{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_76653/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_76653","id":"gutenberg_76653","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76653","summary":null,"tags":["Boehm, Henry, 1775-1875","Category: Biographies","Category: History - American","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Methodism"],"text":"[Illustration: Eng. by A. R. Ritchie.\n\nyours affectionately\n\nHenry Boehm\n\nb. June 8, 1775--d. 1875.]\n\n\n\n\n                                    THE\n                      PATRIARCH OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS;\n\n                                   BEING\n                              REMINISCENCES,\n                       HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL,\n                                    OF\n                             REV. HENRY BOEHM.\n\n                        BY REV. J. B. WAKELEY, D.D.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n      With several additional chapters, containing an Account of the\n            Exercises on his One Hundredth Birthday; his Sermon\n            before the Newark Conference and the Addresses then\n               delivered; his Centennial Sermons in Trinity\n                  Church, Jersey City, and in John-street\n                           Church, New York, and\n                           The Addresses made on\n                             those occasions,\n                        PHONOGRAPHICALLY REPORTED.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                                 NEW YORK:\n                            NELSON & PHILLIPS.\n                      CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK & WALDEN.\n                                   1875.\n\n        Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by\n                             CARLTON & PORTER,\n in the Clerk\u2019s Office of the District Court of the United States for the\n                      Southern District of New York.\n\n\n\n\n                                    TO\n                          THOMAS A. MORRIS, D.D.,\n                                    AND\n                              HIS COLLEAGUES,\n                                    THE\n                BISHOPS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH,\n                                    THE\n                WORTHY SUCCESSORS OF THE APOSTOLIC ASBURY,\n                                    IS\n                                THIS VOLUME\n                       MOST AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED\n                                    BY\n                               HENRY BOEHM.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nFor many years, and by many persons, including bishops, editors, and\nothers, I have been importuned to publish the substance of my records\nand recollections of the Methodism of my day. It was judged that my\ngreat age, my intimate relations with Bishop Asbury, and my acquaintance\nwith other pioneers and fathers of the Church, would enable me thus\nto preserve much desirable information which would otherwise soon be\nforgotten.\n\nIn 1847 the New Jersey Conference took action on the subject, and\nappointed a committee to confer with me in respect to my journals and\nother papers, and aid in preparing them for publication. The committee\nwas a very competent one, but the members were too widely separated for\nany effectual result. I had concluded to abandon the design, and this\nvolume would probably never have seen the light had not the Rev. J. B.\nWakeley come to my help.\n\nFor the materials of the work I had a manuscript journal of two thousand\npages. This we went over together, reviewing all my fields of labor, and\ndrawing additional particulars from the storehouse of memory, Brother\nWakeley performing the work of transcribing, arranging, and revising.\nThus the journal furnished the warp and recollection the filling of\nwhat is before the reader in the shape of a book. In this way we were\nemployed, at different times, during a period of twelve years, so that if\nthe work has been poorly done it has not been through undue haste or the\nsparing of labor or pains.\n\nNext year is the centenary of American Methodism, and this volume is a\nconnecting link between the present and the origin of our Church, for\nI have heard Robert Strawbridge, who laid the foundation of Methodism\nin Maryland nearly a hundred years ago. From it the reader may get a\ngood idea of primitive Methodism, and learn how our fathers toiled and\n\u201cendured hardness as good soldiers,\u201d and some, I trust, will catch their\nspirit of labor and self-denial for Christ and the Church.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n  CHAPTER                                                             PAGE\n\n        I. MY ANCESTORS AND MY EARLY DAYS                                9\n\n       II. SKETCHES OF EARLY PREACHERS                                  19\n\n      III. BOEHM\u2019S CHAPEL                                               30\n\n       IV. GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1800                                   35\n\n        V. PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE\u2014GREAT REVIVALS\u2014BARRATT\u2019S CHAPEL      44\n\n       VI. MY FIRST CIRCUIT, DORCHESTER                                 57\n\n      VII. MY SECOND CIRCUIT, ANNAMESSEX, 1802                          65\n\n     VIII. KENT, BRISTOL, AND NORTHAMPTON CIRCUITS                      75\n\n       IX. PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE, 1803\u2014BRISTOL CIRCUIT                88\n\n        X. SHORT TOUR WITH BISHOP ASBURY, 1803                         100\n\n       XI. DAUPHIN CIRCUIT, 1803-4                                     106\n\n      XII. BALTIMORE AND PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCES, 1805\u2014ST. MARTIN\u2019S\n             CIRCUIT                                                   118\n\n     XIII. FIRST CAMP-MEETING ON THE PENINSULA, 1805                   128\n\n      XIV. DOVER CIRCUIT, 1806\u2014SICKNESS AND DEATH OF BISHOP WHATCOAT   137\n\n       XV. DOVER CIRCUIT\u2014GREAT CAMP-MEETINGS                           147\n\n      XVI. MISSIONARIES, 1807                                          161\n\n     XVII. DOCTOR ROMER AND THE GERMAN METHODIST DISCIPLINE            173\n\n    XVIII. GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1808                                  180\n\n      XIX. FIRST ANNUAL TOUR WITH BISHOP ASBURY, 1808                  186\n\n       XX. FIRST VISIT TO THE SOUTH                                    209\n\n      XXI. NORTHERN TOUR\u2014VIRGINIA AND BALTIMORE CONFERENCES            220\n\n     XXII. FIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK CITY\u2014NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND\n             CONFERENCES                                               234\n\n    XXIII. SECOND ANNUAL TOUR\u2014WESTERN AND SOUTHERN CONFERENCES         254\n\n     XXIV. TOUR TO VIRGINIA, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCES   273\n\n      XXV. NEW ENGLAND AND GENESEE CONFERENCES OF 1810                 289\n\n     XXVI. ANNUAL TOUR, 1810\u2014WESTERN CONFERENCE                        310\n\n    XXVII. TOUR TO SOUTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE                           322\n\n   XXVIII. VIRGINIA, BALTIMORE, PHILADELPHIA, AND NEW ENGLAND\n             CONFERENCES                                               333\n\n     XXIX. BISHOP ASBURY\u2019S FIRST VISIT TO CANADA                       348\n\n      XXX. FOURTH WESTERN AND SOUTHERN TOUR\u2014CONFERENCES OF 1811        363\n\n     XXXI. DEATH, FUNERAL, AND CHARACTER OF REV. MARTIN BOEHM          372\n\n    XXXII. THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST\u2014SKETCH OF OTTERBEIN, ETC.     387\n\n   XXXIII. PHILADELPHIA AND GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1812                 394\n\n    XXXIV. NEW YORK, NEW ENGLAND, AND GENESEE CONFERENCES              399\n\n     XXXV. MY LAST TOUR WITH BISHOP ASBURY                             405\n\n    XXXVI. SCHUYLKILL DISTRICT, 1813-14                                416\n\n   XXXVII. CHESAPEAKE DISTRICT\u2014GOVERNOR BASSETT\u2019S DEATH AND CHARACTER  424\n\n  XXXVIII. GENERAL CONFERENCE\u2014ASBURY\u2019S FUNERAL, ETC.                   430\n\n    XXXIX. BISHOP ASBURY\u2014CHARACTER AND HABITS                          438\n\n       XL. DEATH OF JESSE LEE\u2014HIS CHARACTER                            460\n\n      XLI. CHESAPEAKE DISTRICT\u2014TOURS WITH BISHOPS GEORGE AND\n             M\u2019KENDREE                                                 466\n\n     XLII. DELAWARE DISTRICT, 1819-21\u2014THOMAS AND EDWARD WHITE\u2014JOSHUA\n             THOMAS\u2014CIRCUITS                                           472\n\n   XLIII. LAST VISIT TO MY NATIVE PLACE\u2014WESTERN TOUR                   481\n\n\n\n\nREMINISCENCES OF REV. HENRY BOEHM.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nMY ANCESTORS AND MY EARLY DAYS.\n\n\nMy forefathers were from Switzerland. There is romance in their\nhistory as well as in the land of their birth. Jacob Boehm, my\ngreat-great-grandfather, was a Presbyterian. His son Jacob learned\na trade. It was a custom in Switzerland for all who completed their\napprenticeship to travel three years through the country as itinerant\njourneymen. The design was to make them finished workmen; and no man\ncould enter into business for himself, no matter how well qualified,\nuntil he pursued this course.\n\nIn his wanderings Jacob fell in with a people called _Pietists_. In\nmany respects they resembled the Puritans. He was converted among them.\nThe change was so great when he returned home, his language so strange,\nthat his friends could not understand him. \u201cThe natural man receiveth\nnot the things of the Spirit of God.\u201d His singular experience, his\nexposure of formal religion, his boldness in reproving sin, raised a\nstorm of persecution. The minister withstood him, and denounced him as a\nheretic. His answers were so pertinent that his father gave him a severe\nreprimand, inquiring, \u201cBoy, do you answer a minister in that way?\u201d The\nChurch exercised civil as well as ecclesiastical authority, and young\nBoehm was convicted of heresy, and sentenced to prison. An elder brother\nwas appointed to conduct him to the prison-house. He did not watch his\nbrother very closely, and as they were near the line that separated\nSwitzerland from France the prisoner crossed over, and was forever free\nfrom his domestic and priestly persecutors.\n\nHe journeyed along the banks of the Rhine till he entered the Dukedom of\nPfaltz. This was the Palatinate bordering on Belgium. From this region\nwere the ancestors of Philip Embury. There young Jacob became acquainted\nwith a people called Mennonites. They took their name from Menno Simon,\nwho was cotemporary with Luther. They were a simple-hearted people, and\nhe united with them, and became a lay elder. He had several children,\nof whom Jacob, the third, was my grandfather. He was born in 1693, and\nemigrated to this country in 1715. Many of the Mennonites emigrated from\nSwitzerland and Germany.\n\nMy grandfather was induced to come to America from the glowing\ndescription given of this country by Martin Kendig, one of the seven\nfamilies who had settled in what is now Lancaster County, Pa. He landed\nin Philadelphia, from thence went to Germantown, then to Lancaster, and\nfinally settled in Pequea, Conestoga Township. Soon afterward he married\na Miss Kendig. My grandfather was a lay elder in the Mennonite Society.\n\nSoon after his arrival he bought a farm and built him a house. He was\nalso a blacksmith, the first in all that region. His wife was very\nindustrious, and when necessary, she would leave her work and blow and\nstrike for him. I recollect him well. When I was five years old he walked\nover the fields showing me various things, and trying to entertain me.\nNot knowing anything about the infirmities of age, I wondered why he did\nnot walk faster. He died in 1780, aged eighty-seven. My grandmother was\nan excellent woman, particularly fond of me because I was the youngest\ngrandchild. They had a number of sons and daughters. My father, Martin\nBoehm, was the youngest. He was born November 30, 1725, and married in\n1753 to Eve Steiner, who was born on Christmas day, 1734. Her ancestors\nwere from Switzerland, and settled near my grandfather\u2019s.\n\nMy father inherited my grandfather\u2019s beautiful farm, and in 1750 built\nhim a house, in which his children were all born, and where many have\nbeen born again. He was a short, stout man, with a vigorous constitution,\nan intellectual countenance, and a fine flowing beard, which gave him a\npatriarchal appearance. He had strong common sense, and well understood\nthe science of family government. The order and discipline of the family\nattracted the attention of the apostolic Asbury, and he made mention of\nit in preaching my father\u2019s funeral sermon.\n\nMartin Boehm was first a Mennonite preacher, for he embraced the religion\nof his fathers. He was made so by lot in 1756, for such was the custom of\nthis singular people. For some time he preached without a knowledge of\nsins forgiven; but in 1761 he found redemption in the blood of the Lamb,\nand then he became a flame of fire, and preached with the Holy Ghost\nsent down from heaven. His success was wonderful, and the seals to his\nministry were numerous. Then the Mennonites expelled him for being too\nevangelical. He then joined the United Brethren, and afterward became a\nmember of the Methodist Episcopal Church.\n\nMy mother was a noble woman, and to my parents I am, under God, indebted\nfor what I am on earth, and all I hope to be in heaven.\n\n\nMY EARLY DAYS.\n\nI was born in the old homestead, in the township of Conestoga,[1]\nLancaster County, Pa., on the 8th of June, 1775. This was immediately\nafter the battle of Lexington, and one year before the Declaration of\nIndependence. Thus I saw the birth of our nation, and have lived under\nthe first President, George Washington, and sixteen of his successors,\nto Andrew Johnson. I was born nine years before the Methodist Episcopal\nChurch was organized, and have known all its bishops, from Thomas Coke,\nthe first, to Calvin Kingsley, the last elected. My memory goes back\nover eighty years. I recollect when they traveled out West to Fort Pitt,\nnow Pittsburgh, on \u201cpack horses.\u201d The roads, if we may call them roads,\nfor they were mere paths through the wilderness, were so rough that they\ncould not be traveled any other way.\n\nLike my father, I was the youngest child. There were seven older than\nmyself, and four of them had grown up to manhood before I was born. I\nhad a common school education. The old school-house and my schoolmaster,\nHenry Rosman, I well remember. He went from house to house, and it was\na great occasion when he came to my father\u2019s to board. He was quite a\ncharacter, a perfect original. He came from Hesse Cassel, and was one of\nthe Hessian soldiers taken prisoner at Trenton, N. J., when Washington\nand his noble band crossed the frozen Delaware and surprised Colonel\nRalle and his troops and took them prisoners, while their commander was\nslain. Many of the Hessians had come to this country contrary to their\nown will to fight against America, and they preferred remaining here to\nreturning to Europe. A number of them were sent to Lancaster County, and\namong the rest my old schoolmaster. He possessed many rare qualifications\nfor an instructor. He was a thorough German scholar, and had mastered the\nEnglish language. His school was kept in perfect order; every scholar\nknew his place, and was obliged to keep it. The teacher prayed in school,\nand taught the children short prayers. Like Ichabod Crane, he sung psalms\nand hymns, and we learned to sing them. Some of the German hymns which\nhe taught me to sing over eighty years ago I still remember well. To him\nI am indebted for my accurate knowledge of the German language, which\nI learned before the English. Germans have often admired my correct\npronunciation of their vernacular. They said it was pure, and not mixed\nwith other dialects, like the Pennsylvania German. In after years it was\na great benefit to me when I preached in German. I was one of the first\namong the Methodists that preached in that language. This I have done in\nfourteen different states. Some things which I wrote in German over sixty\nyears ago I have preserved, and am surprised to find them so correct. I\nwas a great favorite with Mr. Rosman, and he took delight in giving me\ninstruction.\n\nThe little old school-house still remains, but where are the scholars\nand the teachers? When, after an absence of many years, I paid a visit\nto my native town in 1856, I inquired for my old schoolfellows, hoping\nto find one with whom I could converse about by-gone days. I inquired in\nvain. They were all gone, and I found myself alone and lonely. Dilworth\u2019s\nspelling-book, from which I learned English, and the knife and fork I\nused when a very little boy, I have preserved as relics of my childhood.\n\nOnce in my early days I went to the theater in Philadelphia. I had\nheard much of the theater, and I wanted to see what it was. I got\nalong very well until mimic thunder and lightning was brought in to\nillustrate the play. When I saw and heard this I was shocked. It seemed\nto me so irreverent and presumptuous that I thought the Almighty in\nhis displeasure would send real thunder and lightning to terrify those\nimitators. I expected to hear the deep-toned thunder, and to see the\nvivid lightning flash over my guilty head. I prayed, and promised God, if\nhe would only spare me to get out of the house and return safely home, I\nwould never enter such a place again. That was my first and last visit to\nthe theater.\n\n\nRELIGIOUS EXERCISES.\n\nMy early advantages for religious instruction were great. I was \u201cbrought\nup in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.\u201d Morning and evening the\nold family Bible was read, and prayer was offered. My father\u2019s voice\nstill echoes in my ears. My mother, too, had much to do in moulding my\ncharacter and shaping my destiny. One evening as I returned home I heard\na familiar voice engaged in prayer. I listened: it was my mother. Among\nother things, she prayed for her children, and mentioned Henry, her\nyoungest son. The mention of my name broke my heart, and melted me into\ncontrition. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I felt the importance of\ncomplying with the command of God: \u201cMy son, give me thine heart.\u201d\n\nThere lived in my father\u2019s family a wicked man who had a peculiar\nhatred against the Methodists, and he prejudiced me against them by his\nmisrepresentations. This had a soul-withering influence on me. I lost my\ntender feelings, and neglected the means of grace. \u201cOne sinner destroyeth\nmuch good.\u201d Sinners enticed me to sin and I consented.\n\nIn the year 1790, when I was about fifteen, I went to learn the milling\nbusiness, and worked in a grist mill. There I had no religious counsel\nor example. What a critical period it is when a young man leaves home!\nI went into bad company, supposing my father would not hear of it; but\nI was mistaken. He did hear of my conduct, and came to see me. When I\nsaw him I suspected his errand. A guilty conscience needs no accuser.\nThe plain, solemn, and affecting reproof he gave me at that time had a\nwonderful effect upon me. His quivering lip, tearful eye, and tremulous\nvoice showed how deeply he felt for me. Shame crimsoned my cheeks. His\ncounsel was not lost, but it terminated in deep conviction for sin. My\nsoul was burdened, and, almost in despair, I prayed,\n\n  \u201cShow pity, Lord, O Lord, forgive;\n  Let a repenting rebel live.\n  Are not thy mercies large and free?\n  May not a sinner trust in thee?\u201d\n\nWhen my father left I went into the upper loft of the mill, and on my\nknees, in an agony of deep distress, I cried, \u201cGod be merciful to me\na sinner.\u201d \u201cJesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.\u201d I had a view\nof the atonement of the Son of God. By faith I realized my interest in\nit, and in a moment I felt my heart strangely warmed. My conscience was\nassured of its part in the atoning blood, and God sent forth the spirit\nof his Son into my heart crying, \u201cAbba, Father.\u201d This was in February,\n1793.\n\nI lived near the Lord, and enjoyed a great deal of comfort for some time;\nbut I fell into a sad error. As I was converted alone away from the\nChurch the enemy suggested that I could get along without uniting with\nGod\u2019s people. I yielded, and this error was like to have ruined me. I\nenlarge here because many have yielded to a similar temptation and been\nlost to the Church and lost to heaven. The lambs of the flock cannot\ntoo soon enter the fold. In apostolic times converts did not first try\nthe experiment whether they could get along without uniting with the\nChurch. On the day of Pentecost the three thousand who were \u201cpricked in\ntheir hearts\u201d under the preaching of Peter were baptized and united with\nthe Church that day. So with the jailer; he was converted, baptized, and\nunited with the Church that very night in Philippi, when Paul and Silas\nprayed, and sang praises to God. This was the course pursued in the days\nof the apostles. I would advise young persons not to imitate my example.\nNever try to see if you can get along without the Church. _The Church\ncan get along without you, but you cannot get along without the Church._\nPlace yourself under her care as soon as possible. Confess Christ before\nmen, and he will confess you before his Father and the holy angels.\n\nThe consequence of my error was that I lost my spiritual enjoyment. My\ncourse was zig-zag. I ran forward, then stood still, then went backward.\nI was not a member of the Church, therefore was not under her watch-care,\nand I had no opportunity to improve the talents God had given me. I told\nno one I was converted. Instead of letting my light shine before men I\nresolved to hide it. Sad mistake! Thus I continued five long years. These\nwere lost years: lost to myself, lost to the Church, and lost to the\nworld. There is nothing in my early history I regret so much as the loss\nof these five years; a loss that tears and prayers cannot recall, for\ntime once lost is gone forever.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nSKETCHES OF EARLY PREACHERS.\n\n\nThe Methodist fathers were self-sacrificing men, who possessed great\nvirtues, and performed heroic deeds. Many of them are now unknown except\nby their names. Those who knew them personally are nearly all numbered\namong the dead. I knew most of them, and will give a sketch of a few of\nthose who found their way into the rural districts of Lancaster County,\nPa.\n\nROBERT STRAWBRIDGE, the apostle of Methodism in Maryland, is a name\nprominent in the early annals of American Methodism. We are indebted to\nIreland for Robert Strawbridge as well as for Philip Embury. I heard\nStrawbridge preach at my father\u2019s house in 1781, and am the only man\nnow living that has a personal recollection of him. Though I was then\nquite small, his image is still before me. He was a stout, heavy man,\nand looked as if he was built for service. My father was much pleased\nwith him and his preaching. He was agreeable company, full of interesting\nanecdotes. Many times I have been to the old log meeting-house he erected\nin Maryland, concerning which so much has been said and written, and\naround which so many interests cluster. He died in August of the same\nyear I heard him, and his spiritual son, Richard Owings,[2] preached his\nfuneral sermon from Rev. xiv, 13. No monument marks the place where his\ndust is sleeping. I hope this will not be said after the celebration\nof the first centenary of American Methodism, for his name will be\nprominently connected with it.\n\nAnother of these pioneers was BENJAMIN ABBOTT, who early visited my\nfather\u2019s house. He was indeed a son of thunder, and preached with\nexceeding power. This was the only ministerial tour he made through\nPennsylvania, and he went like a flame of fire. My father had a very\nexalted opinion of Mr. Abbott, and felt it an honor to entertain him as\nhis guest and listen to his powerful sermons.\n\nMr. Abbott wrote his life, and in it he describes his visit to my\nfather\u2019s, his preaching, and the wonderful results that followed. I\nprefer he should give it in his own peculiar style.\n\n\u201cAt Boehm\u2019s we found a large congregation. When I came to my application\nthe power of the Lord came in such a manner that the people fell all\nabout the house, and their cries might be heard afar off. This alarmed\nthe wicked, who sprang for the doors in such haste that they fell over\none another in heaps. The cry of mourners was so great that I thought\nto give out a hymn to drown the noise, and desired one of our English\nfriends to raise it; but as soon as he began to sing the power of the\nLord struck him, and he pitched under the table, and there lay like a\ndead man. I gave it out again, and asked another to raise it. As soon as\nhe attempted he fell also. I then made the third attempt, and the power\nof God came upon me in such a manner that I cried out and was amazed. I\nthen saw that I was fighting against God, and did not attempt to sing\nagain.\n\n\u201cMr. Boehm, the owner of the house, and a preacher among the Germans,\ncried out, \u2018I never saw God in this way before.\u2019 I replied, \u2018This is\na pentecost, father.\u2019 \u2018Yes, be sure,\u2019 said he, clapping his hands, \u2018a\npentecost, be sure.\u2019 Prayer was all through the house, up stairs and\ndown. I desired Mr. Boehm to go to prayer. He did so, and five or six of\nus did the same.\n\n\u201cA watch-night having been appointed for that evening, and seeing no\nprospect of this meeting being over, although it had begun at eleven\no\u2019clock, I told Mr. Boehm we had best quietly withdraw from the\nmeeting-house. When we had got out of the door a young man came out and\nlaid hold upon the fence to support himself from falling, and there cried\namain for God to have mercy upon him. \u2018To be sure,\u2019 said Mr. Boehm, \u2018I\nnever saw God in this way before.\u2019 We exhorted him to look to God, and\nnot to give up the struggle, and God would bless him before he left the\nplace.\n\n\u201cI took the old gentleman by the arm, and we went quietly to the house\nto get some dinner. About five o\u2019clock a messenger came from the\npreaching-house requesting that I would go there immediately, for there\nwas a person dying. We went without delay. I went up stairs, and there\nlay several about the floor in like manner. I then went to see the\nperson said to be dying. She lay gasping. I kneeled down to pray, but it\nwas instantly given me that God had converted her soul, and therefore,\ninstead of praying for her deliverance, I gave God thanks that he had\ndelivered her, and immediately she arose and praised God for what he had\ndone for her soul. A young German came to me and clasped me in his arms,\nbut could not speak English that I could understand.\n\n\u201cI then retired to the house and consulted with Mr. Boehm who should\npreach in the evening, for I thought it would be best for one of the\nGerman preachers to speak first, there being several of them present. The\nrumor having run through the neighborhood of the power of God through the\nday, we had a very large congregation in the evening, to whom one of the\nGerman preachers preached. It appeared to me he spoke with life. Then Mr.\nBoehm gave an exhortation in the German language, and after him a young\nman gave a warm exhortation in the same tongue. Then I arose and hardly\nknew how to speak, there had been so much said, and it was now growing\nlate. However I spoke, and the Lord laid to his helping hand as he had\ndone in the day time. Divers fled, and made their way out of the house,\nand then it appeared as if there were none left but what were earnestly\nengaged in prayer; some praising God, and others crying for mercy. I told\nMr. Boehm that I should not be fit for the duties of the ensuing day if\nI did not retire, so we went to the house about twelve o\u2019clock and took\nsome refreshment and went to bed. In the morning I found the people were\nstill engaged, and had been all night. I went to the house about sun an\nhour high, where I found about one dozen still engaged in prayer. I told\nthem we ought to begin to prepare for the other meeting, so they broke up.\n\n\u201cWe set out with about forty friends to the next appointment. The people\nbeing gathered, after singing and prayer I began to preach, and God laid\nto his helping hand. Many cried aloud for mercy. One young man being\npowerfully wrought upon retired up stairs, and then thumped about on the\nfloor, so that Mr. Boehm was afraid that he would be injured in body.\n\u2018To be sure,\u2019 said he, \u2018I never saw God work in this way before.\u2019 I told\nhim there was no danger, he was in the hands of a merciful God. In a few\nminutes after, in attempting to come down stairs, he fell from the top to\nthe bottom, and hallooed aloud, \u2018The devil is in the chamber! the devil\nis in the chamber!\u2019 which greatly alarmed all the people. This brought\na great damp over my spirits, for I thought if I had raised the devil I\nmight as well go home again. However, after a little space, I bid some\nof the good people go up stairs and see if the devil was there. Several\nwent up to see what the matter was, and there they found a man rolling,\ngroaning, and crying to God for mercy. They returned and told us how\nthe matter stood. When I dismissed the people many wept around me; some\nsaid they had found peace, some were truly awakened, and others deeply\nconvicted.\u201d[3]\n\nSuch is Mr. Abbott\u2019s description of the scenes that occurred in the old\nhouse where my grandfather used to live. I heard him, and beheld the\nstrange scenes he relates. It was more like pentecost than anything else\nI ever saw. The influence of that meeting was tremendous, and for years\nit made a great deal of talk in my father\u2019s neighborhood.\n\nRICHARD WEBSTER was the second Methodist preacher raised up in America.\nHe joined at the second Conference, 1774, with Philip Gatch, when there\nwere only twenty Methodist preachers in America and two thousand members.\nHe was appointed to Baltimore Circuit with the excellent George Shadford\nand Edward Dromgoole. He used to preach in my father\u2019s barn long before\nthe Chapel was built, and I listened to him with great delight. He was\na fine specimen of the early Methodist ministers. He was a perfect\nChristian gentleman, a son of consolation; the Gospel flowed sweetly from\nhis lips. Mr. Webster was the first Methodist minister that Freeborn\nGarrettson heard, and he greatly admired him. I heard him preach in after\nyears, as the shadows of the evening were gathering around him.\n\nSYLVESTER HUTCHINSON was a thundering preacher, who alarmed the careless\nones. In 1790 he preached at my father\u2019s, and a glorious revival followed.\n\nRICHARD WHATCOAT was the Elder in 1790,[4] and I heard him preach. He\nwas then stationed in Philadelphia, and the only Methodist preacher in\nthat city. His text was, \u201cThere shall be a handful of corn in the earth\non the top of the mountains,\u201d etc. I well remember the preacher and his\nillustrations, and the mighty effect produced by the sermon, although it\nis now over seventy years ago.\n\nWILLIAM THOMAS was a good minister of Jesus; I heard him on the witness\nof the spirit. Our fathers were great in preaching experimental\nChristianity, especially the knowledge of sins forgiven.\n\nJOHN JARRELL I heard in 1793. He was lively and energetic. His discourse\nwas against Winchester\u2019s doctrine of Universal Restoration. \u201cSee the\nwicked,\u201d said he, \u201ccoming up from the furnace of fire. What will they\nsing in heaven? \u2018Unto Him who hath loved us and washed us from our sins\nin his own blood be glory for ever?\u2019 No. They cannot sing any such song;\nbut \u2018Unto hell fire that hath purified us and made us meet for heaven, be\nglory for evermore.\u2019 This is the only song they can sing. Will any such\nsong be heard in heaven?\u201d Thus he used irony in exposing and refuting\nerror. Mr. Jarrell was a fine-looking man, with a splendid voice, which\nhe knew how to use to purpose. He was very popular and successful. He\nentered the traveling connection in 1786, and, after having traveled ten\nyears, died in Wilmington, Delaware.\n\nVALENTINE COOK was over six feet high, with dark complexion, long arms,\nvery black hair, coarse and bushy, and dark piercing eyes. He had a\nfine cultivated intellect and a powerful voice. He was an extraordinary\npreacher, and I listened to him with great delight. In after years I\nheard of his fame when traveling with Bishop Asbury in the West.\n\nJOSEPH EVERETT was a soldier of the Revolution, and a standard-bearer\nin the ranks of Methodism. He preached in Boehm\u2019s neighborhood in\n1793. He abhorred slavery, and preached against it with all his might,\ndenouncing it in no measured terms. Sometimes he would refuse to eat with\nslaveholders till they had freed their slaves. I spent weeks with him\nat Dr. White\u2019s in Cambridge after he had retired from the regular work,\nand could only ask, \u201cHow goes the battle?\u201d Mr. Everett was six feet\nhigh, well proportioned, of a commanding appearance, very agreeable in\nconversation, and full of anecdotes and reminiscences of olden times.\n\nSIMON MILLER was a native of Lancaster County. He possessed much of\nthis world\u2019s goods, but he was ready to make any sacrifice to preach\nthe Gospel. He was a man of deep piety and remarkable gifts. He was the\nspiritual father of Jacob Gruber. I recollect with gratitude the efforts\nhe made for my salvation, how earnestly he labored, what sympathy he\nmanifested. He was a German, and preached in his vernacular. He received\nhim into society in 1792, when he was but a school-boy. His ministerial\ncareer was brief but brilliant; his end triumphant. He joined the\ntraveling connection in 1791, and died, deeply lamented, in 1795. He left\nno children. Thomas Ware married his widow.\n\nWILLIAM JESSOP was a tall man, with a prominent nose and a very grave\ncountenance. I knew him intimately, and heard him preach often.\nHe joined the traveling connection in 1784, the year in which the\nMethodist Episcopal Church was organized. Mr. Jessop occupied prominent\nappointments. In 1790 he was stationed in New York, and the next year\nvolunteered to go to Nova Scotia. He died of consumption in the latter\npart of 1795, and was buried in the graveyard connected with Boehm\u2019s\nChapel. His last sermon was on the sufferings of Christ, and was one\nof the most melting I ever heard. He was reduced almost to a skeleton;\nhis face was pale, his eye sunken and glassy, his voice sepulchral, his\ncountenance grave, and his manner solemn as eternity. The preacher and\nhis auditors felt that his days were numbered. A few days after he died\nin triumph, exclaiming, \u201cMy work is done! Glory, glory!\u201d He expired at\nStrasburg, at the house of John Miller, who was a brother of Simon the\npreacher. This family were great friends of the preachers. They nursed\nthem when sick, and when dying they smoothed their pillow. John and\nSimon Miller helped to give character and stability to Methodism in that\nregion. Mr. Jessop, knowing he could not survive long, sent to Bishop\nAsbury requesting him to preach his funeral sermon. The bishop complied,\nand preached it at Boehm\u2019s Chapel. He says in his journal: \u201cI had my\ndifficulties in speaking of a man so well known and so much beloved. He\nwas always solemn, and few such holy, steady men have we found among us.\u201d\n\nMICHAEL H. R. WILSON visited Lancaster County, and fell at his post\nwhile the dew of his youth was upon him. He was from Maryland, and only\ntwenty-eight years old when he died, on April 24, 1798. He finished\nhis course with joy at John Miller\u2019s, in Strasburg, in the same room\nwhere William Jessop had expired three years before, and they were both\ninterred in the same ground.\n\nBut time would fail to tell of Caleb Boyer, John Bloodgood, John\nM\u2019Claskey, Joseph Cromwell, John Haggerty, and others, from whom I heard\nthe Gospel, and to whom I am indebted for my Methodism. These were the\npioneers in the great work of introducing Methodism into Lancaster County.