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Master Workmen

By Richard R. Blews

Chapter 1 BENJAMIN TITUS ROBERTS
Founder of the Free Methodist Church

"For as I take it, Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world is at bottom the history of the great men who have worked here."

"Great men, taken up in any way, are profitable company."

"The history of the world is the biography of great men."—Carlyle.

"The true nobility of nations is shown by the men they follow, by the men they admire, by the ideals of character and conduct they place before them."—Lecky.

"The broadest efficiency of great men begins after their death."—Gustav Schmoller.

What is man, that thou are mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest Him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honor."— David.

One Sunday afternoon in the year 1844, a stalwart, athletic young man, twenty-one years old, deliberately arose from his seat in the church, walked resolutely to the altar of prayer and gave himself to God. Special meetings were not in progress nor was there any visible moving of the Holy Spirit in the church; but history was in the making when that youth stepped out to make the surrender of himself to God. That young man was Benjamin Titus Roberts. That Sunday afternoon marked the pivotal point in his life.

In his own terse language, he gives the account of this great crisis:

"At length it pleased God to answer the prayer of my friends in my behalf. He awakened me to a sense of my lost condition. The instrumentality was very humble. A pious but illiterate cooper, a very bad stammerer, gave in his testimony at the regular Sabbath afternoon prayermeeting. I was there by the invitation of friends and his testimony found way to my heart. There was no special religious interest. The church was cold and sinners hard. God enabled me to start alone. Oh! the riches of His grace. I commenced to pray. It was hard work; but God encouraged me to persevere. As the light of the Spirit shone, I gave up one thing after another; but I clung to my profession. For three weeks I pled with God to convert me, but to let me have my choice in the business I would follow. Many who had power with God prayed for me; but I had to yield. Christ demanded an unconditional surrender; I made it. The joys of pardon and peace flowed into my soul. My cup was full, my happiness was unspeakable."

In the making and molding of a life, "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform." Young Roberts had settled upon law as his chosen profession. In pursuit of this ambition he left his native hills in western New York in 1842 and went to Little Falls, New York, where he entered the law office of Mr. H. Link. He had secured a position teaching in the schools of the town and thus paid his way while bending all his energies to the study of law. During this time his godly parents were constantly praying for his conversion. With apostolic faith in God, they prayed that he might return home. Their prayer was answered and after an absence of two years he returned and studied law with Attorney C. Howe.

It was a momentous move, for he was to be admitted to the bar in a short time; but it resulted in his conversion and a complete change in his plans. He says: "From my earliest recollections God's Spirit strove with me and restrained me. I was ambitious, proud and worldly. At times I was powerfully convicted; but I thought it was a part of manliness to resist as long as possible; conviction left me and my heart became hard."

Back of this firm decision to turn from the tinselry of the world and its emoluments lay a favorable background. He was born on a farm, July, 1823, in the rich agricultural section of Cattaraugus County in western New York. His childhood was spent upon the farm, the prolific nursery of many of the nation's men of outstanding character. Far removed from the vices and contaminating influences of city life, he grew up near to nature's heart, free from vulgar associations and bad habits. While the necessities of life were amply supplied, there were no luxuries in the home and the boy was trained to honest toil from his earliest years. This schooling in economy and hard labor furnished splendid training for the hardships and difficulties of future years. His outward life was so exemplary that the Presbyterian minister of Gowanda, his native town, offered to educate him for the ministry in that church. "This generous and flattering proposal was refused with the statement, 'I can not accept it, as I have not been converted.' Much as he desired an education and hard as were his labors to secure it, he had too much rectitude of character to permit him to accept of aid bestowed with the thought that he would assume a relationship into which he was not prepared to enter. Yet the offer was renewed, his refusal being regarded as an evidence of unusual modesty and an additional mark of worth." This sincerity characterized his whole life.

Such was the providential setting of the early years of the young man who deliberately surrendered himself to his Maker that Sunday afternoon; whom God in turn designed to make one of His "chosen vessels." "Henceforth, God was to be all in all to him, and in the service of his Master his powers of mind and body were to be spent. But it was not a light struggle for a young man, just on the threshold of an active professional career, to lay aside his cherished plans and hopes, to abandon the results of years of study, acquired only through extreme exertions and sacrifice -- bending over his books when others slept, toiling when others enjoyed recreation. To make this sacrifice meant much; but with the eye of faith fixed on the eternal world, he chose with God. The divine choice for him, he made his own choice. He was thenceforth to plead not for wealth nor fame, but for immortal souls. He was to join the true apostolic succession, to become a Spirit-endued preacher of the glorious gospel of the Son of God." [1]

In April of the following year, 1845, he entered Lima Seminary in order to prepare for college. His work in the fundamentals had been so thorough that with only two terms' work at the Seminary he was able to enter the sophomore class at college.

According to plans, he entered the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, an honored Methodist seat of learning. In this beautiful college town, with its classic repose, he spent three happy years. With characteristic determination and common sense he laid down these three rules of college life which he rigidly adhered to throughout his entire career: "I am resolved to make the interests of my soul of first importance, my bodily health second, and the improvement of my mind third."

During the pressure of his college course, he made ample room for the interests of his spiritual life. His sympathy for the downtrodden as well as his independence of action is revealed by the fact that he taught a Sunday School class in the Negro church, although at the risk of his social standing. As as ardent defender of the slave, his first public address was an abolition speech made when he was a law student.

He writes to his sister as follows: "They have too much of the slavery spirit here, even among the descendants of the Puritans, to worship the universal Father in the same temple with their sable brethren. They have, therefore, here in Connecticut, not Negro slips, but Negro churches, Negro preachers, presiding elders and conference.

"My class consists of young ladies, some of them, I believe, devoted Christians. I feel very much interested in them, and strive and pray to be a means of doing them good. They are both attentive and intelligent.

"I also meet a Bible class of young ladies in the Methodist church after morning service. So you see that having charge of a school of seventy scholars, and studying to keep up with my class in college, and reading, and leading classmeeting one evening, and prayermeeting another evening in the week, with two Bible classes, and boarding around from house to house, affords me quite constant employment."

Perhaps the most far-reaching contact of Mr. Roberts' college days was that with Rev. J. W. Redfield, M. D., who stirred both the school and the city with a mighty revival. This acquaintance led to the uniting of their forces in later years in propagating widespread revivals and in establishing Free Methodism. In 1864 he gave a description of this revival in the February issue of the Earnest Christian:

"We first heard Dr. Redfield preach in the city of Middletown, Connecticut. The state of religion in the church was extremely low. Professing Christians were chiefly distinguished for their conformity to the world. The Methodists had ceased to be persecuted and were fast becoming a proud and fashionable people . . . Dr. Redfield's preaching produced a profound sensation. His deep-toned piety, the divine unction, that rested upon him, his fervent moving appeals to the throne of grace, and his unearthly, overpowering eloquence, disarmed criticism . . . Had he lowered the standard to suit the pride and prejudice of his hearers, his popularity would have been unbounded . . . The church was crowded and the people seemed amazed. It was for some time doubtful how the scale would turn. Dr. Olin heard the commotion. He was unwilling to take the representation of any but arose from a sick bed and went and heard for himself . . . 'This, brethren,' said he, 'is Methodism, and you must stand by it.' Such a work of God as followed we never witnessed. Professors in the college, men of outwardly blameless lives, saw they were not right with God, frankly confessed it, and laying aside their official dignity, went forward for prayers. For some eight or ten weeks the altar was crowded with penitents, from fifty to a hundred coming forward at a time."

