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

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devotion to the interests of Methodism. It afterward became the germ of the Methodist Church in Bath. The influence of this remarkable meeting spread like a flame through the town and neighboring villages, and, indeed, more or less over the circuit. The sinking heart of the preacher was fortified forever. These scenes at Monmouth led to the introduction of Methodism into Hallowell. A young man at the former, but belonging to the latter, entreated Kibby to visit the town and preach to its inhabitants. He consented, passed into the village, procured a school-house, and had a large congregation; but at the end of the service his hearers all retired, leaving him alone without an invitation to any of their homes, or an intimation of their approval or disapproval of his doctrines. He felt disappointed, mortified, and mounting his horse rode four miles to Augusta for a supper, believing that he had erred in going to Hallowell. On arriving at Augusta, some gentlemen of high respectability, who admired his talents, appointed a meeting for him in a hall. When he entered it he found an apparently selected audience. After the sermon one of the hearers rose and said, "I approve these doctrines and esteem this man;" and throwing a dollar on the table he added, "you, gentlemen, may do likewise." A shower of silver dollars came down upon the table; the preacher refused them, but he was urged and compelled to receive them. It was no superfluous bounty, but a most opportune providence, meeting necessities which could hardly have otherwise been sustained. But a more cheering incident followed. Before he left the hall he was compensated, somewhat, for his mortifying treatment at Hallowell. A man, trembling with emotion, took him by the hand and inquired, "When, sir, are you coming again to Hallowell?" "Never, Sir," replied the preacher. "Do, do I come once more," rejoined the stranger, with tears, "for your discourse there, today, has awakened my guilty soul." Unexpected results of one day! Kibby saw the hand of God in these things. He sent back by the stranger an appointment at Hallowell for four weeks afterward, the time of his next return to that part of the circuit. When he arrived he found that the awakened man had been converted. The house was crowded, and he was embarrassed with invitations to hospitable homes; he tarried the next day, and spent it in visiting from house to house, and nearly every family he called upon he found under the awakening influence of the Divine Spirit. A revival broke out which spread through the whole population, and the first Methodist society of Hallowell was formed. The two first persons, a man and his wife, converted in this extraordinary reformation, presented their two sons to him for baptism. They were twins, and scarcely distinguishable. He offered them specially to God in prayer, by that holy rite. One of them now sleeps in a grave in Africa, the first foreign missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The other became a preacher of Methodism in New England. In 1841 he was reported among the "superannuated" in the New England Conference, and remained on that honored roll till his death in 1885, when he departed, exclaiming, "Glory to God! [13] glory to God!" after a ministry of sixty-seven years. He was tall, erect, and slight in person, extremely neat in dress, and venerable in appearance. His talents were of a very superior order. His imagination furnished him with vivid illustrations, always abundant, chaste, and appropriate; his reasoning was strikingly perspicuous, direct, and conclusive; his language remarkable for both elegance and force. Though he never used notes in the pulpit, yet a large portion of his sermons were fully written, the cause, probably, of that rich and correct diction which so eminently characterized even his impromptu addresses. He was a fond lover of good literature, and abounded in general
knowledge. His judgment was always cautious and safe, his zeal steady and effective, his attachment to the doctrines and economy of Methodism unwavering amid many calls and temptations to more comfortable stations in other communions. Without ambition or pretension, he attained to a rare popularity as a preacher in the days of his vigor. He accomplished distinguished service in the Church, and is endeared to it, in most of New England, by precious recollections. Joshua Soule, though not named in the Minutes till the next year, began to travel about this time, under the presiding elder of Maine District. He occupies a distinguished position in our denominational history. He was born in Bristol, Hancock County, Me., August 1, 1781. About 1795 his family removed to Avon, then a recent settlement on Sandy River; the Readfield Circuit extended to this remote frontier, and Enoch Mudge and other traveling evangelists occasionally penetrated to [14] it, sounding the word of life among its sparse habitations. "The settlement," says Mudge, "was new, and his father's house unfinished. Joshua had a precocious mind, a strong memory, a manly and dignified turn, although his appearance was exceedingly rustic." Youthful and untutored as he was, the doctrines of the gospel, as exhibited by the preachers of Methodism, arrested his attention, and commended themselves to his opening intellect. In June, 1797, after seeking reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ, with a broken and contrite heart, he found peace in believing. The chivalric zeal and energy of the Methodist itinerants who had brought the word of life to his distant home, found a responsive sympathy in his youthful heart, and was congenial with those habits of adventure and exertion to which his life on the frontier had habituated him. He longed to share their heroic labors, and to go forth "into all the world" proclaiming the joyful sound of the gospel. The Divine Spirit selected and anointed him for signal achievements in the Church. Joshua Taylor, who was presiding elder in Maine about this time, perceived beneath the rudeness and rusticity of his appearance those elements of promise which have since distinguished his career, and encouraged him immediately to enter upon his ministerial labors. He was then (1798) but about seventeen years of age. An academy would doubtless have better befitted him, and would have guaranteed a full repayment, in increased usefulness, for the delay required by a few years of study; but there was absolutely none within his reach, and indefatigable habits of application and observation were at least a partial substitute. He accompanied Taylor around the district, exhorting after his sermons, exciting general interest by his youth and devotion, and not a little by the contrast which he presented of rustic awkwardness with extraordinary though unpolished talents. He was received at the next Conference, and appointed, with Timothy Merritt, to Portland Circuit. Merritt, still young and vigorous, was a congenial mind, thirsting alike for knowledge and holiness, and their reciprocal influence could not but be mutually profitable, so far as their continual travels and labors would admit. After staying one year more in Maine, during which he traveled a circuit on Union River, he passed to Massachusetts, and was appointed in 1801, 1802, and 1803, respectively, to Sandwich, Needham, and Nantucket. In 1804 he returned to his native state, and traveled two years as presiding elder of the district of Maine. This was the only district in the province at that period; he had, therefore, the oversight of the entire Methodist interest of that large section of New England. Thirteen circuits were under his superintendence. His sermons at this time are reported to have been distinguished by that breadth of view and majesty of style which, in later years, notwithstanding some abatement through the variety of his responsibilities, have continued to mark with greatness his pulpit efforts. His word was oftentimes in irresistible power, bearing down upon the large assemblies which collected to hear him, like the storm on the bending forest.
