USA > Delaware > Methodism of the peninsula, or, Sketches of notable characters and events in the history of Methodism in the Maryland and Delaware peninsula > Part 19
USA > Maryland > Methodism of the peninsula, or, Sketches of notable characters and events in the history of Methodism in the Maryland and Delaware peninsula > Part 19
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In 1844, the Methodist Episcopal Church divided on the question of slavery, resulting in the formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Not long after- wards that organization began to plant churches on the Eastern Shore of Virginia; and, in 1861, on the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, the great mass of the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Accomac and Northampton counties, followed the political secession and joined the Southern organization,
309
RECORD AND STATUS.
taking with them about all the church property, except that located on Tangier Island and in Onancock. On Tangier, the emissaries of the seceding churches met with a unanimous resistance, and the noble band held that post for the Methodism of the fathers, against all attacks and blandishments. In Onancock the incor- ruptible loyalty and devotion of a handful of faithful souls, enfolding the standard of old-time Methodism with " The Red, White and Blue," modestly but un- flinchingly stood by their colors in vindication of the cause of right. The moral heroism of the Tylers, Leatherburys, Ayres, Watsons, Masons, Winders and others, who so nobly withstood the political bombard- ment and the social ostracism and hatred of those years of peril and agony, entitles them to have their names enrolled on that imperishable scroll of honorable record, that shall be transmitted to the heavens for " everlasting remembrance." This lone society formed the nucleus of a spiritual accretion and a denominational reorganization that is gradually extending again the sheltering wings of the mother Church over all this estranged territory.
The fourth and last secession, which was also to the Church, South, occurred after the war, from 1865 to 1878. It extended over a large portion of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Its inspiration was wholly politi- cal, and grew out of the passions and prejudices excited by the war. Although the Southern Confederacy and its "elect and precious chief corner-stone" had been consigned to one bloody grave, there were many thou-
310
METHODISM OF THE PENINSULA.
sands within the Peninsula, who came to that tomb in the early morn of freedom weeping, and who discovered there no lingering angels of consolation and promise. These devoted friends of the "lost cause" were not only inconsolable, but also angry and vindictive. Some of them were Methodists; some were of other churches ; some were of no church, and a few were skeptics; but they were all politicians of the radical and impulsive southern type. They recalled the testimony of the Methodist Episcopal Discipline on Slavery, adopted in 1860; they re-read the war resolutions, passed by many of the Conferences during the great crisis ; they remem- bered Mr. Lincoln's eulogy of the old Church for her loyalty to the Union, and for the hosts she had sent to his aid on the bloody field; and they resolved to punish, and-as far as possible-extirpate her. Abusive pam- phlets against what was called the "Northern Church," were published and industriously circulated ; whole com- munities were privately canvassed, and all persons, male and female, of southern sympathies were entreated to leave the politically tainted communion of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, where in fact all parties were represented, and to join the more congenial organization of the South, whose communicants were to be composed entirely of persons of one political faith. It was thus they would rebuke the "partisanship" of the old Church ! An amusing story used to be told of an unkind wag, who was actively canvassing in a certain town in behalf of our sister organization; and who, in his indiscreet
311
RECORD AND STATUS.
zeal to enfold some of his free and easy companions of the world, urged as an incentive that his church pro- posed to have "nothing whatever to do with politics or religion !" It was a shameful misrepresentation : at that time she had much to do with both.
The result of these well-executed schemes was such as to greatly encourage the combined elements engaged in the crusade, and to nearly paralyze with astonishment and apprehension that part of the Peninsular population who were unconditionally loyal to the Methodism of the fathers. In several of the principal towns, and in many country places, there was such a wholesale stampede as left the Methodist Episcopal congregations with but a "corporal's guard" of dispirited adherents. Amid great rejoicings, many glad funerals were held by poli- ticians over the despised old Methodist Episcopal corpse. In every case, however, these politico-ecclesiastical burials were premature and the graves too shallow. The little churches in every place remaining, like the grain of mustard seed, had in them the indestructible principle of life, and have rapidly developed into luxuriant trees where numerous birds of heaven find shelter. Except in a few cases where entire congregations seceded, in almost every locality thus affected, the Methodist Epis- copal Church is to-day stronger and more prosperous than before the exodus. The three thousand vacancies in our ranks, left by these departing sisters and brothers, have been filled again ; and, with addition of regiment after regiment to the column. the great Methodist
312
METHODISM OF THE PENINSULA.
