VOLUME 1 — BOOK I — CHAPTER X
CONFERENCE AND PROGRESS OF 1774

The Conference of 1774 — Rankin's Disciplinary Rigor — Asbury — Watters and Gatch — Statistics — Progress in the Middle Colonies — The Itinerancy — Its Effect on the Ministry — Asbury's Sufferings and Labors in New York — In Philadelphia — In Baltimore — Otterbein — Williams' Success in Virginia — Asbury and the Revolution — Perry Hall and Henry Dorsey Gough — Rankin at Quarterly Meetings in Maryland — Shadford in Maryland — Remarkable Incident — Robert Lindsey — Edward Dromgoole — Richard Webster — Their Success — Philip Gatch on Frederick Circuit — Shadford's Rule for Effective Preaching — Gatch on Kent Circuit — Hostile Rencounters — "Parson Kain" — Gatch's Success — He returns to Frederick Circuit — Attacked by Ruffians — Enters New Jersey — Whitforth and Ebert — Benjamin Abbott in New Jersey — An Encounter at Deerfield — Sanctification — Abbott in Salem — His Treatment of Diseased Minds — His Success — Physical Phenomena of Religious Excitement — John King and Robert Williams in Virginia — Jesse Lee — Jarratt — Great Success — Additional Missionaries from England — James Dempster — Martin Rodda — William Glendenning — Asbury and Rankin

The second Conference met in Philadelphia, May 2, 1774, and continued till Friday the 27th. The disciplinary views of Rankin, enforced during the preceding year, upon the preachers and Societies, with a rigor which seemed to some of them hardly tolerable, had produced salutary effects generally, as evinced by the growing efficiency of the denomination, and an unexpected increase of its members. It had been regulated and consolidated, and now presented generally an attitude of strength which gave assurance of a prosperous future. Rankin insisted with English firmness, if not obstinacy, that the method of procedure established in the British Conference should be rigorously followed by the present session. The principles of his administration were good, and necessary for the infant Church; but he seems to have been unhappy in his official manners. He had not the tact of Asbury to adapt himself to the free and easy spirit of the Americans, whose democratic colonial training had thrown off punctiliousness [Oxford Dict. punctilious: attentive to formality or etiquette; precise in behavior — DVM] without impairing their energy and devotion to general order. Even Asbury hesitated at his rigor, but was conciliated by seeing his own judgment followed in detail, though "stubbornly opposed" at first. Errors in favor of discipline were, however, faults which Asbury could most readily forgive. "It is," he wrote, "my duty to bear all things with a meek and patient spirit. Our Conference was attended with great power; and, all things considered, with great harmony. We agreed to send Mr. Wright to England, and all acquiesced in the future stations of the preachers. My body and mind have been much fatigued during the time of this Conference. And if I were not deeply conscious of the truth and goodness of the cause in which I am engaged I should by no means stay here. Lord, what a world is this yea, what a religious world! O keep my heart pure, and my garments unspotted from the world! Our Conference ended on Friday with a comfortable intercession." Rankin says of the session, "Everything considered, we had reason to bless God for what he had done in about ten months. Above a thousand members are added to the Societies, and most of these have found peace with God. We now labor in the provinces of New York, the Jerseys, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. We spoke our minds freely, one to another in love; and whatever we thought would further the work we most cheerfully embraced. We had now more than seventeen preachers to be employed the ensuing year, and upward of two thousand members, with calls and openings into many fresh places. We stationed the preachers as well as we could, and all seemed to be satisfied."

Young Watters attended this Conference, the first that he witnessed; and small as it was, it was an imposing spectacle to him. He was "much edified by the conversation of his elder brethren," and preached before them, and a large congregation, in St. George's, with an awe which amounted to embarrassment. Gatch was also present, and though his name appeared not in the Minutes of the former session, he was now received into full membership, in consideration of his having regularly traveled during the preceding year. [1] A reinforcement of seven preachers was received on trial. Five candidates were admitted to membership. The statistical returns showed 10 circuits, 17 preachers, and 2,073 members. There had been an increase since the last Conference of 4 circuits, [2] 7 preachers, and 913 members. The members reported at the previous session had been nearly doubled. New York reported 222; Philadelphia, 204; New Jersey, 257; Maryland, 1,063; Virginia, 291. Maryland had gained 563; she had more than doubled her number of the preceding year; Virginia had gained 191, and had nearly trebled her previous returns. Maryland now included more than half the members of the entire denomination; Maryland and Virginia together included more than two thirds of them. Methodism was centralizing about the center of the colonies. New Jersey was divided into two circuits, Trenton and Greenwich; the latter, and Brunswick, Va., and Frederick and Kent, Md., were the new ones recorded in the Minutes.

Of the particular proceedings of the Conference there remains scarcely any record whatever; nothing more than a few references to economical arrangements, such as that every itinerant in full membership in the Conference should own the horse provided for him by his circuit; that each preacher should be allowed six pounds, Pennsylvania currency, a quarter, (about sixty-four dollars a year,) besides traveling expenses; that Rankin, as "General Assistant," should be supported by the circuits where he might "spend his time;" that a collection should be made at Easter on each circuit to relieve the chapel debts and itinerants in want; and that "all preachers should change at the end of six months," that is to say, should labor but half the year on the same circuit. The itinerancy was under a stern regimen at that day. Hitherto, as we have seen, it transferred the preachers from New York to Philadelphia every four months; now it was more rigorous toward the laborers of the cities than before, for while the preachers on the country circuits exchanged semi-annually, those of Philadelphia and New York exchanged quarterly. The itinerancy was prized not only as affording variety of ministerial gifts to the Societies, but as a sort of military drill to the preachers. It kept them energetic by keeping them in motion. No great captain has approved of long encampments. The early Methodist itinerants were an evangelical cavalry; they were always in the saddle; if not in line of battle, yet skirmishing and pioneering; a mode of life which conduced not a little to that chivalric spirit and heroic character which distinguished them as a class. The system speedily killed off such as were weak in body, and drove off such as were feeble in character; the remnant were the "giants of those days" morally, very often intellectually, and, to a notable extent, physically. Young men, prudently initiated into its hardships, acquired robust health, stentorian lungs, and buoyant spirits, "a good-humor," a bonhomie [Oxford Dict.: bonhomie = geniality; good-natured friendliness] which facilitated not a little their access to the common people; but many whose souls were equal to their work sunk under it physically. Its early records are full, as we shall hereafter see, of examples of martyrdom.

On Friday, the 27th of May, the little band dispersed again to their circuits.

