A Short History Of The Methodists... - Media Sabda Org

New London circuit in Connecticut was formed in the beginning of this year, and a preacher
continued to travel in it from that time until the conference; at which time it was taken on the
minutes. It then had fifty members. There had been preaching by the Methodists in most of the places
that were now taken into this circuit, some time before the circuit was formed. The first sermon
preached by the Methodists in the city of New London, was on the second day of September 1789,
which was upwards of three years before the circuit was formed. The first Methodist sermon that was
preached was in Windham, on the 24th of June, and the first in the city of Norwich on the 25th of
June 1790.
It was upwards of five years from the time of the societies being formed in New London, until
they built a meeting house to assemble in. Their meeting-house was raised on the 20th day of July
1789, and the dedication sermon was preached in it two days after the frame was raised, i.e. on
Sunday the 22d of July, in the afternoon.
Warren circuit in Rhode Island, took in Bristol, Newport, Providence, Cranston, and several
places in Massachusetts. It will, no doubt, be satisfactory to many of the inhabitants of Rhode Island,
to know the time when the Methodists first came to that state. The first Methodist sermon was
preached in Charles Town, Rhode Island, on the 3d day of September 1789. The first in Newport was
on the 30th of June 1790. The first in Bristol was on the 2d of July: and the first in Providence was
on the fourth of July, 1790. The first Methodist sermon preached in Cranston, was on the 11th day
of November 1791.
The first meeting house that was built for the Methodists in the state of Rhode Island was that in
Warren, which was dedicated, or first preached in, on the 24th day of September 1794.
It is almost twenty years since we first began to preach in Rhode Island, and at present we have
only four or five hundred members in that state. We have had as little success in that place, as in any
of the states where we have been; yet we have not as much opposition there, as we have commonly
had in most places; neither are the people as much prejudiced against us and our plan, as they are in
the rest of the New England States. In this state they have no ministers settled by law: they neither
have any law to tax the people for the support of ministers. The people hear such preachers as they
like, and pay toward their support just as much as they please. In a word, they enjoy religious liberty:
and are the happiest people in this respect of any that dwell in New England. Yet, they are not more
religious than the people of the neighboring states. We have a few societies there, that are well
engaged in religion, and much attached to our plan, and to our discipline.
In 1795, we took in Province Town, which at first included only the one town on Cape Cod.
In the beginning of the revival of religion in that town, there was no one to guide or direct the
people, till a few of them were converted; they then began to hold meetings among themselves, and
to sing and pray and sometimes read a part of the Bible, or some religious book, and sometimes talk
about religion, and about their experiences. In this way they were comforted, and so continued their
meetings for a season, being much opposed and despised, and remaining like sheep without a
shepherd. At length one of our preachers, on his passage from New York to St. Johns, in the
Province of New Brunswick, in the British dominions, meeting with contrary winds, was obliged to