History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The period closes then with a grand exhibit of strength and prospect for the middle and northern fields of the denomination. Not merely their numerical growth from two to three Conferences, from 40,415 to 82,215 members, and from 135 to 297 preachers, more than doubling their force in these sixteen years, in spite of secessions in Philadelphia and New York; but the intellectual advancement of their ministry, the rapid erection of church edifices, the ever memorable organization of the general Missionary Society, the beginning of periodical publications, and the recommencement of academic institutions, (all three events in New York city,) render this one of the most imposing epochs of American Methodism. More than thirty itinerants of the middle and northern Conferences fell at their posts, by death, in these sixteen years. Besides some special cases, heretofore noticed, like those of Peter Moriarty, John McClaskey, Anning Owen, and Robert Hibbard, the obituary of the Minutes in 1805 records the name of Daniel Ryan, of Philadelphia, who died "overwhelmed with a sense of the presence and glory of God;" of Benjamin Hitt, of Bucks County, Pa., who sickened on his way from Conference, whose "happiness seemed to increase with his illness," and who died saying, "I have lost sight of the world; come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." In 1806 James Lattomus, of Delaware, who "departed in peace." In 1808 Richard Swain, of New Jersey, who, after long labors and sufferings, died "in confident peace, triumphant faith, and the smiles of a present God." In 1810 John Wilson, an Englishman, some years a preacher in the old country, from 1804 till his death Book Agent at New York, "an able divine," "conversant with the Greek and Roman classics," powerful in the pulpit, a preacher of "sanctification;" he died suddenly of suffocation by asthma. Thomas Daughaday, of Maryland, who fell in Pennsylvania, his last utterance being the words, "Glory! glory!" Thomas Budd, of New Jersey, who died in Philadelphia, harassed on his deathbed with doubts; "but the cloud suddenly burst, and his soul was filled with joy." William Keith, of Massachusetts, who died in New York city; troubled also, like Budd, and Bunyan's Pilgrim, as he approached the end, but declaring at last that "the fear of death and hell is wholly taken away and I have a hope of immortality;" a man of extreme humility and diffidence, but of great power in preaching. Gideon A. Knowlton, of Connecticut, a laborer in interior New York; he attended and helped to organize the first Genesee Conference, and returned to die, exclaiming, "I am now going to my eternal home; I know that my Redeemer liveth." In 1811 Lansford Whiting, who, after traveling three years in the state of New York and Canada, volunteered to accompany McKendree to the Western Conference, but on the way was attacked with small-pox, returned, and died in peace, a meek and useful man. In 1812 Samuel Thomas, of New Jersey, a very holy man, "yet subject to dejection, and frequently tempted and buffeted by the devil," but who died in great peace. John Smith, of Maryland, who had labored in the West. As well as the East, and departed, saying, "I am not afraid to die; I long to be dissolved and see the face of God." In 1813 John Russell, of New York city, who, on his deathbed, declared, "I have found that love which casteth out fear," and died "testifying of the comforts of the Holy Ghost." Ebenezer White, of Massachusetts, an eminent itinerant of Genesee Conference, where "he labored, traveling through storms, heat, and cold, when his infirmities indicated dissolution near;" when "not able to preach standing on his feet, he stood on his knees" proclaiming the word of God with power. He died suddenly, without a farewell word, except the text of his last sermon, which was, "There remaineth a rest for the people of God," William Mills, of New Jersey, an officer of the Revolution, some years a prisoner of war in the West Indies, a very zealous and useful preacher, and a guilless man. He fell under an attack of apoplexy while preparing to preach, and was found insensible in his chamber. Francis Ward, an Irishman, a successful preacher and good scholar, who died in peace. In
