VOLUME 1 — BOOK II — CHAPTER II
LABORS AND TRIALS DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Asbury's Course respecting the Revolution — He goes to Norfolk — Alarms of War — Burial of Robert Williams — Methodists in Virginia — Asbury on Brunswick Circuit — Shadford there — His great Success — Examples — Conversion of a Dancing-master — Of a Planter — The "Great Revival" of Virginia — Jarratt's Account of it — Jarratt and Asbury — Asbury in Baltimore — His Opinion of Wesley's Pamphlet on the Colonial Question — Visits the Hot Sulphur Springs — On Baltimore Circuit — His Character — Embarrassments from the War— Return of the English Preachers — Asbury in Peril — In Retirement — Abduction of Judge White — Eminent Methodists — Judge White — Mary White — Senator Bassett — Bohemia Manor — Judge Barrett — "Barrett's Chapel" — Asbury's Visits to it in later Life — His Influence on the Higher Circles of Society — Abroad again — His extraordinary Travels — He meets Coke at Barrett's Chapel

Asbury prudently determined not to compromise himself, with either the home or colonial government, in the contest now beginning. His work was one: "to promote the kingdom of heaven," the kingdom of peace, and he wished to pursue his single task with such circumspection that, whatever might be the issue of the struggle, he should remain unimpeachable, and his ability to continue his evangelical labors unimpaired. Though his sympathies were evidently with the colonies, yet as an Englishman, recently from the parent country and expecting sooner or later to return, it was befitting that he should give no occasion of offense to his countrymen, especially as he believed politics foreign to his office. The result of the contest was yet uncertain to himself at least; it was not expedient, therefore, if he were even to be providentially detained in America for life, that he should so far commit himself in the quarrel as, were the colonies to fail, his ministrations among them should be embarrassed after the restoration of peace. His policy was to follow strictly the advice of Wesley's last letter. He urged it also upon his fellow-laborers.

From the Conference at Philadelphia in 1775 he went by sea to Norfolk, Virginia, his new appointment. "Here," he says, "I found about thirty persons in Society after their manner; but they had no regular class-meetings. However, here are a few who are willing to observe all the rules of our Society. Their present preaching-house is an old shattered building, which has formerly been a playhouse. Surely the Lord will not always suffer his honor to be trampled in the dust. No; I entertain a hope that we shall have a house and a people in this town. My heart is filled with holy thoughts, and deeply engaged in the work of God. On Tuesday evening about one hundred and fifty souls attended to hear the word, and about fifty at five o'clock on Wednesday morning, which, by the presence of the Lord, was found to be a good time. I then went over to Portsmouth, and found my spirit at liberty in preaching to a number of souls there."

"My body is weak," he adds, "but my soul is in a sweet pacific frame. I see the need of constant watchfulness and entire devotion to God." Of course he soon formed a large circuit, with Norfolk for his headquarters, and comprising Portsmouth and at least eight minor places. A subscription was started for a chapel in Norfolk. Discipline was enforced, though "some of the members seemed a little refractory in submitting" to it. "But," he characteristically remarks, " without discipline we should soon be a rope of sand; so that it must be enforced, let who will be displeased." Following the example of Wesley, he preached frequently at five o'clock in the morning, though, he says, "I have constant inward fever and drag a cumbersome body with me." The alarm of war was sounding through the land, and Rankin wrote him that he and other English preachers, after consultation, had determined to return to England; "but," writes Asbury, "I can by no means agree to leave such a field for gathering souls to Christ as we have in America. It would be an eternal dishonor to the Methodists that we should all leave three thousand souls who desire to commit themselves to our care; neither is it the part of a good shepherd to leave his flock in time of danger: therefore I am determined, by the grace of God, not to leave them, let the consequence be what it may. Our friends here appeared to be distressed above measure at the thoughts of being forsaken by the preachers. So I wrote my sentiments both to Mr. Rankin and Mr. Shadford."

Such, in these troubled times, was Asbury, the predestined apostle of American Methodism. He writes on the next Sabbath, "My own soul was enlarged in preaching, and on Monday I spoke both morning and evening; but we were interrupted by the clamor of arms and preparations of war. My business is, to be more intensely devoted to God. Then,

"The rougher the way,

The shorter our stay;

The tempests that rise

Shall gloriously hurry our souls to the skies."

He was now in the scene of Robert Williams' labors, the founder of Methodism in Virginia. Williams had married in the preceding year, and settled on the road between Norfolk and Suffolk. He continued to preach far and near, and his house was a home and preaching place for Asbury. In the autumn of 1775 he died; Asbury laid him to rest, with a funeral sermon, and pronounced upon him, as we have seen, the emphatic eulogy "that probably no man in America had been equally successful in awakening souls." The loss of this useful man was a saddening addition to the calamities of the times in the little communion of the Virginia Methodists. Asbury felt it; yet a week later he wrote: "I was greatly enlarged in preaching both at Norfolk and Portsmouth, and I venture to hope some good was done. But martial clamors confuse the land. However, my soul shall rest in God during this dark and cloudy day. He has his way in the whirlwind, and will not fail to defend his own ark."

During his stay in this region he systematized the circuit work, and established rigid disciplinary order among his Societies. But in the next winter Norfolk was burned down by the royalists, and Methodism was extinguished there till the beginning of the present century. In 1803 Asbury found in the city a new chapel, the best in the state. In Portsmouth no Methodist Church was erected till 1800. Methodism took deep root in Virginia, but the ravage of war retarded all its plans for permanent edifices. Its people were content to worship in barns and private houses till the hurricane had passed. Asbury became devotedly attached to them, and his Journals show that he spent more of his long life among them than in any other state of the Union. He was to preach his last sermon, and fall in his work, in Virginia.

In November he left Norfolk for the Brunswick Circuit, still the scene of extraordinary religious activity. In taking his leave he writes: "I am now bound for Brunswick. Some that had been displeased with my strictness in discipline were now unwilling to let me go; but I fear they will not soon see me again, if they should even say, 'Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.' I am deficient in many things, but my conscience bears me witness that I have been faithful to these souls both in preaching and in discipline." Ominous signs of the war were now breaking out around him. When he arrived at Southampton Courthouse, he was arrested by a committee appointed to examine strangers; but, after explanations, was allowed to proceed. Some of his brethren, who were on their way to Portsmouth, were, however, not allowed to pass the guards. "Lord, help thy people to redeem the time," he exclaims, "for the times are evil. I see the necessity of living to God, and of improving our present privileges." About a month later he writes: "We have awful reports of slaughter at Norfolk and the Great Bridge; but I am at a happy distance from them, and my soul keeps close to Christ. And as we know not what a day may bring forth, I can say with St. Paul, 'For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.' " In a fortnight he hears of the burning of Norfolk.

