Biographic etchings of ministers and laymen of the Georgia conferences, Part 16

Author: Scott, William J
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Atlanta, The Foote & Davies co.
Number of Pages: 650


USA > Georgia > Biographic etchings of ministers and laymen of the Georgia conferences > Part 16


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16


On other occasions he made me acquainted with his chequered religious experience, the de-


298


BIOGRAPHIC ETCHINGS


tails of which were strikingly unique and thor oughly-interesting. Long after his official connec- tion with the church he was greatly perplexed about the evidences of Christianity, but when the question was settled it was a finality. Hence- forth he was never troubled with unbelief, and his religious peace flowed like a broad and bound- . ing river. We used to say to him that in many re- spects he had shared the experience of the great and good Chalmers, who, in the early years of his ministry, was buffeted with doubts and harassed by fears, but afterwards became the mighty thun- derer of the Tron church at Glasgow.


Dr. Orr occupied several prominent places in connection with his lifelong educational work. For quite a number of years he was an honored professor of Emory College. At another time he was elected to a professorship in Oglethorpe Uni- versity, a Presbyterian institution. Yet again he was chosen president of the Masonic Female Col- lege, at Covington. But the last sixteen years of his life were devoted to the duties of state school commissioner of Georgia. Dr. Orr is entitled to the credit of whatever of excellence in the way of arrangement and equipment may pertain to our public school system. He found it in a chaotic condition, and in spite of discouragement from every quarter, he placed it on a sure footing and started it on a career of prosperity which in a few years will root out illiteracy amongst both races.


299


OF MINISTERS AND LAYMEN.


We must not be understood, however, as sanc- tioning the obvious inequalities of the system asit is even now organized.


The vast amount of money abstracted from the State treasury for the education of the negro at the expense of the white tax-payers, is a shame- ful injustice to the whites and an equivocal bene- fit to the negro.


Instead of lessening the percentage of crime amongst our negro population, it seems rather to increase it. This result indicates that there is something radically wrong in the system itself or in its administration. Perhaps the evil lies in both directions. So far the outcome warrants the statement that the negro needs moral training far more than the drill of schools or colleges.


When every State is suffered to control the mat- ter for itself, aside from federal dictation, then these evils may be in part or in whole materially remedied.


But we find ourselves digressing and return to the proper matter of this personal sketch.


Dr. Orr did much valuable church work as an official of Evans chapel. His piety was of the primitive type, not lacking in earnestness, but still conservative in its tone and trend. He set great store by Bible reading and home training.


In his domestic relations he was a model hus- band and father. He was conciliatory, yet firm, ' in the administration of family discipline, which


300


BIOGRAPHIC ETCHINGS


secured him alike love and respect from the entire household.


In social matters he was wise in counsel and conservative in action, and it is but sober truth to say that he was universally beloved and esteemed.


His glorification occurred in 1887, and shortly thereafter impressive memorial exercises were held at Evans chapel. A large concourse was present, embracing representative people from several of the city churches. This writer esteemed it no small distinction to be invited to take part in these services, and spokein substance what is con- tained in this brief tribute.


Take him all in all we shall not soon look upon his like again.


Here we close our etchings of noted laymen. We regret the necessity for omitting such names as Hon. N. J. Hammond, Hon. John L. Hopkins, both illustrious at the bar and wherever they have been called to serve; Hon. T. M. Meri- wether, a model farmer and wise legislator; Col. N. Trammell, ex-president of the senate and present chairmam of the railroad commission ; Hon. Steve Clay and others of like distinction. I trust some future "Old Mortality" will supply my lack of service, growing out largely from recent ill- health.


OUR SENIOR BISHOP.


303


OF MINISTERS AND LAYMEN.


JOHN C. KEENER,


SENIOR BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.


To those who are even but slightly familiar with the story of American Methodism, we need not say that Baltimore is not less the Methodistic than the Monumental City. It was, indeed, the birthplace of organic Methodism in the western hemisphere. For while Methodist societies had been gathered in many of the original thirteen colonies prior even to the War of Independence, yet these societies were feeble and lacking in any proper bond of organic union. The treaty of Versailles had severed them from the Methodism of the mother country, and they were verily as sheep with- out a shepherd. It was the fatherly solicitude of Mr. John Wesley for these scattered sheep of the American wilderness that induced him in one re- spect to depart from the usage of the English es- tablishment. It was to meet what he esteemed a grave providential emergency that, in 1784, he or- dained Thomas Coke, a presbyter of the church of England, to the episcopal office, at the same time empowering and instructing him to set apart Francis Asbury to the like function and ministry.


