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Cornell Unlveraity Library
BX8495.H45 C59
Life and times of Rev. Elijah Heddini
1924 029 471 939
oiin
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Library
The original of tliis book is in
tine Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029471939
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LATI
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LIFE AND TIMES
EEY." ELIJAH HEDDUG, D. D.,
LATE SBNIOB BISHOP OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAI. OHCBCH.
By EEY, D. "W". OLAEK, D. D.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION,
By key. bishop E. S. JANES.
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS,
200 MULBEBBY-aTBEET.
1855.
Ai.BoiSlH-
Entered according to Act of Congreis, in the year 1855, by
CARLTOK & PHILLIPS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of
New-York.
PREFACE.
When the preparation of the biography comprised
in the following pages was committed to the author,
it was his purpose to make it strictly personal,
and to comprise it, if possible, in a duodecimo
volume of some four hundred pages. But when
he entered upon the work, h« found the history
of Bishop Heddimg so intertwined and blended
with the early history of the Church in New-
England, and, at a later day, with the history of
the whole Church, that the full development
of his character and services could not well be
made without keeping in view the concurrent
aspects of the great Methodistic reformation in
this country. The carrying out of this idea
involved a vast amount of extra labour. It has
also enlarged, but, he trusts, likewise enriched
li PEEFAOE.
the volume. The title was conformed to this
idea; — hence, "The Life and Times of Hed-
ding."
The material for this work has been drawn
from various sources. Much of the personal
statistics was derived from the manuscript jour-
nal of the bishop; other portions of the mate-
rial from manuscripts written by Rev. Moses L.
Scudder and Rev. L. M. Vincent — both of
whom wrote for him when he became disabled;
and still otlier portions were drawn from manu-
script notes and sketches taken during the last
year of the bishop's life, by Rev. William H.
Ferris, and by the author. There was also a
large accumulation of papers and letters, all of
which were carefully examined and laid under
contribution. The author must also acknowledge
his indebtedness to Rev. Dr. C. Elliott for the
use of complete files of "The Wesleyan Re-
pository," " The Mutual Rights," " The Itinerant,"
"The Zion's Herald," "The Christian Advocate
and Journal," and "Zion's Watchman." In ad-
dition, he has gathered material from the bound
PEEFAOE. d
volumes of "The Minutes of the Conferences,"
the bound volumes of " The Methodist Magazine,"
"Ashur/s Journals," "Lee's Methodism," Ste-
vens's " Memorials of Methodism," Bangs's " His-
tory of the Methodist Episcopal Church," and
various ottier works. The material gathered from
these various sources the author has endeavoured
to blend into a new and homogeneous production ;
not a mere bald, historical detail — but history-
illustrated by incident, and illustrating philos-
ophy.
On sonie portions of the work the author
has bestowed more critical and extended atten-
tion, because of the important principles in-
volved; and especially because Bishop Hedding
desired that his memory should be vindicated
by a fuU and truthful report of his administra-
tion
The place of publication being distant from
the author, he was compelled to read the proof-
sheets without being able to verify the statistics
by comparison with the copy. Still he trusts that
no important error has escaped correction.
PKEFACE.
With the humble desire that it may, ia some
degree, worthily perpetuate the memory of a
great and good man to coming ages, and thus
prove a blessing to the Church of Christ and to
the world, the volume is now sent forth.
The Authoe.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
FBOM HIS BIBTH TO HIS OONTEKSION.
Birth — Ancestry — ^Early Beligious Listruotion — Prayer in Childhood — A "
Mother's Influence — The Dutchess Circuit — Bei^jamin Abbot — Wonderful
Displays of Divine Power — Grandmother and Mother converted — Ex-
horted by Abbot in Glass-meeting — Eemoved to Vermont — Temptations
to Infidelity — Deism — Atheism — Universalism — Mental Conflicts — A
Critical Period — Narrow Escape— Spiritual Destitution of Starksborough
— Advent of a Methodist Family — ^Meetings established — Young Hedding
reads Sermons — Studies Methodist Theology — The Methodist Itinerancy
— Note, A Picture of Aggressive Methodism — Vergennes Circuit — Joseph
Mitchell — Wonderful Revival — A Mother in Israel— Note, Conversion of
Mrs. Bushnell — ^Young Hedding powerfully awakened — His Resolve and
Dedication — Sermon from Joseph Mitchell — Obtains Peace — Becomes a
Probationer — Obtains the Witness of the Spirit — ^Triumph over Sin — State
of his Mind and his Studies — A Striking Conversion — ^Point reached in
the Narrative — School in which tha Prospective Servant of Christ had
been trained — ^Principal Agencies in his Conversion Page 43
CHAPTER II.
COMMENCES HIS ITINEEANT OAEEEB.
General Conviction of the People — Public Exercises — ^Talents and Graces de-
veloped by the Methodist Economy — ^Exercises of his Mind with reference
to the Ministry — Receives an Bxhorter's License— Holds Meetings — ^Lo-
renzo Dow — Leaves his Circuit — ^Young Hedding called out to succeed
him — ^His Labours — Rowdies frightened— A Furious Bully — A. Brother
checked — Perplexed about his Duty — His First Sermon — The Question
solved — Subsequent joyful Experience — The Retrospect — Called out by
the Elder — Shadrach Bostwick — Admitted on Trial in the New-York Con-
ference— ^His Companions — The Ch(irch — Circuits and Circuit Labours —
Primitive Presiding Elders' Districts — Motives of Human Action —
These Men and their Work — The Standard-Bearers in the New-York
CONTENTS.
Conference— Appointed to Plattsburgh— The Circuit— Disoonragements
—His Colleague— His Studies— Thoroughness of his Investigations— An
Dlustration— Abundant in Labours — ^New Ground broken up — Still An-
other—Closes the Conference Tear Page 72
OHAPTEE III.
LAB0TJK8 ON FLETCHEK, BEID6EWATEK, AND HANOVEE CIKCtTITS.
Does not attend the Conference of 1802 — Appointed to Fletcher Cii-cuit—
Laban Clark's Description of it — Henry Ryan — Labours and Sufferings
— Mode of crossing Rivers — Horse gives out — Walks half round his Cir-
cuit— Personal and Ministerial Characteristics — Application to Studies
— Stackhouse's History of the Bible — His Colleague — Religious Con-
dition of the People — St. Albans — Disciples of Thomas Paine — Perse-
cutions— Two Young Women whipped — A Novel Scene — Infant Dam-
nation — Anecdotes of Early Methodism — Ashgrove Conference in 1803
— Ashgrove Society — Conference Services — Ordained Deacon — Ap-
pointed to Bridgewater — Extent of the Circuit — Promising Indications
— Dangerously Sick — Effects on the Work — Given over to die — Re-
vives — Attempts to resume his Work — Terrible Attack of Rheumatism —
Spiritual Conflicts — Prospect of being a Cripple — Thrice tried — A Bright
Example of Christian Charity — Resumes his Labours — Visits Saratoga
— Incident on board a Sloop — Conference in 1804: — Note to Bishop
Asbury — Anecdote of Asbury — Hanover Circuit — Itinerancy of Single
Men — Privileges of Study — Revolves his Plan — Studies English Gram-
mar — Mode — Dictionary of the Language — Effects — Subsequent Stud-
ies— Successes of the Year 96
CHAPTER IV.
ME. HEDDING UPON BAEEE AND VEESHIEE CIEOUITS.
Mr. Hedding in the New-England Conference — Leading Men of that Con-
ference— The Lynn Session in 1805 — Examination of Character — Fi-
nances— Public Exercises — Progress of the Work in New-England since
1790 — Difficulties and Opposition — Appointed to Barre Circuit — Dan
Young, his Colleague — Mutual Assistance — Condition of the Circuit —
Prosperity of the Work — Mr. Hedding as a Disciplinarian — Singular
Trial of his Skill — Obstacles opposed to Methodism in Vermont — A
" Tithingmau " in a Methodist Meeting — Session of the Conference for
1806— Yearly Change of Preachers in Early Times — Appointed to Vershire
Circuit — Its Situation and Extent — Emigration — Loss of Official Mem-
bers— Theological Biasses of New-England — Doctrinal Discussions —
Onset with a Doctor of Divinity — Results — Characteristic Labours of
Methodist Pioneers —Tour of a Young Itinerant through Northern Ver-
CONTENTS. 7
mont — Dialogue with a Poor Woman — Powerful Conversions — Mrs.
Bishop — Spirit and Agencies of the Methodistic Revival — First Six
Years of Itinerant Labour Page 128
CHAPTER V.
ME. HEDDING ON NEW-HAMPSHIEE DI8TEICT.
First Conference in New-England — Jesse Lee's Mission to the Eastern States
— His First Auxiliaries — Results up to the Fifteenth Anniversarj; — Ses-
sion of the Conference for 1807 — Mr. Hedding appointed to New-Hamp-
shire District — Charles Virgin — One of his Preachers wonoverto Calvin-
ism — Effort to save him — Temporary Success — Finally secedes — Cause
of Withdrawals — Inadequacy of Support — Enormous Proportion of Loca-
tions — Causes of Inadequacy of Support — Preachers partly chargeable —
Influence of the same Causes at the Present Day — Deficiencies in the
New-Hampshire District — Mr. Bedding's Receipts — His Conflicts of
Mind — Finds an Associate of his Youth — A Temptation overcome —
A Singular Charge preferred against him at Conference — The Dispo-
sition made of it — Results to the person preferring it — Session of the
Conference for 1808 — Returned to New-Hampshire District — Elected a
Delegate to the General Conference — Session of the General Conference —
Question of a Delegated General Conference — Failure of the Plan by the
Opposition of the Middle Conferences — Excitement and Dissatisfaction
— Mr. Hedding's Labours to prevent <& Rupture — The Subject recon-
sidered— The Plan adopted — Dr. Bangs's Remarks upon it — Proposed
Increase of the Number of Bishops — Conference determines to elect
one only — M'Kendree elected and ordained — Close of the Conference —
Mr. Hedding returns to his District — Jesse Lee revisits New-England —
His Remarks on Pews — His Character drawn by Rev. A. Stevens — An
Admirable Pioneer — His First Labours — Present Condition of the Work
— A Triumphal Tour — The Parting Pledge 155
CHAPTER VI.
MR HEDDING ON NEW-LONDON DISTEIOT.
Session of the Conference for 1809 — ^Mr. Hedding appointed to the New-
London District — Preachers on the District — ^Its Extent — Camp-meeting
— First one on the District — Solicitude — Wonderful Display of Divine
Power — Five Hundred prostrate on the Earth — ^Results — Mr. Hedding's
Marriage — Sketch of Miss Lucy Blish, afterward Mrs. Hedding — ^Her
Parents — ^Early Education — Early Religious Impressions — ^Perplexed by
Calvinism — ^Visits a Sister within the Bounds of Plattsburgh Circuit —
Hears Methodist Preaching — Is converted and joins the Church — ^Returns
Home — Her Parents converted — A New Society raised up — Mr. Hedding's
1*
CONTENTS.
First Acquaintance with her— Their Marriage— Survives him— Mr. Hed-
ding takes np his Residence in Winchester, N. H.— Reviews his Pecuniary
Profits and Losses as a Single Man— The Session of the Conference at
Winchester— How provided for— Bishops Asbury and M'Kendree— Re-
turned to the District— Preachers with him— Removes to Ludlow, Mass.—
Attempt to warn him out of Town— Employed by the Town on his Vacant
Sabbaths— Invited by the Town to become the Settled Pastor— Declines-
Subsequent Occasional Thoughts— Mr. Newhall's " Rich and Refreshing
Meditations" when forcing his Way through Snow-drifts— Horse dis-
abled—Travels on Foot— An Attack of Rheumatism— Crippled Condition
—A Wayside Incident^-A Singular Sweat— Unexpected Restoration —
Conference approaching— Remarks upon his Ten Tears' Labour— Diffi-
culties encountered by Methodism — Its Great Successes— Progress of
the Work on the District— Camp-meeting — Summation at the Close of
the Year Page 182
CHAPTER VII.
LABOUES IN BOSTON, NANTtTOKKT, AND LYNN STATIONS.
New-England Conference for 1811 — ^Mr. Redding a Delegate to the
General Conference — Appointed to Boston — ^Labours — The Embargo —
Pecuniary Embarrassments of the People — Spiritual Prosperity — Con-
version of B. T. Taylor — ^Mr. Bedding's Colleague, Rev. E. R. Sabin —
The First Delegated General Conference — The Presiding-Elder Question
— The Question in the General Conference of 1808 — In 1812— Its Sub-
sequent History — The Qnestion in 1816 — ^Dr. Bangs's Account of the
Discussion — The Question in 1820 — The Compromise — ^Protest of Rev.
Joshua Soule, Bishop Elect — ^Protest of Bishop M'Kendree — Attempt to
reconsider fails — The Rule suspended — ^Finally rescinded — Mr. Hed-
ding's Views — Change of his Opinion — Final Record of his Opinions on
the Subject — The Question of Reserve Delegates — Surviving Members
of this Conference — Session of the New-England Conference — ^War
declared — Apprehended Evils — Mr. Hedding appointed to Nantucket —
Origin of the Society here — ^Rev. George Cannon — Evil Results of Locat-
ing— ^Mr. Hedding's Reception on the Island — Excitement among the
Islanders — Losses by the War — Condition of the People — State for the
Church — ^Pastoral Labours — ^A Happy Convert — The Conference for 1813
— State of the Work — ^Death of one of Mr. Hedding's Early Associates —
Thomas Branch — Character and Labours — ^Departs for the West — Death
— ^Mr. Hedding discovers his Grave in 1826 — His Letter — Stationed at
Lynn Common — ^Removal — ^Privations and Sufferings of the People —
His Sympathy and Labours for them — His Colleague — ^Results of the
Year — Returned to Lynn in 1814 — ^Labours of the Year — Detained from
Conference by a Revival 206
CONTENTS. a
CHAPTER VIII.
LAB0UE8 IN BOSTON, PORTLAND, LTNN, AND ITE'W-LONDON.
Conference of 1815 — Bishop Aabury — His Feebleness — Subsequent La-
bours— Death — Conference Business — Mr. Hedding elected Delegate
to the General Conference — Stationed in Boston — Daniel Fillmore,
his Colleague — Their mutual Attachment — An Amusing Anecdote,
or "Shallow Preaching" — State of Religion in the City — Niece of
Hancoclt converted — General Conference of 1816 — Session of the
New-Englajjd Conference at Bristol — Mr. Hedding and his Colleague
returned to Boston — Debt on the Churches — l^oble and Successful
Effort to liquidate it — A Bequest to the Churches — Methodism plant-
ed in Dorchester — Also in Charlestown — Prospprity in Boston — Con-
ference in 1817 — Progress of Methodism — Stationed in Portland--.
State of the Society — Conference in 1818 — Mr. Hedding in Lynn —
Member of the General Conference of 1820 — Stationed in New-London
— Disorganized Condition of the Society — Character and End of the
Disorderly — Health fails — Reaches Conference Page 242
CHAPTER IX.
ME. HEDDING ON BOSTON DISTEICT AND IN BOSTON— FEOM 1821
TO 1824.
Boston District— An Inhospitable Methodist — State of the Work — Camp-
meetings — Conference at Bath — Stationed in Boston — Mr. Hedding's
Conference Sermon — Measures to establish Zion's Herald— Mr. Hed-
ding's Colleague, Bphraim Wiley — Conference of 1823 — ^Returned to
Boston — Colleague — John Lindsey — Review of Mr. Hedding's Labours —
Progress of Methodism — Elements of its Success — 1. Revival of the Old
Doctrines of Christianity — 2. Appeal to Man's Consciousness of hia
Relations to God — 3. A Conscious Personal Salvation — 4. Individualizing
Characteristics of Methodist Preaching — 5. Peculiar Provisions of Or-
ganic Methodism — Perpetuity of these Elements — Confidence reposed in
Mr. Hedding by his Brethren 267
CHAPTER X.
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1824, AND ME. HEDDING'S ELECTION
TO THE EPISCOPAOT.
Representation in the General Conference — British Delegation — Address
of the Bishops — Educational Demands upon the Church — Religious
Education of the Children — Seminaries and Public Schools — Mission-
10 CONTENTS.
ary Society —Book Concern — Slavery and the " Tenth Section " — Me-
morials on Lay Delegation — Action of the Conference — Reasons as-
signed—The Presiding-Elder Question — Ballotings for Bishops — Mr.
Bedding's Election — His Reluctance to being a Candidate — Rev. E.
Mudge's Account- Feelings after Election— Subsequent Resolution of
the Conference — Accepts the Office and is ordained — Fitness for the
Office Page 292
CHAPTER XI.
FIRST QUADEENNIAL OF EPISCOPAL LABOUE.
Division of Episcopal Labour — Bishops George and Bedding attend the
New-York Conference — Bishop Bedding makes Lynn his Residence —
New-England Conference — Joshua Randle — Bishop George's Opinion of
his Colleague — Genesee Conference — Cazenovia Seminary — Proposed
Tour in Canada — Excitement there — Rate of Travel — Incident in
Toronto — Hardships — A Log-cabin Tavern — Difficulties compromised
— Henry Ryan — Close of Conference — Progress of the Church during
the Year — Sickness — A Bard Ride — Reaches Borne in March — • Diffi-
culties of Travel — Starts for Philadelphia — Desponding Letter — ■ Phila^
delpbia, New-York, New-England, and Maine Conferences — State of the
Work in Maine — Journey to Northern New-York — Letter to his Wife
— Genesee Conference — Canada Conference — Progress of the Work —
Summation for the Year — Returns Borne — A Wayside Incident — Win-
ter of 1825-6 — Meeting of the Bishops in Baltimore — Failure to ap-
point a Delegate to the British Conference — Philadelphia and New-
York Conferences — Genesee Conference — Letter to his Wife — Pitts-
burgh Conference — The " Radical Movement " — Mr. Hedding's Address
to the Conference — Plain Talk in the Cabinet — Changes two Presiding
Elders — Letter to Mrs; Bedding — The Ohio Conference — Return to
Lynn — Results of another Year — Starts again — A Letter — Philadel-
phia and New-York Conferences — Difficulties in Stationing Preachers —
An Illustrative Instance — The True Course for a Young Preacher — New-
England Conference — Fever and Ague — Journey to Portland — Maine
Conference — Journey Westward — The Canada Conference — Prevailing
Drought — Sickness of Preachers — Visits the Indian Mission Stations in
Canada — Interesting Anecdotes of Converted Indians — Reading the Tes-
tament without learning the Letters — Indians at Rice Lake — Visit to
Grape Island — ^Bark Canoe — Novel Mode of Landing — Captain Beaver
— Preaches to the Indians — Sermon of Peter Jones — Church Labour
with an Erring Brother — Curious Questions — Estimate of the Work
among the Indians — Journey to Troy — Dedicates State-street Church
— Reaches Home — End of the Year — Maine We3leyan Seminary — Bishop
Hedding's Interest in our Educational Movements 305
CONTENTS. 11
CHAPTEE XII.
SECOND QTJADEENNIAL OF BPI8C0PAI. LABOURa.
Goes to the General Conference — Doubts about the Duty of Continuing
in the Office — The General Conference — Progress of the "Radical
Movement" — Changes sought for — The "Union Society" — "Mutual
Rights" — Dr. Bond's "Appeal" — Church Trials in Baltimore — Me-
morial to the General Conference — Report of the Committee — Asa
Shinu mpves its Adoption — Nine-tenths of the People opposed to the
proposed Change — Bishop Hedding misrepresented in the " Mutual
Rights" by "Timothy" — Seeks Redress — "Timothy's" Anonymous
Certificates — Bishop Hedding brings the Matter before the General Con-
ference— Action of the Committee on the Episcopacy — Testimony of the
Pittsburgh Delegation — Confession of Rev. George Brown, the Real
"Timothy" — Triumphant Vindication of the Bishop — Progress of the
Work during the Four Years — Close of the General Conference — Route
to New- York — Perils upon Lake Brie — Parts with Bishop George for
the Last Time. — Their Association and Attachment — Dr. Bangs's Por-
traiture of the Character of Bishop George — Outline of his Life and
Labours — Responsibility that had rested on Bishop Hedding — Route
into New-England — Perilous Accident — Visit to Canada — The Inde-
pendent Organization of the Canada Conference completed — A Dying
Father's Charge to his Son to maintain " the Family Altar" — The Re-
sult — Close of the Ecclesiastical Year — Progress of the Work — Increase
in the Church during the "Radical Movement" — Prophesied Ruin of
the Church not realized — Bishop Hedding spends the Winter of 1-82&-9
in Lynn — Sermon on Dancing — Philadelphia, New- York, and New-
England Conferences for 1829 — ExcitementonMasonry — Maine Confer-
ence— Tour of Visitation to the Churches — Refused Entertainment by
a Wealthy Methodist Pago 330
CHAPTER Xni.
SECOND QUADRENNIAL OF EPISCOPAL LABOITES— CONCLUDED.
Conferences for the Spring of 1830 — Visits the Oneida Indian Mission —
Sermon to the Indians — Journeys Westward — Review of Labours —
A Week's Rest — Visit to Canad.a — Reaches Home after Nine Months*
Absence — Summation for the Year — Baltimore Conference in 1831 —
— A "Located Itinerant" — Submits to a Surgical Operation — Confer-
ences attended this Spring — Leaves Home on a Western and South-
em Tour — Letter to his Wife — Genesee Conference — Christian Hos-
pitality iw. Hospitality to Office — A Cold Reception — Quartered among
Apprentice Boys — Pittsburgh Conference — Journey to Mansfield, Ohio
13 CONTENTS.
— Adventures with a Preacher who had "Time enough yet" — Meets
the Kentucky Conference at Louisville — Journey from Louisville to
East Tennessee — Reaches Athens — Kebuke of a Pompous Young Man
— Holston Conference — Visits the Cherokee Nation — State of Society,
&c. — Encounter with a Watch- Dog — Travels in Georgia — A Slave
Auction — The Georgia Conference — South-Carolina Conference — Con-
versation with a Negro on the Roanoke — Hospitality of a Tavern-
keeper — Virginia Conference — Philadelphia .Conference — Arrives at
the Seat of the General Conference — Progress of the Work during the
Four Years — Educational Movement — Colleges — Seminaries — Mis-
sions— Among the Slaves — Liberia — Indian Missions — In CiAiada —
At Green Bay — Rev. John Clark — The Wyandots — Rev. J. B. Finley
— Visit to the East with Indians — Chootaws — Cherokees — Death
of Ministers Page 377
CHAPTER XIV.
THIliD QtrADEENNIAL OF EPISCOPAL LABOURS.
General Conference of 1832— Representation — Charaiiter of the Session
— Two Bishops elected — Bishop Hedding's Purpose to resign — Action
of the New-York and New-England Delegates — He yields to their
Judgment — The New- York Conference — Its Division — Law Questions
— A Question proposed — New-England Conference — Ravages of the
Cholera — Aspect in New-York City — The People rushing from the
City — Passage up the Hudson — Reflections — Note: Distressing Case
of a Widow and her Son — Letter to Bishop Roberts — Oneida Con-
ference— Genesee — Efforts to reach the Canada Conference — Pails —
Alarming Symptoms — Reaches Home — State of his Feelings — Statis-
tics of the Year — Presides over the Virginia Conference in 1833 — A
Few Days in Washington — Idea of the City — Old Age aji Incurable
Disease — Conferences attended — A Great Dinner — The Meeting of
Old Friends — Prosperity of the Oneida Conference — Completes his
Conference Visitation for the Year — Tax upon his Distinction as an
Expounder of Ecclesiastical Law — Prosperity of the Church — The
Oregon Mission — Educational Interests — Conference Labours for 1834
— Death of two Fellow-labourers — The Labours of u. Bishop — Ques-
tion involving the Administration of Presiding Elders — The Course of
Study for Candidates in the Ministry — Action of the Bishops assailed
—Letter of Bishop Emory — A Singular Question affecting the Mar-
riage Relation of Slaves — Progress of the Church — Conferences in
1835 — Development of our Ecclesiastical Jurisprudence — Question
upon electing Committees on Trials — Death of Bishop M'Kendres
— Sudden Death of Bishop Emory — Returns of Members — Incident
upon Long Island Sound — Attends the Virginia and Baltimore Confer-
ences—Progress of the Church during the four Preceding Years 410
CONTENTS. 13
CHAPTER XV.
rOTJKTH QtTADEENNIAL OF EPISCOPAL LABOURS.
General Conference of 1836 — Representation — Death of M'Kendree and Em-
ory — Address of Bishops Roberts and Heddlng ^ Hedding's Remark upon
the Administration of Discipline— Election of three Bishops — Ordination
of Messrs. Waugh and Morris —Vote relating to Bishops Roberta and Bed-
ding — Sundry Measures — Adjournment — Bishop Heddlug's Labours for
the twelve past Years — Conferences met during this Year — Statistical
Returns — pauses assigned for declension — True causes — Bishop Hedding
removes from Lynn to Lansingburgh, N. Y. — Note made at the close of
the Year's Labour — Conferences met In 1837 — ■ An Increase reported this
Year — Import of Questions propounded to Candidates for Deacon and
Elder's Orders — Labours of 1838 — Visits the Grave of Benjamin Abbott
— Protracted Sessions of the New-York and New-England Conferences —
Visits the Northern New-York Conferences — Progress of the Church
this Year — Conferences attended In 1839 — Exhaustion — Misses old
Friends — Influence upon him — Anti-Slavery Excitement — Course he
felt obliged to pursue — Prosperity of the Church — Close of the Fourth
Quadrennial of his Labours — Some Reflections — Death of Ministers
during the four Years — ^Mr. Bedding's old Associates — John Brodhead
— Martin Ruter — Oliver Beale — Wilbur Fisk — The Dying Testimonies
— Substantial Prosperity of the Church — Embarrassment from Locations
— Vitality of the Methodist System Page 448
CHAPTER XVI.
BISHOP HEDDING AND THE ABOLITION CONTEOVEEST.
Die Anti-Slavery Agitation — Movements of Rev. Orange Scott during the
Conference Year 1834-5 — Anti-Slavery feeling in New-England and
Northern New- York — Stand-point from which Bishop Hedding contem-
plated the Movement' — ^Anticipation of evil results — Feels it his Duty
to oppose Ultra Measures — Gives countenance to the " Counter Appeal "
— Anti-Slavery Sentiments expressed in that Appeal — Difficult position
o£3ishop Hedding — His Pastoral Letter to the New-England and New-
Hampshire Conferences — Its effect — Its treatment by the Ultraists —
Newspaper Discussions — General Conference of 1836 — The Pastoral
Address — Disapprobation of the Measures employed by Abolitionists —
Avoid electing a Slaveholding Bishop — Extremists on both sides dis-
satisfied— Binding fbrce of the General Conference action upon the
Bishops — Bishop Hedding at the New-England Conference in 1836 —
Declines reappointing 0. Scott to the Presiding Eldership — Proposed
Action on Slavery — His Administration assailed — New-Hampshire Con-
ference — G. Storrs proposed for Presiding Elder — The Bishop converses
14 CONTENTS.
with him— Declines to appoint him — Painful feelings — New-England
Conference for 1837 — Calls the attention of the body to the misrepre-
sentations of 0. Scott — Note : Letter from Bishop Hedding to Eev. 0.
Scott — The Settlement — 0. Scott's retractions — Note : Previous at-
tempt at Adjustment : written statement of T. Merritt, D. Fillmore, and
T. C. Peirce — Events at the New-Hampshire Conference — Bishop Bed-
ding's Vindication of his Administration — His celebrated " Golden-Kule
Argument in favour of Slavery," and what it amounts to — An Unpar-
donable Sin — Ruling of Presiding Elders — Character of some of the
Resolutions — Rev. 0. Scott in the Field — His offences against Bishop
Hedding repeated — A few Extracts from his published Letters — Charges
preferred against Rev. 0. Scott before the New-England Conference —
Decisions of the Conference — Trial of La Roy Sunderland — Mr. Hed-
ding looks to the General Conference for redress — Incident at the close
of the New-England Conference — Rev. 0. Scott's ex 'parte statement of
the Trial — Action in the New-Hampshire Conference — Letter from
Bishop Morris — Letter from Bishop Hedding in relation to the Trials of
Scott and Sunderland — Subsequent misrepresentation and ill-treatment
received by Bishop Hedding — An Apologetic Remark concerning the
Ultraists — Light in which Bishop Hedding's Administration is to
be interpreted — Subject brought up to the General Conference of
1840. Page 480
CHAPTER XVII.
THE GENEEAL CONFERENCE OF 1840, AND THE FIFTH QUADREN-
NIAL OF EPISCOPAL LABOUR.
General Conference of 1840 — Representation — Bishop's Address — Views
of Constitutional Powers — Government of the Church — Appeal of
Rev. D. Dorchester — Action in relation to the Prerogatives of Bishops
and Presiding Elders as Presiding Officers — Bishop Hedding's Com-
munication in relation to the Trials of 0. Scott and La Roy Sunderland —
Private Adjustment by the Delegates — Magnanimity of Bishop Hedding
— Another instance — Speech upon striking out the Censure of the
New-England Conference — His counsel prevails — The Question on the
Testimony of Coloured Persons — Dr. Few's Resolution — Tie Vote
upon its consideration — Bishop Hedding declines to give the Casting
Vote — Shows that a Bishop has no Constitutional Right to Vole —
Pastoral Address — Close of the Conference — Annual Conferences
Michigan — Ohio — Dedicates Bedford-street Church in New-York city
— Close of the Year — Dedication of John-street Methodist Episcopal
Church — Conferences of 1841 — Address on the Administration of Dis-
cipline—Address before the New-Jersey Conference on Christian Perfec-
tion — Results for the Year — Conferences of 1842 — The Resolution pro-
posed about Transfers in the New-Hampshire Conference — Address
upon "Man's Natural Ability," &c. — Residence at Saratoga— Great fall
CONTENTS. 15
of Snow ^ A hard Sleigh-ride — Conferences of 18i8 — Death of Bishop
Soberts — Condition of the Work in the Eastern Conferences — Letter
to his Wife — Missionary Cause — Removes to Ponghkeepsie — Unprece-
dented Increase of Members in the Church — Spring of 1844 Page 537
CHAPTER XVin.
SIXTH QtTABEENNIAl OF EPISOOPAIi LABOtJE.
General Conference of 1844 — Representation — Slavery Agitation — The
Harding Case — Case of Bishop Andrew — Intensity of Feeling excited
— Proposition of the Bishops to suspend Action — Objections in the
Minds of Northern Delegates — Bishop Hedding withdraws his Name —
Assigns his Keasons — Remarks of Bishops Wangh and Morris — The
Communication laid on the Table — Passage of Finley's Resolution —
Eventual Separation of the Southern Conferences — Resolution relating
to Bishop Bedding's Labours — Election and Consecration of Bishops
Hamline and Janes — Close of the Session — Conference Labours —
Changed Views of Brethren alienated in the Abolition Controversy —
Invitation to fix his Residence again in New-England — Conference La-
bours in 1845 — Death of three Ministers — Action of the Bishops in
Relation to giving Bishop Andrew work — Bishop Soule calls Bishop
Andrew out — His Allusion to his Colleagues — Southern Organization
completed — Bishops Soule and Andrew connected with it — Action of
the Bishops remaining in the Methodist Episcopal Church — Conference
Labours in 1846 — A Scene in the New-York Conference — Church Diffi-
culties in Relation to John N. Maffitt — Question of Jurisdiction — Bishop
Hedding's Decision — Animadversions upon that Decision — General
Conference approves it — Church Statistics — Spring of 1847 — New-
England Conference-— Address on the Occasion of the Death of George
Pickering and Joel Steele — Further Labours — Providence Conference
in 1848 587
CHAPTER XIX.
SEVENTH QUADEENNIAL OP EPISCOPAL LABOUE.
General Conference of 1843— Bishop Hedding requested to prepare some
Biographical Sketch of himself^ His Views on the Pastorship of the
Methodist Episcopal Church -.- Appointed Delegate to the British Wes-
leyan Conference •— Feeble Health — Rev. Manning Force accompanies
him — Revives an Acquaintance with an old Fi'iend — Sermon before the
New-Hampshire Conference — Visit on part of an old Circuit ^Vermont
Conference at Barre — Maine and East Maine Conferences — Conferences
in 1849— The old Cambridge Circuit— The Bishop's Notes of Travel, &c.
— A strong Christiaji — Hib singulai- Death — Sunday Labours — Attends
B
16 CONTENTS.
the Funeral of Rev. J. A. Merrill— Sick— First failure in Twenty-five
Years to meet Ms Conferences— Travels in 1850 — Remarks upon his
Notes of Travel — Views about Preaching — Comparison of Methodism
with the Former Time— Zeal of the Early Methodists — Class-meetings
— Novel case of proving the Mind — Compliment to a Sermon — Success
of Methodist Agenoies Page 6U
OHAPTEB XX.
LAST HOTJEB OF BISHOP HEDDING.
Bishop Hedding viewed in a New Scene— First Attack of Acute Sisease —
Second Attack — Hopes — Their Disappointment — State of his Mind —
Assailed by Satan — Record of God's Mercy — Notes taken of his Expe-
nence and Remarks— Gradual Decline— Conversations during the Last
Months of his Life — Expression of his Feelings to Rev. Mr. Ferris —
Last Public Exercise — Infirmities increased— "Draws up his Will — Una-
bated Interest in the Church — Prospect of seeing and knowing Friends
in Heaven — Interest in Prayer — Views on leaving the Church on Earth
— Last Sacrament— His Trust In the Midst of Distress — A Day of Suf-
fering and of Triumph — Terrible bodily Condition— Wonderful Grace
— Visited by Bishop Janes and Dr. Peck — The Closing Scene — Funeral
Services — Epitaph upon his Monument ^ 637
OHAPTEE XXI.
ESTIMATE OF THE OHAEACTEE AND 8EEVI0E8 OP BISHOP
HEDDING.
Concluding our Work — Bodily Appearance of Bishop Hedding — Habits
and Manner of Life — Social Qualities -~ Care of the Feelings and Repu-
tation of Others -^ A Keen Observer of Human Character -^ Cast of his
Intellect—^ His Literary and Scientific Attainments ^Character as a
Divine ^Character as a Preacher '— Character as a Presiding OflBcer and
an Expounder of Ecclesiastioal Law -.- Tone and Character of his Piety —
General Excellence and Harmony of Character ^Results witnessed in
his Life and Labours — His Memory,. , .,, 665
INTEODUCTION.
The truthful biography of eminent Christian ministers
whom death has removed, so far replaces those golden
candlesticks that by reflection, at least, they continue
to mingle their holy radiance with the efiulgence of
that Church which is " the light of the world." By
its office, therefore, such being dead, yet speak, —
being absent in body, they are retained with us in
spirit, — though entered into rest, they are made to
reenact before us the blessed activities and glorious
triumphs of their probationary state. Its office is,
therefore, most interesting and important. It in-
creases the moral wealth of the Church, by wresting
those bright examples of Christian excellence from
the oblivious power of death, and constellating them,
with all their heavenly lustre and winniag loveliness,
before the world. It augments the spiritual strength
of the Church, by showing the timid and fearful,
among her struggling hosts, how others of like pas-
sions, encompassed with the same infirmities, and
conflicting with the same " principalities and powers,"
have overcome by grace, and by faith have even
triumphed over the "last enemy;" thus demonstra-
ting to them the possibility of their becoming more
18 INTEODTJCTION.
than conquerors through " Him that has loved them,"
and animating them to continue the " good fight."
It has edified the ministry of the Church, by
placing before them, for their imitation and encour-
agement, examples of ministerial excellence, of pas-
toral fidelity, of cheerful sacrifice, of patient toil, of
many sufferings, of holy living, and of happy dying.
The biographical notices of the apostles, and of their
contemporary labourers, furnished by the 'New Tes-
tament Scriptures, are full of holy inspirings. The
heroic devotion of St. Paul has exerted a powerful
influence upon the ministers of Jesus Christ in all
ages. So also with the eminent servants of Christ in
later times. Who has ever contemplated the intrepid
spirit and valiant conduct of Martin Luther, when he
braved the fury of an enraged and unscrupulous
priesthood, the wrath of crowned heads, and the
thunders of the Vatican, that he might vindicate the
truth of God, and reform a corrupt Church, — and not
felt a holy heroism stirring within him, inspiring him
with something of the same moral grandeur of char-
acter ? And who, through their memoirs, has made
himself acquainted with the spirit, the lives, and
labours of the Wesleys, — their enlightened and fer-
vent piety, their crucifixion to the world, their
oneness of purpose, their .ardent and inextinguish-
able zeal, their able and eloquent ministry, and
their stupendous and glorious achievements, — ^with-
out having his whole soul moved with a desire to
imitate their piety, their devotion, and their zeal?
Who has ever reflected upon the missionary ser-
vices and martyr sacrifices of a Brainerd, a Martyn,
a Carey, and a Cox, without feeling a missionary
INTEODUOTION. 19
fire kindling in his heart, burning in his very bones,
and nerving his soul with the determination to have
some agency in the great work of evangelizing the
world? Or, who has ever brought home to his
own heart the fragrant memory and reviewed the
spiritual lives of such devout and holy men as
John Fletcher, Edward Payson, and Wilbui* Fisk,
and not felt himself in a garden of spices, where
all his senses were regaled, as it were, with celes-
tial odours? The glorious illustrations of the pu-
rity and power of Christianity, exhumed by biog-
raphy from the tomb of time, an4 held up before
the Church, form a pillar of cloud by day, and of
fire by night, to direct, enlighten, and encourage the
Israel of God in their journeyings to the heavenly
Canaan.
One of the elements of the interest, power, and
usefulness, of Christian biography is its variety. Hu-
man characters and experiences are almost endlessly
diversified. Every man has his peculiarities. His
physical peculiarities give him his identity of person ;
his mental and moral peculiarities his identity of char-
acter ; and his peculiar exercises of mind and of body
his identity of history. The faithful biographer da-
guerreotypes all these peculiarities, and exhibits each
individual in the special characteristics of his person,
his character, and his life. His powers, however,
vastly transcend those of the artist. The pictures he
draws are instinct with life, intelligence, and love.
Does the sculptor " make the marble speak ?" With
his statue the biographer does more: it breathes
and moves, it speaks and acts, it sacrifices and suffers,
it illustrates great virtues and performs noble deeds.
20 INTEODITCTION.
Each biograpliy, therefore, like the personage it rep-
resents, has not only its distinctive character, but its
peculiar sphere of interest and influence.
Another element of its power is found in the law
of assimilation. As the beautiful and sublime in
nature awaken corresponding emotions and inspire
corresponding sentiments, so the contemplation of
the lovely, the useful, the great, the good in human
character and conduct, inspires corresponding sympa-
thies, kindles corresponding aspirations, and leads to
corresponding activities in the great theati-e of life.
The student of Qhristian biography lives with the
blessed dead — ^not in their life of glory, but in their
life of grace, — that life which is by the faith of the
Son of God — a life of devotions and duties, of aims
and conflicts, of services and sacrifices, and of tiials
and triumphs. Associating with them, he becomes
like them ; conversing with them, contemplating
their character and life, he is changed into the same
image ; witnessing their continuous toil and patient
endurance, he also becomes steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord. This
power of assimilation endows Christian biography
with vast moral influence, and makes it a most pre-
cious means of grace. The lives of holy men are
endowed with vital power; they not only point out
and illustrate the way, but they draw the soul heav-
enward.
Its force is also found in its illustrations of religious
truth. Abstract teachings have but little interest for
the common mind. Indeed, for the most part, even
informed and cultivated persons do not seek them
for the pleasure they afford, but for ediflcation. All
INTEODTJCTION. 21
minds appreciate apt illustrations, beautiful descrip-
tions. Hence the ctarms of poetry and the attrac-
tions of a figurative style of composition. This is
one of the things that makes the gospel the power of
God unto salvation. It not only contains the glorious
truth of Christiaoity, but gives us that truth illus-
trated and exemplified in the parables and life of
Christ, and. in the lives of his apostles. What Christ
did is as instructive as what Christ saAd. His con-
duct and spirit, in the varying circumstances of his
eventful life, are as edifying as his discourses. In-
deed, the former beautifully illustrate and enforce
the latter. The example of Jesus^ — the life that he
lived — is, therefore, as instructive as the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth. By multi-
tudes the instructions furnished by the holy and use-
ful life of the Saviom* are more clearly perceived,
more fully comprehended, and more forcibly felt
than even the revelations and precepts that he
uttered with his lips. The man who can hardly
comprehend the abstract statement or demonstration
of truth, will perhaps be the first to perceive it and
to feel its power when, as a living embodiment, it
stands before him. Christian biographypossessesthis
useful attribute : it furnishes apt, plain, and affecting
illustrations of all the experimental and practical
ti-uths of the gospel. As in mathematical text-books,
each rule is accompanied with some problems worked
out in order to show the student how the rule is to be
applied ; so religious biography furnishes examples
under all the rules and principles of Christianity,
clearly showing how its problems of penitence, and
faith, and practical duty are to be solved. For ia-
22 INTEODUCTIOK.
stance, in the life of Bishop Hedding we have a most
striking example of penitence, of powerful conv^er-
sion, of strong faith in the midst of great trials and
severe temptations, of pure-mindedness and holy
living, of unyielding perseverance in great and
long-continued labours in the cause of Christ, and,
in the end, of holy triumph over the fear of death
and the grave. 'No one can read his life without
obtaining a clearer knowledge of the things that per-
tain to salvation — especially to the Christian faith
and life — ^than they could possibly have gained from
the most elaborate and able dissertations upon the
abstract subjects. Religious biography sustains to
didactic theology the same relation the atlas does to
the geography. The one states and argues the sub-
ject; the other exhibits and illustrates it. To a large
class of minds- this illustration is almost indispensa-
ble, and there is no class that may not be benefited
by it.
A well-written memoir of any eminently religious,
laborious, or useful person, is, therefore, a work of
great spiritual interest. It is another beacon-light
upon the shores of time, pointing out the channel of
safety and success to those who navigate its danger-
ous straits. It is another " still, small," but eloquent
voice, pleading for Jesus and wooing souls to Christ.
It is another problem of salvation to the uttermost,
worked out and placed before us so that we may
mark its successive stages, and be assisted in making
our own calling and election sure. How invaluable,
then, is such a work ! How helpful to young disciples,
and how strengthening to older believers! It is at
once a practical confirmation of the truth of Chris-
INTEODUCTION. 23
tianity, and also a practical exhibition of its blessed
fruits.
All these elements of usefulness appertain to the
biographies of eminent private Christians. Their
experience, their patience, their holy life, and their
final triumph, exhibit the great beauty and blessed-
ness of Christianity. As we read their lives, we
almost insei^ibly imbibe their spirit — ^become in-
spired by like love, animated by the same faith, and
stimulated by the same high and holy motives. As
intimacies in life tend to produce similarity of char-
acter, so the biographies of the great and the good
exert a transforming inflflence upon those who make
them a subject of study and meditation. Their in-
fluence is silent, but powerful. It is like one of those
currents flowing beneath the earth, whose course is
traced only by the superior verdure of the earth
above it. Thus the biographies of even private Chris-
tians often prove a source of blessing to the Church,
wide-spread and long-continued.
But, as a general rule, the more prominent posi-
tion the subject of the memoir occupied in the
Church, the more fully he was set apart for spiritual
services ; and the more devoted his labours and signal
his successes in the work of the Lord, the greater
will be the interest that must be attached to such a
work, and the wider will be the sphere of- its influ-
ence and usefulness. Hence the memoirs of truly
devoted and really eminent Christian ministers are
transcendant in their power and useftilness. The
experimental and practical godliness of such men,
their trials and faith, their conflicts and victories, all
exemplifying the economy of God, and showing the
2
24 INTEODUOTION.
plan of salvation to be the same in its relations to
all Christians, whether of the ministry or the laity,
afford an instructive lesson. They signalize the
power of divine grace by showing what attainments
in holiaess and usefulness were made by men who,
after all, were men of like passions and like infirmi-
ties with us all.
The official experience and work of such men ex-
hibit the farther plenitude of grace in that they are
made the savour of hfe unto those who were lost and
perishing. The Christian ministiy is a "high call-
ing," " a weighty work." " To be messengers, watch-
men, and stewards of the Eord, to teach and to pre-
monish, to feed, and to provide for the Lord's family,
to seek for Christ's sheep that are dispersed abroad,
and for his children who are in the midst of this
evil world, that they may be saved through Christ
forever," is the highest vocation in which human
powers can be employed.
" 'Tis not a cause of small import
The pastor's care demands ;
But what might fill an angel's heart,
And fill'd a Saviour's hands."
These are "the greater works" than those done by
Christ, and which he declared should be accom-
plished by those who believed on him, after he had
gone imto the Eather. John xiv, 12. To the end
that they might be qualified for such a work, the
promise of being endued with the Holy Spirit fi-om
on high was made. The utter insufficiency of man
— ^unaided by the Spirit of God— for such a work, is
thug shown by our Saviour. "What solemn and
INTBODUCTION. 25
awful responsibilities centre in this caUing! What
momentous and eternal results depend upon it 1 To
meet such responsibilities, and to encompass such
results as are contemplated in the work of the min-
istry, call not only for the deepest piety and the
purest faith, but for the constant exercise of a devoted
and self-consuming zeal.
In his exaJted station in the Church, the minister
is exposed to two peculiar sources of trial. The
expectations of the people are often extravagant; they
look for superhuman perfection and power in their
pastor ; they forget that he is a man of like passions
with themselves — that he is encompassed with infirm-
ities— that he is subject to temptations and trials,
and that, though a depositary of sacred treasure,
after all he is but an earthen vessel. They often
seem to expect to find in him a being exempt from
the ordinary infirmities and imperfections of our
nature ; nay, their very feelings toward religion will,
in a measure, be regulated by those inspired by the
personal character and address of the minister of
Christ. "When the priests, who accompanied the
Spaniards in their early invasion of Mexico, desired
to baptize the children of the natives, "No!" said
they ; " he must be a wicked God who has such
wicked servants 1" Thus does the minister in a
pecuHar manner stand as the representative of Christ
and his religion. The very truth he proclaims is to
be weighed and tested, not merely in the light of
his words, but also in the light of his character and
life. For a minister to meet all these conditions^ — so
to demean himself as to be of good report both in
and out of the Church, and at the same time to
26 INTEODTTCTION.
retain the testimony that he pleases God — ^is an
achieTement wonderful as it is difficult. Its accom-
plishment attests the sufficiency of divine grace. To
fill this sacred office without reproach while living,
and to leave a memory fragrant with that which is
pure and good after he has gone to his reward, is a
manifestation of grace in the minister of Christ at
once glorious in itself and cheering to the heart of
every Chi-istian.
Another source of trial to the Christian minister
is the fact that he is subjected in a peculiar manner
to the fiercest assaults of Satan. His ability to
thwart the devices of the evil one and to do good,
the important relation he sustains to the Church and
truth of God, and his aggressive warfare against the
usurped dominion of sin upon the earth, all make
him a pecuhar object of subtle hatred to the powers
of darkness. The great adversary knows well that
if a minister saves his own soul he will also save
others; and, on the other hand, if he fall, he will
carry others with him. He can neither be saved nor
lost alone. If he pass over the " highway of holi-
ness" to the celestial city, he will perform an office
like that of the locomotive upon the railroad ; he will
draw along with and after him a train freighted vsdth
immortal spirits, redeemed and saved by the blood of
Christ. If he becomes ensnared and perishes, it is
-as the noble vessel that founders at sea, engulfing a
whole crew in the fathomless depths. If the spiritual
Samson falls with his hands upon the pillars of the
temple of God, multitudes share the awful destruc-
tion. Our wily foe is not ignorant of the wide-spread
ruin consequent upon a minister's fall. The destruc-
INTBODUCTION. 27
tion of one minister, then, is more of an object to
him than the overthrow of many others whose posi-
tion and influence are less powerfal; hence with
double effort he endeavours to accomplish his
end. Such is the condition of the minister : sub-
jected to the common infirmities of our nature, he
is stiU left to battle in the midst of sore trials, and to
withstand tjie special assaults of Satan. Has he
bravely withstood all these adverse evil influences,
and nobly risen above them? It is because he was
girded with the whole armour of God ; because he
was strengthened with might by his spirit in the
inner man. Under all these circumstances, and in
spite of these adverse influences, is he for a long
series of years steadfast, immovable, always abound-
ing in the work of the Lord — ^maintaining the good
fight, keeping the faith, and finally finishing his
course with joy? then have we an exemplification
and a triumph of grace that may awaken our admira-
tion, and fill our hearts with praise to God. There
is, therefore, a peculiar interest and a special import-
ance attached to the . biographies of distinguished
Christian ministers.
Biit if the subject of the memoir be a general super-
intendent or a bishop of the Church, the importance of
the work is still increased. The higher the office one
fills in an army — the more of public weal entrusted to
him — ^the greater the difficulties in which he is in-
volved, (though these add nothing to his personal
merits,) the deeper is the interest felt in the manner in
which he meets his responsibilities. Upon the same
principle, the biography of one who had long and
successfully filled the office of a bishop in the Meth-
28 INTEODUCTION.
odist Episcopal Church, cannot be without additional
and special interest. Few men, if any, whether in
Church or state, have devolved upon them higher
obHgations, or are called to encounter greater difficul-
ties in discharging their official duties. He has the
care of aU the Churches ; he is " to oversee the tem-
poral and spiritual interests of the Church." Such a
supervision is a work of magnitude in any Church ;
but in the Methodist Episcopal Church, its itinerant
economy makes its general superintendency not
only a work of great magnitude, but also of great
delicacy and difficulty. Let us indicate some of
these.
In such an economy there must be an umpire,
some one to "fix the appointments" of the preach-
ers definitely and authoritatively. In the Methodist
Episcopal Church this task is devolved upon her bish-
ops. But they cannot do this by a merely arbitrary
exercise of authority. It demands the most affection-
ate sympathy with both the Churches and the preach-
ers, the most thorough and patient investigation of the
condition of the Churches and the circumstances of
the preachers, the most careful examination of the
adaptation of ministers and appointments. All this
must sometimes be done in a conference of two
hundred or more ministers in a few days, besides
presiding in the conference sessions. This can only
be accomplished by the most intense and prayerful
application. But after having heard kindly and
patiently the representations of both preachers and
people, and taken the best counsel the case admits,
and arranged the plan of appointments with the
utmost tenderness and care, the bishop often finds
INTEODTJOTION. 29
them unsatisfactory. Indeed, how could it be other-
wise, unless he could work miracles? For instance,
if half a dozen Churches ask for one man, the bishop
can appoint him to only one of them, and the others
must be disappointed ; or if two or three ministers
desire the same appointment, but one can have it,
and the others will feel more or less afflicted. Or
if a Churc^ is divided, — one part wishing one minis-
ter, and the other part another, — it is plain that the
wishes of both cannot be met; and yet the dis-
fippointed party not unfrequently blames the bishop.
In many such cases, to avoid blame is utterly im-
practicable, because it would require him to meet at
one and the same time the antagonistic wishes of
both parties. It is almost impossible to conceive
the delicacy and difficulty of the position held by
the stationing power under such circumstances.
Again, in the representations made of claims and
interests, the reasons urged are often as conflicting
as the wishes expressed. For example, one Church
must have a first-class minister this year, because
the other Churches of the place are withoiit ministers,
and there is an opportunity to do great good and
build up the Church ; another must have a first-class
minister, because the other Churches of the place
have very able ministers, and are drawing away
their people^ one Church has had an unacceptable
minister for the last year or two, and the congrega-
tion is so scattered, and the Church so prostrated, that
they must have a man to raise them ; another has
had a man of talent for one or two years, and they
have a large congregation, and now they must have
a popular man to sustain them. One society wants
30 INTEODUCTION.
to build a cliiircli this year, and must have a minister
who has talent and influence to aid them ; another
society has just built a new church, and now must
have an attractive minister to fill it. It is easy to
see how these conflicting reasons could aU be urged
with candour and propriety, but it is not so easy to
see how the bishop could be controlled by each of
them ; or if he were disposed to be, how each society
could possibly be accommodated.
The reasons urged by the preachers in reference
to their wishes are often equally antagonistic. For
instance, one preacher has had a first-class appoint-
ment, and must have another like it, or be disgraced
by taking an inferior one. Another has had poor
appointments, and the time has come when he is
entitled to better ones, to give him character, posi-
tion, and usefulness. One preacher has travelled,
laboured, and sacrificed many years, and in view
of past services is entitled to consideration in his
appointments. The people express a wish for a
younger man, and he thinks he ought to have the
better appointment in preference to the older brother,
because his popularity has induced this petition from
the people. Not unfrequently the yoimg men who
urge this motive soon lose a measure of their healthy
or in some way a degree of their effectiveness, and,
consequently, their popularity with the- people, and
then turn to the bishop as their help in the time
of afiliction — ^not unfrequently falling back upon
the plea of age and service as reasons why they
should be favoured with short moves and comfort-
able appoiutments. Another preacher has just left
a lucrative employment, and, in view of his finan-
INTEODUCTION. 31
cial sacrifices, claims special notice in his allotment.
Another is poor, and must be relieved by his next
appointment. Another has children to be educated,
and facilities and means must be secured in arrang-
ing the work assigned to him in his next appoint-
ment. One man had a long distance to move in his
last appointment, and ought not to be subjected to
a similar. The family of another brother is sick, and
he must, therefore, have an appointment contiguous to
the one he is leaving. The health of one brother has
partially failed, and he must have light work. Anoth-
er brother has been over-tasked with a heavy appoint-
ment, and he must now have an easier one.
These are only specimens of the representations
of Churches and ministers, which are made to the
bishops and their council, and which are to be affec-
tionately regarded and adjusted by them in stationing
the preachers. Although it may be affirmed, without
fear of successful contradiction, that there is no de-
nomination in which there is so little irritation be-
tween Churches and pastors, and whe];e so high a
degree of satisfaction exists, as in the Methodist
Episcopal Church; still it must be seen that our
itinerant system cannot be carried on without some
friction. Disappointments and afflictions will some-
times occur. The bishop, upon whom devolves the
responsibility of fixing and changing these pastoral
relations, cannot reasonably expect to escape censure.
And farther, he has no power to. enforce his au-
thority. K a preacher refuses to go to the appoint-
ment assigned to him, the bishop can inflict no
penalty. The determination of the case is with the
annual conference. His power, therefore, is only
C 2*
32 INTEODUOTION.
commensurate with tlie confidence of the Church
in his integrity, wisdom, and carefulness.
It is, therefore, a question of deep interest, con-
cerning one who has filled this ofi&ce for a long series
of years, How did he succeed in discharging all
these delicate and difficult duties, and in meeting aU
these peculiar and weighty responsibilities? A
biography that answers at length this inquiry must
be a work of much general interest. The Life
of Bishop Hedding therefore, being the biography
of a deeply experienced and exemplary Christian,
of a devoted and eminent minister, and of an able
and successful bishop, not only embraces all these
elements of interest of which we have heretofore
spoken — such as, standing alone, would render it a
most desirable and useful work ; but combined as his
history was with the early history of Methodism, and
with the progress and development of the Church,
during his long and successful ministry, the work
must possess much additional interest. Accordingly,
in this worl^ we shall find the concurrent progress of
the Church briefly delineated, embodying many in-
cidents illusti'ative of the earlier history of the
Methodistic movement in this country — the obstacles
encountered by the early preachers, their modes of
aggressive warfare, and the philosophy of their suc-
cess— and also outline sketches of the character and
career of some of the noble associates of Heddiag in
the great work of founding Methodism in the land.
It is to be regretted that Bishop Hedding did not
keep a diary. The loss sustained by this omission is
irreparable. To some extent, however, it has been
remedied ; and aU the accessible material that could
INTEODUOTION. 33
perfect his biography, or illustrate his character, has
been carefully gleaned for this work. In 1847 the
Eev. Moses L. Scudder was stationed in Pongh-
keepsie, then the residence of Bishop Hedding. He
proposed that the bishop should relate to him the
events of his life and he would write them down.
The bishop was very reluctant to this ; but upon being
assured that after his death some one would attempt
a biography of him, he assented to the proposition.
His engagements and his iU health, however, hindered
the progress of the work. In 1848 the General
Conference, at its session in Pittsburgh, passed the
following resolution, namely: "Resolved, That this
General Conference do most earnestly and affection-
ately request our respected and venerated Bishop
Hedding to prepare his biography for publication,
including especially his observations and opinions in
relation to Methodism.^
The passage of this resolution induced the bishop
more willingly to allow the record of the incidents
of his life; and after the removal of Mr. Scudder
to another pastoral charge, his successor, the Eev.
L. M. Yincent, continued to write for him. But the
bishop's oflSicial duties, together with his increasing
infirmities, greatly embarrassed and delayed the
prosecution of the work. Yet much was rescued
from oblivion by these efforts. I desire especially
to record the persevering and indefatigable exertions
of Mr. Scudder in procuring materials for this work
both while at Poughkeepsie and subsequently. By
his agency most of such materials were secured and
preserved. After the death of Bishop Hedding the
following article was found in his wiU : —
34 INTRODUCTION.
"Whereas the General Conference of eighteen
hundred and forty-eight were pleased to adopt the
following resolution, viz. : —
" 'Eesolved, That this conference do most earnestly
and affectionately request Bishop Hedding to prepare
his biography for publication, including especially
his observations and opinions in relation to Method-
ism;' and whereas I have done what I could, by
the assistance of Eev. M. L. Scudder and other
friends, bat through my heavy labours while I had
strength to labour, and through my protracted ill-
ness of more than a year, the papers will probably
be left but in an imperfect state; now, I hereby
appoint my beloved colleague, Bishop Janes, or, in
case of his death. Bishop Waugh, to receive those
papers, write the biography, or appoint some one
else to write it, and to cause it to be published for-
the benefit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of
which the said Janes is one of the bishops."
Accordingly, his executors placed in my hands
the papers referred to, in order that the provision of
the will might be executed, and the desire of the
Church gratified in the publication of the biography
of one who had been so eminent both in the broad
fields of her labour and in her highest councils.
After consulting with my colleagues, I appointed
Eev. D. "W. Clark, D. D., to write the biography.
My official duties while the work has been passing
through the press have not allowed me time to exam-
ine it critically; but my knowledge of Dr. Clark's
abilities, and of the labour he has bestowed upon the
work, enable me most confidently to commend it to
the Christian public. In closing this introduction,
INTKODUOTION. 35
it gives me great pleasure to insert the following
notice, from the pen of Bishop Morris : —
" Having been favoured with the privilege of read-
ing this work in MS., I take pleasure in commending
it to the attention of readers generally, especially the
lovers of Christian biography. Few individuals in
the United States, if any, had a more extensive
acquaintance, or enjoyed the confidence of more
numerous ^personal friends than Bishop Hedding.
No one was more worthy to be highly esteemed and
loved for his work's sake. He was actively engaged
in the gospel ministry fifty successive years. Others
wrote more for posterity; but no man of modem
times, I believe, has performed more pastoral labour,
or done it better than he did. His term of active
toil embraced the first half of the nineteenth century.
When he first entered the itinerant service it was in
'the day of small things,' and there were enemies
to conffont and obstacles to overcome unknown to
us of this generation ; but he was favoured with gi-ace
according to his day and trial. The part he acted as
a pioneer deserves a place on the pages of history.
I scarcely know' which to admire more, the strength
with which he threshed mountain difficulties, or the
well-balanced judgment with which that strength
was directed. Apparently unconscious of possessing
either, he trusted only in God for success, and gave
to him all the glory. "Whatever appears properly
authenticated of such a character will not fail to
interest the American people. His early history,
conversion, and call to the ministiy; his usefulness
and- well-earned popularity, suffering and patience,
perils and escapes, toils and triumphs, will all be read
36 INTEODUCTION.
with profit. Indeed, the entire process by which he
rose from the obscurity of a country lad to the high-
est office in the largest Christian body in America,
and the wisdom and firmness with which he filled it,
will be examined with interest. The closing scene
of the pious bishop's life will amply compensate for
a second reading, and prepare the mind to enjoy the
final summing up of his character and public service.
"To write the Life of Bishop Hedding involves
no inconsiderable amount of responsibility ; but the
author, Eev. D. W. Clark, D. D., in my opinion, has
proved himself equal to the trust confided to him.
The work is not burdened with stale documents.
Important events of the times, ecclesiastically, are
interspersed, and honourable mention is made of the
subject's early coadjutors; but not so as to break, or
materially obscure, the chain of personal history. I
trust that hundreds of thousands will realize what I
enjoyed in the perusal of it — a rich mental repast and
heartfelt pleasure."
E. S. Jaiojs.
New-Yoek, Jwie 1, 1855.
LIFE AND TIMES
KEY. ELIJAH HEDDING, D.D.
JVIethodism, having its origin ia 1728, with a few stu-
dents in the Uniyersity of Oxford, who were seeMng
a higher tone of piety, a greater simplicity and purity
of manner, and a clearer realization of experimental
and practical truth than was common ia that age, has
continued through the lapse of a century and a quar-
ter to develop and move forward to the accomplish-
ment of its mission. Its rise constitutes a signal epoch
in the history of the world. In its progress it has de-
veloped new sources of power, and brought new forces
into the field where Christianity is waging its conflict
against the kingdom and power of darkness. Its
ecclesiastical organization, like that of the apostolic
Church, did not come forth plotted and devised in
conclave by a few master minds, but was the oflFspring
of a Providence which at once overruled the action
of the wisest, and guided to results as unexpected as
88 LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING.
they were magnificent. In the abundance of their
labours, and the zeal and self-sacrificing spirit, as well
as oneness of purpose, with which those labours were
carried on, the leading spirits in the " Methodistic
company," as Isaac Taylor calls them, have not been
surpassed since the apostolic age.
La this country Methodism dates its origin thirty-
eight years later than in England ; but its distinct
organization, under the title of the " Methodist Epis-
copal Church," did not take place till 1784, when the
growing interests of the work, combined with our
political severance from the mother country, rendered
such organization necessary. The last half of the
eighteenth century may be regarded as the heroic age
of Methodism in England ; and the last quarter of the
same century and the first quarter of the present may
be regarded as its heroic age in this country. In
those days there were giants in the land. They con-
stituted the thimdering legion — legio tonans — of Meth-
odism. They went out "without scrip or purse;"
they heeded no danger and shrunk from no labour ;
they forded streams, crossed mountains, traversed
wildernesses, everywhere preaching the word of life,
and striving " to spread Scriptural holiness over all
these lands." Many of them were untaught in the
schools of human learning ; but they had been thor
oughly, severely drilled in the school of Christ, and
LIFE aSd times of hedding. 39
their theology was not merely theoretical, but actual.
They were undisciplined in the logic of the schools ;
but they were also untrammelled by the convention-
alities of art, and mighty in the logic of common sense.
Th&y had one work — one aim ; and borne away by
the inspiration of that mighty work, they moved with
a momentum irresistible, and with a power that shook
the moral universe. Nobly have they done their
work I All succeeding ages will bear witness unto
them. But they have ceased jB-om their labours and
gone to their reward.
Methodism in its organic state is the monument
they have left behind them, — ^Methodism on both
sides of the Atlantic, with its missionary stations ia
almost every part of the globe, — ^Methodism, with its
distinctive characteristics and regulations, with its
ample and widely-diffused literature, with its semi-
naries, colleges, and theological schools, with its nearly
two million commimicants and its eight mUlion souls
dependent upon its fifteen thousand ministers for
spiritual instruction and guidance, — and, above all,
Methodism, with its millions of garnered trophies ia
the kingdom of God, and its millions more still attest-
ing that
" The holy to the holiest leads."
These are some of the grand results of the "Wesleyan
reformation, so far as it concerns organic Methodism.
^0 LIFE AND TIMES OF HfifDDING.
But we must not forget that the whole Christian
Church has felt the mighty impulse, and the spiritual
vitality of sister denominations has been kindled anew ;
so that it is difficult to tell whether the grandest re-
sults of Methodism have been wrought without or
within the pale of her organization.
In our own country Methodism has played no in-
considerable part in developing its civilization ; and
especially in producing that paramount Christian in-
fluence among the native population, which consti-
tutes one of the leading elements of that civilization.
Borne by the self-sacrificiag itinerant, it has gone side
by side with the hardy pioneer, illuminating his rude
cabin with the light of salvation, and shedding around
him the genial iafluences of the cross of Christ. And
when the wild wilderness gave place to the cultivated
field and busthng village, the church and the school-
house, as well as the appliances of art and science to
the purposes of life, attested that the noblest element
of modem civilization, Christianity, had exerted an
all-pervading influence in the transformation that had
been wrought. Nor is it an inconsiderable agency
that Methodism has had in Americanizing and Chris-
tianizing the millions of immigrants from the old
world that have landed upon our shores. Brought
under the genial influence of the same civil institu-
tions, and under the transforming power of the same
LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. 41
religioTis faith, they cease to be foreigners and become
one with us — ^one with ns in social condition and feel-
ing, and one with us through the transforming power
of a living faith.
It will be the object of the following pages to de-
lineate the life and character of one of those heroic
men, who, Hke the apostles of old, forgetful of ease or
of worldly honour, devoted themselves to the great
work of blessing and saving men. Bom while yet
the great struggle for our national independence was
progressing, and while the vast expanse of a new and
hitherto unbroken country was being overspread by a
hardy and daring people, his character embodied in
it those elements of strength and self-reliance which
the spirit that animated the people and the stirring
activity of the times were calculated to produce.
Methodism, too, which before had been inchoate in
this country, underwent its forming process contempo-
raneously, and under the action of the same agencies.
Thus bom and nurtured, he became fitted by experi-
ence and grace to take a leading part in the Metho-
distic movement on this side of the Atlantic. In
planting Methodism in waste places and among the
sparse and newly-settled population, few were more
laborious or successful. In developing organic Meth-
odism, perfecting its ecclesiastical organization, giv-
ing fonn and character to its jurisprudence, he stands
42 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEnDING.
perhaps unequalled, except by the sainted Asbnry, in
the Church, To him wiU Methodism ever be in-
debted, under God, for much that is noble in its
organic existence and glorious in its eventfiil career.
The works of such men survive them, and continue to
operate vrith unspent power when the vanity of human
ambition has long been humbled in the dust. Their
history is no less an indispensable element of the
world's history than that of statesmen and heroes.
" If it has not to treat," as Mr. Southey has well ob-
served, " of actions wherewith the world has rung from
side to side, it appeals to the higher part of our nature,
and may, perhaps, excite more salutary feelings, a
worthier interest, and wiser meditations."
BIETH TO OONVEEBION. 43
CHAPTEE L
FEOJt HIB BIRTH TO HIS CONYERSION.
Birth — Ancestry — ^Early Religious Instruction — ^Prayer in Childhood — ^A
Mother's Influence — ^The Dutchess Circuit — Beqjamin Abbot — Wonderful
Displays of Divine Power — Grandmother and Mother converted — Ex-
horted by Abbot in Class-meeting — Removed to Vermont — Temptations
to Infidelity — Deism — Atheism — Universalism — Mental Conflicts — A
Critical Period — Narrow Escape — Spiritual Destitution of Starksborough
— Advent of a Methodist Family — Meetings established — ^Young Bedding
reads Sermons — Studies Methodist Theology — The Methodist itinerancy
— ^NoTB, A Picture of Aggressive Methodism — ^Vergennes Circuit — Joseph
Mitchell — ^Wonderful Revival — A Mother in Israel — Note, Conversion of
Mrs. Bushnell — ^Young Hedding powerfully awakened — His Resolve and
Dedication — Sermon from Joseph Mitchell — Obtains Peace — Becomes a
Probationer — Obtains the Witness of the Spirit — Triumph over Sin — State
of his Mind and his Studies — ^A Striking Conversion — ^Point reached in
the Narrative — School in which the Prospective Servant of Christ had
been trained — ^Principal Agencies in his Conversion.
Elijah Hedding was born in Diitcliesa County, New-
York, Jtme 7tli, 1Y80. His grandfatlier many years
before bad settled in tbe section tben called "The
Nine Partners," and bere bis fatber resided at the
time of bis birtb. Tbe homestead was situated near
tbe soutb-westem comer of wbat is now tbe town of
Pine Plains. His paternal ancestry were of EngHsb
origin, and strongly marked witb English peculiarities.
Of bis grandfather, who was a man of considerable
prominence in tbe community, several amusing anec-
dotes are stiU banded down in tbe neighbourhood.
44 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1780.
He was a " high liver," and his general character ac-
corded much with the prevailing habits of the times
and of the state of society aroimd him.
Neither of the parents of Elijah was a professor of
religion at the time of his birth ; bnt his mother was
the snbject of deep religious convictions, and was
evidently a woman of prayer. She took great pains
to guard his moral character, and to instruct him in
the truths and duties of the Christian rehgion. The
elements of a religious education were so clearly im-
parted by even this unconverted mother, and so firmly
grafted into his youthful mind, that, at the early age
of four years, he was able to pray with a tolerable
understanding of the nature and obligations of prayer.
The habit of secret prayer thus formed in early child-
hood was maintained for 'several years, and until,
through the influence of evil associates, he had in a
measure thrown off the restraints of religion. So
conscientious was he in the performance of this duty,
that if he chanced to lie down at night without saying
his evening prayer it disturbed his rest, and he could
not compose himself to sleep till he had solemnly and
earnestly repeated it. His mother had taught him to
repeat that verse which stands prominently among
the holiest recollections of early childhood in the miads
of uncounted millions : — ■
" And now I Uy me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep. '
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the liord my soul to take."
1785.] BIETH TO OONVEESION. 45
It is a striking evidence of the force and beauty of
the impression made by this germing petition upon
his infantile heart, that he continued to repeat it in
later years ; and even in his old age it formed the ap-
propriate and beautiful close of the secret prayer
breathed forth to his Maker each night before retiring
to rest. So clear were his convictions of rehgious
truth, and 'so powerful were the operations of the
Spirit of God upon his heart in this early period of
his history, that, had he been guarded from evil asso-
ciations and surrounded by those who were themselves
possessed of vital godliness, and instructed and en-
couraged by them in the great matters of reUgious
experience and duty, it might perhaps have been said
of him that from a child he had known the way of the
Lord. But, as it was, religious truth was strongly in-
trenched in his understanding. "When surrounded
afterward by men of sceptical views on the subject of
religion, and when powerfully assailed by their infi-
delity— so congenial to the impulses of our sin-poUuted
natures— the knowledge of the word and truth of God,
acquired thus early, rose up like an invincible waU of
defence around him. Often in later years he referred,
with tender and grateful feehngs, to those early in-
structions of his mother, as having exerted a powerful
influence upon his whole character and hfe.
To the illustrious examples of a mother's influence
in planting the germs of whatever is great and good
in the virgin soil of the yoimg heart, must be added
that of the mother of Hedding. Another prominent
46 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. £1787.
agency in his actual conversion will appear ; but these
early instructions antedated all other influences, and
were superior to them in the development of his char-
acter. Could that mother, prosecuting her Christian
duty to her son, unappaUed by the prevaUing irreHg-
ion' of the times and by the adverse influences around
her, have had the coming future imveiled to her
vision-^could she have traced the career of her first-
bom, first as a holy man, and an able minister of the
New Testament winning souls to Christ, then filling
with honour the highest office in the Church of God,
and finally, full of years and of services, closing his
long and honoured career — the patriarch of the
Church — his name crowned with immortal honour and
his soul inspired with immortal hope, the discourage-
ments she experienced and the obstacles she encoun-
tered— at which, no doubt, her faith was often stag-
gered— ^would have shrunk into absolute insignificance
in comparison with the great objects to be realized.
Alas, for those sons that are without Christian mothers
to bestow upon them this indispensable nurture!
Alas, for those Christian mothers who are so derelict
in duty as to permit their sons to pass the limit of
early childhood without causing their youthful hearts
to comprehend the nature and to feel the power of
the elementary principles of religion !
The Dutchess circuit first appears in the Minutes
for 1788 with only ten members. This comprised
the sum^otal of Methodism north of the Highlands
on the Hudson River at that time. Benjamin Abbot
1788.] BIETH TO OONVEESIOIT. 4:7
was then just commencing his wonderful career. A
son of thunder, he ranged through the country and
assaulted the strongholds of wickedness, as though
he had received a special commission from Heaven to
storm the very citadel of hell itself. In 1789 he was
stationed upon Dutchess circuit, and at the close of
the year 1790 the one circuit had expanded into fow,
and the ten members had multiplied into nearly one
thousand and four hundred ! There had been sown
" a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the
mountains, and the fruit thereof shook like Lebanon."
Revivals broke out in every part of the circuit. The
power of God was displayed in a wonderful manner.
The most hardened and haughty were softened and
subdued by the power of the gospel. Many of the
vilest, the most wicked, men were converted, and
became exemplary members of the Church. Some
of these lived to a good old age, glorifying the Lord
Jesus by a good confession, and at last dying in the
triumphs of faith.
Mr. Hedding, who was then a lad of nine or ten
years, ever after retained a vivid recollection of some
of those early scenes. In later years, when tempted
and buffeted by Satan, he often adopted the language
of the psabnist, — " I wiU remember the years of the
right hand of the Most High. I wiU remember
the works of the Lord : surely I wiU remember thy
wonders of old."
Among the subjects of this great revival were his
mother, grandmother, and several other relatives.
D 3
48 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1789.
A class was establislied in tlie neigliboiirliood ; and Ids
mother became not only a member, but also a regu-
lar attendant. On sucb occasions young Elijah ac-
companied her, so that he was often in class-meet-
ing. On preaching days the preacher was accus-
tomed to meet the class after the public congregation
had been dismissed. At one of these meetings, when
about nine or ten years old, he was the only person
present who was not a member. After Mr. Abbot
had spoken to the members he paused a moment, and
looked earnestly upon young Hedding, and said, —
" "Well, my boy, do you know that you are a sinner ?"
He rephed, " Yes, sir." Then, with great vehemence
and deep feeUng, Mr. Abbot continued, — " There is
many a boy in hell not so old as you are ;" and then
exhorted him with tremendous power to get religion.
This event not only frightened him, but produced
real reUgious concern. The impression made upon
his mind lasted for several weeks, but finally wore
off without producing any lasting fruit. Soon after
this he fell into the company of wicked boys, and by
degrees learned their language and acquired similar
habits. His religious feeUngs passed away, and the
powerful impressions that had been made upon his
mind were at length so far effaced that he ran greedily
and thoughtlessly in the way of sin. But that impres-
sion was not altogether lost, for in the midst of his folly
and wickedness his conscience was often terribly
aroused, and the fear of death and heU gat hold upon
him. Thus in the midst of seeming thoughtlessness,
1791.1 BIETH- TO OONVEESION. 49
he was often the subject of the most intense concern
with regard to his soul.
In 1Y91 the parents of young Hedding emigrated
to Yermont, and settled in the town of Starksborough.
This was a part of the country then newly and sparsely
settled, and the family were consequently subjected to
the exposuses, privations, and hardships of frontier
life. In all these, as well as in the severe labour inci-
dent to the subjugation of a wild country and the
cultivation of a new farm, he shared largely and will-
ingly. Familiarity with danger had begotten a dar-
ing that bordered upon recklessness. He was quick,
decided, intrepid. Being a decided character, and
also possessed of both mental and physical power,
he became in some sort a leader of the yoimg men
who consorted with him. Yet- was there something
in him incomprehensible even to them; the suggest-
ive remark upon some reKgious truth, or the striMng
admonition that would sometimes fall from him, often
occasioned serious reflections amidst the wild and
giddy scenes that occupied them.
From many of the moral dangers that beset young
men in the crowded city and large town, the remote
region and the newly-settled country are compara-
tively exempt. But the poison of infidelity spreads
everywhere, and it may almost always be found
among the restless, rash, adventurous spirits that
usually become the pioneers in a new country. Thus
in very many places infidelity preceded the gospel,
in its introduction among the people, in our earlier
60 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1791.
history. From this cause young Hedding was more
strongly tempted, and his principles and character
more fearfully endangered during his youth, than
from any other. Long before the institutions of the
gospel had been estabHshed in the place of his resi-
dence, the various forms of infidelity had made their
appearance. Infidel books were disseminated, and
conceited and crafty men lost no opportunity afforded
them for attempting to undermine the confidence
of their neighbours in the principles of Christianity.
Their puzzling questions, which a fool might ask ;
and their subtile sophisms, which puzzled the simple-
hearted people not possessed of sufficient knowledge
and intellectual acuteness to unravel their sophistry ;
and their bold assertion of the great lies of infideHty
as so many conceded historical and scientific facts,
were the means upon which they relied for the dis-
semination of the poison of their unbelief.
!No wonder that the mind of young Hedding was
deeply affected by these assaults. Deism appeared to
him the most inviting form of scepticism, and long
and earnestly did he seek to intrench himself within
the creed of the deist. The form of deism then prev-
alent denied to man a future life ; but the subject of
our memoir, though he pondered long and deeply on
the subject, and marshalled the specious objections in
order before him again and again ; nay, though he
resolved again and again that he would let go his
hold upon Christianity and be a deist, there was ever
that in the very instinctive aspirations of his own
1796.] BIRTH TO C0NVEB8I0K. 51
nature which asserted his immortality ; and, on the
other hand, it seemed most unreasonable that a God
of wisdom, power, and benevolence — as even the God
of the deist must be — ^would create such a being as
man, endow him with such rational fa^lties, fill his
soul with such aspirations, and give to him such
capacities for boundless improvement, and then cause
him at death to go into utter annihilation. It was
thus that his instinctive sentiments and his reason
combined to deliver him from the toils of deism.
His effort to settle down upon atheism — ^the abso-
lute denial of the being of God — was no more success-
ful. It involved a mental conflict severe in its nature,
but of short duration. The evidences of the Divine
Being were too clearly seen in all his works to admit
of a denial of his existence. As he looked upon the
curious mechanism of his own body, the beautiful con-
trivances so obvious through all the animal and vege-
table creation, and as he reflected upon the grandeur,
harmony, and order of the heavenly bodies, and the
nice adjustment of the various forces acting upon them
to produce such grand results, he said within himself:
" Here are facts the verity of which I cannot question.
My eye sees them, my hand feels them, my percep-
tion and reason comprehend them. Here is con-
trivance, there is design. Here is the most exquisite
adaptation of means or agencies for the accomplish-
ment of specific and raanifest.ends ; and there is an
unseen, mysterious power somewhere that has exe-
cuted, and which still continues to carry into effect
52 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. Cl'^^^-
these various plans. These facts I cannot question.
My reason then tells me that there must be some un-
seen agency that has contrived, and some unseen
power that has executed aU this. To believe that it
all could hajp happened without such an agency and
power is ten thousand times more absurd, more con-
tradictory to all the convictions of sound reason and
judgment than the acknowledgment of the being of
God, although clouds and darkness are around about
him." But this was not all. The very instinctive
sentiments of his nature warred against this delusion
also. " My conscience," he says, " bore awful testimo-
ny, for it then was awful to me, that there is a God."
Nor could he look into his Bible — ^taught in it as he
had been by a mother's care — ^without everywhere
seeing evidence that it was from God, and feeling that
God was speaking to him through his blessed word.
Next he sought refage from his consciousness of
guilt and his fear of hell in Universalism. But he at
once perceived that Universalism implied the non-
existence of hell, and also of the devil ; and he was
abeady too well versed in the Scriptures not to per-
ceive that hell was as much an existing fact, according
to the Bible, as heaven was, and also that the person
ahty of the devil was as distinctly set forth as the per-
sonality of God, of Jesus Christ, or, in fine, of any
existent intelligent being in the universe. Hence the
denial of the fact of a hell and of the real and personal
existence of the devil could not be made without a
rejection of the Bible itself; and this would land him
1795.] BIBTH TO 00NVEE8I0N. 53
once more in deism, if not in rank atheism, botli of
which systems he had already satisfied himself were
destitute of any substantial foundation.
These mental conflicts form an essential part of the
biography of Mr. Hedding. They indicate his early
intellectual character; they indicate the trials and
discipline by which his mind was schooled into those
habits of research and modes of thought which laid
the foundations of his subsequent greatness in the
Church of God.
Few have attained to eminence without the severe
disciplining of mental conflict. This seems to be
necessary to stir up the latent energies of the soul,
and to give that intensity to its action which is neces-
sary in order to grand results. The poet and the
philosopher have their disciphne in this respect ; but
none, as a class, go through a more severe mental
ordeal than those who in the end become eminent for
their attainments in piety, or eminent for their useful-
ness in the Church of God.
This was a critical period — ^the most critical period
in the life of young Heddiag. Satan, with his allure-
ments, had already ensnared him in practical evil, and
had perverted his heart to the love of sin ; and now
his devices were employed to shake the fabric and
undermine the foundation of his religious principles.
Had this latter device been accomplished at this
period of his hfe, when his character was iu a pecul-
iar manner undergoing the process of formation, he
would probably have become as firmly intrenched in
54 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1796.
Bin as he afterward became in the Christian faith.
For his delirerance in this season of temptation, and
his complete victory over the enemy that had assaulted
the foundations of his religious faith, he was unques-
tionably indebted to those religious instructions re-
ceived from his mother's lips in early childhood, and
also to the habit, formed under her guidance, of fre-
quently reading the word of God, with special effort
to understand its historical details and its prophetic
records, as well as its rehgious teaching. These things
proved a defence and a safeguard in the time of
danger.
The little record he subsequently made of his feel-
ings during this period of temptation is worthy of
preservation. It at least shows the wretchedness of
a soul warring against God and truth : —
" Notwithstanding my temptations to embrace the
errors before alluded to, I believed the doctrines of
Methodism, for I had understood them from the time
I had heard Benjamin Abbot and other Methodist
preachers preach on Dutchess Circuit. I believed I
might be saved if I would turn to God ; but my love
for sin was so strong I would not give up my idols.
Occasionally I had a faint hope that I might repent
and obtain mercy on a dying bed ; yet much of the
time I was under a painful apprehension that I should
be lost. I often wished that there was no God, or
that he was "such a God as would allow me to live
in my sins and not send me to hell. I often wished I
could be annihilated, or I would have been glad to
1795.] BIETH TO CONVEEBION. 55
be turned into a brute, tbat I might be free from the
liability of punishment in another world. But, not-
withstanding such vain wishes, the fearftil conviction
remained with me that I had an immortal nature and
a sinful heart, and that my sins must be forgiven by
the redeeming grace of Christ, or I could never be
happy in another world."
About t£is period he had several narrow escapes
from sudden death. One of these instances is worthy
of note, not only because of the manifest providence
of God in his deliverance, but also because it iUua-
trates the practical recklessness of his external Hfe
and character, even while his mind was the subject
of such deep convictions and such severe mental con-
flicts on the subject of religion ; a case by no means
singular. He was driving a yoke of oxen attached to
a cart heavily loaded with wheat-sheaves from the
harvest field. Having a steep hiU to descend, he
stepped before the oxen and attempted to check their
pace; but by a sudden spring they knocked him
down and trampled him beneath their feet, and one
of the wheels of the loaded cart passed over his body.
He must have been instantly killed had he not fallen,
in the good providence of God, just below a large
stone, over which the wheel passed and, by the bound,
scarcely touched his body. He thus speaks of the
thoughts and feelings that rushed through his mind
while the oxen were trampling him beneath their feet,
and the ponderous wheels were rushing apparently to
his inevitable destruction : —
3*
56 LIFE AKD TIMES OF BEDDING. [1797
" It was an awM moment. I saw no possibility of
escape, believed that I should be kiUed, and expected
to be in heU in a few minutes. No language can ex-
press the awful horror that oppressed my soul during
that brief moment. An age of horror seemed to be
crowded into an instant of time. But God, in his
providence, and in a singular and unexpected mode,
delivered me."
ISTo sooner, however, had the danger passed, than
he leaped to his feet. There he stood, his heart still
quaking with fear, and conscious that he had been
delivered, as it were by a miracle, from the very jaws
of hell. But he must needs show the men who were
running from the fields that he was too courageous to
be the subject of fear or of religious excitement, what-
ever might be the danger ; and he laughed aloud, ex-
claiming, "Not dead yet! not dead yet!" Such is
the presumptuous. Heaven-daring hardihood which
ungodly men mistake for courage. How much nobler
would it have been, and how much more of true man-
liness would it have exhibited, even in the sight of his
companions, had he fallen down upon his knees and
rendered thanksgiving for so gracious and wonderful
a deliverance ! This, no doubt, he would have done
had he obeyed the better and truer impulses of his
own heart ; this he probably would have done had he
been alone by himself; but the fear of man involved
him in that snare which has led millions to perdition
— ^the necessity of appearing reckless to avoid the
suspicion of being religiously impressed. The event
1797.] BIETH TO CONTEE8I0N. 57
soon passed by, and seemed to leave no lasting im-
pression npon his mind; but it could not be easily
forgotten.
For four or five years after the Hedding family
settled in Starksborough, the entire town remained
nearly destitute of religious meetings and privileges.
A Baptist preacher occasionally visited the place and
preached a sermon, but with little effect. The Meth-
odist itinerants, though ranging the country in every
direction, had not as yet penetrated into this part of
the state. About this time, however, a Methodist
family moved into the neighbourhood. The man and
his wife were both devotedly pious. Finding that
there were no Sabbath meetings in the community,
they invited their neighbours to meet at their house^
and regular Sabbath services were kept up by them
for two or three years, and until the appointment
became regularly included within the newly-formed
circuit of Yergennes, in 1798. The meetings were
usually opened by singing and prayer, conducted by
the man himself, and afterward one of "Wesley's Ser-
mons or a portion of Baxter's Call would be read by
some one appointed for that purpose. Young Hed-
ding was usually called upon to read on these occa-
sions ; and, though reluctant at first, the exercise soon
became far from disagreeable — especially as the peo-
ple seemed to listen with attention and interest He
says : " It was often a wonder to me that I was gene-
rally selected to read, for I was as wild and wicked as
any of the young men around. There was nothing
68 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1797.
in my heart like love to God, or in my life like the
walk of the Christian. But I suppose it was because
I was a pretty good reader, probably the best among
them." By this means he became intimately ac-
quainted with this pious couple. They were thorough
Methodists, experimentally and practically. They
were intelligent, well versed in Methodist theology,
and well supplied with Methodist books. In these
books, which were loaned to him, young Hedding
found a new source of mental improvement. They
were read through and through, conned over and dis-
cussed, till he had not only read every book published
by the Methodists, but absolutely mastered their con-
tents. Thus did he early, and before his heart was
renewed by divine grace, become thoroughly convers-
ant with the system of Wesleyan theology ; and, in
preference to every other, he embraced it heartily and
without the least mental reserve, as combining the
grand truths embodied in the Bible. Yet all this
while, he says of himself: " I lived as fond of my sins
as ever, and was destitute of hope, and without God
in the world."
We come now to the dawning of a new era in the
religious history of the place as well as of the subject
of our memoir. Methodism from the beginning has
been a missionary system. "Without waiting for a
call from the people, and without any stipulations for
recompense, like the apostles of old, they sought out
the people and proclaimed to them, through every
open door, the message of God's mercy to the lost and
1797.] BIETH TO CONVEBBION. 59
guilty sons of men. They went out ev^ywhere. ISTo
pioneer could get beyond their reach. 'No fastness
of the wilderness could become impervious to them.
ISTo prairie could be too expansive for them to trav-
erse ; and no people could be too poor, or too degi-aded,
or too sinful to be sought out. Wherever the word
took effect g, class was organized, and a leader charged
with its oversight and preservation, while the preacher
pressed on to the regions beyond.* This pioneer sys-
" The following picture, taken from the Presbyterian Christian
Herald, is certainly a true picture of early Methodism — more applica-
ble, we fear, to its " heroic age " than to its present genius ; but we
thank God that the spirit of our fathers has not altogether departed
from us : —
" No pioneer gets beyond the reach of the Methodist itinerants.
Though he pass the Rooky Mountains, and pursue his game to the
Pacific, he soon finds the self-denying, unconquerable, unescapeable
Methodist minister at his side, summoning him to the camp-meeting
and winning his soul to Christ ! Thousands upon thousands of
pioneers, scattered like sheep and almost lost from the world, in
those far-off wilds of the West, have blessed God for raising up Wes-
ley and the Methodists.
" The Catholics can do nothing with these stirring people. They
are nonplussed, outstripped, and outdone by the simple and fervent
Methodists. While Romanists are piling up their stone churches to
last for ages, hanging their massive bells, fastening their images,
and displaying their trinkets sent from Europe, the self-denying
Methodist starts forth, caring little where he shall lay his head,
erects his tent by the side of some stream in the wilderness, and
blows his horn to call the hunter from the chase and the ploughman
from his yet unfenced fields. The sounds of the gospel are impressive
in those solitudes. The people gladly hear. God is there. They see
his emblems in the majestic trees. They hear him in the winds.
They see him and they hear him in the man of God, who has left all
and come to them in love. Such love, and such manifestations of
goodness are overpowering. Rough souls are melted down, hard
hearts are subdued and converted, and huge hands are soon seen rear-
ing up a house for God in the wilderness ! Other settlers are now
60 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1797.
tern taxed ti^ itinerant with severe labour, exposed
Mm to almost constant peril, and often reduced him
almost to a state of destitution and want. Imbued
with his high commission and filled with the spirit
of his Master, he esteemed the reproach of Christ
greater treasure than all the riches of Egypt. With
his Bible, his Hymn-boot, his horse, and his scantily
filled saddle-bags as his companions, the young
minister commenced at once his labours and his
song : —
" The love of Christ doth me constrain
To seek the ■wandering souls of men,
With cries, entreaties, tears to save —
To snatch them from a gaping graye."
No other system and no other spirit could so well meet
the wants of a new, sparsely-settled, and poor people.
It seemed almost indispensable that the advent of the
minister should precede the organization of the society
and the erection of the church. If he waited for a
attracted around this spot ; and presently here is a thriving Chris-
tian village !
" In the mean time, the minister has passed on and enacted similar
scenes elsewhere. In a few years several Churches are formed, each
nearly as numerous, it may he, and far more spirited and happy,
than the one which the Romanists have collected from their higoted
immigrants, taught to count beads and^o swallow down the Latin
which is roared forth in their costly edifice from a European organ
and a babbling priest !
" Thus it is that the Methodists have secured such large numbers
in the mighty West. Spirit, energy, economy, and self-sacrifice have
made them an overmatch for the Catholic host ! They constitute the
largest division of that great army which, I believe, God will use to
make Protestantism completely triumphant in our country."
1798.] BIBTH TO 0 0NVEE8I01T. 61
"call" from the people, Satan would preoccupy the
ground. However such a system might answer for a
densely-populated region, with societies organized and
churches erected, to a new country the preacher must
go sent of God, and not called hy the people.
In the year 1798 the aggressive spirit of the
Methodist itinerancy began to make systematic in-
roads into Vermont. The Vergennes Circuit was
formed, and Joseph Mitchell and Abner "Wood ap-
pointed to labour upon it. As it regards the geo-
graphical limits of the circuit, they were somewhat
indefinite, and liable to incessant enlargement as the
providence of God opened the way to new preaching
places in destitute towns and villages. This much,
however, we can say, that, as originally marked out,
it included an immense sphere of travel and toil, of
more than five hundred miles in compass, and re-
quired from four to six weeks to complete one round
■ — 'the preacher, besides riding many miles, preaching
once or twice- on each week-day, and three times on
each Sabbath, and at many of the appointments also
teading class or conducting a prayer meeting. Mr.
Mitchell continued on this circuit two years, endur-
ing the privations and trials, and performing the
Herculean tasks incident to a new field of labour,
but effectually breaking up the ground for his suc-
cessors. He was in every respect fitted for his work
— a man of extraordinary natural powers — a natural
logician, a shrewd wit ; deficient indeed in scholastic
education, but with all his faculties richly indued and
'62 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1798.
acutely quickened by a most efficient practical edu
cation. He was a most energetic and overpowering
preacher. Like a flaming fire lie ranged tlirough
the country, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,
preaching Christ and him crucified, in demonstration
of the Spirit and with power. A memorable revival
attended upon his labours. Up to this time, the
mother of young Hedding and the pious couple of
whom we have spoken were the only Methodists
in the town of Starksborough. But now a host was
raised up. The revival was remarkable not only for
the number of its subjects, but also for the variety of
their characters and the powerful manifestation of
the Spirit of God in many of the meetings. Lorenzo
Dow, in his Journal, relates an instance of Mr.
Mitchell's power in the pulpit, which occurred at a
quarterly meeting. His preaching produced such an
effect that none of the usual ecclesiastical business of
these occasions could be transacted; but the entire
time was spent in public exercises and direct effort
for the salvation of souls. "When he began to exhort,
a trembling commenced among the unconverted;
first one, then another, fell from their seats, and began
to cry for mercy. The influence spread tiU the cry
became general ; and for eleven hours there was no
cessation of the loud cries and supplications of that
smitten assembly. The wail of agony and the almost
despairing cry for mercy, were not unfrequently
changed into the shout of victory and the song of
triumph on that memorable occasion. The most
1798.] BIETH TO CONVEEBION. 63
abandoned, profligate, and wicked men, — ^the cavil-
ling, sceptical deist, the bold blaspheming atheist, and
the brawling Universalist, — were alike humbled to the
foot of the cross ; and bj the power of divine grace
were at length renewed and clothed in their right
mind. Many and bright stars, which now stud the
crown of th^ devoted itinerant, were gathered here.
When the two years of Mr. Mitchell were completed,
in 1800, Vermont numbered six circuits, and a mem-
bership of one thousand and ninety-five. Truly
God, in a short time, had accomplished a great work.
Mr. Mitchell subsequently located and moved to the
State of Illinois, where he finished his course in peace.
But let us return to the experience of the subject
of our narrative. His first permanent religious im-
pressions were made by the conversations of the
pious Methodist woman — "mother in Israel" — al-
ready noticed. She perceived his promising talents
and strong moral susceptibilities, and devoted-herself
to the task of leading him to God. Her mind was
deeply impressed with the conviction that he would
be called to important services in the Church of
God, and she laboured the more earnestly to efiect
his salvation. She conversed with him fi-equently,
earnestly, and often tearftilly, on the interests of his
soul ; and succeeded at last in awakening in Jh^^mind
a deep concern for his spiritual safety. All honour
to this faithful, noble-hearted Christian woman.* She
"Her name was Bushnell. She had previously resided in
Canaan, one of the north-western towns of Connecticut. Educated
E
64 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1798.
was jealous for the cause of God, and yearned for the
salvation of a soul that was lost. But little did she
know how high an honour God was putting upon her,
in making her the chief iustrument in the conversion
of one who was to win many souls to Christ, and become
one of the great lights of tne Church and the world.
During the first six months of the work of grace that
was spreading through the region, young Hedding
attended the meetings, but obstinately resisted the
strivings of the Holy Ghost. This devoted woman
however had singled him out as a special subject of
prayer, and followed him with persevering effort till
the great end was attained. One Sabbath-day after
in the Calvinistio faith, and accustomed to hear Calvinism preached,
her mind had become perplexed and bewildered with regard to
religious truth. Long perplexed and tried, without obtaining any
relief, she had come to the conclusion that she was one of the
reprobates. This often occasioned her great distress of mind. At
length she heard that a Methodist preacher was to preach in her
neighbourhood. This was the first time she had ever heard of such
a people, and out of curiosity went to hear the novel preacher. The
expectation of deriving any spiritual advantage from his ministry was
farthest from her thoughts. He commenced the exercises by an-
nouncing and then singing the hymn beginning, —
" Come, sinners, to the gospel feaat^
Let every soul be Jesus' guest ;
Te need not one be left behind.
For God hath bidden all Tjiankind.^
i ^ new but j
"Can ffiis'"TD* true? Has Christ indeed invited all mankind?
Then J, even /,,who ha.ve been so long buffeted by Satan, may
come. I will come now." From that moment she sought salvation
through the blood of the Lamb, and soon rejoiced as one of the
chosen of the Lord. She was a woman highly gifted, and of deep
and consistent piety.
1798.] BIETH TO OONVEESION. 65
he had been reading in meeting, this pious woman,
when the congregation had separated, addressed him
with such an earnest exhortation that his heart was
deeply affected ; and as he jonmeyed homeward he
turned into a grove, and kneeled down hy a large
ti'ee, and covenanted with God to cease from his
follies and sins, to part with aU his idols, and to de-
vote himself sincerely and earnestly, and at any and
every cost God might require, to tie great work of
his soul's salvation. Over fifty years after, and but
a short time before he was gathered to his fathers,
referring to this event, he said to the writer, —
" In that hour I solemnly made a dedication of my-
self to God. I laid my all — soul, body, goods, and
all — for time and for eternity, upon the altar, and I
have never, never taken them back." He did not
then, however, find relief aside from the conscious
satisfaction of having done his duty ; nor did he re-
ceive any satisfactory evidences of his acceptance
with God. " This " said he, " was the first time in
my life that I remember to have had the full consent
of my will to part with aU my sins for Christ's sake.
My associates, hitherto, had been chiefiy those who
were fond of pleasure and mirth, and in their amuse-
ments I took special delight. ' Several times before, I
seemed willing to give up everything except ^hese
social pleasures, but never until now while kneeling
in the grove had this great idol of my heart been
surrendered."
Not long after this, he heard a sermon from Joseph
fi6 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1798.
Mitchell. It was a discourse of remarkable power,
and disclosed to him, in a manner he had never before
perceived, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the
peril of the unrenewed soul. He was seized with un-
utterable anguish, and for several weeks sought Grod
with strong cries and tears, night and day. " I was so
overwhelmed," says he, " that I could not refrain from
crying aloud. I could not breathe without an expres-
sion of anguish. Though I had long prided myself
upon being perfectly fortified against childish feelings
and tears, yet for six weeks I could not bear religious
conversation or a prayer, nor could I read the Bible
or any religious book, without beiag melted into ten-
derness and pouring out a flood of tears." In six
weeks the itinerant evangelist came around again, and
preached in the house where the youthful penitent
had been accustomed to read the sermons of Wesley.
After preaching, a class-meeting was held by the
preacher, as usual, and young Hedding remained in
the class. As the meeting was about being closed
the preacher, perceiving the great distress of his mind,
proposed special prayer in his behalf. The man of
God and the pious cottagers bowed around him, and
continued in supplication until God in great mercy
spoke peace to his soul. His burden of guilt was re-
movgd, his conscience was now at rest, and peace and
joy sprung up in his hitherto troubled soul. This was
on the 27th of December, 1798 ; and, on that very day
his name was enrolled as a probationer in the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church.
1798.] BIETH TO OONVEBSION. 67
He appears not to have received at this time the
witness of the Spirit to his adoption. Though he en-
joyed peace, this great blessing was still wanting in
order to the fulness of his joy. On this point he him-
self says, — " About six weeks after the time when I
felt the burden of guilt removed fi-om my conscience,
during a con-^ersation with Mr. Mitchell on the wit-
ness of the Spirit, the light of the Spirit broke in
upon my mind, as clear and perceptible to me as the
shining of the sun when it comes fi.'om behind a cloud,
testifying that I was bom of God. Then my heart
was filled with joy and my mouth with praise.
' Jesus all the day long was my joy and my song.'
For several weeks after this, not a doubt, nor a fear,
nor a moment's uncertainty clouded my spirit. Satan
was not permitted to tempt me. It seemed as if the
old adversary himself was chained, and my whole
soul was love, and my whole time was employed in
prayer and praise. As an evidence how completely
the thoughts of religion occupied my mind and affect-
ed my conduct, it may be stated that during the
winter I went to live with a man who resided in the
town, and was distinguished for his knowledge of
arithmetic,* that I might have a better opportunity
of studying this branch of education ; but my mind
while under conviction, and after my conversion, and
" The possession of any competent knowledge of arithmetic, at
that day, was more uncommon in the community than the mastery
of the highest mathematical calculus at the present.
68 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIXG. L1798.
especially when I . had received the witness of the
Spirit, was so carried away by the all-absorbing power
of diviae grace, that I could give no attention to math-
ematics, but was wholly engaged in studying the Bible,
learning religious hymns, and in the exercise of devo-
tion. I who used to be sorry that I had a soul, and
regret that I had been born into the world, continu-
ally rejoiced that I had been born to be bom again."
The mathematician with whom he had gone to
study was soon converted in a most striking and
powerful manner. He was what would generally be
called a moral man, but was proud and self-confi-
dent, and with reference to religion to all appearance
thoroughly hardened and unfeeling. The power of
God now got hold upon him ; he went for some weeks
with his head bowed down, and his countenance the
picture of sadness and melancholy. He said httle to
any one about the state of his mind, till at length,
at a prayer meeting, his feelings overcame him. He
turned pale, his frame shook like an aspen leaf, and
his soul seemed rent with contending emotions. At
length he cried aloud and fell to the floor. In the
greatest agony he cried out, "I am going to hell!
I am going to hell 1" He continued to cry out till
he became almost exhausted. The people bade him
look to Jesus the great Saviour, and wrestled mightily
with God in his behalf. At length he was heard to mur-
mur in a faint voice, — " Christ died for me," Then
in a higher tone he repeated, — " He died for me ;" and
instantly sprung upon his feet and shouted aloud, —
1798.1 BIETH TO 00NVEE8I0N. 69
" My sins are all forgiven ; Christ has died for me.
Glory to God in the highest!" Sudden and violent as
was the transition of this man from sin to grace, his
course thenceforward, for over forty years, and until
he went up at the call of his Lord to receive the
reward of the faithful, afforded the best possible
evidence of J;he soundness of his conversion and the
thoroughness of the work of grace in his h*&art.
We have now followed the subject of our memoir
through his youthful career, and noted the various
causes that combined to give peculiar development
to his intellectual and religious character. "We find
him now a soundly-converted and deeply-devoted
young man,^ — just about entering upon that career of
toil and self-sacrifice, and yet of extended and honour-
able usefulness, which was continued through the lapse
of more than half a century, and made his name im-
mortal in the annals of the Church of God. It is well
then to pause for a moment and take a brief survey
of the special and signal agencies that deserve special
recognition. Throughout, we cannot fail to see that
God, by his gracious providence, was preparing a
chosen vessel to bear the messages of his gi-ace to dy-
ing men. Subjected to the hard labour of a new
farm, and accustomed to the privations and dangers
of frontier life, he acquired not only a hardy and
vigorous constitution,^ — ^and, in fact, an almost gigantic
physical development, being over six feet in height,
and of fine manly proportions throughout, — but that
daring of spirit, that ingenuity in overcomingfobstaclea
70 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1798.
and meeting emergencies, that power of endurance,
and that indomitable energy and force of character,
that were indispensable in the work for which Divine
Providence was preparing him. No schools of human
nor of divine learning could have supplied anything
that would have answered as a substitute. He might
have been possessed of the profoundest learning and
the richest graces, but still, without this physical and
mental adaptation he would have been inadequate to
such labours and privations. He would most likely,
as hundreds have done, have become discoui-aged
and failed, or broken down in his work and gone to
a prematm-e grave.
We have also noticed the early effects of a mother's
religious teaching in planting the seeds of religious
truth in his young heart, and leaving there the in-
effaceable conviction of religious duty. Then, too,
stand worthy of notice the providential circumstances
that gave him access to the ablest productions of John
"Wesley, Fletcher, and the other fathers of Methodism,
when hardly any other books could be had to grat-
ify his taste for reading. His controversies with
sceptics and fatalists not only sharpened his logical
powers, but led him to study thoroughly the great
principles of the Wesleyan theology. His own
mental conflicts, no less than the impulses of a
mind naturally inquisitive, and possessed of great
powers of reason and analysis, led him to survey,
step by step, every foundation-stone in the great tem-
ple of the Christian faith. While all this was going
1799."l BIETH TO OONTEESION. 71
on silently in his own mind, tlie necessity, in some
sort, that was laid upon him to become the reader
in the Sabbath convocations, not only developed his
talents, and habituated him to their exercise in
the presence of an assembly, but also proved an
additional incitement to a more thorough mastery of
the great teacfcings of revealed truth. Next comes
the noble mother in Israel, illustrating by her life the
practical beauty of religion, richly endowed with the
wisdom that cometh down from God, breathing holy
counsels into the heart of the young man, and send-
ing up to heaven faithful prayers for his salvation.
And then, when the way was all prepared, the flam-
ing herald of the cross appears. He is sent by
Heaven. His mission is in demonstration of the
Spirit. The dry bones in the valley of death live.
It is now that the mental discipline, the knowledge,
and the doctrinal theories of the young man received
their crowning glory in the sound and manifest
renewal of his heart. Such was the school in which
God prepared him for his great work. How wisely
adapted were the agencies to the end they were
designed to accomplish 1
72 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1799.
CHAPTER n.
COMMENCES HIS ITINERANT CARBEK.
General Conviction of the People — ^Public Exercises — ^Talents and Graces de-
Teloped by the Methodist Economy — ^Exercises of his Mind with reference
to the Ministry — Receives an Exhorter's License — Holds Meetings — Lo-
renzo Dow — Leaves his Circuit — ^Young Hedding called out to succeed
him — His Labours — Rowdies frightened — A Furious Bully — A Brother
checked — Perplexed about his Duty — His First Sermon — The Question
solved — Subsequent joyful Experience- — The Retrospect — Called out by
the Elder — Sbadrach Bostwick — Admitted on Trial in the New-York Con-
ference— His Companions — The Church — Circuits and Circuit Labours —
Primitive Presiding Elders' Districts — Motives of Human Action —
These Men and their Work — The Standard-Bearers in the New-York
Conference — Appointed to Plattsburgh — The Circuit — Discouragements
— His Colleague — His Studies — Thoroughness of his Investigations — An
Illustration — Abundant in Labours — ^New Ground broken up — Still An-
other— Closes the Conference Year.
VnsKT soon after his conversion, the conviction be-
came very general among the people that God
"would in due time thrust the young convert out into
the ministry, l^o doubt the subject presented itself
to his own mind also, but it was not in the form of a
distinct and unequivocal call from God. But his heart
was too deeply engaged in the great work that was
progressing for him to remain inactive. Soon after his
conversion, he began to pray and to exhort in public.
The economy of the Methodist Church was well
calculated to develop the talents of such young men.
It trained them not in seminaries and colleges, but
in the field of action. However indispensable the
1799.] OOMMENCEB HIS ITINERANT OAEEEE. 73
former haye become in a later age — an age of more
refinement and of more general intelligence — tte lat-
ter was the only one that could meet the emergencies
of those times. First, the simple narration of Chris-
tian experience — the tale of spiritual conflicts and
triumphs, of sorrows and heavenly joys, uttered
weekly among sympathizing and encouraging breth-
ren ia the class room ; then the exercise of prayer in
the social assembly, often gathered to mingle in songs
of praise and fervent intercessions at the mercy-seat ;
next the exhortation in the public assembly; and
finally, the ministration of the word to assemblies,
convened often in private houses, rustic in their char-
acter, but hungering for the bread of life — such a
training kept alive the holy fire in the heart, and at
the same time developed that ready and effective
practical talent admirably adapted to the times.
Such was the school ia which young Hedding was
being trained for the great work of God in which he
was afterward to take so conspicuous a part. At first
his own convictions in relation to his duty were not
clear ; and he determined that nothing should induce
him to enter the ministry before he was clearly con-
vinced that he was called by God to the work. The
preachers sometimes told him it was his duty to
preach, and once, at a quarterly conference, a license
was offered him ; but he uniformly replied that he
was not satisfied that God had called him, and he was
not willing to run before he was sent. His views of
the great responsibilities of the minister's calling, and
74 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1799.
the necessity for eminent qualifications, as well as a
special call from God himself for the work, and,
withal, his views of personal unfitness, made him un
willing to believe it his duty whenever the subject
was presented to him. Still he could not divest Ms
mind of the impression that he ought to preach, and
waited for God to make known to him his duty in
such a manner as would remove all doubts. In the
mean time he was constantly, and with absorbing
interest, engaged in the study of the Bible. He con-
tinued also to exercise his talents in public prayer and
exhortation as opportunity offered. The love of
Christ fired his heart, and his fine and already some-
what exercised talents were often employed with
powerful effect.
He had hardly been admitted into fall membership
in the Church, before he was persuaded by bis breth-
ren to receive an " exhorter's license." Now also lie
began to extend his labours beyond his own neighbour-
hood, and to visit the regions round about, labouring to
persuade sinners to be reconciled to God. Sometimes
he was induced to appoint meetings and conduct them
himself; but most generally he accompanied or met
the circuit preacher at his appointments, and deliv-
ered an exhortation at the close of the sermon. His
word was often made the power of God in quicken-
ing and saving souls ; and his brethren, especially the
faithful ministers of Christ, rejoiced at the evidence
of bis growing gifts and gi'aces.
At the conference in 1799 the Essex Circuit was
1799.] COMMENCES HIS ITINERANT OAEfcEE. 75
formed, and the eccentric Lorenzo Dow, then in the
second year of his itinerant ministry, was appointed
to labour npon it. The circuit was yery large, and
spread over a rough and wild countiy. It embraced
the whole tract of country lying between Lake Cham-
plain and the Green Mountains, and extending from
the Onion Eiver in Yermont northward some twenty
or thirty miles into Canada. For a few months Dow
travelled and laboured with incredible diligence, and
his ministry was attended with great success ; but at
the end of this period he suddenly left his work.
Lnagining that he had received a special and divine
mission to preach in L-eland, he immediately set sail
for that country. All eyes were now turned upon the
young exhorter as a necessary supply for the vacancy.
-Under great constraint, and in view of the necessities
of the work, he at length consented, and, in the month
of November, when but little over nineteen years of
age, and within less than a year from the time of his
conversion, went to the circuit. His labours here
were of the most arduous character. It required not
less than three hundred miles' travel to complete one
round upon the circuit, which occupied four weeks.
During this time he held regularly three meetings on
the Sabbath, and met class at the close of each; and
at least one, often two, on each day of the week, be-
sides frequent prayer meetings. During this period
young Hedding, being only an exhorter, conscien-
tiously avoided the show or fact of preaching. He
says of himself, that "instead of taking a text I
76 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1799.
delivered an exhortation usually about an hour long."
His word was in demonstration of the Spirit and with
power ; revivals broke out, the work of God moved
forward in every direction, " and much people was
added to the Lord." It was now fuUy evident that
he was a chosen vessel unto God to bear his name be-
fore the people and the Church. Having filled the
time of his engagement, he returned home, and
renewed his former occupation upon the farm.
While upon the circuit he encountered much oppo-
sition from the emissaries of Satan, who were especially
busy whenever the attention of the people was power-
fully awakened to the concerns of the soul. At one
time, while holding an evening meeting in Canada,
there came a number of young men who had banded
together to break up the meeting. But the power of
God got hold upon them ; they became terribly fright-
ened, and aU of them, except one, fled with precipita-
tion from the house. He was so mightily wrought
upon that he had not power to go, and at length fell
upon the floor, crying aloud for mercy. He drew out
a large club he had concealed beneath his overcoat,
and confessed with shame and horror the guilty inten-
tions with which he and his comrades had come to the
meeting. Then he besought the people to pray for
him, for he was trembling over the very abyss of hell.
The people prayed earnestly for his salvation ; and
that very night God spoke peace to his soul in so
powerful and wonderful a manner that he shouted
aloud, and went to his home praising God.
1799.] OOMMEKOES HIS ITINEEANT OAEEEE. 77
At another place in Canada, after Mr, Hedding
had delivered his message, a young exhorter addressed
the people. Two young men in the congregation
were disorderly and disturbed the meeting, and were
deserredly rebuked by the speaker. At the close of
the public service, as the class remained, Mr. Hed-
ding observed that the two young men remained in
the house, and, believing that they tarried only for
mischief, he desired the class to retire into another
room. The young men went outside the door; but,
unknown to those within, waited till the class-meeting
was dismissed. As the exhorter, who was somewhat
in advance of Mr. Hedding, stepped out of the door,
one of them struck him and knocked him to the
ground, and as he attempted to rise repeated the
blow with like effect. Mr. Hedding then grasped the
prostrate yoimg man and di-ew him into the house,
while the people closed in between him and his as-
saulter and prevented the repetition of the blows.
The foiled bully, then seemed to be enraged beyond
all bounds. He ran out some twenty or thirty feet
from the house, jumped up and down, and smote his
fists together with great violence, cursed, swore, and
blasphemed, and defied any one there to come out and
fight with him. At that moment Mr. Hedding per-
ceived a class-leader, formerly a noted boxer, but since
powerfaUy converted, and now a real Christian, for a
moment, under the great provocation, so far forget-
ting himself as to slip off his coat and prepare for a
fight. He calmly laid his hand upon him and said;
78 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. P-800.
"Brother, put on your coat. It won't do to fight.
You are a Christian; and it is the Sabbath-day."
