History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

thing which I seek, a circulation of preachers. I am fixed to the Methodist plan; I am willing to
suffer, yea, to die, sooner than betray so good a cause by any means." Again he writes: "At present
I am dissatisfied. I judge we are to be shut up in the cities this winter. My brethren seem unwilling
to leave the cities, but I think I shall show them the way." Centers of population would seem to
afford the largest opportunity for usefulness, but it was not Asbury's idea. He entered upon a winter
campaign. Some months after, he wrote, "I hope that before long about seven preachers of us will
spread over seven or eight hundred miles." He kept in constant motion, and he had but little patience
with any preacher who did not do likewise. He kept his soul alive to God; this was his stimulus. He
exclaims, "I preached with life, and long to be as an ever rising flame of fire." His example stirred
up the other preachers, and the work widened north and south. Wesley kept himself in
correspondence with all these helpers, and had a willing ear and an easy credence for all that was
written him. He exercised his authority at 3000 miles distance as he did at home. In the autumn of
1772 Asbury received a commission from Wesley appointing him "Assistant" or Superintendent of
the American Societies, thus superseding Boardman, and, as far as is known, without so much as
consulting him. He was only about twenty-seven years of age. He was not slow to take charge, and
at once shaped his plans for aggression. He got upon the path of the six local preachers and set them
in motion, and in December, in the northern part of the eastern shore, he held his "quarterly
conference at J. Presbury's, in Christmas week, 1772." It was the first of which there is any account.
He adopted Wesley's method of questions and answers in the business meeting, and the moral
character of all the preachers passed except one exhorter, about whom there was some doubt.
By this time some ten or twelve native local preachers were enrolled: Richard Owens, William
Watters, Richard Webster, Nathan Perigo, Isaac Rollins, Hezekiah Bonham, Nicholas Watters, Sater
Stevenson, J. Presbury, Philip Gatch, and probably Aquila Standford and Abraham Rollins. [18]
Asbury established his headquarters at Baltimore, and his coming was hailed with delight by the little
society at Fell's Point and scattered members elsewhere. Three or four private houses were opened,
and a sail loft at the corner of Mills and Block streets was secured and soon filled with a
congregation for five o'clock preaching. He settled the classes and appointed leaders, a man for the
men and a woman for the women's class. A lot on Strawberry Alley and Fleet Street, sixty by
seventy-five feet, was purchased by a number of brethren. The following year two lots were
purchased on Lovely Lane, and a church erected. The latter was the first finished and occupied.
Asbury formed a circuit for himself of 200 miles and twenty-four appointments, traveling over it
every three weeks. Every slow-moving preacher was sure to be prodded, and they found themselves
under a military-like discipline. He received tart and complaining letters from Pilmoor and others;
he hastened to New York, preaching all along the route. He meant to be obeyed, and he did not
hesitate to face the opposition. Snethen remarks, "We always had occasion to notice that Mr. Asbury
placed his chief reliance for the ascendency of his influence upon his presence. Where trouble was,
there was he." The disaffection to his rule grew so formidable that Asbury wrote to Wesley all the
particulars from his point of view and begged Wesley to come over personally.
Captain Webb had gone to England soliciting missionaries for America, and he was now returning
with his recruits. Pilmoor had left New York the same day Asbury arrived. It may have been
designed, and it was probably well these Englishmen did not meet in the warmth of their blood.
Thomas Rankin and George Shadford were sent with Webb, as also Joseph Yearbry, a volunteer
preacher., Rankin stood high among his brethren; he was the senior in years of Asbury and esteemed