\n\nBishop Asbury early visited my father\u2019s house. In July, 1799, he came\nthere with Jesse Lee, who was then his traveling companion. They both\npreached at Boehm\u2019s Chapel; the bishop from Heb. vi, 12, Mr. Lee from\nIsa. xxx, 31. The latter wandered among the tombs, and stood by the\ngrave of William Jessop, whom he greatly loved, and wept there, and then\nrejoiced for his triumphant death and the consoling thought that \u201cthem\nthat sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.\u201d Reluctantly turning away\nfrom the grave with his eyes moist with tears, he offered the prayer\nthat has been repeated a thousand times: \u201cLet me die the death of the\nrighteous, and let my last end be like his.\u201d\n\nMr. Lee gives a description of my father, of his conversion, his\npersonal appearance, his long white beard, his call to the ministry, and\nhis praying in German in the family after Bishop Asbury had prayed in\nEnglish.[5]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nBOEHM\u2019S CHAPEL.\n\n\nGreat interests cluster around the early Methodist chapels. Boehm\u2019s\nChapel is distinguished for its antiquity. It was the first Methodist\nhouse of worship built in Lancaster County, now studded with Methodist\ntemples. The plan of the edifice was furnished in 1790 by Richard\nWhatcoat, afterward bishop. He was elder at the time, and came there to\nadminister the ordinances. Years before the erection of this building,\nas early as 1775, the year I was born, a class was formed at my father\u2019s\nhouse. My mother was one of the first who joined, and therefore belonged\nto the first race of Methodists in America. Until the chapel was built\nmy grandfather\u2019s house was used as the preaching place, except on great\noccasions, when it was too small; then they used the barn.\n\nBoehm\u2019s Chapel was erected in 1791, the year in which Shadrach Bostwick,\nJoshua Taylor, and other strong men of our Israel were received on trial.\nThe house was built on a hill, from which there is a fine view of the\nneighborhood country, and was surrounded by trees, which still remain,\nadding to the beauty of the scene. The house was built of limestone; was\nforty feet deep and thirty-two wide, and had galleries. It was called\n\u201cBoehm\u2019s Chapel,\u201d because it was built upon Boehm\u2019s land in Boehm\u2019s\nneighborhood, and because the different families of Boehms did much\ntoward its erection, and were regular attendants there. In the same way\n\u201cBarratt\u2019s Chapel,\u201d \u201cGatch\u2019s Chapel,\u201d \u201cWatters\u2019s Chapel,\u201d and others,\nobtained their names. My brother Jacob gave the land for the house and\nthe burying-ground. In this ground my honored parents were buried.\n\nThere were wonderful gatherings at Boehm\u2019s Chapel. The bishops and the\ngreat men of Methodism found their way there, and preached the word. At\nquarterly meetings the people came from Philadelphia and the Eastern\nShore of Maryland and the Western Shore from Watters\u2019s neighborhood.\nBoehm\u2019s Chapel was a great center of influence. It is difficult now to\nestimate the position it once occupied in Methodism. My father was \u201cgiven\nto hospitality,\u201d and at great meetings fifty and even one hundred have\nbeen entertained at his house. Several itinerant ministers were raised\nup and went out from the neighborhood of Boehm\u2019s Chapel to preach the\nGospel. Ten I now think of, and there may be others: Joseph Jewell, who\nwas Nathan Bangs\u2019s first presiding elder in Canada; Simon Miller, Richard\nSneath, William and James Hunter, James and William Mitchell, Thomas and\nRobert Burch, and Henry Boehm. David Best and James Aiken were from the\ncircuit. It is singular they were all from Ireland except Jewell, Miller,\nand myself.\n\nGreat quarterly meetings were held in this house. I will notice one held\nin 1798. Thomas Ware was the presiding elder, William Colbert and William\nP. Chandler the circuit preachers. The meeting began on Saturday, and\nwhile the presiding elder was praying the Holy Ghost filled the house\nwhere they had assembled. The work of revival commenced, and such were\nthe cries of distress, the prayers for mercy heard all over the house,\nin the gallery as well as the lower part, that it was impossible for Mr.\nWare to preach. He came down from the pulpit, and the brethren went to\nthe penitent ones, as they found them in different parts of the house,\nand pointed them to Jesus, and prayed with them. They were assembled in\ndifferent groups praying for the broken-hearted, and one after another\nfound redemption in the blood of the Lamb. It was impossible to close the\nmeeting, so it continued all day and most of the night. Sunday morning\ncame, and they attempted to hold a regular love-feast, but all in vain.\nThe cries of mourners, the prayers for mercy, and shout after shout as\none after another passed from death unto life, made it impossible to\nproceed. On Saturday, when I beheld my niece Nancy Keaggy kneeling near\nme in an agony of prayer asking for mercy, the comparatively innocent\nchild so intent on forgiveness, my heart was melted, my eyes were filled\nwith tears, and again I knelt down and there \u201cgave my wanderings o\u2019er by\ngiving God my heart.\u201d There God restored to me the joy of his salvation.\nThen I united with the Church, a duty I ought to have performed years\nbefore. I was admitted by Thomas Ware.\n\nA few months before my probation expired they appointed me class-leader\nat Soudersburg. The brethren knew what I had lost by refusing to bear\nthe yoke in my youth, and they were determined to put it on me and\nmake me wear it. I begged, but there was no excuse. They threw the\nresponsibility on me, and said, \u201cOn such a day, Henry, do you go and\nmeet that class.\u201d I was living at my brother Jacob\u2019s, near where the\nclass met. On Saturday I took my horse and rode to my father\u2019s, eight\nmiles. My object was to have a good excuse for not meeting the class.\nMy father was absent preaching. The devotional exercises of the family\ndevolved on me, and I attended family prayer. The power of God came down,\nand my beloved mother and a relative were so overwhelmed they fell to\nthe floor, and the room was filled with glory. That Saturday night I\nretired to rest, but not to sleep. In the morning I rode nine miles and\nmet the class. We had a refreshing season. I dared not stay away. I took\nthe manifestations of power the evening before as an indication that I\nshould obey the preachers in taking charge of the class. I continued to\nmeet that class for over two years, till I became an itinerant minister.\nTo the class-meeting I am greatly indebted. There I was \u201cstrengthened,\u201d\n\u201cstablished,\u201d \u201csettled.\u201d\n\nA great revival followed that quarterly meeting. My father\u2019s children\nand grandchildren shared largely in it. Some moved to Canada, some to\nOhio, and other parts of the West. They are nearly all now in heaven.\nThe revival spread to the Peninsula, from that to Baltimore in 1800, and\nthe influence was felt all over the country. Bishop Asbury mentions my\nbrother Jacob, and says, \u201cGod has begun to work in the children of this\nfamily. The parents have followed us for the space of twenty years.\u201d\nOn August 31, 1799, he says: \u201cI had a comfortable time at Boehm\u2019s\nchurch. Here lieth the dust of William Jessop and Michael R. Wilson....\nMartin Boehm is upon wings and springs since the Lord has blessed his\ngrandchildren. His son Henry is greatly led out in public exercises.\u201d\nThis is the mention the bishop makes of my boyish performances. Honorable\nmention I might make of the ministers who were engaged in this revival:\nThomas Ware, William Colbert, and William Penn Chandler. The latter was\nmy spiritual father.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nGENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1800.\n\n\nThe General Conference of 1800 was one of the most remarkable in the\nhistory of our Church. The revival at that time was the greatest that\nhas ever occurred during the session of any General Conference. I was a\nvisitor, and had peculiar opportunities to witness the wonderful scenes\nthat created joy on earth and in heaven. All the accounts we have had are\nextremely meager. As I have been preserved, while all who were actors in\nthose scenes are gone, I will describe what I heard and saw at that time.\nIs it not generally known that the greatest displays of divine power and\nthe most numerous conversions were in private houses, in prayer-meetings?\nAnd yet the preaching was highly honored of God, for the ministers were\nendued with power from on high. I kept in my journal a particular account\nof their texts and themes.\n\nThe General Conference commenced its session on Tuesday, May 6, in\nLight-street, Baltimore. All the General Conferences, from the famous\nChristmas conference to the first delegated conference, were held in\nBaltimore. Baltimore was a small place to what it is now. We then\ncalled it Baltimore town. The Methodists had two church edifices, one\nin Light-street, the other in Oldtown, which was in the suburbs. This\nwas the first time I had ever seen a body of Methodist preachers; only\nnow and then one who wended his way to my father\u2019s neighborhood. The\nconference was then composed of all the traveling elders. The strong\nmen of Methodism were there, and such a noble class of men I had never\nbeheld. There were Philip Bruce, Jesse Lee, George Roberts, John\nBloodgood, William P. Chandler, John M\u2019Claskey, Ezekiel Cooper, Nicholas\nSnethen, Thomas Morrell, Joseph Totten, Lawrence M\u2019Combs, Thomas F.\nSargent, William Burke, William M\u2019Kendree, and other prominent men. These\nwere representative men who laid the broad foundations of Methodism east,\nwest, north, and south. What a privilege to hear them debate, and listen\nto their sermons!\n\nSuch was the health of Bishop Asbury he thought of resigning; but the\nconference, in order to relieve him, authorized him to take an elder\nas a traveling companion. This the bishop did during the remainder of\nlife. They elected Richard Whatcoat bishop, he having a majority of four\nvotes over Jesse Lee. I witnessed the excitement attending the different\nballotings. The first, no election; the second, a tie; the third, Richard\nWhatcoat was elected.\n\nI will now make some extracts from my journal, written sixty-five years\nago.\n\n\u201c_Sabbath morning, May 11, 1800._\u2014I heard Bishop Asbury preach in\nLight-street Church on the perfect law of liberty. He had great liberty\nin preaching, and multitudes as well as myself were blessed under\nthe word. In the afternoon Rev. Thomas Lyell, on making our calling\nand election sure. There was preaching at four o\u2019clock in two places\non the streets, and several were converted. In the evening we had a\nprayer-meeting at Brother William Bruff\u2019s. After we began to sing and\npray the people crowded in till the house was filled, and the awakening\nand converting power of God was displayed. After the prayer-meeting was\nover we went to Oldtown meeting-house, singing the praises of God along\nthe streets. This greatly surprised the people, and hundreds came running\nout of their houses and followed us till we reached the house of God.\nThere were wonderful exhibitions of power as we went through the streets,\nand we entered the house singing and shouting the praises of God. Five\nwere converted that evening. It was heaven in my soul and glory all\naround. On Monday evening we went to John Chalmers\u2019s to prayer-meeting.\nIt was a powerful meeting. God\u2019s people prayed that sinners might be\nawakened and converted. Heaven heard their petitions, and twenty-four\nwere converted to God that night. The meeting lasted till two o\u2019clock the\nnext morning. God was converting the people in three different rooms at\nthe same time. I never saw such a night. Glory! glory!\n\n\u201c_Tuesday, May 13._ Numbers stayed at Brother Bruff\u2019s over night, and the\nwork of revival soon began. In the morning, Philip Bruce came to us and\nwent to prayer, and the Lord answered and came in our midst. Some were\ncrying for mercy, while others were leaping for joy. We then came down to\nBrother Price\u2019s and began to sing, and some of the neighbors came in and\nwe went to prayer. The Lord was there of a truth. Several were converted,\nand one who was in the class yesterday. This is a day of feasting. The\nLord is at work in all parts of the town. There were six converted last\nnight at the Point. Brother Chalmers preached a sermon at six o\u2019clock\nat Brother Bruff\u2019s, and two more were converted. In the evening went\nto Oldtown meeting, and God\u2019s power was there, and several more were\nconverted.\n\n\u201c_Wednesday, 14._ In the evening Brother Smith preached at Brother\nBruff\u2019s; many rejoiced in the God of their salvation. After that we went\nto Oldtown meeting, where Rev. John M\u2019Claskey preached a powerful sermon.\nThe Lord blessed his word: there were six converted. The children of\ndarkness were very mad.\n\n\u201c_Thursday, 15._ Felt very weak, being up every night till after twelve\no\u2019clock; but it is in a good cause. Rested to-day at Brother Martin\u2019s. In\nthe evening went to Brother Bruff\u2019s. At 5 o\u2019clock Rev. Lawrence M\u2019Combs\npreached. He impressed holiness upon the people. Many saw a great beauty\nin it. While he was preaching, one was converted; before the meeting\nbroke up, two more were set at liberty. Old and young were leaping for\njoy. My soul, praise the Lord!\n\n\u201c_Friday, 16._ Spent the day in the Conference. The Lord is with the\npreachers of a truth. In the evening went to meeting again at Brother\nBruff\u2019s. Christopher Sprye preached a powerful sermon. After preaching\nthe Lord began to work, and eighteen were converted that night. \u2018Christ\nthe Lord is come to reign.\u2019\n\n\u201c_Saturday, 17._ Stayed last night at Brother Chalmers\u2019s, at the Point.\nHeard Dr. Thomas F. Sargent preach from 2 Cor. vi, 1, \u2018We then, as\nworkers together with him,\u2019 etc. He spoke with great liberty. Some were\ncrying for mercy. This evening, at Brother Bruff\u2019s, three were converted.\n\n\u201cSunday, the 18th, was a great day in Baltimore among the Methodists.\nThe ordination sermon was preached by Rev. Thomas Coke, LL.D., in\nLight-street Church. Crowds at an early hour thronged the temple. The\ndoctor preached from Rev. ii, 8, \u2018And unto the angel of the Church at\nSmyrna write; These things saith the First and the Last, which was dead\nand is alive,\u2019 etc. After the sermon, which was adapted to the occasion,\nRichard Whatcoat was ordained a Bishop in the Church of God by the\nimposition of the hands of Dr. Coke and Bishop Asbury, assisted by\nseveral elders. Never were holy hands laid upon a holier head. In those\ndays we went \u2018out into the highways and hedges and compelled them to come\nin.\u2019 That afternoon Jesse Lee preached in the market-house on Howard\u2019s\nHill, from John xvii, 3, \u2018And this is life eternal, that they might\nknow thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.\u2019 The\nLord was there in a powerful manner. Several were converted; one in the\nevening at Brother Bruff\u2019s.\u201d\n\nJesse Lee makes the following record in his Journal: \u201cThe power of the\nLord came down upon us while I was preaching, and the people wept and\nroared aloud and prayed most earnestly. Joseph Totten exhorted with life.\nAfterward several prayed with those who were under conviction.\u201d\n\n\u201cOn Monday, the 19th, Richard Sneath preached in the evening. Many came\nto hear the word of the Lord and were affected. After preaching we went\nto John Chalmers\u2019s. We had a glorious time. Eight were converted, and\nabout that number received the second blessing. The meeting was going\non in three rooms; sinners were crying for mercy in each, and the glory\nof God filled the room as one after another passed from death unto\nlife. This was a never-to-be-forgotten night. A shout of victory in one\nroom inspired them in another. The meeting was continued with unabated\ninterest until three o\u2019clock the next morning.\n\n\u201cOn Tuesday, the 20th, I heard the Rev. Jesse Lee preach at Brother\nBruff\u2019s. Many were powerfully wrought upon under the word. In those days\nhe preached with unusual power and success. Several of the old fathers\nand mothers stayed here after preaching, and while they were talking\nabout the goodness of God such a melting power came down that almost all\nwho were present were melted into tears.\n\n\u201c_Wednesday, 21._ Yesterday Conference adjourned, and the preachers have\nparted and are going to different parts of the continent, having got a\nfresh spring from heaven. About five in the evening the young converts\nmet together at Brother Bruff\u2019s. Brother James Moore and several of the\npreachers were with us. We sung and prayed with them. The Lord was with\nus of a truth. Some of the sisters related their experience, which was\nrendered a great blessing to all who were present. It filled me with joy\nto see so many young people happy in God; some of them were strangers to\nGod only a few days ago. At night we went to the Point; the power of God\nwas among the people; many were crying for mercy, and four were converted\nto God. After meeting I went home with Brother Haskins.\n\n\u201c_Thursday, May 22._ Came up to Oldtown this morning. I am told there\nwere seven souls converted last night at the upper end of the town in a\nprayer-meeting. The devil can\u2019t stand the prayers of the faithful ones.\nIt seems there was the most good done in the prayer-meetings. The Lord\nloves simplicity.\u201d\n\nBishop Asbury writes only fifteen lines concerning this wonderful\nConference. He says, \u201cThe unction that attended the word was great;\nmore than one hundred souls professed conversion during the sitting of\nthe Conference.\u201d Bishop Whatcoat is still more brief. In nine lines he\ntells the story. \u201cWe had a most blessed time and much preaching, fervent\nprayers and strong exhortations through the city, while the high praises\nof a gracious God reverberated from street to street and from house to\nhouse. It was thought that not less than two hundred were converted\nduring the Conference.\u201d\u2014_Journal_, p. 29. Jesse Lee\u2019s account is also\nshort: \u201cSuch a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord has not\nbeen felt in that town for some years.\u201d\u2014_Lee\u2019s History_, p. 271.\n\nDuring this Conference I became acquainted with many choice spirits,\nboth among the ministry and laity; among the rest, Dr. Thomas Coke.\nI not only had the pleasure of hearing the doctor preach and make\nmotions and speeches in the Conference, but also of dining with him\nand Bishop Asbury. The doctor was a short man, and rather corpulent.\nHe had a beautiful face, and it was full of expression, a sweet smile\noften playing over his features. His eyes were dark and his look very\npiercing. His voice was soft and full of melody, unless raised to a\nvery high pitch, and then it was harsh, discordant, and squeaking. His\nconversational powers were great. He was very entertaining. He did a\nnoble work for American Methodism, and should ever be remembered with the\nliveliest sentiments of gratitude. He sleeps in the Indian Ocean, \u201ctill\nthe sea give up its dead.\u201d\n\nBrother Bruff, at whose house such glorious meetings were held, and where\nso many souls were converted, was a most excellent man. He had married\nCatharine, sister of Harry Ennalls, of Dorchester; she was instrumental\nin introducing Methodism into that county. She was a sister to Governor\nBassett\u2019s first wife. Mrs. Bruff was a very superior woman; her Christian\nvirtues shone with transcendent luster. She was very useful in that\nrevival, as well as many other holy women whose names are in the Book of\nLife.\n\nIt will be seen that John Chalmers did a noble work. He joined the\nConference in 1788, but had located. Years after, side by side, I fought\nwith this veteran the battles of the Lord. I never knew a more courageous\nsoldier, one that used sharper arrows, or had more splendid victories. We\nshall see more of him before we are through with this narrative.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nPHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE\u2014GREAT REVIVALS\u2014BARRATT\u2019S CHAPEL.\n\n\nWe reluctantly bade adieu to our kind friends in Baltimore on Saturday,\nMay 24, 1800, and started for Duck Creek (now called Smyrna) Cross Roads,\nthe seat of the Philadelphia Conference, in company with Dr. Chandler,\nL. M\u2019Combs, Samuel Coate, John Chalmers, and Shadrach Bostwick. We went\nin a packet to Georgetown Cross Roads, and arrived just in time for a\nlove-feast. Some of those present had been to Baltimore and beheld the\nwonderful works of God, and returned home full of the holy fire, and the\nrevival extended to that place. On Monday Dr. Chandler and I went to Duck\nCreek Cross Roads, and were entertained at Brother George Kennard\u2019s.\n\nThe revival at the Philadelphia Conference is a matter of history as one\nof the most remarkable that has taken place on this continent, and yet we\nhave had few particulars. All the bishops and preachers who were there\nare dead, and I alone am left to give an account. Fortunately I kept\na record of what took place every day. It was written with the utmost\nsimplicity, and I transcribe it because every scrap of the history of\nthat period is valuable. It shows the simplicity of the times, and how\nour fathers did in days of old.\n\n\u201cWe had preaching on the evening of May 27. The power of God was\namong the people. Some were convicted of sin. On Thursday evening a\nprayer-meeting was held. God\u2019s people were blessed, and went singing and\nshouting on their way home.\n\n\u201cOn Friday, the 30th, Brother Chandler and I went to meet Bishops Asbury\nand Whatcoat. Bishop Whatcoat arrived, and preached from \u2018Come out from\namong them, and be ye separate,\u2019 etc. It was a season of refreshing from\nthe presence of the Lord. Bishop Asbury had gone to Dover, and did not\ncome till Sunday. On Saturday evening Brother John Chalmers preached.\nThere was considerable of a move. The expectations of the people were\ngreatly raised. Some were powerfully convicted, and others shouted aloud\nthe praise of God.\n\n\u201cOn Sunday, June 1, a prayer-meeting was held at sunrise. At eleven\no\u2019clock Father Whatcoat preached from Rev. xi, 18: \u2018And the nations were\nangry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead,\u2019 etc. He preached\nwith great liberty; the word was powerful; many were convicted of sin,\nand others rejoiced in the God of their salvation. I never felt happier\nin my life. After preaching a love-feast was held, in which one was\nconverted. There was preaching in the afternoon and evening, and great\npower among the people.\n\n\u201cOn Monday morning, June 2, the conference commenced its session. At\nsunrise Anning Owen preached on Christian perfection; it was a theme he\nloved. Quite a number were present at this early hour. I never saw such a\nbeauty in holiness before. There were sixty-six preachers present at the\nconference. The conference was held at a private house; the meeting-house\nwas used for religious services. Tuesday was a great day. The work began\nin the morning, and went on all day and the greater part of the night,\nand numbers were converted.\n\n\u201cOn Wednesday, about sunrise, there was a sermon preached, and the power\ncame down upon the people. The work then went on all day and until three\no\u2019clock the next morning, and many were brought to rejoice in God their\nSaviour. I never saw such a glorious time; it exceeds what we have just\nwitnessed in Baltimore. Sinners are flocking home; the people of God are\ngetting happier and happier. I feel thankful that I ever came to Duck\nCreek Cross Roads.\n\n\u201c_Thursday, 5._ This morning we had a glorious love-feast. The power of\nGod was among the people, and many rejoiced with exceeding great joy.\nThe work of revival continued; sinners were crying for mercy, and many\nobtained pardon. Many were converted at Brother Kennard\u2019s house. The\nwork of God continued all this day and most of the night. Great numbers\nwere converted. In the evening a sermon was preached, followed by an\nexhortation; both delivered with great power. God was among the people.\nSuch a night I never beheld, such a shout I never heard. I think there\nwere upward of two hundred people who shouted at one time. It was glory\nall over the house, and I hope it will be remembered throughout all\neternity.\u201d\n\nBishop Asbury mentions the revival in his journal, and says, \u201cOver one\nhundred souls were converted to God.\u201d Jesse Lee says \u201cone hundred and\nfifty.\u201d They both made too low an estimate.\n\nThere were great revivalists at this conference: W. P. Chandler, John\nChalmers, Jesse Lee, each a host in himself, and many others, who entered\nheartily into the work. It was not confined to them; the preachers and\npeople all had a mind to work. This conference will ever be memorable\nas the most fruitful in saving souls of any ever held in America. Those\nwho were not present can form but a faint idea of the nature of the\nwork. Meetings were held day and night with rarely any intermission. One\nmeeting in the church continued forty-five hours without cessation. Many\nwere converted in private houses and at family prayer as well as in the\nhouse of the Lord. This revival did immense good; the preachers returned\nto their work like flames of fire.\n\nAs the Philadelphia Conference held its session six hours each day, the\nmembers were obliged to be present; but as I was not a member I had\nnothing to interrupt me or to call off my attention from the revival,\nbut devoted every moment to the blessed work. For several nights I did\nnot take off my clothes, but lay down upon the sofa and rested a little\nwhile, and then up and right into the thickest of the battle. Thus was\nI employed for days and nights, and was an eye and ear witness to the\njoyful scenes that were occurring.\n\nThis was my second visit to Duck Creek. I was there in 1798 with Dr.\nWilliam P. Chandler, and then we put up at Brother George Kennard\u2019s. This\nwas my home at the conference in 1800, and there we had the company of\nBishops Asbury and Whatcoat. Brother Kennard was a gentleman, a merchant,\na great business man, and a thorough Methodist. He used to correspond\nwith Bishop Asbury. His house was one of the choice Methodist homes in\nthat day, and there in after years I was made very welcome.\n\nThe scenes which I witnessed in the revival at Baltimore during the\nGeneral Conference, and then so soon after in the one at Duck Creek Cross\nRoads, come up freshly before me after over threescore years, and I still\nfeel the sacred flame. And yet a kind of melancholy comes over me when I\nremember I am the sole survivor that took an active part in the scenes\nthat angels must have contemplated with delight. Like an aged oak, I\nremain while all the trees have fallen around me.\n\nAt this conference Richard Whatcoat first presided as bishop. A number of\nyoung men were received, who occupied prominent stations and made their\nmark in after years: Learner Blackman, Jacob Gruber, well known for his\nvirtues and eccentricities, William Williams, and others.\n\nThis remarkable conference closed on the 6th of June, at nine o\u2019clock,\nand I started for my father\u2019s house, walking sixty miles to the rural\ndistrict of Lancaster; having seen more, heard more, enjoyed more, since\nI left home, than in all my lifetime before. It was an ever-memorable\nperiod in my history.\n\nTwice before I had been down the Peninsula with Dr. Chandler, and\nwitnessed wonderful displays of the power of God; the first in 1798, the\nsecond in 1799, when there was a great revival on Cecil Circuit, the\nflame of which spread to Baltimore. I was permitted again to accompany\nhim. The reason was, my health had suddenly failed. I was mowing in my\nbrother\u2019s meadow in August; the day was excessively hot, and I perspired\nmost freely; while in this state I walked through cold spring water, and\nit checked perspiration and affected my whole system. I was so ill that I\nwas obliged to leave the meadow and return home. When I reached the house\nI found Dr. Chandler, the circuit preacher, had just arrived. He was a\nphysician and minister, and could attend to bodies as well as souls. His\narrival seemed to be providential, and may have saved my life. He saw\nthe critical state I was in, and that there was no time to be lost. He\nimmediately bled me, which afforded instant relief. And yet I continued\nvery weak and unable to work, therefore the doctor proposed that I should\ngo with him to Cape Henlopen, where I could be benefited by sea-bathing.\nWith great joy I accepted the invitation, and we soon were ready for our\njourney. Better company no one could have, and I had this to comfort me,\nmy medical adviser was with me. I believe that tour not only benefited my\nhealth, but had a great influence in shaping my destiny in after years.\n\nOn our way we stopped at a quarterly meeting at \u201cBarratt\u2019s Chapel.\u201d This\nchapel was twelve miles below Dover, in Delaware, between Dover and\nMilford. It was built of brick, on land belonging to Philip Barratt, who\nrendered much assistance, and therefore it was called \u201cBarratt\u2019s Chapel.\u201d\nFrancis Asbury encouraged its erection. He visited this place on March\n20, 1780, and had an interview with Philip Barratt and Waitman Scipple,\nand he says, they \u201cdetermined to go about the chapel.\u201d They then fixed\nthe site, concluding \u201cto set it near the drawbridge.\u201d Such was the origin\nof this chapel. Mr. Asbury, we see, was the prime mover. He also helped\nraise means to erect it, for on November 8, 1780, at Perdin\u2019s, after\nlecturing, he \u201cengaged the friends to subscribe seven hundred weight of\npork toward the meeting-house at Barratt\u2019s.\u201d\u2014_Journal_, vol. i, p. 410.\n\nPhilip Barratt was a noble man, and he and Francis Asbury were great\nfriends. I did not know him, he was gone before my time, but I knew\nhis children. He had three sons: Andrew was a judge, and a man of\ntalents. He lived near the church, and we put up with him. Doctor\nBarratt was a practicing physician. Caleb was the only son who was a\nmember of our Church; the others were friendly. How would the spirit\nof Philip Barratt (as well as that of Asbury) rejoice to know that he\nhad a great-grandson a foreign missionary. The Rev. William Prettyman,\nformerly of the Philadelphia, then of the Baltimore Conference, married\na daughter of Doctor Barratt, and his son, Doctor William Prettyman, is\nthe Superintendent of our Methodist Mission in Bulgaria, Turkey. The\nMethodist seed among the descendants of Philip Barratt has not run out.\n\nThis is the famous chapel where Doctor Coke and Asbury met for the first\ntime and embraced each other. Famous meeting! of great hearts and kindred\nspirits who have met long since in a far more glorious temple,\n\n  \u201cWhere perfect love and friendship reign\n  To all eternity.\u201d\n\nHere the plan was formed for the meeting of the Methodist Minister\u2019s\nConference in Baltimore, by which the Methodist Episcopal Church was\norganized in 1784.\n\nIn the love-feast at this quarterly meeting I made a covenant with God,\nthat if he would restore me to health I would dedicate myself wholly to\nhim, and would do the work of an evangelist to the best of my ability. I\nhere made the promise, and the covenant I have always kept in mind; and\nI have not only taken \u201cthe cup of salvation and called upon the name of\nthe Lord,\u201d but have been enabled \u201cto pay my vows in the presence of his\npeople.\u201d\n\nI traveled that circuit some years after, and was presiding elder of the\ndistrict, and often preached at this heaven-honored chapel; but never did\nI enter it without peculiar feelings, remembering the love-feast and my\nself-consecration to the work of the ministry.\n\nSunday being over, Dr. Chandler and myself started for Lewistown and Cape\nHenlopen. We put up at Caleb Rodney\u2019s. The light-house was kept by a\nlocal preacher named J. R. Hargus. I stayed with him at the light-house\nand bathed in the salt water. I had never seen the ocean before. I was so\nweak that when I walked down upon the shore the breezes from the ocean\nalmost deprived me of my breath. I went in to bathe at one time and\nthe waves came rolling in from the ocean and threw me down, and I was\ngreatly frightened. I did not know but the returning waves would carry\nme out where I could not get back. The fright and being thrown down set\nmy blood circulating, roused it to action, and did me much good. Dr.\nChandler, when he saw me thrown down by the undertow, and witnessed my\nfright, laughed, and said, \u201cthat was just what he wanted; he was glad of\nit; it would benefit me more than all the medicine I could take.\u201d The\ndoctor was right. In less than a week I had greatly improved; and there\nwas prospect of soon recovering my strength. In a little time I was as\nwell as ever: a happy soul in a sound body.\n\nThe next Sabbath, on our return, we attended a quarterly meeting at\nMilford. The place of worship was too small to hold the vast multitudes,\nand they were obliged to go in a grove to preach the word. There was a\nmighty outpouring of the Spirit of God, and many exclaimed, \u201cMen and\nbrethren, what shall we do?\u201d During the exercises, one man\u2014a person of\nstanding and influence\u2014was so affected that he tried to hold himself up\nas he stood trembling by a sapling, but he could not stand. He got down\non the ground and cried for mercy, and there he experienced religion. He\nunited with the Methodist Church and became a very useful member.\n\nThe Rev. William Mills, of Philadelphia Conference, preached. His\ntext was novel and his explanations original. It was 1 Sam. xxx, 24:\n\u201cBut as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part\nbe that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.\u201d He said the\nitinerant preachers were the ones that went to battle for God and\ntruth\u2014standard-bearers in the Christian army, achieving victory after\nvictory over the king\u2019s enemies; but they must not think they were to\nreceive all the reward\u2014as if they accomplished all that was done. He\nshowed that it was as necessary for some to stay by the stuff as it was\nfor others to go into the battle; both were doing the work of the Lord.\nThe local preachers and exhorters and class-leaders and private members\nthat stay by the stuff should not lose their reward, but their part shall\nbe equal to those that went to battle. This is the order of Heaven, and\nnothing could be more just and proper than this law, that those who stay\nat home to defend house and property have equal right to the spoils of\nvictory as those who go forth to battle.\n\nThe next day I returned to my father\u2019s house a healthier, wiser, and\nbetter man than when I left. The scenes I witnessed on the tour are very\nvivid before me after the lapse of over threescore years. Dr. Chandler\u2019s\nkindness to me was unparalleled. He lives in my affections, and I look\nback upon him as one of the finest specimens of a Christian gentleman\nwith whom it has been my good fortune to be associated.\n\nWhen I arrived at home my father was about to take a ministerial tour\nthrough Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the great valley of Virginia, or\nwhat was known as \u201cNew Virginia.\u201d He wished me to accompany him, and I\ndid so. We were absent from home about a month. It was in September and\nOctober. I kept a diary in the German language, written every day, of\nwhere we were and what we were doing. It is still carefully preserved.\nMy father was a German preacher, then holding some connection with the\n\u201cUnited Brethren.\u201d The Rev. William Otterbein was with the same people.\nWe traveled every day, and my father preached in German, and I exhorted\nafter him, sometimes in German and sometimes in English. He preached\nwith great life, power, and success, and had many seals to his ministry.\nWe went as far as Winchester, Va., where he preached in the Methodist\nchurch, and under the sermon one was awakened, namely, Simon Lauck, who\nafterward became a traveling preacher and a member of the Baltimore\nConference. My father also preached at the Rev. Henry Smith\u2019s father\u2019s. I\nremember his text and sermon well.