J
 
 REV. L. M. HAGOOD, M. D.
 
 -V* 
 
 . 
 
 ^/ 
 
 THE COLORED MAN v 
 
 jCN V 
 
 
 IN THE 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. L. M. HAGOOD, M. D., 
 
 OF THE LEXINGTON CONFERENCE. 
 
 CINCINNATI : 
 CRANSTON & STOWB. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 HUNT & EA.TON. 
 
 1890.
 
 Copyright by 
 
 L. M. H AGOOD, 
 
 1890.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE history of the relations existing 'between 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church and the col- 
 ored man or rather, the status of the colored man 
 within the Church so far as known, has never been 
 written. There are many cogent reasons why such 
 a history should be written. From the time of the 
 landing of a cargo of twenty African slaves at 
 Jamestown, Virginia, in 1620, until this hour, the 
 colored man has been the subject of much dis- 
 cussion. Touching his status as a man, there have 
 always been two sides: one in favor of enslaving 
 him, and the other objecting to enslaving him. 
 Both sides of this vexed question have always been 
 represented within the Church. The fact that there 
 has always been a majority in the Church opposed 
 to enslaving him ; that therefore the Church early en- 
 listed in the cause of his emancipation, has kept 
 up a continuous though bloodless warfare within the 
 Church. 
 
 Thus the colored man early learned to love 
 Methodism, and soon large numbers were brought 
 into its communion. The emancipation and en- 
 franchisement of the race did not put a quietus 
 
 3 
 
 2201247
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 upon the agitation of the question. Many white 
 and colored members are not conversant with the 
 history of our Church touching this subject. It 
 has always been a question to many, why men of 
 the race within the Church have not been as ready 
 to write the actual facts in the case, as some of the 
 race in other Churches have been to record many 
 half truths relating thereto. It is true that while 
 the public eye and ear appear always open and 
 attentive to anything written or spoken by those 
 who can claim kin with Jefferson, Clay, Sumner, 
 Lincoln, or Grant, there is an apparent unwilling- 
 ness to give audience to those who have always 
 been subjected to ostracism. 
 
 These lines are written because it is believed that 
 our Church has had to suffer because only one side of 
 the story has been told by any person of the race, 
 and in nearly, if not every instance, by those un- 
 friendly to the relation the colored man has sustained 
 to the Church ; because some wrong impressions 
 may be righted by the collation of facts that lay 
 bare the glaring inaccuracies hitherto related con- 
 cerning the imposition of the white members of the 
 Church upon the colored ; to show that, so far as 
 the question goes, the heart of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church has always been right; and that, 
 though errors may have been committed, they have 
 been, in most instances, from the head and not from 
 the heart of the Church ; that it has come as 
 near reaching the proper solution of the question,
 
 PREFACE. 5 
 
 "What shall be done with the colored man?" as 
 any other organization that has had to do with the 
 question. 
 
 There has been no intentional reflection or false 
 or prejudicial statement made herein. Many "stub- 
 born facts " have been left out, that might have been 
 properly included. Though the story has not been 
 told with the polished language of a Chesterfield, 
 nor the logical acuteness of Aristotle, nor with the 
 erudite diction of one born in the college, it is 
 hoped that some good, and no harm, may be accom- 
 plished thereby ; those of the race who have not 
 had the opportunity to know some facts herein 
 related may be enabled to teach their children that 
 there is no need of blushing when the past history 
 of the Church touching this question is being re- 
 cited ; but that it is a benefit to the race, as well as 
 an honor, to be numbered with the million and a 
 half members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 BEFORE THE WAR, 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE COLOR-LINE SECESSIONS, 35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE CRISIS ITS CAUSE, 64 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE COLORED PASTORATE, 83 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE RETROSPECT 104 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 DURING THE WAR, 116 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1864, 130 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT WORK, 148 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE COLORED BISHOP QUESTION, 167 
 
 7
 
 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 WHY ASK FOR A BISHOP OF AFRICAN DESCENT? 192 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1884, 207 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE PROBLEM, 230 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 THEORY AND PRACTICE A GENERAL DISCUSSION, 259 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 WHAT WILL THE HARVEST BE ? 292 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 UNION OF COLORED METHODISTS, 309 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 REV. L. M. HAGOOD, M. D., Frontispiece. 
 
 MORGAN COLLEGE, FOR COLORED STUDENTS, 48 
 
 NEW ORLEANS UNIVERSITY, MAIN BUILDING, 96 
 
 BENNETT SEMINARY, GREENSBORO, N. C., 144 
 
 REV. A. E. P. ALBERT, D. D., 192 
 
 MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE, NASHVILLE, TENN., .... 240 
 
 ART DEPARTMENT OF CLAFLIN UNIVERSITY, 288 
 
 GAMMON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, LIBRARY BUILDING, . . 312
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IT is a difficult matter to write of a battle while it is 
 still raging. The combatants are not usually the 
 best judges of the merits of their cases. Prejudice, 
 education, preconceived notions of the right or wrong in 
 the case, prevent the mind from weighing the argu- 
 ments with equity. There are principles lying at the 
 foundation of ethics which will not be denied by Chris- 
 tians. They come with the authority of a "Thus saith 
 the Lord." However distasteful these truths may be 
 to the natural man, the obligation to receive them still 
 remains. The Lord quoted certain proverbs which were 
 authorities among the Jews, which they had observed as 
 rules for their action towards others. One was "Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy." Christ 
 gives another, and with divine authority: "But I say 
 unto you, Love your enemies, do good to them that 
 hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you 
 and persecute you." Such teachings were not palatable 
 in that day, any more than in the present. Human 
 nature was no more ready to receive and practice such 
 truths then than now. But the obligation existed then, 
 and still survives. Then, too, the Savior taught another 
 lesson equally unpalatable to the Jew. The man who 
 fell among thieves was left by priest and Levite to 
 suffer, but was delivered by the Samaritan, who was 
 
 9
 
 10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 considered an enemy. "Who is my neighbor?" was the 
 question that brought out this answer from Jesus with 
 its illustration; viz., that every one needing help is a 
 neighbor. The two great precepts of the same Teacher 
 embrace all that is necessary in the practical treatment 
 of the question of our relation to others: "Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbor as thyself;" and, "Whatsoever ye 
 would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
 them." Whatever apology there may have been for 
 slavery in the past, in the days of ignorance, when God 
 winked at it, as he did at polygamy, it is certain that 
 the treatment of the slave as the New Testament re- 
 quires would have destroyed slavery. To have educated 
 the slave to read and write, and otherwise giving him 
 the privilege to develop his mental faculties ; to have 
 secured him his wife a God-given right ; to have given 
 these parents their rights, in obedience to the Divine com- 
 mand, to train up their children in the nurture and 
 admonition of the Lord ; to secure to them their right 
 of a fair compensation for their labor, and to use it as 
 they chose for their own benefit ; to have granted them 
 the privilege of worshiping their Maker as heaven re- 
 quired, would have destroyed the whole system of invol- 
 untary servitude as it existed in these United States. 
 More than two centuries slavery continued, while the 
 enlightened conscience of the nation protested against 
 the system, against the traffic in human beings, against its 
 demoralizing influences on the white, and its degrading 
 influence on the black man. 
 
 Methodism came into the country, and found slavery 
 intrenched in its laws and civilization. Its preachers 
 proclaimed a gospel of regeneration, of love to God, of
 
 INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 a personal knowledge of forgiveness of sins, the witness 
 of the Holy Ghost, of love to neighbors. The converts 
 declared the religion of Christ: the "love that suffer- 
 eth long and is kind." It turned out the old man 
 and let in the new. White and black shared alike in 
 the new life. Down in the cabin, up in the "great 
 house," alike were heard the shouts of joy over this new- 
 found pearl of great price. Tears of joy coursed down 
 the ivory and the ebony cheek, as each spoke of re- 
 deeming love. Melted by this divine fire, fused into 
 one spirit, there came to heart, to conscience, to under- 
 standing, as the white clasped the black hand with lov- 
 ing grip, the whispered voice of an inner consciousness, 
 "Surely we be brethren." White Bishop Asbury de- 
 clared the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, black Harry 
 by his side preached the same gospel of the Son of 
 God. The black messenger was honored by the divine 
 presence attending his Word, as well as the white, and 
 souls were saved when black Harry pointed sinners to 
 the cross, as well as when the first bishop of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church called them to repentance. 
 
 Peter was astonished when he was sent to the Gen- 
 tiles. He was more so when he saw them receive the 
 gift of the Holy Ghost, and heard them declare the 
 wonderful things of God. But he recognized them as 
 brethren ; and when his people at Jerusalem call him 
 to account for his conduct in going among the Gen- 
 tiles, he gives the history of the event, and sums it all 
 up in these words: "Forasmuch then as God gave 
 them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand 
 God?" This settled the question for Peter, that the
 
 12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Gentiles were entitled to all the rights and blessings of 
 the Jew, as followers of Christ. If God honored the 
 blacks with his Spirit's presence, filling them with joy 
 and peace, enabling them to show forth the power of 
 a Christian life in the fruits of holy living; if he 
 anointed more than one black Harry "to preach good 
 tidings unto the meek, to proclaim the acceptable year 
 of the Lord," and honored their ministry in awakening 
 and saving souls, is it a matter of wonder that there 
 should be the conviction in the minds of Methodists that 
 these slaves are men like ourselves? If men, then they 
 are our neighbors; if our neighbors, then we must love 
 them as ourselves. If we love them as men as our- 
 selves then slavery, as it exists here, is wrong. The 
 enlightened conscience of the Methodists said, " Slavery 
 is wrong;" and this conviction was soon embodied in the 
 question, which found its way into the Church law, and 
 held its place there till it received its formal, practical 
 answer in emancipation, "What shall be done for the 
 extirpation of the evil of slavery ?" 
 
 The author of this book has treated of the relation 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church to the colored people 
 from this stand-point of a clear perception of the evil 
 of slavery, and the unrighteousness of one Christian 
 holding his fellow-Christian, his brother in Christ, as a 
 chattel. The writer traces the action of the law-making 
 power of the Methodist Episcopal Church for nearly a 
 hundred years, in her treatment of the colored man as a 
 member of this Church, as an office-holder, and as a 
 preacher under the system of slavery. 
 
 The author shows that the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church has never swerved from the recognition of the
 
 INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 rights of her colored members, in all her general and 
 annual conferences. She denounced slavery as an evil 
 to be extirpated, and at one time required her members 
 to emancipate their slaves. (Had she adhered to her 
 requirement, what a sea of wasted treasure, what a world 
 of agony of the slave, what an ocean of bitter strife, 
 and what a host of precious lives might have been 
 saved !) She forbade the buying and selling slaves ; she 
 tried to enforce rules for the merciful treatment of the 
 bondmen ; she made provision to have all of the gospel 
 preached to them that the masters would allow or the 
 preacher thought safe. She did what she could to have 
 the relation of husband and wife duly recognized. He 
 also tells us that, as soon as the sounds of battle had 
 ceased, this Church began her work again among the 
 colored people. She organized them into Churches, 
 took their own men and made them pastors ; although 
 poorly qualified for this work, received them into confer- 
 ences with their white brethren, and gave them all the 
 rights and privileges of members and ministers of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 The reluctance of some to accept the situation of 
 Negro equality in the Church led to the discussion of 
 the question, What shall we do with the Negro? The 
 author gives the outline of this discussion and the 
 action of the Church authorities in reference to it. The 
 unwillingness to recognize the manhood and brotherhood 
 of the Negro on the part of some members and minis- 
 ters of the Church, gave rise to such treatment of the 
 colored brethren that they were easily persuaded that 
 the white brethren did not want to be associated with 
 them in Church or conference relation. Hence, when
 
 14 INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 the white brethren asked the colored to go out of 
 the conferences and set up for themselves, the col- 
 ored brethren did so, not always because they thought 
 it absolutely best, but best under the circumstances; 
 not because they thought it right, but because they 
 were disposed to yield to the desires of the white breth- 
 ren. The reasons for the treatment of the Negro are 
 very much the same as the grounds for neglect of 
 the poor, ignorant, and degraded of any community. 
 People do not like to come in contact with the unculti- 
 vated in intellect and morals. Hence the fine church, 
 where it is written in the dress and bearing of the wor- 
 shipers, "No poor are desired here." Hence the mis- 
 sion Churches, where the action of both the poor and 
 the wealthy members of the Church says: "No rich are 
 expected here." There is a disposition to separate the 
 Christian Church into classes corresponding to classes in 
 social life. The distinctions, so marked in society, are 
 carried into the Church. In the case of the Negro, this 
 feeling against the ignorance", uncouthness, which is 
 found in the lowest strata of whites, is intensified by 
 two circumstances, which belong exclusively to the 
 Negro. The first is the color. There exists more or 
 less color repugnance in most persons not accustomed 
 to seeing colored people. There is less objection to 
 having colored persons about them among the South- 
 ern people than the Northern. The Southern women 
 largely let the slaves nurse their children, and many of 
 the prominent Southern men and women speak very 
 kindly of their Negro mammies color repugnance is not 
 instinctive. The second great cause of the unwilling- 
 ness to treat the Negro as an equal, in State and
 
 INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 Church is, no doubt, his former condition of servitude. 
 That it is not altogether his color is evident from the 
 treatment that the Indian, the Hindoo, or the Japanese 
 receives, many of whom are as dark as the great mass 
 of the Negroes. He was a slave, kept a slave, and 
 wronged by the white man. One of the hardest things 
 for poor human nature to do is to confess a wrong and 
 make restitution. That slavery is wrong, is recognized 
 by all the action of the Methodist Episcopal Church on 
 that subject; and the question should be, How can we 
 best atone for the wrong, and remove from the Negro, 
 as speedily as possible, all the effects of this wrong? 
 
 That the Negro is an inferior part of the human 
 family is stoutly asserted by some people, though it has 
 never been proved. Suppose, for the moment, we ad- 
 mit it; granted that the Negro is inferior in some 
 respects, no matter what; then we ask, Does this mis- 
 fortune entitle the more gifted part of God's family to 
 the right of treating the unfortunate ones unjustly, of 
 depriving them of liberty, 'of the pursuit of happiness? 
 Does the misfortune of the hunchback entitle the straight 
 ones to the privilege of abusing him ? Does the cripple, 
 on his crutches, entitle the strong to the right of elbow- 
 ing him out of the way? Do not these very misfortunes 
 demand our sympathy and kindly offices? Why not? 
 If the Negro is unfortunate, let him have our kind- 
 ness instead of our kicks ? The caricatures of the Negro, 
 seen in the public prints, have their influence in con- 
 firming this low estimate of the colored people. 
 
 The history of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 
 her ecclesiastical action, is generally worthy of com- 
 mendation. There are, however, cases of individual
 
 16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 action that are not creditable to these persons or so- 
 cieties, either as patriots, philanthropists, or Christians. 
 The Protestant Churches should be as open to the Negro 
 as to any other division of the human family. The 
 public places should be as easy of access to them as to 
 others. They should receive just as much for their 
 money as the white, red, or brown man. This is not in 
 the power of the Methodist Episcopal Church to bestow ; 
 but the membership should bear in mind that with God 
 there is no respect of persons. The utterances which 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church has made are all de- 
 manded by the enlightenment of the nineteenth century. 
 What is needed is for the practice to correspond with 
 these utterances. Why should the Negro be ostracized 
 any more than any other member of the human family? 
 Why should our Churches and schools be closed to 
 him ? Why should he be compelled to ride in the 
 smoking-car, when he pays for first-class accommodations ? 
 Why driven from our hotels, and forced to seek shelter in 
 private families? Why are the colored ministers and 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church compelled 
 to endure these wrongs? The author might have called 
 attention to the fact that this Church, with its millions 
 of members and adherents, with its press and its pul- 
 pits, has never raised her mighty voice in a grand pro- 
 test against these wrongs perpetrated against a quarter 
 of a million of her membership. What is needed, per- 
 haps, most of all, is to regard the Negro as belonging to 
 the human family, and treat him as such. The social 
 question, which is protruded upon all occasions, must 
 not be a matter of legislation ; each individual must 
 settle that for himself. An intelligent Negro lady,
 
 INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 when asked by a white man, "Shall we admit the 
 Negro to our parlors?" replied, "If you white gentle- 
 men will stay out of our parlors, we will stay out of 
 yours." The social bugbear, that is constantly bandied 
 about in this discussion, has no more to do with the 
 recognition of the rights of the Negro than has the 
 question of the annexation of Canada. The author has 
 given facts of history which all the Church should 
 know ; and, knowing, they will have no reason to be 
 ashamed of the record of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. This subject demands the honest, earnest con- 
 sideration of the membership of the entire Christian 
 Church, and specially of the membership of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. The fact that there are nearly 
 a quarter of a million of her members who have as 
 much right to recognition in her sanctuaries as any 
 other class of men, who are invited and urged to go off 
 by themselves, and be ignorant teachers of ignorant 
 scholars, because the Heavenly Father has given them 
 a little darker dress, and because they have been more 
 abused and wronged than any other part of the human 
 family, is not creditable to those who profess to be gov- 
 erned by the Golden Rule. The Church should see to 
 it that the colored members of her communion may feel 
 at home in her churches, whether they be stone- front 
 palaces in the metropolis of the nation or cabins in the 
 swamps or mountains of the South. To bring this 
 about, the Methodist Episcopal Church has not done all 
 she can. Theoretically, the utterances are all right, 
 but the practice must be brought up to the theory. 
 The press and the pulpit should give no uncertain sound. 
 The conferences, annual as well as General, should be 
 
 2
 
 18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 exemplifications of the brotherhood of man and the 
 Fatherhood of God. This book will wake up thought 
 on a subject on which the membership of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church need to think and to act. The mill- 
 ions of colored people in this country need to be held 
 close to the heart of Protestant Christianity, so they will 
 be found on the side of the Church of God in the 
 struggle for the conquest of this world for Christ. The 
 book well merits a careful reading, as the author speaks 
 from the stand-point of an intelligent appreciation of the 
 treatment of the Negro, as he has had some personal 
 experiences which entitle him to be heard. He writes 
 clearly, and presents his case forcibly, yet without bit- 
 terness, and recognizes gratefully what the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church has done for the colored man. The 
 spirit of the writer is commendable, although the con- 
 flict is not ended, and he is one of the combatants. 
 
 JOHN BRADEN. 
 CENTRAL TENNESSEE COLLEGE, 
 
 NASHVILLE, TENN., 1889.
 
 THE COLORED MAN 
 
 IN THE 
 
 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BEFORE THE WAR. 
 
 time immemorial men have differed upon 
 J- nearly every phase of human existence ; and, for 
 that matter, every other kind of existence. So far as 
 we know, no organization has ever existed, formed 
 by man, or formed by Deity for man (it makes no 
 difference for what purpose it was formed), in which 
 there was not manifested individuality to the point 
 of wide divergence on most important questions. 
 Unconverted human nature is the same the world 
 over, and different propensities and dispositions, 
 coupled with jealousy, have manifested themselves 
 in nearly every family since that of the first pair 
 driven in shame from Eden. 
 
 As strange as it may sound, the Church of God 
 has been no exception to this rule in general, nor 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church in particular. 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church was born of neces- 
 
 19
 
 20 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 sity, and has perpetuated itself and prospered in pro- 
 portion as it has obeyed the mandates of Almighty 
 God. When, for any reason, the Church has turned 
 to the right hand or to the left hand out of " the 
 king's highway," God has gently reproved her. It 
 was but a short time after its organization when it 
 became a recognized, potent factor in God's hands 
 of ameliorating the condition of those with whom 
 it had influence. No other Church, since its organ- 
 ization in this country, has figured more conspicu- 
 ously than the Methodist Episcopal Church in all 
 the living, burning questions touching the salvation 
 of men's bodies and souls. It may be true that in 
 many instances the Church has not come up to the 
 ideal of some of its devotees, or accomplished all 
 it was considered able to do. Probably instances 
 would have occurred, if it had succeeded in the 
 former, when it would have displeased God; if the 
 latter, it might have bound error with a rope of 
 sand, and thus frustrated all effective plans. 
 
 From the beginning the Church has gone after 
 "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." A Church 
 needs no higher encomium than that the " common 
 people" hear her ministers gladly. This has been, 
 and we hope now is, the glory of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. Should a time ever come when 
 this can not be truthfully said of the Church, her 
 pristine glory will have departed. AVorldly popu- 
 larity has not hitherto been the acme of her ambition. 
 May it never be! Where duty called, popular or
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 21 
 
 unpopular, the Church has given the command, 
 "Go forward," with the understanding that "it is 
 better to obey God than man." The wholesome 
 doctrine of " the Fatherhood of God and the 
 brotherhood of man," as taught by the apostle when 
 he exclaimed, " God hath made of one blood all na- 
 tions of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth," 
 has been taught by the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 ever since John Wesley declared slavery "the sum 
 of all villainies." 
 
 It may be, as you scrutinize the last sentence, a 
 fear may arise that it will not remain intact under 
 the electric light of investigation. The redeeming 
 feature is, that the Methodist Episcopal Church has 
 come as near preaching and practicing that doctrine 
 as any other American ecclesiastical organization. 
 This may not be much in its favor, when taken in 
 reference to the colored man, but it is something. 
 There has never been an hour since Bishop Asbury 
 preached Jesus and him crucified to a poor slave on 
 the bank of a river in South Carolina, in the 
 which the great heart of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church did not throb with sympathy for the poor 
 colored man in this country. As evidence, it is 
 only necessary to look up or remember the Her- 
 culean efforts it made on his behalf as early as 1796, 
 to save him from the cruelty and barbarism of his 
 subjection. Could the Church, at so early a period, 
 have received the moral and religious support of 
 the good people of other denominations, the civil
 
 22 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 war might have been averted, and the poor slave 
 rescued from the power of Satan unto God, from 
 the midnight of sin to the marvelous light and lib- 
 erty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The following explains itself on this question, 
 as enacted by the General Conference of 1796 : 
 
 " Question. What regulations shall be made for 
 the extirpation of the crying evil of African slavery? 
 
 "Answer 1. We declare, that we are more than 
 ever convinced of the great evil of the African slavery 
 which still exists in these United States ; and do most 
 earnestly recommend to the yearly conferences, quar- 
 terly meetings, and to those who have the oversight 
 of districts and circuits, to be exceedingly cautious 
 what persons they admit to official stations in our 
 Church ; and, in the case of future admission to 
 official stations, to require such security of those 
 who hold slaves, for the emancipation of them, imme- 
 diately or 'gradually, as the laws of the States 
 respectively, and the circumstances of the case will 
 admit. And we do fully authorize all the yearly 
 conferences to make whatever regulations they judge 
 proper, in the present case, respecting the admission 
 of persons to official stations in our Church. 
 
 "2. No slaveholder shall be received into society 
 till the preacher who has the oversight of the cir- 
 cuit has spoken to him freely and faithfully on the 
 subject of slavery. 
 
 "3. Every member of the society who sells a 
 slave shall immediately, after full proof, be excluded
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 23 
 
 the society. And if any member of our society 
 purchase a slave, the ensuing quarterly meeting 
 shall determine on the number of years in which the 
 slave so purchased would work out the price of his 
 purchase. And the person so purchasing shall, im- 
 mediately after such determination, execute a legal 
 instrument for the manumission of such slave at the 
 expiration of the term determined by the quarterly 
 meeting. And in default of his executing such in- 
 strument of manumission, or on his refusal to submit 
 his case to the judgment of the quarterly meeting, 
 such member shall be excluded the society. Pro- 
 vided, also, that in the case of a female slave, it shall 
 be inserted in the aforesaid instrument of manumis- 
 sion, that all her children which shall be born during 
 the years of her servitude shall be free at the follow- 
 ing times, namely : Every female child at the age of 
 twenty-one, and every male child at the age of 
 twenty-five. Nevertheless, if the member of our so- 
 ciety, executing the said instrument of manumission, 
 judge it proper, he may fix the times of manumis- 
 sion of the children of the female slaves before- 
 mentioned, at an earlier age than that which is 
 prescribed above. 
 
 " 4. The preachers and other members of our 
 society are requested to consider the subject of 
 Negro slavery with deep attention till the ensuing 
 General Conference; and that they impart to the 
 General Conference, through the medium of the 
 yearly conferences, or otherwise, any important
 
 24 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 thoughts upon the subject, that the conference may 
 have full light, in order to take further steps 
 toward eradicating this enormous evil from that part 
 of the Church of God to which they are united." 
 During the ensuing quadrennitim this all-impor- 
 tant question was argued and studied as never 
 before within the Church. Considerable feeling 
 Avas manifested in many instances, showing at once 
 the deep interest the question had produced. Men 
 within and without the Church continued to ex- 
 amine the question, until the question of the con- 
 tinuation of human slavery became the question of 
 the hour. More than one slaveholding member of 
 the Church declared, with all the earnestness of his 
 soul, that it was unwise for the Church to shoulder 
 such a stupendous burden. Others declared it would 
 be suicidal for the General Conference to interfere 
 with the deep-rooted institution of slavery. As 
 the quadrennium advanced, the question was more 
 vehemently agitated. Many tried to conjecture what 
 action the ensuing General Conference of 1800 
 would take on this subject, while others tried to 
 forestall any anticipated action. It was openly de- 
 clared by the more sanguine slaveholders within the 
 Church that the General Conference would pay no 
 attention to the question of slavery ; that in the 
 event that memorials or resolutions should be pre- 
 sented touching the question, they would at once 
 be referred to a committee, which would fail to 
 notice them. Others as hopefully and boldly de-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 25 
 
 clared that no Christian Church could be consistent 
 and indorse human slavery; that the future hope 
 of the Church in its effort to spread Scriptural 
 holiness was dependent, in a measure, upon the 
 attitude it sustained toward human slavery. 
 
 Those who have engaged in the heated discus- 
 sions that have arisen within the General Confer- 
 ences since that day, upon questions growing out of 
 the system of slavery in this country, can probably 
 imagine the situation at that time. The General 
 Conference of 1800 sat from the 6th to the 20th 
 of May, in Baltimore. Delegates from each of the 
 eight annual conferences were present. Each dele- 
 gate saw the ominous clouds, and knew the storm 
 was brewing. This question soon came up for con- 
 sideration. We give as near as possible a detailed 
 account of the proceedings touching the question of 
 slavery : 
 
 GENERAL, CONFERENCE, 1800. " Brother Or- 
 mond moved, That whereas the laws now in 
 force in two or more of the United States point- 
 edly prohibit the emancipation of slaves, and the 
 third clause of the ninth section of the Discipline 
 forbids the selling of slaves, it is evident that the 
 members of the Methodist societies who own slaves, 
 and remove themselves and families to another 
 State, or to distant parts of the same State, and 
 leave a husband or a wife behind, held in bond- 
 age by another person, part man and wife, which 
 is a violation of the righteous laws of God, and 
 
 3
 
 26 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 contrary to the peace and happiness of families; 
 and whereas, it is further observed that the rule 
 now existing among us prevents our members in- 
 creasing the number of their slaves by purchase, 
 and tolerates an increase of number by birth, which 
 children are often given to the enemy of the Meth- 
 odists, my mind being seriously impressed with 
 these and several other considerations, I' move, 
 That this General Conference take the momentous 
 subject of slavery into consideration, and make 
 such alterations in the old rule as may be thought 
 proper. 
 
 "Brother Timmons moved, That if any of our 
 traveling preachers marry persons holding slaves, 
 and thereby become slaveholders, they shall be ex- 
 cluded from our societies, unless they execute a 
 legal emancipation of their slaves, agreeably to the 
 laws of the State wherein they live. Superseded. 
 
 Friday Morning, May 16th. " Brother Snethen 
 moved, That this General Conference do resolve, 
 that from this time forth no slaveholder shall be 
 admitted into the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 Negatived. 
 
 "Brother Bloodgood moved, That all Negro 
 children belonging to the members of the Meth- 
 odist society, who shall be born in slavery after 
 the fourth day of July, 1800, shall be emanci- 
 pated males at years, and females at years. 
 Negatived. 
 
 "Brother Lathomus moved, That every mem-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CBVRCH. 27 
 
 her of the Methodist Episcopal Church holding 
 slaves shall, within the term of one year from the 
 date hereof, give an instrument of emancipation for 
 all his slaves, and the quarterly-meeting conference 
 shall determine on the time the slaves shall serve, 
 if the laws of the State do not expressly prohibit 
 their emancipation. Negatived. 
 
 "Moved, That when any of our traveling 
 preachers become owners of a slave or slaves by 
 any means, they shall forfeit their ministerial char- 
 acter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, unless 
 they execute, if it be practicable, a legal emancipa- 
 tion of such slave or slaves, agreeably to the laws 
 of the State wherein they live. Agreed to." 
 
 This motion was originally offered by Brother 
 Timmons, and was conceived by the secretary to 
 have been superseded in the progress of the busi- 
 ness upon slavery. But the conference voted that 
 they would act upon it, with the amendments'; the 
 same as a new motion. 
 
 It can be plainly seen by the foregoing report 
 into what a strait the General Conference was 
 brought by this question, as well as how earnestly 
 and faithfully that General Conference strove to 
 ascertain "the mind of the Holy Spirit" as to the 
 question. Just think of the fact that in one day of 
 that General Conference six different phases of this 
 question were presented. Amid these were: (1) To 
 prevent the separation of husband and wife ; (2) To 
 change a former rule that allowed a Methodist
 
 28 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 to buy a husband or wife when they belonged to 
 .separate parties, so as to prevent a separation. 
 Even in this form the buying and selling of human 
 beings was objected to strenuously. It was consid- 
 ered " doing evil, that good might come therefrom." 
 As we stop to contemplate it, we shudder to 
 render a decision. They voted down every propo- 
 sition that looked in any way like buying or selling 
 human beings. It is not superstition to say, they 
 attempted to " avoid even the appearance of evil." 
 They consented to allow, (1) The expulsion of any 
 minister of the Church " who shall marry a woman 
 owning slaves;" (2) No slaveholder to be received 
 into the Church ; (3) All traveling preachers who 
 owned slaves to forfeit their ministerial character. 
 It is no wonder that such action was taken, when it 
 is remembered that the Church was even then 
 recognizing and licensing colored local ministers, and 
 employing them to preach. It now concluded not 
 only nominally to recognize local preachers, but to 
 ordain them as well. As early as 1784, at "the 
 Christmas conference," rules prohibiting slavery 
 had been enacted. And these rules were not simply 
 hanging about the necks of slaveholders as mere 
 ornaments; for it was positively declared by the 
 Church, "every person concerned, who will not com- 
 ply with these rules, shall have the privilege quietly 
 to withdraw." We know of no instance in the his- 
 tory of the Church in which there has ever been 
 a single human being directly driven from her
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 29 
 
 ranks, pews, or pulpit because of race, color, or 
 previous condition of servitude. Then why wonder 
 when such a Church ordains oue of her sons, and 
 sends him forth to tell with simplicity the story of 
 the cross? 
 
 Many objected to going so far with the slaves, 
 for fear of offending the slaveholder. But the 
 Church paid no attention to such cries; hence the 
 following action was taken by the General Confer- 
 ence, under the heading 
 
 " A REGULATION respecting tJie ordination of colored people to the 
 office of deacons: 
 
 "The bishops have obtained leave, by the suf- 
 frages of this General Conference, to ordain local 
 deacons of our African brethren in places where 
 they have built a house or houses for the worship 
 of God: Provided, they have a person among them 
 qualified for that office, and he can obtain an elec- 
 tion of two-thirds of the male members of the 
 society to which he belongs, and a recommendation 
 from the minister who has the charge, and his 
 fellow-laborers in the city or circuit." 
 
 This action at once recognized the efforts of the 
 race at elevation, and gave the colored people to 
 understand, that though in bondage to earthly task- 
 masters, they were fellow-heirs of the inheritance 
 of the saints, heirs of God, and joint heirs with 
 Jesus Christ, the righteous. The gainsaying, slave- 
 holding world stood aghast as it read and re-read 
 the action taken by that General Conference on the
 
 30 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 question of human slavery. God pulled back, as it 
 were, the curtains of the upper world, and blandly 
 smiled approval. A general baptism of the Holy 
 Ghost ratified the action in that such a revival of 
 religion followed that again the world cried, as 
 Methodist preachers began to preach Jesus and him 
 crucified : " They that have turned the world upside 
 down are come hither also." 
 
 In the General Conference that met in the city 
 of Baltimore, Md., from May 7th to 28th, 1804, 
 much discussion was had on the question of slavery. 
 Notwithstanding other questions of Church polity 
 claimed the attention of this conference to such a 
 degree that Bishop Asbury refused to vote on one 
 of the questions put, the conference sympathized 
 with the colored man enough to legislate in his 
 behalf. 
 
 A variety of motions were proposed on the 
 subject of slavery, and, after a long conversation, 
 Freeborn Garrettson moved "that the subject of 
 slavery be left to the three bishops to form a sec- 
 tion to suit the Southern and Northern States, as 
 they in their wisdom may think best, to be sub- 
 mitted to this conference." This motion was sub- 
 mitted to the conference, and was carried. 
 
 The report of the Committee on Slavery which, 
 with amendments, was adopted by the Conference, 
 and forms section nine, " Of Slavery," reads : 
 
 " 1. We declare, that we are as much as ever con- 
 vinced of the great evil of slavery, and do most ear-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 31 
 
 nestly recommend to the yearly conferences, quar- 
 terly-meeting conferences, and to those who have the 
 oversight of districts, circuits, and stations, to be 
 exceedingly cautious what persons they admit to 
 official stations in our Church, and in the case of 
 future admission to official stations, to require such 
 security of those who hold slaves, for the emanci- 
 pation of them, immediately or gradually, as the 
 laws of the States respectively and the circum- 
 stances of the case will admit ; and we do fully 
 authorize all the yearly conferences to make whatever 
 regulations they judge proper in the present case 
 respecting the admission of persons to official sta- 
 tions in our Church. 
 
 " 2. When any traveling preacher becomes the 
 owner of a slave, or slaves, by any means, he shall 
 forfeit his ministerial character in our Church, 
 unless he execute, if it be practicable, a legal eman- 
 cipation of such slaves, conformably to the laws of 
 the State in which he lives. 
 
 "3. No slaveholder shall be received in full 
 membership in our society till the preacher who 
 has the oversight of the circuit or station has spoken 
 to him fully and faithfully on the subject of slavery. 
 
 "4. Every member of our society who sells a 
 slave, except at the request of the slave, in cases 
 of mercy or humanity, agreeably to the judgment 
 of a committee of three male members of the 
 society, appointed by the preacher who has the 
 charge of the circuit or station, shall, immediately
 
 32 THE COLORED MAN, 
 
 after full proof, be excluded the society ; and if any 
 members of our society purchase a slave, the ensuing 
 quarterly-meeting conference shall determine on the 
 number of years which the slave so purchased 
 should serve to work out the price of his purchase ; 
 and the person so purchasing shall, immediately 
 after such determination, execute a legal instrument 
 for the manumission of such slave at the expiration 
 of the time determined by the quarterly-meeting 
 conference ; and in default of his executing such 
 instrument of manumission, or on his refusal to 
 submit his case to the judgment of the quarterly- 
 meeting conference, such member shall be excluded 
 the society : Provided, that in the case of a female 
 slave, it shall be inserted in the aforesaid instru- 
 ment of manumission that all her children who 
 shall be born during the years of her servitude 
 shall be free at the following times, viz. ; every 
 female child at the age of twenty-one, and every 
 male child at the age of twenty-five : Provided, also, 
 that if a member of our society shall buy a slave 
 with a certificate of future emancipation, the terms 
 of emancipation shall, notwithstanding, be subject 
 to the decision of the quarterly- meeting conference. 
 Nevertheless, the members of our societies in the 
 States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
 Georgia shall be exempted from the operations of 
 the above rules. 
 
 " 5. Let our preachers from time to time, as 
 occasion serves, admonish and exhort all slaves to
 
 TEE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 33 
 
 render due respect and obedience to the commands 
 and interests of their respective masters." 
 
 The intention of the whole of the foregoing 
 resolutions in general, and the last part in particular, 
 was to preserve peace between master and slave, and 
 prohibit the former from having occasion to chastise 
 the latter, because the latter might use his religious 
 privileges to his own harm. Though the Church 
 had already a fixed purpose and established regula- 
 tions touching the question of slavery, the General 
 Conference of 1808, held in Baltimore, Md., from 
 May 6th to 26th, discussed it, and took action upon 
 it again. An effort was adroitly made to change 
 certain paragraphs in the Discipline against slavery. 
 The following settled the question at that General 
 Conference. It was moved, by Stephen G. Roszel, 
 and seconded by Thomas Ware, "That the first two 
 paragraphs of the section on slavery be retained in 
 our Discipline, and that the General Conference 
 authorize each annual conference to form their own 
 regulations relative to buying and selling slaves." 
 The motion was carried. 
 
 During the ensuing quadrennium the question 
 of slavery was not agitated to any great degree. 
 While the one faction rested upon its laurels, the 
 defeated faction was recuperating its numerical 
 strength pursuant to another attack. 
 
 At the General Conference of 1812, nothing of 
 importance on this question was done or needed to 
 be done, more than had already been accomplished.
 
 34 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 The city of New York, where the General Confer- 
 ence was held, had in it the oldest Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, the John St. Church. Among its 
 first members were colored people, who had wor- 
 shiped there in peace all along. Philadelphia, 
 where a number of colored people resided, had long 
 been celebrated as "the City of Churches." Col- 
 ored and white Methodists for years had wor- 
 shiped together there in peace. But now a storm 
 Avas brewing that threatened not only to inundate the 
 Church, but the roaring thunder of which would 
 likely rend the Church in twain, so far as the two 
 races within it were concerned.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 35 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE COLOR-LINE SECESSIONS. 
 
 WHEN it is remembered that the African slave- 
 trade in this country was intrenched behind 
 the venerated Constitution, it is not strange that 
 nearly every conflict the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 has had touching slavery aroused bitter opposition 
 within and without the Church. In most instances 
 it is conceded that defeated or desperate enemies, 
 when opposing a third inveterate foe, will, if an 
 opportunity is afforded, unite against a common 
 enemy; or, in other words, Pilate and Herod will 
 unite. Working out from within is often found the 
 more effectual way, whether it be a prison, a political 
 or ecclesiastical party, or the disruption of a Church. 
 It was thus done in the secession of colored members 
 from our Church in 1816 and 1820. Among the 
 number of colored members belonging to St. George's 
 Methodist Episcopal Church of Philadelphia in 
 1815 was a local preacher, Richard Allen, who 
 afterward organized and became the first bishop of 
 the " Bethel Connection," afterwards known as 
 "the African Methodist Episcopal Church." The 
 colored members, under his leadership, formed a 
 nucleus of a society for themselves, aside from, and
 
 36 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 out of the jurisdiction of, the pastor of St. George's 
 Church. The entire affair was local, and the result 
 of the dissatisfaction that arose was the same as it 
 would be to-day if a local preacher, white or col- 
 ored, were to organize a society in opposition to the 
 wishes of his pastor, purchase Church property for 
 the congregation, or part of it, and then deed it to 
 a few individuals instead of the Church. It has 
 been intimated by persons whose reputation rests 
 more or less upon that and similar transactions, 
 that it was the outgrowth of neglect on the part of 
 pastor and people of St. George's Church. Let 
 Bishop Allen answer that question. He says : 
 "I was then working for George Giger. Before 
 this, Bishop Asbury asked me to travel with him. 
 The bishop proffered me what he was receiving, 
 my victuals and clothes." Rev. R. Allen refused 
 this offer, as he says : " I told him that I thought 
 people ought to lay up something while they were 
 able, to support themselves in time of sickness and 
 old age. But I made up my mind that I would 
 not accept of his proposals. Shortly after, I left 
 Hartford Circuit and came to Pennsylvania, on 
 Lancaster Circuit. I traveled several months on 
 this circuit with the Revs. Peter Moriarty and Ira 
 Ellis. The elder in charge in Philadelphia fre- 
 quently sent for me to come to the city. February, 
 1786, 1 came to Philadelphia. Preaching was given 
 out for me for five o'clock A. M., in St. George's 
 Church. I strove to preach as well as I could, but
 
 THK METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 37 
 
 it was a great cross to me ; but the Lord was with 
 me. We had a good time, and several souls were 
 awakened, and were earnestly seeking redemption 
 in the blood of Christ. I thought I would stop in 
 Philadelphia a week or two. I preached at dif- 
 ferent places in the city. My labor was much 
 blessed ; I soon saw a large field open in seeking 
 and instructing my African brethren. I preached 
 wherever I could find an opening. I established 
 prayer-meetings; I raised a society in 1786 of forty- 
 two members. I saw the necessity of erecting a 
 place of worship for the colored people of the city ; 
 but here I met opposition. But three colored 
 brethren united with me in erecting a place of 
 worship." 
 
 Now let us rest and contemplate for a moment 
 the situation. Here we find a local preacher of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church was invited by the 
 pastor and presiding elder of St. George's Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church to come to the city, and 
 preach to his congregation at an usual hour for 
 service, five A. M. He came; success attended 
 his labors. He then, encouraged by success, began 
 going hither and thither to preach in the city. He, 
 of course, found a following. What effort of the 
 kind was ever made that did not find a following? 
 Does it appear a repetition of the story of Absalom ? 
 But let us not stop now to consider that phase of 
 it. In St. George's Church, though welcomed, he 
 "found it a cross to preach" there. Why was it
 
 38 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 a cross to preach the gospel there? Have we not 
 in the above sentence a key to the entire situation? 
 Was it not the effort to avoid having to preach to 
 those who had formed an idea of Avhat a sermon 
 should be from the ministrations of the pulpit of 
 St. George's Church that brought about the other 
 complaints? Do not such things grow? Rev. 
 Richard Allen had preached but a short time to his 
 " African brethren " until a necessity for a separate 
 Church arose. He says himself that the leading 
 colored members refused to go with him. It was 
 natural, therefore, that the above-mentioned ne- 
 cessity would arise. Why was it that, as he de- 
 termined to form another society and erect a 
 church, when he presented the project " to the most 
 respectable colored people of Philadelphia, they 
 bitterly opposed it?" Now, if it was entirely 
 regular, Christ-like, and therefore right, why was it 
 that but three colored men Absalom Jones, Will- 
 iam White, and Darius Ginuings would unite in 
 that project? Rev. Richard Allen says: "These 
 united with me as soon as it became public and 
 known by the elder, who was stationed in the 
 city." Why this secrecy? Who were instigat- 
 ing, abetting, and encouraging Richard Allen in 
 this move? Let us suppose it was members of 
 another denomination in that city, or some of the 
 white members of St. George's Church. They 
 could only have taken sides and pushed the matter, 
 because, (1) They opposed meeting and worshiping
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 39 
 
 with colored people, and could use him Mr. 
 Allen to help them; or, (2) They opposed the 
 pastor of St. George's Church, and wanted a com- 
 plaint against him; or, (3) They believed the col- 
 ored members of St. George's Church were being 
 imposed upon by the white members; or, (4) They 
 wished to germinate schism within St. George's 
 Church. If the colored members were being im- 
 posed upon, could Mr. Allen not have remedied 
 the matter by remaining and combining the strength 
 of the imposed upon with that of the good white 
 members of St. George, and fighting the matter 
 to the end? 
 
 But Rev. Richard Allen capitulated. Is capitu- 
 lation on the part of a general attacked an exhi- 
 bition of leadership or prowess? General Sigel, 
 in the late war, became famous at it; but only 
 among a certain class of soldiers. When it is re- 
 membered that our African brethren were in such 
 a fort as St. George's, the capitulation seems to 
 take on the air of cowardice. Instead of that 
 Church being a monument and outgrowth of a 
 desire of our white members to drive the black ones 
 out, it is just the opposite the outgrowth of an 
 effort to keep them within our communion. Mr. 
 Allen, after reciting his action in the premises, 
 relates what followed. One conversant with the 
 polity of our Church, after knowing what had gone 
 before, can shut his eyes and tell what followed, 
 especially if the presiding elder, Dr. Roberts, and
 
 40 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 our pastor, then stationed at St. George's Church, 
 knew and dared do their duty. Noth withstanding 
 this, as strange as it may appear, we hear from the 
 lips of some ministers of the African Methodist 
 Episcopal Church that their dear African brethren, 
 members of St. George's Church, " were pulled off 
 their knees while at prayer in the church, because 
 of their color;" nearly every young minister enter- 
 ing some of their conferences, ignorant of Meth- 
 odist history, gives the above answer to the question, 
 why he prefers that connection to all others. Of 
 course, the tyro knows nothing to the contrary. It 
 is known by every one conversant with our history, 
 that even after the "Allenites," as they were called, 
 had gone out and erected a building for Church 
 purposes, the presiding elder and pastor of St. 
 George's Church were willing to let them go on 
 with their separate worship, not exercising, or de- 
 siring to exercise, a tithe as much authority over 
 them as almost any one of their own presiding elders 
 does over their Churches in this country to-day. 
 The presiding elder, having an appointment to 
 preach for them one Sabbath, was surprised to hear 
 them exclaim as he walked up the aisle of their 
 church that day, " Pray, brethren, pray ; here comes 
 the devil !" Such language as that in God's house 
 shows the animus that actuated that side of this 
 question. With such a spirit actuating them, the 
 matter could hardly have been settled otherwise 
 than it was, or they had to remain under the super-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 41 
 
 vision of our Church. The question has often 
 been asked if Richard Allen was in the Church on 
 the occasion when that outcry w r as made. The 
 answer has been, time and again, that "he first 
 began the cry" 
 
 When it is remembered that the "Absalom 
 Jones " mentioned as having joined Richard Allen 
 in this movement, was a priest in the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church, and that Richard Allen had 
 acquired considerable wealth, more light falls on 
 the dark background. Notwithstanding the fact 
 that many thousands of colored members had joined 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, and were consid- 
 ered in general orderly and exemplary members, 
 some of the more intelligent males possessing gifts, 
 grace, and usefulness, as such, had been licensed, and 
 several ordained deacons and elders, and that the 
 colored members under Richard Allen had formed 
 an organization, having built a respectable church 
 and were under the oversight of one of our white 
 presiding elders, they were restless, and chafed in 
 the harness. In April, 1816, one month before the 
 session of the General Conference that met in Bal- 
 timore, upwards of one thousand colored members, 
 under the leadership of Richard Allen, had with- 
 drawn from our Church. Why? A General Con- 
 ference was called immediately after the formation 
 of a Church by Rev. Richard Allen, and he was 
 elected their first bishop! The most wonderful 
 thing concerning this whole affair is the constant, 
 
 4
 
 42 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 regular succession of events! These, however, are 
 the straws in the winds. It is, therefore, but little 
 distance to the prime cause of that secession. Of 
 the 42,304 colored members remaining in the 
 Church during the quadrennium, many of them 
 were. praying tiiat the unpleasant episode at Phil- 
 adelphia would end there, and give the Church 
 peace. Notwithstanding the trouble with the Allen- 
 ites, as they were called, the Church still sympa- 
 thized with the race, and the Committee on Slavery 
 at the General Conference gave no sound for retreat 
 from the vantage ground assumed. The whole 
 report read thus : 
 
 "The committee to whom was referred the busi- 
 ness of slavery beg leave to report that they have 
 taken the subject into serious consideration, and, 
 after mature deliberation, they are of opinion that, 
 under the present existing circumstances in relation 
 to slavery, little can be done to abolish a practice 
 so contrary to the principles of moral justice. 
 They are sorry to say that the evil appears to be past 
 remedy, and they are led to deplore the destructive 
 consequences which have already accrued, and are 
 yet likely to result therefrom. 
 
 "Your committee find that in the South and 
 West the civil authorities render emancipation 
 impracticable, and notwithstanding they are led to 
 fear that some of our members are too easily con- 
 tented with laws so unfriendly to freedom, yet, 
 nevertheless, they are constrained to admit that to
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 43 
 
 bring about such a change in the civil code as 
 would favor the cause of liberty is not in the power 
 of the General Conference. Your committee have 
 attentively read and seriously considered a memorial 
 on the above subject, presented from several persons 
 within the bounds of the Baltimore Annual. Confer- 
 ence. They have also made inquiry into the .reg- 
 ulations adopted and pursued by the different 
 annual conferences in relation to this subject, and 
 they find that some of them have made no efficient 
 rules on the subject of slavery, thereby leaving our 
 people to act as they please, while others have 
 adopted rules and pursued courses not a little dif- 
 ferent from each other, all pleading the authority 
 given them by the General Conference, according 
 to our present existing rule, as stated in our form of 
 Discipline. Your committee conclude that, in order 
 to be consistent and uniform, the rule should be ex- 
 press and definite, and, to bring about this uniform- 
 ity, they beg leave to submit the following resolution : 
 " Resolved, by the delegates of the annual con- 
 ferences in General Conference assembled, That 
 ail the recommendatory part of the second divis- 
 ion, ninth section, and first answer of our form of 
 Discipline after the word ( slavery/ be stricken out, 
 and the following words inserted : ' Therefore, no 
 slaveholder shall be eligible to any official station 
 in our Church hereafter, where the laws of the State 
 in which he lives will admit of emancipation, and 
 and permit the liberated slave to enjoy freedom." 1
 
 46 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 soon a feeling began to show itself, from some 
 cause, that it was "degrading for them in any way 
 to be dependent upon white folks for the admin- 
 istration of the ordinances and the government 
 of the Church." * During this year, as before, every 
 effort was made by the Church to remove all these 
 complaints. Concession after concession was made, 
 but all to no purpose. The removal of the sup- 
 posed evil was not the desideratum with the pro- 
 voking cause. Notwithstanding they were har- 
 assed until they left the Church, instead of uniting 
 with Richard Allen's faction, they chose to estab- 
 lish a Church of their own. Some say they did not 
 have full confidence in Rev. R. Allen. In 1819 
 they decided to withdraw from the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. The fact that our Church had 
 not recognized colored men as traveling preachers 
 was the complaint under which they left. By this 
 secession we lost fourteen local preachers, and nearly 
 one thousand members, including class -leaders, 
 exhorters, and stewards. Notwithstanding many 
 strange stories originated with or grew out of these 
 secessions, the Rev. N. Bangs, the second Methodist 
 historian, expresses the feelings of our Church 
 \vben he said: "We can not do otherwise than 
 wish them all spiritual and temporal blessings in 
 Christ Jesus. Though formally separated from us 
 in name, we still love them as our spiritual chil- 
 dren, and stand ready to aid them, as far as we may, 
 in extending the Redeemer's kingdom among men."
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 47 
 
 If these secessions had occurred among those 
 who were in bondage, it might have appeared less 
 strange. If those who led them had even professed 
 the belief that the secession would ameliorate the 
 condition of the suffering million* of the race then 
 in bondage in the South, it might have assumed the 
 role of race pride. But, alas! the condition of the 
 poor slave in the South, whose interests every Gen- 
 eral Conference, and the one soon to meet in the city 
 of Baltimore, had carefully considered and did all 
 it could to emancipate him, was not written in their 
 bond. Those secessions did nothing toward bettering 
 the condition of the slaves at the South. If they did 
 anything touching human slavery then existing in 
 this country, it was to leave the suspicion of un- 
 gratefulness on the face of every struggling slave 
 in the South. It is but a truism to say, it strength- 
 ened the belief that the race did not thank the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church for what it was even 
 then trying to do for them, and yet, notwithstand- 
 ing this, the following was the action of the General 
 Conference of 1824 : 
 
 "Resolved, 1. That all our preachers ought pru- 
 dently to enforce upon our members the necessity 
 of teaching their slaves to read the Word of God ; 
 and also that they give them time to hear the Word 
 of God preached on our regular days of divine 
 service. 
 