The long pull of college is over and graduation day is at hand. Although it had been necessary for him to teach school part of the time in order to pay expenses and carry his college studies privately, he graduated with high honors. He had gained such respect for the integrity of his character and had won such recognition for his scholarship that he was offered at commencement time the presidency of the Wyoming Seminary at Kingston, Pennsylvania. Upon consulting with Dr. Olin, president of the college, he received this reply, "There are more who are ready to teach than preach." Thousands may be thankful today that he followed the advice of his wise counselor to hold to his original call, the preaching of the gospel.

In the following September, 1848, Benjamin Titus Roberts joined the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Buffalo. His appointment was Careyville, a country circuit. An outstanding event was his marriage to Ellen L. Stowe at the home of her uncle, Rev. George Lane, in New York City. Descended from the best New England stock, a charming woman of culture and character, she became a partner in his labors and a blessing in his life. [2]

At the end of the conference year, he made this brief entry concerning his first year's work in the ministry:

"Attended conference at Albion. Bishop Morris presided. I had a pleasant year at Careyville. Was favored with some success. Received during the year about forty members into the society. Enlarged and repaired the church at an expense of about six hundred dollars and paid an old debt on the parsonage. I came out myself at the end of the year sixty dollars in debt for board. The people expressed a strong desire for our return. Stationed at Pike."

The appointment at Pike was a run-down circuit among the hills of Wyoming County. The parsonage was a dilapidated building, which had never been painted; the walls were without paper, the fence was broken down, and the entire premises gave the impression of despair.

Since they had practically no furniture, they made arrangements for a member to move into the large, rambling house and board them. Mrs. Roberts, writing to her sister, giving this description of the place:

"We occupy the two upper rooms, which we have papered and whitewashed and painted . . . We thought best to furnish our own rooms and this we could easily do as we have now a few trunks. So till yesterday we had a trunk on each side of the room, a chair that had no back and two that had backs, wooden chairs, which made me feel when sitting upon them as perched on a high rail fence, my feet dangling down. Brother Wiles took pity on us and offered to lend us a table, stove, and rocking chair, which offer, so kind, we accepted. Soon we will have a bed and a carpet come, and then we will live like other people. Yet this primitive style of bare floors and open fires I rather like, only for its novelty, I reckon, though. I wish you could see our curtains -- so scant in size, neither wide enough nor long enough; but we dream of better ones soon. Yet we are very happy here . . . Our hearts shall be a spring of ceaseless pleasures, deep and pure. We will try to be good and do good."

The first year at Pike was discouraging from every point of view. The church was so cold and backslidden that all his revival efforts were fruitless. However, in the midst of his discouragements, he received a mighty spiritual baptism at the Collins camp-meeting, held near the close of the conference year. He gives this account of the meeting: "The subject of holiness received special attention. Rev. Eleazar Thomas, presiding elder of the district, was then a flame of fire. Mrs. Palmer attended the meeting and labored for the promotion of holiness with great zeal and success. While I was at Middletown Dr. Redfield held a protracted meeting in the Methodist Church. Such scenes of spiritual power I never had witnessed. The convictions I there received never have left me. At the camp-meeting they were greatly increased. Two paths were distinctly marked out before me. I saw that I might be a popular preacher, gain applause, do but little good in reality, and at last lose my soul; or I might take the narrow way, declare the whole truth as it is in Jesus, meet with persecution and opposition, but see a thorough work of grace go on and gain heaven. Grace was given me to make the better choice. I deliberately gave myself anew to the Lord, to declare the whole truth as it is in Jesus, and to take the narrow way. The blessing came. The Spirit fell on me in an overwhelming degree. I received a power to labor such as I had never felt before. This consecration has never been taken back. I have many times had to humble myself before the Lord for having grieved His Spirit. I have been but an unprofitable servant. It is by grace alone that I am saved. Yet the determination is fixed to obey the Lord and take the narrow way, come what will."

When he was returned to Pike by the annual conference, this fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit gave him new courage and faith for his work. His preaching the second year was crowned with a genuine revival. He pushed out into new fields at East Pike and at Eagle, where a new church was built as the result of a sweeping revival.

At the conference held in LeRoy in September, 1851, he was sent to Rushford, and William Kendall, who was assigned to follow him at Pike, carried on the revival begun by Roberts with vigor and success. Of Rushford he writes: "We have a membership strong in numbers, wealth and social influence, and a stranger would imagine that they enjoyed a good degree of the life and power of religion. They did years ago. The words that then expressed their feelings they still use, but the feelings are gone. We do not use forms of prayer but it seems as if our prayers were stereotyped."

Meanwhile he was called back to Pike and in three weeks ninety united with the church as a result of a mighty moving of convicting power upon the community. Although the work at Rushford was difficult at first, yet God honored his faithful preaching. Of this revival he says: "Our brethren say it is the best meeting they have had in years. About thirty thus far have passed from death unto life and among them are some of the most influential citizens. The conversions are more marked and clear than is common in these days."

In recognition of the successful year's work at Rushford, he was appointed to the Niagara Street church in Buffalo. This transfer to a city church held in store a year of great opposition and tribulation -- in fact, the beginning of the chain of events which ultimately led to his expulsion from the church. In November, 1852, he wrote his father: "You have no idea of the low state of Methodism in this city. Nothing but the power of God can save us." After trying in vain himself to break through the opposition for a revival, he sent for Dr. Redfield, who preached with great unction; but the resistance to the truth within the church rendered all efforts fruitless. He later wrote the following in the Earnest Christian concerning the opposition to Dr. Redfield: "Dr. Redfield was with us several weeks and held protracted meeting. A great interest in the community was excited; but we met with unexpected opposition from ministers holding high official positions in the church and the progress of the revival was stayed.

"While here, my attention was drawn to the evil of the pew system. I saw that the house of God must be free for all who wish to attend, if the masses would be reached and saved. I began to write and preach on the subject."

At this period the growing worldliness of the church increasingly distressed him. He began to write in the church papers of the evils strangling its spiritual life. An entry in his journal runs: "Finished and sent my second article to the Northern Independent on the state of this conference. My first called forth some sneering remarks in the Buffalo Advocate."

