Page:A short account of the rise and progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in America.djvu/39

 our church, which had already caused considerable dissatisfaction in the minds of the official brethren, and now to hear of this special Act of Incorporation, as aforesaid, they were roused to a consideration of what would be for the best interest of our Zion Church, and some of them imbibed a belief that the time had arrived when we might loosen Zion Church from under the government of the white Bishops and Conference. The following Tuesday, the 18th instant, the Trustees were notified to meet the Presiding Elder, at the residence of Peter Williams, in Liberty Street—they went accordingly, and Abraham Thompson, the oldest preacher and Deacon in our church, accompanied them to the place appointed, where they found the presiding Elder, Peter P. Sandford, Aaron Hunt, Joshua Souls and Thomas Mason. There were several questions and answers interchanged; the presiding Elder informed the Trustees that William M. Stilwell had withdrawn from the Methodist Episcopal Church, and therefore had no further charge of our church, and that he wished to know what our church intended to do. The Trustees told him that they would consult on the case, and give him an answer as soon as possible. The Preachers of Zion Church being unpleasantly exercised in mind about a resolution of the white Methodist Preachers in one of their Conferences, relative to a Local Preachers' Conference, they had previously appointed a meeting, and had requested our Trustees to meet them and council each party in regard to what they had heard, and the appointed time happened to be on the night of the same day that the Trustees met the aforesaid Preachers at Peter Williams', in Liberty Street; they accordingly met together at the