The bully, however, showed himself too cowardly to
stand even the appearance of an attack upon himself,
and slunk away. Soon after the civil authorities took
him up and fined him on five several indictments,
viz. : for breaking the Sabbath, breaking the peace,
assault and battery, cursing the king, and profane
swearing.
Distrust of himself and of his capabiKties was a
prominent characteristic of Mr. Hedding in his early
history, as well as in his subsequent career. He thus
speaks of the embarrassment he felt when first thrust
out into the work : " Thus far I had often been im-
pressed with a belief that some time it would be my
duty to preach, but believed that the time had not
yet arrived for me to commence so great a work. I
felt great reluctance to commence travelling as an
exhorter, lest it should seem to others that I was too
forward, and lest, on account of my youth and want of
knowledge, I should hurt instead of helping the cause
of Christ, which I so dearly loved. However, the
solicitude of some of the preachers, the fewness of the
labourers in the Lord's vineyard, and my strong de-
sire for the salvation of mankind, led me to consent
to the request of my brethren, and do what little I
could in warning sinners to flee from the wrath to
come." When he returned home from his engage-
ment on Essex Circuit he seems not yet to have been
fully satisfied in his own mind as to the line of duty.
1800.] OOMMENOEB HIS ITINEEANT CABEEH. 79
He had never preached ; that is, he had not yet dis-
coursed from a text, though he had undoubtedly ex-
pounded the Scriptures in his exhortations.
His mode of reasoning within himself on the sub-
ject of his call to the ministry was thus expressed: —
" I have no desire to be a preacher imless God re-
quire it. If he require it, he will let me know it.
K he does not let me know it, he will never blame
me for not preaching."
In this perplexed and doubtfal state of mind he
continued till Saturday, March 25, 1800. On that
day, as he was engaged in Ms daily labour and think-
ing of an appointment he had as an exhorter, on the
following day, the conviction that he ought to preach
at that meeting, and the text he should use, and the
manner in which he should preach, were so clearly
impressed on his mind that he dared not refiise. He
yielded to the impression, and preached with such
comfort to his own mind, such enlargement of soul,
and such manifest approval of the Divine Spirit, that
from that time he never doubted but that he was
called to the work of the ministry.*
From this time forth his course was determined.
*■ The author of the " Troy Conference Miscellany," Rev. Stephen
Parks, says: "A humble cottage on the west side of Cumberland
Head, about two miles from the Tillage of Plattsburgh, has been
pointed out to the writer as the place where this distinguished ser-
vant of God preached his first sermon." We incline to think this
was his first " exhortation " after his entrance upon his labours on
Essex Circuit, in 1799, and not his " first sermon ;" but we are not
certain. a*
F
80 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1800.
The scruples wMcli so strongly marked the conscien
tiousness of the young man were now all removed.
He was sooti regularly licensed as a local preacher —
no one doubting but that God had appointed him to
the work of the ministry.
Up to this period his religious experience had been
of a very clear and satisfactory character. He had
preserved, from the time when first the Holy Spirit
bore witness with his that he was bom of God, the
clear and indubitable evidence of his acceptance in
the Beloved ; so clear, indeed, that it had not been
obscured by a doubt or a fear. The current of his
religious feeling was deep, strong, and constant ; like
that of the mighty river, unaffected by drenching rains
or withering droughts, it moved onward, with steady
flow, to the great ocean where all his thoughts and
feelings centred. But after his course for the minis-
try had been fully determined upon, and he had re-
solved- to brave every hardship and privation that he
might preach Christ and him crucified, there was a
perceptible increase of his peace and joy. Amid the
hard labour incident to .a settlement in a new coun-
try, his joys literally abounded. The following pas-
sage will give us a glimpse of the state of his
mind : —
" During the summer of 1800," says he, " I was en-
gaged in some work a mile or two back in the woods,
and, as I was often accustomed to do, kneeled down
and prayed. My soul was so filled with the love of
God,, and I became so exceedingly happy, that I
1800.] COMMENOBB HIS ITINEBANT OAEEEE. 81
shouted tlie praise of God to the height of my voice.
It seemed to me that I could not possibly breathe
unless I shouted. For half an hour I made the woods
ring with my loud shouts of glory to God in thp
highest."
Such were the feelings with which his heart over-
flowed when once the great question of duty had been
settled. Scarcely less interesting were the feelings
with which he contemplated his course when he
viewed, in retrospect, the many years and severe
hardships of his ministerial career. Said he : " Often
the flesh has complained, my spirit has simk within
me, and, amid the privations, toils, and hardships of an
itinerant life, worldly interests have pleaded for some
other employment. But there has been a voice sound-
ing continually in my soul, ' Woe is me if I preach not
the gospel.' And however poorly I have performed
the work for these many years, since the time I be-
lieved that God had called me to preach, it has been
my delight to declare his message to dyiag men.
And had I my life to live over again, and the choice
of all the stations which earth could proffer, I would
prefer to be a faithful, acceptable, and useful itinerant
minister of the gospel of the blessed God."
Having been licensed as a local preacher, he con-
tinued to preach in his own and in neighbouring
places during the simimer of 1800. This position he
was not permitted long to occupy, for in the ensuing
fall he was callediput by the Eev. Shadrach Bostwick,
who had succeedeijBylvester Hutchinson as presiding
82 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. 11800.
elder of the district, to labour upon a circuit. On
the 15th of November he commenced his itinerant
career. At first he was placed upon the Plattsburgh
Circuit, on the west side of Lake Ohamplain. Here
he had his early friend and spiritual guide, Eev.
Joseph Mitchell, as his colleague and superintendent.
His labours on this circuit were blessed to the awaken-
ing and conversion of many souls. But his stay was
short; for at the end of six weeks the exigences of
the work required his removal to Cambridge Circuit,
where one of the preachers had broken down. Here
he had the E.ev. Ebenezer Stevens as his colleague.
His preaching was attended with some measure of
success, and he continued to labour tiU the ensuing
conference.
To the wise counsels, the kind care, and holy ex-
ample of his presiding elder, the young itinerant was
greatly indebted. Shadrach Bostwick was, in every
respect, such a man as the young minister, in that
early day, might look up to for counsel, and whose
example he might safely imitate. He was one of
" God's noblemen," — a prince and a great man in our
Israel. " He was a glorious man," said Bishop Hed-
ding. He had been educated for a physician; and
his talents were of a commanding order that would
have secured him eminence in any department of life.
As a preacher he stood foremost in rank, and through
all the extensive regions of his labours he was famous
for the intellectual and evangelical power of his ser-
mons. His discourses were systematic, profound,
1800.] OOMMENOBS HIS ITINEEANT CAEEEK. 83
luminous, and often overwhelming; his piety was
deep and pure ; his manners were dignified and amia-
ble. Hundreds will rise up and call him blessed in
the final day. His example and talents could not but
fire the hearts and stimulate the energies of his young
preachers. He had entered the travelling ministry in
1791, and his Jabours extended over Delaware, Mary-
land, New-Jersey, Ifew-Tork, Connecticut, Massachu-
setts, and Ohio. He was eminently a pioneer. In
1803 he passed to the "Western Keserve, in north-
eastern Ohio, then a remote settlement on the western
frontier. Here he formed the first circuit; it ex-
tended through the sparse settlements, and required
extraordinary labours and sacrifices. The roads he
travelled were "Indian trails," and his guide-posts
were marks on the trees. Indomitable as he was in
energy of character, he was, nevertheless, often foiled
in his winter travels by impassable roads and swollen
torrents, over which there were no bridges. Amid
such privations and toils he laid the foundation of
Methodism in that fine region, and its healthiness
to the present day attests the skill and faithfulness of
the early workman. In 1805 he found it necessary
to desist from travelling on account of domestic cir-
cumstances. He accordingly, after fourteen years'
service, located and resumed the practice of medicine.
Such were the men among whom young Hedding
breathed the vital air of Methodism, and such the
spirit that animated them.
On the _ 16th of June, 1801, Mr. Hedding was
84 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1801.
admitted by the New-York Annual Conference on pro-
bation in the travelling connexion. Of the fifty-fioe,
mostly yoimg men, who that year entered the travel-
ling ministry, but two survived him in that relation,
and both of them had retired from effective service.
The others, or most of them, long since ceased from
their labours and entered upon their reward. Indeed,
it is a striking commentary upon the privations and
labours of that early period, that twenty-mne of the
fifty-five retired from the ministry within the short
period of ten years. It is painful to reflect how much
talent has been lost to the Church, at every period of
her history, in consequence of the severity of the
labour and the insufficiency of the support.
At that period there were but eight annual confer-
ences, three hundred and seven preachers, and seventy
two thousand eight hundred and seventy-four mem-
bers in our whole American connexion. The circuits
were large, often requiring from three to five hun-
dred miles to complete one round, and this round was
to be completed in from two to six weeks, during
which a sermon was to be preacheiand a class met
daily ; and often three sermons and three classes to be
attended on the Sabbath. The journeys, too, were
performed, not upon steamboats and railroads, nor
yet in good carriages and by easy stages upon turn-
pikes ; but on horseback, through rough and miry
ways, and through wildernesses where no road as yet
had been cast up. Elvers and swamps were to be
forded. Nor could the journey be delayed. On, on,
1801.] 0OMMENOE8 HIS ITINEEANT OAEEEB. 85
must the itinerant press his way, through the drench-
ing rains of summer, the chilling sleet of spring or
autimin, and the driving blasts or piercing cold of
winter; and often amid perils, weariness, hunger, and
almost nakedness, carrying the bread of life to the
lost and perishing. And then, when the day of toil
was ended, iu,the creviced hut of the frontier settler
the weary itinerant, among those of kindred hearts
and sympathies, found a cordial though humble place
of repose. The subject of this memoir said that
he had often lodged in log'houses where the stars
could be seen through the roof above him, and that
again and again, when he awoke in the morning,
he has found the bed on which he slept covered with
snow.
But this was not all. The people, though willing,
were poor, and the support was often inadequate to
meet the necessities of even a single man ; but woe to
the man and the family that were dependent for a
livelihood upon the compensation received for such
labours as these. And yet these were men — ^men
sensible to suffering and want — ^men of tender sympa-
thies for wives and children! And, alas! many of
them broke down in the work and went early to their
reward ; others were compelled to retire from it ; but
here and there one of iron constitution and abiding
faith toiled on, till, like our own Hedding, fall of years
and of faith, he has been gathered to those that had
gone before. Such were the toils, hardships, and
privations endured by our fathers in transforming the
86 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. . [1801.
waste wilderness into a delightful vineyard, and mak
ing it as the garden .of God.
N"or was the presiding eldership any sinecure in
those early days any more than now. The district
which embraced the Essex Circuit, when Mr. Hed-
ding was employed upon it, was of gigantic propor-
tions. It embraced New-York city, the whole of
Long Island, and extended northward, embracing the
whole territory having the Connecticut River on the
east and Hudson River and Lake Champlain on the
west, and stretching far into Canada. In fact, it
embraced nearly the whole territory now included
within three annual conferences. This immense dis-
trict was then travelled by Sylvester Hutchinson.
He was a man of burning zeal and of indomitable
energy. Mounted upon his favourite horse, he would
ride through the entire extent of his district once each
three months, visiting each circuit, and invariably
filling aU his numerous appoiutments. His voice
rung like a trumpet's blast ; and with words of fire,
and in powerful demonstration of the Spirit, he
preached Christ Jesus.
Into the fellowship of this noble company we have
seen the subject of our memoir duly installed. The
conference held its session in the old John-street
Church, and Bishop "Whatcoat presided over the
deliberations of the body. It was a time of great
interest to the young preacher. Never before had he
seen so large a body of ministers gathered together.
Many of them were already renowned for their talents
1801.1 OOMMENOEB HIS ITINERANT CABEEE. 87
and labours. There was Freeborn Garrettson, who
was regarded as the apostle of Methodism within the
bounds of the conference ; a true Christian gentle-
man, a man of great influence in the connexion, and
one whose life and labours are permanently inter-
woven with the early history of the Church. There
was Daniel O^rander, — a man of clear bead and un-
bending integrity, a skilful debater, a logical ser-
monizer, an able preacher, and a godly man. There,
too, was Thomas Morrell — formerly an officer in the
revolutionary ai^ny, but now still more successful in
leading the sacramental host of God's elect on to victory
and heaven ; a man of great talents and learning, and
also of burning zeal in the cause of God. There also
was John M'Claskey, a bold, brave, heroic man ;
wherever he went overwhelming power attended hia
proclamation of the truth. In that conference was
Michael Coate, — ^remarkably prepossessing in his
personal appearance, refined and attractive in his
manners, easy and simple in his address, and justly
ranked among the very best and most successful
preachers of the day. Beginning to exhort the very
night that God brought deliverance to his captive
soul, in 1794, he continued through twenty yeara of
incessant travels and labours sounding abroad the
word of Hfe, spreadiag bis labours over vast regions,
and founding societies and churches almost without
number. There, too, was the eccentric Billy Hib-
bard, — a great wit, a man of shrewd parts, and also
of great good sense ; the inveterate and wily foe of
88 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1801.
Calvinism, but a devoted and useful servant of Christ.
There too was John Wilson, a thorough scholar, and
■who often manifested extraordinary energy, and was
attended with peculiar unction in his pulpit exercises.
Among that galaxy, too, was Samuel Merwin, whose
transcendent eloquence for a long period chained the
most crowded audiences in Philadelphia, Boston, and
New-York. Many others also were there, scarcely
inferior either in talents or success : such men were
Aaron Hunt, and William Thatcher, and Mitchell,
and Bostwick, and Brodhead, and Moriarty, and
Chichester, — men known and honoured in the Church
of God. Such were the men among whom Mr. Hed-
ding was now introduced, and with whom he was to
become a co-worker in spreading the knowledge of
Christ. To be with them, and not be inspired by
the same spirit that animated them, would have
been a sure evidence of a want of appreciation of
the nature of the work, and an unfitness for it. But
to stand up as an equal among them, nay, to become
an acknowledged leader among them, required an
intellect and attainments of no ordinary grade.
At the close of this session of the conference, Mr.
Hedding received his first appointment fi-om con-
ference, which was to the Plattsburgh Circuit. Here
he had the Eev. Elijah Chichester for his senior
preacher, a man eminently adapted to give to the
young preacher judicious counsels, and to influence
him by the purest and best example. The circuit
lay upon the west side of Lake Champlain, extending
1801.] COMMENCES HIS ITINEEANT OAEEEE. 89
jfrom Ticonderoga on the south nearly to St. John's,
in Canada, and from the shores of the lake to the ■wil-
derness and mountains of the west. Here, in this
new and sparsely-settled country, he endured more
than it is possible for us to describe of the toils and
privations of the early itinerants. They had to travel
over new and ij^iry roads, and often their way to the
remote settlements lay through unbroken and almost
pathless forests. They had to face the piercing blasts
of the cold winter, and to ford streams swollen by
freshets and chilled by melting snows. They were
often compelled to lodge in log-houses, whose creviced
walls and roofs scarcely protected them from the
driving winds, falling rain, or snow. A complete
journey round the circuit was performed in each
month. This required a travel of three hundred
miles, and they were accustomed to preach at least
once on each week-day, and three times on the Sab-
bath, besides meeting classes and attending prayer
meetings.
At first, the prospects on the circuit were exceed-
ingly discouraging. "For a season," said he, "we
had hard times, as it respects religious things, and
but little success seemed to attend our labours.
Many of the members had backslidden, and it was
necessary to expel some of them from the Church,
so that everything wore a most discouraging aspect.
Still we continued our labours with unabated zeal,
and in the midst of our gloom confidently looked
for an outpourine of the Spirit. In this we were
90 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1801.
not disappointed. The great Head of the Clmrcli
encouraged us, by giving us in the latter part of
the year a plentiful harvest. Eevivals occurred at
almost every appointment on the circuit ; and many
that were converted that year persevered for years,
and at length died in the triumphs of faith."
Of his colleague during this year Mr. Hedding
says: "Though he was a man of moderate learning,
he had a deep understanding and a sharp and pene-
trating mind. What little he had time to read, he
read and digested to the best advantage. He was a
man of strict, upright moral life and conversation,
of deep religious experience, was much in prayer,
and delighted in heavenly meditations. He was a
preacher of great industry, and faithful in every part
of his duty. He was not what would be called a
polished or popular preacher, but he was a good
sermonizer, and preached and exhorted with great
energy and success; for the Holy Ghost accompanied
his word, and set it home on the hearts of the people.
When we met, which was only occasionally, on the
circuit, he manifested great kindness to me, gave
me good counsel, and assisted me, as far as he was
able to do, in my studies."
The difficulties and embarrassments in the way of
study, at this early day, were very great to a Method-
ist preacher. His almost daily public labours, the
long and often toilsome rides between his appoint-
ments, the great scarcity and high price of books,
the difficulty of obtaining suitable accommodations
1801.] OOMMENOES HIB ITINEEANT OAEBEB. 91
for study, and the almost utter impossibility of obtain-
ing any adequate help by way of instruction, were
some of the difficulties that were to be encountered
and overcome by him who would show himself to be
a workman that needed not to be ashamed. With
these difficulties Mr. Hedding resolutely grappled.
The woods wer&often his study ; the Bible, and " that
elder scripture," also written with God's own hand,
were the great text-books' from which he drew forth
the treasures of knowledge and truth. " I was glad,"
says he, " during the summer, to get into the woods,
and find an hour or two to read my Bible and some
other religious books that I could carry in my saddle-
bags. In the winter, I was equally glad to get the
same privilege by the fireside in a small log-cabin of
but one room, and the fire surrounded by a family of
children."
The peculiar cast of Mr. Hedding's mind, and the
thoroughness with which he prosecuted his studies,
even under his numerous disadvantages, may be illus-
trated by the following incident, which he himself
related : " Dui-ing that year I read Bishop Watson's
Apology for the Bible. In his answers to Paine, I
came to a place where Paine objects to a supposed
contradiction in the Bible, namely, that Matthew says,
chapter i, verse 16, ' Jacob begat Joseph the husband
of Mary,' while Luke says, chapter iii, verse 23, 'Jo-
seph was the son of Heli,' This Paine claimed to be
an irreconcilable contradiction. On coming to the
place in "Watson, I found he did not know how to
92 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1801.
answer it, but slipped over it witliotit giving a satis-
factory solution. And not knowing how to answer
it myself, I was troubled in spirit for several weeks.
But, on coming to a friend's bouse in Ticonderoga,
I foimd a copy of Mr. "Wesley's Notes on tbe New
Testament. I flew to tbe passage for an explanation
of the diificulty ; and here I found that Joseph was
the son-in-law of Heli. I then perceived that Heli
was Mary's father, and Jacob was Joseph's, and at
once the difficulty vanished from my mind, and my
spirit rejoiced." To remove any additional difficulty
that may spring up in the mind of the reader in
relation to calling Joseph, who was only the son-in-
law, " the son of Heli," we have only to observe the
fact that the Jews never permitted women to enter
into their genealogical tables; and also that when-
ever a family-line happened to end with a daughter,
instead of naming her in the genealogy, they inserted
the name of her husband as the son of him who was,
in reality, only his father 'in-law.* Joseph was con-
sidered, then, according to law, or, at least, allowed
custom, to be the son of HeU. Therefore, in tracing
the genealogy of Jesus through his maternal line,
Luke pursued only the custom of the Jews when he
called Joseph the son of Heli, Indeed, a second in-
stance to the same effect occurs in Luke's genealogy,
when, in verse twenty-seven, he calls Salathiel " the
son of ISTeri," -When he was actually the son of Jecho-
nias, and only the sonAriAa/w of Neri.
** See Adam Clarke, in hco.
1801.] OOMMENOES HIS ITINEEANT CAEEEE. 93
It was thus, step by step, tliat young Hedding
plodded his way along, using his little leisure and
his few books to the best possible advantage. When-
ever he encountered a difficulty, he ceased not to
grapple with it till it was fully overcome; nor did
he lay down a book until its contents had been thor-
oughly maste^d, and, it will be scarcely too much to
say, permanently stored away in his own mind.
He was not less ardent in his labours than in his
studies. No man could surpass him in the amount
of his labour, nor yet in the ardency with which it
was performed. Not only was he ready to " enter
every open door," but he was ready also to " lift the
latch" in new places, to see if God would not open the
door for the proclamation of the gospel to the poor
and needy. Thus was he busily engaged in not only
gathering into classes, and seeking to preserve those
already converted, but constantly endeavouring to
push on to " regions beyond."
The colleague of Mr, Hedding, going from one of
his appointments to another, passed through a neigh-
bourhood where they had not been accustomed to
preach, and where, in fact, up to this time, there had
been no preaching from any denomination. In the
true spirit of his evangelical mission, he felt a desire
to do something for the people, Hjs mind was power-
fully impressed with the conviction that God had a
work for them to do there ; but he knew no one in
the place. He had just passed a house, when his
mind was impressed to go back and inquire if they
94 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1801.
would allow preacliing there. He rettirned, obtained
the ready consent of the occupants, and left an ap-
pointment for Mr. Hedding in two weeks, his own
appointments calling him to a distant part of the
circuit. True to the time, the young itinerant hero
appeared upon the new field of battle. It was a hot
contest. The people were deeply afiected. The work
of the Lord broke out at the very first meeting ; it
swept with almost resistless power through the entire
neighbourhood, and nearly all the inhabitants were
converted to God. The whole place seemed to un-
dergo an entire moral renovation. A society was
organized, classes were formed, and regular preach-
ing established. A good society still exists there;
and for more than half a century the word of God
has been preached in their midst.
Another incident, connected with the preceding,
shows not only the pioneer character of the ministry,
but also of the membership in those days. , A
young man, from a place several miles distant, was
teaching the neighbourhood school at the time of this
revival, and became one of its most clear and hopeful
subjects. Soon after, he returned to his father's
house, and reported what great things the Lord had
done for him and for the people where he had been.
He obtained his father's consent, and then invited
the circuit preachers to visit and preach in that
place also. Here too there had been no preaching
of any kind up to that time. The preachers, utterly
regardless of the weight it added to their already
1802.J OOMMENOES HIS ITINERANT OASEEE. 95
heavy burden, responded to tlie call and went. The
father, mother, brothers, sisters, and many of the
neighbours of the young man were soon rejoicing
in the pardoning mercy of God, and one of the best
societies in all that part of the country was speedily
organized.
Such were thQ,agencie8 by which the work of God
multiplied and spread abroad at that early period.
In the midst of such glorious labours and victories,
with the work of God spreading out in every direc-
tion, and new openings for the ministry of the word
revealing themselves in every quarter, young Hed-
ding closed the first year of his regular itinerant min-
istry, by the approaching session of the conference
for 1802.
G 6
LIFK AND TIMES OF HEDDING.
CHAPTER m.
LABOURS ON PLETCHER, BRIBGEWATER, AND HANOVER
CIROtriTS.
Does not attend the Conference of 1802 — Appointed to Fletcher Circuit —
Laljan Clark's Description of it — Henry Ryan — Labours and Sufferings
— Mode of crossing Rivers — Horse gives out — Walks half round his Cir-
cuit— Personal and Ministerial Characteristics — Application to Studies
— Stackhouse's History of the Bible — His Colleague — Religious Con-
dition of the People — St. Albans — Disciples of Thomas Paine — Perse-
cutions— Two Young Women whipped — A Novel Scene — Infant Dam-
nation — Anecdotes of Early Methodism — Ashgrove Conference in 1803
— Ashgrove Society — Conference Services — Ordained Deacon — Ap-
pointed to Bridgewater — Extent of the Circuit — Promising Indications
— Dangerously Sick — Effects on the Work — Given over to di-e — Re-
vives — Attempts to resume his Work — Terrible Attack of Rheumatism —
Spiritual Conflicts — Prospect of being a Cripple — Thrice tried — A Bright
Example of Christian Charity — Resumes his Labours — Visits Saratoga
— Incident on board a Sloop — Conference in 1804 — Note to Bishop
Asbury — Anecdote of Asbury — Hanover Circuit — Itinerancy of Single
Men — Privileges of Study — Revolves his Plan — Studies English Gram-
mar — Mode — Dictionary of the Language — Effects — Subsequent Stud-
ies — Successes of the Year.
"We were a little before our stoiy in saying in our last
chapter tliat Mr. Hedding closed his first year's itin-
erant labour by the '■'■approaching''^ session of the con-
ference ; for, in fact, he did not attend that session of
the conference at alL It was not then aa requisite for
the young probationer in the conference to attend its
sessions as it has now become since the introduction
of a literary and theological course, attended with sys-
tematic examinations. Young Hedding, therefore, in
view of the exigences of the circuit, chose to remain
1802.] APPOINTED TO FLETOHEE OIEOtTIT. 97
at iLome and prosecute the work progressing under
such glorious auspices.
The session of the conference was held in the city
of JSTew-Tork, and commenced June 1, 1802. After
its close, and while yet performing his rounds on the
circuit as he had done during the year, Mr. Hedding
was notified of his appointment to the Fletcher Cir-
cuit. This was the same circuit he had travelled as
an exhorter in 1Y99, its name having been changed
the preceding year from Essex to Fletcher. "We
have already given an outline of it as it was in
1799. The Eev. Laban Clark, in connexion with
James Coleman, had been appointed to it in 1801, and
he thus describes its form, extent, and the labours it
involved. "Our circuit," says he, "was divided into
two parts, nearly like a figure 8, containing two weeks'
appointments in each, and bringing us together every
two weeks; the whole distance about four hundred
miles, including all that part of Yermont north of
Onion Eiver, and in Lower Canada from Sutton to
Missis'que Bay, and around the bay to Alsbury and Isle
la Motte ; embracing about forty appointments for four
weeks."* Being a newly-settled country the roads
were exceedingly bad, and to reach some portions
of the circuit they were compelled to traverse exten-
sive wildernesses, through which there were no roads.
Mr. Hedding had for his co-labourer and his senior
in oflSce this year the Rev. Henry Eyan, Of this
colleague Mr Hedding says : "He was, in that day, a
"» See Memorials of Methodism, Second Series, p. 146.
98 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1802.
very pious man, a man of great love for the cause of
Christ, and of great zeal in his work as a minister.
He was a brave Irishman — a man who laboured as if
the judgment thunders were to follow on each ser-
mon. He was sometimes a little overbearing in the
administration of discipline; but with that exception,
he performed his duties in every part of his work as
a minister of Christ as faithfully as any man I ever
knew. He was very brotherly and kind to me —
often speaking to me in a manner calculated to Urge
me on to diligence and fidelity in the great work.
When we met at the place of intersection in the
route of the circuit, he would occasionally salute me
with his favourite exhortation: "Drive on, brother!
drive on! Drive the devil out of the country!
Drive him into the lake and drown him!" The
author of the " Memorials of Methodism " says of this
remarkable man : "He was characterized by an inex-
tinguishable zeal and unfaltering energy. ITo diffi-
culty could obstruct his course ; he drove over his vast
circuits, and still larger districts, preaching continu-
ally, and pressing on from one appointment to
another. Neither the comforts nor the courtesies of
life ever delayed him. In Canada his labours were
Herculean ; he achieved the work of half a score of
men, and was instrumental in scattering the word of
life over vast portions of that new country, when few
other clergymen dared to venture among its wilder-
nesses and privations. Not only did he labour gigan-
tically, but he also suffered heroically from want, fa-
1802.] LABOUES AND SUFFERINGS. 99
tigue, bad roads, and the rigorous winters of those high
latitudes." Such was the companion with whom Mr,
Hedding was to be associated in the labours and pri-
vations of the second year of his ministry. He had
but little suavity of manner to render himself agreea-
ble to a colleague ; but there was a heroism in his
daring, and an, invincible ardour in his movements
that rendered him not altogether unprofitable as an
associate.
They often suffered severely both from wet and
cold in their journeys. Sometimes, during the wet
seasons, they slept in log-huts so open and exposed
that there was not a dry spot in them large enough
for a bed. Mr. Hedding relates that on one occasion
he occupied the same bed with his colleague on a cold
winter night in Canada. When they awoke in the
morning, they found, to their great surprise, that the
feet of his colleague had been frozen while they were
asleep. But this did not deter him a moment from
his work. One of the greatest obstacles they encoun-
tered in travelling round the circuit was the difficulty
of crossing the rivers. These rivers were generally
without bridges, and often they were compelled to
cross them when the waters were high and the cur-
rent swift, thus exposing themselves to great peril.
Sometimes they were ferried over in a canoe, holding
their horses by the bridle while they swam ; at other
times they were compelled first to drive their horses
over, and then to get over as they could on floating
logs or fallen trees. On one occasion, Mr. Hedding
100 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1802.
rode his horse while he swam to the opposite side
of the river, a distance of thirty or forty rods.
But out of all their dangers the Lord deliyered
them.
Another incident in the labours of this year, which
belongs to this connexion, is worthy of record; for
while it finely illustrates the remarkable energy and
perseverance of Mr. Hedding in prosecuting his
laboxirs, it also gives striking evidence of his devotion
to the cause of Christ. At one time the travelling
was unusually bad even for that country. There
had been alternate rains and frosts. The roads were
exceedingly rough, and frozen hard ; all the pools of
standing water were frozen over, but the weight
of the horse would cause him to break through at
almost every step, and he soon became so lame that
it was impossible for him to proceed further. How
should his appointments be reached ? No one would
risk a horse in such perilous travelling. When every
other resort failed, the yoimg itinerant, who had now
reached the centre of his circuit, shouldered his sad-
dle-bags, left his horse behind, and sallied forth to per-
form the round upon the northern part of the circuil
on foot. In two weeks he actually travelled one
hundred and fifty miles. Of this journey he said, —
" Frequently I would break through the ice and the
frozen mud in the swamps and woods, tearing my
boots and keeping my feet wet most of the time ;
but I persevered, and got round to my appointments
at the usual time, preaching once or twice a day vdth
1802.] PBESONAL CHAEACTEEI8TI0S. 101
my otlier accustomed services. I lived tkrongh it, but
tlie exposures and hardships of that tour I have never
recovered from to this day."
Some of the personal characteristics of Mr. Hed-
ding, at this period, may not be uninteresting to our
readers. Raised amid the exposures and labours,
and trained to,all the hardy habits, of a new country,
he possessed unusual physical vigour and hardihood.
In physical strength and in power of endurance he
was excelled by few, if any, of the young men of his
time. Having enjoyed imiform health from his child-
hood, his constitution, naturally sound, was unim-
paired. He was, in height, about six feet, of a large
frame, erect and commanding in person. His voice,
though by no means unmusical, was unusually sono-
rous ; indeed, such was its volume and power, that,
when speaking in the open air, he has often been
heard at the distance of a mile. He spoke however
with great ease, and with but little physical exhaus-
tion. He was also an excellent singer, and generally
led the singing in his congregations. His counte-
nance bore striking evidence of decision and energy
blended with meekness and benevolence ; and, at
the same time, his high, expansive forehead, penetra-
ting eye, and intelligent expression, gave evidence of
a high order of intellect. Even at that early day he
was looked upon as a man of no ordinary character.
His preaching was plain and practical. It exhibited
no oratorical display — no transcendent flights of fancy
— ^no succession of beautiful or startling ideas ; but
102 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING.
his sermons were well studied, and exhibited a rare
and symmetrical combination of well-digested ideas.
They were delivered with unction, which is, after all,
the soul of eloquence, and with power. Upon con-
troversial subjects his fine logical powers were often
exercised to good purpose : the prevailing errora of
the day — Calvinism, TJniversalism, and Infidehty —
were often made to writhe under the invincible re-
sults of his reasoning.
Though abundant in labours, he- did not forget oi
neglect his studies, but was a most dihgent student
During this year M'E wen on the Types of Scripture
was studied by him ; and, at first, he was inchned to
follow the example of some of the popular preachers
of the day, in adopting his methods of illustration;
but in after years he relinquished the practice. His
great study, however, during the year, besides the
Bible, which was always first, was Stackhouse's His-
tory of the Bible, comprising several octavo volumes.
He found the work in the house of a friend, borrowed
it, and carried it, volume after volume, in his saddle-
bags, around the circuit. Every favourable moment
for study was seized upon with an avidity that evidenced
his thirst for knowledge. This work proved to be
of great service to him, and added largely to his stock
of Biblical knowledge. So thoroughly was it studied
that he ever after retained a critical and ready knowl-
edge of not only the positions taken upon the promi-
nent points discussed, but also the data and the argu-
ments by which those positions were sought to be
1802.] BAINT ALBANB. 103
STiBtained, The young theologian was, by the bless-
ing of God, training himself manfully for his great
work.
Mr. Hedding foxmd his colleague as noble-hearted
as he was brave; and they laboured together in
great harmony. Indeed, they nobly vied with each
other to excel in the abundance and efficiency of
their labours Perhaps Mr. Kyan never had a col-
league that it was more difficult to lead in these
respects. Several very extensive and powerful re-
vivals took place upon the circuit, and many precious
souls were gathered into the fold of Christ.
The religious condition of the people, for the most
part, was truly deplorable. "Within the ample range
of the circuit there was only one Congregational minis-
ter settled over a small society ; and but two Baptist
ministers, whose range of labour was also more or
less restiicted. The result of this destitution was not
only great spiritual ignorance, but great moral degra-
dation, and great insensibility to religious truth.
Every form of pernicious error would spring up spon-
taneously in such a soil. The infidel works of Thomas
Paiue were just then taking the world by storm.
They were circulated and read, and multitudes pro-
fessed to believe their calumnies against God and the
Bible. Mr. Heddiag says: "When I first went to
St. Albans, which was then included in this circuit,
in 1799, though it was a considerable village, I
could find but two individuals who professed experi-
mental Christianity in the whole village. A large
5*
104 LIFE ANU TIMES OF HEDDING. [1802.
number of the inhabitants — ^botb men and women,
young and old — unblushingly professed to be the dis-
ciples of Paine. Many of tbem violently opposed
Christianity. They would blackguard the preachers
ill the streets, and insult them even in their religious
meetings. On one occasion a lawyer struck Elijah
Sabin with the but of his whip, and knocked him
down. At another time, another wrung the nose of
Lorenzo Dow. No general revival had taken place
at St. Albans previous to this year ; but during the
year we had a great revival. Infidehty was com-
pelled to flee ; and many of the disciples of Paine
renounced their infidelity, and became the disciples
of- Christ." The seed that had been sown amid per-
secutions and privations then only began to take root.
From that time forward the harvest has been growing
more and still more abundant. Not only St. Albans,
but all the region round about, has vdtnessed revival
after revival, and many a glorious harvest has glad-
dened the heritage of God. The place where once
only two persons professing godliness could be found,
now holds a respectable position for its religious and
benevolent institutions, while infidelity is scarcely
known.
These faithful ministers of Jesus Christ, at this
period, were not alone in suffering persecution.
The faith of their young converts was often most
severely tested ia the fiery ordeal. The wives of
ungodly men and the children of ungodly parents
often suffered the most bitter and unrelenting cruelty
1802.] PEEBEOUTION OF OONvilETS. 106
from those who should have been foremost to aid and
encourage them. " Some of the young people who
experienced religion were turned out of doors by their
parents ; some of them were whipped cruelly. Two
yowng women w&re so wTwpped Jyy the-i/r father that the
Mood rem down to thmr feet ; amd he then- turned
themn, out of doors, wnd they walked fifteen rmles to a
Methodist sodet/y. That same father, eight of whose
children experienced religion, drove six of them from
their home, and continued cruelly to whip two younger
boys for the crime of loving and praising God along
with the Methodists. He did not, however, succeed
in expurgating Methodism from his family, for some
of their descendants are now among our wealthy and
devoted members in that region."*
One or two other incidents illustrative of the times
we shall draw from the same source. The first is
from the pen of Abner Chase, one of the early co-
labourers o^Mr. Hedding, and gives a characteristic
view of the annoyances they suffered in their meet-
ings. It was a quarterly meeting, which was held in
a large bam, the female part of the congregation
occupying the floor, while the men occupied the "hay-
mow." "While the prayer meeting on Saturday
afternoon," says Mr. Chase, "was progressing in a
good spirit, a wagon was driven up, in which was a
number of persons of both sexes. They came in high
glee, alighted from the wagon, and, after standing a
while at the door, and listening to several prayers
" Troy Conference Miscellany, p. 41.
106 LIFE A'ND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1802.
from some of the females, one of the yoimg women
from the wagon pressed through the crowd, declaring
that she would pull down the next female that at-
tempted to pray. Accordingly, as one commenced
praying, she laid hold of her hair and drew her back-
ward ; and when another commenced she treated her
in like manner. This produced a great excitement
throughout the congregation, and yet no forcible
means were tised to compel the young woman to
cease from her rudeness; but several of the females
commenced praying that God would lay his hand
upon her, and show her and her companions that
he could vindicate his own cause and people. The
spirit of these praying females seemed to be instantly
diffused throughout the praying part of the assembly,
as by a flash of electricity ; and I have often thought
that if I ever saw a company of people agreed, as
touching one thing, it was on that occasion. While
lips and heart were thus employed, this rude young
woman seemed to be paralyzed, and stood like a
statue ; a death-hke paleness came over her coun-
tenance ; she trembled and fell to the floor as one
dead. A loud shriek was uttered by her companions
at the door ; and after a short pause, two young men,
who had accompanied her to the place, pressed through
the crowd, — though with as much apparent alarm as
though they had been approaching a loaded cannon
ready to be discharged, — ^laid hold of her clothing and
drew her through the congregation, and through the
barn-yard, which had recently been wet by a shower;
1802.] LIGHTS AND SHADES. lOT
tearing her garments in their haste, and besmearing
them with mud and manure." In this ludicrous
plight they threw her Kke a log iuto the wagon,
pitched in themselves with all possible haste, and
drove away at the top of their speed. " What be-
came of her afterward," says Mr. Chase, "I never
learned."
We add another incident which also goes to illus-
trate the lights and shades of itinerant life in this early
day. The incident occurred not far from Starks-
borcfligh, and is given on the authority of Eev. Ebe-
nezer Washburn, who commenced his itinerant career
the same year and in the same region with Mr. Hed-
ding. " In this place," says he, referring to the vicin-
ity of Hinesburg, " was a wealthy Dutchman by the
name of Snyder, who had a large family. His young-
est child, an interesting little girl about four or five
years old, sickened and suddenly died. They called a
Baptist preacher to attend the faneral, who preached
a pointed Calvinistic sermon, which did not much
please the Dutchman, he having been brought up to
believe the doctrines of Luther. But when the
preacher turned his address to the afflicted parents,
he told them that there were at least nine chances for
the child to be lost to one for it to be saved. The
father's heart could bear no more. He stamped his
foot and said, ' Hold your tongue ; I wiUhave no such
talk in my house. I am so well satisfied where my
little babe has gone, that, by the grace of God, I in-
tend to do just so as to go to it.' He then turned to
108 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1802.
a member of the Methodist Church who was present,
and said: 'Neighbour N'orton, won't you bring a
Methodist preacher to see me?' Brother JSTorton
said, ' I will, if you request it.' ' When will you bring
one V said he. Brother Norton replied, ' I expect one
at my house to-night ; and I think it probable I can
come here with him to-morrow morning.' ' Do,' said
the afflicted father. The child was buried without
farther ceremony. The next morning brother Norton
and I went to see him. The whole family were col-
lected together, and I conversed with each one ^pa-
rately, gave a general exhortation, and prayed with
them. I then left an appointment to preach there in
two weeks, and went on my way rejoicing. When I
came round again I found the man, his wife, and
several of the children, earnestly seeking the salva-
tion of their souls. I preached to them and a goodly
number of their neighbours. The Lord was with us,
and owned and blessed his word. The old gentleman,
his wife, and some of the children experienced relig-
ion and joined the Church ; and when I left the cir-
cuit, I left a flourishing class in that place, of which
brother Snyder was the leader."
Incidents like the above give us a better insight
into the prevailing temper of the times, the state of
society, the agencies at work in it, and the prevailing
features of the Methodistic movement, than could be
obtained from any merely verbal description. Here
the curtain seems to fall ; that former age comes up
to om" vision, and passes in panoramic view before
1803.] THE ASHGEOVE OONFEEENOE. 109
US. The " anecdotes of early Methodism " -would not
only fill a volume, but add an interesting and import-
ant chapter to its history. Indeed, not a little of the
philosophy of Methodism, as it is with the philosophy
of human life, would be found embodied and devel-
oped in its anecdotal history.
"We come now to the celebrated session of the New-
York Conference at Ashgrove, in 1803. Ashgrove
was situated in the town of Cambridge, "Washington
County, New- York. It had received its name from
a Mr. Ashton, an Irish emigrant, who, with others,
had settled in the place, and planted Methodism
there. The society was organized by Philip Embury,
who had removed to the place after having founded
a society and built a church in the city of New- York.
This man, who is now everywhere recognised as the
first Methodist preacher upon this continent, was a
carpenter by trade, lived in humble life, and died
here in 1115. In Ashgrove the first society was
formed, and the first church erected, within the bounds
of the present Troy Conference. The church was
erected in 1788, and that year, for the first time, the
little society was favoured with preaching by the ap-
pointment of the conference. It became, at an early
date, one of the strongholds of Methodism in the
country. " Around it cluster some of the most inter-
esting associations of our early denominational his-
tory." Here repose the ashes of the sainted Embury,
whose name has gone wherever Methodism has spread
in its world-wide career. He sleeps in the company
110 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1803.
of a noble band of pioneers, with whom he took sweet
counsel in the time of his pilgrimage.*
The session of the conference commenced July 1st.
Bishops Ashury and Whatcoat were both present.
Public preaching was had ia the church every day at
twelve o'clock ; but the business sessions of the con-
ference were held in a large private room of one of
the members. Seats were made out of rough boards
for the preachers, while two plain chairs near the
window accommodated the bishops. The business of
the conference was transacted with great despatch.f
Nearly seventy preachers were present. It was a
great and glorious time for the ministers, and also
for the members, in all that region. The people
gathered from all the adjacent coimtry, so that on
the Sabbath not less than two thousand persons
had convened in and around the church to attend
upon the ministry of the word and the ordinances of
religion. The power of God attended upon the word,
and great good was done. Mr. Hedding, having
passed through his trial of two years, was admitted
into full connexion ; and, on the fourth of the month,
was ordained deacon by Bishop Whatcoat.
At the close of the conference he received his ap-
pointment to the Bridgewater Circuit, in the State of
New-Hampshire. No sooner had the announcement
° See " Troy Conference Miscellany," p. 24: ; also " Methodist Magar
zine " for 1827.
t See " Kecollections of William Theophilus," (Rev. Wm. Thatcher,)
a pilgrim of threescore. Published by Carlton & Phillips.
1803.] BEIDGEWATEE OIHOTTIT. Ill
been made than, in the true spirit of the times, he
mounted his horse with his saddle-bags, containing all
his earthly goods — " real, personal, and mixed " — and
started upon his long journey to find his circuit among
the distant hills of a new state and a strange people.
He had for his travelling companions the noble John
Broadhead and kis pious and estimable lady ; and in
their delightftd intercourse beguiled many a long and
weary mile.
Bridgewater Circuit lay nearly in the centre of the
State of New-Hampshire. It had been recognised
and the plan of a circuit struck out at the preceding
session of the conference, with a membership of ten
souls. In this hard field of labour the Eev. Reuben
Jones had passed a year of toilsome and discouraging
labour. The circuit comprised thirteen towns, and
required about one hundred miles' travel each week,
two sermons usually on each week-day, and three on
the Sabbath. It was a rough, hilly, and rocky coun-
try, intersected by roads in the worst possible con-
dition to be travelled. He had no colleague, but was
left to bear the burden alone. Before labours that
might have taxed the severe efforts of two able men
he stood unappalled, and entered upon them with the
firm resolve " to do or to die " for the Lord.
At the -very commencement of his labours there
were indications of a more general and sweeping re-
vival than he had ever witnessed before. They were
apparent in nearly every neighbourhood where he
had an appointment. The whole population seemed
H
112 LIFE AKD TIMES OF HEDDING. [1803.
to be moved as by some invincible yet unseen power.
Mr. Hedding says of these times : " I never, before
nor since, have seen such marks of an overwhelming
and sweeping revival of the work of God. So deeply
were the people interested to hear the preaching, that
often we were driven to a bam or a grove, that they
might be accommodated. And so wholly absorbed
were they about their souls' concern, that the scattered
population would collect on week day — ^men in harv-
est-time coming, on horseback, ten or fifteen miles to
hear the word. The whole country seemed to think
and talk of nothing but what they must do to be
saved." This great movement among the people ex-
cited deeply his own feelings ; and, having no fellow-
laboui'er to aid him, he exerted himself beyond even
his own herculean powers of physical endurance.
Hardly six weeks had elapsed before he was pros-
trated by a severe and dangerous attack of disease.
There was not a single local preacher on the entire
circuit, nor any other man capable of keeping up the
meetings and carrying forward the work. Neither
was there, at that time, any prospect that help could
be obtained from any other circuit. The meetings
were interrupted and, to a great extent, given up, so
that the glorious prospect that had so lately cheered
the hearts of all lovers of Zion, passed away without
any of the promised practical results. The devil him-
self seemed to enter the field. Many evil and slander-
ous reports were spread abroad about the Methodists,
andj 4n many instances, those who would once have
1803.] DANGEEOUS ILLNESS. 113
plucked out their eyes, had it been necessary, to aid
God's servants in their work, became their most bit-
ter foes. This was the cause of inexpressible grief to
Mr. Hedding, and fearfully aggravated his disease.
To sicken and die away from kindred and home,
among strangers and in a strange place, seemed not
half so appalling to his feelings as to see the hosts of
Zion recoil, and leave the field defeated and dis-
pirited, when the shout of victory had already begun
to ring along the victorious line. Can any one won-
der that his mind was sorely tempted ? "Was it not a
first, great, and profitable, though severe lesson, de-
signed to teach him that the Christian minister nmist
waLh hy fcdth a/nd not hy sight ? and that he must
sow his seed, not hfhovymg whether this or that sIkM
prosper ?
His disease, which was at first a malignant form of
dysentery, had progressed but a 'few days when his
friends gave up all hope of his recovery, and became
so convinced of the near approach of his dissolution
that they privately sent a man thirty miles to meet
the presiding elder at his quarterly meeting and get
him to preach the funeral sermon. Happily for the
Church and the world, before the presiding elder's ar-
rival the disease had taken a favourable turn, and
instead of lamenting the fall of a standard-bearer,
they rejoiced in his deliverance from the very jaws
of death.
When partially recovered, he attempted to resume
his labours on the circuit. He rode fifteen miles and
114 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1803.
attended an appointment; but the effort was too
mucli for him. He took cold. A terrible attack of
rheumatism set in, affecting his whole system, and
causing the most excruciating pain. He became
entirely helpless, unable to move a hand or finger.
Some of his joints were dislocated, and" one of his
wrists was not only drawn out of joint, but the hand
stood out at right angles with his arm for four months,
and was entirely helpless during all that time. By
the use of bandages and splinters the doctor finally
got it back nearly to its place, though it never became
sound and strong as before. For six weeks he was
unable to turn himself in his bed ; and it was four
months before he could walk across the room. The
.effects of that terrible attack were suffered by him
through all his after-life.
During his first sickness his mind preserved a calm
and comfortable reliance upon God, and he enjoyed
great religious consolation and hope. But during the
first ten days of his attack with the rheumatism, and
while he was suffering great bodily distress, he was
powerftdly assailed by temptations from, the devil.
He was tried, like Job of old, in a most fearful ordeal;
but he maintained his steadfastness, maintained his
confidence in God, and came forth like gold tried in
the fire, deferring to this scene of trial in his later
years, he said, " The pain I suftered was beyond any-
thing I had ever endured or conceived of before ; and
Satan took advantage of it to tempt me most violently.
K I never had any other confirmation of the exist-
1803.] TEIAL OF HIS FAITH. 115
ence of tlie devil and his power to tempt men tlian
what I felt in his severe assaults upon me at that time,
I could never doubt his existence. He tempted me
day and night to blaspheme, and would say to me,
'"What have you ever done that you should suffer
this ? Curse God and die !' In my distress of mind
1 cried continually to the Lord, and prayed for de-
liverance and protection. I said to Satan, 'I will
not, I will not !' But so great was my fear that I
should be overcome that I held my teeth together,
lest blaspheming words should escape from me.
When this attack of my enemy had continued ten
days, I obtained a complete victory over him, and
my soul triumphed exceedingly in the Lord." Such
was his fear lest'in his weakness he had inadvertently
yielded to the temptation and murmured against God,
that it became a source of painful anxiety to his mind
as he was recovering from his sickness. He earnestly
desired the good woman who had watched over him
in his sickness to teU him plainly whether he had
murmured or repined under the chastening hand of
God, and, to his great relief, she assured him that he
had not uttered a single complaining word.
While recovering he was subjected to stiU another
trial of his faith. He found himself crippled in his
limbs, and his physician plainly told him he would
probably be a cripple for life. This was to him a
severe trial, and it was some time before he could be-
come reconciled to it. His continual cry was, "Lord,
help me to say, * Thy will be done.' " At length he
116 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1803.
settled the matter thus in his own mind : " Ton don't
now know certainly that you will be a cripple. Tou
may yet, with the blessing of God, recover. To
trouble your mind about it now is not only useless,
but of evil influence. "Wait, then, and see what God
will do. If he afflict, when the sorrow comes you
may at least claim the promise that as yowr day is, so
shall yowr strength he." He was now able to commit
himself fully to the Lord, and came forth out of this
second conflict with gushing joy in his heart and songs
of praise upon his lips.
Thrice had he been tried in the fiimace. First he
was laid aside just as the fields were all white, and the
reapers were going forth to gather in the harvest;
and then, when he saw the whole harvest scattered
and apparently wasted, was schooled into the submis-
sion, " Thy wiU be done." Again, when death seemed
just ready to cut short his career, while yet in the
first heat of the conflict, he was once more schooled
into submission till he could say even here, " Thy will
be done." But the trial of his faith was not yet
ended. He was called once more to look upon the
spectre of himself, a haggard, repulsive, useless crip-
ple— a burden to his friends, an object of loathing to
men — wearing away a miserable existence in inaction
and dependence. The struggle was severe ; but, with
the faith almost of martyrdom, he was enabled yet a
third time to say, "Thy will be done." Having
undergone this trial of his faith, God brought him
■^orth and planted his feet in a broad place ; and
1803.] NOBLE OHBISTIAN OHAEITY. 117
henceforward we sliall not wonder to find him pos-
sessed of that maturity of grace which seems almost to
give exemption from the ordinary assaults of Satan.
Like Abraham, he had been thoroughly proved, and
henceforward, in a peculiar manner, was he to be
known as " the friend of God."
One incident, connected with his protracted sick-
ness, for the honour of our common Christianity, must
not be overlooked. We have already noticed that
he fell sick far away from his home and kindred,
and among comparative strangers. We hardly need
state also that he was destitute of all means of sup-
port. Such was then the almost universal condition
of the Methodist ministry. They went forth without
purse or scrip ; they trusted simply in God and his
providence to open their way in labour, and to pro-
vide for them in misfortune and sickness. And rarely
were they ever left without succour in the time of need.
Mr. Hedding fell sick at the'liouse of a Mr. Blodgett,
at that time a deacon in the Baptist Church in Ply-
mouth, New-Hampshire. He says of this man and
his excellent lady, that they were like Zacharias and
Elizabeth, walking in the ordinances of God without
blame. A married son, who, with his wife, was a
member of the Methodist Church, lived in the same
house. They were exceedingly kind and attentive —
ministering with the greatest tenderness and care to
all his wants. Of their kindness Mr. Hedding bore a
grateful recollection till the day of his death. Refer-
ring to it in later years he said: "The nature of my
118 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1803.
disease was sucli as to require much hard service ; for
six weeks it took four persons to turn me in bed, and
this it was necessary to do every two hours. Mr.
Blodgett and his family, and their neighbours, regu-
larly and cheerfully performed this service the whole
time. They sent for medicines and physicians ; they
procured watchers to be with me in the night ; they
could not have done more, or done it more cheerfally,
or done it more heartily, had I been their own son.
And for aU this service and expense they utterly re-
fused all fee or reward. May He that hath promised
that a cup of cold water given to a disciple in his
name shall not lose its reward, remember and re-
ward them in that day." It does the heart good to
record such noble and generous Christian hospitality.
Mr. Hedding and his kind benefactor have, no doubt,
ere this renewed the ties of Christian love in that land
where there is no sickness.
It was eight months Ijefore Mr. Hedding had re-
covered far enough to enable him to resume his la-
bours. Nor was it till the ensuing May that he was
able to put on his clothes or get them off without
help. He often prayed and preached sitting on a
chair, when he could neither stand nor walk. His
friends would help him on and off his horse as he
rode from one appointment to another. His hands
were of so little use to him that he was often com-
pelled to hold his bridle between his teeth. In this
crippled state he found it exceedingly difficult to
guide or check his horse ; and, to the great peril of
1803.] VISITS SAEATO&A. 119
both limbs and life, he was actually thrown from his
back no less than ten times while travelling roimd the
circuit. Yet he counted not his life dear unto him-
self so that he might fulfil the ministry of the grace
of God which he had received. It was a year of great
personal afHictions and trials, but one of great spirit-
ual growth to hjg own soul, and not without some
good to the people of his charge.
Finding the progress of his recovery slow, and evi-
dently retarded by his efforts to perform labours for
which he was entirely inadequate, he left the circuit
some weeks before the session of the conference, •
crossed the Green Mountains on horseback, and spent
several days at Saratoga, hoping to derive advantage
from the medicinal properties of the waters. His
stay, however, was too short to afford him any great
relief. From Saratoga he passed on to Catskill,
where he left his horse, and took passage on board a
sloop for New- York city. This, at that time, was
the usual mode of travelling on the river; and the
boat was unusually crowded with passengers, many
of them evidently rather "hard customers." By
leave of the captain he preached to the people on
board, and here sought to win some souls to Christ.
The passengers and crew were respectful and attent-
ive, but no manifest effects were produced. As they
were passing through the Narrows in the Highlands,
the crew, who were evidently of the "baser sort,"
thought to have some sport with the young preacher.
They inquired whether he had ever before passed
120 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1804.
through the Highlands, and finding that he had not,
claimed that, according to custom, he must treat them
with a quart of whisky, or allow himself to be ducked
in the river. He told them that he neither drank
whisky nor furnished it to others, and that they
need expect no such thing from him. They made a
movement toward the execution of their alternative,
when rising to his full height, and exhibiting an
athletic frame and a development of muscle rather
formidable to contend with, he told them it would
be a question of skill and power whether he or they
would be the first to go into the river. Things hav-
ing taken a turn so serious to them, they retreated
rather hastily and ingloriously from their meditated
sport with the preacher, and thenceforward treated
him with great respect, at least with as much as their
rough natures knew how to treat him with.
The session of the conference for 1804 was again
held in the old John-street Church, in the city of
If ew-Tork. Bishop Asbury presided, and though it
was, as usual, a season of spiritual profit to the preach-
ers and people, nothing of special interest transpired.
The feeble state of his health occasioned Mr. Hed-
ding some solicitude in regard to his appointment.
Accordingly, in a note addressed to the bishop, he
stated his case, and requested that, in view of the
benefit pjiysicians thought he might derive from the
use of the waters, he might be sent to the Saratoga
Circuit, if the circumstances of the work would
admit of such an arrangement. He heard nothing
1804.] A BESTINQ PLACE. 121
from Ms note till near the close of the conference,
when, as he was sitting in his seat. Bishop Asbury
came to him and in an intimate and friendly manner
with both hands rubbed his ears briskly, and whis-
pered, "John Brodhead says you must go back to
New-Hampshire ;" then turning abruptly, the bish-
op resumed his seat as the presiding officer of the
conference. At the close of the session, he was
appointed to Hanover Circuit, John Brodhead,
who had Jravelled it the year before, having been
made presiding elder of the newly-organized New-
Hampshire District.
With his usual celerity Mr. Hedding was soon em,
route for his appointment. This was a comparatively
easy circuit to travel. He says : " My presiding el-
der told me I was placed upon it for that reason, and
I found it, indeed, a restmg place, compared witli
those I had already travelled," Hjs usual routine of
labour he thus describes: "On one Sabbath I was
accustomed to preach twice in the day time in the
centre of the town of Hanover, in a Congregational
meeting-house, where they had no settled minister.
In the evening of the same day I would ride to the
village where Dartmouth College is located, and
preach in a private house or school-house. On the
next Sabbath I preached in the town of Canaan, al-
ways twice and sometimes three times, thus keeping up
preaching on alternate Sabbaths in these two towns."
In addition to his Sabbath appointments, he had one
week-day appointment in Lebanon, one in Enfield,
122 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1804.
and one in Hartford, Yt., besides frequent lectures
in remote neiglibourhoods both in Hanover and Ca-
naan. Thus be usually preached six or seven times
during each week, besides attending class and prayer
meetings, preaching funeral sermons, and performing
the pastoral labour of his charge. If this was a ^^rest-
tmg place" for a disabled preacher in those days,
what must have been the work of able-bodied men !
In these early times an unmarried Methodist
preacher had no fixed place, even on his. circuit, to
which he could resort and say, " This is my home."
He lived from house to house, as providence or friend-
ship paved the way. His home was literally among
the people. This stnot itm&rcmcy, though a sort of
necessity in those times, and attended with some ad-
vantages both to the people and preacher, often sub-
jected the latter to not a little inconvenience and em-
barrassment, and was exceedingly detrimental to his
intellectual improvement. Among the people who
entertained him, there would be a great variety in
their modes of living and in their general habits ; he
would ofter suffer from the scanty provision made for
his physical comfort. To gather a library, or even to
expect access to any considerable or valuable collec-
tion of books, was entirely out of the question. Even
the privilege of a separate room for study was a
luxury rarely enjoyed, except when with his favourite
book he retired to the sanctuary of the ancient forest
to be alone.
Whatever Mr. Hedding had suffered in any of these
1804.] OPPOETTTNITIES FOE STUDY. 123
particulars in former years, on Hanover Circuit he
was highly favoured. He found no lack of open
houses and kind hearts ready to receive and enter-
tain him. His opportunities for study also were bet-
ter than ever before ; and he was dihgent in the
improvement of them. It was here that he first began
to give earnest attention to the structure of the Eng-
lish language, and laid the foundation of that critical
knowledge and use of it that characterized him in after
years. He never paid much attention to the acquisi-
tion of other languages than his own. His shrewd
observation led him to the knowledge of the fact that
many men who were accounted learned, and who
really were learned in the ancient languages, and
also well read in general literature and philosophy,
were after all exceedingly deficient in the knowledge
and use of their mother tongue. However skilled
they might be in Cicero and Demosthenes, they
could not analyze accurately and ascertain certainly
a complicated sentence in Milton or Shakspeare.
He thus reasoned : " Pleasing and important as may
be the knowledge of ancient languages, it is of more
importance to have a critical knowledge of our own.
Just as a complete knowledge, and a mastery in the
use of implements to be handled every day, and
upon the right use of which success in life depends,
are of more importance than the knowledge of the most
complicated mathematical instruments to one who
will seldom have occasion to use them ; so the knowl-
edge of our mother tongue is of first and vital import-
124: LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINQ.
[1804.
ance." It is not to be inferred that he deemed a
defective knowledge of English literature a necessary
result of attention to classical studies, or that he under-
rated the value of such studies. Such was never the
fact. But at his age, with such limited facilities, and
such a work before him, he looked upon the mastery
of the English language as the only thing within his
power; and this he wisely determined to achieve.
Inspired by this new determination, he first turned his
attention to English Grammar. When a lad at school
he had recited daily lessons in grammar, till a good
portion of the text-book in use had been committed
to memory. But grammar, as a system, he knew
nothiag about ; it had never been explained to him ;
and he says, " I do not believe one of my teachers
understood it." He had to study without teachers,
only as he now and then fell in with a person versed ia
the subject, and by questioning him, drew forth sug-
gestions and principles that solved his difficulties. He
bought a copy of each of the grammars then in use,
that he might gather knowledge by comparison ; but
he mainly rehed upon "Webster's. To obtain time, he'
omitted reading other books, except on the Sabbath ;
he also omitted making new sennons, and preached
over those he had made in previous years. He car-
ried his grammars in his portmanteau, and seized
every moment, early and late, in his room and upon
horseback, to study them. "Whatever he could not
understand in one book, he searched out in the others,
comparing them together tiQ he had solved the most
1804.] MODE OF STUDY. 125
abstruse questions, and had obtained a complete mas-
tery over tlae rules and principles of the system. To
increase his own skill and perfect his knowledge,
whenever among those who prided themselves upon
their knowledge of grammar, he would bring forward
the most difficult sentences in order to exercise their
skill in analyzing them. By these various means he
made himself master of the system in about three
months. From the raw state he had so advanced
that he could analyze and parse understandingly any
legitimate sentence in the English language. The
effect of this study upon his habit and style of speak-
ing he thus describes: "For a while, after I had
dmoured the grammar, it was an embarrassment to
me in public speaking, for I had to correct certain
sentences I had been in the habit of using ; but after
a few months a correct mode of speaking became
familiar to me, and all the difficulty vanished."
He had no sooner finished the study of grammar,
than, in the prosecution of his purpose to become
master of his own language, he undertook another
work, which, though unusual in its mode, and which
none but one of his energy and perseverance would
have performed, he carried through with similar suc-
cess. This was to become acquainted with the proper
pronunciation and meaning of every English word
found in the dictionaries of the language. Perry's
Dictionary was at that time used in the principal col-
leges and schools, and was the standard for pronun-
ciation and definitions throughout the country. He
126 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1804.
purchased it and commenced its study. His object
was to correct any errors, either in the pronunciation or
in the apphcation of words, into which he might have
fallen. As he read on iu course, he was accustomed
to mark the excepted words, and to write them off,
and exercise himself upon them till his habit was
thoroughly corrected. This reading and notes em-
braced not only the dictionary proper, but also the
list of Scriptui'e names, which he found afterward
to be especially beneficial to him. Thus he plodded
through the entire dictionary. ISTor will it be out of
place to remark here, that a few years later, when
Walker's Dictionary, so different in its pronunciation,
came into general use in this country, he went through
a similar process, that he might not fall behind the
more intelligent in the community in his use of lan-
guage. Still later, he applied the same study to
Webster's. As the result of this application, he could
tell at once how any word was spelled and pronounced,
and the nice shades of definition given to it by either
Perry, Walker, or Webster. Nothing can more
strilringly illustrate the keenness of his perception,
and the almost unequalled tenacity of his memory.
These studies of the year produced a great im-
provement in his general style of address. Those
who knew him only in the later years of his ministry
were often struck with the chasteness, simplicity, and
correctness of his style, whether in the pulpit or in
social intercourse. To such it cannot but be pleasing
to learn the process by which that simplicity and
1806.] SCOPE OF HIS STUDIES. 127
acctiracy were acquired. These studies, too, we
should remark, were only stepping-stones to others
in the higher departments of English literature, —
such as rhetoric, logic, criticism, intellectual and
moral philosophy, political economy, and the like.
Though these studies occupied much of his time,
his duties as a preacher and pastor were not neglected.
There was nothing of remarkable interest in the work
upon the circuit during the year. For two or three
years preceding it had been favoured with great
revivals, and many had been gathered into the
Church. This year was chiefly devoted to building
up and establishing the young converts in the faith.
There were some conversions, however; and the mem-
bers of the Churcb generally attended to their duty,
and lived in the love of God, and in feUowship one
with another. The meetiags were well attended, and
were pleasant, edifying, and joyfal. Wherever Mr.
Hedding went he was cordially received, and listened
to with attention and deep interest. He prospered
in his own religious enjoyment ; and nothing occurred
upon the circuit to diminish the joy or mar the fel-
lowship of the members.
I 6*
128 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1805.
CHAPTER IV.
MK. HEDDING UPOK BARKE AND TERSHIRE CIRCITITS.
Mr. Hedding ia the New-England Conference — Leading Men of that Con-
ference— The Lynn Session in 1805 — Examination of Character — Fi-
nances— Public Exercises — Progress of the Work in New-England since
1790 — Difficulties and Opposition — Appointed to Barre Circuit — Dan
Toung, his Colleague — Mutual Assistance — Condition of the Circuit —
Prosperity of the Work — Mr. Hedding as a Disciplinarian — Singular
Trial of his Skill — Obstacles opposed to Methodism in Vermont — A
" Tithing-man " In a Methodist Meeting — Session of the Conference for
1806 — ^Yearly Change of Preachers in Early Times — Appointed to Vershire
Circuit — Its Situation and Extent — Emigration — Loss of Official Mem-
bers— Theological Biasses of New-England — Doctrinal Discussions —
Onset with a Doctor of Divinity — Eesults — Characteristic Labours of
Methodist Pioneers — Tour of a Young Itinerant through Northern Ver-
mont— Dialogue with a Poor Woman — Powerful Conversions — Mrs.
Bishop — Spirit and Agencies of the Methodistlc Revival — First Six
Tears of Itinerant Labour.
By a change in the boundaries of the New- York and
the New-England Conferences, that part of the work
in which Mr. Hedding was engaged, and the preach-
ers also, were transferred to the latter conference.
The New-England Conference at that time, though
composed chiefly of young men, embraced some of
the noblest spirits found in the itinerant ranks. Mr.
Hedding, though removed by this change of relation
from immediate association with men for whom he
entertained a strong and lasting affection, still found
himself in the companionship of a band of heroic
men of equal talent and of like unquenchable ardour
in the cause of God. Among the leading men in the
1806.1 BABBE AND VEESHIEE OIEC0ITS. 129
New-England Conference were George Pickering,
Joshua Taylor, Daniel Ostrander, John Brodhead,
Daniel "Webb, Epaphras Kibby, Elijah E. Sabin,
Joshua Soule, Ebenezer "Washburn, Thomas Branch,
Philip Munger, Asa Kent, Peter Jayne, Samuel
Merwin, Martin Kuter, Oliver Beale, &c., several of
whom, with Mr. Jledding, had been transferred from
the New- York Conference.
The session of the New- England Conference com-
menced at Lynn, July 12, 1805. Bishop Asbuiy pre-
sided, and about forty preachers were present. " The
records of this session afford abundant evidence of
the continued vigilance of the conference over its
members. The notices appended to the names which
passed under review are remarkable for their brevity,
but also for their explicit frankness. One candidate
is pronounced, 'useful, firm, perhaps obstinate, con-
tentious, well-meaning.' Another is said to be ' use-
fiil, but unguarded in some expressions :' he seems to
have been somewhat in advance of the times, for
there was 'some objection on his denial of visions
and spiritual influences by dreams,' though he 'aver-
red his firm belief of the Scriptures in these respects.'
Another is said to be ' unexceptionable, useful, and
devout;' another, 'pious, unimproved, impatient of
reproof, not acceptable,' and is ordered to desist from
travelling. True Glidden is recorded to be ' sick — near
to death — Chappy.' One is charged gravely for mar-
rying indiscreetly, and 'suspended one year from
performing the functions of a deacon;' another is
130 LIFE AHD TIMES OF HEDDING. [1805.
pronounced 'weak in doctrine and discipline, but
as a preacher, useful, sincere, pious.' Lewis Bates
is said to be 'plain, good, useful;' Zalman Lyon,
'pious, faithful, but of small improvement.' D.
Young, 'pious, capable, rough, improving.' Elijah
Willard, 'faithful, diHgent.' One is said to be ac-
ceptable, useful, zealous — perhaps indiscreetly so-
sincere, ingenious;' another 'pious, useful, weak.'"*
There were but two committees appointed at the
conference. One of them was upon finances ; and
its report is a striking commentary upon " the inade-
quacy of ministerial support " in those times. The
aggregate deficiency on the small pittance allowed
the preachers was $2,800; and the collections to
supply only $373. Soule's deficiency was $107;
Brodhead's, $91; WiUard's, $56 ; Washburn's, $50;
Bates's, $45 ; Hedding's, $41 ; Ostrander's, $40 ; and
so on, some more and some less. On these defi-
ciencies appropriations were made, in sums rang-
ing from thirty-five dollars down to four dollars, ac-
cording to the claims of each. Mr. Asbury says:
"We had a full conference, preaching at five, at
eleven, and at eight o'clock. Sitting of conference
from half-past eight o'clock till eleven in the fore-
noon ; and from two until six o'clock in the afternooiL
We had great harmony, and order and strict disci-
pline withal. Sixteen deacons and eight elders were
° See Memorials of Methodism in New-England. To these
volumes we are indebted for muoh information relating to this
conference.
1806.] THE LYNN CONFERENCE. 131
ordained." Among the lattfer was the subject of onr
memoir. \
The public exercises of the conference were held in
a pleasant grove, in the rear of where the parsonage
of the Lynn Common Church is now located. Bishop
Asbury calls it, " a beautiful, sequestered spot, though
near the meeting-house." The religious exercises of
the occasion were attended with extraordinary power,
and produced extraordinary results. The Sabbath
was a " high day." The people came in from all the
surrounding country, and assembled in the grove,
hungering for the word of life. The multitudes bow-
ed before the power of the word as trees before a
resistless tempest, and " the slain of the Lord were
many." La all these exercises Mr. Hedding took an
active part. " The excitement was so great," says he,
" that many cried aloud in the congregation. One
night, after I had been in meeting praying and ex-
horting until midnight, and had gone to my lodgings
and retired to rest, I was called up to pray again for
those who were wrestling with the Lord for mercy.
There was great opposition to the work: many of
'the baser sort' came from Boston and Salem to
make disturbance. But, notwithstanding all the op-
position, God carried on his work, and many were
converted at these meetings who continued steadfast
in the gospel, and died in the hope of a better resur-
rection. A few are still living, after a lapse of almost
fifty years, honouring the Lord who saved them at
■ that time." The author of tEe Memorials of Meth-
132 LIFE AITD TIMES OF HEDDING. [1805.
odism says, that " during the puhlic lahoiu-s of this
session, great displays of the Spirit of God were wit-
nessed; scores were awakened, some fell as dead men
to the earth, many cried aloud with anguish, while
others wept in silence, or rejoiced with thanksgiving
for the pardon of their sins. A great noise went
abroad, and hundreds flocked to witness the scene:
the rabble raged and made threatemng demonstra-
tions ; but the power of the word prevailed against
all opposition." It was altogether a remarkable
season ; and both preachers and members were bap-
tized anew. It is said that many old Methodists in
that region still remember the remarkable scene^
and call it up in their recollection as the great day
of their lives.
Only fifteen years had elapsed up to the session of
this conference from the time that Jesse Lee, in 1790,
first took his stand upon a table beneath the shade of
a gigantic ebn in the centre of Boston Common, and
commenced his first religious service in the region in
the presence of four persons. From small beginnings
and by the most gigantic effort on the part of Lee
and his coadjutors, Methodism had continued to
move forward till at this period it had penetrated
every New-England state, and extended east into the
province of Maine beyond the Penobscot Eiver.
The " New-England Conference," as then organized,
embraced all these states except the western portions
of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Yermont. It
comprehended five districts, forty-eight stations and
1805.] OPPOSITION IN NEW-EN9LAND. 133
circuits, seventy-seven preachera, and eight thousand
five hundred and forty members.
This work had been accomplished in the face of
obstacles and opposition that would have appalled
ordinary men. All New-England was then con-
trolled by an ecclesiastical organization that had
commenced with the Puritan fathers, and was com-
pletely interwoven with all the traditions, prejudices,
and habits of the people. Under its influence society
had been moulded ; and nothing could be more
uncongenial to the prevailing spirit of the times than
the simple, warm, and energetic worship of the Meth-
odists. The parish pulpits were closed against them ;
and they were denounced, even in public assemblies,
as "wolves in sheep's clothing." Sometimes they
found access to court-houses, dancing haUs, and
school-houses ; and here they were often left to warm
and light the rooms, and also to ring the bells, or use
such other methods as they could to get the people
together. The ordinary hospitalities of society were
often denied them; they were hooted at in the
streets; their meetings often disturbed; and their
lives frequently endangered. Calvinism has ever
been the sturdy theologic enemy of Methodism ; and
against this iron system the Methodist itinerants
continually levelled their heaviest artillery. They
assailed it with Scripture, argument, and common
sense ; and so successfully did they assault this strong-
hold of error that its very foundations were soon dis-
solved. But after all, the great secret of their success
134 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1805.
lay in their powerful ministry of tlie gospel of the
grace of God; appeaHng directly to the hearts and
consciences of the people for an immediate settle-
ment of the great question at issue between them and
God. By this powerful ministry of the word they
stormed the strongholds of Satan, and levelled his
defences to the ground.
At the close of this conference Mr. Hedding was
appointed to the Barre Circuit, in Yermont. This
circuit lay nearly in the middle of the state, and
extended over thirteen towns, including Montpelier,
the present capital of the state. Mr. Hedding had
for his colleague the Eev. Dan Young. Of him he
says: "He was a young man of superior talents, and
of great piety and zeal. He travelled a few years,
and laboured with great success on other circuits
afterward. He then located, and lived a few years
in New-Hampshire ; and then became a member of
the state senate. Afterward he removed to Ohio.
"We laboured together with great comfort, and were
happy in our own souls in the love of God, and saw
the people happy under our ministiy."
The hearts of these young men were knit together
like those of David and Jonathan. They entered into
a mutual agreement to aid each other in mental and
religious improvement. They adjusted their work so
that once a fortnight they would meet in the middle
of the circuit, on a week day, and preach in each
other's presence — one in the afternoon and the other
in the evening. "We agreed," says Mr. Bedding,
1805.] BAEEE CIECUIT. 135
"to tell eacli other all the faults we discovered in our
preaching, — either in doctrine, pronunciation, ges-
ture, or otherwise. We next agreed to tell each other
all the faults we discovered in private life, and all that
we feared of each other ; and then we agreed to tell
all we heard, and all the people said of each other.
This mutual agreement was the source of much profit
to us, and We continued to practise it to the end of
the year ; nor was it the occasion of any ill feeling
between us." Nothing can more strikingly attest the
desire of these yoimg men to improve themselves in
all that pertains to a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed ; nothing can more finely illustrate the con-
fidence they had in each other, and the mutual affec-
tion that subsisted between them.
The religious condition of the circuit was very
encouraging when they first entered upon their work.
A faithful labourer, Oliver Beale, had preceded them;
but especially during this year gracious revivals pre-
vailed in several places on the circuit. Multitudes
were converted to God ; and it is said that, even at
the present day, many aged saints within the range
of that circuit still cherish the name of Hedding as
the messenger of Heaven, by whom their youthful
feet were guided into the path of life.
In a few instances, during the year, the firmness
and skill of Mr. Hedding, in the administration of dis-
cipline, were severely tested. Exceedingly kind and
forbearing toward the penitent, the unfortunate, and
the ignorant; on the other hand, he was alike de-
136 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1806.
cided and vigorous toward the -wilfally stubborn and
wicked.
A singular instance in the way of discipline occur-
red during the year, in one of the societies in the
circuit. It had relation to two brothers-in-law, who
were also connected in family relation with nearly all
the members of the society. A dispute concerning
some property had existed between them for a long
time ; and not only continued to increase in violence,
but also involved, at length, most of the members of
the society. Mr. Hedding collected the society to-
gether— some thirty or forty in number — ^to have the
dispute between them settled. Both of them were
fiery, impulsive, ungovernable men. The object of
the meeting was to procure an amicable and broth-
erly adjustment of the long-pending dispute, or, at
least, to devise some method of settlement. Mr.
Hedding sat between the two men, and the wife of
each sat beside her husband. They began to talk
over the subject of dispute, when one of them sud-
denly warmed up and called the other a har. In-
stantly both started to their feet, and rushed at each
other; the females screamed, and a general alarm
ensued. Mr. Hedding proved himself equal to the
awkward emergency. He rushed between them,
seized each by the collar of his coat ; and with his
herculean frame and strength held them at arms'
length, face to face, but unable to strike each other.
They struggled for a moment, but found themselves as
though clutched in the jaws of a vice. Holding them
laa^.J A DIFFICULTY SETTLED. 137
at arms' lengtli, he commenced to lecture them in
round terms ; he shamed them about the meanness
and wickedness of the act their unbridled passions
had prompted them to commit, in the presence of
their wives, their family relations, the religious
society of which they were members, their pastor,
and especially in the presence of God, whose servants
they professed to be. He told them of the scandal
they had brought upon the Church, and the reproach
cast upon the cause of God, by the course they had
pursued toward each other. From the hearing of
this entire lecture there was no escape, and they
writhed under its withering power. After they had
got somewhat calmed, Mr. Hedding suddenly ex-
claimed, " Let us pray 1" and kneeled down, bringing
the two men with him to their knees upon the floor.
Still retaining his grasp, he prayed for them in a most
fervent and powerful manner. "When he had closed,
he shook the one he held by his right hand, saying, —
" Pray, brother, pray !" Soon he commenced pray-
ing and weeping, confessing his sins, and beseeching
God and his brother to forgive him. "When the first
had closed, Mr. Hedding shook the other, and called
upon him to pray. He was the most pugnacious of
the two ; and it was hard work for him to clear his
throat so as to give utterance to words. " A thousand
frogs seemed clogging his speech ;" but he at length
broke through his difficulty, and earnestly prayed God
and liis brother to forgive him. "When he said
"Amen^' Mr. Hedding relinquished his grasp, and
138 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1805.
they all rose to their feet. "Now, shake hands,
hrethren," said he ; " and live as brethren, and love
each other as long as you Utc." They immediately
embraced each other, and almost as quickly settled
their dispute ; the only difficulty seemed to be in their
effort to see which should concede most to his brother.
The difficulty was effectually settled. The two men
ever after lived on the best terms of fraternal and
Christian fellowship.
We have already noticed the peculiar difficulties
in the way of Methodism in the New-England states.
The obstacles opposed to its progress in Yermont
were perhaps scarcely rivalled by those of any other
state. Eeferring to this period, the author of Me-
morials of Methodism says: "Every means, from
perilous rencounters to petty artifices, were used to
retard their progress; and when it was found im-
possible not to tolerate them, it was, at least, deter-
mined not to respect them. Their opposers, failing to
discourage them by menaces and mobs, often resorted
to annoyances and ludicrous grievances, which might
tend to make them a public jest. Asa Kent mentions
numerous instances illustrative of this. One of these,
as illustrative of the times, we will put upon rec-
ord. An important officer of 'the standing order'
in that day was the ' Uthmg-mcm,,^ who, armed with
a long rod, at once weapon and staff of office, pre-
sided over the Sabbath congregations, with fuU power
to remind unwary hearers, by a thnist from his
wand, of any undue disposition to sleep, or other in-
1806.1 A TITHING-MAN. 139
discretion. ' In one of the towns,' says Mr. Kent,
' the population was sparse ; hut they had the shell
of a meeting-house, with rough boards for seats ; and
having no minister, the Methodists were invited to
occupy it on the Sabbath. Their preachers gave
general satisfaction, except that some of them spoke
too loud. But , there was a sore grievance, which
called for a speedy remedy. The Methodists, in those
days, were often heard to respond to the preacher
by an audible "Amen," and at other times to ex-
claim, " Glory to God !" and this was so different from
the " still small voice," that it was judged by some to
be an ■mtolerable dAsorder. While some were devising
a remedy, one, more wise than his fellows, intimated
that, if he should be appointed " tithing-man," he would
put a stop to such confusion. The next town-meeting
appointed him to that office. He pledged his oath for
his fidelity, and then requested the magistrate to give
him definite instruction how to proceed. "Why,"
said the squire, "it is your duty to keep the people
still in time of religious worship." "But what if they
will not be still ?" inquired the young officer. " Then
have your staff, and rap them on the head." This
was satisfactory, and he prepared his staff, which was
the badge of his power. These staves were some-
times six or seven feet in length, that the officer
might reach the offender without leaving his place.
■ As there were no pews, the men sat together on
one side of the meeting-house and the women on
the other. Sabbath came, and the newly-appointed
14:0 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1805.
Uthing-mcm walked in, staff in hand, and took his
seat in the midst of the brethren. This was an event-
ful hour. Like modem office-seekers, he had come
"pledged" to office, and was about to make his d^but
under the scrutinizing eyes of his constituents. To add
to his calamity it was quarterly-meeting, and the
members were in the habit, in those days, of travel-
ling a great distance on such occasions. Bostwick
was the presiding elder, himself a host when the God
of Sabaoth was in his message ; and I think Joseph
Mitchell was the circuit preacher. "When prayei
was offered, all the Methodists fell upon their knees ;
but our young officer stood up, staff in hand, to sup-
press all disorder. A brother said "Amen,' and was
instantly rapped on the head. Another, and then
another, said "Amen;" and each felt the rap. There
was a shower of salvation before the preacher closed
his prayer, and some shouted "Glory," and others
" Amen," but each, in his turn, felt the rap ; and to
do his duty, the Uthing^ncm sometimes reached as
far as he could to the right, then as far as he could to
the left ; for they were kneeling around him so closely
that he could not move. He had, in fact, as much
as he could do to punish those within his reach, leav-
ing those beyond to transgress with impunity. This
exhibition was fine sport to a certain class of the con-
gregation, while our members seemed to care nothing
about it. But during the preaching our lover of or-
der had new difficulties to contend with. When they
had kneeled J with their eyes closed, he stood and wielded
1806.] BABKE AND VEKBHIEE CIECUITS. 14:1
his authority with great adroitness; but now he is
seated with them, and even his love of order is not
sufficient to induce him to stwnd and rap the heads
of the disorderly; But when a faithful officer cannot
do all that he would, he will not readily yield the
point until he has done what he could. The " tith-
ing-man" accordingly fixed his eye upon one of the
most dMorderh), and determined to bring him to a
better mind. The brother was a man of an ardent
spirit and a warm heart ; and although he had crossed
the line of the " Old Bay State," he never dreamed
that the Vermont statute prohibited shouting, and
of course felt himself perfectly at home among his
brethren. He sat upon the seat before our officer,
and about the length of his rod from him, the end of
which he placed under his side ; and whenever the
brother shouted, he would give him a jerk under his
short ribs. This could be done without exposing him-
self to the congregation generally. The power of
God was present to quicken and to sanctify his chil-
dren, and great was their rejoicing. The poor brother
selected as the victim of the " tithing-man," altogether
unconscious of his august presence, sat gazing at the
preacher, the tears flowing from his eyes, and often
gave vent to an overflowing heart by shouts of
" G-lory;" while oyyr friend of order gave him a faith-
ful jerk for each transgression.'
" This ludicrous persecution continued some time
to the amusement of the lookers-on, and the annoy-
ance, doubtless, of the worshippera. But. the latter,
142 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1806.
not comprehending it, took the most effectual means
of rebuking it. They prayed directly in behalf
of the ' tithing-man.' The supplications of a Meth-
odist prayer-meeting were perilous to the gain-
sayers. The 'tithing-man' was foiled; he retreated
from his office ; the jests of his associates were turned
upon him, and he appeared no more, with his staff
of office, to compel the Methodists to keep . the
peace."*
The session of the ITew-England Conference for
1806, commenced in the town of Canaan, N. H.,
June 11th. This place was included in the Han-
over Circuit, which had been previously travelled
by Mr. Hedding. Bishop Asbury — the untiring
apostle of Methodism — ^having completed over five
thousand miles' travel in little over a year, reached
the seat of the conference the day before it opened,
and presided over its deliberations. The most mem-
orable thing that transpired at the conference was
a sermon preached by the bishop on the Sabbath.
The word of the Lord was like a two-edged sword
to the hearers. Both preachers and people shouted
aloud for joy as they felt its power. Some were
awakened and converted during the session of the con
ference ; and in many respects it was a refreshing time.
Mr. Asbury, however, says of it : " We went through
our business in haste and peace, sitting seven hours
a day. "We did not, to my grief, tell our experiences,
nor make observations as to what we had known of
•■ Memorials of Methodism, Second Series, p. 271.
1806.1 BABEB AND VEESHIEE 0IB0UIT8. 143
the work of God ; tlie members were impatient to
be gone, particularly tbe married townsmen."
In those early times the preachers were almost
universally — especially the unmarried men — moved
yearly. Continuance the second year on the same
circuit was the exception, and not the rule, as usage
has made it in tjje present day. Accordingly, at the
close. of this conference, Mr. Hedding was removed-
from Barre to Yershire Circuit, which was also in
the State of Vermont. This circuit was in the
eastern part of the state, stretching along on the
banks of the Connecticut River, and embracing ten
towns. He was without a colleague, and the work
was so arranged that he was to pass through these
towns, and preach from one to three times daily within
the limits of each every two weeks. Thus he was
almost incessantly engaged either in preaching, or
in the pastoral work — hunting up his scattered flock
in their homes, and instructing and encouraging them
and their families in the path of well-doing.
Prudence and discretion, combined with decision
and energy, were prominent traits in Mr. Hedding's
character. In the most sudden and trying emergen-
cies, these rarely failed to carry him safely through.
This year he was subjected to a peculiar trial. Ohio,
with its mild and genial climate, its luxuriant soil and
its inexhaustible "bottoms," its ample and inviting
hunting-grounds, and its opportunities for wild and
daring adventure, was then just opening to the people.
The fever for emigration raged through all the Eastern
K 7
144 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1806.
States, but especially in Yermont; and hundreds were
leaying their homes in the east to make their abode
in this new El Dorado of the west. Under this
excitement, Mr. Hedding lost nearly every official
member of the Church upon the entire circuit, and
that too nearly at the same time. Indeed, of all the
official body, only one leader remained. This was a
serious embarrassment. They were the men who
had sustained the religious meetings, transacted the
business of the circuit, and provided homes for the
preachers. Painfully trying as were his circumstan-
ces, he pushed forward the work, nothing daunted.
New places of entertainment were thrown open to
him in every town ; the best men were sought out,
and their services enlisted as stewards and leaders ;
the classes were reorganized, and soon the whole cir-
cuit was in working order. ' The dark cloud that hung
so heavily over it passed away, and a clear sky, with a
bright and shining sun, appeared. Notwithstanding
the great losses of the circuit by emigration, a year
of considerable prosperity was enjoyed.
In most parts of New-England, at this early day,
the inhabitants were decidedly Puritanic. They were
generally enterprising and economical in their habits,
strict in their moral conduct, somewhat intelUgent,
and always inquisitive ; and in religious faith — except
where Universalism or Unitarianism had developed
itself — ^rigid and imyielding Calvinists. Universalism
and Unitarianism — the natural results of the reaction
from the repulsive features of high-toned, though hon-
1806.] DOCTKINAL 0ONTEOVEEBIE8. 145
honest Calvinism — ^had sprung up in their midst.
Methodism was from without ; it came not by stealth,
but in the open day; singlehanded, and alone, it open-
ly assaulted Calvinism in its stronghold, and unques-
tionably proved the great moral antidote to the
two principal forms of scepticism then developing
everywhere among the people of New-England, and
poisoning all the well-springs of her theology. Most
of the Congregational clergy, especially in the coun-
try parishes, were of the ultra Calvinistic or Hopkin-
sian school ; and they not only received the doctrines
of this school, but they preached them openly, every-
where, and without palliation or disguise. 'No "sugar
coat " had then been devised to conceal the nauseous
taste of the piU.
Of course, wherever Methodism went the two sys-
tems were brought into direct conflict, and the way
was opened to the most exciting discussions upon the
subject. It was quite a common thing, after the Meth-
odist minister had finished his sermon, and before the
congregation had retired, for the settled minister,
or a deacon, or some wordy, self-confident zealot for
the faith of the fathers, to assail some doctrine of the
preacher, or some supposed doctrine of Methodism, as
heretical and perrdcious. It was often the case that
such adventurers engaged in the enterprise before
they had counted the cost. Most of these early
Methodist preachers were naturally very shrewd
men, and their natural parts had been rendered stiU
more acute and ready from constant exercise. They,
146 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1806.
too, were thoroughly posted up in all the peculiarities
of Calvinism, — ^knew its salient points, were com-
pletely posted up as to all its logical consequences,
were familiar with all the Scripture passages that were
the strongholds of its reliance, and also with all the
Scripture and logical stumbling-blocks of the system.
In fact, this was a sort of forensic gladiatorship, in
which the Methodist minister, from the very necessi-
ties of his work, was almost daily exercised. Unac-
customed to such contests, and relying upon the pre-
sumed ignorance of their antagonists, the men who
assailed them rushed bUndly into the conflict, and
generally left the field only after suffering a most
inglorious defeat. These discussions, when public,
not unfi-equently contributed largely to the advance-
ment of Methodism,
Mr. Hedding, being possessed of great logical acute-
ness, a ready command of language, and thorough
and ready knowledge of the phases of the whole con
troversy, was well armed for any emergency in this
line. One day, in the midst of a snow-storm, while
riding through one of the towns in his circuit, he fell
in with a stranger travelling in the same direction.
They had a short but interesting conversation on
indifferent subjects. Mr. Hedding soon learned that
his travelling companion was the settled clergyman
of the town, — settled by vote of the town and paid
from its treasury, — and also that he was dignified with
the title of D. D. Before they parted, the clergy-
man obtained from Mr. Hedding a promise to pay
1806.1 ONSET WITH A D. D, 147
him a Adsit at his earliest convenience. Accordiagly,
Mr. Hedding, two weeks later, taking a friend, a
layman, with him, called upon the clergyman. The
first salutation of the clergyman waa : " "Well, Mr.
Hedding, I suppose you have come to discuss ques-
tions at issue between us, have you ?" Mr. Hedding
replied, "I have come, on your invitation, to pay
you a short visit, and am willing to converse with
you upon any subject most agreeable to yourself."
"Very well," said the doctor; "we will take dinner
first, and then we will go into the study and try the
matter out." Accordingly, after dinher, the old man
called his divinity students — of whom there were
several under his private tuition — along with his guests
into the parlour, and soon after began to question Mr.
Hedding about the doctrines believed and taught by
the Methodists. In a few words, Mr. H. gave him a for-
mal statement of them. The sua\ity of the old man's
spirit and manner seemed to abate very much during
the statement ; and no sooner had Mr. H. concluded,
than, with a frowning brow and dogmatic manner, — as
though his dictum was the end of the law, — ^the old
man denounced these doctrines as fatally heretical and
terribly pernicious, and closed by saying, "These were
the doctrines of John "Wesley, and I have no doubt he
is now in hell for teaching such abominable heresy."
Mr. Hedding took the matter very coolly, and in
turn questioned the doctor with reference to the doc-
trines he beheved and taught. The doctor, with not
a little precision and formahty, explained the whole
148 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1806.
system of Hopkinsianism, and declared it to be his
creed, and also most consonant witli both reason and
Scripture.
Mr. Hedding tben said, — ■
" It appears tbat you believe God decrees and wiUs
everything that comes to pass — even all the wicked
conduct of sinful men."
The doctor admitted it was so.
" But," says Mr. Hedding, " God forbids that sinful
conduct. He says, ' Thou shalt not steal,' &c. How
do you make God's will and commands agree ? or, if
he ^oills one thing and cormrM/nds another, is not God
divided against himself?"
The doctor, who was now fairly placed upon the
defensive, rephed, —
"We have nothing to do with the will of God.
AU we have to do with, is his commands. We are
bound to keep his commands, though he may have
willed to the contrary. And it is perfectly just in
him, under all and any circumstances, to punish us
for disobedience to known commands."
In a similar maimer they continued their conversa-
tion and arguments until sunset. Finding that he
had a mam, to cope with, — a man well read in theol-
ogy, thoroughly versed in all the tactics of polemic
theology, and, withal, of great self-command both as
to his spirit and language, — ^the doctor repressed the
dogmatism that appeared at the outset, and treated
him with marked respect throughout the subsequent
stages of their controversy.
1806.] ONSET WITH A 0. D. 149
The following colloquy closed the discussion : —
Mr. Hedding asked, " Will aU of God's elect finally
be saved?"
The doctor answered, " Yes."
Mr. M. Will any others be saved besides God's
elect?
Dr. . No.
*
Mr. H. Will aU the elect be converted and par-
doned while they remain in this world ?
Dr. . Yes.
Mr. S. Are aU of the elect convinced, before they
are pardoned, that they are sinners, and in the way
to hell?
Dr. . Yes.
Mr. H. Does the Holy Ghost convince them that
they are in danger of going to hell ?
Dr. . Yes.
Mr. M. Does the Holy Ghost always teach
truth?
Dr. . Yes.
Mr. H. Now, sir, let me put your answers
together, and see how they wiU read. You have
said all the elect wiU be saved ; none of them can
possibly be lost ; also, that while they are in this
world, they are convinced they are in danger of
going to heU. Now, how can they be in danger of
going to hell, if God has decreed they shall be saved,
and it is impossible for them to be lost ?
Dr. . 0, while they are imder conviction they
think they are in danger ; but it is not so in fact.
150 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. D806.
Mr. H. Hold! You told me the Holy Ghost
teaches them, and that the Holy Ghost always teaches
truth."
Br. . "Well, after all, they are in danger.
Mr. S. Stop ! You told me it was impossible for
them to be lost ; and how can a man be in danger of
an impossibility ?
Dr. . A man may be in danger of impossibili-
ties sometimes.
Mr. M. Very well ; yon beliere that a man may
be in danger of falling up to the clouds. Good-by,
sir."
The two men parted veiy cordially, notwithstand-
ing the sharp controversy they had carried on in
relation to their respective creeds. The old man was
evidently deeply and favourably impressed ; and a few
years after, when he became more acquainted with
Methodist doctrines and usages, his views and feelings
toward them were greatly changed. He often in-
vited the Methodist preachers to preach in hia pul-
pit, and as often preached in theirs. Thus a mutual
good understanding and cordial Christian fellowship
subsisted between them.
But while the noble band of Methodist pioneers
were thus wielding the polemic battle-axe, they did
not cease to imitate their Lord and Master in his efforts
to seek and save the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
They went from house to house ; went into the new
and sparse settlements; visited the log-cabins, and
made personal application of their message to the
1806.] TOTJE OF A. TOtTNO ITINEEANT. 151
high and low, rich and poor. About this period
the Rev. Ebenezer F. Newhall, then a yoimg man,
and not yet entered upon the regular work, made a
tour on foot through parts of Yermont, and extended
his travels beyond the line into Canada. His soul
was stirred within him as he witnessed the moral
and rehgious destitution of the people, and he com-
menced exhorting them to flee from the wrath to
come. " Often I rested my weary limbs," said he,
"by sitting down and reading in my Bible, apd
kneeling in prayer. Soon I came to a small opening
— ^found a log hut — stopped — talked, read, sung, and
prayed with them ; and then inquired if there was a
house two or three miles ahead where I could stop
over night and hold a meeting, and was informed
that there probably was. So on I went, calling on
every family and praying with them: all seemed
glad to see me, and promised to follow on to the
meeting. As I came to the third opening I caUed at
the first log hut, and found it inhabited by a very
poor woman. I invited her to go to the meeting.
She said, ' I have no clothes but these that I have on,
and they are not suitable for such a place.' I replied,
'Don't stop for that; just wash you clean and go:
God may meet you there, and wash away all your
sins, and clothe you with salvation.' ' But I have no
shoes,' she continued. ' No matter ; God may put on
your feet the gospel shoes.' ' Then I have no bon-
net.' ' "Well, God can put on your head a crown of
life.' 'JSTeither have I any cloak.' ^Dear woman,'
7*
152 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1806.
said I, ' make no more excuses ; throw a sheet over
your shoulders, and if you find Jesus, as you may,
you will not be sorry you went, even if you should
go ragged and barefoot, since it is the best your
poverty allows.' I then passed on to the next house.
"With cheerful looks they welcomed me to the hos-
pitalities of their house, sent notice of the meet-,
ing the other way, and thanked me for inviting the
people as I came along. They soon assembled from
several miles around ; and the poor woman was among
them, with rags sewed on her feet, a sheet doubled
and flung over her head, and her children by her side.
How easy it was to talk to a people hungry for the
bread of life ! My soul was happy, and praised God.
In the morning I passed on in my journey through
the woods, feeling that God was my support and
comfort. I tarried a few weeks — ^held some meetings.
The Lord moved upon the hearts of the people, and
many were brought to rejoice in God." Such were
the agencies by which Methodism was sprea,d, and the
souls of men, in the waste and destitute places, sought
out and saved in this early day. Such were the
agencies by which, especially in New-England, in-
fidelity and its kindred heresies received a stem
and formidable check, while the spirit of genial and
vital godliness was revived among the people.
If the agencies for the spread of the work were
peculiarly marked as agencies of God's own raising
up, many of the conversions were not less strikingly
marked with evidences of its being his own peculiar
1806.] A EEMAEKABLE OONVEESION. 153
work. The first Methodist preachers that visited Lan-
caster, ]Sr. H., having been expelled from the village
by a mob, Joseph Crawford resolved to visit the place,
and preach in defiance of opposition. Under his first
sermon there a Mrs. Bishop was powerfully awakened.
"Her emotions were so great as to overpower her
physical strength. Her husband procured imme-
diately a physician and nurse, and her symptoms
were medically treated for some time. But her
agitation increased. Her neighbours were greatly
interested, as she was highly esteemed among them ;
but neither friendly sympathy nor medical skill
availed anything, for the arrows of the Almighty
had sunk deep into her soul. Some days after, aa
she was pleading. for mercy, the Lord set her soul at
liberty, and she shouted his praise with the voice of
triumph. Her nurse was startled at first, but soon
exclaimed, ' Why, Mrs. Bishop, I now know what
has ailed you all this time ! You have been under
conviction 1 I never thought of such a thing !' The
Lord healed both soul and body ; and such were the
overfiowings of her grateful heart,. that she was ready
to say with one of old, ' Come and hear, all ye that fear
the Lord, and I will tell you what he hath done for
my soul.' This singular sickness and strange cure
induced numbers to call and satisfy themselves, and
she rejoiced to tell them of redeeming grace and
dying love."* The husband of this woman subse-
quently became converted. For a number of years
* Memorials of Methodism.
15i LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1806.
their house was the " preaching place," and also the
"home" for the itinerant. Still later, her husband
was called into the work of the ministry; and his wife
was a noble help to him in the work. Says an old
preacher* of her: "Mrs. Bishop was one of the most
powerful female exhorters I ever heard. There was
a chastened modesty in her manner, with a pleasant
voice and affectionate address, by which she found
access to the hearts of stubborn gainsayers." After
travelling a few years her husband located ; but they
lived many years to illustrate the grace of God which
so powerfully brought salvation to their house.
These and similar cases, scattered along the early
Methodistic history, sufficiently illustrate the spirit
and agencies of that great revival of experimental and
practical godUness, to which we find the subject of
our memoir consecrating the warmest affections of
his heart and the holiest energies of his nature. That
consecration was complete. He lived only to preach
Christ Jesus, and him crucified. For this he endured
privation and want, sacii&ced ease and home, trav-
ersed mountains and forests ; and yet counted it aU
joy if so be that he might win souls to Christ.
We have now traced his progress through the first
six years of his itinerant life, while he traversed
the immense circuits of early Methodism in new
fields of labour: We must now prepare to trace his
coui-se in a new sphere, and, if possible, one of higher
responsibilities, and, in some respects, of severer toil.
** Rev. Asa Eent.
1807.1 NEW-HAMPSHIKB DI8TEICT. 155
CHAPTEE V.
MR. HBDDINff ON NEW-HAMPSHIRE DISTRICT.
First Conference in New-England — Jesse Lee's Mission to the Eastern States
— His First Auxiliaries — Results up to the Fifteenth Anniversary — Ses-
sion of the Conference for 1807 — Mr. Hedding appointed to' New-Hamp-
shire District — Charles Virgin — One of his Preachers won over to Calvin-
ism — Effort to save him — Temporary Success — Finally secedes — Cause
of Withdrawals — Inadequacy of Support — Enormous Proportion of Loca-
tions — Causes of Inadequacy of Support — Preachers partly chargeable —
luiluence of the same Causes at the Present Day — Deficiencies in the
New-Hampshire District — Mr. Hedding's Receipts — His Conflicts of
Mind — Finds an Associate of his Youth — A Temptation overcome —
A Singular Charge preferred against him at Conference — The Dispo-
sition made of it — Results to the person preferring it — Session of the
Conference for 1808 — Returned to New-Hampshire District — Elected a
Delegate to the General Conference — Session of the General Conference —
Question of a Delegated General Conference — Failure of the Plan by the
Opposition of the Middle Conferences — Excitement and Dissatisfaction
— Mr. Hedding's Labours to prevent a Rupture — The Subject recon-
sidered— The Plan adopted — Dr. Bangs's Remarks upon it — Proposed
Increase of the Number of Bishops — Conference determines to elect
one only — M'Kendree elected and ordained — Close of the Conference —
Mr. Hedding returns to his District — Jesse Lee revisits New-England —
His Remarks on Pews — His Character drawn by Rev. A. Stevens — An
Admirable Pioneer — His First Labours — Present Condition of the Work
— A Triumphal Tour— The Parting Pledge.
Tbce first conference in New-England was held at
Lynn in 1792, when Bishop Asbury said of the
place, " We have the outside of a house confpleted ;"
and of the conference, " It consisted of eight persons,
much united, besides myself." Not a single mem-
ber of that conference was a native of New-Eng-
land. Jesse Lee, the great apostle of Methodism
in the East, was a native of Yirginia, and his atten-
156 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. U807.
tion had first been directed to the New-England
states while travelling with Bishop Asbury in South
Carolina. Here he fell in with a clerk, who was a
native of Massachusetts, and from whom he learned
much concerning the general character, the social
and religious condition of the people in the Eastern
States. From that moment his soul burned with
inextinguishable ardour to carry the blessings of the
gospel to them ; nor was he satisfied till he opened
his mission in New-England by the first sermon he
preached in Norwalk, Connecticut, on the 17th of
June, 1789. Nearly a year later, when at Dantown,
in Connecticut, he received the joyful intelligence
that three preachers were on their way to join him.
" I was greatly pleased at the report," says he, " and
my heart seemed to reply, ' Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the -Lord.' When I saw them riding
up, I stood and looked at them, and could say from
my heart, ' Thou hast well done that thou art come.'
Brother Jacob Brush, an elder, and George Roberts
and Daniel Smith, two young men, came from Mary-
land to assist me in this part of the world. No one
knows, but God and myself, what comfort and joy
I felt at their arrival. Surely the Lord has had re-
spect utfto my prayers and granted my request."
Within the next two years new auxiliaries were sent
into the field, and some already there were with-
drawn and sent to other parts.
Who the eight were of whom Mr. Asbury speaks as
composing the first New-England Conference, we can-
1807.] THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVEESAET. 157
not now fully determine. Only^e appear upon the
Minutes, so that they can positively be identified
in this connexion. Their names are Jesse Lee,
Menzies Rainor, Jeremiah Causden, John Allen, and
Lemuel Smith. On the Hartford Circuit, however,
we find the names of Hope Hull, G. Roberts, and
F. Aldridge ; and it is probable that these men were
present at the New-England Conference, though their
circuit appears in connexion with the Long Island
District, of which Jacob Brush was then elder.
Daniel Smith, after blazing for a little time with
a glorious and useful light in New-England, had
returned to the South. The membership of the
Lynn District, which then embraced all New-Eng-
land, not subsequently included in the New- York
Conference, was only one hundred and sixty-seven.
As the fifteenth anniversary approaches, we feel
inclined to survey the general field once more. Nor
can we withhold the exclamation, — "What hath God
wrought!" The little company of evangelists had
grown up. from five to eighty, and the membership
from one hundred and sixty-seven to eight thousand
three hundred and twenty-five. Instead of one dis-
trict with fowr circuits, the conference now made an
exhibit of ski districts with fifty-eight circuits. In-
stead of being dependent upon missionaries from
other parts of the work, there had been already
raised up within its bounds such men as Joshua
Soule, llmothy Merritt, Epaphras Eabby, Daniel
Webb, and others well known in the Church. The
i58 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1807
conference was a «,ower of intellectual and moral
strength, — ^nnited, compact, energetic, — ^rejoicing in
past successes, and confidently trusting in God for
the fiiture.
The session of the conference for 1807 was held
in Boston. Bishop Asbury was present, and pre-
sided. Bishop Whatcoat died in the previous July,
and on Bishop Asbury again devolved " the care of
all the Churches." It was necessary to despatch
business. " It kept us busy," says Mr. Asbury, " to
preach five times a day, ordain fifty-nine to office,
and inquire and examine into characters, graces, and
gifts, and appoint the numerous stations. I preached
on "Wednesday, and an ordination sermon on Thurs-
day. And I must walk through the seven confer-
ences, and travel six thousand miles in ten months."
Nothing of special interest occurred at this session of
the conference, only it appears to have been a session
of great harmony and good feeling; and no sooner
were the appointments announced, than the noble
band were seen wending their way to their various
fields of labour.
Mr. Hedding was this year made presiding elder,
and appointed to the New-Hampshire District. The
arrangement for the district was as follows : New-
Hampshike Distkiot — Elijah HeddAmg, P. E. Gran-
tham, Warren Bannister, Charles Virgin ; Hanover,
Dan Young; Bridgewater, Joseph Farrar; Pem-
broke, Hezekiah Field; Tuftonborough, Joseph Peck,
Eben. Blake ; Northfield, Zachariah Gibson ; Centre
•1807.] KEW-HAHPBHIEE DISTEIOT. 159
Harbour, Pcml Dustm, / LandafF, Dy&r Bwrg'e ; Lu-
nenburg, Jobn Green. It will be perceived by tbe
above that there were but two ordained elders upon
the entire district besides himself. Four were dea-
cons, namely, Dan Young, Va-i^en Bannister, Joseph
Farrar, and Hezekiah Field. One, namely, John
Green, was in 4;he second year of his ministry ; and
the remaining four had just been a,dmitted on trial,
and now entered upon their first appointments.
The health of John Green failed, so that he could
not enter upon the duties of his charge ; and to meet
the emergency, the elder found it necessary to remove
Charles Virgin, and place him in charge of the cir-
cuit. This was a responsible charge for a young and
inexperienced man. The circuit was principally in
the northern part of Vermont, but extended many
miles into Canada. It was one hundred miles distant
from his first appointment. "The conflict of my
spirit," says this young man, referring to his feelings
when he received his new appointment, "for a while
was indescribable; but I had put my hand to the
plough, and dared not look back. To take charge of a
circuit I could not think of but with great trembling.
I had just performed a journey of one hundred and
eighty. miles, and my funds were nearly out. I had
promised to put up that night at Deacon San-
bom's, of precious memory, in Unity. It was a
sleepless night ; I prayed and wept, wept and prayed,
until the davni of day. After breakfast and family
prayer, I mounted my horse to go. In the family
160 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1807..
were liiree cMldren, holy members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church— one son and two daughters.
They stood on the door-steps. As I came to the
first, who was the son, and took his hand to bid him
farewell, he put a silver dollar into my hand; the
second gave me another, and the next a third. I was
too much afl'ected to speak. I turned away and got
out of hearing as soon as possible, and then wept
profusely, and, praying God to forgive me, resolved
never again to distrust my heavenly Father."
Some idea of the extent of travel and amount of
labour to be performed upon this district may be
gathered from the fact that it embraced the whole
state, except Portsmouth and its immediate vicinity
and also some half-dozen towns in the south-western
part of the state. It also embraced a portion of the
State of Vermont. The circuits were all very exten-
sive, and there was not a single station in the whole
district. To complete his rounds during the year re-
quired a travel of not less than three thousand miles.
At each quarterly meeting he preached twice, and
generally three times, besides presiding in the quar-
terly conferences, conducting the love-feasts, and
often labouring in the prayer-meetings. In addition
to all this, he had his appointments scattered all along
his route from one quarterly meeting to another ; so
that he often preached every evening in the week,
except Saturday, for three months together.
His " old rheumatic affection, with which he had
been so terribly afilicted in 1803, returned upon him
1807.1 NE-W-HAMPSHIEE DISTEICT. 161
during this year, and caused not a little suffering.
Tor whole nights he would be unable to lie down in
his bed or to sleep ; but, as he was somewhat relieved
during the day, these afflictions were not permitted to
interfere with his labours. The preachers associated
with him were jprincipally unmarried men; they
were young in jrears and young in th« ministry, of
but little experience, and also, for the most part, of
small literary acquirements. All these circumstances
greatly increased his responsibility, and his solicitude
for the success of the work in. their hands. He says :
" Some of them were men of excellent natural talents,
and all of them were capable of preaching religious
truth to the edification and benefit of the people.
They were men, too, of deep piety and great zeal,
and they laboured with all their power to advance
the work of God ; and the Lord gave his sanction to
their labours, and great numbers throughout the dis-
trict were awakened and converted."
During this year, one of his preachers — a young
and somewhat unstable man, but of good talents and
promise — was led to embrace Calvinism, and with-
drew from the Church in order to become a Congre-
gational minister. His determination to such a course
had been somewhat suddenly foi-med, and his elder
was entirely unapprized of it. But in passing around
his district he fell in with the young man, and learned
that he had been spending a day with his brother,
who was a Calvinistic minister. After some conver-
sation, the young man began to intimate his dissent
162 LIFE AND TIMES. 01' HEDDING. L1807
from the doctrines he had receiyed, and which were
preached among the Methodists; and also his inch-
nation to beheve that he had been in error in rejec1>
ing the cardinal points of the Calvinistic theology.
Mr. Hedding at once perceived the true cause of the
difficulty, and upon interrogation* found that his
brother had had a twofold agency iu unsettling his
mind: first, being a man of great shrewdness and
logical acumen, he had argued with the youiig man
until he had become at least bewildered ; and then
he had plied him with an ad hominem argument, by
comparing his forlorn condition and worldly prospects
in the Methodist itinerancy with the comfort and
respectability within his reach as a settled pastor.
The young man evidently wished to do right, or at
least to have such reason for his change of doc-
trinal views and Church relation as might satisfy his
own conscience ; but it was evident that he had not
the moral firmness to withstand the temptation.
Still Mr. Hedding felt it to be his duty to converse
with him, and save him if he could ; and still the
more so, as the young man professed to be desirous
of light. As they were to spend the day together,
he proposed that they should talk over the celebrated
" five points," and weigh them candidly in the Hght of
Scripture and reason. To this the young man readily
assented; and when they had discussed the matter
till night — carefully examining every text that had a
bearing on either side, and every argument drawn
from the character of God and the principles of jus-
1807.1 NBW-HAMPBHIEE DISTEIOT. 163
tice and trutt, and also the various logical results of
the Calvinistic theory — the young man acknowledged
himself to be convinced that Calvinism was founded
in error, and could be supported by neither reason nor
Scripture. He now proposed to return to his circuit,
and labour with renewed confidence and zeal in the
proclamation of the truth. Over him, however, Mr.
Hedding rejoiced with trembUng; for he discovered
that with aU his fine talents, and even his piety, he
was not made of that stem stufi" so essential, amid
the rigours of the Methodist itinerancy, to enable
him to withstand the powerfal temptations to other
positions offering higher worldly honour, greater
ease, and more adequate pecuniary compensation.
The sequel proved the well-grounded nature of Mr.
Hedding's apprehensions, and also illustrated his great
insight into human character ; for in three months
the friends of the young man had converted him
back to Calvinism. At the conference his name was
recorded as "withdrawn" in the Minutes; and he sub-
sequently became a Congregational minister.
It would be a very uncharitable insinuation, to inti-
mate that the great body of those who have with-
drawn from the Methodist ministry during her his-
tory have been actuated solely, or even mainly, by
pecuniary considerations. But, unquestionably, the
Church has suffered immensely from the inadequacy
of the support given to her ministry. Many of the
noblest heralds of the cross in her early history,
after a few years' service, were compelled by the
164 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. 11807
necessity of their families to retire from the regular
work. During the first fifty years, more than one-
half of all who entered the Methodist ministry sooner
or later located; and many of those who died in the
work were compelled, at some time during their min-
istry, to locate and make provision for their families.
This inadequacy resulted in part from the new state
of the country and the societies, as also from the
poverty of the people. Another cause is to be found
at the door of the preachers themselves ; they often
made it a matter of public boasting that they asked
no salaries — sought not the money of the people, but
the people themselves; and all this was done in a
way that gave the people to understand that the
Methodist religion was "a cheap religion" — ^was to
cost the people but very little. Thus they not only
failed to teach the people the Christian duty of giv-
ing, so far as they were able, a competent support to
those who were called to preach the gospel to them,
and who were to "live by the gospel," but many of
them, by unguarded speeches, indirectly encouraged
a spirit that would make beggars of ministers and
paupers of their families. It is not too much to say,
that that political and spiritual error of the fathers
has been entailed, in many of its consequences, upon
their children.- " The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge." At the
present day, the influence of this evil in the Church — ■
the inadequate support of the ministry — ^is mani-
fested not so much in the number of locations, as in
1807.] NEW-HAMPSHIEB DISTEIOT. 165
its prevention of.many, who are called of God and
who are not without gifts and graces, from entering
into the field, where there is so little inviting to a
young man in the line of personal comfort or family
support. "Were the Churches all poor and unable to
do better, the case would be quite different; the
responsibility would then lie whoUy upon him who,
when called by God, refused to obey: nor do we
design to excuse or palliate the turning aside from
the ministry on the part of any individual who has
been called by God, merely on account of the poor
prospect of needful support. It is safest and best to
do our duty at aU times and in all places. We only
speak of facts that do exist. It is vain to deny them ;
it is unwise to close our eyes against them ; and it is
eqxially absurd to attempt to dispose of them alto-
gether, by attempting to minify the Value — the
piety or talents — of these young men who are thus
deterred from entering the ministry. It is an evil
that requires not scorn, but cure. And then, on the
other hand, we are to avoid with equal care holding
out worldly inducements — in the way of ease, wealth,
or honour — to the ministry, lest the Church of God
become cursed with selfish and worldly-minded men
in this office, to which the great motive should be
the love of God and of the souls of men.
