History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

unto themselves. What a procession of them there is: McCormick, Cook, Hitt, Quinn, Moriarty,
Fidler, Coleman, Lasley Matthews and Chieuverant, the last two papists, but, converted with power,
they stood like lions for their Lord. Thornton Fleming and Asa Shinn, a volume would not suffice
for each. Robert R. Roberts, Stoneman, Hunter, Shane, Dougharty, Budd, and Bostwick, the first
afterwards a Bishop of respectable parts and careful administration. Francis Poythress was a leader
in the West, and one of the most distinguished characters of Methodism. His career was one long
triumph of preaching and toil. He was held in highest estimation by Asbury, and was selected as a
probable successor. But, worn out by excessive labors, his mind broke down and he died under a
cloud of insanity, but honored by all who knew him. William McKendree won fame and souls as a
Western preacher and presiding elder until his memorable sermon before the General Conference
of 1808 made him a Bishop. The biography of this extraordinary man by Paine is another instance
of a Johnson finding a Boswell. A single sentence from Stevens' photographs the man — "if he
appeared on a camp-ground, every eye was upon him, and his word was law." Jacob Young makes
a history in himself, a perfect romance of adventure and success. Tobias Gibson, and Learner
Blackman, Kobler, and Sale, are among worthies too numerous even for mention. Asbury made five
expeditions into the wilds of the West, crossing the Alleghenies during the eight years of 1796-1804.
The sufferings of himself, McKendree, and Snethen as companion almost exceed belief. Asbury,
from sleeping in filthy houses and filthy beds, took the itch, and thus moralizes: "I do not see that
there is any security against it, but by sleeping in a brimstone shirt — poor bishop! But we must bear
it for the elect's sake. My soul is tranquil, the air is pure, and the house of God near, and Jehovah is
nearer."
In the South again and extending the period from 1808 to 1816, another group of pioneers and
leaders demand enrollment. "Methodism," says Stevens, "took ecclesiastical possession of the
South," and it is no exaggeration. In Charleston, Savannah, Richmond, and other centers of growing
population, it became entrenched. Hope Hull, Dougharty, William Capers, Thomas Lyell, and Jesse
Lee as a commanding figure, as well as the pioneer of New England Methodism. The Southwest was
invaded, hundreds of miles of virgin forest were traversed by these fearless and intrepid men,
mention being made of one such expedition; the parties to it, Ford and Kennon, slept under the trees
for thirteen nights, carrying their own provisions except as Indian supplies could be secured. Thus
Mississippi and Alabama were evangelized. Lewis Myers, William Kenneday, and James Russell
were also of the class, most of them stalwart men, six feet in stature, brawny and enduring as the
exactions of their labor demanded. A converted heart makes a clear head even in those moderately
endowed, while not a few won honors for living thoughts in burning words. Lovick and also Reddick
Pierce — The first long-lived and splendidly equipped for the work of a Methodist preacher, fills a
wide space in Southern history, not only for his intrinsic excellencies, but as the father of George R.
Pierce, afterward Bishop, — Were of this traveling host, while his brother last named "was one of
the purest of men," says Stevens, "and his word was with prevailing power." Richmond Nolly and
Samuel Dunwody must close up the long line of these Southland men, the latter the founder of
Methodism in the Mississippi Conference and farther south.
Coming back to the Middle States, Job Guest and his friend Alfred Griffith entered the itinerancy
together in 1806, and did yeoman service in their appointed fields through Virginia and Maryland.
Both of them, but conspicuously the latter, were pronounced Reformers from 1820, until the violence
of the storm of persecution led them to withdraw active support without open repudiation of their