M.
 
 THE REPUBLIC, 
 
 To METHODISM, 9r. 
 
 BY H. H. MOORE, D. D. 
 
 "Men put . . new wine in new bottles, and both are preserved. 
 
 CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & STOWE. 
 
 NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON. 
 
 1891.
 
 Copyright 
 
 By CRANSTON & STOWE, 
 1891.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 WHAT! Another book on Methodism ! Why 
 not? It is said that the Astor Library in 
 New York contains seven hundred and fifteen 
 volumes, large and small, against Methodism, and 
 evidently it is somebody's duty to make this form 
 of religious faith more fully understood. Besides, 
 the work and outward expression of Methodism 
 are ever changing, and they will continue to 
 change from year to year as long as its healthy 
 growth continues. As the traveler floats down 
 the Nile, with every passing hour new scenery is 
 presented to him, and the descriptions he may 
 write of the observations of one day will not rep- 
 resent the observations of any other day. So 
 Methodism, for more than one hundred years, has 
 been in the field of conflict, and it is time the call 
 were made again: "Watchman, what of the 
 night?" Has Methodism yet clearly defined its 
 place in Providence? And if so, what is it? and 
 what the specific work it has to do? These ques- 
 tions the following pages propose to answer.
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 A young Methodism, with a mighty future, is 
 our conception of the Church. 
 
 This volume is not history, but it purports to 
 be the lessons of history, spun into an argument. 
 "History is philosophy teaching by example." 
 The early struggles of the Church have been 
 brought forward, not only for the lessons they 
 teach, but because they form a part of a homo- 
 geneous whole. The facts of Methodist history, 
 whether found in the store-house of memory, or 
 in Stevens's, Bangs's, Daniels's, or Dorchester's 
 Histories, or in the Biographies of Cartwright, 
 Young, Finley, or anywhere else, we have freely 
 used, and yet only fragments of the abundance of 
 material at our hands have been appropriated. 
 The plan of our work was to use only what was 
 needed to serve as a basis to the argument. 
 
 EMI,ENTON, PA.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 PREFACE 3 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 7 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 METHODISM A SPECIAL DISPENSATION OF SPIRITUAL 
 POWER, 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OUR COUNTRY AS THE THEATER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT 
 OF METHODISM 39 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INADEQUACY OF THE OLD CHURCHES TO MEET THE SPIR- 
 ITUAL WANTS OF THE NATION, 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 METHODISM, BY A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE, RAISED UP 
 SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE NATION TO BE TO IT AS 
 "NEW WINE IN A NEW BOTTLE," 81 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 METHODISM AND THE OLD CHURCHES AT THE CLOSE OF 
 THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, 99 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MISSION OF METHODISM INTRUSTED TO MIGHTY 
 MKN, i2i 
 
 5
 
 6 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 METHODISM IN CONTACT WITH THE NATION MOLDING 
 ITS INSTITUTIONS, 145 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OK METHODISM, 167 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 METHODISM AS A CONSERVATOR OF THE MORAL FORCES 
 OF THE REPUBLIC, 189 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF PROTESTANT CHRISTENDOM THE GIFT 
 OF METHODISM, 209 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 METHODISM IN THE HYMNS OF THE SANCTUARY, 239 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 METHODISM AS THE INITIATOR OF NATIONAL TEMPER- 
 ANCE REFORMATION, 255 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 METHODISM AS AN AGENCY TO PRODUCE NATIONAL 
 HOMOGENEITY, 273 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE TRANSITION PERIOD OF THE WORK OF METHODISM, . 295 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 METHODISM ADAPTED TO THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF 
 ALL PHASES OF SOCIETY, . % 313 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE PRESENT AND FUTURE WORK OF METHODISM, .. . .331 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 To FULFILL ITS MISSION, METHODISM MUST BE TRUE TO 
 ITSELF, 349
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 OUR attention has often been arrested by encomi- 
 ums pronounced upon Methodism by people who 
 were not of its communion. Among historians, Ma- 
 caulay and Green are the most appreciative of its 
 merits in England, and Bancroft in the United States. 
 Isaac Taylor regards it as a special dispensation of 
 grace to the present age. 
 
 At this writing, .Baptists, Congregationalists, Epis- 
 copalians, Jews, and Presbyterians are contributing 
 money and urging Bishop John F. Hurst to prosecute 
 the enterprise of founding, in Washington City, the 
 growing Capital of the great Republic, a Methodist 
 university, which shall be to this country what Ox- 
 ford University is to England. Evidently, in the 
 judgment of far-seeing men of all classes, Methodism 
 in this country is to have a future correspondent with 
 the triumphs of the past, and, as a consequence, to 
 go far in shaping its institutions. 
 
 We have often inquired, On what basis does this 
 outside faith and interest in Methodism rest? What 
 explanation would a Jew or a Presbyterian give for 
 making contributions to Methodist missions, Church 
 extension, and to the building of universities? We 
 doubt if, in many instances, any but the most general 
 answers could be given to these questions. But in 
 the gift of one million and a quarter of dollars by the 
 Vanderbilts to a Methodist university, we see some- 
 
 7
 
 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 thing deeper than sentiment or personal influence. 
 They must have been fully persuaded that Method^ 
 ism was a great power for good in the world, and es- 
 pecially for this country. Years ago, when rallied by 
 a Methodist on the looseness of his Calvinism, Henry 
 Ward Beecher replied: "Whether this is Calvinism 
 or not, I fully believe that it is predestinated that the 
 Methodist Church shall play a very important part in 
 the affairs of this world." 
 
 What does it signify that in the late memorial 
 service held to commemorate the hundredth anniver- 
 sary of Wesley's death, the secular and religious press 
 generally vied with each other in the lofty tributes 
 they paid to the character and work of that marvel- 
 ous man? The following, from the Christian Union, 
 may be taken as a sample of the whole: 
 
 " If the popular conception of John Wesley be 
 fair, he is to be reckoned one of the few men gener- 
 ally great. And it is certainly worthy of remark that 
 each decade of the century since his death has lifted 
 his fame higher. For not only have the great hosts 
 who rejoice to call him their spiritual father acquired 
 new enthusiasm with each fresh discovery of his 
 insight and foresight 'the knowledge deep and 
 high ' but historians and men of letters, who are not 
 tricked either by their own or others' fancies, have 
 constantly enlarged and brightened the portrait of 
 this great apostle of the latter days. He now belongs 
 to no ecclesiastical organization, and no one century 
 can claim him. A prophet in the deepest sense, the 
 light God gave him and the work he did are the in- 
 heritage of all men and all ages." 
 
 The Universalist Record, published in Newark, 
 N. J., has an editorial on New York's eight-million-
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 dollar cathedral, which contains this reference to 
 Methodism : 
 
 " We have no representative Church in this coun- 
 try; or, if we have, it is not the Episcopal Church. 
 More than any other, that Church ' hath a foreign 
 air.' It is one of the smaller of the leading sects. It 
 is essentially a Church of the cities, and largely of 
 the Eastern cities. Its chords of sympathy stretch 
 backward across the ocean to the land of its birth. 
 More nearly than any other, the Methodist Church is 
 representative of nineteenth century American relig- 
 ion. Not only by its moral earnestness, by its demo- 
 cratic spirit and its aggressiveness, by its directness 
 and business-like methods and its good-humor, but 
 even in its doctrinal failures at logic, its theological 
 patch-work, it is representative of this energetic time 
 of transition, this hurrying age of fact and change. 
 Calvinism belongs to the past. Universalism belongs 
 to the future. Methodism is of the present, and has 
 the right, if any Church has, to erect the building 
 which shall introduce the religion of the nineteenth 
 century to the student of the twenty-ninth. The 
 Methodists, however, would not build an eight-million- 
 dollar church if they had one hundred million dollars 
 to spare. They would erect thousands of chapels all 
 over the world. They are intent upon winning the 
 world to Christ, not with superb architecture, but with 
 moral conviction and conviction of sin. They are not 
 concerned to startle the future with a display of fine 
 art for which religion shall be taken as the excuse. 
 They are quite content with houses of worship which 
 shall be comfortable, not offensive to taste, roomy, in 
 which a multitude can hear the preacher and find 
 their way to the mourners' bench. They are a be-
 
 io INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nevolent folk, who spread their hands abroad, and 
 would feel that any such centralization of power 
 were a sad misrepresentation of their own spirit and 
 purpose." 
 
 The following conceptions of the position and 
 mission of Methodism come from over the sea: 
 
 " ' I have not yet made up my mind whether I will 
 be a Methodist or a Roman Catholic.' That may seem 
 to be an extraordinary pair of alternatives ; but those 
 who are familiar with the genius of Romanism will 
 not be startled by it. These systems represent the 
 two ultimate Christian alternatives: faith in the liv- 
 ing Church or faith in the living Christ ; confidence 
 in the visible organization or confidence in the invis- 
 ible experience of the heart. Nothing in modern his- 
 tory is more remarkable than the unparalleled growth 
 of Methodism during the last hundred years. The 
 youngest of all the great Protestant Churches, it is 
 already the most numerous. It has grown suddenly 
 with the British Empire, and chiefly within the limits 
 of the English-speaking communities. Mr. Stead re- 
 minds us that the world is passing into the hands of 
 the English-speaking peoples. Methodism at this 
 moment commands the allegiance of a larger number 
 of English-speaking men and women than any other 
 section of the Christian Church. Of course we in- 
 clude in this estimate the United States of America, 
 where Methodism occupies the position that Angli- 
 canism occupies here. The one great drawback to 
 the influence of Methodism in the English-speaking 
 world is the fact that it is at present split up into so 
 many sections. But already in Canada all the Meth- 
 odist Churches have united, and have, consequently, 
 become the most numerous and influential body in
 
 INTROD UCTION. 1 1 
 
 that great Dominion. The movement in favor of 
 union is growing and spreading in the Australian Col- 
 onies, in the United States, and in the mother coun- 
 try. If the Methodists only acted together, they 
 could already control the destinies of the English- 
 speaking peoples. 
 
 " Some day they will act together for spiritual 
 purposes. And it must not be forgotten that they 
 alone, of all the Protestant Churches, have an organ- 
 ization sufficiently compact to cope with the organ- 
 ized strength of Rome. Again, as to the socialistic 
 tendencies of the age, Methodism has ever been above 
 everything else, a ' connexion ' or a brotherhood. 
 There is a sort of Freemasonry among Methodists 
 that distinguishes them from other religious bodies. 
 Their ministers are organized on a socialist basis. 
 No man receives the stipend to which he might be 
 individually entitled. Even so distinguished an or- 
 ator, for example, as the late Dr. Punshon, never re- 
 ceived more than two hundred and fifty pounds a year, 
 with certain additions for the maintenance and educa- 
 tion of his children. The itinerancy and the class- 
 meeting tend to bind Methodists together, and to pro- 
 duce the fraternization which is peculiar to them. 
 Now, this spirit of brotherliness is the very soil in 
 which socialism naturally grows, and of which social- 
 ism, in some form, is the inevitable expression. 
 
 " I/astly, as to the position of woman. She has 
 always occupied in Methodism a more prominent and 
 active sphere than in any other community except the 
 Society of Friends. In former generations, as George 
 Eliot reminded the public in 'Adam Bede,' woman 
 preached ; and woman is beginning to preach again. 
 Tens of thousands of women have occupied at every
 
 1 2 INTROD UCTION. 
 
 period the semi-pastoral position of class-leaders ; and 
 in the Salvation Army, which is essentially a Meth- 
 odist movement, the absolute equality of woman has 
 been recognized from the first. These peculiarities 
 of the Methodist Church are very striking, and they 
 at least prove that Methodism is peculiarly qualified 
 to deal with the special characteristics of the era upon 
 which we are now entering." 
 
 Sixty-four years ago Dr. Adam Clarke, in a letter 
 to friends in this country, said : 
 
 " As I believe your Nation to be destined to be the 
 mightiest and happiest Nation on the globe, so I be- 
 lieve that your Church is likely to become the most 
 extensive and pure in the universe. As a Church, 
 abide in the apostolic doctrine and fellowship; as a 
 Nation, be firmly united." 
 
 It is an undisputed fact that Romanists in this 
 country are mostly of foreign birth, and that the Jes- 
 uits, priests, and bishops are thoroughly alien and 
 mediaeval in their spirit and opinions. Before com- 
 ing to this country their character was as completely 
 formed as if they were pig-iron, and had been cast in 
 a mold. Americans they are not, and never can be. 
 With American life and American institutions they 
 can never have the least sympathy. To the extent 
 of their number they should not be regarded as an 
 element of strength to the country, but rather of 
 weakness. That Romanism is the harbinger of igno- 
 rance we need no proof, except the incessant and 
 fiendish war it ceaselessly wages against the public 
 schools of this country. Romanism, ignorance, and 
 crime form a triumvirate which are inseparably asso- 
 ciated together. 
 
 The following, by William Wheeler, of Chicago, is
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to show the practical effect and working results which 
 the control or overshadowing influence of the Ro- 
 man Catholic Church has upon public education, 
 wherever such control or influence exists. This is 
 best done by contrasting the percentage of illiterates 
 in countries where Romanism and Protestantism are 
 respectively the dominant religions of the people: 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC 
 COUNTRIES. 
 
 t& 
 
 t~-t 03 
 rt>- 
 
 -"tp 
 
 x> 
 
 . 5 
 . 3 
 
 Population, . 
 
 Percentage of 
 Catholics, . . 
 
 Percentage of 
 Illiteracy, . 
 
 Venezuela 
 
 41Q.I2O 
 
 2.O75.24S 
 
 9 
 
 QO 
 
 Austria-Hungary, . . . 
 France 
 
 240,942 
 2O4 092 
 
 39,224,511 
 
 2,8 2l8 QO^ 
 
 67.6 
 
 78 s 
 
 32 
 2^ 
 
 Brazil 
 
 3 219 ooo 
 
 IQ Q22 ^7^ 
 
 QQ 
 
 8d 
 
 
 107,767 
 
 16958,178 
 
 QQ 
 
 60 
 
 Portugal 
 
 36028 
 
 4,708,178 
 
 QQ 
 
 82 
 
 Belgium 
 
 ii 373 
 
 5 520 009 
 
 QQ 
 
 42 
 
 Italy 
 
 no 620 
 
 28 459 628 
 
 QQ 
 
 6 1 a A 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 4,458,942 
 
 148,087,027 
 
 7 3Q. I 
 
 476.94 
 
 Average ....... 
 
 
 
 Q2 I 
 
 ^Q 6 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PROTESTANT COUNTRIES. 
 
 <sS 
 
 X? 
 
 01 
 
 ~ V. 
 
 ja 
 ' p: 
 . P 
 M 
 n 
 
 Population, . 
 
 Percentage of 
 Protestants, 
 
 Percentage of 
 Illiteracy, . 
 
 Victoria 
 
 87 884 
 
 I OOQ 7S"* 
 
 7-7 
 
 OT.^ 
 
 Sweden 
 
 I7O Q7Q 
 
 4 682 769 
 
 QQ 
 
 ^O 
 
 Switzerland 
 
 I S 8Q2 
 
 2 846 1 02 
 
 ^Q 
 
 10 
 
 
 12,648 
 
 4,336,012 
 
 66 
 
 10.50 
 
 Germany 
 
 21 1 I/1Q 
 
 46 852 680 
 
 626 
 
 I 27 
 
 
 14 121 
 
 I 080 2^0 
 
 QQ 
 
 .36 
 
 Great Britain . . . . . 
 
 88 301 
 
 20,066 646 
 
 Ql 1 
 
 1 1 O9 
 
 United States, 
 
 ^ SOI 4O4 
 
 S7 028 6oQ 
 
 864 
 
 Q 4O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 A IO2 ^78 
 
 IAQ 7O2 Sv) 
 
 6l8 1, 
 
 21 25^ 
 
 Average, . 
 
 
 
 7Q 78 
 
 41 ?6 
 
 
 
 

 
 14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Many of our statesmen see these things in their 
 true light ; but they quiet their fears of popish aggres- 
 sions on the ground that Methodism is in possession 
 of the true American life, and that it will hold and 
 perpetuate it against all invasions from abroad. How 
 extensively this feeling prevails we are unable to say ; 
 but we hope that too much is not expected of our be- 
 loved Zion. 
 
 The spread of popery in this country implies the 
 accession to citizenship of the most ignorant, Sab- 
 bath-breaking, and licentious elements of Ireland, Italy, 
 Spain, and Austria. The following terrible indict- 
 ment of Romanism was prepared by Rev. M. H. Sey- 
 mour, of the Church of England, in a book entitled 
 "Evenings with Romanists:" 
 
 "The illegitimate births," says Mr. Seymour, "in 
 Roman Catholic Paris is thirty-three per cent ; in Ro- 
 man Catholic Brussels, thirty-five per cent; Roman 
 Catholic Munich, forty-eight per cent ; Roman Catholic 
 Vienna, fifty-one per cent; Protestant London, four per 
 cent. Dublin, the most populous and wealthy city in 
 Ireland, situated in the midst of a Roman Catholic 
 population, has more prostitutes than any city of its 
 size in the three kingdoms. A comparison of ten 
 leading cities in Protestant England with a like num- 
 ber in Catholic Austria, gives to the former an average 
 of 63 illegitimates out of every thousand births ; to 
 the latter an average of 419 in the thousand. Five 
 leading English cities being compared with five prin- 
 cipal cities of Italy, it appears in the former that on 
 an average 58 births in a thousand are illegitimate ; in 
 the latter, 216 out of a thousand are illegitimate. Ten 
 of the most populous cities respectively of Protestant 
 Prussia and Roman Catholic Austria being compared,
 
 INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 the number of illegitimate births in the former is 158 
 to the thousand ; in the latter, 454 to the thousand." 
 These statistics, at the time, were so overwhelming 
 and astounding that the Catholic World openly ac- 
 knowledged that Mr. Seymour's conclusions, "if fairly 
 proved, would be a practical argument of overwhelm- 
 ing force, sufficient to close the mind against all that 
 can be said in favor of the Catholic Church." 
 
 Dr. I/. R. Dunn is responsible for the following 
 statement: "Only a few weeks ago a delegate to the 
 Roman Catholic Benevolent L,egion in New Bruns- 
 wick, N. J. (it was Vice-President Keeney, of Brook- 
 lyn), said: 'The time is coming when we Catholics 
 shall own the land ; and when we shall not only own 
 it, but ought to own it. We shall own the land to 
 control it, and we shall control it for its better govern- 
 ment.' An intelligent minister of our Church related 
 the following in my hearing a few days ago. He was 
 recently in Dublin, Ireland, and going into the cathe- 
 dral there on the Sabbath, he heard the priest from 
 his pulpit say that America, with all its wealth and 
 power, would soon be* under the control of mother 
 Church. There can be no doubt that every Patrick 
 in our stables and every Bridget in our kitchens has 
 the same idea. And more than this, there is not, 
 probably, a Romish priest in the world but that en- 
 tertains this hope." 
 
 Romanist statisticians claim a population in this 
 country of some eight or ten millions of souls; but 
 aside from the votes cast by the adults and the crimes 
 they may commit, the larger proportion of them would 
 be of but little consequence in any way. The records 
 of poor-houses and prisons and the gallows show that 
 at best they are a burden to society. Beyond this,
 
 1 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 were it not for the intrigues of political Jesuit priests, 
 they would do but little harm. 
 
 It would seem that Methodism has awakened not 
 only large expectations in regard to the general wel- 
 fare of the country, but that, in the public mind, it is 
 looked to as the divinely appointed agency to neutral- 
 ize the power and counteract the evils of Romanism. 
 Dr. J. L- Withrow, a Presbyterian, of Chicago, writes 
 as follows to a Boston paper : 
 
 "Look into the large assembly-room, in Methodist 
 Block, on Monday morning, and one sees the largest 
 ministers' meeting that assembles in the city. And, 
 just as in other cities, these Methodist ministers gen- 
 erally tussle with some large and live issue of a prac- 
 tical sort. They are not wont to waste time in dis- 
 cussing the thisly of the thusly. They spend little 
 strength on men of straw. But whether the rum- 
 power is a powerful and insolent foe to the best in- 
 terests of the people, they are always ready to bear 
 testimony ; and their eyes are not holden to see the 
 stupendous strides of progress which the Roman 
 Catholic hierarchy is making 'toward complete man- 
 agement in our political affairs and the Methodist 
 brethren have lips to speak and warn the people. 
 Let the papacy make proportionately rapid progress 
 in directing political affairs in the next two decades 
 as she has done in the last two, and in the opening of 
 the twentieth century every city in the United States 
 will be ruled from the Vatican. Again and again the 
 note of warning, of this danger to our liberties, is 
 sounded by the Methodists of Chicago." 
 
 What signifies the alliance of the Protestant and 
 Jewish forces in Washington City to aid the Method- 
 ist Episcopal Church in the establishment of a first-
 
 INTRO D UCTION. 1 7 
 
 class university at the seat of government ? Is it to 
 counteract the more effectually the influence of the 
 pope and his cardinals over the rulers of the Nation ? 
 Have they been mortified to see the President of the 
 United States tamely submit to be treated as second 
 to the pope and to a Canadian cardinal at a Catholic 
 banquet? Is it a united movement on the part of 
 loyal citizens against revived Jesuitism, with Method- 
 ism in the lead ? So it would seem, and the reasons 
 for this confidence should be clear and satisfactory. 
 
 The question, What is Methodism that it has 
 awakened such expectations in regard to the general 
 interests of the Nation, and to the neutralization of 
 Romanism in particular? remains unanswered. The 
 practical relations and mission of this Church seem to 
 be sufficiently manifest, but the primal and deeper 
 question refers to the position it holds in the order of 
 Providence. In our philosophy, has the Divine pur- 
 pose been discovered and properly interpreted? 
 
 A yes or no answer can not, with any satisfaction, 
 be given to this question. We must look into the or- 
 igin of this great movement. We must see Method- 
 ism in the mustard- seed stage of its development; we 
 must detect the place of the hiding of God's power; 
 we must see in action the agencies employed, and fol- 
 low out causes to their practical results. It will be 
 well to approach this subject in the spirit of doubting 
 criticism ; for if Methodism is the power in the world 
 which both friends and foes have taken it to be, an 
 array of facts can be brought forward which will jus- 
 tify the conclusions we draw. 
 
 If the presentation of this subject will tend to im- 
 press upon Methodist people a proper idea of their 
 honors, duties, and responsibilities, our intention in
 
 1 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 writing will have been accomplished. Methodism has 
 been a maker of history, and only fragments of it will 
 be known except to students and statesmen. The 
 fundamental elements of that history we have endeav- 
 ored to weave into an argument, and at the same time 
 retain their life and spirit. On entering the second 
 century of its existence, the Church found itself in a 
 transition state, and it is still engaged in the work of 
 adjusting itself to the new conditions of the country. 
 She must cut loose from her primitive moorings, and, 
 without drifting, lengthen her lines and spread her 
 sails on other and perhaps stormier seas. A changed 
 country calls for new agencies, new methods, and new 
 work. For the Church to remain stationary in a new 
 and ever-changing country, is to loose its hold upon 
 the people, become fossilized, and fail of its mission- 
 We have an abiding faith in the continued pros, 
 perity of the Church. The signs of the times are 
 propitious. New men are pressing into the ranks, 
 desertions are less frequent, and old men are fired 
 with the ambition of youth. Women, in line of ac- 
 tion, are coming to the front a mighty re-enforcement. 
 The eyes of the true Seer are shedding no tears over 
 the departing glories of the past, but peering into a 
 yet mightier future. The twentieth century must see 
 Methodism moving forward with giant strides both at 
 home and abroad. The expectations of statesmen 
 and sister Churches will not be disappointed. Ice- 
 bergs floating into southern seas melt and mingle 
 with the mass; and in the hot and all-pervading 
 breath of Methodism, Romanism must become Amer- 
 icanized, or the Nation will spew it out of its mouth.
 
 "(31 S for the English court, Bishop Stevens said: 'It was a 
 & royal brothel.' Dr. Samuel Johnson said to Boswell: 'I 
 remember the time when it was common for English gentle- 
 men to go to bed drunk every night in the week, and they 
 were thought to be none the worse for it.' Delicate young 
 women, in the highest circles, unblushingly talked ' with a 
 coarseness which editors of our day represent by asterisks.' 
 Such vile poetry as was then applauded would forever damn 
 modern poetasters. The people laughed at indecency and 
 profanity. The Churches afforded no relief to the dark pic- 
 ture, for the reformers themselves needed to be reformed. 
 Of the clergy of the Established Church, what shall we say, 
 but that they were involved in the general corruption ? Those 
 of the Dissenting Churches were little better." 
 
 20 DO-RCHKSTKH.
 
 THE REPUBLIC 
 
 METHODISM, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 METHODISM A SPECIAL DISPENSATION OF SPIRIT- 
 UAL POWER. 
 
 METHODISM is an original idea it is sui 
 generis. The peculiarities which marked 
 its beginning have deepened with its development. 
 They have challenged alike the attention of the 
 ecclesiastics and the philosophers of two continents. 
 As a proclamation of the Christian system it is 
 apostolic, especially in its aggressive evangelizing 
 vigor. 
 
 On its human side, Methodism began in an 
 impulse, an idea, and a conviction. In the ab- 
 sence of form, plan, or device, it was free to act 
 out the laws of its own being. Consequently it 
 was a spontaneous growth from an original root; 
 and possessing, as it does, the fullness of Church 
 power, that root must be of divine origin. The 
 achievements of Methodism, as they will appear 
 in these pages, force the mind to this conclusion. 
 
 In making these bold assumptions for Meth- 
 odism, we are fully aware that the charge of pre-
 
 22 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 sumption will be preferred against us, unless they 
 are vindicated by considerations of equal impor- 
 tance. The accumulated facts which make up its 
 history during the past one hundred and twenty 
 years, as the legitimate interpreters of Divine 
 Providence, teach us that Methodism must be re- 
 garded as the religious marvel if not miracle 
 of this nineteenth century. The age in which we 
 live has been distinguished by many great and 
 stirring events, and among the most conspicuous 
 of these is the spread of Christianity in the 
 United States under the banner of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 It is fortunate for religious truth that the muse 
 of history has most fully and faithfully preserved 
 the annals of this great movement. Besides the 
 elaborate histories of Bangs, Stevens, Daniels, 
 and McTyeire, the literature of the Church is 
 rich in sketches, monographs, and biographies of 
 its great men. The origin and progress of Meth- 
 odism in this Nation can therefore be examined 
 in the presence of accomplished facts, and it is 
 in this white light that our dull visions can see 
 the most clearly the unfoldings of a Heavenly 
 Providence. To these, then, we make our ap- 
 peal as the basis of the judgment we form of the 
 genius and mission of Methodism. 
 
 We are not aware that this last and greatest 
 religious movement was particularly designated 
 by either Jewish prophets or Christian apostles ; 
 yet such may have been the case possibly it is
 
 A SPECIAL DISPENSATION. 23 
 
 the angel of the Apocalypse, which was seen fly- 
 ing through the midst of the heavens, having the 
 everlasting gospel to preach to all them that dwell 
 on the face of the earth ; but be this as it may, 
 we are sure that the place it occupies in the 
 economy of grace, and the specific work assigned 
 to it, can unmistakably be defined in Scripture 
 language. It is an old and trite saying that Meth- 
 odism is a child of Providence; and it is time our 
 conceptions of the specific place it occupies, and 
 the length and breadth of the work it has to do, 
 as ordered by Providence, were more clearly un- 
 derstood. 
 
 Let us consider the following Scripture, found 
 in the seventeenth verse of the ninth chapter of 
 St. Matthew's Gospel: "Neither do men put new 
 wine into old bottles, else the bottles break and 
 the wine runneth out and the bottles perish ; but 
 they put new wine into new bottles, and both are 
 preserved." The bottles in question were made 
 of the skins of animals, and the fermenting of 
 new wine would spoil an old, unyielding bottle; 
 whereas, if new wine were put into a new bottle, 
 the wine and bottle would adjust themselves to 
 each other, and both be preserved. The principle 
 involved finds its first illustration in Christ's re- 
 fusal to identify himself or his teaching with any 
 of the old religious sects of the Jews, or even 
 with the Mosaic Institutes. These corporate 
 bodies were formed for other ends ; they had 
 served their purposes, and were "ready to vanish
 
 24 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 away;" wherer c the teaching of Christ was the 
 new wine of the new kingdom he came to estab- 
 lish. Like the dead husks on the ears of corn in 
 autumn, Judaism had done its work, and was no 
 longer of any use in the world. At least it 
 was utterly incompetent to take in charge the 
 gospel of Christ. In the hands of a Pharisee the 
 gospel would have been made to subserve simply 
 the interests of his sect; a Sadducee would have 
 reduced it to the narrow dimensions of the wants 
 of his party; and in either case, it would have 
 ceased to be the gospel of Christ the common 
 patrimony of the whole world. 
 
 As, therefore, on the principle that new wine 
 demands a new bottle, it was necessary for Christ 
 to found a new age, "set up" a new kingdom, 
 and establish a new reign, as the receptacle of 
 the glad tidings of great joy he brought to 
 all people. That which Christ so elaborately il- 
 lustrates is the simple principle of adaptation 
 the adaptation of adequate means to a desired 
 end. The old bottles rilled with old wine repre- 
 sented Mosaism in all its real and possible 
 forms. Judaism was full to the brim and mostly 
 of iniquity and it could hold no more. So fixed 
 and unchangeable was its character that the only 
 possible doom that fitted the case was destruction. 
 Christ therefore had no use for it, and he taught 
 his disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come." 
 
 The principle of adaptation is as important 
 and as operative now as ever in the past, and the
 
 A SPECIAL DISPENSATION. 25 
 
 question before us is simply this: B*id its demands 
 of the world bring Methodism into existence? 
 In particular, is the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in the United States as "new wine in a new bot- 
 tle?" This question must be answered, not by 
 theoretic speculation nor by argument of any 
 kind, but by an examination of all the facts in- 
 volved in the case in the light of the sacred 
 Scriptures. If, with the principle of adaptation 
 as our guide, we are irresistibly led to the con- 
 clusion that a new Church was raised up in a new 
 Nation, to preserve it and be preserved by it, too 
 much importance can not be attached to its privi- 
 leges, honors, and responsibilities. Such is our 
 conception of Methodism. What the new wine 
 and new bottle are to each other, Methodism and 
 this Nation are to each other. Peculiarities per- 
 tain to both the new Nation and new Church, 
 and in these respects they are exactly adapted to 
 each other's wants. 
 
 This principle of adaptation finds at the pres- 
 ent time an application in Japan and Mexico. 
 These nations are springing into a new life, and 
 Romanism fails to meet the wants of the people 
 in the one country, and Buddhism has become 
 stale and unprofitable in the other. New bottles 
 demand new wine for their preservation. Chris- 
 tianity, introduced in a form suited to the condi- 
 tion of the people to be benefited, is sure to receive 
 a hearty welcome. Learned Hindus complain 
 that Western missionaries have stripped Christ 
 
 3
 
 26 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 too much of his Oriental character, and presented 
 him to them mostly in a European garb. We 
 think it quite likely that such mistakes have been 
 made indeed they were inevitable. " To become a 
 Christian, an Orientalist need not become an Occi- 
 dentalist. Any attempt to transfer a Church or- 
 ganization from one country to another, or change 
 the spirit of a people or the times in which they 
 live, would be a waste of money and strength. In 
 the gospel there is a power of adaptation which 
 adjusts its demands as well as blessings to the 
 peculiarities of different times and of all nation- 
 alities to become all things to all men. It is 
 inevitable that Church and State, without a formal 
 union, should mutually affect each other, and each 
 preserve the other. 
 
 America became known to Europe in 1492, 
 and it was evident to the vision of the statesman- 
 like seer of that age that this continent was pre- 
 determined to be the seat of a vast and powerful 
 empire, unlike any that then existed or that had 
 ever gone before. The new conditions would 
 bring about new results of a corresponding char- 
 acter. Old customs, laws, and standards would 
 disappear in the presence of a new world. The 
 genius of the new age, in accordance with the law 
 of corelation, would demand that everything be 
 new. The new nation would be a vital growth, 
 and mechanical patchwork was ruled out of the 
 method of its development. The principle in- 
 volved in the statement that a new bottle demands
 
 A SPECIAL DISPENSATION. 27 
 
 new wine is fundamental, and can not be violated 
 with impunity. With God at the helm of State, 
 we may expect to see it carried into effect to the 
 very letter. Has it not been done in this Nation? 
 We shall see. 
 
 As all the Churches in existence at the time 
 we became a new and peculiar Nation were cast 
 in a European mold, they were not suited to the 
 peculiar wants of the people. They had been 
 touched by no experience which was analogous to 
 the birth-throes the State had experienced during 
 the War of the Revolution. Born on a foreign 
 soil, and baptized in the spirit of another age, they 
 were not adapted to the condition of the young 
 Republic. To be successful in any country, Chris- 
 tianity must experience on its soil and among its 
 people a special development, and put forth special 
 power adapted to the new and strange conditions 
 of society. By the order of Providence, and un- 
 der the direction of the Holy Spirit, this is ex- 
 actly what has been done in this country under 
 the banner of Methodism. Methodism is the new 
 conservative power given by a special Providence 
 to preserve the Nation in which it is to be pre- 
 served. 
 
 We boldly assume for Methodism this com- 
 manding position, fully aware that, if the array 
 of facts we may bring to its support are inade- 
 quate, we shall expose ourselves to censure if not 
 contempt; but if our conceptions of the relation 
 of Methodism to the great Republic be correct,
 
 28 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 even in its leading features, the importance of the 
 subject will justify us in hazarding something in 
 giving to them publicity and support. The relig- 
 ious element in the Jewish State was of command- 
 ing importance; but in proportion as Christianity 
 surpasses Judaism, its inspiring and molding 
 power in this Nation has been still greater. 
 
 Our claim for Methodism does not in the least 
 detract from the credit which is justly due to the 
 influence of other Churches, nor does it call for 
 any union of Church and State. It is not in our 
 heart, as we write, to glorify Methodism, but to 
 help the Church to a better understanding of the 
 position assigned it by Providence, and the re- 
 sponsibilities imposed upon its adherents. The 
 principle involved in the relation of the new wine 
 and the new bottle, and the old wine and the old 
 bottle, we accept as fundamental, and seek to 
 apply it. 
 
 But at this stage of the discussion it is of the 
 first importance that we inquire, What is Meth- 
 odism? We answer affirmatively: It is the old 
 gospel of St. Paul salvation from spiritual death 
 and from the guilt of sin through faith in Christ. 
 It is the grace of God that brings the forgiveness 
 of sin to the soul, and the witness of the Spirit 
 that this work has been done. The all-pervading 
 element of Methodism is spirituality. It recog- 
 nizes the fact that man is lost, being dead in tres- 
 passes and sins, and that the quickening Spirit is 
 given that he may live. It is not, then, a creed,
 
 A SPECIAL DISPENSATION. 29 
 
 nor a confession of faith, nor a catechism, "long" 
 or "short," yet its doctrines are most clearly de- 
 fined. It is not a science nor a system of theol- 
 ogy. It, per se, may exist wholly independent of 
 the ecclesiastical element. It is enjoyed, prima- 
 rily, in the relation a justified soul sustains to 
 God. When Robert Strawbridge, a young Irish 
 local preacher, commenced his labors on Sam's 
 Creek, Maryland, preaching probably the first 
 Methodist sermon ever delivered in America, he 
 stood alone as a man, with the Bible before him, 
 and no Church authority behind him but that of 
 the Master. He had found in his native country 
 the pure element of Methodism, and it had be- 
 come in his being an all-controlling force. His 
 ceaseless labors among the rude and scattered 
 population of this country, the societies he organ- 
 ized as the result of the great number of souls 
 that were converted under his labors, the log 
 church he built, the holy lives and the triumphant 
 death of his people, were simply the spontaneous 
 and outward manifestations of the Methodist spirit 
 and life and fire which he and they had received 
 from on high. Having resisted mobs and braved 
 death in his own country, this tender and gentle- 
 spirited man found the open and ripe fields of 
 labor in this new world a theater of supreme de- 
 light. He was what Methodism had made him. 
 The same remark might be made of Whitefield, 
 the Wesleys, Coke, Fletcher, Lady Huntingdon, 
 L/ady Maxwell, Asbury, and the millions who,
 
 30 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 through their labors, have been led to drink from 
 the same spiritual fountain. Christianity, in the 
 form of Methodism, had done for them what in 
 the beginning it did for Paul and others. 
 
 We sometimes hear it said that Methodism has 
 been fortunate in receiving the support of great 
 men; but the statement is seen to possess but lit- 
 tle force when we reflect that no Methodist could 
 ever do more than act out in his life the grace 
 which had been imparted to him. At first the 
 scholarly Wesley was an ordinary man, and his 
 well-tried powers could accomplish nothing till 
 the baptism of Methodism came upon him, and 
 he felt that his soul was strangely warmed by its 
 fires. After this, his knowledge of God, as re- 
 vealed in the salvation of his own soul, gave him 
 the key to other sauls, and made him the marvel- 
 ous man that he was. The outward dress or form 
 that Methodism may take on is not, therefore, a 
 matter of prime importance. The inward spir- 
 itual life is the essential element. Chalmers said : 
 " Methodism is Christianity in earnest." We would 
 say it is Christianity pure and simple ; for all real 
 Christianity is in earnest. If we have detected 
 its proper place in the order of a Heavenly Prov- 
 idence, so far as this Republic is concerned as 
 "new wine in a new bottle" the fact will be 
 better understood a thousand years hence than 
 now ; but the prophetic Wesley very properly in- 
 dicated its scope and significance when he said, 
 "The world is my parish."
 
 A SPECIAL DISPENSATION. 31 
 
 When we think of the divine original of Meth- 
 odism, the depth of its spirit, and of its all-pervad- 
 ing power, we feel sure that it has not, at the pres- 
 ent time, received in any nation a full and perfect 
 expression of its peculiar genius. To what ex- 
 tent Wesley and all English Methodists, preachers 
 and people, have been influenced by an overshad- 
 owing State Church it is impossible to say; but 
 our conviction is clear that we can not look to 
 the mother Church the Wesleyans nor to any 
 of the unfortunate offshoots from the parent body, 
 for a model expression of Methodism. In Eng- 
 land it has lived too near and too much under 
 the shadow of an immense and obnoxious hie- 
 rarchy to receive in all respects a natural develop- 
 ment. That spontaneity of action which knows 
 no law but a vital inward developing power, has 
 been wanting to the highest achievements in its 
 action. 
 
 Probably in no country has the true and pure 
 genius of Methodism found a more free and 
 healthy development than in the United States ; 
 but even here the "clay was marred in the hands 
 of the potter," resulting in various secessions. In 
 some localities its natural methods have been 
 modified by contact with other Churches. At 
 the General Conference, held in Boston in 1852, 
 Peter Cartwright, a typical Western man, was re- 
 garded as an interesting curiosity; and New Eng- 
 land Methodism, transferred in form to Iowa, 
 might, at first sight, be innocently mistaken for
 
 32 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 Congregationalism. Some people are necessarily 
 imitators, and they look upon an original idea as 
 if it were an intrusive antagonist. Whatever 
 such persons find in Methodism that is unique 
 they strive to obliterate. For the realization of 
 our hopes in regard to the development of a pure 
 Methodistic expression of Christianity we must 
 look to foreign fields China, Japan, or India. In 
 those countries the Methodist people will ever be 
 so far removed from Mohammedanism and all 
 forms of heathenism that they are not likely to 
 be influenced in any way by them ; hence the 
 growth of the Church in each country may be 
 natural and for the best. 
 
 In seeing Methodism take on the form of an 
 ecclesiastical structure, there is danger that we 
 may lose sight of its inward spiritual life. If we 
 keep in mind what Methodism is per se, its aim 
 and end the outpouring of the Spirit, the awak- 
 ening of sinners, the conversion of souls, and the 
 best methods of accomplishing these results 
 Church legislation will mostly be the spontaneous 
 outgrowth of the demands of the work ; it will be 
 valuable only as means to an end. Addressing a 
 class of elders who were about to be admitted to 
 membership in an Annual Conference, the bishop 
 presiding, referring to the unfortunate, as we 
 think, change which had taken place in his min- 
 istry, said : " In former years, when I was a pas- 
 tor in the Church, I kept in mind not only the 
 care of my flock, but in nearly every sermon I
 
 A SPECIAL DISPENSATION. 33 
 
 warned sinners to flee from the wrath to come." 
 This and other remarks indicated that the bishop 
 felt that his high office had released him from the 
 responsibilities of revival work; that the conver- 
 sion of souls was no part of his direct, personal 
 business. If such be the inevitable tendencies of 
 the episcopal office, it should, without delay, be 
 abolished. To the end of his life Asbury was a 
 genuine Methodist; and if, in addition to his epis- 
 copal functions, he had been editor, agent, and 
 secretary, he would never have lost sight of the 
 work of the awakening and conversion of sinners. 
 In proportion as a man grows away from this 
 work, and becomes lost or absorbed in an official 
 position, he ceases to be a pure Methodist. 
 
 "Building up" the Church is a matter of 
 prime importance, but it is done the most easily 
 and effectually when we have in hand an abun- 
 dance of new-born souls, as lively stones, to work 
 into the edifice. The genuine Methodist, then, is 
 one who knows, by actual test, that the gospel is 
 the power of God unto the salvation of .every one 
 that believeth ; and be his position high or low, 
 he links his own salvation, not with an office, but 
 with the salvation of others. 
 
 It was the preaching of this doctrine which, 
 more than all others, brought upon. the Wesleys 
 and their coadjutors the remorseless persecutions 
 they were called upon to suffer. A cold, formal 
 ritualism stood aghast and angry in the presence 
 of a spiritual and soul-saving Christianity it did
 
 34 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 not enjoy. It was regarded as a dreadful, if not 
 blasphemous, doctrine to be preached that a man 
 could know that his soul was regenerated by the 
 Spirit of God and that he was adopted into the 
 heavenly family. 
 
 But this was exactly the preaching the world 
 needed at that time the preaching it must al- 
 ways have to preserve among men even the form 
 and name of Christianity. This was the lost doc- 
 trine which, in the form and by the name of Meth- 
 odism, these men restored to the Church and the 
 world. All the testimonies go to prove that the 
 religious condition of England, at the beginning 
 of the eighteenth century, was deplorable to the 
 last degree. In the absence of a spiritual and 
 soul-saving Christianity, wickedness everywhere 
 abounded. All the way from the throne to the 
 gutter the same ungodliness prevailed. Infidelity 
 held sway over the upper classes, and the masses 
 were rapidly receding into heathenism. Of the 
 abundance of testimony we have on this point the 
 reader will be troubled with but a few items. In 
 the preface to his great work, the "Analogy of 
 Nature and Religion," Bishop Butler says: "It 
 has come to be taken for granted that Christianity 
 is no longer a subject of inquiry, but that it is 
 now at length discovered to be fictitious. And 
 accordingly it is treated as if, in the present age, 
 this were an agreed point among all persons of 
 discernment, and nothing remained but to set it 
 up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule."
 
 A SPECIAL DISPENSATION. 35 
 
 Isaac Taylor loved Methodism no more than 
 he was compelled to by his self-respect, and in 
 speaking of the Church of England as it existed 
 when the Wesleys appeared, he says: "It was an 
 ecclesiastical system under which the people of 
 England had lapsed into heathenism, or a state 
 hardly to be distinguished from it." 
 
 "What," inquires Mr. Wesley, in one of his 
 sermons, "is the present character of the English 
 nation? It is ungodliness. Ungodliness is our 
 universal, our constant, our peculiar, character." 
 Bishop Burnet saw the decay of religion, and it 
 gave him the greatest anxiety, and day and night, 
 he says, he "was oppressed with sad thoughts;" 
 but he was powerless to render any assistance. 
 He said: "I can not look on without the deepest 
 concern, when I see the imminent ruin hanging 
 over the Church, and by consequence, over the 
 whole Reformation." Another says: "All that is 
 restrictively Christian, or that is peculiar to Christ, 
 is waived and banished and despised." Bishop 
 Burnet thus characterizes the greater part of 
 those who came to him for ordination: "They 
 had never read the Scriptures, and could give no 
 tolerable account of the Catechism. A general 
 decay of vital religion in the hearts and lives of 
 men," and a "declension of piety and virtue among 
 Dissenters as well as Churchmen," is the testimony 
 of all the writers of that age. 
 
 In his Journal, dated September 3, 1739, Mr. 
 Wesley incidentally draws a picture of the spirit-
 
 36 O UR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 ual condition of England that can not be misun- 
 derstood : "I talked largely with my mother, who 
 told me that, till a short time since, she had 
 scarce heard such a thing mentioned as the hav- 
 ing forgiveness of sins now, or God's Spirit bear- 
 ing witness with our spirit; much less did she 
 imagine that this was a common privilege of all 
 true believers. 'Therefore,' said she, 'I never 
 durst ask for it myself. But, two or three weeks 
 ago, while my son Hall was pronouncing the 
 words in delivering the cup to me "The blood 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for 
 thee" the words struck through my heart, and 
 I knew God, for Christ's sake, had forgiven me 
 all my sins.' 
 
 " I asked whether her father (Dr. Annesley) had 
 not the same faith, and whether she had not heard 
 him preach it to others. She answered, he had 
 it himself, and declared, a little before his death, 
 that for more than forty years he had no darkness, 
 no fear, no doubt at all of his being accepted of 
 the Beloved; but that, nevertheless, she did not 
 remember to have heard him preach no, not 
 once explicitly upon it; whence she supposed he 
 also looked upon it as the peculiar blessing of a 
 few, not as promised to all people." 
 
 Here we have the key to the spiritual death 
 that was prevalent in both the Established Church 
 and in all Dissenting bodies of England. That 
 infidelity and all manner of ungodliness should 
 take the field, and control society, was inevitable.
 
 A SPECIAL DISPENSATION. 37 
 
 Such was the condition of England, Ireland, and 
 Scotland when Whitefield and the Wesleys raised 
 the cry: "Ye must be born again." And this, as 
 the vital, central truth of Christianity, is what the 
 world called Methodism. 
 
 At this time the spiritual and moral condition 
 of the American colonies was about the same as 
 that which prevailed in England. The Edwardsian 
 revival had spent its force, and a reaction had set 
 in. The first enthusiasm the preaching of White- 
 field kindled had all subsided, and his last visit to 
 this country was without results. Infidelity and 
 profligacy prevailed throughout all the Colonies, 
 East as well as South. In this universal preva- 
 lence of spiritual death, in all parts of the new- 
 born Republic, the reason for the existence of 
 Methodism becomes apparent.
 
 " ijTHE principles of strategic wisdom should lead us to look 
 on these United States as, first and foremost, the chosen 
 seat of enterprise for the world's conversion. Forecasting the 
 future of Christianity, as statesmen forecast the destiny of 
 nations, we must believe that it will be what the future of this 
 country is to be. As goes America, so goes the world, in all 
 that is vital to its moral welfare." AUSTIN
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OUR COUNTRY AS THE THEATER FOR THE DEVEL- 
 OPMENT OF METHODISM. 
 
 r I ^HREE hundred and ninety-nine years ago 
 JL North America was the abode of savage 
 beasts and of still more savage men. It is now 
 two hundred and sixty-eight years since civiliza- 
 tion secured a foothold north of the Potomac; 
 and may not the past growth of the country be 
 taken as prophetic that the coining three hundred 
 years will witness still greater changes? 
 
 The isolated position and compact structure of 
 North America will forever fix and render un- 
 changeable its geographical relation to other di- 
 visions of the globe. Three thousand miles of 
 ocean on the east, ten thousand miles on the 
 west, a narrow isthmus on the south, and a sea 
 of ice on the north, make it substantially an 
 island; and when held by a single nation, its 
 neighbors must be too remote to meddle with 
 its affairs. Internal harmony, civil administra- 
 tion, domestic peace, commercial and ethnolog- 
 ical reasons point in the direction of a single na- 
 tion, and these, as the fundamental laws of society, 
 must, at the demand of all parties, ultimately pre- 
 vail. North America has an area of 8,953,315 
 square miles, capable of sustaining a population 
 
 39
 
 40 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 of three hundred to the square mile, or more than 
 two billions of souls. 
 
 It is better that Mexico, with its mixture of 
 Spanish and Aztec blood, remain a nation by it- 
 self till its form of civilization shall become more 
 like our own. It is of the first importance that 
 the population of a country be homogeneous, and 
 the assimilation of the immense mass of hetero- 
 geneous elements now on our shores is sufficient 
 to tax to the utmost the vital constitution of the 
 Nation. But nature has its laws, and the demands 
 of these are imperative. They also invariably 
 work for the greatest good of the race. The high- 
 est statesmanship seeks to know what they are, 
 and conform to them. The Republics of Mexico 
 and the United States are constantly feeling the 
 pressure of each other's influence, and whatever 
 may be the will of man, the outcome is in the 
 hand of Providence. 
 
 Protestant Churches mostly those of our own 
 country utterly ignoring politics and State af- 
 fairs, are sustaining missions in all parts of that 
 country. Not only in its chief cities, but espe- 
 cially along the eastern and northern border, the 
 people of the two nations are becoming ac- 
 quainted and finding that they have common in- 
 terests. With the desired prevalence of peace, 
 this influence will increase as the years go by. 
 What the outcome may be is beyond our ken; 
 but not unfrequently in the world's history two 
 adjoining nations, to the advantage of both, have
 
 A FIELD FOR METHODISM, 41 
 
 become one. We write from the stand-point of 
 providential dealings, and not political ambition. 
 We protest that it would be a national crime for 
 our country to lift a finger to bring about annex- 
 ation by intrigue or force. Union, to be valuable, 
 must be the result of growth, not rivets. 
 
 The immense country on the north, occupied 
 by our cousins, and the States are subject to the 
 same influences and the same laws. Neither can 
 think, or feel, or act to perfect satisfaction inde- 
 pendent of the other. The ties of blood are 
 greatly strengthened by a free intercourse and the 
 use of a common language, literature, and relig- 
 ion. The feeling "we be brethren" is everywhere 
 prevalent. If, in the order of Providence, it shall 
 ever become manifest to the two ruations that the 
 true solution of all difficulties, and the attainment 
 of their highest good, moral, commercial, and so- 
 cial, can be found only by making them one in 
 government, the union, to the satisfaction and in- 
 terest of all parties, will take place. A homo- 
 geneous people, living in peace under one gov- 
 ernment, reaching from the Isthmus to the North 
 Pole, is a dream which, in coining centuries, may 
 become real. 
 
 What a calamity would have been the success 
 of the War of the Rebellion! The establishment 
 of a Southern Confederacy would have been fol- 
 lowed by others West, East, and Central and 
 the designs of Providence thwarted. But God 
 reigns, and America may yet fulfill her destiny as 
 
 4
 
 42 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 the theater of man's last effort to establish lib- 
 erty on a basis of intelligence and virtue. 
 
 There are now before us the grandest pros- 
 pects that ever invited a nation to greatness. 
 Statisticians tell us that the State of Texas is ca- 
 pable of employing in business and supporting a 
 population of fifty millions, and that then the in- 
 habitants per acre would not be as* dense as the 
 population of Germany and of most European 
 countries. It is held, by good judges, that the 
 lumber, coal, mining, and fishing interests of 
 Alaska, together with its commerce, will ulti- 
 mately be able to give employment to millions of 
 people. What, then, may we expect the popula- 
 tion of this country to be the whole of North 
 America two, three, or five hundred years from 
 the present? It is probable that the man who 
 occupies the Presidential chair in the year 2500 
 will find that the census has given him, as his 
 masters or subjects, as the case may be, not less 
 than ten hundred millions of souls, and yet there 
 would be room for hundreds of millions more. 
 We may, then, expect that, as surely as the sun 
 continues to rise and set and the earth yield her 
 increase, this population will be here, and then 
 the agricultural and mineral wealth of the Nation 
 will annually run up into hundreds of billions of 
 dollars. 
 
 North America, being a country of vast ex- 
 tent and almost an island, embracing every zone 
 and producing nearly everything that grows out
 
 A FIELD FOR METHODISM. 43 
 
 of the ground, or flies in trie air, or swims in the 
 sea, can be self-sufficient, self-contained, and it 
 must be somewhat islandic in its laws and insti- 
 tutions. America will not be Egypt, Chaldea, 
 Persia, or Rome over again, nor will it pattern 
 after any existing country ; but its destiny is to 
 be wholly a new nation, unlike any other that 
 ever existed. Had it been the will of Heaven 
 that England should reproduce herself here in 
 larger edition, then English ideas, the Episcopal 
 hierarchy, Church and State, would have early 
 taken root and attained to a vigorous growth ; but 
 such was not the order of Providence. Neither 
 was there to be in America a new France or an- 
 other Spain, with the Romish faith as the legally 
 established religion ; but that the Nation might 
 be thoroughly new, everything in it must be new. 
 Its Constitution must be an original conception, 
 its religion as free as the winds and as fresh as 
 the morning, its literature a growth from its own 
 soil, and its spirit as vast as the empire it is to 
 animate and govern. 
 
 But on this continent the human intellect is 
 likely to reach a height of strength and achieve- 
 ment such as it has never yet attained. Why have 
 China, India, Japan, and the islands of the sea 
 for many centuries deteriorated or remained sta- 
 tionary, and played so trifling a part in the affairs 
 of the world? The natives of Australia and many 
 other isolated peoples are, as the result of some 
 cause, sunk down to the lowest condition of bar-
 
 44 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 barism. On the other hand, what made the Greek 
 Republic so great? Even to this day the litera- 
 ture which that ancient country gave the world 
 constitutes half our learning. The names of 
 Homer, Pheidias, Pericles, Socrates, Plato, and 
 Aristotle still hold their place among the greatest 
 men in the world's history. And what was the 
 cause of the surpassing greatness of the Roman 
 Empire? Its statesmen, military captains, schol- 
 ars, poets, and orators were never surpassed, un- 
 less by the Greeks. How has it come to pass 
 that the little island of Great Britain rules almost 
 one-half the globe? To answer these questions 
 correctly, we have only to consider that China, 
 Japan, India, and the islands of the sea, from one 
 generation to another, stood isolated, alone, and 
 lived within themselves ; whereas among the 
 States of Greece, the provinces of Rome, and the 
 British isles, there has been a far-extended and 
 long-continued mixing of many nations. The 
 present Englishman is a combination of the best 
 blood of the Celt, the Angle, the Saxon, the Nor- 
 man, the native Briton, and probably of the old 
 Greek and Roman. 
 
 These facts clearly reveal to us an ethnic law 
 of the first importance ; and this law never found 
 for its operations a field so wide' and so auspicious 
 for great results as the American Republic now 
 presents. The Aryan family, our ancestors, first 
 established its household a little south of the Cau- 
 casian Mountains and west of the Caspian Sea.
 
 A FIELD FOR METHODISM. 45 
 
 From that primitive seat a colony if Max Miiller 
 is an authority moved south into Iran, and built 
 up the Persian Empire ; another colony moved 
 east, turned south, crossed the Himalaya Mount- 
 ains, and peopled India, the land of the Veda ; 
 another colony moved west, and founded the 
 Greek Republic ; and still another, at a later date, 
 founded Rome, and taught the world the science 
 of government and the majesty of law. This was 
 the first dispersion, and as one of the then far- 
 off results we see the present nations of Europe. 
 The Hindu, the Englishman, the Frenchman, the 
 German, the Dane, the Spaniard, the Portuguese, 
 the Italian, the Russian, the Swede, the Norwe- 
 gian, and the Icelander are the present living 
 branches of the primitive Aryan family. But 
 who and what is an American ? Is he an Eng- 
 glishman? No. A Frenchman? No. A Ger- 
 man? No. An Irishman? No. A Dane, Swede, 
 or Norwegian? No. What, then, is he? All 
 these compounded and mixed together. We see 
 going on before our eyes ethnologically the for- 
 mation of a new race or species of human kind. 
 The original Aryan blood was separated into 
 many streams at an early day, and one flowed 
 north, another south, another east, and others west, 
 acting everywhere a controlling part in the affairs 
 of the world, and becoming stationary and stag- 
 nant in no place but the torrid plains of India. 
 During the past three thousand five hundred 
 years this blood has enriched itself by appropri-
 
 46 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM, 
 
 ating to its own use the best qualities of the foui 
 quarters of the globe 
 
 "From Greenland's icy mountains 
 To India's coral strand " 
 
 and now these streams, swollen to rivers, have set 
 in toward the American Continent, and the United 
 States is destined to become the new home of the 
 great Aryan family. Here, on our soil a vast 
 and varied theater in the mixing of the best 
 blood of the best nations, the peculiarities of each 
 will become modified, and a new and homogene- 
 ous people formed. In mental ability, and in all 
 the forces which go to compose a great nation, 
 this Republic is foreordained and foredoomed to 
 surpass Greece, Rome, and the British Empire. 
 Had the people of the Southern States taken this 
 view of the calling and destiny of America in 
 1860, the war which cost that section so dearly 
 would not have occurred. Thoughts such as 
 these must have been in the mind of Emerson 
 when he said : "Our whole history appears like a 
 last effort of Divine Providence in behalf of the 
 human race." 
 
 No ethnical truth is more incontestably estab- 
 lished than the fact that environments, such as 
 are afforded by country and climate, have much 
 to do in the development of humanity. The an- 
 crstry of the Australian, the Eskimo, and the 
 Fuegians may have been as noble as our own, 
 but the wretched conditions in which they have 
 lived have barely kept them alive on the verge of
 
 A FIELD FOR METHODISM. 47 
 
 extinction. Apply this law to the central part of 
 this continent to the lake region and to the 
 mountain-girded valley of the Missouri. Then 
 the impression- an impression which can not be 
 shaken from the mind is the idea of beauty, 
 wealth, and vastness. Its geology suggests the 
 vastness of time, its mines of gold and silver, and 
 the inexhaustible resources of its soil; what 
 harvests may be reaped ! what rivers ! what valleys 
 and plains! what a paradise for flocks and herds! 
 what mountains, canons, trees, and rocks! The 
 humanity developed in the midst of these com- 
 binations of the rich, the beautiful, and the vast, 
 will receive its inspiration and take its cast from 
 them. 
 
 At the present time there is going on a con- 
 centration of the best Aryan blood in the world 
 in the immense valleys of the Missouri and Mis- 
 sissippi Rivers. At least a dozen different streams 
 of humanity are converging into this wide and 
 diversified region of the gold and silver mines. 
 A rich, broken, and mountainous country is a 
 grand place for the raising of mighty men. A 
 traveler called at the door of a tidy appearing 
 cottage in the mountains of New Hampshire, and 
 asked for a drink of water. Being supplied, he 
 inquired: "What on earth do you do in this 
 rough, rocky country?" "Sir, we build churches 
 and school-houses, and raise men!" was the reply. 
 The seat of empire is moving westward, and in 
 the not far-off future the center of population- will
 
 48 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 be in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Ne- 
 braska. From the mountains of Colorado, New 
 Mexico, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho will 
 come forth the men of brain and brawn who will 
 rule this Nation, and they will rule it in the spirit 
 of its greatness. Calmer regions may furnish the 
 scholars and the literature of the Nation; but 
 from those scenes of grandeur our poets will de- 
 rive their inspiration, and from them the min- 
 isters will come who will give character to our 
 pulpits. 
 
