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

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By 1820 Methodism was thoroughly established in all this country, with districts and circuits belonging, some to the Genesee, some to the Baltimore, others to the Virginia, and still others to the Ohio Conferences; more than half a hundred itinerants were sounding the gospel among the mountains and valleys from Lake Erie to far into Western Virginia, and thousands or zealous members were rallying into classes and incipient Churches. They were laying the foundations of the Erie, Pittsburgh, and Western Virginia Conferences. Passing further westward, into the "great Northwestern Territory," we again meet Quinn, whom we have so often followed over the ground just surveyed, but who had now been borne away by the surges of emigration. In 1804 we find him traveling the Hockhocking Circuit, Ohio, an immense field, comprising not only all the settlements of that river, but those of the Muskingum, and of the Sciota from the high bank below Chillicothe as far up as the site of Columbus, and those also of many other streams. He was still a pioneer and founder, forming societies in almost all the sparse communities. His family was placed in a cabin, exposed to Indians, and, in his occasional visits home, he had to carry flour to them more than forty miles. He went through the country scattering the "good seed" of the gospel broadcast. Occasionally one of the bishops reached and cheered him. Whatcoat found his way thither. "I shall never forget," says the itinerant, "the sweet and heavenly smile with which he met me. While holding my hand he said, 'I first found thy footsteps on the Lake Shore in 1801; next I found thee in Winchester, Va., in 1802; then met thee at the altar, in Light Street, Baltimore, in 1803; and now I find thee here! Well, we must endure hardships as good soldiers of the cross. The toils and privations of itinerancy are great; but Christ has said, Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world."' Thence Quinn passed to Sciota Circuit, where he had about thirty appointments, the nearest being fifty miles from his family. Emigrants from Kentucky were now pouring into this region, and among them were many zealous Methodists. At one of his meetings "a very dignified and elderly looking" woman, a stranger, remained to attend the class, in which she said, "with a full soul, and with eyes swimming in tears, 'I am, through the infinite mercy of God, a child of his, and, by blessed experience, know I enjoy the pardoning love of the Saviour. I am a widow, recently from Kentucky. I have a large family of children. I have traveled nine or ten miles to enjoy this means of grace, and to invite you to preach in my cabin for the benefit of my children and my unconverted neighbors.' Her words were with power, and it was manifest that the love of Christ constrained her, that she was filled with the Holy Ghost. While she spoke, the same flame was kindled in the hearts of others, and some shouted aloud for joy. After the class Quinn learned that the stranger was Jane Trimble, mother to Governor Trimble, and grandmother to Joseph M. Trimble. On his next round he preached at her double cabin, on Clear Creek, three miles north of Hillsboro. At this meeting, it is probable, no professor of religion was present except the pious widow and the preacher. After the sermon, as there was no class to meet, he stated that it was the last round on the circuit, and, as he had soon to leave for Conference, he could not preach to them any more, but that his successors would. He then sang one of the songs of Zion. At that period his voice warmest melodious and sweet. The tones of the music, accompanied with a holy unction, melted every heart. While singing, he passed through the room, and shook hands with every one present. All were more or less affected. Young Mrs. Trimble, first wife of Allen Trimble, and mother of Joseph M., though once a professor of religion, became conscious of her backsliding and lukewarmness, and the absolute necessity of the reclaiming grace of God. Her anguish of spirit was so great she could conceal it no longer. She first went out of the
oom; but, finding there no means of relief to her distressed soul, she soon returned, and kneeled down at a seat. Many hearts perhaps sympathized with her; but there were but two to pray for her. They were, however, efficient suppliants, and, having power with God, they soon prevailed. In a short time the earnest seeker was powerfully reclaimed; and such was the clear testimony of the Spirit, assuring her that her soul was restored to the favor of God, that she praised the Lord with but little intermission till midnight. In a few years she passed away in holy triumph, and now. Awaits the arrival of her friends in heaven." [12] The venerable Jane Trimble became a "mother in Israel" to the Methodists of the Northwestern Territory. Her family, that of her son Governor Trimble, and of her grandson, Joseph M. Trimble, (one of the missionary secretaries of the Church,) have been identified with nearly the entire history of the denomination in Ohio. She was an extraordinary woman. Born in Virginia in 1755, on the very borders of civilization, she was familiar, from childhood, with the warwhoop of the savage. [13] Several of her family perished in the Revolutionary and Indian wars. In 1784 she emigrated to Kentucky, whither her husband had gone to lay out a farm and build a log-cabin. "She traveled," says her biographer, "on horseback, carrying her eldest child behind her, and her little boy, Allen, eleven months old, in her lap. On reaching Clinch River the stream was found swollen by recent rains, and the swift current dashed over huge rocks. She was leading the company of females, and, trusting in God, and committing all her interests to him, she urged her steed into the rapid stream, and reached the opposite shore in safety, amid the prayers and shouts of those who watched her progress. The remainder of the company crossed by a ford further up the river." General Knox, who convoyed the train, and witnessed the feat, and her noble conduct throughout the journey, applauded her as equaling in courage and presence of mind the women of Sparta. For fifteen years she lived, surrounded by Indian perils, about ten miles from a "station," near the site of Lexington, educating her children and servants with the ability and dignity of a true Christian matron. She possessed a remarkably vigorous mind, was familiar, there in the backwoods, with the great English poets, and had the four gospels entirely in her memory, acquired when she was but fifteen years old. Some of the writings of Fletcher fell into her hands, and she became a Methodist in 1790. Her husband determined to push on farther with the movement of emigration, and purchased lands in Ohio, but died before the family started for their new home. The noble widow led her eight children thither; and there, in Highland County; welcomed Quinn, and formed one of the first Sunday-schools in the state. Every interest of the Church, especially its missions to the aborigines, had her hearty co-operation through the remainder of her long life. She saw all the Northwestern Territory overspread by her denomination, her great state organized, the infant son, whom she had carried on her steed to the West, its chief magistrate and died under his roof in 1839, aged more than eighty-four years, having been a devoted Methodist nearly fifty years. She was not only one of the best, but one of the ablest women who have adorned her Church or country, a befitting associate of Mary Tiffin, Mrs. General Russell, and similar "elect ladies" of the Church in the wilderness. Throughout the remainder of the present period Quinn continued to labor in Ohio with great success on Muskingum District in 1808, Scioto District in 1812, Fairfield Circuit in 1816, Pickaway Circuit 1817, at Cincinnati in 1818, and at Chillicothe in 1820. Later in life, in reviewing his work, he wrote: "In each of these fields it may be safely asserted that, during the last forty years, thousands of redeemed sinners have been called, justified, sanctified, and taken home to heaven, while
