GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1808.
The Philadelphia Conference met this year in the city of brotherly love,
on March 20. It was like one great love-feast from beginning to end. The
preaching was of a high order, and many were converted. Twelve preachers
were received on trial, among others Thomas Neal, long one of the honored
fathers of the New Jersey Conference. Five were admitted into full
connection; one of them was Charles Giles, so useful in Western New York.
Bishop Asbury was constantly in favor of breaking up new ground. The
success of the previous year encouraged him to appoint an additional
laborer to the field we had tried to cultivate. The bishop read the
appointment thus: “Pennsylvania, William Hunter, William Colbert, and
Henry Boehm.”
On the 26th of April, with Brothers William Hunter and William Colbert,
I started for Baltimore to attend the General Conference. We rode on
horseback, as was the custom in those days. On the 30th we arrived in
Baltimore, and were appointed to John Fisher’s at Oldtown.
The conference began the 1st of May. Bishop Asbury alone presided, as
Dr. Coke was in Europe, and Bishop Whatcoat was dead. This was in many
respects the most important Methodist ecclesiastical body that had ever
assembled in America.
Previous to the session of this conference the Church had been like our
nation under the _articles of confederation_; but subsequently we were
like it after our constitution was formed.
There were one hundred and twenty-nine members representing seven
conferences. All the elders were entitled to a seat in the conference,
but many of them did not attend. The funeral of Harry Dorsey Gough was
attended at seven o’clock the 6th of May. Mr. Gough resided in Baltimore
in the winter, and at his splendid country residence, Perry Hall, in
the summer. When his corpse was removed, to be taken into the country,
Bishop Asbury and many members of the General Conference walked in the
procession to the end of the city. The multitude was so great few of them
got into the house. Bishop Asbury’s prayer, before the body was removed,
was one of the most powerful I had ever heard.
During the session of the conference there was much eloquent and
powerful preaching. On Sunday, the 8th, George Pickering preached in the
market-house, and three preachers exhorted after him, Joseph Totten,
Francis Ward, and S. Budd. There was a mighty shaking among the people.
This was early in the morning. At half past ten I heard William M’Kendree
from, “Is there no balm in Gilead,” etc. This was the eloquent sermon
that made him bishop. The late Dr. Bangs gives a graphic description
of it. Slow in his commencement, he rose with his subject, till his
audience were melted like wax before the fire. In the afternoon Rev.
Stith Mead, from Virginia, preached at Oldtown. Bishop Asbury preached,
in Eutaw-street, the opening sermon of the new chapel, from 2 Cor. iii,
12, “Seeing then we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.”
The crowd was immense and the sermon characteristic.
There was not only preaching on Sunday, but three times every day in
the Light-street Church, and every evening in the four other churches,
namely: The Point, Oldtown, African, and the New Church, (Eutaw.) Several
were converted during the week, but we saw no such scenes as occurred
during the General Conference of 1800.
The Conference elected William M’Kendree bishop. There was great
unanimity in regard to the choice, for on the first ballot he received
ninety-five out of one hundred and twenty-eight votes.
Sunday the 15th was a great day. William M’Kendree, bishop elect,
preached at seven o’clock in the Marsh market. My record says: “This was
an awful time of the power and presence of the Lord.” At ten o’clock
Bishop Asbury, in Light-street Church, and the sheep were gloriously fed
by the under shepherd. In the afternoon Jacob Gruber preached in German,
at three o’clock, in Father Otterbein’s church; Brother M’Kendree again
at five, in the New Church; and John M’Claskey at Light-street in the
evening.
On Wednesday, the 18th, William M’Kendree was consecrated to the office
and work of a bishop. Previous to the ordination Bishop Asbury preached
from 1 Tim. iv, 16, “Take heed unto thyself,” etc. Freeborn Garrettson,
Philip Bruce, Jesse Lee, and Thomas Ware assisted Bishop Asbury in the
ordination service, they being the oldest ministers present. The future
life of Bishop M’Kendree, his efficient services for years, show the
wisdom of the choice.
Sunday the 22d was a great day in Baltimore. George Pickering preached
in the new church at six in the morning from Col. i, 28; at ten, Samuel
Coates, in Oldtown, from Gen. xxiii, 14; at three, Jacob Gruber, at the
African Church, from Psalm xxxiv, 6; at five, Ezekiel Cooper preached
in Eutaw-street Church, from Matt. iii, 7, “O generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee the wrath to come?” He dwelt not only upon
wrath—divine wrath—but particularly “wrath to come;” taking the sinner
onward and showing that to all eternity it would be _wrath to come_!
future wrath, increasing wrath, Jesse Lee preached in the evening at
Light-street, from John v, 40. Thus ended this day of privileges, the
last Sabbath of the General Conference in Baltimore in 1808.
I have given a description of the preaching, for this had not been done.
Others have dwelt upon the doings of the General Conference during the
week, and have said but little of what was done on Sunday. But to hear
giants in the pulpit, these master workmen, was a privilege that afforded
me consolation in after years.
It will be seen they preached early in the morning, and had five
services a day. There was a great deal more preaching during the General
Conference. I have simply named the men I heard.
The business of the conference was done in great harmony. There were
masterly debates on the great questions of Church polity that came
before them, but all was done in love. The members seemed to possess
much of that “charity that thinketh no evil.” They not only elected a
superintendent, but made provision for a delegated General Conference, a
measure that was much needed.
Bishop Asbury requested me to travel with him. On Monday, May 23, William
Hunter, William Colbert, and myself, obtained leave of absence. It was
necessary for me to go home to get ready to travel with Bishop Asbury,
and I was to meet him at Perry Hall.
After my return home I went to Lancaster, and agreed with Messrs.
Grimlers to print a pamphlet on the Characteristics of a true Methodist
or Christian, and a sermon on, “Awake thou that sleepest,” etc., in the
German language. Bishop Asbury was anxious I should travel with him,
especially on account of the Germans. He was so well pleased with the
German discipline that I went to the same printers to get the German
tracts printed. These we took with us and distributed them, as will be
seen by Asbury’s journal. These tracts did immense good; they often went
where the preacher could not go. These were the first Methodist tracts
that were published in the German language; now they are abundant. I
shall not be accused of egotism for thus showing that over half a century
ago I was a humble pioneer in this blessed work.
As I part with my excellent colleagues, William Hunter and William
Colbert, I would like to give an outline of them. Brother Hunter, a
noble-hearted man and an able minister, was born in Ireland in 1755,
and came to this country in 1790. He was intimately acquainted with the
venerated Wesley, often heard him preach, and traveled extensively with
him when he visited Ireland. After he left the Pennsylvania Mission he
was presiding elder of Schuylkill District four years. He died in 1833.
William Colbert was a small man. He was a genuine Methodist, a sound
divine, and a great revivalist. Hundreds will rise up and call him
blessed. He had a heart formed for friendship. He and my friend William
Hunter died the same year.