USA > Indiana > Indiana Methodism: a series of sketches and incidents grave and humorous concerning preachers and people of the West with an appendix containing personal recollections, public addresses and other miscellany > Part 13
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At this conference Isaac M. Stagg was located for unacceptability. This was done by a simple vote of the conference without any formal trial. Brother Stagg's friends insisting that the action was contrary to the law of the church, the case was car- ried up to the General conference which met at Bos- ton in 1852, and was there reversed. See General Conference Journals, pages 18, 57, 58.
The conference at South Bend, by a large major- ity, decided in favor of dividing the conference as before alluded to above. It was accordingly done at the ensuing General conference. And the ar- rangements were made that the North Indiana
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should meet in the city of Ft. Wayne ; Northwest Indiana, at Terre Haute.
The election of delegates from the two conferences in Indiana, that year, resulted as follows :- Indiana conference : Mathew Simpson, William M. Daily, Edward R. Ames, James Havens, Elijah Whitten, and Lucian W. Berry ; North Indiana : George M. Beswick, William H. Goode, Samuel T. Gillett, John L. Smith, Joseph Marsee, and John Danniel.
The General conference met in Bromfield-street church, in the city of Boston, on the first day of May, 1852. By the death of Bishop Hedding and the resignation of Bishop Hamline, there were but three Bishops remaining, viz., Waugh, Morris, and Janes. On the fourth day of the session a com- mittee was appointed to make suitable arrange- ments for Bishop Hedding's funeral, consisting of L. Clark, N. Bangs, D. Webb, A. Griffith, and J. Porter. Accordingly on May 13, Bishop Waugh, the then senior bishop, delivered the funeral dis- course in memory of Bishop Hedding ; which, by order of the General conference, was afterwards pub- lished by the book agents at New York.
On the tenth day of the session, the superintend- ents presented a communication from Bishop Ham- line, tendering his resignation of the Episcopal of- fice, which was read ; also, a letter from his physi- cians, which was read. His parchment of ordination was also presented. These documents were referred to the committee on episcopacy ; and on the next day the committee made their report as follows :
"Whereas it has pleased Almighty God deeply to afflict our beloved Bishop Hamline, and whereas he
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has been laid aside from active service thereby ; therefore,
"Resolved, I. That we sincerely sympathize with our beloved Superintendent in his affliction.
"Resolved, 2. That, after having fully examined his administration for the last four years, his ad- ministration and character be, and hereby are, ap- proved.
"Whereas, Bishop Hamline has tendered his res- ignation in the following language, to-wit :- 'And now, I think that the circumstances warrant my de- clining the office. Eight years ago, I felt that Di- vine Providence had strangely called me to the of- fice. I now feel that the same Providence permits me to retire. I therefore tender my resignation, and request to be released from my official responsi- bilities, as soon as the way is prepared by the Epis- copal committee.' Therefore,
"Resolved, 3. That the resignation of Bishop Hamline of his office as a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America, be, and the same hereby is, accepted.
"All which is respectfully submitted, "P. P. SANFORD, Chairman. "Boston, May 11, 1852."
