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

A SHORT HISTORY
OF THE
METHODISTS
By
Jesse Lee
PREFACE
MR. WESLEY, in a letter to a friend in America, which was written a few weeks before he died,
says, "I have given a distinct account of the work of God, which has been wrought in Britain and
Ireland, for more than half a century. We want some of you to give us a connected relation, of what
our Lord has been doing in America, from the time that Richard Boardman accepted the invitation,
and left his country to serve you."
In compliance with this request I have written the best account I could. Withal, it has long been
the wish of many of the Methodist preachers and people in America, that some account of the rise
and progress of the Methodists in these United States should be published, for the information of the
world in general, and of our own societies in particular. And I believe no preacher born in America
has had a better opportunity of being thoroughly acquainted with the Methodists than I have. When
I became a member of the Methodist Society early in the Spring of 1774, there were but 1160
members in the whole of the United States. I continued four years as a private member; and five
years more as a classleader, exhorter and local preacher; and have since been regularly traveling and
preaching for upwards of 26 years. I have also traveled extensively from St. Mary's River in Georgia,
to Passamaquoddy Bay in the District of Maine.
As no person has yet appeared willing to engage in this work, I have thought good, by the advice,
and with the consent of many of our preachers, to publish the following SHORT History; in which
I have been as careful as possible to state dates and facts, such as I think will be for the information
and consolation of pious people.
The materials from which I have chiefly compiled this work, are the Minutes of the Annual and
General Conferences. The Societies having been formed by the labors of the preachers, they have
also been preserved as one body, united by one spirit, by the blessing of God, by our rules and
regulations formed at those conferences. The origin, increase, and establishment of the Societies,
must therefore be sought for chiefly in these records.
I have inserted all the Minutes of importance. 1. Those which relate to Doctrines. 2. The rules by
which the preachers are called to, and directed in, the work of the Ministry. 3. Those which were
made at different times for the regulation, and well-ordering of the societies. And, 4. Those which
concern strangers, or persons not of our society. I have noticed these things at the times and places
when they occurred.
I have also taken notice of the increase and decrease of Methodism; and in some eases have
spoken of the places where the greatest revivals have been: and also of particular declensions, and
the causes which produced them.