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CORNELL UNIVERSITY L-IIjb-»- LIBRARY ^/r&fc Cornell University Library BX8391.V5L16 Sketches of the Virginia Conference, Met 3 1924 006 310 977 „„,„..i Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924006310977 BISHOP DAVID S. DOGGETT, D.D. SKETCHES OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE, METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. BY REV. JOHN J. LAFFERTY. WITH INTEODTJCTION BY BISHOP DAVID S. DOGGETT, D. D. RICHMOND, VA.: ,ittttH»fr, vV f CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE OFFICE, f% r 1880. -/^V"""' ""% L'J: V \ Printed By Bound By Whittet & Shepperson, J. W. Randolph & English, Richmond, Va. Richmond, Va. TO THE LAYMEN WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE VIRGINIA CONFERENCE, Ready Fob Every Good "Word and Work; and especially to JAMES B. PACE, THOMAS BRANCH, GEORGE M. BAIN, JR., WHOSE PUBLIC SERVICES TO METHODISM " PRAISE THEM IN THE GATES," AND WHOSE PRIVATE CHARITIES ARE TOO NUMEROUS TO BE HID ; THESE SKETCHES OP THEIR PASTOBS ABE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. PREFACE. Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles, while they were still alive. John Wesley published a journal of his own labors, and had a picture made of himself on copper, and used it in the first is sue of the Arminian Magazine. "There were short "accounts of his itinerant preachers, accompanied by their respective portraits, published in the same magazine." JOHN J. LAFFEBTY. INTRODUCTION.", Christian biography is the repository of the names and character of the honored servants of God. In this respect, it may be compared to a public conservatory of foreign plants, in which the rarest specimens, gathered from every clime, are collected and preserved for the information and admiration of curious and intelligent observers. It subserves the analogous, but nobler purpose of selecting and comprising, within accessible limits, those " plants of renown " which have enriched and adorned the garden of the Lord ; and whose fragrance would otherwise perish from' the memory of the living. It performs the grateful task of rescuing their record from oblivion, of perpetuating their image, of embalming their virtues, and of transmitting to others the treasure of their useful- ness. It is more still. It is a gallery of life-like portraits, taken by the artist from original sources, the indisputable identity of which speaks from the canvass, and whose recognized ideals recall the period, and realize the scenes of their consecrated activity. The object of the present volume is decidedly peculiar. It does not derive its materials from the realm of the dead, but from the region of the living. Nor does it seek, for its pages, promis- cuous examples of Christian worth. It is more specific. It embraces none but ministers of the gospel, and only a certain class of them. It proposes to commemorate the persons and the charac teristics of the existing members of the Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. And it proposes not to await their departure from the scene of their labors ; but, in their behalf, to imitate, .without presumption, the devout example of Mary, who, in anticipation of her Lord's death, annointed His feet "with a pound of ointment," which, to her, was "very costly.'' The promptness and profuseness of her act of devotion exposed her to the cavil of a miscalculating critic ; to whom Jesus said, "Let her alone ; against the day of my burying hath she kept this." With similar approval, we may commend the loving tribute of the author, who desires, while the laborers are yet in the field, to arrest and retain their fugitive forms, and to ensure the authen ticity of their respective narratives. So much, and no more is attempted. Verisimilitude is thus effected, without exaggeration, on the one hand ; or the risk of miscarriage, on the other. The future biographer will fill up the outlines, and add the details, according to his discretion. The skillful industry which secures these results, is not only entitled to our praise, for the com pleteness of its success ; but it confers a positive benefit upon the Church and upon society. It holds up the mirrored excellence of one generation to the inspection of another, and re-produces the features and the fortunes of those whose lives, in no small degree, have augmented the sum total of human happiness. * The volume before us, is also a. valuable contribution to the religious literature of the times which require the concrete, more than the abstract truth of religion. It demonstrates, by examples, the power of Christianity in transforming the lives and shaping the destinies of its witnesses ; and it illustrates the primitive process by which God's selected instruments are designed to accomplish vt INTRODUCTION. the regeneration of the world ; in contrast with the