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

Captain Webb having introduced Methodism into Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, in
1772 he went to Europe. At this time Mr. Wesley, writing to Mrs. Bennis, (she has relations of the
same name in Philadelphia, who are Methodists), says, "Captain Webb is now in Dublin; invite him
to Limerick; he is a man of fire, and the power of God constantly attends his word." During this year
he was in London, and preached in the foundry where Mr. Wesley heard him, and observes in his
Journal, "I admire the wisdom of God in raising up preachers according to the various tastes of men.
The Captain is all life and fire, therefore, although he is not deep or regular, yet many who would
not hear a better preacher, flock together to hear him, and many are convinced under his preaching;
some justified, a few built up in love." While in England he endeavored to enlist such men as
Messrs. Hopper and Benson to come to America. It seems that he had informed these brethren, that
he was divinely impressed that they had a call to this country, which led Mr. C. Wesley, in a letter
to Mr. Joseph Benson, to say, "His impressions are very little more to be depended upon than George
Bell's. He is an inexperienced honest, zealous, loving enthusiast." Mr. C. Wesley thought him an
enthusiast, because he supposed that he laid too much stress on his impressions as coming from God.
The Captain and his wife came back to America, in the spring of 1773, in company with Messrs.
Rankin, Shadford, and Yearbry, and continued to preach from New York to Baltimore, where in
1774, he officiated in the first Methodist chapel that was erected there in Lovely Lane, then in an
unfinished state.
In 1774, when John Adams of Massachusetts was attending the Continental Congress in
Philadelphia, he heard Mr. Webb preach in St. George's, and has left the following description of
him as a public speaker. "In the evening I went to the Methodist meeting and heard Mr. Webb, the
old soldier, who first came to America in the character of a quartermaster, under General Braddock.
He is one of the most fluent, eloquent men I ever heard; he reaches the imagination, and touches the
passions very well, and expresses himself with great propriety."
To recapitulate, -- the field of Captain Webb's labors in America consisted of New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. His first efforts in favor of Methodism were in
Albany, next in New York and on Long Island, -- afterwards in Philadelphia and the adjacent
country, then in New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, as far south as Baltimore and St. Luke's parish
in Queen Anne's county, where he was preaching at a quarterly meeting held at Fogwell's, or
Dudley's, near Sudlersville, in 1775. See Memoirs of Gatch, pp. 42-3. This was just before his final
departure for England. Mr. Asbury in his Journal, vol. i., p. 213, speaks of a young woman who was
awakened under Captain Webb, probably about the time of this visit to Queen Anne's, who obtained
the comforts of religion in 1778 in the region of Judge White's -- from St. Luke's parish to Mr.
White's was about thirty miles.
In 1775 the colonists took up arms against England, and Captain Webb returned to his native land,
where he ended his days, doing all the good he could. The last time that Mr. Wesley notices him in
his Journal was in 1785. He says: "I preached at Salisbury; as Captain Webb had lately been there,
I endeavored to avail myself of the fire which he seldom fails to kindle."
The Rev. Peter Vanest, late of the New Jersey Conference, informed us that during the war that
secured our independence, he became a privateer, and fell into the hands of the English, who carried