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

this meeting. Monday, 22d, I turned my course back toward my native country, being then about one
thousand miles from home. I crossed Penobscot River to Hampden. Tuesday, 23d of August, I rode
to the Twenty-five Mile Pond, which is now a thickly-settled country most part of the way through;
but when I first traveled the road, about fifteen years ago, there was not a house to be seen for twenty
miles." On Sunday, 28th, he preached to great crowds at Farmington, who "wept in every part of the
house." "When I first came among them," he says, "they had never seen a Methodist;" but now,
besides the communicants and thronged congregations, there were "nine local preachers" around
him. "Surely," he adds, "the Lord hath done great things for us. The people were greatly wrought
upon. I had a sorrowful parting with many of my old friends, whom I never expect to see again."
Passing through many other towns, with similar greetings, he entered New Hampshire, having
spent forty-three days, and preached forty-seven times in Maine. He gave nearly a week and seven
farewell sermons to the former, and by the 14th of September was again in Lynn, Mass., where he
delivered to the Church his final exhortations, and "had a sorrowful parting from his old friends."
Spending a few days in Boston, he passed into the interior, through Waltham, Ware, and Wilbraham,
to Hartford, Conn., preaching as he went. After spending six days and delivering seven sermons in
Connecticut, he reached Garrettson's "Traveler's Rest," at Rhinebeck, on Friday, the 30th. Thus
ended Lee's personal connection with Methodism in New England. His historical connection with
it will probably last till the consummation of all things. He survived this visit about eight years,
during which he continued to labor indefatigably in the Middle and Southern states.
Through the remainder of this period the history of the Church in the Eastern states was a
continuous repetition of such events and scenes as have been narrated: the holding of obscure Annual
Conferences, where however, great things were devised; gradual additions of circuits, and
reinforcements of the ministry by such men as have already been named; the building of churches,
and frequent "revivals," sometimes extending over much of the country, especially now that
camp-meetings were introduced; excessive travels, privations, and labors by the itinerants; not
infrequent persecutions and mobs; but continual triumphs.
Seven Eastern evangelists fell in death, in these years. In 1806, in Boston, Peter Jayne, a native
of Massachusetts, who traveled ten years in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, and
was long remembered as a superior man. In 1808 Henry Martin, "thorough in both the theory and
practice of religion," a laborer in Maine, where, in attempting to form a new circuit, he sank under
his labors, and died "with songs of praise," say the Minutes, "on his quivering lips." In 1810 William
Hunt, of Massachusetts, a close student, a powerful preacher in Maine, New Hampshire, and
Massachusetts. "I have fought a good fight," he said as he came to die, and requesting his attendants
to take him from his bed and place him upon his knees, he expired kneeling, in "holy triumph." In
1812 Thomas Branch, of Connecticut, whose affecting death in the western wilderness has
heretofore been noticed. In 1814 Abner Clark, of New Hampshire, who departed exclaiming, "I am
going, I am going. Blessed be God for victory over sin, the world, and the devil! I have gained the
victory!" In 1817 Gad Smith, of Connecticut, an effective preacher, "resigned and triumphant in
death." In 1819 Jason Walker, of Massachusetts, who "passed the valley of the shadow of death in
calmness, joy, and triumph."