12 Historical and Semi-Centenial Address
" Thus you see that our organization was a child of necessity,
born in obscurity, with no stately conclave of earthly dignitaries
to witness its advent, nor celebrated minstrels to sing its natal
songs. It was rocked in the cradle of want and poverty; for
the first decades of our history were years of numerical, finan¬
cial, and educational weakness. But from the beginning we
have had only one object in view, and one desire. Our object
was to save men from their sins; our desire was to please God,
and follow the instructions of the great Teacher. Our organ¬
ization, like others, had its general and special purposes. The
general purpose was to assist in bringing the world to the foot
of the cross of Christ; and the special was to assist in relieving
the African race from physical, mental, and moral bondage.
We were in the house of bondage, with fetters on body, soul,
and mind. But we had a strong faith in the justness of our
cause, and a lively hope of the final triumph of the right. With
this faith and hope, we went to work for God and humanity,
declaring war against whisky, slavery, caste, ignorance, and
sin of all kinds. And from then until now we have used all our
available forces, and have thrown them into the combat of the
right against the wrong.
" The minutes of 1817 are lost, says Bishop Payne, but the
manuscript minutes of 1818 show that there were only seven
itinerants—a historic number. These are the names of the
noble seven : Baltimore conference—Rev. Daniel Coker, Rich¬
ard Williams, and Rev Charles Pierce; Philadelphia conference
—Bishop Allen, Rev. William Paul Quinn, Jacob Tapsico, and
Rev. Clayton Durham. Bishop Quinn was the first in the
district who mounted a horse to itinerate."
This little band of hero warriors started with the strength of
the God of Israal, and on they went from one city to another,
preaching the gospel of freedom to soul, mind, and body; and
everywhere they went they were received with open arms and a
joyful heart. They crossed the Alleghany Mountains and
.stopped at Brownsville, Uniontown, and Washington, Pa.; and
all along the great valley of the Monongahela the voice of the
sons of God was heard calling on the people to arise and shine
for their lights had come, bringing glad tidings of great joy to
ail men, white and black. On and on these men of God went
until they arrived at Pittsburg. There, in an " old foundry,"
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