\n\nI had an opportunity of getting more particularly acquainted with the\ndistinguished ministers connected with the United Brethren. They held\ngreat meetings that were often attended with power. Their annual meeting\nwas held September 25, at Peter Kemp\u2019s, in Frederick County, Maryland.\nThis was important in many respects. First, they resolved to call\nthemselves \u201c_The Church of the United Brethren in Christ_.\u201d Second, they\nelected bishops for the first time. William Otterbein and Martin Boehm\n(my father) were unanimously chosen. Here were assembled their great men:\nGueting, Newcomer, Draksel, and the two brothers Crums. The meeting was\nfull of interest. Reports were given from different parts of the work,\nand each minister gave an account of the progress of the work of God in\nhis own soul. They had at that time but little order and discipline, and\nwhat I had seen of the order and discipline of the Methodists at the\nGeneral Conference in Baltimore and at the Philadelphia Conference showed\nme the vast superiority of the latter, and I made up my mind to enter\ntheir itinerant ministry.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nMY FIRST CIRCUIT, DORCHESTER.\n\n\nIn January, 1800, I began my regular itinerant life. It was on Dorchester\nCircuit, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in Philadelphia Conference.\nThe peninsula that lies between the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, though\nnot considered very healthy, was the garden of Methodism in America.\nMethodism was early introduced there, and for a time the ministers were\ngreatly persecuted; but they achieved a glorious success. The heroic\nGarrettson was persecuted; Caleb B. Pedicord, the sweet singer of our\nIsrael, received scars which he carried with him to the grave; Joseph\nHartley was imprisoned, and through the grates of his prison preached\ndeliverance to the captive; and Thomas S. Chew took the sheriff prisoner\nwho had taken him captive. Dorchester Circuit was formed in 1780. It was\na large circuit, embracing not only Dorchester County, but Taylor\u2019s and\nHooper\u2019s Island in the Chesapeake Bay.\n\nThe introduction of Methodism into Dorchester can be traced to the\nconversion of a young woman, Miss Catharine, sister of Harry Ennalls.\nShe was afterward Mrs. Bruff of Baltimore, who was so useful in the\nrevival at the General Conference of 1800. Through her influence her\nsister Mary, and her husband, the Hon. Richard Bassett of Delaware, were\nconverted; also Henry Airey, Esq. It was at Squire Airey\u2019s house that\nFreeborn Garrettson preached the first Methodist sermon in Dorchester\nCounty, and from that house he was taken to the jail at Cambridge. The\nsquire threw over Mr. Garrettson the mantle of his protection as far as\nhe was able. I learned while traveling there that all the ringleaders in\nthat mob died a violent death, except Batt Ennalls, who was converted,\nand joined the Church. I knew him very well, and preached at his house\nwhen on that circuit. The sad end of these persecutors was considered a\nspecial judgment from God.\n\nI was employed by Rev. Thomas Ware to preach on this circuit because John\nLeach was sick and unable to travel. He was an excellent young man, with\na shattered constitution, who lingered a year or two, and then entered\ninto rest. I bade farewell to the scenes of my childhood and started to\ngo among strangers. My mother\u2019s sweet kiss and my aged father\u2019s blessing\nI still remember. The tears rolled down my cheek as I looked back upon\nthe home of my childhood, the old family mansion, endeared to me by so\nmany tender associations. With weakness, fear, and much trembling, I\nentered upon my new field of labor and began to cultivate Immanuel\u2019s\nland. The arrival of a new preacher, a German youth from Pennsylvania,\nwas soon noised abroad, and this called out many to see and hear. I was\nreluctant to go to a circuit and preach in the English tongue. Had it\nbeen in the German language I should not have been so embarrassed.\n\nFor two months I suffered powerful temptation to abandon my work and\nreturn home. I went to Brother Harry Ennalls\u2019s. He lived near the\nChoptank River, one of the largest streams on the Peninsula. His house\nwas a preaching-place and a home for the preachers. This family did not\nbelong to the class who were \u201cafraid they would be eaten out of house\nand home.\u201d Harry Ennalls was a man of wealth, and he used this world\nas not abusing it. His money gave him power and influence, which were\nused to advance the great interest of the Redeemer\u2019s kingdom. He was a\nholy, zealous Christian, and a devout Methodist. One of our preachers,\nThomas Smith, met him and the late Hon. James A. Bayard, senator in\nCongress from Delaware, at Governor Bassett\u2019s. Harry Ennalls prayed\nwith great power and unction, talking with God as if he was used to\nconversing with him. He did not forget the honorable statesman in his\nprayer, but fervently invoked the blessing of God upon him. When he\nhad finished praying, and the family had risen from their knees, Mr.\nBayard was observed walking the floor very rapidly, much agitated; then\nturning to Mr. Ennalls, he said, \u201cHenry, what did you mean by shaking\nyour brimstone bag over me?\u201d \u201cTo save you from hell, sir,\u201d replied Mr.\nEnnalls. Governor Bassett\u2019s first wife was Harry Ennalls\u2019s sister.\nHarry Ennalls\u2019s wife was one of the best of women. She was a Goldsbury,\nrelated to Governor Goldsbury. This was one of the great families of\nthe Peninsula. They had no children, and always made the preachers very\nwelcome, and considered the younger as their children. Mrs. Ennalls, who\nwas a person of discernment, saw I was suffering under deep depression of\nspirits. I was fearful I had mistaken my calling. Ingenuously she asked\nme a great many questions, till she drew from me the real state of my\nmind. When she found out that I was discouraged, and about to give up my\nwork in despair and return home, she gave me such a reproof as I shall\nnever forget. \u201cMy young brother,\u201d she said, \u201cyour eternal salvation may\ndepend upon the course you are about to take. You may lose your soul by\nsuch an unwise, hasty step.\u201d Then she exhorted me in the most earnest and\nemphatic manner not to abandon my work, but to keep on. I resolved in\nthe strength of my Master to try again, and though over threescore years\nhave gone into eternity since \u201chaving obtained help from God, I continue\nunto this day.\u201d Well I remember that hospitable mansion; and the room in\nwhich we were, the attitude of the woman, her anxious countenance, her\npiercing eye, the tone of her voice, are all before me just as if it were\nyesterday. Her wise counsel has had an influence upon me all my days; it\nshaped my destiny for life. She has been in the grave for many years, and\nI remember her still with a heart overflowing with gratitude.[6]\n\nI then went to that famous house where the first sermon was preached in\nDorchester County by Freeborn Garrettson, where the widow of Squire Airey\nresided. The old squire was dead and gone. By his position and character\nhe was enabled to do noble service for Methodism, and he deserves a\nconspicuous place in the gallery of portraits of the distinguished laymen\nof the early Methodist Church in America. His widow still lived in the\nold homestead, and the itinerant ministers were made as welcome as when\nhe was alive. She lived but a short distance from Mr. Ennalls. In family\nprayer we had a gracious time. The Holy Ghost descended in copious\neffusions, and the widow was so baptized she shouted aloud for joy and\nwas greatly strengthened and encouraged. I retired to my couch feeling\nthat my soul was resting in God.\n\nIt was in the month of March, and the snow had mantled the earth with its\nsheet of white. I went to sleep sweetly and had a most singular dream. I\nhave never attached much importance to dreams, but this was so strange\nthat I will relate it; it will do no harm if it does no good. I dreamed\nof seeing a large field of wheat, ripe, waving before the wind, ready\nfor the sickle, and the reapers were cutting it down and binding up the\ngolden sheaves. And there was a large field of green wheat, so extensive\nI saw no end. This beautiful dream was a benefit to me; the idea of such\nscenery at that time of the year, when the snow was on the ground, caused\nme to rejoice, and the rejoicing to awake, and lo, it was but a dream. I\nconcluded this dream could not have come from an evil source, otherwise I\ncould not have been in such a happy state of mind; and if it was from a\ngood source, it was for some good purpose, and accordingly I thanked God\nand took courage, and \u201cwent forth weeping, bearing precious seed,\u201d not\ndoubting that I should \u201ccome again with rejoicing, bringing my sheaves\nwith me.\u201d\n\nWe had a number of appointments on Dorchester circuit. I have preserved\nthe names of all the classes and of all the members, both colored and\nwhite, and of those who died during the year, and of those who married\nout of the society, and all who were expelled. The record is singular;\nit would be still more so if we knew the destiny of each of the persons\nwhose name is recorded; but they are all written in God\u2019s book. Most\nof them, no doubt, are in their graves. A prominent appointment was\nCambridge. It was here that the noble Garrettson was imprisoned. But\nthe days of persecution were passed, and Methodism was respected.\nHere resided Dr. Edward White, who helped give tone and character to\nMethodism. Among the names I find on the class-book in Cambridge are Dr.\nEdward White, Mary Ann White, his wife, and Eliza White, Sarah White, and\nMary White, his three daughters.\n\nReligion did wonders for the colored people on this circuit, and hundreds\nof them were converted. They sometimes took the name of their masters.\nI copy from the African class at Cambridge: Edward, Lina, Jacob, Alice,\nRalph, Lua, David, Rhoda, Adam, Esther, Rachel, Harrie, Isaac, Minta,\nPrimus, Philus, Ned, Den, John, Drape, Rive, Robert, Tom, Jacob, David,\nAdam, Esther.\n\nI preached at Ennalls\u2019s meeting-house. There was also a class at Harry\nEnnalls\u2019s: on the book are the names of Harry Ennalls, leader; Sarah,\nhis wife, and Eliza Airey, the widow of Squire Airey. There are other\nhonorable names that I have not space to transcribe\u2014they are in the book\nof life. There were two colored classes that met at Ennalls\u2019s: one had\ntwenty members, the other twenty-five. Among their names are Pompey,\nDido, Moses, and others. We not only had separate classes for the colored\npeople, but separate love-feasts; they were generally held in the morning\nprevious to the love-feasts for the whites, and were seasons of great\ninterest. Religion in its simplicity and power was exhibited by them.\n\nWe preached also at Airey\u2019s Chapel. This was not far from where Squire\nAirey lived and died, and it was called after him; there was a class or\nsociety here; there were forty-four names belonging to one class. William\nPitt was the leader, and among the members were a number of Aireys.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nMY SECOND CIRCUIT, ANNAMESSEX, 1802.\n\n\nBishops Asbury and Whatcoat visited my circuit previous to the Conference\nof 1801, which was held in Philadelphia. We had then but two houses of\nworship in that city, St. George\u2019s and Ebenezer.\n\nThere was great political excitement at the time. Federalism and\nDemocracy ran high, and Jefferson and Adams were talked about everywhere.\nSuch was the excitement that it separated families and friends and\nmembers of the Church. I was urged on every side to identify myself with\none political party or the other, or to express an opinion. I felt sad\nto see what influence this state of feeling was producing in the Church.\nI consulted Bishop Whatcoat, who said that our different political\nsentiments should never affect our Christian fellowship and affections;\nthat each had a right to his own peculiar views, and we should make no\nman an offender because his views of politics were different from ours.\n\nAt this Conference I was not received on trial, because my recommendation\nfrom Dorchester circuit, by some mistake, was not brought to the\nConference. I was received virtually, but not formally. The next year,\nto the question in the Minutes, \u201cWho remain on trial?\u201d the answer is,\n\u201cHenry Boehm;\u201d and at the end of the following year I was admitted into\nfull connection and ordained. The Minutes and Dr. Bangs\u2019s History make me\none year younger in the traveling ministry than I am. I date from 1801,\nthe same year as Dr. Bangs and Bishop Hedding.\n\nAt the Conference of 1801, William Colbert was appointed to Annamessex\nCircuit, and Thomas Ware, the presiding elder, employed me to labor with\nhim. Mr. Colbert had charge also of Somerset Circuit, on which Daniel\nRyan and Edward Larkins traveled.\n\nThe introduction of Methodism into this circuit was providential, and in\nit we can see the hand of God. A Methodist preacher, whose name I have\nforgotten, was on his way from the Line Chapel to Accomac, Virginia.\n(It was so called because on the _line_ between Delaware and Maryland.)\nThe preacher being a stranger, inquired the best way to Accomac. He was\ndirected into the Cypress Swamp, which extended for many miles.\n\nSupposing it was the direct route, the unsuspecting stranger entered,\nto learn, by sad experience, that he had been deceived. After wandering\nabout for a long time in the mud, bogs, and water, where he was in danger\nof sinking, he came out of the swamp near the house of Jepthah Bowen, on\nthe east side of the Pocomoke River. His preservation was very singular,\nequally so that he should have come out at the right place. Mr. Bowen\ntook the stranger in and gave him a hearty welcome. He was a member of\nthe Church of England, and learning his guest was a minister, proposed\nprayer. The preacher prayed with so much power that he was invited to\npreach at Mr. Bowen\u2019s house. On his return from Virginia he did so, and\nthe people were so pleased with his sermon that Mr. Bowen\u2019s house became\na regular preaching place. Thus Methodism was singularly introduced in\nthat section of the country.\n\nJepthah Bowen was converted and many others, and a society was early\nformed at his house. He lived long enough to see the frame of a new house\nof worship erected that bore his name, Bowen\u2019s Chapel. This led to the\nformation of several societies in that region, and to the conversion\nof multitudes. Mr. Bowen\u2019s was the first house opened for Methodist\npreaching in Worcester County. In after years I was entertained by his\naged widow at the old homestead. His children and children\u2019s children\nwere blessed, being the descendants of those who entertained the Lord\u2019s\nprophets.\n\nThe Rev. Freeborn Garrettson was lost in this swamp in 1779. After\nwandering for a long time, night overtook him. It was quite dark, and to\nadd to the gloom, the rain descended in torrents. He was about to take\nlodgings upon the cold, wet ground, when, to his great joy, he discovered\na light at a distance, and following it, he found a house where he was\nkindly entertained. The man with whom he stayed thought his guest was an\nangel, and he surveyed him from head to foot, and then inquired, \u201cWhat\nare you, and who are you? for I am sure I never saw such a man as you\nappear to be.\u201d Mr. Garrettson answered, \u201cI am a follower of our blessed\nSaviour.\u201d\n\nThe woman of the house had been peculiarly afflicted for sixteen days;\nshe had neither eaten nor drunk. There were many who went to see her die,\nwhen she suddenly rose in the bed and exclaimed, \u201cYou thought mine a\ndisorder of the body, but it was not; now I know my Maker loves me.\u201d She\nwas very happy, and said she knew Mr. Garrettson was a man of God, one\nwhom the Lord had sent to reform the world. His visit to the family at\nthat time was a great blessing.\n\nAnother anecdote related by Mr. Garrettson will illustrate the ignorance\nof some of the people. He met a man in the region of the Cypress Swamp,\nand asked him if he was acquainted with Jesus Christ. \u201cSir,\u201d said he, \u201cI\nknow not where the gentleman lives.\u201d Mr. Garrettson, supposing the man\nmisunderstood him, repeated his question, and to the astonishment of Mr.\nG. he replied, \u201cI don\u2019t know the man.\u201d\n\nI was glad to travel with my friend William Colbert, who had been so\noften at my father\u2019s house. He was an eminent revivalist. Our circuit was\nnearly two hundred miles round. There were several houses of worship:\nBowen\u2019s Chapel, Miles\u2019s Chapel, Curtis\u2019s Chapel, St. Martin\u2019s Chapel, and\nSound Meeting-house. I have a record of all the members. Nathaniel Bowen,\na descendant of Jepthah, had thirty-one members in his class, five by the\nname of Bowen.\n\nWe preached against slavery, and persuaded our brethren and those who\nwere converted to liberate their slaves, and we were often successful.\nThere was a revival both among the white and colored. Many slaves were\nmade \u201cfree\u201d by \u201cthe Son,\u201d and they enjoyed the liberty of the soul.\n\nWe preached at Snow Hill. It was formerly a wretched place where the\ntraffic in negroes was carried on. The Georgia traders in human flesh\ncame there and bought slaves, and then took them south and sold them.\nMethodism made a mighty change here and destroyed this inhuman traffic.\nSnow Hill for years has been a prominent place for Methodism. People\noften fell under the word. George Ward, a local preacher, who married\nHarry Ennalls\u2019s sister, resided here. When I was preaching at his house\nSister Ward fell under the power. She was a woman of fine intellect,\ntherefore I name it because some think that none but persons of weak\nminds are thus affected. At Brother Ward\u2019s house we used to preach, and\nthere we formed the first class at Snow Hill. Henry White, so long an\nhonored member of the Philadelphia Conference, frequently a delegate to\nthe General Conference, I had the honor of taking into the Church while\non this circuit. I also knew his father, Southy White. He was a good man,\nand an excellent local preacher. I preached at his house, and was his\nguest. He died the year I was on that circuit. I knew many of the fathers\nin the Methodist ministry, and have lived not only to bury the fathers,\nbut many of their sons.\n\nJohn Ph\u0153bus\u2019s at Quantico Neck was another of our preaching places. He\nwas the brother of Dr. William Ph\u0153bus, so long known in New York for his\ntalents and his eccentricities. The doctor went out into the ministry\nfrom that section of the country.\n\nWe preached also at Brother Lazarus Maddox\u2019s, at Potato Neck. His house\nwas an excellent home for a wayworn itinerant. On February 14, while\npreaching at his house, the power of God came down and Brother Maddox was\nstruck to the floor, and lay for some time under the divine influence.\nThrilling were the scenes we witnessed. Indeed the whole circuit had a\nwall of fire around about it and a glory in the midst. The people got so\nhappy and shouted so loud they drowned my voice, and leaped for joy, and\nsometimes they would fall, lose their strength, and lie for hours in this\ncondition, and then come to praising the Lord. At several funerals many\nwere awakened, and in several instances loud shouts were heard at the\ngrave. This was something entirely new to me.\n\nWe also preached at Devil\u2019s Island, as it was called. Deil\u2019s it should\nbe named. The first time I visited it I preached from \u201cPrepare to meet\nthy God.\u201d I had spoken but a few words when twelve were struck under\nconviction. I was so pleased I wrote, \u201cThe devil will have to give up his\nisland.\u201d\n\nThere was one general revival; the circuit was in a flame. In every\nappointment sinners were converted. The Peninsula seemed like the garden\nof God. Scenes took place that gladdened the eyes of angels and thrilled\nthe heart of the Saviour. The Gospel had wonderful power, and the results\nwere glorious, as the records of eternity will reveal.\n\nTo show that I have not over-estimated the work, and to record the\nwonderful works of God in those days, I make a few extracts from letters\nwritten by men of God long since in Abraham\u2019s bosom. The first was from\nThomas Ware to Dr. Coke, dated Duck Creek, Delaware, September 12, 1802,\nand published in the Arminian Magazine for 1803:\n\n  \u201cREV. SIR,\u2014In the year 1800 I was appointed to preside on the\n  Peninsula. From the time of my entering on that important charge\n  to the Annual Conference in Philadelphia, May, 1802, above six\n  thousand souls were added to the Church, most of whom, I trust,\n  are added to the Lord.... In Milford Circuit have been added one\n  thousand six hundred members, in Talbot about one thousand, in\n  Somerset and Annamessex one thousand, and the prospect continues\n  equally pleasing in that favored country.\u201d\n\nEzekiel Cooper, in a letter to Dr. Coke dated Philadelphia, September\n7, 1801, says: \u201cI have just now received a letter from Brother Colbert,\none of our preachers in Annamessex Circuit. He wrote: \u2018Good news from\nPocomoke. The kingdom of hell is falling, the borders of Zion are\nenlarging, and glory to God, the prospect of a greater work than we had\nlast year lies before us. In both circuits, Somerset and Annamessex, the\nLord is powerfully at work; our preaching places or houses are too small\nfor the congregations, and, two or three places excepted, too small even\nfor our love-feasts. I believe the Peninsula has never known such a time\nas heaven now favors us with. Glory to Jesus on high! we have what is the\nmost inviting among us, namely, the Lord in power converting sinners, and\nthe saints feel as if they were sunning in the beams of redeeming love,\noverwhelmed with the glorious billows. Some fall motionless, and lie for\nsome minutes, others for hours, and some for a great part of the night\nwithout the use of their limbs or speech, and then they spring up with\nheaven in their eyes and music on their tongues, overwhelmed with love\ndivine. O, glory to God! this work makes Pocomoke swamps like a blooming\nparadise to my soul. If the Lord spares us, I trust that we shall return\nto the North giving him glory for another thousand members. One thousand\njoined last year. By grace there is a good beginning. To God be all the\npraise.\u2019\u201d\n\nSuch is the account Brother Colbert gave of the work of God that year I\ntraveled with him.\n\nJohn Scott\u2019s was one of our preaching places. He lived near Poplartown,\nWorcester County. He was an active and liberal man. He was also\nvery shrewd; knew how to answer a fool according to his folly. As\nhe entertained the Methodist preachers and their horses some of his\nneighbors predicted that he would be \u201ceaten out of house and home.\u201d It\nwas a very dry season, and things were parched up. He was a farmer, and\nhad planted one hundred acres of corn. The crop was likely to be cut off.\nOn a certain day a cloud came up from the west and the refreshing rain\ndescended on his fields, but extended no further. His fields were fresh\nand green, while those of his neighbors were dry. In the fall when they\nwere gathering the crops his neighbors expressed astonishment that his\ncorn should be so much more valuable than theirs. They did not know how\nto account for it. He replied that he \u201chad fed the Methodist preachers\u2019\nhorses.\u201d He left his neighbors to infer that this was one cause of his\nprosperity. I have often noticed those families who were not given to\nhospitality, and those who have welcomed the messengers of God to their\nhouses, and the latter have prospered far more than the former. A noble\nman was Brother John Scott.\n\nWhen I was on Hooper\u2019s Island I put up with a Widow Ruack, who was a\nmember of our Church, and entertained Methodist preachers. She related\nto me the following anecdote: \u201cJoseph Everett traveled and preach there.\nOne day she looked out of her window and saw Mr. Everett coming. She\nrejoiced to see the preacher, but was exceedingly mortified that she had\nnothing in the house to cook for his dinner, and living on the island, it\nwas not convenient to get anything, for stores and markets were scarce.\nShe went out into the door-yard for some wood to make a fire to boil the\ntea-kettle. Just that moment something fell at her feet. It was a large\nfresh bass that weighed several pounds. She looked up and saw a large\nhawk flying over, which had dropped the fish. He had just taken the fish\nout of the bay, and finding it heavy, had dropped it in the right place.\nShe immediately dressed and cooked it for the preacher\u2019s dinner, and he\npraised it exceedingly, not having enjoyed such a meal in a long time.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nKENT, BRISTOL, AND NORTHAMPTON CIRCUITS.\n\n\nDuring the interval between the Baltimore and the Philadelphia Conference\nBishops Asbury and Whatcoat spent some time on the Peninsula. They\nvisited my circuit, and I had the honor of going with them to the\nconference which met in Philadelphia on Saturday, May 1, 1802.\n\nSunday was a high day in Zion. In the morning, at St. George\u2019s, the\nRev. George Roberts preached a sermon of rare excellence on salvation\nby grace through faith. In the afternoon John M\u2019Claskey preached from\nExod. xv, 16, on Israel\u2019s separation from the world, and how it might be\nknown that God was with his people; not by the descent of manna, but the\npillar and cloud day and night. He showed great ingenuity, and while he\nwas preaching the baptism of fire descended. In the evening Rev. William\nColbert discoursed on the advantages of an itinerant ministry from \u201cMany\nshall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.\u201d It was delivered\nwith great unction. Colbert was a great little man in the days of his\nglory.\n\nThis pleasant conference closed the next Friday, and I was appointed to\nKent Circuit with Christopher Sprye. He was a noble colleague, one of\nthe pioneers of Methodism in New England. This was the oldest circuit\non the Peninsula, being formed in 1774. There were many things on this\ncircuit of peculiar interest to me. I had the honor of preaching in\nKent\u2019s Meeting-house, the first Methodist house of worship erected on the\nEastern Shore of Maryland.\n\nIt was built in 1774, one year after the first conference was held in\nAmerica.\n\nThis was four miles below Chestertown. The old chapel years ago gave way\nto a better structure, now called Hynson\u2019s Chapel, from the name of a\nfamily who resided near it.\n\nThe burying-ground connected with this chapel is also a place of\ninterest, not only because of the old families of Methodism who were\nsleeping there, but from its being the last resting-place of ministers\nwho have fallen at their post. The renowned William Gill, one of our\nearly preachers, was buried there. He was a man of surpassing genius, of\nphilosophic mind. Dr. Rush greatly admired him, and pronounced him the\ngreatest divine he had ever heard. This is no mean praise coming from\nsuch a source. In 1777 he joined the traveling connection, and died in\n1789; a short but brilliant career. With his own hands he closed his\neyes, and laid his body down in sure and certain hope of a glorious\nresurrection.\n\nIn this circuit I formed the acquaintance of Rev. JOHN SMITH, one of\nour old preachers, who possessed much of the spirit of the beloved John,\nwhose name he bore. He was at the famous Christmas Conference of 1784.\nHe lived in Chestertown, and his house was my home. He was a very genial\nold man, and his conversation was agreeable and profitable. I heard him\npreach from Psalm xxiv, 3, 4: \u201cWho shall ascend into the hill of the\nLord?\u201d etc. It was a profitable discourse, and much good was done. He\ndied triumphantly in 1812, exclaiming, \u201cCome, Lord Jesus, come quickly;\ntake my enraptured soul away. I am not afraid to die. I long to be\ndissolved and see the face of God without a dimming vail between: death\nhas lost his sting.\u201d He was buried beside the grave of William Gill.\n\nThe father of SHADRACH BOSTWICK resided on this circuit. Shadrach\nBostwick was one of the mighty men of our Israel. I wonder not that\nBishop Hedding called him a \u201cglorious man;\u201d we have had but few such men.\nI first saw and heard him at the General Conference in Baltimore in 1800.\n\nThe same spring I went with him to Georgetown, when he was on his way to\nsee his aged father for the last time.\n\nDr. Bostwick was born near the head of Chester, in Kent County, Maryland.\nIn Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New England, and Ohio he did noble\nservice for Methodism, and was everywhere esteemed as \u201ca prince and a\ngreat man.\u201d He emigrated to Ohio, and was a pioneer in more senses than\none. Long since he fell asleep, leaving behind him a name distinguished\nfor its purity and luster. His father\u2019s house was one of my regular\npreaching places on this circuit. In the old homestead where he was born\nand spent his early days, and where he was born again, I preached over\nsixty years ago the glorious Gospel of the blessed God.\n\nHis father was among the oldest Methodists on the Peninsula, and when\nhis son joined the conference, in 1791, he was \u201cin age and feebleness\nextreme.\u201d He died while I was on the circuit.\n\nI wrote thus in my Journal: \u201c_June 23, 1802_, I rode to Father\nBostwick\u2019s; I found him in a low state of health; but the way to the\ncelestial country appeared bright before him; this enables him to rejoice\nin the midst of pain. I preached at his house from \u2018Blessed are the\npure in heart, for they shall see God.\u2019 This was a theme adapted to his\ncharacter and condition. The old man got happy under the word in the\nprospect of seeing God.\n\n\u201c_July 22._ I rode to the aged Father Bostwick\u2019s. When within a quarter\nof a mile of the place I met the people returning, who informed me that\nthe old man lay at the point of death, and, therefore, there could be no\npreaching at his house that night. I told them we would have a meeting in\nthe road where we were. I gave them an exhortation, followed by prayer.\nWe all knelt down in the street and had a precious time.\u201d I name this\nto show the early Methodist ministers lost then no opportunity of doing\ngood. It was the uniform custom to be \u201cinstant in season and out of\nseason.\u201d\n\nI then went to his house and found the old pilgrim near \u201cThe narrow\nstream of death.\u201d The next day, as he had somewhat revived, I preached in\nhis orchard from \u201cYe know the grace,\u201d etc. I then spent some time with\nthe dying father. The scene was beautiful, the room full of glory; the\nold saint was triumphant. I prayed with him, and then bade him farewell\ntill we meet in the pilgrim\u2019s home. Before I came round again he was in\nParadise.\n\nThe peninsula produced some of the strongest men of Methodism: Shadrach\nBostwick, Caleb Boyer, William Beauchamp, Ezekiel Cooper, Hope Hull, Dr.\nWilliam Ph\u0153bus, Stephen Martindale, Lawrence McCombs, Lawrence Lawrenson,\nBishop Emory, and many others.\n\nFrequent changes were made at that time in the ministry during the\nconference year. I traveled Kent Circuit, with Christopher Sprye, till\nAugust, then my presiding elder removed me to Northampton Circuit,\nformerly a part of Bristol. It embraced several counties besides\nNorthampton, Montgomery, Berks, and others. An exchange was made between\nJohnson Dunham and myself. So I went from the low to the high lands. The\ncontrast was wonderful: the former low, level, and unhealthy; you might\ntravel a whole day without seeing a hill; the latter, hills, mountains,\nand valleys. The change had a fine effect on my health and spirits. I\nentered upon my new field of labor with delight. The country was new, the\ncircuit large and rough.\n\nBristol Circuit was traveled by Thomas Everard and T. Jones. James\nLattomas was stationed in Wilmington. He was a superior preacher, and in\nhis day a man of considerable note. He was taken sick, and Brother T.\nJones was sent to fill his place. A relative of Thomas Everard died in\nPhiladelphia of yellow fever, so he left the circuit, and Bristol and\nNorthampton were blended into one, and I alone left to travel them. I\nfound I had enough to do to go round this large territory in three weeks.\nI had no time for \u201crest week,\u201d no time to rust out; but it was happy\ntoil, and the best of all, God was with me, strengthening me with his\nSpirit, and cheering me with his presence.\n\nJacob Gruber\u2019s birthplace was on this circuit, and I used to stay with\nhis parents, who lived in Springfield township. I was there in 1798\nwith my father, who was on a ministerial tour. Jacob\u2019s father belonged\nto the United Brethren; his mother, and brother Peter, and sister were\nMethodists. I knew the family well. They were exceedingly industrious and\neconomical. Jacob was converted, as we have seen, under Simon Miller,\nand from this place he went out to travel. He was highly esteemed in his\nneighborhood, but met with great opposition from his father when he\njoined the Methodists. He had a very ready utterance, with quite a German\naccent. I shall say more about him hereafter, as he was my colleague.\n\nThere was a house of worship in the neighborhood called Bryan\u2019s\nMeeting-house, named after Brother Bryan, who was a man of standing and\ninfluence. He was formerly a deist, but was converted under the labors of\nDr. William P. Chandler.\n\nI preached in Stroudsburg, now the county seat of Monroe. It took its\nname from Colonel Jacob Stroud, who was the first settler, and owned four\nthousand acres of land. He was colonel in the Revolutionary army, and\ncommanded at Fort Penn, which stood where the village of Stroudsburgh is\nnow. This was the first settlement reached by the unfortunate fugitives\nfrom Wyoming after the terrible slaughter of July, 1778. I knew Colonel\nStroud well, for he kept a public-house, and I often put up with him,\nand his house was a regular preaching place. We preached there on\nSunday mornings. The colonel was a short, thick-set man, and much of a\ngentleman, and a thorough business man. His wife was an excellent woman,\nand a member of our Church.\n\nThe colonel was very friendly, very courteous, but not religious. I went\nto his house to preach one Sabbath morning, and arriving before the hour\nof service, I was kindly invited into a private room. The colonel came\nin, and, after wishing me good morning, I inquired after the state of his\nhealth. He answered, \u201cAs hearty as a buck, but I do not like this dying.\nI believe God made man to live forever.\u201d I replied, \u201cI believe that too,\nbut sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and now it is appointed\nunto all men once to die.\u201d He looked thoughtful, but made no reply, and\nleft the room. A few minutes after I began the service, and the colonel\nwas one of my auditors, for he was always present at the preaching, and a\nvery attentive hearer. He was then an old man, and yet he did not like to\nthink of death. He died three years after, in 1806.\n\nMy excellent friend and brother, William Colbert, in November, 1804,\nmarried Colonel Stroud\u2019s daughter Elizabeth. As I was so well acquainted\nin the family, and he and myself such intimate friends, he consulted\nme concerning the step he was about to take. I knew how deeply he was\nin love, and said I could give him no better advice than I saw in the\nalmanac: \u201cIf you marry, you will be sorry; if you do not, you will be\nsorry.\u201d He smiled, and said, \u201cYou have now fixed me.\u201d A few months after\nhe was married, and I never heard he was sorry. She made him an excellent\nhelpmate, and William and Elizabeth \u201cwalked in all the commandments and\nordinances of the Lord blameless,\u201d till death separated them, in 1833.\nThen Elizabeth was left a widow, and William went up to receive his crown.\n\nAnother of my preaching places was at Father Broadhead\u2019s, in Smithfield,\nNorthampton County. There was a place called \u201cBroadhead Settlement,\u201d\nand there is a stream called \u201cBroadhead Creek,\u201d They probably were\nso called from General Broadhead, who distinguished himself first in\nthe Indian wars, and afterward in the Revolution. Here the Rev. John\nBroadhead, a descendant of his, was born and converted, and began to\npreach, and from this place entered the traveling connection. It was at\nhis uncle\u2019s I preached, and there were a number of his relatives in the\nneighborhood. He entered the traveling connection in 1794, and after\nhaving accomplished a noble work, died with his armor on, April 7, 1838.