At the Conference of 1775 Shadford and four other laborers had been appointed to the Brunswick Circuit, and were now sweeping, like flames of fire, over its extensive field. Shadford had gone thither in deep dejection, for he was "a stranger in a strange land," he says; "but," he adds, "I often felt much of this before a remarkable manifestation of the power and presence of God. In preaching and prayer the Lord strips and empties before he fills. I saw myself so vile and worthless as I cannot express, and wondered that God should employ me in his work. I was amazed when I first began to preach in Virginia; for I seldom preached a sermon but some were convinced and converted, often three or four at a time. I could scarcely believe them when they told me." Among them were some of the "characters" of the times, the leaders of its rustic dissipations, whose reformation became an influential example. "One of these was a dancing-master, who came first to hear on a week-day, dressed in scarlet, and came several miles again on Sunday dressed in green. After preaching he spoke to me, and asked if I could come to the part where he lived some day in the week. I told him I could not, as I was engaged every day. I saw him at preaching again that week, and another man of his profession. When I was going to preach one morning a friend said to me, 'You spoiled a fine dancing-master last week. He was so cut under preaching, and feels such a load of sin upon his conscience, that he moves very heavily; nay; he cannot shake his heels at all. He had a large, profitable school, but hath given it up and intends to dance no more. He intends now to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic.' I said, 'It is very well; what is his name?' 'He is called Madcap.' 'A very proper name for a dancing-master,' I said; but I found that this was only a nickname, his real name being Metcalf." This example, if apparently of doubtful importance, was not so to the itinerant; the eccentric convert became one of the most encouraging proofs of his ministry. "He began to teach a school, joined our Society, found the pardoning love of God shed abroad in his heart, by the Holy Ghost given unto him; lived six or seven years, and died a great witness for God, having been one of the most devoted men in our connection."

Not a few of the wealthy planters of the colony were in a moral condition hardly above heathenism; for their religious instruction, by the established clergy, had been incredibly desultory and defective. Methodism took strong hold of many of them, and, consecrating their local influence, rendered them greatly useful among their neighbors. "Going to preach one day," says Shadford, "I was stopped by a flood of water and could not reach the bridge. I therefore turned back to a large plantation, and having found the planter, I told him my case and asked him if I could sleep at his house. He said I was welcome. After I had taken a little refreshment I asked if that part of the country was well inhabited, and on his answering in the affirmative, I said, 'If it is agreeable, and you will send out to acquaint your neighbors, I will preach to them this evening.' he sent out, and we had many hearers, but they were as wild boars. After I had reproved them they behaved very well during the preaching. When I conversed with the planter and his wife, I found them entirely ignorant of themselves and of God. I labored to convince them both, but it seemed to little purpose. Next morning I was stopped again, when he kindly offered to show me another way some miles about, and go with me to preaching. I thanked him and accepted his offer. As I was preaching that day I saw him weeping much. The Spirit of God opened the poor creature's eyes, and he saw the wretched state he was in. He stayed with me that night, and made me promise to go again to his house and preach there. In a short time he and his wife became true penitents, and were soundly converted by the power of God." This case is not recorded by him for its individual importance alone, but because it became the foundation of a local "appointment" and a Church. "A very remarkable work," he adds, "began from this little circumstance and before I left Virginia there were sixty or seventy raised up in Society in that settlement. There were four traveling preachers that year in the circuit. We added eighteen hundred members, and had good reason to believe that a thousand of them were converted to God."

Young Jesse Lee witnessed this "remarkable" interest, as his home was one of the preaching stations of the circuit. He writes that, "In the course of this year there was a gracious work in several places, but in none did it equal that on Brunswick Circuit, where George Shadford was traveling at that time. It was quite common for sinners to be seized with trembling and shaking, and to fall down as if they were dead; and many were convulsed from head to foot, while others retained the use of their tongues, so as to pray while lying helpless on the floor. Christians, too, were sometimes so overcome with the presence and love of God as not to be able to stand on their feet. Mr. Jarratt, the Church clergyman, was very useful in this revival, and his heart was closely united to the Methodists. He would frequently preach, meet the classes, hold love-feasts, and administer the sacraments among them. He was an eyewitness of this work; and as it was the greatest revival of religion that had ever been known in that part of the country, I think it will be a satisfaction to many to give a further account of it." He proceeds to say that the excitement extended into the southern parts of Virginia, and was the "most remarkable reformation ever known, perhaps, in country places, in so short a time." It continued into the ensuing year. Shadford still preached in Virginia, and his ministry was attended with extraordinary scenes. "On the second day of a Quarterly Meeting," continues the historian, "a Love-Feast was held. As soon as it began, the power of the Lord came down on the assembly like a rushing, mighty wind; and it seemed as if the whole house was filled with the presence of God. A flame kindled and ran from heart to heart. Many were deeply convinced of sin; many mourners were filled with consolation; and many believers were so overwhelmed with love that they could not doubt but God had enabled them to love him with all their hearts. When the Love-Feast was ended the doors were opened. Many who had stayed without then came in, and beholding the anguish of some and the rejoicing of others, were filled with astonishment, and not long after with trembling apprehensions of their own danger. Several of them, prostrating themselves before God, cried aloud for mercy. And the convictions which then began in many have terminated in a happy and lasting change. The multitudes that attended on this occasion, returning home all alive to God, spread the flame through their respective neighborhoods, so that within four weeks several hundreds found the peace of God. Scarce any conversation was to be heard, throughout the circuit, but concerning the things of God. In many large companies one careless person could not be seen; and the far greater part seemed perfectly happy in a clear sense of the love of God. This work in a very short time spread through Dinwiddie, Amelia, Brunswick, Sussex, Prince George, Lunenberg, and Mecklenberg Counties. It thus increased on every side; more preachers were soon wanted; and the Lord raised up several young men, who were exceedingly useful as local preachers." Lee himself was one of the most conspicuous of these local evangelists. He continues: "In the course of the summer Thomas Rankin came to Virginia, and on the last day of June he preached, for the first time, at Boisseau's (Bushill's) Chapel. where Mr. Shadford met him, and they had preaching in the forenoon and afternoon; but before the last sermon was ended, such a power descended that many fell to the floor and seemed to be filled with the presence of God. The chapel was full of people, and many were without that could not get in. Look which way one would, he might behold streaming eyes, and but little could be heard except strong cries to God for mercy. It might be truly said, 'this is none other than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!' Husbands and wives were inviting each other to go with them to heaven; parents and children entreating each other. In short, those who were happy in God themselves were for bringing all their friends to him in their arms. This mighty effusion of the Spirit continued for more than an hour, in which time many were awakened, some found peace with God, and others experienced perfect love. The preachers attempted to speak or sing again and again, but their voices were soon drowned. Mr. Rankin commanded the people to be silent, but all in vain; and it was with difficulty that they could be persuaded, as night drew on, to retire to their own houses. Such a work of God as that was I had never seen or heard of before. It continued to spread through the southern parts of Virginia and the adjacent parts of North Carolina all that summer and autumn. When the returns of members were made to the Conference this year there had been added to the Societies, on Brunswick Circuit, eight hundred and eleven members. But if we include Hanover Circuit and Caroline, which had been united to Brunswick, there had been added, in one year, eighteen hundred members. I have spoken largely of this revival of religion, but my pen cannot describe one half of what I saw, heard, and felt. I might write a volume on this subject, and them leave the greater part untold." [1] Such was the success which the militant Preachers of Methodism pushed forward their conquests amid the tumults of the Revolutionary War. This "Great Revival" was as remarkable, in some respects more remarkable, than the "Great Awakening," under Edwards, in New England. It was more durable. I have had occasion to cite frequently the report which Jarratt made of it to Rankin for Wesley. He says, "One of the doctrines, as you know, which we particularly insist upon, is that of a present salvation; a salvation not only from the guilt and power, but also from the root of sin; a cleansing from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, that we may perfect holiness in the fear of God; a going on to perfection, which we sometimes define by loving God with all our hearts. Several who had believed were deeply sensible of their want of this. And I have been present when they believed that God answered this prayer, and bestowed this blessing upon them. We have sundry witnesses of this perfect love who are above all suspicion. I have known the men and their communication for many years, and have ever found them zealous for the cause of God, men of sense and integrity, patterns of piety and humility. It has been frequently observed that there never was any remarkable revival of religion but some degree of enthusiasm was mingled with it, some wildfire mixed with the sacred flame. It may be doubted whether this is not unavoidable in the nature of things. This work has not been quite free from it; but it never rose to any considerable height, neither was of long continuance. Some of our assemblies resembled the congregation of the Jews at laying the foundation of the second temple in the days of Ezra; some wept for grief, others shouted for joy. Upon the whole, this has been a great, a deep, a swift, and an extensively glorious work. Both the nature and manner of it have been nearly the same, wherever its benign influence reached."

