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HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, Publishers. YOL. IY. ©rigiual. The Methodist Episcopal Church in the Southern States. B Y REV. L. C. MA HACK, D.D. [Concluded.] IV. Benevolent Collections. This exhibit needs one other feature to be complete. That will be given in an swer to the following inquiry: Have the recipients of this generous expenditure of money made any returns to the gen eral fund of the Church ? or have they been selfishly absorbing the revenues that others have supplied? The collections for Conference claimants and for the American Bible Society are not estimated, because these do not reach the denominational treasury. The con '■> tributions to the Freedmen’s Aid Society are also omitted, because only recently made one of the regular collections. But the collections within the Conferences, during the six years since 1865, for the Missionary and Church Extension Socie ties, Sunday-School Union and Tract So cieties are included in the following sum mary: The Freedmen, as reported by Dr. Rust, have contributed for tuition and board to the funds of the Aid Society in five years, $25,000. The loans returned to the Church Extension Society amounted to $1,500 prior to 1870. The total of all the collections from 1866 to 1871 for the four societies above named is $44,300. This last sum is only an average of about $723 for each Con ference. But the grand total of money returned to the Church fund is the very considerable sum of $69,900. Leaving out the $25,000 just named, the balance (4,490) is greatly in excess of any thing ever received from missionary Conferences during the first six years of their history, in the home or foreign field now occupied by the Methodist Episcopal Church or any other denomination of Christians. Besides, the net increase of value of ohuroh property ($750,000) is 40,000 more than the missionary outlay. And that forty thousand dollars offsets the to tal outlay of the Freedman’s Aid Society, Sunday-School Union, and Tract Society, for books, tracts, and papers for the lit erary instutions and Sunday-schools of ten Conferences. The financial exhibit may be put into a sentence: The cash outlay is more than offset by the property assets, leaving more than one hundred and thirty-five thousand souls in Church membership, with nearly one hundred thousand children in Sun day-schools, under the care of five hundred pastors, raised up with the work, as the net gain on six year’s labor. V. Other Missionary Work. Any comparison between the late “Mis sion Conferences” and the Foreign Work becomes a contrast of remarkable features. Not to the disparagement of the noble foreign missionary field, the peculiarities of and embarrassments of which are duly appreciated, but most certainly in vindi cation of the former, and in demonstrat ing its claims on the confidence and pat ronage of the Church even in larger meas ures than have yet been bestowed upon it. For a long series of years the foreign missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church have been liberally sustained. More than four millions of dollars have been carefully expended. Twice as many ministers have been taken from the old home Conferences for that field than have been transferred to the South. And what have been the results in members added, property secured, and revenue returned. The latest statistics give the member ship thus; Liberia, 1,768; South Amer ica, 143; China, 931; Germany and Switzerland, 5,812; Denmark, 219; Sweden, 1,326; Norway, 656; India, 468—Total, 11,323. The value of Church property —total, $482,332. Contributions to benevolent objects—total, $86,636. Os this last sum, India reports eighty-one thousand five hun dred and seventy-two dollars, which in cludes large “grants of aid” for schools, by the Indian Government. Germany and Switzerland send four thousand nine hundred and fifty-four dollars. Liberia reports ten dollars. To the other mis sions no amount is credited. The aggre gate value of church property and revenue for six years past is $568,868. _ Allowing the utmost margin for the amount of all their collections prior to 1866, three quarters of a million would cover the sum total. But during the twenty years prior to 1870 the foreign missions have cost the Church over three millions of dollars. During the years 1866-1871, the dis bursements by the Missionary Society for that field amount to $1,319,399. This is nearly twice as much as was expended in the “ten Southern Conferences” during the first six years of their existence,where there are three times as many ministers to support, and more than ten. times as many Church members to supply with the Word of Life, most of whom were recently in