SO far as we are able positively to determine Methodism in America originated with immigrants from Ireland. To Barbara Heck must be given the honor of delivering the first Methodist exhortation, which aroused Philip Embury to return from his backslidings to God and give himself to the work of the ministry of Methodism. Blessed be the name of Barbara Heck! An angel would rejoice to share her honors! Who can estimate the value of that earnest personal appeal to that card-playing company?
Soon a cry reached the ear of England's "flying evangelist" that a fire had been kindled in America, where thirty years before he had sought in vain to plant a Gospel the power of which he did not feel. Thomas Ball, of Charleston, speaks of the sheep in the wilderness needing a shepherd.
"They have strayed," he says, "from England into the wild woods here, and they are running wild after the world. They are drinking their wine in bowls, and are jumping and dancing, and serving the devil in groves and under the green trees. And are not these lost sheep? And will none of the preachers come here? Where is Bromfield? Where is John Pawson?
Where is Nicholas Manners? Are they living, and will they not come?"
This was the cry in and from the wilderness. A call for assistance came also from Philip Embury.
Wesley's Conference met in 1769 in Leeds. Mr. Wesley put the question: "We have a pressing call from our brethren in New York, who have built a preaching house, to come over and help them. Who is willing to go?" When was ever such a question asked, or call made, and Methodist preachers not ready to respond, "Here I am, send me"? An answer came from Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmore, who were willing to face the perils of sea and land to "save the wandering souls of men." The Conference took a collection of twenty pounds to pay their passage, and fifty pounds toward paying the debt on the "preaching house," as an expression of their love for the American brethren. Before these godly men had reached our shores Captain Webb, late from England, and barracks master at Albany, had heard of the work in New York, and, being a local preacher among the Wesleyans, joined Embury and his company and preached to the people in his military regimentals, full of faith and power--preached with a zeal which attracted hundreds to the Methodist faith.
On the arrival of Boardman and Pilmore--men of God--the work prospered.
Boardman preached in New York, extending his labors as far east as Boston. Pilmore went to Philadelphia, but extended his labors south as far as Charleston, S. C. The ministry of these holy men was greatly blessed to the people, and new societies were formed as the work extended.
Two years later Wesley made another call, and a response came from Francis Asbury and Richard Wright. And never did Providence seem to overrule in a more manifest manner than in the selection of Mr. Asbury.
But for him it does not seem that one vestige of Methodism would have survived the War of the Revolution. He navigated the Methodist ship through that fearful storm with consummate skill. It is true that he was arrested and fined twenty-five dollars for preaching, but he held his place. He was obliged to seek shelter in the hospitable home of Hon.
Thomas White, of Delaware, where he remained, partly concealed, for nearly two years. The military authorities then discovered that he was a friend and not a foe to American independence, and he was thereafter allowed to exercise his ministry without annoyance. No peril could deter him from his purpose. "In passing through the Indian country, west of the mountains," he is said to have "often encamped in the wilderness, where no one ventured to sleep except under the protection of a trustworthy sentinel." He possessed the zeal, industry, and patience of an apostle. He may truly be said to be the father of American Methodism.
He lived in the affections of a grateful people and walked in the constant light of perfect love.
On his coming to America he found only 14 itinerant ministers, with a few local preachers, and 371 members. At his death there were nearly 700 itinerants, 2,000 local preachers, and 214,000 members. When unable to preach but little he filled his carriage with Bibles and Testaments, and scattered them as he went, saying, "Whatever I have been doing heretofore, now I know I am sowing good seed."
DR. THOMAS COKE.
This is a name that must ever stand high in the annals of American Methodism. Born in Wales in 1747, a graduate of Oxford University, and settled over South Petherton Parish, Somersetshire, he became acquainted with the Methodists, and, imbibing their spirit, his ministry became truly spiritual and faithful--so much so that it excited so much opposition that he was dismissed from his curacy. He naturally sought counsel of Wesley. Mr. Wesley says, August 18, 1776: "I went to Kingston with Mr. Brown. Here I found a clergyman, Dr. Coke, late a gentleman and commoner of Jesus College, Oxford, who came twenty miles on purpose to see me. I had much conversation with him, and a union then began which I trust shall never end." Dr. Coke was of great service to Mr.
