The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-05-11

TONS The ostensible grounds Of hostllitI
we're his tolerance on the pew questionable
| question whether men and women should be
! permitted to sit toRether-and his alleged
| want of experience In tho role OF itinerant
preacher. As these objections, however, were
not pressed against othcr candidates, 1t Is evil
| dent that the opposition to DR.. simpson was
prompted by other motives. What those
were may 10 inferred from tho fact
that some OF the delegates on the bor-
dor sent committee to question him
upon his position in regard TO slavery. He
simply referred them to his editorial course,
and declined to make any further expression
OF opinion. He entered therefore on the epis-
copal Office untrammelled with relation to the
urgent public questions OF the time. In con-
sidering the nature OF tho functions which he
now undertook, 1t is important to remember
that in tho Methodist Episcopal Church Bsh-
on has n diocese. and being by the law OF his
Church required to travel at large he is OF
necessity always in motion. Scarcely, for In
stance. had Dr. Simpson been indicted into the
episcopal office than he was called upon to visit
California and Oregon. We need not remind the
reader that the journey was then incomparably
more arduous than 1t is now. The lsthmus Of
Panama had at that time to be crossed. partly
by boat up the Chagres and partly on mules.
Dr. Simpson was more than month In reach
ing San Francisco. His first evening In that city
was spent in true Methodist fashion, in prayer
meeting. and he mentions in his diary that he
found some of his clerical brethren preaching
on the wharves or in the plaza He was so de-
lighted with California that he was inclined to
make 1t his home. He wrote to HIS wife: {" Had
| you with me / could live contentedly in this
land for several years. There is wide field
for usefulness. and there are few who seem to
comprehend the actual condition OF things"
And again: What would you think OF homo
In California? 1t Is n strange and peculiar
country; everything in society is on n grand
scale; everything is under high pressure and
believe great good might be done by plans
well directed and properly and vigorously exc
cuted." Between San Francisco and Oregon
steam communication was inireluent and I'M
certain. and it was only after much delay and
with no little difficulty that Bishop Simpson was
enabled to reach the Oregon Conference:
in the last stage OF his journey he rode all day
in wagon on sheaves OF oats. and then push
ed forward twenty miles on horseback In order
to arrive in time to Join in the Sabbath Worship
The amount of travel within the limits OF his
own country performed by Bishop Simpson
was astonishing. After his return from Cali
fornia he made a journey from st. Louis to
Bonham IN Texas. whore he held the Texas
NOuleTeHCe. TOT part Oh lu6 way uib tloNclIluR
was Anthony Bewley, afte-ward
known as one of the martyrs Of the Methodist
Church. We may here recall that in
1860 Bewley whose anti-slavery opinions
were avowed. started for Texas again,
saying to his friends as he left them: e Let
them hang or burn me if they choose; hun
dreds will rise up out of my ashes" His words
proved to be prophetic; he was pursued by
a mob and hanged. Even in 1850 trav-
cling in Texas was perilous for a
Northern man opposed to slavery. and Bishop
letters to his family show much
anxiety. About the same period Bishop Simp-
son took part with DR.. Durbin in preparing for
he planting Of the Methodist Episcopal Church
n India 1t was he who wrote the commission
II the Rev. William Butler. the pioneer OF a
movement which. from small beginnings has
Produced remarkable results. The Methodists
low have in India three annual conferences.
,uperntended by a Bishop, more than eleven
thousand adherents. and all the appointments
If a we'll organized church.