they paused, and at that instant a gentleman of high character stepped with drawn sword among them, took Dougherty by the hand, and, declaring his purpose to protect him at all hazards, led him away.

Dougherty was a native of South Carolina, early became a Methodist, and, being a teacher, was subject to persecution as the "Methodist schoolmaster," and treated with indignity by every crowd through which he passed. Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit "' contains an elaborate description of him by Lovick Pierce, who had fre quently heard him preach, and who says that his supremacy as a preacher in his day was never disputed by any competent witness. The effects of the exposure which he endured by being drenched with cold water in the way described were permanent. He sank into consumption, and

died prematurely.

There was a difficulty in the Methodist church of Philadelphia in 1802, which resulted in the withdrawal of many members. They adhered to the doctrines of Methodism, and wished to be governed by its discipline, but not being able to harmonize with those from whom they seceded, they established a separate place of worship in a building erected for an academy by George Whitefield. Nevertheless they made an appeal to the bishop to send them a Methodist preacher, and it was agreed, with only one dissenting vote, that their request should be granted on such terms as the bishop could make. This furnished a precedent for similar adjustments elsewhere.

Methodism was now rapidly increasing, adding 33 preachers in the year 1803, and 17,366 members, of whom a little more than one quarter were colored.

1 Pages 291-295.

CHAPTER XII.

TROUBLOUS YET SUCCESSFUL YEARS.

THE fourth regular General Conference convened in Baltimore, May 7, 1804, with Coke, Asbury, and Whatcoat present.

Coke moved that "no regulation or law should finally pass the conference until it had been read at three distinct sittings, and had received the approbation of the conference each time." This attempt to introduce English parliamentary law was defeated by fifty-six negative votes in a total of one hundred and three. He then moved that "no new regulation or law should finally pass the conference until it had been read at three distinct sittings." This also was lost.

The Articles of Religion had been adopted prior to the close of the Revolutionary War; consequently the words "Constitution of the United States" were now substituted for the "General Act of Confederation," and the declaration was inserted that the said States are a "sovereign and independent nation," and "ought not to be subject to any foreign jurisdiction."

Only those who had "regularly traveled four years" were eligible to membership in the General Conference, and it resolved that the time of any preacher's traveling under the direction of a presiding elder should not be reckoned as a part of his probation, which should date

from his reception by a conference. This action determined the incligibility of Taylor of the Western Conference, and Ryan, Lyon, Gruber, and Knowlton of the Philadel phia. It would appear that considerable excitement attended some of the debates; for Bishop Whatcoat "arose to recommend the separation of passion or ill will in debate, and that reason should rule in every loving contest." Coke was allowed to return to Europe, on condition that he should hold himself subject to the call of three of the Annual Conferences to return, and at the furthest should attend the next General Conference.

After long discussion of several motions on slavery, Freeborn Garrettson moved that "the subject of slavery be left to the three bishops, to form a section to suit the Southern and Northern States as they in their wis dom may think best, to be submitted to the conference." Bishop Asbury refused to act upon that vote, the result of which was a variety of motions, ending in the adoption of a resolution, proposed by Ezekiel Cooper, that "a committee be formed, one from each conference, to take the different motions and report concerning slavery." Finally an elaborate system was adopted, reaffirming the evil, instructing the conference and elders to be cautious in admitting persons to official stations, requiring security from slave-holders, and compelling any traveling preacher becoming the owner of a slave to forfeit his ministerial authority unless he would execute a legal emancipation conformable to the law of his State. To every slave-holder the preacher must speak fully and faithfully on this subject, and every member of the Society selling a slave, except at his or her request in cases of mercy and humanity, with the approbation of a committee of three male members appointed by the preacher, shall be excluded from the Society. It 1 ( "General Conference Journals," vol. i., p. 53.

TIME LIMIT FOR THE PASTORATE,

303

was ordered that if any member purchased a slave he should submit to the judgment of the Quarterly Conference, which should fix the number of years which the said slave must serve to redeem himself; and the owner should be excluded if he would not conform and execute a legal instrument, varying as the slave was male or female, and providing for the manumission of children. And if any member of the Society bought a slave with a certificate of future emancipation, the terms thereof should be subject to the decision of the Quarterly Conference. But this stringent paragraph closes thus: "Nevertheless the membership of our societies in the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia shall be exempted from the operation of the above rules."

A motion to abolish presiding elders was lost after long debate by a very narrow margin. Authority was given to remove the Book Concein from Philadelphia to New York, and Cooper was reëlected general superintendent thereof. Although the conference ostensibly sat in secret session, a resolution was passed admitting as spectators official members of the church. A resolution of unusual importance was passed which provided that the bishop should not allow any preacher to remain in the same station more than two years successively, except the presiding elders, superannuated and worn-out preachers. A motion to add to this "except in cases of sickness of families" was lost.

The tendency to increased length of term of service had become marked. As the city of New York was in the hands of the British, and thereby communication with the conference was cut off, Samuel Spraggs, by arrangement with the people, had served as pastor of John Street for five years in succession; yet it was thought by the conference a wise policy to appoint him for a sixth year,

associating with him John Dickins, who was reappointed the next year.

Wesley wrote to Asbury, September 30, 1785: "At the next conference it will be worth your while to consider deeply whether any preacher should stay in one place three years together. I startle at this. It is a vehement alteration in the Methodist discipline. such custom in England, Scotland, or Ireland."

We have no

Asbury wrote to Thomas Morrell in 1793: “I am convinced there ought to be a change generally, presiding elders and others; this I aim at, but there are great difficulties. I see the propriety of having men to command that are firmly fixed in our church government and are as heartily united to the president of the connection. All my woods and wilderness troubles vanish in a moment when I have to take one single grain of conference tartar."

A case which some years later gave Asbury trouble was that of the Rev. Cyrus Stebbins. A man of influence with the cultivated classes, he had been stationed in Brooklyn and New York, and was in 1800 appointed to Albany, reappointed the next year, and again, and for a fourth time. More than one of these appointments were made against the convictions and wishes of Asbury, under the pressure of Stebbins and a self-constituted committee claiming to represent the society, and under the threat that to remove him would rend the church. When Stebbins was removed he became dissatisfied, and withdrew from the Methodists, becoming a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which body he commanded the respect of bishops, clergy, and laity. Wakeley states that the reason for withdrawal which Stebbins assigned was unbelief in the doctrine of Christian perfection as held by Methodists.

1 No. 17 of the Morrell Letters, "Christian Advocate and Journal," Feb. ruary 13, 1851.