Asbury hastened to New York. He was bowed with disease, and though fervent in spirit, the record of his labors for the year is but meager. It is, however, pervaded with devout aspirations, and with an energy impatient of rest. We can trace him somewhat beyond the city, especially to New Rochelle, now one of his most favorite resorts; but he returns quickly, to throw himself upon his restless bed and to receive medical relief. "Christ is precious to my believing heart!" he exclaims; "blessed be God for this! It is infinitely more to me than the favor of all mankind and the possession of all the earth!" "Blessed be God! my soul is kept in peace and power and love;" yet he soon after adds, "Both my mind and body are weak," for his malady is grievously depressing. At every intermission of its attacks, however, he hastens to the pulpit, sometimes dragging his debilitated frame into it in such prostration that he can hardly stand while preaching. "Many of my good friends," he remarks on one of these occasions, " kindly visited me today, and in the afternoon I took another emetic. My heart is fixed on God as the best of objects, but pants for more vigor, and a permanent, solemn sense of God. Rose the next morning at five, though very weak. Many people attended the public worship in the evening, though I was but just able to give them a few words of exhortation. Seeing the people so desirous to hear, now I am unable to say much to them, Satan tempts me to murmuring and discontent. May the Lord fill me with perfect resignation!" Again, later, "My body was very weak and sweated exceedingly. If I am the Lord's why am I thus? But in his word he hath told me, 'If I be without chastisement then am I a bastard and not a son.' O that this affliction may work in me the peaceable fruits of internal and universal righteousness! An attempt to speak a little in exhortation this evening greatly augmented my disorder."

To these trials were added the sadder affliction of discords in the New York Society, and of severe prejudice against him for his enforcement of discipline. Though habitually nerved with an energy of will which nothing could relax, he nevertheless sometimes turned aside to mourn in secret, with longings for the final rest. "Weak in both body and mind," he writes, "in this tabernacle I groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with the house which is from heaven. My soul longs to fly to God, that it may be ever with him. O happy day that shall call a poor exile home to his Father's house! But I must check the impetuous current of desire, for it is written, 'He that believeth shall not make haste.' " His disease advanced, till at last his "legs, hands, and feet were swollen;" but he meanwhile preached and met classes almost continually, in the adjacent country a well as in the city. Concord was restored in the John Street Society, and his own soul "strengthened with might and filled with peace."

Additional missionaries arrived from England about the middle of November; they relieved Asbury, who had now remained at New York longer than his assigned time; and he hastened southward, still feeble in body, but ardent in soul. He spent three months in Philadelphia, but was disabled much of the time by his malady. In one of his attacks he says, "My friends, expecting my death, affectionately lamented over me." In the beginning of 1775 he writes, "I am once more able to write, and feel a solemn, grateful sense of God's goodness. My all of body, soul, and time, are his due; and should be devoted, without the least reserve, to his service and glory. O that he may give me grace sufficient! I am still getting better, but am not able to speak in public; though the word of the Lord is like fire within me, and I am almost weary of forbearing. My mind is filled with pure, evangelical peace. I had some conversation with Captain Webb, an Israelite indeed, and we both concluded that it was my duty to go to Baltimore. I feel willing to go, if it is even to die there."

In the latter part of February he was on his way to Baltimore, preaching as he went. Arriving there he wrote, "My heart was greatly refreshed at the sight of my spiritual children and kind friends, for whose welfare my soul had travailed both present and absent. The next day I had the pleasure of seeing our new house, and my old friends, with some new ones added to their number. Here are all my own with increase." On his first Sabbath in the city, "both in town and at the Point, large numbers," he says, "attended to hear the word. The power of God was present; and I had an inward witness that it was the will of God I should, at this time, be among these people."

And now, with gradually returning health, he becomes himself again, he preaches, almost daily, at the Point or in the town, and incessantly hastens to more or less distant parts of the circuit, proclaiming his message along his route, and again we read of "the divine energy going forth among the people;" of "much of the power of God" in the assemblies; of their bowing "under the weight of the word;" of "rich and poor" thronging them and "melting under the truth." Otterbein accompanies him, and they have "a blessed and refreshing season." Williams arrives from Virginia and cheers him with increasingly good news from that province, still as in the previous year, the scene of the greatest religious interest in America. He reports "five or six hundred souls justified by faith, and five or six circuits formed; so that we have now fourteen circuits in America, and about twenty-two Preachers are required to supply them. Thus we see how Divine Providence makes way for the word of truth, and the Holy Spirit attends it. May it spread in power, and cover these lands! I dined with Mr. Otterbein, and spent the afternoon with him and Swoop, another minister of the same profession. They both appear to be sincerely religious, and intend to make proposals to the German synod this year to lay a plan for the reformation of the Dutch congregations."

German Methodism — the Church of the "United Brethren in Christ" — was thus germinating under the watchful eye of Asbury. He takes increasing delight in his labors, for their impression has become so visible that he can prophetically see the future Methodistic strength of Baltimore. "God," he writes, "is my portion, and my all-sufficient good. He fills me with pure spiritual life. My heart is melted into holy love, and altogether devoted to my Lord. Many came to hear the word of life in the evening, and my soul was supplied with strength. The Spirit of God attended our endeavors both in town and at the Point. My heart was greatly enlarged, in town especially. There is a very apparent alteration in this place. There is not so much drunkenness and neglect of the ordinances as in former times, and the people are much more inclined to attend the places of public worship; so that, on the whole I entertain a lively hope that the Lord will yet raise up for himself a large Society in Baltimore. The prediction has become fact.

The Revolutionary storm was lowering, but his faith fails not; he still prophesies good. On Monday, April 30th, he writes, "I preached three times and the cup of my blessing was full. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? But we have alarming military accounts from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Surely the Lord will overrule, and make all these things subservient to the spiritual welfare of his Church." Rankin indulged in denunciatory premonitions of coming woes to the colonies. Asbury, bound as an Englishman to be respectful to his government, evidently saw, with the American statesmen, the great probable issues of the contest, both to the Church and the State. His sagacious mind anticipated the triumphs which awaited Methodism in the regenerated country. Though he apprehended immediate evil effects from the Revolution, he was reticent [Oxford Dict. reticence: the avoidance of saying all one knows or feels, or of saying more than is necessary; reserve in speech — DVM], yet obviously hopeful, and, as he subsequently proved, loyal at heart to the colonial cause.

Asbury's usefulness in the Baltimore Circuit at this time had permanently important results. He gathered into the young Societies not a few of those influential families whose opulence and social position gave material strength to Methodism through much of its early history in that city, while their exemplary devotion helped to maintain its primitive purity and power. Henry Dorsey Gough and his family were distinguished examples. Gough possessed a fortune in lands and money amounting to more than three hundred thousand dollars. He had married a daughter of Governor Ridgeley. His country residence — Perry Hall, about twelve miles from the city — was "one of the most spacious and elegant in America at that time." [3] But he was an unhappy man in the midst of his luxury. His wife had been deeply impressed by the Methodist preaching, but he forbade her to hear them again. While reveling with wine and gay companions, one evening, it was proposed that they should divert themselves by going together to a Methodist assembly. Asbury was the preacher, and no godless diversion could be found in his presence. "What nonsense," exclaimed one of the convivialists, as they returned, "what nonsense have we heard tonight!" "No;" replied Gough, startling them with sudden surprise, "No; what we have heard is the truth, the truth as it is in Jesus." "I will never hinder you again from hearing the Methodists," he said, as he entered his house and met his wife. The impression of the sermon was so profound that he could no longer enjoy his accustomed pleasures. He became deeply serious and, at last, melancholy, "and was near destroying himself" under the awakened sense of his misspent life; but God mercifully preserved him. Riding to one of his plantations, he heard the voice of prayer and praise in a cabin, and, listening, discovered that a Negro from a neighboring estate was leading the devotions of his own slaves, and offering fervent thanksgivings for the blessings of their depressed lot. His heart was touched, and with emotion he exclaimed, "Alas, O Lord! I have my thousands and tens of thousands, and yet, ungrateful wretch that I am, I never thanked thee, as this poor slave does, who has scarcely clothes to put on or food to satisfy his hunger." The luxurious master was taught a lesson, on the nature of true contentment and happiness, which he could never forget. His work-worn servants in their lowly cabins knew a blessedness which he had never found in his sumptuous mansion. He returned home, pondering the mystery, with a distressed and contrite heart. He retired from his table which was surrounded by a large company of his friends and threw himself upon his knees in a chamber. While there imploring the mercy of God, he received conscious pardon and peace. In a transport of joy he went to his company exclaiming, "I have found the Methodists' blessing, I have found the Methodists' God!" Both he and his wife now became members of the Methodist Society, and Perry Hall was henceforth an asylum for the itinerants and a "preaching place." Rankin visited it the next year, and says, "I spent a most agreeable evening with them. A numerous family of servants were called in for exhortation and prayer, so that, with them and the rest of the house, we had a little congregation."

