The history of the relations existing between the Methodist Episcopal Church and the colored man—or rather, the status of the colored man within the Church—so far as known, has never been written. There are many cogent reasons why such a history should be written. From the time of the landing of a cargo of twenty African slaves at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1620, until this hour, the colored man has been the subject of much discussion. Touching his status as a man, there have always been two sides:

It is a difficult matter to write of a battle while it is still raging. The combatants are not usually the best judges of the merits of their cases. Prejudice, education, preconceived notions of the right or wrong in the case, prevent the mind from weighing the arguments with equity. There are principles lying at the foundation of ethics which will not be denied by Christians. They come with the authority of a “Thus saith the Lord.” However distasteful these truths may be to the natural man, the

From time immemorial men have differed upon nearly every phase of human existence; and, for that matter, every other kind of existence. So far as we know, no organization has ever existed, formed by man, or formed by Deity for man (it makes no difference for what purpose it was formed), in which there was not manifested individuality to the point of wide divergence on most important questions. Unconverted human nature is the same the world over, and different propensities and dispositions, coupl

When it is remembered that the African slave-trade in this country was intrenched behind the venerated Constitution, it is not strange that nearly every conflict the Methodist Episcopal Church has had touching slavery aroused bitter opposition within and without the Church. In most instances it is conceded that defeated or desperate enemies, when opposing a third inveterate foe, will, if an opportunity is afforded, unite against a common enemy; or, in other words, Pilate and Herod will unite. Wo

The General Conference of 1844 sat in the city of New York, from May 1st until June 10th—forty-five days. It has gone down into history as the most noted of any General Conference of the Church. There was at stake the peace, unity, and strength of Methodism in this country. The question most prominent, and that was calculated to stir up most enthusiasm, was that of the abolition of American slavery. An unprecedented, as well as strange case, came up for consideration. Rev. James Osgood Andrew, o

By this is not meant that no interest in the education of the race had been manifested prior to this. The education of Bishop Burns, alone, would refute such an idea. But the Church began to see and feel that something on a larger scale ought to be done for the higher education of the colored youth within the Church. The very idea points out the fact that the Church saw for her colored members a better day coming. At the General Conference above mentioned, Wilberforce University , now in the han

Who has not, ere this, declared slavery a vice? We have seen that the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1796 not only warned its members against the vice of holding their fellow-men, their brethren, as slaves, but required a guarantee from applicants for membership that, if owners of slaves, they would manumit them at the earliest possible moment; if not, that they would not engage in it while in the communion of the Church; that if “any among us do not wish to abide by this rule, they shall have th

It was not enough that the General Conference had repeatedly stood forth the friend of the Union, but individual conferences gave no uncertain sound at that time. It is almost literally true that the hitherto unmistakable factional lines within the Church faded so much that the anti-slavery, conservative, and radical elements united in some sort, for the purpose of rallying to the national standard to find shelter beneath “the Star-spangled Banner.” The New York East Conference in April, 1861, l

As if afraid its influence would not be potent enough by its General and annual conference action on the question of slavery, several of the annual conferences sent up memorials to Congress and to President Lincoln. The New York East Conference—when the bill freeing “slaves used for insurrectionary purposes” was approved, August 6, 1861, and another forbidding the return of fugitive slaves by persons in the army, March 13, 1862, and the abolishment of slavery in the District of Columbia by Congr

“(1.) Our colored members, ministers, and laymen feel that the times are auspicious to the development of their mental and moral power, and request from us the facilities necessary to this end. “(2.) A colored pastorate they recognize as among the most important of these facilities, securing to them a ministry adapted to their wants, encouraging their young men to enter the ministerial field, and offering motive and opportunity for general ministerial advancement. “(3.) They do not, however, pro