As was to be expected, he was moved from Buffalo at the end of the year. His new appointment was Brockport. He found the church worldly and far removed from old Methodist standards. He began a series of meetings by reading to the church the disciplinary rules on dress. There were only two in the church whom he thought were clearly justified. For eight weeks he preached to the church without inviting a sinner forward. After a long, hard pull, the church yielded and a refreshing revival followed. Of this meeting Mrs. Roberts writes: "We have had some of the most interesting meetings I was ever in. A goodly number have been reclaimed and over twenty converted. Last Friday evening . there were five slain under the power of God. This is something new for Brockport and many of the Methodists look on in amazement."

The fires of this revival spread for miles to the outlying communities. After two successful years spent at Brockport, he was assigned to Albion.

During the two years at Albion by far the most important event in the life of B. T. Roberts was the publication of his now famous article entitled, "New School Methodism," which culminated in the expulsion of Roberts and a number of other godly ministers from the Methodist Episcopal Church and the organization of the Free Methodist Church.

For many years Methodism in the United States had been slipping from the heroic standards which had made her a mighty force. Professor John A. Faulkner, professor of Church History at Drew Theological Seminary, in his volume entitled, "The Methodists" (p. 175), says:

"The only church that has sprung out of Methodist ground by reason of dissatisfaction with the worldliness of the church and with its abandonment of the heroic ideals of the elder time is the Free Methodist Church, which was organized at Pekin, New York, in 1860. It was the outgrowth of a profound agitation in western New York in the fifth and sixth decades of the nineteenth century, and was occasioned by the alleged lapse of the church from its primitive testimony, (1) as to slavery, (2) as to holiness, (3) as to non-conformity with the world, and (4) as to evangelical conception of doctrine."

The Methodist Church to a large extent had drifted into the acceptance of the view of holiness as taught by Zinzendorf, that, "We are sanctified wholly the moment we are justified, and are neither more nor less holy to the day of our death; entire sanctification and justification being in one and the same instant."

The Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification as a definite second work of grace was not only generally ignored but was ridiculed by many of the ministry. [3] This logically led to a general lowering of the spiritual tone of the church, a vagueness respecting the witness of the Spirit, a dying out of that spiritual fervor characteristic of the "elder times" and a forsaking of her standards respecting plainness of dress, worldly amusements, secret societies and general non-conformity to the world.

Another evidence of the Methodist Church's departure from her original standards was her change of attitude regarding slavery. John Wesley was one of the pioneers in England in taking his position against what he termed "that execrable sum of all villainies commonly called the slave trade" and published a lengthy tract entitled, "Thoughts on Slavery," which was one of the most ruthless and widely circulated exposures of the diabolical system ever written. Consequently Methodists, both in England and America, were ranged against the iniquitous institution. However, the church started upon a compromising attitude about the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Dr. James M. Buckley, [4] in his "History of Methodism," says: "From its foundation in the United States until the year 1800 Methodism had testified against slavery as a moral evil. Many of its enactments were uncompromising, and all were beyond the position taken by other churches and in advance of public sentiment . . . The tone of condemnation was softened in 1804, and in 1808 all that relates to slave-holding among private members was stricken out, and no rule on the subject has existed since."

In writing of the formation of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, which was organized in 1843, because of the mother church's complicity with slavery, Faulkner [5] says: "From the point of view of an anti-slavery reformer the position of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the subject [referring to slavery] . . . especially after 1800, must be considered disappointing and untenable. There had not only been a constant recession of testimony but active participation in anti-slavery measures, or even the holding of pronounced views on freedom, on the part of ministers, made them liable to the loss of reputation and standing or even to discipline. Northern conferences frequently passed resolutions condemning abolition and ministers who in any way connected themselves with anti-slavery movements. Matlock was denied admission to conference because of his views on slavery. Charles K. True, James Floy, and Paul R. Brown, of the New York Conference, were tried and suspended for alleged aiding in the circulation of an anti-slavery tract and attending an anti-slavery convention."

"Up to the day that slavery was abolished by the sword," says Roberts, [6] "there were thousands of slaveholders in good standing in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Methodist Episcopal Discipline tolerated slavery to the last." In the period of agitation out of which the Free Methodist Church was formed, slavery was a burning question, both in the Methodist Episcopal Church and in the nation.

The most immediate cause in the expulsion of Roberts along with other ministers and laymen from the church was the secret society question. Forsaking her heroic position of separation from the world, many of her members and especially her ministers had become "unequally yoked together" with Odd Fellowship and Free Masonry. Rev. C. D. Burlingham, a venerable minister of the Genesee Conference, makes the following statement of the case in a pamphlet published in 1860 entitled, "An Outline History of the Genesee Conference": "Some sixteen or eighteen years since a disturbing element was introduced into the Genesee Conference. Our church, as well as the community in general, had for a number of years been much agitated by the Masonic question, and the anti-Masonic excitement consequent upon the abduction and murder of William Morgan of Batavia, in 1826. As the tumultuous waves were gradually subsiding into a calm, this element of discord began to introduce itself in our church, professedly as a mutual insurance company against temporal want, and a newly discovered and remarkably successful gospel appliance for bringing the world, reformed and saved, into the church. But our people very naturally looked upon it with suspicion. Dreading its power as a secret agency acting through affiliated societies, and doubting its utility as a financial scheme, they feared that it would drag the church, debased and corrupted, into the world."

It soon became evident that the secret society preachers were banded together to organize the time-serving, compromising element in the church and to rule the conference. Bishop Hogue gives a true setting of the picture: [7] "There were many in the conference who, with prophetic vision, foresaw the evil consequence likely to arise from the alliance of the church through her ministers with the system of oath-bound secrecy, and who consequently strove earnestly to resist the encroachments of the lodge upon the church. They knew full well that, in the days of her greater purity and power, Methodism could not have been betrayed into such an enervating and corrupting amalgamation with the world. As simple-minded Christians, who had been taught and who believed the truth expressed in the dictum of the Apostle Paul, 'Christ is all and in all,' they felt no need of buttressing their faith in Christ with membership in and devotion to any other society than that of the Christian church, and saw only spiritual defection as the inevitable result of sworn fellowship with men of the world in Christ-rejecting lodges even for purposes of mutual insurance against temporal want."

The line of division caused by the lapse of the church from her original and more exalted ideals on scriptural holiness, slavery, non-conformity to the world, and secret societies, became more and more clearly defined. A valiant effort to reform these abuses and to bring the church back to her original standards of purity and spirituality was made by her most consecrated ministers; but they were defeated by a strongly organized opposition.

The statement of the historian, John Clark Ridpath, is applicable to the situation then existent in the Methodist Episcopal Church: [8] "He who studies the Reformation attentively will not fail to perceive that the success of the movement in Germany under the leadership of Luther followed two other efforts, not successful, to reach the same result. The first of these -- first in time and natural sequence -- was the effort of the church to work a reform inside her own organization. Vain chimera! Fond and childish credulity to suppose that the thing to be reformed could mend itself, that the abusers should abolish the abuse. The history of the world has not presented an example of an organization, grown sleek and fat and conscienceless by the destruction of human freedom and the spoilation of mankind that has had the virtue and honesty to make restitution and return to an exemplary life; nor will such a phenomenon ever be seen under the sun. Whether the organization be religious, political or social, that law is universally irreversible, by which Ephraim is joined to his idols. He and they are bound by an indissoluble tie and will perish together."