 Whose but a prophet's vision can tell what 
 this country will be when the census shall report 
 a population of a half-billion of souls? The same 
 sun will shine overhead, the same seasons come 
 and go, the same mountains stand, and the same 
 rivers roll; and the only problem whose solution 
 is unknown or doubtful is the moral and religious 
 development of the Nation which the far-away 
 years will witness. Without doubt we shall have 
 our Syllas and Catilines. They may arise in the 
 East or North or South or West. The South will 
 not be likely to repeat her late experiment for a 
 long time, and her example and fate as a warning 
 will not soon be forgotten by any section of the 
 country. Still we must not forget that a Repub- 
 lican soil is luxuriant in the production of dema- 
 gogues. A government from the people, by the 
 people, and for the people, is open for every citi- 
 zen to become a blessing or a curse to his country. 
 The possibilities of intelligence, virtue, and honor
 
 A FIELD FOR METHODISM. 49 
 
 are also at the same time the possibilities of igno- 
 rance, crime, and degradation. The mechanism 
 of necessity and moral law can not, in this re- 
 spect, be invoked as a means of producing certain 
 results, for the existence of vice is possible. The 
 security and peace of a Nation as vast as this is 
 to be found nowhere under a republican form of 
 government, except in the intelligence and virtue 
 of the people, and the whole people. The failure 
 of the Republic will introduce the despot and 
 standing armies. A wicked demagogue can make 
 a sacrifice of a republic only on the altar of the 
 ignorance and depravity of the people. The thor- 
 ough education of the fast-coming millions in 
 true Christian Americanism is the work now be- 
 fore us as a Nation ; and in this culture, the con- 
 science and the religious element, as the preserv- 
 atives of the sanctity of an oath, must be made of 
 overwhelming importance. 
 
 We should regard the perils through which we 
 have passed as a school, in which we may learn 
 to watch the storm-centers which are ever threat- 
 ening the life of the Nation. The preservation 
 of liberty requires eternal vigilance on the part 
 of the people, as fully as the perpetuation of des- 
 potism receives the ceaseless vigilance of the 
 despot. 
 
 Rome, the most powerful empire that ever ex- 
 isted, by its fall teaches us many useful lessons. 
 In the height of its splendor, its capital city be- 
 came glutted with wealth, which was nothing but 
 
 5
 
 50 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 the plunder of the nations its legions had con- 
 quered. This ill-gotten gain engendered idleness, 
 luxury, and vice, and thus the foundation of the 
 vast empire was sapped. As the realm did not 
 continue till the different peoples became homo- 
 geneous, they had but few common interests, and 
 the empire crumbled to pieces. Happily this Re- 
 public can never become exposed to the corrup- 
 tions of rapine and plunder. Our neighbors must 
 always be too far away to allow that to be possi- 
 ble; and, then, the acquisition of territory by 
 conquest forms no part of the ambition of the 
 American people. And, still further, we trust 
 that the high moral tone of the Nation will 
 forever forbid the accumulation of wealth by 
 the ruthless and inhuman robbery of other 
 people. 
 
 But is it not possible that the calamities of 
 wealth, with its luxury and vice, may come upon 
 the Nation from other sources? Let us glance at 
 the possibilities in this direction. There can be 
 no doubt that the riches of this country are des- 
 tined to surpass by far "the wealth of Ormus and 
 of Ind." Our mines of gold, silver, copper, tin, 
 iron, lead, coal, salt, oil, and gas present us fig- 
 ures which stagger the imagination of the statis- 
 tician. The wealth of the United States in 1890 
 was estimated at $71,000,000,000. This sum sur- 
 passes the wealth of Great Britain long the 
 wealthiest nation on the globe $21,000,000,000, 
 and is equal to the. wealth of Russia, Turkey,
 
 A FIELD FOR METHODISM. 51 
 
 Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Italy, Australia, South 
 Africa, and South America. 
 
 In 1860 the wealth of this country was esti- 
 mated at $16,000,000,000, of which $1,250,000,000 
 was slave property. Of course that sort of value 
 has been sponged out in blood; but, notwith- 
 standing that apparent loss, the wealth of the na- 
 tion increased in twenty years $27,482,000,000. 
 Is it not a marvelous and prophetic fact that the 
 youngest Nation on the face of the earth has be- 
 come the most wealthy? Between 1870 and 1880 
 our wealth increased to the enormous and unpar- 
 alleled extent of $19,587,000,000. Consider still 
 further that this country is yet in its infancy. 
 Every department of industry will increase with 
 the growth of our populations. The physical re- 
 sources of the country have not yet been dis- 
 covered, much less developed. Our domes-tic com- 
 merce has already reached the enormous sum 
 of $20,000,000,000. Europe expends annually 
 $900,000,000 on about 3,000,000 of soldiers. We 
 allow our able-bodied men to work and support 
 themselves and their families. France, Prussia, 
 Russia, Austria, Turkey, and England stand facing 
 and watching each other, suspicious and jealous, 
 growling and showing teeth; and especially is this 
 the case with England and Russia, and France 
 and Prussia. Hence the reasons for the expendi- 
 ture of immense sums in military and naval af- 
 fairs. Happily our country is free from the 
 embarrassments which arise from competing, sen-
 
 52 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 sitive, and jealous neighbors. Such difficulties 
 dissolve and disappear in the presence of com- 
 mon interests. 
 
 The main sources of wealth in this country 
 are mining, agriculture, manufactures, and com- 
 merce. Were the single State of Kansas culti- 
 vated to the utmost capacity of its rich, deep 
 soil, its productions would be adequate to the 
 support of ten millions of people. What, then, of 
 the whole country? 
 
 The mineral lands of this country, Alaska not 
 included, cover an area of not less than 1,000,000 
 of square miles, and of North America not less 
 than 2,000,000, and the wealth they are to yield 
 we have no figures to estimate. 
 
 In no way is the peculiar genius of the Amer- 
 ican people made more manifest than in the work 
 of invention and the business of manufacturing. 
 Here is not only a source of wealth but of dan- 
 ger, and the best safety-valve will be found in 
 carrying on a vigorous commerce with other 
 nations. 
 
 The vast wealth of the Nation is a pleasing 
 consideration, and could it, with any degree of 
 equality, be diffused among the people, it would 
 not be a source of danger. Already immense for- 
 tunes are drifting into business centers, which are 
 controlled by a few men. Could we, by legisla- 
 tion or education, give to the masses a greater 
 business capacity, and lessen the money-making 
 power of the few, the threatened evil might be
 
 A FIELD FOR METHODISM. 53 
 
 remedied. Monopolies and trust companies are 
 but the fruits of commercial genius. 
 
 We have not yet found a basis on which the 
 conflict between capital and labor can be perma- 
 nently settled. Our great cities are becoming the 
 hot-beds of secret societies and imported Anar- 
 chists. Politics without statesmanship is becom- 
 ing a profession and a matter of barter. But 
 the danger which threatens the development and 
 stability of the country more than any other arises 
 from the manufacture and use of intoxicating 
 drinks. The degenerating effects of drunkenness 
 are transmitted from parent to offspring, and often 
 many generations pass away before the virus is 
 eliminated from the system. Either prohibition 
 must become an accomplished fact in the not dis- 
 tant future, or this Nation will become a Nation 
 of drunkards. There seems to be something de- 
 moniac in every part of the whisky business. The 
 most fiendish ingenuity has been manifested in 
 the persistent attempts which have been made to 
 dodge or defy the law, and force the liquor-traffic 
 upon the prohibiting vStates of Maine, Kansas, 
 Iowa, and the Dakotas. The strife will continue 
 till the enemy is crushed, and eternal vigilance 
 will be required of every good citizen of those 
 young States to preserve their interests and in- 
 tegrity. Rum and crimes of every name and de- 
 scription go hand in hand. They are parts of 
 the same thing. Could intoxicants be banished 
 from our great cities, the poverty and crime and
 
 54 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 misery which abound would be lessened at least 
 eighty per cent. 
 
 Already, as an element of American society, 
 the Nation is cursed with what is known as the 
 socialism of Europe. A multitude of intelligent, 
 keen-witted, but exasperated foreigners have 
 brought to this country the horrors they experi- 
 enced at home, at the sight of the miseries they 
 there witnessed arising from the wealth of the 
 few and the helpless poverty of the many. Some 
 of these Anarchists propose the regeneration of 
 society here by the use of dynamite and gun- 
 powder. They teach and educate their children 
 to believe that arson, plunder, and murder are 
 not crimes if committed for the purpose of anni- 
 hilating the rights of private property. The fol- 
 lowing choice phrases are intended to be retained 
 in memory as household words: "Away with pri- 
 vate property!" "Away with all authority!" 
 "Away with the family!" "Away with religion!" 
 "Religion, authority, and State are all carved out 
 of the same piece of wood. To the devil with 
 them all!" "Prepare for the coming revolution!" 
 "Every man must have a breech-loader, and know 
 how to use it!" "Dynamite can be made out of 
 the dead bodies of capitalists as well as out of 
 hogs!" These are not intended to be idle words. 
 The scaffold in Chicago has reaped one harvest of 
 this seed, and others are to follow. 
 
 The proper observance of the Christian Sab- 
 bath is closely connected with that righteousness
 
 A FIELD FOR METHODISM. 55 
 
 which exalteth a nation, and saves it from vice 
 and reproach. A large percentage of the foreign 
 element which annually lands upon these shores 
 knows nothing of the sanctity and the religious 
 use which should be made of God's holy day. 
 Infidelity is constantly assailing it, and seeking to 
 effect its abrogation. Shall it be preserved or 
 not? A vast power must be enlisted in its be- 
 half, if it is saved to this Nation and its religious 
 benefits secured. The Nation started with a sa- 
 cred Sabbath, and, in order to its perpetuity, the 
 Sabbath must remain as a part of the fiber of so- 
 ciety. The adverse influence of trade, commerce, 
 and politics must be counteracted by the evangel- 
 izing forces of the Churches. 
 
 But all that is valuable in a free country must 
 rest upon the intelligence and virtue of the people. 
 An ignorant nation, subject to the sway of con- 
 flicting interests and wild passions, can be gov- 
 erned only by the rod of the despot. In all such 
 cases republican institutions are impracticable. 
 This Nation has ventured out upon a wide sea, 
 subject to all the storms and commotions of life, 
 trusting that such would be the intelligence of 
 the masses that they will ever be able to appre- 
 ciate what was wise and just, and defend them 
 with their treasure and their lives. Hence the 
 common-school system of most of the States mak- 
 ing, in some cases, the education of all the chil- 
 dren compulsory. Millions and millions of money 
 have been, and yet will be, appropriated for this
 
 56 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 purpose. All such taxes are cheerfully paid ; for 
 the people feel that the very life of the Nation 
 depends upon the education of those who govern 
 through the ballot-box. As supplementary agen- 
 cies to the common school, libraries are provided, 
 newspapers are scattered like the leaves of the 
 forest in autumn time, and every part of the Na- 
 tion is furnished with academies and colleges. 
 
 Such are some of the elements of power which 
 may be regarded as fundamental to the prosperity, 
 and even the perpetuity, of this great Republic. 
 They are more essential to the existence of this 
 Nation than to any other on the face of the globe. 
 How shall they be perpetuated, how conserved, 
 and how applied? The truth must be planted in 
 the enlightened conscience of the people that God 
 reigns, that he himself is judge, and that all the 
 kingdoms of this world are to become the king- 
 dom of our Lord and of his Christ. This can 
 be done only as the Church, as a life-giving and 
 leavening power, becomes diffused among the 
 masses. 
 
 This is as yet a new country, under the sway 
 of a new government, characterized by new insti- 
 tutions, new customs and laws, ethnically the home 
 of a new race, and all these things are to be pre- 
 served. This can be done only as there is brought 
 to their support a new conservative religious 
 power. The National Church of England is 
 adapted to conserve the political interests of that 
 nation, and fifty years ago Buddhism was adapted
 
 A FIELD FOR METHODISM. 57 
 
 to the dark and stupid condition of Japan. Mo- 
 hammedanism fits very well the half-civilized con- 
 dition of the Turkish Empire. Popery exists in 
 beautiful harmony with the Sabbath bull-fights 
 and the general ignorance and profligacy of Spain 
 and Mexico. 
 
 But when, in the providence of God, the Amer- 
 ican Republic sprung into organic form, there was 
 not a Church in existence, as the facts when 
 brought forward will demonstrate, that was 
 adapted to its condition and necessities. The 
 new bottle demanded new wine, and the God of 
 nations supplied its wants in his own way. This 
 stupendous fact will appear only as we trace in 
 parallel and yet interwoven lines the histories of 
 Methodism and the Nation, and note the silent 
 and scarcely conscious influence the 'one has had 
 upon the other. The field of thought before us 
 is, then, the founding of a new, free Nation; the 
 springing into existence at the same time of a 
 new Church ; the independence of both ; the march 
 of civilization, the spread of the gospel, and the 
 conduct of as wise and brave men in behalf of 
 both as God ever called to act a noble part in the 
 affairs of either Church or State.
 
 " jjfROM an examination of all the records which we have 
 C-H been able to command, and from a pretty extensive in- 
 quiry of the living, we can not find more than fifteen places 
 in New England in which there was a special work of grace 
 during the first forty years after the 'great revival' under 
 Edwards and Whitefield." 
 
 58 Christian Spectator, June, 1833.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INADEQUACY OF THE OLD CHURCHES TO MEET THE 
 WANTS OF THE NEW NATION. 
 
 BY the bold Declaration of Independence, the 
 Continental Congress assumed, July 4, 1776, 
 for the thirteen Colonies, the responsibilities of a 
 Nation among the nations of the earth. The pop- 
 ulation of the Atlantic Slope, at the time, was 
 about three and a half millions of souls, the most 
 of it poor, and scattered over a wide extent of 
 country. 
 
 The relation of the new-born Republic suf- 
 fering from the throes of internal revolution and 
 of a deadly conflict with Great Britain to the 
 various religious bodies of the world, Romish and 
 Protestant, must, at this point, be carefully con- 
 sidered. Our argument assumes that none of 
 these Churches, nor all of them together, were 
 fitted or adequate to meet the peculiar wants of 
 the young Nation as it then was, or as it was 
 speedily to become, and that Methodism by a 
 special providence was raised up to meet the 
 emergency. 
 
 Has the remarkable fact been sufficiently con- 
 sidered that Methodism, as spiritual life, pure, 
 simple, and powerful, without a touch of ecclesi- 
 
 59
 
 60 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 astical authority, was indigenous to the soil of 
 the American Nation? At the time when the 
 first low mutterings of the thunders of the Rev- 
 olution were heard, the Methodist life, in the per- 
 sons of Robert Strawbridge, Captain Webb, Bar- 
 bara Heck, and Philip Embury, found in three 
 different localities, far-distant from each other, a 
 spontaneous development. So far as Church 
 authority was concerned, these persons were as 
 free as the air. They recognized no allegiance 
 except to their Divine Master and to their own 
 convictions of duty. The zeal they manifested in 
 preaching the gospel was the natural and neces- 
 sary outcome of the fire that was in them. In 
 the marked success which attended their labors 
 they saw the seal of a divine approval, and were 
 satisfied. These persons commenced their labors 
 in different Colonies, and prosecuted them for 
 some time without even knowing of the existence 
 of their co-workers. The blood of England, Ire- 
 land, and Germany an ominous commence- 
 ment was thus, in the beginning, enlisted in the 
 cause of Methodism. 
 
 The fact that Barbara Heck, Philip Embury, 
 Robert Strawbridge, and Captain Webb were con- 
 verted across the seas, under the labors of Wesley, 
 makes no difference. Their love for Christ and 
 the zeal for the conversion of souls they mani- 
 fested here, were the spontaneous outworkings of 
 the grace they had individually received from on 
 high. It was thus that, by the Holy Spirit, Meth-
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE. 6 1 
 
 odism became at an early day rooted in the soil of 
 America. 
 
 We are led to the conclusion that the Churches 
 of the Colonies were inadequate to their spiritual 
 wants, not by any speculative theory, religious or 
 political, but by the logic of the palpable facts in 
 the case. Where existing Churches do their work 
 thoroughly and well, there is neither call nor room 
 for a new body. That our reasons for the judg- 
 ment we have formed in this matter may be the 
 more apparent, we will take a brief survey of the 
 ecclesiastical state of the country between the 
 years 1766 and 1776, before the country was seri- 
 ously disturbed by the War of the Revolution. 
 
 i. THE ROMISH HIERARCHY. 
 
 Popery held possession of South and Central 
 America, of Mexico, New Orleans, Cuba, Cali- 
 fornia, New Mexico, Florida, St. Louis, Detroit, 
 parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, most of Can- 
 ada, a part of Maryland, and the Jesuits had ob- 
 tained a foothold even in Boston. For more than 
 one hundred years had Romanism held undis- 
 puted possession of Toronto, Quebec, Detroit, 
 Baltimore, and many other strategic points. In 
 1775, Jesuit priests penetrated Kentucky, and 
 founded the city of St. Louis. The Colonies were 
 thus begirt on all sides with the Romish hie- 
 rarchy. Is it not clear that had not the adverse 
 decree of the God of nations been in their way, 
 the Jesuits might have seized the young Republic 
 as a popish prize ?
 
 62 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM, 
 
 2. THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND HIERARCHY. 
 South of the Potomac to Florida, from the 
 
 earliest settlement of the country up to the time 
 of the Revolution, the people were dependent for 
 religious instruction and the ordinances of Chris- 
 tianity upon the State Church. From 1662 this 
 Church shared the religious interests of Mary- 
 land with the Romanists. In Virginia alone there 
 were ninety-five parishes, one hundred and sixty- 
 four churches, and ninety-one clergymen. The 
 communicants embraced the greater part of the 
 population. This Church was established in New 
 York in 1693, and its influence soon reached New 
 Jersey. In 1686 an Episcopal Church was estab- 
 lished in Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1772 it 
 obtained a footing in Connecticut. At the time 
 of the birth of the Republic this Church was 
 established in most of the Colonies; in the South 
 it was very strong, and its position was favorable 
 to make it the Church of the new Nation. 
 
 3. THE CONGREGATIONALISTS. 
 
 The Puritans who landed at Plymouth in 1620 
 founded the Congregational Church of the United 
 States, and from the beginning till long after the 
 Revolution, it was the legally established order in 
 most of the New England States. Its communi- 
 cants embraced a large part of the population, 
 and all property owners were required to pay 
 tithes for its support. In cases of non-member- 
 ship this law was often most rigidly enforced. 
 In Massachusetts the Congregationalists had, in
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE. 63 
 
 1760, seventy-seven churches; and in Connecticut, 
 thirty-seven. Between 1640 and 1740 the Con- 
 gregational Church was established in New York 
 and New Jersey. The origin, strength, and 
 loyalty of this Church gave to it great oppor- 
 tunities, and placed upon it vast responsibilities; 
 but, for reasons which will appear further on, 
 something was lacking, and it was not equal to 
 the wants of the coming Nation. 
 
 4. THE REGULAR BAPTISTS. 
 
 This Church is indigenous to the soil of 
 America. Persecuted in Massachusetts, as he 
 alleged, for opinion's sake but, as others claim, 
 banished because he was a turbulent spirit Roger 
 Williams went to Rhode Island, and organized a 
 Baptist Church in 1638. In 1700 a Baptist Church 
 was organized in New York; in 1682, in Maine; 
 in 1683, in South Carolina; in 1684, in Pennsyl- 
 vania; in 1688, in New Jersey; in 1701, in Dela- 
 ware; in 1705, in Connecticut; in 1714, in Vir- 
 ginia; in 1727, in North Carolina; in 1755, in 
 New Hampshire ; and later, in other Colonies and 
 States. In 1766 this Church numbered about one 
 hundred and twenty-five congregations and min- 
 isters. In New England, New York, and in some 
 other places, it had suffered persecution; never- 
 theless it had grown and prospered more than 
 any other Church. It was loyal to liberty during 
 the War, and having a position in nearly all the 
 Colonies, it was in a favorable position to take in 
 charge the religious interests of the new Nation.
 
 64 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 5. THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The Presbyterian Church was organized in 
 America in 1684, in the Colony of Maryland; in 
 1692, in New Jersey; in 1698, in Philadelphia; and 
 in 1716, in New York City. From this time on, the 
 Presbyterian Church steadily increased in numbers 
 and influence, mostly as the result of the heavy tide 
 of emigration which set in from Scotland, England, 
 Wales, and the North of Ireland. In 1745 a Presby- 
 tery is reported in New England. In about 1770 the 
 Church organization stood : Two Synods, ten Pres- 
 byteries, and about one hundred ministers. 
 
 Presbyterians did more than any other class of 
 citizens to prepare the way for the independence 
 of the Colonies. In leaving Scotland and Ireland 
 they brought with them but little love for Eng- 
 land. They saw the coming of the Revolution 
 before this stupendous event had entered the 
 minds of the politicians. The Synod which met 
 in Philadelphia, in 1775, favored resistance to the 
 king ; and in the following May, of the same year, 
 the Synod which met in Mecklenburg issued a 
 Declaration of Independence. The Scotch-Irish 
 Presbyterians of Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
 were not a whit behind their Congregational 
 brethren of New England in the Colonial Coun- 
 cils, or in baring their breasts to the bullets of the 
 enemy. This Church was badly shattered during 
 the war; but in the heroic sacrifices it had made 
 in carrying the Colonies through the throes of the 
 Revolution, it had gone far to earn the right to
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE. 65 
 
 take in charge the religious interests of the infant 
 Nation. But 
 
 6. THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. 
 
 This Church was established in Delaware in 
 1638, and in New York in 1644. It was greatly 
 favored by emigration, and in 1760 its influence 
 extended from Maine to Georgia. As the people 
 generally spoke the English language, the Lu- 
 theran preachers gave their attention almost ex- 
 clusively to the German population. 
 
 It is not necessary to our argument that smaller 
 denominations, as Jews, Mennonites, Bunkers, 
 German Reformed, Associate Reformed, etc., be 
 characterized, since their influence has been but 
 slightly felt by the Nation. 
 
 Whilst these six religious bodies were in the 
 field and fully organized, holding everywhere the 
 central positions especially the Romanists, Con- 
 gregationalists, the English Church, and the Pres- 
 byterians where were the Methodists? So far 
 as we know, there was not in 1760 one in Amer- 
 ica. The Wesleys were in England, preaching in 
 the highways, byways, fields, and market-places, 
 as the State Churches were shut against them. 
 As if winged for the flight, they visited every 
 part of the United Kingdom, neglecting not the 
 "Black Country;" and before the victory was 
 complete, they wrestled long and hard with the 
 beastly mobs of Cornwall. Most abundant were 
 the fruits of their labors. Nothing equal to it 
 had the world witnessed since the apostolic age. 
 
 6
 
 65 .OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 John Wesley, whose talent for organizing and 
 governing has seldom been surpassed, put into 
 the field as "helpers" many courageous and brill- 
 iant lay preachers, organized circuits, classes, and 
 bands, built churches, and thus secured the fruits 
 of his labors. In seemingly an erratic and almost 
 aimless way, Whitefield had repeatedly visited 
 America ; but his influence was on the wane. So 
 overwhelmed with labors were the Wesleys, that 
 they seemed to have given no thought to 
 America. 
 
 But a greater than Wesley saw that a new Na- 
 tion was about to emerge from the throes of a 
 bloody conflict between the Colonies and the 
 mother country. " The kingdom of heaven cometh 
 not with observation." Rather its beginning is 
 like a stone cut out of the mountain without 
 hands, or the grain of mustard-seed, the smallest 
 of all seeds. In accordance with this principle, in 
 about the year 1763 Robert Strawbridge, a young, 
 fiery, Irish local preacher, one of Wesley's lay 
 helpers, on his own motion, came to this country 
 and settled on Sam's Creek, near Baltimore, in 
 the Colony of Maryland. With no authority above 
 him on the soil of America but that of Heaven, 
 he broke the seals of his ministry, and great was 
 the success which attended his labors. So far as 
 he knew, until converts began to multiply around 
 him, himself and wife were the only Methodists 
 to be found in America. About this time, Cap- 
 tain Webb, an officer in the British army, being
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE. 67 
 
 on duty in Albany, New York, acting out the true 
 spirit of Methodism, commenced preaching the 
 "new" gospel, as it was called, to soldiers and to 
 any others who would listen to him. The word 
 was blessed to the good of many. Converts were 
 multiplied, though he organized no society so far 
 as is known. While engaged in these labors, this 
 brave British officer, bearing the scars of many 
 battles for his country, knew not of another Meth- 
 odist on the continent. But about this time there 
 came to the city of New York a woman of Ger- 
 man blood, whose name was Barbara Heck, the 
 wife of Paul Heck, and a celestial spark from that 
 battery started the flame of Methodism in New 
 York City. A society was organized. Philip Em- 
 bury, a local preacher, was moved to come to its 
 assistance, and the true Methodist revival power 
 spread in all directions. Captain Webb, on learn- 
 ing what was going on in New York City, within 
 a few days, clad in the garb of a British officer, 
 appeared in their midst, and greatly encouraged 
 them by his preaching and prayers. In Maryland 
 Strawbridge organized a circuit, formed societies, 
 and built a log chapel. His rude church was 
 never finished, as the work spread so rapidly that 
 a larger house was demanded. The fact that 
 Methodism should, simultaneously and spontane- 
 ously, in three different places remote from each 
 other on this continent, spring up out of the earth, 
 or, rather, come down from heaven, among three 
 different nationalities, must be regarded as prov-
 
 68 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 idential, and as foreshadowing its world-wide 
 mission. 
 
 Such were the principal ecclesiastical forces 
 which we find at work in this country a few years 
 before the outbreak of the War of the Revolution. 
 The following figures will give a correct idea of 
 the strength of the Churches in 1775, as furnished 
 by Dr. Robert Baird, in his work entitled "Relig- 
 ion in America:" 
 
 Ministers. Churches. 
 
 Episcopalians, 250 300 
 
 Baptists, . 350 380 
 
 Congregation alists, 575 700 
 
 Presbyterians, 140 300 
 
 Lutherans, 25 60 
 
 Reformed Dutch, 25 60 
 
 Methodists, 20 30 
 
 Romanists, 26 52 
 
 Who at that time could have prophesied that 
 in less than a half a century the least among the 
 Protestant bodies would become the first and the 
 greatest? 
 
 It is easy enough to set forth the facts of his- 
 tory; but these become valuable only as we learn 
 the lessons they teach. Some one has said that 
 history is philosophy teaching by example ; and it 
 is the reason, the philosophy, or the providence of 
 Methodism we desire to understand. This is at 
 present our sole business. 
 
 Why was it impossible for Romanism to be- 
 come the religion of the American Republic? We 
 answer: It was as old, stale wine, fit only for an 
 old bottle; whereas the new Republic, as a new 
 bottle, demanded new wine, that both might be
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE. 69 
 
 preserved. Such is the nature of things and such 
 the order of Providence. Had it been the Divine 
 will to reproduce upon this continent the Spanish 
 nation once one of the most brutal and blood- 
 thirsty nations that ever existed then the Span- 
 ish Romanists might have been a success in this 
 country. In the political and religious history of 
 Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, Guatemala, Nicarau- 
 gua, and the States of South America, we can see 
 what our Nation would have been under Roman- 
 ism. Had the Divine plan been to make North 
 America an appendage of France, success would 
 have attended the unparalleled zeal of French col- 
 onists and the unwearied labors of French Jesuit 
 missionaries. But, as it now appears, French 
 blood, French religion, and French treasures were 
 wasted when expended for the possession of 
 America. 
 
 The sacrifices and labors the Romish mis- 
 sionaries endured on this continent have never 
 been surpassed ; but primarily they labored, not 
 for the spread of Christianity, not for the conver- 
 sion of souls, not for the moral welfare of human- 
 ity, not for the righteousness and glory of the 
 Nation, but for the dissemination and power of 
 popery. The Good Being had in mind for us 
 another destiny, and in the thousand defeats 
 Rome suffered, we escaped the papal grasp. Ev- 
 ery country in the world that is under the sway 
 of Romanism is morally five hundred years be- 
 hind and below what it ought to be. Popery can
 
 70 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 flourish among the masses only where, as in old, 
 obsolete European nations, ignorance, supersti- 
 tion, and crime prevail. Hence Romanism was 
 wholly unsuited to the wants of a young, intelli- 
 gent, growing Republic. It was the stereotyped 
 edition of the Dark Ages that " night of a thou- 
 sand years " and humanity, in its higher forms, 
 having grown away from that period, it could 
 not be reproduced or duplicated in a new empire. 
 With every true Romanist the pope is first. 
 Home, country, Christianity, heaven, and hell 
 are secondary considerations. When the figure of 
 a circle and a square are made to coincide, then 
 may a papist be loyal and true to this country and 
 also, at the same time,, to the pope of Rome. Of 
 such material the American Republic could not 
 be built. 
 
 What Victor Hugo says of the French Roman 
 Catholic Church, applies to Romanism in all na- 
 tions : 
 
 " You want us to give you the people to in- 
 struct," he said. "Very well. Let us see your 
 pupils. Let us see those you have produced. 
 What have you done for Italy? What have you 
 done for Spain? Italy, which taught mankind 
 to read, now knows not how to read. Yes, Italy 
 is, of all the States of Europe, that where the 
 smallest number know how to read ! Spain, 
 thanks to you, rests under a yoke of stupor, which 
 is a yoke of degradation and decay. Spain has 
 lost the secret power it obtained from the Ro-
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE. 71 
 
 mans, the genius of art it had from the Arabs, the 
 world (of America) it had from God ; and in ex- 
 change for all that you have made it lose, it has 
 received from you the Inquisition" 
 
 The Protestant Episcopal Church was handi- 
 capped by being a part of the British State; and, 
 as a consequence, when the one relinquished its 
 grasp upon the Colonies, the other drifted away 
 in a dismantled, helpless condition. And then 
 everything pertaining to the English hierarchy 
 was old, formal, worn-out, and unsuited to the 
 spirit of a Nation which was just springing into 
 independence and power. It was weighted down 
 by a long-drawn-out creed which no one pre- 
 tended to understand ; it was worked by the ma- 
 chinery of a stiff ritual, partly religious and partly 
 political an unholy alliance of Church and 
 State and, still worse, it had no aggressive evan- 
 gelizing power. 
 
 The essential element of the gospel the spir- 
 itual regeneraticn of the soul it had lost sight 
 of, and for this work of the Holy Spirit had sub- 
 stituted the ordinance of water baptism, and in- 
 vented a ceremony or sacrament called confirma- 
 tion. Nothing better could have been devised to. 
 fill the Church with unregenerate people. Be- 
 cause prayer is not the "vital breath" of the 
 unconverted, to accommodate such persons and 
 help them keep up the form of religion, a se- 
 ries of prayers were written out, which they might 
 memorize or read. Considered as old wine, it was
 
 72 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 not according to the order of Providence, nor 
 agreeable to the nature of things, that it should 
 be put into a new bottle. It was therefore well, 
 when the Colonies revolted against the mother 
 country, that the Episcopal clergy of Virginia, 
 Maryland, New York, Boston, and other places, 
 left their people and returned home; for there 
 was nothing here which they, as British subjects, 
 could do. Rankin, Boardman, and Pillmore, Wes- 
 ley's missionaries, did well to follow their ex- 
 ample. As Asbury came to stay, and had become 
 thoroughly American, he did well to remain. 
 
 At the close of the war the Congregational 
 and Presbyterian Churches were in an excellent 
 position, by co-operation, to take the country 
 and mold its institutions. Both Churches had 
 acted a brave and noble part in the war, as well 
 as in the councils of the infant Republic, and both 
 were led by a learned and exemplary ministry. 
 But in the fact that they did not, we have proof 
 that they could not, do it. The peculiar elements 
 essential to religious conquests they did not pos- 
 sess. The mold in which they had been cast was 
 on the other side of the sea, and they did not fit 
 the new condition of things in this country. The 
 Congregation alists had brought with them some- 
 thing of the tyranny they fled from in the Old 
 World, and the Presbyterians made conspicu- 
 ously manifest the stamp of the Scotch-Irish na- 
 tionality; and then both Churches were weighted 
 down to the sinking point by a Confession of Faith
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE. 73 
 
 which belonged to a departed age, and which pos- 
 sessed elements the most revolting lhat were 
 ever formulated by the misguided hand of man. 
 Instinctively the human heart recoils from the 
 dogma that a God of truth, justice, and love cre- 
 ated a large part of the human family that he 
 might enjoy the " good pleasure " of damning 
 them to all eternity. The keenest edge this doc- 
 trine can carry is seen when applied to the dam- 
 nation of infants. The wonder is, as seen in the 
 light of this age, that any Church holding to such 
 doctrines could meet with any success among in- 
 telligent people. 
 
 Besides, these Churches had not only to carry 
 the burthen of such a creed, they had, except in 
 rare cases, lost sight of the doctrine of the spirit- 
 ual regeneration of the soul, the witness of the 
 Spirit, and adoption into the family of God. A large 
 part of the ministry and membership regarded as 
 a heresy a something wicked, presumptuous, and 
 of the devil the idea that a man should profess 
 to know that his sins were forgiven. At this time 
 the great revivals which had swept over New 
 England, under the labors of Edwards and White- 
 field, had spent their force, and a deadly reaction 
 had followed. The tone and temper of the peo- 
 ple had become prepared for the ingress of Uni- 
 tarianism, and had it not been for the timely 
 touch and vital breath of Methodism it is quite 
 certain that but few orthodox Congregational 
 Churches would exist in New England to-day. 
 
 7
 
 74 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 With the decline of spiritual Christianity, the 
 morals of 'the people had terribly suffered. The 
 testimony is that, in staid New England, "vast 
 numbers, young and old, male and female, are 
 given to intemperance;" "the drinking habits of 
 all classes, ministers included, hung like a dead 
 weight upon the Churches." "Licentiousness for 
 some years had greatly prevailed among the 
 youth." "The clergy of Virginia, following the 
 style of many in England, were morally low, and 
 the people lower still." Bishop Meade said: "As 
 to the unworthy, hireling clergy of the Colony, 
 there was no ecclesiastical discipline to correct or 
 punish their irregularities and vices;" "all notori- 
 ous vices were committed, so that it had become 
 a Sodom of uncleanness and a pest-house of in- 
 iquity." In these sickening and lamentable facts 
 we may see in part the reason why these Churches 
 were not adequate to meet the spiritual wants of 
 the new Nation. 
 
 The Baptist Church is a worthy body of peo- 
 ple. The crime of persecution does not stain its 
 raiment at least in this country. It has ever 
 held tenaciously to the doctrine of the spiritual 
 regeneration of the soul. An unholy alliance 
 with the world and the spirit of the world it has 
 never sought. It possesses elements of great 
 strength, especially with the common people. It 
 could not, however, meet the spiritual wants of 
 the American Republic. Calvinism, conjoined 
 with close communion, does not accord with the
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE. 75 
 
 sentiment that all men were created equal, and 
 endowed with the same fundamental rights 
 among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
 happiness. The element of aggressiveness is 
 lacking in its form of Church government. The 
 faith prevalent among the laity that immersion is 
 the only authorized mode of baptism, has served 
 as a bond of union, and has proved to be an ele- 
 ment of strength. This Church has been favored 
 with the services of great, scholarly, and noble 
 men. In the missionary field it has acted a very 
 worthy part. Excluding the half-civilized anti- 
 mission Baptists, the Church has been true to 
 temperance and to the cause of education. Never- 
 theless it never felt the impulse of a deep and 
 abiding conviction that it was called, whilst yet in 
 its swaddling clothes, to supply a new Nation with 
 the pure gospel of Christ. Through its own devo- 
 tion to duty, aided by emigration, it has done for 
 our country and for the world a noble work, and 
 we can but wish it Godspeed. 
 
 The Lutheran Church in America was, to be- 
 gin with, but a segment of German life among 
 us un-American in thought, feeling, and spirit; 
 and not till the third or fourth generation did its 
 members become thorough-going citizens. And 
 even to this day, in some places, Lutheran minis- 
 ters are uniting with the Jesuits to cripple and 
 destroy our common schools. The stability and 
 strength of the Nation demand that we be a 
 homogeneous people; that all persons, who enjoy
 
 76 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 the benefits of this country and this Government, 
 be American in spirit. The parents who deny to 
 their children the right and privilege of learning 
 and using the English language, should be re- 
 garded as traitors, and perhaps banished from the 
 country. There seems to be a fear that if the 
 children are not shut up within the inclosure of 
 the German language, they will cease to be 
 Germans and Lutherans. Such a religion may 
 do for Germany, but in this country it is an 
 exotic it is as old wine, fit only for an old 
 bottle. 
 
 Let us now glance at Methodism, as "new 
 wine for a new bottle." As we have seen, Meth- 
 odism spontaneously appeared in three different 
 sections of the country amidst the opening scenes 
 of the Revolutionary War. There were, in 1765, 
 as far as known, but eight Methodists in America; 
 but these, each in his own way and acting upon 
 his personal responsibility, was successfully en- 
 gaged in revival work. In 1769, John King, an 
 English local preacher, appeared in Baltimore, 
 and on his own responsibility, preached the gos- 
 pel, using for a pulpit a blacksmith's anvil-block. 
 His topic was the necessity of conversion, and the 
 doctrine appeared to the people to be a new gos- 
 pel. The next day he preached to a great crowd 
 in the open air, standing on a table. King, in 
 Baltimore, is but a duplicate of Strawbridge on 
 Sam's Creek. An evangelizing force, hitherto un- 
 known it appears, has smitten the people, and the
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE. 77 
 
 workmen are but working out the fire that burns 
 within them. 
 
 In 1768 the news reached England that some 
 sparks of Methodist fire had crossed the ocean, 
 and falling in different places, had created a great 
 flame on this continent. This information was 
 hailed with the greatest delight in all Methodist 
 circles. "Come over and help us" was the new 
 Macedonian cry. As Wesley could not see his 
 "helpers" till the approaching Conference, Robert 
 Williams, a local preacher, hastened to this coun- 
 try, and landed in New York in October, 1769. 
 He was one of the bright and scholarly men of 
 that day. After receiving a little training under 
 Embury in New York, and King and Strawbridge 
 in Baltimore, he hastened to Norfolk, Virginia; 
 and as the fruit of a single sermon, preached from 
 the steps of the court-house, souls were converted, 
 and a society organized. The same year, Board- 
 man and Pilmoor were sent by Mr. Wesley to this 
 country as missionaries; and they were followed, 
 in 1771, by the plain but great and marvelous 
 Francis Asbury, as Mr. Wesley's assistant. He 
 called the scattered flock together in Philadelphia, 
 in 1773, and for the first time in the history of 
 American Methodism, took an account of stock. 
 There were present ten preachers, and they re- 
 ported a membership of 1,160. Notwithstanding 
 the mutterings of the coming war, in 1775, the 
 number of preachers most of them raised upon 
 the soil had increased to 24, and the laymen to
 
 78 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 4,921. With scarcely an exception, this member- 
 ship was composed of new-born souls, not emi- 
 grants from the old world "new wine for the 
 new bottle." 
 
 The war was at hand, and Wesley's "Calm 
 Address" to the Colonies was full of sympathy 
 for King George, as well as for the people ot 
 this country; and for a time it embarrassed the 
 preachers, as the patriots were jealous of every 
 person who had any connection with England. 
 Wesley's missionaries, Asbury excepted, returned 
 to England; but Owen (the first native Method- 
 ist preacher), Watters, Strawbridge, King, Garrett- 
 son, Gatch, Dickins, Haggarty, Dromgoole, Webster, 
 and other native preachers, kept the field, went 
 freely from Colony to Colony, and their labors 
 were greatly blest. Nowhere in the country was 
 another such an evangelizing force to be found. 
 Such was the growth of Methodism, in spite of 
 the war, that, at the Christmas Conference held 
 in Baltimore, 1784, there were reported 85 itin- 
 erant preachers, several hundred useful local 
 preachers and exhorters, and 14,988 members. 
 Though Asbury was in retirement during the 
 first years of the war, yet order and system every- 
 where prevailed. 
 
 All the old Churches had suffered a terrible 
 declension. In Virginia alone, out of ninety-five 
 parishes, twenty-three had wholly disappeared. 
 The Congregational and Presbyterian Churches 
 had fared no better. In 1785 the itinerant force
 
 THE OLD CHURCHES INADEQUATE, 79 
 
 of Methodism was 104; members, 18,000. The 
 other Churches were just beginning to rally. 
 
 Can there be two opinions in regard to the sig- 
 nificance of these facts? Is the birth of the new 
 Nation more marvelous than the spontaneous rise 
 of Methodism in its midst at the same time? Let 
 it not be forgotten that its members were new-born 
 souls, not emigrants. Did not the good of the 
 Nation demand this revival work more than any- 
 thing else? Was it not the one thing needful?
 
 "JTHE rise of Methodism was the birth of a spiritual re- 
 form of which all Christian denominations of Great Brit- 
 ain and America were in desperate need. ... It was a re- 
 enforcement of Apostolic Christianity also, in every other 
 Christian denomination in the English-speaking nations and 
 colonies. We have all felt the throb of its pulsations. It has 
 been what new blood is to falling dynasties and decadent 
 races." PHEI.PS. 
 
 So
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 METHODISM, BY A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE, RAISED 
 UP SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE NATION, TO BE 
 TO IT AS " NEW WINE IN A NEW BOTTLE." 
 
 WHERE are we to look for the hiding of God's 
 power among the Methodists during the 
 throes of the Revolutionary War? Throughout 
 all those years of agony the preachers were able 
 to keep the field, travel everywhere, and hold to- 
 gether the growing societies they had planted. 
 All the old and well-established Churches of the 
 country were practically paralyzed, and many 
 local organizations blotted out of existence; but 
 Methodism spontaneously developed on the soil, 
 though in an unorganized condition, without an 
 ordained ministry, without the sacraments of re- 
 ligion, hardly venturing to call itself a Church, 
 triumphed in every place, and, under its deepen- 
 ing and widening influence, the life and power of 
 religion prevailed. A multitude of souls were 
 converted and new Churches organized. As Meth- 
 odism proved to be superior to the disturbances of 
 the country, and marched forward from one con- 
 quest to another, why did not the other Churches 
 do the same ? Such are the undisputed facts of 
 history, and they must mean something. Is it 
 
 not clear that a new element of religious life had 
 
 81
 
 82 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME T HOD ISM. 
 
 been introduced into society? Though small as 
 a mustard-seed, it attracted attention even then ; 
 but the full significance of the new movement can 
 be understood only as we examine its later develop- 
 ments. This much was apparent then, even to 
 the casual observer, that a new evangelizing 
 Church was rising on the soil of America to be 
 the conservator of the religious interests of a new 
 nation. 
 
 When Asbury came to this country he was a 
 young man. He came to stay, and his plastic 
 nature was taking form. In sympathy and inter- 
 est he became as thoroughly American as Garrett- 
 son or any of the native preachers. Happily 
 Rankin, and nearly the entire foreign element of 
 Methodism present at the beginning of hostilities, 
 took their departure for. England and returned 
 no more. It is not to be regretted that Bishop 
 Coke, great, good, and beloved as he was, after 
 the organization of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in 1784 the special work he came to 
 America to perform was called to other fields of 
 labor, leaving to American Methodism the free- 
 dom of a spontaneous development. 
 
 As the Wesleys never emancipated themselves 
 from the Anglican Church, nor from the notion of 
 the union of Church and State, it was well for 
 American Methodism that neither of them visited 
 this continent at this time. The new bottle must 
 be filled with new wine. 
 
 The following sharp distinction should be
 
 A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 83 
 
 made between the mission and labors of Luther 
 and Wesley. Luther carried on, in parallel lines, 
 two kinds and orders of work. He first leveled 
 all his guns against the corruptions of the papacy, 
 and later against the whole Roman hierarchy. 
 He also labored to keep before the country the 
 great doctrine of justification by faith and the 
 spiritualities of a pure Christianity. More than 
 half his life and strength were, however, spent in 
 combating Romanism. As a result, the Reforma- 
 tion before the close of the seventeenth century 
 had spent its force, and a reaction set in. 
 
 Wesley took in hand but one work, the con- 
 version of the soul; and the conversion of the 
 soul he made the soul of Methodism. Not a word 
 but that of kindness and charity had he to say of 
 the Anglican Church, or of the Dissenting bodies 
 of England or America. It matters not what 
 Churches exist, there are always coming to ma- 
 turity and presenting themselves persons who 
 need the regenerating power of the gospel of 
 Christ. "He came to seek and save that which 
 was lost," and Wesley imitated his example in 
 this respect. In letting popery alone, and raising 
 up another people, inspired by a true evangelism, 
 he did more to circumvent and render powerless 
 the Roman hierarchy than even Luther himself. 
 At the same time the revival, in which he acted 
 so commanding a part, continues with unabated 
 force to this day, and is yet spreading rapidly 
 throughout the world.
 
 84 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 The Methodists of America followed, in this 
 respect, the example of Wesley to the very letter. 
 They kept up such an incessant attack upon the 
 devil and his works that they had no time for any- 
 thing else. The shout of a converted soul brought 
 them their supreme delight. When attacked they 
 defended their doctrines, and the same Calvinist 
 seldom entered the arena a second time. They 
 assailed none, neither did they ask any favors. 
 
 In this respect our fathers may have been di- 
 rected by a deeper leading than they knew. Ot- 
 terbein, of the German Reformed Church, a man 
 of deep piety, well-known and beloved as a 
 brother by Asbury, and very successful in his 
 ministry among the German population, proposed 
 to find a home for himself and his flock in the 
 newly-organized Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 Asbury, utterly destitute of ecclesiastical ambi- 
 tion, doubted the propriety of the step. Will 
 there be a perfect blending of the two bodies, 
 making one one in doctrine, usage, and sympa- 
 thy? He knew that the lion and the lamb could 
 lie down together in peace and unity, only as the 
 lion ate and assimilated the lamb. He finally 
 persuaded Otterbein that he had better organize 
 his German brethren into a Church by themselves, 
 as the means of securing the greater unity and 
 usefulness. Taking the Methodist Book of Dis- 
 cipline as his guide, he founded the United Breth- 
 ren Church, and raised up a devoted, zealous, and 
 spiritual people.
 
 A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 85 
 
 Some years later when, as the result of a great 
 revival one of the most remarkable this country 
 ever experienced in the Cumberland country, 
 Kentucky, some hundreds of Presbyterians, 
 preachers and laymen, finding themselves not in 
 harmony with the old Scotch-Irish Calvinistic el- 
 ement of the Church, proposed to unite as a body 
 with the Methodist Church, which, as a young gi- 
 ant, was then sweeping through the great West, 
 after the most prayerful deliberation, the offer 
 was kindly and respectfully declined. Fully be- 
 lieving that Methodism, pure and simple, was 
 from God, they felt it to be their duty to transmit 
 it to posterity as such. As the pure wine of the 
 kingdom, it must not be diluted. 
 
 In the West the Cumberland Presbyterian 
 Church was organized of these elements. With- 
 out any regard to logical consistency, a part 
 of Calvinism was retained and a part thrown 
 away. It is more than probable that in both 
 these cases a heterogeneous and disturbing ele- 
 ment was kept out of Methodism, and it was left 
 free to work itself out in its own way for the con- 
 version of souls. Had the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church been eager to multiply its numbers, these 
 offers would not have been declined. It wisely 
 preferred the fresh juice of the grape that had 
 never been bottled. 
 
 Nor must we fail to express our gratitude to 
 God that Mr. Wesley did not succeed in the re- 
 peated attempts he made to induce the Anglican
 
 86 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 bishop of London to ordain elders who might be 
 sent to America to administer the sacraments to 
 the Methodist people. Wesley acted from one 
 motive, the purest that could actuate the human 
 heart, the English prelate from another, and God 
 from another; and, thank God! we are the chil- 
 dren of Providence. In his purpose to raise up 
 in America, out of American soil, a Church to 
 conserve American interests, God had Wesley 
 and Coke, and he was not dependent upon an En- 
 glish bishop. This fact, in noonday light, at last 
 dawned upon the mind of Wesley. 
 
 It can not be doubted that the lessons of the 
 Seven Years' War, with the intense discussions of 
 political principles which grew out of it, and the 
 laying of the foundation of a new Nation, evidently 
 destined to become one of the greatest on the face 
 of the earth, went down deep into the minds of the 
 early Methodist preachers. The men of Method- 
 ism, in proportion to their number, were in abil- 
 ity equal to the men of the State. They derived 
 nothing from prestige or position ; and yet from 
 the stump, the empty dry goods-box, a wagon- 
 box, or any place where there were people ready 
 to hear the gospel preached, they commanded at- 
 tention. Benjamin Abbot drew together larger 
 audiences than were wont to listen to Whitefield ; 
 his ministry was attended with greater power, and 
 resulted in more conversions. Freeborn Garretson, 
 a wealthy son of the soil, moved from place to 
 place with an eagle's flight and with the courage
 
 A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 87 
 
 of a lion. In Maryland he was mobbed and im- 
 prisoned, and on another occasion he was beaten 
 almost to death with a club by a magistrate for 
 nothing but the crime of being a Methodist 
 preacher. Pedicord carried to the grave the scars 
 of the wounds he received from a beating in the 
 public highway, and Joseph Hartley, robbed of his 
 horse and thrust into jail, preached from behind 
 the bars to the crowds which came to hear him, 
 and started a gracious revival of religion in the 
 street. The sufferings of the soldiers at Valley 
 Forge were not greater than those which the 
 Methodist preachers endured during the long war; 
 nor did the soldiers' sufferings more fully identify 
 them with the independence, honor, and glory of 
 their country than did the sufferings of those 
 preachers identify them. But the deep and 
 special baptism they had received constrained 
 them to do and to suffer cheerfully for the souls 
 of men and for the spiritual good of the new- 
 born Nation. When they saw that persecutions 
 really forwarded the work, it but inspired them 
 to rush in where dangers were the thickest and 
 labors the most severe. They remembered the 
 man of Calvary, and the example of the Wesleys 
 in Cornwall had its inspiring effect. Among the 
 heroes of the Revolutionary period should also be 
 mentioned the names of Watters, Gatch, Abbott, 
 Mann, Lee, Dickins, Dromgoole, Coughlan, Mc- 
 Geary, Black, and many others. Whatever people 
 might think of the religion they preached, or of
 
 88 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 their fiery zeal, their commanding ability chal- 
 lenged respect. 
 
 Though the organization of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in Baltimore in 1784 was the 
 work of a little band of penniless men, yet it was 
 in importance hardly second to the Declaration of 
 Independence in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776. So 
 felt Asbury, Coke, and the other far-seeing men 
 who had a hand in the work. After that day 
 these men were on their feet, ready for any emer- 
 gency. They had a head, an organization, and 
 order. Washington was not more loved and 
 trusted by his officers in the army than was 
 Asbury by his preachers on horseback. Entirely 
 cut loose from England, they were intensely 
 American. They realized the immensity of the 
 work before them and their own insufficiency, but 
 they constantly felt the spur and the sacred in- 
 spiration of great success. They loved the gospel, 
 which everywhere was the power of God unto the 
 salvation of every one that believeth. 
 
 General Washington was inaugurated Presi- 
 dent of the United States, in New York, May 29, 
 1789, a little more than five years after the organ- 
 ization of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
 membership then reported was 43,265, being an 
 increase in four years of about 29,000 souls. A 
 Methodist Conference being in session in the city 
 at the time, Bishops Asbury and Coke were both 
 in attendance. As the representatives of Ameri- 
 can Methodism, in obedience to the warm and
 
 A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 89 
 
 absolute loyalty of the Church to the young Re- 
 public and its distinguished President, the two 
 bishops waited upon Washington at his lodgings, 
 congratulated him and the country on the adop- 
 tion of the Constitution, and pledged to him and 
 to the country the prayers and the support of the 
 Methodist people. Washington gracefully ac- 
 cepted these words of encouragement, and gave 
 to the bishops his cordial thanks for their visit. 
 This act of the rapidly growing Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church came from the heart, but it had not 
 the least political significance. This union of 
 sympathy was the only union which would be tol- 
 erated for a moment on either side. It was in- 
 tended that the Americanism of Methodism should 
 speak on this occasion with an emphasis which 
 would last for all time, and never need to be re- 
 peated. Seventy-two years later, however, the 
 New York East Conference was in session when 
 treason lifted up its head and opened fire on Fort 
 Sumter; and on the instant a resolution was 
 passed, pledging to President Lincoln and the 
 Government the loyal support of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. Four years later, when Lee 
 surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia, this 
 same Conference, being in session, was the first 
 religious body to telegraph President Lincoln con- 
 gratulations on the downfall of' the Rebellion. 
 The Americanism of Methodism, President Lin- 
 coln expressed in the following words: "Nobly 
 sustained as the Government has been by all the
 
 go OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 Churches, I would utter nothing which might in 
 the least appear invidious in any way. Yet, with- 
 out this, it may be fairly said that the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, not less devoted than the best, 
 is, by its greater numbers, the most important of 
 all. It is no fault in others that the Methodist 
 Church sends more soldiers to the field, more 
 nurses to the hospital, and more prayers to heaven 
 than any other. God bless the Methodist Church ! 
 bless all the Churches! and blessed be God, who, 
 in this our great trial, giveth us the Churches!" 
 Asbury and Coke were intimate with Washing- 
 ton they had been his guests at Mount Vernon; 
 and Bishop Simpson was one of Mr. Lincoln's 
 most trusted confidential advisers during the war. 
 The new wine has never ceased to act upon the 
 new bottle, and preserve it. 
 
 But we must keep firmly in mind the -great 
 central truth that the primal power of Methodism 
 is found in the fact that it is a revelation and a 
 proclamation of spiritual life to men who were 
 dead in trespasses and sins. Christianity utterly 
 fails to reach its end when devoted to the care of 
 some great, complicated, ecclesiastical establish- 
 ment. Personal contact of the preacher or lay- 
 man with the individual soul of the sinner is 
 necessary to successful work, and all attempts to 
 convert men by the use of Church machinery will 
 result in failure. Let the Church be constantly 
 supplied with new-born souls "lively stones," 
 St. Peter calls them and as the result of their
 
 A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 91 
 
 incorporation in the body, it will enjoy a perpetual 
 and healthy development. Church legislation 
 will have but little to do except to conserve ac- 
 complished facts and adjust its work for future 
 conquests. 
 
 Some half-dozen Methodists, acting on their 
 individual responsibility to their Master, without 
 a Church organization, without the ordinances of 
 religion, in eighteen years, between 1766 and 1784, 
 and seven of these years, years of war and revo- 
 lution, brought to Christ as their Savior probably 
 not less than twenty or twenty-five thousand souls, 
 and preached the gospel to a half-million or more 
 people; at the same time they thrust out into 
 the field as itinerant preachers, local preachers, 
 and exhorters, some hundreds of laborers. With 
 living stones to build with, it is a very simple and 
 easy matter to organize a Church, as the Christ- 
 mas Conference of 1784 demonstrated; and what 
 is needed for all time is revival work, powerful 
 convictions of sin, followed by clear conversions 
 and an active membership. The influence of the 
 presence of such an evangelizing force among the 
 people, acting as energetically on the border as in 
 the centers of civilization, must be imagined, for 
 it eludes a complete description. 
 
 Thirteen years passed from the time of the 
 Declaration of Independence till Washington was 
 inaugurated President, and during that time the 
 seeds of French and English infidelity had been 
 sown broadcast over all the land; and the most
 
 92 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 vigorous counteracting influence it met was the 
 spiritual preaching of the gospel of Christ by 
 these evangelists, resulting in the conversion of a 
 multitude of souls, and the revival of spiritual 
 Christianity in other Churches. 
 
 How Methodism prosecuted its particular work 
 may be seen from the following picture of the 
 activities of Mr. Asbury, as given by Mr. Daniels 
 in his History of Methodism: "During the last 
 half of the war period, Asbury, having outlived 
 the suspicions of the patriots, was permitted to 
 resume his place as the general of the itinerant 
 forces, in which he displayed abilities of the 
 highest order patience, persistence, indifference 
 to personal suffering, the power of combination 
 and systematic arrangement, and a consummate 
 judgment of men just those qualities which the 
 situation demanded of a pioneer bishop, who was 
 called upon to manage a diocese reaching from 
 Jersey to Florida, from the coast to the Alle- 
 ghanies, and over them; some portions of which 
 were occupied by hostile armies, and the whole 
 of it suffering from the poverty and commotion 
 of a long and exasperating war. 
 
 "As soon as it was possible, Asbury organized 
 the whole Methodist work into one great circuit, 
 which, with incredible toil and in spite of fre- 
 quent illness, he compassed once and sometimes 
 twice in a year. The reader of his Journals is 
 bewildered with the rapidity of his movements; 
 but through them all the tireless, invincible apos-
 
 A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 93 
 
 tie appears, planning grandly and as grandly ex- 
 ecuting his plans ; raising up hosts of preachers, 
 forming new Churches, new circuits, and new 
 Conferences ; extending his dominion to all points 
 of the compass, till it becomes, before his death, 
 as extensive as the Nation. 
 
 "He traveled the wilderness of the South and 
 West, sometimes being compelled to use two 
 horses, because no one beast could carry a man 
 all day over the wretched bridle-paths and across 
 the mountain torrents often incapable of fer- 
 riage, and almost always wanting a bridge. One 
 extract from his Journal may be given: 'We set 
 out for Crumps, over rocks, hills and creeks and 
 pathless woods. The young man with me was 
 heartless before we had traveled a mile ; but when 
 he saw how I could bush it, and sometimes force 
 my way through a thicket, and make the young 
 saplings bend before me, and twist and turn out 
 of the path for there was no road he took 
 courage. With great difficulty we came into the 
 settlement about two o'clock, after traveling eight 
 or nine hours. The people looked almost as wild 
 as the deer in the woods.' 
 
 "It was just this Herculean labor so saga- 
 ciously bestowed that preserved the unity of the 
 scattered societies. Asbury was everywhere. 
 Was there a dispute among the preachers of the 
 South over the right to administer the sacra- 
 ments? He was at hand with cautious counsels 
 to prevent an open break with Mr. Wesley. Was
 
 94 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 a poor itinerant in trouble with the authorities? 
 He was ready with his personal influence to protect 
 him, or with his purse to pay his iniquitous fine. 
 Was there a man posted in an almost inaccessible 
 region among the mountains? He was seen to 
 pay a visit to the outpost and cheer the lonely 
 sentinel with his wise and loving words. Was 
 there a little band of adventurous spirits planting 
 themselves in the wilderness far beyond the lines 
 of the frontier? Asbury was sure to hear of 
 them, and to run his ever-extending circuit lines 
 so as to take them in." 
 
