USA > Maine > History of Methodism in Maine, 1793-1886 > 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 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85
The committee on temperance, slavery, the Sabbath and other subjects, reported strong resolutions, which were adopted.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS, ETC.
Three districts ; eighty-seven circuits and stations ; seventy-seven stationed preachers ; fourteen places left to be supplied. Members, 9,331; on probation, 1,413; total, 10,744; deerease, 368.
Amount received for conference claimants, $836.62.
Amount contributed for missions, $2,060.63.
Number of Sunday sehools, 114; officers and teachers, 1,275; scholars, 7,394.
H. P. Torsey, principal of Maine Wesleyan Seminary ; F. A. Robinson, teacher of languages in Maine Wesleyan Seminary ; J. Young, agent of American Bible Society.
1853. The Maine Conference met for its twenty-ninth session in Biddeford, May 25, 1853, Bishop Janes, presiding ; C. F. Allen and C. C. Mason, Secretaries.
Written reports were read by the Presiding Elders, giving a condensed view of the state of the work upon their respective districts. This is a great improvement upon the practice of former years.
The committee on education, in their report, made favorable mention of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, the Wesleyan University and the Biblical Institute, and of the Maine Wesleyan Board of Education. A resolution was adopted pledging the co-operation of the conference with the trustees of Maine Wesleyan Seminary and the Board of
142
TOBACCO. MAINE CONFERENCE AT SKOWIIEGAN.
Education, in their efforts to improve the condition of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary by seeuring an endowment and establishing a collegiate department in connexion with the seminary. A convention was hield during the session of Conference, and measures were adopted for improving the condition of the seminary. Generous subseriptions were made, Dr. Eliphalet Clark leading off with a pledge of one thousand dollars, and Rev. S. Allen was requested to act as agent to raise funds to accomplish the work.
Committees were appointed on temperance, slavery, Sabbath observance and other subjects, and strong resolutions were adopted.
The following resolution on the use of tobacco was adopted, viz. : " Resolved, That the use of tobacco is an expensive and needless indulgenee, unfavorable to cleanliness and good breeding, unbecoming in christians, and especially in christian ministers, and like the use of aleohol, a violation of the laws of physical, intellectual, and moral life." For many years, the Maine Conferenee uttered a similar testimony against the use of tobaeeo, until its use is nearly banished from the eonferenees. No candidate for admission ean be received without a solemn promise wholly to abstain from the use of the "vile nareotie."
Admitted on trial : W. H. Strout, John M. Woodbury, Phineas Libby, Elbridge G. Dunn, Daniel Dyer.
H. P. Torsey, principal, and F. A. Robinson, teacher of languages, of Maine Wesleyan Seminary : S. Allen, agent of the Maine Wesleyan Board of Education ; S. M. Vail, professor in Biblieal Institute, Coneord, New Hampshire.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS, ETC.
Three districts; seventy-eight circuits and stations; sixty-eight stationed preachers ; eighteen placcs left to be supplied. Members, 4,646; probationers, 1,678; total, 11,324; increase, 289.
Amount received for conference claimants, $802.00.
Amount contributed for missions, $2,550.97.
Amount contributed for Sunday school union, $143.83.
Amount contributed for tract society, $141.88.
Amount contributed for American Bible society, $287.51.
Total amount contributed for charities, $3,124.19.
Number of Sunday schools, 101; officers and teachers, 1,208; scholars 6,181.
1854. The Maine Conferenee met in Skowhegan, May 24, 1854, Bishop Baker, presiding ; C. F. Allen and C. C. Mason, Secretaries.
The conference renewed its approval of the institutions of learning under its patronage, and pledged co-operation. The following resolution on the subject of slavery was adopted, namely :
143
MAINE CONFERENCE AT BATHI.
Resolved, That we regard the passage of the "Nebraska bill " by the Congress of the United States as a wicked act, inasmuch as it is a violation of the word of God, a violation of a solemn contract, a forfeiture of national confidence, and an insult to the moral sentiment of a free people.
Reports upon other subjects were presented and adopted.
Admitted on trial : Daniel Wait, Kinsman Atkinson, James Armstrong, Edward Davies, Dudley B. Holt, George Day, Ezekiel Smith, William C. Stevens, Levi Eldridge.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS, ETC.
Ninety-two circuits and stations; seventy-eight preachers stationed. Members, 9,692; probationers, 1,576; total, 11,268; increasc, 75.
Received for conference ciaimants, $988.79.
Collected for missions, $3,240.65.
Collected for Sunday school union, $197.89.
