned to the South Georgia Conference. He was prevented from attending on account of the illness and death of a daugh- ter. At the last moment Bishop Duncan was requested to hold the Conference. He was not able to reach the seat of the Con- ference, Valdosta, Ga., in time for the first day. Dr. J. O. Branch was elected President. Bishop Duncan was present at the opening of the second day's session. Since the year 1866 415 preachers have been admitted on trial, and 139 have died. The only delegate from the South Georgia Conference to the first General Conference after the division, in 1870, now living is Bishop Joseph S. Key. Dr. J. B. McGehee, who is still alive, was elected an alternate to this Conference. The following-named Presidents of Wesleyan Female College were furnished from the South Georgia Conference: Dr. J. M. Bonnell, Dr. E. H. Myers, Dr. W. C. Bass, Mr. Dupont Guerry Sketches of Annual Conferences. 407 (layman), Dr. W. N. Ainsworth, and the present incumbent, Dr. C. R. Jenkins. Of the Presidents of Emory College, Dr. O. L. Smith, Dr. C. E. Dowman, and Dr. Isaac S. Hopkins were from the South Georgia Conference. Besides holding joint ownership with the North Georgia and the Florida Conferences in Wesleyan College and in Emory (merged into Emory University), the South Georgia Confer- ence holds the undivided interest in Andrew Female Col- lege, Cuthbert, Ga., J. W. Malone, President; South Georgia College, McRae, Ga., F. H. Branch, a layman, President; Warthen College, Wrightsville, Ga., Z. Whitehurst, a layman, President-elect ; Sparks Collegiate Institute, Sparks, Ga., A. W. Rees, President; and Pierce Collegiate Institute, Blackshear, Ga., J. C. Sirmons, President. All of these institutions are do- ing excellent work. The Conference has furnished two editors of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate — Dr. E. H. Myers and Dr. W. C. Lovett. Dr. Lovett was elected in 1899 and has served continuously as editor of the Wesleyan, which is the organ of the North and South Georgia Conferences. During the first decade of the present century the South Georgia Conference became an inspiration to the entire Con- nection in missionary activity. The reports for the quadren- nium 190G-10 show that, including Church Extension and the work of the women, the Conference raised for missions the sum of $429,0G9.29. It was the first Conference in the Connection in which every district paid the entire amount assessed for foreign missions, and for a number of years it led the entire Church in this work; but for the past two or three years the Virginia Conference, on account of the large amount paid for specials, has gone beyond its sister body. The South Geor- gia Conference has in the foreign field men and women — twenty in number — and has yet others preparing for this great work. The South Georgia Conference has been felt in the connec- tional life of Methodism. Dr. J oseph S. Key, an honored mem- ber of this Conference, was elected bishop by the General Con- ference of 1886. During and at the close of the War between the States the finances of the Church were so depleted that it became necessary to stop the publication of the Quarterly Re- 408 History of Methodism. view. Dr. J. W. Hinton, a member of the South Georgia Con- ference, undertook the work of publishing the Review at his own expense, though under the auspices of the General Con- ference. He continued this work until the Church was again able to take it up. Members of the Conference on important Boards and Com mittees of the Church are as follows : W. C. Lovett, D.D., mem- ber of the Book Committee; T. 1). Ellis, D.D., on the Committee on Appeals and the Committee to Investigate Charters; J. M. Outler, on the Sunday School Board ; Mr. R. F. Burden, on the Board of Missions and the Committee on Lay Activities ; C. R. Jenkins, D.D., on the Commission on Education (to classify schools) ; Judge S. B. Adams, on the Committee on World Con- ference of Faith and Order. Dr. Ed F. Cook is Secretary of the Foreign Department of the Board of Missions, and Mrs. R. W. MacDonell is Secretary of the Home Department of the same Board — both from the South Georgia Conference. Dr. W. N. Ainsworth, of this Conference, was the last fraternal messenger from our Church to the Canadian Methodists. He is now a member of the Commission on Unification from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The members of the last General Conference from the South Georgia Conference were as follows: Clerical — W. N. Ains- worth, T. D. Ellis, C. R, Jenkins, Ed F. Cook, W. C. Lovett, and Bascom Anthony. Lay — N. E. Harris ( present Governor of Georgia), Rev. Charles Lane, H. J. Fullbright, T. J. Benton, J. F. Harris, and R. L. Greer. Clerical alternates — J. M. Out- ler and W. F. Smith. Lay alternates — L. W. Branch, J. H. M< Gehee, and R. F. Burden. The Conference celebrated its semicentennial in 1916. North Georgia Conference. The minutes of both the North Georgia and the South Geor- gia Conferences carried for the year 1915-16 the legend "Fiftieth Session," but their history goes back through the old Georgia Conference to the year 1788. On the first day of May in that year Bishop Asbury crossed the Savannah River into Georgia and proceeded to the forks of the Broad River, in what is now Elbert County, where the first conference of the preachers was Sketches of Annual Conferences. 409 to be held. Ten itinerants were reported present — six mem- bers of the South Carolina Conference and four probationers. Amongst the former was Hope Hull, famous in the history of early Methodism both in Georgia and elsewhere. In 1792 he went to assist Jesse Lee in planting Methodism in New Eng- land, but later returned to Georgia and engaged in the work of education. Eemoving to Athens, he became one of the founders of the University of Georgia and was at one time its acting President. An acute annalist has described him as a fine type of the old-time Methodist preacher. The Georgia appointments for 1788 head the list in the printed minutes of that year, which have no names designating either districts or Conferences. The method of geographical classification had not then come into use. The membership reported from the Washington Circuit was that year given as seven hundred and seventy-eight. In all America there were only six other charges reporting so large a number in society. In 1801 the designation of the charges by districts first ap- pears in the printed minutes, and the Georgia District is credited with seven appointments ; but one of these is Natchez, six hundred miles from the other circuits, across the lands of the Creeks, the Choctaws, and the Natchez Indians, on the banks of the Mississippi Kiver. A year later the more dignified designation of "Conference" appears at the head of the several groups of districts ; but Georgia is still shown as a district and an integrant of the South Carolina Conference, with Stith Mead as presiding elder. This relation of the Georgia territory to the South Carolina Conference continued until 1831, when for the first time its several districts appear in the printed min- utes as a separate Conference. At this time the districts num- bered six in all, one of them, the Tallahassee, embracing the whole of the evangelized territory of the State of Florida. The General Conference of 1866 authorized the division of Georgia into two Conferences, which direction was carried out in the same year, the undivided body meeting for the last time at Americus on December 5. In 1867 the North Georgia Con- ference represented 38,211 white and 6,685 colored members. Since the organization of the North Georgia Conference the following-named bishops have presided over its sessions: Bishop 410 History of Methodism. Pierce, six times; Bishop McTyeire, five times; Bishops Wilson and Keener, four times each; Bishops Hendrix, Duncan, and Denny, three times each ; Bishops Wightman, Paine, Haygood, Galloway, and Ward, twice each ; and Bishops Marvin, Har- grove, Key, Fitzgerald, Candler, Hoss, McCoy, and Doggett, once each. The North Georgia Conference has given two bish- ops to the Church — A. G. Haygood and Warren A. Candler. Bishops Andrew and Pierce came from that part of the terri- tory of Georgia now lying within the North Georgia Conference. The list of the mighty men of Methodism who have been identified with this old Conference, which contains what is said to be the largest solid block of Methodism in the world, is long and perhaps unsurpassed by any other Conference of the Church. The list for the year 18GG, when the division of the original body occurred, contained such names as: W. H. Potter, I. S. Hopkins, H. H. Parks, Lovick Pierce, Morgan Callaway, A. G. Haygood, A. M. Thigpen, John W. Heidt, Clement A. Evans, J. B. McGehee, W. P. Harrison, J. W. Hin- ton, and W. C. Dunlap; and not a few names which have be- come of Church-wide distinction have been written on the Con- ference rolls since those days. Amongst the delegates repre- senting the North Georgia Conference in the General Confer- ence during recent years are: James E. Dickey, John D. Ham- mond, James H. Eakes, M. J. Cofer, Thomas J. Christian, Bever- ly Allen, J. A. Sharp, C. O. Jones, R G. Smith, Fletcher Wal- ton, and Charles E. Dowman. Leading lay members have been : John D. Walker, John X. Holder, John T. Duncan, Joseph A. McCord, Asa G. Candler, E. A. Copeland, L. M. Heard, W. W. Pilcher, M. M. Parks, T. W. Harbin, and J. M. Pound. Alabama Conference. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine when the gospel according to Methodism was first preached in Alabama. Prior to 1S29 there were scattered settlements of whites fringing the eastern, northern, and western boundaries of the territory now embraced in the State of Alabama, and it is probable that the first preaching was done by local preachers, exhorters, and class leaders almost simultaneously in each of these groups of set- tlements. An appointment had been made by the South Caro- Sketches of Annual Conferences. 411 lina Conference of one man to serve the Alabama Mission, whose boundaries were indeterminate prior to this ; but Meth- odism as an organized force in Alabama dates from 1829, in which year the Mississippi Conference appointed preachers to serve the Alabama District of that Conference. In 1830 the work had grown into two districts, known as the Alabama and the Black Warrior Districts, of the Mississippi Conference. This condition obtained until December, 1833, when the Ala- bama Conference was organized and held its first session at Tuscaloosa. At this session Bishop James O. Andrew pre- sided. We regret that the available records do not enable us to give the name of the man who served as Secretary. Among the prominent men who were members of the Conference, we find E. V. LeVert, Ebenezer Hearn, and Robert L. Kennon, one of whom was probably the Secretary. From its organization until 1SG3 the Alabama Conference embraced all of Alabama south of the Tennessee River and parts of Mississippi and West Florida. At the session of the Conference held in Columbus, Miss., De- cember, 1S63, under the presidency of Bishop Andrew, the Con- ference was divided into the Mobile and Montgomery Confer- ences, this arrangement holding until 1870, when the lines were changed so as to run east and west instead of north and south ; and the two divisions were henceforth known as the Alabama and the North Alabama Conferences, the southern half of the State and West Florida retaining the original name, Alabama Conference. Over the sessions of the Conference, dating from its organiza- tion in 1833, have presided all the bishops of the Church, except five of those elected to the office in 1910, in their order of elec- tion from Bishop Joshua Soule to Bishop John C. Kilgo. Among the prominent men who have influenced the Confer- ence in the past and who have been transferred to the Church triumphant may be mentioned Jefferson Hamilton, Holland N. McTyeire, Greenberry Garrett, T. W. Dorman, Edward Wads- worth, William Murrah, Thomas O. Summers, George W. Price, Simon Peter Richardson, P. P. Neeley, Allen S. Andrews, Mark S. Andrews, Henry Urquhart, Silas H. Cox, W. M. Motley, J. W. Rush, William A. McCarty, R. B. Crawford, J. O. Andrew, 412 History of Methodism. James M. Mason, and John C. Keener. The last-named was admitted on trial into this Conference and was connected with it for the first three years of his ministry. The Secretaries of the Conference, so far as available records reveal, have been Thomas W. Dorman, James A. Heard, B. B. Ross, John Mathews, J. M. Brown, and T. S. Abernethy, each of whom (except the last two, who served only one year each) held the office for terms of from twTo to five years. At the ses- sion of 1872 Robert B. Crawford was elected Secretary and so remained until his death, in 1889, when he wras succeeded by James M. Mason, who continued to act until his death, in 1909, from wilich date until the present (1916) A. J. Lamar has filled the place. Other living members of the Conference who are amongst the present-day leaders are: J. S. Frazer, E. A. Dannelly, W. M. Cox, W. P. Hurt, C. A. Rush, A. Sledd, M. H. Holt, A. P. McFerrin, R. A. Moody, O. C. McGehee, H. H. Mc- Neill, C. W. Xorthcutt, W. P. Dickenson, and E. C. Moore. North Alabama Conference. The North Alabama Conference was organized at Gadsden, Ala., November 16, 1870, being formed from portions of the Ten- nessee, Mobile, and Montgomery Conferences. Bishop Robert Paine presided, and Dr. John G. Wilson was elected Secretary. Fifty-seven clerical and nineteen lay delegates answered to roll call. Dr. John A. Thompson, a charter member of the Confer- ence, says : "There was nothing so poor in the way of a Confer- ence as the North Alabama when it was organized." On the other hand, Rev. J. D. Anthony, in his "Life and Sermons," says: "The North Alabama preachers wTere a strong body of men. The organization compared favorably with any of its sis ter Conferences." The one no doubt spoke of the material wealth and resources, the other of the personnel of the Confer- ence. The names of such men as John B. Stephenson, John A. Thompson, Anson West, F. T. J. Brandon, J. D. Anthony, J. M. Ballard, J. G. Gurley, T. G. Slaughter, W. E. Mabrey, K. K. Brown, Daniel Duncan, L. M. Wilson, L. R. Bell, C. D. Oliver, and others appear in the list of charter members. The number was soon increased by such men as W. C. McCoy, J. W. Chris- Sketches of Annual Conferences. 413 tian, J. T. Morris, W. T. Andrews, John W. Newman, S. L. Dobbs, L. F. Whitten, and V. O. Hawkins. On the fourth day of the first session of the Conference, Sat- urday, November 19, 1870, says the Journal: "Bishop H. N. McTyeire was presented to the Conference by Bishop Paine and requested to assist in the Conference's business." For Monday morning, November 21, 1870, the Journal reads : "Bishop H. N. McTyeire reported the following traveling preachers as having been ordained by himself on yesterday — viz., William McQueen, Reason T. Moore, and D. M. Booth." In answer to Question 1, "Who are admitted on trial?" we find the names of George T. Whitten, William T. Andrews, Benjamin Vaughn, John W. Newman, Robert G. Ragan, M. M. Hawkins, and B. F. Larabee. In answer to Question 2, "Who remain on trial?" L. F. Whit- ten, Isaac D. Grace, George R. Lynch. Announced as having been transferred from the Tennessee Conference were the names of W. Weakley, T. H. Davenport, and P. L. Henderson. The North Alabama Conference at its organization was com- posed of seven districts : Florence, Talladega, Huntsville, Lar- kinsville, Gadsden, La Fayette, and Tuscaloosa. The Journal shows the following totals: "Paid for support of bishops, 1651.52 ; assessed for presiding elders, f 5,061 ; paid for presid- ing elders, $3,464.19; assessed for preachers in charge, $31,- 514.23 ; paid for preachers in charge, 22,711.56." No statistics of membership, etc., are given. At the second session of the Conference, held in Florence, Ala., November 15, 1871, Bishop G. F. Pierce presided, and J. G. Wilson was again elected Secretary. The statistics were: White members, 24,424 ; colored members, 39 ; local preachers, 293 ; adults baptized, 1,735 ; number of churches, 442 ; value of church property, $226,415 ; number of parsonages, 14 ; value of parsonages, $13,050. Since 1871 the following-named bishops have presided : Mar vin, Doggett, McTyeire, Keener, Kavanaugh, Paine, Candler, Hendrix, Mouzon, Galloway, Key, Wilson, Hargrove, Duncan, Smith, Granbery, Hoss, Kilgo, McCoy, and Denny. The Journal of 1915-16 shows twelve districts and 319 clerical members of the Annual Conference, including undergraduates. Present total membership, 101,386 ; local preachers, 299 ; added History of Methodism. on profession, 6,429 ; added by letter or otherwise, 6,059 ; num- ber of church buildings, 787; value of church property, $2,- 021,200; number of parsonages, 231; value of parsonages, $452,- 288; value of school property, $557,500; assessed for bishops, $3,606 ; paid, $2,699 ; assessed for presiding elders, $31,576 ; paid, $28,988 ; assessed for preachers in charge, $212,984 ; paid, $195,- 543; paid for all purposes, $617,209. Mississippi Conference. As early as January 1, 1799, Bishop Asbury directed Tobias Gibson to go as a missionary to the settlements of the South- west and instructed him to proceed to his new field of labor as soon as the rigors of winter would permit. Setting out upon his journey to the Natchez country, for that was his destina- tion, Gibson traveled six hundred miles on horseback to a point on the Cumberland River, where he entered a skiff, made his way down the Cumberland to its mouth, thence down the Ohio, and from the mouth of that stream on a flatboat until the end of his voyage brought him to Natchez in March, 1799. At this time the territory of Mississippi and contiguous parts were nominally included in what was known as the Western Con- ference, which jurisdiction was supposed to embrace, in addi- tion to the Southwest, the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Illinois. Mr. Gibson, however, labored in these fields as a member of the "South" Conference, as the work in South Carolina was sometimes called. This left the region of the Southwest in a rather ambiguous relation ; but by 1804 it became a district of the Western Conference, definitely so de- scribed. The first Methodist society in the territory of the Mississippi Conference was organized in Washington, Adams County, which was the territorial capital. This society consisted of eight members, four men and four women. Two of these, a man and his wife, were negro slaves. In the year which followed societies were organized at other points along the river, and to the South Carolina Conference of Jan nary, 1^00, Mr. Gibson reported sixty members. During the years that marked the quasi connection of this region with the South Carolina Conference Natchez appeared Sketches of Annual (Conferences. 415 as an appointment in the Georgia District. In the ensuing year Natchez and Nashville, Tenn., appear together in the Cum berland District of the Western Conference. At the end of the second year Mr. Gibson was able to report a net gain of twenty members to be added to the total of the year before. By 1803 the number had increased to one hundred and two, of whom only two were negroes, possibly the two first reported from the society formed in Washington. A rapid advance is noted during the next few years. Members were constantly added, new churches were built, new missionaries came into the dis- trict, and gradually the work assumed the shape and relations of the older fields. Amongst the early missionaries to follow Gibson were Moses Floyd, Hezekiah Harriman, and Abraham Amos. Tobias Gibson, worthy to be styled the apostle of Methodism to the Southwest, died April 5, 1804, and was buried in War- ren County, a few miles south of the city of Vicksburg. In aft- er years there was raised above his grave a marble column, which remains to this day and is often visited by devout Meth- odists as a shrine of unusual sanctity. As early as 1805 Learn- er Blackman and Nathan Barnes were sent to take up labors in this field. With them on their journey rode Lorenzo Dow, that wonderful man of the early Methodist era. Later Dow pur- chased, or perhaps had given him, a parcel of land in the primeval wilds in that part of the Natchez country known as the Coles Creek region, where he built a cottage or cabin and in which, with his wife, at least a portion of his time was spent. Under the leadership of Blackman and Barnes, assisted by Lorenzo Dow, there was held in this section in the latter part of 1805 the first camp meeting ever undertaken below the Tennessee line. It was held at a place six or eight miles from the present town of Port Gibson. The Mississippi District, with Learner Blackman as presid ing elder, was formed in 1806. It consisted of four pastoral appointments — namely: Natchez Circuit, in charge of Nathan Barnes and Thomas Lasley; Claiborne Circuit, in charge of William Pattison ; Wilkinson Circuit, Caleb Cloud and Luther- Taylor in charge; Opelousas Circuit, Elisha W. Bowman in charge. James Griffin and Randall Gibson, the first men 416 History of Methodism. licensed to preach in this region, were employed as assistants by these several pastors in charge. The Western Conference was dismembered in 1812. and in its place appeared the Ohio and the Tennessee Conferences, in the latter of which the Mis- sissippi territory appeared as a district. On November 1, 1813, there was a gathering of the preachers of the Southwest from both sides of the Mississippi River to hold the first session of the Mississippi Conference. Bishop McKendree was to have been present, but the condition of the territory along the Tombigbee River and the middle northern part of Mississippi was considered dangerous for travel be- cause of the uprising of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians. The Bishop was, therefore, dissuaded from undertaking the journey. The preachers met and organized, with Samuel Sel- lers as President and William Winans as Secretary. The name of Winans was destined to become mighty in Methodist his- tory, not only of this region, but of the whole Connection. In fact, the Church lias known few greater leaders or mightier preachers during its whole era. Ten members reported at this gathering, and for three years they continued to meet in an- nual session without the presence of a bishop. They made up their reports of business, sending the same to Tennessee to be incorporated in the minutes of that Conference. It thus hap- pens that for these years Mississippi is referred to in the Gen- eral Minutes as a district. It was not until 1816 that a bishop was able to make his Avay into this region. Bishop R. R. Roberts, who was elected at the General Conference of that year, was by Bishop McKendree assigned to visit the Confer- ence and complete its organization. This he did, it being the first Conference which he ever held. For a long time the territory of Alabama was embraced in the Mississippi Conference and so remained until the organiza- tion of the Alabama Conference, in 1832. Per contra, a part of the territory of Mississippi was left in the Alabama Confer- ence, as a part of the territory of Louisiana was left in the Mississippi Conference, until the readjustment of lines in later years. Besides the names of pioneers already mentioned, the names of Drake, Pipkin, Clinton, Cooper, Steel, Linfield. Watkins, Sketches of Annual Conferences. 417 Marshall, Montgomery, Jones, Lewis, Heard, Abbey, Feather- stun, Hunnicutt, Hines, Ellis, Godfrey, Forsyth, Black, Single- ton, Weems, Mounger, and Holloman have been well known. The sons and other descendants of some of the men who made these names worthy of honor are members of the Conference and well preserve the records of their forbears. North Mississippi Conference. The North Mississippi Conference, organized from territory taken from the Memphis, the Alabama, and the Mississippi Conferences, met in its first session at Water Valley, Miss., November 30, 1870, Bishop Doggett presiding. Rev. John Bar- croft was elected Secretary and served efficiently in this ca- pacity for the remaining twenty years of his life. The Confer- ence embraces the northern half of the State, stretching from the red hills of the center through the rolling prairies on the east and the fertile alluvial soil of the great Mississippi Delta on the west. Yet its population is everywhere rural and its industrial interests agricultural. It has no large cities, no slums, no special "problems," unless it be the preservation of the country Church. Having an unusually homogeneous popu- lation, with probably no foreign congregation of any faith or order within its bounds, it has not the extreme differences in rank of appointments found in some Conferences. Many peo- ple have left this section of Mississippi for the West, and there has been little immigration; so that while the additions report- ed should give a net membership of more than 100,000, the Conference has actually but 59,131 members after starting forty-six years ago with 21,815. This Conference has always taken an active interest in educa- tion. Its schools are Grenada College for girls and, along with the Mississippi Conference, Millsaps College for men. It also owns jointly with that Conference the Orphans' Home located at Jackson and caring for more than two hundred children. It had a leading part in the founding of Vanderbilt University and gave to it its great Chancellor, Landon C. Garland. There is now a wholesome revival of enthusiasm for Christian educa- tion manifest in the campaign for funds for Grenada College and in gifts to Emory University and to Millsaps College. 27 418 History of Methodism. The North. Mississippi Conference has ever maintained a high average among its preachers, two names from its rolls appearing on the list of bishops — Charles B. Galloway, having been admitted into full connection at the first session of the Conference, though immediately transferring to the Mississippi Conference; and W. B. Murrah, having been admitted in 1874, his connection with the Conference being continued till his election to the episcopacy, in 1910. A number of transfers from the Conference have attained distinction elsewhere. Among those whose labors have been conspicuous or who have held high honors at the hands of their brethren may be mentioned : J. H. Brooks, a popular preacher who made the facts of his- tory living realities to his auditors; J. J. Wheat, D.D., many years Professor of Greek at the State University and probably the greatest pulpit orator the Conference has had; W. T. J. Sullivan, D.D., long-time presiding elder and educator, a scholar and a saint; W. P. Barton, pastor and presiding elder, well be- loved; Gilderoy Porter, facile writer, author of delightful stories for children, and genial humorist; S. M. Thames, twenty years a presiding elder, faithful and true; Amos Kendall, who made fast friends and remained many years in a few places; J. D. Cameron, D.D., a strong preacher and careful administra- tor; T. C. Wier, devout and sweet-spirited; J. W. Honnoll, "educated in a cornfield," but becoming a college president and master of a style fit for any pulpit; J. W. Boswell, D.D., editor and author, ever ready to expound and defend the doctrines of his Church; J. S. Oakley, an Englishman fit for the nobility and for ten years the accurate and painstaking Secretary of his Conference; T. Y. Ramsey, Sr., a leader in his day; R. A. Meek, D.D., the versatile editor of the New Orleans Christian Advocate; T. A. S. Adams, poet-preacher; Philip Tuggle, an early leader; S. A. Steel, renowned as an orator; T. W. Dye, at one time editor of the Memphis Christian Advocate; T. W. Lewis and T. J. Newell, transferred and active elsewhere; J. W. Price, W. S. Lagrone, H. S. Spragins, B. P. Jaco, W. W. Woollard, J. R. Countiss, and many others, living and dead, of whom the world has not been worthy. Sketches of Annual Conferences. 419 Tennessee Conference. The General Conference of 1812 divided the old Western Conference into the Ohio and Tennessee Conferences. The Tennessee Conference included Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, parts of Kentucky and Indiana, with Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana thrown in for good measure. The first session of the Tennessee Conference was held at Fountain Head Church, in Sumner County. Bishops Asbury and McKendree were present, but Bishop McKendree presided. William B. Elgin was Secretary. The following-named districts composed the Conference at this time: Holston, Cumberland, Nashville, Wabash, Mississippi, and Illinois. The membership included in this territory was composed of 20,633 white and 2,066 col- ored persons. There were twenty-two traveling elders, seven deacons of one year, and seven who were admitted into full connection at that sitting, making thirty-six traveling preach- ers in full connection. By the subsequent organization of the Mississippi, Missouri, Kentucky, Holston, Memphis, and North Alabama Conferences the territory of the Tennessee Conference was reduced to its present dimensions, including only Middle Tennessee, having a smaller area than many of the newer Conferences, with only one large city, Nashville, in its bounds. The present member- ship of the Conference is 75,395. There are two hundred and eighteen preachers who are in full connection and nineteen who are on trial. The following-named bishops have presided over the Confer- ence from the time of its organization until now : Bishops As- bury, McKendree, Roberts, George, Soule, Andrew, Morris, Waugh, Janes, Paine, Capers, Kavanaugh, Early, Pierce, Mc- Tyeire, Doggett, Marvin, Wightman, Keener, Wilson, Hendrix, Hargrove, Galloway, Duncan, Granbery, Key, Fitzgerald, Smith, Hoss, Candler, Kilgo, Denny, Murrah, and Atkins, Bishop E. S. Janes was the last bishop of the undivided Church to preside over the Tennessee Conference, at the session in Columbia in 1844. In the absence of bishops the following-named elders have been elected to preside over the Conference from time to time : Thomas L. Douglass (1817), Marcus Lindsay (1820), Robert 420 History of Methodism. Paine (1829, before he was made a bishop), Lewis Garrett (1830), Fountain E. Pitts (1838), A. L. P. Green (1845), John B. McFerrin (1862). The following-named have served the Conference as Secretaries from its organization until now : William B. Elgin, Thomas L. Douglass, Hardy M. Cryer, Charles Holliday, German Baker, William L. McAlister, D. C. McLeod, John W. Hanner, E. H. Hatcher, Alexander R. Erwin, Joseph Cross, William C. John- son, Simon P. Whitten, Robert A. Young, William M. Left- wich, B. F. Haynes, Lewis R. Amis, and George L. Beale. Dr. Young held the secretaryship for eighteen years, the longest time any one has served. Thomas L. Douglass was Secretary fourteen times, though not consecutively, this being the sec- ond longest period. The Tennessee Conference has given to the Church several bishops: Robert Paine, elected in 1846; Robert K. Hargrove, elected in 1882; and Walter R. Lambuth, elected in 1910. A number of the members of this Conference have been elected by the General Conference to connectional offices: John B. McFerrin, Editor Christian Advocate (1840-58), Book Agent (1858-66), Missionary Secretary (1870-78), Book Agent (1878- 87) ; Robert A. Young, Missionary Secretary (1882-86) ; Wil- liam W. Pinson, Missionary Secretary (1910-18) ; D. C. Kelley, Missionary Treasurer (1882-86) ; Edwin B. Chappell, Sunday School Editor (1906-18). Of the pioneer preachers, the men who planted Methodism in Tennessee, Benjamin Ogden, Francis Poythress, John Page, Learner Blackman, William Burke, and William McKendree stand out in preeminence. From the organization of the Con- ference, in 1812, only a few names can be given of those who wrought mightily, men of whom "the world is not wrorthy," whose "names are written in heaven"; the list is too long to be recorded here. But the Tennessee Conference has given to Methodism such men as Thomas L. Douglass, the friend and confidant of Bishop McKendree; Robert Paine, author of the "Plan of Separation" in 1844 and afterwards one of the bish- ops of the Church; Thomas Maddin, A. L. P. Green, John B. McFerrin, Fountain E. Pitts, John W. Hanner, Joseph B. West, Samuel D. Baldwin, Robert A. Young, John Mathews, Sketches of Annual Conferences. 421 David C. Kelley, James D. Barbee, James M. Wright, James A. Orman, William M. Leftwich. Verily there were "giants in those days." The Tennessee Conference has also made liberal contribu- tions to other Conferences. The following names are of some who have gone out from its fellowship: Peter Cartwright, to Illinois; Jesse Walker, to Mississippi and Louisiana; Charles Holliday (at one time one of the Book Agents of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Cincinnati), to Ohio; G. W. D. Harris, William C. Johnson, and E. C. Slater, to the Memphis Confer- ence; P. P. Neeley, to Alabama; C. C. Mayhew, to Illinois. No Conference has been more prolific of laymen who are worthy compeers of the preachers. Only a few names can be mentioned. Gen. James Robertson, the founder of Nash- ville, was a member of the Methodist Church. Another was Col. Robert Weakley, whose name ought to be mentioned. Every section of the Conference has its worthy representative to add to this list, as, for example: Col. Jordan Stokes, of Lebanon ; Gen. Joseph B. Palmer, of Murfreesboro ; Gen. George G. Dibrell, of Sparta; with such other names as William H. Evans, Thompson Anderson, Mortimer Hamilton, Judge James Whitworth, and Col. E. W. Cole, all of Nashville, who served the Church faithfully and are "fallen on sleep." Perhaps the most distinguished layman, in some respects, Tennessee has brought forth was President James K. Polk, who late in life was converted and received into the Methodist Church by Dr. McFerrin. Missionaries have gone out from the Tennessee Conference to carry the gospel to the "regions beyond." Some of them are: Fountain E. Pitts, to establish the mission in Buenos Aires ; D. C. Kelley, Walter R. Lambuth, and Walter B. Nance, to China; John J. Ransom and H. C. Tucker, to Brazil; W. K. Matthews, to Japan ; B. F. Gilbert and W. M. Mullen, to Cuba. Of the living preachers and laymen, it is possible to write of only a few. The delegations of the Conference in the last two General Conference sessions were: Clerical — E. B. Chap- pell, W. R. Lambuth, W. B. Taylor, G. A. Morgan, J. J. Stowe, W. F. Tillett, W. B. Lowry, W. T. Haggard, H. B. Reams, T. A. Kerley, J. W. Cherry. Laymen— R. H. Peoples, T. A. 422 History of Methodism. Embrey, O. K. Holladay, F. P. McWhirter, W. T. Rogers, O. W. Patton, P. D. Maddin, J. O. Pickering, Pi. M. Rowell, A. A. Patterson, J. W. Irwin, W. T. Wynn, J. H. Kirkland, and W. C. Dibrell. Memphis Conference. Amongst the staid and dignified bodies of Methodism, the Memphis Conference has always held high rank. It was char- tered by the General Conference of 1840 in the following lan- guage: "The Memphis Conference shall be bounded on the east by the Tombigbee, Alabama State line, and the Tennessee Riv- er; on the north by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; on the west by the Mississippi River; on the south by a line run- ning due east from the Mississippi River to the southwest corner of Tallahatchie County, thence due east to the south- eastern corner of Yalobusha County, thence in a straight line to the northwestern corner of Oktibbeha County, thence due east to the Tombigbee River.'' This was an imperial demesne and embraced the richest alluvial sections of the three States of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. As time has passed, the Mississippi section has been incorporated into the North Mississippi Conference; but the original lines, as drawn in Tennessee and Kentucky, remain unchanged. The first session of the Memphis Conference was held at Jackson, Tenn., November 4, 1840, with Bishop James O. An- drew in the chair. W. L. McAlister w^as made Secretary and was reelected at five successive sessions. In that office he has had but eight successors during seventy-two years — namely, D. J. Allen, A. L. Hamilton, Guilford Jones, W. C. John- son, R. H. Mahon, Warner Moore, A. J. Meaders, and L. H. Estes. The Conference began its official existence with about fifteen thousand members. There were forty-eight pastoral appoint- ments, divided into five districts — Pontotoc (spelled "Pon- tatock"), Holly Springs, Memphis, Wesley, and Paris. The Wesley District embraced the territory of which Jackson was the center, and the Paris District included the entire region of Kentucky now in the Memphis Conference. Of the Pontotoc District, Mordecai Yell was presiding elder, while George W. D. Harris was on the Wesley District. Henderson H. Mont- Sketches of Annual Conferences. 423 goinery and W. A. Hamill, with others, were admitted on trial. Thomas L. Boswell was amongst those who remained on trial. Philip P. Neeley was a member of the Conference and was that year assigned to Holly Springs Station. Asbury Davidson was appointed to the Church at Jackson. Neeley afterwards went to Alabama, where his fame as a pulpit orator ripened into Church-wide renown. Davidson became one of the pioneer itinerants in Texas and left there the memory of a devout and scholarly ministry. With a territory much lessened from its early limits, the Memphis Conference has shown a record of wonderful expan- sion. Its membership, as reported in 1915, is 76,522, with Church property approximating in value the sum of two and a quarter million dollars. The Memphis Conference was foremost amongst the Annual Conferences in planning and founding "The Central Methodist University," which later took the name of "Vanderbilt." At Memphis the Annual Conference representatives gathered and held the famous "Memphis Convention," which marked the be- ginning of the movement for a Church university. The resolu- tions of that convention, composed of devout, loyal, and exclu- sive churchmen, became the body of the charter of the univer- sity and were meant to be as the scroll of the law in the ark of the covenant, but were afterwards decried by Philistine lips as "surplusage" and treated as a thing unholy. At its session in 1915 the Memphis Conference put to record in its Journal a memorial of its part in the making of the Church's education- al trust. That memorial will be read with interest by the gen- erations of Methodists yet to be. The delegates of the Memphis Conference in the General Con- ference of 1844 were : George W. D. Harris, Samuel S. Moody, William McMahan, and Thomas Joyner. Since that date it has had in its membership many strong men, some native to the soil, some who came from other Conferences to serve the pros- perous congregations, of which the Conference has always had an unusual number. In 1870 the General Conference met in the city of Memphis. This was the second session of that body after the devastations of the War between the States and the one which caught the 424 History of Methodism. first glimpses of returning prosperity. At that time there were in the Conference such well-known men as T. L. Boswell, W. C. Johnson, W. T. Harris, James A. Heard, K. H. Mahon, and J. H. Evans. The delegation of the Memphis Conference in the General Conference of 1014 was as follows: Clerical — R. H. Pigue, A. J. Headers, W. A. Freeman, R. W. Hood, H. B. Johnston, and J. W. Blackard. Lay — T. B. King, J. R. Pepper, J. R. Bond, H. J. Wright, A. W. Biggs, and C. J. Barlow. Louisville Conference. The Louisville Conference was organized at Hopkinsville, Ky., October 14, 184G, with Bishop James O. Andrew as Pres- ident and Rev. A. C. De Witt as Secretary. The formation of the Louisville Conference out of the territory of the old Ken- tucky Conference was the result of a geographical necessity. It was too great an undertaking to remove a large family in a common covered wagon over the roughest kind of roads from the Cumberland Gap to Smithland, on the Ohio River, or from the shores of the Big Sandy River to the borders of the Ten nessee. The boundary of the Louisville Conference begins at a point on the Ohio River a few miles above the city of Louisville and runs almost directly south to the Tennessee State line, thence with that line to the Tennessee River, thence with that river to its mouth, and thence with the Ohio River, including Jefferson- ville, Ind., to the beginning. Nearly all the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, have served as Presidents of the Conference. The ex- ceptions are: Soule, Bascom, Parker, Tigert, Ward, Denny. Lambuth, Waterhouse, and Mouzon. In 1848 George W. Tay- lor presided until Bishop Capers arrived, and in 1830 Richard Tydings was President until Bishop Andrew came. In 1862 and 18G3, as no bishop was present, J. H. Linn was elects! President and presided throughout the sessions. In September, 1801, the members of the Conference residing in the southern and western sections of the State found them- selves cut off from the possibility of attending the regular ses- sion, which was to meet early in October at Louisville, by the Sketches of Annual Conferences. 425 presence within its borders of two armies. A large body of Confederates, under the command of Gen. Albert Sidney John- ston, was in camp at Bowling Green, and a still larger body of Federals, commanded by General Buell, was near Munford- ville. They were daily expected to join battle. Passes were applied for by the preachers and denied, and suspicion attached to every man that spoke of going to Conference. So the twenty- three preachers thus cut off met at Bethlehem, Logan County, and proceeded to organize and conduct a Conference in due form. Bishop Soule was sent for and came and took the chair. The following-named members have served as Secretaries of the Conference: A. C. De Witt, J. W. Cunningham, J. H. Owen, F. A. Morris, N. H. Lee, J. A. Lewis, S. C. Allen, D. Spurrier, David Morton, John J. Tigert, D. S. Campbell, Gross Alexan- der, W. F. Lloyd, Joseph S. Chandler, and Sam M. Miller. Dr. Alexander had the longest term, he having served sixteen years. The traveling preachers composing the Conference at its or- ganization numbered sixty; and within its bounds there were at that time, including local preachers, 15,129 white members and 3,081 colored members. At the last session, held in Sep- tember, 1915, there were reported 175 traveling preachers, 59,472 members, and 167 local preachers. Among the men who have been prominent leaders in the Conference, these may be mentioned: J. W. Cunningham (only surviving charter member), Edward Stevenson, D.D., Kichard Tydings, George W. Taylor, Edmund W. Sehon, John H. Linn, D.D., N. H. Lee, A. H. Bedford, G. R. Browder, R. H. Riv- ers, D.D., Thomas Bottomley, Joseph B. Cottrell, D.D., W. G. Miller, D.D., David Morton, D.D., L. B. Davison, H. C. Set- tle, D.D., Bishop J. J. Tigert, Bishop H. C. Morrison, I. W. Emerson, George H. Hayes, D.D., B. M. Messick, D.D., Gross Alexander, S.T.D., R. W. Browder, D.D., J. W. Lewis, D.D., and Frank M. Thomas, D.D. CHAPTER XX. sketches of annual conferences (continued). Louisiana Conference. AT the session of the Western Conference at Mount Geri _zim, Ky., in 1804, William McKendree, presiding by elec- tion in the absence of Bishop Asbury, faced unusual difficul- ties in providing a pastoral ministry for the remote Natchez territory recently opened to the gospel by Tobias Gibson, then gone to his reward. His answer to the question "What is the best we can do for the Natchez country?" was the appointment of young Learner Blackman, with Nathan Barnes as junior colleague. Accompanied by that eccentric free lance, Lorenzo Dow, who had personal knowledge of the way, the two young men started from Franklin, Tenn., and for six weeks followed the eight-hundred-mile trace to their destination. Before re- turning, Dow crossed the Mississippi Iiiver and preached in Southwestern Louisiana. The following year Blackman in- cluded Louisiana in his plans for extension and secured the appointment of Elisha W. Bowman to Opelousas. This was the beginning of Methodism in Louisiana, the germ of the Lou- isiana Conference. Forty years later, authorized by the first General Confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in January, 1847, the Louisiana Conference was organized in the old French town of Opelousas, in a territory to which in succession min- isters had been sent from the South Carolina, the Western, and the Mississippi Conferences. Among the ministers transferred to the new Conference with its organization were Philo M. Goodwyn and his younger brother, Alexander E., the latter of whom became a noted pas- tor beyond the bounds of his Conference, and Reynolds S. Trippett, an Englishman, who preached the gospel in words that charmed and sentences that fascinated all the people. Another noted preacher of this group was Stephen J. Davies, a Welshman, whose fervor of spirit and intellectual power in the pulpit have rarely been equaled. Two of his sons became (426) Sketches of Annual Conferences. 427 ministers in the Louisiana Conference. Of this group of men, Robert J. Harp was in many respects the most remarkable. He had neither eloquence nor learning, but possessed an ad- ministrative ability that was equal to the many heavy demands that at various times came upon him. He visited the Tennes- see Conference and secured a number of volunteers for the new and difficult field, and among the Louisiana preachers, his own cotemporaries, were the three Whites, B. F., T. B., and Henry O., and others who did noble and distinguished service as the result of young Harp's appeal. Mr. Harp raised the money for the purchase of the substantial business building in which he afterwards maintained the depository of the Publishing House and in which to this day the New Orleans Christian Advocate is published. He filled pastorates, districts, and agencies, edited papers, and served his Church with unflagging zeal as an itinerant minister more than sixty years. His reminis- cences, destroyed in manuscript by fire, would have been in- valuable to the historian. In extreme old age his memory showed no signs of failure, and his wisdom and faith shone most brightly. John Pipes was another charter member of the Louisiana Conference, a modest man of small stature, whose chief characteristic was gentleness. But he was a reformer before the reformation in the temperance cause and fought hard battles almost single-handed against the great destroyer. Joseph Cross, under whose ministry in a far New York vil- lage, afterwards as pastor of Poydras Street Church, New Or- leans, the life of Linus Parker was profoundly affected ; P. H. Deiffenwerth, the Alsatian, a remarkable linguist; and James L. Chapman, a digger after Hebrew roots and all archaeological lore, are also to be mentioned. The name of Judge D. O. Shat- tuck, connected prominently with the history of Centenary College, also appears on the roll of the Louisiana Conference. In 1848 there were added to this galaxy of unusual men James L. Wright, remarkable for his power in prayer, and Richmond Randle, a presiding elder who gave his life to the service of the Confederate States army and died leaving two sons, Robert and Thomas S., who are still living useful lives in the ministry. In 1849 the name of Linus Parker, a young law student from New Orleans, appears among those admitted 428 History of Methodism. on trial into the traveling connection; and among those re- ceived by transfer is Holland N. McTyeire, thenceforth the close friend of the young probationer. Mr. McTyeire was pas- tor of Steele Chapel, one of several small Churches the result of too rapid colonization, which he consolidated into what was afterwards Felicity Street Church, where Linus Parker suc- ceeded him and preached ten years. John C. Keener's name appears in the list of appointments as presiding elder of the New Orleans District. He was a theologian, a financier, a writer, an administrator — a man of the most striking person- ality and the greatest strength of character. Here was a group of three men who afterwards were associated in membership in the College of Bishops of their Church. An equally remark- able personality, though destined to less prominence, was that of John Paule, whose name subsequently appears spelled Paw- ley, a German, whose assiduous and wide labors in New Orleans laid the foundations upon which a great German constituency of Methodism was to be built. Dr. R. H. Rivers's name appears as that of President of Centenary College, a great preacher, author, and educator; and A. G. Miller is ad- mitted on trial, the sainted and efficient head master of the Centenary College Preparatory Department for a generation. His son, C. C. Miller, is an active member of the Conference to-day. In 1851 Joseph Birch Walker transferred from Tennessee and became the pastor of McGehee Chapel, successor to Poy- dras Street Church, destroyed by fire, and subsequently known as Carondelet Street Church. For sixteen years he occupied this pulpit. He possessed a noble mien, a flashing black eye. and preached with invariable charm and often with great power to large audiences both in his own Church and at the many special functions for which he was constantly in demand. Dr. Carter said of him : "He walked more miles and wore out more shoes, and by praying and singing in the homes carried the gos- pel to more domestic circles in New Orleans, than any other preacher." He was the cotemporary and successful rival of the celebrated Theodore Clapp, the Beecher cf the Southwest, and Dr. Benjamin M. Palmer, for half a century the first citi- zen of Louisiana and the greatest preacher in the South for a Sketches of Annual Conferences. 