Rocky Ford enterprise., 1905-11-24
THE LATE BISHOP MERRILL A
VETERAN OF METHODIST CHURCH

back to the Ohio conference, and after
1t CirclevIlle was appointed presiding
elder OF the Marietta district two sue
ccssiye terms.
In 1868 Elder Merrill was delegate
to the general conference which met
In the First Methodist church In Chi
cago. and It was there that he first
achieved distinction. That was tho
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
tho body removed the limit and begged
him to speak as long ar 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. II 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. or
these Bishops Harris. Wiley. Haven.
Peck and Merrill are dead and Bish-
ops Bowman and Foster are superan'
nunted. leaving only Bishop Andrews
In active service. Seniority among the
Methodist bishops In determined hrst
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.
drcws.
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 tho most vcncra'cd bishop of
tho Methodist church. Hc was greatly
admired rs preacher. though his
sermons were rather deep and strong
than eloquent. hut his chief rcputa'
tion was based ON his comprehension
and exposition OF Methodist doctrine
and Methodist law. In these fields he
was regarded ms without peer and
was sometimes called the John Mar.
shall OF the church. He was regarded
M man Of sincere piciy. tender
heart and an affcctionaic disposition.
and was fairly idoiixcd by the local
Mcthodisis.
May 81. 1897. the twcn'y.hf,h ami
vcrsary Of bishop Mcrrili's eonsccra'
tlon wnA celebrated In mn elaborate
manner by the Methodist preachers
meeting and the Methodist Social
Union OF Chicago. The exercises
lasted ali day. closing with u banquet
In the evening. and the proceedings
were published In book form.
Bishop Merrill was married In ISIS
TO Miss Anna Bciimirc 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 a great traveller. He
no, only travcrscd this country IRE
aucn,iy. but In 1857 visited Mexico. In
1850 made the tour of Europe. India.
Palestine and Egypt. and in 1888 made
the tour of Japan and China.
An industrious writcA he published
tho following books: In 1876. Chris
tian Baptism: in 1878. The New Tcs'
lament Idea Of He'll: in 1879. The
Second Coming OF Christ: In lss2.
"Doctrinai Aspects OF Christian ES.
pcricncc": In 1855. "a Digest Of aicih'
odis, Law: in 1856. Outline Thoughts
on Prohibition: in 1892. The Or
ranic Union of American Mcihodism':
In 1895. MARY Of Nazareth and Her
Family" and in 1896. The Crisis of
This World"