Perhaps in no part of the work where Methodism
was organized was the support so inadequate as
within the boiinds of Mr. Hedding's district. The
country was new, and mountainous, and sterile ; the
166 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. L1807.
work was new, the people poor — ^many of them rery
poor indeed. It will seem almost incredible, and yet
such is the fact, Mr. Hedding's receipts during his
first year upon this district, besides his simple travel-
ling expeness, which made but an inconsiderable sum,
were $4 25 ! His horse broke down through exces-
sive labour during the year ; clothing, books, and other
little necessaries, all were to be provided for out of
this four dollars and twenty-five cents! While we
cannot wonder that many of the noblest and purest
spirits in the Methodistic reformation were compelled
to retire from the itinerant work, that they might be
able to provide for their children, we are filled with
admiration that even the single men, with no families
to provide for, were not disheartened. At times Mr.
Hedding's mind was deeply affected, especially as he
found himself cramped and straitened almost beyond
endurance, and then could see no prospect of relief
ahead. One passage of Scripture, however, was ever
present with him in these times of mental misgiving :
" To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me
in my throne." Cheered and comforted, he would go
forth again heartily to his work. And as he went,
his lips would often chime,—
"No foot of laud do I possess ;
No cottage in this wUderness;
i poor wayfaring man,
I lodge awhile in tents below,
Or gladly wander to and fro, .
XiU I my Canaan gain."
1807.] NEW-HAMPSHIEE DISTEIOT. 167
An incident, by which Ms mind was moment-
arily affected, he thus describes : " Having heard that
an old associate of my youth resided a few miles
out of my route on the district, I went to see him.
I found him in good health, and that he had become
quite rich. He was not a professed Christian. After
taking me over -his farm, and showing me all his
many things for comfort and ease, and the taste and
skill with which he had enriched and beautified the
natural resources of the place, he said to me, 'I
take great comfort in all these, and also in thinking
that I shall leave at least one spot on the earth
better than I found it.' At first the contrast between
his temporal condition and my own — the ease and
affluence in which he lived, and my own toilsome
and poverty-stricken sphere — especially when I knew
that my ovm prospects were at the outset as good at
least as his, produced a deep depression in my mind.
But it was only for a moment. Recurring to the fact
that the man after all seemed to derive his happiness
not BO much from the enjoyment of the good things
of life that surrounded him, as from the idea that he
would leave behind him a cultivated spot where
he had found a wilderness, I said to myself, — ' If he
finds comfort in thinking that the world will be better
for his having lived in it, how much greater source
of happiness have I, who am devoting all my time
and energies to doing good in the world!' This
thought had no sooner passed through my mind, than
the rising disquietude of my heart was completely
o
168 LIFB AND TIMES OB' HEDDING. [1807.
stilled; my soul was filled witli consolation, and I
was ready to exclaim : —
' 'Tis all my business here below
To cry — ^Behold the Lamb !
Happy, if with my latest breath
I may but gasp his name ;
Preach him to all, and cry in death.
Behold, behold the Lamb ! ' "
The only formal complaint ever entered against
Mr. Hedding at conference was from this district,
and the occasion for it occurred during this year.
On one of the circuits resided a certain physician ;
he was a man of good talents and great shrewdness,
but at the same time a man of very narrow views,
and exceedingly bigoted in his character. He made
a formal complaint to the presiding elder against
one of the preachers on the circuit, and demanded a
council for his trial. The charge was, " Superfluity
of appwrd f and the specifications were — "1. The
preacher wore silver knee-buckles in his small
clothes; 2. The preacher allowed his wife to wear
a veil," which, by the way, was a mourning veil,
worn on account of the death of some relative.
These the doctor alleged were great grievances to
himself, his wife, and many others of the Church ;
and also a great scandal to the cause of religion.
Mr. Hedding plainly told him that these were small
matters, not of sufficient magnitude to call a council
to try a preacher for ; and all that he could do would
be to advise the preacher to cease wearing the silver
1808.] HEW-HAMPSHIBB DISTEICT. 169
knee-buckles, if their use was a stumbling-block to
any, and to use strings in their place ; and also to
advise the preacher's wife to lay off her mourning
veil for peace' sake. Mr. Hedding accordingly gave
the advice to the preacher and to his wife, and there
rested the matter. But when he reached conference,
he found that the persistent physician had forwarded
a bill of charges against him, signed by himself and
wife, and accusing him of refiising to administer the
Discipline against an offending preacher. The doc-
tor's letter was read to the conference, when they
instantly dismissed it as unworthy of notice. This,
however, was not the end of the case, so far as the
stickler against silver buckles and mourning veils was
concerned. The society, learning that he had for-
warded such charges, were indignant, and finding that
while, like many others, he had tithed mint, and rue,
and cummin, he had neglected the weightier matters
of the law, — while he had been zealous against knee-
buckles and mourning veils, he had not been so care-
ful to preserve truth and righteousness, but had act-
ually uttered falsehoods, — they called him to trial,
found him guilty, and expelled him from the Church.
The session of the New-England Conference for
1808 was held in New-London, and commenced
April 18th. Bishop Asbury was present and pre-
sided. The preachers came up from the different
parts of the work, bringing the glad news of continued
success and triumphs in the cause of Christ. They
reported a membership of eight thousand eight hun-
170 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1808.
dred and twenty-five, and a gain of five hundred.
The session of the conference was harmonious, and
the public ministrations were attended with good
results. The business of the conference had to be
expedited on accoimt of the General Conference,
then just at hand. Bishop Asbury says : " The con-
ference sat till Friday ; we wrought in great haste,
in great order, and in peace, through a great deal of
business. There were seventeen deacons, travelling
and local, ordained ; and nine elders ordained in the
Congregational Church, before fifteen hundred or two
thousand witnesses. I know not where large congre-
gations are so orderly as in the Eastern States. There
was a work of God going on during the sitting of con-
ference. The General Conference hastened our break-
ing up, the delegates thereto requesting leave to go."
Mr. Hedding was returned again to the district,
upon which the appointments were as follows : —
New-Hampshiee Disteict, Elijah Seddmg, P. E. ;
Grantham, Oald) Dustm, Pcml Dustrni; Hanover,
David Carr; Bridgewater, "William Hunt; Pem-
broke, Hezekiah Field; Tuftonborough, Lewis Bates ;
Northfield and Centi-e-Harbour, Joseph Peck; Lan-
dafi^, Zachariah Gibson; Lunenburg, Ebenezer Blake.
This year there were three elders besides himself upon
the district ; also three deacons ; and also three who
were in the second year of their ministry.
The New-England Conference at its session elected
seven delegates to attend the ensuing General Con-
ference. They also passed resolutions in favour of
1808.] NEW-HAMPSHIRE DI8TEI0T. lYl
making the General Conference a delegated body.
The delegates elected were George Pickering, Joshua
Soule, Elijah K. Sabin, Oliver Beale, Martin Enter,
Elijah Hedding, and Thomas Branch.
The session of the General Conference commenced
May Ist, in the city of Baltimore. This General Con-
ference having some of the fundamental principles
of our economy to settle, its session was of no ordi-
nary importance, and excited no ordinary degree of
solicitude throughout the entire Church. Up to this
time mery ordcmied elder was entitled to a seat in
this highest council in the Church. There were now
present one hundred and twenty-nine members, dis-
tributed among the seven annual conferences as fol-
lows : — ISTew-Tork Conference, nineteen ; Ifew-Eng-
land, seven; Western, eleven; South Carolina, eleven;
Virginia, eighteen ; Baltimore, thirty-one ; and Phil-
adelphia, thirty-two. Bishop Asbury and many of the
preachers had become convinced of the necessity of a
delegated Conference. The reasons were obvious : the
great extension of the work and the multiplication of
elders ; the difficulty, loss of time, and great expense
attendant upon the gathering of so many from re-
mote portions of the work ; the preponderance that
would always be in favour of the central annual
conferences, among which the General Conferences
would generally be held ;* the practical inutility of
" This -was strikingly manifest in the General Conference of 1804,
in which all the elders were entitled to a seat. The conference,
representation, accordingly, was as follows : —
Border or remote conferences, namely : New-England Conference,
172 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIN(J. [1808.
gathering so large abody of men to transact tlie business
of tbe Church, when it could be done as well, if not
better, by a delegated number; and, finally, the neces-
sity of it as a bond of union among the annual con-
ferences. This was, in fact, the great question of the
conference. The interest of the Church had been
thoroughly awakened upon the subject; for as early
as 1806 Bishop Asbury had submitted a paper to the
annual conferences, beginning with Baltimore, rec-
ommending a called session of a General Conference,
or convention, of seven delegates from each annual
conference. But the plan failed in consequence of
the non-concurrence of the Virginia Conference.
The subject was brought before the body by a
memorial from the New-Tork Conference, and refer-
red to a committee of fourteen from each annual con-
ference. The committee reported in favour of the
memorialists ; but the plan of a delegated conference
proposed by them was, after considerable discussion,
rejected by a vote of fifty-seven for, and sixty-five
agaiost it. The remote conferences were generally
iu favour of it ; but the central ones, such as Balti-
more, Yirginia, and Philadelphia, were opposed to
it. When the vote announcing the failure of the
plan was declared, great dissatisfaction was mani-
four ; Western Conference, three ; South Carolina Conference, five ;
New- York Conference, twelve : making, from four conferences, a
total of twenty-four.
Central Conferences, namely : Baltimore Conference, twenty-nine ;
Virginia Conference, seventeen ; Philadelphia Conference, forty-one :
making, from three central conferences, a total of eighty-seven.
1808.] THE GENERAL OONFEEEHCE. 1Y3
fested ; and fears were at one time entertained, that
the conference would break np without establishing
any general bond of union among the widely-scattered
portions of the work. Many of the preachers from
the remote conferences resolved to leave immediately,
and return home. It was a crisis in the affairs of the
Church, then in the infancy of its organization.
" Had they left at this crisis," says Mr. Hedding, "it
would probably have been the last General Conference
ever held." All the members fi-om the New-England
Conference, except himself, were making arrange-
ments to depart. In this emergency he entreated
them to remain; and declared his own determina-
tion to remain till the close of the conference, what-
ever might happen. Mr. Asbury also exerted his
influence, and detained them ; and also the members
of other conferences who were about leaving. The
delegates from the central conferences now saw the
necessity of some action, if they would preserve the
integrity of the Church. The vote was reconsidered ;
and after mature deliberation, and considerable de-
bate, the general plan of a delegated General Con-
ference was agreed upon. It was to be composed of
one delegate for every five members of an annual
conference, and was to meet quadrennially on the
first day of May. A constitution, in the form of
restrictive provisions, by which its actions should be
regulated, was adopted. This plan was adopted al-
most unanimously, and thus peace and harmony
were restored to the body.
174 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1808.
Though not brought before the body in so prominent
a manner as some others, yet in this matter Mr. Hed-
ding proved himself to be a wise counsellor, and a safe
and judicious man. He exhibited that clear insight,
that calm spirit, that dispassionate manner, and that
sound judgment which so marked his character in sub-
sequent years. Mr. Asbury was not a little indebted to
him for the influence he exerted in checking the action
of the more violent spirits on that exciting occasion.
In relation to the settlement of this great question,
Dr. Bangs, in his History, says : " Before this, each
General Conference felt itself at full liberty, not being
prohibited by any standing laws, to make whatever
alterations it might see fit, or to introduce any new
doctrine or item, in the Discipline, which either fancy,
inclination, discretion, or indiscretion might dictate.
Under this state of things, knowing the rage of man for
novelty, and witnessing the destructive changes which
had frequently laid waste Churches, by removing an-
cient landmarks, and so modifying doctrines and usages
as to suit the temper of the times, or to gratify either a
corrupt taste or a perverse dispositiouj many had felt
uneasy apprehensions for the safety and unity of the
Church and the stability of its doctrines, moral dis-
cipline, and the frame of its government ; and none
were more solicitous on this subject than Bishop As-
bury, who had laboured so long, with an assiduity
equalled by few, if indeed any, and suffered so much
for the propagation and establishing of these important
points. He, therefore, greatly desired, before he should
1808.1 THE GENERAL OONFEKENOE. 1Y6
be called home, to see them fixed upon a permanent
foundation." This action of the conference was re-
ceived with lively satisfaction by both ministers and
people throughout the entire connexion ; and the ex-
perience of half a century has attested its wisdom,
notwithstanding the modifications and infractions that
have taken place.
Having settled this fundamental question in the
economy of the Church, the body proceeded to the
regular routine of business. Bishop Whatcoat had
died ; Dr. Coke was still in Europe, and proposed,
with the consent of the conference, to remain there ;
it therefore became necessary to strengthen the epis-
copacy by the election of a new bishop. Indeed, it
was proposed to elect seven bishops — one for each
conference, having Bishop Asbury as a general super-
intendent ; and thus either do away with the presiding
eldership altogether, or at least to greatly modify it.
The plan was advocated by some of the ablest men on
the floor of the conference ; but was finally rejected
by a Strong vote. A motion to elect two additional
bishops was also negatived; and the conference
finally determined upon the election of one. The
election took place on the same day ; and upon count-
ing the ballots it was found that one hundred and
twenty-eight votes had been cast, of which ninety-five
were for "William M'Kendree, who was therefore
elected. The balance of the votes were cast for
Ezekiel Cooper and Jesse Lee; the former, accord-
ing to Bangs's History, having twenty-eight of that
M 8*
176 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1808.
number. M'Kendree was a member of tbe Western
Conference at the time of his election. He com-
menced travelling in the Virginia Conference in
1788; and from that time forward, by untiring
devotion, arduous labours, signal successes, and
acknowledged piety, prudence, and zeal, had made
himself worthy of such distinguished honour and
confidence from his brethren. On the 17th of May
he was consecrated by Bishop Asbury, assisted by
Eev. Messrs. Freeborn Garrettson, Phihp Bruce,
Jesse Lee, and Thomas Ware. He was fifty-one
years of age at the time of his consecration, and
continued to serve the Church with eminent abihty
in the episcopal ofiice for nearly twenty-seven years ;
when, at the advanced age of seventy-eight, "he fell
asleep."
Having surmounted the obstacles in the way of a
general and harmonious organization, the subsequent
doings of the conference were characterized by great
harmony and good feeling. And in this spirit, hav-
ing accomplished its great work, it adjourned on the
26th of the month. This settlement aflforded unfeigned
satisfaction to Bishop Asbury : his hope for the future
of the Church now rested in abiding confidence ; and
he lived to realize, in a degree, the consummation of
his hope in the assembling and transactions of the
General Conference of 1812.
At the close of the General Conference, Mr. Hed-
ding immediately returned, to resume his labours upon
the New-Hampshire District. The labours of the
1808.] PEWBD CHUEOHES. 177
year were mucli the same aa those of the preceding, —
much travel, continual preaching, and withal refresh-
ing showers from the presence of the Lord. There
were extensive revivals on the "district, and many
were added to the Church. Mr. Hedding, through
determined effort, greatly improved the finances of
his district, and 8§cured more adequate support for the
preachers.
Even at this "early day, it was found necessary
in New-England to pew the principal Methodist
churches that were erected ; such were the pre-
vaiHng habits and tastes of the people. This was
somewhat of an annoyance to Jesse Lee, who re-
turned this year to survey his old field of labour.
He says of the church in Newport, where Samuel
Merwin was stationed that year : " The house has a
steeple, with a pretty large bell; it is fitted up with
large square pews, so that a part of the people sit
with their faces, and others with their backs toward
the preacher ; and these pews are sold to purchasers.
Males and females sit together. Is not this a violation
of Methodist rules ?" A few days after, we find him
in Boston, preaching in the new church, then lately
erected in Bromfield-street. He says: "This new
meeting-house is large and elegant ; I think eighty-
four by sixty-four. It has an altar round the pulpit,
in a half circle, and the house is fixed with long pews,
of a circular form, to be uniform with the altar. The
front of the gallery is of the same form. It looks very
handsome, and wiU contain ISi abundance of people;
178 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1808.
but is not on the Methodist plan, for the pews are sold
to the highest bidder." Travelling on as far as Ports-
mouth, he preaches in another "meeting-house, fit-
ted up with pews."- "We know not how many other
churches of this character had been erected within
his old field of labour ; but it is evident that Meth-
odism, in the short time that had elapsed from his
departure till his return on this visit, had been
acquiring strength, and the people were not alto-
gether inattentive to the architecture of their
churches, plain and even uncouth as some of those
old churches appeared in subsequent years, when
the general style of building, and especially of
church architecture, had greatly changed.
We have already had frequent occasion to allude to
the pioneer labours of Jesse Lee in New-England.
The great Methodistic movement in the Eastern
States, in which Mr. Hedding had now become
one of the leading spirits, could not be well under-
stood without at least a brief survey of the labours
and character of this truly apostolic man. For this
reason, and not because of any direct personal inti-
macy, we have made frequent references to his
travels and labours. As he is now about to take his
final leave of New-England, it is fitting that his
character and the results of his labours should be
briefly reviewed. Says the author of the Memorials
of Methodism, speaking of Lee at this point in his
career : " We cannot take our final leave of him
without lingering a few^oments in the contempla-
1808.1 JESSE LEE IN NEW-ENGLAND. 1Y9
tion of Ms rare career. He is the great man who
achieves great results by great endeaTours. History
will accord to Lee no ordinary share of such fame.
He possessed no preSminent intellectual faculty.
His literary attainments were not above mediocrity.
His only publication — the 'Short History of the Meth-
odists' — ^though invaluable for its data, makes no
pretensions whatever, except to industrious research
and accuracy. His opinions on great ecclesiastical
measures would not, we think, entitle him to the
claim of superior legislative sagacity. But, with a
good practical judgment for ordinary affairs, consid-
erable general intelligence, a remarkably simple and
pertinent Saxon style, strong sensibilities, which were
easily kindled in discourse, and a rare native faculty
of wit, he combined an executive energy which -has
few parallels in our history, except "Wesley, Asbury,
and, it may be, Garrettson. This energy was not
impulsive; it was singularly cool and continuous.
Its calmness was its most intrinsic and valuable trait.
His great travels, his incessant preaching, the imper-
turbable persistence with which he brooked opposi-
tion and all obstacles, continually and tranquilly
repeating his endeavours against them until they
disappeared — these characteristics distinguishing a
mlhister of thirty-three years, mark him as no ordi-
nary man. lie great results that have followed his
labours will always entitle him to the reputation of
greatness. His agency in the founding of Method-
ism in New-England wiU ever place him among the
180 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1808.
chief characters in the ecclesiastical history of those
Eastern States." Mr. Lee, after this visit, continued
to labour in the south some eight years, where he
finished Ids long and eventful career in the joyful
assurance of a better resurrection. He received his
regular appointments to the last year of his career,
but travelled more or less " at large." To the very
last "he was characterized by the same unresting
missionary spirit which prompted his earlier labours."
He made extensive excursions into the remote parts
of the south. He was also for several years chap-
lain to the Congress of the United States; and before
the legislators of the nation it is said that "he
preached with the same simplicity and power which
attended his ministrations in the frontier wilderness,
or on the highway."
From this outline of the character of this heroic
man, it will be seen how admirably adapted he must
have been, in the prime of his life, to pioneer work.
But, without doing injustice to the memory of Lee,
we think the necessity of a different class of men will
also be seen; men of comprehensive and sagacious
minds, of higher legislative and judicial capacities —
such as were Hedding, Soule, Pickering and others —
in order that the organic structure of the rising
Church might be made harmonious, compact, stro^,
and lasting. llTineteen years before this final visit,
Lee had entered New-England a solitary stranger:
after more than three months' travel and labour,
the first class, consisting of three women, had been
1808.] LEE'S TKIUMPHAL TOTTE. 181
formed at StratdELeld, Conn. Now, on his return, lie
joyfully witnessed the spread of Methodism over all
the land.
At the close of this ecclesiastical year, this scene
of his former lahours presented an array of one an-
nual conference, six presiding eldera' districts, fifty-
seven circuits ^d stations, eighty-three stationed
preachers, and an aggregate membership of ten thou-
sand and ninety-six. No wonder that this last tour
of Lee through New-England was a sort of triumphal
tour, and that he was everywhere hailed by both
preachers and people with the greatest delight. At
the close of his meetings he was accustomed to give
the parting hand to those who wera determined ta
meet him in the better land. Multitudes there
pledged themselves to him and to their God, and
among them were hosts of the unconverted; and
long before this most of them have, together with the
heaven-honoured pioneer, entered into rest.
182 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1809.
CHAPTEE VI.
MB. HEDDING ON NE"W-IONDON DISTEICT.
Session of the Conference for 1809— Mr. Hedding appointed to the New-
London District — ^Preachers on the District — Its Extent — Camp-meeting
— 'First one on the District — Solicitude — ^Wonderful Display of Divine
Power — ^Five Hundred prostrate on the Earth — Results — ^Mr. Bedding's
Marriage — Sketch of Miss Lucy Blish, afterward Mrs. Hedding — Her
Parents — Early Education — -Early Eeligious Impressions — ^Perplexed by
Calvinism — ^Visits a Sister within the Bounds of Plattsburgh Circuit —
Hears Methodist Preaching — ^Is converted and joins the Church — Returns
Home — Her Parents converted — A New Society raised up — ^Mr. Hedding's
First Acquaintance with her — ^Their Marriage — Survives him — ^Mr. Hed-
ding talies up his R^idence in Winchester, N.' H. — ^Reviews his Pecuniary
Profits and Losses as a Single Man — The Session of the Conference at
Winchester — How provided for — ^Bishops Asbury and M'Kendree — Re-
turned to the District — ^Preachers with him — ^Removes to Ludlow, Mass. —
Attempt to warn him out of Town — ^Employed by the Town on his Vacant
Sabbaths — ^Invited by the Town to become the Settled Pastor — ^Declines —
Subsequent Occasional Thoughts — Mr. Newhall's " Rich and Refreshing
Meditations " when forcing his Way through Snow-drifts — Horse dis-
abled— ^Travels on Foot — An Attack of Rheumatism — Crippled Condition
— A Wayside Incident — ^A Singular Sweat — Unexpected Restoration —
Conference approaching — Remarks upon his Ten Years' Labour — Diffi-
culties encountered by Methodism — Its Great Successes — ^Progress of
the Work on the District — Camp-meeting — Summation at the Close of
the Year.
The session of the New-England Conference for
1809 commenced on the 15tli of June, and was held
at Monmouth, Me. Bishops Asbury and M'Kendree
were both present. A camp-meeting was held
during the time of the conference, in a groye about
one mile distant. Many of the preachers devoted
considerable time to its exercises; a great revival
1809.1 NEW-LONDON DISTEIOT. ISS
occurred, and many were converted to God. Many
persons from a distance attended it; and its results
extended to the societies throughout all that region.
Mr. Hedding was an active participator in its exer-
cises, notwithstanding his duties as a presiding elder,
in the conference and the cabinet.
From this conf^ence he was appointed to the New-
London District, the organization of which was as fol-
lows : New-London District — Elijah Heddmg, P. E. ;
Tolland, Benj. P. JKB,- William Hinman; Ashhum-
ham, Da/vid Cwrr, Robert Arnold; Needham, Ben-
jamin E. Hoyt, Nathan Hill ; Providence and Smith-
field, Greenleaf E. Norris, Pliny Brett; East Green-
wich, Theophilus Smith; Pomfret, .Isaac Bonney,
Samuel Cutler; New-London, Elisha Streeter, John
Lindsey. It will be perceived that there were upon
this entire district but two ordained elders besides
Mr. Hedding. Three others were ordained deacons,
namely, Norris, Brett, and Smith ; while of the re-
maining eight, three had travelled one year, namely,
Bonney, Hinman, and Cutler; and five, namely, Hoyt,
Hill, Arnold, Streeter, and Lindsey, had just been
admitted on trial. No less than ten preachers had
located at this conference ; most of them compelled to
it from the necessity of providing for their families ;
and it was thus that their places were filled with new
recruits.
The New-London District, at this time, embraced
all that part of the State of Connecticut lying east of
the Connecticut Kiver, and all that part of Rhode
184 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1809.
Island west of Narragansett Bay, including ProTi-
dence ; and also a belt across the State of Massachu-
setts, extending from the Connecticut Eiver nearly to
Boston, and a few towns in the south-western part of
New-Hampshire. It was a year of great labour, but
also of great success. Many of the circuits were
yisited with glorious revivals. Every circuit except
one reported a good increase at the ensuing annual
conference.
The first camp-meeting ever held upon the dis-
trict was held by Mr. Hedding in Hebron, Conn.,
duriag the present year. It was a new thing in the
country, and had no doubt been suggested to him
by what he had witnessed at the camp-meeting in
Monmouth at the previous session of the conference.
Camp-meetings were first held in this countiy in the
State of Kentucky, in the years 1801 and 1802, during
the wonderful revival of religion that pervaded the
Methodist and Presbyterian Churches in that region.
In a few years, however, they became quite common
among the Methodists in the south and west. In
the east they were yet a novel thing. The fame of
them, however, had spread everywhere ; and when
the time appointed for the meeting at Hebron
arrived, the people flocked in from all the surround-
ing country. Many came the distance of fifty or
sixty miles, provisioned for the week, and burning
with desire to see the glory of the Lord. Such meet-
ings were not then conducted with as much system
as at the present time. There were at least fom* ser-
1809.] HEBBON OAMP-MEETING. 185
mons each day ; and the intermediate time, almost
day and night without intermission, was occupied in
meetings for prayer, exhortation, and the relation of
Christian experience. Several things conspired to
make Mr. Hedding feel an intense anxiety as to the
conduct and results of this meeting. He knew that
there was a strong prejudice in the community
against such meetings, and many scandalous stories
had been circulated about them. It was the first
that had ever been attempted to be held on the dis-
trict ; and, in fact, he himself had but little acquaint-
ance with the management of them, as he had visited
but one, and that was the one held during the session
of the conference at Monmouth.
He felt that a heavy responsibility was upon him ;
and he earnestly besought God that he would not
permit his people to go up without his presence, and
that the meeting might redound to the honour of true
religion and the good of the Church. The result
proved that these intercessions were not in vain ; it
was perhaps the most memorable camp-meeting ever
held in New-England. From the very commence-
ment there were signal indications of the divine
presence and power. Often during the exercises
individuals would fall prostrate to the ground. As
the meeting progressed, the interest continued to
increase. On the fourth or fifth day, during the
evening sermon, the power of the Holy Ghost fell
on the congregation with overwhelming force. The
'people began to fall on every side. Many who had
186 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1809.
come to the meeting out of mere idle curiosity, were
stricken down to the ground, and cried aloud for
mercy. Many ofother Christian denominations, who
were greatly prejudiced against the Methodists, and
especially against such exercises, fell powerless to
the earth, and afterward acknowledged the mighty
hand of God. Quite a number of Methodists, also,
who had never witnessed such scenes, and were
strongly opposed to them, fell along with the others.
It was an awful hour of the manifestation of God's
power and grace. "Within the space of a few min-
utes, it was ascertained that not less than ji/oe hwih-
dn'ed lay prostrate by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Although it was eYening, the report of these events
was spreaa through the town of Colchester, a few
miles distant ; and the people flocked in crowds to
the scene. Physicians came, and passed around
among the prostrate people, feeling the pulses of
the helpless : they looked, as they passed around, as
solemn as if they were just going forth to the judg-
ment. The people were all amazed and confounded;
the scoffer was silenced ; the blasphemer turned pale
and trembled; the infidel stood aghast. The uni-
versal voice of all was : " Truly this is the mighty
power of God ; let us adore and tremble before him."
That night of glorious power was with multitudes
the turning point that thenceforward shaped their
destinies heavenward; and in the breasts of hundreds
of Christians the holy fire was kindled anew into a
more glorious and inextinguishable flame. Victory*
1810.] MB. HEDDISG'9 MAEKIAGE. 187
was now complete. The fame of this meeting spread
far and wide, and exerted a powerful influence in
favour of Methodism through aU that region of coun-
try. It contributed not a little to swell the successes
and the gains which we have already noticed for the
year upon the district.
Up to this tinie Mr. Hedding had travelled as a
single man; but on the 10th of January, 1810, he
was united in marriage to Miss Lucy Blish, of Gilsum,
Cheshire Co., IST. H. Her parents were both members
of the Congregational Church, her father being a
deacon, and a man of good standing anJong his peo-
ple. They had conscientiously and piously dedi-
cated their daughter in her infancy to the Lord by
the sacred rite of baptism. In very early life she
was unusually thoughtful upon the subject of religion,
and was often deeply anxious for the salvation of her
soul : but little encouragement, however, was given
at that day to induce children to become experiment*
ally pious. She was also greatly perplexed with Cal-
vinism. In this state of mind she continued tiU she
was about eighteen years of age, when, in 1801, she
visited a married sister residing within the bounds of
the Plattsburgh Circuit,. Here, for the first time in
her life, she enjoyed the privilege of hearing Method-
ist doctrines and the Methodist ministry. These new
doctrines immediately attracted her attention; she
perceived that they solved all the difficulties which
had so long perplexed her mind; and she at once
embraced them heartily. But this was not aU : her
188 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1810.
way was now opened to seek that wliicli liad so long
been the conscious want of her soul : she sought the
Lord with all her heart, and it was not long before
pardoning mercy was revealed unto her soul, and she
enjsyed a great and holy peace. As the mioistry
of the Methodist Church had been instrumental in
leading her to God, and as she heartily believed aU
its doctrines, and believed that its institutions were
peculiarly calculated to help her iu the divine life,
she soon became a member of that Church. From
various causes, her stay with her sister was protracted
to three or fffur years ; during all of which time she
enjoyed the ministry and the privileges of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Chui'ch.
On her return to her father's house, she felt it to
be her duty to converse with her parents and other
members of the family upon experimental religion.
The renewal of the heart was to them a new theme ;
and even her parents, though they had long been
members of the Church, and her father was a deacon,
confessed that they were not only iaexperienced, but
ignorant upon the subject. Anxious for the salvation
of her parents, and solicitous for the cause of Christ
in the neighbourhood, she obtained the consent of her
parents to invite Methodist preachers— -after giving
a full and clear account of their doctrines and mode
of preaching— to come iuto the neighbourhood and
preach at her father's house. The result was that
soon both parents, and also other members of the
family, and some of the neighbours, were converted
1810.1 FITNESS OF HIS CHOICE. 189
to God. Kegular preaching was established, and a
flourishing society raised up.
Mr. Hedding first became acquainted with this
young woman when he was travelling the Plattsburgh
Circuit, in 1801, That acquaintance had been re-
newed after her return to her father's in New-Hamp-
shire. Having become satisfied of her fitness to be
associated with him in the great work to which his
all was dedicated, and that she would be a help and
not a hrnderance, whatever toils and privations they
might be subjected to, he made proposals of mar-
riage, and was accepted. It is a sufficient vindication
of the wisdom of that choice, that through all the
vicissitudes of an itinerant's career, for more than forty
years, she was the constant companion of his toils, and
the sharer of his joys and sorrows. Forty-two years
and four months after their marriage we witnessed the
agony of her bursting heart, as she came down to the
brink of Jordan and saw the dark waters close over
her sainted husband forever. An aged pilgrim, sus-
tained and comforted by the undying faith that shed
such a glorious halo over his last hours, she lingers
yet a little while below, till her Master shall bid her
come up and join her. beloved in the better land.
Calmly and peacefully may the shades of evening
gather around her ; glorious may be the unfolding of
the morning of her immortahty.
After his marriage Mr. Hedding took up his resi-
dence in the town of "Winchester, New-Hampshire.
He bad now been tj-avelling, including the period
190 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINO. tlSlO.
when employed by the elder, ten years. They were,
as we have already seen, years of hard labour as weU
as effective service. They were, however, years of
privation, as well as of toil and suffering. A short
time before he died, referring to this period, he said
to the author : " During that time I was a single man,
and travelled, on an average, three thousand miles a
year, or thirty thousand in ten years ; and preached
nearly every day in the year. AU the pay I received
for these ten years was four hundred and fifty dollai-s,
or an average of forty-five dollars a year. One year
I received on my circuit, exclusive of travelling ex-
penses, three dollars and twenty-five cents ; this was
made up to twenty-one dollars at conference. My
pantaloons were often patched upon the knees, and
the sisters often showed their kindness by l/u/rni/ng cm
old coat for me.'" A man that could perfoi-m such
labours and endure such privations, through so long
a period, without murmuring and fainting, must have
been deeply conscious of the imperative call of God
that proclaimed woe to him if he preached not the
gospel ; and also deeply imbued with that divine love
that led his Lord and Master to toil and suffer before
him.
Let us pause for a moment in our narrative. A
phenomenon rises before us demanding solution. The
principles and motives of human action for the most
part lie upon the surface, and may be known. The
warrior, dyed with the blood of a hundred battles,
goes forth at the summons of glory, or at his country's
1810.] MOTIVES OF ACTION. 191
call. The stem Puritan forsakes the home of his
fathers, and turns the prow of his bark toward the
mighty sea ; but we can gauge the magnitude of his
mission : he goes to sow the seeds of liberty upon the
virgin soil of a new world; he goes to build cities,
to found nations, to people a continent, and to open up
a highway to aU the earth. The orator, in his divine
eloquence, rushes with the impetuosity of a torrent,
sweeping along with him the convictions and sym-
pathies of men ; but the ground of action no one can
mistake : the interests of his country or of humanity
are in peril, and he calls to the rescue. The man
devoted to science toils with unceasing effort, his
very frame shattered and shaken with the intensity
of his thought ; and we know that the love of science
or of fame impels him to action, even while it is con-
suming all that is physical and mortal in his nature.
The author delves into the deep, dark mines of thought:
it is for him to speak to coming ages ; his busy brain
is shaping thoughts that shall Hve forever ; preparing
utterances that shall " fall like fire upon the hearts of
men" in coming generations, and kindle in them new
life and energy,-— utterances that, by their sway over
the realms of thought and emotion, shall exercise a
vast and undying influence over the affairs of men,
and the destinies of the world.
But what shall we say of this forlorn hope, this
band of heroes, with a devotion more pure and cease-
less than that of the patriot, with an eloquence com-
bining the elements of moral greatness and power, and
N 9
192 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIKG. [1810.
with a hardiliood that shrinks from no labour, and is
intimidated by no danger, — ^toiling without prospect
or hope of earthly reward, — sacrificing ease, comfort,
home, health, and even life itself, — treading the waste
places and the wildernesses, and traversing islands,
continents, and oceans ? Who are they ? by whom
are they sent forth? and what is the object of their
toil? Let the Churches that have been planted all
over the land, the missionaries that have been sent out
to other lands; let the incessantly-increasing tide of in-
fluence that is rolling onward the kingdom of Christ to
its complete and final triumph ; and, above all, let the
miUions that have been brought to God, and are now
decked with light and glory around the eternal throne ;
let all these respond and tell who these wanderers are,
and for what they toil ! Are they charged with being
corrupt men and dissemblers? The purity of their
lives vindicates them. Are they charged with being
ignorant and blind fanatics? The results of their
ministry, and the noble monument erected by their
labours, are a fall refutation of the charge. Is it said
that they laboured only for selfish and mercenary ends?
Their unselfish lives, their self-denials, and in most
cases their poverty, attest that such were not their
aims.
EoU back the tide of time through the lapse of
eighteen centuries. I see a little band traversing the
idolatrous, barbarous regions of Asia Minor. Their
appearance marks them as of the land of Israel. They
journey from city to city ; they are inured to hard-
1810.] LABOUBS IH THE BETBOSPECT. 193
ships and dangers ; men despise and ridicule them ;
they are exposed to buffetting and stripes, imprison-
ments and death: but none of these things move
them, I go and ask them why they toil, and suffer,
and die. "With united voice they respond, "The
love of Christ constraineth us,"' — •" Neither count we
our Kves dear UBto ourselves, so that we might finish
our course with joy, and the ministry wliich we have
received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of
the grace of God." The same spirit that beamed
out in the life of the missionaries of the primeval
Church, though smothered for ages, burst forth
again in aU its primitive beauty and power in the
early apostles of Methodism. The workmen were
changed, but the work was one.
But, after aU, was it not the fire of youthfial enthu-
siasm, that would become rectified by age and ex-
perience? Shall we ask, then, how these labours,
privations, and sufferings were regarded, when the
time of labour was over, and life was hasting to its
close ? In the dismal cell of a Koman prison I see a
prisoner : the walls of his narrow room, like a waJl
of granite, are enclosed about him; his locks are
white, he is shaken with age ; he sits down to write •
with difficulty he traces his message upon the manu-
script before him. It is a final charge to his son in
the gospel. His own life has been spent in toil and
suffering, and now he is in poverty and imprisonment,
and soon to die like a common felon. Does he charge
hia son to seek exemption from toil and suffering?
194 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1810
Nay; he says, "Endure afflictions, do the work of
an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." As
he looks back upon the past, he says : " I am now
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is
at hand. I have fought a good fight ; I have finished
my course; I have kept the faith." Then, as he
glanced forward to the future, he added, — ^"Hence-
forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me
at that day."
And so our venerable Hedding — standing upon the
brink of the grave, and looking back over the lapse
of half a century — said : "I had laboured fifty years
and one month in the ministry before my constitution
gave way ; I suffered a great deal ; have been perse-
cuted ; the most abusive and slanderous stories have
been circulated against me ; men have come to my
meetings armed with clubs, intending to assault me ;
the Methodists were poor, the fare hard, and the
rides long and tedious: but if I had fifty Imes,
amd each afforded me am opportimity for fifty yea/ri
lahov/r, I would cheerfuU/y employ them, all in the
sam,6 Messed cause, amd, if need he, would suffer the
same prwations."
Such were the feelings and views with which he
entered upon the great work of his Hfe ; and such
were the feelings with which he looked back upon
that work fi-om the subhme altitude from which he
has so lately ascended to his God.
The New-England Conference, for the year 1810,
1810.] OONFBEENOE AT WINCHESTEE. 195
met at Winchester, the place which had lately become
Mr. Hedding's residence. The conference met iinder
circumstances somewhat peculiar. In the village of
Winchester — or indeed near enough to it to entertain
the preachers — ^there was hut one Methodist family.
At the preceding session of the conference, the head
of this family presented himself before that body, and
invited them to hold their next session in Winchester.
When the brethren inquired how the conference would
be entertained in a village where there was but one
Methodist family, he requested that the conference
would give themselves no concern as to that matter,
but accept his invitation. His pledge was nobly re-
deemed. His own ample house was first filled to
repletion, and abundant hospitality shown to all his
guests. Then a number were quartered among his
relations and friends in the village. Those that re-
mained were provided with excellent board at his
expense. The conference had never been more mu-
nificently entertained than at this session.
Bishops Asbury and M'Kendree were both pres-
ent, and alternately presided over the sessions of the
conference ; and both took part in the public exer-
cises of the occasion. The aggregate membership
returned this year was eleven thousand two hundred
and twenty, being an increase upon last year of one
thousand one hundred and twenty-four. The ranks
of the ministry were weakened by five locations, and
recruited by fifteen admissions upon trial.
Mr. Hedding was returned to the district, the
196 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIKG. [1810.
organization of which for the year was as follows : —
New-London Disteict, JElyah Hedding, P. E. ; Tol-
land, Joel Steel, Samuel Cutler; Ashbumham,
PMUp Mimger, Stephen Wingate ; Needham, Isaac
Bonney, Robert Arnold ; Providence and Smithfield,
Pliny Brett, Elisha Streeter ; East Greenwich, Ben-
jamvm P. Hill ; Pomfret, TheopTiilus Srmth; New-
London, Joel Winch, E. Marble, A. Stebbins. Here
we find seven elders besides Mr. Hedding on the
district, and a much greater weight of experience if
not of talent than on the former year.
To obtain a location more central to the district
than Winchester, Mr. Hedding removed to Ludlow
in Massachusetts. An incident connected with his
removal to this place will show to what extent opposi-
tion to Methodism was earned in those early days, and
what means were resorted to in order to throw reproach
upon her ministers when opportunity offered. There
was at this time a law in force in that state, provid-
ing that when a stranger moved into a place, if the
authorities of the town warned him to leave it, and
he did not, and afterward became a pauper, the
town was not obliged to support him, but the expense
of his support fell upon the state. When Mr. Hed-
ding moved to Ludlow, some of the people were
bitterly opposed to the residence of a Methodist
preacher even in the town, and threatened, if he did
not remove, to have him warned out. They seemed
wonderfully excited with apprehension lest "the
vagrant Methodist preacher," as they affected to call
1810.] TOWN OF LTJDLOW. 197
him, should hecome a pauper, and the town be com-
pelled to support him. It should be borne in mind
that this was not the voice of ih& people, but a few
elect ones of " the standing order." But upon second
thought, and a little more knowledge of the manner
in which such a thing would be likely to be received
by the public generally, his enemies abandoned theu*
plan of operations, and were glad to hush the whole
matter.
There was another law of the state which requi/red
each town to employ a minister and have preaching a
certain portion of each year. When Mr. Hedding
moved to Ludlow, the town was without any settled
minister. About this time the town, in order to
avoid the fine, appropriated a certain amount of
money, and appointed a committee to supply the
pulpit the requisite number of Sabbaths. The com-
mittee immediately invited Mr. Hedding to preach
for them. Having but seven circuits on his district,
he found it possible so to arrange his appointments as
to accommodate them. He therefore made arrange-
ments to supply the Congregational Church five Sab-
baths in each quarter. The people not only soon be-
came satisfied with the arrangement, but were greatly
pleased with it : only one family in the whole town
retained their opposition to it. The congregations
were very large, and deeply interested in his minis-
trations ; and it is believed that great good resulted
from the incidental and somewhat anomalous rela-
tion. We opine that there are not many instances
198 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1810
when the same individual, at the same time, has
held the office of presiding elder in the Methodist
Episcopal Church, and been settled pastor over a
Congregational society. This extra labour was of
material advantage to the finances of Mr. Hedding,
as the district afforded him but a meager support.
How well his services were received in the town,
their subsequent action will show. For the next
year a town-meeting was called, and the town passed
a resolution requesting him to locate as a Methodist
minister, and to become settled as their pastor. They
voted him an ample support, and appointed a com-
mittee to wait upon him, and make known their
request at the ensuing conference. He had, however,
become so thoroughly wedded to the itinerant min-
istry, and was so strongly convinced that, under
God, it was to be the great instrument of spreading
Scripture holiness over all these lands, that he could
not for one moment entertain the idea of rehnquishing
his connexion with it. What, to him, were ease,
worldly comfort, or worldly position compared with
the accomplishment of the great mission which he
had received to testify of the grace of God ?
It may be that subsequently, when driving round
his extensive districts, facing the chilhng blasts and
pelting storms of winter, or wading through drifts of
snow to make a path for his horse, the flesh some-
times repined with more intenseness at the recollec-
tion of his rejection of so easy and so iaviting a post.
Perhaps these recollections woidd now and then
1810.] EEFEESHING MEDITATIONS. 199
give additional point to those " rich and refreshing
meditations " the Eev. Mr. Newhall speaks of having
when placed under similar circumstances. The pro-
cess of getting through an immense snow-drift he
thus describes: "I dismounted, and made my way
through ahead of my horse, as far as I could without
letting go of the hridle-rein ; and then he would leap
and wallow up to me, and wait till I had again made
him a track. The storm was so severe that I found
it difficult, at times, to catch my breath, and our path
was filled as fast as we left it." In this way he was
working more than two hom-s to get through a single
drift — determined not to lose a single appointment
except from the sternest necessity. While in this
condition, he carried on the following dialogue with
himself: — " Q. Who is that up to his arms in snow?
A. A Methodist preacher. Q. Who is that in his
snug study by a warm fire? A. The honourable
settled minister. Q. What is the Methodist preacher
doing? A. Making his way to his appointment,
where he hopes to call sinners to repentance.
Q. What is the settled minister doing? A. Hunting
his library over, selecting portions, and adding, per-
haps, some of his own thoughts, and writing out a
sermon to read to the people the next Sabbath.
Q. Which of them looks most like a lazy man ; and
which gets the most money, the most reproaches, or
follows the example of Christ and the apostles near-
est, in travelling, suffering, preaching, self-denials,
watchings, fastings, and winning souls to Christ?
9*
200 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1810.
Here," continues lie, " my mind looked back, and saw
Jesus, weary, sitting on Jacob's well ; Paul tossing on
%he rolling waves and shipwrecked at Miletus ; and
John on the desolate Isle of Patmos; and my fiill
soul cried out, in the midst of the tempest, O Lord, per-
mit me to wear out in thy service." To these feelings
and these reasonings the heart of Mr. Hedding was
no stranger; but never for one moment was he
swerved jfrom a fall purpose to pursue to the end the
path of duty that had been opened to him by the
providence of God.
Toward the close of this year the energy and per-
severance of Mr. Hedding were put to a rather severe
test. His horse became disabled while passing rqund
his district; and he was obliged to travel on foot a
day or two before he could get another. The fatigue
of travelling, together with a severe cold he had
taken, brought on him another severe attack of the
rheumatism. He was unable, without help, to mount
or dismount from his horse, when he had procured
one. He then obtained a chaise, but could neither
get in nor out without aid ; he could neither dress nor
undress himself; nor could he stand to preach or
kneel to pray, but would pray and preach sitting in
his chair. In this crippled condition, and amid in-
tense suffering, he rode all round his district, requir-
ing a travel of over five hundred miles, and attended
all his quarterly meetings, not omitting a single one
of the duties he had been accustomed to perform.
While in this condition, he was one day riding
1810.] AN INCIDENT OF TRAVEL. 201
along a narrow road dug in the side of a hill. At a
point where it was impossible for two wagons to pass
in the road, he met a heavily-loaded team. Mr. Hed-
ding told the man he was lame and unable to get out
of his carriage, and requested him to help him out,
and then to move his chaise to one side till he had
passed. The Connecticut Yankee replied: "Sit still,
8ir, I can lift you and your chaise both out of the
road ;" and, suiting the action to the word, he placed
his back under the axletree of the chaise, and actually
lifted it up the hill-side so far that his own team passed
without difficulty. Then he returned, and by the
same means restored the chaise to its position in the
middle of the road. Mr. Hedding acknowledged the
favour and drove on, filled with wonder at the Her-
culean strength and the astonishing sleight which
had enabled the man to perform with apparent ease
what would have been deemed an utter impossi-
bility.
Another incident connected with his affliction and
final cure is worthy of record. Having broken his
chaise in riding over the rough roads, he had been
compelled to resume his travels on horseback. In
one day he rode from Thompson, in Connecticut, to
"Warwick, Ehode Island. The next morning he had
to call for help to enable him to get out of bed and to
dress. At the hour of service he was enabled, by the
help of crutches, to cross the street to a school-house,
where he preached in a sitting posture; and afterward
with great difficulty got back to his lodgings. At
202 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIlirG. L1811.
night, lie said to his host he -would never go to bed
again until he was better or worse ; and requested
him to make a fire of large wood in the kitchen — one
that would burn all night. This having been done,
he lay down before it on the floor, with his clothes
on ; as near to the fire as he could get without burn-
ing. So completely exhausted was he with loss of
sleep, and the bodily distress he had suffered, that he
soon fell into a profound slumber, from which he did
not awake till broad daylight. He then found that he
had been in a great perspiration all night, and that his
clothes were wet completely through and through.
He arose, to his astonishment, without difficulty ; and
found that he could walk with ease and without pain.
This was to him marvellous; but so completely was
his cure effected by that sweat, administered in -such
a primitive mode, that he walked a mile to church,
held a love-feast, preached twice, administered the
sacrament, and then walked back without any incon-
venience. He was troubled no more with the
rheumatism that season.
Mr. Hedding was now drawing toward the close of
the first ten years of his itinerant career, as a member
of the conference. Just before their close, he made
record of the following summary of his labours and
trials : " I have averaged over three thousand miles'
travel a year, and preached on an average a sermon
a day since I commenced the itinerant life. During
that period I have travelled circuits and districts that
joined each other, through a tract of country begin-
1811.] LABOTJEB AND TRIALS. 203
ning near Troy, JSTew-York, and going north into
Canada; thence east, through Yermont and New-
Hampshire; and thence southerly, through Massa-
chusetts, Ehode Island, and Connecticut, to Long
Island Sound. I have never in this time owned a
travelling vehicle, but have ridden on horseback, ex-
cept occasionally in winter, when I have boiTowed a
sleigh, and also a few instances in which I have trav-
elled by public conveyance or a borrowed carriage.
I have both laboured hard and fared hard. Much of
the time I have done missionary work without mis-
sionary money. Until recently I have had no dweU-
ing-place or home ; but, as a wayfaring man, lodged
from night to night where hospitality and friendship
opened the way. In most of these regions the Meth-
odists were few, and comparatively poor ; I was often
obliged to depend upon poor people for food, and
lodging, and horse-keeping; and though in general
they provided for me cheerfully and willingly, yet I
often felt that I was taking what they needed for
their children, and that my horse was eating what
they needed for their own beasts. I often suffered
great trials of mind on this account ; and have trav-
elled many a day in summer and winter without
dinner, because I had not a quarter of a dollar that I
could spare to buy it.
"Through most all this region there existed
strong prejudices against the Methodists, which
greatly hindered their influence and usefulness.
The principal objection was on account of their
204 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1811.
doctrines. They were regarded by many as- here-
tics in theology. They were also despised and ridi-
culed on account of their poverty. The Methodist
preachers were often represented as exceedingly
ignorant and incompetent men. The itinerant sys-
tem was also another ground of objection. The cir-
cuit preacher, coming as a stranger to a new people,
would often find himself beset with the most scandal-
ous reports of crimes and shameftd acts, which it was
alleged he had been guilty of on former circuits;
and thus the enemies of Methodism would seek to
undermine his influence and destroy his usefulness.
Such are some of the difficulties the Methodist
preachers have been compelled to encounter, especi-
all/in New-England, during the past ten years. But
notwithstanding all, God has been with them, and
given them favour in the eyes of the people, and great
success in building up his Church. Revivals have
spread through all the country ; and multitudes have
been added to the little and despised flock: nay,
many who were once the greatest enemies of Meth-
odism, and especially of Methodist preachers, have
been converted, and are now become their greatest
and truest friends."
During this year there were several revivals on
the district. A camp-meeting was also held at Ellis-
ton, Connecticut. It was numerously attended ; and,
though not signalized for such wonderful displays of
the power of God as that on the preceding year, the
Church was greatly blessed, and many sinners were
1811.] CLOSE OF THE TEAE. 205
converted. The returns for the New-England Con-
ference this year were eleven thousand eight hundred
and sixty-eight, showing an increase of six hundred
and forty-eight. The total membership of the Church
in the United States and Canada, this year, amounted
to one hundred and eighty-four thousand five hundred
and sixty-seven, aad the increase to ten thousand and
seven. Thus had God been carrying on his work, by
such instruments, and in spite of such obstacles as we
have described, all over the country. The glad news
of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ had been pro-
claimed not only through all New-England, but in the
furthest south, and all along our frontiers among the
teeming population of the far "West.
206 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1811.
CHAPTEE Vn.
LABOIffiS IN BOSTON, NANTUCKET, AND LTNN STATIONS.
New-England Conference for 1811 — Mr. Hedding a Delegate to the
General Conference — Appointed to Boston — ^Labours — The Embargo —
Pecuniary Embarrassments of the People — Spiritual Prosperity — Con-
version of E. T. Taylor— Mr. Bedding's Colleague, Rev. E. E. Sabin—
The First Delegated General Conference — The Presiding Elder Question
—The Question in the General Conference of 1808— In 1812— Its Sub-
sequent History — The Question in 1816 — ^Dr. Bangs's Account of the
Discussion — The Question in 1820 — The Compromise — Protest of Rev.
Joshua Soule, Bishop Elect — ^Protest of Bishop M'Kendree — Attempt to
reconsider fails — ^The Rule suspended — ^Finally rescinded — ^Mr. Bed-
ding's Views — Change of his Opinion — Final Record of his Opinions on
the Subject — The Question of Reserve Delegates — Surviving Members
of this Conference — Session of the New-England Conference — ^War
declared — Apprehended Evils — Mr. Bedding appointed to Nantucket —
Origin of the Society here — ^Rev. George Cannon — ^Evil Results of Locat-
ing— ^Mr. Bedding's Reception on the Island — ^Excitement among the
Islanders — Losses by the War — Condition of the People — State for the
Church — Pastoral Labours — A Bappy Convert — The Conference for 1813
— State of the Work — ^Death of one of Mr. Bedding's Early Associates^
Thomas Branch — Character and Labours — ^Departs for the West — ^Death
— ^Mr. Hedding discovers his Grave in 1826 — Bis Letter — Stationed at
Lynn Common — ^Removal — ^Privations and SuflFerings of the People —
His Sympathy and Labours for them — His Colleague — ^Results of the
Year — Returned to Lynn in 1814 — ^Labours of the Year — ^Detained from
Conference by a Revival.
The ITew-England Conference for 1811 held its
session at Barnard, Vt., ia the month of June.
Bishop M'Kendxee was present and presided. The
only thing of special interest that occurred at this
session was the election of delegates to the General
Conference which was to be held the next year, but
before another session of this annual conference.
1811.] LABOITBS IN BOSTON. 207
Two of the delegates — George Pickering and Elijah
Hedding — received every vote cast, except one. On
the announcement of this result, Bishop M'Kendree
pleasantly remarked that it was well those brethren
did not have all the votes, for then it would be
known they had voted for themselves.
At this conference, Mr. Hedding was appointed
to Boston. This place and Marblehead stand con-
nected in the Minutes; but the arrangement was
that Messrs. Hedding and Sabin should labour in
Boston, while the third preacher fiUed the appoint-
ments and took the pastoral charge of the society in
Marblehead.
This was a year of unusually hard service for Mr.
Hedding. Eev. E. R. Sabin was so disabled by his
broken health, that he could do but little beyond
preaching on the Sabbath. The two congregations
were connected in one pastoral charge; and, conse-
quently, the whole care and labour of Church busi-
ness, of attendance upon the sick and upon funerals,
as well as general pastoral visitation for both congre-
gations, fell upon Mr. Hedding. He had to preach
three times on each Sabbath, and to dehver two
week-evening lectures — one in each church — weekly.
But he was not a man to stand appalled before
labours and difficulties ; nor was he a man that could
leave any portion of his work undone so long as its
accomplishment came within the range of possi-
bility. The amount of labour he performed this
year, in the various departments of his work, was
O
208 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1811.
perhaps unsurpassed by that of any other year of his
ministry.
Another thing that added to his laboiu", and was
an additional obstacle to his success, was the political
and monetary state of the country. The passage of
"the embargo" and "non-intercourse" acts had
produced a general stagnation of business. These
effects fell upon no place with greater severity than
upon Boston. A large portion of its capital was
employed in commercial enterprise ; and now it be-
came not only non-productive, but in many instances
was subjected to fearful diminution. The whole
community felt the shock. The labourer could find
no employment; provisions of almost every kind were
enormously high. The ^poor suffered greatly ; and
Mr. Hedding's sympathies were often put to severe
trial by witnessing the sufferings of many families of
his own flock. In addition to all his other labours,
he found it necessary to devote no inconsiderable por-
tion of his time in efforts to relieve the needy and
suffering. He says : "I often found able-bodied men
ready and desirous to work, but unable to get work,
while they and their families were destitute of food,
and suffering in the winter from want of fuel. In ad-
dition to the small collections the Church could make
for their relief, I often had to go to those who had
the means, and personally beg bread and fuel for the
relief of pious people who were suffering," In this
state of pecuniary embarrassment, the preachers, of
course, suffered along with the people. Their sup-
1811.] C0NVEE8I0N OF E. T. TATLOE. 209
port was very limited; scarcely equal to the stem
necessities of life.
But crushed and afflicted in temporal matters as
they were, the Church and the ministers were never-
theless alive to their great work. They laboured like
men of God for the salvation of souls, and not with-
out effect. They yfere blessed with quite a revival,
and there were many powerful and clear conversions.
Mr. Hedding remarks that " some of those converted
this year have lived and died in the faith and gone
home to heaven ; others are still in the way, holding
fast their profession."
It was during this year that a young sailor, dressed
in sailor garb, with his glazed hat under his arm,
ventured into the old Bromfield-street Church. He
took his position in the gallery near the stairs, and
attentively listened to a discourse from Mr. Hedding.
The truth, which was presented with great clearness,
power, and pathos, made a deep impression upon his
mind. He remained to the prayer meeting. Sev-
eral surrounded the altar for prayer. The power of
God was there. His people rejoiced in his presence ;
mourners at the altar were comforted ; and sinners
in the congregation were constrained to acknowledge
his mighty hand. Soon the young sailor was seen to
rise and make a movement for the altar. Through
the crowd he pressed his wayj fell upon his knees at
the altar, and cried aloud for mercy. The preacher
pointed him to Christ — the Saviour of the sailor as
well as the landsman ; the Church joined in prayer
210 LIFE AHD TIMES OF HEDDING. [1811.
to God for his salvation. It was evident that it was
no half-hearted matter on the part of the young man.
He struggled for light and salvation. The kingdom
of heaven suffered violence, and the violent took it
by force. That very night, and before he left the
altar, he was redeemed from sia. He then also
gave himself to the Church as well as to God. A
few years later this young sailor was licensed to
preach ; and now, for many years, has had a world-
wide reputation as E. T. Taylor, the sailor preacher
at the Mariners' Church in Boston.
In his colleague Mr. Hedding found a congenial
spirit ; and though greatly disabled by disease, he re-
joiced in having him as his colleague. Here is his
record concerning him :— "My colleague. Rev. Elijah
K. Sabin, was a first-rate, excellent man, both as to
piety and talents, and we laboured together with the
greatest harmony and love. During this year he
was elected to serve as chaplain to the legislature.
I knew him well. Our acquaintance commenced in
Vermont, when we were both young in the minis-
try. He experienced religion among the Baptists,
and commenced as a Baptist preacher, and served
in that capacity for a few months. About that time
the Methodists came into the part of Vermont where
he lived. He heard some of their preachers, and
became convinced of the truth of their doctrines, and
joined them. Soon after, he went out as an itinerant
preacher, and was ever beloved as a pious, talented,
and useful preacher among us. His health failing
1812.] FIK8T DELEGATED GEN. OONFEEENOE. 211
him, SO that he was unable to do the duties of a trav-
elling preacher, he took a location at the end of the
year after we were stationed together in Boston.
He then removed to the State of Maine, were he
served a few years as a local preacher ; he then went
to the south to recover his health, but he died at
Augusta, Georgia, leaving a good testimony that he
had gone to receive a glorious reward."
The first delegated General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church was held in New- York
city, commencing May 1st, 1812. To this conference
Mr. Hedding had been elected by the suffrages of his
brethren of the ITew-England Conference. Owing
to its being the first delegated General Conference,
it was regarded with unusual interest by the whole
Church. The conferences were represented as follows,
namely: ISTew-Tork, thirteen; New-England, nine;
Genesee, six; Western, thirteen; South Carolina, nine;
Virginia, eleven; Baltimore, fifteen; and Philadel-
phia, fourteen : total, ninety. Several new measures
were proposed for the action of this conference; but
none created greater excitement, or occupied more
attention of the conference, than an effort to make
presiding elders elective by the conferences. A mo-
tion to this effect had been first introduced into the
General Conference of 1808, and was thoroughly dis-
cussed by the ablest men in that body; but it was de-
cided in the negative, by a vote of fifty-two in favour
to seventy-three against it. The measure was thus
defeated by the decisive majority of twenty-one. At
212 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1812.
this session of the General Conference, the subject
■was again introduced by a motion from one of the
New-York delegates. As before, it elicited a great
deal of discussion. Able and eloquent speeches were
made both for and against it. The measure was again
lost, though by a decreased majority, — ^forty-two vot-
ing in its favour, and forty-five against it ; making
a majority of only three. It appears that the dele-
gates from the Philadelphia, New-York, and Genesee
Conferences were unanimous in its favour. The
New-England Conference delegates, we believe, were
mostly in favour of it; but the southern delegates
were generally united in opposition to the measure.
As this is a measure with which Mr. Hedding has
been somewhat associated, it wiU be proper at this
point to present the different stages through which it
passed, till it received its quietus at the General Con-
ference of 1828. In 1816 the subject again came
before that body. The following is the resolution
upon which the vote of the conference was finally
taken : " The bishop, at an early period of the annual
conference, shall nominate an elder for each district ;
and the conference shall, without debate, either con-
firm or reject such nomination. If the person or per-
sons so nominated be not elected by the conference,
the bishop shall nominate two others for such vacant
district, one of whom shall be chosen; and the pre-
siding elder so elected and appointed shall remain in
office four years, unless dismissed by the mutual con-
sent of the bishop and the conference : but no pre-
1812,] THE PEESIDING-ELDEE QUESTION. 213
siding elder shall be removed from office during the
term of four years, unless the reasons for such removal
be stated to him in presence of the conference, which
shall decide without debate in his case." In another
paragraph it was provided that the presiding elders,
thus selected, should form a council to assist the bishop
in stationing the preachers.
Dr. Bangs, to whom we are mainly indebted for
this account, says :* " Perhaps a greater amount of
talent was never brought to bear on any question
ever brought before the General Conference, than
was elicited from both sides of the house in the dis-
cussion of this resolution. Some of the speeches were
deep, pungent, and highly argumentative, the speak-
ers throwing their whole souls into the subject, and
winding themselves up to the highest pitch of impas-
sioned eloquence, often concluding with a tremendous
appeal to the understandings and consciences of their
antagonists ; both sides invoking the future prosperity
of the Church as an auxiliary to their arguments."
The measure was finally lost, by a vote of thirty- >
eight in its favour to sixty-three against it. This was
the heaviest majority — twenty-five—as yet obtained
against it ; and the question was thus settled for the
next four years.
It should, however, be remarked to the honour of
the majority of that body, that though decided in
their opinion they were not proscriptive ; for when
they came to the election of bishops, one of the two
•* History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, vol. ii, p. 330, dto.
214 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINO. [1812.
elected was well known to be in favour of the pro-
posed change in the mode of selecting the presiding
elders.
At the General Conference of 1820 the measure
was again brought forward, and again defeated.
The state of the vote in this case we have not the
means of determining; but the rejection of the
measure excited so much feeling that a committee
of six — ^three in favour and three against it — ^was
appointed to confer with the bishops, and to report
" whether any, and if any, what alterations might be
made to conciliate the wishes of the brethren upon
the subject." The committee were Ezekiel Cooper,
Stephen G. Roszel, l*fathan Bangs, Joshua Wells,
John Emory, and William Capers. The bishops
were William M'Kendree, Enoch George, and Robert
R. Roberts. Bishop M'Kendree's health was such
that he was unable to participate in the deliberations
of the committee. After conference with each other,
and with the two effective bishops, the committee,
with the concurrence of the two bishops, unanimously
recommended to the conference the adoption of the
following provisions, to be inserted in their proper
place in the Discipline : " 1. That whenever in any
annual conference there shall be a vacancy or vacan-
cies in the office of presiding elder, in consequence of
his period of four years having e:^ired, or the bishop
wishing to remove any presiding elder, or by death,
resignation, or otherwise, the bishop or president of
the conference, having ascertained the number wanted
1812.] THE PEESIDING-ELDEE QITE8TI0N. 215
from any of tlieae causes, shall nominate tliree times
the number, out of which the conference shall elect
by ballot, without debate, the number wanted ; — ^pro-
vided, when there is more than one wanted, not more
than three at a time shall be nominated, nor more
than one at a time be elected. Provided, also, that
in case of any vacancy or vacancies in the office of
presiding elder, in the interval of any annual con-
ference, the bishop shall have authority to fill the
said vacancy or vacancies, until the ensuing annual
conference. 2. That the presiding elders be and
hereby are made the advisory council of the bishop
or president of the conference ia stationing the
preachers."
This report was submitted to the General Conference
on the 20th of May ; and after some little conversation
was very hastily passed by that body. It obtained the
decisive vote of sixty-one in its favour to twenty-five
in the negative, giving a clear majority of thirty-six.
It was now supposed that this question, which had
80 long agitated the Church, was finally settled ; and
many, both friends and opponents, congratulated
themselves that they had now attained some common
ground upon which they could rest. These congratula-
tions, however, proved rather premature. The Eev.
Joshua Soule, who had been elected to the episcopal
office on the 13th, declined consecration in consequence
of this action; statiag to the conference his deep
conviction that these provisions were unconstitutional,
and as a bishop he could not, consistently with his
10
216 LIFE AND TIMES OE HEDDING. [1812.
views, be controlled by them. To add to the per-
plexity of the conference, and to unsettle the minds
of the members. Bishop M'Kendree, three days after
the passage of the resolutions, came to the conference
room, and, " after assigning sundry reasons, entered
his objections against them as unconstitutional, and,
as he apprehended, subversive of the grand system
of an efficient and general superintendency and
itiaerancy." The conference had perhaps been but
little affected by the opposition of the Eev. Joshua
Soule, bishop elect, as they accepted his resignation,
which he tendered in consequence of the passage of
the resolutions; but when Bishop M'Kendree — so
justly respected in consequence of his long and
laborious services, his age and experience — entered
his solemn protest, it was brought to a dead stand.
The more experienced thought it wise to pause and
reconsider the subject. Many who had originally
favoured the measure, or been subsequently led to
countenance it, were now in serious suspense in re-
spect to its expediency. All were interested in the
stability and prosperity of the Church ; and the sin-
gular and anomalous state of things produced a pro-
found sensation. The conference, however, was not
prepared to retrace its steps, and the effort to recon-
sider the obnoxious resolutions failed. Finally, it was
proposed to suspend the operation of these rules for
four years, and that in the mean time the government
of the Church should be admiaistered as heretofore.
At the subsequent General Conference in 1824:, if the
1812.] ME. HEDDING'S VIEWS. 21T
opponents of the measure were not strong enough to
secure the repeal of these resolutions, they succeeded
in having the suspension of them continued another
four years. At the end of this time they were
rescinded, with but feeble opposition ; and up to the
present time the subject has rarely been agitated in
the Church. ►
From the commencement of the agitation of this
subject, Mr. Hedding had been in fevour of making
the presiding elder's office elective by the conference.
He was among the advocates of the measure at the
General Conference of 1812 ; and continued to sustain
it, both by his arguments and his votes, tiU the meas-
ure was carried in 1820. But later in life he saw, as he
believed, good reason to change his opinions upon the
subject; and became satisfied that the perpetuity of
our itinerancy and the harmony of its workings, re-
quired that the preachers should be appointed to the
presiding eldership by the same authority that fixed
their appointments in the circuits and stations. Nor
was he alone in the change of opinion. Other advo-
cates of that measure, as they advanced in years and
acquired a wider experience, discovered reason in the
workings of our economy to change their ground. It
is perhaps owing to this quiet change of opinion in the
old advocates of the measure — ^a change brought about,
not by discussion, but by experience and observation
with regard to the workings of our economy — ^that
the subject has slumbered so quietly for over thirty
years.
218 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1812.
A short time before his death Bishop Hedding put
his views upon this subject on record; and though it
is not strictly in the chronological order of our nar-
rative, it will best preserve the harmony of the subject
to give them in this connexion. That record was made
in view of his final departure from the Church, and
but a few months before that event took place. It
may, therefore, be regarded as his dying testimony
upon this point. They are the ripe convictions of a
long life of varied experience : the circumstances un^er
which the record was made preclude the idea that
any other purpose than the good of the Church and
the glory of God could have prompted it. He says : —
" There is one point in our economy upon which I
think it expedient here to record my opinion.
"The time was, when, with many others, I faUy
believed that the election of presiding elders by the
annual conferences, and making those presiding elders
an efficient council with the bishops to fix the appoint-
ments of the preachers, would be an improvement on
our system, and a benefit to the itinerant work ; but
observation and experience have taught me that I
was under a mistake.
"The majority of annual conferences, generally,
have not sufficient age and experience to judge of the
qualifications necessary for the office of presiding
elder ; and to submit the appointment of that office,
so frequently as such appointments must be made,
to an election in an annual conference, would be in-
troducing and perpetuating a spirit of electioneering,
1812.] ME. HEDDINO'B VIEWS. 219
and of party strifes, whicli -would be injurious to the
best interests of the cause of Christ. I have known
instances, when men were proposed for presiding
elders, when I was urged by many members of the
conference to appoint them, when I knew that majori-
ties of the conferences would have elected them, had
they power to do ii; when I knew the men better than
the conferences knew them ; when I knew, as well as
I could know a thing of that sort, if they were ap-
pointed presiding elders, they would employ the influ-
ence of that office, not for the benefit, but for the
injury of the Church ; for they were not the friends of
the Church, but the leaders of parties. In those in-
stances, myjudgment and my conscience forbade my
appointing them. I suffered reproach and persecu-
tion for so doing ; but I am thankftd to the Head of
the Church that he afforded me an influence that led
me to do as I did.
" I have known enough of the bad effects of elec-
tioneering, in selecting delegates for the General
Conference, to impress deeply on my mind the con-
viction that that mode of appointing presiding elders
would not be a benefit, but an injury to the Church.
In the election of delegates for the General Conference,
I have known the young men combined to prevent
the men of age and experience from being elected,
and elect young men, some of whom understood nei-
ther the doctrine nor discipline of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church ; and yet these were the men to appear
at General Conference and make rules and regulations
220 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1812.
for the Methodist Episcopal Church, to hear and try
appeals, and even to judge the bishops. Such men
would sometimes be appointed presiding elders, if the
conferences had power to elect them.
" Further, as strong reasons can be offered for the
people to hare the right of electing their preachers
and their class-leaders, as can be offered for the elec-
tion of presiding elders ; and let the electing business
go to this extent, and what becomes of the itmercmoy,
and of the moral discipline of the Church ? WiU it
be said the presiding elder has so much power over
the preachers of his district that they ought to have a
voice in electing him ? The same would be said by
the people respecting the power of the preacher over
them; for notwithstanding all the talk that has been
made respecting the power of various officers in our
Church, the greatest power that exists among these
officers is in him who acts in the capacity of preacher
in charge."
Another question arose at the opening of the session
of the General Conference which elicited much debate,
and which Mr. Hedding advocated as a wise pruden-
tial arrangement. The New-England Conference had
appointed reserve delegates, in case those primarily
appointed should be prevented jfrom attending. One
of this latter class was unable to be present, and the
reserve came in his place. As no other conference had
appointed reserves, it was long discussed whether the
one from New-England should be allowed a seat. It
was finally settled to admit him, and it was afterward
1812.1 OONFEEBNOE AT LTNN. 221
established as a rule; and the several conferences
since that time have appointed reserves in the place
of others unable to attend.
Of the members of this conference few survive.
There are some, however, whose names are like house-
hold words in the Church. Such men are Nathan
Bangs, Aaron Hunt, and Laban Clark, who then rep-
resented the New- York Conference; Joshua Soule,
Asa Kent, and Daniel "Webb, then of the New-
England Conference; David Young, then of the
"Western Conference ; Lovick Pierce, then of the
South Carolina Conference; and John Early, then
of the Virginia Conference.
Immediately on the close of the General Conference,
Mr. Hedding, with his co-delegates, hastened home to
attend the session of the New-England Conference,
which commeiiced on the 20th of June, at Lynn. It was
characterized, as were most of the conferences of that
day, by peaceful concord and strong brotherly love.
The portentous cloud that had been lowering in the
political horizon had awakened deep solicitude, and
many were the prayers offered that God would avert
the threatened storm. This, however, could not avert
the evil. "War against Great Britain had actually been
declared on the 18th ; and news of it reached Lynn
not long after the assembling of the conference. This
caused great excitement among both preachers and
people. Many of them regarded war as utterly and
irreconcilably opposed to the gospel of peace ; and
others were in danger of drinking in the spirit of
222 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1812.
the times to a degree that would seriously peril their
Christian character. It was apprehended that parti-
san feelings would be aroused ; that still more severe
temporal embarrassments would be experienced; and
above all, that in connexion with the " war spirit," a
reckless, licentious feeling, and a depravation of public
morals, would be engendered ; and that thus the great
political events of the day would work serious injury
to the cause of religion, and peril the souls of many
men. The state of public affairs thus became a sub-
ject of profound and absorbing interest in the con-
ference. In all these feelings Mr. Hedding partici-
pated in an unusual degree. The sufferings he had
witnessed and tried to alleviate, in Boston, during the
preceding year, he regarded as premonitory of greater
evils now certain to ensue.
Mr. Hedding was appointed < at the close of the
conference to Nantucket. So far as we can gather
ftx)m the scanty documents within our reach, the
society in this place was organized by the Rev. George
Cannon, about the year 1Y97 or 1798. Mr. Cannon
entered the travelling ministry in 1790, and after
travelling four years in the south, came to reinforce
the work in I^Tew-England. He was here successively
stationed at Orange, Provincetown, and Marblehead,
and located at the conference of 1797. Something
of Mr. Cannon's mettle may be gathered from his
ministry in Provincetown. Soon after his arrival
there as the stationed preacher he took measures
for the erection of a church. The lumber for that
1812.1 LABOtfES IN NANTUCKET. 223
purpose was collected, when the " town-meeting"
formally voted against the erection of a Methodist
church in the town, and thus so obviously invited the
wickedness, that the rabhle took the hint, and not
only destroyed the lumber, but consumed along with
it a tarred and feathered effigy of the minister. The
energy of the pastor of the society, however, was
equal to the emergency. New material was speedily
procured; the new temple was pushed forward to its
completion ; and in about four months they entered it
with songs of praise and thanksgiving. After Mr.
Cannon's location he removed to !N"antucket, where as a
local preacher he preached with considerable success,
and succeeded in introducing Methodism. The pros-
pect appearing flattering, he applied to the conference
for a preacher ; and, in 1800, the Rev. "William Beau-
champ was sent to his aid. Mr. Beauchamp was thus
the first stationed preacher in Nantucket. He had
not been in the station more than six months when a
society of between seventy and eighty members was
raised rip ; and before he left it a large and com-
modious church was erected.* From that time for-
ward the society enjoyed the services of a regularly
stationed preacher ; and among the predecessors of
Mr. Hedding were Messrs. Wm. Beauchamp, Joshua
"Wells, Joshua Soule, Truman Bishop, Joshua Crowell,
and others of the leading men of the conference.
Having noticed the introduction and prosperity of
Methodism in Nantucket, it wiR be well for us to
" See Methodist Magazine for 1826.
P 10*
224 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIlirG. [1812.
recur again to the agent of its introduction, Mr. Can-
non, for the purpose of admonition and warning, as
well as for the sake of historical truth. The author
of the Memorials of Methodism says of him, that "the
abandonment of the ministry produced, in his case,
the usual results of such deviations from duty: he
became absorbed in secular cares, fell into doctrinal
errors, and retired from the Church. Frequently, in his
hoary age, might this once useful man have been seen
trembling under the discourse of his old fellow-labour-
ers, in the midst of the Church which he himself had
formed. He clung, however, to his errors — a species
of Universalism — and was suddenly summoned to his
final account; falling backward, 'his neck broke, and
he died.'" What a sad warning to those who are
tempted by worldly considerations to desist from the
work to which God has called them !
Immediately on the close of the conference, Mr.
Hedding shipped his goods, and took passage on
board of a sloop for Nantucket, hastening his departure
in order to escape the British privateers which it was
expected would soon be scouring along the coast.
Though isolated from the mainland, and from ready
communication, Nantucket was one of the "green
spots" in the conference. " "We had scarcely reached
the island," says Mr. Hedding, " before we were re-
ceived and greeted with a cordiality and manifested
friendship such as I never had received from any
other place to which I had been appointed. We
were immediately taken to a friend's house, and while
1812.] LABOtTES IN NANTUCKET. 225
engaged at dinner other brethren had taken our goods
ont of the sloop, and removed them to the house pro-
vided for us, and set them up in order. What waa
lacking in furniture was supplied, and also a good stock
of groceries provided ; so that we were completely
settled in the parsonage, with all the conveniences for
house-keeping, the game night." How cheering such
a reception to the minister of God, as he goes from
a society endeared to him by mutual sympathies, to
make his home once more among strangers! How
different this from what was often experienced in that
early day, and which indeed is sometimes experienced
even at the present time, when the preacher would
go with his family to his charge, and find that no par-
sonage had been provided, and no one was interested
to provide one; and also that no brother's door was
cordially opened to give them even a temporary home I
Such are the receptions that chill the heart; and,
crushed in heart by them, many a preacher has ex-
claimed within himself: " Were it not that God hoe
called me to preach, I would mstantly locate." No
marvel if preachers enduring such things become
dry and feeble. The fact is, all the sympathies of the
heart become shocked and crushed ; and the intellect
is not only cut off fi'om the aliment necessary to nour-
ish and invigorate it, but it is dwarfed by the neces-
sity of making the means of living and supporting a
family a daily study and care.
This year was one of great excitement among the
islanders on account of the war. The British ships
226 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1812.
of war and privateers were often in sight ; and it
was often apprehended that they would land and
bum the village. They had no fort for their de-
fence, and few of the munitions of war ; and were
so far from the mainland that no help could be ex-
pected from it in an emergency. The fears of the
people, however, proved groundless, for though boats
often landed from these cruisers, it was only to get sup-
plies, and these they paid for ; and, in fact, the people
suffered no material injury during the whole war, ex-
cept in the loss of their vessels taken upon the " high
seas." In this latter respect they suffered greatly.
At the commencement of the war they owned over
one hundred vessels — ^many of them large whale ships.
A large proportion of these were captured or destroyed
during the war. This occasioned incessant anxiety
for friends and property exposed to the enemy upon
the great deep ; and the loss of their vessels occasioned
great pecuniary embarrassment. But, compared with
what Mr. Hedding had witnessed in Boston the pre-
ceding year, they suffered nothiag. " Notwithstand-
ing," says he, " the terrors about the war, the people
of Nantucket appeared to me to be a community
the richest and happiest I had ever met with. A
drunkard or a pauper was a creature rarely to be
seen. On one occasion I asked one of the stewards
if they did not make a collection at sacrament for the
poor; and he replied, 'No, we have nobody here as
poor as the preachers ; we give all we can raise to
the preachers.' "
1812.] LABOURS IN NANTUCKET. 227
The Church at Nantucket found in Mr. Hedding
just the man that the exigences of its condition
required. During the preceding year there had been
gathered into it a large number, chiefly young per-
sons, who were soon found to be unworthy of such a
relation. Under the influence of a remarkable ex-
citement, produced by extravagantly bold, noisy, and
violent efforts in preaching and exhortation, they had
united with the Church without proper instruction,
and without giving those evidences which the Disci-
pline requires. It is probable the greater part of
them were never converted. Mr. Hedding had fall
exercise for all his gifts of head and heart. Some of
them became haughty, proud, and dictatorial. Some,
when the excitement died away, were found as
woi'ldly and careless as they had ever been; and
others had to be arrested, tried, and expelled for
gross crimes. In fact, a large portion of those who
joined the preceding year had, in some form or other,
to be made subjects of discipline. Among them, how-
ever, were a few instances of genuine and manifest
piety. For this difficult and painful duty Mr. Hed-
ding was eminently fitted. He had a heart to sym-
pathize with the ignorant and unfortunate, and a
forbearance and patience that greatly encouraged
their penitence and their attempts at reformation;
and had also discrimination and decision to deal
plainly and firmly with the disobedient and stubborn.
But little revival took place this year ; it was chiefly
devoted to pruning and sifting the unworthy from the
228 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1812.
good. "Among the older members of the Chixrch,"
he says, " I found a noble, pious, and gifted company,
true friends and supporters, who sustained me faith-
fully in the difficult work of administration that I was
often compelled to discharge."
In visiting the sick, and in giving them counsel
and comfort, he had a superior gift ; and in no depart-
ment of his work were his labours more appreciated.
He found great satisfaction in being at their bedside,
and imparting consolation and instruction to the sick
and dying. He could relate instance after instance
of such as had been converted, or through his prayers
had been greatly consoled and strengthened, while up-
on a sick, perhaps a dying bed. The following is one
that transpired while he resided at Nantucket. He
says : " During this year I became acquainted with a
young married lady who was sick with consumption,
and whose husband was at sea. She was well edu-
cated, and in all respects a real lady. She had
usually, when in health, attended the Methodist
meeting, though her mother was a Quakeress ; and
now she resided with her mother. I visited her al-
most daily during her sickness ; and she was brought
under deep conviction for sin, and of her need of re-
generating and pardoning grace. I conversed with
her, and prayed with her, and instructed her as well
as I knew how ; but her mother, who knew nothing
of experimental religion, endeavoured to counteract
everything I said or did. She would often address
her as follows : ' Daughter, thou need not weep
1818.] LAB0UE8 IN NANTUCKET. 229
SO on accotuit of thy sins ; thott need not be so a&aid
to die. Thee has always been good from a child, and
always kept the commandments ; and when thee dies,
thy Lord will receive thee. Therefore dismiss thy
fears, wipe up thy tears, and quiet thyself.' But the
daughter would reply : 'Ah, mother, you don't know
my heart as I know it. I know my heart is sinful
and wicked, and in the sight of God I have been a
great sinner. I dare not die as I am. I know I can-
not get to heaven as I am. I must be pardoned and
bom again through Jesus Christ, or I shall go to hell.'
Thus she continued for two or three months. At last
the Lord spoke peace to her soul; and she came out
as clear as the sun without a cloud, and as happy
as any one I ever saw, delivered from the fear of
death. She praised God, and continued in the light,
without a doubt or a fear, for two or three weeks, and
died in the triumphs of faith. A brighter conversion
I never witnessed."
The New-England Conference for 1813 had been
appointed to meet at New-London, Connecticut ; but
as several British ships of war were lying near the
hatbour, and it was expected they would bombard
and take the placcj the bishops moved the seat of the
conference to a plac§ called Salem, about twenty miles
northeast of New-London. As the British cruisers
were all about the seas in the neighbourhood of Nan-
tucket, Mr. Hedding found it exceedingly difficult to
get a passage off the island. He finally succeeded,
and embarked in a small open boat, in which he pro-
230 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1813.
ceeded the first day to Holmes's Hole, Martha's Vine-
yard, where he made harbour for the night. The
next day he proceeded, and landed safely at New-
Bedford, Massachusetts. Thence he went by land
through Providence, Ehode Island, to the seat of the
conference. Bishops Asbury and M'Kendree were
both present, and, though war and excitement raged
without, the session of the conference was remarkable
for peace and quietness.
Notwithstanding the deleterious influence which
the war had exerted upon the morals and the religion
of the people throughout the entire bounds of the
conference, the preachers generally brought in a good
report concerning the condition of their charges. The
war spirit had not extinguished the vital spark of
religion in the hearts of their members ; and many
places had been favoured with excellent revivals.
There were, however, but two new charges made
within the bounds of the entire conference ; and upon
the aggregate membership there was a decrease of
one hundred and ninety-two. Other portions of the
country were less affected at this stage of the war ;
and the returns from the whole Church showed 'an
aggregate of two hundred and fourteen thousand
three hundred and seven members, and six hundred
and seventy-eight preachers, being an increase of
eighteen thousand nine hundred and fifty for the
year.
During this year one of Mr. Hedding's intimate
friends and early associates in the ministry died.
1813.1 THOMAS BRANCH. 231
We allude to Thomas Branch ; and we specially refer
to his decease here, because of an incident that con-
nects Mr. Hedding with the account of his last hours,
and of his last resting-place. He was a native of
Preston, Connecticut, and is reported to have been
altogether a noble man. He joined the New-York
Conference with Mr. Hedding, in 1801 ; and was with
him transferred to the New-England Conference, by a
change of conference boundaries. He filled important
stations, was everywhere a popular preacher, and was
reported by his preachers to be the best jpreddmg
elder they ever hnew. This last is saying a great deal,
in times when Elijah Hedding, Joshua Soule, G. Pick-
ering, Elijah K. Sabin, and John Brodhead were in
the field. His health had failed two years before ; and
he had been placed on the supernumerary list at the
conference of 1811. "The zeal of his spirit," says the
author of the Memorials of Methodism, " could not
be checked by the infirmities of the body ; he had
thoroughly consecrated himself to his work, and was
resolute to die in it. TJnable longer to sustain the
inclemencies of the climate of New-England, he pro-
posed to go to the southwest, and labour while his
dwindling strength should last in the Western Con-
ference— the only conference then beyond the Alle-
ghanies. It extended jfrom Detroit to Natchez, and
was the great frontier battle-field of Methodism, where
Cartwright, Finley, Young, Blackman, Winans, Lakin,
Quinn, and other giant men, were bearing on the cross
in the van of emigration, and travelling vast circuits,
233 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1813.
over parts of which they had to be protected by
escorts of armed men. Besides the various choice of
climate which this immense field afforded, there was, to
the devoted mind of Branch, a romantic if not heroic
attraction in its adventurous life, and the triumph with
which the itinerant ministry was spreading the truth
in its wildernesses ; for though it had been organized
only about twenty years, it already ranked as fourth
in numerical strength among all the conferences, and
comprised more than twenty-seven thousand mem-
bers. Its white membership, indeed, was larger than
that cfF any other conference." In this vast and in-
viting field Branch proposed to spend the remnant
of his physical strength. Accordingly, at the con-
ference of 1812, he was made effective, and appointed
ipransfers were then unknown} to Marietta, in the
Muskingum District, with David Young.
The arrangements for his departure were easily
made, and on horseback he started for his new
field of labour in the west ; but this field he never
reached. He passed along through the western
wilds of New- York, travelling and preaching as his
health and strength permitted, and crossed the line
into Pennsylvania. But here he disappeared. I^Tews
came to his brethren that he had died on his way ;
but when or where he died, and the circumstances
of his death were not known. Only vague rumours
concerning his fate reached his brethren, and for
fourteen years a mystery hung over the subject. In
1826 Mr. Hedding, then bishop, to whom the mem-
1813.] DEATH or THOMAS BRANCH. 233
ory of his early associate was still dear, was on a tour
of episcopal visitation to the west, and purposely passed
through the region where Thomas Branch had been
last heard from in 1812, and made inquiries about
him. The result of these inquiries he conununicated
to the Zion's Herald, in which paper they were pub-
lished during that year. Writing from Ohio, he says :
" He fell in the wilderness, on his way to this country
in the month of June, 1812. His sepulchre is in
the woods, in the State of Pennsylvania, near the
shore of Lake Erie, between the states of JSTew-Tork
and Ohio. As I came through that part of the coun-
try, I made inquiry respecting the sickness, death, and
burial of our once beloved fellow-labourer in the
cause of Christ. * An intelligent friend, who said he
had frequently visited and watched with him during
his last sickness, and attended his funeral, gave me,
in substance, the following circumstances: When
brother Branch came into the neighbourhood where
he died, it was a new settlement, where there
was no Methodist society, and but few professors
of religion of any name. He preached on a Sab-
bath, and at the close of the service stated to the
strangers that he was on a journey ; that he was ill
and unable to proceed; and desired that some one
would entertain him till he should recover his
strength sufficiently to resume his journey. There
was a long time of silence in the congregation;
at last one came forward and invited him home.
At that house he lingered many weeks, and
234 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1813.
finally expired. The accommodations were poor for
a sick man: a small log-house containing a large
family, consisting in part of small children; but
doubtless it was the best the place could aflford. In
his sickness, which was pulmonary consumption, his
sufferings were severe ; but his patience and relig-
ious consolations were great also. He frequently
preached, prayed, and exhorted, sitting on his bed,
when he was unable to go out, or even to stand.
And so he continued labouring for the salvation of
men while his strength would permit, and rejoicing
in the Lord to the hour of his death. The above
named eye and ear witness informed me that brother
Branch frequently said to him : ' It is an inscrutable
providence that brought me here to die in the wil-
derness.' 'But,' said the witness, 'that providence
was explained after his death: for, through the in-
strumentality of his labours, patience, fortitude, and
religious joys, in his sickness, a glorious revival of
religion shortly took place, a goodly number of souls
were converted to God, other preachers were invited
to the place, and a large Methodist society was organ-
ized after his death.' That society stiU continues to
prosper, and they have now a decent house for worship.
"After the soul of our brother had rested in
heaven, his body was conveyed to the grave on a
sled drawn by oxen. The corpse was carried to a
log building in the woods, called a meeting-house ;
but the proprietors denied admittance, and the funeral
ceremonies were performed without. As I came
1813.] GRAVE OF BEANOH. 235
throughi tlie woodland in company with a preaclier,
having been informed where the place of our friend's
interment was, leaving our horse and carriage by the
road, we walked some rods into the forest, and found
the old log meeting-house, which had refused the stran-
ger the rites of funeral ; but it was partly fallen and
forsaken. Then following a narrow path some dis-
tance further through the woods, we came to a small
opening, which appeared to have been cleared of the
wood for a habitation for the dead. After walking
and looking some time, a decent stone, near one comer
of the yard, under the shade of the thick-set tall forest,
informed us where the body of our dear departed
friend had been laid. A large oak-tree had fallen,
and lay across two of the adjoining tenants of that
lonely place. "We kneeled, prayed, and left the
lonely spot, in joyful hopes of meeting our brother
again at the resurrection of the just. The associations
of the place carried my thoughts back to the north-
ern parts of New-Hampshire and Vermont, where,
many years since, I had ridden, walked, talked, and
prayed in company with Thomas Branch.
"Two important reflections have often since im-
pressed my mind. One is, in how many circumstances
a faithful minister of Christ may be useful — even in his
most severe sufferings, and under the darkest dispen-
sations of Providence which he may be called to
endure. Little did Thomas Branch think that the
fruits of his last laboui-s and sufferings would be so
abundant after his death. The other is, how much
236 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDINQ. [1813.
good may be done by the remembrance of the vir-
tues of a faithful Christian long after he is dead.
The memory of the example of Thomas Branch,
revived in my mind by visiting his grave, has been
a means of quickening my desires to live as he lived,
and of strengthening my hopes of finally reaching
that heaven to which, I trust, he has gone."
While this sketch will show how tenderly the mem-
ory of Thomas Branch was cherished by the subject
of our narrative, it will also exhibit traits in the char-
acter of Mr. Hedding that commend him still more
strongly to our Christian confidence and sympathy.
The following extract from the Conference Minutes
for this year will show the estimation in which Thomas
Branch was held by his brethren: "An Israelite in-
deed, in life and in death. Who ever saw him out
of the gravity and sincerity of a Christian minister?
always apparently collected and recollected; a child
of afiliction and a son of resignation : how loved and
honoured of God and men I Rest, rest, weary dust!
Best, weary spirit, with the Father of spirits, and live
forever!" Can we wonder that such purity of char-
acter, such sincerity of devotion, should have left be-
hind them a memory fragrant with heavenly perfame ?
It seemed a hard fate that left him to die, almost
unfriended and alone ; and many an eye has moist-
ened with heart-felt sorrow at his lonely and suffer-
ing end ; but, blessed be God ! the Sun of righteous-
ness now shines with undimmed lustre upon his soul
in that house where there are " many mansions."
1813.] STATIONED IN LYNN. 237
At the close of this conference Mr. Hedding was
appointed to Lynn, in connexion with Daniel "Webb.
There were two appointments in Lynn, and each was
placed under the charge of a preacher, Mr. Hedding
having charge of the Lynn Common Church. The
arrangement was for them to exchange once on each
Sabbath.
After conference Mr. Hedding returned to Nan-
tucket for his family and goods. But, owing to the
hazard of a voyage around -Cape Cod to Boston, on
account of the British ships of war, so frequent in
those parts, he was compelled to embark with his
wife and goods in a sloop for Hyannis, a place nearest
on the outer-side of the cape ; thence he crossed to
Barnstable, and passed from thence in a sloop to Bos-
ton, and thence to Lynn.
Although stationed in one of the best societies of
the conference, the war continuing to rage during the
year, made it a very laborious, suffering time. The
business of the place was poor. The congregations
were frequently broken up by the sight of a British
cruiser near the place. Sometimes the people were
aroused and alarmed in the night from the fear of
danger. Every article of provision was at an exorbi-
tant price. The bread they ate was brought by land
from Philadelphia. They were compelled to pay six-
teen dollars a barrel for flour, and much distress was
experienced by the people. Such a state of things
made it a year very unfavourable to religion and to
revival influences throughout the country ; but it was
238 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1813.
especially so at Lynn, because the place was pecu-
. liarly exposed. Notwithstanding all these hinder-
ances Mr. Hedding continued at his post, preaching,
visiting the people, and by his exhortations encour-
aging them to attend to all their duties. Perhaps
almost any other society would have been worse
affected than the one at Lynn. It was the first
formed by Jesse Lee in his tour to the east, more than
twenty years before, and the first Methodist society
in Massachusetts. It embraced some of the first citi-
zens of the place for respectability and means. It
had but few backsliders, and its members were
remarkable for strict attendance to all their religious
duties. Notwithstanding the severity of his labours,
and the trials and sufferings of the people of Lynn,
Mr. Hedding found many enjoyments during the
year. His faithfcdness in all his ministerial duties
much endeared him to the people ; and their stead-
fastness in their religious profession much endeared
them to him. In fact, during this and the subsequent
year he formed many attachments that continued and
strengthened until the most of them, as well as him-
self, had passed to the Church above. To this day
many of the most active members of the Churches in
Lynn are found among those who were baptized by
him during this period of his labours.
Mr. Hedding considered himself highly favoured
in the colleague with whom he laboured. Daniel
Webb, who was two years his senior in the ministry,
and who is stiU living at an advanced age s in fact,
1814.1 EETTJBNED TO LTNN. 239
he is now the oldest effective travelling preacher in
the world — ^his ministry having extended through
the period of fifty-seven years. His talents as a
preacher were much above mediocrity. In his dis-
courses he was clear, methodical, and earnest. In
his intercourse with his people he was social and
agreeable, and was pious and active in the dis-
charge of all his duties. He had previously fiUed,
and has since continued to fill, appointments in
many of the prominent Churches in the conference.
Mr. Hedding retained with great satisfaction, to the
end of Hfe, a pleasing remembrance of the intimate
friendship established with Mr. "Webb during this
year.
The effects of the war upon the progress of religion
were now beginning to be somewhat realized. The
New-England Conference again returned a decrease
of membership, which this year amounted to two
hundred and seventy-four. In the whole Church
there was a decrease of three thousand one hundred
and seventy-eight, leaving the total membership
two hundred and eleven thousand one hundred and
twenty-nine; and six hundred and eighty-seven preach-
ers, being an increase of nine.
The New-England Conference for 1814 met at
Durham, Maine, and Mr. Hedding was returned to
Lynn. He had for his colleague the Eev. Leonard
Frost.
For about eight months of this year his labours
were much the same as the past ; nor was the condi-
Q 11
240 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [18U.
tion of the society in Lynn much altered from what
it had been the preceding year The excitement
occasioned by the war, and the attendant pecuniary
embarrassments and sufferings, still engrossed the
thoughts of the people. What made these embarrass-
ments the more vexatious to the people was, that many
of the inhabitants of Massachusetts, especially in the
maritime towns, were opposed to the war. During
the month of February, 1815, the news reached Lynn
of the conclusion of peace between England and the
United States, and created a time of general rejoic-
ing. But what was cause of increased rejoicing to Mr.
Hedding, as well as to the Church in that place, was
a great work of revival which commenced about the
same time. He had been labouring for more than a
year and a half, and though generally the Church
maintained a walk consistent with their profession ia
such troublous times, he had found but few seriously
inquiring what they must do to be saved ; still he
laboured in hope, and did not labour in vain. About
this time, on a Sabbath evening, he preached a ser-
mon from, " He that, being often reproved, hardeneth
bis neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that with-
out remedy." It proved a word in season to one of
his hearers. A young woman present was deeply
impressed by the truth, and in a short time was con-
verted. From this the work spread rapidly, and a
number more were soon rejoicing in the Lord. Soon
after this sermon was preached a woman died, and he
was called to preach her funeral sermon. Her hus-
1814.] DETAINED FEOM OONFEBENOE. 241
band requested that it miglit be -written, and read to
a few friends. While hearing it read, a number of
them were awakened, and soon after converted. This
revival continued up to the time of the next session
of the conference, and such was its interest, at that
time, that Mr. Hedding did not feel himself at liberty
to leave to attend that conference. Much as he
prized these annual sessions, as favourable oppor-
tunities to perpetuate and strengthen his attachment
to his brethren, he still felt, that while God was gra-
ciously outpouring his Spirit upon the people, "his
servant should stand by and watch the offering and
feed the sacrifice:" an evidence that he considered
the salvation of souls of first importance.
242 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDINQ. L1816.
OHAPTEE Vm.
lABOTJBS IN BOSTON, PORTLAND, LTNN, AND NEW-
lONDON.
Conference of 1815 — Bishop Asbury — His Feebleness — Subsequent La-
bours— Death — Conference Business — Mr. Hedding elected Delegate
to the General Conference — Stationed in Boston — Daniel Fillmore,
his Colleague — Their mutual Attachment — An Amusing Anecdote,
or "Shallow Preaching" — State of Eeligion in the City — Niece of
Hancock converted — Gleueral Conference of 1816 — Session of the
New-England Conference at Bristol — Mr. Hedding and his Colleague
returned to Boston — Debt on the Churches — Noble and Successful
Effort to liquidate it — A Bequest to the Churches — Methodism plant-
ed in Dorchester — Also in Charlestown — Prosperity in Boston — Con-
ference in 1817 — Progress of Methodism — Stationed in Portland —
State of the Society — Conference in 1818 — Mr. Hedding in Lynn —
Member of the General Conference of 1820 — Stationed in New-London
— Disorganized Condition of the Society — Character and End of the
Disorderly — Health fails — Beaches Conference.
The conference met, June, 1815, at Unity, New-
Hampshire. It was attended by the venerable
Asbnry. This was his last visit to New-England;
before its next session he had ceased from his labours
and gone to his reward. He landed in this country
on the 27th of October, 1Y71, having been then ten
years in the ministry, though but a little over twenty-
six years of age. His first sermon in this country
was preached in ISTew-York on Tuesday, the 13th of
November following. At the General Conference of
1Y84 he and Dr. Coke were unanimously elected
superintendents of the Methodist Church in America.
1816.] BISHOP ASBTTET. 243
k
He therefore exercised the episcopal office nearly thir-
ty-two years — maMng the entire period of his effective
ministry nearly fifty-five years. He was altogether
an extraordinary man, and in labours he was abund-
ant. In his great work on this continent he trav-
elled, mainly on horseback or in a sulky, nearly one
hundred and fifty thousand miles, regarding neither
the summer's heat nor the winter's cold. He preached
nearly eighteen thousand sermons, presided at more
than two hundred conferences, and ordained probably
more ministers than any other man ever did. Though
pressed by age and infirmity, and often solicited by
his fiiends to lighten his labours, his zeal would
never permit him to rest ; and he toiled on, travelling
and preaching till within a few days of his death.
At this session of the New-England Conference he
appeared to be literally worn out. He was, to a great
extent, unable to be present in the sessions of the
conference ; and it was with great difficulty, such
were his bodily infirmities, that he could go through
the usual public ordination services. But we still
find him prosecuting his work with indomitable
energy of spirit, travelling south as far as to South
Carolina and visiting the annual conferences. In
South Carolina he contracted an infiuenza. This was
about the last of December, and was attended with
an entire loss of appetite and the formation of ulcers
upon his lungs. His already worn-out constitution
rapidly yielded under this fatal disease. His indom-
itable energy of spirit and his zeal for the cause were
•
244 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1816.
however unabated ; and he continued by slow stages
to make his way north, hoping to be able to meet
the General Conference which was to assemble in
May, in the city of Baltimore.
He at length reached Richmond, Virginia, where
he preached his last sermon on Sunday, March the
24th. His fiiends endeavoured to dissuade him, on
account of his extreme weakness, from attempting to
preach ; but he was anxious once more to bear his
testimony in that place. He was carried from his
carriage to the pulpit, where in a sitting posture he
spoke nearly an hour with much feeling and effect,
though frequently compelled to pause to recover his
breath. His text was : " For he will finish the work,
and cut it short in righteousness ; because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth." Romans
ix, 28. Both the subject and the discourse were
appropriate to the impressive scene. After the ser-
mon, he was again carried from the pulpit to his car-
riage, and taken to his place of rest. Notwithstand-
ing he was evidently in the very last stages of disease
and liable to die at any hour, we find him on Tues-
day, Thursday, and Friday stiU travelling toward the
seat of the General Conference. On Friday night
he reached the house of an old friend, twenty miles
from Fredericksburg. The next morning it was
observed that he had passed a night of great bodily
suffering. His travelling companion. Rev. J. "W.
Bond, proposed to send for a physician, but he
declined having one called, observing that his breath
1816.] STATIONED IN BOSTON. 245
would be gone before tbe doctor coidd get there.
He however survived till the next day. A short time
before he died, his speech failed. After this, observ-
ing the agony of his travelling companion, "he
raised his hand and looked joyfully at him;" thus
expressing what language now failed to communicate.
" Brother Bond then asked him if he felt the Lord
Jesus Christ to be precious. He seemed to exert all
his remaining strength, and raised both his hands as
a token of triumph." In a few minutes after this he
expired. Asbury sustains very much the same rela-
tion to American Methodism that "Wesley does to the
same cause in the British nation ; and his name will
never cease to be venerated in the Church of God.
We have already noticed the feebleness of Mr.
Asbury at the session of the New-England Confer-
ence, which rendered him unable to preside over its
deliberations. The business of the conference, how-
ever, proceeded with usual harmony and despatch.
At this conference twelve delegates to the General
Conference were elected; and we find the name of
Mr. Hedding third upon that list. At the close of
the conference he was stationed, the second time, in
Boston, with the Eev. Daniel Fillmore as his col-
league. Of this colleague Mr. Hedding says : " He
was a good man, a good preacher, a good pastor, and
a good colleague." Indeed, the mutual attachment
that was formed betwee]^ these two ministers was
as lasting as it was sincere. Their personal corre-
spondence, which was continued down to the last year
246 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1816.
of Mr. Hedding's life, gives striking evidence of the
strength and sincerity of their attachment. As late
as 1849, Mr. Hedding, after acknowledging the
receipt of a letter from Mr. Eillmore, says : " I was
truly glad to receive such a letter from my old, tried
friend and colleague. I am thankful for the blessings
of God upon you and your family. It is especially a
blessing to you, that now at the age of threescore,
you enjoy so good health. When I read your ap-
pointment to the place you now occupy, I was afraid
you were crowded into a poor comer ; but I should
judge from your letter it must be a pleasant appoint-
ment, where you have a good prospect of being
greatly useful. What you say of our passing away,
and soon to be in the spirit-world, following Pick-
ering, Steele, Merrill, and others, impresses me
deeply, from day to day and from night to night;
and I am striving and hoping to be ready to follow
them to the world of rest;"
Two years later, while suffering from that disease
which finally terminated his useful career, he says :
" We have had many blessed seasons together. I
believe since the day I first knew you, in the year
1811, there has been nothing between us contrary to
brotherly love. And I trust we sKall live forever in
another and a better world."
Of their ministry in Boston, Mr. Fillmore, in subse-
quent years, was accustonq^d to narrate the following
rather amusing anecdote. As was the custom of the
times in city circuits, they followed each other sue-
1815.] DANIEL FILLMOEE. 247
cessively around the different cliiirclies. The great
reputation and popular talent of Mr. Hedding occa-
sioned many to foUow him from chnrcb to church.
The difference between his congregations and those
of his colleague was quite perceptible. On one occa-
sion, when a portion of Mr. Fillmore's congregation
had been drawn away to hear their popular preacher,
leaving his house rather thin, a good sister came iip
at the close of the meeting to comfort her minister.
She assured him that she had no disposition to
run after his colleague with the multitude. " True,"
said she, "he has the reputation of being a deep
preacher; but, for my part, I like shallow preachmg."
Mr. Fillmore, with illy-regulated risibles, thanked
the good sister for her sympathy ; but whether he en-
joyed the narration of the anecdote then, as well as
he did afterward, when his character and reputation
were more firmly established, may admit of a doubt.
Mr. Fillmore was admitted on trial in the conference
in 1811. It is no small compliment to his talents as
a minister, that in the third year of his ministry he
was stationed as preacher in charge in the city of
Portland ; and in the fourth year in Boston, as the
colleague of Hedding. To the same charge and in
the same relation'he was returned a second year;
and from that time forward continued to fill many of
the most important appointments in his conference,
between thirty and forty years, till the growing
infirmities of age compelled him to retire from the
effective ranks. , , ^
11*
248 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINQ. L1815.
A quarter of a century had now passed since Jesse
Lee first opened his mission under the great ehn-tree
on Boston Common. During all this period Method-
ism had been straggling for existence in Boston, and
its progress had been exceedingly slow, and in the
face of obstacles rarely encountered elsewhere. Uni-
tarianism exerted a controlling influence, embracing
the wealth and fashion of the city, and, consequently,
experimental piety was held in doubtful repute.
Many excellent members had been gathered into the
Church, — ^men and women sincerely devoted to the
cause of Christ, and whose spirit and life were an
honour to the Christian name. But in worldly
resources they were limited, — the great portion of
them being poor, and few if any among them that
could be called rich. They were regarded aa intrud-
ers, and their professions of faith in Christ set down
to the score of enthusiasm or fanaticism. The dignity
of Mr. Hedding's carriage, the amiability of his man-
ner, and the strength and power of his ministry,
attracted to the Methodist Church many persons of
a high order of intelligence, and also of high social
position.
During the year he received into the Church a
lady, who, from the circuinstances*of her conversion,
and from her subsequent connexion with the Church,
is worthy of special notice. The incident also gives
us some insight into the state of religion in the
Church then exerting by far the widest influence of
any in the city. It should be recorded also because
1815.] A NIECE OF HAKCOOK CONVERTED. 249
of the light it sheds upon the character of Mr. Hedding
as a pastor, and also upon his rigid adherence to the
Methodist Discipline and usages. Let us take the
account as we have it from his own lips: "Some time
during the year, a lady came to my house, and re-
quested religious conversation with me. She was the
niece of Governor Hancock. She said that she was a
member of a Unitarian Church, but that she had
never experienced religion until lately; nor had she
until lately any true ideas of experimental religion.
She had recently read a volume of "Wesley's Sermons,
which belonged to a servant girl in her house, into
which she had first looked from curiosity; but as she
continued to read, they brought her to a sense of her
sins and danger, and gave her a knowledge of the way
of salvation, and ultimately led her to the experience
of that religion that Mr. "Wesley taught. She said
that she had found it necessary to leave the Unitarian
meeting, as they had brought in a new version of the
Testament, and read it in the Church, and their preach-
ing was not profitable to her soul ; that on the preced-
ing Sabbath she went to an orthodox Congregational
meeting, but when she arrived, perceiving that the
pastor was absent, and another minister in the pulpit
whom she did not care to hear, she left the meeting
before the service commenced, with the intention of
returning home. Her way home led her by the
Methodist Church in Bromfield Lane. She said to
herself, ' I will go in here and see if they preach as
"Wesley did.' She went in and took her seat, and
250 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1815.
before the service was througli she thought, This is
"Wesley's meetiug, and this preaching [Mr. Hedding
preached on that occasion] is according to "Wesley's
preaching; and here I will join, if they will receive
me. ' And now,' said she, ' I have come to offer my-
self as a member of yonr Church.' She told me her
name and residence, and referred me to a number
of respectable persons, of whom I .could inquire
respecting her character. I explained to her our
mode of receiving members, and told her we should
have a meeting the next Sabbath for that purpose ;
that I would inquire respecting her character, and if
I found it satisfactory would introduce her case to the
Church, if she would be present at that time. I told
her also, ' I perceive you are very splendidly dressed,
but we hold to plain dress, and our members gen-
erally observe it; and, if you join the Methodists,
you will have to lay aside that gay dress.' She said,
' I know it, and I intend to do it. I have read your
Discipline, and I intend to conform to it.' After this
conversation she left ; and, accordingly, on the follow-
ing Sabbath she came to the church dressed as plain
and as neat as ever Methodist women were required
to, and was received on probation in the Church.
Soon after this she buried her husband; but she lived
for some years after his decease, as devout, pious,
uniform, and rational a Christian as I ever knew, and
died in the triumphs of faith. After her death it was
found that she had left in her will $2,000 to the
Methodist Church in Boston, to be funded, and the
1816.] THE GENERAL OONEBEENCE. 251
interest to be paid forever to the poorest members of
tbe CbuTcli; and $500 for brother Pillmore, and $500
for myself Eespecting "Wesley, this was an example
of the Scripture truth, 'He being dead yet speaketh.' "
In the spring of 1816 Mr. Hedding attended the
General Conference, which met in the city of Bal-
timore. It was composed of delegates from the
annual conferences, as follows, namely: New- York,
sixteen; New-England, twelve; Genesee, ten; Ohio,
nine ; Tennessee, six ; South Carolina, fourteen ; Vir-
ginia, ten ; Baltimore, fourteen ; and Philadelphia,
thirteen. Bishop Asbury, the great apostle of Meth-
odism, was no longer with them. Mr. Hedding men-
tions, with profpund feeling, the deep sense of loss the
absence of Asbury created in their council.
Nothing special took place at this General Con-
ference. Mr. Hedding was at his post of duty ; and
already, though comparatively a young member, by
his prudent counsels and energetic business habits,
he had come to be regarded as one of the most influ-
ential members of that body. At this General Con-
ference Enoch George and Eobert K. Eoberts were
elected and ordained bishops, — the former having on
the first ballot fifty-seven, and the latter, on the second
ballot, fifty-five votes, out of one hundred and six.
Bev. Joshua Soule and Bev. Thomas Mason were
elected book agents; and the publication of the Meth-
odist Magazine — a monthly of forty octavo pages — •
was ordered* Two years, however, elapsed before the
agents found it consistent to carry this order into effect.
252 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1816.
At the close of the General Conference Mr. Hed-
ding returned to Bristol, Khode Island, where the
session of the Ifew-England Conference commenced,
on the 22d of June. Bishops M'Kendree and Roberts
were both present, and presided alternately over its
deliberations. Its sessions were harmonious and
pleasant — the spirit of brotherly love prevailing in
an unusual degree. Not only a common bond of
interest, but the fellowship of suffering united the
hearts of Methodist preachers in those early times.
The business of an annual conference was then
limited, compared with what has to be transacted in
the present day ; and much of the time, therefore,
was devoted to the public religious services. Thus,
the session of an annual conference was a signal for
special efforts for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
and for labours for the conversion of sinners. Mr.
Hedding remarks that " our mode of conducting the
business of conference in those days was much more
social, and less under the discipline and forms of par-
liamentary rules than in later times." The New-
England Conference this year returned a member-
ship of eleven thousand nine hundred and seventy-
four, being an increase of eight hundred and eighty-
nine. The total membership of the Church was two
hundred and fourteen thousand two hundred and
thirty-five, showing a net gain of three thousand
and seventy ; preachers, six hundred and ninety-five,
showing a decrease of nine. • -
Both Mr. Hedding and his colleague were returned
1816.] CHTJEOH DEBT IN BOSTON. 253
to Boston. There were two churclies in the city at
that time : one of them was located in what was
familiarly known as Methodist Alley, and had been
occupied by the society since 1794 ; the other, which
was larger, and more substantially built, had been
erected in 1806, and was located in Bromfield-street,
on the same site, we believe, as the present Brom-
field-street Church. These two churches were held
by one board of trustees, and on them both there
was then a debt of $18,000. This had been incurred
mainly in building the second church ; but had been
increasing from year to year, tiU the society now
groaned under it as an intolerable burden. Their
affairs were now brought to a sort of crisis ; for their
creditors became importunate and demanded their
money, and the trustees were of the opinion that if a
forced public sale of the property was had, it would
not at that time bring the amount of the encumbrance.
For a time their affairs appeared to be in a desperate
condition ; and it was feared that both churches would
have to be sold, and both congregations be left with-
out a house to worship in. Nor would this be the
extent of the calamity. The Methodists would be
disheartened, and the financial credit of the Church
would be destroyed. This greatly distressed the
preachers as well as the people. At one time Mr.