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WESLEYAN HERITAGE Library HISTORY O
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HISTORY of the METHODIST EPISCOPAL
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BOOK VI CHAPTER I = PART 58 METHODI
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CHAPTER IX = PART 66 METHODISM IN T
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CHAPTER XV = PART 72 REVIEW OF THE
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disappearance of Coke, Asbury, What
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convened, a second time, in Wilbrah
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yet I did not go out that year; but
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He returned again to New Jersey in
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Asbury pressed on westward with his
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congregation, and meanwhile advanci
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direction of the presiding elder, G
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traveled in Massachusetts, Rhode Is
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knowledge. His judgment was always
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He did great services and endured g
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of the itinerants. There was no one
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found adequate to the singular exig
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as a sail in a leaking canoe, and p
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[16] of his decease, sent home for
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passing through small villages; but
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HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
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God. The Scotchman could endure it
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[7] Conference till the next year.
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y his own hands, and his furniture
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there were three circuits, with thr
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performed incredible labors and tra
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Before he reached the last stanza h
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"in the wilds of Virginia, where he
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ed, and trembling with agitation. E
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this melancholy record. I never rea
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at Cabbin Creek, Ky., twenty thousa
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in that vast wilderness, and had no
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poles. This was their bedstead. Som
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Benjamin Lakin, Samuel Doughty John
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Gibson. "Here," say his brethren, "
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of the Little Miami River. On Thurs
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Circuit) for this year began at Moo
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Sale, J. Oglesby; Guyandotte, Asa S
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worst for stealing, fighting, and l
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twentieth they reached the scene of
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the toil and sufferings, of another
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ENDNOTES 1 See Extracts by Bishop M
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37 Rev. Dr. Trimble's Address at Oh
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my father's neighborhood. The Confe
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attempted also to make local preach
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tireless apostle completed by the n
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to prepare forms of petition to the
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a change which it has always since
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Methodism was now entrenched in eve
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ENDNOTES 1 Bangs, (II, p. 171,) fol
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Methodists in other places, and wis
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are reported from Flint Circuit. Th
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Russell, fallen as he was from the
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ENDNOTES 1 Bangs, ii, 194. Dunwody'
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intensely bright by the grateful jo
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eached the furthest end of the piaz
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his humble shed and the chancel whe
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class-meetings, and to no small ext
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1 Minutes, 1858. ENDNOTES 2 Rev. Dr
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grandchildren were gay and playful;
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Page 157 and 158: own souls, because ye were dear unt
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Page 171 and 172: indescribable. At one time I saw at
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Page 201 and 202: to the people, and to go back to Na
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the expediency of increasing the nu
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1 General Conference Journal,, vol.
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itinerants he said, "See that every
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In our day (1866) the Methodist Boo
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edifice was soon after provided in
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in both hemispheres, and which prop
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even romantic record, but our limit
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He organized the Liberia Mission. H
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and the moral prospects of the worl
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ut we may well hesitate to admit th
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They preached and suffered in Engla
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ENDNOTES 1 An error in the Minutes
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and great labors; his charity, his
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directing the advancing Church with
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history, and presents, in full vita
show all

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

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