429 period of sixty years. Henry C. Thweat came this year from Virginia. He founded Mansfield Female College, became its President, and until disabled by gout fulfilled a brilliant min- istry. In 1858 Holland N. McTyeire became editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate, with which appointment his name thence- forth appears in the Conference minutes. He was succeeded by the brilliant Charles G. Gillespie as editor of the New Or- leans Christian Advocate, an enterprise initiated by Dr. Keener and for which he had especially brought about the transfer of Mr. McTyeire to Louisiana. The name of John F. Wynn ap- pears this year among those on trial. Mr. Wynn is one of those inconspicuous men who have gone through the world and by personal touch influenced more men and women to become Christians than have the most eloquent men by pulpit appeals. His son, Dr. Robert H. Wynn, is the accomplished President of Centenary College. In 18G1 Charles W. Carter was admitted on trial. No bishop was present, and Dr. Keener was elected President and Linus Parker Secretary. Mr. Carter came to the work of the minis- try with scholastic honors from both Centenary College and the University of Louisiana Law School. He was not only a preacher of great sermons; he had a voice like a silver trumpet and a personal charm and simplicity of character that greatly endeared him to his brethren and fastened to him with "hoops of steel" a smaller group of friends. He succeeded Charles B. Galloway as editor of the New Orleans Christian Advocate and served four years as President of Centenary College. He left two sons of distinguished ability, members of the Louisiana Conference, Briscoe and Thomas. A younger son is in the State Sunday school work. Briscoe Carter is a preacher not of the type of his father, but rugged and strong. Prof. Thomas Carter is an accomplished scholar and was elected twelve years ago to the chair of New Testament Greek in Vanderbilt Uni- versity. In 1866 there came by transfer from Texas a young German by the name of J. B. A. Ahrens, graduate of an American col- lege and the University of Gbttingen. He consecrated scholar- ship and physical virility and religious genius to the work of 430 History of Methodism. the German Methodist missions in Louisiana. He wrote, trans- lated, preached, administered the affairs of the Church, and made full proof of a remarkable ministry for forty years in the city and Church of his adoption. This year the name of H. N. McTyeire disappears from the Conference roll and reappears in the list of bishops. In January, 1871, the name of John C. Keener also disappears from the roll, to find a place beside that of his great cotemporary in the College of Bishops. This year there succeeded Linus Parker as pastor of Felicity Street Church, New Orleans, a most remarkable personality and pul- pit genius, John Mathews, from the Alabama Conference. After a pastoral ministry of nine years in New Orleans, he went to Kansas City and thence to St. Louis, where his genius made him one of the greatest factors in the development of Methodism. W. V. Tudor, a polished shaft from the Baltimore Conference, this same year came to New Orleans as pastor of Carondelet Street Church, where he succeeded J. B. Walker, who spent the next four years as pastor of St. John's Church, Galveston, Tex. In 1S72 Christian Keener, eldest son of the Bishop, a well- educated young business man from New Orleans, was admit- ted on trial. He was a great administrator. In preaching he had something of the subtlety of thought that characterized his father, but nothing of his brilliancy of diction and vivacity of manner. In 1874 John T. Sawyer, a young lawyer with bright pros- pects for worldly success, and Alfred E. Clay, a young English- man, who had come to America attracted by our Methodist system of education, were admitted on trial. Mr. Sawyer became a preacher of rare evangelistic power and a remark- able Church financier. Mr. Clay served his day chiefly by the organization of protective work for children in Louisiana. He was the founder of the Louisiana State Society for the Preven- tion of Cruelty to Children. In 1885 the name of Linus Parker appears for the first time in the list of appointments as editor of the Xew Orleans Chris- tian Advocate, though he had, in fact, edited the paper since Dr. Keener's election to the episcopate. In December, 1875. that weird pulpit phenomenon, W. E. Munsey. became a mem- Sketches of Annual Conferences. 431 ber of the Louisiana Conference by transfer from either the Baltimore or the Holston Conference — the minutes do not state. He remained but one year, failing in health and com- pelled to return. The following interesting entry occurs in the list of appointments : "Algiers, to be supplied by Shepherd Hal- sey Werlein." Dr. Werlein is a man of great talent and fine accomplishments, son of a prominent merchant of New Orleans. His ministry from the beginning attracted large congregations and has been exceedingly fruitful. It has been largely spent in other cities, but is now at First Church, New Orleans. A year later John Hannon, the most lovable man in Virginia, came to New Orleans to succeed W. E. Munsey at St. Charles Avenue Church (now Rayne Memorial) and spent several years of eminent usefulness and almost unparalleled popularity in that city. This year (1877) a serious effort was made to evan- gelize the Acadian French; and the Rev. W. J. Picot, a Cana- dian, was appointed as associate pastor to New Iberia. The ef- fort was not successful, owing to a lack of continuity, but has in more recent times been resumed with signal results under the superintendency of the Rev. Martin Hebert. In 1879 the younger son of Bishop Keener turned from books of the law to the gospel and was admitted on trial. He became a man of great usefulness, especially as a guardian of the finan- cial interests of the Church. This year Felix R. Hill, a prince among pastors, came by transfer from Alabama and was suc- ceeded by J. B. Walker at Carondelet Street Church. In 1883 the name of Linus Parker, like the names of his great cotemporaries and friends, McTyeire and Keener, disappeared from the roll and became incorporated with the list of the bishops. This year a very able and distinguished member of the Mississippi Conference, the Rev. Beverly Carradine, trans- ferred to Louisiana and became the pastor of Rayne Memo- rial Church. He afterwards served four years at Carondelet, whence he went to Centenary, St. Louis. Dr. Carradine con- ducted a revival of great power in New Orleans. He had a genius for seeing the spiritual meaning of things and as a pas- tor was diligent to a point of disregard of all else save the Robertsonian sermons he delivered weekly from his pulpit. He has devoted himself to evangelistic work for some years. 432 History of Methodism. Of the fruits of the Carradine revivals, there are a number of ministers, among whom perhaps the most distinguished are the three Knickerbockers, who have all attained eminence in the pastorate in the State of Texas. In 1886 Fitzgerald S. Parker and Franklin N. Parker, sons of Bishop Parker, then recently deceased, were admitted on trial. The elder is now the accomplished General Secretary of the Epworth League ; and the younger, a scholar and preacher of great reputation, is Professor of Christian Doctrine in the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Closely as- sociated with these, though coming into the Conference three years later, were J. M. Henry, from South Carolina ; by trans- fer from North Georgia, W. H. La Prade, a man of pulpit strength and clearness of vision ; and J. L. Pierce, nephew of the late Bishop Pierce, from North Texas. In 1894 R. W. Vaughan, the hero of the orphanage work in Louisiana, was admitted on trial, and a number of brethren from the Mississippi Conference by cession of the Florida parishes. Among these were the Rev. Hiram R. Singleton, who many years before had begun his ministry in Louisiana. Louisiana has in it much missionary territory, but has also its missionaries in the foreign field. Among these are : George D. Parker, in Brazil ; Dr. J. W. Reed, in Korea ; N. E. Joyner, who has endured and achieved in Mexico; and a number of women who have been sent out under the Woman's Council. In 1900 Henry Beach Carre, a gifted and accomplished scholar, was admitted into the Conference. After a short pastoral ex- perience he became President of Centenary College and sub- sequently Professor of the English Bible and Biblical Theology in Vanderbilt University. From a membership of 8,101, of whom fifty-seven were local preachers and 3,329 colored people, the Conference now includes a Church membership of 36,690 and 158 ministers in full con- nection. The offerings for missions last year were $10,712. Centenary College and the New Orleans Christian Advocate have been among the potent forming factors in the work, and the great cosmopolitan city of New Orleans, out of which have come many of our most useful and distinguished ministers and Sketches of Annual Conferences. laymen, must also be reckoned as one of the chief sources of strength to the Conference. Texas Conference. What is now the State of Texas was previous to 1836 a prov- ince of Mexico. On April 21 of that year, as the result of the victory of San Jacinto, Texas became a republic. The country, in which before only the Koman Catholic religion had been tolerated, was thereupon thrown open to Protestant mission- aries, and the Methodists made haste to formally establish their work. But for an indefinite time previous to 1836 the region between the Sulphur Fork and the main stream of the Red River, consisting of parts or the whole of several present- day Texas counties, was supposed to belong to the territory of Arkansas. Into this region the Methodist itinerants had pene- trated as early as 1816. Circuit riders of the Louisiana Dis- trict of the Mississippi Conference had also crossed the Sabine River, and, against the opposition of Mexican alcaldes, had preached in the neighborhood of the Spanish mission town of Nacogdoches. In this way several societies of Methodists had been organized in the two sections, which together comprised what was then known as the "Redlands." A Methodist class had also been formed in the Austin Colony, on the Brazos River, as early as 1834. In April, 1837, the Rev. Martin Ruter, a native of Massa- chusetts, a ripe scholar, and a great preacher, was, by the joint action of the bishops and the Mission Board at New York, named as superintendent of the mission in Texas. Robert Alexander, of the Mississippi Conference, and Littleton Fowler, of the Tennessee Conference, were appointed to be his as- sistants. Alexander was the first to reach the field, crossing the Sabine River in August, within a few weeks after receiving his appointment. He began at once to publish his message and continued to do so with unabated zeal for the space of forty four years. Fowler rode from Tennessee by the way of the Red River region of Arkansas and joined his colleague, Alexan- der, a month after the arrival of the former. Dr. Ruter, after a long and tedious journey from Pittsburgh, Pa., crossed the Sabine River in November, 1837, and enthusiastically, as also 28 434 History of Methodism. with great wisdom and foresight, took up the work of his new field. After visiting the main settlements lying between Nacog- doches and San Augustine in the east and the Austin Colony in the west, he rode to Houston, where he met the officials of the new government and reached before the Texas Congress. While there he laid plans for the organization of an institu- tion of learning, which when established was known as Ruters- ville College. Returning to the Austin settlement, he con- tracted a fever from which he died on May 16, 1838, just six months after his arrival. His body was buried in the soil of the State to which his life had been dedicated as a living sacri- fice. Thrall, the Texas historian, says that Ruter was the first Methodist in America, and possibly in the world, to receive the honorary title of Doctor of Divinity, this distinction coming to him from Transylvania College. On the death of Dr. Ruter the conduct of the mission fell to Alexander and Fowler, who divided the territory into con- venient spheres and pushed the work with marvelous success. Until 1830 the mission was considered a district of the Mis sissippi Conference, the Red River societies, before referred to, being related to the Conference in Arkansas. On Christmas Day, 1840, the Texas Conference was formally organized at Rutersville, Washington County, Bishop Waugh presiding and Thomas O. Summers acting as Secretary. Nine- teen traveling preachers were present, ten of whom were pro- bationers. In that early list occur such names as Richard Owen, J. H. Collard, Jesse Hord, Chauncey Richardson, and Nathan Shook. From the Texas Conference have sprung six other English- speaking Conferences, besides the organized German work and the two Mexican Conferences of the border. The English- speaking Conferences, in the order of organization, are ;is fol lows: East Texas, organized in 1844. but merged with the mother Conference in 1000; the West Texas Conference, orig inally called the Rio Grande Conference, organized in 1858; the North Texas Conference, at first called Trinity, organ- ized in 1800: the Northwesl Texas Conference, which later be- came the Central Texas, organized in 1800; the New Mexico Conference, organized in 1800; and the new Northwest Texas Sketches of Annual Conferences. 435 Conference, constituted from the western districts of the orig- inal Northwest or Central Conference, organized in 1910. Besides the pioneers mentioned above, the names of Whip- ple, Philpot, Shappard, John, Davidson (Asbury), Littlepage, Smith (E. S.), Mitchell, Finley, Thompson, Alexander (Isaac), Cravens, and Goodwin have been written with the history of the Church in both the Texas and what was once the East Texas Conferences. The names of a host of noble laymen also belong to this period, such as Ayers, Shearn, Winch, Thomas, Bonner, Orgain, Behring, and Hurley. Names amongst the representatives of this Conference in the General Conference during recent years are: Clerical — James Kilgore, George S. Sexton, James W. Moore, O. T. Hotchkiss, E. W. Solomon, S. R. Hay, F. M. Boyles, J. B. Turrentine, and J. W. Mills. Lay- men— T. S. Garrison, D. H. Abernathy, W. L. Dean, L. L. Jes- ter, M. D. Fields, and W. M. Stone. North Texas Conference. The General Conference of 1866 made provision for the or- ganization of the Trinity Conference by cutting off a portion of the territory that had hitherto been occupied by the East Texas Conference. Accordingly, this Conference was organ- ized as the Trinity Conference, which name was continued until 1874, when it was changed to the North Texas Conference. The plan of division had been agreed on at the session of the East Texas Conference immediately preceding the session of the General Conference of 1866, and that body confirmed the plan and gave authority for the division to be made. The first session of the new Conference was held at Sulphur Springs, Tex., on October 9, 1867. Bishop H. N. McTyeire pre- sided, and W. C. Young was elected Secretary. At the time of its organization this Conference had forty-four members, of whom at this session one discontinued, two located, and three transferred to other Conferences. There were 5 districts, 35 pastoral charges, 7,495 white members, 588 colored members, 53 local preachers, IF colored preachers, 56 Sunday schools, 228 officers and teachers, 2,070 pupils, and 67 church buildings val- ued at $73,850. Though this Conference has more than once given off terri // is I ory of Me th od is m . Tory to other Conferences, it now has 255 traveling preachers, 11 districts, 18G pastoral charges. 7:5,0*1 members, 173 local preachers, 458 Sunday schools, 4,41)2 officers and teachers, 57,- 4S1 pupils, 435 church buildings valued at f 1,996,441, 107 par- sonages valued at $390,371, and other property valued at $172,- 262. During its history the Conference has had the presidency of the bishops as follows: Bishop McTyeire, four times; Bishops Key, Candler, and Hoss, three times each ; Bishops Doggett, Wightman, Marvin, Keener, Kavanaugh, Pierce, Parker, Har- grove, Galloway, Wilson, Hendrix, Duncan, Monzon, and Mc- Coy, twice each ; and Bishops Haygood, Granbery, and Murrah, once each. Seven Secretaries have served the Conference, in order as follows: W. C. Young, five years; W. A. Shook, seven years ; S. J. Hawkins, two years ; H. A. Bourland, three years ; E. C. De Jarnett, five years; C. L. McWhirter, nine years; J. M. Xichols, four years; J. E. Boache, one year; B. G. Mood, thirteen years. Among its members and leaders, many of whom have filled prominent places in the Church and positions of trust and re- sponsibility, may be mentioned the following: J. W. P. Mc- Kenzie, Bichard Lane, J. M. Binkley, M. H. Xeely, W. EL Hughes, T. B. Pierce, J. H. McLean, R. M. Powers, E. W. Alder- son, J. W. Hill, G. C. Bankin, John M. Moore, C. M. Harless, W. D. Bradfield, A. L. Andrews, and others of the preachers. In the ranks of the laity these are worthy of mention: Asa Holt, William Allen, B. M. Burgher, H. N. Tuck, Sidney Bass, B. C. Dial, L. Blaylock, and many others. Central Texas Conference. This was first known as the Northwest Texas Conference, which was organized and held its first session in Waxahachie, Ellis County, Tex., September 20 to October 2, 1SGG; Bishop E. M. Marvin, President; Rev. F. P. Bay, Secretary. Although he held the Indian Mission Conference on his way to Texas, Bishop Marvin considered this his first Annual Conference to preside over. The Conference roll contained forty-one names of traveling preachers, three of whom were superannuates and five super- Sketches of Annual Conferences. 437 numeraries, leaving only thirty- three effective men to start for- ward in the work of evangelizing this tremendous territory. There were reported 3,927 white members and 52G colored, making a total of 4,453 members, possessing f42,900 worth of Church property. There was continued and healthy growth in membership and wealth until the year 1883, at which time, although there was one whole presiding elder's district of 3,000 members ceded to the Texas Conference, 23,387 members were reported. The roll showed 154 names, 13 superannuates, and 9 on the supernumerary list, or 132 effective. Thus at the end of the first seventeen years there were 129J churches, worth |168,79G; 53 parsonages, valued at f31,265; and other Church property worth $76,672— a total of $276,733, which was an in- crease of 668 per cent. On November 10-15, 1909, the forty-fourth session of the old Northwest Texas Conference was held in the town of Stamford, Tex., Bishop Joseph S. Key, President; Rev. J. M. Barcus, D.D., Secretary. The roll contained 360 names. Forty-six were su- perannuates and 15 supernumeraries, or 299 on the effective list, with 37 in the class of the first year and 21 in the class of the second year. There were 331 pastoral charges, with church houses valued at $1,877,216, and 297 parsonages worth $500,- 000. There were sixteen presiding elders' districts and four- teen district parsonages, valued at $53,000, and other Church property estimated at $1,141,000 — a total Church property val- uation of $3,571,216, which was a gain of 1,290 per cent in the twenty-seven years. There were 105,956 local preachers and members. At this session plans for the division of the Conference were adopted, which division was accomplished by act of the Gen- eral Conference in 1910. The new Conference retained the old name, and the old Conference took a new name, Central Texas, retaining the archives. On November 16-21, 1910, in the First Methodist Church of Waxahachie, Tex., where the Con- ference was first organized, the Central Texas Annual Confer- ence held its first session; or, in fact, the forty-fifth session. Bishop James Atkins presided, and John M. Barcus was Secre- tary. On the roll there were 224 names; 181 on the effective list, with a Church membership of 78,980; 206 pastoral charges; 438 History of Methodism. 10 presiding elders' districts ; 193 parsonages, valued at $357,- 153; 618 societies, with 4G7 houses of worship, valued at fly 383,551 ; 9 district parsonages, valued at (59,500 ; school proper- ty estimated at §908,000. The Central Texas Conference em- braces much of the finest farming and grazing lands of Texas and is blessed with a most delightful and healthful climate. At the time of this writing (September, 191G) there are twelve presiding elders' districts, with more than 80,000 mem- bers. There are in the bounds of this Conference one city of 100,000 population, another of 45,000, eight with from 8,000 to 15,000, and numerous thriving towns and villages. This Conference has been presided over by twenty different bishops, as follows: E. M. Marvin, I860, 1870, and 1871; II. N. McTyeire, 18G7, 1874, 1879, 1S84, 1885, and 18SG; D. S. Doggett, 18G8 and 187G; W. M. Wightman, 1SG9 and 1877; J. C. Keener, 1872, 1878, 18SG, and 189G ; H. H. Kavanaugh, 1873 and 1881 ; G. F. Pierce, 1875 and 1880; Linus Parker, 1SS2 and 1883; A. W. Wilson, 1887, 1893, and 1901 ; E. Pi. Hendrix, 1888 and 1902 ; Joseph S. Key, 1889, 1890, 1908, and 1909; O. P. Fitzgerald, 1891; R. K. Hargrove, 1S92, 1894, and 1899; W. W. Duncan, 1895 and 1903; J. C. Granbery, 1897; Charles B. Galloway, 1898; W. A. Candler, 1900 and 1907; E. E. Hoss, 1904, 1905, and 190G; James Atkins, 1910, 1911, 1912, and 1913; James H. McCoy, 1914 and 1915. In all these fifty years the Conference has had seven different Secretaries— namely : Rev. F. I*. Ray, 18GG, 1869, 1870, 1874, 1875, 187G, 1877, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1889; Rev. J. L. Crabb, 18G7; Rev. J. S. McCanrer, 1868, 1871, 1872, and 1873; Rev. G. W. Swofford, 1878 and 1888; Rev. John M. Barcus, from 1890 to 1910; Rev. John R. Morris, 1911, 1912, and 1913; and the present Secretary, Rev. A. D. Porter, 1914 and 1915. There are main- names of men whose lives are inseparably linked with the history of this Conference. Space will permit the mention of only a few, and those are of men who had a prominent part in the early life of the Conference. There rise up such as Louis B. Whipple, J. Fred Cox, Thomas W. Stan- ford, T. W. Hines, Thomas G. Gilmore, Peter W. Gravis, W. R. D. Stockton, O. M. Adison, J. F. Neal, W. G. Veal, Horace Sketches of Annual Conferences. 439 Bishop, and the oue surviving charter member of the Confer- ence, John P. Mussett, who, after this long half-century, is still known as the shouting prophet, the "holy St. John," the one unanimously selected to preach the "Year of Jubilee Ser- mon" at the coming session in Waxahachie, November 15, 191G. The Central Texas Conference, as such, has been represented in but one General Conference, that of 1914. The names of the delegates were as follows: Clerical — F. P. Culver, W. B. An- drews, J. A. Whitehurst, H. D. Knickerbocker, T. S. Arm- strong, John R. Nelson, and H. A. Boaz. Lay — W. Erskine Williams, F. F. Downs, J. M. Robertson, W. J. Barcus, J. H. Garner, Ocie Speer, W. C. Streety, C. V. Bailey. And what more shall we say? For the time would fail us to tell of that host of other preachers and noble laymen and con- secrated women "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens." West Texas Conference. The West Texas Conference was constituted by the General Conference of 1858, and for the first eight years of its history it was known as the Rio Grande Conference. It embraced "all that part of the State of Texas lying west and southwest of a line beginning at the mouth of the Guadalupe River, thence up said river to where it is crossed by the road from San Antonio to Fredericksburg, thence on said road to Fort Mason, thence due north to the Colorado River, thence up said river to the Big Spring, thence due north to the State line." The first appointments were made by Bishop George F. Pierce at the session of the Texas Conference at Austin in No- vember, 1858, and its first session was held at Goliad in No- vember, 1859. Bishop Pierce was delayed and did not reach Goliad until near the close of the Conference. Dr. Jesse Boring was elected President, and John W. DeVilbiss, Secretary. Twelve members were present at this Conference, and their names are worthy of record : Dr. Jesse Boring, Robert H. Bel- vin, James W. Cooley, Ivy H. Cox, John W. DeVilbiss, Gus- 440 History of Methodism. tavus Elly, Robert W. Pierce, R. P. Thompson, August Engel, David W. Fly, P. W. Hobbs, aud Frederick Vordenbaumen. At this first session H. G. Horton was received by transfer from the Georgia Conference, and of the heroic men who planted Methodism on this sparsely settled frontier he alone remains, superannuated for some years, but still active as Sec- retary of the Conference Board of Church Extension and a frequent contributor to the Church papers. The membership reported was 1,257 white and 138 colored. There were twenty-three Sunday schools, with 649 scholars. The Church had already enterprised several educational in- stitutions. Dr. Joseph Cross was appointed President of San Antonio Female College (the Conference was meeting in the building of Paine Female Institute), and Dr. Jesse Boring was appointed agent for Alamo College, a school for boys, which the Conference proposed to establish in San Antonio. In the appointments for this year there were three districts, with thirty pastoral charges, ten of which were left to be supplied. Eight years later the General Conference of 1866 changed the name of the Conference to West Texas and added to its boundaries the territory now embraced in the San Marcos District. The membership that year was 2,113 white and 701 colored. There were other men prominent in the Conference in those early days whose names should be preserved : Boswell Gillett and his two sons, James T. and John S., John L. Harper, O. A. Fisher, Eli Y. Seale, Buckuer Harris, W. J. Joyce, now an aged superannuate, Oliver B. Adams, Thomas Meyers. W. R. D. Stockton, and Jesse Hord. From the organization of the Conference the German work w as included in the appointments, and one of the districts, first the New Braunfels and then the Fredericksburg, w as composed of ( terman preachers. In the minutes of 1S71 appears the name of the first Mexican preacher, Alejo Hernandez, in charge of the mission to the Mexicans at Corpus Christi, whose conver- sion marked the beginning of our missions in Mexico and on the Texas-Mexican border. The General Conference of 1902 changed the boundaries, giv- ing to the West Texas Conference the territory now embraced Sketches of Annual Conferences. 441 in the Austin District. The statistics of the Conference for 1915 show 194 traveling preachers, 39,809 local preachers and members, churches and parsonages valued at $1,735,172, 4,747 Upworth League members, and 39,190 enrolled in the Sunday schools. Of present-day leaders in the Conference and men of con nectional influence may be mentioned the following: W. D. Bradfield, Sterling Fisher, J. E. Harrison, V. A. Godbey, T. F. Sessions, A. W. Wilson, J. W. Cowan, F. B. Buchanan, J. H. Groseclose, Thomas Gregory, S. B. Johnston, and J. D. Scott. Northwest Texas Conference. This Conference was organized at Clarendon, Tex., November 9, 1910, with Bishop James Atkins in the chair. A. L. Moore, of Vernon Station, was elected Secretary. At this time the Conference was composed of six districts: Abilene, Claren- don, Colorado, Plainview, Stamford, and Vernon. S. A. Barnes was presiding elder of the Abilene District; J. G. Miller, of the Clarendon District; Simeon Shaw, of the Colorado Dis- trict; G. S. Hardy, of the Plainview District; J. G. Putman, of the Stamford District; and J. H. Stewart, of the Vernon District. Geographically, this Conference covers one of the richest and most fertile belts of Texas. Large numbers of people are rapid- ly settling up the country. The atmosphere, especially on the plains, is full of ozone, which so thoroughly invigorates the people that great progress is being made along all lines. At the second session of the Conference, in the fall of 1911, three new districts, Amarillo, Big Springs, and Hamlin, were made. O. P. Kiker was placed on the Amarillo District; W. H. Terry, on the Big Springs District ; and G. S. Hardy, on the Hamlin District. Some of the earlier leaders of the Conference were: J. G. Mil- ler, J. G. Putman, Jerome Duncan, George S. Wyatt, G. S. Hardy, S. A. Barnes, J. H. Stewart, J. M. Sherman, J. T. Griswold, C. N. N. Ferguson, B. W. Dodson, and J. W. Story. The Conference has had two junior colleges from the first — namely, Clarendon, located at Clarendon, Tex., and Stamford, located at Stamford, Tex. The property of Clarendon College is U'2 History of Methodism. now valued at $103,300. Rev. George S. Slover is President. He has had charge for a number of years and is one of the most successful college men in Texas. Stamford College is valued at $150,000. Rev. J. W. Hunt, one of the leading young men of the Conference, has accepted the presidency of this college. While this school has done a good work in the past, yet under the present management greater things will be accomplished. Seth Ward College, at Plain view, Tex., was presented to the Conference free of debt and with an endowment of more than fifty thousand dollars. The Conference accepted it and placed it on an equal footing with Clarendon and Stamford. This college was a great stimulus to Methodism on the South Plains, but in the spring of 1916 it was completely destroyed by fire and will not be rebuilt. The Methodists will give their atten- tion to the equipment of the two junior colleges left. The policies of the Conference have been broad from the first. Every one seemed to realize that the Church must keep pace with the progress of the times and the country, and all have heroically gone forward building jip the kingdom. The women of the Conference are looking well into their de- partment of Church work and have gained the approval of all who are acquainted with what they are doing. In these few years many efficient workers among the women have been de- veloped. At first there was no District League, neither any Confer- ence League. But in June, 1910, at Vernon, Tex., under the leadership of R. T. Stuart, President of the Conference Ep- worth League Board, a Conference League was organized, and now District Leagues are being formed. The Sunday schools are rapidly developing. In many places those who are leading are studying and discussing modern methods and plans whereby much interest is being created. The Boards of Missions and Church Extension are laying deep and well the foundation for a great Methodism in this Conference. All policies thrill with life and look at once to the incarnation of the spirit and aim of the Master. Some of the younger men who are gradually rising to be leaders are: J. W. Hunt, H. M. Long, C. W. Hearon, A. L. Moore, M. Phelan, A. W. Waddill, W. E. Lyon. M. M. Beavers, Sketches of Annual Conferences. 443 A. L. Bowman, W. M. Lane, George W. Shearer, R. A. Clem- ents, A. W. Hall, and J. E. Stephens. This Conference is composed largely of young men. The field is attractive, and, though new, it is one of the best in Texas. Missouri Conference. At about the same time, it is believed, that the Lewis and Clark expedition arrived at the post of St. Louis on its return from claiming an empire in the Northwest (that is, about September 23, 180G) the Rev. John Travis was by the Western Conference assigned to a circuit described as "Missourie." This Conference met on the eastern side of the Mississippi River. Travis was the first Methodist preacher to be appointed to work in that vast region known as Upper Louisiana, what is now nearly half of the territory of the United States west of the Mississippi. Even before the Louisiana Purchase, American settlers had begun to enter this region, but especially was this true after the Lewis and Clark expedition. From St. Louis southward settlements were rapidly forming, and the country was being generally occupied. It was along the littoral of the Mississippi, amongst these newly formed settlements, that Travis laid out his work. His presiding elder was William Mc- Kendree, and the district which he served was known as the Cumberland District. It was McKendree who planned and exploited this far-reaching work in the Missouri country. In the settlements to which Travis went he found enough Methodists to form the nucleus of a society. It is even probable, according to the authority of Dr. C. C. Woods, of the St. Louis Christian Advocate, that Methodist preaching had been heard in this region as early as 1798. In that year the Rev. John Clark, a local preacher, had invaded the land from the Illinois side. He is thought to have formed a class of members in what is now St. Louis County. It appears also that Rev. Jesse Walker and Rev. Lewis Garrett had, under the direction of Mc- Kendree, made a preaching tour into Missouri in the early part of 1806, previous to the entry of Travis. McKendree, as presiding elder, came in the summer of 1807 and led in the preaching done at the first camp meeting ever held in Missouri. He was accompanied by Abbott Goddard, James Gwin, and 444 History of Methodism. Jesse Walker. These were all famous frontier preachers in the Western Conference. Landing on the western bank of the Mis- sissippi, they walked forty miles, carrying their baggage, to the scene of the camp meeting. The services of John Travis were fruitful from the beginning. At the session of the Con- ference of 1807 he reported two circuits as having been formed in Missouri — the Missouri, with fifty-six members, and the Maramac, with fifty members. For the years 1807-08 Jesse Walker was appointed to serve on the Missouri Circuit and Edmund Wilcox on the Maramac. It was at the end of this term that William McKendree was elected bishop, the first na- tive American to hold that office. The new bishop, with the westering spirit still moving in his soul, hurried to his old field of labor, crossed the Mississippi River at a place near the city of Alton, and assisted Jesse Walker in holding the first camp meeting held in the Missouri country north of the Missouri River. From this point he pushed even farther westward, crossing the Missouri River one hundred miles above its mouth, where he held another camp meeting on the Maramac Circuit. The result of these labors was a new circuit reported to the next Conference, with a total of two hundred members in the Missouri region. Dr. Woods notes that the entrance of Methodism into the Towns of Missouri was slow, these being settled largely by the French from Illinois and Lower Louisiana and by immigrants from Canada. Up to the organization of the Missouri Confer- ence in 181G only a few classes had been formed in the towns. It was 1821 before a society had been formed in St. Louis. In the American settlements, however, the work prospered greatly, bo that at the Conference of 1800 the number of members reported was double that of the two previous years. In the following year a Church was organized in the town of Cape Girardeau, which was probably the first Methodist Church formed in any Missouri town. Tii 1811-12 came a series of astonishing natural occurrences, chief of which were the great earthquake and land-sinks along the Mississippi shore, which filled the minds of the people with solemn amazement and forebodings. It is of record that these effects were not unfavorable to the spread of the gospel. Sketches of Annual Conferences. 445 the serious state of the public miud leadiug to a contemplation of unworldly subjects. The Missouri District of the Western Conference was formed in 1814, and at the Conference of 1815 the membership was re- ported to be 941. The appointments for this year were: Sam- uel H. Thompson, presiding elder; New Madrid, Philip Davis; Cape Girardeau, Jesse Haile; Spring River, to be supplied; Saline, Thomas Wright ; Bellevue, William Stevenson ; Cold Wa- ter, Benjamin Proctor; Missouri, Jacob Whiteside; Boon's Lick, Joseph Piggott. The Missouri Conference was ordered to be formed at the session of the Western Conference in 1816. The minutes of 1817 show two districts, the Illinois and the Mis souri. Of these, Samuel H. Thompson was presiding elder of the first and Jesse Walker of the other. The lineal offspring of this Conference have been a number of Methodist bodies, as follows: Arkansas Conference, 1836; Indian Mission Confer- ence, 1844; St. Louis Conference, 1846; Little Rock Confer- ence, 1854; Western Conference, 1870; White River Confer- ence, 1870 ; Southwest Missouri Conference, 1871 ; Denver Con- ference, 1874; and Montana Conference, 1878. From the Indian Mission Conference have sprung the East and West Oklahoma Conferences, while the Arkansas and White River have been merged into the North Arkansas Conference and the Western Conference into the Missouri Conference. The Mis- souri Conference also claims a maternity of the Illinois Confer- ence, which was an independent body previous to 1866. The delegations of the Missouri Conference in the last two General Conferences have been as follows : 1910, clerical — C. M. Bishop, W. A. Hanna, O. E. Brown, A. C. Johnson, J. J. Reid ; lay — B. J. Casteel, J. J. Hewitt, J. A. Leavell, M. E. Lawson, A. P. Set- tle. 1914, clerical— R. H. Cooper, A. C. Browning, B. P. Tay- lor, S. M. Robinson ; lay — C. M. Hay, M. E. Lawson, P. M. Cul- ver, R. T. Bond, and H. G. Sipple. Southwest Missouri Conference. The Southwest Missouri Conference was formed by the divi- sion of the St. Louis Conference at its session at Boonville in 1870. Bishop H. N. McTyeire presided, and W. M. Prottsman was Secretary. Dr. David R. McAnally, in the fullness of his 440 History of Methodism. strength, edited the St. Louis Christian Advocate. Dr. Joseph Boyle, of St. Louis, was at Boonville, sick in the City Hotel, and soon after passed away. Dr. George Clinton, of St. Louis, also was in failing health and died during the year. No more bril- liant preacher was in the old St. Louis Conference than Dr. C. D. N. Campbell, of Kansas City. Dr. Nathan Scarritt held a supernumerary relation. Joseph Bennett and G. M. Winton were among the stalwart figures of the Conference. Among the younger men in the very prime of life were: W. C, J. E., and Milton Adkisson, T. M. Cobb, and C. C. Woods. S. S. Bryant, though advancing in years, was mentally alert and a very clear and strong preacher. John A. Murphy and M. M. Pugh were filling important places. Dr. C. P. Jones, pastor of Boonville Church, was one of the strongest preachers in the Conference. Dr. J. W. Lewis and Gen. L. M. Lewis preached in St. Louis. A popular pastor was G. W. Horn, who died more than thirty years ago. The membership in this territory while part of the St. Louis Conference was 10,077. The original name given was West St. Louis Conference, which was changed to Southwest Missouri by the General Conference of 1874. The first session of the South- west Missouri Conference was held in Kansas City in 1871 by Bishop Doggett, who presided again at Clinton in 1878. W. M. Prottsman was Secretary and continued in that office until his transfer to the Pacific Conference, in 1875. In 187G C. C. Woods was elected Secretary and holds the record in the Church of forty years' continuous service in that office. Bishop Pierce presided in 1872 and 1881; Bishop Wightman, in 1873 and 1879 ; Bishop Keener, in 1874, 1875, and 1880 ; Bishop McTyeire, in 1870 and also in 188G; Bishop Marvin, in 1877; Bishop Granbery, in 1882, 1885, 1880, 1809, and 1000; Bishop Wilson, in 1883 and 1902 ; Bishop Parker, in 1884 ; Bishop Hendrix, in 1887, 1888, 1894, 1904, 1905, 1914, 1915, and 191 G; Bishop Key, in 1890, 190G, and 1907; Bishop Hargrove, in 1891; Bishop Galloway, in 1892, 1896, and 1903; Bishop Haygood, in 1893 ; Bishop Duncan, in 1895; Bishop Fitzgerald, in 1897; Bishop Candler, in 1898, 1901, and 1909; Bishop Morrison, in 1908; Bishop Denny, in 1910, 1911, and 1912; and Bishop Hoss, in 191:5. Sketches of Annual Conferences. 117 As first formed the Conference territory included all of Mis- souri south of the Missouri River and west of the Gasconade and Big Piney Rivers and the Range Line from Cedar Bluff south to Arkansas. Later the town of Cabool, just west of this line, was given to the St. Louis Conference. In 1906 the terri- tory of the Western Conference was added to the Southwest Missouri Conference, as the Western District. At the General Conference the charges comprised in this district were given in part to the Missouri Conference, the remainder being left with the Southwest Missouri Conference. The present membership of the Conference shows an increase since 1870 of 28,593, as the last reported membership was 38,- 070. The increase in the value and general condition of proper- ty, in churches, parsonages, schools, etc., has been much greater, relatively, than in membership and now approximates two mil- lion dollars. Members of the Southwest Missouri Conference active in recent years in the General Conference are: Clerical — C. H. Briggs, Paul H. Linn, W. T. McClure, W. H. Winton, J. E. Alexander, J. E. McDonald, W. G. Beasley. Lay — C. A. Cal- vird, Dr. W. M. Campbell, J. R. Miller, and J. W. Talbot. Rev. C. C. Woods is the only charter member of the Confer- ence now in the active relation who has received an appoint- ment each year of its history. Rev. C. H. Briggs joined the Conference at the session when the territory was set off from the St. Louis Conference, at Boonville, Mo., in 1870. He has been continuously in active work since that time, although called to important work in other Conferences for three years ad interim. St. Louis Conference. The St. Louis Conference was formed in 1846 and included all of Missouri south of the Missouri River. In 1870 the South- west Missouri Conference was cut off from it, and the bound- ary line between the two Conferences became the Gasconade River from its confluence with the Missouri River to the mouth of Big Piney River, thence south along that stream to its head- waters near Cedar Bluff, thence south along the east line of Range Eleven, Ark. In 1898 the town of Cabool, which was perhaps a half mile west of this line, was put in the St. Louis 448 History of Methodism. Conference, and it so remains. In 1902 the city of Cairo, in the Illinois Conference, was put in the St. Louis Conference, but was restored to the Illinois Conference in 1910. Hence the present boundary is as it was when the Conference was formed, save the one addition of the town of Cabool. The city of St. Louis has been one of the most fruitful fields of Methodism, and particularly of the Methodism of the South. In the Metropolitan District of St. Louis there are twenty-five churches, valued at $1,100,000. In no field has the local Church extension movement attained such proportions as in this fa- vored city. Its laymen have contributed from time to time large sums to the work of advancing Church extension and education. One of the largest gifts, perhaps the very largest single gift, ever received by the Church was that of the Barnes Hospital Foundation, a property now valued at nearly or quite two million dollars. The present membership of the Church in the St. Louis Dis- trict is 10,517, while the membership in the entire Conference is 40,484. Outside of the city of St. Louis the Conference has jurisdiction over a fine rural territory, including some of the rich mineral reaches in the southern part of the State, as well as fruitful sections of alluvial lands along the Mississippi and Missouri Kivers. There are in these parts some populous and prosperous towns. The town of Cape Girardeau, where the Con- ference held its centennial session in 1916, is said to be the first municipality west of the Mississippi River in which a Methodist society was organized. At the organization of the Conference, in 1846, there ap- peared in the list of appointments the name of N. G. Berry- man, who was afterwards known as one of the few last sur- viving members of the General Conference of 1844. Charles B. Parsons, a famous preacher, who had once been an actor, was pastor of the Fourth Street Church, St. Louis. John L. Lacey, Jephthah M. Kelly, Elijah Perkins, Jesse Green, and Thomas Wallace were, with Berryman, the presiding elders. Elisha Headlee was one of the circuit preachers. With this Con ference were afterwards associated such names as Marvin, Mc- Anally, Finney, Miller, Shackelford, Winton, Godbey, Leftwich, Browning, Prottsman, Ditzler, Rader, Hawkins, and others. Sketches of Annual Conferences, 441) The modern lists of the Conference have carried such names as John Mathews, great pastor; L. M. Lewis, Christian gentle- man and apostolic teacher; Beverly Carradine, evangelistic in pulpit and parish; Felix R. Hill, record-making pastor; S. H. Werlein, by nature and by culture an orator; James W. Lee, scholar and preacher of the first rank; Charles M. Hawkins, faithful to every trust; L. E. Todd, resourceful leader; Theo dore Copeland, courteous companion and faithful friend; and very many others. The representatives in the General Conferences of 1010 and 1914 were: Clerical— W. F. McMurry, M. T. Haw, N. B. Hen ry, S. H. Wainright, J. M. Moore, R. L. Russell, P. H. Linn, J. M. Bradley. Lay — John W. Vaughan, B. G. Shackelford, C. L. Whitener, R. A. Sparks, B. H. Marbury, and J. P. Mabrey. North Arkansas Conference. The North Arkansas Conference resulted from the union, in 1914, of the Arkansas Conference, organized in 1836 under the presidency of Bishop Morris, with Rev. W. P. Ratcliffe as Sec- retary, and the White River Conference, which the General Conference of 1870 formed from the eastern half of the Arkan- sas Conference. The first session of the White River Conference was held at Mount Zion, a country church in Cross County, in September, 1870. At this Conference were present twenty-one preachers, of whom, as it is remembered, John H. Dye and Henry T. Greg- ory alone remain. There were present 17 laymen. Thomas B. King was elected Assistant Secretary, but was not entered as a delegate. The second session had 25 members, but only 8 lay delegates were present. At the fourth session 13 pastors and 8 lay delegates were reported as having been present. In 1870 the reports of the White River Conference showed 32 traveling preachers, 90 local preachers, and 8,249 members. In 1893 there were 83 preachers in full connection, 81 local preachers, and 29,113 members. For the support of the ministry in 1870 the sum of |14,710 was reported; in 1913 f 70,697 was reported. In 1870 James Mackey, of Cotton Plant, baptized seventy-two infants, which was a good report for a new Conference. A. C. Griffin, H. C. Gregory, John W. Boswell, J. H. Dye, M. M. 29 450 History of Methodism. Smith, J. K. Faris, W. C. Davidson, R. C. Morehead, Josephus Anderson, James A. Anderson, S. H. Babcock, Frank Barrett, James F. Jernegan, W. L. Oliver, C. Pope, W. B. Ricks, Fred Little, Z. T. Bennett, George A. Dannellj, R. G. Brittain, and many others, helped to make the membership and the strength of the White River Conference. This Conference was noted for its cordial brotherly feelings and its lack of Conference cliques. The laymen have furnished Secretaries for it as follows : J. W. Wickersham, three year; George Thornburgh, nine years; A. L. Meloan, three years ; F. M. Daniel, seven years — a total of twenty-two years — and the preachers for a like period of time. In 1907 F. M. Daniel was elected Conference Lay Leader and lias been reelected annually ever since. On the union of the two Conferences he was elected Secretary of the North Arkan- sas Conference, as also to be its Lay Leader. Prof. J. M. Wil- liams, of Galloway College, and President J. H. Reynolds, of Hendrix College, with President J. C. Eaton, of Sloan-Hen- drix Academy, Prof. A. L. Hutchins, Prof. G. W. Drake, A. L. Meloan, J. G. Sudberry, B. B. Hudgens, Jonathan Cole, J. R. Metcalf, Prof. P. W. Furry, and a host of other faithful lay- men, are amongst the leaders in the new Conference. Hendrix College, Galloway College, and Sloan-Hendrix Academy are all within its bounds and are all high-grade institutions. At Batesville, in 1914, the union of the Arkansas and the White River Conferences was completed without friction or difficulty, and the new Conference took its place with the larger- bodies of Methodism as a first-class religious power. Little Rock Conpeebnce. In October, 1815, the Tennessee Conference organized the first Methodist work in Arkansas, the Spring River Circuit in the northern part of the State, and included it in the Missouri District. It was formed in the southern part of the State, and William Stephenson, from Missouri, was appointed pastor. In 1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822 AVilliam Stephenson was presiding elder of the Arkansas District. Several times afterwards he was presiding elder of this district. In 1836 Arkansas was admitted to the Union, and the smic Sketches of Annual Conferences. 