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Joshua Soule was born in Bristol,
Maine on August 1, 1781. He died in Nashville, Tennessee on March
6, 1867. His father was a man of great local influence, went by the name
of " Captain Soule," and was one of the select-men of Bristol. When Joshua
was sixteen he joined the Methodist church, and about a year later introduced
himself to a Methodist presiding elder and asked that he might travel with
him. The elder agreed and Soule began his career as "boy preacher."
Though young, he was tall, dignified, and able, and became known as an
opponent of Calvinism, Unitarianism, and Universalism. He studied hard
and made great progress. |
When he was twenty-three
he was appointed presiding elder over the state of Maine. He was on the
committee to draft the constitution of the delegated general conference,
which, since 1813, has been the fundamental law of the church. He was a
delegate to the general conference of 1812, and also to that of 1816. At
the latter he was elected book-agent and editor of the "Methodist Magazine."
He did not like these posts, and had made up his mind not to accept a re-election
; but in 1820, before that question was raised, he was elected a bishop.
A great debate had occurred
on whether presiding elders should be elected or, as before, appointed
by the bishops. Mr. Soule was opposed to their election, but the majority
of the conference voted in favor of it. Having full confidence in his sincerity,
they elected him bishop, but he declined rather than administer what he
believed to be an unconstitutional law, reentered the pastorate, and was
stationed first in New York and then in Baltimore.
In 1824 the general conference
reversed its action and reelected him bishop. These circumstances have
no parallel in the history of the denomination, and re indisputable proofs
of his great ability and influence. Up to 1842 he continued in the duties
of the office, and then visited Great Britain as a delegate from the general
conference of the United States to the British Wesleyan conference.
In 1844 the general conference
was held in New York. Bishop James O. Andrew had become complicated with
slavery, and the conference passed a resolution asking him to desist from
the exercise of his functions until this encumbrance should be removed.
It was Bishop Soule's opinion that the conference had no right to pass
such a resolution. Bishop Andrew declined the proposition, and the result
was a division of the church. Bishop Soule adhered to the southern members,
and when the Methodist Episcopal church, south, was established he went
with it, and became its senior bishop.
In 1848 he visited the general
conference of the Methodist Episcopal church at Pittsburg, but was not
recognized as a bishop or a delegate, though he was courteously received
as a visitor. At the age of seventy-two he retired from public life. Bishop
Soule was a great man intellectually, of remarkable personal appearance,
dignified and even ostentations in bearing, of a strong and imperious will.
Had he been thoroughly educated, and in early life brought into close relations
with educated men, his infirmities, if not eradicated, would have been
concealed. As it was, few men in church or state have exerted greater influence
over their contemporaries. |
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