almost a state of pagan ignorance re specting the letter of Divine Truth. It is agreed by all that the necessities and the embarrassments of the foreign field demand this measure of support, and more if it could be obtained. But shall that liberality which necessity and em barrassment command be withheld from the South, where the largest successes and the grandest opportunities invite and encourage missionary labors ? VI. Border Conferences —Enlarge- ment. The results immediately reached,as given in previous details, are yet more signifi cant and valuable when summed up and joined with other results following indi rectly in their train. The Conferences under notice particu larly do not comprise the whole of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the South ern States. For from the beginning, and without interruption by the untoward events of 1844-45, that Church has had several Annual Conferences occupying the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, known as the “Border Conferences.” They extended to the then recognized limits which slav ery indicated as the Southern boundary of that Church. Being then on the frontier of disputed territory, and bearing the brunt of South ern antagonism, these Conferences did well to hold their own and gain a small per centage yearly. But it was a con stant warfare, in which many of the preachers had to “endure hardness, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.” Not fig uratively, but literally could they say, “In perils by mine own countrymen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilder ness, in perils among false brethren, in weariness aud painfuiness, in watchings often.” Even life itself was periled and lost in that field. But when the forward movement of the Methodist army was made, which literally carried the missionary army “into Af rica,” the old “Border men” were relieved of the duty of mounting guard daily in the face of the foe. The men of the Mission Conferences held that line, now advanced, yet with increased burdens and perils, and at once, the Confer ences expanded, advancing i jpidly in numbers, power, and wealth. Their improvement of opportunities and condition, afforded partly by the presence and influence of the pioneer forces that moved southward from Vir ginia to Florida, and from !3t. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico, was wonderful, and it is not an unwarrantable assumption to say, that if the late Mission Conferences” were not where they are, the late “Border Conferences” would not be what they are in numbers and power for good. If, however, all this theorizing is set aside as mere speculation, the grand facts re main, which all will agree are sufficient grounds for congratulation and thanks giving. The following table of statistics exhibits the strength of the “Border Conferences” in 1865, when the Southern mission work faas organized, and gives the increase after five years’ labor under the more favorable auspices of freedom and peace. The statistics are limited to the actual number of members, Sunday-school chil dren,property, and benevolent collections, omitting those for Conference claimants and Bible Society. Baltimore and East Baltimore, that is, the Maryland part of both, are joined in 1870. Philadelphia, in part only taken in 1866, is found in Wilmington. Mis souri and Arkansas are found in Mis souri and St. Louis, and Kentucky is found in Kentucky and Lexington Con ferences : s 9 9 9 3|B • f % ? 3- I 1*66. 3 3 | l Ii | i ! 3 Baltimore ~ 12,037 12,428 $675,200 $18,384 Delaware - - 7,501 4,332 85,653 594 East Baltimore - 9,444 11,040 443,500 9,390 Kentucky - - - 5,795 3,031 76,450 659 MU. and Arkansas 9,638 8,189 278,975 3,318 •Philadelphia - 17,876 18,604 638,900 12,576 West Virginia - 14,164 11,610 232,255 4,049 Washington - - 11,349 5,551 149,760 284 Total- - - 87,804 74,785 $2,580,693 $19,254 1870-’7l. Baltimore - - 26,935 30,217 $2,251,200 $35,765 Delaware - - 10,017 5,454 154,675 500 Kentucky - - 14,721 8,258 366,750 1,993 Lexington - - 4,813 1,515 72,600 164 Missouri - - - 13,244 10,661 270,260 2,017 St. Louis - - - 14,447 10,563 404,313 3,390 West Virginia - 22,965 18,871 447,200 3,369 ♦Wilmington - - 21,217 22,771 1,009,611 7,441 Washington - - 21,450 10,663 373,833 1,324 Total - - 149,809 118,972 $5,410,442 $55,963 “ in 1866 87,804 74,785 2,580,693 49,254 Increase - - 62,005 44,188 $2,8»9,749 $6,709 The congeniality of the South, and the capability of its soil, morally, for the production and development of societies ATLANTA, GA„ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1872. in connection with the Methodist Episco pal Church, is placed beyond all question by these statistics. The increase in membership since 1886 gives a per cent age