Hedding could see no way of averting the calamity ;
but he was not the man to yield to so crushing a mis-
fortune, so long as there was any possible chance of
averthig it. To raise the moif^y by any of the ordinary
254 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1816.
modes was impracticable, and so thoroughly convinced
of this were both preachers and officiary that it was
not attempted. Deliverance, however, was wrought
out. Colonel Amos Binney, one of the best financiers
in the Church, with whom the preachers counselled
in this emergency, and who felt if possible still more
deeply than themselves, finally proposed that if the
two preachers would go through the city and per-
suade the people to take the unsold pews at their
original valuation, — for enough of them still remained
unsold to pay the entire debt, — ^he would take the
notes of the people thus subscribing, payable in any
articles of trade, or in any kind of labour that might
be most convenient to those drawing them. Also,
that he would give sufficient time for the payments,
and run all risks in the case ; and as soon as a suffi-
cient amount was secured on these conditions, he
would assume the Church debt, and take these notes
in payment. This was a noble ofi'er ; but it imposed
heavy conditions on the preachers, whose hands were
already quite full. There were only about three
hundred members in the city. Many of these had
already taken pews ; nearly all of them were poor.
How then could so large a sum as $18,000 be raised ?
Fearful odds were against them; but Mr. Hedding
was not without hope, and he possessed an energy of
character equal to the emergency. He and his col-
league, therefore, accepted the conditions, and hope
again revived in the hearts of the people. The two
preachers now applied tlTfemselves to their Herculean
1816.] OHUEOH DEBT LIQUIDATED. 265
task. Except on the Sabbath, every day in the week,
early and late, they travelled the city from end to
end and from side to side, presenting the subject to
every one with whom therp was the least prospect of
success. Thus many people who were not in the
habit of attending any Church became enlisted in
the enterprise, and were led to attend upon the
Methodist ministry; and many of them subsequently
became valuable members of the Church. After
three months' unremitting labour, the necessary num-
ber of pews had been taken ; and, on an afternoon
appointed, the persons interested assembled in the
Bromfield church, bid for their choice of pews, and
, gave their notes in accordance with the conditions, of
the subscription. All passed off harmoniously. The
requisite sum was reached. The notes were trans-
ferred to Colonel Binney, who gave his check for the
money, and the debt was paid. It was a time of
great rejoicing among the people. God had brought
them out of their troubles, and set their feet in a
broad place. The number of regular attendants in
the congregations was increased, and the Churches
were placed upon a footing they had never before
enjoyed. A great and glorious work had been
accomplished.
During this year the society also received another
benefit, for which it was undoubtedly indebted to
Mr. Hedding. A Mr. Boardman, a member of the
Church in Boston, but residing in Cambridge, was
taken sick, and after some time died. During his
R
256 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1816.
sickness, Mr. Hedding was accustomed, thougli it
required a walk of some three miles, to visit him
twice or three times a week, to converse and pray
with him. After his death, it was found that he had
left in his will $4:,000 to the Methodist Church in
Boston, the use of it to be reserved to his wife dur-
ing her life-time. She was a member of the Baptist
Church, and a good Christian woman. Immediately
after the death of her husband she paid over the
entire amount to the trustees, generously and nobly
relinquishing her right to the use of it. She lived
nearly thirty years afterward. These events con-
stituted a bright era in the early history of Method-
ism in Boston.
It was now a quarter of a century since Methodism
was first planted in Boston ; and it is not a Httle
remarkable that, up to this time, no regular Methodist
preaching had been established in any of the neigh-
bouring towns excepting Lynn. But during this
year Mr. Hedding and his colleague commenced
preaching first in Dorchester, and afterward in
Charlestown.
Mr. Arthur Otheman, a merchant in Boston, had
removed to Dorchester, and thus opened the way for
the establishment of preaching there. At first Mr.
Hedding or his colleague preached once a week in
Mr. Otheman's house ; but he soon erected a small
church near his residence, and preaching was per-
manently established there. In 1819., it appears upon
the Minutes in connexion with Boston; and the
1816.] DOKCHESTER AND CHAELESTOWN. 257
succeeding year B. Otheman was appointed to it as
an independent station. Here in 1820, Jotham Hor-
ton, -who liad that year been received on trial in the
conference, commenced his ministry. Here also,
thirty-three years after, he terminated his labours,
breaking down in the midst of a gracious revival
with which he, had been blessed. His dying testi-
mony was, "All my hope is ia Christ; I look at noth-
ing else. My transgressions, my labours, my rights
eousness, and unrighteousness, I lay at the feet of
Christ. I trust only in him, and say with Mr. Wesley —
' I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me.' "
At this time there are two stations in the place,
regularly supplied from the conference.
The removal of a few members to Charlestown
opened the way to preaching in that place. Mr.
Hedding and his colleague might have excused them-
selves from this extra labour on account of their
arduous duties in Boston, and thus left these mem-
bers of their flock to stray away into other folds, or
to backslide ; but they were not the men to shrinlc
from labour, especially when a great and effectual
door was opened. At first they preached once a
week on a week evening in some private house. The
seed very soon took root. A class was formed, and
quite a revival took place. Two years later the
society purchased a house on High-street; and Mr.
Hedding, then stationed in Lynn, preached the ded-
258 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1817.
ication sermon from the text — " And I am, swre that
wJien I come v/nto you, I shall come in the fulness
of the, hlessvng of the gospel of Christ" Eomans
XT., 29. In 1819 it became a station in connexion
with Boston, and 'Wilbur Fisk, of glorious memory, —
then in the second year of his ministry, — was their first
pastor. The next year it was made a distinct charge,
and Mr. Fisk was reappointed to it. From that time
forward the little vine continued to grow and spread,
till in Charlestown we have two well-established sta-
tions, with a membership of between three and four
hundred.
But while these noble men were labouring so suc-
cessfully to free the churches in Boston from their
crushing debt, and also to plant Methodism in these
two important new points, they were not neglectful
of the spiritual interest of their charges in the city.
The work of God steadily advanced, and at the ensuing
conference they reported a membership of four hun-
dred and three, being a net increase of sixty-five.
So great was the impression made during that year
by Mr. Hedding, that up to the present time the few
surviving members continue to look back upon it as
a gi-eat era in the history of Methodism in the city
of Boston. For the second time in his ministry, Mr.
Hedding felt constrained to remain with his flock on
account of the religious interest that prevailed, instead
of going to conference.
Concord, in the State of New-Hampshire, was the
seat of the conference in 1817. Its session commenced
1817.] STATIONED IN POETLAND. 259
May the 16tli. The progress of Methodism in the
east was still onward. An increase of one ttiousand
four hundred and thirty-three was reported, making
a total membership in the New-England Conference
of thirteen thousand four hundred and seven. The
increase in the whole Church was ten thousand six
hundred and eighteen, and the total membership two
hundred and twenty-four thousand eight hundred
and fifty-three. The number of travelling preachers
was seven hundred and sixteen, being an increase of
twenty-one. The celebrated Jesse Lee this year
closed his long and eventful career in triumph. His
labours extended almost from one end of the United
States to the other. His best eulogy is found in the
results of his labours.
At this conference, Mr. Hedding was appointed to
Portland District. But his health being poor, and
unequal to the arduous labours of a presiding elder,
he was released by the bishop and stationed in Port-
land, and the Rev. N. Bigelow, who had been sta-
tioned there, succeeded him on the district.
The Methodist society in Portland was quite numer-
ous, and a large part of very respectable character;
but, for a few years previous, the Church had been
much disturbed by some of its members, who were
greatly in favour of noisy and boisterous meetings.
Those who were the advocates of such extravagant
meetings were few in number, but very zealous and
furious in maintaining them, to the great annoyance of
the larger part of the Church. It was the cause of con-
260 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1817.
siderable trouble and labour to Mr. Hedding; but by
prudent* and faithful efforts lie prevented any open
rupture during Ms stay among them. But the division
in feeling and sentiment prevented any great work of
revival. A rupture in the society, however, was only
delayed. In the subsequent year, the few advocates
of noisy meetings withdrew from the Church, and
commenced a separate meeting, which they contin-
ued for a year or two, after Vhich they were wholly
broken up, and some of their prominent leaders
became infidels or open backsliders. After this
secession, the prudent and sober part of the society
who remained had peace, and prospered more than
before. The effects of it, however, were felt for sev-
eral years ; and the flourishing society of two hun-
dred and twenty-four members which was there in
1816 was gradually reduced to one hundred and
forty-two in 1819, and then it began to revive and
increase. The esteem in which Mr. Hedding was
held in Portland will appear from a letter from
Rev. Joshua Taylor, then a located preacher con-
nected with the charge. He says : " Brother Hedding
spent one year with us here in Portland, and we
were in hopes to have had him another year; but he
was so loudly called for at Lynn that we lost the privi-
lege. While he was with us he was highly esteemed
and very useftil, although no special revival took
place ; but his wise and judicious management saved
the society from an eruption, or rather division, which
afterward took place, and which I think would have
1818.] STATIONED IN LTNN. 261
been avoided could he have remained with us the
second year."
The increase in the New-England Conference for
this year was seven hundred and eighty-two, giving
an aggregate of fourteen thousand one hundred and
eighty-nine members. The increase in the whole
Church was fo^ thousand seven hundred and seventy-
four, the aggregate two hundred and twenty-nine
thousand six hundred and twenty-seven; number of
travelling ministers seven hundred and forty-eight,
increase thirty-two. The session of the conference
was held at Hallowell, Maine.
In 1818 and 1819, Mr. Hedding was stationed
again in Lynn. His former connexion with the
society there had greatly endeared the people to him.
Many of them had been converted under his ministry,
and received into the Church by him. The appoint-
ment was peculiarly pleasing to him, and the people
received him with open arms.
During the second year of his ministiy there he
was much afflicted with iU health ; and during the
winter was able to preach but little, and, indeed, for
a good portion of the time he was confined to the
house. The people were, however, unabated in their
kindness. He supplied his pulpit as best he could ;
and in spite of aU the disadvantages under which he
laboured, it was a year of considerable success.
Many, who, for years after, were among the most
worthy and useful members of the Church, were that
year converted to God.
262 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1819.
The session of the conference for 1819 was held in
Lynn, where Mr. Hedding was stationed. The mem-
bership reported at this conference was fifteen thou-
sand three hundred and twelve, increase one thou-
sand one hundred and twenty-three; total member-
ship in the Church two hundred and forty thousand
nine hundred and twenty four, increase eleven thou-
sand two hundred and ninety-seven; total number
of travelling preachers eight hundred and twelve,
increase sixty-four.
Mr. Hedding was again elected a delegate to the
General Conference, which was to assemble in the
city of Baltimore on the first of the succeeding May.
It was composed of delegates from the annual confer-
ences, as follows, namely: Wew-Tork, thirteen ; ISTew-
England, ten; G-enesee, seven; Ohio, eight; Tennes-
see, six ; South Carolina, nine ; Virginia, eight ; Balti-
more, nine ; Philadelphia, fourteen ; Missouri, three ;
Mississippi, two. Important measures relating to the
vital organization of the Church, and also to the
multiplication of her agencies and the enlargement
of her operations, were discussed at this conference.
Some of them were radical in their character, and
elicited much warmth of feeling in debate. In these
questions Mr. Hedding took a deep interest, and
participated in the debates that ensued ; but the
suavity and courtesy of his manner, the manifest
sincerity and honesty of his opinions, and especially
the plain, practical manner in which they were pre-
sented, challenged the respect, if not admiration of
1820.] LABOURS IN NEW-LONDON. 263
even liis opponents. A large number of his brethren
wished to present his name as a candidate for the
episcopal office, as it had been determined to elect an
additional bishop; but this he absolutely declined.
The Kev. Joshua Soule was finally elected ; but, as
we have already seen, resigned before ordination, in
consequence of tJie action of the conference upon the
presiding-elder question. The conference accepted
his resignation, but did not elect any other in his
place.
After the close of the General Conference, Mx.
Hedding, with his colleagues, returned by land to
New-York, and thence sailed in a sloop to Nantucket,
which was to be the seat of the New-England Con-
ference for that year. Bishop George presided. A
membership of seventeen thousand seven hundred
and thirty-nine was reported, exhibiting the large
and encouraging increase of two thousand four hun-
dred and twenty-seven. It was a year of prosperity
in the entire Church. The whole membership was
two hundred and fifty-six thousand eight hundred
and eighty one, increase fifteen thousand nine hun-
dred and fifty-seven ; number of preachers nine him-
and four, increase ninety-two.
Mr. Hedding was stationed in New-London. He
sailed from Nantucket to Boston by sloop, travelled
thence by land to Lynn, sent his goods by water to
New-London, and with his wife proceeded by the
stage to his appointment.
Some ten years before he had travelled the New-
12
264 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1820.
London District, and had then formed a general
acquaintance with the society in the city. At that
time the society, though not large, was composed
for the most part of excellent and truly devoted
people. Since then large additions had been made.
Among these were some excellent members; but
many, who had more recently joined, were not reg-
ular and orderly Methodists. They had been the
occasion of much difficulty in the Church, and affairs
were now tending rapidly to a crisis. This -class of
persons made high professions of piety, were disposed
to take a prominent part in all public meetings, and
in all Church matters — except raising funds for its
support. They were exceedingly boisterous and
irregular in their religious exercises, impatient of all
restraint or reproof, censorious in their spirit, and
intolerably uncharitable toward every one — ^not even
excepting their minister — -who did not coincide
with them in all their visionary notions, and partici-
pate in all their irregular and noisy demonstrations.
The reader will now assent .to the fact that a " fit
appointment " had been made in sending Mr. Hed-
ding to the place. His keen insight into man, his
wisdom, and skill, and prudence, and firmness, all
were brought into requisition.
Mr. Hedding soon comprehended the nature of the
case, and resolutely set himself about the cure of the
great evils that had sprung up in the society. This
was a most delicate, difficult, and painful task. In
fact, as it proved in the end, the evil had been so
1820.1 DIS0EGANIZEE8. 265
long tolerated that it was past cure. The irregulars
did nothing toward the support of the preacher, or
toward meeting the incidental expenses of the Church,
and upon the faithfal few the burden fell heavily; but
they endeavoured to bear it like Christian men. It
was impossible to conceive the many modes in which
these deluded persons would annoy both the preacher
and the faithful portion of the Church; it seemed
as though the devil was ever present to help them.
After Mr. Hedding left the charge this faction con-
tinued to aimoy and distract the society, till at
length, by violence, they obtained possession of the
church. Here they now run riot in their fanaticism ;
but they soon quarrelled among themselves, and in
the end came to naught. Some of them turned out
to be immoral and grossly licentious ; others wholly
renounced Christianity, and became avowed infidels.
The old society, for a time, occupied another place of
worship, but eventually recovered their old church
by a process of law ; and being purged from the cor-
ruption that had tainted them, they became a well-
established society. But Methodism received a severe
shock in the place, from which it did not recover for
many years.
During the latter part of this year Mr. Hedding
suffered from an attack of the dyspepsy, and his health
was so completely prostrated that he was compelled
to relinquish his charge. He now began to fear that
his itinerant work was done ; and, much as he had
suffered in that work, the idea of being compelled to
266 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1821.
desist occasioned the most painful feeL'ngs. Under
advice, he determined to try the effect of traYelling
on horseback, though it was with the greatest diffi-
culty that he could mount or dismount, or even hold
his position after he had mounted. Accordingly he
purchased . a horse, and prepared for his journey.
The first day he was able to progress but a few miles;
the next he increased the distance. Thus he con-
tinued to travel for several weeks, his health gradu-
ally improving all the while. In June of that year
he reached Barre, Vermont, in season to attend the
session of the conference, which commenced on the
20th. Bishop George presided at this conference.
His experiment in horseback exercise encouraged
him to hope that he might stand the work a few years
longer, if he could have such work as would require
much out-door exercise, especially on horseback. The
state of his health, and his desire as to the nature of his
work, he made known to the bishop ; and at the close
of the conference he was placed upon the Boston Dis-
trict. The increase in the New-England Conference
this year was one thousand nine hundred and eleven;
and in the whole Church, twenty-one thousand two
hnndred and fifty-six. Seventy-three were also added
to the number of traveUing f reachers.
1821.] BOSTON DIBTEIOT. 267
CHAPTER IX.
MR. HEDDING ON BOSTON DISTEICT AM IN BOSTON-FEOlt 1821
TO 1824.
Boston District— An Inhospitable Methodist — State of the Work— Camp-
meetings — Conference at Bath — Stationed in Boston — Mr. Bedding's
Conference Sermon— Measures to establish Zion's Herald — ^Mr. Bed-
ding's Colleague, Ephraim Wiley — Conference of 1823 — Returned to
Boston — Colleague — John Lindsejr — Review of Mr, Bedding's Labours —
Progress of Methodism — Elements of its Success — 1. Revival of the Old
Doctrines of Christianity — 2. Appeal to Man's Consciousness of his
Relations to God — S. A Conscious Personal Salvation — i. Individualizing
Characteristics of Methodist Preaching — 5. Peculiar Provisions of Or-
ganic Methodism-— Perpetuity of these Elements — Confidence reposed in
Mr. Bedding by his Brethren.
We have already noticed the, appointment of Mr.
Hedding to the Boston District. Though small in
extent when compared with the earlier districts, and
also when compared with some at that time, it em-
braced quite an extent of territory. In the north,
it extended to Cape Ann and Newburyport; in the
south, it included ISTew-Bedford, Plymouth, and all
of Cape Cod, also ISTantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
This, one would think, was a rather laborious field for
a sick man. But no sooner has the conference closed,
than, having fixed his family residence among his old
friends at Lynn, he mounts his horse, and proceeds
to a first survey of his extended work. His health
continued to improve gradually ; but it was nearly a
year before he was fiiUy recovered.
268 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1821.
In the month of March, an incident occurred which
laid the foundation of a severe cold, and came very
near terminating his usefal labours. While journey-
ing to one of his quarterly meetings, on Cape Cod,
he put up for the night "with a certain physician, who
was a member of the Church, and quite a wealthy
man. A " north-east storm " of unusual violence came
on. These storms, especially at that season of the
year, are always severe along the sea-border of lifew-
England; and along the bleak coast of Cape Cod they
have full sweep. Mr. Hedding, finding in the morn-
ing that the violence of the storm was unabated, said
to his wealthy host that, aS he would still have time
to reach his quarterly conference at Provincetown,
he would not contend with the elements, but would re-
main in-doors for the day. The doctor gruffly replied,
" Ton are neither sugar nor salt." The offensive ex-
pression was uttered in such a manner as to give
unmistakable evidence that, such was the meanness
of his nature, he would prefer that the minister of
Christ should be exposed to the inconveniences and
sufferings of the storm, and the danger that might
result to his health and life, than be at the expense
and trouble of entertaining him another day. Mr.
Hedding immediately mounted his horse, and faced
the pelting storm till he came to a more hospitable
place of entertainment. By this exposure he contract-
ed a cold, which settled upon his lungs ; and though
he visited his quarterly meetings, he was not able to
preach again till after the next annual conference.
1821.] BOSTON DISTEIOT. 269
Mr. Hedding at this time gives the following short
account of the condition of the work in his district : —
" The societies throughout the district were generally
orderly, steady, and religious. There were several
very gracious revivals during the year. The society
at Newburyport was young, and struggling with many
embarrassments ; but it prospered notwithstanding its
difficulties. In'Salem the Church had but just com-
menced, and hardly had the breath of life. In Lynn
and Marblehead there were old and well-established
societies, steadily advancing in numbers and influ-
ence. There was an overwhelming revival in Boston.
The societies in Maiden and Cambridge, but in their
infancy, were doing well. Dorchester, though small,
was continually increasing. New-Bedford, limited in
numbers and strength, bid fair to make a good and
useful Church. On Martha's Vineyard there were
several small societies, but composed of devoutly
religious members. Nantucket had a very large and
flourishing Church. All over Cape Cod the societies
were an interesting body of plain and faithful Chris-
tians; the Methodists had preoccupied that ground.
Provincetown, at the end of the cape, was one of the
oldest and best Churches on the district."
During this year he held two camp-meetings, — one
at Wellfleet, on Cape Cod, and the other near New-
Bedford. The former was one of signal profit to the
people, and very many professed conversion. At the
latter he preached the opening sermon. It was a
sermon of great power, and was long remembered by
270 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1822.
many who heard it. His text was, " Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward."
The session of the conference commenced June 29,
1822, at Bath, Maine: Bishop Koberts presided. The
increase in the [New-England Conference this year
was only three hundred and seventy-fotir, making a
membership of twenty thousand and twenty-four ; in
the whole Church, sixteen thousand four hundred and
seventy-six, making a membership of two hundred
and ninety-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-
two ; iQ the itinerant niiQistry, one hundred and
twenty-nine, making the total number one thousand
one hundred and six.
Mr. Hedding says : "At this conference, on account
of my ill health, resulting from a severe cold I had
taken in the March preceding, I requested to give
up the district, and asked the bishop to give me some
small place, where the labour would be less, and I
should be enabled to recover my health. But, in the
council as presiding elder, I soon discovered that the
bishop had set me down for Boston. I again requested
to have some small place ; but the bishop said no.
'Then,' said I, 'put me on the district; for it will
be better for my health than to have so large and
arduous a charge.' But the bishop persisted, and I
was appointed to Boston."
The conference, at its preceding session, had re-
quested Mr. Hedding to preach a sermon at this
conference on the Divinity of Christ. This sermon
gave great satisfaction, and the conference requested a
1822.] OONFEEENCB SEEMON. 271
copy for publication. It was published in tbe seventh
volume of the Methodist Magazine. This sermon is
not distinguished so much for grace of style and
felicity of expression as for clear statement and
sound Scriptural elucidation of Bible truth. The
text taken for the occasion was, "In the beginning
was the Word, and the "Word was with God, and the
"Word was God. * The same was in the beginning with
God." John i, 1, 2. After a brief notice of the errors
that had crept into the infant Church, and which the
evangelist here sought to correct, the author proceeded
to develop what was asserted in the text concerning
Christ. This he shows could mean nothing less than
that he is the Supreme God. The arguments are
less novel than substantial. They exhibit not only an
acquaintance with the best theological writers, but
an amount of close Biblical research creditable to the
author, and giving invincible strength to his positions.
The following are his closing remarks, which we give
as an example of the direct and forcible character of
his style, as well as for the interest of the subject: —
"The subject, then, is brought to this point : we must
either renounce the Bible, and go back with the
pagans to the dim light of nature to be instructed
respecting God and religion, or we must believe what
it declares of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, my breth-
ren, what say you ? Are you prepared to give up the
Bible? Are you willing to be pagans or deists ? No!
you are Christians, — Christians by conviction and
choice. You believe that the Almighty Being who
S 12*
272 LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING. [1822.
made you has redeemed you. You believe in the
v/minj of the Godhead, — not that there are two gods,
nor three gods ; but that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
are one God: one in essence, though three in persons,
or modes of existence. You are, therefore, consist-
ent Unitwrians ; for a Unitarian is a belieyer in
one God. Whereas those who deny the supreme
divinity of Christ, and yet believe the Bible, are not
Unitarians. For they must believe that Christ is God
in some sense, if they suppose him such only by office ;
andif they believe he is God in any other sense what-
ever than that in which we have proved him to be,
then they believe in at least two gods, — a Supreme
God, and a secondary god !
" The faith we entertain in our Lord and Master is
perfectly consistent with his whole life. It is true,
that in a few instances, when speaking of his human
nature, or of his office as Mediator, he represents
himself less than the Father; but he always does
this in such a manner, or in such circumstances,
as to make it appear that he speaks of his human-
ity, or of his office as Mediator; showing us, at the
same time, that what he says on this point is not
inconsistent with his supreme divinity. Take an
example: 'My Father is greater than I.' These are
suitable words for the Et&rnal Word to use in the
time of his humiliation. But for the highest creature
in the universe it would be a haughty piece of humil-
ity to say, Ood is great&r tha/n I. What should we
think of Moses, Isaiah, or Paul, had one of them said
1822.] OONFEEENCE 8EEM0N. 273
S0 1 And if Jesus were only a man, as some say, —
admitting him to be higher than any man on earth, or
any angel in heaven,^ — how would he appear saying,
God is greater than I? What comparison can there
be between the Infinite Qod and any creature ?
"The conduct, conversation, and preaching of
Christ were calculated to lead the people into a belief
of his divinity. He wrought his miracles in his
own name. He used the same language respecting
himself, that the God of the Hebrews had done con-
cerning himself: ^Before Abraham, was, I am,^ He
claimed equal honours with the Father. He pro-
fessed to be able to do what none but God could
do. ' The Son qidckeneth whom he will. Hie dead
shall heofr Me voice of the Son of God, a/nd they that
hea/r shall Ivoe. All that a/re in the grames shall hea/r
his voice, and shall comeforth.^ He could lay down
and take up the life of his body at pleasure, by his
own power: '■ I home power to lory it down, a/nd I home
power to take it v/p aga/m.'' He spoke of this power
as an evidence of his divinity. ' If I do not the
works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do,
though ye believe not me, believe the works ; that ye
may know and believe that the Father is iji me, and
I in him.' He speaks of himself as being of the
same essence with the Father, by saying, 'He that
believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him
that sent me.' ' If ye had known me, ye should have
known my Father also.' ' He that seeth me, seeth him
that sent me.'
274: LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1822.
" Christ proMbited the people serving any other
but the true God: ' Him only shalt thou serve.' Yet
he frequently required them to serve him, love him,
&c. He commanded them to place the same confi-
dence in him they placed in the Father : ' Ye be-
lieve in God, believe also in me.' And all these du-
ties he enforced, by promising to give them the
greatest possible blessings — ^blessings which none but
God could give : ' I will give you rest — -/ will receive
you wnto myself.'' ' If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it.' '/ gi/ve unto them eternal life.
I will raise him up at the last dayJ 'He that be-
lieveth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live.'
" He speaks of himself as having authority to send
the Holy Spirit : ' But if I depart, I will send him
unto you.' ' He shall glorify me; for he shall receive
of Tnine, and shall show it unto you.'
" Consider how Christ uniformly condemned osten-
tation, and recommended humility. Hear him say to
his disciples, ^JBe not ye called Sahhi — neither he ye
called mast&rs^ Then hear him speak of himself:
' For one is your Master, even Christ.' ' Ye call me
Master and Lord, and ye say well ; for so I am.'
" If Jesus Christ be God, all these declarations re-
specting himself appear consistent, rational, and sub-
lime. But call him a mere creature, and you change
the character from the highest state of glory to the
lowest state of degradation and wretchedness. For
then, instead of appearing to us as that merciful and
1822.] CONFEEENOE 8EEM0N. 275
powerfal God he represented himself to be, he comes
forward only as the son of Joseph and Mary, only
as Jesus of Nazareth — a mere man! yet assum-
ing the authority of God, claiming all the honours
and services God claimed, professing to do all that
God did, promising in his own name all that God
promised, even blessings which none but God could
bestoV — making himself equal with God! In this
view of him, it is impossible for us to believe that
he was even a good mem.
" Further, viewing him as a mere creature, if we
could believe he was a good man, and if we could
keep ouf souls from being chiUed with horror at his
high-sounding pretensions, what excellence could we
see in him superior to that of many other servants of
God ? If he were but a creature, he made no atone-
ment for sin, which, I believe, all allow who deny his
divinity. Take away the divinity and the atone-
ment, and wherein, I ask again, is he superior to the
other servants of God ? Leave him destitute of these
excellences, and he falls at once into a level with his
fdlow-areabwi'es. He taught no more than Moses had
taught before him ; he brought no new light into the
world, though lie sadd he was the light of the world. Is
it said, He set a good example ? So did other servants
of God. You reply. He laboured for the good of man-
kind. Moses did more for the Hebrews than he did ;
Paul laboured more abundantly. Jesus preached
three or four years ; Paul preached about thirty
years. Jesus preached only through Palestine ; Clem-
276 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1822.
ent says, Paul preached in the east, and to the
uttermost bounds of the west. Did Jesus work mirar
cles ? Paul probably wrought more, for he lived
longer; and if both were only men, both were
equally dependent for the power by which they
wrought them. ' But Jesus died for sinners.' Hold !
This strange doctrine says he dAd not die to atone for
sin, he died only as a martyr/ So did Isaiah; so
did Paul. But it is further stated, ' He is the Son
of God." God has other sons besides him ; and if
he be only a man, we do not believe our heavenly
Father placed him so much above his brethren, as he
represents himself to be ; Paul was a son of God also.
Finally, making Jesus the character to which we
have alluded, Paul did more for the salvation of man-,
kind than Jesus did ; and we are under greater obliga-
tions to Paul than to Jesus I Exclude the divinity
and the atonement, and everything that is said in
the Bible about salvation by Christ is a mere sound
of words. Paul saved us in the same sense Jesus
did, and suffered more to accomplish the work than
Jesus did 1
" Again, supposing Jesus to have been the mere
creature many imagine he was, it is no wonder the
Jews were offended at the high pretensions he set up.
They understood those pretensions to be blasphemy,
oftej accused him of that crime, and supposed their
law (Lev. xxiv, 16) required them to put him to death.
And if he were only a man, who can prove that the
Jews had not good reasons for attempting to kill him,
1822.] OONFEKENOE BEEMON. 277
because he made Jmnself equal with God ? Sucli are
the shocking consequences of denjdng the divinity
of Christ.
" But, my brethren, we are not led away with these
derogatory views of the Son of God. We believe tie
18 that Sock on which the Ohwch is built, and by
which it is supported, so that the gates of hell shall
not pre/vaM against it, ' For other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.' Then let us cleave to him with all our
hearts, holding the hegirming of ov/r confidence stead-
fast imto the end. Believing Christ was what he pro-
fessed to be, we respect the faith of the apostles, and
admire their conduct when they worshipped him,
and preached him to the world as an Almighty
Saviour, able to same them to the uttermost that camie
unto God by him, / and when they wrought miracles
in Jam name, calling on the people to believe in him,
encouraging them to expect he would pardon their
sins, send down the Holy Spirit to sanctify their na-
tures, and save their souls. These views of Christ
carried the apostles among Jews and heathen, by land
and water, through prisons, blood, and fire, among
wild beasts, crosses, and gibbets, to pluck human
souls as brands from the fire. By these views, the
faithful servants of God, from the apostles down till
now, have been animated and rendered successful in
preaching Christ crucified to a dying world.
" Then, my brethren, let us go forward, in the name
of our Almighty Master, and vindicate his iiyured
278 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIKG. [1822.
honour ; and, by the best of our ability, to the end of
life, maintain his cause, by doing all in our power to
be the means of saving the souls he purchased by his
blood."
The conference requested the publication of this
sermon as early as June, 1822; its publication was
not commenced till the August number of the Meth-
odist Magazine for 1824. It was then completed in
two numbers.
At the conference of 1822, the question of estab-
lishing a religious newspaper was brought before the
body ; and, after full discussion, it waa determined to
go forward in the enterprise. The conference ap-
pointed a committee to carry its purpose into effect.
Mr. Hedding was an active Mend of the measure,
and one of the committee. The paper was to be
issued from Boston; and, as Mr. Hedding was the
only one of the committee in that vicinity, the biJBen
of the enterprise fell upon him. The result was the
establishment of the Zion's Herald, the first weekly
religious newspaper established under the patronage
of the Church ; and, indeed, among the first estab-
lished in the country.
Mr. Hedding's colleague in Boston this year was
Ephraim "Wiley, who had also been in the city the
preceding year in connexion with Rev. S. "W. Wilson.
Mr. Wiley was received on trial in 1818, and during
the first two years of his ministry was stationed in
Wellfieet, the third in Maiden, and the next two in
Boston. Mr. Hedding says of him: "He was a
1823.] EPHEAIM WILEY. 279
pleasant, useful, and popular preacher; and we la-
boured together in great harmony. Although the
year was not characterized for great revivals, there
was a good state of religious interest in the Churches;
it was a year of profit and some ingathering." Mr.
"Wiley tjontinued many years an efficient and popular
minister ; but was finally returned superannuated in
1839. Two of his sons graduated at the Wesleyan
University : one of them became a physician, and the
other is the Rev. E. E.-Wiley, D. D., President of the
Emory and Henry College in "Western Yirginia.
Bishop George presided at the conference in 1823 ;
and its sessions commenced in Providence, Rhode
Island, June 12th. The work was still advancing in
New-England. Places heretofore inaccessible, on ac-
count of their remoteness, or on account of the invin-
cible wall of bigotry and prejudice that defended
them; were constantly invaded, and the standard of
Methodism planted in their very midst. The old cir-
cuits, too, as the society became strong in nimibers
and in ability, were constantly contracting their bor-
ders by the excision of parts, which were organized
into new stations or circuits. The summation for this
year was twenty thousand nine hundred and twenty-
six,* increase nine hundred and two ; membership in
the whole Church, three hundred and twelve thousand
five hundred and forty, increase fourteen thousand
" The General Minutes for this year make it twenty-one thousand
nine hundred and twenty-six, an error of one thousand made in
adding. "^
280 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1823.
nine hundred and eight; travelling ministers one
thousand two hundred and twenty-six, increase one
hundred and twenty.
Mr. Hedding was reappointed to Boston, with the
Rev. John Lindsey as his colleague. Mr. Lindsey was
a native of Lynn, Massachusetts, and was amoag the
early fruits of Methodism in that place, and entered
the travelling ministry in 1809. Mr. Hedding says
of him : " He was a true friend and a good preacher.
"We laboured together during the year in great broth-
erly love — ^preaching, praying, and visiting the classes."
The Christian affection established between these two
men of God at this early day, continued unabated for
more than a quarter of a century ; when Mr. Lindsey
fell, while yet in the heat of the battle, with his armour
still girded upon him. The following extract from a
letter, written by Mr. Hedding after the death of his
old colleague, will show his estimate of his character
and life: "His religious experience was deep and
genuine. His spirit and manner of life were devout,
and religiously upright. He was a man of indus-
trious habits, and manifested that industry in all the
departments of his duty. He was a man of more
than ordinary talents, and by industry and persevei--
ance he acquired a large amount of useful knowledge.
He was really a sound and learned divine. He had
great resolution in the pursuit of his labours and the
prosecution of his duties. Many of his appointments
required great mental effort and bodily labours ; but
he braved the summer's heat, and the winter's cold
1823.] OHUKOH IN EABT OAMBEIDGE. 281
and snows, and, like a good soldier of Jesus Christ,
accomplislied his work. His labours were frequently
followed witli blessings on the souls of the people, —
both in edifying and strengthening the children of
God and in awakening and converting sinners. He
was a man by nature of a kind heart ; and by grace
that affection was sanctified and strengthened. He
was an abiding friend to his friends, and he had a
heart to forgive an enemy." Such was the character
of Mr. Hedding's colleague in the last appointment
he filled before his elevation to the episcopal office.
One of his sons, the Eev. J. "W. Lindsey, A. M., is
now a professor in the Wesleyan University at Mid-
dletown, Connecticut.
Through the labours of Mr. Hedding and his col-
league, a church was erected at what is now called East
Cambridge, the corner-stone of which was laid by
Mr. Hedding in the midst of a violent snow-storm.
Such was the zeal of the people that the storm did
not prevent their assembling ; and the preachers were
not a whit behind them in braving obstacles when a
great work was before them.
As this year terminated Mr. Hedding's special con-
nexion with the New-England Conference, by his
election to the episcopal office, it may be well to sur-
vey the progress of the work during his connexion
with it. As we have already seen, his first field of
labour was in Yermont ; and, with the exception of
one year, all his subsequent fields of labour were
included mainly in New-England. He went out first
282 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1823.
under the presiding elder, in 1799. The whole mem-
bership of the Church, then, was sixty-one thousand
three hundred and fifty-one, of whom twelve thousand
two hundred and thirty six — or about one-fifth of
the whole — were coloured; and the whole number
of preachers two himdred and seventy-two. In the
territory subsequently included in the iNfew-Eng-
land Conference, there were then but two thousand
nine hundred and seventy-five members, and thirtjs-
one preachers. The aggregate, at the close of this
year, was twenty-one thousand six hundred and
twenty-five members, and one hundred and fifty-
seven travelling preachers. Then there were very
few churches, and but little provision made for the
support of the preachers or their families; now
churches had been established ia almost every sec-
tion of the work, and the people had become better
able to make the preachers and their families com-
fortable. Then the societies were generally a mere
handftd, widely separated from each other on the ex-
tensive circuits, and could be reached only by long
and fatiguing rides over bad and often dangerous
roads ; now the circuits had generally become con-
tracted, so as to lessen the physical labour and
exposure necessary in performing the services they
required ; and many of the societies that had become
sufficiently strong had been organized into stations,
and enjoyed the entire pastoral oversight as well as
ministerial labour of the preacher. Then Methodist
publications were very rare, and difficult to be ob-
1823.] PE0GEE8S OF METHODISM. 283
tained, and among the people there were few books
except those published by Calvinists and of Calvinistic
tendencies; but these few were greatly prized, and
were read and re-read, and then loaned to their neigh-
bours. Now the Book Concern in New- York had
begun to develop its giant energies, and was rapidly
increasing its li^ of publications, and in a still higher
ratio the number of its issues ; so that, by the efficient
agency of the preachers, Methodist literature was dif-
fused through all the land. Then the daring itinerant,
who went forth into distant regions to " break up new
ground," though in the wildest country and among
the poorest people, was left to the chances of fortune
or the providence of God for his support, and even for
shelter for his head. ISTow the missionary spirit had
been evoked in the Church, and a society had been
organized, which, though still greatly inadequate, was
doing a good work to help forward the cause in the
waste places and in the frontier settlements. The broad
foundations of a noble superstructure had been wisely
and firmly laid. Many of the fathers had been gathered
to their rest, Whatcoat, and Coke, and Asbury, and
"Wilson, and Branch, and Moriarty, and Michael Ooate,
and Jesse Lee, were no longer marshalled in the van of
the sacramental host ; but in their places God had raised
up other standard-bearers—not less single in purpose,
and not less valiant in the conflict. Thjis, while the
instruments were subject to the common frailty of
earth, the work itself possessed a perpetuity that
demonstrated its divine origin.
284 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [X823.
It -will also be well to glance at the peculiar means
by whicb such great results had been realized ; or, in
other words, to invite the attention of the reader to
the grand elements of success in the Methodistic
movement. "Without at all denying the providential
origin of Methodism, we may proi&tably search out
the secondary causes — ^the instruments of Providence
— ^by which its grand results have been realized.
Such inquiries may not only discover to us the foun-
dations of our strength, but also, if the spirit of our
fathers in any degree remains, may lead us to seek
after the " old paths." Isaac Taylor, by far the most
philosophical writer that has ever essayed the prob-
lem of Methodism, says, that " the product of the
Methodist ministrations was such as has no parallel,
even in the most exciting moments of the Refor-
mation; nor has it had any parallel in these later
times."
The same writer adds; "In what proportion of
instances the Methodistic movement, which affected so
many thousands of hearers through its forty years of
primitive energy, did in fact issue in producing a
godly, righteous, and sober life, we are not now con-
cerned to inquire ; nor would such an inquiry, how-
ever laboriously instituted, yield any satisfactory
result. What we have to do with is not that which
can be known only in heaven, but that which is
patent and unquestionable, namely,— -that Protestant
doctrine, proclaimed by men variously gifted and
qualified, did, through a course of years, and where
1823.] ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS. 285
ever carried, affect the minds of thousands of persons,
not in the way of a transient excitement, but effec-
tively and permanently. The very same things had
been affirmed, from year to year, by able and sincere
preachers, in the hearing of congregations assenting to
all they heard — not indeed altogether without effect ;
yet with no suqh effect as that which ordinarily, if
not invariably, attended the Methodistic preaching.
Nor, if we look beyond the pale of religious influ-
ence, had any previous ministrations of the same
Protestant doctrines taken hold, as this did, or in any
remarkable manner, of the imtaught masses of the
people — the non-attendants upon public worship —
the heathen million that circulates every Sunday
around churches and chapels. Let it be said — and
we hold it as an undoubted truth, and a truth apart
from which the facts before us must be wholly inexpli-
cable— that the Methodistic proclamation of the gospel
was rendered effective by a divine energy, granted at
the time, in a sovereign manner, and in an unwonted
degree ; but this truth remembered always as it ought
to be, the question returns, — ^What were the principal
elements of that religious impression which Meth-
odistic preaching so generally produced ?"
The above sets forth precisely the question we
have just proposed to ourselves ; and also contains an
acknowledgment and a lucid statement of the facts
that will ever give a lively iaterest to this question in
the mind of the Christian philosopher. "We may not
perhaps view the subject in the same light as Isaac
286 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINQ. [1823.
Taylor, for we contemplate it from an altogether dif-
ferent stand-point, — one, however, we believe, not less
favourable to a candid and correct observation.
In the first place, then, we would say that in the
Methodistic reformation there was the revival of the
old doctrines of Christianity, which, if they had not
been formally renounced, had become obsolete and
powerless. The revival of these doctrines, or the
planting of a doctrinal basis, however, could not
alone have produced these results. The doctrines of
universal atonement by the blood of Jesus, of justifica-
tion by faith, of adoption and purification, and of the
conscious testimony of the Spirit of God to our justifi-
cation and adoption, — ^all might have been preached
without any such result. They might have been drawn
out with logical exactness, and demonstrated with
mathematical precision, and yet have been— as they
often were — so completely neutralized by cold for-
malities, and by the utter absence of that spirit which
constitutes the growing power of all Christian teach-
ing, as to cause them to fall powerless upon the dozing
multitude. Thus a soimd orthodoxy — -the shell of
Christianity — ^may be maintained, though vitalized by
the breath of no living spirit. But these doctrines,
as they were preached by the early heroes of Meth-
odism, fell directly upon the hearts of men, and
awakened that dormant religious consciousness, or
innate sense of our personal relationship to Christ
as our .Redeemer and Saviour, and to God as our
final Judge, which had well nigh been extinguished
1823.] ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS. 287
by the formalism of the age. Keligion then became
a reality to the people. The heart is always the strong-
hold of sin, and the conscience is the gi-eat avenger
of wrong. These, however, can be reached, not by
modes, and forms, and processes of reasoning, but by
direct appeals coming from a heart powerfully quick-
ened in its sensil^ilities, and a conscience all alive to
truth and God. In ancient times, when a prophet
came forth with a "Thus saith the Lord," into the
temple or public assemblies of God's ancient people,
there was something unexpressed and inexpressible
in human language, that said to the hearts of the mul-
titude, " This is God's messenger," and thus vindicated
his authority. So in modem times, when a man has
a special mission from God, and goes forth in the spirit
of that mission, every movement and every word vin-
dicates the authenticity of his message and the genu-
ineness of his mission.
Again, this awakening of the consciousness of per-
sonal relationship to God had its correlatives. First,
it completely annihilated the old Romish idea of
Christianity — an idea also grafted upon the Church
of England and developed in her organization and
spirit — the idea that the Church is to lift from the
individual his personal responsibility, and assume the
responsibility of his safe conveyance to heaven. It
assumes that all born within the pale of the Church,
and all coming within that pale, belong to the Church ;
and whatever belongs to the Church is entitled,
through the Church, to heaven. Methodism in con-
T 13
288 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1823.
travention to this "Churcli idea," as it has been
called, came directly to the sinner's heart and con-
science, and brought up directly to his view, not the
Church, but Christ as a refuge from his sins. And
then again, having awakened the personal conscious-
ness, it developed the elements of a new life — a per-
manent, spiritual, growing life.
IndiAnd/ualizmg was a characteristic of all early
Methodist preaching. Each man had his peculiar
style: "Wesley was sententious and solid, Whitefield
was imaginative and impassioned. Coke was discursive
and almost hypercritical, Nelson was untrammelled by
any principles of logic or rules of rhetoric ; and yet in
the preaching of all these men, mdimidualizvng was a
common, nay, universal characteristic. They spoke
to the individual soul: "My message is to tliee,
sinner I I stand here to-day to bring tJiee to bethink
thyself of thy past ways. Thou who dost now appear
in the presence of thy God— loathsome in thy sins — I
challenge and command thee to bow thy stubborn
neck, to bend thy stubborn knee. Dost not thou —
even thou, ungrateful as thou hast been these many
years — yea, a hardened rebel from thy mother's breast
even until now— dost thou not hear the Saviour
calling to thee to repent and to turn ? "Was it not for
thee that he shed his blood ? Did he not carry thy
sorrows on Calvary, even thine? "Was he not
wounded for thy transgressions? Did he not think
of thee, of thy soul, and of all its abominations, that
dark night when he lay in agony on the ground I
1823.] ELEMENTS OF STJOOESS, 289
Yea. It was thine own sins that made him sweat
blood in that garden. But now, with a purpose of
mercy in his heart toward thy wretched soul, he calls
thee to himself, and says — yes, he says it to thee —
' Come now, let us reason together.' " Such is a faint
semblance — for only a faint semblance can be trans-
ferred to paper — of the direct, pungent, personal, and
awakening appeals carried home by the Spirit of
God to the sinner's heart.
Following these philosophical and spiritual ele-
ments of Methodism were other elements, less funda-
mental, it may be, but scarcely less important. Their
extemporaneous style of preaching — so completely
adapted to the individualizing messages, as no other
style could be — was equally novel and attractive.
Nor did it lose any of its power to subdue and con-
trol, because of homely style and blunt phrases. It
was a ministry of the heart, of power — 'to the heart,
and to the masses of the people. The systematic
organization of Methodism guarded against a useless
expenditure, a waste of this power. Its conferences
— general, annual and^ quarterly ; its districts, cir-
cuits, and itinerancy ; its social convocations, in
which Christian experience was nurtured and Chris-
tian zeal was inspired anew; its school of constant
exercise, where large use was made of the smallest
talent and great gains realized from it,— these were
some of the minor agencies that co-worked with the
higher elements of the Methodistjc reformation.
Without those higher elements, these might have
290 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1823.
existed, but they would have been empty and unpro-
ductive. On the other hand, without these, those
higher principles would have wasted their energy in
spasmodic manifestations. Such is a faint outline
picture of the genius of Methodism, providentiaQy
raised up by God to be an efficient co-worker in
spreading Scripture holiness over all these lands.
Now if we carefully examine these elements, or
even these organic provisions, there is not one in the
whole series that may not exist in perpetuity. There
is, then, no elemental cause, unless it be found in
principles of our nature not here brought to view,
why Methodism might not have retained its pris-
tine energy and its aggressive concLuests till God's
purpose had been realized in the complete destruction
of Satan's empire among men.
"We can pursue this investigation no further. Our
limits have allowed us only a glance at some of the
most important aspects of the question, and of others
we could give only fragmentary glimpses. We must
now return to the thread of our narrative.
At the session of the conference for 1823, Mr.
Hedding was elected, as he had been four times
before, to represent, that body in the General Con-
ference. The vote for him had been uniformly almost
unanimous. It is said that he never lacked more
than two or three of the entire number of votes cast.
The conference elected fourteen delegates, and among
them are the names of Pickering, Merritt, Mudge,
Merrill, Kilbum, Lindsey, Fisk, Hoyt, aud others In
1823,] DELEGATE! TO &ENEKAL OONFEBBNCE. 2&1
the unanimity of the vote cast for him as a delegate
by the members of his conference, and in the hearty
and cordial support given to him for the epiacopal
office by his brethren, we have evidence of the esti-
mation in which he was held by them — especially
those who had known him longest and who knew
him best. It wiU not be too much to say that his
subsequent career abundantly proved that this con-
fidence was not misplaced.
The General Conference of 1824 and the election
of Mr. Hedding to the episcopal office, will form the
subject of our next chapter.
292 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1824.
CHAPTER X.
GENERAL CONPEEEKCB OP 1824, AHB MK, BEDDING'S
ELECTION TO THE EPISCOPACY.
Repiesentation in the General Conference — British Delegation — Address
of the Bishops — Educational Demands upon the Church — Beligious
Education of the Children — Seminaries and Fuhlic Schools — Mission-
ary Society — Book Concern — Slavery and the " Tenth Section " — Me-
morials on Lay Delegation — Action of the Conference — Reasons As-
signed— The Presiding-Elder Question — Ballotings for Bishops — Mr.
Bedding's Election — His Beluctance to heing a Candidate — Her. E.
Mudge's Account — Feelings after Election — Subsequent Resolution of the
Conference — Accepts the Office and is ordained — Fitness for the Office.
The General Conference of 1824 commenced its ses-
sion in tlie city of Baltimore on the Ist day of May,
as usual. Twelve conferences were represented by
one hundred and thirty-three delegates, distributed
as follows: ITew-Tork Conference, seventeen; New-
England, fourteen ; Genesee, twelve ; Ohio, fifteen ;
Kentucky, eight ; Missouri, five ; Tennessee, ten ;
Mississippi, three ; South Carohna, eleven ; Yirginia,
nine ;, Baltimore, fifteen; Philadelphia, fourteen. A
large proportion of the strong men of the Church in
that day are found in this list of delegates, and
questions of great moment were to be discussed and
decided by them. Bishops M'Kendree, George, and
Roberts were present.
At the General Conference of 1820, Eev. John
Emory had been appointed delegate to the "Wesleyan
1824.] GENEEAL OONFEEENOB. 293
Conference in England, in order to promote fraternal
relations between the two great "Wesleyan bodies.
At this session, Eev. Eichard Eeece, with Eev. John
Hannah as his trarelling companion, appeared as the
representative of that body to the Methodist Epis-
copal Church in the United States. The first day of
the session was, spent mainly in the organization of
the conference, appointment of committees, &c. On
the second day the British delegates were introduced
by Bishop M'Kendree, and the reading of the address
of the British Conference was followed by a neat ad-
dress from Eev. Richard Eeece. Both these addresses
evinced the kindest sympathy with the Church in this
country, and a strong and sincere desire to preserve
more intimate fraternal relations with it.
After this the address of the bishops was presented.
Among the topics brought to the consideration of
the conference, in this document, were the state and
progress of the work, the necessity of increasing the
number of superintendents, the division and chang-
ing of the boundaries of some of the annual confer-
ences, memorials on the subject of our Church gov-
ernment, peculiar condition of the work in Canada,
the Book Concern and the circulation of our books,
the local district conferences, the financial system of
the Church, the instruction and education of our
children and youth, the importance of supporting the
plan of an itinerant ministry, and of preserving the
union and integrity of the Church. These subjects
were referred to the appropriate committees.
294: LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1824.
The subject of education engaged tlie earnest atten-
tion of the conference. Multitudes of young people
had been gathered into the church and congrega-
tions, or were connected with it as the children of
its members — for the moral and mental training of
which she could not but recognise her obligations.
In the short period of fifty-one years her member-
ship had rtm up from one thousand one hundred and
sixty, with ten preachers, to three hundred and
twenty-eight thousand five himdred and twenty-three,
with one thousand two hundred and seventy-two
preachers. Having "everything to do" — all her
societies £o organize, her churches and parsonages
to build, and that too among a comparatively poor
people — ^it is not a matter of surprise that, with such
a rapid expansion of her work and her responsibili-
ties, she should be found with inadequate provision
to meet them. This confearence seemed disposed to
recognise the full measure of its obligation both as to
the religious care of the children, and also the more
general education of all young persons under the
influence of the Church.
To meet the former want, it was proposed that every
preacher should obtain the names of the children
connected with his charge, form them into classes for
the purpose of giving them religious instruction, and
that, so far as practicable, he should instruct them
in person. Had this provision been faithfully car-
ried out in every circuit and station for the past thirty
years, how vast the influence it would have had upon
1824.] EDUCATIONAL INTEEESTS. 295
the character and destinies of the Church I Within
this thirty years, what an intelligent membership
should we have raised up 1 What multitudes of our
children and youth, by being early instructed in the
Scriptures and in Methodism, would have been pre-
vented from growing up in frivolity, in indiffer-
ence to religious things, and in sin! How many
would have been prevented from growing up without
any special ties of attachment, or feelings of venera-
tion for the Church that should have been their
"nursing mother," and thus left to wander away
into the world, or perchance into other Christian com-
munions I What a host of teachers in our Sunday
schools and in our schools of general learning, of in-
telligent and active official members in the Church,
and of ministers and missionaries, might have been
raised up to do battle for G-od — even from among
those now completely lost to us, if not to God and
heaven! Thanks be to God! our Sunday schools
are now doing a good work in these respects ; but
they can never answer as a substitute for either
parental religious education, or that religious instruc-
tion which may be imparted so efficiently by one
reverenced as is the pastor of a Church by the chil-
dren of his flock.
To meet the second want, the conference renewed
the recommendation of 1820, that every annual con-
ference put forth its utmost exertions for the estab-
lishment of a seminary of learning within its bounds ;
and also that every travelling preacher keep in mind
13*
296 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIWa. [1824.
the importance of having STiitahle teachers employed
in the instruction of the youth of our country, and to
use his influence to introduce teachers into schools
whose learning, piety^ and religious tenets were such
aa would insure the right moral education of the
young. The former recommendation may be re-
garded as the origin of that grand movement which
has given birth to so many noble institutions of learn-
ing in almost every part of the Church. The second,
owing to the constant change of our ministers in
accordance with our itinerant system, was encum-
bered with some difficulties, as a new resident in a
place cannot always command that local influence,
even though he be a minister, nor can he possess that
thorough knowledge of local interests which would be
requisite in order to have the recommendation effi-
ciently carried out. Nevertheless, it suggests an obli-
gation of great practical importance, and one of which
the minister of Christ should never lose sight.
The operations of the infant Missionary Society
also claimed the attention of the General Conference ;
and among other provisions made, preliminary steps
were taken for the establishment of a mission in Li-
beria and the appointment of missionaries to labour
there.
The interests of the Book Concern were also care-
fully considered : Nathan Bangs and John Emory
were appointed agents. The Magazine was contin-
ued, and authority given for the issue of a weekly
paper, the Christian Advocate and Journal, which
1824.1 LAY DELEGATION. 297
was commenced in 1826. Up to the present, this
continues to be the most widely-circulated religious
journal of the kind in the country, if not in the
world.
The question of slavery, everywhere present in
the councils of the Church and of the state, found its
way into this hody ; and after no little discussion and
feeling, the celebrated " Tenth Section " was elabo-
rated and adopted precisely as it now appears in the
Methodist Discipline.
Among the most exciting questions before the body
at this session was that of "lay delegation" in the
General and Annual Conferences. Memorials and
petitions from local preachers and from lay-members
had come up from different parts of the work request-
ing the privilege of a voice in the legislative depart-
ment of the Church. This subject received the ear-
nest attention of the conference. There was a strong
desire to give a full hearing to the memorialists, and
to weigh carefully the arguments they presented.
But the conference became satisfied that so radical a
change ia the economy of the Church would be a
hazardous experiment, and therefore declined to
make it.
They deemed the subject, however, of so much im-
portance as to send forth a circular to the petitioners
and memorialists, showing the fallacies and miscon-
ceptions with reference to rights -set forth in the memo-
rials, and also the reasons which induced the body to
decline the changes proposed. "With reference to the
298 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1824.
reasons assigned for the proposed change, the confer-
ence says : " We rejoice to know that the proposed
change is not contemplated as a remedy for evils which
now exist in some infraction of the rights and privi-
leges of the people, as defined to them by the form
of Discipline ; but that it is offered, either in antici-
pation of the possible existence of such evils, or else
on a supposition of abstract rights, which, in the
opinidn of some, should form the basis of our gov-
ernment" Upon the question of abstract rights and
privileges urged by some of the memorialists, drawn
from the analogy instituted between the state and
the Church, they reply : " If by rights and privileges
it is intended to signify something foreign from the
institutions of the Church, as we received them from
our fathers, pardon us if we know no such rights — ^if
we do not comprehend subh privileges. With our
brethren everywhere we rejoice that the institutions
of our happy country are admirably calculated to
secure the best ends of civil government. With their
rights as citizens of these United States, the Church
disclaims all interference ; but that it should be
inferred from these what are your rights as Methodists,
seems to us no less surprising than if your Methodism
should be made the criterion of your rights as citi-
zens."
The main reasons assigned for the inexpediency of
the proposed change are, in substance, that it would
tend to create a distiilction of interests between the
itinerancy and the membership of the Church — ^tKat
1824.] THE PEE8IDING-ELDEE QUEBTIOK. 299
it presupposes that the authority of the General Con-
ference, or the manner of exercising it, is displeasing
to the Church, whereas the reverse appeared to be the
case — ^that it would involve a tedious procedure, incon-
venient in itself, and calculated to agitate the Church
to her injury — and finally, that it would give those
districts which .are conveniently situated, and could
therefore secure the attendance of their delegates,
an undue influence in the government of the Church.
Many of the memorialists on further reflection, and
upon carefully weighing the reasons assigned by the
General Conference for not granting their request,
became satisfied that the change was of less import-
ance to themselves than they had at first supposed,
and that the objections to so radical a change in our
economy had not been by them folly comprehended,
and they were therefore contented to remain in the
Church and to sustain its organization as it was.
Others subsequently withdrew fi^om the connexion
and organized the Methodist Protestant Church.
But the most exciting of all questions, and that
upon which the confiicting parties in the conference
were more nearly balanced, was " the presiding-elder
question." The measures adopted by the General
Conference of 1820, as we have already seen, were
suspended for four years. Those opposed to them were
not sufficiently confident of their strength at this con-
ference to attempt their repeal, and therefore moved
a continuance of the siaspension for four years longer.
Then came the " tug of war."" Every member was on
300 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1824,
the alert. "Warm and earnest was the discussion.
"When the vote was about to he taken, it was recol-
lected that one of the delegates, by the appointment
of the conference, was then preaching in a church
three-quarters of a mile distant. A messenger was
despatched post-haste, and finding him in the midst
of his sermon, he came behind him in the pulpit,
twitched his coat to arrest his attention, and then
hastily communicated the call for his presence in the
General Conference. Leaving the messenger to make
his apology to the congregation, and also to close the
services, the preacher hastened to his post in the con-
ference. Here he arrived, panting for breath and
bathed with perspiration, just after the decision in
favour of postponement had been announced. As
this decision accorded with his views, he was content
to let the matter rest.
This question entered largely into the canvass for
the election of bishops. The conference having de-
termined upon the election of two, each party brought
forward their strong candidates. On the one side
Joshua Soule and William Beauchamp, and on the
other Elijah Hedding and John Emory, were brought
forward for the suffrages of their brethren. On the
first ballot there were one hundred and twenty-eight
votes cast, requiring sixty-five for an election. Joshua
Soule had sixty-four, Elijah Hedding sixty-one, Wil-
liam Beauchamp sixty-two, John Emory fifty-nine,
and ten scattering. On the second ballot Joshua
Soule had sixty-five, and was elected; EHjah Hedding
1824.] ELECTED BISHOP. 301
sixty-four, William Beauchamp sixty-two, and Jolm
Emory fifty-eight, and five scattering. Eev. John
Emory then withdrew his name from the canvass;
and, on ballotting a third time, Elijah Hedding
received sixty-six votes, and was elected. On this
ballotting William Beauchamp received sixty votes,
and there were 'two scattering.
In 1820, many of his brethren had desired Mr.
Hedding's consent to be placed in nomination for
the episcopal office ; but this he absolutely refused.
Early in the session of this conference the minds of a
large portion of his brethren seemed to centre upon
him again. It was, however, with extreme reluctance
that he allowed his name to be used. This reluctance
was sincere and unaffected. The Eev. Enoch Mudge
says : " I believe I was the first who named to him at
the General Conference that a number of his brethren
had determined to bring him forward as a candidate
for the episcopal office. Although it is a true saying
that if a mam, desireth the office of a hishop he desvreth
a good work, it is certainly not what he desired or
sought. I well remember how it affected him. He
wept, remonstrated, and urged a number of objections
against the movement. I urged such considerations
as appeared to me to be valid, and in view of which
I thought he ought not to object. He yielded in the
end, but only because he was constrained to do so by the
united and urgent solicitations of his northern breth-
ren." After the chair had announced his election, Mr.
Hedding says : "Many of my dear brethren rejoiced,
302 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1824.
and presented me their kindest congratulations ; but
my heart sunk within me, and a gloomy impression
that I had consented to undertake what I could never
accomplish overwhelmed me." His main objections
seemed to be, first, a deep conviction that he was not
possessed of either the piety or the administrative qual-
ifications requisite for the oflSce ; and, secondly, the
infirm and uncertain state of his health.
At a suitable time, Mr. Hedding expressed his
feelings and convictions upon the subject to the con-
ference. So great was the sense of unworthiness and
unfitness that had come upon him, that he doubted
whether he could consent to be ordained; and re-
quested time to consider the subject, and to pray for
divine direction. After making this statement with
tears, he retired from the Church. Immediately after
his departure the following resolution was presented
and unanimously passed by the conference : —
'''■ Resol/oed, That we do entertain unlimited con-
fidence in the integrity, ability, and ministerial worth
of our beloved brother, Elij ah Hedding ; and he having
signified to the General Conference some hesitancy of
receiving episcopal ordination, arising, as we believe,
out of his own humble views of his qualifications, as
well as on account of impaired health, we affectionately
request him to submit himself to the call of Providence
and of the Church, and receive ordination to the office
of a bishop.
(Signed,) ""W. Capeeb,
"W". WmANS."
1824.] FITNB88 FOB THE OFFICE. 303
This resolution being introduced by brethren who
differed from him on the great question that had agi-
tated the body, and being so cordially sustained by those
who coincided with them on that question, removed
any objection that existed in his own mind on that
score, and made it still more conclusive that his call to
the episcopal ofl^ce was a providential call. He then
returned to the body, and stated that he must receive
the voice of the Church as the voice of God in the
matter, and therefore would submit himself to their
direction.
Subsequently a similar resolution was passed in
relation to Bishop Soule, both parties generally con-
curring. Rev. Joshua Soule and Eev. Elijah Hed-
ding were, on the 28th of the month, duly set apart
and consecrated to the episcopal office.
Bishop Hedding brought to the episcopal office a
sound and deep piety, whose ardour had not been
abated through a period of nearly twenty-six years — •
most of which had been spent in laborious service,
and in the midst of many trials and privations in the
cause of Christ. His mind, naturally clear and dis-
criminating, had been well matured by reading and
study, by intercourse with men, and by a large and
well-improved experience. He was possessed of
great simplicity and sincerity of manner — a peculiar
and confiding openness in his intercourse with his
brethren, that at once won their confidence and affec-
tion. At the same time, his natural dignity and great
discretion made him an object of reverence as well as
304 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1824.
of affection. Also his great shrewdness, and his almost
instinctive insight into the character of men, guarded
him from becoming the dupe of the crafty and designing.
His heart was as true as it was large in its sympathies.
His brethren never in vain sought his counsel or his
sympathy. It was evident to all that he had one ob-
ject in view — ^the salvation of men and the glory of
God. In the exercise of the episcopal functions he
developed those rare qualifications that had distin-
guished him as a presiding officer, and especially as
an expounder of ecclesiastical law. The soundness
of his views upon the doctrines and discipline of the
Church has been so fully and so universally conceded,
that in the end he became almost an oracle in the
Church in these respects; and his opinions are re-
garded with profoimd veneration.
1824.1 DIVISION OF EPISCOPAL liABOlTE. 305
CHAPTEE XI.
FIRST QUADRENNIAL OJ EPISCOPAl LABOUR,
Division of Episcopal tiabour — Bishops George and Hedding attend the
New-York Conference — Bishop Heddiug makes Lynn his Residence —
New-England Conference — Joshua Randle — Bishop George's Opinion of
his Colleague — Genesee Conference — Cazenovia Seminary- — Proposed
Tour in Canada — Excitement there — Rate of Travel — Incident in
Toronto — Hardships — A Log-cabin Tavern — Difficulties compromised
— Henry Ryan — -Close of Conference — Progress of the Church during
the Year —- Sickness — A Hard Ride— Reaches Home in March — Diffi-
culties of Travel — Starts for Philadelphia — Desponding Letter — Phila-
delphia, New- York, New-England, and Maine Conferences — State of the
Work in Maine — Journey to Northern New- York — Letter to his Wife
— Genesee Conference — Canada Conference — Progress of the Work —
Summation for the Year — Returns Home — A Wayside Incident — ^Win-
ter of 1825-6 — Meeting of the Bishops in Baltimore — Failure to ap-
point a Delegate to the British Conference — Philadelphia and New-
York Conferences — Genesee Conference — Letter to his Wife — Pitts-
burgh Conference — The " Radical Movement " — Mr. Hedding's Address
to the Conference — Plain Talk in the Cabinet — Changes two Presiding
Elders — Letter to Mrs. Hedding — The Ohio Conference — Return to
Lynn — Results of another Year — Starts again — A Letter — Philadel-
phia and New-York Conferences — Difficulties in Stationing Preachers —
An Illustrative Instance — The True Course for a Young Preacher — New-
England Conference — Fever and Ague — Journey to Portland — Maine
Conference — Journey Westward — The Canada Conference — Prevailing
Drought — Sickness of Preachers ^Visits the Indian Mission Stations in
Canada — Interesting Anecdotes of Converted Indians — Reading the Tes-
tament without learning the Letters — Indians at Rice Lake — Visit to
Grape Island — Bark Canoe — Novel Mode of Landing — Captain Beaver
— Preaches to the Indiana — Sermon of Peter Jones — Church Labour
with an Erring Brother — Curious Questions — Estimate of the Work
among the Indians — Journey to Troy — Dedicates State-street Church
Reaches Home — End of the Year — Maine Wesleyan Seminary — Bishop
Bedding's Interest in our Educational Movements.
Theke were now five bishops in the Churcli, and fifteen
annnal conferences. Bishop M'Kendree, however,
306 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIKG.' [1824.
was too feeble, by reason of Ms age and his bodily
infirmities, to perform the regular work of a superin-
tendent ; and the General Conference had requested
him to perform only so much as he found consistent
with his health and strength. At his suggestion the
following division of labour was agreed upon for the
year: Bishops Eoberts and Soule were to take the
supervision of the Baltimore and Kentucky Con-
ferences, and all the conferences south and southwest
of them ; while Bishops George and Hedding were
to take the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Conferences,
and all the conferences north and northeast of them.
Accordingly, after the close of the session of the
General Conference, Bishop Hedding, in company
with Bishop George, proceeded to New-York city to
attend the New-York Conference, which was to be
held in the Wesleyan Seminary. They agi-eed that,
as far as possible, they would attend the conferences
assigned to them in company, and mutually share the
labours and responsibilities of each conference.
At the close of conference they left for Barnard,
Yermont, where the New-England Conference was to
meet on the 22d of June. Leaving his colleague to
go by a more direct route. Bishop Hedding made a
detour to Boston, where he had been stationed the
preceding two years, in order to settle up his affairs
preparatory to the conference. Having determined
to make Lynn his residence,^ — so far as it was possible
in those days for a Methodist bishop to have any local
residence, — ^he packed up his goods in the short time
1824.] NEW-ENGLAND OONFEEENOE. 307
he had, and sent them on to be stored in that place,
till a respite from his official duties should allow him
an opportunity to prepare for housekeeping. Then,
accompanied by his wife, he started to meet Bishop
George at the seat of the conference.
The session of the conference proved a time of
unusual religious interest. The Sabbath was a high
and glorious day. The people poured in from all the
surrounding region. Bishops George and Hedding
both preached with great power to the assembled mul-
titude, in a grove near by the church. Twenty-seven
travelling, and several local preachers, were ordained
deacons. Among the former were A. D. Merrill and
A. D. Sargeant, long and favourably known as eminent
ministers of the cross of Christ ; also Melville B. Cox,
who, not many years after, offered himself a noble
sacrifice on the altar of Africa's redemption ; and also
Orange Scott, whose noble powers were subsequently
betrayed into a warfare against the Church in whose
lap they had been warmed into life. Eight travelling
and several local ministers were also ordained elders.
Among these were Jotham Horton, Phineas CrandaU,
and Charles Baker — the first of whom ceased from
his labours in 1853, at which time the other two were
still in the effective ranks, one on the "Worcester and
the other on the Springfield District, in the old New-
England Conference,
Mr. Hedding was greeted by his brethren in the
conference with every manifestation of affection and
confidence. The following resolution was proposed
308 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1824.
and unaiiiniously passed, expressive of their great
satisfaction at liis election to the episcopal office : —
"Besolved, That this conference hereby express their
cordial and entire approbation of the election and
ordination of brother I^lijah Hedding, one of the
members of this conference, to the episcopal office.
We also request Bishop Hedding to locate his family
within the bounds of this conference, and spend as
much of his time among us as he can spare, without
interfering with the duties of his office."
At this conference Joshua Handle was tried for
heresy, and suspended, for the time being, from the
exercise of his ministerial functions. The singular
theological dogma he had assumed was, in substance,
that while Christ died to atone for 'original sin, he
made no atonement far actual transgressions ; Imt
for these the 1/ramsgressor might he pardoned without
am, atonement. Two years before, at the session of
the conference held in Bath, Maine, he had been con-
victed of holding and teaching this dangerous heresy,
and required by the conference to cease advocating
such doctrines, whether publicly or privately, so long
as he remained a minister among us. During the
year preceding this conference the old man could not
keep quiet, but agitated his peculiar notions among
the people and preachers. The conference found it
necessary to take away his parchments, and from this
decision he appealed to the next General Conference ;
but, in 1826, we find him returned "expelled" on the
Minutes of the New-England Conference, This sub-
1824.] GENEBEE OONPEEENOE. 309
, ject attracted more tlian usual attention a few years
after, from its appearance in another relation before
tlie General Conference. Mr. Eandle defended him-
self before the General Conference ; and the action
of the New-England Conference was vindicated by
Dr. "Wilbur Fisk in an overwhelming argument.
The General Conference confirmed the decision of
the New-England Conference by a vote of one hun-
dred and sixty-four to one.
Bishop Hedding had now exercised his new duties
at two conferences, in company with Bishop George,
who, in a letter to Bishop Roberts, under date of June
6th, says of him, " My colleague does excellently in
his new office."
After the close of the New-England Conference
the two bishops journeyed across the Green Moun-
tains, visiting the Churches at Lansingburgh, Troy,
Utica, and many other places on their way to Lansing,
on the east side of Cayuga Lake, where they met the
Genesee Conference on the 25th of July.
The Genesee Conference at this time embraced
all, or nearly all, that territory now included in the
Genesee, East Genesee, Oneida, Black -Kiver, and
Wyoming Conferences. That great and promising
field was cultivated by a noble band of men ; among
whom were George Lane, George Gary, Elias Bowen,
•George Peck, Abner Chase, J. B. Alverson, Z. Pad-
dock, John Dempster, I. Chamberlayne, Seth Matti-
son, G. FiUmore, and others known throughout the
Church. At that time there was in this whole
310 LIFE AKD TIMES OF HEDDING. L1824.
region a membersliip of twenty-foxir thousand one
hundred and sixty-one, and one hundred and thirty-
five travelling preachers; at the close of 1853, on
the same territory, there were five annual confer-
ences, embracing eighty-one thousand six hundred
and thirty-two members, and six hundred and ninety-
one preachers. Bishop Hedding was now among
brethren with whom he was comparatively unac-
quainted. His first endeavour was to become per-
sonally acquainted with as many of them as possible.
His remarkably tenacious memory was here put into
very successful requisition; for he says, "In a few'
days I found that I could recognise and call by name
nearly every brother upon the floor."
This year the plan proposed by the General Confer-
ence for the promotion of education in the Church, was
carried into efi'ect within the bounds of this confer-
ence by the establishment of the Cazenovia Seminary.
It was incorporated by the state legislature, and
commenced its career under the most favourable
auspices. This was the opening of a new era for
Methodism ; and the visions of good to the Chiirch,
seen only by the faith and hope of the noble few
who were fully alive to the importance of our educa-
tional interests, have been fully realized in the result.
It has given a host of strong men to the Church, and
exerted an influence on Methodism in all that region. ^
Now, after a lapse of thirty years, though its territory
has been abridged by the formation of new confer-
ences and the establishment of similar institutions,
1824.] THE OHTTEOH IN CANADA. 311
yet its success has been unabated. It reflects honour
upon those who founded and have sustained it, and
hundreds if not thousands cherish its memory with
the warmest affection.
This conference having closed its session, the two
bishops started for the Canada Conference, which was
to meet at Hallowell, Upper Canada, on the 24th of
August. For the sake of encompassing as much of
the work and visiting as many of the societies as pos-
sible, they separated. Bishop George going around the
lower end of Lake Ontario and Bishop Hedding
going around the upper end of it ; each visiting the
Churches in their route, and preaching as often as
circumstances would allow.
The preachers and people in Upper Canada up to
the last General Conference had constituted a part of
the Genesee Conference. This relation had proved
unsatisfactory to both preachers and people. They
laboured under many disabilities on account of their
ecclesiastical connexion with the United States. The
people regarded their movements with suspicion, and
the civil powers ^oBe desirous of discouraging
such connexions. Un^er these circumstances, they
petitioned the General Conference to set them off
as an independent Church, with the privilege of
electing their own bishops and regulating their own
affairs. This the General Conference could not
do, but erected them into a distinct conference,
bounded by the boundary lines of Upper Canada, and
to be under the general superintendence of the Meth-
14
312 LIFE AKD TIMES OF HEDDING. [1824.
odist Episcopal ' Church. - The General Conference
also addressed a circular to the preachers and mem-
bers in Upper Canada, expressive of its interest in
their prosperity, and urging the importance of main-
taiaing union among themselves. "With this decision,
many of the people and preachers were dissatisfied.
Prominent among the dissentients were the local
preachers. They sent circulars into every part of
the province, and before the time for the session of the
Canada Conference arrived, they held a general con-
vention, organized an independent Church, and sent
forth a declaration of their rights, grievances, and
newly-proposed mode of operations among the peo-
ple. This had created a great excitement among the
Methodists all over the province, distracting and
dividing societies, and sometimes even members of
the same family. The intelhgence of this unhappy
state of affairs in Canada reached Bishops George
and Hedding while at the Genesee Conference.
The route of travel they had proposed enabled
Bishop George to enter Canada near the lower end of
the province, and thus he c|^U range through the
societies in that section and oowhat he could to cor-
rect misrepresentations, and to allay the excitement
among both preachers and people. Bishop Hedding
was to do the same in the upper section of the con-
ference ; and both agreed that it would be best to
invite all the local preachers they could to meet the
conference, in hope of effecting a general reconcilia^
tion of parties. Bishop Hedding was accompanied
1824.] EFFOETB AT EEOONCILIATION. 3i3
by Eev. Nathan Bangs, then principal book-agent
in JSTew-Tork. Dr. Bangs, wben first received into
the travelling ministry in 1802, had been sent as a
missionary into Upper Canada, and had laboured
there five or six years with great efficiency and suc-
cess. Many of the societies had been formed by him,
and many of the prominent Methodists, both mem-
bers and ministers, had been converted to God
through his instrumentality. He therefore knew the
people, and they knew him ; and to Bishop Hedding
he proved a most timely and efficient assistant in
his delicate and arduous work.
On both routes the bishops foimd they had an un-
pleasant and, in some instances, a painful work on their
hands. The people had been thoroughly prejudiced
against them. Some, however, treated them kindly;
but others treated them with contempt and even
insult. At Toronto, such was the state of afiairs that
Bishop Hedding deemed it advisable to call a meet-
ing of the society. He found them, however, per-
fectly impracticable : his explanations of the measures
proposed for the good of the work in Canada, and his
earnest warnings against the divisions and conten-
tions that were creeping in among them, distracting
their peace, enfeebling their moral power, and tend-
ing to the ruin of the souls of men, were attentively
listened to by many, and some seemed to be deeply
afiected ; but the leaders in the seditious movement
were unmoved, and one of the most prominent
among them took the lead in opposition. Ho plainly
314' LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1824.
told Bisliop Hedding, "We don't want you here;
we don't want amy Yankee bishops ; we can take care
of oui-selves." Such was the spirit which they en-
countered in many portions of the wort. It must
have been exceedingly painful to Dr. Bangs, who
had toiled and suffered so much to carry the glad
news of salvation among them, when they were dwell-
ing in log-huts and were in poverty and want.
This journey was not only attended with trials of
mind, but also bodily hardships. The bishops often
found it difficult, in their journey through the new set-
tlements, to procure suitable food for themselves and
their horses ; and still more difficult to obtain comfort-
able lodgings. One day they had been unable to
procure anything to eat. Jaded and hungry, they at
length came in sight of a log-cabin with a tavern-
sign hanging out. Their courage revived, and they
drove up to the door and asked if they could have
entertainment. The landlord looked at them quizzi-
cally, as if he would say, " "What Temd of entertain-
ment do you want ?" They inquired, " Can we have
•
hay for our horses?" The laconic reply was, "ISTo,
have none." " Oats ?" say they. " No, have none,"
was the reply. " Pasture ?" " No, have none."
" "Well, can you furnish us anything to eat ?" " No,"
repHed the landlord ; " have nothing to eat in the
house." " "What have you then ?" they inquired. " O,
plenty of whisky." Satisfied with their colloquy,
the hungry and weary travellers resumed their jour-
ney, and at length found a hut where they could
1824.] ADJUSTMENT OF DIFFICTTLTIES. 315
obtain hay for their horses and food and rest for
themselves. ,
Bishop Hedding and his colleague met at Hal-
lowell, Upper Canada. At their instance, a large
number of local preachers, and, indeed, many of the
prominent lay members, were present at the seat of
the conference— »particxilarly those who had been fore-
most in the disorderly and radical movement. The
variouaqueations of rights, privileges, disabilities, &c.,
were discussed with frankness and candour, for the
most part, in the conference. After a long series of
negotiation between the parties, those who had com-
menced their revolutionizing movement agi-eed to re-
tract whafthey had done ; and aU agreed to preserve
the peace and integrity of the Church till the next
General Conference. Bishops George and Hedding,
and Dr. Bangs, on their part, agreed to use their in-
fluence with the next General Conference to have the
Methodists in Upper Canada set off into an indepen-
dent Methodist Episcopal Church, if it could be
effected consistently with the principles of the gos-
pel, and the government of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Thus they succeeded with great effort' in
calming the agitation, and in healing the divisions;
and the Chnrch in that section had comparative peace
for the ensuing four years.
The leader in this movement was none other than
the bluff old Irishman who had been Mr. Hedding's
colleague on the Fletcher Circuit, in Vermont, twenty-
two years before. Crooked and quaint notions had pos-
316 LIFE AND TIMBB OF HEDDING. [1824.
sessed him, and lie had imfortunately become soured
toward the Church. Of course he couid not be satis-
fied with any peaceable adjustment of the difficulty.
The next year he took a superannuated relation, and
two years later withdrew from the Church. After-
ward he attempted to organize a distinct Church.
By way of derision, his followers were called " Eyan-
ites ;" and after a sickly existence of a few years the
societies he orgamzed became extinct. Poor, mis-
taken man! How lamentable to see a man, after
such long and generally useful service, and in his
old age, becoming the victim of Satan's devices, and
thus marring his own peace of mind, and bringing
injury to the cause of God! An old Methodist
preacher, imbittered in his feelings, and soured to-
ward the Church, is a sad spectacle. We thank
God it is a spectacle so rarely witnessed.
This great question disposed of, the ordinary
business of the conference proceeded with harmony
and despatch. The best feelings existed : six preach-
ers were admitted on trial; three were ordained
deacons, and five elders. The total membership of
the conference was six thousand one hundred and
fifty, and the number of travelling preachers thirty-
six.
This is the last conference included in the Minutes
for the present year. The results of the year gave
an increase of fifteen thousand nine hundred and
eighty-three members in the whole Church, making
a grand total of three hundred and twenty-eight
1824.] 8ICKNESB. 317
thousand five hundred and twenty-three. ' The whole
number of travelling preachers was twelve hundred
and seventy-two, showing an increase of only forty-
six.
Bishop Hedding was very much exhausted by the
labours and anxieties to which he had been subject in
Canada, and at the close of the conference was taken
down with the bilious remittent fever. This, thought
he, was a hard induction into the episcopal office, —
anxiety that had almost deprived him of sleep for
more than a month ; travel, exposure, and privation,
that had completely exhausted his physical energies;
and now, to complete the series of trials, he was taken
down with a severe and dangerous disease, not only
far from home, but in a place where few comforts
could be afforded to a sick man, and where medical
assistance was uncertain and unreliable. Finding
that it would be inconvenient for the family where he
had been entertained for him to remain with them, he
determined, sick as he was, upon a removal. One of
the preachers took charge of him, got him on board of a
steamboat, and accompanied him to Kingston. Here
he found a home with a family by the name of Arm-
strong, where he was confined over six weeks.
" This," says he, " was an excellent Christian family ;
their hospitality and kindness I shall have cause to
remember as long as I live."
After he had been with this kind family for so
many weeks, a brother of his, living on the west side
of Lake Ohamplain, hearing of his sickness, came to
318 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINQ. [1824.
see Mm, and if possible to take him iDack witli Mm to
Ms home. The bishop says : " I had hut partly re-
covered, but was able to sit up all the day. I sent
for my physician and consulted him whether it would
be safe for me to start on the journey, situated as I
then was. He said, ' By no means ; it would be at
the risk of my life.' But I asked him for my bill, and
paid it, and said, 'I must go, and trust Providence for
the consequences.' My brother took me on board of a
steamboat next morning, down the Eiver St. Lawrence
seventy miles, to Ogdensburgh. We were twenty-
four hours making the passage. From Ogdensburgh
he carried me in his wagon, one hizudred and twenty
miles, across the country to his home. It was a hard
journey, through mud and mire frequently covering
the hubs of the wagon, over a wilderness and rough
country; and we had to proceed through rain and
storm. A sad way of operating for a sick man.
But, through a good Providence, instead of dying, as
the doctor thought I would, I continued to improve
through the journey, and was much better at the end
of it than when I left Kingston."
Here he met his wife, from whom he had been
absent about four months. After remaining with Ms
brother a few weeks he crossed Lake Champlain into
Yermont, and visited a sister residing in that state.
Here an accident occurred to Mrs. Hedding, from be-
ing thrown out of a sleigh, which confined her to the
house for two months. They did not reach Lynn be-
fore the ensuing March. But Mr. Hedding was not
1«I4] LABOTJE OF TBAVELLING. 319
idle in tlie mean time ; for wherever he was delayed
he visited the societies for several miles around, and
preached to them. This was the more interesting to
him as it was chiefly in the country where he had
first commenced his labours in the ministry, a quarter
of a century before. A number of the older mem-
bers of the Church remembered him when on his
first circrft ; but the Church since that time had
greatly increased in numbers and influence, and the
mass of them had been gathered into it since he had
left those regions for other flelds of labour.
"We can hardly appreciate the labour and fatigue
of travelling in those days, when, even on the great
inland thoroughfares, it was to be performed only by
the slow and tiresome progress of the stage-line, or
by private conveyances. Now, we can whirl away
hundreds of miles in twenty-four hours, and, such are
the facilities for travel and the accommodations "for
rest, scarcely feel wearied by the transit. But, dur-
ing this spring, Bishop Hedding speaks of one journey
of only fifty miles, which, upon bad roads and in
stormy weather, occupied no less than three days.
A. journey fi-om Lynn to Philadelphia, which was the
seat of Bishop Hedding's next conference, ordinarily
occupied nearly a week.
He was at home but a few days when he started
for Philadelphia, visiting the societies, as far as he
was able, along the route. The session of the confer-
ence was to commence on the 14th of April. He
reached the city on the 13th, but the night before
V 14*
320 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1826.
had been taken with a violent attack of fever and
ague, so that he was confined to his room, and for the
most part to his bed, till after the session of the con-
ference closed. This was a great mortification as
well as trial to him. On the 19th he fonnd a little
respite from the severity of his distress, and indited a
letter to his wife. After giving an account of his sick-
ness, and his inability to meet the confererae, or even
to see many of his brethren, he acknowledges the
kindness of the family whose hospitality and care he
enjoyed, and then despondingly adds: "I see but
little prospect of my being able to perform the jour-
neys my station requires, my health is so broken.
I have been sick a week, so as to be unable to write
tiU to-day. I was attacked about twenty miles from
this place, on my way here, much as I was last year
in Canada.* I feel very forqibly the need of being
prepared for death, for I am conscious these repeated
strokes, if continued, must soon bring me to the grave.
Though I am hardly able to hold my pen, my soul is
fall of heavenly peace."
A week or two after the close of the Philadelphia
Conference, his health was so far recovered that he
started for Troy, where he rejoined Bishop George,
and the two presided alternately at the session of the
New -York Conference, which commenced on the 3d
of May. From thence they proceeded by different
routes — so as to visit the societies as extensively as
possible — to East Cambridge, where the ISTew-England
Conference commenced its session on the 8th of June.
1826.] METHODISM IN MAINE. 321
This conference had been^ divided by the preced-
ing General Conference ; and the three districts in-
cluded in the State of Maine, with nearly seven
thousand members and forty-six preachers, had been
organized into the Maine Conference. This latter
conference held its session at Gardiner, Maine, com-
mencing on th« 7th of July. On their way to the
Maine Conference they preached iri Portland, and
also attended a camp-meeting at Gorham. Of the
woi'k in Maine at this time he says: "It was the
most laborious field of labour in ]^ew-England. We
had only about forty preachers to supply the entire
state, embracing generally a new and sparsely-settled
territory, and having larger circuits, on an average,
than any other part of the eastern work." But here,
as in other portions of the work, a noble band of
heroes were in the field, who counted not their lives
dear unto themselves so that they might fulfil the
ministry which had been given to them to testify of
the grace of God. Among them, as veterans, stood
Philip Munger, and Eleazer "Wells, and Joshua Hall,
and David Elburn ; while among the junior preach-
ers were Heman Nickerson, Ezekiel Eobinson, and
others, who have long stood as pillars in the work.
Since then, the work has continued to spread and
increase in the state, till the one conference has be-
come two, the forty-six preachers have become one
hundred and ninety-two, and the six thousand nine
hundred and fifty-seven members, twenty-one thou-
sand four hundred and sevenly-three, or more than
322 LirE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1825.
there were in all ]S"ew-England at the time of the
division.
Returning from Maine, the two bishops trayelled in
company as far as Madison, Ifew-York, where they
parted — ^Bishop George bound for the Pittsburgh
Conference, and Bishop Hedding for the Genesee.
From Albany Bishop Hedding wrote to his wife
under date of August 2, 1825 : —
" Through the goodness of Providence I have been
preserved in tolerable health, amid fatigue, and heat,
and dust. My situation in life is an occasion of many
trials of mind as well as labours of body; but our good
God supporteth me with great peace, and glorious
hopes of a life of rest and peace in heaven. Let us
keep this great object in view, and prepare to live
where parting and sorrow will be no more."
After parting from Bishop George, Bishop Hedding
continued his journey to Lansing, where the Genesee
Conference assembled August 17. This was a vil-
lage in the same town where the conference met the
year previous. A camp-meeting was held near by
during the session of the conference. It was one of
the largest ever held in the county. The ordination
services were performed at the camp-meetiug. Some
most powerful sermons were preached, and many
were converted. It had been a year of unwonted
success. In the Ontario district, of which George
Lane had been presiding elder, the net incyease had
been about one thousand, and in the whole confer-
ence two thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine.
1826.] SUMMATION FOE THE TEAB. 323
After the close of the Genesee Conference, Bishop
Hedding crossed Caynga Lake, visited the societies
in Geneva, Oanandaigua, Buffalo, and several other
places. From Buffalo he crossed into Canada, and
met the Canada Conference on the 14:th of September
at Fifty Mile Creek, in Saltfleet township. The con-
dition of the work in Canada he found much better
than he expected. An increase of seven hundred and
twenty-five was realized: the preachers and people
were living and labouring in harmony, generally
contented to abide by the stipulations they had
entered into the preceding year.
The general recapitulation this year exhibited an
increase of nineteen thousand six hundred and seventy-
two, making the total membership three hundred and
forty-eight thousand one hundred and ninety-five.
The number of itinerants was one thousand three
hundred and fourteen, being an increase of forty-two.
After the close of the Canada Conference, Bishop
Hedding, wearied and worn with his journeyings and
labours, took the most direct route to Albany, and
thence crossed over the country to Lynn, where he
hoped to enjoy a little rest. Li all his cares and
anxieties he found the Lord ever present to sustain
and comfort him, and of his mercy he made grateful
acknowledgment. He had been remarkably sustained
by the grace of God, and rejoiced exceedingly in wit-
nessing the growth and spread of Methodism through-
out the land.
Few men could enjoy with a higher relish the little
324 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1826.
amusing incidents of travel than Bishop Hedding.
Speaking of his journey home, he says : " At Pitts-
field, Mass., I called upon a located preacher, and
told him I was a Methodist preacher. He asked me
if I was a travelling preacher. I said, ' Yes.' He said,
' What conference V I said, ' Not any conference in
particular.' He said, ' What circxiit or station ?' I
said, ' 'Not any in particular.' He asked, ' Are you a
presiding elder V I said, ' JSTo.' Again, he said, ' Are
you a missionary V I said, ' Well, I travel about as
missionaries do ; but I am not called a missionary.'
' Well, how is this ?' said the man, with a puzzled and
confused expression of countenance; 'how can you
be a travelling preacher, and not belong to any con-
ference, nor to any circuit or station, and are not a
presiding elder or a missionary?' I saw that I was
about being suspected as an impostor, and said to
him, ' I am one of those they call bishops.' Light
flashed upon the mind of my proposed host, and the
whole matter was explained. I scarcely need add,
that I received a hearty welcome and good enter-
tainment."
The winter of 1825-6 was spent mainly in visiting
the Churches in the eastern part of Massachusetts,
and attending to such other duties as were incident
to his office. Early in the spring, however, he left
home and travelled by way of New-York and New-
Jersey to meet the other bishops at Baltimore. The
object of their meeting was to carry out the resolu-
tion passed by the General Conference, that, in 1826,
1826.] DELEGATE TO ENGLAND. 325
the bishops should appoint some person to go as a
delegate to the British Conference. The action of
this meeting of the bishops was such as to throw
some light on what were then the views of Bishop
Hedding on the question of slavery and its relations
to the Church. Bishops M'Kendree, George, Soule,
and Hedding^ were present. Bishop Roberts was
unable to attend. When they came to nominate a
delegate, Bishops M'Kendree and Soule nominated
William Capers, of South Carolina, and Bishops
George and Hedding nominated Wilbur Fisk for that
office. The appointment of Mr. Capers was objected
to on account of his connexion with slavery. It was
urged that the views of Mr. Wesley, and of the Wes-
leyan Conference after him, on the subject of slavery,
being well known, it would not be respectful to them to
appoint a slaveholder as a delegate ; and farther, that
such a man would be in danger of not being favour-
ably received, and, at all events, would b^ grieatly
embarrassed in his mission on account of his con-
nexion with slavery. "The two bishops," says Mr.
Hedding, "who had nominated Rev. W. Capers,
refused to yield their nomination, or to concur in
ours, alleging that slaveholding should not be a bar
to any office in the appointment of the Church. Jjx
this state of things, neither side being willing to yield,
and being equally divided in our choice, we agreed
to adjourn till the following year, when the absent
bishop could meet with us. The next year we all
met, and it was found that those of us who had been
326 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1826.
together the year before remained of the same mind.
The other bishop was unwilling to take the respon-
sibility of the casting Yote, and after two days' delay,
decided that we had not authority to make the ap-
pointment in 182T, since the General Conference
voted it should be done in 1826 ; and we adjourned
without sending a delegate." From the above facts,
the intelligent reader will infer that the aggressive
movements of slavery, which finally led to the dis-
ruption of the Church, were not wholly without epis-
copal sanction at a very early date.
After this meeting, in company with Bishop George,
Bishop Hedding attended the Philadelphia and New-
York Conferences. At the close of the New-York
Conference they parted, Bishop George leaving for
the eastern conferences, and Bishop Hedding for the
western.
The Genesee Conference met June 15th at Pal-
myi'a, and Bishop Hedding was present and presided.
From this place, under date of June 15th, he wrote
to Mrs. Hedding as follows : " My maimer of life is
exceedingly trying. My only support is in the con-
solations of religion, and"^he hope that I may be the
means of some little good to mankind. Whatever
may befall us in this state of pilgrimage, let us try to
make a sure preparation for a better life. This, by
the grace of God, I am determined to do." After the
conference, he spent some weeks with one of the
presiding elders in attending camp-meetings in that
region, and then went to Washington, Perm., where
1826.] THE PITTSBUEGH CONFBEENOE. 327
he met the Pittsburgh Conference on the 22d of
August. This was his first visit to the Pittsburgh
Conference, which was one of the new conferences
organized in 1824. It comprised eighty-two travel-
ling preachers, and twenty thousand four hundred
and thirty-two members, being an increase of two
thousand four tundred and seventy for the year.
Some of the choice spirits in the itinerant ranks
were to be found in this body : such were Thornton
Fleming, Charles Cooke, Alfred Brunson, Charles
Elliott, William Stevens, Ira Eddy, Hiram 'Kinsley,
and others of whom we have less knowledge. Here,
also, was Asa Shinn, a talented, zealous, laborious, but
radical man, and a great disturber of the peace and
quiet of the Church. Here, too, was the great orator
of the "West, H. B. Bascom, who had but recently
returned from the East, where he had filled the minds
of the people with astonishment at the transcendent
displays of his eloquence. He was now in the full
flood-tide of popularity ; and having fully embarked
in the radical movement with Mr. Shinn, the two, in
connexion with Kev. George Brown, and some few
others, had produced no little excitement within the
bounds of the Pittsburgh Conference. Mr. Shinn had
been presiding elder of the Pittsburgh District, Mr.
Brown presiding elder of the Monongahela District,
Mr. Bascom " conference missionary." The three
had, therefore, been favourably situated for the
propagation of their radical views in relation to the
economy of the Church; and when the conference
328 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1826.
assembled, it was openly claimed that the radicals
were in the ascendency. The radicals, too, had
adroitly drawn in. Bishop Hedding, by representing
that he was ia favour of their views, not only on the
question of electing presiding elders, but also on the
question of lay delegation in the Annual and General
Conferences, and the other radical measures they
proposed. The wisest and best men in the confer-
ence were perplexed and alarmed. The state of
affairs was laid open to the bishop at an early date
in the conference by one of the presiding elders yet
living, and also the representations that had been
made concerning his views. The bishop was sorely
afflicted at the state of affairs, and was indignant at
the unwarrantable statements that had been made
concerning himself. His firmness, decision, and
ability, however, were equal to the task before him.
It was not long before occasion was given to call
him out on the subject. Ilien, in a most masterly
speech to the conference, he exposed the unfounded
assumptions of the radicals, the evils that would
inevitably result to the Church should they succeed,
and especially the wickedness and baseness of the
report that had been fabricated and circulated, that
he in any measure countenanced the course of those
men whose action would rend and destroy the Church.
It was a masterly vindication of the Church, and also
of himself. It can-ied consternation iato the hearts
of the radical leaders. They ventured no reply, but
in silence saw the downfal of their hopes.
1826.1 DISOOMFITUEE OF THE EADIOALS. 329
But the bishop did not stop here. He carried the
matter into the cabinet, and told the presiding elders
plainly that he could appoint no man to that office
■who -was not sound in his views of Chui'ch polity, and
true^in his allegiance to the Church. " This," said he,
" is not a personal matter with me ; I have no per-
sonal interests to look after in the matter, no friends
to favour, and no enemies to punish; bjit to this
course I am shut up by my most solemn official duty
to the Church." He therefore gave them to under-
stand, that the two elders who were known to be
leaders in the radical movement could not expect to
be returned to their districts. Accordingly we find
Thornton Fleming and "William Stevens returned to
the two districts that had been occupied by Shinn
and Brown. Mr. Bascom was this year stationed in
Uniontown, Pa. An attempt was made to establish
the Madison College in this place during the succeed-
ing winter, and Mr. Bascom was subsequently elected
president of it, but retained his post only about two
years. He then accepted an agency for the Ameri-
can Colonization Society, and was soon after trans-
ferred to the Kentucky Conference, which conference
he represented in the General Conference of 1832.
In 1830, Asa Shinn and George Brown are both
returned as having withdrawn from the connexion.
The decided and judicious course pursued by Bishop
Hedding completely discomfitted the leaders in the
radical movement and thwarted their designs. It
was an opportune effort. Many who were on the
830 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1826,
very edge of the precipice were enabled to see
tlirough the designs of the movement and to compre-
hend the result, and they started back with alarm.
After the bishpp had taken his position and expressed
his views, there was no disposition to bring the mat-
ter to a test before the conference, much as the
radical party had boasted previously of a certain and
large ascendency. Such a discomfiture, however,
could not but produce intense feeling among them.
This feeling they vented in the most malignant
attacks over anonymous signatures in the "Mutual
Eights," published in Baltimore.
Under the date of September 1st, Bishop Hedding
wrote to Mrs. Hedding as follows : " The Pittsburgh
Conference closed its session on the 29th ult. After
I wrote to you last I came to the town of Erie, Pa.,
near the shore of Lake Erie ; thence on my way to
Pittsburgh sixty miles ; then turned west to a camp-
meeting, near the line between Pennsylvania and
Ohio. There we had a great time; about one hun-
dred tents and about eight thousand people were on
the ground. Fifty or sixty professed to be converted.
Rev. Shadrach Bostwick was there; it was within
about twenty-five miles of the place where he lives.
He preaches as a local preacher, and practises as a
physician to a great extent. He looks old as well as
I, and has lately buried his wife.
"From that camp-meeting I bore west some dis-
tance iuto the State of Ohio, then south, then east
into Pennsylvania, and struck the Ohio Eiver at the
1826.J JOTTENET WEST. 331
moutli of the Big Beaver, then up the Ohio thirty
miles to Pittsburgh, thence southwest twenty-six
miles to "Washington, thence northwest thirty miles
to this place. Here I am on the west bank of the
Ohio Eiver, about three hundred and fifty miles
nearly west of Philadelphia, and have upwards of
two hundred miles yet to go southwest to get to the
Ohio Conference. The country I have travelled for
fifty miles before I arrived at Pittsburgh, and from
that to this, and all about here, is as hilly as New-
England, but not so rocky; generally good land to
the tops of the hills, good water, and healthy. I have
got along thus far without a horse ; and, if I can find
means of conveyance, I shall go from the Ohio Confer-
ence to Sandusky, take the steamboat through Lake
Erie to Buffalo, and thence through the canal to Albany.
"I am told that part of the country I have to go
through to get to the Ohio Conference is sickly ; but
I believe the same God rules there as at Lynn, or
here, and that he will keep me in health as long as
he sees best I should have it, and that he wiU keep
me in life as long as he sees my life wiU be of any
use to me or any one else. I feel safe in his hands,
in one .country as in another ; I feel that my great
business is to get ready to go; for this I am daijy
striving and praying, and I know my God is the only
proper judg^ when is the best time and where the
best place to call me hence. The time seems long to
be from home ; but why should a living man com-
plain ?"
332 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1826.
The Ohio Confereiice assembled at Hilkborough
on the 4th of October. This conference then num-
bered thirty thousand six hundred and eighty-three
members and ninety travelling preachers. Among
the ministers received on trial that year were George
W. Walker and Adam Poe ; and among the ordained
deacons was Augustus Eddy. Among those in the
conference who were then, or have since become
well known to the Church, were Martin Ruter, Eussel
Bigelow, "W. H. Eaper, John Sale, James Quinn,
James B. Finley, John F. Wright, David and Jacob
Young, Leroy Swormstedt, J. P. Durbin, J. H.
Power, and others. Twenty-eight years later the
same territory comprehended not less than four an-
nual conferences, six hundred and seventy travelling
preachers, and one hundred and nine thousand six
hundred and six members, exclusive of a portion
that had been dismembered from the Church by the
Southern organization. In this first visit to the Ohio
Conference, Bishop Hedding made a most favourable
impression, both as to his ability as a presiding officer
and a preacher, and as to his sincerity and integrity
of character.
It was not till in the month of December that he
reached Lynn, having been absent from home about
nine months. He was much worn by the fatigues
of travel and the labour and care of hi^ official du-.
ties, and greatly needed the short respite now allowed
him to recruit his exhausted energies.
The year had been one of general though not
1827.'! LETTEE TO HIS WIFE. 333
remarkable prosperity in the Ghurch. The mimber
of members reported was three hundred and sixty
thousand eight hundred, increase twelve thousand
six hundred and one; number of preachers one
thousand four hundred and six, increase ninety-two.
Early in March, 1827, Mr. Hedding left his home
for Baltimore, to attend a meeting of the bishops,
where, among other business, another abortive at-
tempt was made to appoint a delegate to the British
"Wesleyan Conference.
On his way to Baltimore, under date of March 2i,
he wrote to his wife from Philadelphia: — "I arrived
in this city yesterday in tolerable health. My old
afflictions follow me, as I expect they wiU do till the
grave conceals me from them ; but I have got along
as well as I expected. I met with a cordial reception
in New-London, and spent about a week there. I
had no idea that the people of New-London would
be so glad to see one who was not worth seeing.
Many of them expressed a great deal of sorrow that
you did not come. At New-York and Brooklyn 1
had a pleasant visit. The work of the Lord in those
places is in a state of prosperity. After coming from
New-York, I visited New-Brunswick, Trenton, and
Burlington, New-Jersey. I am continually humbled
and -often pained by the respect and attention the
people show me from place to place: humbled, be-
cause I know myself to be so unworthy ; sometimes
pained, because I think it cannot be the man but the
office they respect, I always enjoyed the love of the
334 LIFE AND. TIMES OF HEDDING. [1827.
poor, and the fellowsMp of the saints ; but when the
great, the rich, the learned, the wise, the aged, come
round me, and talk and act as though they think I
am somebody, I feel like creeping away somewhere
out of sight. But, if there were any pleasure in these
things, I have enough of the opposite — enough of
clamour, enough of hard questions to settle — ^to try
me to the last drop of my patience, and to make me
feel as though I am nothing."
After this meeting in .Baltimore, Bishops George
and Hedding took their course across the Chesapeake
Bay, and through the eastern part of Maryland, and
proceeded to Smyrna, Del., where the Philadelphia
Conference held its session April 12th. When this
conference was over, they went in company to Troy,
N. T., and held the New-York Conference May 9th.
In the work generally, it was found that the preach-
ers for the most part made but little disturbance about
their appointments, and, when they were made, re-
ceived them like men of God. A few exceptions,
however, were met with in almost every conference.
Certain men seemed vastly more solicitous about
where they were to go than how they should serve
and benefit the people where they might be ap-
pointed. With this class of men the bishops often
had great difficulty. They annoyed them with pri-
vate applications and interviews, and not unii-e-
quently they would petition to be sent to an appoint-
ment from which the bishop had advice that the
people would not receive them at all; and then,
1827.] STATIONING PEEA0HEE8. 335
when they failed in gettirig the appointment they
desired, they wonld charge the whole blame upon
the bishop, ^ho had to stand between them and the
people. Some, in their over-estimate of themselves,
pleaded that their gifts had not been duly appre-
ciated, or that they had been shut up in narrow
places where th^y had not room for the exercise
of them. Others, having located their families on
a farm or in some village, would seek an appoint-
ment near by, and demand it even to the detriment
of the work. Some, having got into debt, wanted
an appointment where large salaries were paid to the
preacher, in order that they might be able to pay
their debts — ^forgetting that, as a general thing, the
expense of living increases in a higher ratio than the
salaries in the more popular places. These are some
of the things that have ever embarrassed the super-
intendents, and clogged the wheels of our itinerancy.
We can, perhaps, hardly wonder that they exist.
Nay, considering all things, is it not a wonder that
for the space of three-quarters of a century the work
has been so little embarrassed by them ; and that the
great body of our preachers, believiag in the provi-
dential arrangement of our itinerant economy, have
gone with the utmost cheerfulness to their appointed
fields of labour ?
At this session of the !N"ew-York Conference one
of the preachers, who was wanted for Vermont, came
to the bishops and desired to be appointed elsewhere.
alleging that it would be inconvenient for his family,
W 15
836 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1827.
and that Lis wife was then with her parents on a cir-
cuit quite down toward New-York. He therefore
asked to be appointed near to her. JDesiring, as
much as possible, to accommodate him, the bishops
sent him to a circuit in that region. It appeared
subsequently that he wanted to go to the circuit
where his wife was. After the conference had ad-
journed and the bishops had retired to their lodgings,
the preacher came stamping and frowning into their
room, and said, " I thought you were to give me an
appointment to accommodate me near where my
wife is." Bishop George replied, "We could not
appoint you to the circuit where your wife is, but we
appointed you as near as we could." The preacher
said, "You have not accommodated me at all; I
cannot go to the circuit." Bishop George then said,
"Go home, then, and take care of your wife, and
stay with her." The preacher replied, " And what
wiU you do with the circuit then?" Bishop George
answered, "Never mind the circuit; we'll take care
of that ; you take care of yourself, and go home and
take care of your wife." The preacher turned on his
heel, and, grumbling, went away. But, on sober
reflection, he concluded to go to his circuit, and noti-
fied the bishops to that effect.
Bishop Hedding possessed a naturally tender and
sympathizing heart, and it was often the cause of the
greatest grief to him, when, after having done all
that the demands of the work would allow, to gratify
preachers in any special request, they would attribute
1827.] AN ATTACK OF FEVEE AND AGUE. 337
his action to indifference, or perhaps hostility to them,
because he was unable to do just as they desired.
On this point the bishop had in his possession sundry
letters, the rehearsal of -which would make the ears
of certain living men tingle, and prove a warning to
younger brethren. But it is best they should slum-
ber, and that th^ kind veil of Christian charity should
be thrown over the entire subject. "We would say,
however, with all the earnestness of spirit we possess,
to our junior brethren, — the heat jpossiile way to secure
better appomtments is to make yov/rself more tham,
equal to those you now ha/oe. The man that wiH do
this will have no occaaion for anadety about good
appointments.
When the New-York Conference had closed, Bish-
op Hedding proceeded east, journeying through the
western part of Vermont, to attend the New-England
Conference, which was to meet at Lisbon, N". H.,
June 6. "When he arrived at Middlebury, he awoke in
the night with a terrible attack of the fever and ague.
This disease followed him for about two months ; the
fits coming on regularly once in about two days, and
lasting about twenty hours, confining him to his bed
in great sufiFering at each attack. He was unable
to contiaue his journey by public conveyance, but
procured the aid of friends, who assisted him on his
way, between the attacks, until he arrived at the seat
of the conference. "When this conference commenced
its session, he was wholly unable to attend its sittings;
and, indeed, had become so weak that, with great
338 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1827.
difficulty, he performed the ordination services on
tlie Sabbath.
From Lisbon he was conveyed by Eev. D. Elbum
in his private carriage to Portland, the seat of the
Maine Conference. The journey was performed with
great suffering. They had about three himdred miles
to travel, and were obliged to stop, wherever they
were, when the attacks came upon him. The inter-
vals between the attacks, however, they improved to
the best possible advantage — often rising at midnight
to resume their journey. They reached Portland the
week before the session of the conference was to
commence. Immediately on Ids arrival, he sent for
an eminent physician who had seen much of the
fever and ague in the "West India Islands. He said
he could cure him, and made preparations to do it,
commencing by internal remedies, and the applica-
tion of bottles of hot water to his feet and back, a
short time before the attack was expected to come
on. By these means he kept it off for almost two
hours. " Then," says the bishop, " I suddenly felt as
if I had been plunged into cold water ; and, as I was
told by those present, a violent fit of the disease en-
sued, which lasted twenty hours. In the shock I lost
my reason, and knew nothing the whole time. The
physician now took another method, and, by the use
of a different remedy, gradually wore off the attacks ;
and in about a week or ten days they entirely
left me."
Only partially recovered as he was, he managed
1827.] VISIT TO CANADA, 339
to preside part of tlie time in the conference and to
attend to his other episcopal duties. From Portland
he returned to Lynn ; but in a few weeks started for
the Canada Conference. His health was quite infirm ;
he was able to walk only a short distance' without
resting ; but he did not feel at liberty, such were the
pressing necessiljes of the work, to be absent from the
session of the Canada Conference, if by any possibility
he could reach the place. By stage he went across the
country to Troy and Schenectady; thence by canal-
boat to Buffalo. Here he crossed into Canada, and
thus succeeded in reaching Hamilton, about four miles
from Lake Ontario, and near Burlington Heights,
where he opened the Canada Conference, August 30.
At this time a great drought was prevailing in the
country. So severe was it that all the wells and springs
in the neighbourhood failed, and the only water that
could be obtained had to be drawn from the neigh-
bouring swamps, where it had been standing among
leaves and rotten wood. Many of the preachers be-
came sick from its use, and were unable to attend
the sessions of the conference. Bishop Hedding also
suffered, but he toiled on through the labours of the
session. During the session of the conference, he
was greatly afflicted by the necessity which existed
of bringing the Eev. Henry Ryan to trial before the
body. He had been forward in producing dissension
among the people, on account of the action of the last
General Conference in respect to the Canada Con-
ference. What made it peculiarly painftil to Bishop
84:0 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1827.
Hedding, Mr.Eyanhad been one of Ms first colleagues
in the ministry, and was tlien a zealous, devoted, and
true-hearted Methodist preacher. The case finally
terminated by the withdrawal of Mr, Eyan from the
Church.
According to previous arrangements, it now became
Bishop Hedding's duty to journey around the Canada
side of Lake Ontario, and visit the Indian Missions
scattered through the wildernesses of that country.
Scarcely recovered from the fever and ague with
which he had been so severely attacked, especially
when taken in connexion with the unhealthy condition
of the country at that time, it was a hazardous experi-
ment; but the interests of the Church required it,
and he did not for a moment hesitate about com-
pliance. His traveUing companion was Bev. Wm.
Case, at the time superintendent of these missions.
It was but a few years since the missions to these
aboriginal iohabitants had been begun. The work
of grace among them had been carried forward most
powerfully, and great multitudes had been converted.
Already many of them had learned to be farmers
and mechanics, and adopted the habits of civilized
life. This journey, though a laborious one, was full
of interest; and many incidents occurred illustrative
of the simplicity of the habits of the Indians and of
the reformation of their lives. "We shall be justified
in introducing a few of these incidents, narrated by
Bishop Hedding : —
" On Monday morning, a converted Indian came
1827.] VISIT TO THE INDIAN MISSIONS. 341
to me and said: 'Yesterday I crossed the Eiver
Credit in a canoe, and the salmon were thick all
around me ; and he no run away, for he know Chris-
tian Indian would not catch salmon on Sunday.'
" I saw among these natives an Indian who could
read quite well, especially in the New Testament.
He said, and ^thers confirmed it, that he did not
know his letters. I found, on inquiry, that he had
been so anxious to learn to read that he carried a
New Testament with him constantly, and asked every
boy or girl he met what was the name of any par-
ticular word he would point out. Thus he learned
the word by its shape ; just as a child learns the name
of a chair, or a spoon, or a hat, before it learns its
letters.
" I visited the Indians that belonged to Eice Lake,
I asked one of the chiefs, ' How many belong to your
tribe V and he said, ' Three hundred.' I asked him,
' How many have left off drinking whisky ?' and he
said, ' All but one.' I inquired, ' How many have
experienced religion?' He replied, 'All but one.'
I continued, 'How many of them pray?' and he said,
'AH but one.' I. then said, 'Why does not that one
pray?' 'Ha!' said he, 'he no feel Him in here,'
putting his hand on his breast. On further inquiry, I
learned from the missionary that his story was a true
one ; that all the Indians, with one exception, in that
region, had apparently and professedly been con-
verted to the Lord.
"I visited the Indians on Grape Island, an island in
342 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1827,
Bay Quinte, where there was a mission established. I
went to this island in company with Eev. Wm. Case,
and Kev. Mr. Reynolds and wife, and the two Indians
who managed the canoe. Our boat was an Indian
bark canoe, and the distance seven or eight miles.
Before arriving at the island the wind arose, and the
waves rolled quite high, which made it quite un-
pleasant, if not dangerous. As we approached the
island the Indians — ^men, women, and children — came
down and stood by the water to see us land. The
bant at the water's edge was eight or ten feet per-
pendicular, and the waves roUed so high that I feared
we should not be able to land without getting wet.
The expertness and skill of those with me in the canoe,
and those on shore, saved us from this. The Indians
had cut rude stairs in the ground, to go up and down
to the water. No sooner had the bow of the canoe
struck the shore, than the two preachers and the
two Indians jumped out ; at the same time two rows
of Indians came running down the bank, some of
them in the water to their arm-pits, and all seizing
the canoe by its rim, carried it, with the wife of the
preacher and myself in it,, high and dry upon the
bank ; and then, according to their custom, I went
through the ceremony of shaking hands with aU the
tribe — men, women, and children.