Collected for tract society, $556.31.
Collected for American Bible society, $288.50.
Number of Sunday schools, 85; officers and teachers, 1,053; scholars, 5,629.
1855. Maine Conference met in Beacon Street church, Bath, May 23, 1855, Bishop Janes, presiding ; C. F. Allen and A. P. Hillman, Secretaries.
Rev. Jesse T. Peck, Secretary of the Tract Society, was introduced and presented the tract cause.
The conference was occupied two or three days with the trial of accused members.
Stephen Allen, Daniel B. Randall, Aaron Sanderson and William F. Farrington, were chosen delegates to the next General Conference.
Admitted on trial : Abial H. Abbott, Joseph Mooar, Jr., Samuel W. Russell, Samuel R. Bailey.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS, ETC.
Three districts ; eighty-eight circuits and stations ; seventy-seven preachers appointed ; sixteen places left to be supplied.
Received for conference claimants, $1,002.81.
Contributed for missions, $2,547.50.
Contributed for Sunday school union, $202.05.
Contributed for tract society, $2,095.12.
Contributed for American Bible society, $232.80.
Number of Suuday schools, 101; officers and teachers, 1,145; scholars, 6,308.
GENERAL CONFERENCE.
1856. The General Conference met in Indianapolis, Indiana, May 1, 1856, Bishops Waugh, Morris, Janes, Scott, Simpson, Baker
144
GENERAL CONFERENCE. ACTION ON SLAVERY.
and Ames, being present; William L. Harris, Secretary. Two hundred and fifteen delegates from thirty-eight Annual Conferences answered to their names ; several others afterwards arrived.
The election of W. L. Harris as secretary, a pronounced abolitionist, indicated the predominant anti-slavery sentiment of the General Conference.
Rev. Dr. Hannah, delegate from the British Wesleyan Conference, and Rev. F. J. Jobson, his companion, were introduced, and addressed the Conference ; also Rev. Dr. Ryerson and Rev. R. Jones, delegates of the Wesleyan Conference in Canada, were introduced, and presented the fraternal greetings of the Canada Conference. Delegates were appointed to visit the conference above named and bear to them friendly messages.
Memorials were presented upon the subject of lay delegation, the time limit of the term of pastoral service, and the election of Presiding Elders, but the memorialists were never sufficiently numerous to indicate any prevailing desire for a change in the economy of the church upon these subjects.
The memorials on the subject of slavery were very numerous. They were from twenty-nine of the thirty-eight conferences, indicating unequivocally the will of the church against slavery, and in favor of some advanced action towards the removal of the " great evil."
The committee on slavery, of which Minot Raymond was chairman, after several weeks' deliberation, adopted a report by vote of seventeen to sixteen members of the committee, recommending :
1. An amendment of the disciplinary rule on slavery, so as to read as follows : "The buying, selling, or holding a human being as property."
2. " A new chapter on slavery corresponding with the rule."
The minority presented their report, expressing their non-concurrence with the majority, in their report, regarding the change recommended as inexpedient and unconstitutional.
The fourth "Restriction Rule, " prohibits any change of the general rules, except upon the concurrent recommendation of three- fourths of all the members of the several annual conferences, who shall be present and vote on such recommendation. No such vote of the annual conference had been given.
An earnest and able debate ensued, occupying several days. The motion to adopt the report of the majority was sustained by a majority of the votes of the General Conference, but lacked twenty-scven
145
ANTI-SLAVERY ACTION. MAINE CONFERENCE.
votes of the required two-thirds ; so the proposed change of the discipline was not effected.
The election of decided anti-slavery men, as editors of the leading periodicals and papers of the Church, plainly indicated the strong anti- slavery sentiment of the Church.
Among the most important measures of this General Conference, was the establishment of the Judicial Conference, for trying appeals from the decisions of the Annual Conferences, and the provision for the trial of members of the Annual Conferences, by a committee.
The ratio of representation, in the General Conference, was changed from one to thirty, to one to forty-five members of conferences.
The action of the General Conference, on the subject of Slavery, though not quite up to the demands of ultra abolitionists, was, on the whole, progressive in the right direction, and yet sufficiently conservative to prevent another division of the Church.
1856. The Maine Conference met, for its thirty-second session in Gardiner, July 2, 1856, Bishop Waugh, presiding ; C. F. Allen and F. A. Crafts, Secretaries.
