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

Rankin itinerating — At Perry Hall — Joins Shadford in Virginia — The "Great Revival" there — Jarratt — Rankin returns to England — His Death — His Administration in America — His Treatment of Asbury — Martin Rodda — He intermeddles with Politics — Clowe's Rising and Execution — Persecution of the Methodists — Shadford — His last Interview with Asbury — His Trials — His Return to England — Further Traces of his Life — His Death

Rankin continued in the colonies till the spring of 1778. After the Conference of 1775 we can trace him through New Jersey, thence into Pennsylvania, thence to Delaware and Maryland; he preached zealously, but fretted continually under "the alarm upon alarm" from New England. In July he was at Gunpowder Falls, Maryland, where he preached to a large assembly in observance of the Fast Day appointed by Congress. "I endeavored," he says, "to open up the cause of all our misery. I told them that the sins of Great Britain and her colonies had long called aloud for vengeance, and in a peculiar sense the dreadful sin of buying and selling the souls and bodies of the poor Africans. I felt but poorly when I began, but the Lord was my strength, and enabled me to speak with power." He hastened on to Perry Hall. "I spent," he writes, "a most agreeable evening with Mr. and Mrs. Gough, and the rest of the family. A numerous family of the servants were called in to prayer and exhortation; so that, with them and the rest of the house, we had a little congregation. The Lord was in the midst, and we praised him with joyful lips. The simplicity of spirit discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Gough was truly pleasing. At every opportunity he was declaring what the Lord had done for his soul; still wondering at the matchless love of Jesus, who had plucked him as a brand from the burning."

In the next spring we find him in Virginia, rejoicing in the "Great Revival," which still prevailed there through several of its counties. Arriving at Leesburgh, he says, "I called at Mr. Fairfax's, (a relation of old Lord Fairfax,) a gentleman of large estate, and who of late has been savingly brought to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was over at Baltimore, at our little Conference; and, at the love-feast that followed, he spoke of what God had done for his soul, with such simplicity and unction from on high as greatly affected every one who heard him. May he live to be an ornament to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus!" On the last day of the month Shadford, flaming with the prevalent religious excitement, came upon his path, and they rejoiced together. "His coming strengthened my hands," writes Rankin; for the latter was worn out with illness, labors, and anxieties about the war. "I preached," he continues, "at the chapel, a little way from Burshaw's. I felt poorly, both in body and mind, but the Lord stood by me and enabled me to speak with a degree of power and divine pungency. Afterward we met the Society, and found the presence of the Lord with us. After dinner I observed to Mr. Shadford that I feared I should not have strength to preach in the afternoon; a little rest, however, refreshed me, and at four o'clock I went to the chapel again and preached from Rev. iii, 8. Toward the close of the sermon I had an uncommon struggle in my breast, and, in the twinkling of an eye, my soul was so filled with the power and love of God, that I could scarce get out my words. I had hardly spoken two sentences while under this amazing influence before the very house seemed to shake, and all the people were overcome with the presence of the Lord God of Israel. Such a scene my eyes saw and ears heard as I never was witness to before, Through the mercy and goodness of God I had seen many glorious displays of the arm of the Lord in different parts of his vineyard, but such a time as this I never, never beheld. Numbers were calling out for mercy, and many were mightily praising God their Saviour; while others were in an agony for full redemption in the blood of Jesus. Soon my voice was drowned amid the sounds of prayer and praise. Husbands were inviting their wives to go to heaven with them, and parents calling upon their children to come to the Lord Jesus; and what was peculiarly affecting, I observed in the gallery appropriated for the black people almost the whole of them upon their knees; some for themselves, and others for their distressed companions. In short, look where we would, all was wonder and amazement. As my strength was almost gone, I desired Mr. Shadford to speak a few words to them. He attempted so to do, but was so overcome with the divine presence that he was obliged to sit down; and this was the case, both with him and myself, over and over again. We could only sit still and let the Lord do his own work. For upward of two hours the mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God continued upon the congregation. Such a day of the Son of man my eyes never beheld before. From the best accounts, upward of fifty persons were awakened and brought to a knowledge of God that day; besides many who were enabled to witness that the blood of Jesus cleansed them from all sin."

