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

It seems that it was on his first visit to Mount Holly, in the spring of this year, that the young
soldier Thomas Ware became so interested in him, which led him to the Saviour and to the
Methodists. As Mr. Ware, in his Autobiography, has not said what year he was converted in, and as
there are several difficulties in fixing it in 1780, as in his Memoir in the Minutes, we assume that it
was in 1781. As Mr. Pedicord was entering Mount Holly, with his heart uplifted to heaven, singing,
"Still, out of the deepest abyss," God was pleased to own it by drawing one to himself, who, in his
day, turned many to the Saviour. Eternity alone will disclose the amount of good that has been done
by his servants.
Sometimes, the Methodists have accomplished as much by their singing as by their preaching and
praying. The power of music has been acknowledged from time immemorial. Fable teaches, that
Amphion, by the power of music, charmed both animate and inanimate creatures; that he built the
city of Thebes by the music of his lyre -- the stones dancing to it, and taking their place in the walls.
The poet of Methodism has left us a fine parody on this fable, in these words: --
"Thine own musician, Lord, inspire,
And may my consecrated lyre
Repeat the psalmists part.
His Son and Thine, reveal in me,
And fill with sacred melody,
The fibers of my heart.
So shall I charm the listening throng,
And draw the living stones along,
By Jesus tuneful name.
The living stones shall dance, shall rise,
And form a city in the skies
The new Jerusalem."
Can we conjecture what tune Pedicord was singing that so enraptured young Ware? We know,
from testimony, that the hymn, "Still, out of the deepest abyss," was a great favorite with Mr.
Asbury; we know, by the same means, that Light Street was his favorite tune to sing to it; and it is
probable that he brought the tune, if not the hymn, with him from England. In 1781, when Father
Ellsworth led him into the caves of New Virginia, in one of the chambers, that seemed to be
supported by basaltic pillars, beneath the stalactites, he sung, "Still, out of the deepest abyss," and
the sound was wonderful, in that temple of nature. -- This was in June of this year; and if we are right
in our date of Mr. Ware's conversion, there is coincidence as to time, in Mr. Asbury's and Mr.
Pedicord's use of the same hymn and tune (as we suppose). It was in the same year; it may have been
at the same time that this music echoed in the cave, and in the soul of Ware.
Mr. Asbury was a remarkably good singer, and has been heard to say, "That he had raised up
many a son in the gospel that could out preach him, but never one that could outsing him;" and he
might have added, never one that could out pray him.
Methodist hymns, and Methodist tunes, like Methodist doctrine, have been common property with
Methodists; they have learned to sing of each other, and it is not unlikely that Mr. Pedicord had