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

A HISTORY
OF THE
RISE OF METHODISM IN AMERICA
by
John Lednum
CHAPTER 12
In the beginning of the year 1772, Robert Williams went to Norfolk, Va. He was the first
Methodist preacher in the "Old Dominion." He continued to preach in and about Norfolk and
Portsmouth about two months, and his powerful appeals to the people who came to hear him -- and
they were many -- made a deep impression on some of them; and, if he did not form a society at this
time in both these towns, he or Mr. Pilmoor did in the latter end of this year. In April of this year,
Mr. Williams was back to Philadelphia, and made a very favorable report of his visit, and Mr.
Pilmoor followed him.
April 2, 1772. Mr. Asbury came to Philadelphia, where he found Mr. Boardman and Captain
Webb. A plan for the preachers for the next quarter was now made by Mr. Boardman, as follows:
-- Mr. Boardman to go to Boston; Mr. Pilmoor to Virginia; Mr. Wright to New York; and Mr.
Asbury to Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia, at this time, he says, "We dined at Mr. Roberdeau's,
who cannot keep Negroes for conscience sake." Brother David Lake, the old sexton of St. George's,
who died a few years since, aged about eighty-five, who joined the Methodists in 1790, informed us
that Mr. Roberdeau was a lumber merchant, having his board yard in Fourth street near Cherry street.
He was a warm friend to the Methodists. was not this he who afterwards was "General Roberdeau,"
the French gentleman who introduced Bishops Coke and Asbury to General Washington, at Mount
Vernon, in 1785?
After preaching in St. George's and the Bettering house, Mr. Asbury started for Bohemia, to find
Mr. Wright, who had been laboring there. Stopping at Old Chester, at Mrs. Withey's tavern, he found
it to be the place where Messrs. Boardman and Pilmoor put up. Finding that the people of Chester
were pleased with Methodist preaching, he left an appointment to preach on his return. Before he
reached Wilmington, he met Mr. Wright, as he was turning off to Mr. Tussey's, to stay all night. Next
day; he went to Mr. Stedham's, in Wilmington. Without stopping to preach in this town, he went to
Newcastle, and preached in Mr. Robert Furness' tavern. Mr. Furness was a Methodist at this time,
and one of the first in Delaware. Mr. Asbury had a strong desire to go to Baltimore, but was deterred
by the distance. About eight months after, he saw Baltimore. Reaching Bohemia Manor for the first
time, he spent a Sabbath there, preaching three times in Mr. Solomon Hersey's house, on the head
of Bohemia river. After visiting Mr. Ephraim Thompson, near Back Creek, be came to Wilmington,
where he preached to a few, for the first time in this town. Coming to Old Chester, he delivered his
message to them, for the first time, in the court house. After visiting the prisoners in the jail, he came
to Philadelphia. While officiating in Mrs. Withey's public house, the first night he spent in it, she was
awakened under his first prayer in her house.
About the middle of April, Mr. Asbury entered on the duties of the Philadelphia charge. He
remarks, "I hope, before long, about seven preachers of us will spread seven or eight hundred miles."