The wealthy convert erected a chapel contiguous to Perry Hall; the first American Methodist church that had a bell, and it rang every morning and evening, summoning his numerous household and slaves to family worship. They made a congregation; for the establishment comprised a hundred persons. The Circuit Preachers supplied it twice a month, and Local Preachers every Sunday. After some years of steadfast piety, this liberal man yielded to the strong temptations of his social position, and fell away from his humbler brethren. But his excellent wife maintained her integrity, and her fidelity was rewarded by his restoration. Under the labors of Asbury, his "spiritual father," he was reclaimed in 1800, and applied for readmission to the Church in the Light street Chapel, Baltimore. When the pastor put the question of his reception to vote the whole assembly rose, and with tears and prayers welcomed him again. His zeal was renewed, his devotion steadfast, and he built another chapel for the Methodists in a poor neighborhood. His charities were large; and he was ever ready to minister, with both his means and his Christian sympathies, to the afflicted within or without the pale of his Church. After his reclamation he exclaimed, "O if my wife had ever given way to the world I should have been lost; but her uniformly good life inspired me with the hope that I should one day be restored to the favor of God." He preached at times, and, during the agitations of the Revolution, was brought before the magistrates for his public labors. He died in 1808, while the General Conference of his Church was in session in Baltimore. Asbury, who had twice led him to the cross, was present to comfort him in his final trial, and says, "In his last hours, which were painfully afflictive, he was much given up to God. When the corpse was removed, to be taken into the country for interment, many of the members of the General Conference walked in procession after it to the end of the town." The Bishop describes him as "a man much respected and beloved; as a husband, a father, and a master, well worthy of imitation; his charities were as numerous as proper objects to a Christian were likely to make them; and the souls and bodies of the poor were administered to in the manner of a Christian who remembered the precepts and followed the example of his Divine Master."

"Perry Hall," says the Methodist chronicler, "was the resort of much company, among whom the skeptic and the Romanist were sometimes found. Members of the Baltimore bar, the elite of Maryland, were there. But it mattered not who were there; when the bell rang for family devotion they were seen in the chapel, and if there was no male person present, who could lead the devotions, Mrs. Gough read a chapter in the Bible, gave out a hymn, which was often raised and sung by the colored servants, after which she would engage in prayer. Take her altogether, few such have been found on earth." [4] Asbury called her a "true daughter" to himself, and Coke, "a precious woman, of fine sense." "Her only sister became a Methodist about the same time that she did; they continued faithful to a good old age, when they were called to take a higher seat. Most of her relations followed her example of piety. Many of them were Methodists cast in the old die. Methodism still continues in this distinguished family." Its only daughter became, under her parental training, a devoted Methodist. Her marriage into the Carroll family, memorable in our revolutionary history, did not impair, but extended her religious influence.

This devout and liberal family has long been historical in our Church annals. The early books of Methodism make frequent reference to it, and its services to the denomination. Asbury's Journals have rendered its name familiar. A veteran itinerant, who lingered till he became the oldest living Methodist preacher, has drawn the picture of the Christian hospitalities of Perry Hall, remarking, "We were received in their usual warm and affectionate way, and I was for the first time introduced to that dear household. I soon found that religion in its native simplicity dwelt in some great homes, and that some of the rich had been cast in the Gospel mold, and came out in the image and likeness of their Lord. Perry Hall was the largest dwelling-house I had ever seen, and all its arrangements, within and without, were tasteful and elegant, yet simplicity and utility seemed to be stamped upon the whole. The garden, orchards, and everything else, were delightful indeed, and looked to me like an earthly paradise. But, what pleased me better than anything else, I found a neat chapel attached to the house, with a small cupola and bell, that could be heard all over the farm. In this chapel morning and evening prayers were offered to God. The bell rang about half an hour before prayer, when the manager and servants from the farmhouse, and servants' quarters, and garden, together with the inhabitants of the great mansion, repaired to the chapel. So large and well-regulated a family I never saw before. All seemed to know their place, and duty, and did it. For some reasons we had prayers in the parlor that night, and it was a solemn time. When we rose from our knees all took their seats and were silent. I was led to talk a little of the excellence of religion, and the beauty of holiness. All were attentive, and some wept; I believe Mr. Gough was in tears. After I was done he came to me, and took my hand in both his, and expressed himself pleased; and from that hour I felt myself at home at Perry Hall." [5] We shall have occasion often to return to Perry Hall, and shall at last meet there Asbury and Coke, Whatcoat and Vasey, from England, and Black from Nova Scotia, constructing under its hospitable roof the organization of the M. E. Church prior to the "Christmas Conference." Asbury continued his successful labors on the Baltimore Circuit till May, 1775, when he departed for the Conference at Philadelphia.

Rankin has left but brief notices of his labors during this ecclesiastical year. He remained apparently about six months in Philadelphia, making expeditions to New Jersey and other adjacent regions. In the autumn of 1774, he went into Maryland to hold a Quarterly Conference. Shadford, and several of his fellow-laborers in the state, were present, and Williams had come two hundred miles from Virginia to encourage them with the good news with which he had refreshed Asbury. On the first of November they held their first Quarterly Meeting for the season. "We had our general love-feast," says Rankin, "in the forenoon, and finished the business of the Circuit after dinner. In the evening we had our watchnight. This was a day to be remembered, and I hope it will be by some to all eternity. The heavens were opened, and the skies poured down righteousness. The Lord spoke to many hearts with a mighty voice, and the shout of the King of Glory was heard in our camp. Blessed be the name of our God forever and for evermore!"

A week later he writes, "We rode to Henry Watters', near Deer Creek, where we intended holding our Quarterly Meeting for Baltimore and Kent circuit, on the Eastern Shore. After an early breakfast we spent about two hours in the affairs of the circuits. At ten our general love-feast began. There was such a number of whites and blacks as never had attended on such an occasion before. After we had sung and prayed the cloud burst from my mind, and the power of the Lord descended in such an extraordinary manner as I had never seen since my landing at Philadelphia. All the preachers were so overcome with the Divine presence that they could scarce address the people, but only in broken accents say, 'This is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven!' When any of the people stood up to declare the lovingkindness of God, they were so overwhelmed with the Divine presence that they were obliged to sit down and let silence speak his praise. Near the close of our meeting I stood up and called upon the people to look toward that part of the chapel where all the blacks were. I then said 'See the number of the Africans who have stretched out their hands unto God!' While I was addressing the people thus, it seemed as if the very house shook with the mighty power and glory of Sinai's God. Many of the people were so overcome that they were ready to faint and die under his Almighty hand. For about three hours the gale of the Spirit thus continued to breathe upon the dry bones; and they did live the life of glorious love! As for myself, I scarce knew whether I was in the body or not; and so it was with all my brethren. We did not know how to break up the meeting or part asunder. Surely the fruits of this season will remain to all eternity."

