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

local preachers, whose praise was great among the Methodists of that age: such men as Simon
Cochran, William Shaw, Thomas Lakin, and John J. Jacob.
Mr. Simon Cochran was born in Harness Fort, in, 1755, and was eight days old on the day of
General Braddock's defeat. He enlisted in Dunmores war, and also served through the Revolutionary
war. During the eight years that he was a soldier Almighty power preserved him; and under the first
Methodist sermon that he heard he was convicted, and in 1780 was converted and joined the
Methodists. In the following year he began to preach. After he had done much good in this section
of the country he was ordained by Bishop Asbury, and moved to Kentucky in 1799, and, finally, to
Ohio, where, after he had acceptably preached Christ for sixty-four years, he departed this life in his
ninetieth year, in glorious expectation of immortality and eternal life.
Messrs. Shaw, Lakin, and Jacob, on account of their indefatigable labors, were styled the "Three
Bishops." The three were ordained elders by Bishop Asbury on the same day. Mr. Thomas Lakin was
a native of Montgomery county, Md., converted and joined the Methodist in 1780. Soon after he
settled in Bedford county, Pa., where he was one of the first Methodists. As a local preacher he was
very useful in attending the sick and dying, and preaching at funerals as well as on other occasions.
He possessed talents as a preacher above mediocrity. He frequently filled the appointments of the
traveling preachers around a six weeks circuit; and attended all the quarterly meetings in his circuit,
and many in the adjoining circuits. He ended his life in Ohio, in 1834, in his seventy-first year,
leaving the odor of a good name to his many surviving friends.
Mr. John Jeremiah Jacob was born in Anne Arundel county, Md. In his youthful days he seemed
to be a subject of special providence, for his life was often preserved amidst the greatest dangers. At
the age of twenty he became a lieutenant in the American army, where Almighty power marvelously
preserved him to the end of the war; for although he was in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown,
Monmouth, and Camden, where the soldiers were falling all around him, yet neither ball, bayonet,
nor sword ever touched a hair of his head: God preserved him for future usefulness in his cause. The
war being over, he settled at Old Town, in Maryland, where he became a Methodist about 1783. He
gives this account of his conversion: "One night, while under conviction, after retiring to rest, I
gladly and quietly sunk into sweet meditation, when suddenly, just over me, I saw a light about the
size of a candle, and, at the same time, I entered into an indescribable ecstasy. My whole frame, and
especially my heart, seemed penetrated and wrapped in a flame of fire and love; and I think I felt a
little like Peter, James, and John on the mount." Soon after this happy change he began to preach,
and was abundant in his labors for the cause of Christ. In the latter part of his life he gave up the
world, and yielded his soul entirely to the service of his Saviour. It may be said that his life was full
of benevolence, and that he lived only to glorify God. When he was nearing the heavenly country
he took tender leave of his wife and children, saying, "I shall soon meet Bishop Asbury and Bishop
George. Now, Lord, receive me to thyself. I have fought a good fight of faith, I have finished my
course. All is well -- safe -- and then expired." Thus died the good John J. Jacob, at his residence in
Hampshire county, Va., in the eighty-third year of his life, A. D. 1839.
In 1768 Mr. John Jones emigrated from Maryland and settled on Redstone Creek, in Fayette
county, Pa. He had been strictly brought up to the Church of England; but was unacquainted with
experimental religion. After he had lived some years in this newly settled country, the Methodist