 Local preachers and exhorters included, As- 
 bury had under his direction in 1784 at least three 
 hundred "helpers," occupying all the country be- 
 tween New York, Florida, and the Alleghany 
 Mountains. Besides, every society organized was 
 an outpost garrison, ready to be led forth by a 
 class-leader, exhorter, local preacher, or the cir- 
 cuit, preacher against the enemy beyond. Nothing 
 was more common than for extensive revivals to 
 be carried on in the absence of the regular preach- 
 ers. Among the societies there may not have 
 been much science or literature, but every mem- 
 ber knew what it was to be converted, and, 
 guided by his own experience, he could lead 
 others to Christ. The work of the laity in car- 
 rying forward the triumphs of the gospel should 
 never be lost sight of in taking the measure of 
 the genius and mission of Methodism. 
 
 It would seem the people of the Colonial
 
 A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 95 
 
 States were never entirely satisfied with their lo- 
 cation, and the tide of emigration at an early day 
 set in for the great but unknown West. The first 
 wave struck Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and 
 Ohio. It was thus that Methodist families became 
 scattered along this border. Among them were 
 some local preachers, exhorters, and class-leaders. 
 Many of the local preachers were men of the 
 highest character and of the first order of ability. 
 They would have been in the traveling connec- 
 tion, but the support of their families rendered 
 such service impossible. But with the fire of 
 Methodism burning in their hearts they could not 
 be inactive. 
 
 Until Wayne's victory over the Indians in In- 
 diana, in 1794, the savages were very troublesome 
 along the border, especially in Kentucky and 
 Ohio. At the first Conferences held in this re- 
 gion, in response to the roll-call the answer in 
 numerous cases was, "Killed by the Indians." 
 But there was nothing that could conquer or 
 abate the Methodist spirit. 
 
 In 1798 Francis McCormick, from the wilds 
 of Western Virginia, a local preacher, one of 
 the purest and bravest spirits that ever lived, 
 came to Southwestern Ohio and laid the founda- 
 tion of Methodism in that part of the territory. 
 He was a typical pioneer. Moving his family into 
 a neighborhood where there were no Methodists, 
 he went to work for a revival, and as soon as a 
 company could be gathered, he sent for the travel-
 
 96 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 ing preacher, when there was one within reach. 
 His cabin was immediately opened for preaching, 
 and a flourishing class was regularly organized after 
 the first sermon was delivered. And McCormick 
 was only one among hundreds who engaged in 
 similar work and with similar success. Along the 
 border, if within an area of ten miles square there 
 were three Methodist families, they would soon 
 know each other, and, without a priest or any human 
 authority, rear an altar in the wilderness to their 
 God. All, men and women, young and old, could 
 sing and pray and exhort. A revival was likely to 
 break out in the settlement. Each one, from ex- 
 perience, knew the way of life and salvation, and 
 could point it out to the awakened sinner as 
 clearly as they could tell how to swing an ax or 
 cook a steak of bear's-meat or venison. It was 
 thus that the scattered sparks and firebrands of 
 Methodism spontaneously kindled a flame wher- 
 ever they chanced to fall. 
 
 From the close of the war in 1783, emigration, 
 in a continuous stream, poured into the land of 
 freedom from different parts of the Old World. 
 Popery received large accessions from France, 
 Germany, Spain, and Ireland ; the Presbyterians 
 were greatly strengthened by accessions from 
 Scotland, Ireland, and England; the Baptists, by 
 emigration and their zeal at home, had greatly 
 prospered. For accessions of members the Meth- 
 odists looked solely to the fruits of their labors 
 among the people. The following figures give
 
 A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 
 
 97 
 
 an approximate idea of the growth of the 
 Churches between 1775 and 1800: 
 
 1775- M 
 Episcopalians, .... 
 
 [inisters 
 250 
 350 
 
 575 
 140 
 20 
 
 Gain. 
 
 14 
 50 
 25 
 28 
 
 Churches. 
 300 
 380 
 70O 
 300 
 
 Communi- 
 cants, 1800. 
 
 II.OOO 
 100,000 
 75,000 
 40,000 
 64,804 
 
 Congregationalists, . . 
 
 Methodists. 
 
 The Old World Christians who came to this 
 country found old Churches as bottles suited to 
 their wants, ready to receive them ; whereas the 
 accessions to the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 were the people born on the soil, as "new wine 
 for a new bottle." In the short space of twenty- 
 five years a body of ministers, many of them as 
 grand men as God ever made, had been brought 
 out of revivals, Conferences, and circuits organ- 
 ized, reaching from Maine to Florida, and not less 
 than 1,500,000 people brought more or less under 
 the influence of the gospel of Christ. 
 
 9
 
 rare exceptions, the condition of the Churches all 
 over the country was, that extensive revivals had 
 ceased. From 1750 to 1800 was a long period of turmoil and 
 distractions. The French and Indian wars; the agitations pre- 
 ceding the Revolution ; the evils of the post-bellum period ; the 
 French infidelity and English Deism; the gross wicked- 
 ness; the political controversies, sharp, violent, and vindic- 
 tive, connected with the adoption of the Federal Constitution ; 
 the evil influences of the French Revolution, with which so 
 many Americans sympathized, are some of the elements 
 which worked unfavorably to the cause of religion. The Wes- 
 leyan Reformation revived English, and in due time American, 
 Christianity. . . . Methodism had become a flaming torch, 
 lighting its fires in every field. The great revival of 1800 in- 
 augurated a new era in American Christianity." 
 
 98 DORCHESTER.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 METHODISM AND THE OLD CHURCHES AT THE 
 CI/OSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 
 
 METHODISM arose in the New World, in- 
 vested not only with the fullness of the 
 blessings of the gospel of Christ, but it was free 
 from all embarrassments arising from external 
 conditions, or from an unfortunate past history. 
 For a time suspicions were awakened against the 
 preachers of English origin by Mr. Wesley's 
 "Calm Address" to the Colonies; but as it be- 
 came known that this paper was written before 
 hostilities commenced, and that after blood was 
 shed at Lexington his sympathies and his great 
 influence were with the patriots, all prejudice 
 passed away. 
 
 The Methodists and Baptists the two great 
 denominations in the United States, and the most 
 active Protestant bodies of Christians in the 
 world have never denied themselves with the 
 crime of persecution for conscience' sake. Such 
 a record denotes progress in the world's history, 
 and it is a cause for special congratulation and 
 gratitude. The Wesleys and their coadjutors in 
 England had suffered persecution in a thousand 
 ways, and it would seem that their lives were 
 saved from the fury of mobs only by repeated in- 
 
 99
 
 100 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 terpositions of a special providence. The Meth- 
 odists of this country were doomed to pass through 
 similar trials ; but their patience and endurance 
 demonstrated that they felt it was far better to 
 suffer wrong than to do wrong. In its short his- 
 tory, Methodism was not only free from this stain, 
 but the example it gave to the world was greatly 
 to be commended. Considered as new wine, it 
 was the pure juice of the grape. 
 
 Examined from this stand-point the Romish 
 Church is stained with the blood of millions. 
 
 The following, taken from La Bandara Cath- 
 olica (The Catholic Banner], printed in Barcelona, 
 July 29, 1883, explains itself, and by contrast sets 
 forth Methodism, the world over, in its true light: 
 
 "The re-establishment of the holy tribunal of 
 the Inquisition must soon take place. Its reign 
 will be more glorious and fruitful in results than 
 in the past, and the number of those who will be 
 called to suffer under it will exceed the number of 
 the past. Our Catholic heart overflows with faith 
 and enthusiasm, and the immense joy which we 
 experience as we begin to reap the fruit of our 
 present campain exceeds all imagination. What 
 a day of pleasure will that be for us when we 
 see Freemasons, Spiritualists, Freethinkers, and 
 anti-clericals writhing in the flames of the Inqui- 
 sition ! 
 
 " We judge our esteemed subscribers will read 
 with great pleasure the statistics respecting those 
 who suffered under the tribunal from the year
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR. IOI 
 
 1481 to 1808, when this so venerable an institu- 
 tion was abolished. As our readers will see, it 
 refers to Spain only; we are unable to give the 
 numbers of those who suffered in other countries. 
 We have believed it right also to publish the names 
 of these holy men, under whose hands so many 
 sinners suffered, that good Catholics may venerate 
 their memory: 
 
 "By Torquemada 
 
 Men and women burnt alive, 10,220 
 
 Burnt in effigy, 6,840 
 
 Condemned to other punishments, .... 97,371 
 
 " By Diego Deza 
 
 Men and women burnt alive 2,592 
 
 Burnt in effigy, 829 
 
 Condemned to other punishments, .... 32,952 
 
 " By Cardinal Jeminez de Cieneros 
 
 Men and women burnt alive, 3,564 
 
 Burnt in effigy, 2,232 
 
 Condemned to other punishments, . . . 48,059 
 
 "By Adrian de Florencia 
 
 Men and women burnt alive, 1,620 
 
 Burnt in effigy, 560 
 
 Condemned to other punishments, .... 21,834 
 
 "The Inquisitor established the holy office in 
 America, and in 1522, as a reward for the same, 
 he was elected vicar of Jesus Christ on earth ; but 
 so did he love his former ministry that he did not 
 transfer it to another until the second year of his 
 pontificate. He 'burnt, during this time, 324 per-
 
 102 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 sons; and condemned to various punishments, 
 short of death, 4,081." 
 
 Total number of in en and women burnt alive 
 under the ministry of forty-five holy in- 
 quisitor-generals, 35.534 
 
 Total number burnt in effigy, 18,637 
 
 Total number condemned to other punish- 
 ments, 293,533 
 
 General total, 347.704 
 
 The foregoing foreshadows the near future. 
 "Semper idem" always the same has ever been 
 the motto of the Jesuits, who, for their merciless 
 barbarity towards Dissenters and their avowed 
 hostility to all governments not controlled by 
 them, have been expelled from all the Nations, 
 Protestant and Roman Catholic, in the world, 
 save Great Britain and the United States of 
 America. 
 
 The infernal cruelties of the Inquisition were 
 the results of its inventive genius. From the 
 year 800 to the year 1700, it thrust into dungeons 
 and premature graves more souls than it brought 
 into the liberty of the gospel of Christ. Some of 
 the direst monsters of immorality that ever lived 
 had occupied the papal chair. It has cursed every 
 nation, where it has ever existed, with ignorance, 
 superstition, and crime. All these things are spread 
 out upon the page of history, and are well under- 
 stood by this Republic. Had it been the will of 
 Providence, we repeat, that America should be 
 Italy, Spain, Ireland, or any Catholic country, over
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR. 103 
 
 again, or that it should follow in the wake of 
 Mexico or Central America, the papal hierarchy 
 was in position and well-equipped to carry that 
 will into effect. But the God of Nations had in 
 store better things for us, and this moss-covered 
 superstition, at the critical point of time, was 
 rendered powerless. The touch of its finger is 
 not to be found in the Constitution of the United 
 States. Not a pulse-beat nor a heart-throb can 
 the old and changeless papacy have in harmony 
 with the genius of this Nation. Its priests on 
 our soil may at times, however, be of great serv- 
 ice in quelling mobs and restraining riots. A 
 Catholic "father," with a club in his hand, striking 
 right and left, felling a brutal, ignorant emigrant 
 from the bogs of Ireland at every blow, is at times 
 a useful citizen. But American civilization, as a 
 whole, requires more intellectual and refined treat- 
 ment. It is of the political element and the 
 spirit of Romanism we speak; and at the same 
 time, we are glad to recognize the fact that there 
 are many thousands of individual Catholics in this 
 country whose lives would be an ornament to any 
 Church or to any society. 
 
 In the Old World, persecution had prevailed 
 between Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Puri- 
 tans, or Congregationalists, and the three Churches 
 were marked with the scars of the wounds they 
 had given and received. Instead of being made 
 to bud and blossom as the rose by the peaceable 
 gospel of Christ, the soil of Scotland, Ireland, and
 
 104 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 England had been steeped in the blood of mar- 
 tyrs much of it the blood of Protestants shed by 
 themselves. This lamentable fact may be largely 
 ascribed to the times in which it occurred ; never- 
 theless the fact remained, and could not be ef- 
 faced. American Presbyterianism is, so far as we 
 know, free from the sin of violent persecution; 
 but Congregationalism inflicted, to some extent, 
 on the soil of America, the tyranny it fled from 
 the Old World to avoid. It burned the witches, 
 persecuted the Baptists, and persistently opposed 
 the ingress of Methodism into New England. 
 Episcopalianism hardly knew how to exist except 
 in alliance with the State and as a part of the 
 Church of England. During the war it became 
 badly demoralized, and at its close it found itself 
 in a very awkward position. It was utterly in- 
 competent to be the conservator of the moral and 
 religious interests of the new Nation. 
 
 . As all Churches are what they grow to be, 
 their character and structure once fixed are not 
 easily modified. The Colonial Churches had ex- 
 isted for centuries in other lands, under conditions 
 widely different from those America presented, 
 and as a consequence they were not adapted, ex- 
 cept to a limited extent, to meet its religious 
 demands. 
 
 As we have seen, at the close of the War of 
 the Revolution the Congregational Church was 
 socially and politically in a commanding position ; 
 
 and had nothing been lacking, it might have
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR. 105 
 
 taken the lead in caring for the religious welfare 
 of the Nation. But the reasons are apparent why 
 it was not competent to the task: 
 
 1. The most aggravated form of Calvinism was 
 the accepted doctrine of the Church. This was 
 as old, stale wine. It belonged to an age that 
 was fast passing away. A brighter era of intelli- 
 gence was dawning upon the world ; and in the 
 new light that was breaking, this old dogma could 
 not be made acceptable to the people. This 
 Church was patriotic and highly respectable; it 
 was favored with a learned ministry; many of the 
 leading men of the Nation were communicants at 
 its altars; but the time had come when no human 
 power could induce the people to treat with decent 
 respect the horrible decrees of Calvinism. 
 
 2. This Church was destitute of the evangel- 
 izing power which goes out into the highways and 
 the byways of life, moves on swift wing along the 
 borders of civilization, and brings wild men, out- 
 casts, and villains into the kingdom of God. Re- 
 vivals of religion were not looked for nor desired 
 but by a few of its preachers or members. Only 
 a small number of either the clergy or laity pre- 
 tended to know anything of evangelizing work. 
 As the elect were by some means to receive the 
 "effectual call," and were sure of salvation; and 
 as there was no chance whatever for the "repro- 
 bates," "inasmuch as Christ died for the elect 
 only," what was the use, many asked, of making 
 a fuss about religion, any more than about the
 
 106 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 weather or the flow of the tides? So fixed and 
 satisfied were the Congregational Churches in this 
 state of torpor that when the Methodist ministers 
 first visited New England, and thousands were 
 converted before their eyes under the preaching 
 of these men, they were willing to accept the 
 converts as genuine Christians and receive them 
 into their Churches ; but the agents of their con- 
 version were denounced as "wolves in sheeps' 
 clothing," and no pains were spared to expel the 
 invaders from their territory. 
 
 3. Its ideal of the Churchly life was the well- 
 furnished village congregation, supplied with a 
 duly installed pastor, and supported by taxation. 
 It was English village life over again, when Puri- 
 tanism happened to be in the ascendant. But 
 such an evangel was not enough for the New 
 World. An empire was about to spread its wings 
 toward the setting sun, and some agency, like the 
 Angel of the Apocalypse, was needed to fly through 
 the midst of the heavens having the everlasting 
 gospel to preach to the millions of people who 
 were swiftly coming. The Congregational Church 
 of that day was not winged for such a flight. 
 
 4. This Church did not, except to a limited 
 extent, possess an aggressive spirit. It had in- 
 creased its membership but little except by births, 
 emigration, and colonization. Its laity were 
 strangers to revival work. It was at best like an 
 old ocean vessel, at anchor in a safe harbor, with 
 sails furled, and fit only for coasting service on a
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR. 107 
 
 calm sea; whereas the wants of the Nation called 
 for a vast fleet of ^fe-boats, fit for all waters, 
 manned by a crew that could dare the devil in its 
 Master's name, who were blithe and happy in any 
 gale, who welcomed any billows which could carry 
 them where there were men overboard, and whose 
 supreme delight was to "rescue the perishing." 
 
 5. The unsavory fact that it had, in many in- 
 stances, collected tithes of the poor by legal pro- 
 cesses, and that it had persecuted for conscience' 
 sake, still clung to its skirts. The Presbyterian 
 Church was strong in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 
 and New York. The central position it thus held 
 was favorable to an aggressive movement. On 
 doctrinal ground it would have had the formal 
 acquiescence, if not the support, of the New Eng- 
 land States. We have awarded to this people 
 great credit for the wise and brave part they took 
 in the legislation and War of the Revolution, and 
 this prestige might have been of great value had 
 not other qualities been wanting. Though the 
 war had burned its churches, closed its schools, 
 slain many of its members, and scattered its forces, 
 yet enough were left, if qualified for the work, to 
 have taken the Nation. This Church brought to 
 this country Scotch and Irish models of ecclesias- 
 ticism, and these did not fit the demands of the 
 young Republic. It knew how to march only by 
 Synods, Presbyteries, and settled pastorates, and 
 the movements of such bodies were too slow for 
 the rising Empire of the West.
 
 108 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. ' 
 
 The Episcopalians, as we have seen, were em- 
 barrassed in consequence of their close connection 
 with England ; and then they were wofully lack- 
 ing in bold, aggressive, evangelizing power. The 
 Romanists had really made the papacy an idol, 
 and they took no interest in the spread of Chris- 
 tianity except as it tended to strengthen that es- 
 tablishment. The idea of going out into the high- 
 ways and byways, and preaching repentance and 
 faith in the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins, 
 was and is yet foreign to all the thoughts and 
 methods of the hierarchy. But this was exactly 
 the kind of work the Republic needed to have done, 
 and, fortunately for the country, it was the only 
 work the Methodists had either heart or time to 
 do. Hence, though in 1768 there were known 
 to be but eight Methodists in America, they had, 
 in testing their strength and the temper of the 
 weapons of their warfare, greatly increased in 
 numbers and power, and were in splendid posi- 
 tion at the close of the war to make primitive 
 Christianity as they preached it the religious life 
 of the Republic. 
 
 In 1800 no one man in America knew the Na- 
 tion and all its people as well as Bishop Asbury. 
 With a knowledge of men rarely equaled, he had 
 traversed the whole country, much of it repeat- 
 edly, from Maine to Florida. He had scaled the 
 mountains and plunged into the immense valleys 
 of the West. He knew personally every preacher 
 in the connection, and hundreds of the local preach-
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR. . 109 
 
 ers, exporters, and principal laymen; and in all 
 parts of the land he came in contact with judges, 
 statesmen, and the leading minds of the Nation ; 
 and this tremendous force which he had gathered 
 around him was all concentrated upon the work 
 of beseeching individual men to become recon- 
 ciled to God. He never lost sight of the fact that 
 the gospel can only reach its highest earthly 
 height in the conversion of a soul, and he 
 never lived to see the time when his chief busi- 
 ness was not to answer the question of the pen- 
 itent sinner, "What must I do to be saved?" He 
 had no associations with the past, nor did he stand 
 in any relation to the affairs of the present which 
 could in the least embarrass him or divert his 
 mind from his work his one work the salvation 
 of his fellow-men. 
 
 He preached at the Conference sessions as if 
 he were in the midst of a gracious revival and 
 the conversion of souls were the business of the 
 meeting. His sermons were so simple, so rational, 
 and withal so grand, that their very momentum 
 gave his doctrine all the defense it needed. As 
 this illustrious example was followed by the whole 
 ministry, itinerant and local, the laity being in 
 the fullest and most prayerful sympathy with 
 them, it was one of the most natural things in the 
 world that immense revivals should follow their 
 labors. As "new wine in a new bottle," every 
 part of the new Nation felt the power of the pres- 
 ence of Methodism. The preachers waited for
 
 1 1 o OUR CO UNTR Y AND METHODISM. 
 
 neither call nor salary, but went wherever human 
 beings could be found. 
 
 A tendency to push on to the West was as 
 prevalent among the preachers as the people. 
 The following incident, found in various histories 
 of pioneer Methodism, will illustrate this fact: 
 Richmond Nolley, a native of South Carolina, and 
 a noted evangelist, after camping in the woods 
 among wild beasts eleven nights in succession, 
 while exploring his new circuit, at last struck the 
 Tombigbee River; and, noticing a fresh wagon- 
 track, was inspired with the hope that he soon 
 might find a soul saved or that needed salvation. 
 Daniel Boone, with a gigantic elk or bear in sight, 
 would not have been more delighted. He soon 
 came upon an emigrant family, which had just 
 selected the spot where they were to make their 
 future home. The man was feeding his horses 
 and his wife arranging the supper. As Nolley 
 rode up, the astonished emigrant exclaimed: 
 
 "What! are you here?" 
 
 "I am here, sir; but I have not the happiness 
 of your acquaintance, I am sorry to say. Where, 
 sir, have you known me?" 
 
 "I have never seen you before, but I know 
 that you are a Methodist preacher, and I am 
 amazed that you have found me so soon. It is 
 only two years ago that I left Virginia and settled 
 in Georgia to get away from Methodist preachers ; 
 but you hunted me out, and in Georgia got my 
 wife and daughter into your Church. Then I left
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR. 1 1 1 
 
 Georgia for this place, sure that I would be rid of 
 you forever; but here you are before I have had 
 one night's peace." 
 
 "My friend," said Nolley, "go where you 
 may earth, heaven, and perhaps hell you will 
 find Methodist preachers, and you had better be 
 at peace with them." 
 
 After 1784, Wesley sent no more missionaries 
 to this country; nor, except in the way of advice 
 and admonition, did he make any attempt to mold 
 or direct the Methodism of this Republic. In this 
 matter, as in almost everything else, he acted with 
 consummate wisdom. It was of the first impor- 
 tance that the Church should have a free and 
 spontaneous development in the New World. Had 
 Charles Wesley been at the helm, he would have 
 fashioned the new Church as far as possible after 
 the Anglican Establishment, and thus marred if 
 not spoiled it. It was well that American Meth- 
 odism was left at the earliest moment in the 
 hands of Americans. 
 
 Considering the vast extent of- the country, the 
 rapidity with which the star of empire moved west- 
 ward, is it not a little marvelous that laborers 
 were never wanting for the extended white har- 
 vest-fields ? Not a school of any kind was under 
 the control of the Church. For preachers Asbury 
 looked to God through revivals ; and always bright, 
 brave men, called to the work, were at his com- 
 mand. Often in less than a year after their con- 
 version, men were placed on extensive fields of
 
 112 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME T HOD ISM. 
 
 labor. . They "became mighty in the Scriptures 
 and in the hymn-book. They knew men, and 
 were masters of the great central truths of Chris- 
 tianity. The key-note of their preaching the 
 salvation of the soul had become the key-note of 
 their own destiny for time and for eternity. Their 
 sermons embodied not only their thought, but the 
 lives they lived ; hence their preaching was in 
 demonstration of the Spirit and of power. And 
 then there were giants in those days. Brave and 
 mighty men were on horseback, ready for what- 
 ever, in the providence of God, they might be 
 called to meet. Arrayed against them was the 
 world, the flesh, and the devil; but woe to the 
 skeptic, the Calvinist, or the sprig of the law who 
 fell into their hands, especially the hands of Jesse 
 Lee. 
 
 Born in Virginia 1758, at the age of twenty- 
 five he entered the Methodist ministry. In every 
 way he was a magnificent man. Weighing nearly 
 three hundred pounds, he always had at command 
 two horses ; and he was as capacious in mind and 
 heart as body. His warm Southern blood, frank- 
 ness, fearless energy, and entire devotion to the 
 work of his ministry made him a marked charac- 
 ter in those days. He was as much at home on 
 Boston Common, while Harvard professors were 
 listening to his prayer and song and sermon, as 
 on the floor of his Conference. While on a tour 
 through the South with Bishop Asbury, in 1784, 
 he made the acquaintance of a gentleman from
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR. 113 
 
 Massachusetts, and the description this live 
 Yankee gave of the customs, manners, Churches, 
 and theology of New England touched the heart 
 of the ardent Virginian, and it seemed to him 
 that he had received a special call to visit that 
 country. 
 
 His ambition to try the edge of the gospel on 
 that cold, formal, scholastic people was in 1789, 
 after much consultation and prayer with Bishop 
 Asbury, fully gratified. His faith in the power of 
 the gospel to convict men of sin, and save them 
 through Christ, was equaled only by his original- 
 ity and shrewdness in presenting the truth. Lee 
 was an interesting man even to look at, and when 
 his sweet and heavy baritone voice bore off a 
 Methodist hymn on its pure, clear, and elevating 
 strains, the people listened, their hearts grew ten- 
 der, and they would weep. In Boston it was 
 thought the charm of his preaching had never 
 been surpassed, unless by Whitefield. In wit, Lee 
 was an Irishman of the most approved type. Dan- 
 iels reports the following: 
 
 "He applied to a minister for permission to 
 preach in his church, and the pastor, anxious to 
 know whether he was a learned man before ad- 
 mitting him to his pulpit, addressed him a ques- 
 tion in Latin. This was quite beyond Lee's lit- 
 erary latitude; but while on his North Carolina 
 Circuit he had picked up a little of the speech of 
 the Dutch mountaineers, in which language he 
 gravely replied to the question. This pastor was
 
 114 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 surprised, but not satisfied. Accordingly he re- 
 peated the question, this time in Greek. Lee re- 
 sponded with some more Dutch, which language, 
 being unknown to the pastor, he imagined it 
 might be Hebrew, of which he was himself igno- 
 rant, and, on the presumption that Lee was the 
 better scholar of the two, he granted him the use 
 of his pulpit." 
 
 The following statement, made by Dr. Dan- 
 iels in his "History of Methodism," fairly rep- 
 resents the reception New England gave to 
 Methodism: 
 
 " On the first round of his Connecticut Circuit, 
 Lee was frequently treated with rudeness, some- 
 times approaching violence. The majority of the 
 ministers warned the people against him as a pes- 
 tilent heretic, whom it was the duty of all good 
 Christians to thrust out of their neighborhood 
 as soon as possible, alleging that he came to 
 break up the Congregational Churches and drive 
 away their ministers. When in Fairfield it be- 
 came known that there were three women who 
 intended to join his society, there was great ex- 
 citement and alarm, and a convention, comprising 
 forty-five ministers and ninety deacons, was held 
 with a view of forming a compact combination 
 against the intruders." 
 
 After organizing circuits in Connecticut, and 
 manning them with able preachers from Balti- 
 more, Lee pushed on into Massachusetts. Here 
 he encountered difficulties which would have ap-
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR. 115 
 
 palled any man who did not feel the force of the 
 words, "Lo, I am with you." But the truth pre- 
 vailed, souls were saved, circuits organized; and 
 then, as soon as he could supply them with 
 preachers, he pushed on up into the wilds of 
 Maine. He preached at York, Wells, Portland, 
 New Castle, Waldoborough, and Thomaston. West 
 of the Kennebec River he organized the Redfield 
 Circuit. The prosperity of the work in this re- 
 gion was such that a Conference was convened 
 here in 1798. Passing up the Penobscot River, 
 the indefatigable pioneer made his way to the 
 northeast, fording rivers and penetrating forests 
 till he reached the city of St. Johns, in New 
 Brunswick. These are bare specimens of the 
 labors he performed in New England, and such 
 was their success that in 1800 he was able to 
 leave the country in the hands of able preachers, 
 mostly raised up on the soil. 
 
 Among these were Timothy Merritt, George 
 Pickering, Shadrach Bostwick, Michael Coate, 
 Peter Jayne, Wm. Thatcher, Lorenzo Dow, Enoch 
 Mudge, Jesse Stoneman, Joshua Taylor, Robert 
 Yallely, Roger Searle, Aaron Humphrey, Epa- 
 phras Kibby, Asa Heath ; and these were but the 
 first-fruits of the great harvest which followed. 
 In no part of the country did Methodism take 
 root more quickly and grow more rankly than in 
 the territory of Maine. Some of the great names 
 of Methodism come from the far Northeast; such 
 as Wilbur Fisk, Elijah Hedding, Joshua Soule,
 
 1 1 6 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM, 
 
 Osmon C. Baker, and a large company, iu ability 
 but little their inferior. 
 
 Lee retired from New England ostensibly to 
 accompany Bishop Asbury, because of his feeble 
 health, as an assistant in his tour through the 
 South; but Providence may have had a hand in 
 this matter. Preachers, in number and ability 
 sufficient to care for the work, had been raised 
 up, and it was wise and proper to leave it in 
 their hands. Christianity is never a success un- 
 less sustained and propagated by the people 
 whom it is intended to bless. Religion can no 
 more be forced upon a nation than an individual. 
 Still, for all time, Jesse Lee will hold his place in 
 history as one of the greatest heroes that ever 
 trod the soil of New England. At the Confer- 
 ence of 1800 he failed in but one vote of being 
 elected bishop, and had that one little scrap of 
 paper been cast with his name on it, he would 
 have taken his place by the side of Asbury as one 
 of the greatest of American bishops ; and yet the 
 position would have added little or nothing to 
 his just fame. Whatcoat, the successful candi- 
 date, though a tried, true, and excellent man and 
 a good bishop, was a pigmy by the side of Lee. 
 Lee's perennial wit was the cause of his defeat. 
 
 In 1785, Freeborn Garrettson carried Method- 
 ism into the northeastern provinces of British 
 America, and in 1790 Wm. Losee kindled the 
 sacred fire in Upper Canada. The part Lee acted 
 in New England was, at the same time, performed
 
 CLOSE OF THE WAR. 117 
 
 in New York under the labors of Garrettson, 
 and in the South under O'Kelley, Williams, and 
 others. Bishops Coke and Asbury spent much of 
 their time in the South, wrestling as emancipa- 
 tionists with the problem of slavery, and sending 
 pioneers into the great Southwest. In 1799, 
 Tobias Spicer was sent to Natchez, Mississippi, 
 to establish an outpost there. The people were 
 wicked beyond description; but Spicer, through 
 God, took and held the ground. In 1808 six 
 preachers came up from that region to Confer- 
 ence, and reported a membership of 415. Lo- 
 renzo Dow appeared in Alabama in 1803, and 
 again in 1804. In 1805, Elisha W. Bowman was 
 sent by Bishop Asbury to Louisiana, and in the 
 midst of the most abandoned wickedness of the 
 Catholic, French, and Spanish population, he suc- 
 cessfully founded a Church. In 1807 the cele- 
 brated Jacob Young one of the many great men 
 of the times as presiding elder, took charge of 
 all the Louisiana region. 
 
 But we shall see Methodism reaching its high- 
 tide mark in moral grandeur only as we pass the 
 mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and 
 sweep down into the valleys below. The work is 
 organized as the Western District in 1788, with 
 five circuits nine preachers Valentine Cook, 
 presiding elder. In 1785, Richard Swift and 
 Michael Gilbert crossed the Alleghanies, and en- 
 tered the Holston country. Haw and Ogden en- 
 tered Kentucky in 1786. Francis Poythress, one
 
 1 1 8 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 of the great men of his times, took charge of the 
 first Kentucky District. In 1792 three districts 
 were reported, comprising Western Virginia, West- 
 ern Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Tennessee. 
 The heroes of the great fight that was then going 
 on for the empire of righteousness were Cook, 
 Poythress, Cooper, Haw, Breeze, Ogden, McCor- 
 mick, Boehm, Hitt, Kobler, McHenry, Burke, 
 Willis, Wilson, Lee, Phoebus, Axley, Cartwright, 
 Finley, and a host of others of the same stamp, if 
 not of equal ability. Wherever these men went 
 the gospel was preached with marvelous power, 
 attended by many conversions. Between 1800 
 and 1803, the Church had increased from 64,890 
 to 104,070. Twenty-seven years later, 1830, the 
 Presbyterian Church had increased, largely by 
 emigration, from 40,000 to 173,229 fourfold; 
 the Congregationalists from 75,000 to 140,000, not 
 quite twofold; and the Methodist from 64,000 to 
 476,153, more than seven-fold; the Baptists from 
 100,000 to 313,138, more than threefold. Do not 
 these facts signify that Methodism is to this 
 country as the "new wine to the new bottle?"
 
 E depths of Divine grace are clearly seen in allowing 
 those mighty men [Methodists] to become what they 
 have become in England and elsewhere a great stimulant 
 force in Christendom. What denomination can show greater 
 exploits, more versatile service, and larger conquests?" 
 
 ADAMS. 
 
 "Methodism has had a grand mission to fulfill in modern 
 Christendom a mission of mediation between the sects on 
 the one hand, and between an exclusive Church and a neg- 
 lected world on the other; and there is a moral majesty in 
 the firm and sure tread with which it has marched to the ac- 
 complishment of its work." CHRISTIAN EXAMINER. 
 1 20
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE MISSION OF METHODISM INTRUSTED TO 
 MIGHTY MEN. 
 
 \ /TETHODISM attracted the attention of states- 
 ^-*- men even amidst the throes of the Revolu- 
 tionary War. This grew out of the fact that, 
 though small in numbers, it was the boldest, the 
 most active and aggressive religious body in the 
 country. But most observers regarded it as a 
 nine days' wonder a mere spasm of humanity 
 which would soon pass away. The case assumed 
 a more serious aspect when the Church was for- 
 mally organized, in 1784, with an episcopal head, 
 and Jesse Lee entered New England to take it 
 for God and Methodism. His journey through 
 Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine into New 
 Brunswick, leaving revivals and organized soci- 
 eties behind him, was the march of a conqueror. 
 Still, the historian of the period gave it as the 
 opinion of thinking men that the prevailing relig- 
 ion of the land would be Congregationalism, and 
 barely alluded to the Methodists as a small and 
 evanescent body. The staying qualities of Meth- 
 odism, having now been tested by the experience 
 of more than one hundred years, may be consid- 
 ered a proper subject for investigation. 
 
 It was a matter of much importance for revi-
 
 122 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 vals to break out in favored localities under the 
 labors of such men as Asbury, Coke, Garrettson, 
 Hartley, Abbott, and Lee ; but what the Nation 
 needed were squadrons of such men scattered ev- 
 erywhere, and these it must have, or suffer from 
 its abounding infidelity and flagrant crimes. 
 There must be agents in the field by whom a 
 spiritual Christianity will be made to permeate 
 all ranks of society as a divine leavening power, 
 and as the empire marched westward with rapid 
 strides, where the center of its population and 
 power are yet to be, who will move up and down 
 along the ever-advancing border as the guides and 
 guards of the daring pioneers. Has Methodism 
 or has some other evangel furnished the men who 
 have accomplished this mission? 
 
 The building of the American Republic de- 
 manded men of the first ability and of the most 
 consummate moral courage. In civil life states- 
 men of this character were not wanting. The 
 agents, ambassadors, and State papers sent to 
 England and France by the Colonial Assembly, 
 commanded the highest respect of the sages and 
 rulers of those countries. Along the front line, 
 in its march to greatness, the Nation had no use 
 for pigmies, or even ordinary men, as legislators. 
 In this particular Methodism was favored not less 
 than the Colonies and the new-born Republic. 
 In their respective spheres Asbury and Washing- 
 ton were born commanders of men, and the bishop 
 was as well-born as the general.
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 123 
 
 Farragut was not more at home on the deck 
 of the Wabash, among the sailors, than were Lee, 
 and Abbott, and Hartley, and Williams as Meth- 
 odist preachers on a stump or a dry-goods box, 
 presenting Christ to the massed and weeping 
 thousands who came to hear them. In the con- 
 sciousness of their strength, natural and gracious, 
 they felt that in their sphere they were kings and 
 conquerors. Because especially needed, master 
 minds were raised up on the soil of New England, 
 to give Methodism as a perpetual blessing to the 
 land of the Puritans. A senate made up of such 
 men as Enoch Mudge, Timothy Merritt, George 
 Pickering, Wm. Losee, John Brodhead, Joshua 
 Taylor, Shadrach Bostwick, Epaphras Kibby, David 
 Webb, and Asa Heath would have commanded 
 the respect of any nation under heaven. But its 
 greatest men were yet to appear, in the persons 
 of Joshua Soule, Elijah Hedding, Osmon C. Baker, 
 all bishops, and Wilbur Fisk, who, for more im- 
 portant work, declined episcopal honor. 
 
 These master minds were conscious that they 
 had in hand a work which taxed to the utmost 
 and transcended all human ability. The old Paul- 
 ine .gospel they preached a full and free salva- 
 tion for all men was to the Calvinistically-bred 
 people as a new revelation from heaven. Con- 
 scious that they possessed the truth, they felt the 
 responsibility of being its sole possessors they 
 must give it to the world. Hence their strength, 
 their cheerful willingness to suffer and toil, to
 
 124 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 endanger life and limb, to hail reproach and 
 shame, and find full compensation in the Divine 
 approval and the success of the cause. The 
 work of such men remains after they are dead 
 and gone. The agency of great men in laying 
 the foundation of the Church we regard as one of 
 the most conspicuous and promising aspects of 
 Methodism. Its champions were men of brain 
 and brawn as well as piety. The gifts of the 
 Holy Spirit were conferred where there was a ca- 
 pacity to receive and use them. 
 
 Abel Stevens, the brilliant historian of Meth- 
 odism, gives the following as a picture of the 
 treatment New England gave to Methodist 
 preachers : 
 
 "Kibby was threatened with violence at Mar- 
 blehead, and advised to leave the town. The 
 Methodists of those days were, in many places, 
 persecuted even unto fines, the seizure of their 
 goods, and sometimes imprisonment by the dom- 
 inant Church. They were denounced from the 
 pulpits, maltreated in the courts, interrupted in 
 the course of their sermons with charges of her- 
 esy, and assailed in the streets by the rabble. 
 Washburn was hooted through the villages, Hed- 
 ding cursed with outcries in the highway ; Dow's 
 nose was publicly wrung; Sabin was knocked 
 down and struck on the head, to the peril of his 
 life, with the butt of a gun; Wood was horse- 
 whipped ; Christie summoned out of bed to an- 
 swer a charge of violating the laws by marrying
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 125 
 
 a couple of his people; Willard wounded in the 
 eye by a blow, the effect of which was seen 
 through his life ; Mudge denied the rights of a 
 clergyman, and arraigned before the magistrate 
 for assuming them; Kibby stoned while preach- 
 ing; and Taylor drummed out of town." 
 
 But none of these things moved either the 
 Methodist ministry or the Churches they had es- 
 tablished. There was within them a written and 
 a deeply-felt commission, having on it the seal of 
 the Master; also the words, "Lo, I am with you." 
 This, together with their yearning for the salva- 
 tion of souls, was their inspiration, comfort, and 
 strength. 
 
 The course pursued by the dominant Church 
 clearly demonstrated that it was old, moss-covered, 
 and belonged to an age that had passed away. It 
 was far back behind the times. It had failed to 
 grasp the spirit of the young Republic, and hence 
 was utterly disqualified to go before it as its pillar 
 of religious light. It might have found in Meth- 
 odism the blessing it most needed, and been saved 
 from the deeper formalism of Unitarianism that 
 came upon it. Though the Congregationalists, 
 Baptists, and Free-will Baptists were strong in 
 that territory, the Methodists stand in numbers 
 to-day next to the head of the column. It reports 
 an active ministry of 650, and a membership of 
 144,748. Its churches, colleges, universities, sem- 
 inaries, and press are adequate to its wants. 
 
 Methodism went forth, not to attack or tear
 
 126 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 dowr other Churches, but, whenever its saluta- 
 tions were reciprocated, to hail them as fellow- 
 workers in a common cause. As often as they 
 were permitted to do so, they carried its quick- 
 ening power into their pulpits and congregations. 
 Their prayers and blessings followed thousands of 
 their converts whenever they chose to find a re- 
 ligious home in other denominations. Along the 
 western border they met with but little opposition, 
 except that which legitimately came from the evil 
 one; but it was not so in the older Colonies. 
 From Maine to Georgia they were regarded as 
 intruders, who must be silenced by argument or 
 expelled by force. It is quite likely that this op- 
 position developed in the early preachers, a hard- 
 iness and a courage which would not otherwise 
 have appeared, and was a real benefit to them. 
 Methodism was denounced from many a pulpit 
 and platform as popery, Arianism, infidelity, and 
 heresy; and "wolves in sheep's clothing" was the 
 designation the preachers of those early times 
 often received. But the only practical tendency 
 of these contrary winds was to bring into action 
 the more fully their powers as consecrated men. 
 
 The camp-fires of Methodism were kindled 
 simultaneously, by migration and the border itin- 
 erants, in Western New York, Western Pennsyl- 
 vania, Western Virginia, and Ohio. At first the 
 small societies were far apart. Often there were 
 neither roads nor bridges leading from one to an- 
 other, the country was infested with savage In-
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 127 
 
 dians and wild beasts ; but, nothing daunted, the 
 brave itinerant appeared among the people at least 
 once in four weeks, with his soul aglow with the 
 blessings of the gospel of Christ. 'These societies 
 grew with the growth of the country. They were 
 as lights in dark places, and, as the conservators 
 of its intelligence and morals, exerted a vast in- 
 fluence. 
 
 The West, not less than the East and South, 
 was blessed with the labors of really great men. 
 Valentine Cook is one of the brilliant and pre- 
 cious names of Methodism. He was a thoroughly 
 consecrated man a religious battery, which set 
 everything in motion wherever he went. His el- 
 oquence and power brought all classes to hear 
 him, and his example made every man on his vast 
 district a hero. 
 
 In the Redstone country, Scotch Seceders had, 
 by emigration, organized a large society. The 
 clergyman of this denomination had never seen 
 Cook, but the information he had received about 
 him greatly disturbed his peace of mind. Through 
 unfriendly channels, he had thoroughly informed 
 himself, as he thought, in regard to Wesley and 
 Methodism. He was then eager to meet Cook in 
 public debate, vanquish him in the presence of 
 the people, and forever rid the country of his pres- 
 ence and his religion. A challenge was sent, and 
 accepted by Cook. The whole country, for many 
 miles around, came together, and probably nine- 
 teen out of twenty anticipated the pleasure of see-
 
 128 OUR COUNTRY AND ME THODISM. 
 
 ing the heresy of Methodism swept out of that 
 section of the country. Robert R. Roberts, after- 
 wards bishop, then one of Cook's preachers, was 
 present, and the world is indebted to him for the 
 account we have of the great debate. 1 quote 
 from Stevens: 
 
 "On the appointed morning they gathered in 
 hosts around a lofty pulpit, which had been erected 
 in the midst of the forest, and was surrounded 
 with a vast number of seats for the immense con- 
 course. These arrangements appeared to have 
 been exclusively prepared by the votaries of the 
 old Scotch minister. In truth, Roberts saw no one 
 who was at all inclined to favor Cook or his 
 cause. Upon the whole, it was perfectly clear, 
 from all that he could see and hear, that a great 
 victory, in the estimation of the dominant party, 
 was that day to be achieved on the side of Cal- 
 vinism. 
 
 "It was at last announced that the Methodist 
 preacher had arrived. Roberts found him a little 
 beyond the limits of the congregation, quietly 
 seated on the trunk of a fallen tree. His pres- 
 ence, however, appeared to put a quietus, for the 
 time being, on the rampant spirit of the opposi- 
 tion, especially as their champion had not yet 
 made his appearance. At length the aged Scotch- 
 man drove up, until he had well-nigh reached the 
 center of the crowd. He was a well-set, broad- 
 shouldered, venerable-looking man of about sixty. 
 When interrogated by one of his friends as to the
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 129 
 
 cause of his delay, he promptly replied, with a 
 heavy Scotch brogue : ' I 'in here in ample time to 
 gi'e the youngster a dose from which he will not 
 recover.' 
 
 " The parties had never seen each other before, 
 and, of course, had no personal acquaintance. 
 When introduced, as they soon were, though in a 
 very awkward manner, Cook was treated with 
 marked incivility. With an air of authority, the 
 Scotchman ascended the pulpit, and, without 
 prayer or explanation, commenced a furious at- 
 tack on Wesley and Methodism in general. He 
 soon became greatly excited, raved, stamped, and 
 literally foamed at the mouth. By the time he 
 entered on the support of Calvinism, properly so 
 called, his voice was well-nigh gone. In about 
 two hours he brought his remarks to a close, and 
 sat down greatly exhausted. 
 
 " Cook then rose in the pulpit, and, after a fer- 
 vent appeal to Almighty God for wisdom and help 
 to defend the truth, he commenced under much 
 embarrassment. His hand trembled, his tongue 
 faltered, and at times it was with difficulty he 
 could articulate with sufficient clearness to be 
 heard on the outskirts of the assembly. He first 
 took up and refuted with great power the allega- 
 tions that had been made against Wesley and 
 Methodism. By this time his embarrassment had 
 passed off, his voice became clear and distinct, 
 and, withal, there was a strange sweetness in his 
 delivery that seemed to put a spell on the whole
 
 1 30 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM, 
 
 assembly. He then entered his solemn protest to 
 the exceptional features of the Calvinistic theol- 
 ogy. He opposed to the opinions of reputedly 
 great men, on which his opponent had mainly re- 
 lied, the plain and positive teaching of Moses 
 and the prophets, of Christ and his apostles, and, 
 in conclusion, presented an outline of the scheme 
 of human salvation as taught by Wesley and his fol- 
 lowers in Europe and America not in its theory 
 only, but in its experimental and practical bearings. 
 "At an early period in his discourse, his oppo- 
 nent rose to his feet, and exclaimed, with all the 
 voice he had left: 'Wolf! wolf! Wolf in sheep's 
 clothing!' Cook, had, however, become so per- 
 fectly self-possessed, and so entirely absorbed in 
 his subject, that this rudeness had no effect upon 
 him. As he advanced he appeared to acquire ad- 
 ditional strength, physical, mental, and spiritual. 
 The fixed attention of the vast audience seemed 
 to inspire him with new powers of argument and 
 elocution. His voice, usually soft and soothing, 
 rolled out in thunder tones over the concourse, 
 and echoed far away into the depths of the forest, 
 while his countenance lighted up, kindled, and 
 glowed as if he were newly commissioned from 
 on high to proclaim the salvation of God. The 
 Scotchman could endure it no longer. He again 
 sprang to his feet, and shouted at the top of his 
 shattered voice : 'Follow me! follow me! and leave 
 the babbler to himself!' Only two or three obeyed 
 him.
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 131 
 
 " Cook was too much absorbed to pay the slight- 
 est attention to the ravings or flight of his oppo- 
 nent. He pressed directly forward "with his argu- 
 ment, dealing out at every step the most startling 
 demonstrations against error in faith and practice. 
 Long before the mighty effort was brought to a 
 close, the whole assembly were on their feet, all 
 eagerly listening, and unconsciously pressing to- 
 ward the speaker. Every eye was fixed, every 
 ear was opened, and every heart was tremblingly 
 alive to the importance of the theme. When he 
 took his seat, all faces were upturned, and for the 
 most part bathed in tears. The great multitude 
 stood for some time like statues no one appear- 
 ing disposed to move, utter a word, or leave the 
 place. All seemed to be overwhelmed, aston- 
 ished, and captivated. At last the spell-bound 
 multitude retired, silent as a funeral proces- 
 sion." 
 
 Another of the thousands of these contests 
 may be recorded: A multitude within the bounds 
 of the Erie Conference will remember Rev. 
 Thomas Graham; but as he was from 1835 to 
 1845, he is known only to a few, and probably to 
 none living better than to the writer. 
 
 In those days public sentiment in Portage 
 County had become badly infected with infidelity, 
 caused by a low and vile infidel paper which for 
 some years had been published at Ravenna, the 
 county-seat. In Mantua, Freedom, Shalersville, 
 and Charleston, infidels, as a class, as well as their
 
 132 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 doctrines, received broadside after broadside from 
 the heavy guns of Mr. Graham, and as a conse- 
 quence he was compelled to accept a challenge to 
 a public debate from a Mr. Veets, of Shalersville. 
 Being exceedingly anxious to hear all that could 
 be said on both sides of the questions discussed, 
 I heard the debate from first to last. The first 
 day Mr. Veets's notes and written speeches held 
 out quite well; but it was clearly manifest that 
 Brother Graham felt that he was dealing with a 
 conceited, pig-headed man, whose conceptions of 
 the vast field occupied by Christianity were crude 
 in the extreme, and he was handled accordingly. 
 In the morning of the second day the vaunting in- 
 fidel presented to his large audience a pitiable 
 aspect. Some of his friends had abandoned him, 
 and did not appear. The labor of the forenoon 
 was the struggle of desperation, and the mercies 
 of Graham were like the ever-tightening coils of 
 an anaconda. On the assembling of the crowd 
 in the afternoon, the president of the meeting 
 read a note in which Mr. Veets announced that, 
 because of sickness, he would not be able to be 
 present. All felt that beyond a doubt the cham- 
 pion of infidelity was really and truly "sick." 
 
 , But the people did not disperse ; it was known 
 that Graham had purposely been fighting on the 
 skirmish line, and was then fully ready for close 
 action. Everybody was anxious to hear him, and 
 in two hours and a half he delivered five of his 
 prepared half-hour speeches. His notes were
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 133 
 
 elaborate, but his preparation had been so thor- 
 ough and complete that he made but little use of 
 them. He had made himself a master of the 
 works of the Watsons, of Alexander, Simpson, 
 Leslie, and Campbell, on the one side; and of 
 Paine, Volney, Gibbon, and Voltaire, on the other, 
 and from the time he resumed his seat to this day, 
 infidelity has not lifted up its head in Shalersville. 
 That long address was listened to with the closest 
 attention from the beginning to the end. Facts, 
 arguments, criticism, satire, and scorn were inter- 
 mingled in about equal proportions. Consterna- 
 tion prevailed in the ranks of the skeptics. Some 
 were angry, and all were mortified to the last de- 
 gree. Poor Veets was made to bear the personal 
 disgrace which every one felt. To the Christian 
 public the hour was one of perfect triumph. As 
 a debater and champion of the truth, Graham at 
 once took rank as a master. 
 
 After writhing in their mortification for a few 
 days, the infidels sought another champion in the 
 person of Dr. Samuel Underbill, of Cleveland, 
 Ohio. He promptly sent to Graham a challenge 
 for a debate, to be held early in autumn, in Man- 
 tua. With confidence in the power of the truth, 
 and yet with some fear and trembling, the chal- 
 lenge was accepted. During the intervening 
 months Mr. Graham reviewed the entire field, re- 
 constructed and made large additions to his argu- 
 ment, but at times passed through hours of deep 
 depression. He was heard to say: "I don't care
 
 134 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 to be crushed myself, for I can stand that; what 
 troubles me is this giant, because of my lack of 
 ability to defend it, may crush the truth." Most 
 of the time, however, he was in high spirits, and 
 anxious for the fray. 
 
 Finally the appointed day arrived, and the de- 
 baters were greeted by a crowded house of intelli- 
 gent, earnest people. Graham was cool and calm, 
 but appeared as if he was carrying a burden of 
 uncommon weight. Dr. Underhill evidently looked 
 upon his antagonist very much as Goliath looked 
 upon David, while parleying at a distance. He 
 was, as I remember, the incarnation of easy self- 
 sufficiency he felt his task was to be that of a 
 light, airy play-day. 
 
 Graham opened the debate, spending his half- 
 hour in setting forth the importance of the ques- 
 tions involved; and presenting a single affirma- 
 tive argument, the fact that man is a religious 
 being, and must worship after some form if not 
 Christianity, then some other. And then the bat- 
 tle raged for three days, both men bringing into 
 the field their last resources and utmost strength. 
 Graham found that Underhill was not a Veets. 
 He had closed in with a man of learning, of gen- 
 tlemanly address, and a fine orator. He was sup- 
 ported by the ablest skeptics the country could 
 produce. Graham stood alone, without a coun- 
 selor. But never was he more of a man never 
 appeared anywhere to better advantage than in 
 that conflict. Whilst listening to Underbill's first
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 135 
 
 speech he took a measure of the man, and had no 
 further fears. He saw that he was lacking in 
 critical precision, that his logic was loose and 
 rickety, and that he would be ever open to attack. 
 
 Finally the last day and last hour of the de- 
 bate came. Graham's mind was at a white heat, 
 and all aflame. He felt in his soul the inspira- 
 tion of a victor, and that not in a single instance 
 had the truth suffered at his hands. What he 
 felt he knew others felt; it was in the air it was 
 everywhere and no one was more conscious of 
 it than his antagonist. Graham was at his best, 
 and everybody could see it; and it could be seen 
 with equal clearness that Underhill was a crushed 
 man. With bowed head, with complexion sad 
 and dark, he suffered through the avalanche of 
 Graham's closing speech. This was a condensed 
 presentation of the main points in the debate, 
 and he was careful to note that not a position 
 taken had been shaken. Underhill confessed his 
 weakness by closing the debate with a presenta- 
 tion of new matter matter to which he knew 
 Graham could not reply. Every one saw the cow- 
 ardly trick, and accepted it as his confession of 
 defeat. For Christianity, and for Graham per- 
 sonally, the discussion was an absolute triumph. 
 He should have the credit of making havoc of the 
 infidelity of Portage County at a time when such 
 a work was much needed. 
 
 Here were great men on great occasions, and 
 the results of these mighty conflicts continue to
 
 136 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 this day. In bringing on his debate, the Scotch- 
 man was the occasion of opening the effectual 
 door for Methodism in all that region of country. 
 But Cook was only one of a great company, who 
 were raised up on the soil, and sent forth to carry 
 the gospel into every nook and corner of the 
 mighty West. For a few years they lingered on 
 the Holston Mountains, as on watch-towers, and 
 took time to survey the situation in the empire- 
 like valley below. The undisputed possession of 
 the mountains was taken as an order of march to 
 new conquests in the unknown realm beyond. 
 The name of Wm. McKendree should be men- 
 tioned first among these hardy pioneers. Born in 
 a cabin, educated in the woods, he was a child of 
 nature, and a magnificent man. Cool in judg- 
 ment, of surpassing wisdom, a good disciplinarian, 
 ever on the wing and ^at the front, at times a 
 preacher of awful power, and a born ruler of men, 
 he was in every way great, like the West where 
 he was to act a conspicuous part. Appointed, in 
 1796, to the Western Conference, which embraced 
 the territory of Tennessee and Kentucky, no man 
 could be small and grasp that field of labor; and 
 large in soul as he might be, his powers would 
 find ample room for expansion. He soon made 
 himself known throughout all that region of 
 country as the statesman, the hero, and the evan- 
 gelist his fame filled the Church. In the great 
 revival which broke out under the labors of the 
 McGee brothers, at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, he, as
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 137 
 
 a directing officer of the Church, took a conspic- 
 uous part. The impress which the scattered 
 population of those States received from him and 
 his lieutenants, went far to make them good citi- 
 zens of the Republic. 
 
 We have already spoken of Poythress, whose 
 keen and comprehensive mind would not have 
 lingered an hour with Methodism had he not seen 
 in it the elements of religious empire. Prema- 
 turely he broke down in both body and mind be- 
 neath the toil and responsibility he had assumed, 
 else he might, in every way, have been the peer 
 of McKendree. The almost incredible and effi- 
 cient labors of Benjamin Lakin, in Kentucky and 
 Ohio, have made him one of the heroes of the 
 border struggles. Robert R. Roberts, born and 
 educated in the forest, as familiar with wild beasts 
 as with reckless men, and always a simple child of 
 nature, was mighty in handling the Word of God, 
 controlling a Conference, and laying the founda- 
 tion of the Church. As a bishop, his rank is 
 among the ablest and best. 
 
 Stevens says of John Sale: "He was one of 
 the most heroic evangelists and founders of West- 
 ern Methodism, though only five lines are given 
 to his memory in the official Minutes; and we 
 know not the precise place of his birth. In 1796 
 he joined the itinerant evangelists, and was sent 
 to the Swanino Circuit, in the wilds of Virginia, 
 where he had his courage and fidelity tested in 
 breasting the dangers and hardships of a pioneer
 
 138 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 preacher. His circuit was trie Mallamuskest, in 
 the lowlands of the State. Added to the neces- 
 sary hardships connected with traveling this cir- 
 cuit, it was a very sickly region, and much dreaded 
 by the itinerant; but as nothing could disgust or 
 deter the preachers of those days wherever, in the 
 providence God, their lot was cast, Sale went in 
 the name of his Master, and entered upon the 
 work assigned him, ready to die. From this point 
 he gradually moved north, lingering four years on 
 the Holston Mountains, and labored nearly a 
 quarter of a century in Kentucky and Ohio. His 
 last words were : ' My last battle is fought and the 
 victory sure ! Halleluiah !' Judge McLean, of 
 the Supreme Court of the United States, regarded 
 Sale as one of the very ablest and best preachers 
 he ever heard." 
 
 Tobias Gibson, Moses Floyd, Hezekiah Harri- 
 man, Abraham Amos, and Learner Blackman, the 
 conquerors of the wicked, cut-throat city of 
 Natchez, in 1799, eighteen years before the Mis- 
 sissippi Territory became a State in the Union, 
 proved to be exactly the brave men needed to 
 rescue that region from barbarism, and rebuild so- 
 ciety on a foundation of intelligence and virtue. 
 The foundation of the Church in Ohio was laid by 
 McCormick, a local preacher of great zeal and in- 
 fluence. He was aided by Kobler, Henry Smith, 
 Lewis Hunt, and Ezekiel Dimmitt, a layman. Dim- 
 mitt was deeply pious, and physically a very pow- 
 erful man. His presence at a camp-meeting ren-
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 139 
 
 dered unnecessary the employment of any police 
 force. 
 
 Of the character of the itinerant ministers of 
 his times McCormick, who had seen much of them, 
 says: "I am now grown old, and what can I say 
 respecting Methodism? I believe its plan is of 
 Divine origin, and millions will with me have 
 cause to thank and adore the Lord through eter- 
 nity for it, and for the whole of Methodism. I do 
 not believe there was ever such a set of men since 
 the apostles' day for zeal, fortitude, and usefulness, 
 in bringing sinners to the knowledge of them- 
 selves and of Christ, as our traveling preachers." 
 
 Central Ohio was penetrated as early as 1800 
 by Robert Manly, Jesse Stoneman, James Quinn, 
 and Daniel Hitt, all men of commanding ability. 
 Henry Shewell, a local preacher from Virginia, 
 introduced Methodism into the Western Reserve, 
 and he was followed, in 1803, by Shadrach Bost- 
 wick and Beauchamp, two pulpit orators of sur- 
 passing ability. 
 
 For some years before they were admitted as 
 States into the Union, Indiana and Illinois had 
 been under the tutelage of Methodism, led by 
 such men as Peter Cartwright, Nathan Robertson, 
 Benjamin Young (brother to Jacob Young), Jesse 
 Walker, James Axley, J. Page, L. Garrett, and 
 others, who were well qualified to lay in religion 
 the foundation of States. 
 
 Passing into the South, we find that the field 
 is occupied by able and heroic men. Bishops
 
 1 40 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 Coke and Asbury spent much of their time in 
 that region. There are James O'Kelly, Lewis My- 
 ers, Win. M. Kennedy, James Russell, Lovick and 
 Reddick Pierce, Richmond Nolley, Hope Hull, 
 Samuel Dunwoody, Wm. Capers, John Early, and 
 many others of like courage and ability. These 
 were men of eloquence and power in the pulpit, 
 and of commanding influence with all classes. 
 When converted, James Russell did not know the 
 letters of the alphabet, but he became an indefat- 
 igable student, and for some years was known as 
 the silver-tongued orator of South Carolina. At 
 an early day there was not a settlement and 
 scarcely a family south of the Potomac which 
 had not felt, more or less, the influence of the 
 Methodist evangelist. 
 