Shadford was appointed by the Conference of 1774 to Baltimore Circuit, with three other preachers. He was a man of fervid eloquence, of great tenderness of feeling, and readiness for any opportunity of usefulness. The people sought, especially in affliction, his sympathetic counsels. A few weeks after his arrival in Baltimore "a young man," he says, "came to me with two horses, and entreated me to go to his father's house, about four miles from the city, to visit his poor distressed brother, who was chained in bed, and whose case they did not understand, supposing him to be mad, or possessed with a devil. When I entered the room I found the young man in the depth of despair. I told him Christ died for sinners; that he came to seek and to save the lost; yea, that he received the chief of sinners, and added, 'There is no other name given under heaven whereby men can be saved, but that of our Lord Jesus Christ.' The young man laid hold of those words, 'The name of Jesus Christ;' and said he would call upon Jesus Christ as long as he lived, and found some little hope within him, but knew no more how he must be saved than an Indian. I sung a verse or two of a hymn, and then his father, mother, and brethren joined me in prayer. The power of God was among us of a truth; we had melted hearts and weeping eyes, and indeed there was a shower of tears among us. I know not when I have felt more of the Divine presence, or power to wrestle with God in prayer, than at this time. After we rose from our knees, I gave an exhortation, and continued to go to preach in their house every week or fortnight for some time. They loosed the young man that was bound; and the Lord shortly after loosed him from the chain of his sins, and set him at perfect liberty. He soon began to warn his neighbors, and to exhort sinners to flee from the wrath which is to come; and before I left the country, he began to travel a circuit, and was remarkably successful. I followed him in Kent, Delaware; and verily believe he was instrumental in awakening a hundred sinners that year."

The faithful itinerant thus provided a new preaching place and a preacher. This young man was Joseph Cromwell, whose name was enrolled, on the Conference list of itinerants, in 1777.

Shadford's colleagues, on the Baltimore Circuit, were Robert Lindsey, Edward Dromgoole, and Richard Webster. Lindsey, an Irishman, was admitted on trial at the Conference of 1774. He continued to itinerate in this country about three years, after which he returned to Europe, and labored in the Wesleyan ministry till 1788. Dromgoole was also an Irishman. He had been a Papist, but was led, in 1770, by Methodist influence in his native Country to renounce Popery, by reading, publicly in a church, his recantation. In the same year he arrived in Baltimore with a letter of introduction to his countryman, Robert Strawbridge. He heard Strawbridge preach, and induced him to visit Fredericktown. Methodism was thus introduced into that community. Dromgoole still deemed himself an unregenerate man; but after a period of deep mental distress, he received the peace of God while upon his knees on a Sunday evening. He began to preach in 1773; the next year he was employed, till the Conference, on the Frederick Circuit. The Conference sent him, as a Co-laborer with Shadford, to Baltimore Circuit. He labored in various places, but chiefly in Virginia and North Carolina, till 1786, [6] when he located on the Brunswick Circuit, where he continued to be useful. Richard Webster, Shadford's other colleague, was one of the earliest Methodist converts of Harford County, Maryland, where he joined the Church under Strawbridge, in 1768; in 1770 his house was a "preaching place" of the denomination; about the same time he became a public laborer in the cause; in 1772 Asbury sent him out to travel with John King, on the Eastern Shore of the state. He seems to have been an unpretentious "Helper;" for though his name appears in the appointments for 1774 and 1775, he was never received on trial, but traveled under direction of the "preacher in charge." He is not recorded in the classified catalogue of regular itinerants, given by the earliest historian of Methodism. [7]

Led on by the ardent Shadford, these new laborers (all of them for the first time on the list of appointments) were, with their coadjutors on the two other Maryland Circuits, greatly successful. The number of Methodists in the state was increased, by more than one third, before the ensuing session of the Conference.

Among their fellow-laborers in the state was Philip Gatch, who traveled the Frederick Circuit some months, and Kent Circuit the remainder of the year. Gatch writes: "These were trying times to Methodist preachers. Some endured as seeing Him who is invisible; others left the field in the day of conflict. My appointment by the Conference was for six months to Frederick Circuit with William Duke, who was quite a youth. We found the circuit to be very laborious; some of the rides were quite long; and there were only one hundred and seventy-five members in the Society. Fredericktown and Georgetown were both in the circuit; but there were only a few members in each. Mr. Strawbridge and Mr. Owen lived in the bounds of this charge. We found among the few in Society some steady, firm members, and in some places the prospect was encouraging. I had gone but a few rounds when I received a letter from Mr. Shadford directing me to gather up my clothes and books and meet him at the quarterly conference to be held in Baltimore. It was a time of the outpouring of the Spirit; my own soul was greatly refreshed. Mr. Shadford at the interview made a remark which was afterward of great service to me. Said he, 'When addressing the people always treat on those subjects that will affect your own heart, and the feelings of the hearers will be sure to be affected.' I was ordered to Kent Circuit to take the place of Whitforth." Whitforth, as we have seen, had apostatized while on this circuit, and it had been without a preacher since the last Conference. "This," adds Gatch, "under the circumstances, was a great trial to me, for he had given the enemies of Methodism great ground for reproach. But, in the name of the Lord, I proceeded. My first Sabbath appointment was at the very place where he had wounded the cause of God. I felt both weak and strong. There was assembled a very large congregation. Many behaved quite disorderly, evincing an intention of treating the service with contempt. I had not the fortitude to reprove them, knowing the cause of their conduct. After I had closed my sermon, I made an appointment to preach at the same place in two weeks, and remarked that I was sorry they had been so long without preaching, and that I hoped they would not censure the Conference, for they had been imposed upon by a man unworthy as he had proved himself to be of their confidence; that they disapproved of the man, and of all the conduct of which he had been guilty. But the Lord reigneth, and he often saith, 'Be still and know that I am God.' In this instance he manifested his power in an extraordinary manner in overruling the evil which we feared. The work of the Lord was greatly revived on this small circuit. Numbers were converted at the different appointments; and in the neighborhood where the wound was inflicted the work of God was the most powerful. The Most High can work as he pleases. His way is often in the whirlwind." He had several severe rencounters with persecutors on this circuit. At one of his appointments a man entered the door while he was preaching, whose menacing aspect excited his suspicion. He gradually approached the preacher, and at the last prayer seized the chair at which the latter was kneeling, evidently intending to use it as a weapon with which to attack him; but Gatch took held of it and prevented the blow. The contest now became violent, and the assailant "roared like a lion," while the evangelist "was upon his knees reproving him in the language of St. Paul." But the ruffian was soon seized by persons in the congregation, and thrown with such energy out of the house that his coat was torn entirely down his back. While in the yard he "roared like a demon;" but Gatch escaped without injury. He rejoiced over one of his best trophies won in this contested place: Philip Cox, afterward a useful traveling preacher, was converted there.