451 year the Geiieral Conference organized the Arkansas Confer- ence, with 24 preachers, 2,7:,»:> white members, 599 colored mem- bers, and 1,225 Indian members. The Conference embraced a part of the Indian Territory and a part of Louisiana. At the first session Andrew Hunter and seven others were admitted on trial. The General Conference, at Columbus, Ga., in 1854, divided the Arkansas Conference by a line running from east to west across the State. The Conference north of this line retained the old name, while that south was called the Wachita Confer- ence, taking its name from the Wachita River, which runs from the northwest to the southeast across this section of the State. In 18G6 the General Conference changed the name to Little Rock Conference. The boundary has remained unchanged since the formation of the Conference. Practically the southern half of the State is embraced in this Conference. At the time of the division there were in the whole State of Arkansas 8 districts, 75 pastoral charges, 15,888 white mem- bers, 2,897 colored members, 233 local preachers, and 10 preach- ers holding the superannuate or supernumerary relation — a to- tal Methodist population of 19,018. In the division 8,675 mem- bers fell to the Wachita Conference, now the Little Rock Con- ference. The first meeting of the new Annual Conference was at Washington, Hempstead County, November 22-27, 1854. A new district was formed, the Monticello, and the new Conference began its career with five districts. There were only four sta- tions, and the circuits embraced from twelve to twenty-eight appointments. There were a few neat frame churches, many log churches, and a great many congregations met in school- houses, in private homes, and under brush arbors. The country was thinly settled by poor people. There were no railroads. Worship was simple. There were but few hymn books, and the preachers "lined" the hymns. The organ was not allowed in the church, even where it could be afforded. As late as 1807 the Little Rock Conference passed resolutions expressing dis approval "of the use of choirs and instruments of music in our churches, believing that they tend to formality in worship and the destruction of congregational singing." Little attention was given to Sunday school work. There 452 History of Methodism. were no missionary or other organizations in the Church. Preaching, singing, prayer, and testimony were stressed. It was the day of the camp meeting, and many noted camp grounds were to be found over the country : Benton, in Saline County ; Glazier Pool, in Garland ; Rock Springs, in Dallas ; Columbia, in Columbia; Brown Springs, in Clark; Sardis, in Grant; Mount rieasant, in Drew ; Keener, in Ashley ; Little Prairie, in Arkan- sas; Center Point, in Howard; and many others. The annual meeting and revival at these camp grounds was the great event for a large territory around. The whole population came to- gether and camped around the great shed beside a fine spring and remained ten days or two weeks. The roads in the country were bad, and the streams were not bridged; so it was necessary that the preacher have a good horse that could make long trips over rough roads, swim swol- len streams without getting the saddlebags wet, and reach the appointments in time for preaching. White people and negroes, masters and slaves, were members of the same congregation and worshiped together at the same time and place. A certain section of the area of worship was set apart for the colored people, and all the privileges of the congregation were theirs. The preachers of the Conference were white men, but many negroes were licensed and ordained as local preachers. The Conference sent out its preachers to be pastors to both races. Usually the majority of the members were white, but on many of the pastoral charges the majority were colored. Some of the best preachers were sent to African missions. Before the War between the States the Conference enter- prised some schools and colleges. In 1855 there was a female seminary at Tulip. There was also a male school at the same time and place. The war permanently closed both of these. In the same years the Conference undertook to establish female colleges at Camden, Arkadelphia, and Hamburg. The only school that continued throughout the war was Center Point Male and Female Academy, under the presidency of Rev. T. W. Hayes, who still lives. Of course the Church suffered during the war. Nearly all of its educational enterprises were suspended, much of its property was destroyed, and the Conference decreased from Sketches of Annual Conferences. 453 eighty-one preachers at the beginning of the war to sixty at its close, while the Church membership suffered even greater de- pletion. Since the war the Little Rock Conference has developed as rapidly as any section of the Church. In 1916 the membership was 49,385 ; traveling preachers, exclusive of 13 supplies, 167 ; local preachers, 122; church buildings, 445; value, $1,130,230; parsonages, 129; value, $226,125; contributed for all Church purposes the past year, $302,282. For many years after the war the Conference did not establish any schools, but sever- al preachers engaged in school work and were appointed to their schools by the Conference. J. H. Riggin had charge of the Selma High School and -later of the Warren Academy. T. W. Hayes changed from Center Point and conducted the Min- eral Springs Male and Female Academy. L. M. Lewis, D.D., was President of Arkansas Female College, at Little Rock. In 1883 the Arkansas and Little Rock Conferences united in the purchase of Central Collegiate Institute, at Altus, in Franklin County. In 1889 the name was changed to Hendrix College. In 1890 the college was moved to Conway. It now has grounds, buildings, and endowment to the amount of $400,000. In 1888 this Conference joined with the other Conferences of the State in establishing Galloway Female College in Searcy. In 1890 the Conference established Arkadelphia Methodist College at Arkadelphia. Later its name was changed to Henderson-Brown College. In 1889 several training schools were established, one at Fordyce, one at Stuttgart, and one at Mena ; but these have been suspended. Before the war (1851) the Memphis and Arkansas Christian Advocate, published at Memphis, was circulated sparsely over this Conference. After the war the Western Methodist, pub- lished at Memphis, was indorsed and taken by our people. In 1882 the Arkansas Methodist began publication at Morrillton and later moved to Little Rock. Privately owned and occasion- ally changing its name, the paper has been issued regularly since 1882. In 1915 the North Arkansas and the Little Rock Conferences bought the paper, and it is now issued as the Ar- kansas Methodist. The Arkansas Methodist Orphanage was opened in 1902 at 454 History of Methodism. Little Rock. In 1911 a new building was completed at a cost of $35,000. The institution is owned and supported by the two Conferences. Prominent among the preachers who formed the Conference in 1854 were: Andrew Hunter, A. R. Winfield, W. P. Ratcliff, William Moores, John Pryor, John F. Carr, and James E. Cobb. Those of commanding influence who came in afterwards were : E. N. Watson, J. R. Harvey, and Horace Jewell, in 1859 ; C. O. Steel, B. G. Johnson, and H. D. McKinnon, in 1SG0; T. W. Hayes, in 18G1 ; J. H. Riggin, in 18G5 ; T. H. Ware, in 18G8 ; C. C. Godden, in 1872 ; T. D. Scott, in 1885 ; Alonzo Monk, B. A. Few, Stonewall Anderson, Wr. P. Whaley, Forney Hutchinson, and James Thomas. Many others have honored the ministry in this Conference and made this territory a stronghold of Methodism. L. B. Leigh, J. H. Hinemon, George Thornburgh, W. H. Ramsey, W. J. Pinson, J. O. A. Bush, and R. B. F. Key have well represented the lay leadership. Oklahoma Conferences. At the last session of the General Conference of undivided Methodism, held in New York City in May, 1844, the Indian Mission Conference was authorized, and its boundaries were fixed as follows : "The Indian Mission Conference shall be bounded on the north by the Missouri River, on the east by the States of Missouri and Arkansas, on the south by Red River, and on the west by the Rocky Mountains." On October 23, 1844, the Methodist preachers of the Territory named met, at the call of Bishop T. A. Morris, who presided, in Riley's Chapel, Cherokee Nation (about three miles from where the town of Tahlequah, Okla., is now located), in the In- dian Territory, and the Indian Mission Conference was organ- ized with eighteen charter members. The Church membership at organization is not known ; but at the second session of the Conference, in October, 1845, it was reported to be as follows: Indians, 2,862; whites, 115; colored, 189; local preachers, 36. At the first session of the Conference, at Riley's Chapel, a vote was taken, and by a majority of one the Conference be- came a part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, instead of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Sketches of Annual Conferences. 455 Many schools were from time to time established among the Indians; and at the ninth session of the Conference, in 1852, eight such schools, with 389 pupils, were reported. There were no sessions of the Conference in 18G2 or 1863. Sessions were held the next two years ; but few attended, and by the close of the war the work of the Conference had reached a low stage. The country had been laid waste, and the tribes were torn with internal strife. The Church was impoverished to the last degree and could not aid ; but God did not forsake. The few left on the ground were faithful, while immigration into the Territory continued, and helpers were raised up with- in the bounds of the Church until in 1875 there were 5 dis- tricts, 34 charges, 85 local preachers, 4,753 members, 33 Sunday schools with 943 pupils, 24 church buildings, and a number of literary schools. In 1885 there were 5 districts, 56 charges, 112 local preachers, 7,307 members, and 84 Sunday schools with 3,129 pupils. There was raised that year $118 for Confer- ence claimants and $1,140 for missions. On April 22, 1889, the western half of the Indian Territory was opened to settlement for the white people and called Okla- homa Territory. Statehood came on November 16, 1907, unit- ing both Territories in the new State of Oklahoma, with a pro- hibition proviso written in the constitution. The Conference was in session on that date, and the name was changed to the Oklahoma Conference. In November, 1910, the Conference met at Ardmore, Okla., at which date it was divided into the East Oklahoma Confer- ence and the West Oklahoma Conference, there being at that time a total membership in the State of 52,421, 371 local preach- ers, 412 church buildings, valued at $1,146,253, and 221 par- sonages, valued at $262,496, with a total raised for all purposes that year of $500,729 and an increase in membership of 2,816. There is at present a total membership in the two Conferences of 57,591. Such men as T. F. Brewer, who without a break was sent as a delegate to the General Conference for twenty-eight years, M. A. Clarke, T. F. Roberts, H. J. Brown, J. J. Methvin, J. M. Gross, M. L. Butler, J. A. Rowan, N. L. Linebaugh, O. E. God- dard, W. F. Dunkle, S. H. Babcock, W. M. Wilson, R. E. L. 456 History of Method ism. Morgan, W. A Shelton, J. K. Florence, and J. F. Thompson have been prominent in Oklahoma Methodism. The work of these leaders has been reenforced by the help of such able lay- men as D. H. Linebaugh, T. 8. De Armon, A. E. Bonnell, B. C. Clark, and others.* Denver Conference. In the year 1870 Rev. A. H. Quillian went to Colorado, go- ing with Green Russell, the man who first discovered gold in the State. He went at the solicitation of Mr. Russell and traveled by ox wagon. In the spring of 1871 he was asked to preach and preached his first sermon in an adobe dwelling house at a place now known as Line, near Pueblo. At some time during the summer or early fall of 1871 Dr. Morrison, having been asked by one of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as he passed through St. Louis on his way to Denver to look up A. H. Quillian, he and his wife visited Mr. Quillian and his family at the place where they lived on a lit- tle farm near St. Charles Creek. Together they at that time agreed upon the work that afterwards became the Denver Con ference, Dr. Morrison being the first presiding elder and A. H. Quillian the preacher in charge. In 1872 Mr. Quillian preached in Pueblo at the request of Mr. Charles Goodnight. Mr. Goodnight now lives at Goodnight, Tex. In 1872 John Sage was converted at what is now known as Beulah, then called Meas's Hole. He furnished Mr. Quillian with a horse to ride and also gave him ten acres of land to cultivate, which enabled him to travel and preach. Quillian preached at Flor- ence and Hard Scrabble, also on Four-Mile Creek, at present known as Cripple Creek, from which the famous gold camp takes its name. In 1873 he organized a class at Rye, with ;i Mr. Hunter as one of the charter members. In 1873 T. R. Pierce arrived in Colorado and took charge of the Church ;it Pueblo. Pierce was a nephew of Bishop Pierce. In 1874 Quil- lian organized a class at Gardner, Colo., Mrs. J. B. Hudson being a charter member. Mis. Hudson had a habit of getting ♦The author regrets that at the last moment expected matter for sep- arate sketches of the two Oklahoma Conferences failed to come to hand. Sketches of Annual Conferences. 157 happy and shouting when she went to church. In 1874 Rev. Dr. Smith came to the Southern Methodist Church from the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was presiding elder of the Pueblo District and organized a class at Honey, Colo., then known as the Sunflower Valley. In 1875 Quillian organized a class at La Veta, with E. A. Strange, Virgil Barnard, and Bascom Sage among the charter members. In 1876 he organ- ized a class at Walsenburg, with R. A. Quillian as a charter member. About this time Rev. Dr. S. W. Busk organized a class at Trinidad. During this interval many good men served in the Denver Conference, a large number for so small a Con- ference— Rev. Dr. Neeley, J. H. Ledbetter, W. J. Jackson, Dr. W. L. Rader, and others. In 1884 Rev. Mr. Kearns organized a class at Saguache. In the latter seventies and early eighties the San Juan Basin was opened up and settled largely from such places as Gardner, Rye, La Veta. Stockmen moved their herds there — from Rye, the Robinsons; from Gardner, the Hudsons; from La Veta, the Sages. With some of these families as a nucleus was formed the Durango District, with Churches at Durango, Farmington, Aztec, N. Mex., Mancos, Colo., as well as at other places. This district has been served by some very strong men, among them Rev. Mr. Howard, who went to the West Texas Conference, and of later years Rev. Mr. Bundy, Dr. Waldraven, John Cox, and many such worthy men. In Denver City the work of the Conference has been distin- guished in recent years by the erection of a handsome new church by the St. Paul's congregation and by other tokens of revival in Methodist spirit. Amongst the delegates who have gone to the General Con ference from the Denver Conference are the following: Clerical —A. H. Quillian, in 1882 ; J. H. Ledbetter, in 1898; W. H. Howard, in 1902 ; T. S. Wheeler, in 1906 ; R. E. Dickenson, in 1914. Laymen— J. R. Killian, E. A. Strange, R. E. Rice, E. S. Whitehead. New Mexico Conference. For a number of years the preachers of the Denver Confer- ence had been working in the northern and western parts of the 458 History of Methodism. Territory of New Mexico, and the district known as the New Mexico District reached as far south as Deming. The preach- ers of the West Texas Conference had been pushing west and had reached as far as El Paso and Las Cruces. Pioneering work had also been done in the Sacramento and White Moun- tains and along the Pecos Valley; so that when the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, met in Centenary Church, St. Louis, Mo., in May, 1800, it was deemed advisable that the New Mexico Conference should be formed out of x>art of the territory of New Mexico and that part of the West Texas Conference lying west of the Pecos River. The new Conference held its first annual session at El Paso, Tex., August 27, 1800, the presiding officer being Bishop O. P. Fitzgerald. The Conference roll shows sixteen preachers, with twenty-six appointments, a few being supplied by local brethren, and a number left to be supplied. The Conference was divided into three districts — viz. : Al- buquerque, with J. D. Bush presiding elder; Eddy, with I. N. Crutchfield presiding elder; and El Paso, with J. M. Steven- son presiding elder. All of these brethren had proved their worth as pioneers in the vast territory now forming the New Mexico Annual Conference, which comprised wide stretches of plains over which ranged thousands of cattle, arid deserts (sometimes with significant names, such as Cactus Flat and Jornado Del Mortej, numerous ranges of mountains contain- ing immense mineral wealth, but with few and widely scattered towns and settlements, the population being mostly frontiers- men, cattlemen, and hardy miners and prospectors. The church buildings were either frame or adobe structures, except three that were built of brick. Many of the litile towns were of mushroom growth and soon fell into partial decay, and several of the charges had to be abandoned in consequence; so that at the Conference of 1894 the number had been reduced to fifteen, with twelve preachers as members of the Conference. The work was arduous and called for sacrifices and heroism on the part of the preachers; but they invariably faced their tasks with cheerfulness and courage, and before long their faithfulness was rewarded, for as the territory became known for its great opportunities a tide Sketches of Annual Conferences. 459 of immigration set in, and the work developed so fast that it seemed impossible for the young Conference to keep up with the demands. At the end of the second decade (1910) the mem- bership had increased to 5,980, the preachers to forty-two, and the appointments to fifty-one. New and handsome buildings had replaced many of the frame and adobe structures, and the value of the property was given as $268,425. The last Annual Conference (1915) showed a still greater increase in member- ship, it having then reached to 8,164, with fifty-six churches at a property valuation of $382,460. The Woman's Home Mission Society during this time had achieved great things for the young Conference. Without its aid there would have been but little advance. The members heroically devoted themselves to building parsonages, assisted in raising the salaries of the preachers, provided for their needs, and promoted the interests of the work of God in every way possible. Of the preachers who served the Conference, J. D. Bush was one of the most persistent of church builders in the early days. He also was a most eloquent preacher. C. C. Edington for four years traveled over his vast district in labors "most abundant'' and did much to advance the interests of the Conference. J. B. Cochran, for seven years as presiding elder of the El Paso and Pecos Valley Districts, labored well in providing new edifices and in replacing the old buildings with new and better struc- tures adapted to the needs of the growing Churches. The educational policy of the Conference was not as success- ful as had been desired. One or more institutions that were projected had to be abandoned for lack of sufficient financial support. In all other lines of work, both local and eonnec tional, the New Mexico Conference has fully justified its es- tablishment. Los Angeles Conference. As early as 1863 Rev. J. C. Stewart, of the Pacific Confer- ence, preached in a number of places in Southern California, including San Bernardino. He was subsequently murdered by his traveling companion while on a journey into New Mexico. The first church in San Bernardino was built in 1866-67. In the autumn of 1868 Bishop Marvin, presiding over the Pacific Con- 4(H) History of Methodism. ference, made appointments to the Los Angeles District as fol- lows: William A. Spurlock, presiding elder; Los Angeles, S. M. Adams; San Bernardino, M. W. Glover; Santa Barbara, D. M. Rice; Santa Clara, J. A. Miller. In September of the same year John W. Allen, a licensed exhorter, reached Los Angeles from Texas and was present at the first Quarterly Conference held in Southern California. Early in the next year, having assisted the presiding elder in revival meetings, he was licensed to preach and appointed to be the assistant of M. W. Glover at San Bernardino. At the end of this year he was admitted into the Pacific Conference as an itinerant. During the next year there were reported four hundred conversions on the dis- trict. The presiding elder, W. A. Spurlock, was a consecrated man, a good singer, and had fine qualifications as an evangel- ist. The Los Angeles Conference was organized at San Ber- nardino, Cal., October 26, 1870, Bishop William M. Wightman presiding. During this year Alexander Groves, a man good and true, secured property for the Church both in Phoenix and. Prescott, Ariz. The second session of the Conference was held in 1S71 by Bishop Keener, at Los Nietos. The missionary anniversary, held at this session of the Conference, resulted in a collection of $628, the banner collection for the year in the West. At a camp meeting held at Los Xietos in that year one hundred conversions were reported. The statistics of the Conference for the year showed a membership of 555. Bishop Keener re- ported the purchase of a lot in San Diego at a cost of $1,200, also one in Los Angeles at a cost of $1,000. A church had been built in Prescott, the value of which was given at $1,550. About this time two Conference schools were in existence, one known as the Los Xietos Collegiate Institute, George E. But- ler, Principal, and the other as the Wilson College, of Wil- mington. John W. Allen was the first undergraduate to com- plete the four years' course in the Conference. He is the only living minister who was present at the organization of the Los Angeles Conference. He is now a superannuate, but gives all his strength and time to a work which he loves so well. He is honored as the patriarch of the Conference. Sketches of Annual Conferences. 4G1 There are at present in the Los Angeles Conference about 40 appointments, with 40 church buildings, 27 parsonages, and a membership of 5,287; 28 Epworth Leagues and 41 Sunday schools. Not a few preachers who have from time to time been announced as transfers to this Conference have failed to reach the field; others who have gone have stayed but a short time, yet the work has been constantly manned, and faithful workers have been found to cultivate the field. The old guard has al- ways given great honor to William A. S'purlock as the founder of the Conference and to Groves and Hedgpeth the honor of founding the work in Arizona. It was in the fall of 1870 that Rev. Alexander Groves went from California to Arizona. He had gone from Texas to Cali- fornia and had done much pioneer work in his youth in the then dangerous frontier of that great commonwealth. He was sent out by the Los Angeles Conference and went directly to Salt River Valley. At that time the city of Phoenix was a few scat- tered adobe huts. In the spring of 1871 he organized a socie- ty of the Church, South. This was under a brush arbor in what was then known as the "Mesquite Neighborhood/' lo- cated about one mile and a half southwest of where the State Capitol now stands. This was the first Methodist class and the first Protestant organization in the State. The charter members of this real "first Church" were seven godly women. Only two of them are now living, but their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren have become empire builders in this great Southwest. In the spring of the year 1871 Mr. Groves rode horseback over the dangerous old "Black Canyon Trail" to Prescott, and in the home of T. H. Head, on "Goose Flat," organized a Church with ten charter members. Through the liberality of friends in Texas and California, added to the contributions of this lit- tle band, he built a small frame church on the property where the Methodist Episcopal Church now stands. This was the first Protestant and the first Methodist church building in the State. This building has since been claimed as the first church built by another denomination, but the papers are in possession of those who know the facts. About this time a Mrs. Brooks, wife of Judge Brooks, of the 402 History of Methodism. first Supreme Bench of the Territory, received au offer from a lady in Philadelphia to give two solid silver communion sets to the first two Protestant Churches organized in the Territory. Both of these were presented to Mr. Groves for the classes a1 Phoenix and Prescott. Not wishing to appear selfish, however, he accepted only one, the other being given to the Methodist Episcopal Church in Phoenix. The communion set accepted by Mr. Groves is still in possession of the Central Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, at Phoenix. In the fall of 1871 Alexander Groves returned to California to attend the session of his Annual Conference. While absent, through the carelessness of others the Church property at Pres- cott came into the possession of another denomination. After Conference Mr. Groves returned as presiding elder and preached in all the then more prominent settlements of the Ter- ritory. Half his work has never become known to the Church, even in the State. At one time his life was endangered by fanatical Mormons in the White Mountains of the State, and he escaped only through the kindly intervention and help of a big-hearted cowboy. In the winter of 1871 Rev. Simeon Shaw came from Texas to take charge of the work at Phoenix, but remained only to the end of that Conference year. The property in Prescott was not regained, but the class was never disbanded, although without a pastor until 1870, when Rev. L. J. Hedgpeth, who had come from California in 1875, assisted by Mr. Groves, held a revival meeting and re- organized the work with a class of eighteen. Rev. E. B. Wiley, a former local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was put in charge of the work and in 1878 finished a church build- ing on West Gurley Street, which is still standing and is the oldest Protestant church building in the State. With a small addition, built for the Sunday school, and a few repairs, it is still in fair condition and is used at present by our congre- gation. The Conference of 1876 appointed Rev. Lewis J. Hedgpeth as presiding elder, Rev. E. B. Wiley supplied Phoenix, and Rev. Lewis Featherstun was appointed pastor at Prescott. Rev. William Monk, of West Texas fame, was asked to open work Sketches of Annual Conferences. 463 in Tucson ; and Groves, the pathfinder, craved the privilege of blazing the trail in the Verde Valley and the wilds of the Mogollon Mountains. During the year Monk decided that the work at Tucson was not worth while and went to help Groves, who had opened up unmeasured distances in the great wilds of mountainous Northern Arizona and needed help to hold what he had gained. Featherstun's feeble health pre- vented his going to his appointment at all, and Rev. A. M. Campbell was sent from California to take his place, he too remaining only one year. During the same year (1876-77) Rev. E. B. Wiley completed the walls of the old adobe church at Phcenix, on the corner of Center and Monroe Streets, where our more modern plant now stands. In the fall of 1876 Rev. L. J. Hedgpeth rode horseback over the old Ehrnburg Trail from Phoenix, Ariz., to Santa Ana, Cal., to attend the session of the Los Angeles Conference, at which he was appointed presiding elder of the Arizona Dis- trict. On that trip he encountered perils, privations, hard- ships, and exposures which brought on a serious fever. Soon after his return to Arizona he lay for three months at the very entrance to the shadowy gates. In his old age the family physicians thought that perhaps he never fully recovered from the effects of that exposure and its resultant breakdown, al- though he lived nearly forty years longer. He was a true hero. Through loneliness, weariness, and discouragement he rode, braver than any plumed knight, to preach the gospel and lay the foundations of the kingdom of God. It was during this time that our property at Phoenix fell into the hands of those who were not the friends of our cause and came near being lost. Had it not been for the sterling courage of a brave, hardy old Scotch-Irishman, Malady Monroe Jackson, we would have lost our very valuable holdings. In 1882 Rev. J. W. Allen was presiding elder of the Los Angeles District and went to Phoenix to look after the work there. He made arrangements for the settlement of the claims against the Church property and sent as regular pastor Rev. J. W. McCann. Since that time the Church has sent out reg- ular pastors and elders for the work. Amongst those who have helped to make the history of this 464 History of Methodism. Conference may be named : T. R. Curtis, W. B. Stradley, R. H. Parker, J. F. G. Finley, J. W. Chapman, W. B. Sharbrough, H. C. Christian, and R. P. Howell. Pacific Conference. The Pacific Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized in Wesley Chapel, on Powell Street, San Francisco, Cal., April 15, 1852. In the absence of a bishop, Rev. Jesse Boring, D.D., was elected President, while A. M. Wynn was chosen Secretary. The original members were : Jesse Boring, D. W. Pollock, W. R. Gober, A. M. Wynn, J. S. Malone, J. F. Blythe, A. M. Bailey, J. M. Fulton, Morris Evans, W. A. Simmons, J. C. Simmons, D. B. Leyne, E. B. Lockley, S. W. Davies, J. W. Kelley, A. Graham, J. M. Jones, and John Mathews. The last three named were not on the field at the time of the organization of the Conference, but re- ceived appointments, and soon afterwards Graham and Marl) ews took up the work. Jones never reported. Cyprian Grid- lev, who had been at work in California, was present at the or- ganization of the Conference, but, at his own request, was left without an appointment. Judge D. O. Shattuck, a layman, was present at this first Conference. He later entered the min- istry and was at one time a member of the Pacific Conference. Prior to the organization of the Conference Bishop Paine sent out Dr. Jesse Boring as Superintendent of the Pacific Mission, together with D. W. Pollock and A. M. Wynn. These brethren arrived in California and began work in April, 1850. The first preaching places and organizations were San Fran- cisco, Stockton, San Jose, Sonora, and Sacramento. Cyprian Gridley, formerly a member of the Louisville Conference, was by Dr. Boring appointed to the work during the year, and in the fall of 1851 J. S. Malone and W. R. Gober entered the field. Educational interests received early attention, and at this first session of the Conference plans were laid for establishing a college and four high schools. Pacific Methodist College was founded at Vacaville in 1860, with Dr. W. T. Lucky as Presi- dent and C. S. Smith and S. B. Morse as assistants. The col- lege was later moved to Santa Rosa, where for many years it flourished as one of the leading educational institutions in the Sketches of Annual Conferences. 465 State. It has been closed for a number of years. There were for a time schools at Visalia, San Jose, and Gilroy. A Church paper, known as the Christian Observer, was launched on January 5, 1852, some months before the organiza- tion of the Conference. The paper has at times, under financial stress, been compelled to suspend publication. It has been called Pacific Methodist, Christian Spectator, and is now the Pacific Methodist Advocate. W. E. Vaughan has been the ed- itor continuously for the past fourteen years. The Pacific Conference Church Extension Society was or- ganized in 1869. Perhaps the most distinguished pioneer of the Conference was O. P. Fitzgerald. He went to California in 1855, in the sec- ond year of his ministry, and was a member of the Conference till 1878, when he was elected editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate. Besides his work in California as pastor, editor, and college agent, he was for four years State Superintendent of Public Instruction, during which time the State University and the California Normal School were founded. Orcenith Fisher went to the Pacific Conference in 1855 and had a large part in the building of Methodism on the Pacific Coast, particularly in pioneering the work in Oregon. Some of the worthy leaders of the work in California in the earlier days, in addition to those already mentioned, were: R. W. Bigham, W. J. Mahon, A. Odom, C. Y. Rankin, C. B. Rid- dick, Sam Brown, T. H. B. Anderson, J. C. Pendergrast, E. E. Hoss, G. B. Winton, S. M. Godbey, H. C. Christian, A. P. Few, John Hannon, R. P. Wilson, A. C. Bane, H. C. Meredith, and Joseph Emery. Prominent in the work of the Conference at the present time are : J. A. Batchelor, J. J. N. Kenney, J. A. B. Fry, Mark Hodgson, J. E. Moore, W. E. Vaughan, H. V. Moore, J. A. Wailes, L. S. Jones, W. R. Thornton, Harold Govette, and E. H. Mowre. The Columbia, the East Columbia, and the Los Angeles Con- ferences were organized out of territory formerly embraced in the original Pacific Conference. This fact must be taken into consideration in comparing statistics. At the first session of the Conference there were reported : 20 circuits and stations, 294 members, 7 local preachers, 7 Sunday schools, 192 scholars, 30 History of Methodism, $731 collected for missions, 10 churches, 6 parsonages, 2 schools in operation and 2 waiting for teachers. In 1915 the follow- ing statistics were reported: Societies, 95; members, 8,000; local preachers, 12; houses of worship, 85; value of houses oi worship, S750,000; parsonages, 07, valued at £135,000; 125 in- fants baptized; 177 adults baptized; 00 Epworth Leagues, with nearly 2,000 members ; 90 Sunday schools, with 9,000 scholars ; contributed for Conference claimants, §1,800; missions. s5.- 000; Church extension, §1,200; education, §050; Bible Society, §100; support of the ministry, §51,000; and for all purposes, over §100,000. The Pacific Conference at the present time embraces all of Northern and Central California, the southernmost charge be ing Bakersfield. During its sixty-five sessions the Conference has had ten Secretaries. E. K. Miller held this position for thirteen years; L. C. Renfro, for twenty- two years; and Wil- liam Acton, for twelve years. Northwestern Conferences. Montana. In the body of this history will be found an account of the pioneer work done in the State of Montana by that remarkable man, L. B. Stateler. From the sowing by him of the seeds of the gospel Southern Methodism came to have a cause in that splendid young commonwealth. The General Conference of 1878 ordered the erection of an Annual Conference in its ter- ritory; and accordingly, on September 19, 1878, the preachers who were on the ground gathered at Helena and, under the presidency of Bishop Wightman, carried out the direction of the General Conference. Two districts were formed — the Helena District, with R. S. Clark as presiding elder, and Deer Lodge District, with E. J. Stanley as presiding elder, both veterans of former fields. With them was the redoubtable Stateler, the father of the mission. The number of members reported at this time was two hundred and twenty, including two local preachers. The number of Sunday schools Gras four, with one hundred and fifteen scholars and twenty-two officers and teach- ers. This was the beginning of things in a new and sparsely settled State. The progress of the Conference since organiza- Sketches of Annual Conferences. 467 tion has been necessarily slow. In 1015 the minutes showed twenty appointments, including two districts. In the neighbor- hood of fifteen hundred members, an increase of one hundred and forty for the year, were reported. There were fifteen Sun- day schools and seven Epworth Leagues, with a combined mem- bership of 1,568. Church property was reported to be valued at |120,200. The pioneers, L. P>. Stateler and R. S. Clark, have entered into the rest of the fathers, and E. J. Stanley is an honored superannuate. Other names which have been especially prominent in the history of the Conference are D. B. Price and P. I). Hartman. Dr. David Morton once labored in this field. Columbia Conference. The memorable General Conference of 1866 authorized the erection of the first Conference in the great Northwest in these words : "That the Oregon, Jacksonville, and Idaho Districts be cut off from the Pacific Conference and erected into a new Con- ference to be known as the Columbia Conference." On Oc- tober 26, 1866, under the presidency of Bishop Kavanaugh, the contingents of these districts met at Corvallis, Oregon, the center of the Church's early educational interest in that region, and completed the organization. Among the well- known pioneer itinerants in this company were : L. B. Stateler (afterwards identified with the Montana Conference), D. C. Mc Farland, James Kelsay, and W. A. Finley (at that time Presi- dent of Corvallis College). The Conference had thirteen ap- pointments, including the presidency of the college. The mem- bership was five hundred and twelve, local preachers included. At the division of the Conference into Columbia and .East Co- lumbia, which occurred in 1890, there were three districts, with thirty-eight appointments and a total membership of 1,902. M. V. Howard, J. W. Compton, E. G. Michael, J. W. Craig, and P. A. Moses were amongst the most active leaders at that time. East Columbia Conference. Under the presidency of Bishop Hendrix at Spokane Falls, Wash., on September 3, 1890, the East Columbia Conference held its initial session. Its territory consisted of the State of History of Methodism. Idaho and all those parts of Oregon and Washington east of a line drawn north and south practically through the middle of these States. The Conference began with two districts, the Pendleton and the Spokane, of the first of which E. G. Michael was presiding elder and of the latter R. B. Swift. At this time there was a total membership of 1,056. In 1915 the membership was reported at 2,231. The names of H. S. Shan- gle, G. H. Gibbs, S. B. Tabor, and C. R. Howard, with others, are worthy of mention as faithful modern-day workers in this interesting field. The Mission Conferences. China Mission Conference. The China Mission was established in 1848. The names that are forever renowned in connection with this movement are Charles Taylor, J. W. Lambuth, W. G. E. Cunnyngham, Young J. Allen, and D. C. Kelley. The Conference was organized in 1886. It consists of three districts, the Shanghai, the Soo- chow, and the Huchow. Two of the presiding elders on these districts are native preachers. The presiding elder of the Shanghai District is Rev. T. A. Hearn. Bishop Walter R. Lambuth, Dr. C. F. Reid, Dr. A. P. Parker, Dr. W. H. Park, and others have devoted loyal service to the cause of the Church in this Conference. At present there are twenty-nine male missionaries, forty-eight single women, and twenty-five married women engaged in this field. There are one hundred native preachers and fifty-six Bible women. In all there are sixty-one organized Churches and 0.126 members. There are eighty Epworth Leagues, with 3.163 members, and one hun- dred and forty-six Sunday schools, with 11.107 scholars. The Conference owns thirty-seven houses of worship, valued at about £170,000. Brazil Mission Conference. The Brazil Mission was established in 1874. Amongst the pioneer missionaries to Brazil were J. L. Kennedy, J. W. Tar- boux, H. C. Tucker, J. M. Lander, M. Dickey, J. J. Ransom, and J. W. Wolling. The Conference was organized in the year 1880. At the annual session held in Piracicaba August 12, The Mission Conferences. 1915, Bishop E. D. Mouzon presiding, there was reported a to tal of 6,117 members, au increase of 244 for the year. There were fifteen Epworth Leagues, with a membership of 534. Sun- day schools had been organized to the number of ninety-eight, with 3,690 scholars. There were twenty-nine houses of wor- ship, valued at about f 200,000. South Brazil Mission Conference. The South Brazil Mission was organized in 1900 and erected into a Conference in 1910. There are nineteen societies in the Conference, composing thirteen pastoral charges. The total membership is 1,474, a net gain of seventy-two for the year. There are twelve houses of worship, valued at $57,000. There are thirteen Epworth Leagues and twenty-one Sunday schools, with a combined membership of more than 2,000. German Mission Conference. The German Mission Conference, included within the State of Texas, was organized in 1874, being now in its forty-third year. In various sketches in this history reference has been made to such names as Vordenbaumen, Paule, Ahrens, and oth- er faithful German Methodists wiio pioneered the work of the Church amongst their countrymen in the Southwest. As time has passed and the life of the country has expanded, the descendants of these noble pioneers have thoroughly learned the English language and assimilated the religious and social customs of their neighbors. In consequence the field of the mission has been continually lessened. But there still remains a fine nucleus of these sturdy people, and they have held their Conference together with tenacity and interest. It now con- sists of two districts, with twenty appointments. The statistics for the current year show 1,811 members, with church property valued at $76,520. Central Mexico Mission Conference. The Central Mexico Mission was originated by Bishop John C. Keener in 1873. A pronounced air of romance and apos- tolic adventure attached to that early mission movement. It began with the first conditions of order and stability in the Diaz republic. In 1886 the mission was organized into a 470 History of Methodism. Conference and for a number of years bad a history of un- broken prosperity. Schools of good grade were established, and the missionaries and native workers pushed out into a number of the central States of the republic and instituted missions in chief cities, as also in a number of important pro- vincial capitals. During the last few years, however, the work has been greatly disorganized by reason of the revolutions which have torn that unhappy country. The last available statistics were those for 1914. They show a total of twenty- eight traveling preachers and 2,534 members. Mexican Border Mission Conference. The Mexican Border Mission Conference is now the most hopeful of the mission enterprises of the Church amongst the Latin people on the North American continent. The Con- ference was organized in 1885. The last statistical report gives the following details: Organized Churches, 36; pastoral charges, 17; traveling preachers, 38; total membership, 1,594. There are 18 Sunday schools, with 1,146 scholars; Epwortb Leagues, 5, with 250 members. There are 23 houses of wor- ship, valued at $117,650. The Missions. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has, in addition to its six Mission Conferences, six missions which have not yet been organized, as follows: Japan Mission, Korea Mission, Pacific Mexican Mission, Texas Mexican Mission, Cuba Mis sion, and the mission in Africa, the Congo Mission. Japan Mission. The Japan Mission was established in 1886 under the direct superin tendency of Rev. J. W. Lambuth and his son, Rev. W. R. Lambuth, now a bishop in the Church. Many devoted and faithful men have given time and labor to the rich mission field which the Church has found in the empire of Japan. Amongst these may be mentioned the names of S. H. Wain- right, T. H. Haden, J. C. C. Newton, S. E. Hager, W. G. Cal lahan, C. B. Moseley, and others. In 1907 the Methodisl Church of Japan was organized and absorbed the established work of the Methodist Church, North, the Methodist Chnrch, South, and the Methodist Church of Canada. The Church, The Missions. 471 however, continues to maintain a mission work in this field, which is, as fast as developed, incorporated in the national Church. Under the care of the missionaries of Southern Meth- odism are fifty-seven preaching places, thirty-two organized Churches, and nine hundred and twenty-three members. In- corporated in the Church of Japan, but formerly a part of the Church's mission, are seventeen preaching places, sixteen or- ganized Churches, and 1,751 members. In 1015 the Japan Methodist Church reported 12,000 members and 27,000 Sunday school scholars, with an increase of 626 Church members for the year. Korea Mission. The work of the Southern Methodist Mission in Korea dates from April, 1897. At that time Dr. C. F. Reid held his first service in the city of Seoul and one month later baptized his first convert. During the same month Rev. C. T. Collyer was sent to Songdo and began work at that station. There were then seven hundred Christians among the twelve million in- habitants of the Korean Empire. The history of the succeed- ing years has been marked by striking illustrations of the favor of God on the mission and the call of the people. At the end of the first eighteen months the missionaries had but two converts; at the end of the next ten years there was reported a membership of 2,828. The statistics of 1915, taken at the close of the first eighteen years of the mission's history, show between seven and eight thousand members, including proba- tioners. At times the progress of Christianity in Korea has presented phenomenal aspects. Great revivals have attended the progress of the mission. In 1909 the Koreans themselves started a movement for the conversion of a million souls in a single year. The calamities which the great Russo-Japanese War brought upon the empire seem only to have increased the hunger of the people for the gospel. Texas Mexican Mission. The Texas Mexican Mission was organized in 1914. It em- braces territory within the State of Texas, including the Mexi- can contingents of Southern and Southwestern Texas cities. The first session of the mission was held under the presidency 472 History of Methodism. of Bishop Candler at Corpus Christi in October, 1915. Rev. F. S. Onderdonk, superintendent of the mission, made at this sitting a most gratifying report. The total membership was shown to be 2,149, with 395 additions on profession of faith and 174 by letter. The baptisms for the year aggregated 357. Church property to the value of # 50,000 was reported. Total collections for all purposes amounted to approximately 85,000. Pacific Mexican Mission. The Pacific Mexican Mission was organized in 1914 under the same order as that under which the Texas Mexican Mission came into existence. At the session of the mission held in Xogales, Arizona, in January, 1916, under the presidency of Bishop Candler, a total membership of 5G5 was reported. The mission is in an almost entirely new field and embraces the Xorthwest Pacific regions of the Republic of Mexico, with the Mexican populations of the towns of Southern California and Arizona. The Rev. J. F. Corbin, a veteran missionary of the older Mexican field, is the superintendent of this new work. Together with Dr. D. W. Carter, Mr. Corbin has been distin- guished as leader and organizer in the Mexican mission field of the Church. Their work will endure. Cuba Mission. The Cuba Mission was established in 1898, the religious first fruits of the Spanish-American War. With the coming of political freedom to that long-oppressed island, its people be- gan to stretch forth their hands toward the great Protestant parallels of the continent, asking for the gospel. Under the leadership of Bishop Candler, in the year 1898 the mission was formally opened. The Rev. Dr. Pullwood, of Florida, had previously preached to the Cubans in Key West, Fla., and the influence of his work had extended to Cuba. With the going of the missionaries the country was found open, and the es- tablishment of schools and mission chapels met an early and a cordial response from the people. The latest statistics show in the island a membership of 4,076, with thirty-five mission- aries, fifty-one organized Churches, and a total value in Church property of about SI 80.000. There are fifty-seven Sunday The Missions. 478 schools, with between three and four thousand scholars, and seventeen Epworth Leagues, with a membership of five hun- dred. Congo Mission. Bishop Soule, the first senior bishop of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, hungered as early as 1842 to visit the shores of Africa as a missionary. Ever since those eventful years the Methodism of the South has thought of the possi- bility of realizing the dream of its great bishop; but not un- til 1914 did anything tangible come to pass looking toward that end. In that year Bishop Lambuth, with Rev. J. W. Gil- bert, a minister of the Colored Methodist Church, visited the Congo Basin and laid the foundations of a Church mission. At the end of a year a society of thirty-three members was re- ported, a training school for boys with seventy pupils, and a day school for both sexes with an attendance of one hundred and seventy. Within the last year the mission force has been increased to two or three families, who, with the native helpers, have begun to sow the seeds in the soil of that benighted land. CHAPTER XXI. SCHOOLS OF SOUTHERN METHODISM. ROM its beginning American Methodism has been com- _JJ mitted to the work of education. Next to the spiritual salvation of men, Francis Asbury was concerned about the establishment of primary and collegiate schools. He expended his best energies in that direction. The earliest schools of the Church were established in the territory embraced within the limits of the Methodism of the South. No history of the Connection whose jurisdiction is over these latitudes would, therefore, be complete without a particular account of its edu- cational enterprises. In the chapter of this history which deals with the action of the Church in connection with the settlement of the Vander- bilt case we have given a full account of the emergence of the Church's plan for the establishment of two universities, one east of the Mississippi Eiver, the other west. In pursuance of this purpose an educational commission was appointed whose business it was made to plan for and locate these institutions. The foundation of the new university at Dallas being large and full of prophetic promise, the commission recognized it as the institution to be patronized by the Methodism of the West. Proper acknowledgment of this fact was made by the trustees of that university, and the necessary legal changes were effect- ed in its titles. We have given elsewhere the personnel of the educational commission. It held a meeting for organization during the session of the General Conference at Oklahoma City. The first meeting called after the adjournment of the Conference was at Birmingham, Ala., June 17, 1014. Having disposed of the matter of selecting or designating the school in the West, the commission took up the wrork of locating the university east of the Mississippi River. The result of this deliberation was that an adjournment was taken after giving notice that the Emory University. (474) Schools of Southern Methodism. 