Wesley in many ways, preaching in London and in other parts of England and Ireland, and under Mr. Wesley's direction he held the Irish Conference in 1782.
In 1784 Dr. Coke was ordained by Mr. Wesley as general superintendent and sent to America, with Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vassey, to establish a Methodist Church, and to ordain Francis Asbury to the same office of superintendent that they might conjointly take charge of the American work. They arrived in America in 1784, and, having conferred with Mr. Asbury and other ministers, a general convention of ministers was called, to meet on Christmas, for the purpose of organizing the Church.
They assembled in Baltimore, and decided to organize an independent Church to be called the "Methodist Episcopal Church." They elected Dr.
Coke and Francis Asbury bishops instead of general superintendents. And so, on that Christmas Day, 1784, the Methodist Episcopal Church became a fact for all coming time.
Dr. Coke has the honor of being the first Protestant bishop in America, with the exception of some visitors who had been sent here by the Moravians.
Dr. Coke very soon returned to England. He designed, at first, to make America his home; but such were the urgent necessities of the work in England, especially after the death of Wesley, that the General Conference permitted him to remain there, but not to exercise his episcopal functions outside of America. He resided for many years in England. He established missions in the West India Islands. He presided for many years in the Irish Conference, and frequently in England. He made several visits to the United States, the last being in 1804. On that occasion he went as far east as Boston, spending a full week in Providence, R. I. An incident illustrating his humility and undying love for the Church of his choice occurred on his visit to Providence. A gentleman in New York had requested James Burrill, Esq., a lawyer and a highly respectable citizen of Providence, to receive Dr. Coke with the honors due an English bishop, though he was not an English bishop. Rev.
Thomas Lyell accompanied Dr. Coke from Newport to Providence. A crowd had assembled on the wharf to see and welcome a bishop. Arrangements had been made for Dr. Coke's entertainment at the palatial residence of John Enos Clark, Esq., a wealthy citizen of Providence, and Mr. Clark's carriage was in waiting. As Dr. Coke landed he inquired of Messrs. Clark and Burrell if there were any Methodists in the town. They knew of none.
Mr. Shubal Cady, the class leader, being present, came forward and said, "There is a small class." He then asked, "Where do the Methodist preachers stop when they come to town?" He was informed that they stopped with Mr. Benjamin Turpin, a Quaker gentleman. Dr. Coke then expressed a desire to stop there, if convenient. Mr. Turpin, being present, assured him that he would be pleased to entertain him, though his accommodations were greatly inferior to those of Mr. Clark. Mr.
Clark's carriage conveyed the bishop to the residence of Mr. Turpin, where he remained during his stay in Providence.
Dr. Coke was invited to preach in the churches. But before he consented he inquired where the Methodist ministers preached when they came to town. Being told that they preached in an old Town House, he refused all other invitations until he had first preached where they did. He knew that Methodism was weak and despised in Providence, and he was determined that the Methodists should receive the benefit first of whatever influence his position gave him. With him it was Methodism first, then a world-wide fraternity with all the family of God.
The missionary spirit dominated Dr. Coke. "He was himself a missionary society." In all his journeys he paid his own expenses. At the age of nearly seventy he proposed to the Wesleyan Conference to go personally to the East Indies and establish a mission. The Conference objected on account of expense. He offered to bear the entire expense himself, to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, and the Conference finally consented. He selected six men to accompany him, and sailed for the Indies. A few days before they expected to land Dr. Coke was found dead one morning in his stateroom. The mission was established, though Dr.
Coke was with the glorified. He was buried in the Indian Ocean, where, in after years, Dr. Judson, the great Baptist missionary, rested from his labors.
It has been said, "No man in Methodism, except Wesley, did more for the extension of the work through the world than Dr. Coke." Mr. Asbury says, "He was a minister of Christ, in zeal, in labor, and in services, the greatest man of the last century."
Bishop Asbury continued his labors with marvelous success until March, 1816, when, in great weakness, he preached his last sermon, Sunday, March 24. Hoping to attend the General Conference, which met in Baltimore, May 1, he succeeded in reaching Spottsylvania, and there, on the afternoon of the following Sunday, he fell asleep in Jesus. Dr.
