History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

career as a Methodist itinerant. He went to the aid of Strawbridge, became. the apostle of Methodism
in Virginia, co-operated with Jarratt, the apostolical and evangelical Churchman, and pushed his
travels down into North Carolina. He was the spiritual father of Jesse Lee while in Virginia, and
carried to Philadelphia such a glowing account of the southern work that he bore back with him
William Watters, the first American itinerant. He printed and circulated Wesley's sermons, thus
giving him the notable title of "the first Methodist minister in America who published a book, the
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first that married, the first that located, and the first that died." He located between Norfolk and
Suffolk, Va., preaching through the neighborhood, and departed this life September 26, 1775. Asbury
happened in the vicinage, preached his funeral sermon, and passed a eulogy upon him in his Journal.
The place of his sepulcher is unknown.
The historian must couple with him the name of John King, who came over from London to
America, near the close of 1770. He first appeared in Philadelphia like a stray evangelical comet. He
offered himself for license, but the officiary hesitated. He announced preaching in the Potters' Field,
over the graves of the poor. He was licensed and went to Wilmington, Del., and from thence into
Maryland, where he met and cooperated with Williams. Despite his uncultivated style and peculiar
manners as a preacher, he had notable converts. He preached at the forks of the Gunpowder River,
and James J. Baker was converted, and on his estate the third Methodist chapel in Maryland was
built, In Baltimore his first pulpit was a blacksmith's block at the intersection of Front and French
streets. His next was from a table at Baltimore and Calvert streets. Five years afterward Methodism
was strong enough in the city to entertain the Annual Conference. He was afterward received into
the regular itinerancy, and was a member of the first Conference of 1773. He labored in New Jersey
with Watters, and then was back again to Virginia with Williams. While he was yet in England,
Wesley thought him "headstrong and stubborn," and often kindly reproved him, telling him in one
of his letters, "Scream no more at the peril of your soul." He located about 1777; practiced medicine
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and preached; died at New Berne in 1794; buried in Wake County, N. C. This sextet of local
preachers laid the foundation of Methodism in America. All honor here and glory hereafter to
Strawbridge, Embury, Webb, Owens, Williams, and King,
The John Street society wrote Wesley, "Send us an able and experienced preacher." At the
Conference at Leeds, August 3, 1769, Wesley appealed for some one to go. There was no response.
A voyage to America was a serious matter in those days. The next day, however, Richard Boardman
and Joseph Pilmoor responded. The former was about thirty-one years of age, the latter was also a
young man, and both of them exceptionally useful at home, men of good abilities and fair education.
They arrived at Gloucester, six miles south of Philadelphia, October 24, 1769, after a nine weeks'
voyage on the boisterous ocean. Boardman was named as Wesley's "assistant" or superintendent. He
at once made his way to New York, preaching on the way, while Pilmoor tarried in Philadelphia,
preaching on the steps in front of the old state-house on Chestnut Street, and from the race course
judges' stand on the common, now Franklin Square, at Sixth and Race streets. Between 4000 and
5000 hearers attended. Boardman opened in New York, and at the end of five months he exchanged
with Pilmoor, and they alternated two or three times a year, after a custom of frequent changes
already inaugurated. Their frequent letters to Wesley are full of good news. They extended their
labors to various points for three or four years, Boardman going north as far as Boston, and Pilmoor
going south as far as Savannah, everywhere received with honor by the societies their predecessors
had formed as Wesley's first missionaries. There are but scant records of their itinerary, but crowds