We have always had a minority in our church and in the General conference, who adhere to the doctrine, "Once a bishop always a bishop." This view of the subject was, and it is believed, now is, the view maintained by at least a large majority of the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Fortunately for the Methodist Episcopal
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Church in the United States of America, Bishop Hamline despoiled the charm of that mischievous notion, and settled the question forever so far as the Methodist Episcopal church is concerned. All honor to Bishop Hamline, who not only broke that spell, but showed himself to be, in his resignation, perfectly consistent with the Rev. Dr. Leonides L. Hamline, in his great speech at the General confer- ence at New York in 1844. Albeit at least one of our bishops of later years, now deceased, held the doctrine that Methodist Episcopacy was in the reg- ular line of succession from Erasmus down to the present day. But the action of the General confer- ence in 1852, in accepting the resignation of the good bishop, clearly defined the position of the church. When the yeas and nays of that body were called, it was found that there were 161 in fa- vor of accepting the resignation, and ten opposed to its acceptance. And it is now believed, that the number of the minority party, during the last forty years, has been growing beautifully less by de- grees; and it is to be hoped that, in the not distant future, the sentiment, "once a bishop, always a bishop," will be numbered with the figments of the dark ages, or relegated to the sea of oblivion. In this connection it may be added that this writer is fully convinced that there is a growing sentiment, in the church, not only opposed to everything that looks in the direction of the establishing of an heirarchy in Methodism, but, on the con- trary, in favor of such changes in the present status of the episcopacy as will bring it into har- mony with the otherwise systematic, and symmetri-
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cal polity of Methodism; so as to put the office of bishop in a relation of harmony with all other po- sitions elective by the General conference quad- rennially. Indeed many of the preachers, and not a few of the people, believe that, when a bishop through age, or otherwise, is no longer effective, he should drop back as a superannuated member of an Annual conference; and that he and his family, in their support, should prorate with other worn-out preachers, widows and orphans, just as he would do, had he never been a bishop. Methodist episcopacy ' is an office, as the presiding eldership is an office; and why should it be considered any more disreput- able for the worn-out bishop to become a super- annuated member of an Annual conference than for the presiding elder ?
During the General conference in Boston in 1852, one of the leading questions brought before that body,-a question of absorbing interest,-was that of the introduction of instrumental music, family sittings, and pews into our churches. New Eng- land was arrayed on one side in favor of pews, fam- ily sittings and instrumental music in the churches, the South was solid in opposition; while many in the middle States were also bitterly opposed to what was regarded as a most mischievous innovation. Rev. John S Inskip, who had partially introduced that innovation into his congregation at Dayton, Ohio, was censured by a committee; and he appealed to the General conference. The delegations from Indiana-rather mild mannered men-were not disposed to great activity on either side of the question. Strange as it may seem to inany at
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the present day, this question entered largely into the matter of the election of bishops. The name of Mathew Simpson, from the beginning of the con- ference, was frequently and favorably men- tioned in connection with the episcopacy, and there seemed to be a studied effort to have him commit himself one way or the other on the pew question. While the discussion was going on in reference to the erecting of a metropolitan church at Washington, D. C., Dr. Simpson took the floor, delivering a handsome and impressive speech winding up his remarks in something like the following manner : "Mr. President, I would be glad to see a church in Washington City, a repre- sentative church of our beloved Methodism, where the people from the North and from the South, from the East and from the West, might gather and hear the gospel of the Son of God. I think that, that building in all its appointments, in archi- tectural taste, in beauty of finish, and in all other respects should be a model. It ought to be at least equal to this beautiful church in which we are gathered, and I would be satisfied if it should be such a beautiful temple and in all respects equal to this magnificent structure." Then closing, in his impassioned style, in these words, pointing to the pews: "Save these bonds."
During the session of the conference, George M. Beswick and J. L. Smith did themselves a pleasure by visiting Old Plymouth, where the Pilgrims landed in 1620, and spent a Sabbath with the good people of that ancient city. Mr. Smith preached in the morning and Brother Beswick exhorted. At
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night B. preached and S. exhorted. Towards the close of the exhortation, the choir in the end gal- lery commenced tuning up their bass-fiddles and their violins, getting ready for the closing of the services. The exhorter seeing this, and growing somewhat warm in his talk, walked down out of the
high pulpit, and noticing on his right hand a Christian woman apparently under deep emotion, said : "Sister, it is reported out West, that if any one down East were to get so happy in the Lord as to shout his praises, that such person would likely be put into a straight-jacket and sent to the lunatic asylum." By the time these words were spoken the good woman was audibly praising the Lord, and was immediately answered back by a brother on the left. when the exhorter struck up the old tune of Greenfield, singing the words of John Newton, commencing, "How tedious and tasteless the hour." The choir, be it spoken to their credit, laid down the "fiddle and the bow," and sang lustily with the congrega- tion the time-honored hymn. At the close of this service a very remarkable incident occurred. The writer was approached by a tall, spare man with unshaven face, his pendant beard more than a foot in length. It was very uncommon in those days to see a man of respectability in society, wearing a long beard. And when the stranger said to the writer "I want you to go home with me," the latter stood, not exactly knowing in what manner to re- ply to this invitation; when the stranger, observing his hesitation, said : "I am a sailor and my wife here," pointing to a woman at his side, "is a good Christian, but I am a poor miserable lost sinner."