 " Resolved, 2. That our colored preachers and 
 official members have all the privileges in the dis-
 
 48 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 trict and quarterly-meeting conferences which the 
 usages of the country, in different sections, will jus- 
 tify : Provided, also, that the presiding elder may, 
 when there is a sufficient number, hold for them a 
 separate district conference. 
 
 "Resolved, 3. That any of the annual confer- 
 ences may employ colored preachers to travel where 
 they judge their services necessary : Provided, 
 they be recommended according to the form of Dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 " Resolved, 4. That the above resolutions be 
 made a part of the section in the Discipline on 
 slavery." 
 
 Since nothing aside from the action already 
 taken by the Church on this subject was done until 
 the year 1836, when the General Conference met 
 for its twelfth session in Cincinnati, Ohio, we pass 
 from the General Conference of 1824 to the General 
 Conference of 1836. The agitation of this ques- 
 tion went steadily on, however, and the Abolition- 
 ists kept it warm. From Maine to Louisiana, from 
 Canada to Florida, it was being agitated. Since so 
 much was said concerning the question at that Gen- 
 eral Conference, some of which, if not retrogres- 
 sion, was akin to it, we give the following resolu- 
 tions. In reading the same, and judging them, we 
 must remember that the seeming opposition to 
 Abolitionism was attributable, in a measure, to the 
 aversion to politics; that the tide of agitation was 
 even then so high that the strongest of strong men
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 49 
 
 trembled ; that the Church had time and again put 
 itself on record as to the question at issue. Though 
 it, for the time being, condemned the action of the 
 two " lecturing delegates," it never once relaxed its 
 grip upon the throat of slavery, nor assayed to 
 compromise a single principle of right. So far 
 removed from the scenes that greeted the General 
 Conference that year in Cincinnati, and remember- 
 ing how thoughtless some advocates of measures can 
 sometimes be or appear, and how easily a zeal without 
 knowledge can injure a good cause, we do not wonder 
 at the action taken in the case of those two brethren. 
 But when the enemies of human liberty construed the 
 condemnation of the action of those two brethren 
 by the General Conference as a weakening by the 
 Church on the question of slavery, the ensuing Gen- 
 eral Conference disabused their minds of their error, 
 and sent the enemies of liberty to grass again. 
 
 The following are the resolutions above referred 
 to, enacted by the General Conference of 1836 : 
 
 "WHEREAS, Great excitement has prevailed in 
 this country on the subject of modern Abolition- 
 ism, which is reported to have been increased in this 
 city recently by the unjustifiable conduct of two 
 members of the General Conference in lecturing 
 upon and in favor of that agitating topic; and 
 WIIKREAS, such a course on the part of any of its 
 members is calculated to bring upon this body the 
 suspicions and distrust of the community, and mis- 
 represent its sentiments in regard to the point at 
 
 5
 
 50 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 issue; arid WHEREAS, in this aspect of the case, a 
 due regard for its own character, as well as a just 
 concern for the interests of the Church confided to 
 its care, demand a full, decided, and unequivocal 
 expression of the views of the General Conference 
 in the premises; therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, by the delegates of the annual con- 
 ferences, in General Conference assembled, That 
 they disapprove, in the most unqualified sense, the 
 conduct of two members of the General Confer- 
 ence, who are reported to have lectured in this city, 
 recently, upon and in favor of modern Abolitionism. 
 
 " 2. That they are decidedly opposed to modern 
 Abolitionism, and wholly disclaim any right, wish, 
 or intention to interfere in the civil and political 
 relation between master and slave, as it exists in the 
 slaveholding States of this Union. 
 
 "3. That the foregoing preamble and resolutions 
 be published in our periodicals." 
 
 The report of the Judiciary Committee is here 
 given also, touching this question at another point: 
 
 " The Judiciary Committee, to whom was referred 
 the petition of the official members of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church on Lancaster Circuit, Bal- 
 timore Conference, report, that the petition referred 
 to them is an able document, drawn up in the most 
 respectful language, and signed by twenty-nine 
 individuals, who claimed to be official members 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church on Lancaster 
 Circuit.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCII. 51 
 
 "The petitioners first invite the attention of the 
 General Conference to the section of the Discipline 
 which states that ' no slaveholder shall be eligible 
 to any official station in our Church hereafter, 
 when the laws of the State in which he lives will 
 admit of emancipation, and permit the liberated 
 slave to enjoy freedom/ etc. They then produce an 
 extract of the laws from the commonwealth of Vir- 
 ginia, showing their extreme rigor in this matter, 
 'That any emancipated slave (with exceptions too 
 rare to be looked for in one case out of many) re- 
 maining in the commonwealth more than twelve 
 months after his or her right to freedom shall have 
 arrived, contrary to the provisions of this act, shall 
 be sold by the overseers of the poor, in any county 
 in which he or she may be found, for the benefit 
 of the literary fund.' In view of this act they 
 claim that they, as official members, are protected 
 by the Discipline of the Church, as they deem it to 
 be precisely one of the exceptions to the General 
 Rule provided for in the Discipline ; and especially 
 as under the existing laws of the commomyealth to 
 emancipate their slaves would, in many cases, be 
 an act of cruelty to the slaves themselves. The 
 matter of complaint by the petitioners is, that the 
 construction put upon this rule by the Baltimore 
 Annual Conference, in certain acts respecting indi- 
 viduals connected with this section of the work, 
 is subversive of their rights and oppressive in its 
 bearings; that they require the same submission to
 
 52 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 the rule of persons in that State as of those in 
 sections where the legal disability to comply with 
 it does not exist, regardless of the exceptions. And 
 they respectfully solicit the interference of the Gen- 
 eral Conference, either to revise the rule, or give 
 it such construction as to afford them relief in the 
 premises; or, finally, if neither be done, to cause 
 them to be set off to the Virginia Conference. 
 
 " It is due to the Baltimore Conference to say 
 that the cases referred to as evidence of their im- 
 proper application of their rule, are stated in terms 
 too vague and indefinite to authorize the inference 
 drawn by the petitioners. It is represented that a 
 young man applying to be received jmto the itin- 
 erancy is prevented by application of this rule ; that 
 it is in vain for him to urge upon a majority of the 
 conference the impracticability of his complying 
 with the rule, in consequence of the laws under 
 which he lives, or any other consideration in favor 
 of his being received; because he will not comply 
 with the rule, he must be rejected. The same, it is 
 assumed by the petitioners, is done with respect to 
 those who apply for ordination. And it is inferred 
 by them, that if the conference act consistently, 
 stewards and leaders may be expected soon to be 
 called upon to comply with the rule, or forfeit their 
 official standing in the Church. 
 
 "Your committee view this subject in a very 
 different light. In admitting a preacher to travel, 
 or electing one to orders, a conference must have
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 53 
 
 the right to act freely ; and in cases which are not 
 successful, it is wholly an assumption, on the part 
 of the applicants or their friends, to say what par- 
 ticular considerations dictated the vote, unless such 
 considerations be distinctly avowed by a majority 
 of the conference. And it is known to all con- 
 versant with the transactions of an annual confer- 
 ence, that no person applying to be received or or- 
 dained ever enters as a party before the conference, 
 pleading his own cause, and hearing and answering 
 the objections which may be urged against his 
 application. Any act of conference, then, in these 
 cases, can not be justly urged as evidence that the 
 conference denies the party concerned the benefit 
 of the special provision in the rule. A conference 
 or other deliberative bodies possess, and in the 
 nature of the case must possess, the right to deter- 
 mine its own course, and vote freely in all such 
 individual cases. Your committee, therefore, can 
 noi; see that the privileges claimed by the peti- 
 tioners have been contravened by an act of the 
 Baltimore Conference. 
 
 "Having said this much respecting the alleged 
 grounds of grievance, your committee agree in the 
 opinion that the exceptions to the General Rule in 
 the Discipline, referred to by the petitioners, clearly 
 apply to official members of the Church in Virginia, 
 according to the laws of the commonwealth, and do 
 therefore protect them against a forfeiture of their 
 official standing on account of said rule. In addi-
 
 54 TEE COLORED MAN. 
 
 tion to the petition of the official members of Lan- 
 caster Circuit, a resolution of a quarterly conference 
 of Westmoreland Circuit has been referred to your 
 committee, by which it appears that the members of 
 said conference concurred in said petition. Should 
 the General Conference agree in the opinions stated 
 by the committee in the report, it is respectfully 
 recommended that, after adopting it, they cause a 
 copy of it to be forwarded to the official members 
 in each of the above-named circuits. All of which 
 is respectfully submitted. 
 
 " The committee to whom were referred sundry 
 memorials from the North, praying that certain 
 rules on the subject of slavery, which formerly ex- 
 isted in our book of Discipline, should be restored, 
 and that the General Conference take such measures 
 as they may deem proper to free the Church from 
 the evil of slavery, beg leave to report: 
 
 "That they have had the subject under serious 
 consideration, and are of opinion that the prayers of 
 the memorialists can not be granted, believing that it 
 would be highly improper for the General Conference 
 to take any action that would alter or change our rules 
 on the subject of slavery. Your committee, there- 
 fore, respectfully submit the following resolution : 
 
 " Resolved, etc., That'it is inexpedient to make any 
 change in our book of Discipline respecting slavery; 
 and that we deem it improper further to agitate the 
 subject in the General Conference at present. 
 
 " All of which is respectfully submitted."
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 55 
 
 The pastoral address presented to and ac- 
 cepted by that General Conference, at once puts 
 forever at rest any shadow of a doubt as to any 
 disposition of the Church to compromise with 
 slavery. We quote the closing part touching this 
 question, viz : 
 
 "It can not be unknown to you that the ques- 
 tion of slavery in these United States, by the consti- 
 tutional compact which binds us together as a nation, 
 is left to be regulated by the several State Legis- 
 latures themselves, and thereby is put beyond the 
 control of the General Government, as well as that 
 of all ecclesiastical bodies; it being manifest that 
 in the slaveholding States themselves the entire 
 responsibility of its existence or non-existence rests 
 with those State Legislatures. And such is the 
 aspect of affairs in reference to this question, that 
 whatever else might tend to ameliorate the condition 
 of the slave, it is evident to us, from what we have 
 witnessed of Abolition movements, that these are 
 the least likely to do him good. On the contrary, 
 we have it in evidence before us that the inflam- 
 matory speeches and writings and movements have 
 tended, in many instances, injuriously to affect his 
 temporal and spiritual condition by hedging up the 
 way of the missionary who is sent to preach to him 
 Jesus and the resurrection, and by making a more 
 rigid supervision necessary on the part of his over- 
 seer, thereby abridging his civil and religious 
 liberties."
 
 56 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1840. Test cases 
 touching slavery were continually arising. That 
 of Silas Comfort was among the most noted. Xo 
 one will, for a moment, deny that this noted case 
 was as complicated as noted, and was, \ve believe, 
 on the whole as we now see it, settled for the best 
 interests of the Church and the colored race. The 
 decision was not what could have been expected ; 
 but, then, "discretion is the better part of valor." 
 There were, of course, two sides two separate and 
 distinct parties concerned. While the interests 
 of a class within the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 were at stake, the unity and tranquillity of the 
 Church were on the altar. The action of Rev. Silas 
 Comfort was an entering wedge between the two 
 parties within the Church. Many earnest, honest 
 men thought it a strange procedure when that Gen- 
 eral Conference declared it "inexpedient and unjus- 
 tifiable for any preacher among us to permit colored 
 persons to give testimony against white persons in 
 any State where they are denied that privilege in 
 trials at law." This was passed by a vote of 74 
 to 46. Twenty-two members of that General Con- 
 ference did not vote at all. Whether the spirit 
 that gave birth to the Wesleyan Methodist Church 
 three years afterward kept them from voting, is 
 not recorded. Whether that decision hastened the 
 organization of the above-mentioned Church or not, 
 many believe it did. The decision, since in it the 
 word "denied" appears, was probably the best the
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 57 
 
 General Conference thought it could do under 
 existing circumstances, coupled with the restric- 
 tion to those "States where they are denied that 
 privilege in trials at law." The reason for render- 
 ing such a decision probably rested upon the fact 
 that otherwise it might have led to internal wran- 
 gliugs in the general Church, and imposed addi- 
 tional hardships upon the colored man, in that 
 masters would probably have felt it incumbent upon 
 themselves to prohibit any slave from enjoying the 
 benefits derivable from membership in the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, and thus added injury to 
 insult, and left them a prey to "the false accuser 
 of the brethren." Notwithstanding the construction 
 others put upon that decision, or what we now think 
 of it, the colored members of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church were not well pleased, as a protest 
 from Sharp Street Church declares. The author of 
 "The Anti-slavery Struggle and Triumph in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Cl\urch," at page 148, says: 
 "At the General Conference of 1840 a memorial 
 was prepared by forty official members of Sharp 
 Street and Asbury Churches, in Baltimore, protest- 
 ing against the colored-testimony resolution. It was 
 put in the hands of Rev. Thomas B. Sargent, and 
 by him given to one of the bishops. Through the 
 efforts of Dr. Bond and others the memorialists 
 were pacified without the conference knowing any- 
 thing of the document." The Rev. Dr. Elliott 
 declared that "the colored members of the Church
 
 58 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 were greatly afflicted. This matter had like to 
 have done great mischief." The document was 
 afterward published. Among other things equally 
 pungent, the memorialists said: 
 
 " We have learned with profound regret and 
 unutterable emotion of the resolution adopted May 
 18th, which has inflicted, we fear, an irreparable 
 injury upon eighty thousand souls for whom Christ 
 died ; souls which, by this act of your venerable 
 body, have been stripped of the dignity of Chris- 
 tians, degraded in the scale of humanity, and treated 
 as criminals, for no other reason than the color of 
 their skin. The adoption of this soul-sickening 
 resolution has destroyed the peace and alienated the 
 affections of twenty-five hundred members of the 
 Church in this city, who now feel that they are but 
 spiritual orphans or scattered sheep. The deed you 
 have done could not have originated in that love 
 which works no ill to his neighbor, but in a dispo- 
 sition to propitiate that spirit which is not to be 
 appeased, except through concessions derogatory to 
 the dignity of our holy religion ! And, therefore, 
 they protest against it, and conjure you to wipe 
 from the journal the odious resolution." 
 
 This was strong language, prompted by a stronger 
 feeling. 
 
 The members of Sharp Street Church did not 
 protest against the decision of the Church in this 
 case, because they doubted the expressed fidelity 
 made prior to this, that was self-evident. But they
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 59 
 
 knew that times change and men change with them. 
 This to them looked like a compromise with the 
 spirit of slavery that stalked abroad in the land. 
 That decision, viewed from this distance to-day, 
 to some, assumes a different aspect altogether. 
 How could they keep from protesting? What 
 could they do more, how dare do less? How did 
 they curb their feelings enough to express their 
 thoughts in such mild language? Why should not 
 those burden-bound colored men and women pro- 
 test against, while compelled to submit to, a decision 
 that to them was humiliating in the extreme? Shall 
 the crawling, loathsome worm of the dust be 
 allowed to squirm when trod upon, the venomous 
 snake to hiss, the vicious beast to defend himself, 
 and- then deny the right to protest? Could the 
 Church of God deny them the privilege of excul- 
 pating themselves in the eyes of the public from 
 what to them appeared an undeserved reproach, 
 thrown upon them because of their color or help- 
 less condition, casting thereby away from them the 
 protection of all save that of God ? As they prob- 
 ably thought, why thus insult them? Aye; rather 
 why insult justice and God by demanding of them a 
 reason for protesting, since it appeared to them that 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church the Church, and 
 only Church, that from the beginning had stood 
 manfully in their defense by that decision "had 
 failed to manifest the spirit that worketh no ill to 
 its neighbor?" Whatever the protestants in this
 
 60 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 instance may have thought or said, viewed at that 
 time from the ignis fatuus of the then existing 
 African Churches in the North, " it was calculated 
 to drive out of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 every intelligent and manly colored man," into one 
 or the other of these Churches. Viewed, however, 
 under the light of the Address of our bishops at 
 that time, it assumes a more rational and philosoph- 
 ical aspect. The bishops said : " We can not with- 
 hold from you at this eventful period the solemn 
 conviction of our minds, that no ecclesiastical legis- 
 lation on the subject of slavery at this time will 
 have a tendency to accomplish these most desirable 
 objects, to wit : Preserve the peace and unity of the 
 whole body, promote the greatest happiness of the 
 slave population, and advance generally in the 
 slaveholding community of our country the humane 
 and hallowing influence of our holy religion." By 
 this we judge that at that time the Church had 
 come to the conclusion that it was impossible by 
 "ecclesiastical legislation" to benefit in any way 
 the colored man ; that extra legislation on the ques- 
 tion would be not only supererogatory, but in all 
 probability only beneficial in goading the slave- 
 holder. We infer (1) that civil legislation touching 
 slavery was not objected to ; but that (2) the objec- 
 tion to the admission of colored testimony had been 
 raised by the civil courts, and it was not considered 
 being " subject to the powers that be " to demur ; 
 at least, that it was the duty of the Church "to
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 61 
 
 live in peace with all men" as much as possible. 
 We are not ignorant of the fact that there have 
 been, and will yet be, times when forbearance 
 ceases to be a virtue, and when the Church of God 
 can not afford to be loyal " to the powers that be." 
 But what could be accomplished by the opposi- 
 tion of one Church to the slave oligarchy that 
 was then rife in this country? As to this we can 
 only say : 
 
 "Deep in unfathomable mines 
 
 Of never-failing skill, 
 God treasures up his bright designs, 
 And works his sovereign will." 
 
 As we now see it, there was no use for Method- 
 ism to push slavery harder at that time, since God 
 wa.s behind the movement. Long before this time 
 the bishops and other far-seeing and right-minded 
 men saw that all the speeches made and actions 
 taken pro and con relating to slavery, by the 
 Church, would, without the interposition of God, 
 culminate in splitting the Church. This in itself 
 gave promise of what actually grew out of it a long, 
 bitter, but bloodless ecclesiastical war between the 
 two factions. Seeing signs of an approaching crisis, 
 they were anxious to avert it as long as possible, 
 and at the same time prayed to God, "Thy will be 
 done, and not mine ;" that when the on-sweeping tidal 
 wave, even then within the bounds of the Church, 
 in opposition to holding slaves, did come, that, so far 
 as those who were leading in opposition to the
 
 62 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 accursed traffic were concerned, their consciences 
 might be clear, and that if the separation came in 
 their life-time, their side should bear the marks of 
 God's approbation. 
 
 Without multiplying evidence going to show the 
 interest the Methodist Episcopal Church took in 
 the colored man from its origin to the time at 
 which we have arrived, we wish now to note the 
 result of the unwillingness of the Church to com- 
 promise with slavery. We have seen that in every 
 case where it was possible to make concessions to 
 the colored man, to train, protect, and elevate him, 
 the Church has done it where it was proper and 
 best for him. It has in every case, as far as practi- 
 cable, tried to remedy the wrongs perpetrated upon 
 him as well as lessen his burdens. Not, of course, 
 always as the colored man thought it ought to have 
 been done for he was not in condition to even 
 judge what was best for him nor yet as some 
 who appeared more radical would have had it done ; 
 but the Church stood by and for the colored man as 
 no other denomination occupying the same territory 
 and similar circumstances would do. To know 
 what was contemplated by the Church in this case 
 we have but to trace out the legitimate results. 
 During the interregnum from 1836 to 1844 "God 
 moved in a mysterious way his wonders to 
 perform." The question of the abolition of Ameri- 
 can slavery was discussed at each General Confer- 
 ence with animation and seriousness. Many
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CIIURCIL 63 
 
 declared the radical action taken by the Church on 
 the question would eventually rend the Church in 
 twain. Many earnest prayers ascended to the throne 
 of God in behalf of the tranquillity of the Church, 
 but were not answered because "his brother" was 
 in need ; and those prayers, if answered, would not 
 only have riveted his shackles, but bathed his 
 face in tears, and consigned the poor colored man 
 and his posterity, not to perpetual banishment 
 that would have been tolerable but to a slavery 
 worse than that of the Russian serf. As many 
 more prayed that the prediction as to the split in 
 the Church might come to pass. As a result, each 
 succeeding General Conference was marked by the 
 friends of slavery as the beginning of the end of 
 a united Methodism in America.
 
 64 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CRISIS ITS CAUSE. 
 
 THE General Conference of 1844 sat in the city 
 of New York, from May 1st until June 10th 
 forty-five days. It has gone down into history as 
 the most noted of any General Conference of the 
 Church. There was at stake the peace, unity, and 
 strength of Methodism in this country. The ques- 
 tion most prominent, and that was calculated to 
 stir up most enthusiasm, was that of the abolition 
 of American slavery. An unprecedented, as well as 
 strange case, came up for consideration. Rev. James 
 Osgood Andrew, one of the bishops of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, who was elected at the General 
 Conference of 1832, a few months before the ses- 
 sion of the General Conference of 1844 had married 
 an estimable lady of the best families of Georgia, 
 who was the owner of slaves. This act on the part 
 of the bishop, from the very nature of things, caused 
 much excitement and more comment. This was a 
 trying attitude for the Church. There had arisen 
 within a party in the North that accused it of being 
 pro-slavery in sentiment at least to a certain ex- 
 tent. Notwithstanding it hitherto had occupied 
 such strong positions on the question of human
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 65 
 
 slavery, the above sentiment arose to such a height 
 in 1842 as to cause a secession, and the formation 
 of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. It did, there- 
 fore, seem strange that such a thing had happened. 
 But now it appeared as if the crisis had been 
 reached. Just what action that General Conference 
 could or would take now on the question of slavery iu 
 general, and the bishop's case in particular, was hard 
 to imagine. The natural supposition with the Aboli- 
 tionists was that the same vituperation and obloquy 
 would be manifested against slavery as of yore ; that 
 the rules relating to slavery would be adhered to, even 
 where it involved a popular bishop of that Church. 
 It was a trying situation. Others declared it im- 
 practicable and irrational for the great Methodist 
 Episcopal Church to interfere with the personal 
 rights of the bishop by declaring that he was in 
 the wrong, when he did not claim the slaves as his 
 property. Some declared the Church would now 
 back down, and thus verify the allegations of the 
 Wesleyan brethren. If it had not been for the con- 
 fidence the Church had in the bishop, and in many 
 others who professed to believe slavery right, they 
 could easily have concluded that a trap had been set 
 to catch the General Conference, because the bishop 
 was not the only one involved. A member of the 
 Baltimore Annual Conference had also, by marriage, 
 become a slaveholder and refused to manumit 
 his slaves. In the State of Maryland emancipa- 
 tion was possible. After the Baltimore Conference 
 
 6
 
 66 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 had carefully considered his case, he was suspended 
 from the ministry of the Church. He appealed 
 from the decision of his conference to the ensuing 
 General Conference. When the case came up on the 
 appeal, the decision of the lower court was sustained 
 by a large majority. In the meantime the Com- 
 mittee on Episcopacy waited upon Bishop Andrew. 
 He informed the committee that he had married a 
 wife who inherited slaves from her former husband ; 
 that her husband had secured them to her by a 
 deed of trust; and that she could not emancipate 
 them if she desired to do so. The committee, 
 however, aware of the fact that it was possible for 
 the bishop to remove from the State of Georgia 
 where emancipation was not possible, to a State 
 where it was possible, took the case under con- 
 sideration. 
 
 Here were two factions one in favor of stand- 
 ing up for the emancipation of slaves, supported by 
 thousands of influential Northern and Eastern men 
 and money; the other, supported by not less than 
 fifty thousand members, institutions of learning, and 
 the slaveholding States and slaveholding sympa- 
 thizers from the Atlantic to the great West, from 
 the Lakes to the Gulf, and every slaveholding country 
 in the entire world. Speeches, noting these facts, 
 and declaring a bitter unwillingness to crouch be- 
 fore the spirit of freedom, manifested by that part 
 of the Church which opposed the holding of slaves, 
 began to make a breach in the Church that eternity
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 67 
 
 alone, we fear, can only close. The Board of 
 Bishops were divided on the question. From North 
 to South, from East to West, the Church of God 
 was disturbed. Not only this, but the world knew 
 that if the Methodist Episcopal Church split then 
 and there on that question, and any respectable por- 
 tion opposed slavery, it would be the beginning of 
 the end of slavery on American soil. Therefore, even 
 the political and mercantile worlds were anxiously 
 waiting, as well as earnestly working, either to 
 reconcile the affair or compromise it. Any way in 
 the world not to divide on that question at that 
 time. God only knows how many colored people in 
 this country sent up prayers from the rice-swamps 
 of the Carol inas, the cotton-fields of Mississippi, 
 and the cane-brakes of Louisiana, that "the God 
 of Elijah, who answered prayer by fire," would bow 
 the gentle heavens and visit New York City with 
 a baptism of the Holy Ghost, that that General 
 Conference the men of God therein might have 
 victory in favor of the Church, suffering humanity, 
 and God. If there was ever any time at which 
 more prayers besieged the throne of grace than 
 another, it surely must have been during the Gen- 
 eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in 1844. It is not an exaggeration to say the eyes 
 and ears of the world were turned toward that 
 General Conference. And why not? Were not 
 even then the interests of every Methodist in the 
 known world, of every colored man, woman, and
 
 68 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 child, and children of the race then in the womb 
 of the future aye, the future destiny of him who 
 pens these lines, with that of our holy Christian 
 religion at stake? Most assuredly it was so. 
 
 Some declared that Bishop Andrew would have 
 willingly yielded to the opinions of the General 
 Conference had not his brethren in the slavehold- 
 ing States and others persuaded him that it was his 
 duty to stand by them on this question, involving 
 their personal rights. While we do not stop to 
 express a doubt as to whether, indeed, this was up- 
 permost in his mind, we are glad to note that, not- 
 withstanding the interests at stake, and that the 
 Church at that time could have saved itself much 
 trouble, filled its coffers with "golden ducats," 
 increased its popularity, and the sound of its ap- 
 plause would have resounded on earth from sea to 
 sea and from shore to shore, after a protracted 
 discussion, that General Conference, by a vote of 
 110 to 68, 
 
 "Resolved, That it is the sense of this General 
 Conference that he [Bishop Andrew] desist from 
 the exercise of his office so long as this impediment 
 remains." 
 
 At this action the Southern conferences felt 
 deeply aggrieved. A clap of thunder from a clear 
 sky could not have spread greater consternation 
 and excited more feeling than did this action. 
 Like wildfire the news began to spread. So far as 
 the United States mails could carry it, the news
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 69 
 
 was spread before a fortnight. What was to be the 
 outcome but few hesitated to say. What could it be 
 but that which had been repeatedly predicted, the 
 separation of the Southern conferences from the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church ? 
 
 At once meetings were called by the South- 
 ern delegates, and steps were taken looking to 
 the organization of a Church in the South. The 
 following year the organization was accomplished, 
 showing that the matter had been thoroughly can- 
 vassed, and a conclusion reached by the slavehold- 
 ing element that was not to be surrendered. Is 
 he a philosopher who sees in this a counterpart to 
 the drama of Pharaoh and the Hebrews? Is it 
 not possible to trace the finger-marks of Providence 
 all along the pages of every resolution offered by 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church on this question 
 from 1796 to date? Does not it appear in all this 
 that our God, 
 
 " Deep in unfathomable mines 
 
 Of never-failing skill, 
 Treasures up his bright designs 
 And works his sovereign will?" 
 
 The chief part of the membership in the entire 
 slaveholding territory, with the exception of the 
 States of Maryland and Delaware, separated and 
 formed the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
 The grand old Methodist Church, by adhering to 
 her anti-slavery principles in this particular case, 
 lost nearly five hundred thousand members, the
 
 70 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 control of much Church property, and many insti- 
 tutions of learning; incurring thereby the ill-will, 
 everywhere, of every man, woman, and child who 
 was pro-slavery in theory or practice. But what 
 effect had this action of the Church on the minds of 
 the colored people ? Did they really believe it meant 
 what the pro-slavery element declared it meant, 
 that the Methodist Episcopal Church was an in- 
 veterate enemy to what Wesley called " the sum of 
 all villainies?" Any one who doubts the fact that 
 the colored man everywhere, who was capable of 
 properly appreciating philanthropy, appreciated the 
 situation, has but to note the fact that, compara- 
 tively, the States of Maryland, Delaware, Louisiana, 
 Mississippi, and South Carolina, so far as Method- 
 ism among our people is concerned, belong to the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church; some of the most in- 
 telligent colored men of the Church are there. 
 The saying, "It is an ill wind that blows nobody 
 good," was verified in this instance. The colored 
 membership within the Church renewed its resolu- 
 tions, redoubled its diligence, and had its faith 
 strengthened in the integrity of Methodism. They 
 recognized in the Church a mother whose tender 
 solicitude and maternal care were not based upon 
 anticipated future benefits derivable from the col- 
 ored membership, but, commensurate with their 
 integrity and Christianity, she expected to help 
 them ; that she was a mother who not only labored 
 to have them " flee from the wrath to come," but to
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 71 
 
 save them, as well, from the rigorous burdens of 
 the unrequited toil of slavery; that she was a 
 mother who loved them for Jesus' sake, and stood 
 by them when it was neither profitable nor pleasant 
 to do so. A new inspiration seems to have come 
 to the entire Church. But was not that to have 
 been expected as a matter of course, under the 
 command with promise, "Bring ye all the tithes 
 into the storehouse, and prove me herewith, saith 
 the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows 
 of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there 
 shall not be room enough to receive it. And 
 all nations shall call you blessed." Had not the 
 Church planted itself upon the Ten Command- 
 ments the rock of ages ; and was there not to be 
 seen everywhere the bright, shining light from the 
 Sermon on the Mount athwart the path of the 
 Church in its onward march in favor of the recog- 
 nition among all men, of whatever complexion, of 
 the wholesome doctrine and practice of the common 
 Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man? 
 As a result, that part of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church that believed it better to obey God than 
 man, to be unpopular and sneered at, but right; that 
 " bore unmoved the world's dread frown, nor heeded 
 its scornful smile," received a new baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost, and continued receiving it until a new 
 door was opened nnto the Church. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that nearly five hun- 
 dred thousand members left the Church on account
 
 72 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 of the decision on slavery, by no means all left who 
 wished the colored man would leave or be forced 
 out of the Church into one of the two colored 
 organizations. It may as well be said now, that 
 there has always been a faction within and without 
 the Church that has used, or attempted to use, the 
 colored man in opposition to the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. In the first place, they use him as a 
 wedge. When they are foiled in an attempt to 
 carry any certain thing, they at once declare that 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church has been, and is 
 now, taking advantage of the poor colored man. 
 If this does not answer, they find it convenient to 
 let him (the colored man) understand that he is an 
 intruder in the Church, and respect for his man- 
 hood demands that he go out and "paddle his own 
 canoe ;" that white men will think more of him if 
 he exhibit "the self-reliance and ability displayed 
 by those members who are in separate Churches to 
 themselves." When this proved abortive, they 
 found it convenient to demonstrate it. They at 
 once invited some minister of one of the two col- 
 ored organizations to occupy their (white) pulpits, 
 and leave the colored minister within our Church 
 without such invitation. The result was almost in- 
 evitable. Pretty soon the more manly members of 
 our Church, in the community where such tricks 
 were played, would begin to say : " Well, that 's pass- 
 ing strange, that white ministers of our Church 
 prefer African ministers to our own. It must be
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 73 
 
 because of their independence. If that's so, we 
 want some of it also." That an undercurrent of this 
 kind has flowed along the stream of Methodism 
 ever since the colored membership question has 
 been discussed, is easily proven. Now the class of 
 which we have just spoken is to be distinguished 
 from the class who honestly believed that it would 
 be better for the white and the colored members to 
 be separate. Not that they (the whites spoken of) 
 were unwilling to aid the colored members, nor yet 
 because they did not want them saved, but because 
 the loud professions and announced success of the 
 separate colored organizations blinded their eyes. 
 These considered, and rightly so too, all such per- 
 sons their best allies. The African and African 
 Zion Churches whispered continually, and some- 
 times preached, that the colored membership in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church was a burden to the 
 white folks. These organizations, though supported 
 by some within our Church, saw there were but two 
 ways in which they could induce the colored ele- 
 ment in the Methodist Episcopal Church to join 
 them, by loud professions of "race pride," and ap- 
 peals to their ignorance and prejudice. This they 
 attempted by appeals to the dignity of our colored 
 local preachers ; by telling the more ignorant that 
 they were being imposed upon by " white folks." 
 They told the local preachers, class-leaders, etc., 
 among our members, that it was a shame for them to 
 have white masters during the week and white mas- 
 
 7
 
 74 THE COLORED MAN, 
 
 ters on the Sabbath-day also ; that they were as well 
 qualified literarily to have charge of congregations 
 with white members as some of the white pastors; 
 that they possessed intelligence enough to do business 
 for themselves. Then, again, they would say : 
 " There will never come a time when the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church will allow one of you colored 
 members to preside as their presiding elder or 
 pastor; that all the property you buy belongs to 
 ' white folks/ and not to you." 
 
 The language of their most accurate historian 
 will give a faint idea of the pressure we speak of, 
 which was and is now brought to bear upon our 
 people in some localities. He says : " It is true 
 our colored brethren within the communion of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church worship in a large 
 number of churches in Maryland, Delaware, and 
 other of the Southern States, and many of them 
 are fine ones; but the question is: 'To whom do 
 they belong the congregations worshiping in them, 
 or the Methodist Episcopal Church?' We all know 
 that it is our glory, that our churches belong to no 
 one congregation or body of trustees in particular, 
 but to the connection in general." Again, ibid: " It 
 would have been a source of unspeakable joy had 
 he been able or permitted truthfully to record that 
 your Church had acknowledged your full and true 
 manhood, and not denied it both in practice and in 
 law ; that it had opened its school-doors to you, 
 as did other Christian bodies, and like them, too,
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 75 
 
 have received you into conference upon a perfect 
 ministerial equality; but, alas! the doors of its 
 schools, and of its conferences as well, were locked, 
 and bolted, and barred against you." He was 
 quoting and commenting upon the words of another. 
 Such strong talk, mixed as it was with bragga- 
 docio, pretty soon had the desired effect upon two 
 large classes amongst us the ambitious illiterates 
 and the pompous, aspiring for recognition, minus 
 merit. These two classes were soon, after such 
 a process of pumping, inflated until their sides 
 puffed nearly to bursting. A number of the above- 
 mentioned classes soon concluded that they must 
 be in a Church where there was a favorable chance 
 for every member of an annual conference to be 
 put forth before the world as a noted preacher, 
 appointed presiding elder or a General Conference 
 officer, or elected to the bishopric. It is difficult 
 for any one, who understands in some sort the feel- 
 ings of white men when they are ambitious for no- 
 toriety or office and fail, to say or appreciate the 
 feelings of a disappointed colored man who has 
 known nothing save ostracism. To expect him to 
 refuse preferment, emolument, or office, when ten- 
 dered, is to expect an ox in August to refuse the 
 shade. Notwithstanding the disadvantages the col- 
 ored man has labored under hitherto, he has found 
 out that in a nation of blind men the one-eyed man 
 ought to be, and is, king. To this day but few 
 white people have learned that it is not always the
 
 76 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 most profitable thing to exchange an old lamp for 
 a new one; that "it is better to bear the ills we 
 have, than fly to others we know not of." 
 
 To say that at no time a single colored member 
 within the Methodist Episcopal Church imagined 
 the wool was being pulled over his eyes by men of 
 lighter hue, is going too far. To say there never 
 was a white man in the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 who refused to recognize or affiliate with the col- 
 ored members because of their color, who refused to 
 do for him there what he would have done if he had 
 been elsewhere, or had been " manly and independ- 
 ent like some others, and paddled his own canoe," 
 or that all such have left the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, is going farther than truth warrants or the 
 case requires. To say that any organization among 
 men is absolutely perfect, is preposterous ; for even 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church in this country is 
 not what it can and will be. I fear much of the 
 unrest, and seventy-five per cent of the withdrawals 
 of our colored membership since 1812, could directly 
 or indirectly be attributed to the actions of those 
 within and without the Church who think more of 
 caste than Christ, more of popularity than right, 
 and more of men's opinions than of God's Word. 
 Notwithstanding this, we hazard the statement that, 
 during that time, there has not been an hour when 
 the heart of Methodism in general, and the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church in particular, did not beat 
 in unison with that of the Christ of God, the
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 77 
 
 blessed Master, who, in the midst of a gainsaying 
 world, said : " I call you not servants, for the 
 servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth ; but I 
 called you brethren." And yet, in nearly every 
 instance of attack made by the two colored organ- 
 izations upon the colored members in our Church 
 up to this time, and for that matter all time, the 
 exceptions among our white and colored member- 
 ship have by them been spoken of as the rule. 
 Their statements as to the intelligence or ignorance 
 of our colored membership was the natural if not 
 legitimate outgrowth of the disposition, action, and 
 words of some of our white members who remain 
 in, but were not in spirit of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. This is true of some of the minis- 
 ters as well as white members of our Church. 
 When the bishops, General Conference officers, 
 pastors, or members of the two colored organizations 
 visited communities where we had churches, they 
 were welcomed as no other colored Methodists were, if 
 for no other than for the reason that they were 
 high in authority within their own Church. This 
 distinction was not always clear in the minds of our 
 members. There is no doubt that this caused us 
 much trouble as well as loss of preachers and lay 
 members. In those States where our membership 
 was the largest and most influential, and where our 
 churches were better and finer, the effects of such 
 stuff were more telling because of the spirit of the 
 people. Our members saw at once that one of
 
 78 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 three things had to be done to hold our members : 
 a complete colored organization had to be formed 
 among us; or else join with the one or the other 
 of those organizations; or else have separate annual 
 conferences within our Church, so that the presiding 
 elderate, pastorate, trusteeship, and stewardship 
 would be in the hands and charge of our colored 
 members. 
 
 It was not in the mind of the two eagles that 
 stirred up this nest, that matters would turn out as 
 they did that instead of an exode from the mother 
 of Methodism into the bosom of the daughter, a 
 separate perch could and would be prepared. The 
 anticipation was that all the colored members in the 
 Church would flock into the two African Churches. 
 This hope kept those two organizations from unit- 
 ing, while each thought its numbers would soon be 
 increased by the coming of the colored members 
 from our Church. The more intelligent colored 
 men in our Church saw and felt that something 
 had to be done, and done quickly. I could wish 
 they had opened their eyes sooner. Those two 
 organizations knew well enough that if the colored 
 members within the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in the North, East, and the States bordering on the 
 above sections decided to leave, one or the other, or 
 both of these, would get them. There was no other 
 Church into which they could go. Henoe they 
 worked and faithfully watched every movement of 
 our Church touching the colored people. They
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 79 
 
 well knew that if all the colored members in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church joined in a body either 
 one of their organizations, the result would be one 
 great, grand colored Methodist Church. I truly 
 believe the good men in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, among which we put our bishops, saw it 
 in that light. I believe other white members in 
 our Church were laboring every day for the sole 
 object of bringing about a union of all the colored 
 Methodists. They believed that the colored man 
 had been a source of annoyance; that the good 
 brethren who left the Church in 1844 would return 
 if the colored members all left the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church ; that it would be a great set-back as 
 well as rebuke to the "hot-headed Abolitionists" 
 who kept it in an uproar about the colored man, 
 and would prove conclusively that the radical 
 element within it was all wrong and the conserva- 
 tive element was all right. 
 
 When the General Conference of 1848 met in 
 the city of Pittsburg, several petitions from the 
 colored members of our Church in Pennsylvania, 
 Delaware, and Maryland were presented. The peti- 
 tioners asked that, since the Church had ordained 
 colored ministers, they be given the charge of 
 the congregations over which white pastors had 
 presided ; that a separate conference be granted 
 them within the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 These petitions were not only received, but respect- 
 fully and carefully considered. The petitions were
 
 80 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 properly and promptly referred to the Committee 
 on the State of the Church. In due time the above 
 named committee reported as follows : 
 
 " We find among the papers presented for our 
 consideration memorials from different places within 
 the slave States from our colored membership, pray- 
 ing for recognition, in that colored ministers be sent 
 to them; for the organization and manning of dis- 
 tricts; and that they be granted a separate annual 
 conference, which memorials are signed by 2,735 
 members." 
 
 Thus it is clearly seen that much unrest was 
 caused by the delay on the part of our Church in 
 granting a separate conference. Our work to-day 
 would have been as strong, comparatively, in the 
 Eastern and Northern States as either of the African 
 Churches, had it not been for the delay in granting 
 us a separate conference. As a result nearly all the 
 colored members of our Church in the North and 
 East were persuaded to unite with one or the other 
 of the African Churches which were under the 
 fostering care in some way of our Church, while 
 they desperately fought the colored element within 
 it. Of course, this is strange. A fact remains, 
 that the great Methodist Episcopal Church felt that 
 while under obligations to help the colored man, 
 and more able to do so than others, she was unwill- 
 ing to have him driven away, whether by cen- 
 trifugal or centripetal force. The committee 
 above referred to continued its report as follows:
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 81 
 
 " We recommend the followiiig : 
 
 " Resolved, That we recognize all persons in these 
 United States, who were members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in 1844, who have not separated 
 from said Church by withdrawals or expulsion 
 according to the Discipline of the Church, and who 
 express a desire to be recognized as under our care 
 and jurisdiction, as members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church ; and that we regard it our duty, 
 as far as practicable, to supply all such with the 
 preaching and ordinances of the gospel." 
 
 The special report in this case on the peti- 
 tion from the Sharpe Street Church of Balti- 
 more, asking for a separate conference, reported as 
 follows : 
 
 "That having carefully considered the memo- 
 rials, and feeling an earnest desire to do all that 
 can be done to promote the spiritual interests of 
 our colored people, they recommend to the General 
 Conference for adoption the following resolutions: 
 
 "Resolved, That the organization of such (sep- 
 arate) conferences at present is inexpedient. 
 
 " Resolved, That the Discipline be so amended 
 that the fifth answer in section 10, part 2, shall 
 read as follows : ' The bishops may employ colored 
 preachers to travel and preach where their services 
 are judged necessary : Provided, that no one shall 
 be so employed without having been recommended 
 by a quarterly conference." 1 
 
 Thus the work of the colored members of the
 
 82 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church began as the great 
 Church itself began, evolving out of necessity, and 
 guided by Providence. 
 
 The already existing Churches the African and 
 African Ziou were not allowed to operate to any 
 great extent in the Southern States by the customs 
 and laws of these States ; hence, without giving any 
 reason, it was wise to conclude that at that time, 
 and in that territory, the organization of a separate 
 colored conference among our people, within the 
 Church, was " inexpedient." And yet the Church 
 was willing to do what it thought best under exist- 
 ing circumstances. The colored ministers within 
 the Church were henceforth to travel and preach 
 at the discretion of the bishops. Tips was the be- 
 ginning of colored traveling preachers in the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 83 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COLORED PASTORATE. 
 
 r I ^HE employment of colored ministers in the 
 i- traveling connection in the Church, like 
 Methodism itself, was a child of necessity. It has 
 grown to be a man, however, and is the father of 
 several children. Notwithstanding the secession of 
 nearly all our white conferences and Churches 
 500,000 members in the slaveholding States before 
 mentioned the record is not written where the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church extended overtures to 
 them to return that in any way involved the relin- 
 quishment of its hold on the throat of slavery, or 
 that equaled that offered by our revered president, 
 Abraham Lincoln, to the Southern Confederacy, if 
 they would return to the Union. The whole ques- 
 tion of opposing slavery by the Church seems to have 
 been, all along, a work of conscience, not to be 
 repented of; that the work had to be done, because 
 the seal of God's approval rested upon it. The 
 action and firm stand taken by the Church in 1844 
 put a quietus upon all who professed to believe the 
 rules relating to slavery, would not be enforced 
 during the ensuing quadrennium. 
 
 The General Conference of 1852, that met in 
 the city of Boston, was called upon to consider the 
 expediency of separate conferences for colored
 
 84 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 members. The custom of the Church had usually 
 been to leave all colored congregations, in the 
 appointments, " to be supplied." But as the work 
 progressed and the colored membership found the 
 braggadocio of those " who went out from us " was 
 invading the rank and file of their work ; that each 
 year it increased with telling and disheartening 
 effect, and the more ambitious members among us 
 were becoming restless and wavering in their 
 opinions, threatening with dissolution the work of 
 the colored members withir the Church, the mem- 
 bers within the bounds of the Philadelphia and 
 New Jersey Conferences at any rate from members 
 of our Church in Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
 sent up, not only memorials to this General Con- 
 ference, but representative men of the more intel- 
 ligent class, to represent them and see, at the same 
 time, the way the great Methodist Episcopal Church 
 would treat colored memorialists. When the me- 
 morials were presented, asking again for separate 
 conferences, they were promptly referred to the 
 Committee on Missions. After careful- examination 
 of the memorials, they called before them the rep- 
 resentatives. "An open and free discussion of the 
 interests at stake and the benefits anticipated there- 
 from, was had." The committee then submitted to 
 the General Conference the following: 
 
 " The Committee on Missions, to whom was 
 referred the petition of our colored brethren from 
 Philadelphia, asking that the pastors within the
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 85 
 
 Philadelphia and New Jersey Annual Conferences 
 may be formed into an annual conference, under the 
 supervision of the bishops and of the presiding elders 
 of said conference within whose bounds their (the col- 
 ored pastors') work may lie, beg leave to report that 
 the committee have given due consideration to the 
 petition, and have heard the bearers of it in person, 
 and have obtained all the information within their 
 reach, and have come to the following conclusions: 
 
 " 1. That it is very desirable that the colored 
 pastors mentioned in the petition aforesaid should 
 have an opportunity to meet together once a year, 
 in the presence, or under the supervision, of the 
 bishop or bishops, in order to confer together 
 with respect to the best means of promoting their 
 work, and to receive the assignment of their work 
 from the bishops to the Churches usually left in 
 the Minutes 'to be supplied.' 
 
 " 2. That in this meeting it is desirable that the 
 presiding elders, in whose bounds the colored 
 Churches and congregations He, should be present 
 to assist the bishop in the assignment of the work. 
 
 "3. Provided, upon due inquiry by the bishops, 
 they shall find a sufficient number of colored 
 preachers of sufficient qualifications to justify an 
 annual meeting. Having arrived at these conclu- 
 sions, the committee have agreed on the following 
 resolution, which is reported for adoption by this 
 General Conference: 
 
 " Resolved, That we advise that the colored local
 
 86 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 preachers now employed, or who may be employed, 
 within the bounds of the Philadelphia and New 
 Jersey Annual Conferences, be assembled together 
 once in each year by the bishop or bishops, who 
 may preside in said conference, for the purpose of 
 conferring with the said colored local preachers with 
 respect to the best means for promoting their work, 
 and also for the purpose of assigning their work, 
 respectively; and that the presiding elders within 
 whose bounds and under whose care the colored 
 Churches and congregations are, be present and aid 
 the bishop or bishops in said annual meeting of 
 local preachers: Provided, that upon due inquiry 
 the said bishop or bishops shall find such an- 
 nual meeting aforesaid to be practicable and ex- 
 pedient." 
 
 So far as we have gone, we have seen a disposi- 
 tion on the part of the Church to give the colored 
 man all the rights and benefits practicable and wise 
 that are accorded other members. It was not to 
 have been expected that he would demand what 
 was not best for him as he saw it, or that he should 
 be given what he asked for when it was as imprac- 
 ticable as unwise. There is no parent that is will- 
 ing to allow a child to have its own way in every- 
 thing i. e., if a wise parent. When at the General 
 Conference of 1848 the committee reported a sep- 
 arate conference for the colored members within 
 the Church " inexpedient," what was thought of it? 
 Was it, under the then existing circumstances,
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 87 
 
 impracticable and inexpedient? It was most assur- 
 edly impracticable, in that but few localities would 
 allow slaves to have a meeting of their own in the 
 absence of some white person. The Lord Jesus 
 said: "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill 
 the law." He verified this by paying taxes, and 
 observing (and having others do the same) the 
 Jewish law. Suppose the Church, at that time, 
 had given them a separate conference for Mary- 
 land and Delaware, could they have enjoyed the 
 benefits of it? Most assuredly not. On the other 
 hand, it would have undoubtedly weakened the in- 
 fluence of the Church with the masters, and sub- 
 jected the colored members to restrictions of 
 privileges, and brought upon them uncalled-for 
 hardships. 
 
 The tasks imposed upon the poor Hebrews in 
 Egypt were increased, as well as the inflictions of 
 punishment, as soon as they began to believe in 
 Moses' plan of a "three days' journey into the 
 wilderness to worship God." When a desire for a 
 separate conference came from those who could 
 enjoy it without let, it was at once arranged for 
 them. I believe the more intelligent colored men 
 listened to the words of advice and wisdom of the 
 General Conference with confidence. And yet it 
 must be declared that many of the influential col- 
 ored members of our Church were urged up to the 
 belief that it was refused them from mere jealousy 
 on the part of 'the white folks,' because they did
 
 88 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 not want the colored man elevated; because they 
 wished to boss him in Church matters as his master 
 did in e very-day affairs. 
 
 Very 'many advantages were offered the African 
 Churches by the failure of our Church to grant 
 the requests made by our members for separate an- 
 nual conferences. Whether they took advantage 
 of them or not, a great many people in these United 
 States believe they did. Every time the General 
 Conference was asked to grant separate conferences, 
 and it did not do so because of its impracticability, 
 it was not strange that they were vexed, hearing 
 everywhere, " I told you colored folks so." As a 
 result of such failure we lost, from 1844 until we 
 were granted separate conferences, not less than one- 
 fourth of the membership of the African Churches 
 in this country at that time. As strange as it may 
 seem, it is really true. But probably the Church 
 was not to be blamed altogether for not doing for the 
 colored members that which would have inevitably 
 worked hardships for them in the slaveholding 
 States. But why did not the Church at once form 
 separate conferences for our people in those States 
 where the African and African Zion Churches were 
 then operating? As we turn these questions over 
 in our minds, several valid reasons occur to us. 
 Either because the Church loved the colored man, 
 and wanted him to have his own choice when 
 allowed to enjoy it whether for separate congrega- 
 tions, conferences, or Churches even though they
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 89 
 
 all declared a desire to unite with one of the two 
 colored organizations, or both of them, already in 
 existence, and thus become a religious power in 
 those States where it was practicable, in the which 
 they could still aid them; or because the Church 
 thought the world would declare had they organ- 
 ized another colored Church that they were fol- 
 lowing with opposition and spite those two bodies, 
 by setting up a "colored Church" within a white 
 one to break those two down ; or the Church did 
 not want to move in the matter until somewhat of 
 the outcome of the Negro question could be seen or 
 known ; or else, because they really thought it the 
 duty of the Methodist Episcopal Church to look 
 after those colored members in the slave States 
 where "the colored organizations" could not go, 
 and abandon all other colored members as material 
 for the upbuilding of their work. The latter, I 
 believe, is nearer the truth. And by this is not 
 meant that they refused to allow colored members 
 to join the Church, or to commune with it in the 
 "free States," but that no special pains were put 
 forth to induce them to join the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church where either of those bodies had charge. 
 This is one of the advantages they have enjoyed 
 over the colored members remaining in the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. Again, may it not be 
 surmised that since ours is " the Prince of peace," 
 and rivalry in ecclesiastical, as other matters, usually 
 is followed by strife, that the refusal of the Church 
 
 8
 
 90 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 to grant separate conferences to the colored mem- 
 bers in those States was but an effort to avoid 
 strife ? Again, for the Church to have granted sep- 
 arate conferences, as a stay against the secession 
 spirit manifested in 1816 and 1823, would have 
 been considered by a great many good people and 
 used to advantage by the seceders as a declaration 
 of the charges made by the African Churches that 
 "the whites were anxious to get rid of the colored 
 element within the Church." From whatever point 
 we take cognizance of that matter, it would appear 
 as if the Church tried to do what was for the best. 
 Every conceivable thing was done to pacify and 
 keep the colored members within the Church. The 
 secession of the Wesley ans had a great deal to do 
 with the complication of this matter, for they were, 
 in many instances, naturally the main stay for 
 African Methodism. 
 