It seems that he lingered among the scenes of the Virginia revival about two months, witnessing the triumphs of the Gospel on every hand, On July 2, he and Shadford rode to Jarratt's home and were "received with open arms." "I preached," he writes, "the next day, not far from his house, to a deeply attentive congregation. Many were much affected at the preaching, but far more at the meeting of the Society. Mr. Jarratt himself was constrained to praise God aloud for his great love to him and to his people. Sunday, 7. I preached at W.'s chapel, about twenty miles from Mr. Jarratt's. The house was greatly crowded, and four or five hundred stood at the doors and windows, and listened with unabated attention. I preached from Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones: "And there was a great shaking." I was obliged to stop again and again, and beg of the people to compose themselves. But they could not; some on their knees, and some on their faces, were crying mightily to God all the time I was preaching. Hundreds of Negroes were among them, with the tears streaming down their faces. The same power we found in meeting the Society, and many were enabled to rejoice with joy unspeakable. In the cool of the evening I preached out of doors, and many found an uncommon blessing. Every day the ensuing week I preached to large and attentive congregations. The weather was violently hot, and the fatigue of riding and preaching so often was great. But God made up all this to me by his comfortable presence. On Thursday, 11, I preached to a large congregation at the preaching-house near Mr. Jarratt's. After laboring at several places on Friday and Saturday, on Sunday, 14, I came to Mr. B.'s, where I preached and met the Society. The congregation was, as before, abundantly larger than the chapel could contain; and we had almost such a day as fourteen days ago, only attended with a more deep and solemn work. What a work is God working in this corner of Mr. Jarratt's parish! It seemed as if all the country for nine or ten miles around were ready to turn to God. In the evening I rode to Mr. S.'s, and found a whole family fearing and loving God. Mr. S., a sensible and judicious man, had been for many years a Justice of the Peace. He observed, 'how amazing the change was which had been lately wrought in the place where he lived! That, before the Methodists came into these parts, when he was called by his office to attend the court, there was nothing but drunkenness, cursing, swearing, and fighting, most of the time the court sat; whereas now nothing is heard but prayer and praise, and conversing about God and the things of God.' Monday, 15. I rode toward North Carolina. In every place the congregations were large, and received the word with all readiness of mind. I know not that I have spent such a week since I came to America. I saw everywhere such a simplicity in the people, with such a vehement thirst after the word of God, that I frequently preached and continued in prayer till I was hardly able to stand. Indeed, there was no getting away from them while I was able to speak one sentence for God. Sunday, 21. I preached at Roanoke Chapel to more than double of what the house would contain. In general, the white people were within the chapel, and the black people without. The windows being all open, every one could hear, and hundreds felt the word of God. Many were bathed in tears, and others rejoicing with joy unspeakable. When the Society met many could not refrain from praising God aloud. I preached to a large company in the afternoon, and concluded the day with prayer and thanksgiving. Tuesday, 23. I crossed the Roanoke River, and preached at a chapel in North Carolina. And I preached every day to very large and deeply attentive congregations, although not without much labor and pain, through the extreme heat of the weather. On Tuesday, 30, was our Quarterly Meeting. I scarce ever remember such a season. No chapel or preaching-house in Virginia could have contained one third of the congregation. Our friends, knowing this, had contrived to shade with boughs of trees a space that would contain two or three thousand persons. Under this, wholly screened from the rays of the sun, we held our general love-feast. It began between eight and nine on Wednesday morning, and continued till noon. Many testified that they had redemption in the blood of Jesus, even the forgiveness of sins. And many were enabled to declare that it had 'cleansed them from all sin.' So clear, so full, so strong was their testimony, that while some were speaking their experience hundreds were in tears, and others vehemently crying to God for pardon or holiness. About eight our watch-night began. Mr. Jarratt preached an excellent sermon; the rest of the Preachers exhorted and prayed with divine energy. Surely, for the work wrought on these two days many will praise God to all eternity." [1]