The lines were clearly drawn in the Genesee Conference. The secret society men secretly and adroitly controlled and manipulated the affairs of the conference. The dominant party was called the "Regency," while those who were laboring to maintain the original standards of the church were styled "Nazarites." It was unquestionably proved in the open conference that a "Nazarite union never existed, while on the other hand it was clearly proved that there was a conclave of the secret society preachers who met secretly in a duly-organized manner and laid the plans to be carried through in the sessions of the conference. [9] This conclave consisted of about fifty preachers who like Jesuits worked under cover of darkness. The minutes of their secret session at LeRoy, New York, September 3, 1857, in which they decided to arrest the character of B. T. Roberts and bring him to trial, were given to Roberts by a friend and were published repeatedly without contradiction.

At the Medina Conference, the proponents of holiness received a severe blow. Loren Stiles, presiding elder of the Genesee District, and Presiding Elder Kingsley, both devout men, were removed by the bishop from the eldership and transferred to the Cincinnati Conference, while other preachers were sent to poorer circuits. The friends of holiness did not realize to what extent the "Regency party" had triumphed until the appointments for the following year were read. A spirit of despondency settled upon the persecuted minority. "But as the conference business was concluded, and the bishop called on some one to sing before the closing prayer, without announcing any particular hymn, Kendall arose and with clear and steady voice began,

'Come on, my partners in distress
My comrades through this wilderness
Who still your bodies feel;
Awhile forget your griefs and fears,
And look beyond this vale of tears,
To that celestial hill.'

"The bishop was about to offer prayer, but Kendall, all absorbed in his singing, continued:

"'Beyond the hounds of time and space,
Look forward to the heavenly place,
The saints' secure abode:
On faith's strong eagle pinions rise,
And force your passage to the skies
And scale the mount of God.'

"Again the bishop would have led in prayer, but the clear voice of the singer continued the third stanza:

'Who suffer with our Master here,
We shall before His throne appear,
And by His side sit down.
To patient faith the prize is sure,
And all that to the end endure
The cross, shall wear the crown.'

"But this time the desponding spirits of the persecuted 'pilgrims were rallied, their heads were up, their hearts aglow, and as they also joined in the song faith revived and shouts of victory pealed forth from every quarter. In the meantime the voice of Kendall continued to fill the auditorium with heavenly melody:

"'Thrice blessed, bliss-inspiring hope!
It lifts the fainting spirits up.
It brings to life the dead.
Our conflicts here will soon be past
And you and I ascend at last,
Triumphant with our Head.'

"Concluding prayer was then offered by the bishop and the pilgrim' preachers went unmurmuringly to their appointments, feeling that they could joyfully go to the ends of the earth, if need should require, to proclaim the gospel of a full and free salvation." [10]

NEW SCHOOL METHODISM

The time had come when the enemies of vital religion ought not to continue uncontradicted, especially since numerous articles had been published in various church papers and notably in the Buffalo Advocate stigmatizing the defenders of original Methodism as "fanatics" and "Nazarites." Concerning the writing of the article, "New School Methodism," Mr. Roberts made this statement of explanation some years afterward: "We had previously been styled 'New School Methodists' in an article published in the Buffalo Advocate, the organ of the dominant party. We showed that the appellation properly belonged to our opponents . . . For fear we might misrepresent their views, we stated them as we found them expressed by one of their leading preachers in an editorial of the Buffalo Advocate and copied into the New York Christian Advocate and Journal. It set forth the doctrinal views from which we differed. This article from which we quoted was endorsed by the leading men of the dominant party . . . Our opponents had, from time to time, in the Buffalo Advocate and other papers, in neither truthful nor respectful language, set forth their version of matters. We thought the time had come for us to set ourselves right before the public."

In his clear and incisive style he stated the case in the Northern Independent, showing the departure of Methodism from her original standards and sustaining his argument by quotations from leading Methodists in her own periodicals. [11]

We quote from the concluding paragraph of Mr. Roberts' article:

"We have thus endeavored to give a fair and impartial representation of New School Methodism. It's prevalence in one conference has already, as we have seen, involved it in division and disaster. Let it generally prevail, and the glory will depart from Methodism. She has a special mission to accomplish. This is not to gather into her fold the fashionable, the devotees of pleasure and ambition, but 'to spread scriptural holiness over these lands.' Her doctrines and her hymns, her history and her spirit, her noble achievements in the past and her bright prospects for the future, all forbid that she should adopt an accommodating, compromising policy, pandering to the vices of the times. Let her go on, as she has done, insisting that the great cardinal truths of the gospel shall receive a living embodiment in the hearts and lives of her members, and Methodism will continue to be the favored of heaven and the joy of the earth. But let her come down from her position and receive to her communion all those lovers of pleasure and lovers of the world who are willing to pay for the privilege and it needs no prophet's visions to foresee that Methodism will become a dead and corrupting body, endeavoring in vain to supply, by the erection of splendid churches, and the imposing performance of powerless ceremonies, the manifested glory of the divine presence which once shone so brightly in all her sanctuaries.

"'Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.'

In contrast with the dignified tone of the statement of facts in "New School Methodism," we refer the reader to an article entitled "Nazarite Reformers and Reformation," published in the Medina Tribune, September 11, 1856, to show the characteristically bitter spirit and offensive style of the opposition. The paper was written anonymously.

THE TRIAL OF ROBERTS

At the conference at LeRoy, New York, in 1857, a bill of charges was presented by the Regency faction against B. T. Roberts and two against W. C. Kendall. Mr. Roberts was prosecuted, but the charges against Mr. Kendall were waived for want of time, with threat that they would be brought up at the next annual session. Before that time he died triumphantly, and those who had branded him as worthy of expulsion from the church while living extolled him as a saint when dead.

The bill of charges, [12] with an unchallenged statement of facts was published in 1879 by B. T. Roberts in "Why Another Sect." For writing the above article, the author was charged "with unChristian and immoral conduct." He was convicted and sentenced to be reproved by the chair. After receiving the reproof, he appealed to the General Conference.

In summing up the case, Mr. Roberts makes this pungent statement:

"Yet with the matter thus plainly before them, a majority of the conference voted these specifications (except the fourth, which was withdrawn) sustained. In doing that, every man of them voted as true what he knew to be false. We can not come to any other possible conclusion. They were not ignorant men who did not know what they were about. They were not acting hastily over a matter they did not understand. The case was fairly laid before them. They deliberately voted that I wrote what they knew I did not write."