475 commission was "ready to look into the advantages to be of- fered by the cities and communities that may be interested in securing the location of the proposed university." The com- mission met again on July 14, 1914, in the Piedmont Hotel, at Atlanta, Ga. After full consideration it was decided to locate- the university at Atlanta, that city having tendered a gift of $500,000. The Wesley Memorial Hospital offered that insti- tution for the use of the School of Medicine. On July 16 Mr. Asa Candler addressed a letter to the chairman of the com- mission in which he agreed to donate the sum of $1,000,000 for the "endowment of an institution, the plans and methods of which are to be definitely directed to the advancement of sound learning and pure religion." Rev. T. T. Fishburne, a member of the commission, immediately added the sum of $25,000. The founding of the university being thus assured, the commission took steps looking to the opening of the School of Theology. The trustees of the Wesley Memorial Building had already offered the auditorium, halls, and rooms of that commodious structure for this use. On the 17th of June a communication had been received by the commission from the Board of Trustees of Emory College, at Oxford, Ga., which re- sulted in that institution becoming the collegiate department of the new institution and giving to it the name of Emory Uni- versity. Emory College, which had been named in honor of Bishop John Emory, was founded by the Georgia Conference in 1836. The trustees bought fourteen hundred acres of land near Cov- ington and there located the new school, giving to the place the classic name of Oxford. The opening of the college oc- curred in 1837, under the presidency of Dr. Ignatius A. Few. The first class was graduated in 1841. Since that time nearly two thousand men have received diplomas at its annual com- mencements. Amongst these are mentioned the names of Judge L. Q. C. Lamar and Bishop Atticus G. Haygood. It is well known that Bishop Haygood was for many years President of this college, during which time Mr. George I. Seney, of Brook- lyn, N. Y., p-ave $100,000, to be added to its building and other funds. Bishop Haygood was succeeded by Bishop W. A. Candler, during whose presidency $125,000 was added to the 47G History of Methodism. incorporation. Dr. E. C. Dowman succeeded Bishop Candler. During his presidency the college enjoyed much prosperity. Dr. James E. Dickey followed Dr. Dowman, and during his incumbency in office a number of new buildings were added to the equipment and $300,000 to the endowment. Besides the Presidents already mentioned, the following-named distin- guished men have been at the head of this college: Augustus B. Longstreet, George F. Pierce, Alexander Means, James R. Thomas, Luther M. Smith, O. L. Smith, and Isaac S. Hopkins. The two years of work done by the new School of Theology of Emory University, which has been named by the Board of Trustees the Candler School of Theology, have been marked by success and pledges of continued enlargement. Dr. Plato Durham, the Dean of that school, with a faculty of able men, has fully met the expectations of the Church. The Atlanta Medical College, having been tendered to the university, was accepted by the trustees and made its med- ical school, the legal transfer being completed in 1915. In addition to his munificent gift of money, Mr. Asa Candler X>resented the university with a handsome tract of land on the outskirts of the city of Atlanta, in the delightful environ known as Druid Hills. This tract, which embraces a little more than one hundred acres, is beautifully located and admirably adapt- ed to the large use to which it has been dedicated. Already sumptuous buildings have been designed and are in process of erection upon this ample campus. The university opened in September, 1915, with three schools ready for service — viz., the School of Liberal Arts, at Oxford, the School of Theology, and the School of Medicine. In addition to these schools, the foun- dation of a law school, to be known as the L. Q. C. Lamar School of Law, had been laid, and this was opened in 1916. The possibility of this great institution hinged upon the ex- ceptional liberality of Mr. Asa G. Candler, whose gift to the Church is without condition or reversionary feature. It is the expression of his loyalty to Methodism and his ideals of Chris- tian education. Bishop W. A. Candler, whose large and suc- cessful experience in educational work is already a part of the Church's history, was by the Educational Commission made Chancellor of the new university. Schools of Southern Methodism. 477 Southern Methodist University. The steady growth and phenomenal enlargement of the Meth- odism of Texas led its people to feel that the time had come for laying more broadly the foundations of their great central educational institution. Many of the leaders were brought to feel that Georgetown, the site of the university, which had been planned as early as 1876, was not so well suited for this larger enterprise as was Dallas, the chief city of the State. A com- mission appointed by the several Annual Conferences decided in 1911 that a new and larger educational enterprise should be entered upon and that the Church's university should be lo- cated at Dallas, Tex. Large subscriptions were received to this end, and citizens of the city of Dallas supplemented these with generous donations of lands and otherwise opened the way for the success of the movement. The result is that at the end of five or six years the new university possesses a body of land of more than six hundred acres, lying on the outskirts of the prosperous city, sections of which have already been embraced by the rapidly advancing urban improvements. One hundred and thirty-two acres have been reserved for the campus. The remainder is held to be disposed of as city lots and building sites when the time comes for sale. In this land the university has the possibility of an almost princely endowment. The site is one of exceptional natural beauty. The administration build- ing, which is one of the finest structures devoted to education to be found in America, stands upon an elevation which gives it a commanding view of the city on one side and the pleasing countryside on the other. Besides the administration build- ing, a number of dormitories and other halls have been erected. The university has already the beginnings of great equipments in libraries, laboratories, museum, athletic fields, publication offices, etc. As has already been noted, the General Conference of 1914 resolved to establish two connectional universities, one east and one west of the Mississippi River. These universities, in addition to being pitched on a plane of the highest educational ideals, were designed to be the great theological schools of the Connection. The inception of Vanderbilt University was coin- cident with the Church's ideal of a school for the education of 478 History of Methodism. its ministry. When it finally abandoned the historic wreckage of that ideal at Yanderbilt, it took up the original vision with a new purpose and with a more intelligent foresight. The foundation at Dallas having been brought already to a point of commanding success, the General Conference recognized it and named it as the university foundation west of the Mississippi River. This gives to the university a vast field of patronage, a field growing in membership and reduplicating its potencies decade after decade. Rev. Robert Stewart Hyer, A.M., LL.D., who had long been Regent of the Southwestern University before the emergence of the new and larger plan, was by the Board of Trustees named as President of the new university. He also fills the chair of physics. Since his graduation from college Dr. Hyer has been engaged in educational work in Texas. There are few educators in our Church who have had a longer and more successful ex- perience. The Theological Department of Southern Methodist Univer- sity promises much to the Church as a means of fitting a min- istry for the great field of the Southwest. Rev. Hoyt M. Dobbs, D.D., the newly elected Dean of that department comes to his work under tokens that insure his success. Raxdolph-Macox System of Colleges axd Academies. The Randolph-Macon System of Colleges and Academies consists of two standard colleges, one for men at Ashland, Va., and one for women at Lynchburg, Ya., and three high- grade preparatory schools, two for boys located respectively at Bedford City, Ya., and Front Royal, Ya., and one for girls at Danville, Ya. These institutions were founded under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and are controlled by a single Board of Trustees acting under a char- ter granted by the State of Virginia in 1830 and since amended to meet the enlarged duties and responsibilities of the corpora- tion. In a true sense these institutions are the survivals and successors of the earliest educational movements of American Methodism, such as the Cokesbury College, at Abingdon, Md., projected in 17S4, the Ebenezer Academy, projected later in Virginia, and other like enterprises in this territory. Dr. W. Schools of Southern Methodism. 479 W. Smith, as President of Randolph-Macon College, in 1880 advocated the policy of establishing preparatory schools under the immediate control of the college. To this end an amend- ment to the charter was secured in 1890 granting to the trus- tees authority to erect and maintain in any part of the com- monwealth "such schools, academies, and other institutions of learning for the instruction of the youth of the land as to them may seem desirable." Acting on this authority, Dr. Smith established a training school for boys at Bedford City in 1S90 and another at Front Royal in 1892 and later the school at Danville. Reports during the year 1914-15 for the entire Randolph-Ma- con System showed about one hundred and twenty-five officers and teachers and a total enrollment of students in the five insti- tutions of 1,401. The members of the Board of Trustee's of the Randolph-Macon System are elected after their nomination has been approved by the Virginia and Baltimore Conferences. Randolph-Macon College for men, located at Ashland, Va., is the oldest Methodist college in America by date of incorpora- tion. The movement to establish this school was begun in the recommendation of the General Conference of 1824, which de- termined "that each Annual Conference establish a seminary of learning under its own regulation and patronage." Acting under this advice, the Virginia Conference, at its session in the following year, took up the matter of establishing a seminary within its bounds. The promoters of this undertaking, and now known as the founders of Randolph-Macon College, were the Rev. Hezekiah G. Leigh, of the Virginia Conference, and Gabriel P. Disosway, a discreet and generous layman, both of whom were at that time residents of the city of Petersburg. The Board of Trustees was formally and legally organized in 1830, with the Rev. John Early as Chairman and the Rev. Wil- liam A. Smith as Secretary. It was at this time ordered that suitable buildings be erected as early as practicable. The site selected was near the village of Boydton, in Mecklenburg County, near the line of Virginia and North Carolina. This situation was chosen with a view to accommodating the two States most interested, Virginia and North Carolina. Randolph-Macon began its scholastic work in January, 1832, 180 History of Methodism. when Hugh A. Garland, brother of Dr. Landon C. Garland, taught the first class in the preparatory department. The col- lege proper began its work the next October, with the Rev. Martin P. Parks as President pro tempore. The Rev. John Emory, afterwards bishop, was the first President-elect. The Rev. Stephen Olin was the first to accept and serve. The first graduate was John C. Blackwell, of Virginia, whose diploma was conferred in June, 1835. The first class taking the whole four years' course received their degrees the next year. From that time continuously, with the exception of sev- eral years during and immediately after the war, classes have been graduated. For many years the career of the college was a struggle for existence; but during these years of stress and trial, without endowment, it did a great and useful work. Many of the fore- most men of Methodism were connected with it, and from its body of students went out men of renown in Church and State, not a few whose lives have proved a signal blessing to the world. The first regular endowment fund was raised, just before the War between the States, by President William A. Smith and the Rev. H. B. Cowles. But the war closed the doors of the college and rendered most of its endowment worthless. In 1866 it w^as reopened under serious embarrassment. Rail- ways had been destroyed by the war; the nearest was now a day's journey from the college. Besides, the North Carolina Conference had established a college of its own, whose patroniz- ing territory was almost in sight of Randolph-Macon. On the other hand, the Baltimore Conference, at its session in March. 1^07, had offered its patronage to the college and had been admitted into participation in its supervision and privileges. Under these circumstances the removal of the institution to a more suitable locality became necessary. Happily, the ideal leader in this hazardous new departure was secured in the person of the Rev. James A. Duncan, D.D., an alumnus of the class of 1849 and one of the most highly gifted men of his day. Under his presidency the college began its career at Ashland. Va., its present site, in September, 1868, and very soon it reached a height of prosperity and influence Schools of Southern Methodism. 481 to which it had never before attained. In its service the Presi- dent laid down his life, universally loved and honored. The successor of Dr. Duncan was the Rev. W. W. Bennett, D.D., an able and faithful worker. In the year 1886 Dr. Bennett, in broken health, resigned, and in the same year Dr. William W. Smith was elected President. Under Dr. Smith's administration the endowment was large- ly increased, four new buildings were erected, including a new gymnasium, physical culture was made a part of the course, and the library and the laboratories were greatly en- larged and improved. But the most notable feature of this administration was the founding of the academies at Bedford City in 1890 and Front Royal in 1892 and of the Randolph- Macon Woman's College at Lynchburg in 1893. All these in- stitutions, together with the parent college and the Danville Institute for Young Ladies, admitted in 1897, are now under- one Board of Trustees and, as noted above, are united in a single educational system. In the year 1896 Dr. Smith was made Chancellor of the Randolph-Macon System of Colleges and Academies, and Rev. J. A. Kern, D.D., became President of the college. President Kern resigned in 1899, and Rev. W. G. Starr, A.M., D.D., was elected President, but resigned in 1902, and R. E. Blackwell, A.M., LL.D., was chosen as his successor. The names of the several Presidents of Randolph-Macon College, together with the terms of their incumbency, are as follows: Rev. Stephen Olin, D.D., 1833-37; Landon C. Garland, LL.D., 1837-46; Rev. William A. Smith, D.D., 1846-66; Col. Thomas C. Johnson, 1866-68; Rev. James A. Duncan, D.D., 1868-77; Rev. W. W. Bennett, D.D., 1877-86 ; William W. Smith, LL.D., 1886-96; Rev. John A. Kern, D.D., 1896-99; Rev. W. G. Starr, D.D., 1899-1902; R. E. Blackwell, A.M., LL.D., 1902. Trinity College. The history of Trinity College is divided into five distinct periods: (1) The Academy, or Union Institute; (2) Normal College, or a State institution for the training of teachers; (3) Trinity College, or a denominational institution; (4) the 31 482 History of Methodism. removal of the college to Durham, N. C. ; and (5) the expan- sion of the college. In 1838 certain citizens of Randolph County, N. C, estab- lished in that county a school of academic grade and named it Union Institute. Rev. Brantley York, a local Methodist preach- er, was chosen Principal and remained in charge of the school until 1842, when he was succeeded by Rev. Braxton Craven, an- other local Methodist preacher. Under Dr. Craven's leadership the institution developed into a popular academy, drawing pat- ronage from a large section of North Carolina and adjoining States. The public school system of North Carolina was inaugurated in 1840, and the need of an institution for the training of teach- ers was felt immediately. Therefore in 1848 teacher-training courses were added to the academy, and in 1851 a new charter was secured, changing the name to Normal College. In 1852 the institution was authorized to confer degrees and license teachers of the public school. The State loaned Normal Col- lege ten thousand dollars with which to erect a suitable build- ing. The Governor was Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction was Sec- retary. In 1851) the North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, became invested with the complete ownership and control of the institution, and the name was changed to Trinity College. Under the presidency of Dr. Cra- ven, plans were perfected for erecting new buildings and for raising a large endowment; but the outbreak of the War be- tween the States changed everything, and the institution was finally compelled to close its doors. The college was reopened in January, 1866, with Rev. Brax- ton Craven as President. The scope of its work was broadened by adding the departments of law, theology, engineering, and normal training, by instituting a liberal elective system, and by increasing the capacity of the building. During the late sixties and the early seventies Trinity College became the lead- ing educational institution in North Carolina, and it served both the Church and the State at a time when the State Uni- versity was closed. Schools of Southern Methodism. 483 Dr. Craven died iii 1882 and was succeeded first by Dr. Mar- cus L. Wood and later (1887) by Dr. John F. Crowell, who conceived the idea of enlarging still more the scope of the col- lege by moving it to one of the larger cities of the State and securing better buildings and equipment. The North Carolina Conference in 1889, therefore, authorized the Board of Trus- tees to move the college. Citizens of the town of Durham gave grounds and suitable buildings ; and in September, 1802, Trin- ity College opened its first session in Durham, N. C. The plant then consisted of the Washington Duke Building, Epworth Hall, the Crowell Science Building, and five residences, located on a campus of seventy acres of land. In 1894 Dr. Crowell resigned the presidency ; and Rev. John C. Kilgo, of South Carolina, was elected President. Dr. Kilgo's administration is noted especially for raising the standard of the college and broadening the scope of its work ; for arousing in students and alumni, successful business men and philan- thropists, Church leaders and sincere friends of education, an enthusiastic confidence in the college; for introducing efficient business administration ; for opening the institution to wom- en; for establishing the Trinity Park (preparatory) School; for laying the plans and securing the funds for building the Greater Trinity College. Having been elected a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Dr. Kilgo resigned the presidency in June, 1910, and was succeeded by Dr. William Preston Few, the Dean of the college. Under Dr. Few's ad- ministration the patronage of the college has greatly increased, large donations have been received, the rebuilding of the college plant has been continued, and the institution has entered upon an era known in the history of the college as Greater Trinity College. A few statistics will show the remarkable growth of the college since its removal to Durham. The total holdings of the college, including endowment, buildings, equipment, and ground, are valued at #2,546,281. The productive endowment is |1,595,306. Mr. Washington Duke, one of the first benefac- tors of the college and the one largely responsible for moving the institution to Durham, gave to this amount #480,000; an 1 his two sons, Messrs. B. N. Duke and J. B. Duke, have made 484 History of Methodism. the Greater Trinity College possible by giving a total of $1,- 858,500. Other benefactors of the college are: Gen. Julian S. Carr, the General Education Board, the North Carolina Confer- ence, the Western North Carolina Conference, the alumni, and a host of interested friends who have contributed to the perma- nent endowment fund, established scholarships and lecture- ships, donated libraries, given masterpieces of art, and pro- vided loan funds for deserving young men and young women. The college corporation includes Trinity College and Trinity Park School, situated on a campus of one hundred and two acres. The college buildings embrace the Washington Duke Building (east wing and west wing), the Crowell Science Building, the Craven Memorial Hall, Angier Duke Gymnasium, the Library, four dormitories (Alspaugh Hall, Aycock Hall, Jarvis Hall, and Epworth Hall), and six residences. Trinity Park School embraces Asbury Building, Bivins Hall, Lanier- Hall, Branson Hall, York Dining Hall, and three residences. The total number of students for the year 1915-16 was eight hundred and thirty-eight. The ideal of the college is expressed in the first article of the constitution and by-laws, as follows : The aims of Trinity College are to assert a faith in the eternal union of knowledge and religion set forth in the teachings and char- acter of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; to advance learning in all lines of truth; to defend scholarship against all false notions and ideals; to develop a Christian love of freedom and truth; to promote a sin- cere spirit of tolerance; to discourage all partisan and sectarian strife; and to render the largest permanent service to the individual, the State, the nation, and the Church. Unto these ends shall the affairs of this college always be administered. Wofford College. On March 7, 1793, Bishop Asbury wrote this in his Journal : "Preached at Finch's. I consulted the minds of our brethren about building a house for conference, preaching, and a dis- trict school; but I have no grounds to believe that our well- laid plans will be executed. Our preachers are unskillful, and our friends have little money." This sermon and this consulta- tion mark the beginning of Methodist education in South Carolina. In spite of his having "no ground to believe," two Schools of Southern Methodism. 485 years later, March 20, 1795, he dedicated the Mount Bethel Academy, in the Newberry District, with its two-story, rough, unhewn stone building and its small cabins for its three teach- ers— a school which for nearly thirty years trained some of the great men of South Carolina. For twenty years the Bishop paid annual visits to the school he had founded. However, in spite of its extraordinary service, its prosperity declined; and in the year 1820 it went the way of so many Methodist schools. But, not far off, Tabernacle Academy was established, famous for Stephen Olin's conversion and immortal work. A little later, in the same neighborhood, Mount Ariel Academy was in- augurated. In 1832 the South Carolina Conference joined with the Vir- ginia Conference for "the establishment of a well-endowed col- lege, purely literary and scientific, in a desirable place in the Southern Atlantic States and under the direction and control of a faculty and a Board of Trustees consisting, and perpet- ually to consist, of the members and friends of our Church." (South Carolina Conference resolutions.) The next year, 1833, a committee of five was appointed "to inquire after the most eligible site wTithin the limits of this Conference district for a school or an academy under the direction of the Conference" to prepare boys for Randolph-Macon College. Out of this res- olution there came in 1835 the well-known Cokesbury School, an institution that exercised for many years an influence upon education in South Carolina much broader than Methodist circles. The agitation and activity in behalf of these schools really created the sentiment out of which Wofford grew, and they are therefore a part of its history. On December 5, 1850, there died in Spartanburg the Rev. Benjamin Wofford, a "venerable minister and a worthy gen tleman," as the village paper expressed it in announcing his death. After eulogizing the character and service of Mr. Wof- ford, this paper further says : "His last will and testament will prove a sufficient memorial to his affection and devotion to the Church of which he was a member. . . . The garnered fruits of a long and busy life he has thus nobly devoted to re- ligion and science, that the present generation and those that follow may reap the substantial advantages of his large bounty." 486 History of Methodism. This "last will and testament" bequeathed 8100,000—350,000 for buildings and 850,000 for endowment — "for the purpose of establishing and endowing a college for literary, classical, and scientific education, to be located in my naave district, Spartanburg, and to be under the control and management of the Methodist Episcopal Church of my native State, South Carolina." (From Mr. Wofford's will.) This gift of a local Methodist preacher is notable not only for the wisdom of its provisions, but also for the extraordinary amount of it — §100,000 in 1850 to religious education! Up to that time it was perhaps the largest single gift ever made to education in the South, and indeed very few since have been as large. With it Wofford College began its history. It was chartered by the legislature on December 1G, 1851, and on Au- gust 1, 1S54, opened its doors with a President and two profes- sors, a freshman and sophomore class of nine students, a "course of study as full and as extensive as that of the best American colleges," with instructions to the President "to travel as ex- tensively as his other duties will permit and bring up the endow- ment of the college to 8120,000." This first President was Rev. W. M. Wightman, D.D., afterwards Bishop Wightman; and one of the two professors was David Duncan, A.M., father of Dr. James A. Duncan, of Virginia, and Bishop W. W. Duncan ; and the other professor was James II. Carlisle, A.M. In 1S55 Warren Du Pre, A.M., and Rev. Whitefoord Smith, D.D., were added to the faculty. With this extraordinary group of able men and exceptionally well-appointed scholars, Wofford start- ed on its career. On July 12, 1850, Dr. Wightman resigned the presidency, and Dr. A. M. Shipp was selected as his successor. It was Dr. Shipp's task to cany the college through the storm of war and well into the distress and poverty of the post-bellum and Re- construction days. By 18G4 the endowment was officially re- ported to be over $200,000. It was called in the report "a com- fortable endowment." But the war drew away to the service of the Confederacy all but a small handful of students and, with the exception of a meager few thousand dollars, swept the en- dowment into the universal wreck of the time. Then followed the confusion and dire straits of Reconstruction. Nothing but Schools of Southern Methodism. 487 the courage and sacrifice and faith of Dr. Shipp and his col- leagues saved the college to the Church. As best it could, in a seemingly small way from the standpoint of to-day, and yet in a large way when the circumstances of those days are con- sidered, the South Carolina Conference responded to appeals in behalf of the college and kept it alive, holding steadily to noble traditions of scholarship and character. Dr. Shipp was called to Vanderbilt in 1875 and was suc- ceeded in the presidency by Dr. James H. Carlisle. As no other man in the history of education in South Carolina or in the whole South, Dr. Carlisle put the stamp of his great person- ality upon the educational life of the State and gave Wofford College a position of large influence and outstanding leader- ship. His very name had the virtue of drawing students, and for the twenty-seven years of his administration there was steady growth in its patronage. He was greatly assisted by a group of exceptionally able financial agents — W. W. Duncan (Bishop Duncan), A. Coke Smith (Bishop Smith), John C. Kilgo (Bishop Kilgo), and C. B. Smith. The results of their labors were that by 1902 the patronage of the college was in- creased from less than 100 students to 256, the Conference as- sessments were also increased, approximately $G0,000 was added to the endowment, and a f 75,000 fitting school plant was donated to the college by the citizens of Bamberg, S. C. After forty-eight years of service as Professor and President, Dr. Carlisle resigned in 1902. He was succeeded by Henry Nelson Snyder, who had been for ten years Professor of Eng- lish. During the fourteen years of his administration, 1902-16, and the five years of the efficient agency of Dr. R. A. Childs, 1907-12, the patronage has grown, new buildings have been erected, the endowment increased, and the facilities and equip- ment of the institution greatly enlarged. In 1916 the value of the property of Wofford College, including its two fitting school plants, the one at Bamberg, S. C, and the other at Spartanburg, was estimated at |600,000, its endowment and loan funds at $200,000, its income for educational purposes at $45,000, and there were 560 students and twenty-five instruc- tors in the group of three institutions constituting the Wofford system. 488 History oj Methodism. Millsaps College. The history of Millsaps College does not begin with its loca- tion in Jackson, Miss. For more than a quarter of a century previous to that time thoughtful men in both the ministry and the laity of the Church in Mississippi had been impressed with the necessity of providing on a larger scale for the higher edu- cation of Methodist young men. Centenary College, located in Jackson, La., had done a great work in this field before the War between the States. Xot a few of the leading men in the public life of the Southwest had been educated there. But the loss of its endowment, by reason of the war and subsequent business depression, gave little promise of better things in the future. Under these circumstances the feeling in favor of a college owned and controlled by the Mississippi Conferences took form in an organized movement. The matter was formally pre- sented to the Mississippi Conference at its session held in Vicksburg, December 7, 1888, and to the North Mississippi Conference which was held in Starkville December 12 of the same year, and favorably acted upon. A joint commission of the two Conferences was appointed to formulate plans and to receive donations of lands, buildings, and money for the pur- poses contemplated. This commission met in Jackson in Jan- uary, 1889, at which time Major Millsaps, a member of the com- mission, proposed to give 850,000, provided the Methodists of Mississippi would give an equal amount. Bishop Charles B. Galloway was requested to conduct a campaign in the interest of an endowment fund. This canvass, on account of the pres- sure of official duties, could not be continuously carried on, but even this partially prosecuted canvass resulted in the most encouraging success. In December, 1880, Rev. A. F. Watkins, D.D., was appointed to continue the work, and on December 30, 1893, a report was made that the full amount had beon raised to meet the terms of Major Millsaps's proposition. The Conference having provided for a Board of Trustees, the joint commission dissolved in January, 1^00. Tn Febru- ary the college was incorporated by act of the Mississippi Leg- islature. After the Board had organized trader the charter, the question of locating the college was considered with great Schools of Southern Methodism. 489 care. Finally, on May 20, 1891, Jackson, the capital of the State, was selected. The citizens of Jackson contributed $21, 000 for grounds and buildings, and to this sum Major Mill saps added $ 15,000. Plans for a commodious main building were immediately procured, grounds were purchased, and in a comparatively short time buildings were in process of erection. At a meeting held in Jackson April 28, 1892, Rev. W. B. Murrah was elected President, and the college was opened on September 29, 1892. The unusual facilities for conducting a Law School in Jackson led to the establishment, in 189G, of a School of Law. Hon. Edward Mayes, ex-Chancellor of the Uni- versity of Mississippi and for more than fourteen years a pro- fessor of law in that institution, took active control of the new school and is still its head. In 1911 the preparatory school was formally separated from the college. It is now a distinct institution, with the official title of the Millsaps Pre- paratory School. The facilities of the college were further enlarged in 1895 and 189G by the generosity of Major Millsaps, who gave Web- ster Science Hall, which cost more than |1 0,000. In 1901 Mr. Dan A. James, of Yazoo City, built an observatory for the col- lege in memory of his father, Mr. Peter James, and of his brother, Mr. Samuel James, and furnished it with a fine tele- scope. In 1902, to supply the increasing demand for better dormitory and dining hall facilities, Major Millsaps gave the college the property formerly known as Jackson College, cost- ing more than $30,000, and fifty acres of land immediately ad joining the campus, valued at f 50,000. In 1906 the General Education Board offered to donate, from the funds provided by John 1). Rockefeller for higher education, $25,000, provided an additional sum of $75,000 should be collected from other sources, for the permanent en- dowment of the college. Rev. T. W. Lewis, D.D., of the North Mississippi Conference, was made financial agent of the col- lege and collected this sum. At the commencement of 1913 Major Millsaps gave to the college property on Capitol Street, Jackson, valued at $150,000. After his death the college came into possession of two life insurance policies for $50,000 each. A disastrous fire destroyed the main building in 1914; but 490 History of Methodism. within a few months the old structure had been replaced by a far more commodious and imposing administration building, costing $G0,000. The value of the productive endowment of the college is $526,393; buildings and grounds, $219,500; library, $12,000; chemical, physical, and biological apparatus, $8,000; furniture and fixtures, $4,000; unproductive endowment, $43,- 000; total, $812,893. The election of Dr. Murrah to the episcopacy in 1910 left the institution without a President. The vacancy thus caused was filled by the election of Rev. D. C. Hull, who discharged the duties of the office with distinguished ability two years, re- signing in the summer of 1912, when Rev. A. F. Watkins, D.D., of the Mississippi Conference, was elected President. His in- cumbency is a guarantee of the institution's continued success. Since 1912 Millsaps College has been a member of the Asso- ciation of Colleges and Secondary Schools, a distinction en- joyed by only one other institution in the State. An impartial committee of the Association made exhaustive inquiry into the financial resources of the institution, its courses, the training of its instructors, the character of its work, and unanimously recommended it for membership. Southwestern University. The history of Southwestern University, at Georgetown, Tex., is the history of Methodist education in the Lone Star State up to the founding of the Southern Methodist University, at Dallas. With the entrance of the missionaries into the Repub- lic of Texas before the "forties," plans for primary and collegi- ate education began to be laid. Rutersville College, McKenzie College, Wesleyan College, and Soule University were the names of foundations that marked the stages of the progress of this movement. When the time came for an inter-Conference co- operation in education, the chartered rights of these several in- stitutions were, by the action of the Annual Conferences and the special authorization of the State legislature, merged into a new corporation to be known as Southwestern University. Rutersville College, located at the frontier town of Rutersville, came into existence in 1840 through an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas. It was the initial educational effort of Schools of Southern Methodism. 491 the Methodists in that republic. It received its original in- spiration from the advocacy of Rev. Martin Ruter, D.D., an early missionary to the State, who had been associated in his younger life with Bishop Soule. The first President of Ruters- ville College was Rev. Chauncey Richardson, A.M., a man of ability both as minister and teacher. His successor was Wil- liam Halsey, A.M., who in turn was followed by the Rev. H. S. Thrall, D.D. Rutersville College existed as a Methodist school for about ten years. McKenzie College, located at Clarksville, in the State of Texas, was chiefly the result of the initiative and labors of the Rev. J. W. P. McKenzie, D.D., one of the most remarkable men connected with the early evangelization and educational history of the Southwest. This school had a noteworthy record of prosperity, matriculating an average of more than three hun- dred pupils each session. Many of the religious and political leaders of Texas half a century ago were graduates of its classes. During a history of thirty years Dr. McKenzie was its only President. The school known as Wesleyan College was located at San Augustine and was chartered by the Congress of Texas in 1844. Rev. Lester Janes, A.M., was its President. The buildings were destroyed by fire a few years after the opening of the school. What was expected to be the great central institution of Methodism in the new State of Texas was Soule University, located at Chapel Hill and chartered by the State in 1856. Its Presidents in succession were: William Halsey, A.M., O. H. McCumber, A.M., Rev. G. W. Carter, D.D., and Rev. F. A. Mood, D.D. The prosperity of this institution was interrupted by the War between the States, and it never afterwards regained its lost prestige. It was the only Methodist institution in Texas devoted to higher education at the time of the founding of Southwestern University; and as soon as this university was opened for students, Soule University ceased to be operated. Southwestern University is the outgrowth of a movement be- gun in 18G9 under the leadership of Rev. Francis Asbury Mood, D.D. In that year each of the five Texas Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, adopted the following: 41)2 History of Methodism. Whereas it is of vital importance to Southern Methodism, as well as to the general interests of religion and education in Texas, that there be an institution of learning that will by its endowments cheapen higher education and by its other advantages secure general confidence and patronage; therefore be it Resolved: 1. That an educational convention of the several Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of Texas, shall be called to meet in Galveston April 20, 1870, consisting of the delegates elect, lay and clerical, to the ensuing General Conference. 2. That to this convention thus constituted be committed the duty of arranging for the organization, location, and endowment of a university for the Southwest, to be under the patronage and control of the Con- ferences of the State and such other Conferences as may hereafter desire to cooperate with them. The Educational Convention thus authorized met at the ap- pointed time and took the preliminary steps necessary for the organization and location of the proposed university; but it was not until 1873 that the location was decided upon. George- town, having offered buildings and lands worth about $63,000, was in that year selected over numerous competitors. Rev. Francis Asbury Mood, D.D., who had been elected Regent, opened the first session October, 1873. This position he held for eleven years. He may justly be entitled "the founder of South- western University." The institution advanced under his ad- ministration from thirty-three students to more than three hun- dred, the faculty being enlarged from three professors to fifteen professors and teachers. On November 12, 1881, after having delivered an earnest address on "Christian Education" before the Northwest Texas Conference, in session at Waco, he was suddenly taken ill and passed from labor to rest. His body was brought to Georgetown and buried on the university grounds. A handsome granite monument marks his resting place, but he has left a more enduring monument in the pros- perous university founded and fostered by him. To June, 1885, his successor, Rev. J. W. Heidt, D.D., of Geor- gia, was elected Regent. Under Dr. Heidt's administration the university continued to prosper. A generous donation was v,. cured from Mrs. A. M. Giddings, of Brenham, which enabled the trustees to project Giddings Hall and to secure money for the several Annual Conferences to erect cottages on the cam- pus as a part of the Giddings Hall system. The Woman's Schools of Southern Methodism. Building was erected, furnished, and opened. In addition to material improvements, there was an increase of patronage under his administration. In the fall of 1889 Dr. Heidt resigned his position as Regent and returned to Georgia to engage in pastoral work. This ac- tion caused the duties of the regency to devolve upon the Vice Regent, Rev. John H. McLean, D.D., until the regular meeting of the Board of Curators, in June, 1891. At this meeting Dr. McLean was elected Regent. For six years he guided the affairs of the university with marked success, witnessing a steady in- crease of patronage and a correspondingly enlarged faculty. Dr. McLean's name is inseparably connected with the history of the institution, which he faithfully served as Curator, Finan- cial Agent, Professor, Vice Regent, and Regent. In June, 1897, he resigned and resumed pastoral work in the North Texas Con- ference. As the Board of Curators failed to elect a successor to Dr. McLean, the duties of Regent for the session of 1897-98 devolved upon the Chairman of the Faculty, Rev. J. R. Allen, A.B., D.D. In 1898 Robert S. Hyer, A.M., LL.D., was elected President. His administration marked great advancement along all lines. Upon the resignation of President Hyer, in June, 1911, the Board of Trustees, then in session, elected Rev. Charles Mc- Tyeire Bishop, A.M., D.D., President, who was formally in- augurated in December of that year, and under whose admin- istration the institution has maintained its former high stand- ard and continued its record for excellent work. The value of the campus, buildings, and equipments of South- western University is conservatively estimated at $600,000. The endowment, including loan funds, subscriptions, and amounts invested in buildings, is $300,000, plus the value of property. During the last five years the average annual at- tendance of strictly college students has been above 450. The university is completing a science building at a cost of $50,000. The outlook for the institution is very bright. Central College. Central College, located in Fayette, Mo., is the joint property of the three Missouri Conferences for the higher education of 494 History of Methodism. young men and women. It was enterprised in 1854, chartered in 1855, and opened in 1857. It was in active operation four years preceding the War between the States, during which time it had six graduates. Then its doors were closed, and the building suffered the ravages of war, being used as bar- racks and hospital. Since the reopening, in 1871, the college has grown steadily along all lines and stands to-day among the foremost institutions of the West and South. Fifteen men have served in the presidency, with terms ranging from one to eight years — viz. : Rev. Nathan Scarritt, Rev. Carr W. Pritchett, Rev. A. A. Morrison, and Rev. W. H. Anderson, ante-bellum; Rev. William A. Smith, Rev. John C. Wills, Rev. E. R. Hendrix, Prof. O. P. H. Corprew, Rev. John D. Ham- mond, Hon. Tyson S. Dines, Prof. E. B. Craighead, Prof. T. Berry Smith, Rev. J. C. Morris, Prof. William A. Webb, and Rev. Paul H. Linn, post-bellum. There have been more than sixty teachers and professors, four hundred graduates, and nearly four thousand students, whose average attendance has been about two years. The original campus of less than one acre has grown to thirty-five and is now probably the most charming campus in the State. The one building (now Brannock Hall) that served all purposes until 188G has at present the company of four oth- er commodious structures, including Centenary Chapel (1884), Science Hall (1894), Cupples Hall (1899), and the Gymnasium (1906). A library of twelve thousand standard volumes, an exten- sive museum, well-equipped chemical, physical, and biological laboratories, and other facilities place the college in the fore- front of Church institutions. The total value of the plant is estimated at 1300,000. The endowment fund was $110,000 in 1886, grew to $217,- 000 by 1913, and, owing to the pledges of about six thousand subscribers secured in 1914-15, to be paid in five equal annual installments, will be a half million or more by 1919. The intellectual and moral output of Central College cannot be estimated, and its place in the educational work of South- ern Methodism is secure. Schools of Southern Methodism. 495 Hendrix College. In 1883 the Arkansas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, realizing the importance and necessity of an institution of college grade, authorized its Centenary Commit- tee to establish a college. The committee met at Altus on June 10, 1884, and purchased, subject to Conference ratification, the Central Collegiate Institute, from its owner, Rev. I. L. Bur- row. This action was ratified at the ensuing session of the Conference. During the same year the Little Rock Conference became a joint owner, and in 1886 the White River Conference entered the alliance. In this way the interest and strength of the entire Church in Arkansas were concentrated upon one in- stitution, with the purpose of making it a real college. In 1889 the name was changed to Hendrix College, in honor of Bishop Hendrix. In the fall of 1889 the question of relocation was considered by the three Conferences, and by concurrent resolutions the whole matter was referred to the college trustees for final settlement. January 1, 1890, the trustees, after careful investi- gation of all the circumstances, decided to receive propositions from towns desiring the college. March 19, 1890, the trustees received and considered propositions from seven towns, and, in consideration of centrality, a bonus of |55,000, and other advantages, located the college at Conway. The college is owned by the North Arkansas and Little Rock Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is controlled through a Board of Trustees representing these Conferences. The original charter, conforming to the requirements of State law, provided for a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees, though the nominations were always submitted to the Confer- ences for ratification. No difference in judgments ever occurred between the trustees and the Conferences. To conform to the requirements of the legislation of the General Conference of 1910, the trustees secured the passage of a new law governing the incorporation of educational institutions in Arkansas, and thereupon had the charter amended so as to provide that the trustees should be nominated by the Board of Trustees and elected by the two Annual Conferences. The Conferences may 490 History of Methodism. reject nominations and proceed to elect new trustees upon their own nomination. There are twenty-one trustees, three being nominated by the Alumni Association. Heudrix College has had four Presidents : Rev. I. L. Burrow, 1884-87; Dr. A. C. Millar, 1887-1902, 1910-13; Dr. Stonewall Anderson, 1902-10; Dr. J. H. Reynolds, 1913-1G. Hendrix College buildings and grounds are valued at $150,- 000, and the productive endowment is $285,000. The college confers two degrees, B.A. and B.S. It does no graduate work. Its Bachelor's degree is accepted at the best graduate univer- sities as equivalent to their own Bachelor's degree, and Hen- drix graduates are admitted to graduate work without condi- tion. The college is now in a campaign for $400,000 for buildings and additional endowment. The General Education Board of New York offers to give $100,000 of this sum. Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Randolph-Macon Woman's College, which was opened for students in the fall of 1893, is the foremost woman's college of the Connection. It owes its existence to the faith, discriminat- ing judgment, and heroic efforts of Dr. W. W. Smith, who was assisted in his task by a group of far-sighted and generous citizens of Lynchburg, Va. Receiving overtures from certain business men of Lynchburg, Dr. Smith entered into negotia- tions looking to the establishment of a woman's college in the beautiful new addition of Rivermont, then but recently opened in the suburbs of that city. He was offered a site for the college and $100,000 for building purposes on condition that he raise another $100,000 for endowment. Within thirty-four days he secured $100,000 of subscriptions on the endowment fund, and thus obtained within a little more than three months after Hie movement was launched property, subscriptions, and cash valued at $220,000. These contributions came from all classes of citizens and represented all religious denominations, though the Methodists were the most generous givers. Seventy thou- sand dollars was expended in a building, and the rest was set aside for an endowment. By a fortunate investment in Vir- ginia State bonds the endowment funds were still further in- Schools of Southern Methodism. 497 creased by $30,000 when the General Assembly, by special en- actment, exempted these bonds from scaling, this amount off- setting a considerable shrinkage in the original subscription list. The rapid growth of the new institution demanding more and more of his time, Dr. Smith gave up his official position at Ashland and became President of the Woman's College and Chancellor of the Randolph-Macon System. Although the two colleges are bound together by ties of heartiest sympathy and friendliest cooperation and are both governed by a single Board of Trustees operating under a single charter, each administers its own finances, regulates its own methods of government, makes out its own courses of instruction, and determines its own requirements for admission and graduation. With the death of Dr. Smith, the office of Chancellor was discontinued. The growth of the Woman's College was phenomenal from the beginning. Before the first class was graduated in 1897 it was necessary to expend $16,000 in order to meet the demands for additional room, more than half of the amount being provided by the faculty and the members of the Board. Two years later |22,000 was spent in increasing the facilities for the accom- modation of boarders, for enlarging and enriching the labora- tories— chemical, physical, biological, and psychological — and the library. From 1896 until 1910, when the custom of print- ing such a list was discontinued, the college was listed in Class A among the women's colleges by the Commissioner of Edu- cation of the United States government. In 1903 East Hall was added at a cost of f 40,000. The years 1906 and 1907 were periods of great activity upon the campus. West Hall was completed at a cost of $42,000, and Science Hall, the gift of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, was erected at a cost of $20,000. This gift was conditioned upon the rais ing of a like sum for the endowment fund, which was secured in sixty days, the faculty again contributing $3,000. During this year the chapel was enlarged to double its capacity, a cen- tral heating plant and a laundry were added to the equipment, the Schehlmann memorial organ was installed in the chapel, the Winfree Observatory was built, and Mrs. George Jones contributed $15,000 toward the library fund. During this 32 498 History of Methodism. period of material growth and expansion entrance requirements had been steadily advanced, and high standards of scholarship had been rigidly enforced. In 1907-08 the enrollment reached 390, representing thirty-two States and foreign countries, and the graduating class numbered thirty. Eight members of the faculty held the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and five the degree of Master of Arts. New Hall, a companion building to East and West, was erected in 1909. In the same year the Gymnasium was built at a cost of $20,000. In 1900 the entrance requirements in English were the same as those prescribed by the Northern and Middle States Associa- tions of Colleges and Schools, and the requirements in Latin included four books of Caesar, four orations of Cicero, and three books of Vergil ; the increase to six orations of Cicero and six books of Vergil was made three years later. In 1902 the college was admitted to the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Southern States and has had an active part in the work of that organization in advancing scholarly standards both in preparatory schools and in col- leges in the South. From 1907 to 1911 14.5 Carnegie units were required of all students for unconditioned admission to the freshman class and 10.5 units for conditional admis- sion and for all special and irregular students. In 1911 these were increased to fifteen and thirteen units, respectively. Dr. Smith's last great service for the college was securing a condi- tional gift of $75,000 from the General Education Board and the raising of an additional 8175.000 to meet the conditions. Before his death, in November, 1912, he had secured the entire amount, largely from the citizens of Lynchburg, and on Jan- uary 1, 1915, the General Education Board paid its last check, completing the addition of 8250,000 to the endowment fund of the college. On March 1, 191G, a conservative estimate placed the hold- ings of the Woman's College, in Lynchburg, at 8871,125. of which (382,730 is invested as a permanent endowment fund ($120,000 being represented in three dormitories). The four laboratories — chemical, biological, physical, and psychological — expend annually about (5,000 for the purchase of new ma- terial. The library now consists of fifteen thousand volumes, Schools of Southern Methodism. 499 catalogued and classified according to the Dewey system, and, with very few exceptions, all the books have been selected with the greatest care to meet the requirements of the several de- partments of college instruction. About $2,000 annually is expended in the purchase of new books. At this date there are 024 students enrolled, representing thirty-five States and for- eign countries, and the graduating class this year numbers 100. The teaching force consists of forty-eight instructors; fourteen of these hold the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from such institutions as Johns Hopkins University (5), Harvard University (2), Yale University (2), the University of Berlin, the University of Leipsic, Boston University, Syracuse Univer- sity, and Columbia University; and nine, not included in the above, hold the Master's degree from such institutions as Ran- dolph-Macon Woman's College, the University of Chicago, Trin- ity College, George Washington University, and the University of Wisconsin. All other instructors in the Academic Depart- ment save one hold the Bachelor's degree. Of the 634 graduates of Randolph-Macon Woman's College, a goodly number have continued their studies in the great uni- versities, and many of them are now holding positions of trust and responsibility in colleges, academies, high schools, mis- sion schools, and hospitals, and a few have risen to distinction in the field of social activities. They have uniformly received recognition for their work in the Woman's College and have obtained the highest advanced degrees from Columbia Univer- sity, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin, Vander- bilt University, and the Medical Department of Johns Hopkins University. Dr. William Webb is President of the Woman's College. Wesleyan Female College. In the year 1833 Dr. Lovick Pierce and other distinguished members of the Methodist ministry determined to establish for the education of women an institution where they would obtain equal advantages and be given the same degrees that the men were receiving in the best institutions of the South. Their pro- posal met with great opposition; many said that women did not need to be scholars in any sense of the word to make good cooks. However, the progressive spirit of the brave pioneers 500 History of Methodism. triumphed, and in 1830 the Georgia Female College was char- tered by the legislature, and #25,000 was granted the institu- tion from the treasury of the State. The buildings were begun at once, and the college opened iis doors first in January, 1839, under the presidency of Dr. George F. Pierce, afterwards bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. A class of twelve young ladies immediately en- tered, coming from the excellent academies of the South. They were graduated in the summer of 1840 with the regular A.B. degree. These were the first Bachelor's degrees that were ever conferred upon women. Dr. Pierce was President for only a few years, and then for a long time the college was under the management of Rev. Wil- liam Ellison, D.D., one of the most distinguished men of early Methodism. The institution has had a succession of illustrious presidents and professors and has never closed its doors except for three months during the War between the States, when it was used as a hospital by the Confederate government. At present the college is doing four years of high-class col- lege work, has officers and teachers to the number of forty- five, a student body of more than four hundred, and grounds, buildings, equipment, and endowment to the value of $050,000. It is one of the two schools for women in the Southern Meth- odist Church ranked by the Board of Education on equality with the best schools for men. The income from endowment is $9,000, besides the Conference assessment of $4,000 per year. Key. O. B. Jenkins, D.D., is President; J. C. Hinton, A.M., Dean ; and J. W. W. Daniel, A.M., Secretary of the Faculty. Woman's College of Alabama. The movement for the establishment of the Woman's Col- lege of Alabama was begun in 1906, when a joint commission consisting of three lay and three clerical members, from the Alabama and North Alabama Conferences, was appointed for the purpose of "erecting and equipping the Woman's College and putting it in operation." The idea was a "college for women with a curriculum equal to that of the very best col- leges for men." This eommission became the College Board of Trustees, which realized the expectations and plans of Schools of Southern Methodism. 501 the promoters of the movement by establishing an A-grade school which has been accepted by the General Board of Edu- cation of the Church. The standard of the college emphasizes the distinction between preparatory and college work and aims to encourage thorough training on the part of high schools, seminaries, and junior colleges in the State with which it seeks to establish correlation. Its invested funds and the annual appropriation from the two Conferences enable it to employ a faculty of men and women of thorough training and scholarship who have already won reputation by practical work in the classroom. The campus and grounds of the col- lege consist of fifty-seven acres of land on the outskirts of the city of Montgomery. The endowment and appropriations en- able the college to reduce its charges to a minimum for the superior advantages offered. The Woman's College is proper- ly the successor of the old Alabama Female College, which passed out of existence in 1909. It had had fifty years of honorable and useful history. With it had been connected Dr. John Massey and his wife, who for thirty-three years labored with untiring zeal to make this older institution a power in Methodism. Dr. Massey deserves honorable mention in the annals of Methodism. He was one of a group of edu- cators who in the earlier history of the Church in the South held up high ideals of education for the people and sought to realize them in the work done in the classroom. A splendid library building is to be erected on the campus, to be named in his honor. Dr. Massey has closed his active labors by writ- ing a volume of "Reminiscences," which contains the memora- bilia of a useful and distinguished life. The President of this great new institution is Prof. Mifflin Wyatt Swartz, M.A., Ph.D., who has entered upon his work under auspices of large hopefulness and happy prophecy. Columbia College. Columbia College, for the higher education of women, was chartered in 1854. It was located in the city of Columbia, S. C, on Plain Street, between Pickens and Henderson Streets. On account of the poverty and depression resulting from the War between the States, the building was rented for a hotel 502 History of Methodism. from 1SG5 to 1873. The college was then reopened and has since been in continuous and successful operation. In 1887 the building was enlarged to meet the growing de- mands of its patronage. In 1895 the plant was overhauled, en- larged, and fitted with modern heating and sanitary equipment. At this time a great forward movement was inaugurated, and the requirements for entrance and graduation were made to conform to those of the leading colleges for men. This college has made large contributions toward awakening a deeper in- terest in higher education, and it has been rewarded by a steadily increasing patronage. Its prosperity, surpassing its capacity, was heeded as an imperative demand for larger pro- vision to meet the demands of its patrons. In 1904 a new site was chosen and new buildings were pro- jected. These buildings were located north of the beautiful and progressive capital city of South Carolina, with which they are connected by an electric railway. The site is a most de- sirable one, being an elevation of sixty-five feet above the level of the city of Columbia. These large, convenient, comfortable, superb buildings were destroyed by fire on September 9, 1909, after having been used only four years. The origin of the fire is thought to have been an electric wire. The "Colonia" was rented for the session of 1909-10, the college opened at the time appointed (September 23, 1909), and its work was continued without interruption. Immediately after the fire, steps were taken for rebuilding. The new buildings were ready for the opening, September 29, 1910, and are an improvement upon even the magnificent struc- tures which preceded them. They form one of the most substan- tial, convenient, comfortable, and imposing colleges for women to be found in the South. The construction throughout has been fireproof. The buildings have been divided into sections by fire walls, with automatic iron doors (water for ample pro- tection against fire has been piped throughout the buildings), and every room has been designed to be fireproof, soundproof, and verminproof. The entire plant, with its up-to-date appointments and equip- ments, lighting, heating, and sanitation, possesses within itself a most important educational value. The location is especially Schools of Southern Methodism. 503 favorable for study and health and comfort, facts never more genuinely appreciated than since the removal from the old quarters in the city. Double experience has strongly empha- sized the wisdom of building on this eligible and healthful site — conveniently near, yet away from the dust and noise of the crowded city. The institution has been projected for the highest develop- ment of Christian womanhood. Its great aim is to offer to young women unsurpassed opportunities and facilities for broad and deep culture, careful and exact training, thorough and liberal education, under influences that are positively Christian. For the past twenty-one years the work of the institution has been of a high grade. Each session has witnessed some ad- vancement, and the published requirements have been strictly enforced. The officials invite a critical examination of the courses outlined in the catalogue and of the textbooks which are used. In April, 1911, the Board of Education of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South, recognized the high character of the work done and advanced the institution to Class A among Southern colleges. Following is the list of Presidents : Rev. Whitefoord Smith, D.D., 1859-60 ; Rev. William Martin, 1800-61 ; Rev. H. M. Mood, 1861-64 (the college closed in 1865 on account of the war and was rented for a hotel until 1873) ; Rev. S. B. Jones, D.D., 1873-76; Hon. J. L. Jones, Ph.D., 1876-81; Rev. O. A. Darby, D.D., 1881-90; Rev. S. B. Jones, D.D., 1890-94; Rev. J. A. Rice, D.D., 1894-1900; Rev. W. W. Daniel, D.D., 1900-16. Greensboro College for Women. Greensboro College for Women, located at Greensboro, N. C, has a history reaching far back into the period of ante- bellum life. It was chartered in 1838 and is the second oldest chartered institution for women in the South. The corner stone of the first building was not laid until 1843, and it was not until 1846 that the school opened its doors for students. The first President was the Rev. Solomon Lee, who was rated as a capable and well-equipped teacher, and he was assisted by 504 History of Methodism. an able faculty. At once the college drew to its halls many students from the far Southern States. Dr. Lee was succeeded in the presidency by Dr. A. M. Shipp, a man whose record as an educator is written high in the years of his service. He administered the affairs of the college for three years, after which he resigned to accept a professorship in the University of North Carolina. His successor was Dr. Charles F. Deems, afterwards widely known as the pastor of the Church of the Strangers, in New York City. Under the presidency of Dr. Deems the college enjoyed an era of great prosperity. The fourth President of the college, the successor of Dr. Deems, was Dr. T. M. Jones, whose memory hundreds of noble women afterwards rose up to call blessed. During the presidency of Dr. Jones the main building of the college was destroyed by fire. This calamity, joined with the misfor- tunes brought by war, necessitated the closing of the school for a period of ten years. The corner stone of a new building was laid in 1871 ; and in August, 1873, the school again opened its doors for the reception of students. Dr. Jones continued at the head of the institution until his death, in 1800, greatly lamented by the Church and the constituency he had served so well. Dr. B. F. Dixon was his successor. His presidency ex- tended over a period of three years, when he was succeeded by Dr. Frank L. Reid, who was at the same time editor of the l!ast year the buildings of this worthy institution wTere entirely consumed by fire, and no steps have yet been taken to rebuild them. Centenary College, at Cleveland, Tenn., was founded by the Kev. George R. Stuart, D.D., in 1885. Dr. Sullins was the first President of this institution and for a number of years directed its interests and filled the presidential chair with great credit to himself and the Church. Few colleges in Meth- odism have done more solid work for the cause of Christian education. The school has ample buildings, an attractive cam- pus, and has maintained a high-grade curriculum. It is lo- cated in a fine field for patronage and has drawn its yearly list of students from the old-time families of the Mississippi Delta and the blue-grass regions of Tennessee. The President now in charge is the Rev. Barney Thompson. Texas Woman's College. The Texas Woman's College, located at Fort Worth, is the only exclusively woman's college founded and controlled by the Methodists of Texas. It is the lineal successor of an important foundation known as the Polytechnic College. The Woman's College proper began its history with the session of 1011-1.". Its second session was begun with the enrollment of three hun- dred and twenty-one young women, which fact was accepted as conclusive evidence of the need of such an institution in that great State. It stands for the full and rounded education of young women; and in its printed announcements, as also in its brief history, it has fully emphasized a high ideal of Christian education. It is situated on a beautiful eminence in the en- virons of the prosperous commercial city of Fort Worth. The Schools of Southern Methodism. 513 place is healthful, retired, and homelike. The physical plant of the college is ample and growing. It consists of five brick and-stone buildings of modern construction and conveniently appointed throughout. The administration building is of im- posing proportions and occupies a central location on the cam- pus. The physical laboratory, the biological department, the chemical laboratory, the domestic art laboratory, and the art studio are all exceptionally well equipped, and the teaching of the courses represented by these is thorough and scientific. It is claimed that the gymnasium is one of the best for women to be found anywhere. The college church stands on the southwest corner of the campus. The chaplain of the school is the pastor of this congregation, regularly appointed by the Central Texas Conference. In addition to the college library, the students have access to the large and well-furnished Carnegie Library, in convenient reach. The college issues its own publication and has many other interesting and helpful features, such as a loan fund, available to worthy and needy students at a low rate of interest, and several valuable scholarships. Rev. H. A. Boaz, D.D., who may be said to be the founder of this splendid insti- tution, is its President. The success of Dr. Boaz in raising funds for the beginning of this school is written down as one of the record incidents of fiscal Methodism. Rev. J. D. Young, as Vice President, is the efficient assistant of Dr. Boaz. Central College for Women. The Central College for Women, Lexington, Mo., was or- ganized in 1869 and was then known as Marvin Female Insti- tute. At that time a property of the Grand Lodge of the Masons of Missouri, called the Masonic College, consisting of buildings and grounds, was by this noble order donated to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to be used perpetually for educational purposes. The institute then moved into the new quarters thus provided. In 1906 the college wras reincor- porated as Central College for Women. The high purpose of this school, as announced in its catalogue, is "the building of Christian character, the symmetrical development of the men- tal powers, and the care of the body." The college is beauti- fully located upon historic ground in the citv of Lexington, 33 514 History of Methodism. overlooking the Missouri River. In addition to an endow- ment of $90,000 already invested, steps are being taken to in- crease the foundation to $300,000. It is well equipped with buildings, dormitories, library, and other college accessories. Rev. Z. M. Williams, A.M., D.D., is now the President of Cen- tral College for Women and has successfully occupied that post for a number of years. Galloway College. Through the help of Bishop Charles Betts Galloway the in- stitution for women, located at Searcy, Ark., bearing his name, was chartered May :5, 1888. From the outset Galloway College was the property of the three Conferences located within the bounds of the State of Arkansas. The first President was Rev. R. W. Irwin, whose untimely death prevented his ever becom- ing President in fact. He was succeeded by Rev. Sidney H. Babcock, through whose very earnest efforts and the invaluable help of his wife the school had its beginning and was started on its work of genuine collegiate education for the young worn en of Arkansas. Following his resignation, Dr. John H. Dye was President for four years and a half, and he in turn gave place to Dr. C. C. Godden. It was during the presidency of the latter that the school gained such a strong hold on the State that its life as a woman's college seemed assured. Dr. God- den's administration was very much hampered by reason of a large debt, but during his term of service he succeeded in paying almost the entire amount. He was active in the work for ten years and a half. At the expiration of that time, feeling that his age prevented his doing as much as he liked for the school, he tendered his resignation and was followed by President J. M. Williams, who has already finished his ninth year in charge. In 1898, while the Little Rock Conference was in session, during the early part of Dr. Godden's administration, the col- lege was completely destroyed by fire; but in the ensuing Sep- tember, through the wonderful business ability of Dr. Godden, the school was opened and enrolled a large student body. Galloway has recently secured, through the help of Rev. W. C. Watson, of the Little Rock Conference, a building-and-en- ticliools of Southern Methodism. dowment fund which now amounts to nearly $100,000. This lias not yet been collected, but is in the form of bankable paper. There is a faculty of twenty- two members. Fourteen units are required for admission, and four years of college work is done by every student who takes the A.B. degree, which is the only degree the college confers. Besides the regular work, thorough instruction is given in the departments of music, expression, art, and domestic science. The school annually enrolls about two hundred young women. It is a college of the B Class, according to the classification of the General Board of Education, and meets the full requirements for this work. Kentucky Weslbyan College. Kentucky Wesleyan College was founded at Millersburg, Ky., in 18GG. Rev. W. C. Dandy, Rev. Daniel Stevenson, Rev. John H. Linn, Rev. John W. Cunningham, Rev. John C. Har rison, Rev. Robert Hiner, David Thornton, Moreau Brown, Hiram Shaw, B. P. Tevis, William Nunn, and A. G. Stitt were charter members of the Board of Education. The following is a list of the Presidents of the institution : Rev. Charles Taylor, A.M., M.D., D.D., 1866-70; Rev. B. Arbo- gast, A.M., 1870-73; John Darby, Ph.D., 1873-75; Rev. T. J. Dodd, D.D., 1875-76; Rev. W. H. Anderson, A.M., M.D., D.D., 1876-79; D. W. Batson, A.M., 1879-83; Rev. Alexander Redd, A.M., D.D., 1883-84 ; D. W. Batson, A.M., 1884-93 ; B. T. Spen- cer, A.M., Chairman of the Faculty, 1893-95 ; Rev. E. H. Pearce, A.M., D.D., 1895-1900; executive duties administered by facul- ty, 1900-01; Rev. John Laugdon Weber, D.D., Lit.D., 1901-06; H. K. Taylor, A.M., 1906 09; John J. Tigert, A.B., A.M. (Oxon.), 1909-11 ; Rev. J. L. Clark, A.B., D.D., LL.D., 1911-16. The officials believing that the growing town of Winchester offered a more ideal location for a college, the Wesleyan was moved from Millersburg to Winchester in 1890. The property value of the Wesleyan is f 125,000. The campus consists of eight acres, beautifully located. The college plant comprises six buildings — the Administration Building, Dormi- tory, Library, Gymnasium, President's cottage, and Academy. The Wesleyan has an endowment of more than $100,000. 516 History of Methodism. The college authorities are engaged in a campaign to increase the endowment JjC)0,000. The Wesleyan offers full college courses leading to the de- grees of B.S., A.B., and M.A. Lagrange College. The history of Lagrange College is interesting. Instituted in 1833 (White's "Historical Collection of Georgia," pages G51, G52; Laws of Georgia, 1847), it was, even in its infancy, an academy of high grade. Its first teacher of note was the Rev. Thomas Stanley. At the time of its founding there was no institution devoted solely to the higher education of girls and young women. In the year 184G, under the presidency of Mr. J. T. Mont- gomery, a charter was procured, and Lagrange Institute be- came Lagrange Female College, with all the rights of con- ferring "degrees, honors, and other distinctions of merit" ac- corded to other colleges and universities. After several years of prosperity, the entire property was sold to the Georgia Annual Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South. In September, 1857, the college began its distinctive work of Christian education while the Rev. W. C. Connor was President. In the ensuing years it received pat- ronage from every section of the South. During the presidency of the Rev. W. M. Harris, D.D., in 1859, the college took precedence over all Church schools in sending out the first resident graduate class in the South. The work of the institution was arrested by a most disas- trous fire in 18G0. However, after the close of the War between the States, Rev. James R. Mason, through his perseverance and indomitable energy, succeeded in rebuilding; and the college started on a long and prosperous career. Upon the resignation of Dr. Mason, Rev. John W. Heidt, D.D., became President. The educational facilities of the college, its curriculum, and its attendance increased marvelously under his wise administra- tion. When Dr. Heidt retired from the presidency, in 1885, Rufus W. Smith, A.M., took the office. During his administration the property was nearly quadrupled in value, and the curriculum Schools of Southern Methodism. 517 was advanced to that of a standard college. For nearly thirty years Dr. Smith's hand was at the helm of Lagrange College, steering it safely through stress and storm. He died Saturday, January 2, 1915. His unexpired presidential term was com pleted by his son, Alwyn Means Smith, Director of Music, La- grange College. In May, 1015, Miss Daisy Davies was elected President. Lagrange College is located in the city of Lagrange, Troup County, Ga. Lagrange is seventy-one miles from Atlanta, on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, one hundred and five miles from Macon, on the Macon and Birmingham Railroad, and about halfway between Brunswick and Birmingham, on the Atlanta, Birmingham, and Atlantic Railway. The principal buildings of Lagrange College are the College Building, the Orreon Smith Memorial Building, the Harriet Hawkes Memorial Building, and a cottage. The Harriet Hawkes Building was completed in 1911. It is one of the finest college structures in the South. The value of the Lagrange College property is estimated at #200,000. This institution has probably the largest loan fund of any college in the South. The W. S. Witham Fund has grown to $24,000, and the J. C. Davidson Fund is $1,000. Many improvements are now being made in the buildings, con- stantly increasing the property value. There is as yet no en- dowment, but President Davies will probably soon institute a campaign for one. Southern College. Southern College, which is described as the most southern school of the Church in the United States, is located at Suther- land, Fla., on the Gulf of Mexico. It is in the center of the most famous and the most generally sought region of Florida. It is also one of the newrer schools of the Church, though its history goes far enough back to give it an exhibit of large and satisfactory results in the field of education. It is practically without competition in the whole State; and because of the attractiveness of its location and the fascination of a match- less climate, it has a call upon a patronage reaching to an in- definite distance northward. Malaria is unknown, and in- 518 History of Methodism. numerable famous health resorts are within easy reach. The campus occupies the crest of a knoll overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, and the hand of a landscape artist has greatly beauti- fied and adorned the same. A music conservatory has been erected at a cost of $100,000. Other buildings, as laboratories, gymnasium, library and reading room, dormitories and club houses, are in keeping with the plan of the music hall. The President of this institution is Rahenus H. Alderman, A.B., who also discharges the duty of Professor of Philosophy. Blackstone College. The Blackstone College for Girls was conceived in answer to a persistently operative ideal — that of a school which should seek the perfect development of the whole life of woman in the years of her preparation. The projectors of this school express the belief that this ideal has been realized and that the physical equipment and teaching methods of their insti- tution are fully shaped to the end of the complete education of young women. The school was incorporated as the Black- stone Female Institute on February 15, 1802. The charter granted by the State made the incorporators and their associ- ates and successors a Board of Managers ; but it was provided that all vacancies arising in this Board of Managers should be tilled subject to the approval of the District Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in the territory of which it is located. The growth of this college has been little short of a marvel. Beginning with a single building erected in 1804, valued at $25,000, it had grown by 1910 to be an aggregation of splendid structures having a total valuation of $100,000. At the commencement of 1915, in response to the demand of many friends of the school, the Board of Trustees decided to add two years of college work to the course of study, thus ne- cessitating a change of name from institute to college. Since the completion of the present improvements plans have been put on foot for erecting another large building so as to com- plete the symmetry and capacity of the present system of ad- ministration and dormitory structures. When these improve- ments are added, the equipment will be as complete as any col- lege of its class can l>o;ist. Dr. .Tames Cannon, Jr., editor of Schools of Southern Methodism. 519 the Baltimore and Richmond Christian Advocate, is President of the college and instructor in psychology, ethics, and the English Bible. Howard-Payne College. Howard-Payne College originated as a high school in Fay- ette, Mo. The first graduating class received certificates in 1849. It soon became a first-class seminary and enjoyed an era of much prosperity. In 1851 a boarding house for young- ladies was erected. It is spoken of in the records of the school as having become a model for similar structures in various parts of the State. In January, 1854, the seminary buildings, with all the furniture, library, and apparatus, were destroyed by fire. The school reopened in the churches of the town, and in due time new buildings were erected. In 1855 the two de- partments were separated, that part of the institution known as Howard High School becoming a school for young ladies. The school was first chartered by the legislature of Missouri in 1859 as Howard College. An accumulated debt necessitated its sale in 1869. Kev. Moses U. Payne, a renowned philan- thropist of the Church, purchased it and deeded it to the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South. In consideration of the liber- ality of Mr. Payne the Board of Curators changed the name to Howard-Payne College. Its recent history has been one of much prosperity, and its influence throughout the Church in Missouri is great. Henry Elbert Stout, A.B., has the honor to preside over this model institution. Logan College. Logan College, Russellville, Ky., is an evolution. Its record runs thus: In 1828 a school for girls was established in Rus- sellville by a local minister, the Rev. Robert R. Peebles. The successor of this school was one conducted after 1837 by the Rev. Henry W. Hunt, also a local minister. As late as 1845 yet another Methodist school was taught by Miss Louise Douglass. Other laborers in this line of denominational education were: Mr. John Wakefield and his wife; Rev. Thomas Bottomley and his daughter, Miss Hannah, who afterwards became the wife of Dr. David Morton; Rev. J. E. Carnes, whose school was dignified by the title of academy; and Rev. Edward Stephen 520 History of Methodism. son, D.D. This last record brought the history down to 1864. Dr. David Morton, who became the successor of Dr. Stephen- son, projected the plan of making the academy a college. He accordingly secured from the State a charter for Logan Fe- male College. In 1866 Dr. K. H. Rivers, of renown in the Church, was selected as President. Dr. Rivers continued but a year in the presidency. In 1874 Dr. A. B. Stark became head of the school and continued in office for more than eight years, his work attracting the notice of prominent educators throughout the country. Dr. Stark was succeeded in 1883 by Prof. H. K. Taylor, A.M., whose vigorous and efficient administration lasted six years. In 1889 President Taylor gave place to Prof. A. G. Murphey, A.M., who conducted the school until his death, in 1900. He was followed by Prof. TV. H. Pritchett, who had charge of the school one year, and he in turn gave place to Dr. S. A. Steel for one year. In 1902 began the very successful seven-year administration of President B. E. Atkins. On his death, in 1909, Prof. J. L. Whiteside, of Missouri, was elected to the presidency and held the office for one year. In 1910 Rev. J. W. Repass, of Virginia, was chosen President and is now in charge of the college. Since his election about $30,000 has been expended in various improvements and in the erection of a much-needed new building. Logan College is now one of the best school properties of its kind in the State. Mansfield Female College. Henry Coleman Thweatt, D.D., of Halifax County, Va., re- solved to establish a college for women in the great Southwest ; and in company with the Rev. William Doty lie selected Mans- field, in the pine hills of De Soto Parish, La., as the site for the institution. From the citizens of Mansfield and surrounding country about £30,000 was received, and in 1854 the college was ready for students. In 1856 the main brick building was completed. "The buildings and grounds were presented by the citizens of Mansfield to the Louisiana Annual Conference of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, South, at its session in January, 1855." Schools of Southern Methodism. 521 "The General Assembly of the State incorporated the institu- tion in February, 1855, and this act (No. 88 of the session of 1855) was signed by Gov. P. O. Hebert on the 9th of March." The War between the States brought financial troubles, and the property was sold for debt. Mr. Lewis Phillips, then a resident of Mansfield, became the purchaser. The battle of Mansfield was fought on April 8, 1804, and the college build- ings were used as the Confederate hospital. Immediately after the close of the war Dr. John C. Keener- repurchased the property, and, again free of debt, it was placed under the care of the Church. After Dr. Thweatt, the founder, came the following Presi- dents : Dr. Charles B. Stuart, 1864 to ; Rev. Thomas Arm- strong, to 1880 ; J. Lane Borden, 1880 to 1883 ; Rev. F. M. Grace, 1883 to 1889; Dr. A. D. McVoy, 1889 to 1896; Rev. T. S. Sligh, 1896 to 1907 (it was during President Sligh's adminis- tration that the large brick annex was built) ; Prof. O. S. Dean, 1907 to 1909 ; Prof. George L. Harrell, 1909 to 1910 ; Dr. W. L. Weber, 1910 to his death, September 30, 1910; Prof. A. B. Peters, 1910 to 1912 ; R. E. Bobbitt, 1912 to the present time. In 1913, at the solicitation of the President, the Board of Trustees unanimously requested of the General Board of Edu- cation that Mansfield College be classified as a junior college. This request was granted. In 1912 twenty-five serial bonds of f 1,000 each were sold, and all debts were settled. The Louisiana Annual Conference is obligated to pay fl,000 and accumulated interest at six per cent on January 1 of each year. This is being done each year, and four bonds have been retired. There are nine acres in the campus, and the buildings and grounds are estimated to be worth at least f 60,000. There is no endowment, and there is no debt except the balance of bond issue. During the past four years the college has easily paid its run- ning expenses, and in addition it has spent more than f 4,000 of its income in improvements and accommodations. Its fac- ulty has increased from eight to thirteen ; its departments, from three to five; its boarding students, from twenty-one to 522 History of Mt t Iiodi.su,. sixty-eight; its income, from §8,500 to over §17,000. The grad uating class of 191G was composed of twenty-seven young ladies from twelve high schools, and lacked one of being double the largest class of any other year. From the first class of 1856 to the present there have been three hundred and seventy-four graduates. Among them were Mrs. Ellen K. Parker (nee Burruss), wife of Bishop Linus Parker and mother of Drs. Franklin and Fitzgerald Parker, of the class of 1857, and Mrs. Julia Truett Bishop, on the staff of the New Orleans Times- Picayune, of the class of 1873. The last commencement was honored by the presence of Mrs. Marietta Williams (nee Wood- ham), of the class of 1859, perhaps the oldest living grad- uate. Time would fail us to tell of the other splendid women who have wrought largely and well. Are their names not re- corded in the annals of the college and many in the Lamb's book of life? Coronal Institute. Coronal Institute, located at San Marcos, Tex., in one of the fairest regions of the Southwest, is the property of the West Texas Conference. It was founded in 18G8 and is the earliest established of the Church's schools on the Southwestern bor- der. It is affiliated with Southwestern University and with the higher schools of the State. It is well provided with build- ings— library, recitation halls, and dormitories. These build- ings are supplied with all the modern conveniences. One of its most pronounced features is the religious atmosphere which pervades its life. It is in the strictest sense a religious school, and yet it has provision for all healthy outdoor exercises and is by its President and faculty kept abreast of the intellectual and educational needs of the day. Rev. V. A. Godbey, Ph.D., I). I)., is the present head of this school. He is a thorough scholar and a man imbued with the highest ideals of edu- cation. The names of Pritchett, Thomas, and Fisher have pre- ceded Dr. Godbey's in the list of Presidents of this institution. Martin College. Martin College was founded in 1870 and was named in honor of Mr. Thomas Martin, who left it a permanent endowment of #30,000. In 1004 the old buildings were completely destroyed Schools of Southern Methodism. 528 by fire. In 190G Martin Hall, a handsome new building, was erected on the same site. The location of Martin College is ideal from a physical stand point. The thriving little city of Pulaski, situated in the foot- hills of the Cumberland Mountains, is celebrated for the high social, literary, and moral culture of its people. The steady growth of the school during the first six years under the present management made necessary the erection of a second building, which contains thirty-nine dormitory rooms, twelve practice rooms, studios, Y. W. C. A. room, dining room, parlors, shower baths, etc. The recent purchase of the Short property, adjoining the campus, gives an entire block to the school. The Short resi- dence is used as a home for the President. The property is now owned by the Tennessee Conference and is controlled by a Board elected by that body. Since the Con- ference purchased the school, in 1009, it has been reorganized as a junior college. Among those who have served as Presidents are: Prof. W. K. Jones, Dr. R. H. Rivers, Professor Armstrong, Misses Hood and Heron, Misses Foxworthy and Steele, Dr. Saunders, Dr. Barker, Messrs. Bryan and Atkins, Dr. B. F. Haynes, Mrs. J. H. Jennings, and Mr. W. T. Wj^nn. Meridian College. In February, 1907, at the Preachers' Institute of the Gates- ville District, which met in McGregor, Tex., Rev. George F. Campbell, pastor of Meridian Station, suggested the need of a training school for the Gatesville District. After some delib- eration, a motion was made that the Chair appoint a committee to draft a resolution expressing the sentiment of the body. This committee was composed of the following-named gentle- men : Rev. George F. Campbell, Rev. J. W. Story, Rev. W. P. Garvin, and Rev. Neal W. Turner. These brethren prepared a resolution to the effect that the matter be brought before the various charges of the district, and towns be asked to compete for the location of the school. Upon due consideration by a com- mittee, which had been authorized by the District Conference in session at Clifton, Tex., in June, 1907 — of which committee 524 History of Methodism. the presiding elder, Rev. J. M. Sherman, was chairman — the school was located at Meridian and named the Meridian Train- ing School, which name was changed in 1910 to Meridian Col- lege. In August, 1907, Rev. George F. Campbell was elected the first President of the school and served until July, 1909, at which time Prof. G. T. Bludworth, B.S., was elected President. Professor Bludworth served until the close of the session in May, 1911, at which time Rev. G. F. Winfield, Ph.D., A.M., was elected President, which position he has held since that time. In June, 1912, Meridian College was adopted by the Waco District in conference assembled and thus became the joint property of the Gatesville and Waco Districts. In May, 1913, the Dublin District Conference adopted the school; and in June, 1913, the Cleburne District came into joint ownership and control of the institution. Within these four districts there are twenty-eight thousand members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and within a radius of one hundred miles of Meridian one-fourth of the population of the State lives. The school first opened its doors to students in September, 1909. During the first two years affiliation was secured with Southwestern University. In 1912 it was affiliated with the State University as an academy and so recognized by the Gen- eral Board of Education of the Church. In 1911 the curriculum was raised to that of a junior college, and this was one of the first nine schools in the entire Church to be classified that year by the Board of Education as a junior college. On July 7, 1910, when the Committee on Classification, appointed by the College Section of the State Teachers' Association, made its first report on the classification of all the colleges of the State, Meridian College received recognition as a Class A junior col- lege and was one of only five in the State to secure such classi fication and get credit for the college science offered. In 1912 the school's indebtedness amounted to si>3,000, at which time, under the leadership of Rev. W. B. Wilson, of the Central Texas Conference, acting as financial agent, about s2r>.000 was secured in good notes; and four gentlemen of the Schools of Southern Methodism. community — namely, Messrs. C. W. Tidwell, J. W. Rudasill, H. C. Odle, and R. V. Ferguson — took the notes in hand and personally assumed the obligations of the school, and thus set it free from debt to render the best service possible to the Church and that section of the State. This act was pronounced by Bishop Atkins as one of the most magnanimous that he had ever known in regard to one of our schools. The plant consists of a thirty-five-acre campus, two stone buildings and two frame buildings, is worth f 90,000, and is free of debt. The faculty consists of sixteen college- and university- trained Christian men and women, and the student body of 1915-1G numbered two hundred and seventy-five. Morris Harvey College. Southern Methodism on the Northeastern border had for a number of years greatly felt the need of a high-class educa- tional institution. The founding of Morris Harvey College was the answer to this sense of need. The school was orig- inally incorporated as the Barboursville Seminary in May, 1888. One year later the Western Virginia Conference ac- cepted it as the beginning of its ideal of a college. From that time until 1901 it was known as Barboursville College. In that year Mr. Morris Harvey made to the school his first gift of |6(),000. In recognition of this generosity the Board of Trustees changed the name of the school to Morris Harvey College. It is well located in the attractive little city of Bar- boursville. Starting with a substantial central building of well- arranged appointments, the trustees have created an equip- ment which meets in some happy way the large demands of the school's patronage, while the lively interest manifested in it by its friends and patrons is a prophecy of continued enlarge- ment. It enjoys a good reputation and stands high in the list of junior colleges classified by the General Board of Educa- tion. The Rev. U. V. W. Darlington, D.D., is President and also fills the chair of Bible Lecturer. Dr. Darlington's name and his reputation for zeal, ability, and loyalty are a pledge of all that the Church in this strategic region could ask of its educational leader. 526 // i story of M e t h o d ism. Weaver College. Weaver College, located at Weaverville, N. 0., has a unique history. In 1830 the Holston Conference met at this place and held its sessions in a rude wooden structure built for that purpose. Until 1854 a school was conducted under this roof and continued to grow until larger quarters were de- manded. A new frame building was erected, called Temperance Hall, and from this time a boarding department was con- ducted in connection with the school. The Temperance Hall was destroyed by lire in 1872, after which a brick building was put up, and the school was chartered as a college. In 1883 it was deeded to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1912 it was reorganized as a junior college, after which the legislature of North Carolina granted a charter enlarging its powers. The school is eligibly located and wTell equipped. There are two substantial brick structures, the main building and the boys' dormitory. These are desirably constructed and well appointed throughout. Clarendon College. The crowning concern and chief adornment of the spirited little city of Clarendon, Tex., far out in the Panhandle, is its college of the same name. This institution is the property of the Northwest Texas Conference. It was founded seventeen years ago through the liberality of prosperous laymen who have large holdings in that region. It is recognized as the leading educational institution between the cities of Forth Worth and Denver. Its work is accepted by the State University and by other high-grade institutions, such as the University of Chica- go. Its outfit in buildings is good, the sum of 185.000 having been spent during the past year in creating the necessary con- ditions for first-class junior college work. The President in- cumbent is Rev. George S. Slover, M.A., a student of the Di- vinity School of Vanderbilt and a graduate of Southwestern University. Andrew Female College. Andrew Female College, located at Cuthbert, Ga., and under the direct supervision of the South Georgia Conference, has fl Schools of Southern Methodism. 