\nNo name in the annals of New England Methodism shines brighter than\nJohn Broadhead\u2019s; none will be more enduring. He was a man of imposing\nappearance, a dignified Christian minister, and a model preacher. In 1800\nI became acquainted with him, and in after years, when at the New England\nConferences, I saw him and heard him preach.\n\nI preached also at Bristol, a beautiful place on the banks of the\nDelaware, twenty miles from Philadelphia. We had a small class there,\nand I preached in the old Episcopal church. The Episcopalians had no\nminister and no preaching, therefore they permitted us to occupy it. This\nwas the case then almost everywhere in that part of the country, but it\nis very different now. Our people some years before had begun to erect\na brick edifice in Bristol. The walls were up, but the roof was not on.\nThey began to build, but were not able to finish; so it stood for several\nyears. We circulated a subscription, raised the money, and completed the\nedifice, and I had the honor of dedicating it on March 12, 1803. My text\nwas 1 Peter iii, 12. I made this record: \u201cI preached to one hundred and\nseventy, who appeared remarkably attentive. The Lord truly let us feel\nthe evidence of his approbation.\u201d\n\nI see by the last Minutes that we now have in Bristol 204 members and 191\nprobationers, and a church edifice worth $10,000. There is a great change\nsince I was there in 1803.\n\nThen I went to Germantown, and John M\u2019Claskey preached for me. His text\nwas 2 Kings v, 14: \u201cThen he went down and dipped himself seven times\nin Jordan,\u201d etc. His sermon was original and full of interest. A great\npreacher was John M\u2019Claskey in the days of his strength. He was one\nof the noblest looking men in the pulpit I ever saw. His commanding\nappearance, beautiful flowing locks, and magnificent voice made him quite\nan object of attraction.\n\nOn July 1 I went to Philadelphia and preached at Zoar, and lodged with\nBrother D. Doughty. The next evening I heard Thomas F. Sargent preach at\nthe Bethel on \u201cthe stone which the builders rejected.\u201d His sermon showed\nhim to be a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.\n\nNear the close of this conference year I received a letter from William\nColbert requesting me to take a tour with him through the Peninsula\nprevious to the session of our conference. I could not have been better\npleased than at the opportunity to revisit with such a man the scenes of\nour former labors and triumphs.\n\nOn April 7 we started for Annamessex and St. Martin\u2019s Circuits. Again we\nwitnessed the mighty displays of the mercy and power of God. Multitudes\nwere converted; among them many Africans. Brother Colbert preached at\nthat time with great efficiency. He moved the masses as the wind does the\nwheat in summer. I have a list of all his texts and themes. He showed\ngreat wisdom in their selection. At every place we were hailed with\ndelight. After many days of traveling, on April 30 we reached Dover, and\nwere the guests of the Hon. Richard Bassett.\n\nBishop Asbury being sick, and not able to fill his appointment, Ezekiel\nCooper held forth, and then Brother Colbert gave a narrative of the work\nof God on Albany District, over which he had presided during the year,\nand of the hundreds who were flocking to Jesus in the north, and while he\nwas so doing the holy fire began to kindle on the altar of many hearts.\n\nJoseph Jewell from Canada gave an account of the work of God on his\ndistrict, which was like good news from a far country, and the people\nwere much refreshed. We had no periodicals then, and this is the way\nreligious intelligence was communicated. What a different age we live\nin now, when we have so many \u201cAdvocates\u201d and other religious journals.\nThe reader will get an idea of the extent of the work when he learns\nthat in what was then the Albany District there are now several annual\nconferences. This district and Canada then belonged to the Philadelphia\nConference.\n\nBishop Whatcoat arrived and preached at four o\u2019clock one of his rich\nsermons, on all things working for good to them that love God. Richard\nSneath exhorted. In the evening James Moore preached from Rom. viii, 18:\n\u201cI reckon the sufferings of the present time,\u201d etc. There was a general\nmove in the congregation, and some professed to be converted.\n\nOn Sunday, May 1, Bishop Whatcoat preached from 1 Peter iii, 5, on being\n\u201cclothed with humility.\u201d It was a melting time. Few men could move\nand melt an audience like Bishop Whatcoat. His own heart was made of\ntenderness, and no wonder those felt who listened to him.\n\nI never saw a more general move in a congregation under the word than on\nthat day. Many were awakened, and we spent hours with those in distress.\nSeveral were converted, and the shouts of joy and songs of triumph were\nheard afar off. The meeting continued from nine in the morning till three\nin the afternoon without intermission. The recollection of such days of\npower and glory is enough to make an old man renew his youth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nPHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE, 1803\u2014BRISTOL CIRCUIT.\n\n\nThe Philadelphia Conference met at Duck Creek Cross Roads, now Smyrna, in\nMay, 1803, in the meeting-house of the Friends, so that we could have our\nown to preach in. This we did several times a day.\n\nMethodism was introduced into this place in 1779. Among the early\nMethodists here was Joseph Wyatt, who joined the conference in 1781,\nand located in 1788. His house was the preaching place till the church\nwas built. Also, Alexander M\u2019Lane, who gave the site on which the\nchurch was built; he and his wife were excellent members. He was an old\nRevolutionary soldier under Washington, as well as a valiant soldier\nunder the great Captain of our salvation. He was father of the Hon. Louis\nM\u2019Lane, a member of General Jackson\u2019s cabinet and minister to England,\nand of Robert M\u2019Lane, minister to Mexico, both of whom were baptized by\nBishop Asbury. I was well acquainted with this family. Near their farm\nlived Sarah, daughter of Thomas White, Bishop Asbury\u2019s early friend. She\nmarried Dr. Cook, who became a prominent Methodist. George Kennard was\nalso a pillar in the infant Church, and his house was my home during\nconference.\n\nAt Brother Kennard\u2019s I met my dear aged father, who had come to attend\nthe conference. I made this record: \u201cGlory to God that we are brought to\nsee each others\u2019 faces in the land of hope.\u201d\n\nOn Monday, May 2, the conference commenced its session. In the evening\nBrother Richard Swain[7] preached from, \u201cTo-day shalt thou be with me\nin Paradise.\u201d A glorious time: my soul, magnify thou the Lord. We had a\npowerful prayer-meeting at six in the morning. It was the custom in those\ndays to have a prayer meeting early in the morning during conference, and\nthey were refreshing seasons. Preachers and people were in the habit of\nrising earlier than they do now; they had not learned to turn midnight\ninto noon.\n\nI heard, during the session, a number of admirable sermons: one from\nRichard Sneath, on Matt, vi, 10, \u201cThy kingdom come;\u201d another by Thomas\nFoster, from Isaiah xlv, 18, a profitable and pointed discourse; the\npower of God rested on the congregation. I also heard \u201cBlack Harry,\u201d who\ntraveled with Bishop Asbury and Freeborn Garrettson. He was a perfect\ncharacter; could neither read nor write, and yet was very eloquent. His\ntext was, \u201cMan goeth to his long home;\u201d his sermon was one of great\neloquence and power. The preachers listened to this son of Ham with great\nwonder, attention, and profit. I shall say something more concerning him.\n\nI made this record in my journal: \u201cThroughout the whole this was a\ncomfortable and profitable conference; the business was done in love\nand harmony. The conference continued _four_ days. There were about\none hundred preachers. Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat were both present.\nTwenty-four were ordained: twelve deacons and twelve elders.\u201d\n\nBishop Whatcoat preached from 1 Peter v, 10: \u201cBut the God of all grace,\nwho hath called us to his eternal glory,\u201d etc. The sermon was most\npowerful. It was one of the most melting times I ever witnessed; the\ntheme suited him. I was ordained a deacon at this conference, and took\nthe solemn vows of God upon me. I was in the regular succession, for I\nwas ordained by Richard Whatcoat, who was ordained by Wesley. Of the\ntwenty-four who were ordained at the conference, and the venerated\nbishops who presided, not one remains but myself; the rest sleep in\nhonored sepulchers.\n\n\nBLACK HARRY.\n\nHaving heard this African preach, I have been asked a great many\nquestions concerning him. The preaching of a colored man was, in those\ndays, a novelty. Harry traveled with Bishop Asbury as early as 1782;\nalso with Dr. Coke, Bishop Whatcoat, and Freeborn Garrettson. Crowds\nflocked to hear him, not only because he was a colored man, but because\nhe was eloquent. Mr. Asbury wished him to travel with him for the benefit\nof the colored people.\n\nSome inquire whether he was really black, or whether Anglo-Saxon blood\nwas not mixed in his veins? Harry was very black, an African of the\nAfricans. He was so illiterate he could not read a word. He would repeat\nthe hymn as if reading it, and quote his text with great accuracy. His\nvoice was musical, and his tongue as the pen of a ready writer. He was\nunboundedly popular, and many would rather hear him than the bishops.\nIn 1790 he traveled with Mr. Garrettson through New England and a part\nof New York. In Hudson Mr. Garrettson says: \u201cI found the people curious\nto hear Harry. I therefore declined, that their curiosity might be\nsatisfied. The different denominations heard him with much admiration,\nand the Quakers thought, as he was unlearned, he must speak by immediate\ninspiration.\u201d Another time he says: \u201cHarry exhorted after me to the\nadmiration of the people.\u201d Again, near Gen. Van Courtland\u2019s, he says:\n\u201cThe people of this circuit are amazingly fond of hearing Harry.\u201d In\nCanaan, Conn., Mr. Garrettson preached, and says: \u201cHarry preached after\nme with much applause.\u201d The same afternoon Mr. Garrettson preached in\nSalisbury, and adds: \u201cI have never seen so tender a meeting in this town\nbefore, for a general weeping ran through the congregation, especially\nwhen Harry gave an exhortation.\u201d\n\nDr. Rush heard him and admired his eloquence. Dr. Coke heard him preach,\nsoon after his arrival in America, on the Peninsula, and said, \u201cI am well\npleased with Harry\u2019s preaching.\u201d\n\n\u2019Tis painful to mar a picture so beautiful. Gladly I will leave it as\nit is. But, alas! poor Harry was so petted and made so much of that he\nbecame lifted up. Falling under the influence of strong drink, he made\nshipwreck of the faith, and for years he remained in this condition. He\nwas afterward reclaimed, and died in peace in Philadelphia in 1810, and\nwas buried in Kensington.\n\n\nBRISTOL CIRCUIT IN 1803.\n\nI was appointed this year to Bristol Circuit; John Bethel was my\ncolleague. I rode home to Lancaster with my venerable father. We were\naccompanied by several preachers: Jacob Gruber, James Ridgeway, J.\nDunham, Gideon Draper, and Benjamin Bidlack, the latter so graphically\ndescribed by Dr. Peck. We had preaching every night.\n\nBefore I returned to my circuit I took a tour with my father. We went to\nNew Holland and tarried with John Davis. On Sunday my father preached,\nas he always did, in German, from \u201cThe Spirit and the Bride say, Come,\u201d\netc. After the sermon the Lord\u2019s Supper was administered, and Jesus was\nmade known to us in the breaking of bread.\n\nOn May 18, after these seasons of refreshing, I started for my circuit\nfull of the spirit of my Master. I went to Germantown, then to Tullytown.\nI preached there on the 28th on \u201cAcquaint now thyself with God,\u201d etc. At\nthe conclusion of the sermon a man who was intoxicated reeled into the\nschool-house with a tumbler full of strong drink, and offered it to me.\nThe tavern was opposite the school-house, and a number of \u201clewd fellows\nof the baser sort\u201d had gathered there. They could have had no idea that\nI would drink of their fire-water. They wanted some fun with a Methodist\npreacher, or to discourage him so that he would not come again.\n\nI preached also in Germantown. This place is within ten years as old as\nPhiladelphia. It was called Germantown because it was founded by Germans.\nThey were from the Palatinate.\n\nGermantown was the birthplace of David Rittenhouse the astronomer.\nOften have I seen the old house where he was born, and the mill where\nhe studied his first lessons. His father was a paper manufacturer. My\nfather preached in Germantown for many years, and was well acquainted\nwith the Rittenhouses. The old people were Mennonites, and hence their\nacquaintance with my father, who was a Mennonite preacher.\n\nIn 1802-3 the Methodists had had scarcely a foothold in Germantown. There\nwas a small class, but the members were poor and of but little influence.\nThey had preached in the school-house, but were now excluded from it.\nThis was from prejudice against \u201ca sect everywhere spoken against.\u201d I\nconcluded we ought to have a church of our own there where we could\npreach the Gospel without the fear of the doors being closed against us.\nIt was in my parish, and I felt the importance of cultivating this part\nof Immanuel\u2019s land.\n\nBrother Ezekiel Cooper was book agent in Philadelphia. I went and\ninformed him of the state of things, and he advised me to circulate a\nsubscription to build a church. He wrote a subscription, and I circulated\nit. I do not wish to boast, but simply to state a fact: the preacher in\ncharge had a salary of eighty dollars, and he headed the subscription\nwith forty dollars.\n\nIn my journal, February 9, 1803, I wrote: \u201cIn Germantown I tried to\nget a meeting-house started. We got upward of one hundred dollars on\nsubscription in part of one day. If we had only one or two leading men\nthe work, I believe, would go on.\u201d I even prayed for them, for this\nfollows: \u201cO Lord, the hearts of all men are in thy hands; do thou look in\nmercy upon us.\u201d Has not this prayer, offered fifty-nine years ago, been\nanswered?\n\nSeveral hundred dollars were soon after subscribed, and we immediately\nsecured a site and prepared for the erection of a small house. We\nappointed a committee to superintend the erection of the building. It\nconsisted of five persons: two members of the Church, and three who were\nnot members. The appointment of a majority of outsiders on the committee\nshowed two things: 1. The scarcity of Methodist timber for material. 2.\nThe friendly feeling of others toward this new enterprise. I made a short\nvisit to Philadelphia, and on my return I jotted down the following: \u201cI\ncame back to Germantown, where I met the committee. They all seemed to\nbe in good spirits about the meeting-house. O may the Lord prosper his\nblessed work in this town!\u201d\n\nIn circulating the subscription among the Germans it greatly aided me\nwhen they learned I was a son of \u201cElder Boehm.\u201d My father had preached\nthere years before, and they were pleased with him, and many of them\ngave me a ten-dollar subscription for our new church. Soon after some\ninfluential families were converted, which gave character and stability\nto Methodism in this place. Such was the origin of the first Methodist\nhouse of worship in Germantown. It is now a large place, and an arm of\nPhiladelphia. The Methodists have there two churches: 483 members, and\n116 probationers; in all, 509, and Church property worth $36,000.\n\nWhat a mighty change since the school-house was closed against us, and\nwe, like Noah\u2019s dove, found no rest for the sole of our foot! To God be\nall the glory.\n\nSome striking incidents occurred on this circuit. Near Bristol there\nwas a wild, fast young man, who was awakened under very singular\ncircumstances. He wished to frighten some of the neighbors on their\nway from meeting; so one night he fastened some horns on his head, and\ncovered himself with the skin of a beast with the hair on, and said he\nwas the devil; but instead of frightening others, he frightened himself,\nand resolved to leave the service of the devil and become a servant of\nGod.\n\nI preached at Mr. Heath\u2019s, a little below Morrisville. There were two\nbrothers, who were mechanics, and in partnership, working in a shop\nabout forty yards from the preaching place. One got ready for meeting,\nand asked his brother if he would not go. He said he could not spare the\ntime, and added, \u201cYou had better stick to your work also.\u201d He replied,\n\u201cI am determined to go to meeting, let the consequences be as they may.\u201d\nAfter he was gone the brother who stayed home with a determination\nto work was suddenly taken sick with a violent fever, and instead of\nworking, he was not able to help himself even to a drink of water, and he\nwas in perfect misery all the time his brother was gone. As soon as his\nbrother returned the fever left him, and he was able to join his brother\nin work. When I came round on the circuit the same thing occurred over\nagain, that made it still more strange. At the next appointment for\npreaching both the brothers went to hear the word, and we were invited to\nmake their shop a regular preaching-place, which we did, as it was much\nmore convenient than the other.\n\nNear Morristown, on this circuit, a house of worship had been erected by\nthe Rev. Mr. Demer, who also built the Forrest Chapel in Berks County.\nHe was a Swedish minister. When he first heard the Rev. Joseph Pilmoor,\none of Mr. Wesley\u2019s missionaries, preach in Philadelphia, he welcomed\nhim as a minister of God preaching the truth as it was in Jesus, and\nafter a time his Church property and the society were transferred to the\nMethodists. My colleague and myself used to preach there.\n\nThere was a serious difficulty among some of the most prominent members\nand families which threatened the destruction of the society. Various\nattempts had been made to settle it, but all to no purpose; the storm\nstill raged. My colleague, Thomas Everhard, tried, but it was labor in\nvain. I resolved, as the charge then devolved on me, in the name of the\nGod of peace to try and settle the affair. I knew that if we did not it\nwould destroy that Church root and branch, and that \u201cIchabod\u201d would soon\nbe written upon the deserted wall of their sanctuary. When I came round\nI found the society all at logger-heads. It was a perfect Babel. I was\nyoung in the ministry, and greatly exercised to know how to restore\npeace. I preached, and the society came together afterward, and each\nopened his budget of grievances. And after searching into the origin of\nthe difficulty, I found it was much ado about nothing. It commenced with\nevil surmising, and this led to evil words. My impression was it could\nnever be settled in the ordinary way, for there was nothing definite;\nthere were no tangible points. I then told them I had a plan for\ndisposing of the whole matter at once. I told them my plan was that all\nshould agree to settle the difficulty at once and forever by burying it\nvery deep. Both parties with tears agreed to it. We dug its grave deep,\nwe buried it, and then prayed that it might never have a resurrection.\nThere was not a single mourner at the funeral, but a general rejoicing.\nI invited all who were in favor of burying it and living hereafter in\nChristian fellowship to rise. They all stood up; tears flowed freely;\nthey embraced and forgave each other. Best of all, it stayed settled.\nThey did not in burying the hatchet leave the handle sticking out so\nthat they could get hold of it and renew the war, but buried handle and\nall. The old people have been gathered to their fathers. They lived and\ndied in peace and harmony, and to this day their children and children\u2019s\nchildren bless me. I saw one of the sons years after, and he spoke with\ngratitude of the day when that old difficulty was buried, and when Zion\nbecame a quiet habitation.\n\nThis was at Supplee\u2019s Chapel, the oldest Methodist house of worship in\nPennsylvania except St. George\u2019s. Joseph Pilmoor early preached here. The\nSupplees also heard Captain Webb. Abraham Supplee was a local preacher.\nI was often his guest. This chapel was used as a hospital for our sick\nand wounded soldiers after the battle of Germantown, and a number of the\nsoldiers died and were buried here. Several of the officers made Abraham\nSupplee\u2019s house their home. Washington was often there, having his\nheadquarters in the neighborhood.\n\nIt was an old stone chapel, and was afterward called Bethel. Many of\nour early chapels were built of stone, which was abundant, cheap, and\ndurable. Indeed, the first Methodist chapel in America was built of\nstone, namely, Wesley Chapel in New York.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nSHORT TOUR WITH BISHOP ASBURY, 1803.\n\n\nBishops Asbury and Whatcoat visited my circuit on the 18th of July.\nBishop Whatcoat preached in Bristol, and Bishop Asbury in Burlington;\nafter which I rode with the bishops to Philadelphia, in company with\nThomas F. Sargent and Oliver Beale. Bishop Asbury said he wished me to\ntravel with him, so I left all, for in that day the bishop said \u201cgo, and\nhe goeth; come, and he cometh.\u201d I heard the bishop, George Roberts, and\nT. F. Sargent preach before I left Philadelphia. The bishops moved on in\nadvance of me, and I overtook them at Soudersburg. Here Bishop Asbury\npreached from Psalm li, 9-12, on \u201ca clean heart and a right spirit.\u201d\nBishop Whatcoat exhorted after him.\n\nBishop Whatcoat had designed to go the western route, but he became so\nfeeble that Asbury was obliged to proceed without him.\n\nWe went first to Columbia, then to Little York, then to Hollow Pence\u2019s, a\nlittle distance from York. The bishop preached in every place. At Brother\nPence\u2019s, Brother Wilson Lee met us. After the bishop\u2019s sermon he exhorted\nwith great effect, and there was a shaking among the dry bones. From\nthence we had his company for some days. He was the presiding elder,\nand when the bishop entered a district the elder generally accompanied\nhim. Next we went to Carlisle, to quarterly meeting. On Saturday Bishop\nAsbury preached at eleven, from Col. iii, 12, 13; at night Wilson Lee,\nfrom Joshua iii, 5, \u201cSanctify yourselves, for to-morrow the Lord will do\nwonders among you.\u201d This was indeed a preparation sermon for the wonders\nof the morrow.\n\nOn Sunday morning we had a prayer-meeting at sunrise. It was a joyful\nseason. At eight o\u2019clock James Smith preached from Acts xiii, 26; at\neleven, Bishop Asbury preached with life and power from 2 Cor. iv, 2,\n\u201cBut have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,\u201d etc. At four,\nWilson Lee preached from 2 Cor. x, 3-9, on the weapons of our warfare.\nBrother Fidler preached in the evening. We had four sermons, besides\na prayer-meeting at sunrise. That was a great day in Carlisle; crowds\nattended to hear the word.\n\nThe next day we went to David Snyder\u2019s, where the bishop preached from\n2 Tim. iv, 7, 8, \u201cI have fought a good fight.\u201d Wilson Lee exhorted. I\nwrote, \u201cGlory to God, this was a comfortable season.\u201d In the afternoon we\nwent to Shippensburgh, where the bishop preached in the evening from 1\nPeter iii, 15, 16, on the \u201creason of the hope\u201d within you. I wrote thus:\n\u201cIt is remarkable to see what labors our father in the Gospel undergoes.\nI think there is not a traveling preacher in the connection that goes\nthrough more fatigue. His extreme toil and labor eclipses the most\nzealous among us.\u201d\n\nOn Wednesday Brother Lee left us, and I went on with the bishop over the\nmountains and rocks till we reached Bedford County, Pennsylvania. We then\nwent over the Dry Ridge and the Alleghany Hills singing the praises of\nthe Most High. We stopped in Berlin, Somerset County, on the top of the\nmountains. I preached in German, and the bishop exhorted.\n\nHere, on the top of the Alleghany Mountains, I parted with the bishop,\non the 5th of August, having been with him fourteen days, and heard him\npreach eight times. He always loved the Germans, and as I could preach\nin that language, and few at that time could, he said to me, \u201cHenry,\nyou had better return and preach to the Germans, and I will pursue my\njourney alone.\u201d He did not send me back to Bristol, but to Dauphin, there\nbeing more Germans on that circuit. The bishop gave me his blessing, and\nwith tears I bade him adieu, and he turned his face westward and I went\neastward. Years after I crossed the Alleghanies several times with the\nbishop; I did something more than go to the top and look over at the\nmighty West.\n\nThe bishop, when I parted with him, was feeble in body, but in a blessed\nstate of mind, as will be seen by an entry in his journal the next\nTuesday after we separated. He says: \u201cAlthough much afflicted, I felt\nwholly given up to do or suffer the will of God; to be sick or well,\nand to live or die, at any time and in any place\u2014the fields, the woods,\nthe house, or the wilderness: glory be to God for such resignation! I\nhave but little to leave except a journey of five thousand miles a year,\nthe care of more than a hundred thousand souls, and the arrangement of\nabout four hundred preachers yearly, to which I may add the murmurs and\ndiscontent of ministers and people. Who wants this legacy? Those who do\nare welcome to it for me!\u201d Many might covet the honor, but few the toils\nand the sacrifices. The office of bishop was no sinecure in those days.\n\nAt the time frequent changes in the ministry were made by the bishops\nduring the interval of conference, but they did not always appear in the\nMinutes. Most of the preachers were single men, and could move without\nmuch trouble. My name in the Minutes that year does not stand connected\nwith Bristol Circuit, but Dauphin. Thus: \u201cDauphin, Jacob Gruber, Henry\nBoehm.\u201d\n\nOn Sunday, August 7, I went to a quarterly meeting held at Fort Littleton\nby Wilson Lee, presiding elder of Baltimore district. There was an\nexcellent love-feast at nine o\u2019clock, at which Brother Lee presided. It\nwas the only time I was in a love-feast with that heavenly-minded man.\n\nBrother Lee was very ill, and urged me to preach. In the name and fear\nof my Lord I undertook it. My text was 1 Peter iii, 12: \u201cFor the eyes of\nthe Lord are over the righteous,\u201d etc. I was blessed with great liberty.\nGod\u2019s power was felt in the sanctuary; the house echoed with songs of\njoy and shouts of triumph all through the sermon, but the Lord gave me\nstrength to keep my voice above the rest. There was not only a shout of\nthe king in the camp, but the power of God so rested upon the people\nthat many of them fell both speechless and helpless. It reminded me of\nthe exhibitions of power I had seen in the Peninsula. Four souls were\nconverted during this meeting.\n\nOn Tuesday, the 9th, we came to Shippensburgh. Here Brother Lee and I\nbade each other farewell. The refreshing seasons we had together I have\nnot forgotten, and his image for over half a century has been before me.\nI had heard him preach in Philadelphia, in 1797, at St. George\u2019s, when\nhe was stationed there. He was a tall, slender man, had a musical voice,\nand his delivery was very agreeable. He was one of the great men of\nMethodism, and a great favorite of Mr. Asbury.\n\nBishop Asbury saw him but once after this, and that was on the 27th\nof April, 1804, on his return from the south. He says: \u201cWe came to\nGeorgetown, and I visited Wilson Lee, ill with a bleeding of the lungs.\u201d\nMr. Lee lingered till autumn, and on the 4th of October he died at Walter\nWorthington\u2019s, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in the forty-third year\nof his age.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nDAUPHIN CIRCUIT, 1803-4.\n\n\nThis circuit was very large, and the people were mostly Germans. We had\nthirty appointments, and at twenty of them we preached in German. Under\nthe first sermon I preached in German one was converted. After a time\nit was as easy to preach in the one language as the other. Jacob Gruber\nwas my colleague, and we both preached in our vernacular. We held union,\nor what were called \u201cfriendly meetings,\u201d where the Methodists and the\n\u201cUnited Brethren in Christ\u201d met in harmony, and the ministers took turns\nin preaching. These were meetings of great interest to the Methodists. It\ngave them access to many they could not otherwise have reached.\n\nWe held one of these meetings in Columbia in August. Multitudes were\npresent. James Thomas preached the first sermon;[8] then my father\npreached in German from Gal. vi, 15, 16; then I preached in English from\nIsa. liv, 13. Thus we had three sermons in the forenoon without any\nintermission. In the afternoon three of the United Brethren held forth:\nSmith, Hershy, and Shaefer.\n\nTo show how we worked at that day I will give an account of a few days\nwith Jacob Gruber. At Johnstown, on Sunday, August 28, Brother Gruber\npreached at eight o\u2019clock in German on Christ and him crucified. At\ntwelve he preached again on \u201cthe Lord openeth the eyes of the blind.\u201d\nI exhorted both times, and at four o\u2019clock preached at Millerstown in\nEnglish from Acts x, 35. Brother Gruber exhorted in German. We lodged\nat Henry Myers\u2019s. On Monday evening Brother Gruber preached in German\non the way of life and the way of death, and I exhorted in English.\nOn Tuesday we went to Harrisburgh, but on our way there I preached at\nBrother Neiding\u2019s, one of the ministers of the United Brethren, in\nGerman, from Psalm xix, 11: \u201cAnd in keeping of them there is great\nreward.\u201d Brother Gruber exhorted. This was a melting time. At night\nBrother Gruber preached in Harrisburgh on Felix trembling, a sermon full\nof alarm to delayers. He preached in German, and I exhorted in English.\nIt was necessary that we should do so, for we had a mixed congregation.\nI sometimes preached in German, and then interpreted it in English; at\nother times I would preach in English, and then give the same sermon in\nGerman.\n\nOn Monday, September 5, I wrote: \u201cI begin to feel as if I should be\nable to give the devil some heavy blows in my mother tongue before all\nis over.\u201d I was greatly encouraged among the Germans, as will be seen\nby another extract. \u201cSeptember 14. The prospect is good in almost every\npreaching place. I feel as if the Lord was about doing a great work among\nthe Germans. Glory to God, the fields are blossoming, and I begin to feel\nmore liberty in preaching in my mother tongue.\u201d\n\nIn October I attended a meeting of the United Brethren at George\nZoeler\u2019s, west of Reading. I heard some of their great preachers: Father\nTracksel, Newcomer, Kemp, and Gueting. I greatly profited by their\npreaching; it was a fine school for me.\n\nOn October 22 the yearly meeting of the United Brethren was held at my\nfather\u2019s. Quite a number were converted during the meeting, and others\nwere filled with the wine of the kingdom. Their meetings generally lasted\nthree days, and were seasons of great interest.\n\nI had made an appointment to preach in the court-house at Reading, but\nthe commissioner refused to give up the key, so a large number who\nhad assembled were disappointed. There was in this town a deep-rooted\nprejudice against the Methodists, which continued for years. When I\npassed through Reading in 1810 with Bishop Asbury the boys laughed at us,\nand said, \u201cThere go the Methodist preachers.\u201d They knew us by our garb,\nand perhaps thought it no harm to ridicule us. In 1822, when on Lancaster\nCircuit, I succeeded in planting Methodism in Reading, and formed the\nfirst class there, where I had been shut out a score of years before.\nThis I considered quite a triumph. We then put up at a public-house,\nfor there was no family to entertain us. Some young men rented the\nschool-house for us to preach in, but we still met with much opposition\nand ridicule.\n\nThere was a shop in the neighborhood of the school-house where some\nmen used to meet together. One of the company, a young man, undertook\nto mimic the Methodists. He went on to show how they acted in their\nmeetings. He shouted, clapped his hands, and then said he would show how\nthey fell down. (The Methodists in that day would sometimes fall and lose\ntheir strength.) He then threw himself down on the floor, and lay there\nas if asleep. His companions enjoyed the sport; but after he had lain for\nsome time they wondered why he did not get up. They shook him in order to\nawake him. When they saw he did not breathe they turned pale, and sent\nfor a physician, who examined the man and pronounced him dead. This awful\nincident did two things for us. 1. It stopped ridicule and persecution.\nSinners were afraid, and no marvel: \u201cBehold, ye despisers, and wonder,\nand perish,\u201d etc. 2. It also gave us favor in the sight of the people.\nThey believed that God was for us, and if he would thus vindicate us we\nmust be the people of God.\n\nLittle do the present Methodists of Reading know of our early struggles\nand difficulties. Now they have two churches, Ebenezer and St. Paul\u2019s,\nand Reading is the head of a district, which is not larger than my\ncircuit in 1803.\n\nHarrisburgh was another of our preaching places. I was in the\nneighborhood of where Harrisburgh now is in 1793. It was then called\n\u201cHarris\u2019s Ferry,\u201d from John Harris, its founder, whose grave is there.\nIn 1803 it was a small place, and Lancaster was then the capital of\nPennsylvania. We had very hard work to get a foothold in Harrisburgh.\nWe preached mostly in German, and had only a small class in 1803. In my\njournal I wrote most discouragingly, as will be seen by the following\nextracts: \u201cFriday, November 11, 1803, I preached to a few from Gal. vi,\n9. Hard work in this town rowing against wind and tide; but I trust in\nthe Captain of my salvation.\u201d Again: \u201cFriday, April 6, I preached in\nHarrisburgh. The people in this town are the next thing to inaccessible.\u201d\n\nHarrisburgh was then a small village; it did not become a borough till\nfive years after I was there. We did not then cross the Susquehanna on a\nbridge that cost $150,000, but in an old scow. Horse-boats were not then\nin existence. Most of the inhabitants were Germans.\n\nWe were kindly entertained at Friend Zollinger\u2019s, a very fine family,\nwho afterward became Methodists. What has God wrought? Now we have in\nHarrisburgh five hundred members and forty-eight probationers, and a\nbeautiful church edifice worth nineteen thousand dollars.\n\nColumbia was another of our preaching places. I was at this spot in 1791,\nwhen it was called \u201cWright\u2019s Ferry,\u201d from John Wright, a Quaker preacher,\nwho came from England, and was the original land proprietor. Methodism\nwas introduced here near the close of the last century. In 1803-4 we had\na small society of very lively members, among whom were John Mitchell,\nbrother of William and James Mitchell, traveling preachers, Brother\nGough, an Englishman, and others. In Columbia we have now a fine house of\nworship worth $11,000, a parsonage worth $1,800, and a membership of two\nhundred and fifty.\n\nMy presiding elder was James Smith, a native of Ireland, and a man of\nlarge frame. There being several of that name in the conference, we used\nto call him \u201cBig Jimmy,\u201d to distinguish him from \u201cBaltimore James\u201d and\n\u201cDelaware James.\u201d In the days of his glory and strength he was quite a\npreacher.\n\nI took a tour with him for several days. He preached in English, and I\nimmediately translated his sermons into German. There was no other way\nby which he could get access to the people or be understood by them,\nfor many of them had never heard a sermon in English. German was the\npioneer language, and prepared the way for the English. I could have\naccomplished but little there if I had not been able to preach in German.