A noted clerical persecutor by the name of Kain resided in a neighborhood of this circuit, a man who had repeatedly opposed the itinerants in public, endeavoring to drive them from the field; and many are the traditions still current on the Eastern Shore about his boisterous hostility to Whitforth, Watters, and others. When Gatch was to preach within his parish, he circulated his intention to meet and refute the itinerant. "I heard of this," says the latter, "the day before the appointment was to take place, and I understood that he was a mighty man of war. I knew that I was weak, and that unless I was strengthened from on high I should fail. I went to God in prayer, and he brought to my mind the case of David with the lion, the bear, and Goliath. I then gathered strength, and now no longer dreaded the encounter. The minister met me in the yard in clerical costume, and asked me if I was the person that was to preach there that day. I replied, 'I expect to do so.' He then asked me by what authority. I answered, 'By the authority which God gave me.' After a few words had passed between us, he again asked by what authority I had come to preach in St. Luke's parish. I remarked that I was just then going to preach, and he might judge for himself, for the Scripture saith, 'He that is spiritual judgeth all things.' I stood upon a platform erected for the occasion in an orchard. Parson Kain took his station on my right. I took for my text Ezekiel xviii, 27: 'Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.' I concluded that this sentence, which is contained in the Church prayer book, would not be taking him from home. I knew a great deal of the prayer book by heart, and took it with me through my sermon. Mr. Kain's countenance evinced an excited state of mind. When I had closed he took the stand, and on my handing him my Bible, he attempted to read the interview with Nicodemus, but he was so confused that he could not distinctly read it. From that passage he attempted to disprove the new birth, substituting in its stead water baptism. He exclaimed against extemporaneous prayer, urging the necessity of a written form. When he had closed I again took the stand, read the same passage, and remarked that we could feel the effects of the wind upon our bodies, and see it on the trees, but the wind we could not see; and I referred to my own experience, that having been baptized in infancy, I was not sensible of the regenerating influence of the Spirit till the time of my conversion, and then it was sensibly felt. I met his objection to extemporary prayer by a few Scripture cases, such as when Peter was sinking he did not go ashore to get a prayer book, but cried out, 'Save, Lord, or I perish.' I then quit the stand to meet an appointment that afternoon, and the congregation followed, with the parson in the rear. When leaving, a man came to me and asked me to preach at his house, which was twenty miles from the orchard. These things are hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes. One Sabbath, while I was preaching, there came up an awful storm. Some of the people ran out for fear the house would be blown over. I exhorted them to continue in the house and look to God for safety. I hardly ever saw such a house of prayer. Two were converted during the storm, and our lives were spared. Salvation is of the Lord, and the pure in heart shall see him in his wonderful ways."

Thus did the young evangelist find singular encouragements amid the peculiar adversities of his circuit. By his persevering labors, his modest courage, his meekness of wisdom, he not only redeemed it from the dishonor which his predecessor had left upon it, but subdued the violence of open opposers, and left it in unusual prosperity, united, increased in members, and with a great door opened for the spread of the Gospel. It reported at the next Conference a gain of more than a hundred members, and such was the demand for preaching that two itinerants had to be sent to it.

In accordance with the rule of the Conference, Gatch was transferred, before the close of the year, back to Frederick, "where," he says, "we had to labor hard, as formerly. Some Societies were lively and on the increase, but others were barren. One Saturday evening, as I was going to my Sabbath appointment, I had to pass by a tavern. As I approached I heard a noise and concluded mischief was contemplated. It was dark, and I bore as far from the house as I could in the lane that inclosed the road; but they either heard or saw me, and 'I was pursued by two men on horseback, who seized my horse by the bridle, and turning me about, led me back to the house, heaping upon me severe threats, and laying on my shoulders a heavy cudgel that was carried by one of them. After they got me back to the tavern they ordered me to call for something to drink; but on my refusal the tavern-keeper whispered to me that if I would it should cost me nothing; but I refused to do so, regardless of the consequences. While the subject as to what disposition was to be made of me was under consultation, two of them disagreed, and by this quarrel the attention of the company was drawn from me, so that I rode on my way, leaving them to settle the matter as best they could. The Lord hath made all things for himself, the wicked for the day of evil; the wicked brought me into difficulty, and by the wicked a way was made for my escape."

He reports other "persecutions" as "prevailing" on this circuit. Storms were gathering around the whole horizon of the country. Political agitation and war were about to relax all its moral ties, and the Methodist itinerants were to suffer severely in the general tumult; to be mobbed, tarred and feathered, imprisoned, driven into exile or concealment; but they were not men who could be defeated by such hostilities, and in their worst trials they showed their greatest strength and won their greatest triumphs. "We had," says Gatch on Frederick Circuit, "this consolation, that though in some places indifference and persecution prevailed, yet in others the cause was prosperous, and many joined the Church." The increase on this circuit, for the year, was over one hundred and sixty.

Before the Conference he was transferred again, as far as New Jersey, for there also misfortune called for his peculiar talents. Whitforth, after disgracing the denomination on the Eastern Shore, had gone thither and perverted Ebert, one of the circuit preachers, to heretical opinions; Ebert was expelled, the circuit was left some time without a preacher, and Gatch now went to supply it till the Conference. Here likewise his zeal and wisdom prevailed; the evil effects of Ebert's defection were counteracted, and an increase of fifty members was reported from the circuit to the next Conference. A friend of Gatch justly remarks that "the Church in its infancy had peculiar trials to endure. The reproach of Christ had to be borne; persecution had to be encountered at every step; few as were its members there were traitors in it. And yet these things were overcome by the faithfulness of a few who were in the field. Since the days of the apostles there had scarcely been a time when so much prudence, firmness, enduring labor, and holiness were required as in the propagation of Methodism in America. To his deep piety and entire devotion the success of Mr. Gatch may be attributed. His prudence was wonderful on being sent to Kent Circuit. How soon did he retrieve the Church, and eradicate the disgrace which had been thrown upon it by his predecessor. This beginning of his labors was an earnest of what results might be anticipated from his future life." [8] "Gatch," says one of the best judges, who knew him well, "showed traits of character eminently calculated to meet the exigencies of the time, and to inculcate and carry out the doctrines he preached. He had great firmness and perseverance, and was ready to suffer and die for the truth. While he acted with great prudence, he shrunk from no responsibility which was necessary to be met in his course of duty." [9]