 Among these remarkable men must be men- 
 tioned the name of Lewis Evans, a free negro, a 
 local preacher from Virginia, who, as a shoe- 
 maker, settled in Fayetteville, South Carolina. 
 Such was the prevalence of drunkenness, profan- 
 ity, the lewdness of all classes in the place, that 
 he was moved to attempt their reformation. Ev- 
 ery obstruction conceivable was put in his way by 
 the white people ; but he proved to be one of the 
 most remarkable preachers that ever appeared in 
 the State. He organized a society composed of 
 both whites and blacks, built a church, for some 
 time kept it crowded with devout worshipers, white 
 and black, and finally sent for the regular preacher 
 to take in charge the growing work. Wm. Ca-
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 141 
 
 pers, afterwards bishop, then on his first charge, 
 responded to this call. 
 
 Garrettson, Bangs, Case, Lane, Fillmore, and 
 others of like fame, swept over Northern New 
 York, penetrated Canada, and laid the foundations 
 of Methodism in all parts of the Dominion. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that, in the rise of Meth- 
 odism in America, able men, raised upon the soil, 
 were never wanting to man all the strategic 
 points in the work. The Lord of the harvest 
 seemed to be ever on the look-out for workmen. 
 Had Romanism in this country no priests except 
 such as had been converted from the ranks of the 
 wicked by its instrumentality, its altars would be 
 practically deserted. But whilst popery is a bale- 
 ful, exotic plant, Methodism is indigenous to the 
 soil and thoroughly American. 
 
 At a later day J. B. Finley and Russel Bige- 
 low, in Ohio, were regarded as the peers of the 
 best men that lived in the State. The itinerancy 
 brought them into contact with the roughest and 
 most wicked of the borderers ; but thousands of 
 these became Christians, some of them ministers, 
 and other thousands received such checks in the 
 ways of vice as greatly contributed to the peace 
 of society. Candid students of history are free to 
 admit that, had it not been for the commanding 
 influence of these ministers, many localities would 
 surely have lapsed into barbarism. 
 
 Nor was the age of able and heroic men con- 
 fined to the pioneer period of Methodism. Stock-
 
 142 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 ton, Bascom, Maffitt, Cookman, Spicer, Durbin, 
 Simpson, Milburn, Olin, Trimble, and others, serve 
 honorably as a connecting link between the pres- 
 ent and the past. For more than a quarter of a 
 century Simpson as an orator had no peer in the 
 American pulpit. Dr. T. L. Cuyler speaks as fol- 
 lows of Dr. Stephen Olin : 
 
 "The giant in those days, physically and men- 
 tally, was President Stephen Olin. The weight 
 of his spear was ' like a weaver's beam.' All the 
 old Middletonians will remember how he used to 
 remind them of Daniel Webster in the grandeur 
 of his physique, in the sonorous tones of his voice, 
 and in the majestic power of his utterances. 
 He was several inches taller than Webster, and 
 was more graceful in his delivery. The congre- 
 gation in the principal Methodist Episcopal 
 Church of Middletown always knew when Dr. 
 Olin was going to preach, because the astral 
 lamps were removed from the pulpit, lest he 
 should smash them with the sweep of his long 
 arms. An imperial king of men was Olin, who 
 combined massive logic with a glowing fervor 
 that swept his audience like a prairie-fire." 
 
 Daniel Curry and Daniel D. Whedon were, 
 each in his own way, master minds. In philoso- 
 phy and theology, we regard Whedon as the 
 acutest mind of Methodism. As editor, Dr. Thos. 
 E. Bond, a local preacher, heads a long column 
 of able men. When academies, colleges, and uni- 
 versities arose in Methodism, learned men were
 
 MIGHTY MEN. 143 
 
 not wanting to honor the professor's chair. Meth- 
 odist laymen, as judges, senators, and governors 
 of States, have been an honor to both Church and 
 State. The Presidential mansion never more fully 
 commanded the admiration of good people than 
 when under the sway of Methodism. Methodist 
 women led the female temperance hosts in this 
 country. The same distinguishing features char- 
 acterize the work of the Church among our for- 
 eign population. If the Nation had its James 
 Otis and Patrick Henry, the Church has had her 
 Summerfield, Bascom, Maffitt, Cookman, and 
 Simpson. In counsel, Asbury was the peer of 
 Washington.
 
 is the most powerful element in the re- 
 G3BS ligious prosperity of the United States, as well as one 
 of the firmest pillars of our civil and religious institutions." 
 144 ROBERT BAIRD.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 METHODISM IN CONTACT WITH THE NATION, MOLD- 
 ING ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 "TI7ITHOUT doubt, Methodism produced its 
 * sharpest and most decided effects upon the 
 lives of the people by the unparalleled power 
 with which it presented to them the gospel of 
 Christ. All had heard of the gospel, but a large 
 majority thought and felt that they were hearing 
 the gospel itself for the first time. The preach- 
 ing of the gospel, manifestly attended by the 
 Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, leaves no 
 room for skepticism. Its most characteristic doc- 
 trines a full and free salvation for all men, a 
 present faith, immediate regeneration by the 
 power of God, the witness of the Spirit, and a 
 knowledge of acceptance with God were as new 
 and startling as if they had then fallen from the 
 lips of prophets and apostles. The preaching of 
 Benjamin Abbott was often attended with marvel- 
 ous power a single sermon often resulting in the 
 conversion of a score of souls; and he was only 
 one of hundreds whose preaching was blest of 
 God in a similar manner, if not to an equal ex- 
 tent. The preaching of these men was perhaps 
 the more effectual because it was known that 
 
 13 145
 
 146 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 they had not been favored with a scholastic edu- 
 cation. Such demonstration of the Spirit had 
 been witnessed by the people nowhere except 
 among the Methodists. 
 
 Methodist influence was by no means confined 
 to its own household. The old-established 
 Churches shared largely in the fruits of every re- 
 vival that was held, and hundreds of people were 
 brought more or less under the sway of the gos- 
 pel who did not become pronounced Christians. 
 A multitude was made the better for this world, if 
 not qualified for the next. 
 
 It was thus that Methodism, in the fullness of 
 its evangelizing power, was brought to bear, not 
 only upon every community, but especially upon 
 every Church in the country. The Eastern and 
 Scotch-Irish Churches were too old, too fixed, if 
 not too fossilized, to yield at once to this new 
 power, and hence for a long time they set them- 
 selves against it; but in the West the spirit of 
 Methodism was all dominant, carried everything 
 before it, and pre-eminently so at the great Cane 
 Ridge revival in Kentucky. A looker-on could 
 not distinguish in any way the members of one 
 denomination from those of another at those 
 services. 
 
 The immense camp-meetings held in the South, 
 Middle States, and West, brought together the in- 
 fidels, the thieves, the cut-throats, murderers, and 
 scoundrels generally, who had sought a wide range 
 along the border for their depredations; and
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTITUTIONS. 147 
 
 whilst some created disturbance, many of them 
 were thoroughly converted, and ever after lived as 
 good citizens. This country was never favored 
 with more pungent, soul-searching, and powerful 
 preaching than was heard at these gatherings in 
 the woods. Nature seemed to lend its inspiration 
 to grace; and when there was a capacity to re- 
 ceive both, the preacher was often an astonish- 
 ment to himself and to his friends. If Methodism 
 deserves the credit which has been generally 
 awarded to it, of saving the border from barbar- 
 ism, its energy and leavening power were exerted 
 largely through these great camp-meetings. What 
 the tasty village church was to the klite of the 
 town, these assemblies in the forest were to the 
 motley backwoods crowds. After the Cane Ridge 
 meeting closed, this arm of evangelizing service 
 was left mostly to be used by the Methodists, and 
 it was exactly suited to the elastic temper and 
 indomitable push of the denomination. In this 
 respect, to the ever expanding Great West, Meth- 
 odism was pre-eminently as the "new wine in the 
 new bottle." Its ever active and powerful pres- 
 ence, in all the Territories west of New York, 
 Pennsylvania, and Virginia, more than all other 
 agencies combined, checked, educated, and molded 
 the people for the responsibilities of citizenship in 
 the Republic. 
 
 But power is a subtle and hidden part of the 
 constitution of nature what we see is mostly its 
 effects; and we can not satisfactorily account for
 
 148 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 the success of Methodism, unless we can detect 
 more fully its points of actual contact with the 
 people. A great victory never comes except from 
 a close engagement. The leaven must be thor- 
 oughly intermixed with the meal an item of the 
 one substance placed in contact with an item of 
 the other in order to desirable results. 
 
 As an illustration of this principle, let us se- 
 lect one of the workmen and spend a few weeks 
 with him and see how he prosecutes his daily toil 
 in the vineyard of his Master. We might select 
 any one of a thousand who have been in the 
 field; but we will take Jacob Young, and go with 
 him to his second charge. 
 
 He has been sent into the Green River coun- 
 try, Kentucky, with orders to organize a new 
 circuit of some five hundred miles in circumfer- 
 ence. The region is mostly a wild, savage waste, 
 and he does not expect to meet on his round a 
 human being he ever saw before. He has neither 
 purse nor scrip, and barely a change of under- 
 clothing. We have the man with his Bible, 
 hymn-book, and horse, and these are about all. 
 We will let him tell his own story: "In two days 
 I arrived at Manoah Lasley's, where I spent a few 
 days, rested my horse, and recruited my ward- 
 robe. I found myself at a great loss to know 
 how to form a circuit in that vast wilderness, and 
 had no one to instruct me. I preached on Sab- 
 bath-day in Father Lasley's house, and set off on 
 Monday on my great and important enterprise.
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTITUTIONS. 149 
 
 I concluded to travel five miles, as nearly as I 
 could guess, then stop, reconnoiter the neighbor- 
 hood, and find some kind person who would let 
 me preach in his log-cabin; and so on till I had 
 performed the entire round. I had a long ride, 
 through a dreary country. Late in the evening 
 I came to a little log-cabin standing in the woods, 
 with no stable or outbuildings of any kind. See- 
 ing a woman in the door, I rode up, and asked if 
 I could stay all night. She seemed to think not. 
 I paused a few moments, thinking what to do. I 
 was afraid to go any further, lest I should have 
 to lie out all night. That I was afraid to do, as 
 the weather was very cold, and there were always 
 a great many ravenous wolves in the barrens. 
 My life would be in danger, and there was noth- 
 ing to encourage me to stay at this place. I 
 knew I would have to tie my tired, hungry horse 
 to a tree, without shelter or food. The woman 
 was unwilling to let me stay. She was not en- 
 tirely alone, but had several children, and one 
 daughter partly grown, which inclined me to think 
 I could stay with safety. 
 
 "I finally concluded to let her know who I 
 was, and what business I was on. I said to her: 
 *I am a Methodist preacher, sent by Bishop As- 
 bury to try to form a circuit.' This information 
 appeared to electrify her. Her countenance 
 changed and her eyes fairly sparkled. She stood 
 some time without speaking, and then exclaimed: 
 4 Has a Methodist preacher come at last? Yes,
 
 150 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 brother, you shall stay all night. Mr. Carson is 
 not at home, but we will do the best we can for 
 you with a glad heart.' I alighted from my horse, 
 and went into the house. The children clustered 
 around me as if some near friend had come. After 
 having gone through the usual ceremonies, my 
 next concern was to take care of my horse. Their 
 oldest daughter, a pleasant girl, provided me with 
 a halter, and directed me to a suitable tree where 
 my horse could stand. I soon found I was to 
 have a comfortable night's rest. They furnished 
 me with plenty of good, sound corn for my horse. 
 The cabin, and what little furniture they had, was 
 neat and clean. Supper was soon served up, just 
 such as suited me corn-bread, fried venison, and 
 crop-vine tea. 
 
 "Mrs. Carson then told me her history. She 
 and her husband were both raised in North Caro- 
 lina. They both experienced a change of heart 
 when young. Her husband had been a class- 
 leader for some years before he left his native 
 State. They had migrated in order to buy land 
 for their children. They had purchased a pretty 
 large tract on one of the branches of Green River, 
 lying about ten miles from where they then lived, 
 and her husband was now at work on their own 
 laud. He had cleared out a small farm and built 
 a tolerably large house, which he was finishing. 
 By the time I came round again they would have 
 it ready to preach in. 
 -. " I spent the evening pleasantly, and by the
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTITUTIONS. 1 5 1 
 
 time day dawned was on my way in search of 
 another appointment. My ride was along the di- 
 viding ridge between Green River and Salt River. 
 In the evening I stopped at the house of a man 
 by the name of Honnel. He was in pretty good 
 circumstances for that country had a convenient 
 house, and very willingly opened it for preaching. 
 I stayed all night, and the next day preached to a 
 small congregation ; had some encouragement, 
 and in the afternoon went on my way rejoicing. 
 Late in the evening I came to a Mr. Cooper's. 
 He was a local preacher, but, from the manner in 
 which he received me, I thought he took me to be 
 an impostor. In family prayer he officiated him- 
 self. The family were reserved, and I had noth- 
 ing to say. They fed my horse, gave me my sup- 
 per, and a place to sleep. Next morning they told 
 me I might preach. The word was circulated, 
 and at eleven the congregation began to come to- 
 gether. The first man that came was a Seceder. 
 He became much attached to me, and gave me all 
 the encouragement he could. I tried to preach, 
 God gave me much freedom, and we had an ex- 
 cellent meeting ; and brother Cooper wept much. 
 Here we organized a class, and having tarried one 
 day longer, the next morning I started early. 
 Brother Cooper and his wife went with me. 
 
 "About ten o'clock we halted at Mr. Mc- 
 Cowan's. Here I was astonished to find a large 
 congregation assembled. This being the Sabbath, 
 they had come hoping to meet the preacher, hear-
 
 152 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 ing that there was one on his way to form a circuit. 
 The house was a large double cabin, with both 
 rooms full and a good many in the yard. I saw 
 many Methodists among them, and they were 
 singing Methodist hymns in a revival spirit. I 
 spent most of the afternoon in class-meeting. 
 This was truly a good day to my soul and to the 
 souls of others. Here I found a class of about 
 fifty members ready formed to my hand. I took 
 some pains to learn the history of this society. 
 It was formed by a local preacher who had resided 
 several years in that vicinity. I regulated the so- 
 ciety, appointed a class-leader, etc., and went on, 
 bearing toward Crab Orchard. I preached at Mr. 
 Samuel Stewart's, and found a small class. Here 
 I regulated matters, and appointed a class-leader. 
 In this neighborhood I found a great many Bap- 
 tists, who received me as the Lord's messenger. 
 I felt myself at home, and would have gladly spent 
 days in the place, but my work was before me. 
 Before night I met with a man who gave me a 
 cordial invitation to preach in his house, where, 
 finding a small society already organized, I made 
 them a class paper, appointed a leader, etc." 
 
 S~>me chapters back we referred to the fact 
 that wherever, by emigration or otherwise, the 
 sparks or firebrands of Methodism were carried, 
 they were likely to kindle new fires of devotion. 
 This self-propagating power of the Church is one 
 of the remarkable sources of its power and useful- 
 ness. Mr. Young continues:
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTITUTIONS. 153 
 
 " I traveled about twenty miles on Fishing 
 Creek, and put up with an old gentleman by the 
 name of Chappel. This was a curious neighbor- 
 hood. Several things worthy of remark came un- 
 der my observation. There was a Methodist so- 
 ciety here, the preacher of which was a colored- 
 man by the name of Jacob. I believe every mem- 
 ber had been awakened under his preaching, and, 
 by the assistance of Mr. Chappel's daughters, he 
 had organized them into a class. One of the girls 
 made out a class paper, and they appointed Jacob 
 leader. He was both preacher and leader, and, 
 though he could not read a word, he could preach 
 a good sermon. He had a kind master, who 
 would read for him Sunday evenings, and when 
 a text was read that suited Jacob, he would ask 
 his master to read it again, memorize the text, 
 book, chapter, and verse ; then he was ready for 
 his work. The next day was the Sabbath. The 
 congregation was large, and I found his society 
 in excellent order. I preached several times, and 
 left this delightful place Monday morning. 
 
 " I moved on towards the West. Some time 
 after dark, and while stopping at a tavern, a man 
 called at the door. Being asked what he wanted, 
 he inquired if a Methodist preacher was not there. 
 I heard him, and was soon on the porch. He said 
 he understood I was forming a circuit through the 
 country, and wanted me to take in his house for 
 one of the appointments. I asked him how far 
 off he lived. 'Ten miles,' he said. I replied, 'I
 
 154 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM, 
 
 will go with you to-night.' At a very late hour 
 we arrived at a small cabin. He kindled a fire on 
 the hearth, the light shone brightly, and I took a 
 close view of everything within. I am sure it 
 would have frightened anybody but a backwoods- 
 man. There was no floor in the house. They 
 had leveled off the ground and made it somewhat 
 smooth. There were hickory poles laid across in 
 the place of joists. Some clapboards, laid on 
 these poles, constituted the upper floor. There 
 was neither bedstead, chair, nor table in the 
 house. Some small forks had been driven down 
 in the west corner of the cabin. They laid two 
 round poles in the forks, and placed clapboards 
 on these poles. This was their bedstead. Some 
 bedding, such as it was, formed all the sleeping- 
 place I saw for the man and his wife. The little 
 negro boy slept on the ground-floor, with a deer- 
 skin under him. I saw no cupboard nor furni- 
 ture, excepting some earthen bowls of inferior 
 quality. The woman of the house was badly 
 crippled. 
 
 " I felt rather melancholy, and my mind began 
 to run back to the days of other years, when I 
 was dwelling among my own people in ease and 
 plenty. Here I was, in a strange land, without 
 friends or money The squalid appearance of the 
 inside of the house made an impression on my mind 
 that never can be erased. . Surrounded by these 
 gloomy circumstances, I had no friend to flee to 
 but the Redeemer. I kneeled down and prayed,
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTITUTIONS- 155 
 
 and the Lord blessed me. I felt happy, and re- 
 signed to my lot. The next thing was to make 
 my bed and lie down to sleep. I spread for my 
 bed a blanket that I kept under my saddle, and 
 took a stool for my pillow. I had another blanket 
 on which I rode. This I used for a sheet. My 
 saddle-bags, on the stool, made my pillow soft ; 
 my overcoat became my covering. I thanked 
 God that I had a pretty comfortable bed. I 
 thought within myself, I am better off than my 
 Savior was, for he had not where to lay his head ; 
 and far happier than the rich, who roll on beds 
 of down and enjoy the luxuries of life. 
 
 "I had a comfortable night's rest, and rose in 
 the morning much refreshed and prepared for my 
 day's labor. Breakfast was soon served up on a 
 board bench. It consisted of corn-bread and milk, 
 but no spoons. When I turned up the bowl to 
 drink, a black ring would make its appearance 
 from the sediments in the bottom. Breakfast be- 
 ing over, I retired to the woods, and spent the 
 forenoon in reading and praying till preaching- 
 time. Returning, I saw the cabin pretty well 
 filled with men and women. Although it was late 
 in November, many of them had neither hats nor 
 bonnets on their heads nor shoes on their feet. I 
 took my stand opposite the door, read a hymn, 
 began to sing, and while I was singing a remark- 
 able man made his appearance. He was so dis- 
 tinguished from other men that I will give some 
 account of him. He was very large, with strongly-
 
 156 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 marked features, and of great natural courage. 
 He had a high forehead, very wide between the 
 eyes, with a broad face. His whole form was 
 well-proportioned. His eye-balls were remark- 
 able, showing a great deal of white. He fixed his 
 eyes upon me, and looked as if he were scanning 
 my whole person. Had I not been used to seeing 
 rough men on the frontier of Kentucky, I should 
 have been frightened. I looked him full in the 
 eyes, and scanned him closely. His hair ap- 
 peared as if it had never been combed, and he 
 made me think of old Nebuchadnezzar. He wore 
 no hat ; his collar was open and his breast bare ; 
 there was neither shoe nor moccasin on his feet." 
 
 Young found out that this man was brother- 
 in-law to Micajah Harp, who for some time 
 was a terror in Kentucky, as the leader of a 
 band of robbers, and that, without doubt, he had 
 passed through many a bloody fray. But he 
 continued to attend Young's meetings, became 
 soundly converted, had his hair cut and combed, 
 procured a hat and shoes, his wife taught him to 
 read, he was appointed class-leader, and lived a 
 useful man. 
 
 In this way Young put in three weeks of in- 
 cessant labor, having a new experience at every 
 point, and finally reached in health Rev. N. Las- 
 ley's, the place where he commenced to form his 
 circuit. He then formed the plan of a four weeks' 
 circuit, and started on his round again. After lay- 
 ing out his work, which was to begin the next
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTI7 UTIONS. 157 
 
 day, lie says: "Like Isaac, I walked out into the 
 woods to meditate, and thought I was the hap- 
 piest mortal that breathed the vital air." He re- 
 ported at Conference, at the close of the year, a 
 membership of about three hundred and sixty. 
 He had received not quite thirty dollars, and 
 " such cotton clothes as the women of his charge 
 saw proper to make him." 
 
 We have given at length Mr. Young's account 
 of the formation of the Green River Circuit, as in 
 no other way could we convey a correct and com- 
 plete idea of the contact of Methodism with the 
 whole population of this country. Circuits and 
 stations like this one, an immense net-work, cov- 
 ered the Nation as 
 
 " A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men." 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 The three hundred Methodists Young left behind 
 him represented nearly every citizen of that re- 
 gion, and each one had, more or less, been brought 
 under the influence of the gospel. Such was the 
 part Methodism was acting everywhere among the 
 people, publishing Christianity as the foundation 
 of the empire. As there was no other agency in 
 America that was at all competent to do this 
 work, is it not clear that this body of men was 
 raised up by a special Heavenly Providence and 
 by a holy baptism qualified to do it? 
 
 Another and a very different illustration of the 
 agency of Methodism as the promoter of the moral 
 welfare of the country must be given, and it is
 
 158 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 only one of a class which might be numbered by 
 thousands. I take it from the "Autobiography of 
 Peter Cartwright:" 
 
 " In the month of April, 1828, Brothers Dew, 
 Thompson, and myself met at St. L/ouis, to take 
 passage on board a steamboat to the General Con- 
 ference in Pittsburg. We had never been on 
 board a steamboat before at least I never had. 
 They were then a new thing among us. So we 
 took passage on board the Velocipede Mr. Ray, 
 captain. Before we went aboard, Brothers Dew 
 and Thompson, with the kindest feelings imagin- 
 able, thought it their duty to caution me to be 
 quiet ; for these steamboat fellows, passengers and 
 all, were desperadoes. They knew I was out- 
 spoken, loved everybody, and feared nobody. 
 They were afraid I would get into some difficulty 
 with somebody. I thanked them very kindly for 
 their special care over me. 'But,' said I, 'breth- 
 ren, take care of yourselves. I think I know how 
 to behave myself, and make others behave them- 
 selves, if need be.' 
 
 "When we got aboard we had a crowded cabin, 
 a mixed multitude some deists, some atheists, 
 some Universalists, a great many profane swearers, 
 drunkards, fiddlers, and dancers. We dropped down 
 to the barracks below St. Louis, and there came 
 aboard eight or ten United States army officers, 
 and we had a jolly set, I assure you. They drank, 
 fiddled, danced, swore, played cards men and 
 women too. I walked about, said nothing, but
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTITUTIONS. 159 
 
 plainly saw we were in a bad scrape ; but there 
 was no way to help ourselves. Brother Thomp- 
 son came to me and said : 
 
 "'Lord, have mercy on me! What shall 
 we do?' 
 
 " ' Go to your berth,' said I, ' and stay there 
 quietly.' 
 
 "'No,' said he, 'I will reprove them.' 
 
 "'Now, brother,' said I, 'do not cast your 
 pearls before swine.' 
 
 "'Well,' said he, 'I will go on deck; I won't 
 stay in the cabin.' 
 
 " Up he started, and when he got there, be- 
 hold they were playing cards from one end of the 
 deck to the other. Back he came again, and said: 
 
 '"What shall I do? I can not stand it!' 
 
 "'Well,' said I, 'Brother Thompson, be quiet 
 and behave yourself. You have no way to rem- 
 edy your condition, unless you jump overboard 
 and swim to shore.' 
 
 "So things went on for several days and 
 nights. At the mouth of the Ohio, there came 
 aboard a Captain Waters. He had a new fiddle 
 and a pack of cards. He was a professed infidel. 
 Card-playing was renewed all over the cabin. 
 The captain of the boat was as fond of card-play- 
 ing and drinking as any of them. There was a 
 lieutenant of the regular army aboard, and, al- 
 though he was very wicked, yet he had been 
 raised by religious parents. His wife, as he told 
 me, was a good Christian. In walking the guard,
 
 160 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 this lieutenant, whose name was Baker, and my- 
 self fell into conversation, and, being by ourselves, 
 I took occasion to remonstrate with him on the 
 subject of profanity. He readily admitted it was 
 wrong, and said: 'I have been better taught; but 
 O,' said he, 'the demoralizing life of a soldier!' 
 
 "There was also a Major Biddle on board a 
 professed infidel, but gentlemanly in his manners. 
 He afterward fell in a duel in St. Louis. In pri- 
 vate conversation, I remonstrated against his pro- 
 fanity. He agreed with me in all I said. In this 
 way I got to talk with many of them, and they 
 mostly ceased to swear profanely in my presence. 
 Presently they gathered round the table and com- 
 menced playing cards. I walked carelessly up 
 and looked on. Lieutenant Baker and Captain 
 Waters looked up to me. I knew they felt re- 
 proved. Said one of them to me: 'We are not 
 blacklegs; we are not playing for money, but just 
 to kill time.' 
 
 "'Sit down here,' said Baker, 'and I will show 
 you what we are doing.' 
 
 "'No, no,' said I, 'my friends; I am afraid it 
 will be wrong.'" 
 
 They insisted that there was no harm in it at 
 all, and out of this talk grew a discussion in the 
 cabin between Peter Cartwright and Captain 
 Waters. The captain agreed not to use a single 
 oath, and Lieutenant Baker was chosen chairman. 
 At one of Cartwright's home-thrusts, he (Cart- 
 wright) says:
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTITUTIONS. 1 6 1 
 
 " My opponent flew into a violent passion, and 
 swore profanely. As he belched forth his horrid 
 oaths, I took him by the chin with my hand and 
 moved his jaws together and made his teeth rat- 
 tle. He rose to his feet; so did I. He drew his 
 fist, and swore he would smite me to the floor. 
 I/ieutenant Baker sprang in between us, saying: 
 
 " ' Cartwright, stand back! You can beat him 
 in argument, and I can whip him ; and if there is 
 any fighting to be done, I am his man! He 
 pledged his word and honor he would not swear ; 
 he has broken his word, and forfeited his honor!'" 
 
 Both men drew deadly weapons, and they 
 were separated only as Cartwright sprang in be- 
 tween them. Waters made an apology, and peace 
 was restored. Cartwright had so fully the sym- 
 pathy of all on board that the following Sabbath 
 a unanimous request was made that religious 
 services be held on board the boat. Three ser- 
 mons were preached by the three preachers to 
 well-behaved congregations. On their way back 
 from General Conference, Cartwright met Baker 
 at Louisville; and he says: " We had a number of 
 preachers on board, returning from the General 
 Conference. And we had preaching almost every 
 day and night from that place to St. I/ouis, for 
 we had almost entire command of the boat." 
 
 Thus the itinerant ministry was thrown among 
 all sorts of people everywhere; and often, in be- 
 ing instant in season and out of season, they 
 
 reached great numbers who were never seen in 
 
 u
 
 162 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 Church. Superior ability and courage always 
 commands respect from such as can appreciate 
 high qualities of mind, and often the champions 
 of crime were men of marked intelligence. Uni- 
 versally as Methodism was diffused from the be- 
 ginning, it was impossible for any class of citizens 
 to avoid in some way coming in contact with it. 
 Thomas Smith, one of the bravest of the 
 brave, gives the following account of the way 
 and manner Methodism was brought into contact 
 with the people of Lyons, New York. He says: 
 " Here we had a respectable society, and a small 
 meeting-house; but the people of Lyons were 
 generally wicked. They took pleasure in unright- 
 eousness, in deriding the ways of God, and in per- 
 secuting the humble followers of Jesus Christ. 
 They interrupted and insulted us in our religious 
 worship, and on this evening they were worse 
 than usual. I paused till I got their attention, 
 and then remarked that I should not wonder if 
 Lyons should be visited on the morrow in a way 
 that it never had been before, and perhaps never 
 would be again to the close of time. We then 
 had quietness to the close of the meeting. When 
 the congregation was dismissed, and I had come 
 out of the house, the people gathered around me, 
 and with one voice, cried out: 'For God's sake, 
 tell us what is to happen here to-morrow !' I re- 
 plied: 'Let to-morrow speak for itself.' I went 
 home with Judge Dorsey, a short distance from 
 the town. After breakfast the next day, I said to
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTITUTIONS. 163 
 
 Mrs. Dorsey: 'I wish you to go with me into 
 Lyons this morning, as there are some families to 
 which I can not get access without you.' She, 
 being acquainted in the place, readily consented. 
 At nine o'clock A. M., we entered the town. 
 Scores from the country were already there, and 
 the place was in commotion. We went to the 
 house of Mr. , where we were politely re- 
 ceived. I knew if we could storm that castle the 
 day was ours. After conversing some time, I re- 
 marked that Mrs. Dorsey and myself were on a 
 visit to Lyons, and if it were agreeable, we would 
 pray before we parted. 'By all means, Mr. Smith, 
 by all means, sir,' was the response. Before 
 prayer was over there were scores of people at 
 the door, and by this time the order of the day 
 began to be understood ; and they that feared God 
 were at their posts, coming up to the help of the 
 Lord against the mighty. We then went in large 
 procession from house to house, entering every 
 door in order, and praying for the souls of the 
 families. Our little band soon increased to some 
 three or four hundred. When we came near the 
 tavern, where we had been so derided, it was in- 
 quired. 'Will they admit us?' But the doors 
 and windows being open, we entered in and was 
 there ever such a shout while storming Lucifer's 
 castle? At four o'clock in the afternoon we called 
 a halt, to see what was done; and forming a 
 circle on the green, the new converts were invited 
 within the circle, when thirty-two came in who
 
 1 64 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 that day had found the pearl of great price 
 Christ in them the hope of glory. These thirty- 
 two, and eight more were added to the Church of 
 God that afternoon. Thanks be to God ! this was 
 another good day's work in the Lord's vineyard. 
 This meeting produced a pleasing change in 
 Lyons, and Methodism gained a footing in that 
 place it never had before. To God be all the 
 glory 1" 
 
 The unusual and informal methods adopted at 
 different times and in different places by Meth- 
 odist preachers to bring the gospel to bear upon 
 the people, if written out, would fill volumes. 
 They made the people and their peculiar situa- 
 tion and temperament a study, they brought to 
 bear upon the case a common sense of the widest 
 range and of the most practical character, and 
 then acted accordingly. Ryan Case, Nathan and 
 Heman Bangs, Giles, Lane, Sandford, and many 
 others, all good and strong men, understood New 
 York and Canada exactly, and hence the marvel- 
 ous success of their ministry. J. B. Finley, James 
 Quinn, and a host besides, raised up on the soil, 
 all devout and valiant men, were equally rich in 
 resources and successful in Ohio. The case of 
 the Georgia blacksmith, and the way the truth 
 was preached, sung, and beat into him, resulting 
 in his happy conversion, has been read by almost 
 everybody. And was not Peter Cartwright raised 
 up that Kentucky and Illinois, when trembling 
 on the borders of barbarism, might have some one
 
 MOLDING ITS INSTITUTIONS. 165 
 
 who could dare and rescue and save? When, at a 
 camp-meeting, if neither argument nor love nor 
 decency could preserve order, and the rabble came 
 too near and became unendurable and abusive, he 
 hesitated not to go into their midst, and after par- 
 rying their blows once, twice, or three times, and 
 they still persisted in acts of violence, his fist was 
 likely to hit some one on the "burr of his ear," 
 and then the ring-leader was likely to "drop as if 
 he had been shot." Such contacts of Methodism 
 with the people were very unusual, but in some 
 cases they were necessary and the effects salutary. 
 Langdon in the Bast, Dimmitt in Ohio, and Cart- 
 wright in Illinois, at a camp-meeting, were each 
 " worth a thousand men."
 
 of ecclesiastical history have estimated that 
 at the close of the first century of the Christian era, 
 Christianity numbered not over five hundred thousand con- 
 verts in the whole world ; but in eighty-six years American 
 Christianity alone gained eleven million five hundred thou- 
 sand, or twenty-three times as many. The part Methodism 
 has shared in this work may be judged from the fact that 
 about four million five hundred thousand of the twelve mill- 
 ion communicants, or over one-third, in 1886, were Methodists 
 of various branches." DORCHESTER. 
 
 166
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM. 
 
 IT is now one hundred and seven years since 
 Methodism in America took on an organic 
 form. Springing into action spontaneously in the 
 persons of Robert Strawbridge, Philip Embury, 
 and Captain Webb, about the year 1763, as a self- 
 propagating agency, it knew no law but the Spirit 
 and grace its devotees had received from on high. 
 In 1769, in response to earnest and repeated calls, 
 Mr. Wesley took the infant societies which had 
 been spontaneously organized under his supervis- 
 ion, and sent missionaries to this country to push 
 forward the work. After seven years, as the Rev- 
 olutionary War had broken out, Assistant Rankin 
 and most of the missionaries returned to England, 
 and Methodism was left once more to take care of 
 itself. Asbury, by general consent, assumed 
 charge ; but as a matter of prudence, he being 
 an Englishman, the field-work was left mostly in 
 the hands of Garrettson, Gatch, Owen, Ware, and 
 other natives of this country. 
 
 In 1784, the war having resulted in the estab- 
 lishment of the independence of America, in an 
 advisory letter, and by the ordination and appoint- 
 ment of Dr. Thomas Coke as an episcopos, Wes- 
 
 167
 
 1 68 OUR CO UNTR Y AND METHODISM. 
 
 ley initiated the organization of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. This simple but great work 
 was consummated at what is known as the Christ- 
 mas Conference. The number of communicants 
 in the new-born Church was 14,870, and the 
 preachers numbered 83, nearly all of whom were 
 natives of the soil. 
 
 Since that date, a little more than one hun- 
 dred years, " what hath God wrought?" The or- 
 ganization of the Church led and prepared the 
 way for the organization of the Nation by its ex- 
 ample, and by the labor of some years. If, as 
 we allege, it was the purpose of Providence that 
 Methodism should be to this Republic " as new 
 wine to a new bottle," the proof of the great fact 
 ought to stand forth conspicuously in the syn- 
 chronal and interwoven development of Church 
 and State. A hundred years is but a short period 
 in the life of a nation or the growth of a Church, 
 yet, in this case, we are willing to commit our 
 argument to the data they afford. 
 
 The Nation has now a population of sixty-five 
 millions; but of this number less than a half 
 million are Episcopalians, and the showing of the 
 Congregationalists is but a trifle better, though 
 both denominations have largely recruited their 
 ranks from Methodist revivals and by the acces- 
 sion of emigrants from the Old World. The Bap- 
 tists have been more spiritual, more zealous, more 
 evangelical, and far more successful. The Pres- 
 byterians, greatly strengthened by additions from
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM. 169 
 
 abroad, as well as by their own zeal, have moved 
 rapidly forward, and become a powerful Church. 
 True to its mission, and self-reliant, Methodism, 
 in the name of Christ, has gone among the people 
 gone into the highways and byways, captured the 
 camps and broken the lines of the wicked in thou- 
 sands of instances, stormed their strongholds, 
 raised up from among its converts a mighty min- 
 istry, and built its spiritual temples almost exclu- 
 sively of new-born souls. Its network of Confer- 
 ences, districts, circuits, and stations cover the 
 Nation from Florida to Texas, and from Maine to 
 the Pacific coast. Nor less successful has Meth- 
 odism been in the Canadas and Nova Scotia. 
 
 But what has Methodism done through evan- 
 gelistic work work that has staying qualities, 
 and that will endure from generation to genera- 
 tion? Does Methodism promise to hold the 
 ground it now occupies that is, the whole Na- 
 tion ? It is not an aim nor a wish of the Church 
 to supplant other Churches, but rather to be a 
 blessing to them in the future, as it has been in 
 the past. 
 
 As one of the most solid and substantial of 
 the religious bodies in this country, we will select, 
 as a standard of comparison, the Presbyterian 
 Church, and place by the side of its development 
 the growth of Methodism on the same territory. 
 The strength of Churches is not to be sought for 
 alone in numbers, but in all the elements of power, 
 of aggressive work, and of stability, which go to 
 
 15
 
 170 
 
 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 make its presence felt in all the interests and in 
 all parts of a great and growing nation. In our 
 review it would be proper to include in the Meth- 
 odist column the Methodists of Canada, as the 
 Church across the line was founded and cared for 
 till 1835 by ministers from this country; but we 
 will dispense with them. Let us now attend to 
 the figures. All kinds of Presbyterians and Meth- 
 odists are included : 
 
 Presbyterian Church founded in Maryland, . . . 1692 
 
 Wesley born eleven years later, or, 1703 
 
 Presbyterian Church 2 Synods, 10 Presbyteries, 
 
 and 104 ministers in 1773 
 
 Methodist Church 10 ministers, 1,060 mem- 
 bers in 1773 
 
 Denomination. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Churches. 
 
 Ministers. 
 
 Members. 
 
 Presbyterian, . . 
 
 1850 
 1850 
 
 5,320 
 14,861 
 
 4,264 
 7, 1 SO 
 
 487,691 
 
 \.\2^&\\ 
 
 Presbyterian, . . 
 
 1886 
 1886 
 
 15,002 
 4O.12I 
 
 11,241 
 27.S22 
 
 1,431,247 
 
 4, 6^7.416 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The quadrennial sales of Methodist books by 
 the Methodist Church alone since 1848 are as fol- 
 lows: 1848, $612,635.69; 1852,1854,020.31; 1856, 
 $1,877,948.56; 1860, 2,303,718.29; 1864, '$2,795,- 
 567.54; 1868 $4,934,708.20; 1872, $5,228,517.58; 
 1876,6,045,709.24; 1880, $6,090,142.57; 1884, $6,- 
 455,487.28; 1888, $7,344,390.52; total, $44,542,- 
 845.78. The periodical literature of the Church 
 has been correspondingly great. 
 
 Denomination. 
 
 Period'c's 
 
 Circulation. 
 
 Total Receipts 
 
 Presbyterian (B'd of Pub.), 
 Meth. Epis. (Book Concern) 
 
 4 6 
 
 77 
 
 204,536 
 591,605 
 
 *7."l>579 
 48,697,842
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM. 171 
 
 In 1884 the educational institutions of the 
 two Churches were represented by the following 
 figures : 
 
 Denomination. 
 
 Colleges. 
 
 Professors. 
 
 Students. 
 
 Endowment. 
 
 Presbyterian, . . . 
 
 46 
 6l 
 
 390 
 
 538 
 
 4,060 
 4,O^8 
 
 Not given. 
 $11,079,682 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The value of churches and parsonages in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church is $104,172,793. Of 
 the Presbyterian Church we have no statistics 
 showing the amounts. Were other Methodisms 
 added to the figures of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, they would be nearly doubled. 
 
 It would seem from the above that Methodism 
 has not been altogether absorbed in multiplying 
 its numbers. 
 
 That the force of these facts may be fully 
 understood, it must be borne in mind (i) that the 
 Presbyterian Church had the start of Methodism 
 by seventy- three years ; (2) that the Presbyterian 
 Church has been strengthened by a steady stream 
 of accessions from abroad; (3) that the Presby- 
 terian Church has received large accessions as the 
 fruits of Methodist revivals ; * (4) and that, in the 
 
 *The Methodist Church converts for all the Churches; 
 for, of the products of an ordinary revival, some go to the 
 Presbyterians, some to the Baptists, and some to the Episco- 
 palians and other Churches. . . . But, notwithstanding it 
 supplies all other Churches, it still keeps itself larger than 
 any of the rest, and increases at a faster rate. The Christian 
 Quarterly, quoted by Whedoii.
 
 172 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 short period of a little more than one hundred 
 years, Methodism has numerically, and in all 
 the substantial elements of strength, not only over- 
 taken, but left the Presbyterians behind by up- 
 wards of 3,700,000 souls. 
 
 The above facts, we think, are sufficient to 
 prove that the growth of Methodism has been 
 steady, uniform, and substantial such as is likely 
 to endure. We may add that the annual growth 
 of the Nation between 1790 and 1880 was only 
 32.40 per cent, while the growth of the Method- 
 ist Episcopal Church alone was 61.62 per cent 
 nearly double the growth of the population of the 
 country. 
 
 If "history is philosophy teaching by ex- 
 ample," what are the lessons we should learn 
 from the above array of facts? We have brought 
 into prominence the Presbyterian Church, not for 
 the purpose of making invidious comparisons, but 
 because this is a great and growing Church, and 
 we desired to test the strength of Methodism by 
 a very high standard. We have assumed for it a 
 Scriptural basis and a high calling. Our country, 
 vast as it is, is yet in its infancy, and our only 
 hope for the immense future that is before us is 
 based upon the intelligence, conscience, and patri- 
 otism of the people. What especially concerns us 
 now is, the part Methodism is to act in the great 
 drama of National progress. Is the Church aware 
 of the ground she occupies to-day, and is she 
 girding herself for the conflicts at her door, and
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM. 173 
 
 for the still greater ones that are to come? Her 
 allies in the field especially the Presbyterian and 
 Baptist Churches she can not wish too great 
 success. But her own responsibilities can not be 
 shifted or evaded. Her high mission is to pre- 
 serve the Nation and be preserved by it. The 
 infusion of the foreign element in her structure 
 has been so slight and gradual that it has be- 
 come thoroughly assimilated, and hence Method- 
 ism is in all respects intensely American. 
 
 Because in the beginning of Methodist history 
 men were called from the plow and the work- 
 shop to the ministry, attempts were formerly 
 made to discredit them and their services on the 
 ground of illiteracy. It was not thought possible 
 that such men could be intrusted with the re- 
 sponsible work of preaching the gospel of Christ. 
 But the facts discredit the theory. Methodism 
 has given to the pulpit as mighty men as effect- 
 ive to move and benefit the people as America 
 or any other country ever witnessed. Shinn, 
 Axley, Stockton, Summerfield, Mafritt, Bascom, 
 Durbin, and Simpson, are names that can not die. 
 Bigelow, Sale, Cook, Poythress, Jacob Young, 
 James Russell, Samuel Parker, John Strange, 
 James Quinn, Jacob Gruber, James B. Finley, 
 form a great company, no whit their inferior. 
 But when the birthplace and early history of 
 Methodism is considered, we clearly see that the 
 denomination could not be otherwise than literary 
 in its tendencies. Born in Oxford University,
 
 174 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 during the first fifty years of its history it gave to 
 the world some scholarly commentators on the 
 Bible, such as John Wesley, Thomas Coke, Adam 
 Clarke, Joseph Benson, and Richard Watson. As 
 a profound theologian, of great breadth and clear- 
 ness, it is doubtful if Richard Watson has ever 
 been surpassed. At a later day, Pope follows 
 Watson, and gives theology a new setting, sur- 
 rounded by the added erudition of half a century. 
 In this country, the Encyclopaedia of McClintock 
 and Strong, the Commentaries of Whedon, the 
 Histories of Stevens, the Lectures and Monographs 
 of Curry, and Raymond's and Harman's works on 
 Theology, various philosophical and metaphysical 
 productions, the Methodist Revieiv never more 
 ably managed than by Dr. Mendenhall, its present 
 editor and the weekly press, place the Church 
 abreast of the literary progress of the Nation. 
 
 In its onward strides, Methodism has gathered 
 around itself, as supports, whatever was essential 
 to its stability and continued usefulness in the 
 world. As a part of the great Republic, and the 
 most stirring element of American life, it is in 
 the lead of every enterprise which tends to the 
 glory of the Nation and the good of humanity. 
 It has become as conspicuous in high places as it 
 was at the beginning effective along the border. 
 
 The changes which the external economy of 
 Methodism has experienced have not touched its 
 essence, but they have been the inevitable results 
 of the development of its power in a great and
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM. 175 
 
 growing country. To remain stationary was to 
 loose its hold upon the people, and fail. Every 
 success, on any circuit or station, carried with it a 
 change in society for the better. Many a primi- 
 tive four-weeks' circuit has, at the present time, a 
 flourishing population of thousands, dwelling in 
 comfortable houses; from fifty to one hundred 
 churches; perhaps an academy; and the past 
 aspects of the country have wholly disappeared in 
 these improvements. If Methodism is all we 
 have claimed for it, it necessarily adapts its 
 agencies to the best good of every form of so- 
 ciety. If it has gone down into the gutter and 
 lifted up the fallen, it has also adorned the White 
 House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and during 
 half the Nation's history, it has furnished chap- 
 lains for Congress. 
 
 The growth of Methodism can not be appre- 
 ciated unless we take into account its Sunday- 
 schools. Canada included, its pupils, officers, and 
 teachers make the grand total of 5,000,000 of 
 souls. Historically considered, Methodism is 
 closely identified with this arm of Church service. 
 In the year 1769, a young Methodist Hannah 
 Ball established a Sunday-school in Wycombe, 
 England; and in 1781, while another young Meth- 
 odist woman was conversing at Gloucester with 
 Robert Raikes, the publisher of a newspaper, he 
 pointed to a group of neglected children in the 
 street, and asked: "What can be done for them?" 
 She answered: "L,et us teach them to read, and
 
 1 76 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 take them to Church." Raikes closed in with the 
 suggestion, and they went to work. Wesley, with 
 his practical zeal, took the work in hand ; and in 
 1786, Bishop Asbury established the first Sunday- 
 school that was ever organized in America. The 
 Methodist Sunday-school Union was organized in 
 1827, an d at its first annual meeting in New York 
 there were reported 251 auxiliaries, 1,025 schools, 
 2,048 superintendents, 10,290 teachers, and 63,240 
 scholars. The thorough system of Sunday-school 
 instruction now in vogue is the gift of Methodism 
 to sister Churches. The Sunday-school literature 
 of Methodism, in quantity and quality, ranks first 
 in the world, and it is largely patronized by other 
 denominations. 
 
 It was largely the magnitude of this work that 
 made it necessary for the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church to sell its property on Broadway, New 
 York, and put up another building, costing up- 
 wards of one million of dollars, on Fifth Avenue, 
 corner of Twentieth Street the finest and most 
 costly religious publishing-house in the world. 
 Besides books of the General Catalogue and Sun- 
 day-school books, the house prints for home and 
 foreign fields, in a single year, 5,312,544 pages of 
 tracts, and 1,225,000 pages in the German lan- 
 guage. The Sunday-school literature for 1887 
 amounted to 307,018,069 pages. 
 
 What Methodism has done within a little more 
 than one hundred years of its existence, can not 
 be understood unless we take into the account its
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM. 177 
 
 missionary operations. The summary at the close 
 of this chapter shows its operations in foreign 
 fields during the past sixty-eight years: 
 
 But whilst the Church has been engaged in 
 building academies, colleges and universities, 
 churches and parsonages, publishing-houses and 
 hospitals, and flooding the Church with books, 
 magazines, and periodicals, establishing Sunday- 
 schools and gathering the children in, and push- 
 ing out its missionaries into all surrounding 
 nations spending millions upon millions of 
 money the simple, basal idea of Methodism has 
 not been forgotten. Its mission, as much as ever, 
 is to seek and save the lost. The gospel, as glad 
 tidings to penitent souls, is still the central idea 
 of its preaching. Revivals are regarded as the 
 most cheering events which can take place in the 
 Church. There is still more joy over the repent- 
 ance of one sinner than over ninety and nine 
 righteous persons who need no repentance. 
 
 The pioneering spirit still exists in the Church, in 
 the mountainous West, in all its primitive freshness 
 and vigor. Before Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, 
 Montana, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, 
 Idaho, and Wyoming were admitted as States in 
 the Union, Methodist Conferences, missions, dis- 
 tricts, circuits, and stations had touched every 
 square mile where human beings could be found. 
 It requires heroic work to make heroic men, and 
 in this respect the mountains and the mining- 
 camps of the West have fulfilled their mission.
 
 I 7 8 
 
 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 The battles fought with the Mormons and the 
 deserts of Utah have tried the souls of men, and 
 the conflict has been crowned with victory. Pio- 
 neering is now as faithfully done in far-away 
 Oregon and Washington, as ever it was in Ken- 
 tucky and Ohio. 
 
 In view of the above array of facts, covering 
 our own country and touching nearly every 
 nation under heaven, involving the expenditure of 
 large sums of money, and conserving every hu- 
 man interest for time and eternity, what shall we 
 say? Is not Methodism to this country as the 
 "new wine to the new bottle?" 
 
 The growth of Methodism, as compared with 
 other denominations, may be seen from the fol- 
 lowing statistical review of the Churches of the 
 United States, prepared by the New York Inde- 
 pendent^ and published July 31, 1890: 
 
 GENERAL, SUMMARY BY FAMILIES. 
 
 
 
 1889. 
 
 
 
 1890. 
 
 
 
 Chur. 
 
 Miu's. 
 
 Com. 
 
 Chur. 
 
 Min's. 
 
 Com. 
 
 Adventists 
 
 1-575 
 46 624 
 
 840 
 
 32,017 
 
 100,712 
 4 078 588 
 
 1,773 
 
 765 
 
 58,742 
 
 Christian Union, . 
 Congregationalists 
 
 1.500 
 
 4>569 
 76-1 
 
 500 
 4,408 
 
 120,000 
 475,608 
 
 1,50 
 4,689 
 
 76 * 
 
 500 
 4,640 
 
 1 2O OOO 
 491.985 
 
 German Evan. Ch , 
 Lutherans. . . . 
 Mennonites, . . 
 Methodists, . . . 
 
 < 675 
 6,971 
 420 
 50,680 
 98 
 
 560 
 4,151 
 605 
 29,770 
 HI 
 
 125,000 
 988,008 
 100,000 
 4,723 881 
 11,219 
 
 850 
 7,9" 
 563 
 54-7" 
 
 IOI 
 
 665 
 4,612 
 665 
 31,765 
 114 
 
 160,000 
 1,086,048 
 102,671 
 4,980,240 
 11,358 
 
 New Jerusalem, 
 Presbyterians, . 
 Episcopalians, 
 Reformed, . . 
 Roman Catholics, 
 
 100 
 
 13,349 
 5.159 
 2,058 
 7,424 
 
 "3 
 9,786 
 4,012 
 
 1-378 
 7,996 
 
 6,000 
 1,180.113 
 459.642 
 277-542 
 7,855,294 
 
 100 
 
 13,619 
 5,227 
 
 2,081 
 
 7,523 
 
 360 
 
 "3 
 9,974 
 4,100 
 
 1,379 
 8,332 
 1,024 
 
 6,000 
 1,229.012 
 480,000 
 282 856 
 8,277,030 
 
 8 771 
 
 Unitarians, . . 
 Universalists, . 
 
 38i 
 
 721 
 
 491 
 691 
 
 20,000 
 38,780 
 
 407 
 
 732 
 
 5io 
 685 
 
 20,000 
 42.952 
 
 Grand total, . . 
 
 142767 
 
 98,436 
 
 20,667,318 
 
 151,26! 
 
 103,303 
 
 21,757,171
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM. 179 
 
 In this table the number of Roman Catholic communi- 
 cants is estimated on the basis of 8,277,039 Catholic popula- 
 tion, using the ratio which Lutheran statistics have established 
 between souls and communicants in the Synodical Conference ; 
 viz., 1.77. According to this table, the standing, according to 
 numbers by families, would be respectively : Methodists, Ro- 
 man Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Congre- 
 gationalists, Episcopalians. Following are the returns by 
 families : 
 
 METHODISTS. 
 
 Churches. Min. Commun. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal, 22,103 13,279 2,236,463 
 
 Methodist Episcopal, South, . . 11,767 4,862 1,161,666 
 
 African Methodist Episcopal, . . 3,800 3,000 400,000 
 
 African Methodist Episcopal Zion, 3,500 3,000 412,513 
 
 United Brethren, 4,265 i,455 I 99.79 
 
 Colored Methodist Episcopal, . . 2,100 1,800 170,000 
 
 Methodist Protestant 2,003 1,441 147,604 
 
 Evangelical Association, .... 1,958 1,187 145,703 
 
 United Brethren (Old Confession) 1,381 623 50,582 
 
 American Wesleyans, 600 300 18,000 
 
 Congregational Methodists, ... 50 100 4,000 
 
 Free Methodists, 952 513 19,998 
 
 Independent Methodists, .... 35 30 5,000 
 
 Primitive Methodists 147 63 5,502 
 
 Union American Methodist Epis- 
 copal (colored) 50 112 3,500 
 
 Total 54,711 31,765 4,980,240 
 
 ROMAN CATHOUCS. 
 
 Churches. Priests. Popula'n. 
 Roman Catholic, *7,523 8 ,33 2 t8,277,O39 
 
 * Not including 3,303 chapels and stations. 
 
 t Sadlier's Catholic Directory ; largely conjectural. 
 
 BAPTISTS. 
 
 The Baptists have many divisions. The regular Baptists 
 practice close communion, are Calvinistic in doctrine, and Con- 
 gregational in Church government. The Disciples are better 
 known as Campellites. The Free Baptists are Arminian in 
 doctrine. The Church of God is also known as Winebrenna- 
 rians. The Bunkers are German Baptists.
 
 I8o 
 
 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 Churches 
 
 Regular Baptists, 33,588 
 
 Anti-mission, 1,800 
 
 P'ree, 1,613 
 
 Other Free 650 
 
 Disciples of Christ, 7,250 
 
 Christians, North, 1,831 
 
 Christians, South, 
 
 Church of God 
 
 Seventh-day Baptists, . . 
 Dunkers Conservative, , 
 Dunkers Progressive, 
 Dunkers Old Order, . . 
 Six- Principle, 
 
 75 
 525 
 no 
 
 5i3 
 
 270 
 
 130 
 
 16 
 
 Min. 
 
 21,175 
 
 900 
 
 i,3 8 6 
 
 600 
 
 3,600 
 
 1,417 
 
 35 
 
 49i 
 
 113 
 
 2,130 
 
 250 
 
 230 
 
 16 
 
 Commun. 
 
 3,070,047 
 45,000 
 86,297 
 
 34,144 
 750,000 
 
 129,353 
 
 18,000 
 
 33,000 
 
 9,000 
 
 102,000 
 12,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 M50 
 
 Total, 48,371 32,343 4,292,291 
 
 PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 Churches. Min. Commun. 
 
 Presbyterian, Northern 6,727 5,936 753,749 
 
 Presbyterian, Southern 2,321 1,145 161,742 
 
 Presbyterian, Cumberland, . . . 2,689 I ,595 160,185 
 
 Presbyterian, Cumberl'd (colored) 500 200 15,000 
 
 Presbyterian, United, 903 753 101,858 
 
 Presbyterian, Ref. (Synod), . . . 124 124 10,817 
 
 Welsh Calvinistic, 186 99 10,652 
 
 Asso. Ref Synod, South 115 90 8,209 
 
 Reformed (General Synod), ... 54 32 6,800 
 
 Total, 13,619 9.974 1,229,012 
 
 LUTHERANS. 
 
 Churches. Min. Commun. 
 
 General Synod 1,423 951 151,365 
 
 United Synod, South 390 195 45,185 
 
 General Council 1,557 899 264,235 
 
 Synodical Conference, 1,811 1,291 365,620 
 
 Independent Synods (fifteen), . 2,730 1,276 269,743 
 
 Total, 7,9H 4,612 1,086,048 
 
 CONGREGATIONALISTS. 
 
 Churches. Min. Commun. 
 
 Congregationalists, 4,689 4,640 491,985
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM. 181 
 
 EPISCOPALIANS. 
 
 Churches. Min. Commun. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal, *5,n8 3,980 470,076 
 
 Reformed Episcopal, 109 120 10,100 
 
 Total, 5,227 4,100 480,176 
 
 * Including 2,029 missions. 
 
 Following is a summary of the minor bodies, with histor- 
 ical notes: 
 
 ADVENTISTS. 
 
 Churches. Min. Commun. 
 
 Evangelical Adventists, ..... 100 50 5,000 
 
 Advent Christians, 600 400 15,000 . 
 
 Seventh-day Adventists, .... 943 218 27,742 
 
 Churches of God, 30 27 2,000 
 
 Life and Advent Union, . . . 50 30 5,000 
 
 Age-to-Come Adventists, .... 50 40 4,000 
 
 Total, 1,773 765 58,742 
 
 The Adventists are comprised in six organizations. The 
 Evangelical are orthodox in regard to future punishment ; the 
 Seventh-Day observe the seventh day as Sabbath ; the Advent 
 Union holds to the non-resurrection of the wicked dead; the 
 Age-to-Come believe in the restoration of the Jews to the Holy 
 Laud. 
 
 REFORMED. 
 
 Churches. Miu. Commun. 
 
 Reformed (German) i,535 813 194,044 
 
 Reformed (Dutch) 546 566 88,812 
 
 Total, 2,081 1,379 282,856 
 
 The Dutch Church began its history in this country with 
 the Dutch immigration, early in the seventeenth century ; the 
 German not until a much later period. There is only a shade 
 of difference between the two bodies doctrinally. 
 
 MORAVIANS. 
 
 Churches. Min. Commun. 
 Moravians, 101 114 11,358 
 
 The official name of this body is Unitas Fratrum. The 
 Moravians have bishops, whose functions are spiritual, not ec- 
 clesiastical.
 
 182 
 
 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 MENNONITES. 
 
 Churches. Min. Commun. 
 
 Old Mennonites, 
 
 Amish Mennonites 
 
 Reformed Mennonites 
 
 New-School Mennonites, . . . 
 Mennonite Brethren in Christ, 
 
 300 
 
 150 
 20 
 60 
 33 
 
 350 
 
 150 
 
 40 
 
 90 
 
 35 
 
 66,000 
 22,500 
 
 3,000 
 10,000 
 
 1,171 
 
 Total 563 665 102,671 
 
 Mennonites baptize "penitent believers" by pouring or 
 sprinkling, practice close communion, observe feet-washing, 
 refuse to take judicial oaths, are non-resistants, and use the 
 ban against unworthy members. Their bishops, elders, or 
 ministers, and deacons are chosen by lot, 
 
 SALVATION ARMY. 
 
 Halls. Officers. Soldiers. 
 Salvation Army, 360 1,024 8,771 
 
 The Salvation Army was organized nearly a quarter of a 
 century ago, in England, by a Wesleyan minister named Booth. 
 Its object is to reach and save the degraded and outcast in 
 the large cities and towns. 
 
 CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 
 Churches. Min. Commun. 
 Christian Union Churches, . . . 1,500 500 120,000 
 
 The Christian Union Churches arose in the West. They 
 accept the Scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice, 
 and hold baptism by immersion. 
 
 Orthodox, 
 
 Non-affiliating Orthodox, includ- 
 ing Phila and Wilburite bodies, 
 "Hicksite," 
 
 FRIENDS. 
 
 Churches. Min. 
 653 1,017 
 
 100 
 
 Total, 
 
 753 
 
 GERMAN EVANGEUCAI,. 
 
 German Evangelical Church, . 
 
 Churches. Min. 
 850 665 
 
 Commun. 
 71,930 
 
 12,000 
 23,000 
 
 106,930 
 
 Commun. 
 160,000
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS OF METHODISM. 183 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Churches. Mill. Cornmun. 
 
 Universalists, 732 685 42,952 
 
 New Jerusalem, loo 113 6,000 
 
 Unitarians 407 510 *2O,ooo 
 
 Total 1,239 1,308 68,952 
 
 * Estimated.
 
 No. of other Day- 
 scholars, .... 
 
 c* O co o . ** ON O t^ ox N cv* 
 ' m o CT> o rf-00 t^ ro r^ o '0 ' 
 
 Si? 
 52 
 
 ~ iu a en 
 f.'S "'-3 
 
 .ytl- M 
 
 
 
 NOTE. By foreign missionaries is meant American missionaries sent out from the United States ; by assistant missionar 
 meant the wives of foreign missionaries. The wives of native preachers are not here reported. In schools, pupils, all prope 
 and the value thereof, and collections, are included those also of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. " Other helpers ' 
 braces Bible-readers, colporteurs, chapel-keepers, and wives of natives specifically employed. By adherents is meant the Chri 
 community belonging to us in addition to the members and probationers. 
 
 No. of other Day- 
 schools 
 
 . s r^so oo \r, r^oo o *t . o oo . 
 
 T? M ' . " " . 
 
 ^^ 
 
 VO *O 
 
 
 
 . . HI in co . . . >o TJ- in in . o as co 
 
 N HI M OMO HI T)- Q HI \O 
 
 O OS 
 
 $$ 
 
 
 M 
 
 N HI 
 
 No. of Teachers 
 
 . . HI N t . , . Q tococ .00 ow 
 
 HI ' '00 HI HI N 
 
 & 
 
 No. of High 
 Schools, .... 
 
 . .* O N N N . l/i CO HI 
 
 N r^ 
 
 COM 
 
 No. of Students . 
 
 . O HI CO O . IO . . . f^ . . *O ON -^ . 
 HI W M M ' W .* 
 
 ior^ 
 
 r"S 
 
 No. of Teachers 
 
 . HI CO . CO . . . . .NO . .**.**- . 
 
 *co 
 M N 
 
 No. of Theologi- 
 cal Schools, . . 
 
 .MM.VO.M....M..HI.WHI. 
 
 1000 
 
 Children Bap- 
 
 00 **-*!- M C7\ COOO SO in ON r^.OO \T> rj- CS ^ * 
 HI O O\ HI N co to COSO IOOO ins5 N CO * 
 HI COm . N HI CON IO "HI. 
 
 Os^O 
 frN 
 
 coco 
 
 
 Adults Baptized, . 
 
 IO OO t^ CO Tf N SO "<t-SO 
 
 N *-<..... .<x> ..*o 
 
 5oo 
 ^1 
 
 Conversions dur- 
 ing Year, . . . 
 
 . ,OOO\. .'*****& t^QVO I^VC tO N 00 --S- 
 
 Ofo ow*5 cooN^j-o-i\oc^t^ 
 ,.vOM..c i *Qoio. i ^-r^ M 
 
 W 
 
 rON 
 N <O 
 d>O 
 IOCO 
 
 Average Attend- 
 ance on Sunday 
 Worship, .... 
 
 mo\ioN Q'OOOO <^oo vo o 10 >- o 
 
 1/3VO IOO NO-^-^TtomuOlO rovfi (sj oo * * 
 
 . to in t^vo . "*t CJ\ cr;^ moo c^oo N >H ^-oo . 
 
 f -<cO B fOrC-"VO* covo" nT CO H? *4 
 
 C-SO 
 t^i^ 
 
 N CO 
 
 cxfoo" 
 c^S 
 
 
 Oiot^.O\roiQOi-.NHit-.o HO 
 
 o ro * t^ *-. o* 10^0 N-^-a\ONOt^ MIO 
 .fl-iiO .r^rOrtS'^-r'ONiHO .ID"-! 
 
 01 t^ 
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 t^lO 
 
 
 t^WM OOTft^CSHIVOHlN M ^ 
 
 Oso 
 IOCO 
 
 Probationers, . . 
 
 r^ * a\ r^ o M f^vo r^-no-'i-MOiDn-'j-o^ 
 
 OONNOrO"-*OQ\ro>H ta c3^-i-<i-i*ONTr 
 fO t^ C^ N Ol t-^ ^ OJ'O CO O HI SO Ht 10 1^ 
 
 M" cf to m 
 
 CO*O 
 
 HI sO 
 
 ON 
 
 \o 
 
 Members, .... 
 
 HI Tj-i-.VOr^H o Nvo COOD O\ uo ot O\00 t^ O\ ' 
 IO 1O <S_ N <n H^ to CS_00_ !-<_ HI^ ID t-> 00 O\ 5\ 
 
 N" cT rC 10 c-T co ~ co nT 
 
 %~ 
 
 a 
 
 Local Preachers, 
 other helpers, etc 
 
 ION HI '10 JJM' H OO"COHIM' W 
 
 ufj JO 
 
 ^ 
 
 Foreign Teach'rs. 
 
 .co. ,r- vo .OOCO.MWCO 
 
 "J-CO 
 
 Native Teachers, . 
 
 .00 M ION . . -VOVO OVO rw ION * 1 T*O\ 
 
 IOTI-NM -*coco r s i y s 
 
 o 1 do r^ 
 
 Native unorda'n'd 
 Preachers, . . . 
 
 .t^ocOM Moooooosovor^ojio 1000 oo 
 
 tOSO HI VD HI HI N CO N * 
 
 RH? 
 ^'T 
 
 Native Ordained 
 Preachers, . . . 
 
 CO IOPOO N *" *^8 HI 2 
 
 ^^ 
 
 COCO 
 
 Native workers of 
 W. F. M. S., . . 
 
 . NOO N CO . Ct . . . . COOO * IO\O O if . 
 CO O HI N 
 *^ 
 
 t^vo 
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 For. Missionaries 
 W. F. M. S., . . 
 
 .N^t-^-^-W . . , . .lOCOCINHI COOO N 
 
 N r^ 
 
 SO IO 
 
 Assistant Miss- 
 ionaries 
 
 .to^HtoN . , .Hir^r^itNioc\co 
 
 HI HI CO HI HI HI 
 
 Oso 
 
 HI 
 
 
 Foreign Mission- 
 aries, 
 
 . 1/5 1/5 HI O O . . .HIIOOHTJ-NIOON^J- 
 HI HI W N M HI 
 
 33 
 
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 1 
 
 I 
 
 to 
 
 M 
 
 9 
 
 at _ . 
 
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 2 
 
 H- m 
 
 73 ^, 
 
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 flilislMfiifyfj 
 
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 . , . $W O N . . O Q CO 
 O OVO M O O ^ 
 ** OO GO ot M OO OO 
 
 ^ 
 
 Pages Printed 
 during the year. 
 
 ft<g -| 
 
 O rr 
 
 
 2S . . . .. 
 
 8-ft 
 
 Volumes Printed 
 
 8;g8 ' 'II ' ' 
 
 ^ 
 
 during the year. 
 
 ....... .ss- a . . g . 
 
 JO C?\ 
 
 ON (O 
 
 Col'ected for other 
 Local Purposes. 
 
 i5S ,^ovo r>. LOW 
 
 ^fO 
 
 Collected for Ch. 
 Build'g and Re- 
 pairing, . . . 
 
 o\ LO T " n " w cO'O \o vo to o * coco * 
 
 COOO 
 
 g a 
 
 00* M 
 
 Collected for Self- 
 
 gftKrOON ' ft'RftcZ'cf r?0o"3->0\o"?3 ' 
 
 t^. oS 
 
 support, .... 
 
 * w N ' M M 
 
 |s; 
 
 Col'ected for other 
 Benev. Societies. 
 
 ^S 10 : :P|H^:* S ;s: 
 
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 Collected for Mis- 
 sionary Society. 
 
 ,\OCO tOCJ iOW O C^ r^CQ to .NOX'^'O^' 
 
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 o'oi 
 
 
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 KS 
 
 
 ^ o\cf^w rCiovo" to 
 
 'S'S 
 
 
 . . . M M . . 
 
 
 Value of Orphan- 
 
 ,o .OO . . , .o^r>,oOfO.oo\o 
 
 o 
 m >n 
 
 Hbspitals,- Book 
 Rooms, etc, . . . 
 
 :^:R!?::::s?^:rf*:tfS* 
 
 S" 
 
 Estimated Value 
 of Parsonages or 
 "Homes," . . . 
 
 ^|!|||p!||f|||||! 
 
 $488,274 
 431,913 
 
 No. of Parsonages 
 or " Homes," . . 
 
 CIMM*-^- "CO J M M^ 
 
 t^- co 
 
 No. of Halls and 
 other Places of 
 Worship, .... 
 
 "tOWMM 'rOOVtOMt-0 M T}- C4 
 
 . w 
 
 vz 
 
 Estimated Value 
 of Churches and 
 Chapels, .... 
 
 lOO'OOO .MMCO ^-OO C4 O 00 r^ O *H M 
 
 $1,682,224 
 1,320,536 
 
 No. of Churches 
 and Chapels, . . 
 
 fO "^"R ^ ^ ' \O* C^OO* to ^VO^'S "2 M * ^ 'S 
 
 $& 
 
 No. of Orphans, . 
 
 "M * " * * * * o\ i/5 * * " IO " 
 
 o o\ 
 
 S'S. 
 
 No. of Sabbath 
 
 CO t^-GO iO ^J- . VO CM cOOO -< C7\O^t>w COCOW 
 
 ss 
 
 
 
 eg 5 ?: 
 
 No. of Sabbath- 
 schools, .... 
 
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 M . M *O 
 
 r>. in 
 
 
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 3 
 
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 C_i 
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 OH* 
 
 16 
 
 185
 
 Number of Day 
 
 CIO ro 
 
 row 
 
 
 
 
 Number of Day 
 Schools, . . . 
 
 23 '' 
 
 SS 1 
 
 Children Bap- 
 
 ^(.lOOCOlO^ 'OONOCM- 
 
 W IO 
 
 tfl 
 
 M ONCO_ * ' MO 
 
 
 Adults Bap- 
 
 ^* . _ CO W COMIO." W CO 
 Cn 
 
 <*_o 
 
 
 M 
 
 Conversions 
 during year, . 
 
 
 }OM 
 
 
 Aver'ge Att'nd- 
 ance on Sun- 
 day Worship, 
 
 IO ^ 
 
 s ; 
 
 
 Probationers, . 
 
 to *o 10 . ^ *- >- 
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 Members, . . . 
 
 5-^ 
 
 00 M 
 
 $ 
 
 I<ocal Preach- 
 
 ^- r^*o 10 
 
 IS 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 Other Teach'rs, 
 
 
 8)8 
 
 
 Native Teach- 
 ers 
 
 
 
 Native Unor- 
 dai'nd Preach- 
 ers, 
 
 
 M Cl 
 
 
 Native Or- 
 dai'nd Preach- 
 
 
 M O\ 
 
 
 Native Work'rs 
 ofW. H. M.S., 
 
 
 :* 
 
 
 Missionaries of 
 W. H. M. S., . 
 
 10 
 
 10(0 
 
 
 Asst. Mission- 
 
 
 ^q] 
 
 Missionaries, . 
 
 SM \o ON O ro 10 rOOO ^ ON^O ^"VO O* 
 10 CO M 06 
 11 ro 
 pT 
 
 $& 
 
 00_10 
 
 MISSIONS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 o) - kO 
 
 "^ ! ! ! a* ! ^ ! ' . '. w ! ! ^ "31 
 
 l|lli|l||^|H &* 
 
 186
 
 Pages printed 
 during Year, . 
 
 
 
 
 ... 
 
 . . & . 
 
 ft. 
 
 
 Collected f o r 
 other Local 
 purposes, . . 
 
 voo<otooooi . . Nwmc^m 
 
 ro to r^oo C to l/l * Q co - ^j- m 
 00 i-4 MH VO...O \O -<t** 
 
 **" *f>d\ M" w" \o~ 
 
 OM IT) 
 
 S'ft 
 
 *0 
 
 ga 
 *t" 
 
 Collected f o r 
 
 \oo . >-< roQco r^M . oo M o oco 
 u~> O 00 ON o CH oo M oo w r^^o to 
 TT 5 '- ^o ro^o mo . M r^vo r-. to 
 
 roio 
 ro t^ 
 
 ing and Re- 
 pairing, . . . 
 
 #*> .%:?" -. 2> <2 
 
 O\ 
 *O\ 
 
 * 
 
 Collected for 
 Self-support, . 
 
 IO ON CO !* uT-O O\ - fl iO rO Ol *O O 
 
 r^. r*. irjvo *o <N * M uo " t*- r-. f* d 
 
 fO^O MN-^-OMK*O\ .MON ONVO OO 
 
 & *a rf **. N " 00 " 1 ^ 
 
 N >O 
 
 
 
 ro CO 
 00 - 
 
 t-.\o 
 
 fC o^ 
 * 
 _ff> 
 
 *. 
 
 Collected f o r 
 other Benevo- 
 lent Societies, 
 
 w rO ^t ^00 . VO M \O O rfCO 00 f*3 
 t*>.M -^-O t^GO CN * iOcOl>-r-vQ 
 
 w l ^: t ?. <* . * ****Q 
 
 ^" COCO tC 
 
 CO 1-1 
 
 b\ W 
 $ 
 
 Collected f o r 
 Mission'ry So- 
 
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 vo c ^- Tt-\o cow cofOO^raN^o 
 to toi/> co^, WWU^MOO 
 
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 . . .A . . . . 
 
 Val. Orph'n'ges 
 Schools, Hos- 
 pitals, Book- 
 rooms, etc., . 
 
 
 
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 X 
 
 
 
 Estimated Val- 
 ue Parsonages 
 or" Homes," . 
 
 AO* *WCO* 'lOr^'oQQOrO 
 ^ , Ox *O t>- O rO ONVO CO f^ 
 
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 No. Parsonages 
 or" Homes," . 
 
 w . .t^M . ,\Or.fOrO OOO OO 
 
 M a^oo M oo 
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 c?oo" 
 
 tON_ 
 
 Estimated Val- 
 ue of Churches 
 and Chapels, . 
 
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 No. of Ch'rches 
 and Chapels, . 
 
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 ^-00 M d i-" O 
 
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 No. of Sabbath 
 Scholars, . . . 
 
 IO UO lOOO C7NCO r-. OOO CO CO N CO Tt 
 O\CO r* Tf- ^- 1 O rO iOvO f* 'O t^-^O ^ 
 
 c^ wfoqNtow\oo .^Oco uo\o a\ 
 
 M O^CO i-t M" M fO 
 
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 250,304 
 
 No. of Sabbath- 
 schools, . . . 
 
 * M 04 Tt- m TT^O c ^* . o oo ui'O >n 
 
 M *OOOM WN'MMMM^ 
 CO 
 
 r^ 
 
 "8 : 
 
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 MISSIONS. 
 
 U-. 
 
 ; i s* i . 1 1* i ! 
 
 2 . .0 
 
 !:::-:|: :<?:! :! : 
 
 ? . . . .,. .2 ..-< "3 . 
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 g -Sgs -.a^-s-a ? ^^ 
 
 fci-l1s!2gIS:|| gi 
 
 SliEliitSiHfft 53 
 
 <)^n<Otp;(j!S^^ow 
 
 187
 
 "^fHE Methodists were the pioneers of religion. The 
 
 breath of liberty has wafted their message to the masses 
 
 of the people ; encouraged them to collect white and black, 
 
 in church or greenwood, for council in divine love and the 
 
 full assurance of faith, and carried their consolations and 
 
 songs and prayers to the farthest cabins of the wilderness." 
 
 1 88 GEORGB BANCROFT.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 METHODISM AS A CONSERVATOR OF THE MORAL 
 FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC 
 
 AS a consequence of its American origin and 
 spirit, Methodism has ever enjoyed a free 
 access to the hearts and homes of the people. 
 Hundreds of thousands of sermons have been de- 
 livered in the private dwellings of citizens; and 
 had they not freely extended the hospitalities of 
 their tables and beds to the preachers, the early 
 itinerancy would have been an impossibility. 
 When the era of church and parsonage building 
 commenced, application was made to the people 
 for assistance, and as a result of the responses 
 made, millions of dollars of their money now go 
 to swell the aggregate of the property of Meth- 
 odism. Whilst, therefore, the members of other 
 Churches have very properly looked to their pas- 
 tors for instruction and consolation in bereave- 
 ment, such generally, as, unfortunately, were not 
 favored with a Church home, have sought the 
 services of the Methodist ministry on such oc- 
 casions. As Methodism is from the people and by 
 the people, it exists for the people. 
 
 The rise and progress of Methodism has, there- 
 fore, given it a position most favorable for con- 
 serving the morals of the Nation. This fact can 
 
 189
 
 190 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 be made the most apparent by contrasting its 
 genius and operations with the spirit and influ- 
 ence of the Roman hierarchy. Popery in this 
 country is a foreign power, as much so as the 
 French Army or British Navy. It was brought 
 here by emigrants from Spain, France, Italy, Ger- 
 many, Ireland, and other nations. Refusing to 
 cut loose from foreign countries and from a past 
 and obsolete age, its priests are incapable of 
 grasping the present, or feeling the inspiration of 
 a true American idea. The morals of the coun- 
 tries from which these foreigners came are not 
 the morals of the United States. The little they 
 see of Christ they see in the pope, and the only 
 gospel they know is Romanism. As a conse- 
 quence, the prevalence of that body in a com- 
 munity has no salutary effect upon either its in- 
 telligence or morals. In illustration of this fact 
 we need only to point to Mexico, Central and 
 South America, Spain, Ireland, Italy, the great 
 Catholic cities of Europe, and especially Rome, 
 under the eye of the Vatican. Sunday bull-fights 
 in Spain enjoy the patronage of cardinals and 
 kings alike. Romanism, as transferred to this 
 country, is exactly what it was in the Old World. 
 More devout cut-throats never lived than Cortez, 
 Pizarro, and DeSoto, the hierarchy's first agents 
 in this country. Among the first settlements ef- 
 fected in the present territory of the United States 
 by popery were St. Augustine, New Orleans, 
 Natchez, St. Louis, Detroit, and Mackinaw, and
 
 A CONSERVATOR OF MORAL FORCES. 191 
 
 what were the morals of those places whilst under 
 the sway of Romanism? Let the Rev. BHsha 
 Bowman, who visited New Orleans in 1805, speak 
 for that place: "As for the settlements of this 
 country, there are none that are composed of 
 Americans. From Baton Rouge, the Spanish 
 Fort, which stands on the east bank of the Mis- 
 sissippi, down two hundred miles, it is settled on 
 each side by French and Spaniards. When I 
 reached the city I was much disappointed in find- 
 ing but few American people there, and a ma- 
 jority of that few may be truly called beasts of 
 men. The Lord's-day is the day of general rout 
 in the city. Public balls are held, traffic of every 
 kind is carried on, public sales, wagons running, 
 and drums beating; and thus is spent the Sab- 
 bath. I reached the Opelousas country, and the 
 next day went to the Catholic Church. I was 
 surprised to see race-paths at the church-door. 
 Here I found a few Americans, who were swear- 
 ing with almost every breath ; and when I reproved 
 them, they told me that the priest swore as hard 
 as they did. They said he would play cards and 
 dance with them every Sunday evening after mass ; 
 and strange to say, he kept race-horses, and prac- 
 ticed every other abomination.' 1 '' 
 
 French Romanists visited Detroit in 1610, and 
 built a fort in 1701. The place was kept exclu- 
 sively under Romish influence till 1801 one 
 hundred years when it was visited by Protest- 
 ants. In its moral condition at that time may be
 
 192 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 seen the state our whole country would have been 
 in, had not a Heavenly Providence interfered in 
 our behalf. 
 
 "In 1801, when Rev. Mr. Badger, a Congrega- 
 tional missionary, reached Detroit, he reported 
 that there was not one Christian to be found in 
 all that region, except a black man, who appeared 
 to be pious. In 1804 it was spoken of as a most 
 abandoned place. At this time Dr. Nathan Bangs 
 visited it as a Methodist missionary, and a Con- 
 gregational minister told him that he had preached 
 in Detroit until none but a few children would 
 come to hear him. 'If you can succeed,' he 
 added 'which I very much doubt I shall re- 
 joice.' He did not succeed, but shook off the dust 
 of his feet against them, and took his departure." 
 (Dorchester.) 
 
 Probably this was the only defeat Bangs ever 
 suffered. But the city was doomed, for in less 
 than forty days after Bangs left, it was carried 
 away heavenward in flame and smoke; and the 
 wiping out was so complete that but one house 
 was left standing. The new city was built largely 
 under Protestant influences, and hence it has ever 
 been an honor to the Nation. 
 
 The Sabbath was scarcely known in all the 
 great Northwest. Mackinaw was thoroughly de- 
 livered over to the devil. Gillett says: "The gen- 
 eral aspect of manners among the troops gave an 
 idea of infernal spirits, rather than of human be- 
 ings." "Of the five hundred inhabitants of Kas-
 
 A CONSERVATOR OF MORAL FORCES. 193 
 
 kaskia, Illinois, one-half were French Roman 
 Catholics. Among the other half were six pro- 
 fessors of religion two Presbyterians, two Meth- 
 odists, one Congregationalist, and one Seceder. 
 The Sabbath was scarcely recognized." 
 
 St. Louis, in 1820, was a thorough -going papal 
 town, and in morals it was clear down on a level 
 with Detroit and Mackinaw. Romish mum- 
 meries, blatant infidelity, the most infernal pro- 
 fanity, drunkenness, lewdness, fighting, dueling, 
 Sabbath-breaking, gambling, etc., were the chief 
 elements of society in that place. It was perhaps 
 the brave, persistent, and successful efforts of 
 Jesse Walker to effect a reformation that saved 
 the place from the doom that came upon 
 Detroit. 
 
 Whoever makes the Jesuit missions in this 
 country a study, will become painfully impressed 
 with the fact that the influence of the priest and 
 the savage upon each other was often mutual, 
 and that the priest veered quite as much in the 
 direction of savagery as the savage did in the di- 
 rection of Christianity. The priest was often 
 deep in the plot his people formed to make a 
 foray against a neighboring tribe, to scalp, kill, 
 and plunder; and no one manifested more joy at 
 its successful results than he. If the Indians 
 could be made loyal papists, it mattered not what 
 else they were ; and Romanism is no better to-day 
 than it was three centuries ago. Rev. W. H. 
 
 Law, in the Pittsburg Christian Advocate, gives 
 
 17
 
 194 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 the following as the results of his experience 
 among the Romish missions in British Co- 
 lumbia: 
 
 " These people have no religion ; they are 
 simply baptized heathen. It is true that they 
 have a Canadian Jesuit priest with them from 
 time to time, and have been under priestly in- 
 struction for over one hundred and fifty years, 
 yet I firmly believe that it would have been better 
 for them if they had never seen the face of such 
 teachers. They are drunk, both males and fe- 
 males, nearly one-third of their time. Many of 
 them are raising families without any regard for 
 the married relationship. I have heard of wife- 
 beating, but here it is frequently the reverse, for 
 squaws often beat their so-called husbands ; for 
 they can 't always get as much whisky as the men, 
 and are, therefore, more active. I do not know of 
 one Indian on the reservation but that is full of 
 profanity. As a class, they are lazy and dirty; 
 and yet the priest considers them Christians, and 
 calls them his children. Some of them may be; 
 but I am afraid they are not the 'children of 
 light.' I have never yet found a converted person 
 among them. How unlike these are truly con- 
 verted Indians ! On the shore of Lake Superior 
 and on the great Manitoulin Island, I have met 
 quite a number who are new creatures in Christ 
 Jesus, members of different evangelical Churches. 
 And what a contrast!" 
 
 Can we avoid the conclusion that it is, in part,
 
 A CONSERVATOR OF MORAL FORCES. 195 
 
 the mission of Methodism in America to save the 
 people from the ignorance, corruption, and degra- 
 dation which seem to be inseparably connected 
 with the sway of the papal hierarchy? Whether 
 a part of the original plan or not, it has done this 
 work, and that, too, on a scale so immense that 
 the papacy itself has felt the reformatory agency 
 of Methodism, not only in different nations, but 
 in the Vatican itself. 
 
 The fact is, the morals of a people are a sec- 
 ondary affair with Romanism. In taking from 
 men liberty of conscience it takes from them 
 moral responsibility. Allegiance to the State is, 
 on the whole, a cumbrous embarrassment, as it 
 divides the mind; and loyalty to God is of no 
 consequence unless it includes the pope as his 
 vicegerent on earth. Even Columbus, when he 
 set out on his voyage of discovery, was actuated 
 by a fanatical, superstitious zeal for the extension 
 of the popish realm. France was largely influ- 
 enced by the same motive in the expenditure of 
 millions of dollars in planting colonies in North 
 America. The cry of Romanists for the restora- 
 tion of the temporal power of the pope really 
 means the subjugation of all civil governments 
 to the behests of the Jesuits. The radical and 
 wide difference between Romanism and Method- 
 ism is this: the one aspires for self-aggrandizement 
 by means of wealth and political power, and re- 
 gards as of secondary importance the intelligence 
 and morals of the people ; the other refuses to
 
 1 96 O UR CO UNTR Y AND METHODISM. 
 
 touch directly the helm of State, but gives to the 
 Government that protects it the purest loyalty, 
 and bends all its energies to the promotion of the 
 spiritual and moral elevation of the people. In 
 their undertakings both bodies achieve a meas- 
 ure of success. 
 
 The substance of Methodist preaching in this 
 country for a century was, "Repent;" " Bring forth 
 fruit meet for repentance;" "Break off your sins by 
 righteousness, and your iniquities by turning to 
 God;" and "Without holiness no man can see 
 the Lord." Against infidelity it has dealt some 
 of the heaviest blows that evil has ever received. 
 Drunkenness, profanity, and Sabbath-breaking it 
 has ever held up before the people as damnable 
 sins. We have but an imperfect idea of the prev- 
 alence of crime at the close of the Revolutionary 
 War, which for a long time continued on the 
 border ; but the bold Methodist preacher, at the 
 risk of life, exposed the iniquity of the times, and, 
 in language as terrible as eternity could furnish, 
 denounced the transgressors. This was, indeed, 
 the work required by the times. Texas has ac- 
 quired an unenviable fame as the refuge of all 
 sorts of criminals, but its monopoly in this respect 
 is unjust. The following, taken from Peter Cart- 
 wright's "Autobiography," might be duplicated in 
 many places: 
 
 " Logan County, Ky., when my father entered 
 it, was called 'Rogues' Harbor.' Here refugees, 
 from almost all parts of the Union, fled to escape
 
 A CONSERVAl^OR OF MORAL FORCES. 19? 
 
 justice or punishment ; for, although there was 
 law, yet it could not be executed, and it was a 
 desperate state of society. Murderers, horse- 
 thieves, highway robbers, and counterfeiters fled 
 here till they combined and actually formed the 
 majority. The honest and civil part of the citi- 
 zens would prosecute these wretched banditti, but 
 they would swear each other clear ; and they really 
 put all law at defiance, and carried on such des- 
 perate violence and outrage that the honest part 
 of the citizens seemed to be driven to the ne- 
 cessity of uniting and combining together, and 
 taking the law into their own hands under the 
 name of Regulators. This was a desperate state 
 of things. Shortly after the Regulators had 
 formed themselves into a society, and established 
 their code of laws, on a court-day, in Russellville, 
 the two bands met in town. Soon a quarrel com- 
 menced, and a general battle ensued between the 
 rogues and the Regulators. They fought with 
 guns, pistols, dirks, knives, and clubs ; and some 
 were actually killed and many wounded. The 
 rogues proved victors, kept the ground, and drove 
 the Regulators out of town. The Regulators ral- 
 lied again, hunted, killed, and lynched many of 
 the rogues, till several of them fled and left for 
 parts unknown. Many lives were lost on both 
 sides, to the great scandal of a civilized people. 
 This is but a partial view of frontier life." 
 
 What would Romanism, with its genuflections 
 and mummeries, candles and robes, have done to
 
 198 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 reform a community of such criminals? The 
 priests would probably have offered them absolu- 
 tion, on condition that they would accept baptism 
 and give in their adhesion to the papacy ; and, 
 without doubt, fools could have been found who 
 would have accepted the offer, and then, with sup- 
 posed divine warrant, continued in their career of 
 crime. 
 
 What did the Methodist ministry actually do? 
 This lion of profligacy and vice was bearded in his 
 den. This class of criminals, which no law could 
 reach, it made an object of special regard. With 
 the fire of an Elijah, it went among them crying, 
 "Flee from the wrath to come!" "Ye serpents, 
 ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the 
 damnation of hell?" John Page, Benjamin North- 
 cot, Jacob Linton, and a squadron of others, like 
 John in the wilderness, made the backwoods 
 all along the border, from Central New York to 
 Georgia, echo with these notes of warning to the 
 criminals who had forgotten God and their eter- 
 nity. As a gracious result, thousands of them 
 were reformed, and they became good citizens. 
 Even the ministry was recruited with noble 
 preachers from this class of men. Camp-meet- 
 ings were blessed to the conversion of a multitude 
 of these outlaws. The fact is, Methodism was the 
 only force in the Nation that could have success- 
 fully grappled with this problem. Its ministers 
 went forth to conquer, and seldom were they de- 
 feated. Whenever Peter Cartwright, or Jesse
 
 A CONSERVATOR OF MORAL FORCES. 199 
 
 Walker, or J. B. Finley was on the border, there 
 was a Napoleon and a victory. Raised on the 
 soil, educated among this rude people, and en- 
 dowed with an astonishing amount of good, hard, 
 common sense, they knew the strength and weak- 
 ness of these border roughs, and could sympathize 
 with them and control them. A priest, in a lawn 
 robe, and gloved in kid, they would have laughed 
 at as a useless curiosity. 
 
 Were I conscious that, in making a record of 
 these facts in regard to Methodism and Roman- 
 ism, I was in the least influenced by vanity on 
 the one hand, or uncharitableness on the other, I 
 would on the instant blot out every word ; but if 
 what is stated has a place in providence, and 
 forms a part of American history, it should stand 
 forth in the light of day for our guidance and for 
 the instruction of posterity. The facts we have 
 brought forward are, however, only as the dust of 
 the balances. What order of clergy, more than all 
 others, are called upon to visit prisoners in their 
 cells and officiate on the gallows? Romanists ! 
 What is the religion of the people who, in our 
 great cities, sustain and carry on the liquor-traffic? 
 Romanism ! What nations claiming to be civil- 
 ized are the lowest down in education, culture, 
 and morality? Papal nations; and Italy, the 
 home of the pope, is at the bottom ! 
 
 Girded around on all sides, and penetrated in 
 the center, as our country was, by Romanism in 
 1770, is it not a wonder that it did not take pos-
 
 200 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 session ? Are we not indebted to a special prov- 
 idence that it did not? And what form did that 
 providence take but the rise on the soil and the 
 marvelous spread of Methodism? 
 
 The Baptist, Presbyterian, and Congregational 
 Churches, wherever they go, carry with them a 
 sound and thorough-going moral influence ; but 
 they received the stamp of their character across 
 the sea, and were not adapted to the vast pioneer- 
 ing work demanded in this country by the mar- 
 velous march of empire westward. Methodism 
 could put into the field a hundred such men as 
 Gatch, Garrettson, Ware, Kibby, Lee, McKendree, 
 Cook, Broadhead, Poythress, Brice, McClintock, 
 Parker, Cartwright, Walker, Young, Finley, Quinn, 
 Gruber, Slade, Bigelow, Bostwick, and Beau- 
 champ, where either of these denominations could 
 one who was their equal in pioneer-work. The 
 plain fact is, Methodism was raised up on the soil, 
 to grapple with a condition of things that, was 
 new to the whole world. 
 
 Methodism encountered its greatest difficulty 
 when, in its infancy, it was called upon to meet 
 the monstrous problem of slavery. Ignoring the 
 political and commercial aspects of the question, 
 it fixed its attention solely upon its moral element, 
 and indorsed the sentiment tersely expressed by 
 Wesley, that "slavery is the sum of all villain- 
 ies." It put slavery near the head of the long 
 catalogue of crimes that is found in society and 
 nations. Prima facie a homicide is regarded as
 
 A CONSERVATOR OF MORAL FORCES. 201 
 
 a murder, and yet there are cases in which, on 
 investigation, the accused may be able to prove 
 that the killing was justifiable. So there may 
 have been circumstances in which the relation of 
 master and slave was mercy and kindness to the 
 slave, and hence justifiable ; but till such facts 
 were proven to exist, the slaveholder was regarded 
 as a criminal, and emancipation demanded of him. 
 So preached and taught Coke and Asbury, piib- 
 licly and privately. All the early Methodist 
 preachers followed their example. 
 
 In the first "Discipline" published, the first 
 year after the organization of the Church, 1785, 
 we find the following : 
 
 " Q- What methods can we take to extirpate 
 slavery ? 
 
 11 A. We are deeply conscious of the impro- 
 priety of making new terms of communion for a 
 religious society already established, excepting on 
 the most pressing occasion ; and such we esteem 
 the practice of holding our fellow-creatures in 
 slavery. We view it as contrary to the golden 
 law of God, on which hang all the law and the 
 prophets, and the inalienable rights of mankind, 
 as well as every principle of the Revolution, to 
 hold in the deepest debasement, in a more abject 
 slavery than is to be found in any part of the 
 world except America, so many souls that are all 
 capable of the image of God. 
 
 "We therefore think it our most bounden duty 
 to take immediately some effectual method to ex-
 
 202 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 tirpate this abomination from among us, and for 
 that purpose we add the following to the Rules 
 of our Society." 
 
 Then follow the demands that all members 
 owning slaves shall be required to manumit any 
 slaves they may own within a specified period of 
 time ; that the preacher shall keep a faithful rec- 
 ord of all cases of manumission; that any mem- 
 ber who feels himself agrieved at these new terms 
 of membership, may quietly withdraw from mem- 
 bership in the Church without censure ; and that 
 no new members be admitted to the Church who 
 sustains to slaves the relation of master. Buy- 
 ing or selling slaves was prohibited, "except for 
 the purpose of their emancipation." 
 
 But Methodism in its babyhood was alone, or 
 nearly so, grappling with a monster. Bishop 
 Coke and others, however, commenced a crusade 
 against slavery. A Southern lady offered a crowd 
 of the baser sort fifty pounds if they would give 
 the bishop fifty lashes. He was mobbed, and by 
 the Virginia authorities arrested for sedition. In 
 Charleston, South Carolina, Asbury was treated 
 most unhandsomely by roughs. Many cases of 
 emancipation occurred, and the preachers of the 
 Southern Conference petitioned the General As- 
 sembly of North Carolina, praying that an act 
 might be passed permitting such as desired to do 
 so, to emancipate their slaves. 
 
 At this time Washington was living quietly at 
 Mt. Vernon as a private citizen ; but really he wa ;
 
 A CONSERVATOR OF MORAL FORCES. 203 
 
 the foremost patriot of all the world. Bishops 
 Coke and Asbury visited him for the purpose of 
 enlisting his services in behalf of emancipation. 
 Bishop Coke made the following note of the in- 
 terview : 
 
 " He received us very politely and was open to 
 access. He is quite the plain country gentleman. 
 After dinner we desired a private interview, and 
 opened to him the grand business on which we 
 came, presenting to him our petition for the eman- 
 cipation of the Negroes, and entreating his signa- 
 ture if the eminence of his station did not render 
 it inexpedient for him to sign a petition. He in- 
 formed us that he was of our sentiments, and had 
 signified his thoughts on the subject to most of 
 the great men of the State ; that he did not see it 
 proper to sign the petition ; but if the Assembly 
 took it into consideration, he would signify his 
 sentiments to the Assembly by letter. He asked 
 us to spend the evening and lodge at his house, 
 but our engagements the following day at Annap- 
 olis would not admit of it." 
 
 Had these heroic men kept up the fight against 
 slavery they might possibly have succeeded, and 
 avoided the rupture which took place in the 
 Church in 1844, and the awful war of 1861-65. 
 Had Washington given to them his hearty co- 
 operation and the influence of his great name, 
 they would have been greatly encouraged to carry 
 on the battle. But their only allies were the 
 quiet Quakers. They were embarrassed by the
 
 204 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 strange and unaccountable fact that Whitefield had 
 dealt in slaves for commercial purposes; not to 
 enrich himself for there was not a particle of 
 avarice in his nature but to endow one of his 
 institutions of charity. How paradoxical it seems 
 that a man of Whitefield's ability and moral pen- 
 etration could consign men, women, and children 
 to the perpetual degradations and miseries of 
 American slavery "the vilest the sun ever shone 
 upon" for charitable and benevolent purposes! 
 The fact is, Wesley, Coke, Asbury, and Method- 
 ists generally, on the moral questions of that day, 
 were far in the advance of their times. Asbury 
 and Coke were really combating the spirit of 
 the age in which they lived; but the heavy 
 blows they struck took effect, and were never for- 
 gotten. Would the States everywhere have per- 
 mitted emancipation, it is likely that by the close 
 of the first decade of the Church's history there 
 would not have been a slaveholder within its pale. 
 But would there have been one slave the less in 
 the Nation? As the case stood, all that testimony 
 and argument could do was done to do away with 
 the evil. Had the matter been pressed further, it 
 is likely that the practical effects would have been 
 the exclusion of Methodism from the slave pop- 
 ulation of the South. The question has a great 
 many sides, and the facts have demonstrated that 
 its complexities defied the mastery of man. Even 
 if Coke and Asbury had stood by their first con- 
 victions, and never permitted a slaveholder to
 
 A CONSERVATOR OF MORAL FORCES. 205 
 
 enter the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the end 
 God only could have emancipated the slaves ; and 
 this stain could have been removed only as it 
 was washed out in rivers of blood. 
 
 But the fact which we wish to make emphatic 
 is, that Methodism was the aggressive champion 
 of the moral aspects of this as of all other moral 
 questions, and that the young Nation was made 
 to feel its power. This may be seen in a little 
 episode which took place in the Convention which 
 framed the Constitution of our country. After 
 the article touching the slave-trade and slavery 
 had been adopted, Mr. Marshall afterwards Chief 
 Justice of the United States called attention to 
 the fact that the Methodists and Quakers could 
 not conscientiously, as the document then stood, 
 vote for its adoption; and through his influence, 
 in deference to the moral convictions of these 
 bodies, the words "slave" and "slavery" were 
 excluded from the Constitution. If any one can 
 name a moral question, great or small, which has 
 ever agitated the Nation or a community, and 
 Methodism has not thrown its influence on the 
 side of truth, right, and humanity, we should like 
 to have it done. Neither our observation nor 
 reading has ever made us acquainted with such a 
 case. Or, if in the wide world a Methodist com- 
 munity can be found, made up of infidels, drunk- 
 ards, gamblers, profligates such as characterized 
 Detroit, Mackinaw, St. Louis, Natchez, New Or- 
 leans, and other places, when Romanism held
 
 206 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 sway then we will confess that in such locality 
 the salt had lost its savor and become a curse to 
 society. The key-note of its preaching being re- 
 pentance, a complete and absolute reformation of 
 life, attended by a spiritual regeneration of the 
 heart, to be followed by holy living, no agency 
 could have been devised which was better adapted 
 to promote the morals of the Nation than Meth- 
 odism. And at the close of the war, and for 
 many years afterwards, was not this the great and 
 crying need of the Nation? And are not its ne- 
 cessities as great and as urgent in many respects 
 at the present time as ever? We shall see 
 further on.
 
 " ffiffiX'^' *kus, ky comparison, see what was the secret of the 
 Wesleyan movement. Rejecting the cumbrous rigid- 
 ity of High-Churchmanship on the one hand, and the ultra 
 extreme of doctrine of justification by faith on the other, 
 Wesley retained an energetic Church polity and a true doc- 
 trine of salvation through Christ. To these he added the in- 
 tensifying doctrines of the conscious witness of the Spirit and 
 entire sanctification, and insisted on their actual realization 
 in experimental life. His entire system of polity and doc- 
 trine and life thereby strangely presaged and harmonized 
 with modern freedom and activity. It was an anticipation 
 of our age. It was the morning-break in the religious world 
 
 of the modern life." WHEDON. 
 
 MB
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE THEOLOGY OF PROTESTANT CHRISTENDOM 
 THE GIFT OF METHODISM. 
 
 / T V HE invention of printing, the manufacture of 
 -*- gunpowder, and the discovery of America 
 did much, at the beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, to set a stagnant world in motion. The 
 quickened intellect of man was roused to action 
 as from a long sleep, and the Mohammedan Arabs 
 must be regarded as leaders in all lines of scien- 
 tific thought. Chemistry, medicine, and mathe- 
 matics became specialties with that people. The 
 papal method of solving all questions, whether 
 scientific, political, nautical, geographical, astro- 
 nomical, or physical, by Scripture, never fettered 
 or warped their mind ; hence they were free to 
 read wisely, and properly interpret, the ever-open 
 volume of nature. 
 
 The human mind was never more free, active, 
 and energetic than it was in this country at the 
 founding of the great Republic ; and hence the 
 State papers that were then given to the world 
 have never in ability been surpassed. Every- 
 where, and in every thing, common sense was 
 making its appeal to first principles. Descartes's 
 dictum to accept as true nothing till supported by 
 absolute proof, like leaven had worked itself thor- 
 
 18 209
 
 210 OUR CO UNI R Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 oughly into the minds of men, and nothing, by its 
 claims to sanctity, was exempt from criticism. 
 The current theology of the times must be 
 brought into this white-hot focus of a critical ex- 
 amination, and, to say the least, this was more 
 than its friends desired. 
 
 The Westminster and Saybrook forms of the- 
 ology, as taught in nearly all the pulpits of North 
 America in 1766, is embraced in the third, tenth, 
 eleventh, and seventeenth chapters of the Pres- 
 byterian "Confession of Faith." These articles 
 read as follows: 
 
 44 OF GOD'S DECREES. 
 
 "I. God, from all eternity, did, by the most 
 wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and 
 unchangeably ordain whatever comes to pass; yet 
 so as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor 
 is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor 
 is the liberty or contingency of second causes 
 taken away, but rather established. 
 
 "II. Although God knows whatsoever may or 
 can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, 
 yet hath he not decreed any thing because he 
 foresaw it as future, or as that which would come 
 to pass upon such conditions. 
 
 "III. By the decree of God, for the manifesta- 
 tion of his glory, some men and angels are predes- 
 tinated unto everlasting life, and others foreor- 
 dained to everlasting death. 
 
 " IV. These angels and men thus predestinated
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 2 1 1 
 
 and foreordained are particularly and unchange- 
 ably designed ; and their number is so certain and 
 definite, that it can not be either increased or di- 
 minished. 
 
 "V. Those of mankind that are predestinated 
 unto life, God, before the foundation of the world 
 was laid, according to his eternal and immutable 
 purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure 
 of his will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting 
 glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without 
 any foresight of faith or good works, or perse- 
 verance in either of them, or any other thing in 
 the creature 'as conditions or causes moving him 
 thereto, and all to the praise of his glorious 
 grace. 
 
 "VI. As God hath appointed the elect unto 
 glory, so hath he, by the eternal and most free 
 purpose of his will, foreordained all the means 
 thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected be- 
 ing fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are 
 effectually called unto faith in Christ by his Spirit 
 working in due season; are justified, adopted, 
 sanctified, and kept by his power through faith 
 unto salvation ; neither are any other redeemed by 
 Christ effectually called, justified, adopted, sanc- 
 tified, and saved, but the elect only. 
 
 "VII. The rest of mankind God was pleased, 
 according to the unsearchable counsel of his own 
 will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy 
 as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power 
 over his creatures, to pass by and ordain them to
 
 212 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 dishonor and wrath for their sins, to the praise of 
 his glorious justice." 
 
 Of effectual calling, says Chapter X, Article i : 
 
 " I. All those whom God hath predestinated 
 unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his ap- 
 pointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by 
 his word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and 
 death, in which they are by nature, to grace and 
 salvation by Jesus Christ ; enlightening their 
 minds spiritually and savingly to understand the 
 things of God, taking away their heart of stone 
 and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing 
 their wills, and, by his almighty power, deter- 
 mining them to that which is good, and effectually 
 drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they 
 come most freely, being made willing by his 
 grace. 
 
 "II. This effectual call is of God's free and 
 special grace alone, not from anything at all fore- 
 seen in man, who is altogether passive therein, 
 until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy 
 Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, 
 and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed 
 in it. 
 
 "III. Elect infants, dying in infancy, are re- 
 generated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, 
 who worketh when and where and how he pleaseth. 
 So also are all other elect persons who are inca- 
 pable of being outwardly called by the ministry 
 of the Word. 
 
 "IV. Others not elected, although they may
 
 THEOL OG Y METHODISTIC. 2 1 3 
 
 be called by the ministry of the Word, and may 
 have some common operations of the Spirit, yet 
 they never truly come to Christ, and, therefore, 
 can not be saved ; much less can men not pro- 
 fessing the Christian religion be saved in any way 
 whatsoever, be they never so diligent to frame 
 their lives according to the light of nature and 
 the law of that religion they do profess ; and to 
 assert and maintain that they may, is very per- 
 nicious and to be detested." 
 
 These articles of faith were so clearly written 
 and logically arranged that they could never need 
 any explanation. Each one speaks right out for 
 itself, and means exactly what it says. The log- 
 ical mind as well as the rudest common sense 
 clearly sees that they make God the real author 
 of all human actions, and strip the human race 
 yes, and the whole universe of its moral char- 
 acter. Nero's life, as fully as St. Paul's, was the 
 outcome of a divine agency; for whatever they 
 did, neither was deserving of praise nor blame. 
 The one, as fully as the other, acted out, in his 
 own will, the divine will. Here we meet the doc- 
 trine of a dire necessity, as taught by the ancient 
 Greek Stoics. 
 
 On the perseverance of the saints (Chap. XVII, 
 Sees, i and n), we read: 
 
 "I. They whom God hath accepted in his Be- 
 loved, effectually called and sanctified by his 
 Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away 
 from the state of grace, but shall certainly
 
 214 OUR CO UNTR Y AND METHODISM. 
 
 persevere therein to the end, and be eternally 
 saved. 
 
 "II. This perseverance of the saints depends, 
 not upon their own free will, but upon the im- 
 mutability of the decree of election, flowing from 
 the free and unchangeable love of God the Father ; 
 upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of 
 Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit and of 
 the seed of God within them; and the nature of 
 the covenant of grace, from all which ariseth 
 also the certainty and infallibility thereof." 
 
 Lest, possibly, we may be mistaken in our in- 
 terpretation of this creed, let us hear on this sub- 
 ject the brilliant Dr. Chalmers, one of the greatest 
 Presbyterian theologians that has lived since Cal- 
 vin died. He says: 
 
 "But we are ready enough to concede to the 
 Divine Being the administration of the material 
 world, and put into his hands all the forces of its 
 mighty elements. But let us carry the command- 
 ing influence of Deity into the higher world of 
 moral and intelligent beings. Let us not erect 
 the will of the creature into an independent prin- 
 ciple. Let us not conceive that the agency of 
 man can bring about one single iota of deviation 
 from the plans and purposes of God; or that he 
 can be thwarted and compelled to vary in a single 
 case by the movement of any of those subordinate 
 beings whom he himself has created. There may 
 be a diversity of operations, but it is God who 
 worketh all in all. Look at the resolute and in-
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 215 
 
 dependent man, and you there see the purposes of 
 the human mind, entered upon with decision and 
 followed up by vigorous and successful execution. 
 But these only make one diversity of God's oper- 
 ations. The will of man, active and spontaneous 
 and fluctuating as it appears to be, is an instru- 
 ment in his hand, and he turns it at his pleasure 
 and he brings other instruments to act upon it 
 and he plies it with all its excitements, and he 
 measures the force and proportion of each of 
 them; and every step of every individual receives 
 as determinate a character from the hand of God 
 as every mile of a planet's orbit, or every gust of 
 wind, or every wave of the sea, or every particle 
 of flying dust, or every rivulet of flowing water. 
 The power of God knows no exception. It is 
 absolute and unlimited; and while it embraces 
 the vast, it carries its resistless influence to all 
 the minute and unnoticed diversities of existence. 
 It reigns and operates through all the secrecies of 
 the inner man. It gives birth to every purpose. 
 It gives impulse to every desire. It gives shape 
 and color to every conception. It wields an en- 
 tire ascendency over every attribute of the mind; 
 and the will and the fancy and the understanding, 
 with all the countless variety of their hidden and 
 fugitive operations, are submitted to it. It gives 
 movement and direction through every one point 
 in the line of our pilgrimage. At no one moment 
 of time does it abandon us. It follows us to the 
 hour of death, and it carries us to our place and
 
 2 1 6 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 our everlasting destiny in the region beyond it. 
 It is true that no one gets to heaven but he who 
 by holiness is meet for it. But the same Power 
 who carries us there, works in us the meet- 
 ness. . . . God could, if it pleased him, read 
 out at this moment the names in this congrega- 
 tion who are ordained to eternal life and are writ- 
 ten in his book." 
 
 We have now before us the most conspicuous 
 feature of the creed of the Churches as held at the 
 time of the founding of the Republic, and the 
 fragment of a sermon we have given from Chal- 
 mers is a sample of the preaching which charac- 
 terized those times. These forms of thought 
 carry us away back into times long since passed 
 away. They form a compound of heathen philos- 
 ophy and speculative theology. Not an element 
 of distinctive Christianity can be found in them. 
 Was it possible for any body of Christians to 
 evangelize America, burdened with such a creed 
 as this? It was impossible; and when Methodism 
 arose, its death-knell was sounded ; and to-day it 
 has no more authority with the people than the 
 Oracles of Delphi. 
 
 As Calvinism is all-inclusive, all-exclusive, and 
 absolute in its terms, Methodists have ever seen 
 that it was not susceptible of modification. To 
 modify the figure of a circle or of a square is to 
 destroy it as such. So with Calvinism as a sys- 
 tem of theology. It is made up largely of what 
 purports to be a statement of facts of facts as
 
 THEOLOG Y ME THODISTIC. 2 1 7 
 
 absolute as the axioms of mathematics. Any 
 change is denial or destruction. God has, or he 
 has not, foreordained whatsoever comes to pass; 
 there is, or there is not, a certain number elected 
 to be saved, say one in ten ; some men were, or 
 they were not, predestinated from all eternity to 
 be reprobates; there are "elect infants," or there 
 are not; the converted soul must persevere, or it 
 may "fall away" and "draw back to perdition;" 
 and Christ died, or he did not die, for all men, etc. 
 Now it is easy to see that all these affirmations of 
 Calvinism are absolutely true, or they are abso- 
 lutely false. The idea of modification is not only 
 inconceivable, but absurd. Hence, from the days 
 of Wesley to the present time, the blows dealt 
 upon Calvinism were intended to extirpate or an- 
 nihilate the heresy. Of their success, Professor 
 Marvin R. Vincent, of the Union Theological 
 Seminary, says: "Arminian theology nab con- 
 tributed to bring the minds of Presbyterians up 
 to that tremendous protest which is fast driving 
 the screws into the coffin-lid of that hideous and 
 unscriptural doctrine of arbitrary predestination to 
 eternal wrath." 
 
 To the fatalism, to the divine authorship of 
 human conduct, and the virtual, because logical, 
 denial of a moral world, Methodism opposed the 
 free and responsible agency of man, the turpitude 
 of crime, because it need not have been com- 
 mitted, and the just awards of a judgment-day. 
 It held with the Calvinist that man was every 
 
 19
 
 218 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 moment under government, because he was al- 
 ways in the presence of right and wrong, and that 
 necessity was laid upon him to determine to do 
 the one or the other; and against the Calvinist it 
 held that man was invested with the power at the 
 same moment to decide or determine to act either 
 for the right or for the wrong. And then, again, 
 it held with the Calvinist that, after man had 
 acted, necessity was laid upon him to abide by 
 the consequences of his own act, whether good or 
 bad. But man, in determining what his act shall 
 be, decides for himself what its consequences will 
 be. In man's self-centered power of will, we find 
 the basis of responsibility, the possibility of per- 
 sonal virtue, and the ground of a moral universe. 
 The appeal which this doctrine made to the 
 common sense and general consciousness of man- 
 kind was all that was needed to give it currency 
 with the people, and when the Calvinistic meta- 
 physicians, with a challenge on their lips, entered 
 the arena of debate, they were not long waiting 
 before an antagonist appeared; and after fighting 
 the ground over and over thousands of times, the 
 conflict is ended, and the Methodists hold quiet 
 possession of the field. The doctrine of personal 
 guiltiness and personal responsibility for conduct 
 was at the base of the Herculean efforts the pio- 
 neer preachers made to check the vices of the 
 people and reform their practices. The refuge 
 many of the guilty had found in the dogma that 
 "God had foreordained whatsoever comes to pass,"
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 219 
 
 was bombarded again and again with the heaviest 
 guns that could be brought to bear upon it. The 
 Methodist doctrine was exactly what the people 
 wanted, and they accepted it. 
 
 The doctrine that God had foreordained a part 
 of the human family to be damned that Christ 
 did not include them in his redemptive suffer- 
 ings has, a thousand times, been made to cut a 
 sorry figure in the presence of such Scriptures as 
 these: "God so loved the world that he gave his 
 only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
 him might not perish, but have everlasting life;" 
 "He became a propitiation for our sins, and not 
 for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world;" 
 "He died for all;" "Tasted death for every man," 
 etc., etc. Nothing more horrid and revolting was 
 ever presented to the mind of man than the de- 
 crees of Calvinism. Wretchedness and despair 
 have been inflicted upon thousands by them; and 
 is it any wonder that the opposite doctrine of 
 free grace for all was hailed by the Nation as a 
 new evangel? And this offer of free salvation, 
 because of its contrast with opposite and current 
 doctrine, became the most striking and inspiring 
 element of Methodism. As the people had never 
 heard such preaching before, this word to them 
 was a new gospel, and it was exactly what they 
 thought a gospel from God ought to be for every 
 one, if for any. It is not strange, therefore, that 
 it took with the people, and that all classes gladly 
 listened to the glad tidings of great joy.
 
 220 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 The prevalent idea, preached everywhere and 
 in every pulpit, that there were non-elect infants; 
 that many infants were lost; that there were "in- 
 fants in hell not a span long," had filled many a 
 heart with unutterable pangs. To every human 
 mind, in its normal state, this was a horrid doc- 
 trine ; and the wonder is, that it did not drive into 
 infidelity every soul which believed that the Bible 
 taught it. Along all this dreary coast Meth- 
 odism has shone as a celestial and comforting 
 light. Especially have mothers thousands of 
 them been relieved from an insupportable 
 burden of sorrow which the old doctrine had 
 laid upon them. The doctrine that every child 
 that was ever born into the world first saw the 
 light within God's covenant of mercy, and hence, 
 if it died, was sure of heaven, gave to the gospel 
 a feature of loveliness the people had never seen 
 till it was presented by the Methodist ministry. 
 It was the breaking forth of a new light upon the 
 world, and the men who declared it were hailed 
 as messengers sent from heaven. If these preach- 
 ers had their toils and sufferings, they also were 
 favored with an opportunity to do good such as 
 but few generations have ever enjoyed. 
 
 The old doctrine was that Adam's sin was im- 
 puted to his race, and that Christ's righteousness 
 was imputed to the elect, and that they must be 
 saved, whereas the non-elect must be damned. In 
 both cases the law of necessity logically prevailed 
 and virtue was excluded.
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 22 1 
 
 Methodism denied all these propositions in 
 toto, and held that, though the race has suffered 
 a loss of spirituality because of Adam's spiritual 
 death, yet Adam's guilt rested only on himself, 
 and that it is man's faith in Christ that is im- 
 puted to him for righteousness. The one doctrine 
 was a shock to common sense, for it is without a 
 reason; the other commanded a ready assent, as it 
 appealed to consciousness in support of its truth. 
 
 The hypothesis of two gospel calls to embrace 
 Christ the "common" and the "effectual" call; 
 the one insincere, empty, and a mockery; the other 
 an imperative and an irresistible demand, made 
 only for the elect to obey was, formally and log- 
 ically, an essential part of the scheme ; but there 
 was nothing in it to move or attract the human 
 heart, but much, on the other hand, to repel it. 
 How many thousands have responded to such a 
 gospel in these terms: "If I am one of the elect, 
 I shall, in God's own time, receive the 'effectual 
 call,' and then, of course, I shall respond; but till 
 then I need give myself no concern for my eter- 
 nity, for I can do nothing!" 
 
 The old gospel as now presented was, The 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent now, 
 this moment, every one of you, and believe the 
 gospel. Such preaching the people of America 
 never heard till Whitefield, Edwards, and the 
 Methodists went among them and delivered it. 
 Such preaching, attended by the demonstration 
 of the Spirit and with power, moved the masses
 
 222 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 heavenward as they had never been moved before. 
 This, in the form of Methodism, was as "new 
 wine in a new bottle " for America. 
 
 Dr. Lewis H. Stearns, in a letter to the Inde- 
 pendent on Wesley's death, says: "This brings us 
 to consider the influence of Wesleyanism upon 
 the doctrinal system of Calvinism. Few would 
 deny that this system has undergone very impor- 
 tant changes during the last hundred and fifty 
 years. To realize their extent, we must turn, not 
 to the text-books of systematic theology, but to 
 the preaching of our ministers. Even the most 
 conservative modern Calvinists preach very differ- 
 ently from their predecessors of the earlier part of 
 the present century." 
 
 But the prevalent religion of this country was 
 a matter of education, of culture, of form, of serv- 
 ice and ceremony; and when from the lips of 
 Methodists the people heard of a salvation that 
 was personal, direct, instantaneous, quickening 
 the soul of man into spiritual life, attended by 
 adoption into the family of God and the comforts 
 of the Holy Paraclete, they all listened in amaze- 
 ment and many with joy. Some mocked, and 
 took the ground that it could not positively be 
 known who the elect were till the judgment of 
 the Great Day; for this was one of the secret 
 things that belonged to God. But the preaching 
 of this doctrine was backed up by the testimony 
 of thousands, who were ready always and every- 
 where to testify that they knew from experience
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 223 
 
 that God has power on earth to forgive sin ; and 
 it was further found that a multitude of Scrip- 
 tures could be brought to its support; that it is 
 agreeable to reason and to the whole tenor of the 
 Word of God. A knowledge of the privilege of 
 the sons of God the new Nation needed more than 
 any other one thing found in the whole realm of 
 grace. 
 