On the 27th of August he held another Quarterly Meeting, "which," he says, "began as usual with our love-feast and ended with our watch-afternoon. Truly this was a great day of the Son of man, and great was our glorying in God our Saviour. In the love-feast the flame of divine love ran from heart to heart, and many were enabled to declare the great things which the Lord had done for their souls. Early in the morning some of our kind friends came and told me that they were informed a company of the militia with their officers intended to take me and the other preachers up. Some, with tears, would have persuaded me to leave the place for safety. I thanked them, but I added, 'I am come hither by the providence of God; I am sent on an errand of love to souls; thus engaged in my Lord's work I fear nothing, and will abide the consequences be they what they may.' I had retired a little by myself when one and another came to my room door and begged I would not venture out to preach, for the officers and their men were come. I felt no perturbation of mind, but was perfectly calm. I told our friends their business was to pray, and mine to deliver the message of God. Soon after I went to the arbor, which was fitted up for preaching, and there I beheld the soldiers in the skirts of the congregation. After singing I called on all the people to lift up their hearts to God as the heart of one man. They did so indeed. When we arose from our knees most of the congregation were bathed in tears; and I beheld several of the officers and their men wiping their eyes also. I had not spoken ten minutes when a cry went through all the people, and I observed some of the officers, as well as many of the soldiers, trembling as they stood. I concluded my sermon in peace; and the other preachers prayed and exhorted after me, till the conclusion of the service. I was informed afterward by some of our friends that some of the officers said, 'God forbid that we should hurt one hair of the head of such a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has this day so clearly and powerfully shown us the way of salvation.' They departed to their own homes, and we spent the evening in peace and love." This afternoon he records a strong impression upon his mind that there had been an engagement between the British and American troops. The apprehension was very natural to his morbid fears, and such events were constantly imminent. Two days later an express passed him announcing the battle of Long Island, and that "some thousands of the American troops were cut to pieces." The report was taken as the test whether his presentiment "were of God or not." Of course it only deepened his alarm at the state of the country and his resolution to leave it. He hastened northward, and we hear little more of him till his arrival in London, June, 1778. [2]

The remainder of his life was spent in that city, where he preached two or three times a week, led a Class, and did other services in the Wesleyan Chapels during more than thirty years. He was present at the death-bed of Wesley in City Road parsonage. In 1810 his own health, which had been feeble for years, finally gave way. About a week before his death, Benson, the Wesleyan commentator, visited him, and records that "among many other things he said, 'I long to publish with my latest breath His love and guardian care.' I said, 'I doubt not but you will publish it to the last.' He replied, 'It is what I have prayed for for many years.' He then broke out in praise, 'O glory, glory forever, glory be to God for his goodness! I have here a comfortable bed to lie on, kind friends about me who love me, and all the blessings I could have, together with the grace of God and hopes of glory.' " Three days before his death Benson writes, "I found him very much weaker, but perfectly resigned to the will of God, and patiently waiting till his change should come. He desired his daughter-in-law to tell me what had been determined about the services to be performed at his funeral. 'Let my name,' said he, 'be written in the dust; but if anything can be said on the occasion of my death that may benefit the living, let it be done.' 'Is there any particular text,' I asked, which you would wish to be spoken from on the occasion?' After pausing a little he said, 'As a general subject I know none more suitable than 1 Peter i, 3, "Blessed," etc.; but let my name be written in the dust.' As he expressed a desire for more consolation, I said, 'I hope you will not reason about that: leave it entirely to the Lord. He has for many years enabled you to show your faith by your works, by living to him in whom you believe; and your state cannot now be affected by your feeling a greater or less measure of consolation. Your whole reliance must be on the word and promise of Him who will never leave those that trust in him. The mercy, truth, and faithfulness of God in Christ must be the ground of your confidence.' We then joined in prayer and were refreshed indeed. He was affected and filled with consolation, and, when I rose from my knees, took me by the hand and said, 'Lo, God is here, let us adore,'" etc.

According to the record he "finished his course with joy on the 17th of May, 1810, after having faithfully served God in his generation." [3] "He was a man," it is added, "truly devoted to God, and in death witnessed a good confession." "Peculiarities he certainly had, which sometimes prevented his being as useful as otherwise he would have been; but they were such as consisted in him with great devotedness to and deep communion with God." These "peculiarities" were the chief impediments to his greater usefulness in America. The records of our early ministry frequently allude to them, but always with the acknowledgment of his entire devotion to God and the Church. His mind was severe, his will unbending, his manners peremptory; he was disposed to exaggerated anxieties, and to fastidious particularities in ecclesiastical business, and in the enforcement of discipline. But perhaps some of these defects were not without advantage to his peculiar work in the colonies. When he arrived here he found that the looseness and irregularity which pervaded the colonial life affected profoundly the young Churches. The peculiar disciplinary customs of Methodism, which had been so salutary in England, were but incidental to the movement here; the itinerancy itself had yet but little method, notwithstanding the previous endeavors of Asbury to establish it; there were many Societies without Classes, and other irregularities prevailed. Rankin, with iron purpose, reduced all to order. His manner of doing so appears to have been the principal cause of offense. His chief fault, however, was that he could not appreciate Asbury; and the services of that great man were trammeled and impaired throughout his administration. Asbury, however, bowed quietly to his authority, and awaited the future. He wrote to Wesley representing his disabilities, but had the magnanimity to read the letter to Rankin before it was sent. Asbury's time came; he showed his superiority, of sense and character, in the trial, that dispersed all his British fellow laborers; and came, calm and strong, out of that ordeal, recognized forever as the legitimate leader of American Methodism. Rankin's correspondence with Wesley had actually induced the latter to recall Asbury in 1775. "Let him come home without delay," said Wesley; and a month later he wrote, "I shall hope to see him at the Conference." Providentially Asbury was hundreds of miles away when these letters arrived, and Rankin could not send them to him. Thus was saved to American Methodism the greatest champion its history records. Wesley, soon afterward, had reason to thank God for the failure of his order, and appointed Asbury "general assistant," and at last bishop of the denomination. [4]

