Martyrdom in Missouri, Volume 1 (of 2)

by W. M. Leftwich

In the official statistics of the “Missouri and Arkansas Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 1865” this church and parsonage are reported and valued, the church at $17,000 and the parsonage at $3,000. The same property is again reported in the statistics for 1866; and then, without any note of explanation, disappears from the annual statistical report of Church property in Missouri.

To show that this action, with all similar efforts to gain possession of the property of others, was encouraged and sanctioned by the Church in Missouri, and was only a part of their programme of Church extension, in the minutes of the “Missouri and Arkansas Annual Conference” for 1865 the following record is made:

“The following resolution was read and referred to the Committee on the State of the Church:

“Resolved, That the preachers of the Conference be, and they are hereby, requested to take all necessary steps in order to repossess the Church property belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church in Missouri.”

That the above committee did most fully meet the intent of that resolution the report which was unanimously adopted will show. It is as follows:

“Your committee beg to record our devout gratitude to the great Head of the Church for the rich and glorious manifestations of his power in the extension of his kingdom within the bounds of the Conference. At such a time and in such an age as this every friend of the truth and every lover of extension should be vigilant and hopeful, and more especially as the ministers and members of the ever loyal Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, to whom are constantly presenting new and extensive fields of extension, labors and usefulness. Advantages of no ordinary character are presented at this time. The action of the Missouri State Convention, by bill of rights, secures to any loyal trustee or trustees the right to control any church or educational property by application to the Circuit Court for the appointment of such other trustees of recognized and established loyalty; and we deem it proper to direct the attention of the ministers of the Conference to the fact that much of such property now held in this State is under the control of the disloyal and treasonable, property which was originally deeded to the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, and we advise our ministers that, whenever practicable, immediate steps be taken to possess and retain the same according to the forms of law secured by Bill of Rights. It further appears to your committee as of great importance, in the present state of the Church, that all persons of undoubted and established loyalty and holding the Methodist doctrine should, as far as possible, be in communion with us, that we may strive together for the advancement of our common cause in the earth. In view of these facts it is hereby

“Resolved, 1. That a committee of five be appointed whose duty it shall be to draw up a brief address to the ministers and members of the M. E. Church, South, inviting to unite with our Church all who are truly loyal to the Government of the United States, as a common government over all the United States, as recognized in its constitution and laws, and assuring them of an affectionate and hearty welcome to this fold.

“Resolved 2, That the ministers of this Conference are hereby requested to take all necessary steps in order to re-obtain possession of the Church property belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church in Missouri, agreeable to the provisions of the Bill of Rights enacted by the Missouri State Convention.”

Let it be observed that the same State Convention that adopted the New Constitution with its notorious “Test Oath” ordained also the “Bill of Rights,” over which the Conference indulged such extravagant gratulations.

How many Northern Methodist ministers and members were in that State Convention, and how far that Church influenced the action of the Convention, and how far the said action was intended by its authors to restrict the liberty and expose to persecution the persons of Southern Methodist ministers and affect the property of the M. E. Church, South, in this State, others may determine from the facts upon record.