Writing in September, 1776, Jarratt says: "If you ask, 'How stands the case now with those that have been the subjects of the late work?' I have the pleasure to inform you I have not heard of any one apostate yet. On the whole, things are in as flourishing a condition as can reasonably be expected, considering what great numbers, of various capacities and stations, have lately been added to the Societies." [2]

As Asbury approached the Brunswick Circuit he wrote, "God is at work in this part of the country, and my soul catches the holy fire already." On Sunday, 5th of November, he met Shadford at a rural chapel. "My spirit," he wrote, "was much united to him, and our meeting was like that of Jonathan and David. We had a large congregation, and I was much comforted among them. Monday, 6, I moved on toward our Quarterly Meeting; but in fording Meherring River the water was so deep as almost to flood my horse and carriage. On Tuesday our Quarterly Meeting began, at which there might be seven hundred people. What great things hath the Lord wrought for the inhabitants of Virginia! Great numbers of them manifest a desire to seek salvation for their souls." At this meeting Francis Poythress, James Foster, and Joseph Hartley were received as traveling preachers. We shall hear of them again. "I had great satisfaction," continues Asbury, "in preaching both Tuesday and Wednesday, and was much pleased with the manner and matter of the Christians' testimony in the love-feast, having a correspondent witness of the same in my own breast. Friday, 10, I preached at B. J.'s, and the power of the Lord was present, melting the hearts of the audience; and in class-meeting both believers and penitents were all in tears. I have now a blooming prospect of usefulness, and hope both to do good and get good. My heart goes out in grateful thanksgiving and praises to God."

Early in January he meets Jarratt, who reports still a "great work" under Shadford's preaching. The good rector unites with the itinerant in holding a Watch Night, at which they "stand about two hours each," preaching to an eager throng, among whom, says Asbury, "there appeared a great degree of divine power." Jarratt is with him also at the Quarterly Conference of the circuit, where the Rector preaches and administers the Lord's supper. Asbury, soon after, visits his parsonage and finds in him "an agreeable spirit."

The Rector had now formed very intimate relations with the Methodists, and promised Asbury to share in the proceedings of the next Annual Conference, should it be convenient for him to attend it. After spending about a month in itinerating with him, Asbury set out for the North, called thither by Rankin. On arriving in Baltimore the alarms of war met him again; he found the city in commotion, caused by a report that a ship-of-war was approaching. Many of the inhabitants were hurrying out of town. "The congregations," he wrote, "were but small, so great has the consternation been. But I know the Lord governeth the world; therefore these things shall not trouble me. I will endeavor to be ready for life or death." He was welcomed to the tranquil retreat of Perry Hall by his friend Gough, and preached there to a great congregation. On the 19th of March 1776, he reached Philadelphia, having "rode about three thousand miles" since he left it, on the 22d of the preceding May. Here, on receiving a letter from Wesley, he records his sentiments respecting the Revolution, cautiously, but with sufficient distinctness to show that he did not share the opinions of his English coadjutors. Of Wesley he says, "I am truly sorry that the venerable man ever dipped into the politics of America. My desire is to live in love and peace with all men; to do them no harm, but all the good I can. However, it discovers Mr. Wesley's conscientious attachment to the government under which he lives. Had he been a subject of America, no doubt he would have been as zealous an advocate of the American cause. But some inconsiderate persons have taken occasion to censure the Methodists in America on account of his political sentiments." Soon afterward he received word from New York that "troops were being raised and entrenchments made in that city." "O Lord," he writes, "we are oppressed, undertake thou for us." He doubtless inclined to the side of the colonists; his sagacious mind foresaw the grand advantages of the national organization of the Anglo-Saxons in the opening new world, and the vision of the prospective triumphs of the Gospel, in his own denomination, probably rose luminously before him amid the clouds of the war-storm, though he knew that the restoration of peace would be followed by general prosperity and riches, which might divert many of his fellow-laborers from the hardships of the itinerancy. His own policy was cautiously defined; it was to prosecute his evangelical work without intermeddling with the conflicting parties. His work was sublimely apart from and above them all. A few days after his comments on Wesley's error he wrote, "How changeable are all things here, and especially in these precarious times! but my determination is to cast all my care on the Lord, and bear with patience whatsoever may occur. May the Lord make me more indifferent both toward persons and things, and only intent on doing his will!" And, again, he says, his "soul enjoys a delightful sense of the divine favor, and is fixed on God as its center, though in the midst of tumults." "Glory to God, I can leave all the little affairs of this confused world to those men to whose province they pertain, and can comfortably go on in my proper business of instrumentally saving my own soul and those that hear me."

After spending some months in Philadelphia, rallying the Society from the public distractions, and making excursions into New Jersey and other parts of the country, where he found the young Churches desolated by the agitations of the war, he passed southward again on the last day of May, 1776. He is welcomed in Baltimore, and finds temporary shelter at Perry Hall; is refreshed by good news "of the glorious spread of the work of God in Virginia and North Carolina, where the Lord is still fulfilling his promise, and pouring out his Spirit on the people." He preaches for Otterbein, and remarks that "there are very few with whom he can find so much unity and freedom in conversation as with him." In one of his excursions he is arrested, taken before a magistrate, and "fined five pounds for preaching the Gospel." His health again fails, through excessive travel and preaching. He goes to the Warm Sulphur Springs of Virginia, accompanied by Gough, of Perry Hall; there he holds a meeting every night and preaches often in the open air. "My confidence," he writes, "is strong in the Lord, and accompanied with sweet consolation. My company and myself are quickened in our own souls, and the hearts of several others are under some religious impressions. But the zealous conversation and prayers of Mr. Gough seem to move and melt the hearts of the people more than my preaching does. Lord, send by whom thou wilt: only end to the conviction and salvation of immortal souls. At this time Christ is all in all to me. My heart is sweetly occupied by his gracious Spirit."