When the General Conference of 1868 met in the city of Chicago, Ill., for its twentieth session, among other things it took up the subject of the relation of the Church to the colored man. There were present at that General Conference two hundred and forty-three delegates. When the General Conference of 1864 authorized the formation of mission conferences in the South for colored people, as a Church, it “had been practically excluded for twenty years” from Alabama, North and South Carolina, Geor

The quadrennium from 1868 to 1872 exhibited a marvelous growth among the colored membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This was but the pulsation started by Methodism among her hitherto downtrodden children, by her labor of love in carrying to them the gospel of free salvation through the agency of her benevolent societies, the class of bishops, General Conference officers, and the consecrated and self-denying white teachers from the North, who left their homes of comfort and joy to go S

It is impossible to build up a first-class membership out of second-class material. This has been one of our weak points. Such efforts as “Tanner’s Apology” were aimed along this line. Now, why is it that in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and, for that matter, everywhere in this country except in the Southern States, the colored man has sought a colored organization? Why the segregation of the race in the North, where slavery never came? Dr. A. G. Haygood believes, with many others, that ra

To the General Conference of 1880 there was presented a memorial from “the leading educators (fifty in number) in our white schools in the South,” asking that the work of the Freedmen’s Aid Society be extended so as to aid the schools of the Church in the South where only white pupils attended. No special emphasis was put upon the matter, save that of “aiding” the above-named schools. The Committee on Freedmen’s Aid Work in the South carefully considered the subject, and reported to that confere

An educational convention was held in Athens, Tennessee, in 1882, composed of delegates from nearly all our conferences, composed exclusively of white people, for the purpose of “looking after the educational interests of the work among the whites.” The question of the establishment of a university for the benefit of the white members and patrons of our Church in the central South was decided upon, and a plan was adopted for the co-operation of the conferences and Freedmen’s Aid Society in found

“In another column will be found a statement from the executive committee of the Freedmen’s Aid Society, concerning the episode in which Professor Caulkins and the Rev. B. H. Johnson were the principal participants. It will be seen that the executive committee acted in the case with great promptness and decision, the committee’s first action having been taken within four days after the first rumor of the case reached any member of the committee. “The following extract from the minutes of the mee

“It has been widely published that Professor Caulkins, of Chattanooga University, Tennessee, a school officially connected with the Freedmen’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and built and supported for the most part by funds from its treasury, refused to shake hands with the Rev. B. H. Johnson, pastor of one of the Methodist Episcopal Churches of Chattanooga, and that he refused the proffered hand of Mr. Johnson because Mr. Johnson is a colored man. It has also been reported that

“The decision of those who are in charge of the new university at Chattanooga, erected under the direction of, and out of the funds collected for, the Freedmen’s Aid Society, that colored students shall not be admitted to its benefits, has brought the Methodist Episcopal Church face to face with certain questions which only the next General Conference can settle. But in the meantime it is wise to examine the questions involved from every point of view, and, if possible, thoroughly comprehend the

After the examination we have made, and trying to scan the future, we see what has been gained by the colored members who remained in the Methodist Episcopal Church. They have been admitted to full membership, to communion at her altars, official relation as laymen, given work in the pastorate, presiding elderate, and given to understand that “color is no bar to an election to the episcopacy.” Will a time ever come in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church when she will tire of the race q

The great work done by this benevolent society of the Church among the colored people of the South deserves emphatic mention in connection with these tables of results which we have been giving. It will be impossible to tabulate perfectly statistical results among the colored people, as the work done has been for the populations of the South, regardless of color, and has so interpenetrated that it would be impossible to say that this was done for one race, and this for another. We may mention, h

With the understanding that we are not cumbersome to the Church, what is the duty of the colored members therein? It is our indispensable duty to remain loyal, wise, and prudent. By saying that the colored members of the Methodist Episcopal Church ought to remain loyal, does not necessarily carry with it a thought that there is a spirit of disloyalty brewing. What is intended is simply that each and every member thereof should know his and her obligations to the Church, her rules and regulations