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To this, answer was made,-"If you are a sailor, I will go home with you." On reaching the sailor's humble home, he opening a door of a closet brought out about a peck of beautiful sea-sheels, remarking: "These I gathered on the coast of Chili and I wish to give them to you." To which the recipient re- plied, "My dear sir, I thank you most kindly." He then stepped into another room and brought out a very handsome walking cane, remarking: "Our ship was once becalmed at Cape Horn for about six weeks. There was not enough wind to flap a sail. This cane I made from a whale's jaw-bone, and the head of the cane out of a wha'e's tusk; and, as you see, it is carved in what we sailors call a double walled-knot. I had no tools to work with but a jack-knife and pieces of broken glass, and I want you, with the shells, to accept the cane also as a present." The writer deeply impressed by the kindly spirit of the man, responded, "My friend, you overwhelm me, and I know not how to recom- pense you for your generosity to one whom you never met until to-night." "Yes," said the sailor, by this time much agitated, "you can, and all I ask of you is to pray for me." These last words were spoken in a tremulous voice, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and with which his good wife was manifestly in perfect sympathy. "Well," said the writer, "My friend, there will never be a better time to pray than now," and suiting the action to the word, went down on his knees with this man and his wife, where they together wrestled with the Lord in earnest prayer. After which a hymn was sung and earnest words of encouragement spoken
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to the sailor and his wife. The parting came, since which time no word has been heard from the sailor and his wife; but the Indiana dele- gate confidently expects to meet them around the "great white throne."
On Monday morning, after viewing Plymouth Rock and securing a specimen, the visitors took a stroll through the ancient burying ground ; where many of the tomb-stones were rude specimens, gathered up from the adjacent forest, with no marks of the stone-mason's chisel upon them excepting the rough lettering of name, date of birth, and death of the departed. One of these stones especially at- tracted the attention of the visitors. It was in memory of a Christian women, a wife and mother ; and after giving the ordinary dates, were roughly chiseled these words : "SHE MADE HOME HAPPY." In the afternoon of that Monday, the wandering delegates returned to Boston, the seat of the Gen- eral conference.
On the 25th day of the session of the conference, the election of four bishops having been made the order of the day, Henry Slicer, G. W. Walker and C. K. True were appointed tellers, and the result of the first ballot was thus announced : Levi Scott, Mathew Simpson, Osman C. Baker, and Edward R. Ames, having received a majority of all the votes, are duly elected bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Bishop Simpson and his good wife, had private apartments at the hotel, and in the evening of the day of the election, the bishop elect, invited a few select friends to take tea with Mrs. Simpson and
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himself. This writer was one of the invited
guests. At the tea-table, after mutual congratula- tions, the bishop said : "This day has the words of the prophet been fulfilled." "Which" (eagerly inquir- ed half a dozen or more of the guests,) "is the prophet referred to ?" "No other than Brother John L. Smith," replied the bishop. He proceeded to relate an incident which the writer had entirely forgotten, saying : "In 1846, after the close of our college commencement, Brother Smith and I took a stroll in the forest near Greencastle. Seated on the blue-grass, in the shade of a large tree, and taking a good rest, we indulged in a free talk over the matters which had transpired, both in the meetings of the board of trustees and the graduating exercises. Broth- er Smith spoke out and said : 'The spirit of prophecy has come upon me.' 'I answered "Son of man prophecy.'" He then proceeded as follows,-'Two years hence you will be a member of the General conference which is to meet in Pittsburg, Pa. In 1852 you will lead the delegation of the Indiana conference ; and at that conference from two to four bishops will be elected, and Mathew Simpson will be one of that number ; and so, Brother S. continu- ed, 'I expect to live to see the day when I shall no longer address you as Dr. Simpson, or President Simpson, but I shall then address you as Bishop Simpson, claiming also, in our private relation and sacred friendship, still to say, Brother Simpson.'" As Bishop Simpson was one of the best of men, as well as one of the ablest bishops that ever blessed the Methodist church, so also, in the estimation of the writer of these pages, he stood, in his deep de-
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votion, burning eloquence, and sublime pathos, next to the Apostle Paul as a gospel preacher.