Coke died three years before Mr. Asbury. These were great, good, and honored men.
Methodism spread from its first introduction. Robert Strawbridge, accompanied by Robert Williams and John King, was the first to enter Maryland. Captain Webb was the first to introduce Methodism into Pennsylvania. Freeborn Garrettson, assisted by William Black, was the first to enter New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Boardman, Jesse Lee, and Freeborn Garrettson were the first to enter New England, including Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Francis Clark, a local preacher, was the first to enter Kentucky, in 1782. The first Conference preachers were James Haw and Benjamin Ogden. We do not know who first entered Indiana. Lorenzo Dow was the first to carry Methodism into Alabama, in 1803 or 1804. Jesse Lee was the first to enter Florida, then Spanish, in 1807; he crossed the St. Mary's River in a small boat, knelt down in the woods, and implored God to claim the territory for himself. In 1823 J. N. Gallen was appointed to St. Augustine. E. W.
Bowman was the first to enter Louisiana, in 1805, where the people were said to know "nothing of God or religion." Joseph Pilmore was first to enter South Carolina, in 1773; in 1785, Asbury, not to speak of Wesley, in 1736. In 1769 Robert Williams, a local preacher, was first to enter Virginia and preach his first sermon at Norfolk. Joseph Tillard was the first Methodist preacher to enter Illinois; he formed the first class.
Nathan Bangs preached the first Methodist sermon in Detroit, Mich., and William Mitchell organized the first class. Beverly Allen preached first in Georgia, in 1785. In 1835 L. Stevens entered Iowa. In 1849 William Roberts and J. H. Wilber, on their way to Oregon, spent some time in San Francisco, and in 1849 Isaac Owen and William Taylor were sent as missionaries to California. Wisconsin first heard the Gospel from John Clark.
We have thus given the dates of the introduction of Methodism into the several States, and the names of the preachers so far as we are able to ascertain. There may be some mistakes in these dates and names, but they are substantially correct.
But this work was not prosecuted without fearful persecution. Not all suffered equally. Freeborn Garrettson, in a letter to Mr. Wesley, says: "Once I was imprisoned, twice beaten, left on the highway speechless and senseless (I must have gone to the world of spirits had not God sent a good samaritan that took me to a friend's house); once shot at; guns and pistols presented to my breast; once delivered from an armed mob, in the dead of night, on the highway by a flash of lightning; surrounded frequently by mobs; stoned frequently. I have had to escape for my life at the dead of night. O, shall I ever forget the divine Hand which has supported me?" Of his sufferings and labors in Nova Scotia he writes: "I have traveled mountains and valleys frequently on foot, with my knapsack on my back, guided by Indian paths in the wilderness when it was not expedient to take a horse; and I had often to wade through morasses, half a leg deep in mud and water, frequently satisfying my hunger with a piece of bread and pork from my knapsack, quenching my thirst from a brook, and resting my weary limbs on the leaves of the trees. Thanks be to God! He compensated me for all my trials, for many precious souls were awakened and converted to God." These holy men cared not how they lived, what trials they endured, what hardships they suffered, so that souls were won to Christ. These were but few of their sufferings.
One has said: "They braved the rigors of severe winters, and the perils of flood and forest; they slumbered on hardest pillows and housed in lowliest hovels. But in their work they were joyous; in their trials they were patient; in their homes they were contented; in their journeyings the woods echoed their songs; in their pulpits they had power with man; in their persecutions they prayed for their enemies; in their old age they testify they have not followed 'cunningly devised fables;' in their death hour they are borne up on their shields, 'where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.' And in their final home, 'These are they who came up out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; thenceforth they are before the throne.'" We are now reaping the fruit of their toil and enjoying the rich heritage they have bequeathed to us.
CHAPTER XVII.
WESLEY APPROACHING THE CLOSE OF LIFE.
