OFFICERS, LENGTH OF SERVICE

1870-1900.....

William Cariss,

Emanuel Hey,

Fithian Grey,

1871-1873; 1874-1876.

1873-1874; 1876-1883.

Charles F. Koenig, 1874-1886: 1887-1908

William M. Horrocks, 1883-1911...

ཱ་ ཿ རྞ |༞༞||ཨ|

CHAPTER IV

THE MINISTERS

THE sincere conviction in the mind of the Rev. William Cowherd that vegetarianism was a method of life taught in the letter and spirit of the Holy Scriptures marks the establishment of the Bible-Christian Church in England.

Mr. Cowherd was originally a minister of the Church of England, a rector of Christ Church of Salford about 1790, and afterwards of St. John's Church, Manchester, England. He is described as "possessing a strong and vigorous intellect, an inquisitive and earnest desire after truth and a deep sense of moral responsibility."

He later withdrew from the established national Church, and accepted the charge of the New Jerusalem Church, in Peter Street, Manchester.

In the beginning of the year 1800 he opened the church in King Street, Salford, which had been erected principally through his personal efforts; consecrated it to the service of "The only Wise God our Saviour," and taught the doctrine that all religious principles should be drawn directly from the Bible; and required everyone who became a member of this

church to proclaim himself or herself simply a "Bible-Christian."

In 1807 he began to inculcate the doctrine of abstention from the flesh of animals as food, and total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors, as religious duties. He founded his principles on the testimony of the Bible, and confirmed them by appeals to the facts taught by physiology, anatomy and personal experience.

Among the persons who resorted to Dr. Cowherd's church, was William Metcalfe a native of Sproadgill, in the parish of Orton, Westmoreland County, England, where he was born March 11, 1788, the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Metcalfe.

At the age of nineteen years he became a clerk in an establishment near Keighly, Yorkshire. In this village a congregation of Swedenborgians met under Rev. Joseph Wright, and young Metcalfe became attached to the congregation.

His leisure hours appear to have been occupied in literary pursuits; and the Muses came in for a share of his attentions. Born and educated among the pastoral hills of Westmoreland, his poetical efforts were distinguished for their rural simplicity and amiability. In 1809 he paid, as he supposed, his farewell visit to his boyhood's home. The following lines, bearing date "Kendal, Sunday evening, May 21st, 1809," are a transcript of his feelings and his style at that time. They are headed:

ON LEAVING MY NATIVE PLACE.

Farewell, good friends, companions, youthful mates!
May comfort smile within your cheering gates!
Farewell those hours that bless'd the youthful scene
When mutual kindness echoed through the green;
When gambols, harmless as the tender dove,
Endear'd our hearts, and oped the mind to love:
My Brothers, Sisters, Parents,-all adieu!
What thanks can pay the debts I owe to you?

Ye happy cots, where Peace untroubled lives,
Where Heaven-made bounty each one's want relieves;
Within whose doors all happiness I've known;
In each one welcome, frown'd upon by none:
Each guileless eye beam'd on my youthful face,
And kindly hail'd me with an artless grace:
Ah! can I from such friends, such kindness, part
Without the tribute of a grateful heart?

Peace, health, to all!—and may your hearts receive
That joy and kindness they so gladly give:-
Whate'er my fortune in this world may be,
Whate'er kind Providence may do for me,

Whate'er my lot in life's uncertain scene,
Still I'll remember what with you I've been:
This look's my last, from off this well-known peak:
My feelings dictate, but I cannot speak,

The Rev. Joseph Wright perceived talent in his convert and persuaded him to study theology with a view to the ministry.

The necessity of his studies led Mr. Metcalfe to an academy at Salford over which Dr. Cowherd presided. After being there about a year as a student, he became head of the classical department of the school, continuing so for two years during which time he dispensed the doctrines of the Bible-Christians to a small congregation at Addingham, Yorkshire, by which he was presented as a candidate for the ministry, and was ordained on August 11, 1811, by Dr. Cowherd, at Salford. He then gave up his position in the latter's school and having had a handsome church building in which there was a school-room, erected by a member of his congregation at Addingham, he opened school there. Before Mr. Metcalfe was ordained he had taken unto himself, a wife. She was Susanna, daughter of Rev. Joseph Wright, and was Mr. Metcalfe's senior by some years. They were married January 14, 1810. Mrs. Metcalfe had become a strong vegetarian, and was in perfect sympathy with her husband in relation to temperance in eating, and to total abstinence from wines and liquors in drinking. Mr. Metcalfe long afterwards said,

She studied to show our acquaintances, whenever they paid us a visit, that we could live in every rational enjoyment without the use of flesh for food; and, wife being an excellent cook, we were never at a loss for what to eat, although we would not have meat.