580 



METHODISTS. 



last General Conference in 1860, respecting the 

 position of the church on the Slavery question. 

 A convention of laymen of the Conference, 

 held at Staunton, Virginia, in March, 1861, 

 simultaneously with the annual meeting of the 

 Conference, adopted an address to the Annual 

 Conference, in which they declared in favor 

 of proclaiming the Baltimore Conference and 

 those other Conferences which voted with her 

 against the New Chapter on Slavery, " to be 

 the Methodist Episcopal Church, and that the 

 General Conference and the majority of the 

 Church have ceased to be any portion of said 

 church." The Annual Conference, in conformi- 

 ty with the memorial of the laymen, passed a 

 series of resolutions, declaring that the General 

 Conference "by its unconstitutional action has 

 sundered the ecclesiastical relation which had 

 hitherto bound the Conferences together as 

 one church, as far as any act of theirs could 

 do so ;" that the Baltimore Conference there- 

 fore " declares itself separate and independent 

 of the General Conference, still claiming to be 

 notwithstanding an integral part of the Metho- 

 dist Episcopal Church;" that the Conference 

 would however "reunite with the other Con- 

 ferences in the organization of another General 

 Conference, if threo fourths of the Annual 

 Conferences should disavow the act of the 

 General Conference of 1860 on the subject of 

 slavery, and give thorough and satisfactory 

 redress, by abrogating the New Chapter, by 

 transferring the subject of slavery to the ex- 

 clusive jurisdiction of the Annual Conferences 

 where it exists, and by placing a fair propor- 

 tion of the periodicals of the church under the 

 charge and the direction of said Conferences." 

 These resolutions were passed by a vote of 87 

 (of whom 58 were stationed in Virginia) in 

 their favor, 45 refusing to participate in the 

 proceedings as illegal, and 38 being absent. 

 The actual secession of the Baltimore Confer- 

 ence was, however, prevented by the outbreak 

 of the civil war, and when the Annual Con- 

 ference met again in March, 1862, but few of 

 the Virginia members were present, and a 

 considerable majority of the Conference, though 

 renewing their protest against the New Chap- 

 ter, passed resolutions of loyalty to the Metho- 

 dist Episcopal Church. Five ministers with- 

 drew, in consequence, from the jurisdiction of 

 the Conference, and established in the city of 

 Baltimore three independent societies, which 

 were organized under the name of the Central 

 Methodist Church. No trustworthy informa- 

 tion had been received up to the end of the 

 year 1862 as to what the preachers in the Vir- 

 ginia portion of the Baltimore Conference would 

 do. About forty of them assembled at Har- 

 risonburg on the second Thursday in March, 

 but no decisive resolutions were passed. 



With the exception of the Baltimore Con- 

 ference, all the Conferences, both of the border 

 slaveholding and free States, passed resolu- 

 tions expressive of loyalty to the National Gov- 

 ernment, in most instances with entire una- 



nimity. These resolutions, with only a few ex- 

 ceptions, also expressed a wish for the speedy 

 overthrow of slavery, and approbation of the 

 President's emancipation policy. 



One of the most important questions which 

 agitated the church during the year 1862 was 

 that of lay delegation. In accordance with a 

 resolution passed by the General Conference, 

 in 1860, the vote of the ministers and of the 

 laity of every Annual Conference was taken 

 on the subject, and the returns gave the fol- 

 lowing result: Ministers (in 48 Conferences), 

 for lay delegation, 1,336; against, 3,025; 

 laity (in 46 Conferences), for, 27,984 ; against, 

 46,405. The lay vote had not been taken 

 up to the close of the year in the Balti- 

 more and Kentucky Conferences. The min- 

 isterial vote shows a majority for the meas- 

 ure in only 4 Conferences : viz., Philadelphia, 

 East Genesee, Genesee, and Oregon ; and the 

 vote of the laity in 12 Conferences; Philadel- 

 phia, New York, New York East, Providence, 

 New England, New Hampshire, Black River, 

 Oneida, East Genesee, Genesee, Wyoming, Cal- 

 ifornia. 



The Methodist Episcopal Church South was 

 reduced by the war to an unfortunate condition. 

 The General Conference of the church, which 

 was to have met during the year 1862 at New Or- 

 leans was, indefinitely postponed. The book con- 

 cern at Nashville, after the occupation of that 

 city by the Federal troops, was entirely broken 

 up. The missionary treasury was reported to be 

 without funds to meet outstanding drafts. The 

 organs of the church published in St. Louis, 

 San Francisco, New Orleans, and Memphis, and 

 probably nearly all the other denominational 

 papers, were discontinued. An informal meet- 

 ing of 3 of the 6 bishops of the church, to- 

 gether with several members of the board of 

 managers of the Missionary Society, and sev- 

 eral ministers of the Georgia Conference, was 

 held at Atlanta, Georgia, in April, 1862, when 

 it was resolved to apportion the support and 

 travelling expenses of the bishops among the 

 several Annual Conferences. In some of the 

 border States the church was greatly disor- 

 ganized, as a considerable portion of the mem- 

 bers showed themselves decidedly opposed to 

 the secession doctrines which were advocated 

 by nearly all the church organs. In Missouri 

 and western Virginia a number of members 

 joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 

 Missouri a convention of Union members of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church South was held on 

 August 6, which adopted an address to the Mis- 

 souri Conference of the denomination, announc- 

 ing their intention to remain in the church only 

 if the church would be loyal to the Govern- 

 ment of the United States. It is believed that 

 a considerable portion of those members 

 of the church will soon join the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church. From Kentucky it was re- 

 ported that there were 36 of the travelling 

 preachers in the Louisville Conference, and a 

 goodly number in the Kentucky Conference, 