\n\nWe were all the time breaking up new ground, entering new fields,\nstretching ourselves beyond ourselves. It was pioneer work.\n\nMy colleague, Jacob Gruber, soon went to another field of labor, and I\nwas left alone on this large circuit. He was a fine intelligent looking\nman, and his countenance often expressed a thing before his tongue\nuttered it. He had a German face and a German tongue, and often looked\nquizzical. He wore a drab hat, and a suit of gray cut in Quaker style.\nWith a rough exterior, but a kind heart, it was necessary to know him in\norder to appreciate him. A more honest man never lived, a bolder soldier\nof the cross never wielded \u201cthe sword of the spirit.\u201d As a preacher he\nwas original and eccentric. His powers of irony, sarcasm, and ridicule\nwere tremendous, and woe to the poor fellow who got into his hands; he\nwould wish himself somewhere else. I heard him preach scores of times,\nand always admired him; not only for his originality, but at all times\nthere was a marvelous unction attending his word. He had many spiritual\nchildren, some of whom entered the ministry; among others, Alfred Brunson\nof the Wisconsin Conference. I do not mean to justify his eccentricities;\nbut we should remember religion does not alter our natural constitution.\nI might relate many anecdotes respecting him, but have not space.\n\nThe Philadelphia Conference of 1804 was held at Soudersburg, commencing\non May 28. At the adjournment of the General Conference, in Baltimore,\nBishop Asbury hastened on to my father\u2019s, and on Sabbath preached in\nBoehm\u2019s Chapel. The place was called Soudersburg from Benjamin and Jacob\nSouders, the proprietors. They were both Methodists, Benjamin being a\nlocal preacher.\n\nMethodism was introduced here in 1791, and a house of worship was built\nin 1801. The conference was held in a private room, at the house of\nBenjamin Souders, that the meeting-house might be used for preaching,\nwhich was done three times a day, except on the first day. There were one\nhundred and twenty preachers present, and the utmost order and harmony\nprevailed. My soul exulted at the idea of a Methodist Conference in my\nnative county; it was an era in the history of Methodism in that region.\nBishop Asbury preached twice during the session. The influence of the\nconference was beneficial in all that region. There were strong men at\nthe conference, and some very powerful preaching.\n\nI was appointed to Dauphin Circuit. My colleague was Anning Owen, who\nhad charge of the circuit, greatly to my relief. William Colbert was my\npresiding elder.\n\nThis, as has been seen, was a large and laborious circuit; it included\nBoehm\u2019s Chapel and Lancaster, as well as many other places. We had hard\nwork to get a foothold in Lancaster, and met with powerful opposition.\nHaving no church there, we preached in the market, and those of the\nbaser sort annoyed my colleague and myself exceedingly. Once while I was\npreaching, and there was some disturbance, I saw a man coming toward me\nfrom the tavern. He seemed to be full of wrath, and pressed through the\ncrowd toward my pulpit, which was a butcher\u2019s block, as if he intended\nviolence. I kept on preaching, throwing out some hot shots, when suddenly\nhe stopped, his countenance changed, and the lion became a lamb, and I\nwas preserved from the harm he no doubt intended I should suffer.\n\nBrother Owen had tried to preach there several times, and once they so\ninterrupted him, and even threatened him, that he bade them farewell,\nafter telling them his skirts were clear from their blood, and he\nliterally shook off the dust of his feet as a testimony against them.\nThen we abandoned the place, and for three years after no Methodist\npreachers visited it. It was not till 1807 I formed a class there, as\nwill be seen in a following chapter. There was a small class earlier, but\nit soon died away.\n\nOne of our preaching places was David Musselmen\u2019s. He lived about seven\nmiles from Lancaster, between that and Marietta. It was a fine family,\nand their house one of the choice homes the early ministers loved to\nfind. There was something very peculiar about his conversion. He was a\nPharisee; thought himself good enough, a little better than most men,\nand looked on experimental religion as fanaticism. One day he was in his\nfield at work, in the summer of 1800, when a storm suddenly gathered,\nand the clouds were dark and lowering. His little boy was with him. He\nsaw they would not have time to reach the house before the rain fell, so\nthey went under a large walnut tree that stood by the roadside. The rain\nfell in torrents; there was a flash of lightning, and quick as thought a\nloud peal of thunder followed. The tree was struck, and father and son\nfell to the ground, both senseless. When the father recovered he heard\nlouder thunder\u2014the thunder of Mount Sinai; all his sins were set in order\nbefore him; his guilty soul trembled. He had hoped that his darling boy\nwas, like himself, only stunned; but, alas! he found he was dead. His\nself-righteousness was now all gone, and he cried out, \u201cO Lord, I thank\nthee that thou hast taken the innocent and spared the guilty.\u201d There\nunder the tree, beside his dead son, he knelt down and sought the Lord\nwith prayer and tears, and the Lord heard and answered. He united with\nthe Methodist Church, and was a most excellent member. His house was the\npilgrim\u2019s rest, indeed it was a sanctuary, \u201cfor there the Lord commanded\nthe blessing, even life for evermore.\u201d My father, Thomas Burch, myself,\nand many others, have preached under his roof \u201cthe glorious Gospel of the\nblessed God.\u201d He lived faithful many years, and then died happy in the\nLord.\n\nTHOMAS and ROBERT BURCH were among my early associates in the Church.\nTheir mother lived in the neighborhood of my father\u2019s, and belonged to\nthe society at Boehm\u2019s Chapel, and so did her sons. She had a daughter\nwho married a preacher. The mother was a woman of intelligence and\ndecision of character. Years after she lived in Columbia, and I used to\nput up with her with Bishop Asbury when I traveled with him. It affords\nme pleasure, now she and her sons sleep in the grave, to make a record of\nher virtues. They were from Ireland; emigrated to this country in June,\n1800, and settled in the neighborhood of my father\u2019s. She was a widow,\nhaving lost her husband several years before. They had been converted\nunder the ministry of Ireland\u2019s great missionary, Gideon Ouseley, of\nwhom they often spoke in the most exalted terms. Thomas, the oldest son,\nwas my father\u2019s and mother\u2019s class-leader. The class met at my father\u2019s\nhouse; it was an old class, formed before I was born. I heard some of his\nearliest efforts at exhortation and at preaching. I encouraged him and\nhis brother Robert to enter the ministry. Robert joined the Philadelphia\nConference in 1804, and Thomas in 1805. I have rode hundreds of miles\nwith them, attended a great many meetings, and heard them preach scores\nof times. They soon occupied some of our most important stations with\nhonor to themselves and usefulness to the Church. Thomas had a voice\nremarkably soft and musical, yet strong. He was one of the most eloquent\nand popular preachers of the day. In 1810, when he had been only four\nyears in the ministry, he was stationed in Philadelphia. His mother at\nthat time resided with him, and she was delighted with her clerical sons.\nTo a person who was eulogizing the preaching of Thomas she inquired, \u201cDo\nyou think that is great? wait till you hear my Robert.\u201d Thomas Burch died\nin Brooklyn on August 22, 1849, aged seventy, having been forty-four\nyears in the ministry. He left a son, Thomas H. Burch, who is a member of\nthe New York East Conference. Robert Burch was a member of Philadelphia,\nBaltimore, and Genesee Conferences. He traveled for a while with Bishop\nAsbury. He was a man of fine talent, great simplicity of character, and\nhonest integrity. He died July 1, 1855, aged seventy-seven.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nBALTIMORE AND PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCES, 1805\u2014ST. MARTIN\u2019S CIRCUIT.\n\n\nHaving a little ecclesiastical business, I attended the Baltimore\nConference in Winchester, Va., on April 1, 1805. I was at Winchester in\n1800 with my father, and in 1805 I was the guest of Simon Lauk, Jun.,\nwho was converted under my father\u2019s labors in 1800. Mine host gave me a\nmost cordial welcome, and my former colleague, Jacob Gruber, also was\nentertained there. He had been transferred to the Baltimore Conference,\nwhere he spent the remainder of his days.\n\nMethodism was early introduced into Winchester. They had a house of\nworship there in 1800. Joseph and Christopher Frye were from this place.\nThey were Germans, but not preaching in that language, soon lost the use\nof their native tongue.\n\nOn Sunday I heard four sermons: Brother William Page at eight in the\nmorning, Bishop Asbury at eleven, Bishop Whatcoat at three in the\nafternoon, and James Hunter in the evening. The preaching was powerful,\nand the results were great.\n\nThis was the first time I was permitted to look upon the noble body of\nmen that composed the Baltimore Conference. There were seventy-four\npreachers present. The conference was held in an upper room in the\nprivate house of Brother George Reed. The reason for this was that the\nMethodist church was occupied for preaching three times a day. There was\nquite a revival during the conference, and a number passed from death\nunto life. All but two or three of the preachers that were present have\nlong since been in their sepulchers.[9]\n\nHere I had the privilege of seeing for the first time the Rev. William\nWatters. He was the first American Methodist traveling preacher. I was\nnot only privileged to see him but to hear him preach. I still remember\nhis appearance and his theme. He preached on the \u201cChristian armor,\u201d and\nI was perfectly delighted while he described, as I never heard before,\nthe various parts of that armor and their uses. He showed that the armor\nwas not only defensive but offensive; that we must carry the war into\nthe enemies\u2019 camp. The sermon was delivered with great unction, and many\nresolved under it to be valiant for the truth; to conquer, and then share\nin the rewards of victory.\n\nAt this conference I first saw and heard Robert R. Roberts, afterward one\nof our bishops. He was then a homespun looking man, plainly and coarsely\ndressed, and yet his personal appearance and preaching attracted\nconsiderable attention. He had not then graduated to elder\u2019s orders. I\nheard him preach from 1 Cor. i, 31: \u201cHe that glorieth let him glory in\nthe Lord.\u201d The sermon was able and eloquent, showing great pulpit power.\nThis was Mr. Roberts\u2019s first sermon at an annual conference. Bishop\nAsbury heard it with great admiration, and he determined to bring the\nyoung preacher forward and give him a more prominent appointment. In 1809\nhe was appointed to Baltimore, and then to Philadelphia, and so he rose\nstep by step until he reached the episcopal office.\n\nMost honorable mention I make in my journal of this conference, of\nits peace and harmony, of the largeness of the congregations, of the\nfaithfulness of the preaching, and of the souls converted. In returning\nfrom this conference I had the company of James Hunter and Henry Smith.\nWhere we stayed over night we went into the woods, and there we wrestled\nand prayed together for a deeper baptism of love. Heaven met us in the\ngrove, and we felt it none other than God\u2019s own house and heaven\u2019s gate.\nAfter riding together three days we separated.\n\nI knew Henry Smith\u2019s father. He resided not far from Winchester. I was at\nhis house in 1800 with my father. Mr. Smith, the aged, belonged to the\nUnited Brethren, having been converted at one of Mr. Otterbein\u2019s meetings\nat Antietam previous to 1789. Both the Methodists and the United\nBrethren used to preach at his house.\n\nThe Philadelphia Conference met on May 1, 1805, in Chestertown, Md., in\nthe court-house, that we might occupy the meeting-house for preaching.\nMy father and Brother Thomas Burch accompanied me to conference. On our\nway we attended a quarterly meeting at North East. On Saturday Brother\nColbert preached in the morning, and Anning Owen in the evening. Freeborn\nGarrettson preached on Sunday morning a most profitable discourse, and he\nagain preached at Elkton at five o\u2019clock. This was the first time I heard\nhim.\n\nThe next day we reached Chestertown, and Brother Thomas Burch and I\nwere kindly entertained at Friend Pope\u2019s. My father having been present\nwhen I was ordained deacon, was desirous to see me invested with full\nministerial powers. Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat were both present.\nAlas, it was the last time we ever beheld the venerable form of Richard\nWhatcoat presiding in the Philadelphia Conference.\n\nBishop Whatcoat ordained seven deacons, and after an impressive sermon\nfrom Bishop Asbury from Luke iii, 4, 6, \u201cAll flesh shall see the\nsalvation of God,\u201d six of us were ordained elders in the Church of God:\nJames Aikins, James Polhemus, John Wiltbank, Asa Smith, Benjamin Iliff,\nand Henry Boehm. I can almost feel the hands of the sainted Asbury as\nwell as of the elders still resting on my head, and hear the echoes of\nhis voice saying, \u201cThe Lord pour upon thee the Holy Ghost for the office\nand work of an elder in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the\nimposition of our hands,\u201d etc.\n\nMy parchments I have preserved as carefully as if diamonds, the first\nbearing the signature of Richard Whatcoat, the other of Francis Asbury.\nI was ordained a deacon on May 4, 1803, at Cross Roads, and an elder on\nMay 5, 1805. I was licensed to preach in Pennsylvania, ordained a deacon\nin Delaware, and an elder in Maryland. Except myself, those who were\nordained at this conference have long since gone to rest. Benjamin Iliff\nwas the first that fell at his post. I used to preach at his father\u2019s\nhouse in Bucks County, below Easton, when on Bristol Circuit. With\nBenjamin I took sweet counsel, and together we walked to the house of God\nin company. I little thought as we stood at the altar taking the vows\nof God upon us that my friend and brother would die before he reached\nhis appointment. Twenty-four days from that Sabbath he rested from his\nlabors. He was a good man and a good preacher. His last words were: \u201c_I\nhave lost sight of the world; come, Lord Jesus, come quickly._\u201d\n\nJAMES POLHEMUS was a pious man, and died in 1827, and was interred at\nWoodrow Chapel on Staten Island, where Joseph Totten is sleeping, and\nwhere I expect to myself.\n\nJAMES AIKINS was an Irishman. He came to this country in 1792, and was\nconverted in Pennsylvania. He died of cancer at Haverstraw in 1823. He\nwas aware that he was dying, and said to the family with which he was\nstaying, \u201cI shall die here. God called me into the ministry, and he has\ncalled me out of it. Medical aid cannot save me.\u201d\n\nJOHN WILTBANK was a man of moderate talents. He located in 1813, and died\nmany years ago, and was buried at Dover.\n\nASA SMITH was useful, but he was very boisterous in preaching, sometimes\nforgetting that bodily exercise profiteth but little. He died in New\nJersey several years ago.\n\nI was appointed to St. Martin\u2019s Circuit with James Ridgeway. I left the\nmountains and hills of Dauphin to travel again on the Peninsula. This was\na part of Annamessex Circuit that I had previously traveled.\n\nAfter visiting my native place I entered upon my interesting field of\nlabor. Returning I attended a quarterly meeting in Barratt\u2019s Chapel.\nWilliam P. Chandler was the presiding elder, and our quarterly and\ncamp-meetings were great occasions. The first meeting was held at Snow\nHill. Samuel Porter, father of Rev. John S. Porter, D.D., was a most\nprominent man on the circuit. He was a steward and class-leader, and\nhis house a preaching place. Mr. Asbury greatly admired him, and makes\nmost honorable mention of him in his journal. Arthur and Ezekiel Williams\nwere brothers, and both local preachers. They lived near the head of the\nSound. The Sound Meeting-house was built in 1785. Freeborn Garrettson\nintroduced Methodism here, and through him the Williamses were converted.\nArthur was one of the best local preachers I ever knew. He was a sound\ndivine, an evangelical preacher, a thorough Methodist. He was wise in\ncounsel. When I obtained his advice in a critical or difficult case I\nfelt secure. I loved to throw myself under his wing.\n\nArthur Williams had several children, and his wife began to be seriously\nexercised about their salvation. They were moral and amiable; but, alas!\nthey had no religion. While Mr. Williams was attending an appointment\nsome distance off she prayed with the family, as was her custom when\nhe was away. While she was wrestling with the angel of the covenant on\nbehalf of her children, their hearts were melted into tenderness as they\nsaw the anxiety of their mother on their behalf. Some began to sigh, and\nothers to cry and pray for mercy. Several were converted that night, and\nwhen the father came home there was wonderful rejoicing. In a little\nwhile they were all converted.\n\nI received a letter from Bishop Asbury requesting me to meet him at my\nfather\u2019s. I did so. On Sunday he preached at Boehm\u2019s Chapel from 2 Thess.\ni, 2-10, on the second coming of Christ. The unction of the Holy One\nrested on him. The sermon was delivered with great life and power, and\nthere was a melting time under the word. Joseph Crawford traveled with\nhim then. The next day they started for the Western Conference, and I for\nmy circuit.\n\nOn Friday we went to the Bethel, where Lorenzo Dow had an appointment.\nHe took no text, but discoursed on \u201cThe Character of a Gentleman.\u201d He\ngave the deists no quarters. Then he spoke clearly and feelingly upon\njustification by faith and sanctification. We then accompanied him to\nthe \u201cUnion Meeting-House,\u201d on Duck Creek Circuit, where he preached from\n\u201cWatchman, what of the night,\u201d etc. His theme was the signs of the times.\nIt was a time of great power; there were a thousand people present. Dow\nhad traveled all night, and until ten o\u2019clock the next morning, before\nhe reached Bethel. As soon as he had finished his sermon he jumped out\nof the window, back of the pulpit, and mounting his horse rode seventeen\nmiles to \u201cUnion;\u201d then to Duck Creek Cross Roads, where he preached from\n\u201cMany are called, but few are chosen.\u201d His powers of endurance must have\nbeen great, for he rode eighty miles and had five meetings without sleep.\n\nDow was then an Evangelist. He was irregular, eccentric, and yet\npowerful. He had acquired the title of \u201cCrazy Dow.\u201d The preachers were\ndivided in opinion concerning him. Some gave out his appointments, and\nothers would not. John M\u2019Claskey absolutely refused; he said, \u201cI give out\nno appointments for him, for I have nothing to do with Lorenzo Dow.\u201d\n\nI heard him preach several years after in Camden, N. J., and came to the\nconclusion that the Lorenzo Dow I heard then was not the Lorenzo Dow I\nheard in 1805. He was like the sun under an eclipse, or like Samson after\nhe lost the locks of his strength.\n\nPrevious to the session of the Philadelphia Conference in 1806, Bishops\nAsbury and Whatcoat made a short tour through the Peninsula. I had the\nprivilege of accompanying them, and heard them preach. The fifth of April\nwe met them at Snow Hill, which was on my circuit. I felt a thrill of\ndelight in seeing them again. They went a journey of five hundred and\nfifty miles to visit the Churches and preach after they left Baltimore.\n\nBishop Asbury preached at Snow Hill, from Heb. iii, 12, 13: the caution\n\u201cnot to depart from the living God,\u201d and the duty to \u201cexhort one another\ndaily.\u201d Notwithstanding the rain fell in torrents, crowds came to listen.\nThence we went to Broadkilltown, Delaware, where the bishop preached on\nChristian steadfastness, from 1 Cor. xv, 6-8; then to Milford, where he\nheld forth on the form and power of godliness: 2 Tim. iii, 5.\n\nThence we hurried on to Dover with the afflicted Bishop Whatcoat. He was\ntaken with a severe fit of the gravel, and suffered most intense agony.\nWe did not know but he would die on the road. Bishop Whatcoat remained at\nthe house of Hon. Richard Bassett, while Bishop Asbury went on to meet\nthe Philadelphia Conference. Here these great-hearted, noble-souled, true\nyoke-fellows, who had known each other in England, met in class together\nwhen boys, who had traveled all over the mountains and valleys of this\ncountry in pursuit of the lost sheep of the House of Israel, looked upon\neach other\u2019s faces for the last time. How touching the scene of the\nseparation of those patriarchs, whose hearts had beat responsive to the\nother for so many years!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nFIRST CAMP-MEETING ON THE PENINSULA, 1805.\n\n\nThe introduction of camp-meetings into the Peninsula formed a new era in\nMethodism in that section of country. Worshiping in the groves, God\u2019s\nfirst temples, was a novelty, and called out the people by thousands.\nThe ministers preached with unusual power, for crowds inspired them, and\nconverts were multiplied as the drops of the morning. I attended all\nthese meetings and kept a record of them.\n\nCamp-meetings had their origin in Tennessee, in 1799. Two brothers,\nnamed Magee, one a Methodist the other a Presbyterian minister, had the\nhigh honor of originating them. With John Magee, the Methodist, I was\nacquainted for several years; I traveled with him many miles, and heard\nhim in preach. He was the father-in-law of the Rev. Thomas L. Douglas.\n\nJesse Lee introduced camp-meetings into Virginia and Maryland, and then\nto Delaware. But the first camp-meeting in the East was held by the Rev.\nWilliam Thatcher, in Carmel, New York, in 1804.\n\nThe meeting of which I now speak was the first held on the Peninsula, and\nthe beginning of a series that were greatly honored of God and a blessing\nto thousands. It was held in a beautiful grove three miles south of\nDuck Creek Cross Roads, (now Smyrna,) and commenced on the 25th of July,\n1805. There were multitudes of tents, and thousands came to the feast of\ntabernacles. Worshiping in nature\u2019s magnificent temple, the preachers and\nthe people got new inspiration.\n\nA notice of the ministers who preached, and their texts, may seem dry\nto some, but by others the record will be read with interest, for all\nwho preached on that ground at that camp-meeting have long since been in\nParadise.\n\nThe opening sermon was by Jesse Lee, who had attended many camp-meetings.\nHe was then in his palmy days, and was a host in himself. His text was\nIsaiah xxxiii, 12: \u201cAnd the people shall be as the burnings of lime,\nas thorns shall they be burned in the fire.\u201d This was a singular text.\nThe sermon was terrific, showing the awful end of the wicked. Jesse Lee\nwas occasionally a \u201cson of thunder.\u201d His texts were often novel, and\ntherefore attracted attention.\n\nJohn Chalmers, the old hero, preached in the afternoon from Numbers x,\n1-9. If the reader will turn to it he will see it was a most ingenious\ntext for a camp-meeting, and the sermon was equally ingenious. A\nminister\u2019s skill and wisdom are exhibited as much in the selection of his\ntexts as in expounding them. Adaptation is the great secret of success.\nJohn Chalmers knew as well as any other man how to adapt his subject to\nthe occasion. In his text we read of \u201ccamps,\u201d of \u201ctrumpets\u201d that were\nblown, of the \u201cassembly,\u201d \u201ccongregation,\u201d of \u201cpriests,\u201d of \u201csolemn days\u201d\nand \u201cdays of gladness,\u201d all reminding us of modern camp-meetings.\n\nJoseph Totten preached in the evening from Hab. iii, 2, \u201cO Lord, revive\nthy work.\u201d My journal says: \u201cThis was a time of power to many souls;\nabout twenty-two professed to find converting grace to-day.\u201d Such was the\nfirst day\u2019s work of the first camp-meeting held on the eastern shore of\nMaryland.\n\nOn Friday Thomas Ware preached at eight o\u2019clock, from 1 John v, 4, on\nfaith and its victories. The word was conveyed by the Spirit to the\nhearts of many. At three o\u2019clock John Chalmers preached from John xiv,\n12, on faith and works. James Aikins, at eight in the evening, from\nMatt. xi, 28, on the rest for those who labor and are heavy laden. The\nresult of the second day was glorious: sixty were converted and a number\nsanctified. The meeting continued all night; some were crying for mercy,\nothers praying, singing, shouting\u2014there was indeed a shout of a king in\nthe camp. We had a glorious time at sunrise.\n\nOn Saturday morning Jesse Lee preached at eight, from John xvi, 20, on\nweeping and lamentation being turned into joy. That was verily a time\nof weeping. Richard Lyon preached at three o\u2019clock, from Isaiah i, 18:\n\u201cCome and let us reason together.\u201d William Bishop preached at night.\nAbout one hundred were converted during the day and last night. Wonderful\nare thy works, O Lord Almighty!\n\nOn Sunday, at eight o\u2019clock, Alvard White preached, from Psalm cvii, 8,\non praising the Lord for his wonderful works. Ephraim Chambers preached\nin the afternoon, and Richard Sneath in the evening. This was a high day\nin Zion. It was supposed there were more converted to-day than yesterday.\n\nOn Monday our camp-meeting closed, after a most affectionate parting.\nJesse Lee says, concerning this meeting: \u201cThousands of people attended,\nand I suppose two hundred were converted among the white people, and many\namong the blacks. I think it exceeded anything that I ever saw for the\nconversion of souls, and for the quickening influences of the Holy Ghost\nupon the hearts of believers. I took an account of sixty-eight Methodist\npreachers who were at that meeting. The work went on beautifully and\npowerfully. It was said the noise occasioned by the cries of the\ndistressed and the shouts of the saints was heard at the distance of\nthree miles. From that meeting the work of the Lord spread greatly on the\neastern shore, both in Maryland and Delaware states; and hundreds were\nconverted and added to the society in the course of a few months after\nthat meeting.\u201d I make this long quotation because it confirms all I have\nsaid by one who was a prominent actor.\n\nThis camp-meeting was under the charge of William P. Chandler, who was\na mighty leader of the \u201csacramental host,\u201d and just the man to command\nsuch a wing of the Christian army. Of the sixty-eight preachers who were\npresent I alone survive. William P. Chandler, who presided, has been dead\nforty-three years; Jesse Lee, forty-nine years; and John Chalmers, thirty\nyears.\n\nI went with Dr. Chandler to the camp-meeting in Accomac County, Va. We\narrived there on Monday, August 26, and worked hard in clearing the\nground and fixing the seats. We were entertained at Major Kerr\u2019s, a man\nof wealth, who stood high in the community, and had built him a splendid\nmansion. He was one of Dr. Chandler\u2019s spiritual children, and had\nrecently joined the society. His conversion was quite singular. Brother\nChandler preached in the neighborhood, and was entertained by the major,\nwho had respect for the Gospel and its ministers, though he was then\nemphatically a man of the world. One day while walking with him in his\nfine parlor, and amid his splendid furniture, the doctor said, \u201cWell,\nmajor, this mansion is too beautiful to leave behind you, and yet you\nwill soon have to leave it and go to that narrow house appointed for all\nliving.\u201d It was a word \u201cfitly spoken,\u201d a \u201cnail fastened in a sure place.\u201d\nIt led the major to reflection, which resulted in his conviction and\nconversion. The major identified himself with Methodism, and became very\nuseful.\n\nA great multitude attended this camp-meeting. The ministers preached\nwith \u201cthe Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,\u201d and the \u201carrows were very\nsharp in the hearts of the king\u2019s enemies.\u201d On Thursday sixty were\nconverted, on Friday one hundred and fifty, on Saturday and Sunday over\na hundred each day. It was the opinion of the preachers, and others who\ntook pains to ascertain, that four hundred whites and over one hundred\nand fifty blacks were converted. The work went on day and night without\nintermission from Thursday till Monday. Besides Dr. Chandler there were\npresent Henry White, Thomas Birch, James Ridgeway, and John Chalmers.\n\nThere was a skeptic at the meeting who made some disturbance. He was very\nfluent, and crowds gathered around him as he argued against the divinity\nof Jesus, and ridiculed his mysterious birth. At last John Chalmers\nencountered him, and he was just the man. He inquired of the skeptic,\n\u201cDo you believe that God created the universe?\u201d He answered, \u201cI do.\u201d\n\u201cDo you believe God formed man out of the dust of the earth?\u201d He said,\n\u201cYes.\u201d Another question: \u201cDo you believe that God formed the woman out of\nthe man?\u201d \u201cYes.\u201d Then came the crowning question: \u201cDo you think it more\ndifficult for God to create a man out of a woman than a woman out of a\nman?\u201d The question struck at the foundation of his skepticism. He was\nconfounded; he trembled and wept, and in a little while was on his knees\nat the mourners\u2019 bench imploring pardon. And he found that the blood of\nthe incarnate Jesus could wash all his guilty stains away. He became an\nornament to the Church. Years afterward I saw him with a face that looked\ntoward heaven, declaring, \u201cI seek a better country.\u201d\n\nThere has been some discussion in our periodicals as to the time when\nmourners were first invited to the altar for prayers, and with whom the\ncustom originated. As this practice made a new era in the Church, and has\nbeen so highly honored of God, the question is one of interest.\n\nDr. Bangs, in his History of Methodism, vol. iii, p. 374, speaks of the\nrevival in the city of New York in 1806, and says: \u201cIt was during this\npowerful revival the practice of inviting penitent sinners to the altar\nwas first introduced. The honor of doing this, if I am rightly informed,\nbelongs to Brother Aaron Hunt, who resorted to it to prevent the\nconfusion arising from praying in different parts of the house.\u201d This has\nbeen for years stereotyped, and is interwoven into history. The doctor\nexpressed himself cautiously, for he said, \u201cIf I am rightly informed.\u201d\nThe truth is, he was not correctly informed. Aaron Hunt was no doubt\nthe one who first introduced its practice in New York, but it existed\npreviously in other places. The Rev. Henry Smith of Baltimore Conference\nwrote a letter to Dr. Bangs when he was editor of the _Advocate_ asking\nthat this error in his history might be corrected. In it he stated he had\ninvited mourners to the altar as early as 1803, and adds, \u201cIt was not a\nsolitary case or a new thing, but often practiced with success.\u201d\n\nI know the practice commenced much earlier than 1806. As early as 1799,\nwhen in company with that eminent revivalist, Rev. W. P. Chandler,\non Cecil Circuit, at Back Creek, after preaching, the doctor invited\nmourners to the altar. Nearly a score came forward, and twelve men\nexperienced the forgiveness of sins that day, and among them Lawrence\nLaurenson, who became one of the most popular and useful preachers in the\nPhiladelphia Conference. That was the first time I ever saw or heard of\nmourners being invited to the altar.\n\nDuring the revivals on the Peninsula in 1801, and the two following\nyears, as well as at the camp-meeting in 1805, it was the invariable\npractice to invite mourners to come forward. The Rev. Richard Sneath, one\nof the best of ministers, with whom I fought side by side the battles\nof the Lord, has thrown light on this subject. In a letter to Dr. Coke,\ndated Milford, October 5, 1802, he says: \u201cOn January 25, 1801, at St.\nGeorge\u2019s, Philadelphia, after Mr. Cooper had been preaching, I invited\nall the mourners to come to the communion-table that we might pray\nparticularly for them. This I found to be useful, as it removed that\nshame which often hinders souls from coming to Christ, and excited them\nto the exercise of faith. About thirty professed to be converted, and\ntwenty-six joined the society.\u201d Mr. Sneath says also: \u201cIn 1800 and 1801\nI added on Milford Circuit upward of three thousand members.\u201d[10] So\nmightily grew the word of God and prevailed. The scenes were pentecostal.\nIt is difficult to realize them now.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nDOVER CIRCUIT, 1806\u2014SICKNESS AND DEATH OF BISHOP WHATCOAT.\n\n\nOn Saturday, August 12, I went with Bishop Asbury to Philadelphia. He\npreached twice on Sabbath. In the morning at St. George\u2019s, from 2 Peter\ni, 12-14. If the reader will turn to the passage he will see how touching\nand how appropriate it was. The bishop had just left his dying colleague,\nBishop Whatcoat. He was himself pressed down with many infirmities; his\ntabernacle was shaken, some of the pins were being taken out. He preached\nalso at the Academy from James v, 7, 8, on patiently waiting for results,\nlike the husbandman. The conference commenced on Monday the 14th. There\nwere sixty-three preachers present, and the session was one of great\npeace and harmony. Bishop Asbury preached on Wednesday from 1 Tim. iv,\n12, 13: \u201cLet no man despise thy youth;\u201d after which he ordained seven\nelders.\n\nOn Thursday I heard Ezekiel Cooper preach in the Bethel from Haggai ii,\n9: \u201cThe glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former,\u201d etc.\nThis was a sermon of superior excellence. Ezekiel Cooper was then in his\npalmy days, powerful in the pulpit, powerful on the conference floor.\nThe influence he wielded in the Philadelphia Conference was wonderful. He\nwas the master-mind, the leading spirit.\n\nOn Monday the 21st this pleasant and profitable conference adjourned.\nThe bishop in his journal says, \u201cI hope many souls will be converted in\nconsequence of the coming together of this conference, having had great\npeace in the societies, and sound, sure preaching three times a day.\u201d\n\nI was appointed to Dover Circuit with James Bateman. It was a pleasant\ncircuit, and he was a pleasant colleague. He was a young man, belonging\nto one of the first families on the Peninsula, and this was his first\ncircuit. William P. Chandler was the presiding elder. On my arrival I\nwas heartily welcomed in the name of my Master. My home was the house of\nthe Hon. Richard Bassett. On the 26th I wrote: \u201cHere in this hospitable\nmansion the venerated Richard Whatcoat is confined with dangerous\nillness; but I rejoice to find him better, and that there is hope of his\nrecovery.\u201d Alas, it was a false hope, raised only to settle in despair.\n\nOn Sunday morning, with the assistance of several class-leaders, I met\ntwo hundred colored members. Their black faces shone with holy joy, and\ntheir songs were fervent and exhilarating. Religion does wonders for the\nchildren of Ham.\n\nOn Tuesday I went with Dr. Chandler to James Purnell\u2019s, where our\nquarterly meeting was to be held in a grove. This was the custom in that\nday. They were miniature camp-meetings. The people came in crowds, so\nthe churches could not hold them. We spent a day or two in clearing the\nground and removing the underbrush, and prepared seats for twelve hundred\npersons. On Friday there were several tents on the ground, and a number\nof people.\n\nDr. Chandler preached the opening sermon from Hab. iii, 2: \u201cO Lord,\nrevive thy work,\u201d etc. Great success attended the word. Brother Richard\nLyon exhorted. I closed with prayer, and then Brother Lyon invited\nthe mourners to the front of the preachers\u2019 stand. I preached in the\nafternoon, from 1 Peter iii, 9; and at night James Bateman, from Acts\niii, 19, on the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. We had\nnot only the gentle dew, but the refreshing shower; a number of mourners\ncame to the altar; sinners were pricked to the heart, and some who came\nto mock, remained to pray.