His plan of relaxation and recuperation here is singular enough. He reads about a hundred pages a day; usually prays in public five times a day; preaches in the open air every other day; and lectures in prayer-meeting every evening. "And," he adds, "if it were in my power I would do a thousand times as much for such a gracious and blessed Master. But, in the midst of all my little employments, I feel myself as nothing, and Christ to me is all in all."

The accommodations at this celebrated resort were still of the most primitive kind. Asbury's "boarding house" was twenty feet by sixteen in size, "with seven beds and sixteen persons therein, and some noisy children." "So," he says, "I dwell among briars and thorns; but my soul is in peace." Doing here the work of half a score of ordinary pastors, yet surrounded with the grand and tranquil solitudes of nature, he richly enjoyed his retreat. But the din of war still reached him. "I spent," he writes, "some time in the woods alone with God, and found it a peculiar time of love and joy. O delightful employment! All my soul was centered in God! The next day while preaching at three o'clock, to an increased company, the word produced great seriousness and attention. And we had a happy, powerful meeting in the evening at Mr. Gough's. But my mind is in some degree disturbed by the reports of battles and slaughters. It seems the Cherokee Indians have also begun to break out, and the English ships have been coasting to and fro, watching for advantages; but what can they expect to accomplish without an army of two or three hundred thousand men? And even then, there would be but little prospect of their success. O that this dispensation might answer its proper end! That the people would fear the Lord, and sincerely devote themselves to his service! Then, no doubt, wars and bloodshed would cease."

Having spent six weeks at the Springs, he left them for his Baltimore Circuit, where he resumed his travels with unresting energy. His journals are characteristically laconic [brief, concise — DVM]; they abound in abbreviations which obscure, at this late day, their allusions; we are perplexed in tracing his journeyings, as he hurries us along from place to place; but we are kept in excited interest and wonder at his hardly intermitted movements, his continual preaching, in the morning at a chapel, in the afternoon at a barn or schoolhouse ten or fifteen miles distant, in the evening at a private house twenty miles further. The next day he is early in the saddle and again away to other fields; and so, day after day; week after week, year after year, for nearly half a century; for with him ministerial zeal was not a paroxysm, but a divine fire which kept his whole life incandescent until he dropped at last in the pulpit, consumed by it, or rather borne by it away, as if ascending, like the Hebrew prophet, in a chariot of fire. Neither Wesley nor Whitefield labored as energetically as this obscure man. He exceeded them in the extent of his annual travels, the frequency of his sermons, and the hardships of his daily life. His temperament was less buoyant than theirs, he was often depressed by a constitutional sadness, if not melancholy; but he had an iron will, a profound conscience, an ineffable sense of the value of the human soul, and an invincible resolution to attain the maximum availability of his life for the eternal welfare of himself and his fellow-men. He studied hard on his long routes, and, by his unaided endeavors, became able to read the holy Scriptures in the original Hebrew and Greek, and was familiar with ecclesiastical and general history and scientific theology. In practical prudence, the wisdom which is profitable to direct in the government of large bodies of men, he perfected himself beyond almost any modern example, as the great results of his administration prove. But as yet he had no distinct perception of the administrative responsibility which was pending over him. The duty of the hour was all he knew of, if not all he cared for, assured that if that were well done the future would unfold itself aright.

He visited Annapolis often about this time, preaching in an old theater. One of the earliest Methodists there was a Mr. Wilkins, who became his steadfast friend, and whose family afterward was among the most influential in the denomination in Baltimore. The Guest family was also important in the early history of Methodism in Annapolis, and their name has been honorably represented in the itinerant ministry. The war spirit menaced Asbury in this region, and his friends could not protect him. His chaise was shot through but he escaped unharmed. It became necessary, however, for him to think of means of safety. A pause is reported in his career of two or more years, during which he is usually represented as sequestered from the storms of the Revolution; but though it seemed to him such, it was but a partial retirement, for he still had a whole state for his parish most of the time. While pursuing his zealous course on the Baltimore Circuit, he received word of the return of Rankin to England; Shadford, to whom he clung as David to Jonathan, was persuaded to tarry, but he also soon departed; at last all Wesley's English missionaries but himself had left the country or the denomination. He bowed his head in profound dejection, but his will could not be bowed. He was offered a quiet settlement over an Episcopal Church, but he replied, "I will do nothing that shall separate me from my brethren. I hope to live and die a Methodist." "We have great commotion on every side, but in the midst of war the Lord keeps my soul in perfect peace." Shadford, still lingering, meets him, and informs him of the departure of Rankin and Rodda. "So," he writes in sadness, "we are left alone; but I leave myself in the hands of God." He goes forward on his circuit, dragging Shadford with him far on his route; though a heavy gloominess hangs on his mind he inspirits his timid brethren, proclaiming as his text, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." Shadford "exhorts" after him, and "the hearts of the people melt under the power of the word." Wherever they go record is now made of "the merciful hand of God displayed" in the assemblies, of "a moving in the congregations," of "powerful seasons," of "extraordinary visitations of grace." "We have been greatly blessed," he adds, "and have seen great displays of divine grace since we have been together, and have been made a blessing to one another."

At last Shadford gives up and retreats. "George Shadford left me," writes the solitary missionary; "I am easy, however, for the Lord is with me. If he will be with me, and bring me to my Father's house in peace, he shall be my God forever. Yea; let him do with me as seemeth good in his sight — only let him not take his Holy Spirit from me — and he shall be mine, and I will be his, in time and through eternity." Soon afterward he again writes, "I am under some heaviness of mind. But it is no wonder: three thousand miles from home — my friends have left me — I am considered by some as an enemy of the country — every day liable to be seized by violence and abused. All this is but a trifle to suffer for Christ and the salvation of souls. Lord, stand by me!" He still pursues his work, though daily expecting to be arrested, for he hears from various directions of the mobbing and imprisonment of his itinerant brethren; though none but native preachers now remain with him. As Methodists they are held responsible for Wesley's opposition to the Revolution, the modification of his opinion being yet unknown in the colonies; and the mob and petty magistrates, swayed by political excitement and many of them by sectarian jealousy, listen to no remonstrances or entreaties. The test-oaths require a pledge to take up arms, if called upon to do so by the authorities. Asbury, though well affected toward the colonial cause, cannot consent to such a contingency. His conscience as a preacher of the Gospel forbids him. The peril at last comes nearer home to him. In March, 1778, he writes, in concealment, at the house of his friend, Judge White, of Kent County, Del., "I intend to abide here for a season till the storm is abated. The grace of God is a sufficient support while I bear the reproach of men, and am rewarded evil for all the good which I have done, and desire to do for mankind. I am strongly persuaded that divine Providence will bring about a change before long."