bald agnosticism of modern speculation, and the utter impotence of a diluted philanthrophy. A divinely appointed and attested ministry is the cardinal agency in the conversion of mankind. No other measures will ever accomplish it. Our ingenious author has invested his novel enterprise with permanent attractions. The en- tire volume is interspersed with tinted plates, on which are grouped, according to seniority, ele- gantly executed photo-lithographs of the members of the Virginia Conference, in the best style of the art, preserving their exact identity with wonderful expressiveness. Following, in historical or- der, is a condensed biographical sketch, remarkable for its terse, epigramatic vivacity, and never de- faced by fulsome eulogy. These successive groups contain not less than one hundred and fifty- seven accurate engravings, with appropriate descriptions ; the whole constituting a collection of sa- cred memorials as tasteful in style as they are truthful in execution. The beautiful mechanism of the volume happily corresponds with the quality of its contents, in type, binding, and embellishment. If it would be rash to say that the author has exhausted his resources upon this production of his genius ; it would be safe to say, that he has lavished them up- on it, without stint ; and that his labors merit the appreciation of his brethren. „ There is neither error nor arrogance in affirming, that he has paid, in this work, a just homage to Methodism, as the cause of God ; and has furnished an instructive chapter to its general history ; in the midst of constant editorial responsibilities, and in the prosecution of plans, the fertility of which would perplex and appal the most of men. It may well be presumed that a book so unique in its composition, so graphic in its delineations, so authentic in its statements, and so personally interesting in its topics, will meet with a reception so cordial as to leave no doubt either of the felicity of its conception, or the utility of its publica tion. Allied, as I have been, for many years, to the Virginia Conference, I confess the existence of a lively personal interest in the successful accomplishment of this memorial volume. It revives pleasant reminiscences, as the eye glances upon well-known faces, and traces, in laconic lines, the events and adventures of former fellow laborers ; or pauses upon the features and acts of those who have later entered upon their " work of faith and labor of love.'' Within these ornamented lids are enclosed gems of different grades of value, and shades of lustre. They all shine, however, as God has given to each "the measure of faith;" and all reflect the splendor of ' the same eternal light. They are not yet stars. That dignity awaits those who shall be "faithful until death." Even then, "as one star differefch from another star in glory, so ; also shall be the resurrection of the dead " which felicity may God grant to those whose names and characters are recorded in this book. D. S. DOGGETT. Richmond, Va., July, 1880. CONTENTS. Vlll SKETCHES. Rev. James McAden. ONE name alone on the Conference roll goes back to the last century. James McAden was born on the 15th August, 1795. He is of the long list of preachers that North Carolina has contrib- uted to our ranks. His birth-place is Caswell county. The Methodists held a two days meeting in 1810, near Milton, on Dan river. Young McAden, the grandson of a Presbyterian minister, with nearly all his relations of that church, was among the converts. In 1812 he began to preach. Asbury and McKendree were the superintendents. There were at that time within the present territory of the Virginia Conference hardly twelve thousand white members. John Early was travelling Greensville Circuit, with Philip Bruce as his Presiding Elder, on the Meherrin District. Jesse Lee served Eichmond that year. The less famous but great Thomas L. Douglass, was on the James River District. John Buxton, the Elder, of the Raleigh District, which took in " Haw River, Tar River and Roan Oak," sat in the Quarterly Conference that gave young McAden license to preach. The Virginia Conference (which included, in the main, North Carolina,) held its session of 1814 in Norfolk. McAden's name appears among those received on trial. The two superintend- ents, Asbury and McKendree, were present. There was no lack of debate. The licentiate found the tongue of the itinerent, like a swivel gun, easily trained on any object at any point of the com- pass. The "flashes of silence" must have been few. There surely was darkening of counsel by words. The Senior Bishop didn't value men for their much speaking. His journal has this line: "We have been mighty in talk this session." And he did not relish the syllogisms and rhetoric of the fathers ! Even they were of like passions with ourselves, and not always wise.

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