 THE FIRST COLORED BISHOP IN THE METHODIST 
 EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 The interest the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 had in the colored man was not confined to America. 
 
 "The old Church sought her sheep, 
 
 The parent eought her child ; 
 She followed him o'er vale and hill, 
 
 O'er deserts waste and wild; 
 She found him nigh to death, 
 
 Famished, and faint, and lone ; 
 She hound him with the bands of love. 
 
 She saved the wandering one."
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 91 
 
 The first foreign mission-field of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church was Africa. When the " freed 
 people" of these United States began to move to 
 the west coast of that country, the Church began 
 to follow them by sending over missionaries tolook 
 after her colored members and others who would 
 accept the service. From time to time the mem- 
 bership multiplied, and in 1833 a mission was 
 organized and then an annual conference. This 
 missionary field may have been the outgrowth of 
 the seeds sown by Dr. Coke, who in 1814, on his 
 voyage to India, left a missionary at the Cape of 
 Good Hope. The work continued to increase until 
 it was declared by some the leaven that was to leaven 
 Africa. In 1834, in company with Rev. John 
 Seys, was sent Rev. Francis Burns from New York, 
 he having been ordained deacon and elder by that 
 man of God, Bishop Janes. In 1849 he was ap- 
 pointed presiding elder of the Cape Palmas District 
 of the Liberia Annual Conference. When the Gen- 
 eral Conference of 1856 convened in the city of 
 Indianapolis, Indiana, a new phase of the colored 
 membership question came up. Africa was knock- 
 ing at the door of the conference, asking for a 
 missionary bishop. The General Conference at 
 once took up the cry, examined the matter, and 
 requested the Liberia Annual Conference to select 
 the man. This was done by the selecting of Rev. 
 Francis Burns. He at once prepared to return to 
 America for ordination.
 
 92 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Why did the Methodist Episcopal Church not 
 send a bishop by the West Coast of Africa and have 
 him ordained there? Why bring him back to 
 America, where the colored man was only recog- 
 nized as a chattel, a bondman, a serf? And yet, 
 to her praise be it said, she did for the colored man 
 in America what no other denomination found it 
 convenient to do ordained a colored man to the 
 episcopacy. When Rev. Francis Burns arrived he 
 was given all the honor any man could have ex- 
 pected. He was accordingly ordained at the session 
 of the Genesee Conference, October 14, 1858, 
 the services being conducted by Bishops Janes and 
 Baker. But after all this, what did the Church 
 really think and say concerning this colored man at 
 that time? The assembly that witnessed his ordi- 
 nation, and those who grasped his ebony hand and 
 bid him God-speed, declare in the words of Dr. 
 Robie, who was present : " Though of ebony com- 
 plexion, he had gained wonderfully on the affection 
 and respect of all who had made his acquaintance, 
 and especially those privileged to an intimate asso- 
 ciation with him. His manner is exceedingly 
 pleasant, and his spirit kind, sweet, and good as 
 ever beamed from human heart or disposition. He 
 seems to be lacking in none of the qualifications of 
 the gentleman and Christian minister. He possesses 
 also an intelligent and cultivated mind, speaks 
 readily and fluently, and even eloquently, and is in 
 all respects a model African. Such is the man
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 93 
 
 whom the Liberia Conference has selected for a 
 bishop, and such the one the highest authorities of 
 our American Church have set apart for the sacred 
 and responsible position." We add, Thus shall it be 
 done to the colored man whom the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church delights to honor oil slave soil, where 
 prejudice against the race grew as rank as wild 
 weeds. 
 
 The election and ordination of Bishop Burns was 
 not a subterfuge, for the Church elected another 
 colored man to the episcopacy Rev. John W. 
 Roberts, in 1866 one year after the war closed. 
 He was consecrated in St. Paul's Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, in New York City, June 20th of that 
 year. 
 
 With the interests of the race at heart, what 
 more could she have done? 
 
 But the advance steps already taken by the 
 Church on that question were twisted by those who 
 opposed the Church in her efforts to do God's will 
 toward the downtrodden race, into every shape but 
 the proper one. The cry still went up from at least 
 two sources that the Church was not willing to 
 recognize the colored ministry and members within 
 her borders. The colored members within the 
 Church where such attacks were made still felt 
 that a further step must be taken by the Church to 
 save the colored membership. So there came up to 
 that General Conference from the colored members 
 within the Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New Jersey
 
 94 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Conferences one or more memorials, all of which 
 were referred to a special committee, which reported 
 as follows : 
 
 " The committee to whom were referred the 
 memorials of colored members within the bounds 
 of the Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New Jersey 
 Conferences, after due consideration, report the 
 following for the adoption of the conference, and 
 recommend that it be inserted in the Discipline as 
 a distinct chapter, entitled, 
 
 "CHAPTER VIII. OF THE RIGHTS AND PRIVI- 
 LEGES OF OUR COLORED MEMBERS. 
 
 " 1 . Our colored preachers and official members 
 shall have all the privileges which are usual to 
 others in quarterly conferences, where the usages 
 of the country do not forbid it. And the presiding 
 elder may hold for them a separate quarterly con- 
 ference when in his judgment it shall be expedient. 
 
 " 2. The bishop or presiding elder may employ 
 colored preachers to travel and preach, when their 
 services are judged necessary: Provided, that no 
 one shall be so employed without having been 
 recommended by a quarterly conference. 
 
 "3. The bishops may call a conference once 
 in each year of our colored local preachers, within 
 the bounds of any one or more of our districts, for 
 the purpose of conferring with them with respect to 
 the wants of the work among our colored people, 
 and the best means to be employed in promoting 
 its prosperity ; at which conference the presiding
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 95 
 
 elder within whose district, and under whose care 
 the colored charges and congregations are, shall be 
 present: Provided, that the holding of said confer- 
 ence or conferences shall be recommended by an 
 annual conference, and the bishops, upon due in- 
 quiry, shall deem it practicable and expedient." 
 
 Again, by this action, the Church recognized 
 the colored members within her communion as being 
 eligible to all privileges usual to other members, 
 showing at once that her heart was all right. 
 
 THE FIRST EDUCATIONAL EFFORT. 
 
 By this is not meant that no interest in the edu- 
 cation of the race had been manifested prior to 
 this. The education of Bishop Burns, alone, would 
 refute such an idea. But the Church began to see 
 and feel that something on a larger scale ought to 
 be done for the higher education of the colored 
 youth within the Church. The very idea points 
 out the fact that the Church saw for her colored 
 members a better day coming. At the General Con- 
 ference above mentioned, Wilber force University, 
 now in the hands of our brethren of the African 
 Church, at Xenia, Ohio, was purchased by a num- 
 ber of individuals, and was under the patronage of 
 the Cincinnati Conference of our Church, and was 
 "devoted to the higher education of colored youth." 
 Rev. J. F. Wright, D. D., its efficient agent, pre- 
 sented its claims to the General Conference. He 
 traveled in its interest, and it continued to flourish.
 
 96 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Rev. R. S. Rust, D D., became president of this 
 institution in 1859. Our brethren of the African 
 Church began to feel the need of a better educated 
 ministry, and having no outlook for such an insti- 
 tution turned their attention toward this institution. 
 Bishop D. A. Payne, having formed the acquaint- 
 ance of President Rust, began negotiations for the 
 transfer of that property to the African Methodist 
 Episcopal Church; and, in 1863, it accordingly 
 "passed into their hands for a nominal sum." Thus 
 the beginning of the educational work in the 
 African Methodist Episcopal Church was but the 
 outgrowth of the generosity of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church toward the colored race, whether 
 within or without the Church. It is true that but 
 little, if any, credit is ever given to the Church that 
 was represented in the matter by our own Dr. R. 
 S. Rust. They sometimes and Bishop Payne all 
 the time mention gratefully his name, but no public 
 acknowledgment by that Church has yet been made 
 to us for the advantages given them in this 
 transaction ; and hence many a student, who has 
 attended there, has gone away ignorant of these 
 facts. That transaction is -but another proof of the 
 fact that but little, if any, opposition or rivalry 
 has ever been allowed from our Church toward 
 their Church. 
 
 It did seem that, ecclesiastically as well as polit- 
 ically, "Providence had wisely mingled their cup." 
 When one phase of the question touching slavery
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 97 
 
 had been met, another phase developed. If ecclesias- 
 tic-ism met this "sum of all villainies" in its way, 
 and struck it down, leaving it wounded, bleeding, 
 and dying, it would, phoenix-like, the next day 
 appear in the political field. Like "Banquo's 
 ghost," it would not down at the bidding. The 
 General Conference of 1856 had hardly adjourned 
 before the political world was startled by the case 
 of a colored man Dred Scott which M-as brought 
 before the courts for decision. The appeal was 
 brought up to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice 
 Taney, speaking for the court, declared in this case 
 that "Negroes, whether free or slaves, are not citi- 
 zens of the United States, and they can not become 
 such by any process known to the Constitution." 
 This decision caused a ripple, not only on the sea 
 of politics, but over the placid stream of Meth- 
 odism ; for it must not appear or be considered 
 egotism when it is said nothing relating to the 
 interests of the colored man has transpired in this 
 country in which Methodism did not take part. 
 And yet, as strange as it may appear, the Church 
 has always objected to mixing politics with religion ; 
 but believing the converse admissible, our Church 
 papers began to wage war in favor of this colored 
 man, as if he had been a member of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 This excitement had not subsided when Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, as the nominee of the Republican 
 party, was elected President of the United States. 
 
 n
 
 98 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 The relation our Church sustained to that conflict 
 will be better understood when it is remembered 
 that Torrey and Lovejoy, the two martyrs to the 
 Abolition cause, were New England ministers ; that 
 the New England Methodists very early identified 
 themselves with this cause, and poured hot shot 
 into the foul slave oligarchy. As early as June 4, 
 1835, the New England Conference of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church had organized an anti- 
 slavery society not simply a non-partisan, namby- 
 pamby sort of a stay-at-home-and-pray society, but 
 active, vigilant, and progressive on the basis 
 of the immediate and unconditional abolition of 
 slavery. North Bennett Street Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, in Boston, was opened in that year for 
 Rev. George Thompson to preach a sermon against 
 slavery. William Lloyd Garrison spoke of that 
 meeting as follows : 
 
 "In these days of slavish servility and malig- 
 naut prejudices, we are presented occasionally with 
 some beautiful specimens of Christian obedience 
 and courage. One of these is seen in the opening 
 of the North Bennett Street Methodist Episcopal 
 meeting-house in Boston to the advocates for the 
 honor of God, the salvation of our country, and 
 the freedom of enslaved millions in our midst. 
 As the pen of the historian, in after years, shall 
 trace the rise, progress, and glorious triumph of the 
 Abolition cause, he will delight to record, and pos- 
 terity will delight to read, that when all other
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 99 
 
 pulpits were dumb, all other churches closed on the 
 subject of slavery in Boston, the boasted 'cradle 
 of liberty/ there was one pulpit that would speak 
 out, one Church that would throw open its doors 
 in behalf of the downtrodden victims of American 
 tyranny, and that w r as the pulpit and Church above 
 alluded to. The primitive spirit of Methodism is 
 beginning to revive with all its holy zeal and cour- 
 age, and it will not falter until all the Methodist 
 Churches are purged from the pollution of slavery, 
 and the last slave in the land stands forth a 
 redeemed and regenerated being." 
 
 Notwithstanding the above, such Methodist min- 
 isters as Rev. Gilbert Haven and others kept the 
 ball rolling. It is said of one of our bishops : 
 " Throughout the late contest Bishop Simpson did 
 much to strengthen the hands of President Lin- 
 coln, and to nerve the spirit of the nation to en- 
 dure any sacrifice for the cause of the Union." 
 Is it any wonder, then, that the Church, in one way 
 or the other, was connected with nearly every effort 
 for the emancipation of the slaves? Therefore the 
 eighteenth session of the General Conference that 
 convened in the city of Buffalo, May, 1860, was 
 anticipated with much anxiety. 
 
 The great debate on the question of slavery at 
 the last General Conference had, during this entire 
 quadrennium, proven sufficient to keep up the agi- 
 tation all along the line. Dr. Abel Stevens, then 
 editor of the Christian Advocate, addressed an
 
 100 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 " Appeal " to the general Church " concerning what 
 the next General Conference should do on the ques- 
 tion of slavery." This appeal aimed simply to 
 have the next General Conference declare "the 
 sense of the Church on the whole subject/' with 
 "a note, put in the margin of the General Rule," 
 that declared "the only cases of slaveholding ad- 
 missible to our communion are such as are con- 
 sistent with the Golden Rule." Drs. Nathan Bangs 
 and J. H. Perry, at the head of a " Ministers' and 
 Laymen's Union," formed within the New York 
 Conference in 1859, and the Anti-slavery Society, 
 with Dr. Curry leading, hurled their anathemas 
 against Dr. Stevens's proposition. Resolutions fa- 
 voring a new rule on slavery, prior to the General 
 Conference of I860, were voted upon as follows: Cin- 
 cinnati, 319 votes for, 1,212 votes against it; Provi- 
 dence, 1,242 for, and 1,329 votes against it; Erie, 
 1,795 for, and 1,416 votes against it. It was conceded 
 that the cause of human liberty would receive a 
 fresh impetus from the ringing speeches that would 
 be delivered, and from the solid resolutions that 
 would be passed at that General Conference. Ac- 
 cordingly two classes of petitions were presented : 
 "Those asking for the extirpation of slavery from 
 the Church," and " those asking that no change be 
 made in the Discipline on the subject of slavery." 
 A special committee was ordered to receive resolu- 
 tions of this kind. There was also appointed "a 
 Committee on our Colored Membership." Several
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 101 
 
 memorials and petitions from our colored member- 
 ship were presented. After due consideration, not- 
 withstanding the excitement on account of the 
 agitation of the question of slavery, that committee 
 reported as follows: 
 
 "The Committee on Colored Membership, to 
 which were referred certain memorials from colored 
 local preachers, respectfully represent : That hav- 
 ing examined said memorials, they find that they 
 request this body, (1) To extend the bounds of the 
 conference of colored local preachers, called in ac- 
 cordance with the provisions introduced into the Dis- 
 cipline at the last General Conference ; (2) To grant 
 them the power to try and expel their own members ; 
 (3) To confer upon the conference of colored local 
 preachers power to elect to deacons' and elders' or- 
 ders ; (4) To invest said conference with all the powers 
 of a regular annual conference; (5) To admit col- 
 ored preachers to membership in our annual confer- 
 ences. Your committee find that the first two objects 
 prayed for are, in substance, covered by provisions 
 already existing in the Discipline, which appear to 
 have been overlooked by the petitioners. In re- 
 gard to items three and four, referred to above, 
 your committee find that the prayer of the memo- 
 rialists could not be granted without doing violence 
 to our usages and Disciplinary regulations. The 
 fifth item embraced in the memorials before us was 
 withdrawn by the representative of the petitioners, 
 who appeared in person before the committee. In
 
 102 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 view of the whole of the foregoing, your committee 
 recommend that the whole subject be dismissed. 
 All of which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 "S. Y. MONROE, Chairman." 
 
 When the Committee on Slavery reported, there 
 were submitted a "majority" and a "minority" 
 report, a substitute for the majority report. The 
 first resolution of the committee was : 
 
 " Resolved, by the delegates of the several an- 
 nual conferences, in General Conference assembled, 
 That we recommend the amendment of the General 
 Rule on Slavery, so that it shall read : ' The buy- 
 ing, selling, or holding of men, women, or children, 
 with an intention to enslave them.'" 
 
 This motion was lost, since it required a two- 
 thirds vote; and 138 voted for it, and 74 against it. 
 The second resolution was : 
 
 " Resolved, That we recommend the suspension 
 of the fourth Restrictive Rule, for the purpose set 
 forth in the foregoing resolution." 
 
 The first resolution having failed, this was laid 
 on the table. The third was: 
 
 "Resolved, by the delegates of the several an- 
 nual conferences, in General Conference assembled, 
 That the following be, and hereby is, substituted in 
 the place of the seventh chapter on Slavery : Ques- 
 tion. What shall be done for the extirpation of 
 slavery ? Answer. We declare that we are as much 
 as ever convinced of the great evil of slavery. 
 We believe that the buying, selling, or holding of
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 103 
 
 human beings as chattels, is contrary to the laws 
 of God and nature, inconsistent with the Golden 
 Rule, and with that rule in our Discipline which 
 requires all who desire to remain among us to 'do 
 no harm, and to avoid evil of every kind.' We 
 therefore affectionately admonish all our preachers 
 and people to keep themselves pure from this groat 
 evil, and to seek its extirpation by all lawful and 
 Christian means." 
 
 This was necessarily the last work of the Gen- 
 eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 on behalf of the colored man before the terrible 
 Civil War in this country, that began during the 
 ensuing quadrenniuni.
 
 104 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE RETROSPECT. 
 
 WHO has not, ere this, declared slavery a vice ? 
 AVe have seen that the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in 1796 not only warned its members 
 against the vice of holding their fellow-men, their 
 brethren, as slaves, but required a guarantee from 
 applicants for membership that, if owners of slaves, 
 they would manumit them at the earliest possible 
 moment; if not, that they would not engage in it 
 while in the communion of the Church ; that if 
 "any among us do not wish to abide by this rule, 
 they shall have the privilege quietly to withdraw." 
 Such a spirit was in keeping with the Ten Com- 
 mandments and the Sermon on the Mount. Not 
 only this, but any member of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church who should sell a human being for any 
 reason, w r as to be expelled. In cases where mem- 
 bers of the Church bought colored people, even 
 though done for the purpose of keeping husband 
 and wife together, or from being separated, it was 
 stipulated that such should only be held in servi- 
 tude a sufficient time to pay back to the purchaser 
 the price paid for him or her. This plan, in itself, 
 was not only a wise business transaction for the 
 liberation of slaves, but humane and just; cred-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 105 
 
 itable to the Church and honorable in the purchaser 
 when done willingly, as well as elevating in its 
 very nature, and calculated to put the slave under 
 perpetual gratitude to his liberator. The plan was 
 unique, and if it had been observed in every such 
 case throughout the length and breadth of this fair 
 land, our American civilization would have become 
 the ideal of the world. If our government had but 
 consented to adopt some such measure looking to 
 the gradual liberation of the slaves, is it not rational 
 to believe the late Civil War could have been averted, 
 and many precious lives and much property been 
 saved? But the American people apparently did 
 not view it in that light. It came at last, as of 
 old, the arbitrary Pharaoh rushed on pursuing his 
 slaves, notwithstanding the terrible warnings given, 
 until ingulfed in the boisterous waves of the mighty 
 Red Sea. How true is it that " the wicked pass on, 
 and are punished !" No more fearful punishment 
 ever came upon any nation than came upon ours 
 because of slavery. Although the above plan was 
 adopted by the Church, it declared that if a Meth- 
 odist person purchased a slave woman, all her chil- 
 dren whether her husband was a free man or not 
 were to be free from birth. Thus the Church 
 sought at once to begin emancipation. 
 
 The General Conference of 1800 declared slavery 
 among ministers or lay members not only " repre- 
 hensible," but that "such slaveholders must con- 
 sent to manumit all such persons held in bondage
 
 106 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 or leave tbe Church," even though purchased 
 to prevent the separation of husband and wife, or 
 parents and children. Thus the Church unmis- 
 takably declared its unutterable opposition to the 
 heretical doctrine of "doing evil that good may 
 come of it." That General Conference, if possible, 
 went further still when it declared: "Any minister 
 who marries a slaveholding wife must be expelled." 
 If this was not strong language, then there is 
 none. The Church, at that period, sought not only 
 to protect, but to give " the colored members 
 within its communion all the rights and privileges 
 guaranteed by the Discipline to any other mem- 
 bers." Was it strange, after this action, that the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church decided that even col- 
 ored men were eligible to ordination ? From hence- 
 forth the Church saw no valid reason, as there 
 was none, why it should not be done; and hence 
 the Church began to ordain colored men as " dea- 
 cons in the Church of God." 
 
 We have seen that at each General Confer- 
 ence of our Church from the beginning, the ques- 
 tion of human slavery was discussed, opposed, and 
 anathematized by the Church. And yet during 
 that time many strange things occurred. In the Gen- 
 eral Conference of 1804, that met in the city of 
 Baltimore, Freeborn Garrettson moved that the 
 question of the buying and selling of slaves be left 
 to the three bishops for regulation. Just what this 
 meant does not appear on the surface. It could
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 107 
 
 have meant that the Church knew the hearts of the 
 three bishops were right, and that they would there- 
 fore oppose anything like a compromise with the 
 system of human slavery then in vogue. It could 
 have meant that they were conservative, and would 
 not, therefore, likely precipitate any trouble upon 
 the Church on account of this vexed question. 
 Viewed from any point at this distance, it assumes 
 a strange attitude. It may have been intended as 
 a measure to "bring peace out of confusion;" but 
 "peace," "peace," when there could be no peace, 
 had been the slaveholders' cry all along. It was 
 considered a conciliatory measure. It proved to be 
 exactly the reverse. It resulted in confusion ; for 
 the following General Conference, in 1808, declared 
 that the question of " buying and selling slaves must 
 hereafter be left to the discretion of the several 
 annual conferences for decision. Though this action 
 was taken seventy-nine years ago, it appears as in- 
 explicable to the writer as it did to some men at 
 that day. Its consistency and spirit do not even 
 to-day present a single redeeming feature. Every 
 General Conference had moved a notch higher in 
 opposition to slavery, and now the whole subject 
 was ordered out of the General Conference, to be 
 decided by the annual conferences, in the which 
 were some probably, if not slaveholders, sympa- 
 thizers with slavery. This was done, too, in face 
 of the well-known fact that the United States 
 government had become so disturbed on account
 
 108 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 of the discussions arising out of the question of 
 human slavery and other causes, as to prohibit 
 the importation of any more African slaves into 
 America. It could have been one of those peculiar 
 proceedings that occur now and then, in the which 
 "certain inalienable rights, among which life, lib- 
 erty, and the pursuit of happiness" have no consid- 
 eration; but in the which "expediency," and not 
 principle, obtain. It is thought by some that the 
 action taken by that General Conference on the 
 question of slavery was regretted by many after- 
 ward. The motion by which that question was sent 
 down to the annual conferences was a repetition of 
 the political idea of the doctrine of States' rights, 
 with the colored man's interests not considered. 
 
 When the General Conference met in the city 
 of Baltimore in 1812, the persistency of the friends 
 of the colored man in pushing his claims showed 
 him not friendless. The colored man, like other 
 men, feels very keenly impositions, and yet we 
 think it is conceded that he is of a religious turn 
 of mind, docile and humble, but has his preferences 
 as clearly as other men. He does not like to be 
 considered a bone of contention, a cat's-paw, or an 
 intruder. He does like to have his manhood re- 
 spected. But suppose the above action of the Gen- 
 eral Conference of 1808 was a mistake, is it not 
 admissible that it was possible to turn the head of 
 the Church in the opposite direction now and 
 then, if even for a time only? It was a perplexing
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 109 
 
 question, indeed; and as the law of the land sup- 
 ported it for slavery shielded itself behind the 
 venerated Constitution what more could the Church 
 do, since some conferences were in Massachusetts 
 and some in Solith Carolina? However, that Gen- 
 eral Conference declared that under existing cir- 
 cumstances but little, if anything, could be done to 
 abolish human slavery in America outside of po- 
 litical powers ; that the Church of God in general, 
 and the Methodist Episcopal Church in particular, 
 could not reach the question as effectively as the 
 civil law. But the civil law had only then begun 
 to take notice of the foul system of slavery in this 
 country. 
 
 In the despondency of that day and hour for 
 there was despondency behind the action of that 
 body on the question of slavery the attention of 
 that General Conference was called to consider the 
 advisability of looking after the interests of "the 
 free people of color." In some States the manu- 
 mission of slaves was prohibited, except they were 
 at once moved out of that State. In cases where 
 this was not done some complaint would usually be 
 lodged against them, and they were incarcerated in 
 prison, and, "as a penalty for violation of the law, 
 were sold again into slavery by sheriff's sale." Col- 
 on i/ation in Africa was seemingly the only hope. 
 Hence, when a report was presented to the General 
 Conference from the American Colonization Society, 
 it was commended to the generous public. Such
 
 110 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 cases as that of Dred Scott discouraged many 
 people who wished to manumit their slaves from 
 doing so, for fear they might be re-enslaved. The 
 General Conference declared the idea of coloniz- 
 ing the "free people of color" in Africa as a wise 
 measure in the right direction. What less could 
 the Church have done for the race? What less 
 ought it to have done? When the General Con- 
 ference of 1816 met, the question of slavery, and 
 the proper recognition of the colored members of 
 the Church came up for consideration. The Church 
 must have seen by that time that a mistake had 
 been made by refusing to grant its colored mem- 
 bers a separate conference. Not that the Church 
 had given colored members of intelligence " cause 
 for complaint/' but that it did not sooner see that 
 an insidious foe was in its very vitals, stealing 
 away its life. If the Church, however, had been 
 an institution dependent upon the whims of the 
 human family, whose strength and perpetuation 
 were dependent wholly upon its agreement with the 
 slave oligarchy, the action taken by the Church in 
 defense of her colored members would have ap- 
 peared fool-hardy. But it was not, for it had the 
 support of Him who said, "Upon this rock I will 
 build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it." 
 
 The secession of the " Allenites " alienated quite a 
 number of Christian men from the side of the defense 
 of the colored man. Why should it not, when a few
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Ill 
 
 of the faithful white men had not only jeoparded 
 their future prospects, blighted their present fame, 
 brought down upon them the vituperation and 
 obloquy of the slave oligarchy within and without 
 the Church, simply because they professed to believe 
 "a man's a man for a' that, and a' that?" Is it 
 not strange that some were so unwise as to be 
 misled by a misguiding or ambitious spirit, when 
 they were not able to add one cubit to their stature 
 or make one hair white or black? 
 
 During the ensuing quadrennium "the color 
 question" was discussed pro and con. When the 
 General Conference of 1824 met in Baltimore, and 
 declared that colored preachers were entitled to 
 equal privileges "with others," it was a commend- 
 able step. Such action was calculated to restore to 
 the fold the seceders of 1816 and 1820, had their 
 ambition not reached beyond justice and right. 
 Although the Methodist Episcopal Church did all 
 in its power, apparently, by General Conference 
 action and episcopal supervision, to reclaim the se- 
 ceders, they persistently refused either to be com- 
 forted or to return to the fold. Probably sufficient 
 cause can be found in Bishop Allen's reasons for 
 not wishing to accept Bishop Asbury's invitation to 
 travel and preach with him, when the reason as given 
 by him to the bishop was, that he thought "that men 
 should lay up something for a rainy day." There 
 was never a promise made by the Master to give 
 any man a large salary to hunt up "the lost sheep
 
 112 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 of Israel." Because of the failure to conciliate 
 those offended brethren some looked askant at 
 Methodism ; because, forsooth, they knew not the 
 bottom facts. From the General Conference of 1824 
 to that of 1836, which met in Cincinnati, Ohio, the 
 agitation of the question continued. The con- 
 demnation of the two premature lecturers by this 
 General Conference gave great offense to the Abo- 
 litionists everywhere, and depressed woefully the 
 spirits of the colored members without the Church. 
 Poor, ignorant, and deluded men would natur- 
 ally and rightfully conclude that in the hearts 
 and bosoms of those men their dearest interests 
 were planted, and hence the disposition to put a 
 quietus upon them was equivalent to the non-recog- 
 nition of the rights of the colored man within and 
 without the Church to the bright anticipation of 
 ever being allowed the enjoyment of " life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness." As a natural result 
 of the supposed compromise with slavery made by 
 the "Conference Rights" act, many conferences 
 complained by memorial that they had difficulty 
 after difficulty in properly adjusting the matter of 
 slavery. Hence came the next step legitimate 
 child of previous action a declaration that the 
 question of slavery was one of those peculiar cases 
 where only the civil law could properly adjust and 
 act upon it. From 1836 to 1844 the war on slavery 
 and in favor of slavery was unceasingly waged 
 within and without the Church. The thought of
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 113 
 
 the regular succession of events is not to be ques- 
 tioned when we remember the struggles of the Gen- 
 eral Conference of 1840 at Baltimore over the ap- 
 peal of Silas Comfort, and that of the marriage of 
 a Baltimorean preacher and a Georgian bishop to 
 slaveholding women. The Silas Comfort decision 
 was, on the whole, the best thing possible for the 
 peace of the colored man within and without the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. The decision was all 
 that could have been asked so far as the then present 
 peace of the colored man was concerned. But the 
 Lord Jesus at one time said : " I came not to 
 bring peace on the earth, but a sword." If we 
 have the proper conception of his meaning, there 
 are times when peace is not the best thing possible. 
 When the General Conference received the protest 
 from Sharp Street Church against the decision, it 
 only exhibited the fact that men and Churches do 
 not always see themselves as others see them. 
 
 But if in the Silas Comfort appeal decision the 
 enemies of human rights scored a victory over the 
 friends of human freedom, the latter turned the tide 
 and scored a more glorious as well as righteous vic- 
 tory at the General Conference of 1 844, that met in the 
 city of New York, when the resolution that had been 
 carried and placed on record denouncing the action 
 of " the two Abolition lecturers" was ordered to be 
 expunged therefrom. At that General Conference 
 a petition was presented from the colored ministers 
 within the Church asking admission into the annual 
 
 10
 
 114 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 conferences. This was refused for some reason. 
 Then there followed a petition for a separate con- 
 ference. The wisdom of the refusal to grant said 
 separate conference is now apparent to all who are 
 either concerned or have the interests of the race, 
 as such, at heart. No argument is needed to sub- 
 stantiate the above proposition in the minds of any 
 intelligent person. Notwithstanding this, the his- 
 torian of African Methodism said in his " Apology :" 
 " It would have been a source of unspeakable joy 
 had he been permitted truthfully to record that 
 your Church had acknowledged your full and true 
 manhood, and not denied it both in practice and in 
 law had received you into conference upon a per- 
 fect ministerial equality ; but, alas ! the doors of its 
 conferences were locked, and bolted and barred 
 against you." Such thrusts as the above, if there 
 was no other sufficient reason for asking it, were 
 certainly calculated to urge the matter forward, 
 because the restlessness of the members, begotten 
 by such unsolicited and sophisticated sympathy, 
 showed it necessary. Just why separate conferences 
 were not given them in the free States does not 
 appear on the surface. Those who were in authority 
 at that time no doubt had good and sufficient 
 reasons for not granting the privilege of member- 
 ship with white ministers in the annual conferences 
 on the one hand, nor separate conferences on the 
 other hand. While it does not appear that it would 
 have been wisdom to have granted them the latter
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 115 
 
 in the slave States, we submit, now, without ques- 
 tioning the wisdom displayed by those godly fathers. 
 Those who wish to speculate may do so; we are 
 satisfied. All this but declares 
 
 " Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, 
 As to be hated, needs but to be seen; 
 Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace."
 
 116 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DURING THE WAR. 
 
 THE Abolition Church! If there was any one 
 denomination of Christians in this country, 
 north of Mason and Dixon's Line, that was anathe- 
 matized beyond another, declared by many in the 
 South one of the most forward instigators and abettors 
 of the late Civil War, it was the "Northern" or 
 "Abolition Methodist Church," as they called our 
 Church. Well do I remember the "yarns" told by 
 the soldiers of General Sterling Price's army on a 
 preacher they captured from the Union soldiers in 
 Missouri. The preacher was a noble specimen, and 
 looked more like a Norman king than any of those 
 about him. This minister of the Lord Jesus was 
 terribly abused by his captors. Not so much, as 
 they said, because he was a Union soldier that was 
 bad enough but he belonged to the " Northern " 
 or "Abolition Methodist Church." "The Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, South " or as it is, and was, 
 better known as " The Southern Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church " is a relative term or name. It was 
 natural, therefore, for the Southern Confederacy to 
 adopt it, and grant it a kind of supremacy above 
 every other denomination. Did it not lead the 
 secession movement in favor of slavery ? It is no 
 stretch of imagination to say some people united
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 117 
 
 with it for that very reason. It was to have been 
 expected that the two Churches, wherever they met, 
 would sustain the same relations that the Jews and 
 Samaritans used to sustain to each other. It was 
 impossible to expect anything less than bitter oppo- 
 sition to the " Northern Church." There was a 
 time in the South when he who spoke favorably 
 of our Church was not only suspected as a " lover 
 of niggers," but one to be "let alone," for all 
 intents and purposes, as a traitor. That times have 
 changed but very little in the South along these 
 lines, but few doubt. 
 
 If there never comes another time and cause 
 when the Methodist Episcopal Church will interest 
 herself in the politics of this country, no sane 
 person will deny the fact that she was so interested 
 when the question of the abolition of human slavery 
 .was being discussed, and while the Civil War was 
 being waged. If there has never been a time when 
 " the two branches of Methodism " hung on exactly 
 opposite sides of the parent tree with about equal 
 weight since the secession of 1844 until the Civil 
 War began, they occupied the above-named attitude 
 during the bloody scenes of those four years. The 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as such, sup- 
 ported the Confederacy, while the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church supported the Union. And now if 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, closed her 
 doors that the pastor might lead his official lay 
 members into the war praying, preaching, singing,
 
 118 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 and fighting every day of the week and Sunday, 
 too the Methodist Episcopal Church did as much 
 to counteract this. The evidence of this is found 
 in the fact that for upwards of twenty years ever 
 since the secession of 1844 to 1864 the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church had been practically excluded 
 from the South, and only ventured to plant outposts 
 along the border States, where she found admittance 
 by some compromises to the conservative element 
 that came to her there. Not only so, but President 
 Lincoln declared it "no fault of other denomina- 
 tions that the Methodist Episcopal Church fur- 
 nished more money and men to suppress the Rebell- 
 ion." As a rule our bishops and ministers and 
 membership, wherever they went, preached, lectured, 
 exhorted, and prayed for the overthrow of the ter- 
 rible slavery that bound hand and foot four and 
 a half million human beings in a bondage more^ 
 terrible than that of Pharaoh and more demoralizing 
 than that of the Russian empire. It was said of one 
 of our bishops : " Throughout the late war Bishop 
 Simpson did much to strengthen the hands of Pres- 
 ident Lincoln, and to nerve the spirit of the nation 
 to endure any sacrifice for the cause of the Union." 
 The class of men elected to General Conference 
 positions at the General Conference of 1860, showed 
 unmistakably the attitude of our Church toward 
 slavery and the war. Her standing rule that " non- 
 slaveholding " henceforth was to be one of the con- 
 ditions of membership in the Church, the periodi-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 119 
 
 cals of the Church being put in the hands of 
 anti-slavery editors were straws in the wind. 
 Everybody knows that Dr. Daniel Wise was con- 
 sidered "an offensive partisan" on the question of 
 slavery. Dr. Whedon, who was barely elected at 
 the General Conference of 1856 because of his 
 radicalism, was at this General Conference (I860) 
 unanimously re-elected editor of our Quarterly Re- 
 view. When that General Conference adjourned it 
 was plainly to be seen that our Church had put on 
 ecclesiastical war-paint, and was therefore prepared 
 to push the battle of human freedom to the gate. 
 If any one doubts this, proof is forthcoming in the 
 fact that, the conservative element in our Church 
 seeing the status of affairs, a newspaper, known as 
 The Methodist, was established by them in New 
 York City. The following March, when the Balti- 
 more Annual Conference met, it resolved, by a unani- 
 mous vote, that it was " determined not to hold con- 
 nection with any ecclesiastical body that makes 
 non-slaveholdiug a condition of membership in the 
 Church." Indeed, so high did opposition to the 
 position the Church had taken on slavery rise, that 
 another secession, similar to that of 1844, came 
 near taking place. When Rev. Mr. Hedrick was 
 presented by the Baltimore Conference for ordina- 
 tion to Bishop Scott, he publicly excepted the new 
 chapter on slavery. Bishop Scott then arose and said : 
 " I regard myself restrained from ordaining any one 
 who declines to take upon him the ordination vows
 
 120 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 without qualification or exception. Hence, I can 
 not ordain Mr. Hedrick." This caused considerable 
 commotion, but the bishop stood like the rock of 
 Gibraltar. "There were giants in those days" all 
 about him, whose reputation for wisdom and in- 
 fluence was enviable. The lay conference was in 
 session at the same time in the city. When they 
 were informed of the refusal of Bishop Scott to 
 ordain Mr. Hedrick, and the reasons given, they 
 took action declaring a disposition to ignore the 
 entire subject of slavery in the Discipline. When 
 it is remembered what class of people our Method- 
 ism claims in the State of Maryland ; their means, 
 influence, and their disposition to lead matters, since 
 it (Baltimore) may be considered one of the prin- 
 cipal cradles of Methodism, and has all along been 
 in the van. of Methodist movements* that some of 
 the most influential, eloquent, and popular men in 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church "were born in 
 her," it adds intensity and alarm to the situation. 
 But Bishop Scott, like most of our bishops, knew 
 the heart of the Church ; knew that he was in full 
 accord with the Church on the question of slavery, 
 and therefore the Lord was on his side, and stood like 
 Martin Luther before the Diet at Worms, trusting 
 in God. When such an expression of opinion on 
 the question of slavery was given by " the sinews 
 of war'' the laymen it was an inspiration to the 
 clerical brethren of the Baltimore Annual Confer- 
 ence. The soul of Bishop Scott was severely taxed,
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 121 
 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church was disturbed, 
 while the very air seemed laden with dust from 
 the recent conflict, and more especially when the 
 Baltimore Annual Conference responded to the ex- 
 pression of opinion given by the lay conference, by 
 declaring in open conference : " If three-fourths of 
 all the annual conferences will, within the year 
 1861, agree with us, we agree with the action of the 
 laymen and the Baltimore Conference, and will not 
 reunite with them in Church fellowship." When 
 this was presented to the conference, Bishop Scott 
 announced that he could not entertain a motion con- 
 templating a division of the Church. He per- 
 mitted the secretary, Rev. J. S. Martin, to put the 
 question. But when the bishop came to the chair 
 he ordered the following paper spread upon the 
 journal : 
 
 "The whole action just had on what is called 
 the 'Norval Wilson propositions' is, in my judg- 
 ment, in violation of the order and Discipline of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, and therefore is 
 null and void, regarded as conference action. I, 
 therefore, do not recognize such action as infracting 
 the integrity of this body, and so I shall proceed to 
 finish the business of the present session. 
 
 "LEVI SCOTT." 
 
 The East Baltimore Conference was also on the 
 eve of seceding, while the Philadelphia Conference 
 signified its willingness, by a vote of 174 to 35, to 
 have the Rule on Slavery changed. These facts 
 
 11
 
 122 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 were enough in themselves to cause the South to 
 look askant at the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and probably caused the Church to be nicknamed 
 "the Abolition Church." 
 
 By this time the rumors of war had reached 
 a climax. We find a proper description in the lan- 
 guage of the historian Ridpath, who, in speaking of 
 the capture of Fort Sumter by the rebels, says : 
 
 " The news of this startling event went through 
 the country like a flame of fire. There had been 
 some expectation of violence, but the actual shock 
 came like a clap of thunder. The people of the 
 towns poured into the streets, and the country folk 
 flocked to the villages to gather the tidings and to 
 comment on the coming conflict. Gray-haired men 
 talked gravely of the deed that was done, and 
 prophesied of its consequences. Public opinion, 
 both in the North and the South, was rapidly con- 
 solidated. Three days after the fall of Fort Sumter, 
 President Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five 
 thousand volunteers to serve three months in the 
 overthrow of the secession movement. On the 
 19th of April, when the first regiments of Massa- 
 chusetts volunteers were passing through Baltimore 
 on their way to Washington, they were fired upon 
 by the citizens and three men killed." 
 
 The sounds of preparation for war were heard 
 in every direction. No less spirit was being mani- 
 fested throughout the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 And yet, notwithstanding the fact that the Bal-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 123 
 
 timore Atfnual Conference withdrew by resolution 
 from the Methodist Episcopal Church, because the 
 Church stood up for the poor slave, not a single 
 compromise at that time was made by the Church 
 with slavery. To get some idea of the condition 
 of affairs at the time, or directly thereafter, when 
 Bishop Levi Scott stood up in the face of the 
 whole world and let his light so shine that men might 
 see his good works and those of the Church he 
 represented, when he declined to ordain the Rev. 
 Mr. Hedrick in the presence of the Baltimore Con- 
 ference, we quote the language of a man whom 
 every colored man and most good white men love to 
 honor Gilbert Haven, D. D. who says in his 
 description of the " First War Sunday :" 
 
 "That Sabbath-day's journey ought to be chron- 
 icled. We marched through saintly Boston in the 
 gray twilight to the tune of 'Yankee Doodle.' 
 All along the route cannons and bells, bands 
 and flags and waving handkerchiefs, soldiers and 
 crowds upon crowds, gave .us a hearty hail and 
 farewell. At Hartford we were told the women 
 were all at home driving their sewing-machines, and 
 the men busy making cartridges for their troops. 
 All the town left their churches and gathered 
 around the depot, where they had had preaching 
 and singing while waiting for us. They had also 
 provided refreshments enough for five thousand 
 persons, and plied us with sweetmeats and benedic- 
 tions. The force of the fever could go no farther."
 
 124 TEE COLORED MAN. 
 
 The colored man from one end of this country 
 to the other had always recognized the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church as a friend to him and his, a 
 friend whose sympathies were worth a great deal. 
 But whenever he was reminded that it was " The 
 Abolition Church " and one of the prime causes of 
 the war which was usually taught him whenever the 
 poor, deluded colored men imagined, as they would 
 naturally at times, that the war imposed additional 
 hardships and burdens he sometimes shuddered. 
 But when the Union forces went South, and any 
 of the colored people were seen, they usually spoke 
 kindly to them. If about religious matters, they 
 usually found the colored man either a Baptist or 
 a Methodist. If the latter, and the interlocutor, 
 or any one of the company, was a Methodist, the 
 poor colored man learned of the interest the 
 Church was taking in his welfare and liberation. 
 "When colored men ran within the Federal lines, 
 they never failed to find the chaplain or some one 
 of the company a member of the Methodist Church, 
 who deeply sympathized with him, and did all pos- 
 sible to make him comfortable. While all this was 
 true, another aspect presented itself. 
 
 THE ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH AS SEEN BY 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE ACTION. 
 
 It was not enough that the General Conference 
 had repeatedly stood forth the friend of the Union, 
 but individual conferences gave no uncertain sound
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 125 
 
 at that time. It is almost literally true that the 
 hitherto unmistakable factional lines within the 
 Church faded so much that the anti-slavery, con- 
 servative, and radical elements united in some sort, 
 for the purpose of rallying to the national standard 
 to find shelter beneath " the Star-spangled Banner." 
 The New York East Conference in April, 1801, 
 led by Rev. J. S. Inskip, unanimously declared its 
 unqualified sympathy and support of the govern- 
 ment in its defense of the Constitution. In June 
 of the same year the New York Conference fol- 
 lowed, led on by the manly report submitted through 
 Rev. J. B. Wakeley, on the State of the Country. 
 In that report was delineated, in unmistakable 
 language, " the formation of the Southern Confeder- 
 acy ,. . . its seizure of the forts, mints, custom- 
 houses, vessels, and arms of the United States, . . . 
 and unnatural war against the government." And 
 the report went on and patriotically declared: "No 
 treasure is too costly, no sacrifice too great, no time 
 too long, to put down treason and traitors, and to 
 place our Union on a rock so solid that neither 
 enemies abroad nor traitors at home can move it." 
 Indeed, so arrogant and flagrant had the unpunished 
 crimes of the slave oligarchy become, that the East 
 Baltimore Conference in March, 1862, by a vote of 
 132 yeas to 15 nays led on by Revs. A. A. Reese 
 and G. D. Chenoweth not only expressed its 
 "abhorrence of the rebellion," but declared, "We 
 approve and indorse the present wise and patriotic
 
 126 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Administration, and in the inculcation of loyal prin- 
 ciples and sentiments we recognize the pulpit and 
 press as legitimate instrumentalities." Not only so, 
 but the Philadelphia Conference, in March of that 
 same year, received and unanimously adopted the 
 report of their Committee on the State of the Country 
 as presented by the chairman, Rev. Charles Cook, 
 which affirmed : " We do hereby express our utter 
 abhorrence and opposition to the present rebellion, 
 being the offspring of treason, . . . and that 
 we pledge our influence to encourage and assist the 
 army and navy, to protect the honor of our flag, 
 the integrity of the Constituion, and the mainte- 
 nance of our glorious Union." The New Jersey 
 Conference followed with equally patriotic reso- 
 lutions. , 
 
 MEMORIALIZING CONGRESS. 
 
 As if afraid its influence would not be potent 
 enough by its General and annual conference action 
 on the question of slavery, several of the annual 
 conferences sent up memorials to Congress and to 
 President Lincoln. The New York East Confer- 
 ence when the bill freeing "slaves used for insur- 
 rectionary purposes" was approved, August 6, 1861, 
 and another forbidding the return of fugitive slaves 
 by persons in the army, March 13, 1862, and the abol- 
 ishment of slavery in the District of Columbia by 
 Congress, April 16, 1862 adopted a report drawn 
 up by James Floy, which declared "the system of
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 127 
 
 American slavery is evidently, in the good providence 
 of God, destined soon to come to an end; that the 
 recent action of our national authorities, by which 
 the nation has been unequivocally committed to the 
 cause of freedom, meets with our entire approba- 
 tion." The same body, with the New York Confer- 
 ence, in 1864, memorialized Congress, praying the 
 enactment of an amendment to the Constitution for 
 the abolishment of slavery a year and a half or 
 more before it was done. The New England Con- 
 ference sent up the following, which, for historic 
 accuracy, prophetic ken, and loyalty to the cause 
 of human freedom, has rarely been surpassed, and 
 will stand in the forefront of the reputation of 
 that conference for level-headedness and right doing. 
 We here reproduce it : 
 
 "After thirty years of exciting but healthful agi- 
 tation on the subject of slavery, the present aspects 
 of our cause furnish abundant motive for devout 
 thanksgiving to God. The two antagonistic tend- 
 encies of public sentiment existing and increasing 
 in the nation for so many years, have at length 
 reached their legitimate crisis of mutual and final 
 conflict, of which the issue can not be doubtful. 
 By its own diabolical act [slavery] has been placed 
 in a position where it can claim no constitutional 
 protection, and where there is no prudential motive 
 for its retention ; and the voice of the people, 
 which evidently coincides with the voice of God, 
 says : ' Let it perish !' In the Church the progress
 
 128 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 of the anti-slavery sentiment has been equally grati- 
 fying. Instead of a continued and meager minority 
 which regarded slavery as a sin, a great majority of 
 the representative assemblies of the Church register 
 their solemn verdict of its criminal character, and 
 demand that it shall cease, not only in the min- 
 istry, but in the whole membership." 
 
 The Black River Conference also gave no uncer- 
 tain sound when it declared : " The signs of the 
 times give evidence that the hitherto dominant 
 and domineering slave power is rapidly approaching 
 its end, and even now we may witness its horrible 
 death-throe. The time is rapidly approaching when 
 the last fetter will be broken, and the last bond- 
 man be released." 
 
 Of all the above and many more conferences that 
 took action in support of the Union, none of them 
 is more worthy of honor because of the action 
 taken than the Central Ohio, which adopted reso- 
 lutions as early as 1861 contemplating a procla- 
 mation of emancipation as the only conceivable 
 solution of our national difficulties. The Christian 
 Advocate of October following, reports the action 
 taken by said conference at its session in Grc'en- 
 ville, September 22, 1862 : 
 
 " Resolved, That we believe that the time has 
 fully come that, from a military necessity for the 
 safety of the country, such a proclamation should 
 be made; and we earnestly beseech the President 
 of the United States to proclaim the emancipation
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 129 
 
 of all slaves held in the United States, paying 
 loyal men a reasonable compensation for their 
 slaves." 
 
 This was, by order of the conference, forwarded 
 to the President of the United States. But before 
 it reached him, as if verifying God's promise, "Call, 
 and while you are galling, I will answer," the 
 President issued September 22, 1862, the Proclama- 
 tion, to take effect January 1, 1863. This Procla- 
 mation was not intended to free all the slaves, but 
 only affected "all persons held as slaves within any 
 State, or any designated part of a State, the people 
 whereof shall be in rebellion against the United 
 States on the first day of January, 1863." Hence 
 it only reached the States of Arkansas, Louisiana 
 leaving out some parishes Texas, Mississippi, 
 Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North and South Caro- 
 lina, and Virginia, in all of which States and parts 
 of States all slaves were henceforth to be free. 
 Other exceptions, such as parts of Virginia, Mis- 
 souri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Dela- 
 ware, and Maryland were also included in the 
 above, leaving the slaves in the non-designated 
 parts in slavery.
 
 130 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1864. 
 
 A LMOST one year after the Emancipation 
 -t~\. Proclamation took effect by reason of the re- 
 fusal on the part of the South to return to the 
 Union, the nineteenth session of the General Con- 
 ference met in the city of Philadelphia. That body 
 was composed of two hundred and sixteen dele- 
 gates. Just how any body of men, whether met for 
 political or religious interests, could properly attend 
 to affairs, even to the minutiaB, under the then ex- 
 isting circumstances of so exciting character as 
 those that occurred from May 1* 1864, until the 
 adjournment of that General Conference, is hard to 
 conceive. And yet the proceedings of that body 
 were characterized by patient, wise, and prudent 
 action. Some of the delegates to that General 
 Conference had their thoughts, however hard they 
 strove to prevent it, on Church interests upset, as 
 they took up the newspapers and found an account 
 of the atrocious butchery of colored troops at Fort 
 Pillow by that enemy of the human family, Gen- 
 eral Forrest. Before leaving the cars upon which 
 they were traveling, they were startled by the cry 
 of the newsboys at every station, as they announced
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 131 
 
 the startling news that the governors of the West- 
 ern States had offered the United States govern- 
 ment eighty-five thousand men for one hundred 
 days, and that the President had accepted the offer ; 
 again, that the victory was still in the scales. 
 They had been in session but four days until the 
 wires flashed the news that the irrepressible Grant 
 had crossed the Rapidan in Virginia, and com- 
 menced operations in. the Wilderness ! The next 
 day news came that the armies of the North and 
 South had met in the Wilderness the former under 
 that invincible hero, and the latter under the in- 
 trepid Lee. Since our own Grant was pushing Lee 
 before him nearly everywhere, and knowing how 
 the Church had begun to love General Grant, and 
 that her prayers and influence and sons were with 
 him for the preservation of the Union, it is pretty 
 hard to understand just how that General Confer- 
 ence found time and disposition to work as it did. 
 Its session was during the crisis of the war. As 
 they understood it, "God expects every man to do 
 his best," and they had then an opportunity to 
 view the whole scene, knowing that God himself 
 was interested, since 
 
 " Right forever on the scaffold, 
 
 Wrong forever on the throne; 
 But that scaffold sways the future, 
 
 And behind the dim unknown 
 Standeth God within the shadows, 
 
 Keeping watch above his own."
 
