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A Conflict of Associations: The National Camp-Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness Versus the Methodist Episcopal Church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

A. Gregory Schneider
A. Gregory Schneider
Affiliation:
professor of behavioral science at Pacific Union College, Angwin, California
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Extract

Hiram Mattison was fighting mad. Some of the holiness people in the Methodist Episcopal church had pulled a fast one. Early in 1867 the New York Preachers' Meeting had hosted a series of speeches on the question, “What are the best methods for promoting the experience of perfect love?” The discussion had been, in the words of one participant, “lengthy and pungent.” Mattison, a seminary professor and long-time opponent of the holiness movement, had weighed in with his professional theological polemics against the movement's doctrine and methods of promotion. He had expected that all the speeches would be published in a single volume. But the proponents of perfect love surreptitiously had withdrawn their manuscripts from the Methodist book room and had them published and copyrighted on their own. The original plan to publish a two-sided debate had been thus defeated, and the advocates of perfect love had scooped their opposition. What a move for people who professed to have attained Christian perfection, said Mattison. It must have paid well, he added, for three editions had been issued in just a few weeks.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , June 1997 , pp. 268 - 283
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1997

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References

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