Meanwhile the rough energy but saintly devotion and apostolic zeal of Abbott were awaking large portions of New Jersey. Though he was the Class Leader and practically the Pastor of the Society in his own neighborhood, he was preaching at large on Sundays and at nights. He went to Deerfield, where a mob assembled and threatened to tar and feather any itinerant who should appear there. He was met by a friend on the road and admonished to turn back. "At first," he says, "I thought I would return; consulting with flesh and blood, I concluded that it would be a disagreeable thing to have my clothes spoiled, and my hair all matted together with tar." But he recalled the sufferings of his Lord, and immediately "resolved to go and preach if he had to die for it." He found a large congregation filling the house and crowding the neighboring premises. "I went," he continues, "in among them, and gave out a hymn, but no one sung; I then sung four lines myself, while every joint in my body trembled. I said, Let us pray, and before prayer was over the power of God fell on me in such a manner that it instantly removed from me the fear of man, and some cried out. I arose, took my text and preached with great liberty; before the meeting was over I saw many tears drop from their eyes, and the head of the mob said that the had never heard such preaching since Robert Williams went away; so I came off clear. Glory be to God, who stood by me in this trying hour!" He meets soon after with a Methodist preacher who talks with him about Wesley's views of sanctification, and he resolves to seek that higher grace. "I was now," he says," engaged for the blessing more than ever. Soon after, Daniel Ruff came upon the circuit, and my house being a preaching place, he came and preached, and in the morning, in family prayer, he prayed that God would sanctify us soul and body. I repeated these words after him, 'Come, Lord, and sanctify me, soul and body!' That moment the Spirit of God came upon me in such a manner that I fell flat to the floor. I had not power to lift hand or foot, nor yet to speak one word; I believe I lay half an hour, and felt the power of God running through every part of my soul and body, like fire consuming the inward corruptions of fallen, depraved nature. When I arose and walked out of the door, and stood pondering these things in my heart, it appeared to me that the whole creation was praising God; it also appeared as if I had got new eyes, for everything appeared new, and I felt a love for all the creatures that God had made, and an uninterrupted peace filled my breast. In three days God gave me a full assurance that he had sanctified me, soul and body. 'If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him,' John xiv, 23, which I found day by day manifested to my soul, by the witness of his Spirit. Glory to God for what he then did and since has done for poor me!"

More than ever did his soul now flame with zeal for the salvation of the people. He soon found his way into Salem, where his bones now rest, and where he is still venerated as the tutelary saint of its Methodist community. "A large congregation," he writes, "assembled, to whom I preached, and God attended the word with power; some cried out and many were in tears. After the sermon I made another appointment for that day two weeks. There being an elder of the Presbyterian Church present, he asked me if I would come and preach at his house; I told him that I would, on that day two weeks, at three o'clock. Another said it was the truth I had spoken, but in a very rough manner. At the time appointed I attended, and found many people at both places. At the first, I felt much freedom in speaking, and after sermon found that both the man and his wife were awakened. At the second, great power attended the word; several cried aloud, and one fell to the floor. After meeting, I asked the man of the house if he knew what he had done. He replied, 'What have I done?' 'You have opened your door to the Methodists, and if a work of religion break out your people will turn you out of their synagogue.' He replied that he would die for the truth.' I appointed to preach again at both places that day two weeks. Next day, on my return home, I called at a Baptist's house, whose daughter was very ill; after some conversation, I went to prayer, and the Lord set her soul at liberty, and she praised God before us all. Here I fell in company with one of Whitefield's converts, who had known the Lord forty years; we had great comfort in conversing together upon the things of God; he was an Israelite indeed. About two years after he came to see me, and told me that he had come to die at my house; accordingly he was taken sick, and died there happy in God."

The good seed scattered by Whitefield was now seen, by the Methodist itinerants, springing up most everywhere along the Atlantic coast.

Abbott, after his own hard struggles with the "great adversary," felt a sort of bold defiance of him, and was prepared always to invade his strongest holds. He now made a Sabbath expedition to a place which, for its notorious depravity, was called "Hell Neck." "One sinner there," he writes, "said he had heard Abbott swear, and had seen him fight, and now would go and hear him preach. The word reached his heart, and he soon after became a convert to the Lord. After meeting he invited me home with him, and several others invited me to preach at their houses, so that I got preaching places all through the neighborhood and a considerable revival of religion took place, although it had been so noted for wickedness. Among others, a young lad, about fifteen years old, was awakened, and in a few weeks found peace; his father, being a great enemy to religion, opposed him violently, and resolved to prevent his being a Methodist, and even whipped him for praying. This soon threw him into great distress, and on the very borders of despair. I heard of it and went to see him. He told me his temptations." Abbott perceived his morbid anxiety, and comforted him. "The son," he adds, "then cried out, 'The Lord is here! the Lord is here!' The father said to me, 'Benjamin, are you not a freemason?' I told him 'no, I knew nothing of freemasonry, but I knew that this was the operation of the Spirit of God.' The father then wept. I went to prayer, and the family were all in tears; after this the son went on, joyfully. After I left this house I went to another of the neighbors, and after some conversation with them I went to prayer; the man kneeled, but the woman continued knitting all the time of the prayer. When I arose I took her by the hand and said, 'Do you pray?' and looking steadfastly at her, added, 'God pity you.' This pierced her heart, so that she never rested until her soul was converted to the Lord. The whole neighborhood seemed alarmed."

Such quaintly told incidents abound throughout the narrative of this good man's life. He thus "went about doing good," and in his devout simplicity and earnestness rescued more souls than all the more formal pastors for miles around him. The simple but degenerate people understood his artless words. They intuitively recognized the genuineness of his religious character, the purity of his motives, and as he concerned himself exclusively with the essential truths of religion, they gladly clung to him with repentant tears, as a safe guide to their awakened souls. The prejudices of their religious education could not withstand his simple and affectionate appeals. People of all denominations gathered in his congregations, and often an individual conversion became the germ of a flourishing society. "A Quaker," he says, "who one day came to hear me, asked me home with him; when I entered his house I said, 'God has brought salvation to this house.' At prayer, in the evening, his daughter was struck under conviction, and soon after the old man, his wife, three sons and two daughters, were all brought to experience religion, so that we formed a considerable society."

In Mannington, his nearest appointment, great throngs attended; the man and his wife, at whose house the services were held, were both converted, "and many others were stirred up to inquire the way to heaven." He reached Woodstown, where he had a crowded house. He was mobbed there, and bayonets were presented at his breast; "the people fled," he says, "every way; a man presented is gun and bayonet as though he would run me through; it passed close by my ear twice. If ever I preached the terrors of the law, I did it while he was threatening me in this manner, for I felt no fear of death, and soon found he could not withstand the force of truth; he gave way and retreated to the door. They endeavored to send him back again, but in vain, for he refused to return."

