“Knowing exactly what I say, and taking the full responsibility of it, I repeat, [the Methodists] are the only Church in history, from the apostles’ time till now, that has put forth as its very elemental thought the great pervading idea of the whole Book of God from the beginning to the end — the holiness of the human soul, heart, mind, and will. . . . It may be called fanaticism; but, dear friends, this is our mission. If we keep to that, the next century is ours; if we keep to that, the triumphs of the next century shall throw those of the past into the shade. . . . There is our mission; there is our glory; there is our power; and there shall be the ground of our triumph! God keep us true!”

— John McClintock, President of Drew Theological Seminary in his centenary sermon in 1866.