 132 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 So it was on the gory field of battle as well as 
 in that General Conference. 
 
 "The conference adopted a new rule on slavery, 
 by a vote of 207 yeas to 9 nays. The small mi- 
 nority of dissenters were delegates from within the 
 then slaveholding States of West Virginia, Mary- 
 land, and Kentucky so that the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church alone, of all the Churches in America, 
 within whose communion slaveholding had been 
 allowed, enacted a prohibitory law abolishing slavery, 
 even within the States where it was allowed to 
 continue by President Lincoln's Proclamation of 
 1863. Moving forward on the same line, in advance 
 of all the Churches, the same body, already more 
 sweeping in its prohibition of slavery than the civil 
 authorities, yet further anticipated the action of the 
 government in a formal address to the President." 
 
 At that General Conference the special Com- 
 mittee appointed on the State of the Country 
 reported as follows : 
 
 " The committee have carefully considered the 
 following subject, submitted to them by the General 
 Conference, namely : 
 
 " WHEREAS, It is a well-known fact that the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church was the first to tender its 
 allegiance to the government under the Constitution 
 in the days of Washington ; and whereas, the 
 fair record of the Church has never been tarnished 
 by disloyalty ; and whereas, our ministers and 
 people are deeply in sympathy with the government
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 133 
 
 in its efforts to put down rebellion and set the 
 captives free ; therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, That a committee of five be ap- 
 pointed, whose duty it shall be to proceed to Wash- 
 ington to present to the President of these United 
 States the assurances of our Church, in a suitable 
 address, that we are with him in heart and soul in 
 the present struggle for human rights and free 
 institutions. 
 
 "The committee, after further consideration of 
 the subject of the delegation it is proposed to send 
 with an address to the President of the United 
 States, beg leave to report that they have instructed 
 their chairman to present, for the approval of the 
 General Conference, the address contemplated in the 
 resolution referred for consideration. The com- 
 mittee still further report that they have nomi- 
 nated as the delegation, Bishop E. R. Ames, Rev. 
 George Peck, Rev. Joseph Cummings, Rev. Charles 
 Elliott, Rev. Granville Moody." 
 
 On motion of Thomas C. Golden, seconded by 
 K. P. Jervis, the report was adopted. The com- 
 mittee at once began to prepare the address, and 
 in due time the following was presented : 
 
 "To His EXCELLENCY, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE 
 UNITED STATES: 
 
 "The General Conference of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, now in session in the city of Phila- 
 delphia, representing nearly seven thousand min-
 
 134 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 isters, and nearly a million of members, mindful 
 of their duty as Christian citizens, take the earliest 
 opportunity to express to you the assurance of the 
 loyalty of the Church, her earnest devotion to the 
 interests of the country, and her sympathy with 
 you in the great responsibilities of your high posi- 
 tion in this trying hour. 
 
 "With exultation we point to the record of our 
 Church as having never been tarnished by dis- 
 loyalty. She was the first of the Churches to ex- 
 press, by a deputation of her most distinguished 
 ministers, the promise of support to the govern- 
 ment in the days of Washington. In her Articles 
 of Religion she has enjoined loyalty as a duty, and 
 has ever given to the government her most decided 
 support. 
 
 "In this present struggle for the nation's life 
 many thousands of her members, and a large num- 
 ber of her ministers, have rushed to arms to main- 
 tain the cause of God and humanity. They have 
 sealed their devotion to their country with their 
 blood on every battle-field of this terrible war. 
 
 " We regard this dreadful scourge now desolating 
 our land and wasting the nation's life, as the result 
 of a most unnatural, utterly unjustifiable rebellion, 
 involving the crime of treason against the best of 
 human governments, and sin against God. It re- 
 quired our government to submit to its own dis- 
 memberment and destruction, leaving it no alter- 
 native but to preserve the national integrity by the
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CIIURCH. 135 
 
 use of the national resources. If the government 
 had failed to use its power to preserve the unity 
 of the nation and maintain its authority, it would 
 have been justly exposed to the wrath of heaven 
 and t<3 the reproach and scorn of the civilized 
 world. Our earnest and constant prayer is that 
 this cruel and wicked rebellion may be speedily 
 suppressed ; and we pledge you our hearty co-opera- 
 tion in all appropriate means to secure this object. 
 
 "Loyal and hopeful in national adversity, in 
 prosperity thankful, we most heartily congratulate 
 you on the glorious victories recently gained, and 
 rejoice in the belief that our complete triumph 
 is near. 
 
 "We believe that our national sorrows and ca- 
 lamities have resulted, in a great degree, from our 
 forgetful ness of God and oppression of our fellow- 
 men. Chastened by affliction, may the nation hum- 
 bly repent of her sins, lay aside her haughty pride, 
 honor God in all her future legisTation, and render 
 justice to all who have been wronged! 
 
 "We honor you for your proclamations of lib- 
 erty, and rejoice in all the acts of the government 
 designed to secure freedom to the enslaved. 
 
 "We trust that when military usages and neces- 
 sities shall justify interference with established insti- 
 tutions, and the removal of wrongs sanctioned by 
 law, the occasion will be improved, not merely to 
 injure our foes and increase the national resources, 
 but also as an opportunity to recognize our obliga-
 
 136 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 tions to God and to honor his law. We pray that 
 the time may speedily come when this shall be 
 truly a republican and free country, in no part of 
 which, either State or Territory, shall slavery be 
 known. 
 
 "The prayers of millions of Christians, with 
 an earnestness never manifested for rulers before, 
 daily ascend to Heaven that you may be endued 
 with all needed wisdom and power. Actuated by 
 the sentiments of the loftiest and purest patriotism, 
 our prayers shall be continually for the preserva- 
 tion of our country undivided, for the triumph 
 of our cause, and for a permanent peace, gained 
 by sacrifice of no moral principles, but founded 
 on the Word of God, and securing, in righteous- 
 ness, liberty and equal rights to all. 
 
 " Signed in behalf the General Conference of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 "JOSEPH CUMMINGS, Chairman. 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, May 14, 1864." 
 
 To this address the President responded : 
 " GENTLEMEN, In reply to your address, allow 
 rne to attest the accuracy of its historical state- 
 ments, indorse the sentiments it expresses, and 
 thank you in the nation's name for the sure promise 
 it gives. 
 
 "Nobly sustained as the government has been 
 by all the Churches, I would utter nothing which 
 might in the least appear invidious against any; yet, 
 without this, it may be fairly said that the Meth-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 137 
 
 odist 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 Meth- 
 odist Church sends more soldiers to the field, more 
 nurses to the hospitals, and more prayers to Heaven, 
 than any. God bless the Methodist Church ! Bless 
 all the Churches ! And blessed be God, who, in 
 this our great trial, giveth us the Churches! 
 
 "A. LINCOLN." 
 
 Memorials were sent up to this General Confer- 
 ence, also asking for a colored pastorate and confer- 
 ence organization. Several petitions from the colored 
 members within the District of Columbia and the 
 States of Delaware and Maryland were presented, 
 praying for this. The wisdom of the petitioners is 
 best seen by noting the fact that most of the best 
 work among the colored people within the Church 
 is in the bounds of the territory from whence came 
 most petitions for a colored pastorate and separate 
 conferences. The Church began to see a new door 
 open at the sesame of belching cannons for her ad- 
 mission into the South. She then declared: " As a 
 Church we have never sought, do not now seek, to 
 ignore our duty to the colored population." And 
 besides this, the Church at that conference declared : 
 "Justice to those who have been enslaved requires 
 that in all the privileges of citizenship, as well as 
 in all the other rights of a common manhood, there 
 shall be no distinction founded on color." These 
 were strong words at that early day, and meant 
 
 12
 
 138 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 what the Church has been teaching ever since. 
 That General Conference created a special com- 
 mittee to look after the interests, hear the appeals, 
 consider what ought to be done by that conference 
 to further the work among the colored members 
 It was known as " the Committee on the State of 
 the Work among the Colored People," to whom all 
 such petitions and memorials were referred. This 
 was not one of the regular standing committees, 
 but a special one appointed for the occasion. After 
 the General Conference had been in possession of. 
 said petitions and memorials two weeks or more, they 
 submitted a report, in which they said that they based 
 their report on "direct information from delegates to 
 the General Conference familiar with the work ; from 
 intelligent and trustworthy local preachers who 
 have been deputed by the colored charges in Dela- 
 ware and Maryland and the District of Columbia 
 to represent them before the committee, and from 
 various memorials setting forth the wishes of our 
 colored members." 
 
 That the Church trusted and desired to honor 
 her sable sons, no one doubts. That she was proud 
 of feeling herself loved by them, and an instrument 
 in God's hands of helping to uplift them, is told in 
 the following expression of that conference : " If it 
 be a principle potent to Christian enterprise that 
 the missionary field itself must produce the most 
 efficient missionaries, our colored local preachers are 
 peculiarly important to us at this time." The
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 139 
 
 memorialists were filled with ecstasy when the com- 
 mittee reported the following: 
 
 COLORED PASTORATE. 
 
 "(1.) Our colored members, ministers, and lay- 
 men feel that the times are auspicious to the devel- 
 opment of their mental and moral power, and 
 request from us the facilities necessary to this end. 
 
 " (2.) A colored pastorate they recognize as 
 among the most important of these facilities, secur- 
 ing to them a ministry adapted to their wants, 
 encouraging their young men to enter the minis- 
 terial field, and offering motive and opportunity for 
 general ministerial advancement. 
 
 " (3.) They do not, however, propose to secure 
 this by indeed, they are utterly opposed to sep- 
 aration from our Church, either with a view to a 
 union w r ith another, or to independent organization. 
 With such a feeling on their part, the General Con- 
 ference can not consistently with its own responsi- 
 bility, with their constitutional rights, or with any 
 decent recognition of their loyalty to our Church 
 in all the troubles through which, on their account, 
 she has passed, adopt any measure which shall, even 
 indirectly, look to such a result. 
 
 "(4.) Conference organization is asked for from 
 two quarters ; other memorials urge that the 
 requests should be granted. The local ministers 
 who have been before us have shown deep solici- 
 tude in this direction.
 
 140 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 " (7.) From this exhibit of facts two convictions 
 are natural, namely : We must retain the oversight 
 of this people ; we must give them efficient colored 
 pastors. 
 
 " To retain these pastors as mere local preachers, 
 subject to appointment by white presiding elders, 
 will impair rather than increase their efficiency ; 
 will promote Congregationalism among them rath.er 
 than itinerant missionary enterprise. 
 
 "To propose their incorporation with the exist- 
 ing annual conferences will be attended with diffi- 
 culties too formidable every way to be readily 
 disposed of, and the delay incident to such a prop- 
 osition is incompatible with the urgent requirements 
 of the times. 
 
 " In view of these considerations, we recom-. 
 mend to the General Conference for adoption the 
 following preamble and resolutions : 
 
 "WHEREAS, In the present circumstances of 
 our country, the colored people occupy a position 
 of peculiar interest, appealing to our Christian sym- 
 pathy, and inviting our missionary enterprise ; and 
 
 "WHEEEAS, This enterprise can not now be 
 made efficient by the policy of our Church hitherto 
 pursue.d toward them, and especial measures have 
 therefore become necessary ; and 
 
 " WHEREAS, The exigencies of the case require 
 to efficiency prompt action ; therefore, be it 
 
 "1. Resolved, by the General Conference of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in Conference assem-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 141 
 
 bled, That it is the duty of our Church to encour- 
 age colored pastorates for colored people wherever 
 practicable, and to contribute to their efficiency by 
 every means in our power. 
 
 " Resolved, That the efficiency of said pastorates 
 can be best promoted by distinct conference organ- 
 izations, and that therefore the bishops be, and they 
 are hereby, authorized to organize among our 
 colored ministers, for the benefit of our colored 
 members and population, mission conferences one 
 or more where, in their godly judgment, the exi- 
 gencies of the work may demand it, and, should 
 more than one be organized, to determine their 
 boundaries until the meeting of the next General 
 Conference, said conference or conferences to possess 
 all the powers usual to mission annual conferences: 
 Provided, that nothing in this resolution be so 
 construed as to impair the existing constitutional 
 rights of our colored members on the one hand, or 
 to forbid, on the other, the transfer of white min- 
 isters to said conference or conferences where it 
 may be practicable and deemed necessary. 
 
 "3. Resolved, That our General Missionary 
 Committee be requested to take into careful con- 
 sideration the condition of our colored people, and 
 should conferences be organized among them, make 
 to them consistently with other demands upon its 
 funds such appropiations as may be essential to 
 success." 
 
 Annual or mission conferences being composed
 
 142 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 of traveling preachers, it was necessary that some 
 colored local preachers be admitted into the travel- 
 ing connection before they could be formed into a 
 conference, which gave rise to a question upon 
 which the same committee made a report, which 
 was adopted, as follows (Jour. 1864, p. 253): 
 
 " We, the committee to whom this subject was 
 finally referred, beg leave to report that we are not 
 aware of any legal obstacle to the reception of 
 colored preachers into our annual conferences." 
 
 This General Conference at a later day made 
 more specific and direct provision for the Delaware 
 and Washington Conferences in the following reso- 
 lution (Jour. 1864, p. 263) : 
 
 "The Washington Conference shall embrace 
 Western Maryland, the District of Columbia, Vir- 
 ginia, and the territory south. 
 
 "The Delaware Conference shall embrace the 
 territory north and east of the Washington Con- 
 ference. 
 
 " Resolved, That in order to constitute the first 
 conferences of colored members, the rule of Dis- 
 cipline requiring a probation of two years, be so 
 far suspended as to allow the bishops to organize 
 into one or more annual conferences such colored 
 local elders as have traveled two or more years under 
 a presiding elder, and shall be recommended by a 
 quarterly conference, and by at least ten elders who 
 are members of an annual conference." 
 
 The Delaware Conference was organized July
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 143 
 
 28, 1864, and the Washington Conference October 
 27, 1864. It will be noted that " the constitutional 
 rights of our colored members" were recognized, 
 as well as the difficulties of incorporating the work. 
 
 Let us now examine the above resolutions more 
 closely. 
 
 Blessings seldom come unattended. At a glance 
 any one can see that the requests of the colored 
 members had been granted. Henceforth they were 
 to have (1) colored pastorates, the very thing for 
 which they had prayed. No one doubts, we think, 
 that the granting of that very thing gave birth to 
 all the other race questions that do or may arise 
 touching the relations of the two races within the 
 Church. The wisdom of that General Conference 
 peered away out into the future. It probably saw a 
 time when advanced ideas would lead men within 
 the Church to advanced work. These pastorates 
 created by that General Conference were to be for 
 "colored people." They were to be allowed (2) 
 separate conferences. There was no way to avoid 
 them where there were "colored pastorates for 
 colored people." Just so. These separate confer- 
 ences, however, were (3) "not to impair existing 
 rights of our colored members, nor yet (4) to forbid 
 the transfer of white ministers to said conferences 
 where it may be practicable and deemed necessary." 
 What "existing rights" had colored members? To 
 remain in any Church they chose within Meth- 
 odism, or join with and worship in any congrega-
 
 144 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 tion within the Methodist Episcopal Church. It 
 did not stop there, but action was taken looking to 
 the education of the race. The General Confer- 
 ence Committee on Education reported as follows : 
 
 "The committee have had before them the 
 memorial of Rev. J. F. Wright in reference to the 
 Wilberforce University, and, in view of its peculiar 
 character and relation to the Church, we offer for 
 adoption the following resolution : 
 
 " Resolved, That we heartily sympathize with 
 the noble purpose contemplated in the establish- 
 ment of Wilberforce University and we do hereby 
 earnestly commend the institution to the prayers and 
 liberal contributions of the friends of humanity." 
 
 Just what " the peculiar character and relation " 
 were, is not stated. It may have been that the 
 enterprise was sprung upon the Church before it 
 had been duly authorized. It may have been that 
 its "peculiar character and relation" meant that 
 it was to be exclusively colored. It makes no dif- 
 ference as to what was meant, some way or other 
 that institution soon passed into other hands. 
 
 Again, it would have been folly to grant sepa- 
 rate conferences for the colored membership and 
 leave standing the old rule, and allow it to 
 apply in this case, requiring a probation of two 
 years before being admitted to an annual confer- 
 ence. This was brought forward at once, and the 
 animus of the General Conference on the subject 
 was at once manifested by the following resolution :
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 145 
 
 "Resolved, That in order to constitute the first 
 conference of colored members, the rille of the Dis- 
 cipline requiring a probation of two years be so far 
 suspended as to allow the bishops to organize into 
 one or more annual conferences such colored local 
 elders as have traveled two or more years under a 
 presiding elder and shall be recommended by a 
 quarterly conference and by at least ten elders who 
 are members of an annual conference." 
 
 This was a wise and prudential action. Wise in 
 that it at once dissipated any thought that might 
 have arisen in the minds of the less stable mem- 
 bers, that the matter was simply put in a compli- 
 cated shape to keep the colored members at bay, 
 and thereby eventually drive out of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church all the colored people. To have 
 kept them waiting under the probationary rule 
 would probably have done much harm. Prudential 
 in that even the local elders were to come up well 
 recommended : (1) By their own people, among 
 whom they lived and worked, and who therefore 
 could testify as to their moral, religious, and literary 
 fitness for the traveling connection. (2) To be rec- 
 ommended "by at least ten elders (white) who are 
 members of an annual conference." Who were better 
 qualified than such elders to know who were and 
 who were not qualified for traveling preachers our 
 own people had no experience in matters of that 
 kind in that they would naturally be able and 
 more willing to speak against those " wolves in 
 
 13
 
 146 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 sheep's clothing" who sometimes "climb up some 
 other way" into our annual conferences for the pur- 
 pose of fleecing, instead of feeding, the flock of 
 God ? Our own people might have been in some 
 way related to the applicants or ignorant of their 
 devices. Why should not some precautions be 
 observed when clothing with authority those who, 
 even then, must have been witnessing "the pains, 
 the groans, the dying strife " of an institution that 
 had grown gray in crime and debauchery under 
 which for two hundred and forty-four years the 
 race had suffered in more ways than the Hebrews 
 in Egypt? They had never enjoyed even the privi- 
 lege of elementary training in any way fitting them 
 for happiness and usefulness in the world. They 
 were poor and ignorant. Poor in that even the 
 good name of the race was gone ; and who does not 
 know that a 
 
 "Good name, in man and woman, .... 
 Is the immediate jewel of their souls ? 
 Who steals my purse steals trash ; 'tis something, nothing ; 
 'Twos mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; 
 But he that filches from me my good name 
 Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
 And makes me poor indeed." 
 
 We do not know that additional weight attaches 
 to the above by knowing that Shakespeare put these 
 words into the mouth of lago ; but it is a fair 
 statement of the condition of the race when the 
 Emancipation Proclamation was issued. The mo- 
 rality of the race under the old regime is the prodigy
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 147 
 
 of the age ! And yet they knew nothing theoret- 
 ically of morality, and had opportunities for but 
 few examples of it. They knew nothing of home 
 economics, and not five in one hundred of the rank 
 and file could count correctly ten dollars in small 
 change. Hence the Church was wise in throwing 
 around this people safeguards as well as charity. 
 They knew but little, if anything, of the comforts of 
 home life, the proper training of children ; while 
 the fantastic mode of dressing immediately after 
 the war tells a tale at which a heathen should blush. 
 They knew comparatively nothing either of Church 
 polity or moral science. Those who have found 
 occasion to laugh at the huge mistakes of some of 
 our ministers, as well as some others who had 
 enjoyed better opportunities, must find a sufficient 
 explanation in the previous condition of the race. 
 Was the Methodist Church not right in doing as 
 it did?
 
 148 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT WORK. 
 
 THE beginning of a work among these images 
 of God cut in ebony is found in the following 
 resolutions looking to the protection of the inter- 
 ests of the colored man by the civil government. 
 It is nothing against a system that it was badly 
 managed or fell into bad hands, or else our vener- 
 ated Constitution is involved. That General Con- 
 ference (1864) in its report on freedmen, said: 
 
 "(1) Resolved, That in the events which have 
 thrown the thousands of freed people upon the 
 benevolence of the humane and loyal people of the 
 North, we recognize a providential call to the 
 Christian public for contributions for their physical 
 relief and mental and moral elevation and espe- 
 cially to the Church of Christ for the means of their 
 evangelization. 
 
 "(2) Resolved, That the best interests of the 
 freedmen of the country demand legislation that 
 shall foster and protect this people, and we do 
 hereby respectfully but earnestly urge upon Con- 
 gress the importance of establishing, as soon as 
 practicable, a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs, as con- 
 templated in the bills now pending." 
 
 What did this mean? If it meant anything, the
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 149 
 
 Church meant to practice, at its earliest conven- 
 ience, the doctrine it had been preaching for the 
 last eighty years and more, that the poor enslaved 
 colored man should be properly trained to enjoy 
 this life and that which is to come. It meant that 
 just as soon as the alarms of war had sufficiently 
 subsided and God opened the way, or signified that 
 an entrance could be gained, to go at once up and 
 down through the Southland carrying the gospel 
 of free salvation to the down-trodden, poverty- 
 stricken, and demoralized colored man. While but 
 few, if any, believe the only mission of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in the South was to the poor 
 colored man, but few will doubt that, had it no 
 other call to go into the South, that were enough. 
 But few rational Christians believe the Church had 
 no call into the South. 
 
 That the Church was needed there, no one will 
 question when the condition of the colored man at 
 that time is considered, as well as the relation the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South, sustained to the 
 colored man before and during the war, and that 
 other significant fact that the colored man, as such, 
 was, and for that matter is, peculiarly either a Baptist 
 or a Methodist. From the beginning Methodism 
 took hold of him, and he learned that, wherever 
 found, a true Methodist was his friend. This in 
 itself is sufficient explanation of the peculiarity 
 referred to above. What was the condition of the 
 colored man at the close of the war? When the
 
 150 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 black smoke of battle arose from a hundred battle- 
 fields the entire colored population four and a 
 half millions came forth ignorant, superstitious, 
 degraded, and poverty-stricken. The only beam of 
 hope rested entirely on the education of the race. 
 The emancipation was followed by the enfranchise- 
 ment of these ignorant and superstitious people. 
 The cry of opposition was heard vociferously in 
 the South, while in some places in the North lead- 
 ing newspapers and men expressed doubts as to 
 the wisdom of the thing. Who, under the then 
 existing circumstances, doubted the earnestness of 
 those who cried out as they saw the colored men 
 clothed with freedom and franchise, yet slaves to 
 superstition and ignorance : 
 
 " A poor v blind Samson is in our land, 
 Bound hand and foot, and prone upon his back ; 
 But who knows that, in some drunken revel, 
 He may rise and grasp the pillars 
 Of our temple's liberties, shake the foundations 
 Till all beneath its broken columns lie in ruins ?" 
 
 Amid the religious training received from that 
 part of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, that 
 trained them at all, did not appear anything different 
 from the system of slavery in vogue, save the 
 promise of an eternal Sabbath. It is true a colored 
 membership was reported by the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, South ; but this did not mean that the 
 colored people within that Church were permitted 
 to worship God in their own congregations, or that 
 there were any colored pastors or class-leaders
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 151 
 
 among that membership. If slavery had continued, 
 the condition of the colored man religiously could 
 never have become better. Just how unless force 
 of circumstances played a part in the drama a 
 brotherly feeling could have arisen or existed in the 
 bosom of the poor colored man under that regime, 
 we can not, for the life of us, surmise. But all 
 that was ended with the war, and still there was 
 but little, if any, change. The withdrawals at first 
 opportunity of colored people from the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, South, meant something. The 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was then, at 
 any rate, unwilling to educate the colored man. 
 In proof of the last assertion, we turn to page 148 
 of Dr. A. G. Hay good's book, "Our Brother in 
 Black." The following, published in 1881 by this 
 leading philosopher and clergyman in the Meth- 
 odist Episocopal Church, South, is as significant as 
 sound. He says : 
 
 " If the work of educating the Negroes of the 
 South is ever to be carried on satisfactorily, if ever 
 the best results are to be accomplished, then 
 Southern white people must take part in the work of 
 teaching Negro schools. There have been some 
 very sad and hurtful mistakes in the relations as- 
 sumed by most of us of the South to this whole 
 matter, and especially in the fact that, with very 
 rare exceptions, our people have steadfastly refused 
 to teach Negro children, especially since they were 
 made free, for love or money. They have recoiled
 
 152 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 from Negro schools as if there were personal degra- 
 dation in teaching them. Perhaps the state of 
 things that existed at the South for a full decade 
 after the war, and for which Southern people were 
 not alone responsible a state of things that made 
 it impracticable for Southern white men and women 
 to teach Negro schools was inevitable. But so it 
 was; they could not do it without 'losing caste.' 
 As I am trying to state facts honestly, I should 
 add, the prevailing sentiment of the South would 
 not even now look favorably upon such teachers ; 
 but I must say we are growing in sense as well as 
 grace on this subject." 
 
 Without further comment, the above corrob- 
 orates the statement that the condition of the freed- 
 men in the South directly after the war, temporally, 
 spiritually, morally, and intellectually, was a loud 
 enough call, and the mission of enough importance 
 to warrant the action of the General Conference of 
 1864 in its action that virtually announced the 
 intention of the Methodist Episcopal Church to go 
 into the South. The fact that conferences had 
 been opened in the South for colored people was 
 sufficient proof. 
 
 THE CHURCH IN THE SOUTH. 
 
 When the General Conference of 1868 met in the 
 city -of Chicago, 111., for its twentieth session, among 
 other things it took up the subject of the relation of 
 the Church to the colored man. There were present
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 153 
 
 at that General Conference two hundred and forty- 
 three delegates. When the General Conference of 
 1864 authorized the formation of mission conferences 
 in the South for colored people, as a Church, it 
 "had been practically excluded for twenty years " 
 from Alabama, North and South Carolina, Georgia, 
 Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ar- 
 kansas, and Texas, while a generation had grown 
 up under the immediate care, as it' were, of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It is true that 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church had held on in 
 some sort in the city of Baltimore this being her 
 strongest fort while through some parts of Dela- 
 ware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri 
 it had a foothold. Our Church in 1863, in the 
 last-named States, claimed 332 effective preachers, 
 84,673 members, and 919 church-buildings. By 
 the next year, when the General Conference of 
 1864 met for its nineteenth session in Philadelphia, 
 it claimed in the above-named five slave States 309 
 effective preachers, 87,072 members 15,898 being 
 colored and 982 churches, being an increase in 
 these five States of 2,399 members, not including 
 probationers, and a decrease of 23 effective preach- 
 ers, and an increase of 63 church-buildings. Thus it 
 may be seen that a wise Providence proclaimed 
 the mission of our Church ; and there was then, as 
 we see now, no mistake made on the part of our 
 Church when it heard and obeyed the commission 
 in this case, "Go ye into all the world, and preach
 
 154 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 the gospel to every creature." The crowning act 
 touching the subject we discuss was given by the 
 General Conference of 1864 in these words: "We 
 are not aware of any legal obstacle to the reception 
 of colored preachers into our annual conferences." 
 Touching the work done by the last General Con- 
 ference, and showing somewhat of the results at- 
 tained, the Bishops' Address to the Twentieth Gen- 
 eral Conference contained the following: 
 
 " They [the Delaware and Washington colored 
 conferences] now contain one hundred and one min- 
 isters and twenty-six thousand four hundred and 
 eighty-seven members and probationers. The cre- 
 ation of these conferences was hailed by our colored 
 ministers and membership with great joy, and has, 
 we believe, been productive of much good. The min- 
 isters are becoming familiar with the mode of con- 
 ducting business, and many of them are rapidly 
 improving. At their recent sessions they elected 
 representatives to this body according to the form 
 of the Discipline for electing delegates. Whether 
 these representatives should be admitted, you alone 
 have authority to decide. In our judgment, the 
 success of this work demands all the encourage- 
 ment which the General Conference can properly 
 give." 
 
 The regular and natural succession of action 
 touching the relation of the Church toward the 
 colored man seems to declare, to our mind at any 
 rate, that it has the divine sanction. The submis-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 155 
 
 sion of the above resolution brought at once before 
 the General Conference of 1868 the question of the 
 advisability of admitting not colored testimony, or 
 testimony from people of color but colored dele- 
 gates to equality in the General Conference of one 
 of the largest denominations in the world. The 
 Christ-like spirit of the bishops in presenting the 
 matter, supported by their modest indorsement of 
 it, was manly. They said: "In our judgment, the 
 success of this work demands all the encourage- 
 ment which the General Conference can properly 
 give." It may have been that it was not thor- 
 oughly settled in the minds of all the delegates 
 of that General Conference. The result, however, 
 was satisfactory, in that James Davis and Benjamin 
 Brown were seated as delegates, and thereby the 
 equal rights of our colored members were not only 
 recognized, but everything looking to their eleva- 
 tion, done by the Church, was stamped with ap- 
 proval. The adjournment of that General Confer- 
 ence did not take place until provision for other 
 conferences for our people, at their own request, was 
 made. The year preceding that General Confer- 
 ence a colored presiding elder had been appointed 
 over a district in Kentucky ; nine mission confer- 
 ences had been organized in our Southern field ; 
 colored preachers had been received into the Ken- 
 tucky and Missouri Annual Conferences. Notwith- 
 standing this, wherever a mission conference was 
 organized a new inspiration seemed to overshadow
 
 156 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 the entire work. The provision above referred to 
 was as follows : 
 
 "' Resolved, 1. That the bishops who may pre- 
 side in the Kentucky Conference during the next 
 four years, are hereby authorized to organize the col- 
 ored ministers within the bounds of said conference 
 into a separate annual conference, if said ministers 
 request it; and if, in the judgment of the bishops, 
 the interest of the work requires it, to be called 
 
 the Conference : Provided, that nothing in 
 
 this resolution shall be construed to impair the ex- 
 isting constitutional rights of our colored members 
 on the one hand, or, on the other, to forbid the 
 transfer of white ministers to said conference, when- 
 ever it may be deemed desirable or expedient.' 
 
 "So soon as this resolution was taken up, a 
 motion was made to lay it upon the table, which 
 was lost. 
 
 " A motion to amend by inserting, ' Provided, 
 that colored members may remain in the Kentucky 
 Conference/ was laid on the table. 
 
 "A motion to strike out the words 'the interest 
 of the work/ and insert 'the unity and success of 
 the Church/ was laid on the table; and the resolu- 
 tion was adopted as matured by the Committee on 
 Boundaries." 
 
 The motions subsequently made show at once 
 the animus of the white brethren of that conference 
 at that time. While many were anxious to have 
 restrictions, others objected to it in toto. But, as
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 157 
 
 in the General Conference, so it has been in nearly 
 every annual conference, that a wide difference of 
 opinion on the color-line question existed. It is well 
 that it was so. 
 
 Following hard upon the above action in the 
 interest of the colored man, this General Confer- 
 ence paid special attention to its work so grandly 
 begun in the sunny South. While the discussion 
 of the status of the colored delegates elicited much 
 animation, the restrictions were removed from the 
 conferences of the Church in the South, irrespective 
 of color, by a vote of 197 to 15. All our benevo- 
 lent societies were instructed to redouble their dili- 
 gence to meet the exigencies of the case ; our Book 
 Concerns were to publish one or more papers adapted 
 to the new order of things within the South ; 
 transfers, if needed, were to be sent into this fruitful 
 field ; training-schools and theological schools were 
 ordered for the special training of the colored 
 people of the South within our Church and without, 
 if accepted. The bishops were requested to give 
 the colored work special episcopal supervision. As 
 a finale of the action of that General Conference, 
 an " enabling act" for the establishment of the third 
 annual conference among our colored members was 
 passed, with the provision that in every case the 
 rights of every preacher were to be fully and care- 
 fully, as well as impartially, considered. The white 
 preachers and teachers who were sent by the Church 
 into the South to carry out this plan of work were,
 
 158 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 in too many cases, not only subjected to insult, but 
 cruel scourgings and false imprisonment, as if ostra- 
 cism was not cruel and wicked punishment enough. 
 But many of those thus treated were men and 
 women of God, and therefore consistent but firm 
 and true heroes and heroines. 
 
 Dr. Walden (now bishop), in an address, Aug. 13, 
 1883, at the anniversary of the Freedmen's Aid So- 
 ciety, spoke of this work. The following needs no 
 comment, as he speaks of the period in our work in 
 the South at which we now are, and we insert it 
 here as a retrospect: 
 
 " Two courses were open one to delay employing col- 
 ored preachers until they could be educated, the other 
 to put these untutored men to work at once. No people 
 ever needed the gospel more than did the freed people. 
 Standing in the midst of new relations, the possessors 
 of a new-found freedom for Avhich they had never been 
 trained, they needed both the restraints and the inspira- 
 tion of the gospel. The Wesleyan prescience of our 
 Church recognized this need, and at the same time the 
 fact that these unlearned preachers, if divinely called, 
 could so tell the story of the Cross as to benefit their 
 people. The lives of many of these men had been 
 an unbroken period of slave-toil ; but the sequel proves 
 that they knew enough of the saving power of Christ 
 and the fullness of his love to instruct their hearers in 
 the way of life, and we now see that their relation to 
 this work was not unlike to that of the first of Wesley's 
 lay preachers to their work among their own classes in 
 England.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 159 
 
 " With this illustration before us of the general 
 principle that a people may and must be instrumental in 
 their own evangelization, let us study some of the re- 
 sults of our itinerant system among the freedmen of 
 our itinerancy and its auxiliary agencies. All under- 
 stand our itinerancy to be the general superinteudeucy 
 and the pastorate ; by auxiliary agencies I mean our 
 sub-pastorate, in which the class-leaders stand, our Church 
 literature, and our Sunday-schools. The mere suggestion 
 of the fact leads you at once to see that the real func- 
 tion of each and all of these is to re-enforce both the 
 general and the particular work committed to the itiner- 
 ancy or three foldpastorate the bishops, presiding elders, 
 and pastors of our Church. The very fact of taking 
 this comprehensive system to a people who had no sys- 
 tem, of beginning at once to build them up into it, 
 could not be without producing some marked and favor- 
 able results. I mention the more obvious of these : 
 
 "(a) The freedmen who were recognized as having a 
 call to preach could do little more than exhort, but 
 they were put into the pastoral relation ; a great 
 Church committed to them a new and solemn trust, and 
 laid upon them grave responsibilities; they were under 
 the leadership of the superintendents of the missions 
 good, prudent, self-sacrificing men men who in their 
 devotion to duty represented the highest life of their 
 Church. Such things could not be without affecting 
 these untutored preachers. Crude as all they did may 
 have been at first, their pastorate benefited the people 
 they served, and was to themselves a means of training, 
 of real and rapid progress; and there are still in the 
 effective ranks of the conferences which came from such
 
 360 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 beginnings many pious, able, and successful preachers, 
 who were thus transferred from the cotton and rice 
 fields and sugar plantations to, and trained in, our 
 itinerant ministry. 
 
 "(6) As the work progressed, these colored men 
 acquired by observation and experience, and such study 
 as was possible with them, a wider knowledge of their 
 work ; and in due course the bishops began to appoint 
 some of them as presiding elders, investing them with 
 all the honors and responsibilities of this important 
 office. It should also be stated that the Church that 
 acted thus through her bishops was constantly displaying 
 to them an encouraging interest in them by furnishing 
 means to aid in the support of their Church work. 
 
 "(c) In the annual conferences they were and are 
 brought under the presidency of our bishops the most 
 efficient presiding officers in this or any other country, 
 a fact that became most obvious at the Ecumenical 
 Methodist Conference. The very methods of business 
 in our annual conferences, and the promptness with 
 which it is dispatched under this presidency, have had 
 such influence on the older conferences that the advan- 
 tages of like administration to the colored conferences 
 are obvious. The influence of the conference session 
 ought also to be named, as these annual meetings of the 
 preachers have all along affected most favorably the 
 character of Methodism. These colored preachers have 
 been coming together, as do their brethren in older con- 
 ferences, to report and review the year's work, to pass 
 upon the character of each one, to consider the various 
 connectional and benevolent causes, to attend to all the 
 business that is usually presented, and to enjoy the
 
 THE, METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 161 
 
 social privileges and religious services to which all our 
 preachers look forward with deep interest. Every such 
 session tends to make them wiser and more effective in 
 their work. 
 
 "(d) Under our system of study for probationers and 
 deacons, the colored preachers are steadily improving, 
 and their conferences are becoming more careful as to 
 the qualifications of those who are received into the 
 ministry. I well remember the class taken on trial in 
 the South Carolina Conference in 1867 ; near a dozen 
 of them were then uncouth and ill-clad men, who 
 seemed to have come direct from the plantations; little 
 or nothing was said as to even elementary education ; 
 they were taken as they were, and sent out to do work 
 for the Master, who ordaineth strength even out of the 
 mouths of babes. But it is radically different in that 
 conference now; at its session, last January, I heard 
 the report of examinations, and learned thereby that 
 the standard of qualification is applied more rigidly 
 each succeding year. I rejoiced in this as a fact com- 
 mon to all these colored conferences ; and yet I also 
 rejoiced to remember that when the exigencies required 
 it, our Church dared to send out the earlier members of 
 that and other conferences, illiterate as they were, to 
 the work of winning souls. 
 
 "(e) These early colored preachers, coming as they 
 did from a condition in which there was no home, in the 
 better sense of that word, soon came to know something 
 of the importance that our Church attaches to Sunday- 
 schools. They were organized, often in the crudest form ; 
 but they have been improved, and now nearly two 
 thousand are reported in the twelve conferences. This 
 
 14
 
 162 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 work is important there, not only because it is in behalf 
 of the youth and children, but also because there has 
 been, and is, a relatively great demand for such work in 
 the South. It is a fact that the ratio between the 
 number of Sunday-school scholars and Church members 
 of any and all Protestant denominations iu the South is 
 far below what it is in the North. The schools organ- 
 ized in our "new Southern field" have been aided with 
 papers published by our Church, and especially adapted 
 to the condition of the scholars. All the teachers 
 employed by the Freedmeu's Aid Society have done good 
 and faithful service in these Sunday-schools. Through 
 them the Church has been, and is, furnishing moral and 
 mental instruction to about one hundred thousand of the 
 youth and children, that will be of incalculable value to 
 them, and through them to the Church and the nation. 
 
 "(/) The Methodist newspapers published in the 
 South within this new field by our Church, in order 
 to furnish a literature specially adapted to the condition 
 and needs of the people, have been potent for good. 
 We may not be able to estimate the force of the fact 
 that papers have been provided for them which they in 
 a special sense regarded as their own. It was no mean 
 fact with them that a part of the capital of the Book 
 Concern was being employed to publish papers which, by 
 their very location, must chiefly be for them. And the 
 presence of a depository of books at Atlanta tended to 
 impress the lesson, taught in so many ways, that our 
 Church was ready and anxious to help them in their 
 every effort to reach the plane of a higher and better life. 
 
 "Other facts might be named to show how every 
 thing that is forceful in our itinerancy and its aux-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 163 
 
 iliary agencies has been constantly, wisely, and effect- 
 ively employed to reach, evangelize and elevate these 
 colored people. It has been more than a formal recog- 
 nition of Christian equality ; it has been the continuous 
 presence and power of educational relations as well as 
 educational agencies among them. The Church, during 
 these years, has recognized the divine call into her min- 
 istry of more than a thousand of these men, thereby 
 reposing a confidence and conferring an honor that has 
 been a special inspiration to them, and, in good degree, 
 to their people. Ministerial position and pastoral duties, 
 prerogatives and responsibilities, shared in common with 
 the largest corps of preachers in our country, have been 
 made realities to them. When that whole people shall 
 come to the plane and glory of a true manhood and 
 womanhood, it will be known that the impartial plant- 
 ing of our system of itinerancy among them was one of 
 the early and potent means of their elevation. 
 
 " 3. The aim of the Methodist Episcopal Church is 
 to enlist every local society in the support of her benev- 
 olent enterprises. She would give to every person con- 
 verted at her altars the opportunity to do work for the 
 Master. For this reason, all her pastors are charged 
 with the duty of presenting to their congregations the 
 claims of the Missionary, Church Extension, Freedmen's 
 Aid, Sunday-school, Tract, and Educational causes, and 
 of affording to all the opportunity to contribute thereto 
 according to their ability. Into each sphere of work 
 represented by these causes, the Church has been led by 
 a marked providence, and her efforts in them have been 
 attended with her Lord's signal favor. The presentation 
 of these causes in the relation they hold to the world's
 
 164 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 evangelization, the end for which Christ established his 
 Church, teaches with special emphasis the magnitude of 
 her mission, and indicates the certainty of ultimate 
 success. How the faith of God's people has enlarged 
 under the inspiration of this widening work ! These 
 causes have been presented more or less fully to our new 
 societies in the South. 
 
 "The colored preachers and people have taken a ready 
 interest in the Missionary Society because it carried the 
 gospel to them. The preachers were not learned, and 
 the people were poor ; but what if the earlier missionary 
 sermons were crude presentations of a world-wide cause ? 
 what if but a few pennies were collected in a charge? 
 the people were thus coming into contact with the genius 
 of the gospel, and beginning to have some part in the 
 movement that is conquering the world. Among the 
 many wise things done during the administration of the 
 revered Dr. Durbiu as missionary secretary, the one of 
 all others that has affected and will continue to affect 
 our Church the most, was providing for the organization 
 of the Sunday-schools into missionary societies ; wise and 
 potential, because thus, in a practical and methodical 
 way, the idea of the world's evangelization is fixed in 
 the thought of the youth and children, by far the great- 
 est idea touching the human race that can be given to 
 the human mind. 
 
 "The colored preachers have been learning this fun- 
 damental idea of the missionary cause and the purpose 
 of each of the other benevolences of our Church, and 
 in their own way it may be presenting them to their 
 people; but the result has been a measure of enlight- 
 enment in these directions, an increasing knowledge
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 165 
 
 of the far-reaching plans of the Church to which they 
 belong, a clearer consciousness that by being brought 
 within her pale they have part in one of the great ag- 
 gressive Christian movements of the age. Standing as 
 they do in the dawn of a new day, this conscious iden- 
 tification with all the benevolent plans of the Church that 
 brought them the gospel can not do less than enlarge 
 their views of Christian duty, and inspire them with 
 zeal for and devotion to causes grand in themselves and 
 glorious in their results. 
 
 "4. The preaching that is distinctively Methodistic 
 has had its influence in this as in other fields. While 
 we hold the fundamental truths of Christianity in com- 
 mon with other evangelical Churches points of agree- 
 ment, each of which is infinitely more important than 
 all the questions in regard to which there is a differ- 
 ence all do not place the same emphasis we do on 
 some of these truths. Our preachers in the ' new South- 
 ern field,' as elsewhere, have given special prominence 
 to the willingness and power of Jesus to save every one 
 who comes to him ; the universal call and the gracious 
 ability of every one to come ; the radical character of 
 the change wrought in conversion a new life through 
 divine power; the adoption into the divine family, and 
 that adoption clearly, satisfactorily attested through the 
 witness of the Holy Spirit; the complete cleansing power 
 of the blood of Christ, and the keeping power of the 
 promised grace. Need I say in this presence that the 
 emphasis given to these Scriptural doctrines by our min- 
 istry has molded the experience of Methodists in every 
 society, and made the meeting for testimony, whether 
 love-feast or class-meeting, a part of our Church life ?
 
 166 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 The preaching of these doctrines in the earnest Methodist 
 way among the colored people, the building up of a 
 Church among them under the molding and inspiring 
 effect of such truths, the leading of the members up to a 
 clear, well-defined religious experience, is giving them a 
 Church life, the advantage of which is best known from 
 what Methodism has done for other peoples. Already 
 the advance of Christian morality, the growing habits 
 of industry and economy, the increasing spirit of benevo- 
 lence and liberality, the new home-life where home was 
 so recently unknown the fruits of an evangelical gospel 
 faithfully preached show what we have done, and are 
 the promise and pledge of a pure, strong, and active 
 Church in every part of our new Southern field in the 
 near future."
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 167 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE COLORED BISHOP QUESTION. 
 
 THE quadrennium from 1868 to 1872 exhib- 
 ited a marvelous growth among the colored 
 membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 This was but the pulsation started by Methodism 
 among her hitherto downtrodden children, by her 
 labor of love in carrying to them the gospel of 
 free salvation through the agency of her benevolent 
 societies, the class of bishops, General Conference 
 officers, and the consecrated and self-denying white 
 teachers from the North, who left their homes of 
 comfort and joy to go South and put themselves upon 
 God's altar for the elevation, morally, financially, 
 intellectually, and spiritually, of their "brother 
 in black." The work done, and its eifects in 
 so short a time, seem now the marvel of the age ! 
 The scattered sheep had been gathered from the 
 hills and valleys, the cane-brakes and swamps, from 
 the villages and the larger cities, into societies nearly 
 everywhere. Wherever possible they had been 
 organized into conferences as had been provided 
 by the action of the General Conference of 1864. 
 With the application for recognition came that also 
 for separate conferences. Two separate annual con- 
 ferences had been organized before 1865 the Dela-
 
 168 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 ware Conference, July 28, 1864, and the Washing- 
 ton Conference, October 27, 1864. Besides this, the 
 Rule of the Discipline, requiring a probation of 
 tAvo years, had been suspended so far as to permit 
 our bishops to organize annual conferences with 
 such colored local elders as had traveled two or 
 more years under a presiding elder, who wore 
 recommended by a quarterly conference and by at 
 least ten white elders. Thus the constitutional 
 rights of the colored membership of the Church 
 had been recognized, and the marvelous growth 
 among them during this quadrenuium was but a 
 manifestation of appreciation on the part of the 
 religious colored people of the South, evidence of 
 their preference for Methodism, pure and simple. 
 
 The fact that colored delegates were recognized 
 by the General Conference of 1868, and provision 
 made for the organization of the Lexington Annual 
 Conference, that had hitherto been mixed with the 
 Kentucky Conference, white; that separate annual 
 conferences had been formed; indeed, that every 
 practically conceivable thing was being done by 
 the Church for her colored members, caused many 
 to flock toward her that had fled for safety in 
 another direction. The tide was soon checked by 
 the ministry and membership of the two colored 
 denominations the African Zion and the African 
 Methodist Churches that were toiling in the same 
 field, by crying out "the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church will never permit a colored man to be elected
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 169 
 
 a bishop." Consternation seized many of our mem- 
 bers when they were told that the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church would only tolerate a black member- 
 ship as "hewers of wood and drawers of water." 
 It at last became to many, as they said, "self- 
 evident, that to retain the better class of colored 
 people there must be no discrimination anywhere 
 in Methodism on account of race, color, or previous 
 condition of servitude." Many, many hard battles 
 were fought, not with the enemy of souls, but with 
 our brethren of the above-named two denomina- 
 tions. From 1868 to the adjournment of the Gen- 
 eral Conference of 1872 a bitter religious war- 
 fare was waged. At last, as the quadrenuium drew 
 to a close, it was evident that the agitation of the 
 question of a bishop of African descent had not 
 only done much injury, poisoning and unsettling 
 the minds of our colored membership, but that, in 
 one way or the other, the question must be put and 
 answered by the ensuing General Conference. This 
 was one of the most important questions consid- 
 ered by the General Conference of 1872, sitting in 
 Brooklyn, New York. This, the twenty-first ses- 
 sion of our General Conference, will be remembered 
 as the largest ever held by our Church up to that 
 time, there being four hundred and twenty-one 
 delegates. Several of our colored conferences sent 
 up memorials in favor of the election of a bishop 
 of African descent. As they were presented they 
 were respectfully referred to the Committeee on 
 
 15
 
 170 " THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Episcopacy, composed of one delegate from each an- 
 nual conference, colored or white. The petition for 
 a bishop of African descent from the preachers' meet- 
 ing of New Orleans received the following reply : 
 
 "The special committee to which was referred 
 the memorial of the New Orleans preachers' meet- 
 ing of May 23d, asking for the election of an addi- 
 tional bishop, who shall be of African descent, 
 respectfully report : That at a meeting of the com- 
 mittee, held May 30th, the statements of the 
 memorialists and their requests were carefully con- 
 sidered. The very reasonable demand, that at least 
 some action may be taken which shall assure our 
 people that the Methodist Episcopal Church invites 
 to her altars peoples of every nation, and extends 
 to them equal rights in her worship and govern- 
 ment, was responded to with great unanimity by 
 the following declaration of facts which, we are 
 persuaded, will be entirely satisfactory to the memo- 
 rialists." 
 
 Then follows the report of the Committee on 
 Episcopacy, viz. : 
 
 " The Committee on Episcopacy report to the 
 General Conference concerning the election of a 
 colored bishop: (1) That they are deeply im- 
 pressed with the Christian spirit manifested by those 
 memorializing the General Conference on this sub- 
 ject. The rapid progress our brethren of color are 
 making in all that elevates mankind is most com- 
 mendable, and we have no doubt there is a future
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 171 
 
 of great promise before them. Your committee 
 would further report that, in their judgment, there 
 is nothing in race, color, or former condition thai is 
 a bar to an election to the episcopacy, the true 
 course being for us to elect only such persons as 
 are, by their pre-eminent piety, endowments, culture, 
 general fitness, and acceptability best qualified to 
 fill the office. (2) The claims of our numerous 
 and noble-hearted membership of African descent 
 to a perfect equality of relations with all others in 
 our communion are fully recognized by the Disci- 
 pline, and amply demonstrated in the administration 
 of the Methdist Episcopal Church. There is no 
 word 'white' to discriminate against race or color 
 known in our legislation; and being of African 
 descent does not prevent membership with white 
 men in annual conferences, nor ordination at the 
 same altars, nor appointment nor eligibility to the 
 highest office in the Church. (3) Election to the 
 office of bishop from among candidates who are 
 mutually equal can not be determined on the ground 
 of color or any other special consideration. It can 
 only be by fair and honorable competition between 
 the friends of the respective candidates. And yet 
 the presentation of a well-qualified man of African 
 descent would, doubtless, secure very general sup- 
 port in view of the great interests of the Church, 
 which would thereby be more abundantly promoted. 
 No such opportunity, however, has been afforded 
 at this General Conference."
 
 172 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Quite a while before the assembling of that 
 General Conference the colored bishop question had 
 been widely discussed, receiving very general con- 
 sideration and favorable mention in some localities. 
 It, however, was not of a demonstrative character. 
 The fair, plain, Christian statements of that General 
 Conference put an end to the " color question " 
 within the Church, so far as special ecclesiastical 
 legislation goes. May we not hope that it put a 
 quietus upon those without the Church who prefer 
 to arrogate to themselves a kind of aristocratical 
 attitude, because they have solved the Negro prob- 
 lem by divorce, but who willingly join in any out- 
 cry that will have a tendency to condone any action 
 relating to "the vexed question" they have taken, 
 or seem to shadow any spirit of uu kindness that 
 would naturally attach to such a wicked divorce? 
 The manliness, Christian spirit, and unwavering 
 fidelity of the Methodist Episcopal Church toward 
 the colored man from his arrival in this country, so 
 far as the heart of the Church is concerned, ought 
 to be "read and known of all men." That General 
 Conference said all on the colored bishop question 
 that could be said ; and, for that matter, all on the 
 race question that needs to be said for all time 
 to come. 
 