" On this island there were about three hundred In-
dians, and nearly all of them who were old enough pro-
fessed religion; and they appeared to enjoy its spirit
and power. Here I had a large, stout, fine-looking
1827.] CAPTAIN BEAVEE. 343
Indian, who had been an old wairior, for my inter-
preter. They called him Captain Beaver. He ap-
peared to be solemnly engaged in religion, and
deeply affected with its great truths. Before his con-
version he had been a great sinner. The people told
me that he had killed one wife, and, in a drunken
frolic, had thrown a child out of doors into the mud,
and stamped it to death. On one occasion I preached
to them on the intercession of Christ. The whole con-
gregation were greatly affected, and cried aloud, so
that I was obliged to stop for some time before they
could hear me. Captain Beaver, my interpreter,
became so affected that he bowed himself nearly
double, and cried aloud, ' O ! O !' I was told after-
ward by the missionary that this doctrine of the
intercession of the Saviour had probably not been
taught them before ; and it was the discovery of it
then, for the first time, which so. wonderfully affected
them.
" During my visit to these Indians, I had an oppor-
tunity to hear Peter Jones preach to them in their
native tongue; and though I could not understand his
speech, I saw that his congregation were wonderfdlly
affected by what he said ; and as the people went to
their houses, in their village, they cried and sobbed
aloud.
"An incident had occurred just before my visit to
them that showed how strong had become their ha-
tred of whisky drinking. A Christian Indian had
gone out in the bay in a canoe, and been driven off
15*
3M LIFE AND TIMES OE HEDDING. [1827.
in a storm ; and, in his danger, had been picked up
by a steamboat. The poor Indian was ahnost ex-
hausted, and the captain of the steamboat made him
drink a glass of whisky. When he came back to
the village, the Indians were so afflicted that he
should, under any circumstances, drink whisky, that
they took up a discipline with him; and for one whole
afternoon and eyening, alternately, one would exhort
him and another pray for him, and then they would
make him promise that he would drink no more
whisky.
" I had a meeting of the Indians, to allow them to
ask me any questions they might desire. It was
astonishing, and sometimes amusing, to hear the
questions they proposed. A squaw said she heard
her boy read in the Testament that a man and his
wife were one; now, supposing that the squaw is
converted and her husband is a drunkard, when they
die wiU the Indian go to heaven with the squaw, or
must she go to hell with her husband, seeing they are
one ? I was afterward told that the husband of that
squaw was a drunkard, and the only unconverted
person on the island.
"The work of God among the Indians through
that province was the greatest, all things considered,
I ever saw among any people. Before their conver-
sion, they were almost universally drunkards, both
men and women. They were miserably poor and
filthy, living in wigwams, and getting but a scanty
support by hunting and fishing. But when they
1827.] JOUENEY HOME. 346
were converted, they became sober and regular in
their lives, and a devoutly religious people. They
abandoned their old sinful habits, drunkenness and
all, and became farmers and learned mechanical
trades. Their children were educated at the mission
schools. A number of them became powerful and
successful preachers ; and, altogether, they became a
respectable religious community, and continued so to
the last of my visiting them. From the best informa-
tion I have been able to get since, they have gener-
ally persevered in sobriety and Christianity."
Bishop Hedding's journey home from Grape Island
was anything but pleasant. "With the horse he had
borrowed, he worked his way down to Kingston,
where he took steamboat to Ogdensburgh. From
this place he designed, by public conveyance, to cross
the country to Lake Champlain ; but, it being a new
country and late in the season, and the roads in bad
condition, the stages had all stopped running. It
was deemed impossible to get through with a car-
riage of any sort. His only resort, then, was to hire
a horse, and obtain the aid of a preacher to go with
him and bring the horse back. In this way they
wallowed through the mire to Lake Champlain, a
distance of one hundred and twenty miles. Here he
took a horse that he had left two or three years be-
fore, and, crossing Lake Champlain into Vermont,
proceeded as far as Middlebury.
It had now become late in November, and his
horse trotted so hard that he found he would be una-
346 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1827.
ble to endui-e that mode of travel. He accordingly
sold his horse and took stage for Troy, which he had
engaged to visit on his way home.
The object of his visit to Troy was to dedicate the
new Methodist church which had been erected in
State-street. The dedication took place on the 1st
day of December, on which occasion Bishop Hed-
ding preached a powerful and appropriate sermon
from Isa. ii, 1-3. Being now too much exhausted
and in too feeble a state of health to attempt a pas-
sage in the stage across the country to Lynn, he em-
barked on a boat for New-Tork city. The river,
which had been closed by ice for several days, had
just been opened by a sudden thaw ; consequently
the boat was filled to repletion with passengers.
The crowd was so great he could find no place to lie,
and scarcely a place where he could sit. The weather
was exceedingly cold and stormy, and the river full
of floating ice. The passage from Albany to New-
York occupied a day and a night.
From New-York, Bishop Hedding wrote to his
wife : — " I have passed over many rough waters and
rough lands, and it is a wonderful and kind Provi-
dence by which my life and limbs have been pre-
served so long. I owe a debt of gratitude to the
Author of all good for temporal as well as for spirit-
ual mercies. O that I may in the end be found
ready to render an account to my God for an im-
provement of all his mercies!" From various causes
he was delayed so that he did not reach home till the
1827.] MAINE WESLETAN SEMINAET. 347
last of December, having been absent, witb tbe ex-
ception of one sbort visit, nearly ten months.
The year had been one of general prosperity in the
Church. Every conference in the connexion reported
an increase of members. The greatest increase was
in the Genesee Conference, which amomited to three
thousand two hundred and seventy-nine. The whole
increase in the Church was twenty-one thousand one
hundred and ninety-seven, making the total member-
ship three hundred and eighty-one thousand nine
hundred and ninety-seven. The number of travelling
preachers reported this year was one thousand five
himdred and seventy-six, being an increase of one
hundred and seventy.
During this year the Maine "Wesleyan Seminary
was established at Eeadfield, Maine. "Father Samp-
son," an old and. wealthy member of the society in
that place, had given an eligibly located farm, valued
at $10,000, for this purpose. A manual labour de-
partment, embracing agriculture and the mechanical
arts, was connected with the institution. This de-
partment proved of immense advantage to many
indigent students, as well as to many others whose
constitutions were too feeble to endure the confine-
ment of close study without the physical exercise it
secured, and thus tended to build up the institution.
But, on the whole,, it was difficult to maintain it, and
after an experience of some ten or twelve years it was
given up. The seminary, however, from the begin-
ning, has continued to flourish, and has sent forth a
348 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINQ. [1827
large number who are now prominent ministers in both
of the Maine Conferences. Others have been carried,
by the Providence of God, beyond the boimds of the
state, where they also are doing good service for the
cause of Christ. Twenty-three years ago, — dating
from the spring of 1854, — a rustic boy, we ascended
" the Hill of Science," as we students were wont to
call the place, and became a member of the institu-
tion. Here, under the tuition of the lamented Merritt
Caldwell, we spent a little over three laborious and
happy years. Through all changes of life they will
not be forgotten. Grateful will we ever be, that at
this early date there was a Methodist seminary in
the land, where, under the genial influences of her
economy and her spirit, the soul might rise in virtue
as in knowledge. We have long since in our heart
forgiven the good but mistaken old preacher, who,
on learning our purpose to acquire, if possible, an
education, said, "Ah, Davis, I fear you will get too
proud to be a Methodist preacher I"
In aU these early educational movements, Bishop
Hedding took a deep and abiding interest. He look-
ed upon them as pillars of strength in the Church.
Even then, he felt and said: "The time wiU come
when our ministers will need a higher degree of edu-
cation than at the beginning, and we must have our
own schools so that they may be educated aright.
Our people, too, will be educating their sons and
daughters, and if we do not have schools they wiU
send them elsewhere, and then they wiU be in danger
1828.] CLOSE OF THE FIEST QUADEENNIAL. 349
of being lost to the Church. K we would keep our
people and make them stable and strong as Christians,
we must provide books, and periodicals, and schools
for them."
After spending a little more than two months at
home, and in visiting the societies in its neighbour-
hood, Bishop Hedding left on a tour of visitation to
the Churches, and finally met Bishop George in Phil-
adelphia, where that conference convened on the Ist
day of April, 1828. This closed the fijst quadrennial
division of his long and important service as a bishop.
360 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1828.
CHAPTER Xn.
SECOND QFADRENNIAL OF EPiSCOPAli lABOtJKS.
Joes to the General Conference — Doubts about the Duty of Continuing
in the Office — Tbe General Conference — Progress of tbe "Radical
Movement" — Changes sought for — The "Union Society" — "Mutual
Rights" — Dr. Bond's " Appeal " ^ Church Trials in Baltimore — Me-
morial to the General Conference — Report of the Committee — Asa
Shinn moves its Adoption — Nine-tenths of the People opposed to the
proposed Change — Bishop Hedding misrepresented in the " Mutual
Rights" by " Timothy "— Seeks Redress — "Timothy's" Anonymous
Certificates — Bishop Hedding brings the Matter before the General Con-
ference— Action of the Committee on the Episcopacy — Testimony of the
Pittsburgh Delegation — Confession of Rev. George Brown, the Real
"Timothy" — Triumphant Vindication of the Bishop — Progress of the
Work during the Four Tears — Close of the General Conference — Route
to New-York — Perils upon Lake Erie — Parts with Bishop George for
the Last Time — Their Association and Attachment — Dr. Bangs's Por-
traiture of the Character of Bishop George — Outline of his Life and
Labours — Responsibility that had rested on Bishop Hedding — Route
into New-England — Perilous Accident — Visit to Canada — The Inde-
pendent Organization of the Canada Conference completed — A Dying
Father's Charge to his Son to maintain " the Family Altar" — The Re-
sult — Close of the Ecclesiastical Year — Progress of the Work — Increase
in the Church during the " Radical Movement " — Prophesied Ruin of
the Church not realized — Bishop Hedding spends the Winter of 1828-9
in Lynn — Sermon on Dancing — Philadelphia, New-York, and New-
England Conferences for 1829 — Excitement on Masonry — Maine Confer-
ence— Tour of Visitation to the Churches — Refused Entertainment by
a Wealthy Methodist.
In company with Bishop George, Bishop Hedding
proceeded from the seat of the Philadelphia Oonfei^
ence to Pittsburgh, to attend the session of the Gen-
eral Conference. Under date of March 25, he wrote
to his.wife from Philadelphia: "I go to General Con-
1828.] GENREAL OONFEEENCE. 351
ference under great anxieties of mind respecting what
I ought to do about continuing in my office. My in-
clination is strong to resign ; but the preachers say,
Gro on. Let me do whichever I will, I expect to
linger out the remains of my poor life in suffering.
If I desist from travelling, my infirmities will provide
sufferings for n^e ; if I contiuue to travel, the time of
my suffering will, perhaps, be shorter. The great ob-
ject with me is to know, in this respect, what will be
most acceptable to Him whose I am and whom 1
serve ; for I thiok I desire to know and do his will in
all things. Some people, and perhaps some preachers,
think my situation in the Church very pleasant ; but
it is because they are ignorant of its laboura and its
trials. I feel great need of help from above. I desire
your prayers that I may be directed aright. The
Lord bless you."
Li this General Conference there were one hun-
dred and seventy delegates, representing seventeen
annual conferences. So great was the ratio of rep-
resentation that the New-York Conference had
eighteen delegates, also the Genesee ; while the New-
England had seventeen and the Philadelphia fifteen.
The five bishops were present ; and the opening ser-
vices of the conference were conducted by Bishop
M'Kendree.
Several subjects of very grave importance came be-
fore this body for consideration. The relation of the
brethren ia Canada was adjusted to the mutual satis-
faction of the parties as nearly as it could be. But,
352 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1828.
perhaps more than all, the radical* controversy and
moyements claimed the attention of the conference.
This had now grown to be a serious difficulty in the
Church, producing not only suspicion and alienation
of feeling in it, but secession from it. As early as
1820, a periodical called the " Wesleyan Repository"
had been started in Trenton, New-Jersey. Its object
'was to effect a change iu the economy of the Meth-
odist Church, so that lay delegates might be intro-
duced into the General and Annual Conferences;
and so also that, in some way not clearly defined, the
functions of the episcopacy might be essentially modi-
fied. It was patronized by a few travelling preachers
and a few lay members ; but the local preachers were
its principal supporters. Very few of its correspond-
ents were known to the public, their articles being
generally published over fictitious signatures. To fur-
ther their designs, the " Union Society" was organized
in 1824 in the city of Baltimore, and a committee of
correspondence appointed, whose special duty was to
correspond with the disaffected in different parts of
the Church, and to secure the organization of auxilia-
ries to the "Union Society" wherever it could be
effected. The movement, which had hitherto been
inchoate, now assumed an organized and somewhat
formidable shape. Soon after, the publication of the
"Mutual Rights" was commenced in Baltimore. It
was exceedingly violent and denunciatory, of not
° We use tMs as a conyenient term, and do not intend it in an
offeusiTe sense.
1828.] THE EADICAL SECESSION. 353
only the economy of tlie Clnirch, but also of the
officers of the Church. Its writers generally assumed
fictitious signatures ; but several of them were known
to be prominent travelling preachers. In this crisis
of affairs Dr. Bond's masterly "Appeal to the Meth-
odists, in Opposition to the Changes proposed in
their Church Government," was published, and pro-
duced a powerful effect, especially upon those who
had not already committed themselves to the new and
perilous movement. But before the General Confer-
ence of 1828, matters had proceeded to such a degree
of open violence against the Church, on the part of
the more radical, that the Rev. Mr. Hanson, then
preacher in charge of the Baltimore Station, was
compelled to cite several local preachers and several
lay brethren to trial on the charge of "inveighing
against our Discipline," "speaking evil of minis-
ters," &c. On this charge they were severally con-
victed; and after laborious but ineffectual effort to
bring about some adjustment of the difficulty, they
were expelled from the communion of the Church.
The withdrawal of others followed, and the separatists
formed themselves into a society called the " Associ-
ated Methodist Reformers," and finally assumed the
title of the "Methodist Protestant Church." In the
month of November, 1827, a General Convention
of the "reformers" was held in Baltimore, and a
memorial, setting forth their rights, grievances, and
claims, sent up to the General Conference. This
memorial was referred to an able committee, of
354 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1828.
which Dr. Emory was chairman. Dr. Bond was also
present, and corresponded freely with the committee
in their deliberations. Having been resident at the
" seat of war," and having in fact been foremost in
the heat of the battle in all its successive stages, no
one was so thoroughly acquainted with all its phases,
and so completely posted up in all matters relating to
it. The report of the committee was able and conclu-
sive. It was presented by Dr. Emory, as chairman,
and immediately adopted by the General Conference.
It is a singular fact that the Eev. Asa Shinn moved
the adoption of the report, and also that five thousand
copies of it be printed immediately.* This was the
final settlement of the question, so far as the govern-
ment of the Church was concerned. The radicals
claimed to give utterance to the voice of the people
in the demands they made ; but the General Confer-
ence, from data then in theii' possession, and which
subsequent facts abundantly verified, were satisfied
that they did not represent one-tenth part of the
Church, and that yielding to their demands would
not only peril the future success of the Church, but
be actiug contrary to the views and feelings of nine-
tenths of all its members, both lay and ministerial.
We have seen how Bishop Hedding was compelled
to breast the storm of this radical innovation at the
Pittsburgh Conference in 1826. Of course, it could
not be otherwise than that the bold and decided
stand he then took should bring down upon him the
o See the "Itinerant" for April 16, 1829.
1828.] ASSAILED IN THE "MUTUAL EIGHTS." 356
maledictions of the reformers. His address before
the Pittsburgh Conference was misrepresented a&d
perverted by several who heard it ; and a member
of the conference, the Eev. George Brown, over the
signature of "Timothy," wrote for the "Mutual
Eights" a violent article, assailing the course of the
bishop, and misrepresenting his action, and also his
address. In the spring of 182Y Bishop Hedding,
being in Baltimore, called upon the editors of the
"Mutual Eights," and requested the name of the
person who had assailed him in their columns over the
signature of "Timothy." This the editors declined
giving except on two conditions, namely, — ^that the
bishop should make his request in writing, and that
they should obtain the consent of the author. Accord-
ingly the bishop wrote them a note requesting the
real name of " Timothy," and stating that the repre-
sentation made by him of his address before the Pitts-
burgh Conference was a misrepresentation through-
out. This communication the editors published in
their paper, and also forwarded to the Eev. George
Brown, To vindicate hiiflself before the public, Mr.
Brown procured the signatures of about a dozen of the
radical members of the conference to certificates testi-
fying to the correctness of the representation of the
bishop's address made by " Timothy." These several
certificates were published conspicuously in the " Mu-
tual Eights," though without appending the names
of the signers ; and thus an impression exceedingly
prejudicial to the moral and ministerial character of
356 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1828.
the bishop was sought to be made upon the public
mind.
Bishop Hedding desired to meet the question before
the Pittsburgh Oonference in 1827, but his official
duties rendered it impossible for him to be there.
Consequently the earliest point at which his vindica-
tion could be reached was at the session of the Gen-
eral Conference in 1828, which fortunately was at
Pittsburgh, and within the bounds of the. conference
before which his address was delivered. Accordingly
he took an early opportunity to state the facts to the
General Conference, and to invoke their action in the
case, saying that if the accusations against him were
true, he ought no longer to be a bishop or even a
minister in the Church ; but if they were not true, it
was due to him, to the Church, and to the cause of
truth, that he should receive a vindication; and to
this end he desired a full and impartial investigation.
The matter was, accordingly, referred to the Commit-
tee on the Episcopacy. We are in possession of a cer-
tified copy of the report of that committee, taken from
the General Conference records in 1852, and which
we here give entire :— •
" The Committee on Episcopacy, to whom the letter
of the Eev. E. Hedding to the General Conference
was referred, submit the following : —
" An article having appeared in the ' Mutual
Rights,' over the signature of 'Timothy,' purporting
to be an address to the junior bishop, E. Hedding, in
relation to an address delivered by the bishop to the
1828.] VINDICATED. 357
members of tlie Pittsburgh Aimual Conference in
August, 1826, which the bishop considered unjust — a
misrepresentation throughout, and a base slander upon
his character, as he declared in a note to the editor
of the said ' Mutual Rights,' which note was published
in that periodical; and several anonymous certificates
having also been published in said ' Mutual Rights '
justifying the representations in 'Timothy,' and of
course contradicting the contents of the bishop's note.
These various circumstances the bishop conceived
had already operated to his injury, and might so
operate in future; and he therefore felt himself called
upon to lay the matter before the General Conference,
and to invite investigation. This he did in a written
communication, which, after being read before the
conference, was referred to the Committee on the
Episcopacy. That committee, having taken the same
into consideration, resolved to procure a meeting be-_
tween the bishop and the delegates of the Pittsburgh
Annual Conference in the presence of the committee,
and in presence of the writer of the article signed
' Timothy,' in order, as far as possible, to ascertain the
character of the address delivered by the bishop to
the Pittsburgh Conference.
"The plan pursued to attain this object was for the
members of the said delegation, severally, first to state
their recollections of that address, and then to answer
the questions proposed to them on the subject. After
all those delegates had thus communicated to the
committee their recollections, a paper was read con-
358 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1828.
taining as accurate an outline of the address of the
bishop as he had been able to make out from his
own recollection. The recollections of the delegates
from the Pittsburgh Annual Conference, and of Bishop
Hedding, were not only substantially, but, in a remark-
able degree, circumstantially concurrent.
" The bishop then pointed out the injustice, misrep-
resentation, and slander of his character, which he
considered as pervading the address signed ' Timothy.'
After which the author of that article, having been
permitted to address the committee, acknowledged,
that in not properly distinguishing in two instances,
he had done injustice, giving the general character
of the bishop's address — that some of the inferences
he had drawn were unjust — ^and that, as his premises
were incorrect, all the inferences drawn from them
might be erroneous.
" Your committee beg leave, therefore, to declare,
as the result of their investigations in this matter, that
they consider the view presented in the bishop's note
to the editor of the ' Mutual Eights,' of the article
signed ' Timothy,' to have been strictly correct.
"The committee would further declare, that, in
their opinion, the address of Bishop Hedding, as
recollected by himself and the delegates of Pitts-
burgh Annual Conference, not only was not deserv-
ing of censure, but was suoh as the circumstances of
the case rendered it his official duty to deliver.
(Signed,) '*S, G, Koszel, Ghawmcm,
'•PiTTSBraoB, May 15, 1828."
1828.] PE0GEES8 OP THE WOBK. 359
•
The report of the committee was adopted by the
conference without dissent. This complete vindica-
tion of Bishop Hedding was regarded by his friends
as still more triumphant, because in the Pittsburgh
delegation there were at least two individuals who
had all along sympathized with the radical move-
ment, and had} at the outset, placed the same con-
struction upon the bishop's addr'ess that "Timothy"
did in his article; and, in fact, stimulated him to the
course he pursued, and which eventuated in his with-
drawal from the Methodist Episcopal Church. "We
refer to the Rev. Asa Shinn and the Eev. H. B.
Bascom.
At this General Conference two new annual con-
ferences were organized, namely, the Oneida and the
New-Hampshire and Vermont. But as the Canada
Conference now ceased to be an integral portion of
the Church, there was an increase of only one annual
conference. The progress of the work, however, in
almost every part of the country had been great be-
yond precedent during the four years. This may be
seen from the actual increase, which was no less than
one hundred and six thousand five hundred and
ninety-nine members in four years, and five hundred
and three ministers.
At the close of the General Conference Bishops
George and Hedding started for Ifew-Tork city,
where they were to meet the New-Tork Conference
on the 25th of June. Having experienced a rather
rough journey on their way out across the moimtains,
360 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1828.
they determined to take another route home. Ac-
cordingly, they took a steamer down the Ohio to
Beaver. Here the captain found it more convenient
to land his passengers on the side of the river oppo-
site to Beaver in the woods. They were landed about
midnight ; it was both dark and rainy, and the party
had to grope their way for a long time before they
could find a place of shelter. They, however, made
the best of it, and early the next day took stage from
Beaver for Ashtabula, on Lake Erie. " It was a des-
perate road," says Bishop Hedding, "through mud
and swamps," They at length got through the
"swamps," but this was by no means the end of
their troubles; for, when they reached Ashtabula,
the wind was so high that no steamer could land.
Quite a company having been detained here, they
chartered a schooner to take them to Bufialo. But
no sooner was the vessel out upon the lake than she
tossed about and careened in a such a manner that
Bishop Hedding at once suspected she was without
sufficient ballast to make her safe, especially as the
wind was blowing a gale; and, upon looking down
through the hatchway, he found to his dismay that
there was neither ballast nor freight in her hold.
He soon after made another discovery which added
nothing to his comfort : he found that both captain
and crew were half drunk, and well supplied with
brandy for the voyage. The wind, however, was in
the right direction, and the vessel ploughed through
the water at a terrible rate, sometitnes veering to so
1828.T DEATH OF BISHOP GEOBGE. 361
as to head in toward the land and shake all the wind
out of the sails, and at others falling off so that the
main-boom would sweep across the deck with a force
that made the whole vessel quiver as though she
would break in pieces. " In this way," says Bishop
Hedding, "we tumbled over or ploughed through
the waters for over two hundred miles, in most immi-
nent danger the whole voyage." They, however,
reached Buffalo in safety, and jfrom thence had a
pleasant passage by canal-boat to Albany, and by
steamboat to New- York.
Here they enjoyed a pleasant session of the New-
York Conference ; and an increase of two thousand
three hundred and seventy-seven, making a total
membership of thirty-one thousand nine hundred and
forty-one, attested the continued prosperity of the
work. After this conference Bishops George and
Hedding parted to meet no more on earth. Bishop
George left to meet the Holston Conference, which
was to hold its session in Jonesborough, Tenn. He
had proceeded on his journey as far as StauDfton, Va.,
when he was attacked with the dysentery. The at-
tack, from the first, was very sevei'e, and throughout
defied all medical skill. Its work was accomplished
in a few days ; and on the 23d of August, with the
exclamation "Glory to God!" stiU lingering on his
tongue, Bishop George ceased from his labours. His
sudden and unexpected death gave a shock to the
whole Church. Few, however, felt it more deeply
than Bishop Hedding, For four years they had
LIFE AUD TIMES OF HEDDING. L1828.
been intimately associated together ; in company
they had travelled many thousand miles, and pre-
sided over a large number of conferences. During
these labours a mutual and strong attachment had
sprung up between them. "Bishop George was a
man of deep piety, of great simplicity of manners,
a very pathetic, powerfiil, and successful preacher,
greatly beloved in life, and very extensively lamented
in death." Such is the testimony of his contempora-
ries concerning him. "We judge that he was a man
of deep sympathy and feeling, and that in this is to
be found the secret of his success in the pulpit.
Bishop George was a native of Yirginia, and was
bom in 1767. He entered the travelling connexion
in 1790, travelled principally in Virginia and Mary-
land till 1816, when he was elected to the episcopal
office. He was therefore forty-nine years of age, and
had travelled twenty-six years when he was elected
bishop ; which office he filled twelve years, and died
at the age of sixty-one.
On the 23d of July, Bishop Hedding met the New-
England Conference at Lynn; and on the 14th of
August, the Maine Conference at Vienna. From
this place he crossed JSTew-Hampshire and Vermont
on his way to Upper Canada, where he was to meet
that conference. On his route he visited the societies
as far as he could; and when he reached the shores
of Lake Champlain, he turned aside from his course a
few days to attend a camp-meeting at Charlotte,. not
far from Burlington, He was now in the region of
1828.] PKBILOUB AOOIBEKT. 363
his early home. Here he had experienced religion,
and here commenced his ministry. At this camp-
meeting he met many of his old associates and friends,
and with them talked over the scenes that had trans-
pired thirty years before. It was to him a precious
and refreshing time. As they together recomited the
mercies of Ghsd, his soul was filled with unspeakable
joy.
Shortly after this, while prosecuting his journey, he
met with a somewhat serious accident which well
nigh terminated his labours. He was in the midst of
a forest, and as the sun was setting, he felt in haste
to reach the settlement before night closed around
him. While riding at a rapid pace over a bridge
thrown across a deep ravine, his horse broke a plank,
and both his fore feet went down through the open-
ing. The shock was so sudden that Bishop Hedding
was thrown out of his sulky some eight or ten feet
over the head of his horse, and for some time lay
insensible. When he came to, he found himself lying
upon the very edge of the bridge, below which yawned
a chasm twenty feet deep, down which, had he fallen,
he must inevitably have been dashed to pieces upon
the rough rocks at the bottom. After rendering thanks-
giving to God for his preservation, he looked around
for his horse, and found him out of the hole, but en-
tangled in the harness and lying broadside upon the
bridge. With great difficulty he disengaged him, got
hiro up and resumed his journey. When he reached
Ohazy, N. Y; ha wrote to his wife, wider date of Sep-
364- LIFE AND TIMES OE BEDDING. [1828.
temper 20: "Tkrougli the mercy of God I am yet
alive. My good friend and fellow-traTeller, Bishop
George, is taken and I am left; I feel myself solemnly
admonished to be ready also ; I seem to myself like
one walking on the brink of the grave." After giving
an accoimt of the accident that occmred to him, he
says : " The sndden shock shook the poor old building
■with such violence that it had well nigh gone to
pieces; but I am now gradually recovering." He
then sends his love to " all who may inquire after a
wandering pilgrim," and adds : " Some people think
it a wonderfiil privilege to be a Methodist bishop ; but
if they had to drag around with me one year, I think
they would alter their opinion."
From Chazy Bishop Hedding passed across the
country to Ogdensburgh, on the St. Lawrence Eiver,
and proceeded by steamboat to Kingston. Here, in
company with several preachers, he hired a lumber-
wagon with two horses, and proceeded through a
rough wilderness country to Ancaster, the seat of the
conference.
We have already mentioned the desire of the
brethren in Canada, on account of civil and political
relations, to dissolve their ecclesiastical connexion
with the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United
States, and also the action of the General Conference
looking toward such an event. This, therefore, was
to be the last session of the Canada Conference in its
present ecclesiastical connexion. Bishop Hedding
had been mainly instrumental in preventing a vio-
1828.1 SBPABATION OF CANADA OONFEEEKOE. 365
lent disruption of the conference four years before ;
and now he was exceedingly anxious that the new
ecclesiastical organization should come into existence
under circumstances that would tend to perpetuate
the union of feeling and sympathy between the
Methodists on both sides of the line. He also de-
sired that their act of separation should be such as
would bear judicial scrutiny. Accordingly, after the
usual conference business had aU been transacted,
resolutions were introduced and adopted by the
body, declaring their ecclesiastical connexion with
the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States
dissolved, and organizing themselves into a separate
and independent Church by the name of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church in Canada. Bishop Hedding
then, after congratulating them on their prosperity,
and upon the amicable attainment of a result that,
in their judgment, promised so much usefulness to
themselves, vacated the chair; and thenceforward
the "Canada Conference" became the "Methodist
Episcopal Church in Canada."
While at this conference Bishop Hedding re-
newed an acquaintance with a family by the name
of Sweetzer, whom he had known in If orthem New-
York twenty-eight years before. Mr. Sweetzer had
recently died, and from the surviving widow he
gathered the following interesting item of family
history. A short time before his death, his son, an
only child, had married and brought his wife home,
and they lived with his parents. This son, though a
366 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIITG. L1828.
moral young man, had been apparently indifferent
to the subject of religion up to the period of his
father's death. ■ When his father was upon his dying
bed he called his son to his side, told him that he
was about to die, charged him to take care of his
mother, and then tenderly addressed him upon the
subject of his own soul's salvation. After this, he
added : — " My son, I believe I am going to heaven ;
but I cannot leave the world in peace unless you wiU
make me two promises. My house, you know, has
always been a home for Methodist preachers, and
the first thing I wish you to promise is, that it shall
always continue to be so, and that you will take
care of them as I have done. Again, my house
has always been a house of prayer, and I cannot
bear to think that family prayer shall cease to be
offered in it. I want you to promise that after I am
gone, and you become the head of the family, you
will commence family prayer, and keep it up regu-
larly, as I have done." With tears, the young man
pledged himself that the dying request of his father
should be falfiUed; and the old man, with a smile
of satisfaction upon his countenance, died in peace.
The son immediately commenced family prayer, and
in a few days both he and his wife were converted.
The house continued, as before, the home of the itin-
erants ; and the young man regarded their presence,
as his father had before him, a boon and a blessing,
"^^hen the bishop saw them, the young man and his
wife were happy in the love of God. " What a fill-
1828.] BE8XTLTB OF SECESSIONS. 367
filment," he remarks, " of the promise made to Abra-
ham ; — ' I know that he will command his children
and his household after him.' "
After the close of the Canada Conference, Bishop
Hedding*retvirned by way of Ogdensbiu^h, Platts-
burgh, Middlebury, Vt., and thence across the Green
Mountains ho&e to Lynn.
Thus ended another year of toilsome labour in the
great work to which all his powers were consecrated.
It had been a year of great prosperity in the Church,
notwithstanding some portions of the work had been
greatly distracted by the radical excitement and the
secessions produced by it. But how little the Church
at large was affected by these excitements will be
apparent from the fact that the increase for the
year was thirty-six thousand four hundred and seven,
making a total membership of four hundred and
eighteen thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven.*
The number of preachers this year was one thousand
six hundred and forty-two, being an increase of sixty-
six for the year. The other interests of the Church
had also proportionably increased. The missionary
cause had been greatly extended ; new chTirches had
been erected; new societies and circuits organized;
and the cause of education had received a new and
powerful impulse. And here we may as well remark,
" There is an error in the printed Minutes for this year, making
the total membership four hundred and twenty-one thousand one
hundred and fifty-six, or two thousand two hundred and twenty-nine
more than it should be. ^ „^
Y 16*
368 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1828.
that each year during the excitement connected with
the organization of the Methodist Protestant Church,
there was a continued and large increase in the mem-
bership of the old Church. For instance, in 1829,
there was an increase of twenty-nine thousand three
hundred and five ; in 1830, an increase of twenty-
eight thousand four hundred and ten^ — even after de-
ducting niue thousand six hundred and seventy-eight
for the Canada Conference, which had then ceased its
ecclesiastical connexion with us ; in 1831, an increase
of thirty-seven thoiisand one hundred and fourteen.
The same is true of the principal cities where the
"reformers" were most numerous, and which they
made the centre of their operations. Omitting the
coloured membership, which were affected but little
either way by the movement, the following table,
taken from Bangs's History, exhibits the condition of
Methodism in these several cities by the statistics of
its white members : —
1827. 1828. 1829. 1830. 1881.
New-York 3,219 3,416 8,4:73 3,866 4,889
Philadelphia 3,633 3,882 4,440 4,678 4,859
Baltimore 3,631 3,886 4,119 4,295 6,059
Pittshurgh 737 655 676 630 700
Cincinnati 901 915 929 1,171 1,495
12,121 12,764 13,637 14,640 17,002
It will thus be perceived that, so far jfrom prevent-
ing the general progress of the Church, there was,
during the five years of greatest turmoil and excite-
ment on the part of the "reformers," a net increase
in the five cities where their greatest power was
1829.1 8EEM0H ON DANCING. 369
centred of four thousand eight hundred and eighty-
one, or akaost one thousand a year. How strongly
this result contrasts with the heated notions, of men,
when carried away with some visionary idea! To
read over the denunciatory and prophetic pleas of
some of these men as they now stand in the columns
of the "Mutual Rights," one would suppose that,
unless the General Conference yielded to what was
erroneoiisly called "the voice of the people," the
Methodist Church would be rent in pieces, and would
remain only as an old and deserted hulk stranded
upon the shore. How widely different from this was
the result ! While these men were wasting their
energies in their wild crusade, the great body of the
ministers went steadily forward in their godlike work
of preaching Christ crucified ; sinners were converted,
the Church was edified, and Christians, matured for
heaven, crossed the flood with songs of joy, and
jqined the host of the redeemed above.
The winter of 1828-9 was spent by Bishop Hedding
principally at home, though he answered repeated
calls to visit societies, and to perform special services
in various places in his vicinity. On the 25th of
January he preached a sermon on dancing in the
Lynn Common Church, which made a strong impres-
sion at the time and elicited much remark.
The " Lynn Mirror," under the title of " Bishop
Hedding," thus notices this discourse : " On Sabbath
evening, January 25th, Bishop Hedding, of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church, according to previous notice,
370 LIFE AND TIMES OE BEDDING. [1829.
delivered at the first Methodist meeting-house in this
town a very ingenious and interesting sermon on
dcmovng : text, Eccl. i, 1. The argument of the dis-
course was conducted in so artful a manner as to
carry along with him the minds of the audience, and
producing none of that revulsion of feeling which fre-
quently arises when favourite notions are attacked
without sufficient remark by way of exordium. The
wound shrinks back from the rash hand of the sur-
geon ; the muscles of the dislocate joint are rigid, and
require to be softened down by gentle means before
they will sufi'er the limb to be reduced to its proper
place. Tlius it happens to the man who would un-
ceremoniously attack our prejudices and our errors —
the precipitancy of the operator often insures defeat.
The preacher evidently intended to direct the chief
force of his battery against dancing, but chose first to
make himself master of several out-posts before he
came to the principal ejigagement. The excellence of
true religion was set forth in a pleasing light, as tend-
ing to create the highest happiness, even in this world,
without depriving its possessor of a single innocent
gi-atification. Nevertheless, the passions must be con-
trolled, and pleasure abandoned, when they,dampen
the ardour of piety and break all distinction between
professed Christians and the mere men of the world.
After showing that an attendance upon theatres, card-
tables, &c., was not calculated to increase the work
of grace in the soul, and illustrating his arguments by
several weU-told anecdotes, he proceeded to the more
1829.] THE PHYSIOLOGICAL AKGUMENT. 371
immediate object in view — dcmomg. To obviate any
arguments which might be advanced in favour of
dancing from the Scriptures, it was remarked that
the Hebrew word translated domdng, according to
some of the best critics, should be rendered playmg
wpon am, mstnmimtf or pvp-mg. At all events, that
this exercise^ whatever it was, evidently must have
been a religious act; and if the dancing of the present
day was of the same nature as the dancing of David,
then balls and assemblies should be held on the Sab-
bath as a religious exercise.
" The disposition of the argument offered "bj physi-
ologists in favour of dancing, namely, that it tends to
promote health, we think must have made a forcible
impression upon the minds even of the friends of this
amusement. So far from promoting health, the
preacher thought that overaction, and late hours,
and artificial stimulus, would have a contrary effect ;
but if otherwise, then dances should not be held once
a month, but every night, or great benefit and great
cwres could not be expected ; and facts were adverted
to in proof that warm ball-rooms, excessive action,
thin dresses, and the midnight air, have laid the foun-
dations of disease, and have been the precursors of
many a premature grave. Upon the whole, we think
the numerous assembly, whatever private opinions
had previously existed, must have been gratified with
the adroitness of the discourse and felt the force of its
arguments, and at the same time been pleased vidth
the honest intentions of the speaker,"
372 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1829.
This year lie met the Philadelphia Conference at
Philadelphia, April the 15th; the New-York at
Troy, May 15th. From Troy he crossed the coun-
try to Portsmouth, New-Hampshire, and attended
the session of the New-England Conference on the
10th of June. At this session the New-Hampshire
and Vermont Conference was formed — ^the preceding
General Conference having left the division to be
made by the conference, with the concurrence of the
bishop.
During the three years preceding tbis there had
sprung up quite a strong party feeling in some of the
conferences in respect to Freemasonry. Already
it had occasioned, both in the conferences and in
some Churcbes, alienations and strifes injurious to the
cause of religion. In tbe New-England Conference
tbe excitement had reached a great height. The par-
ties were about equally divided, and embraced many
of the prominent men on each side. When the con-
ference commenced, it was even feared tbat the agita-
tion migbt cause a formal rupture of the conference.
Bishop Hedding apprehended great difficulty, and,
witb cbaracteristic zeal and prudence, set himself to
work to prevent the threatened storm. He was well
qualified for such a work. In former yeara he had
been a mason, but for some time had ceased to
attend their meetings, and these facts being known
gave him influence with botb parties. At length a
large meeting of the principal men of the conference,
embracing the leaders on both sides of the controversy,
1829.1 A TOUE OF VISITATION. 373
was inlbnnally held, and, after much discussion, reso-
lutions of a conciliatory character were agreed upon.
Subsequently, when introduced into the conference,
they were carried unanimously. Thus the question
was so fully and amicably settled, that a year or two
afterward it had nearly ceased to be agitated among
the people.
From Portsmouth he proceeded to Gardiner,
Maine, where he met the Maine Conference, July
9th. This was the last conference assigned to him
for the year, and having completed his labours
here he returned home; and soon after, having his
wife in company, he commenced a tour of visitation
to the Churches in Massachusetts, New-Hampshire,
Vermont, and part of the State of New-York. He
had before him a large number of appointments,
extending through a range of nearly two thousand
miles, and requiring some three or four months'
travel. This labour, however, he successfully ac-
complished, and reached his home near the close of
the year.
In his travels in different parts of the country, he
was occasionally the subject or the observer of
amusing as well as painful incidents. Those who
knew him are aware that he had a keen perception
and enjoyment of the ludicrous, as well as things that
were grave ; and that however sudden, or strange, or
even laughable, any event might be, he had the good
sense and ready wit to turn it to proper account, and
in no way to be disconcerted by it. During this last
374: LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING. [1829.
journey an incident transpired tliat is wortliy of nar-
ration from the lesson to be deriyed from it, if nothing
more. He was traveUing in the town of Chester,
Vermont, and stopped on Friday night at a public
house. As he was wearied with travelling, he de-
sired to spend the Sabbath with some Methodist
society near by, and inquired of his host if there were
any Methodists in the place. The landlord directed
him to a place about three miles off, and gave him
the name of the principal man in the society, where
he thought the bishop would be weU entertained,
and where the people would be glad to have him
stay and preach. Accordingly, on the following
morning he started, and toiled up the hills to the
house of this "principal man in the society." Leav-
ing his wife in his carriage, he went to the door, and
the gentleman himself , met him. The bishop stated
that he was a Methodist preacher on a journey, and
would like to stay and preach among them if there
was any place where he could be entertained.
" Well," said the " principal man," " I want first to
know if you are a mason?" "O!" said the bishop,
"that is a question I don't want to meddle with;
there is a great deal of excitement about it, and it is
no matter whether I am or not." " Then," said the
man, " I know you are one ; if you are not, you would
say you are not. "We don't want to entertain you, or
hear you, imless we know you are not a mason."
" "Well," said the bishop, " are there no other Meth-
odists about here ?" " Yes," said the man, " there is
1829.] A. WAYSIDE INCIDENT. 375
a poor widow down below, but she can't take care of
you ; she has enough to do to take care of herself."
"Well, good-by," said the bishop. He thought he
would drive to the widow's and make farther in-
quiries. The "poor widow" and her two daughters
were Methodists, and received them gladly. They
prepared dinmer for them, and then sent their hired
man to a brother a short distance off. He came and
took the bishop and his wife home with him, and
entertained them kindly. He also made an appoint-
ment for him to preach in the school-house the morn-
ing and afternoon of the next day, and circulated
it through all the neighbourhood. The people came
out in crowds; even the strong anti-mason came,
but looked quite suUen. The bishop preached with
unusual unction and power, and made a very strong
impression. After meeting, when he had returned
to his host's, a number of the society came in to see
and converse with the new preacher. While they
were there, one of the number, remembering that
Hedding was the name of one of the bishops, cried
out, "0, it's one of the bishops 1 it's one of the
bishops !" This discovery produced quite a com-
motion, and they crowded around him with new
interest. He says : " I enjoyed my visit among this
people very much, and was as heartily entertained
as I ever was in any place, and was perhaps the
means of doing them a little good." When the
"principal man of the place" learned that the Meth-
odist preacher he had so rudely repulsed from his
876 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1829.
door was none other than a bishop, his mortification
was extreme. The bishop, having enjoyed the hos-
pitality and brotherly love of the people through the
Sabbath, resumed his journey early Monday morning,
and saw them no more.
1830.1 SECOND QUADEENNIAL. 377
OHAPTEE Xm.
SECOND OTADEENNIAL OF EPISCOPAL LABOtJKS- CONCLUDED.
ConferenoeB for the Spring of 1830 — Visits the Oneida Indian Mission —
Sermon to the Indians — Journeys Westward — Review of Labours —
A "Week's Reat^Visit to Canada — Reaches Home after Nine Months'
Absence — Summation for the Year — Baltimore Conference in 1831 —
— A "Located Itinerant" — Submits to a Surgical Operation — Confer-
ences attended this Spring — Leaves Home on a Western and South-
ern Tour — Letter to his Wife — Genesee Conference — Christian Hos-
pitality vs. Hospitality to Office — A Cold Reception — Quartered among
Apprentice Boys — Pittsburgh Conference — Journey to Mansfield, Ohio
— Adventures with a Preacher who had "Time enough yet" — Meets
the Kentucky Conference at Louisville — Journey from Louisville to
East Tennessee — Reaches Athens — Rebuke of a Pompous Young Man
— Holston Conference— Visits the Cherokee Nation — State of Society,
&B. — Encounter with a Watch-Dog — Travels in Georgia — A Slave
Auction — The Georgia Conference — South-Carolina Conference — Con-
versation with a Negro on the Roanoke — Hospitality of a Tavern-
keeper — Virginia Conference — Philadelphia Conference — Arrives at
the Seat of the General Conference — Progress of the Work during the
Four Years — Educational Movement — Colleges — Seminaries — Mis-
sions— Among the Slaves — Liberia — Indian Missions — In Canada —
At Green Bay — Rev. John Clark — The Wyandots — Rev. J. B. Finley
— Visit to the East with Indians — Choctaws — Cherokees — Death
of Ministers.
The opening spring finds Bishop Hedding again at
the city of Philadelphia, where he met that confer-
ence on the 14th of April. On his return to E'ew-
Tork he wrote to his wife, under date of April 30th,
as follows: "I have just returned from the Phila-
delphia Conference in tolerable health: had plenty
of labour and care, but have been graciously pre-
served. The preachers are beginning to come for
378 LIFU ANB TIMES OF HEDDING. [1830.
conference. They have had a good increase (two
thousand five hundred and fifty) in the Philadelphia
Conference, and the Churches generally in those
regions are in a state of good prosperity. I have a
great care and responsibility resting upon me ; many
important and difficult questions to decide — ^important
in relation to the Chm-ch, the preachers, their famiHes,
&c. ; but I make it my constant care to do right, Yet
in this I grieve some and offend others, because some
who are interested cannot see what right is. I hope
so to conduct in this respect, as weU as in others, as
to be able to render an account to the Chief Shep-
herd. But O how much mercy I need to cover ten
thousand failings 1 many of which, perhaps, I do not
see. Lord, help me ! Amen."
The session of the New-York Conference com-
menced May 6th, and at its close Bishop Hedding
proceeded to New-Bedford, where he met the ISTew-
England Conference, May 20th. Then, visiting home
on his way, he proceeded to Portland to meet the
Maine Conference, which assembled on the 9th of
June. Thence he crossed the mountains and at-
tended the New-Hampshire and Vermont Confer-
ence, which assembled Jxme 23d, at Barre, Yer-
mont. Continuing his course westward, he met the
Oneida Conference, at Utica, on the 15th of July.
After the close of the Oneida Conference he
visited the Oneida Indian Mission, about twenty
miles from Utica. The Oneida Indians had been
settled on an Indian reservation in this part of the
1880.] ONEIDA INDIAN MISSION. 379
State of Ifew-Tork, They had been partly civilized,
and some of them were cultivators of the soil, and had
adopted the habits of civilized life. The Protestant
Episcopal Church had established a mission among
them several years before ; but, so far as it concerns
religion and morals, they were in a truly deplorable
state. Like most of the half-civilized aborigines that
skirted our states and territories, they were debased
by habits of intemperance and other degrading vices.
As a result of their vices, they were diminishing in
numbers, and becoming more and more impoverish-
ed. While they were in this condition a young con-
verted Mohawk came among them, impelled by his
love for Ghi'ist and for the souls of men to make
known to them the ministry of reconciliation. Being
able to speak in their own language, he unfolded
to them, from the fulness of his own experience, and
with a heart all on fire with the love of God, the way
of salvation. The people heard him gladly. A work
of grace commenced among them, and upward of
one hundred were soundly converted. These stray
lambs in the wilderness needed tender care and great
watching. A missionary was sent to them ; a school
was established for the education of their children,
and also for the adult Indians who were desirous of
learning. This Indian mission has been sustained in
the Oneida Conference until the present day, and
been attended with the best of results to the
Indians. Several of these converted Indians emi-
grated to Green Bay, where they now form one of
380 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1830.
the most interesting and successful of all our Indian
missions.
Bishop Hedding preached to the Indians through
an interpreter. In his discourse an incident occurred
that shows how diflBcult it often is to translate the
strong figurative language of the Bible. He had
occasion to quote the text, "He led captivity cap-
tive, and gave gifts unto men." The interpreter
paused, and spoke to him in a low voice, " Captivity
captive? captivity captive? I can't interpret that;
I don't understand it." ""Well," said the bishop, as
he thought of the strange and wonderful imagery of
the text, " if you can't interpret it let it pass."
After his visit to the mission he proceeded to
Eochester, where the Genesee Conference assembled
July 29th. At this point, reviewing his labours, he
says : " At the close of the Genesee Conference I had
attended seven conferences, alone, in about three
months and a half. Several of them were large con-
ferences, that required at least nine or ten days. I
had travelled most of the way with horse and sulky,
and in all my travel had been over fourteen hundred
miles, I had been so pressed with conference busi-
ness aU that time, that I had often not half as much
time to sleep as I needed. And I was now imder an
engagement to go to the Canada Conference to ordain
their preachers, by a request of that conference, and
by the consent of the General Conference.
To meet this engagement, from Rochester he crossed
Lake Ontario to Canada. Having arrived at a friend's
1830.] A week's eebt. 381
house in a retired place, and being worn down by
sucb protracted and exhausting laboxirs, he paused
awhile to recruit himself. " For a whole week," says
he, " I devoted myself to rest. I would lie down at
any time when I felt sleepy, whether it was night or
day, and at the end of the time felt much recruited."
He then proceeded, visiting the Churches where he
was acquainted. He went also to the mission station
at Grape Island, where he had been a few years
before, and found them in increasing prosperity.
Then he attended the Canada Conference, at Eangs-
ton, not as its president, but as a visitor and friend,
and ordained the preachers that were elected to orders
by the conference, and gave them certificates appro-
priate to their relation to the Church in Canada.
After this conference he crossed the St. Lawrence, a
little below the lake, and visited "Watertown. Thence
he crossed the country in his sulky through parts of
New-York, Vermont, and Massachusetts, to his home
in Lynn.
He reached home about the last of Ifovember,
having been absent, except a flying visit paid while
on his way to the Maine Conference, nearly nine
months. This was the most laborious year he had as
yet experienced since he entered the episcopal office.
He now retired into " winter-quarters."
Ihe progress of the work during the year was of a
very cheering character. The total membership re-
ported was four hundred and seventy-six thousand
one hundred and fifty-three, being an increase of
882 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1831.
twenty-eight thousand four hundred and ten; or, if
we add nine tbouBand six hundred and seventy-eight,
the membership of the Canada Conference, which
was dropped from the record this year, the actual
increase was thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and
thirty-five. The number of travelling preachers re-
ported was one thousand nine hundred, showing an
increase of eighty-three.
About the last of February Bishop Hedding started
on his episcopal tour for 1831. At the request of
Bishop Roberts, who was detained by sickness, he
met the Baltimore Conference in Washington, D. C,
March 16th. The business of the conference was
transacted in great harmony and with great despatch.
Baltimore had been, from the begiiming, one of the
grand radiating centres of Methodism.
Here, however, as in other conferences, there were
a few located itinercmts, the accommodation of whom
seriously embarrassed the work. One of this class,
who was comparatively a young man, had married a
rich wife, and, in addition to other worldly business,
had for several years been keeping a store. To accom-
modate him, be had been appointed to the neighbour-
ing circuits, till there was no circuit in all that region
which was willing to receive him on any condition.
He was this year appointed to a circuit quite up in the
spurs of the Alleghany Mountains, When the ap-
pointments were read out in conference, the brother
threw himself upon the seat, and, to the great amuse-
ment of the conference, roared aloud, " My German
1831.] A LOCATED ITINEEANT. 383
brethren told me it would be so ! My German breth-
ren told me it would be so !" The bishop, without
appearing to notice the ludicrous exhibition, closed
the conference and retired to his lodgings. While
conversing with the family, a coloured boy belonging
to the house came rushing into the roOm, so thoroughly
frightened as to make a grand display of the white
of his eyes, and screamed out, "O bishop, bishop,
bishop ! go up stairs quick, quick, quick ! there is a
man dying up in your room !" The bishop, followed
by members of the family, rushed up to the room.
There they found the veritable located itmeromt on
the bed upon his knees, with his face pushed into the
clothes as far as possible, still bellowing out, "My
German brethren told me it would be so!" The
bishop, for a time, hardly knew whether to yield to
the provoking or the ludicrous aapects of the case.
He at length made the brother get up, then point-
ed out to him the impropriety of his former course
as a minister, chided him for his present folly, and
wound up by saying, "Now stop this bawling, and
go to your appointment and labour like a man." He
then dismissed him, supposing that would be the last
he would hear from him. But a fortnight after he
came to see the bishop in Baltimore, and renewed his
complaint and sought redress. "But bishop," said
he, •' I don't blame you, I don't blame you; it is that
Chris. Frye, my presiding elder. And now, bishop,
if you will only hear J|im and me preach two bouts
of twenty sermons each, if I don't beat him I'll' give
Z 17
384 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1831.
up !" The bishop, not fancying the adjustment of the
case by such a trial, told the man that, so far as he
was concerned, he could not in conscience change his
appointment, and told him to go to it and labour like
a man of God. In the fall of that year, -when the
bishop was in Lebanon, Ohio, he was one day called
down from his room to see a gentleman who had
called upon him. To his great surprise, he found he
was honoured with a third call from his old located
itvneramt and his wife. The preacher gave the fol-
lowing account of himself: " I went to that circuit,
and could find no house fit to live in, and no place
suitable to board my wife ; and I could not stay there
alone so far away from home, so we concluded we
would take a journey and see the world." The next
day the bishop saw them leaving the place with a
splendid carriage and span of horses. At the next
session of the Baltimore Conference Bishop M'Ken-
dree was present, and delivered an address before
reading the appointments. Among other things, he
said : " You have generally good circuits in this con-
ference. It is true some of them are not quite so
good as others ; but," said he, looMng the preacher
who had travelled to see the world right in the eyej
" there is not one of them so bad that it need make a
man cry"
Immediately after the session of the Baltimore Con-
ference, Bishop Hedding visitedsthe city of Baltimore
and submitted to a surgical og^ation. He had suffer-
ed great pain and inconvenience from a hemorrhoidal
1831.] 8TAET8 UPON A NEW TOtTB. 385
tumor for ten years. Its removal was a painful opera-
tion, and resulted in his confinement eight or ten days ;
but in the end reHeved him of great suffering, and
effected an almost entire cure of a painful and debiU'
tating disease.
Before he had fully recovered from the surgical
operation, he was compelled to resume his journey
northward. The Philadelphia Conference was in ses-
sion when he reached that city, having been opened
by Bishop Soule on the 13th of April. In company
they travelled to Middletown, Conn., and met the
New-York Conference on the 4th of May ; then to
Springfield, Mass., and met the New-England Con-
ference May 18th.
After the New-England Conference, by two days'
hard travelling he was enabled to reach home, where
he had three or four days to spend with his family
before he would be under the necessity of starting on
a tour to visit the western and southern conferences,
which would require a long absence. These few days
soon glided away, and we soon find him with his horse
and sulky journeying along through the southern
parts of New-Hampshire and "Vermont, into the in-
terior of the State of New-York, aa usual attending
camp-meetings, and meeting special appointments by
the way.
From Lansingburgh he wrote to his wife under date
of June 29th ; an^after referring to the long journey
and many exposurq^ that were before him, he says :
*' But I consider God governs everywhere, and if be
386 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1831.
sees fit, can preserve me in one place as well as in
another. While I am in the way of my duty I feel'
safe, for I know that my Master will let me live as
long as he sees best. Though, if it were the will of
God, I should much rather die at home in the presence
of my wife, than abroad among strangers ; yet, when-
ever I die, I hope to go to rest. A preparation for
this solemn event is my daily concern. When I look
at my imperfections, and compare myself with God's
holy law, I am ready to ask, How can such a wretch
get to heaven? But when I look at the blood of
atonement, and hang on my Saviour, I feel that I have
a sure foundation, and rest in a firm hope. Whatever
may become of all other concerns, O let us strive to
enter in at the strait gate !"
At Le Eoy, N. T., in conjunction with Bishop
Soule, he met the Genesee Conference on the 28th
of July. On the third day of the session, leaving
Bishop Sqfle to finish the business of the conference,
he started on his tour, journeying through Buffalo,
Fredonia, Erie, Pa., &c., to meet the western confer-
ences. Before leaving Le Eoy he wrote again to his
wife under date of August 1st : " The Genesee Con-
ference has been in session three days besides the
Sabbath. Bishop Soule is here. As yet I get no
letter from Bishop Roberts, consequently I have to
go to the Pittsburgh Conference. I purpose to start
this day. I have fe'lt more afflfWion about being
away from home this journey ti©n ever I did before,
the time seems so long, and the uncertainty of life so
1831.] A COLD EEOEPTIOK. 387
great. But we have one safe way— to cominit our
lives and all our concerns to the care of God; he
knows what is best, and will certainly do what is best.
I desire you will pray for me, but give yourself no
distressing anxiety about me; I feel myself safe in
the hands of my heavenly Father."
Bishop Hedding was a plain and humble man.
He chose only to be known as a Methodist preacher.
He wore the garb, travelled in the style, and assumed
the character of a Methodist preacher. Accordingly,
when he stopped to seek lodgings with his brethren,
he would announce himself simply as a Methodist
preacher. If this did not always secure him as cordial
a reception, and as grand an entertainment, as if
he had announced himself "bishop" instead of
"preacher," it, at least, enabled him to distinguish
between Christian hospitality and hospitality to
office.
While on this journey an incident illustrative of
this occurred. One Saturday, towara noon, he
reached a manufacturing village, and finding both
himself and his horse much jaded, he concluded to
remain over the Sabbath. The preacher and his wife
being both absent from the parsonage, he went to
the public-house near by. After dinner he inquired
of the landlord who were the principal men among
the Methodists in the place ; intending to seek the
hospitality of som* one of them rather than remain at
the public-house ^er the Sabbath. The landlord
gave him the name and pointed out the residence of
388 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1831.
one, who, he said, was the principal man in the
Church, and also in the village. The bishop imme-
diately walked over to the house, and made known
his wish to the lady> Instead of giving hitn a reply,
she sent for her husband. When the man came in
he iatroduced himself to him as a Methodist preacher
on a journey, and said, that as he knew of no place
he could reach before the Sabbaili, he would like to
pass it in that place if he could be entertained. The
man made no reply, but turned the conversation to
some other subject. After waiting a reasonable time,
and no reply being made to his request, the bishop
took his hat, and said, " Good afternoon, sir," in-
tending to return and spend the Sabbath at the
tavern. The man then said, in a cold and heartless
manner, " I guess you'd better stay here." The
bishop replied, that he would like to stay, if it would
not be a burden to him or his family; but he did
not like to make himself burdensome anywhere.
" 0, you can stay," said the man, with the same cold,
apathetic -indifference, " Well," said the bishop, " I
have a hoise at the tavern ; have you hors§-keeping ?"
" I have a bam and hay," rephed the man, " but no
grain." The bishop then said : " I can procure grain
at the tavern, if you have good hay ; but if your hay
is not good, I will keep him there, as I have a long
journey to perform." The man replied, with some
little irritability, " The hay is good enough for your
horse."
Upon this slender prospect of hospitality the bishop
1831.] INHOSPITABLE RECEPTION. 389
went to the tavem, procured oats, brought them in
his sulky, and put out his horse, and took care of him
"while he remained. When evening came his host
said to him — ^" There is a prayer-meeting at the
meeting-house: you can go, if you please; I can't go."
The bishop went to the prayer-meeting, took his seat
in the congregation, and, at a suitable time, prayed
along with the other brethren. After the meeting
closed he returned to his lodgings.
The house of his host was large, and elegantly fur-
nished ; but at the hour of rest they sent the bishop
to a small, remote chamber — ^far from being clean.
Hero he had three apprentice boys for his companions
— one of them occupying the same bed with himself.
In the morning, his host, in a half-inviting, half-
repelling manner, remarked that there was to be a
love-feast, and inquired if he would go. "O, yes,
certainly," said the bishop. Soon after he had taken
his seat in the congregation, the preacher came in.
He observed his host go up and speak to the preacher,
when both turned their eyes upon him. The preacher
had seen him before, and instantly recognised him.
A flame of fire seemed to overspread the face of his
host, as he slunk away to a seat. At the request of
the preacher Bishop Hedding took charge of the love-
feast, and then preached for him. ^ He also engaged
to accompany the preacher and officiate for him at
his afternoon appointment — almost glad of the oppor-
tunity to escape from his host at this juncture. As
soon as the service closed, he left the church to get
390 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1831.
his horse. His host soon came up with him, took
his arm, and — ^half-mad, half-gracious, and quite thor-
oughly confused — said, in a quick, impatient manner,
" Why didn't you tell me you was a bishop ?" " O,"
said the bishop, " I am a plain Methodist preacher."
Both the man and his wife seemed completely over-
come with mortification, and it was a relief to the
bishop to get away.
Perhaps after that the man remembered the in-
junction of the good Book, " Be careful to entertain
strangers, for some thereby have entertained angels
unawares." At all events, he received an admonition
upon the propriety of giving, at least, a decent recep-
tion and entertainment to the Methodist preachers.
Bishop Hedding met the Pittsburgh Conference
August 17th, and from thence journeyed to Mans-
field, Ohio, where he met the Ohio Conference, Sep-
tember 8th. While on his journey to Mansfield he
had a little trial of his patience. Every one who
knew the bishop is aware of the promptness and
energy of his action. The management of a train
upon a railroad is scarcely more systematic as to the
time of arrival and departure from the different points,
than were the movements of Bishop Hedding in carry-
ing out his arrangements. On one occasion on this
journey he put up in a village where the preacher
was to leave in the morning for conference, and they
arranged to start early and travel in company — the
day's journey before them being between thirty and
forty miles. With this arrangement the bishop was
1831.T "TIME EKOTJGH YET." 391
well pleased, as the country was new and lie was
ignorant of the- way; and accordingly he was up with
the lark in the morning, ate his breakfast, and had
his horse fed and prepared for the journey. But when
he came to the preacher's he found he had not been
to breakfast; and upon suggesting the necessity of
haste, he neplied, "O, there is time enough yet."
At length the preacher lazily got up his horse, when,
lo ! one shoe was off and another loose ; " time enough
yet," said he, " I will have him shod before I start."
To the great annoyance of the bishop, and to the
scandal of his punctuality, it was nine o'clock before
they were fairly started on their journey. The
preacher, being acquainted with the road, led the
way ; but he drove so slowly that but little progress
was made before dinner. After dinner the bishop,
having inquired the way, started off upon a brisk
trot and continued to lead. The preacher followed
after, but there being a flaw in one of his axletrees
that he had neglected to have repaired, it at length
broke down, and an hour and a half were spent in
repairing it. ISTight came on before they had reached
the settlement where they were to tarry, and in the
darkness they could creep only at a snail's pace.
The result of "time enough yet" was, that they did
not reach their stopping place tiU eleven o'clock at
night, and not only put the people Vhere they stayed
to an inconvenience, but lost the opportunity of having
a good night's rest for themselves and their horses.
The bishop excused himself from delaying for the
17*
392 LIFE AND TIMEB OF HEDDIKG. [1831.
brother, as Ms wagon must be mended before lie
cOTild start, and was off in tbe morning while yet his
fellow-traveller was taking his rest. The second day
of the conference " time enough yet " made his ap-
pearance, having just arrived, and took his seat
among his brethren. How the laggard ever got over
the AUeghanies, and how he could keep the breath
in his body in such a " go-ahead " atmosphere, was a
mystery the bishop's philosophy did not attempt to
unravel. He wrote to his wife from Mansfield, Sep-
tember 11 : "I have had much hard toil and many
bad roads ; but the Lord in mercy has preserved me,
so that no evil has befallen me. It is more healthy
in this country than usual at this season ; yet I fre-
quently see people shaking with the ague. They
humorously call it, ' taking a shake.' There have
been great revivals of religion in many parte through
which I have come'— ^greater than any I have ever
seen before. I am about eight hundred miles ^om
home, and have travelled about one thousand miles
to get here. I seem to myself to be far off, but a
long way I have to go before I can see you again.
Though I have sorrows, and aflElictions, and toils, yet
I have many comforts — ^the greatest of all my com-
forts is found in the love and service of my God,
and the hope of obtaining a place in heaven, when I
go from this world. O let us live for God and heaven,
and then, through the merits of our Lord and Saviour,
we shall be safe and happy, let what wiU befall us
here."
1831.] KENTUCKY CONFEEENOB. 393
In a postscript to this letter lie speaks of tlie preach-
ers being as fine a set of men as he ever saw, nearly
one hundred and fifty in number, and that the increase
for the year in the conference was over four thou-
sand.*
From Mansfield he travelled in his sulky to Cin-
cinnati ; then, finding the mud deep in the roads and
the travelling hard, he took his horse and carriage on
board a steamboat, and went down the river to Louis-
ville, which was the seat of the Kentucky Conference
that year. Being a few weeks in advance of the
conference, he crossed the river into Indiana, and
visited several of the Churches in that part of the
state. He had expected Bishop Roberts to be with
him at the Kentucky Conference ; but in this he was
disappointed, as he did not arrive from the Indiana
Conference, on account of his feeble health and the
bad roads, till just after the former conference closed.
The conference, which commenced October 13th,
however, passed off delightfully; and Bishop Hed-
dirig was much pleased with the spirit and bearing of
both preachers and people. He was especially
pleased with the anti-slavery feeling that so mani-
festly pervaded the conference. That body then,
though in a slave state, refused to elect local preach-
ers who held slaves to deacon's or elder's orders.
From Louisville he travelled through Kentucky,
" The exact number of preachers was one hundred and forty-eight,
and the increase was four thousand two hundred and thirty-three ;
making a total membership of forty-four thousand eight hundred
and seyenty-nine.
394: LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1831.
and crossed the Ciimberland Mountains into East
Tennessee. In crossing these mountains he was ex-
posed to a new kind of danger. There was a dis-
tance of thirty miles where the country was unin-
habited, only as it was roamed over by wild beasts
and hunters — the latter being but little more civilized
than the Indians, and living in much the same way.
The brethren of the Kentucky Conference, knowing
the difficulty and danger of the way, kindly employed
a young preacher to accompany him. This young
man rode on horseback and led the way, while the
bishop followed in his sulky. They made every
effort to get through by daylight ; but night closed in
upon them two hours before they reached a tavern.
The night was so dark that none but an experienced
traveller could have found the way; and the road,
which was so rough as to be almost impassible by
daylight, was now doubly dangerous in the darkness
of the night. They were, however, protected by a
gi-acious Providence, and reached the public-house
beyond the mountains in safety. The landlord' ex-
pressed his surprise that they had got through with-
out being torn to pieces. He said that only a few
days before a panther leaped at a man who was
armed with a gun, but leaped so high as to pass over
him ; and when he turned to attack him in the other
direction, the man, who was quick with his gun, shot
him dead.
He reached Athens, Tennessee, where the Holston
Conference was to meet, on the 10th of November.
1831.] A SiLENT BEBTJKE ADMINISTEEED. 395
Being some days in advance of the time, he sent out
several appointments which he filled in the neigh-
bourhood.
To a man of such real diffidence and true gentle-
manly bearing as Bishop Hedding, any appearance
of inflated self-conMence or of ill-mannerly impu-
dence in 8t Methodist preacher was exceedingly offen-
sive. 'So man knew how to level such persons with
stem and cutting rebuke, or to wither them with silent
contempt, better than Bishop Hedding ; and no man
could do it more effectually. One evening while at
Athens, prior to the session of the conference, as he
was sitting in his room conversing with a few friends,
a young preacher came in, and with a bold, impudent
air strutted up befoi-e the bishop, at the same time
brushing up his hair with one hand, and then thrust-
ing both into his pantaloon's pockets. "Sir," said
he, "I understand you have an appointment to preach
at brother B 's to-morrow night. Is it so ?" The
bishop replied that he had an appointment there.
" "Well, then," said the young man, " I believe I shall
go out and hear you, and see if you can preach any."
The bishop regarded the young man for a moment
with a commiserating expression that told in its
effect, and then turned away without replying a
word, and resumed his conversation with his friends.
He made no further allusion to the subject, and took
no farther notice of the young man, who awkwardly
retreated from his prominent position. The pointed
and deserved rebuke was richly enjoyed by the spec-
396 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIlfO. [1831.
tators, and keenly felt by the young man. His per-
ceptions however were not remarkably keen in those
respects, nor were his sensibilities remarkably refined.
It was not long before he discovered that he was alto-
gether too great a man to be a Methodist preacher,
especially as something always intervened to prevent
his taking the position among his brethren to wKich,
in his own judgment, he was fairly entitled. Aecord-
ingly he located, and became a political stump orator,
and the editor of a political paper. He finally suc-
ceeded in getting elected to Congress ; 'but stiU. failed
to convince the country that he was either a strong or
wise man.
After the Holston Conference, Bishop Hedding
crossed the Hiawassee Kiver into the Cherokee coun-
try, where he visited the Indians, preaching to them
in diflTerent places, and travelling about one hundred
and forty miles in their nation. Thence he crossed the
Chattohoochee Kiver, and came out into the white
settlements. The brethren of the Holston Conference
were not to be outdone by those of Kentucky in their
kindness to the bishop. They also sent a young man
to escort him in aU his travels in the Cherokee country.
At this time he writes : " Since leaving home I have
travelled one thousand eight hundred and twenty miles
with my horse and sulky. The roads have been bad
and the travelling difficult Indeed, most of the way
it has been mud and mire, altematiag with stumps,
and trees, and stones. I met with few bridges or
ferry-boats, so that I had to ford most of the -streams.
1831.] TEAVEL8 IN THE SOUTH. 397
But my lalDorirs and cares have been much lightened by
the great kindness of the people. A more friendly,
pleasant, and hospitable people I have never met."
From Athens, Georgia, under date of December
12, he wrote to his wife: "Through -the mercy of
God I still live, and enjoy a comfortable state of
health. Since I wrote you last, from the seat of the
Tennessee Conference, I have travelled about two
hundred and twenty miles, and have yet one hun-
dred and thirty to travel to the Georgia Conference.
I do not always take the most direct route ; but fre-
quently diverge from the straight course to attend
quarterly meetings, four-day meetings, and to ordain
local preachers. Since the first of August I have
been in the new ooiMify^es,' and, except in the few
cities and towns, (villages,) have struggled with various
difficulties. The want of the comforts and conveni-
ences of life, though they seem to be lightly regarded
by those who have never had them, is to me a serious
inconvenience. If my friends at Lynn knew what I
have passed through, they would wonder that I am yet
alive. For four hundred miles back I have seen but
few country houses (I mean except in villages) which
had a glass window in them. A farmer will have
large droves of horses, cattle, hogs, and even ne-
groes, and not a single pane of glass in his house.
The windows are closed with board shutters; and
consequently the windows or doors, or both, must be
kept open in the coldest weather in order to have
light in the dwelling. Not unfrequently we have
398 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1831.
four beds in the same room, occupied witli quite a
variety of sleepers. Other things are on much the
same scale ; but the kindness of the people is such that
it makes up for other deficiencies. I am now getting
into an older settled country, and have bidden fare-
well for the present to the scenes of frontier life."
The bishop was evidently too plain and practical a
man to enjoy the scenes of "frontier life" that he
was called to witness. To many, such a jaunt would
have been an era in their lives — storing their minds
with a thousand images of the exciting, the novel,
and the grand. But the bishop had already travelled
too long and sufi^ered too much to be smitten with the
poetry of adventure ; with him it was a plain prosaic
aflGair.
Through all this region each family had one or
more savage dogs, which were companions of the men
when out on their hunting excursions, and general
sentinels at home in the night. They were usually
chained in the daytime, but set loose at night. One
evening, as the bishop had been walking in the fields
for meditation, and was returning to the house, he
encountered one of these ferocious dogs that did not
recognise his right to be there. He was without any
means of defence, and none were accessible. He,
however, held the dog at bay with his eye for a whole
hour ; when a member of the family discovered the
predicament he was in, and came to his relief.
In this part of Georgia he travelled extensively,
visited many places, and ordained qiiite a number of
1832.] A SLATE-AUCTION. 899
local preachers. The recommendation of the quar-
terly meeting and the approbation of the yearly con-
ference for the ordination of local preachers to deacon
or elder's orders having been obtained, at this day,
they were often ordained in the interim of the annual
conferences, as the bishop progressed in his rounds
among the people. This was the work that mainly
occupied him during the month of December. About
the first of January, 1832, he reached Augusta, which
was to be the seat of the Georgia Conference.
While waiting here, he rode out one day into the
country; and on his return, hearing -a loud noise he
followed its direction, and soon came to the market-
place, where a lot of slaves were being sold at auction.
There was a great gathering of the people, and the
auction had already commenced. The slaves, of
whom there appeared to be a large nuqiber, had been
the property of a planter lately deceased, and whose
estate, after his death, was found to be insolvent.
The bishop rode up as near as he could approach in
his sulky, and for some time witnessed the scene.
Husbands and wives who had grown old together,
parents and children, brothers and sisters, were here
severed from each other, probably forever. The most
affecting scene of all was the separation of a mother
from two interesting little children. It was a scene
such as his eyes never witnessed before ; and it moved
his whole soul from its very depths. Just then he
saw in the crowd a man from the East, whom he had
known in Boston. Motioning to the man, he came
AA
400 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1832.
up to him, as did also several members of the Church
in Augusta who knew the bishop. Pointing to a
female who was upon the auctioneer's stand for sale,
the bishop said to his friend, " Don't that make your
Yankee blood boil?" "Ze«, sieI" responded the
man, with great emphasis. A few days after, one
of the preachers came to the bishop, and told him
that his conversation with the gentleman from Boston
had been reported, and had occasioned great excite-
ment in the town, and advised him to be careful
what he said upon that subject. The bishop did not
consider it unwise to follow the counsels of his brother
preacher ; but he did not hesitate, to the end of his
life, to speak of that as one of the most revolting
scenes he had ever been called to witness.
The Georgia Conference opened on the 5th of Jan-
uary, and the business proceeded with unusual des-
patch and harmony. " They were," says the bishop,
" a lovely body of men, and many of them able min-
isters of the New Testament." Among the strong
men of the conference at this time were Stephen Olin,
then supernumerary, and a professor in Franklin Col-
lege ; James O. Andrew, elected a few months later
a bishop in the Church ; and George F. Pierce, then
in the second year of his ministry, but twenty-two
years later elected bishop in the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South. The membership of the conference,
including coloured, was thirty-one thousand five hun-
dred and seventy-one ; and the increase for the year
was four thousand and nineteen.
1832.] JOtTKNET NOETHWAED. 401
From Augusta Bishop Hedding travelled to Dar-
lington, South Carolina, where he met the South
Carolina Conference on the 26th of January. He
says of them, " A very agreeable body of preachers,
— enterprising, devoted, and true-hearted." From
this place he passed on northward to ITorfoUt, Tir-
ginia, wheSTe the Virginia Conference assembled,
February 23d.
"While on his journey through North Carolina, he
had occasion to cross the Roanoke River. He was
ferried over by a slave who had charge of the ferry-
boat. He was a large and noble-looktng fellow, and
withal exceedingly talkative. N"o sooner had they left
the bank than he began to interrogate his solitary-
passenger: — "Massa, where you going to?" The
bishop said, " I am going to Massachusetts." " Why,
massa, so far off from home? Why, massa, where you
been ?" " 0 1" said the bishop, " I have been down
through Tennessee, and through the Cherokee nation
of Indians, and through Georgia and South Carolina."
" O, massa, massa 1 what for could you be away over
all that country so far from home for ?" "I have been
preaching the gospel," said the bishop. " Ah, massa,
that be a good business ! Now I thought you were a
minister, jiidge, or speculator," (that is, slave-trader.)
"Speculators once used to come along dressed like
dandies ; but they got afraid we negroes would kill
them. So now they dress like ministers or judges, so
nobody would suspect them to be speculators." The
coloured man seemed delighted to discover that the
402 IIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1832.
bishop was a real minister, and not a " speculator,"
— the grand terror of all his race.
The day he crossed the Eoanoke he had an instance
of hospitality to the minister, when the bishop was
unknown. That day he travelled along the river for
about forty miles, and during the whole route was
unable to obtain any food for himself or his horse.
Just at night-faU he came to a public-house. He
found himself entirely exhausted, and giving his horse
in care to the hostler, he made his way with difficulty
into the house. The landlord, a very gentlemanly
man, observing his condition, asked him if he would
not take a glass of brandy and water. The bishop
replied that he was a minister, and did not drink
brandy.
" You a minister I" said the landlord ; " of what
denomination ?"
" I am a Methodist minister."
" A Methodist minister ?" said he ; " my wife is
half a Methodist."
Then running to the foot of the stairs, he cried out,
" "Wife 1 wife ! come down quick. Here is a Metho-
dist preacher."
She dropped her work, and came running down
stairs as if she were hurrying to meet a father. Then
both she and hei* husband welcomed him to their
house; the best room was allotted to him, and the
best entertainment that the place afforded provided.
Subsequently, when they learned who he was, they
expressed the greatest pleasure at seeing him; and by
1832.] END OF THE SECOND QUADEENNIAI,. 403
their urgent persiiasions, he was induced to remain
two or three days with them to recruit his exhausted
energies before he resumed his journey.
At Norfolk, Bishop Hedding sold the horse and
sulky with which he had made the circuit of almost
the entire country, and took public conveyance to
Baltimore, ■^here he met the Baltimore Conference,
March 14th. From thence he proceeded to Wil-
mington, Del., and presided over the Philadelphia
Conference, which commenced on the 11th of April ;
then continued his journey to Philadelphia to meet
his colleagues preparatory to the GeneraPConference,
which was to assemble in that city on the J^t of May.
Thus are we brought to the end of the second quad-
rennial of the bishop's labours in the episcopal office.
Let us take a brief glance at the progress of the work
during this period. Taking the summation at the close
of this year as the basis of our calculation, and com-
paring it with the returns four years before, we find
that the membership of the Church had gone up from
four hundred and twenty-one thousand one hundred
and twenty-six to five hundred and forty-eight thou-
sand five hundred and ninety-three, making a total
increase of one hundred and twenty-seven thousand
four hundred and sixty-seven. During the same
period the number of ti-avelling preachers had in-
creased from one thousand six hundred and forty-two
to two thousand two hundred, making an increase of
five hundred and fifty-eight. In the above member-
ehip are included seventy-eight thousand eight hun-
404 LIFE AND TIMES Oi" HEDDIITG. [1832.
dred and seventeen coloured members, principally in
the South, and two thousand four hundred and twelve
Indians, connected with the different mission stations.
The educational system of the Church was now
receiving an auspicious development. The Wesleyan
University had been established at Middletown, Conn.,
and Dr. Wilbur Fisk, of the New-England Conference,
was at its head, and John M. Smith, of the New-York
Conference, one of the professors. Madison College —
now extinct, but whose place has since been supplied
by AUeghany College' — ^had gone into successful oper-
ation in Western Pennsylvania ; J. H. Fielding had
succeed H. B. Bascom as president, and H. J. Clark
was one of the professors ; both were members of the
Pittsburgh Conference. Augusta College had been
established under the patronage of the Kentucky and
Ohio Conferences ; Martin Ruter was president, and
H. B. Bascom, J. S. Tomlinson, J. P. Durbia, and
Burr H. M'Cown, were professors ; aU of them mem-
bers of the Kentucky Conference except J. P. Durbin,
who belonged to the Ohio, In the southwest, La-
grange College had been established ; Eobert Paine
was president, and E. D. Simms one of the professors.
In Virginia, Randolph Macon College had been estab-
lished, and M. P. Parks, of the Virginia Conference,
was one of its professors, and Stephen OUn was soon
after placed at its head. Thus it will be seen that no
less thmjwe colleges had sprung into existence in an
incredibly short time, and were already in suocessful
operation under the supervision of the Church. Sev-
1832.] EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 405
eral conference seminaries also had been established ;
such were Cazenovia Seminary, the Maine "Wesleyan
Seminary, Wilbraham Academy, Genesee Wesleyan
Seminary, Shelbyville Female Academy, and others,
which were in successful operation in different parts
of the Church. These institutions, then in their in-
fancy, have from that time forward exerted a
powerful influence in developing the intellectual and
moral resources of ovir people. Up to this time the
Methodist Church had been frequently charged with
opposition to education; but the true state of the
case was, that at first she had everything to do —
societies to found, churches to build, her Book Con-
cern to establish, and all the essentials of organized
churches to obtain, while at the same time she was,
of course, greatly deficient in resources. It was,
therefore, natural that the wants first felt, and felt to
be most pressing, should receive first attention. To
one acquainted with all the circumstances, the wonder
will be rather that she so soon and successfully en-
gaged in the work of establishing and endowing sem-
inaries and colleges for the education of her people.
The missionary work had also greatly advanced in
the Church, Great good had been accomplished by
the missions established in several places for the bene-
fit of the people of colour in the South, and here an
interesting and inviting field for missionary enterprise
was opened to the Church. The settlement of free
coloured persons, effected by the American Coloniza-
tion Society at Liberia, in "Western Africa, had for
406 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1832.
several years attracted the attention of the mission-
ary board and of the authorities of the Church ; but
only this year had the way been opened for the estab-
lishment of a mission there, and MelviUe B. Cox, a
native of the State of Maine, but at that time a mem-
ber of the Baltimore Conference, was appointed to
superintend it. Mr. Cox was one of the noblest mis-
sionaries ever sent into the foreign field ; and though
.his career as a missionary was brief, yet in that short
time he laid the broad and sure foundations of a noble
work, and his name will forever be associated with
Africa's redemption. He died at his post, a martyr
to his work, exclaiming, " Though thou8am,ds fall, let
not Africa ie gvven wp V But perhaps the most in-
teresting of the missions then under the care of the
Church were those established among the Indians.
We have already noticed the Indian missions in
Canada. In 1831, when they were transferred to the
superintendence of the "Wesleyan Conference in Eng-
land, there were no less than ten mission stations
among the various tribes in that country, and one
thousand eight hundred and fifty adult Indians under
religious instruction, a large proportion of whom were
members of the Church, We have also mentioned
the introduction of the gospel among the Oneida
Indians, and the establishment and progress of the
mission among them. Some of this tribe had emi-
grated to Green Bay, and several of the converted
Indians were of the number. When settled, they
desired to have a missionary sent out to them, and
1832.] INDIAN MISSIONS. 407
Mr. Sclioolcraft, who resided there in the capacity of
Indian Agent, favoured their wishes. Accordingly
the Rev. John Clark was sent out to labour among
them. He was not only a man of sterling integrity
and purity of character, but he also possessed an in-
domitable energy and perseverance, and laid the
foundations of a work in that region which has not
ceased to produce grateful results to the present day.
He was the intimate and personal friend of Hedding,
and has recently been suddenly called to join him in
the land of rest.* The writer witnessed a delightful
interview between these two men a short time before
the death of Hedding. The mission to the Wyandot
Indians had been in successful operation for several
years, and now numbered two hundred and forty-
eight converted Indians as members. A short time
previous, the Rev. J. B. Finley, who had long laboured
among them with eminent success, visited the eastern
cities in company with several of the converted
chiefs, some of whom had become local preachers
and class-leaders, and by this means excited a very
general interest in behalf of the Indian missions.
Equally successful had been the Indian missions in
the South, some of which were visited by Bishop Hed-
ding during his last episcopal tour. Among the
Choctaws there were one thousand three hundred
and twelve Church-members, embracing many of the
chief men of the nation. In the Cherokee nation
o He died of an attack of Asiatic cholera, near Chicago, about the
middleof Jnly, 1854.
408 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1832.
there were seventeen missionaries, including inter-
preters, and eight hundred and fifty Church-mem-
bers. Several other Indian missions had been at-
tempted with various success.
During these four years also death had been busily
at work. God had been gathering home the ripened
fruits to himself. 'No less than fifty-five preachers
had fallen. Bishop George died shouting, " Glory to
God !" Samuel Garrard, saying, " I have had my fail-
ings and imperfections in common with other men ;
but my trust is reposed in Christ alone, who died for
me — ^by whose stripes I am healed:" Eobert Min-
shall, exclaiming, " I have been a travelling man, my
lot is in heaven. Glory, glory, forever and ever!"
William H. Chapman, shouting, " Glory ! glory !"
Samuel Doughty, testifying, " Death has no terrors :"
Thomas Everard, exclaiming, "All is welli" Na-
thaniel P. Deveraux, repeating, —
" I will not let thee go
Till all I have is lost in thee,
And ^U renew'd I am ;"
John Eisk, when language failed, "making signs to
his friends that all was well :" Henry Holmes, saying,
" Yesterday I examined myself closely, and I saw my
way before me as clearly as the rising sun :" Christo-
pher Thomas, exclaiming, " Perfectly happy ; death
is my friend; I live in Christ, and Christ is all to me !"
(laying his hands upon his breast,) " I have all I de-
sire ; Glory, hallelujah 1" Simon L. Booker, saying,
1832.1 DEA.TH-BBD TESTIMONIES. 409
" I want a conductor to heaven !" and pausing for a
moment, he broke out, " I have one — a sublime one !"
Moses Amedon, saying, ""Willing, willing, willing!"
Coleman Harwell, exclaiming, "Now, Lord, lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace!" William M. Smith,
crying out, " O death, where is thy sting ? O grave,
whei'e is tHy victory?" "Wesley Deskin, shouting,
"Victory, victory!" Peter F. Baker, testifying, "I
know in whom I have believed :" Edwin Eay, wit-
nessing, "The religion which I have professed and
preached has comforted me in life, supported me in
affliction, and now enables me to triumph ia death ;"
and Ealph Lawning, exclaiming, "I am happy —
praise the Lord !" Of the others, who were rational
in their last moments, it is said that they "died in
peace — 'in great peace;" "his end was peaceful and
glorious ;" " died in the triumphs of faith ;" " with a
bright prospect of eternal blessedness ;" " rejoicing in
God his Saviour ;" " glorifying God in the patience
of hope and the triumph of faith ;" " strong in the
Mth of the gospel, and fuU of the hope of immor-
tality ;" " elevated in holy triumph above the suffer-
ings of disease and the fear of death;" "without
fear or alarm, but rejoicing that he had got so near
home ;" " heavenly light radiated his mind, and eter-
nal glory beamed upon his path;" "died witnessing
a good confession before many witnesses," &c., &c.
Let me die the death of the righiemey and let Tm/
last end he like his.
410 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1832.
CHAPTER XIY.
THIRD QTJADHENNIAL OP EPISCOPAL lABOURS.
Oeneral Conference of 1832 — Representation — Character of the Session
— Two Bishops elected — Bishop Hedding's Purpose to resign — Action
of the New-York and New-England Delegates — He yields to their
Judgment — The New-York Conference — Its Division — Law Questions
— A Question proposed — New-England Conference — Ravages of the
Cholera — Aspect in New-York City — The People rushing from the
City — Passage up the Hudsou — Reflections — Note: Distressing Case
of a Widow and her Son — Letter to Bishop Roberts — Oneida Con-
ference— Genesee — Efforts to reach the Canada Conference — Fails —
Alarming Symptoms — Beaches Home — State of his Feelings — Statis-
tics of the Year — Presides over the Virginia Conference in 1833 — A
Few Days in Washington — Idea of the City — Old Age an Incurable
Disease — Conferences attended — A Great Dinner — The Meeting of
Old Friends — Prosperity of the Oneida Conference — Completes his
Conference Visitation for the Year — Taz upon his Distinction as an
Expounder of Ecclesiastical Law — Prosperity of the Church — The
Oregon Mission — Educational Interests — Conference Labours for 1834
— Death of two Fellow-labourers — The Labours of a Bishop — Ques-
tion involving the Administration of Presiding Elders — The Course of
Study for Candidates in the Ministry' — Action of the Bishops assailed
— Letter of Bishop Emory — A Singular Question affecting the Mar-
riage Relation of Slaves — Progress of the Church — Conferences in
1835 — Development of our Ecclesiastical Jurisprudence — Question
upon electing Committees on Trials— Death of Bishop M'Kendree
— Sudden Death of Bishop Emory — Returns of Members — Incident
upon Long Island Sound — Attends the Virginia and Baltimore Confer-
ences — Progress of the Church during the four Preceding Years.
The General Conference of 1832 was composed of
two hundred and twenty-three delegates, representing
twenty annual conferences, as follows: — -New-Tork,
twenty ; New-England, fourteen ; Maine, eleven ;
New-Hampshire and Yermont, eleven; Oneida,
twelve; Genesee, six; Pittsburgh, eleven; Ohio,
1832,] GENBEAL OONFEEBNOE. 411
fifteen; Illmois, seven; Holston, eight; Kentucky,
thirteen ; Missouri, three ; Tennessee, thirteen ; Mis-
sissippi, seven; Georgia, twelve; South Carolina,
nine ; Virginia, fourteen ; Baltimore, seventeen ;
Philadelphia, eighteen; and Canada, three. The
conference was opened in the usual manner, after
which the address of the bishops was read. It is a
concise, compact business document, congratula-
ting the Church upon the great prosperity of the
preceding four years, and upon the passing away
of the troubles and dangers which seemed so por-
tentous of evil ; and then presenting before the body
the various benevolent enterprises and provision-
ary arrangements that should claim their atten-
tion during the session. The business of the confer-
ence appears to have proceeded with great harmony
and despatch ; nor was there any topic that occasioned
such excitement and elicited such discussions as had
been witnessed ia several preceding sessions. The
presiding-elder question had been decisively settled,
and even the radical controversy, after the withdrawal
of most of the leading malcontents, had died away.
Even upon the subject of slavery, a spirit of con-
ciliation seemed to prevail; for the South, passing by
the man who would have been the favourite candi-
date for the episcopacy but for his connexion with
" the great evil," nominated Eev. James O. Andrew,
and he, with the Rev. John Emory, was elected
to the office of bishop on the first baUotting, — ^the
former receiving one hundred and forty, and the
4:12 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1832.
latter one himdred and thirty-five out of two hundred
and twenty-three, the whole number of votes cast.
"We have already noticed the unaffected reluctance
with which Bishop Hedding consented to enter upon
the duties of the episcopal office. He had now
contiaued in the office eight years, and during that
time had presided in whole or in part over fifty-two
conferences, and had traversed the whole country
from Maine in the east to Indiana in the west, and
from Canada in the north to Georgia in the south.
In this work he had performed severe labour, and
endui'ed many hardships ; but his success was abun-
dant, and he had been steadily rising in the esteem
and confidence of the whole Church. But it appears
that from the outset he had been subject to great
trials of mind with reference to contiauing in the
office of bishop. These arose in part from the great
difficulties and responsibilities of the work, — particu-
larly that of stationing the • preachers ; and in part
fi'om his humble estimate of his own personal qualifi-
cations for the office. These things, in connexion
with his bodily afflictions, now made him doubt
whether he ought any longer to continue in the
office; and indeed he says, "I felt a strong desire
to be released from its burdens." He, however, did
not feel at liberty to offer his resignation of the office
without first consulting his brethren — the delegates
of the New-York and the New-England Conferences,
by whose efforts he had been elected, and by whom
he had been so cordially sustained. Accordingly he
1832.] WISHES TO RESIGN HIS OFFICE. 413
called a meeting of these delegates, and laid open his
views and wishes fully to them, and told them it
would be a great relief to him if they would consent
to his resignation. After he had retired they can-
vassed the matter among themselves, and gave ex-
pression to their strong conviction in the following
resolution : —
"JResohied, That it is the unanimous judgment of
the delegates of the l^ew-Tork and New-England
Conferences, that Bishop Hedding ought wholly to
relinquish the idea of ever resigning the episcopal
office, or of discontinuing the exercise of it at any
time, unless under some imperious dispensation of
Providence compelling him so to do.
"Dajstiel Osteandee, Cha/vrmcm.
«
" "W. FisK, S&yretaryP
" Philadelphia,
May 8, 1832."
The leading brethren of these delegations also con-
versed with him privately, and gave their reasons in
detail for objecting to his resignation. They were
such as he could not resist, but at the same time
such as often made him feel a crushing sense of his
responsibility. Under the constraining influence of
this advice, he yielded to the convictions of his breth-
ren and the universal wish of the Church, and con-
tinued with unabated zeal and fidelity to exercise the
episcopal functions till disabled by age and failing
health.
Mrs. Hedding joined her husband, whom she had
not seen for eleven months, at Philadelphia. After
414: LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. 11832.
the adjournment of the General Conference they jour-
neyed, in company with Bishop Roberts, to lifew-Tork
city, where the ISTew-Tork Conference commenced
its session on the 6th of June. Remarkable pros-
perity had been enjoyed within the bounds of this
conference during the year, and an increase of seven
thpusand seven hundred and ninety-eight was re-
ported, making a total membership of forty-seven
thousand and eighty-six. The General Conference
had just provided for its division, and that division
was to be carried into effect at this session. This
rendered it a session of great importance and respon-
sibility. The stations of the preachers would deter-
mine whether they should continue their ecclesiastical
relation to the ISTew-York Conference, or be included
in the Ti'oy Conference, now to be organized. The
milder climate and peculiar facilities of the southern
division, and also the local connexions, with many of
the preachers, rendered it an object of great interest to
fall into that section of the work. Under these circum-
stances, to fix all the appointments so as to secure the
great interests of the work and satisfy the people, and
at the same time to meet the wishes of the preachers,
was a task not often encoimtered even in episcopal
experience. Bishop Roberts being a comparative
stranger, the duty of adjusting these questions fell
mainly upon Bishop Hedding. "With a patience that
seemed to know no exhaustion he listened to every
application, and carefully weighed the arguments by
which each was enforced ; and rarely failed either to
1882.] LAW QUESTIONS. 415
grant the request, or to satisfy the brother making it
that it could not be granted without injury to the
work. By this means the appointments were finally
so arranged as to give almost universal satisfaction.
About eighteen thousand five hundred members and
ninety-two preachers were thus set off into the Troy
Conference.*
Some years later than this, it was provided in the
Discipline that the bishops presiding in an annual
conference should be the official judges of questions
of law. But at this time, and even earlier, it had
become quite common for annual conferences to sub-
mit such questions to them for their opinion. Bishop
Hedding had already acquired a reputation for his
sound and able judgment in all questions touching
the constitution and law of the Church ; and when-
ever he presided, it had come to be quite common
for the conference to ask his opinion on any such
question in respect to which differences of opinion
had arisen, or diversity of administration had taken
place. At this conference a great debate arose on a
law question. A local preacher had been expelled
by a quarterly conference^ and he appealed to the
annual conference, not on the ground of injustice
in the decision, but of illegality in the proceedings
against him. The illegality he alleged was, that prior
to the quarterly conference which expelled him, and
preparatory to his trial by that conference, he had
been arrested, examined, and suspended by an illegal
court — ^the committee in the case being constituted of
BB 18*
416 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINQ. [1832.
two local preachers and one class-leader; whereas
he alleged it should have consisted exclusively of
local preachers. The members of the annual confer-
ence were divided in opinion ; some believed the trial
was illegal, and others believed it was not. As it
was a law question, a motion was made to refer it to
the bishops. Bishop Eoberts declined having any-
thing to do with it. Bishop Hedding said he would
decide the question, provided they would agree to
abide by his decision and have no debate about it
afterward ; but he would not decide it otherwise. On
these conditions the conference submitted it to his
judgment. He decided that the court which sus-
pended the local preacher was illegal, as alleged;
that, in fact, he was not suspended, but went to the
quarterly meeting imder charges the same as if no
previous step had been taken. The quarterly confer-
ence had original jurisdiction in the case. They tried
and expelled him; and as he had not appealed on
the ground of injustice in the decision of the quar-
terly conference, but only on the ground of illegality
in the court that suspended him, he was legally ex-
pelled. His appeal therefore cannot lie, and the case
is dismissed.
The Ifew-England Conference commenced its ses-
sion June 15th, at Providence, Ehode Island. Bish-
ops Eoberts and Hedding were both present. The
conference statistics exhibited a good degree of pros-
perity, the increase being two thousand four hundred
and nine. The total number of members was fifteen
1832.] OHOLEEA IN NEW-TOEK. 417
thousand five hundred and forty-six, and the number
of preachers one hundred and twenty-nine. The ex-
citing scenes of polemic disputation and of bitter op-
position experienced while Methodism was first invad-
ing this territory had died away, and the sons were
now carefully and wisely cultivating the ground which
had been fitst taken possession of by their pioneer
fathers. During the session of the conference, the
alarming intelligence reached the place that the
Asiatic Cholera had broken out in New-York and
other cities, and was making frightful ravages. The
news created a profound impression, and elicited
much and earnest prayer ; but the preachers seemed
universally determined to stand at their posts, and
commit themselves to God.
Bishop Hedding was now within about fifty miles
of his home, from which he had been absent — ^with
the exception of a single visit of three or four days —
about sixteen months. But he was not even now
permitted to visit it; for his duties required him
immediately at the close of the conference to turn
his face in another direction. He returned to
New- York on his way to the northern conferences.
In the city he spent only an hour ; but this was
enough to reveal to him something of the horrors of
the scene witnessed there. The people were flying
in every direction to escape the dreaded pestilence ;
men, women, and children were dying every hour,
and that too, for the most part, with a transition from
health to death as sudden as it was painful ; gloom
418 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1832.
and comparative stillness pervaded the city, and tlie
symbols of death were seen in every direction. Even
on board the boat, some of the fugitives who were
endeavouring to escape from the pestilence God had
sent upon the land were stricken down, and the bit-
ter cry of despairing agony broke the stillness that
otherwise prevailed; for no one seemed disposed to
conversation, and the necessary communications were
made in suppressed and almost inaudible tones.
Bishop Hedding felt that it was a time for the trial
of his faith: he was travelling alone; was among
strangers, each one of whom seemed intent only upon
his own safety ; he might die, and be shuffled into
the earth; and in the haste and confusion no one ever
ascertain his name, or apprize his friends of his death.*
" Such things actually occurred in repeated instances. One I ■will
relate. A widow with her only son, a lad of ten or twelve years,
started from the city on one of the over^orowded steamboats for one
of the Hudson River villages, intending to find a place of refuge with
an uncle back in the country. The passage up the river was made
under the greatest excitement, as several of the passengers were
smitten down with the pestilence, and a number died. The village
was reached, and a large number of passengers were landed ; but
so frightful were the ravages of the disease among them, that many
died before they reached their place of refuge, and were hurried be-
neath the sod. The little boy's mother complained of being unwell
before landing, and when landed found herself unable to walk, and
to procure a conveyance was impossible. She then directed her
son to travel as fast as possible to the uncle's, and return witl a
conveyance. It was not till the next morning that he could return,
and then no traces of his mother could be found. Several had died,
and been buried ; but the burial had been roughly and hastily done,
just when the victim happened to breathe his last, and by whomso-
ever happened to be near, and to possess the courage necessary to
perform the work. That lad, when he had grown up to man's es-
1882.] LETTER FROM MES. HEDDIlfG. 419
But in this hour of trial he committed his all to God ;
and felt great peace in the assurance that if his
Heavenly Father had further need of his services he
could pi'otect and preserve him from all the dangers
that beset his path. When he reached Albany, he
found that city also in the greatest consternation from
the same cause. His own mind, however, was calm
and collected. He rested quietly through the night,
and in the morning left for Utica by a canal packet-
boat. All along the line of the canal, and at TJtica,
he witnessed the ravages of the same frightful dis-
ease.
A beautifblly appropriate letter was written by Mra.
Hedding about this time to Bishop Roberts. From
it the following extracts are drawn : "Since I saw you
my health has been every day improving. I received
a letter from Mr. Hedding, dated July 12th. He had
not then decided about going to Upper Canada. He
wiU write again soon. Ho is surrounded by the
mortal pestilence, and whichever way he turns must
face it ; yet I believe God will preserve him.
" As for myself, I had more anxiety to know that
my soul was fitted for heaven than usual; for I know
that this mortal body must, ere long, return to its
tafe, told me that the uncertainty which hung oyer the fate of his
mother still occasioned him the most excruciating anguish ; and that
he had spent weeks, if not months, around the spot where he parted
from her, and along the entire road leading to his uncle's, seeking
from every man, woman, and child along the line some little token
that might serve as a clue to the painful mystery. None was ever
found.
420 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1832.
mother earth. The Chxu-ch fast was a blessing to me.
The Lord is my portion. I am happy when in the
Sabbath school. Blessed be the name of the Lord !
May om- good God prosper you on your way ! Give
my love to Mrs. Koberts, of whom I often think.
Pray for me."
On his way to the Oneida Conference, Bishop Hed-
ding visited the Indian mission, and was highly grati-
fied at the permanent and progressive character of
the work among these poor natives. The conference
assembled at Manlius, July 12th. It had been a year
of almost unprecedented religious prosperity. An in-
crease of three thousand seven hundred and forty was
reported, making a total membership of thirty-one
thousand five hundred and sixty. Nor was this all.
There had been a great and manifest increase of the
work of God in the hearts of the preachers, many of
whom came forward and told what great things God
had done for them, as weU as for their flocks, during
the year. A deep devotional feeling pervaded the
entire conference, and it was a session of unusual re-
ligious interest. God had not only given to his ser-
vants a good increase for their labours, but was pre-
paring them for still greater things.
From Manlius he proceeded to Penn Yan, where
he met the Genesee Conference on the 26th of July.
He had engaged also to attend the session of the
Canada Conference, and ordain the preachers who
might be elected to orders. For this purpose he pro-
ceeded to Oswego, designing to cross the lake into
1832.] EFF0ET8 TO VISIT CANADA. 421
Canada. But here lie found all communication
broken off, in consequence of the ravages of the
cholera. UnwilHng to he foiled in the discharge of
his duty, he took the stage for Watertown, intending
to cross the St. Lawrence just below that place, and
thus accomplish the object of his mission. On the
7th of August he reported himself, in a letter to his
wife, as being twenty-five miles from the place where
he expected to be able to cross the St. Lawrence, and
eighty miles from the seat of the conference, which
was to commence its session the next day; yet he
expected to reach it. before the Sabbath. But as he
advanced he found the ravages of the cholera more
frightful, and all the usual modes of commimication
broken up, or rendered so irregular that no reliance
could be placed upon them. Under these circum-
stances he was induced to give over the effort, and
turn his face homeward. The day after he started
from "Watertown he was seized with symptoms of
cholera — an exhausting diarrhoea, with cold feet and
legs up to his knees. Yet he continued his journey,
stopping a day or two to recruit when he had be-
come entirely exhausted. Li this plight he travelled
through northern ]!^ew-York, crossed Vermont and
iffew-Hampshire into Massachusetts, and at length
reached Lynn. Then followed a long season of sick-
ness and exhaustion, from which he had only par-
tially recovered when summoned again from his
home by the episcopal duties of the succeeding year.
The record of his feelings and views at this period
422 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1832.
possesses a peculiar interest. " I have been led," says
he, " to many serious and solemn reflections — appre-
hending that probably my public labours, if not my
life, may be nearly at an end. But I thank my Ood
that through the merit of my Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ I am supported with a glorious hope of rest in
heaven ! I have been comforted also with the reflec-
tion that my life has been spent, and my body worn
out, in endeavoui'ing sincerely, though imperfectly, to
promote the cause of Christ; and after thirty-two
years' employment in preaching the doctrines of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, I am confirmed in the
belief that they are the doctrines of Christ. And
after seeing, for that length of time, the effects of our
plan of spreading the gospel, and governing the flock
committed to our care, and bearing my full share of
the burdens and privations connected with this plan,
I am satisfied it is the best I know of in this world
for the benefit of the souls of men. K I could have
another life, I would cheerfully spend it in this blessed
cause."
The Church had been favoured with blessed pros-
perity during this year. Only two conferences,
namely, Kentucky and Tennessee, had reported a
decrease, the former amounting to one thousand five
hundred and seventy-nine, and the latter to one hun-
dred and seventy-six. On the other hand, several of
the conferences reported a large increase — ^the New-
York, seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight ;
the Ohio, four thousand two hundred and twenty-
1833.] WASHINGTON OITT. 4:23
three ; tlie Georgia, four thousand and nineteen ; the
Oneida, three thousand seven hundred and forty; the
Illinois, three thousand two hundred and thirty; and
others not as large. The aggregate of membership
was now five hundred and forty-eight thousand five
hvmdred and ninety-three, making an increase for the
year of thirty^ve thousand four hundred and seventy.
The aggregate of travelling preachers was two thou-
sand two hundred ; increase, one hundred and ninety.
Within the bounds of the New-York and the Oneida
Conferences especially, there had been very extensive
revivals. The ravages of that terrible scourge, the
Asiatic cholera, instead of interrupting the progress
of these revivals, seemed -to deepen the religious in-
terest, and was instrumental in bringing hundreds, if
not thousands, of the thoughtless and wicked to deep
concern for the salvation of their souls. Thus judg-
ment and mercy were blended together.
On the 5th of February, with his health only im-
perfectly restored. Bishop Hedding left his home to
enter upon the episcopal duties of the year. He
reached Petersburgh, Tirginia, on the 26th, and
the next day opened the Virginia Conference. He
was here assisted by Bishop Emory. After its close
he returned to Baltimore, by the way of Norfolk and
"Washington, and met the Baltimore Conference on
the 27th of March. At Washington City he rested a
few days at the house of Dr. Sewall — a name of pre-
cious memory in the Methodist Church. The only
thing that seemed to mar his comfort, was the num-
424 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1833.
ber of " burdensome dinners and teas " to which his
friends in the kindness of their hearts subjected him.
"This city," says he, in a letter to his wife, "is the
seat of fashion and folly. Here gi-eat speeches are
made, and here great weakness and foolishness are
exhibited. Here great talent, some wisdom, a little
virtue, and great and glaring corruptions, are brought
together from all parts of the nation." In a subse-
quent part of his letter, referring to his health, he
says, "It has been gradually improving since I left
home, but I am not yet as well as I was a year ago.
I am getting what Dr. Clarke calls an incurable dis-
ease— ^that is, old, age. I am daily reminded that I
am hastening to my long home. It seems but a few
days since I was a boy, and now I am an old man,
just ready to drop into the grave. "What a poor
thing is human life ! a dream, a shadow ! But there
is hope beyond the grave — ^hope of eternal life ! Let
us cleave to that hope, and hope on unto the
end."
The session of the Baltimore Conference was quite
protracted and laborious, owing to several trials, some
of which were complicated, and consumed a good
deal of time. Great success had attended the labours
of the preachers, and an increase of five thousand
two hundred and forty-nine was reported, making the
total membership in the conference forty-nine thou-
sand two hundred and thirty-nine. From Baltimore
he proceeded to Newark, If. J., where he met the
Philadelphia Conference on the 17th of April. The
1883.] A TOAST DECLINED. 425
session of this conference was a season of unusual
religious interest. Both preachers and people seemed
to realize the presence and power of God in an un-
usual degree. Here also the large increase of six
thousand and twenty-six was reported, making a total
memberahip of fifty-five thousand and seventy-one.
Philadelphia^was now the largest conference in the
Church. At Poughkeepsie, Bishop Hedding met the
New-York Conference on the 8th of May ; on the Tth
of June following, the New-England Conference at
Boston ; and on the 3d of July, the Maine Conference
at Bath.
An incident worthy of record occurred during the
session of the conference at Bath. A prominent citi-
zen of the place, an ex-governor of the state, made a
great dinner, and invited nearly all the members of
the conference, and also many prominent laymen.
The tables were loaded with the choicest luxuries of
the day, among which the wine -bottles that were
scattered over them made a prominent figure. The
gentleman took his seat at the end of one of the
tables, and placed the bishop by the side of his lady
at the end of another. After they had been seated a
short time, their host rose, and turning to the bishop —
at the same time filling his wine-glass — said, " Bishop,
give me the pleasure to drink a glass of wine with
you." The bishop, with his usual frankness and
readiness, but with much decision, replied, "I pray
you will excuse me, sir ; I never drink wine except
at the sacrament, or as a medicine." The gentleman,
426 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1833-
somewhat confused, then turned and solicited the
whole company to drink with him; but not a single
preacher, and only one or two laymen, touched the
cup. Temperance priuciples had already begun to
work powerfully among the people, and in that
movement, as well as in all other philanthropic and
beneTolent enterprises, the preachers were leading
the way both by precept and example. The Hberal
host, who thought to regale them with wine, as well
as to feast them with food, was either not well posted
up in the character of the temperance movement, or
he thought, by betraying the preachers into indul-
gence in wine, to throw contempt upon the iucipient
reformation, and paralyze their moral power in the
cause. If the blunder resulted from ignorance of the
temperance movement, the politician got some light
upon the subject ; if through mischievous design, he
met with a severe and just rebuke.
The next conference met by the bishop was the
New-Hampshire, at Northfield, July 18th. Here he
met many old friends not only among the preachers,
but also among the laity. Many who had nobly stood
by him nearly thirty years before, during the six
years of his early toil in this region, now came miles
to take him by the hand, and mingle their rejoicings
with his at the prosperity of the cause of God, and
over the glorious prospect of a re-union ia the better
land. The sight of these old veterans of the cross,
some of them his old spiritual children, deeply affect-
ed the heart of the bishop, as they vividly called up
1833.] ONEIDA OONFEEENOE. 427
the toils and taials of those early days. " Yerily,"
said he, " it is bread gathered after many days. God
has showed me that I did not labour in vain. How
great is his mercy in blessing labours so feeble, and
making them so fruitful. Those labours were often
crossing to the flesh, and I sometimes almost repined
as though mine was a hard lot. But O ! if I were
young again, and could buckle on the armour afresh,
how would I rejoice to endure even greater hard-
ships and to perform even harder labours, if I might
be instrumental in accomplishing like restllts."
Soon after the session of this conference, he pro-
.ceeded to Granville, N". T., where he preached the
dedication sermon in a new church which had been
erected in that place. He also met the Troy Confer-
ence, in the city of Troy, on the 28th of August.
Then he journeyed west, visiting again the Oneida
Indian mission, and meeting the Oneida Conference
at Oazenovia on the 25th of September. Another
year of remarkable prosperity had been enjoyed
within the bounds of this conference — the increase
for the year being five thousand six hundred and
twenty-seven. This conference first appears upon the
Minutes, in 1829, with nineteen thousand three hun-
dren and twenty members, and one hundred and ten
travelling preachers. This was, therefore, its fifth
session, and it now presented an aggregate of thirty-
seven thousand one hundred and eighty-seven mem-
bers, and one hundred and sixty-six travelling preach-
ers— ^being an increase in five years of seventeen
428 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1833.
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven members
and fifty-six preachers. It was now the sixth confer-
ence in point of numbers.
From Cazenovia Bishop Hedding travelled to West
Mendon, where he met the Genesee Conference on
the 16th of October. After this he had several en-
gagements, which so occupied him on his return
home that he did not reach Lynn till the 10th of
December. His episcopal tours and labom-s had oc-
cupied him between ten and eleven months this year.
He had attended ten conferences, and, with one excep-
tion, had presided in all without the aid of any other
bishop. Yet his health had greatly improved from
what it was the preceding year, and God had greatly
sustained and blessed him in his labours.
Bishop Hedding had already attained an enviable
distinction as an able expounder of ecclesiastical
law ; but this honour was not worn without a heavy
compensation, demanded in the form of solutions of
law questions. These were propounded to him from
all parts of the work, but more especially from the
northern conferences ; consequently, when he reached
home he found a frightful accumulation of letters re-
quiring answers. Many of these propounded grave
-and intricate questions, which required serious reflec-
tion and elaborate answers. Much of his time during
the present winter was devoted to this private, but
responsible and laborious, portion of the duties of a
bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Church had enjoyed another year of great
1833.] PKOGEESS OF THE WOEK. 429
prosperity.. The excitemeixts and agitations growing
out of the radical controversy had died away, so that
the Church, enjoying peace within, had been left to
turn all her forces against the powers of the kingdom
of darkness without. The result was an increase of
fifty-one thousand one hundred and forty-three, mak-
ing the totai membership five hundred and ninety-
nine thousand seven hundred and thirty-six. The
greatest increase in any one conference was in the
Ohio, where it was six thousand five hundred and
eighty-one. The total number of ti-avelling preachers
was two thousand four hundred; increase, two hun-
dred. AU the other interests of the Church had
advanced in due proportion. The missionary work
was progressing with uncommon interest. New mis-
sions had been established in destitute portions of the
home work in difi'erent parts of the country; also sev-
eral new missions among the Indians, and several for
the benefit of the slaves in diflferent parts of the South.
During this year, also, Messrs. Eufus Spaulding and
Samuel 0, Wright, and their wives, together with
Miss Sophronia Farringtou, were appointed to the
missionary work in Liberia, and sailed to carry for-
ward, if it were the will of God, the work so nobly
commenced by the martyred Cox. These appoint-
ments occasioned Bishop Hedding a great amount of
anxiety, and he felt much solicitude aboiit the result.
The missionary cause had also received an additional
impulse this year from the visit of four Flat-head In-
dians from beyond the Eocky' Mountains, who had
430 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1833.
come as a delegation from their tribe, nearly three
thousand miles, that they might obtain some knowl-
edge of the true God, and the better forms of worship.
In answer to the stirring appeals of Dr. Fisk, funds
were soon raised; and two hardy and entei-prising
men, Jason and Daniel Lee, were appointed to the
missionary work among the Indians in Oregon.
In the educational department the Church had done
well this year. Two colleges — Diokmson and AlU-
ghcmy — ^were added to the list; Eev. J. P. Durbin was
appointed president of the former, and Rev. Martin
Euter, D. D., to the presidency of the latter. The
Genesee Wesleyan Seminary was also established
during this year, and commenced its operations under
the most favourable auspices. Eev. Samuel Luckey,
D. D., was elected principal. Bishop Hedding felt
a deep interest in the establishment of these institu-
tions ; for no man in that day saw more clearly, or
felt more deeply, the necessity of providing for the
education of our own people. " Little did I think,"
said he, " thirty years ago, that I should live to see
the day when the Methodist Episcopal Church would
have her seminaries and her colleges in every part of
the land, and when she would number more than half
a million of communicants. Had any one predicted
this when I first entered the work as a travelling
minister, I would have thought him mad. Verily God
has done great things for us. He has made a great
people out of us who were no people. How great
is our responsibility to the people, to the nation, and
1834.] C0NFEEENCE8 MET. 431
to the world ! K we preserve the form of sound doc-
trine among us; if we preserve the simplicity of our
manners, the fire and purity of our zeal, and the in-
tegrity of our institutions, Methodism will yet bless
not only our OAvn country but the whole earth. "Who
could have predicted that God would have accom-
plished such \^onders by the instrumentality of Meth-
odism ! and who can tell what wonders he wiU yet
accomplish by it in the earth !"