One of the dominant party made the boast, "Nazaritism must be crushed out and we have the tools to do it with." Such flagrant injustice characterized the trial -- carried through by the Regency party, who constituted the jury and whose votes by means of secret conclave could be counted on in advance, to secure conviction -- that remonstrances arose on all sides from both clergy and laity.

On the character of this trial, Rev. C. D. Burlingham says:

"The essay, then, was but a pretext, and the trial a farce; and yet a farce of the most solemn character, in its baneful influence on the peace and prosperity of Zion.

"As an appropriate finale to such a judicial act, and as illustrative of the moral principle of these partisan leaders, Mr. Roberts, instead of being expelled, which he should have been, if the charges that had been sustained by a party vote were true, was simply reproved by the chair, endorsed by his accusers and sent out again as a fellow-laborer in the gospel."

When the appointments were read, B. T. Roberts was assigned to Pekin, New York, a part of the conference where he was a total stranger. Before he arrived at his new appointment, a preacher of the "Regency" party had preceded him to inform the members that he had been convicted at the conference of "unChristian and immoral conduct." The Buffalo Advocate also printed the report without a word of explanation, so that the public was left in doubt as to whether the immoral conduct was licentiousness, fraud or some other crime. Naturally a wave of resentment swept over the church that such a man should be sent as their pastor. In recording the event, Mr. Roberts said, "We doubt if an itinerant ever had a colder reception. Even Father Chesbrough, one of the noblest of men, one of the most loyal of Methodists, at first thought he would not go to hear me preach. 'What have we done,' he exclaimed, 'that a man convicted of immoral conduct should be sent as our preacher?'" When Sunday morning came Mr. Chesbrough finally decided to go with his family to church, saying, "It can do no harm to hear him once anyway." As they rode home he said to his son, S. K. J. Chesbrough, who later became the Publishing Agent of the Free Methodist, "Well, Sam, I know nothing about the man, but I do know that what we heard today is Methodism as I used to hear it in the old Baltimore Conference and as I have not heard it in western New York."

Undaunted by opposition, the new pastor gave himself unsparingly to his task. After a hard pull, a revival broke out, sweeping the whole country round about and continuing till the end of the year. Of the year's work, S. K. J. Chesbrough published the following report in the Northern Independent:

"It cannot be denied that we received to our church as pastor a man whom the Advocate informed us was tried and found guilty of 'immorality'; and judging from the articles which have appeared from time to time in that paper, it would seem that his opposers think 'if we let him alone, all men will believe on him'; and the only way to destroy his usefulness is to pursue him with 'slander' and 'persecutions.'

"A recent article in the Advocate, which descends to language unbecoming one Christian speaking to another, is hardly worth noticing, as the shafts at Brother Roberts fall far below him . . . Notwithstanding the many reports which have circulated to the contrary, God has been at work among His people. Between fifty and sixty have. professed conversion, about forty of whom have joined on probation. The preaching has been plain, simple and pointed, and in accordance with the doctrines and Discipline of the church . . . Without exception, every aged member in our church has rejoiced to see the return of the days of Wesleyan Methodism, with its uncompromising and earnest spirit.

"When Brother Roberts came among us, our Sunday noon class numbered fifteen; now the average attendance is from seventy-five to eighty. Our prayer-meetings and our week evening class-meetings, and they occur every night in the week at various points on the charge, have been better sustained through haying and harvesting, and have been more interesting than for years past. The Sunday school has also reached a point in attendance and interest never before attained in its history. There are scores in the church today, who feel to thank God for having sent him among us."

The fires of persecution still burned. The Regency in the Genesee Conference avowed that they would crush out Nazaritism, which meant in plain language, "the holiness movement." It is little wonder that pious men should revolt at the secret, underhanded method employed, and at the shameful procedure of branding a godly preacher with "immoral conduct" and publicly broadcasting the impression that he was guilty of base iniquity.

George Estes, an intelligent and influential layman of Brockport, during the year republished the article on "New School Methodism," together with an account of the trial. This pamphlet, which was widely circulated, was published at Mr. Estes' expense and without the knowledge of Mr. Roberts.

In the trial every legitimate request as demanded, both by law and fairness, was refused. Mr. Roberts had Rev. B. O. Ives of the Oneida Conference present as his counsel, but the bishop ruled that counsel from another conference was not allowable. A change of venue to another conference was asked but denied. A trial before a jury consisting of a small number of men who would have to take personal responsibility for their decision, rather than before the whole conference where men could hide behind numbers, was asked but that also was denied.

The trial proceeded. Mr. Estes gave the following testimony: "Brother Roberts had nothing to do with publishing or assisting in publishing the document under consideration,, to my knowledge, and I presume I know. He had nothing to do with the writing of the part that bears my name: I do not know that he had any knowledge that its publication was intended; he never gave his consent that the part entitled 'New School Methodism' should be published by me, or anyone else, to my knowledge; he was never responsible in whole or in part; he never contributed anything to the payment of its publication, to my knowledge . . . I never forwarded or caused to be forwarded, any of them to Brother Roberts; I never gave him any personally; I do not know of any one giving or forwarding him any. I never gave orders to any one to forward Brother Roberts any, to my knowledge."

The evidence clearly absolved the accused. Yet fearing a vote of acquittal if the ballot should be taken that night the Regency faction moved an adjournment, held another secret session in order to coerce those who were doubtful, and came into the sitting of the conference in the morning with the necessary majority to expel the defendant from the conference and the church -for an offense which he had not committed.

Rev. C. D. Burlingham, a minister in good standing in the Genesee Conference, summed up the trials of Roberts in 1857 and 1858 in the following pungent language (Outline History, p. 40): "It is a notorious fact that those verdicts are not based on testimony proving criminal acts or words. Several who voted with, and others who sympathize with the 'majority,' have said, 'Well, if the charges were not sustained by sufficient proof, the conference served them right, for they are great agitators and promoters of disorder and fanaticism.' There you have it. Men tried for one thing and condemned for another. What iniquitous jurisprudence will not such a principle cover? Why not try them for promoting disorder and fanaticism? Because the failure of such an effort to convict would have been the certain result."

While the trial was in progress, the accused was twice honored by the conference. They adjourned the trial one day to hold a funeral service in memory of Rev. William C. Kendall, who had died during the year, and B. T. Roberts was unanimously elected to preach the sermon, although two bishops were present. Again by unanimous vote he was appointed to preside at the anniversary of the American Bible Society -- all while lying under the charge of immoral and unChristian conduct." Roberts caustically observes, "Was this in imitation of the old idolaters who first crowned with garlands their victims they were about to sacrifice; or was it rather the natural homage which men often instinctively pay to those whom they know to be right, even while they persecute them?"

Upon essentially the same charges -- the circulation of the Estes pamphlet -- Rev. Joseph McCreery was tried and expelled from the church. An account of his trial is given in full in "Why Another Sect," p. 179 ff. Both ministers appealed to the General Conference.

