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 13
In the beginning of 1772, the Rev. Robert Williams went to Norfolk, Virginia, where he had the
steps of the court house for his pulpit, and a rude audience preach to. A he was the first Methodist
preacher they had heard, and his manners and expressions at all times, odd, for a preacher, some
were ready to conclude he was a maniac; but, after they had given him a further hearing they formed
a more correct judgment of him. He continued several weeks laboring with success in and about
Norfolk and Portsmouth, and then came to Philadelphia, where he met Mr. Asbury and some others
of the preachers, giving a "flaming account of the work in Virginia. Many of the people were ripe
for the Gospel, and ready to receive us:" this was in April, 1772.
Mr. Pilmoor followed him, and remained in Norfolk, Portsmouth, and the adjacent parts of
Virginia, until the end of the year. Having spend the summer in the North, in October of this year,
Mr. Williams, taking with him the Rev. William Watters, who now began to itinerate, returned to
Virginia were they continued until September, 1773. Leaving Mr. Watters to labor in and about
Norfolk and Portsmouth, Mr. Williams moved down Southwest, as providence opened the way.
During the winter and following spring, he came into the region of Petersburg, where Mr. Nathaniel
Lee, (who had, in the latter end of 1772, found the pearl of great price,) lived. Soon after, he became
acquainted with the evangelical Mr. Jarratt.
Mr. William Watters was the first native American that became a regular itinerant Methodist
preacher. He was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, October 10, 1751. His parents belonged to
the Church of England, to which church he was brought up. His father died when he was two years
old: he was the youngest of nine children. In July, 1770, he first heard the Methodists peach, and in
May, 1771, in the same house in which he was born a child of wrath, he was born a child of God,
in his twentieth year. His conversion was remarkably clear: "A divine light beamed through his soul,
and soon encircled him round," as it seemed to him, "exceeding in brightness the noon-day sun, and
he rejoiced in hope of the glory of God." He cast in his lot among the Methodists, and soon, like the
rest of them, was heard praying without a book, which, in that age and place, was regarded as a
marvelous act, and in the estimation of many, invested the Methodists with a sacredness of character
which inspired veneration for them. In April, 1772, he became an exhorter, and in October, 1772,
being twenty-one years old, he left his weeping mother and relatives, and in company with Mr.
Williams set out for Virginia. Reaching Baltimore, he preached his third sermon from a text. They
journeyed on through Bladensburg, Georgetown, Alexandria, King Williams county, &c., offering
Christ publicly and privately to the people, many of whom had never seen or heard a Methodist
preacher before, until they arrived in Norfolk. Here he was kindly received by the Methodists, but
found them unlike the warm zealous brethren that he had left in Maryland. After spending some time
in Norfolk and Portsmouth, he went into the country to form a circuit. After spending nearly a year
in Virginia he returned home. On his way home, it appears, that he became acquainted with the