MH-1978-10-Cannon.Pdf (12.09Mb)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
11 ! ..1 : i . ! by Willianl Il. Cannon* When I canle to teach at: what was then Enlory... at-()xJord, and to serve as pastor of the AJ1enM.cl11orial Methodist Church; in ;1 11 II 1942-thirty-five years ago-there were no professorships whatev ,I (.f ~ i , r cr on this c<lInpus. The highest rank that a teacher 111ight attain was ~ I rl that of associate professor, and 1110St of Illy colleagues were Inerely L I ~ i I I either instructors or associate professors. 12ven the denn, : I technically speaking, was not really the dean, for he was directly answerable to the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of En10ry University. r-rhis relationship; .I Blust confess, existed at that tiIne Blore in the breach than in the observance, for Dean ; ! f! G'eorge Roach, our brilliant and 'in1perious leader, was in reality answerable to nobody but God hinlself.Evidently, the dean at "Big" En10ry realizcd this, for he never dared to countcnnand his orders, lest by chance he u1ight countennancl God's as well. ,Except ~- ; f; for Bishop Arthur J.Moore, I never knew a 111an J110re in II \.-1 command of the situation than was })ean George ]loach. But the .1 ;'l · i · , rest of the faculty had to find satisfaction and happiness in one of 1'.1 · , two ways: either they drealnecl of being translated to "Big" ~ I i I Emory-where, by publication and great teaching, they rnight someday obtain a professorship-or they resigned thernselves to life here, with the associate professorship as the highest possible level of academic attainlTIent. I, personally, took the fonnel' route; but persons greater and better, and Dlore dedicated than 1, chose to givc thcrllselves unreservedly to the pupils at Oxford; and their nclInes and fatne fornl the glory of this institution ..AIllong Iny own colleagues, there were Brown and J)ickey, Carleton and Ellington, Whatley and Jackson, thcinilnitable WaIter Strozier, who was nlayor of the town as well, and both 'Dean J~oach and his able successor; Virgil Young Cook Eady. There were also others, such as Thorn, Ostcnnan, Clarke, and Watkins; but they, like Inc, accepted positk)ns elsewhere and cannot be placed alnoog the aforellalned persons who persevered in faithful service to the glory of Oxford and the greatness of this institution, whose graduates now rise up to call then1 blessed. • Bishop Cannon rresenlccllhis paper at the estahlishment of the Pierce Chair in Heliginn at Oxford College of Emory University. Ij 3 4 METHODIST HISTORY But now the situation at this college is entirely different. Academic advancement here is comparable to such advancement anywhere else. The name itself signifies the change. This is no longer Emory-at-Oxford, a mere adjunct to the Atlanta campus. This is Oxford College, a unit of Emory University, comparable in every way to the junior division of Emory College on the Atlanta . campus. We have here our own dean; and there are full professors, with tenure and all other rights and privileges appertaining thereunto. Today, we witness the establishment of a named professorship that will, within a period of time, become a fully-endowed professorship. The person who provided for this signal accomplishment in the life of this school is a descendent of the illustrious persons for whom the chair is named and in grateful memory of whom it exists. I have called it a chair. Perhaps "settee," or at least "love-seat," would be a more appropriate designation, since this is to be the Lovick and George Foster Pierce Professorship, named for two eminent Georgia clergymen and Methodist divines-father and son, the great Lovick Pierce and his even greater son, George Foster Pierce. The donor, Mr. Abbot Turner, a lifelong and devoted Methodist layman, a member of Saint Luke United Methodist Church in Columbus, Georgia, is the grandson of Colonel and Mrs. Thomas Turner, who resided all their lives at Sparta, Georgia, which is the home of the Pierce family. Mrs. Thomas Turner was the former Ella Pierce, the eldest child of George and Ann Pierce, so that Bishop Pierce was his great-grandfather. Brother Abbot, however, did not know either of them, since they both were dead and buried before he was born. The greatest bishop he ever knew was Bishop Arthur J. Moore, in whose honor he gave the Arthur J. Moore Chair of Evangelism, in the Candler School of Theology, while Bishop Moore was still alive. It would be difficult for Brother Abbot to think of any other clergyman as Bishop Moore's equal; but it should give him satisfaction now to realize that his own ancestor, Bishop Pierce, was of the same caliber as Bishop Moore, and vies with him for first