The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1924-05-20
ANCIENT BREACH
OF CHURCHES ABOUT
TO Be THING OF PAST
,rruODISTS OF NORTH AN
co1rTH ARE EXPECTED TO
COME TOGETHER AGAIN.
spIIT OVER OWNING SLAVES

Review OF SoN"
prsocb 80 Years Ago. Single Negro
Tnberited by Bishop Andrew at
po++or Of Schism and Wrangling.
The breach opened 80 years ago this
,nontb between the Methodists OF the
a.,, and the south is about to be
,a,od IRIS healing will wipe away an
.her trace OF bitterness over the
,,est;on that led to the war between
he states says the Savannah News in
convrigbt article by Malcolm Ellis.
l. was continues the article, in
Green street church in New York, a
bulding that has passed away, that,
% Nav q determined abolitionist
Jologafcs from New England intro
dnced in the general conference OF the
Methodist church a resolution demand
mo that Bishop James Osgood, An
drew OF Georgia, resign because he
~as the owner OF a black boy and a
black girl.
Determined ministers and laymen
III the north and angry and determln-
ed delegates from the south-one side
#boIding slavery a moral wrong, the
other contending it was not sinful and
therefore out of the province OF the
cbprcb-coaxed, cajoled, were caustlc
and personal and finally hurled invec-
tives for days trying to change each
Others point Of view
Delegates of the south lett the
meeting with a VOW that they would
not again "co-mingle" with their
northern brethren.
The VOW is kept, but with slavery
dead for sixty years their successors,
az the trustees of Wesleyanism, are
about to come back to the common
fold. The section of the general con-
ference of the Methodist Episcopal
church. the northern branch OF the
church. in session at Springfield, pass
ling this week by vote OF something
FL ike 800 to IS measure to reun1te
with the the southern Methodists, IS
one OF the last steps in the reunion.
4 The southern conference, it is agreed,
will ratifv the articles. With that rat1-
fcauon negotiations that have been
+ in progress since 1911 will be conclud-
ed
The reunion will make the church
one OF the strongest national bodies
in the country, as the northern branch
has 4593,540 members, the southern
branch 2,339,152.
While the whole question OF slaV-
cry was tied up with the schism be
tween the two bodies it was in reality.
single negro boy by the name OF
Jacob who caused the greatest split
in an American ecclesiastical body,
Bishop Andrew had inherited nm
from his first wife. He was the bish-
ops body servant He held also until
she became of age a girl by the name
#of Kitty, who had been willed to MN
by friend for him to rear. When
Kitty became 10 Bishop Andrew,
abiding by his friends will, offered
her freedom and passage to Liberia,
Nor bondage in his household. She
chose the bondage. Jacob had no
choice
The conference in New York in
1874 was held at time when anti
Slavery sentiment was rising in New
81 England Bishop Andrew was married
second time just before the confer
enCe to a woman who had a number
Mot slaves He decided them back to
her. His status, however, was resented
Nj by the northern Methodists, who held
that it would greatly embarrass the
exercise Of his office as an itnerant
general superintendent, if not ii some
places entirely prevent it.
Interpreting the sentiment OF the
south, Bishop Andrews friends held
that slavery was not evil, that It was
Clearly countenanced in the old and
new testaments and cited the scrip
lures to prove it.
The result of the long debate, term
ca ugly wrangling" by one who
heard it, was the adoption of reso-
luton urging Bishop Andrew to de
q SYST from the exercise of his duty so
oag as the impeachment remains.
The southern delegates, declaring
mat their constituents could not sup
port a church that had so declared,
moved that the slave-ho1ding and the
saveless states organize their own
CoHlerences. The slave holding states
oIganized the M. E Church, South,
(" Louisville, KY, the following year.
Under the plan that has been ap-
proved the existing jurisdictional con-
,slGnces will be retained, with a gen
slel conference over them. Each of the
sNsung conferences will cede powers
10 the central body.