This plan of Mr. Wesley's meeting with the ap- proval of the first general conference, which met at Baltimore in December, 1784, was the formal


·


304


BIOGRAPHIC ETCHINGS


inauguration of Methodist Episcopacy, not only in America, but in the world.


These facts constitute Baltimore the cradle of American Methodism. Here was fairly launched that denominational system, which has contribu- ted more than its full share of money and effort towards the evangelization of this vast continent. Its first missionaries trod closely on the heels of the adventurous pioneer. Before the close of the eighteenth century these missionaries, who were in a higher sense than the followers of Spottswood, the Knights of the Golden Horse Shoe, had crossed the Alleghanies, penetrated the wilds of the Hol- ston country, encamped on the dark and bloody ground of Kentucky, and carried the gospel into the regions beyond the Father of Waters. They had no equipment of spear or sword, but armed with Bible and saddle-bags, these.cavaliers went forth on their mission of mercy.


The subject of this sketch wasidentified both by birth and blood with this early generation of Methodists, having been born in the city of Balti- more, of Methodist stock and German ancestry in 1819.


When quite a lad he was placed by his father in a classical school at Wilbraham, Mass., under the management of Dr. Wilbur Fisk, a man of rare gifts and graces, who was subsequently elected to the episcopacy, which office, however, he promptly and persistently declined.


.


305


OF MINISTERS AND LAYMEN.


Finishing his academic course, young Keener was transferred to the newly-established Wesleyan university, at Middletown, Conn.


While yet at the immature age of sixteen years he was graduated in the first class that issued from that institution in 1835.


We know nothing of the details of his earlier life, after graduation, except that he embarked in the drug business in his native city, and some years thereafter held a creditable position as a wholesale druggist.


While thus engaged he was brought under deep religious impression, which resulted in his con- version and public profession of the Christian faith. Conversion in those days meant something more than moral reformation. In most instances it was preceded by conviction sharp as a sword thrust and bitter as the "grapes of Sodom" and the "vintage of Gomorrah." After this travail of soul, very often of a week's or a month's continu- ance, there came a sunburst of joy and gladness - that made an abiding impress on character and destiny. Bishop Keener's conversion, as to thor- oughness at least, was of this sort, and almost simultaneously with this transformation of life and character there came likewise a divine call to the arduous work of the Christian ministry. Without irreverent haste, and yet without con_ ferring with flesh and blood, he addressed himself to his life work. About 1843 he was admitted


20


306


BIOGRAPHIC ETCHINGS


into the Alabama Conference, where he continued for the next five years, meanwhile filling ministerial positions of greater or lesser responsibility.


His transfer to the Louisiana Conference at the close of 1848 was something of a crisis in his ministerial life. For long years the Southwest had been the battle ground of the evangelical churches. When first visited by the Methodist itinerant it was, indeed, the "wild west." At a later period that whole region was overrun by various forms of infidelity, and even flagrant immorality, which had intrenched themselves at New Orleans and other strategic points. To this field Keener went in the full maturity of his intellectual vigor and of his physical prowess. The climatic conditions of the Crescent City were unfavorable to health. These conditions had been aggravated by imper- fect sanitation. The tone of fashionable society was inveterately opposed to an earnest religionism. Moreover, such popular vices as gambling, horse racing and dueling were current in what was usu- ally styled the best circles. Superadded to this demoralization there was an intense worldliness begotten of aggregated wealth and its consequent luxury. These agencies of evil were to be con- fronted and conquered. For this arduous work Keener was fortunately well-equipped. In its prosecution he was from time to time greatly helped by such fellow laborers as J. B. Walker, Dr. Linus Parker and the late Bishop McTyeire. These


307


OF MINISTERS AND LAYMEN.


men were of divers gifts, but of one aim and pur- pose, and the results of their joint labors are not yet fully realized. It is but sheer justice to say that in all the elements of ministerial efficiency Bishop Keener was the equal of the foremost. Both as stationed preacher and as presiding elder of the New Orleans district, he was greatly useful and greatly beloved through a term of twelve years.