The committee on Education, presented their report, in which the Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute, in view of the efforts then in progress, to improve the condition of this institution, is presented as the special object of effort by the Maine Conference. The Biblical Institute and Wesleyan University, are favorably mentioned, with the polite intimation, that the " critical condition and pressing claims of our own institutions " are all that we can attend to, at present.
The report on slavery takes high ground against the " great evil, " and declares it to be the sense of the Conference, that the organic law of the Church, should be so changed, in its letter, as unequivocally to express the known design of its framers and the will of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Admitted on trial : Nathan D. Center, Ezekiel Martin, True Whittier, Andrew J. Church, Nathan Andrews, John Collins, Kinsman Atkinson, Solomon V. Gerry.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS.
Three distriets ; ninety-one circuits and stations; eighty-three preachers appointed ; eighteen places to be supplied. Members, 9,198, probationers, 1,584; total, 10,782, increase, 208.
10
146
MAINE CONFERENCE AT SACO.
Sunday schools, 98; officers and teachers, 1,290; scholars, 7,418.
Received for conference claimants, $750.35.
Contributed for Missions, $2,227.26.
Contributed for Sunday School Union, $203.48.
Contributed for Tracts, $406.88.
Contributed for American Bible Society, $202.05.
Number of Sunday schools, 98; officers and teachers, 1290; scholars, 7,418.
1857. The Mainc Conference met for its thirty-third session, at Saco, April 22, 1857, Bishop Hedding, presiding ; A. Moore and W. H. Strout, Secretaries.
Admitted on trial : Silas H. Hyde, Alanson R. Sylvester, Joseph C. Strout, Cyrus Philbrick, Pascal E. Brown, Charles E. Springer, Samuel P. Farrington, George Briggs.
The report of the committee on education, which was adopted, still commends the Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute, to the special liberality of the church, with favorable notice, of the Wesleyan University, Biblical Institute and New England Education Society.
The following resolution, on Slavery, was adopted, viz. :
" Resolved, That the general rule of our discipline, which prohibits ' the buying or selling of men, women and children, with an intention to enslave them, ' was never, in our opinion, designed by its framers, to authorize slave-holding, and neither the General Rules, nor the restrictive rules, forbid the insertion, in our discipline, of a chapter, prohibiting mercenary slave-holding in the Church,"
Strong resolutions were also adopted, on Temperance and the Use of Tobacco.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS.
Three districts; ninety circuits and stations; nincty-two preachers appointed; eight places left to be supplied. Members, 9,748; probationcrs, 1,752; total, 11,500; increase, 718.
Received for conference claimants, $867.74.
Collected for Missions, $2,383.24.
Collected for Sunday School Union, $150.91.
Collected for Tracts, $448.23.
Collected for American Bible Society, $290.76.
Sunday schools, 110; officers and teachers, 1,291 ; scholars, 7,359.
1858. The Maine Conference met for its thirty-fourth annual session in Farmington, April 21, 1858, Bishop Scott, presiding.
Admitted on trial : Charles W. Blackman, William A. Steward, James W. Hathaway, Hezekiah Mitchell, Barnum J. Hinds, Asbury C. Trafton, Benjamin Frecman, Joseph Baker, Samuel Roy.
147
MAINE CONFERENCE AT LEWISTON.
Appropriate resolutions were adopted in relation to the death of Rev. Beverly Waugh, late senior Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Reports were presented and adopted, upon the subject of Education, Temperance, the Use of Tobacco, the Bible and Tract cause, and the sanctity of the Sabbath.
The following resolutions on slavery, were adopted, indicating the uncompromising opposition of the conference, to the continuance of the " great evil " in our Church, viz. :
" Resolved, 1. That American slavery, in its relation to the Church, is an abomination of desolation standing in a holy place where it. ought not to be.
" Resolved, 2. That the Church should, as speedily as possible, place herself above suspicion, as to any partnership with slavery, or any approval of it."
A revival was in progress during the session of the conference, which received a new impulse from the labors of the ministers in attendance, and the session of the Conference brought much spiritual benefit to the community.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS, ETC.
Three districts; ninety-five circuits and stations; ninety-six preachers appointed; eight places to be supplied. Members, 9,710; probationers, 3,324; total, 13,040; increase, 2,258.
Received for conference claimants, $718.42.
Collected for Missions, $1,941.88.
Collected for Sunday School Union, $125.36.
Collected for Tracts, $406.98.
Collected for American Bible Society, 190.90.
Number of Sunday schools, 111; officers and teachers, 1,332; scholars, 7,983.
