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

In the North as in the South he is now often reminded of the changes of time. In some places he
finds only the grandchildren of his earliest hearers. He preaches the funeral sermon of his old friend
Martin Boehm, and later writes out in the bereaved homestead his own "valedictory statement" for
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McKendree, which gives evident proof that he himself is growing old, and is soon to depart. He
meets the venerable McGraw, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who had so early befriended the
Methodists in Delaware, but who is now "quite broken to pieces." He finds Pilmoor old, but still at
his post in Philadelphia, preaching three times a Sabbath. He has moments of profound sadness even
of despondence, yet they are but moments; never before has he seemed so eager to travel; preach,
and achieve well his great mission. His absorption in his work allows him to see, but hardly to feel,
these changes of his life; continual suffering even cannot subdue him. "I groan one minute with pain,
and shout glory the next," he writes in the summer of 1814. "I look back," he continues, "upon a
martyr's life of toil and privation an pain, and I am ready for a martyr's death; the purity of my
intentions, my diligence in the labors to which God has been pleased to call me, the unknown
sufferings I have endured; what are all these? The merit, atonement, and righteousness of Christ
alone make my plea."
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