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Part I
Thomas Osmund Summers
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1
The first American Methodist liturgical historian
Open nearly any book in the mid-nineteenth century published by the printing press of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South [MECS] and you will find the name Thomas O. Summers. As book editor of the Publishing House of the MECS from 1850 until his death in 1882, Summers oversaw the majority of publications printed during his tenure. He supervised all of the denomination’s Sunday School publications, served as the assistant editor of the Southern Christian Advocate (Charleston), and as the editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate, the Southern Methodist Quarterly Review, the Sunday School Visitor, and the Daily Christian Advocate; and he was the secretary of almost every General Conference of the MECS until 1882 – the year Summers died, while at General Conference.1 Summers also served as the first Dean of the Theological Faculty, Professor of Systematic Theology, and Vice-Chancellor of Vanderbilt University. While his contributions to the MECS were widely recognized in his day, his most lasting impact was on the liturgical praxis of American Methodism – something that reached beyond his own time and denomination, but has often been overlooked.2 What is most striking about Summers’ life and work is how he bridged the liturgical gap between the Wesleys and early American Methodism.
Thomas Osmund Summers was born in Dorset, England, on October 11, 1812. His parents died by the time Summers was six years old and he was taken in by his grandmother until she died a year later.3 His only sister also died around this time. Summers, along with his brother, then moved under the care of a great aunt named Sarah Havilland. While many of the details of Summers’ early life are obscured, it is clear that his aunt had a lasting influence on Summers. Not only did he name his first daughter after her, but he frequently cited the aunt as the progenitor of his Christian faith. A strict Congregationalist, she reared Summers in the doctrines and practices of the church until she died in 1828. As Summers came of age he began to consider seriously the tenets of his Calvinistic upbringing and, by the time Summers came to America in 1830, this wrestling had come to dominate most of his thought and energy.
There are discrepancies in the historiography on Summers with regard to his first exposure to Methodism. O.P. Fitzgerald – Summers’ principal biographer – writes that Summers worshiped in the Church of England and also rented a pew in a Wesleyan chapel before immigrating to America.4 He records that one of Summers’ few belongings that made the journey with him was a book of “Wesley’s hymns.”5 In contrast, the author of the first epitaph of Summers, his long-time friend D. C. Kelley, places Summers’ first interaction with Methodism at a camp meeting outside of Baltimore.6
In any case, Summers soon fell in with the Methodists after arriving in America. On October 18, 1832, he joined Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, as a probationary member. In January of 1833, Summers had a conversion experience which, years later, he described using language similar to that of many other early American Methodists:
One day – January 16, 1833 – while reading the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, at first a little puzzled with some verses in that chapter which I had been formerly taught to interpret according to the Calvinistic platform of partial peace and effectual calling. I seized on the Saviour’s declaration, “Him that commeth unto me, I will in nowise cast out,” and by a vigorous effort of mind, assisted by the Spirit of faith, I ventured on Christ, and so believed on the Son of God as to have the witness in myself. My experience corresponded with the language of Mr. Wesley, which instantly came to mind:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin, and nature’s night:
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray;
I woke; the dungeon flamed with light!
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed thee….
I felt like singing the stanza which thousands in like circumstances have sung:
My God is reconciled,
His pard’ning voice I hear:
He owns me for his child,
I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And Father, Abba Father, cry.7
That Summers quotes two hymns of Charles Wesley – “And, Can it Be” and “Arise, My Soul, Arise” – is important to note. For the rest of his life, Summers could hardly constrain himself from quoting hymns – particularly Wesley hymns – on virtually every occasion.
Summers’ move into ordained ministry followed a path similar to many other Methodist preachers in early nineteenth century America. He was licensed to preach in 1834 and was admitted as a member on trial to the Baltimore Conference in 1835. He was then appointed to the Augusta circuit in rural Virginia.8 In spite of eccentricities – he was often criticized by laity on the circuit for everything from quoting too much Charles Wesley, to the double-lapelled coat and silver rimmed glasses he wore – Summers was quickly recognized for his intelligence.9 Summers’ knowledge, it seems, was largely acquired on his own. Fitzgerald describes how Summers developed a regimen of learning that went beyond the course of study approved by the Conference. Summers quickly gained a reputation on the circuit as the preeminent expert in hymnody, among other subjects.
In 1837, Summers was ordained a deacon by Bishop Hedding at Monument Street Church in Baltimore and was appointed to the Baltimore City Station.10 D. C. Kelley recalled that the circuit consisted of “five churches, each requiring three sermons on the Sabbath, besides a still greater number of week-night services.”11 Sometime during this appointment Summers suffered an injury when he, apparently sleepwalking, jumped from an upper story window in the middle of the night. He was plagued by the effects of this injury for the rest of his life.12
Summers was ordained as elder in 1839 and was appointed to the West River Circuit in Texas.13 At first he appeared to be heading for appointment to Buenos Aires, Argentina, but through a miscommunication between bishops was appointed to Texas.14 Summers spent nearly four years in the Houston and Galveston regions. The scarcity of ministers in the area brought about an ecumenical necessity that shaped Summers deeply.15 Throughout his life he preached and even administered the sacraments regularly among those of other denominational affiliations – something that was frequently noted by his friends and colleagues.
Toward the end of his appointment in Texas a large portion of his time was given to fundraising for Methodist concerns in the area.16 During one fundraising trip in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Summers was introduced to Miss N. B. Sexton.17 Summers transferred to the Alabama Conference the next year (1844) and the two were married. They had four children together: three died tragically in late childhood and their only son became a well-known physician in Nashville.
By the time he transferred to the Alabama Conference Summers appeared to have gained some notoriety among southern Methodists and when the southern delegation met in Louisville in 1845 to consider a plan of separation from the Methodist Episcopal Church [MEC], Summers was elected secretary of the convention. The following year he was elected as a delegate to the first General Conference of the MECS and served as the assistant secretary of the conference.18 Summers was also selected to chair the committee tasked with creating a new hymnal for the MECS and he was chosen as the assistant editor of the Southern Christian Advocate, located in Charleston, South Carolina.19 From this point on he served continuously within the publishing organ of the MECS.
Summers was quickly emerging with a cohort of new leaders within the MECS. Among this group were two men that would prove to be lifelong and important friends to Summers. William May Wightman was a blueblood Charlestonian who served as President of Wofford College and Southern University (now Birmingham Southern). He was elected bishop in 1866 and presented for consecration by Summers.20 Wightman was editor of the Southern Christian Advocate in 1846 and it was he who, according to Summers, “thought of getting me as his associate.”21 Wightman also served on the hymnal committee with Summers. Summers described their friendship “as sincere and fervent as that of David and Jonathan.”22 Fitzgerald writes that this friendship was so important because the two complimented each other in personality.23 Wightman was couth, even-tempered, and diplomatic; Summers was often the opposite in his personality, yet the two formed a partnership that lasted a lifetime.
The other friendship that would prove seminal to Summers’ life was with Holland N. McTyeire. When Summers was appointed as assistant editor of the Southern Christian Advocate, McTyeire was chosen to fill the pastorate at St. Francis St. in Mobile, Alabama.24 McTyeire became the editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate in 1858, was elected bishop in 1866, and was instrumental in the founding of Vanderbilt University – serving as the first president of the board of trustees.25 ...