Number of churches, 100; probable value, $225,300; parsonages, 49; value, $25,700.1
1859. The thirty-fifth session of the Maine Conference commenced in Lewiston, April 27, 1859, Bishop Ames, presiding ; A. Moore and W. H. Strout, Secretarics.
The committees on Education, Temperance, Slavery, and other subjects, presented reports which were adopted.
S. Allen, agent of Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute, reported that the new building, with its commodious arrangements, was well advanced towards completion.
Admitted on trial : Wellen N. Richardson, George Hoit, Cyrus A. King, Willard B. Bartlett, Charles Hatch, Josiah, Bailey.
1 The number and value of the churches and parsonages are reported for the first time this year.
148
MAINE CONFERENCE AT GORHAM.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS.
Three districts ; one hundred and one circuits and stations; one hundred and four preachers appointed ; fourteen places to be supplied. Members, 10,910; probationers, :2,684; total, 13,594; increase, 554.
Received for conference claimants, $629.55.
Contributed for Missions, $2,457.62.
Contributed for Sunday School Union, $144.84.
Contributed for Tracts, $429.
Contributed for American Bible Society, $263.08.
Number of Sunday schools, 122; officers and teachers, 1,541; scholars, 8,746.
Number of churches, 101; probable value, $232, 750; parsonages, 50; probable value, $30,700.
1860. The thirty-sixth session of the Maine Conference, commenced in Gorham, April 4, 1860, Bishop Baker, presiding ; A. Moore, Secretary.
The nsual committees were appointed, and reports were presented :and adopted.
The report on Education, presented an increasingly encouraging view of the brightening prospects of the Seminary and Collegiate Institute at Kent's Hill. The new, magnificent building, was rapidly approaching completion, and was soon to open its ample accommo- dations for students ; and introduce a new era in the history of the institution.
The resolutions, on the subject of slavery, expressed a determination to use all constitutional means to "divorce our church from this crying abomination."
Two venerable members of the conference, had finished their earthly labors : Rev. David Hutchinson and Rev. Cyrus Cummings. The usual memorial services were held.
Delegates to the General Conference : Howard B. Abbott, Charles C. Cone, Henry M. Blake, Henry P. Torsey.
Received on trial : Henry H. Martin, Gershom F. Cobb, Ammi S. Ladd, John Gibson, Andrew L. Kendall, George W. Ballou, Josiah H. Newhall.
ABSTRACT OF STATISTICS.
Three districts ; one hundred and two circuits and stations; one hundred and five preachers appointed; cight places left to be supplied. Members, 10,732; probationers, 2,340; total, 13,072; deercase, 522.
Received for conference claimants, $542.38.
Collected for Missions, $2,296.42.
Collected for Sunday School Union, $135.44.
Collected for Tracts, $400.79.
Collected for American Bible Society, $195.47.
149
GENERAL CONFERENCE AT BUFFALO.
Aggregate value of churches, $232,075; parsonages, $29,100.
Aggregate claims of preachers for salary, $35,501; amount paid, $32,845.2 Average claims of preachers for salary, $362; average receipts, $335. Number of Sunday schools, 128; officers and teachers, 1,515; scholars, 8,770.
Number of churches, 104; probable value, $232,075; parsonages, 46; probable value, $29,100.
GENERAL CONFERENCE.
1860. The thirteenth delegated General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, assembled in St. James Hall, in the city of Buffalo, New York, May 1st, 1860.
Present : Bishops Morris, Janes, Scott, Ames, and Baker.
Two hundred and twenty-one delegates, from fifty-six Annual Conferences, answered to their names.
William L, Harris was chosen Secretary, and Benjamin Griffin, First Assistant Secretary.
The death of Rev. Beverly Waugh, senior Bishop of the Church, was announced, and appropriate memorial services were ordered.
Delegates from the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, also Rev. R. Scott, D. D., delegate from the Irish Wesleyan Conference, were introduced, and presented the addresses of their bodies, and received the usual courtesies ; subsequently, the delegates, from the Wesleyan Conference of Canada, were introduced, and received similar attention.
The subject of slavery became the absorbing subject of this session of the General Conference.
Numerous memorials were presented, from most of the northern Conferences, asking for advanced action towards the removal of slavery, from the Church ; also, petitions mostly from the border conferences, asking that no change be made in the discipline, on this. subject. The Committee on Slavery, presented the majority report, containing the following statements, viz. :
" Against a change of the General Rule on Slavery, from 32 Annual Conferences, 137 memorials, signed by 3,999 persons, and from 47 Quarterly Meeting Conferences. Asking for the extirpation of slavery, from 33 Annual Conferences, 811 memorials, signed by 45,857 persons, and from 49 Quarterly Meeting Conferences."
