[63] The first local Conference regularly organized in the United States, for the transaction of general business and for the keeping of a pure ministry, was called by him at Hartwick, N. Y., 1818. He was the leading spirit of that body, and ably met the objections that were raised against its objects. In 1817 he wrote some letters to individual preachers, pleading for an association of churches and ministers, to which ministers should be responsible for the characters they sustain.