He moved his family to a new home, near Salem; "here," he continues, "I had many doors opened for me to preach, and a powerful work of religion took place, attended with several remarkable conversions." Many of these "remarkable" occurrences were evidently cases of mental as well as of moral disease. But the mental disturbance which not unusually attends the awakening of the conscience, is perhaps an unavoidable effect of the discovery, by the soul, of its long and perilous neglect of its highest interest and duty. Abbott was not able scientifically to appreciate such examples, but his good common sense and tender evangelical spirit enabled him to counsel them with singular pertinency; and seldom or never did he fail to recover such sufferers, more effectually and promptly than could any scientific skill. It is astonishing how frequent were these cases among people of almost every variety of religious education, and how aptly and successfully he treated them. "A Quaker woman," he says, "went from preaching under strong conviction, and such anguish of mind that she paid no attention to her family, nor even to her sucking child. Early in the morning I was sent for: when I arrived she was sitting with both hands clenched fast in the hair of her head, crying out, 'Lord, have mercy on me! Save, Lord, or I perish!' I told her to pray in faith, to look to Jesus, and lay hold of the promises, and God would have mercy on her; but she replied, 'I cannot pray.' I said, 'You do pray very well; go on.' I then kneeled down and prayed; three pious women who were present did so likewise. One of them said she could not pray in English. I told her to pray in Dutch, for God understood that as well as English. The distressed woman appeared to be worse, like one going distracted. I then sang. When the last words were sung I felt such faith, that I told them the Lord would deliver her; and said, let us pray. I kneeled down; in a few minutes she clapped her hands together and cried, 'My Lord, my God, and my Father!' Her soul was immediately set at liberty, and she sprang up, rejoicing, and giving glory to God. Her husband burst into a flood of tears. I exhorted him to look to God, and he would find mercy. In about six weeks after he was safely converted." A woman who was present became doubtful of her own conversion, because she had never had any of these remarkable experiences. Abbott's good sense was again shown. "I told her," he says, "that was no proof, for I was not wrought on in that manner myself, yet I knew that I was converted. God works upon his people as he in his wisdom sees best; no one's distress can be a standard for another; so that, if our sins or guilt are removed, and the power of religion fixed in the soul, it is enough. None should doubt it because he has not been brought in as he sees others. The Lord blessed her with such light and comfort that every fear and doubt was removed." Another instance was a headstrong Papist, who had sturdily persecuted his wife for her devotion to religion among the Methodists. On a Sunday morning he left her, in a violent passion, because she would not spend the day with him in visits, rather than in religious services. "But," says Abbott, "before he had gone far he concluded he would return, and with malice and murder in his heart, determined that she should go with him, or he would kill her; when they met she spoke to him with such tenderness that his rage calmed away. He concluded he would go with her to meeting; they both came, and, under preaching, the word struck him with such power that he cried aloud, and told before all the congregation what had passed in the morning, and wanted to know what he should do to be saved. I explained to him the way and plan of salvation; and in a short time he found peace, and became a steady, religious man." A schoolmaster, who "was a learned, sensible man, but a very drunken and wicked one, was awakened, and so far reformed that he left off drinking to excess, and other vices, for some time, but again gave way to temptation and was overcome by strong drink. After he become sober, his mind was tormented with great horror; he went to a neighbor's house to tarry all night, but, after the family were all in bed, he could not sleep under his tormenting reflections" — which at last resulted in an obvious case of mania a potu. Abbott was no judge of such a phenomenon, but he met it skillfully. The wretched man thought he saw devils menacing him. The whole family was alarmed and rose, but did not know what to do. "They sent over for me," says Abbott; "I went, and found him in a shocking condition. I told him it was only the strength of imagination; the that there were no devils there to take him away; but he still declared they were in the room. I instantly went to prayer; all present fell upon their knees, much affected, and continued in supplication during the whole night. Soon after this scene, all the grown part of the family were brought into the liberty and knowledge of the truth, as it is in Jesus."

No evangelist of that day was more successful than Benjamin Abbott, and there can be no more truly historical rationale of his extraordinary usefulness than is afforded by such examples. He was mighty as a preacher, and he preached with the expectation of such immediate and individual results. The distinct, demonstrative reformation and salvation of individual souls were the only satisfactory proofs to him of the success of his ministry; and he sought for such proofs in every place he visited, after every sermon he delivered. He pursued them to their utmost results, and they became, as has been shown, the germs of many of the Societies which he formed. He thus combined, with his overwhelming preaching, a species of most important pastoral labor, without which his public exercises would have lost half their value. And it is particularly noteworthy that this unlettered man was endowed, as we have seen, chiefly by the effect of religion on his own mind, with so much clear and genial good sense as to be particularly apt in ministering to minds diseased, so common, so inevitable, perhaps it should be said, in times of religious excitement; not so much the effect of such excitement as of the previous guilty life, then often suddenly and for the first time revealed, in its true character, to the awakened moral sense. Though very credulous himself, and in his early religious history somewhat fanatical, inwardly combating with demons and seeing wondrous visions of the night, yet, like Bunyan, with whose early religious struggles his own were so remarkably coincident, he became prudent, and "mighty in the Scriptures," and thus acquired uncommon skill in the ministration of comfort to morbid consciences, in directing them from delusive fears to the consolatory promises and the simple and gracious conditions of acceptance with God. Withal he attained a truly scriptural catholicity. "For my part," he writes, "I do not believe that religion consists in either form or mode. Neither do I believe a record of our names, on any church-book under heaven, will stand the test in the awful hour of accounts, unless they are recorded in the Lamb's book of life. I love real heart religion, let me find it where I may."

Abbott's fame was now general, and "the work," he says, "became general; we used to hold prayer-meetings two or three times a week, in the evening; sometimes we would begin preaching at eleven o'clock, and not part till night; many long summer days we thus spent. Sometimes we used to assemble in the woods and under the trees, there not being room in the house for the people that attended. Often, some of them would be struck to the ground in bitter lamentations. The Lord wrought great wonders among us. It was truly a fulfillment of that Scripture which says, 'I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.' Acts xiii, 41. The alarm spread far and near; friends sent for me to come to New Mills, Pemberton, about sixty miles distant. The first time I preached God worked powerfully; we had a weeping time, and one fell to the floor; this alarmed the. people, for they had never seen the like before; when meeting was over, we took him to a friend's house, and prayer was made for him till he rejoiced in the love of God. Next day I preached again, and the Lord poured out his Spirit among us, so that there was weeping in abundance, and one fell to the floor; many prayers being made for him, he found peace before he arose. He is a living witness to this day. I saw him not long since, and we had a precious time together. Next day I traveled some miles, and preached in a Presbyterian meeting-house. I had a large congregation, and spoke from these words; 'Ye must be born again.' God attended the word with power; some wept, some groaned, and others cried aloud. I believe there were about twenty Indians present, and when I came out of the pulpit they got all round me, asking what they should do to be saved, and tears ran in abundance; many of the white people also wept. This was a day of God's power; from the accounts afterward given me, it appeared that twelve were converted and many awakened. One who was a deacon in the Church found the Lord and joined our Society; I have spent many precious moments with him since that day."

These physical effects of religious excitement — the excesses of a commendable spiritual earnestness — were not peculiar to Methodist preaching. Outcries, convulsions, syncopes, had been common in the province before the first visit of Whitefield, under the ministrations of Rowland, whose hearers "fainted away," and were often carried out of the churches as dead men. Similar effects attended Whitefield's preaching there. They had been common under the labors of Edwards, in New England. The best Methodist authorities have not considered them necessary accompaniments of a genuine religious awakening, but, while admitting them to be hardly avoidable in times of profound religious excitement, they regret them as human infirmities and recommend all possible caution against them. [11]

Thus the labors of this energetic man went on from village to village, town to town, county to county, till the whole state felt, more or less, his influence, and acknowledged that he was a strange but indisputable power among the people, turning scores and hundreds "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." We shall frequently meet him hereafter, and find him growing mightier unto the end.

