Campbell, Jabez Pitt, Bishop

(Source: The Christian Recorder, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1866.)

Sketches of our Bishops.
BISHOP JABEZ PITT CAMPBELL.
Bishop Campbell was born in 1825, of pious parents who distinguished themselves for great Christian usefulness. At the time of his birth they resided in the state of Delaware. He joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1824. His early life was one of hardship and toil, without the advantages of a common school education; yet he was characterized by such aptitude, curiosity, and extraordinary comprehension, that from early childhood he commenced the pursuit of knowledge. He was converted after he had joined the church, on Christmas day, 1825.

In the year 1828, he was obliged to make his escape from Sussex Co., Delaware, in order to keep from being seized and sold by one Captain Pierce, who by an injudicious bargain, made by his own father, who had a legal claim to his body, according to the slave system of that state. He fled from Delaware to Pennsylvania. He was then bound out by his father to a man named Spencer Dewees, a merchant tailor in the city of Philadelphia, whom he served four years and six months, after which he bought the remainder of his time, about the close of the year 1832. As soon as he became his own man, he found his way back to the Church of his peculiar love and joined Bethel in Philadelphia. He continued a member of Bethel Church, Philadelphia, until 1839. He was licensed to exhort by Bethel Church Quarterly Conference, Rev. Morris Brown, pastor, in July, 1837; and in 1838-1839, he was sent to supply Bucks Co. Circuit, Penna., during a severe illness of the pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Miller. This was the commencement of his itinerant life. In 1839, he was appointed by Bishop Brown as the Conference Missionary of the New England States (subject to Rev. Noah C. Cannon.) He was appointed by Elder Cannon to Providence, R. I., where he served until 1842. He was again appointed to the New England States, and had charge of all the work until 1843. He was then appointed to Albany, N.Y., and served that section one year, having the oversight of all adjacent circuits. He was a member of the General Conference of 1844. From this time until l850, he was not actively engaged in the itinerant service. He felt that there was a disposition to pass slightly the merit of young men, and engaged himself in teaching school and occasional preaching. This feeling soon wore off and our good Bishop yielded to the pressure of his real calling, and in 1850, he was appointed to the New York Annual Conference to Buffalo, N.Y., where he served two years. The following two years he served Flushing Circuit, L. I. In 1854, he was appointed to Union Church, Philadelphia, Pa., and was the Editor and General Book Steward until the ensuing General Conference. In 1856, he was re-elected to this office by the General Conference, held in Cincinnati. In 1858, he resigned the editorship and was appointed elder in charge of Union Church, Phila., but he remained the acting General Book Steward until 1860. He was then appointed to the Trenton Circuit with the oversight of Princeton Circuit, and served two years. In 1862, he was appointed to the pastoral charge of Bethel Church, Phila., Pa., and was re-appointed in 1863, but resigned in October of the same year, and was appointed to Ebenezer station, Water's Chapel, and Union Bethel, Baltimore, which he served as one charge. At the Baltimore Annual Conference, 1864, he was appointed to the Ebenezer station, Baltimore, Md. At the General Conference, held at Philadelphia, May, 1864, he was elected and ordained one of the Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. From that time until the present, he was travelled about twenty thousand miles and presided over the California, Missouri, and Indiana Conferences. Bishop Campbell, as we remarked in the outset, is by nature , if such a thing can be; a student, and he is, therefore, a self-educated man. His father was the first colored man who ever taught school in Delaware, and he was his first tutor, though, for a very short time--six months. He went to night school about nine months. Bishop Campbell, in the common acceptation of the term, is master of most all of the English branches, and has quite an acquaintance with the classics. His knowledge of theology is said by these capable of judging, to compare most favorably with that of the most eminent clergymen in the land, either white or colored. In moral philosophy he exhibits great profundity; as a preacher, he has no superior in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. His pulpit matter is comprehensive, lucid, pungent and practical. His argumentation, of which he is fond, is happily relieved by his illustrations and exhortations. There are no sudden flashes of eloquence, but he presents a grand and solid structure which rises higher and higher, until attention entwines itself around its apex there to linger and admire. His style is perfectly natural, though somewhat eccentric. It is inimitable, and his hearers would not have him change it. Bishop Campbell was born for hard work; restless activity suits him, with great power of concentration. He has great tenacity and few can be found who are more untiring. Possessing an order of talent peculiarly adapted to energize and “ride the sea in a storm,” we feel that the great work on the Pacific coast and in the Mississippi valley, which is under his charge, by the blessing of God, will be crowned with glorious results. His name will stand forever among those who have been instrumental in doing most for the A. M. E. Church.