by States as follows: Delaware, 20 per cent.; Maryland, 25 per cent.; Vir ginia, 64 per cent.; Kentucky, 232 per cent,; Missouri and Arkansas, nearly 200 per cent.; while the Delaware and Wash ington Conferences respectively gain S3 and 90 per cent. Finally, the astonishing increase in the value of Church property, from two and a half millions of dollars to nearly five and a half millions of dol lars, is a sufficient reason for the small increase in their benevolent collections. The conclusion naturally following this series of statements can only be an inev itable and universal conviction that the re-occupancy of the Southern States by the Methodist Episcopal Church has been an advantage to it “much every way.” The nineteen Conferences now organized are not remote colonies, burdening and embarrassing the present body, but inte gral members of the one grand Church, already adding largely to her material wealth, and even now taking their places promptly with the other Conferences as sources of revenue for benevolent objects generally. VII. The Nineteen Southern Con- FERENCES. There are now recognized in our Gen eral Minutes seventy-two Annual Confer ences. More than one-fourth of these are Southern Conferences. Their relation to the whole Methodist Episcopal Church, numerically and substantially, has not been fully realized. It may be partially understood by grouping their traveling preachers, membership, property values, and prospective representation in one statistical table. Henceforth they are one in interest as well as locality. Being within the terri tory occupied in common by the two Methodisms, the surroundings of these nineteen Conferences differ essentially from those of all others. How to adjust their movements so as best to meet peculiar antagonisms, over come Southern sectional jealousies, and harmonize discordant forces in the direc tion of ultimate Methodist unity, consti tute so many difficult problems, which they especially, if not exclusively, are called upon to solve. And being thus one in their local surroundings, denomina tional interests, and future destiny, their natural tendency will probably be to unite in counsel and combine in action. Not, however, to the extent of an offensive sectionalism, but only after the manner in which other groups of Conferences com bine for the promotion of neighborhood interests. Hereafter there is a South as well as a North, an East, a West, and a “great North-West” in the realm of American Methodism. To ignore these geographical outlines is the merest affectation of an impossible generalization of interest, and a special attention to local Conference demands is in no way obnoxious to the most catholic devotion to the Church. Observe now the peculiar facts of the fol lowing table of partial statistics: 9 s 5 t? a F 3 i ,2 5 o 3* !• Y -•* sr e If f ‘ |I | j I >! a ff 1. Alabama *13,600 *530,000 00 1 1 2. Baltimore 20,935 24151,200 187 6 2 3. Delaware 10,017 154,075 -18 1 1 4. Georgia *17,000 *60,000 70 2 2 5. Holstou 20,798 151,970 80 3 2 6. Kentucky 14,721 306,750 94 3 2 7. Lexington 4,830 90,200 17 1 1 8. Louisiana 8,283 180,930 67 2 2 9. Mississippi 25,620 86,645 65 1 1 10. Missouri 13,244 270,260 98 3 2 11. North Carolina 4,038 12,360 19 1 1 12. South Carolina 22,702 101,610 87 2 2 13. St. Louis 14,447 404,313 155 4 2 14. Texas *IO,OOO *50,000 64 2 2 15. Tenncsseo 9,069 114,315 75 2 2 16. Virgiuia 4,415 142,550 42 1 1 17. West. Virginia 22,985 447,200 117 3 2 18. Washington 21,450 373,833 98 8 2 19. Wilmington 21,217 1,069,611 117 4 2 Total - - - 285,257 $6,364,422 1,546 45 32 * Estimated. The showing thus tabled may be briefly stated in words. The Methodist Episco pal Church in the Southern States em braces one-fourth of her entire member ship; almost one-fifth of the houses of worship (or 2,405 out of 13,373;) more than one-sixth of the traveling preachers; nearly one-sixth of the Sunday-school children, and more than one-tenth of the Church property, (or over six millions.) The benevolent collections are more than one-twelfth of the yearly revenue of the Church, and rapidly increasing. The ministerial delegates from the South to the next General Conference will be nearly one-sixth of that body, and their lay delegates will be quite one-fourth of the entire lay representation. With this summary the historic narra tive closes. It has been of necessity a plea and a defense, because the right to exist is denied to these societies by the “Church South,” and it has been ques tioned by some at the North. Moreover, the character of their work was mistaken and misrepresented even in the house of their friends. Uninformed as to the strength, effectiveness, and growing pros perity thereof, some were so unreason able as to suppose that a