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

indescribable. At one time I saw at least five hundred swept down in a moment, as if a battery of a
thousand guns had been opened upon them. My hair rose up on my head, my whole frame trembled,
the blood ran cold in my veins, and I fled to the woods a second time, and wished that I had stayed
at home." He went to a neighboring tavern, where, amid a throng of drinking and fighting
backwoodsmen, he swallowed a dram of brandy, but afterward felt worse than before; "as near hell,"
he says, "as I could wish to be, in either this world or that to come." Drawn irresistibly back to the
meeting, he gazed again, appalled, upon its scenes. That night he slept in a barn, a most wretched
man. The next day he hastily left for his home with one of his companions. They were both too
absorbed in their reflections to converse as they journeyed; but, says Finley, "When we arrived at the
Blue Lick Knobs I broke the silence which reigned between us, and said, 'Captain, if you and I don't
stop our wickedness the devil will get us both.'" Tears gushed freely from the eyes of both. The next
night was spent without slumber at a place called May's Lick. "As soon as day broke," adds Finley,
"I went to the woods to pray, and no sooner had my knees touched the ground than I cried aloud for
mercy and salvation, and fell prostrate. My cries were so loud that they attracted the attention of the
neighbors, many of whom gathered around me. Among the number was a German from Switzerland,
who had experienced religion. He, under standing fully my condition, had me carried to his house
and laid on a bed. The old Dutch saint directed me to look right away to the Saviour. He then kneeled
by my bedside and prayed for me most fervently in Dutch and broken English. He rose and sang in
the same manner, and continued singing and praying alternately till nine o'clock, when suddenly my
load was gone, my guilt removed, and presently the direct witness from heaven shone fully upon my
heart. Then there flowed such copious streams of love into the hitherto waste and desolate places of
my soul, that I thought I should die with excess of joy. So strangely did I appear to all but the Dutch
brother that they thought me deranged.. After a time I returned to my companion, and we started on
our journey. O what a day it was to my soul!"
For seven years no Methodist itinerant reached his remote home in the Northwestern Territory,
and he lost these powerful influences; but in 1808 he went, with his wife, some miles to a Methodist
class-meeting, and soon after both joined the Church. In 1809 John Sale called him out to travel the
Sciota Circuit. He was received, the same year, into the Conference, and continued to travel circuits
till he was sent, in 1816, to supply the place of Young in Western Pennsylvania. From one end of
his great field to the other his trumpet was now continually sounding, awakening the most hidden
settlements. His privations and labors were excessive, but could not daunt him. "I suffered much,"
he writes, "with cold, which I had contracted by exposure to the chilling blasts of the northern lakes.
Our meetings were all attended with the presence and power of God, and the preachers were all in
the spirit of revivals. At North East we had a most glorious time both among saints and sinners. The
snow was about two feet deep, and continued for a long time, affording great facilities for sleighing,
which were improved. Vast numbers came to church, and many were converted. At this place I
visited the grave of Thomas Branch ... My feelings were of a peculiarly solemn character as I stood
by that lone grave of the stranger minister in a strange land." His example inspired his preachers to
labor and suffer. "Great," he says, "were the toils and hardships they were called to endure. The
winter was extremely severe, the cold being almost beyond endurance, yet the Lord crowned the
labor and sufferings of his ministers with success. The country was but sparsely settled, the rides
were long, and roads rough, the fare hard, and provisions scarce; but in the midst of all the Lord was
with them. To preach once very day and lead class, (after having traveled from ten to twenty miles,)