\n\nSunday was a day of mighty power; we had three sermons. I never witnessed\na more melting time. The work of justifying and sanctifying grace went on\nwith sweetness and power.\n\nDuring the meeting one hundred and sixty were converted, and thirty-four\nprofessed to be sanctified, and were witnesses that the blood of Jesus\nChrist cleanseth from all sin.\n\nI do not wish to make any invidious comparisons, and all my brethren\nknow that I never belonged to the family of croakers; but I will ask\nthis question: What would we think if we could witness such a scene at a\nmodern quarterly meeting? There was a power among the fathers, both in\nthe ministry and laity, that we do not possess. The ministers moved the\nmasses as the wind does a field of wheat, and they mowed them down as the\nscythe does the grass.\n\nAfter spending several days in attending the different appointments, I\nreturned to Dover on Monday the 12th. I wrote in my journal thus: \u201cFather\nWhatcoat is still very dangerous.\u201d Tuesday, \u201cTo-day I shaved the dear\nsaint of God. I also had great satisfaction in conversing with him; he\nis much resigned to the will of God.\u201d Never shall I forget the days and\nhours I spent with the dying bishop. The place was hallowed, and the room\nseemed filled with the glory of God.\n\nI took another tour, and then returned and spent more time with the\nexcellent bishop, whose days were closing, and the shadows of a long\nevening were gathering around him.\n\nOn the 18th I preached at Barratt\u2019s Chapel. I also preached at Frederica\nand at Banning\u2019s Chapel. Much of the power of God was felt in many of\nthese meetings; several lay speechless and helpless.\n\nOn May 26 I made this record: \u201cThis evening I had the pleasure of\nconversing with dear Father Whatcoat, who is in a very low state of\nbodily health; but what is infinitely superior, he has peace of mind,\nwhich the world, together with health, cannot give.\u201d The next day I had\nanother conversation with the aged pilgrim. \u201cO! may the loving wholesome\nadvice he gave me never be erased from my mind. May I, agreeably to his\nwish, continue in the field of battle should I live fifty years from now\nand have health and strength. Lord, thou knowest I want to be wholly\nthine while I live, thine in the article of death, thine in Paradise,\nthine in the morning of the resurrection.\u201d\n\nSuch is the record I made fifty-nine years ago, after an interview with\none of the holiest men earth ever saw. He was exceedingly happy; he\nshouted aloud the praises of Jesus, and gave a glorious testimony to the\npower of religion to sustain in adversity. He talked sweetly of heaven,\nand of the numerous friends in America and in England that he expected to\nmeet in heaven.\n\nI have ever esteemed it one of the most exalted privileges of my life to\nenjoy the interviews I did with the dying bishop, and to be favored with\nhis benediction.\n\nOn the 5th of July, 1806, the good bishop gave his soul to God and his\nbody to the dust. Seldom has the Church lost a brighter ornament, seldom\nheaven received a purer spirit.\n\nDr. Chandler delivered an address at his funeral to an immense crowd,\nand the remains were deposited under the altar of the church, in Dover,\nDelaware.\n\n\nPORTRAITURE OF BISHOP WHATCOAT.\n\nWith Bishop Whatcoat I was personally acquainted for sixteen years. I had\nseen him at my father\u2019s house long before he was elected bishop. I was\npresent at his election and ordination, and I was myself ordained by him\na deacon. I have heard him preach often; have traveled with him hundreds\nof miles; have been with him in many families; enjoyed his friendship,\nand had the benefit of his wise counsels. I presume there is no one\nliving that has as many personal recollections of Bishop Whatcoat as I\nhave.\n\nIn regard to his personal appearance, Bishop Whatcoat was not very\ntall; he was stout, though not corpulent. He had a fine intellectual\nface; his mouth was small; his eyes not very dark, but expressive. His\ndress was very plain, in Methodist minister style: the shad-belly coat,\nand vest buttoned snug up to his neck. A few years before his death he\nlost all his hair, so he was entirely bald. Some time after, to his\ngreat astonishment, it began to grow, and his hair came out thick and\nbeautiful, so that when he died he had a fine head of dark hair, not even\nsprinkled with gray. He combed it down straight over his forehead, the\nMethodist fashion in those days. It would have been considered out of\norder to have worn it so as to exhibit a noble forehead. His face, like\nthat of Bishop Asbury, was bronzed or tanned by exposure to many summer\u2019s\nsuns and winter winds and storms. His likeness in the \u201cArminian Magazine\u201d\nresembles him, though it is younger than when I saw him.\n\nAs a man he was most remarkable, for in him was blended a dignity\nthat commanded reverence, and a humility and sweetness that inspired\naffection. The benignity that shone in his countenance revealed the\ncharacter of the inner man. He loved everybody, and all loved him in\nreturn. As a bishop he was a safe counselor, for he was wise in judgment.\nHe was a good presiding officer. He governed by the law of kindness, and\nthe preachers all venerated him. In the pulpit he excelled. He could melt\nand mould an audience as few men ever did. The holy anointing rested on\nhim, and a peculiar unction attended his words. Several of his sermons I\ncan never forget. One I heard from him in 1790, seventy-five years ago, I\ndistinctly remember: \u201cThe handful of corn,\u201d and \u201cthe fruit shaking like\nLebanon.\u201d Also the one at Duck Creek Cross Roads, in 1803, on \u201csuffering\na while,\u201d etc. He professed purity of heart, and no one that knew him\ndoubted his being in possession of it. A holier man has not lived since\nthe days of the seraphic Fletcher, whom in some respects he strikingly\nresembled. He walked in the light as God was in the light. He was a man\nof one book, the Bible; and such was his knowledge of the Scriptures\nthat he was called \u201ca concordance.\u201d He was peculiarly solemn. He always\nappeared to act as if he heard a voice saying, \u201cOccupy till I come,\u201d or\nas if the judgment trump was sounding in his ears summoning him to \u201cgive\nan account of his stewardship.\u201d\n\nIt was my privilege on September 23 to hear Dr. Chandler in Dover\npreach the funeral sermon of Bishop Whatcoat from John i, 47: \u201cBehold\nan Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.\u201d Was there ever a more\nappropriate text? No man was ever more free from guile than Bishop\nWhatcoat. Dr. Chandler did justice to the subject. He had known the\nbishop intimately for years, and was a great admirer of his many virtues.\nI wrote thus in my journal: \u201cThis was truly a solemn and profitable\ndiscourse. My heart was affected on reflecting on what wholesome\ninstructions I have heard from the lips of our father in the Lord both in\nprivate and public. I am encouraged to be more faithful, that I may not\nbecome a castaway, and be separated from those who have gone before.\u201d\n\nBishop Asbury hastened back after his New England tour to see his friend\nand \u201ctrue yoke-fellow,\u201d but he was too late. \u201cAt Kingston,\u201d he says, \u201cI\nfound a letter from Dr. Chandler declaring the death of Bishop Whatcoat,\nthat father in Israel, and my faithful friend for forty years; a man of\nsolid parts; a self-denying man of God. Who ever heard him speak an\nidle word? When was guile found in his mouth? He had been thirty-eight\nyears in the ministry: sixteen years in England, Wales, and Ireland, and\ntwenty-two in America; twelve years as presiding elder; four of this time\nhe was stationed in the cities, or traveling with me, and six years in\nthe superintendency. A man so uniformly good I have not known in Europe\nor America.... At his taking leave of the South Carolina Conference I\nthought his time was short. I changed my route to visit him, but only\nreached within a hundred and thirty miles; death was too quick for me.\u201d\n\nThe next spring, when Bishop Asbury was returning from his annual\nsouthern tour, he came to Dover. On April 27, 1807, in Wesley Chapel,\nstanding over the remains of Bishop Whatcoat, he preached the funeral\nsermon of his late colleague from 2 Tim. iii, 10: \u201cBut thou hast fully\nknown my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering,\ncharity, patience.\u201d[11] Governor Bassett was present, and many others who\nloved Bishop Whatcoat in life, and mourned the loss they sustained in\nhis death. It was a portraiture of Bishop Whatcoat sketched and painted\nby a master workman who was well acquainted with his subject; and so\naccurate was the likeness, with its lights and shades, that there was no\ndifficulty in recognizing the original.\n\nOn the walls of the church in Dover was placed a neat marble slab, on\nwhich the following was inscribed:\n\n\u201cIn memory of the REV. RICHARD WHATCOAT, one of the bishops of the\nMethodist Episcopal Church, who was born March, 1736, in Gloucestershire,\nEngland, and died in Dover July 5, 1806, aged seventy years.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nDOVER CIRCUIT\u2014GREAT CAMP-MEETINGS.\n\n\nIt is now almost impossible to realize what great times we had at our\nearly camp-meetings. They did much in breaking up the strongholds of the\ndevil, and almost revolutionized the Peninsula. They made, as Bishop\nAsbury said, \u201cour harvest seasons.\u201d Among the Methodists no gentlemen and\nladies attended for leisure, pleasure, or pure air; but they went to work\nto save souls from death, and acted as if they had no other business. On\nJune 11 we held a camp-meeting on Dover Circuit. There were two hundred\ntents on the ground. Brother Alward White preached the first sermon\nfrom Neh. iv, 10, on removing the rubbish so we shall be able to build\nthe wall. On the first day forty-seven were converted and thirty-nine\nsanctified. This is the way they looked for things in those days:\nwhile penitents were pardoned the saints were purified. Friday morning\nRichard Lyon preached from Matt. xx, 6, to idlers in God\u2019s vineyard.\nThen mourners were invited to the altar. Many came, and the work of God\nwent on till three o\u2019clock, when James Aikins preached from Luke xiv,\n17, on the Gospel feast. The work went on gloriously, and at sunset they\nreported one hundred converted and seventy-five sanctified. In the\nevening George Woolley preached from Isaiah xxviii, 17, on sweeping away\nthe refuge of lies. The last refuge of the sinner seemed to be swept\naway. The next morning they reported sixty-two converted and fifty-three\nsanctified.\n\nThomas Boring preached on Saturday at eight o\u2019clock from Rev. iii, 20:\n\u201cBehold, I stand at the door and knock,\u201d etc.; W. B. Lacy at three from\nDeut. xxxii, 11, about \u201cThe eagle stirreth up her nest,\u201d etc.; Thomas\nDunn in the evening from Psalm cxlv, 19. There were one hundred and\nforty-six converted and seventy-six sanctified during the day. The next\nmorning they reported one hundred and fifty-six converted and one hundred\nand sixteen sanctified during the night.\n\nSabbath was a great day in Israel. Dr. Chandler preached in the morning\nat ten from Isaiah xi, 9: \u201cFor the earth shall be full of the knowledge\nof the Lord,\u201d etc. He could move the masses as the wind stirs the leaves\non the trees. James Ridgeway at three in the afternoon, from 1 Peter iv,\n17: \u201cWhat shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel.\u201d He was a\npowerful man at camp-meetings. At sunset they reported three hundred and\nthirty-nine conversions and one hundred and twenty-two sanctifications.\nWhat a Sabbath! Peter Vannest preached at eight o\u2019clock. Eighty-one\nconverted that evening and sixty-eight sanctified.\n\nOn Monday morning William Hardisty preached from Psalm xxxiv, 5; in the\nafternoon Brother Jackson from Acts iii, 19, 20, on times of refreshing\nfrom the presence of the Lord; and James Herron preached in the evening.\nThere were this day two hundred and sixty-four conversions and fifty\nsanctifications.\n\nOn Tuesday morning the Lord\u2019s supper was administered. There was a most\nmelting time. I have given this record just as it was written in 1806. I\nadded: \u201cO how the power and love of God unites the hearts of his people.\nGlory to my God and Saviour that I have lived to see such times of the\noutpouring of his Spirit! Agreeable to the report of those who were most\nactive in the work, there were eleven hundred conversions and six hundred\nsanctifications.\u201d This may seem an exaggeration, but the record was made\nat the time, and there could be no object to state anything but the\ntruth, for it was written simply for myself, and not for others.\n\nJuly 15 the camp-meeting began near Dover. For several days we had been\npreparing seats for six thousand persons. The people came in crowds.\nThere were four hundred tents, wagons, and carts within the inclosure.\nSome slept in wagons, others in carts.\n\nOn Thursday John Chalmers, an old warrior, opened the campaign from Exod.\nxiv, 15: \u201cSpeak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.\u201d They\ndid go forward with banners flying, and a shout was heard along the\nranks of our Israel. The work of revival commenced in a powerful manner\nunder the first sermon, and continued through the night. There were\nsixty-eight converted and twenty-nine sanctified. Glory to the Highest!\n\nOn Friday at eight o\u2019clock Lawrence M\u2019Combs preached on 2 Cor. iv,\n5. He had a powerful voice, and was an admirable man to preach at\ncamp-meetings. Brother Kendall preached in the afternoon. On Saturday\nmorning Daniel Chambers, a local preacher from Baltimore, preached on\n\u201cThe Lord preserveth all them that love him, but all the wicked will he\ndestroy.\u201d Joshua Wells preached in the afternoon from Psalm lxxxvii, 3:\n\u201cGlorious things are spoken of thee,\u201d etc.; and William B. Lacy at night\nfrom Isaiah xxxiii, 16. The work went on all night. Will the reader be\nsurprised that I added, \u201cGlory! glory!\u201d\n\nSabbath was a high day in Zion. There were about ten thousand people\non the ground. In the morning Samuel Coate preached on John iii, 17;\nJohn Chalmers preached in the afternoon; and Brother Ridgeway at night.\nOne hundred and ninety-eight were converted and one hundred and sixty\nsanctified. Halleluiah! This was during the day. The work continued all\nnight, and one hundred and twenty-seven were converted and one hundred\nsanctified before the sun rose in the east.\n\nOn Monday morning Peter Vannest preached on Luke xv, 2: \u201cThis man\nreceiveth sinners and eateth with them.\u201d He did receive them cordially\ninto his arms, into his family; he was receiving them when my brother was\npreaching. Samuel Coate preached again on being instant in season and out\nof season. He was there to raise money for a church in Montreal, Canada,\nand was very successful. I preached at night from Luke xiv, 22, 23:\n\u201cAnd yet there is room.\u201d The work went on gloriously all night. During\nthe meeting there were reported one thousand three hundred and twenty\nconversions and nine hundred and sixteen sanctifications.\n\nThis is wonderful. I give the figures just as I wrote them in my journal\nin July, 1806. Shall these eyes, before they are closed in death, ever\nwitness such scenes again? Shall these ears ever hear such cries of\ndistress, such shouts of joy, such songs of victory? Shall this aged\nheart ever feel such shocks of divine power as I felt on that consecrated\nground?\n\nGovernor Bassett was full of faith and the Holy Ghost. He obtained a\nwonderful baptism, and gave in his testimony before listening thousands.\nBishop Whatcoat had died a short time before at his house, and his\npatience in suffering and his triumphant death was a great benefit to the\ngovernor, who witnessed the agony and the triumph of that holy man. Allen\nM\u2019Lane, father of Hon. Louis M\u2019Lane, was there on his knees wrestling\nwith the Angel of the Covenant, with tears rolling down his cheeks, for\na clean heart, and he was made pure in heart and enabled to see God.\nMethodism received a mighty impetus from this meeting.\n\nOn the 31st of July I left home for a camp-meeting in Virginia. On the\nway I attended quarterly meeting, with Dr. Chandler, in the grove near\nSamuel Porter\u2019s, at Snow Hill. Two hundred and forty were converted and\nmany sanctified. On Sunday, at midnight, I started with the doctor,\nBrothers R. Lyons, T. Burch, Aikins, and others, for the camp-meeting at\nAccomac. We reached Onancock, and put up with Major Kerr, whom I have\ndescribed.\n\nOn Thursday morning our camp-meeting commenced, and the work of God\nbroke out in the several tents before a single sermon was preached. In\nthe evening Alward White preached from Psalm xlii, 3: \u201cMy tears have\nbeen my meat day and night,\u201d etc. The work went on nearly all night, and\nthe next morning they reported one hundred and twenty-two converted and\neighty-four sanctified.\n\nThe preachers and subjects during the rest of the meeting were as\nfollows: _Friday_\u2014John Chalmers, Eccles. iii, 3; Matthew Greentree, Col.\niii, 3, 4; Peter Vannest, Rev. xii, 1, \u201cAnd there appeared a great wonder\nin heaven,\u201d etc.; a wonderful text, and there was a wonderful time.\n_Saturday_\u2014James Aikins, Zech. ix, 12; Richard Lyon, Luke xii, 57; John\nChambers, Matt. i, 21. On this day the sons of Belial made a great stir,\nand for a time somewhat hindered the progress of the work; yet there were\ntwo hundred and sixty-three conversions and one hundred and twenty-three\nreported to have been sanctified during the day and night. _Sunday_\u2014John\nChalmers, Rev. xx, 1-3; Henry White, Rev. xxi, 27; he struck with the\nhammer of God\u2019s word and broke the hearts of stone, and the work went on\nduring the whole night. On Monday I held forth, from Gal. vi, 9, on not\nbeing weary in well-doing.\n\nOn Tuesday morning the Lord\u2019s supper was administered; after which we\nhad our Christian parting, which was truly affecting, for many of us\nparted to meet no more till we pitch our tent in the groves of Paradise.\nA number of friends were there from Baltimore. The preachers and the\npeople who were there have gone most of them the way whence they will not\nreturn. The number of conversions reported in the course of the meeting\nwas over nine hundred.\n\nBrother Chalmers went with me to Snow Hill, where he preached. I was\ntaken very ill. I lodged with Samuel Porter. I read a part of a chapter\nand fainted, and Brother Porter prayed. I fainted also in preaching that\nday. I was kindly cared for at G. Ward\u2019s, a local preacher. Here I was\ndangerously ill for several days under the doctor\u2019s care. I then went\nwith Brother Ridgeway to the Line quarterly meeting to see Dr. Chandler,\nto get some advice from him concerning my health. The chapel could not\nhold the people, so the preaching was out of doors, and the preachers\nlodged in the meeting-house. There were one hundred and twenty converted\nat this meeting. Dr. Chandler advised me to go with him to Dr. Edward\nWhite\u2019s, in Cambridge. I was so weak I could not have gone had not Doctor\nChandler kindly permitted me to ride in his carriage. For five weeks I\nwas under the care of Dr. White, who was a skillful physician as well as\nChristian gentleman. And here slowly I began to recover. The doctor and\nhis family were very kind to me.\n\nDuring these days I enjoyed the society of Joseph Everett, who was then\nworn out. It was a privilege to hear the old warrior talk of bygone days,\nof battles fought and victories won. On the 30th of October I took my\nleave of Dr. White, and recorded this prayer: \u201cMay the Lord bless this\nkind family. I trust I shall never forget the kindness they have shown\nto me.\u201d I never can. They have gone to their reward, but my heart throbs\nwith gratitude when I recall their peculiar kindness to me over fifty\nyears ago.\n\nI went to our quarterly meeting, not far from Snow Hill, and found\nBrother Chandler and the preachers clearing the ground and preparing the\nseats. The people went with their tents to quarterly meeting as they do\nnow to camp-meeting. There were many tents on the ground. On Saturday\nthere was a great awakening, and though it rained, the work went on all\nnight.\n\nOn Sunday morning, Dr. Chandler preached from John vii, 17, \u201cIf any\nman shall do his will he shall know of the doctrine,\u201d etc. Then he\ncalled the mourners forward, and many came and the work went on till\nthree o\u2019clock, when Ezekiel Williams preached from 1 Cor. i, 30. Dr.\nChandler immediately followed, and took for his theme the ten lepers.\nAt the conclusion of the discourse he called the mourners forward; a\ngreat number accepted of the invitation, and the cries of the mourners\nand the shouts of those who were happy continued until morning, when we\nseparated, and it was a time of weeping and of shouting. There were sixty\nsouls converted and fifty sanctified during the meeting. My soul, praise\nthe Lord! I have dwelt here to show the reader what kind of times we had\nat our quarterly meetings in those days. I returned to my circuit, and\nthere was one general revival.\n\nIn September I preached the funeral sermon of Edward Callahan, who\nresided near Banning\u2019s Chapel. He died of cancer, after long and\nexcruciating sufferings. It commenced with his under lip, and spread so\nthat it eat off the side of his face and his tongue, yet such was the\npower of grace that he was enabled to triumph over pain, and glorified\nGod in the fires. Like his Master, he was made perfect through\nsuffering. His was a peculiar case. Before his conversion he was a\nconfirmed stammerer; indeed such was the impediment in his speech that\noften he could not express what he wanted to say in language, and was\nobliged to resort to writing; but the moment he passed from death unto\nlife a physical as well as moral miracle was wrought, his tongue was\nunloosed, and he became a very useful local preacher. He preached for\nover twenty-five years.\n\nI could fill a volume with what occurred on Dover Circuit; it was one of\nthe most glorious years of my life. At Dover, Barratt\u2019s Chapel, Milford,\nBanning\u2019s Chapel, and many other places, we saw the wonderful works of\nGod. I was happy in my colleague, James Bateman, a Christian gentleman,\nand a brother beloved. I was happy in my presiding elder, Doctor\nChandler. I was happy in my home, the house of the Hon. Richard Bassett,\nfor though I had many good stopping places on the circuit, his house was\nmy home, and there could be no better one for a Methodist preacher. I was\nhappy among the colored people; we paid special attention to them, and\nwitnessed the power of the Gospel upon their hearts. The whole year was\none scene of revival.\n\n\nREV. WILLIAM P. CHANDLER, M.D.\n\nI rode with Dr. Chandler, in his wagon, to Philadelphia, to attend the\nconference. As this is the last of my traveling with him I will give a\nsketch of him. I do this with pleasure, as I think too little has been\nsaid concerning him. He was among the great men of Methodism in that\nday, and his name deserves to be held in everlasting remembrance. I was\nintimately acquainted with him for years. No man did I venerate more,\nnone had I greater reason to love. He was my spiritual father, my early\ncounselor and friend, and it was by him I was first encouraged to enter\nthe work of the ministry.\n\nHe was born in Maryland on June 22, 1764, and in 1790 was converted in\nSt. George\u2019s, Philadelphia. In 1797 he was admitted into the Philadelphia\nConference, and appointed to Strasburg Circuit. This included Boehm\u2019s\nChapel. This was the first year I saw and heard Dr. Chandler. He was\ncalled doctor because he had studied medicine with the famous Dr. Rush,\none of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Ware\nbrought him out into the work, and had for him a great admiration.\n\nHe did most efficient service for several years, until his health\nfailed, and he located in 1813. Anxious to die with his name enrolled\nwith his brethren, he was received into the Philadelphia Conference as a\nsuperannuated preacher in 1822, the very year he died.\n\nDr. Chandler was emphatically a great man: great physically, for he had a\nnoble body; great mentally, for he had a noble mind; great morally, for\nhe had a noble soul. As presiding elder, he magnified his office. His\nquarterly meetings were seasons of great interest and power. He was great\nat camp-meetings. He inaugurated the camp-meetings that were first held\non the Peninsula, where thousands were converted.\n\nThe great revival at the General Conference in 1800 was the result of\na revival previously commenced on Cecil Circuit, and the flame spread\nto Baltimore, from that to Duck Creek, throughout the Peninsula, and\nalmost all over our entire work. Dr. Chandler was the leading spirit, the\npioneer in that glorious work which is now a part of the history of the\nChurch.\n\nHe was pre-eminently a revivalist. Powerful scenes were often witnessed\nunder his preaching. Scores would be awakened under a single sermon.\nSinners seized with trembling would fall to the ground like dead men,\nwhile the shout of victory from the redeemed could be heard afar off.\nI saw him on an ordinary occasion take twelve into society who were\nconverted at a meeting one Sabbath day, and two of them, Lawrence\nLaurenson[12] and Thomas Curran, became preachers.\n\nDr. Chandler was great in faith and prayer. At the first camp-meeting a\ndark, thick cloud gathered over the encampment, and there was a prospect\nof a tremendous shower. The people showed symptoms of alarm, and began to\ndisperse. The doctor requested them to be seated, expressing the utmost\nconfidence there would be no rain. Then he said, \u201cLet us pray.\u201d And he\nprayed that God would fold up the clouds, and that the rain might not\ndescend upon the encampment. He that heard Elijah\u2019s prayer listened to\nDr. Chandler\u2019s. The clouds parted when right over the camp, and it rained\non either side, but no sprinkling on the camp-ground. I make no comment,\nbut simply state the fact, of which I was an eye-witness. I heard him\npreach over fifty times sermons of such power as I have seldom heard in\na long life of over fourscore years. Down on the Peninsula such was his\npower that the wicked used to say, \u201cIf Dr. Chandler was placed on one\nend of a stand at camp-meeting and Solomon Sharp on the other they could\npreach the devil out of hell.\u201d This rough expression shows what they\nthought of his power.\n\nThe doctor suffered from paralysis. He went to the West Indies, but\nreturned home worse than when he went. His death was such a triumph that\nangels must have contemplated it with delight. A friend being on the way\nto meeting stopped to inquire how he was. The doctor asked \u201cWhat day is\nit?\u201d On being told it was Sunday, \u201cSunday?\u201d said the doctor; \u201cgo then\nto meeting and tell them I am dying shouting the praises of God.\u201d Then\nturning to his wife he said, \u201cMy dear Mary, open the window and let me\nproclaim to the people in the streets the goodness of God.\u201d Thus passed\naway one of the most powerful ministers that ever wielded the sword of\nthe Spirit. Such was the last hour of my lifetime friend and spiritual\nfather. He died on December 8, 1822, aged fifty-eight.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nMISSIONARIES, 1807.\n\n\nBishop Asbury preached the funeral sermon of Bishop Whatcoat April 29,\n1807, and the same evening in Dover I preached my farewell sermon. My\nheart was deeply affected on parting with my dear brethren and friends,\nwith whom I have had so many gracious seasons. Can it be wondered at that\nI wrote, \u201cI hope to meet them in a better country?\u201d Most of them are\nalready there, and I am on my way.\n\nThe session of the Philadelphia Conference was a harmonious one. It was\nheld in Philadelphia, commencing on April 2. On Sunday morning Bishop\nAsbury preached from Rev. ii, 10, \u201cBe thou faithful unto death, and I\nwill give thee a crown of life.\u201d In the afternoon I went with William\nColbert to the debtor\u2019s prison, where he preached. Many of the prisoners\nappeared very serious. In those days we took great pains to preach\nin poor-houses, jails, penitentiaries, and state-prisons. We visited\nprisoners, and particularly those who were under sentence of death. The\nWesleys did the same in the infancy of Methodism. My appointment was\nstrange, as it appears in the Minutes: \u201cPennsylvania, William Hunter,\nHenry Boehm.\u201d We had not, however, the whole \u201cKeystone State\u201d as our\nfield of labor, but only that part which lies between the Delaware and\nSusquehanna Rivers. We were to break up new ground, \u201cstretch ourselves\nbeyond ourselves.\u201d This was what Bishop Asbury was ever trying to do\nhimself, and wished others to imitate him. I was appointed to that field\nbecause I understood the German language. My German sword had become\na little rusty, for I had had but little occasion to use it on Dover\nCircuit; but I had now to take it out of its scabbard and polish it, and\ntry its temper.\n\nThomas Burch and I put up with Mr. Rolph, who was the keeper of the\ndebtor\u2019s prison. People were in those days imprisoned for debt, and as\nthere were many in debt, so there were many prisoners. ROBERT MORRIS,\na signer of the Declaration of Independence, the intimate friend of\nWashington, one of the framers of the Federal Constitution, and the great\nfinancier of the Revolution, whose credit for a time was better than his\ncountry\u2019s, lost all his property and became bankrupt, and was confined\nin this very prison for debt for a long time, to the shame of the city\nof brotherly love and to the shame of his country. But the year before I\nwas there death came to his relief, on May 6, 1806. He died in poverty\nat the age of seventy-three. This law of imprisonment for debt is now\nabolished, thanks to humanity. The keeper of this prison and his wife\nwere awakened, and shortly after converted. It was a very fine family,\nand in after years I used to be entertained by them.\n\nIn the conference our brethren were filled with much of the divine\npresence. The work of God went on in the congregations, and many were\nconverted. Fifteen were admitted on trial at this conference, among them\nPeter P. Sandford, long known as one of the strong men of the New York\nConference.\n\nSolomon Sharp was my presiding elder. Our first quarterly meeting was\nheld in a grove near Cornwall Furnace. Brother Sharp preached on 1 Peter\niv, 7, \u201cBut the end of all things is at hand,\u201d etc., a sermon full of\npower; and again on Sunday from Eccles. ix, 11. On Monday the sacrament\nwas administered, and Solomon Sharp preached a very profitable sermon\nfrom Gal. v, 17, \u201cYe did run well; who did hinder you?\u201d etc. There were\na few converted, and both ministry and the laity got a wonderful baptism\nof love at our first quarterly meeting in the grove. We had about twenty\ntents and wagons, in which the people lodged.\n\nThe last of May a camp-meeting was held in the neighborhood of what\nis called \u201cthe Forrest Chapel.\u201d This was an old chapel in the forest,\nbuilt by Mr. Demer, whom I have already noticed. Brothers Sharp, Hunter,\nIreland, and others preached, and also myself. Solomon Sharp preached\nfour very impressive sermons. He was a mighty man in the tented grove,\nand had great power over the masses.\n\nOne of his sermons was on the worth of the soul, and the danger of its\nloss. Sinners trembled, and who can wonder? Another was the contrast\nbetween the Law and the Gospel, John i, 17; another on the danger of\nlooking back after having put his hand to the Gospel plow. Upward\nof twenty were converted, many shouted for joy, and over ten were\nsanctified. Meetings of this kind were new in this part of the country,\nand crowds came to attend them.\n\nAn incident occurred here worthy of note. Some of the sinners of a\nbaser sort were disposed to interrupt the service. When the disturbance\nthreatened to be serious, the Hon. George Clymer, a signer of the\nDeclaration of Independence, then a lawyer, residing in Reading, arose in\nthe congregation and addressed the assembly. He spoke of the struggles of\nthe Revolution, of what our liberties cost, and the right our glorious\nConstitution gives to all to worship under their own vine and fig-tree.\nThen he said, \u201cIn vain have patriots bled and martyrs died to procure\nfreedom if we cannot worship the God of our fathers according to our own\nconscience.\u201d His address had a most happy effect in restoring order. It\nwas whispered round, \u201cWho is that?\u201d \u201cThe Hon. George Clymer,\u201d was the\nanswer. It was the only time I ever saw him or heard him. His conduct\nwas so noble, for then we were a \u201csect everywhere spoken against,\u201d and no\ngreat honor could be obtained by defending us.\n\nMr. Clymer was a tall, fine-looking man, with a dark, expressive eye,\na grave countenance, and hair of a kind of iron gray. He was a great\nfinancier, associated with Robert Morris in establishing a bank for the\nrelief of his country. He was a member of Congress, and president of\nthe Philadelphia Bank and of the Academy of Fine Arts. He was one of\nthe great men of Pennsylvania, and of the nation, and for such a man to\ndefend the Methodists under circumstances that I have described certainly\nwas a noble act. The name of George Clymer has in my mind ever been\nassociated with the Forrest camp-meeting. Six years after he died, aged\nseventy-three years, just as old as his friend and compatriot Robert\nMorris was when he bid adieu to earth.\n\n\nCAMP-MEETING AT WYE.\n\nIn July Bishop Asbury and Daniel Hitt made us a brief visit, as they were\non their tour West.\n\nOn Sunday, July 26, the bishop preached, under the shade of some locust\ntrees, near Columbia, on the east bank of the Susquehanna, from 2 Cor. v,\n14, on the death of Jesus, and why he died for all. Daniel Hitt preached\nfrom 2 Cor. vi, 17, 18, on coming out from the world, etc. The next day\nI accompanied Bishop Asbury to Little York, and then bade him adieu,\nlittle thinking that the next year I would be his traveling companion.\n\nOn Wednesday I went with Brother Sharp and several friends to Wye\ncamp-meeting, Queen Anne County, Maryland. On Friday night the campaign\nwas opened by Solomon Sharp, from Mal. iii, 16-18, \u201cThen they that feared\nthe Lord spake one to another,\u201d etc., an admirable introduction. I\npreached on Jer. vi, 16, and John Chalmers on Matt. vi, 10, \u201cThy kingdom\ncome.\u201d It did come, not in word only, but in power. The work of revival\nwent on all night. Many were converted, and the grove echoed with loud\nhalleluiahs.\n\nSunday was a great day. Great crowds, great singing, great preaching, and\ngreat power under the word. Solomon Sharp preached in the morning from\nJer. ix, 1, \u201cO that my head were waters,\u201d etc.; Brother Ridgeway in the\nafternoon, on 1 Cor. xv, 34, \u201cAwake to righteousness, and sin not,\u201d etc.,\na very awakening sermon; and William B. Lacy in the evening, on Luke xiv,\n17. The slain of the Lord were many.\n\nOn Monday there was a novel scene. In the morning, John Chalmers preached\nwith great effect. He was followed by his son, John Chalmers, Jr., who\npreached from Dan. vii, 18, \u201cBut the saints of the Most High shall take\nthe kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even for ever and ever,\u201d\na sermon full of encouragement. The preacher was a noble son of a noble\nfather. His youth then attracted great attention. He was called \u201clittle\nJackey Chalmers.\u201d Many souls found the Lord this day.\n\nOn Tuesday morning Leonard Castle, of Baltimore, preached from 2 Cor.\niv, 5, \u201cFor we preach not ourselves,\u201d etc., a sermon of uncommon beauty,\neloquence, and power. Solomon Sharp followed, on Luke xxii, 26. Great\nunction attended the word; convictions and conversions were greatly\nmultiplied. A brother was appointed to preach in the evening; but the\nwork broke out so under the prayer offered at the stand, and such were\nthe cries of distress, the shouts of triumph, that the preaching had to\nbe dispensed with. But the work went on gloriously.\n\nOn Wednesday Leonard Castle preached again from Ezek. xxxiii, 5. This was\na sermon full of alarm. Sinai\u2019s thunder could be heard, its lightnings\nseen. The people were awe-struck, and listened as if they were hearing\nan angel from heaven. I wrote: \u201cPraise the Lord that mine eyes have ever\nbeen permitted to witness such displays of the power of God as I have\nseen this day.