After a few months' rest he left home to resume his
episcopal labours, on the 3d of April, 1834. This year
he attended the following conferences, namely : Phil-
adelphia, at Philadelphia, April 9th ; New- York, at
New-Haven, Connecticut, May 7th; New-England,
at Webster, Massachusetts, June 4th; Maine, at
Gardiner, July 3d ; New-Hampshire, at West Wind-
sor, Vermont, August 6th; Troy, at Plattsburgh,
August 27th ; Oneida, at Aubum, September 25th ;
Genesee, at Brockport, October 15th. He returned
to Lynn the last of November, where he enjoyed a
longer respite from conference labours than he had
before been favoured with since his election to the
episcopal office.
While at the Philadelphia Conference he says : " My
heart was much affected by the remembrance of two
of my old and intimate friends, who had died within
the past year, Rev. Thomas P. Sargent and Eev.
Joseph L. Inglis. They were talented, lovely, and
heavenly-minded men."
After the session of the Maine Conference this year
CC 19
432 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1834.
he spent a short time at home, endeavouring, as he
said, " to recruit both body and spirit from the ex-
haustion they had suffered," "Few persons," says
he at this time, " can have any idea of the labour of
body and mind the president of an annual conference
has to go through at one of its sessions. At the Maine
Conference I was closely confined to business, early
and late, for nine days. Most of the time the weather
was extremely hot and enfeebling. I presided on one
trial eight and a half hours, without any intermission ;
and now, though ten days have passed since the confer-
ence closed, I am not yet recovered from my exhaus-
tion. I do not yet feel like myself; a sense of fatigue
hangs upon me. O, may I be prepared to rest in
heaven, when my body shall rest from these journeys
and labours, and my mind from these cares and anx-
ieties !"
At the Oneida Conference a law question was pre-
sented for his decision, involving a point which, since
the usage and the law of the Church had become so
clearly defined, it is surprising could ever have been
a matter of doubt. It involved the administration
of two presiding elders, both of them leading men
in the conference. The case was this. These two
presiding elders, in the interim of the conference, and
without obtaining the sanction of or even consulting a
bishop, had changed men from one district to another.
This had been the occasion of great dissatisfaction
both araong the preachers and some of the laymen.
The question was raised whether a presiding elder had
1834.] OOTJESE OF STUDY. 433
authority to make changes that would transfer a man
beyond the hounds of his district. The bishop de-
cided that the presiding elders had no authority to
make such changes ; and if they attempted to make
them without authority, the preachers were under no
obligation to submit to them. This prompt decision,
which was acquiesced in on the part of all concerned,
effectually cured an evil which had sprung up, and
which, but for this timely check, might have been
productive of the most serious consequences.
As early as 1816, the General Conference requested
the bishops to prescribe a course of study for the
candidates in the ministry. This was done ; but the
course was too limited, and the examinations too
superficial, to meet for any great length of time the
increasing demands for intellectual, culture in their
ministers on the part of the people. Bishop Hed-
ding, with his keen, natural sagacity, had not been
slow to discover this fact; and for several years it
had occupied his mind with increasing force of con-
viction. At the Philadelphia Conference in 1833,
Bishops Hedding and Emory prepared a special two
years' course of study for the candidates for deacon's
orders. It was unanimously adopted by the con-
ference, and examining committees appointed to
conduct the examination,* The same course was
adopted by the Mississippi Conference ; and, by their
request, divided by Bishop Emory so as to extend
° This Course may be found in the Christian Advocate and Jour-
nal, May 10, 1833.
434 LIFE AWD TIMES OF HEDDING. [1834.
tkrougli four years, thus prescribing studies for tte
candidates for elder's orders as well as deacon's.
This plan was adopted in course by other conferences
till it became general, and received the sanction of
all the bishops. The General Conference had directed
the bishops to prescribe studies for the candidates for
deacons' orders only, and beyond this they did not
claim or exercise authority; but as the whole broad
power of judgment, as to fitness or qualification, for
the elder's office, and also of election to it, had been
vested in the annual conferences, they judged the
prescribing of such a course as being clearly within
the legitimate functions of an annual conference, and
it therefore had their hearty cooperation.
It would seem that the bishops here were acting
within the most unquestioned limits of their authority;
yet their course was subjected to not only strange
misrepresentations, but the most virulent opposition,
which degenerated into grave personalities in rela-
tion to Bishop Emory. A writer in the Christian
Advocate and Journal, signing himself "Proficio,"
was the principal, and, in fact, almost the only assail-
ant in the case.
After speaking of the good effect of putting candi-
dates upon a two years' course, and subjecting them
to a rigid examination, he adds; "I have thought
also, that were a course of study prescribed for the
thwd, and even fourth year, it would not be amiss ;
but as the General Conference has not provided for
this, an annual conference, and much less an examin-
1834.1 ADMINISTEATION IMPUGNED. 435
ing committee, has no authority to require it, and
surely not as an indispensahle condition of their
reception to the office of elders. But as improve-
ment is the order of the day, at some fature time
this may be provided for by those concerned. As,
however, there are not many individuals bold
enough to ' assume the responsibility' of acting above
and without law, the limitation to two years of this
mental discipline must be observed until the General
Conference shall direct." This, of course, directly
impugned the administration of the bishops, and espe-
cially of Bishop Emory, as weU as the action of the
conferences which had adopted the/btw years' course
— ^representing it to be "above and without law."
Bishop Emory replied, explaining and vindicating
the action of the episcopacy and of the conferences
in a calm and temperate manner. The editor con-
tradicts this article with a sort of editorial vindica-
tion of "Proficio," whom, oddly enough, he calls " our
correspondent," and informs him that the columns
of the paper will be open to his use, " provided he
writes in temperate and respectfal language." This
reply appeared ia the following number, the signature
"Proficio" having been dropped, and that of "A
Member of the New-Tork Conference" assumed. In
the end it turned out that "Proficio" and "our corre-
spondent" were one and the same as the senior editor.
Bishop Hedding did not feel himself necessitated
to make any public defence personally. First, be-
cause the insinuation about acting "without and
436 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1834.
above law" seemed more particularly aimed at
Bishop Emory; then, also, he considered that the
defence of their administration and of the conferences
was in good hands ; nor was he unwilling to leave
the matter to be adjudged by the good sense of the
Church, and especially by the proper constituted
authorities. The following extract from a letter from
Bishop Emory to Bishop Hedding, bearing the date
of October 25, 1834, will throw some light upon this
subject. He says : — " You have probably seen some
communications from me in the Christian Advocate
and Journal in defence of the third and fourth years'
course of study for candidates for elder's orders, and
how they have been treated. If there was anything
in the matter or spirit of my articles to justify or
require such rude personalities as have been heaped
on me, I am unconscious of it, and certainly aimed
to write otherwise. My last communication, too,
was accompanied by a private note, assuring the
editor that I was actuated by no personal unkind-
ness, and proposing, if my communication should not
be satisfactory, that we would agree on some shorl
article to conclude with m muhud respect. The
notes in the same paper with my article were the
only answer I received. That a bishop degrades
himself, and divests himself of the episcopal charac-
ter, by defending publicly, in a grave and respectful
discussion, any important measure of his administra-
tion, is to me a new doctrine, and I think a dangerous
one. On the contrary, it is my opinion that, as gen-
1884.] LETTER FKOM BISHOP EMOET. 437
eral superintendents, we have a right, whenerer we
think the interests of the Church require it, to sp6ak
through the columns of the Advocate as our official
organ; and, if we even be thought in error, the
Advocate is not the proper medium for our correc-
tion. As to any personal attack on the senior editor,
I certainly never intended any such thing, and
thought, and still think, I said enough to assure him
of that. If he had at any time disavowed intending
to censure the measure adopted by the conferences
with our sanction, it would have been sufficient ; but
this has never been done — even to this day. On
the contrary, it has been averred that the Advocate
is agcdnst it, which I think a perversion of the design
of that paper. I consider the measure as now sanc-
tioned, not only by at least eight conferences, but
by all the acting bishops. A similar course was
adopted by the Pittsburgh Conference in 1833, under
Bishop. Eoberts's administration, and in 1834 under
Bishop Soule's."
Unpleasant as was the opposition to the introduc-
tion of the four years' course of study — an opposition
rendered more unpleasant in consequence of the
som-ce from which it originated, and the spirit in
which it was manifested — it could not but have been
gratifying to all the friends of sound ministerial
education to know that the measure won its way
among the conferences, and finally became the estab-
lished poMcy of the Church by authority of the
General Conference.
438 LIFE AND TIMES OE HEDDING. [1834.
In the same letter from which the above extract
was taken, Bishop Emory sglicits the opinion of
Bishop Hedding on a question singular enough —
growing out of the peculiar relations of the system
of slavery to the Church in the South. " The South
Carolina Conference," says he, " requests the opinion
of the bishops on the following question. I will pre-
face it by stating that in Charleston the usage —
sanctioned, as I am informed, by Bishop Asbury
— ^has been, that when slaves have been admitted
into the Church, the husband and wife then acknowl-
edged by them is ever after to be so considered.
But if the master send either away for life to such a
distance that there is no reason to expect a return,
then if, after a year or more, the bereaved husband
or wife apply for permission to take another husband
or wife, he or she may be permitted, not advised,
so to do. If afterward the former husband or wife
returns, the Church never interferes in the question
who shall be the acknowledged husband or wife.
You are aware, too, that among slaves in the South
— such is my information at least as to the South
Carolina Conference, although it is not exactly so in
Maryland — 'the ceremony of marriage strictly is
rarely performed; but the parties take each other
with the permission of their masters and the knowl-
edge of their friends. The question, then, is, — Sup-
pose a wicked husband, clearly without just cause,
deserts his wife — she being a member of the Church
— and notoriously lives with another woman; or a
1884.] MAEEIAGE RELATION OF SLAVES. 439
wicked wife deserts her husband— lie being a mem-
ber of our Church — and notoriously lives with another
man ; may the deserted, after years of patient wait-
ing, be permitted, on application, to take another
husband or wife, as the case may be ? The present
usage applies only to cases in which the masUr's
act causes tlie separation. The question now sub-
mitted is as to the propriety or expediency of the
extension of the usage to any cases of separation by
the acts of the parties. Among our brethren in the
South, there are advocates for and against the exten-
sion, and the opinion of the bishops is required to
settle it. You are aware that the decision will apply
to similar cases in all the slave-holding states. Please
let me know your judgment as early as convenient,
that I may communicate it to the conference."
What Bishop Hedding's judgment in the matter
was we have no means at hand to enable us to deter-
mine, nor are we curious to know. We give the
item as a matter of historical interest, illustrating
one phase of the relations of slavery to Christianity.
During this year the Church had not only enjoyed
great peace, but great prosperity. The Pittsburgh
Conference reported an increase of five thousand
seven hundred and seventy ; the Ohio, seven thousand
three hundred and eighty ; the Kentucky, four thou-
sand six hundred and thirty-three ; the Illinois, three
thousand one hundred and three ; the Indiana, three
thousand five hundred and eighty-two ; the Tennessee,
five thousand one hundred and ten: the Alabama, two
19*
440 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1836.
thousand eight hundred and seyenty-nine ; the Balti-
more, three thousand two hundred and nine; the
Oneida, two thousand five hundred and ten : and the
general increase for the year in the whole Church was
thirty-thousand and forty-eight in the membership,
and two hundred and twenty-flye in the ministry —
making the number of members six hundred and
thirty-eighty thousand seven hundred and eighty-four,
and the number of traveling preachers two thousand
six hundred and twenty -five. The cause of education
in the Chm'ch was also strengthened this year by
the establishment of M'Kendree College at Lebanon,
Illinois ; and also by the addition of several acade-
mies in different parts of the work. The publishing
interests in New-York, and also at the branch ip
Cincinnati, had continued to rapidly develop tht
vast resources of their power.
In 1835, Bishop Hedding met the New-York, New-
England, and Troy Conferences in company with
Bishop Emory. During the session of the latter con-
ference at Albany he visited Troy, and preached the
dedication sermon of the North-Second-street Church,
then newly erected. To Bishop Emory also had been
assigned the Oneida and Genesee Conferences ; but
owing to sickness in his family he was compelled to
return home, and Bishop Hedding visited those con-
ferences in his stead. The first of these conferences
he met at Oswego, September 24th ; the last at Lock-
port, October 14th. He reached home in November,
where he remained tiU the ensuing January. While
1835.1 ECCLESIASTICAL JUEISPEUDENOE. Ml
at Oswego his health became quite poor, so much so
that he was unable to preach ; nor did he fully re-
cover till some time after he had reached home*
The gradual development of our system of ecclesi-
astical jurisprudence may be frequently indicated by
incidental occurrences, especially by law questions
that came up for discussion and settlement. A ques-
tion of this character, and one which even now is of
general interest to the Church, came up at the session
of the Oneida Conference this year. A preacher was
charged with neglect of duty, or perhaps maladmin-
istration, in that he did not himself appoint the " se-
lect number" to try a member in a case of Church
trial, but left it to the society to elect the committee.
The preacher impleaded, in his defence took the
position that he had a right to leave it to the society
to elect, inasmuch as the rule does not say who shall
do it. The accusers contended that the principles of
the Discipline required that the preacher should se-
lect the number, and not leave it to the society, and
thereby make it a matter of strife. They alleged that
it was dangerous to make such a committee elective ;
because, if this were done, rich men, officious men,
and leaders of parties would be likely to secure the
election of such persons as would serve their own pur-
poses, and thus the innocent might be condemned or
the guilty be cleared. The conference finally referred
it as a question of law to the bishop. He at once
decided that it was the duty of the preacher in charge
always to appoint the "select number" to try accused
44:2 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1836
members. Among the reasons lie offered to justify
this opinion were, that formerly the preacher was the
sole judge in the case, and decided on the guilt or
innocence of accused members ; but he was always
obliged to hold a trial, not in secret, but in the pres-
ence of the society to which the accused person be-
longed, or a select number of them. But the preacher
was judge both of law and evidence, and it belonged
to him to decide whether he would hold the trial in the
presence of the whole society, or of a select number.
"When the General Conference changed the rule, they
took from the preacher nothing but the power to de-
cide on the guilt or innocence of the accused, and
placed that power in the hands of the society, or a
select number of them. Consequently they left with
the preacher all the other powers he had before, and
they remain with him still, and no such select num-
ber now can be legally appointed but by the preacher
in charge ; and if in any case he allows the society to
elect, that election can be regarded only as a nomi-
nation. And if a preacher proceeds to investigate a
case, and try an accused member by the decision of
such a select number, by that act he appoints those
the society has thus nominated, and is responsible for
it ; and if any mischief is done thi'ough the appoint-
ment of improper members, the preacher in charge
must answer for it. This decision settled the ques-
tion; "and," says the bishop, "I never afterward
heard of a preacher in that conference allowing the
society to elect the select number."
1835.] DEATH OF M'KENDEEE AND EMOEY. 443
The great and afflictive eyents in the history of the
Church this year were the death of two of the bishops.
Bishop M'Kendree, the senior in ofi&ce, was first called
away ; and then Bishop Emory, the junior in office,
about nine months after was stricken down by death.
The former was in the seventy-eighth, the latter in
the forty-eighth year of his age. Bishop M'Ken-
dree entered the ministry at the age of thirty, la-
boured some twenty-one years before his election to
the episcopal office, and in that office served the
Church almost twenty-seven years. He had been
tottering on the borders of the grave for several
years, and his death was therefore not unexpected.
Bishop Emory was born the same year M'Kendree
entered the mipistry — 1788. He entered the ministry
in 1810, and was elected to the episcopal office in
1832. In his arduous and successful labours he was
suddenly cut short, — being thrown from his carriage
on the 16th of December, 1835, and receiving such a
severe injury in his head that he was insensible when
found, and died on the evening of the same day.
Only six days before this fatal catastrophe he wrote
a letter to Bishop Hedding, asking his counsel in
some difficult matters, and exhibiting some of his
plans for personal usefulness, and especially for ad-
vancing the great interests of the Church.
The statistics of the Church this year show an
aggregate membership of six hundred and fifty-two
thousand five hundred and twenty-eight, increase
thirteen thousand seven hundred and forty-four;
44:4 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINS. [1836.
number of travelling ministers two thousand seven
hundred and fifty-eight, increase one hundred and
thirty-three.
On account of the death of Bishop Emory, Bishop
Hedding was called to preside over the Virginia Con-
ference, which met at Norfolk, February 10th. Some
of the incidents of his journey are thus given: — "I
took stage from home and went to Providence, Rhode
Island ; there I expected to find a steamboat for New-
York; but Providence harbour being frozen up, I
continued on by stage to New-London, Connecticut
There I found a steamboat bound for New-York.
We started about sunset, with a violent north-east
wind. About dark it began to snow, as powerfully
as I ever saw it. In a short time no object was to be
seen — neither land nor lights. I went to the pilot,
with whom I was acquainted, and said, 'Howard,
what are you going to do? you can neither see land
nor lights. There are many rocks and islands along
the bay, and are you going to keep on toward New-
York in this gale ?' He said : ' I am going to guess,
as nigh as I can, when we are off the mouth of Con-
necticut Kiver. If we happen to hit the mouth of
the river we may get in safe ; but if we go one side
or the other of the mouth of the river, we shall be
likely to be dashed in pieces.' I wrapped myself in
my great-coat and tied on my hat, and went upon
deck ; for I thought if we went to the bottom, or
were broken in pieces, I would rather be on the deck
than in the cabin. There I continued, the wind
1836.] PBOVIDENTIAL DELITBBAKOE. 445
howling, and the snow falling, and we could see no
object beyond the vessel. "We went on. After a
while I perceived by the wind that the vessel was
turning her course; and also, by the wind appearing
to abate, I perceived that we were getting under the
land. They began to sound, and proceed more slowly ;
and the first the captain, or the mate, or myself, knew
where we were, the bow of the boat struck something
hard, and stopped. They got a light forward, and
found that we had struck a pier at Saybrook; but we
could see no object beyond the steamboat. In a short
time a pilot came on board, puffing and blowing, and
said he was awakened a few minutes before, and told
that a Providence steamboat had come into the har-
bour and stove all to pieces, and he had come down
to see what the matter was, and, if he could, to afford
relief. The captain told him that it was not the
Providence, but the New-London boat, and that we
had received no damage. Here we lay till morning ;
and, when daylight appeared, there were vessels, and
houses, and stores within a few rods of us. The next
morning the snow had ceased, the weather had be-
come warmer, and a dense fog covered the land and
water. We proceeded very slowly, sounding and
feeling our way along during the whole day, and at
night had only reached Cowbay. Here we anchored
for the night. The next morning the fog had cleared
away, and we went on to New-Tork. I felt thankful
that out of such great danger the hand of my good
Father had brought me safely. From New-York I
446 LIFE AND TIMB8 OF HEDDING. [1836.
went to PMladelpliia, where I learned that I could
not go the usual route to Baltimore, the stages having
aU stopped running, and I went round by York, Penn-
sylvania. I was yet fifty miles from Baltimore, and
there was no stage. Here I fell in with an old friend,
going to Baltimore, and we hired a sleigh and two
hoi-ses to carry us thither, and a cold ride we had.
This day's ride gave me such a terrible cold and
rheumatism that I was laid up at Baltimore for a
week. Buring that time Baltimore harbour had
frozen up, so that no boat had gone for a number of
days. They fitted up an ice-boat, that broke through
the ice, that was about a foot thick, for seven miles,
to the mouth of the river. This took a whole day,
and during the night we reached Annapolis, and the
next morning by regular steamboat we reached Nor-
folk. Having been detained so long on my route,
the conference had already commenced its session,
though little business had been done except attention
to some difficult questions and trials."
From Norfolk he returned to Baltimore, and met
that Conference on the 9th of March. Thence he
went to Philadelphia, and met that conference on the
30th of the same month. This brings us in our nar-
rative down to the General Conference of 1836.
The progress of the Church during the four years
exhibited these results, so far as the membership and
ministry were concerned : — ^Increase of members for
the four years, one hundred and thirty-nine thousand
four hundred and fourteen ; of ministers, seven hun-
1836.] CLOSE OF THE THIED QTTADEENNIAL. 447
dred and forty-eight. During the four years, ako, two
hundred and forty-nine preachers had located. The
great number of locations is a striking commentary
upon the hardships and privations still endured in
the itinerant work. One hundred and fourteen
preachers, including two bishops, had ceased from
their labours by death. The uniform record of their
dying experience is, that the religion they had
preached shed its heavenly light upon the closing
scene, and they departed in the bright prospect of a
glorious immortality.
DD
448 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1886.
CHAPTEE XV.
POtrUTH aUADEENNIAL OF EPISCOPAl LABOURS,
General Conference of 1836 — Eepresentation — Death of M'Kendree and Em-
ory— Address of Bisliops Roberts and Hedding — Bedding's Remark upon
the Administration of Discipline —Election of three Bishops — ■ Ordination
of Messrs. Waugh and Morris — Vote relating to Bishops Roberts and Hed-
ding — Sundry Measures ^~ Adjournment — Bishop Hedding's Labours for
the twelve past Years — Conferences met during this Year — Statistical
Returns -^ Causes assigned for declension — True causes — Bishop Hedding
removes from Lynn to Lansingburgh, N. Y. — Note made at the close of
the Year's Labour — Conferences met in 1837 — An Increase reported this
Year — Import of Questions propounded to Candidates for Deacon's and
Elder's Orders — Labours of 1838 — Visits the Grave of Benjamin Abbott
— Protracted Sessions of the New- York and New-England Conferences —
Visits the Northern New- York Conferences — Progress of the Church
this Year — Conferences attended in 1839 — Exhaustion — Misses old
Friends — Influence upon him — Anti-Slavery Excitement — Course he
felt obliged to pursue — Prosperity of the Church — Close of the Fourth
Quadrennial of his Labours^ Some Reflections — Death of Ministers
during the four Years — ^Mr. Hedding's old Associates — John Brodhead
— Martin Ruter — Oliver Beale — Wilbur Fisk — The Dying Testimonies
— Substantial Prosperity of the Church — Embarrassment from Locations
— Vitality of the Methodist System.
From Philadelphia Bishop Hedding proceeded to
Cincinnati, by way of Pittsburgh, to attend the Gen-
eral Conference. Bishop Roberts opened the session
in the usual manner. This conference was composed
of one hundred and fifty-four delegates, distributed
among the several annual conferences as follows,
namely: New-Tork, ten; I^ew-England, seven; Maine,
eight ; New-Hampshire, eight ; Troy, seven ; Oneida,
nine ; Genesee, seven ; Pittsburgh, eight ; Ohio,
1836.] THE GKNEEAL CONFEEENOE. 449
twelve; Missouri, four; Kentucky, six; Illinois, three;
Mississippi, thiree ; Indiana, four ; "Holston, four ; Ten-
nessee, eight; Alabama, four; Georgia, six; South
Carolina, six; Virginia, eight; Baltimore, eleven;
Philadelphia, eleven. We have already noticed the
death of two of the bishops — M'Kendree and Emory
— during the preceding year. Their absence produced
a profound sensation, not only in the minds of the
remaining bishops, but also in the minds of the
delegates generally. The first Friday of the session
was observed as a day of fasting and prayer. Bangs,
in his History, [vol. iv, p. 232,] says that " Bishops
Roberts and Hedding addressed the conference very
appropriately and feelingly on the general state of
the work of God, and on the strict manner in which
discipline should be administered, in order to keep
the Church pure from immoral members. There
was one point especially on which Bishop Hedding
insisted with emphasis, as devolving a high duty on
those to whom the execution of discipline was
intrusted. He remarked in substance that it was
the practice of some preachers to wait for a formal
complaint, containing charges and specifications, be-
fore they proceeded to the trial of a supposed deKn-
quent member. This he considered a defective ad-
ministration. As the minister was held responsible
for the state and character of the Church, it became
his imperative duty, whenever a report was in circula-
tion against a member of the Church, to institute an
inquiry respecting its trath, and if he found reason to
450 LIFE AOT) TIMES OF HEDDINQ, [1886.
believe there was just cause of complaint, lie was
bound to proceed to examine and try the case, as the
Discipline directs, without waiting for a formal
accusation. Nor is it perceived how a minister can
otherwise discharge his high trusts so as to 'give a
joyful account to the Judge of all his stewardship."
The conference resolved to elect three additional
bishops. This was done on the 23d of May. On
the first balloting one hundred and fifty-three votes
were cast ; and out of these Beverly Waugh received
eighty-five, and Wilbur Fisk seventy-eight, and were
elected. On the sixth ballot Thomas A. Morris
received eighty-six votes, and was also elected. Dr.
risk was then travelling in Eujope. Provision was,
however, made for his ordination; but in view of
his obligations to the Wesleyan University, and also
of his declining health, he finally declined the office,
and before another General Conference he had
passed away from the Church on earth to the Church
in heaven. The other two, after a sermon by Bishop
Hedding, were solemnly inducted into the episcopal
office, and have continued to serve the Church with
unabated zeal and fidelity in this office now nearly
twenty years. The conference requested a copy of
Bishop Hedding's sermon for publication, but we
think it was never furnished.
At this General Conference Bishop Roberts, whose
health had become feeble, tendered his resignation
of the episcopal office on account of his bodily
infirmities. The conference declined accepting his
1836.] TWENTY-EIGHT ANNUAL OONFEEENOES. 451
resignation, bnt passed a resolution ttat lie should
be required to do no more service than he might
find consistent with his health and bodily strength.
Subsequently a similar resolution was passed in rela-
tion to Bishop Hedding. The latter had entered
the ministry one or two years before the former,
and was but twt) years his junior in age. He had
also performed much hard service through many
years, and now not only the weight of years, but
the inci;easing infirmities of a broken constitution
began to weigh heavily upon him. It was for this
reason that the General Conference, unsolicited by
him, now proposed to hghten the burden of his
labours.
The work at this General Conference was organ-
ized into twenty-eight annual conferences, besides
the Mission Conference in Liberia. The conference
also adopted two measures affecting the administra-
tion of discipline, which we must not fail to mention
in this place. The first vested in an annual con-
ference the power of locating any one of its mem-
bers who, in the judgment of the body, had rendered
himself "unacceptable as a travelling preacher."
He was, however, allowed the privilege of an appeal
to the next ensuing General Conference. The other
measure provided for the trial of accused super-
annuated preachers living out of the bounds of the
conferences of which they were members. This was
to be done by the presiding elder of the district
where such person might reside, in the usual form,
452 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1836
by the appointment of a committee; the final de-
cision of the case being with tbe conference of
, wbich the accused peraon was a member.
The educational and benevolent enterprises of the
Church received earnest attention at this session of
the General Conference, and strong measures were
adopted for their promotion.
The great question, however, that excited the most
agitation, and occasioned intense interest, grew out
of the relation of the Church to the system of slavery
that existed in the southern states. As Bishop Hed-
ding's relations to this subject were of the most im-
portant character, we shall defer the whole matter
to another chapter, in order to present a distinct and
connected view of it. This becomes necessary in
order to present the administration of Bishop Hed-
ding in its true light, and also to vindicate both his
administration and his personal character from those
aspersions that were cast upon them.
Having accomplished its work, the General Con-
ference adjourned on the 27th of May. It may not
be improper at this points— when we may consider
the most laborious, though perhaps not the most try-
ing, period of his labours ended— to glance back over
the twelve years of episcopal service already ren-
dered by Bishop Hedding. In doing this, we must
bear in mind how vastly the facilities of travel have
increased since that period, or we shall obtain very
inadequate notions of the great labour, exposure, and
weariness incident to the long journeys be was called
1886.1 DIFFICULTIES OF TEAVELLING. 463
to take. Now there are few public routes — north,
south, east, or west — that do not afford facilities, by rail-
road or steamboat, for easy and rapid transportation.
But even as late as 1836, steamboats were found only
on our principal waters ; and as to railroads, there were
but two or three in the whole country, and they only
connecting points not very far removed from each
other. Indeed, when he commenced his episcopal
labours there was scarcely a steamboat to be found
on any of his lines of travel. His journeys — when
made by public conveyance — were principally in
stages. His long journeys were more frequently in
the spring and autumn, at which seasons the roads
were in a scarcely passable condition. Those who
are acquainted with stage-routes only on beautifully
Macadamized turnpikes, can form but little concep-
tion of the slow and toilsome work of staging in new
countries, and along rough and miry roads. Some
of his long journeys had also been performed in his
own private conveyance. Thousands of miles had he
ridden alone, in storm and in sunshine, in cold and in
heat ; sometimes belated and lost in the darkness of
the night, and often exposed to perils by the way. In
this way, during the past twelve years, he had trav-
elled not less than forty thousand miles. He had
attended four general, and eighty-one annual confer-
ences— the latter averaging from one to two weeks.
He had fixed no less than eight thousand appoint-
ments, all of which had cost him care and anxiety,
and most of which had been mutually satisfactory to
464: LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINTG. [1836.
both preachers and people. He had also preached a
large number of ordination and dedication sermons,
besides almost innumerable sermons on his journeys
in almost every part of the country. He had re-
peatedly travelled into Canada, and had special care
of the work in that region for a number of years.
He had visited the Indian missions both in the north
and the south, and had watched over their progress
with intense interest. During all this time his health
had been far from being sound, and often he had been
brought down to the verge of the grave. More than
three-quarters of the time,- — or more than nine years
out of the twelve, — whether in health or in sickness,
he had been absent from home, and deprived of its
comforts and joys. To all this must be added the
innumerable important and perplexing questions that
required almost incessant attention, and also the great
and crushing responsibilities of an office which im-
posed upon him "the care of all the Churches."
"Could I have foreseen, in 1824, all I should have
been called to pass through in this period of twelve
years,— in view of my infirmities, and of my unfitness
for so great a labour,—^! certainly should have per-
sisted in declining the office ; but ' hitherto God hath
helped me,'" were his reflections as from this point
he looked back over his past labours and sufferings.
But humble as were his own views of his fitness for
the office, and of the value of his services to the
Church, he had already won a name for wisdom and
piety, as well as for exalted and useful labours, that
1836.] STATISTICAL EETUENS. 455
secured for him the unbounded confidence of the
whole Church, and gave him an influence rarely if
ever wielded by any other individual.
At the close of the General Conference Bishop
Heddiug returned to the East, and met the following
conferences, namely : — ^The New-York Conference at
Brooklyn, June 22d; the New-England Conference
at Springfield, July 13th ; the Maine Conference at
Portland, August 3d ; and the New-Hampshire Confer-
ence at Montpeher, Vermont, August 31. These four
conferences were all that had been assigned to him for
the year. In three of these conferences there had been
a decrease of membership, — in the New-York, of four
hundred and fifty-eight ; in the Maine, of five hun-
dred and thirty-nine ; and in the New-Hampshire, of
eighteen ; while in the New-England Conference the
increase was but nine hundred and eleven : so that
the total decrease in the four conferences was one
hundred and four. Indeed, this year seemed to be
one of general declension in the Church. In the
Pittsburgh, Ohio, Missouri, Blinois, South Carolina,
New-England, and Alabama Conferences, there was
an increase amounting in the aggregate to six thou-
sand seven hundred and fifty-two; while in the
Kentucky, Holston, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, New-York, Maine, New-
Hampshire, Oneida, Genesee, Mississippi, there was
a decrease amounting in the aggregate to ten thou-
sand nine hundred and two, — Cleaving a decrease in
the membership of the Church of four thousand one
20
456 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1836.
hundred and Mty. Sucli are the resnlts we obtain
from a careful inspection of the data, though they do
not exactly agree with the aggregate results in the
published Minutes for that year. This result — so
unusual in the history of Methodism — was sought to
be accounted for upon various hypotheses. A survey
of the results in the several conferences would indi-
cate that, whatever the cause might be, it was general
rather than local. A careful analysis of the returns
for the few years immediately preceding, brings to
light the fact that those conferences now presenting
the most alarming diminution of numbers, had within
those few years reported at different times an extra-
ordinary increase. In those times of religious ex-
citement, multitudes undoubtedly had been gathered
into the Church who were but poorly instructed in
the doctrines and duties of religion, and but poorly
prepared to stand the trial of faith and of patience to
which they would inevitably be subjected in their
religious experience. Accordingly, in "the time of
temptation they fell away ;" or in the time of " sift-
ing" they were blown away like chaff from the
Church. It may be seriously doubted whether the
Church was not in even a more healthful condition,
and one equally compatible with sound and perma-
nent prosperity, than when she was numbering her
converts by tens of thousands. The causes assigned
for this declension, in the journals of that day, were
weak and flimsy enough. Some asserted that it had
been occasioned by the anti-slavery excitement that
1837.] BEMOVEB TO LANSINGBUEGH. 457
was then, agitating some portions of the Church.
Others, that the curse of God was falling upon the
Church because of its relations to " the great evil."
But both these assigned reasons seemed put to the
blush by the fact that the New-England Conference,
where the greatest anti-slavery agitation existed, and
the South Csfrolina Conference, which was more
deeply complicated in the great evil perhaps than
any other^ — each reported a very respectable increase
in their numbers. The other causes suggested were
insufficient to solve the difficulty; for they had ex-
isted, and were exerting all their force, even in the
time of the great and rapid increase of members in
the Church. All these considerations lead us to
believe that we have presented the true cause of this
decline in numbers.
Having completed his conference labours for the
year, Bishop Hedding removed his residence from
Lynn, Mass., to Lansingburgh, IT. T. Early in
October, after he had got settled in his new home,
he made the following memorandum : — " On looking
over my minutes, I find I have travelled, during the
last nine months, about five thousand three hundred
and ninety miles. These journeys have been per-
formed in steamboats, canal-boats, stages, wagons,
and by rail-roads. When I consider the many dan-
gers through which I have passed, and how mer-
cifully I have been preserved, I cannot but wonder
at the goodness of God to me. Truly it becomes
me to adore the unseen hand which has protected
458 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
me from death, and kept me still in the land of the
living."
The winter of 1836-7 was spent in visiting the
societies in the vicinity of Lansingburgh, and the
discharge of such other duties as his office imposed
upon him.
The ensuing spring he met the JS^ew-York Confer-
ence, in company with Bishop Waugh, and at his
urgent request, at Brooklyn, May lYth. From Brook-
lyn he returned to Troy, where he met that conference
May 31st. After this he rejoined Bishop Waugh,
and met the New-England Conference at Nantucketj
June 7th. On the 6th of July he met the New
Hampshire Conference at Great Falls ; and on the 9th
of August the Black Eiver Conference at Potsdam.
During the session of this last-named conference a
gracious revival of religion took place, and many of
the citizens of the place were converted to God. At
CourtlandvUle he met the Oneida Conference, August
30th, and afterward the Genesee Conference at Perry,
September 20th. From Perry he returned home,
which he reached October 9th, and here he spent
the winter in his usual manner; only, his health
being very much impaired, he went abroad but little.
The year had not passed away without some pros-
perity. The total membership of the Church was
six hundred and fifty-eight thousand five hundred
and seventy-four, being an increase of five thousand
five hundred and forty-two, including the Liberia
Mission. The number of travelHng preachers was
1837.] OEDINATION TOWS. 469
now three thotisaiid one hundred and forty-seven,
being an increase of two hundred and eighteen.
For the first time, the local preachers are reported
this year distinct from the members. They num-
bered four thousand nine hundred and fifty-four.
Early in the present year Bishop Hedding fur-
nished the foll(jwing communication for the Christian
Advocate and Journal : — " At the last session of the
ISTew-England Conference, I was requested by a
member of that body, and in the presence of the
cenference, to give an explanation of the promises
our preachers make at the time of their ordination,
when the following questions are proposed to them,
and when they return the subjoined answers : —
" ' OrdmaUon of Deacons. — ^Will you reverently
obey them to whom the charge and government
over you is committed, following with. a glad mind
and will their godly admonitions ?
" ' Answer. I will endeavour so to do, the Lord
being my helper.'
" ' OrdmaMon of Elders. — ^WiU you reverently
obey your chief ministers, unto whom is committed
the charge and government over you ; following with
a glad mind and wiU their godly admonitions, sub-
mitting yourselves to their godly judgments ?
^^'^ Answer. I will so do, the Lord being my helper.'
"The explanation, as nearly as I can remember,
was in the following words : —
"The officers in the Church whom the persons to
be ordained promise to obey, are, —
460 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
"1. The preachers in charge of circuits and
stations. They are to see that the other preachers
ia their circuits behare well, &c. (Discipline, p. 58.)
And the promise is binding on the other preachers
in the circuits and stations.
" 2. The Presiding Elders. They are to take charge
of all the elders and deacons in theii* districts. (Dis-
cipline, p. 43.) And the promise is binding on the
ordained preachers in a district.
" 3. The Bishops. They are ' to oversee the spii'it-
ual business of our Church.'
" But to what class of actions does the term
'obey' refer? Not to keeping or breaking any
moral rule, or any special rule laid downiu the
Discipline, for these rules are enforced by other
authorities ; nor to actually doing what are acknowl-
edged to be duties, for all we are to do is required
in the word of God and in the Discipline, and,
therefore, is not a subject of advice. But the term
'obey' refers to abstaining from an act which is
deemed by the superior in office to be improper,
though it may not be mentioned in the Bible, or in
the Discipliae, and against which the senior ia office
admonishes the junior, and from doing which he
counsels him to desist. Such, for instance, as preach-
ing or lecturing on party politics — offering, as it is
termed in some parts of the coimtry — at elections
for civil office, or dehveriag what have been called
Stumrp Leclm/res.
" But it is possible the chief minister may err, and
1837.] OBLIGATIOKS OF MEMBEES. 4:61
administer unwise advice, or oppressive admoni-
tion ; and what is to be done in that case ? Is the
junior to say, 'I know as much as you,' and dis^
obey? No: for he has promised to 'obey.' He
must submit to the directions of his senior in oflSce
till the next conference, and if an error has been
committed by^the preacher in charge, or by the pre-
siding elder, it is the duty of the conference to cor-
rect it. And if the error is committed by a bishop,
the duty of a preacher who has been aggrieved
by it is to bear it as a burden tiU the next General
Conference, to whom the bishop is accountable,
then lay the subject before that body, and a suitable
correction will doubtless be administered." l.
The occasion of the publication of these com-
ments was, first, the request of the conference ; and,
secondly, the fact that they had been misunderstood
and misrepresented by persons that heard them, and
also the positions taken in them had been gravely
questioned. To his communication the bishop adds
the following note : — " Every member of the Church
is under an obKgation as strong as those promises,
and he must do as much as those promises engage
to do or he will never obey the word of*God.
'Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the
elder.' 1 Peter v, 5 ; ' Obey them that have the rule
over you, and submit yourselves.' Heb. xiii, 17.
There can be no good government in the Church
without as great a degree of submission as this."
The labours of the year 1838 were very similar to
462 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
those he had performed during several preceding
years. He met the Philadelphia Conference at Wil-
mington, Delaware, April 4th ; the New- Jersey at
Bridgeton, April 25th ; the New-York at New-York,
May 16th ; the New-England at Boston, June 6th ;.
and the Maine at "Wiscassett, June 2Yth. The anti-
slavery excitement had run high during the preced-
ing year, and had occasioned much trouble in several
of the conferences. Referring to the session of the
Philadelphia Conference of this year, Bishop Hed-
ding says : " Considering the excitement I had seen
in the conferences I had visited the latter part of the
preceding year, this was a session of great refreshing
on account of the harmony and peace attending it.
It had been a year of great revival within the bounds
of the conference. Many sinners had been converted,
and the work of sanctification had been progressing
among both members and ministers. Many of the
latter came up to the conference from all parts of the
work, baptized with the true spirit of their mis-
sion."
On his way from the Philadelphia to the New-
Jersey Conference, he visited Salem, New-Jersey.
The object of peculiar interest that attracted his at-
tention here was connected with the memory of
Benjamin Abbott. Here he lived and laboured as
a local preacher, before he began his wonderful
career as an itinerant ; and to this place he returned
when broken health compelled him to desist from
travelling. Here also he died, and was buried.
1838.1 THE GEAVE OE BENJAMIN ABBOTT. 463
Says Bishop Hedding : " I visited the place ' where
they laid him,' and I could not but think, as I stood by
his grave, of the wonderful character of the man, of
the mighty power with which he preached Jesus and
the resurrection, of the great work he accomplished
in the Church, and of the time when he laid his hand
upon my head, and gave me such a tremendous ex-
hortation in the class-meeting on Dutchess Circuit
nearly fifty years ago. I shall soon foUow him to the
grave ; but I trust I shall be permitted to see him in
the kingdom of his God and my God."
The sessions of the New-York and New-England
Conferences this year were exceedingly protracted
and exciting. The former lasted fifteen days, and
the latter seventeen. As these difficulties originated
mainly with the ultraism of individuals connected
with the anti-slavery movement as well as the ultra-
ism of their opponents, we shall consider them in that
connexion.
After the session of the Maine Conference, Bishop
Hedding returned to Lansingburgh. Here he rested
a few days and then left home again, and accom-
panied Bishop Morris to the Black River Conference,
held at Fulton, August 1st ; to the Oneida, held at
Ithaca, August 22d ; and to the Genesee, held at El-
mira, September 12th. "After passing through the
business of this conference," says he, " Bishop Moms
and I parted — he for his home in Ohio, I for mine in
Lansingburgh. I travelled on, preaching to the peo-
ple by the way, and reached home the last of Sep-
EE 20*
464 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1839.
tember. Glory be to God for his preserving mercy
and supporting grace !"
The year had been one of considerable prosperity
in the Church. Several of the conferences had re-
ported very large accessions. Among them, the
Illinois had reported an increase of three thousand
three hundred and sixteen ; the Indiana, three thou-
sand one hundred and thirty-eight ; the Philadelphia,
three thousand and forty-two; the New-Tork, two
thousand six hundred and thirty-six ; the Tennessee,
two thousand eight himdred and forty-three ; the
Maine, two thousand five hundred and eighty-nine ;
the Troy, two thousand one hundred and thirty-two ;
the Erie, two thousand three hundred and thirty-nine ;
the Oneida, two thousand four hundred and ninety-
two ; and the Genesee, two thousand seven hundred
and ninety-six. The total increase of members for the
year — ^including local preachers, of which there were
five thousand seven hundred and ninety-two — ^was
forty-three thousand two hundred and seventy-five,
making an aggregate of six hundred and ninety-six
thousand five hundred and forty-nine. The increase
of travelling preachers for the year was one hundred
and seventy-five, making three thousand three hun-
dred and twenty-six in all.
Early in the spring of 1839, Bishop Heddiag left
home to resume his episcopal labours. He visited
the Philadelphia Conference, over which Bishop
Waugh presided, and afterward accompanied the
latter to Baltimore on business of the Church. After
1839.] TOIL AND INFIEMITT. 466
this he met the New-Jersey Conference at Trenton,
April 24th; the New- York, at Brooklyn, May 14th;
the Troy, at Schenectady, June 6th ; the ISTew-Hamp-
shire, at Sandwich, July 3d ; the Black Kiver, at
Turin, July Slst; the Oneida, at Norwich, August
2l8t ; and the Genesee, at Eochester, September 11th.
This episcopal tour, in his enfeebled state of health,
was exceedingly laborious and trying. At the Black
River Conference he became so exhausted that he
was obliged to retire from the conference room before
the adjournment, leaving the conference to finish its
business and the secretary to read the appointments.
Yet amid all these infirmities he toiled on, — feeUng
that his time of labour was growing short, — desir-
ing, above aU things, to do the work God had given
him to do. " During the past year," said he, " many
of my old friends have finished their course and gone
to rest in Abraham's bosom. It deeply affects me,
in my rounds, to learn that one after another has
passed away from earth. These things admonish me
to be ready also. Let me be up and doing. I have
but little time in which to work. Lord, prepare me
to render an account of my stewardship." " Impelled
by this feeling, he would toil on tiU exhausted nature
compelled him to" lie down and rest. Eefreshed by
rest and by communion with God, he would again
rise up and press forward in his toilsome way. These
labours were rendered to him more exhausting and
trying from the excitement which at this time ex-
isted on the subject of slavery.
466 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1839.
Ultra and radical grouDd had been taken, and
agitating measures adopted by the leaders in that
movement, which, he sincerely believed, threatened
the peace and integrity of the Church, while at the
same time they could be productive of little good to
the enslaved. The measures he had felt it to be his
duty to take, in order to guard the sacred interests of
the Church committed to his charge, were in conflict
with the views and measures of these leaders in the
anti-slavery movement. For this he was assailed by
them with a shameful virulence ; his acts and words
were perverted and misrepresented; and his course,
to a very great extent, misunderstood. All this was
the more trying to him, as several who had once pro-
fessed great friendship for him were now his most
violent enemies and traducers. Excitement was rife
everywhere, and he knew not what he might be called
to encounter in the midst of the whirlwind that had
been raised. The reader will not wonder, then, that
the labours of the few past years had been performed
under a crushing sense of responsibility, and with in-
cessant and wearing anxiety.
"While at the Oneida Conference this year the fol-
lowing beautiful incident occurred, at once illustra-
tive of the general character and of the deep and
ardent piety of Bishop Hedding. We give it as we
have received it from the Kev. Dr. Paddock, long
the intimate personal friend of the bishop. " At this
session of the Oneida Conference," says he, "I was
quartered at the same house with the venerable
1839.] A BEAUTIFUL INCIDENT. 467
bishop. As I was going out to public worship, on
Sunday evening, he said to me, ' Brother, I wish you
would excuse me from accompanying you, I am so
much fatigued ; and then you know the exhausting
labours of the closing part of the conference are still
before me, and I must recruit and prepare for them.'
In truth I had no thoiight of his accompanying me ;
for I knew he had not only preached a long and
fatiguing sermon that day, but had ordained both the
elders and the deacons. The circumstance, however,
shows what was always an amiable trait in his gen-
eral character — ^his tender regard for the feelings of
others. He was studiously careful never to say a
word or perform an action which would be likely to
give pain to any human being, save only when it was
clearly apparent that the interests of religion de-
manded that sort of discipline, and then the infliction
was ever accompanied with so much tenderness that
even the subject of it was obliged the more to re-
spect him.
" The public service of the evening«performed, I
returned to our mutual lodgings. Finding the cham-
ber of the good bishop unilluminated, and presuming
he had retired to rest, I determined to pass through
his room — which I was obliged to do ia order to
reach my own dormitory — as quietly as possible, so
as not t* disturb him. As soon as I opened the door,
however, I heard his tender voice in the opposite end
of the room, saying, ' Brother, please be seated while
I light a lamp. You will find a chair to the left of
468 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1839.
the door.' The venerable old gentleman experienced
some little difficulty in igniting his match, but finally
succeeded in lighting the lamp, when he said: 'I
have been sitting here by this open window, enjoy-
ing the cool air, [the evening was excessively warm,]
and examining this poor heart of mine, to see whether
it loves the blessed Jesus as much as it used to.'
After a moment's pause, he added, his voice tremu-
lous with deep emotion, ' And I think it does, full as
much — ^yes, a little more than it ever did before.'
These were his precise words — words which I can no
more forget than I can forget that I ever saw the
man.
" Seating himself, he continued to speak of his own
past experience with a freedom and a pathos which
were at once most delightful and most edifying.
Among other things, he said, 'I do not know whether
it is so with others, but I often find great spiritual
comfort in reading our hymns. They contain a
depth, a concentration of meaning, which comes
home to the^ soul with a kind of divine power.
Though I cannot substitute them for the inspired
word, I frequently read them with a view to religious
edification, as well as from a regard to their unsur-
passed poetical beauty.'
"The afternoon sermon that day had turned chiefly
on the resurrection of Christ, and the exercifes were
closed with that iacomparable hymn, commencing,
" He dies, the Friend of sinners dies."
1840.] OLOBE OF FOtJETH QUADRENNIAL. 4:69
To that hymn the bishop particularly referred, and
spoke of it as one of the finest m the English lan-
guage, and as often having been a blessing to his own
soul. He repeated the whole of it with the greatest
force and propriety, and pointed out its principal
beauties with the nicest discrimination."
After retiy:aing from the Genesee Conference,
Bishop Hedding visited New-York and Brooklyn,
but afterward was confined at home through the
winter, his physical strength being very much ex-
hausted, and he being greatly afflicted by the return
of his old rheumatic complaint.
The year had been very similar to the preceding,
so far as the prosperity of the Church was concerned.
The total membership was reported at seven hundred
and forty thousand four hundred and fifty-nine, being
an increase of forty-three thousand nine hundred and
ten ; the iTumber of travelling preachers three thou-
sand five hundred and fifty-seven, increase two hun-
dred and thirty-five ; number of local preachers five
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, increase sixty-
four.
In the spring of 1840 he assisted Bishop Waugh at
the Philadelphia Conference, which met at Philadel-
phia, April 1st ; and also at the New-Jersey Confer-
ence, at Burlington, April 15th. This brought him
to the close of the fourth quadrennial of his episcopal
labours. " Through God's mercy," said he, "I am yet
alive. What toils and trials I have passed through
during the past sixteen years! How graciously I
470 LIFE AH"D TIMES OE HEDDING. [1840.
have been preserved in my long and wearisome jour-
neys. How mercifully I Itave been sustained in the
midst of trials and cares. My old and early asso-
ciates have many of them passed away. M'Kendree,
George, and Emory, I shall meet no more on earth.
My work too will soon be done. The growing in-
firmities of age admonish me that my time is grow-
ing short. O, how my soul longs for greater meet-
ness for heaven! Especially have the last two or
three years, on account of the great commotions
which distract the peace and threaten to sunder the
union of the Church of God, been years of great per-
sonal affliction and trial to me. But God is my refuge.
God is the refuge and the deliverer of his Church.
His will be done. This thing encourages me for the
Church : God has delivered her from a thousand dan-
gers, and he is still able to deliver. It also encourages
me for myself that our preachers die well.*
In looking over the Minutes for the four years, we
find that death had been busy along the ranks of
Zion's watchmen. 'No less than one hundred and
sixteen had fallen — some of them young men who
had just entered the field, others veterans, who had
toiled long and hard in the work. Among the latter
were some of the early associates of Bishop Hedding.
Such was John Brodhead, whose early and paternal
regard for the subject of our memoir has already
been noticed. Bishop Hedding fuUy responded to
the record of his contemporaries: — "Brother Brod-
head was a good man ; deeply pious, and ardently and
1840.] DEATH OF LEADING .MEN. 471
sincerely devoted to the interests of the Church and
the world. It is known to all who are acquainted
with the untarnished excellencies of his character,
that a great man and a prince has fallen in Israel."
Such was Martin Enter, D. D., who entered the
ministry at the early age of sixteen — the class-mate
of Hedding, having with him joined the New-York
Conference in 1801. He was no ordinary man.
Commencing his career with little more than a com-
mon-school education, while performing the duties
of an itinerant Methodist preacher he became well
vei-sed in languages, science, and history. In 1818
and 1819 he was principal of the JSTew-Market "Wes-
leyan Academy; then he served two terms in the
Western book-agency, and was subsequently presi-
dent, first of Augusta College, then of Alleghany,
which latter office he resigned to enter upon the
superintendency of the missionary work in Texas,
where he died at his post after thirty-seven years of
successful labour in the cause of Christ — a fit com-
panion, friend, and co-labourer of the great and good
Hedding. Oliver Beale, another associate of Bishop
Hedding in his- early career, had also passed to his
rest. Wilbur Fisk, D. D., also ; he was later in the
ministry, but his relations to Bishop Hedding for many
years, and especially during the few last years of his
brilliant career, were such as made his death a per-
sonal affliction not soon forgotten. Of his career we
need not speak ; his character we need not attempt
to describe. The Church has been blessed with but
472 LIKE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
few such men ; Bishop Hedding had but few such
intimate and confidential friends. His letters, found
among the bishop's papers, continuing up almost to
the close of his life, show the concord of feeling, the
harmony of sentiment, and the unbounded mutual
confidence that subsisted between them. No wonder
that Bishop Hedding was now deeply impressed
with the fact that his early associates were passing
away.
" Our preachers die well." We were peculiarly
struck with the beauty, truth, and fulness of this re-
mark, in glancing over the obituary record for these
four years. Of Philip Gatch it is said, " He finished
his course with great peace, and with unshaken con-
fidence in Christ;" of Bishop M'Kendree, that "he
died as he lived, strong in the faith, and giving glory
to God ;" of Russell Bigelow, that " in the language
of a living faith he was heard to exclaim, ' Glory to
God 1' " of Thomas Drummond — ■" his last words were,
' All is well ; I die at my post ;' " of Richard Henry
Lee — " near the closing scene he said, ' If religion is
love, I feel it— I know I love God — God is love!
All is peace!'" of Benjamin Ogden — "he expired
in all the confidence of faith and hope ;" of Minor
M. Crosby, that "the testimony of his dying hour
illustrated the principles of his profession as a minis-
ter of Christ ;" of William Outten, that " his death
was peaceful and triumphant;" of William Adams,
that " his death was not only peaceful, but signally
triumphant;" of Francis Landrum, that "the same
1840.] OUE PEEAOHBES DIE WELL. 473
ardour of hope and fervour of faith by which his
life had been distinguished, signalized his dying
hour, and marked his translation to the heaven he
had so long and so faithfully preached to others;"
of Parley W. Clenny, that " when asked if he was
afraid to die, he said, ' No 1 if my work is done, I
would rather die than live ;' " of George W. Huggins,
that after exhorting his family to meet him in heaven,
he exclaimed, " My work is finished, I am going to
heaven ;" of Samuel Bozeman, that " he died in full
prospect of eternal glory ;" of Eichard B. F. Gould,
that, when he was brought suddenly to the gates of
death, " he stood firm and undismayed ; death had no
terror for him ; but with the love of God reigning in
his heart, and in the full enjoyment of his mental
faculties to the last, he left the world with the note
of triumph falling from his lips;" of Christopher
Frye, called by sudden accident to stand in the face
of death, that, while his crushed and mangled body
was racked with pain, he could say, "My soul is
calm and stayed upon God — ^my soul is happy, happy,
happy!" of Thomas D. AUen, that just before he de-
parted he said to a friend, " I have always expected
to have a reasonable degree of comfort in my dying
hour, but I never expected to enjoy such a deep, set-
tled calm as I now feel ;" of the venerable Solomon
Sharp, when he had preached his last sermon upon
the rest that remains for the people of God, [Hebrews
iv, 9,] he said, " ITow I feel as if my work was done ;"
of Andrew 0. MiUs, that his last words were, " ' I am
474 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
now ready to be offered. I have fouglit a good fight,
I have finished my course, I have kept the faith :
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righte-
ousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall
give me at that day ;' " of Samuel Bibbins, that when,
after fifty years of faithful labour in the vineyard of
his Lord and Master, he came to the close of his
career, he exclaimed, "The storm of life has at length
blown over 1 The last tornado has passed by ! The
victory is gained, and heaven is minel Sweet
heaven of rest is mine I Hallelujah ! Hallelujah !
My life has been spent these fifty years past in the
ministry, but I do not regret it. All my sufierings
in that laborious employment will render the heaven
of eternal rest the sweeter ;" of Eufus Stoddard, that
his last words were, "My work is done — ^heaven is
mine ! Yictory, victory, victory through the blood
of the Lamb! Death has lost his sting. Come,
Lord Jesus — cornel" of Josiah Keyes, — the scholar,
the theologian, the able preacher, — that when called
to die, he could say, "'for me to live is Christ, and to
die is gain;'" of Cornehus Jones, that when death ap-
proached " he was enabled to give up all ;" of Milton
Colt, that " his death was completely triumphant ;"
of Thomas "Wiley, that "he enjoyed' unshaken con-
fidence in God ;" of "William Phillips, that " as he
lived, so he died, in the possession of abundance of
grace, in sure hope of a blessed immortality;" of
Nelson E. Bewley, that " he enjoyed a complete tri-
umph over death and the grave ;" of John H. -Euble,
1840.] DYING TESTIMONIES. 476
that " he shouted aloud the praise of God ;" of Henry
S. Duke, that he closed his career in "the triumphant
persuasion that 'to die is gain;'" of John Littlejohn,
that " his death was as triumphant as his life had been
useful and exemplary;" of Lawrence M'Coombs, —
for forty years an able and useful minister of Jesus
Christ, — that "his soul was peaceful, willing to suffer
still longer, or to depart immediately and be with
Christ ;" of Alfred Medcalf, that, when informed he
was dying, he pleasantly, exclaimed, "'AH is well —
Christ the hope of glory^ — ^God is with me !' and feU
asleep;" of Ariel Fay, that he was imspeakably
happy; and, though he coxdd speak with difficulty,
shouted aloud, "Glory! glory! Now I an^ ready —
ready to die or live — to suffer all the will of God ;"
of Erastus Telton, that " from the first approach of
death till its consummation, all was light, and peace,
and j oy within his soul ;" of Charles T. Eamsey, that " he
died as he had lived, strong in the faith, giving glory
to God ;" of Robert L. Kennon, that about an hour
before he expired, while contemplating the glorious
plan of man's salvation, he said, " Here is true sim-
plicity— here is true grandeur !'' of Jesse Eichardson,
that he said, " I have the best truth of the Bible to
die on — the divinity of Christ. I have faith in this,
AH is consoling to me beyond the tomb ;" and again,
at another time, " I have nothing to fear. I believe in
tlie Godhead" of Christ, have preached it, lived on it,
and now I die on it, glad to rest my everlasting all
upon my Redeefaer;" of James Buckley, that, after
476 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
his speech had failed, "he raised his hand in token
of victory over the fear of death through the blood
of Christ ;" of James W. Finley, that he exclaimed,
" "What love and peace I feel. O, how precious the
Lord is to my soul ! Glory! glory!" of Hiram Loring,
that he said, "I die at my post, and in sight of
heaven ;" of Alexander Talley, that "he expired in
perfect peace and triumph," and his last words were,
" My work is done ;" of Robert C. Jones, that with a
smiling countenance he said, " O, the idea of meeting
Jesus !" of John Watson, that when sinking by age
and disease, he said, " The Lord, who has been my
friend so long, surely wiU not forsake me now ;" of
James J,Housewheat, that his language was, " All is
well, aU is well ! I feel that Christ is with me ! I
never had such happy feelings in all my life ;" of
Thomas Morrell, that " his last moments were those of
peace and heavenly triumph ;" of Smith Arnold, that
his utterances were ;—
*' There is my house and portion fair ;
My treasure and my heart are there,
And my abiding home ;
For me my elder brethren stay,
And angels beckon me away,
And Jesus bids me come j"
of Roswell Putnam, that when he could speak only
in a suppressed whisper, he replied to one who
asked him how the gospel he had pl-eached now
appeared, " Never did that gospel appear so valuable
as at the present, and never did I see my nothing-
1840.] PEOGEE88 OF THE OHUECH. 477
ness, aside from divine grace, as I now do, and
never was that grace more sweet ;" of Wright Haren,
that he said, "That gospel which I have preached
to others I find to be my support and comfort in
this trying hour;" of Calvin Danforth, that, when
expiring far away from home, he said, " My witness
is in heaven, my record is on high ;" of Eoss Clark,
that, having bidden farewell to all his earthly friends,
he fixed his eyes above, and said, "AH is clear!
Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, nor let the chariot-
wheels delay;" and of Wilbur Hoag, that his tes-
timony was, "My confidence in God is strong; I
have no fears about the ftiture." Many other evi-
dences might we glean, from the record of death's
doings during these four years, that "our ministers
die well."
During the four years just now closed, the sub-
stantial prosperity of the Church, in all the depart-
ments of its great work, was highly encouraging.
Its missionary collections had greatly increased, and
its missionary work, both in the home and the
foreign field, greatly enlarged. Churches, more com-
modious and inviting, had been springing up in
every part of the work, and the facilities for carry-
ing forward the great work had been greatly mul-
tiplied. The educational system of the Church had
continued to develop itself in the increase of col-
leges and the multipHcation of seminaries, and was
already producing abundant fruits. The problem
that the highest order of mental cultivation was
4:78 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1840.
not only compatible with the work of an itinerant
Methodist minister, but also highly conducive, when
moulded by divine grace and fired by holy zeal, to
success in that work, had now received a historical
demonstration ; and men of the highest educational
acquirements were found consecrating them all to
the service of God in the itiaerant ministry. Method-
ism had risen up to be a wonder in the land. Even
"the ancient men," who had marked the smallness
of its origin and had watched the progress of its
growth, were astonished at its gigantic development.
The increase for the four years, including local
preachers, was ninety-three thousand seven hundred
and eighty-seven, and that of travelling preachers
seven hundred and ninety-nine.
We have already noticed the number of deaths
in the ministry. The other great source of loss to
the Church in this respect has been the great num-
bers who have retired from the itinerant ranks by
location. The locations during the present quadren-
nial had reached the astonishing number of five
hundred and forty-six, or more than one-fourth of
the whole number in the itinerant ranks at its com-
mencement. , In Tennessee Conference there had
been no less than fifty-two locations ; in the Alabama
there had been thirty-four ; while the whole number
in the conference at the commencement of this period
was but fifty -six. The general causes of this falliug
away from the work are patent upon the surface-
family necessities, hard labour, and inadequate sup-
1840.1 LOCATIONS. 479
port. Some of the evils connected with it are equally
apparent — ^the embarrassment of the work, in conse-
quence of being compelled constantly to supply the
places of retiring preachers, who were, in many in-
stances, m^ of cultivated talent as well as of expe-
rience, with new and imtried men. This added not a
little to the difficulties and responsibilities of the epis-
copal office, and occasioned unquestionably great
detriment to the work. This evil, however, had
existed from the beginning, and in spite of it the
Methodist Church had grown up and spread over
all the land. We do not know of a more striking
evidence of the inherent vitality of the system, taken
as a whole, than that it could produce such vast
results, though clogged by obstacles so powerM.
FF 21
480 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1834.
CHAPTEK XVI.
BISHOP HEDDING AND THE ABOLITION CONTROYERSY.
The Anti-Slavery Agitation — Movements of Eev. Orange Scott during the
Conference Year 1834-5 — Anti-Slavery feeling in New-England and
Northern New-York — Stand-point from which Bishop Hedding contem-
plated the Movement — Anticipation of evil results — Feels it his Duty
to oppose Ultra Measures — Gives countenance to the "Counter Appeal"
— Anti-Slavery Sentiments expressed in that Appeal — Difficult position
ofBishop Hedding — His Pastoral Letter to the New-England and New-
Hampshire Conferences — Its effect — Its treatment by the Ultraists —
Newspaper Discussions — General Conference of 1836 — The Pastoral
Address — Disapprobation of the Measures employed by Abolitionists —
Avoid electing a Slaveholding Bishop — Extremists on both sides dis-
Batisfifid — Binding fbrce of the General Conference action upon the
Bishops ^ Bishop Heddinjf at the New-England Conference in 1836 —
Declines reappointing O. Scott to the Presiding Eldership — Proposed
Action on Slavery — His Administration assailed — New-Hampshire Con-
ference — G. Storrs proposed for Presiding Elder — The Bishop converses
with him ^ Declines to appoint him — Painful feelings — New-England
Conference for 1837 — Calls the attention of the body to the misrepre-
sentations of 0. Scott — Note : Letter from Bisbop Hedding to Rev. 0.
Scott— =■ The Settlement — O.Scott's retractions — Note; Previous at-
tempt at Adjustment : written statement of T. Merritt, D. Fillmore, and
T. C. Peirce — -Events at the New-Hampshire Conference — Bishop Hed-
ding's Vindication of his Administration — His celebrated "Golden-Eule
Argument in favour of Slavery," and what it amounts to — An Unpar-
donable Sin — Ruling of Presiding Elders — Character of some of the
Itesolutlons— "Rev. 0. Scott in the Fields- His offences against Bishop
Hedding repeated — A few Extracts from his published Letters — Charges
preferred against Rev. 0. Scott before the New-England Conference —
pecisionia of the Conference -^ Trial of La Roy Sunderland — Mr. Hed-
ding looks to the General Conference for redress ^Incident at the close
of the New-England Conference— Rev, 0. Scott's ex parte statement of
the Trial — Action in the New-Hampshire Conference — Letter from
Bishop Morris — Letter from Bishop Hedding in relation to the Trials of
Scott and Sunderland ^-.Subsequent misrepresentation and ill-treatment
received by Bishop Hedding — An Apologetic Remark concerning the
Ultraists-™ Light in which Bishop Hedding's Administration is to be in-
terpreted— Subject brought up to the General ConfeveuQe of 184Q,
1834.1 THE ANTI-BLAVEKT MOVEMENT. 481
Some six or eight years, commencing with about
1834, were years of great excitement in relation to
the system of slavery that had gradually grown np
and extended in this country. The anti-slavery feel-
ing that had been developing for years, was one of
the natural results of the progress of Christian civili-
zation. It comes not within our province to detail
the history or to discuss the elements of this great
movement. We have rather to do with some of the
moidents of that movement — especially as they stand
in connexion with the subject of our memoir.
During the year 1834, several of the New-England
preachers became not only the subjects, but also the
active agents of the great excitement then springing
up in- relation to slavery. Prominent among them
was Orange Scott, a popular and influential member
of the New-England Conference. Being at that time
presiding elder of the Providence District, his posi-
tion gave him both influence and opportunities to
agitate the subject. Accordingly he availed himself
of the gatherings of preachers at camp-meetings and
on other occasions not only to discuss the subject,
but to have resolutions passed in relation to it. By
these means the columns of the " Zion's Herald "
were opened to such discussions. Mr. Scott also per-
sonally subscribed for one hundred copies of the
" Liberator," edited by "Wm. L. Garrison, to be sent
to the members of the New-England Conference.
At the session of this conference in 1835, the major-
ity of its members had become abolitionists, and this
482 LiFfc 1'nd tiHes of ni;i>Di5rG. [iSS6.
became a test^question in the election of delegates to
the General Conference. A feverish state of excite-
ttient pervaded the entire conference; and so high
did it rise during the election of delegates that it
was not thought hest to attempt the election of re-
serve delegates. Similar mfeastires had been nsed also
in the New-Hanipshife Conference, under the leader-
ship of the Eev. George Storrs, with similai' results.
La New-England and in Northern IsTew-Yorli ^
Strong anti-slavery feeling had long existed. The
exciting lectures, speeches, pamphlets, &c., that were
now brought to bear upon the public mind kindled
up that anti-slavery feeling into a flame. Looting
upon the cause as one embodying true philanthropic
and benevolent principles, the apprehensions of the
greater part of both ministers and people who were
engaged in it, with regard to the ultimate conse-
quences of ultra excitement and ultra measures, were
completely lulled to slumber. They looked only at
"the great evil;" and, as they supposed, were only
rushing forward to its "extirpation." Not so with
Bishop Hedding. God had made him an overseer of
the whole Church, and he was compelled to view the
subject from a different stand-point from that of
many of his brethren. From his soul he abhorred
the entire system of slavery ; but in this movement
he foresaw peril to the Church, and could not, con-
sistently with his obligations as a bishop, refrain from
endeavouring to counteract the pernicious tendencies
of this movement in relation to it, and he conceived
1,836.1 STAND-POINT OF BIBHOP BEDDING. 483
it to be the duty of all ministers and members to do
the same.
Bishop Hedding witnessed, with painful emotion,
the excited state of feeling in the New-England and
New-B!ampBhire Conferences this year. He was dis-
tressed beyond measure at the ultra measures that
were adopted by many members, the harsh expres-
sions that were used, and thei consequent ahenation
of feeling among those who had long lived and la-
boured together as brethren, and ako at the imperi-
ous and arrogant spirit of some of the leaders, which
he felt assured, unless timely checked, could end in
:pothing but the most radical and determined opposi-
tion to the government and salutary discipline of the
Church. He had also shared largely in the personal
abuse that was heaped upon those who, on account
of prospective evil, sought to arrest or modify the
course of the new and radical movement. The ses-
sional of the New-England and New-Hampshire Con-
ferences for 1835 had been anticipated by an "Ap-
peal" on the subject of slaveiy, addressed to the
members of each by some of the prominent aboHtion-
ists, though prepared, we beHeve, principally by
La Eoy Sunderland and George Storrs. To counteract
the influence of this "Appeal," a " Counter- Appeal,"
signed by Dr. Fisk, John Lindsay, B. Otheman, Abel
Stevens, and others, was issued in the fall of the saine
year. It was also accompanied by a note from Bishop
Hedding, in which he expressed his belief of the cor-
rectness of its statements and argumente, espeeia]il|y
484: LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING. [1836
those relating to the acts of the General Conference.
This document was loudly assailed as a pro-slavery
affair, and, of coiirse. Bishop Hedding came in for his
share of the obloquy. "We are not called upon to en-
dorse all that is found in it ; some of its positions we
tTiinlr untenable, and some of its arguments fallacious;
but to show how little its authors were inclined to
justify the system of involimtary bondage, as it then
existed, we must be indulged with one or two ex-
tracts. They say : " Every diminution of the inten-
sity of suffering, or of the amount of exercisable au-
thority, which could be made, without creating more
misery than it subtracts, ought instantly to be made ;
and the moment the whole can be diminished away,
whether immediately or gradually, without causing
more suffering than it destroys, then, and not till then,
should it be absolutely and entirely annihilated."
In another place they add: — "Christianity, by
proclaiming the immortal existence of every human
soul, and pronouncing all equally responsible and
equally valuable in the eye of God, stamps the stigma
of libelous ahswrdAty upon the principle that man
can, in nature, be a mere a/rticle of propeviy. What
ever may be the temporary state of subjection which
Christianity itself may, in prevention of higher evils,
rightfully retain in transient existence, it does, at
the' same time, attest the innate ascendency of his
nature, by which he must inevitably rise above
this fictitious and unnatural position of a mere chattel,
into an elevation worthy his true character."
1836.] COtrNTEB-APPEAL. 485
Still further on, it is added : — " The letter of the
golden rule and the spirit of the gospel operate
with an irresistible tendency to the amelioration,
diminution, and destruction of slavery, as a system ;
holding forth its perpetuation as an abomination,
and its continuance, by the authors of legislation,
beyond the Mme of its practicable removal, a sin."
Also referring to ihe course of the abolitionists,
the counter-appealants say : — ■" Did we see prospec-
tive emancipation in such a path, we would bid
the process of agitation God-speed. We do, indeed,
believe that too quickly the course of oppressive
legislation cannot be changed; too soon the safe
and happy liberation of the oppressed descendants
of Africa in this land cannot take place ; too rapid
cannot be the wing of that angel that bears freedom
to the fettered hope of the despairing, and life to
the dying. In every feasible hope of philanthropy
— ^in every rational effort to spread just informa-
tion— to create a healthful tone of public feeling,
and to render the free air of our country unre-
spirable to a spirit of oppression, we rejoice to
bear our part."
They also address their brethren in the South, to
incite them, if possible, to emulate the noble course
of their brethren in the old world in efforts to bring
about the emancipation of the negro race. "To
our brethren of the South, if our feeble voice may
not be wholly unheard by them, in language which
we are sure they will recognise as the general
486 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1836.
tone of Cliristian brotherly kindness, we would
address our most intense entreaty, that, unless it
be a,t lie expense of bigber and immortal interests,
they would now, in this day of Hgbt, of peace, and
of moral power, emulate the memorable stand of
our brethren of England, and, with the name of
Wesley upon their banners, and bis spirit in their
hearts, would seize the timely honour of leaMng
out the foremost van of the great Christian moye-
ments, which, in some of our states, are directing
their onward march toward the ultimate achieve-
ment of universal emancipation."
A document containing sentiments like the above
must have been singularly incongruous to have
been pro-slavery in its general character; or, had
its authors designed it as a defence of slavery, they
certainly shot very wide of their general design
in these passages. The pen of so skilfal a logician
and so sagacious a man as Dr. Fisk, or of Professor
Whedon, by whom the main labour of its pre-
paration was performed, could hardly have been
guilty of such aberrations; and yet both of these
charges were laid against the " counter-appeal" and
its authors. The conflict had now fairly commenced.
That Church, which had always most strongly
protested against the great evil of slavery, was most
fiercely denounced. Some of the more ultra and less
cautious did not hesitate to declare that they would
never faulter till they had " spht the great Methodist
prop to slavery."
1836.} PASTOEAL LETTBE. 4:87
Th© course of tMngs was exceedingly afflicting
to Bishop Hedding. Few men, perhaps, were more
sensitive in relation to their personal reputation ; and
he could not but feel that some brethren — brethren
with whom he had long been associated, and in
whom he once had great confidence— were doing
aJJ, they could to place him in a false attitude before
the Church, and thus to curtail his influence and
injure his reputation. To join them in their peculiar
measures against slavery, he conscientiously believed
would be to assist in driving the ploughshare of
ruin through the Church of God. To stand aloof,
would be to subject Ms character and motives to
many misapprehensions and to many rude assaults.
Painful as was his position, he seemed shut up to
these alternatives. As to which he should choose,
he could not hesitate a moment. Self could not
be regarded a moment, when placed in competi-
tion with the claims and interests of the Church of
God.
Actuated by these views, in conjunction with his
junior colleague. Bishop Emory, he addressed a
pastoral letter to the "ministers and preachers" in
the New-England and New-Hampshire Annual Con-
ferences. It is dated at Lansingburgh, September
10th, 1835, and was probably mainly written by
Bishop Emory. After stating that they had "marked
with deep solicitude the painful excitement which
had been producing disturbance" within the bounds
of those two conferences, they proceed to say : — " Be-
21*
488 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1835.
lieving, as we do, that these measures have already-
been productive of pernicious results, and tend to
the production of others yet more disastrous, both
in the Church and in the social and political rela-
tions of the country, we deem it our duty to
address to you a pastoral letter on the subject."
The whole letter is couched in the most affectionate,
and yet in the most decided and earnest terms. The
main scope of the letter is to show that the ultra
measm-es which were then convulsing the com-
munity could be productive of but little good, while
they were fraught with great evil to themselves, to the
Church, and to the whole country. They earnestly
entreat their brethren to pause before they are drawn
into the vortex which is gathering around them. They
earnestly entreat all — and especially the presiding
elders and preachers — ^to discountenance the practice
of leaving their regular work and the care of the souls
committed to their charge, to travel over the country
as lecturers, delivering public harangues and getting
up conventions. In this address they endeavour to
guard themselves against any imputation of giving
countenance to the system of slavery. They say: —
" The question of slavery itself it is not our purpose
here to discuss; nor is there any occasion for it.
The sentiment of the Church on this subject is
well known. Our object is rather to confine our-
selves to the practical considerations which press
upon us in the present crisis, and which, we pre-
sume, cannot fail to arrest the attention of the
1835.] EFFECT OF HIS PASTOEAL LBTTBE. 489
humane, the pious, and the reflecting of all parties."
They also add: — "That the New Testament Scrip-
tures, or the preaching or practice of our Lord or
his apostles, were ever intended to justify the con-
dition of slavery, we do not believe."
While this letter had hut little effect upon the
more determined leaders in the ultra movement it
was designed to check, it exerted a most salutary
influence over hundreds who, from deep sympathy
with the great anti-slavery sentiment of the age,
were in danger of being precipitated into a mael-
strom of excitement and of radical measures, from
which little good was to be expected and much evil
apprehended. The letter of the bishops was attacked
with great virulence. To guard themselves against
the imputation of favouring the system of slavery,
they, as we have ab-eady seen, distinctly avowed
their opposition to it. This frank avowal, however,
availed them but little with men who were accus-
tomed to stigmatize all who did not approve of ih&vr
Tneasures as pro-slavery, and therefore involved in
the guilt and condemnation of those who actually
held their fellow-beings in bondage. It is but just
to the abolitionists of that day, to remark that they
were not alone guilty of using intemperate expres-
sions and of employing extreme measures. The
spirit of the law of the "olden time"— "an eye for
an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" — was too often
manifest in the opposition made to their move-
ments. The newspaper discussions of the time ex-
490 LIPE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1836.
hibit an amoimt of rude personalities, and of grave
crimination and recrimination, painful to witness
among those who were ministers of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and, undoubtedly, had the great interests
of humanity at heart. "We gladly draw a veil
over these scenes. They can be accounted for only
by the peculiar and unparalleled excitement of
the times. Most of these men were unquestion-
ably good men. Many of them have since been
gathered to the tomb. Their alienations have been
healed, and their discordant views harmonized in
that better land where the spiritual vision is un-
clouded by earthly prejudices, and where all hearts
beat in unison under the impulses of a purer and
holier love.
While this state of things existed, and these
measures were progressing, the General Conference
of 1836 commenced its session at Cincinnati. Several
memorials on the subject of slavery were presented,
and they elicited not a little excitement and discus-
sion in that body. The measures of the ultra-aboli-
tionists were strongly condemned, both in a series of
resolutions and in a pastoral address " to the mem-
bers and friends of the Methodist Episcopal Church."
In these documents there is a studious avoidance —
perhaps too much so — of any expression that would
either condemn or countenance the system of slavery.
A simple object was sought to be accomplished,
namely, the restraining of measures calculated to
convxdse and perhaps divide the Church.
1836.] ACTION OF GENEKAL CONFEEENCE. 491
In the Pastoral Address, the General Conference,
referring to those who had been active in producing
the agitations in the Church, says : " We feel it our
imperative duty to express our decided disapprobar
tion of the measv/res they have pursued to accompHsh
their objects." Again they say: "While we cheer-
fully accord Jjo such all the sincerity they ask for
their belief and motives, we cannot but disapprove
of their measures as alike destructive to the peace of
the Church and to the happiness of the slave himself"
They also add : " From every view of the subject
which we have been able to take, and from the most
calm and dispassionate survey of the whole ground,
we have come to the solemn conviction that the only
safe. Scriptural, and prudent way for us, both as
ministers and people, to take, is wholly to refrain
from this agitating subject, which is now convulsing
the country, and consequently the Church, from end
to end." They beseech brethren who are opposed
to slavery, and wish to give utterance to their senti-
ments, to employ kia ' and moderate language. They
say: "You would do much better to express your-
selves in those terms of respect and affection which
evince a sincere sympathy for those of your brethren
who are necessarily, and, in some instances, reluc-
tantly associated with slavery in the states where it
exists, than to indulge in harsh censures and denun-
ciations, and in those fruitless efforts which, instead
of lightening the burden of the slave, only tend to
make his condition the more irksome and distressing."
492 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1836.
In connexion with thjs point they also say: "The
exercise of mutual forbearance in matters of opinion
is essential in a community where freedom of speech
is guaranteed to the citizens by the Constitution which
binds them together, and which defines and secures
the rights and liberties of all." Finally, they express
themselves in strong terms of reprobation of the vio-
lent measures that had often been employed to put
down the anti-slavery lectures : " But while we thus
express our disapprobation of these measures, we
would, with equally strong and decided language,
record our abhorrence of aU unlawful and unscrip-
tural means to check and to counteract them. All
mobs, and violent movements of self-created tribu-
nals, to inflict summary punishment upon those who
may differ from them in opinion, are condemned
alike by the laws of our land and by every principle
of Christianity. We should, therefore, be extremely
pained and mortified to learn that any of you should
have lent your influence to foment a spirit of insur
rection in any manner, or to hi re given sanction to
such violent movements as ha/'e, in some instances
and places, disturbed the peace of society, and fore-
stalled the operation of the established tribunals of
justice to protect the innocent and punish the guilty."
From the preceding extracts, the tone and design
of that portion of the Pastoral Address which related
to the agitations of the day may be gathered.* At
" The Address in full may be found in Bangs's History, toI. iy,
p. 250 et seq. ; and also in Elliott's Great Secession, Doc. 23, p. 915.
1836.] DUTY OF EXECUTIVE OFFI0EE8. 493
the same time that the General Conference expressed
itself so strongly in opposition to what it deemed
an unhealthy and pernicious anti-slavery agitation,
it showed itself steadfast in its opposition to slavery
by refusing,^ much to the chagrin of the ultraists at
the south, to elect a slaveholder to the office of
bishop, as wall as by its studious avoidance of any
endorsement of the system. The result was that the
extremists on both sides were dissatisfied; and we
think there is reason to believe that from that time
forward certain men in the north, and others in the
south, contemplated an ultimate rupture in the
Church.
The executive officers of the Church, to whom was
intrusted the administration of its Discipline, felt
themselves bound by this explicit 'judgment of the
General Conference. Especially was this the case
with the bishops, who were directly amenable to the
General Conference for their acts ; and also with the
presiding elders, whose responsibilities were in some
respects similar to those of a bishop. This is the
stand-point from which we are to view the subsequent
official conduct of Bishop Hedding in certain specific
cases. To form a just estimate of his course, we must
bear in mind that he cordially and fully approved of,
and felt himself ecclesiastically, morally, and reli-
giously bound, as an officer of the Church, to obey
the behests of its highest judicatory.
Under these deep convictions of duty and of
solemn responsibility, Bishop Hedding came to the
494 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIJIG. [1836.
New-England Conference in 1836. Two acts of the
bishop here gave great umbrage to the abolitionists.
The first was the removal of Orange Scott from the
Providence District, where he had laboured but two
years. It was currently reported to the bishop — in
fact it was a thing notorious — that Mr. Scott had
employed much of his time and strength, during the
year, in lecturing and in disputations upon the ex-
citing theme of the day. He became satisfied that
Mr. Scott had done this to the detriment of his ap-
propriate work. Becoming satisfied of this, he took
occasion to have a private and brotherly conversa-
tion with him, and earnestly advised him to desist
from such a course. The bishop soon found, how-
ever, that he was determined to persist in his course,
and that no persuasions could avail with him, as he
felt conscientiously bound in the matter. He then
frankly told him that, in view of the action of the
General Conference, and in view of what he conceived
to be his obligations to promote the peace and well-
being of the Church, he could not continue him in
the oflSce of presiding elder. The result was that Mr.
Scott was removed from the district; but, that he
might not seem to be oppressed, he was sent to
Lowell, one of the best appointments within the
bounds of the conference. He had even the choice
of his own colleague, of whom he says, " Our hearts
were united as the hearts of David and Jonathan."*
This certainly does not look much like oppression; and
^ Scott's Memoir, p. 38;
1836.1 THE NEW-ENGLAND CONFEEENCE. 495
yet for this act Bishop Hedding's administreition was
assailed in the most bitter terms. This was done not
only in private circles and in lectures, but also in the
public press, and by Mr. Scott himself. The bishop
himself remarks : "This, I suppose, was the principal
cause of Mr. Scott's repeated attacks upon me in a
public papea afterward. Up to this time, I never
knew one of the members of the New-England Con-
ference to cherish other than the most friendly and
fraternal feelings toward me. But the manner I felt
it my duty to act in this case, and in one other at this
conference, led some — •chiefly, if not exclusively, those
who afterward left the Church — to manifest often
other than kind and fraternal feelings."
The other case to which the bishop refers related
to proposed conference action on the subject of
slavery. At this conference a committee on slavery
had been appointed. From various causes the re-
port of that committee was not presented for confer-
ence action till the very last session. This was an
evening session, and it was eleven o'clock at night
before it was presented. When it was read the
bishop found it was a very long and intricate one,
referring to facts and maintaining principles which
required close examination before the report could
properly be adopted. A large minority of the con-
ference too, as he well knew, were not willing the
report should be adopted without investigation and
an opportunity for debate. When a motion was
made, after a single reading of the report to adopt it
GG
496 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1836.
as a whole, he stated these facts to the conference ;
and told them there were some things in the report
of which he doubted whether they were or were not
contrary to Methodism, and he did not feel at liberty
to put the question to vote without more time to ex-
amine it, and advised them to adjourn, and take the
subject up deliberately on the morrow. He further
stated that if, on examination, he found it to be con-
sistent with Methodism, he was willing to put it to
vote ; whereas, if he found it contrary to Method-
ism, he should violate his duty to the Church in sub-
mitting it to vote. A motion was then made to ad-
journ, but it was not carried. "Then," said the
bishop, " we cannot vote on the report ;" and, accord-
ingly, he proceeded with the regular business, read
out the appointments, and closed the conference.
This act of the bishop was harshly assailed. He
was accused of acting " without law and above law,"
of " depriving the conference of its rights," of " usurp-
ing authority not given to him," and the like.
At the New-Hampshire Conference, which suc-
ceeded soon after. Bishop Hedding gave additional
offence to the ultraists. The same reasons that had
induced him to remove Orange Scott from the Provi-
dence District, led him to decline the appointment
of Eev. George Storrs to a vacant district in the
!N"ew-Hampshire Conference. The friends of Mr.
Storrs strongly urged the appointment, and person-
ally the bishop was not averse to it ; but, in view of
the previous course of Mr. Storrs on the subject of
1836.] NEW-HAMP8HIEB OONPEEENOB. 497
slavery, and also in view of the action of the General
Conference and of his own official obligations, he
deemed it his duty to pursue the same course he had
pursued with Mr. Scott, and informed Mr. Storrs that
he could not appoint him to such an office unless he
had some assurance that he would cease to distract
the Church bj active participation in the ultra mea-
sures of the day. Mr. Storrs replied that he could
come under no such obligation. Bishop Hedding then
said to him, — " My obligations to the Church, then,
will not allow me to appoint you presiding elder ;
for I should only be putting you in a more prominent
place that you might do more mischief." This tenni-
nated the negotiation. The next morning Mr. Storrs
read a paper in conference, stating that he could not
take an appointment under an officer of the General
Conference in view of the action of that body on the
subject of slavery, and he therefore asked a location.
So far as we know, Mr. Storrs had been a talented,
useful, and influential man in the conference; nor
will we call in question the sincerity of his convic-
tions or the purity of his motives. Yet we think
his subsequent career fully vindicates the far-seeing
wisdom and unflinching integrity of the venerable
bishop.
These events, and others connected with them or
resulting from the same causes, were, to the last de-
gree, painful to the bishop. He felt himself consci-
entiously shut up to a course, for the sake of the
Church and of the cause of God, which was turning
498 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
many of his earliest and best friends into bitter op-
posers. He even felt constrained to ctange the place
of his residence ; and, in the fall of this year, removed
from Lynn, Hassachu^etts, to Lansingburgh, New-
York.
At the session of the New-England Conference in
1837, Bishop Hedding, believing himself to be misrep-
resented and injured by the letters of Orange Scott,
reflecting upon his course at the preceding session,
felt it to be his duty to bring the matter to the atten-
tion of the conference.. Accordingly he read a paper
to the conference, specifying the charges made against
him by O. Scott, and showing that some of them were
misrepresentations of his action, and that others were
absolutely false in fact.* Mr. Scott replied in a
° Some private correspondence on the subject had taken place be-
tween them during the year, but without any satisfactory results.
The following extract from a letter to Mr. Scott from Bishop Hedding,
dated "Lansingburgh, November 26, 1836," relates to this subject,
and is worthy of preservation in this connexion. " You certainly
labour under a great mistalae in supposing that I committed an
' encroachment upon your rights ' at the last session of the New-
England Conference. The course I took was the same in principle I
have always followed in your conference and in all others I have at-
tended. It was the same all the other bishops have followed, so far
as I know, from the beginning of my acquaintance with, Methodism.
We have always practiced putting off questions to such times as we
supposed would best contribute to facilitate the business of the con-
ference. We have always practiced setting aside such motions, or
resolutions as we supposed unconstitutional.
" But the reason you never happened to perceive it before, I sup-
pose, is, the course never before crossed your favourite object. The
Discipline gives me a perfect right to do as I did, and I judged the
business of the conference required me to do it. The conference, at
the close, gave me a vote of thanks by an almost unanimous vote.
1837.] DIFFIOULTY WITH O. 800TT. 499
Bpeech of considerable lengtli; after which two of
the brethren preferred formal charges of slander and
misrepresentation against him. Bishop Hedding felt
anxious to have an amicable settlement of the matter,
and they cannot now, as honest men, complain. Tou admitted at
Lynn that you probably voted for that resolution of thanks, and you
cannot now consistently complain. You were either dishonest then,
or you are unreasonable now in complaining as you do about my acts
in that conference. Why did not you or they oppose the vote of
thanks? Why did you not, like honest men, state, in my presence,
what you supposed to be wrong in my administration, and give me
opportunity to explain or retract, if either were necessary ? I be-
lieve the truth is, that neither you nor the conference thought ' /
encroached ' on your rights at the time ; but you, yourself, have im-
agined the idea since, and made others believe it, and now you go
about holding me up to public contempt about a supposed evil which
is only a creature of your own imagination.
" I was willing to attend to the resolutions on abolition at the proper
time, and I told the conference so over and over again. I said the
last evening I was willing to stay three days for that purpose, and
advised the conference to stay the next day ; but the majority were
unwilling to stay, and the friends of the resolutions withdrew them,
and now you blame me and traduce me before the public because the
resolutions were not passed. Dear Orange, where is your reason,
where is your conscience, that you can think yourself justified before
God or man and do thus? Have I no 'rights' as well as you? Has
the president of a conference, when in the chair, no rights ? Must
he be under the control of the ftew or the many in every little ques-
tion ? When would a conference get through its business if the
president were obliged to take the course you contend for?
"I admit the General Conference has a right to take that course,
and they usually leave a large portion of their business undone.
That, probably, was the cause of the loss of the temperance question
this year. But with the annual conference it is different. They and
the president are a dependent body ; they meet to do certain busi-
ness, and they are not obliged to do anything else unless they choose.
The New-England Conference testified that this year in refusing to
stay and pass the resolutions on abolition, though a majority doubt-
less were abolitionists.
" I do not believe there are old preachers in the New-England Con*
600 LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING. [1837.
believing it would be best for the Oburcli and also
for the accused, for whoni he really had great respect,
and hoped that he might yet be saved to the Church.
He therefore proposed a friendly meeting of the
parties with a few of the friends of each, which was
had. This meeting resulted in the following " retrac-
tions," which were satisfactory to the bishop, and
were assented to and signed by Orange Scott, as
follows : —
CoEEECTiONS.* — " "Whercas I wrote several letters
ferenoe who would say such things as you tell me were said by some
' older and better ' than you are, if they understood the matter. You
have probably excited them and operated upon them till you have
led them to say, imprudently, what they themselves did not under-
stand, I was in hopes that, after our interview at Lynn, you would
see the wrongs you had done and take a more prudent course in
future ; but the statements in your letter impress me with this idea,
that if a bishop should happen to do in your conference what a few
of you should think improper, you would exert your influence to
destroy Methodism in New-England ! Surely I thought you loved
Methodism better than that ! If a bishop does wrong, you ought to
take the steps the gospel and the Discipline point out to correct him,
and not abuse him in the public newspapers, nor destroy Methodism
on his account. Through the whole sessiqp of the New-England Con-
ference it never entered my mind that I was taking a course differ-
ent from what was usual, nor did I suppose that any one else thought
so till your printed letter followed me to Vermont in September. I
cannot regard your doings in this matter otherwise than what the
Scriptures call backbiting ; but I still hope you will repent and re-
form. But I do not suppose you see the evil of your doings any more
than slaveholders do theirs ; and, believing you do not yet intend to
be wicked, I still feel toward you as a brother."
° It is due to Bishop Hedding to remark that he had made an
effort during the year to adjust this unpleasant matter, so as not to
be under the necessity of bringing it to the attention of the conference
at all. The result of that effort will be best seen by the subjoined
attestation of mutual friends, who were present ; — " The undersigned,
1837.] EETKACTI0N8 OF O. SOOTT. 601
to Bishop Hedding, and to the editor of Zion's
"Watclimaii, and caused them and. several anony-
mous letters to be published in said paper of August
31, September 21, and December 7, 1836; and
membera of the New-England Conference, were present at a conver-
sation which took place between Bishop Hedding and Bev. 0. Scott
some time in th^ month of September or October last, in Lynn, relative
to certain statements contained in a letter of August 31, 1836, and
published in Zion's Watchman, addressed by Rev. 0. Scott to Bishop
Hedding. In that conversation brother Scott admitted that a num-
ber of his statements were incorrect, (we should think seven or
eight,) and he promised to correct them in a way which he pre-
sumed would give satisfaction. But we are of the opinion he has
not done it, but rather made things worse in his second communi-
cation.
" 1. Brother Scott says, ' Your zeal, however, to put down the
abolitionists, and stop the discussion of the slave question, has been
to me not only a matter of regret, but of surprise.'
" The bishop showed that he had made no effort to put down
abolitionisla, or stop the discussion of the slave question, but only
to restrain certain brethren from what he deemed imprudent and
unprofitable proceedings on that subject. Brother Scott admitted
he was incorrect in this particular.
" 2. The Pastoral Address alluded to in the letter does not ' at-
tempt to silence' the discussion, but only to prevent brethren from
performing acts in the discussion which the authors of the Address
believe to be improper. Brother Scott oould not produce any evi-
dence to the contrary.
" 3. The letter attributes to the bishop the manifestation of ' a
spirit of disdain ' toward two hundred Methodist ministers, and more
than three thousand Church-members. This brother Scott admitted
was without foundation.
" 4, Brother Scott admitted that what he had said respecting the
removal of a presiding elder was not strictly correct. Also, that
the bishop has a right to remove a presiding elder for ' no cause,' was
a mistake.
" 5. The letter states that the bishop said, respecting the report
on abolition, that 'there were some parts in it to which he should
object.' The bishop said, ' There might be some things in it which
be could not properly put to vote.' Brother Scott assented to this.
302 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837;
whereas I am now convinced said letters contain a
number of statements wliicli are erroneous, and inju-
rious to the reputation of Bishop Hedding, I avail
myself of this mode of correcting them.
"6. What was written relating to the sanction of the Counter-
Appeal, he admitted was not strictly correct.
" 7. There are several passages in the letter which represent the
bishop as acting improperly, in allowing the minority to speak and
consume time, which ought not to have been written ; for members
in the minority had a right to speak, as well as those in the majority.
Brother Scott could make no very satisfactory reply.
"8. In another letter, published in said Watchman of September 21,
he says : ' Our president took, it is believed, an imprudent, if not an
illegal course, in order to prevent that report from being acted on.'
But the bishop told the conference several times over 'that we
would take time at the close to attend to that report, and that the
last evening he advised them to adjourn till the next day, and
examine the report deliberately — that he was willing to stay three
days for it, if necessary.' Brother Scott ought to have published all
this, if he published anything. Brother Scott admitted the above to
be true.
" 9. Brother Scott represents to the public, ' that he presumes a
majority of the conference think the bishop oppressed them ;' and
yet, at the close, the conference gave the bishop a vote of thanks by
a unanimous vote ; and he said in our presence at Lynn, ' he pre-
sumed HE voted for it,'
" On the statements relating to the powers of a bishop, in regula-
ting the business of a conference. Bishop Hedding said he had no
controversy with him, as it was with both of them a matter of opinion.
" In our opinion, the letter addressed to Bishop Hedding is not
only incorrect in point of facts, but is greatly wanting in ministerial
courtesy, such as should be manifested between equals, and espe-
cially be shown by a junior toward a senior — a superintendent and
a father in our Israel,
" Finally, of all the men we have ever known, either in civil or
ecclesiastical ofSce, Bishop Hedding is the last who ought to be held
up to the world as an oppressor and a tyrant.
(Signed) " Timothy Mebbitt,
" Dauikl FnjiMOBB,
" Ltjw, May 26, 18S7." " T. C. Peiboe."
1837.] THE NBW-HAMPSHIEE OOKFEEBHOE. 503
"The statements that the bishop exercised 'zeal
to put down the abolitionists,' that he showed a
spirit of 'disdain' at the last General Conference,
that he 'removed a presiding elder from hie dis-
trict for the simple reason that he could not give
satisfactory assurance that he would not agitate the
question of slavery and abolition in future, by lectur-
ing and writing on those subjects,' and that 'iihere
seemed to be a decided hostility to the anti-slavery
brethren,' are mistakes, and they are hereby re-
tracted.
" Also, those statements which represent the bishop
as 'oppressing and aggrieving' the New-England
Conference at its session in 1836, as denying them
their 'rights,' acting with 'partiality' among them,
and all similar imputations, are admitted to be errors,
and are hereby recalled.
" Oeaitge Scott."
" Nantucket, June 13, 1837."
When these retractions had been made, the
brethren who had preferred charges against Mr.
Scott withdrew them. Here Mr. Hedding hoped'
the matter would end. Indeed, he hoped farther
that relations of Christian amity might be pre-
served between himself and the accused, and also
that the latter would return to his regular woriil
The New-Hampshire Conference occurred soon
after the close of the New-England. Here Bishop
Hedding found himself placed in circumstances
22
604 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
where oflScial duty compelled him to give furtter
and still greater offence to the nltra-abolitionists.
There were two occasions for this offence. First,
a motion was made to appoint a committee on
slavery. The bishop proposed to put the motion
on several conditions, which he specified. The prin-
cipal of these conditions were, first, " The conference
shall not act on the report of said committee till that
part of the conference business is finished which is
necessary to prepare for fixing the appointments of
the preachers ;" and, second, " If, in the judgment
of the president, the report of the said committee
shall contain any article contrary to the Disci-
pHne of our Church, or contrary to the advice
of the General Conference, as expressed in the
Pastoral Address of that body, bearing date May
26, 1836, it is understood and admitted that he, the
said president, is under no obligation to put to vote
any motion to adopt said report." These condi-
tions were not accepted by the conference, and, con-
sequently, the committee was not appointed.
The second occasion of offence occurred near the
close of the conference. One of the members offered
a resolution "highly disapproving" of the action of
"the Baltimore Annual Conference" iu relation to
the meaning of the General Eule forbidding the
hvymff a/nd seUmg of men, women, cmd child/rem,
with am, mtention to ensla/ve them. The resolution
offered not only introduced the subject acted upon
by the Baltimore Annual Conference, but specified
1837.1 BISHOP BEDDING'S VINDIOATIOK. 505
the conference and arraigned its action. Bishop
Hedding immediately refitsed to put the motion for
the adoption of this resolution, assigning as his
reason that it would bring the two conferences into
collision with each other ; that it was not competent
in our economy for one annual conference to pass
judgment i!5)on the acts of another, each annual
conference being amenable to the General Con-
ference only for its individual action; and farther,
that such a course, if persisted in, would reduce the
Church to a state of anarchy and confusion.
As it was claimed by many that in this decision,
and in that made at the New-England Conference
the preceding year. Bishop Hedding had transcended
the limits of his authority, he deemed it to be his
duty to give an exposition of his views upon the
subject, and vindicate himself from such charges.
This he did in an able speech delivered before the
conference. This speech, as occasion called for it,
was subsequently repeated before several other con-
ferences, and finally published at the request of the
Oneida and Genesee Annual Conferences. The fol-
lowing extracts give the arguments of the bishop
that specially bear upon the point at issue : —
" Much has been said respecting the duties of the
president of an annual conference, and the rights of
such a conference. Both the duties of the presi-
dent and the rights of conference are laid down in
the book of Discipline. The president is authorized
to appoint the day of the ordinations, (Discipline,
S06 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [X837.
pp. 119, 124;) coDseqiiently, it is his right so to
arrange the business as to prepare for the ordina-
tions.
" The Discipline also gives the president the right
to close the conference in a week from the com-
mencement, if he can get through the proper con-
ference business in that time. (See Discipline,
p. 23.) 'They shall allow the annual conferences
to sit a week at least.' This includes the right so
to arrange the business as to close in a week, if '
practicable and necessary. And it is well the presi-
dent has that right ; for, if he had it not, contentious
men might prolong the session to an imreasonable
and burdensome length. But, though the bishops
have that right, they have always, so far as I know,
yielded to the wishes and requests of brethren
when they could do so consistently with the general
business of the conference, with the responsibility
to the General Conference, and their duty to the
whole Church.
"It has been contended that the president of an
annual conference ought to put to vote every resolu-
tion that is offered ; but this is too absurd to be be-
lieved by any considerate man who understands om*
plan of Church government. Under constitutional
restrictions, this is true of the General Conference,
but not of an annual conference. The real question
in debate is. Whether a president is under obligation
to put to vote any and every resolution an annual
conference may wish to adopt ?
1837.] ANNUAL OONFEEENOE NOT PEIMAET. 507
" An annual conference is not a primary, inde-
pendent tody. Though it was so originally, when
there was but one annual conference at the time our
Church was organized, in the year 1T84, it is not so
now. When there was but one annual conference,
that was also the General Conference. After our
Church was organized, the primary, independent
conference met once in four yeai-s, under the name
of General Conference, consisting of all the travelling
preachers in full connexion ; then, for a time, of all
the travelling aiders, and thus it continued till 1808.
The General Conference continued to exercise the
same powers the original conference did when the
Church was organized. During this time, from 1784
to 1808, temporary annual conferences were held, to
do particular business, which could not be deferred
four years. The bounds of the annual conferences
were fixed sometimes by the bishops, and sometimes
by the General Conference ; yet no one of the annual
conferences was the primary body, but only a part
of it.
" Since the establishment of the delegated General
Conference, which was provided for in 1808, the
whole travelling connexion has been supposed to be
present once itf four years, by representation, in
General Conference assembled, and has continued to
be the primary body — the same as that which organ-
ized the Church. And as the present annual con-
ferences are controlled, divided, and bound by the
General Conference, and as any one of them may be
508 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
scattered into other conferences, and thus anniliilated,
it is plain they are neither primary nor independent
bodies.
" An annual conference is constituted by the Gen-
ei-al Conference ; it is dependent on, and responsible
to it. And the General Conference has told the an-
nual conference what to do ; its duty and rights are
laid down in the Discipline. That is its charter, and it
has no other rights as a conference, only those which
are granted either by statute or by fair inference in
that charter. »
"You have other rights as men, and as Christians,
and as Methodist preachers, but not as an annual
conference. The General Conference appoints your
president, and you and he are obliged by law to do
just what the Discipline tells you, and no more. I
say you are not obliged to do any more. Therefore,
the conference cannot compel the president to do any
more, and the president cannot compel the conference
to do any more. If they do more, they do it by mu-
tual agreement between the conference and the presi-
dent, and both are responsible for what they do ; but
the president is so in a higher degree than the confer-
ence, for he may be punished for the transaction of
improper business in an annual conference to a degree
the conference cannot. They may call what they do,
over and above their duty, conference business, if they
please, and place it on the journals, and if no harm is
done no one will complain. But if either party, the
conference or the president, refuses to do more than
1837.] BIGHT AND COUETE8Y. 609
the Discipline requires or authorizes, the other party
cannot justly complain.
" The annual conference can do no business with-
out the president. They cannot remove him from
the chair, nor appoint another, imless the lawful
president be absent, and fail of appointing a presi-
dent, whicli, in that case, he has a right to do.
" In conferences where there are slaves and slave-
owners, the question of slavery might come up as
proper conference business, and often does so. It
might there be said, 'I object to this preacher be-
cause he has sold a slave;' or, 'I object to that one
because he does not emancipate his slaves.' But in
this conference, where you have no jurisdiction over
slaves or slave owners, it is impossible to make it ap-
pear that you have any authority in the case. You
might, indeed, recommend to the General Conference
new rules, or alterations of the old ones; but that
would be a very different thing from the subject of
which we have been speaking.
" The Discipline does not require the president to
do this kind of business ; he has never promised to
do it, and the conference has no authority to command
him to do it.
"Yet, though I am under no obligation, on the
ground of ^right^ to put any such qiiestion to vote;
still, on the ground of courtesy, I would do it most
cheerfully if I' could consistently with other and
higher obligations.
"The moment I step beyond the law, and put any
510 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEBOTNG. [1837.
qTiestion to rote which that does not require or au-
thorize, I act voluntarily,^ and I alone am responsible
for my own act. What I have claimed on this sub-
ject is, a right to judge of my own duty in acts not
required by the Discipline. But this ^ right' certain
men have attempted to wrest from me, by claiming
the right to govern me ; and because I was not wilhng
to submit, they have made this terrible outcry you
have heard about the loss of 'rights,' which, in my
opinion, they never possessed.
" It has been said, ' It is the prerogative of the
[annual] conference to decide wlwt business' they
will do, and wJien they will do it.' But I deny it.
This is assuming the rights of the General Confer-
ence, and usurping the control over the president of
an annual conference, which no body of men have a
right to exercise but the General Cionference. And
because I was unwilling to submit to this usurpation
I have been severely censured. I have been unjustly
and cruelly held up to public view, by certain incon-
siderate writers, as one who infringed on the 'rights'
of my brethren, merely because I did not consent to
do what I was under no obligation to do, what I was
bound by no law to do, and what I have never prom-
ised to do. And more than this, the acts I was called
upon to do were such as I helieved it wrong for me
to do ; and this, I believe, was well understood by
those who have censured me.
"The men who have wiitten against me, have
written against the General Conference also; and
1837.] TO WHOM A BISHOP IS EBSPONSIBLE. 611
hereby have clearly shown that they disregarded the
authority of the Church in any department, unless it
shall consent to adopt their creed and to follow their
measures. There has appeared to be a strong desire
in these men to drive me into measures which they
knew I believed to be wrong, and which they
knew alsQ would be likely to bring me into colli-
sion with the General Conference, as well as with
some of the annual conferences. Oensvnres, Mnts
of wrongs where no wrongs were, and even threats,
have been employed to accomplish this work of
tyranny.
"If an annual conference possessed such rights
as these wrifers have supposed, it might legally cen-
sure the very General Conference who gives it ex-
istence, and do other things which would scatter our
connexion to the four winds. And yet, because I
could not consistently acknowledge such 'i-ights,' I
have been indirectly accused of attempting to 'etjle'
a conference. I have attempted no such thing: I
have only claimed the right to rule myself in my
official duties, — to judge for myself, as I must answer
for myself, what it is lawful and expedient for me to
do ; that is, what motion I may or may not properly
put to vote in an annual conference. And although
I could not with propriety submit a question of this
sort to the dictation of a few individuals, or to the
decision of an annual conference, yet I have uni-
formly acknowledged my responsibility to the Gene-
ral Conference, whose agent I am, and to whom I am
HH 22*
512 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
amenable for acting or not acting in all such cases.
Yet individuals hare demanded of me, on the ground
of 'rights,' services which the General Conference
never required, and thereby have attempted to gov-
ern me.
"This subject has been connected with the 'rights'
of our people to send petitions to the annual con-
ference. That the people have a right to petition the
general or annual conference, I cheerfully admit;
and that an annual conference ought to attend to
their petitions on all business which the Discipline
requires such conference to do, I admit-also; and this
is all the business We have covenanted with the peo-
ple to do in an annual conference. But when they
petition us to do such things as are foreign to our
duty, I deny their right to reqyme us to spend our
time and strength in doing those things. If they ask
us to do a thing for them as a favour, we will cheer-
fully do it if we can consistently ; but if they demand
such services as a 'right,' they must allow us to judge
of our own obligations and duties.
"The great subject on which this demand on our
time and services is claimed, is slavery. And I have
never refused to attend to it in annual conferences, so
far as my time, health, and obligations to the whole
Church would admit. But what I have done, I have
done on principles of courtesy, not on the ground of
obligation or 'right;' for it is proper for me to do
many things to oblige my, friends, which neither
friends nor enemies could demand of me on the
1837.] WILLINGNESS TO OBLIGE BEETHEEN. 513
ground of 'eights.' And my respected colleague,
who has been represented to the public as taking to
himself undue authority at the last session of the
New-England Conference, acted, so far as I know, on
the same principle I have. He offered to put to vote
a motion to appoint a committee to consider and re-
port on petitions and memorials from the people on
that subject, on such conditions as he deemed con-
sistent with Ms obligations to the General Conference
and to the whole Church. But his conditions were
rejected ; and the reason why he declined to proceed
and act in the case was, claims were made on the
part of the friends of modem abolitionism to which
the president could not, in his judgment, constitution-
ally submit. For they claimed the 'right,^ as a con-
ference, to appoint a committee to consider and re-
port on said memorials, as also the '■righf to act in a
conference capacity on any report of such committee.
And although, as has been reported, the president
did not allow an appeal to that body, as he considered
it a question of law, yet he distinctly admitted that
the conference had the right to carry the subject up
to the General Conference.
" Although I cannot, any more than my colleague,
admit what some brethren have claimed as '•rights^
on this subject, yet I am willing now, as I have
always been, to do anything I can do constitution-
ally and safely to oblige brethren. But I cannot
act as some have wished, and as I suppose some of
vou wish me to act, because I not only believe such
514 lilFE. AND TIMES OP BEDDING. [1837.
act would be useless, but wrong and iMJwrums. It
■would injure other conferences, and tbat I cannot
do; for I am superintendent — jointly with my col-
leagues— of the whole Church; I am required to
'oversee the spiritual busiaess' of the whole; I am
related alike to all the conferences; therefore, I
ought not to do anything in one conference which
I know has a tendency to injure another."
Then referring to the specific subject upon which
it was proposed to take action, the bishop adds: —
"Another reason why I cannot enter iato Ihese
measures, and act on them as conference business,
is, I am advised not to do so, and that by the Gen-
eral Conference. In their 'Pastoral Address' of
May 26, 1836, they advise us all to abstain from
all such movements. This advice was given by the
highest authority in the Church— by the body to
which I am responsible — ^by the collected wisdom
of our religious community — ^by nearly all the dele-
gates of aU the annual conferences, which was the
same in principle as all the annual conferences in
General Conference assembled, and by that body of
men who know more on that subject than any other
in this nation. A body of Christian ministers, col-
lected from nearly all parts of this nation, who,
for piety, benevolence, wisdom, zeal, labours, and
suflferings in the cause of Christ, will not suffer by
comparison with any other body of the same num-
ber, after solemnly deliberating on this subject,
have, in their oflBcial capacity, given me this advice.
1887.] UNIFORMITY OF ADMINISTEATION. 515
And, whatever others may think of it, I am relig-
iously bound to govern myself by it."
He still further remarks : — " I have been indirectly
and repeatedly charged before the public with par-
tiality, because, in some conferences, I have put to
vote resolutions relating to this subject, but have
objected to doing so in other conferences. But my
course has been steady and uniform. In some con-
ferences I have put to vote resolutions which, in my
judgment, tended to allay improper excitement, to
prevent discord, and to promote peace. In others,
I have declined putting resolutions to vote which
I believed to be of a contrary tendency, and in these
measures I believe I have done my duty.
"On this principle, and on no other, I am willing
to act with you in this conference; for the claim
on the ground of ' conference right,' to compel me
to attend to this business, I think, will now no
longer be assumed; but if it should, there are two
other considerations which alone, if nothing had
been said, would settle the question in the minds
of all men "^ho judge without prepossession, and
who are acquamted with our system of Church
government. One of them is, when an annual con-
ference, in conference capacity, has done those
articles of business the Discipline reqmres, it has
fimished its duty, as a conference, for that session,
and any member, or the president, is at perfect
liberty to desist, and do no more. If the conference
or the president does any more business, it is done on
516 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
the principle of courtesy: it may be right in itself,
but it cannot be demanded on the ground of
' EIGHTS.'
" It ought to be further remembered, that the
Discipline gives the president the right of appoint-
ing the times of the several annual conferences;
and the interests of the Church often require that
one conference be appointed at so short a time after
another, that there would be no more time than to
do the business the Discipline requires in the first,
in season for J;he president to travel to the second.
Now, if any number of the preachers, or even a
whole conference, had authority, on the ground of
the new dooimme of 'conference right,' to compel
a president to remain at one conference more than a
week, to do other business, over and above what
the Discipline requires, then that conference might
hinder his going to the next one. Also, on this
supposition, one conference might rigktfulVy pre-
vent the president attending all the others for the
season ; for if a conference, by ' right,^ could detain
a president one hour beyond the time before named,
by the same 'right' they might detain him a month,
or a year, and altogether hinder his doing his
duty in all the other conferences — ^the supposition
of which is absurd.
" I think it must now plainly appear, that the
assumed 'rights' claimed by those who have under-
taken to rule in this matter, if admitted and carried
out into practice, would completely prostrate the
1837.] GOLDEN-EITLE AEGUMENT. 617
government of our Church, and throw all her great
plans and interests into utter confusion."
Another item in this very able document, though
it has only an incidental relation to the point now
before us, we beg leave to introduce, because of
the wide celebrity it has attained. It reads as fol-
lows:— "But it will be asked. What right has any
member of our Church to own a slave? Before I
answer this question I will just say, and I wish
what I now say to be distinctly remembered, I am
ready to disapprove the sla/ve-trade, the system of
sla/oery, including all the unjust and cruel rights
which any laws are supposed to give, and all the
injustice and cruelties inflicted on slaves, as decidedly
as Mr. "Wesley did.
