X)L. XXVII. NO
THE OEGAJV OF THE XOKTII CAROLINA CONFERENCE OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH.
ESTABLISHED 1S55
42.
iters.
For the Advocate.
ORGANIZATION 0F T,lE 31 E CHURCH.
ORDINATION OF THE FIRST METHODIST
lilSHOPS.
Apropos to the query of Brother Betts
; tjie Advocate this week, I submit the
Rowing extract from the "Doctrines and
Discipline of the Methodist Episcopa
Church, published in 1813, with an intro
duction by Francis Asbury and William
jIcKendrcc
Section i
Of the Origin of the Metho
jlSt Episcopal Church.
"The preachers and members of our So
cietv in general, being convinced that
there was a great deficiency of vital reli
gion in the Church of England in America,
and being in many places destitute of the
Christian sacraments, as several of the
clergy had forsaken their Churches, re
quested the late Rev. John Wesley to take
such measures, in his wisdom and pru
dence, as would afford them suitable re
lief in their distress.
"In consequence of this, our venerable
friend, who under God, had been the
father of the great revival of religion now
extending over the earth, by means of the
Methodists, determined to ordain minis
ters for America; and for this purpose, in
thyenr 1784, sent over three regularly or
dained clergy, but preferring the Episco
pal mode of Church government to any
other, he solemnly set apart, by the im
position of his hands, and prayer, one of
them, viz : Thomas Coke, Doctor of Civil
Law, late of Jesus-College, in the Univer
sity of Oxford, and a Presbyter of the
Church of England, for the Episcopal of
fice; and having delivered to him letters of
Episcopal orders, commissioned and di
rected him to set apart Francis Asbury,
then general assistant of the Methodist
Society in America, for the same Episco
pal office, he, the saidFrajicis Asbury, be
in first ordained deacon and elder. In
consequence of which the said Francis
Asbury was solemnly set apart for the said
Episcopal office, by prayer,andthe imposi
fion of the hands of the saidThomas Coke,
other regularly ordained ministers assisting
in the sacred ceremony. At which time
the General Conference held at Baltimore
did unanimously receive the said Thomas
Coke and Francis Asbury as their Bishops,
being fully satisfied of the validity of their
Episcopal ordinafon."
Bishop Wightman, in his article on
"Wesley and Coke" in the "Wesley Me
morial Volume,' speaking of Coke and the
two elders who accompanied him to Ameri
ca, says : "Upon their arrival in America,
a special Conference was convened and on
December 27th, sixty traveling preachers
assembled in the city of Baltimore. Dr.
Coke took the chair and presented a letter
from Wesley, written, eight days afterthe
ordinations, setting forth the grounds of
irhat he had done and advised. After the
consideration of this letter it was, with no
dissenting voice, regularly and formally
agreed to form a Methodist Episcopal
Church, making the Episcopal office elec
tive and the superintendent or bishop
to the body of ministers and preachers.
Asbury refused the high office to which
Lesley had appointed him unless it was
ratified by the Conference and, in accord
ance with the act of organization, both he
and Coke were formally and unanimously
chosen as "Superintendents." On the
cond day of the session Asbury was or
dained deacon, elder on the third, and
superintendent on the fourth."
Iu his journal for the year 1784, Asbury
writes :
"Saturday, December 18th, spent the
day at Perry Hall partly in preparing for
Conference. Continued at Perry Hall
until Friday the 24th. We then rode to
Baltimore where we met a few preachers;
J ttas agreed to form ourselves into an
-Piscopal Church and to have superin
tendents, elders and deacons. When the
Conference wa seated Dr. Coke and my
self were unanimously elected to the
uPerintendency of the Church and my or
lnatl0n followed, after being previously
Gained deacon and elder."
It I
!s true that as early as the Conference
ich
met in Balti more Aoril 2th. 1780.
or?efthe Methodists in Virginia had
a'ned a few preachers to administer
"c ordinance
this
conference
they w
ere Prohibited from orrlninino rm.v
iuan fc J
and those ordained commanded not
10 "ad
niiniSter thf nrrMnnrx-c wliprp thprP
s a decent Episcopal minister."
RALEIGH,
It is clear that the M. E. Church was
not organized until 1784 in Baltimore and
that Coke and Asbury were then elected
superintendents.
Now for the date of the opening of this
Conference. Bishop Wightman says it
was Dec. 27th, Gossie Dec. 25th, and Dr.
Cunnyngham Dec. 24th. Let us see. In
the credentials which Coke gave to Asbury
he says that he "did on the 25th of De
cember set apart Francis Asbury for the
office of a deacon," etc. Bishop Wight
man, as quoted before, says this was done
on the second day of the session; if that be
so, then if follows that the Conference
which organized the Church and elected
the bishops convened in the city of Balti
more on the 24th of December 1784. As
Asbury "continued at Perry Hall'' until
that day, it is probable that he reached
Baltimore on the day of the opening of
the session.