\u201d The work went on all night.\n\nOn Thursday morning a love-feast was held. The testimonies were clear.\nGod spread his banner over us, and it was love. At three o\u2019clock Brother\nLeonard Castle preached from I Tim. iv, 8, on the profitableness of\ngodliness for two lives and two worlds. He was surpassingly eloquent, and\nthe Lord worked powerfully.\n\nOn Friday Solomon Sharp and E. Larkins preached. The work went on with\nsuch power that it was concluded, to the joy of many, to continue the\nmeeting over another Sabbath.\n\nOn Saturday Leonard Castle, Henry Boehm, and Henry White preached. It was\na great day of the converting and sanctifying power of God. The work went\non during the night.\n\nSunday was a day of wonders. Eight thousand people were on the ground.\nBrothers Sharp, Castle, and Alward White preached. Leonard Castle\u2019s text\nwas: \u201cExcept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the\nscribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of\nheaven.\u201d The sermon was one of the most eloquent and impressive I have\never heard. The multitude on the ground looked astonished; it was visible\nin their countenances. If we would know the number of conversions and\nsanctifications we must wait till we are permitted to search the records\nof heaven. But they were many.\n\nOn Monday morning we separated with tears and regrets. I wrote: \u201cThis was\nthe greatest meeting I have ever attended. Almost every sinner on the\nground was awed to reverence.\u201d\n\nOver twenty sermons were preached by men who knew how to wield the sword\nof the Spirit. Solomon Sharp preached five sermons of rare power and\nexcellence. The youthful and captivating Leonard Castle preached five\ntimes on the grandest themes that ever engaged the powers of a minister\nor the attention of a congregation. His sermons on that camp ground\nfor years were subjects of profound admiration.[13] The old hero, John\nChalmers, twice held forth; and Jackey, a counterpart of himself, once.\n\nWe tried to break into new ground. About ten miles from Wilmington was\nSharpless\u2019s rolling mill. We got a foothold, and formed a society, and a\nchurch was afterward built in the neighborhood. When we first preached\nthere some tried to mob us. They gathered around the door and tried to\nrush in and seize us. I was preaching, and Brother Hunter was with me.\nThere was a strong man who stood at the door with a stone in his hand\nand took sides with us, and threatened to knock down the first man who\ntouched us. So he frightened the rowdies, and we preached on unmolested.\nHe was a large Irishman, and one reason he interested himself so much on\nour behalf was that Brother Hunter was an Irishman, and he was determined\nthat his countryman should not be abused.\n\nWhen on this circuit several years after I became acquainted with Abram\nSharpless, the owner of the works. He was an orthodox Quaker, a man of\nwealth and great business talent. We put up with his foreman, and Mr.\nSharpless furnished plenty of food for our horses. Mr. Sharpless when\neighty years of age spoke to me of the great change that had taken place\namong his workmen. Of their sobriety and industry since the Gospel had\nbeen introduced among them he said that previous to the preaching there\non seventh day his hands would be dissipated, and no better on first\nday. On second day he would have to send after them to get them to work,\nand then they were not worth much. He said it was very different now.\nAll he had to do was to tell his people what he wanted done, and how,\nand it was accomplished. I then asked him if we might not conclude that\nthe influence of the Gospel had produced this great change. He heartily\nassented. This was acknowledging a great deal for an old Quaker.\n\nIn 1790 my old schoolmaster left Lancaster, and I did not know where he\nhad gone. One Sabbath in July this year, while preaching in German in\na barn in Likens\u2019s Valley, I saw an intelligent-looking man viewing me\nintently through his spectacles. I wondered who it was, and where I had\nseen him. Behold, it was my old schoolmaster, that I had not seen since\nI was his pupil eighteen years before. We greeted each other with tears,\nand talked of bygone days and scenes. He was a Lutheran, and used to read\nthe burial service at funerals when the minister was absent. He became a\nminister, and was pastor of a church west of the Susquehanna. I never saw\nhim afterward, but I never can forget Henry Rossman, my old schoolmaster,\nto whom I am so deeply indebted, especially for my knowledge of the\nGerman language.\n\nIt was not till 1807 we got a permanent foothold in Lancaster. It was\nvery hard soil for Methodism. Twice we made a beginning, but failed, and\nfor several years the place was abandoned. We had no preaching there,\nonly an occasional sermon.\n\nThe introduction of Methodism into Lancaster was providential. The\ntranslation of the Methodist Discipline into German had something to do\nwith it. In 1807 I went to Lancaster to read the proof-sheets of this\ntranslation at the printer\u2019s. After I had read them, and was about to\nreturn home, it commenced raining hard, and I put up at a public house\nwhere I had often stopped. The Lutherans were there in great numbers\nto draw a lottery, the proceeds of which were to finish a church\nsteeple.[14] A crowd had come together to see who was fortunate enough\nto obtain a prize. Feeling no interest in the result of the drawing,\nand annoyed by the noise and confusion of the people, I left the public\nhouse and took a walk through Lancaster to while away the time. While\ngoing along the street I met with a woman who had been a member of the\nMethodist Church in Germantown. She told me there was a man by the name\nof Philip Benedict in Lancaster who had been awakened at a camp-meeting,\nand he and his wife were seeking the Lord, and she advised me to call and\nsee them, telling me where they lived. I went to their house, pointed\nthem to Jesus, and prayed with them. As I was about leaving they said,\n\u201cO that we could have Methodist preaching in Lancaster!\u201d I told them\nthey could have it. So I left an appointment to preach at his house. It\nbecame a permanent preaching place. In a little while I formed a class of\nsix members: Philip Benedict and his wife, and four others. This was the\nnucleus of the society which remained permanent. I am thankful that I had\nthe honor of planting the tree of Methodism in that city. Behold how many\nlinks there are in this singular chain; how many small causes to bring\nabout such large results!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nDOCTOR ROMER AND THE GERMAN METHODIST DISCIPLINE.\n\n\nThere are but few who know that the Methodist Discipline was translated\ninto German fifty-seven years ago, and I am the only man living who knows\nall about it: by whom it was translated, who brought it through the\npress, etc. In Asbury\u2019s Journal we find, under date of Friday, August 30,\n1810, \u201cAt Middletown, Penn. We here broke bread with Dr. Romer, a German,\nwho has translated our Discipline for his countrymen.\u201d This brief record\nis all. There is not a historian of our Church that names the fact so\nfull of historic interest. Mr. Asbury ever felt the deepest interest in\nthe welfare of the Germans. When I commenced traveling with him in 1803,\nand went as far as Berlin, on the top of the Alleghany Mountains, the\nreader will remember he sent me back to Dauphin to preach to the Germans.\nThe Rev. John Lednum in his recent work, \u201cRise of Methodism in America,\u201d\np. 241, has fallen into an error. In speaking of Peter Albright,[15] and\nthe Albright Methodists, he says: \u201cDr. Romer of Middletown translated the\nDiscipline into German for their use.\u201d This is a great mistake.\n\nThe Albrights were not regularly organized into a conference till 1807.\nThe same year the Methodist Discipline was translated into German. Their\nwhole membership at that time was only two hundred and twenty. It is not\nlikely they would have had the Methodist Discipline translated for that\nsmall number. Furthermore, at their Conference of 1807 those associated\nwith him requested Mr. Albright to draw up some \u201carticles of faith and\na discipline for the association, in conformity with the Scriptures.\u201d\nWould they have made any such request if they had adopted the Methodist\nDiscipline? Mr. Albright died six months after the conference, and\ntherefore was unable to comply with their request. The association\nhad not the name of \u201cAlbrights\u201d until 1809, and in that year the Rev.\nJ. Miller drew up the articles of faith and discipline for them. Our\nDiscipline was translated into German two years before, but not at their\nrequest, or for their use; they had no hand in it.\n\nThe facts are these: At the request of Bishop Asbury and the Philadelphia\nConference I had the Methodist Discipline translated into German in 1807.\nI employed Dr. Romer, and aided him in the translation. We frequently\ncompared notes, and consulted about certain terms. I also employed the\nprinters and paid them, and examined all the proof-sheets, and attended\nto the distribution of the books after they were printed. I made a\nnumber of entries in my journal at that time which throw light on the\nsubject: \u201cJune 30, 1807, I rode to Middletown and came to Dr. Romer\u2019s\nabout sundown. The doctor has now translated our form of Discipline into\nthe German language, which I expect soon will be published.\u201d This was in\nJune, and some time was spent afterward in revising it, for it was not\nuntil September it went into the hands of the printer, as will be seen\nfrom the following extracts from my journal:\n\n\u201cSeptember 1, I rode to Lancaster, and agreed with Henry and Benjamin\nGrimler, printers, to print fifteen hundred copies of our form of\nDiscipline in German, then returned home to my parents in the afternoon.\u201d\nAgain: \u201cMonday, September 7, went to Lancaster, and saw the first\nproof-sheets of the Discipline.\u201d October 14 I was again in Lancaster, and\nthe record says, \u201cI stopped a while with the printers; the Discipline is\nabout half done.\u201d From these extracts and others I might make, it will be\nseen what kind of a hand I had in publishing the first German Methodist\nDiscipline in the new world. The Germans had an idea that the Methodists\nhad no Discipline, and this was widely circulated to our injury, for it\nwas extensively believed. This translation corrected the error. Then\nthere was a prospect of a union between the Methodists and the United\nBrethren, and it was well to have the Discipline in their own language,\nso that they could understand our doctrines and our mode of Church\ngovernment. It was also necessary for the Germans who were connected with\nour Church. The translation was an admirable one, and was very useful,\ncorrecting the errors that had been circulated about us, and enabling\nthe Germans to read in their mother tongue our excellent Discipline. I\nsent several hundreds of them in a box to Cincinnati, to be distributed\ngratuitously among the Germans in the West; others were circulated about\nPennsylvania. Bishop Asbury had some of them. I footed the bill, and the\npublication caused me some pecuniary loss. It might not have been so\nif I had continued to travel in Pennsylvania; but the following spring\nI commenced traveling with Bishop Asbury, and so could not well attend\nto the sale of the books. I do not complain, but I rejoice that I was\npermitted to do anything toward the translation of the Discipline into\nGerman at that early day. \u201cI cast my bread upon the waters\u201d expecting to\n\u201cfind it after many days,\u201d and I have not been disappointed. I found it\nlong ago.\n\nThe reader would no doubt like to know more of the translator. I was\nintimately acquainted with DR. ROMER for years, having been often at\nhis house, and often preached there. I was there in 1802, and in after\nyears. He was a physician, and resided in Middletown, Penn., ten miles\nsouth-east of Harrisburgh, and situated near the junction of Swatara\n(sweet arrow) and Susquehanna Rivers. Middletown was built upon the site\nof an ancient Indian village, and derived its name from being half way\nbetween Lancaster and Carlisle.\n\nDr. Romer was a native of Switzerland. He was educated for a Roman\npriest, but he became so disgusted with the conduct of a corrupt\npriesthood that instead of entering the sacred office he became\nskeptical. He acknowledged the existence of a God, but denied the\nauthenticity of the Scriptures. He emigrated to this country and married\nhere. The doctor was awakened, not by reading the arguments of able\nchampions of revelation, nor by the eloquence of able ministers of the\nGospel, but by that most powerful argument in favor of Christianity, a\nholy life. The great Teacher said, \u201cLet your light so shine before men\nthat they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in\nheaven.\u201d It was the holy life and correct deportment of a widow lady by\nthe name of Flanagan, who was a neighbor of Dr. Romer, which shook the\nfoundations of his skepticism, and the whole superstructure fell to the\nground. He had no argument against a holy life. Her example led him to\nabandon his skepticism, led him to Calvary, to the cross, to the Church,\nto heaven.\n\nI was well acquainted with Mrs. Flanagan. She was a good woman, possessed\na strong mind, and was keen and shrewd. She not only lived religion\nbefore the doctor, but was able \u201cto give a reason for the hope that was\nin her with meekness and fear.\u201d Being convinced of the truth of the\nChristian religion, he sought and found the pearl of great price, and\nrejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He joined the Methodist\nEpiscopal Church, whose doctrines he cordially believed, and whose\ndiscipline he approved and loved. This was about the year 1800. He was\never after the preachers\u2019 friend; his house was their home, and also\none of our regular preaching places on the circuit. I made his house my\nhome when on the Schuylkill District in 1814. He was a man of sterling\nintegrity, and greatly esteemed for his many virtues. He was a profound\nLatin as well as German scholar; indeed he had a superior education in\nall respects; was eminent as an astronomer, and a good English scholar,\nthough he always retained something of the German accent.\n\nDr. Romer did immense service for Methodism by his translation of the\nDiscipline. Up to that time but little had been done by the Methodists\nfor the Germans; but O what wonders since! The doctor wrote an admirable\npreface to the German Discipline, in which he gave a condensed view of\nour history, doctrines, and discipline. All honor to the man who did\nsuch noble service for the Germans; a work and labor of love, for he\nwould not take a farthing for his labor.\n\nDr. Romer held fast his integrity until the end, and died a few years ago\nat Lewistown on the Juniata.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nGENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1808.\n\n\nThe Philadelphia Conference met this year in the city of brotherly love,\non March 20. It was like one great love-feast from beginning to end. The\npreaching was of a high order, and many were converted. Twelve preachers\nwere received on trial, among others Thomas Neal, long one of the honored\nfathers of the New Jersey Conference. Five were admitted into full\nconnection; one of them was Charles Giles, so useful in Western New York.\n\nBishop Asbury was constantly in favor of breaking up new ground. The\nsuccess of the previous year encouraged him to appoint an additional\nlaborer to the field we had tried to cultivate. The bishop read the\nappointment thus: \u201cPennsylvania, William Hunter, William Colbert, and\nHenry Boehm.\u201d\n\nOn the 26th of April, with Brothers William Hunter and William Colbert,\nI started for Baltimore to attend the General Conference. We rode on\nhorseback, as was the custom in those days. On the 30th we arrived in\nBaltimore, and were appointed to John Fisher\u2019s at Oldtown.\n\nThe conference began the 1st of May. Bishop Asbury alone presided, as\nDr. Coke was in Europe, and Bishop Whatcoat was dead. This was in many\nrespects the most important Methodist ecclesiastical body that had ever\nassembled in America.\n\nPrevious to the session of this conference the Church had been like our\nnation under the _articles of confederation_; but subsequently we were\nlike it after our constitution was formed.\n\nThere were one hundred and twenty-nine members representing seven\nconferences. All the elders were entitled to a seat in the conference,\nbut many of them did not attend. The funeral of Harry Dorsey Gough was\nattended at seven o\u2019clock the 6th of May. Mr. Gough resided in Baltimore\nin the winter, and at his splendid country residence, Perry Hall, in\nthe summer. When his corpse was removed, to be taken into the country,\nBishop Asbury and many members of the General Conference walked in the\nprocession to the end of the city. The multitude was so great few of them\ngot into the house. Bishop Asbury\u2019s prayer, before the body was removed,\nwas one of the most powerful I had ever heard.\n\nDuring the session of the conference there was much eloquent and\npowerful preaching. On Sunday, the 8th, George Pickering preached in the\nmarket-house, and three preachers exhorted after him, Joseph Totten,\nFrancis Ward, and S. Budd. There was a mighty shaking among the people.\nThis was early in the morning. At half past ten I heard William M\u2019Kendree\nfrom, \u201cIs there no balm in Gilead,\u201d etc. This was the eloquent sermon\nthat made him bishop. The late Dr. Bangs gives a graphic description\nof it. Slow in his commencement, he rose with his subject, till his\naudience were melted like wax before the fire. In the afternoon Rev.\nStith Mead, from Virginia, preached at Oldtown. Bishop Asbury preached,\nin Eutaw-street, the opening sermon of the new chapel, from 2 Cor. iii,\n12, \u201cSeeing then we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.\u201d\nThe crowd was immense and the sermon characteristic.\n\nThere was not only preaching on Sunday, but three times every day in\nthe Light-street Church, and every evening in the four other churches,\nnamely: The Point, Oldtown, African, and the New Church, (Eutaw.) Several\nwere converted during the week, but we saw no such scenes as occurred\nduring the General Conference of 1800.\n\nThe Conference elected William M\u2019Kendree bishop. There was great\nunanimity in regard to the choice, for on the first ballot he received\nninety-five out of one hundred and twenty-eight votes.\n\nSunday the 15th was a great day. William M\u2019Kendree, bishop elect,\npreached at seven o\u2019clock in the Marsh market. My record says: \u201cThis was\nan awful time of the power and presence of the Lord.\u201d At ten o\u2019clock\nBishop Asbury, in Light-street Church, and the sheep were gloriously fed\nby the under shepherd. In the afternoon Jacob Gruber preached in German,\nat three o\u2019clock, in Father Otterbein\u2019s church; Brother M\u2019Kendree again\nat five, in the New Church; and John M\u2019Claskey at Light-street in the\nevening.\n\nOn Wednesday, the 18th, William M\u2019Kendree was consecrated to the office\nand work of a bishop. Previous to the ordination Bishop Asbury preached\nfrom 1 Tim. iv, 16, \u201cTake heed unto thyself,\u201d etc. Freeborn Garrettson,\nPhilip Bruce, Jesse Lee, and Thomas Ware assisted Bishop Asbury in the\nordination service, they being the oldest ministers present. The future\nlife of Bishop M\u2019Kendree, his efficient services for years, show the\nwisdom of the choice.\n\nSunday the 22d was a great day in Baltimore. George Pickering preached\nin the new church at six in the morning from Col. i, 28; at ten, Samuel\nCoates, in Oldtown, from Gen. xxiii, 14; at three, Jacob Gruber, at the\nAfrican Church, from Psalm xxxiv, 6; at five, Ezekiel Cooper preached\nin Eutaw-street Church, from Matt. iii, 7, \u201cO generation of vipers,\nwho hath warned you to flee the wrath to come?\u201d He dwelt not only upon\nwrath\u2014divine wrath\u2014but particularly \u201cwrath to come;\u201d taking the sinner\nonward and showing that to all eternity it would be _wrath to come_!\nfuture wrath, increasing wrath, Jesse Lee preached in the evening at\nLight-street, from John v, 40. Thus ended this day of privileges, the\nlast Sabbath of the General Conference in Baltimore in 1808.\n\nI have given a description of the preaching, for this had not been done.\nOthers have dwelt upon the doings of the General Conference during the\nweek, and have said but little of what was done on Sunday. But to hear\ngiants in the pulpit, these master workmen, was a privilege that afforded\nme consolation in after years.\n\nIt will be seen they preached early in the morning, and had five\nservices a day. There was a great deal more preaching during the General\nConference. I have simply named the men I heard.\n\nThe business of the conference was done in great harmony. There were\nmasterly debates on the great questions of Church polity that came\nbefore them, but all was done in love. The members seemed to possess\nmuch of that \u201ccharity that thinketh no evil.\u201d They not only elected a\nsuperintendent, but made provision for a delegated General Conference, a\nmeasure that was much needed.\n\nBishop Asbury requested me to travel with him. On Monday, May 23, William\nHunter, William Colbert, and myself, obtained leave of absence. It was\nnecessary for me to go home to get ready to travel with Bishop Asbury,\nand I was to meet him at Perry Hall.\n\nAfter my return home I went to Lancaster, and agreed with Messrs.\nGrimlers to print a pamphlet on the Characteristics of a true Methodist\nor Christian, and a sermon on, \u201cAwake thou that sleepest,\u201d etc., in the\nGerman language. Bishop Asbury was anxious I should travel with him,\nespecially on account of the Germans. He was so well pleased with the\nGerman discipline that I went to the same printers to get the German\ntracts printed. These we took with us and distributed them, as will be\nseen by Asbury\u2019s journal. These tracts did immense good; they often went\nwhere the preacher could not go. These were the first Methodist tracts\nthat were published in the German language; now they are abundant. I\nshall not be accused of egotism for thus showing that over half a century\nago I was a humble pioneer in this blessed work.\n\nAs I part with my excellent colleagues, William Hunter and William\nColbert, I would like to give an outline of them. Brother Hunter, a\nnoble-hearted man and an able minister, was born in Ireland in 1755,\nand came to this country in 1790. He was intimately acquainted with the\nvenerated Wesley, often heard him preach, and traveled extensively with\nhim when he visited Ireland. After he left the Pennsylvania Mission he\nwas presiding elder of Schuylkill District four years. He died in 1833.\n\nWilliam Colbert was a small man. He was a genuine Methodist, a sound\ndivine, and a great revivalist. Hundreds will rise up and call him\nblessed. He had a heart formed for friendship. He and my friend William\nHunter died the same year.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nFIRST ANNUAL TOUR WITH BISHOP ASBURY, 1808.\n\n\nBishop Asbury had a number of traveling companions: Edward Bailey, Hope\nHull, Nicholas Snethen, Sylvester Hutchinson, Thomas Morrell, Jesse Lee,\nDaniel Hitt, Joseph Crawford, and others. Some were among our ablest men.\nSnethen Mr. Asbury called his \u201csilver trumpet;\u201d Hope Hull was a prince\namong orators; Morrell was dignified, wise in counsel; Hutchinson a son\nof thunder; Jesse Lee shrewd, ever knowing how and when to answer a fool\naccording to his folly; but I have no space to notice the characteristics\nof each. After my term of service expired he had two others travel with\nhim: John C. French, and John W. Bond, brother to the late Thomas E.\nBond, M.D., so well known as the editor of the _Christian Advocate and\nJournal_.\n\nThe General Conference of 1800, on motion of Thomas Morrell, resolved\n\u201cthat Mr. Asbury be authorized to take with him an elder through any\npart or all his travels.\u201d Mr. Morrell had been the traveling companion\nof Mr. Asbury, and he knew how much the venerable patriarch needed one.\nPreviously elders had traveled with him at his own request, but from\nthat time it was done by the authority of the General Conference.\n\nThis year was an era in my ministerial life. I was no longer confined to\na small circuit, but traveled with the bishop around his large diocese.\nThough my name in the Minutes for 1808 stands as Pennsylvania missionary,\nI was there only a few weeks previous to the General Conference; the rest\nof the year I was traveling with Bishop Asbury. My new field of labor\nwas a splendid school for a young minister, and he must have been a dull\nscholar that did not learn important lessons. It enlarged my knowledge of\nthe country, of the Church, and of her ministers.\n\nThe venerable Asbury was sixty-three years old when I began to travel\nwith him. Having been greatly exposed, he was feeble, and suffered from\nmany infirmities. I traveled with him much longer than any of his other\ncompanions, and have survived them all many years.\n\nJohn Wesley Bond, who traveled with him last, has been dead forty-seven\nand Bishop Asbury fifty years.\n\nBy agreement I was to meet the bishop at Perry Hall, Md., on June 5,\nwhere he was to preach the funeral sermon of Harry Dorsey Gough, and then\nwe were to proceed on our western tour. I took leave of my aged mother\nwith tears, and my father accompanied me for some distance. On our way\nwe came to a camp-meeting that commenced on June 3, near Salem Chapel,\nunder the care of Dr. Chandler. Jesse Lee was at this camp-meeting in all\nhis glory, and preached three powerful sermons.\n\nOn Monday morning I had a most affecting parting with my father. He loved\nme as Jacob did Joseph, for I was the son of his old age. I did not\nreach Perry Hall till June 7, two days later than I was expected, having\nlingered at the camp-meeting. I found Mrs. Gough in all the loneliness of\nwidowhood. She treated me very kindly.\n\nAs I was not there at the time, I supposed the bishop would wait till\nI arrived; but when I reached Perry Hall I found he had left the day\nbefore. He never waited for any man, and he wanted no man to wait for\nhim. His motto was, \u201cThe king\u2019s business requires haste.\u201d\n\nPerry Hall was the most splendid mansion I had ever seen. There was\nbeauty, elegance, and magnificence. It contrasted strangely with the\nlittle cottages and uncomfortable places where I had sometimes put up.\nMr. Gough had inherited a large estate from England, and he built Perry\nHall for his residence in the summer. It was twelve miles from Baltimore,\non the Bel Air Road.\n\nMr. Gough was fortunate in his marriage. His wife, Prudence, was a\nsister of General Ridgeley, who was afterward governor of Maryland. She\nwas rightly named, for she was a very prudent woman. Mrs. Gough was\nfirst awakened by hearing the Methodists preach, and her proud husband\nforbid her hearing them again. However, he went to hear Mr. Asbury more\nout of curiosity than anything else. The sword of the Spirit was very\nsharp that evening, and the proud sinner was cut to the heart. On the\nway home one said, \u201cWhat a heap of nonsense we have heard to-night!\u201d To\nhis astonishment Mr. Gough replied, \u201cNo; we have heard the truth as it\nis in Jesus.\u201d He hastened home and said to his beloved Prudence, \u201cMy\ndear, I shall never hinder you again from hearing the Methodists.\u201d This\nwas joyful intelligence for her. They were both converted under Bishop\nAsbury, were his lifetime friends, lived holy lives, and died triumphant\ndeaths. The Rev. Thomas B. Sargent, D.D., married a descendant of this\nfamily.\n\nThe next day I overtook Bishop Asbury at James M\u2019Cannon\u2019s at Pipe\nCreek.[16] We also went to visit the widow of Rev. Henry Willis, and his\naged mother. The bishop kissed and encircled in his arms the six orphan\nchildren of his departed friend, and blessed them in the name of the\nLord, and prayed with them. Henry Willis had died but a few weeks before,\nand this was Bishop Asbury\u2019s first visit to the lonely family after their\nbereavement. The bishop went out and wept at the new-made grave of his\nfriend. Henry Willis was one of the noblest men of Methodism. He was\nuniversally beloved and universally lamented.[17]\n\nWhile at Pipe Creek I saw the old log meeting house built by Robert\nStrawbridge, the first Methodist preaching house erected in Maryland.\nIt was then in a dilapidated state, and used for a barn. What wonderful\ninterests cluster around this humble edifice!\n\nWe commenced our tour westward. The roads were rough, the weather\nexcessively hot, and the bishop very feeble, and yet on he would go, and\nat almost every stopping-place would preach. It was his element, his\nlife; he could not live long without. He makes this mournful record: \u201cI\nbegin to fail.\u201d Dear old man! He had endured enough to kill many strong\nmen, and now he makes the discovery that he has _begun_ to fail. Old men\nare not generally willing to admit this; gray hairs are upon them, and\nthey do not know it. What an era it is in a man\u2019s history when he is\nconscious he is failing!\n\nAfter visiting a number of places and preaching every day we began to\nclimb the Alleghany Mountains. It was a most tedious ride, especially for\nthe aged and infirm bishop. Can we wonder he wrote thus: \u201cI have suffered\nmuch. I am pained and sore, and poor Jane stumbled so often; but my\nlimbs and my soul are safe. Glory! glory!\u201d\n\nWe were thirty-nine hours crossing the mountains. Five years before I\nwent with Mr. Asbury to the top of the Alleghanies, and then returned to\npreach to the Germans; but now I have crossed this nature\u2019s monument.\nIt was seventy miles over the mountains by the crooked paths we had to\ntravel. I wrote thus in my journal: \u201cThere were few houses, plenty of\nstones, rocks, and hills, and springs of water and brooks; but the best\nof all, the rock which cheered the Israelites in the wilderness was with\nus while traveling under the rays of the scorching sun. My soul, praise\nJesus!\u201d We passed over several mountain ridges of stupendous magnitude.\nThe grandeur of the natural scenery was indeed a subject of admiration.\n\nOn the other side of the mountain we rested in the hospitable mansion\nof Jacob Murphy. On Sunday Mr. Asbury preached at Uniontown, Pa., on\n\u201cConverting a sinner from the error of his way.\u201d This is said to be the\nplace where the first conference was held west of the Alleghanies. Here\nalso I preached at our host\u2019s from Prov. x, 28. The first ordination\namong the Methodists west of the mountains took place here.\n\nThe next day was the Fourth of July, and although the bishop and I were\nboth patriotic, and lovers of freedom, we spent, as he expresses it, \u201c_a\nsolitary Fourth of July_\u201d at Widow Henthorn\u2019s. The bishop always planned\nhis work far ahead, and when he came to a conference he had but to carry\nout his plan. That day he drafted conference plans as far as Baltimore,\nand the next day, besides reading Thomas \u00e0 Kempis, he copied off a list\nof preachers for the western and southern conferences. It was method that\nenabled the great Asbury to accomplish so much.\n\nThe bishop writes: \u201cBrother Boehm spoke to the people in English and\nGerman.\u201d Rheumatism troubled the old gentleman, and the incessant rain\nfor four days kept him a prisoner, and he found the confinement irksome.\nHere we saw Edward Dromgoole, one of the early preachers. He joined at\nthe third conference, 1775. He was now returning from the West, and he\ngave a flaming description of the camp-meetings that had been held there.\n\nWe journeyed on to Connellsville. Here we had a new house of worship, or\nrather a part of one. The bishop preached and dedicated the walls of the\nchurch, for at that time it was roofless. I held forth in German. This I\ndid in almost every place. The next day we went to the splendid mansion\nof Colonel Mason, and were entertained like princes.\n\nDuring this route the bishop suffered all but martyrdom. He was\nexceedingly lame, his feet being greatly inflamed, and he had been\nblistered; and yet he would press on amid the intense heat of July, that\nalmost overcame him.\n\nWe met Asa Shinn, author of \u201cShinn on Salvation.\u201d He was a man of\nsplendid talents; an excellent metaphysician. The bishop conversed with\nhim about being removed to Baltimore. Mr. Shinn finally went off with\nthe Reformers, and died deranged in an asylum. It is supposed his deep\nstudying had much to do with unbalancing his mind; but at one time he was\na mighty man in our Israel.\n\nIt was pitiful to see the old bishop hobbling on his crutches into church\nat Brownsville on Sabbath July 17. There, like his Master, he sat down\nand preached. His subject was God\u2019s design in sending his Son into the\nworld.\n\nThe next day we rode to John Brightwell\u2019s. The bishop says: \u201cI had an\nawfully severe ride. I am fairly arrested in my course. My knees and\nfeet are so disabled that I am lifted to bed. I can neither ride, stand,\nnor walk.\u201d What a painful record! And what does the reader think of his\ncompanion, who had to lift the bishop out of bed, bathe his limbs, dress\nhis blisters, and nurse him like a child. I left him for a while and went\nto fill his appointments, while the family kindly took care of him.\n\nFor a week there is no record made in his journal. He was unable to\nwrite a line. But I kept an account of each day. After filling several\nappointments during the week, I went to Pittsburgh to fill the\nappointment of the bishop there. I lodged at Brother Wrenshall\u2019s, a local\npreacher. He was an Englishman, of excellent education and fine mind.\nHe preached a great deal, and preached well, and helped give tone and\ncharacter to Methodism in that section.\n\nThere were few Methodists in Pittsburgh, and they had no house of\nworship, so I preached in the Court-house to about a thousand people who\nhad come out to hear the bishop and saw but a plain German youth from\ntheir own State. They listened with attention while I expounded Matt.\nv, 20. In the afternoon I preached in the jury-room, in German, to one\nhundred hearers, from Acts x, 35. Some felt the weight of truth. Thus for\nthe benefit of the Germans in Pittsburgh I preached the Gospel in their\nown vernacular fifty-seven years ago. Then, at six o\u2019clock, in Brother\nWrenshall\u2019s door-yard, I preached \u201cdeliverance to the captives.\u201d This was\nmy first visit to Pittsburgh, a place so full of historic interest. And\nhere, for the first time, I beheld the Ohio. In after years I became very\nfamiliar with it by crossing it so frequently with the pioneer bishop.\n\nLeaving Pittsburgh, I returned to see how the bishop was getting on. I\nwas accompanied by Betsy Farley and her son-in-law. She was the daughter\nof Edward Bailey, an excellent man, and one of Bishop Asbury\u2019s traveling\ncompanions. He died in October 1780, when on a tour with the bishop, and\nhere, eighteen years afterward, was one of his daughters traveling many\nmiles to see the bishop to converse with him about her father. On Tuesday\nwe reached Brother Brightwell\u2019s, the bishop\u2019s host, and to our great joy\nwe found him much better.\n\nMr. Asbury makes this entry: \u201cHow am I honored! Thornton Fleming paid me\na visit, and with him came Mrs. Hebert and a daughter of Edward Bailey\nof Amherst, Virginia. These dear souls came sixty miles to see me. I\nsuppose I must get a four-wheeled carriage. Wednesday was a serious day,\nbut prepare to move we must; pain and death are nothing when opposed to\nduty.\u201d This is a noble sentiment of a noble man.\n\nI wrote thus in my journal: \u201cThursday, 28, past human expectation we\nstarted for West Liberty, crossed the Monongahela at Freeport, then to\nMr. Thomas M\u2019Faddin\u2019s, Washington, a little before night, very wet on my\npart and very full of pain on the part of Father Asbury. The family were\nexceeding kind.\u201d Is it not marvelous that the old sick man should travel\nin the rain under such circumstances? What but love for the Church and\nfor souls could have induced him?