" But all these points are aside of the main ques-
tion. The main question is. What right have any of
our members to hold slaves? Or, What right has
the Church to allow them to hold slaves? Lest I
be misunderstood, before I proceed I beg you to
observe that owning, or holding a slave, does not
include exercising all the rights which the laws are
supposed to give the master over the servant, but
only such as are necessary for the good of the
servant and the safety of the master, all the cir-
cumstances being taken into the account. Now let
us answer the question. The right to hold a slave
is founded on this rule : ' Therefore, all things what-
soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye
even so to them: for this is the law and the pro-
518 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
phets.' Matt, vii, 12. All acts in relation to slavery,
as well as to every other subject, which cannot be
performed in obedience to this rule, are to be con-
demned, and ought not to be tolerated in the
Church. If no case can be found where a man can
own a slave, and in that act obey this rule, then
there is no case in which slave-owning can be
justified."
Do not be alarmed, gentle reader ; this is Bishop
Hedding's celebrated " Golden -Rule Argument lo
justify American Slavery." Analyze it ; see what it
amounts to. Why, just this. The bishop disap-
proves of " the slcvoe-trade and the system of slamery,
including all the unjust and cruel rights which any
laws are supposed to give, and all the injustice and
cruelties inflicted on slaves;" and further, he ex-
plicity declares that " if no case can be found where
a man can own a slave, and in that act obey the
' golden rule,' then there is no case in which slave-
owning can be justified." But he does state that
under certain circumstances, which he thus substan-
tially specifies, — "the exercising of such rights as
the law is supposed to give the master over the
slave only so far as they are necessary for the good
of the servant and the safety of the master," — ^under
these circumstances, "the right to hold a slave is
founded on this rule: 'Therefore, all things what-
soever ye would that men should do to you, do
ye even so to them: for this is the law and the
prophets.' "
1887.1 EXERCISE OF PEEKOGATIVE. 519
Bishop Hedding had now committed " the unpar-
donable sin." Had he uttered blasphemy on the
conference floor, a greater outcry could not have
been raised. This passage — "The right to hold a
slave is founded on this rule : ' Therefore, all things
whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even sa to them : for this is the law and the
prophets,'" Matt, vii, 12 — was segregated from its
connections and explanatory clauses, and heralded
over the land as Bishop Hedding's "golden-rule
argument in defence of slavery." A more palpable
outrage upon all the principles of fair and honest
dealing was never perpetrated. Yet so industriously
was the libel circulated, and so boldly was it
emblazoned before the world, that multitudes, even
of our own members and ministers, were deluded
into the belief that Bishop Hedding had actually
attempted to justify the system of slavery upon this
ground. In fact, it was some years before the public
mind was disabused upon the subject.
The ruling which was made by Bishop Hedding
with regard to the introduction of extraneous matter,
or business not prescribed in the Discipline, into the
annual conferences, was sustained by all his col-
leagues. In respect to the quarterly conferences, in
some instances presiding elders had felt constrained
to take the same position.
The question very naturally arises. Was there any
necessity for exercising what seemed to be the fall
extent of episcopal authority, and what was regarded
520 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1837.
by many as an unwarrantable stretch of that authority?
To ascertain this, we have only to glance at some of
the resolutions it was proposed to pass. We have
already given an instance in which it was proposed
in one annual conference to censure another. About
this time, in one of the quarterly conferences on the
MeadviUe District, Erie Conference, it was proposed
to pass resolutions condemnatory of the action of the
preceding Erie Annual Conference. The presiding
elder, Kev. H. Kinsley, aiTested what he considered
revolutionary action by refusing to put the vote. In
Marshfield, Massachusetts, resolutions were offered in
the quarterly conference charging the bishops and
presiding elders with the assumption of authority " ut-
terly unsupported by either the letter or spirit of our
Discipline ;" and others, in Duxbury, Massachusetts,
reprobating the " system of oppression and persecu-
tion set up and prosecuted by the New-Tork Confer-
ence against the abolitionists.." In both these cases
the presiding elder, Eev. B. Otheman, stated to the
brethren that he could not consent to put resolutions
which arraigned the bishops and annual conferences
to vote ; both the bishops and the annual conferences
were amenable to the General Conference, and the
proper modes of arresting their action, and reversing
it if wrong, were open to them ; but for quarterly
conferences to take such action as was proposed, was
disorderly and revolutionary. In the latter case, the
members of the quarterly conference, after the pre-
siding elder had left the house, remained and passed
1837.] O, BCOTT AGAIN IN THE FIELD. 621
a resolution condemning his course as " contrary to
the Discipline and usages of the Church — a violation
of their rights as men and Christians." Any one will
perceive that had there been no power competent to
arrest such proceedings, the whole Church must have
been thrown into a state of anarchy, with hostile fac-
tions making war upon each other.
But we must now retm'n to trace the course of
Bishop Hedding, while providentially thrown into the
midst of one of the most exciting popular movements
ever witnessed in this country.
We have already observed, that when he had
obtained what was considered by all parties a just
and honourable retraction of the misstatements that
had been made by Mr. Scott, he fondly hoped that
his personal as well as official collisions with that
brother were at an end. This reasonable hope, how-
ever, was doomed to a speedy disappointment. The
conference granted Mr. Scott a supernumerary rela-
tion, and he wished to be left without an appointment.
Bishop Waugh, however, appointed him to Wilbra-
ham, and placed him in charge of the station. From
his pastoral charge he was soon released by the pre-
siding elder of the district, and immediately engaged
in the work of an anti-slavery lecturer.* Being thus
released from his charge, the bishop found him stir-
ring up the elements of discord at every subsequent
conference he attended for the season. Though ex-
ceedingly afflicted by the perversion of his acts and
"Scott's Memoirs, p. 118.
522 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1837.
motives, and the ridicule to which he was constantly
subjected in the lectures of Messrs. Scott and Storrs,
the bishop carefully avoided an open rupture, and
maintained himself in respect to the whole matter aa
became his position and duty. He felt aggrieved,
however, to receive such treatment from those who
had been his friends, and with whom he had for so
many years maintained Christian fellowship and in-
tercourse.
Notwithstanding Mr. Scott's "retractions" at the
session of the ISTew-England Conference in 1836, he
repeated the offence by republishing substantially the
same letter soon after the session closed, and also by
sundry letters published during the year, containing
allegations equally offensive and misrepresentations
equally unjust.
It is perhaps due to the reader, as well as to the
memory of Bishop Hedding, to place some of these
allegations upon record, that the provocations he
received may be better understood. From "Ifo. T"
of Orange Scott's "Letters to Dr. Fisk," over the
signature of " Wesleyan," and published in Zion's
Watchman, August 5, 183Y, we take the following
specimens: "An unprecedented and most painful
crisis has arrived in the annals of Methodism ! Two
of our bishops have assumed rights which, if carried
out and applied to all parts of our beautiful super-
structure, would prove its destruction. In three sev-
eral instcmces have annual conferences, since the last
General Conference, been deprived of their rights —
1837.] BISHOPS CHAEGED WITH OPPEESSION. 523
rights of conscience — ^rights to express an opinion on
a moral question." The itaKcising is in the original.
Again : " Two of them [the bishops] have assumed
the astonishing power over annual conferences which
prevents them from exercising their rights of con-
science and of opinion." And again: "For the un-
parliamentaiy»and unprecedented course which some
of the bishops have taken, as presiding oflBcers, they
alone a/re responsible ! I doubt whether in the annals
of sacred and profane history, among civiHzed nations,
for assumption of power, as presiding oflBicers, a pa/r-
allel cam, he fovmd .'" StiU again : " It is to be
hoped that the bishop will recede from his new
vnea^u/res in his administration on the slavery ques-
tion. He must do this, or the Church will be rent
Kmb from limb. There are several of our annual
conferences that never cam,, and never will submit to
such oppressive measures!" In the same letter he
intimates that the "corrections" abeady noticed were
signed, not from any conviction that ^^ strict jvstn,c6"
to Bishop Hedding required them, but as " a peace
offering," and from this motive he had consented to
"give the bishop his price." He also gives it as the
opinion of many, that he had committed " an act of
injustice to himself in giving the corrections to the
bishop" without certain restrictions as to their pub-
lication; and also that "the corrections themselves
were uncalled for."
In another letter published in Zion's "Watchman,
(October 14, 1837,) over the signature of "Coke," Mr.
624 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1838.
Scott again says : " The bishop may talk of being sent
to the conference to do certain business, — Imt the
Discipline specifies no business wTdch se is to do in the
conferences except to 'preside' in them, (not rule them ;)
and is it presiding in the conference to sit in the chair
and refuse to do the duties of president, and thus pre-
vent the whole conference fi-om acting ? This, I must
say, is a new wa/y to ' preside' in a deliberative body."
The above will indicate something of the manner in
which Bishop Hedding's official acts were reviewed,
and also of the little reliance that could be placed on
compromises and adjustments. We have no disposi-
tion to question Mr. Scott's sincerity and integrity of
purpose. "We believe that he was willing to, and really
did, make great personal sacrifices for the cause of
humanity ; but he evidently had become so com-
pletely absorbed in the one object at which he aimed,
and at the same time had become so excited by the
opposition he encountered in his mission, that he often
took false views of the character and acts of those op-
posed to him, and gave wrong and injurious versions
of them to the public. Palliate his moti/oes, how-
ever, as we may, no legitimate palliation could excuse
the style and manner of his assaults upon Bishop
Hedding.
The bishop felt himself to be not only placed in a
false light before the public by them, but also to be
deeply injui-ed in his reputation and influence. Un-
der these circumstances, he felt that it was due to
himself, to the Church, and to the cause of justice and
1838.1 0HAEGE8 PEEFEEEED AGAINST O. SOOTT. 525
truth, to prefer charges against the Eev. Orange Scott
at the ensuing session of the New-England Annual
Conference for 1838. The principal charges prefer-
red against him were, in substance: — 1. A want of
Christian sincerity — in promising to make certain
corrections and retractions, and then, suhsequently,
publishing an, edition of the letter in which they
were originally contained, with " some of the same
injurious matter before retracted." 2. Using Bishop
Hedding and other bishops in an imbrotherly and dis-
respectful manner, unbecoming a Methodist preacher
— ^instancing several communications in Zion's "Watch-
man similar in character to those from which we
have taken several extracts. The decision of the con-
ference is somewhat singular. The first charge and
specifications were negatived: the specifications as
to the fact of pubhcation, under the second charge,
were sustained ; but the charge itself was decided in
the negative by a small majority. At this stage the
president. Bishop Soule, stated that "although the
conference had, by vote, sustained the specifications
of the second charge, which was, ' frequently men-
tioning our names, or otherwise referring to us in a
coarse and disrespectful manner, and that since our
settlement at Nantucket;' yet as, by another vote
immediately succeeding, the conference declined to
sustain the charge which complained of the course
as '■wribrotherly^ and '■vmhecomAng a Methodist
preacher,^ it was his opinion that the conference
acquitted brother Scott from blame on the charge
626 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIBTG. [1838.
and specifications." As no one dissented fi-om this
opinion of the chair, and as the character of Mr.
Scott passed, we are left to conclude that the con-
ference then adjudged the 'treatment they admitted
by their vote Bishop Hedding had received from Mr.
Scott in the publications, of which we have given a
few specimens, was neither " unbrotherly " nor " un-
becoming a Methodist preacher." This decision we
cannot but think has been long since revoked in the
sober judgment of the conference, as it unquestion-
ably has in the public mind.
At the same conference. Bishop Hedding also
preferred charges against the Eev. La Eoy Sunder-
land, then editor of Zion's "Watchman, published in
New-Tork city, but a member of the New-England
conference. He charged Mr. Sunderland, — (1,) with
treating him in a scurrilous manner ; (2,) with publish-
ing against him an injurious falsehood; (3,) with
publishing a false conjecture respecting the bishops ;
(4,) with reporting a falsehood ; and (6,) with misre-
presentation. It would be a waste of time to go into
the details of the specifications and evidence taken
in this case. Some curious developments were made
during the progress of the trial ; but the result was
the same as in the case of Mr. Scott — acquittal by
the conference. Bishop Hedding felt aggrieved by
these decisions ; he could not but feel that they were
made under the influence of a morbid excitement
that had biassed the judgment of the members, and
also that they were contrary to reason and truth.
1838.] CHABACTEEI8TIC INCIDENT. 527
His only redress now was in the General Conference,
and he looked forward to its session in full con-
fidence that his course of administration would
receive its full vindication.
An incident occurred at the close of this con-
ference somewhat illustrative of the spirit of the
times, and which it is more necessary for us to
notice, because it has been erroneously stated else-
where. On the SEVENTEENTH DAT of the session,
about noon, Bishop Hedding told the conference
that he had done all the business his duty required
him to attend to, except the reading of the journal
and closing; that he must leave that afternoon, or
he would not be able to reach the Maine Conference
in time for its session ; but if they had other busi-
ness they wished to attend to, they could adjourn
and meet in the afternoon, and Bishop Souft had
kindly agreed to remain and preside. If, however,
they chose to close then, they could have the journal
read, and he would give out the appointments and
close. The conference voted to have the journal
read and to hear the appointments immediately.
After this vote was taken, Mr. Scott rose and offered
a number of resolutions on the subject of slavery.
The bishop decided they were out of order, as the
conference had voted to have the journal read, hear
the appointments, and to close immediately. 'So
effort was made, so far as we know, to reconsider
that vote. The journal was accordingly read, the
appointments announced, and the conference ad-
II 23
528 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1838.
joumed. SulDsequently, this aet also was ranked
among the usurpations of Bishop Hedding.
Immediately after the close of the New-England
Conference, Mr. Scott had a one-sided account of
his trial, and of Bishop Hedding's administration
during its session, published in a "Zion's Herald
extra:" with these ho was present at the Maine
Conference, scattering them broad-cast among the
preachers and people. The object could be no other
than to disparage the bishop, and to lessen his influ-
ence among the preachers. The bishop, however,
took no notice of the matter, and there is reason to
believe that the effort was nearly, if not quite,
abortive.
As an illustration of the state of feeling that
existed at this time in the New-Hampshire Con-
feren^, and the singular course of action resorted
to, we give the following note concerning its pro-
ceedings. It is taken from a letter addressed to
Bishop Heddiag by Bishop Morris, who had pre-
sided there this year. The letter is dated at Bur-
lington, Yt., July 14, 1838. After giving Bishop
Heddiag a pressing invitation to accompany him in
his visit to the conferences in northern and western
New-Tork, he adds: — "The New-Hampshire Con-
ference adjourned last Thursday forenoon. We had
a pleasant session, aU things considered. In refer-
ence to the esjciting subject of controversy, we got
along full as well as I expected. Four agents of the
Anti-Slavery Society were present to aid in their
1838.1 LETTXK ^EOM BISHOP UOBBIB. 529
out-door arrangements — ^Eobinson^ Buckley, G. Storrs,
and O. Scott part of the time. The whole time
spent in the conference on the subject, first and last,
was perhaps about three hours, and during that time
very little warmth of feehng was manifested. The
first thing done on the subject was to appoint a com-
mittee to prepare a memorial to the General Con-
ference, to which I made no objection. When the
examination of character came on, we had a little
manceuvering. An abolitionist moved to appoint a
Committee of five, to whom should b© referred the
case of every brother who had been to the conven-
tion, or lectured against slavery, &c. This was a
fwro& played off for effect j and after entertaining us
with abolition speeches about two hours, they post-
poned the resolution indefinitely. We resumed the
examination, but objection was made to the passage
of every brother's character who had participated in
abolition measures. One abolitionist would object;
another would move to pass the character under
consideration, and, after a few speeches, would vote
each other through. This became tiresome, and a
resolution was brought in declaring that attendance
on aioUtion comumtions, delmermg abolition lea-
twrea, or ovrcvlaUng ahoUtion jpa/pevs^ did not mili-
tate against the character of any member of the
conference. This I pronounced out of order, on the
ground that it approved what General Conference
had condemned. An appeal was taken from my
decision, and I agreed to put the question on the
530 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1839.
appeal, provided the journal stould embrace my
decision against the resolution, and such list of excep-
tions as I might choose to write. The appeal was
sustained, my decision overruled, and the resolu-
tion adopted: whereupon I entered my exception.
Another motion was made to publish the resolution
in several papers. I agreed to put the motion on
condition the mover would so amend it as to embrace
my decision and my exception, which was agreed
to, and the whole ordered to be published. Here
our trouble ended. The committee first appointed
brought in nothing but the resolutions which the
New-England Conference passed touching the gen-
eral rule on slavery, which the conference adopted
without discussion. The brethren were aU court-
eous and friendly, and we parted in peace. With
their abolitionism I am not pleased; but there are
many excellencies among them, and, upon the
whole, I like the preachers of New-Hampshire
Conference much better than I expected. They had
a net increase of over eiighteen hundred members
the past year."
As the spirit with which Bishop Hedding moved
and prosecuted the trials of Orange Scott and La Eoy
Sunderland before the New-England Conference, and
also the motives that actuated him, have been im-
pugned, we are happy to have it in our power to place
before the reader an extract from a letter bearing upon
this very point. The humility and godly sincerity that
are so manifest here, were striking characteristics of
1840.] LETTEE TO ASA KENT. 631
Bishop Hedding, and will prove, we doubt not, in the
reader's mind, a full vindication from the imputations
cast upon him. The letter bears the date of March 24,
1840, and is addressed to Kev. Asa Kent, a member
of the New-England Conference. The letter will suf-
ficiently indicate the occasion that called for it,
" Mt Dear Beothek, — ^I received yours of the 26th
ultimo. I thank you for it most sincerely, and es-
pecially for the frank and Temd manner in which yon
tell me what you and others believe to have been my
flEtult at the Boston Conference; for I consider him
my friend who tells me of my faults— real or supposed
— ^in a Christian manner, as you have done. Tou say,
'But at Boston I saw you oppressed, and the firmness
of patience began to yield, when your mcmn&r in
prosecuting those charges against those brethren was
different from anything I had ever seen in you.' Be-
fore reading this I had no idea of the thing, either
from my own reflections or from the suggestions of
others. I have endeavoured to examine myself, and
to pray over the subject, but I cannot perceive that
I felt impatient. But I may be mistaken ; I may not
have known myself. After the trial of La Roy Sun-
derland, I had doubts whether I had not used some
words which were too sharp, and I named it to Bishop
Sonle, saying, 'If I have, tell me, and I will take
them back before the conference.' But he said he
believed mv words were none too sharp. It is very
probable that, as you say, my manner was different
from anything you had ever seen in me ; but, as far
532 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. WW,
as I can now see, it arose from otlier canses, and not
from a failure of patience. However, I will inquire
of bretliren who were present when I see them, and
if they think as you do, I wiU give up my judgment
to yours and theirs, and will make any satisfaction
to the New-England Conference, if I live to see them,
the nature of the case requires; for it would grieve me
more to have indulged in impatience, than to suffer
injuries from the tongues, or pens, or hands of men.
And I have a desire to see my faults, to repent of
them, and to confess and forsake them ; and whether
you or I have erred in opinion respecting the matter
of patience, I hope to profit by the information you
have given me in so friendly a manner, and to be
more watchful in future.
" The causes of my manner, at the times you name,
I think were the following: — ^1. Excessive fatigue;
2. The heat of the weather ; 3. I was oppressed with
the business of the conference. That business has
affected my nerves for the few past years, so that
sometimes I have been unable to speak or stand
without trembling ; and, in one instance, in a confer-
ence, I was supposed by one man to be angry, when
I Tmow my spirit was as cool as it is now. 4. I think
the greatest cause was, my spirit was deeply oppressed
with a sense of the wrongs these brethren had done
me, and the Church through me; and I felt an ar-
dent desire to convince the conference that they
had done wrong, — ^believing the good of the Church
required it, and fearing that many of the preachers
1840.] LETTEB TO ASA KEKT. 533
had not a proper sense of the sin of evil-speaking,
backbiting, and slandering. "With all these impres-
sions, and under these circumstances, my feelings
.were greatly excited — ^probably too much so ; but I
cannot yet see that it was impatience. I meant to
'rebuke them sharply' before I commenced, for I
belieyed the cause required it', but probably I al-
lowed myself to feel too much. Wherein I erred I
pray the Lord to pardon me, and cover me with that
atonement which alone aflfords me hope."
The state of things indicated in the preceding pages
continued to exist till the General Conference of
1840, and, to some extent, a year or two later. Gen-
erally a cloud of lecturers hung around the path of
Bishop Hedding, perverting and misrepresenting his
acts and character. His administration entered
largely into their public discourses. It was de-
nounced as " usurpation," " tyranny," " one man
attempting to rule the conference," and the like.
He became also the butt of their ridicule ; and in
some of their lectures a mock slave-auction was
enacted, and Bishop Hedding and his wife in
burlesque sold as slaves. These extravagances re-
acted against the men who enacted them, and led
the way to their final withdrawal from the Church.
Even before the General Conference of 1840 the
violence of the gale had in a great measure passed;
and wise and good men — ^not abating in the least
their determined opposition to slavery, whether in or
out of the Church — ^began to feel that the Church was
534 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
worth preserving, and that it was not necessary to
rend it in pieces in order to resist the monster evil
of the times.
It is hut just to say that we have felt no disposition
to impugn the motives of the men who took the lead
in this movement. We cannot doubt the honesty of
their convictions and the sincerity of their motives.
Could they at the outset — ^before their minds had be-
come prejudiced by opposition to their measures, and
their aflfections alienated from the Church — ^have seen
the inevitable results to which their course tended,
they would undoubtedly have paused, and at least
assumed positions and adopted measures less offensive
and less perilous. Or while their hearts were yet
imbued with the tender sentiments of brotherly love,
could they have foreseen the alienation of Christian
feeling, the turmoil and strife that would be engen-
dered in the Church, they would have hesitated. And,
indeed, it must not be concealed that they were often
goaded by the rude personalities with which they were
assailed, and also by the opprobrious epithets that
were heaped upon them. We confess that at this
distance of time, on looking through the files of the
current newspapers of that day — those which took the
lead in opposition to these radical movements — we-
are painfully impressed, with this fact. Many things
were written and said that it would have been well
for the fair fame of Christian love if they had never
existed.
So also, on the other hand. Bishop Hedding may
1840.] REVIEW OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 535
have uttered or written some things too palliative in
relation to slavery, and may have seemed more
anxious to vindicate the south — especially Methodists
who were involved in "the great evil," — than at the
present day seems fit or appropriate. But it must be
recollected that the evils inseparable from the system
have since been more fully developed, and in that
day the existence of slavery was generally deplored
by good men in the south as an evil; and also that
its enshrinement as a "divine institution" is of
more recent origin. Taking all these facts into the
account, we then have a ready interpretation and
vindication of his action in the fact that the
Church was placed in great peril, and he was
bound by the most sacred obligations to guard its
integrity. Eather than compromise the well-being
of the Church, he suffered himself for a time to be
placed in a false position before the world, and to
suffer obloquy such as has rarely fallen to the lot of
a good man in this age to suffer. These things he
endured — ^not doubting of the present approval of
Heaven, and of the ultimate approval of the Chris-
tian world. By his firmness in this hour of trial he
performed a great service for the Church and for the
cause of God.
These explanatory remarks were necessary, in
order to exhibit the true position of both parties.
There is forgiveness with God for the errors of good
men ; and whatever of jar to the concord of Christian
men there might have been on earth, it has, with
23*
536 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
most of the prominent actora in these scenes, been
hushed and harmonized long since in that better land,
where no cloud of prejudice dims the vision, and no
bleak winter chills the genial currents of the soul.
What we hare fiirther to say upon this subject
will be found in connexion with the General Confer-
ence of 1840, and the fifth quadrennial of Bishop
Hedding's episcopal labour.
1840.1 GENEEAL OONFEEENOE. 537
CHAPTEE XVn.
THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1840, AND THE FIFTH QUADREN-
■ NIAL OF EPISCOPAL LABOUR.
General Conference of 1840 — Representation — Bishop's Address — Views
of Constitutional Powers — Government of the Churcli — Appeal of
Rev. D. Dorchester — Action in relation to the Prerogatives of Bishops
and Presiding Elders as Presiding OflBcers — Bishop Bedding's Com-
munication in relation to the Trials of 0. Scott and La Roy Sunderland —
Private Adjustment by the Delegates — Magnanimity of Bishop Hedding
— Another instance — Speech upon Striking out the Censure of the
New-England Conference — His counsel prevails — The Question on the
Testimony of Coloured Persons — Dr. Few's Resolution — Tie Vote
upon its consideration — Bishop Hedding declines to give the Casting
Vote — Shows that a Bishop has no Constitutional Right to Vote —
Pastoral Address — Close of the Conference — Annual Conferences —
Michigan — Ohio — Dedicates Bedford-street Church iu New- York city
— Close of the Tear — Dedication of John-street Methodist Episcopal
Church — Conferences of 1841 — • Address on the Administration of Dis-
cipline— Address before the New-Jersey Conference on Christian Perfec-
tion— Results for the Year — Conferences of 1842 — The Resolution pro-
posed about Transfers in the New-Hampshire Conference — Address
upon "Man's Natural Ability," &c. — Residence at Saratoga — Great fall
of Snow — A hard Sleigh-ride — Conferences of 1843 — Death of Bishdp
Roberts — Condition of the Work in the Eastern Conferences — Letter
to his Wife — Missionary Cause — Removes to Poughkeepsie — Unprece-
dented Increase of Members in the Church — Spring of 1844.
The General Conference for 1840 commenced its
sessions in the city of Baltimore on the Ist of May.
There were present one hundred and forty-three
delegates, distributed among the annual conferences
as follows: — ^New-York, ten; New-England, seven;
Maine, five ; New-Hampshire, six ; Troy, six ; Pitts-
burgh, five ; Erie, five ; Black Eiver, four ; . Oneida,
six; Michigan, five; Genesee, six; Ohio, eight; ftis-
538 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
souri, three ; Ulinois, six ; Kentucky, five ; Indiana,
five; Holston, three; Tennessee, five ; Arkansas, two ;
Mississippi, three; Alabama, three; Georgia, six;
South Carolina, five; North Carolina, three; Vir-
ginia, -three ; Baltimore, eight ; Philadelphia, five ;
and New-Jersey, five. After the organization had
been efi'ected, the body entered upon the usual
routine of conference business.
Owing to the detention of Bishop Soule by indis-
position, the address of the hishops was delayed
several days. It is a document of great length, very
diffuse and circumlocutory, especially some portions
of it ; but it touches upon all the varied general in-
terests of the Church, and especially the agitations
that had existed, and the new questions that had
been mooted, relating to the prerogatives of bishops,
presiding elders, &c. Appropriate reference of those
matters that required conference action was made.
As we have already adverted, somewhat largely,
to the various episcopal decisions called forth by
the peculiar phases of the anti-slavery discussion,
and of the proposed measures in some of the annual
conferences, it is due that the bishops themselves
should be heard upon that subject — the restrictions
under which they believe themselves to be acting,
and the prerogatives they supposed themselves
invested with and responsible for exercising. They
say : — " It has been the constant aim and united
endeavour of your general superintendents to pre-
ser^>% uniformity and harmony in the administration
1840.] THE BISHOPS' ADDRESS. 539
of discipline, and, as far as practicable, prevent
conflicting action in all the official bodies in the
Cliurch." ... "In your Pastoral Address to the
ministers and people at your last session, with great
unanimity, and, as we believe, in the true spirit of
the ministers of the peaceful Gospel of Christ, you
solemnly advised the whole body to abstain from
all abolition movements, and from agitating the
exciting subject in the Church. This advice was in
perfect agreement with the individual as well as
associated views of your superintendents ; but, had
we differed from you in opinion, in consideration of
the age, wisdom, experience, and official authority
of the General Conference, we should have felt our-
selves under a solemn obligation to be governed by
your counsel."
They also bring to the attention of the body the
mooted question of "the constitutional powers of
the general superintendents, in their relations to the
annual conferences, and in their general executive
administration of the government; and the rights
of the annual and quarterly conferences, in their
official capacities." They say further : — " In the pro-
secution of our superintending agency, we have been
compelled to differ in opinion from many of our
brethren composing these official bodies; and this
difference of opinion, connected with a conviction of
our high responsibility, has, in a few cases, resulted
in action which has been judged, by those specially
concerned, to be high-hauded, unconstitutional, tyran-
540 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
nical, and oppressive." After expressing that, from
the beginning, they had assured the parties con-
cerned of their readiness to bring the matter before,
and to abide by the decision of the " constitutional
tribunal," to which they were responsible, they pre-
sent the subject in the following manner : —
" When any business comes up for action in our
annual or quarterly conferences involving a diffi-
culty on a question of law, so as to produce the
inquiry, ' Whai is the la/vo in the case V does the
constitutional power to decide the question belong
to the president or to the conference? Have the
annual conferences a constitutional right to do any
other business than what is specifically prescribed,
or, by fair construction, provided for in the form
of Discipline ? Has the president of an annual con-
ference, by virtue of his office, a righi to decline
putting a motion or resolution to vote, on business
other than that thus prescribed or provided for ?
" These questions are proposed with exclusive refer-
ence to the principle of consUtuMonal right. The
prtaciples of courtesy and expediency are very diflfer-
ent things."
We have already presented a somewhat extended
view of the principle involved in this question. But
as the following paragraphs still more distinctly ex-
hibit that principle in contrast with its opposite, and
also still farther elucidate the arguments bearing
upon it, we give them to the reader : —
" As far as we have been able to ascertain," con-
1840.] THE BISHOPS' ADDBESS. 541
tinue the bishops in their address, "the views of
those who entertain opinions opposite to our own on
these points, they may be summed up as follows : —
They maintain that all questions of law arising out of
the business of our annual or quarterly conferences
are to be, pf right, settled by the decision of those
bodies, either primarily by resolution, or finally by
an appeal from the decision of the president ; that it
is the prerogative of an annual conference to decide
what business they will do, and when they will do it ;
that they may have a constitutional right to discuss,
in their official capacity, all moral subjects; to inves-
tigate the official acts of other annual conferences,
of the General Conference, and of the general super-
intendents, so far as to pass resolutions of disapproba-
tion or approval on those acts. They maintain that
the president of an annual conference is to be regarded
in the same relation to the conference that a chair-
man or speaker sustains to a civil legislative assem-
bly ; that it is his duty to preserve order in the con-
ference, to determine questions of order, subject to
appeal, and put to vote all motions and resolutions
when called for according to the resolutions of the
body ; that these are the settled landmarks of his
official prerogatives, as president of the conference,
beyond which he has no right to go ; that although
it belongs to his office, as general superintendent, to
appoint the time for holding the several annual con-
ferences, he has no discretionary authority to adjourn
them, whatever length of time they may have con-
542 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
tinued their session, or whatever business they may-
think proper to transact. From these doctrines we
have felt it our solenan duty to dissent ; and we will
not withhold from you our deliberate and abiding
conviction, that if they should be sustained by the
General Conference, the v/mform and efficient admin-
istration of the government would be rendered im-
practicable.
"The government of the Methodist Episcopal
Church is peculiarly constructed. It is widely dif-
ferent from our civil organization. The General
Conference is the only legislative body recognized in
our ecclesiastical system, and from it originates the
authority of the entire executive administration.
The exclusive power to create annual conferences,
and to increase or diminish their number, rests with
this body. No annual conference has authority or
right to make any rule of discipline for the Church,
either within its own bounds or elsSwhere. No one
has the power to elect its own president, except in a
special case, pointed out and provided for by the
General Conference. Whatever may be the number
of the annual conferences, they are all organized on
the same plan, are all governed by the same laws, and
all have identically the same rights, powers, and^wy-
ileges. These powers, rights, and privileges are not
derived from themselves, but from the body which
originated them. And the book of Discipline, con-
taining the rules of the General Conference, is the
only charter of their rights and directory of their
1840.] THE BISHOPS' ADDBES8. 543
duties as ofiBlcial bodies. The general superintendents
are elected by tbe General Conference, and responsi-
ble to it for the discharge of the duties of their oflSce.
They are constituted, by virtue of their office, pres-
idents of the annual conferences, with authority to
appoint the time of holding them; with a pru-
dential provision that they shall allow each confer-
ence to sit at least one week, that the important busi-
ness prescribed in the form of Discipline may not be
hurried through in such a manner as to affect in-
juriously the interests of the Church. The primary
objects of their official department in the Church were,
as we believe, to preserve in the most effectual man-
ner an itinerant ministry; to maintain a uniformity
in the administration of the government and disci-
pline in every department, and that the unity of the
whole body might be preserved. But how, we would
ask, can these important ends be accomplished, if each
annual conference possessed the rights and powers
set forth in the foregoing summary ? Is it to be sup-
posed that twenty-eight constitutional judges of eccle-
siastical law, and these, too, not individuals of age and
experience, who have had time and means to thor-
oughly investigate, and analyze, and collate the sys-
tem, but official bodies, many members of which are
young and inexperienced, and without the opportu-
nity of necessary helps for such researches, and with-
out consultation with each other on the points to be
decided, will settle' different questions of law with
such agreement as to have no material conflict be-
KK
544 LIFB AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
tween their legal decisions ? Is it not greatly to be
feared that, with such a system of ecclesiastical juris-
prudence, what might be the law in Georgia might be
no law in J^ew-England ? that what might be ortho-
doxy in one conference might be heresy in another?
Where, then, would be the identitj'^ of the law, the
uniformity of its administration, or tiie unity and
peace of the Church."*
The question was also brought to the attention of
the General Conference in another form, but inrolv-
ing the same principle. This was upon the appeal of
of the Eev. D. Dorchester from the decision of the
New-England Conference. As presiding elder, Mr.
Dorchester had declined to put a resolution to vote
in the "Westfield Quarterly Conference. In conse-
quence of this he was charged with maladministra-
tion at the next succeeding session of the New-Eng-
land Annual Conference, and that body found him
guilty of "exceeding the powers of his office."
From this decision Mr. Dorchester appealed to the
General Conference.
The action of the General Conference in relation to
these matters was Tery distinct and decisive : — 1. The
administration of the superintendents was approved ;
and it was decided that the president of an annual
or quarterly conference had a right to decline
putting a resolution to vote if he considered it foreign
to the proper business of a conference, or incon-
" The entire Address may be found in Bangs'e History, Vol. iV,
commencing on page 336 and continuing to page 371.
1840.] ACTION OF THE CONFEEENOE. 545
sistent with constitutional provisions, and also to
adjourn a conference without a formal vote : 2. The
decision of the New-England Conference in the case
of Eev. D. Dorchester was reversed by a very
strong vote, showing that, in the judgment of the
General Conference, he did not transcend the powers
of his office : 3. And further, in order to place the
matter beyond all doubt as to who should decide
questions of law in annual and quarterly conferences,
the following enactments were made : —
1. In the answer to the question, "What is the
bishop's duty?" the seventh item was added, as fol-
lows :■ — " To decide all questions of law in an
annual conference, subject to an appeal to the Gen-
eral Conference ; but in all cases the application of
law is with the conference."
2. Also in the answer to the question, "Wbat are
the duties of the presiding elder?" the seventh item
was amended and made to read: — "To take care
that every part of our Discipline be enforced in his
district, and -to decide all questions of law in the
quarterly-meeting conference, subject to an appeal
to the president of the next annual conference ; but
in all cases the application of the law shall be with
the conference."
It has been charged that " the enactment of these
laws prove that the previous action of bishops and
presiding elders was without law, if not contrary to
law." In the face of all the facts connected with the
enactment of this law, such an assertion is not only
546 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1840.
without foundation, but is absolutely absurd. The
prerogatives exercised by the bishops could not be
" without law," nor " contrary to law," even if there
were no distinct and specific enactment direct to
the point, because they formed one of the obvious
and indispensable elements of our organic existence.
The bishops had so judged, and, from the beginning,
their administration had accorded with that judg-
ment, and quadrennially the General Conference
approved of that administration. In the judgment
of the present General Conference, also, the exercise
of such prerogatives was not without law, for they
entered their distinct endorsement of this very action,
which they could not have done had it been in their
judgment unwarranted by law. But then the
question comes up, "Why enact a new law if the
thing was already legal?" "We reply, for the most
plain and obvious reasons. The administration of
the bishops had been called in question; they had
been charged with transcending their powers, and
under special pleas put forth upon the subject, many
had been led to believe that such was the fact, and
in consequence had come to regard them and the
office they held with distrust. There was, then, an
important reason — though no doubts existed in the
minds of the bishops or of the General Conference —
why the subject should be placed beyond all ques-
tion by an explicit enactment.
We have already noticed the trial of Rev. Orange
Scott and of Rev. La Roy Sunderland at the session of
1840.] BISHOP HEDDING'8 COMMUNICATION. 547
the New-England Conference in 1838, and tlie man-
ner of their acquittal. Bishop Hedding brought
these two cases to the attention of the General Con-
ference by the following communication : —
" Deab Bbetheen, — ^In a session of one of the
annual conferences, in the year 1838, two preachers
were accused, tried, and acquitted ; but, in my judg-
ment, they were acquitted contrary to law and
evidence. Of this I informed the said conference
at the time, stating that I believed that they had
erred in judgment, but not intentionally. I believe
so still : nevertheless, that error has done much
injury, and in my opinion will do much more, un-
less it be corrected.
" Those brethren were accused of supposed wrongs
done to me, and, by acquitting them, the conference
has impliedly censured me, and by that act, as I
believe, encouraged the same brethren, and others,
to inflict on me still further injuries, which they
have done to a great extent.
" I informed that conference that I should lay
this matter before the General Conference, not by
way of appeal, as I supposed I had no right to an
appeal in this case, but by way of inviting the
General Conference to examine the acts of the
annual conference in the premises.
"Aa the appropriate committee may differ from
me in judgment in this matter, I forbear mention-
ing the name of the conference at this time unless
548 LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING. [1840.
this body shall request me to do so; but by your
direction I shall state the case to the committee,
and refer them to the journals of the said conference.
" Yours, etc., " Elijah HEDDnsrG."
" Baltimoee, May 6, 1840."
This communication was referred to a special
. committee of five, consisting of N. Bangs, W. H.
Haper, George Peck, John Dempster, and John Early.
"When matters had proceeded thus far, one of the
oldest delegates of the New-England Conference
waited upon the bishop, and expressed his regret
that the communication had heen made, for he had
hoped a private adjustment of that diflB.culty might
have been made between the delegates and him
without bringing the matter before the General
Conference. The bishop replied that he had waited
several days to give the delegates time to make
such a proposition, as it belonged to them to do so
if the thing were don© at all. He further added
that he had no disposition to arraign the action of
the New-England Conference before the General
Conference, and added that even now he was will-
ing, if they desired it, to have a private settlement
of the matter if it could be done on proper principles.
When the committee met, the delegates from the
ISTew-England Conference, appeared, and presented
the following paper as a basis of settlement. It
was accepted on the part of the bishop, who had
no disposition to prosecute the matter any further
184a] FINAL ADJUSTMENT. 649
than the ends of justice and truth required. The
following is the paper referred to : —
" We, the undersigned, acknowledge that there is
an inconsistency in some of the votes passed in the
cases of brothers Scott and Sunderland in the New-
England Cenference of 1838, and we believe that
the conference may have erred in some of these
votes, and will use our influence to prevent the
occurrence of the thing complained of in future;
and, moreover, we admit that, if any of the votes
passed in these cases are liable to be construed
injuriously to Bishop Hedding, it was not, in our
judgment, so intended by the conference, and was
an error; and we respectfully request Bishop Hed-
ding to withdraw his complaint.
(Signed) " Joseph A, Mekeill,
jotham hoeton,
Phineas Cbandaix,
Feedeeick TJpham,
E. W. Stioknet,
A. D. Meekill,
O. Scott.
" BaiiTimoeb, May 17, 1840."
On the presentation of this paper the bishop
appended to it the following note : —
" I agree to the above proposition, and hereby
withdraw the complaint referred to.
"E. Hedding.
" Ma^ nth, 1840."
560 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
The committee reported the facts of the settle-
ment to the General Conference, and asked to be
dismissed. Their request was granted, and here the
matter rested. We, however, cannot dismiss the
matter without noticing the magnanimity displayed
by Bishop Hedding on this occasion. The course
of the conference action complained of had been
exceedingly unjust and injurious to himself. He
knew that the most of these very delegates liad
voted with the* majority of the conference in the
acquittal of Messrs. Scott and Sunderland, and also
that the ultra measures of the day had furnished
the test-question in the election that had made
some of them delegates. Some of these very men,
too, had been arraigning him for three or four years
before the pixblic as a usurper of authority that
did not belong to his office, and the conference to
which they belonged had not only failed to call them
to "account for their course, but had thrown around
them the shield of its protection. These facts place
the character of Bishop Hedding in a most enviable
light : they reflect the highest honour upon him as
a Christian man and a minister of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
On another occasion during the session of this
conference the Christian magnanimity of Bishop
Hedding was displayed in an equally striking man-
ner. In the preamble of the report presented by the
Committee on Itinerancy, the New-England Confer-
ence, Rev. Orange Scott, and Rev. La Roy Sunder-
1840.1 NOBLE MAGNANIMITY. 551
land were alluded to in terms of great severity.
When this preamble came up for consideration, it
was moved that an exception be also taken to the
Georgia Conference resolutions, which declared "that
slavery, as it exists in the United States, is not a
moral evil." Upon this resolution warm speeches
were made ;• but it was finally laid upon the table.
Eev. J. Horton then moved that all that part of the
preamble of the report relating to the New-England
Conference be laid on the table. This motion was
lost. The Rev. P. Crandall then moved that so much
of the preamble as related to the New-England Con-
ference be stricken from the report. This motion was
advocated by powerful speeches, made by the mover
and by Eev. E. W. Stickney, of the same conference.
The latter especially warned the conference against
the fearful consequences that would result to the
Church in New-England should such an arraign-
ment of the New-England Conference as that con-
tained in the preamble receive the sanction of that
body, and especially as the motion to take exception
to tlie action of the Georgia Conference had failed.*
" The following are portions of the report referred to : —
" The New-England Conference, as has appeared to the committee,
have been, during the last four years, disorganizing in their pro-
ceedings— indeed, have pursued a course destructiye to the peace,
harmony, and unity of the Church ; in that,
" 1. They have gone beyond the proper jurisdiction of an annual
conference, and in doing so have pronounced upon the characters of
those brethren who were not at all responsible to them ; in that,
"2. The journals of that conference exhibit no grounds on which
they acquitted Orange Scott, who, by direct implication, had been
24
552 LIFE AND TIMES OP HBDDING. [1840.
At this crisis Bishop Hedding threw himself into
the breach. He arose and addressed the conference,*
saying, " If the conference would indulge him, he felt
it his duty to offer a few observations. He had strong
and ardent feelings of friendship for thelSTew-England
Conference ; and though they had erred in some of
their acts, still, as a body, they certainly were good
men and fast friends of the Church. If he might be
permitted to give his advice upon the subject now
occupying their deliberations, he would state imme-
diately what it was, and then offer some reasons which
influenced him.
" His advice then was, that the committee amend
the report by striking out that part which relates to
the New-England Conference. One reason justifica-
tory of this recommendation was, that the brethren
found guilty, by a large majority of the last General Conference, of
publishing statements concerning members of that body which were
gross misrepresentations, or flagrant and scandalous falsehoods ; in
that,
" 3. The same absence exists of all showing of reasons for acquit-
ting Orange Scott and La Koy Sunderland, on sundry charges of
evil doing, growing out of abolition movements in which they were
engaged ; in that,
"4. The said conference, disregarding the established usages of
Methodism, permitted the members of their body to be present during
the examination of their own characters ; in that,
" 6. The conference did, by an official act, advise, or request, that
La Epy Sunderland should be left without an appointment ; in that,
*' 9. The conference did sustain Orange Soott in neglecting his
appropriate work as a Methodist preacher, while he was prose-
cuting an agency unknown to, and not recognised by, the Disci-
pline."
" See report of this speech in the Christian Advocate and Journal
for 1840, pp, 170, 171,
1840.] SPEECH OF BISHOP HEDDING. 563
of that section *ad been under strong excitement; so
powerful, that, to his belief, they had not understoo('
the real nature and bearing of their own official acts.
Many causes have been operative in the production
and sustaining of that excitement. One which had
operated to increase and prolong it was the act of
the Georgian Conference. That act, it is true, as ex-
plained by the delegates from that conference, has
a very different interpretation from that which the
words employed in the resolution would signify, and
from that which had been attached to them by the
northern people. The comments and explanations
did not accompany the resolutions. It is imderstood
by those of the north to mean what the phraseology,
naked and unqualified, literally imports. Had the
resolution said, as it seems to have been mtended to
do, that slavery, as it exists in the Methodist Church,
is not a moral evil, the great body of the northern
membership would unhesitatingly have believed it,
and probably but Httle would have been said about it
one way or the other; but the resolution affirms that
slavery, as it exists in the United States, is not a moral
evil. The northerners say that slavery, as it exists in
the United States, confers upon the master unlimited
power to dispose of the slave, even to the extent of an
involuntary separation of man and wife ; that this is
frequently done ; and this they declare to be a moral
evil. They contend that slavery, in practice, frequently
inflicts great injuries on the subjects of it through the
ownership of drunkards, infidels, and other immoral
554 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1840.
individuals ; and they, construing •the resolution
according to the import of the terms, affirm that it
declares that the exercise of all the power allowed to
the master, and all the practices incident to the con-
dition of slavery, as easting in this country, are not
moral evils. Now, though we are convinced that the
Georgia brethren never intended to convey this idea,
yet so have they been understood by many of their
brethren in the north.
" You have been invited to give an opinion on
that resolution : you decHned doing so, and, as things
now are, you have probably acted wisely; for no
opinion could be given which would not be liable
to misconstruction either ia the north or south, and
thus be productive of evil somewhere. As you
have not seen fit to express your opinion on that
resolution, it seems to be reasonable that you should
not pass judgment on the acts of the New-England
Conference.
"Another reason is, that the excitement in the
north is diminishing, and, if we do nothing to revive
it, it is hoped that it may die away. But a declara-
tion of opinion on the acts of one conference, and
not on the other, will certainly increase and swell
the agitation. It is plain that the brethren of the
north and of the south do not understand each other
on this subject ; but when they shall become calm,
and their judgments, imswayed by prejudice, shall
allow them mutually to defer to each other's opinions,
they will recede fi'om the extremes to which they
1840.] DISOTJ8BION8 AND MEAStJEES. 555
have puslied themselves, and meet on the true prin-
ciples of Methodism, become content to treat the
subject after the manner of St. Paul, and live
together in harmony and brotherly love."
Before the bishop had made his address, the Rev.
Mr. Hodges, of the Georgia Conference, had endeav-
oured to explain the resolutions of that conference,
the peculiar circumstances under which they were
passed, and also to defend them. But the Rev. "Wm.
A. Smith, of Yirginia, followed him in opposition
to the com-se he suggested, and went largely into
the general question of slavery. He in turn was fol-
lowed by other speakers, and a somewhat extended
discussion ensued. But the suggestion of the bishop
prevailed, and the offensive references were stricken
out. ^
The general subject of slavery entered into the
discussions and measures of this conference in an
unusual degree. We have already noticed how the
committee on itinerancy found themselves involved
in the subject. The committee on slavery reported
very stringent resolutions against "Modem Aboli-
tionism;" but their report, so far as we can per-
ceive, was never adopted. The appeal of the Rev.
Silas Comfort from the decision of the Missouri
Annual Conference, which had charged him with
maladministration for receiving the testimony of a
coloured person against a white person in a Church
trial, brought the question of slavery up in a new
foiTQ. The appeal was entertained, and the decision
656 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINQ. U840.
of the Missouri Conference reversed. This decision
gave umbrage to the southern delegates. They, con-
sidered it as a virtual sanction of the practice of
admitting the testimony of coloured persons against
vrhite persons in Church trials; and, by implication
at least, a censure of the ordinary administration in
the South, where such testimony was rejected. Dr.
I. A. Few, therefore, introduced the following resolu-
tion, which, after an exciting and proti-acted debate,
was adopted : —
" JResol/oed, That it is inexpedient and unjustifiable
for any preacher to permit coloured persons to give
testimony against white persons in any state where
they are denied that privilege by law."
It comes not within our province to discuss the
evil principle^^bedded in this resolution, nor the
evil practices which it might shield. Sufi&ce it to
say, that it gave great dissatisfaction to the northern
delegates. So intense was the feeling that a northern
delegate, who had at first seconded the resolution
of Dr. Few, moved its reconsideration. This occa-
sioned quite a display of parliamentary tactics, and
not a httle discussion. When the vote was finally
reached, it stood sixty-nine to sixty-nine. Bishop
Hedding was in the chair, and was called upon to
give the casting vote. He knew this had been done
in several instances when there was a tie in the
General Conference, but it was the first time he had
■ever been called upon to exercise this function. He
now arose and declined giving the casting vote ; not,
1840.] A BISHOP NO EIGHT TO VOTE. 657
as he said, that he was unwilling to give his opinion
in the case pending, but because he did not think
he had a constitutional right to do so, and gave
the following reasons for this opinion. He said, " In
the original General Conference the bishops not
only had a right to give the casting vote, but to
speak and vote on all subjects if they chose to do so.
They had the right, because all travelling preachers
who had been in the connexion four years had it,
and they had the right as travelling preachers ; but
when the delegated General Conference was con-
stituted that right was taken away — probably not
by design, but inadvertently. Under the arrange-
ment for a delegated General Conference, the Dis-
cipline has alM'ays said in substance, — The General
Conference shall be composed of delegates from the
annual conferences. The bishops, not being dele-
gates from any annual conference, have no right to
vote, and consequently no right to give a casting
vote. The Discipline provides that they shall pre-
side in the General Conferences, but it does not
provide that they shall vote. The Speaker- of the
House of Eepresentatives in Congress can give the
casting vote, because he forms a part of the body,
and is elected and sent there as others are. The
President of the Senate of the United States has a
right to give the casting vote, because, though not
an elected member, the constitution gives him that
right. K our constitution had given the bishops a
right to vote, I should be willing now to give the
558 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1810.
casting vote; but as it does not, I must decline."
The bishop went on farther to state that this rule
applied to presiding elders in a quarterly confer-
ence, and to a preacher presiding on a Church trial.
Neither of them had a right to give the casting vote.
"We have introduced this matter not merely as
an item of history connected with Bishop Hedding,
but, first, because the mere statement of the facts
and his reasons exhibit the folly and injustice of
the outcry that was raised against him for declining
the vote on this occasion; secondly, the decision,
made so clearly and conclusively in a case that was
unexpectedly sprung upon him,' — and that, too, in
opposition to the general usage in such cases, — shows
how profoundly he had studied the principles of our
ecclesiastical jurisprudence, and how admirably he
was adapted to be the presiding officer of a delibera-
tive body. In the third place, this incident shows
how careful he was not to trench upon the consti-
tutional powers committed to bim, and presents bim
in a very different light from that in which some
had sought to place him, as grasping after authority
not legitimately committed to him.
It is perhaps well to add that this offensive I'esolu-
tion was subsequently explained, as to its true intent
and purport, by three supplementary resolutions,
passed by the General Conference a few days before
its adjournment. Thus it continued four years, and
was then rescinded by the same body that enacted it.
The incidents we have here spoken of were, in
1840.] CLOSE OF THE GENEEAL CONFEEENCE. 559
some sort, episodes in the usual routine of General
Conference business. The ordinary business of the
conference was transacted with unusual despatch and
directness. It embraced a great variety of subjects — •
Simday schools, missions, Bible distribution, coloni-
zation, temperance, the proper administration of
discipline, our fraternal relations to the "Wesleyan
connexion in England, and also in Canada, and
various other interests of a minor character. It is
not our purpose to detail them ; they belong rather
to the general history of the Church, than to the
history of the subject of our narrative. The Pastoral
Address is brief, but pertinent. It is mild and con-
ciliatory in its character, deeply spiritual in its tone,
and was written in a chaste and beautiful style.
Considerable harmony and good feeling were evinced
at the close of the session. Bishop Soule, who was
in the chair at the time, made a brief address, refer-
ring to the differences of opinion that had existed,
and expressing his gratification at the brotherly
kindness and affection that had been so uniformly
manifested, and also his firm persuasion that the
action of this General Conference would exert a
most salutary influence upon the future prosperity,
peace, and unity of the Church. " In this," says he,
"I do rejoice, and wiU rejoice."
He exhorted the brethren to go forth resolved
to carry out the great measures adopted to promote
the interests of the Church, to refrain from unkind
expressions toward brethren when differences of
LL 24*
560 LIFE AND TIMKS OF HEDDIITG. [1840.
opinion existed, and to cheiisli the spirit of brotherly
love and Christian niiion. Finally he gave out the
hymn commencing, —
" And let our bodies part,
To different climes repair ;
Inseparably joined in heart
The friends of Jesus are."
This hymn was sung with great fervour by the
conference. A deeply affecting prayer was then
offered, and the General Conference of 1840 ad-
journed sine die. The results of this session seemed
full of promise for the future peace and unity of
the Church.
After the close of the General Conference Bishop
Hedding visited the ITew-Tork and the E^ejv^-England
Conferences in company with Bishop Soule. The for-
mer commenced in the city of New- York, June 10th ;
the latter in the city of Lowell, July 1st. After
this he spent a few days at home in Lansingburgh,
answering the letters that had accumulated during
his absence. On the 18th of the same month he left
home, travelling by land to Buffalo, and thence by
steamboat to Erie ; he met at that place the Erie
Conference on the 5th of August. Then he went
by steamboat to Detroit, Michigan, and thence pro-
ceeded by land to Marshall,' in the interior of the
state, where he met the Michigan Conference August
19th. " This," he says, " is a young but promising
conference, and the session was one of peculiar inter-
est ; but it was a time of great distress on account of
1840.] OONFEEENCES OF THIS YEAB. 561
sickness, from the bilious diseases of that country
which were prevailing. Many of the preachers were
sick. Here I ordained one of the preachers in his
bed; he was unable even to sit up during the
service."
From Marshall he returned to Detroit, and thence
by steamboat, to Huron, Ohio. He rode fi'om Huron
to Norwalk in a wagon, and there met the North
Ohio Conference on the 9th of September. " Here,"
he says, " I found a great many old acquaintances in
the membership of the Church that I had formerly
known in New-England. Here, -too, I found many
devoted and consistent influential Methodists." The
next and last conference he attended this year was
the Ohio, which met at Zanesville, September 30th.
Of the members of this conference he says, "They
are a talented and devoted body of men, of great
influence in that country."
Having completed his conference labours for the
season, he turned his face homeward ; but as he had a
number of engagements by the way, he did not reach
home till the last of October. He, however, spent
but a few days here before he left again, having an
engagement to dedicate the new church that had
been erected in Bedford-street, New- York city. His
sermon for the occasion was preached from Exodus
XX, 24: " An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me,
and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and
thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in
all places where I record my name I will come unto
562 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. ' [1841.
thee, and I will bless thee." In addition to this he
visited the Churches in "Williamsburgh and Mattea-
wan, and reached home about the last of Novem-
ber.
The winter was spent mainly at home ; though he
occasionally visited societies in the vicinity, and
preached to them the word of life.
Owing to a change in the time of publishing
the Annual Minutes, only nineteen conferences are
definitely reported in the issue for this year; but these
nineteen reported a general increase of fifty-foui
thousand nine hundred and eighty-six.
Early in the ensuing spring Bishop Hedding dedi-
cated the John-street Methodist Episcopal Church, a
new edifice erected on the site of the old one. The
text for the occasion was 1 Thess. i, 8: "For from you
sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Mace-
donia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith
to God-ward is spread abroad." The text as well as
the discoui-se was beautifully appropriate to the occa-
sion. Many things contributed to make this dedica-
tion exceedingly interesting to the bishop. He says :
" It was the third church that had been built on that
groimd; it was the spot on which was erected the
first Methodist church in America. The first church
erected upon this spot was the one in which, nearly
forty years before, I was admitted into the itinerant
connexion. The scene brought many endearing rec-
ollections to my mind. The memories of those who
were present at the conference of 1801, but have long
1841.1 DEDICATION OF JOHN-STEEBT CHURCH. 563
since been numbered among the venerable dead, came
rusting upon me with overwhelming force. Bishop
"Wliatcoat, who presided at that conference, and
nearly all the then active members of the body, also
all the private members of the Church I then became
acquainted with, have passed away."
The occasion, if we may judge from the accounts
of it published in the journals of the day, was as
deeply interesting to the public as it was to the
bishop himself.
The following brief account of this admirable dis-
course is taken from the report published in the
Christian Advocate and Journal at the time : —
"In the introductory part of his discourse the
bishop gave a beautiful exposition of his text, in
connexion with St. Luke's account, in the Acts of the
Apostles, of the labours of St. Paul and his colleagues,
and of the introduction of the gospel into Greece,
and especially of its success among the Thessalonians,
and of their instrumentality in spreading it abroad.
Thessalonica was one of the principal seaports of
ancient Greece — a great commercial city ; and being
advantageously situated for trade, had an extensive
connexion with other cities in that part of the world.
It was one of the first cities in Europe that received
the gospel, and on account of its maritime and com-
mercial character was more instrumental in spreading
it abroad than any other city.
" In the course of his sermon the bishop showed,
in a very lucid manner, that the "Word of the Lord
564 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1841.
was the great instrument employed by the Divine
Being in the salvation of souls. After this point
had been very ably demonstrated, the bishop took a
vievr of the manner in which the Word had been, and
still continues to be, spread abroad in every place.
The first apostles were gi-eatly instrumental in this
good work, but they were not the only instruments ;
the merchants and private Christians did much in
spreading it. "When persons from the distant cities
and country places came to Thessalonica to trade, or
to make a visit, the Christian merchants would tell
them of the work of the Lord among them; they
would invite them to hear the apostles, to attend
their meetings, and to behold the wonderful works
of God among their fellow-citizens. These foreign-
ers and visiters becoming convinced of the truth,
would carry the news home with them ; would prob-
ably invite the apostles to make them a visit also ; or
when the merchants went abroad to collect their
bills, or the citizens went to visit their relations in
distant places, they would carry the good word of God
with them. It would be in their hearts and upon
their tongues; and they would speak of it on-eveSf
occasion, and in all places whithersoever they went.
It was thus that the word of the Lord sounded out
from them. Wot only in Macedonia and Achaia, but
also in every place, their faith to God-ward was spread
abroad.
" In many particulars there was a striking similarity
between the case of the citizens of Thessalonica and
1841.] BBDICATION SERMON. 565
that of the people of New-York. While the apostles
were labouring in Asia Minor, a vision appeared to
Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia,
and prayed him, saying, ' Come over into Macedonia
and help us.' This was the introduction of the gos-
pel into Europe ; and similar was the introduction
of Methodism, by means of itinerant preaching, in
this country. A call went over the great waters,
saying to Mr. "Wesley, ' Come over and help us,' or
send us' help. The venerable Asbury, 'in labours
more like the Apostle Paul than any other man I ever
knew,' said the bisliop, and others, heard that call,
and came to our help. The church was erected on
this very spot, Mr. "Wesley aiding in its erection by a
donation of fifty pounds sterling. Thus the gospel,
by means of itinerant ministers, was planted on these
shores; and from this place 'sounded out the word
of the Lord' to the south, to the north, to the east, and
to the west.
"In the progress of this discourse the bishop re-
lated many pleasing incidents from his own personal
history and observation, and all illustrative of the
"doctrine contained in the text. A more appropriate
text for such an occasion, and a more happy method
of illustration, we seldom or never heard. The effect
was fine. A spirit in support of that cause which had
been so greatly blessed pervaded the assembly. The
congregation was not large; but there were present
of the first, second, and third generations of Method-
ists, and some who had worshipped in the first and in
566 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING [1841..
the second house, which stood where this now stands^
who gave of that in which God had prospered them
toward the liquidation of the debt incurred by the
present building. "We are glad to see a root of primi-
tive Methodism still vigorous and' growing, in the
very spot where the first scion was planted on these
western shores. John-street Church, in a certain
sense, is ' the mother of us all,' and we love to pay
her the respect which is due to her piety and zeal."
Soon after this he laid the comer-stone, and de-
livered a discourse, on the foundation of a new
church in North Eighth-street, in the city of Phila-
delphia.
This year Bishop Hedding met the Philadelphia
Conference at Philadelphia, April 7th; the New-
Jersey, at Newark, April 28th; the New-York, at
New-York, May 17th; the Providence, at Provi-
dence, June 9th; the New-England, at Worcester,
Jime 30th ; and the Maine, at Skowhegan, July 21st.
At the session of four of these conferences he
delivered an address on the administration of dis-
cipline. Each of them in turn requested its pubHca^
tion, and it was eventually issued in a miniature
book form. Like everything else that emanated
from the mind of the bishop upon that subject, it
is clear, practical, and of great utility. It has
become a standard authority upon the subject, and
should be the pocket-companion of every one who
is called to administer the discipline of the Methodist
Episcopal Church.
1841.] CHKISTIAN PEEFECTION. 667
While at the session of the New-Jersey Confer-
ence this spring, Bishop Hedding was requested to
address that body upon the subject of Christian
perfection; especially to state the nature of justi-
fication, regeneration, and entire sanctification, and
the difference between them as distinct works of
grace. Thia» Bequest was made at the opening of
the conference, and having to address the candi-
dates for ordination during the forenoon, he em-
braced the opportunity to express his views on the
subject. The conference requested their publica-
tion, and they were subsequently written out and
published. As they contain not only the distinct
enunciation of Bishop Hedding's views, but also a
lucid and satisfactory enunciation of this vital
doctrine in the Christian system, we give them
entire : — •
" Beetheen, — Among many other important ques-
tions, the^foUowing have been asked you, and you
have answered them in the affirmative : — ' Are you
going on to perfection? Do you expect to be made
perfect in love in this life? Are you groaning
after it?'
" It is important for you, as Christians and as
ministers, to have a thorough understanding of this
great subject, ^he subject is Christian perfection,
or being made perfect in love in this life. It is
being delivered from sin, and filled with the love
of Gbd. The brethren ask me to state ' the nature
of justification, regeneration, and sanctification, and
568 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1841.
the difference between them as distinct works of
grace.' I understand justification to be a pardon
of past sins; and regeneration, wMcb takes place
at the same time, to be a change of heart, or of our
moral nature. Regeneration also, being the same
as the new birth, is the beginning of sanctification,
though not the completion of it, or not entire sancti-
fication. Regeneration is the beginning of purifica-
tion; entire sanctification is the finishing of that
work.
" The difference between a justified soul who is
not fully sanctified, and one fuUy sanctified, I under-
stand to be this : —
" The first (if he does not backslide) is kept from
voluntarily committing known sin, which is what
is commonly meant in the New Testament by coni-
mitUng sin. But he yet finds in himself the remains
of inbred corruption, or original sin; such as pride,
anger, envy, a feeling of hatred to an .enemy, a
rejoicing at a calamity which has fallen upon an
enemy, &c.
" ISTow in all this the regenerate soul does not
act voluntarily; his choice is against all these evils.
God has given him a new heart, which hates all
these evils, and resists and overcomes them as soon
as the mind perceives them. Thffregenerate soul
wishes these evils were not in his heart, yet he has
in himself no power to destroy them. Though the
Christian does not feel guilty for this, depravity as
he would do if he had voluntarily broken the law
1841.1 OHBISTIAN PEEFEOTION. 569
of God, yet he is often grieved, and afflicted, and
reproved at a sight of this sinfulness of his nature.
" Though the soul in this state enjoys a degree
of religion, yet it is conscious it is not what it ought
to be, nor what it must be to be fit for heaven.
" It seems that the sinfulness of our nature, or
original sin,«niay remain in the new-born soul inde-
pendent of choice, and even against choice.
" The second, or the person fully sanctified, is
cleansed from all these involuntary sins.
" He may be tempted by Satan, by men, and by
his own bodily appetites, to commit sin, but his
heart is free from those inward fires which before
his full sanctification were ready to fall in with
temptation, and lead him into transgression. He
may be tempted to be proud, to love the world, to
be revengeful or angry, to hate an enemy, to wish
him evil, or to rejoice at his calamity, but he feels
none of these passions in his heart ; the Holy Ghost
has cleansed him from all these pollutions of his
nature. Thus it is that, being emptied of sin, the
perfect Christian is filled with the love of God, even
with that perfect love which casteth out fear.
" But is this sanctification instantaneous, or grad-
ual? It is both. In some respects it is one, and in
other respects *is the other. In a soul who does
not backslide, the work of sanctification goes on
gradually till it is finished, and that event is instan-
taneous. Finishing the work is accomplished in an
instant. Mr. "Wesley says something • like this: 'A
570 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1841.
man may be some time dying, but tbere is an
instant in whicli he dies.' So in a Christian, sin
may be some time dying, but there is an instant in
which it dies, and that event is full sanctification.
In some, the fact of its being finished in an instant
is more apparent to the subject than it is in others.
" But how is this great work performed ? By the
Holy Spirit — no other power can effect it; and this
work of the Spirit is obtained only through the
atonement, and through faith in that atonement.
That faith, which is the condition of this entire sanc-
tification, is exercised only by a penitent heart; a
heart willing to part with all sin forever, and deter-
mined to do the will of God in all things. Believe
and pray for it; it is as important that you should
experience this holy work, as it is that the sinners
to whom you preach should be converted. God is
as able, willing, and ready to do this great work for
you as he was to pardon your sins. Christ is able
to save to the uttermost all that come to God through
him. But what would be the fate of a soul born
of the Spirit, but not fully sanctified, called to die in
that state? If he have not backslidden he would
go to heaven ; not that he is now fit for heaven, but
Christ would fit him should he caU. him out of the
world. Before his departure ChrSt would either
accept his weak faith, or give him a degree of faith
"equal to his wants, and thus save his soul. This
view is supported by the numerous promises in
Scripture of eternal salvation to all who die the
1842.] 0HEI8TIAN PEEFEOTION. 571
children of God. Those promises to such as per-
severe and remain the children of God, include all
the work of grace necessary to fit them for heaven.
But these views furnish no excuse for us to neglect
seeking full sanctification now. If we were sure we
should live twenty years, then experience full sancti-
fication and die, there would be many and important
reasons for us to seek that great blessing now, and
so to believe as to experience it this day. With it
we should be more happy, and more useful ; and as
we are changeable creatures, with this blessing we
shall be more safe than we could be without it. But
can a person possessing perfect love perfectly keep
God's holy law, as angels do in heaven ? Ifo ; if he
could, he would no longer need the atonement any
more than holy angels do. Yet, through the atone-
ment he may acceptably keep the law.
" He loves God with all his heart, and his neigh-
bour as himself; he acts in all things under the influ-
ence of that love ; and this is the end of the command-
ment, and the fulfilling of the law. And though
this soul is free from what the Bible calls sin, yet
he haa infirmities and unavoidable failings growing
out of the original fall, on account of which he ought
to say, — '
' ETery moment, Lord, I need
Tlie merits of thj death.'
Forgive me my trespasses, &c. Unavoidable mis-
takes and failings are covered by the atonement,
and through it his obedience is accepted,"
572 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1842.
The returns this year, published immediately after
the session of the New- York Annual Conference,
are of a most encouraging character. The number
of members reported was eight hundred and fifty-
two thousand nine hundred and eighteen, being an
increase of fifty-seven thousand four hundred and
seventy-three ; number of travelling preachers three
thousand five hundred and eighty-seven, increase
one hundred and seventy-eight; number of local
preachers six thousand three hundred and ninety-
three, increase fifty-four. In the Indiana Conference
of this year there was an increase of nine thousand
and eighty-one, making that, in point of numbers,
the fourth conference in the connexion. It was also
a year of remarkable prosperity in the Pittsburgh,
Baltimore, and Maine Conferences, their respective
net gains in membership being four thousand *eight
hundred and forty-seven, three thousand seven hun-
dred and thirty-nine, and three thousand five hundred
and ninety-six.
In 1842 Bishop Hedding presided over the Troy
Conference, which met at Burlington, Yt., June 1st ;
over the New-Hampshire and Vermont Conferences,
which met at Newbury, Vt., June 25th ; the Black
River Conference, at Watertown, July 21st; the
Oneida Conference, at Oxford, August 11th ; and the
Genesee Conference, at Rochester, September 1st.
During the session of the New-Hampshire Con-
ference, an incident occurred which finely displays
the readiness and sagacity of Bishop Hedding as a
1842.] SAGACITY AND EEADINE8B. 573
presiding officer. The ultra excitement on the sub-
ject of slavery had, to a great extent, died away
since the last General Conference, notwithstanding
the great efforts made to keep it aHve. We do
not mean that the people were leas opposed to
slavery, but that they had grown wiser by expe-
rience, and w^re determined to exhibit their opposi-
tion in a more feasible form. Several, however,
who had been foremost in the movement, now, as
they saw the public mind becoming quieted, and
settling down in the conviction that no good result
could be realized from ultra measures, became dis-
appointed, sullen, and alienated from the Church,
and prejudiced against its administration. One of
this class now offered a resolution to the following
import : —
" Whereas Bishop Hedding, in a certain publica-
tion, has advanced the opinion that, when the
preachers of any conference become disorderly, and
will not execute the discipline of the Church, the
bishop has a right to transfer them to other con-
ferences, where they may be cori-ected ; and whereas
the preachers of the southern conferences do not,
and will not execute the discipline—
'■'■ Re^ol/oed,, That Bishop Hedding is hereby re-
quested to transfer those preachers to other con-
ferences."
The evident design of the resolution was not only
to operate on public sentiment, but also to ensnare
the bishop; the mover supposing he would refuse
674 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1842.
to entertain the subject. He was not so easily
entrapped. He at once saw through the design,
and determined to meet it. "Very well," said he,
" if you pass this resolution to transfer the southern
preachers north, we shall have to transfer the
northern men south to fill their places. And the
first one I shall transfer south will be brother Robin-
son himself, the mover of the resolution. I will
transfer him immediately to New-Orleans, for we
want a preacher there now. If you are ready, we
wiU put the question." The trapper found himself
entrapped. "With not a little haste and tremulous-
ness, a motion was made for the indefinite postpone-
ment of the resolution, and was carried by an almost
unanimous vote.
This year a brother withdrew from the Genesee
Conference, having been led to embrace the doctrine
of "man's natural ability," as it is usually termed;
that is, that man by his own will has power to change
his own heart. This naturally elicited considerable
attention, and made the subject a matter of no little
conversation and discussion. During the session of
the conference, taking advantage of a pause in its
business, while the body were waiting for the report
of a committee, the. bishop arose and addressed them
upon the subject. His remarks show how profoundly
he had thought, and how closely he had reasoned
upon the subject. They made a profound impression
upon the conference at the time ; and their pubUea-
tion being called for from different quarters, they
IS'l'-i.} EKMAEKS ON NATURAL ABILITY. 575
were finally written out and published in the Chris-
tian Advocate and Journal.
" Brethren,' — ^While we are waiting for the report
of a committee, let us occupy the time in reflecting
on our own religious experience. 'Examine youi--
selves whether ye be in the faith,' is an admonition
necessary for ijinisters as well as for people. Men
are liable to be deceived with regard to their own
conversion, and to satisfy themselves with a work of
the imagination instead of the work of the Spirit.
Let us, therefore, compare our experience with the
Word of God, and satisfy ourselves that we are truly
bom of the Spirit.
" We are in danger of being deceived in another
way. HaVing been really bom of God, we may
backslide in heart, lose the spirit we then received
from heaven, and yet retain the form, the morals,
and the profession of Christianity, and still persuade
ourselves that we are as pious as when we were warm
in our first love ! Let us look into this matter, and
see whether we « are, indeed, as near to Christ as
when we were first made partakers of his love. We
ought to be nearer ; we should be gi-owing in grace,
and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
" But what is it to experience religion ? It is to
have our sins forgiven — to be regenerated, or bom
again. Two works done at thp same time : the one
setting us free from the guilt of our past sins; the
other changing our hearts, giving us a new spijati*ii
nature. But who is the author of this gre?d1^ark^
MM 25
576 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1842.
God alone. "Who can forgive sin, but God only? —
who can make the fallen soul ' a new creature,' but
the Creator? 'You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins.' ' Which were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God.' ' That which is bom of the
flesh is flesh; and that which is bom of the Spirit is
spirit.' Tor we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works.'
" Yet an opinion has been advanced, that man can
change his own heart ; and it has been countenanced
by a brother who has withdrawn from us during this
session. ' Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the
leopard his spots V
"The school from which this new and strange
doctrine proceeds, builds upon the assumption that
all sin consists in choice ; that there is no sin in man
independent of, or prior to, choice. Also, that all
holiness consists in choosing to do holy acts; that
there is no holiness in the nature of a saint from
which holy acts proceed; and (tonsequently, that
when a man chooses to turn away from sin, and to
perform holy acts, that act of choosing is changing
his own heart ; it is regeneration ; it is the new
birth.
"But, if there be no sinfulness in man prior to
choice, what becomes .of infants who die before they
are capable of choice ? Upon this theory they could
be neither sinful nor holy ; consequently they could
go neither to hell nor to heaven. Yet the Scriptures
1842.] NATUBAL ABILITY. 677
teach that ' death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned ;' and that 'judgment came upon all men
to condemnation.' The same Scriptures teach us
that Christ died for all the family of Adam, and that
all dying infants go to heaven through his blood.
Christ says, ' of such is the kingdom of heaven.'
All infants in heaven will join in this song: 'Thou
hast redeemed us to God by Ay blood.' Christ
tasted death for every man — for every human being.
'Neither is there salvation in any other.' Yet he
died for none but sinners. Had not infants been in
some sense sinful, they could not have been redeemed
by Christ. If there is no sinfulness in the human
heart independent of choice, why did our Saviour
say, 'Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit?' "Why did St. Paul say, 'But the evil which
I would not, that I do ?' St. Paul spoke this of the
depraved nature of an unregenerate man. He
teaches, that in a convicted sinner that depravity
would sometimes rankle, bm-n, and rage, not only
independent of, blit contra/ry to his choice.
"This doctrine is in perfect accordance with our
seventh article of religion : ' Original sin is the cor-
ruption of the nature of every mail that naturally is
engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man
is very far gone from original righteousness, and of
his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually.'
Tlois is the doctrine taught by our Lord when he said,
' For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphe-
578 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1842.
mies,' Matt, xv, 19. ' Never was a stronger and
more humbling picture drawn of the corruption of
human nature.' — Watson. Here our Lord confirms
the testimony of Jeremiah on the same subject:
'The heart is deceitful above all things, and despe-
rately wicked. Wlio can know it?' And that of
Solomon: 'The heart of the sons of men is fiill of
evil.'
" This doctrine has been confirmed by experience.
Many enlightened Christians have testified, that be-
fore their hearts were made new by the Holy Spirit,
and while they were under conviction for sin, evil
feelings existed ia their hearts, which they earnestly
tried to remove, but could not. That while, by re-
straining grace, they could govern their outward
conduct, they could not govern their hearts. Pride,
anger, covetousness, selfishness, jealousy, envy, malice,
hatred to an enemy — wishing him evil, &c., involun-
tarily moved and troubled their souls. By the help
of God, then afforded them, they could restrain those
evil feelings so far as to prevent fteir breaking out
into violent outward actions, but they could not
eradicate them. The evil was ia their hearts, and
every one felt it is ' sin that dwelleth in me.' Reason
and conscience opposed these evils; the will, the
choice, opposed them. The man reaUy wished they
were dead, but still they were there ; and he cried
out, ' O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver
me from the body of this death V
"But when this wretched man believed — that is,
1842.] NATUBAL ABILITY. 579
trusted in Christ for salvation — God, his Saviour,
gave him a new heart; a heart to love God, and
hate sin; a power against sin; a power to govern
himself, and to do the wiU of God, as well in the
exercises of his heart as in the practices of his life.
This work in his heart was accompanied with a wit-
ness of the Spirit that it was indeed the work of
God, and that neither himself nor his fellow-man
could have done it. He could not see the manner of
it ; but he knew the work was done, and that God
did it. ' The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence
it Cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that
is bom of the Spirit.'
" Brethren, we needed this good work to make us
Christians ; we must walk in the spirit of it if we
would continue to be Christians. Without it our
ministry wiU be but a dead letter, and we shall be
' clouds without water, carried about of winds.' But
if we live, preach, pray, administer discipline, and
visit our flocks in this spirit, it will be ' hke the pre-
cious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon
the beard, even Aaron's beard : that went down to
the skirts of his garments ; as the dew of Hermon,
and as the dew that descended upon the mountains
of Zion : for there the Lord commanded the blessing,
even life for evermore.'
" If these things be true — ^if the new birth be the
work of God, and not of man — what can we think
of that system which teaches the people that they
580 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1842.
can change their own hearts — that they can convert
themselves? What can we think of those operations
called revivals, where the people receive this doc-
trine, and believe and profess that they have changed
their own hearts — that they have converted them-
selves? There is reason to fear that multitudes of
them are deceived ; that they know nothing of true
religion ; that they are yet ' in the gall of bitterness,
and in the bond of iniquity.'
" Those who teach what we believe to be a false
doctrine with regard to the new birth, as above
named, have frequently objected to a practice among
us of exhorting the people to seek God — to seek reli-
gion— to seek salvation — to pray to God to give them
new hearts. But this practice, when rightly per-
formed, is in perfect accordance with the teachings
of the Holy Scriptures. It is certainly proper for
men to seek that they may find 'Him of whom
Moses, in the law, and the prophets, did write.'
Again ; the apostle teaches, ' that they should seek
the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and
find him, though he be not far from every one of us.'
It is made our duty to seek, and pray, and look to
God, that he may do for us what we are unable to
do for ourselves. We cannot change our own hearts,
but we can pray to God to change them. We cannot
pardon our sins, but we can pray to God for pardon.
We cannot create the spirit of Christianity in our
own hearts, but we can seek for it in the way God
directs — by faith — and find it. Hence we are com
1842.] GEEAT FALL OF SNOW. 581
manded, ' Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and
ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto
you.' 'But seek ye first the kingdom of God.'
' Come unto me— and I wiU give you rest.' ' Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ;
for I am God, and there is none else.' "
The retiirns this year stiU indicate title wide-spread
and growing prosperity of the Church. There was
an increase of sixty thousand j^ne hundred and
eighty-three members, making a grand total of nine
hundred and thirteen thousand nine hundred and one.
The number of travelling preachers was four thousand
and forty-four, increase one hundred and seventy nine;
number of local preachers seven thousand one hun-
dred and forty-four, increase seven hundred and fifty-
one.
For the benefit of his health. Bishop Hedding had
removed his residence from Lansingburgh to Saratoga
Springs ; and in the use of the mineral waters of this
place he found for a time sensible advantage.
The latter part of the winter of 1842-3 was remark-
able for a great fall of snow, which for a time stopped
all travelling. The engines upon the railroad could
not make their way through it, and the highways
were completely blocked up. Owing to the extreme
cold, this state of things continued for several weeks.
In the meantime, it became necessary for Bishop
Hedding to leave for the Philadelphia Conference
Finding there was no immediate prospect of a pas-
sage by railroad or by stage, he employed a vigor-
582 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [18t2.
ous and determined man, with two powerful horses
and a sleigh, to take him through to Troy. In mak-
ing this passage of about thirty miles, they were
sometimes compelled to plough through snow-banks
of great height ; sometimes they got around them by
crossing the fields or passing through the woods ; and
sometimes they found the snow packed hard enough
to bear up the horses. The driver was often com-
pelled to leave th»sleigh, and break away and shovel
out the snow from before the horses, and thus work
them through places that would otherwise have been
impassable. The cold was intense, and the keen north
wind whistled and roared over the hills and through
the trees, often filling the air with darkening clouds of
snow. Bishop Hedding was no man to turn back ;
and in spite of every obstacle the distance was at
length accomplished, to the astonishment of those
who knew the difficulties in the way.
He presided this year over the Philadelphia Con-
ference, which met at Philadelphia, April 5th ; the
New-Jersey, which met at Trenton, April 26th ; the
New-York, at New-York, May lYth ; the Providence,
at Warren, June 7th ; the New-England, at Boston,
June 28th; and the Maine, at Bath, July 19th,
Bishop Morris was with him at all these conferences,
and shared in the labours and responsibilities of his
work.
While at the Philadelphia Conference, the sad
intelligence of the death of Bishop Eoberts was
received. At the request of the conference, he
1843.1 DEATH OF BISHOP BOBEETS. 583
preached a sermon on the occasion from Acts xi, 24.:
" For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost,
and of faith : and much people was added unto the
Lord." Subsequently the same discourse was, at their
request, delivered before the l^ew- Jersey, New-York,
Providence, and Maine Conferences. Each of these
conferences passed a vote requesting its publication ;
but, owing to his other pressing engagements, he did
not find time to prepare it for the- press.
The death of Bishop Eoberts affected him deeply.
They were mutually and strongly attached to each
other. Bishop Eoberts was his senior in age by two
years, but his junior in the ministry by one year.
He had been elected to the episcopal office in 1816,
Bishop Hedding eight years later. For nineteen
years had they been associated together in the
episcopate. He was a man of great purity of
character, of great simplicity of manners, and of
unwavering zeal and devotedness in the cause of
his Lord and Master. We need not say more, as a
well-written memoir of his useful life has been pre-
pared by our venerable friend and associate, Kev. Dr.
Elliott, and published by the Western Book Concern
in a neat 12mo. volume of four hundred and eight
pages. His contemporaries say of him : " He was a
faithful and unflinching servant of the Church, who
counted not his own life dear so that he might finish his
course with joy, and the ministry he had received of
the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of
God. Bishop Eoberts was a man of good natural
25*
584 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1843.
parts, and he had accumulated a rich store of various
knowledge. As a preacher, he was clear and forcible
in the presentation of trath, and often truly eloquent.
As a superintendent, he was discriminating, affable,
kind, and conciliating, yet firm and flecided. He
visited the Churches, and preached the gospel of
Christ in all the states of the Union, and has left be-
hind him much fruit of his abundant labours. He
was able to attend to his great work until within a few
weeks previous to his death. He died as he had lived,
in the faith of Christ, with the certain hope of eternal
life, and in love and peace with all mankind. His
sanctified spirit has gone home to God, while the
earthly tenement awaits in the grave the final resur-
rection of the just. He was eminently 'a good man,
and fall of faith and of the Holy Ghost.' "
Bishop Hedding's circuit of the eastern conferences,
this year, afforded him great satisfaction. He found
both preachers and people gradually recovering from
the effects of the agitations and excitements that had
existed among them during several previous years.
Peaceable sessions were enjoyed at all these confer-
ences, except some few trial cases of preachers in-
volved in MiUerism. Several preachers withdrew
from, the connexion, — among them were Orange
Scott, Lucius C. Matlack, Cyrus Prindle, Shipley "W.
Wilson, and others who had been prominent in the
ultra-abolition movement; but these withdrawals
occasioned little excitement, having for the most
part taken place prior to the sessions of their respec-
1843.] CAEB OF THE MI8SI0NAHT WOEK, 585
tive conferences. Indeed the public mind was pretty-
well prepared for them, as such a result had been re-
garded as not only probable, but almost inevitable for
several years. It is gratifying to notice that, notwith-
standing these withdrawals, each of the conferences
reported an increase of members, showing that the
course of Methodism was yet onward.
As he returned from the Maine Conference, he
paid a visit to his old home at Lynn, Massachusetts.
From this place, under date of August 4th, he wrote
to Mrs. Hedding: "I am tarrying here a few days,
visiting among our old friends. I am yet tired, on
account of the labours of the conferences. I feel aU
the time as though I wanted to lie down upon the
floor and go to sleep. In other respects my health
is good. This poor body must soon fall imder the
tremendous burdens it has borne for forty-two years ;
but the unworthy spirit hopes for eternal life through
the boundless mercy of God in Jesus Christ the
Saviour."
Later in the season he accompanied Bishop "Waugh,
who was at that time in poor health, to Yates, in
Western New-York, where they met the Genesee
Conference on the 30th of August.
During this year, also, he had great responsibility
and great care with reference to the appointments
for the foreign missionary work. This responsibility
was frequently put upon- him ; and the Missionary
Board at ISTew-York always found him a wise coim-
jellor and a devoted ft-iend to the cause, giving liber-
586 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1844.
ally of his means, and being unsparing in his exer-
tions for its promotion.
During November of this year he removed from
Saratoga to Poughkeepsie, being a place more eli-
gibly located, and affording him greater facilities for
his work. Here he continued to reside, revered and
beloved by all who knew him, till he finished his
earthly career.
The year had been one of unprecedented pros-
perity, so far as the ingathering of members into the
Church was concerned. A membership of one mil-
lion sixty-eight thousand five htmdred and twenty-
five, being an increase of one hundred and fifty-
four thousand six hundred and twenty-four, was re-
ported. The whole number of travelling preachers
was four thousand two hundred and eighty-six, in-
crease two hundred and forty-two ; whole number
of local preachers, seven thousand seven hundred and
thirty, increase five hundred and eighty-six.
In the spring of 1844, Bishop Hedding assisted
Bishop Morris at the 'Philadelphia and New- Jersey
Conferences, which met respectively on the 3d and
the 18th of April. This brings us to the General
Conference of 1844.
1844.T GENERAL OONFEEENOE. 687
CHAPTER XVm.
SIXTH QUADRENNIAL OF EPISCOPAL LABOUR.
General ConferencS of 1844— Representation — Slavery Agitation — Tlie
Harding Case — Case of Bishop Andrew — Intensity of Feeling excited
— Proposition of tlie Bishops to suspend Action — Objections in the
Minds of Northern Delegates — Bishop Hedding withdraws his Name —
Assigns his Reasons — Remarks of Bishops Wangh and Morris — The
Communication laid on the Table— Passage of Finley's Resolution —
Eventual Separation of the Southern Conferences — Resolution relating
to Bishop Bedding's Labours — Election and Consecration of Bishops
Hamline and Janes — Close of the Session — Conference Labours —
Changed Views of Brethren alienated in the Abolition Controversy —
Invitation to fix his Residence again in Kew-England — Conference La-
bours in 18i5 — Death of three Ministers — Action of the Bishops in
Relation to giving Bishop Andrew work — Bishop Soule calls Bishop
Andrew out — His Allusion to his Colleagues — Southern Organization
completed — Bishops Soule and Andrew connected with it — Action of
the Bishops remaining in the Methodist Episcopal Church — Conference
Labours in 1816 — A Scene in the New-York Conference — Church Diffi-
culties in Relation to John N. Maffitt — Question of Jurisdiction — Bishop
Hedding's Decision — Animadversions upon that Decision — General
Conference approves it — Church Statistics — Spring of 1847 — New-
England Conference — Address on the Occasion of the Death of George
Pickering and Joel Steele — Further Labours — Providence Conference
in 1848. •
The General Conference of 1844 met in the city of
New- York on, as usual, the first day of May. It was
composed of one hundred and eighty delegates, rep-
resenting thirty-three annual conferences, as fol-
lows:— ^New-York, eleven; Providence, four; New-
England, five ; Maine, seven ; New-Hampshire, eight;
Troy, seven; Black Kiver, four; Oneida, seven;
Genesee, eight ; Erie, five ; Pittsburgh, seven ; Ohio,
588 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1844.
eight; North Ohio, five; Michigan, four; Indiana,
eight; Eock Eiver, four; Illinois, five; Missouri,
four; Kentucky, six; Holston, three; Tennessee,
four ; Memphis, four ; Arkansas, three ; Texas, two ;
Mississippi, four ; Alabama, four ; Georgia, six ;
South OaroHna, five ; North Carolina, three ; Vir-
ginia, four; Baltimore, ten; Philadelphia, six, and
New-Jersey, five. Bishops Soule, Hedding, Andrew,
Waugh, and Morris, were present. The conference
was opened by Bishop Soule, who, by the death of
Bishop Eoberts, had now become senior bishop of
the Methodist Episcopal Church.
We shall detail the proceedings of this General
Conference only so far as may be necessary to
present, in a clear light, any incidents pertaining to
the personal history or illustrative of the character
of the subject of our narrative. The main topic in
the conference at the beginning, middle, and end, was
slavery and anti-slavery. The subject came before
the conference in a new form, and one that precluded
the possibility of evasion or postponement. In the
first place, a member of the Baltimore Conference,
Eev. F. A. Harding, came before the body with an
appeal from his conference, which had suspended him
from his ministerial standing for refusing to manumit
certain slaves which came into his possession by
marriage. The case occupied the attention of the
General Conference three or four days; able and
eloquent speeches were made on both sides, and an
unusual interest excited. The decision was in favour
1844.] CASE OF BISHOP ANDREW. 589
of sustaining tHe action of the Baltimore Conference,
by a vote of one- hundred and seventeen to fifty -six.
This decision was received with intense gratification
throughout all the northern portion of the Church ; but
it gave great umbrage at the South, where the preva-
lent theory was that the holding of slaves in the slave
states should not constitute any bar or impediment
to any grade of ministerial office in the Church.
The second and more serious aspect in which the
subject came before the body, resulted from the
connexion of one of the bishops — the Kev. James
O. Andrew — with slavery, he having become con-
nected with it first by inheritance, and afterward by
marriage. The revelation of these facts produced a
profound and painful sensation. In other instances,
where the subject of slavery or anti-slavery came
before this or preceding General Conferences, there
had always been some mode by which the matter
could be adjusted to the satisfaction of the great
body of the conference and of the Church, and yet
so as to avoid sectional diflferences. But now a
distinct issue was made between the ITorth and
the South. For the North to yield, and to give up
the principle which had always been preserved
inviolate from the organization of the- Church,
namely, that the episcopacy should be kept free
from any taint of slavery, would have been not
only disastrous to the Church in aU the free states,
but also, in their judgment, an unwarrantable sacri-
fice of moral principle. On the other hand, the
590 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1844.
South, though they had yielded in former years when
only the election of men to the episcopal office was
concerned, were now equally strong in their convic-
tions that for them to yield to the deposition of a
bishop, because he had become a slaveholder, would
be disastrous to the Church in the slaveholding
states. In fact, they had come to a point where
they must either boldly assert, or forever surrender,
the principle long maintained by most of them, that
the mere fact of slaveholding should constitute no
impediment to any official station in the Church.
It would be scarcely possible to depict the inten-
sity of feeling that existed. The wisest men saw the
dark cloud gathering over the prospects of a united
Church, but they saw no way to avert the coming
storm. Prayer and fasting, deep and earnest con-
sultation were had, and yet no lighting up of the
dark horizon was seen. The subject had occupied
the attention of the General Conference, more or
less, for thirteen sessions, and a motion was pending,
expressive of the sense of that body, that Bishop
Andrew should desist from the duties of his office
so long as the impediment of his connexion with
slavery remained. The previous question had been
moved, but failed from not obtaining a two-thirds^
vote. At this crisis Bishop Hedding, who was in
the chair, suggested that the conference intermit
its usual afternoon session, and thus allow the bishops
time to consult together, with the hope that they
might be able to present a plan for adjusting the
1844,] PKOPOBITION OF THE BISHOPS. 591
diflficTilties with which they were environed. "The
suggestion," says the journal of the day, "was
received with general and great cordiality; and, on
motion, the discussion of the pending resolution was
postponed until the next morning."
The day following Bishop "Waugh presented a
communicatiqp from the bishops, stating that it was
their most deliberate conviction that a decision of
the pending question, whether affirmatively or nega-
tively, under existing circumstances, would most
extensively disturb the peace and harmony of the
Church; they therefore unanimously recommended
the postponement of farther action in the case of
Bishop Andrew until the ensuing General Confer-
ence. They stated that such a disposition of the
episcopal work could be made as to employ Bishop
Andrew in those portions of the work only where
his connexion with slavery would be no detriment
to his perso'nal acceptability to the preachers and
people. They further stated, that should the embar-
rassments in the case of Bishop Andrew not be
removed before the next General Conference, that
body, constituted as it would be of delegates fresh
from the annual conferences, and elected after all
the facts were known, would be better qualified to
adjudicate the case wisely and discreetly. And it is
but just to add, that the bishops, in making this pro-
position, felt assured — perhaps had been assured —
that all impediments in the way of Bishop Andrew,
growing out of his relation to slavery, would be
NN
592 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1844.
speedily removed if the case at the present stage
of proceedings could be di'opped.
But in the minds of the northern delegates there
were insuperable difficulties opposed to the suspen-
sion of the matter. To drop their proceedings at
the present stage, and without any pledge from
Bishop Andrew that he would relieve himself from
his disability, would be a surrender of the great
principle to which they felt conscience-bound,
namely, that which excluded slaveholding from
the episcopacy. They further knew that the ques-
tion could not te left open, and become a subject
of exciting discussion and controversy among the
people and in the annual conferences for the next
four years, without immense injury to the Church.
The question was laid over from Friday morning to
Saturday morning; but the more it was canvassed
among the members, the more strongly did the
above views prevail.
Bishop Hedding, as well as some of the other
bishops, had signed the paper as a dernier resort, and
with a faint hope that it might be instrumental in
averting the impending calamity from the Church ;
but when he learned the feelings and views of the
northern delegates with reference to it, and the oppo-
sition that would be made to its passage, he became
convinced that it would be a source of discord rather
than a minister of peace in the Church. Under this
conviction, when the subject came up the next morn-
ing-T-having first privately consulted his colleagues,
1844.1 LAID ON THE TABLE. 593
and finding they were not willing to withdraw the
paper — ^he arose and addressed the conference, with-
drawing his name from the document. , He said,
" he had not been argued or persuaded into signing
it, but had attached his name of his own free will
and accord, because he thought it would be a peace-
measure ; but facts had come to his knowledge since
which led him to beUeve that such would not be the
case. Again : he thought it would be adopted with-
out debate ; but he was convinced now that it would
give rise to much discussion, and therefore he wished
to withdraw his name from the paper on the table."
Bishops "Waugh, Morris, and Soule followed with a
few remarks. Bishop "Waugh stated that he con-
sidered the proposed measure as a last resort to pro-
mote the future peace of the Church ; but he had not
been very sanguine upon the subject, and if it failed
he should not be disappointed. Bishop Morris said
he wished his name to stand on that paper, as a testi-
mony that he had done what he could to preserve
the unity and peace of the Church. The communi-
cation of the bishops was subsequently laid upon the
table, by a vote of ninety-five to eighty-four. The
pending resolution was then passed, by a vote of
one hundred and ten to sixty-eight. Against this
action the southern delegates presented their solemn
Protest, which was entered upon the journals of the
conference. Subsequently, on the representations of
some of the southern delegates, a committee of nine
was appointed, who reported a Plan of Separation, to
594 LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING. [1844.
take effect on receiving the sanction of the annual
conferences, if the southern brethren found it impos-
sible to retain their ecclesiastical connection with us.
The final result was the dismemberment of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, — after the lapse of
sixty years from its organization, — and the organiza-
tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Bishop Soule eventually separated himself from
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and became con-
nected with the southern organization. By this
means Bishop Hedding became senior bishop of the
Methodist Episcopal Church. Before the adjourn-
ment of the General Conference, a resolution was
passed, in view of his infirm health, releasing him
from the performance of any more labour than in
his own judgment he should be able to perform.
The General Conference resolved on the election
of two additional bishops. On the third ballot, Rev.
L. L. Hamline and Rev. E. S. Janes were elected
bishops — the foi-mer having received one hundred
and two, and the latter ninety-nine votes out of one
hundred and seventy-seven, the whole number cast.
They were solemnly inducted into the episcopal office
by the usual services, and by the imposition of the
hands of Bishops Soule, Hedding, "Waugh, and Mor-
ris, on the 10th of June.
This session of the General Conference wiU ever
be regarded as one of the most memorable in the
history of the Church. It was protracted through
the unprecedented period of forty days, — much of
1844.] RECEPTION IN NEW-ENGLAND. 695
the time holding two sessions each day, — and finally
adjourned a little after midnight on the eleventh of
June.
After the close of the General Conference, Bishop
Hedding resumed his labours in the annual confer-
ences. He met the New- York, at Brooklyn, June
13th; the Providence, at Newport, Khode Island,
July 3d ; the New-England, in company with Bishop
Janes, at Westfield, July 24th ; and the Maine, at
Bangor, August 14th. During this year he also
visited many of the Churches in different sections,
especially in his old field of labour ; and these visits
were very refreshing to his own soul. On this epis-
copal tour, also, he was greatly rejoiced to witness
the gradual healing of party feeling, and the restora-
tion of brotherly affection among many who had be-
come alienated in the ultra-abolition excitement. He
was also greatly cheered at finding the Church re-
covering from the shock occasioned by the Millerite
delusion which had swept over the land.
Many brethren in New-England had become es-
tranged in then." feelings from himself, because they
thought he leaned too much toward pro-slaveryism
in his efforts to save the Church from distraction and
dismembei*ment. But most of them had now become
convinced of the wisdom and propriety of his course;
and many of them had the magnanimity to express
to him the change which had been wrought in their
views and feelings.
We have already noticed his removal from New-
596 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1846.
England, and the causes of it. During the present
year, the preachers stationed in Boston and vicinity
united in a formal request for him to return and
make New-England his future home. They say that,
in this urgent request, they but " express the senti-
ments of all New-England Methodists — both preach-
ers and people." These manifestations were pecu-
liarly grateful to the feelings of Bishop Hedding ;
but he felt that it was too late iu life for him to think
of another removal.
In the spring of 1845 he assisted Bishop "Waugh
at the session of the Baltimore Conference, which
commenced on the twelfth of March. He also met
the Troy Conference, at Schenectady, May 7th;
assisted Bishop Waugh at the New- York, immedi-
ately after; the Black River, at Mexicoville, July
9th ; the Oneida, at Utica, July 30th ; and the Gen-
esee, at Buffalo, August 20th.
During the spring of this year he was deeply
affected by the death of three ministers — with two
of whom he had been long and intimately acquainted.
The first of these was the Rev. James Covel, who
died while the Troy Conference was in session. He
had been pastor of the State-street Church, in Al-
bany, and in that church Bishop Hedding preached
his funeral sermon, to an immense audience, from
2 Tim. iv, 6-8. The second was the Eev. Samuel
Cochran, at whose funeral he was called to preach,
in Poughkeepsie, a few days after the occasion just
mentioned. He had known Mr. Cochran from his
1846.] BISHOP ANDEEW'B RELATION. 597
youth, even before he was a preacher, and had been
intimately acquainted with him during the whole
period of his ministry, which commenced only three
years later than hig own. The very day Mr. Coch-
ran's funeral had been attended, he received intelli-
gence of the death of the Eev. Timothy Merritt — an
aged and excellent minister, and a long and well-tried
friend of the bishop. His language, on the reception
of this news, was: "These three brethren have just
gone to heaven. Their warfare is over. I must fight
a little longer. Lord, help me to conquer!"
Growing out of the relation of Bishop Andrew to
the system of slavery, and the consequent action of •
the General Conference in his case, a new controversy
had sprung up in the Church. Into the merits of that
controversy — ^the principles involved, or its final re-
sults— we are not called to enter. But as one of its
incidents has occasioned some animadversion upon
the action of the bishops, and especially upon the
action of Bishop Hedding, it demands of us a passing
notice.
Immediately after the action of the General Con-
ference in this case. Bishop Andrew returned to his
home in the south. After he had left ISTew-Tork, he
addressed a note to Bishop Soule, assigning the rea-
sons for his departure — stating that he did not know
whether the bishops would feel authorized, in view
of the action of the General Conference, to assign him
a place among them for the next four years. This
letter contained neither a request nor a refiisal to take
598 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1845.
liis regular appointments. In this state of affairs, when
the bishops came to meet for the arrangement of their
episcopal laboni' for the four years, a difference of
opinion was found to exist as to the propriety of
assigning to Bishop Andrew his appropriate share of
episcopal service. The majority of them believed that
it was the design of the General Conference to devolve
on him the responsibility of determining whether, in
view of their action, he would " desist" from the ex-
ercise of the episcopal office, or whether he would not;
and therefore they did not feel themselves wan-anted
in calling him out. Under this view. Bishops Hed-
ding, "Waugh, Morris, and Hamline appended their
names to the following document: " It is our opinion,
in regard to the action of the late General Conference
in the case of Bishop Andrew, that it was designed
by that body to devolve the responsibility of the ex-
ercise of the functions of his office exclusively on
himself In the absence of Bishop Andrew at the
time of arranging the Plan of Episcopal Visitation
for the ensuing four years, and he not having notified
us of his desire or purpose with respect to it, we
should regard ourselves as acting in contravention of
the expressed will of the General Conference if we
apportioned to Bishop Andi-ew any definite portion
thereof. But if he shall hereafter make a written
application for a portion of the general oversight, we
should feel ourselves justified in assigning it to him."
In consequence of this, the name of Bishop An-
drew was left out of the regular Plan of Episcopal
1846.] BISHOPS SOULE AND ANDKEW. 599
Visitation for the ensuing four years. The bishops,
however, took the precaution to prepare a second plan,
including his name, which was to take effect upon
Bishop Andrew's making a " written application" for
his portion of the episcopal oversight. The object of
this was to leave the responsibility of determining the
question precisely where the General Conference had
placed it. They also provided that should such " writ-
ten application" be made, the senior bishop might
cause the second plan to be published in connexion
with such application, that the reason for the sub-
stitution of the second plan might accompany its
publication. This action was eminently wise and
prudential.
Thus matters stood, when Bishop Soule, in the
fall of 1844, on his individual responsibility, called
out Bishop Andrew, by inviting him to accompany
him in hif tour of the southern conferences, and assist
him in his episcopal work. In his letter to 'Bishop
Andrew, Bishop Soule holds forth the following lan-
guage: "It has often been asked, through thejptiblic
journals and otherwise, why Bishop Andrew was not
assigned his regular portion of the episcopal work for
the enstdng four years, on the Plan of Visitation
formed by the bishops, and published in the oflBcial
papers. It d&vol/oes on the vncyovity of my colleagues
m the episcopacy, (if, indeed, we have any episcopacy,)
rather thorn on me, to answer this question^
This statement elicited inquiries through the public
journals, "WiU the bishops explain?" It also pro-
■• 26
600 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1845.
voked not a Kttle animadversion. These inquiries,
as well as a subsequent communication from Bishop
Soule, elicited from Bishops Heddiug, "Waugh, Morris,
and Hamline a plain statement of the case as we have
given it. At first a few extremists demurred at this
action ; but it was so manifestly in accordance with
the design and action of the General Conference, that
the sober judgment of all intelligent men soon came
to approve of it ; and, at the present day, a plain
statement of the facts is all the vindication their action
demands.
During the year 1845, the Convention of Delegates
from the conferences in the slaveholding states was
held in Louisville, Ky. That convention organized
the aimual conferences in the slaveholding states
"into a distinct ecclesiastical connexion, separate
from the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal
Church," and solemnly declared that sucli jurisdic-
tion was now " entrnhj dissolmed." They also decreed
that the "separate ecclesiastical organization" should
" be known by the style and title of the Methodist
Episocypal Church, South." Under these circum-
stances, the five bishops remaining in the Methodist
Episcopal Church, at a regular Meeting, came to the
unanimous conclusion that they would not be justified
in presiding in any of the conferences thus separated
from the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Thenceforward their action was conform-
able to this resolution.
It may be well, in this connection, to place upon
1845.] DIVISION OF THE BOOK OOMOEEN. 601
record the judgment of Bishop Hedding in the mat-
ter of dividing the capital of the Book Concern with
the Southern organization. In a letter addressed to
Bishop Hamline, under date of December 8th, 1847,
he says: "I am decidedly of the opinion that the
General Conference has no constitutional authority
to yield to the jclaims of the South, and set off to
them a portion of our book interest. The General
Conference, without the concurrent act of the annual
conferences, cannot set off part of the 'produce,'
much less part of the stock of the Book Concern.
To do either the one or the other would be a direct
violation of the constitution, and would forfeit all
confidence of the Church in th^ wisdom of that body.
If anything is done in future, in relation to a division
of the Book Concern, it must be by a vote of two-
thirds of the General Conference, and of three-fourths
of all the votes in the annual conferences, taken in
the aggregate. Whether such a*vote of the General
Conference and of the annual conferences, directly
on the question of the division of the Book Concern,
would be constitutional or not, is a matter of differ-
ence of opinion. On that question I am not prepared
to give an opinion. I can see but one constitutional
way in which anything can be done on that subject;
that is, for the next General Conference to pass a
two-third vote recommending to the annual con-
ferences to concur in suspending the sixth restriction,
for one object and only one; that is, to give the
General Conference authority to give the Church
602 LIFE AND Times of HEDDIKG. [1846.
South a given portion of the Book Concern ; then, if
the constitutional votes can be obtained in the annual
conferences, the succeeding General Conference may
set off a portion."
In 1846 Bishop Hedding attended the following
conferences, namely: Baltimore, at Baltimore, March
11th ; Philadelphia, at Philadelphia, April Ist ; New-
Jersey, at Newark, April 22d ; New- York, at New-
York, May 13th ; and also the Oneida and Genesee,
in company with Bishop Janes, the former at Au-
burn, July 22d, and the latter at Lyons, Sep-
tember 2d.
The session of the New- York Conference, this
year, was one of extraordinary labour, as well as of
extraordinary length — 'being continued fifteen days.
A very unusual number of trials occurred; and there
was also unusual difficulty in fixing the stations of
the preachers. There were so many special applica-
tions, so many committees, so many petitions, and so
many remonstrances — ^that the bishop began to fear
that it was impossible to give general satisfaction in
the appointments. When he came to the close of
the conference, when the church was crowded with
the members of the conference and of the Churches
in the city, the bishop stated to them the difficulties
he had experienced in making the appointments ; he
also expressed his apprehension that they would not
all be satisfactory to either preachers or people ; but
he had done the best he could. He then expatiated
upon the importance of the itinerancy, the honour
1846.] A CLOSING CONFEEENOE SCENE. 603
God had put upon it in making it instrumental in
building up and extending the Church, and in saving
the souls of men: "in saving our souls," exclaimed
he. " Shall this itinerancy be sustained ?" he then
inquired. An earnest affirmative response came up
from both preachers and people. He then briefly
alluded to the indispensable elements of an effective
itinerancy, and the spirit that must animate both
preachers and people where it is maintained. " And
now, brethren," said he, addressing himself to the
members of the conference, "you who want to pre-
serve our itinerancy, and will receive your appoint-
ments and go to them as true itinerant Methodist
preachers, and labour for the salvation of the souls
of men — me up" Instantly the whole conference
were on their feet. Then, turning to the great body
of laymen who were present, he said: "Tou who
want to keep up this itinerancy in the Church and
wiU receive your preachers and try to labour in love
and fellowship with them, say, Amen." One hearty
and prolonged '■'■ Amern!'' arose from every part of the
vast assembly. "Now," continued the bishop, "I
hope the preachers will be a great blessing to yon
and to sinners in your congregations; and that
you will love and pray for them, and cooperate with
them with all your hearts." The appointments were
then announced, and the assembly dismissed. As we
retired from the house we heard a gentleman, who
had been drawn into the assembly from curiosity, say
to his friend: "Wasn't that a grand stroke of gene-
604: LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1846.
ralsMp ?" The moral influence of that scene, we are
certain, will not soon be lost from the minds of many
— -both preachers and people — who witnessed it.
During the fall of this year, and the winter of
1846-7, Bishop Hedding was called to give an official
decision in the celebrated trial ease, or rather at-
tempted trial case, of the Eev. John Newland Maffitt.
For some years there had been reports prejudicial to
the Christian and ministerial character of Mr. Maffitt,
in the city of New-Tork and vicinity ; but as he was
in a distant part of the country, and was travelling
from place to place, no opportunity for investigation
had occurred. In the fall of 1846 Mr. Maffitt came
to the city, bearing a regular certificate of his rela-
tion to the Church as a local elder, and on the strength
of that became connected with one of the city
charges. Learning these facts, the preachers' meet-
ing appointed three of their number as a committee
to have the reports investigated. The committee
found occasion to prefer charges of immoral and un-
christian conduct against Mr. Maffitt, and notified
his pastor of the existence of such charges. Subse-
quently Mr. Maffitt obtained certain papers from his
pastor, and continued to evade the trial of the com-
plaint against him, on the ground that jurisdiction
where he first joined had ceased. This state of
things continued till the ITth of December, when
he was received, on the strength of the papers
in his possession, as a local elder in the Centenary
Methodist Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, by the Rev.
1846.1 THE MAFFITT CASE. 605
John C. Green, pastor of the Church. Mr. Green
proposed to have an investigation of the reports
against Mr. MafBtt in his charge, and so notified the
committee who had been appointed to prefer charges
against him, and others interested in the case. The
committee, believing that Mr. Green had received
Mr. Maffitt on insuflScient authority, and therefore
had no jurisdiction in the case ; and also fearing that
a fair, full, and impartial trial before a proper com-
mittee would not be had under such circumstances,
declined appearing in the proposed trial, but ap-
pealed to Bishop Hedding to stay proceedings in the
case, and to determine the question of jurisdiction.
Bishop Hedding first wrote an advisory letter to
Mr. Green, but was soon authentically apprized that
he still persisted in trying the case. Whereupon
he wrote a mandatory letter, as follows : " I request
you to stay all proceedings in his [Maffitt's] case,
until the question of jurisdiction is legally settled."
At his earliest convenience. Bishop Hedding had an
interview with the parties, and investigated the facts
in the case. After describing the certificate upon
which Mr. Maffitt was received into the Asbury
Church by Kev. S. Martindale, the pastor, and
showing its si^fficiency, he proceeds to discuss the
question of present jurisdiction, as foUows : —
" On the application of the Eev. Mr. Maffitt, by
a friend, Eev. Mr. Martindale returned to him the
before-described certificate, having written upon it
the following words: — 'Correct. S. Maktindale,'
606 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1846.
His was one of the papers on which Mr. Green
admitted Mr. Maffitt to membership in the Cen-
tenary Methodist Episcopal Church, Brooklyn.
"This certificate, when it had procured Mr.
Maffitt's membership as a local elder in the Asbury
Methodist Episcopal Church, N. T., was of no farther
authority or use. What Mr. Martindale has written
upon the certificate does not renew its authority,
for it is without date, and is not signed as preachei
in charge, and does not assert any of the facts neces-
sary to show that Mr. Maffitt was a local elder in
the church of which Mr. Martindale had charge, con-
sequently was stiU of no authority after he had written
those words upon it, and could not dismiss Mr. Maffitt
from the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, New-
York, or give him membership elsewhere.
" The next paper upon which Mr. Green received
Mr. Maffitt was the following: —
" 'This is to certify that the Kev. John IST. Maffitt,
a local elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church, has
spent several weeks with me in my station in the
city of ITew-Tork, having placed in my hands a
regular certificate of his good standing in Auburn,
in this state, as a Ideal elder in the Methodist Epis-
copal Church. Du:png his stay with me he has
laboured with great acceptance and usefulness.
(Signed) " ' S. Maetindale, Pastor.'
" This paper asserts that Mr. Maffitt was a local
elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church, that he
1846.] THE BISHOP'S PEOISION. 607
was in good standing* in Anbum, as proved by bis
pertificate, and bad laboured several weeks in the
Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, New-:Tork,
with great acceptance and usefulness; but does not
assert his membership as a local elder in the Asbury
Methodist Episcopal Ohiirch, or his official standing
in that Church at the time it was given, and is with-
out date, and* therefore was incompetent to dismiss
him from the .Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church,
or give him membership elsewhere.
" Another paper, presented by Mr. Green, as part
of the authority upon which he received Mr. Maffitt,
is the following ; — ■
" ' I certify that I have taken the name of Rev.
John N. Maffitt from the church books of the !N'or-
folk-street Methodist Episcopal Church, of which
I am pastor, and claim no jurisdiction over him.
(Signed) " ' S. Mabthtdale.'
" ' December 16, 1846.'
" This paper has none of the properties of a dis-
ciplinary certificate : it only proves that Mr. Martin-
dale had once received Mr. Maffitt, and that his
name had once been upon the church books of
the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church. Another
paper, on which Mr. Green relied for authority in
the case, was the following : —
" ' This is to certify that I called on E,ev. S. Mar-
tindale with a certificate of membership of the Eev.
J. N. Maffitt, signed by the presiding elder, by order
00 ■ 26*
608 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1846.
of the Auburn Quarterly-Meeting Conference, on the
day of l!^oveinber, 1846, in order that brother
Maffitt should unite himself with the Asbuiy Method-
ist Episcopal Church in Norfolk-street, and that
brother Martindale received said certificate, and
said that would do, and directed me to keep it, and
put brother Maffitt's name on my class-book. About
two weeks after, I called on brother Martindale, by
request of brother Maffitt, to ask for his certificate
of membership, as he wished to change his relation
from Norfolk-street to some other charge. He, ' said
Martindale,' asked me for the Auburn certificate.
