friends there-Littig and Bryce-indorsing for him. The Book Concern prospered under his administration. He had no difficulty afterward in getting all the money he wanted—even during the financial crisis which occurred while he was in the agency. With Mason, his assistant, he boxed the books himself, and had few or no losses by transmissions or letters. The Hymn-book and Discipline were the principal publications. He was his own book editor, and went home at night and worked on the Magazine, often till twelve o'clock. Hence it was pleasantly called, by an editorial friend, "the work of darkness."

Two new Conferences were added-Missouri and Mississippi. The annual salary of a traveling preacher was changed in 1800 from sixty-four to eighty dollars, and in 1816 from eighty to one hundred dollars. The ratio of representation in the General Conference was altered from five to seven. A new clause was inserted in the Discipline, making it the duty of the Bishops to prescribe a course of study and of reading to be pursued by undergraduates or candidates for the ministry.

Of course the old question of the election of presiding elders by the Conference, out of a number nominated by the Bishop, was up, and this time with a new feature in the way amendment, which was accepted by the New York mover:

of an

Subsequently Nathan Bangs offered to amend the first answer by appending the following words to it: "And the presiding elder so elected and appointed shall remain in office four years, unless sooner dismissed by the mutual consent of the Bishop and the Conference, or unless he be elected to some other office by the General Conference. But no presiding elder shall be removed from office during the term of four years without his consent, unless the reasons for such removal be stated to him in the presence of the Conference, who shall decide without debate."

The whole question was lost by a vote of forty-two to sixty, showing an increased conservative majority.

Slavery also had an airing. Since 1808 each Annual Conference had been authorized "to make its own rules about buying and selling slaves;" but in 1816 the General Conference resolved that "no slave-holder shall be eligible to any official station in our Church hereafter, where the laws of the State in which he lives will admit of emancipation, and permit the liberated slave to enjoy freedom." This was a compromise measure. In 1812, a "motion," by an Ohio member, "requesting the Conference to inquire into the nature and moral tendency of slavery was voted to lie on the table."

Bishops George and Roberts.

537

Enoch George, of the Baltimore Conference, and Robert Richford Roberts, of the Philadelphia, were elected and consecrated Bishops; the former receiving fifty-seven, and the latter fiftyfive votes, out of one hundred and six.

Enoch George was a native of the Northern Neck of Virginia, a region that has been prolific of great men. He was about fifty years of age. At the call of Bishop Asbury he labored in South Carolina and Georgia several years. His health failing, he returned to Virginia, and about 1800 entered the Baltimore Conference, where he filled various important appointments and districts. He is thus described:

Short of stature, but stoutly built. His features were grave, and expressive of strong emotions; his eyes, small and deeply seated beneath an overhanging, heavy brow, twinkled or melted into tears, as the sentiments he uttered might demand; and his voice thrilled or softened the hearts of his auditory, as he poured out his soul with a pathos the writer never heard excelled; for he can never forget a sermon preached in Tennessee at his first visit to that Conference in 1817. His text was, "And this is the victory that overcometh the world-even our faith." There was something in his manner of address, in the tones of his voice, the subdued yet earnest and fervid spirit of the preacher, that affected the whole audience. He explained faith, and illustrated its victory by Bible incidents, in the most simple and appropriate style. Since then I have heard many impressive sermons from the best preachers of the land; they have instructed, charmed, and thrilled me; but I have never heard a man who so strongly wrought upon my feelings, and kept me bathed in tears from the beginning to the close of his sermon. The image of that man of God and the scenes of that hour are still vividly fixed in my memory. He wept over sinners; tears were constantly welling up in his eyes, and without pausing he would slip a finger behind his spectacles and brush away the blinding tear, to be replaced by another at the very next sentence.*

After twelve years of episcopal service he died, greatly beloved. His administrative ability was not of a high order. His feeling of self-distrust was such as to make the duties of public intercourse, which his office drew upon him, embarrassing and painful. For constitutional questions he had no taste. Paul never spoke with more plainness to Peter than did his senior colleague to Enoch George, who held on his way and let constitutional constructions take care of themselves.

The parents of R. R. Roberts moved from Maryland when he was a child, and settled at the western base of the Alleghany Mountains, and amid such scenes he grew up.

At the General Conference of 1808 he appeared as a member,

*Life and Times of McKendree, by Paine.

clad in homespun style, but such was the impression produced by his preaching that at the solicitation of many of the most intelligent members of the Church, after the close of the session, Bishop Asbury directed him to quit his work in the Western backwoods, and take charge of the Baltimore City Station. From the competent source before quoted we take the measure of the man and preacher:

The writer first saw Bishop Roberts at the Tennessee Conference of 1817, held ie Franklin, and heard him preach in the court-house, on Heb. ii. 3. He held an immense audience as if spell-bound for more than an hour, while he portrayed the fearful consequences of neglecting the "great salvation." He weighed two hundred and twenty pounds. His whole person indicated him to be one of nature's noblemen. His features were large, benignant, and intellectual. His head was of an uncommon size, his forehead high and massive, his eyes blue or hazelcolored, his manner of address always easy and graceful, his voice a deep bass, but soft and musical; there was nothing constrained or unnatural in its modulation, but it was an earnest and animated conversational tone. When excited by "thoughts that burn," his majestic frame seemed to expand, and his "mind-illumined face" glowed. Many years afterward I heard him again in Huntsville, Alabama, on Sabbath morning of the Conference. The text was, "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." It was a glorious sermon-worthy of the man and the occasion, and as worthy of the theme as any I ever heard.