On the 2d of April the light horse patrol came to the house, and seizing Judge White, bore him off, leaving his wife and children with Asbury in great alarm. They observed together the next day as an occasion of fasting and prayer. On Saturday, April 4, Asbury says: "This was a day of much divine power and love to my soul. I was left alone, and spent part of every hour in prayer; and Christ was near and very precious." "On Monday, 6th, I found freedom to move. I rode on through a lonesome, devious road, like Abraham, not knowing whither I went; but weary and unwell, I found a shelter late at night, and there I intended to rest till Providence should direct my way. This was something like the faithful saints of old times, mentioned Heb. xi 'They wandered about, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; they wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth;' though it must be acknowledged their trials far exceeded. Tuesday, 7. My soul was kept in peace, and I spent much of my time in reading the Bible and the Greek Testament. Surely God will stand by and deliver me! I have none other on whom I can depend. And he knows with what intention and for what purposes I came into this distant and strange land, and what little I have suffered for his cause. At night a report was spread which inclined me to think it would be most prudent for me to move the next day. Accordingly I set out after dinner, and lay in a swamp till about sunset; but was then kindly taken in by a friend. My soul has been greatly humbled and blessed under these difficulties, and I thought myself like some of the old prophets who were concealed in times of public distress. Thursday, 9. I promised God that if he would lift me up I would be wholly his, and spend as much time in returning thanks as I have in seeking his protection, which has been some part of every hour. My soul has been much comforted in reading Alleine's Letters, which he wrote in prison. I felt strong confidence in God that he would deliver me; being conscious that I sought neither riches nor honor, and that what I suffered was for the sake of his spiritual Church, and the salvation of my fellow-men. I was informed that Brother Hartley was apprehended last Lord's day in Queen Anne. May the Lord strengthen and support him while he suffers for righteousness' sake! He shall be faithfully remembered by me in my addresses to the throne of grace. This evening I was called upon to visit a person in distress of mind, and the Lord gave him rest for his soul. Perhaps Providence cast my lot in this place for the assistance of this man. Friday, 10. My heart was kept pure, and panting after God, though I was in some sense a prisoner, and under the necessity of being concealed. O my Lord, guide thy poor pilgrim through the rugged ways of this ungodly and dangerous world! My practice is to keep close to God in prayer, and spend a part of every hour, when awake, in that exercise. My exercises are very deep and various. The Lord makes great discoveries of my defects and shortcomings in many points. He melts my heart into humility and tenderness; he graciously draws me nearer and nearer to himself, and fills me with the spirit of holy love."

After about a month's concealment among these strangers, he ventured back to Judge White's mansion. The judge, having been seized on the absurd charge of being a Methodist, was acquitted, after five weeks' detention, and allowed to return to his home. A contemporary authority, a witness of many of these sufferings of the Methodist itinerants, gives us a somewhat minute account of Asbury's present circumstances. "After having traveled and preached at large with all the zeal, fidelity, and caution which prudence could dictate, he, being much suspected as an Englishman, had at length to retire, in a great measure, for a season, until the indignation was overpast. The spirit of the times was such that he could not safely continue to travel openly. In the year when the storm was at its highest, and persecution raged furiously, he advisedly confined himself chiefly to the little state of Delaware, where the laws were rather more favorable, and the rulers and influential men were somewhat more friendly. For a time he had even there to keep himself much retired. He found an asylum in the house of his fast and firm friend, Thomas White, Esq., one of the judges of the court in Kent County. He was a pious man, and his wife one of the holiest of women. They were great friends to the cause of religion, and to the preachers generally. From this place of retreat he could correspond with his suffering brethren who were scattered abroad. He could also occasionally travel about, visiting the Societies, and sometimes preach to the people. He was accessible to all the preachers and his friends who came to see him; so that by means of correspondence and visits they could communicate with one another for mutual counsel, comfort, and encouragement. In some of their movements they had to be very cautious; for they were watched as the partridge is watched by the hawk on the mountain. However, his manner of life was such as to procure him many friends, among whom were some of the most respectable characters in the state, and eventually he gained the goodwill and confidence of the public generally, and of the principal officers of the state. Among those whose particular confidence he secured we might mention, with Judge White, the pious Judge Barrett, both of whom opened their houses for the brethren as homes, and protected the preachers, and exerted their influence in support of religion. Each of them was instrumental in having a preaching house built in his respective neighborhood, which to this day are called White's Meeting-house and Barrett's Chapel. We may also mention the late Richard Bassett, Esq., well known as a distinguished character, not only in the state, but in the United States. At different times he filled high and honorable stations. He was a lawyer of note, a legislator, judge, and a governor of Delaware. He was also a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, a senator in the first Congress, and a judge of the United States Court for the circuit comprising the Districts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Their friendship and confidential intercourse was intimate and uninterrupted till death, the one surviving the other but a few months. I mention these names, and many others might be mentioned, if time would permit, as a tribute of respect due to their memory, in order to give an idea how the Lord providentially favored Asbury and his brethren in raising up friends to open the way before them, that his word might go forth as a lamp that burneth. Their friendship and patronage not only extended to him, but to his suffering brethren generally; to the persecuted Societies, and to the weeping cause of religion. Under their fostering protection bleeding Zion smiled in the midst of tears. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. They found Asbury to be a safe and a good citizen, a circumspect and a pious Christian, and a faithful minister of the Gospel, worthy of confidence as a friend to the country of his choice, of which he had voluntarily and providentially become a citizen. They also found him associated with others who were plain, honest, upright men, inculcating religion, reforming and improving the morals of the people. The Governor of Delaware, though I believe not a professor of religion, being influenced by goodwill and friendship toward Asbury and his brethren, wrote to the Governor of Maryland in behalf of some of the suffering preachers in that state, in consequence of which they were released from recognizances or from prison." [3]

One cause of the improved treatment of Asbury and his brethren is supposed to have been the fact that about 1779 "a letter which he wrote to Rankin in 1777, in which he gave it as his opinion that the Americans would become a free and independent nation, that he was too much knit in affection to many of them to leave them, and that Methodist preachers had a great work to do under God, in this country, had fallen into the hands of the American officers, and had produced a great change in their opinions and feelings toward him." [4]

Asbury's retirement, so called, was a period of no little labor. He was closely confined only about five weeks, and there were but eleven in which he did not travel more or less. [5] Through the first year he ventured not far from home; but, besides preaching occasionally, he frequently held meetings for prayer and exhortation among his friendly neighbors. The preachers often met him in the hospitable family of Judge White, and he privately held with them there a Conference in 1779. He was restless, however, under his present restrictions. His energetic temperament could not brook confinement. Men constituted or endowed for great destinies have an instinctive, though it be a vague, consciousness of their high calling, and are urged forward by instinctive impulses to fulfill it. "My spiritual trials," he writes, "have been heavier and more grievous of late than I have ever experienced before in all the course of my pilgrimage. They seem to indicate to me that I shall lose my soul, or lose my life, or live for some peculiar usefulness in the Church of Christ." The latter was the true presentiment. It was his steadfastness to American Methodism, during these trying times when all other foreign laborers deserted it, that, next to his commanding abilities, won for him the admiration and love of his brethren, and led them, when the storm had passed, to exalt him to the leadership of their cause. He did not anticipate his coming elevation, but he saw clearly that great times were approaching — that, as he wrote, "the independence of America by a treaty of peace would be a singular blessing, especially as it would give the Gospel a free course through the land," and he knew that if his life were spared he should share largely in this enlarged spread of the kingdom of Christ. He gradually ventured to preach more openly; and during the second year of what he considered his confinement, the whole state of Delaware was his Circuit; the Conference which had furtively met at Judge White's house having appointed him to it and designated the appointment in the Minutes. The mansion of his friend was his headquarters; it was not expedient for him to be absent for a long time from it; it was usually his shelter by night, but his ministerial excursions were made almost daily.

