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

of the itinerants. There was no one in the neighborhood, at first, capable of praying in public, except
herself and her husband, who was a devoted Christian of moderate abilities. They induced young
Hedding, then about sixteen years old, to assist them in their Sabbath services. Though uninterested
in religion, he consented to read a sermon every Sunday to the assembled neighbors, the good man
of the house beginning and concluding the exercises with singing and prayer. The latter was
abundantly furnished with Wesley's works and other Methodist publications; by his public Sabbath
readings, Hedding became thoroughly acquainted with the doctrines of Methodism, and was so
struck with their evangelical richness and practical appropriateness, that he soon read all the books
in the cottage of the pious couple. He has been heard to say that this was the best theological training
he ever enjoyed. His first, permanent religious impressions were produced by the conversations of
the Christian matron. She perceived his promising talents, and strong moral susceptibility. Hoping
that he might be providentially called to important services in the Church, she conversed with him
frequently on subjects of religion, and succeeded at last in awakening in his mind a deep concern for
his spiritual safety. About this time the old Vergennes Circuit was formed, and took in the town of
Starksborough; Joseph Mitchell, a man mighty in word and in doctrine, opportunely visited the
place. Hedding heard him preach, his convictions were deepened, and as he returned to his home he
retired into a forest, and, kneeling down by a large tree, covenanted with God to live and die in his
service, whatever might be the sacrifice involved in the resolution. Soon after he heard Mitchell
again; the discourse was one of remarkable power; it disclosed to him, in a manner he had never yet
perceived, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the peril of the unrenewed soul. He was now seized
with unutterable anxiety, and for several weeks gave himself to prayer with anguish and tears, night
and day; divine truth shone upon his conscience in all its reality, and he trembled under the sense of
his sinfulness and danger. Such, usually, are the profound convictions and spiritual travail of those
whom God designs for important purposes in his Church.
He looked with longing solicitude for the next visit of the itinerant evangelist, who soon arrived
and preached in the house where the youthful penitent had been accustomed to read the sermons of
Wesley. After the discourse a class-meeting was held, as usual, by the preacher; on ascertaining the
deep convictions of young Hedding, he proposed that special prayer and be made in his behalf; the
itinerant and the pious cottagers bowed around him, and continued in supplication till peace dawned
on his troubled spirit. This was on the 27th of December, 1798.
It was not long before he was licensed to exhort, and in about a year he was sent by the presiding
elder to Essex Circuit, Vt., to supply the place of the eccentric Lorenzo Dow, who, after traveling
and laboring with incredible diligence, had departed under a supposed divine impression to preach
in Ireland. He continued about three months on the circuit, exhorting, without a text, at all the
appointments, holding a public meeting and leading a class daily. His word was in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, and revivals broke out around the whole circuit. He soon after received
license as a local preacher, and was sent by the presiding elder to Plattsburgh Circuit, N. Y., whence
he was transferred in about six weeks to Cambridge Circuit, to supply the place of a disabled
preacher. At the Conference of 1801 he was received on probation, and dispatched again to
Plattsburgh. It was a long circuit, requiring about three hundred miles of travel monthly, with daily
public labors. It reached from Ticonderoga on the south, to beyond the Canada line on the north,
meandering extensively to the right and left, and the laborious itinerant was compelled to swim
streams, traverse forests on new and rough roads, and sleep in log-cabins through which the rain and