THE RADICAL CONTROVERSY.

145

are entirely dependant on the people for their support. If they have fixed their own claim or salaries, it is still only advisory; merely an estimate-and who will not say a remarkably modest one?-of what is necessary for their maintenance, but which the people can withhold at their option. The clergy have no method of enforcing payment. It should also be considered that the ministry originate with the people. No minister can be made without examination and recommendation by the inferior judicatories composed of laymen; and, indeed, our Leaders' Meetings, held monthly, the Board of Stewards, and our Quarterly Meeting Conferences, secure to our people a balance of power against the clergy, as effectual as could be secured by any lay delegation without them. I should run no risk in saying that the power of the laity in the Methodist Episcopal Church is greater than in any other denomination, excepting only the Quakers, who, however, by their views of the ministry, can hardly be brought to the comparison. Even the appointment of the ministers is not as arbitrary as it appears on a partial view, since the wants and wishes of the people are made known to the bishop by the presiding elders in the arrangement of the stations. The requests of the people always receive attention, and all things are adjusted for the general accommodation. Bishop Asbury, who exercised more power than any other incumbent of the episcopal chair, was always very tenacious, as I have heard from those who knew him, of the people's right to petition; but on this point there has been no wish for an alteration. The people prefer this mode of appointment as, on the whole, best adapted to our wants; and if there have been occasional dissatisfaction, it has generally been borne quietly, from regard to the good of the Church. It also deserves to be noticed, by the way, that no member can be expelled from the Methodist Episcopal Church without a regular trial before a committee of his peers, with the right of being confronted with his accuser.

This controversy, moreover, did not take its origin from. the private members of the Church: it originated with the local preachers, especially among those who had left the travelling connexion, and by thus losing a large share of

their influence and consideration, became restless and dissatisfied; and when once they had thrown out suspicions and complaints, it was not wonderful that they were eagerly caught at, and a theory which had not been fully examined by the people, should be subjected to a rigid investigation. The government of the United States was not organized without rigid, ample, and protracted scrutiny, and a very searching controversy. These remarks are not made by any means in disparagement of the local preachers, certainly a useful, honourable, disinterested class of men; I give them only as belonging to the history of the Church, and necessary to explain the conduct of our subject.*

The Presiding Elder Question, as it was called, was, whether the presiding elders should be elected by the conferences, or appointed by the bishop? It was determined that rendering them elective would present such temptations to intrigue, favouritism, time-serving, and jealousy, that it was safer to leave it as it was.

These questions were debated in the General Conference with a good deal of earnestness and some warmth of feeling, though not with any flagrant violation of Christian charity. But in a Methodist Conference, so remarkable for calmness, mutual deference, and fraternal affection, it was uncommon;

The views in the text are confirmed by a letter Mr. Fisk received the succeeding year (1825), an extract from which illustrates the spirit that originated this unhappy controversy. After inquiring, Have you ever considered "what an important station a local preacher fills in our Church?" and complaining bitterly of their having no share in the government, and asserting that he had "letter upon letter sent him on this subject," the writer adds, "If this fire explode, I fear it will not end in smoke; I have my unconquerable attachments to the Methodist" (Church) “ (though perhaps you have known that I am not much inclined to Episcopacy), yet I am a located preacher, and, of course, have no part, either directly or indirectly, in the management or government of the Methodist Church. But I say no more at present."

He seems to have forgotten the Quarterly Conference, the Leaders' Meetings, and the Board of Stewards, of the first of which he was necessarily a member, and was certainly eligible to both the others; or else he forgot the strong "indirect" influence, at least, which these exert over "the government of the Church." I hope, again, that I shall not be understood as disparaging a class of men whom I have such abundant reason to esteem. The spirit apparent in the above extract, so far as I know, has entirely passed away, and local preachers, as well as people, are well satisfied of the wisdom and excellence of our ecclesiastical institutions.

LETTER TO HON. B. F. DEMING.

147

and to a delicately pious mind it could not fail to be painful. Mr. Fisk found but little satisfaction in attending the deliberations. His feelings may be seen, in part, in the ensuing passage of a letter to his friend, the Hon. B. F. Deming :

"DEAR BROTHER,

"Baltimore, May 26th, 1824.