large portion of the work might even now be suspended or given up wholly. To meet these questionings it has been shown that the presence of the Method ist Episcopal Church in the South was demanded by every consideration of duty to God and man. Financial objections have been met by an array of facts and figures demonstrating unparalleled profits on investments made in Church property, and also showing the small cost of the immense amount of missionary labor done. Questions of ecclesiastical eti quette have been dwarfed into utter in significance in the imposing presence of hungry millions perishing for want of knowledge and crying for the bread of life. Alleged damage done to a sister Methodism is contradicted by its im proved condition and growing prosperity, while the enlargement of the late Border Conferences, and the growth of the oth ers aggregate a wealth of numbers, sub stance, and ecclesiastical power which make it as impossible as it would be im politic to debar the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Southern States from a position and a portion with the more venerable and highly-honored members of the family. Conclusions Submitted. The Methodist Episcopal Church in the Southern States has become an es tablished fact. Expulsion by its enemies, or removal by its friends, is absolutely impossible. Such an exodus will never furnish a chapter of future American history. If the entire ministerial force that was sent to the South should be withdrawn from the late Mission Conferences it would take away about fifty persons. Five hundred and eighty of their travel ing preachers have grown up with the work. Many of them are natives of the South, and a large majority of these 4irere bondmen, who have paid their foot ing at a price of unrequited labor and 1 long years of suffering that must foreclose all questionings as to their absolute right to stay. And the recent elevation of these last; named from chattelhood to manhood, with their subsequent ordination to the Christian ministry by the Methodist Episcopal Church, are reasons for her continuance among them which should si lence all gainsaying. They are the Divine sanction, written in unmistakable charac ters, authenticating the apostleship of the laborers who were sent to the South ern field. “If (we) be not apostles unto others, yet doubtless (we are) to you: for the seal of (our) apostleship are ye in the Lord.” Will the Church disturb or break that seal? Shall their parchments be dishonored or torn to tatter? Who dares so to advise? Nor these alone. The one hundred and thirty-five thousand members in full communion, the tens of thousands of probationers, and the vast multitude who attend upon the ministry of the Method ist Episcopal Church, are so many addi tional unanswerable arguments against its removal in whole or in part, and in demonstration of the impossibility of its being expelled from even the remotest part of the South. The old obsolete idea of colonizing the whole slave population of the United States on the shores of Africa was not more preposterous than is such a proposition. As supposed transient occupants of the extreme South for mere personal, political, or sectional purposes, the min try of the Methodist Episcopal Church has been by other Churches there as sailed stigmatized, despised. That mis apprehension, and its unseemly exhibi tions,must pass away entirely before the demonstration of a permanent occupancy for the achievement of a grand Christian missionary purpose such as is now de veloping in the seventh year of its his tory : a purpose which indicates its purity of motive in not settling down amid es tablished Southern Churches—not seek ing merely to build on their foundations —not reaping their rich harvest-fields— but in doing the drudgery of pioneer work, breaking up fallow ground in the interior, preaching the Gospel to the poor. Very slowly, perhaps, will this vindi cation be recognized: Some prominent ministers, self-appointed representatives of Southern sentiment, yet affect to de spise and frown down these efforts. They still pass by on the other side, or look the other way, to prevent even personal reognition of the laborers. Their straightened spinal column and distorted visual action must be a severer tax on their own muscle and nerve than it is damaging to their supposed rivals. But there is behind them a change going on in public sentiment among their own friends which these gentlemen must recog nize or it will vet ignore them. That change has the following groundwork: The immense capital of the Methodist Episcopal Church at the South embraces not only a numerous communion and wealth of property, but also »n increas ing power of public sentiment. What ever benefits a class, especially