The M. E. Church, South.
An informal meeting of some of the Bishops of the M. E. Church, South, together with several members of the Board of Managers of the Missionary Society, was held in Atlanta, Ga., a few days ago, Bishop Andrew presiding. We copy the more interesting portion of the proceedings:‘ Bishop Andrew called upon Dr. McFerrin, Treasurer of the Missionary Society, for a statement respecting the missionary interests of the Church. The statement was to the effect that the society was out of funds and out of debt, excepting outstanding drafts against the treasury.
It was moved by Bishop Early that it is impracticable to hold a General Conference before April, 1863, which motion Dr. McFerrin moved to amend so as to leave it discretionary with the Bishop to convene the General Conference sooner, if practicable. The motion so amended was unanimously adopted.
Bishop Early moved that the Publishing House at Nashville be left for the present in charge of the General Book Agent and Publishing Committee, to be managed by them according to their best judgment.
The meeting unanimously resolved not to recommend the continuance of the office of Financial Secretary.
Dr. Green moved that for the ensuing year the support and traveling expenses of the Bishops be apportioned among the several Annual Conferences, as follows, to wit:
The support of Bishop Soule to devolve upon the Tennessee and the Memphis Conferences; that of Bishop Andrew upon the Alabama, Louisiana and Florida; that of Bishop Paine upon the Mississippi, Texas, East Texas, Ouachita and Arkansas; that of Bishop Pierce upon Georgia and South Carolina; that of Bishop Early upon Virginia, North Carolina and Holstein; that of Bishop Kavanaugh upon Missouri, St. Louis, Kentucky, Louisville and Western Virginia; and that said Conferences be earnestly requested to exert themselves to raise the amount apportioned to them.
The General Book Agent was requested to communicate to the Conferences and the Churches the foregoing action of the meeting.
L. D. Huston, Corresponding Secretary of the Sunday School Society, was instructed to employ himself until the next General Conference in raising funds for the Sunday School cause, and to remit the money so collected to Dr. McFerrin, Treasurer of the Society.
Dr. Green moved that the Christian Advocate and the Southern Christian Advocate he united, and till the next meeting of the General Conference, published in Atlanta, Ga., under the joint editorial control and management of Drs. McTyre and Myers. Agreed to.
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Bishop Soule.
We copy the following astounding information from a late Yankee paper. We hope to have good grounds for its complete refutation hereafter:‘ It will be gratifying to the many friends of the Rev. Bishop Soule, D. D., who is the Senior Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to learn that he is still a staunch advocate for the Constitution and the Union. Chaplain Stevenson, of the Fifteenth Indiana regiment, had an interview with the Bishop a few days since at his residence near Nashville, which the Chaplain thus describes in a letter to a friends:
"I called upon the Bishop twice, and found in him the same social, courteous, Christian minister I have always regarded him. He remarked, emphatically and solemnly, 'I have never written a line or uttered a word politically; I have been a man of one work.' Lifting his majestic form and reaching to the mantel-piece, he grasped affectionately a newly bound old book, the Constitution of the United States. Resuming his chair, and opening the book, he said, with great deliberation, 'I have carefully read and closely studied the Constitution, and have never seen any clause in it authorizing or providing for a division, or the secession of one or more States from the others. We, the people, may change, alter, or amend.' This was the purport, and, as near as I can recollect, the precise language of the occasion; he authorized me the represent him to his friends, and I take great pleasure in disabusing him of a prejudice arising from a misapprehension."
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