A History Of The Rise Of Methodism In America - Media Sabda Org

"A very worthy young man, who was an exhorter and class leader, was in the employment of a
Presbyterian minister, living near Bladensburg; and while laboring in the field, some of the
persecutors whipped him so cruelly, that the shirt upon his back, though made of the most substantial
material, was literally cut to pieces. His employer took the matter in hand, and had them arraigned
before the court, and they were severely punished. This put an end to persecution in Frederick
Circuit. Our last quarterly meeting for the year was held in the neighborhood of Bladensburg. Mr.
Rankin was with us, and I gave them my last address with a feeling heart, and set out for Conference,
to be held in Baltimore, May 21, 1776."
Mr. Martin Rodda entered into the itinerancy under Mr. Wesley in 1763. In the latter end of 1774
he came with Mr. Dempster to America, by Mr. Wesley's authority, to preach as a missionary. In
1775, he had charge of Baltimore Circuit; his colleagues were, Richard Owen and John Wade.
Mr. Richard Owen, the first Methodist preacher raised up in America, was a local preacher living
in Baltimore Circuit, on which circuit he was appointed to labor this year as a temporary supply.
Although his name is printed in the Minutes this year, it is not said that he was received into the
traveling connection until 1785. In 1786, he died in Leesburg, Virginia, where he was laboring. At
the time of his death he had been preaching fifteen or sixteen years. Though he had charge of a large
family, he traveled and preached much as a local preacher, in what was then the back settlements,
when Methodism was in its infancy. "He was a man of honest heart, plain address, good utterance,
and sound judgment;" and for the last two years of his life he gave himself up wholly to the work of
saving souls -- he was an excellent man, and a useful preacher.
Mr. Rankin, in his travels, came in July of this year to Maryland, and preached at the Gunpowder
Chapel. From here he went to Mr. Gough's, at Perry Hall, who, with his wife, were warm in their
first love.
In the latter end of it, he spent a quarter in New York. In May, 1775, Mr. Watters attended
Conference in Philadelphia, and was appointed to Frederick Circuit, in Maryland, where he spent
six months, and saw the pleasure of the Lord prospering. While here, he often lodged in cabins, ate
a dry morsel, and made the woods his study.
In 1775 there was the first great revival on Frederick Circuit -- some two hundred were added to
the societies. The other half of this year he spent in Fairfax Circuit. In this circuit he saw the greatest
work of religion that he had ever seen. One of the converts was Nelson Reed, who was long a laborer
in the vineyard of the Lord. Mr. Strawbridge was his colleague on Frederick Circuit.
From the Conference of 1775, Mr. Asbury went to the Norfolk Circuit. Embarking at Cecil Court
house on Bohemia Manor, he arrived there in May, and found about thirty undisciplined Methodists
in society in Norfolk. The preaching house was an old shattered building that had been a play house.
He soon moved a subscription for building a church; but owing to the ill fate of the place, which was
burned down the following winter, by order of the royal governor, Methodism was crushed in
Norfolk for several years. It was not until the beginning of the present century that they had a good
place of worship. In 1803, Mr. Asbury says the new church in this place is the best house the
Methodists have in Virginia. There was a society at Portsmouth, and some place to preach in; but