Episcopal host of the Peninsula marches on. These memories are recalled in no other spirit than that of the humble chronicler, desiring to be faithful to the facts of history. Nor would the author be understood to insinuate that all the members of the older communion were guiltless of actions that were rash and of words that were unkind. Good men, on both sides of this most unfortunate family contention, have lived to recog- nize and grieve over their mistakes of the past; and to-day they are making atonement in the cultivation of that Christly forbearance which is attendant upon honest effort to save souls rather than to vindicate party. Years ago, the pure, sweet waters of Methodist fraternity rolled over the scene, and obliterated most of the marks of the conflict. We now pleasantly dwell together "in the unity of the Spirit" and in "the bonds of peace."
The most serious and threatening of the defections above described culminated just as Peninsula Methodism reached her centenary. She was pursued and hunted in the wilderness, but, as of old, "the earth helped the woman," opening its mouth and swallowing up the flood of persecution cast forth out of the mouth of the political dragon .. The natural antidote to unreasoning popular prejudice is the inevitable reaction of the popular common-sense; and this reaction was materially helped, in this emergency by a worldly-wise and politic diplomacy on the part of the leaders of the beleagured Church. In 1868, lay representation, as to the General Conference, was adopted, greatly tending to popularize the old Church
313
RECORD AND STATUS.
in this region. It was just then also, and even more timely, that the old Philadelphia Conference, against which much unreasonable antagonism had been cher- ished, was divided, and the Wilmington Conference was organized, embracing only the "southern" territory within the Peninsula. The following year a "Peninsula Convention of the Methodist Episcopal Church " was held, at which papers were read, discussions had and measures taken that will affect, for all time, the status and success of our Zion throughout this territory. A paper read by Rev. C. W. Buoy on "Our Denomina- tional Institutions of Learning," suggested to the author of this volume the drafting and presentation of the fol- lowing resolution :
" Resolved, That a committee of eight, composed of an equal number of ministers and laymen, be appointed to take into consideration the question of ways and means, and to receive propositions for the location of a first-class Academy for boys, with instructions to report at the next session of the Wilmington Annual Con- ference."
The adoption of this resolution resulted in the build- ing of the Wilmington Conference Academy, at Dover, Del., a property worth $60,000, which, as heretofore intimated, has already aided in the higher education of hundreds of the sons and daughters of Peninsula Meth- odism, and is destined to multiply its benign results through all the cycles of our ripening future. These wise measures, with the new and absorbing activities
314
METHODISM OF THE PENINSULA.
they necessitated, so solidified and concentrated our de- nominational forces, as that few breaches have since been made in our on-marching legions. Indeed, the only defection occurring since that time was in the Southern districts of Dorchester County, Md., where, for some unaccountable reason, a presiding elder and a pastor trailed their discouraged banners, deserted their church fastnesses and conducted a "masterly," but wholly un- necessary and inglorious retreat. Already are there signs of popular reaction in the disaffected localities ; and soon, doubtless, awaking fully to a consciousness of their loss, the temporarily estranged children will wel- come home their dear, old, discarded mother.
We began our work as a Conference in 1869, with 82 charges, 90 ministers, 23,179 members and proba- tioners, and church property valued at $1,026,150. At the end of seventeen years we number, in the Wilmington Conference, 136 charges, supplied by 157 ministers, 31,909 communicants, and church property valued at $1,526,575. If men are to be measured by the results of their living and doing, then the opinion of a distinguished Methodist layman, to which publicity was given at the Cambridge Conference in 1883, to the effect that the present generation of Methodist preachers are at a great disadvantage as compared with their pre- decessors of fifty years ago, does not appear to be very well sustained. For their vindication they need only point to their achievements.
The following table will exhibit the growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church within the Peninsula,
315
RECORD AND STATUS.
through its first century, exclusive of its colored mem- bership, except for the first two periods named, when white and colored were reported together :
Year.
No. of Charges.
No. of Ministers.
Member- ship.
White Popu- lation in the Peninsula
Rate of Members to Population.
1774
1
1
150*
125,000 *
1 to 833.0
1780
3
6
875*
130,000 *
1 to 148.0
1790
10
21
6,253
103,000 +
1 to 16.4
1800
12
24
5,523
112,000 +
1 to
19.9
1810
16
35
13,228
122,000 +
1 to
9.2
1820
17
34
13,415
131,000 +
1 to
9.7
1830
18
42
14,941
140,000 +
1 to
9.7
1840
33
61
17,047
150,000 +
1 to
7.7
1850
41
72
19,220
161,619
1 to
8.4
1860
60
103
23,945
196,142
1 to
8.2
1870
89
114
24,397
225,000
1 to
9.2
1880
106
130
30,755
257,629
1 to
8.3
1886
141
157
31,909
276,980 +
1 to
8.6
* White and Colored.
t Estimated.