At this juncture, his pastoral work was inter- rupted by the civil war. Early in the contest, the city was occupied by the Federal army, and then followed the reign of terror under the Butler regime. The future bishop had fully identified himself with the fortunes of his native South, whether for weal or woe. He therefore withdrew, or rather, was thrust from the city, and was ap- pointed superintendent of chaplains of the Trans- Mississippi department. In this new field, he was diligent and painstaking in the discharge of his responsible duties, and speedily won the respect and confidence of the general officers of the Con- federate army. Heshrunk from no sacrifice and no peril, whether in field or camp, and by his public ministration and his private counsel, contributed greatly to improve themorals of the armies of the West. Amidst these scenes of strife, he learned a lesson of endurance; yet never, for a single instant, did his patriotic devotion suffer any abatement or exhibit any shadow of turning. During the resi-


308


BIOGRAPHIC ETCHINGS


dence of Dr. Keener at New Orleans, he acquired no little reputation as a graceful and humorous writer, by the publication of a small volume, en- titled "Post-Oak Circuit." The secret of its author- ship, however, was for some years concealed fron the general reading public. In this volume, he dis- . cussed in a terse, and at times philosophical way, the "ups and downs" of Methodist itinerancy. Some of its portraits of both laity and clergy have become historical, and will linger after he himself has gone to his final reward. As an occasional contributor to the church press, he was already widely and favorably known. Partly for these reasons, the General Conference of 1866, held in New Orleans, recognizing his fitness for the posi - tion, elected him to the editorship of the New Or- leans Christian Advocate. We were then in the midst of the dark days of reconstruction, when our church editors needed prudence, quite as much as learning. Dr. Keener was in no wise deficient in that cardinal virtue. It was a time also when those who molded public opinion must have cour- age, as well as capacity. Whilst there were not a few time-serving ecclesiastics, who were disposed to enact the role of. Addison's "Vicar of Bray," be kept his honor virgin, and his loyalty to his section and church untarnished. Ready at all times for the broadest fraternity compatible with proper self-respect, he was unalterably opposed to a temporizing policy, which might lead to the


309


OF MINISTERS AND LAYMEN.


ultimate impairment of the autonomy of the Southern church. Upon other great issues, which arose during his editorial term of service, he was not less judicious and outspoken.


Nor is it strange that at the meeting of the General Conference at Memphis, in 1870, he was, by the voice of the church, summoned to a yet higher position by his election to the episcopacy. As one of the chief pastors of Southern Method- ism he has grown steadily in public favor, and now, after twenty-five years of continuous toil and travel, he enjoys the unbounded confidence of his colleagues and of the church at large. In this high position, as in others less notable, he has shown himself a man. of affairs, capable of planning great church enterprises and guiding them to a. satisfactory consummation. Perhaps the best single illustration of this statement is seen in his inauguration of what is known as the Central Mex- ican mission. In 1870 Bishop Marvin projected a Mexican border mission, an enterprise small in its beginnings which has been gradually enlarged in its geographical area. It now reaches from the Rio Grande to Monterey and other capitals of sev- eral northern states of our sister republic. In 1873, Bishop Keener, after careful prospecting, secured for Alejo Hernandez and his followers a perma- nent foothold in the ancient city of the Aztecs. So that the land of Anahuac, where Cortez, with the aid of the faithful Tlascalans, planted in triumph


T


3.10


BIOGRAPHIC ETCHINGS


the standard of St. Jago, may ere long become a stronghold of Protestantism. At first the Meth- odists and other Protestant missionaries were op- posed with great bitterness, and in a few outlying localities were foully butchered by the Mexican rabble. It has happened, however, as in many in- stances, that the blood of the martyrs has been the seed of the church. Under the wise adminis- tration of President Diaz religious liberty is guar- anteed and practically enforced. The Methodists and some other Protestant churches are multiply- ing their converts by the hundreds. Through their united agency Mexico will soon cease to be the land of revolutions, and will become stable and pros- perous. With the smaller details of his office and work, we are not at present concerned. From that point let it suffice to say that no charge of maladministration has ever been preferred against this eminent servant of the church. As a presiding officer, both in Annual and General Conferences, he ranks with the best the church has known during the hundred years of its history. As president of the General Conference, he is always an imposing figure. Hehas what some one has called the "true nobleman look," and yet there is nothing impe- rious in his manner, but quite enough of dignity to command the respect of the largest deliberative body. Only less skilled in parliamentary law than the late Bishop McTyeire, he is prompt and almost uniformly correct in his decisions. After all, it is


