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

excessive; his argumentation complicated, his thoughts abrupt and fragmentary. His sermons were
brilliant mosaics, apparently composed of passages which had been laboriously prepared, at long
intervals, and without much relation to the discourse as a whole. They lacked simplicity; were
artificial, without the facility or ease which characterizes the mastery of art by disguising its labor.
But, in spite of his defects, his power has seldom been rivaled in the American pulpit; he was a
wonder of genius to the people, and drew them in multitudes which no temple could accommodate.
Thomas A. Morris, a man entirely contrasted with Bascom, and destined to much more extensive
service in the Church, joined the itinerancy in 1816. He was born on the west side of the Kanawha
[5]
River, Kanawha County, five miles above Charlestown, in Western Virginia, in 1794 In an
affectionate tribute to his friend, David Young, he makes some allusions to his own religious history:
"Mr. Young," he says, "was one of the few Methodist preachers whom I knew prior to my becoming
a Methodist. Our acquaintance began in the fall of 1812, when he was presiding elder on Muskingum
District, then including in its ample range Zanesville, Marietta; and Northwestern Virginia, where
I resided, and where he was perfectly at home, being himself a native of Washington County,
Virginia. Most of my early impressions and views of Methodism were derived from him. It is true,
I had felt conviction for sin from childhood, and that Robert Caseboult, then a class-leader, had taken
interest for me, and talked with me, before I heard Young, and I was seriously inquiring for the way
of life. But in July, 1813, while I listened to David Young, preaching at a camp-meeting on the
parable of the sower, I was brought to form solemn purpose to seek earnestly for salvation till I
should obtain it. In August I joined a small country class on trial. I had prayed in secret for months,
but made little progress till I took this decisive step, and thus drew a separating line from my
irreligious associates. The conflict with sin thus renewed continued till some time in November,
when I obtained some relief and comfort, and on Christmas-day I received a clear sense of pardon
and a full 'spirit of adoption.' In the mean time I missed none of Young's quarterly meetings. At one
of them he baptized me in the presence of a multitude; and the same day on which he poured the
water on my head the Lord poured plentifully his Spirit into my heart. When I was recommended by
the society for license to preach, he examined me before the quarterly conference. He also wrote and
signed my first license to preach, dated April 2, 1814. In 1815 he employed me as junior preacher
on a circuit, and in 1816 I was admitted on trial by the Ohio Conference. From that till 1818, being
separated in the work, our acquaintance was perpetuated by free correspondence; but from 1818 to
1820, he, being superannuated, was my constant hearer in Zanesville, where he resided. He
continued his efforts in every practicable way for my improvement, and, indeed, till I graduated to
elder's orders, he took as much interest in my ministerial education as if I had been his own son." [6]
Years later he remarks: "Reared in a rural district of a new country, amid agricultural pursuits, I was
inured to toils and perils, which have been of service to me in every relation of subsequent life. 'By
grace I am what I am.' An experience of over fifty years confirms my conviction that in Christ alone
are pardon, peace, and heaven. With him in view none need fail. 'Wherefore, he is able also to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them.' The first seven years of my regular ministry were years of some affliction and much
discouragement consequent thereon. Among the forms of disease under which I suffered were liver
complaint, erysipelas, chills and fever, nervous prostration and depression, and inflammatory
rheumatism, to all of which was finally added paralysis of my left foot, hand, and eye. I have ever
continued in the work through all these afflictions; and by God's blessing upon constant horseback
exercise, irrespective of season or weather, I recovered my health."