THOUGH persecution and opposition followed John Wesley from the day he lifted up a standard of holiness within the classic walls of Oxford to the hour that God's chariot bore him to the city of the Great King, he never faltered in his purpose nor abated his zeal for an hour. As his end drew near, the opposition which had been so relentless began to give way. In many places it became greatly modified, and in others nearly extinct. That a great change had come began to be manifest in public opinion and feeling. Mob violence, which once swept everything, had entirely subsided, and towns and cities which once welcomed him with brickbats and rotten eggs now hailed him as the greatest of modern evangelists. Many who bade him depart out of their coasts as a crazy fanatic now thought it an honor to welcome him as a man of many virtues and unparalleled labors. In 1789, visiting Falmouth, Mr. Wesley says: "The last time I was here, above forty years ago, I was taken prisoner by an immense mob, gaping and roaring like lions. But how is the tide turned! High and low now lined the street, from one end of the town to the other, out of stark love, gaping and staring as if the king were going by."
Wesley outlived all his early colaborers. He saw them fall one by one, until he stood alone of them all, waiting and watching, but pressing toward the mark for the prize.
The first to fall was the zealous, deeply consecrated, and profoundly intellectual Walsh, at the age of twenty-eight, one of the best biblical scholars of his day. His last words were, "He's come! He's come!" and a cloud received him from human sight. Of him Wesley said: "Such a master of Bible knowledge I never saw before and never expect to see again. If he was questioned concerning any Hebrew word in the Old, or any Greek word in the New, Testament, he could tell, after a little pause, not only how often the one or the other occurred in the Bible, but also what it meant in every place."
Next to follow him was the earnest, fearless, honest Grimshaw, exclaiming: "I am happy as I can be in this world, and as sure of heaven as though I were there. I have my foot on the threshold already."
Next fell Whitefield, in America, one of the most eloquent and effective preachers that ever lifted up his voice among men, by which Wesley was greatly moved.
Then followed the amiable, venerable Perronet, of Shoreham, whom Charles Wesley was wont to call "the Archbishop of Methodism."
Then fell the most saintly man of his time--a real translation--the seraphic Fletcher, shouting, "God is love! O, for a gust of praise to go to the ends of the earth!" Mr. Wesley says of him: "For many years I despaired of finding an inhabitant of Great Britain that could stand in any degree of comparison with Gregory Lopez or Mons. de Renty. But let any impartial person judge if Mr. Fletcher was at all inferior to them.
Did he not experience deep communion with God, and as high a measure of inward holiness as was experienced by either one or the other of those burning and shining lights? And it is certain his outward light shone before men with full as bright a luster as theirs. I was intimately acquainted with him for thirty years. I conversed with him morning, noon, and night, without the least reserve, during a journey of many hundred miles, and in all that time I never heard him speak an improper word or saw him do an improper action. To conclude, within fourscore years I have known many excellent men, holy in heart and life, but one equal to him I have not known; one so uniformly and deeply devoted to God, so unblamable a man in every respect I have not found either in Europe or America. Nor do I expect to find another such on this side eternity."
[Illustration: THE ROOM IN WHICH WESLEY DIED.]
Next came the sad tidings of the death of his brother Charles, but little, if at all, inferior to Whitefield as a preacher, and whose sacred lyrics will live so long as human hearts are melted and charmed by the power of song. Just before the silver cord was loosed he requested his wife to write--it was his last:
"In age and feebleness extreme, Who shall a sinful worm redeem?
Jesus, my only hope thou art, Strength of my failing flesh and heart: O could I catch one smile from thee, And drop into eternity!"
At the very moment that Charles was bidding adieu to earth John was at Shropshire, and the congregation was engaged in singing:
"Come, let us join our friends above That have obtained the prize, And on the eagle wings of love To joys celestial rise.
Let all the saints terrestrial sing, With those to glory gone; For all the servants of our King, In earth and heaven, are one.
"One family we dwell in him, One church above, beneath, Though now divided by the stream, The narrow stream, of death.
One army of the living God, To his command we bow; Part of his host have crossed the flood, And part are crossing now."
Thus friend after friend departed, but Wesley pressed forward with a zeal which knew no abatement until eighty and seven years had passed over him.
On his last birthday he writes: "This day I enter into my eighty-eighth year. For above eighty-six years I found none of the infirmities of old age; my eye did not wax dim, neither was my natural strength abated. But last August I found almost a sudden change--my eyes were so dim that no glasses would help me; my strength likewise quite forsook me and probably will not return in this world. But I feel no pain from head to foot, only it seems nature is exhausted, and, humanly speaking, will sink more and more till
'The weary springs of life stand still at last.'"