I think it probable that there is some
thing yet more definite in Coke's Journal,
but my copy of that valuable work is not at
hand.
M. H. Moore.
Nashville, N. C, 20th Oct., 1882.
THE CONVERSATIONAL STYLE OF
PREACHING.
BY REV. E. C. FERGUSON.
It was a rainy Sunday, and but few were
present in the little country church. As
the preacher came in, some of the sisters
gathered about him, and said: "Don't
preach to us to-day, Brother : . Just
talk to us." How many long suffering
congregations, with systems wearied and
nerves rasped under the loud, shrill, high
pitched, declamatory tone of the preacher,
if they could only find a voice during the
sermon, would cry out to the pulpit, "For
mercy's sake, don't preach to us any lon
ger; do just talk to us !"
Hooker, in his "Ecclesiastical Polity,"
tells of the complaint of the people about
the preaching in his day: "Some take
but one word for their text and afterward
run into the mountains that we cannot fol
low them, not knowing how they went up
or how they will come down again." So
some preachers no sooner name their
text than they mount up into a high
swelling tone as far removed from the or
dinary way in which a man talks as the
east is from the west; and, having once
mounted, they never come down again un
til the end of the sermon. Etymologically,
the sermon or homily is a talk, and not a
speech; a conversation, and not an ora
tion. The best rule, then, for the ordina
ry preacher is to make the conversational
style the basis of his delivery. Not that
he is never to rise from this, but let this
be the point from which he starts out as
his fervor leads him, and to which he re
turns after a short excursion- The follow
ing advantages will result. The preacher
will not be so much in danger of wearying
himself. One may talk for hours in con
versation without fatigue. It is the un
natural declamatory tones that make the
throat sore. Again, he will not be so
much in danger of wearying the people.
One may listen to a conversation for hours
without feeling tired, but one cannot lis
ten to one declaiming in a uniform pitch
for half an hour without aching. In con
versation one varies his tone to suit the
thought, while one who declaims is in dan
ger of keeping one pitch for all kinds of
thought. To be sure, there are some in
every congregation who will think the
preacher tame who only talks. 'How do
you like your new preacher?' said one
neighbor to another. 'Oh, he is improv
ing wonderfully; he preaches louder and
louder !' But those who have this test, in
any congregation, are comparatively
few.
Further, a preacher who talks will not
be so much in danger of affectation and
cant. 'De new preacher is mo' larnt dan
Mistah Boles; but, Loi' bless you, sah ! he
ain t got de doleful sound like Mistah
Boles had. No, indeed!' If man as
sumes a preaching and doleful tone the
moment he enters the pulpit, he cannot
but be guilty of affectation : his tone can
not be a true index of his feelings. There
are some good souls, indeed, upon whom
the doleful tone seems to act as a kind of
charm. They will close their eyes and
float to heaven under the influence of the
preacher's tone, without any regard to
what he is saying. But, it is safe to say,
that while one in a congiegation, under a
N. C, WEDNESDAY,
I preaching tone, will close his eyes and
soar to heaven, ten will close their eyes
and sink to sleep.
If one speaks in the tone of conversa
tion, he will use the short, simple words
of conversation. Nothing is more mani
fest than that the pulpit should use, not
the artificial language of books, but the
simple, common words of life. Great,
swelling tones necessarily draw after them
great, swelling words. All great revival
ists are colloquial and conversational in
their preaching. 'Nothing is more cal
culated,' says Mr. Finney, 'to make a
sinner feel that religion is . some mysteri
ous thing that he cannot understand, than
this mouthing, formal, lofty style of speak
ing so generally employed in the pul
pit.'
ine conclusion, men, is, let tne ora
tors, whoever they may be, preach as ora
tors, but let common preachers aspire' to
nothing higher than to talk to the people.
Southern Pulpit.
DUTIES OF FATHERS.
Many a father by his life and conduct
undoes much that the mother does. Eve
ry father is the high-priest of his house
hold, according to God's established law;
and if he neglects the morning and even
ing sacrifice, he has no right to expect
God's blessing on his household. God has
said that he will pour out his fury on the
familes that call not on his name. You
may prosper, so far as this world is con
cerned, for a time, but as sure, as God is
true, your infidelity to. him and your fami
ly will meet its reward. The example and
influence of that class of fathers who pro
fess religion and neglect its duties in their
families, is likely to retard God's work in
the church and the world than to advance
it. We give the following fact . as one of
thousands that might be given.
