Canadian = Perspective

From today and Yesterday=E2=80=A6

June 12, 2006

Bishop B.T. Roberts: His Life and Witness and the = =E2=80=98Free=20 Methodist Church=E2=80=99

Posted by Joseph under Church=20 History
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Benjamin Titus Roberts was the great bishop and founder of the Free = Methodist=20 Church, 1860. He was born in 1823 and throughout his life God was = continually=20 drawing Roberts into a relationship with Him, God had a plan for B.T. = Roberts.=20 He was converted at the age of 21, in which time he gave up his pursuit = of a law=20 degree and was licensed as an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church = (1845).

Roberts was determined to pursue his educational studies in his new = found=20 faith and attended Geneses Wesleyan Seminary and then he transferred to = the=20 Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where he graduate in 1848. In the = midst of=20 Roberts educational experience he was influenced by a number of great = men and=20 women. He was influenced by such men at Wesleyan University as Dr. = Stephen Olin,=20 who led a godly life and was the scholarly president of that = institution.=20 Another man that had a great impact upon the young Roberts=E2=80=99 life = was the layman,=20 Dr. John Wesley Redfield M.D., whose fervent preaching greatly affected = B.T.=20 Roberts. Roberts had such classmates as the future great theologian Dr. = Daniel=20 Steele and William C. Kendall, soon to be his comrade for reform in the = Genesee=20 Conference. Roberts was selected upon his graduation to give the = valedictorian=20 speech and at the young age of 26 was offered the presidency of Wyoming = Seminary=20 in Pennsylvania, but on the advice of his mentor Dr. Stephen Olin, he = turned it=20 down and instead sought elder=E2=80=99s orders with the Geneses = Conference of the=20 Methodist Episcopal Church and was admitted on trial.

Roberts=E2=80=99 first appointment was to Caryville, New York, where = he meant and=20 married Ellen Lois Stowe. He later went on to pastor Pike, New York. At = the 1850=20 annual conference, he was admitted to full membership and was ordained a = deacon.=20 That same year he attended the Collins camp meeting where he was = entirely=20 sanctified under the ministry of Dr. and Mrs. Palmer. One year after his = ordination as a deacon he was dispatched to Rushford, New York. During = these=20 various appointments, Roberts demonstrated that he was against slavery = but also=20 realized the dangers of embourgeoisment in the Methodist=E2=80=99s = societies. It seemed=20 that Roberts thought that many of the Methodists in his conference and=20 especially the bishops and some of the clergy, =E2=80=9Cwere overly = concerned with=20 social prestige than with old-time Methodist standards that aim for = =E2=80=98growth in=20 holiness=E2=80=99 as John Wesley once said.=E2=80=9D

In 1852, Roberts was ordained and elder and sent to the Niagara = Street=20 Church, where the conflict began between him and the church officials. = It was=20 here that he began the process of making it a =E2=80=9Cfree = church.=E2=80=9D Bishop Marston said=20 that Roberts identified three main problems in the church with the pew = system:=20 =E2=80=9C1) it ended the segregation of worship into male and female; 2) = It=20 commercialized the church; and 3) it discriminated against the = poor.=E2=80=9D

From 1853-1854 the lines began to be drawn in the sand, between the=20 Nazarities (led by B.T. Roberts and Joseph McCreery) and the Buffalo = Regency=20 (led by the large city pastors, several of whom were Free Masons). The = outrage=20 in which B.T. Roberts felt was printed in The Northern Independent, in = which he=20 published an article called =E2=80=9CNew School Methodism,=E2=80=9D just = days before the 1857=20 Annual Conference. In this article Roberts stated =E2=80=9Cexactly where = he believed the=20 present day Methodist Episcopal Church to have deviated from its = Wesleyan=20 heritage.=E2=80=9D Bishop J. Paul Taylor (the Bishop responsible for the = Alberta=20 Conference of the Free Methodist Church) summarizes the actions of the = next few=20 months:

The antagonism was irreconcilable. The enemies of holiness were = enraged.=20 Charges were preferred against B.T. Roberts. He was tried for = =E2=80=9Cunchristian and=20 immoral conduct=E2=80=9D because he contended for the higher principles = of Christianity=20 and opposed the very things which lead to immoral conduct. He was found = guilty=20 of the charges preferred against him and in the face of the verdict was = sent to=20 an appointment.

In 1857 he was sent to Pekin, where a local preacher named George W. = Estes=20 republished Roberts=E2=80=99 =E2=80=9CNew School Methodism=E2=80=9D in = pamphlet form along with=20 transcripts of the 1857 Annual Conference. When the Annual Conference = heard=20 about this they viewed this as a defiance by Robert and in the Annual = Conference=20 of 1858 they tried him again and found him guilty. His ordination was = taken from=20 him, but he remained a member of the M.E. Church and supported his = family by=20 traveling and speaking. Roberts was determined to hold of action of = leaving the=20 church until his probationary term was up with the church, but in 1860 = the final=20 push came and Roberts and all who followed the true heart of Methodism = were=20 pushed out of the mother church which was teetering on the edge of = apostasy.

On August 23, 1860 the call was given at Pekin, New York for the = formation of=20 the Free Methodist Church. There were fifteen preachers and forty-five = layman=20 who responded to this call and participated in the organizing of the new = denomination. They decided to retain the name Methodist, for they were=20 Methodists and they would had the word =E2=80=9Cfree=E2=80=9D to their = name for they were =E2=80=9Cfree=20 from slavery, secret orders, worldliness in dress and rigid formality in = public=20 worship.=E2=80=9D In the same year of the denominational formation, = Roberts founded his=20 magazine the Earnest Christian. In 1866 he found Chili Seminary in North = Chili,=20 New York, which is called Roberts Wesleyan College, today in his honour. = He was=20 elected bishop in 1860 and held that position until his death in = 1893.

B.T. Roberts started a stream that has never been able to be = quenched, the=20 stream of a purely holiness denomination, with one focus in mind, that = of a=20 deeper, more vibrant relationship with their God. Roberts was the man = that God=20 used in the hour of America=E2=80=99s greatest need to champion the = cause of freedom for=20 God=E2=80=99s people. As the old Methodist song goes: = =E2=80=9CSalvation! O Salvation! The=20 joyful sound proclaim, till earth=E2=80=99s remotest nation has learned = Messiah=E2=80=99s=20 name.=E2=80=9D

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Bishop B.T. Roberts: His Life and Witness and the = =E2=80=98Free=20 Methodist Church=E2=80=99

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