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

exhortation, and then gave me a certificate to exhort. The 1st of October, 1780, I went to Dorset
Circuit, and had seals to my ministry. I stayed four weeks, and returned to secure my crop. By this
time the devil, by his emissaries, had put it into the heart of my wife to prevent my traveling. She
made a great noise, which gave me much trouble. I might as well have undertaken to reason with a
stone. Till now she had some faint desire to save her soul; but this banished all from her heart. I
returned to Dorset, and stayed till February, 1781, when I was sent to Somerset Circuit to labor in
Annamessex. My labors were abundantly blessed; many found peace with God, and some large
societies were formed."
In November, 1781, Mr. Everett was sent to West Jersey with James O. Cromwell. Here his labors
were blest, and many seals were set to his ministry. At the May Conference of 1782, he says, "I was
appointed to East Jersey, with that man of God, John Tunnell, whom I loved as another self." While
preaching here his hard blows had stirred the ire of the people about Germantown, in Jersey, and the
mob was after him with clubs, as was supposed, under the connivance of their superiors; but, finding
that he was legally qualified to preach, he received no hurt from them. The success of the Methodists
alarmed the priests, both Dutch and English, and this seemed to be the cause of his persecution. "In
November of this year I was appointed to Philadelphia Circuit with John Tunnell, and Nelson Reed.
Here our labors were blessed, That part of the Circuit that profited least by our ministry was the city
of Philadelphia. The reason was, one said I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos; and another, I am
of Cephas. Where this is the case there are very few to follow Christ. They are like weathercocks,
which can never be kept at one point." At this time, this circuit embraced all the appointments
between the Delaware river and the Susquehanna. There was, till lately, one individual living in
Philadelphia who heard him (and he was the first Methodist preacher he ever heard), at this time at
Captain Johnson's near Barren hill, in Montgomery county, seventy-two years ago. Under the
discourse a woman cried out and swooned away, and was carried into the kitchen, where little
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Jacob was sitting, greatly terrified by the preaching. While the woman was being removed, the
speaker was silent. This being done, he let them know that he had something more to say to them
that night. This was sad intelligence to the youthful hearer, to learn that he had still to tremble under
the ministerial thunder of this Boanerges.
A daughter of Mr. Abraham Supplee, now living in Philadelphia, in her eighty-third year, having
been a Methodist for more than sixty years, whose name is Smith, remembers to have heard Mr.
Everett commence one of his discourses in 1782, by saying to the irreligious, among his hearers, "It
is just six weeks since I was here last, and some of you are six weeks nearer hell than you were then."
During the year 1781, the Methodists lost two of their preachers, Messrs. Robert Strawbridge, and
Philip Adams. The former was the first instrument in raising up Methodism in America. The latter,
a native of Virginia, was a useful preacher, closely attached to Methodism.
The winter of 1781 and 1782 was spent by Mr. Asbury in the South; and it became a general
practice with him, so to arrange his work, as to be in this region during his future winters. The
surrender of Cornwallis, in October of this year, removed an impediment out of the way of his
traveling; and, it was now generally known, that he was no enemy to America. He attended a number
of quarterly meetings, and had to exert his influence to restrain some of the local preachers, who
were not satisfied unless they administered the ordinances.