527 long and honorable history. During l he War between the States it was suspended for some time, but was later rehabili- tated and has continued in its path of usefulness. Since 1911- 12 the college has enjoyed a history of unprecedented pros- perity. The site and grounds comprise twelve acres within the limits of the attractive city of Cuthbert. The main building, erected in 1892, is an imposing structure. An annex was built in 1900. This annex contains the classrooms, the library, the literary society hall, the Y. W. C. A. hall, the art room, and considerable dormitory space. Cuthbert Hall was built in 1912. This is a valuable addition to the college plant, greatly increasing its dormitory capacity. The college has a gym- nasium, a library, and various student organizations. The spiritual advantages of the school are superior, and its home life is ideal. The President is the Rev. J. W. Malone, D.D., one of the Church's most experienced educators. Centenary College of Louisiana. The history of Centenary College of Louisiana began in 1839, the centennial year of Methodism, when otferings were taken in the Mississippi Conference for the purpose of establishing a college of high grade for the education of young men. The in- stitution was to be known as Centenary College. A Board of Trustees was organized, with authority to choose a location for the college. Liberal inducements were offered by the citizens of Clinton, Miss. ; but a bare quorum of the Board, in 1841, se- lected Brandon Springs, a choice which in a short time proved to be very ill advised. Subsequently the Baptists accepted the Clinton offer and have a strong institution at that place. In 1845 the college was moved to Jackson, La., the trustees having acquired the property of an unsuccessful State enter- prise, known as the College of Louisiana. A very liberal charter of incorporation was granted, which empowered the trustees to confer such degrees as are usually bestowed by any university, college, or seminary of learning in the United States. This was the beginning of a noteworthy chapter of educational his- tory in the Methodism of Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1857 a stately central building was erected at a cost of f 00,000, whose 52S History of Methodism. great audience hall, surmounted by a massive dome supported by classic columns, had perhaps no equal in the South. During the ante-bellum period Centenary College maintained a place of commanding influence in a large territory, and from its hall went forth men of distinction in both Church and State. The War between the States seriously interrupted the work of the college, and during the Reconstruction period, when the whole South was financially impoverished, the salvation of the school was almost entirely due to the personal work of Bish- op John C. Keener, President of the Board of Trustees, who furnished a conveyance at his own expense and by canvassing a large part of Mississippi and Louisiana secured 820,000 with which to tide over the crisis. After the founding of Millsaps College, in 1892, and with changed conditions brought about by the advent of railroads, it became increasingly evident from year to year that it would be well-nigh impossible for the Louisiana Conference alone to maintain the school permanently in Jackson. In the year 1004 a proposition was made to the Louisiana Annual Conference by the Shreveport Progressive League to move Centenary College to Shreveport, and after negotiations the offer was accepted by a Conference commission, of which Bishop H. C. Morrison was chairman. A splendid site of thirty-six acres in the corporate limits of the city was chosen, which offers everything in the way of natural and commercial advantage for the future development of the college. The doors of the institution in its new location were opened in 1908. As the result of litigation over the matter of removal and other complications, nothing has yet been realized from the old property in Jackson; and the Louisiana Conference, facing many difficulties, is now engaged in a strenuous effort to endow and equip the school. The following Presidents served from 1811 to 1905, the year the institution closed its doors in Jackson : Pew T. C. Thorn- ton, D.D., Judge David O. Shattuck, LL.D., Pev. P. H. Pivers, D.D., Pev. B. M. Drake, D.D., Rev. John C. Miller, Pev. W. H. Watkins, D.D., Rev. C. G. Andrews, D.D., Rev. D. M. Push, Schools of Southern Methodism. 529 Rev. T. A. S. Adams, D.D., Prof. George H. Wiley, pro tern., Rev. W. L. C. Huimicutt, D.D., Rev. C. W. Carter, D.D., Rev. I. W. Cooper, D.D., Rev. H. B. Carr6, Ph.D., and Rev. C. C. Mil- ler. The following Presidents have served since 1908: W. L. Weber, Ph.D., Rev. Felix R. Hill, D.D., and Rev. R. H. Wynn, D.D. Davenport College. The history of Davenport College goes hack to the year 1855, when a public collection amounting to about f 12,000 was taken at Center Camp Meeting for the purpose of its founding. In 1875 the institution was formally placed under the control of the North Carolina Conference. In 1859 it had been regularly chartered by the legislature of North Carolina. The school had reached a high state of usefulness in 1877, when its prop- erty was destroyed by fire, and it was not until 1899 that its equipment was completely restored. About 1902 Dr. Charles C. Weaver, now the President of Emory and Henry College, was put at the head of Davenport College, and the history of its real prosperity began. The main building is a brick struc- ture, containing offices, parlors, library, infirmary, music and art studios, and dormitory rooms. An extensive annex to this building was erected in 1906. Cornelius Hall, completed in 1914, was the gift of Mr. J. B. Cornelius, of Davidson. It is described as the best-built and best-equipped dormitory build- ing in Western North Carolina. The location of the school, in the famous highland region of the State, is unsurpassed for beauty of outlook and for healthfulness. Rev. James Braxton Craven, D.D., is the President. His name is a savor and pledge of faithfulness in Christian education. Grenada College. This excellent property, located in Grenada, Miss., was set aside and buildings erected thereon for school purposes in the early fifties. In 1882 it was purchased by the North Missis- sippi Conference and chartered under the name of "Grenada Collegiate Institute," Rev. T. J. Newell, A.M., D.D., President. Since that time it has been the only Conference school for girls, and it is the only piece of property ever owned and controlled entirely by the Conference. In 1904 the charter was amended 34 530 History of Method is m. and the name changed to Grenada College, since which time the standards have been greatly advanced and the faculty doubled. The campus consists of eight acres, well laid out and beau- tifully shaded by magnificent native oaks. There are two brick buildings and a frame dormitory, with two cottages, on the grounds. The property is valued at $100,000. The college lit- erary work is done by a faculty of six members, besides the President, and the usual special departments are maintained with high standards. A preparatory school is also operated under the same management. Every effort is made to combine the atmosphere of a refined Christian home with the earnest work necessary to the development of efficient mentality. Rev. J. R. Countiss is President, and Rev. B. P. Jacc is commission- er appointed to raise 850,000 for the school. The administra- tion of President Countiss and his assistants has been highly satisfactory, and the college lias greatly prospered. Henderson-Brown College. In April, 1889, the citizens of Arkadelphia, Ark., invited the members of the Board of Education of the Little Rock Con- ference to an interview, at which time a proffer was made to them for the Church of a building worth $30,000 and sufficient land as a college site, upon condition that the Conference should establish and maintain a coeducational institution at that place, the property to become that of the Conference in fee simple. The Board of Education reported favorably on this, and in 1800 the institution was chartered under the name of Arkadelphia Methodist College (later given its present name, Henderson-Brown College). It opened in September of the same year with Dr. G. C. Jones as President, who served continuously until June, 1807, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Cadesman Pope, who filled the office for two consecutive years. Dr. Jones then returned to the presidency ami re- mained until June, 1004. Prof. J. H. Hinemon was assigned to this responsibility and continued in office for several years, his successor being Rev. George H. Crowell. In 1915 Rev. J. M. Workman, the present efficient and wide-awake head of the school, was called from the pastorate and appointed by the pre- Schools of Southern Methodism. 531 siding bishop. In 1914 the property of the college was de- stroyed by fire, a calamity which has overtaken so many of our institutions of learning. But this great loss, together with numberless other difficulties, lias been successfully overcome, and the future of the school is well secured. It has good build- ings and an advantageous location. Lander College. Lander College, situated at Greenwood, S. C, is owned and controlled by the two Conferences in South Carolina of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The General Board of Education, after careful investigation, rated this as a Class A college for women. The President in charge, Rev. John O. Willson, D.I)., succeeded the first President of the school, Rev. Samuel Lander, A.M., D.D. The first faculty was composed of seven members; that for 1916-17 has thirteen officers and twenty-two teachers (three of the officials also teach). Eight teachers are occupied solely in college work, two have both col- lege and preparatory classes, and the remaining twelve serve college and preparatory students in the departments of mu- sic, art, domestic science, millinery, sewing, and stenography. In the student body of 1915-16 were 1 postgraduate, 26 sen- iors, 21 juniors, 23 sophomores, 64 freshmen, 50 in the prepara- tory department, and 48 specials, making a total of 233. In- cluding the graduating class of 1916, the number of graduates amounted to 388. Further, 2,194 girls and young women have attended the school, but did not graduate. The first home of the college was in Williamston, S. C, and the property there was valued at about f 15,000. The present property is valued as follows: Grounds (23.3 acres), $46,750; three connected buildings, $92,000; cottage for servant, $500; heating plant, $7,900; apparatus, $2,550; museum, $1,000; li- brary of 6,041 volumes, $5,280; musical instruments, $4,200; furniture, $9,050; loan funds and endowment, $13,992 — making a total of $183,222. The campus is beautiful, the buildings comfortable and handsome. The atmosphere is refined and re- ligious. High ideals are honestly inculcated, thorough learn- ing is required, and modest womanliness is enforced. The college was founded at Williamston, S. C, on February 532 History of Methodism. 12, 1872, by Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Lander. He was a born teacher of rare scholarship, and she was a genuine school mother of gracious and winsome characteristics. Together they made a school of rich opportunities and influence. Dr. Lander inaugurated several features not common to colleges. First, observing deficiencies of matriculates in elementary branches, then and now almost the rule, he added to his course of study continued reviews of arithmetic, English grammar, reading, writing, spelling, geography, and the like. Next, he introduced a concentrated study system (erroneously called uthe one-study plan") . This means that for a section the school would study mathematics, with arithmetic review; English, with history review; science, with geography review; and lan- guages, with English grammar review. Spelling, reading, etc., went on all the year. The result was more accurate teaching, easier learning, and more rapid advancement. These sensible features, a little modified, continue to this day. The results are further seen in the fact that the graduates have filled high and modest places with marked credit — in a governor's man- sion or a rural cottage, in missionary service at home and abroad, in college chairs and country schools, wherever a woman's life might lead. The school was chartered under the name of the Williamston Female College in 1873. In 1905, by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, it was changed to the name of Lander College, in honor of its founder. In 1903 Greenwood made an offer of more land and better buildings than the college had at Williamston on condition that it be moved to that town, and the offer was accepted by Dr. Lander and his trustees. Greenwood did more than she promised, and the school was opened in its present home on September 27, 1904. Dr. Lander died July 14, 1904; and Dr. John O. Willson was elected his successor, and it became his duty to develop the institution. He has done this with the val- uable assistance of Mrs. Willson (a daughter of Dr. Lander), of her mother (until December 2, 1914 ), and for a few years of Dr. W. T. Lander. The college has always secured competent and faithful faculties, some members reaching high distinction. Schools of Southern Methodism. 533 Lauder College to-day is an institution of distinct influence for good in Church and State and is growing stronger every year. Its aim, its officials declare, is not to strive for great numbers (yet its enrollment increases steadily), but for ever- advancing standards, better work, more efficient and excellent graduates, a truer and more faithful service to the community, to our State and country, to the Church, and to God. Louisburg Female College. The history of Louisburg Female College goes back to the eighteenth century. In 1778, the year following the close of the War of the Revolution, the County of Franklin, in North Caro- lina, was formed. Three commissioners were appointed to lo- cate a county seat. One hundred acres at the fords of the Tar River were purchased for this purpose, and the place was named Louisburg. Twelve acres of ground were set apart for educa- tional purposes, and very soon thereafter a building was erected upon the tract and a school known as Franklin Academy was begun. In 1786 a charter was procured. In 1802 the charter was renewed as the Louisburg Female Seminary. The original building, now one hundred and fourteen years old, is used by the college as a kitchen for the cooking school. The old chapel, of equal date, has been converted into an art studio. In 1855 a third charter was procured, the equipment of the school en- larged, and the name changed to Louisburg Female College. About 1900 the property was purchased by the Washington Duke family and presented to the North Carolina Conference. It is now a Conference school with the rank of a junior college. The school has the usual college equipments of library, literary societies, Y. W. C. A., athletics, and a preparatory department. It also has a valuable endowment of scholarship and loan fund. Mrs. Ivey Allen is President, with a full corps of efficient lady teachers. Carolina College. In the year 1911 there was established at Maxton, N. C, a literary school known as Carolina College. It is an institu- tion with a worthy ideal and represents much and heroic ef- fort. The administration building is described as "one of the largest, most convenient and beautiful female college buildings 534 J I la lory of Methodism. in Southern Methodism." It is constructed of red pressed brick and gray stone throughout. Plans and specifications are in hand for two brick dormitories to be built on each wing of the administration building. Its plan is also to erect one new resi dence building each year for the use of its students who desire to board on the cooperative plan. It has literary societies, library and reading rooms, gymnasium, chemical laboratory, a domestic science hall, and a normal course. For the further enlargement of the college equipment, the Board of Trustees has voted to sell fifty thousand dollars' worth of bonds. Rev. S. E. Mercer, a graduate of Trinity College, is President. Marvin College. Marvin College, at Fredericktown, Mo., is the property of the St. Louis Conference. It was enterprised in 1804. The admin- istration building consists of six large and two small recitation rooms, four music rooms, a reception hall, library, the Presi- dent's office, and a number of classrooms. The campus com- prises fifteen acres and is beautifully situated in a rich and growing section of the State. Other buildings than the ad- ministration building are: Young Ladies' Home, a handsome and commodious structure for the accommodation of young lady pupils; Charles F. Lee Hall, which is the boys' home; the audi- torium,sa fine building erected at a cost of #20,000 ; and the col- lege gymnasium. The college also maintains a natural history and geology museum, a library, and other appurtenances. Memphis Conference Female Institute. The Memphis Conference Female Institute, located at Jack- son, Tenn., ranks amongst the oldest female colleges of the South. Perhaps only two schools of its class in the line of female education were established earlier. The Wesleyan Fe- male College, of Georgia, and the Port Gibson Female College, in Mississippi, are certainly older. The Memphis Conference Female Institute was chartered in the year 1843, the school having had a previous existence of three or four years. The first President of the Institute was the Rev. Lorenzo Lee, of Virginia. During his administration Dr. A. W. Jones, whose name is historically identified with the institution, was Pro- Schools of Southern Methodism. 535 lessor of Mathematics and the Classic Languages. On the re- tirement of Dr. Lee, some two years later, Dr. Jones was elected to the presidency and was also the manager of the business affairs of the school. For forty-seven years Dr. Jones served in this double capacity, giving to the Institute in greatest part its long and honorable record. Dr. Jones's work was begun and continued under many dis- advantages, but during his administration a large and com- modious building was added to the original dormitory. The alumna? of the Memphis Conference Female Institute have in- cluded many of the noble mothers and distinguished women of the South during the last three-quarters of a century. Suc- ceeding Dr. Jones, the following-named gentlemen have been Presidents of the Institute — viz. : Dr. Howard Key, Rev. A. B. Jones, D.D., LL.D., Rev. S. A. Steel, D.D., and Rev. H. G. Haw- kins, A.B. North Texas Female College. No school within the territory of the Methodism of the South has enjoyed a happier reputation, nor has any known a more certain prosperity, than the North Texas Female College, lo- cated at Sherman, Tex. Mrs. Bishop Key* has for more than a quarter of a century been the efficient and inspiring head of that interesting institution. The North Texas Female College was chartered in 1887 as the property of the North Texas Conference. Although a denominational school, it has always been broadly Christian and never narrowly sectarian. The feature of the college which has given to it its exceptional history is the Kidd-Key Conservatory of Music. It is pro- nounced to be one of the very best equipped schools of music in the whole South. During the presidency of Mrs. Key a number of commodious buildings have been added to the college's equipment, so that now the very large number of students re- porting every year are housed and cared for in the greatest com- fort. The school has a library of two thousand well-selected volumes. It has a fine refracting telescope, an excellent chem- ical laboratory, and other college requirements. Mrs. Key died September 13, 1916. 53G History of Methodism. Port Gibson Female College. One of the very old educational institutions of Southern Methodism is the Port Gibson Female College, located at Port Gibson, Miss. It was founded in 1843 by a few friends of higher education. Soon after this it was formally donated to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. With the excep- tion of a short interruption during the War between the States, the sessions of this college have been continuous down to the present. The campus consists of an entire block in a quiet part of the beautiful little city. The college buildings are two brick structures and two frame structures, each two stories high. The alumnae of Port Gibson Female College reach down through the history of the old and aristocratic families of the Mississippi Delta. In its lists may be read the names of many of the distinguished dames who were the wives and mothers of a classic and heroic time. In its announcement the college has called attention to several places of interest within easy reach of its halls. For instance, the birthplace and home of Irwin Russell, the dialect poet of the South; the grave of Bowie; and La Cache, the country home of Blennerhasset, where he en- tertained Aaron Burr. Rev. J. T. O'Neill, former successful pastor of the Mississippi Conference and a man of solid ac- complishments, is the President. Reinhardt College. Reinhardt College, at Waleska, Ga., belongs in the same class as Young Harris College, and what is said of one may well be said of the other. Reinhardt College was founded in 1883 and was named in honor of Capt. A. M. Reinhardt, to whose earnest efforts and liberal financial support the school largely owes its existence. The administration building at Reinhardt is a large modern structure, with eleven lecture and recitation rooms, besides office, library, and music hall. The auditorium occupies one of the upper floors. This hall is equipped throughout with substantial and sanitary furniture. The John W. Heidt Hall was erected by the Woman's Home Mission Society. It has accommodation for forty girls. Cherokee IT all gets its name from the county of Georgia from which came the funds for its erection. The Harriot Hawkes Hall is the gift of Mr. A. K Schools of Southern Methodism. 537 Hawkes, a liberal layman of Atlanta. These halls are all com- fortably furnished and are sanitary throughout. The Layne Memorial Cottage was built in 1910 with funds furnished from the Sunday school class of Mr. R. L. Cray craft, of the First Methodist Church, Atlanta. The discipline of the school is firm, quiet, homelike, and tenderly personal. The religious influences are paramount. Like its prototype, Young Harris, this school has given a number of ministers to the Church and has con- stantly replenished the body of its laity. Rev. E. P. Clark, A.M., is the President, having succeeded Rev. R. C. Sharp, whose presidency described several years of great prosperity in the school's history. San Antonio Female College. In the year 1890, while Dr. W. W. Pinson was pastor of Travis Park Methodist Church, in San Antonio, Tex., the West End Town Company, a very flourishing real estate company of San Antonio, through its President, Gen. G. W. Russ, approached Mr. J. S. Groesbeck, then a leading member of Travis Park Church, with a suggestion that the West End Town Company was intending to donate one block of land, in its addition to the city, to the Catholics and one to the Protes- tants. Mr. Groesbeck reported the matter to his pastor, Broth- er Pinson, and urged him to make immediate effort to secure that property for the building of a Methodist college for wom- en. Dr. Pinson followed up this suggestion and soon had a Board of Trustees appointed by the Quarterly Conference of his charge, and this Board signed a contract with the West End Town Company and received the grant and gift of ground for a campus and about two hundred town lots. The proceeds from the sale of these lots were to be used in building and maintaining the college. Times being very prosperous, within three weeks f 10,000 in cash had been received from sales, and the outlook was exceedingly bright. Plans were drawn by an architect, the foundation for the great building was begun, and the corner stone was auspiciously laid by Bishop Gallo- way. The |10,000 was used in the foundation. The words of the eloquent Bishop had hardly ceased to ring with melody in the minds of his hearers when the greatest 538 History of Methodism. financial crisis of this nation set in, and necessarily the school enterprise collapsed. As the hard times grew harder, the pro- posed school would have failed had not Dr. Pinson, then pre- siding elder of the San Antonio District, relinquished his pre- siding eldership and taken the financial agency of the college. When the city and Methodism had lost faith in the enterprise, Dr. Pinson induced Rev. J. E. Harrison, of the Tennessee Con- ference, to accept the presidency of the college in posse; and the two, with Miss Sarah Walton as Principal, opened up the college-to-be in a rented building and started with twenty- eight day pupils and three boarding pupils. That was Sep- tember G, 1804. In September, 1895, the school moved into its own building (with a mortgage on it). A charter was secured for the institution in 1896. San Antonio Female College has had a unique history, in that it has maintained itself for twenty-two years, secured to the Church property and equipment costing §150,000 upon the basis of the two hundred town lots (decreased in value by the col- lapse of the West End Town Company), assisted during the twenty-two years by contributions from members of the Church and personal friends of the school to the amount of $15,000 and an annual apportionment from the Conference Board of Edu- cation averaging about $400 a year for running expenses. With $35,000 from lots and contributions together, the college has met the issue by maintaining itself and making money enough for the erection of the present splendid building. To accom- plish this result a sacrifice, great and continued, has been called for from every person taking any part in the manage- ment or conduct of the institution from the very beginning to the present time, and this sacrifice has been cheerfully made. The West Texas Annual Conference, to which the college be- longs, decided at its last session to raise the assessment for this school to $1,500. There is no endowment. The President of this school initiated and carried to assured success a campaign for the raising of an endowment for Southwestern University, the first endowment cf a Methodist institution of learning in the State cf Texas. By action of the College Section of the Texas State Teachers' Association, San Antonio Female College has been classed as Schools of Southern Methodism. 539 an A-grade junior college. Its management lias been for twen- ty-two years under J. E. Harrison as President and Miss S;i rah Walton as Principal. The normal enrollment is about two hundred for a school year, half of whom are boarding pupils. The college, from the beginning of its career, has maintained high-grade schools of fine arts. A distinguished mark of this Methodist school is its unvaried refusal to permit dancing of any kind or to allow its teachers or pupils to attend the theater. SCARRITT-MORRISVILLE COLLEGE. ' The Scarritt-Morrisville College is the resultant of the bring- ing together of two older schools belonging to Missouri Meth- odism— the Morrisville College, located at Morrisville, and the Scarritt Collegiate Institute, located at Neosho. This coales cence was brought about by the action of the Southwest Mis souri Conference in 1908. The equipment at Neosho was trans ferred to Morrisville, the property was sold, and the proceeds added to the funds of the greater college. On the campus at Morrisville stands a beautiful dormitory, called Scarritt Hall, erected at a cost of $15,000, paid for out of proceeds of the sale of the property at Neosho. Scarritt-Morrisville College began as the Southwest Missouri High School in 1846, through the labors of Rev. Elijah Perkins, presiding elder of the Spring- field District. His colaborers were Judge B. Robertson, E. Headlee, Esq., and Rev. J. Newell. Later the school was re- located upon a more eligible site and called Morrisville Col- lege, the town which grew up about it taking the same name. As Morrisville College the institution enjoyed a long period of prosperity. The present total endowment of the school is re- ported to be about $100,000. It has an attractive campus, with a full complement of buildings. Dr. W. H. Winton, who long presided over Morrisville College, is President of the consoli- dated institution. Dr. C. C. Woods, Editor of the St. Louis Christian Advocate, was once President of the school at Neosho, Wesley College. Wesley College is located at Greenville, Tex., but it orig- inated in the town of Terrell in the year 1911. A very liberal 510 History of Methodism. offer made by the citizens of Greenville secured the removal of the school to that city. The college rejoices in a new $50,000 administration building, finished in 1016. This building con- tains offices, library, laboratory rooms, and a splendid audito- rium sufficiently large to accommodate one thousand auditors. Besides the main building, there are two large dormitories or boarding halls, modern and complete in every particular. The several laboratories of the college — physical, chemical, biolog- ical— are in keeping with the other points of excellence in the school. The discipline is the best, and the atmosphere which pervades the institution is highly moral and distinctively re- ligious. Rev. S. E. Green, A.B., is President and also fills the chair of English and Latin. Stamford College. In 1906, by the joint action of the Abilene and Colorado Districts of the Northwest Texas Conference, it was determined to project an institution for higher Christian education within the territory of those districts. John R. Morris, J. T. Gris- wold, S. J. Vaughan, M. M. Hudson, and J. A. Biggs, all mem- bers of the Northwest Texas Conference, and Hon. D. T. Averitt, of Aspermont, Tex., were appointed a committee on location, who, after thorough inquiry, decided to locate the school at Stamford. Rev. Jerome Duncan was made head of the movement for raising the funds necessary to build and equip the school. The success which attended his efforts was remarkable. The town of Stamford gave about ^100,000, of which |65,000 was in cash and $35,000 in real estate. The necessary buildings were erected, and the school was opened for its first session in September, 1007. Dr. Duncan had been made its first President, with a faculty of fifteen members. At first the school was called Stamford Collegiate Institute, but the name was afterwards changed by Conference action to Stamford College and recognized in the class of junior col- leges. At the close of three years of successful work Dr. Dun- can died, and the presidency was conferred upon Rev. J. T. Griswold. Through the disasters of a long drought which fell upon the country, and the consequent depression in financial matters, the interests of the school steadily declined during the Schools of Southern Methodism, 541 next few years. Rev. W. K. Strother became President at the beginning of the sixth year; and while much embarrassed by the school's debts and the distressed agricultural conditions of the country, he had large success in his work. At the be- ginning of the ninth year Rev. J. G. Miller, presiding elder of the district, took charge of the school ; and under his presidency the people of Stamford came to the rescue and lifted from the college its financial embarrassments. The year following this transaction showed a matriculation of over two hundred stu- dents, and the year proved a prosperous one in every way. The session of 1916-17 opened under the presidency of Rev. J. W. Hunt, who is described as a man of ability, full of zeal and enthusiasm. The Methodists of that rich section feel confident that the future prosperity of their school is assured. Whitworth College. Whitworth College was founded in 1858 by Rev. Milton J. Whitworth, who made to the Methodist Church, for education- al purposes, a gift of land and the two-story frame building which now bears the name of Whitworth Hall. Rev. John P. Lee was placed in charge; and the first diploma was delivered in June, 18G0, to Miss Mollie Noble, of Smith County, Miss. The year following, four more names were added to the alum- nae roll. War clouds were now hanging heavy, and Mr. Lee answered the call of his country. For a few months during the session of 1862 Mr. Crosby presided over the college ; but con- tinued work was impossible amid such distutrbed conditions as then existed in that section, so the doors were closed until peace was restored. When the war was over, Whitworth at once opened its doors to the public, and Rev. G. F. Thompson was placed in charge and conducted its affairs for two sessions. In 1867 Rev. H. F. Johnson assumed the presidency, and for twenty years gave his means and his wonderful personality toward the development of an institution worthy of the noble mission of educating the women of his Church. Under his able administration the col- lege prospered almost phenomenally, and every year a class of young women went out to bless the world with the influence of their Christian culture. Many of the years of Dr. Johnson's ad- 542 History of Methodism. ministration were during the darkest of the history of the South, yet he struggled on almost single-handed and erected two substantial buildings, now constituting a portion of the plant of the college, and laid the foundation for the work that is being done by Whitworth. The broad policies adopted by this devoted pioneer in female education have been most courageously carried on by his suc- cessors: President Fitzhugh, Rev. J. W. Chambers, Dr. A. F. Watkins, Rev. M. L. Burton, Eev. H. G. Hawkins, and Dr. I. W. Cooper. The history of the institution has been honorable, and the contribution to Christian education in Mississippi and adjoining States has been large. Hundreds of cultured and influential women delight to honor Whitworth College as their Alma Mater. The present administrator, Dr. I. W. Cooper, has received the college as a sacred trust from his predecessors and will fail of no effort to enhance its reputation for a high type of wom- anhood and thorough scholastic training. The most heplful de- velopment of mind, heart, and body for every young woman who enters those halls is the standard set and striven for, that our daughters may fulfill the ideal of Holy Writ and be as "corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace." Whitworth College is located at Brookhaven, Lincoln Coun- ty, Miss., on the main line of the Illinois Central Railroad, one hundred and twenty-nine miles north of New Orleans and tifty-four miles south of Jackson. Miss. In addition to the above-named road, there are others which pass through the city of Brookhaven, the Mississippi Central and Pearl River routes. The college has a beautiful, retired location with ample and pleasant grounds about two hundred yards from the depot. The location of this historic college is conducive to good health. Pure water from the artesian wells that furnish the w ater supply of the town is found in abundance throughout the buildings and campus. There is no local cause for disease. An epidemic of yellow fever has never been known through- out this section. Pupils who attend this institution from the mountain regions of Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee have at all times enjoyed the best of health. The mortality among Schools of Southern Methodism. 543 the student body for the past twenty years has been less than one-fourth of one per cent. The elevation, coupled with the efforts of the college authorities to obey strict sanitary regula- tions, has doubtless contributed largely to this excellent health report. Brookhaven has an elevation of 489.5 feet above sea level. Within the past four years f 50,000 has been expended for improvements. The Brown House has been displaced by one of the most inviting dormitories in the South, known as the Cooper Hall. The beautiful Lampton Auditorium, erected through the generosity of the Lampton brothers, of South Mis- sissippi, occupies a very conspicuous place on the campus and stands as a memorial to their sainted mother. The President's home, erected recently through the liberality of Dr. I. W. Coop- er, is a very valuable addition to the college. All the buildings are kept thoroughly renovated and furnished with every mod- ern convenience. Concrete walks lead to all buildings, and this within itself adds greatly to the beauty and convenience of the campus. The entire property valuation of the college is f 150, 000, with a total indebtedness of $8,500 in July, 1916. The friends of the college are hopeful of a large endowment. Whitworth College offers young ladies a course of study on a par with the A-grade college. Fourteen units are required for enrollment in the freshman class. In addition to the literary work, Whitworth College offers excellent courses in domestic- art, music, voice, art, bookkeeping, and stenography. Louisiana permits graduates to teach without examination, and within a few months this privilege will be extended to those who wish to teach in Mississippi. The total enrollment during the ses- sion of 1915-1 G was two hundred and ten pupils. Great prep- arations are under way to increase the enrollment, and within a reasonable time Whitworth College will doubtless rank among the most largely attended and fully equipped female colleges in the South. Young L. G. Harris College. One of the happy educational realizations of the Church has been its schools in the mountains and other highland sections of its territory. There has seemed to be something in the at- 514 History of Method ism. mosphere of mountain lands conducive to the spirit of industry and activity in the acquisition of at least a rudimentary and practical type of education. Moreover, the children of the native homes in these highland regions have furnished to the Church many of its most faithful and efficient ministers and loyal laymen. Young L. G. Harris College, in North Georgia, was founded and chartered by the State in 1887 and was named in honor of the late Judge Young L. G. Harris, of Athens. The town which has grown up about the college bears the same hon- ored name. The region is one of surpassing beauty, and for healthfulness it is not excelled anywhere on the continent. Having been adopted by the North Georgia Conference as one of its schools, it became at once a powerful arm of service. Since 1893 ninety-eight of its graduates have entered the ministry, while by far a majority have become useful in the lay ranks of the Church. The college community, which is really the village itself, is an ideal one. By special legislation, not only the sale of intoxicating liquors and narcotics is forbidden, but even the sale of soft drinks, as offering the possibility of abuse, is pro- hibited. The buildings of this school consist of an elegant and substantial two-story classroom building, with ten large reci- tation halls and dormitory space, the Susan B. Harris Chapel, Girls' Home, containing sixty rooms, the Boys' Dormitory, and the grammar school building, which contains a hall for the lit- erary societies. The expense of board and tuition in this re- markable institution has been reduced to a minimum. Co- operation and self-help have been brought down to a science, and the impossible has been made possible to boys and girls in the humblest and most primitive conditions of earthly fortune. Rev. Joseph A. Sharp, A.B., is at present, and has been for a number of years past, the successful and resourceful President of this college. The Church Schools in the Far West. Christian education in the Far West has had a checkered his- tory. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has founded schools at Sanla Rosa, Cal. ; Corvallis, Oregon; Stevensville, Mont.; Artesia, N. Mex. ; and Milton, Oregon. These schools, especially the Pacific Methodist College at Santa Rosa and the Schools of Southern Methodism. 545 Agricultural College at Corvallis, did a splendid work in their day and left their impress in living monuments in both Church and State. But all of them have long since died, except the one at Milton. In Oregon, as in California, Christian education began its work almost the same day the Church was organized. The first sermon preached in Oregon was by Rev. James C. Stu- art, brother of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, of Confederate war fame. This was in the summer of 1858. That fall the Pacific Con- ference sent to Oregon Dr. Orcenith Fisher, a cultured and able minister, for the Oregon District. Others were appointed with him. Dr. Fisher made his headquarters at Corvallis. The Presbyterians had in Corvallis a school which ran for several years. It became involved in debt and was sold at public auc- tion for four thousand dollars. Dr. Fisher was the purchaser. He secured it for the Church. The property consisted of a beautiful block" in the heart of the little city. On this block •was the school building, a two-story frame structure of about a dozen rooms. Later a similar building was added. Here the Church conducted a successful school for about ten years. Dr. Fisher remained in Oregon only two years and returned to California. In 18G2 an act of Congress was passed authorizing each State in the Union to establish an agricultural school. The time for the establishment of such schools was limited to six years. Oregon slept on her rights until 1868, when, through her legislature, the school at Corvallis was adopted as the State Agricultural College, the State and Church entering into copartnership. The Willamette University, at Salem, was the only competitor for this honor. The President of the Oregon Senate, Hon. B. F. Burch, was a stanch member of the Church, and through his influence the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was chosen to become a partner with the State in the education of its young people. It was not a happy alliance and finally resulted in a lawsuit, instituted by the Church for the recovery of its property rights. The Church lost the suit. The State added to the grounds and enlarged the buildings and now (1010) has property valued at more than $1, 000,000, with 3,265 students enrolled last year. The prominent men connected with the Church and the school 35 546 History of Methodism. management during this period were: Rev. J. W. Craig (pre- siding elder), Rev. D. C. McFarland, Rev. J. R. N. Bell, Rev. Joseph Emery, Hon. B. F. Burch, and D. W. McCall. In 1889 the State assumed full control. The Church school at Cor- \;illis was strangled to death by its friends. Columbia Junior College, at Milton, Oregon, was founded in 1900 and has had a steady growth. It is now more useful and influential than at any other time in its history. The property was bought of the Adventist Church by the citizens of Milton and presented to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, on certain conditions that Avere promptly and fully met. The property consisted of a three-story frame building, which served as a dormitory and classroom combined, and a one-story, two- room chapel, on a beautiful two-acre campus. Rev. J. C. Thomas was then presiding elder, and Rev. L. P. Shearer was Educational Secretary. These, with Rev. E. P. Green, pastor at Walla Walla, first began the school agitation. Rev. E. P. Green was the leading spirit in it. It was he who raised the $2,500 in Milton with which to purchase the school, on condi- tion that the school run for five years. That same fall the school was ready to admit students for the first time, and about one hundred were enrolled. Thomas C. Reese, A.M., was the first President. Since then the following have served in that capacity: W. C. Howard, A.B., James Main Dixon, Ph.D., Louis C. Perry, A.M., A. H. Shannon, A.M., R. J. Davis, A.B., W. C. Howard, A.B., W. H. Martin, Ph.D., J. E. Crutchfield, A.B., E. R. Naylor, A.B., and H. S. Shangle, the present in- cumbent. Rev. E. P. Green was the first Financial Secretary. His successor in this office was Rev. George II. Gibbs, who raised a cash endowment of nearly $8,000. In the fall of 11)10 Rev. H. S. Shangle, presiding elder of the district, was appointed Financial Secretary in place of Rev. George H. Gibbs. He was instructed by the Board of Trust to secure, if possible, .^25,000 for the construction of a modern school building. It looked like an impossible undertaking, be- cause of the limited constituency of the Church, but the effort was begun in prayer and faith. Soon it wis seen that XL^.OOO was inadequate, and the Financial Secretary set the figures forward to #50,000. During the four years following, and Schools of Southern Methodism. 517 while he was still presiding elder, he raised about $(;o,000 and supervised the construction of the splendid main building which now ornaments the beautiful campus. The old building was renovated, removed to one side, and converted into a girls' dormitory. The property is now valued at $75,000, with an en- dowment of $20,000. The school was chartered by the State as Columbia College, and the full four years of college work was attempted. It had also in the beginning a preparatory de- partment. In September, 1908, the charter was changed, giv- ing it the name of Columbia Junior College. The preparatory department was eliminated, students being accepted only after completing the grammar school course. The literary depart- ment gives a six-year course, up to the junior year of the regu- lar college course. The school is standardized acccording to the requirements of the General Board of Education and the Commissioner of Education for the United States. It is cor- related with the State University and with other schools of high grade. It has six departments — academic, commercial, home economics, elocution, piano, stringed instruments, and voice culture. It is owned and controlled by the East Colum bia and Columbia Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with the Montana as a patronizing Conference. Last year there were enrolled in all departments one hundred and eighty-six. Dr. C. W. Thomas is President of the Board of Trust; Rev. S. E. Crow, Vice President; Rev. C. R. Howard, Secretary; and T. C. Frazier, Treasurer. H. S. Shangle is President of the College, and E. R. Naylor is Dean. Rev. J. W. Compton, for so many years Secretary, and M. V. Howard, President of the Board, both now deceased, were among the chief promoters of the school in the beginning. The aim of the school has ever been the development of the highest and best in character. "What we want in the State, we must put into our schools." Mission Schools. The missionaries of the Church have found that in all the fields to which their labors have been given the Christian school is the most direct and the most fruitful method of gospel 548 History of Methodism. propagandism. It lias, therefore, happened that the history of the mission fields has been the history of the Church's schools therein. We propose to give here a list of the mission schools and a brief passing account of their work and results. The most important mission school of the Church is the Sodchow University, located at Soochow, China. Rev. John W. Cline is President and is aided by a teaching staff of nine for- eign and sixteen native teachers. The university has an en- rollment of four hundred and forty-six students. Its receipts last year were $29,322 in gold. It is the head of a corre- lated system of schools, beginning with day schools and lead- ing up through three middle schools and a Bible school. Of these latter, there are at Shanghai two middle schools (Rev. Charles W. Rankin, Principal ) , with one hundred and ninety- six students. At Huchow there are three such schools (Rev. W. A. Estes, Principal), with an enrollment of sixty-eight. At Soochow and Sungkiang there are Bible schools (Rev. W. B. Burke, Principal), with an aggregate of forty students. At Shanghai there is a law school, a department of the University of Soochow, of which Rev. Charles W. Rankin is Dean. The principal schools for girls in China are: The McTyeire School, at Shanghai, Miss Helen Richards, Principal, with 336 pupils; the Susan B. Wilson School, at Sungkiang, Miss Drake, Prin- cipal, enrollment 107; the Laura Haygood School, Soochow, Miss Watkins, Principal, 125 pupils; the Davidson School, Soochow, Miss Adkinson, Principal, 1G5 pupils; the Virginia School, Huchow, Miss Steger, Principal, 123 pupils. Also there are schools for Bible women, for women physicians, for nurses in connection with the Mary Black Hospital at Soo- chow, and for women, with a total attendance of 17.°). In ad- dition to all these schools, there are fifty-nine kindergarten and elementary schools within the China Mission Conference, reporting an aggregate enrollment of 2,205. The educational work in Japan consists also of a correlated system, with the Kwansei Gakuin at the head. The Kwansei Gakuin has an academic department, foreign and Japanese, a theological department, a college department, and a special course in lectures. In all these departments there is a total enrollment of 836. The property of the school is valued at Schools of Southern Methodism. 