Martin Rodda's appointments, during the two or three years of his American ministry, were in Maryland. There are but few allusions to his labors in the contemporary documents. While on his last circuit (Kent) his zealous loyalty led him to disobey Wesley's prudent advice of neutrality, to circulate the royal proclamation, and to take side with a company of Tories "who had collected together in Delaware." [5] To his imprudence is imputed much of that violent persecution, under which so many of his brethren suffered, in the middle states during most of the Revolutionary War. [6] An apostate Methodist, Chauncey Clowe, formerly of some note in one of the Societies, had formed a company of Royalists, about three hundred strong, who endeavored to fight their way to the British forces. They were dispersed after some bloodshed, and their leaders brought to trial. Clowe was executed. Though disowned by the Methodists, they were generally held responsible for his movements. Wesley's "Address," Rodda's imprudence, and the royal proclivities of the English preachers generally, gave plausibility to the public suspicions. Governor Rodney, a religiously inclined man, but not a Methodist, endeavored to defend the maligned Church. He ascertained to what Christian denominations Clowe's company belonged; and, finding that but two of them were Methodists, commented on the fact before the court in a manner that made the persecutors cower. [7] But the popular hostility could not be controlled. The excited rabble condemned all Methodist itinerants as Tories, if not as spies. The arrest and abduction of Judge White by the light horse patrol, the necessary seclusion of Asbury, the assaults on and imprisonment of Hartley, Wren, Forrest, Garrettson, and others, followed soon after. Gatch was mobbed and "tarred;" Pedicord was attacked and seriously injured on the highway; Rodda had to fly to the British fleet, and made his way back to England, where, after a brief period of itinerant labors, he appears to have retired from his Methodist brethren.

We have followed Shadford through his successful labors in Virginia, down to his final interview with Asbury. He had been threatened with imprisonment in that state, and, after a year and a half of remarkable usefulness, he left it for the north in the depth of winter. On his route he was lost in the woods at night when the weather was intensely cold, and the snow a foot deep. He could discover no house; without relief he must perish. He fell upon his knees and prayed for deliverance. On rising he stood some time listening, when he heard the distant barking of a dog. Following the sound, he was welcomed at the house of a plantation. Thus saved, he hastened into Maryland; but there also he was required to renounce his loyalty, or be in peril of imprisonment, if not of death. "he could not travel," he says, without a pass, nor have a pass without taking the oaths." It was now that he had his last interview with Asbury at Judge White's, immediately before the abduction of the latter, and the compulsory seclusion of Asbury. "Let us have a day of fasting and prayer," he said to Asbury, "that the Lord may direct us; for we were never in such circumstances as now since we were Methodist preachers." They did so, and in the evening Shadford inquired what conclusion he had reached. "I do not see my way clear to go to England," responded the steadfast Asbury. Shadford replied, "My work is here done; I cannot stay; it is impressed on my mind that I ought to go home, as strongly as it was at first to come to America." "Then one of us must be under a delusion," rejoined Asbury. "Not so," said Shadford; "I may have a call to go, and you to stay." "I believe," adds Shadford, "we both obeyed the call of Providence. We saw we must part, though we loved as David and Jonathan. And, indeed, these times made us love one another in a peculiar manner. O how glad were we to meet and pour our griefs into each other's bosom!" He obtained from the military authorities a pass for his route northward, and set out. That night, however, he was attacked by an armed man on the highway, who presented a musket at his breast, threatening his life. He was allowed at last to proceed, but found that the bridge at Chester was broken down. "With our saddle-bags," he says, "upon our backs, we crept on our hands and knees on a narrow plank to that part of the great bridge that remained standing, and got our horses over the next morning. Thus, through the mercy and goodness of God, we got safe into Chester that night, and the next night into Philadelphia. Here we met three or four of our preachers, who, like our selves, were all refugees. I continued near six weeks before I got a passage, and then embarked for Cork in Ireland; from thence to Wales, and then crossed the passage to Bristol."