1814 Michael Coate, of New Jersey, whom we have met often, not only in the middle states, but in New England and Canada, a man of great meekness and usefulness, and a powerful preacher; tried "by inexpressible conflicts" in his last sickness, but, hearing the Scriptures read, "the power of God filled the place, and his soul was abundantly comforted," so that he departed in peace. William S. Fisher, of New Jersey, who died "crying out, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." To his friends he said, "All is peace within; I am going after Brother Coate." His last words in his last agony were "This once help, Lord." In 1815 John Van Schoick, of New Jersey, who died in great triumph, exclaiming, "Keep up prayer;" "come, Lord, roll on the victory; roll on the victory, holy Lord! O hasten the moment, my Lord!" and then adding, "I am going," fell asleep. Stephen Richmond, of New York, who departed, saying, "My work is done." In 1818 Joseph Totten, of Long Island, N.Y., a good and useful man, who was found dying and speechless on the ground in a garden. Daniel Moore, of Delaware, who left, as his dying testimony, the assurance that he "was going home to God." Thomas Thorp, of New Jersey, converted, as we have seen, under Marvin Richardson's first sermon on his first circuit, where young Thorp was a schoolmaster at the time. He traveled in New England, and in the Genesee Conference, and died "in peace and triumph." In 1819 Stephen Jacob, who "labored far beyond his strength, fell a martyr to his work," and departed in "holy triumph," saying, "heaven heaves in view." Some twenty-five times did Asbury pass over the middle and northern states in the present period, penetrating once into Canada; but his notes of his routes have their usual brevity and vagueness, and admit of no satisfactory use. In his early tours he was sometimes accompanied by Whatcoat, who, however, was fast sinking under chronic maladies, and was "unable to ride"' much of the time "at a greater speed than a walk." In some of his later passages McKendree was with him, keeping good pace, and delighting him by his devout converse and eloquent preaching, for to no man, except Henry Willis, was Asbury more attached. At a session of the New York Conference, in this period, he says of McKendree, preaching, "It appeared to me as if a ray of divine glory rested upon him." Asbury, though quite broken with years and disease, still kept his rate of five or six thousand miles a year, writing often in his journal, "faint, sick, and lame." As early as 1807 he says, "We have traveled one hundred miles up the Mohawk; my feet are much swelled; I am on crutches; but I have been supported among strangers." He reaches the westmost fields of the interior preachers, the Pennsylvania valleys, and New York lakes, and organizes them into the independent Genesee Conference. He preaches there often to more than a thousand settlers, gathered in and about barns. "The swamps, sloughs, ruts, and stumps made it awful moving," he writes. He exulted, however, in the triumphs of the gospel and the prospects of the Church in these regions, and, as he rode away southward, wrote, "What hath God wrought in America! In thirty-six years we find 144,590 Methodists; our traveling preachers 536; the rest, local, about 1,400. "Not unto us, not unto us. O Lord, take thou the glory!" "My body is very feeble," he writes later, "but my soul enjoys perfect love and perfect peace." He was now, as he says, "a bishop who can neither stand to preach, nor kneel to pray;" "sick, lame, blistered," but still driving forward. It was in 1811 that he crossed the St. Lawrence to encourage the itinerant pioneers of Canada. " Surely," he wrote, "this is a land that God the Lord hath blessed," he greeted there some of the remnants of the, first New York Methodist families, the Dulmadges, Hecks, and Emburys, spent two weeks traveling and preaching, "everywhere treated as the angel of the Churches," says Boehm, his companion, but "suffering like a martyr" from inflammatory rheumatism.
Page 1 and 2:
WESLEYAN HERITAGE Library HISTORY O
Page 3 and 4:
HISTORY of the METHODIST EPISCOPAL
Page 5 and 6:
BOOK VI CHAPTER I = PART 58 METHODI
Page 7 and 8:
CHAPTER IX = PART 66 METHODISM IN T
Page 9 and 10:
CHAPTER XV = PART 72 REVIEW OF THE
Page 11 and 12:
disappearance of Coke, Asbury, What
Page 13 and 14:
convened, a second time, in Wilbrah
Page 15 and 16:
yet I did not go out that year; but
Page 17 and 18:
He returned again to New Jersey in
Page 19 and 20:
Asbury pressed on westward with his
Page 21 and 22:
congregation, and meanwhile advanci
Page 23 and 24:
direction of the presiding elder, G
Page 25 and 26:
traveled in Massachusetts, Rhode Is
Page 27 and 28:
knowledge. His judgment was always
Page 29 and 30:
He did great services and endured g
Page 31 and 32:
of the itinerants. There was no one
Page 33 and 34:
found adequate to the singular exig
Page 35 and 36:
as a sail in a leaking canoe, and p
Page 37 and 38:
[16] of his decease, sent home for
Page 39 and 40:
passing through small villages; but
Page 41 and 42:
HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
Page 43 and 44:
God. The Scotchman could endure it
Page 45 and 46:
[7] Conference till the next year.