549 $2 17,000. At Hiroshima there is a school for girls with a total student body of 834 and property valued at f (55,000. The Lambuth Memorial Bible Woman's School has a property valued at |3,500. The Palmore Institute has an enrollment of 289, with property valued at |17,000. In addition to these schools, there are in Japan a number of kindergartens and elementary schools. The principal school in Korea is the Union Theological Seminary, at Seoul, with an attendance of about fifty students. This school is jointly patronized by the two Episcopal Meth- odist Churches. The Tearson Memorial Bible School is also a jointly patronized institution, the Presbyterians joining with the Methodists. At Songdo the Church has a school for boys. Rev. A. W. Wasson, Principal, with an enrollment of 379. The schools under the Woman's Board are: The South Georgia Institute, with one hundred and three students; the Holston Institute, with one hundred and six pupils; and the Lucy Cun- inggim School, with an enrollment of thirty. The school of the General Board in the Brazil Mission Con- ference is Granbery College, at Juiz de Fora. It has a literary, a theological, a dental, and a pharmaceutical department. The enrollment is 303 ; Rev. C. A. Long, Principal. The schools of the Woman's Board are: The Collegio Americano, at Petropo- lis, with G9 pupils; the college at Piracicaba, with 169 pupils; the Methodist college at Ribeirao Preto, with 180 pupils ; the Is- abella Hendrix College, at Bello Horizonte, with 112 pupils. The schools in the South Brazil Conference are: The Col- lege for Boys and Girls at Uruguayana, with an enrollment of 140 and yearly receipts of f 15,255; the American College for Girls at Porto Alegre, with 75 students. The schools of the General Board in the Cuba Mission are: Candler College, at Havana, Cuba, Rev. E. E. Clements, Princi- pal, with 158 students; Pinson College, at Camaguey, Rev. B. O. Hill, Principal, with 88 students. The schools of the Wom- an's Board are: The Irene Toland College, at Matanzas, Miss M. Belle Markey, Principal, with an enrollment of 89 ; the Eliza Bowman College, at Cienfuegos, Miss Frances B. Moling, Prin- cipal. In the Central Mexico Mission Conference there are two 550 History of Methodism. schools for girls: Mary Keener Institute, Mexico City, and Hie Colon Institute, at Guadalajara. There are no statistics for these schools available, due to the long prevalence of war. [n the Mexican Border Mission Conference the schools (in part) of the General Board are: The Laurens Institute, at Monterey; the Effie Edington Institute, at El Paso; and the Lydia Patterson Institute, at El Paso. Connected with the Woman's Board are the English College, at Saltillo, and the Palmore College, at Chihuahua. There are other schools in this Conference, but they have been suspended under stress of war. In the Texas Mexican Mission and the Pacific Mexican Mis sion there are no schools. CHAPTER XXII. THE WEEKLY METHODIST PRESS. ELSEWHERE in this history we have given a full account of the origin and expansion of the publishing concerns of the Church, and have also characterized and appraised those connectional publications issued from the central Publishing House, at Nashville, Tenn. — the Methodist Review, the Chris- tian Advocate, the Epworth Era, and the various periodicals of the Sunday School Department. A powerful adjunct of the Church's arm of literary and publication service is the weekly press representing the interests of particular Annual Conferences. The individual journals of this system are, with- out exception, known by the name of either Advocate or Meth- odist. Of these Conference organs, there are sixteen in all, designated in territorial order as follows: Baltimore Southern Methodist, Baltimore, Md. ; Baltimore and Richmond Chris- tian Advocate, Richmond, Va.; Raleigh Christian Advocate, Raleigh, N. C. ; North Carolina Christian Advocate, Greens- boro, N. C. ; Southern Christian Advocate, Anderson, S. C. ; Florida Christian Advocate, Lakeland, Fla. ; Wesleyan Chris- tian Advocate, Atlanta, Ga. ; Alabama Christian Advocate, Birmingham, Ala.; New Orleans Christian Advocate, New Or- leans, La.; Midland Methodist, Nashville, Tenn.; Methodist Advocate, Sutton, W. Va. ; Central Methodist, Lexington, Ky. ; St. Louis Christian Advocate, St. Louis, Mo.; Arkansas Meth- odist, Little Rock, Ark.; Texas Christian Advocate, Dallas, Tex.; Pacific Methodist Advocate, San Francisco, Cal. Raleigh Christian Advocate. The Raleigh Christian Advocate was established in 1855, with Rev. R. T. Heflin as editor. The first number was is- sued in January, 185G. Dr. Heflin was editor until 1861. In 18G0 Rev. W. E. Pell was elected assistant editor, and in 1861, on Dr. Heflin's retirement, he became editor. Early in 1861 the paper was suspended on account of the war. Tn 1862 a joint stock companv was formed, which took over the management (551) 552 History of Methodism. of the Advocate, assumed its liabilities, and received its in- come. The North Carolina Conference, jointly with the com- pany, was to select the editor, and Rev. W. E. Pell was chosen. He continued in this relation until some time in 18G5, when the paper was again suspended. It was reestablished in 1866, with Rev. H. T. Hudson, distinguished as the author of "Meth- odist Armor" and other works, as managing editor. The first number was issued in the spring of 1867. The name of the paper was changed to Episcopal Methodist. During the year there was a fire which destroyed the type and fixtures. That the paper might not be sold under the hammer, Dr. n. T. Hud- son bought the type, press, and office furniture and continued as editor without salary. In 1869 Dr. J. B. Bobbitt bought the paper and became editor. The first number was issued early in 1869. In 1870 the name of the paper was changed back to Raleigh Christian Advocate. In 1878 Drs. W. T. Black and F. L. Reid bought the property and became the editors. They jointly owned and edited the paper until 1885, when Dr. F. L. Reid became owner and editor. In 1893 Rev. W. L. Grissom became editor with Dr. Reid. In 1894 the name of the paper was changed to the North Carolina Christian Advocate, under the editorship of W. L. Grissom and H. M. Blair. It was the organ of the North Carolina and the Western North Carolina Conferences. At the end of the year Rev. H. M. Blair retired, and Dr. P. L. Groome took his place as one of the editors. In 1906 Dr. L. W. Crawford, for the Western North Carolina Conference, and Rev. T. N. Ivey, for the North Carolina Con- ference, became editors, the stock being largely owned by Dr. Crawford. In 1898 the North Carolina Conference bought the mailing list of its own territory and good will and reestab- lished the Raleigh Christian Advocate at Raleigh and elected T. N. Ivey editor. The first number was issued early in 1899. In the meantime Dr. L. W. Crawford remained editor of the North Carolina Christian Advocate at Greensboro. Dr. Ivey remained editor of the Raleigh Christian Advocate until June, 1910, when he became editor of the Christian Ad- vocate at Nashville. In 1901 Rev. H. M. Blair became editor of the North Carolina Christian Advocate and still holds that position. The Weekly Methodist Press. 553 Baltimore Southern Methodist. The Baltimore Southern Methodist is in its thirteenth year of publication, having been begun by authority of the Balti- more Conference in 1003. In the minutes of the session of 1904 the name of B. W. Bond appears as editor in chief. His in- cumbency ended in 1905, when J. S. Engle became editor and manager, which position he filled until 1898, when E. V. Reges- ter was chosen by the Conference as editor. Dr. Regester gave two full years of service to the paper and declined reelection in 1910. Dr. C. D. Bulla, the present Secretary of the Wesley Bible Class Department of the Sunday School Board, was made editor. His term of office extended over about one year, when he was called by the Sunday School Board to his present re- sponsible post. His successor was Rev. Carlton D. Harris, D.D., the present popular editor, who has seen five years of continuous service. The journalism of the Baltimore Conference has a history anterior to that of the Southern Methodist. About 1872 the Baltimore Episcopal Methodist was enterprised, and the min- utes of the Conference for 1873 and 1874 show the name of W. S. Baird as editor in chief. In 1875 J. A. Poisal became editor and was so reported in the Conference Minutes. In the fol- lowing year the paper was suspended and appears not to have been revived until about 1882, when the name of Dr. W. K. Boyle appears in the Conference Minutes as editor. His in- cumbency in office continued for about eleven years, during the latter of which Dr. S. K. Cox was associated with him in the conduct of the paper. Another suspension of publication oc- curred in 1893, but the enterprise was again resuscitated in 1894, with Dr. S. Rogers as editor. In 1895 the name of the pa- per was changed to that of Baltimore Christian Advocate, and J. S. Hutchinson became editor. About 1898 Dr. James Can- non, Jr., editor of the Richmond Advocate, purchased the sub- scription list of the Baltimore journal and consolidated it with the paper at Richmond, with a view to having a single organ for the two Conferences. In 1900 Dr. C. K. Cox was made Balti- more Conference editor of the consolidated journal and con- tinued in this service unMl the establishment, in 1894, of the Baltimore Southern Methodist. In the body of this history •V) I History of Methodism. we have sketched at length the editorial services of Drs. Boyle, Cox, and Rogers. Dr. Bond is of the blood of J. W. Bond, the traveling companion of Bishop Asbury at the time of the Bishop's death. Rev. J. 8. Hutchinson was a useful and faith- ful minister, proving himself an acceptable workman in what- soever post he was called to till. New Orleans Christian Advocate. The movement to establish a Christian journal and a book depository in New Orleans crystallized into definite shape when, on duly li). 1850, a "Specimen Number," as a kind of prospectus and means of soliciting subscriptions and securing indorsement and support, came from the press. The leader in this movement was Rev. Holland X. McTyeire, who may be called the founder of the New Orleans Christian Advocate. The following Conferences cooperated in bringing out this advance issue: The Mississippi Conference, represented by William Winans; the Louisiana Conference, represented by W. E. Doty; the Alabama Conference, represented by J. Hamil- ton ; and the Arkansas Conference, represented by W. Moore. The regular issue of the paper began on Wednesday, Feb- ruary 8, 1851. Price, J2.50 per annum. It had been accepted as their official organ by the Louisiana and Alabama Confer- ences. Rev. H. X. McTyeire was the editor. Tt was a four- page paper, with the pages very large. The depository, which had been in contemplation from the beginning, was established; and the Advocate was removed to its present permanent home, 512 Camp Street ( then 112 Campi . in June, 1858, the trustees having acquired the proj>erty. Tn June. 1858, Dr. H. X. McTyeire having been elected editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate, Rev. C. C. Gillespie be came his successor. In his valedictory when leaving the pa- per Dr. McTyeire referred to this gifted young minister as "a gentleman of fine taste, noble and virtuous ambition, and tried parts," and predicted that the Advocate would be safe and prosperous in his hands. The Advocate appears to have been suspended during the War between the States. No information is available as to when it ceased to be issued, etc. The Weekly Methodist Press. 555 On January 20, 1SGG, the Advocate reappeared, with Dr. John C. Keener as editor. It was announced as the official organ of the Mobile, Montgomery, Mississippi, and Louisiana Conferences. Under Dr. Keener's management the Advocate became an eight-page paper. The price was $5 per annum. Upon the election of Dr. Keener to the episcopacy, in 1870, Dr. Linus Parker became editor. Rev. R. J. Harp, who had been very active in securing the depository building, was the publisher. During this administration the day of issuing the paper was changed to Thursday, and its price was fixed at f 2. After twelve years of efficient service, Dr. Parker was elected to the bishopric in 1882. He was succeeded by Dr. Charles B. Calloway, who four years later also was chosen bishop. Following Dr. Galloway, Dr. C. W. Carter, in June, 1886, was named as editor; Mr. Hugh Jamieson being the publisher. The paper had- a stormy time financially during Dr. Carter's administration. The publisher was changed several times, Mr. Jamieson being succeeded first by Mr. J. G. Grant and later by Rev. D. L. Mitchell. The Advocate, during Dr. Carter's term of office, became the official organ of the Louisiana, Missis- sippi, and North Mississippi Conferences. In December, 1801, Rev. B. F. Lewis was made assistant to Dr. Carter and traveled for the paper, taking subscriptions. He tried this plan about a year and found it impracticable. The failure of the pub- lisher in June, 1893, led to Dr. Carter's resignation, and from that time until the succeeding fall the paper was edited and published by Dr. J. M. Beard, Chairman of the Publishing Committee. In November, 1893, Dr. W. C. Black became editor and pub- lisher. During the year 1900 Rev. M. M. Black served as as- sistant editor under his father; but he really edited the paper, while his father served First Church, Jackson, Miss., as pastor. In January, 1901, Dr. John W. Boswell became editor and publisher. On November 25, 1905, Mr. Charles O. Chalmers was chosen publisher and introduced new printing methods into the office, and the price of the paper was reduced to $1.50. Dr. Boswell continued to serve as editor until the close of the year 1910, when he was succeeded by Dr. R. A. Meek, the present incumbent. 556 History of Methodism. St. Louis Christian Advocate. An initial number of the St. Louis Advocate was published by a committee of the city pastors in 1849. The regular pub- lication did not begin until some months later. The first editor was B. T. Kavanaugh, 1850 to 1852. Dr. D. R. Mc- Anally was editor from 1852 to 18G1. He was imprisoned by the Federal authorities for commenting on the battle of Camp Jackson, indicating the results it foreboded. In jail, he still wrote for the Advocate and also wrote a sermon every week to be read to his Church at Carondelet. The situation gave the paper a larger circulation, so there was an order suppressing its publication. To save the property from confiscation, it was sold to Rev. P. M. Pinckard in 18G2 on agreement that the Church might recover it when the way was open. He published a paper (name not remembered) during the war. At the close of the war he engaged Dr. McAnally as editor, and the publication of the Advocate was resumed. In 1867 Mr. Pinckard informed the Conferences that he was ready to return the Advocate property and that the Conferences should make their decision at once. The two Conferences appointed a joint commission to act in the premises. In 18G8 the de- liberations of the commission took shape in a resolution to form a joint stock company with $50,000 capital to purchase the property and establish a book and publishing company, and Dr. T. M. Finney was appointed agent to carry this into effect. Meantime the Conferences indorsed the work of Dr. McAnally, and he was continued as editor. At the session of the St. Louis Conference in September, 18G9, Dr. Finney reported that the Southwestern P>ook and Publishing Company had been formed with a capital of $73,- 139.75, that the purchase of the Advocate property by the com- pany had been effected, and that the company had already be- gun business with Logan D. Dameron as president. Dr. T. M. Finney was apointed editor of the Advocate and its price put at $3 a year. The editor's salary was fixed at S2.500. Dr. Finney engaged Dr. Bond, of Baltimore, as associate editor for a year or two. Later Dr. Cunningham, of Louis- ville, was employed for a while. The Southwestern Book and Publishing Company quickly The Weekly Methodist Press. 557 exhausted its capital and fell in debt, and Logan D. Dameron leased the property and employed Dr. McAnally to edit the paper. This arrangement was confirmed by the appointment of Dr. McAnally in 1873, from which time the paper was held by lease of Mr. Dameron, and Dr. McAnally continued editor till the sale of the property to Rev. J. W. Lowrance. During Dr. McAnally's incumbency Rev. C. D. N. Campbell was as- sistant editor for a time and was succeeded by Rev. E. M. Bounds. Within a few months Rev. J. W. Lowrance sold his interest to Rev. W. B. Palmore, who associated with him Rev. M. B. Chapman, D.D., as assistant editor and part owner for a few years, when the latter sold his interest back to Dr. Palmore. In 1878 Dr. C. C. Woods was appointed by Bishop Candler as assistant editor. Later the designation was "associate," which relation continued until the death of Dr. Palmore, July 5, 1914, when his three-fourths interest in the property passed by will to the superannuates, widows, and orphans of the three Missouri Conferences, in charge of three commissions. These Conferences elected Dr. Woods editor and manager and Rev. Dr. Arthur Mather assistant, which was confirmed by appoint- ment of the bishop at the request of the Conferences. Later the remaining one-fourth interest in the property was pur- chased, and the title is now complete. The paper has occupied seven different homes in its history. The present home, purchased by the Advocate, has passed to the Central College for Women by the will of Dr. Palmore, but will be occupied indefinitely. Wesleyan Christian Advocate. Previous to the year 1878 the Conferences in South Caro- lina, Georgia, and Florida patronized the Southern Christian Advocate, published first at Charleston, but during the War be- tween the States moved to Augusta and then to Macon, Ga. At the session of the General Conference held in the city of Atlanta in 1878 the South Carolina Conference decided to es- tablish its own paper. The delegates in the General Conference from North and South Georgia and the Florida Conferences established the 558 History of Methodism. Wesley an Christian Advocate as their organ. Dr. A. G. Hay good, then President of Emory College, was elected editor, with •J. \Y. Burke, of the South Georgia Conference, assistant editor and J. W. Burke and Company, of Macon, publishers. Dr. Haygood remained editor until the General Conference of 1882, doing the work on the paper while carrying forward the work as President of Emory College. It should be said that the Wesleyan was claimed as the original paper, and hence the volumes of the paper are numbered from the estab- lishment of the Southern Christian Advocate in Charleston. The South Carolina brethren claimed that the Southern was the old paper, and they retained the number of volumes from the beginning of the Southern. That is a controversy which has never been settled, and explains why both the Southern and the Wesleyan have the same number of volumes. At the General Conference of 1882 the delegates from the North Georgia, South Georgia, and Florida Conferences elected Rev. W. II. Potter, D.D., editor and Rev. J. W. Burke as- sistant editor. J. YV. Burke and Company remained as pub- lishers. This arrangement continued until during the year 1890, when, Dr. Potter having been chosen Missionary Secre- tary in place of Rev. A. Coke Smith, who resigned, W. C. Lovett filled out the unexpired term of the retiring editor — that is. he tilled the editorial chair until the fall of 1800. That fall the entire method of publishing the Wesleyan was changed. The Florida Conference established its own paper. The two Georgia Conferences elected a Board of Trustees for the Wes- leyan Advocate, and the paper was moved from Macon to At- lanta, Ga. ; and Rev. W. F. Glenn, D.D., of the North Georgia Conference, was elected editor and Rev. T. T. Christian, of the South Georgia Conference, assistant editor and business man- ager; and the paper was published by contract. The term of the editors was for four years, and Drs. Glenn and Christian were reelected and remained in their respective positions till 1899, when Rev.T. T. Christian died. Dr. Glenn carried both the editorial ami business management of the paper till the fall meeting of 1899, when at the sitting of the Board Dr. YV. F. Glenn was elected editor and W. C. Lovett assistant editor and business manager. The Weekly Methodist Press. At the meeting of the Board of Trustees in 1900 the officers of the Board were changed, and Dps. Glenn and Lovett were elected associate editors and business managers. At the fall meeting of 1901 the former offices, editor and assistant editor and business manager, were restored, Dr. Glenn resigned, W. 0. Lovett was chosen editor, and Bev. J. W. Heidt, of the North Georgia Conference, was elected assistant editor and business manager. Dr. Heidt remained as assistant editor and business manager until 1900, when Dr. Lovett was again elected editor; and Bev. M. J. Cofer, of the North Georgia Conference, was chosen as- sistant editor and business manager, which office he filled up to the time of his death, in July, 1912. Dr. Lovett conducted both the editorial and business management of the paper from the death of Bev. M. J. Cofer till the fall meeting of the Board in October. At that meeting Bev. B. F. Eakes was elected to fill out the unexpired term of Bev. .M. J. Cofer. In the fall of 1914 Dr. Lovett was again elected editor, and Bev. B. F. Eakes was elected assistant editor and business manager for the full term, wThich will expire in 1918. It will thus be seen that since the paper was moved from Macon to Atlanta W. C. Lovett has been connected with it longer than any other man, except, perhaps, Dr. E. H. Meyers. If the Wesleyan is the legitimate successor of the Southern, which was established in Charleston, this would be about the order of the editors of the paper : Dr. T. O. Summers, Dr. W. M. Wightman, Dr. E. H. Meyers, Dr. Milton F. Kennedy, Dr. A. G. Haygood, Dr. W. H. Potter, Dr. W. F. Glenn, and Dr. W. C. Lovett. Alabama Christian Advocate. The first number of the Alabama Christian Advocate was issued May 25, 1881. It was a large four-page paper. In 1887 the size of the page was decreased and the number of pages increased to eight. In the fall of 1899 the size of the page was again decreased and the number of pages increased to sixteen. Since that time there has been but little change in the form of the paper. The Advocate has been ably edited by the following well- 500 Hist or jj of Methodism. known men, taking office on the dates indicated : Rev. A. S. Andrews, D.D., May 25, 1881; Eev. J. W. Christian, D.D., No- vember 16, 1881; Rev. J. W. Rush, D.D., October 25, 1882; Rev. W. C. McCoy, D.D., October 20, 1886 ; Rev. J. M. Mason, D.D., December 18, 1S90; Rev. Z. A. Parker, D.D., October 29, 1891 ; Rev. Thomas Armstrong, D.D., spring of 1892 ; Rev. H. Urquhart, D.D., May 10, 1898; Rev. J. H. McCoy, D.D., July 24, 1902; Rev. Henry Trawick, D.D., December 3, 1903; Rev. J. D. Ellis, D.D., October 19, 1905 ; Rev. J. S. Chadwick, D.D., 1906; Rev. J. B. dimming, D.D., August 15, 1910; Rev. J. M. Glenn, December 1, 1912; Rev. L. C. Branscomb, January 1, 1916. Most of these men were leaders in their respective Con- ferences either before or after their service with the Advocate. One of them is now a much-loved bishop. Dr. Chadwick is as- sistant editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate. The Alabama Christian Advocate was established by the Alabama and North Alabama Conferences, and through a joint publishing committee they have always controlled the editor- ship and held title to the mail list. The earlier editors shared in the financial responsibilities of the Advocate. For a num- ber of years all these responsibilities were assumed by some publishing company. When Dr. Hosmer saved the paper after a publishing company had failed, the financial responsibility for the Advocate and any debts incurred by it rested upon the two Conferences until all such responsibility' was assumed by the present publishing company. The circulation of the Advocate has varied from about three thousand up to a little over eleven thousand. This high figure was not long held. For a number of years it has averaged a circulation of a little over nine thousand. It has at present a constituency of about 170,000 Church members in the bounds of its patronizing Conferences. The Advocate has always tak- en an active part in all moral issues raised in its territory, and its editors have been unfailingly definite and forcible in their attacks upon wrong. Especially has the Advocate had a large part in all t lie temperance conflicts. To-daj it is an aggressive force with a widening influence. The following resolution was adopted in 1878: The Weekly Methodist Press. 561 Whereas the late General Conference, by its action, declared that the Nashville Christian Advocate can no longer be the special organ of any Annual Conference; and whereas by this action the North Alabama Conference has been deprived of its organ — therefore be it Resolved: 1. That this Conference invite the Alabama Conference to join in the publication of a paper at some point in Alabama, to be conducted in the interest of Methodism in the Alabama Conferences. 2. That a committee be appointed by this Conference to meet a like committee from the Alabama Conference; that this joint committee be given power to start such a paper and appoint an editor and act as a committee of publication until the next session of the Annual Con- ferences which they represent. Provided they do not involve either Conference in any financial liabilities. J. M. Boland, Anson West, W. C. Hearn. At the time of the adoption of this resolution the New Or- leans Christian Advocate was the Conference organ of the Alabama Conference, as it had been for many years. It had attained considerable circulation in the bounds of the North Alabama Conference before the negotiations between the two Conferences resulted in the establishment of the paper that through the years has been a bond of union between the two Conferences. Midland Methodist. The first paper published in the Holston Conference was started by Thomas Stringfield and David R. Mc Anally, begin- ning in 1846 under the name of the Methodist Episcopalian, until the General Conference recognized it as an organ in 1850, when the name was changed to the Holston Christian Advocate. The paper continued till the death of Dr. Patton, in 1854, when the assets were transferred to the Nashville Christian Advo- cate. After intermittent newspaper experiments, the Holston Methodist was started at Morristown, Tenn., by R. N. Price and Company in 1872. In 1875 the Holston Publishing Com- pany was organized. The Holston Advocate, published at Sed- don, Va., by Rev. William Hicks, was purchased. The Advocate was merged with the Methodist, and Dr. R. N. Price was elected editor. In 1888 the Holston Publishing Company sold out to Richardson, Paulett, and Company; and Dr. Frank Richard- son became the editor, and the paper was moved to Bristol. 36 5(52 History of Methodism. Later Rev. W. L. Richardson bought the paper, and later still the ownership passed into the hands of Mr. O. W. Patton, of Knoxville, the present owner. In 1807 the Tennessee Confer- ence united with the Holston Conference, the paper was moved to Nashville, Tenn., and the name was changed to the Midland Methodist, with Dr. R. N. Price again as editor. In 1898 Rev. J. A. Lyons was elected editor, and in 1899 Rev. J. A. Burrow, D.D., succeeded him. Eight years later Rev. T. C. Schuler fol- lowed Dr. Burrow. After several years Mr. Schuler resigned, and Dr. Burrow again became editor. The Midland is known as one of the newsiest of the Conference journals, and Dr. Bur- row's editorials rank amongst the best in the press of the Con- nection. The Memphis Conference united with the Holston and Tennessee Conferences in supporting the Midland. Texas Christian Advocate. The history of the Texas Christian Advocate goes back to the year 1847. Rev. R. B. Wells, of Brenham, Tex., began its pub lication in the year above named and was both manager and editor. Within the year it changed hands, becoming the prop- erty of Rev. Orcenith Fisher, a man of renowned zeal and an evangelist inspired of the Spirit of God. Dr. Fisher moved the paper to Houston, where it continued to be issued for sev- eral years as a private enterprise. A plan to establish a paper under the ownership and control of the Conference was later put on foot and resulted in the establishment of the Texas Wes- leyan Banner, with Rev. Chauncey Richardson as editor. Ac- cording to Dr. J. H. McLean, from whose sketch this informa- tion is gleaned, the first number of the Banner appeared about February, 1849. Richardson, as did Fisher, ranked high as a writer and preacher and was a man of fine literary ability. In 1851 Dr. Richardson was succeeded in the editorship of the Banner- by George Rottenstein, who, after two or three years, was followed by Rev, Simeon D. Cameron. Editor Cameron died of yellow fever soon after entering upon the discharge of this task. At his death J. A. Hancock assumed both the edi- torial and managerial duties of the Banner. The General Con ferenee of 1854 took up the matter of publishing a paper in the Southwest, and 1he name was changed from Tr.ras Wesleyan The Weekly Methodist Press. Banner to that of Texas Christian Advocate, and its office of publication was fixed at Galveston, with Rev. C. C. Gillespie as editor. Mr. Gillespie was a man of extraordinary talents, a speaker of 'astonishing eloquence, and of most magnetic pres- ence and personality. After the War between the States he entered politics and suffered a sad spiritual eclipse which con- tinned to the time of his death. In 1855 the Advocate reported two thousand subscribers. At the General Conference of 185S Rev. J. E. Carnes, also a man of unusual talents, was made editor, with Rev. James W. Shipman as publisher. Mr. Charles Shearn, of Houston, and Mr. David Ayers, of Galveston, ma- terially aided at this time in carrying the finances of the paper. During the War between the States the publication of the Advocate was interrupted and for a while suspended. For .some time, about 1804, it was published as a half sheet at Houston, Galveston being then in the hands of the Federal army. In 1865 Rev. H. V. Philpott, a man of gifts and well fitted for the task, was named as editor, with Captain Grant as publisher; but at the meeting of the General Conference in 18G6 Rev. I. G. John was selected as editor. About this time Mr. Louis Blaylock was employed in the publishing department. A few years later, under the firm name of Shaw and Blay- lock, he became publisher, a post which he has held with phe- nomenal success for full fifty years. In 1884 Dr. John resigned the editorship and was succeeded by Rev. George W. Briggs, a man of remarkable talents and an exceptionally brilliant speaker. The office of publication was moved from Galveston to Dallas in 1887, the latter place having become the better distributing point. On the retirement of Mr. Briggs, in 1888, the Rev. James Campbell, D.D., a man of solid ability and strong convictions, became editor. He served for six years and gave way to the Rev. T. R. Pierce, D.D. After four years of editorial service, Dr. Pierce was followed by the Rev. George C. Rankin. Sketches of both Dr. Pierce and Dr. Rankin will be found in the body of this history. On the death of Dr. Rankin, in 1015, the present editor, Rev. W. D. Bradfield, D.D., was elected. Dr. Bradfield has impressed his constituency and the whole Church with his ability, strong judgment, and fine gifts as a writer. The Texas Advocate is- 564 History of Methodism. sues about thirty thousand copies weekly and is the most widely read of all the Conference organs. Pacific Methodist Advocate. In the year 1890 the two Conference organs published on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific Methodist and the Los Angeles Christian Advocate, were combined into one journal, known as the Pacific Methodist Advocate, and published under the auspices of the General Conference. For this purpose the sum of $10,000 had been set apart. The first number was issued early in 1891, with H. M. Du Bose, of the Los Angeles Confer- ence, as editor, he having been selected for the post by the Book Committee, and R. P. Wilson, of the Pacific Conference, as business manager. In 1849 Bishop Paine had appointed the Rev. Jesse Boring to open mission work on the Pacific Coast. After three or four years as superintendent of the mission there, he came to feel greatly the need of a Church periodical. Arrangements were accordingly made for the establishment of such a medium. On January 5, 1852, the first number of the Christian Ob- server was issued at San Francisco. It was a modest sheet, but supplied the primitive needs of the mission. At various times departments of the paper were printed in Spanish, many people in that region speaking the language of Spain. The Christian Observer served its uses, but had an experience of variable fortune. Sometime later, and wdiile he was filling the pastorate in Stockton, the Rev. Orcenith Fisher began the publication of a paper known as the Pacific Methodist. This paper was adopted by the Conference, and O. P. Fitzgerald, afterwards well known as the editor of the Christian Advocate and then as bishop, became its editorial manager. This position he continued to hold until the period of the War between the States, when the Pacific Methodist was suspended. About the year 1800 its pub- lication was resumed under the name of the Christian Specta- tor, Dr. Fitzgerald being continued as editor. Later the name Methodist was restored. From the editorship of the revived Methodist Dr. Fitzgerald was elected to the editorship of the general organ. The Weekly Methodist Press. 565 The publication of a Conference journal in California was beset with many difficulties, but there is scarcely any part of the Church where the printed page is more needed than amongst the widely separated communities and congregations of the West. About 1886 the Rev. W. B. Stradley began the publi- cation of the Los Angeles Christian Advocate as the organ of the districts in Southern California and Arizona. H. M. Du Bose was editor of the Advocate at the time of the consolida- tion referred to above. Some years before, G. B. Winton had been editor of the Pacific Methodist; and he was succeeded by S. M. Godbey, who was also incumbent at the time of the con- solidation. At the end of his first quadrennium of service Dr. Du Bose transferred to the Texas Conference and was suc- ceeded in the editorship of the Pacific Methodist Advocate by Rev. R. P. Wilson, who thereafter became both editor and manager. His service terminated when, in 1901, he was se- lected to be manager of the publishing house in Shanghai, China. Rev. William R. Vaughan was then called to the post through election by the Book Committee, and during all the remaining years he has been the indefatigable editor and man- ager of this organ of the Church in the "ultimate West." Southern Christian Advocate. The Southern Christian Advocate, which was founded in 1836, had a history identified with the record of the Wesley an Christian Advocate up to the General Conference of 1878, when it was decided that there should be a separate publication for the Conferences in Georgia and South Carolina. A reference to the sketch of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, to be found in this chapter, will give the details of this history and an account of the vicissitudes and changes of fortune which came to it during the War between the States. The Southern Chris- tian Advocate has made large contribution to all that pertains to the growth of the Church and to the advancement of the kingdom of Christ in general. Not a few great names have been associated with its editorial management in the long past of its existence. William Capers, to whom is attributed in the history of the Church the honor of having been the "founder of the missions to the slaves" and whose memory is fragrant 5G6 History of Methodism. as a bishop of the Church, was one of its early editors. Wil- liam M. Wightman, another bishop of the Church and whose greatness is written on many pages of the Church's annals, was also in this succession. Dr. P. M. Kennedy and Dr. W. 1). Ivirkland, the latter of whom afterwards became Sunday School Editor, are also remembered as occupying in their order the editorial chair. Dr. S. A. Weber, a superannuate, but a man who has contributed much to the history of South Carolina Methodism and who is honored for his ability, his sanctity of life, and his devotion to the cause of the Master, is one of the Advocate's living ex-editors. Dr. W. R. Richardson, a trans- fer from South Carolina, and who has since filled important pulpits in Tennessee and Arkansas, and Dr. John O. Willson, the well-known President of Lander College, were in their turn users of the Advocate's inkhorn to the satisfaction of their brethren. Dr. W. C. Kirkland, the present editor, is a worthy successor in this line of honored molders of the thought of the Church in that old commonwealth which is the Advocate's undisputed field. Baltimore-Richmond Christian Advocate. The organ of the Virginia Conference is in the sixteenth vol- ume of its new-series issue, but as the old Richmond Advocate the years of its history are as venerable as they are honorable. We have failed to secure the information necessary to make the detailed narrative we had planned to give. The names of such stalwarts as James A. Duncan, Leroy M. Lee, W. W. Ben- nett, and John J. Lafferty are identified with its past history, and no paper in the Connection has wielded a more certain in- fluence or been read with a greater relish and interest. Some- what more than sixteen years ago Rev. James Cannon, D.D., bought a controlling interest in the stock of the Advocate and, having secured control of the old Baltimore Christian Advo- cate, consolidated the two, with offices of publication at Rich mond. For a time the consolidated paper had the territory of both the Virginia and the Baltimore Conferences; but with the appearance at Baltimore of the Southern Methodist, now in its fourteenth volume, the patronage of the Baltimore Con- ference was withdrawn. In the body of this work we have The Weekly Methodist Press. 567 given character sketches of each of the men who in the edi- torial management of the Richmond Advocate have helped to make it the distinct and virile force it has been in Methodism. Dr. Cannon, the industrious and resourceful editor incumbent, has not permitted the traditions of the paper to be forgotten. Central Methodist. The organ of the Louisville and Kentucky Annual Confer- ences, the Central Methodist, of which Dr. E. G. B. Mann is editor and Rev. W. T. Swift associate, is in its fifty-first vol- ume, having been founded early in 18GG. During the history of the initial series of the paper it was called the Christian Ob- server, the place of publication being Parkersburg, in the West- ern Virginia Conference, with S. Hargiss as editor. The min- utes of the Conference take no note of editorial appointment after 18GG until the year 1880, when Zephaniah Meek was an- nounced as editor of the Central Methodist. The place of pub- lication was then at Catlettsburg, Ky., but still within the bounds of the Western Virginia Conference. For full twenty years Dr. Meek continued the double work of editor and pub- lisher, becoming familiarly known as the veteran of the South- ern Methodist press. About 1900 Dr. Meek retired, after which the paper was removed to Louisville, to become the organ of the Louisville and the Kentucky Conferences. In the same year the Western Virginia Conference adopted as its organ the Methodist Advocate, already some time in existence, at Par- kersburg. At Louisville Rev. J. W. Lewis and Rev. W. F. Lloyd were for a year or so joint editors of the Central Meth- odist, while discharging regular pastoral duties. After their retirement Prof. D. W. Batson, a layman, was for a consider- able time the editor and publisher. In 11)08 the name of Rev. W. Q. Vreeland appeared in the appointments of the Kentucky Conference as associate editor, and in 1912 in the same min- utes Rev. W. A. Swift was announced as editor. In the mean- time the paper had been removed to Lexington, the present place of publication, after which Dr. Mann became editor in chief. The Methodist has a choice constituency and has strong- ly and ably supported the doctrines of the Church. 568 History of Methodism. Methodist Advocate. The Methodist Advocate, published at Sutton, W. Ya., in its twenty -second volume, is the successor of the Episcopal Meth- odist Advocate, projected by Rev. T. S. Wade and Rev. C. A. Slaughter at Parkersburg and recognized in 1899 as the organ of the Western Virginia Conference. After a number of years of existence under the editorship of Dr. Wade and others, the Methodist Advocate was suspended, but it has been revived in more recent years under the editorial management of Rev. W. T. Canter. Dr. Canter has displayed much newspaper skill and acumen, and the paper is giving good service in a connection much needed. Arkansas Methodist. The Arkansas Methodist, published at Little Rock, Ark., is the organ of the North Arkansas and the Little Rock Confer- ences. It has an interesting history. In 1870 Rev. J. W. Bos- well was publishing the Church News at Batesville, Rev. Je- rome Haralson projected the Arkansas Methodist at Darda- nelle, and Dr. W. C. Johnson was publishing the Western Methodist, which had been moved from Memphis, Tenn., to Little Rock and had become the official organ of the Arkansas Conferences. Consolidation of all of these was effected at the 1870 session of the Arkansas Conference, Dr. Johnson assum- ing all liabilities and becoming editor, with Drs. Boswell and Haralson as associates. In 1881 the Western Methodist ceased publication, after which the Arkansas Messenger, which had been started at Mor- rillton and of which Dr. Boswell was editor, became the Arkan- sas Methodist and in a short time was moved to Little Rock. After about a year Dr. Boswell's son, who had managed the printing, died, and Dr. Boswell sold his interest to Rev. S. G. Colhnrn, who associated Dr. J. C. Brown witli himself for a short time. When Dr. Colburn died, Rev. J. P. Lowry managed the paper until it was sold to Dr. A. R. Winfield and Dr. J. n. Dye. Later Mr. A. Emmonson, a layman, purchased Dr. Dye's interest. When Dr. Winfield. after a brilliant career, died, December 27, 1887, Rev. Horace Jewell edited the paper until Dr. Z. T. Bennett was elected editor. February 1. 1888. The Weekly Methodist Press. Late in 1889 Hon. George Thornburgh, a layman, purchased Mr. Emmonson's half interest, and the Arkansas Methodist was jointly owned by Bennett and Thornburgh until the fall of 1894, when Dr. Bennett sold his half to Dr. J. E. Godbey, of Missouri, who became the editor, Mr. Thornburgh con- tinuing as business manager. In September, 1904, Rev. James A. Anderson and Rev. A. C. Millar became the editors and proprietors. On January 1, 1906, the Oklahoma Conference having voted to consolidate its paper with the Arkansas Methodist, publication was continued at Little Rock under the name of Western Christian Advocate, the name of the former Oklahoma paper, Rev. P. R. Eagle- barger, editor of the Oklahoma paper, becoming a member of the new firm of Anderson, Millar, and Company. Anderson, Millar, and Eaglebarger were joint editors and proprietors. In 1907 the name was changed to Western Methodist, but the management remained the same. During this period a print- ing plant had been acquired and a large printing business con- ducted. From 1906 to 1915 Dr. Millar, being a presiding elder and a college president, gave little time to the paper. In 1913 the partnership was dissolved, and Rev. W. B. Hays, Rev. Frank Barrett, and L. F. Blankenship obtained a half in- terest, Dr. Millar retaining the other half, but having no active part in the business. Shortly after this change the printing plant was sold, a stock company was formed, and the business was conducted under the name of the Western Methodist Pub- lishing Company. During 1914 the circulation, which had hitherto approximated 11,000, was by unusual methods in- creased to 15,000 ; but heavy expenses were incurred, and with the financial depression caused by the European war the com- pany became somewhat embarrassed. The contract with the Oklahoma Conferences was terminated December 31, 1914, and Dr. A. C. Millar became editor and manager. On account of the financial stringency, it was with difficulty that the paper was maintained during 1915; hence at the Conferences that fall a commission consisting of Hon. George Thornburgh, Presi- dent J. M. Williams, Dr. F. S. H. Johnston, Dr. James Thomas, Rev. T. D. Scott, and Rev. J. K. Farris was appointed to con- sider the question of Conference ownership. The commission 570 History of Methodism. recommended purchase, and at the session of 1915 the Little Rock and North Arkansas Conferences agreed to purchase the property for approximately $8,000, authorized the raising of the money, and placed the aforementioned commission in charge. Dr. A. C. Millar was elected editor, and the name Arkansas Methodist was restored. The paper is now the property of the two Conferences in Arkansas. It has a circulation of 10.000. which, in proportion to the Church membership (108.000), is among the best in the Church. During its life of thirty-five years the Arkansas Methodist has been a potent factor in the progress of Methodism in the State. When this sketch was written (September 21, 1916), the fol- lowing men who had been connected with the paper were still living: Rev. Jerome Haralson, D.D., Rev. J. W. Boswell, D.D.. Rev. J. H. Dye, D.D.. Rev. J. P. Lowry, Rev. Horace Jewell, Rev. Z. T. Bennett, D.D., Hon. George Thornburgh, Rev. J. E. Godbey, D.D., Rev. James A. Anderson, D.D.. LL.D., Rev. P. R. Eaglebarger, Rev. W. B. Hays, Rev. Frank Barrett, Mr. L. F. Blankenship. Rev. A. C. Millar, D.D., who heads this long line of puissant scribes, is the present editor. The Methodist is a living power in the great field which it serves. Florida Christian Advocate. The date lines of the Florida Christian Advocate give the information that in 1916 it was in its thirtieth year of ex- istence. Its first editor was the Rev. Josephus Anderson. D.D., one of the heroes and pioneers of Methodism in the South. He had reached all but the patriarchal stage of his life when he undertook the heavy burden of being both pub- lisher and editor of a Conference newspaper. This proved to be doubly a task in the restricted field which he served; for though in fact a land of flowers and hospitable throughout its year, Florida has come slowlv to be ranked as a State of wealthy citizens, and Methodism has shared the experiences of this slow, if still steady, development. But, notwithstanding the difficulties experienced, Dr. Anderson for fourteen years sustained the duties of his exacting task. On his superannua- tion, in 1001. the editorship was nssnmed by Dr. L. W. Moore, whose gifts and attainments fitted him for the post : but his The Weekly Methodist Press. 