"Father, I am lost, and you are to blame
for it." Thus spoke B. W , a youth of
twenty years, a few hours before his death.
When he was ten years old, he was a boy
of more than ordinary promise. His father
was then one ot the leading professors of
religion, and the best informed man in the
church to which he belonged, prayed in
his family and led the social meeting in
the church, and was looked upon as a
model Christian and his family as a model
family. But he loved a dram, and soon
became a drunkard. The last time that he
partook of the Lord's supper he was intox
icated; soon after he was expelled from
the church, and all his pretensions to re
ligion were abandoned. He started a dis
tillery, and encouraged his four sons to
drink; next he became sceptical, or pre
tended to be; became an open Universal
ist, and persuaded his sons to believe a
lie. His wife was a pious woman, and by a
blessing on her influence saved her daugh
ters, who all became members of the
church. The three living sons are now old
men. all drunkards, in poverty and wretch
edness. The father took cold from lying
out drunk all night in. a storm, and died
from its effects "soon after, in utter de
spair. They lived near me, and I was a daily
attendant at the dying bed of B. W .
Although thirty years have passed away,
the scenes of the night he died are as fresh
as they were the day after. I went there to
help take care of him that . night. It took
four men to hold him; for some time his
groans and blasphemies were horrible be
yond description. He begged us to 'drive
away the fiends that were tormenting him.
So awful was the sight, for the last half
hour of his life, that every soul fled from
the room except his mother. He was some
j time dead before anybody would enter the
rnn n . T trembled from head to foot, and
so did all preseut. It seemed as if hell
was all around us. On my way home, the
moving of a leaf would startle every nerve
in my body.
Backsliding parent, this is no tale ot fic
tion, but it is sober reality. This man was
once the wealthiest and most esteemed
man in the community where he lived,
and his children the most prmising. But
he broke the covenant with God, neglec
ted his duty to his family, set them a god
less example and tanght them damnable
heresy. He became a drunken sot, and
died without hope at three-score and ten
years old; he had to listen to one son who,
in his dying hours, charged his damnat'on
on. him; and left three drunken, blasphem
ing sons behind him. If this meets the eye
OCT. 25, 1882.
of any one who has made the first step to
wards apostasy or open sin, we pray you
stop. Whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap. Young man, beware.
At ten years old, B. W was a model
boy; at fifteen a profane swearer; at eight
een a drunkard; at twenty on his dying
bed. gnashing his teeth and cursiug his
Maker, and declaring he was in hell. Be
ware of following a bad example. Evil
communications corrupt good manners.
Make Chiist your friend.
Not long since, a father took his little
son to church with him on a communion
Sabbath. As soon as they came out of
church, the little boy said, "Why, father,
when did you become a Christian?" "Oh,"
said the father, "I have been a member of
the church seven years." The boy replied,
"Why, father, I never knew that before."
It was a barbed arrow, and the family altar
was soon erected. How many children
might say the same thiug: "Why, father, I
n ver knew you were a Christian." Do
such men work for God? What will their
reward be .vhen they meet their children
before the throne of God on the day of
judgement? The writer can look back near
ly half a century, and call up before him
the fathers that lived around him in his
boyhood, and can trace their children
down to the present time; and he has no
knowledge of one case in which children
were trained up in the fear of God, and in
the end did not come out well The chil
dren of pious parents are now inhabiting
the land; while the children of the wicked
are in most cases in their graves, or be
come hewers of wood and drawers of wa
ter. And in proportion as the parents were
godless, have their children become worth
less and degraded. Owing to outside influ
ence, there may be a few exceptions.
If you as a father sincerely desire the
well-being of your children for time and
eternity, I beseech you set before them an
example of holy living. The best legacy
you can give your sons is that of a Chris
tian example. Yau can lay up for him in
this way a fund that will outlive and out
ride all the financial storms of earth; you
may lead him to the life-boat that will land
him safe on the shores of immortality. Ex
ample lives in memoiy, and warns the soul
when those who gave it are dead and gone.
And then your own happiness depends on
your fidelity to duty. I do not believe it
possible for any man who has taken the
vows of God upon him, to live in the neg
lect of duty and be happy. I heard the
celebrated Judge B once say, in the
time of a great revival of religion, "This
is the first time I ever had religion to make
me happy. I have been a church-mem
ber twenty years, and have had religion
enough to make me miserable, because I
did not know whether I was dead or alive."
Oh, how many might say the same thing?