Page 47 and 48:
y his own hands, and his furniture
Page 49 and 50:
there were three circuits, with thr
Page 51 and 52:
performed incredible labors and tra
Page 53 and 54:
Before he reached the last stanza h
Page 55 and 56:
"in the wilds of Virginia, where he
Page 57 and 58:
ed, and trembling with agitation. E
Page 59 and 60:
this melancholy record. I never rea
Page 61 and 62:
at Cabbin Creek, Ky., twenty thousa
Page 63 and 64:
in that vast wilderness, and had no
Page 65 and 66:
poles. This was their bedstead. Som
Page 67 and 68:
Benjamin Lakin, Samuel Doughty John
Page 69 and 70:
Gibson. "Here," say his brethren, "
Page 71 and 72:
of the Little Miami River. On Thurs
Page 73 and 74:
Circuit) for this year began at Moo
Page 75 and 76:
Sale, J. Oglesby; Guyandotte, Asa S
Page 77 and 78:
worst for stealing, fighting, and l
Page 79 and 80:
twentieth they reached the scene of
Page 81 and 82:
the toil and sufferings, of another
Page 83 and 84:
ENDNOTES 1 See Extracts by Bishop M
Page 85 and 86:
37 Rev. Dr. Trimble's Address at Oh
Page 87 and 88:
my father's neighborhood. The Confe
Page 89 and 90:
attempted also to make local preach
Page 91 and 92: tireless apostle completed by the n
Page 93 and 94: to prepare forms of petition to the
Page 95 and 96: HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
Page 97 and 98: a change which it has always since
Page 99 and 100: Methodism was now entrenched in eve
Page 101 and 102: ENDNOTES 1 Bangs, (II, p. 171,) fol
Page 103 and 104: Methodists in other places, and wis
Page 105 and 106: are reported from Flint Circuit. Th
Page 107 and 108: Russell, fallen as he was from the
Page 109 and 110: ENDNOTES 1 Bangs, ii, 194. Dunwody'
Page 111 and 112: intensely bright by the grateful jo
Page 113 and 114: eached the furthest end of the piaz
Page 115 and 116: his humble shed and the chancel whe
Page 117 and 118: class-meetings, and to no small ext
Page 119 and 120: 1 Minutes, 1858. ENDNOTES 2 Rev. Dr
Page 121 and 122: grandchildren were gay and playful;
Page 123 and 124: in a swamp on the Waccamaw Lake, a
Page 125 and 126: ENDNOTE 1 A few months ago, accompa
Page 127 and 128: Asbury, in the summer of 180, wrote
Page 129 and 130: means by which this necessary objec
Page 131 and 132: I should have to preach, but determ
Page 133 and 134: themselves, it was resolved that th
Page 135 and 136: ENDNOTES 1 Bangs, though his narrat
Page 137 and 138: directions, preaching as far as Buf
Page 139 and 140: and in the States, from the Ulster
Page 141: Conference sent over three missiona
Page 145 and 146: 1 Peck's "Early Methodism," p. 158.
Page 147 and 148: limits, when it will devolve upon t
Page 149 and 150: That very significant and convenien
Page 151 and 152: Channing, the elder Beecher, Wainwr
Page 153 and 154: in the eyes of the people, and grea
Page 157 and 158: own souls, because ye were dear unt
Page 159 and 160: Early in the spring of 1808 he retu
Page 161 and 162: seventeen preachers upon trial. The
Page 163 and 164: this meeting. Monday, 22d, I turned
Page 165 and 166: strengthened the whole denomination
Page 169 and 170: savage men, and venomous serpents."
Page 171 and 172: indescribable. At one time I saw at
Page 173 and 174: extraordinary learning, of tireless
Page 175 and 176: oom; but, finding there no means of
Page 177 and 178: By the end of our present period th
Page 181 and 182: some sixty or seventy souls. They a
Page 183 and 184: stacked away at the end of the cour
Page 185 and 186: olled over the whole Conference." H
Page 187 and 188: ashamed of yourselves?' which only
Page 189 and 190: living; I have outlived every membe
Page 191 and 192: iographer of the itinerant. Born in
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
gentleman. While the circles of fas
Page 197 and 198:
His itinerant ministry in the West
Page 199 and 200:
took a prominent part in the great
Page 201 and 202:
to the people, and to go back to Na
Page 203 and 204:
country. These were about to return
Page 205 and 206:
of preachers had increased thirty-f
Page 207 and 208:
1 Rev. F. C. Holliday, in Sprague,
Page 209 and 210:
Astonishing, superhuman almost, as
Page 211 and 212:
of "through the interior of Louisia
Page 213 and 214:
their children. In ten years, I thi
Page 215 and 216:
hates the nefarious practice. In th
Page 217 and 218:
These extraordinary facts excited n
Page 219 and 220:
15 I must remind the reader that I
Page 221 and 222:
[3] and threatened to return home.
Page 223 and 224:
he prepared for South Carolina, wit
Page 225 and 226:
the expediency of increasing the nu
Page 227 and 228:
1 General Conference Journal,, vol.
Page 229 and 230:
itinerants he said, "See that every
Page 231 and 232:
In our day (1866) the Methodist Boo
Page 233 and 234:
edifice was soon after provided in
Page 235 and 236:
in both hemispheres, and which prop
Page 237 and 238:
even romantic record, but our limit
Page 239 and 240:
He organized the Liberia Mission. H
Page 241 and 242:
and the moral prospects of the worl
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
ut we may well hesitate to admit th
Page 247 and 248:
They preached and suffered in Engla
Page 249 and 250:
ENDNOTES 1 An error in the Minutes
Page 251 and 252:
and great labors; his charity, his
Page 253 and 254:
directing the advancing Church with
Page 255 and 256:
history, and presents, in full vita
show all

History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?