the lowly in society, is a blessing to the community. Sooner or liter it must be acknowledged; and the work of six hundred and thirty traveling preachers, even in the extreme portions of the most jealous Southern communities, is a grandly cumulative power, which can not be hid from the dullest and most jaundiced vision. Even now men of standing in Southern society, of other Churches, and of no Church, frankly admit their power for good, and also begin to query why it is that any Church, especially the “Church South” should antagonize the mission of the Meth odist Episcopal Church. The success of that mission thus far has been the result of the wise and gen erous policy of the parent body domiciled at the North. And in order to the con tinued and fullest success in the sphere of the new Conferences, it would seem reasonable that the same policy be con tinued yet other years. If thrown upon their own resources too soon, these Con ferences may not hold their own amid the adverse and powerful influences arrayed against them. The late “Border Confer ences” to a greater extent may be able so to do. And these also, in a few years, will develop the same measure of self support. The conclusions arrived at by the Con vention of Southern preachers and lay men are pertinent to this argument. That Convention was held in Athens, Tenn., June 15—19, 1871. It was composed of fifty-one ministers and twenty-three lay men, representing nine Annual Confer ences, and they were unanimous in the judgment that the following three meas ures were necessary, and would be ade quate, to meet the demands of the Church in the extreme Southern States: 1. Enlarged appropriations. Not to increase the pay of any laborer, but to multiply laborers. The work now under culture, they say, is but a tithe of the open fields. They propose to diminish local appropriations yearly, and withhold aid entirely as soon as practicable, to start new missions. In this way their appointments have so rapidly increased. But this process is too slow to keep up with the opportunities that offer on every hand. Not one class, but all classes of persons are accessible, especially in re mote, unoccupied inland neighborhoods. The Gospel, in its simplicity and power, is unknown to thousands both white and black. Neighborhoods are spoken of by these laborers in that part of the South where children grow to maturity without an opportunity to hear the Word of God or attend Protestant worship. And as far as efforts have been made among them by a few occasional services, the avidity with which they listen to and Wel come the truth was matter of wonder and joy to the preachers. 2. More ministerial transfers. The small number of these during six years past has been noted already. One-fifth of them have returned. Their effective ness is matter of history. A few more of the same sort, who will abide, would be more than welcome. Why may they not be had? Are none willing to come? Is life deemed less secure? Exceptional localities there are of great peril. For these heroic men will be raised up provi dentially. Elsewhere the most salubri ous climate is found. Thus these South ern laborers canvass that question. Transfers of superior ability are de manded. The average ability of six hundred ministers, with so few men of education, and so many unlettered ones, is very moderate. Every valuable addi tion increases the average of power. In a most eminent degree is this true of men of African descent, with education, who may thus be introduced into the extreme Southern field. But an increase of trans fers would necessiate an enlargement of appropriations to sustain them a few years. 3. Episcopal oversight by resident bishops. The necessity for this, and its benefits, were supposed to be so obvious that no argument was deemed necessary to dem onstrate it. The language of the writer was unanimously adopted by the Athens Convention without discussion, and is reproduced here; Whereas, Within the limits of our (ten) An nual Conferences the entire College or Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, art* all resident, and actively engaged in promoting the interests of that Church among the white people of the tjoutir; and whereas there are also bishops of three Methodist bodies (African Methodist Episcopal Church, Ziou African Metiiodist Episcopal Church Connection, ami Colored Methodist Episcopal Church of Amer ica) of the people of African descent busy ai work within the same limits among their own people; and whereas our own bishops, because lew In number, residing ut a great dietaaoe from E. Q. FULLER, D. D., Editor. us, and seriously overtaxed with labor, are able only to spend a few day* annually with us; therefore. Resolved , That we ask of the ensuing