The above table shows that, since Methodism over- spread the entire Peninsula, it has maintained, in the mother Church, a remarkable uniformity of influence; and that, despite its frequent losses by schisms and seces- sions, it has a little more than held its ratio to population. A comparison of the figures of 1870 with those for the two contiguous decades will indicate our losses by the exodus to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and to other communions, just after the war. The slight decrease in ratio, indicated by the figures for 1886, is more apparent than real, there having been an unusually careful sifting of the rolls of members, occasioned by the recent per capita estimates of the rank and relation of
316
METHODISM OF THE PENINSULA.
the different charges in their support of the denomina- tional benevolences.
The following table will exhibit the growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church among the people of color in the Peninsula :
Year.
Membership.
Colored Population.
Ratio of Membership.
1786
775
35,000*
1 to 451.
1790
2,764
40,000*
1 to 14.8
1800
3,769
50,000*
1 to
13.2
1810
9,114
60,000*
1 to
6.5
1820
7,688
70,000*
1 to
9.1
1830
7,201
75,000*
1 to
10.4
1840
8,250
80,000*
1 to
9.6
1850
8,750
83,805
1 to
9.5
1860
6,651
76,871
1 to
11.7
1870
10,156
90,000
1 to
8.8
1880
14,055
100,690
1 to
7.2
1886
15,334
112,000*
1 to
7.3
* Estimated.
The remarkable increase in the first decade of the present century, in both white and colored members, is perhaps to be attributed largely to the great revivals accompanying the introduction of camp-meetings. And the fact that the excitable nature of the untutored African slave of that period rendered him more sus- ceptible to the weird influences of those great, primitive gatherings, will perhaps sufficiently account for the phenomenal success of Methodism among the colored people, reaching, at that period, the remarkable ratio of one member to every six and a half of their population.
317
RECORD AND STATUS.
It will also be seen from the foregoing table, that the influence of the Church upon the colored people, has apparently been much more fluctuating than in the case of the white population; and, further, that from 1840 to 1850 there was little increase in colored population ; while, in the next decade, there was an actual and rapid shrinkage. These figures reveal a most tragic and pathetic picture, in which a thousand cabins are in mourning for husbands and fathers torn away in their helpless grief; wives and mothers are heard wailing forth their agony, as they are hurried off without even the farewell kiss of their loved ones ; children are beheld caught up from their innocent gambols, and borne, frightened, sorrowful and sobbing to the auction block :- even the peace of the prayer- circle and the sanctity of God's holy altars are invaded to secure subjects for the horrible slave pens, and the greedy marts of conscienceless " king cotton."
Such was the drain occasioned by the domestic slave trade, that, during three decades, the increase in colored population of the Peninsula was less than two thousand. In one of these decades, all the natural increase, and seven thousand souls in addition-from fifteen to twenty thousand slaves, including of course many thousands of Methodists-were transferred to southern plantations. Furthermore, the increasing severity of the slave code, and the unkind attitude of the masses of the white popu- lation at this period, put the religious gatherings of the colored people under the most rigid and exacting surveil- lance, on the preposterous plea that their prayer and class
318
METHODISM OF THE PENINSULA.
meetings would otherwise become the nests of "treasons, stratagems and spoils," out of which the formidable colored Methodists might emerge to make a desperate dash for freedom, or to inaugurate a vengeful and bloody insurrection ! Thus did the dark and cowardly genius of slavery stifle in its very utterance the poor bondman's cry for spiritual liberty. During this gloomy period the ratio of membership, among the colored people, went down, from one in nine, to one member in twelve of population. It was the dark hour of the night of their dreary sojourn in Egypt.
With the coming of freedom, the colored population rapidly increased, rather than died out, as had been dole- fully prophesied by slaveholding philanthropists. The enforced and cruel exodus was ended; precarious "quar- ters" and cabin tabernacles gave place to humble homes ; the avaricious and voracious monster, who had fed on human souls and bodies, lay stark and dead in his last defensive trench ; and many of his unchained victims returned from their exile, seeking the renewal of the sundered cabin ties of other days. Meantime, in 1864, the Delaware Conference was organized, largely increas- ing the popularity of the mother Church with the colored people. Except as to the Episcopacy, the whole ecclesi- astical machinery and management was committed to colored hands; and right well have they held and con- trolled the lever, as is shown in the statistical results. With a steady advancement in property and intelligence, and released from the besetting and ofttimes compulsory immoralities of the former civilization, the colored pop-
319
RECORD AND STATUS.
ulation of the Peninsula has now swollen to about 112,000; and the ratio of colored membership, in the Methodist Episcopal Church, alone, has arisen to one member for every 7.3 persons.