 While glancing backward and beholding what 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church has done, and is 
 now doing, for the amelioration of the condition 
 and giving the colored man in general, aud the
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 173 
 
 colored membership within the communion of the 
 Church in particular, prestige, we feel as if the 
 ignorance of any colored man in this country who 
 dares say the Church, as such, has not loved and 
 respected the race, is inexcusable, reprehensible, and 
 hate-provoking. In many instances the Church 
 did not do what we asked;, in others it did not do 
 what others thought it should have done; but 
 time and experience have taught us it did gen- 
 erally what was best. It was feared that much 
 harm would come to Methodism among our people 
 if a bishop of African descent were not chosen at 
 that General Conference. Ought we to say it was 
 the hope of some? In the rural districts/ where 
 the general intelligence of the race was not above 
 par, it may have caused friction because of the omni- 
 presence of " colored bishops," " General Confer- 
 ence officers," " college presidents," etc. The years 
 that are to come, unless a strange influence not 
 related to that of the Church of the past comes 
 upon our Methodism, will show that up to this 
 time it was better as it happened. The election of 
 a man of African descent was urged and expected : 
 (1) To tighten our hold upon our people by offset- 
 ting outside statements that the Church would never 
 elect a colored man to the bishopric ; (2) To re- 
 move any lingering doubts, if there remained any, 
 as to the intention of the Church touching the rela- 
 tion of the colored man to it. We doubt not 
 many, without the Church, who persistently pushed
 
 174 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 this matter, urging it through their Church pa- 
 pers, the secular press, aud iu nearly every pub- 
 lic place, and on nearly every occasion ; who did 
 this for the specific purpose of demoralizing aud 
 scattering our membership, though done with a 
 seeming gravity and earnestness worthy of a better 
 cause, did not honestly believe it possible that the 
 great Methodist Episcopal Church would even go 
 as. far. as it did; believing that it was an impossi- 
 bility, as much so as it would be to elect a white man 
 to the bishopric in one of the distinctively col- 
 ored organizations, were there the same number of 
 white people within the communion of those three 
 Churches, comparatively, that there are colored in 
 our Church, and that the Church would not only 
 passively refuse, but would plainly say so. This 
 would naturally have weakened their faith, and they 
 would have doubted the sincerity of the professions 
 of the Church made in favor of the colored man 
 by it in the past. On the contrary, the action of 
 that General Conference had no such effect where 
 the truth of the matter was properly told, or where 
 the intelligence of our people made them con- 
 versant with the past history of the Church on the 
 color-line question. 
 
 The discussion of the question was kept up 
 until the assembling of the session of the General 
 Conference of 1876. Without stopping to speak of 
 the spirit manifested in the discussion of this ques- 
 tion, pro and con, outside of the General Conference,
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 175 
 
 nor to speak our views then or now, wishing to 
 give as complete an account of the manner in which 
 that General Conference was brought to see this 
 question, we simply state that the discussion was 
 carried into nearly, if not every congregation in 
 the Church during the quadrennium. The whole 
 matter, phoenix-like, came to the surface at the call 
 for resolutions and memorials. The Mississippi 
 Conference led with the following, presented by 
 Moses Adams : 
 
 "WHEREAS, The Methodist Episcopal Church 
 has under her care one hundred and fifty thousand 
 members of African descent; and whereas, the said 
 Church meets with great opposition from other 
 Methodist bodies, I therefore respectfully ask this 
 General Conference to elect a man of African de- 
 scent to the office of bishop in the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. This is asked for two reasons: 
 (1) That the Church needs one to help defend' her 
 cause. Nothing, in my judgment, would build up 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church more than the 
 election of a bishop from the membership of African 
 descent. (2) The race is not fully represented in 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church without one such 
 being elected to that high office of trust." 
 
 From the West Virginia Conference the fol- 
 lowing was presented by G. W. Atkinson : 
 
 "Resolved, That the Committee on Episcopacy 
 consider the expediency of electing a German 
 bishop and one or more African bishops, to super-
 
 176 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 vise the German and African conferences of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in America." 
 
 The Delaware Conference sent up a memorial in 
 favor of the election of a bishop of African descent, 
 which was presented by H. Jolley. The petition in 
 favor of the same sent up from the Georgia Con- 
 ference was presented by Rev. C. O. Fisher, signed 
 by himself and sixteen others. The Mississippi 
 Conference sent up a similar petition by A. C. 
 McDonald. The foregoing gives a faint idea of the 
 scope of the question. 
 
 Just how that General Conference would handle 
 the question, striking the happy, golden mean 
 between the two extremes, without reflecting upon 
 the past history of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 relating to the colored membership on the one hand, 
 or, if necessary to refuse, how it could avoid injur- 
 ing the work already established among the race, 
 was a perplexing question. Each memorial was 
 given a careful and respectful investigation and 
 promptly and properly referred to the Committee 
 on Episcopacy. At last, after many guesses and 
 prophecies by friends of the measure, and others, 
 the work of the Committee on Episcopacy was fin- 
 ished. When the committee signified its readiness to 
 report, on motion of General Clinton B. Fisk, Report 
 No. 2 of the Committee on Episcopacy was taken 
 up. When the secretary arose to read it, it appeared 
 as if a peculiar spell had come over a great many 
 members of that General Conference who knew
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 177 
 
 nothing of the decision of the Committee. The 
 report was as follows : 
 
 " We have had before us certain papers asking 
 the election of a man of African descent to our 
 episcopal office, and other papers asking that the 
 residence of such bishop be in Liberia. It is 
 claimed in these petitions that the circumstances of 
 the people of African descent are such that the 
 efficiency of the work of our Church among them 
 demands the election of a man of African descent to 
 our episcopacy ; that such election, more than any 
 other fact, would establish beyond all gainsaying the 
 relation of our Church to its members of African 
 descent ; that it would give them a bishop that 
 could mingle freely with them without embarrass- 
 ment to the work among them in any locality ; 
 that these ends would be reached, and the needed 
 administration in Liberia be secured, by fixing the 
 residence of such bishop in that colony. Your 
 committee have considered these facts ; but in view 
 of the statement received from the present Board 
 of Bishops as to their ability to discharge the 
 duties of the superintendency, we recommend the 
 adoption of the following: 
 
 "Resolved, (1) That this General Conference 
 elect no bishops. 
 
 " Resolved, (2) That the facts presented in the 
 several petitions above mentioned are entitled to 
 careful consideration whenever the election of ad- 
 ditional bishops shall become necessary.
 
 178 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 " Resolved, (3) That we reiterate the declaration 
 of the General Conference of 1872, touching the 
 relation of a man of African descent to our epis- 
 copal office, and assert that race, nationality, color, 
 or previous condition is no bar to the election of 
 any man to the episcopal office in our Church, nor 
 any other elective office filled by the General Con- 
 ference." (Journal 1876, p. 353.) 
 
 The fact that " papers asking that the residence of 
 such bishop be in Liberia" had also been presented, 
 though coming in all probability from opposition 
 to the election of a man of African descent to the 
 bishopric, like Thomas doubting his risen Lord, 
 demonstrates the fact that that General Conference, 
 by its Committee on Episcopacy, would have granted 
 the petitioners in favor of the election to the epis- 
 copacy of a man of African descent their request, 
 if they had produced a suitable man of African 
 descent ; or that the election of a missionary bishop 
 for Liberia would put a quietus upon the agitation. 
 If not this, then it declares that there were those 
 in that General Conference who had expressed 
 themselves as favoring every move touching the 
 colored membership in the Church that would 
 elevate and inspire them with hope for the future. 
 The entire proceeding is, to my mind, inexplicable, 
 were it not for the omnipresent fact that, so far as 
 the Church is concerned, "God is in the midst of 
 her." The plea of the petitioners was not granted 
 by that General Conference ; but that is not stranger
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 179 
 
 than the fact that other plans failed to be carried 
 out at that General Conference, and for that matter 
 every General Conference in the history of the 
 Church from 1844 until to-day, that were, so far 
 as arrangements, etc., go, already well supported 
 before the meeting of the General Conference. 
 Going back to the day of the adjournment of that 
 General Conference, we say, we can wait. 
 
 THE GENERAL, CONFERENCE OF 1880. Dur- 
 ing the following quadrennium up to this General 
 Conference the colored bishop question was more 
 generally discussed than before. The official papers 
 of the Church began to take notice of the question, 
 while our brethren of the African and Method- 
 ist Episcopal Church, South, joined in to help on 
 the good work the former, in all probability, be- 
 cause of the supposed predicament it put the col- 
 ored members into; and the latter, because they 
 wished to push what they were pleased to call " the 
 thorn in the flesh" farther into the quick of the 
 white membership in the Church. The Baltimore 
 District of the Washington Annual Conference passed 
 a series of resolutions touching this question. 
 Those resolutions were, in all probability, too rad- 
 ical when they declared the election of a man of 
 African descent to our episcopacy "the only way the 
 Church can hope to prove its good faith or respect 
 for the numerous colored membership within the 
 Church." The fact is, the Church was not required 
 to bring forth fruits to exhibit any such thing.
 
 180 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 The Central Christian Advocate, our official 
 organ at St. Louis, thus spoke on this subject: 
 
 "A few weeks ago the members of the Baltimore 
 District Conference, Washington Annual Confer- 
 ence, passed a preamble and resolutions, in which 
 they declare that members of African descent 
 in the Methodist Episcopal Church do not enjoy 
 practically the fullest recognition of Church fellow- 
 ship and communion ; that the only way to prove to 
 them and the world that they are recognized as 
 equals in the Church is the election of a man of 
 African descent to the office of bishop; and they 
 recommend their brethren to ' agitate' the question 
 and, if necessary, to 'demand' the election of a 
 colored bishop at the General Conference to be held 
 in May, 1880. This is the action of a single dis- 
 trict conference ; to what extent it represents the 
 opinions of the colored ministers of the Church we 
 have no means of knowing ; for, so far as we have 
 observed, no other district conference has yet taken 
 action on the subject. 
 
 "The action of a single district conference, 
 however influential and worthy of consideration, 
 scarcely brings a question before the Church suf- 
 ficiently to make it at once a subject for general 
 discussion in the official papers. We proposed, 
 therefore, to wait and see whether the Baltimore 
 District Conference represented the convictions of 
 others than itself. But our editorial brethren of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, caught it
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 181 
 
 up at once as a choice morsel, which afforded them 
 a nice opportunity to worry, as they believe, the 
 white membership of our Church, and to sow dis- 
 sension among the colored members. The Rich- 
 mond Advocate declared that intense mortification 
 and confusion would seize upon the whites when 
 this action of their colored brethren became known, 
 and that not an official paper of the Church would 
 dare mention what had taken place. It was a false 
 prophet. And it must have been doubly surprised 
 when the New York Methodist, which is presumed 
 to represent the more conservative element in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, promptly pronounced 
 in favor of the election of one or two colored bishops. 
 The Louisville Methodist thinks we have 'a difficult 
 problem ' on our hands, and, with an air of com- 
 passionate concern, informs our colored brethren 
 ' that all the important offices of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church will be filled by white men, notwith- 
 standing the resolutions of the Baltimore District.' 
 "But the Louisville Methodist is too anxious to 
 make out a case. It says that the colored mem- 
 bers of our Church were greatly disappointed that 
 a colored bishop was not elected in 1872. Had 
 the editor consulted the published proceedings of 
 that General Conference instead of drawing upon 
 his imagination for his facts, he would have scarcely 
 made such a statement. There was but one memo- 
 rial before the conference on the subject, and it had 
 only four signatures attached. The Committee on
 
 182 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Episcopacy, to which it was referred, reported ' that, 
 in their judgment, there is nothing in race, color, or 
 former condition that is a bar to an election to the 
 episcopacy, the true course being for us to elect 
 only such persons as are, by their pre-eminent 
 piety, endowments, culture, general fitness, and ac-. 
 ceptability, best qualified to fill the office.' And no 
 more eloquent speech was made during the confer- 
 ence than that of Hon. James Lynch, of Missis- 
 sippi, a colored lay member, declaring that the 
 colored men asked no favors on account of race, 
 and that when they produced a man as fit for the 
 place as those about them, it would then be time 
 enough for action." 
 
 The spirit manifested by our Southern brethren 
 in the discussion of this question within our Church 
 smacks of olficiousness. They are in no way to be 
 affected whether it is or is not done. While they 
 have a perfect right to take part in any and all dis- 
 cussions worthy of public attention, anything like 
 an attempt to sow the seeds of dissension among 
 the members of any other denomination is, in the 
 eyes of an ignorant black man, reprehensible, not 
 to say unchristian. It gives room for complaint 
 from the world that Southern "Methodists are no 
 better than other folks." The colored man who 
 is simply a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church for the sake of "important offices" had 
 better have it the sooner the better. No Christian 
 white man remains in any Church for that sole
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 183 
 
 reason ; and, as Bishop Simpson once said : " A 
 white man is as good as a colored man, if he 
 behaves himself." One thing is certain, that every 
 such office-seeking colored man in the Church will 
 fail to receive the support of every intelligent col- 
 ored Christian within the Church. It is true that, 
 on general principles, it was but a short time until 
 the desire of the brethren of the Baltimore Dis- 
 trict became that of many others; that is, that it 
 was thought necessary that a colored man should be 
 elected to the bishopric. 
 
 When the General Conference of 1880 met in 
 Cincinnati for its twenty-third session, this question 
 again came up for discussion. Memorials and reso- 
 lutions on this subject were presented from Wash- 
 ington Conference, by Henry A. Carroll ; from Dela- 
 ware Conference, by W. F. Butler, Zoar Church 
 and Cambridge charge ; J. C. Hartzell, from New 
 Orleans preachers' meeting ; by John H. Dunn and 
 J. H. Shumpert, from Mississippi, et al. ; and C. O. 
 Fisher presented an extract from the journal of 
 Savannah Conference and from Atlanta District. 
 On Wednesday, May 12th, on motion, the rules were 
 suspended to allow E. W. S. Hammond to present 
 the following paper: 
 
 " WHEREAS, It is clearly evident, from the 
 memorials and petitions on the subject, and which 
 were duly referred to the Committee on Episcopacy, 
 that the colored people of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church desire a bishop of their own race; and
 
 184 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 whereas, the election of a colored bishop would be 
 a practical recognition of our full manhood by the 
 Church, and a grand influence in the extension of 
 our work in the United States and in other lands; 
 and whereas, the General Conference of 1872 did 
 declare, and the General Conference of 1876 did 
 reaffirm, with emphatic significance, that race, na- 
 tionality, color, or previous condition is no bar to 
 the election of any man to the episcopal office in 
 our Church ; and whereas, the General Conference of 
 1876 did recommend that the memorials, petitions, 
 etc., on the above-named subject should be entitled 
 to a careful consideration whenever the election of 
 additional bishops shall become necessary ; and 
 whereas, the necessity for the election of additional 
 bishops is apparent, and the way is now open for 
 the practical operation of the above resolution ; be 
 it, therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, That this General Conference recom- 
 mend the election of a colored man to the episcopacy." 
 
 He supported the above preamble and resolution 
 by a vigorous and timely speech, through courtesy of 
 the General Conference, lasting over fifteen minutes. 
 
 On motion of L. C. Queal, the foregoing paper 
 was laid on the table for the present. The memo- 
 rials, followed hard by that resolution and speech, 
 seemed to put the General Conference to thinking 
 on the subject as never before. 
 
 It is not exactly certain that there was no oppo- 
 sition to the question at that General Conference.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 185 
 
 Why need any one demand a thing to which there is 
 no objection? It would come as a matter of course. 
 Some spirit of opposition anon manifested itself in 
 a way as unfair as uncalled for. For instance, 
 the following presented by A. W. Milby, of Wil- 
 mington Conference : 
 
 " WHEREAS, The question of a colored bishop 
 is with great persistency urged upon the attention 
 of the General Conference; and whereas, it is a 
 question to be determined, not by appeals to senti- 
 ment, but by arguments and facts addressed to the 
 reason and the understanding; and ivhereas, we be- 
 lieve that the records of the benevolent societies 
 and the statistical reports of the several annual 
 conferences, composed of colored preachers, will 
 furnish the best data for a wise and godly judg- 
 ment; therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That the Committee on Episcopacy 
 be, and are hereby, instructed to inquire into and 
 report to this conference at an early day, the fol- 
 lowing items in respect to the conferences com- 
 posed, in whole or in part, of colored preachers, 
 to wit : (1) The amount of money contributed by 
 said conferences to the Episcopal Fund during the 
 last quadrennium. (2) The amount contributed to 
 the missionary cause. (3) The amount contributed 
 to the Church Extension Society. (4) The amount 
 contributed to the Freedmen's Aid Society. (5) The 
 amount received by said conferences from the Mis- 
 sionary Society during the quadrennium. (6) The 
 
 16
 
 186 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 amount received from the Church Extension So- 
 ciety. (7) The amount received from the Freed- 
 raen's Aid Society." 
 
 On motion, the above resolutions were referred 
 to the Committee on Episcopacy. The unfairness 
 of such a proposition, as well as the unchristian 
 spirit that produced it, become at once apparent, 
 when it is remembered that in the Church of God 
 the good to be done for our brother is not to de- 
 pend either upon his willingly accepting it, demon- 
 stration of appreciation, the amount of wealth pos- 
 sessed by the recipients, or the amount of money 
 they can or will produce. "How much will he 
 bring at auction ?" was the language of slave-traders 
 in the past. The amount given for almost any cause 
 by almost every person is dependent upon the intel- 
 ligence possessed or communicated relating thereto, 
 and the interest taken therein, coupled, of course, 
 with financial ability. If the resolutions above 
 referred to were germane, why not have each of 
 the above conferences also report : (1) How many 
 souls have been converted during the quad rennium? 
 (2) How much religious fervor, comparative con- 
 sistency in religious life, has been manifest among 
 them? (3) How much time have they had, and 
 under what circumstances, to be prepared to accu- 
 mulate wealth, and then give it "as the Lord pros- 
 pers them ?" (4) What have they given, per capita, 
 in comparison with their white brethren's wealth, 
 time, and influence, for the spread of the kingdom
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 187 
 
 of God among men ? (5) What proportion do they 
 sustain to the rest of the membership of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, numerically ? (6) What 
 per cent of their actual wealth do they give for the 
 cause of Christ ? If any special attention was paid 
 to those resolutions, those in charge of our benevo- 
 lent societies have no knowledge of it. The Church 
 of God will never require such a test. Were the 
 Methodist Church to do it, Satan would certainly 
 be warranted in affirming that a dollar in her scales 
 weighs more than an immortal soul. 
 
 The crisis in the question of a colored bishop 
 came May 20th, when Report No. 3 of the Com- 
 mittee on Episcopacy was presented, as follows : 
 
 "The Committee on Episcopacy, having con- 
 sidered the memorials and petitions referred to it 
 on the election of a bishop of African descent, 
 adopted each of the following resolutions by a vote 
 of thirty-nine to eight : 
 
 "Resolved, 1. That the best interests of our 
 Church in general, and of our colored people in par- 
 ticular, require that one or more of our general 
 superintendents should be of African descent. 
 
 " Resolved, 2. That we recommend that this Gen- 
 eral Conference elect one bishop of African descent." 
 
 J. S. Smart moved to adopt ; thereupon Alfred 
 Wheeler presented the following minority report, 
 and moved that it be substituted for the report of 
 the majority : 
 
 "A portion of your Committee on Episcopacy,
 
 188 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 differing widely from the majority, both as to the ne- 
 cessity and expediency of electing a colored bishop 
 at the present time, feel constrained to express our 
 dissent by a minority report. After listening at- 
 tentively to prolonged discussions upon the subject, 
 and giving due weight to the arguments urged in 
 its favor, and to full representation of the state of 
 our religious work among the colored people of the 
 South, representations made by themselves as well 
 as by their white co-laborers, we are convinced that 
 sound policy forbids the adoption of the recommen- 
 dation of the majority. 
 
 " Resolved, therefore, That we deem it inexpe- 
 dient to elect any more bishops at this General Con- 
 ference." 
 
 John Lanahan moved that the whole subject be 
 indefinitely postponed. On motion of Emperor 
 Williams, the yeas and nays were called, and the 
 motion to postpone indefinitely was carried by two 
 hundred and twenty-eight votes to one hundred and 
 thirty-seven. 
 
 To show the interest manifested, of the three 
 hundred and ninety-nine delegates, all were present 
 and voted on that resolution save thirty-four. At 
 page 282 of General Conference Journal of 1880 
 we have the list of names. There appear names of 
 persons who voted indefinitely to postpone that 
 question that surprises us a little ; and not very 
 much, either. However, a quietus was thus put 
 upon that question for that session at least.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 189 
 
 Let us look back for a moment. Has it not 
 appeared in nearly every instance, when the colored 
 membership have memorialized the General Confer- 
 ence, that not only has respectful attention been 
 given, but concessions made? Has it not appeared 
 as clearly, all the way through, that the Church, as 
 such, is ready whenever the race presents a proper 
 man? The voice of the Church not only declares 
 its willingness, but even hints that while " race, 
 color," nor other special considerations are to be helps 
 or hindrances, it is possible to elect a colored bishop 
 by " fair and honorable competition between the 
 friends of the respective candidates." 
 
 There is no man within the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church who would feel worse than the writer, were 
 any General Conference of our Church to elect a 
 white man to the episcopacy because he had been 
 an Abolitionist, a Federal soldier, was a Japan- 
 ese, or who had been a foreign missionary, but, 
 aside from these things, had no other qualification. 
 Just the same way would it be if any General Con- 
 ference should elect to the office of bishop in our 
 Church a colored man, simply because he had been a 
 slave, or because he could make a passable speech, or 
 deliver an acceptable sermon, or was pastor of a small 
 congregation, but, aside from this, had no literary 
 attainments, but little or no executive ability, and 
 but little practical experience in general Church 
 work. It would be no particular advantage under 
 such circumstance.-;, while it might do incalculable
 
 190 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 injury, not only to the general Church, but to the 
 interests of the race in particular. 
 
 Hon. James Lynch, of Mississippi, declared in 
 the General Conference of 1872, that no favors were 
 asked on account of race. Rev. E. W. S. Ham- 
 mond, in the eloquent speech delivered before the 
 General Conference of 1880, in Cincinnati, said that 
 the plea being made was not for a colored bishop 
 simply for the colored people, but a bishop for the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. And now the way is 
 not only open, but wisdom at the threshold of the 
 bishopric in our Church cries to all, " There is noth- 
 ing in race, color, or previous condition, a bar to 
 entrance here, but the true course given me is to 
 admit only those who, by their pre-eminent piety, 
 godly judgment, and literary qualifications, are best 
 fitted to fill the office." There is not an intelligent 
 Christian of color within our Church that does not 
 bow assent to this sentiment. When as a race we 
 are to be represented on our bench of bishops, we 
 want a man who is, and will be, a credit to the 
 Church, an honor to the race and to himself, an 
 equal among equals in every respect a represent- 
 ative man, "blameless, the husband of one wife, 
 vigilant, sober, modest, given to hospitality, apt to 
 teach ; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of 
 filthy lucre ; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous ; 
 one that ruleth well his own household; not a 
 novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into 
 the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 191 
 
 have a good report of them which are without, lest 
 he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." 
 Then, and not till then, ought a colored man be 
 elected as " one of the bishops of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church."
 
 192 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WHY ASK FOR A BISHOP OF AFRICAN DESCENT? 
 
 DO not the attitude sustained by the colored 
 man to the Church, from his admission into 
 the John Street Church in New York, and the ac- 
 tions taken by the Church relating to his interests, 
 based as they have been upon the integrity and 
 fidelity of the race, up to the granting of separate 
 Conferences, warrant it? If not, why were not our 
 German brethren satisfied until they were repre- 
 sented nationally or linguistically therein? The 
 Church has hitherto carried out the most natural, 
 as \vell as rational order of succession in this matter, 
 that, if it leads anywhere, leads up, necessarily leads 
 up, to this point. The colored ministers were recog- 
 nized, licensed, given appointments, quarterly con- 
 ferences, district and annual conferences, the pre- 
 siding eldership, admitted as delegates to the General 
 Conferences, elected to General Conference offices, 
 and the Church declared that " race, color, or pre- 
 vious condition " was " no bar to election to the 
 episcopacy in our Church." If we are required and 
 expected to go on to perfection, will any one deny 
 that election to the episcopacy will push the whole 
 race a step higher in the Divine life? Not sim- 
 ply because of this alone, but because the colored
 
 [ll....-!!^!..;^ 7 ::? ' : '"_ .. """ 
 
 REV. A. K. I'. ALIJKKT. IX D., 
 EDITOR OK SOUTHWESTERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE, 
 NEW ORLEANS, LA.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 193 
 
 t> 
 
 man, like white men, believes the bishopric a step 
 higher, in office at least, than the eldership in our 
 Church. He believes, like other men, that progres- 
 sion is the watchword of the hour. Who does not 
 now know that a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church is considered the most influential minister 
 in the State, county, city, village, and in the general 
 Church? No other office is paramount. The fact 
 that there is to be allowed no discrimination on ac- 
 count of race, color, or previous condition of servi- 
 tude within the Church, it is claimed, guarantees to 
 them not only the right to ask, but to expect help 
 in securing the same, since it will never be possible 
 for it to be done by the race alone within the Church. 
 It is therefore declared by many of both races 
 within the Church, that justice to the race demands 
 it as it could not for any other class of members within 
 the Church. Nothing less than injustice can with- 
 hold that which is justly due. Now the colored 
 members, whose influence has brought them forth 
 into prominence in the Church, have never asked 
 the General Conference to elect a bishop of African 
 descent because our bishops have been one thing to 
 white members and another to colored members, 
 nor because our bishops, when coming among the 
 colored members, have been " overseers " instead of 
 superintendents, nor because they are not acceptable 
 .to the colored membership. Far from it. Our 
 bishops to-day hold 'a place in the hearts of the 
 colored membership of the Church that any man of 
 
 17
 
 194 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 * 
 
 African descent, elected to the episcopacy in our 
 Church, could only desire, since he could not dis- 
 lodge his white colleague. But it is asked for the 
 same reason the Church gave years ago for the 
 proper recognition of colored ministers when it 
 said, it is "a principle patent to Christian enter- 
 prise that the missionary field itself must produce 
 the most efficient missionaries." Is not this an 
 argument at once logically true in the case of a 
 bishop of African descent? The reasons given by 
 representatives from the South when asking for a 
 separate conference were : (1) " It will secure 
 greater efficiency in the prosecution of the work, 
 since many things of great interest to an annual 
 conference and to the Church never get farther 
 than the humblest hearthstone." (2) " It will relieve 
 us from the taunts and sneers of designing men," 
 and secure the communion and friendship of many 
 who would not otherwise unite with us. (3) " It 
 will relieve the Church of even a suspicion of a 
 spirit of caste, and make us feel as men, and the 
 peers of our white brethren. (4) It will be no in- 
 novation upon any principle of Christianity or of 
 our beloved Church," but will mightily help in 
 "rending the veil" and breaking down the middle 
 wall of partition Satan has built between brethren 
 out of the remains of slavery that existed in this 
 country. Another reason is offered on the score of 
 the numerical standing of the 'colored membership. 
 According to the statistics of 1884, there are
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 195 
 
 now not far from 1,800,000 members within the 
 Church. Of this number, there are about 300,000 
 colored members. " The constitutional rights of the 
 colored members" being recognized, indeed all their 
 rights and privileges, it would follow that, on general 
 principles, one member in the Church has as many 
 and varied rights as another. The colored members 
 in the Church make up one-sixth of its membership. 
 They would on this scale, therefore, be entitled to 
 one representative on our bench of bishops for every 
 six, and so on. 
 
 Will the time ever come when a colored bishop 
 will be elected by the General Conference of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church? This the future will 
 tell. However ignorant we may now be as to 
 whether it will ever be done or not, we can easily 
 imagine the result of such an election. It would 
 no doubt be as the bursting forth of some pent-up 
 fountain which sends forth streams in opposite 
 directions. Doubtless if there remain any within 
 the Church who fear man more than God, they 
 would likely flow outward toward more congenial 
 climes, where the nursing of wrath brings imag- 
 inary peace. It is impossible to turn a mighty 
 stream all at once out of its channel without some 
 commotion. But then the onsweeping tide would 
 soon wear another channel, and no more would be 
 seen of the commotion than anon a ripple in the 
 mighty stream. The other stream, flowing in the 
 opposite direction, would be, to the Christian men
 
 196 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 and women of this land, "a stream that makes 
 glad the city of God." It would send a thrill of 
 renewed vigor and confidence in God and Meth- 
 odism all over this world. Every community where 
 infidelity, skepticism, or Romanism now predomi- 
 nates would be hopelessly stunned, while a gainsay- 
 ing world would not only stand aghast, but fall 
 back before the enthusiastic shout of seven million 
 hitherto rejected and ostracized images of God cut 
 in ebony. It would be an incentive to Christians 
 everywhere in general, and the three hundred thou- 
 sand colored members, old and young, within the 
 Church in particular, to live better lives and do 
 better work. The older men who now hold posi- 
 tions of prominence in the Church would have more 
 time in which to do their work, and would probably 
 do it better, at any rate more hopefully. Instead 
 of having to fight caste prejudice, and repel the in- 
 sults heaped upon them hitherto by that hateful 
 spirit, they would quietly prosecute their work. The 
 younger men, who are already within the colored 
 conferences would feel a desire, even if they were 
 unable to make amends for lost time, better to pre- 
 pare themselves for future usefulness. The colored 
 annual conferences would at once begin to fasten 
 the breaches in their fences, through which can- 
 didates for clerical orders have been creeping at 
 times. The young men who would come flocking 
 to the doors of the conferences for admission would 
 find written over the archway, " No young man
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 197 
 
 admitted to this conference until he shall be found 
 possessed with the necessary qualifications, 'gifts, 
 grace, and usefulness.'" 
 
 Our college alumni, who have gone elsewhere 
 seeking employment, would return. How much 
 more proficient does that man try to be who knows 
 there is a future before him, than the one who sus- 
 pects there is none ! Thousands of our talented 
 young people have left us because they said they 
 saw but little hope in the future for the colored 
 ministry in our Church. Indeed, there was a tinle 
 in the history of our colored work when the pro- 
 fessional man, the mechanic, and the man of means 
 among us, were all about to leave us in some local- 
 ities, because it had been told them that within the 
 Church we were but " hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water." 
 
 There was also a time when graduates of our 
 institutions, in many instances, were given work 
 by other denominations because we had none 
 for them before they took their diploma from the 
 campus of their alma mater. Why, it is impossible 
 properly to educate a man, and then keep him from 
 thinking, looking, and speaking for himself. It is 
 only recently that the younger people of the race 
 have become interested in our work. This is 
 directly attributable to our separate conferences; 
 while many who left us for "sufficient reasons" 
 would return, and we could more securely hold those 
 we now have.
 
 198 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 THE SEGREGATION OF THE RACE INTO COLORED 
 ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
 It is impossible to build up a first-class member- 
 ship out of second-class material. This has been 
 one of our weak points. Such efforts as " Tanner's 
 Apology" were aimed along this line. Now, why is 
 it that in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and, 
 for that matter, everywhere in this country except 
 in the Southern States, the colored man has sought a 
 colored organization? Why the segregation of the 
 race in the North, where slavery never came? Dr. 
 A. G. Haygood believes, with many others, that 
 race instinct segregates them. He says : " Instinct 
 never yet surrendered to arguments ; it is their race 
 instinct, deep and strong and inexpugnable," as 
 Carlyle would say. Who that heard their impas- 
 sioned speeches at Cincinnati, in May, 1880, could 
 not see that their appeal came, not from the cold 
 conclusions of the reason, but red-hot out of their 
 hearts, from the irresistible promptings of instinct? 
 Listening to their speeches, I felt strongly the 
 mighty under-current that their words but feebly 
 revealed, and I felt " They are right ; they do well 
 to ask this conference for a bishop of their own 
 race." Listening to the words of the white leaders 
 of the conference, and looking at the subject in the 
 light of cold judgment, I said to myself: "This 
 conference is also right to decline the request." 
 This instinctive disposition to form Church affilia- 
 tions on the color basis may be wise or unwise.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 199 
 
 But it is in them deep in them. The tendency is 
 strengthening all the time. This instinct will never 
 rest satisfied till it realizes itself in complete sepa- 
 rations. The movements that grow out of race 
 instincts do not wait upon the conclusions of phi- 
 losophy ; nor do they, for a long time, take counsel 
 of policy. We may, all of us, as well adjust our 
 plans to the determined and inevitable movements 
 of this instinct, that does not reason, but that 
 moves steadily and resistlessly to accomplish its 
 ends. It is a very grave question to be considered by 
 all who have responsibility in the matter, whether 
 over-repression of race instincts may not mar their 
 normal evolution ; may not introduce elements un- 
 friendly to healthful growth ; may not result in explo- 
 sions. I have seen a heavy stone wall overturned 
 by a root that was once a tiny white fiber. Instinct is 
 like the life-force that expresses itself in life or death. 
 Let us see. "Is it race instinct" that tends 
 to segregate the colored man? We answer, No. 
 His desire to segregate is only a self-defensive 
 measure. The colored man in this country is des- 
 perately in earnest in his effort to remove every 
 vestige of the prejudice against him arising from 
 his previous condition of -servitude. In the North 
 he found that the white people knew him only as a 
 slave or a freed man. If the former, then he was 
 considered a mendicant ignorant, superstitious, and 
 immoral, as a natural result of slavery. They 
 could not think of taking him into their homes
 
 200 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 cultured, refined, and religious homes to be at 
 once associated with the members of their families. 
 As to t their Churches, he was wholly unfitted for 
 their mode of worship ; for to him it appeared 
 foolishness, fashion, and fastidiousness, void of "the 
 true, heart-felt religion" of the plantation where 
 ''his sous and his daughters prophesied, his old men 
 dreamed dreams, and his young men saw visions." 
 As a result, he pretty soon began to feel uneasy, 
 and sighed for " the seasons of the past." The 
 white man of the North could not possibly meet 
 the social or religious demands of the slave. If he 
 put him in the parlor or school-room with white 
 children, or in the congregation of the Lord 
 though given a front seat, and in every conceiv- 
 able way made welcome he was uneasy. Rev. 
 Richard Allen says that it " was quite a task for me 
 to preach the gospel in St. George's Church, in 
 Philadelphia." The white man of the North could 
 not make the colored man from the South feel at 
 home. If he had had a separate building in which 
 to allow him and his family to live, it would have 
 appeared more like home to him. I do not here 
 speak of the many noble exceptions, for we all 
 know " what's bred in the bone is not easily eradi- 
 cated from the flesh." It is a hard matter, in- 
 deed, in after years to change all at once the habits 
 of men's past lives, whether they be religious, 
 moral, or temporal. Again, the white man of the 
 North had no work the colored man of the South
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 201 
 
 was adapted to do. The house-work usually was done 
 either by "the hale housewife with busy care," or by 
 a foreign domestic. The same was true of the out- 
 door work. All this in the South the colored man 
 enjoyed without a rival. The whole affair was 
 in an abnormal condition with the colored man 
 from the South. Those who doubt these statements 
 have but to note the line of demarcation that is 
 not even yet effaced between the " free colored man 
 of the North" and the former slave colored man 
 of the South, to-day, everywhere. Their mode of 
 Church polity, songs, prayers, sermons, dress, deport- 
 ment, and all, are different. This to-day makes 
 for awhile at least the colored man of the South 
 in the North shy, not to say uncomfortable. What 
 relation could be farther from the wishes of the 
 poor, ignorant, and superstitious colored man of 
 those days than the social equality granted him ? 
 What could make him wish more to be carried 
 "back to his old Kentucky home?" 
 
 Every effort or advance made by the white man 
 toward the colored man found his superstition of 
 white men repulsive. First, the thought would 
 come to him, " I should suspect some danger nigh, 
 where I possess delight." Again, the colored man 
 of the South knew nothing of business principles in 
 general, and of the Yankee idea of business princi- 
 ples in particular. When the rigid rules of active 
 business life were exacted of him by his white 
 Northern neighbor or employer, it was but a sad
 
 202 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 contrast to the loose aud illegitimate business prin- 
 ciples be had been under in the South, and it was 
 but a short time until he naturally began to suspect 
 that the Northern white man thought he was a 
 thief. Again, after the war the better class of col- 
 ored men such as the land-owner, the stock-raiser, 
 the mechanic, and the farmer, aud those who had 
 some learning did not go North. In 1870 there 
 were residing in sixteen Southern States, beginning 
 with Missouri, west with Texas, and east with the 
 Carolinas, 4,609,541, being 15.8 of the whole popu- 
 lation ; leaving but 726,521 colored people else- 
 where in these United States. As late as 1880 
 there were 6,200,646 colored people in the United 
 States, while there were but 180,393 residing in 
 Northern States. It took but very little induce- 
 ment to make the colored man believe, therefore, 
 that while the white man of the North had helped to 
 free him, he now cared but little for him. It is 
 true that " birds of a feather do flock together," 
 especially young birds ; at any rate, throughout the 
 animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms the exam- 
 ple is given by nature to man, in that all these only 
 flourish in congenial climates and soil, while for 
 all his life the colored man had been taught to sus- 
 pect the Yankee as only loving him for what he 
 could get out of him. Again, in the South the col- 
 ored man had seen and become conversant with the 
 irresponsible, careless plantation life, and with the 
 prodigality of his master, who thought nothing of
 
 THK METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 203 
 
 tossing him a quarter now and then. Up North 
 the last farthing was exacted from him ; he was ex- 
 pected to pay his .house-rent, grocery bill, keep 
 clean, and make but little noise around his home, 
 at Church, and on the public thoroughfares. This to 
 him recently liberated was all new and strange. 
 If he became disorderly, the white man of the 
 North, instead of laughing at him, and passing on 
 the other side, would at once have him arrested; 
 if dishonest, punished. He had been used to "bet- 
 ter things," as he thought; and hence it took but 
 little persuasion for him to believe the white man 
 of the North not as friendly as the Southern 
 white man. 
 
 To say that the cultivation of such superstition 
 on the part of some of the so-called leading colored 
 men was an advantage ; that such talk from the 
 "book-learned colored man," who either thought he 
 spoke the truth or perjured himself, had the effect 
 of segregating the colored people into separate 
 Churches, is apparent to all. The statement of the 
 colored man who is reported to have established a 
 bank for colored folks is, to my mind, illustrative 
 at this point. When he had accumulated two or 
 three thousand dollars of the money of his people 
 he tacked a card on his front door with this in- 
 scription : " This bank am busted." When his de- 
 positors came in great crowds about his door, and 
 loudly called for him, he came forth and said : 
 " Now, gentlemuns and ladies, we is free. We must
 
 204 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 act jus' like white folks do. White folks put money 
 in der banks and de banks burst; and when dey 
 see it, den dat's de end ob de matter. So it mus' 
 be wid us." This is said to have satisfied the 
 creditors. 
 
 When some colored men saw the advantage of 
 segregating the colored people, they found a great 
 amount of gratuitous help. Every white man, 
 woman, and child, who objected to " Negro equality," 
 at once lent his or her aid. The white orator and 
 editor and preacher of this class joined with the so- 
 called leader in segregating the colored people. 
 This no sane man will deny. And now, in these 
 latter days, philosophers arise and declare it "in- 
 stinct." Everything was in favor of the segrega- 
 tion. A great many white men, as well as a great 
 many good colored men, deprecated this, and fought 
 desperately against it. In " Chauncey Judd " we have 
 an illustration of this spirit, even as early as Colo- 
 nial days. A Presbyterian minister was invited to 
 marry a free colored couple. The bargain the 
 groom made with the clergyman was, that if he 
 would marry him like a white man he would pay 
 him like a white man. The bride was very pretty, 
 but as large and black as pretty. The guests were 
 of both races. It was customary at that day for 
 the clergyman to kiss the bride. This the clergy- 
 man forgot to do, for some reason. When about 
 to take leave of the couple the clergyman inci- 
 dentally remarked that the ceremony was incom-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 205 
 
 plete without "the fee." "Why," said the groom, 
 " I sticks to de coutrac'." " Well, that is right," 
 said the clergyman, "for you said if I would marry 
 you like a white mau you would pay me like a 
 white man." "That's jus' so," said the groom, 
 "but you didn't kiss the bride." "O well," said 
 the clergyman, "that is no matter, any way." 
 "O well, it's no matter 'bout de fee, any way," said 
 the groom. 
 
 Colored men who aspired to leadership among 
 the colored people, and were willing to stoop so low, 
 when they knew better, saw that the support of 
 colored men, politically, religiously, or morally, 
 would at once bring them prestige, influence, and 
 power with white men. To segregate the colored 
 people would, as Rev. Richard Allen intimated, 
 create "a necessity" for his services. If they re- 
 mained associated with white people, there would 
 soon come a time when it would be impossible for 
 him to be of sqrvice to his people so as to benefit 
 himself pecuniarily. We do not aim here to charge 
 all leaders of the race, political or ecclesias- 
 tical, with perfidy, but to prove that it is not 
 "instinct" alone that is responsible for the segre- 
 gation of the race, or that this instinct will not 
 allow them to associate on perfect equality with 
 white people ; that it is not ordained of God that 
 colored members must be under colored pastors 
 in colored Churches, controlled by colored men 
 exclusively. That the disposition of the more intel-
 
 206 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 ligent colored man of the North rather seeks 
 separation or independency, than segregation, is 
 being ocularly demonstrated annually, and becom- 
 ing more acceptable as he becomes more cultured. 
 If this be not so, why is it that the cultured young 
 colored man, who " tips " his education in some 
 Eastern or Northern college, comes back South, dis- 
 satisfied to remain? Dr. Haygood must find some 
 better and more philosophical answer. 
 
 It is a fact that a great many colored men 
 who aspire to leadership politically and ecclesiastic- 
 ally, will deny what we have here said. Indeed, 
 we would have hesitated to speak so plainly were it 
 not that we wish, as much as possible, to give the 
 bare facts of the case as they appear to us, aside 
 from any personal consideration. We believe, 
 with all the earnestness and candor of soul and 
 mind, that this whole "color-line" question, from 
 beginning to end, lies at the feet of those as- 
 pirants; that most of the opprobium, ostracism, and 
 caste prejudice that did and do now exist against 
 the race in this country, can be, and is, impartially 
 and legitimately traced to that source ; and that the 
 separate African Churches in this country are the 
 parents of not less than ninety-five per cent of this 
 hue and cry against Negro social equality. They 
 are easily conceived, therefore, to be the causes of all 
 other ecclesiastical unrest and "color-line" separa- 
 tions in this country. This is so evident that he 
 who runs may read it.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 207 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1884. 
 
 TO the General Conference of 1880 there was 
 presented a memorial from " the leading edu- 
 cators (fifty in number) in our white schools in the 
 South," asking that the work of the Frcedmen's 
 Aid Society be extended so as to aid the schools of 
 the Church in the South where only white pupils 
 attended. No special emphasis was put upon the 
 matter, save that of "aiding" the above-named 
 schools. The Committee on Freedmen's Aid Work 
 in the South carefully considered the subject, and 
 reported to that conference as follows : 
 
 "Your Committee on Freedmen's Aid and 
 Southern Work respectfully report : 
 
 "1. That, in its judgment, the present organiza- 
 tion of the Freedmen's Aid Society should remain 
 unchanged. 
 
 " 2. That under the phrase ' and others ' of 
 Article IT, in the Constitution of the Freedmen's 
 Aid Society, we see the way clear to aid the schools 
 which have been established by our Church in the 
 Southern States among the white people, and hereby 
 ask the General Conference to recommend to the 
 Board of Managers of this society to give such aid 
 to these schools during the next quadrennium as
 
 208 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 can be done without embarrassment to the schools 
 among the freedmen." 
 
 As soon as the report was read, considerable 
 feeling was apparent. The question had hitherto 
 seemed of small importance. While the report was 
 pending the feeling manifest found vent in "a mo- 
 tion to appropriate twenty-five per cent of all 
 moneys raised by the Freedmen's Aid Society to 
 schools among the whites." It was laid on the 
 table. After this there seemed a determination to 
 separate, if possible, the educational work of the 
 Church in the South among the whites from that 
 of the blacks. Rev. A. J. Kynett, therefore, offered 
 the following as a substitute for the second item : 
 
 "Resolved, That the Board of Education be, and 
 is hereby, instructed to make such provisions as 
 may be necessary and practicable for the aid of our 
 educational institutions in the South not aided by 
 the Freedmen's Aid Society." 
 
 Had this substitute been accepted, we certainly 
 would have had two separate and distinct educa- 
 tional societies within the Church; the Educational 
 Society would have been so burdened as to have 
 had to withdraw, to a certain extent, from the plan 
 of aiding indigent students as hitherto, or increase 
 its resources. That, at any rate, to have thus bur- 
 dened it would have crippled, if not killed it, is 
 suspected. That substitute was covered by the fol- 
 lowing as a substitute for the whole : 
 
 Resolved, That in the judgment of this General
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 209 
 
 Conference the present organization and perpetuity 
 of the Freedmeu's Aid Society should remain 
 unchanged." 
 
 But both these substitutes were laid on the 
 table. The other extreme view was manifested by 
 the following substitute, which went the way of the 
 preceding : 
 
 "Resolved, 1. That the collections of the Freed- 
 meu's Aid Society shall be wholly appropriatde to 
 aid the schools for the colored people. 
 
 " Resolved, 2. That the Committee on Education 
 be requested to make provisions for giving aid to 
 schools among the white people of the South." 
 
 That a disposition to separate the educational 
 work of the Church in the South between the 
 races prevailed, appears on the face of the fore- 
 going. The report, as given above, was then 
 adopted. It.is plainly seen that the Church did not, 
 even in this, intend to be partial on account of race 
 or color. One would naturally infer from the 
 foregoing and that which follows, that considerable 
 feeling was manifested. In Report No. 2 of the 
 Committee on Freedmen appears the following : 
 
 " Resolved, That our pastors, in presenting the 
 claims of this society to the Church, should remind 
 our people that a portion of the appropriations of 
 the society will be made for the education of the 
 white population connected with our Church in the 
 Southern States, but not to the embarrassment of 
 the work among our people of color." 
 
 18
 
 210 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 This, in itself, showed that the friends to the 
 educational work of the Church among the white 
 people of the South were on the alert ; that the 
 next General Conference would have to speak out 
 as to aiding them. 
 
 During the quadreuniura following the adjourn- 
 ment of that General Conference the question of 
 changing the name of the Freedmen's Aid Society 
 was discussed. During the discussion it was very 
 evident that "the color-line" was being crossed and 
 recrossed, denied and affirmed, objected to and sup- 
 ported, execrated and declared a blessing. Some 
 declared that the reason for wanting the name of 
 the society changed was: (1) Not simply that the 
 society might help more largely in carrying on edu- 
 cational work begun by our white membership in 
 the South, but (2) to make them eligible to such 
 aid without being considered second to the colored 
 man, or seeming to have to accept the crumbs that 
 fall from the colored man's table, prepared for him 
 by the Methodist Episcopal Church in the presence 
 of his enemies; (3) that those who are willing to 
 aid in the educational work of the Church among the 
 whites, without any of it being used to help colored 
 students, may have a chance thus to display their 
 liberality; (4) that those within the Church who have 
 all along refused to contribute to the support of the 
 benevolences of the Church because of their ob- 
 jection to the bringing in of this Gentile proselyte 
 on an equal footing, may have a chance to empty
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 211 
 
 their liberal gifts into the coffers of the Church. 
 Indeed, so high ran this discussion during the 
 quadrennium, that some even went so far as to de- 
 clare it an effort to fan anew the slumbering but 
 not quenched embers of caste prejudice; to keep 
 verdant the rank weeds of race prejudice that con- 
 tinue to grow rank and prolific in the swamps and 
 bayous, on the mountains and hill-sides, the plains 
 and valleys of some of our Church-work in the 
 South. This question, in many minds, swung around 
 to the previous conditions of the two races within 
 the Church in the South. To give some idea of 
 the previous conditions of the two races within the 
 Church in the South hitherto, we quote from the 
 address of the president of the society, Bishop 
 "Walden, the following: 
 
 "Our Church had access to two classes on en- 
 tering this field, the whites in North Carolina, 
 Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas, 
 and the colored people in all of the States from which 
 she had been excluded. The condition of these 
 classes was different. The whites were impover- 
 ished by the war, but they had some possessions 
 and some kinds of business; they had church-build- 
 ings, however dilapidated ; but in some places all 
 Church organizations had been disbanded, and in 
 other places the connectional bonds were broken ; 
 they were ready, however, for reorganization, and 
 in Eastern Tennessee almost an entire conference 
 (the Holston) voluntarily sought and was given
 
 212 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 a place among our annual conferences. The colored 
 people had not lost property, for they had none to 
 lose ; they had no Church organizations nor build- 
 ings, and their Church membership, at best, was 
 only nominal; all they had was their recently pro- 
 claimed freedom and their hands trained to toil. 
 
 " Picture to yourselves for the moment those to 
 whom our Church found an open door the impov- 
 erished and almost church less white people, and the 
 colored people, who were not only without homes, 
 but without the relations of the home ; not only 
 without earthly possessions, but impoverished in the 
 best elements of their nature. It may be no marvel 
 that societies were soon gathered and conferences 
 soon organized among the whites, for with them it 
 was chiefly a work of reorganization and edifica- 
 tion. But what of the work among the freed 
 people those who had only toiled as house-servants 
 and slave-mechanics and field-hands ? Here, among 
 them, the very foundations of Church-work had to 
 be laid, and our first movement in this direction 
 the necessary and the right movement was to give 
 them, at once, their normal relation in and to the 
 Church." 
 
 Let us examine the status of these two classes. 
 The whites had been (1) "impoverished by the 
 war," whether they took sides with the Union or 
 against it. If the latter was the case, it is evident 
 that they had been slaveholders themselves or 
 friendly to the slave oligarchy. And yet these
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 213 
 
 same people had left them some "possessions and 
 some kinds of business." They had "church-build- 
 ings, however dilapidated. They were ready for 
 reorganization." It was not so with the colored 
 people. "These were without homes, without the 
 relations of home ; not only without earthly pos- 
 sessions, but impoverished in the best elements of 
 their nature." These poor colored people had 
 never had the advantages of any enlightening in- 
 fluences save such as came to " house-servants, slave- 
 mechanics, and field-hands." How true is it that 
 " here among them the very foundations of Church- 
 work had to be laid." The Methodist Episcopal 
 Church went down South hunting " the lost sheep 
 of the house of Israel," for whom no denomination 
 seemed to care much at that time. The whites had 
 for twenty years, more or less, worshiped with, or 
 were members of, the Southern Methodist Episcopal 
 Church ; a few standing alone and waiting till a 
 better day appeared. Here was an opportunity also 
 to turn aside and give aid to this other class of our 
 membership in the South, by teaching them the doc- 
 trine of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood 
 of man. Such men as Rev. John P. Newman and 
 Bishop Gilbert Haven went down to help. Their 
 eloquence, erudition, religious and moral force, told 
 only here and there. Such men made but little 
 headway toward the bringing in of "whole annual 
 conferences" among the whites into our Church. 
 They were unpopular save among the poor freed-
 
 214 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 men. Some of tbe white members of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church in the South have no 
 interest in the work of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church that does not come to them unincumbered 
 by any reminiscences of the past or present relations 
 of the two races. The growth of our white mem- 
 bership in the South during the last ten years has 
 been considerable. Is it not strange that the 
 whites and the blacks within the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church in the' South sustain to-day, in some 
 places, the same relation to each other that the 
 Jews used to sustain to the Samaritans? Do we 
 not find, just along here somewhere, the key to 
 the situation in the South within our Church, as 
 well as cause for the action of the General Con- 
 ference above referred to ? 
 
