Autobiography, Sermons, Addresses, and Essays of Bishop L. H. Holsey (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Autobiography, Sermons, Addresses, and Essay...)
Excerpt from Autobiography, Sermons, Addresses, and Essays of Bishop L. H. Holsey
Appreciation is due Mrs. Millie Parker, Head Librarian at Paine College, for permission to copy her book.
Please correct the small but confusing typographical error in the middle of page 19. The name Garrell should be Jarrell.
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Lucius Henry Holsey was an African American clergyman. He served as a religious leader and third elected bishop of the Christian Methodist Espiscopal Church (CME).
Background
Lucius Henry Holsey was born on July 3, 1842 near Columbus, Georgia, United States. His mother, Louisa, a woman of African descent and strong personality, was the slave of James Holsey, who was his father. Upon the death of his father and first master when the boy was about seven years old, he was taken from his mother, with whom he did not live again for some years. They were reunited on the place of Lucius' second owner, James Holsey's cousin, in Hancock County, Georgia. In 1857, this man, T. L. Wynn, died, and young Holsey fell into the service of Colonel R. M. Johnstone.
Education
As a slave Holsey received no regular education, but with the initiative which characterized him he learned in any way he could; and, having been converted under the ministration of W. H. Parks, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, he became intensely interested in matters of religion.
Career
For three years after becoming free, Holsey managed a farm near Sparta, and he received instruction from Bishop George Foster Pierce of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Licensed to preach in 1868, he served for a while on the Hancock circuit, and on January 9, 1869, was sent by Bishop Pierce to Savannah. In 1870 he was a delegate to the first General Conference of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, assembled in Jackson, Tenn. , at which gathering this denomination was organized as a body distinct from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which up to that time it had formed a part; and he offered the resolution that led to the establishing of a publishing-house for the new connection.
In 1871 he went to Augusta, Georgia, as pastor of Trinity Church, and, after being there a little more than two years, he was, in March 1873, at the second General Conference of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, elected bishop, his youth and his rapid rise indicating uncommon ability in leadership.
He was a member of the Ecumenical Conference which assembled in London in 1881, and he was also a delegate to that in Washington in 1891. He represented his denomination at the Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, held in Nashville in 1882, and won the assistance of that body for education. For a quarter of a century he was secretary of the College of Bishops of his church, and for many years corresponding secretary for the denomination. He compiled a Hymn Book of the Colored M. E. Church in America (1891), A Manual of the Discipline of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America (1894); and for some years edited the church paper, The Gospel Trumpet. He also served as commissioner of education for his connection.
Achievements
As a leader of the fledgling denomination, Holsey secured its footing and extended its membership among black Methodists in Georgia. He founded a number of congregations, including CME Church in Atlanta. He revised religious tracts, including a Manual of Discipline, and a hymnal for use in the CME Church. As secretary, he regularly attended the general conferences of both denominations to report on the activities of the CME bishops and to speak to the members of the MECS. Later in life Holsey published an autobiography that included a selection of sermons, as well as a volume of poems. He was also instrumental in founding and in raising the first money for Paine College, Augusta, Georgia, in founding Lane College, Jackson, Tennessee, the Holsey Industrial Institute, Cordele, Georgia; and the Helen B. Cobb Institute for Girls, Barnesville, Georgia.