The family which thus gave refuge to him and to not a few of his brethren during this stormy period was notable in the early days of Methodism. Like that of Gough, at Perry Hall, of Bassett, at Bohemia Manor, and of Barratt, at "Barratt's Chapel," Kent, its name continually recurs in the Journals of Asbury, Coke, Garrettson, Abbott, and in other early Methodist publications. Leaving Asbury in his comfortable asylum, we may appropriately digress, a moment, to notice some of these memorable historical families, who, though associated with the highest social circles of their times, counted not their opulence nor their lives dear unto them, choosing rather to suffer persecution with the people of God.

Thomas White, "Chief Judge of the Common Pleas," had been an unexceptionable member of the English Church before he met with the Methodists. His wife was a lady of special excellence; devoted, charitable, strict in the religious education of her family, not omitting her numerous colored servants, to whom she carefully taught the Holy Scriptures. Hearing the Methodists preach, her devout heart recognized them as congenial Christians, and she reported them so favorably to her husband that he was induced to accompany her and their children to one of their appointments. The preachers were invited to his mansion, and it remained a "preaching place" till the erection of White's Chapel. His wife, Mary White, not only led him to the Methodist communion, but became his best guide to heaven. She was the priestess of the family, a woman of rare talents, of remarkable but modest courage, and of fervent zeal. When he was seized by the military patrol she clung to him, defending him, and declaring to the ruffians, who brandished their swords over her, that she feared them not, until, overpowered by their numbers, he was borne away. She soon followed them, found out the place of his confinement, and rested not till she effected his restoration to his family. "On another sorrowful occasion," says a Methodist annalist, "when a drafted company of soldiers came by her house and halted, while the men were weeping on account of leaving their parents, wives, and sisters, and while wives and sisters were clinging to their husbands and brothers, telling by their gushing tears how deeply they felt as they were parting with them, fearing they should see them no more, Mrs. White kneeled down on the ground before them and offered up fervent prayers, mingling her tears with theirs for their temporal and eternal salvation; and when the Methodists were met for worship, if there were none present more suitable, she took up the cross, led the religious exercises, and met the class — and she would have gone further and preached if Asbury had encouraged her. That child of nature and of grace, Benjamin Abbott, was at Mr. White's in October, 1782; when about to start for Quarterly Meeting at Barrett's Chapel, he says, 'Mrs. White came to me as I sat on my horse, and took hold of my hand, exhorting me for some time. I felt very happy under her wholesome admonitions.' Thomas Ware says: 'She was a mother in Israel in very deed.' When her husband informed her that his end was nigh, she spent the last night in supplications for him, and with him exulted in victory as he entered into the joy of his Lord. She, like her husband, professed and exemplified the grace of perfect love. They were lovely in their lives, and in death were not long divided; she soon followed him to the 'better country.' Near by the old homestead the bricks that arched their graves, now sunk in the earth, mark the spot where their heaven-watched dust reposes, till they shall again appear in the bloom and beauty of immortality." [6]

"In moral worth," says the same authority, "Judge White had no superior in his day — his house and hands were always open to relieve the needy — he was the friend of the poor and oppressed, and left no one in bondage whom he could make free. For many years he lived in the enjoyment of perfect love. Just before he died he showed his son Samuel his books, and gave him directions concerning the brick house that he was building as an addition to his old house. Then, coming to his wife, he said, "I feel as I never felt before," and gave directions concerning his burial. He died in the spring of 1795, in his sixty-fifth year. When Asbury heard of his death, he wrote," The news was an awful shock to me; I have met with nothing like it in the death of any friend on the continent. I have lived days, weeks, and months in his house. He was among my very best friends."

Richard Bassett, of Dover, Delaware, was a man of pre-eminence in the civil and social life of these times. He first met Asbury in his concealment at Judge White's residence. On a professional journey to Maryland, he called there to spend a night with his friend, the Judge. As a door in the house was opened he observed Asbury, with some other Preachers, apparently retired in quiet conversation, and inquired of Mrs. White who "they were, dressed in sable garments and keeping themselves aside?" "They are some of the best men in the world; they are Methodist Preachers," replied the hostess. He was evidently disturbed by this intelligence, and observed, "Then I cannot stay here tonight." "You must stay; they cannot hurt you," rejoined the lady. Supper being ready, they all sat down at the table. Asbury had considerable conversation with Bassett, by which he was convinced that Methodist Preachers were not so ignorant or unsociable as to make them outcasts from civil society. On taking leave, he invited Asbury, more from custom than desire, to call on him in case he visited Dover. When Bassett returned home and informed his wife that he had been in company with Methodist Preachers, and had invited one of them to his house, she was greatly troubled; but was quieted when he told her, "It is not likely that he will come." But some time later, Bassett, while looking out of his window, saw the itinerant approaching. That evening Asbury charmed by his conversation a large circle at the tea-table, till late into the night; and for nearly twoscore years Richard Bassett was his unfailing friend.

Bassett was a man of bravery and generosity. Not long after White had joined the Methodists he visited his friend at Dover, and spent a night with him. All Methodists were then denounced as Tories, and the rabble, hearing of White's presence, approached Bassett's house to seize him. Bassett was a militia officer, and, with drawn sword, defied them at his door. "He is no more a Tory than you are," he shouted; "you shall have him only by passing over my dead body." He compelled them to fall back and leave the premises. Bassett's chivalric character and high standing were not to be trifled with, and his friend remained unmolested.