Page 1 and 2: WESLEYAN HERITAGE Library HISTORY O
Page 3 and 4: HISTORY of the METHODIST EPISCOPAL
Page 5 and 6: BOOK VI CHAPTER I = PART 58 METHODI
Page 7 and 8: CHAPTER IX = PART 66 METHODISM IN T
Page 9 and 10: CHAPTER XV = PART 72 REVIEW OF THE
Page 11 and 12: disappearance of Coke, Asbury, What
Page 13 and 14: convened, a second time, in Wilbrah
Page 15 and 16: yet I did not go out that year; but
Page 17 and 18: He returned again to New Jersey in
Page 19 and 20: Asbury pressed on westward with his
Page 21 and 22: congregation, and meanwhile advanci
Page 23 and 24: direction of the presiding elder, G
Page 25: traveled in Massachusetts, Rhode Is
Page 29 and 30: He did great services and endured g
Page 31 and 32: of the itinerants. There was no one
Page 33 and 34: found adequate to the singular exig
Page 35 and 36: as a sail in a leaking canoe, and p
Page 37 and 38: [16] of his decease, sent home for
Page 39 and 40: passing through small villages; but
Page 41 and 42: HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
Page 43 and 44: God. The Scotchman could endure it
Page 45 and 46: [7] Conference till the next year.
Page 47 and 48: y his own hands, and his furniture
Page 49 and 50: there were three circuits, with thr
Page 51 and 52: performed incredible labors and tra
Page 53 and 54: Before he reached the last stanza h
Page 55 and 56: "in the wilds of Virginia, where he
Page 57 and 58: ed, and trembling with agitation. E
Page 59 and 60: this melancholy record. I never rea
Page 61 and 62: at Cabbin Creek, Ky., twenty thousa
Page 63 and 64: in that vast wilderness, and had no
Page 65 and 66: poles. This was their bedstead. Som
Page 67 and 68: Benjamin Lakin, Samuel Doughty John
Page 69 and 70: Gibson. "Here," say his brethren, "
Page 71 and 72: of the Little Miami River. On Thurs
Page 73 and 74: Circuit) for this year began at Moo
Page 75 and 76: Sale, J. Oglesby; Guyandotte, Asa S
Page 77 and 78:
worst for stealing, fighting, and l
Page 79 and 80:
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
Page 93 and 94:
to prepare forms of petition to the
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HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
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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
Page 109 and 110:
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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in a swamp on the Waccamaw Lake, a
Page 125 and 126:
ENDNOTE 1 A few months ago, accompa
Page 127 and 128:
Asbury, in the summer of 180, wrote
Page 129 and 130:
means by which this necessary objec
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I should have to preach, but determ
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themselves, it was resolved that th
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ENDNOTES 1 Bangs, though his narrat
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directions, preaching as far as Buf
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and in the States, from the Ulster
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Conference sent over three missiona
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1814 Michael Coate, of New Jersey,
Page 145 and 146:
1 Peck's "Early Methodism," p. 158.
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limits, when it will devolve upon t
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That very significant and convenien
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Channing, the elder Beecher, Wainwr
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in the eyes of the people, and grea
Page 155 and 156:
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own souls, because ye were dear unt
Page 159 and 160:
Early in the spring of 1808 he retu
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seventeen preachers upon trial. The
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this meeting. Monday, 22d, I turned
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strengthened the whole denomination
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savage men, and venomous serpents."
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indescribable. At one time I saw at
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extraordinary learning, of tireless
Page 175 and 176:
oom; but, finding there no means of
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By the end of our present period th
Page 179 and 180:
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some sixty or seventy souls. They a
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stacked away at the end of the cour
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olled over the whole Conference." H
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ashamed of yourselves?' which only
Page 189 and 190:
living; I have outlived every membe
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iographer of the itinerant. Born in
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
gentleman. While the circles of fas
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His itinerant ministry in the West
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took a prominent part in the great
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to the people, and to go back to Na
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country. These were about to return
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of preachers had increased thirty-f
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1 Rev. F. C. Holliday, in Sprague,
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Astonishing, superhuman almost, as
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of "through the interior of Louisia
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their children. In ten years, I thi
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hates the nefarious practice. In th
Page 217 and 218:
These extraordinary facts excited n
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15 I must remind the reader that I
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[3] and threatened to return home.
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he prepared for South Carolina, wit
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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
Page 231 and 232:
In our day (1866) the Methodist Boo
Page 233 and 234:
edifice was soon after provided in
Page 235 and 236:
in both hemispheres, and which prop
Page 237 and 238:
even romantic record, but our limit
Page 239 and 240:
He organized the Liberia Mission. H
Page 241 and 242:
and the moral prospects of the worl
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
ut we may well hesitate to admit th
Page 247 and 248:
They preached and suffered in Engla
Page 249 and 250:
ENDNOTES 1 An error in the Minutes
Page 251 and 252:
and great labors; his charity, his
Page 253 and 254:
directing the advancing Church with
Page 255 and 256:
history, and presents, in full vita
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History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

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