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

Mr. William Gill was a native of Delaware state. There was a William Gill that subscribed £1 10s.
in 1769 towards the rebuilding of Drawyers (Presbyterian) Church. If we were sure that it was the
same man, we should fix his nativity near Cantwell's Bridge. It seems that he was the first traveling
preacher that Delaware furnished. He was a man of weak body but strong mind, well stored with
science for that day. By trade he was a tailor. On a certain occasion he lay sick at Mr. Manley's in
Philadelphia; on which occasion he was attended by the worthy Dr. Rush. The doctor became very
favorably impressed, not only with the piety but also with the strong and well cultivated mind of his
patient, which led him afterwards to defend Methodist preachers against the charge of ignorance, that
was so generally brought against them at that time. Being in company with a number of gentlemen
who were uttering their philippics [long discourses] against the reputed enthusiasm of the
Methodists, and the ignorance of their teachers, preaching without a regular education; the doctor
replied with this parody, "I say unto you, gentlemen, that except ye be converted, and become even
as a tailor, ye shall not enter the kingdom of science."
In the winter of 1785 he [William Gill] was preaching in Annapolis, when a barber came to mock
him, and stood up to imitate him in preaching, and, among other things, said his sins were forgiven
-- he soon sickened and made a sudden exit into eternity to meet an insulted judge. Mr. Gill was
ordained an elder when the church was organized, standing among the foremost. His last
appointment was to Kent Circuit in 1788, where he sickened, and after delivering a full testimony
for his Saviour, with his own fingers closed his eye in death, proclaiming, "All is well." He was
interred at the oldest Methodist chapel on the Peninsula in Kent county, Md.
The Rev. Jesse Lee says, "From the long acquaintance I had with Mr. Gill, I am led to conclude
that we had scarcely a preacher left to equal him in either knowledge or goodness. Indeed, I knew
no one who had such a depth of knowledge, both of men and things, as he possessed. Both his
conversation and preaching were entertaining, and with much wisdom."
Mr. John Tunnell was received on trial this year. There are Tunnells in Delaware, but we cannot
say that he was related to them. He was a truly Apostolic man; his heavenly-mindedness seemed to
shine out in his face, which made him appear to some more like an inhabitant of heaven than of
earth. Hence the occurrence related by the Rev. Thomas Ware, of one who accidentally heard him
preaching, and took him to be a messenger from heaven describing its realities. When the church was
constituted in 1784 he was also one of the original elders. He was not at the Christmas Conference.
During this year he had gone to the Island of St. Christopher, in the West Indies, for his health. On
this island he was offered a horse, room, and a slave to wait upon him, with a hundred and fifty
pounds per year, in money, if he would remain and preach for them. He returned, and was ordained
soon after the church was organized. Mr. Lee says, "His gifts, as a preacher, were great." He traveled
extensively through the states, and was deservedly esteemed by preachers and people. After thirteen
years labor in the ministry, his slender constitution yielded to the slow but sure advances of
consumption, at the Sweet Springs, in July, 1790. His funeral was preached by Mr. Asbury at Dew's
Chapel, where his remains were interred among the mountains of Virginia. It was the opinion of one
who knew them, that few purer spirits ever dwelt in mortal bodies than those of Gill and Tunnell.
Caleb B. Pedicord was a native of the Western Shore of Maryland. The Petticords or Pedicords,
for the name is written two or three ways, were in Frederick county, Md., where Mr. Strawbridge