He resumed his ministry in England, and labored with his characteristic ardor till 1791, when, after twenty-three years of itinerant life, his infirm health required him to take a supernumerary relation to the Conference. He retired to Frome, on Congleton Circuit, but there continued his evangelical work as he had strength, preaching often, "visiting the sick constantly and at all hours, and faithfully discharging the duties of a Class Leader, having three large Classes under his care. It was by his own diligent exertions that these Classes had been raised; two of them met in his own house." [8] In these later years his preaching is described as not remarkable for any intellectual superiority; but "in unction and effectiveness" he is said to "have been surpassed by few." "Being intensely devotional, he walked with God, and enjoyed in rich maturity the 'perfect love that casteth out fear.' He was a living sacrifice. He 'kept back no part of the price,' and received in return such a luminous assurance of the divine acceptance of the offering that his joy was full. He literally toiled for souls. The force of his character and the power of his influence was great, and was felt far beyond the circle of the Wesleyan community. He rose early, and began the day with God. Long before the dawn, parties passing to their work often heard him engaged in wrestling prayer."

He had, till the end of his life, more than a hundred persons under his care as a Class Leader. At an inspection of them by Jabez Bunting it was found that "more than ninety were clear in their Christian experience, and many of them were living in the enjoyment of the perfect love of God." He found a good wife in his latter years, had a competent livelihood, assembled his neighboring brethren of the ministry every Saturday afternoon at his table, and enjoyed an enviable old age. Nor could some years of blindness interrupt his serene happiness. By a surgical operation his sight was restored. "You will have the pleasure," said his surgeon, "of seeing to use your knife and fork again." "Doctor," replied the veteran, "I shall have a greater pleasure, that of seeing to read my Bible;" and the first use of his restored sight was to read the sacred pages through three delightful hours; reading and weeping with inexpressible joy.

This old soldier of the cross, worn out with infirmities and labors in both hemispheres, had at last a triumphant end. When informed by his physician that his disease would be fatal, "he broke out in rapture, exclaiming, Glory to God!" "While he lay in view of an eternal world, and was asked if all was clear before him, he replied,' I bless God it is;' and added, 'Victory, victory, through the blood of the Lamb!' Two friends, who were anxious for his recovery, called upon him, and when they inquired how he was, he replied, 'I am going to my Father's house, and find religion to be an angel in death." His last words were, "I'll praise! I'll praise! I'll praise!" He fell asleep on the 11th of March, 1816, in the 78th year of age.

George Shadford excelled any of Wesley's other American missionaries in immediate usefulness. His ardor kindled the Societies with zeal. He was the chief "revivalist" of the times — a man of tender feelings, warmest piety, and wonderful unction in the pulpit. Asbury and all his fellow itinerants loved him. The elder Methodists of America long delighted to recall his memory as precious. His preaching displayed no great intellectual ability, but was pathetic and consolatory, and abounded in scriptural phraseology and familiar illustrations. He was very effective in prayer. A Wesleyan preacher, who knew him in his old age, records that during the period of his own ministry in Frome, where Shadford resided, "I often experienced the efficacy of his prayers in the soul-converting influence it brought down upon my discourses. Being held in general esteem throughout the town, he had extensive access to the dwellings both of the rich and the poor, and in his visits his constant aim was to do good. His patriarchal appearance, his great simplicity and kindness of manner, and above all, his unmistakable piety, always caused his advice and admonitions to be listened to with respect. Many sought counsel from his lips, and an interest in his prayers." [9]

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ENDNOTES

1 This extract is not in Rankin's Life, from which my other citations are taken, but is appended to Jarratt's "Narrative," as sent to Wesley by Rankin. See Asbury's Journals, i, 227.

2 Lednum represents him in New York at the end of 1777. Lee says he "left about the middle of September," 1777; but at this date he only left Maryland. Sprague (Annals, etc., vii, 33,) says "it does not appear when or from what port be sailed." Rankin published two autobiographical narratives; the second is usually cited, and fails to give many important dates; the first (Armin. Mag. ii, 197) says, "The British being in possession of Philadelphia, I left Maryland in September, and through divers dangers got safe into that city in the month of November. I spent the winter there, and left the Capes of Delaware on the 11th of March, 1778 and arrived safe at the Cove of Cork on the 15th of April."

3 Jackson's Early Methodist Preachers, iii, 87.

4 Dr. Coggeshall's MS. Life of Asbury, v.

5 Lee, p. 62.

6 Lednum, p. 193.

7 Bangs' Life of Garrettson, p. 64.

8 Wes. Meth. in the Congleton Circuit, by Rev. J. B. Dyson. London, 1856, p. 105.

9 Biog. Tracts, NC., 14, p. 15. London.

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