Pending their appeals to General Conference, a period of two years elapsed in which persecution grew more intense and outrages were perpetrated against God-fearing Methodists which are almost unthinkable in this age. We give the picture painted by Rev. Elias Bowen, in his "History of the Origin of the Free Methodist Church": "The spirit of persecution, already inflamed against the so-called Nazarites, became rampant and burst forth with a violence which threatened their universal and speedy extirpation. The madness of Saul of Tarsus in persecuting the saints of his time, even unto strange cities, scarcely exceeded the rage with which the living portion of the church were hunted down by the secret society, worldly-minded, apostate majority of the conference during this period. The truly faithful, without respect to age, sex, or condition, were brought before inquisitorial committees; and large numbers, lay and clerical, were hustled out of the church in some way, or forced into the leading-strings of the dominant party. It was, indeed, a 'Reign of Terror.' Ridicule, disfranchisement, sham trial, and various other contrivances, well-known to the order of the Jesuits, were put under contribution for the crushing out of the life and power of religion; and widespread desolation, as the result of these outrageous persecutions, was seen to pervade the conference throughout all its borders."

LAYMEN'S CONVENTION

The unfair expulsion of Roberts and McCreery and the widespread persecution of those laymen who stood by the original standards of Methodism called forth wide publicity in both the religious and secular press. General condemnation was voiced against the Genesee Conference and against the violent methods pursued by the followers of the Regency party throughout the bounds of the conference. In order to check these oppressive measures the laymen of the conference called a Laymen's Convention at Albion, New York, December 1, 1858. This idea originated with Isaac M. Chesbrough at Pekin, an outstanding citizen, a man of highest integrity and wide experience in practical affairs, a pious man and a loyal Methodist.

When the convention assembled, one hundred and ninety-five delegates from forty-seven circuits answered the roll-call. The dignified character of the convention is self-evident from the able resolutions which were adopted.

After logically delineating the unjust and undisciplinary procedure in expelling faithful ministers from the church, they urged the laymen not to leave the church. We quote from the resolutions of the convention: We trust that none will think of leaving the church, but let us all stand by and apply the proper and legitimate remedy for the shameless outrages that have been perpetrated under the forms of justice.

We recommend Rev. B. T. Roberts and Rev. J. McCreery to travel at large and labor as opportunity presents, for promoting the work of God and the salvation of souls."

Meanwhile the Genesee Conference in their desperation to crush any who would even sympathize with their expelled brethren passed resolutions to arrest the character of any preacher for merely attending a service held by one of the expelled preachers. Accordingly six preachers in the conference were ecclesiastically beheaded upon the elusive charge of "contumacy."

SECOND AND THIRD LAYMEN'S CONVENTIONS

A second Laymen's Convention was held in the Baptist Church in Albion, N. Y. November 1 and 2, 1859. A masterful "Declaration" was adopted condemning the expulsion of ministers on the charge of "contumacy." Resolutions were passed providing for the gathering of those who were oppressed by the misrule of the church into bands in order that they would not be scattered and lost to the church and that "regular and systematic efforts be made by band collections and subscriptions to secure an adequate support for our brethren in the ministry."

A third Laymen's Convention, largely attended, was held at Olean, N. Y. February 12, 1860. Resolutions, signed by fifteen hundred devout members of the Methodist Church, appealing to the General Conference in the case of the expulsion of the ministers from the Genesee Conference were passed. When the General Conference refused to entertain these appeals, B. T. Roberts said, "I appeal to God and the people." This was an open violation of the constitution of the church which declares: "They (General Conference) shall not do away with the privileges of our ministers or preachers of trial by a committee and of an appeal." The hearing of an appeal was not optional but mandatory. The refusal to hear an appeal was equivalent to saying there was no court of appeals in the Methodist Episcopal Church. [13]

Upon the advice of able ministers in the church the expelled preachers humbly united with the church on probation and received exhorters' licenses; but it was decided by an official of the church that they were not even probationary members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In order to make plain that he was declaring the gospel message on his own responsibility, without church credentials, Roberts published the following in the Northern Independent: "Our excellent Discipline specifies as among the fruits of desire, 'instructing, reproving and exhorting all we have intercourse with.' This, then, is what I am doing. The Lord has opened wide a door into which I have entered. I disclaim all authority from man, but simply 'instruct, reprove, exhort' because I believe He has called me to it, and He blesses me in it."

The labors of Roberts were signally blessed of the Lord in his continuous preaching and traveling over a wide area. Meanwhile, the fires of persecution waxed hotter and hotter. For example, Rev. Rufus Cooley, a venerable minister, had his character arrested before the annual conference for praying in a private house with Roberts after his expulsion; while laymen were expelled merely for attending the laymen's convention or refusing to bow to the demands of the "Regency." In open violation of the Discipline, all right of appeal was denied these godly laymen. Thomas B. Catton, a man of intelligence and noble character, was summoned to "show cause why he should not be expelled from the Methodist Episcopal Church." Whoever heard that a citizen in a state court should show cause why he should not be sent to the penitentiary?

ORGANIZATION OF THE FREE METHODIST CHURCH

The premises set forth in Roberts' "New School Methodism" could never have created such an agitation within the Methodist Church if they had not been true; and the action of the General Conference inevitably committed the entire denomination precisely to what Roberts called it, "New School Methodism." It marked a line of cleavage in the church and produced "an epoch indeed in the history of Methodism; since it involves nothing less than a radical change in the system; a change which supersedes the Methodism of Wesley -- 'Christianity in earnest' -- and replaces it with a smooth, formal, fashionable religion whose very insignia and watchword is popularity" (Bowen, "Origin of the Free Methodist Church," p. 227).

Here was a body of devout preachers illegally thrust out from the church of their choice not because they had rebelled against the laws of the church and taught strange doctrine but because they were faithful to their vows as Methodist ministers. Hundreds of laymen of sterling character were likewise thrust out of the church without even the form of a trial, for no other cause than expressing sympathy for these preachers. For some time the ministers had been informally organizing "Bands" of these expelled "pilgrims." They were all Methodists by conviction and by choice. The only logical course was to organize a church upon the original foundations of primitive Methodism. Accordingly, the following call for a convention was issued: "A convention will be held at Pekin for the purpose of adopting a Discipline of the Free Methodist Church, to commence at the close of the campmeeting, August 23. All societies and bands that find it necessary, in order to promote the prosperity and permanency of the work of holiness, to organize a Free Church on the following basis, are invited to send delegates:

"1. Doctrines and usages of primitive Methodism, such as the witness of the Spirit, entire sanctification as a state of grace distinct from justification, attainable instantaneously by faith; free seats and congregational singing, without instrumental music in all cases; plainness of dress.

"2. An equal representation of ministers and members in all the councils of the church.

"3. No slave-holding and no connection with secret, oathbound societies.

"Each society or band will be entitled to send one delegate at least, and an additional one for every forty members."

