A History of the Methodist Episcopal Church

By Nathan Bangs, D.D

Volume III

Published in 1841 (From The Year 1816 To The Year 1828)

Table of Contents

NOTICE TO THE READER

BOOK V

CHAPTER 3

Difference between Wesley and Whitefield; its consequences; Fletcher and his writings; Wesleyan missionaries in America -- their manner of preaching; provoke opposition; how defended; Hopkinsianism; this changed the points of controversy; public debate and its results; charitable society for the education of pious young men; its address; examined by Mr. Garrettson; its opinions startle the community; its general views; its political tendency; Connecticut changes its charter; religious liberty obtained; numbers; secession of Richard Allen; organizes a church; General Conference of 1816 -- its members; Bishop McKendree's address; delegates from British conference, affairs of Canada; letter from mission committee of London; report of General Conference on Canada affairs; letter addressed to the committee in London; report of the episcopal committee, and election of Enoch George and Robert L. Roberts to the episcopal office; report of the committee of ways and means; support and improvement of the ministry; committee of safety; on local preachers; provision for the married bishops; book agents; adjournment of Conference.

CHAPTER 4

Conferences and manner of attending them; Tract Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church; beneficial results; general work; character and death of Jesse Lee; character and death of Mr. Shadford; numbers; Methodist Magazine commenced; Asbury College; revivals in the Baltimore, New York, add New England conferences; in Upper Canada; camp meetings again in Kentucky; general superintendence; its effects; Bishop McKendree labors and suffers; locations and deaths of preachers and number of members; diminution of colored members, and its causes; origin of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1819; first constitution, officers and managers; their address; circular; auxiliary societies; Bishop McKendree's views; Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the city of Philadelphia; secession of colored members in New York; their present state and prospects; locations and deaths of preachers; numbers.

CHAPTER 5

General Conference of 1820. Names and number of delegates; opening of conference by Bishop McKendree, and address of the bishops; provision for Bishop McKendree; cause of education; report of committee commending the establishment of seminaries of learning; opposition to this cause; Canada affairs; letter from London; address to the Wesleyan Methodist conference; its answer; resolutions of the British conference on Canada affairs; instructions from our bishops; to the brethren in Lower Canada; result of these proceedings; improved edition of the Hymn Book; Tune Book; revised; building churches; new regulation respecting local preachers; did not work well; finally abrogated; report on missions; revised constitution; rule for conducting appeals; a branch of the Book Concern established at Cincinnati.

CHAPTER 6

Twelve conferences and two effective bishops; state of things in Louisiana; French mission unsuccessful; Indian missions; number and general description of the condition and character of the Indians; Wyandot Indians; John Steward goes among them; his reception; effects of his labors; speeches of chiefs; transactions at the Ohio conference; secession in the city of New York; its causes and effects; numbers return to the church they had left; Missionary Society prospers; its effects in some portions of New England; Methodism in Bristol R. I.; in Provincetown, Mass., and Chillicothe, Ohio; locations, deaths, and numbers; Wyandot mission; Creek mission; camp meetings in South Carolina and Tennessee; work of God in Carter's Valley and Pittsburgh; in North Carolina; in Alabama; character and death of S. Parker; numbers; Asbury mission; its progress and disastrous results; Mohawk mission; Cherokee mission; domestic missions in Upper Canada; general work -- in Brooklyn, L. I., Amenia and Tolland; in Upper Canada district; in Smyrna Delaware; Surry county, Virginia; Scioto, Ohio, and Northumberland district; Hudson River district; New York, and New Rochelle; controversial preaching; Wesleyan Seminary; locations, deaths, and numbers; work of God prospers; Missionary Society aided by the labors of John Summerfield; his address to the Young Men's Missionary Society; Potawattomy mission; Methodism in Jackson's Purchase; in Michigan; in Florida; in Cumberland and St. Louis; aboriginal missions prosperous; Bishop McKendree's visit among the Wyandots; G. R. Jones's letter; J. B. Finley's travels, interesting account of Honnes; mission in the city of New York; on Long Island; in New Brunswick; work of God on Baltimore district; Augusta College; character and death of Dr. Chandler; of John Steward; numbers.

CHAPTER 7

General Conference of 1824. Names and number of delegates; delegates from the Wesleyan Methodist conference; address of said conference; of Mr. Reece; bishops' communication to the conference; report of the committee on lay delegation; on education; Missionary Society; American Colonization Society; on slavery; on the episcopacy; election and consecration of Joshua Soule and Elijah Hedding to the episcopal office; Canada affairs; report of the committee on the itinerancy; address to the Wesleyan Methodist conference.

CHAPTER 8

Wyandot mission visited by Bishops McKendree and Soule; Methodism in Newburyport, Gloucester, and Piscataquis; general work; Cazenovia Seminary; locations and deaths of preachers; character of Peyton Anderson; numbers; Indian missions -- Peter Jones and others brought to God; Methodism in New Orleans; Mobile and Pensacola; in Tallahassee and Early; in the Highlands and Hampshire; in Chillicothe; in Genesee, Bridgetown, Newark, and Coeyman's; in Albany, Champlain, and New Haven districts; church building; revivals in Susquehannah and Black River districts, and in Baltimore; Mariners' Church, New York; general work prosperous; death and character of William Beauchamp; death and character of William Ross; numbers; aboriginal missions prosper; Methodism in Florida, Alabama, and Upper Canada; revivals in Virginia and Maryland; Wilbraham Academy and Madison College; Christian Advocate begun, Sept. 9, 1826; death and character of John Summerfield; of Daniel Asbury; of Daniel Hitt; of Joseph Toy; of John P. Finley; numbers; origin of the Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church; address; its character and success; Cherokee mission; Mississauga; character and death of Between-the-logs; Richmond mission; Methodism in New York city; in New Haven; Maine Wesleyan Seminary; locations and deaths; character and death of Philip Bruce; of Freeborn Garrettson; of James Smith; of Seth Crowell; numbers.

CHAPTER 9

General Conference of 1828. Names and number of bishops and delegates; address of the bishops; appeal of Joshua Randell; vindication of Bishop Hedding, Canada affairs; resolutions of conference in reference to them; important principle explained; no precedent for a similar proceeding in the United States; how an annual conference may be disowned; precedents for ordaining a bishop for Canada; historical sketch of the "Reformers"; Dr. Bond's Appeal; Defense of our Fathers; trials in Baltimore; similar proceedings in other places; mistake corrected; the "Reformers" organize and memorialize the General Conference; report of the conference on said memorial; our people unfavorable to "reform"; effects of the secession -- increase of membership; proceedings of "Reformers"; "The Methodist Protestant Church formed -- its character; agitations continue; finally cease; review of the whole affair; cause of missions, education, and colonization; election of book agents and editors, and provision for the appointment of trustees; address to the Wesleyan Methodist conference; close of the volume.