Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1905-11-23
THE LATE BISHOP MERRILL A
VETERAN OF METHODIST CHURCH

back to the Ohio conference, and after
being pastor first at Royalton and then
at Circleville was appointed presiding
elder of the Marietta district two sue
cessive terms.
In 1868 Elder Merrill was delegate
to the general conference which met
In the First Methodist church in Chi
cago, and 1t was there that he first
achieved distinction. That was the
general conference which first voted
for the admission of lay delegates and
famous debate over the measure
ragged for several days. When the
speeches had been limited to ten min
utes Elder Merrill made speech in
favor of the change of such power that
the body removed the limit and begged
him to speak as long as he pleased.
The result was that not only was lay
representation adopted, but Elder Mer-
rill was elected editor of the Western
Christian Advocate.
When the next general conference
met in Brooklyn, in 1872, IL elected
eight new bishops, and Elder Merrill
vas one of them The other seven
we're Bishops Bowman Harris. Foster,
Wiley, Andrews, Haven and Peck. OF
these Bishops Harris, Wiley, Haven.
Peck and Merrill are dead and Bish-
ops Bowman and Foster are superan.
nuated, leaving only Bishop Andrews
in active service. Seniority among the
Methodist bishops is determined first
by the date of election and then by
the number of votes received, and Bish-
op Merrill was for many years the
senior bishop of the church, distinc-
ton which now belongs to Bishop An
drews.
The Methodist bishops have no geo.
graphical jurisdiction, each of them
being bishop of the whole church,
but each of them is assigned place
of residence by the board of bishops,
and the residence assigned Bishop
Merrill was st. Paul, MINI. In 1877,
however, his residence was changed to
Chicago, and remained there until his
death.
Bishop Merrill had been for many
years the most venerated bishop of
the Methodist church. He was greatly
admired as preacher, though his
sermons were rather deep and strong
than eloquent. But his chief reputa.
ton was based on his comprehension
and exposition of Methodist doctrine
and Methodist law. In these fields he
was regarded as without peer and
was sometimes called the John Mar
shall of the church. He was regarded
as man of sincere piety, a tender
heart and an affectionate disposition,
and was fairly idolized by the local
Methodists.
May "a, 1897 the twenty-fifth ami
versary of Bishop Merrill's consecra-
ton was celebrated in an elaborate
manner by the Methodist preachers
meeting and the Methodist Social
Union of Chicago. The exercises
lasted all day, closing with a banquet
in the evening, and the proceedings
were published in book form.
Bishop Merrill was married in 1S4S
to Miss Anna Bellmire of Greenfield,
Ohio, who survives him, together with
their only children, two sons, both re-
siding in Chicago.
In the prosecution of his episcopal
work he was great traveller. He
not only traversed this country fire.
quently, but in 1887 visited Mexico, in
1880 made the tour of Europe, India,
Palestine and Egypt, and in 1888 made
the tour of Japan and China.
An industrious writer, he published
the following books: In 1876. Chris
tian Baptism; in 1878, 'The New Tes-
lament Idea of He'll; in 1879, THE
Second Coming of Christ; in 1882,
"Doctrinal Aspects of Christian Ex-
perience"; in 1885, "a Digest of Meth
odist Law; in 1886, Outline Thoughts
on Prohibition; in 1892, "The Or
ganic Union of American Methodism';
in 1895, "Mary of Nazareth and Her
Family" and in 1896, "The Crisis OF
This World"