311


OF MINISTERS AND LAYMEN.


in the pulpit that Bishop Keener is seen to the best advantage. He is no phrase monger, nor does he affect mere elegance of speech. He brings no un- beaten oilinto the sanctuary, but on the contrary, thoroughly digests the subjects which he attempts to handle, and whilst he is fluent in a remarkable degree, he never substitutes flippancy of phrasefor force of reasoning. Ithas been my rare good for- tune to hear him almost a score of times on spe- cial occasions, which have called forth his utmost strength. At one district conference some years ago I listened to him with intense interest on three consecutive days. These sermons were on the great themes of the gospel, and they, one and all, fairly bristled with points and throbbed with the puls- ings of the highest inspiration. After the lapse of these years I cannot now recall very much of any one of these masterly discourses, but the impres- sions produced still abide, as a perpetual benedic- tion on heart and head. In 1874, in Walnut Street Baptist church, Louisville, Ky., I heard from the bishop a Sunday morning sermon which was in no wise inferior to such pulpit masterpieces as Bishop Soule's "Law of Liberty" or Bishop Mar- vin's wonderful sermon on the text, "What is Man That Thou Art Mindful of Him?" His theme was "The Inexorableness of Law." The basis of the transcendant discourse was the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, wherein the great teacher lifts for an instant the curtain that hides the spirit


312


BIOGRAPHIC ETCHINGS


world, and shows us things that may shortly come to pass in our own personal experience. As expounded by the bishop, his audience was brought face to face with the stupendous verities of reve- lation. I remember his saying, at least in sub- stance, that the inscription over the gateway of Dante's Inferno, "Abandon hope all ye that enter here," did not so freeze the blood as the rich man's prayer out of the belly of hell: "Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip his finger in water and cool my parched tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." At another time he spoke of the majesty of the divine law, which was in very truth the "voice of God and the harmony of the uni- · verse." And then as he spoke of the thunders of that violated law it almost seemed that the vast audience vibrated from side to side as if they could hear the veritable thunderings and lightnings of Sinai, when the sacred mountain trembled under the footsteps of legislative God. He urged in con- clusion with much insistence that heaven and hell are not the outcome of a divine decree, whether of election or reprobation, but rather a result of a divine law which is as inexorable in its ongoing as the fate of the Greek tragedy-aye, more, as in- flexible as the throne of God itself.


Let not the reader infer that his utterances are all of this sulphurous flavor, or that he deals chiefly even with the sterner aspects of theology. There are occasions, when describing the joy of


313


·


OF MINISTERS AND LAYMEN.


conscious pardon or the blessedness of a still riper Christian experience, that his manner is almost womanly in its tenderness. At these times his fitly spoken words move his audience to tears and not infrequently rouse them to an outburst of hosan- nahs and hallelujahs. Again he discusses the ab- struser doctrines of Christianity with a logical clearness and impressiveness that would do no discredit to Robert South or Isaac Barrow. Bishop Keener, after twenty years of Episcopal service, is now the senior bishop of his church, and by virtue of this official seniority, is theconnecting link between Wilson, Granberry, Hargrove, and others of the present bench, and their great pred- ecessors, Wightman, Pierce, Marvin, and their glorified associates. Apparently he is stillin vigor- ous health-almost robust in his physique-and has the promise of another decade of usefulness.


During the late General Conference he bore the heat and burden of the session with no signs of physical or intellectual weakening. His sermon preached in Centenary church, St. Louis, at the or- dination of Bishops Haygood and Fitzgerald, is regarded by high authority as his level best. It will be in order, therefore, to incorporate into this sketch one or two extracts from this published serinon.


314


BIOGRAPHIC ETCHINGS


THE DIVINE SONSHIP.


"We must rise into the grandeur of His sonship invested as it now is with every attribute of divine life. And that image of death, which ere while He showed 'in the body of His flesh through death' is there, enveloped in the shroudings of majesty, and amid an all-surrounding ocean of in- telligent being.