He was remarkable for humility and simple dignity of manners. He was surprised at his own popularity as a preacher, and his election to the episcopacy almost overwhelmed him. He always shunned notoriety, and but for conscience' sake would have retired to his humble cottage-home, in the most secluded portion of Indiana, and spent his life unnoticed and unknown.

He made an excellent Bishop. The only deficiencies under which he labored originated in his size and his sympathies. Owing to his great weight he failed on many occasions to reach the Conferences at the proper time, and occasionally to get to them at all; for, on account of the want of public conveyances, and the condition of the roads, especially in the West and South, he was obliged to travel on horseback, and no horse could be found capable of bearing him through his long tours. His sympathies were so strong that he could not always resist their influence, even though his judgment might demur.

Four years before it had been provided "that the Bishops shall have authority, in the interval of the General Conference, to appoint another Annual Conference down the Mississippi, if they find it to be necessary." They were not able to do any thing in that way. Now the organization had been determined on definitely, and Bishop Roberts's first visitation was to the Mississippi Conference.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Difficulties of Planting Methodism in the South-west-Useful Local Preachers and Laymen-Vick, Bowman, Tooley, Ford, French-From Tombigbee to Attakapas-Nolley's Death-Occupation of New Orleans-Three ConferencesLasley, Griffin, Drake, Sellers, Hearn, Hewit, Nixon, Shrock, Owens.

THE

HE territory of the original Natchez Circuit was enriched in the first decade of the century by the immigration of Methodist families from the two Carolinas and from GeorgiaOwens, Robertson, Baldridge (five brothers), and Forman. After getting class-meetings and prayer-meetings under way, they resolved to build a church. An eligible spot near a spring having been selected and secured to trustees according to Discipline, proclamation was made for all who were willing to build the Lord's house to meet on a certain day with axes and other tools. They met, and the name of Cæsar, a godly slave who asked to have a hand in the work, is preserved as one of the company. "This will do for our first log," said one, running his eye up the shaft of a tall tree-and he raised his ax. "Stop!" said Thomas Owens. "Stop a moment, if you please. Neighbors and friends, we want the blessing of God on our work; let us begin it with prayer." They lifted their hats and kneeled on the ground, while Thomas Owens prayed so fervently that they felt it was a prophecy of the future prosperity of Spring Hill Church; and so it was. In time finer structures succeeded the log-house, yet the name of each, and of the camp-ground, was Spring Hill. Many souls were born there. The sons of Owens and Robertson were converted and were among the first preachers the Mississippi Territory gave to the Mississippi Conference. "Little Tommie Owens," as he was called, was for fifty-five years a useful and very popular minister. It was a hard task of his life, even when he was eighty years old, to observe the scriptural injunction "Likewise must the deacons be grave." The logical Winans used to praise and covet the power of Owens in reaching the feelings of an audience. John J. Robertson filled circuits and colored missions with fidelity, retired late in life to the local ranks, and died in his seventy-ninth year, leaving a son who represents him in the traveling ministry.

In the same region, and at an early day, rose up Hopewell and

Bethel, other centers of spiritual power, where revivals and camp-meetings and Conferences made history, and from which laborers went into the vineyard. Considering their influence, such places may well be called sacred.

The coming of Revs. Samuel Sellers and Miles Harper from the Western Conference, in the autumn of 1809, was a signal event to the Church in Mississippi-they left their impress upon the field as few others have done. But before their arrival certain local preachers came, and were soon followed by others, who mightily strengthened the stakes. Newit Vick, with an interesting family, was from Virginia, a preacher of several years' standing and of excellent ability and character. When the attempt was made in 1807 to build a church in Natchez, though living many miles in the country he headed the list with the largest subscription ($150). In his house near Spring Hill the first Conference was held in 1813. Public-spirited and zealous, he and his large family were a blessing in social as well as in Church life. The advantage of a certain location near the Walnut Hills was taken in by his intelligent eye; the ridges converging there led out into fat lands, and tapped fertile valleys, and by these natural roads a future commerce would seek the river at this point. He possessed it, laid it off into lots, and the city of Vicksburg began to rise. He died in 1819.

About 1810 Matthew Bowman, of South Carolina, settled in Amite county, and without delay opened his commission as a preacher. Soon he collected members enough for the nucleus of a society and, selecting a central point for the older settlements and the newer, they built the famous Midway Church. From it have gone out standard-bearers in other communities. and in other States. Bowman, like Vick, preached far and near, baptized and married the people, and buried their dead, and set them an example of energy, thrift, and benevolence in every-day life. The itinerant pastors on their four and six weeks' circuits found them helpers indeed. At the age of three-score and ten Matthew Bowman died, saying, "I find the gospel the power of God unto salvation." Wm. Winans, who had married and fixed his home near Midway and was now become the leading minister of the South-west, preached the funeral-sermon; and seldom had preacher so good a subject. Says the historian of those times: "One of the last great joys of the patriarch's heart on earth was