2 These figures show an encouraging advance in the average salaries or "claims" of the preachers. Since 1850, the claims, thoughi moderate, are sufficient, with rigid economy, for- the support of the preacher's family, leaving a moderate surplus, which some preachers carefully lay aside, for sickness or old age.
150
ACTION ON SLAVERY. NEW PAPER IN NEW YORK.
The committee recommended the following resolution, viz. :
" Resolved, By the delegates of the several Annual Conferences, in General Conference assembled, that we recommend the amendment of the General Rule on slavery, so that it shall read : "The buying, selling or holding of men, women or children, with an intention to enslave them.'" The only change proposed in the General Rule is the insertion of the words 'or holding.'
Several amendments were offered, but they were rejected, by a large majority. The delegates from the border conferences, protested carnestly against the proposed change, as likely to result in another division of the Church. The vote was demanded, and one-hundred and thirty-eight delegates answered yea, and seventy-four, nay ; so the motion failed, lacking ten votes of a two-thirds majority.
The committec also recommended a new Chapter to be substituted for the Chapter on Slavery in the Discipline ; various amendments were offered, but they were all voted down, and the new Chapter as it now stands in the Discipline, was adopted by 155 yeas to 58 nays. The editors of the principal Church Papers and Periodicals were decided in their anti-slavery vicws. The growing predominance of anti-slavery sentiment, in the Church, rendered it evident, that the enactment of a rule of discipline, prohibiting slave holding, was only a question of time.
Northern Methodists were disappointed that the General Conference did not adopt measures to secure the enactment of a rule, forbidding slave holding ; and, on the other hand, the border conferences were greatly disturbed by the strong anti-slavery action of the General Conference. A conservative paper was established, in the city of New York, in the interest of the border conferences, and of Lay Delegation in the General Conference.
There were murmurings of discontent and threats of repudiating the new law of the discipline, and the authority of the General Conference, in some of the border conferences.3 Another secession seemed imminent, and would probably have occurred, but the Southern Rebellion in 1861, and the Proclamation of Emancipation, by President Lincoln, Sept. 22, 1862, put an end to the conflict in the Church, upon this subject.
1861. The Maine Conference met, for its thirty-seventh session, in South Paris, May 1, 1861, Bishop Scott, presiding.
Lay delegates were announced from the several districts. This was
3 Matlock's Struggle and Triumph of Anti-Slavery.
151
MAINE CONFERENCE AT SOUTH PARIS.
a little in advance of any ecclesiastical authority, though the presence of the lay brethren was none the less acceptable.
Five members of the conference had finished their earthly work, during the year : Joshua Taylor, Asa Heath, Caleb Mugford, John Cumner, and Asa Greene.
By order of Conference, memorial services were held; the usual committees were appointed.
The report of the committee on Education, presented the prosperous condition of the Seminary and College at Kent's Hill, and the revival which had prevailed among the students, as cause for thankfulness, that Providence had smiled upon our labors, in behalf of the institution. The Conference pledged its co-operation with the agent, in the plan recommended for raising funds for the payment of the remaining debt.
A resolution on Slavery, was adopted, expressing dissatisfaction with the action of the last General Conference, in not entering upon the constitutional process, necessary to effect such an alteration of the general rule on slavery, as would at once free the Church from this " great evil."
The great southern rebellion had roused the nation ; warlike preparations, on a gigantic scale, were going on. The venerable Dr. J. P. Durbin, Corresponding Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in his address to the Conference, alluding to the state of the country, said : "If any States of our country step out of the Union, they must be whipped in."
The preachers of the Conference, expressed themselves in the most patriotic style, in their conversation, their prayers, and resolutions ; some of them served as chaplains in the army, and some in the Christian Commission.
The following resolutions were adopted :
1. That we contemplate, with unqualified approval, the calm and yet determincd efforts of the government of the United States, to maintain its position and authority, to put down the rebellion, at whatever cost.
2. That we will not cease to pray that Divine wisdom may guide our rulers; that the Lord God of Sabaoth, may give success to our arms, and establish the right ; that our sons and brothers who have so nobly responded to the call of their country, in this hour of peril, may be under His gracious care ; that we will supplicate God to interpose, and so to overrule, that these trying events may speedily result in permanent peace ; the liberation of the enslaved, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.
3. That to the maintenance of our national government in its purity, at whatever sacrifice of life or treasure, we hereby pledge our prayers, our lives, and our sacred honor.
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.