At this General conference provision was made for establishing a church paper in the city of Chica - go. James V. Watson was elected editor of the new paper with J. L. Smith a member of the publishing committee.
After the close of the conference, and on the re- turn of the North Indiana delegates, a serious rail- road accident occured. At about half past twelve o'clock at night, some miscreant having broken a switch-lock, the train was run into a gravel bank. The fireman and engineer were killed, yet few of the passengers were hurt.
A little before the accident, when almost all the passengers seemed sound asleep, excepting two persons, one of whom was a very intelligent woman, who showed herself to be a very decided Calvanist in doctrine, the other was the writer. In the course of the conversation she maintained, among other things, that her doctrine was greatly superior to the doctrine as taught by Methodist preachers. "For in- stance," said she, "you people are always uneasy more or less for fear of an accident, as you call it, will hap- pen." "Now with me," she continued, "there are no accidents, for if it is decreed that I am to die in my bed at home, that decree can't be changed ; or,if I am to be drownded, or killed in a railroad accident, the matter is all fixed and I give myself no concern about it ; for I feel just as safe this moment, on this car, as I would feel sitting in a rocking chair at home in my own parlor." Just at that moment the car in which the disputants were seated, fell over on
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its side. The lights (then mide of lard oil) were all out in a moment, but there seemed to be no confu- sion in the car ; nobody screamed, but, as the writer went forward to open the car door and found it difficult to open, the Calvinistic lady became nervous, saying, "Let me out of here ! open the door and let me out of here ! ! " The preacher, with whom she had been conversing, said to her, in as quiet a way as possible, "Madam, are you not just as safe here as you would be seated in your rocking chair at home in your own parlor ?" to which she answered excitedly, "I say, let me out of here !" "But," re- sponded the other, "can you not trust the Lord ?"' "Yes, yes, " said she, "I can trust the Lord, but I can trust the Lord better out of here than I can inside ; let me out !" This little episode, even at that critical moment, excited a good deal of amuse- ment among those who heard the earnest words of the good woman.
Looking back for a moment to Boston, and to the discussion of the pew question, this writer, though reared in the strictest sect of old-fashioned Methodism, had, before leaving for the General con- ference, through a singular incident at a quarterly meeting, at a certain town in his district, been wonderfully toned down, not to say radically chang- ed, and brought out from under his deep prejudices against pews, instrumental music, etc., in churches ; so that, during the discussion in the General con- ference, he felt very little interested. This change in his feelings, was brought about in the following manner : Mishawaka, four miles from South Bend, and like the latter, situated on the left bank of the
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St. Joseph River, was settled mainly by people from New England, and it was frequently called the Yankee town of the North. The good people of that place had recently thoroughly repaired the church, refitted and numbered the pews, selling them out at public auction ; they had also organized a choir, put an organ in the church, and in all particulars made it as nearly as possible to correspond with the houses of worship among the Methodists in their native New England .. The presiding elder, though he had not committed himself to any person by say- ing he would not preach in a Methodist church where the pews were sold, and choir and instrumen- tal music introduced, had within himself determined that he would not and could not conscientiously ever contenance such an innovation with his official sanction as presiding elder. There lived at the time alluded to, in the town of Mishawaka, a sister Grif- fin, who was noted far and near as a devoted, cul- tured, and highly intellectual Christian woman.
