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

e to God! I feel that he is with us; and I have good evidence that fifteen or eighteen hundred souls
have professed to have been converted in the United States within the last twelve months."
He hastened through North and entered South Carolina, riding thirty, forty, fifty miles a day,
"hungry" and "cold," for it was now December, but preaching at the close of nearly every day's
journey in barns, private houses, and, occasionally, new chapels of "logs or poles," with "light and
ventilation plenty." He was often drenched by storms; "the unfinished state of the houses, lying on
the floor, thin clothing, and inclement weather, keep me," he writes, "in a state of indisposition."
In Sumter District, S. C., he found, by Christmas day, shelter in one of those wealthy and
hospitable houses which, like Perry Hall, were always open to welcome him as a prophet of God,
at distant intervals of his great field. "Although the weather," he writes, "was cold and damp and
unhealthy, with signs of snow, we rode forty-five miles to dear Brother Rembert's -- kind and good,
rich and liberal, who has done more for the poor Methodists than any man in South Carolina. The
Lord grant that he, with his whole household, may find mercy in that day!"
A bishop of Southern Methodism, speaking of "Rembert Hall," so often and so gratefully
mentioned in Asbury's Journals, says: "The proprietor of this estate, James Rembert, Esq., was a
Methodist gentleman of large property, who was strongly attached to Asbury. There was a room in
his mansion that was appropriated to the bishop's use. Here he commonly spent a week during his
annual visitation to South Carolina. It was a sweet haven, where the weather-beaten sailor found
quiet waters, and bright skies, and a season of repose. Here he brought up his journal, wrote his
letters, and lectured of an evening to the family and visitors and crowds of servants. Mrs. Rembert
was a lady of the kindest heart: she not only had the bishop's apartments always ready and
commodiously furnished, but; every year her seamstress made up for him a full supply of linen,
which, neatly ironed, awaited the arrival of the bishop. Rembert Hall, in my time on the Sumter
Circuit, was occupied by Caleb Rembert, Esq., his honored father and mother having long before
gone to heaven." [3]
Reaching Charleston, he found "the little flock in peace and a small revival among them," though
here also the Church had been scathed by division. William Hammett, one of Coke's missionaries
to the West Indies, had come to the United States, and had taken charge of the society in Charleston,
where his remarkable natural powers of eloquence soon rendered him generally popular. He was
unrivaled in the pulpits of the city, and became restless under the disciplinary administration of
Methodism. He accused Coke and Asbury of tyranny. "We are considered by him," wrote Asbury,
"as seceders from Methodism, because we do not wear gowns and powder, and because we did not
pay sufficient respect to Mr. Wesley." He headed a secession from the young Church of the city in
1791, briefly anticipating and severely exasperating the revolt of O'Kelly and his followers in
Virginia and North Carolina. Thus agitation prevailed through much of nearly one half of the
territory of the Church, for the schismatic spirit spread infectiously, pamphlets were published,
letters written, personal visitations made by disaffected preachers; even the new and feeble Churches
beyond the Alleghenies felt the evil. Asbury accuses them of "striving to scatter firebrands and
arrows through the whole continent." He accuses himself for his excessive anxiety about the result.
"I am not enough in prayer," he says. "I have said more than was for the glory of God concerning
those who have left the American connection, and who have reviled Mr. Wesley, Mr. Fletcher,