According to the account of B. T. Roberts, "About eighty laymen and fifteen preachers met in convention at Pekin, New York, on August 23, 1860, to take into consideration the adoption of a Discipline for the 'Free Methodist Church' " (Earnest Christian, September, 1860). S. K. J. Chesbrough, upon whose father's farm the camp meeting was held, gives this realistic touch concerning the organization of the church: "Before the convention was called, B. T. Roberts and several others came together under an apple tree right back of our kitchen. I sat in the kitchen door looking at them. They were nearly all seated on the ground under the tree, and it was voted that they proceed to organize the church. They then arose and went over into the grove, where the convention was held and the child was born and named."

The doctrines incorporated in the Discipline as adopted were those accepted by original Methodism throughout the world. Two articles were added -- taken from Wesley's writings and thoroughly Methodistic -- one on entire sanctification and one on future rewards and punishments. Instead of a bishopric of life tenure was substituted a superintendency (the name has since changed to bishop), elective for a period of four years. In order to escape from the abuse of ecclesiastical oppression such as was experienced in the mother church, equal lay representation with the ministry was established in the annual and general conferences.

As to the name "Free Methodist" we quote from Rev. Moses N. Downing, one of the members of the convention which organized the church: "God permitted closing the doors of the Church of England to the Wesleys that they might go hither and thither to 'spread Scriptural holiness over these lands.' So God mercifully overruled the oppressive measures of the Genesee Conference and caused them to result in the organization of a Free Methodist Church, with free seats in all her houses of worship, free from exclusive choir singing; free from instruments of music in divine worship; free from worldly methods of supporting the gospel; free from worldliness in dress; free from the use of intoxicating beverages; free from tobacco and opium habits by ministers and laymen; free from membership in oath-bound secret lodges; free from a worldly, fun-loving, dancing, card-playing and theater-going membership; a church free to follow Christ according to the Scriptures; where the freedom of the Holy Spirit is allowed in religious worship; where the gospel can be preached in all its purity with none to say nay."

There was one man who should logically be chosen head of the new denomination -- Rev. B. T. Roberts. He was elected the first General Superintendent and was re-elected at each General Conference until his death in 1893.

At the same camp meeting, three days after the adoption of the Discipline, on Sunday, August 26, 1860, at Pekin, New York, the first society of the Free Methodist Church was organized. Of this occasion S. K. J. Chesbrough writes, "I well remember the Sunday after the organization when my wife and eighteen others answered the questions of the Discipline which Brother B. T. Roberts had written on a piece of paper, and formed the first Free Methodist class ever organized under the Discipline."

As the "bands" which had been formed by those thrust out of the Methodist Church began to join the Free Methodist Church a demand arose for the organization of conferences. Accordingly, the first convention (now the Genesee Conference), known as the Eastern Convention, was held at Rushford, New York, November 8, 1860. Sixteen preachers and thirteen lay delegates were enrolled. (A detailed account of the development of the various conferences of the church will be found in Hogue's "History of the Free Methodist Church.") From these small beginnings the church has grown until today it extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, embracing thirty-nine conferences in the United States and four in Canada. Its missionary activities encircle the globe, carrying the gospel of full salvation to Japan, China, India, Africa, Panama, Mexico, South America and the islands of the sea; its educational program includes eight institutions of learning besides Christian day schools of varying rank; its organized charities are expressed in a number of benevolent institutions, and its Publishing House is pouring forth a volume of wholesome literature from its splendid modern plant at Winona Lake, Indiana. The appeal of B. T. Roberts "to God and the people" has not been in vain.

B. T. Roberts and the pioneers who founded the Free Methodist Church were men of sound culture themselves and were strong advocates of Christian education. Six years after the organization of the church in 1866, Roberts bent his energies to the founding of a school at North Chili, New York, a beautiful village ten miles from Rochester. Having no resources at hand, he opened the school in his own home with himself and Miss Delia Jeffries as the teaching staff. A year later he bought the old town tavern in whose ballroom was housed the infant educational project until a suitable building could be erected. In 1869, after three years of strenuous labor, the first building erected for Christian education in the Free Methodist Church was dedicated in the midst of great rejoicing.

The purchase of the site of the school reads like a romance and at the same time reveals the depth of sacrifice made in founding the Seminary. For several years Roberts had been secretly desirous of purchasing a certain farm in North Chili as the location for the new school. In 1866 this farm was put up for sale. The proprietor was invited to Roberts' home in Rochester and remained overnight. In order to consummate the transaction, Roberts had to give his own home in Rochester as the first payment. This the owner refused to accept. Before retiring for the night he said to his wife: "We must pray the Lord to influence him to take this house, and we must pray earnestly, for if he does not, this matter must fall through." They did pray earnestly and God answered -- the owner who refused the terms offered at night, promptly accepted them in the morning. Such was the faith of Roberts in the educational project that he bought this farm himself although he had to assume a mortgage of ten thousand dollars.

For almost twenty years he carried the heavy burden of this mortgage until 1884, when the Seminary received from the estate of the late A. M. Chesbrough a legacy of $30,000.00, "with the provision that the farm on which the school was situated be purchased for the institution and the balance be invested in good securities, the income from farm and investment perpetually to be used for the aid of indigent students." The name of the school was changed to "The A. M. Chesbrough Seminary."

In 1890 a fire utterly destroyed the commodious building which housed the activities of the school. However, the institution did not close but transferred its students to the homes of the community and carried on its instruction in the church. Undaunted by the loss of the fire, the faith and arduous toil of the founders were rewarded by the dedication two years later of two good buildings -- Roberts Hall and Cox Memorial Hall.

For a quarter of a century Benson H. Roberts, assisted by his gifted wife, Emma Sellew Roberts, carried on the work so nobly begun by his father. Later a splendid new building was added to the campus, named "Carpenter Hall" in memory of Adella P. Carpenter who sacrificingly gave her life as a teacher in the school. Junior college work was also added to the curriculum of studies.

The next step in the progress of the school was its rechartering as a full-fledged college under the name of Roberts Wesleyan College with power to grant degrees. Its work is duly accredited by the state of New York. The latest addition to its facilities is "Pearce Hall" named in honor of Bishop Pearce. This splendid building of brick and stone furnishes an auditorium seating eight hundred for chapel services in addition to a large number of class rooms.

Roberts' main objective was to found an institution which would train and furnish spiritual leadership in the newborn denomination. And in this his expectations have been amply fulfilled. Through the passing years the school has sent from its hallowed halls several hundred preachers, teachers, missionaries and Christian workers to bless the world to its uttermost bounds.

Time is the impartial arbiter of human affairs; it touches with firm and certain hand the movements of history and the memories of men. With the passing of the years many men considered great silently drift back to their level among the rank and file. As the creatures of circumstance upon whom the plaudits of their fellows fall, they pass from view when the plaudits cease. In contrast are those who are the creators of circumstance, who courageously turn against the popular tide to dare and do for God and humanity, who shape the affairs of their own generation and become the far-visioned prophets of a new day. Of this type it may be said, "Their works do follow them," and the passing decades crown them with the unfading laurel.