Subsequently Asbury, on visiting the family, describes Bassett as "a very conversant and affectionate man, who, from his own acknowledgments, appears to be sick of sin. His wife is under great distress — she prays much." It was not long before she was rejoicing in the consolation of the Gospel, and her husband followed in her steps. They became zealous and exemplary Methodists. He lived a bright example of holiness, and left the world praising God." He often preached, and was the chief founder of "Wesley Chapel," in Dover. "Estimating him," says a Methodist historian, "according to his standing, influence, and usefulness in the community, he was as important a member as has belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church." He had three residences, one in Dover, one in Wilmington, and another at Bohemia Manor, a famous locality in the early Methodist annals. All of them were favorite homes of the Methodist itinerants, and scenes of early Quarterly Conferences and other extraordinary meetings. Bohemia Manor consisted of 18,000 acres on the Bohemia and Elk Rivers. Bassett owned 6,000 of the best of these acres. He had a famous "old log Bethesda Chapel" on the Manor, in which the greatest heroes of primitive Methodism sounded their trumpets. His mansion there was as noted a resort of Methodist Preachers as Perry Hall on the Western Shore of Maryland; "it was seldom without some one of them, and often had a number of them together." The generous lawyer received one of them, broken down with age and labor, as superintendent of his household. His groves sometimes resounded with the melodies of Methodist camp-meetings. The Manor became "famous for Methodism; in almost every family Methodists were found. Wherever Mr. Bassett's influence extended, he did not suffer a drop of distilled liquor to be used. His house and table were very plain; while he was doing all in his power for the cause of God." [7] His high character secured the respect of his fellow-citizens. They sent him as their delegate to the Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, and as their Senator in Congress, and elected him Governor of their state. Asbury, seeing him at last smitten with paralysis, called him his "long-loved friend," and in a few months followed him to heaven. He died in the faith in 1815, [8] and his funeral, at the Manor, was attended by a great concourse of Methodists and other citizens. Henry Boehm, the traveling companion of Asbury, presided over the religious services of the occasion; Ezekiel Cooper preached his funeral sermon.

The "pious Judge Barratt" has already been mentioned, on the authority of a contemporary writer, as one of the friends of Asbury, who protected him and other suffering itinerants in the troubled times of the Revolution. His name frequently appears in the Journals of Asbury, but always in brief though often significant allusions. "Barratt's Chapel" is famous in our early annals, and still remains, a monument of its founder. "It is forty-two feet by forty-eight," says our best chronicler of these early times, "built of bricks, two stories high, and had a vestry room connected with it. It was then, and for a number of years after, far the grandest country chapel that the Methodists had in America. It was not, however, finished till two generations passed away. In November of the year 1780 the first Quarterly Meeting was held in it. It was supposed that there were a thousand people in attendance. Dr. McGaw, Asbury, Hartley, Pedicord, and Cromwell were there to officiate. Barratt's Chapel is memorable as being the place where Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury had their first interview, and where the preliminaries of forming the Methodists into a Church began in this country — the seat on which they sat in the pulpit on that occasion is still preserved in the same place as a memento." [9]

Some time after the decease of its founder, Asbury paused there, with no little emotion, in his rapid course over the country. "I preached," he writes, "at Barratt's Chapel, and baptized some children. I had powerful feelings of sympathy for the children and grandchildren of that holy man in life and death, Philip Barratt. My dear friends, Governor Bassett and his lady, came nearly forty miles to meet me." When, in extreme age, shortly before his death, the veteran Bishop passed over the same region, for the last time, he ascended the old pulpit and preached once more amid its hallowed memories, though "in great feebleness of body." The son of his ancient friend was there to welcome him to dinner. "Ah!" exclaimed the young man, "I knew that my father and mother thought more of him than of any other man on earth; and well does it become their son to respect him." The patriarch took a pensive pleasure in his old age in recalling such recollections; touching allusions to early scenes and early friends continually occur in his diary.

Such were some of the influential supporters of Asbury in his persecutions when the Revolutionary storm swept over the country. They protected him, and, at last, secured his liberty to travel and preach. He seems to have had peculiar success in gathering about the Methodist standard, in these days of its humiliation, devout families of the higher classes. In most of the middle provinces there were now examples of wealth and social influence consecrated to the struggling cause; opulent mansions, opened, with pious welcome, to the travel-worn itinerants, and made not only asylums for them, but sanctuaries of worship for their humble people. Asbury's personal character commanded the respect and the admiration of such families. While they could not but wonder at his devotion to the lowliest labors of the ministry, his itinerant heroism, they saw in him intrinsic greatness of soul, and an intelligence, an amenity, and a dignity, which extorted the veneration of the cultivated circles that gathered under their roofs, however slight may have been the sympathy of the company with his peculiar religious opinions and labors. Immediately on his introduction into any intelligent circle was visibly felt that deferential impression of his presence which a contemporary, heretofore cited, speaks of as invariable and irresistible. It is probable that no man of his time, except Washington, was regarded in the United States with more reverential respect, not to say diffidence, than Francis Asbury.

It was in the period of his retirement that he won the friendship of Rev. Dr. McGaw — a consolation to him through the remainder of his life. "Both Asbury and Garrettson speak in the highest terms of the good service the doctor rendered them and the cause of Methodism. Through McGaw's friendship, some of the preachers gained access to a number of families in Dover, Del., that became Methodists. Soon after, the doctor became Rector of St. Paul's Church in Philadelphia. The first Sabbath that Dr. Coke spent in America he preached once for Dr. McGaw at St. Paul's, and once at St. George's. When Bishop Coke and Bishop Asbury preached in that city the doctor was generally one of their hearers." In 1779 a chapel was erected and opened for worship by Dr. McGaw at Dover. It was called the "Forrest Chapel," and was the first meeting-house that the Methodists had in the state. It was afterward called "Thomas' Chapel." [10]

The earliest Methodist historian describes the times immediately preceding Asbury's retirement as generally threatening to the new denomination. "The preachers," he says, "found great difficulties in keeping their stations; and some were forced to be given up, so that some of the classes were entirely broken up. It might be well said that 'without were fightings, within were fears.' War and the shedding of blood were heard of in all directions; armies marching back and forth one after another; and in many places the people were in great confusion, so that religion was almost banished from some neighborhoods where it had been lively. Some of our Societies in the North suffered more than we did in the south part of Virginia. But the Lord took care of his own work." [11]

Protected by his influential friends, Asbury was at last enabled to emerge out of his comparative obscurity in Delaware, after spending there two years and one month. He came forth to be the hero of American Methodist history through all the remainder of his life. He had been found faithful when all his British associates had retreated from the stormy arena. The native preachers now not only revered, but loved him. Some of them had penetrated to his retreat, as we have seen, and held an informal Conference in the house of Judge White; they there declared him their "general assistant " or superintendent, as Rankin had abdicated that office by leaving the country. And now began those incredible tours over the continent, averaging two a year, for the remainder of his life, which, with his daily preaching in chapels, courthouses, barns, private houses, or the open air, present perhaps the most extraordinary example of ministerial labor in the history of the Church, ancient or modern. His meager Journals give us few details; the biographer or historian is at a loss to sketch his courses from the slight jottings of the record; the reader is bewildered with the rapidity of his movements; but through them all the tireless, the invincible, the gigantic apostle appears, planning grandly and as grandly executing his plans; raising up hosts of preachers; forming new Churches, new Circuits, and new Conferences; extending his denomination north, south, east, west, till it becomes, before his death, coextensive with the nation, and foremost, in energy and success, of all American religious communions.