William Watters was also abroad, in New Jersey, during most of this ecclesiastical year. "The latter part of the winter," he says, "and through the spring, many in the upper end of the circuit were greatly wrought on, and our meetings were lively and powerful. The cries of the people, for mercy, were frequently loud and earnest. Several who had long rested in a form of godliness were brought under pressing concern and found the Lord, and many of the most serious were greatly quickened. I was often much blessed in my own soul, and my hands lifted up, which were too apt to hang down. O how sweet to labor where the Lord gives his blessing, and 'sets open a door which no man can shut!' "

John King traveled, this year, the Norfolk Circuit, Va., and nearly doubled its members. Robert Williams, and three other preachers, labored on the Brunswick Circuit, in the same colony. We have already had allusions to his success. "In the latter part of the year there was a remarkable revival of religion in most of the circuits. Christians were much united, and much devoted to God, and sinners were greatly alarmed." "Indeed, the Lord wrought wonders among us during that year," writes the early historian, Jesse Lee. He wrote from his own observation, for it was in this year that the house of his father, Nathaniel Lee, was opened as a "preaching place" for the itinerants. The father became a Class Leader, and two of his sons, John and Jesse, traveling Preachers, taking rank among the most effective itinerants of their day. Young Jesse Lee was now going "many miles on foot," by night and by day, to attend the meetings of the circuit. [12] Jarratt, the evangelical Rector, was active in this revival; it was, in fact, but a continuance, with increased intensity, of that extraordinary religious excitement which has already been noticed as prevailing the preceding year throughout this part of the state. "In the spring of 1774, it was," says Jarratt, "more remarkable than ever. The word preached was attended with such energy that many were pierced to the heart. Tears fell plentifully from the eyes of the hearers, and some were constrained to cry out. A goodly number were gathered in, this year, both in my parish and in many of the neighboring counties. I formed several societies of those which were convinced or converted." [13] The power of this "Great Revival" was seen in the return of members from Virginia, at the end of the ecclesiastical year. The two circuits of the province became three; its less than three hundred Methodists multiplied to nearly a thousand. The members on Brunswick Circuit, the chief scene of the revival, increased, from less than two hundred and twenty, to eight hundred.

Though some of the English Preachers had returned to England, and war between that country and the colonies was now imminent, Wesley sent out recruits to the small company of itinerants, for he believed that, whatever might be the issue of the political struggle, Methodism was now a permanent fact in the moral destiny of the New World, and should be thoroughly fortified for the future, the more so as the political troubles of the country would tend to retard its progress. Accordingly in 1774 James Dempster and Martin Rodda were sent out, accompanied by William Glendenning, who appears to have come with them as a volunteer, like Yearbry, the companion of Rankin and Shadford. They arrived in the latter part of the year, in time to relieve Asbury, in New York, as we have seen, for his labors in Philadelphia and Baltimore. [14]

Dempster was a Scotchman of good education, having studied at the University of Edinburgh. He traveled about ten years in the Wesleyan itinerancy, and Wesley's correspondence with him shows that he had the highest respect of that great man. At the American Conference of 1775 he was appointed to New York, but his health soon failed; he married, and the same year retired from the denomination. He joined the Presbyterian Church with a distinct avowal of his adherence to the Wesleyan doctrines, of which his views never changed, [15] and was "an acceptable minister of that Church as long as he lived." [16] He was settled as pastor of a society at Florida, Montgomery County, N. Y., where he was attacked with sudden disease in the pulpit, and died, ten days afterward, in 1804. He gave a son to Methodism, who has done distinguished service in its ministry, its missions, and its educational institutions. [17]

Martin Rodda had traveled about twelve years before his departure for America. He remained here less than three years, and incurred the animadversions of his brethren by imprudently intermeddling with the political controversies of the period. He is accused of having circulated over his circuit, in Delaware, the royal proclamation against the American patriots; and much of that fierce persecution which his brethren in the ministry suffered after his departure, as we shall soon see, was the consequence of his indiscretion. [18] He had to flee from the country, and made his escape, by the aid of slaves, to the British fleet, whence he was conveyed to Philadelphia, then in possession of the English army, and thence to England. He resumed his ministerial travels under Wesley, but in 1781 disappeared from the British Minutes.

Glendenning, after some years' service in the American itinerancy, followed the example of Dempster and left the denomination. This entire company, of what are called Wesley's American missionaries, seem to have been unfortunate in their relations to their American brethren. It was now a time that tried men's souls. "The dreadful cloud," writes Watters, "that had been hanging over us continued to gather, thicker and thicker, so that I was often bowed down before the God of the whole earth." In two or three years more all the English missionaries had fled from the country, or had left the denomination, except Asbury, whose loyalty to the Church was superior to his loyalty to the British throne. Providentially, however, a native ministry had not only been begun, in time for this exigency, but was about to be reinforced by some of the ablest men with which American Protestantism has been blessed. Not a few of them were already preparing, in comparative obscurity, for their great careers. They were to attain an importance in their own denomination, if not in the general Christianity of the land, hardly less imposing than that which at last distinguished their contemporaries, the rising statesmen, the great founders of the Republic; and Asbury himself was, by his steadfastness, his administrative ability and success, to become, in the regards of the former, what Washington became in the regards of the latter. In the autumn of 1774, while the storm of war was lowering over the east, he wrote: "A solemn report was brought to the city today that the men-of-war had fired on Boston. A fear arose in my mind of what might be the event of this. But it was soon banished by considering, I must go on and mind my own business, which is enough for me, and leave all these things to the providence of God." Besides these public alarms, he had to endure, in submissive quietness, grievous inconveniences from the administration of Rankin; his plans of labor were defeated or checked by that honest but obstinate Englishman, whose foreign prejudices seemed to bewilder him amid the prevailing public agitations, and who entirely failed to comprehend the genius of the American people, and, with much good, entailed much mischief on American Methodism.

Darker days were now at hand. The country was rife not only with political clamors, but with the preparations of war. Methodism was to pass from its feeble infancy into vigorous adolescence, tested and strengthened by severest trials. The necessity of its mission in the new world was to be demonstrated, and its providential career fully opened by the most momentous revolution of modern states. We shall behold it hesitating not before the fiery ordeal which is to try it, but entering it courageously and communing there with "a form like the Son of God," and coming forth at last renewed in all its energies, rejoicing as a strong man to run a race."

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ENDNOTES

1 Minutes, 1774. There is an apparent contradiction in Gatch's own Statement. Life, p. 80.

2 Of course new circuits were formed usually by the extension and division of old ones.

3 Lednum, p.153.

4 Lednum, chap. 23.

5 Recollections of an Old Itinerant. By Rev. Henry Smith. Letter 22.

6 Lednum, p. 133. Lee locates him earlier, p. 318. A large majority of the itinerants of the that century located when they married. The Church was yet too poor to support ministerial families.

7 Lee's History, p. 317.

8 Memoir, p. 39.

9 Justice McLean.

10 History of the Religious Movement, etc., i, 142.

11 Richard Watson: "Observations on Southey's Life of Wesley."

12 Lee's Life of Lee, p. 50.

13 "Brief Narrative," etc., in Asbury's Journals, i, 210.

14 Lednum, p. 143. Sandford and Wakeley say they arrived in 1775, an error. See Asbury's Jour., Nov. 9, 19, and 24, 1774.

15 Letter of his son, Rev. Dr. Dempster, to Rev. Dr. Coggeshall. Coggeshall's Manuscript Life of Asbury, chap. 5.

16 Sandford, p. 30.

17 Lee (p. 318) marks the disappearance of James Dempster, from the Conference Minutes, unfavorably. Bangs (vol. iv, Alph. List, p. 11) uses an anomalous but charitable evasion. Asbury, and Lednum, (p. 143,) on his authority, allude disparagingly to him. It must be borne in mind, however, that marriage, and, especially, a change of denomination by an itinerant, were considered in that early day very grave matters, if not offenses.

18 Ezekiel Cooper on Asbury, p. 81.

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