Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Abbey, Richard

ABBEY, Richard, clergyman, b. in Genesee county, N. Y., 16 Nov., 1805; d. in Yazoo City, Miss., 23 Oct., 1891. In 1825 he removed to Natchez, Miss., and became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church in 1844, and was identified with the movement separating that denomination into its northern and southern branches. He published "Letters to Bishop Green on Apostolic Succession" and "End of the Apostolic Succession" (1853); "Creed of All Men" (1855); "Ecclesiastical Constitution" (1856); "Church and Ministry" (1859); "Diuturnity" (1866); "Ecce Ecclesia," an answer to "Ecce Homo" (1868); "The City of God and the Church-Makers" (1872). In 1858 he was elected financial secretary of the Southern Methodist publishing house. His other works include "Baptismal Demonstrations." "Divine Assessment," "Strictures on Church Government," and "The Divine Call to the Ministry."