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A HISTORY

OF

METHODISM:

COMPRISING

A VIEW OF THE RISE OF THIS REVIVAL OF SPIRITUAL
RELIGION IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY, AND OF THE PRINCIPAL AGENTS BY WHOM

IT WAS PROMOTED IN EUROPE AND AMERICA;

WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF

The Doctrine and Polity of Episcopal Methodism in the United States, and the
Means and Manner of its Extension down to A.D. 1884.

BY

HOLLAND N. McTYEIRE, D.D.,

ONE OF THE BISHOPS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.

SEVENTH THOUSAND.

London:

RICHARD D. DICKINSON, 89, FARRINGDON STREET, E.C.

(Opposite the Memorial Hall.)

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PREFACE.

IS work was begun at the request of the Centenary Committee, and was encouraged by the recommendation of the College of Bishops, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Much the larger portion of the volume deals in that wherein all Methodists agree. I have endeavored to give, along with sketches of the chief actors in preparing and carrying forward the great work of God, the truths that were vital to it, and the type of Christian experience developed by it; also the gradual and providential evolution of the system, both in doctrine and polity; so that one who honors the book with a perusal may come to the end, not only with a tolerably clear understanding of the polity and doctrines of Episcopal Methodism, but, what is of infinitely greater importance, he may obtain some personal knowledge of that way of salvation which Wesleyans teach.

No one, with proper ideas, ever looked over a life that had been lived, or a book that had been written, without seeing and feeling how it might have been bettered. In giving this volume to the public I am mindful that the proverb, "The best is often the enemy of the good," applies to authorship as well as to many other things. By waiting to realize our highest ideal of excellence, we may be restrained from making a contribution to religious literature which, however imperfect, would be of some service.

Several local histories have been written, and well written, giving account of the rise and progress of Methodism in States and Conferences. Of these I have made mention in the following pages, and, as will be seen, have made use in the preparation of this more general view of the Church.

Moral or abstract truth knows no point of the compass, but historical truth does; and the truth of history proves this. Methodism in the South has suffered injustice from the manner in which it has been presented by learned, honest, and able writers in the North. The writer does not presume to be free from the infirmities to which he is liable in common with others. He proposes to tell the truth as he sees it; and this may lead him to tell truths affecting others which they have not seen, and to present admitted facts in a different light.

The reader is advertised that this is not a history of Southern Methodism, but of Methodism from a Southern point of view. In the South, Methodism was first uccessfully planted, and from thence it spread North, and East, and West. If all the members claimed by all the branches be counted, there is a preponderance of American Methodism now, as at the beginning, in the South.

Of course I am largely indebted to writers who have gone before, and I make my acknowledgment unreservedly of such indebtedness. The first part of the volume treats of matters that have passed through the hands of many writers; and in various forms of statement these stock subjects have gone into history. Little more can now be done than to present a judicious compilation from the

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best sources of information; and the reader, who has not access to these or leisure to consult them, will prefer utility here to originality.

The list of books appended indicates those most consulted, besides biographies and autobiographies and fugitive sketches contained in newspaper files running through many years. The Minutes and Journals of General and Annual Conferences from 1773 to the present, the old Disciplines and Magazines and Reviews, have been chief sources. This method is adopted as more convenient than burdening the margin with foot-notes. When an authority is therein specifically named it is done not only to show the source of information, if it be questioned but as a suggestion to the reader to consult the same if fuller information is desired on the subject.

Methodism has been long enough and potent enough in the world to enter into general history, and materials for its delineation begin now to be found everywhere. But certain writers have wrought in this mine more, and to more advantage, than others. Jesse Lee was the father of our Church history. After him Dr. Nathan Bangs gathered and compiled richly and industriously, and his writings, without the graces of style, have a high merit. Dr. Abel Stevens has brought all under obligations who come after him. His patience and skill in collecting and sifting Methodist history, and the literary style which he has displayed, cannot be too much admired. The first wrote when there was no North and no South in Methodism; the second, when these began to be; the third, when they were realities.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the Rev. Luke Tyerman has not only given a great amount of fresh and readable matter, but has critically worked the life out of several favorite legends that were passing into fixed history. His manner of treating some subjects has given offense, justly or unjustly, to a few Wesleyans; but no writer of Methodist history, since Southey, has so generally (and in his case favorably) influenced the opinion of the outside world, and given direction to the drift of secular writers, as Mr. Tyerman. His volumes are a thesaurus. Having access to orignal sources, and the taste and skill for making and combining researches, and the candor (which, in the opinion of his critics, verges on an affectation, and therefore an overdoing, of independence) to utter them, he has superseded many volumes by his own. It is the quality of an Englishman (and if a fault, leaning to virtue's side) to take his observations of all things in heaven and earth from his national stand-point. With all his industry in collecting information, and his skill in presenting it through copious volumes that never weary the reader, Mr. Tyerman was so unsatisfactory in his treatment of American Methodism, at a material point, that the New York edition of his great work required an Appendix from an American author (Dr. Stevens) to set the English author right; and this, the Appendix does thoroughly. If one of Tyerman's breadth and fairness needs such correction, it is no strange thing if Stevens, Simpson, Porter, Daniels, and others of that latitude, have not always presented Methodism at the other end of their country in a favorable or acceptable light. It is due to the condition of astronomers rather than to their disposition that some constellations in the heavens cannot be viewed from certain stations on the earth's surface.

