Soule, Joshua

Soule, Joshua, a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was born in Bristol, Hancock Co., Me., Aug. 1, 1781. He was converted in June, 1797, and began to travel in 1798 with Joshua Taylor, a presiding elder, and was admitted into the New England Conference the next year. In 1804 he was appointed presiding elder, and served as such (with one year's exception) until 1816, when he was appointed book agent in New York. In 1820 he was stationed in New York city, spent the next two years in Baltimore, and in 1824 was elected to the episcopacy. When the Church divided in 1845, he identified himself with the Southern section, continuing in the bishopric. He died near Nashville, Tenn., March 6, 1867. Mr. Soule was for four years (1816-19) editor of the Methodist Magazine, and in 1808 drew up the plan of a delegated General Conference, which now appears in the Discipline. "In the pulpit he was slow, elaborate, almost entirely destitute of imagination or figurative illustrations, but strongly fortified in the main positions of his subject and vigorous in style. His discourses showed more breadth than depth, but were often overwhelmingly impressive." See Stevens, Hist. of the M.E. Ch. 4, 44-49.