 If required to state from our own knowledge 
 what is positively believed to be an ungarnished 
 truth, we would say that so far as a majority of our 
 white membership in the South is concerned we, as a 
 Church, have not succeeded in dislodging a single 
 one of the old prejudices against "race and color." 
 It is known that there are beautiful exceptions, but 
 they are like angels' visits to earth nowadays. 
 The only redeeming feature has been, that the 
 Church, as such, has never yielded a single point in 
 favor of caste in the South. We have known in- 
 stances where white preachers of white congrega- 
 tions in Our Church in the South stayed away from 
 colored annual conferences to keep from being intro-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 215 
 
 duced as members of our Church. The instances in 
 the South in which the white ministers Demanded a 
 separate conference, because of the relations of the 
 two races, are not few. The Methodist Episcopal 
 Church understood all the while that this was 
 the condition of atfairs in every nine cases in ten 
 in the South where "a color-line conference" was 
 desired. Hence, the heart of the Church being 
 right, she always put in "a proviso 1 ' when author- 
 izing the creation or division of conferences. 
 
 The action taken by the General Conference of 
 1876 on the question, corroborates the above state- 
 ment. It is as follows: 
 
 "The committee have, by a large sub-committee, 
 given much time to its consideration, and have in- 
 vestigated carefully the matter referred to them. 
 They have considered the numerous memorials, pe- 
 titions, and resolutions presented to the General 
 Conference on the subject, whether from annual 
 conferences, conventions, or private individuals. 
 They have consulted with most, if not all, the dele- 
 gates to the 4 General Conference, who represent 
 conferences particularly interested in the question 
 of division, and have studied the history of the 
 movements in several conferences seeking to effect 
 or prevent division within a few years past, and 
 report the following result of its investigation." 
 
 Then follows a concise, yet full, statement of the 
 reasons, pro and con, with this conclusion : 
 
 " From these facts, and after impartially inquiring
 
 216 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 into the whole subject, your committee recommend 
 for adoption the following resolutions : 
 
 " Resolved, 1. That where it is the general de- 
 sire of the members of an annual conference that 
 there should be no division of such conference into 
 two or more conferences in the same territory ; and 
 where it is not clearly to be seen that such division 
 would favor or improve the state of the work in any 
 conference ; and where the interests and usefulness 
 of even a minority of the members of such confer- 
 ence, and of the members of Churches in such con- 
 ference, might be damaged or imperiled by division, 
 it is the opinion of this General Conference that 
 such division should not be made. 
 
 " Resolved, 2. That whenever it shall be re- 
 quested by a majority of the white members, and 
 also a majority of the colored members, of any an- 
 nual conference, that it be divided, then it is the 
 opinion of this General Conference that such division 
 should be made ; and, in that case, the bishop pre- 
 siding is hereby authorized to organize the new 
 conference or conferences." (Journal, 1876, pp. 
 329-331.) 
 
 In the case of the division of the Tennessee 
 Conference, the colored members retained the orig- 
 inal name, and the whites had to find a descriptive, 
 or rather distinctive, adjective to retain the "Ten- 
 nessee" part of the name. In this case, if not in 
 many others, general dissatisfaction and injury en- 
 sued. Aspiring colored men, in a number of our
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 217 
 
 own colored conferences, allowed their aspirations for 
 honors to exceed their better judgment, and hence 
 voted "aye" when their hearts said "nay." There 
 was, by the time the General Conference of 1884 
 met in Philadelphia, a party among the delegates 
 who were determined to do one of two things ; 
 cither to bring the white work within our Church 
 (that was brought under the fostering care of the 
 Freedmeu's Aid Society by the words "and others" 
 inserted in the constitution) up to an equal share 
 of the money appropriated by the Church for its 
 work in the South, or else have the Educational 
 Society take entire control of the educational work 
 among the whites. This would have shaded the 
 dcmarkation caste-line to the satisfaction of his 
 Satanic majesty, and at the same time turned into 
 other channels the aid hitherto rendered by that 
 society to indigent colored pupils, and would have, 
 by this, made it popular indeed to be a white Meth- 
 odist within the great Methodist Episcopal Church 
 " without any unnecessary contamination with any 
 disturbing element." The friends of humanity, 
 equity, and righteousness also "trusted God, but 
 kept their powder dry." The conference had but 
 fairly got to work when the oncoming storm began 
 to gather. J. M. Shumpert, under the call, presented 
 the following, which was referred to the Committee 
 on State of the Church : 
 
 " Inasmuch as there has been a great deal of 
 discussion, both in the religious and secular press, 
 
 19
 
 218 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 of caste in the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and 
 inasmuch as caste is a curse to any nation, and 
 more especially to a religious denomination ; and 
 inasmuch as we believe that caste prejudice is a 
 sin, and is born of ignorance and hate, that it nar- 
 rows the mind, embitters the heart, and harms the 
 American citizens, both as men and as Christians ; 
 therefore, be it 
 
 "Resolved, That it is the sense of this General 
 Conference that no trustees of churches, schools, col- 
 leges, or universities, nor any pastor, principal, presi- 
 dent, or any other person in authority of church or 
 school property, belonging to or under the control 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, should exclude 
 any person or persons from their churches, schools, 
 colleges, or universities, of good moral character, 
 on account of color, race, or previous condition of 
 servitude." 
 
 This was the beginning of a conflict. At the 
 General Conferences we all understand that the 
 " fighting " is all done in the committee-room. That 
 the spirit of this resolution was opposed in the 
 committee-room no member of "the Committee on 
 the State of the Church " will deny. To one who 
 was at a great distance from the scene of action it 
 appeared that the forty-three colored delegates in 
 that General Conference could easily be seen to be- 
 long to the two elements that usually make up our 
 General Conferences, the radical and conservative ; 
 but not equally divided. Indeed, there were not
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 219 
 
 more than five "conservative" of the forty-three. 
 Now I have used the words "radical" and "con- 
 servative," and mean by these terms just what they 
 have meant in every General Conference of our 
 Church since, if not before, 1840. The former 
 believe in "hewing to the line, let the chips fall 
 where they may." The other believes it better, for 
 policy's sake, to be lenient to the extreme of com- 
 promise in some instances. In that General Con- 
 ference the radicals desired to march into the field 
 against caste prejudice, floating "the black flag." 
 The conservatives wanted to be all things to some 
 men that they might not lose any, and, at the 
 same time, "save some." It is easy to see how the 
 thirty-eight could go home and look their black 
 constituents squarely in the face and say : " No 
 timidity or other inducement persuaded me to de- 
 part from the wholesome teachings of common sense 
 and race pride." Before the intended import of that 
 last sentence is misconstrued we add, the others, 
 returning home, could easily have said to their con- 
 stituents : " We have adopted a policy for future 
 action that we hope will bring peace out of confu- 
 sion." The ardent desire of the conservative fac- 
 tion to change the name of the Freedmen's Aid 
 Society was closely connected, as all can easily see, 
 with the question of caste prejudice whether for or 
 against we do not stop how to say. The question of 
 mixed or separate schools among our members in the 
 South had been discussed during the quadrennium.
 
 220 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 The establishment of the Little Rock Univer- 
 sity overshadowing that section of the country, as 
 well as Philander Smith College, where colored 
 youth were being educated with that of the Chatta- 
 nooga University, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, helped 
 to agitate the question. It is said that the items 
 touching this subject were presented in the General 
 Conference by a resolution adopted without ref- 
 erence to a committee, through reports from the 
 Committee on Freedmen's Aid and Work in the 
 South, and through a resolution from the Com- 
 mittee on the State of the Church. Any criticism 
 in opposition to work done for the whites by the 
 Freedmen's Aid Society was broken by the General 
 Conference adopting the following : 
 
 "Resolved, That we fully indorse the administra- 
 tion of the Freedmen's Aid Society during the past 
 qtiadrennium." 
 
 This is the resolution above referred to. The 
 following was part of the work done and reported 
 to that General Conference as its administration 
 during the quadrenuium : 
 
 " The following sums were appropriated to schools 
 among whites : 
 
 In 1879 and 1880, 
 
 In 1880 and 1881, $2,600 00 
 
 In 1881 and 1882, ' 19,453 75 
 
 In 1882 and 1883, 26,847 25 
 
 Total receipts during quadrennium, .... $437,986 89 
 Appropriations for schools among whites, 48,901 00 
 
 Appropriations for schools among colored, . $389,085 89
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 221 
 
 "The whites received a little less than one-ninth 
 of the receipts, and a little less than one-eighth as 
 much as the colored people." 
 
 It is to be remembered that " the schools among 
 the whites " were not constitutionally eligible to aid 
 from the Freedmeu's Aid Society until after the 
 General Conference of 1880; that the work had been 
 chiefly confined to its then legitimate channel, the 
 colored work, and, of course, appropriations to the 
 work among the colored people began with the work 
 of the society. Viewed from that point, another 
 phase of appropriations appears. 
 
 Resolutions came rather briskly and presenting 
 many different phases of the question. On May 
 12th, Rev. C. O. Fisher, of the Savannah Confer- 
 ence, presented the following resolution, signed by 
 himself and twenty-two others, which, on motion, 
 was adopted : 
 
 " Resolved, That the General Conference hereby 
 confirms and reaffirms the opinion previously ex- 
 pressed that 'color is no bar to any right or priv- 
 ilege of office or membership in the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church/ but we recognize the propriety 
 of such administration as will hereafter, as hereto- 
 fore, secure the largest concession to individual 
 preferences on all questions involving merely the 
 social relations of its members." 
 
 Now, the above resolution in some way or other, 
 was afterward the cause of no little dispute as to 
 who was the author of it, and who signed it.
 
 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 There followed some discussion, through the papers, 
 between Dr. Marshall W. Taylor and Dr. Fisher 
 as to it. Like Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin, it 
 seems to have had no parents at all, "but jus' 
 growed up." Its purport, some declare, was not 
 indorsed by all who signed it. It, however, was a 
 tally for the conservative element, whether so in- 
 tended or not. 
 
 Report No. 3 of Committee on Freedmen's Aid 
 and Work in the South was adopted May 22d, as 
 follows : 
 
 " Your Committee on Freedmen's Aid and Work in 
 the South have carefully considered the several memo- 
 rials referred to us, involving the question of separate or 
 mixed schools for the accommodation of our colored and 
 white membership in the South, aud as the result of our 
 deliberations present the following : 
 
 "It is an historical fact, highly honorable to the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, that she has been the con- 
 stant friend of the common people, and especially of the 
 colored man. 
 
 "The Freedmen's Aid Society, organized for the 
 purpose of aiding in the education and elevation of the 
 freedmen, is the unanswerable proof of our friendship 
 to them in the hour of their need. Twenty-four insti- 
 tutions of learning academies, seminaries, colleges, and 
 theological schools established and maintained among 
 them at a cost of more than $1,250,000 for the benefit 
 of the colored people, constitute a magnificent demon- 
 stration of our devotion, which requires no elaboration 
 and admits of no denial.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 223 
 
 " The management of this portion of our educa- 
 tional work, we believe, in the main, has been wise, 
 efficient, and successful. Our effort in this direction 
 should not be relaxed, but increased. 
 
 "The establishment of schools for the benefit of our 
 white membership in the South we believe to have been 
 a wise and necessary measure. Their success has been 
 gratifying. The beneficial results have not been con- 
 fined to those immediately interested, but their liberal- 
 izing effects upon public sentiment have greatly re- 
 duuuded to the advantage of our colored people. We 
 regret that, for so great and important a work, so little 
 has been done by the Church, and we desire most 
 emphatically to give expression to our conviction that 
 the time has come when this portion of our educational 
 work should be strengthened and placed upon a strong 
 and permanent basis, as its importance certainly de- 
 mands. To the question of mixed schools we have 
 given our most serious and prayerful attention. It is a 
 subject beset with peculiar difficulties. That the colored 
 man has a just and equal right, not only to life and 
 liberty, but also to the means of grace and facilities for 
 education, we not only admit, but most positively affirm. 
 
 " We are in duty bound to provide for and to secure 
 to every class of our membership, so far as possible, a 
 fair and equal opportunity in Church and school accom- 
 modations. And inso far as this is done our duty is per- 
 formed, and the equal rights justly demanded of us thus 
 fairly and fully conceded. 
 
 "Mixed congregations and mixed schools, may in 
 some places, be most desirable, and best for all con- 
 cerned. In other places, one class or the other, or
 
 224 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 both, may prefer separate congregations and separate 
 schools. 
 
 "Equal rights to the best facilites for intellectual 
 and spiritual culture, equal rights in the eligibility to 
 every position of honor and trust, and equal rights in 
 the exercise of a free and unconstrained choice in nil 
 social relations, is a principle at once American, Meth- 
 odistic, and Scriptural. Therefore : 
 
 "Resolved, 1. That we most sincerely rejoice in the 
 progress made iu the work of education among our 
 colored people in the South, and pledge ourselves to 
 stand by and assist them in the further prosecution of 
 this work, to the extent of our ability, and, so far as 
 possible, to the extent of their need in this direction. 
 
 "2. That we heartily sympathize with our white 
 membership in the South in their efforts to provide 
 ad'equate educational facilities among themselves, and 
 assure them of such co-operation and assistance as we 
 may be able to render. 
 
 "3. That the question of separate or mixed schools 
 we consider one of expediency, which is to be left to 
 the choice and administration of those on the ground 
 and more immediately concerned : Provided, there shall 
 be no interference with the rights set forth in this pre- 
 amble and these resolutions. 
 
 " 4. That the entire educational work in the Southern 
 States should be under the direction of one society. 
 
 " 5. That in view of the great success of the Freed- 
 men's Aid Society during the past four years in carrying 
 forward the educational work in the South, this society 
 ought to have the full charge of this work in that section. 
 
 " 6. That the pastors, in presenting the claims of
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 225 
 
 this society in making appeals for funds, should state 
 plainly that the work is among both races, and that all 
 contributors should be allowed, whenever they may desire 
 to do so, to designate where their gifts shall go." 
 
 REPORT No. 2 ADOPTED MAY 23o. 
 
 " Resolved, That we fully appreciate the administra- 
 tion of the Freedmen's Aid Society during the past 
 quadreumum." 
 
 REPORT No. 4 ADOPTED MAY 230. 
 
 "Resolved, That an appeal be made to the whole 
 Church for half a million of dollars as a centennial of- 
 fering to the great work of the Freedmeu's Aid Society, 
 and while through all other portions of the Church the 
 usual agencies are employed in raising this amount, the 
 Freedmen's Aid Society is hereby authorized and directed 
 to organize and prosecute such financial effort among the 
 conferences of the South." 
 
 REPORT No. 5 ADOPTED MAY 230. 
 
 "Resolved, That it would be unwise, by addition or 
 otherwise, to change the name of the Freedmen's Aid 
 Society." 
 
 REPORT No. 6 ADOPTED MAY 230. 
 
 " Your committee recommend the following changes 
 in the Discipline, so that paragraph 1 shall read : 
 
 " ' For the mental and moral elevation of freedmen 
 and others in the South, who have special claims upon 
 the people of America for help in the work of Christian 
 education.' 
 
 "Paragraph 310: 'It shall be the duty of each 
 preacher in charge to present this subject to his congre- 
 gation, or cause it to be presented, once each year in a
 
 226 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 sermon or address ; to aid in the diffusion of intelligence 
 in regard to the work of the society, and to use due dili- 
 gence to collect the amount apportioned to his charge. 
 He shall report to the annual conference the sum col- 
 lected, and the collections shall be published in a column 
 in the General Minutes, and in the Minutes of the an- 
 nual conferences. In presenting the claims of this so- 
 ciety, the preacher in charge shall state plainly that the 
 educational work of the society is among both white and 
 colored people." 
 
 FROM COMMITTEE ON STATE OF THE CHURCH, REPORT 
 No. 4 ADOPTED MAY 28TH. 
 
 " Your committee beg leave to submit the following 
 for your adoption, namely: 
 
 "Resolved, That this General Conference declares 
 the policy of the Methodist Episcopal Church to be, that 
 no member of any society within the Church shall be 
 excluded from public worship in any and every edifice 
 of the denomination, and no student shall be excluded 
 from instruction in any and every school under the super- 
 vision of the Church because of race, color or previous 
 condition of servitude." 
 
 FROM COMMITTEE ON FREEDMEN'S AID AND WORK IN THE 
 SOUTH, REPORT No. 7 ADOPTED MAY 28TH. 
 
 "The following statement of facts and conclusions re- 
 specting the work of our Church in the South is respect- 
 fully submitted by the Committee on Freedmeu's Aid 
 and Work in the South: 
 
 " The growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
 the Southern States since the close of the late war is 
 one of the marvels of modern Church history. Nine-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 227 
 
 teen years ago 1864 the Church had within the border 
 States of Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and 
 Missouri, 332 effective preachers. 71,037 white com- 
 municants, and 18,770 colored members. Now, in the 
 sixteen former slave States and the District of Columbia, 
 she has twelve conferences among the whites, with 693 
 effective preachers, and 170,710 communicants; thirteen 
 conferences among the colored people, with 678 effective 
 preachers, and 186,326 members. To these must be 
 added three mixed conferences two in Missouri and 
 one in Florida with 218 effective preachers, and 41,054 
 members, most of whom are white persons. These alto- 
 gether make 28 anuual conferences, with 1,589 effective 
 preachers, and 398,090 communicants. 
 
 "This vast membership represents a following through- 
 out the South of not less than 2,000,000 of people. 
 Taking the South as a whole, this membership and fol- 
 lowing are divided about equally between the white and 
 colored races about 203,000 white members, and about 
 195,000 colored members. In the border States our 
 strength is more largely among the white people ; in our 
 new Southern work, in the eleven States where the 
 Church had nothing at the close of the war, our devel- 
 opment has been larger among the colored people ; but 
 in these eleven States a white membership of 51,961 
 has been gathered. Over 3,500 new church buildings 
 have been erected on what was slave territory in 1860. 
 The increase in Church parsonage property has been 
 $6,282,723, and of membership 308,183. This is an 
 average of over 20,000 member sand $350,000 annually. 
 
 "Nearly one- fourth of the entire membership of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church is now on what was slave
 
 228 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 territory, where, but a few years ago, the Church had 
 no existence except in a few localities. 
 
 "Not less remarkable has been the educational de- 
 velopment of our Church in the South. Since the late 
 war, 48 colleges and seminaries have been established, 
 and in these there are 194 instructors and over 6,000 
 young men and women. Of these schools 24 are among 
 the colored people, and 24 among the white people. 
 These latter have been established almost entirely by 
 our white members themselves. These 48 institutions 
 of learning are nearly one-third in number of all the in- 
 stitutions of learning of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 aud have in them 25 per cent of all persons being 
 taught by our Church. 
 
 "The day of prosperity for the South is at hand, 
 and the great questions affecting its civilization are being 
 rapidly settled, and the spirit of fraternity and mutual 
 helpfulness among all moral and educational forces 
 at the South is rapidly prevailing. Tlfe presence and 
 success of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 
 South have tended largely to these beneficent results; 
 therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, 1. That as a General Conference we ren- 
 der thanks to God for the success that has attended the 
 work of our Church in the Southern States, by which it 
 has come to be permanently planted in every State in 
 that section, so that we are now, in the matter of occu- 
 pation as well as administration, a national Church. 
 
 "Resolved, 2. That we extend cordial greetings and 
 benedictions to all our people, our teachers and pastors 
 in the Southern States, and rejoice with them in their 
 success, and sympathize with them in their labors ; and
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 229 
 
 we pledge to them, in behalf of the whole Church, the 
 largest possible co-operation and help in every good word 
 and work." 
 
 It can be seen at a glance that there was much 
 conflict over the questions growing out of the rela- 
 tions of the two races within the Church in the 
 South in that General Conference. Notwithstand- 
 ing, it elected a representative colored man W. H. 
 Crogman, Professor of Ancient Languages in our 
 Clark University, at Atlanta, Ga. one of its secre- 
 taries; elected another Rev. A. E. P. Albert, 
 D. D., of Louisiana Conference secretary of Com- 
 mittee on State of the Church ; elected Rev. 
 Marshall W. Taylor, D. D., editor-in-chief of one 
 of the Church papers; yet it is difficult for some 
 persons to understand clearly what was meant by 
 the action taken touching the color question.
 
 230 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE PROBLEM. 
 
 T UST what was intended by that General Confer- 
 I ence touching this vexed question may be easily 
 found out, if allowed to take as a basis the trite 
 saying, " We have no way of judging the future but 
 by the past." The declarations of the several Gen- 
 eral Conferences of our Church warrant us in de- 
 claring the following as her principles : " (1) God 
 made of one blood all men for to dwell on the face 
 of the earth ; (2) God is no respecter of persons ; 
 but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh 
 righteousness, is accepted with him." The Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church is either founded upon and 
 guided by the Word of God, or is nothing. The 
 Church further declared : " (1) There is no word 
 'white' to discriminate against race or color known 
 in our legislation; (2) Being of African descent 
 does not prevent membership with white men in an- 
 nual conferences ; (3) Nor ordination at the same 
 altars; (4) Nor appointment to presiding elder- 
 ship ; (5) Nor election to the General Conference; (6) 
 Nor eligibility to the highest offices in the Church." 
 (Journal, 1872, p. 373.) That the actions of that 
 General Conference on the color question were 
 enigmatical, the following will declare. The decla-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 231 
 
 ration of the General Conference of 1880 naturally 
 led to, if it did not bring about, the entire dis- 
 cussion. The declaration was as follows: 
 
 "2. That under the phrase 'and others' of Ar- 
 ticle II, in the Constitution of the Freedmen's Aid 
 Society, we see the way clear to aid the schools 
 which have been established by our Church in the 
 Southern States among the white people, and hereby 
 ask the General Conference to recommend to the 
 board of managers of this society to give such aid 
 to these schools during the next quadrenuium as can 
 be done without embarrassment to the schools 
 among the Freedmen." 
 
 If the words "to aid the schools which have 
 been established by our Church in the Southern 
 States among the white people," had been "the 
 schools established in the Southern States among 
 our white members, to be held sacredly for them to 
 the exclusion of colored pupils," it would have died 
 on the spot, and been buried uncoffined, unknclled, and 
 unknown. It may be that a wrong construction is 
 put on the former by the insertion of the latter 
 words. If so, the sequel will so declare it. If 
 not, then the phraseology was, and is, misleading. 
 But it was adopted. What does it say ? That the 
 already existing exclusive schools for the whites, 
 established within the Church in the Southern 
 States, are to be fostered by the Freedmen's Aid 
 Society, with the provision that, as a result, no em- 
 barrassment come to the schools for the frccdmcn.
 
 232 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Does not that provision imply separate schools? 
 We arc trying simply to state facts as they exist, 
 without committal on the subject at this time. 
 
 In the last General Conference the second report 
 on Freedmen's Aid and Work in the South, offered 
 by Rev. J. C. Hartzell, D. D., indorsed the ad- 
 ministration of the society during the quadren- 
 nium. If the discussion that preceded that General 
 Conference meant anything, it meant that it did not 
 indorse the Little Rock and Chattanooga enter- 
 prises as projected. The resolution offered by Rev. 
 C. O. Fisher, D. D., of Savannah Conference, and 
 adopted by that General Conference, without refer- 
 ence to any committee, declared it the sense of the 
 General Conference that color is no bar to any 
 right or privilege of office or membership in the 
 Church'; that the propriety is recognized of so ad- 
 ministering its affairs as "hereafter, as heretofore, 
 to secure the largest concession to individual pref- 
 erences involving merely the social relations of 
 its members." No valid objection can be offered to 
 the last proposition. If it simply means that any 
 and every member of the Church has the right to 
 attend Church or schools wherever he pleases, with- 
 out let or molestation so far as law goes, it is 
 simply another way of declaring the equality of 
 each and every member of the Church so far as 
 privileges are concerned. If the above supposition 
 is true, any objection on account of race, color, or 
 previous condition, raised by any one in authority
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 233 
 
 over Churches or schools under the auspices of the 
 Church, is a flagrant violation of her law. We can 
 conceive of but three valid reasons for any man 
 offering such a resolution in a General Conference 
 of a Church that has always conceded such, viz. : 
 (1) To*show liberal-mindedness. (2) That there is 
 no caste or race prejudice concealed among the 
 colored members within the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church that would cramp another member, or de- 
 sires to insinuate itself upon the rights and pre- 
 rogatives of others. (3) To prevent any unneces- 
 sary bickerings between the two races within the 
 Church in the South. On top of the above came 
 the report of the Committee on Freed men's Aid 
 and Work in the South. It declared the Church a 
 friend to the colored man, and cited as evidence the 
 work done by the society twenty-four institutions 
 of learning, connecting with it the expenditure of 
 $1,250,000. That this management was (a) wise, 
 (6) efficient, and (c) successful. Then came the 
 other side of the question ; the establishment of 
 schools for the benefit of "the whites" within the 
 Church in the South was (1) wise, (2) necessary, 
 (3) gratifyingly successful, and had had a liberalizing 
 effect upon public sentiment there that redounds to 
 the advantage of the colored man ; that it was a 
 pity no more had been done, and it should be put 
 upon a strong, permanent basis. Then came the 
 mixed school question. As to the colored man, 
 
 he was justly entitled to equal rights of not only 
 
 20
 
 234 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 "life and liberty," but to the means of grace and 
 proper facilities for education ; that the Church is 
 bound to provide and secure to every class of its 
 members, as far as possible, a fair and equal oppor- 
 tunity in Church and school accommodations. As 
 to mixed congregations and schools, they " were in 
 some places most desirable and best for all" (North, 
 we presume), "in other places [South, we guess], 
 one or the other, or both, may prefer separate con- 
 gregations and schools." The question of equal 
 rights is declared : (1) " To be the best facilities for 
 intellectual and spiritual culture ; (2) in the eligi- 
 bility to every position of honor and trust; and 
 (3) in the exercise of a free and unconstrained choice 
 in all social relations." This was declared "a prin- 
 ciple at once American, Methodistic, and Scriptural." 
 Then come the resolutions. The first rejoices in 
 the work done among and for the colored people, 
 supports a pledge to stand by and support it to 
 the extent of its needs, measured by the ability of 
 the Church. The next two resolutions are the most 
 objectionable offered, viz. : 
 
 "2. That we heartily sympathize with our white 
 membership in the South in their efforts to provide 
 adequate educational facilities among themselves, and 
 assure them of such co-operation and assistance as 
 we may be able to render. 
 
 "3. That the question of separate or mixed 
 schools we consider one of expediency, which is to 
 be left to the choice and administration of those
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 235 
 
 on the ground and more immediately concerned: Pro- 
 vided, there shall be no interference with the rights 
 set forth in this preamble and these resolutions." 
 
 Let us scrutinize these a moment. The General 
 Conference, by the adoption of these two resolutions, 
 sympathized with an effort " to provide adequate 
 educational facilities among themselves" the white 
 members of our Church in the South. If disposed 
 to hunt objections, we would say they had already 
 ' adequate educational facilities," as a result of the 
 educational work done by the Freedmen's Aid So- 
 ciety, if they would have accepted them, and with- 
 out additional efforts on their part. Again, the 
 General Conference, by its action, desired to "assure 
 them of such co-operation and assistance as we may 
 be able to render." It may be short-sightedness or 
 ignorance to say so, but the way these resolutions 
 read they certainly seem not only not to object to 
 discrimination, but to encourage it. 
 
 By the second resolution the question of mixed 
 or separate schools was declared: (1) "One of ex- 
 pediency, to be left to the choice and administration 
 of those on the ground, and more immediately con- 
 cerned." That which is expedient, Webster de- 
 clares "a means to an end." Was it so intended in 
 that resolution? "Those on the ground and more 
 immediately concerned" were undoubtedly the trus- 
 tees, teachers, and patrons of the schools among 
 the whites in our Church. (2) " Provided, there shall 
 be no interference with the rights set forth in this
 
 236 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 the foregoing preamble and these resolutions." 
 The preamble declared : " (1) Equal rights to the 
 best facilities for intellectual and spiritual culture, 
 equal rights in the eligibility to every position of 
 honor and trust, and equal rights in the exercise of 
 a free and unconstrained choice in all social rela- 
 tions as a principle at once American, Methodistic, 
 and Scriptural." Now let us put this and Unit 
 together; who is to decide what are "the best fa- 
 cilities for intellectual and spiritual culture?" Ac- 
 cording to the principle of expediency "the means 
 to an end" undoubtedly it must be decided by 
 "those on the ground and more immediately con- 
 cerned." Now, the question as to whether the 
 contributors the 'majority of the most liberal con- 
 tributors are "more immediately concerned," we 
 d"o not stop to say. Having completed the addi- 
 tion, what do we find as a rational conclusion ? 
 What are we to understand by "the exercise of a 
 free and unconstrained choice in all social rela- 
 tions ?" Webster says : " The word constrain comes 
 from the Latin constringere. This is composed of con 
 and stringere, to draw tight, to strain; a strong, 
 binding force; to hold back by force." The word 
 used is unconstrained. I suppose we can conclude 
 it means without constraint. The question naturally 
 arises, Had there been any constraint in our work in 
 the South? If so, at what point? Touching what 
 phase of the work ? Whatever constraint the work 
 in the South has been laboring under, the Church
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 237 
 
 was responsible for it. Was it that " race, color, nor 
 previous condition " should be a bar to the full and 
 equal rights of its members in Church, school, or 
 office? There must have been some constraint, or 
 the word " unconstrained " is meaningless, as used. 
 But whatever constrained choice existed previously, 
 it was so intended, and that resolution did abro- 
 gate, if it has any force at all. What did " those 
 on the ground and more immediately concerned" 
 understand it to mean? Rather, what naturally 
 grew out of it? 
 
 THE CHATTANOOGA EPISODE. 
 
 An educational convention was held in Athens, 
 Tennessee, in 1882, composed of delegates from 
 nearly all our conferences, composed exclusively of 
 white people, for the purpose of "looking after the 
 educational interests of the work among the whites." 
 The question of the establishment of a university 
 for the benefit of the white members and patrons 
 of our Church in the central South was decided 
 upon, and a plan was adopted for the co-operation 
 of the conferences and Freedmen's Aid Society in 
 founding and locating the same, subject to the ap- 
 proval of the conferences. " This action was heartily 
 and unanimously concurred in by the pastors and 
 educators among the whites." Considering their 
 modus opcrandi "the best for intellectual and spir- 
 itual culture," as well as the most direct and prac- 
 tical "exercise of a free and unconstrained choice
 
 238 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 in all social relations, as a principle at once Amer- 
 ican, Methodistic, and Scriptural," it was accepted by 
 "those on the ground and more immediately con- 
 cerned," and "left to their choice and administra- 
 tion." Chatlanooga was chosen as the seat of the 
 great university in the central South for whites. 
 Now, if no other reason could have been given for 
 that choice, the fact that from Lookout Mountain 
 the rebel soldiers were driven by General Grant 
 during the late civil war was sufficient for historical 
 prestige. The relevancy of the following quota- 
 tion from Ridpath's History, giving an account of 
 the movements of General Grant around that city 
 during the civil war, may not at once appear to 
 all. He says: "General Grant, being promoted to 
 the chief command, assumed the direction of affairs 
 at Chattanooga. General Sherman also arrived with 
 his divisions, and offensive operations were at once 
 renewed. A position seemingly more impregnable 
 could hardly be conceived of." Chattanooga having 
 been selected as the place for "a central university 
 for the South," fourteen acres of ground, costing 
 thirty-one thousand dollars, were purchased, and a 
 magnificent structure, costing forty thousand dol- 
 lars, was erected thereon. Of this amount the citi- 
 zens of the city contributed fifteen thousand dollars. 
 It has been suggested that some of the contributors 
 of that sum, at least, gave their money with the 
 distinct understanding that the university was to 
 be for the benefit of white pupils exclusively. This
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 239 
 
 intelligence was not received from the managers of 
 the Freed men's Aid Society, as such ; so thut, if at 
 all, it may have been received from some of " those 
 on the ground and more immediately concerned." 
 When the university opened, September 15, 188G, 
 everything looked hopeful, indeed, to " those on the 
 ground and more immediately concerned." But 
 soon it was found that the brightness of those pros- 
 pects was but the silver lining of an approaching 
 cloud. Two incidents happened shortly afterward 
 that gave that institution more prominence than any 
 other two incidents in its history can possibly 
 ever do. Among the students who applied for ad- 
 mittance into the institution were four colored 
 youths of that city or vicinity. The trustees of 
 the institution refused to admit them. The board 
 of trustees, by contract with the Freedmen's Aid 
 Society, reserved the right, not only to appoint the 
 teachers, but to purchase the property whenever 
 they became able to pay back seventy-five thousand 
 dollars to the society, and give the university an 
 endowment of two hundred thousand dollars. But 
 one of the incidents happened before anything 
 \v:is said about the rejection of colored students. 
 One of the professors in the university Professor 
 Caul kins met and was introduced to the pastor of 
 our colored Church in Chattanooga, Rev. B. H. 
 Johnson, by Rev. Dr. T. C. Carter, and he refused 
 to shake hands with or recognize him "on general 
 principles," as he declared. The following, which
 
 240 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 appeared in the Western Christian Advocate^ is 
 explicit and to the point : 
 
 PROFESSOR CAIJLKINS. 
 
 "In another column will be found a statement from 
 the executive committee of the Freedmeu's Aid Society, 
 concerning the episode in which Professor Caulkins and 
 the Rev. B. H. Johnson were the principal participants. 
 It will be seen that the executive committee acted in 
 the case with great promptness and decision, the com- 
 mittee's first action having been taken within four days 
 after the first rumor of the case reached any member of 
 the committee. 
 
 "The following extract from the minutes of the meet- 
 ing of October 26th will show the precise action which 
 was taken at that early day : 
 
 "'Dr. Bayliss moved that the corresponding secre- 
 tary be instructed to ascertain whether it be true that 
 Professor Caulkins, of Chattanooga University, refused 
 to shake hands with one of our pastors in Chattanooga 
 because he was a Negro ; and also in a series of arti- 
 cles made disparaging remarks, and used insulting lan- 
 guage in reference to the colored people, and that if 
 these rumors should prove true, the president shall lay 
 the matter before the local board, and ask for his resig- 
 nation. Carried.' 
 
 "If any one should be inclined to the opinion that 
 the inquiry was not prosecuted as rapidly as it should 
 have been, it must be considered that immediately after 
 the sub-committee was appointed, Bishop Walden was 
 necessarily in attendance at the meeting of the bishops ; 
 that Bishop Walden, Dr. Cranston, and the editor of 
 this paper, all of whom are members of the executive
 
 MKHARKY MEDICAL COLLKOK, NASHVIM.K, TBNK.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 241 
 
 committee, were necessarily at the meeting of the Gen- 
 eral Missionary Committee in New York, which was 
 held just after the bishops' meeting ; that the president 
 of the society was immediately afterward called to Phila- 
 delphia to the annual meeting of the Church Exten- 
 sion Committee, and that the annual meeting of the 
 Freedmen's Aid Society was held in Boston on the 23d 
 of November, at which it was necessary for both the 
 president and secretary of the society to be present. 
 Thus the month of November was crowded full of travel 
 and work, and it was next to impossible to have a meeting 
 of the executive committee until December 1st, when 
 a meeting was held. The general history of the in- 
 quiry is given in the ' Statement,' and need not be 
 repeated here. 
 
 "We have reason to believe that the board of trus- 
 tees of the university will act in the case without delay, 
 and we are therefore not disposed at this time to enter upon 
 any discussion of it. Our views are clear, and if it shall 
 become necessary we shall have no hesitation in justify- 
 ing them. Professor Caulkins's moral character is not 
 involved in the case. That he is a fine scholar and 
 teacher, and that he means to be a gentleman, we fully 
 believe. At the same time we also believe that his views 
 and feelings upon what is known as the 'color ques- 
 tion,' or the 'Negro question,' are such as to make him 
 an improper person to hold a position as teacher in a 
 school officially connected with the Freedmen's Aid So- 
 ciety. We say this after having heard the case freely 
 stated by Mr. Johnson, Professor Caulkins, and Dr. 
 Carter, and after hearing the declarations of others who 
 have knowledge of Professor Caulkins's views. At this 
 
 21
 
 242 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 time, however, we do not think it necessary to discuss 
 the statements which we have heard, and thus prove 
 the justness of our conclusions. The trustees of the uni- 
 versity have access to all the parties interested, and we pre- 
 fer to leave the case in their hands for final adjudication, 
 as they constitute the body which has the power to dis- 
 miss teachers. We only add that the Freedmeu's Aid 
 Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church can not, and 
 in our judgment will not, continue in its employ any 
 person who is capable of showing disrespect, under any 
 circumstances, to a colored person because he is colored. 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church is the exponent of a 
 nobler sentiment, and will not stultify herself by allow- 
 ing one of her great benevolent societies to employ as a 
 teacher in one of our schools, any man who stands for 
 the views which the country has inherited from the in- 
 stitution of slavery ; and in this the Freedmen's Aid So- 
 ciety is in exact harmony with the views of the Church. 
 The black man is a man, and the fact must be recognized." 
 
 STATEMENT 
 
 FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OP THE FREEHMEN'S 
 AID SOCIETY IN THE CASE OF PROFESSOR CAUUCINS. 
 
 " It has been widely published that Professor Caul- 
 kins, of Chattanooga University, Tennessee, a school 
 officially connected with the Freedmen's Aid Society of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, and built and sup- 
 ported for the most part by funds from its treasury, re- 
 fused to shake hands with the Rev. B. H. Johnson, pastor 
 of one of the Methodist Episcopal Churches of Chatta- 
 nooga, and that he refused the proffered hand of Mr. 
 Johnson because Mr. Johnson is a colored man. It has
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 243 
 
 also been reported that Professor Caulkins, in conversa- 
 tion with the Rev. Dr. Carter, immediately after the 
 alleged insult to Mr. Johnson, used words which indi- 
 cated his personal prejudice against the Negro race. 
 
 "In view of the wide circulation of these accusa- 
 tions, the executive committee of the Freedmen's Aid 
 Society makes the following statement of facts : 
 
 "The first report of the case was made to some 
 members of the executive committee about the 22d of 
 October, and the president of the society, Bishop Wai- 
 den, did not hear of it until the 25th. On the 26th a 
 meeting of the executive committee was held, the presi- 
 dent of the society being in the chair, and at this meet- 
 ing Dr. Rust, the corresponding secretary, was directed 
 to ascertain the facts in the case, and, if the disparag- 
 ing rumors concerning Professor Caulkins should prove 
 to be true, Bishop Walden was directed to lay the mat- 
 ter before the board of trustees of the university, and 
 ask for Professor Caulkins's resignation. The vote of 
 the committee upon this resolution was unanimous. 
 Bishop Walden went immediately to New York to attend 
 the bishops' meeting and other annual meetings. 
 
 " Dr. Rust secured written statements from Dr. Car- 
 ter, Mr. Johnson, and Professor Caulkins. At a meet- 
 ing of the executive committee, December 1st, held on 
 the bishop's return from the East, the matter was called 
 up, but no formal report was made, it being the wish of 
 the committee that Bishop Walden should see the par- 
 ties on the ground, and ascertain, so far as possible, all 
 the facts bearing upon the case. He presented his re- 
 port to the executive committee, Monday, December 
 20th, the earliest date practicable after he had secured
 
 244 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 a meeting of the parties iu Chattanooga. Pending the 
 consideration of the report, the committee adjourned to 
 Thursday, December 23d. 
 
 "The annual meeting of the board of managers of 
 the Freedmen's Aid Society was held on the 21st of De- 
 cember, and this case was called up, and by resolution 
 was left to the executive committee to take such action as 
 the facts might require. 
 
 " Dr. Carter and Professor Caulkins being present on 
 the 23d, each, by request of the committee, made a full 
 statement. Iu view of these statements it was deemed 
 best to have personal statements from other parties, and 
 the committee requested the presence of Mr. Johnson, 
 President Lewis, Dr. Manker, and Mr. J. H. Bowman 
 at an adjourned meeting held Tuesday, December 28th. 
 These were all present at this meeting except Mr. Bow- 
 man, and each made a statement before the committee. 
 
 "The committee spared neither time nor patient 
 labor in investigating the case, and after mature delib- 
 eration, the entire committee being present, adopted the 
 following : 
 
 " ' 1. That we, the executive committee of the Freed- 
 men's Aid Society, strongly condemn au insult or dis- 
 courtesy to a colored person on account of color or 
 previous condition; that we hold that no person who 
 entertains sentiments either inimical or prejudicial to 
 the colored people, as such, should have a position of trust 
 in any institution of our Church ; that we do unquali- 
 fiedly condemn the refusal or failure of Professor Caul- 
 kins to shake hands with Rev. B. H. Johnson, and de- 
 plore the results of what Professor Caulkius claims to 
 have been carelessness on his part.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 245 
 
 " ' 2. That a majority of this executive committee is 
 convinced that Professor Caulkins did intentionally re- 
 fuse to shake hands with Rev. B. H. Johnson ; that he 
 does entertain sentiments that unfit him for a position 
 in a school with which our Freed men's Aid Society is 
 officially connected, and that he should be asked to 
 resign at once. 
 
 " ' 3. That inasmuch as the power to dismiss teachers 
 from the Chattanooga University is vested by the char- 
 ter in its board of trustees, we, the executive com- 
 mittee of the Freedmen's Aid Society, refer the fore- 
 going statements and conclusions to said board of 
 trustees, and respectfully request a speedy decision in 
 the matter, and that the decision be placed before the 
 Church at the earliest day practicable. 
 
 "'Attest: J. M. WALDEN, President. 
 
 <"T. H. PEARNE, Secretary.'" 
 
 When the foregoing action of the board of man- 
 agers was communicated to the trustees, they refused 
 to comply. 
 
 The following from the Western Christian Advo- 
 cate has the right ring : 
 
 PROFESSOR CAULKINS'S CASE. 
 "We learn that the trustees of the Chattanooga 
 University decline to comply with the request *>f the 
 executive committee of the Freedmen's Aid Society as 
 to the removal of Professor Caulkins. We learn this 
 with much regret, because one result will be a disturb- 
 ance of the harmonious relations which should exist be- 
 tween the trustees and the executive committee. We 
 do not see how the committee can possibly recede from
 
 246 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 its position. When the matter was sent back by the 
 trustees for further consideration, and some new facts 
 were submitted, it was the conviction of the committee 
 that the new facts made the case against the professor 
 stronger than before, and the request for his removal 
 was more prompt and emphatic in the second instance 
 than in the first. As we have already said, we are fully 
 satisfied that Professor Caulkins means to be a gentle- 
 man ; but a man who could, under any possible cir- 
 cumstances, say such things about the Negro as Pro- 
 fessor Caulkins certainly has said, and act toward a 
 colored minister as he did act toward Mr. Johnson, is 
 not a proper person to occupy the position of teacher 
 in a Freedmen's Aid Society school, and the effort of 
 the trustees to retain him can accomplish no desirable re- 
 sults. The professor ought to resign, and thus end the 
 controversy over his case. That the five trustees who 
 voted to retain him in the university are sincere in 
 their motives we do not for one moment doubt, but they 
 certainly do not see the case as the great mass of the 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church see it, and 
 their position is clearly untenable. Professor Caulkins 
 should not be permitted to remain in that institution. 
 If nothing else can be done, notice should at once be 
 given to terminate the contract between the Freedmen's 
 Aid Society and the trustees, and at the earliest practi- 
 cable moment a new administration should be inaugu- 
 rated. One mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in the South is to teach a better theory concerning the 
 Negro than the South has heretofore held, and it is 
 wholly incongruous for us to employ as teachers in the 
 South men who hold upon this particular subject opiii-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 247 
 
 ions which we are there to destroy. However pure the 
 motives of the trustees may be, and we have no suspicion 
 of them, their course is not wise, and if persisted in will 
 lead to serious consequences. We hope they will recon- 
 sider their action before the evils are precipitated upon 
 us which must otherwise inevitably result. 
 
 MIXED SCHOOLS LET US BE WISE. 
 
 "It will be a very disastrous state of things if, while 
 the Chattanooga University is under discussion, the col- 
 lections for the Freedmen's Aid Society shall be post- 
 poned. The society is in debt now, and funds must be 
 supplied or its work will be crippled, and in the not 
 distant future will have to be suspended. More money 
 should be given this year than in any previous year. 
 
 "No change in the administration of the society has 
 been inaugurated. The colored work and the white 
 work are going on now just as they have done for year.*, 
 only more BficofHsfully than ever before. There have 
 never been any colored students in our white schools in 
 the South, and the last General Conference knew this 
 fact, and approved the administration of the Freed- 
 men's Aid Society. One of our contemporaries says that 
 colored students can find a way into Grant Memorial 
 University, at Athens, Tennessee; but that is certainly 
 a mistake. We can not learn that one colored student 
 has ever been in that school, nor do we believe that one 
 would be admitted there. Our white schools in the 
 South are for whites exclusively, and have been so from 
 the beginning. 
 
 "We do not now discuss the main question at issue, 
 but we do say that, in our judgment, those in charge
 
 248 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 of the Freedraen's Aid Society have been administering 
 the trust committed to them just as they administered it 
 before the last General Conference, and as they under- 
 stood the instructions given them by that General Con- 
 ference. The Freed/men'* Aid Society has never excluded 
 colored students from white schools. Certain colored 
 persons who applied for admittance to Chattanooga Uni- 
 versity were refused by the local authorities, and only a 
 few days ago the matter was referred to the officers of the 
 Freed men's Aid Society, when a meeting of the board 
 of managers was at at once called to consider the ques- 
 tion. So far as we know, this is the first action of the 
 kind in the history of the society. What conclusion the 
 board will reach we do not know, and do not now care 
 to conjecture, although our own views upon the whole 
 subject are entirely clear. We do not believe that under 
 the action of the General Conference of 1884 those 
 students can be rightfully refused admittance to the uni- 
 versity, and whatever the results may be, the General 
 Conference itself must bear the responsibility for them. 
 We confess our profound conviction, and onr painful 
 fear, that if this view shall be adopted and acted upon, 
 our entire educational work among the whites of the 
 South will be imperiled. The prejudice against the in- 
 troduction of colored students to our white schools in 
 the South is more violent than it would be against the 
 appointment of a colored man as pastor of Trinity 
 Church, Chicago; or, if such a thing were possible, of 
 Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. We do not believe that 
 mixed schools in the South, generally, are yet possible, 
 and this fact has influenced the action of the General 
 Conference upon this whole subject. It is barely pos-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CUURCH. 249 
 
 sible that if that body had fully appreciated the gravity 
 of the situation, the resolution of May 28, 1884, setting 
 forth the policy of the Church, would not have been 
 adopted. However this may be, to us the action of the 
 Conference admits of but one interpretation, and when 
 a studeut knocks at the door of any one of our schools, 
 the opening of the door must not depend upon the color 
 of the applicant. Whether the action of the confer- 
 ence be wise or unwise is a very different question; but 
 this is our interpretation of what it did. 
 
 "For the preseut, however, we are anxious that the 
 regular collections for the society shall be taken, so that 
 its growing and glorious work may not be crippled. If 
 the collections cease, the colored work will be destroyed. 
 Our white people in the South can do something on 
 educational lines for themselves, but our colored people 
 can do little, if anything ; and when the people of the 
 North fail to send in the money, the schools for the col- 
 ored people must inevitably close. Let no angry criti- 
 cism of the society result in robbery of Christ's poor. 
 
 "We trust the Church will see the case just as it is, 
 and not rush to a conclusion which will endanger our 
 hitherto prosperous work in the South. The board of 
 managers of the society can be trusted to do what is 
 right and wise. Let the collections be taken as usual, 
 and send the money in promptly, and wait iu patience 
 for a deliverance from the board of managers. We do 
 not need angry passion just now, but coolness, delibera- 
 tion, wisdom, and the fear and love of God. Let these 
 virtues prevail, and no disaster will befall us." 
 
 The trustees of Chattanooga University hav- 
 ing refused to ask Professor Caulkins to resign his
 
 250 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 position in the institution, the Western Christian 
 Advocate reported, editorially and otherwise, the fol- 
 lowing, which we insert in full, because the editor 
 was present during all the deliberations of the 
 body, and was chairman of the sub-committee 
 which prepared the statements and resolutions which 
 were considered, amended, and adopted : 
 
 ' ' The action of the board of managers of the Freed- 
 men's Aid Society will he found iu another column, and 
 will be read very widely and with much care. The 
 editor of the Western was present during all the delib- 
 erations of the body, and was chairman of the sub- 
 committee which prepared the statements and resolutions 
 which were considered, amended, and adopted. He is, 
 therefore, in a position to know how the board reached 
 its conclusions, and the spirit of all the discussions. 
 The work was done prayerfully and carefully, and with 
 profound appreciation of the principles involved and 
 of the possible results of the action taken. The board 
 understood that it was dealing, directly or indirectly, 
 with the entire work of our Church in the South ; for, 
 as matter of fact, the fate of our Churches in that part 
 of the country is more closely related to the fate of our 
 schools than most persons think. It took a broad view 
 of the whole subject, and after many hours of delibera- 
 tion on three successive days, adopted the deliverance 
 which is now laid before the Church. What its state- 
 ments and resolutions are, the reader will learn by per- 
 sonal examination of them. They are easily understood. 
 No adroit play is attempted upon the word ' policy,' nor 
 is the resolution of May 28, 1884, treated as a ' barren
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 251 
 
 ideality,' The board adopted the view of the whole ques- 
 tion which was set forth editorially iu these columns 
 some weeks ago. That the General Conference intended 
 to continue separate schools for the two races is en- 
 tirely clear to us, and that it also intended that those 
 schools should not be absolutely exclusive as to either 
 race, is equally clear. This is the view taken by the 
 board of managers, and seems to us wholly correct. 
 
 "We believe it will harmonize with the thought of 
 the Church. We do not believe there is a general dis- 
 position to destroy, or even to cripple, our work among 
 the whites of the South ; on the contrary, the remark- 
 able success of that work is a cause of joy to the great 
 majority of our people, and they are ready to aid and 
 extend it. But there is a conviction that the last Gen- 
 eral Conference intended to utter a practical protest 
 against that caste spirit which has so long trampled upon 
 the Negro race ; and there is also a conviction that the 
 age is outgrowing that prejudice, and that in this ad- 
 vance toward ideal gospel fraternity the Church should 
 lead the age. The board shared this conviction, and 
 voiced its opinion in an interpretation of the action 
 of the General Conference which none can misunder- 
 stand. What the effect will be upon our work in the 
 South no one can foretell. It is possible that our schools 
 in that section may all become schools of colored people ; 
 for it is just possible that if colored students shall be 
 admitted to what are now called white schools, all the 
 white students will be foolish enough to leave them. This 
 is prophesied and desired by some who wish us evil, and is 
 feared by some who wish us well, and some of our enemies 
 are already standing ready to laugh at our confusion.
 
 252 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 "We hope for better things. We have no idea that 
 large numbers of colored students will apply for admit- 
 tance to these schools ; for while they do not enjoy being 
 excluded from them by law, they prefer the schools 
 which are attended mostly by their own people, and 
 which, as matter of fact, are among the best in the 
 South. We do not believe that they will purposely 
 embarrass the work among the whites by insisting upon 
 their rights under the action of the General Conference 
 as interpreted by the board of managers. We are free 
 to say that we hope they will not do it. Whatever the 
 result is to be, however, the General Conference took 
 the action which the board has now interpreted, and 
 which, in our judgment, it could not consistently inter- 
 pret in any other way. 
 
