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

himself on the floor before the hearth, and, with torchlights for candles, spend most of the night in
communion with his favorite authors.
His style of preaching is said to have been severely chaste and dignified; no attempts at
meretricious [superficial -- DVM] ornament or imaginative effect, no boisterous declamation or
far-fetched novelties of thought or diction, but a stern energy of intellect, logical conclusiveness, a
solemn feeling, gradually rising to a commanding and sometimes overpowering force, were the
characteristics of this truly great divine.
Another conspicuous name appears in the list of the New England appointments the present year,
that of Daniel Webb, who became the oldest effective Methodist preacher in the world. He was born
in Canterbury, Windham County, Conn., April, 1778. The Methodist itinerants began to preach in
that town about 1793 or 1794. He early heard Mudge, Pickering, Bostwick, and Merritt. They
preached at the house of Captain Ephraim Lyon, in the southwest part of Canterbury. Very soon a
class was formed, and the place was made one of the Sabbath appointments of the New London
Circuit. "I have heard," he writes, "my father say that James Coleman was his spiritual father, having
been awakened by his instrumentality, though converted under the labors of Enoch Mudge. I well
remember the morning when he addressed his family, telling them what the Lord had done for his
soul, and expressing his conviction of the duty of family devotion, which he then commenced, and
continued, as he was able, while he lived." [10]
Young Webb often had serious reflections. At length, he writes, "a young woman, a member of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, came to my father's house to work as a tailoress. She was faithful
to her Lord, and religion was the theme of her conversation. Having an opportunity one day, she said
to me, 'My young friend, what do you think of religion?' I replied, 'I think it to be a good and a
necessary thing for all persons before they die.' "Then,' said she, 'what objection have you to seeking
it now?' 'If I could have my young companions with me I should be willing to seek it now,' I replied.
She then said, 'My dear friend, do not wait for your companions; you may perhaps be in your grave
before they will turn to the Lord.' These words were as a nail in a sure place. They arrested my
attention. They took hold of my heart. I began to pray, God be merciful to me a sinner! I saw that it
would be just in God to cast me off and send me to hell. I was led to cry the more for mercy; and in
about four weeks from the time of her faithfulness to me, in a little prayer-meeting, the Lord spoke
peace to my soul; and the next day, in a woods, he gave me a sealing evidence of my acceptance with
him, and I went on my way rejoicing. This was in the year 1797, and in the month of August." The
primitive Methodists were particular in such dates.
In less than a year he was "exhorting" on the circuit. Bostwick called him out to Middletown
Circuit, (Conn.,) and there he preached his first sermon. In 1798, received by the Conference, he was
appointed to Granville Circuit, which was then two hundred miles in circumference, including the
towns of Granville, Granby, Suffield, Westfield, West Springfield, Southampton, Northampton,
Cummington, Ashfield, Buckland, Worthington, Dalton, Partridgefield, Washington, Pittsfield, Lee,
Tyringham, Sandisfield, Blanford, Chester, and several others. "We had," he writes, "to cross the
Green Mountains twice in each round. I frequently had to dismount my horse, and break through the
snow banks to get him along. We preached almost every day, besides visiting, and attending prayer
and class-meetings, so that our labors were very considerable. My next appointment, 1799, by the