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'RIDE a CIRCUIT OR LET IT ALONE': E..L\RLY PRACTICES THAT KEPT

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'RIDE a CIRCUIT OR LET IT ALONE': E..L\RLY PRACTICES THAT KEPT Methodist History, 25:1 (October 1986) lir 'RIDE A CIRCUIT OR LET IT ALONE': th E...l\RLY PRACTICES THAT KEPT THE UNITED BRETHREN, D. ALBRIGHT PEOPLE AND METHODISTS APART III WI DONALD K. GORRELL au th A generation after the Christmas Conference of 1784, the Methodist or Episcopal Church was involved in a series of negotiations with the United tf: Brethren in Christ and the Albright People that sought to unite the three sa movements but ended up hardening the determination of each to exist in­ ac dependently. Some writers have interpreted the episode as a failure because merger did not occur. However, a review of the interaction from the M perspective of institutional history reveals that those events served a positive of purpose at the time and provide useful clarification for United Methodists In today. This paper examines the negotiations from this latter point of view. se In addition the study provides perspective for understanding the frequent W( assertion that the German language was the primary difference that kept to the movements apart. fo The most obvious product of those early efforts at church union was gc a series of formal communications between the Methodists and the United of Brethren from 1809 to 1814, but the motives to merge the two German­ . speaking movements with Methodism existed earlier than that. In April ell 1803 Christian Newcomer, a United Brethren preacher from the begin­ E1 nings of that movement, wrote in his Journal that he 'was present at the su Baltimore Conference of the Methodists for three days. "It was my inten­ wi tion," he said, "to make a proposition to the Conference ... in order to oj ascertain whether it was possible to point out and adopt a plan of opera­ tb tion, by which the English and German Brethren could be more united al together, and have a better understanding of each other." He stated his \V purpose to a member of the Methodist conference, who advised him to Pl wait till the General Conference in 1804 because they were busy with other di matters and could not act on such a proposition.! Heeding the advice, el the 54 year old German, who apparently acted solely on his own authority, tl did not take the initiative on the matter again for several years. When n he did so in 1809 Newcomer had become one of the rising leaders behind Philip William Otterbein and Martin Boehm and Methodist interest in work among German-speaking Americans had increased. 16 Apr. 1803, Christian Newcomer, The Life and Journal ofthe Rev'd. Christian Newcomer, Late Bishop ofthe Church ofthe United Brethren in Christ. Written by Himself. Contain­ ing His Travels and Labors in the Gospel from 1795 to 1830, A Period ofThirty-five Years. Transcribed, corrected, and translated by John Hildt (Hagerstown, MD: F. G. W. Kapp, ' Book Printer, 1834), p. 105. (Hereafter cited as N1) 4 , ---'------------------------ .-ir...... 'Ride A Circuit Or Let It Alone' 5 Two years earlier Henry Boehm, a son of Martin who became a bi­ lingual German- and English-speaking Methodist circuit rider, evidenced the growing Methodist interest by having the Methodist Episcopal Church Discipline translated into German. Boehm indicated three reasons for print­ ing the book: because many who spoke that language had no idea there was such a book, a growing number of Germans were joining Methodism and could profit from it, and "There was a prospect of a union between the Methodists and the United Brethren." Actually the German init~ative originated with Bishop Francis Asbury, who assigned Henry to be his traveling companion for five years, beginning in 1808, because as Boehm said, "Bishop Asbury was anxious I should travel with him, especially on account of the Germans.,,2 The exact nature of Asbury's plan for uniting the Germans to Methodism is not explicitly stated in extant documents, but the evidence of his commitment to this cause is abundant over the next several years. In 1807 Asbury wrote to Jacob Gruber, a presiding elder who was the second bilingual German Methodist itinerant, to tell him that Boehm soon would print the German edition of the Discipline and to encourage Gruber to make time "for the Germans in your charge" since that was one reason for his current appointment. 