· The following table will exhibit the increase in the aggregate white and colored population of the Peninsula, as well as the increase of the total of Methodist Episcopal Church membership, from 1850 to the present time :
Year.
Total Population.
Total M. E. Membership.
Ratio to Population.
1850
245,424
27,970
1 to 8.8
1860
273,013
30,306
1 to 9.1
1870
300,000
34,553
1 to 8.7
1880
358,519
44,810
1 to 8.
1886
393,000*
47,243
1 to 8.3
* Estimated.
The minutes of the Wilmington and Delaware Con- ferences for March, 1886, reveal the following statistics and condition of the Methodist Episcopal Church within the Peninsula at the present date:
March, 1886.
Members and
Probationers.
Value of Ch'rch
Property.
Paid last year
on debts and
Current expens.
Sunday Schools.
and Teachers.
Sunday School
Paid for Minis-
terial Support.
Aggregate of
lections.
Wilmington Conf .. Delaware Conf ..
31,909 15,334
$1,526,575 250,160
$ 79,833 27,616
342 202
4,849 1,743
11,207
28,344
3,393
Grand Totals.
47,243
$1,776,735 $ 107,449
544 6,592
45,419 $ 131,643 $ 40,626
Officers
Scholars.
34,212 $ 103,299 $ 37,233
Benevolent Col-
From all these exhibits, not only do we see that the Methodist Episcopal Church, since its general extension over the Peninsula, has a little more than kept pace with
320
METHODISM OF THE PENINSULA.
the increasing population, despite the constant drain upon it to form or sustain other communions; but also that it was never more vital, zealous and liberal than at the present time. These facts and figures also embody an inspiring prophecy of future achievement and well- nigh universal conquest, that can only fail of fulfillment by unfaithfulness to our God-given commission to scatter evangelical holiness over all the land.
As we have already seen, the centenary of the intro- duction of Methodism into the Peninsula was appropri- ately celebrated by holding a "Peninsula Convention of the Methodist Episcopal Church," at Smyrna, Del., November 15-17, 1870. At that convention Rev. J. B. Quigg presented a valuable paper, in which was the following statement :
"We believe the number of churches, among the different de- nominations, to be as follows:
Baptist
34
Methodist Protestant. . . . 70
Protestant Episcopal 69 Methodist Episcopal, South 20 Friends 19 Methodist Episcopal, White 50 and Colored . 446
Presbyterian
Roman Catholic
10
Total number of Churches, 718"
According to the above statement, in 1870 the Meth- odist Episcopal churches constituted about eleven eighteenths of the entire number of churches on the Peninsula. But Mr. Quigg must have underestimated the Protestant Episcopal and the Methodist Protestant strength. He also entirely omitted any estimate of several minor organizations, and forgot all the colored churches, other than Methodist Episcopal, of which there were a number. Allowing for these, it is probable
321
RECORD AND STATUS.
that, at that time, not more than one half of the Peninsula churches were of the Methodist Episcopal communion.
From the best data accessible, and mostly from the authorized reports of the several denominations, the fol- lowing exhibit of the Peninsula Churches, at the present date, is compiled :
DENOMINATIONS.
Churches.
Ministers.
Communi-
cants.
Sunday
School
Scholars.
Value of
Church
Property.
Swedenborgian,*
1
1
120
100
8,000
Unitarian,*
1
1
125
110
10,000
Adventists,*
2
1
200
150
6,000
Reformed Church,
2
2
150
120
3,000
Reformed Episcopal,
2
2
225
200
6,000
Roman Catholic,*
15
15
2,100
2,000
200,000
Friends,*
16
20
1,500
1,350
50,000
Old School Baptists,
16
7
479
none
16,000*
Baptists, White and Colored,
53
29
5,755
4,964
171,700
Presbyterian, .
54
51
5,771
5,574
200,000*
Protestant Episcopal,
100
63
4,697
4,141
300,000*
Free Methodist,*
2
1
150
125
3,000
A. U. F. Colored M. Protestant,
10
9
700
535
12,000*
African M. E. Zion,*
12
10
800
620
13,000
African Methodist Episcopal,
48
27
3,511
2,366
66,855
Methodist Episcopal, South,
63
22
5,458
4,556
147,430
Methodist Protestant,
107
59
6,258
6,299
239,400
Methodist Episcopal, t
523
234
47,243
45,419 1,776,735+
Grand totals, all Churches, .