 Methodism found that the Churches had lost 
 sight of the precious doctrine of the witness of 
 the Spirit. 
 
 "Where God performs directly the work of 
 justification and of regeneration, is it not to be 
 expected that he will as directly give notice of so 
 wonderful a mercy? And this thought suggests 
 the reasonableness of the doctrine of the witness 
 of the Spirit, directly testifying to us that we are 
 born of God. 
 
 "The witness of our own spirit is that self- 
 judgment which we are rationally able to pro- 
 nounce, in the light of consciousness and Scripture, 
 that we are the children of God. This is a log- 
 ical inference, drawn from the fruits we find, by 
 self-examination, in our minds and external con- 
 duct. But besides this is there not felt, in every 
 deep religious experience, a simple, firm assur- 
 ance, like an intuition, by which we are made to 
 feel calmly certain that all is blessedly right be- 
 tween God and bur own soul? Does not this as- 
 surance seem to come into the heart as from some 
 outer source? Does it not come as in answer to
 
 224 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 prayer and in direction, as from Him to whom we 
 pray? Scripture, surely, makes the assuring and 
 witnessing act of the Spirit to be as immediate 
 and direct as the justifying or regenerating act. 
 Hereby, then, we have the witnessing of God's 
 Spirit concurrent with the witness of our own 
 spirit, testifying to the work of our justification 
 and adoption." (Whedon.) 
 
 But, further, it is the office of the Spirit to 
 take of the things of God and show them unto 
 the sons of God. The presence of the Spirit is 
 necessary, that the Christian may see his spiritual 
 condition in the light of the Word. He is made 
 conscious that he loves his neighbor and his en- 
 emy and his God ; that he dwells in love ; that 
 he is in the light, and has peace with God ; and 
 this consciousness of his inward state is the result 
 of the witnessing Spirit in his heart: "The Spirit 
 itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are 
 the sons of God." In the writings of St. Paul this 
 doctrine stands out in a clear light, and from the 
 beginning it has ever been one of the character- 
 istic doctrines of Methodism all the world around. 
 
 The Calvinist was logically consistent in hold- 
 ing to the maxim: "Once in grace, always in 
 grace;" and the logic of the Methodist doctrine 
 required that the opposite ground be held. Of 
 course no reprobate could be made a subject of 
 grace ; and according to the theory, the elect must 
 be made subjects of grace. The human will had 
 nothing to do in the case at any stage. Method-
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 225 
 
 ism not only recognized the free agency of man, 
 but continued it after conversion, and followed it 
 even into eternity. Both the facts of experience 
 and the word of Scripture corroborated the theory 
 of man's responsibility. Hence the preachers 
 urged the Church "to endure unto the end," not 
 to "draw back" or "fall away," but "be faithful 
 unto death," and assured them that the crown of 
 life was offered only to such. 
 
 It is not easy for us, at this date, fully to ap- 
 preciate the effects which were produced upon 
 the mind of all classes by the preaching of these 
 doctrines by the early pioneer preachers. They 
 were as new and strange to the people as if they 
 had not been recorded in the Bible. These doc- 
 trines could have been found in the writings of 
 Catholics and of all Protestant bodies; but such 
 was the prevalence of the spirit of worldliness 
 and infidelity, in both England and this country, 
 that they had been lost sight of by both preachers 
 and people. Paul, on Mars' Hill, was not a greater 
 wonder to the people of Athens than Valentine 
 Cook was at Redstone, proclaiming to an im- 
 mense crowd of Scotch Presbyterians the doctrine 
 of the full and free redemption of every human 
 soul, to be then received, attended by a knowledge 
 of adoption into the family of God through the 
 witness of the Holy Spirit. There, as he opened 
 up these doctrines, the people rose to their feet, 
 pressed towards the speaker, and gaped and gazed 
 as if they regarded him as a prophet sent from
 
 226 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 God, with a special revelation from heaven for 
 them. Often similar results attended the preach- 
 ing of Asbury wherever he was, and Lee in New 
 England. The opposition they encountered and 
 the persecution they suffered originated not with 
 men of the baser sort, but mostly from the 
 preachers and leading members of the dominant 
 Church. They felt that the citadel of their faith 
 was in danger. 
 
 In preaching its own doctrine, assailing none ex- 
 cept in self-defense, Methodism has been a success. 
 It can point to its five millions of communicants; 
 families and adherents included, this number must 
 be raised to thirty millions. But even then, the 
 measure of its success is not half told. Where 
 is there a Protestant Church to-day that preaches 
 any other than Methodist doctrine? We know of 
 none. We doubt if there is a Church in America 
 which could live, and hold together six months, 
 if the staple of its preaching were the peculiari- 
 ties of Calvinism. There was a time when a 
 fusilade from the pulpit and the press was kept 
 up all along the line against Methodist doctrine; 
 but how has it been for the last quarter of a 
 century? Every gun is silenced, Calvinism has 
 become obsolete, and Methodist theology has be- 
 come the property of all Protestant Churches. A 
 greater moral, religious, and intellectual triumph 
 was never achieved in the world's history. It is 
 as if the new wine had come info contact with 
 the old, refused to mix, and expelled it.
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 227 
 
 At this writing a remarkable fact is occurring 
 before our eyes. The great and scholarly Pres- 
 byterian Church is getting down to the business 
 of eliminating the doctrine of election and repro- 
 bation, with all their adjuncts, from its Confession 
 of Faith. And why should the task be in the 
 least disagreeable? Why should the present gen- 
 eration, with its superior light, be required to 
 carry the burden of the errors and ignorance of 
 an age which has long since passed away? Had 
 the Presbyterian Church at the close of the Rev- 
 olutionary War been free from the shackles of the 
 past, and possessed the spirituality and aggressive 
 spirit of Methodism, it probably would have ren- 
 dered the presence of Methodism unnecessary 
 and superfluous. In her present attempt to shuffle 
 off the cumbrous past, we wish her God-speed; 
 and we prophesy, if she does this work, and does 
 it thoroughly, her future will be crowned with far 
 greater success than the past. 
 
 At this point a more full and systematic state- 
 ment of the doctrines of Methodism may be de- 
 sirable. The age of formal creed-building is past, 
 perhaps never to return. These monuments of 
 belief, reared in the past against rising or prevail- 
 ing errors, are not of such importance as they 
 were in times of intellectual revolutions. The 
 light of the ubiquitous press is now blazing day 
 and night, and nothing can pass current with the 
 people till it has been subjected to this testing 
 and purifying flame. Avoiding the dogmatic
 
 228 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 terminology of creeds, we will present a sum- 
 mary of the more distinguishing doctrines of 
 Methodism. 
 
 Accepting as true the existence of God, no 
 affirmative definition of the Divine essence has 
 ever been attempted. He is the Creator, the Pre- 
 server, and the Governor of the world. God, as 
 unchangeable, is exactly what he was before the 
 work of creation began. In the act of creating, 
 he did not duplicate or develop himself, or any of 
 his attributes ; but he brought beings and things 
 into existence and gave to each, from the atom to 
 the archangel, a nature, properties, and forces of 
 its own. Nature's forces and laws, as parts of it- 
 self, are exact expressions of the ever-present 
 thoughts, purposes, and will of the Creator. God's 
 power, wisdom, and will are ever in himself; their 
 handiwork may be seen in the things created. 
 God's attributes belong to himself alone, and are 
 not transferable; and the properties of nature are 
 the only expression it can make of itself. God is 
 God, and no part of nature. 
 
 Man, a mind of the spirit order, with powers 
 enlarged to infinity, is the only representation we 
 have of the Divine Being ; for man alone was cre- 
 ated in God's image and after his likeness. 
 
 The Idealistic and Pantheistic conceptions of 
 God, identifying him as a part of creation, and 
 giving us a God-universe, form no part of the doc- 
 trines of Methodism. Such speculations are 
 largely indulged in at most literary centers, and
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 229 
 
 not all Methodists are free from their follies ; but, 
 on account of their vacuousness and manifest non- 
 sense, they are regarded as harmless. 
 
 Methodism holds tenaciously to the divinity 
 of Christ and to the doctrine of the Trinity. Our 
 understanding is that the word Godhead is plural 
 in form and plural in signification, and embraces 
 the distinctions existing in the Divine essence ex- 
 pressed by the different meanings of the titles 
 Father, Son, and Spirit. We can not regard the 
 substance of the Divine Being as having a uni- 
 versal sameness of nature. The different attri- 
 butes of God lead us to infer that they can not 
 spring from the same unmodified source. That 
 we are not able to perceive what the Divine es- 
 sence is, or what modifications may exist in it, 
 makes no difference with the facts. If the Trinity 
 is to be received as a revealed verity, it must be 
 regarded as an expression of the constitution of 
 the Godhead, and as essential and eternal. To 
 conceive of God as a universal sameness of es- 
 sence, it seems to us, is to undeify him to strip 
 him of perfections we ourselves possess, and make 
 him like one of the material elements of nature. 
 If such be the nature of the Divine Being, then 
 his only primal power is will. If he knows, it is 
 because he wills to know ; if he loves, it is because 
 he wills to love ; if he is ubiquitous, it is because 
 he wills to be everywhere ; and if he, at any mo- 
 ment, exists in the form of a trinity or unity, it is 
 because he wills so to do. But such is not the
 
 230 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 Methodistic conception of God. Without attempt- 
 ing to define them, the Church holds that there 
 are distinctions of some kind in the essence of the 
 Godhead ; that these serve as the basis of the 
 Trinity, designated by the titles Father, Son, and 
 Spirit; and that each, in its own way, is self-ex- 
 istent, independent, and eternal. The Father, 
 then, considered as separate from the Son and 
 Spirit, is not God; and the Son, separate from the 
 Father and Spirit, is not God; and the Spirit, 
 apart from the Father and Son, is not God ; but 
 Father, Son, and Spirit is the God revealed in the 
 Bible. Trinity in essence and unity of constitu- 
 tion is the Methodistic conception of the God- 
 head. 
 
 As the human mind is the only thing which 
 God created in his own image, and after his own 
 likeness, it affords us the only representation we 
 have of the doctrine of the Trinity. The mind, 
 numerically, is one ; and yet all psychologists, 
 since the days of Comte, note in it the distinc- 
 tions Intellect, Will, and Feeling. These three 
 departments possess nothing in common. In in- 
 tellect all is thought, and there is no will nor feel- 
 ing; in will there is neither thought nor feeling,. 
 but simply the power to determine what action, 
 when a number are possible, shall take place ; 
 and in feeling fhere is neither thought nor will, 
 but simply an emotion. What would mind be 
 without these distinctions all intellect, or all 
 will, or all feeling? What the mental essence is,
 
 THEOLOG Y ME THODISTIC. 23 1 
 
 no one pretends to know, and how the one dis- 
 tinction, per se, differs from another is equally 
 mysterious. The mind as a unit, existing in a 
 trinity of distinctions, is as insoluble a mystery 
 as the Trinity of the Godhead. 
 
 To affirm, as Tertullian did, that Christ is an 
 emanation from the Father, and the Spirit an em- 
 anation from the Father and Son, as rays of light 
 from the sun, is to deny them self-existence, inde- 
 pendence, and eternity, and hence undeifies them. 
 Instead of penetrating the facts as given us in the 
 Scriptures, and understanding them, many a piece 
 of patch-work has been put forward at different 
 times as expositions of the Trinity ; and because 
 these could not stand the test of logic and anal- 
 ysis, the doctrine itself has been rejected. 
 
 The title Father we associate particularly 
 with the work of creation, providence, and grace ; 
 the title Son with brotherhood, redemption, and 
 mediation ; and the title Spirit with the work 
 of quickening dead souls into life and comforting 
 believers. As the spiritually-born sons of God, he 
 is our Father, and his Son is our elder brother. 
 "Here the whole Deity is ours." A tender idea 
 of the family of God a part on earth and a part 
 in heaven (Eph. iii, 15) is brought before the 
 mind, and serves the experienced believer as a 
 perpetual inspiration. 
 
 Methodism recognizes man as the last and the 
 greatest of the works of God as standing at the 
 head of creation. The substance of his body is
 
 232 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 no better nor worse than the dust in the street or 
 the soil of a corn-field. In the body, matter is ex- 
 actly what it was before wrought into the organ- 
 ism. In death, dust returns to dust again. This 
 dust is not the man proper, nor any part of him. 
 It is simply the "house" or the "tabernacle" in 
 which he has a temporary residence. How this 
 body, with its millions of organs, was wrought 
 into form, Methodism has given forth no deliver- 
 ance, regarding the question as pertaining to phi- 
 losophy rather than theology. We affirm that in 
 creation a living God created a vital world ; that 
 human life is one of its kinds or forms; and that 
 every organism, the human body included, is a 
 vital product, and is sustained by a vital agent. 
 Such body is so correlated to this world on the one 
 hand, and to the indwelling mind or man on the 
 other, that it is possible for him to make it (the 
 body) the place of his temporary abode. 
 
 In addition to the powers or faculties man now 
 possesses, in the beginning he was endowed with 
 a spiritual nature, which, as God's image, adjusted 
 his relation to him and to a spirit world. Spirit- 
 uality in him, at creation, was a kind or form of 
 life called spiritual. As an instantaneous result 
 of transgression, man spiritually died, and that 
 sin placed his posterity where we now find them. 
 Christ, as a second Adam, came into the world to 
 restore the life each man had lost, because of his 
 relation to the first Adam. It is not Adam's guilt 
 and condemnation that is entailed upon his pos-
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 233 
 
 terity, but the psychical and physical consequences 
 of his sin. No man suffers condemnation except 
 on his own account. There can be no such thing 
 as imputed guilt or imputed righteousness. Either, 
 to be real, must be personal. Christ is our right- 
 eousness in the sense that it is possible for us to 
 make him our Savior by faith. Faith in Christ 
 implies Christ in our faith. 
 
 Man was arrested in his fall by the already 
 provided atonement. Though spiritually dead, 
 his capacity to be made spiritually alive remained. 
 This is the condition in which we find the human 
 race, infants included. They suffer the conse- 
 quences of Adam's transgression, but not his guilt 
 or condemnation. No infant ever saw the light of 
 day which did not draw its first breath within the 
 sacred inclosure of God's covenant of mercy; con- 
 sequently it is safe, and, dying in that condition, 
 it is saved. As it comes to years of accountabil- 
 ity, it may break that covenant, depart from God, 
 and bring upon itself condemnation. The child 
 is entitled to baptism, because the ordinance is a 
 part the sign and seal of the covenant within 
 which it was born. The virtue of the covenant 
 is not in its sign and seal, but in the Christ, " the 
 seed," its center and soul. The crude notion that 
 the child is baptized into the covenant is a relic of 
 Romanism, invented as a matter of merchandise, 
 and the devil never invented a more effectual 
 means of bringing into the Church unregenerate 
 souls, and cheating them out of their salvation,
 
 234 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 than the empty dogma of infant baptismal regen- 
 eration. Baptism is not a regenerating force 
 that is the work of the Spirit but it is simply 
 the sign and seal of a covenant of grace. For these 
 reasons Methodism recognizes the validity of in- 
 fant baptism, and the salvation of all infants dying 
 in infancy. 
 
 As we have repeatedly seen, Methodism holds 
 that the central doctrine of practical or applied 
 Christianity is the spiritual regeneration of the 
 soul, attended by repentance, humiliation, and 
 faith in Jesus Christ. Its views in this respect 
 are radical, based on unchangeable facts, and 
 hence they are incapable of modification. It 
 holds that, because of his descent from fallen 
 Adam, man is spiritually dead, and that regener- 
 ation consists in being made spiritually alive 
 through Christ, the second Adam ; that the iden- 
 tical form or kind of life he lost by the first Adam 
 in essence is restored by the second. Richard 
 Watson, our greatest theologian, clearly sets forth 
 these views of conversion in both his "Institutes" 
 and "Sermons." 
 
 When man's spiritual nature is in the as- 
 cendant, taking on the form of love supreme 
 love to God and equal love to man all the other 
 powers of the soul are subservient to it. This is 
 the psychological aspect of the Methodist idea of 
 the doctrine of sanctification. As differs the 
 mental structure of people, so differ their expe- 
 riences in the religious life. No one person can
 
 THEOLOGY METHODIST 1C. 235 
 
 be made a standard or guide for another except in 
 results. 
 
 The assurance of conversion and sanctification 
 by the united testimony of our spirit and of the 
 Spirit of God, has ever held a precious and con- 
 spicuous place in the doctrines of Methodism. 
 Once this doctrine was held by other Churches to 
 be a strange and pestilent heresy; but the Chris- 
 tian world has moved forward in the right direc- 
 tion, and long since the controversy in regard to it 
 came to a happy conclusion. Now the witness of 
 the Spirit is regarded by all evangelical Churches 
 as the privilege of believers. 
 
 During nearly a century, the Methodist doc- 
 trine of a full and free salvation for all men was 
 arrayed in a sharp conflict with the dogmas of a 
 limited atonement, election, decrees, reprobation, 
 effectual calling, etc. All along this line great de- 
 bates were held by their champions, and Meth- 
 odist ministers never shrank from the conflict. 
 From mountain, hill-top, and through every val- 
 ley the tidings ran that Jesus Christ, by the grace 
 of God, had tasted death for every man. 
 
 Closely connected with the doctrine of a free 
 salvation is the dogma of free will, or human lib- 
 erty. Methodism found the doctrine of necessity 
 intrenched in the current philosophy and theology 
 of the world. In order to success, this citadel of 
 error must be taken. It was assailed, sapped, and 
 mined till it fell. Human liberty, as the basis of 
 responsibility, is now recognized by all evangel-
 
 236 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 ical Churches. In this respect, Methodist psychol- 
 ogy has rescued the world from the iron grip of 
 fate, and brought man face to face with his re- 
 sponsibilities. 
 
 It is easy to show that motives are, in fact, 
 considerations addressed to the judgment, and 
 that they do not directly touch the will ; and that 
 the nature of the will is made clear and transpar- 
 ent by the expulsion from the discussion of the 
 word "choice," as it often expresses an intellect- 
 ual preference, which, in most cases, comes under 
 the law of necessity. Edwards's great work on 
 the will has become obsolete, and Whedon, Bled- 
 soe, and others hold the field. 
 
 The all-inspiring doctrine of the Reformation, 
 justification by faith, is one of the central truths 
 of doctrinal Methodism. In theory, and to some 
 extent, it has ever been held by all Protestant 
 bodies; but Methodism gave to it an emphasis 
 and practical power it had not known since the 
 apostolic age. It was made to appear, as tested 
 by daily experience, that the initial and basal 
 virtue of the human heart was faith, trust, or con- 
 fidence. In this respect, the same law holds in 
 both heaven and earth. 
 
 Such are the fundamental doctrines of Meth- 
 odism. They have been tested by use, experience, 
 and in the white-hot fires of debate, during the 
 past hundred years, and remain unchanged. Prac- 
 tically unchallenged, they stand to-day as the faith 
 of Christendom. There are other doctrines, such
 
 THEOLOGY METHODISTIC. 237 
 
 as the resurrection of the dead, a general judg- 
 ment, the future destiny of the wicked, the Sab- 
 bath, the written Word Old and New Testa- 
 ments inspiration, baptism, the sacraments, etc., 
 which Methodism holds in common with other 
 evangelical denominations, and we deem it unnec- 
 essary to mention them here. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that, in the midst of 
 the multitude of changes which have character- 
 ized the religious world during the last century, 
 there has been no change in Methodist doctrine. 
 In England and America, India and Africa, China 
 and Japan, and everywhere, the one faith pre- 
 vails not as 'the result of authority, but of the 
 freedom of debate and honest conviction.
 
 " 4f OR the planting of great Christian truths deep in the 
 C-" heart of an awakened people, let us have John Wesley's 
 tongue of fire, seconded by Charles Wesley's hymns, floating 
 heavenward on the twilight air from ten thousand Methodist 
 voices. Under such conditions Methodism is inspired. To 
 know what Methodist voices are under inspiration, one must 
 hear them. Mobs, bellowing with infuriated blood-thirst, 
 which neither John Wesley's coal-black eye nor Whitefield's 
 imperial voice could quell, have been known to turn and ^sliuk 
 away when the truth was sung at them in Charles Wesley's 
 hymns. Their ring-leaders, more than once, broke down in 
 tears and groans of remorse. They took the preacher by the 
 hand, and went his way with him, arm in arm, swearing by all 
 that is holy that not a hair of his head should be touched. 
 Thus was Luther's saying verified anew : ' The devil can stand 
 anything but good music, and that makes him roar.'" 
 
 238 PHEWS.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 METHODISM IN THE HYMNS OF THE SANCTUARY. 
 
 MUSIC and song, in the services of the sanc- 
 tuary, never occupied a more conspicuous 
 place than at the present time ; and the object of 
 this chapter is simply to call attention to the part 
 Methodism has taken in providing for this arm of 
 Church efficiency. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact, easily explained how- 
 ever, that American Methodism has done almost 
 nothing to provide for itself a hymnology. Will- 
 iam Hunter has given us a few social songs, which 
 still take rank as the best of their class. Some 
 of them have been translated into heathen lan- 
 guages, set to native music, and sung around the 
 world ; but this sweet-spirited man, as he says, 
 never aspired to the dignity of a hymn-writer. 
 It took a great deal of use, and some damaging 
 alterations by book-makers, to wear out "Joyfully, 
 joyfully, onward I move," " My heavenly home is 
 bright and fair," and some others. 
 
 It seems that a feeling of despair has appalled 
 the poetic genius of all our great men in the 
 presence of the hymns of Charles Wesley. In 
 the pulpit, as flames of fire, they could mount and 
 soar, and sway their audiences as moral cyclones; 
 
 239
 
 240 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 but this rare ability enabled them to comprehend 
 the fact that the name of Charles Wesley so filled 
 the horizon of sacred poesy that the flight of 
 their muse could not be a success. And then 
 they felt that the best hymnology in the world 
 was furnished at their hands, and that nothing 
 more was desired. 
 
 The fact is, the hymns of Wesley came from a 
 furnace of spiritual enthusiasm, in which he lived 
 for many years, and we do not see that they can 
 ever be surpassed. To be a Wesley was to be a 
 rhymer; and as a soldier or sailor, or a lumber- 
 man, Wesley would have given verses of a high 
 order to the world. The poetic fire was in him, 
 and it must burn and flash out in some direction. 
 
 But Charles Wesley was first and deepest in 
 the spiritual upheaving which, during the eight- 
 eenth century, was felt throughout England, Ire- 
 land, and Scotland. He was always at the front, 
 standing on the crest of the highest wave that 
 rolled, exposed to every danger, endured the 
 greatest privations, and performed the severest 
 toil. His personal religious experience was deep- 
 ened by every conflict with evil, crime, and with 
 the powers of darkness. The fight of faith and 
 its victories, for many years, was the life he lived. 
 Often he wrestled like a Jacob, and triumphed like 
 an Israel. As a faithful and successful minister, 
 a large part of his life was spent with weeping, 
 broken-hearted penitents , who were crying : 
 "What must I do to be saved?" His own deep
 
 ME THODISM IN HYMNS. 24 1 
 
 and bitter experience with unbelief gave him the 
 key to their situation, and he was able to render 
 them the assistance they needed. He thus be- 
 came familiar with the heart-experience of a mul- 
 titude of people, and it was from this perennial 
 fountain he drew in writing his hymns. As heart 
 answers to the heart of man, he found in his own 
 experience, in some form and in some degree, 
 whatever he came in contact with in the hearts 
 of others. This gave to his being, and to his 
 knowledge of both nature and grace, a mighty ex- 
 pansion. In living a life of faith in the Son of 
 God, he also lived the life of regenerated human- 
 ity; and its different phases their heights and 
 depths find expression in his hymns. As a 
 rhymer, we regard Watts as superior to Wesley, 
 and had his nature and genius been subjected to 
 the fiery baptisms through which the latter passed, 
 he would probably have been superior to him as a 
 hymn-writer. And yet this is not so certain. 
 Wesley was a psychologist; Watts was not. No 
 man of his age not even Hume surpassed him 
 in ability to trace out and read the workings of 
 the human heart. In this respect he held the 
 advantage of Watts. Watts could describe the 
 facts of life; Wesley could personify and make 
 nature speak out from its most secret depths. 
 Watts could carry the gospel objectively to the 
 people ; Wesley could follow it out in its effects 
 upon the interior life, and clothe these effects in 
 all their heavenly beauty. Watts was the poet of 
 
 21
 
 242 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 intellect, thought, and sentiment; Wesley, in addi- 
 tion to all these, was the poet of the soul, sound- 
 ing the depths of religious passion. James Mar- 
 tineau holds him as the peerless hymn-writer. 
 
 Let the following hymn serve as an illustra- 
 tion of Wesley's spontaneous psychological pene- 
 tration of human experience. He was riding 
 along the way, and happening to look off to his 
 right, saw people engaged in horse-racing. He 
 allowed himself for a moment to become inter- 
 ested in what was going oh. After he had passed 
 he found that he did not feel exactly right his 
 conscience had received a wound. The hymn be- 
 ginning as follows was the result : 
 
 "How shall a lost sinner in pain 
 Recover his forfeited peace ? 
 When brought into bondage again, 
 What hope of a second release ?" 
 
 It is to be regretted that this hymn, as well 
 as some others of Wesley's, was excluded from 
 our present Hymnal. 
 
 Could the hymns of Wesley be understood 
 historically could we see the fountain and the 
 occasion from which they gushed their scope 
 and peculiar significance would be better under- 
 stood. On his clear conversion he was visited 
 with the delusion that the blessing was personal, 
 peculiar, and that he must say nothing about it 
 to others. After a few days he learned his mis- 
 take ; but, in the meantime, the pent-up fires had 
 been burning, and from that inward furnace came
 
 METHODISM IN HYMNS. 243 
 
 a hymn that has been sung around the world by 
 millions of people: 
 
 " O for a thousand tongues, to sing 
 
 My great Redeemer's praise ; 
 The glories of my God and King, 
 The triumphs of his grace ! 
 
 My gracious Master, and my God, 
 
 Assist me to proclaim 
 To spread, through all the earth abroad, 
 
 The honors of thy name. 
 
 He breaks the power of canceled sin, 
 
 He sets the prisoner free; 
 His blood can make the foulest clean ; 
 
 His blood availed for me. 
 
 Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb, 
 
 Your loosened tongues employ; ' **! f' 
 Ye blind, behold your Savior come;^ t 
 
 And leap, ye lame, for joy!" 
 
 " r fi31 3ff 
 
 As a bugle-call a real trumpet-blast nothing 
 superior to this was ever written. It sounds as if 
 the spirit and power of Isaiah or Elijah were 
 marching forth in modern times set to modern 
 music. As sung at camp-meetings by the con- 
 gregation, when a thousand voices united to swell 
 the chorus, it has seemed as if heaven and 
 earth were very near together and their songs 
 were one. 
 
 Wesley not only took a great interest in the 
 life of his members and societies, but he was 
 anxious to have them conquerors at last to take a 
 triumphant exit from this world into the next. 
 After much observation among his people, seeing
 
 244 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 and hearing all he could in regard to their lives 
 and character, he says: "Well, let the world say 
 what it may about us, one thing is certain, our 
 people die well." Thus the sick-room and the 
 chamber of the dying were made by the Wesleys 
 places of the most interesting study. The poetic 
 genius of Charles Wesley did not forsake him on 
 these occasions. In his " Life of John Wesley," 
 Southey says that the hymns of Charles, even in 
 his own day, were more devoutly committed to 
 memory, and oftener repeated upon a death-bed, 
 than those of any other writer. The hymn be- 
 ginning, "Shrinking from the cold hand of death," 
 is an honest confession, as every one experiences, 
 that death is unnatural and terrible ; but, in a mo- 
 ment, he lifts the sufferer, in his own person, into 
 the realm of spirituality and faith, where 
 
 "No anxious doubt, no guilty gloom 
 
 Shall damp whom Jesus' presence cheers; 
 My Light, my Life, my God is come, 
 And glory in his face appears." 
 
 Among his favorite hymns of this class are 
 these: "If death my friends and me divide;" 
 "Servant of God, well done ;" "And am I born to 
 die?" "Happy soul, thy days are ended!" "Weep 
 not for a brother deceased;" "How happy every 
 child of grace!" "Come, let us join our friends 
 above;" "Away with our sorrow and fear!" "I 
 long to behold him arrayed;" "Who are these ar- 
 rayed in white?" 
 
 But it is not in this field of thought and ex-
 
 METHODISM IN HYMNS. 245 
 
 perience that Wesley was at his best. He knew 
 more of life than of death, and his experience of 
 the depths of sin, penitence, and grace was more 
 perfect than his knowledge of the blessed of 
 heaven. At best, of that land we can know only 
 in part, and we see through a glass darkly. 
 
 Charles Wesley was never more the sacred 
 lyrist than when probing the heart of unregener- 
 ate man, and leading it to faith in the Savior of 
 sinners. This, as the central truth of Methodism, 
 was never long at a time absent from his mind. 
 To save the lost, and to call sinners, not the right- 
 eous, to repentance, was his great aim and object. 
 He needed no evidence of human depravity ex- 
 cept that of his own consciousness. The genius of 
 his great commission, as he understood it, is beau- 
 tifully expressed in the proclamation hymn: 
 
 " Blow ye the trumpet, blow 
 
 The gladly solemn sound I 
 Let all the nations know, 
 
 To earth's remotest bound, 
 The year of jubilee is come; 
 Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.** 
 
 The dark and obdurate heart finds in Wesley a 
 true interpreter of the feelings which are so 
 strange and new to him: 
 
 "Hearts of stone, relent, relent! 
 
 Break, by Jesus' cross subdued; 
 See his mangled body rent, 
 
 Covered with his flowing blood ! 
 Sinful soul, what hast thou done? 
 Crucified the Eternal Son !"
 
 246 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 The English language contains no hymn that, 
 in depth of meaning, variety of expression, and 
 evangelical spirit, can be compared to the one be- 
 ginning, "Arise, my soul, arise!" Without doubt, 
 thousands of souls have been conducted by that 
 song from darkness to light, and from Satan's 
 power unto God. Each verse is a sermon in it- 
 self, appropriate to the work in hand. 
 
 Wesley's ability to lose himself in the object 
 of his solicitude, and interpret the feelings of a 
 soul that is sinking in despair, may be most strik- 
 ingly seen in the half-frantic lyric: 
 
 " Depth of mercy, can there be 
 Mercy still reserved for me ? 
 Can my God his wrath forbear 
 Me, the chief of sinners, spare?" 
 
 With every verse the scene changes, and, as a 
 whole, the hymn is very dramatic in its effect. 
 
 Wesley's hymns on perfect love, or sanctifica- 
 tion, as a class, stand alone in the world. Here 
 he reached a height and a depth of Christian ex- 
 perience which have never been equaled. The 
 difference between him and Watts may be seen by 
 comparing a hymn of one with a hymn of the 
 other touching the same subject: 
 
 WATTS : " Could we but climb where Moses stood, 
 
 And view the landscape o'er, 
 Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, 
 Should fright us from the shore." 
 
 : "The promised land, from Pisgah's top, 
 
 I now exult to see; 
 My hope is full ; O glorious hope 
 Of immortality!"
 
 METHODISM IN HYMNS. 247 
 
 WATTS : " When shall I reach that happy place, 
 
 And be forever blest? 
 When shall I see my Father's face, 
 And in his bosom rest?" 
 
 WESLEY : " O joyful sound of gospel grace ! 
 
 Christ shall in me appear; 
 I, even I, shall see his face 
 I shall be holy here !" 
 
 Probably the muse of Wesley never reached 
 its highest flight but once, and that was in his 
 interpretation of Jacob wrestling with the angel. 
 Here his psychological proclivities served him the 
 highest purpose. At first the angel was an incar- 
 nation of infinite power, of unknown purposes. 
 Fear, dread, and awe came upon him ; but he pre- 
 ferred to perish there rather than by the hand of 
 his injured and infuriated brother. Twenty years 
 had passed away since the sin was committed, 
 but condemnation was still upon him unchanged, 
 and there was no help unless found in that awful 
 Presence. Spirit wrestled with spirit, and, in its 
 infinite depths, the penitent man found the needed 
 blessing. The following verses are of surpassing 
 beauty and power. Their bold blending of the 
 human and divine has never been equaled in 
 thought or better expressed in words: 
 
 "I need not tell thee who I am, 
 My sin and misery declare ; 
 
 Thyself hast called me by my name- 
 Look on thy hands and read it there. 
 
 But who, I ask thee, who art thou ? 
 
 Tell me thy name, and tell it now.
 
 248 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 My prayer hath power with God ; the grace 
 
 Unspeakable I now receive ; 
 Through faith I see thee face to face 
 
 I see thee face to face, and live ! 
 In vain I have not wept and strove 
 Thy nature and thy name is love." 
 
 But some good judges are of the opinion that, 
 had John Wesley been as free from the care of 
 the Churches as Charles, he would have been the 
 greater poet and hymn-writer. The hymn be- 
 ginning 
 
 " Must I, for fear of feeble man, 
 The Spirit's course in me restrain? 
 Or, undismayed in deed and word, 
 Be a true witness of my I/ord?" 
 
 is deep, nervous, dramatic, and all aglow with en- 
 thusiasm. It breathes the martial spirit, softened 
 and chastened by the charities of the gospel of 
 Christ. Wesley had passed through some terrible 
 experiences with beastly mobs, and this hymn was 
 the result of preparation and prayer to renew the 
 conflict. 
 
 It may be thought we have exaggerated the 
 value of Mr. Wesley's hymns, and the testimony 
 of an independent witness may be acceptable. 
 The Presbyterian Quarterly for March, 1858, says: 
 
 "We regard it as a great loss to the Presby- 
 terian Churches of our country that so few, com- 
 paratively, of Charles Wesley's hymns should 
 have been admitted into their collections. It may 
 not be generally known that, not even excepting 
 Dr. Watts, he is the most voluminous of all our
 
 METHODISM IN HYMNS. 249 
 
 lyrical authors, and it were only justice to add 
 that he is the most equal. . . . We have 
 never read or sung a finer specimen than his well- 
 known paraphrase of the Twenty-fourth Psalm: 
 'Our Lord is risen from the dead,' etc. There is 
 another objective hymn by Charles Wesley which 
 is among the finest in the language. We wonder 
 that it has not found its way into American hymn- 
 books: 'Stand the omnipotent decree,' etc. Well 
 has this hymn been spoken of as being in a strain 
 more than human. There is the noble hymn by 
 Charles Wesley, 'Jacob wrestling with the angel,' 
 concerning which Dr. Watts did not scruple to say 
 that it was worth all the verses he himself had 
 written. James Montgomery declares it to be 
 among the poet's highest achievements. Never 
 have we read a finer combination of poetic taste 
 and evangelical sentiment." 
 
 Wesley's hymns, in part, were brought to 
 America by Captain Webb, Robert Strawbridge, 
 and Barbara Heck, and the value attached to 
 them was second only to the Scriptures and Wes- 
 ley's Sermons. They contained so clear an expo- 
 sition of the different phases of Christian experi- 
 ence that verse after verse has been read and 
 applied in the same way as proof-texts of Scrip- 
 ture are used. They therefore became indigenous 
 to American Methodism. From the beginning 
 the gospel was not only preached by consecrated, 
 mighty men, but was sung in strains as sweet and 
 pure as ever fell from mortal lips. One thing
 
 250 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 about Wesley's hymns they can never be changed 
 but for the worse. Some blockheads have dab- 
 bled with the hymn "Jesus, lover of my soul," 
 and in every case the poetic spirit has been sacri- 
 ficed for the dullest prose. 
 
 If Toplady's "Rock of Ages" is the most pop- 
 ular hymn now in use, it is such because the work 
 of many hands has been expended upon it. Some 
 verses have been thrown out, and others altered 
 for the better. This hymn has a history analo- 
 gous to Pope's "Vital spark of heavenly flame." 
 The central ideas of that hymn first flashed out 
 from the brain of Pascal in poetic prose, and by 
 different authors assumed many forms, till Pope 
 got hold of it, and his last touches gave it to us 
 as we have it now. In the Methodist Hymn-book 
 we find about three hundred of Wesley's hymns, 
 and we will venture the assertion that two hun- 
 dred of them can be selected which will far sur- 
 pass in pathos, power, and evangelical sentiment, 
 an equal number from any other author living or 
 that ever lived. 
 
 Drawing from the Old Testament and the 
 New, in the light of the inspiring revival-work in 
 which he was absorbed, Wesley has given us 
 hymns on every phase of the Christian life, and in 
 every department of Christian doctrine. A com- 
 plete systenf of theology can be drawn from these 
 sacred lyrics. Nobler conceptions of God were 
 never written than compose the hymn beginning 
 "Stand the omnipotent decree." Christ, his di-
 
 ME T HOD ISM IN HYMNS. 2 5 1 
 
 vinity, his incarnation, his life, death, resurrection, 
 ascension, priesthood, and intercessions, are pre- 
 sented, not only in all the glow of poetic fervor, 
 but with theological exactness. The hymn "Our 
 Lord is risen from the dead," is Christ bursting 
 the bands of death, and coming forth the mighty 
 Conqueror before our eyes. The themes Sin and 
 Depravity have perhaps been as well handled by 
 others as by Wesley; but for the purpose of 
 awakening the sinner, the trumpet-tones of this 
 man will never die. To the doctrines of justifi- 
 cation by faith, the witness of the Spirit, and 
 sanctification, he has, in his own person, given 
 the force and beauty of a living reality. These 
 doctrines breathe and talk and rejoice before our 
 eyes, because they were incarnate in the author. 
 In Watson's Institutes we find them clothed in 
 logic as a frame-work of fact and principles; in 
 Wesley, they are animate with life, and we hear 
 them speak. The most of these hymns were in 
 book-form in England before they were needed in 
 this country; and as Methodism appeared, they 
 were at hand, and the impression they produced 
 was scarcely less than that of the old, but now 
 apparently new, theology. 
 
 If the influence of Methodist theology on the 
 minds of scholarly theologians has surpassed that 
 of its hymns, the influence of its hymns has sur- 
 passed its theology with the masses. As acces- 
 sories to the devotional wants of the people, they 
 have been all that could be desired. At the sac-
 
 252 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 rament, at the altar of prayer, in the devotional 
 service, and the chamber of the sick and the dy- 
 ing, they have been an inspiration and a balm to 
 the hearts of millions. 
 
 Amidst the countless doctrinal divisions which 
 have separated Christian people, nothing, in this 
 respect, has ever been able to divide the Meth- 
 odist family. The twelve or fifteen different 
 Methodist bodies which exist in the world are 
 doctrinally one the divisions have all taken 
 place on other lines. This is one of the grandest 
 facts of Methodist history. It evinces that the 
 doctrines are so Scriptural and rational that they 
 enforce belief wherever known and understood; 
 also, that they have always been thoroughly 
 understood by the people. Go where you may, 
 in the city or country, among the high or low, or 
 go among our missions, whether among the Ger- 
 mans or Scandinavians or in foreign lands China, 
 Japan, Africa, or India Methodist doctrine is the 
 same. In this respect the gospel trumpet gives 
 no uncertain sound. 
 
 This remarkable phenomenon is accounted for 
 on the ground that the doctrines of the Church 
 have ever been thoroughly incorporated in the 
 songs the people sing. As the flowers uncon- 
 sciously absorb the sunlight, so the vast Meth- 
 odist heart, through the hymns of its Zion, has 
 become lovingly saturated and sanctified by its 
 pure Arminian theology. 
 
 If, then, God gave Methodism to America, to
 
 METHODISM IN HYMNS. 253 
 
 act upon the new Republic as "new wine acts 
 upon a new bottle," its hymnology must be re- 
 garded as one of the most beautiful and inspiring 
 elements of its strength. And surely, both its 
 theology and hymns have captured the country, 
 and become the common property of all 
 Churches.
 
 " <3l SSOCIATIONS are forming in many places to give no 
 ? spirits at the ensuing harvest. The Quakers and Meth- 
 odists take the lead in these associations, as they have often 
 done in all enterprises that have morality or the happiness of 
 society for their object." 
 
 BEI.KNAP PAPERS, quoted by Dorchester. 
 254
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 METHODISM AS THE INITIATOR OE NATIONAL TEM- 
 PERANCE REFORMATION. 
 
 IT is probable that the greatest single evil which 
 has ever afflicted American society is the use 
 of intoxicating drinks. It was rooted in the Col- 
 onies, it grew rankly during the Revolutionary 
 War, and since then it has spread its baneful 
 branches to every part of the country. The Pres- 
 ident and Vice-President of the United States are 
 its patrons, and it exists everywhere, in high 
 places and low. The enormous sum of $900,- 
 000,000 is expended annually to imbrute and de- 
 grade American society. A few, for the purposes 
 of wealth, pander to the appetites of the many, 
 and thus the enormous evil is perpetuated. 
 
 Why in the past has it been allowed to exist, 
 and why does not the Nation arise in its strength 
 and put an end to the monster in less time than a 
 year? The answer to this question may be found 
 in the terrible and lamentable fact that the friends 
 and bulwarks of virtue have betrayed their trust, 
 and been wanting in the hour of need. During 
 the past few months, the States of Michigan, Texas, 
 Massachusetts, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and New 
 Hampshire have declared, by a popular vote, that 
 the presence and free flow of liquor was desirable 
 
 255
 
 256 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM 
 
 iii those States. Of course the manufacturers 
 and dealers in liquor, and the drinkers of the in- 
 toxicating cup, were pleased with the results of 
 these elections. Let us see from whence their 
 victory came. 
 
 Francis Murphy, the most popular temperance 
 orator of the Nation since the death of Gough in 
 Pennsylvania opposed prohibition; the New York 
 Christian Union and the Congregationalist, the 
 leading papers published by the Congregational 
 Church, carrying with them the sentiments and 
 influencing the action of at least half that Church, 
 opposed prohibition. Phillips Brooks, the most 
 able and popular minister in the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church, was active and energetic in opposi- 
 tion to prohibition in Massachusetts, and his ex- 
 ample was followed by at least two-thirds of the 
 clergy and laity of that denomination in the same 
 direction. Howard Crosby, late deceased, one of 
 the ablest ministers in the Presbyterian Church, 
 was a zealous opponent of the policy of putting 
 an end to the liquor-traffic, and he led the minor- 
 ity of that Church on this question against prohi- 
 bition. At least four-fifths of the clergy and laity 
 of the Lutheran Church a large denomination, 
 and strong among the German population favor 
 the continuance of the liquor-traffic and vote 
 against prohibition. 
 
 The power of the papacy in this country, said 
 to be seven or eight million strong, is almost 
 unanimously in favor of the liquor business. A
 
 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 257 
 
 large number of the members of that corporation 
 are engaged in the business. Whatever of influ- 
 ence that body possesses is given for the support 
 of the evil. The exceptions are so few that they 
 are conspicuous and appear noble. 
 
 So far as we have been able to ascertain the sen- 
 timents and action of the Baptist Church, it has, 
 in every case, been on the side of prohibition and 
 of the virtue of the Nation. 
 
 What do these facts indicate? Either that 
 Methodists are wholly mistaken in regard to the 
 extent of the evils of intemperance, or that in the 
 persons and religious bodies referred to there is a 
 low tone of moral sentiment. The first we can 
 not believe, and the latter baffles all our attempts 
 at an explanation. We think special attention 
 should be called to the anomalous position, to say 
 the least, these persons and Churches occupy, 
 and they should be permitted to explain their ac- 
 tion. To us they seem to be the supporters of the 
 most gigantic evil that ever, as a single mass, ex- 
 isted in this world. Were all these professed re- 
 ligious bodies on the side of the right, the evils 
 and the crimes of intemperance, with the destruc- 
 tion of the traffic, would depart from our country 
 at once. 
 
 The Churches above referred to should be re- 
 garded by the friends of prohibition as missionary 
 ground, and labor should be commenced therein 
 at once. No religious body has the right to be 
 the bulwark of evil and crime, and these Churches
 
 258 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 can be made to feel that the ground they occupy 
 is untenable. 
 
 But if a wise Providence raised up Methodism 
 to be a conservator of the morals of the Nation, 
 its position and testimony on the temperance 
 question ought to be of the most decisive charac- 
 ter. Wesley's rule for his societies in England 
 excluded persons guilty of " drunkenness, buying 
 or selling spirituous liquors, or drinking them, ex- 
 cept in cases of extreme necessity." Methodism, 
 even in its inorganic state in this country, was not 
 less decided than Wesley in enforcing the law of 
 temperance. The Conferences of 1780 and 1783 
 made the following entry in their journals: 
 
 " Shall our friends be permitted to make spir- 
 ituous liquors, sell, and drink them in drams? 
 
 "Answer. By no means. We think it wrong 
 in its nature and consequences, and desire all our 
 preachers to teach the people, by precept and ex- 
 ample, to put away this evil." 
 
 When the Church was formally organized in 
 1784, Wesley's rule, given above, became a part of 
 the organic law of the Church, and there it has 
 remained unto this day. At that time Methodism 
 was the only organic body in America which oc- 
 cupied this distinctly temperance ground; but 
 drinking was popular among the people, and 
 drunkenness abounded. Seeing these things, 
 Bishops Coke and Asbury, in their "Notes on 
 the Discipline," call the attention of Methodists 
 to this crying evil in the following words:
 
 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 259 
 
 " Far be it from us to wish or endeavor to in- 
 trude upon the proper religious or civil liberty of 
 any of our people ; but the retailing of spirituous 
 liquors, and giving drams to customers when they 
 call at the stores, are such prevalent customs at 
 present, and are productive of so many evils, that 
 we judge it our indispensable duty to form a reg- 
 ulation against them. The cause of God, which 
 we prefer to every other consideration under 
 heaven, requires us to step forth with humble 
 boldness in this respect." 
 
 It was five years after the action of the Meth- 
 odists that the Litchfield County farmers organ- 
 ized themselves into a temperance society. This 
 year the celebrated Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, by 
 request, addressed the Methodist Conference on 
 the subject of temperance. 
 
 Among the multitude of sins which were prev- 
 alent on the frontier in these early days, dram- 
 drinking and drunkenness held high court, and 
 the influence of Methodism among the back- 
 woodsmen was a matter of the first importance. 
 We are happy to find that the preachers faced 
 the monster, and bravely stood by their colors. 
 James Axley, born in the cane-brakes of Ken- 
 tucky, and a native genius of the woods, far in 
 advance of his Eastern brethren, persistently 
 urged the General Conference to take stronger 
 and higher ground on this subject, as the General 
 Rule, in some aspects, could be evaded with im- 
 punity. In the Cumberland country of Tennes-
 
 260 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 see and Kentucky, in Ohio and Illinois, Peter 
 Cartwright acted the part of a hero in the cause 
 of temperance. What was done by Cook, Poy- 
 thress, Parker, Gibson, Walker, Young, McCor- 
 mick, Finley, and many others, all mighty men, 
 throughout the great West, to stay the tide of in- 
 temperance, it is impossible to say; but great 
 must have been the effects of their labors. 
 
 For years the Methodist Church was the only 
 organized temperance agency that was at work 
 among the people. As a sample of the fidelity of 
 Methodism along the border, we will favor the 
 reader with a little of the experience of J. B. Fin- 
 ley. He says: 
 
 "At Dillon's Iron-works there were many who 
 were grossly addicted to habits of intoxication. 
 My first appointment was at Dick's Tavern, and 
 the prospect was anything but encouraging. While 
 I was trying to preach, many were engaged in 
 drinking and swearing. On reproving them for 
 their conduct, one fellow turned round, with glass 
 in hand and a leering look, and said : ' You go on 
 with your business of preaching, and we will mind 
 ours.' However, the L/ord can work and none 
 can hinder; and, notwithstanding the unpropi- 
 tious circumstances, one of those miserable men 
 was awakened, and, seeking, found religion. . . . 
 
 "About a mile distant from this place, a gra- 
 cious work of God was carried on; and another 
 broke out a few miles distant, under the labors of 
 a local brother, Rev. John Goshen. The place
 
 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 261 
 
 had been proverbial for wickedness and opposi- 
 tion to godliness. * . The devil's kingdom was 
 terribly shaken by the conversion of the great 
 champion of wickedness, Mr. Savage. The prac- 
 tice of drunkenness was denounced, and fear and 
 trembling came upon the most vile and hardened 
 sinners. . . . 
 
 "One of the greatest, if not indeed the great- 
 est, sources of wickedness and misery resulted 
 from the manufacture, sale, and use of intoxicat- 
 ing liquor; and the evil, lamentable to be told, 
 existed in the Church as elsewhere. Ardent spir- 
 its were used as a preventive of disease. It was 
 also regarded as a necessary beverage. A house 
 could not be raised, a field of wheat cut down, 
 nor could there be a log-rolling, a husking, a 
 quilting, a wedding, or a funeral, without the aid 
 of alcohol. In this state of things, there was 
 great laxity on the subject of drinking, and the 
 ministers, as well as the members of some denom- 
 inations, imbibed pretty freely. The only temper- 
 ance society that then existed, and, consequently, 
 the only standard raised against the overflowing 
 scourge of intemperance, was the Methodist 
 Church. The ' General Rules ' of the society 
 prohibited the use of intoxicating drinks as a bev- 
 erage, and allowed their use only when prescribed 
 as a medicine by a physician. No other denom- 
 ination having prohibited the use of ardent spir- 
 its as a beverage, it followed, as a necessary 
 consequence, that all persons who refused to
 
 262 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 drink were called, by way of reproach, Methodist 
 fanatics. . . . 
 
 " I often met with opposition for my advocacy 
 of the cause of temperance. On my first round, 
 I was taken into a room at one of my stopping- 
 places, where there was a ten-gallon keg. I asked 
 my host, who was said to be a pious man, what 
 the keg contained. He replied that it was whisky, 
 and that he had procured it for the purpose oi 
 raising a barn with it. I asked him if he did not 
 know that this drink was the worst enemy of 
 man, and that it might occasion the death of some 
 person, and be the cause of a great deal of swear- 
 ing and, perhaps, fighting. I further asked him 
 if he did not know that God had pronounced a 
 curse against the man who putteth the bottle to 
 his neighbor's lips and maketh him drunken. At 
 this he became excited, and angrily said : ' There 
 is no law against using whisky, and I '11 do as I 
 please.' 
 
 "'Very well,' said I; 'it is a poor rule that 
 won't work both ways. If you do as you please, 
 I '11 do as I please, and unless you take that keg 
 out of this room, I will leave the house; for I 
 would rather lie out in the woods than sleep in a 
 Methodist house with a ten-gallon keg of whisky 
 for my room-mate.' I furthermore said: 'Now, 
 sir, if anything occurs at your barn-raising of an 
 immoral nature, through the use of that infernal 
 stuff, I will turn you out of the Church!' 
 
 "He refused to move the keg, and I took my
 
 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 263 
 
 horse, and went to another place. At my appoint- 
 ment the next day, I took occasion to preach 
 against the use of ardent spirits in any form, ex- 
 cept prescribed by a physician. As soon as I was 
 done, an old exhorter came up to me, and said, in 
 a fierce and angry tone: 'Young man, I advise 
 you to leave the circuit, and go home; for you 
 are doing more harm than good. And if you 
 can't preach the gospel and let people's private 
 business alone, they do not want you at all.' I 
 replied: 'I shall not go home; for I have a com- 
 mission from Almighty God to break up this 
 stronghold of the devil. By his help I will do it, 
 despite of all distillers and abettors in the 
 Church.' 
 
 "Those of my brethren who were alive to God, 
 stood by me. I drew the sword, threw away the 
 scabbard, resolving to give no quarter and to ask 
 no quarter in this war of extermination. . . . 
 Encouraged in my efforts to promote the cause 
 of temperance, I suffered no opportunity to. pass 
 that I did not improve in portraying the physical, 
 social, and moral evils resulting from intemper- 
 ance. Frequently I would pledge whole congre- 
 gations, standing upon their feet, to the temper- 
 ance cause, and during my rounds I am certain 
 the better portion of the entire community be- 
 came the friends and advocates of temperance; 
 and on this circuit alone, at least one thousand 
 souls had solemnly taken the pledge of total ab- 
 stinence. This was before temperance societies
 
 264 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 were heard of in this country. It was simply 
 the carrying out of the Methodist Discipline on 
 the subject. My efforts, as a matter of course, 
 awakened the ire and indignation of the makers 
 and venders of the ardent, and their curses were 
 heaped on me in profusion. . . . One of the 
 greatest distillers in the land said I was worse 
 than a robber, as I had prevented him from sell- 
 ing whisky to the harvesters, and his family was 
 likely to suffer. . . . God at last caused vic- 
 tory to turn on the side of temperance, and the 
 Church was delivered from the deadly evil." 
 
 Once in four years the General Conference 
 either indorses its previous action on this subject, 
 or by resolution takes stronger and advanced 
 ground. At no time has a note of retreat ever 
 been sounded. The Annual Conferences, covering 
 the whole Nation, appoint an able committee at 
 each session, and their reports always signify, 
 "Down with the monster alcohol!" The last 
 utterance of the General Conference, incorporated 
 in its book of Discipline, is in these words : 
 
 "Temperance, in its broader meaning, is dis- 
 tinctively a Christian virtue, enjoined in the Holy 
 Scriptures. It implies a subordination of all emo- 
 tions, passions, and appetites to the control of rea- 
 son and conscience. Dietetically, it means a wise 
 use of suitable articles of food and drink, with 
 entire abstinence from such as are known to be 
 hurtful. Both science and human experience 
 agree with the Holy Scriptures in condemning all
 
 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 265 
 
 alcoholic beverages as being neither useful nor 
 safe. The business of manufacturing and of 
 vending such liquors is also against the principles 
 of morality, political economy, and the public 
 welfare. We regard, therefore, voluntary total 
 abstinence from all intoxicants as the true ground 
 of personal temperance, and complete legal pro- 
 hibition of the traffic in alcoholic drinks as the 
 duty of civil government. We heartily approve 
 of all lawful and Christian efforts to save society 
 from the manifold and grievous evils resulting 
 from intemperance, and earnestly advise our peo- 
 ple to co-operate in all measures which may seem 
 to them wisely adapted to secure that end. We 
 refer to our General Rule on this subject, and 
 affectionately urge its strict observance by all our 
 members. Finally, we are fully persuaded that, 
 under God, hope for the ultimate success of the 
 Temperance Reform rests chiefly upon the com- 
 bined and sanctified influence of the family, flie 
 Church, and the State." 
 
 From the above it appears that Methodism 
 contemplates absolute and complete prohibition, 
 by the authority which has the power to legislate, 
 as the remedy for intemperance; and it looks to 
 the family and the Church primarily to furnish 
 the conscience, intelligence, and moral force 
 necessary to carry such laws into effect. Thus it 
 will be seen that the Methodism which started 
 the temperance reform in this country is still on 
 the front line of action. 
 
 23
 
 266 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 May we not inquire not boastingly, but in 
 the spirit of deprecation and deep concern what 
 would have been the status of the temperance 
 cause had all the Churches, from their organiza- 
 tion, taken the same ground and held it as tena- 
 ciously as the Methodists have done? It is clear 
 that the liquor business would never have had 
 any other than a limited and feeble existence, and 
 that absolute prohibition could have been made a 
 practical fact at any time. The existence of this 
 Republic has been threatened by three great en- 
 emies. Secession came first, and came in such a 
 way that it had to be met promptly and crushed 
 by force of arms. Were it possible for the liquor- 
 traffic to take on the same aspect of violence, we 
 should wish it might do it at once; for then pa- 
 triotism and force would, without tampering with 
 it or delay, drive it from the land. But the en- 
 emy approaches, and attacks not in that way. 
 Having at command enormous -sums of money, 
 the product of its nefarious gains, it thrives by 
 plying and playing upon the base and debasing 
 appetites of men. It strikes at the life of the Na- 
 tion by undermining its virtue. The enemy can 
 be met only by legal barriers, and law is but an 
 expression of public sentiment. Our weapons 
 can be none other than law, argument, and ap- 
 peal. The contest is between the cupidity of the 
 rum-dealer and the appetite of the consumer on 
 the one hand, and the conscience of the best part 
 of the community on the other. The success of
 
 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 267 
 
 temperance involves the moral elevation of hu- 
 manity. The Churches, which should in every 
 way put forth their strength to effect this gen- 
 eral uplift, have been not only derelict in duty, 
 but their influence has been on the wrong side in 
 the contest. 
 
 Of Romanism, the third evil, nothing better 
 was expected. Whatever goes to make up Prot- 
 estant Americanism is the object of its relentless 
 warfare. For this it would substitute the spirit 
 of some foreign country, or of the "Dark Ages," 
 the hour of its supreme glory. The rum-traffic is 
 a moral pestilence, breathing upon the morals of 
 the Republic. Romanism is a foreign hierarchy, 
 corrupting both our politics and morals ; and the 
 two influences, combined against the best inter- 
 ests of the Nation, demand of its friends eternal 
 vigilance. 
 
 Methodism, having been in this conflict from 
 the beginning of its existence, is there to stay ; 
 and against the apathy it meets in many places 
 it must oppose greater diligence. Its past history 
 and present bearing may be taken as a sure guar- 
 antee that in every coming contest it will form the 
 front line of attack nearest to the foe. On exam- 
 ination, it was found that, in the contest for prohi- 
 bition in Massachusetts, every Methodist preacher 
 in the State was 011 the side of temperance and 
 virtue, and probably ninety-nine hundredths of 
 the laity voted in the same way. Take from 
 Iowa, Kansas, and the Dakotas the influence of
 
 268 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 Methodism 1,477 preachers and 200,600 lay- 
 men and prohibition could never have been 
 made the glory of those States. Every Method- 
 ist minister in Michigan and Pennsylvania, dur- 
 ing the great contest in those States, gave his 
 whole soul to the work, and ceased not his labors 
 till his ballot was cast for temperance and prohi- 
 bition. Let Methodism, as the leading conserva- 
 tive influence of the religion and morals of the 
 Nation, realize the scope and fullness of its re- 
 sponsibilities, and gird itself for the tremendous 
 conflicts that on temperance are to come. Slowly 
 but surely the victory is drawing near, either for 
 or against temperance. In the triumph of rum 
 we see the ascendency of every vice and the prev- 
 alence of every form of misery, and, finally, the 
 Nation's fall. 
 
 It must be confessed that all along the line 
 the Methodist press is doing valiant work. We 
 know of no Methodist agency which is not in the 
 field ; but possibly all are not worked with the 
 earnestness and intensity that is possible. It may 
 be the Church has treated the liquor-traffic and 
 intemperance too much as evils and too little as 
 crimes. Political policy is too selfish, too craven- 
 spirited, to consider the subject except from the 
 stand-point of party success. A higher power is 
 necessary to reach the conscience of the Nation, 
 and make the guilty tremble when they reflect 
 that God is just. Clearly drunkenness is a crime, 
 and sobriety and temperance are Christian virtues.
 
 THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION. 269 
 
 The question should be held up on this high plane 
 as the discussion goes on. Though a question of 
 our country and of time; yet it laps upon eternity. 
 What the cause needs just now is not political ac- 
 tion or elections, inasmuch as we know that the 
 votes, to win the day, are wanting. The defeat 
 of prohibition in many States stares us in the 
 face, and the liquor interest seems to be inspired 
 by a satanic ambition to invade the few prohibiting 
 States. They act as if they thought their free- 
 dom had been abridged, and an inalienable right 
 had been taken from them. 
 
 Though we may look for no good to come from 
 Romanism, why may we not hope that, in the 
 near future, all Protestant bodies in this country 
 will become united in a league, offensive and de- 
 fensive, against the rum power? Would it not be 
 proper for the next General Conference of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church to frame a circular 
 embracing the principal facts in the case, and ad- 
 dress it to the Churches of this country, asking for 
 their co-operation in the cause of prohibition? 
 What we need is constitutional law, either State 
 or National, and to this end we must have the in- 
 telligence and the conscience that will furnish the 
 votes. Lampooning individuals, or Churches, or 
 parties, for not attempting what they know can 
 not be done for not plucking fruit from the tree 
 whilst yet it is in blossom is worse than labor 
 lost. What society needs is more intelligence, 
 more conscience, more of the fear of God, more
 
 2JO OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 loyalty to duty, and a greater dread of the retri- 
 butions of the judgment-day. 
 
 Upon this stronghold of man's greatest enemy 
 there must be a concentration of forces and a per- 
 sistent attack. Methodism must not tarry for 
 either leadership, example, or commands. As in 
 the gospel there is the center and sum of all vir- 
 tues, so in the rum-traffic there is the sum of all 
 crimes and villainies. It is not simply an evil or 
 a calamity we fight, but the most foul and soul- 
 damning sins. Should this Republic fail because 
 of intemperance, Methodism will not have done 
 its whole duty.
 
 " ./jTOREIGXERS are not coming to the United States in an- 
 l swer to any appetite of ours, controlled by an unfailing 
 moral or political instinct. They naturally consult their own 
 interests, not ours. The lion, -without being consulted as to 
 time, quantity, or quality, is having food thrust down his 
 throat ; and his only alternative is digest, or die !" 
 
 272 JOSIAH STRONG.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 METHODISM AS AN AGENCY TO PRODUCE NATIONAL 
 HOMOGENEITY. 
 
 WEAKNESS necessarily characterizes the na- 
 tion whose government and people are rep- 
 resented by a mixture of iron and potter's-clay. 
 Lacking the element of homogeneity, the mighty 
 Roman Empire crumbled to pieces, and is now no 
 more. By requiring the use of their respective 
 languages, France, Germany, and Austria have 
 tried to unify the different peoples of their Gov- 
 ernments and increase their strength. China, be- 
 cause of its ethnic unity, has existed for ages; it 
 saw the Roman Empire rise and culminate and 
 fall, and it is as strong to-day in its mediocrity 
 as ever. 
 
 When we consider the extent of this country, 
 the vastness of the population that is coining, and 
 the different nationalities that will be represented, 
 the difficulties of producing a homogeneous peo- 
 ple become apparent and appalling. That which 
 is essential to the greatness and perpetuity of 
 this country is a mighty Americanism. Rome 
 attained a conquering spirit and a governing 
 power no other nation, to an equal extent, had 
 ever possessed; and something analogous to 
 
 273
 
 274 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 this not to direct foreign conquests, but as a home- 
 power to digest and assimilate the foreign ele- 
 ments that have come among us is essential to 
 the development, the unity, and stability of this 
 Republic. Our Americanism may be rude, uncul- 
 tured, bold and rampant in spirit it may be vast 
 in its ambition, and wild in its aspiration, but 
 our genius had better be anything rather than 
 foreign. It is not for America to imitate any 
 nation, or to live over again any part of the 
 world's past history, but to pioneer its own way 
 onward and upward into a higher and better 
 nationality than has ever previously existed. Our 
 Americanism must be so intense that when the 
 Irishman, the German, the Frenchman, and Scan- 
 dinavian lands on our shores he will feel that he 
 is born again, and that new and fresh blood is 
 coursing through his veins. The daily life of our 
 patriotism, as well as our public institutions, 
 should tend to ; foster the spirit of a true, home- 
 like, American sentiment. 
 
 In this respect, what the Review of Reviews 
 says of Wesley and the English national life, 
 may be applied to Methodism in this country : 
 
 " The politicians and statesmen little appreciate 
 the extent to which the solidarity and homogeneity 
 of the English people have been strengthened by 
 the labors of Wesley . For forty years this man 
 was little more than a highly vitalized human 
 shuttle, flying backwards and forwards in the na- 
 tional loom, and weaving together into one organic
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. 275 
 
 whole the isolated and widely scattered commu- 
 nities which made the English people. . . 
 The Methodist bodies, with their itinerating 
 ministers, are continually weaving closer and 
 closer the many-colored strands of our national 
 life." 
 
 The foreign population of this country at the 
 present date is about 8,000,000, and a still greater 
 number of native-born subjects have a parentage 
 of foreign birth. In this grand aggregate nearly 
 every country under heaven is represented. Can 
 this heterogeneous crowd much of it ignorant 
 and depraved to the last degree become infused 
 with the American spirit? Among this mass of 
 humanity may be found Brahmins, Buddhists, 
 Shintooists, the disciples of Confucius, Catholics, 
 Mohammedans, adherents of the Greek Church, . 
 Jews, and nearly every other class that lives on 
 the face of the earth. Is the presence of this 
 conglomeration of elements elements having the 
 obduracy of nationality and the fixedness of re- 
 ligion a source of strength to the Nation, or do 
 they threaten its very existence? 
 
 In this respect let us glance at the attitude of 
 Romanism. It is now well understood that the 
 agents of the pope in this country are Jesuit 
 priests, and that they give tone to the pulpit and 
 press of Romanism. An assault is now made all 
 along the line upon the common schools, the basal 
 element of the American Republic. Cardinal 
 Gibbons is conducting this force. The principles
 
 276 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 and spirit of the contest may be seen in the follow- 
 ing authorized statements: 
 
 Archbishop Pierche : " Our public-school system, as organ- 
 ized in this State, is emphatically a social plague ; . . . it 
 is vicious, . . . radically mischievous, . . . specially 
 baneful to society." 
 
 Catholic Telegram'. "It will be a glorious day for the 
 Catholics in this country when, under the blows of justice 
 and morality, our school system shall be shivered to pieces." 
 
 Freeman's Journal: ''Let the public-school system go to 
 where it came from the devil." 
 
 "Pages might be filled with such quotations. 
 The Jesuit, before entering upon the war against 
 our schools, swears: 'I do renounce and disown 
 any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince, 
 or State, named Protestant, or obedience to any 
 of their inferior magistrates or officers.' One has 
 well said: 'Whatever a Jesuit favors, suspect as 
 against your liberties and personal well-being.' " 
 (Central Christian Advocate.) 
 
 In opposing education and free inquiry, Ro- 
 manists confess their lack of faith in their form 
 of religion. The Catholic Review, of April, 
 1871, gives us a true insight into popery, as 
 follows : 
 
 "'We do not indeed prize as highly as some of 
 our countrymen appear to do, the ability to read 
 and write and cipher: Some men are born to be 
 leaders, and the rest are born to be led. The 
 best ordered and administered State is that in 
 which the few are well educated, and lead; and 
 the many are trained to obedience,' etc. This,
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. 277 
 
 precisely, is the condition of all Catholic countries. 
 In Italy, under the pope, seventy-three per cent 
 are illiterate; in Spain, eighty per cent; and in 
 Mexico, ninety-three per cent. And in these 
 countries Romanism has had undisputed sway 
 for centuries, and shaped society at pleasure. 
 Their illiteracy is precisely as Rome would have 
 it there; and here, if it could." (Christian Ad- 
 vocate.) 
 
 The "few to lead," and the masses "trained 
 to obedience!" Here we see the soul the beat- 
 ing heart of Romanism. No greater incubus 
 exists in the way of the uplift of humanity than 
 popery. No prominent Romanist ever lived in 
 this country who came nearer being an Ameri- 
 can than O. A. Brownson. Hear what he says of 
 popish schools: 
 
 "They practically fail to recognize human 
 progress. . . . They do not educate their 
 pupils to be at home and at their ease in their 
 own age and country, or train them to be living, 
 thinking, energetic men. . . . They who are 
 educated in our schools, seem misplaced and mis- 
 timed in the world, as if born and educated for a 
 world that had ceased to exist. The cause of 
 the failure of what we call Catholic education, in 
 our judgment, is the fact that we educate, not for 
 the present or the future, but for the past. . . . 
 An order of things which the world has left be- 
 hind; for it could be reproduced, if at all, only by 
 a second childhood." He adds: "The Clmrch
 
 278 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 has here a foreign aspect, and has no root in the 
 life of the Nation. Even those of our clergy and 
 our professors and teachers who have been born 
 and educated in this country, have been educated 
 in schools founded upon a foreign model, and con- 
 ducted by foreigners, and are, in regard to civili- 
 zation, more foreign than native." 
 
 Were it a fact that these millions had wholly 
 sundered their connection with their native land, 
 and come here to stay and fulfill all the duties of 
 American citizens, there would be no ground for 
 fear. But we know that such is not the case. 
 We have among us about seven millions of peo- 
 ple called Catholics or Papists, who confess that 
 their supreme allegiance, in the matter of govern- 
 ment, is to a man in Rome, Italy, called the pope. 
 He is held to be not the subject of any govern- 
 ment, but, in matters of supreme importance, the 
 ruler of all nations. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, 
 dared not, in 1776, put his signature to the Decla- 
 ration of Independence till he had delaying some 
 months for the purpose consulted this pope. 
 
 Cardinal Newman, of England, one of the 
 greatest and most scholarly minds of the age, 
 gloried in the humility and self-abnegation he 
 manifested in submitting to this pope, for his ap- 
 proval, whatever he wrote, before publishing it to 
 the world. In finding a basis of peace with the 
 Vatican, the great Napoleon was compelled to 
 recognize the pope as the spiritual that is, the 
 supreme ruler of the French Empire. Should
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. 279 
 
 an American Catholic statesman feel it his duty 
 to act in a given way, and the pope forbid, his 
 oath would give way in a moment in deference to 
 this higher authority. Like Carroll, he would say, 
 The pope first, and my country afterwards. His 
 Jesuitical oath always means, "With the sanction 
 of the pope." 
 
 But as a matter of fact, abundantly established 
 by the history of the past, popery is actively en- 
 gaged in the work of subverting the essential in- 
 stitutions of this country. The prevailing spirit 
 of Romanism in the world is Irish, this foreign el- 
 ement surpassing the German, French, Spanish, 
 and all other nationalities by more than one-half. 
 Nearly all the bishops and archbishops are foreign- 
 ers, or their fathers were. Nothing can be more 
 alien to their thoughts and feelings than American 
 ideas. They can see no desirable connection be- 
 tween the perpetuity of the American Republic 
 and virtuous intelligence as its cause ; hence the 
 malicious and persistent war they keep up against 
 the great educational institutions of America. 
 They see no good in anything which is not a part 
 of the papacy or subservient to it. An intelligent, 
 thorough-going American is nothing in their esti- 
 mation a papist everything. A prosperous com- 
 munity, living in comfortable houses, well clothed 
 and well-fed, independent, and happy, is not an 
 attractive aspect of society to an Irish bishop, 
 and at a stroke he would reduce it to the squalor 
 and crime and misery of Irish peasants, providing
 
 280 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 that, in the change, they would become Romanists. 
 Romanists would not only destroy our truly Amer- 
 ican institutions those which embody the spirit 
 and the conservative force of the Nation but they 
 would, in their place, establish exotic institutions, 
 such as monasteries and nunneries. An ex-Cath- 
 olic priest, Edward McGlynn, makes the following 
 statement : 
 
 " The ears of American boys, born of German 
 parents, are boxed by the religious teachers in pa- 
 rochial schools in St. Louis for the heinous offense 
 of speaking the common language of America 
 the English ; and a clerical superintendent, to re- 
 proach an American boy of German parents for 
 manliness and independence, can find no better 
 words to do justice to his reprobation than to say: 
 ' Du bist ein Amerikaner' 1 You are an American. 
 There is a wide-spread and persistent effort, with 
 scarcely any attempt to conceal it, to Germanize 
 the Catholic Church in the Northwest. The 
 means toward the attainment of this end is to 
 multiply German Church schools and German 
 parishes, and to make the multiplication of the 
 latter an excuse and a justification for the appoint- 
 ment, with the aid of German cardinals in Rome, 
 of more German-speaking bishops." 
 
 To understand this statement, we have only to 
 reflect that Irish archbishops and bishops greatly 
 preponderate in this country, and that the Ger- 
 mans are trying to bring about a condition of 
 things the use of the German language which
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. ^8 1 
 
 will enable them to catch up, or, at least, hold 
 their own. The Nation is the only sufferer in the 
 case. Romanism labors to divide our people, and 
 prevent that unity in which alone is strength. 
 
 "The very facts which Archbishop Ryan tri- 
 umphantly cited, however, seem to many Ameri- 
 cans of evil augury. The bishop did not mention 
 that the increase of the numbers of his Church 
 measures largely the increase of a population for- 
 eign to American traditions of every kind ; nor 
 did he consider the reason of what he called 'the 
 antagonism of the great majority of the people to 
 the Catholic Church.' There is no such antag- 
 onism to the Methodist, or Baptist, or Presbyte- 
 rian, or Episcopalian communions. Why does it 
 exist toward the Roman ? Because its own ag- 
 grandizement and power as an institution are the 
 visible aims of that Church. Neither in its spirit, 
 nor in its traditions, nor in its methods or sympa- 
 thies, is it American.* Indeed, one of its chief pol- 
 icies and aims is the overthrow of the corner-stone 
 of the American system the non-sectarian public 
 school. Its object in that crusade seems to Amer- 
 ican intelligence not to be the welfare of the Amer- 
 ican Republic so much as the ascendency of the 
 Roman Catholic Church." (Harper's Weekly.) 
 
 At the Centennial Convention held in the city 
 of Baltimore, November 12, 1889, bitter complaints 
 were made that great prejudice existed in this 
 country against the papal hierarchy. Call it not 
 prejudice, but downright square and open opposi- 
 
 24
 
 282 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 tion. Such it is, and such it ought to be. No pa- 
 triot can see a mighty foreign force laboring night 
 and day to sap the foundations of his country, 
 and establish it upon the worn-out and obsolete 
 ideas of the past, and remain indifferent. Can it 
 be denied that deliverance from the sway of Ro- 
 manism has saved this country from the fate of 
 Mexico, Central America, Italy, and other papal 
 States? The slums of our cities, the inmates of 
 our poor-houses, jails, prisons, and the victims of 
 the gallows, have furnished us such a taste of 
 popery, that we want no more of it, and most de- 
 voutly wish we were free from much that we 
 have. Why are not the people opposed to other 
 Churches? The true answer is, these Churches 
 are American in spirit and conduct, and no one 
 has a doubt of their loyalty and devotion to the 
 best interests of the country. This opposition 
 will continue while it remains apparent that the 
 papacy exists, not for the good of humanity, but 
 to augment and aggrandize its own power for the 
 benefit of a foreign magnate. It is some satisfac- 
 tion to know that but a few native-born Amer- 
 ican citizens are corrupted by its blandishments, 
 and that at least one-third of the Catholics who 
 leave Europe for our shores turn their backs upon 
 pope and priest after breathing for a time the at- 
 mosphere of America. 
 
 The following facts will illustrate more clearly 
 this subject in its relation to education: 
 
 " It will be remembered that the Bennett Law
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. 283 
 
 provides for compulsory education to the extent 
 of twelve weeks' attendance upon some school, 
 and declares that no school shall be regarded as 
 a school within its meaning in which the pri- 
 mary branches are not taught in the English 
 language. This has been construed as an attack 
 upon the parochial schools of the Romanist and 
 Lutheran Churches. Lutherans have declared 
 their full intent to make a bitter combat, and it 
 is probable that the same issue will appear in 
 other States. Certain Lutheran assemblies have 
 passed resolutions declarative of their determined 
 warfare upon all political candidates who do not 
 promise to repeal the hated laws. 
 
 "We note that a recent assembly of German 
 Methodists in Illinois has also taken action on 
 the subject. We refer to this, not because we 
 enjoy Church interference with legislation, but 
 rather because the action taken by our German 
 brethren illustrates another and correcter phase of 
 opinion. These Methodist Churchmen declare in 
 favor of Americanism of the right kind. No na- 
 tion on earth would tolerate immigrants who pro- 
 posed to educate their children in the exclusive 
 traditions and language of the land from which 
 they came. That which less free nations would 
 require should be freely conceded by those who 
 seek citizenship in a free country. Our German 
 Methodist brethren are worthy the liberty they 
 came hither to seek and to re-enforce through their 
 coming. They have as much conceivable motive
 
 284 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 to reject the English language as have Romanists 
 or Lutherans; but they are more sensible, and act 
 as if they had come to this country to be Amer- 
 icans, and not to organize a camp of enemies of 
 liberty for service against the Republic. This is 
 an issue in which every man and woman should 
 share. The parents who decline to school their 
 children in American citizenship and language 
 are few. The priests are making this trouble, and 
 are, in fact, tyrannizing over their people. For 
 the very sakes of those people and their children 
 the laws in question should be vindicated. The 
 authorities, particularly of the Lutheran Church, 
 fear that they will lose power if their flocks com- 
 mingle more closely with American citizens." 
 (Northwestern Christian Advocate.) 
 
 The assimilation of our foreign population to 
 American ideas, purposes, and aims is a matter of 
 prime importance ; and the part Methodism is 
 taking in this difficult and vital work is worthy 
 of serious consideration. The fact that a man is 
 a foreigner is, per se, nothing against him. Had 
 Summerfield, Maffitt, and Cookman been Amer- 
 ican-born, they could not have received more hon- 
 orable treatment from Methodism ; and then a 
 large body of missionaries have been kindly sent 
 among our foreign population, for they have been 
 made objects of special regard. The United 
 Brethren Church was organized, after the Meth- 
 odist pattern of discipline, of German converts 
 the fruits of the united labors of Asbury and Otter-
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. 285 
 
 bein because Asbury thought a separate organ- 
 ization would be better for that people; and the 
 Evangelical Association, or Albright Church, is 
 one of the conspicuous fruits of Methodism. 
 
 The history of Methodism among our German 
 population reads like a dream or romance. It 
 was the prevalence of infidelity, Sabbath-break- 
 ing, and beer-drinking which, in 1835, first ar- 
 rested the attention of the Church in regard to 
 them. What was wanted to start with was a 
 man a man of good ability, well-educated, and 
 thoroughly converted. And who should present 
 himself at the moment he was wanted but William 
 Nast. Born in Germany in 1807, educated at 
 Stuttgart and at Tubingen for the ministry in 
 the State Church, he followed that calling for a 
 term of two years. Satisfied that the faith he was 
 expected to preach did not embrace the gospel in 
 its fullness, he left the pulpit, and in 1828 lauded 
 in New York City. 
 
 In 1835, a poor, wretched, convicted sinner, he 
 appeared on a camp-ground above Pittsburg, on 
 the Monongahela River, where he was abundantly 
 blessed. Here he made the acquaintance of the 
 great, warm-hearted Irishman, Dr. Charles El- 
 liott. Nothing more was needed. Here was the 
 man, and here was the man who knew him. In 
 the autumn of this year Nast was admitted to the 
 Ohio Conference, and appointed missionary to the 
 Germans of Cincinnati. A hard year's work, with 
 but little fruit, followed this appointment. The
 
 286 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 next year he traveled the large Columbus District, 
 but it was all seed-sowing and no apparent fruit. 
 Again he was sent to Cincinnati, and at the next 
 Conference he was able to report a Sunday-school 
 and a society of twenty-six members. During the 
 year he had published the "General Rules of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church" and the "Wesleyan 
 Catechism" in the German language. So appar- 
 ent was the value of the press, that contributions 
 of money were made, and in 1838 Der Christ- 
 liche Apologete was started, and Nast appointed 
 editor. 
 
 From this time the work moved on in all di- 
 rections in the primitive Methodist fashion. L/. S. 
 Jacoby, a brilliant young German scholar, was 
 induced to attend a Methodist meeting. At that 
 service a young man by the name of Breunig, a 
 converted Catholic, preached his first sermon. 
 Jacoby was surprised and interested; went again, 
 heard Nast, and that completed the work. The 
 cause now moved forward with redoubled power. 
 Wheeling, Va., Pittsburg, Penn., and Lawrence- 
 burg, Ind., are smitten by the Spirit, souls are 
 converted, and societies organized. Out of these 
 societies came able men, who gave full proof that 
 they were called to the work of the ministry. In 
 fact, as the work spread, there were never want- 
 ing suitable men to care for it. 
 
 The work took root in New Orleans in 1841 
 on this wise: A young man, converted in Cincin- 
 nati, went to that city, and engaged himself to
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. 287 
 
 some one as a teamster. His comrades noticed 
 his happy and exemplary life; and often, in the 
 stable, they found him engaged in prayer. He 
 talked to them of the salvation he had found, and 
 invited them to spend an evening with him in 
 prayer. The blessing of the Lord was upon his 
 labors, and that night several persons were con- 
 verted. A preacher was sent for, a society organ- 
 ized, a church built, and German Methodism be- 
 came a fixture in New Orleans. 
 
 Wheeling was favored with the first German 
 Methodist Church that was dedicated in America. 
 This was in 1838. J. Swahlen, one of Nast's 
 first converts, was efficient in the ministry, and 
 proved to be a mighty man wherever he went, 
 East or West. At this early date, Catholics, in- 
 fidels, and saloon-keepers began to unite and 
 oppose the spread ..of these " Methodist her- 
 etics." 
 
 It is very interesting and profitable to trace 
 the growth and spread of German Methodism. It 
 is largely the pioneer age of the Church over 
 again. Our business, however, is not to write his- 
 tory, but put in array such facts as are essential 
 to the clearness and conclusiveness of our argu- 
 ment. At present the German work includes the 
 following large Conferences, namely: The Ger- 
 many and Switzerland Conference, in Europe; 
 Southern, Eastern, Western, Central, Chicago, 
 Northwest, St. Louis, California, and Louisiana. 
 Thousands of young German converts, who have
 
 288 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 learned to use freely the English tongue, find a 
 religious home in the American Church. 
 
 German Methodism has rapidly girded itself 
 around with all those agencies and helps which 
 tend to bring German citizens into harmony and 
 sympathy with the institutions of their adopted 
 country. The following schools indicate the 
 scope and strength of their educational interests: 
 Central Wesleyan College, at Warrenton, Mo., 
 with four professors and an endowment fund of 
 $25,000. The college building is three stories, 
 90 by 55 feet. It has a library of 2,500 volumes 
 and a museum. It has under its care the Cen- 
 tral Orphan Asylum, a fine institution, well sup- 
 ported, and has been a great blessing to many 
 poor orphans. At Berea, Ohio, it has an 'orphan- 
 age and college. The property is worth $125,000, 
 and the institution is in a flourishing condition. 
 In all respects, Berea is one of the strongholds of 
 German Methodism. At Galena, 111., a massive 
 structure, formerly owned and used by the United 
 States as a hospital, was bought by the German 
 Methodists in 1868 for $6,000, for purposes of ed- 
 ucation. A theological course of instruction is a 
 part of its curriculum. In 1873 the German 
 Methodists founded a college at Mt. Pleasant, 
 Iowa; and, lastly, the Martin Institute, in Ger- 
 many. 
 
 The following periodicals, besides the Apolo- 
 gist, are published: The Sunday-school Bell, Bible 
 Lessons, Hans und Herd, Leaf Cluster, Pictorial
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. 289 
 
 Paper. This German literature is supplied by 
 German pens. 
 
 At present the net-work of German Method- 
 ism covers the country, but how strong it is in 
 the South and in Canada we are unable to say. 
 The last report of the Methodist Episcopal body 
 gave the following figures: Communicants, 63,732 ; 
 number of churches, 1,169 probable value, 
 $3,131,849; parsonages, 374 probable value, 
 
 These German Methodists are thoroughly 
 Americanized citizens. Romanism would keep 
 the Irishman Irish forever, the Italian an Italian, 
 the German a German, and the Spaniard a Span- 
 iard anything but an American. The Lutheran 
 Church would do the same with the German, the 
 Swede, the Dane, and Norwegian. So far as it 
 opposes the use of the English language in the 
 schools of St. Louis and Wisconsin it is a traitor 
 to its adopted country, and deserves at least to be 
 denied citizenship. On the other hand, the influ- 
 ence of Methodism has reached the minds of 
 hundreds of thousands of foreigners of different 
 nationalities, and infused into them the spirit of 
 love and loyalty to American institutions. 
 
 Dr. Nast still lives, and in the possession of 
 good health, enjoys the honors and the success he 
 has won. 
 
 Considering how wide the space over which 
 our German population is scattered, that nearly 
 all on reaching this country are Romanists or 
 
 25
 
 290 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 Lutheran formalists, that they cordially unite 
 with infidels and saloonists in opposing Method- 
 ism, we regard its success in the conversion of 
 so many souls an inestimable blessing to the 
 Nation. Since its organization among the Ger- 
 mans, Methodism has reached and influenced for 
 good not less than one million of souls for their 
 benefit. Many Romanists and formalists have 
 become Christians in deed and in truth. Wher- 
 ever one becomes a Methodist, he becomes thor- 
 oughly Americanized. Obligations to God em- 
 brace obligations to country. Every thoroughly 
 Americanized German acts as leaven upon the 
 minds of his countrymen for the good of his 
 adopted country. 
 
 The close connection which subsists between 
 German Methodism in this country and the 
 Church's missions in the fatherland has a favor-, 
 able influence upon all American interests. At 
 the fountain-head of emigration the Church has 
 an agency ten thousand strong, which is indi- 
 rectly doing all in its power to prepare such as 
 may migrate for citizenship here. Adherents and 
 Sunday-schools included, this force amounts to 
 more than 30,000 souls. Its church property is 
 estimated at 1,591,167 marks. 
 
 The Italians, Swedes, Norwegians, Bohemians, 
 and Danes, In the aggregate a large and hetero- 
 geneous body of people, are by no means neg- 
 lected. In Italy, Methodism has Churches organ- 
 ized in Arezzo, Florence, Foggia, Naples, Perugia,
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. 291 
 
 Pisa, Pontedera, Rome, Forli, Taranto, Terni, 
 Venosa, Allessandria, Asti, Bologni, Faenza, Milan, 
 Dovadda, Geneva, Modena, San Marzano, Turin, 
 and Venice ; and to the extent of their influence 
 upon such as may migrate to this country, the 
 Nation is benefited. In Norway, the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church has thirty-two preaching sta- 
 tions, and able native ministry. In this country 
 no considerable settlement of foreigners can be 
 found which Methodism has neglected. In most 
 cases it has pleased God to raise up strong men 
 for this work, both at home and abroad. Among 
 the Indians, in the Indian Territory, Oregon, 
 Kansas, and Nebraska, Methodism has been a 
 power for good. The Welsh and French, in dif- 
 ferent places, are supplied with the gospel, 
 preached in their own languages. In Cleveland, 
 Pittsburg, and the coke regions of Pennsylvania, 
 the Bohemians are cared for; and twenty mission- 
 aries are preaching the gospel in New Mexico in 
 the Spanish language. Arizona, Nevada, and 
 Utah are occupied. A Mormon magnate was 
 heard to say: "I should care but little for the 
 Edmunds Law, if we could keep the Methodists 
 out of this country." But twenty-one mission- 
 aries, thirty-eight teachers, twenty-four churches, 
 and six hundred communicants are not there for 
 nothing. Either Methodism or Mormonism must 
 leave Utah, and the bugle of the former has sel- 
 dom sounded a retreat. 
 
 American Methodism expends annually, in the
 
 292 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 education and evangelization of the foreign and 
 ignorant elements of this country, nearly one 
 million dollars, and the practical National tend- 
 ency of these labors is to make them good and 
 loyal citizens. Since our late Civil War, for the 
 benefit of the freedmen the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church has expended more than two and a half 
 millions of dollars. 
 
 It is thus that Methodism is to this country 
 as "new wine to a new bottle," holding itself, un- 
 consciously perhaps, in close contact with all 
 National interests. Professedly and really it lets 
 the Government alone. It asks no favors, not 
 even the right to be. This it assumes and as- 
 serts without thanks. The Church is mighty in 
 its strength because self-contained, isolated, and 
 undivided. All its resources are concentrated 
 upon its own one work the salvation of souls. 
 Its power for good upon the State is a thousand 
 times greater than it would be if it meddled 
 with political affairs, or had incorporated in its 
 organization political elements. 
 
 Will some one name a humane or National 
 interest which Methodism does not labor directly 
 to promote, or a wrong or an evil it does not seek 
 to abate? What sink of iniquity, like the Five 
 Points in New York City ; or what hell, like Mor- 
 monism; or what form of society, like the half- 
 barbarous but ever-retreating border; or what 
 mass of ignorance and degradation, like the five 
 millions of. freed slaves, has it not persistently
 
 NATIONAL HOMOGENEITY. 293 
 
 assailed? And from what difficulty has it recoiled 
 or retreated? 
 
 The benefits the country has received from 
 these things have been incidental, and are the 
 more valuable on that account. Both Church 
 and State are free; and marching in distinct and 
 parallel lines, they are the stronger, the purer, and 
 the more beautiful for their independence.
 
 "QjjOjjYE need the rich and the refined and the learned, but 
 ^*-* / not at the price of abandoning the poor and the un- 
 educated. We want a ministry equal to the best in the uni- 
 versal Church in erudition and pulpit talent and intellect; and 
 we want a ministry that can go into the hamlet, hut, and the 
 lowest cellar without overawing their tenants with its respect- 
 ability. How can these two be obtained and continued? How 
 can each class and each man be induced to move contentedly, 
 spontaneously, and eagerly in his own sphere, unimpeded by 
 jealousy against caste? Romanism can do it. Why not Meth- 
 odism ?" WHEDON. 
 294
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE TRANSITION PERIOD OF THE WORK OF METH- 
 ODISM. 
 
 |\ 1ETHODISM, in its essential elements, ad- 
 L^A mits of no change. The regeneration of the 
 soul and spiritual life are now what they were 
 when Abel was converted and received the wit- 
 ness of the Spirit. In this work meet the realms 
 of nature and grace, and both are fundamental in 
 the scheme of redemption. The spiritual element 
 is the deepest, the highest, and the most far-reach- 
 ing truth of Methodism, and it must forever have 
 the place of a head-light, directing the way of its 
 march onward from conquest to conquest. Wher- 
 ever this reality is wanting, at best nothing but 
 the shadow of Methodism can be found. 
 
 The question which embraces all others in re- 
 gard to the future destiny of the Church is this: 
 How can the spiritual element of the gospel be 
 made the most effective and aggressive in view of 
 the peculiar condition of the ever-growing and 
 changing country? Church polity, per se, is of 
 no consequence whatever. It derives all its value 
 from the measure of efficiency which it gives to 
 the provisions of the gospel of Christ. That is 
 best which reaches the largest number of souls 
 and does the greatest amount of good. The pe- 
 
 295
 
 296 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 culiarities of the ecclesiastical scheme of Meth- 
 odism have been in the highest degree efficient, 
 because they were adapted to the exigencies of 
 the work, and they have been adopted, from time 
 to time, without any regard to theories or to spec- 
 ulative schemes. We think that too much impor- 
 tance can not be attached to the adaptive wisdom 
 of the fathers in this respect. In council, the 
 condition and wants of the Lord's vineyard were 
 ever present to their minds. If an extreme power 
 was ever unselfishly used for the public good, that 
 power was exercised by Bishop Asbury. The itin- 
 erant ministry which he handled for more than 
 thirty years accomplished, probably, a hundred 
 times as much good as the same men would have 
 effected had each acted singly on his own respon- 
 sibility. For a half century, as an agency to bring 
 the gospel to bear upon all classes, and especially 
 upon the lives and habits of the backwoods ruf- 
 fians and the Southern cut-throats, the camp- 
 meeting has never been surpassed. Thousands, 
 and perhaps millions, of people have, from one 
 motive or another, been drawn into the woods, 
 where they have witnessed displays of Divine 
 power such as would have been experienced no- 
 where else. 
 
 But the great success which attended these 
 early labors of the fathers has contributed largely 
 to change the structure of society, and render 
 them, unnecessary. Jacob Young's account of the 
 organization of a great circuit in the Green River
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. 297 
 
 country, Kentucky, given in a former chapter, 
 may afford us valuable instruction. There are 
 now, probably, within the limits of that circuit, 
 twenty, thirty, or forty Churches, four or five 
 thousand Methodists, an equal number of Sunday- 
 school scholars, a system of public schools, possi- 
 bly an academy, and an educated community of 
 thirty thousand people. Could Young go over 
 that country again, he would see but little of the 
 past, and other scenes and different duties would 
 present themselves for his consideration. The 
 large farm-house, cultivated fields, thriving vil- 
 lages, and herds of cattle have taken the place 
 of the forests and of wild beasts. Let this 
 fact of change be applied as an illustration of 
 what has taken place in the whole country east 
 of the Mississippi River within the last eighty 
 years. The world in which we now live is largely 
 made up of Churches, organized societies, educa- 
 tion, refinement, business, politics, reforms, pub- 
 lishing-houses, and the ubiquitous press. About 
 all that remains unchanged is the topography of 
 the country, the unregenerate heart of man, and 
 the power of the gospel to save. 
 
 The problem for Methodism now to solve is, 
 how to cling to this work of regeneration without 
 a shadow of turning, and, at the same time, adapt 
 itself to the nature and demands of the age in 
 which we live. In all its history, the interests 
 of the Church and the good of the country never 
 demanded the exercise of more practical wisdom
 
 298 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 than now in adjusting means to ends in these 
 changed conditions. Peter Cartwright unwisely 
 mourned because the times in which he lived, 
 with its form of Methodism, could not continue 
 forever; and yet every sermon he preached and 
 every lesson of good behavior he taught camp- 
 meeting rowdies, tended to bring about the 
 changes he deplored. Occasionally we meet now 
 with a veteran Methodist who longs for the re- 
 turn of the four weeks' circuit, and for the times 
 which have necessarily passed away. Not long 
 since, we met an ancient lady, whose religious 
 knowledge, experience, and joy consisted mostly 
 in being able to describe the kind of bonnets the 
 Methodist girls wore when she was young. 
 
 Some people have cherished the idea that 
 Methodism was raised up to act the part of a re- 
 vival agency to the old Churches of the country, 
 and that when it had spent its force in pioneer 
 work, it would begin to "decrease," and that then 
 they would " increase." Regarded in this light, 
 they are resigned to look upon its past success as 
 a providential dispensation. And is it not a 
 fact a shameful fact that in some localities, for 
 the want of adaptive wisdom, it has served that 
 purpose? And we acknowledge that in every lo- 
 cality where Methodism does not adapt itself to 
 the condition and wants of the people, it ought 
 to be a failure. 
 
 People who never forget nor learn anything, 
 are inclined to sorrow over the degenerate times
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. 299 
 
 in which we live. There are a few left who re- 
 member the ancient quarterly-meeting, with its 
 boundless hospitalities, the great sermons preached 
 by presiding elders, and they think the glory of 
 Israel has departed because these mighty displays 
 of grace have not continued to the present time. 
 The lack of adaptive wisdom is the root of these 
 complaints. It is for us, not to create the times 
 and seasons in which we live, but when they 
 come, to adjust ourselves to them, and make the 
 most out of the opportunities they present. The 
 great difference between the past and the present 
 of both the Church and the country, is the result 
 of the legitimate growth of both. 
 
 We have referred to the adaptive wisdom of 
 the fathers. In adapting means to ends, they set 
 us an example that is worthy of all imitation. 
 They indulged in no fine-spun theories about 
 Church government; but the practical work of 
 spreading Scriptural holiness over the land was 
 never absent from their mind. What experience 
 proved to be useful they made the most of; the 
 impractical they promptly cast away. 
 
 It was not theory, nor any special demand of 
 the Scriptures, nor because it was their aim to 
 build up a magnificent ecclesiastical structure, 
 that they established in its two forms an itinerant 
 ministry the episcopacy and the pastorate but 
 because of its adaptation to the condition of the 
 country, apparent in its usefulness. Asbury had 
 practically served Methodism ten years as bishop
 
 300 O UR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 before the organization of the Church in 1784, and 
 the Church organization was but the utilization of 
 the principles which experience had demonstrated 
 were adapted to the work of the times. We may, 
 then, at any time, without sacrilege or impinge- 
 ment in the least upon anything that is essential 
 to Methodism, inquire: Is the episcopacy of the 
 Church at the present time, in form, exactly 
 adapted to the best good of the work? Has not 
 the growth of the Church rendered obsolete the 
 expression, "general superintendent," inasmuch 
 as it is not a Disciplinary term, and no one man 
 can see all the Conferences even in a life-time? 
 Does not the expression "general superintend- 
 ency" express the true idea? Would it not be 
 wise to district the Conferences by law, since ne- 
 cessity requires it practically to be done? Would 
 it not be well to grant, at an early day, autonomy 
 to all foreign Methodisms, allowing them to sup- 
 ply themselves with officers, and a Church gov- 
 ernment that may take form according to the 
 interests of the countries they are intended to 
 benefit? Are American bishops better qualified 
 to manage Church affairs in Japan and China 
 than Wesley and Coke were to manage our affairs 
 in 1784? Is it not unwise for one Nation es- 
 pecially a young country like our own to impose 
 its form of Church-work upon other nations? Is 
 not such policy the essence of Romanism? Again, 
 can Christianity experience a complete develop- 
 ment in any country, and produce its best impress
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. 301 
 
 upon the spirit of the people, if propagated by 
 and in accordance with the genius of a foreign 
 nation? Can we explain the fact that so few 
 native Americans become Catholics, only on the 
 ground that a good Romanist can not be a good 
 American citizen? Is it not natural and just that 
 Governments should look with suspicion upon 
 such subjects as owe a supreme allegiance to a 
 foreign power? In asking these questions we care 
 nothing for theory, but simply the adaptation of 
 means to ends. 
 
 Similar questions might and often should be 
 asked in regard to the practical working of every 
 item of the polity of the Church, and the law of 
 the adaptation of means to ends should never be 
 forgotten. The developing power of the Church 
 must prove itself equal to the growth of the Na- 
 tion, if, as "new wine in a new bottle," it fulfill 
 its mission. It can be neither expected nor de- 
 sired that the Nation will conform its structure 
 to any Church polity that would be popery ; 
 and hence the necessity of flexibility, growth, 
 change, and conformity on the part of the activ- 
 ities of the Church. The country and society of 
 one hundred years ago have done their work and 
 disappeared; or, rather, developed into other forms. 
 Has the Church kept pace with the Nation, clung 
 to its changing phases of life, grasped its spirit, 
 comprehended its interests, penetrated every de- 
 partment, acted as "new wine in a new bottle," 
 and thus practically fulfilled its mission?
 
 302 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 As a whole, the Discipline of the Church "as 
 it is," should be greatly respected; but if, in the 
 practical work of the gospel, it is clearly ap- 
 parent that any "rule" or "regulation" is an 
 embarrassment to the work, we should most de- 
 voutly wish that it were out of the way. As a 
 legislator, I should have no more respect for it 
 than I would for a spider's-web spun across my 
 path. If successful, the Church must conform its 
 work to present wants, as in the past it addressed 
 itself to the conditions of the past. As the 
 Nation is passing through a transition period 
 the old disappearing and the new coming to 
 light the Church must do the same, or lose its 
 hold upon it. 
 
 Incorporated in the Church are all the elements 
 of success. In its doctrines and primal work 
 there is stability. The conversion of souls, and 
 the adaptability of the gospel to accomplish it, 
 will never know any change. The polity of the 
 Church has grown into a piece of magnificent 
 machinery; but if regarded not as means to an 
 end, but as a structure having value in itself, it 
 will then become a useless incumbrance. It will 
 prove to be a clog and a dead weight upon the 
 age in which it exists, if that time ever comes ; 
 and the sooner it is swept away, the better for the 
 country. 
 
 Only the one who fails to know what Method- 
 ism is per se can regard these formal arrange- 
 ments for its propagation as Methodism itself.
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. 303 
 
 The bishop, or the General Conference officer, 
 who fancies that he is doing fully the work of a 
 Methodist, though he limit his labors to the run- 
 ning of this machinery, has lost or forgotten the 
 true spirit of his calling. If the Church has an 
 office which places its incumbent above, below, 
 or outside the work of beseeching sinners to be 
 reconciled to God, or makes such work secondary, 
 it ought, at the earliest moment, to be abolished. 
 When young in the Conference, we were visited 
 by Leroy Swormstedt, Book Agent at Cincinnati, 
 and we feared from this business man this 
 man of money, figures, and accounts that we 
 might be treated to a cold, doctrinal sermon; 
 but, though many years have passed away since 
 then, that discourse is remembered as being a 
 thorough-going revival sermon a model for all 
 preachers, young or old, to follow. One Sabbath 
 at Chautauqua we sat beside a distinguished lay- 
 man, whilst a Methodist bishop labored through 
 a discourse of an hour and a half on the Reason- 
 ableness of Christianity, in which the most 
 shadowy metaphysics played a conspicuous part; 
 and as the discourse came to an end, the layman 
 quietly remarked: "I wish the bishop had 
 preached a sermon!" 
 
 An evangelizing gospel is what the people and 
 the Church, always and everywhere, need. Visit- 
 ing the laity, and praying with them, and laboring 
 for the conversion of souls, never ceased to be the 
 overshadowing object of Bishop Asbury's labors
 
 304 O UR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 till he ceased to live. This conception of Meth- 
 odism, and this spirit, must remain as the per- 
 manent element in the Church. When Valentine 
 Cook, James Axley, J. B. Finley, Jacob Young, 
 Peter Cartwright, and other mighty men, were 
 placed on districts, they went forth not merely as 
 officials, but as evangelists, and as the leaders of 
 evangelists. Their commission from on high was 
 not in the least modified by their office, but they 
 still made full proof of their original ministry. 
 When a presiding elder shrinks up into such 
 small proportions that he can stay in his house 
 all the week till Saturday morning, declining to 
 attend his home prayer-meeting, then take the 
 train for a quarterly-meeting, be content to preach 
 to a dozen or so on Saturday afternoon, preside 
 in a modern Quarterly Conference, at night attend 
 some "order," then go through the services of 
 the Sabbath, take his thirty or forty dollars, and 
 return home to spend another week, he is, to 
 say the least, not exactly of the Asburian order. 
 Such a man, in fact, can not have a spark of 
 Methodist fire burning in his heart; and he has 
 become one of the driest, most worthless, and 
 costly pieces of timber in the whole structure of 
 Methodism. 
 
 Every Methodist, high or low, for the good of 
 his own soul, needs to be in at least one revival 
 every year. The beginning of Methodism was a 
 revival a revival which has been felt in every 
 part of the world, and continues to this as the re-
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. 305 
 
 ligious life of two continents. In the preserva- 
 tion of this high spiritual temperature of the ' 
 Church, it will be an easy matter so to modify 
 its policy, from time to time, as the exigencies of 
 the work may demand. Stability at base, at- 
 tended by such adaptive changes as occasion may 
 indicate, are what the Church needs to accomplish 
 her great mission. 
 
 The age of Asbury encountered difficulties of 
 one kind ; this age is called upon to meet difficul- 
 ties of another kind; and of the two these are by 
 far the greater. How simple was the work of a 
 Conference in those early times. Asbury made 
 the appointments. The preachers, in the mean- 
 time, held a revival, and there was not much more 
 of it. Compare the proceedings of such a Confer- 
 ence with the Minutes of a modern Annual Con- 
 ference, and note the difference. The law of 
 change and the adaptive principle are fortunately 
 incorporated in the constitution of the Church. 
 In the development of society, as new interests 
 have presented themselves, the Church has not 
 often been found blind, careless, or indifferent. 
 We do not claim perfection for the law as it now 
 stands, nor infallibility for its administration. As 
 a whole, we would not decline to compare our 
 methods with the methods of other Churches. 
 We might learn something to our advantage from 
 them, and they from us, and all parties would be 
 benefited. 
 
 A Presbyterian minister in California gives the 
 
 26
 
 306 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 following plaintive picture of the operations of his 
 Church in that State: 
 
 "Now, as relates to the work of the Board of 
 Church Erection. One town, where I preach 
 twice a month, had six months ago about fifty in- 
 habitants; now it has over one thousand. We 
 were preparing to organize and to build. Every- 
 thing is done here on red-tape principles. Now 
 look at this picture. About the middle of April 
 Presbytery meets; a committee is appointed; then, 
 say in May, the Church is organized. Now we want 
 a building site. One is offered ; but before we can 
 get it, according to law, (i) a Board of Trustees 
 must be elected ; (2) a certified copy must be re- 
 turned to the trustees (this may come in three or 
 six months) ; (3) this certified copy must be taken 
 to the county-seat and filed by an attorney. Our 
 county-seat is eighty-five miles distant, over a 
 high range of mountains, and the cost of the trip, 
 aside from any expenses in the city, is $17.75. 
 Now we are ready to commence a petition to the 
 board for a grant for aid ; and, if we get a grant 
 at the end of twelve months from first commence- 
 ment, we do well. Now, look at other Churches. 
 At the town of which I speak, I preached twice a 
 month, and the Methodists the other two Sab- 
 baths. There is but one house where we could 
 meet. The district had outgrown its school- 
 house, and is building a large, new house, and we 
 occupy the old one. 
 
 "But I found when I went there last Sabbath
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. 307 
 
 
 
 the Methodist preacher had telegraphed the elder, 
 he telegraphed the bishop, and in less than two 
 weeks they purchased the house, organized a 
 Church, placed a permanent minister, hold the 
 key, and we are left out in the cold. Thus, by 
 their incisive policy, they accomplished in less 
 than two weeks what we, with our cumbrous pol- 
 icy, could not accomplish in eighteen months ; 
 and what is true of this is true of every impor- 
 tant field en this coast. 
 
 "There is not an important point in the State 
 they can not reach and control, or desirable prop- 
 erty they can not possess, in seventy-two hours ; 
 and yet in the East the Churches wonder, and 
 charge us with inefficiency and want of adapta- 
 tion to our work." 
 
 Too much of a disposition to " stick to the 
 Discipline as it is " may throw the Church into a 
 rut, and make Church forms an end rather than a 
 means to an end. On the other hand, too great 
 a disposition to change would be equally disas- 
 trous. And then the future of this country will 
 be characterized not only by wealth but by schol- 
 arship, science, art, literature, elegance, and refine- 
 ment. In all these respects the Church must step 
 to the front, and give to them her refining and 
 sanctifying influence, or they will be prostituted 
 to purposes of corruption. Is Methodism invested 
 with the ability to keep burning the fires of spir- 
 ituality, and at the same time lay its hand upon 
 the inevitable arts, elegancies, and refinements of
 
 308 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 life? Humanity is bound to move along these 
 channels, and the Church can not remain inno- 
 cent and abandon any class in society. The 
 wealth of the rich is needed for educational pur- 
 poses, for church-building, and for the support of 
 the benevolent enterprises of the day. Asylums 
 for the unfortunate of all classes, well endowed, 
 should be equal to the demands of suffering hu- 
 manity. That Methodism may act well its part 
 in these respects, it must throw its influence 
 around the rich, and keep before them the wants 
 of the people. Wealth, sanctified to the good of 
 humanity, is an acceptable sacrifice to God. This 
 principle should be incorporated in the structure 
 of organic Methodism. 
 
 Art, literature, and elegance may innocently 
 characterize a poem, a painting, an oration, and 
 why may they not adorn and elevate a human 
 character? We believe that, as is often the case, 
 to associate refinement and taste with pride and 
 vanity, is false in fact and pernicious in principle. 
 The Being who painted the rose, and gave man 
 a capacity to perceive its beauty, must be a 
 lover of beauty. Shall not Methodism. aspire to 
 be a blessing to the world all along these lines? 
 Why not? If culture and refinement were blotches 
 and stains on one's character, then, of course, 
 these and all kindred things should be avoided. If 
 ignorance and coarseness and vulgarity were vir- 
 tues, then these should be assiduously cultivated. 
 But who believes any such nonsense? A broad
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. 309 
 
 and intelligent view* of the relations of Chris- 
 tianity and humanity will clearly reveal the fact 
 that they should touch each other at every stage 
 and along every line of the development of the 
 latter. Faith, love, humility, and every Christian 
 virtue are beautiful graces ; but they never appear 
 at their best unless associated with knowledge, 
 culture, and elegance. 
 
 The complaint has sometimes been made that 
 Methodism was not a success in all places, espe- 
 cially in some of our cities. If failure there be, 
 whatever the cause, we are sure it is not in 
 Methodism per se. Either there have been local 
 troubles, which have impeded its progress, or the 
 law of adaptation has been grievously violated. 
 In either case, the Church should master the les- 
 sons taught by past experience, remember that 
 there is before it a future, and start again. We 
 know a city in which Methodism once enjoyed a 
 vigorous growth ; and as it became wealthy and 
 strong, the ministers there stationed unfortunately 
 felt that they- had in hand a little kingdom of their 
 own a mine that they, by combination, could work 
 for their own benefit and use for selfish ends. Then 
 it began to wane on their hands ; and now where 
 once they led, they drag in the rear. Methodism 
 withers in the hand that uses it for selfish pur- 
 poses. 
 
 As might have been expected from the wide 
 and rushing sweep that Methodism has taken, 
 it has admitted to its fold many whose lack of
 
 310 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 character promised nothing but betrayal. Where 
 it is known that there is no "depth of earth," a 
 harvest can not be expected, and there is no dis- 
 appointment. The grand characters Methodism 
 has given the world many people are as incapable 
 of comprehending as of acquiring or imitating. 
 It is difficult to lift them above the low plane of 
 self-seeking and time-serving. They are Meth- 
 odists no longer than that Church suits best their 
 convenience. As they have not the character of a 
 Methodist, in going out from us they sacrifice 
 nothing, and Methodism loses nothing. The phe- 
 nomenon that such trifling people exist must be 
 accounted for not with Methodism, but with 
 Providence. 
 
 From our present stand-point, it is easy to see 
 that in the near future Methodism must engage 
 in a fierce conflict with rum and the corruptions 
 of wealth. The adjustment of the Church to this 
 work should be made a subject of study. 
 
 Events of vast importance are to be unfolded 
 in the near future. The child is now living who 
 will see the population of this country not less 
 than three hundred millions; and should, in the 
 meantime, British America become a part of the 
 Union, and connect us territorially with Alaska, 
 another hundred millions may be soon added. A 
 large percentage of this addition will be composed 
 of the half-civilized Catholic population of the cities 
 of the Old World. Our colored population will 
 have reached the enormous figure of not less than
 
 TRANSITION PERIOD. 3 1 1 
 
 forty-five millions. The Mongoloid tribes will be 
 on our soil in large numbers. And the reduction 
 of this heterogeneous mass to unity is the ques- 
 tion for statesmen to consider. To bring it under 
 the sanctifying power of religion is the work of 
 the Churches. The case is all the worse because 
 of the bitter and persistent enmity the papists 
 cherish towards the schools of this country. 
 Yet the coming mass of humanity must be edu- 
 cated and Americanized, or this Nation fails to 
 fulfill its destiny. 
 
 But in the great battle that is upon us, and 
 that is to grow fiercer with every passing year, 
 we are anxious that Methodism should know its 
 mission and accomplish it. Its past history is 
 honorable, its present position is strong, and its 
 future is simply the problem of fidelity and adap- 
 tation. The part it is to act in the moral world 
 must run parallel with the part the Nation per- 
 forms in the political. Its mission is the higher 
 and grander of the two. The forces to be ar- 
 rayed against all that is precious in American life 
 are tremendous and complex in the extreme, and 
 they must be boldly met and vanquished. Other 
 Churches are becoming strong, and their thorough 
 co-operation, making of them practically a unit, 
 is possible and much to be desired; but, in all 
 emergencies, Methodism must preserve its own 
 lines, use its own weapons, and ever keep on the 
 offensive. As the post of honor, it must ever hold 
 the post of danger.
 
 "031 ND unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain 
 
 <-^ the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the 
 
 law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them 
 
 that are without law, as without law (being not without law to 
 
 God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that 
 
 are without law; to the weak became I as weak, that I might 
 
 gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might 
 
 by all means save some." 
 
 3"
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 METHODISM ADAPTED TO THE SPIRITUAI, CONDI- 
 TION OF ALI/ PHASES OF SOCIETY. 
 
 IN the progress of their development, nations, 
 as well as individuals, move from one stage of 
 the inevitable to another till the end comes. 
 Though man is a free agent free within the 
 realm of duty and responsibility yet, in many 
 respects, he is a creature of necessity. Above 
 and around him are powers which largely shape 
 his destiny. 
 
 The rough, rude, and wild form of society 
 which at one time characterized the Mississippi 
 Valley was an inevitable result of its surrounding 
 conditions. Men necessarily conformed more or 
 less to the free, wild aspects of the times, which 
 day by day left their impression upon their mind. 
 A man, clad in the skins of animals, his feet pro- 
 tected by their raw hides fastened on with thongs, 
 his head bare, and his hair a mat because he is a 
 stranger to the use of a comb, introduced into a 
 fashionable drawing-room, would be to fastidious 
 modern society an unsightly object; but such was 
 the appearance of George Willets, when, without 
 an introduction and a stranger to everybody, he 
 appeared in the Presbytery of the Cumberland 
 
 27 313
 
 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 Presbyterian Church of Kentucky, and delivered 
 one of the most touching, soul-melting, and soul- 
 inspiring addresses that ever fell from the lips of 
 man, and saved that Church from extinction. 
 This fact, and thousands besides that might be 
 brought forward, prove that religion condescends 
 to mingle with the ignorant, the poor, and the 
 coarse aspects of life. 
 
 To what is called taste and refinement, James 
 Axley never ceased to be a natural curiosity. In 
 childhood he nestled among the canebrakes of 
 Kentucky, and his only schooling in riper years 
 was received in nature's university; but, though 
 unhewn and unpolished, he was a huge block of 
 the purest marble. He combined the simplicity 
 of a child, the tenderness of a woman, the piety 
 of a saint, and the courage of a lion. After 
 preaching a marvelous sermon at Chillicothe, 
 Ohio, Governor Tiffin invited him home to dinner. 
 After grace was said, without waiting to be helped, 
 he took from a plate before him the leg of a fowl, 
 and holding it in his fingers, ate the meat and 
 threw the bones out on the carpet to the dog, just 
 as he would have done in his father's floorless 
 cabin in Kentucky, where he grew "to manhood. 
 Peter Cartwright was at the table, and there would 
 have been a roar of laughter ; but the masterly 
 eyes of Mrs. Tiffin ruled the feast, and sobriety 
 was preserved. Here was a combination of in- 
 tellect, humanity, rudeness, and piety, that was 
 seldom witnessed in such perfection anywhere.
 
 SOCIAL ADAPTATION. 315 
 
 In political times, when "hurrahing" for can- 
 didates for office was the order of the day, a rough, 
 ignorant young man, at a camp-meeting in Ohio, 
 was powerfully converted, and as the best he could 
 do to make his feelings known, he leaped upon a 
 bench, and shouted, "Hurrah for Jesus!" "Hurrah 
 for Jesus!" and who will say that man or angel 
 ever offered to God more acceptable praise? 
 
 And what shall we say of the knock-down, 
 drag-out camp-meetings, with which Cartwright, 
 Finley, Dimmitt, and others, were so familiar, 
 along the border ? Did the Holy Spirit deign to 
 mingle its hallowed influences in such scenes of 
 boisterous rudeness? At a camp-meeting, where 
 Bishops Asbury and McKendree were present, the 
 strong arm of a layman had laid a group of ruf- 
 fians in a heap, the leader of the gang at the 
 bottom ; and after they had been bound, and order 
 restored, Asbury ascended the pulpit to preach. 
 He prefaced the services by saying: "It must be 
 confessed that all our Methodist people are not 
 yet sanctified, and this fact should be understood 
 by the disturbers of the peace, as it is sometimes 
 dangerous to trifle with them." The sermon 
 which followed was attended with the demonstra- 
 tion of the Spirit and power sent down from 
 heaven. One of the most effectual sermons re- 
 sulting in many conversions Cartwright ever 
 preached, was at a camp-meeting on a Sunday 
 night, after he had spent a large part of the day 
 in conquering a peace with a band of ruffians.
 
 316 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 Before his hammer-like fist, some of them, during 
 the day, had fallen to the ground as dead men. 
 Again we ask, Is it possible for religion to exist 
 in the midst of such rudeness? If not, should 
 the people of the border have been abandoned to 
 their follies and crimes? We hesitate not in say- 
 ing that Methodism did well in adapting itself to 
 their condition; and that in the best, if not the 
 only, way possible, it saved them from bar- 
 barism. 
 
 The law of the inevitable is still upon the 
 people of this country. Wealth, education, and 
 elegance were as sure to come as that the years 
 rolled by. Pioneer and backwoods' times are 
 everywhere passing away, and with them their 
 rude conditions of life. Those days had their 
 peculiar glories, but they could not continue for- 
 ever; and our strong attachments for the past 
 should not be allowed to interfere with the duties 
 and responsibilities of the present and of the fu- 
 ture. Whilst Methodism retains a sacred recol- 
 lection of its early triumphs, is it not in a position 
 to bend like energies and equal ability upon the 
 duties of to-day, and to such further duties as 
 changes in society will bring to its door? There 
 is no human element or interest in the Nation, 
 which is not positively criminal and injurious, 
 that is not entitled to the sanction and elevating 
 support of religion. Education may take on a 
 religious or an infidel cast, and such should be 
 the activity of religious educators that the infidel
 
 SOCIAL ADAPTATION. 317 
 
 will find but little that he can do. All other re- 
 finements and elegancies should have, as their 
 crowning excellency, the beauty of Christian 
 graces. 
 
 But some well-meaning people are far more 
 likely to associate religion with poverty than with 
 wealth, with rags than with robes, with ignorance 
 than scholarship, with boorishness than refine- 
 ment, with coarseness than elegance, mistaking 
 outward appearances for the inward graces of the 
 heart. They mistake an exquisite taste, which is 
 partly natural and partly acquired, for vanity and 
 pride. They can, without the least difficulty, dis- 
 cover piety at a border camp-meeting; whereas, 
 in a magnificent sanctuary, in which refinement 
 characterizes all the services, they can see nothing 
 but the pride of taste and art. Especially at the 
 present time, whilst the Church is passing through 
 its transition period from frontier rudeness and 
 poverty to wealth and culture, views and feelings 
 may be greatly mixed some cherishing the no- 
 tion that every Christian should take Lazarus as 
 a model; and if a man is not a Lazarus, he must 
 be the worldly, heartless, godless, rich man. 
 
