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

found adequate to the singular exigency. He selected judicious and efficient men, and no
inconvenience ensued. In 1807 he was appointed presiding elder of New Hampshire District, which
included the entire extent of the state, except a small fragment about Portsmouth, which pertained
to the Boston District. His labors this year were Herculean, involving at least three thousand miles
of travel and a daily public service, besides the usual and perplexing ecclesiastical business of the
office; such, too, was the poverty of the infant Churches on the district, that at the end of the year
his aggregate receipts for salary, besides traveling expenses, was $4.25. He continued two years on
this district, and saw Methodism extended vastly in the state. In 1809 he was removed to New
London District, which he traveled two years. It extended from Long Island Sound to New
Hampshire, and from the Connecticut River to Narragansett Bay, R. I., and Needham, Mass. Several
camp-meetings were held within it during those two years, and were remarkably successful. One
particularly, at Hebron, Conn., was attended by a large concourse, about three thousand people being
there constantly, many from great distances. The preaching was distinguished by extraordinary
effects. It was estimated by Hedding himself, that under one sermon "five hundred persons fell to
the earth as if shot, in five minutes." The excitement was resistless, and many sober-minded
Christians, who had always opposed such scenes, were smitten down and lay insensible for hours.
The fruits of those great occasions are still scattered through New England. During the following
four years he was stationed, respectively, at Boston, Nantucket, and Lynn; at the latter two years. In
the years 1815, 1816 he again labored in Boston, with Daniel Fillmore. This was a critical period in
the history of Methodism in that city, the darkest day that ever lowered over it. After unparalleled
struggles the society had succeeded, at large expense, in erecting the Bromfield Street chapel The
effects of the recent war on business frustrated their fiscal plans, and left them with insupportable
incumbrances. Eighteen thousand dollars, an enormous sum for the feeble society, must be raised
within a limited time, or their property be forfeited. The embarrassment seemed inextricable, and as
one board of trustees held both houses, it was the general anticipation that all the Methodists of
Boston would be "turned out of doors" and left without a sanctuary. But at this critical juncture the
generosity and business talent of Colonel Amos Binney, an energetic Methodist, together with the
exertions of their pastors, provided deliverance for them. The former, who was conducting an
extensive business, pledged himself that if the latter would sell on credit a number of pews,
equivalent in value to the debt, he would accept the notes of the purchasers, allow them to be paid
in work, according to their respective avocations, and pay down at once the necessary sum of
eighteen thousand dollars. Hedding and Fillmore applied themselves to the task incessantly for
several months, interceding with every one they met from whom they could expect assistance, and
at last, by extraordinary exertions, procured the needed number of purchasers. The latter held a
public meeting at the chapel, signed their notes, the money was munificently paid down by Colonel
Binney, and the chapels of Methodism in Boston saved. And thus began the "pewed system" in
American Methodism.
The next year Hedding was appointed to Portland District, and is so reported in the Minutes; but,
owing to his enfeebled health, the appointment was changed to Portland city. The ensuing three years
he was at Lynn (two years) and New London. In 1821 he took charge of Boston District, but his
health was not sufficient for its great labors. The pulmonary and rheumatic afflictions he had
contracted by exposures and excessive labors on Bridgewater Circuit, N. H., still affected him, and
not a day or night passed from that time till his death, in which he was not reminded, by more or less
pain, of those days of toil and suffering. He was compelled to retire from the district at the close of