57 L services extended over only two or three years, when Kev. J. B. Ley became editor, and he in turn was succeeded, in 11)05, by Kev. Frederick Pasco. Dr. Pasco continued to occupy the position until 1908, when the Kev. N. H. Williams was chosen editor, combining with that office the duties of Conference Mis- sionary Secretary. He retired in 1010, and the Rev. J. B. Ley, the indefatigable former editor, again took the tripod. There was an interruption of publication in 1911, but in 1912 the name of Rev. D. B. Sweat appears in the Conference Minutes as editor. He was succeeded by the Rev. J. Edgar Wilson, fhe present editor, who, like his predecessors, has learned to carry the responsibility of his undertaking in the interest of the Church which he and they have so well and faithfully served. North Carolina Christian Advocate. The Raleigh and the North Carolina Christian Advocates have a common history up to the year 1898, as may be learned by reference to a sketch of the history of the former-named journal contained in this chapter. In 1896 the publication of- fice of the Raleigh Advocate was removed from Raleigh to Greensboro, and the name of the paper was changed to North Carolina Christian Advocate, the Western North Carolina and the North Carolina Conferences patronizing it jointly; but in 1898, as above noted, a severance of interests occurred. The North Carolina Conference bought from the private owners of the publishing plant the subscription list represented in its territory and reestablished the Raleigh Advocate at its former place of publication. The North Carolina Christian Advocate. as the organ of the Western Conference, was continued at Greensboro, with Dr. W. L. Crawford as editor in chief. Dur- ing the Conference year of 1900-01 he was succeeded by the present editor, the Rev. Hugh M. Blair. Dr. Blair has shown great aptitude for editorial work and has held the Advocate to a policy of progressive ideas, but has kept it loyal and frank- ly Methodistic. APPENDIX. APPENDIX. COLLEGES OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. A-Grade Colleges. Men. Central College Henarix College Millsaps College Randoiph-Macon College. Soochow University Southwestern University. Trinitv College Woftord College Women. Athens College Columbia College Greensboro College Martha Washington College Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Wesleyan College Woman's College of Alabama Fayette, Mo Conway, Ark Jackson, Miss Ashland, Va Soochow, China... Georgetown, Tex. Durham, N. C Spartanburg, S. 0 Athens, Ala Columbia, S. C Greensboro, N. C. Abingdon, Va Lynchburg, Va Macon, Ga Montgomery, Ala. 1855 1884 1890 1880 1901 1873 1851 1852 1843 1854 1888 1854 1890 1836 1911 B-Grade Colleges. Birmingham College Central College tor Women... Emory and Henry College Galloway College Kentucky We deyan College. Lagrange College Southern College Southern Universitv Texas Woman's College Birmingham, Ala. Lexington Mo Emory, Va..: Searcy, Ark Winchester, Ky.... Lagrange, Sutherland, Ma.... Greensboro, Ala... Fort Worth, Tex.. 1898 18,000 00 18G9 72,000 00 1839 35,000 00 1888 25,000 00 1860 82,195 00 1846 1902 26,000 00 1856 103,000 00 1914 Junior Colleges. Blackstone College lor Girls. Howard-Payne College Logan Female College Mansfield Female College Martin College Meridian College Morris Harvev College Seth Ward College Weaver College Blackstone, Va Fayette, Mo Russellville, Ky Mansfield, La Pulaski, Tenn Meridian, Tex Barboursville, W, Va. Plainview, Tex Weaverville. N. C 1904 1859 1867 1855 1870 1907 1888 1874 Unclassified. Andrew College Carolina College Centenary College of Louisiana.. Centenary Female College Clarendon College. Columbia Junior College Davenport College Grenada College Henderson-Brown College Hiwassee College Lander College Louisburg Female College Marvin College Memphis Conf. Female College.... North Texas College Port Gibson Female Institute Reinhardt College San Antonio Female College Scarritt-Morrisville College Stamford College Sullins College Wesley College Whitworth College Younsr L. G. Harris College Cuthbert. Ga Maxton, N. C Shreveport, La Cleveland, Tenn Clarendon, Tex Milton, Oregon Lenoir, N. C Grenada, Miss Arkadelphia, Ark... Sweetwater, Tenn... Greenwood, S. C Louisburg, N. C Fredericktown, Mo. Jackson, Tenn Sherman, Tex Port Gibson, Miss ... Waleska, Ga San Antonio, Tex.... Morrisville, Mo Stamford, Tex Bristol, Va Greenville, Tex Brookhaven, Miss... Young Harris. Ga... 1854 19u7 1845 1884 1898 1905 1858 1884 1890 1849 1873 1867 1847 1843 1877 1854 1887 1896 1872 1907 1858 1887 (575) 576 History of Methodism. The following institutions, chartered as colleges or universities, have at different times been reported as Southern Methodist schools by either the General Conference Committee on Education or the General Conference Board of Education. But they have all been closed or merged with other institutions or have passed from the ownership and control of the Church: Lagrange College Bascorn Female College Oak Bowery Female College Tuskegee Female College East Alabama College Wesleyan University Huntsville Female College Alabama Female College Tuscaloosa College Arkansas Female College Quitman College Searcy College Wilson College Pacific Methodist College Corvallis College East Florida Seminary Florida Conference College Madison Female College Cassville College Dalton Female College Andrew Female College Levert Female College Georgia Methodist Female College. Illinois Conference College Transylvania Univer.'itv Kentucky Wesleyan University Warren College Cedar Bluff Female College Greenville Ladies' College Asbury College Millersburg Female College Bethel College Augusta College Science Hill Academy Homer College Baton Rouge Seminary Pierce and Paine College Cokesbury College Franklin Female College Sharon Fem:ile College Jackson Wesleyan Female College. Macon Female College Verona College Corinth Female College Iuka Female College East Mississippi Female C' liege Aberdeen Female College Edward McGehee College Malone College East Mississippi Female College Northwest Missouri College Cottey College Scarritt Collegiate Institute Las Vegas Seminary HoLston Female College Carolina Female College Wesleyan Female College Normal College Warrenton College Lane ( 'ollege Raleigh Seminary Danville Female Colleere Central Female Institute Littleton Female College Lagrange, Ala Lagrange, Ala Lagrange, Ala Tuskegee, Ala Auburn, Ala Florence, Ala Huntsville, Ala Tuskegee, Ala Tuscaloosa, Ala. .. Little Rock, Ark. Quitman, Ark Searcy, Ark Wilmington, Cal... Santa Rosa, Cal. .. Corvallis, Oregon. Leesburg, Fla Madison, Ga Cassville, Ga Dalton, Ga Dawson, Ga Talbotton, Ga Covington, Ga Limestone, 111 Lexington, Ky Millersburg, Ky Bowling Green, Ky. Woodbury, Ky Greenville, Ky Wilmore, Ky Millersburg, Ky Kentucky Kentucky Shelbyvi'lle, Ky Homer, La Baton Rouge, La Louisiana Abingdon, Md Verona, Miss Corinth, Miss Tuka. Miss Brookhaven, Miss ... Aberdeen, Miss Woodville, Miss Hollv Springs, Miss Meridian, Miss Albanv, Mo Nevada, Mo Neof-ho, Mo Las Vegas, N. Mex... North Carolina North Carolina Murfreesboro. N. C. North Carolina North Carolina North Carolina Raleieh, N. C Danville, N. C Mio-dleton. N. C Littleton, N. C Estab- lished. 1830 1852 1851 1864 1872 1«1 1890 1878 1861 1873 1868' 1873 1858 1^73 1850 1>-51 1790 1^20 1890 1785 1870 1873 1869 1877 lh8S 1879 Not Mentioned After. Appendix, 577 Estab- lished. Not Men t IbnCd AftlT. Spaulding Female College Hargrove College Willie HaLsell College Epworth University Spartanburg College Williamston Female College Tennessee Conference Female College. Andrew College Soule College Tennessee Female College Wesleyan Female College State Female College People's College Chapel Hill Female College Wesleyan College Rutersville College Andrew Female College Soule University Waco Female College Marvin College Austin Female College Dallas Female College Sherman Institute Texas University Fredericksburg College Fairfield College San Angelo College Bowling Green Seminary Petersburg Female College Wesleyan Female College Valley Female College Montgomery Female College Danville Female College Southern Seminary Suffolk College Russell Colleere Strawberry Plains College Farmville College Norfolk Institute Marshall Collie Shelbyville University Muskogee, Okla. Vinita, Okla Oklahoma City, Okla. Spartanburg, S. C Williamston, S. C Murfreesboro, Tenn. Franklin, Tenn Brownsville, Tenn Memphis, Tenn Pikeville, Tenn Texas Texas Chapel Hill, Tex. Waco, Tex Waxahachie, Tex Austin, Tex Dallas, Tex Sherman, Tex Georgetown, Tex Fredericksburg, Tex. Fairfield, Tex San Angelo, Tex Bowling Green, Va... Petersburg, Va Staunton, Va Winchester, Va Christiansburg, Va Danville, Va Buena Vista, Va Suffolk, Va Lebanon, Va Virerinia Norfolk, Va West Virginia Shelbyville, Tenn 1881 190!) 1890 1006 187^ 1870 1858 1875 1852 18555 1850 18(58 1873 1870 1854 1008 1861 1872 1854 1900 37 INDEX. INDEX. Abbey, Richard, 95, 97, 152. Adams, John, 188, 365. Addams, Jane, 169. Africa, 93. African Methodist Episcopal Church, 71. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 40, 7 2. African Mission, 278. Age Limit, 335. Ahrens, John B. A., 236. Ainsworth, W. N., 371. Alabama Christian Advocate, 165 ; Sketch of, 559, 560, 561. Alabama Conference, 25, 35 ; Sketch of, 410, 411, 412. Albert Hall, 257. Alexander, Gross, 56, 230, 274, 347, 367, 368. Alexander, Robert, 36. Alexandria, 32. Allen, B. P., 263. Allen, Miss Emily, 286. Allen, Mrs. Young J., 281. Allen, Young J., 97, 142, 219, 234, 286. American Bible Society, 183, 365. American Wesleyan Church, 40. Anderson, Bishop, 212, 251. Anderson, Joseplius, 188, 327. Anderson, Stonewall, 189, 287. Anderson, T. H. B., 110, 326. Anderson, W. D., 129. Anderson, W. H., 95, 101. Andrew, Bishop, 16, 21, 27, 98, 279. Andrew Female College, 166 ; Sketch of, 526, 527. Andrews, A. S., 153, 165, 322. Andrews, Bishop, 43, 211, 247. Andrews, M. S., 165. Anglicanism, 41, 65. Anniversary meeting, 258. Annual Conferences, 17, 116, 301. Anthony, Samuel, 188. Antipodes, 45, 260. Apostles' Creed, 86, 187, 362. "Apostles to the Cubans," 207. Appalachian Mountains, 75. Appendix, 575, 576, 577. Archbishop of Canterbury, 176, 177. Archons, The, 25. Argonauts, 78. Arkansas, 197. Arkansas Conference, 198. Arkansas Methodist, Sketch of, 568, 569, 570. "Armageddon," 25, 350. Armstrong, J. E.. 233, 234. Arnett, Bishop, 72. Arthur, William, 106, 175, 216. Articles of Religion, 41, 78, 143, 171, 220, 226. Asburian Episcopate, 245. Asburian Era, 42, 77. Asbury, Bishop, 29, 67, 76, 141, 150, 155. 198, 234, 332. "Asbury of Japan," 272. Athens Female College, Sketch of 505. 506. Atkins, Bishop, 148, 160. Atkins, D., 189. Atkins, Mrs. D., 286. Atlanta, 21, 43, Atmore, Charles, 102. Attempted legislation, 308. Augusta, 31, 46. Australia. 70. Australian Methodist Church, 40, 217, 260, 341, 343. Auxiliary Fund, 373. Bailey, E. A., 328. Baldwin, S. D., 25, 201. Baldwin, Stephen L., 209. Balkans, 373. Baltimore, 43, 141. Baltimore Conference, 9, 30, 31 ; Sketch of, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384. Baltimore Episcopal Methodist, 131. Baltimore-Richmond Christian Advo- cate, Sketch of, 566, 567. Baltimore Southern Methodist, Sketch of, 553, 554. Bangs, Nathan, 150, 161, 276. Baptist Church, 40. Baptist Convention, 84, 227, 348. Barbee, J. D., 85, 127, 148, 153, 154, 190, 206, 207, 263. Barclay, W. F., 189. Barcus, J. M., 189. Barnes Hospital, 88. Barnes, Robert A., 88. Bascom, Bishop, 55, 98, 101. Bashford, Bishop, 212, 248, 249. Batchelor, J. A., 263. Bate, Senator, 190, 191. Bates, Creed, 189, 224. Bates, John L., 184, 185. Baxter, Nathaniel, 153. Bayless, J. H., 65, 101. Beaty, L. F., 160, 263. Beecher, Henry Ward, 87. Beet, Joseph Agar, 106. Belfast College, 140. Bennett, W. W., 58. Berean Lessons, 158. Berkeley, 56. Berry, Bishop, 75, 93, 135, 146, 174, 212. Berryman, J. C. 186, 231. Berry man, N. G., 25. Beveridge, Senator, 251. Bible Christians, 39, 68, 69, 70. Bible, The, 137. Biggs, Albert W.. 309. Bigham, R. J., 154, 187, 189. Binkley, J. M., 188. Birmingham, 218. Birmingham College, 233; Sketch of, 508, 509, 510. Bishop, Horace, 189. Bishop of London, 177. Black, W. C, 237, 238. Blackard, J. W., 263. Blackstone College for Girls, Sketch of. 518. (581) 582 History of Blaylock, L.. 563. Bledsoe, Albert Taylor, 55, 56. Blue, O. R.. 95, 100. Board of Bishops, 12. Board of Education, 80, 110, ill. 112, 309, 361. Board of Missions, 169. Board of Trustees, 81, 82. Boer War, 71, 140. Boland, J. M., 188. Bonner, T. R. 39. Book Agent, 24, 192, 193. Book Committee, 145, 153, 184, 190. Book Concern, 93, 109, 135, 149, 150, 153. Book Editor, 131. Book of Discipline. 48, 266. 360. Book Steward, 149, 331. Boring, Jesse, 95. 96. Boswell, C. M., 337. Boswell, John W., 165. Boswell, T. L., 165, 290. Bounds, E. M., 85. Bourland, H. A.. 188. Bovard, F. D.. 332. Bowman, Bishop, 62, 86, 135. Boyer, H. K., 263. Boxer Troubles, 178. Bradfield, W. D., 563. Bradfield, William, 363. Branch, J. O., 189. Brandon, Frank W., 263. Bray, J. A, 347. Brazil, 20, 46. Brazil Mission Conference, 117; Sketch or', 4 68, 469. Brecken, Ralph, 185. Brewer, T. F., 189. Briggs, C. H., 189. Rriggs, William, 57, 345, 441. Bristol, Bishop of. 84, 251, 253. British African Church, 72. British Connection, 57. British Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, 40. Broadus. Dr., 367. Bromilow, W. E.. 261. Browder, R. W.. 367. Brown, A. G., 188. Brown Brothers, 15. Brown, George, 260. Brown, J. G., 263. Brown. Milton, 290. Brown, O. E., 263. Brown, R. K., 81. Brown, S. H.. 188. Browning. W. H., 328. Brownsville, 37. Brummitt, Dan B.. 337. Brunner, J. H., 365. Buckley. J. M., 65, 93, 134, 135, 174, 212. 235, 249, 250, 253, 337. Buffalo. 95. Bulla. C. D.. 160. Bunting, Jabez, 257, 372. Burgher, B. M., 436. Burk. John W.. 326. Burkhead. L. D., 188. Burrow. James A., 189. Burt, Bishop, 212, 249. 347. Butler, William, 173. Cadman, S. Parkes. 348. Calloway. Morgan, 165. 230. 274. Campbell. Bishop, 72. Campbell, James, 189. Canada. 67. Methodism. Canada Methodist Union, 68. Canadian Bible Christians, 40. Canadian General Conference, 213. Canadian Methodism, Centennial of, 102. Canadian Methodist Church, 169, 213, 253. Candler, Asa, 356. Candler, Bishop, 110, 147, 148, 347. Cannon. James. 189. Cape May Commission, 21, 36, 168. Capers, Bishop, 26. Capers, Thomas M., 26. Carlisle, James H., 38, 110. Carlton, Rev. Dr., 15. Carman, Albert, 68, 329, 345, 371. Carnegie, Andrew, 315. Carolina College, Sketch of, 533, 534. Carroll. H. K., 345, 346. Carter, C. W., 237, 238. Carter, D. W., 189. Carter, John A., 153. Carter, Mrs. John, 286. Carter, Miss Maria, 286. Cartwright. Peter, 139, 167. Cassells, Hamilton, 348. Castlehow, I., 260. "Centenary Cameos," 269. Centenary Church, 77. Centenary College of Louisiana, Sketch of, 527, 528, 529. Centenary Conference, 9, 28, 38, 42, 43, 44, 116. Centenary literature, 45. Centenary movement, 66. Centenary year, 24 5. Central College, 29 ; Sketch of, 493. 494. Central College for Women, Sketch of. 513. 514. Central Methodist, Sketch of, 567. Central Mexico Mission Conference, Sketch of, 469, 470. Central Texas Conference, Sketch of, 436, 437. 438. 439. Central Universitv, 289, 290, 292, 293. 294, 295. Chadwick, J. S., 560. Chancery Court of Davidson County. 310. Chancery Court Injunction. 311. Chao, T. C. 360. Chapman, James, 345. Chapman, M. B., 47, 322. Chappell, E. B., 160, 230, 274, 374. Chappell, Mrs. E. B., 281. Charleston College, 27. Charters, Commission on, 362. Chattanooga, 95. Chautauqua, 95. Chicago, 54. Chicote. Samuel. 37, 38. Children's Day. 4 8, 159. Childs, R. A., 189. China, 20, 46. China Mission Conference, 98, 278 ; Sketch of. 468. Chown. S. D., 330, 345. 347. 371. Chreitzburg, (L M., 233. Christian Advocate, 19. 24. 85, 93. 145. 161. 269. Christian Endeavor, 73. Christian Perfection. 89. Christian. J. T.. 263. Christian. T. T.. 326. Christian Union Church. 11. "Christianity of Christ. The." 229. Christmas Conference, 9, 43. Christology, 204. Church Extension Board, 47, 78, 148, 162, 163, 164, 186, 231, 284, 285. Church Halls, 259. Church Membership, 338. "Church of the Strangers," 19. Church Papers, 12. Church Statistics, 219, 247, 255, 264. Church Union, 372. Churches in the Ecumenical Confer- ence, 86. City Missions, 280. City Road Chapel, 39. Clarendon College, Sketch of, 526. Clark, Alexander, 250. Clark, Francis E., 73. Clark, I. W., 189. Clark, J. O. A., 129, 326. Clark, Judge Walter, 117. Clark, R. S., 370. Clarke, Adam, 61, 339. Clay, C. C, 39. Clayton, Albert, 257. Cleveland, 74, 94, 95. Clopton School, 283. Cobb, Mrs. J. B., 281. Cobb, Tobias P., 370. Cochran, J. B., 263. Coke, Bishop, 70, 243, 339. Cole, E. W., 39, 81, 110, 310. Cole, J. N.. 263. College of Bishops, 142, 187, 194, 221, 227, 247, 266, 305, 310. Colored bishops, 335. Colored institutes, Sketch of, 522. Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, 15, 40, 45, 71, 222. Colquitt, A. H., 38. Columbia College, Sketch of, 501, 502, 503. Columbia Conference, Sketch of, 467. Comer, Governor, 39. "Comity and Federation," 47, 322, 323. Commission on Federation, 116. Commission on Unification, 377, 378. Commission on Union, 14. Committee of Fifteen, 317. Committee on Appeals, 360. Conference boundaries, 363. Congo Free State, Abuses in, 222. Congo Mission, 267 ; Sketch of, 473. Congregational Church, 40, 348. Congress, 190. Congressional Record, 193. Connectional elections, 363. Connectional office, 51. Connectional salaries, 145. Connectionalism, 182, 183. Consolidation of newspapers, 225. Constitution, The. 63. 114, 245. 332. "Constitutional History. A," 93. "Constitutional History of Meth- odism," 229. Cook, Bishop, 117, 336. Cook, E. F.. 280, 281. Cooper, Ezekiel, 150. Cooper, I. W., 263. Coronal Institute, Sketch of, 522. Corvallis, 78. Cottrell, Joseph B., 188. Council, The, 156. Court of Appeals, 48. 124, 334. Cox. J. B.. 263. Cox, Melville B., 277. Cox, Nathan, 33. Cox, S. K., 324. COX, W. M., 263. Craighead, EJ. B., 189. Cranston, Bishop, 64, 135, 333. Craven, Braxton, 33, 34. Cravens, N. A., 188. Crary, B. F., 124. Crawford, Andrew J., 25. Creek Nation, 37, 38. Creighton, W. B., 331. Crockett, R. E., 110. Crookshanks, C. H., 373. Cuban Mission, 117; Sketch of, 472. Culley, Robert, 340. Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 184. Cunnyngham, Jesse, 167. Cunnyngham, W. G. E., 24, 52, 85, 143, 160, 167. Cunnyngham, Mrs. W. G. E., 281. Cupples, Samuel, 39. Curry, Daniel, 61. Curts, Lewis, 135. Dahlinger, W. H., 34 0. Daily Chronicle, 41. Dameron, Logan D., 21. Damien, Father, 325. "Daniel Quorm," 69. Daniels, F. M., 189. Daniels, Hon. Josephus, 358. Dannelly, J. M., 263. "Dark Continent," 71. Darlington, U. V. W., 263. Davenport College, Sketch of, 52w Davidson, Asbury, 188. Davies, Rev. Dr., 25. Davis, Jefferson, 24 2. Davison, W. T., 147, 175, 176, 215. Day, James R., 34 7. Deaconess, 64, 361. Deed Poll, 103, 104. Deeds of Declaration, 193, 104. Deems, Charles F., 19. Delegated General Conference, 14i Delegates to General Conference, *r, 334. Demiurge, A., 56. Denny, Bishop, 143, 254, 273, 27*. Denver, 95. Denver Conference, 20 ; SkeO/i of, 456, 457. De Pauw University, 253. De Pauw, Washington C, 61. Detroit, 95. Detwiler, G. H., 263, 366. Dickey, J. E., 263, 275, 287. Dickins, John, 149, 150. Didsbury College, 139, Discipline, Administration of 115. 159; Book of, 13, 113, LIS 155. 156, 187, 266. District Conferences, 47, it 110, 125, District Synods, 105. Ditzler, Jacob, 11, 244. "Diuturnity," 97. Doctrines, 214. Doctrines, Wesleyan, 17. Doggett, Bishop, 16, 26, 2\ 55. Doggett, Mrs. D. D., 283. Dolliver, J. P., 146. Douglass, George, 57. Dow, Lorenzo, 139. 167. Dowman, Charles E., 188, 365. Downey, D. G., 253, 337. Duke, B. N, 110. Dukes, A. O., 98. 584 History of Methodism. Dument, J. J., 296. Duncan, Bishop, 51, 117, 238, 239. Duncan, David, 31. Duncan, James A., 31. Duncan, John T., 263. Dunscombe, S. H., 153. Dutch confederation, 71. Dye, J. H., 117. Early, Bishop, 11, 16, 21, 151. Early leaders, 188. "Early Methodism in the Carolinas," 233. East Columbia Conference, Sketch of, 467, 468. East, E. H., 153, 298. Eaton, Homer, 93, 65, 135, 253. "Ecclesiastical Constitution," 97. Eckman, George P., 337. Economy, Committee on, 12. Ecumenical Conference, 38, 39, 41, 43, 67, 68, 74, 85, 86, 94, 116, 174, 175, 176, 226, 257, 344, 363. Ecumenical Missionary Conference, 168. Ecumenical sermon, 176. Ecumenical World Message, 348, 3 4 9. Education, 12, 24, 287. Educational Commission, 355. Edwards, Arthur. 209. Edwards, F. M., 327. Edwards, John E., 95. Eleazer, R. B., 281. "Elements of Divinity," 98. Ellis, T. D.. 263. Embury, Philip, 67. Emory and Henry College, 100; Sketch of, 510, 511. Emory College, 31, 35. Emory University, 80, 97, 127, 166, 356; Sketch of, 474, 475, 476. English Wesleyan Church, 227, 338. Epidemic diseases, 219. Episcopacy, Diocesan, 16. Episcopal Address. 11, 45, 46, 63, 77, 102, 107, 125, 147, 170, 171, 208, 210, 219, 246, 250, 263, 279, 351, 352, 355. Episcopal College, 51. "Episcopal Methodist Church," 49. Episcopal veto, 113, 115. hJpworth Era, 110. Epworth Herald, 75, 93. Epworth League, 73, 74, 94, 148. Ep worth League assemblies, 225. Epworth League convention, 117. Epworth Rectory. 177. Essex, R. W., 346. Europe, 23. Evangelical Association, 40, 119. Evangelism, 361. Evans, J. E., 151. Eveland, Bishop, 337. Everett, W. C, 154. Exeter Hall, 4 0. Fairbanks, Vice President, 227, 247. "Eamilienfreund," 236. Eaneuil Hall, 76. Parmer, J. H, 34 8. Earrar, John, 372. Eeatherstun. H. W., 263. Federal Council. 118, 123, 221, 352, 353, 365. Federation, 110, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121. Eernley lectures, 341. Few, W. P., 362. Financial stringency, 23. Finney, T. M., 81, 163. First Conference west of mountains, 76. Fisher, Orcenith, 188. Fishburne, T. T., 189. Fisk, Clinton B., 20, 62. Fisk University, 62. Fisk, Wilhur, 32, 35, 98, 100, 212, 372. Fitchett, W. H, 346, 347. Fite, T. D., 153. Fite, Mrs. T. D., 282. Fitzgerald, Bishop, 52, 64, 144, 186, 268, 269, 326. FitzGerald, Bishop, 64, 117, 247. Fitzhugh and Biggs, 311. Florida, 170. Florida Christian Advocate, 327 ; Sketch of, 570, 571. Florida Conference, 26 ; Sketch of; 402, 403, 404. Foote, W. H, 39. Forbes, Robert, 337. Forward movement, 70, 83, 102. Foss, Bishop, 146, 211, .333. Foster, Bishop, 43, 209. Foster, H. J., 340. Foster. W. H, 38. Foundry Church, 54, 117. Fowler, C. H., 20. Fowler, Littleton, 35. Fowler, Sir Henry, 258. Fraternal Addresses, 126, 146, 173, 211, 254, 255, 337, 363. Fraternity, 227. Frazer, J. S., 81. Fredericksburg, 28. Free Methodist Church, 40. French Methodist Church, 40. Fry, Benjamin St. James, 101. Fullbright. H. J., 263. Fullwood, C. A., 207. Gallipoli Peninsula, 373. Galloway, Bishop, 51, 83, 106, 110, 127, 169, 175, 219, 237, 238, 240. 241, 242. Galloway College, Sketch of, 514, 515. Garland, J. R.. 189. Garland, L. C, 38, 295, 299. Garland, W. W., 39. Garrett, Charles, 68. Garrison, T. S., 189. Gautemala. 20. General Conference. 11. 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 42, 43, 45, 55, 74. 76. 80. 96, 106, 107, 108, 109, 112, 113, 114, 117, 121, 124, 125. 134, 141, 145, 148. 151, 155, 156, 180, 1S7, 189, 195, 196, 218, 222. 234. 246, 262. 278, 287, 302, 304. 332. 351. General Conference Journal. 171. General Minutes. 168. General Rules, 17, 172, 246. George. Bishop, 141, 276. Georgia Conference, 31. 35. German .Mission Conference, 167, 278 ; Sketch of, 169. German work. 20, 48. Gladstone, William E., 145. Glenn, E. M.. 263. Glenn. John W.. 188. (llenn, W. F., 189. Godbey. V. A., 189, 309. Gober, W. R.. 188. Index-. 585 Goddard, O. E.. 263. Goldy, J. F„ 261. Goodale, W. H., 39. Goodman, John, 253. Goodsell, Bishop, 64, 333. Gorman, William, 257. Goucher, J. F., 117, 120, 126. Gould, John, 373. Graded Series, 158. Graham, E. Ft., 253. Granbery, Bishop, 27, 43, 117, 186, 231, 232, 238, 323. Greek Testament, 129. Green, A. L. P., 29, 30, 290. Green, Walford. 136, 372. Greensboro College for Women, Sketch of, 503, 504, 505. Grenada College, Sketch of, 529, 530. Griffin, W. S., 145. Grissom, W. L., 328. Groome, P. L., 328. Guilford Courthouse, 33. Haddock, George C, 61. Hague Tribunal, 125, 350. Haigh, Henry, 136, .332, 338, 339, 345, 346. Hamill, H. M., 329, 368, 369. Hamill, H. P., 189. Hamilton, Bishop, 173, 345. Hamilton, Jefferson, 12, 35, 265. Hamilton, Mrs. J. D., 281. Hammond, J. D., 110, 187, 230. Hammond, Mrs. J. D., 286. "Handbook of Logic," 229. Handsome churches, 181. Hanley, Hon. J. Frank, 271. Hanna, W. A., 370. Hannah, John W., 132. Hard, Manley S., 209. Hardy, G. S., 263. Hargiss, S., 188. Hargrove, Bishop, 27, 117, 153, 186, 204, 205. Hargrove, Mrs. R. K., 286. Harless, C. N.. 263. Harnack, Adolph, 256. Harp, R. J., 366. Harrell, J. H., 188. Harris, Bishop, 61. Karris, G. W. D., 188. Harris, Gov. N. E., 309, 311. Harris, S. R., 120. Harris, W. L., 14. Harrison, President Benjamin, 87. Harrison, W. P., 19, 27, 52, 56, 60, 85, 130, 131, 143. Hartley, Marshall, 136. Hartzell, Bishop, 135. "Haus und Herd," 133. Haven, William I., 365. Hawaii, 72. Hay, S. R., 263. Hayes, George H., 188, 328. Hayes, Mrs. Juliana, 2S2, 283. Haygood, Bishop, 27, 84, 85, 127, 128, 129, 153, 158, 160, 212. Head, Miss Mabel, 281. Head, Nelson, 188. Headlee, S. S., 202. Hebrew Mission, 79. Hedding, Bishop. 141. Heidt, J. W., 189, 328. Helm, Lucinda B., 165, 284, 285, 286. Henderson, Arthur, 33 8. Henderson, Bishop, 335. Henderson, James, 253. Henderson-Brown College, Sketch of, 530. 531. Hendrix, Bishop, 51, 110, 143, 187, 272, 346, 357. Hendrix College, Sketch of, 495, 496. Henkle, Moses M., 161. Henry, Patrick, 59. Henshaw, S. S., 346. Herben, S. J., 212, 253. Hernandez, Alejo, 36. Herrick, Sophia Bledsoe, 56. Hilburn, J. P., 263. Hill, Walter B., 39. Hindman, J. R., 39. Hinemon, J. H., 189. Hiner, Robert, 188. Hingeley, J. B., 337. Hinton, J. W., 56, 200. "History of Alabama Methodism," 233. "History of Methodism," 60, 368. "History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida," 326. "History of Methodism in Missouri," 131. "History of Methodism on the Pa- cific Coast," 233. "History of Mexico." 236. "History of Old Baltimore Confer- ence," 233. "History of Organization of Methodist Episcopal Church, South," 58. "History of the Revision of the Dis- cipline," 99. Hitchcock, Luke, 173. Hitt, W. D., 110. 150. Hiwassee College, 365. Hobson, Captain, 358. Hocart, LePasteur, 347. Holder, J. N., 263. Holiness movement, 90. Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 254. Holston Colleges, Sketch of, 512. Holston Conference, Sketch of, 391. 392, 393, 394. Holt, Asa, 39, 117. Holy Club, 74. Heme Mission Board, 165, 284, 354. Honda, Bishop, 221, 271. Hood, R. W.. 263. Hopkins, I. S., 366. Hori, Minekitsu, 272. Hornabrook, John, 338. Hoss, Bishop, 14, 85, 117, 120, 127, 147, 148, 162, 172, 187, 260, 345, 347, 358. House, John F., 36. House of Lords, 258. Houston, General Sam, 130. Howard-Payne College, Sketch of, 519. Howell. R. P., 189. Hughes, Bishop E. H., 251. 253. Hughes, Bishop M. S., 364. Hughes, Hugh Price, 68, 69, 106, 137, 215, 216. Hughes, Maldwin, 347. Hughes, W. H., 188. Hull House Mission, 169. Hunnicutt, W. L. C, 328. Hunt, A. S., 20. Hunt, Sanford, 64, 93, 133. Hunt, William, 260. Hunter, Andrew, 59, 144, 186, 197. Huntington, DeWitt C, 184. Hurlbut, J. L., 64, 135. Hurst, Bishop, 85, 209. 580 History of Hutchison, John S., 328. Hymn and Tune Book, 19, 99. Hymn Book, 53, 54. Hymnal, Joint Commission on, 54. Hyer, R. S., 189. Illinois Conference. 11, 20. Independent Methodist Church, 40, 70. India, 64, 93, 173. Indian Mission Conference, 132. Indian Reservations, 172. Indiana, 19, 20. Treland, Archbishop of, 33 4. Irish Methodist Church, 39, 103, 104, 216, 217, 253, 259, 260. Ivey, T. N., 162, 274. Jackson, George, 331. Jamestown Tercentenary, 223. Janes, Bishop, 14. Japan, 46. Japan Methodist Church, 79, 220, 221. 249, 272, 360. Japan Mission Conference, Sketch of, 470, 471. Japanese Immigration, 223. Jarratt, Devcreux. 29. Jefferson Medical College, 31. Jenkins, Ebenezer, 216. Jennings, H. C, 135, 253. Jennings, M. S., 120. Jester, L. L., 263. Jewell, H., 188. John, I. C. 52, 85, 133, 280. Johnson, H. F., 58. Johnson, Simpson, 259, 346. Johnson, W. C, 188, 290. Johnston, F. S. H.. 189. Johnston, H. B.. 263. Jones, J. G., 186. Jones, R. W., 117. Jones, Sam P., 167, 243, 244. Joyce, Bishop, 64, 24 7. Junaluska, 354. Kansas City, 88. Kansas Mission Conference. 132. Kavanaugh, Bishop, 49. Kavanaugh, Mrs. H. H., 283. Keener, Bishop, 19, 30, 45, 86, 142, 186, 203, 204, 205, 226, 237, 325. Keener, J. O., 189. Keener, Mrs. J. C, 283. Keener, S. S., 189, 328. Kelley, C. H., 106, 215, 340, 341. Kelley, D. C, 98, 124, 282, 290. 322. Kelley, M. B., 263. Kelley, Mrs. Lavinia. 2S2. 283. Kelley, W. V., 135. 174, 212, 253, 337. Kelley-Hargrove Case, 124. Ken, Bishop, 53. Kendrick, Mrs. George P., 286. Kennebec, 76. Kennedv. J. S., 110, 186. Kenney. J. J. N., 189. Kentucky, 29. Kentucky Conference, 25, 30, 101; Sketch of, 39 4, 39 5, 396. Kentucky Wesleyan College. Sketch of, 515, 516. Kern, J. A., 189. Key, Bishop, 51, 268. Kidder, Daniel P., 101. Kilgo, Bishop, 211. 274. Kilgore. James, 263. King Edward VII., 178. Kingsley, Charles, 204. Methodism . • Kirby, J. L., 160. Kirkland, J. H., 110, 301. Kirkland, W. D., 132, 160. Korea Mission, Sketch of, 471. Kynett, A. J., 64, 135, 173. "Lacon," 60. Labor questions, 248. Lafferty, John J., 235. Lagrange College, 166; Sketch of, 516, 517. Laity rights. 266, 267, 361. Lamar, A. J., 154, 230, 274. Lamar, Associate Justice, 240, 242, 295. Lamar, President, 130. Lambuth, J. W., 95, 97. Lambuth, Bishop, 98, 127, 148, 187, 230, 274, 280, 281. Lambuth, Mrs. J. W., 281, 282. Lambuth, Mrs. VV. 1 1., 284. Lander College, 203: Sketch of, 531, 532. 533. Lander, Samuel. 203 "Lands of the Orient.'* 323. Law, Fundamental. 13. Lawson, M. E., 263. Lay leaders, 359. Lay representation, ]2, 13. Laymen's Missionary Movement. 280, 353. Lecky, 9. Lee, James W., 374. Lee, Jesse, 76, 167, 265. Lee, LeRoy M., 13, 28, 113, 11 I. Lee, Robert E., 131, 323, 369. Leesburg, 32. Leftwich, W. M., 208. Legal Hundred, 103, 104, 105, 106. 136, 185. Leigh, Samuel, 71, 343. Leonard, A. B., 64, 93, 135, 253, 3 47. Lesser colored Churches, 72. Lewis, Bishop, 251, 253. Lewis T. H., 120, 270, 347. Lewis, T. W., 263. Lewis, W. B., 328. Lewis, Walker, 328. Lexington, 75, 76. Lidgett, Scott, 338. 347, 348. Liebhart, Henry, 133. "Life of Bishop Andrew," 326. "Life of Bishop Asbury," 3 26. "Life of Bishop McKendree," 50. "Life of Bishop Pierce." 326. "Life of Longstreet," 269. "Life of McP^errin," 269. "Life of Steve Holcombe," 368. "Life of Summers," 269. Limited episcopacy, 361. Lincoln, President, 202. Linebaugh, D. H., 263. Linfield, W. E. M., 188. Linn, Joseph, 26. Lipscomb. B. F., 189. Little Rock Conference, 18; Sketch of, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454. Littlepage, S. C, 370. "Living Christ." 131. Lloyd, W. F., 369. Logan College, Sketch of. 519, 520. Logan Female College, 163. London, 37, 43, 175. London Times. 41. Los Angeles, 74. Los Angeles Christian Advocate, 78. Index. 587 Los Angeles Conference, Sketch of, 459, 4t>0, 461, 462, 403. Losee, William, 67. Louisburg Female College, Sketch of, 533. Louisiana Conference, 60 ; Sketch of. 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432. Louisiana Purchase, 186. Louisville Conference, 26, 67. 58 ; Sketch of, 424, 425. Louisville Convention, 99, 150. Lovejoy, W. P., 189, 370. Lovely Lane Chapel, 43. Lcvett, W. C, 189. Luccock, Bishop, 271, 336, 346. Lyons, A. P., 263. Lyons, J. A., 160. Lyric Hall, 245. Macaulay, T. B., 10. MacDonell, G. G. N., 117, 325. ALacDonell, Robert W., 326. MacDonell, Mrs. R. W., 281. Maddin, Percy D., 311. Maddin, Thomas, 188. Magazine, Southern, 19. Magath, Julius, 79. Magruder, W. H. N., 38. Maguire, William, 259. Mahon, R. H., 188. Mains, George P., 131, 253. "Making of Methodism, The," 229. Malaysia, 64. Mallalieu, Bishop, 211, 333. Malone, Hon. T. H, 292. • Man of Galilee, The," 129. Mann, E. G. B., 263. Mansfield Female College, Sketch of. 520, 521, 522. Manual of Discipline, 13, 37. "Manual of Methodist History," Cur- tiss, 75, 88. .Maoris, The, 260. Marriage service, 362. Marshall, C. K., 38. Marshall, Mrs. A. L., 281. Martha Washington College, Sketch of, 511. Martin, I. P., 263. Martin, John S., 23 4. Martin College, Sketch of, 522, 523. Marvin, Bishop, 16, 20, 23, 131, 170, 202, 283. Marvin College, Sketch of, 534. Marvin, Mrs. E. M„ 283. Marvin, Fielding, 189. Mason, J. M., 188, 327. Massey Hall, 255. Masterson Station, 76. Mathews, John, 238. Matthew, WT. S., 227. Mayers, A. G., 38. Maximilian, 37, 271. McAnally, D. R., 131. McArthur, Sir William, 216. McCabe, Bishop, 64, 93, 135, 247. McConnell, Bishop, 245, 336. McCord, J. A., 263. McCoy, Bishop, 273, 274. McCoy, W. C, 189. McCullough, Joseph, 224. McCutcheon, Dr., 140. McDonald. Ex-President, 215. McDowell, Bishop, 212, 253. McFarland, Bishop, 212, 337. McFerrin, J. B„ 16, 19, 21, 34, 4 3, 18, 52, 151, 152, 153, 161, 162, 206, 279, 280. McFerrin, J. P., L89. McGavock, Mrs. D. 1 1., 282, 283. McHenry, William, 2^6. Mcintosh, R. M., 39. Mclntyre, Bishop, 251, 253. McKendree, Bishop, 141, 170, 197, 205, 206, 265, 322. McKenzie, J. W. P., 188. McKenzie, Peter, 139. McKinley, President, 94, 145, 177, 178. McLean, J. H., 110. McMurry, W. F., 275. McMurry, W. W., 208. McTeer, J. W., 188. McTyeire, Bishop, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 34, 39, 47, 59, 60, 71, 84, 95, 96, 100, 126, 162, 205, 206, 237, 240, 266, 290, 297, 367. McTyeire, Mrs. H. N., 283. McVoy, A. D., 208. Means, Alexander, 31, 32. Meek, R. A., 238, 263. Mellen, G. P., 263. Membership of Church, 142. Memorial Day, 251. Memphis Conference Female Insti- tute, Sketch of, 534, 535. Memphis Conference, Sketch of, 422, 423, 424. Memphis Convention, 291, 293. Memphis resolutions, 291. Mendenhall, J. W., 6 5. 101. Meridian College, Sketch of, 523, 52 4, 525. Merrick, Frederick N., 4 4. Merrill, Bishop, 117, 211, 247. Messick, B. M., 188. Methodism, 41. Methodist Advocate, Sketch of, 568. Methodist Church of Canada, 57, 68, 101, 126, 136, 146, 174, 254, 266, 329, 330, 332, 370, 371. Methodist doctrine, 270. Methodist Episcopal Church, 20, 40, 43, 47, 92, 122, 170, 2C8, 245, 374. "Methodist Episcopal Church in America," 49. Methodist Episcopal Church of Can- ada, 4 0. Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 40, 43. Methodist Magazine, 131. Methodist New Connection, 39. Methodist Press, The Weekly, 551. Methodist Protestant Church, 14, 40, 65, 119, 120, 122, 250. Methodist Pulpit, South, 327. Methodist Review, 93, 143, 187, 200. 229 3 68 Methodist Society, 10, 102, 141. Methodist Times, 69. Methodist Union, 131, 250, 271. Mexican Border Mission Conference, Sketch of, 470. Mexico, 17, 37, 359. Midland Methodist, Sketch of, 561, 562. Miller, C. W., 57. Miller, E. K., 201. Miller, R. T., 117, 120. Miller, W. G., 322. Million-Guinea Fund, 257. Millsaps College, 80; Sketch of, 488, 489, 490. 5SS History of Millsaps, R. W., 39, 189, 370. Milton, Oregon, 78. Ministerial Loan Fund. 112. Mission schools, 547, 548. Missionary bishops, 24, 64. Missionary Conference, 255, 328, 329. Missionary Council, 276. Missionary debt, 14. Missionary Education Movement, 354. Missionary Secretary, 53. Missionary Society, Woman's, 20, 24, 46, 78, 79. Missions, Board of, 14, 249, 259, 279, 282, 283, 359. Mississippi Conference, 26 ; Sketch of, 415, 416. Missouri Conference, Sketch of, 443, 444, 445. Mitchell, A. H., 188, 322. Mobile, 34. Montana Conference, 20 ; Sketch of, 466, 467. Montgomery, H. H., 188. Mood, Francis Asbury, 58. Mood, R. G., 263. Moody, D. L., 172. Mooney, Wellborn, 188. 290, 328. Moore, Bishop, 173, 333. Moore, H. D., 188. Moore, John M., 281. Moore, J. W., 263. Moore, L. W., 263. Moore, S. W., 290. Moore, Warner, 327. Morehead, R. C, 263. Morgan, R. J., 290. Morgan, W. H., 153. Mormonism, 172. Morris Harvey College, Sketch of, 525, 526. Morris, J. C, 85, 147. Morrison, Bishop, 85, 127, 147, 148, 280, 286. Morrison, H. C, 244. Morrow, William, 153. Morton, David, 52, 127, 162, 164. Moses, V. P., 263. Moss, R. W., 372. Moulton, W. F., 103, 106, 3 47. "Mounds, Monuments, and Inscrip- tions," 323. Mount Vernon Church, 43. Mouzon, Bishop, 274. Mouzon, W. P., 188. Mowre, E. H., 263. Moyers, Mr., 193. Munsey, William E., 244. Murrah, Bi-hop, 148, 255, 274. Murrah, William, 188. Murray, Thomas H., 117. Myers, E. H., 35, 36, 201. Xagler, Franz L., 173. Name of Church, Change of, 13, 48. Nashville, 4 2, 60, 199. Necrology, 127. Neely, Bishop, 212, 333. Neely. M. H., 188. 328. Neely, Philip P., 34. Nelms, W. L., 189. Nelson, J. R., 439. Nettleton, Joseph, 373. New Connection, 69, 70. Now England, 76. New Guinea, 261. New Mexico Conference, 78 ; Sketch of. 457, 458, 459. Methodism. New Orleans, 35. New Orleans Christian Advocate, 51, 60, 162, 204, 237, 238 ; Sketch of, 554; 555. "New South, The," 254. New York East Conference, 14. Newfoundland, 67. Newman, Bishop, 64, 173. Newman, Edward, 224. Newton, Robert, 257. Newton, R. W., 372. Nicene Creed, 41. Nicholson, Bishop, 253, 337. Ninde, Bishop, 117, 209. Nonconformist Churches, 105, 215. North Alabama Conference, Sketch of, 412, 413. North Arkansas Conference, Sketch of, 449, 450. North Carolina Christian Advocate, Sketch of, 571. North Carolina Conference, Sketch of, 388, 389. North Carolina, University of, 59. North, F. M., 337. North Georgia Conference, 26, 129 ; Sketch of, 4 08, 409, 410. North Mississippi Conference, Sketch of, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421. North Texas Conference, 20 ; Sketch of, 435, 436. North Texas Female College, Sketch of, 535. Northern, William, 86, 87. Northwest Texas Conference, 101 ; Sketch of, 441, 442. Northwestern University, 65. Nova Scotia, 67. Nuelsen, Bishop, 251, 253. Nugent, W. L., 38. O'Brtant, J. H., 263. Odell, J. A. 189. Ogata, S., 346. Ohio Conference, 34. Oklahoma, 37, 351. Oklahoma Conferences, Sketch of, 454, 455, 456. "Old and the New Man, The," 233. "Old Baltimore" Conference, 30, 233, 234. Old Dominion, The, 80. Oldham, Bishop, 248, 249, 337. Olin, Stephen, 265. Oliver, C. D., 296. Omaha, 92. "Open Door," 210. Orange Free State, 71. Order of Worship, 55, 63. O'Rear, Edward, 224, 263, 311. Oregon, 78. Orman, J. A., 328. Osborn, George, 40, 106. "Our Brother in Black," 128. Our Homes, 286. Our Little People, 159. Owen, F. A., 151. Owen, Thomas, 26. Pacific Coast, 95, 96, 85, 233. Pacific Conference, 18, 202 ; Sketch of, 464, 465, 466. Pacific Methodist, 78. Pacific Methodist Advocate, 79: Sketch of, 564, 565. Pacific Mexican Mission, Sketch of, 472. Index. 589 Paine and Lane College, 71. Paine, Bishop, 49, 290. Paine College, 21, 46, 165. Paine, Mrs. Robert, 283. Palmer, A. J., 135. Palmer, B. M., 186. Palmer, L. D., 38, 153. Palmore, W. B., 237. Panama Exposition, 359. Pan-American Methodiot Conference, 126. Pan-Presbyterian Council, 40. "Paragraph 301," 126, 145. Parker, A. P., 189. Parker, Bishop, 27, 49, 50, 209, 237, 265. Parker, P. M., 189. Parker, F. S., 274. Parker, Joseph, 177. Parkes, II. H„ 188. Parkes, J. L., 81. Parks, Bishop, 345. Parks, W. J., 26, 328. Parsonage Aid Society, 165, 279. Party politics, 14. Pasco, Senatoi', 190, 191, 192. Pastoral Address, 18, 87, 90. Pastoral Conference, 105. Patterson, I. S., 2G3. Patterson, W. M., 295. Pattison, Governor, 84. Paul, D'Arcy, 38. Payne, C. H., 65, 173. Payne, Moses U., 46. Peabody College, 308, 311. Peak, A. S., 347. Pearce, E. H., 370. Pearse, Mark Guy, 69, 106, 215. Peck, J. O., 64, S3, 133. "Pedagogy," Chair of Religious, 159. Pennsylvania, University of, 30. Penobscot, 76. Pepper, J. R., 189, 281. Perfect love, 91. Perks, Sir Robert W., 68, 215, 257, 338, 346. Peterson, J. A., 95, 98. Petty, Bishop, 147. Philippines, 117. Phillips, Bishop, 57, 345. Phillips, John M., 64, 65. Philpot, H. V., 188. Piccadilly. 69. Pierce, Bishop, 28, 49, 50, 374. Pierce, Lovick, 28, 157. Pierce, Mrs. George F., 283. Pierce, T. R., 236. Pierce, Walter, 154. Pinson, W. W., 275, 280, 281. Pitts, Fountain E., 29, 30. Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, 245. Piatt, Ward, 337. Polk, Trusten, 38. Polynesia, 71. Pope, Henry J., 106, 215, 259, 340, 341. Pope, W. D., 372. Port Gibson Female College, Sketch of, 536. Porter, R. G., 328. Porto Rico, 117. "Post Oak Circuit." 200. Potter, Weyman H., 95, 97. Potts, John, 331. Pragmatism. 350. "Preacher Himself, The," 229. Prentice, George D., 201. Presbyterian Church, 25, 76, 348. Presbyterian General Assembly, 214. Pretty man, E. B., 328. Prettyman, F. J., 263. Price, D. B., 263. Price, R. N., 188. Primary Teacher, 159. Primitive Methodist Church, 39, 40. Pritchett, J. H., 148, 280. Fiobationers, 250. Prohibition, 62, 124, 248, 251, 260. Propagation of Gospel, Society for, 40. Prottsman, W. M., 201. Publishing Agents, 53, 93, 225. Publishing building, 77. Publishing House, 46, 55, 151, 152, 154, 155, 161, 195. Pugh, Arthur P., 189. Punshon, Morley, 28, 215. Quadrennial Conferences, 121, 122, 375. Quarterly Conference, 125. Quarterly Review, 26, 55. Quayle, Bishop, 251, 253, 347. Quillian, W. F., 208. Raikes, Robert, 155. Raleigh Christian Advocate, Sketch of, 551, 552. Ralston, Thomas, 9 5, 98. Ramsey, T. Y., 295. Handle, E. M., 212, 253. Randies, Marshall, 136. Randolph-Macon College, 26, 27, 32, 33, 34, 35, 39, 59; Sketch of, 479. 480, 481. Randolph-Macon System of Colleges and Academies, 80, 478, 479. Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Sketch of, 496, 497, 498, 499. Rankin, Miss Dora, 284. Rankin, George C, 236. Rankin, Miss Lochie, 283. Rawlings, E. H., 281. Read, G. W., 263. Redford, A. H., 16, 19, 57, 58, 152. Reeves, E. C, 189. Regester, E. V., 263. Reid, C. F., 189, 281, 369. Reid, F. L., 189. Reid, John M., 133. Reid, N. F., 26. Reinhardt College, Sketch of, 536, 537 Removal of Publishing House. 362. Report on Vanderbilt case, 317, 318. 319, 320. Representatives in General Confer- ence, 125. Republic of Texas, 36. Restatement of faith, 226, 251. Restrictive rules, 109, 113, 134, 265. Revivals, 17, 46, 93. Reynolds, D. T., 295. Reynolds, J. H., 263. Rice, John A., 147. Richard, John, 224. Richardson, Frank, 188, 328. Richardson, S. P., 167. Richmond, 32, 45. Richmond Christian Advocate, 29, 33, .59, 99, 235. Rigg, Dr. 215. Riggin, J. H. 328. Rio Grande Conference, 11. 590 History of Roberts, Bishop, 141. 276. Robertson, James. 257. Robins, J. B.. 328, 370. Robinson, Bishop, 337. Rocky Mountains. 133. Rodgers, Henry Wade, 126. Rodgers, Samuel, 131. Roman Catholic Church, 250. Roosevelt, President, 251. Ross, Miss Lucy, 282. Rosser, Leonidas, 95, 98, 100. Roszell, Samuel, 188. Rowe, J. C. 189. Howell. N. W., 253. 347. Rules of Church membership, 258. Runciman. Walter. 258, 338. Rush, John W., 188, 208. Rush, W. M.. 208. Rusk, General, 130. Russia, 23. Russo-Japanese War, 273. Rymer, Richard, 257. Sabbath Observance. 223. Samford, Governor, 39. Samford. T. D.. 263. San Antonio Female College, Sketch of, 537, 538, 539. San Francisco, 95. San Francisco earthquake, 223. Sanders, W. T., 263. Saratoga Springs, 374. Sargent, Thomas B., 30. Scales, D. C. 81. Scarritt, Nathan, 88, 89. Scarritt, Mrs. Nathan, 286. Scarritt Training School, 88. Searritt-Morrisville College, 539. Schools in Brazil, Sketch of, 549. Schools in China, Sketch of, 548. Schools in Cuba. Sketch of, 549. Schools in Japan, Sketch of, 548. 549. Schools in Korea. Sketch of, 549. Schools in Mexico, Sketch of, 549, 550. Schools in the Far West. 544, 545, 546. 547. Schools of Southern Methodism, 474. Schuler, T. C, 263. Scotland, 70. Scriptural holiness. 142. Scruggs, J. H., 263. Scruggs. R. M.. 39. Seat. W. H., 188. Seattle, 95. Seay. Governor. 39. Seductive peace, A, 35u. Sehon, E. W., 16, 34. 279, 280. Seney, George I., 128. Seniority, 135. '•Separation" of 1844. 21. 34. 44, 46, 50, 65, 151. Settle, H. C, 201. Sexton, G. S., 263. Shands. G. D., 39. Shanghai Branch Publishing House, 154. Shangle, H. S.. 263. Sharp, J. Albert, 373. Sharp, T. E., 263. Shaw, William, 372. Shearn Church, 74. Sheldon, EL C, 347. Sheppard. W. H. H.. 222. Shipp, A. M., 59. Simmons. J. C, 232. Methodism. Simon, John S.. 251, 270. Simpson, Bishop, 2S, 40, 61. 126. Sketches of Annual Conferences, 380. Slater Fund, 128. Sledd, Andrew, 166. Sledd, R. N, 127, 166. Smaller Methodist bodies, 65. Smart, R. D., 189, 37". Smith, Bishop A. Coke, 110, 187, 2:',i. 232, 238. Smith, Bishop C. W., 212, 245, 251. 253. Smith. D. M., 85. 148, 153. 154, 1 «7. 230, 274. Smith, G. G.. 326. Smith, Gypsy, 259. Smith, Sydney, 203. Smith, W. A., 12, 28. 29, 39, 113. Smith, W. Hodson, 371. Smith, W. T., 135. Smith, W. W., 110, 127. Smith, Whitefoord, 95, 99. Smithson, R., 188. Snape, Alderman. 345. Snyder, H. N., 263. Society of Friends. 105. Solomon Islands. 261. "Son of Man, The," 36S. Soochow University. 169. Soule, Bishop. 16, 30, 52, 76, 141, 150. 172, 201, 223, 227, 265, 266, 276, 278. South Africa. 71. South Brazil Mission Conference. Sketch of, 469. South Carolina Conference, Sketch of. 397, 398, 399, 400. South Georgia Conference, 35, 56 : Sketch of, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408. South Seas, 140. Southern Christian Advocate, 27, 35. 132 ; Sketch of, 565, 566. Southern College, Sketch of, 517, 518. Southern Cross, 71. 260. Southern Methodist Universitv. 58, 356 ; Sketch of, 477, 478. Southern Review, 55, 56. Southern University, 27 ; Sketch of. 506. 507, 508. Southgate, J. H., 263. Southwest Missouri Conference, 20. 89; Sketch of, 445, 446, 447. Southwestern Book and Publishing Company. 168. Southwestern University, 5S : Sketch of, 490, 491, 492, 493. Spanish-American War, ISO, 245. Sparling, J. W., 227. Spellmeyer, Bishop. 212, 333. Spencer, Herbert. 97. Spencer, W. A, 135, 209. Sprague, Howard, 57, 346. St. Louis Christian Advocate, 131, 168, 237; Sketch of, 556, 557. St. Louis Conference, 22 ; Sketch of. 447, 448, 449. Stackhouse, R. E., 263. Stahlman, E. B., 190, 192. Stamford College, Sketch of, 540. 541. Stanford, Thomas, 95, 101. Stanton, P. L., 328. Stateler. L. B.. 132. Statesville, 31. Statistics, Methodist, 45, 62. Steel. S. A.. 64, 75, 83. 127. 189. Steele. Mrs. H. R.. 281. Index. 591 Stephenson, T. Bowman, 68, 87, 105, 106, 178. Stewart, J. R., 82. Stockton. Thomas, 250. Stowe, W. P., 64. Stradley, W. B.. 78. Strawbridge, Robert, 67, 216. Stringfield, H. K., 26. Stringfield, Thomas, 26, 161. Stuart, George R., 244. Stubbs, W. B„ 263, 280. Student Volunteer Movement, 353. Stuntz, Bishop, 335. Sue Bennett Memorial School, 286. Sullins, David, 188. Summerfield, John, 30, 348. Summers, T. O., 16, 19, 27, 55, 157, 160, 162. Sunday School Department, 46. Sunday School Editor, 158. Sunday school literature, 24, 155, 160. Sunday School Magazine, 159. Sunday School Union, 156, 157. Sunday school visitors, 157, 158. "Sunset Views," 144, 269. Support of General Conference, 47. Sutherland, Alexander, 126, 169, 213. Taft, President, 333. Tarboux, J. W., 189. Taylor, Bishop, 64, 93, 135, 209. Taylor, Charles, 97. Taylor, S. Earl, 337. Taylor, Zachary, 32. Teacher-Training Department, 158, 159. Tennessee Conference, 34, 36, 101, 123; Sketch of, 419, 420, 421. Texas Christian Advocate, 236 ; Sketch of, 562, 563. Texas College, 71. Texas Conference, 36 ; Sketch of, 433, 434, 435. Texas Mexican Mission, Sketch of, 471, 472. Texas Woman's College, Sketch of, 512, 513. Theism, 229. Theological and Homiletical Monthly, 166. "Theophilus Walton," 131. Thirkield, Bishop, 336. Thirty-Nine Articles, 251. Thoburn, Bishop, 64, 93, 169, 249. Thomas, E. M., 120. Thomas, F. M., 337. Thomas, J. D., 39. Thompson, William, 213. Thrall, H. S., 36, 130, 201. Tigert, Bishop, 56, 81, 93, 127, 143, 148, 187, 228, 229, 238, 367. Time limit, 13, 64, 330. Tobacco, Use of, 267. Toland, Miss Rebecca, 284. "Tongue of Fire," 87, 216. Toronto, 95. Transylvania College, 31, 101. Trinity Church, 74. Trinity College, 33. 34, 80 ; Sketch of, 481, 482, 483, 484. Trinity Conference, 20. Tucker, J. Wofford, 39. Tudor, W. V., 188. Tuggle, Philip, 295. Twentieth-century offering, 172, 174, 181, 210. Twenty-Five Articles, 251. Twenty-Third Article. 143, 225. "Two Methodisms, The," 36. Two-thirds vote, 19, 116, 251. "Ultra Vires," 310. Unbelief, Forms of, 22. Unification, 375, 376. Unification of Missionary Boards, 225, 275, 277. Union of Churches, 213. United Brethren, 40, 119. United Free Church, 69. United P"ree Gospel Church, 39. United Methodist Church, 70. United Methodist Free Church, 39. United States Senate, 148, 190, 191, 193, 194, 195. Upper Canada, 101. "Upper House of Methodism," 141. Upper South Carolina Conference, Sketch of, 400, 401, 402. University of Virginia, 98. Vance, R. B., 38. Vanderbilt Board of Trust, 296, 297, 300, 301, 302, 303, 307, 309, 311. Vanderbilt, Commodore, 20, 298; gift of, 297. Vanderbilt University, 59, 61, 111, 159, 199, 206, 224, 298, 299, 300, 303, 304, 356, 358 ; Ownership of Church in, 305 ; Alienation of, 306, 310. Vanderbilt University case, 288. Vanderbilt University Commission, 224, 306, 308. Vanderbilt University proviso, 301. Vandeventer, C. I., 208, 328. Vandiver, W. F., 189. Vaughn, W. E., 79, 189. Veitch, E. R., 188. Veto, Bishops', 13, 29. Vice President of United States, 194. Victoria, Queen, 178, 258. Vincent, Bishop, 64, 211. Vincil, John D., 207. Virginia Conference, Sketch of, 385. Virginia, University of, 26. Visitors, The bishops as, 310. Vordenbaumen, Frederick, 167. Waco, 58. Wade, T. S., 188, 328. Wainright, S. H., 189. Walden, Bishop, 211. Walker, George Williams, 327. Walker, H. A. C, 327. Walker, I. P., 188. Walker, J. B., 188, 263. Waller, D. J., 83, 103, 106, 136, 215, 339, 341. Walton, M. L., 120. "War between the States," 32, 44, 53, 55, 71, 113, 232. War claim, 19, 48, 148, 154, 184, 189, 190, 191, 192, 195, 196. Ward, Bishop, 228, 230, 238, 280. Ware, Thomas, 150. Warren, Bishop, 247, 333. Washington and Lee University, 131. Washington, D. C, 32. Waterhouse, Bishop, 274. Watkins, A. F., 82, 189. Watkins, W. H., 188. Watkinson, W. L., 106, 136, 215. Watson, Richard, 257. 592 History of Methodism. Watts, John E., 38. Watts, Miss Mattie, 284. Waugh, Bishop, 36. Way land, Dr., 129. Wayman, Bishop, 86. Weaver, Dempsey, 153. Weaver, J. H., 189. Webb, W. R., 189. Weber, S. A., 189. Weeks, A. J., 189. Werlein, S. H.. 189. Wesley Bible Class, 158, 159. Wesley Chapel, 175. Wesley, Charles, 53. Wesley College, Sketch of, 539, 540. Wesley, John. 9, 66, 85, 89, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106, 135, 142, 148, 155, 172, 211, 216, 258. Wesleyan Christian Advocate, Sketch of, 557, 558, 559. Wesleyan Conference, 30, 67, 69, 87, 102, 103, 136. Wesleyan Female College, 35, 80; Sketch of, 499, 500. Wesleyan Journal, 161. Wesleyan Methodist Church, 39, 137. 147, 174, 184, 215, 216, 251, 253, 256, 258, 270, 339, 372, 373. Wesleyan Minutes, 256. Wesleyan Reform Union Church, 39. 70. Wesleyan Theology, 10. Wesleyan University, 32, 98, 101. Wesleyanism, 41, 46. West. Anson, 233, 296. West Indies, 72. West, Joseph B., 95, 101. West St. Louis Conference, 20. West Texas Conference, Sketch of, 439, 440, 441. Western North Carolina Conference, 18; Sketch of. 390, 391. Western Virginia Conference, Sketch of, 387. Whatcoat, Bishop, 141. Wheat, J. L., 188. Wheedon, D. D., 61, 100. Wheeler, Thomas S., 263. - Whipple, J. W., 188. Whisner, P. H.. 148, 187, 230. White River Conference, 144. Whitehead, Paid. 235. Whitworth College, Sketch of, 541, 542, 543. Whitworth Female College, 58. Whitworth, James, 153. Whitworth, Mrs. James, 283. Wicks, M. J., 290. Wightman, Bishop, 16. 26, 27. Wightman. John T., 370. Wiley, E. E., 95, 99, 100, 201, 274. Wiley, Mrs. E. E., 286. Willard, Frances E., 62. Williams, Robert, 149. Williams, W. Erskine, 263. Williamston Female College, 202. Wilmot, Judge, 57. Wilson, Bishop, 15, 27, 77, 169, 176. 280, 341, 345, 357. Wilson, Bishop L. B., 117, 212. Wilson, Norval, 30, 31. Wilson, R. P., 79, 127, 154. Winch, J. C. C, 39. Winfield. A. R., 59. Winton, George B., 162, 187, 230, 281. Winton, G. M., 188. Wiseman, Luke, 185, 338, 339, 340, With row, D. D., 331. Wofford College, 27, 99 ; Sketch of. 484, 485, 486, 487. Wolseley, General Lord, 324. Woman's College of Alabama, Sketch of, 500, 501. Wood, W. B., 296. Woods, C. C, 189. Woodward College, 25. Worcester, 35. World's Columbian Exposition, 93. World's P'air, 186. World's Missionary Conference, 70. World's Parliament of Religions, 94. Yates, E. A., 328. Yeates, J. B., 188. York. Mr., 33. Yoshioka, Y., 359. Young, Dinrdale T., 228. Young Harris College, Sketch of, 5 43. 544. Young People's Guild, 138. Young People's Movement, 73, 95, 110. Young, R. A., 27, 153. 199, 280, 290. Young. W. R, 266, 269. Youngman, President, 341. Yun, Prince T., 273. Zimmerman, S. H., 328. Zion's Herald, 15, 161. Zululand, 140. f