The quarterly meeting came on, occupying a Sat- urday and Sunday. On Saturday morning the pre- siding elder preached, but the choir was not present, nor was the organ used ; and so it was again on Sat- urday evening at the public services. The love- feast was held at nine o'clock on Sunday morning, conducted by the pastor, while the presiding elder sat in the pulpit, in deep thought, communing with his own soul, as to what course he should persue at the public services at half past ten o'clock. Should he denounce the selling or renting of pews in the Methodist church ? Should he deliberately forbid the use of the instrument and the singing by the
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choir ? Or what should he do in this dilemma ? The spiritual thermometer was rapidly rising in the love- feast, and almost all, including the elder, was partic- ipating in the enjoyment of the blessed spirit that seemed to pervade the beautifully refitted church. At that moment the good woman, Sister Griffin, arose to speak, in the use of the following words : "Oh, Brethern and Sisters, even my visions of the past night overpower my soul with the sense of the good- ness of God. I thought over with deepest gratitude what he was doing for us in Mishawaka,-that now we had a place to worship which would be a stand- ing reminder of our childhood church-home ; but, my joys were doubly great, if possible, this morn- ing, when, for the first time the peals of our church bell rang out the sweet invitation to us all to come to the house of the Lord and bear witness to his goodness ; and when I remember, that now, for the first time after so many years in this new country, we should have the unspeakable pleasure of listen- ing to an organized choir, and the sweet tones of the organ ; and, the grandest of all, in a church where each family has its own pew, bought and paid for, and where we can go with the husband at one end of the pew and the wife and mother at the other, with their dear little ones sitting between them ; then, overcome with God's goodness and with the spirit of gratitude, more than I can tell, I said to my husband in the presence of my children, 'Oh pray and thank the Lord that we have lived to see the day, when, in the wilds of the Western country we can once more enjoy the beauties and blessings of old-fashioned Methodism."' The presiding elder,
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in his musings repeated to himself her closing phrase, "old fashioned Methodism," and asked him- self, "What is old-fashioned Methodism to me ?" to which he answered, "It is a simple frame church in Old Virginia, innocent of paint inside and out, a high box pulpit, slab benches without backs, -- the men with round-breasted coats and broad-brimmed hats- the women in very plain, though neat, attire, with plain black silk bonnets,-the preacher lining out the hymn, and as soon as through with his sermon, coming down out of the pulpit, with class-book and pencil in hand, calling the names of the members from the list, speaking to each member of the class present, marking the absentees, and finally winding up with shouts and halleluiahs." "With me what is 'old-fashioned Methodism' in the West ? It is preach- ing in cabins, on puncheon floors, with a split-bot- tom chair in front of the preacher, upon the top round of which he rested the family bible until after reading his text, closing the book, and laying it down on the chair, preaching his sermon, meeting the class, and off again on horse-back to his next ap- pointment. But what is 'old-fashioned Methodism' to Sister Griffin ? It is a neat and handsomely painted house of worship, surmounted with steeple and bell, a quartette choir, a high-sounding organ, pews sold out or rented, together with family sit- tings. Now the question is, How is this matter to be settled ? Shall I, taking counsel of my early ed- ucation and prejudices in this behalf, raise a storm, and perhaps break up the church in Mishawaka, in order to carry out my notions of 'old-fashioned Methodism ?' or, shall I gracefully yield to good
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Sister Griffin and the other good people ?" Follow- ing the dictates of his better judgment, as he has always believed, under the leadings of the Spirit, no vestige of the foolish and unfounded prejudice of his early life, has governed him for a moment. And so it is not so remarkable that he felt little concerned at General conference in the animated and heated discussion upon the pew question.
To close this chapter, one other instance touch- ing the General conference in Boston may be given. The Unitarians in that city had erected a magnifi- cent church on Hanover Street,-costing some sev- enty-five to ninety thousand dollars, and. had mounted near the top of the spire, a huge gilded chanticleer. Finding their people unable to pay for the church, it was sold to the Methodist people for about forty thousand dollars. On a Sunday after- noon, during the session of the General conference, a sacramental service appointed in that church was largely attended both by ministers and people. Walking down to the church in company with a clerical-looking gentleman, and supposing he was a Methodist preacher, and also a resident of the city, this writer inquired of the brother, "What do you suppose was the object or purpose of putting that big rooster up so high that everybody could see it ?" then, not waiting for the gentleman to answer the question, the inquirer himself answered-"Oh, I just this moment think how it was ; the architect, who must have been an orthodox Christian, put it there I presume in order to remind the Unitarians that, like Peter, they had denied their Lord," little think- · ing while indulging in these remarks, that, as he after-
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