CHAPTER XXXIII. PHILADELPHIA AND GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1812.

I will now resume my narrative. Notwithstanding the recent death of my father, and the loneliness of my widowed mother, three days was all the time we could spend at the old homestead after months of absence. As for rest we knew not what it meant, unless it was on horseback. Mr. Asbury acted as if a voice was ringing in his ear, constantly saying, “Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest.” His motto was, “Labor here, rest hereafter.”

The next Sabbath Mr. Asbury preached near Valley Forge at Isaac Anderson’s, Esq. He had been a Methodist for over thirty years, was several times a member of the State Legislature, and was honored with a seat in Congress.

The Philadelphia Conference began on Saturday, April 18. Bishop Asbury, feeble as he was, preached four times during the session, namely, at St. George’s, St. Thomas’s, Union Chapel, and Ebenezer. The deacons were ordained on Wednesday, and the elders on Thursday by Bishop Asbury, Bishop M’Kendree being sick.

This was the first time this conference elected delegates to the General Conference. They sent fourteen: Ezekiel Cooper, John M’Claskey, Thomas F. Sargent, Stephen G. Roszel, Thomas Ware, Richard Sneath, Thomas Boring, David Bartine, John Walker, George Wolley, James Bateman, Thomas Burch, Michael Coate, and Asa Smith. Several of them, like M’Claskey, Sargent, and Roszel, were physically as well as mentally great men. Long since they have all been gathered to their fathers. The conference adjourned on the 26th after a very peaceful and profitable session.

GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1812.

On Friday, May 1, 1812, in the city of New York, there was a great gathering in “Wesley Chapel,” John-street. The cradle of American Methodism was an appropriate place in which to hold the “first delegated General Conference” of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishops Asbury and M’Kendree were there, and ninety representatives from eight Annual Conferences. It was the first Bishop M’Kendree attended after his election to the episcopacy, and the last at which the venerable Bishop Asbury was present. Before the next session he was in Abraham’s bosom.

No account has hitherto been published of the opening services of this conference, nor is there any record in the journal. The first day was observed as a day of fasting and prayer. Bishop Asbury preached at eleven o’clock from Matt. xvii, 19-21, a text admirably adapted to the occasion. No man ever understood adaptation in preaching better than Francis Asbury. Fasting was regularly observed by the Wesley’s and by our fathers in the ministry. Alas, though enjoined in our general rules, it is now almost obsolete.

On Sunday Bishop Asbury preached in the morning at the Bowery (now Forsyth-street) Church, in the evening in the Fourth-street (now Allen-street) Church. The Spirit of God accompanied the word to many souls. On Monday the 4th it not only rained, but snowed: rather late in the season for snow-storms. On Tuesday night I preached in Hudson (now Duane) Church on John i, 11, 12.

On next Sunday, the 10th, Bishop Asbury preached in the morning in the African Church. The colored people had a great time under the word. The bishop was always a great friend to colored people, and they always had the highest regard for him. In the evening he preached in the Hudson Church. A good and gracious time in both places.

On Thursday evening I preached in John-street, from Matt. xi, 28, with some comfort.

On Sunday the 17th I heard Bishop Asbury preach in Sands-street, Brooklyn, from Isaiah lii, 1, “Awake, awake, put on thy strength O Zion,” etc. I wrote in my journal, “A solemn, awful time.” The bishop said it was an “elegant house.” What would he say now to our elegant houses if he could revisit our churches? In the afternoon I heard Joshua Marsden in John-street, on “wisdom.” He was a member of the English Wesleyan Conference, and had been for some years in Nova Scotia. He had come to New York to return to England, but the breaking out of the war between England and America prevented him, and therefore he was employed to preach in New York. He was a good preacher, a great admirer of Bishop Asbury, and has given one of the best descriptions of the bishop’s personal appearance and character I ever read. He had also no common gift as a poet. Some of his pieces, especially a sonnet, “What is Time,” are much admired.⁠[41]

I need not give an account of the doings of the General Conference, which the reader can find in the printed journals. I have dwelt on things hitherto unrecorded. The presiding elder question was debated, whether they should be appointed by the bishop or elected by the conference; also the ordination of local preachers. Asa Shinn and Jesse Lee were here opposed to each other, and it was like the wrestling of giants. Lee contended the local preachers could not perform their ordination vows while in a local condition. Mr. Shinn shrewdly replied that the same form of ordination required an “elder to rule well his own family;” that Brother Lee had promised to perform this duty twenty years before, and yet he had never done it—he was a delinquent, and should keep his own vows, etc. This retort was effective. The conference was perfectly convulsed with laughter at the expense of the old bachelor, who sat down shaking his great sides and enjoying it as well as others. From that time he gave up his opposition.

On the 22d the conference adjourned, to meet in Baltimore May 1, 1816. Where are now those delegates that met in New York in May, 1812? Of the ninety strong men who were there eighty-four are dead, and six only survive: Laban Clark, Joshua Soule, Daniel Webb, Lovick Pierce, Joseph Travis, and John Early.