"These are the points, the axes of the divine ellipse, about which all the universe of salvation revolves.


"The Holy Spirit draws upon this perfected glori- fied victim; this constitutes the treasury deep and high from which He enriches the world.


"It is not merely that the life is translated into us, but we into a boundless kingdom of life; a kingdom 'within' in the sense of being spiritual, but not in the sense of limitation.


"The clear apprehension of this 'adoption' was the beginning of the Wesleyan revival. Ever since that notable month of May, 1738, when the two Wesleys, Charles and John, were converted; when the anthem at St. Paul's, 'Out of the Deep Have I Called Unto Thee, O Lord,' and when at Alder- gate street Luther's preface to the Romans fell upon the ear and heart of John Wesley, this tide of glory has steadily risen. Long since it should


315


OF MINISTERS AND LAYMEN.


have been felt in every frith of human life, as it has been held in the empires of the orient, and amid the starry isles of the Pacific.


"May you, my brethren beloved, never be wanting in a strong, healthy, positive utterance of this doctrine of life. May no refinement of thought or sentiment be permitted to minify the one sublime truth of justification by faith, or the true nobility of a conscious sonship, testified by the Holy Spirit to the heart of the believer. So shall our bow abide in strength, and our beloved Meth- odism shall continue to be in the future as in the past, a blessing of God upon the world."


These extracts, better than anything we can say, will convey to the reader'an idea rather in- adequate of his pulpit style. It was, likewise, the official duty of Bishop Keener to respond to the various fraternal messengers from England, Can- ada, and the Northern Methodist church. In the performance of this pleasing duty, the senior bishop was peculiarly felicitous. Especially was this true of his response to the delegates repre- senting the Wesleyan connection of the mother country, and the delegate from the Northern Meth- odist church. There was, in both of these, a blend- ing of the choicest humor, and the purest good sense, and this was a happy exchange for the tra- ditional gush, not to say rodomontade, that very often mars these platform fraternal addresses, and the average episcopal responses. Organic union


316


BIOGRAPHIC ETCHINGS


may be said to have died, not amidst a shower of tears, but amidst a buzz of ill-suppressed laughter. Whilst Bishop Keener is not a politician, he is, in its best sense, a Christian statesman; and al- though, as frequently stated, in sympathy with Methodist fraternity, on a self-respecting basis, he is, in common with the great body of our min- istry and laity, thoroughly averse to the unifica- tion of thetwo Methodisms. He still has a lively recollection of General Banks' special order No. 15, issued at New Orleans, in November, 1863. By this military order, every Southern Methodist church in that department was virtually confis- cated. Nor has he forgotten the order of Stanton, secretary of war, under cover of which Bishop Ames, of the Northern Methodist church, followed by a troupe of Northern preachers, proceeded to administer on the estate of the Southern church. Some of these intruders held on to their ecclesias- tical position to the last possible moment. Bishop McTyeire, who was cognizant of all the facts, has written that the Carondolet Street church, formerly served by Bishop Keener, was recovered barely in time for the session of the General Conference of 1866. As might be supposed, these lurid mem- ories may have suggested to the senior bishop that not only was organic union a thing not to be de- sired, but that fraternity itself, as usually dis- coursed of on General Conference platforms, both


317


OF MINISTERS AND LAYMEN.


North and South, was, inits last analysis, mainly sentimental and sensational.


If we have in this matter correctly interpreted the platform and pulpit deliverances of the vener- able bishop, then we must regard him as pro- nouncedly conservative on all lines. He has but little patience with progressive orthodoxy, as de- veloped at Andover, and is barely tolerant of the New South babblement that crops out in some places and directions. He loves the old church, and its apostolic doctrine and discipline, nor does he love less the Old South, with its sacred tradi- tions.


In domestic life, the senior bishop is a worthy "ensample to the flock." Three of his sons have entered the ministry, and are all gifted and scholarly. In social life, he is affable alike to young and old, and so courtly in his address and conversation, that his coming is hailed with de- light in every circle. At this present writing, he is sojourning at Ocean Springs, for rest and recuper- ation, after the fatigue and worry of the General Conference session, and making ready for his sum- mer campaign of district conferences.


٩/٦




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.