I gave it him, and he wrote on it ' cojjcect,' and
signed his name, then gave it to me for brother
Maffitt, saying he was now at liberty to go where
he pleased, as he was no member there, and could
join anywhere.
(Signed) " ' Henet K. Pieeot.'
" This paper, also, in the first place, goes to prove
that Mr. Maffitt joined the Asbury Methodist Epis-
copal Church in ISTew-Tork. It does not show that
Mr. Maffitt was dismissed with a discipKnary cer-
tificate. Besides, such testimony is of no authority,
except when great distance, or some imcontroUable
circumstance renders it impracticable to obtain a
disciplinary certificate from the proper authority of
the Church.
" Further, all these papers upon which Mr. Maffitt's
transfer from Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church
1846.] _ FINALE OF THE MATTER. 609
to Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, Brooklyn,
is claimed, were given after the preacher furnish-
ing them was informed that cha, tee existed against
Mr. Maffitt.
'^fter being requested, as above stated, ' to inter-
fere in the case with' my 'official authority,' it
being inconvenient for me at the time to attend to
the business, I transferred it to Bishops Hamline and
Janes, as they were then in this city; but they
referred it back to me — the business thus devolving
on me. Now, therefore, it becomes my duty to
say, it is my judgment that, according to the rules
and usages of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the
Kev. John N. Maffitt is a local elder in the Asbury
Methodist Episcopal Church, iPTorfoIk-street, New-
York, and, consequently, that he cannot now be a
local elder in the Centenary Church, Brooklyn.
" Eluah Hedding."
"New-York, February 4<A, 1847."
To this decision Bishop Janes appended the fol-
lowing note : —
" I concur in the opinions of Bishop Hedding, as
expressed in the foregoing document.
" EDjurND S. Janes."
" New-Toek, February ith, 1847."
The finale of the matter, if our recollection serves
us, was, that by episcopal authority Mr. Maffitt was
left imder the jurisdiction of the Eev. S. Martindale,
and amenable to that quarterly conference as a local
610 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING._ [1846.
elder; but as lie persisted in repudiating said juris-
diction and amenability, the presiding elder of the
New-York District declared him vdthdrawn from the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
The decision of Bishop Hedding in this case was qgm-
mented upon with great severity by the friends of Mr.
Maffitt. They regarded it as a usurpation of episco-
pal authority. The case was discussed in such a form
in one of the public journals of the day, that, at the
ensuing- General Conference, Bishops Hedding and
Janes expressed the wish that it might be referred
to the Committee on Episcopacy. Accordingly the
reference was made. The committee, after investi-
gating the case, reported, —
" 1. That in the judgment of the committee, in the
decision of Bishops Hedding and Janes, in the case
of J. N. Maffitt, in deterauning the place of his mem-
bership, they acted entirely within the limits of their
episcopal jurisdiction, and in perfect accordance with
the discipline and usages of the Methodist Episcopal
Church.
" 2. That the circumstances in that case were such
as fully to justify and require their authoritative in-
terference."
The report in the case was adopted with great
unanimity.
The reaction after the MiUerite excitement was
unfavourable to the growth of the Church as to any
increase of members. At the close of 1845, while yet
the southern conferences were included in the returns,
1847.] DECREASE OF UEMBEESHIP. 611
it was foimd that there was a decrease of thirty-one
thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine in the mem-
bership. The membership of the Church then was
one million one hundred and thirty-nine thousand
five htmdred and eighty-seven ; ministers, four thou-
sand eight hundred and twenty-eight; local preachers,
eight thousand one hundred and one. At the close
of the present year there was a further decrease of
twelve thousand three hundred and forty-three re-
ported. The southern conferences having now with-
drawn, the statistics for the year were — members, six
hundred and forty-four thousand two hundred and
ninety-nine; ministers, three thousand five hundred
and eighty-two; and local preachers, four thousand
nine hundred and thirty-five.
About the last of February, in 1847, Bishop Hed-
ding left home to attend a meeting of the Board of
Bishops in Philadelphia, It had been his intention
afterward to be present at the session of the Baltimore
Conference ; but his health was so very feeble that he
relinquished the idea, and, after resting a few weeks
in Philadelphia, he returned home. He, however,
met the Providence Conference at Fall River, April
1st; and the New-England, at Lynn, April 28th.
His visit to the latter conference was made solemn to
him by the death of two of the old veterans of the
cross — George Pickering and Joel Steele. The for-
mer, at the time of his death, was the oldest effective
minister in the connexion. Bishop Hedding improved
the occasion by an address to the conference, at its
612 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINQ. [1847.
special request. While speaking of the Hgh Christian
and ministerial character of the dead, his sensibilities
were intensely aroused. At one time his thoughts
^ui-ned upon himself and his approaching change;
then he said, with much feeling, and with powerfiil
effect : " Brethren, I know I may be the next to go.
At all events I Tmist go soon ; and in view of it I turn
to my own heart and life, and discover so much frailty,
and so many infirmities, that I repeat the words of the
poet with deep feeling: —
' And can it be, thou heavenly King,
That thou should'st me to glory bring ?
Make me the partner of thy throne,
Deck'd with a never-fading crown ?' "
And then placing liis hands upon his hoary head, he
exclaimed, "0 that crown! Shall / ever wear it?
But I remember again it is written, ' This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
J esus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I
am chief,' then I cling to the atonement, and count
all my sufferings and privations as but drops; and
could there be such a thing as commencing life again,
with present experience, I would be an itwnercmb
preacher. I have no fears of being lost. Once I was
in bondage unto fear. Before my conversion I suf-
fered profound agony in anticipating the wrath of
God against my sins; but I have been saved. Breth-
ren, I do not believe I shall go to hell — Christ has
rescued me !" The address throughout was exceed-
ingly affecting, and made a profound impression.*
•* Report in Zion's Herald.
1847.] CLOSE OF THE SIXTH QUADEENNIAL. 613
He also attended tlie If ew-Hampshire Conference,
which met at Northfield, May 19th; the Vermont, at
Irasbnrg, June 9th; and the Maine, at Saco, June
30th. After making this tour of the New-England
Conferences, he says : " I find but here and there an
old preacher, who was here when I travelled in this
country. Most of them have ceased from their la-
bours. And* why am I spared? I feel that I am
under deep obligations to Providence and grace for
the numerous mercies that have crowned my poor life.
O that I may be thankful, and improve the privileges
of my few remaining days to the salvation of my soul
and to God's glory."
In the spring of 1848 Bishop Hedding met the
Providence Conference at New-London, April 5th;
and soon after left for the General Conference, which
was to assemble on the 1st of May, in liie city of
Pittsburgh.
614 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1848.
CHAPTEE XIX.
SEVENTH QUADRENIflAI, OJ EPISCOPAL lABOTTES
General Conference of 1848 — Bishop Heddlng requested to pupare some
Siographical Sketch of himself — His Views on the Pastorship of the
Methodist Episcopal Church — Appointed Delegate to the British Wes-
leyan Conference — Feeble Health — Rev". Manning Force accompanies
him — Revives an Acquaintance with an old Fi'iend — Sermon before the
New-Hampshire Conference — Visit on part of an old Circuit — Vermont
Conference at Barre — Maine and Bast Maine Conferences — Conferences
in 1849— The old Cambridge Circuit— The Bishop's Notes of Travel, &c.
— A strong Christian — His singulai* Death — Sunday Labours — Attends
the Funeral of Rev. J. A. Merrill — Sick — First failure in Twenty-five
Years to meet his Conferences — Travels in 1850-^ Remarks upon his
Notes of Travel — Views about Preaching — Comparison of Methodism
with the Former Time — Zeal of the Early Methodists — Class-meetings
— Novel case of proving the Mind — Compliment to a Sermon — Success
of Methodist Agencies.
The General Conference of 1848 assembled in the
city of Pittsburgh, on the first day of May. Bishops
Hedding, Waugh, Morris, Hamliae, and Janes were
present. The conference was composed of one hun-
dred and fifty-one delegates, representing twenty-
three annual conferences. Among these conferences
the representation was as follows: — ^Baltimore, eleven;
Philadelphia, seven ; New-Jersey, seven ; Provi-
dence, five ; New-England, six ; New- York, thirteen ;
New-Hampshire, four ; Troy, eight ; Vermont, three ;
Black River, five ; Pittsburgh, 8 ; Oneida, eight ;
Maine, eight; Erie, six; Eock River, five; North
Ohio, six; Genesee, nine; Ohio, ten; Iowa, two;
1848.1 T&E GENERAL CONFEEENCE. 616
North. Indiana, five; Michigan, five; Illinois, five;
and Indiana, five.
Bishop Hedding opened the conference by read-
ing a lesson from the Scriptures. An appropriate
hymn was then sung ; after which. Bishops "Waugh
and Morris led in prayer. The bishops presented
no formal address at the opening of the conference,
but af dijfferfent stages of its progress brought to the
attention of the body such matters as the interests
of the Church seemed specially to require. The
course of action in the conference was harmonious
and cordial almost beyond precedent.
In relation to Bishop Hedding, it was resolved,
in view of his age and bodily infirmities, that " he
consider himself at liberty to use his own discretion
as to the amount of episcopal or o£her pastoral
labour" he will perform during the coming four
years. He was also requested "to prepare his
biography for publication, including especially his
observations and opinions in relation to Methodism."
He was further " requested to prepare and publish,
or cause to be published at our Book Concern, his
views on the Pastorship of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in its various grades of class-leaders, preachers
in charge, presiding elders and bishops, with the
concurrence of his colleagues." The failing health
of the bishop, and finally his decease, prevented his
compliance with these requests. Had he been able
to prepare the work proposed in the last request, it
would have embodied an exposition of our economy
616 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDlliTG. [1848.
of inestimable value to the Churcli. Such a work,
emanating from a mind so clear and discriminating,
and after such profound study of our economy, and
such large and varied observation and experience
of its practical workings, would, no doubt, have left
its lasting impress upon every department of the
administration of the Church. But it was too late
in life, and too little physical energy and endurance
were left for him to accomplish it.
The conference also resolved imanimously to
request Bishop Hedding to visit the British Con-
ference at some time within the ensuing four years,
to reciprocate for himself and in behalf of that body,
and of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United
States of America, the fraternal salutations received
from that b5dy. With this request also, it was im-
possible for him to comply. He was now verging
toward the close of his long earthly career.
This General Conference was regarded with very
general and deep interest; and it assumed an im-
portance from its being the first succeeding the
organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church
South. Its deliberations were conducted with uni-
versal care and discretion, and the results attained
have tended powerfully to harmonize and strengthen
the Church. Its details belong to another depart-
ment of history.
During the latter part of the conference Bishop
Hedding was too feeble to be present at its sessions;
and at its close he found himself unable to endure
1848.] EETUEN FEOM PITTSBUEGH. 617
journeying with the delegates returning home, and
yet he was in siich an enfeebled condition that it was
not safe for him to journey alone. "While in this
condition," he says, "the Rev. Manning Force — an
old friend, and one who had many times shown me
kindness — ^remained to accompany me, and brought
me safe through as far as Philadelphia. We came
through by canal and railroad by the Juniata
route."
The bishop also gives the following incident con-
nected with his return: — "Unexpectedly on this
journey I feU in with another old and dear friend,
whose company and conversation were of great
interest to me — it was the Rev. Mr. Avery. He
had been for many years a local elder in the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and resided at Pitts-
burgh. He was a man of great wealth, and of
benevolence and liberality equal to his wealth.
Prior to the General Conference of 1828, and dur-
ing that conference I had made his house my home
when I was in Pittsburgh, and had received many
tokens of brotherly love at his hand; but after that
he had withdrawn from the Church, and connected
himself with the Methodist Protestant Society. At
the General Conference of 1848, I had not seen him
for twenty years, and supposed, from his having left
the old Church, he had became alienated from his
old friends. He now resided at Alleghany city, and
was living in princely style. He entertained a num-
ber of delegates during the session of the General
618 LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING. [1848.
Conference. One day he sent his carriage for me
to go over and dine with him. I rejoiced at the
opportunity of renewing my former acquaintance
with him. I found him the same brother Avery he
liad been twenty years before — differing in opinion,
to be sure, on some points of Church government,
but the same in doctrine, in spirit, in zeal for Christ,
in brotherly love, and in friendship to his former
brethren from whom he had separated. He and
brother Force and myself had a delightful journey
across the Alleghany Mountains. Our Christian
intercourse was mutually edifying, and our souls
were knit together in love."
At Philadelphia, Bishop Hedding parted with his
kind travelling companion, and continued his course
homeward alone. After recruiting his strength a
little, he went to Manchester, IST. H., where he met
the Kew-Hampshire Conference on the 2l8t of June.
He says of the session, " We had a pleasant, inter-
esting and profitable time. The Sabbath was a day
of special interest and of the manifestation of God's
power. The Methodists have a large church and a
flourishing society in the place. By the arrange-
ment I was designated to preach Sabbath morning.
The great size of the building, and the vastness of
the congregation, excited the apprehensions of many,
that I would not be able to make myself heard by
the multitude. I apprehended this myself; but
through the abundant mercy and grace of the
Redeemer, I was enabled to preach so- that all could
1848.] SCENES OF EARLY LABOTJK. 619
hear, being, as it then seemed to me, and as it has
since appeared, miraculously strengthened and blessed
in both soul and body." In this discourse the bishop
seemed to have renewed his age and his strength.
Many of the congregation gave evidence that God
was in his word ; and many of the preachers were
deeply affected. It was probably the last great effort
of Bishop Hedding.
The Sabbath after the close of this conference he
spent in Lebanon, on the western border of the
state. " Here," said he, " I had been circuit preacher
forty-four years ago, and presiding elder forty-one.
In those days the only place in which we coxdd
worship in Lebanon was a small school-house, and
that on week days, with but few members and few
hearers. Such were the prejudices against the
Methodists then, that few would countenance them
in any way. But, " behold, what has God wrought !"
We have now a large, flourishing, and prosperous
society ; a good house of worship, and a good station.
Most of the members I had formerly known were
dead; but I found two or three who wept at the
remembrance of former times. Here, in company
with two or three other preachers, I spent a delight-
ful Sabbath."
From Lebanon he was carried by one of the
preachers in his carriage across the country to Barre,
Vt., where the Vermont conference commenced on
the 5th of July. The session of the conference
passed off delightfully. Bishop Hedding seemed to
620 LIFE AND TIMES OP HEDDING. [1848.
feel that he was visiting his brethren for the last
time. Of this place, he also says,' — "Here I had
been circuit preacher in 1805 — forty-three years ago.
Most of my old friends had gone to 'Abraham's
bosom.' But a few remained; many of them, who
were young men when I was on the circuit, I knew
now because they looked as their departed fathers
did forty-three years before." The preaching on the
Sabbath at this conference was in the open air, and
Bishop Hedding found it impossible, in his enfeebled
state of health, to preach loud enough to make the
vast multitude hear. "But," said he, "my failure
was made up by another preacher of strong voice
and powerful spirit, who preached in the afternoon,
so that the whole people could hear : so that, on the
whole, we had a profitable Sabbath."
After this conference closed, he went, by the way
of Boston, to Portland, Me., where he met the Maine
Conference on the 19th of July; then to Bangor,
on the Penobscot Eiver, where he met the East
Maine Conference on the 2d of August. This
closed his episcopal labour in the conferences for
the year. He returned home by easy stages, and
was pretty much confined there, on account of his
feeble health, through the ensuing winter.
In the spring of 1849 Bishop Hedding met his
colleagues at Newark, New-Jersey, on the 9th of
April. Afterward he assisted Bishop Hamline at
the New-England Conference, which met at Spring-
field, April 25th; also Bishop Morris at the New-
1849.] EEMINI80EN0ES OF AN EAELT OIEOUIT. 621
York Conference, at Poughkeepsie, May 9th; and
Bishop Hamline again, at the Troy Conference,
which met at Sandy Hill, New-Tork, May 30th.
Of this latter place he says : " The village where
we held the conference formed a part of the circuit
which I travelled part of the year 1801, under the
presiding elder, Shadrach Bostwick, long since dead.
It was then called Cambridge Circuit, and embraced
an extent of territory larger than any district now in
the Troy Conference." Great, however, as the circuit
then was in extent, there were but two churches within
its bounds, and those were small. The bishop adds the
following reminiscences of his early experience on this
circuit: ""We preached usually every day through the
week as well as on the Sabbath, through a journey
of six weeks to get around the circuit. Our temples
of worship were private houses and school-houses ;
and we established preaching wherever we could get
a few hearers. In this circuit was one appointment
where I used to ride twenty miles out, over a bad road,
to preach to about twenty or thirty people on a week-
day, where we had about a dozen members ; and then
back again twenty miles. Sometimes we used to make
this journey through storms of rain, or sleet, or snow."
What a lesson is this for yoting preachers of the present
day ! Yerily, this was going unto "the lost sheep of
the house of Israel." " In the extreme north part of
tliis circuit," he continues, "was a brother at whose
house I used to preach, who was converted in Ireland
under the ministry of the Eev. John "Wesley. He
622 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1849.
brought with him to this new settlement the true
spirit of Christianity, and most of his family were par-
takers of like precious faith. I have heard from his
own Hps his testimony in regard to the power of
saving grace; and heard him say that for forty years
there had not been a moment that he doubted if he
should die at any time he should go straight home to
heaven. This experience was ftiUy corroborated in
his life, his daily walk, and conversation. A few years
after his settlement in this country he was licensed as
a local preacher, and continued such to the end of his
life. The last sermon he preached was at one of the
two meeting-houses mentioned. I have been credibly
informed that at this time, while preaching this ser-
mon, he told the congregation he was preaching for
the last time — ^his work was done 1 God was about
to give him a release, and call him home. His ser-
mon was preached with unction ; he and the people
shouting aloud the praises of the Redeemer. After
he had finished his discourse he left the pulpit, seated
himself in a chair in the altar, and calmly resigned
his spirit to God.
" If we were wanting proof that Methodism was
the child of God, and that it has received the fostering
care of the great Head of the Church, we need look
no farther for a confirmation of these facts than to
its rise and progress within the bounds of what was
formerly Cambridge Circuit. The state of the Church
in all this region in 1801, with its two meeting-houses,
scattered population, and scanty membership, forms
18*9.1 TRAVELS AND LABOUBS. 623
a striking contrast with the state of the Methodist
Church here in 1849. Thriving villages have sprung
up in the pkce of the lonely farm house; stately
houses of worship have succeeded the- school-houses
and lowly dwellings where we used to congregate ;
the " tens" of God's true worshippers have been mul-
tiplied into " thousands ;" so that we can but exclaim
of a truth, "The wilderness and solitary place has
been made glad, the desert has rejoiced and blossomed
as the rose 1"
We cannot do better here than to favour the reader
with the bishop's own account of his travels and
labours, tvhich we find in the handwriting of the Kev.
L M. Yincent: "After the close of the Troy Con-
ference, at Sandy Hill, I returned home, where I
arrived the 8th of June. June 15th, left home again
for the Black River Conference. Preached the fol-
lowing Sabbath at Rome, New-York. June 18th,
preached at Syracuse, at a meeting held for the
Indians of the Oneida mission, and admitted an
Indian to deacon's orders.
" From Syracuse I proceeded to Fulton, New-York,
where I met the Black River Conference. Confer-
ence commenced its session the 20th of June, and
continued about a week. It was one of great interest
to preachers and people. June 27th, left Fulton; and
returned by way of Syracuse, Utica, and Schenectady
to Saratoga Springs. Thence I went north to Lake
Champlain, chiefly to visit relations in New- York and
Vermont; but employed part of the time in visiting
PP 27
624 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1849.
the Churclies and ordaining local deacons who had
before been elected by the conference. Eeturned
home the 13th of July.
" On the 18th of July left home again, and went
by the way of New-York to Middletown, Connecticut,
where I preached Sabbath, July 22d.
On Monday, July 23d, I was called to "Wilbraham,
Massachusetts, to attend the funeral of the Eev.
Joseph A. MerriU, of the New-England Conference.
I had before been informed by letter, that it was the
request of brother Merrill, while living, that I should
preach his funeral sermon. On Tuesday the 24th I
performed this solemn duty, taking for my text 2 Tiin.
iv, 7, 8. Brother Merrill had been a travelling
preacher forty-three years. My acquaintance with
him had commenced when he was about seventeen
years old. I had frequently seen him, and been in-
timate with him through the whole course of his
ministry.
" He had left a fair character as a Christian and
as a minister. He died in peace, and in full hope
of eternal life. He had left a widow with six sons
and foxir daughters, aU members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Three of the sons and a husband
of one of the daughters were travelling preachers,
and members of the New-England Conference. Two
of the sons were lawyers, and one a farmer. 'He,
being dead, yet speaketh.'
"About thirty trav^Uing preachers were present
at the funeral ; and though we had met on a mourn-
1849.1 BEV. J. A. MEEEILL. 626
fill occasion, we were comforted with the belief
that our departed brother had gone to rest. Another
circumstance was interesting to me. I had been
presiding elder there forty years before, and well
acquainted through all the country. Many of my
old friends, whom I had not expected to see again
in this worl^, assembled on this occasion, and we
mingled our joys, and sorrows, and tears.
" After the funeral of brother Merrill, I returned
to Middletown, attended the commencepient of the
"Wesleyan University the 1st of August, passed a
few days at Middletown, and returned home, where
I arrived the 11th of August.
" On my way home from Connecticut I was taken
sick, and was obliged to remain at home under the
care of a physician about two months, consequently
I was not able to attend the East Genesee and
Genesee Conferences, at both of which I should have
presided had health permitted. Bishop HamUne
attended the former, and Bishop Morris the latter,
in my stead.
" This is the first time I have failed in getting to
a conference where it was my duty to preside since
I have held the office — twenty-fioe years. At sev-
eral of the conferences during that time, I was so
sick I could do but little; a number of times I
have travelled when I was sick, in order to reach
the conferences.
" The state of my health and my age required me
to remain at home through the winter ; but through
626 LIFE AND TIMES OF HE0DING. [1850.
God's mercy I was enabled most of the time to
preach once every Sabbath, and have enjoyed many
seasons of religious comfort with the people of God
in the house of prayer. Tet, though at home, I have
had plenty of care of the churches, and plenty of
letters on Church business to answer from different
parts of the country. But God has kept my soul
in peace. Glory be to His holy name !
" March the 14th, 1850, I left home and went to
!New-Tork„ where I passed a few days, and preached
the following Sabbath. March 19th, I went to Phila-
delphia. March 20th, met my colleagues (all but
Bishop Hamline, who was detained at home sick,)
on important Church business, in which we laboured
a week.
" March 27th, the Philadelphia Conference com-
menced. Bishop "Waugh presided, and I assisted.
At the preceding session of that conference a request
had been made, by vote, that the president of the
present session should preach the opening sermon,
which is a custom of that conference; and though
Bishop Waugh was president, and this duty naturally
devolved on him, he requested and urged me to
perform it, which I attempted, on 1 Tim. iv, 10.
The conference requested that the sermon might be
published, which was afterwards done.
"April 13. Went to Burlington, I^ew-Jersey, to
see an old friend who was sick, and passed the
Sabbath there, though having taken a severe cold
I was unable to preach.
1850.] THE BISHOP'S JOUENAL. 627
"April 16. Eetumed to Philadelphia again, and
met my colleagues, by previous arrangement, on
the business we had not been able to finish.
"April IT. I opened the New-Jersey Conference
at Camdem, New-Jersey, at which I presided, and
Bishop Waugh assisted. At this conference we had
a delightfully pleasant and agreeable session, with
the exception that we had a great amount of trouble
in making the appointments.
"After the conference I returned home, where
I arrived April 26th. During most of the time of
my absence I have been very much affected by
severe cold and pain in my head, so that I was able
to preach but twice during my absence.
"May 2. "Went to New-York to meet the Gen-
eral Mission Committee. After the business of that
committee was over, returned home. May 4th.
May 7. Went to New-York again to Conference.
May 8th, opened the New- York Conference in
Eighteenth-street Church, which continued its session
till May 18th. A long session of great labour and
burdensome business : more than I could have
endured had not Bishop Janes been there to assist
me.
"May 19. Eested the Sabbath-day.
" Monday, May 20th, proceeded to New-Haven,
Conn., to attend *he New-York East Conference.
Met the presiding elders, Monday afternoon and
Tuesday, to make preparatory arrangements for the
business of the conference. May 22d, opened the
628 LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING. [I860.
New-York East Conference, whicli continued till the
30th. Great difficulties in the stationing part of the
business called for labour and patience. Bishop
Janes was also present here, and rendered me great
assistance.
" Cold and cough, and sore lungs, have kept me
from preaching from March 27 till this time; but
I am now getting better, and hope I shall soon be
able to speak for mj Master. After the conference
at New-Haven I returned home, where I arrived
the 1st of June. From the 14th. of March to the
Ist of June my labours have been excessive — far too
heavy for one of my age ; but the Lord has merci-
fully preserved me. Glory be to His holy name !
" On the 20th of June I left home and went to
New-York, where, by previous appointment, I
ordained a coloured brother from Liberia both
deacon and elder.
" At 5 P. M. the same day I went on board the
steamboat, and during the night sailed to Fall River,
Mass. ; thence by railroad to Boston, thence by
steamboat to Frankfort, Maine, on the Penobscot
River, where I assisted Bishop Morris in the busi-
ness of the East Maine Conference. This conference
commenced June 26th. A pleasant and profitable
session.
"Then returned to Portland, -^here I passed the
following Sabbath, and visited my old friends with
whom I formerly officiated aa pastor, a few of whom
are yet alive.
I860.] VISIT TO THE BIBLICAL INSTITUTE. 629
"Then came to Kennebunk Port, where the
Maine Conference commenced the 10th of Jnly.
There also I assisted Bishop Morris in the labours
of the conference. I found peculiarities connected
with this place, where we held our session of con-
ference, such as I scarce ever found in a village or
town before. I was credibly informed by ministers
and others tSat there waa not a drunkard in the place,
nor a pauper in the town ; that every person or famiTy
were in circumstances to provide comfortably for
themselves, and no place where ardent spirits were sold.
" After this conference, returned to Lynn, Massachu-
setts ; paid a visit among my old friends there. Then
to Boston ; then to Concord, New-Hampshire. Here
I was called suddenly and unexpectedly, the next day
after my arrival, to go and deliver a lecture to the
students of the Biblical Institute at this place. After
this visit at Concord, I returned by the way of "Woos-
ter and Norwich to New- York ; thence home, where
I arrived on the 25th.
" Great mercies have been my protection and com-
fort during these journeys and labours. O that I
may be thai-kftil and obedient !
" After resting a season at home I was called to
visit Newark, New-Jersey, and attend the laying of
the corner stone of a new Methodist Episcopal Church
in that place. The service was of course out of doors ;
the weather rainy, the air damp ; took cold, and was
sick through the night, and was barely able to reach
home the following day.
630 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [I860.
"After this, passed the time comfortably, at and
about home, mitil the 28th of December."
This brings us down to the close of the active
service of Bishop Hedding in the Church of God.
The account of his last sickness and death — the inter-
views had with him, the remarkable sayings he uttered,
and the trial and triumph of his faith — we have re-
served for a distinct chapter.
*iReferring to the simple record of his travels, which
extended through the period of fifty years' labour, he
says : " I might have mentioned a great many diflB-
culties I have met with in travelling from year to
year, — ^being thrown off of horses, turned over in car-
riages, losing and laming horses on journeys, crowded
in stages, sometimes riding all night in dark and miry
roads, at the rate of two miles an hour, sometimes
crowded in canal boats so full of people that in hot
nights we were well-nigh suffocated ; sometimes per-
forming hazardous voyages in sloops, on the coast
from New-Tork to Maine, before there were any
steamboats. I have been in perils at sea, on steam-
boats, in dark and stormy nights ; I have been in perils
in the wilderness, in perils among the heathen, perils
among false brethren — worst of all ! but out of them
aU the Lord has delivered me.
" When I commenced preaching I verily believed
God called me, and that I could not serve him
acceptably in any. other way. "Without this belief I
should not have undertaken to be a preacher, nor con-
tinued in the work after I commenced. I knew ray
1851.] SEVIEW8 HIS EXPEEIENCE. 631
own weakness, my want of learning, and of suitable
qualifications for a minister of Christ.
" I had no expectation, and I may say no desire, of
ever being a preacher capable of giving satisfaction
in polished and enlightened congregations ; but, as I
believed God called me, I thought I might be able to
speak so as to be understood and acceptable among
the unpoli^ed people of the wilderness, the new
_ countries, and the poor circuits ; and this was the
height of my expectations and of my desire. I cared
not where I went, nor to what field of labour I was
assigned, only so that I might preach Christ, and be
the means of saving some of the souls he had re-
deemed.
" I have gone through a life of toil, and in many
respects of privation and suffering; I have been a great
many times sick — severely so ; and a great many times
sick among strangers, but especially so with that dread-
ful sickness which has before been named, when I was
broken down with the rheumatism in New-Hamp-
shire, in the year 1803. I think I suffered more there
in six weeks than I ever have in all my sufferings, put
them all together, from my infancy to the present
day ; but God has mingled mercies with my suffer-
ings all through, so that on the whole I have had a
life of great comforts, — great comfort in the fellow-
ship of Christ, great comfort in the friendship and
fellowship of his ministers and people.
" I am now beyond three score and ten, my strength
to labour in the vineyard is gone, I am daily looking
27*
632 LIFE AJTB TIMES OE BEDDING. [1851.
forward to the hotir when I must give an account of
my stewardship ; but through the merit of Christ I
look into eternity with hope and comfort.
"Many people have asked me whether I think
Methodism is in as good a state now as it was fifty
years ago. The condition of the Methodist Chui'ch
is now far di^erent from what it was then; great
improvements and enlargements have been made,
great prosperity has attended the Church. In many ,
respects the Church is now far better than it was then;
in other respects, perhaps, not as good : but whether
as to real Christianity it is now better or worse than
it was then, I do not consider myself a competent
judge. It would be difficult to make up an opinion
on that point.
" There was a great amount of real religion among
the preachers and people then, and there is also now ;
but this one thing I would say, both preachers and peo-
ple bore heavier burdens fifty years ago than they do
now. I would say still further, that fifty years ago
the Methodist preachers and people were a holy
people, they were so as a body ; and they made great
sacrifices and performed great labours for the cause
of Christ."
During his latter days. Bishop Hedding took
peculiar pleasure in calling up the reminiscences
of the past; especially the incidents of an early
itinerant life.
Speaking of the zeal of some early Methodist
preachers, he remarked that he once visited a place
1851.] BILLY HIBBABB AND HIS OOLLEAOUE. 633
where the Eev. Billy Hibbard and a young col-
league had formerly held meeting in a private
house. Once each of the young ministers kneeled
to pray, and in their earnest pleadiQ^ they so far
forgot themselves as to lift the chairs at which they
were kneeling, and dash them violently down agaiost
the floor. This they continued to do tiU they had
each made a complete wreck of their seats, and all
with entire unconsciousness. The propriety of such
vehement and absorbing zeal may be called in ques-
tion; but it is certainly preferable to a precise
and frigid uniformity, which cramps the energies
of the soul and robs religion of its aggressive
power. Those were times of great spiritual dark-
ness and of fearful apathy on the subject of rehgion,
and it required extraordinary means to break that
apathy ; and if those means sometimgs came rather
harshly across some of the nicer rules of propriety,
they, nevertheless, were effective in bringing about
great and good results.
On another occasion, speakiag of class-meetings
and the want of a more uniform and general attend-
ance, he remarked, "There are two difficulties in
the way. The first, and most general one, is this :
Many are cold in religion, and they do not wish to
go to class and tell a dull story. The second ia:
Some good people are disgusted by hearing, the
flaming testimonies which are sometifnes made by
peirsons whose lives are at wide variance from their
pitfofes^ons — ^who taik <me thing ^d practise anO'tber.
634 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1851.
Honest, conscientious people see this discrepancy,
and forsake the class-room to avoid the annoyance.
"To illustrate this," said he, "I saw a case when
travelling in the north part of New-England in my
younger days. My circuit was large, and I preached
mostly in private dwellings. In that region there
were many Free-Will Baptists. Their doctrines dif-
fering but little from ours, they freely admitted me
to their churches where they had them, and in other
places to their habitations, to preach. It was their
custom after preaching to exhort, or, as they called
it, ^free thevr mvnds^ After I had preached in one
of their houses, (where I had a regular appointment,
but no Methodist society,) one of the Baptist brethren
arose in front of me to '■free his 'mind.'' He was
warm, earnest, and vehement in his warning to the
people. But during his exhortation my attention
was arrested by the movements of a well-dressed,
gentlemanly man, who arose at the back part of the
room, and crowded over the tops of the seats until
he pressed his way to a position in front of the
speaker. His look was earnest and determined.
He evidently intended to ' free his mind.' Soon as
the first speaker had finished, this second one arose,
and fixing a scorching look upon the man who had
just taken his seat, he said, ' You preach very well,
but I should like to have you practise what you
preach. I wish you would call and settle Jvr the
stove tmihefr you stole from my woods.^ The
exhorter, without pleading to the charge, arose in
1861.] O0E ITINERANT SYSTEM. 635
a storm of excitement, clenclied his fist, elevated
his arm, and vociferated, 'Depart from me, ye
cm-sed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil
and his angels!' Here I closed the meeting. The
neighbours said that the charge of theft against the
exhorter vras true. The family where this occurred
afterward became Methodists, and a good society
was raised up in that place.
" At another time, when I had finished a sermon
among the Free -Will Baptists, several arose to con-
firm the truth of what had been said in the sermon.
One brother, wishing to ' free his mind,' and pay the
sermon a high compliment, said, 'You have heard
the truth, the whole truth, and more them, the truth.'' "
At another time, not long before his death, speak-
iug of Methodism, he said, "For more than fifty
years I have been peripitted to be a witness of the
wonderful works of God in this land. I have wit-
nessed the glorious effects of the Methodist doctrine,
proclaiming a free salvation to all men on the easy
condition the gospel prescribes, making the'Vay to
heaven plain to all who try to walk therein, open-
ing to every soul of man a precious privilege of
escape in being saved from sin and hell.
"I have seen also the wonderful effects of the
Methodist itinerant system in carrying the gospel
to the poor, to the wicked, to the people that dwelt
in the wilderness, to many thousands who never
would have sought for it, or asked for it, or heard it,
had not the '■itmeramt system' brought it to their
636 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [18S1.
doors and urged it upon them. I have seen these,
I say, sufficiently to make me love and cherish that
system, and to pray and hope that it shall be kept
pure and in efficient operation, until the whole
world shall be converted to God. But I am obliged
to lament that I see among some of our preachers,
and among some of our laymen, signs of a departure
from the purity of that system, bringing it under
limitations and restraints, which, if permitted to
prevail, will ultimately weaken or destroy it."
1860,1 SUDDEN ILLNESS. 637
CHAPTEE XX.
LAST HOURS OP BISHOP HEDDING.
Bishop Hedding viewed in a New Scene — First Attack of Acute Disease —
Second Attack — Hopes — Their Disappointment — State of his Mind —
Assailed by Satan — Becord of God's Mercy — Notes taken of his Expe-
rience and Eemarks — Gradual' Decline — Conversations during the Last
Months of his Life — Expression of his Feelings to Rev. Mr. Ferris —
Last Public Exercise ^Infirmities Increased — Draws up his Will — ^Una-
bated Interest in the Church — Prospect of Seeing and Knowing Friends
in Heaven — Interest in Prayer — Views on leaving the Church on Earth
— Last Sacrament — His Trust in the Midst of Distress — A Day of Suf-
fering and of Triumph — Terrible bodily Condition — Wonderful Grace
— Visited by Bishop Janes and Dr. Peck — The Closing Scene — Funeial
Services — Epitaph upon his Monument.
We have traced the history of this eminent servant of
Christ through the long and eventfol course of his
active ministry. "We come now to contemplate him
in another and widely different sphere — one of dis-
ease, suffering, and death. "We wish to know how he
passed through his final conflict, and how he met his
last, great enemy. "We have seen the hero warring
nobly on the great battle-field of the cross; we come
now to inquire whether the faith and hope of that
cross sustained him when called to put off his ar-
mour, and lie dovm to die.
The first attack of acute disease was experienced
on the 28th day of December, 1850. The attack was
as sudden as it was fearfnl. He had been taking his
accustomed walk, though the day was severely cold,
638 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1860.
and was returning home, when he was suddenly
seized with difficulty of breathing. The difficulty
was so great that he seemed nearly suffocated, and
his strength entirely exhausted. With difficulty he
reached the parsonage of the First Methodist Church,
then occupied by the Eer. L. M. Vincent, the pastor,
and was barely able to say : " Carry- me home — I am
suffocating." He was immediately conveyed home,
apparently in a dying state.. Physicians were soon
in attendance, but it was more than an hour before
the severity of his suffering abated. About a week
after this he had a second attack, of still greater
violence than the first ; and for more than two hours
of intense and unremitted suffering it seemed as
though nature was sinking in its last conflict. These
attacks, from which he only partially recovered, were
succeeded by others of less violence and shorter con-
tinuance. The complication of diseases under which
he had laboured for many years, and also the growing
infirmities of age, rendered his recovery hopeless. It
was painfully evident that his system had received a
shock from which it could not recover. Yet, through
the skill and care of his medical adviser, he was made
comfortable ; and it was hoped that with the return
of spring his health might be still further improved,
and that he might be relieved, at least to some extent,
from the great weakness and exhaustion that had suc-
ceeded his violent attacks. But these hopes were
disappointed. Summer brought but little relief. Yet,
as he seemed to revive somewhat in the early part
I860.] EECOKD OF GOD'S MEEOT. 639
of the winter, his friends began to hope that his life
might' be spared, and his health permit him once more
to mingle, as the pati-iarch of the Church, in her coun-
cils at the ensuing General Conference ; or at least,
that he would be able to make his appearance in that
body, and bestow upon it his final counsel and dying
blessing. In the latter part of the succeeding winter,
however, he' suffered successive attacks, which com-
pletely blasted that hope, and made it apparent that
" the time of his departure was at hand."
It will be well to pause in the current of our narra-
tive, and notice the state of his mind in the midst of
these sudden, unexpected, and terrible attacks. In
the afternoon of the first attack, after the severity of
his distress had subsided so that he could speak, he
said to the Eev. Mr. Yincent : " I expected to die this
afternoon. I fully believed the hour of my departure
had come ; but, O, how mercifully I was sustained !
I had no fear of death or eternity. I felt that through
the merits of Jesus, my Saviour, alone, it would be
well with me ; and knew that if my work was done,
and God ordered my discharge, it was right, all
right." After his second attack, he said: "In all
this the enemy was not permitted to come nigh me."
And subsequently, speaking of these attacks, and the
development of what he believed would be a fatal
disease, he said that God had so mercifully dealt with
him, that for three months after his severe attack he
had not suffered a single temptation from Satan, but
had enjoyed wonderful grace and suppoa-t. At tha
640 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1861.
end of this period, Satan attacked him violently^ and
tempted him to disbelieve God's word. It was a ter-
rible conflict. Objections more subtle than any he
had read or heard from infidels were thrust sorely upon
him. But he was enabled to answer them all ; and
came out of the conflict with a faith radiant with
heaven's own glory, to be dimmed and obscured no
more. "I home conque/red" he exclaimed, "and be-
lieve I shall overcome at last, through the mercy of
God and the merit of Jesus Christ my Saviour, my
only hope."
On the 7th of May, 1851, he made the following ,
record, by the assistance of an amanuensis : " I have
now been confined by affliction more than four
months. I have not been able to attend public
worship, nor to go from my house more than about
one hundred rods; and that distance but once. But
I have realized the ti'uth of that wonderful word,
'My grace is sufficient for thee.' When the storm
first burst upon me, and the wind howled, the waves
roared, the surges beat upon my head, and the deep
yawned, nature said, A shattered, ruined wreck you
are, the proud waters will soon come over you ! But
by faith I saw Jesus walking on the water, and heard
him say, ' It is I, be not afraid ;' and my soul replied,
'Behold God is my salvation, I will trust, and not
be afraid.' About- the middle of April, in a night
when I could not sleep, being on my knees in
prayer, I was led to see more clearly than I had
ever seen before the goodness of God in afflicting
1861.] CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 641
his children, and I was enabled to ' sing of mercy and
of judgment.'
' Good is Jehovah in the rain and sunshine,
Nor less his goodness in the storm and thunder ;
Mercy and judgment both proceed from kindness,
Infinite kindness.'
"Jehovah-jireh! O, what a name! O, how he
provides, and at what a price !
' His dying crimson, like a robe.
Spreads o'er his body on the tree ;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.'
" More than fifty years since, God led me to give up
the world, in the common acceptation of that phrase ;
long ago I gave up earthly friends and earthly in-
terests and hopes, to go and preach Christ's gospel ;
but now I am called to give up the Church on earth.
To think of seeing the thousands of God's children,
whom I have known and loved, no more on earth,
grieves me ; but my heavenly Father has been saying
to my heart, ever since this trouble came upon me,
' Be still and know that I am God ;' and I am quiet.
A poor unworthy sinner I am, but Christ is my
friend !
' In age and feebleness extreme.
Who shall a helpless worm redeem ?
Jesus, my only hope thou art,
Strength of my failing flesh and heart'
I have long believed the promises, but I realize them
now more than I ever did before. My Saviour has
said, ' Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise
642 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1861.
cast out.' I know my will and my heart come to
him ; and I believe his promise, and feel safe.
' His word of grace is sure and strong, ^
As that Tirliioh built the skies ;
The voice which rolls the stars along,
Speaks all the promises.'
From the first attack I have felt no anxiety — ^no
disturbance from within or from without, except
when Satan made his fierce assault; all is calm,
and joy, and peace. But how is it so? Nature
could not have done this. Nearly sixty years ago, a
little before I found Christ, I was placed in a, condi-
tion of imminent danger; to human judgment it
seemed certain that I should be dead in five minutes.
I had no hope of escaping ; and I expected to drop
at once into hell. I had no more expectation of
being out of hell five minutes, than I now have of
going back to the time of that event, and of again
becoming a youth. But O, the horrors! No one
can imagine, unless he has seen and felt them.
" But in the danger of this sickness I felt that hell
had no claim upon me ; for Christ had redeemed me.
' When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died.
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.'
God has wrought this change, no one else in the
universe could have done it.
' Close by thy side still may I keep,
Howe'er life's various currents flow ;
With steadfast eye mark every step.
And follow where my Lord doth go.' "
1851.] EXPRESSION OF HIS FEELINGS. 643
In the spring of 1851 the Kev. "William H. Ferris
and the writer were stationed in Poughkeepsie, and
for nearly a year — 'till the close of Bishop Hedding's
life — were in almost constant communion with him.
We immediately commenced taking notes of many of
his most remarkable and striking expressions. From
these notes the subsequent account of his last hours
is mainly drawn.
From the time of his first attack, his decHne
was gradual, sometimes relieved by favourable indi-
cations, and at other times accelerated by sudden and
alarming steps. His intellectual powers remained
vigorous: his memory, perception and judgment
continued, with but few intermissions, clear and
distinct to the last. In the midst of intense and
protracted bodily suffering, he retained that calm-
ness and serenity of spirit, and that supreme con-
fidence of faith, so eminently characteristic of the
mature Christian. His conversations during the last
months and weeks of his life were heavenly and
edifying in a high degree. In intercourse with
his Christian brethren he often gave fiill vent to
his feelings in the most graphic and touching expres-
sions. At one time he broke out in the exclama-
tion: "O what a wonder it is that such a poor,
worthless, heU-deserving wretch as I am should ever
be saved ! What a mercy ! what wondrous love !
It is all of Christ. What could we do, or what
could we hope for without him? How could we
preach, how could we pray, how could we live, or
644 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1831.
how could we die, without the Saviour?" The record
conveys but a feeble impression of the force with
which those words were uttered. This could not
be realized without the presence, the appearance,
the heavenly countenance, the deep pathos, the
quivering voice, and the holy energy of the ven-
erable man now numbered with the dead.
About the same time, he said one morning to
the Eev. Mr. Ferris: "I have been singing. In
my earlier days I waa quite a singer; and I have
been singing one of our excellent hymns, (one that
is aU glory,) and while singing I received a, won-
derful blessing." The hymn is this : — ■
" He dies, the Friend of sinners dies."
He continued repeating the hymn till he came to
the third verse, when, catching the inspiration pf
the mighty theme, he commenced singing with a
feeble voice, rendered more indistinct by his deep
emotion : —
" Break off your tears, ye saints, and tell
How high your great Deliv'rer reigns ;
Sing how he spoil'd the hosts of hell.
And led the monster death in chains !"
Here his feelings overcame him, and he wept like
a child, exulting in the certain prospect of a final
and complete victory over the " monster," so terrible
to the natural man. A few days after, he said to
the same friend: "I do not depend so much upon
past experience, nor upon present states of feeling,
as upon a clear inward witness, like the shining
1861.] LAST PUBLIC EXEBOISE. 646
light, that Jesus died for me ; that he loves me, and
owns me for his child. I am going down to the
dust; but I expect to go to a better world. This
supports me. Sometimes the state of my body
presses down the mind so that I do not feel much
joy ; but there is a settled peace, and cm cissv/rmice
that the Saviour is mine."
During tBe autumn of 1851, and also during
December of that year, he was able to attend
Church quite regularly once a day. On the firat
Sabbath in November, he closed the morning ser-
vice by prayer, or rather, ly prcdse. "With feeble
steps he ascended from the altar into the pulpit;
and at the close of the singing, he fell down upon
his knees, and with laboured abd broken utterance
— ^his voice only the shattered remnant of what it
had been — ^he poured out such warm and heartfelt
expressions of praise to Christ, as indicated the
depth of his own feelings, and produced a powerftd
effect upon the audience. The theme of the sermon
had been — Christ precious to the believer. His
heart seemed to glow with the subject. The entire
audience were bathed in tears. He arose from his
knees; an expression of holy joy was upon his
countenance ; the suppressed sigh was heaving
almost every bosom, and tears were falling like
drops of rain. The minister of half a century, who
had so often and so nsefiilly occupied the sacred
desk, slowly and silently descended from the pulpit
for the last time. As the echo of that prayer died
646 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1852.
away upon the ears of the people, the sanctuary
labours of the sainted man of God ended for ever.
In the early part of the winter his infirmities
increased upon him to such a degree that he could
no longer visit the house of God. The dropsy, added
to his old afilictions, and attended with a distressing
cough, made it evident that his stay on earth was
short. Of this no one was more sensible than him-
self, and he calmly occupied himself with setting his
house in order. The writer was often with him.
and acted as his amanuensis, and also assisted him
in drawing up his will, by which he made a final
disposition of all his earthly goods, after making
provision for his wife, to the cause of Christian
benevolence. All these items of business were trans-
acted with his accustomed clearness and precision.
He was truly setting his house in order that he
might die.
He talked freely and with deep feeling upon the great
interests of the Church ; showing that, though in daily
expectation of leaving it, he suffered no abatement of
interest in whatever concerned its weal. He also
discussed the deep questions of Christian theology
with his accustomed interest and perspecuity. At
one time, referring to some discussions on the sub-
ject of Christian holiness, he said: "Some brethren
seem to think that Mr. Wesley could not properly say
of himself, —
' I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesns died for me.'
1862.] CONFIDENCK IN PEATEE. 647
But I can truly and properly say it, for I feel it in
my heart." At another time he said: "I have la-
boured fifty years in the cause of Christ, and have
had, especially in my earlier ministry, many hard
appointments ; I have had many privations to endure,
and have suffered a good deal, and am now so worn
out with labours, sufferings, and age, that I shall soon
go to my loftg home. But, after aU, I can say : —
■ This all my hope, and all my plea —
For me the Saviovir died.'
And that is all the plea we need. ,0 what a mercy
it is that God has given his Son to redeem us, so that
we, vile wretches, can get to heaven!"
While dictating a letter to an old friend, who had
invited him to the hospitalities of his house, he paused
in the midst of his letter, overcome with emotion,
and while the tears were rolling down over his cheeks,
said : " I am going to the dust ; I shall probably never
go out again till I am borne to my long home. I shall
never see brother again on earth ; but I feel cer-
tain I shall meet, yea, and know him too, in heaven
— ^both him and his dear wife. I have been enter-
tained at their house ; it has been a home to me ; they
have ministered to my wants. I shall see them on
earth no more ; but I shall see and know them in
heaven !" While watching with him one night, after
he had somewhat recovered from a distressing turn, he
beckoned the writer to him from the opposite side oi
the room, and said : " Brother Clark, I want you to
28
648 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1852.
pray for me every day^ — every night and every morn-
ing— so long as I shall need to have prayers offered
for me." Upon my remarking that I- had, and would
stiU pray for him, and also that our brethren remem-
bered him in the prayer-meeting, he replied, with a
look of satisfaction, "I thank you. I have many
praying friends, I know. It has often encouraged
me to think so. It has helped me to preach and to
bear my burdens when I was well, and now it helps
me in the midst of my afflictions."
When asked how he felt about leaving the
Church, for which he had toiled and laboured so
long, he said : " When I was first taken sick, more
than a year ago, the thought that I was cut off from
labouring for the Church, and that I should see the
dear brethren with whom I had become acquainted
no more on earth, hung like a millstone upon me,
until one night in the winter of 1851, as I was kneel-
ing in my bedroom praying, about midnight, God so
impressed upon my mind that the Church was not
mine, did not belong to me, or depend upon me, that
I have felt all that burden removed from that hour.
I love the Church and the brethren still ; but I leave
them in the hands of God, and I can say, ' Thy wiU be
done.'" Then fastening upon me an intense and
expressive look, he said, with great emphasis:
" The Chu/rch is not mine — it is God's. God has
taken ca/re of the Chm/roh; God will take ca/re of the
Churoh; amd he com do it as well without me as
with me"
1862.] LAST SAOEAMENT. 649
A few weeks before his departure several brethren,
by special invitation, met to partake with him of the
holy eucharist. There were present Eevs. William
Thacher, "William Jewett, M. Kichardson, "William
H. Ferris, and the writer, besides his own family cir-
cle. The bishop was seated at the head of the table,
being unable to kneel on account of his limbs and
body being* so swollen with the dropsy. "While the
elements were being distributed, he was deeply af-
fected ; and when the service was concluded, he be-
gan to sing, with a tone of voice treipulous with
age and emotion : —
" Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ;
Praise him all creatures here below ;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host ;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."
It was an aifectiug scene, that touched every heart,
and drew tears from every eye. But we were
still more affected with what followed. "With his
voice often choked and stifled with emotion, he
said : —
" ' Whither should a sinner go?
His wounds for me stand open wide ;
Only Jesus will I know,
And Jesus crucified.'
Brethren, my work is now done on earth ; I am about
to go hence. My body is going to the dust ; but I
have a good hope that my soul will go to God in
heaven. I am a poor, weak, wretched creature ; have
many imperfections and many sins ; but I hope for,
650 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [18d2.
and expect to receiTe, salvation through our Lord
Jesus Christ : —
' other refiige have I none ;
Hangs mj helpless soul on thee.'
I had laboured fifty years and one month in the
itinerancy before I was broken down. I have come
short in many things; but I have laboured sincerely
and earnestly. I have suffered many privations, and
endured many trials ; but, after all, if I had a hundred
lives, I would be willing to spend them all in the
same way — ^believing, as I do, that God called me to
the work. Blessed be God! I have seen many a
wanderer reclaimed and brought back to him; I
have seen many a sinner awakened and led to Christ
for salvation; and many, many men and women
have I attended upon dying beds, who, with their
last breath, shouted 'Glory to God! I am washed
and made clean in the atoning blood of the Lamb.'
The recollection of these things comforts me now. I
look back upon them with more pleasure than crowns
and Idngdoms, or than all the riches and honours of
the world could ever have given.
"Brethren, while you have life and strength,
preach; preach Christ; call poor lost sinners to re-
pentance. Bring them to the Saviour! He is a
blessed Saviour ! How could we preach, or pray, or
labour; how could we come to God, or hope for
heaven, were it not for him ?
" My time of labour is now past, and I am going to
1862.] HIS HUMILITY. 661
my rest. A few years since, my oldest sister died.
She was converted to God at the same time I was,
and had been a faithful Christian more than fifty
years. Her last words were : —
' Forever here my rest shall be,
Close to thy bleeding side ;
This all my hope, and all my plea, —
For me the Saviour died.'
s
This, too, is my dying testimony. I don't know how
long God will spare me, nor how soon he will call me
away. But, brethren, whether you are present or
not, or whether I can speak or not, that is now, and 1
trust will be, my dying testimony."
Here the little remnant of his strength failed him,
and his wife, overwhelmed with emotion, besought
him to desist from an exertion for which his strength
was so inadequate. "We soon after retired. The above
was a scene not to be forgotten. It seemed as though
heaven itself was near. No forms of language and
no powers of description can do it justice. We
mourned that a father in Israel was so soon to depart
from our midst; that the Church was so soon to be
bereft of a faithful and time-honoured guide; and
that the cause of Christ would so soon lose one of its
noblest champions. But, on the other hand, our tears
of sorrow were mingled with sacred joy ; for we felt
that for one so mature in Christian virtues to depart
and be with Christ would be far better; we felt,
indeed, that it was fitting that the old veteran, who
had battled for more than half a century in the front
652 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1862.
ranks of Zion, one who liad fought many a hard battle
and now wore many a scar received in his Master's
cause, should be released from toils and sufferings,
and enter into his glorious rest. Never did we so
fully feel before, that
" The chamber where the good man meets hia fate
Is privileged beyond the common walks
Of virtuous life — quite on the verge of heaven."
Humility was a striking trait in the character of
Bishop Hedding ; and his piety, ever at the furthest
remove from ostentation, was strongly marked by that
predominant trait in the closing scene. He felt that
it was an awful thing to die; but, through grace,
death was shorn of all its terrors. " All my depen-
dence," says he, " is in the atonement. K I had to
depend on the covenant of works, or on my own
faithfulness, I should come short ; but I depend alone
on Christ, and I feel that he accepts me. I have no
doubt of it. lam as conscious of it as I can possibly he
of anything. I do not believe that he will cast me off.
I expect it will be well with me when I go. While I
remain here, I expect to suffer more and more. There
is no more rest for my body in this life ; but this is
the will of my Father, and I know it is best. I pray
that the cup may pass from me, if it is the will of
God ; but he knows best, and I submit all to him. I
trust it will work for me a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory."
A few days after, he said: " Christ is all my hope.
1852.] DI8TBE8SBD BODILY CONDITION. 653
I can say nothing about my own faithfulness ; I might
have prayed better, preached better, and done more
good. But I have been honest and sincere, and my
good God accepts me. I heme no doubt of it; and
here I rest !"
The 26th of March was a day of great suffering ;
but with great calmness he said to the Eev. Mr.
Fen-is: "I "am very sick; I suffer much. But why
should a living man complain ? I dare not pray or
wish to die. I desire to lie in the hands of God. I
know not what I should do, if I had not the assurance
that God is with me. I need help from heaven every
moment, and I have it ; Ifeel that 1 home it, and this
is my support. I sometimes wonder how such a poor
wretch, taken out of the dust and mire of pollution
and sin, can ever be made pure and fitted for a holy
place — ^to dwell with God and Christ, and all the holy
beings of heaven forever ! I could not heUeoe it if the
glorious truths of the gospel were not so wonderfully
supported by astonishing evidence !"
From this time his difficulty of breathing continued
to increase, and his dropsy became more distressing.
He could not lie down without experiencing a sense
of suffocation that required immediate change; and
thus, whole days and nights were passed in the most
excruciating distress, and almost without sleep.
March the 30th, I made my usual call upon him,
and found him in a most wretched bodily condition.
The throbbing of the arteries in his neck, occasioned
by the affection of his heart, had become intense.
654 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1852.
He was so bloated that his clothes could no longer
be put upon him ; his skin was so distended and in-
flamed that every motion was attended with excruci-
ating pain. In the hollow of his limbs, at the kaefe
joint, the skin had burst, and water was freely run-
ning from the aperture. His difficulty of breathing
was very great, from the collection of water upon his
chest and lungs. And in addition to all this, he had
been unable to get any sleep for several days; and for
want of this, he could neither keep his eyes open, nor
hold up his head. He presented the most pitiable
spectacle of bodily suffering ; it haunted me for days,
and disturbed my slumbers in the night. Wben I
approached him he raised his head, seized me by
the hand, which he held for some time, a;nd then
feebly gasped : — " Brother Clark, I am in a most
miserable condition ; but, through the mercy of my
blessed Redeemer, I trust I shall overcome at
last."
The very next day, (March 31,) after referring to
the sudden and terrible attack he suffered fifteen
months before, he said to the Eev. Mr. Ferris:
"With the stroke, God gave me wonderful grace;
and it has been with me ever since. My prospect
has been clear ever since. Not a day, not an hour,
not a moment, have I had any doubt or tormenting
fear of death. I have been at times so that it was
doubtful whether I would live five minutes ; but aU
was bright and glorious. I have not had joy all the
time; but great support and comfort. But to-day
1862.] ^^ WONDEBFUL GEAOE. 655
I have" been woTid&rf'uIlAi Messed. I was reflecting
upon the wonder of God's mercy — ^how a just, and
infinite, and holy God could take such vile creatures
to dwell with him in so holy a place — so unworthy, so
sinful, so polluted ; and I thought of his great mercy
to me — ^how much he had done for me ; and I had
such glorigus views of the atonement by Christ — ^his
sufferings and the glory that should follow — 'that my
soul was fiUed in a wonderfiil manner. I have
served God more than fifby years ; I have generally
had peace ; but I never sa/w such glory iefore — suoh
Ught, such clea/mess, such hecmby ! O, I want to tell
it to all the world! O, had I a trumpet voice,
■ Then would I tell to sinners round
What a DEAB Savioub I hare found.' "
Here his emotion overcame him, and choked his
utterance for a moment. . . . "But I cannot.
I never shall preach again — ^never shall go over
the mountains and through the valleys, the woods,
and the swamps, to teU of Jesus any more. But,
O what glory I feel ! it shines and bums all through
me ; it came upon me like the rushing of a mighty
wind, as on the day of Pentecost." "Alas!" says
the narrator, "the pen can never represent this
scene — the broken accent, the laboured effort, the
deep feeling, the holy fervour, the uplifted and
radiant countenance, the eye that gleamed with
unearthly lustre, the tears choking the utterance,
and the whole frame shaking with emotion; these
RR 28*
656 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING.-^ [1862.
cannot be represented, but will never be forgotten.
I retired, resolved to be a better Christian and a
more faithful minister."
About this time the Eev. Dr. Peck, in company
with Bishop Janes, visited Poughkeepsie for the
purpose of holding a final earthly interview with
Bishop Hedding. The account of the visit can be
best given in the doctor's own words : —
" On Sabbath morning we entered his room, and
were happy to find him much relieved by the dis-
charge of a large quantity of water, which had
forced an opening through the skin of his lega. He
had rested tolerably well, and was able to converse
for ten or fifteen minutes at a time. He was feeble
in body, but strong in spirit. When animated, his
eye resumed its natural expressiveness, and he
seemed to have lost nothing of his great intellectual
strength.
*' Upon entering the room he reached out his
hand, giving two fingers to Bishop Janes, and indi-
cating that the other two were reserved for us.
When he had in this manner taken our hands, he
said, ' I am more glad to see you than I can possibly
express. I am full of disease — old diseases and new
ones are upon me, and I am prostrated. I am so
feeble that I cannot talk much. I would be glad
to ask you many questions about the conferences
and the preachers, but my strength will not admit.'
Pausing a little, he then resumed his remarks and
said : ' One thing I wish to say now, lest I should
1852.] BEMAEK8 TO DB. PECK. 657
not be able to say it at any fature time, for I may
drop away at any moment — and that is, that God
has been wonderfully good to me ; his goodness has
been overwhelming — overwhelming.' Here his ut-
terance was stifled by emotion, and he wept freely.
When he recovered himself he resumed : ' To think
that such a poor miserable sinner as I am should
be so favoured, so filled with the goodness of God, so
completely saved from the fear of death, so filled
with the hope of a glorious immortality!' Here
again his utterance failed, and the whole frame of
the once strong man seemed on the point of falling
to pieces with emotion. 'Don't weep so, husband,'
said his excellent lady, ' you will become exhausted.'
'I am not weeping for sorrow,' added he, 'but for
joy and thankfulness.'
" We now took leave of this truly sublime scene
until evening, when we had the favour of another
interview. He was now seated in an easy chair,
and consecutively uttered a series of sentences which
seemed almost as weighty as though they had come
from the land of spirits. ' I suffer severely,' said he ;
' and although I have no fear of death, I have some
dread of pain. The flesh repines ; the flesh of our
Saviour repined. He said, " O, my Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless,
not my will, but thine be done." Could I live,
I should desire to do so, only that I might preach
Christ and him crucified. O, to preach Christ!
I would, rather preach Christ anywhere — on the
658 LIFE AND TIMES OF HBDDING. [1862.
hardest circuit — ^than to have all the wealth and the
honours of the kingdoms of this world.
" 0 for a trumpet voice,
On all the world to call,
And bid their hearts rejoice
In Him who died for all." '
" Here he paused, and for some time gave vent
to his feelings in tears. Recovering the power of
utterance, he proceeded : ' When I think of the dear
preachers with whom I have become acquainted all
over the length and breadth of the land, it seems
hard not to be able to visit them again. But the
will of the Lord be done ; my will is lost in his will.
I have no will of my own.' After a short pause,
he said : ' Fifty-'two years ago, last December, I gave
up my all to God, and I ,have never taken back
the gift. I have been a most fallible creature, and
have committed many involuntary offences, but
have never wilfully departed from God. I have
always needed the atonement of Christ, and have
trusted in that alone for the forgiveness of all my
short-comings. I feel that I can sing with Mr.
Wesley —
" I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me."
I used to wonder how it could be that Christ could
have mercy upon such a poor miserable sumer as
I am, and save me. There was a kind of mist over
the subject; but within a few days all this has been
cleared away. I now see such goodness, such glory,
1852.1 THE CLOSING SCENE. 659
such power^ — such powe/r^ — repeating the word with
great emphasis — 'in the Redeemer, that there is
now no difficulty in it!' "We remarked, 'Your
spiritual vision is now clear.' 'Yes,' responded he,
'it is all plain now.' During the conversation he
remarked: 'Since this dreadful disease struck me,
more than a year ago, I have not had one really
dark hour, or one pang of guilt'
" We retired from the room with the strongest
feelings of admiration of the humility, the deep
and unaffected piety, and the gigantic intellectual
strength of our venerable senior bishop. We have
known and admired his real greatness from the
period of our first acquaintance with him. But if
he was great in the field of action, he is still greater
in the hour of suffering, and in the prospect of
death.
"We must pause — our heart is full. God be
praised for this fresh illustration of the majesty and
power of true religion."
The suffering days of the revered man of God
were now drawing to a close. His sufferings gradu-
ally abated ; his breathing became less difficult, and
he was able to lie down and rest with some degree of
comfort. His quietude, however, was not that from
which the system rallies to victory, and triumphs
over disease ; but that in which its exhausted powers,
fuUy spent in the conflict, sink to rally no more.
He was not merely calm, but cheerful; and often
exhibited flashes of that genial sprighthness, humour
660 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1852.
and wit, so characteristic of him in earlier days.
Yet a heavenly atmosphere reigned aroimd him.
His work was done ; he was tarrying for a moment
on the bank of Jordan, waiting permission from
his Master to pass over.
That permission was not long delayed. About
three o'clock on the morning of the 9th of April
a change took place, betokening the near approach
of death. Early in the morning his sufferings were
great; his extremities were cold, and his death-
agony was upon him ; but his intellectual powers —
consciousness, perception, memory, reason — were
unaffected. Several Christian friends witnessed his
dying struggles and the glorious triumph of his
abiding faith. The Eev. M. Eichardson came in,
and inquired whether his prospect was clear; he
replied with great emphasis : " O, yes, yes, tes !
I have been wonderfully sustained of late, beyond
the usual degree." After a pause he continued : —
" 'My suff'ring time will soon be o'er;
Then I shall sigh and weep no more ;
My ransom'd soul shall soar away,
To sing thy praise in endless day.'
I trust in Christ, a/nd Tie does not disa/ppovnt me.
I feel him, I enjoy him, amd I look forwa/rd to cm
inheritcmce in his hingdom,"
He looked at his hands, and calmly marked the
progress death was making. Feeling that death
was fast approaching, he made repeated efforts to
straighten himself and to adjust his limbs in the
1862.] THE DEATH-BED LESSON. 661
bed. Then, after remaining quiet a few moments,
summoning all his strength and elevating his voice,
he said : " I trust in God and feel safe I"
The Eev. Mr. Ferris said to him, — " Bishop, you
are almost over Jordan." He looked calmly up,
and answered, "Yes;" then raising both hands, he
said, scarcely above a whisper, "Glory, glory!
Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God!
Glory!" Awhile after, he was asked if death had
any terrors ; he replied : " No, none whatever ; my
peace is made with God. I do not expect to live
till sunset ; but I have no choice ; I leave it all with
God." Then, placing his hand upon his breast, he
said : " I am happy — filled."
After shifting his position several times without
finding relief from his sufferings, he broke out : —
" ' When pain o'er my weak flesh prevails,
With lamb-like patience arm my breast ;
When grief my wounded soul assails,
In lowly meekness may I rest.' "
Subsequently, he said : " My God is my best friend,
and I trust in him with all my heart. I have trusted
in him for moi-e than fifty years." Then, after paus-
ing for breath, he added : " ' Because I live, ye shall
live also.' "What a promise !" Soon after this his
powers of speech failed ; his breathing grew tremu-
lous and short; life ebbed gradually away, and at
last its weary wheels stood still.
Thus passed away one of the purest and noblest
spirits of our earth. He died as might have been
662 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDINO. [1852.
augured from his character and Kfe ; he died as the
Christian only can die. Up to the last moment
of earthly communion, he was calm and serene.
Eternity was breaking upon his view, but he knew
in whom he had believed. To see the Christian,
who, with the intellect of a philosopher and the
wisdom of a sage, had scanned the evidences and
the doctrines of the gospel to their very depths ; to
see such a one maturing for the skies, going forth
to the last conflict with no misgivings of spirit —
calmly, firmly, constantly trusting in the atonement
of his Saviour ; to mark his trembling humility, the
low estimate he placed upon his services in the
Church of Christ, and upon his Christian piety —
these were privileges of no ordinary moment, and
afi"orded lessons of indescribable value. We have
often visited the dying couch of the saint of God,
and there witnessed the triumph of the Christian
faith; but never before did sickness and feebleness
seem to enshrine such loveliness, or death such
beauty. The full significance of that couplet of
Coleridge seemed to be realized:—
" Is that his death-bed, where the Christian lies?
No ! 't is not his ; 't is death itself there dies !"
The funeral services took place on the lith, in
the "Washington-street Methodist Episcopal Church.
Bishops Waugh and Morris were present, and also
a large number of preachers — amounting to nearly a
hundred. An appropriate and aff^ecting discourse
l*'f'2.1 FTJNEEAL 8EEVICES. 663
was preached by Bishop Waugh. The whole scene
was one of deep and solemn interest. The speaker
was often overcome with deepf unutterable emo-
tion; and we doubt whether there was a heart in
that vast assembly that did not beat in sympathy
with him. Indeed, the congregation often seemed
completely overwhelmed with emotion; and tears
were pourefl out like water. We were constantly
reminded of the burial of the first Christian martyr
— ^^"And devout men carried Stephen to his burial,
and made great lamentation over him."
The body was at first deposited in the family
vault of Henry Storms, Esq., but has since been
removed to the beautiful cemetery on the eastern
banks of the Hudson, just below the city of Pough-
keepsie, where a noble monument has been erected
to his memory. At the request of the executors^ —
the Eev. L. M. Vincent and the Kev. "William
Jewett — the epitaph which appears on the following
page was prepared by the writer, and has been in-
scribed upon the monument. A view of this monu-
ment, engraved upon steel, together with the inscrip-
tions, appeared in the November number of the
Ladies' Repository for 1854. Here all that was
mortal of our venerated bishop now slumbers, waiting
the resurrection of the just.
664 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIKG. [1862.
HEDDING'S MONUMENT.
On tlie side fronting to the west and toward the river,
is the simple inscription within a circular wreath : —
ELIJAH HEDDING, D. D.
Born Jtote 7, 1780.
Deed Apeil 9, 1852.
On the side of the monument fronting to the east- is
the following : — _ -
This Monttmbnt
has been erected as a memorial of one whose name is
honoured in the Church of Christ.
He was for fifty-one years an Itinerant Minister, and for twenty-
eight a Bishop, in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In his earlier ministry he performed an astonishing amount
of labour, and endured many hardships.
He was a man of unaffected simplicity and dignity of manners,
of deep and consistent piety, of sound and discriminating
judgment ; a well-read Theologian, an able Divine ;
a pattern of Christian propriety and integrity,
and a model Bishop.
As an expounder of Ecclesiastical Law and Discipline, he has had
no superiors ; and his judicial decisions are regarded
with profound veneration in the Church.
His last sickness was protracted and painful, but was
endured with a constant resignation.
His last hours were peaceful and triumphant ; future generatioiH
will rise up to bless his memory.
1862.1 PEEBONAL APPEAKANCE. 665
CHAPTER XXI/
ISTIMATE OP THE CHARACTER AND SERVICES OF BISHOP HEDBING.
Concluding our "Work — Bodily Appearance of Bishop Hedding — Habits
and Manner of Life — Social Qualities — Care of the Feelings and Bepu-
tatlon of Others — A Keen Observer of Human Character — Cast of his
Intellect — His Literary and Scientific Attainments — Character as a
Divine — Character as a Preacher — Character as a Presiding Officer and
an Expounder of Ecclesiastical Law — Tone and Character of his Piety —
General Excellence and Harmony of Character — Besults witnessed in
his Life and Labours — His Memory.
OuB labour thus far has been one of absorbing interest:
our feelings have become so deeply interested in it,
and the pleasure attendant upon it has been so un-
alloyed, that we almost instinctively shrink back
when we find ourselves so near its conclusion. Yet
have we only one more duty to complete, and then
our delineation of the life of Bishop Hedding must
be left to the scrutiny and judgment of the Church
and the world. That duty is to attempt, in our con-
cluding chapter, a sketch of his personal appearance,
and a brief estimate of his character and services.
1. In Bishop Hedding there was a noble develop-
ment of the physical man. "Wben in his prime he
measured six feet in height, and his frame was of fine
proportionate development. In later years he in-
clined to corpulency, and probably from the time he
was a young man he weighed considerably over two
666 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1852.
hundred pounds; his usual weight, in later years,
being about two hundred and twenty-five pounds.
His features were too coarse to be beautiful, but there
was a fine manly expression, a noble, commanding
mien, that would instantly excite admiration and
respect. His head was one of those massive "Web-
sterian conformations, that are ever reminding one of
the antique models we have seen. His complexion
was naturally light, but had been rendered swarthy
by exposure and disease ; and in his temperament the
sanguine and nervous predominated. His eyebrows
were heavy ; and his eyes, which were of light blue,
bordering upon gray, were neither very large nor
very prominent. The expression of his countenance
would indicate him to be a man of great evenness of
temper, of calm and clear deliberation, not easily ruf-
fled or thrown from his equipoise ; of keen perception,
and of solid good sense. You might not have caught
the fancy that he was an amateur of the fine arts, or
that he would be easily fascinated with the beautiful
imaginings of the poets, or captivated with the flow-
ers of rhetoric ; but you would have been impressed
with the conviction that he would be a somewhat
severe, though a very reliable critic in them all.
You would, also, unhesitatingly have assigned to
him a prominent position in any of the ordinary
avocations of life. As an agriculturist, you would
expect that his operations would be upon a more
philosophical basis than those of his neighbours ; that
there would be a wiser expenditure of labour, and
1862.] HABITS OF LIFE. 667
that he would realize more ample returns. Thus,
whatever he undertook, you would expect to see hini
prosecuting, slowly, it might he, but always surely, to
its legitimate results. His countenance usually wore
a quiet, benignant expression ; and it was only when
it was irradiated by the workings of the giant mind
within, as that mind was roused up to grapple with
some subje(!t worthy of its powers, that its power of
expression was fully realized. His motions were
naturally deliberate, and rather slow — ^but never so
slow as to indicate lethargy ; for though his frame was
massive, it was formed for activity and endurance.
2. Bishop Hedding's habits of life were exceedingly
plain and simple. Everything about him — ^his dress,
his travelling equipage, his house, his furniture, his
garden — exhibited a pattern of neatness and studied
propriety. If anything about his person attracted
your attention at all, it would be because of its
fitness or utility, the thought of display or show
seemed never to have once entered his mind. His
manners — ^exceedingly courteous — partook of the same
simplicity. They were frank, cordial, open — never
constrained. It was, however, a simplicity that was
never wanting in dignity, — a simplicity that never
" let him down" when in the presence of the noble,
nor gave license to undue familiarity when among
those of a different character. It was natural, and
so well established in all his thoughts and habits, so
completely harmonious with all his feelings, that he
could never be surprised out of it. It had no kinship
668 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1852.
to that boorishness which some deem "primitive
simplicity ;" for its grace commanded respect even in
the most refined circles. Nor had it any kinship to
that want of character which divests a man of
authority, and which is so pervious to the sly, but
designing shafts of wit and ridicule; for though never
laid aside, it never divested him of the highest dig-
nity while presiding over conferences and popular
assemblies ; nor did any one — ^unless his perceptions
were exceedingly obtuse — ever dream that there was
to be found in it anything with which it would be
safe to trifle.
3. The social qualities of Bishop Hedding were
of a high order. Few men enjoyed society more
than he did. His conversational powers were supe-
rior. He had read much, and his observation and
experience had been extensive and varied. From
the rich storehouse that had been thus filled, he
could draw forth incident and anecdote, fact and
philosophy, criticism and even poetry, in such a
manner that it would at once interest and benefit
the intelligent listener. He often plied his brethren
with whom he was on familiar terms with knotty
questions in philology, theology, &c., and thus not
only exorcised their powers at the moment, but
gave them something to think of afterward. In-
deed, it was not unfrequently the case, that in this
way solid and useful information was imparted.
This habit of questioning was first formed when he
was labouring in New-Hampshire in the early part
1852.] SOCIAL QUALITIES.
of his ministry, and was then employed as a means
of solving the obstacles he encountered in the prose-
cution of his studies. It proved then of incalculable
advantage to him, and he never wholly relinquished
it. He told a story usually with fine effect in social
intercourse, and relished a joke as highly, and could
laugh as heartily, as most men ; but never indulged
in or gave license to that which was low or debas-
ing in its character. Connected with these other
qualities, there was a genial wit and humour about
him, and an open-heartedness of sympathy, that made
him a most companionable man. He had a keen
perception of the ludicrous, and would often, on
fitting occasions, give utterance to most amusing
fancies. This genial and innocent play of the
imagination gleamed out even amid the triumphs
of his faith in his last sickness, and continued almost
to the last day of his life. In illustration of this,
we give the following anecdote, furnished by the
Rev. "W. H. Ferris: — "About ten days before his
death I called to see him. He was sitting in his
rotary-chair — a great sufferer, and unable to Jie
down. "Weary with watchfulness and worn out with
pain he would occasionally fall asleep, and as he
did so, his head and the weight of his body would
fall a little on one side, when the chair would swing
round and wake him up. This occurred several
times. At last he aroused, and looking up with a
smile, he said, ' Brother, can't you fix this chair so
that it won't turn round?' I got a cord and lashed
670 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1852.
it fast. He responded, ' Thank you, that is it ;' and
in a moment his head sank down, and he was fast
asleep. I quietly withdrew. About five days after,
and about the same number before his triumphant
death, while in his room, I observed that his efforts
to sleep were defeated by the same rotary motion
of his favourite and familiar chair, and said to him,
'Bishop, allow me to fasten your chair so that it
will not move. He gave his head that peculiar
toss so often observed when anything quaint or
amusing struck him, and a smile lit up his coun
tenance as he hastily replied, ' No, no, brother ; you
fixed it the other day, and I thought I should like
it, but I had to have it unfastened again. The
fact is, I nm&r could endnvre to ride a hobbled horse.''
In two minutes that manly head sunk in sleep
again, and the imluXbled horse turned, perhaps for
the hundredth time, and awoke him."
These social qualities made him the genial com-
panion of children. Though not blessed with any
of his own, yet was he unusually fond of them;
and every little boy and girl in his neighbourhood
knew and loved " the bishop," as they called him.
Only let one of a group of school children exclaim,
"There comes the bishop!" and it was a signal
that wreathed sunny faces in smiles, and called forth
rival efforts to be foremost in the friendly saluta-
tion that was sure to follow. The writer will not
soon forget the scene that greeted his eyes when,
the morning after the bishop's death, he took his
1852.] OAEEFtJLNESS OF KEPFTATIOIT. 671
little children around to have them look upon that
countenance, then calm in death, but which had
so often beamed upon them in hfe, in order that
they might learn at once the lessons of our mortality
and of our holy faith. Not less than a dozen chil-
dren were hanging around the gate in front of the
house, and earnestly besought the privilege of once
more seeing " the bishop." Their wish was gratified,
and they gazed upon his lifeless form with an expres-
sion of sorrow which told that they felt they had
lost a friend. Among the sincere mourners that
lamented the death of this godly man were very
many Httle children.
Bishop Hedding was also firm and abiding in his
friendships. No one who had honourably gained
his friendship, and had done nothing to forfeit it,
ever had reason to question the continuance of his
sentiments of brotherly confidence and affection.
Friendship was with him too sacred a thing to be
employed in any commerce for selfish ends, either
in its origin or continuance.
He was also exceedingly courteous, careful to
make proper recognition of a friend, careful to make
proper acknowledgment of the courtesies shown him,
careful to treat no one with neglect, while at the
same time his courtesy was too sincere and unaffieoted
to permit him to burden any one with officious
attentions. These elements of the true gentleman
shone conspicuously in his social character.
4r. While Bishop Hedding, in social intercourse,
SS 29
6Y2 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1852.
was exceedingly careful of the feelings of those
present, he was equally careful of the reputation
of those who were absent. Of the reputation of
Christian ministers he was particularly careful. In
a letter to the author, Dr. Paddock, referring to
this point, says of him, "If others indulged in inju-
rious reflections, the bishop would be sure to throw in
some kind word with a view to shield the interested
party. He, doubtless, sometimes spoke approvingly
of a pulpit performance, rather to forestall criticism
than to hold it up as a model. Indeed, I do not
remember to have heard him speak disparagingly of a
brother's public performance; and, to avoid doing it,
he sometimes displayed the most amusing dexterity.
"At one of our conferences it was announced,
at the close of a day's session, that a venerable and
honoured brother would preach in the evening.
Fatigued as the bishop was, he. deemed it his duty,
in view of the age and position of the brother, to
attend the service. The discourse was hortatory
and impassioned in a very high degree, but was
far enough from being a s&rmon, as that Avord is
ordinarily used. Of this fact no one could be more
sensible than the bishop ; but he was evidently deter-
mined that no one should hear him speak of it dis-
paragingly. Stepping into his lodgings, which were
near the church, he was followed by some half a
dozen or more of the preachers ; some of them quar-
tered at the same house, and others coming in, as
the bishop evidently apprehended, to*hear what he
1852.] A KEEN OBSEKVEE OF OHAEACTBR. 673
would say about the sermon. He waited for no
queries, not even indeed to be seated, but standing
out in tbe midst of the floor, he lifted his right arm
with his hand slightly clenched, and looking round
upon the company, said, 'Now, brethren, was not
that real!'' Of course no one ventured to ask an
explanation, while each was left to conjecture for
himself what the bishop might mean by the unasso-
ciated adjective."
5. He was also a keen observer of human charac-
ter. He read men as easily as most men read books.
He was rarely imposed upon by the designing; he
was rarely deceived as to the true character of a
man. Not only was this penetration striking on
the conference floor, and in relation to ministers
with whom he had more constant intercourse, but
in relation to any one of the multitude encountered
in public places, or on the ' great thoroughfares of
travel. " In this respect," says Dr. Paddock, in the
letter just referred to, "I have seldom, perhaps
never, known his superior. After becoming some-
what intimately acquainted with him, as I did at
an early period of my public life, it really seemed to
me that he was ' a discemer of spirits.' Whenever
he turned his eye upon me, however mild and
benignant his aspect, I could hardly resist the im-
pression that he knew aU that was passing in my
heart. He was almost constantly scanning the char-
acter and measuring the intellectual height and
depth of those about him.
6Xi LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. L1852.
"A striking instance, illustrative of this, now
occurs to me. Some twenty years since, tlie Oneida
Conference held its annual session at Owego. The
bishop spent the previous Sabbath at Utica, where
the writer was then stationed. A canal packet-boat
was then our medium of conveyance from TJtica to
the seat of the conference. Among the crowd of pas-
sengers on the boat was a venerable old gentleman,
apparently about seventy, attired in the costume of
the former generation — single-breasted coat, ruffle in
his bosom, cue hanging down between his shoulders,
&c., &c., and along with him was a yoimg gentle-
man and lady, seemingly about twenty-eight or
thirty years of age. The latter were richly and
neatly clad, but as far from mere display as can well
be imagined. The whole bearing of the trio was
at once so calm and so dignified, so easy and so
graceful, that it was iinpossible to avoid noticing
them a good deal. It was quite evident they
belonged to the better class, wherever their home
might be. Being seated near the bishop, he tapped
me on the knee, and beckoning my ear to himself,
smiled and said, 'Do you want to know who those
persons are V I replied, ' Yes ; are you acquainted
with them?' 'No,' said he.; 'I never saw them
before, and yet I guess I can teU you who they are.'
'Do, then,' said I. 'WeU,' responded the bishop,
'the old man is a Connecticut judge; the lady is
his youngest daughter, and the young gentleman is
his son-in-law, and a lawyei\' Of course I was a
1862.] CHAEAGtEB OF HIS INTELLECT. 675
little curious to ascertain how far tlie bisliop was
correct. The young gentleman had previously made
some advances in the way of sociality, and I soon
found an opportimity to draw him out, even with-
out the necessity of resorting to any inquiiies that
could be offensive to a Yankee, and found that
the bishop's almost instinctive sagacity had not mis-
led him, but that his conjecture was right."
6. In this connexion it is proper we should make
some note upon the general character of his intel-
lect. We would not claim for him the highest
order *of the philosophical intellect, but in the philo-
sophical element his mind was by no means defi-
cient. The logical powers of his mind were, un-
questionably, of the highest order. His abstractive
and analytic power was very great. It was most
interesting to see him grapple with a complicated
and knotty proposition; first, with what cool, clear
deliberation he would divest the terms of those
ambiguities and obscurities that infest language, so
that the point or points in the questions would stand
out with unmistakable distinctness. Then, through
the verbal proposition, how would he penetrate to
the very heart and substance of the thing itself!
"With him reasoning was not a mere display of
technical expertness — not a mere exercise of skill
in logical terms and distinctions — ^but a sober and
earnest inquiry after truth. Old Socrates himself
could hardly hold a thought with a firmer grasp, or
turn and examine it with greater dehberation or
676 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1862.
with more unblencliiiig scrutiny. He often struck
into a subject where, to others, it seemed least of
all pervious, and surprised you by the exposure of
hidden fallacies where, to less penetrating intellects,
all would seem to be legitimate and sound. He
both thought and reasoned. He not only went
behind the logical form, but he also mastered the
logical form. His dialectics were of the acutest
kind. He could prick out the gas that inflated a
sophism with the same ease and dexterity with
which he often pricked out the conceit of a self-
sufficient ignoramus.
In all this, however, his mind was of too practical
a character for him to have much affinity with that
transcendentalism, Germanism — or whatever else you
choose to call it — which, by many at the present
day, is considered an inseparable adjunct and sign
of a great mind. He had no affinity, no patience
with it. The robustness of his intellectual structure
was brought out and established, not amid scholastic
influences, but in the stern warfare of opinion in
practical life. Hence it partook of that character.
Thought, with him, was not day-dreaming, but an
earnest grasping after truth : reasoning not a mere
intellectual gladiatorship, but an earnest effort to
discover the practical ends of truth, and the means
of obtaining those ends.
Y. Of his literary and scientific attainments we may
speak with great respect and admiration ; and the more
so from the early embarrassments under which he la-
1852.] LITEKABT ATTAINMENTS. 677
boured, and the comparatively few helps he had during
that portion of life when intellectual acquisitions are
usually made. We have already noticed that he
never attempted the study of the ancient languages;
but he did what many who are called classical scholars
have failed to do, — he acquired a thorough mastery
of the English language. It is rarely the case that a
scholar of ally grade could be found who had so criti-
cal a knowledge of its intricacies, and so genuine an
appreciation of its beauties.
He was a great reader — not in the sense of running
over a great deal of surface, but of reading much in
choice books, and of continuing to read, and to read
well. Of those books which he found rich in matter,
he was not merely a reader, but a st/adent ; he mas-
tered their contents, analyzed and thoroughly digested
their principles. His discrimination was nice, and
his memory tenacious and exact.
His acquirements in natural science and philosophy
in general were quite respectable for a general reader;
but in rhetoric, logic, mental and moral philosophy,
and the elements of taste and criticism, his attain-
ments were very great, and his views generally pro-
found and critical as well as correct.
He was regarded worthy of literaiy honours. In
1829, the Trustees and Faculty of Augusta College
unanimously conferred upon him the honorary de-
gree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1837 the same degree
was conferred upon him by the Corporation of Union
College ; and in 1840 he was again doctorated by the
678 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIXG. [1832.
University of Vermont. In 1843 he was elected a
member of the Board of Trustees of Union College.
'He was also, for several years prior to his death,
President of the Methodist Biblical Institute at Con-
cord, New-Hampshire.
8. As a sound, able, and critical divine, our Church
or our country has produced but few superiors. He
commenced his career as a student in theology, with
the determination to thoroughly overcome every dif-
ficulty, to thoroughly trace out every obscure or
doubtful point, and to store up in his memory every
leading principle and every important fact. By
these means, though his progress at first was slow,
he laid the foundation of his profound, extensive, and
ready theological knowledge. His views were com-
prehensive, logical, and well matured. Not only had
they been elaborated with great care, but the analysis
was very distinct ; and the successive steps were not
only clearly defined in the original analysis, but
distinct even in the minutiae of their detail. It was
difficult to surprise him by the introduction of any
topic in the whole range of theology or of ecclesiasti-
cal polity, on which he had not read carefully and
thought profoundly. One who had considered him-
self carefully posted in these matters, would often be
surprised with new and unexpected \'iews, which the
bishop would suddenly bring up, showing how pro-
foundly he had studied those subjects, and how
retentive and ready was his memory.
9, His discourses were an example of neatness,
1852.] CHAEACTEE AS A PEEACHEE. 679
order, perspicuity, and completeness. There was no
effort at any unnecessary verbal criticism, but when
called for by the subject, it was not wanting. There
was no effort at logical skill or acuteness ; but when
clear and delicate discrimination was required, no
man could execute it with greater fidelity and suc-
cess. He would not be regarded as a popvl<w
preacher. The ability and ^skiU to charm the mul-
titude with the flowers of fancy, with the figures of
rhetoric, with beautiful quotations, with flippant or
dramatic speech, were evidently neither coveted nor
cultivated by him. He was a plain preacher of the
gospel of Christ. Of figurative ilfiistrations and
anecdotes he was sparing, — ^perhaps too much so, in
view of their effect upon popular audiences ; but his
discourses abounded in those illustrations which are
best of all — apposite quotations from the Sacred
Word. His delivery was slow and his action delibe-
rate. He never stormed or ranted in the pulpit or
in exhortation ; but spoke with the dignity, earnest-
ness, and feeling of one who was called to deliver a
message of life or of death from the August and the
Eternal to frail, sinful, dying men. He excelled as
an exegetical preacher ; he could draw out the mean-
ing of an intricate text or paragraph in the Bible,
and make its import perfectly transparent in the
view of his hearers. His ministry was such as would
feast the soul and the intellect of the intelligent
and pious; and when they had received the good
things handed out to them from the pulpit, the
29*
680 LIFE AND TIMEB OF HEDDING. '[1852.
confidence would be begotten in their minds that the
rich banquet that had been spread before them was
only a small draught from an overflowing storehouse.
"We should add that he went not into the pulpit with-
out the most careful, thorough, and prayerfal prepara-
tion. His motto was, " Beaten oil for the sanctuary."
And to his careful preparation for the pulpit — ^both
in his earlier and later years — ^more than to any
fitful or accidental impulse, is the success of his pul-
pit efforts owing. In this, as well as in other traits
of character, he may be commended as an example
worthy to be imitated by his sons in the ministry.
10. Few have ever excelled him as a presiding
ofScer. In the exercise of the episcopal functions,
he developed those rare qualifications that have dis-
tinguished him as a presiding officer, and especially
as an expounder of ecclesiastical law. He was
rarely, if ever, thrown from his balance, whatever
sudden excitement, tumult or opposition might arise
in a conference ; nor could he be perplexed by the
most complex questions of law or of order, however
suddenly they might be propounded. He was
shrewd, quick, intrepid ; and, surely, the man who
thought by any strategy or dexterity to outmanage
him, counted without his host. If he had license
for the moment, it was only that the galvanic bat-
tery, which would soon bring him to his senses,
might be more heavily charged.
When he entered the episcopal office, our eccle-
siastical jurisprudence was in its inchoate condition.
1852.] BELF-POSBESSION. 681
No one has done more to develop and mature it
than Bishop Hedding. The soundness of his views
upon the doctrines and discipline of the Church was
so fully and so imiversaUy conceded, that in the
end he became almost an oracle in these respects;
and his opinions are regarded with profound ven-
eration.
Playful as Bishop Hedding often was in his
private and social intercourse, in public he was ever
remarkable for his gravity. His complete control
of himself — which, by the way, did not seem in the
least otherwise than natural — was one of the secret
causes of that great control he had over others. Dr.
Paddock, in the letter before noticed, says, "Sallies
of wit that sometimes made sad havoc with the
dignity of the conference over which he was pre-
siding, would move him little more than if he were
a statue. A clergyman of another denomination
was once sitting near me at the session of the
Oneida Conference, when these sallies were inter-
changed with great efi'ect, materially disturbing the
risibilities of more than one reverend brother, not-
withstanding all his efforts at resistance. But Bishop
Hedding was not of the number. A pillar of granite
could scarcely have been more immovable. My
companion turned to me, and said, ' I wonder
whether your bisliop ever smiles ? I have watched
him closely, and cannot see even a muscle of his
face move.'
" In this regard I never saw the bishop thrown
682 LIFE AND TIMES OF BEDDING. [1852.
from his balance, save only in a single instance.
At a certain conference a brother was recommended
for admission on trial. But his reception was
strenuously opposed by an excellent and influential
member of the body, chiefly on the ground of
alleged inadequate mental training. This, however,
was denied by those who claimed to be much better
acquainted with the candidate than the brother
who opposed his admission. But the latter was by no
means willing to yield the point; and in his rejoin-
der gave instances of false syntax in a discourse
which the candidate had delivered in his presence.
In the midst of his remarks, a son of the Emerald
Isle, and a member of the conference, whose ready
wit was a striking mental characteristic, hastily
sprung from his seat, and advancing a step toward
the speaker, said, with an air and earnestness which it
would be difiicult to describe, — '■Broother! iroother!
don't you think he was emha/rrassed because you
were there?' The stroke — coming as it did sud-
denly and unexpectedly — was irresistible. The con-
ference was convulsed. Even the bishop could not
stand before it; giving himself up to his emotions,
his whole frame shook as if receiving successive
shocks from a galvanic battery."
11. Bishop Hedding was a man of deep and
unaifected piety. His piety was not devoid of feel-
ing, but it rested rather upon the basis of religious
principle than of religious emotion; it was at the
furthest remove from asceticism, or that repulsive
1862.] OHAEAOTEE OF HIS PIETY. 683
austerity whicli so often makes religion itself seem
nnamiable. In him trifling and levity found no
place ; but clieerfalness — tlie genial sunshine of
the heart — diffused its loveliness all around him.
There was no self-reliance, no confident nor high
professions; but there was what was far better —
piety, silent but incessant, consistent, deep, all-
pervading ; 'working out practical results, producing
genuine fruits, forming the character, regulating the
life. No one can doubt his deep experience of the
things of God and of the sanctifying of the blood
of Jesus. But of this he studiously avoided any
public profession; and even when importuned dur-
ing his last sickness, by one zealously devoted to the
promotion of the doctrine in its special aspects, to
make a profession of entire sanctification, he kindly
but firmly declined. He seemed much more inclined
to make that other confession : —
" I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me."
Yet in the trying hour he did not lack the confi-
dence of faith, nor the presence of the divine Com-
forter; and in heaven, we confidently believe, the
divine plaudit — ^"Well done, good and faithful ser-
vant"— awaited him. This unwillingness to make
any profession or acknowledgment of high attain-
ments in religion, may have resulted as much from
the extreme modesty of his nature, the poor estimate
he always formed of himself and of his perform'
ances, and his painM consciousness of his errors
684 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDIT^G. [1862.
and imperfections, as from his profound sense of tlie
high responsibility attached to such professions. He
may, too, have thought that the profession that he
was a sinner seeking salvation through the blood
of Jesus, was more fitting to his condition, and
more congenial to his feelings, than any other. He
evidently sought to encourage experience and prac-
tice rather than profession.
13. "We cannot further particularize. The great
excellence of Bishop Hedding's character consisted
in the harmonious development of all its parts, and
not in an undue development of some particular
feature. Many of his contemporaries surpassed him
in particular acquirements, or in specific talents.
Some were more learned as scholars; some were
more eloquent in public discourse ; and some were
more attractive in personal form and address. But
in Bishop Hedding there was a combination of noble
qualities, which gave him completeness of character.
So of his services in the Church. They consist not
of sudden and striking acts of heroic daring ; but of a
long life of patient labour in the highest sphere of
usefulness. The striking characteristic of him was
not that he was a fast worker — a brilliant performer ;
but that he was a judicious, faithful, earnest labourer
in the cause of God and the Church. He was faith-
ful and patient in small as well as in great matters.
No duty was so insignificant as not to receive
earnest and faithful attention. The greatness of his
service to the Church consisted in the devotion of
1862.] TESTIMONIES TO HIS WOETH. 685
half a century, in this manner, to the promotion of
her interests and of the Redeemer's glory.
Few men have left behind them a more spotless
reputation, or have been more widely or more sin-
cerely mourned than Bishop Hedding. The journals
of the day — both secular and religious — made men-
tion of his death, and bore honourable testimony to
his virtue, ;^iety, and usefulness. Funeral discourses,
almost without number, were preached, and in every
part of the country. The preachers' meetings in
various cities, the annual conferences, and the Gene-
ral Conference, that occurred soon after his death,
passed resolutions expressive of their high estimate
of his talents, services, and character.
14. The life and labours of Bishop Hedding ex-
tended through an important epoch in the history of
Methodism in this country. When he first entered
the ministry, the work, then extending over the whole
United States and Canada, comprised but eight an-
nual conferences, three hundred and seven preachers,
and seventy-two thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four members. Now we have on the same terri-
tory (1853):—
Conferences. Tr. pr'i. Lo, pr'a. Members.
In the M.E. Church 31 4,460 6,700 721,804
Itt the M. B. Church, South 20 1,700 3,965 614,60]
In Canada, (including N.B.& N.S.) 3 116 198 19,013
Making a grand total of 64 6,266 9,853 1,266,418
A man who had participated in labours and wit-
nessed results like these, might well feel that he
had not lived in vain.
686 LIFE AND TIMES OF HEDDING. [1852.
But this was not all. Within the period of his
labours the character and geniu^ of Methodism have
been largely developed ; the capabilities of our gene-
ral Church organization have been closely tested;
our vast educational systems operating upon the pub-
lic mind through the press, the Sunday school, the
seminary, and the college — ^have all received charac-
ter and direction, if not their very existence. The
Church has been increasing in resources and intel-
ligence, and a higher tone of educational influence
has been brought to b.ear upon the ministry. In all
this substantial progress he had a deep sympathy,
and conti'ibuted his full measure of influence.
In his life and in his death. Bishop Hedding has
left to the Church of Christ one of the richest legacies ,
his life was a triumph of goodness, his death a triumph
of faith. The benedictions of the Church rest upon
him, and fixture generations shall rise up to bless his
memory. Devout men, with great lamentation, bore
him to his burial. He rests from his labours ; his
works do follow him. "The memorial of virtue is
immortal, because it is known with God and men.
When it is present, men take example at it ; and
when it is gone they desire it ; it weareth a crown
and triumpheth fore.ver."
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anecdote and history as the volume contains. — Neio-York Evangelist.
The volume has been to us a very pleasant one ; and we are indebted to it
for some information respecting Methodism which we are glad to possess
— Presbyterian.
Mr. West writes with ease and grace, and seems to possess a natural ability
to sketch the salient points of character.— iVcuj-Yori Courier and Enquirer.
We earnestly commend Mr. West's sketches of the English Methodist Preach*
ers to all the clergy of our land. — Alliance and Visitor.
These sketches are admirably written, and contain many valuable far,ts
And illustrations of holiness of life. — Albany Spectator.
Mr. West posse.sses great versatility of talent, and has a happy faculty of
describing scenes and persons. The work cannot fail to interest all readers
— Christian Union.
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS,
200 Mulberry-stxeet, New-York.
Father Heeves.
Father Reeves, the Methodist Class-leader : a Brief Account of
Mr. William Reeves, thirty-four Years a Class-leader in the Wes-
leyan Methodist Society, Lambeth, England.
18mo., pp. 160. Muslin •■ SO 18
We sincerely thank Mr. Corderoy for this little volume, which cannot fail
of being perused with great advantage as an iDcentive to strict punctu-
ahty, never-failing diligence, eminent devotedneas, and fervent Christian
zeal. — {London) S. S. Ikacfiers" Magazine.
The narrative presenla one of the most interesting developments of the
honest man, fearing God and working righteousness, that for a long time
has come before us: a fine specimen of the best order of Methodism in its
best period. — Christian Witness.
Let "Father Beeves'* pass along through all our congregations; he vrill
leave a blessing wherever he goes. It is just the book to stir up the Church.
A hundred thousand volumes should be scattered at once.— .Keu. A. Stevens.
The Philosojphy of Fcdth.
Philosopht and Practice of Faith. By Lewis P. Olds.
13mo.f pp. 353. SEusliu $0 65
♦part I. A General View of Faith— Pure, Simple, or Intellectual Faith-
Practical, Relying, or Saving Faith— The Unity of Faith— A Living Faith
and a Dead Faith — Unbelief the Native Condition of the Mind — Walk by
Faith— The Three Antagonisms of Faith— Faith and Works— Increase and
Diminution of Faith.
Paet II. Ancient and Modem Faith compared — Faith of Nations — Con-
gregational Faith — Faith of the Christian Ministry — Prayer and Faith —
Faith of the Cloister— Faith of Active Life—Faith of the Ignorant — Faith
of the Young — Faith in Prosperity — Faith in Adversity — Faith in Life and
in Death.
This book belongs to a class that has been rare of late years. It is a calm,
thoughtful, yet uncontrovensial survey of a great Christian doctrine in its
bearings upon theology in general, and upon the Christian life in practice.
We hope it may find many readers.— JfeWiodist Quarterly Review.
Bible m Ma/ay Tongues.
The Bible ts Maky Tongues. Revised by Daniel P. Kidder.
18mo., pp. 216. Mufllin $0 34
A biography, so to speak, of the Bible ; and a history of ite translations and
versions in ancient and modern times. It gives, in brief, a large amount
of' religious and historical information. It is divided into four chapters,
treating respectively of the biography of books in general, and of the Bible
in particular— the Bible in the ancient East and at Rome — the Bible at the
Reformation — the Bible and Christian missions.
The Coiw&rted Infidel,
Life and Experience of a Converted Infidel. By John Scarlet,
of the New-Jersey Conference.
18mo., pp. 274. Price $0 40
We commend this autobiography as worthy of a place among the multi-
tude of sketches of a similar sort which Methodism has produced, {t is
specially adapted, Itom its simple narrative, its pleasant vein of anecdotes
and its sound moraJ and doctrinal spirit, to attract and benefit young
readers.
NEW BOOKS,
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON AND PHILLIPS,
200 Mtilberry and 24 Vesey-street, New-York.
FOR SALE ALSO BY J. P, JTAGEE, 5 CORNHILL, BOSTON, AND
H, H. MATTE80N, SENECA-STREET, BUFFALO.
A Model for Men of Business.
A Model for Men of Business : or, the Christian Layman contemplated
among his Secukr Occupations. Eevised and Modified from the
Lectures "bf Eev- Hugh Stowell, M. A., Incumbent of Christ's
Church, Salford. With an Introduction, by Rev. D. Curry. 16mo.,
pp. 322. Price, 35 cents.
An excellent Utile volnme, Indicating Its character in its title-page, and forcibly
presenting tbe morality of the Gospel to the acceptance of men of business.
There Is so much In every day life to call our thoughts away from God — so much
to blunt our sensibilities to the moral principles which should govern and direct
every Christian man in all his intercourae with the world, that a book like this
cannot but be a most profitable companion for all who desire to be at last accepted
in Christ Jesus, We welcome its appearance. For sale at the Methodist book-
stores generally.— JfrfA, Protestcunt.
This is a work much wanted to carry the sanctity of the Sabbath into the busi-
ness of the week — to make religion, with business men, an ever-present and all-
pervadinff principle. It is well written, and highly edifying. Let it be widely
circulated. — Piitahm'gJb CVvHsHan Ad/eocate,
The Life and Times of Bishop Hedding.
Life and Times of £ev. Elijali Hedding, D. D., late Senior Bishop of
the Methodist Episcopal Church. By Rev. D. W. Clakk, D. D.
With an Introduction, by, Eev. Bishop E. S. Jakes. Pp. 686.
Price, large 12mo., $1 50 ; 870., $2 00.
The Temporal Power of the Pope.
The Temporal Power of the Pope : containing the Speech of the Hon.
Joseph R. Chandler, delivered in the House of Representatives of the
United States, January 11, 1855. With Nine Letters, stating the pre-
vailing Roman Catholic Theory in the Language of Papal Writers.
By John M'Clintock, D. D. 12mo., pp. 154. Price, 45 cents.
Last winter Hon. Joseph E. Chandler, a Catholic, and Representative in Con-
gress from Pennsylvania, being hard pressed by anti-Eomanist Influences, made
a speech. In which he denied the political supremacy of the pope. In doing
this, he showed himself possessed of the cunning of a Jesuit, or the weakness
of a neophyte. Dr. M'Olintock, in a series of nine letters, has thoroughly ex-
posed the weakness and sophistry of Mr. Chandler's speech. It is a volume for
intelligent readers — none others will relish the learning and the nice discrimina-
tion which pervade the work. — Norlh&mn Clvri^am. Advooate^ Attbum, K. Y.
A scries of letters to the Hon. J. E. Chandler, stating the prevailing Roman
Catholic theory in the language of papal writers, forms the substance of this
volume. They were prepared In reference to the speech of Mr. Chandler, deliv-
ered at the last session of Congress, and from the position and character of the
writer, as well as from his mode of treating the subject, are eminently deserv-
ing of public attention.— ^ Y. Trihime.
Carlton & Phillips, No. 200 Mulberry-street, New-York, have just issued a
neat duodecimo volume of one hundred and fifty-four pages, with the foregoing
title. It needs not that we say the work is a most timely and masterly xxQ'
dwatiQU.— WeMern, GJiriMian Ad/voeatp.
NEW BOOKS,
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON AND PHILLIPS,
200 Mulberry and 24 Vesey-street, New-York.
POE SAXE Also BY J. P. MAGEE, 5 COENHILL, BOSTON, AM)
H. H. MATTESON, SENECA-STREET, BUFEAIO.
Bishop Baker on the Discipline.
A Guide-Book in the Administration of the Discipline of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. By Obmon C. Bakek, D. D. 12mo., pp. 253. Price,
60 cents.
We are glad this long-expected and much-desired book has at length made its ap-
pearance. Since the first announcement that such a book was forthcoming, our
ministry have looked for it with no little degree of impatience as a sure aid to
their right and benefloial administration of Discipline. The title of this work, and
the source from whence it was furnished, warranted such expectation. After a
carofnl perusal of the volume, we have no hesitancy in asserting that the most san-
guine of those expectants will more than realize all they hoped for. We have hero
striking proof of that careful, patient investigation which precedes all the decisions
and productions of Bishop Baker. Our author has evidently made our '• excel-
lent book of DiscipMno" a subject of long and earnest study. For many years
he has been making note of the decisions given in annual and General Confer-
ences by his able predecessors in office, on all difficult questions pertaining to our
denominational administration. This result of his labors is an invaluable boon
to our ministry. No Methodist minister can well afford to be without it The
possession of this volume will save onr junior preachers a great amount of study,
much perplexity, and many troublesome errors. The clearness, conciseness, and
evident correctness of this production are marvels of mental investigation, acumen,
and discernment, — Zion^B Herald.
The Young Man Advised.
The Young Man Advised : Illustrations and Confirmations of some of
the Chief Historical Facts of the Bible. By E. 0. Haven, D. D. 12mo.,
pp. 329. Price, 75 cents.
Let no one suppose that we have here a book of commonplace counsels to the
young. The writer has seized upon some of the chief historical facts of the Bible,
from which he has drawn illustrations, which he commends to the study and in-
struction of his readers, and thus la a new and moat striking form has conveyed
great practical truths which can hardly fail to make a deep impressiun upon the
youthful mind. He displays no slight degree of research in his own studies, and
the whole is clothed with such historical beauty as will charm while his words
will instruct the student — New- York Oha&r'oer.
This book differs from all others we have ever seen addressed to this class of
readers. It plods not o'er the old beaten track of the numerous volumes bearing
similar titles. Its design is to fortify the young against the assaulte of infidelity,
never perhaps more generally, inore craftily, or more insidiously made than now.
In prosecuting this design it presents the greatest leading facts of the Bible, con-
firming them by the most conclusive evidence, historical and philosophical,
proving beyond all controversy the superhuman, the divine origin of the Word
of God. This volume has none of that cold, stiff, dry argument which has char-
acterized similar productions, repelling the young from their perusal. Dr.
Haven's method oi defending the "book of books" has a novelty about it which
must hold the attention of every young man who commences the perusal of
his work. His style and diction are of such a character as invest a powerfully
argumentative treatise with all the charms of a "well-told tale." If this book
does not sell extensively, and do immense good, the author is not at fault. We
commend it to parents who would save their sons from moral wreck. Let pas-
tors join issue with parents in scattering this potent antagonist to tile infidelity
of the times. 7iKTA..—ZiorCs Ilo-dlcf.
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS,
200 Mulberry-street, New-York.
SrmWs Sacred Aivnals,
Bagrbd Aknals : or, Researches into the History and Religion of Man-
kind. By George Smith, F. S. A., M. R. S. L., etc. In three large
volumes. Each volume is complete in itself, and may be had sepa-
rately.
8vo. Price $7 00
Vol. I. The Patriabchal Aob: or, the History and Keligion of Mankind,
from the Creation to the Death of Isaac: deduced from the Writings of
Moses, and other Inspired Authors ; and illustrated by eopiouci Eeferences
to the Ancient Records, Traditions, and Mythology of the Heathen World.
Vol. II. The Hebbbv People : or, the History and Beligiou of the Israel-
ites, from the Origin of the Nation to the Time of Christ: deduced from
the Writings of Moses, and other Inspired Authors; and illustrated by
copious Reference'k to the Ancient Records, Traditions, and Mythology
of the Heathen World.
Vol. III. The Gentile Nations : or. the History and Religion of the Egypt-
ians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, and Romans ; col-
lected from. Ancient Authors and Holy Scripture, and including the recent
Discoveries In Egyptian, Persian, and Assyrian Inscriptions: forming a
complete Connexion of Sacred and Proftine History, and showing the Ful-
filment of Sacred Prophecy.
Mr. Smith has, in his Sacred Annals, made a valuable contribution to the
literature of the Christian evidences, as well as of ancient history. . . .
The third voliime presents as complete and clear a view of the religious
systems of the great Gentile nations of antiquity as can be prepared from
existing records.— (iondon) Literary Gtustttc.
Mr. Smith has achieved a ^eat work. . . . We praise the book as an ex-
ceedingly important addition to the class of literature to which it belongs.
It supplies a great want, and supplies it fully.— (ZoTidtm) Christian Wit-
Tiess.
Strichla/rhd'^s Sihlical Literature.
A Manual of Biblical Literature. By William P. Strick-
land, D. D.
12mo., pp. 404. Muslin SO 80
The work is divided into nine parts, treating severally of Biblical Philology,
Biblical Criticism, Biblical Exegesis, Biblical Analysis, Biblical Archaeology,
Biblical Ethnography, Biblical History, Biblical Chronology, and Biblical
Geography. This enumeration will suffice to show the extent of the range
of topics embraced in this volume. Of course they are treated summarily :
but the very design of the author was to prepare a compendious manual,
and he has succeeded excellently.— Jfe«Aodw( QuarUrly Rem&w.
Memoir of Rev. S, B. Bangs.
The Young Minister : or, Memoirs and Remains of Stephen Beekmau
Bangs, of the New-York East Conference. By W. H. N. Magruder,
M. A. With a Portrait.
12mo., pp. 388. Muslin $0 70
There are some classes who may derive peculiar profit from a study of this
book. Young ministers of the gospel may deduce from it the elements of a
happy and prosperous professional career. Students may be led to inquire
closely into their duty, and may be prepared conscientiously to decide
whether or not God is calling them to the responsible work of the Chris-
tian ministry. Parents may see the effect of a careftil and rigid and truly
kind training of their children. And finally, all may be stimulated to a
holy life by the energetic and eloquent discourses that Ibllow.— JZct. E. O.
Haven.
PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS,
200 Mulberry-street, New-York,
Friendships of the BiMe.
The Feiendships of the Bible. By Amicus. Embellislied with En-
gravings.
12mo., pp. 140. Muslin $0 bB
The subjects of this attractive volume are, David and Jonathan ; Abraham
and Eliezer; Elisha and the Shunammite; Paul. Joseph, and Ruth;
Fortuitous Acta of Friendship; Rulers; Bethany; Jesus and John.
Some Truths.
- Ho3fE Truths. By Rev. J. C. Kyle, B. A., Rector of Helmingham,
England.
16nio., pp. 292- Muslin SO 33
Seldom has a book been issued from the English press more vigorous with
mental and moral vitality. It jjretends to nothing recondite, though it
treats often of subtle subjects; but it is pregnant with pithy thought,
and there is a naturalness, an aptness, a IVeshness and fulness in its
thoughts that render it, altogether, a most sterling and effective volume.
It=i fervid earnestness, though without pretentious rhetoric, becomes an
infectious eloquence that sways the reader's mind and heart irresistibly,
and bears him along from pa^e to page as by a sort of fascination. Its
subjects are not only illustrateif, and often in the happiest manner, but
they are urged and enforced, and reiterated, and pressed irresistibly home,
with a manner so simple, so full of persuasion and entreaty, so tenderly
sincere and solicitous, so increasingly emphatic as you pass from paragraph
to paragraph, that the reader can hardly fail to feel the moral spell of the
book. — Editor's Preface.
Asbv/T'i/s Journal.
JouBNAL OF Rev. Fbaxcis Asbuet, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. 3 vols.
12mo., pp. 524, 492, 502. Price $3 00
Mr. Asbury's Journals extend from the meeting of the Conference held in
Bristol, England, August 7, 1771, when he received his appointment ft-om
Mr. Wesley as a missionary to America, to December 7, 1815, within a few
months of his death, a period of forty-four years.
The Journals have long been out of print. The edition now offered is far
better than the old one : the dates have been carefully collated and recti-
fied, and a careful index to the three volumes is given at the end. In
these volumes will be found the beginnings (almost) of the history of Meth-
odism in America; and, as such, their value is incalculable to the Church.
But as a record of apostolic zeal and fidelity, of a spirit of self-sacrifice
rivalling that of the saints and martyrs of the early Church, of an industry
which no toils could weary, of a patience which no privations could exhaust,
it is full of interest to every minister of the gospel, and to every Christian.
— Methodist Quarterly Review.
History of the Inquisition. '
The Bband of Dominic : or, Inquisition at Borne " Supreme and Uni-
versal." By Rev. William H. Rule. With five Engravings.
12mo., pp. 392. Muslin $0 76
This small volume should be in the bands of every one who takes an in-
terest in the Papal question. — Church, of England Quarterly Beroiew.
We cannot know too much of that horrible and Satanic institution, of which
this valuable little work treats, and treats so &b\y.~~^angeUcal Chris-
foraAwn.
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