General Conference to consider the propriety of such an increase of the Episcopal Board, and such a distribution of their residences, as shall give to our vast territory, and large and rapidly in creasing communion, more of the personal presence and valuable Influence of our bisltops. Compliance with this request may perhaps be assumed as a probable event. Then the proportion of episcopal resi dences to be located within the Southern States might be determined by the num ber of Annual Conferences, their area, and the facilities for travel. There are now more than one-fourth of the Annual Conferences in the South, nineteen out of seventy-two. Their arep. is eight hundred and fifty thousands of square miles, or more than one-thiyd of the country within the bounds of organized Annual Conferences, which is two million three hundred and eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine square miles. As the facilities of travel south ward are not equal to the other sections of the nation, more time is needed to travel the same distance. If the number of Conferences deter mine the question, one-fourth of the bish ops will reside south of Mason and Dix on’s line. If the area to he traveled determine it, then one-third of the bish ops will reside South. And if the Board of Bishops for the next quadrennial period shall number twelve or sixteen in all, three or four will probably choose to dwell in the South. Supposing one, as now, to reside at Baltimore and one at St. Louis, tuere would be two who would be made gladly welcome to a home within the limits of the late Miss.on Conferences. And such an arrangement, if possible, would inaugurate anew era in the history of the Cliurch in the Southern States, whose .sequel, four years hence, no anticipations can ade quately portray. If, however, these three measures are not adopted, and the same relation is maintained between the Northern and Southern Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church that now exists, the embarrassments of the latter will be a serious detriment to any such success as the first six years’ labor was crowned with. What axe these embarrassments? The question is answered frankly. At present the entire Episcopal Board, the Benevolent Agencies, and Publishing Centers, are all domiciled at the North. Their remoteness from the latest organ ized Southern Conferences makes these, geographically, remote colonies. The ministers transferred there, if poorly sustained by the home authorities or funds, in many cases return after a very few years. Episcopal visitations are too mucn after the model of foreign travelers in haste to be at their far-off' homes again. Permanancy of organization is hindered thereby. Every thing has the semblance of mere experiment. The Southern peo ple regard these transient itinerant min isters and the Hying angels of the general supeintendency as merely a corps of obser vation, which may not dwell in their midst. Exen those who abide are regarded as having not quite stayed their time out. Under these circumstances the Method ist Episcopal Church in the Southern States must remain for indefinite years unrecognized as an established institu tion of that country. So they judge who at this period are assigned to duty in the South. They earnestly desire the eye and ear of their brethren who dwell at the centers of in fluence and direct the forces of the Church under God. This paper is prepared in that behalf. It purports to furnish am ple reasons for the action desired on behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Southern States. Clean Lands. Farmers, do not be discouraged if you are not making as much money as you have a right to expect. And, as a rule such is the case. It may be well to recollect that we all anticipated “hard time” after the war. We have certainly suffered far less than we feared. Let us be thankful and take heart for the future. The farmers are the mainstay of the na tion. If the farmer prospers, the na tion prospers. If the farmers suffer, all classes suffer also. We must farm better We must aim to make our land cleaner every year. Weeds are the most op pressive tax we have. We can not get rid of them at ouce. Keep fighting; and especially should it he recollected that we must do thorough work as far as we go. If not entirely dead they will grow again, ami we lose « hat work we have performed. “Killing weeds enriches the soil.” This is the key note to good farming. Most of our soils abouud in latent plant-food. Stirring the soil and exposiug it to the atmosphere favor de composition, and render the plant-food available; in other words, make the land rich. The Fall of the year is the best time to do much of this work; aud the earlier we can get at it the better. NO. 6.