 But all such crude notions will shortly be out- 
 grown. They will depart with the departing 
 times, and the Church will be free to address all 
 her energies to the momentous present, and pre- 
 pare for the responsibilities of the new future. 
 What that future will be, the present condition of 
 the country reveals with sufficient clearness. If
 
 31 8 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 true to itself and to its mission, the Methodism 
 of the future will grapple with all its questions 
 and interests in the same practical and energetic 
 way that it grappled with its duties in the past. 
 Its business is not to make the world, nor make 
 society, but to take both as it finds them, and 
 give to them the spiritual power of the gospel of 
 Christ. The rudeness of the past our fathers 
 deprecated, but endured; the refinements of the 
 future we should hail with delight, and give 
 to them the purity and elevation of Christian 
 virtues. 
 
 When an evil is called good, society must suf- 
 fer as a consequence, and the calamity is nearly 
 or quite as great when a good is called an evil. 
 Whilst all forms of heathenism and Romanism 
 have put the ban of their condemnation upon 
 things that are perfectly innocent and harmless, 
 they have also authorized crime and elevated 
 human traditions into divine laws. Every form 
 of civil and of social life, from the most primi- 
 tive to the most elegant, has its amusements, re- 
 laxations, and recreations, and these should be 
 regarded as fixed, necessary, and permanent ele- 
 ments of society. Chautauqua has approached 
 the question in its own bold and practical way. 
 Time and room in abundance are appropriated to 
 amusement and recreation. Track and field ath- 
 letics receive special attention. Tennis courts 
 and croquet are open all the season. A tourna- 
 ment is held in August. Match games are fre-
 
 SOCIAL ADAPTATION. 319 
 
 quently played between base-ball nines. Eight- 
 oared crews are formed and trained by college 
 boating men. The bathing beach is perfectly 
 safe. Light cedar boats, of the St. Lawrence 
 River pattern, are kept for rent at reasonable 
 rates. Boating on the lake is found to be a great 
 luxury, especially by the ladies. With a little ex- 
 perience they become expert with the oar. When 
 not absorbing and bewitching, coming in between 
 Christ and the soul, they should receive the sanc- 
 tion of religion, and form in part the joy of the 
 household. That the censure of the Church may 
 be salutary in its effects, it must never be visited 
 where it does not belong. 
 
 Judging from the way Methodism has, from 
 time to time, pushed out of its primitive root new 
 shoots, we judge that it must be full of vitality. 
 Whilst yet an infant, a publishing-house appeared, 
 which, at this early date, has become the greatest, 
 the most vigorous, and fruitful in the world. In 
 1818, a missionary branch shot forth, and already 
 its leaves are used for the healing of the nations. 
 Later a Church Extension shoot came forth from 
 the same roots, and no one can estimate the good 
 it has done. At the close of the war, the cry of 
 some four million freedmen was heard, and Meth- 
 odism stretched forth another arm of moral, edu- 
 cational, and religious service in their behalf. 
 
 In the person of Wm. Taylor, the idea of self- 
 supporting missions was given to the world ; and 
 should his precious life be spared a few years
 
 320 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 longer, we have little doubt that it will be made 
 a practical and permanent reality. 
 
 The present method of Sunday-school work 
 practiced throughout the Protestant world is but 
 an idea, which was made fully effective by Bishop 
 J. H. Vincent, in the Methodist Church, and then 
 given to the world. And what is Chautauqua and 
 the whole Chautauqua movement but an offshoot 
 from the same Methodist root? Originating in 
 the mind of a layman Lewis Miller and liber- 
 ally supported by his generous purse, it has en- 
 joyed the full benefits of the organizing genius of 
 Bishop Vincent, and become, at the end of seven- 
 teen years, one of the wonders of this age. As 
 compared with 1800, a new world in less than a 
 century has appeared. The America of to-day 
 never had an existence before, and the question 
 for Methodists to ask is this: Will Methodism 
 have as firm and intelligent a grip upon the pe- 
 culiar work of the twentieth century as it had 
 upon the work of the nineteenth? The twen- 
 tieth century will have in hand much to do that 
 the nineteenth never dreamed of. As both epochs 
 will soon be before us the one past, the other 
 future do we comprehend the difference between 
 the two periods, and especially the peculiar duties 
 of the present? 
 
 Such Methodists as delude themselves with 
 the notion that Methodism was called to be a 
 John the Baptist to do preparatory, pioneer work, 
 and then pass away, do, to the extent of their
 
 SOCIAL ADAPTATION. 321 
 
 ability, damage their Church. The work of As- 
 bury, the conversion of souls, is now exactly 
 what it meant in his day. There is nothing in 
 the Sunday-school, or Epworth League, or the 
 Chautauqua movement which can in the least 
 modify, or change, or supersede the importance 
 of this work. The strength of the entire Meth- 
 odist body depends upon the healthfulness of this 
 its tap-root. Where the country still calls for pi- 
 oneering, it must be done, unselfishly and devo- 
 tedly, as of yore ; but where the country has be- 
 come rich, and the people live as princes, the 
 Church must remember that her Lord and Master 
 is a Prince, and not forget her high and holy call- 
 ing. All classes in society are alike largely the 
 creatures of circumstances, and they equally need 
 the same Christ and the same gospel. When the 
 Church shall fully realize that the gospel is adapted 
 to the spiritual wants of all people, and that rude- 
 ness is less suited to its spirit than taste and re- 
 finement, it will be able more hopefully to ap- 
 proach its work among the rich. 
 
 Methodism surfers reproach because of the 
 divisions which exist in the great body, and yet 
 much of this censure is undeserved and misplaced. 
 It would be impracticable at present for a General 
 Conference, as a legislative body, to do business 
 in which all the branches of Methodism in this 
 country were properly represented. Not less than 
 eight hundred delegates would be necessary, and 
 such a body would be too large and unwieldy for
 
 322 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 practical work of any kind. The genuineness and 
 unity of Methodism ought not to be affected in the 
 least by the variety which exists in its forms of 
 government. Romanism has preserved unity of or- 
 ganism and doctrinal teaching by suppressing in- 
 vestigation, and denying the rights of private judg- 
 ment to its people ; but Methodism, throughout the 
 world, has preserved doctrinal unity by encourag- 
 ing the widest investigation and the boldest crit- 
 icisms. The body of Christians never lived that 
 presented to the world a brighter or a more lovely 
 aspect than Methodism does in this respect. The 
 boasted unity of Romanism is the result of the 
 mental slavery, degradation, and shame of human- 
 ity ; that of Methodism, the mind's largest liberty 
 and its supreme glory. When we call to mind 
 the great truth that Methodism is, per se, spirit- 
 ual in essence and work, we see that unity now 
 prevails, and that the divisions refer only to the 
 details of its practical operations. The essential 
 spiritual facts in the case, such as constitute the 
 true glory of this great spiritual movement, are 
 mostly concealed from the public gaze, whereas 
 the outward and secondary only attract its at- 
 tention. 
 
 The approaching Ecumenical Council of Meth- 
 odists ought to consider this subject, and formu- 
 late such a declaration as will leave untouched 
 the autonomy of all Methodist bodies, and, at the 
 same time, recognize the spiritual, mental, and 
 doctrinal unity that really exists. As there is no
 
 SOCIAL ADAPTATION. 3 2 3 
 
 schism in Methodism per se, it should be pre- 
 sented to other Churches and to the world in the 
 beautiful robes of its unity. We are the more 
 desirous that action in this respect should be 
 taken at the earliest moment, because of the in- 
 fluence it will have upon the relation the parent 
 Church should sustain to its mission-fields abroad 
 and evangelizing work at home. If organic unity 
 comes, let it come; but it will be the result of 
 growth. 
 
 If what we have written about Methodism is 
 of any value in any particular, it is in what we 
 have said on the adaptation of means to ends. 
 We have seen that, at the time of the infancy of 
 this Nation, the Presbyterian, Congregational, Epis- 
 copal, Papal, and Baptist Churches were not, in spirit 
 and methods of work, adapted to supply the re- 
 ligious wants of the people, and that Methodism 
 was made to spring up, as it were, out of the soil 
 for that purpose. As a consequence, it received 
 its cast primarily from the work it was called to 
 do. Lee, with his Bible and hymn-book in hand, 
 was turned loose in New England. His practical 
 directing law was the demand of the work which 
 presented itself to his hand. Could he revisit the 
 earth, and go over that ground again as a minister 
 of the gospel, how different would be his course! 
 Instead of being left alone on Boston Common at 
 the close of his first service, he would find a wel- 
 come in the hearts of thousands ; and instead of 
 having to spend some days in a vain search for a
 
 324 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 preaching-place, he would not be able to enter 
 half the doors that would be open to him. Would 
 he endeavor to restore the past, or would he take 
 the country as he now found it and conform his 
 labors to its present needs ? 
 
 Well, here we may learn a lesson. As differs 
 1790 from 1890, so differs the United States from 
 China, Corea, Japan, Africa, and India; and we 
 should never make it an aim or an object to repro- 
 duce in form either our Church or our Nation in 
 any of those countries. We are intent on carry- 
 ing and establishing there the power of Method- 
 ism that is, life for the dead and all beyond 
 that work is of secondary importance. The ex- 
 ample set by the American Church in the matter 
 of adaptation of means to ends, should be followed 
 to the very letter by all laborers in foreign fields. 
 They should study the character of the people, 
 the structure of society, the national spirit, and, 
 without attempting to Americanize these, or 
 change their ethnic character in any way, bring 
 them under the power of the gospel. An attempt 
 as a primary object to establish the machinery of 
 a Church of any kind, after the Romish fashion, 
 will, and ought to, defeat the purpose and work 
 of any mission. v 
 
 If the missionary studiously apply himself, in 
 the most practical way, to effect the conversion of 
 souls, and then secure the fruits of his labors, 
 the ecclesiastical organization he needs will grow 
 up around him as it did around Wesley. The life
 
 SOCIAL ADAPTATION. 325 
 
 of an acorn, in its development, takes on the form 
 of an oak, and in this fact we perceive the action 
 of a law which is universal in the nature of all 
 living things and beings. Methodism, as a kind 
 of life, must take on some form wherever it exists; 
 and as Japan and Germany differ from this coun- 
 try and from each other, we may expect the one 
 Methodism, in the different countries, will organ- 
 ize for itself a form of expression and action best 
 suited to each country. British and American 
 Methodism is one in nature, and yet neither could 
 wear the other's clothes. Each is probably the 
 best suited to its own climate, social life, and style 
 of work. 
 
 If, then, we grant autonomy to Methodism in 
 Japan, Germany, Sweden, and other countries, 
 and the Churches clothe themselves with an ec- 
 clesiastical dress differing from each other and 
 from that of the parent body, will they be any 
 the less Methodists on that account? We think 
 not. Wherein Methodism in this country has 
 made mistakes and failed has been as " the clay 
 which marred in the hands of the potter" those 
 countries may profit by our misfortunes, and be a 
 greater success. Not too much authority, not too 
 much government from without, but an abun- 
 dance of spirituality within, and obedience to its 
 laws and demands, are what is needed.* 
 
 Nearly all the divisions which have taken place in the 
 Methodist body, especially in England, may be traced to an 
 excess of ecclesiastical rigidity, suppressing personal convic-
 
 326 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 We see no reason to find fault with the past, 
 and these remarks are made with reference to the 
 highest interests of the near future. Methodism 
 in Mexico, as a mere appendage of American 
 Methodism, is made the victim of all the animos- 
 ity which that people entertain toward this coun- 
 try. As an independent and an integral part of 
 that Republic, and the conservator of its religious 
 interests and its glory, Methodism would present 
 to the people a far different aspect. Bound, as 
 Romanism is in this country, to the authority of 
 the pope, Americans have reason to look upon it 
 with the deepest distrust; and the same prin- 
 ciple applies with some force wherever a Church 
 on the soil of one country is subject to laws 
 which originate in another. 
 
 But have we not in the past cherished a lurk- 
 ing distrust of the capacity of the people, among 
 whom we have planted missions, to care for them- 
 selves? Do we not look upon them too much as 
 if they were sickly infants, which needed a great 
 deal of nursing? We should not forget that till 
 a people reach the point of self-reliance and self- 
 help, they amount to but little. As fast as possi- 
 ble they should be left to think and act for them- 
 selves. In no other way can Christian manhood 
 be developed among them. It is only through 
 the process of staggering that the child can learn 
 
 tions of duty, and spiritual liberty at home. Booth and 
 Bryan, especially, went without the Church to do for human- 
 ity what they were not allowed to do within her pale.
 
 SOCIAL ADAPTATION. 327 
 
 to walk as a man. American Methodism was left 
 to itself not an hour too soon by Mr. Wesley. 
 To the responsibilities it assumed we are to look 
 as the human source of its immense strength. 
 No call after that was made for either men or 
 money from abroad. 
 
 Then, is it not a well understood fact that, if 
 China or any other country ever becomes Chris- 
 tian, it must be through the labors of its own 
 people? That Christianity must, as it were, be- 
 come indigenous, and grow up out of its own 
 soil; be watered by its tears; and that one 
 country can never impose upon another country 
 its form of religion? It is largely the operation 
 ot this law which has saved this country from the 
 curse of Romanism, and which will protect us in 
 the future from the grasp of its power. 
 
 In many respects the Chinese have given proof 
 of good capacity for scholarship, government, war, 
 business, and trade; and if thoroughly converted 
 and instructed in the doctrines of the Bible, we 
 an see no reason why the affairs of the Church 
 should not be intrusted to their hands. If they 
 can act a man's part in the affairs of the world, 
 why not in the propagation of the gospel ? They 
 know their country ; they understand the spirit of 
 its people; they can speak their language; and 
 unless there is some occult defect in their char- 
 acter, they shoiild be thoroughly trusted. If 
 Christianity would, within a few years, die out in 
 China, in case all foreign missionaries should
 
 328 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 leave that country, the fact would demonstrate 
 that they are now cultivating a barren field ; but 
 we do not believe it, and we are not sure but that 
 the increased responsibility which would in that 
 case fall upon the shoulders of the native con- 
 verts would be the best thing that could happen 
 to them. The proper adjustment of all these 
 questions is to have an important bearing upon 
 the future of the Methodist Church. 
 
 The latest developments from the root of 
 Methodism the order of deaconesses, and the 
 Epworth League we have not seen proper to 
 notice at length, as they are of recent origin, and 
 have not become general in the Church, or of 
 National importance. Both branches have, how- 
 ever, started well, and promise great usefulness. 
 If they shall prove to be vital with Methodist 
 sap, there can be no doubt of their success; but 
 if they are human contrivances, or mere imita- 
 tions of something which has existed elsewhere, 
 they will speedily come to naught. Should the 
 lyeague become a success, and the Herald its* 
 organ gain a circulation of 200,000 or more 
 copies, Methodism would become a less valuable 
 harvest-field for other denominations than it has 
 been in the past. 
 
 There are three lines of work before the Meth- 
 odist Church which must never be lost sight of 
 for an hour. The first is the thorough regenera- 
 tion of the soul by the Holy Spirit. For this 
 there can be no substitute. The absence of such
 
 SOCIAL ADAPTATION. 329 
 
 work in the Church strips it of its mission, leav- 
 ing behind empty forms and dead ceremonies. 
 If this question is always viewed in the light of 
 Scripture and the past history of the Church, its 
 importance can not be misunderstood? 
 
 Then, as only second in importance, is the 
 adjustment of means to ends of labor to the 
 times to the condition and wants of the country. 
 The fundamental elements of religion can never 
 change; but changes in society are always coming 
 and going, and every change brings a new want 
 to the surface. The religion which brought a 
 man out of the gutter and poverty and misery, 
 should follow him into his palace, and be his 
 strength and solace there. 
 
 And finally, in its missionary work the Church 
 should remember that the nations need the light 
 of the gospel, and that the ecclesiastical form the 
 religious life may take on is a secondary matter. 
 When we have done for a country about what 
 Wesley did for America, we should gradually 
 withdraw our hand, and give the people the ben- 
 efits of self-reliance give religion a chance to 
 become indigenous to the soil, and not remain a 
 foreign importation. The complaint of the pun- 
 dits of India that we preach to them a European 
 Christ, should be silenced. 
 
 28
 
 << yjjf^J'E believe in the headship of the great Redeemer, in 
 whom man is divine. Under his leadership there is 
 'progress,' a progress of the individual in knowledge, ho- 
 liness, and fitness for an inheritance with the saints in light; 
 a progress of the gospel of Christ, by means of his Church, 
 to a universal millennial triumph ; a progress of the world's 
 history, under the guidance of Providence, until its consum- 
 mation in the final judgment of the human race by the eter- 
 nal Son of God." WHEDON. 
 330
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE WORK OF METH- 
 ODISM. 
 
 IN old countries, where governments are despotic, 
 society, from generation to generation, remains 
 about the same thing over and over again ; but in 
 a vast and rapidly-growing republic, like the 
 American, change is the order of the day. The 
 old is ever departing and the new demanding at- 
 tention. For the Church to become stereotyped 
 and fixed in its activities, is to become obsolete 
 and worthless. As our country is advancing in 
 all directions with rapid strides, if the Church 
 would retain her hold upon all phases of society 
 she must turn her back upon past forms of work, 
 however glorious, and fix her attention upon the 
 present and the inrushing of a mighty future. 
 She must never forget that the business of the 
 nineteenth will not be the business of the twen- 
 tieth century. As a condition of entering fully 
 into the spirit of the new age, and grasping firmly 
 its duties, it may become necessary for the Church 
 to be born again. Old leaven that has been used 
 has expended its force, and is good for nothing. 
 It must be cast out. As a new lump, the Church 
 m.ust start off in a new career and engage in new 
 conquests. What is valuable of the past can be 
 
 331
 
 332 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 retained only as it is utilized in future conflicts 
 and victories. 
 
 In this matter of change, Methodism is man- 
 ifesting a most commendable aptitude. At this 
 early stage of its history it is deep in the work 
 of education. Its grasp of missionary work is 
 world-wide, and there are Methodists now living 
 who expect to see heathen nations evangelized. 
 The unfortunate freed men have found in Method- 
 ism their most powerful and steadfast friend. In 
 the matter of church-building and Church exten- 
 sion, the strong have contributed many millions 
 of dollars to help the weak ; and to-day the Church 
 is alive to all the interests of the Nation, spiritual, 
 moral, political, and commercial. 
 
 From experience, the Church has already 
 learned that it can deal with nothing successfully 
 unless it make each item of work a specialty. 
 " Glittering generalities " accomplish nothing. 
 Clear conceptions of specific work are essential 
 to success. The Church has now in hand the 
 forces, and she is in position to take hold of any 
 human interest which may demand attention. 
 As a part of the Nation, and as the conservator of 
 its highest well-being, it is called upon by both 
 right and duty to bring its influence to bear upon 
 all the affairs of the Government. Without re- 
 gard to party, the good is to be openly supported 
 and the bad as decisively condemned. Should the 
 President appoint to a high and honorable office 
 one whose character or principles are condemned
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE WORK. 333 
 
 by the best part of the people, he should at once 
 be made to feel the scorch of their indignation, 
 and at the earliest moment be retired to private life. 
 Should the Vice-President give to the country an 
 example which is an encouragement to vice and 
 profligacy, the press and the pulpit alike should 
 take him in hand, and place him on the level his 
 conduct merits. Senators, judges, legislators, and 
 the governors of States should know and feel, be- 
 yond the possibility of forgetfulness or doubt, 
 that there is abroad a mighty and ever-active 
 moral sentiment to which they are amenable. 
 That the Church may exercise its legitimate and 
 full power in this respect, it must belong to no 
 party, and be free from everything that looks like 
 political or Jesuitical intrigue. 
 
 The only antidote for the corruption which 
 seems to be inherent in politics is found in an in- 
 telligent and bold public demand that the right 
 prevail a sentiment which, argus-eyed, watches 
 kindly the good, and, as a moral Nemesis, pursues 
 the evil. The Church should really be a moral 
 terror to bad men, who, by any means, have at- 
 tained to places of public trust. As the Nation 
 becomes great, and the affairs of the Government 
 complex and far-reaching, the ever-watchful con- 
 servative power of the Church should be ubiqui- 
 tous and constantly felt. 
 
 The time has come when this subject should 
 receive the careful attention of our keenest and 
 broadest minds. Annual and General Confer-
 
 334 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 ences, as well as the pulpit, should, when needed, 
 reproduce the thunders of Mount Sinai. Without 
 mixing or meddling with party politics, the Church 
 should place upon every National interest the im- 
 press of Christian principles. The more fully 
 Protestantism does its duty along all the lines of 
 National development, the less evil and un-Amer- 
 ican influences the Jesuits of Rome will be able 
 to accomplish in behalf of popery. The time is 
 near when Methodism, in this respect, must arise 
 and make her power more fully felt than it has 
 been in the past. 
 
 The pressure of Church influence upon the 
 Columbian Fair should be such that the author- 
 ities will clearly see that, with the gates open on 
 Sunday, and saloons established on the premises, 
 it can not be a success. When Christians respect 
 themselves and their religion, they will command 
 the love, if not the fear of others. 
 
 The evil which corrupts and afflicts American 
 society at the present time, quite as much as any 
 other, is technically known as the social question, 
 and none is less promising of an early abatement. 
 Compared to this, the evil of intemperance is per- 
 haps of but secondary importance. We know but 
 little of it for the reason that we recoil in disgust 
 from the investigation before it is half completed. 
 Whatever treatment it has received has been ren- 
 dered in a general, indefinite, and ineffective man- 
 ner. Mr. D. S. Moody, whose common sense is 
 marvelous, and whose means of observation have
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE WORK. 335 
 
 been very extensive, is credited with having said 
 that the places of ill-repute in this country have 
 been largely supplied from Sunday-schools. Now, 
 we wish to say that the time is at hand when the 
 Church should give special attention to this de- 
 plorable feature of American life. At present we 
 are drifting, and dealing in aimless generalities. 
 It is important that there be brought to bear upon 
 this subject the genius which made the pioneer 
 ministry of Methodism so glorious. It calls for 
 the study of the statesman, the. shrewdness of 
 the politician, and the practical wisdom of the 
 divine. 
 
 But few of the abandoned can be redeemed. 
 But they will soon be gone, for with them life is 
 short. The overshadowing question to be asked 
 is, What can be done to preserve the young and 
 innocent? Around this point the rally of an im- 
 mense and well-organized force should be made. 
 As the Order of Deaconesses has been restored to 
 the Church, is there not here a field the women 
 can enter and do a vast amount of good? To 
 begin, it is necessary that special and universal 
 attention be called to the importance of the chas- 
 tity of the Nation, and then formally to organize 
 the work necessary to preserve it. Should the 
 Churches of the land enter into a league, offensive 
 and defensive, for this specific purpose, the effects 
 would, in time, everywhere be felt. As the Church 
 should always adapt itself to the work of the times 
 in which it lives, Methodism must arise and shake
 
 336 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 herself, and bestow upon this subject the shrewd- 
 ness and the zeal which has characterized its action 
 in other respects. A special baptism for this work 
 may be needed. As the conservator of the Nation's 
 morals, the Church can not ignore or evade the 
 question. Various suggestions come to mind, but 
 we distrust their wisdom. A knowledge of the 
 best methods of action can be learned only by the 
 experience of specialists, who may consecrate 
 themselves to this department of work. Preserve 
 the innocent, and in ten years the social question 
 will be practically solved. 
 
 The relation of the Church to temperance has 
 already been discussed at length, and it is only 
 necessary to add that, in all probability, a great 
 battle is pending in the near future, and that 
 Methodism must retain its place in the lead. In 
 the center of the Nation a column of prohibition 
 States is in line of battle, and their position must 
 be fortified and held against the fiercest assaults 
 of the enemy. This field of labor calls for all 
 the ability, zeal, and boldness of the primitive 
 pioneer. 
 
 One of the alarming phases of American life is 
 the prevalence of divorce. It is thought by many 
 that the very existence of the marriage covenant 
 is threatened by it. In the twenty years which 
 intervened between 1867 and 1887, 328,716 di- 
 vorces were granted in the United States, turning 
 loose upon society 657,432 divorced persons. To 
 this extent divorce has abolished marriage, and
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE WORK. 337 
 
 the evil is increasing from year to year in nearly 
 all the States of the Union with great rapidity. 
 At this time not less than fifteen thousand di- 
 vorces take place annually among us. Probably 
 in every hundred divorces ninety-nine of the num- 
 ber seeking to sunder the marriage tie have met 
 somebody else they desire to marry. In such 
 cases something must be done to meet the re- 
 quirements of the law, or else, on the mere no- 
 tions of a judge, a divorce must be procured. 
 What complicates and renders more difficult a so- 
 lution of this problem is, the variety of laws 
 which prevail in different States on this subject. 
 From one of the " Present-day Papers," in the 
 Century, on " Problems of the Family," written 
 by Rev. Samuel W. Dike, we quote the following: 
 "Out of the total of 328,716 divorces granted 
 in the United States in the twenty years from 
 1867 to 1886 inclusive, 289,546 were granted to 
 couples who had been married in this country, 
 and only 7,739 were from marriages celebrated in 
 foreign countries. The place of the marriage of 
 31,389 is unknown. One-fourth of these latter are 
 reported from Connecticut, as that State does not 
 require a disclosure of the place of marriage in its 
 libels for divorce. Now, the report shows that 
 out o, the 289,546 divorces, whose place of mar- 
 riage was in this country and was ascertained, 
 231,867, or 80. i per cent, took place in the same 
 State where the persons divorced had been mar- 
 ried, and 57,679 couples, or 19.9 per cent, obtained 
 
 29
 
 338 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 divorce in some other State. The migration from 
 State to State to obtain divorce must therefore be 
 included within this 19.9 per cent. But it can 
 not be even anything like the whole of it ; for in 
 1870 there were 23.2 per cent, and in 1880, 22.1 per 
 cent, of the native-born population of this country 
 living in States where they were not born. Of 
 course, this last class comprises persons of all ages, 
 while that under special consideration is made up 
 of those who migrated between the date of mar- 
 riage and that of divorce. The length of married 
 life before divorce in the United States averages 
 9.17 years, which, I think, is from one-third to 
 one-half the average continuation of a marriage 
 in those instances where divorce does not occur. 
 Careful study may lead to a reasonably correct 
 approximation to the proper reduction from the 
 19.9 per cent, and thus give the probable percent- 
 age of cases of migration to obtain divorce ; but 
 at present I would not venture an opinion on the 
 point. It certainly is a very small part of all the 
 divorces of the country, though varying in differ- 
 ent States. But the necessity of such investiga- 
 tion is the point it illustrates. The discovery of 
 these facts alone justifies the cost of the invalu- 
 able report of the Department of Labor. It can 
 hardly fail to compel the study of the problem of 
 uniformity from almost entirely new points of 
 view as to its real nature and place in the general 
 question." 
 
 When, where, and by whom has this evil been
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE WORK. 339 
 
 systematically attacked? If ready to advance, 
 has the Church decided upon its line of action? 
 Shall it strike at the root of the difficulty, and 
 labor to make all marriages wise or fortunate? 
 Shall a special effort be made to infuse into the 
 marriage covenant more of the religious element? 
 Shall the Church take a stand against granting a 
 divorce for any reason whatever, but permit in 
 certain cases a separation ? Were a second mar- 
 riage impossible while a husband or a wife were 
 living, would not applications for separation be 
 reduced at least seventy-five per cent? Can the 
 marriage covenant be preserved only on this 
 ground? Can any other policy save society from 
 hasty and inconsiderate marriages? The early 
 power and zeal of Methodism, once expended 
 upon motley crowds which have mostly disap- 
 peared, must be brought to bear upon this ques- 
 tion ; and, as an element of American life, it de- 
 mands immediate attention. Whatever action 
 legislation may take, practical results can be 
 reached only as community is brought under the 
 influence of a vital Christianity. A special bap- 
 tism for this work the Church may need. 
 
 One of the demoralizing and disturbing ele- 
 ments of society is the still unsettled labor ques- 
 tion. If left solely to the management of capital 
 on the one side, and labor on the other, the con- 
 test will be between two antagonistic powers of 
 selfishness, and the mightiest will prevail. On 
 such a basis no permanent settlement of any kind
 
 340 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 can be effected. In order to permanency, a sense 
 of justice and right must prevail on both sides. 
 Legislation and labor combinations may help the 
 question, at times, in some localities; but practi- 
 cal results, satisfactory to all, can be reached only 
 by the conscientious adherence of all parties to 
 the Christian principles of the brotherhood of man. 
 The capitalist should have an interest, not only in 
 labor, but in the laborer, and this feeling should 
 be freely reciprocated by the sons of toil. This 
 condition of things can be brought about only as 
 the Church penetrates mines, enters the work- 
 shops, touches the rich, and lays its hands kindly 
 and gently upon this great national interest. 
 
 By way of comparison and contrast, for pur- 
 poses of illustration, we have had frequent occa- 
 sion to refer to Romanism as a foreign element 
 which is in every way antagonistic to American 
 institutions, and further reference to it is unneces- 
 sary. The part the Church is to take in giving 
 homogeneity to the people of the Republic has 
 been considered, and now we wish to call special 
 attention to the duty of all classes to the urban 
 population of our country. A glance at Lon- 
 don, an Anglo-Saxon city and one of the foulest 
 blots on the face of creation indeed, for misery 
 and vileness it can not be exceeded will show us 
 what condition New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, 
 Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco will be 
 within a century. On the one hand, there will 
 be immense wealth, the wildest extravagance in
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE WORK. 341 
 
 the daily affairs of life, and the most gilded cor- 
 ruptions; and on the other, the most abject pov- 
 erty, the deepest ignorance, and the most shame- 
 less profligacy. Whitechapel fiends will abound, 
 though but few will take risks in making their 
 work conspicuous. There are in London to-day 
 human beings (men, women, and children), enough 
 to found a State, whose condition presents every 
 conceivable aspect of degradation and misery 
 the result of an unconquerable tendency of people 
 to crowd together in cities. Even at this early 
 day, about one-fourth of the inhabitants of this 
 country are collected together in our cities. The 
 case is all the worse, because the most of our for- 
 eign population stop in these places. Less than 
 one-third of the people of the United States is 
 either of foreign birth or parentage, yet eighty- 
 eight per cent of the population of New York is 
 foreign; sixty-three per cent of Boston; sixty-two 
 per cent of Cleveland; and ninety-one per cent of 
 Chicago. In the aggregate we have here a com- 
 bination of elements which are to be dreaded: 
 i. Immense wealth, with its power and corrup- 
 tion. 2. A still greater amount of poverty and 
 its degradations. 3. The saloons those "nerve 
 centers" one to about every two hundred inhab- 
 itants. 4. Romanism the implacable enemy of 
 American institutions under the direction of Jes- 
 uitical priests, the agents of the pope. 5. The 
 corrupt influence of the political "boss." The 
 time has been when Morrissey, Tweed, Kelly, etc.,
 
 342 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 had absolute control of from fifty thousand to one 
 hundred thousand votes in New York City, and 
 could sell them to the highest bidder. Morrissey 
 and Kelly were devout Catholics, and the vast 
 sums of money put into the hands of the Romish 
 hierarchy attest the influence of the Jesuit over 
 them. The boss in Tammany Hall, and the 
 priest in the confessional, did the work. 6. The 
 illiterate and ignorant foreign element, unfortu- 
 nately clothed with the highest privileges of an 
 American citizen, and yet utterly incapable of 
 using them for the good of the country. 7. Storm 
 centers, where slumbering anarchy and riot are 
 liable on the least provocation to break forth, 
 and, with bomb and bullet, drench the streets in 
 blood. 8. A wickedness which, in variety and 
 turpitude, as far surpasses the crimes of the can- 
 nibal of Africa and the savage of America as civ- 
 ilization, science, and art enable man to be 
 more competent in devising methods of action. 
 
 Such is the field of labor that is before the 
 Church, and it is anything but white unto the 
 harvest. Asbury, Garrettson, and that class of 
 preachers, never faced a work so great and so 
 difficult of accomplishment. What were scaling 
 mountains, fording rivers, sleeping on the ground, 
 living on hominy and venison, and preaching to 
 an eager and willing people, compared to fighting 
 the saloon, checking the fascinations of wealth, 
 breathing life into the despair and remorse of 
 poverty and crime, circumventing a Jesuit, detect-
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE WORK. 343 
 
 ing the wiles of a "boss" politician, and making 
 American Christians of the millions of foreigners 
 who have come among us to stay? Great as was 
 the work of the early pioneers, and gloriously as 
 they accomplished it, all will be lost unless the 
 Methodists of to-day prove themselves equal to 
 the work they have in hand. 
 
 Now the weapons of our warfare are not 
 carnal not pugilistic, not political, nor military 
 nevertheless mighty through God to the pulling 
 down of the strongholds of the enemy. 
 
 It is necessary that a mighty will and a per- 
 sistent effort be brought into this field of action. 
 It is useless to ask people to decline to become 
 rich ; or, if they are rich, to become poor, but a 
 rich man may be asked to be, in the fullest sense 
 of the word, a Christian citizen and a patriot. 
 We may point out to him a work costing hun- 
 dreds of thousands of dollars which, if done, 
 will be for the good of humanity and a blessing 
 to his country. If we fail the first time, we can 
 try' again; and when we have utterly failed, we 
 will give way to some one else. Where the re- 
 ligious and the humane elements fail to influence 
 him, the scientific or the artistic may succeed. 
 Somewhere along the line of noble action wealth 
 must be brought to the foot of the Cross. When- 
 ever a man or woman manifests an aptitude for 
 city evangelism, the party should be kept in that 
 field of labor. Here we shall come into contact 
 with education, intelligence, culture, refinement,
 
 344 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 and elegance, and in every case these things 
 should be treated as possible' auxiliaries in the 
 cause of Christ. Earth has no treasures, no 
 myrrh, no frankincense, no ointment, which are 
 too costly or too precious to be laid at either the 
 cradle or the cross of Christ. Whatever element 
 of society we meet, which should not be destroyed, 
 should be made to contribute to the uplift of so- 
 ciety and the glory of God. 
 
 First of all, this problem of city evangeliza- 
 tion must receive the most profound and prayer- 
 ful consideration. The best minds and the most 
 devout souls in the Church must become enlisted 
 in its behalf. We doubt if America presents to 
 the Christian citizen another question of equal 
 importance, for all others are included in it. It 
 can not safely be relegated to education, politics, 
 social influence, or municipal authority. In the 
 absence of the evangelizing power of the gospel 
 of Christ, there is no ground for hope. This 
 power must not be confined to the sanctuary, but 
 transferred to the streets, the alleys, the market- 
 places, the highways, and the byways of life. 
 For the successful prosecution of this work, the 
 Church must receive a special baptism from on 
 high. 
 
 From these considerations, we think it must 
 be apparent that to be successful, to be to the 
 country as " new wine in a new bottle," to main- 
 tain its grip upon all phases of society, each dec- 
 ade and each century of Methodism must adapt
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE WORK. 345 
 
 itself to the conditions and the work of its own 
 day. Methodist pioneering must necessarily de- 
 part as the forests disappear, and cities, villages, 
 and harvest-fields cover the country ; the coarse 
 poverty of the backwoods yield to the culture 
 and refinement of wealth and leisure. These 
 things must and ought so to be. 
 
 But the change which thus takes place in the 
 nature of the work of the Church, does not lessen, 
 but rather increases, its toils and responsibilities. 
 The sources and strength of evil increase with 
 the growth of the Nation, and the new conditions 
 must be attacked as vigorously by the present 
 generation as were the primitive conditions by 
 our fathers. If we sit down, and think and dream 
 over the past, and, with a sigh, indulge the idea 
 that the former times were better than these, we 
 shall die in our nest, and the country will march 
 on without us; but if we maintain our alignment, 
 and, with unbroken ranks, hold the front line in 
 the march of progress in the future as we have 
 done in the past, Methodism will remain the evan- 
 gelizing power of the Nation. 
 
 In the meantime, we must not forget that 
 Methodism is a development of spiritual life in 
 the souls of degenerate men. The history of the 
 conversion of sinners will not be written till the 
 trump of the judgment shall sound. All preach- 
 ing is empty and useless from which this idea is 
 excluded. Christ is of no account when there is 
 not a sinner to be saved, and the Spirit is useless
 
 346 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 where there are no dead to be made alive. These 
 things constitute the soul of Methodism, and a 
 soulless Methodism we do not care to see. To 
 the spirituality of the Church we are to look for 
 the hiding of God's power. The demands of the 
 past and the present in this respect are alike. 
 "Without me," said Christ, "ye can do nothing, 
 and ye shall receive power after that the Holy 
 Spirit has come upon you." 
 
 Transfer these considerations into the not far- 
 off future, when all the public lands shall have 
 become private property, when pioneer work shall 
 have become completed, when the population of 
 the country shall have reached the enormous 
 number of two hundred millions, and its wealth 
 shall be as many billions, and all the forces of the 
 Nation, good and bad, shall have increased to an 
 equal extent, and inquire: Will Methodism be 
 then the same power in the great Republic that 
 it is to-day? If there is truth in the theory of 
 evolution, it might be invoked to afford us light on 
 this subject. It is clear that the Church of to- 
 day is the result of the toil and the fidelity of the 
 fathers; and it is also certain that if we, in the 
 same spirit, grasp and properly mold the present, a 
 grand future will be the consequence. If we at- 
 tempt to turn the tide of events backward, and do 
 over again the work of the fathers, the present 
 and the future will be sacrificed, and no good 
 done anywhere. No past period of the Church 
 will ever be lived over again. It is as impossible
 
 PRESENT AND FUTURE WORK. 347 
 
 as that the mighty oak should become a sapling 
 once more. 
 
 The growth and expansion of the country are 
 inevitable, because subject to natural law, and 
 there is no reason why the Church should not 
 keep step to its progress. With the increase of 
 its millions of people, the millions of Christians 
 should multiply. The forces of evil will grow 
 apace, but they may be circumvented by the agen- 
 cies of the Church. For every wrong there is pro- 
 vided an opposing blessing. The motto of the 
 Church should be, "Overcome evil with good." 
 And will not the time come when some organic 
 and specific good will be pitted against each spe- 
 cific evil of society? Where sin abounds grace 
 may much more abound ; and may not the abound- 
 ing good abolish the evil? 
 
 Such, it seems, is the mission of the Church. 
 Looking backwards may inspire us with zeal, but 
 a thorough study of the present and the near 
 future is necessary to well-directed action. At 
 every change in the expanding bottle the preserv- 
 ing power of the wine should make its presence 
 felt.
 
 " ( 3|* ? we Believe that Methodism has been wonderfully hon- 
 ^ ored of God in advancing his kingdom, and with God's 
 blessing is now performing a part unequaled by any other 
 religious body in evangelizing and saving the world, these are 
 all-sufficient reasons for our existence as a distinct denomina- 
 tion. These are reasons, too, why Methodism should be made 
 to do her best. Let Methodism be more thoroughly and zeal- 
 ously worked. Improve it, we should, if we can; but, at all 
 events, work it ! work it ! ! Let every Methodist work Meth- 
 odism." DORCHESTER. 
 348
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 TO FULFILL ITS MISSION, METHODISM MUST BK 
 TRUE AND LOYAL TO ITSELF. 
 
 IN a former chapter we have referred to a mis- 
 take which Luther apparently made, and which, 
 with superior wisdom, Wesley avoided. Luther 
 gave a part of his time and strength to the preach- 
 ing affirmatively of the doctrines of the Reforma- 
 tion justification by faith but he was never so 
 thoroughly himself as when dealing sledge-ham- 
 mer blows upon the corruptions of popery, as 
 "the man of sin." He was not only exempt from 
 the fear of man and devil, but he hesitated not a 
 moment to hurl his missiles of denunciation in 
 the face of princes, cardinals, popes, and kings, 
 whenever he thought they deserved reproof or 
 needed chastisement. As a consequence, the Ref- 
 ormation was a cloudy mixture of the evangelical, 
 the political, the ecclesiastical, and social elements 
 of Europe during the sixteenth century. The 
 fermentation touched the bottom of society, the 
 Vatican felt its presence, it shook every throne on 
 the Continent, and lasted long enough to form an 
 epoch in the history of the world. Then a reac- 
 tion set in; and as popery, infidelity, crime, and 
 worldliness were rapidly rendering society in 
 
 349
 
 350 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 the eighteenth century intolerable, Wesley 
 appeared. 
 
 Wesley rightly judged that affirmative, posi- 
 tive evil had not been incorporated by an act of 
 creation in the constitution of nature, and that in 
 the realm of redemption, where sin had abounded, 
 "grace did much more abound." Hence he 
 judged that the wrongs of this world, crushing 
 poor humanity down to the depths of degradation 
 and misery, could not exist were it not for the 
 absence or perversion of some positive and possi- 
 ble good, placed within humanity's reach. In 
 his ultimate analysis he reached the conclusion 
 that the absence from the soul of man of spirit- 
 ual life, leaving it spiritually dead, was the root 
 and the cause of the debasement and suffering of 
 our race. From this stand-point he could see, 
 with clearness of vision, that though learning, 
 logic, anathemas, and wrathful denunciations might 
 be hurled upon popery, infidelity, and crime to- 
 day with deadly effect, they would revive to-mor- 
 row. Such policy was like plucking bad fruit 
 from a bad tree, and leaving the tree unchanged. 
 The evil could be permanently overcome only by 
 bringing in the fullness of the things that were 
 good. Both the Wesleys clearly saw that the 
 hearts of the people could be made right, and the 
 race elevated, only as the purifying power of the 
 gospel expelled the bad, and took its place. The 
 new wine of the Kingdom must fill the vessel to 
 the brim, and then hold possession. They held
 
 METHODIST LOYALTY REQUIRED. 35 1 
 
 that, whatever the evils of the world might be, 
 there was enough of good in the unsearchable 
 riches of grace and providence to afford a full 
 supply for all human wants. 
 
 Such was the basal principle of Wesley's the- 
 ology, and it served as the key-note to all the 
 labors of his life. As a result, he was ever on the 
 lookout for good in everybody; recognized it 
 wherever he could find it, however small the 
 quantity, and endeavored to add thereto. He 
 spent no time in waging war upon either the dead 
 State Church, or the cold and useless Non-con- 
 formist Churches. He did not attempt by de- 
 nunciation to expel their darkness; but, after 
 pointing out their apostasies, as the better course 
 he labored night and day to bring the light of the 
 gospel of Christ to bear upon them. He saw 
 that the logical argument against English deism 
 was exhausted, and that nothing but the prom- 
 ised appearance of the God of all grace, according 
 to his Word, could win the day. This the deist 
 had a right to demand. He so fully preached 
 Christ that it was manifest to all that the Chris- 
 tian might be complete in him without the aid of 
 popery. Incidentally, he made it appear that 
 there was no necessary connection between them. 
 This conviction was made to penetrate the minds 
 of men, not by a negative warfare on Romanism, 
 but by the affirmative preaching of the "fullness 
 of the blessings of the gospel of Christ." 
 
 The crimes and evils of the world were pal-
 
 352 OUR CO UNTR Y AND ME THODISM. 
 
 pable enough to every one; but that they might 
 be hated and abandoned, they must be seen and 
 felt in the light and blessedness of Christianity. 
 Working aggressively along this line, all the 
 ground taken was pre-empted, occupied, and held. 
 The mind, from which ignorance, darkness, unbe- 
 lief, and hatred were expelled, was occupied by 
 knowledge, light, faith, and love. The expulsion 
 of evil was effected by the ingress of a mightier 
 good. Christ, received by faith, rendered unnec- 
 essary the intervention of pope or priest in behalf 
 of the individual. It thus incidentally became 
 apparent to thousands that distinctive Romanism 
 was a gigantic apostasy, and deism a falsehood. 
 
 Wesley was not an iconoclast; on the other 
 hand, he lost no opportunity to aid the State and 
 Non-conformist Churches to the full extent of his 
 power. He felt that he was called to lead the 
 hosts of God's elect into the fresh development 
 of a special dispensation of grace, and place the 
 Church on a higher plane of spirituality than it 
 had ever enjoyed before. His experience in these 
 labors opened to him a new world of spiritual 
 activity, and shattered much of the ecclesiastical 
 machinery and millinery he had cherished from 
 his youth. In laboring to bring in the good, 
 Wesley's influence upon the evils of his age was 
 probably a thousand times greater than it would 
 have been had he, like a Juvenal or a Luther, 
 spent his life in attacking them directly. As it 
 is the gospel which is "the power of God unto
 
 METHODIST LOYAL TY REQ UIRED. 353 
 
 salvation," lie bent all his energies to its propaga- 
 tion. Hence the wave of spirituality, which, 
 under God, he set in motion a century and a half 
 ago, still rolls on, and seems to prophesy the con- 
 quest of the world. 
 
 The " Dark Ages," brought on the world by 
 the admixture of heathenism, Judaism, Greek 
 philosophy, Roman mythology, and Christianity 
 culminating in Romanism, can never regain its 
 ancient sway, and it seems impossible that the 
 Protestant Churches should again lapse back into 
 the state of ungodliness in which Wesley found 
 them. 
 
 Then the policy of expelling the evil by bring- 
 ing in the good should be continued till the king- 
 doms of this world shall become the kingdom of 
 our Lord and his Christ not that we should re- 
 main in ignorance of the arguments of the infi- 
 del, or the intrigues of the Jesuit, or the spread 
 of false doctrines of any kind, or fail to expose 
 and denounce them ; but the real Christian has 
 better work in hand than to devote his life and 
 energies to the negative work of fighting the devil 
 or anything else. The average Romanist is a 
 specimen of fossilized ignorance and superstition, 
 and it is as well to let him alone. In such ranks 
 may be found once in an age a regenerate soul 
 and a brother beloved. A Jesuit priest is an ar- 
 tificial structure, a mechanical perversion of na- 
 ture's work, in whom little of the human and 
 none of the angelic can be found. Change in
 
 354 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 him is as impossible as in the spots of the leop- 
 ard. Let him alone. Follow Wesley's example. 
 Work along the lines of the affirmative, and dis- 
 place the evils of the world by bringing in and 
 leavening society with the good and the true. 
 
 We are not in the least alarmed at the spread 
 of Romanism in this country. The only danger 
 arises from the low, selfish, and unpatriotic dispo- 
 sition of political demagogues to use the Jesuit 
 priests for party purposes. What popery gains 
 in this country is twice as great a loss to the Old 
 World. It is seldom that an American becomes a 
 papist; but even were the superstition spreading 
 among our own people, our counsel still would 
 be, Bring in the light. To circumvent the Jesuit, 
 " get there " first. 
 
 It may be an encouragement to Protestants to 
 take a glance at Romanism through Romish 
 glasses, and see it as it appears to them. I quote 
 from Dorchester's " Christianity in the United 
 States," a most invaluable work : 
 
 " In 1857, Bishop England, of South Carolina, 
 in a letter to the Lyons Propaganda, said: 'If 
 there had been no losses, the number of Catholics 
 would have amounted to 4,000,000; estimated 
 loss from 2,800,000 to 3,000,000,' more than one- 
 half. Rev. Robert Mullen, D. D., as the result 
 of an elaborate statistical calculation, said : ' Of 
 the number of Irish Catholics emigrating to the 
 United States, one-third, at least, are lost to the 
 Roman Catholic Church.' Archbishop Hughes
 
 ME THODIST LOYAL TY REQ UIRED. 355 
 
 said: 'The people at home [Ireland] do not fully 
 understand the position of the emigrants, thou- 
 sands being lost in the large cities, while in the 
 country the faith has died out of multitudes.'" 
 (Christian Union, August, 1852, p. 251.) 
 
 A correspondent of the Freeman's Journal, 
 June 5, 1852, said: "We know of a Catholic 
 couple who settled in an adjoining county some 
 seventy or eighty years ago. Their descendants 
 are very numerous, but there is not now a Cath- 
 olic among them." Numerous cases of a similar 
 kind are given. The editor of the Celt, lecturing 
 in Ireland, advised his countrymen to stay at 
 home, assigning as a reason that the Roman Cath- 
 olic Church loses sixty per cent of the children of 
 Roman Catholic parents in the United States. 
 The Tablet, New York City, said: "Few insur- 
 ance companies, we venture to assert, would take 
 a risk on the national life of a creed which puts 
 five hundred daily into the grave for one it wins 
 over to its communion ; and yet this is what the 
 Catholic Church is doing in these States while we 
 write." An archbishop in Ireland, after visiting 
 the United States, said to his people on his re- 
 turn: "It is far better for you to live here in pov- 
 erty and die in the faith, and be sure of saving 
 your immortal soul and going to heaven, than 
 to go to a country where thousands upon thou- 
 sands of our race our Irish race deny the 
 faith." (German Catholic Year-book.) 
 
 Speaking of the period in which the hierarchy
 
 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 has been in existence in this country (1790-1876), 
 the biographer of Bishop Spaulding says: "We 
 have lost in number far more than we have 
 gained, if I may express an opinion, beyond a 
 doubt." I. O'Kane Murray, in his "History of the 
 Roman Catholic Church in the United States," p. 
 583, says: "It may be safely said that more 
 Catholics have fallen away from the faith in this 
 country, during the last two centuries and a half, 
 than are to-day living in it." "As to the Church's 
 losses in the United States, it is no easy problem 
 to solve. . . . The earnest student of history is 
 obliged to confess that it is very large ; but how 
 large it may have been is an unsettled question." 
 In the Irish World of July 25, 1874, Ford main- 
 tained that the Romish Church had lost 18,000,000 
 in this Republic. In the Catholic Mirror, of Bal- 
 timore, we read: "It is our opinion that a vast 
 deal of unmeaning stuff has been talked about 
 the progress of the Catholic Church in England 
 and America. ... In America there have been a 
 few conversions, but they do not amount to a drop 
 in a bucket in comparison with the immense losses 
 the Church has sustained." 
 
 Why these losses? We answer, the moral, 
 spiritual, social, and political atmosphere of this 
 country is not that of Europe, and especially not 
 that of Ireland. Icebergs in tropical seas are no 
 more out of place than Romanists are in this Re- 
 public. In the absence of a country the Irishman 
 can call his own, and love inspiring the most
 
 ME THODIST LOYAL TY REQ UIRED 357 
 
 ardent patriotism, he has nothing but his Church, 
 and to this he yields his entire devotion. It is his 
 all on earth, and his only hope of heaven ; hence 
 the double-distilled bigotry of the average Irish 
 Catholic. In this country he comes into contact, 
 among the people, with the spirit of an immense 
 Americanism. He comes here to stay, and for the 
 first time in his life feels that he has a country 
 and a home. He is born again. Old things pass 
 away, and often his Romanism takes its departure. 
 The more thoroughly he becomes an American 
 citizen, the more loosely his popish notions hang 
 to him and the more rapidly they drop away. 
 Mingling in society, he learns that Americans are 
 freemen ; that they worship God according to the 
 dictates of their own conscience ; that his own 
 form of religion was saddled upon him, and he 
 begins to inquire why it would not be just as 
 well for him to be a freeman. 
 
 The terrible struggle the hierarchy is now 
 making in this country has for its object, not the 
 conversion of souls, but the preservation of its 
 subjects of foreign birth. Tins is the key to the 
 relentless war the Jesuits and Lutherans are now 
 waging against our common-school system and 
 the free circulation of the Bible. Country or no 
 country, poverty or wealth, knowledge or igno- 
 rance, virtue or vice, it matters not, popery must 
 be preserved. 
 
 Methodists have often and unwisely regretted 
 the loss of a form of zeal which, in former years,
 
 358 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 was prevalent among them. Once a young mother, 
 with a child in her arms, six weeks old, would 
 mount a horse and ride ten or fifteen miles to a 
 quarterly-meeting on Saturday, and return home 
 on Monday as gay and happy as a lark. She was 
 only one among scores who had had at the meeting 
 a right royal good time. Such exploits are now out 
 of the question. And is it not just as well that it 
 is so? Is not that work completed, and have we 
 not other duties now in hand of equal or greater 
 importance? Neither country nor Church is 
 now what they were within the memory of men 
 now living. The changes which have taken place 
 are legitimate, necessary, and proper, the inevit- 
 able results of prosperity and growth. The plastic 
 and adaptive element of Methodism is now prob- 
 ably subjected to as severe a test as it will ever be 
 called upon to endure. The good souls of our Is- 
 rael who live in the past, and can see no glory but 
 the glory of pioneer days, will probably die mourn- 
 ing over the desolations of Zion. 
 
 The immense Methodism of this country is the 
 aggregate of a multitude of small classes or soci- 
 eties, each having a great variety of small home 
 work to do. As much good may now be done by 
 caring well for a class in the Sunday-school as for- 
 merly in attending the quarterly-meeting. The 
 power of Methodism at present is made up largely 
 of those little but essential things which pertain 
 to small classes. Let these be properly cared for, 
 and the future of Methodism is assured.
 
 METHODIST LOYALTY REQUIRED. 359 
 
 To be true to themselves, Methodists must see 
 clearly that as a Church they are an original 
 structure, using an original terminology, directed 
 by original methods, and that these must be pre- 
 served. At the dedication of the new publishing- 
 house in New York City, the proposition was 
 made by a bishop to change its name ; but "No!" 
 responded the outside world. "You have made 
 the title ' Book Concern' glorious, and now stick 
 to it." The prime glory of Methodism has ever 
 arisen from its peculiarities, and no refinements 
 should ever be allowed to obscure them. 
 
 Let us learn a lesson from Romanism. Its 
 strength and stability are derived largely from the 
 fact that its adherents are thoroughly penetrated 
 with the notion that the pope is Christ's vicege- 
 rent on earth, and that this pope's Church is the 
 kingdom of God among men. The emptiness and 
 blasphemy of this claim make nothing against 
 the effect it produces on the mind of an unedu- 
 cated papist. In engraving this conviction on the 
 mind of the ignorant, the Romish priesthood has 
 achieved its greatest victory and degraded human- 
 ity the most. One of the weak points of Meth- 
 odism has been the failure of its adherents, laity 
 and clergy, to perceive clearly its place in the or- 
 der of Providence, and, as a consequence, they 
 have held lightly to the virtue of loyalty to its 
 mission. If the facts justify the claim we make 
 namely, that Methodism was raised up by a spe- 
 cial Providence to be to the great Republic what
 
 360 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 "new wine is to a new bottle" its position, hon- 
 ors, calling, and responsibility can not be too well 
 understood. Out of such a palpable fact the ut- 
 most should be made. Every Methodist should 
 be invested with the peculiar power which is al- 
 ways consciously connected with a providential 
 allotment. The element of the divine then en- 
 ters into the case, and places upon Church mem- 
 bership the signet of Omnipotence. Were the 
 Church a mere human arrangement, we could 
 shift sail and manipulate its affairs to suit our- 
 selves ; but since it is a special dispensation of 
 grace among men, we are required to recognize 
 in our privileges and duties a divine authority. 
 Asbury, Garrettson, and the founders of Method- 
 ism, seem never to have had a doubt that the 
 great Head of the Church required of them the 
 work they had in hands. To have forsaken Meth- 
 odism would have been a dire apostasy. Their 
 conscience would forever have upbraided them as 
 traitors to God and to duty. 
 
 Between Methodism and popery there is there- 
 fore this difference: Popery derives immense 
 strength from the fiction of the vicegerency of 
 the pope because accepted by its votaries as true, 
 though the proof against the validity of such 
 claim is as clear and conclusive as the prevalence 
 of enormous crimes on the part of popes ' could 
 make it. In Methodism there is a clearly mani- 
 fested truth of equal potency the special inter- 
 position of God which has been allowed to slum-
 
 METHODIST LOYALTY REQUIRED. 361 
 
 bet unnoticed and unused. The proof of the va- 
 lidity of the claims we set up for Methodism is 
 based upon the display of as pure and high spir- 
 itual elements among men as ever appeared in 
 human history. 
 
 On this ground the Church has been weak, 
 whereas it might have been strong. Its ministers 
 have seen probably not less than a million con- 
 verts go from her altars to other communions, 
 and apparently they followed them with blessings 
 of absolute approval. The divine specialties of 
 Methodism, and its consequent claims, were wholly 
 ignored. A short time since, a Presbyterian min- 
 ister, whom we know well, was asked: "Are you 
 having any special services?" "O no; I never 
 do. Our Methodist neighbors always have their 
 annual series of extra meetings. I seldom at- 
 tend, but always know what is going on. I then 
 organize among my elders and women a still hunt; 
 and when the spoils are divided, I always have my 
 share in both quantity and quality." It is, we 
 hesitate not to say, a shame and a disgrace to the 
 Methodist preacher and Church which allow such 
 meanness to pass unrebuked. 
 
 And even unto this day, if a Methodist preacher 
 is eager to see in the Advocate family a sketch of 
 his life, and a description of his piety, genius, and 
 scholarship, written in the most glowing and 
 eulogistic terms, he has only to withdraw from 
 the Church, and enter some field of labor where 
 the hardships of the itinerancy are unknown. 
 
 31
 
 362 OUR COUNTRY AND METHODISM. 
 
 We would, however, rather by far make a record 
 of this excess of slushy charity and gushing gen- 
 erosity, than be compelled to blush with shame 
 at one act of persecution, or one word of bitter- 
 ness. Our feeling for such deserters is that of 
 dignified regret; touched perhaps with a tinge of 
 contempt, or colored with pity for human weak- 
 ness. A genuine Methodist is such as the result 
 of deep, living, abiding convictions; and loyalty 
 to conscience means loyalty to God and to Meth- 
 odism. If one see no providence in Methodism, 
 no divinity in its mission, and if his connection 
 with it be the result of impulse, caprice, or con- 
 venience, he will be as free to change his Church 
 relations, so as to fit circumstances, as he is to 
 shift his clothes to suit the weather. With Meth- 
 odist fire in a man's heart, and its royal purple 
 blood in his veins, such miserable, namby-pamby 
 shuffling of Church membership is never seen. 
 Since Churchmen, and learned students of Church 
 history of different denominations, regard Meth- 
 odism as a special dispensation of Providence, 
 Methodists themselves should place the greatest 
 emphasis upon the fact, and give to their Church 
 a corresponding loyalty. 
 
 "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O Zion, 
 city of our God." Such is the language of inspi- 
 ration; and always, in the elaboration of this idea, 
 the genius of Charles Wesley was at its best in 
 the hymns he wrote. He interwove this thought 
 with the doctrines he preached; he made it a
 
 ME THODIST LO YAL TY REQ UIRED. 363 
 
 part of public and social worship ; he incorporated 
 it in the prayers and meditations of the people; 
 he used it to awaken the missionary spirit of the 
 age; and thus it became a fundamental and per- 
 manent element of Methodism. Kings have 
 already become the nursing fathers, and queens 
 the nursing mothers, of Methodism; and the 
 Church feels that there is nothing embraced in 
 the promises of God, nor in the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ, that does not belong to her. All 
 Methodism needs, to accomplish her mission, is 
 fidelity on the part of her adherents. Let them, 
 in devotion and zeal, measure up to the glorious 
 things spoken of our Zion; let them comprehend 
 the work intrusted to their hands and the hon- 
 ors that await them; let them feel the inspira- 
 tion of a special call from heaven, and accept the 
 help of the proffered grace, and by and by they 
 will be made kings and priests unto God, to reign 
 with him in millennial glory forever.
 
 mSHSSSSSSSStOKSL&aun 
 
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