At the unveiling of the monument dedicated to B. T. Roberts in 1912 at North Chili, New York, Bishop Hogue appropriately said: "We are assembled today to do honor to the memory of a great man. Nearly twenty years have passed since he left the scene of earthly action, and during those two decades his greatness has become more and more apparent to those who have watched the trend of affairs which he, during his lifetime, set in motion. We knew he was a great man while he lived with us and wrought among us, but we did not know the measure of his greatness as we know it now . . . The distance of twenty years from those stirring events, in the midst of which he lived and was the principal actor, lends a perspective to his life which gives us a juster conception of its influence and worth to the world.

"Men like Benjamin Titus Roberts are never adequately appreciated by the generation in which they live. There is too much of the prophetic in them to admit of their being understood and estimated at their true worth. They live so far in advance of their contemporaries that they are usually misunderstood and regarded as enthusiasts and visionaries. No generation can properly estimate its great men. A just verdict of their worth must ever await succeeding generations."

In 1910, seventeen years after Roberts had gone to his reward, the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Church, acknowledging the error of its course, publicly restored the ministerial credentials of Roberts to his son, the Rev. Benson H. Roberts. The Genesee Conference of the Methodist Church requested the Genesee Conference of the Free Methodist Church to send a fraternal delegate to its next session in Rochester, New York, for the purpose of receiving these credentials. His son was fittingly chosen as delegate from the Free Methodist Church. He was cordially welcomed by the Methodist Conference and in reply made a most felicitous address which was from every point of view worthy of his staunch and illustrious father. This magnanimously closed the last official act in the turbulent drama of the previous generation.

It is not often that superlative gifts as a preacher and a writer are both combined in the same personality. Most writers of the first order are not forceful speakers. Bishop Roberts was equally strong in both fields. He wielded a mighty pen and was also a powerful, pungent preacher.

In the formation of the Free Methodist Church his gifted pen played an important part. The book of Discipline, the constitution of the church, was the product of his craftsmanship, while he took the leading part in fashioning the first hymn book of the new-born denomination.

For the purpose of instructing preachers and Christian workers how more successfully to carry on the work of the Lord, he wrote "Fishers of Men, or Practical Hints to Those Who Would Save Souls." The book abounds in practical instruction, cast in such pithy and pointed language that it grips the reader from the first to the last page. As a workers' handbook to stimulate deeper personal piety and increased effort in soul-winning, it is unsurpassed. Its language is as clear and lucid as the daylight.

In order to give to the world the truth regarding the origin of the Free Methodist Church, he published "Why Another Sect." It is a dignified polemic, giving the causes leading to the organization of the church in vigorous language yet without bitterness.

He was a pioneer in the field of woman's rights. In the face of strong opposition and personal unpopularity, he advocated the admission of women into the ministry on the same basis as the men. His reasons are ably set forth in his volume, "Ordaining Women."

Through his editorial writing he wielded a far-reaching influence. In 1860 he founded the Earnest Christian, and for thirty-three years, until his death in 1893, this high-class monthly magazine, set for the defense of righteousness, reforms and the doctrine of holiness, was without a superior in the range of Christian literature in America.

When the General Conference in 1886 purchased The Free Methodist, which had been previously published as a private enterprise, he was prevailed upon to take the editorship. For four years he cheerfully assumed this added burden, giving to the paper his ripened experience as a successful editorial writer and publisher.

From his editorial writings two valuable volumes have been compiled -- "Holiness Teachings" and "Pungent Truths." Both are treasuries of spiritual truth, elaborated in his chaste diction resembling that of John Wesley. In addition his literary labors include a treatise entitled "First Lessons in Sound Money," and numerous tracts upon various religious subjects.

Of his literary style Bishop Pearce gives this apt description: "His diction was beautiful, but not showy; his sentences terse and strong, but not abrupt; his meaning without ambiguity -absolutely clear. His mind was so accurate, and so well disciplined, that the first draft of his writing was usually the final. He was a man of God because he was a true disciple of Christ, meek, loving and pure. The spirit of the Master shone through all his words and gave grace to his literary style."

Although a man of robust physique, his arduous literary work in addition to his heavy responsibilities as bishop doubtless shortened his life. Like John Wesley, he was a constant itinerant, traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific and preaching incessantly. On his way to hold a quarterly meeting at Cattaraugus, New York, he was taken with a heart attack but insisted he would recover as on several previous occasions. Stricken with severe pains around the heart, he knelt upon his couch in prayer. As he voiced the words, "Praise the Lord! Amen!" the silver cord was loosed and his spirit took its flight to the gateway of eternal day.

It is fitting to close this sketch with a tribute from the pen of W. T. Hogue, his intimate friend for many years: "In him were combined the qualities of true greatness. He was characterized by profundity without mysticism; by breadth without compromise; by sublimity without conceit or bombast; by genius without egotism; by zeal without fury; by imperialism without tyranny; by tenacity without stubbornness; by fearlessness without rashness; and by executive force without the vehemence of Jehu. He possessed and exhibited many qualities of mind and heart rarely found in one man. Providence seems to have made special molds in which to cast him and to have broken them when he was cast, so that a duplicate is impossible.

"Nature bestowed upon him many of his rarest gifts. He was a man of strong physique and robust health; of vigorous personality and indomitable energy; of intellectual keenness and strength, combined to a high degree of conscientiousness; of the finest sensibilities united with all the noble characteristics of large-hearted manhood. In fact, he was, by nature, what we rarely find -- a symmetrical man.

"The chief secret of power in Benjamin Titus Roberts, however, was the genuineness, depth and thoroughness of his Christian experience. Like Paul he was wont to say, 'By the grace of God I am what I am.' He was clearly converted in early manhood. He was wholly sanctified a few years later. He was clearly and definitely called to preach the gospel . . . He never took back any part of the price. He never left his first love. He kept the dew of youth upon him to the last. He lived in the Spirit and walked in the Spirit. He communed with God. He prevailed in prayer. He maintained the freedom of the Spirit. He carried so much of the atmosphere of heaven with him that saints were always refreshed and sinners awed and rebuked by his presence. . .

"The simplicity of his aim and the guilelessness of his heart wrought in him that unaffected childlikeness of spirit which gave a peculiar charm to his personality, and made all who loved true goodness to feel at ease in his presence. So great were the simplicity and purity of his own character that it was well-nigh impossible for him to believe any one else corrupt. Hence the leniency of his judgment concerning others and the accusation sometimes made against him, that he leaned too much to the side of the accused. Those who knew him best bear the strongest testimonials to the simplicity of his character, the tenderness of his heart and the generosity of his nature. I always felt humble in the presence of his unaffected simplicity.

"Brother Roberts was one of the most humble men I ever met. He fulfilled the injunction, 'Be clothed with humility,' both in the letter and in the spirit."