1027
554
85,242
Deduct Methodist Episcopal, .
523
234
47,243
78,629 3,229,120 45,419 1,776,735
Total of all other Churches, .
504
320 37,999
33,210 1,452,385
Excess of Methodist Episcopal, .
19
·
8,974
12,209
324,350
Excess of other Churches, .
86
765
362
64,120
59,920 2,258,420
Excess Meth. over all other Ch's,
503
170
42,998
41,211 1,128,720
Total, of all Methodist Churches,
* Estimated. +March, 1886. Communicants now numbering about 50,000, with a like increase all along the line.
322
METHODISM OF THE PENINSULA.
If, as is probable, the total population of the Penin- sula is now 393,000 souls, there is one church member to every 4.6 of population, and one Methodist to every six persons. If to one church member there are three church adherents, the total Methodist population is 256,480, and the total population of all other denomina- tions is 84,488. On this calculation, the sad fact appears that there are 52,032 souls, within our little territory, who are absolutely without any denominational ties or tendencies-poor, lost sheep in the wilderness, for whom no shepherd is caring. What an inspiration this fact should furnish to missionary devotion and labor ! Out, Christian people, into the highways and hedges, and "compel them to come in !"
Our figures reveal the astonishing and portentous fact that out of 85,242 church members in the Penin- sula, 64,120, or over three fourths of the entire number, are of the Methodist family; and that, one year ago, 47,243, or over eleven twentieths of the whole number of church members were Methodist Episcopalians. It
is probable that our ratio, at the date of this writing, is increased to fully three fifths. The Sunday-school statistics exhibit about the same ratio of preponderance, as to the influence of Methodism in general, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church in particular, in the religious training of the youth within our bounds.
In the Wilmington Conference the effectiveness of our Sunday-school work is seen in the fact that we have gathered 34,212 scholars, thus exceeding our church
323
RECORD AND STATUS.
membership by 7 per cent. Next on the roll of honor stand the Methodist Protestants, who report 41 more scholars than members. Our zealous friends, the Pres- byterians, have nearly as many scholars as members. Our colored Methodist Episcopal brethren, of the Dela- ware Conference, we regret to see, have come so far short, in measuring up to the demands of this great cause, that they have failed to gather as many scholars as members, by the astonishing number of 4,127, being a deficiency of 27 per cent. In the other branches of Methodism, among the people of color, even a greater failure in this department of the work is manifest. This ominous fact is much to be regretted, and indicates, we fear, that there is something radically at fault in pulpit teachings and family government among our colored brethren. May they awake to the demands of the
situation. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Baptists and the Protestant Episcopalians exhibit but a moderate degree of zeal in this department of Christian work, having, respectively, 16, 12 and 8 per cent. less of scholars than communicants. The last table reveals the anomalous and astonishing fact, that there exists in our Peninsula, and in the culminating light of this nineteenth century, a Church without a single Sun- day-school, and it is also without any missionary organi- zation whatever. Is it any wonder that the Old School Baptists, who once dotted the Peninsula over with their chapels, and counted their communicants by thousands, are now reduced to less than five hundred? A Church
324
METHODISM OF THE PENINSULA.
which thus courts its rapidly approaching fate, must soon have for its dreary epitaph- "Suicided by inanition."
In calling attention to the numbers and status of Peninsula Methodism, the author would indulge in no spirit of vain glorying. On the contrary, every Metho- dist should fully realize the almost overwhelming sense of responsibility and obligation these portentous facts and circumstances impose upon us. God holds Metho- dism generally, and the Methodist Episcopal Church especially, very largely responsible for the religious instruction, moral uplifting and salvation of the nearly 400,000 people within our bounds.
How shall we, as Methodists, most successfully meet these requirements ?
First, By a thoughtful and prayerful consideration of the momentous and inspiring revelations herein made. If there be
"A tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune,"
they, only, who are alert and active to launch out promptly and vigorously, can hope ever to reach the blissful moorings. He who is ignorant of his opportu- nities must fail of his grandest achievements. Not only do the numbers, wealth and denominational prowess of Methodism furnish inspiration to greater endeavors, but the political and social revolutions, wrought out in the last twenty-five years, greatly extend our field and open up to us new and grander possibilities. The new school system of Maryland begotten amid the throes of
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