He hastened southward and averted a schism likely to have been occasioned by the clamorous demand of people and preachers for the sacraments. He journeyed to and fro in Virginia and North Carolina. He found it necessary to use two horses on this difficult route. "We set out," he says in one instance, "for Crump's, over rocks, hills, creeks, and pathless woods. The young man with me was heartless before we had traveled a mile; but when he saw how I could bush it, and sometimes force my way through a thicket and make the young saplings bend before me, and twist and turn out of the way or path, for there was no road, he took courage. With great difficulty we came into the settlement about two o'clock, after traveling eight or nine hours, the people looking almost as wild as the deer in the woods. I have only time to pray and write in my Journal; always upon the wing; as the rides are so long and the roads so bad, it takes me many hours, for in general I walk my horse. I crossed Rocky River about ten miles from Haw River. It was rocky, sure enough. I can see little else but cabins in these parts built with poles. I crossed Deep River in a ferryboat, and the poor ferryman swore because I had not a shilling to give him." Such were common examples of his ministerial itinerancy. And amid these scenes he writes, "I was never more devoted to God — it makes me think I am in my duty. I was tempted and tried in Delaware to prepare me for, and drive me to, this work; and believe if I had not started I should have suffered great loss in my soul; I admire the hand of God in disposing of me, and wonder and own his providence."

He returns northward through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, meeting his fellow-laborers in Quarterly and Annual Conferences, and inspiriting the Churches. He rejoices to greet Jarratt again, but still more to find, all along his route, zealous native preachers rising up to extend the Church. He sees Abbott for the first time, and says "his word comes with great power; the people fall to the ground under it, and sink into a passive state, helpless, motionless; he is a man of uncommon zeal, and (although his language has somewhat of incorrectness) of good utterance." He learns as he presses onward that "there is daily a great turning to God in new places, and that the work of sanctification goes on in our old Societies." In about ten months he traveled about four thousand miles, over the worst roads, and preached upon an average a sermon a day.

In May, 1781, he hastens southward again, and is soon penetrating the wilderness. By the first week in June he approaches the south branch of the Potomac, and writes: "I am kept in peace, and greatly pleased I am to get into the woods, where, although alone, I have blessed company, and sometimes think, Who so happy as myself?" After swimming his horse "over the Great Capon River, fatigued and weary, he found rest in the cabin of a friendly settler. His resting-place was on the top of a chest, and his clothes his only covering. This, however, was better fare than he often had. Frequently, when benighted in the wilderness, he has slept on the ground, or on rocks, or on boards in a deserted cabin, with nothing to eat. Being unable to cross the South Branch, he was obliged, as the explorers express it, to strike for the mountains. On the summit of one of these ranges he found a congregation as wild as the wilderness around them. Here he remained over Sabbath, and the mountain settlers were summoned far and near to listen to the word. When the hour for preaching came, about two hundred persons were collected, and the voice of prayer and praise waked the echoes of the mountain. From hence he went to another appointment, where he had three hundred hearers. Crossing the South Branch he entered a settlement of Germans, and as he could not preach in that language he expressed a wish that the Methodist Church had German preachers, for he could see by the spirit of the people that a great work might be wrought among them. What Asbury sighed for has since been fully realized. Anon we find him in the valley; above and around him rose up in their grandeur the Alleghenies, furnishing themes of thought for the loftiest contemplation, and inspiring a mind like his with profound emotions of reverence and love for the hand that had reared them and covered their summits with living verdure. In crossing the Fork Mountain he found another German settlement, and was much comforted in spirit in striving to preach to them. Some nights afterward we find him on the banks of Lost River, sympathizing with and praying for the men who had been drafted for the army. Again we find him benighted in the mountains, sleeping among the rocks, with nothing for his covering but the vaulted sky. Thus on he traveled until he reached Leesburg, where he held a quarterly meeting, and thence he pursued his way, preaching from place to place, through Maryland and Pennsylvania." [12]

He continued during the ensuing three years to fly like the apocalyptic angel, "having the everlasting Gospel to preach" over all the central parts of the continent, from New York to North Carolina. "The Lord," he writes, "is my witness that if my whole body, yea, every hair of my head, could labor and suffer, they should be freely given up for God and souls." In November, 1784, weary and worn by travel and preaching, he arrived, on Sunday, during public worship, at his friend Barratt's Chapel. A man of small stature, ruddy complexion, brilliant eyes, long hair, feminine but musical voice, and gowned as an English clergyman, was officiating. Asbury ascended the pulpit and embraced and kissed him before the whole assembly, for the itinerant recognized him as another messenger from Wesley come to his relief after the desertion of all his English associates, a man who, though of dwarfish body, had an immeasurable soul, and had become a chieftain of Methodism in England, Ireland, and Wales, only second to Wesley himself. Asbury knew not yet the full import of his mission; but after his labors and sufferings, as Wesley's solitary representative in America, any such visitor was to him like an angel from heaven, and he knew the man too well to doubt that his presence in the new world would make an era in its struggling Methodism. This little man, of gigantic soul, whom Asbury, mourning his death years afterward, was to characterize as "the greatest man of the last century in Christian labors," not excepting Whitefield or Wesley, represented, in the humble pulpit of Barratt's Chapel, the most momentous revolution in American Methodism. He was the "Rev. Thomas Coke, LL.D., late of Jesus College, Oxford," but now the first Protestant bishop of the western hemisphere. [13 Great events were at hand; but before introducing the stranger more fully upon the scene, it is expedient that we cast our glance repeatedly back again over our present period, for other and extraordinary men were abroad, laying deeply and widely the foundations of the coming reconstruction; men, some of whose once humble names become more and more illustriously historical as the results of their self-sacrificing labors still develop in the progress of the denomination.

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ENDNOTES

1 Lee's history, etc., pp. 53-59. He borrows largely from Jarratt's Narrative."

2 Jarratt's "Narrative," in Asbury's Journals, i, p. 208.

3 Ezekiel Cooper on Asbury, p. 90.

4 Lednum: p. 226.

5 Ibid, p. 211.

6 Lednum, p. 259. Lednum visited the place In 1845. He found there an old Negress who had been a servant of Judge white, who was then in her eighty-eighth year. "Soon the little African woman led by a girl — for she was almost blind — came. She could point to the spot where the house stood where the preachers were secreted, though the house, as well as the wood that stood between it and the dwelling-house, has long since disappeared. She distinctly remembered all the old preachers that visited her old master, and could describe them. The old hip-roofed two-story house in which Judge white lived is still standing, and has much of the original material in it after the lapse of a hundred years. The floors on which the beds were spread, to accommodate the Methodists attending Quarterly Meetings, and the preachers when assembled for Conference, on which they read their Bibles on their knees and offered up their fervent prayers, are still there. While sitting in this house, which sheltered the first race of Methodist preachers, I felt as if it were relatively holy, having been sanctified by the presence and prayers of Asbury, Shadford, Watters, Garrettson, Pedicord, Coke, Whatcoat, and many others. When I lay down on the bed to pass the night, I was less inclined to sleep than to call up the scenes that had transpired seventy years before. My soul was full of other times!"

7 Lednum, p. 275.

8 Lednum, chap. 42. His only daughter became the wife of Hon. James Bayard, one of the Commissioners of the United States who negotiated the Treaty of Ghent.

9 Lednum, p. 265. Lednum gives an engraving of the chapel.

10 Lednum, pp. 233, 234.

11 Lee, p. 62.

12 Strickland's Asbury, chap. 6.

13 Asbury's consecration to the episcopate was the first Protestant ordination of the kind in the new world, but Coke's was the first for it.

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