Alexander McCaine

Background

Alexander McCaine was born in 1768 and was a native of Ireland.

Career

When about twenty years of age he came to the United States, landing at Charleston, S. C. Soon, under the preaching of a Methodist missionary, he professed conversion and determined to enter the Methodist ministry. Bishop Asbury became acquainted with him and was favorably impressed with his training and gifts. He was admitted on trial to the Methodist Conference, meeting at Charleston in 1797, and two years later was received into full membership. His early preaching circuits were in the Carolinas and Virginia. In 1806 he withdrew from the active ministry to educate his children. On the death of his wife in 1815, at Bishop Asbury's solicitation, he reentered the active ministry, but again withdrew in 1821 and became the head of a flourishing boys' school in Baltimore. Though not a member of the General Conference of 1820, he was elected secretary of that body, a recognition of his ability and training. At this period an attempt was being made on the part of some to introduce into the government of the Methodist Episcopal Church a larger degree of democracy, by securing lay representation in the Conferences and the election, rather than the appointment, of presiding elders. Those advocating these changes were called "Reformers" and they were particularly active in the vicinity of Baltimore, Nicholas Snethen and Alexander McCaine being the two most prominent leaders. McCaine offered strong arguments in favor of reform, ably setting forth his views in The History and Mystery of Methodist Episcopacy (1827); A Defence of the Truth (1829); and Letters on the Organization and Early History of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1850), published originally in the Boston Olive Branch. The reformers established a paper called Mutual Rights (1824), to which McCaine frequently contributed. When the General Conference of 1828 refused to pass reform legislation, numerous churches split over the issue and in 1830 a convention of reformers was held in Baltimore and there organized the Methodist Protestant Church, which in four years had a membership of 26, 387. In this new branch of Methodism McCaine was active as a writer and critic until the end of his life.

During his latter years he lived with his children in South Carolina and Georgia, his eldest son being a physician at Lott's, S. C. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. James M. Brett, in Augusta, Ga. Soon after the formation of the Methodist Protestant Church slavery became an issue of prime importance. Its General Conference in 1842 refused to legislate on the subject and recommended that each Conference make its own regulations. Numerous objections were raised to this proposal and some withdrew from the Church, but McCaine, among others, became an active advocate of slavery and wrote a pamphlet in its defense, entitled, Slavery Defended from the Scripture Against the Attacks of the Abolitionists (1842). In 1843-44 he carried on a controversy on the same subject in the Western Recorder.

Achievements

• McCaine known as leader in founding the Methodist Protestant Church.

Works

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  • The History and Mystery of Methodist Episcopacy: Or a Glance at "the Institutions of the Church, as We Received Them From Our Fathers" (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The History and Mystery of Methodist Episcop...)

  • Letters On The Organization And Early History Of The Methodist Episcopal Church (1850)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

Views

McCaine's contention was that the Methodist Episcopal organization never had the sanction of John Wesley, and that episcopacy had been "foisted upon the Methodist societies. "

Personality

McCaine was a striking figure, with majestic head and clearly cut features. As a preacher he was endowed with great native eloquence. He despised shams, was impetuous in his defense of what he thought was the truth, and was bold to bluntness in dealing with personalities, a characteristic which often laid him open to criticism.

References

• History of Methodist Reform, Synoptical of General Methodism, 1703 to 1898, Vol. 1: With Special and Comprehensive Reference to Its Most Salient ... Methodist Protestant Church (Classic Reprint)
• A Concise History Of The Methodist Protestant Church From Its Origin (1877)
• Sketches of the Founders of the Methodist Protestant Church, and Its Bibliography (Classic Reprint)