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Book Two - Pages 161-170
[[/161]] been agitated, and a committee appointed to fix on a division line, and to report to this conference. The committee reported fixing on the National Road, running East & west, nearly. through the centre of the State, as the division line, which after some discussion was adopted, with some slight variations, and a resolution, asking the ensuing General Conference, to divide the Indiana Conference was adopted, This measure was thought necessary, as there were now, members of Conference & those on trial, two hundred & Eighteen Preachers. and Church members and Probationers, near seventy thousand, Yet the idea of a division was, to some of the older Preachers, and particularly to Bro. Ruter, quite fearful: The preachers were all very dear to him; He had witnessed, with Parental solicitude, the rise and progress of Methodism in Ind a from a handful of three thousand <five hundred> members and some eight or ten Preachers to its [[161/162]] present position & influence, and he feared that a division would lessen the strength & influence of the church, and tend, if not to an alienation of feeling, yet to a lessening of that oneness of interest, and intense union which had hitherto prevailed, and ever been proverbial with regard to the Preachers of Indiana. And then, he had witnessed the Conference growing up around him as one family, and (with the exception of a very few who had been transferred from other Conferences,) had witnessed the admission & Ordination of every member of the Conference, (except perhaps one or two, when absent on account of sickness) and now the thought of meeting them all together in Conference no more, was truly afflictive, yet, as from the circumstances of the case, it was thought by most of the Conference to be indispensible, He acquiesced, yet he had ever doubted, whether the church was as strong in her < moral> in[[162/163]] fluence upon the community, afterwards, But this is a question which he willingly leaves for others, more competent to decide.
At this Conference Bro- Ruter was elected one of the delegates to attend the General Conference to be held in the City of N. York on the first of May 1844 and was; (at the request of the Church there,) appointed to <the> charge of the Centenary Church in New Albany & E. G. Wood to W. Chapel N. Albany.<& W m V. Daniel P. E.> Rev. Augustus Eddy was appointed to the Charge of the Madison District, -- Bro. Ruter on his return home, immediately made the necessary preparations, and removed his family to his charge,
E. G. Wood
He left the District, (on which he had laboured for the last four years,) not without regret, he had found many warm friends, with whom he had enjoyed sweet Christian communion, and his associations & intercourse with the Preachers, with whom he had laboured and suffered, had ever [[163/164]] been most agreeable & pleasant, And in Vevay, where his family had resided between two & three years past, he had formed friendships & Christian attachments, with kindred spirits, that cannot be forgotten – Yet he felt that he was, by no means going among Strangers,. For in New Albany he had laboured, & enjoyed much, in years gone by, and, as he expected, he found warm friends ready to recieve +, and welcome him & his family on their return.
He laboured during the winter and early spring, with pleasing success, altho—no general revival, yet there were some accessions & the church in a healthy condition. The latter part of April he left for New York City, to attend the Gen,, Conference,
Calvin Washington Ruter
This was the memorable Conf,, of 1844. It was here the agitation which had been increasing, on the subject of African slavery, for several years, and had produced an alienation of feeling between the [[164/165]] North and the South, attained its climax, and a fit occasion, as it was thought, being presented in the case of Bishop Jas. O. Andrew, who had married a Lady in Georgia who was the owner of Slaves, the blow was struck, which severed the Church. It was known to but few of the members of the general Conference, that the Bishop had married a Lady thus situated, (as the marriage had but recently taken place) untill + they arrived at the seat of the Conference. Hence the difficulty was by no means anticipated, and for a time, at least, some were at a loss relative to the proper course to pursue, and could scarcely venture a conjecture, as to what would be the consequence. It was generally believed however that the Bishop would ask to be relieved of the duties of Superintendant +, (76) (at least, untill + this objection could be properly removed,) if he did not formally resign his Office, and it is believed that such was his [[165/166]] intention when he came to N. York, and that he would have so done, had he not been dissuaded from this course by some of his friends from the South.. Tho.- perhaps he never so stated, at least he did not so state to the Conference.
When the subject was agitated in the committee on Episcopacy, and he + called in to state <whether> the report was true, he admitted the truth of the Statement, perhaps said that such were the laws of Georgia, and such the circumstances of the case, that he could not free himself from the incumbrance + at present, but made no definite statement relative to what course of action he intended to pursue. The committee reported this to the conference & it was then some days before the Bishop made known to the conference his determination, He at length stated to the conference, his situation, and defined his position, which was, in substance this, That as he was conscious of having done [[166/167]] no wrong, he should of course make no concessions, that he should make no change in his relation to the church, and that the conference could take its course &c. Which was virtually setting the conference at defiance, and manifesting an entire disregard to the feeling of the church, or the consequences that might follow, For he, and all knew that, there were some sections of the church, where a slave holding Bishop would not be received by the Preachers or people, and as the law of the church requires, a general Itinerant Superintendancy +, it placed the conf: in a very peculiar & unpleasant situation; and it was evident to, at least, some of its members, that whatever might be the action of the Conference, it would probably result in a division of, a secession from the church,
The Conf— hesitated, They did not wish to resort to extreme measures, or even to act precipitously, but [[167/168]] it was now evident, that act they must, and yet some even still hoped, that the Bishop would relieve the conf--. from action, by voluntarily retiring from the Episcopal Office, or from the discharge of its duties for a season, Vain hope, while the ultra men of the South, were urging him to a contrary course, and plying him with language like this, “I tell you Bishop not to yield one hair, you stand firm, and the South will stand by you and sink or swim with you,” And so he did stand. The battle had now fairly begun, and days rolled on, while a dark cloud hung over the conference. Resolutions were offered, discussed, amended, or withdrawn. untill +, after days of discussion a resolution was adopted declaring it as the sense of the Conference, that, in view of the circumstances of the case, Bishop Andrew should desist from the duties of Episcopal Office, untill + the difficulty could be removed. This was thought to be as mild [[168/169]] a measure as could be pursued, if the conference acted at all, yet there was a strong remonstrance presented to the Conference, Signed by most of the members from [from del] slave holding States, setting forth that the people would not submit to this proceeding, and a separation would, they feared, be the result.
After much talk and many pathetic appeals, a committee of nine was appointed to agree on some plan of separation, provided they should be compelled to separate, and provided also that the annual Conferences should consent to the measure, for as the plan reported, contemplated an alteration of the restrictive rules (77) it could < not> be done without their concurrence. After much discussion and [and del] most solemn assertions on the part of the remonstrants that they would do all they < could> to prevent separation, The report of the committee containing a plan for separation passed by a large majority of votes. For the adoption of this report, Bro Ruter voted, though [[169/170]] with some doubts relative to its propriety, but all the other delegates <from Indiana> thought best to vote for it, and when he considered the wisdom, experience, and prudence of the men composing the committee, it seemed almost like presumption in him to call in question its propriety, Yet even before he left N. York and ever after he regreted + that vote. Not that he was opposed to dividing with them the property of the church with the consent of the annual Conferences, provided they should be compelled, (as they said they feared) by the members of the church to separate, but he thought it was putting ourselves, that is the M. E. Church, too much in their power, As the event proved that his fear was not groundless. (37)
At this conference it was determined to elect two additional Superintendants +, and after several ballotings Rev. E. S. Janes of N. York and L. L. Hamline of Cincinnati were elected. Immediately after the Conference [[170/171]]