place among the very greatest religious leaders that Georgia ever produced. As our then Governor Jimmy Carter, now President of the United States, paid tribute to the memory of Bishop Moore, by hanging his portrait in the State Capitol, so Governor Albert Holt Colquitt paid tribute to the memory of Bishop Pierce, whose preaching had inspired him as a youth and whose moral leadership to Georgia he THE PIERCES: FATHER AND SON 5 had witnessed during those trying days that followed the War Between the States. Lovick Pierce, the father, had a stronger constitution than George, his son--or, at least, he knew better how to take care of himself-for he lived to be ninety-four years old, while the bishop died when he was seventy-three. As a matter of fact, the two men died within five years of one another-the father preceding the son, but with just enough time to prepare a place for him in heaven, as he had always done so loyally and faithfully here on earth. Lovick gave way to his boy very early in elections in the Georgia Conference for delegates to General Conference, and he moved graciously aside so that his own strength might not compromise that of his son in the election to the episcopacy. He got his greatest satisfaction in life, not through the achievements he himself wrought in his own ecclesiastical career, significant as they were, but in the reflected light of his son's shining eminence. He beamed with pride whenever his son spoke, and the greatest compliment it was possible for anyone to pay him was to present him as the father ofBishop George Foster Pierce. The son, in turn, referred to him as "myvenerable father." Lovick Pierce lived to be the oldest active Methodist preacher in the whole world, and continued to command a seat in the Georgia delegation to the General Conference almost to the end, for he was there talking and voting when he was in his late eighties. Indeed, after George was elected bishop and could no longer serve as a delegate to the iI General Conference, over which he took his place as a presiding officer along with his colleagues, the old man was able to resume his place as head of the Georgia delegation, for all the preachers delighted to vote for him, so great was their confidence in him. The old gentleman-eontrary to what one might expect-".be longed to the liberal wing of the church, and generally supported progressive measures, such as lay representatives to General Conference and longer pastorates for ministers in a given local church. The son, by contrast, was a staunch conservative; he opposed virtually every change that was ever suggested in the economy ofthe church. The father was a theologian, and delighted in discussing doctrinal issues in minute detail. The son was impatient with such exactness; he was concerned always with the practical, everyday affairs of the church-what one could see tangibly in the way of accomplishments and success. The Bishop I .~ ! ,I ~l j 'I 6 METHODIST HISTORY was annoyed with those who were always arguing with the structure and polity of the church. He felt more comfortable with the old and familiar. He was skeptical of the new. The burden of proof, in his mind, always rested on those who proposed change. How could they be sure that what they proposed would be an improvement on what the church already was? Lovick Pierce lived through almost the whole of Methodist history, from the inception of the church on this continent, in the late eighteenth century, until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when he died. Indeed, his active ministry lasted nearly seventy-five years. The son's ministry-though long, according to our standards, with mandatory retirement at seventy, and voluntary retirement as low as sixty-two years of age-was only fifty years. "When Dr. Lovick Pierce began," wrote Dr. Atticus G. Haygood, "most of Georgia was inhabited by Indians, and l\tIethodism in America was represented by a few feeble conferences, for the. most part hugging the Atlantic Coast. When he fell on sleep, Methodism was rooted and grounded almost round the world; it had spread nearly over the North American continent~ the great movement in Mexico and Central America beginning during his last years among us." Lovick Pierce was born on March 24, 1785, in Halifax County, North Carolina, just three months after the Christmas Conference of 1784, in Baltimore, when the Methodist Church was organized. He had a brother, Reddick Pierce, who was two years older than he. There were no schools in that part of the country. Books were scarce. Newspapers for them were non-existent, so they got an education as best they could by listening to their betters and observing life in whatever form they found it.