"I have waited thus long with the hope of having something of importance to write to you; but, truly, we have done business so slowly and so badly, I can hardly give you much, even at this late period, that will be entertaining. But I can tell you some things which we have not done. We have not done, and shall not do, anything towards a lay or local delegation, though we have had many petitions to that effect. Even the advocates of such measures think, I believe, that things are not ripe for such a change. We have not been agreed on scarcely any measure. We are divided into two great parties, nearly equal: one party thinks some of our Discipline might be altered for the better; the other is so afraid of reform or alteration, that it is almost impossible to get a single alteration in any point. Here we stand and debate, and do almost nothing. However, we have done something; we have modified the District Conferences so that, if any district choose, they may refuse to meet, and in that case the business all reverts back into our Quarterly Meeting Conferences. We have made some salutary alterations in the Book Concern; also in our missionary system. These, however, are of minor importance. We have, or, rather, a majority have, passed a resolution revoking the suspended resolutions, as they are called, on the Presiding Elder Question; it has passed to once reading, and will probably finally pass. This has caused much excitement and much warm debate. I will be more particular if God spare me to see you; and may that day be hastened! I am tired of this business, and long to be back again to my work. A camp-meeting is a Heaven compared with a General Conference; still, it is thought, all things considered, we have got on with but little excitement and acrimony, compared with what might have been. We shall rise the last of this week."

His estimate of himself is exhibited in the same letter. After alluding to some of the more distinguished preachers whom he had heard, he proceeds:

"We have, indeed, many able preachers, and I lose sight of my own gifts among them, as comparatively unworthy of notice; but my gifts are such as God has given me, and on this account I ought to prize them. I cannot be great; I may be good, and, by the blessing of God, I may be useful."

Mr. Fisk was one of the committee to draught a reply to the address of the British Conference, sent by the hands of their worthy representative, the Rev. Richard Reece. This document is Mr. Fisk's production. It is admirably chaste, beautiful, and appropriate. One or two passages we introduce, because they serve to throw light on what will soon become a peculiarly distinct feature in his character. We allude to his missionary spirit. In responding to the sentiments of our British brethren on Missions, he said, "We are also following you, though at humble distance, in your missionary exertions. But such is the extent, and increasing extent, of our work here, that we cannot find means nor men for foreign missions. The increase of our popu lation is unparalleled; and it is widely scattered over an extensive continent. To keep pace with it under such circumstances requires much labour and much privation. In addition to this, the Lord, as you have heard, has opened for us a great and effectual door among the aborigines of our country. These we dare not neglect. They are our neighbours, and we must minister unto them; they have been injured, and we must make them reparation; they are savages, and must be civilized. All this shall be done if God permit. We have the work much at heart, and hope and pray for success. In addition to this, we have entailed upon us, in several of our states, a degraded and enslaved. population, whose situation is making, if possible, a still stronger claim upon our Christian philanthropy. And, finally, the way seems to be opening for missionary exertions in Mexico and South America.

ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH CONference.

149

"With these fields of labour in the midst of us and round about us, you cannot expect us to join you in the great and good work in which you are engaged in the East. Still, we hope the time is not far distant when we shall join hands on the Asiatic shores of the Pacific Ocean. We are constantly advancing our labours towards the West, and you are extending towards the East, not only on the Continent, but over the islands of the sea. Is it chimerical, then, to suppose, that at some future day we shall have encompassed this earth, and girded it round with glorious bands of Gospel truth? O no, Faith says it shall be done."

Not less characteristic of our subject are the following sentiments of the same document: "And while we are enlarging our work and multiplying our numbers, we trust we have not forgotten that the great design of Methodism, the ultimate end of all its institutions, is to raise up and preserve, in the midst of a sinful world, a holy people. Without this, numbers and influence are nothing. We deprecate, more than anything else, that ecclesiastical pride which builds itself up upon the numbers and popularity of the Church, while that Church is sinking in the spirit and tone of the Di vine life. From such a state of things, we, on both sides of the water, are doubtless united in saying, 'Lord, preserve us; make us holy, and make us instrumental in spreading holiness throughout the earth.""

While in Baltimore he wrote a letter to Mrs. Fisk, dated May 22, from which we present an extract, as follows:

"MY DEAR R.,

"I am not unconscious of the various feelings and exercises of your mind, many of them unpleasant, and perhaps painful, during my absence, especially in your poor state of health; but I feel a satisfaction in the reflection that you are among friends who can sympathize with you and provide for you; and, above all, that you are in the hands of Divine Providence, affords the highest consolation: and here I rest with full confidence. The same Providence that supports us when together, and without which even our mutual aids and counsel would amount to nothing, has an equal