 "We believe the Church will approve what the 
 board has done, not only by words but by increased 
 contributions to the cause. The society is heavily in 
 debt, and while it has a very large amount of property, 
 and is in no sense bankrupt, it ought to have an annual 
 income of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 "The action of the board shows how unjust much 
 of the criticism of the society has been. This is the 
 first and only time in its history when it has been 
 called upon to interpret General Conference action upon 
 this subject, and it speaks promptly and clearly. We 
 never had any doubt as to what it would say when an 
 opportunity for utterance should be given, and we 
 prophesied editorially what the result would be. That 
 time has come; the voice of the society has been heard ; 
 and it is now in order for hostile critics to confess how 
 they have wronged a society which ran to the help of
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 253 
 
 the freedman before the roar of the battle which made 
 him free had died away, and has done more since, with 
 the amount of money at its command, than any other 
 benevolent society in the world. 
 
 "We trust that those who are particularly interested 
 in our work among the whites of the South will not 
 lose heart. A better day is dawning. It would be a 
 poor tribute to our work during the last quarter of a 
 century if the introduction of a few colored students 
 into our schools for whites should break the institutions 
 down. Have we really made so little progress that six 
 colored 'students at Chattanooga would drive out two 
 hundred white students? We can hardly believe it. 
 When three chase a hundred, the three must be very 
 strong or the hundred very weak. We believe our white 
 work will go on, and that this action of the board will 
 strengthen the society and increase its success." 
 
 ACTION OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS 
 
 OF THE FREEDMEN'S AID SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST 
 
 EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 "The board of managers of the Freedmen's Aid 
 Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at the call 
 of its executive committee, convened at its office in Cin- 
 cinnati, Ohio, February 22, 1887, the following members 
 being present: J. M. Waldeu, Amos Shinkle, M. B. 
 Hagans, R. S. Rust, J. C. Hartzell, T. H. Pearne, Earl 
 Cranston, W. L. Hypes, D. J. Starr, H. Liebhart, W. 
 F. Boyd, J. H. Bayliss, W. P. Stowe, Joseph Courtney, 
 IS:I;K- W. Joyce, Bidwell Lane, J. M. Shumpcrt, E. W. 
 S. Hammond, J. W. Dale, J. D. Shutt, F. S. Hoyt, J. 
 Krehbiel two members being absent, namely : F. C.
 
 254 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Holliday, through personal illness, and Edward Sargent, 
 on account of affliction in his family. 
 
 "The following was submitted for consideration: 
 
 EXTRACT FROM MINUTES OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF 
 CHATTANOOGA UNIVERSITY. 
 
 " ' WHEREAS, At the opening of the Chattanooga 
 University, September 15, 1886, certain colored persons 
 applied to the faculty for admission as students in the 
 institution ; and 
 
 " ' WHEREAS, Certain other colored persons residing 
 in Athens, Tennessee, have applied for admission at the 
 opening of the second term, now about to commence ; and 
 
 " ' WHEREAS, It has been again and again definitely 
 and clearly stated by the proper authorities of the 
 Church, and from the beginning has been well under- 
 stood by all concerned, that the Chattanooga University 
 was designed for the education of white pupils, and was 
 not intended to be a mixed school ; and 
 
 " ' WHEREAS, It is well known that first-class institu- 
 tions, well equipped and provided by the Church espe- 
 cially for the education of people of color, are within 
 easy reach of all such persons who really desire to avail 
 themselves of their benefits, so that they are in no proper 
 sense dependent on this institution for education ; and 
 
 "'WHEREAS, We are confident that, in the present 
 state of society in the South, the admission of col- 
 ored students to the Chattanooga University would, on 
 the one hand, be fatal to the prosperity of the institu- 
 tion, and defeat the very object proposed by the Church 
 in the establishment of the school ; and, on the other hand, 
 would not only be unproductive of good results to the
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 255 
 
 colored students so admitted, but would excite prejudice 
 and passion, alienate the races, and prove especially det- 
 rimental to the interests of the colored people ; and 
 
 "'WHEREAS, This very question of mixed schools 
 has, by the General Conference itself, been declared to 
 be "one of expediency, which is to be left to the choice 
 and administration of those on the ground and more 
 immediately concerned;" therefore, be it 
 
 " ' Resolved, That we deem it inexpedient to admit 
 colored students to the university, and that the faculty 
 be instructed to administer accordingly. 
 
 "'Adopted January 4, 1887.' 
 
 "In view of this action, and after full consideration 
 of the whole subject, the board of managers adopts the 
 following statements and resolutions : 
 
 " 1. The last General Conference authorized the 
 Freedrnen's Aid Society to aid in the maintenance and 
 establishment of separate schools among the white mem- 
 bers of our Church in the South. It did this by recog- 
 nizing the separate white schools then existing in tlio 
 South as entitled to aid ; by directing the Freedmeu's Aid 
 Society to co-operate in maintaining and establishing such 
 schools; by approving the aid this society had already 
 extended to these schools ; and by directing the pastors 
 when taking collections for the Freedmeu's Aid Society 
 to ' state plainly that the educational work of the 
 society is among both white and colored people.' There 
 can, therefore, be no doubt that it was the intention to 
 continue separate schools in connection with the Freed- 
 men's Aid Society ; yet, in the judgment of this board 
 of managers, it is in harmony with the prevailing senti- 
 ment of the last General Conference to interpret its
 
 256 THE COLORED MAX. 
 
 action as being designed to forbid the exclusion of any 
 student 'from instruction in any and every school under 
 the supervision of the Church because of race, color, or 
 previous condition of servitude ;' and we hereby de- 
 clare that no pupil should be excluded on account of 
 race, color, or previous condition of servitude, from in- 
 struction in the schools under the control of this Freed- 
 men's Aid Society or aided by its funds, under the 
 authority of the last General Conference. 
 
 "In the above interpretation of the action of the 
 last General Conference touching this general principle 
 of equality, it is the judgment of this board that it was 
 not the expectation of the General Conference that any 
 advantage would be taken of its deliverance on this 
 subject by persons or parties interested in embarrassing 
 the work of our Church, or of this society ; and, therefore, 
 we trust that the parties directly interested in its practical 
 application will so act as to promote good-will and insure 
 the usefulness of all the schools under the care of this 
 society. We also call attention to, and emphasize, the 
 following action of the last General Conference, viz : 
 
 " 'The establishment of schools for the benefit of our 
 white membership in the South we believe to have been 
 a wise and necessary measure. Their success has been 
 gratifying. The beneficial results have not been con- 
 fined to those immediately interested, but their liberal- 
 izing effects upon public sentiment have greatly re- 
 dounded to the advantage of our colored people. We 
 regret that for so great and important a work so little 
 has been done by the Church, and we desire most em- 
 phatically to give expression to our conviction that the 
 time has come when this portion of our educational
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 257 
 
 work should be strengthened and placed upon a strong and 
 permanent basis, as its importance certainly demands.' 
 
 "2. WHEREAS, It appears from the above action 
 of the Chattanooga University that certain students 
 were denied admission to that institution for the sole 
 reason that they were persons of African descent ; and 
 
 "WHEREAS, In the judgment of this board there is 
 neither in the charter of the Chattanooga University, 
 nor in the contract between said university and tiie 
 Freedmen's Aid Society, anything authorizing the ex- 
 clusion of students from instruction in said institution 
 on account of color or race ; and as the General Con- 
 ference, on May 28, 1884, did, as its last utterance on 
 this question, declare ' the policy of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church to be, that ... no student shall be 
 excluded from instruction in any and every school under 
 the supervision of the Church because of race, color, or 
 previous condition of servitude ;' therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, That we disapprove the exclusion of those 
 students for the reason assigned ; and hereby instruct 
 our executive committee to use all proper means at its 
 command to induce the trustees of the Chattanooga 
 University to rescind the order by which those students 
 were refused instruction in that institution. 
 
 "3. WHEREAS, The executive committee of the 
 Chattanooga University has declined to ask for the 
 resignation of Professor Wilford Caulkins as a member 
 of the faculty of that institution, although such action 
 has been twice requested by the executive committee of 
 this board ; therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, By the board of managers of the Freed- 
 men's Aid Society, that we approve the course of our 
 
 22
 
 258 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 executive committee iu seeking to secure the resignation 
 of Professor Caulkins; and, while carefully and respect- 
 fully considering the reasons urged by the executive 
 committee of the Chattanooga University for his reten- 
 tion, it is our conviction that the best interests of the 
 society aud the Church demand his removal. 
 
 "4. WHEREAS, Harmony between this board and 
 the Chattanooga University is essential to the effective 
 working of the said university ; therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, That if the Chattanooga University fail 
 to secure the resignation of Professor Wilford Caulkins, 
 to take effect at a date not later than the close of the 
 present school term, and so to modify its action as not 
 to exclude from instruction in that institution students 
 on account race or color; i. e., if the said university 
 fail in either of these particulars, we hereby instruct 
 our executive committee to secure by agreement, if pos- 
 sible, with the trustees of said university, the immediate 
 termination of the contract between the Chattanooga 
 University and the Freedmen's Aid Society; and, in 
 case a termination of said contract be not secured by 
 mutual agreement, in either of the contingencies named 
 above, to notify the trustees of the Chattanooga Uni- 
 versity, within sixty days from this 24th day of Feb- 
 ruary, 1887, of the termination of the contract as 
 provided in the same. 
 
 "Done by the Board of Managers of the Freedmen's 
 Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at 
 its office in Cincinnati, Ohio, this 24th day of 
 February, A. D. 1887. 
 
 "J. M. WALDEN, President. 
 " Attest : T. H. PEARNE, Secretary."
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THEORY AND PRACTICE A GENERAL DISCUSSION. 
 
 WHILE the board of managers was iu session, 
 as well as before and afterward, a gen- 
 eral discussion, pro and con, was going on. We 
 give but a few of the many expressions of opinion 
 on the subject; enough, however, for one to form 
 an intelligent opinion touching the real intention 
 of the Church. If it should appear to any one that 
 the actions taken by the last General Conference 
 were ambiguous, not to say plainly contradictory, not 
 only with themselves but the past record of the 
 Church, it will occasion no surprise. The Central 
 Christian Advocate, at St. Louis, spoke editorially, 
 March 2d, as follows : 
 
 THEORY AND PRACTICE. 
 
 "The decision of those who are in charge of the 
 new university at Chattanooga, erected "under the direc- 
 tion of, and out of the funds collected for, the Freed- 
 men's Aid Society, that colored students shall not be 
 admitted to its benefits, has brought the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church face to face with certain questions 
 which only the next General Conference can settle. 
 But in the meantime it is wise to examine the questions 
 involved from every point of view, and, if possible, 
 thoroughly comprehend the situation ; for, in matters of
 
 260 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 this kind, we are apt to form opinions before we have 
 canvassed the whole field, and to make accusations that 
 will not stand investigation. That there are differences 
 of opinion in regard to the intention of the last General 
 Conference in its legislation on the subject under dis- 
 cussion, no one can doubt. There were those in that 
 body who understood that certain action in which they 
 had a part established the rule that no distinctions 
 founded on race or color should be made under any cir- 
 cumstances in any of our schools. But there are others 
 who as certainly understood that there would probably be 
 circumstances where the success of our educational work 
 in the South would depend upon setting apart some of 
 the schools there exclusively for the whites. It is not a 
 difference of opinion that admits any suspicion of a lack 
 of honesty or piety in either party, much less the accu- 
 sation of trickery or intentional wrong-doing. And it 
 will be found, we think, after proper consideration, that 
 these differences may be easily explained ; that they are 
 simply the differences of opinion which always arise in 
 the transformation and development of society between 
 the party of theory and that of experience and practice. 
 "The Methodist Episcopal Church holds to the 
 theory that God 'hath made of one blood all nations of 
 men ;' that they were all involved in the fall, and all 
 have been redeemed by Christ, and may become par- 
 takers of the same faith and eternal inheritance. We 
 hold that the social and civil distinctions which prevail 
 in society are of men, not of God. 'There is neither 
 Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is 
 neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ 
 Jesus.' It is not possible so at least it appears to us
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 261 
 
 to conceive of Christ as recognizing these distinctions 
 except to condemn them, and to show his sympathy for 
 the oppressed or degraded party. The conviction and 
 faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church is as strong, 
 and her practice as nearly in accord with her faith, as 
 that of any Protestant Church; but her faith and prac- 
 tice are not, and never have been, in harmony in regard 
 to the colored people. The simple fact is, that wherever 
 the colored people have become Methodists, and are 
 found in any considerable number, they have been 
 formed into separate societies ; when a number of socie- 
 ties have been formed they have been organized into 
 a separate district, and in the end into separate confer- 
 ences. The line of procedure has been the same in the 
 North, where slavery has not prevailed for generations, 
 and the rights of the colored people are fully recognized, 
 as in the South where the prejudice against them is the 
 greatest. So that there is not to-day, so far as we know, a 
 single colored Church, able to support a pastor, in charge 
 of a white pastor. There is not a society of whites, in any 
 condition of poverty or ignorance, served by a colored 
 pastor. There are a few districts of colored societies 
 served by white presiding elders, but not one white dis- 
 trict by a colored presiding elder. And we do not be- 
 lieve there is a society of whites anywhere in the Church 
 that have asked for or would receive a colored pastor, 
 whatever might be his grade of talent. They would not 
 object to hear one of this description preach, and they 
 would treat him with consideration, but they would 
 hardly ask him to become their pastor. 
 
 " We believe this to be a fair statement of the 
 situation. It does not mean that we intend to be unjust
 
 262 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 or unchristian, nor that we harbor secret prejudice 
 against our colored brethren, but simply that the condi- 
 tion of things about us makes it impossible, as we say, 
 to put our theory in practice. We are not hypocrites, 
 nor are we consciously faint at heart in contending for 
 the equal rights of all men ; but we have learned that 
 the leaven of Christianity has not yet leaVened society. 
 We find our theory and the practical reason not in ac- 
 cord, and we follow reason. For we are not propagat- 
 ing a theory but engaged in obtaining actual benefits 
 for men. The object we have in view is itself a step 
 towards the overthrow of error and sin and prejudice. 
 It is not a surrender, but accepting what we can 
 not at once change that we may yet reach the object 
 in view. 
 
 "Some one, however, may say, But what about the 
 schools ? The school is not a necessity in the same sense 
 that the Church is; and if people prefer to remain 
 ignorant rather than obtain education under certain 
 circumstances, let them take the responsibility. This 
 means, we take it, that we shall not undertake to do 
 anything towards the education of the whites in the 
 South. And yet it is by education alone that this preju- 
 dice which we are asked to combat is to be removed. 
 Those in charge of the Chattanooga University have 
 not, we think, taken counsel of their fears in this mat- 
 ter, but have an intelligent conviction of their duty 
 under the circumstances. And yet it might have been 
 worth the experiment to have made the test, and let the 
 Church know exactly the difficulty which confronts 
 a company of men who have at heart the welfare 
 alike of white and colored. But right here is where
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 263 
 
 the difference of opiuion comes in where theory and 
 practice come in collision ; the one party is no more 
 willing to yield than the other. Whether we can main- 
 tain a condition in our Church schools which we have 
 failed to maintain in the Church where prejudice should 
 have less influence than anywhere else is, to say the 
 least, problematical. And the question which will come 
 before the next General Conference is : Shall we under- 
 take to establish a condition of affairs iu the South 
 which we have utterly failed to establish in the North 
 under more favorable circumstances." 
 
 March 2d the following appeared in the North- 
 western Christian Advocate, from the pen of A. 
 Wheeler, D. D. : 
 
 "The refusal of the Chattanooga University to admit 
 the colored students who made application for reception 
 into its halls has exposed them to severe criticism, 
 not to say malediction. A reconstruction of its admin- 
 istration is loudly called for, more in harmony with the 
 policy and principles of the Church. The suggestion 
 that the great wrong done should at least be divided 
 with another authority seems not to have occurred to 
 any of the horrified accusers living a thousand miles 
 away from the scene of trouble. Is this as it ought to 
 be ? Is it justice ? Is it fair play ? 
 
 "In this transaction two things claim attention, the 
 principle underlying it, and its application. As to the 
 principle : The General Conference of 1876 indorsed the 
 principle of separate conferences and societies. Is the 
 principle of separation right in the house of God, and 
 wrong in the house of learning? The General Confer-
 
 264 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 ence of 1884 recognized the principle as appropriate also 
 to our schools in the South. Was this done as an ab- 
 straction, with no expectation of a concrete application ? 
 If so, it ought to have been known. If the principle 
 is wrong, it is but just that condemnation fall upon 
 the General Conferences enacting it, and moral cow- 
 ardice to visit such indignation on the Chattanooga 
 agents of the Church carrying out a principle ordained 
 by the highest authority of the Church a principle to 
 be carried into operation under certain contingencies. 
 
 "The application of the principle is the other mat- 
 ter to be considered. Who was to apply it? Some- 
 body in Detroit or Boston, or the trustees and faculties 
 intrusted with the care of the institutions? To ask the 
 question is to answer it. A mistake in the application 
 of the principle in a given case might be made, but 
 are those making it to be adjudged worse sinners than 
 those upon whom the tower of Siloam fell therefor? 
 If those applying a principle mistakenly be worthy of 
 death, of how much sorer punishment shall they be 
 thought worthy who gave them the principle to apply? 
 But the General Conference of 1884 declared the policy 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church to be . . . that 
 'no student shall be excluded from instruction in 
 any and every school under the supervision of the 
 Church because of race, color, or previous condition of 
 servitude.' What of it? Had that deliverance the 
 force of an enactment? Was it true to history? Will 
 any claim it to be history ? Who have declared it ? 
 When and where was the declaration made? Had 
 such a policy been carried into execution? When? 
 By whom? Had it been at Athens or Little Rock,
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 265 
 
 the only other schools established for whites at the 
 South? 
 
 "The statement never ought to have been made by 
 the committee, nor indorsed by the General Conference. 
 The policy of exclusion had never been adopted, it is 
 true, but the trend of the legislation of the Church 
 since 1876 had been in the direction of separation in 
 worship and education, under certain conditions. To 
 institute such legislation, and then visit unsparing in- 
 dignation on those whose duty it is to apply it, is 
 neither just nor manly, unless the application has been 
 made in a way faithless to a committed trust. I am 
 not defending the principle of separation in conferences 
 or schools. It may be wrong. If it is, let us say so 
 and abandon it; but till we do abandon it, let us not 
 blame those for whose benefit it was adopted for using 
 it when the conditions for its use are present. Nor let 
 us conclude that one of the qualifications for judging 
 conditions is distance from the scene of action, and that 
 competency is in proportion to remoteness. Let those 
 of us who voted the principle, if it be blameworthy, 
 bear our part of the blame, and not saddle it all off 
 upon the Chattanooga authorities. Let us hold them 
 responsible for a misuse of it only. To legislate a prin- 
 ciple that was never to be used would be simply a 
 mockery." 
 
 March 9th the following contribution, which 
 appeared in the columns of the Western Christian 
 Advocate, was written by A. B. Leonard, D. D. : 
 
 " There appears to be no small amount of confusion 
 in the minds of not a few, who ought to be perfectly 
 
 .23
 
 266 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 clear, as to the action of the late General Conference 
 on the question of caste in the Churches and schools of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. The action of that 
 body was of such a character as to put the whole ques- 
 tion beyond the realm of doubt. 
 
 "On May 22, 1884, Report No. 3 was presented by 
 the chairman of the Freedmen's Committee to the Geu- 
 eral Conference, and was adopted with but little dis- 
 cussion, almost without opposition. The third resolution 
 of that report was as follows : 
 
 "'Resolved, That the question of separate or mixed 
 schools we consider one of expediency, ivhick is to be left to 
 tJie choice and administration of those on ilie ground and 
 more immediately concerned: Provided, there shall be no 
 interference with the rights set forth in this preamble and 
 these resolutions.' 
 
 "In regard to mixed schools and congregations the 
 preamble said : 
 
 "'To the question of mixed schools we have given 
 our most serious and prayerful attention. It is a sub- 
 ject beset with peculiar difficulties. That the colored 
 man has a just and equal right, not only to life and 
 liberty, but also to the means of grace and facilities 
 for education, we not only admit, but most positively 
 affirm. We are in duty bound to provide for and to 
 secure to every class of our membership, so far as pos- 
 sible, a fair and equal opportunity in Church and school 
 accommodations. And in so far as this is done our duty 
 is performed, and the equal rights justly demanded of us 
 thus fairly and fully conceded. Mixed congregations and 
 mixed sdiools may, in many places, be most desirable and 
 best for all concerned. In other cases one class or the other,
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 267 
 
 or both, may prefer separate congregations and separate 
 sdiools. Equal rights to the best facilities for intellectual 
 and spiritual culture ; equal rights in the eligibility to 
 every posititiou of honor and trust, and equal rights in 
 the exercise of a free and unconstrained choice in all 
 social relations, is a principle at once American, Meth- 
 odistic, and Scriptural.' 
 
 " Upon a more thorough examination of the italicised 
 parts of this report it was feared by many that it would 
 justify forcible separation on the color-line where ' those 
 on the ground' saw fit to adopt that policy. In the 
 light of recent events that fear was well founded. The 
 Chattanooga University trustees have done just what it 
 was feared might be done under the resolution and pre- 
 amble above quoted. If no further action had been 
 taken by the General Conference, that body would be 
 compelled to bear the responsibility of the rejection of 
 colored students by the Chattanooga authorities. In the 
 absence of further action the trustees could say that the 
 'question of separate or mixed schools' is 'one of expe- 
 diency, which is to be left to the choice and adminis- 
 tration of those on the ground.' ' We are on the ground, 
 and we hold that expediency requires that colored stu- 
 dents shall be excluded from our university, and we so 
 decree.' 
 
 "But there was another General Conference com- 
 mittee that could properly consider and report on the 
 question of caste the Committee on the State of the 
 Church which had, according to the statement of its 
 chairman, Governor Pattison, made upon the floor of 
 the General Conference, given special attention to this 
 question, even before the report from the Freedmen's
 
 268 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Committee was adopted. The unsatisfactory nature of 
 the report from the Freedmen's Committee, already 
 adopted, was regarded as sufficient reason why the re- 
 port from the Committee on the State of the Church 
 should be pressed upon the attention of the conference. 
 That report was presented and adopted May 28th, the 
 last day of the session. The report was as follows: 
 
 " 'Resolved, That this General Conference declares 
 the policy of the Methodist Episcopal Church to be, 
 that no member of any society within the Church shall 
 be excluded from public worship in any and every 
 edifice of the denomination, and no student shall be ex- 
 cluded from instruction in any and every school under 
 the supervision of the Church, because of race, color, or 
 previous condition of servitude.' 
 
 "It was well known at the time that this latest 
 action of the General Conference was intended to make 
 it impossible under any circumstances, forcibly or mor- 
 ally, to 'exclude colored people from any Church 
 or school under the control of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church.' 
 
 "The resolution was earnestly opposed by a small 
 minority, and all parliamentary tactics were employed 
 to prevent its adoption. 
 
 "Dr. Lanahan opposed it because the conference 
 had already declared that ' color is no bar to any right 
 or privilege of office or membership in the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church,' and moved to postpone indefinitely. 
 
 "Rev. C. J. Howes moved to substitute a minority 
 report, as follows: 
 
 "' Resolved, That there is no call for any farther 
 action upon the relation of the races in our Church.'
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 269 
 
 "Brother Howes made a vigorous speech against 
 the report and in favor of the substitute, at the close of 
 which the previous question was ordered. Before the 
 vote was taken, Governor Pattison, as chairman of the 
 committee, made an earnest plea for the rejection of the 
 substitute and the adoption of the resolution. The 
 substitute was lost. A. Shinkle, a layman, called for a 
 vote by orders, but the call was not sustained. The 
 Rev. Dr.-T. C. Carter called for a vote by orders, but 
 the call was not sustained. The vote was then taken on 
 indefinite postponement, and lost. A. Shiukle called for 
 the yeas and nays, and the call was not sustained. 
 The report of the committee was then adopted without 
 amendment, a small minority voting against it. 
 
 "The adoption of this report, as narrated above, 
 leaves no room for a doubt as to the position of the 
 General Conference on the question of caste. There is no 
 conflict between the two reports. The report from the 
 Freedmen's Committee is to be interpreted in the light of 
 the report from the Committee on the State of the Church. 
 
 "The attempt made by certain persons to make the 
 impression that the latest deliverance of the General 
 Conference was hasty and not well considered, is hardly 
 less than a perversion of the facts in the case. Being 
 the latest, it is the mature judgment of that body, and 
 was intended to set at rest the question of caste. 
 
 "It is passing strange that any attempt should be 
 made, particularly by members of the late General 
 Conference, to justify the course pursued by the Chat- 
 tanooga trustees. They have simply violated both the 
 letter and the spirit of the deliverance of the Church 
 through its only legislative body. There was but one
 
 270 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 thing, therefore, that the Fre'edmen's Aid Society could 
 do without joining hands with the Chattanooga trus- 
 tees ; namely, to condemn their policy of rejecting col- 
 ored students ; and that, thank God, it has done. Let 
 its resolution be engraved in letters of gold, and con- 
 spicuously displayed over the doors of all the schools 
 under its care. Let it be announced boldly by bishops, 
 editors, college faculties, and ministers, that the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church knows no caste, either in its 
 houses of worship or schools of learning. 
 
 " Now that this vexed question is settled, so far as 
 it is possible to settle it by the action of the Freedmeu's 
 Aid Society, and settled in harmony with the action 
 of the General Conference and the teachings of the 
 New Testament, let the support of the society be more 
 generous than ever before. There is no cause that is 
 more worthy, and when its merits are fairly stated it can 
 not fail to meet a generous response." 
 
 The following appeared in the Western Christian 
 Advocate of same date, written by Isaac Crook, D. D. : 
 
 '"You can and you can't, 
 You shall and you sha'n't.' 
 
 "Allow a word now from one outside of the responsi- 
 bilities of General Conference membership in 1884, and 
 of ambitions for 1888, and with no votes to be defended. 
 The action had on the report (No. 3) from the Freed- 
 men's Aid Committee seemed to outsiders to say, 'That 
 action is inspired by the prudence come from ex- 
 perience, and through those "on the ground."' It is in 
 harmony with the liberty needful in all similar work 
 North and South, and is sustained by the Pauline wis- 
 dom which ' took and circumcised Timothy because of
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 271 
 
 the Jews in those* quarters.' Local prejudices did con- 
 trol the ' policy ' of St. Paul. 
 
 "The report of the Committee on the State of the 
 Church (No. 4 adopted afterward) looked like a halt, 
 and even a retreat, under some alarm at what had thus 
 been done six days before. 
 
 "The first action said: 'The question of separate or 
 mixed schools we consider one of expediency, which is 
 to be left to the choice and administration of those on 
 the ground.' That said, 'You can.' 
 
 "Then came, six days later, the adoption of this: 
 ' No student shall be excluded in any and every school 
 under supervision of the Church.' How could it say 
 more clearly, ' You can V ' exclude?' It is not now, as 
 it was six days ago, 'left to the dioice of those on the 
 ground,' except as they choose to admit. 
 
 "When Lorenzo Dow would answer high Calvinism, 
 which declared for the freedom of the human will, but 
 that freedom possible only in one direction, he flung out 
 the rhyme heading this article : 
 
 ' You can and you can 't, 
 You shall and you sha'n't, 
 You will and you won't; 
 You '11 be damned if you do, 
 And be damned if you don't.' 
 
 "Is not Chattanooga University caught between the 
 two horns of a parallel case of decreed liberty ? ' Left 
 to the choice and administration of those on the ground,' 
 says Freedmen's Report, No. 3. Those on the ground 
 administer for a white school under that General Con- 
 ference ' can,' when lo ! they are caught by the younger
 
 272 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 member of the decrees governing the case, Avhich says 
 'you can't.' 
 
 "There is not a school under our Church-care in all 
 the South but is liable to both horns of this dilemma of 
 double decrees. No school in the North is so ham- 
 pered. 
 
 "Let the next General Conference take out the 
 Calvinism of the last action had, and adhere to that 
 broad doctrine of human rights which allows not even 
 the tyranny of any majority or minority, though it 
 be of one headstrong person. Let us have freedom 
 of election in both doctrine and polity, not to mention 
 of delegates. May, the name of the beautiful month 
 when General Conference meets, would make a good 
 substitute for 'shall' and 'sha'n't' in all far-reaching 
 legislation for distant and future contingencies. 
 
 "Those who show no faith in posterity, or people dif- 
 ferently surrounded from themselves, provide for em- 
 barrassment and often for revolution. The antecedents 
 and the present love of justice in the heart of Method- 
 ism may be trusted to see that every member of every 
 color shall have right to the pursuit of ' life, liberty, and 
 happiness,' with no other exclusions than a righteous 
 Christian prudence may, as exceptions dictate, require. 
 Even then the ' strong should bear the infirmities of the 
 weak/" 
 
 In the same paper, March 23, 1887, the follow- 
 ing, contributed by Gershom Lease, appeared : 
 
 "That there should be a difference of opinion among 
 good men, in so important a matter as our work in the 
 South, is by no means strange. That even a General
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 273 
 
 Conference of grave divines and honored laymen, while 
 navigating so dark a sea without compass or precedent, 
 should occasionally run against breakers, is not to be 
 wondered at. The only wonder is that, in twenty years 
 of unremitting effort, the Church has not seriously em- 
 barrassed herself by her own action. The Church has 
 had the wisdom and the grace to enter this unexplored 
 field with her evangelizing agencies, and by her wisdom 
 and success commend herself to the continued confi- 
 dence of the people. For the first time in the history 
 of this great work we are brought face to face with a 
 problem, the solution of which is taxing the best thought 
 of the Church, and exciting somewhat grave apprehen- 
 sions in the minds of good men. The difficulty is in 
 the interpretation of the action of the last General Con- 
 ference upon our educational work in the South. It is 
 not strange that there should be a difference of opinion ; 
 for there does really seem to be a want of harmony in 
 the action of that body. 
 
 "On the nineteenth day of the session of the confer- 
 ence it adopted a carefully prepared report, presented by 
 the Committee on Freedmen's Aid and 'Work in the 
 Church on our educational work in the South. The 
 third resolution of this report (No. 3) says that ' the 
 question of separate or mixed schools we consider one 
 of expediency, which is to be left to the choice and ad- 
 ministration of those on the ground and more imme- 
 diately concerned.' On the twenty-fourth day of the ses- 
 sion the conference adopted a report presented by the 
 Committee on the State of the Church, which declares 
 the policy of the Church to be, that ' no student shall 
 be excluded from instruction in any and every school
 
 274 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 under the supervision of the Church, because of race, 
 color, or previous condition of servitude.' These two 
 resolutions do not seem to be in harmony ; each declares 
 a distinct and different policy. The one declares the 
 policy of the Church to be, that ' no student shall be 
 excluded from instruction iu any of our institutions of 
 learning,' while the other just as distinctly declares that 
 the ' question of mixed schools is one of expediency, to 
 be determined by those on the ground.' How it is pos- 
 sible to harmonize these two resolutions it is certainly 
 difficult to see. The theory that the one provides for 
 the admission of a sprinkling of colored students into a 
 white school is not satisfactory. This interpretation 
 still leaves the question open, what per cent of sprink- 
 ling can be accommodated ; which, in effect, breaks 
 down the theory. Neither is it satisfactory to say that 
 mixed schools is the policy of the Church, and separate 
 schools the exception. Though this exposition might be 
 preferable to the former, still it does not materially affect 
 the situation ; for the exception is left to the judgment 
 of the parties ' on the ground and more immediately 
 interested,' which is equivalent to saying that any of 
 our schools may be exclusive, which is just what Report 
 No. 3 declares. 
 
 "The two resolutions, then, declaring a separate and 
 distinct policy, it becomes a simple question of weight 
 between them. It can not be fairly said that the prac- 
 tical policy of the Church has been mixed schools 
 or Churches; so that the resolution of the Committee 
 on the State of the Church embodies a principle that 
 has only had a shadow of application in the practical 
 work of the Church; and the reason for it is founded
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 275 
 
 in the fact that, after a fair trial, mixed schools and 
 Churches have been found inexpedient. The preamble 
 of Report No. 3 of the Committee on Freedmen's Aid 
 declares that the 'establishment of schools for our white 
 membership ' ' has greatly redounded to the benefit of our 
 colored people.' The resolution, then, so far as it de- 
 clares for a uniform policy is not in harmony with that 
 principle of practical expediency that we have found 
 necessary in our work in the South. 
 
 "Again, the report of the Committee on the State 
 of the Church seems to have been volunteered. It was 
 not necessarily binding on that committee to prepare 
 and present a report on that subject. 
 
 "And, further, the necessity for such a report seems 
 to have been questionable. The position and policy of 
 the Church, as to the equal rights of the colored man, 
 had been sufficiently declared by the general policy and 
 administration of the Church for the last twenty years. 
 The policy of the Church in its Discipline and admin- 
 istration has been, and still is, to grant to the colored 
 man all the rights, privileges, honors, and immunities 
 of the white man. On the question of personal rights 
 the Church knows no difference. He is the peer in 
 Methodism of the white man in Church membership, in 
 all the councils of the Church, and as eligible to any 
 position of honor or trust in the gift of the Church as 
 the white man. No resolution of the General Conference 
 of 1884 could in any way dignify either the man or his 
 equality of rights in the Church above that which he al- 
 ready enjoyed in the fundamental organism of the Church. 
 There seems to have been no necessity for this action. 
 It can be of no practical utility to the colored man.
 
 276 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 "After the passage of Report No. 3 of the Com- 
 mittee on Freedmen's Aid, it could do nothing but in- 
 vite conflict and embarrass the Church in its work. 
 With all due respect to any action of the General 
 Conference, the report of the Committee on Freedmeu's 
 Aid seems to carry with it a greater weight of obliga- 
 tion than the other. This committee was specially 
 charged by the General Conference with the investiga- 
 tion of this subject. In fact, this was the object of the 
 committee. The report itself shows that the committee 
 appreciated the gravity of the situation, and thoroughly 
 considered the extent and magnitude of the work, as 
 well as the embarrassments because of race and color 
 that have met the Church in the past. It embodies the 
 godly judgment of the most thorough and painstaking 
 investigation of any body of men authorized to speak 
 upon that subject. This report is the deliberate and 
 specially-provided-for judgment of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church upon this subject, and consequently car- 
 ries with it all the weight that the deliberate action of 
 the highest council of the Church can give it. Add to 
 this the fact that it is in harmony with the practical 
 policy of the Church founded in experience, and it 
 seems to carry a weight with it, a force of authority, 
 that would at least relieve a faculty and board of trus- 
 tees that acted under it, of that severe censure that the 
 authorities at Chattanooga have been subjected to. This 
 would seem to be specially the case where an institution 
 had been erected with the distinct understanding that it 
 was for a particular race. We can but regard the action 
 at Chattanooga as within the provision of authority. 
 To waive all question of superiority, the action of the
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 277 
 
 General Conference under which they acted is of equal 
 authority with the other. The other view of the case prac- 
 tically annuls Report No. 3, and leaves it a dead letter. 
 " While we would certainly entertain all due respect 
 for the deliberate judgment of the c board of managers 
 of the Freed men's Aid Society,' as set forth in their 
 late action, yet we would respectfully submit that the 
 intentions of the board as therein set forth, to dissolve 
 its connection with the university, provided the local 
 authorities do not rescind their action, may be hasty 
 and unwarranted. The action proposed is one of serious 
 import, which, if carried into effect, ought to have a 
 clear and unchallenged justification." 
 
 The Central Christian Advocate of March 9, 
 1887, said: 
 
 "A few weeks ago we expressed the opinion that 
 the Chattanooga University case would not be settled 
 until the next General Conference. We thought there 
 was ground, untenable indeed, for the position of the 
 trustees, and that they would have a hearing before that 
 body, and then the question of 'separate' schools would 
 be discussed on its merits, and the Southern side would 
 have the opportunity of presenting its views. But the 
 action of the trustees and faculty in regard to Professor 
 Caulkins revealed a state of affairs that no one sus- 
 pected, and for which there was no defense from any 
 point of view whatever. So great a misapprehension 
 of the feeling and conviction of the Church in regard to 
 her colored members had never occurred before. The 
 path of duty was so plain that no one should have had 
 a moment's doubt about it, nor should the university
 
 278 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 for one moment have hesitated to follow the suggestion 
 of the authorities of the Freedmen's Aid Society. But 
 the university party could not so see it, and declined to 
 dismiss the offensive professor. This placed the whole 
 affair in a new light, and the board of managers of the 
 society were literally compelled to take the action set 
 forth in their report which we printed last week. 
 
 "That they will have the support of the Church 
 there can be no doubt. For while the Church may be 
 willing to yield something to prejudice and custom, and 
 agree that some of its schools may be properly classified 
 as white, and others as colored, it will not sacrifice the 
 principle of equality of rights among its members. No 
 General Conference could be convened that would re- 
 scind the action of the last General Conference, when it 
 declared that no student shall be excluded from ' instruc- 
 tion in any and every school under the supervision of 
 the Church because of race, color, or previous condition 
 of servitude.' We do not call in question the desire of 
 the authorities of the Chattanooga University to secure 
 the highest interest of the Church and of the two races. 
 They do not design to perpetuate caste, but to bridge 
 over the present till a better condition shall be estab- 
 lished ; and the Church intended to assist them in so 
 worthy a work. But they did not take into account, as 
 they should have done, the feeling of the Church. 
 They misinterpreted the phrase ' expediency/ when they 
 attempted to establish a rule which excluded all colored 
 persons from the university. 
 
 . "We regret that they did not put to the actual test 
 their conviction, that the admission of colored students 
 of the class that could claim entrance to a school of its
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 279 
 
 grade 'would be fatal to the prosperity of the institu- 
 tion.' There are many persons who do not believe this. 
 They do not doubt the honesty of the university authori- 
 ties, but believe that they have taken counsel of their 
 fears. They believe it possible to maintain a university 
 in the South under the same conditions as in the North. 
 This would have gone far towards settling the question, 
 for some years at least. As it is, the question has to be 
 taken up again under less favorable conditions for its 
 determination. But we shall not fail in the end. So 
 long as our hearts are right, blunder as we may, we will 
 make certain progress in the right direction ; for this 
 question of justice and equal rights to the colored race 
 has been thrust upon us by God himself, and he will 
 lead us on, if we will suffer ourselves to be led, to a 
 decision that will be approved in heaven." 
 
 The Northwestern Advocate of March 2, 1887, 
 contained the following by J. B. Stair : 
 
 " Dr. Smart, in a short article on the caste ques- 
 tion, asks some very pertinent questions concerning our 
 Church in the South, but does not answer them so satis- 
 factorily. The implication, however, is that we are 
 there because the Methodist Church already there is so 
 permeated by that 'devilish' and ' unfraternal spirit' 
 [of caste] ' worthy to be accursed of God and good 
 men,' that she can no longer do efficient evangelistic 
 work. It would seem that a Church so afflicted would 
 not only be incapacitated for any good, but would neces- 
 sarily be without the pale of fellowship with any other 
 Christian body; and yet somehow we continue to recog- 
 nize our Southern sister as one of us, send to and
 
 280 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 receive from her Christian and fraternal greetings on every 
 proper occasion, receive her pastors into our pulpits, 
 hang by the thousands upon their words, profit numer- 
 ically and spiritually by their labors, and devote half 
 pages of our great Church weeklies to an advertisement 
 of their sermons. Are we justified in thus figuratively 
 taking to our arms a Church possessed of a spirit 
 ' worthy to be accursed of God* a Church whose course 
 is so radically incompetent and wrong that able missions 
 from our own Church are demanded to counteract it? 
 If somebody can, will he please point out the consist- 
 ency in all this ? If we are in the South to convert 
 people to our view of the caste question, Ave are there 
 for a laudable purpose perhaps, but one doomed to 
 failure. That question was not involved in Adam's 
 fall, nor is our view of it necessary to salvation. If the 
 politicians among us would stop a moment and consider 
 the fact that caste exists elsewhere than in the South, 
 and with reference to the colored race, it might at least 
 furnish us with the occasion to divide our missionary 
 forces with a view to a better distribution. Perhaps no 
 country under Christian influence is more painfully 
 afflicted with this 'curse' than England is, and yet Dr. 
 Smart evidently fails to find a reason for sending mis- 
 sionaries there. True, the Negro is not there involved, 
 nor are ante and post bellum rivalries ; but that ought 
 not to be an essential circumstance. The fact seems to 
 be that caste exists about everywhere, even in our own 
 dear Church. We have, and might again see, a form 
 of it manifested, should the powers that be so far for 
 get themselves as to send a doctor of divinity to a three 
 hundred-dollar appointment in the backwoods ; and
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 281 
 
 instances are not beyond our own ken in which good Meth- 
 odist families persistently forget to ask the servants to 
 eat with them in the diuing-room, even when the table 
 is not crowded. It is remarkable how much colqfc,<and 
 climate have to do with the question of caste. Social 
 relations, morally clean, are uot a fit subject for the 
 missionary works of a great Church. The legitimacy 
 of our errand in the South will depend much upon 
 the question whether we find there territory unoccu- 
 pied, or whether we are there as rivals merely, of a 
 Church with whom we have long been at political 
 swords' points. Politicians, Church or other, should not 
 be allowed to decide. If we are in the South, as are 
 other evangelical Churches, for the purpose of saving 
 the souls of men, we deserve Godspeed. But if the only 
 reason we can give for being there is to eradicate caste, 
 social prejudice between races, the foundation for our 
 errand will deservedly be alike unsubstantial with its 
 completed results." 
 
 The intention in thus presenting the Chattanooga 
 affair, like that of the rest of this work, has been 
 to sustain the facts: (1) There has never been a 
 disposition on the part of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church to ignore its obligations to the colored man, 
 but it has, in every conceivable way, aided him intel- 
 lectually, financially, and spiritually. (2.) That the 
 Church, as such, has always not only respected his 
 manhood, but encouraged him, where circumstances 
 or previous condition persuaded him to believe he 
 possessed none, to respect his manhood and feel 
 
 24
 
 282 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 himself somebody. (3) That the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, as such, has done this to a greater 
 degree, and with as much, if not more, consist- 
 ency than any other Church in this country, and at 
 greater cost. It is quite a different thing to say that 
 she has always declared that none but mixed schools 
 should be supported by the Freedmen's Aid So- 
 ciety. The simple and unambiguous statement, 
 " the question of separate or mixed schools is one of 
 expediency, which is to be left to those on the 
 ground and more immediately concerned," forever 
 excludes any such idea. If the mind of the Church 
 can be known at all, it certainly is best known 
 by the enactments of the several General Confer- 
 ences on this question. From these we conclude 
 that it is not the policy of the Church to truckle to 
 caste prejudice in any form anywhere. It has de- 
 clared that as a Church it favors "equal rights to 
 the best facilities for intellectual and spiritual cul- 
 ture, equal rights in the eligibility to every position 
 of honor and trust, and equal rights in the exercise 
 of a free and unconstrained choice in all social 
 relations." But the whole is greater than any 
 part; therefore there is not, nor can there be, any 
 Church or school conducted under the auspices of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church into which any 
 member or pupil may not enter, or from which any 
 proper person can be excluded "on account of race, 
 color, or previous condition of servitude." This is 
 the declared policy of the Church ; also, the letter
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 283 
 
 of the law on this question. The apostle Paul, 
 a man of profound learning and great piety, as well 
 as keen foresight a man that so spurned caste 
 prejudice as to withstand his brother Peter to his 
 face concerning caste says: "All things are lawful 
 unto me, but all things are not expedient. The 
 letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth." It is true 
 of the colored man in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church that "all things are lawful" unto him that 
 are lawful unto any other man within the Church. 
 It is equally true for the colored man that "all 
 things are not expedient" for him any more than 
 they are for white men within the Church. 
 
 We do not believe, nor do we wish to believe, 
 that our Church intended, by anything done in the 
 General Conference of 1884, or desired at that time 
 to annul any of its hitherto impartial acts ; to give 
 any particular class of its members any indulgence 
 in wrong-doing ; to yield to any kind of race or 
 class prejudice; that it attempted or desired to 
 elevate any class of its members above another; 
 or, on the other hand, that, while it slept, an enemy 
 sowed "tares" in the field. We think no one be- 
 lieves that it was the intention of the Church to 
 dishearten or disband or leave to themselves the 
 schools among our white membership in the South, 
 organized and conducted, as well as supported in 
 part, by conferences of our Church, in the which 
 there are no colored members. The Church must 
 have seen and felt that it is an utter impossibility for
 
 284 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 any Church, indeed for the United States govern- 
 ment, to mix promiscuously, perforce, the schools 
 in the South ; that if the two races there are to be 
 educated by our Church, in some sort they must 
 be allowed a " free and unconstrained choice in all 
 social matters." Rome was not built in a day. Dis- 
 eases that have become chronic, and remain within a 
 system for two hundred and fifty-eight years, can not 
 be eradicated in a month, even though an entire 
 college of physicians attempt it. When the Church 
 requested the Freedmen's Aid Society "to give such 
 aid to the above-named schools during the next 
 quadrennium as can be done without embarrass- 
 m.ent to the schools among the freedmen," it recog- 
 nized not only the existence of exclusively white 
 schools, but provided for their perpetuation. The 
 situation of affairs is peculiar indeed. The above 
 action was not intended (though we candidly be- 
 lieve that those who claimed the opposite had a 
 right to, and did think so) to recognize the right 
 to exclude any pupil on account of race, color, or 
 previous condition, on the plea of exercising their 
 " free and unconstrained choice." That General 
 Conference, however, did intend to allow the two races 
 in the South to have the privilege of separate schools, 
 if they desired them, as it had not interposed objec- 
 tion to separate annual conferences. As proof of 
 this, the General Conference put the entire educa- 
 tional work of the Church in the South under the 
 direct management of the Freedmen's Aid Society.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 285 
 
 The wisdom of this, to our mind, does not ap- 
 pear on the surface ; for, if the Church should at 
 any time in the future call a colored man to the 
 office of corresponding or assistant corresponding 
 secretary in that society, Banquo's ghost will rise 
 again. Again, it was made, and is now, the duty 
 of each pastor, when asking for collections or pre- 
 senting the claims of the society, to state plainly 
 that "the funds collected are to be used for both 
 races, and where contributors express the desire, 
 they shall be allowed to say where their funds shall 
 go." Here, again, we come face to face with a 
 knotty problem as to the wisest method evenly to 
 balance those funds. It is natural to suppose that the 
 prejudiced class in each race will turn all funds 
 into the channel into which his prejudices run. 
 Now, to keep even financially, the two races within 
 the Church in the South must do one of two things, 
 viz. : Either drop the question of races, and let the 
 funds collected be proportionately appropriated, or 
 keep up the race question, and thus keep their 
 funds separate. Which will be done? Does it 
 require the wisdom of a philosopher to guess ? 
 Neither can, under the present regime, without finan- 
 cial loss, afford to be less prejudiced than the other ; 
 for the reason that the funds raised by the un- 
 prejudiced class will be equally divided, and it will 
 get only its part of its collection, while the prejudiced 
 class will not only receive its own collections but an 
 equal proportion of the unprejudiced class's funds.
 
 286 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 These complications are but the legitimate out- 
 growth of the animated discussions in the General 
 Conference of 1884 touching the race question. 
 We do not believe the Church intends to lessen its 
 interest, lag in its zeal, or retard the progress and 
 prosperity, or circumscribe the usefulness of our 
 schools where only colored pupils have chosen to 
 matriculate, or to allow the children of our white 
 membership in the South to grow up in ignorance 
 and superstition while it is able materially to suc- 
 cor both at the same time and in the same way. 
 Is this view not reasonable, equitable, and best? 
 Is it not a reflection upon Methodism to view it oth- 
 erwise, in the light of the past history of the Church 
 on the race question? While we say "in the same 
 way," we do not intend to say in the same school- 
 building or recitation-room. To-day it certainly 
 appears utterly impossible to mix promiscuously our 
 Church schools in the South after having founded 
 one class of them upon an entirely different basis. 
 It might be done in the North. Might it not? 
 We can not, however, argue along the same lines 
 for Church schools of any denomination for any 
 particular class of students in the South that we can 
 for those in the North. The two cases are as dis- 
 similar ecclesiastically as the two sections of country 
 are politically. 
 
 The training has been different. In the first 
 place, the relations of the two races in the two sec- 
 tions have always been, and are to-day, different;
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 287 
 
 the training of the whites in both these sections 
 has been different a different class of text-books, 
 as well as a different class of teachers, who were 
 educated differently ; the changed relations of the 
 two races in late years from master and servant to 
 citizen and freeman, and the modus operand i of the 
 other Churches which are engaged in the same 
 work in the South. What Church, engaged in the 
 education of the colored man in the South, does not 
 maintain separate schools for the colored and white? 
 Not because they fas r or caste, nor because they 
 think it would not be better, if possible, to educate 
 them together, but they are doing the best they can 
 under the circumstances. There may be beautiful 
 exceptions, but they are exceptions few and far be- 
 tween. I am sorry it is true; but 'tis true. The 
 promiscuous mixing of our Church schools in the 
 South, if practicable, would now be inconsistent in 
 the face of our separate conferences. There are 
 two influences in the South to-day that are coeval 
 with it and we came near saying co-eternal that 
 are as despicable as invincible ; the one is the 
 misasma of the swamps, and the other is caste preju- 
 dice. Neither the wisdom nor skill of physicians 
 has been able to overcome the one, nor the armies 
 of Csesar nor of Christ have been able to eradicate 
 the other. Death the common leveler has thus 
 far been the only sure remedy. But why frown at 
 this when you remember that the latter of these 
 evils finds congenial soil, if not some cultivation, in
 
 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 some Northern latitudes? If up North it is "the 
 arrow that flieth by night," we should no the sur- 
 prised to find it "the pestilence that walketh at 
 noonday" in the South. While all this, and more, 
 is true concerning caste, it does not, for a moment, 
 lessen the crime in the South because it crops out 
 now and then in the North. 
 
 When we contemplate caste in all its blackest 
 and most disgusting phases, we grow sick at heart, 
 and feel as if we would like to snatch it out, 
 top, root, and all ; but then we remember it may 
 be that in doing so we might draw up a beard 
 of wheat. We believe, however, that as our mem- 
 bership in the South, of both races, get more and 
 more under the light of the cross, and farther away 
 from "slavery days," they come nearer together; 
 the more harmony that exists between the two in 
 their efforts to educate themselves and elevate those 
 about them, and with whom they have influence, the 
 more potent factors in the evangelization of the 
 world they become. No sane colored man within the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church believes that it would 
 benefit his race if the Church were to give up all 
 its work in the South among the whites. Nor is it 
 just fair to believe that the colored man is in and 
 remains with the Methodist Episcopal Church for 
 her "loaves and fishes." It also appears that we as 
 colored men in the Church must be on the alert 
 lest we be pushed up to the point of antagonizing 
 all our Church work in the South, save that among
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 289 
 
 and for ourselves. Following the action of the board 
 of managers of the Freed men's Aid Society the Lex- 
 ington Annual Conference unanimously indorsed the 
 following action, and requested its publication in 
 the Church papers, showing one phase of this 
 question, viz. : 
 
 "The results attained by the Freedmen's Aid So- 
 ciety since its organization are marvelous, viewed from 
 every point. The work of this society in the country, 
 Christianizing, elevating, and educating the people, can 
 not he expressed in figures or told in words. Wherever 
 its schools have been established the condition of the 
 people has been bettered and public sentiment liberal- 
 ized. Too much in the way of praise and thankfulness 
 can not be said of this benevolent organization of our 
 Church and its officers, and we earnestly commend its 
 objects and work to the thoughtful consideration of our 
 ministers and people, satisfied that the more thoroughly 
 the operations of the society are understood, the more 
 hearty the support it will receive. 
 