How can any man be happy while a daily
covenant-breaker with. God, on whose soul
rests the solemn obligation to set a godly
example before his family ? Do not charge
the irreligion of your children on your
pastor, if you neglect your duty; his work
will be prosperous in proportion to the
manner in which r you do your part. WThy
is it that a large' portion of those that em
brace religion in early life are the children
of eminently pious parents? Because
God is honored in the family with daily
adoration. They eat and sleep in a reli
gious atmosphere. The power of habit
and all their surr undings lead them
heavenward; while all the t-urroundings of
children raised where God is not worship
ped, lead them hellward. If this little
book falls into the hands of any prayer
less father, I pray you, as you value your
own happiness in time and eternity, and
the eternal well-being of your children,
erect the family altar without another
day's delay. Gospel Workers.
.
SHORT SERMONS.
As a generale rule we believe that every
word is lost and is an injury, when the
morning sermon exceeds forty minutes or
the evening sermon thirty. If the preach
er cannot reach Ihe subject and preach it
in the time named, it is because he is an
empty vessel. Even if it shall be contin
ued beyond this time by some man who is
still furnishing go d thoughts, the minds
of the audience are full and fatigued, and
the continuation is ruining the good effect
already produced. To preach or to hear
one sermon' a day is better than three. We
knew a good man who was ambitious to
if. X. If LDSO, f. !., Cor.Etlitor
show an annual record of a large number
of sermons preached. One Sunday, after
having preached four times, he went
home with an old minister whose wife had
not heard the last sermon, so he proposed
preaching to the good woman. Being a
little indisposed and tired, in five minutes
she was asleep. The preacher stopped
short and called on the old minister to
close the meeting. "Amen,' said the old
man. On being asked by the brother if
he intended that as the closing services,
he promptly answered, "Yes." And this
reminds us of a long-winded brother, who
on finishing seventhly, exclaimed, "And
what shall I say next ?" "Say amen, ' ex
claimed a little girl, who was one of the
few left awake.
A celebrated New England divine said
to young ministers : "Be short in all re
ligious exercises. "Better leave the people
longing than loathing. JVo conversions af
ter the first ha& hour." This is true as a
rule. A goo; I preacher presents his best
and most striking thoughts in the first fif
teen minutes. Many men cannot say the
simplest thing on the conference floor
without throwing it into speech shape.
Study to preach as soon as you begin
speaking be ready to close as soon as
you are through the subject. Old brother
Bronston, a magistrate of Madison county,
administered the best oath to witnesses
that we ever heard. It was : "You do
swear to tell the truth and then etop." On
being asked why he used such words, he
said: "It is more difficult for a witness to
tell just what he knows and no more, than
it is to add hearsay and impressions that
he does not know." This may be applied
to many sermons. It is easy tc close with
a good, warm exhortation after a short,
pithy sermon full of suggestive thought
and appropriate scripture, but to arouse an
audience already asleep under an address
that filled an hour in delivery, and which
touched all questions and points in theoloy,
is as near an impossibility as any under
taking in life. It ends as a perfunctory
performance. central Methodist.
THE NEWSPAPER IN A FARMHOUSE.
People who live near the great thor
oughfares, where they have access to two
or three dailies and a half dozen weeklies,
do not fully appreciate the value of a news
paper. They come, indeed, to look upon
them as necessities, and they would as
cheerfully do without their morning meal
as their morning mail. But one must be
far off in the country, remote from "the
maddening crowd," to realize ihe full lux
ury of a newspaper. The farmer who re
ceives but one paper a week does not
glances over its columns hurriedly, with,
an air of impatience, as does your merch
ant or lawyer. He begins with the begin
ning and reads to the close, not permitting
a news item or an advertisement to escape
his eye. Then it has to be thumbed by
every member of the family, each one look
ing for things in which he or she is most
interested. The grown up daughter looks
for the marriage notices, and is delighted
if the editor has treated ;hem to a love
story. The son who is just about to en
gage in farming, with an enthusiasm that
will carry him far in advance of his father,,
reads all the crop reports and has a keen
eye for hints about improved modes of
culture. The younger members of the
family come in for the amusing anecdotes
and scraps of fun. All look forward to
the day that shall bring the paper with the
liveliest interest, and if by some unlucky
chance it fails to come it is a bitter disap
pointment. One can hardly estimate the
amount of information which a paper that
is not only read but studied can carry into
a family. They have, week by week,
spread before their mental vision a pano
rama of the busy world, its fluctuatians
and its concerns. It is the poor man's
library, and furnishes as much mental food
as he has time to consume and digest. No
one, who.has observed how much those
who are far away from the places where
men most congregate, value their weekly
! paper can fail to join in invoking a bless
ing on the inventor of this means of intel
lectual enjoyment. Fx.
What God calls a man to do he will
carry him through. I would undertake to
govern half a dozen worlds if God called
me to do it; but if he did not call me to da
it, I would not undertake to govern half
dozen sheep. Payson.