Nathan Bangs · 28 of 29
Chapter 15. The General Conference of 1840 · Part 6
“Radical changes in our economy are conceived to be fraught with danger. After having so long, and under such a variety of circumstances, proved the efficiency of our existing institutions, we conceive that it is now no time to go into untried experiments. The leading features of our excellent Book of Discipline, we have every reason to believe, commend themselves alike to the enlightened judgments and to the pious feelings of the great mass of our people. Upon this subject they hold the sentiment expressed in the language of our Lord: ‘No man having drunk old wine, straightway desireth new, for he saith the old is better.’ They desire to continue on in the same tried path, and preserve, in its simplicity and purity, Methodism as we received it from our fathers. With these , we should prove recreant to the trust committed to us were we in the slightest degree to yield to the spirit of innovation.
“After this free expression of our views and feelings in relation to those great interests which naturally come under review in such a communication, will you, brethren, permit us, as your pastors and servants, for Jesus’ sake, to ’stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance,’ in relation to several important duties, which at the present time especially demand your utmost care and diligence?
In addition to the ordinary to which we are bound to attend as Christians, there are certain duties which are obligatory on us as Methodists; among these are our class meetings and love feasts. Numerous melancholy instances have proved that these means cannot be wantonly neglected by our people without the loss of their religious comfort, a total paralysis of their spiritual energies, and utter uselessness i the Church. As you then desire to be useful, to be happy, and to glorify God in this life and that which is to come, we you, brethren, never for a moment to decline in your attention to these precious means of grace.
Exercise the utmost vigilance and care over the moral and religious training of the rising generation. In a very few days we shall be with our fathers: and it is for us now to say what influence our children shall exert upon the condition of society, and the destinies of the world, when we are no more. Give your infant offspring to God in holy baptism. When they are of sufficient age, put them into the school, impart to them personal religious instruction, pray incessantly for their and salvation, and by all means, if possible, give them the advantages of the excellent institutions of learning which have been reared by your benevolent and praiseworthy exertions.
We would also apprise you who are heads of families, of the vast importance of supplying those committed to your trust with such reading as will have a tendency to make them wiser and better. Preoccupy their attention with our excellent books and periodicals, and to the utmost of your power guard them against the dreadful tide of froth and corruption which is making such ravages upon the intellectual and moral character of the age, under the general title of novels. These publications, with very few exceptions, like the dreadful sirocco, blast, and wither, and destroy wherever they come. Superinducing a state of intellectual languor, and blunting the moral feelings, they prepare the young mind for the more open and decided demonstrations of error, in the various forms of , or make it an easy prey to the seductions of vice. Recollect that ‘to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.’ Take care, then, to supply the appropriate aliment of the mind in sufficient variety and abundance, that there may be left no opening for the entrance of these mischievous agents.
We furthermore exhort you, brethren, not to forget the high and holy object of our organization. We profess to be ‘a company of men having the form and seeking the power of godliness; united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to help each other work out their salvation.’ We are a voluntary association, organized, as we believe, according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, for purposes of a purely spiritual nature. It was with reference to our mutual spiritual edification that we struck hands before God’s altar, and gave to each other pledges of future fidelity. Let us then labor to the utmost to do each other good, praying for one another, ‘bearing each others burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ,’ ‘forgiving one another if any have a quarrel against another.’ Our obligations to these duties we took upon ourselves voluntarily, and under the most solemn circumstances. Can we then lightly cast them off, or claim them at the hands of others, when we will not discharge them ourselves’ Nay, brethren, they are mutual, perpetual, inviolable.
We exhort and beseech you, brethren, by the tender mercies of our God, that you strive for the ‘mind that was in Christ Jesus.’ Be not content with mere childhood in religion; but, ‘having the principles of the doctrines of Christ, go on unto perfection.’ The doctrine of constitutes a leading feature of original Methodism. But let us not suppose it enough to have this doctrine in our standards: let us labor to have the experience and the power of it in our hearts. Be assured, brethren, that if our influence and usefulness as a religious community, depend upon one thing more than any other, it is upon our carrying out the great doctrine of in our life and . When we fail to do this, then shall we lose our pre-eminence; and the halo of glory which surrounded the heads, and lit up the path of our sainted fathers, will have departed from their unworthy sons. O brethren, let your motto be, ‘ to the Lord.’ ‘And may the God of peace sanctify you wholly, and we pray God, that your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.’
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, what soever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.’ And now, we ‘commend you to God and the word of his , who is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified.’ AMEN.”
On the evening of Wednesday, June 3, the conference adjourned to meet again in the city of New York, May 1, 1844. At an early period of the session of this conference a resolution prevailed to employ a reporter to take down the proceedings of the conference, that they might be published weekly in the Christian Advocate and Journal, and the other papers published under the direction of the General Conference. The following is the reporter’s account of the closing of the conference: —
“A motion being made to adjourn sine die, Bishop Soule addressed the conference:
“Dear Brethren, — Under any other circumstances than those in which we are now placed, I should esteem it a high privilege, as well as a solemn duty, to offer you an extended parting salutation. But the extreme lateness of the hour requires that we should close our session without further delay. Indulge me a few, and but a few, moments.
“It has afforded me much pleasure to witness so little improper excitement. I do not recollect that I ever attended a conference in which I saw less. While great difference of opinion has existed on various subjects, I rejoice to have seen exhibited, universally, so much brotherly kindness and affection. I am more especially rejoiced in the firm persuasion, the steadfast belief, that great and important principles have been investigated and established, destined to exert a most salutary influence on our future prospects, our peace, and our unity. In this I do rejoice, and I will rejoice.
“And now in separating, to carry out the measures here adopted — to further the cause of God with renewed zeal and energy — I entreat brethren to refrain rigidly from all unkind expressions in regard to each other; and to be careful how, as members of this body, they pass their animadversions, publicly or privately, upon its acts. It becomes us to speak, if we speak at all, with great respect and due deference for the opinions of those who have acted under responsibilities so vast and momentous.
“Let us keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.
“And may the God of all grace continue to strengthen our union, until we shall see the accomplishment of the great design for which Methodism was raised up, viz.: to spread Scriptural holiness all over these lands.
“The bishop then read that admirable and appropriate hymn, commencing —
‘And let our bodies part, To different climes repair; Inseparably joined in heart The friends of Jesus are.’
“The whole body, together with a considerable audience, joined solemnly in singing these sacred lines; after which the venerable bishop addressed the throne of grace, amidst the responses, the tears, and the sighs bursting from the heaving bosoms of the conference and the audience.
“The conference then, at ten minutes past one o’clock, Thursday morning, June 4, adjourned sine die.
“Thus closed the Centenary General Conference, after the most protracted, the most interesting, and, to human judgment, the most auspicious session ever held. May its deliberations redound to the glory of God and the good of the Church. The Church! Esto perpetua.”