3 Early in 1810 Asbury again expressed his goal to Gruber: "I have felt a great concern for the lost sheep of the house of Germany, [but] we have but only you two boys, that can Germanize.,,4 That Asbury was not content with that limitation was clear in an in­ cident related by John Dreisbach, who became one of the leaders of the Evangelical Association. Dreisbach told of his being approached in the summer of 1810, w~en he was just 21 years old, by the Methodist bishop, who "made us a very favorable offer toward receiving us into the ranks of the Methodist clergy." Asbury proposed that Dreisbach withdraw from the Albright movement, go to the Baltimore Conference with the bishop and join them, and then his appointment would be to travel for a year with Jacob Gruber to better learn the English language. The young preacher said he was interested if Asbury would have German circuits, districts, and conferences supervised by a Methodist bishop, but the episcopal leader said such a proposal "would be inexpedient." Dreisbach then declined the offer, which he regarded as "a treacherous step" toward the Albright movement. 5 2Henry Boehm, Reminiscences, Historical and Biographical of Sixty-Four Years in the Ministry, ed. Joseph B. Wakely (New York: Carlton and Porter, 1866), pp. 175-76, 184-85. 3Asbury to Gruber, 31 Jul. 1807, Francis Asbury, The Journal and Letters ofFrancis Asbury, Br, eds. Elmer T. Clark, J. Manning Potts, Jacob S. Payton. 3 vols. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, lin- 1958), IlI:372-73. (Hereafter cited as JLFA.) (rs. :: 4Asbury to Gruber, 26 Jan. 1810, ibid., IlI:425. t . ' pp, s[John Dreisbach], "The Past, Present, and Future," Evangelical Messenger (Cleveland, Ohio), 21 Feb. 1855, p. 28 . .......,,-':-..._- \~, J rii' , ,' 6 Methodist History P',~ ";'~ Iii: At the same time Asbury also was negotiating w)th the United r'i)'!' \'1')':,j \1 Brethren. Christian Newcomer attended the Methodist annual conference t' in March 1809 and a committee of the Baltimore Conference met with h' E t I. him to ascertain whether a "union could be effected between the Methodist r' e Episcopal Church and the United Brethren in Christ." After serious I' a deliberation the conference gave him a written resolution which he was ~ "to deliver to William Otterbein in Baltimore.,,6 The three page com­ t' p 1 munication, which was signed by Bishops Asbury and William McKendree, 51 \ ~ C proposed several terms to be met: I' I 1. Every United Brethren minister and preacher shall have a regular u license from your conference which would "introduce them to B our pulpits and privileges" and in turn the United Brethren were gl to receive only ministers and preachers who carried valid d Methodist credentials. tl 2. United Brethren were urged "to establish a strict discipline" to i I( prevent immorality among their people. The German edition of n the Methodist Discipline was recommended "to your considera­ t( I tion to adopt it, or any part of it" or "any other form that you I tc may judge best." Pi 3. All members of the United Brethren societies would be admitted l d: \ to Methodist class-meetings, sacraments, and love feasts "pro­ d vided they have a certificate of membership signed by a regularly I 81 I licensed preacher of your church." I I( ( I ~ The spirit of the communication was evident in the remark: "We sincere­ I B ly wish to accommodate you as far as we can consistent with the discipline \ which binds us together as a spiritual people."? I a: I1 Newcomer, whose "heart's desire has always been to effect a union I U between his German brethren and the Methodists" according to Asbury,8 I( worked diligently to meet the Methodist terms for union. Indeed his Jour­ ti nal contains the principal information about the negotiations, which are a' strangely absent in Asbury's Journal. 9 In 1810 Newcomer was present again P when the Baltimore Conference met at Baltimore and was the only con­ temporary to record what must have been one of the most significant \( 11 66-7 Mar. 1809, Nf, p. 172. fl 7Baltimore Conference to the United Brethren Conference (1809), Minutes of the Annual and General Conferences ofthe Church ofthe United Brethren in Christ, 1800-1818, trans. and ed. A. W. Drury (Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren Publishing House, 1897), pp. 45-47. (Hereafter cited as VB Mins.) sp. Hollingsworth, "Notices of the Life and Labours of Martin Boehm and William Otter­ bein; and Other Ministers of the Gospel Among the United German Brethren," The A1ethodist Magazine (New York), 6 (1812):254. 9Newcomer's name does not appear in Asbury's two volume account except in editorial notes, ' but Asbury is mentioned fifteen times in Newcomer's one volume record. 1 1 i f i I; _ ---------------t~ _,aa_.-. ...... 'Ride A Circuit Or Let It Alone' 7 meetings in the union discussions. On Monday, March 12, he wrote: "We were invited to come to the lodgings of Bishop Asbury; we met the two Bishops [Asbury and McKendree] and several other preachers there. I t I Otterbein, Boehm, and Asbury delivered a short address each; the first ~ and last mentioned then prayed fervently to God." Four days later Newcomer was invited to attend the conference session and gave the closing • I I prayer.
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