PHILADELPHIA AND GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1812.
I will now resume my narrative. Notwithstanding the recent death of my
father, and the loneliness of my widowed mother, three days was all the
time we could spend at the old homestead after months of absence. As for
rest we knew not what it meant, unless it was on horseback. Mr. Asbury
acted as if a voice was ringing in his ear, constantly saying, “Arise ye
and depart, for this is not your rest.” His motto was, “Labor here, rest
hereafter.”
The next Sabbath Mr. Asbury preached near Valley Forge at Isaac
Anderson’s, Esq. He had been a Methodist for over thirty years, was
several times a member of the State Legislature, and was honored with a
seat in Congress.
The Philadelphia Conference began on Saturday, April 18. Bishop Asbury,
feeble as he was, preached four times during the session, namely, at St.
George’s, St. Thomas’s, Union Chapel, and Ebenezer. The deacons were
ordained on Wednesday, and the elders on Thursday by Bishop Asbury,
Bishop M’Kendree being sick.
This was the first time this conference elected delegates to the General
Conference. They sent fourteen: Ezekiel Cooper, John M’Claskey, Thomas
F. Sargent, Stephen G. Roszel, Thomas Ware, Richard Sneath, Thomas
Boring, David Bartine, John Walker, George Wolley, James Bateman, Thomas
Burch, Michael Coate, and Asa Smith. Several of them, like M’Claskey,
Sargent, and Roszel, were physically as well as mentally great men.
Long since they have all been gathered to their fathers. The conference
adjourned on the 26th after a very peaceful and profitable session.
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1812.
On Friday, May 1, 1812, in the city of New York, there was a great
gathering in “Wesley Chapel,” John-street. The cradle of American
Methodism was an appropriate place in which to hold the “first delegated
General Conference” of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishops Asbury
and M’Kendree were there, and ninety representatives from eight Annual
Conferences. It was the first Bishop M’Kendree attended after his
election to the episcopacy, and the last at which the venerable Bishop
Asbury was present. Before the next session he was in Abraham’s bosom.
No account has hitherto been published of the opening services of this
conference, nor is there any record in the journal. The first day was
observed as a day of fasting and prayer. Bishop Asbury preached at
eleven o’clock from Matt. xvii, 19-21, a text admirably adapted to the
occasion. No man ever understood adaptation in preaching better than
Francis Asbury. Fasting was regularly observed by the Wesley’s and by our
fathers in the ministry. Alas, though enjoined in our general rules, it
is now almost obsolete.
On Sunday Bishop Asbury preached in the morning at the Bowery (now
Forsyth-street) Church, in the evening in the Fourth-street (now
Allen-street) Church. The Spirit of God accompanied the word to many
souls. On Monday the 4th it not only rained, but snowed: rather late in
the season for snow-storms. On Tuesday night I preached in Hudson (now
Duane) Church on John i, 11, 12.
On next Sunday, the 10th, Bishop Asbury preached in the morning in the
African Church. The colored people had a great time under the word. The
bishop was always a great friend to colored people, and they always had
the highest regard for him. In the evening he preached in the Hudson
Church. A good and gracious time in both places.
On Thursday evening I preached in John-street, from Matt. xi, 28, with
some comfort.
On Sunday the 17th I heard Bishop Asbury preach in Sands-street,
Brooklyn, from Isaiah lii, 1, “Awake, awake, put on thy strength O Zion,”
etc. I wrote in my journal, “A solemn, awful time.” The bishop said it
was an “elegant house.” What would he say now to our elegant houses if
he could revisit our churches? In the afternoon I heard Joshua Marsden
in John-street, on “wisdom.” He was a member of the English Wesleyan
Conference, and had been for some years in Nova Scotia. He had come to
New York to return to England, but the breaking out of the war between
England and America prevented him, and therefore he was employed to
preach in New York. He was a good preacher, a great admirer of Bishop
Asbury, and has given one of the best descriptions of the bishop’s
personal appearance and character I ever read. He had also no common gift
as a poet. Some of his pieces, especially a sonnet, “What is Time,” are
much admired.[41]
I need not give an account of the doings of the General Conference, which
the reader can find in the printed journals. I have dwelt on things
hitherto unrecorded. The presiding elder question was debated, whether
they should be appointed by the bishop or elected by the conference;
also the ordination of local preachers. Asa Shinn and Jesse Lee were
here opposed to each other, and it was like the wrestling of giants.
Lee contended the local preachers could not perform their ordination
vows while in a local condition. Mr. Shinn shrewdly replied that the
same form of ordination required an “elder to rule well his own family;”
that Brother Lee had promised to perform this duty twenty years before,
and yet he had never done it—he was a delinquent, and should keep his
own vows, etc. This retort was effective. The conference was perfectly
convulsed with laughter at the expense of the old bachelor, who sat down
shaking his great sides and enjoying it as well as others. From that time
he gave up his opposition.
On the 22d the conference adjourned, to meet in Baltimore May 1, 1816.
Where are now those delegates that met in New York in May, 1812? Of the
ninety strong men who were there eighty-four are dead, and six only
survive: Laban Clark, Joshua Soule, Daniel Webb, Lovick Pierce, Joseph
Travis, and John Early.