 "As to the Chattanooga troubles, and other matters 
 of the same nature, we beg to say : 
 
 "We do not believe it is right to yield the time- 
 honored opinions and views of the Church as to the 
 equality, brotherhood, and perfect freedom of man, nor 
 that a line of action should be pursued by the society or 
 Church to secure the favor or countenance of those 
 whose life-teachings are inimical to the position of our 
 Church, and who really have no objection whatever to 
 the Negro, so that his relation to them is a servile one. 
 
 " We desire and pray for the success of all our 
 25
 
 290 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 schools in the South that are under the fostering care 
 of the Freedmeu's Aid Society, but not at the loss of 
 the manhood and self-respect of our race. Having 
 been long satisfied that this question would come up 
 for solution and settlement, and now that it is before 
 the Church, we are heartily in favor of the Church go- 
 ing steadily and faithfully forward in the path pointed 
 out for it by the Master, regardless of prejudice, local or 
 otherwise. Compromise will only delay the day of 
 settlement, and gain not a single point for God or 
 humanity. 
 
 "Objections are made to the mixing of white and 
 Negro pupils in the same Church schools, and it is said 
 that there are as good schools for Negroes as the society 
 provides for whites. Various other reasons are given 
 favoring this view of the question. For us to admit 
 that these objections to the children of Negroes attend- 
 ing the Church schools with whites are of sufficient 
 force to lead us to be governed by them, is to admit 
 our own inferiority, and the necessity of such a separa- 
 tion from our white brethren as to end in the putting 
 out of the Church of every Negro member in it. If we 
 admit discrimination as being proper here, we ask, where 
 will it end? Whatever may be the opinion of others 
 upon the subject, as to its expedienc} T , etc., we can have 
 but one opinion, and that is, that we are members cf 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, yield to none in devo- 
 tion and loyalty to that Church, and can not admit that 
 it is injudicious or impolitic to send our sons and 
 daughters to any of the schools of the Church. 
 
 " Christianity is colorless, and Christianity demands 
 of the Church that it shall not recognize the exclusion
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 291 
 
 of any of its members from any of its communities or 
 schools by reason of rank in society or of race charac- 
 teristics, especially when this exclusion carries with it a 
 mark of degradation. The General Conference has 
 given this principle expression. 
 
 " We do not believe it well for this conference to re- 
 main silent upon this subject, when its silence may be 
 construed into an indorsement of the unholy sentiment 
 that it is proper to bow before this baseless prejudice, 
 which is a relic of slavery. We believe this question 
 will be settled, as all other questions have been settled 
 which tended to elevate the Negro, and we believe the 
 Church will firmly adhere to Christian principles, and 
 lay aside everything that has the appearance of mere 
 policy."
 
 292 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WHAT WILL THE HARVEST BE? 
 
 AFTER the examination we have made, and 
 trying to scan the future, we see what has 
 been gained by the colored members who remained 
 in the Methodist Episcopal Church. They have 
 been admitted to full membership, to communion at 
 her altars, official relation as laymen, given work 
 in the pastorate, presiding elderate, and given to 
 understand that "color is no bar to an election to 
 the episcopacy." 
 
 " But these attained, we tremble to survey 
 The growing labors of the lengthened way ; 
 The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes; 
 Hills peep o 'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise." 
 
 Will a time ever come in the history of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church when she will tire of 
 the race question, and abandon forever her work 
 among and for the colored man ? It is hardly con- 
 ceivable that this will ever occur. The discussion of 
 the race question becomes beautifully less at each 
 General Conference. It is true that new phases de- 
 velop now and then, and there follows a clash at 
 arms; but it never, nowadays, amounts to more than 
 a passage at arms, for the reason that the average 
 agitator receives but comparatively little encourage-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 293 
 
 ment from those Churches in this country which 
 have turned their backs upon the colored man. 
 They tremblingly hope the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church will make some awkward step that will 
 eventually drive the colored man out; but they 
 have seen her stand by him in the hottest contests 
 unflinchingly, and in the face of a gainsaying pre- 
 judice that is as old as the venerated Constitution 
 and as deep rooted as sin, and they fear to say yea 
 or nay touching what it will or will not do. The 
 Methodist Episcopal Church can never forsake the 
 colored man, and be consistent. It declared in 
 1816, 1844, 1861, and 1872, by its actions, that the 
 duty of the Christian Church was to stand by the 
 colored man, by making him feel at home within it 
 as much as possible. Now to go back, would be to 
 say that the Church South in 1844 was right in de- 
 fending slavery, and right in ridding itself of the col- 
 ored man in 1870, and that that which the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church did at those periods was 
 wrong. This it can never do, and be consistent. 
 
 One other question at this juncture arises. It is 
 one fraught with much interest, as it is one that would 
 involve the entire eight millions of colored people in 
 this country, that would naturally widen the chasm 
 between the white and colored races in this country, 
 and would sustain the same relation to a war of races 
 in this country that the separation of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, South, sustained in -1844 
 to the war of the Rebellion. It is, Will the colored
 
 294 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 members within the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 eventually be separated from it? If the existing 
 relations between the Church and her colored mem- 
 bers remain as they are now, No. There could be no 
 reason for a separation, since " there is no word 
 white" known within the letter of the law of the 
 Church to indorse invidious distinctions "on ac- 
 count of race, color, or previous condition of servi- 
 tude ;" there are no privileges accorded to any man 
 of one race in the Church, that another of any other 
 race within the Church is not entitled to by law. 
 There is no church-building with the name of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church inscribed upon it, into 
 which any person " having a desire to flee the wrath 
 to come" may not go as a worshiper, or become 
 a member. This is also true of any university, 
 college, or school under the auspices of the Church. 
 There is no annual conference of the Church to 
 which the colored man has not a perfect right to 
 belong; no position within the gift of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, from janitor to bishop, to 
 which any member, white or colored, may not 
 aspire, be elected or appointed to, and discharge 
 the functions pertaining thereto, without hindrance. 
 In a word, the white and colored membership 
 within the Church is, according to the enactments 
 of the General Conference, equal in all that pertains 
 to Church membership and privileges. Hence 
 there is now no cause for the colored membership 
 seeking separation from the Church. "We know
 
 THE METUODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 295 
 
 not what a day may bring forth;" but, judging the 
 future by the past, there will never come a time 
 when it will be absolutely necessary for the Church 
 to put away its colored membership, nor an absolute 
 necessity for the colored membership to withdraw 
 from the Church. The question of the inferiority 
 of the colored man within the Church to the 
 average white member within the Church, is fast 
 disappearing, whether we speak of this in reference to 
 General or annual conferences. The Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church is turning out enough young colored 
 men from her universities, colleges, and schools, from 
 Boston to Austin, Texas, each year, to form an 
 annual conference. The graduates from her schools 
 are everywhere joining the Church and confer- 
 ences, and, to a certain extent, coping with those 
 whose chances have been more favorable. No 
 absolute necessity for separation exists, and, for that 
 matter, may never exist. May it not be found more 
 profitable, after a short time, for all the colored 
 Methodists in this country to unite and form one 
 grand united body of colored Methodists ? This 
 question has been urged by many different parties, 
 with as many different motives at the bottom. Let 
 us notice a few. In "Our Brother in Black" (by 
 Dr. A. G. Hay good, of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, South,) at page 226, we find the following 
 touching the point at issue : 
 
 "The most remarkable tendency that has so far 
 shown itself in the development of their eccle-
 
 296 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 siastical life is the strong and, as I think, resistless 
 disposition in those of like faith to come together 
 in their religious organizations. The centripetal 
 is stronger than the centrifugal force. We have 
 already a number of African Churches. Indeed, 
 the great majority of them belong to Churches not 
 only of their own ' faith and order/ but of their 
 own ' race and color.' . . . This disposition has 
 become very pronounced, and has expressed itself 
 on a very large scale since they were set free." 
 
 At page 236 the good Doctor reaches his point 
 when he says: 
 
 " If every colored Methodist in the United 
 States were to-day in one organization, this would 
 not change the grounds or nature of our obliga- 
 tions to them in any respect, so far as fraternal 
 love, fraternal aid, and co-operation are concerned. 
 It would then, as now, be our duty to help them 
 in all possible ways; and considering their his- 
 tory in this country, and the providential indica- 
 tions of their relation to the salvation of Africa, 
 just as much our duty then as now. If there were 
 not one Negro in the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 the Freedmen's Aid Society would be as much 
 needed as it is now. 'The colored Methodist 
 Episcopal Church of America' that was 'set up' 
 I hope not 'set off' needs the help of its mother, 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, every whit 
 as much as if they were still with us. Nay, all the 
 more, because they are not with us. And we ought,
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 297 
 
 before God, to help them." We simply add, it is 
 about time. 
 
 In a book written by a layman of our Church, 
 Jolm A. Wright, of Philadelphia, with the title, 
 " People aud Preachers in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church," at pages 262-6, touching the question of 
 separation, he says : 
 
 " A conclusive argument in favor of separation 
 would be made if it could be satisfactorily proven 
 that the connection as it now exists is injurious aud 
 demoralizing to both parties ; if it could be shown 
 that their presence is a danger, and has a corrupt- 
 ing influence on the main body of the Church ; and 
 that such separation could be made without injury 
 to the colored man. There has been an unwilling- 
 ness, a hesitation on the part of the Church to dis- 
 cuss this question, but the undoubted use that was 
 made of the colored votes in the last General Confer- 
 ence (1884) to secure places was so patent to every 
 careful observer that it can not be kept down. 
 The ease with which the influence and votes of these 
 innocent and generally very ignorant representatives 
 were secured by those nearest to them, shows ho\v 
 great a danger there would be in the abuse of the 
 confidence placed by them in their avowed friends. 
 
 " There are important movements among the 
 colored people that should be noted. All will re- 
 member the enthusiastic patriotism, civil and relig- 
 ious, which was to abolish all color-lines and all 
 laws that recognized black and white, or their inter-
 
 298 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 mediate shades. Yet a law of nature, of race, and 
 of common sense is asserting itself among the col- 
 ored people, in that they want to be separated from 
 such close connection with the white man. They 
 feel that there is an incongruity, an unfitness, a 
 something that causes them to desire to be free 
 from his presence and government. They have but 
 little respect for the whites who remain among them. 
 It is a growing belief among the more intelligent col- 
 ored people that their religious growth would be 
 increased by their independence of the white Church. 
 So strong is this feeling in certain places, that a se- 
 cession from the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
 the formation of independent Methodist Churches, 
 is seriously discussed. In obedience to this grow- 
 ing sentiment, the General Conference, in 1884, 
 recognized the policy of basing membership of an- 
 nual conferences on a color-line. An argument in 
 favor of caution in treating this question may be 
 drawn from the relation of the colored people to 
 the interests of the country. The colored vote in 
 the United States is accepted as a source of danger 
 in the future to this country. The present colored 
 vote, as it has or has not had the privilege of free 
 expression, has determined who should be President 
 of the United States. ... It may or may not 
 be an idle fear, but wise men are looking at the ques- 
 tion in sober earnestness. . . . The Church, 
 then, should be carefully guarded against danger 
 arising from the presence of so large a colored mem-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 299 
 
 bership through the use of its power in the General 
 Conference. The idea of separation for better work 
 is not new among us. We have the German and 
 colored conferences, and would have Scandinavian 
 if there were enough Scandinavians. There is a 
 law of association that is the best regulator of such 
 questions. That a separation into conferences on 
 the color-line will become general is inevitable. 
 The questions will come up before the General 
 Conference to decide, whether the colored ministers 
 can be so educated as to continue in the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church without any serious danger 
 to its interests; if not, the lesser must suffer, if suf- 
 fering it would be, for the sake of the greater ; or 
 whether, when they are prepared, they will not do 
 more good by being transferred to some branch of 
 the African Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 "There are the African, the Zion, and the Col- 
 ored Methodist Episcopal Churches, which last was 
 wisely set apart by the Southern Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church at the end of the war. They are all 
 strong, aggressive, and independent Churches. If 
 the members of these Churches could be united 
 with the colored members of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church they would make a membership of 
 nearly one million of people. What an opportu- 
 nity for usefulness to their race would be thus 
 placed before them! It must be admitted that their 
 continued connection with the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church does not tend to promote their dependence
 
 300 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 upon themselves. Government aid makes a rest- 
 less pauper class ; Church support has the same 
 tendency. That the two races do not work well to- 
 gether, or rather that the colored Churches do 
 not prosper when intimately connected with white 
 Churches, is pretty well exemplified in the city of 
 Philadelphia, where the only two colored Churches, 
 living side by side with the large white Church 
 membership of that city, had so dwindled in num- 
 bers and financial ability in 1884 that the Church 
 Extension Society had, practically, to purchase two 
 churches for their use, so that the colored brethren 
 from the South might have a Church home when 
 they came to the General Conference. During the 
 same time the African and the Zioii Methodist 
 Episcopal Churches have been very successful in 
 that city, have done much good, have able bishops, 
 leaders, and a respectable membership. On the one 
 side there was dependency, and on the other in- 
 dependency. It is risking but little to assert that 
 the number, character, and self reliance of the 
 members of the colored Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 South, are far greater and better than they would 
 have been if their connection had continued with 
 the old Church. 
 
 " A further thought deserves consideration at 
 this point. If the colored members are to be con- 
 tinued in the Church, or as long as such connec- 
 tion may last, would it not be to the interests of 
 all parties to dissolve the annual conferences in
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 301 
 
 which they are in a large majority, and form them 
 into mission conferences, as they were prior to the 
 General Conference of 1868, without a voting rep- 
 resentation in the General Conference? By doing 
 this the Church would be saved from the low aver- 
 age grade of intelligence of the General Conference 
 of 1884, caused by the presence of nearly forty of 
 such representatives, and from the corrupting in- 
 fluences that were so palpable. The colored people 
 would then understand that their connection was 
 not permanent, but was in the line of educating 
 them to take care of themselves. "In the meantime 
 the Church could continue its good work in giving 
 them the advantages of education, training in 
 trades, and to the most promising a fitting educa- 
 tion for the ministry and learned professions. The 
 suggestions made hereinbefore as to the proper basis 
 of representation in the General Conference, con- 
 nected with that of the last paragraph, would re- 
 duce the number of delegates to the General Con- 
 ference from the colored conferences, and thereby 
 lessen the danger. It is important that this or 
 some other protective plan should be adopted before 
 the separation that is inevitable between the white 
 and colored work takes place. No mere pride of 
 numbers or prestige should have any influence to 
 prevent the Church from saying to the colored 
 brethren, 'Go in peace, and may the God of heaven 
 protect and guide you ;' and with this benedic- 
 tion handing over to them all the churches, col-
 
 302 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 leges, and property that have been accumulated for 
 their use." 
 
 The sequel will show that the writer of that 
 book knows but little concerning the colored people. 
 Let us for a moment stop and look more closely at 
 the above chapter from Brother Wright's facile pen. 
 There is no mistake, Brother Wright has in some 
 way had his plans upset. That he intended to " get 
 even" with some one is also apparent. This gen- 
 eral attacks first one and then the other division of 
 the grand army of Methodism. First he attacks 
 the army at large for neglecting to bring more 
 laymen to the van. He then charges upon the 
 clerical regiment, declaring it is in the way of his 
 "consummation devoutly to be wished." Being 
 somewhat repulsed, he falls back in disorder, only 
 to find the colored regiment supporting, in some 
 sort, the former. At once his guns are leveled, 
 and he makes a Fort Pillow charge upon "the 
 black brigade." Of this brigade, within the Meth- 
 odist army, he declares: "A conclusive argument 
 for separation would be made if it were proven 
 that the connection existing [between the white and 
 colored people] within the Church is injurious to 
 both classes." He attempts to prove the proposi- 
 tion, by declaring that, by the presence of colored 
 representatives from Southern and mixed confer- 
 ences, " but few are fitted for their places and are 
 still grossly immoral," in the General Conference 
 "grades down the intelligence and wisdom of the
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 303 
 
 whole body, to a level too low for safety ; that the ease 
 with which the influence and votes of these inno- 
 cent, and generally very ignorant, representatives 
 were secured by those nearest to them, shows how 
 great a danger there would be in the abuse of the 
 confidence placed by them in their avowed friends." 
 The gentleman should not have stayed so far away 
 from those " innocent and generally very ignorant 
 representatives." Knowing, as he must, that the 
 man whose intelligence gives him advantage, even 
 in a Methodist General Conference, over "the inno- 
 cent and generally very ignorant" is the greater 
 sinner, he strikes at "the avowed friends" of the 
 colored man. But in a great many instances some 
 of the "avowed friends" of the colored man in the 
 General Conference of 1884 were those whom 
 Methodism, within and without this country, "de- 
 lights to honor." But aside from this, it were well 
 for the good brother had the revisers of the Old 
 Testament elided the "thou shalt not bear false 
 witness." 
 
 We question very much whether a single proper 
 delegate to that General Conference was "innocent 
 and generally very ignorant" enough to miss the 
 truth as far as he seems to have missed it, and for 
 the same purpose. He also says: "The colored 
 men feel that there is an incongruity, an unfitness, 
 a something that causes them to desire to be freed 
 from his presence and government. They have but 
 little respect for the whites who remain among
 
 304 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 them." If that is so, it is too bad. If it is not so, 
 then ? When a witness testifies to one thing, and 
 then contradicts himself, if he is adjudged sane, the 
 court will throw out his testimony, declaring him 
 either ignorant of the truth of the facts he would re- 
 late, or else a perjurer. If the former, he should be 
 reprimanded for meddling with matters he knew 
 nothing about; if the latter, the law would punish 
 him. If the colored men within the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church feel "that there is an incongruity, a 
 something that causes them to desire to be freed from 
 his presence [the white man] and government," it 
 could arise from no better source than that such 
 men persist in remaining within the Church who 
 abuse them. 
 
 " They have but little respect for the whites 
 that remain among them." We think no man who 
 understands our work in the South will deny that 
 Drs. J. C. Hartzell, J. Braden, and A. Webster, 
 " remain among them." But Dr. Hartzell was 
 for five years or more the secretary of the Lou- 
 isiana Conference, where the colored men are in 
 the majority. He has repeatedly been elected to 
 the General Conference by his brethren, and 
 usually on the first ballot. Rev. John Braden, 
 D. D., president of the Central Tennessee College, 
 at Nashville, Tennessee, has been there for nearly 
 twenty years, and as a member of the Tennessee 
 Conference has been treated by his conference 
 brethren like Dr. Hartzell, of Louisiana Confer-
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 305 
 
 ence. Dr. Alouzo Webster, of the South Carolina 
 Conference, being, we believe, the only white man in 
 it, has been treated by his conference brethren just 
 as the brethren of the Tennessee Conference treated 
 Dr. Braden. Without multiplying illustrations, we 
 ask, what becomes of Brother Wright's argument? 
 It follows, that his darts fall futile at the door of a 
 Church that by law knows "no word white." 
 
 Again : " The General Conference must yet decide 
 whether colored ministers can be educated so as to 
 continue in the Church. If not, the lesser [the 
 colored man, of course] must suffer; or whether, 
 when they are prepared, they will not do more 
 good by being transferred to some branch of the 
 African Church " When did our bishops receive 
 authority to " transfer " ministers into another 
 Church? When the time for that transferring 
 conies, would not the members of the General and 
 annual conferences be privileged to vote upon it? 
 
 In speaking of the three colored organizations, 
 the African, African Zion, and Colored Methodist 
 Episcopal Churches, he says : " They are all strong, 
 aggressive, and independent. The last was wisely 
 set apart by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
 at the end of the war." The African Methodist 
 Recorder, of July, 1887, contained an article signed 
 by Rev. J. H. Welch, of that Church on "Union 
 of Colored Methodists in this Country." The facts 
 there stated have not been called into question, 
 not even by the editor. So that the facts stated 
 
 26
 
 306 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 stand unquestioned. In speaking of the African 
 Methodist Episcopal, the African Zion Methodist 
 Episcopal, and the Colored Methodist Episcopal 
 Churches of America, the very ones spoken of by 
 Brother Wright, he says : 
 
 " But as we stand to-day separated, all of us are 
 Aveak and inefficient. In almost every city, town, 
 and village, each branch of the Methodist family 
 has planted a Church, and in many places neither 
 of the Churches can give the pastor a comfortable 
 support. Neither of the branches above referred 
 to has a first-class institution of learning nor an 
 efficient corps of professors and teachers; and those 
 AVC have are just existing, and that is all. Neither 
 of these organizations has a missionary system 
 operating as it should. Neither branch of these 
 Methodist bodies has a first-class book concern." 
 
 Now, the above comes from an African Methodist 
 of the African Methodists a man conversant AA 7 ith 
 the inner and outer Avorkings of the machinery of 
 the three "strong, progressive, and independent" 
 colored Churches. Who is right, Brother Wright? 
 As to the Avisdom displayed by the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, South, in setting apart its colored 
 daughter, we leave Dr. A. G. Haygood to say, as 
 he has at page 236 in " Our Brother in Black." 
 However, the aforesaid brother missed it a few 
 years, Avhen he says "set apart at the end of the 
 war," for it Avas not "set apart" until 1870. But 
 then, you know, a few years say seven do n't
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 307 
 
 amount to much when we have an object in view. 
 At last he feels as if a solution of his troublesome 
 problem has been reached. When speaking further 
 of the three " strong, aggressive, and independent 
 Churches," he says : "If the members of these 
 Churches could be united with the colored members 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, they would 
 make a million of people. What an opportunity 
 for usefulness to their race would be thus placed 
 before them !" It 's wonderful, is it not ? At this 
 point the good brother reaches his climax. By all 
 means, let it be done ! Let us begin now ! Come, 
 let us go up to the next General Conference of our 
 Church, and pass a law that all the colored Meth- 
 odists in America and Canada must come into our 
 Church bishops, elders, exhorters, and laymen 
 and thus accept the magnanimous "opportunity for 
 usefulness to our race." What would the good 
 brother then think of General Conference represen- 
 tation ? Would he have it reduced? But fearing 
 that some others may not see the plan as he sees it, 
 he says : " If they [the colored members] are to 
 remain in the Church, would it not be to the 
 interest of all parties to dissolve the annual con- 
 ferences in which colored members are in the 
 majority, into mission conferences? If not, then 
 reduce the number of colored delegates." Now, 
 any one can judge from what we have cited from 
 the book, just about how much credence should be 
 had in anything the book, " Preachers and People
 
 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 in the Methodist Episcopal Church," has presented. 
 And yet it does show that the question of a separa- 
 tion from the Methodist Episcopal Church is being 
 discussed ; for even the. author of that book has a 
 backing within and without the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, for he is one of the leading officials in the 
 Arch Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Caste prejudice has not been, but will yet be, 
 driven to the owls and bats," before the enrolling 
 tidal wave of intelligence and sober common sense 
 that is even now breaking upon the shores of this 
 country. And yet it does seem as if there is but 
 one of two ways in which it can be done, or by a 
 combination (suiting the case) of the two, the 
 hump of caste prejudice now resting so adroitly 
 upon the back of our American Protestant ecclesi- 
 asticism must be amputated by the impartial but 
 keen blade of the great Physician ; or Protestantism 
 must bow so low in the dust and ashes of humil- 
 iation, that this unsightly protuberance shall be 
 visible no more forever. Then, and not till then, 
 can we hope to see this camel go unscathed through 
 the eye of the gospel needle.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 309 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 UNION OF COLORED METHODISTS. 
 
 WHAT would be the result of such a union ? 
 If an organic union of all the colored 
 Methodists in America could be effected, it would 
 make no mean Church. Just think of the African 
 Methodist Episcopal, the African Methodist Episco- 
 pal Zion, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in 
 America, and the colored members now within the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, say to the number of 
 three hundred thousand, uniting and forming one 
 Church, composed of 22,076 ministers and a member- 
 ship of 1,012,300, bringing with them an army of 
 Sunday-school children not far from 1,500,000 ! If 
 the divine promise were fulfilled in each of these, that 
 "one shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten 
 thousand to flight," why, such an army of true be- 
 lievers could, as the quaint preacher said, "shake 
 hell to its center" while moving the world toward 
 the cross of Christ! 
 
 It was in 1883 when Dr. Tanner, through the 
 columns of the paper he was then editing, the 
 Oiristian Recorder, of the African Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, suggested the idea of an organic 
 union of all the exclusively colored organizations. 
 A year or so ago the colored Methodists of Canada,
 
 310 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 under Bishop Nazery, united with the African 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. It did not amount 
 to much then nor since. Several times overtures 
 have been made to the two other colored Churches 
 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, but it 
 has usually ended in talk. The fact may as well be 
 stated first as last, that a time will never come in the 
 history of this country when all the colored Meth- 
 odists will belong to one great Negro Church. In 
 the first place, the African Methodist Episcopal, 
 the African Methodist Episcopal Zion, the Colored 
 Methodist Episcopal Church of America, and the 
 colored members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 each and every one of these is looking forward to, 
 and praying for, a time when all the others will 
 come back to mother or come over and live with 
 sister. Again, because the separate and distinct col- 
 ored Church organizations have been warring with 
 each other from the beginning of their organiza- 
 tion, and these old feuds and petty jealousies keep 
 coming up every time organic union is mentioned. 
 It can not occur, because the African Methodist 
 Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal Zion 
 Churches continued separate before the war, and 
 when it ended expected to, and did, receive a won- 
 derful influx from the Methodist Episcopal and 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Those two or- 
 ganizations saw a few apples still clinging to the par- 
 ent tree in the South. They began throwing sticks 
 and mud, then they tried "taffy," and then stones.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCII. 311 
 
 In 1869 each of the above-named two Churches be- 
 gan to get ready for the reception of the one hundred 
 thousand members then in the Church South. As 
 the General Conference of the Church South in 1870 
 met, each of those denominations, basing its faith 
 on the repeated promises of many of the prominent 
 preachers of the Church South, began to prepare 
 to receive them. They were chagrined, however, 
 when, instead of "coming over," they marched out 
 into the broad field of independency, and set up 
 shop for themselves by the assistance of the Church 
 South. The two older Churches then began to 
 bushwhack all they possibly could, seizing "every 
 straggling soul as their own lawful prey." The 
 two larger colored organizations will not unite, 
 because each is still waiting and expecting her 
 younger sister to visit and remain with her. The 
 three will not unite, because each is expecting a time 
 to come when the three hundred thousand colored 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church will 
 leave in a body and join it. 
 
 Of course, the colored members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church are praised, abused, loved, laughed 
 at, or coquetted, as the case seems to require at the 
 time. It is really amusing at times to hear the 
 stories told good, bad, and indifferent by these 
 three organizations, to induce our members to come. 
 And yet, somehow or other, the one does not seem 
 to know why the other should anticipate our com- 
 ing. We can not see it. Before we had separate
 
 312 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 conferences it did look as if all our members would 
 be stolen from us. But every day now the colored 
 members of the Methodist Episcopal Church pitch 
 their tent a day's march farther from auy kind of 
 African Methodism, on the one hand, and from 
 having the oceans circumscribe them by joining 
 "The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church of, or in, 
 America." If there ever comes a time in the his- 
 tory of the colored members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church when it will be no longer useful, 
 pleasant, or wise to remain, they will undoubtedly 
 Jorm another colored organization, and man it them- 
 selves. They have the material. There is no col- 
 ored Church in this country that is educating so 
 many young people a year as the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. Our brethren of the three colored 
 organizations in this country will tell you that the 
 time has now passed when their bishops, General 
 Conference officers, etc., can visit the Commence- 
 ment exercises of our schools and colleges, and take 
 away in their pockets, by flattery or promises, our 
 young people as they were wont to do. This is 
 the explanation of the mushroom " universities 
 and colleges" under the auspices of certain "pow- 
 ers" in this country. Our young men and women 
 begin now to see, as do many others, that a time 
 not far distant must come when the best outlook for 
 cultured colored men and women will not be, as 
 some would have us believe, in Africa, nor among 
 the Africans. Why should it not be a separate
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 313 
 
 organization of our own, if any change must come ? 
 Indeed, the thought presents the most flattering pros- 
 pect, the twenty or thirty universities, colleges, 
 normal schools, and academies given into the hands 
 of our own competent presidents, professors, and 
 teachers; the real estate, consisting of college build- 
 ings, churches, and parsonages, with mortgage on 
 only about twenty-five cents on the dollar; five 
 hundred thousand children in our schools, and over 
 three hundred thousand members, with the great 
 Methodist Episcopal Church behind them! Now 
 and then some good brother, like the author of 
 " Preachers and People in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church," advances the Utopian idea of handing us 
 over to some one of the existing colored organiza- 
 tions, but the good men and women in the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church are hoping for no such 
 thing. We believe the good men and women pre- 
 dominate. 
 
 In the above-referred-to book the statement is 
 made that " the more intelligent colored people in 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church are seriously think- 
 ing of separating from the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church." If the poll were taken of every intelli- 
 gent colored man within the Church, such an idea 
 ivtmld be laughed at, for no such feeling prevails. 
 There is no such spirit abroad within the Church 
 on the part of the colored members. If it exists at 
 all, it must be sought elsewhere. There is no occasion 
 for it; and though it may be that now and then 
 
 27
 
 314 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 some word is let fall by some braggadocio, that if 
 so and so is not done, thus and so will happen, 
 yet no such stuff has ever fallen from the lips of 
 the leaders of our colored membership, properly 
 so called. Should anything of the kind ever be 
 broached, there would be no occasion for secrecy, 
 and less for braggadocio ; no absolute necessity for 
 rejoicing on the part of any colored organizations, 
 if there might follow overtures to the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church for organic union that are not now 
 made. The thought naturally uppermost at this junc- 
 ture in the minds of some may be, Would it not be 
 Christian-like and brotherly for the colored mem- 
 bers to separate, so that organic union may take 
 place between the "two great branches of Meth- 
 odism in this country ?" Is that what keeps them 
 apart? We would, to the question as to separation, 
 answer, No. If we understand the heart of the 
 Church and we think we do, having been born nat- 
 urally and supernaturally in her lap she does not ask 
 as much. In 1844 the Church, by dropping her in- 
 terests in and work for the colored man, could very 
 easily and knowingly have preserved her union, 
 power, and influence, kept back the rebellion for a 
 time, received the encomiums instead of the vituper- 
 ation and obloquy of every slaveholding nation in 
 the world, and brought to her support the strong 
 slave oligarchy of the South. She did not do it. She 
 will never compromise with sin enough to accept 
 even an organic union conceived in caste and born
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 315 
 
 of a hate that excludes one the Lord said should be 
 loved as herself. We believe, laying aside all per- 
 sonal predilections, prejudice, and aspirations that, 
 so far as the Church is concerned, the colored mem- 
 bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church will remain 
 therein until they are pleased to go out, if that is 
 until the sound of the first trumpet. 
 
 Would there be anything gained by a separation ? 
 To our mind there is nothing to gain, and much to 
 lose, by the colored members of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church separating from it. In the first 
 place, it would have the same tendency that the now 
 existing colored organizations have, casting reflec- 
 tions upon the wisdom of those good men and 
 women who all along have contended for general 
 equality; it would weaken the race politically and 
 socially ; widen, instead of narrowing, the chasm be- 
 tween the white and colored clergy in this country. 
 " Like priests, like people," would naturally widen 
 the breach between the laity. This would naturally 
 cause variance between neighbors because of color. 
 This would naturally lead to separate schools where 
 they are now mixed, and keep forever separate those 
 that are now separate. In a word, it would mag- 
 nify caste, race prejudice, and eventually lead to a 
 war of races. The segregation of one million or 
 more colored men in this country into one single 
 organization would endanger the safety of our Re- 
 public in more ways than one. In the second place, 
 a separation now from the Methodist Episcopal
 
 316 
 
 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Church for anything less than a Grime against the 
 race would not only be suicidal, but foolhardy, pay- 
 ing kindness with contumely, and subjecting not 
 only the members concerned, but the race to the 
 scorn and laughter of the world. We do not ex- 
 pect to have everything go our way, to count for 
 more than we number, nor to see every law we pro- 
 pose adopted, nor to be fondly dandled in the lap 
 of an affectionate and opulent mother. We ex- 
 pect only what we have always received from the 
 Church the privilege of full membership therein. 
 
 The work which the Church has done in the 
 South, may be seen from the following tables : 
 
 BOARD OF EDUCATION UP TO JANUARY i, 1887. 
 
 NAME. 
 
 Pupils 
 aided. 
 
 AMOUNT. 
 
 LOCATION. 
 
 Centenary Bib'l Institute. 
 
 46 
 
 $1,850 00 
 
 Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Central Tenn. College . 
 
 67 
 
 2,446 00 
 
 Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 Claflin University . . . 
 
 45 
 
 2,015 00 
 
 Orangeburg, S. C. 
 
 Clark University .... 
 
 12 
 
 732 00 
 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 Cookman Institute . . . 
 
 4 
 
 158 00 
 
 Jacksonville, Fla. 
 
 Bennett Seminary . . . 
 
 6 
 
 200 00 
 
 Greensboro, N. C. 
 
 Gammon Theol. School . 
 
 29 
 
 1,663 00 
 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 Haven Normal Institute. 
 
 3 
 
 75 00 
 
 Waynesboro, Ga. 
 
 Morristown Seminary . 
 
 22 
 
 755 00 
 
 Morristown, Tenn. 
 
 New Orleans University. 
 
 44 
 
 2,327 00 
 
 New Orleans, La. 
 
 Philander Smith .... 
 
 5 
 
 228 00 
 
 Little Rock, Ark. 
 
 Rust University .... 
 
 11 
 
 400 00 
 
 Holly Spr'gs, Miss. 
 
 Rust Normal Institute . 
 
 2 
 
 75 00 
 
 Huntsville, Ala. 
 
 Wiley Universitv . . 
 
 18 
 
 855 00 
 
 Marshall, Texas. 
 
 West Texas Conf."Sem. . 
 
 5 
 
 140 00 
 
 Houston, Texas. 
 
 Total 
 
 319 
 
 $13,919 00 
 
 
 In Northern Colleges . . 
 
 6 
 
 2,'000 00 
 
 
 Grand Total .... 
 
 325 
 
 $15,919 00 

 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 317 
 
 WORK OF CHURCH EXTENSION SOCIETY. 
 
 Expended to colored membership by donation . $237,000 00 
 Expended to colored membership by loan .... 150,000 00 
 
 Total given by Church $387,000 00 
 
 Total given by colored members by collection . . 35,000 00 
 
 Amount received by colored members more 
 
 than they raised $352,000 00 
 
 Churches this saved, built, or helped to build for them, 2,000. 
 
 WORK OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY SINCE 
 
 THE WAR. 
 
 Conference. Amount. Conference. Amount. 
 
 Central Alabama . $16,600 00 Savannah .... $20,250 00 
 
 Delaware 23,438 89 South Carolina . . 49,217 25 
 
 Florida 20,228 65 Tennessee 34,236 78 
 
 Georgia 38,571 58 Texas 32,103 09 
 
 Lexington .... 27,053 50 Washington .... 55,833 68 
 
 Louisiana .... 126,201 50 Little Rock .... 12,700 00 
 
 Mississippi .... 155,943 63 Colored work in 
 
 Missouri 42,486 06 Kansas 7,500 00 
 
 North Carolina . . 25,622 45 
 
 St. Louis 41,279 00 Total .... $729,266 06 
 
 In the above figures the West Texas Confer- 
 ence is included in Texas Conference, East Tennessee 
 in the Tennessee Conference, etc. While no claim is 
 set up that the above figures are exactly true, they 
 are at least an approximation. Where the confer- 
 ence was mixed, one-eighth of the missionary appro- 
 priation only has been credited to the colored work, 
 though it is easy to see how mistakes could creep 
 in an account of this. But the work that has been 
 done, and the interest which the Church has had in 
 it are apparent. So long as souls are to be saved, 
 the Church can not relax its efforts toward these 
 people, whether white or colored.
 
 318 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION. 
 
 The great work done by this benevolent society 
 of the Church among the colored people of the 
 South deserves emphatic mention in connection 
 with these tables of results which we have been 
 giving. It will be impossible to tabulate perfectly 
 statistical results among the colored people, as the 
 work done has been for the populations of the 
 South, regardless of color, and has so interpen- 
 etrated that it would be impossible to say that this 
 was done for one race, and this for another. We 
 may m.ention, however, the publication of the 
 Good Tidings and its gratuitous distribution among 
 the Sunday-schools of the colored people in the 
 South. During the year 1888 the Sunday-school 
 Union, in connection with the Tract Society, sent the 
 Good Tidings to 2,536 Sunday-schools in 807 differ- 
 ent charges in the Southern States. The weekly aver- 
 age of Good Tidings distributed was 37,134 ; total 
 number of copies distributed during the year, 
 1,994,000; total number of pages, 7,976,000. No 
 one can possibly estimate the great good which has 
 been accomplished by the circulation of this excel- 
 lent publication. Besides this, the Union has sent 
 grants of Sunday-school libraries, music-books, 
 catechisms, and Sunday-school periodicals of every 
 possible description to all parts of the South, call- 
 ing into existence new schools, and inspiring dis- 
 couraged schools with new life. Possibly the most
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 319 
 
 helpful work accomplished by this society has been 
 its personal visitation in the person of its efficient 
 agents in all parts of the South. Almost every sec- 
 tion of the country has been touched. Extensive 
 campaigns of work have been conducted. Weary 
 and disheartened pastors have been encouraged: 
 new schools have been organized, which have 
 already grown into commanding churches ; new and 
 better methods of work have been taught a people 
 who knew so little how to work ; and because of this 
 " hand-to-hand " effort immense good has been ac- 
 complished, and the Sunday-school Union stands 
 well to the front among the benevolent societies of 
 the Church, contributing to the growth of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church among the colored people of 
 the South. 
 
 In addition to this official work for the Sunday- 
 schools of the South, there were in several places 
 organized efforts to collect and distribute second- 
 hand books in needy localities. From Cincinnati 
 many boxes of these were forwarded, that useful 
 reading matter and school-books might be supplied 
 by the proper agents to those who had not the 
 means to purchase for themselves. These went 
 largely into the cabins and cottages of the freedmen ; 
 and the first lessons in reading were learned by 
 many who had no other teachers than those in the 
 Sunday-schools. A single book served ofttimes for 
 an entire family. Father, mother, and children 
 were alike ignorant, and alike needed instruction.
 
 320 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 THE FREEDMEN'S AID AND SOUTHERN EDUCA- 
 TION SOCIETY. 
 
 INSTITUTIONS AMONG COLORED PEOPLE. 
 
 X. Collegiate. Teachers Students 
 
 Centenary Biblical Institute, Baltimore, Md. .12 223 
 
 Central Tennessee College, Nashville, Tenn. . 22 545 
 
 Claflin University, Orangeburg, S. C 23 946 
 
 Clark University, Atlanta, Ga 23 340 
 
 New Orleans University, New Orleans, La. . 15 26G 
 
 Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Ark. . 12 185 
 
 Rust University, Holly Springs, Miss 10 355 
 
 Wiley University, Marshall, Texas 17 230 
 
 2. Theological. 
 
 Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Ga. . 4 71 
 
 3. Biblical Departments. 
 
 Baker Institute, Claflin University 6 10 
 
 Centenary Biblical Institute (correspondence 6) 3 31 
 
 Central Tennessee College (correspondence 62) 2 102 
 
 Gilbert Haven School of Theology, New Orleans 3 15 
 
 4. Medical and Dental. 
 
 Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn. . . 11 55 
 
 Medical Department New Orleans University 
 
 (just organized) 5 
 
 Meharry Dental College, Nashville, Tenn. . . 8 11 
 
 5. Legal. 
 
 School, Central Tennessee College 6 6 
 
 6. Industrial. 
 
 Claflin College of Agriculture and Mechanics 
 
 Inst. , Orangeburg, S. C 20 507 
 
 John F. Slater Schools of Industry, Nahville, 
 
 Tenn 8 194 
 
 Schools of Industry, New Orleans University . 2 120 
 
 Schools of Industry, Rust University, Holly 
 
 Springs, Miss 4 35 
 
 Schools of Industry, Centenary Biblical Insti- 
 tute, Baltimore, Md 4 53 
 
 Manual Training-school, Philander Smith 
 
 College, Little Rock, Ark 4 92 
 
 Industrial School, Bennett Seminary 3 11
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 321 
 
 Teachers. Students. 
 
 Schools of Industry, Wiley University, Mar- 
 shall, Texas . . " 4 116 
 
 Schools of Industry, in Cookman Institute, 
 
 Jacksonville, f\& 2 18 
 
 Schools of Industry, Gilbert Seminary, Bald- 
 win, La 7 75 
 
 Classes in Huntsville Normal Institute, Hunts- 
 
 ville, Ala 2 27 
 
 Schools in Clark University, Atlanta, Ga. . . 10 204 
 
 7. Academic. 
 
 Bennett Seminary, Greensboro, N. C 6 125 
 
 Baltimore City Academy, Baltimore, Md.* . . 
 
 Central Alabama Academy, Huntsville, Ala. . 4 140 
 
 Cookman Institute, Jacksonville, Fla 6 321 
 
 Delaware Conference Academy, Princess 
 
 Anne, Md.* 
 
 Gilbert Seminary, Winsted, La 17 299 
 
 Haven Normal School, Waynesboro, Ga. ... 3 153 
 
 LaGrange Seminary, LaGrange, Ga 3 209 
 
 Meridian Academy, Meridian, Miss 3 154 
 
 Morristown Seminary, Morristown, Tenn. . . 9 260 
 
 Samuel Houston College, Austin, Texas (not 
 
 opened last year) 
 
 West Tennessee Seminary, Mason, Tenn. . . 2 149 
 
 * Teachers and Student* counted in Centenary Biblical Institute. 
 
 INSTITUTIONS AMONG WHITE PEOPLE. 
 i. Collegiate. 
 
 Chattanooga University, Chattanooga, Tenn. . 9 161 
 
 Grant Memorial University, Athens, Tenn. . . 18 291 
 
 Little Rock University, Little Rock, Ark. . . 14 266 
 
 Texas Wesleyan College 10 240 
 
 2. Theological. 
 
 School, Chattanooga University 2 13 
 
 School, Grant Memorial University 3 27 
 
 3. Legal. 
 
 Class, Grant Memorial University 1 4t 
 
 Class, Little Rock University 6 20 
 
 4. Academic. 
 
 Baldwin Seminary, Baldwin, La 2 
 
 Bloomington College, Bloomington, Tenn. . . 4 138
 
 322 
 
 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 Teachers. Studenta 
 
 Ellijay Seminary, Ellijay, Ga 3 151 
 
 Graham Academy, Smyrna, N. C 3 86 
 
 Holston Academy, New Market, Tenn 2 90 
 
 Kingsley Seminary, Blopmingdale, Tenn. ... 4 131 
 
 Leicest r Seminary, Leicester, N. C 4 136 
 
 Mai lalieu Academy, Kinsey, Ala 2 65 
 
 McLemoresville Institute, McLemoresville, 
 
 Tenn 7 114 
 
 Mt. Zion Seminary, Mt. Zion, Ga 4 140 
 
 Powell's Valley, Well Spring, Tenn 4 175 
 
 Parrottsville Academy, Parrottsville, Tenn. . . 3 125 
 Roanoke Academy, Roanoke, Va. (not opened 
 
 past year) 
 
 Trapp Hill Academy, Trapp Hill, N. C. . . . 2 125 
 
 Warren College, Chucky City, Tenn 4 155 
 
 Woodland Academy, Cumberland, Miss. ... 2 72 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 
 Among Colored 
 People. 
 
 Among White 
 People. 
 
 Total. 
 
 GRADE OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 2! 
 
 e 
 
 g 
 
 CO 
 
 c 
 
 H 
 
 CO 
 
 ? 
 
 c 
 
 S 
 
 CO 
 
 c 
 
 
 R 
 
 i 
 
 P- 
 
 a 
 
 & 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 i 
 
 pi 
 
 
 o* 
 
 rf 
 
 a> 
 
 9 
 
 o- 
 
 er 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 tr 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 e 
 
 
 i 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 3 
 
 
 Collegiate 
 
 8 
 1 
 
 134 
 4 
 
 3,090 
 71 
 
 4 
 
 51 
 
 958 
 
 12 
 1 
 
 146 
 4 
 
 4,048 
 71 
 
 Theological Seminary.. 
 
 Biblical Departments.. 
 
 4 
 
 14 
 
 158 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 40 
 
 6 
 
 19 
 
 198 
 
 Medical Departments.. 
 
 V 
 
 11 
 
 55 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 11 
 
 55 
 
 Dental Department 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 Legal Department 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 61 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 67 
 
 Industrial Departments 
 
 1? 
 
 70 
 
 1,455 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 70 
 
 1 ,4,55 
 
 Academies 
 
 1? 
 
 60 
 
 1 810 
 
 16 
 
 54 
 
 1 759 
 
 98 
 
 114 
 
 3^569 
 
 Totals* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 223 
 
 4,971 
 
 20 
 
 105 
 
 2,717 1 
 
 41 
 
 328 
 
 7,688 
 
 * In these totals students and teachers are counted but once ; and depart- 
 ments are not counted as separate institutions. 
 
 In twenty-two years the Freedraen's Aid and South 
 ern Education Society has expended in the work of 
 Christian education in the South about $2,500,000. 
 
 The present value of the property owned by the 
 Society in the South is over $1,500,000. This
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 323 
 
 includes lands some of which have increased in 
 value school buildings, furniture, and libraries. 
 More than one hundred thousand colored students 
 have been in the various schools, and a reasonable 
 estimate is, that the preachers and teachers in public 
 and private schools, from among this multitude, 
 have had under their influence fully one million of 
 the youth and adults of the South. No words can 
 adequately express the far-reaching and glorious re- 
 sults already achieved, and yet to flow, from this ever- 
 widening current of intellectual and moral power. 
 
 THE DUTY OF THE HOUR. 
 
 With the understanding that we are not cumber- 
 some to the Church, what is the duty of the colored 
 members therein? It is our indispensable duty to 
 remain loyal, wise, and prudent. By saying that 
 the colored members of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church ought to remain loyal, does not necessarily 
 carry with it a thought that there is a spirit of dis- 
 loyalty brewing. What is intended is simply that 
 each and every member thereof should know his 
 and her obligations to the Church, her rules and reg- 
 ulations, and sacredly keep them, "not for wrath, 
 but for conscience' sake." If the entire mem- 
 bership would be loyal and stay loyal, as well as 
 appear loyal in the eyes of the world and of the 
 Church, it must see to it that there is no just ground 
 for such complaints against the race as have herein- 
 before been mentioned as found in Mr. Wright's
 
 324 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 book. The charges he brought forward were, that 
 the colored delegates to the General Conference of 
 1884 were "generally very ignorant representa- 
 tives." He said also : " It is said, by those who 
 know and judge impartially, that to-day there are 
 but few men in any of the Southern colored and 
 mixed conferences who are fitted for their places, 
 and that the colored members are still grossly im- 
 moral." These are awfully serious charges, whether 
 true or not. A great many people in these United 
 States will probably form (or may have already) an 
 opinion from that book of not only the race with 
 which they anon come in contact in the busy scenes 
 of every-day life, but of the colored membership 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, members of the 
 same Christian family, who are privileged to eat at 
 the same Lord's table. We know there are thou- 
 sands of chances for even us to say, "It is not all on 
 this side of the house ;" but it makes but little, if 
 anything, in our favor if others are no better than we. 
 That the good brother overleaped the bounds of 
 reason, not to say common sense, in his desperation 
 to make out a case, is a foregone conclusion. What 
 he says is, that "those who know and judge impar- 
 tially," say "that the colored members are till 
 grossly immoral." What a fearful charge is this 
 against the bishops of our Church, that they have 
 brought into the Church, directly or indirectly, 
 under their very noses, three hundred tktnuand 
 "grossly immoral" members! Thousands of these
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 325 
 
 have received authority to preach the gospel and 
 administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; 
 none of whom have been less than two years under 
 the almost personal training of the General Confer- 
 ence. Isn't it horrible? Who believes it? But 
 no one need be surprised at this tirade against the 
 poor " black man," for in his next paragraph above, 
 at page 265, brother Wright, in speaking of the 
 white ministers and agents sent South to teach the 
 colored people, says: "The general impudence and 
 lack of knowledge of the agents and ministers sent 
 to the South have blocked up the way of the Church. 
 The immoral character and the dishonest practices 
 of some inflicted disgrace on the Church and cast a 
 doubt on all." All the white delegates were not as 
 " learned " as the author of " Preachers and People 
 in the Methodist Episcopal Church," who were 
 elected to attend the General Conference in 1884. 
 It was not to have been expected that all the col- 
 ored delegates would measure up to him. How- 
 ever far he may have missed the truth in this case, 
 intentionally or otherwise, one of the best ways for 
 the colored members in the Church to show that 
 they are loyal and worthy is to elect no one as a 
 delegate to the General Conference who is not quali- 
 fied. By qualified we mean possessing natural and 
 acquired ability, and the grace of God richly shed 
 abroad in the heart. With the former he will be 
 qualified to discharge the functions of his office with 
 credit to himself, his race, and the Church. By the
 
 326 THE COLORED MAN. 
 
 latter he will be "an epistle known and read of all 
 men," who will by it perceive that he is " neither 
 common nor unclean/' but "a workman that need- 
 eth not to be ashamed." As presiding elders, pas- 
 tors, officers, and members of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, let us let our light shine by raising 
 our standard higher. Let no one be recommended 
 for license to preach by us in any quarterly meet- 
 ing, however far back in the woods it may be, who 
 has not " gifts and grace." As to our mode of wor- 
 ship, let it be after the manner of our excellent 
 Discipline, and not after the style of Revolutionary 
 days. Let our Sabbath-schools be brought up to a 
 higher plane. Let the songs of thanksgiving and 
 praise, accompanied by the Word of God and 
 prayer, be of daily occurrence where it has been 
 periodical. Let us see tc it that, as a Church, the 
 rules and regulations thereof are kept to the very 
 letter. Let us, as a race, continue to improve 
 morally, financially, intellectually, and spiritually, 
 "having an eye single to the glory of God." 
 " Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and 
 in the power of his might. Put on the whole 
 armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against 
 the wiles of the devil. Stand therefore, having 
 your loins girt about with truth, and having on the 
 breast-plate of righteousness, and your feet shod 
 with the preparation of the gospel of peace ; above 
 all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall 
 be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 327 
 
 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword 
 of the Spirit, which is the Word of God ; praying 
 always, with all prayers and supplications in the 
 Spirit, and watching thereunto with all persever- 
 ance," until the great and notable day of the Lord, 
 when you shall appear before the great white throne, 
 and hear the Captain of your salvation, to the ques- 
 tion, " Who are these ?" answer, " These are they 
 which came up out of great tribulation, and have 
 washed their robes and made them white in the 
 blood of the Lamb."
 
 HERN REGONAl. LIBRAHV FACILITY 
 
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