It is hoped that this attempt by a Southern writer at a general history of Methodism may have the result which Jesse Lee sought, as stated in his Pref ace: "I desire to show to all our societies and friends that the doctrines which

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we held and preached in the beginning we have continued to support and maintain uniformly to the present day. We have changed the economy and discipline of our Church at times, as we judged for the benefit and happiness of our preachers and people, and the Lord has wonderfully owned and prospered us. It may be seen from the following account how the Lord has, from the very small beginnings, raised us up to be a great and prosperous people. It is very certain that the goodness of our doctrine and discipline, our manner of receiving preachers, and of sending them into different circuits, and the frequent changes among them froin one circuit to another, have greatly contributed to the promotion of religion, the increase of our societies, and the happiness of our preachers." H. N. M. Vanderbilt University, October 1, 1884.

A LIST OF SOME OF THE AUTHORITIES CONSULTED AND USED.

A Short History of the Methodists in the United States of America: Jesse Lee. 12mo, pages 306. Baltimore. 1810.

History of the Methodist Episcopal Church: N. Bangs, D.D. (4 vols.)

The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M.: Edited by John Emory. (2 vols.) 1837. The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M.: Edited by John Emory. (7 vols.) 1835.

The Life of Rev. John Wesley, A.M.: Coke and Moore. 1792.

The Life of Rev. John Wesley, A.M.: Richard Watson; with Observations on Southey's Life of Wesley: Edited by T. O. Summers, D.D. Nashville, 1857.

The Life of Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A.: Thomas Jackson. (New York.)

The Life of Thomas Coke, LL.D.: Samuel Drew. 1817.

The Life of Rev. John Wesley, M.A.: John Whitehead, M.D.

The Life and Times of Bishop McKendree: Robert Paine, D.D. (2 vols.) Nashville, 1869. Asbury's Journal, from 1771 to 1815. (3 vols.)

Biographical Sketches of Eminent Itinerant Ministers: Edited by T. O. Summers, D.D. 1858. The Life of Wesley, and Rise and Progress of Methodism: Robert Southey, LL.D. Amerran edition, with Notes, by D. Curry, D.D. (2 vols.) 1847.

Cyclopedia of Methodism: M. Simpson, D.D., LL.D. 1878.
McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia. (10 vols.)

A Hundred Years of Methodism: M. Simpson, D.D., LL.D. 1876.
The Methodist Centennial Year-book: W. H. DePuy, D.D. 1883.
A Short Manual for Centenary Year, 1884: W. P. Harrison, D.D.
Sketches of Western Methodism: Rev. James B. Finley. 1854.
Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon. (2 vols.) 1844.

History of American Slavery and Methodism from 1780 to 1840: Lucius C. Matlack. 1849. The Anti-slavery Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church: L. C. Matlack, D.D.; with Introduction by D. D. Whedon, D.D. 1881.

Memoirs and Sermons of Whitefield: By Gillies.

Memorials of the Wesley Family: Rev. George J. Stevenson. 1876.

The Wesley Family: Adam Clarke.

The Wesley Memorial Volume: Edited by J. O. A. Clark, D.D. 1880.

The Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, M.A.: Rev. L. Tyerman. 1866.

The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A.: Rev. L. Tyerman. (3 vols.; N. Y.) 1872

The Oxford Methodists: Rev. L. Tyerman. (N. Y.) 1873.

The History of Methodism: Abel Stevens, LL.D. (3 vols.)

The History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America: Abel Stevens, LL.D. (4 vols.)

The History of Wesleyan Methodism: George Smith, F.A.S. (London.) 1857.

Methodist Church Property Case: Official. 1851.

American Methodism: M. L. Scudder, D.D. 1867.

Illustrated History of Methodism: Rev. W. H. Daniels, A.M. 1880.

History of Methodism in Tennessee: J. B. McFerrin, D.D. (3 vols.) 1869.

History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida: Rev. George G. Smith. 1877.
History of Methodism in South Carolina: A. M. Shipp, D.D. 1883.

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