\n\nOn Friday we reached John Beck\u2019s. This was one of the homes that Bishop\nAsbury prized very highly. There was quite a society here, and John\nBeck was the class-leader. He has long since gone to Paradise, but his\ndescendants are Methodists, and they have preserved the old chair in\nwhich Bishop Asbury used to sit, and the old chest on which James Quinn\nsat when he was converted; for this was his spiritual birthplace. It was\na famous place in Methodism; one of its early strongholds in this part of\nthe country. Mr. Beck was from Kent County, Maryland.\n\nWe left John Beck\u2019s and were entertained at Major Samuel M\u2019Colloch\u2019s. He\nand his brother John were celebrated in the annals of Indian warfare.\nHe it was who, when pursued by the Indians, made that terrible leap of\nthree hundred feet down a precipice with his horse into the river, and\nthus mercifully escaped out of their murderous hands. The leap of General\nPutnam at Horseneck was nothing compared with this. He was an excellent\nmember of the Methodist Church, and his house was one of the choice homes\nwhere the bishop and other preachers were made welcome. His father was\noriginally from New Jersey, and one of the early pioneers of the West.\n\nAt Wheeling Bishop Asbury preached in the Court-house from Heb. ii, 2, 3,\non the great salvation and the danger of neglecting it. We had no house\nof worship there at that time. We were kindly entertained by Colonel\nEbenezer Zane, one of the earliest settlers in the West. I was highly\ndelighted, as well as the bishop, to hear Mr. Zane and his wife (who\nwas a sister of Samuel and John M\u2019Colloch) relate the thrilling scenes\nthrough which they had passed, and their hair-breadth escapes from wild\nbeasts and from the murderous savages. She told us about the siege of\nthe fort, and how she was engaged in running bullets which the men fired\nat the Indians who were thirsting for their blood. Mr. Zane was a great\nhunter, a man of noble deeds and noble daring, and his history, if fully\nwritten, would be equal to that of Daniel Boone of Kentucky.\n\nZanesville, Ohio, was named after Colonel Zane. He was not a Methodist,\nbut a great friend to our people. Mrs. Zane joined the Methodists in\n1785, under Wilson Lee. Her cabin was early opened for preaching, and she\nmade the ministers very welcome. She was a Christian heroine, an honor to\nher sex and to the Church.\n\nWe left Wheeling and the Zane family, and entered Ohio. That State, so\nrich and flourishing now, was then in its infancy, being a child only\nsix years old. To my great joy Bishop Asbury\u2019s health was improving,\nand we rode one hundred and thirteen miles to a camp-meeting at Rush\nCreek. Camp-meetings were numerous then, and attended with great success.\nThey were not merely for visiting or pastime, but to save souls. Their\ncharacter in some parts of the county has greatly changed. We had four\nsermons a day. On Sunday John Sale, then in his palmy days, preached\nearly in the morning; Bishop Asbury followed at eleven; and I, at three\no\u2019clock, gave a sermon in English, and concluded in German. There was\nconsiderable of a move, many convicted crying for mercy. We then went to\nChilicothe, and were the guests of Dr. Edward Tiffin.\n\nOn Thursday, August 11, in compliance with an invitation, we visited\nGeneral Thomas Worthington, one of the candidates for governor. Dr.\nTiffin married his sister Mary, a woman of remarkable sweetness and\nloveliness. The general was a very fine man, and was elected to the\ngovernorship. He resided in a splendid mansion called Mount Prospect Hall.\n\nMr. Asbury felt keenly the loss of the general\u2019s sister. He went to her\ngrave and sighed there, and made the following record: \u201cWithin sight of\nthis beautiful mansion lies the precious dust of Mary Tiffin. It was\nas much as I could do to forbear weeping as I mused over her speaking\ngrave. How mutely eloquent! Ah, the world knows little of my sorrows;\nlittle know how dear to me are my many friends, and how deeply I feel\ntheir loss; but they all die in the Lord, and this shall comfort me.\nI delivered my soul here. May this dear family feel an answer to Mary\nTiffin\u2019s prayers.\u201d\n\nOn our tour in 1811 we visited Governor Worthington, and he requested\nthe bishop to write an appropriate inscription for the tombstone of his\nsister. He took his pen and wrote this: \u201cAnd Mary hath chosen that good\npart that shall not be taken away from her.\u201d These words are upon the\ntombstone of that excellent woman. Who would not exclaim,\n\n  \u201cO that I could forever sit\n  With Mary at the Master\u2019s feet!\n  Be this my happy choice,\u201d etc.\n\nOn Friday, 12th, we attended a camp-meeting at Deer Creek. There were\ntwenty-three preachers, traveling and local, and about two thousand\npeople on the ground, and a multitude of tents; and some people put up in\ntheir covered wagons.\n\nThis camp-meeting was near White Brown\u2019s, and we were entertained by him.\nHe was a noble man, a sterling Methodist. He was a nephew of Thomas White\nof Delaware. Asbury used to preach at White Brown\u2019s on the Peninsula in\nMaryland as early as 1779. He emigrated to Ohio in the early part of this\ncentury.\n\nMr. Asbury delighted to put up with his old friend, whom he had known\nin the East, and with whom he had had an unbroken friendship for nearly\nforty years.\n\nSeveral sermons of great pathos and power were preached on the ground.\nOne of the most remarkable was by Dr. Tiffin, ex-governor of Ohio, from\n\u201cWhat is a man profited,\u201d etc. The doctor threw his whole soul into it as\nhe dwelt upon the soul\u2019s immense value and its amazing loss, and the fact\nthat nothing can compensate for such a loss. His appeals to the heart and\nconscience were almost irresistible. His voice was musical, his gestures\nwere rapid, and his countenance expressed all his tongue uttered. There\nwas a mighty work among the people during the day, and it continued all\nnight.\n\nOn Sunday morning John Sale, presiding elder of the Ohio District,\npreached from Psalm xlv, 13. He was an able preacher and a good\ndisciplinarian. He had much natural dignity, and was remarkably\ncourteous. He had a fine form, intelligent countenance, and a dark eye\nthat was very expressive.\n\nThe bishop preached at eleven o\u2019clock, and Dr. Monnett gave an eloquent\ndiscourse immediately after from Psalm cxviii, 15, 16, \u201cThe voice of\nrejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous,\u201d etc. In\nthe evening Benjamin Lakin preached on Christian purity from 2 Cor. vii,\n1. Over forty were converted beside the witnesses of perfect love.\n\nDeer Creek was the first circuit traveled by Henry B. Bascom when he was\na stripling.\n\nOn Tuesday the 16th we journeyed twenty-three miles to the edge of the\nprairies. We tarried at the \u201cNew Purchase\u201d with a hospitable family\nnamed Wood, who had emigrated from Pennsylvania.[18] The next morning\nat six o\u2019clock we were on our journey, and rode eighteen miles through\nthe prairies. The bishop and I must have been talking about the prairies,\nfor in our journals on that day we both make a similar record. He says:\n\u201cThe prairies have once been, I suppose, lakes of water; they furnish\ngrand and beautiful views still.\u201d I wrote: \u201cWe rode through the prairies,\nwhich, from their appearance, must have been covered with large lakes or\nponds; now they furnish extensive ranges for stock.\u201d\n\nOn Wednesday we passed through Xenia to Frederick Bonner\u2019s, at Little\nMiami. This was one of the great families of Methodism in the West, one\nof the bishop\u2019s excellent homes, and they looked for his annual visit as\nthey would for an angel\u2019s. Here we rested one day. Brother Bonner was an\nearly friend of Rev, Freeborn Garrettson, and knew him from the time he\nbegan to preach. He was a Methodist in Maryland before he emigrated to\nOhio. John Sale married a daughter of Frederick Bonner.\n\nThe bishop was satisfied that he crossed the Alleghany Mountains at\nthe wrong time of the year. He not only talked about it, but made this\nsingular record: \u201cI have more than once put the wrong foot foremost in\nmy journeys to the West: the spring will not do because of wet and deep\nand dismal roads; the summer\u2019s extreme heat, and the small green flies,\nmake disagreeable traveling. I make a decree, but not of the Medes and\nPersians, never in future to cross the mountains before the first of\nSeptember, nor leave Carlisle before the first of October.\u201d\n\nOn Friday we were the guests of Rev. John Sale, who at one time had\nalmost the whole state of Ohio for his district.\n\nOn Sunday the bishop preached at Xenia Court-house on Col. i, 28, \u201cWhom\nwe preach.\u201d There were about five hundred to hear him. I tried to clinch\nthe nail the bishop had been driving. We went to Peter Pelham\u2019s, another\nof the bishop\u2019s choice homes, where he delighted to rest his weary head.\nThis was a most respectable family. They had emigrated to Ohio from Old\nVirginia.\n\nThis night we were very unfortunate, for our horses were lost and in the\nmorning could not be found. Our appointments were out in advance, and the\npeople must not be disappointed, so we borrowed horses and on we went to\nSamuel Hitt\u2019s, (brother of Daniel,) and then to Widow Smith\u2019s, where the\nbishop preached. By the time he had finished his discourse our horses\nwere there. Brothers Sale and Pelham had gone in pursuit of them, found\nthem, and then brought them to us.\n\nOn the 26th we went to the house of Rev. Philip Gatch, one of the\nbishop\u2019s famous homes. A camp-meeting was held there, and the bishop was\ndelighted to greet many of his old friends whose society he greatly\nenjoyed. The meeting was attended by the mighty power of God, and over\nfifty were converted; but I was suffering so with inflammation in my\neyes that I did not attend till Sabbath. I spoke to the crowd in German.\nI must have looked comical enough, for I had a blister behind each ear,\nand a bandage around my head and over my eyes. Immediately after my\nexhortation the bishop preached to two thousand people. On Monday evening\nI preached in German at Brother Gatch\u2019s house. The family were very kind\nto me, and I parted invoking the blessing of God to rest upon them.\n\nThese noble families I have mentioned emigrated from Virginia and\nMaryland, which were slave states, to Ohio, a free state. They abominated\nslavery and slave soil, and they emancipated their slaves before they\nleft for Ohio. This I had from their own lips. All honor to their memory\nfor their noble deeds! At that day we preached against holding human\nbeings in bondage. I did it early on the Peninsula, as my journal will\nshow.\n\nOn Friday, September 2, we reached Cincinnati, and were the guests of\nBrother Lines. This is a family given to hospitality, and therefore\ndeserving of grateful remembrance. Cincinnati was first settled by\nemigrants from New England and New Jersey. At the time of our visit it\nwas a small village of less than two thousand inhabitants.\n\nThe first Methodist sermon in Cincinnati was preached in an upper room\nto twelve hearers, in 1804, by Rev. John Collins. The next who preached\nthere was John Sale, who organized a society of eight persons, just as\nmany as were in the ark. The first Methodist chapel was erected in 1806,\nand was built of stone. In this church the bishop and I both preached.\nHe gave an admirable sermon in the morning from 2 Cor. v, 14, \u201cFor the\nlove of Christ constraineth us,\u201d etc., and then called on me to preach\nimmediately after in the German language. I did so from John i, 11, 12,\n\u201cHe came unto his own and his own received him not.\u201d This is believed\nto be the first sermon preached in Cincinnati in the German language;\ncertainly it was the first Methodist sermon in that tongue. In the\nafternoon Brother Lakin preached from Luke xvi, 8; and I again in the\nevening, in English.\n\nI made this record in my journal: \u201cThe house was crowded both day and\nnight; there is a good prospect in this town for a revival of religion.\u201d\nThis record was made fifty-seven years ago. Was it prophetic? How strange\nit sounds now to speak of \u201cthe Queen City of the West\u201d as \u201cthis town.\u201d\nBishop Asbury advised the society to enlarge their house of worship, and\nto invite the Western Conference to hold its next session there. They did\nso, and the invitation was accepted.\n\nOn Tuesday we left Cincinnati, accompanied by Brother and Sister Lakin.\nWe put up in Lawrenceburgh, in the Indiana territory, with Elijah\nSparks. He had moved from Maryland, and was a brother of Robert Sparks.\nElijah was a local preacher and a lawyer. The Indiana territory was\nthen one vast wilderness. The bishop said: \u201cIn this wild there may be\ntwenty thousand souls already. I feel for them.\u201d How would his great soul\nrejoice if he could return to that territory and see a rich populous\nstate teeming with inhabitants and four flourishing annual conferences!\nIn what Mr. Asbury called \u201cthat wild\u201d there are now one million three\nhundred and fifty thousand inhabitants.\n\nIn traveling the Indiana territory the next day, in thirty-three miles we\npassed only six houses. This will give an idea of the sparseness of the\npopulation at that time. \u201cThe wilderness and the solitary place has been\nmade glad, and the desert has rejoiced and blossomed as the rose.\u201d\n\nWe crossed the Ohio at the mouth of the Licking River in what Mr. Asbury\nmost appropriately called a \u201ccrazy flat.\u201d With great difficulty we\nreached the other side. It was leaking, and like to have sunk with the\nbishop and all on board; but we were mercifully preserved.\n\n\nTHE WESTERN CONFERENCE.\n\nWe had but seven conferences at that time. The Western Conference\nincluded all the vast tract of country lying west of the Alleghanies as\nfar as it was settled with whites, with the exception of Monongahela\nDistrict, which belonged to Baltimore Conference. It was a field that was\nwidening and expanding every day.\n\nThe conference met on October 1 at Liberty Hill, Tenn., at Rev. Green\nHill\u2019s. He was a local preacher, had emigrated from North Carolina, where\nBishop Asbury had been well acquainted with him.\n\nA conference was held at his house in North Carolina as early as 1785,\nand Dr. Coke and Asbury were both there. Another conference was held\nthere in 1792, at which Bishop Asbury presided. He and his family\nemigrated to Tennessee when all was a wilderness, and they had to make\ntheir way through a cane-brake to the place where their house was\nlocated. Liberty Hill was twelve miles west of Nashville, and Nashville\nwas then but a very small village. This was the first conference I\nattended with Bishop Asbury as his aid, and all I saw and heard were full\nof interest.\n\nIt was the first conference William M\u2019Kendree attended as bishop. I saw\nhim when he filled the episcopal chair for the first time, and so I did\nBishop Whatcoat. M\u2019Kendree had left Baltimore at the close of the General\nConference and gone West by the most direct route. He was one of the\nfathers of the Western Conference, where his influence was unbounded. The\npreachers gave the new bishop as well as the old one a hearty welcome.\n\nThere was a camp-meeting connected with the conference, and the preachers\nate and slept in their tents. There were eighty ministers present,\nand there had been an increase of twenty-five hundred members during\nthe year. It was a most pleasant conference, and the discussions were\ninteresting.\n\nThere were noble men belonging to the conference: Learner Blackman,\nWilliam Burke, John Sale, Jacob Young, and James Ward. These were the\npresiding elders, and they were on districts that were large enough\nfor conferences. There were present also Jesse Walker, the pioneer of\nMissouri. He was a young man then, only six years in the ministry. Samuel\nParker, the Cicero of the West. He was a deacon. Peter Cartwright, young,\nstrong, courageous; but he had not graduated to elders\u2019 orders. Twelve\nwere admitted on trial, six ordained deacons, and ten elders, among whom\nwas the eccentric James Axley.\n\nThe names of the districts now appear strange: Ohio District, John Sale,\nPresiding Elder; Kentucky District, William Burke; Mississippi District,\nJacob Young.\n\nSome of the appointments also sound still more strangely to our ears:\nIllinois, John Clingan; Missouri, Jesse Walker. What a foundation they\nwere laying for the opening future! Noble, self-sacrificing men as earth\never saw or the Church was ever blessed with were these pioneers of the\nWest. With a single exception, I believe they are now passed away. \u201cOur\nfathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nFIRST VISIT TO THE SOUTH.\n\n\nThe next day after the Western Conference adjourned the two bishops and\nmyself started for the South Carolina Conference, which was to meet in\nLiberty Chapel, Green County, Georgia, on December 6, 1808.\n\nThere was a novelty and variety about my present large field of labor\nwhich made it peculiarly interesting. I had been to what was then the\nWest, (it would be difficult to tell where it is now,) and I was highly\ndelighted, and now I was on my way to the sunny South. And I had the\nwisest and best companions in the world. This was the first tour which\nM\u2019Kendree made with Bishop Asbury after his ordination to the episcopal\noffice. Everywhere the old and the new bishop were objects of interest,\nand their appearance hailed with joy.\n\nOn Monday we reached Dr. Henry Tooley\u2019s. This was a family of note, and\ntheir house one of the best of homes. Here we rested and refitted, and\nprepared to climb the mountains and to penetrate the wilderness, for all\nthis must be done before we could reach Georgia. On we went, preaching\nevery evening, till on Saturday we fell in with a camp-meeting at\nOhaver\u2019s.\n\nOn Sunday morning Brother Learner Blackman, Presiding Elder of Holston\nDistrict, preached at sunrise, I preached at ten o\u2019clock, and then Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree gave one of his overwhelming discourses, after which I preached\nagain in the German language. Bishop Asbury then preached with great\nliberty. We were at it five hours without intermission, during which time\nthe people heard four sermons in English and one in German, and yet we\nwere not through, for in the evening John Henninger preached, and Nathan\nBarnes exhorted. Thus ended this memorable day. It was a time of uncommon\npower, and many were converted. What would people think now of listening\nto six sermons in one day? How would they get along who can hardly endure\none?\n\nThe next morning the bishops preached again: Bishop Asbury first, and\nBishop M\u2019Kendree immediately after him. I have written, \u201cIt was a solemn,\nsearching time.\u201d\n\nTo benefit the Germans I took a little tour by myself, while the bishops\nwent forward. Bishop Asbury makes this entry in his journal: \u201cHenry Boehm\nhas gone to Pigeon River to preach to the Dutch.\u201d I preached six times,\nand then rode on to overtake the bishops. After riding twenty miles I\nlearned they were still far in the advance of me, and had gone on to\nBuncombe. On Thursday I hastened on to overtake them. I went over the\nlofty hills and mountains and solitary valleys along the banks of the\nFrench Broad. This is an astonishing river in its meanderings through\nbeautiful valleys and mountain gorges, with overhanging rocks. Here\nnature is seen in her beauty and grandeur, and I wonderfully admired that\nday the works of nature as one scene after another broke on my delighted\nvision.\n\nThat night I lodged at Barnett\u2019s Station.[19] This was a public house,\npartly over the mountain, where multitudes of travelers put up. We\ncarried our religion wherever we went, and always hoisted our colors.\nBishop Asbury taught us, both by precept and example, to be valiant for\nthe truth. So the travelers were called together, and I gave them an\nexhortation, and prayed with the family. All were civil, respectful, and\nattentive to what was said.\n\nOn Friday I rode to Buncombe, expecting to find the bishops there.\nBuncombe County is in the western part of North Carolina, joining\nTennessee. It was nine days before I overtook them. On Monday, November\n2, I found them at Samuel Edney\u2019s,[20] one of the bishop\u2019s choice homes.\nWe were overjoyed to see each other.\n\nIt was a tremendous task to descend from the lofty mountain. The ascent\nwas rough and fatiguing, but the descent still more difficult. On we\nwent, the bishop preaching every day and several times on the Sabbath\ntill we reached Waxhaw, South Carolina, famous for being the birthplace\nof Andrew Jackson. Here at this time Bishop Asbury ordained Robert\nHancock, who was a respectable local preacher. There were many private\nordinations of that kind in those days.\n\nWe arrived at Camden and put up with Samuel Matthis. On Sabbath morning\nBishop Asbury preached from Ephes. v, 8, on walking as children of the\nlight. At three I held forth from John i, 9, and in the evening Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree preached from \u201cworship God.\u201d Immediately after the first sermon\nBrother Jackson, who was the preacher, met the colored people, about\nthree hundred in number, to whom I preached from Luke ix, 62, on putting\nthe hand to the plow and looking back. The colored people are fond of\nfigures; such a text suited them. I told them if a man was plowing and he\nshould look back, he would make a very crooked furrow. A circle of smiles\npassed over their black faces when they heard this. A colored brother\nin a love-feast said, \u201cI have put my hand to the Gospel plow, and I am\ndetermined to plow my furrow clean up to glory.\u201d Another, in relating\nhis experience, said, \u201cBredren, I cannot exactly tell it, but when I was\nconverted two suns rose dat morning sartin.\u201d This was a beautiful figure.\nHe was converted just as the natural sun was rising, and that moment the\nSun of Righteousness arose with healing in its wings and shone into his\ndark soul, and he was all light in the Lord.\n\nThe next day we went to James Rembert\u2019s. Camp-meeting began here on\nWednesday, November 23. Bishop M\u2019Kendree opened the campaign by preaching\nat seven o\u2019clock from 1 Cor. xv, 48, \u201cTherefore, my beloved brethren,\nbe ye steadfast,\u201d etc. A mighty man was Bishop M\u2019Kendree on great\noccasions: they woke up the giant, and he put forth all his strength. In\nthe afternoon Bishop Asbury preached one of his massive sermons from \u201cGo\nthrough, go through the gates, prepare ye the way of the people,\u201d etc.\nThe next day there was preaching by James Jenkins, Morris Mathis, Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree, and myself. I wrote in my journal: \u201cThe Lord was in his word\nthrough the day and evening. A general shout in the camp this evening;\nsome powerfully converted.\u201d\n\nOn Friday there were five sermons, the preachers being Lovick Pierce,\nBishop Asbury, Henry Boehm, James Jenkins, and I again at night. There\nwere forty tents and cabins. It being very late in the season they had\nfireplaces in the tents, so the people kept very comfortable. The meeting\nwas held late in the year, not only because the people were in the spirit\nof camp-meetings, but also to have the presence of two bishops. There was\na cabin neatly fitted up with its chimney and fireplace for the bishops.\n\nIn regard to the result of this meeting Bishop Asbury says: \u201cThere was\na powerful work among white saints and sinners, and the poor oppressed,\nneglected Africans.\u201d And Bishop Capers says: \u201cThe camp-meeting was one\nof the best I have ever known.\u201d I had attended four camp-meetings in the\nWest, and this was the first in the South.\n\nIt was here I first saw the Southern preachers, and for the first time\nthat beautiful and amiable youth, William Capers. He, as my readers know,\nbecame one of the strong men of the South. At this time he had not been\nlicensed to preach; he had traveled as an exhorter, and at a quarterly\nconference held at this camp-meeting he was licensed to preach and also\nrecommended to the Annual Conference. Two of William Capers\u2019s brothers,\nJohn and Gabriel, were here converted, and his father was reconciled with\nBishop Asbury. Mr. Asbury used to preach at his father\u2019s house years\nbefore, but Mr. Hammett had prejudiced his mind against the bishop, and\nfor seventeen years he had been estranged from him. But I prefer that\nWilliam Capers tell his own story. \u201cAt this camp-meeting I first saw\nBishop Asbury. I was introduced to him immediately on his first coming\nto the camp-meeting, as I happened to be in the preachers\u2019 tent at the\ntime of his arrival. I approached him timidly, and with a feeling of\nveneration; but, \u2018Ah,\u2019 said he, \u2018this is the baby; come and let me hug\nyou,\u2019 meaning that I was the baby when he was last at my father\u2019s house.\nOn my father\u2019s entering the tent, he rose hastily from his seat and met\nhim with his arms extended, and they embraced each other with mutual\nemotion. It had been seventeen years since they had seen each other, and\nyet the bishop asked after Sally and Gabriel, as if it had been but a few\nmonths, and repeated, gleefully, \u2018I have got the baby!\u2019 It was evident no\ncommon friendship had subsisted between them; and how much happier had\nthose years of estrangement been to my honored father if they had been\npassed in the fellowship he had been seduced to leave.\u201d Mr. Capers well\nadds the following, worthy to be written in a conspicuous place: \u201cI hate\nschism; I abhor it as the very track and trail of him who, as a roaring\nlion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.\u201d[21]\n\nAll the preachers who were at that camp-meeting in 1808 have gone the way\nwhence they will not return, except Lovick Pierce and myself.\n\nJames Rembert, with whom we were staying, was a large man in body, and\nequally large in soul. He was very wealthy and very benevolent. He\nlived in a place called Rembert\u2019s Settlement; there was a church called\nRembert\u2019s Chapel, and James Rembert was the honored patriarch. Bishop\nAsbury had been here to Rembert\u2019s Hall several times before, and always\nhad a hearty welcome.\n\nOn Monday the 28th we left Rembert\u2019s Hall and started for Charleston.\nOn our arrival we were the guests of Dr. William Ph\u0153bus, who was the\nstationed preacher. In former years I preached at his brother John\u2019s, on\nthe eastern shore of Maryland. The doctor was a most eccentric genius.\nThere was dignity about him, and yet he was peculiarly odd. He was,\nhowever, quite a philosopher, and did noble service for Methodism.\n\nWe remained in Charleston for several days, and both bishops preached\nalmost daily. I also preached there several times. Never was I more\ndelighted than with my visit to Charleston and the Charleston Methodists.\nThere was a zeal and warmth among them I much admired. They not only\nlived in a warm climate, but had warm hearts. I wrote thus in my journal:\n\u201cThe Lord has a kind and loving people in this city. The prospects of\nZion are very promising in this place.\u201d Wonders has God done for the\nMethodists in Charleston since I made this record. But alas, what a\nchange has come over the city! How has the fine gold become dim! It was\na sad day for them when secession was born, and they fired upon Fort\nSumter and the old time-honored flag.\n\nWe were several days in reaching the seat of the South Carolina\nConference, and crossed several rivers on the way. On Wednesday the\n15th Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached a very ingenious sermon on 1 Peter i,\n13, \u201cWherefore gird up the loins of your mind,\u201d etc. He was perfectly\noriginal in his mode of illustration. He said the loins were the weakest\npart of the body, and therefore the necessity of strengthening them.\nWe were to gird the weak places. He applied to diligent attention,\nwatchfulness, etc. It was a striking discourse, impressive both in matter\nand manner.\n\nOn Saturday we reached Augusta in Georgia. This day we dined in the\nwoods. It was nothing new; and the bishops were just as grateful over\ntheir dry morsel, and would ask a blessing as fervently over it as over\nsome of the sumptuous dinners of the wealthy.\n\nBishop Asbury preached in Augusta in the morning, M\u2019Kendree in the\nafternoon, and I in the evening. Mr. Asbury makes this mournful record:\n\u201cSunday, 18, my flesh sinks under labor. We are riding in a poor\nthirty-dollar chaise, in partnership; two bishops of us, but it must be\nconfessed it tallies well with the weight of our purse: what bishops!\nWell, but we have great views, and we have great times, and the Western,\nSouthern, and Virginia Conferences will have one thousand souls truly\nconverted to God; and is this not an equivalent for a light purse? And\nare we not well paid for starving and for toil? Yes. Glory to God!\u201d This\nrecord is characteristic of the sainted Asbury. The bishops rode in a\ncarriage, and I on horseback, a kind of body-guard.\n\nOn Saturday the 24th we reached Liberty Chapel, near Milledgeville, the\nseat of the conference. It was held in the house where the bishops were\nentertained, commencing on Monday, December 26, 1808. The day before\nbeing Christmas, Bishop Asbury preached a sermon from John iii, 17, on\nthe design of God in sending his Son into the world.\n\nAt the opening of the conference Bishop Asbury, in a very appropriate\nmanner, introduced the new bishop to them. The preachers received him\njoyfully. Every member, one after another, went forward and gave the\nbishop his right hand, and bade him welcome. The scene was beautiful, and\nto Bishop M\u2019Kendree it was as refreshing as the dews of heaven. Sixteen\nwere received on trial, among others the excellent and eloquent William\nCapers. They are all dead. Nine deacons were ordained and six elders.\nThere were nearly seventy preachers, and the sweetest spirit prevailed.\n\nIn connection with the conference they held a camp-meeting. I had never\nthought of attending a camp-meeting between Christmas and New Year\u2019s.\nI wrote thus: \u201cMy heart feels united to my southern brethren in the\nbonds of a peaceful Gospel.\u201d Peace and harmony continued throughout the\nprogress of the conference; preaching, praying, exhortation, shouting,\ncrying, rejoicing. There were about forty or fifty converted. There were\nquite a number of tents and fifteen cabins, and about a thousand people\nattended every day.\n\nOn the last day of the year a love-feast was held, and it was a precious\ntime both with preachers and people. Bishop Asbury preached at noon from\n1 Peter i, 10-12, \u201cOf which salvation the prophets have inquired,\u201d etc.\nIt was a masterly sermon, delivered to three thousand people. We had the\nsacrament in the evening. There was over three thousand increase in the\nSouth Carolina Conference during the year. It was a glorious year for the\nSouth.\n\nThere was a noble class of men in this conference who helped lay the\nfoundation for the future prosperity of Methodism in the South, James\nJenkins, Hilliard Judge, Lewis Myers, Daniel Asbury, and many others that\nwe might name.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nNORTHERN TOUR\u2014VIRGINIA AND BALTIMORE CONFERENCES.\n\n\nOn Monday, January 2, 1809, we left for the Virginia Conference.\nIn crossing Cashaway Ferry we just escaped drowning. It was most\nprovidential. We were oft in perils on the land and on the water. Part\nof our journey was on a muddy road, through a forlorn-looking tract of\nmarshy country. No wonder Bishop Asbury said in reference to it, \u201cMy\nlimbs, my patience, and my faith have been put to a severe trial.\u201d\n\nFayetteville was one hundred and thirty miles from Camden, the route we\ntook. \u201cWe had a cold, fatiguing ride, especially for Father Asbury, who\ncertainly is astonishingly supported under almost incredible toil for a\nman upward of sixty-three, amid perpetual exertion of body and mind and\nconstant affliction.\u201d So I wrote fifty-five years ago, when I witnessed\nhim in labors more abundant, and his martyr sufferings which he bore with\na martyr spirit.\n\nThe Virginia Conference for 1809 met in Tarborough on February 1. This\nwas my introduction to the Virginia Methodist preachers, and a fine body\nof men they were; and it was Bishop M\u2019Kendree\u2019s first visit to them as\nsuperintendent. Virginia was dear to him as his native state and his\nspiritual birthplace, and the scenes of his early itinerant labors. There\nwere eighty-four preachers present, and only three of them married. It\nwas properly called the \u201cBachelor\u201d Conference. We also had bachelor\nbishops. Bishop Asbury was delighted with the appearance of the men. He\nsaid, \u201cMany of them are the most elegant young men I have ever seen in\nfeatures, body, and mind; they are manly, and yet meek.\u201d\n\nI had an opportunity of hearing their great preachers, and seeing how\nthey transacted business. Indeed, I was honored with preaching the first\nsermon at eleven o\u2019clock the day the conference commenced. My text was\nProv. xviii, 10. I felt as if I was talking before giants. Hilliard\nJudge, a visitor from South Carolina Conference, preached from Job xxi,\n15, \u201cWhat is the Almighty,\u201d etc. Jesse Lee followed with a powerful\nexhortation. The work of God revived, and souls were converted.\n\nOn Friday afternoon at three o\u2019clock we enjoyed a rich treat. Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree preached an ordination sermon from 2 Tim. ii, 15, \u201cStudy to\nshow thyself approved unto God,\u201d etc. It was attended with great unction.\nThirteen deacons were ordained, among them John Early, now one of the\nbishops of the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church.\n\nJesse Lee preached on Sunday in the court-house one of his ingenious\nsermons from Deut. xxix, 29, \u201cThe secret things belong unto the Lord our\nGod,\u201d etc. He said if the Lord has been so kind as to intrust his secrets\nto any, those who revealed them treated the Lord unkindly. He left the\n\u201csecret things\u201d with God, where they belonged. Then he dwelt largely and\nforcibly upon \u201crevealed\u201d things: the subject of redemption as revealed to\nus by the prophets of the Old Testament and the evangelists and apostles\nof the new, and showed they belong to us with all their benefits, and are\nnot confined to us, but extend to our children. There was a melting time\nunder this sermon. In the afternoon Jesse Lee preached again from Heb.\nvii, 12, \u201cFor the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity\na change of the law.\u201d He gave us some fine thoughts on the necessity of\nthe change of priesthood, and the necessity there was of a change in\nthe ceremonial law, and the advantages of such a change. He was plain,\npractical, and powerful. There was a great stir among the people, and\na number sought and found the Lord. In the evening Thomas L. Douglass\npreached a great sermon on the value of the human soul and the danger of\nits loss. He was one of the great men of Methodism, and at that time one\nof the pillars of the Virginia Conference.\n\nOn Monday I preached again from Matt. xi, 28, 29. On Tuesday I heard\nPhilip Bruce from Matt. v, 8, \u201cBlessed are the pure in heart, for they\nshall see God.\u201d A sweet sermon on Christian purity. He was a charming man\nas well as a charming preacher. He went through Virginia and Carolina\nlike a flame of fire and of love.\n\nWe had a cold uncomfortable ride from Tarboro\u2019 to Harrisonburg, Va.,\nthe seat of the Baltimore Conference. We reached Norfolk on Saturday.\nMethodism was early introduced into this place by Robert Williams; indeed\nhe was the Apostle of Methodism in Virginia. He arrived in this country\nbefore Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor. Mr. Pilmoor also did early\nservice in this place to the cause of truth.\n\nOn Tuesday we reached Petersburgh and stayed with Edward Lee, a brother\nof Jesse Lee, and father of Rev. Leroy M. Lee of the Virginia Conference.\n\nWe also stayed one night with a man by the name of Bradly, who had just\nbeen converted. There was something very singular about his conversion.\nHe was home alone one Sabbath reading his prayer-book, when as sudden as\nlightning he was awakened, dropped his prayer-book, and fell on his knees\nand prayed without a book for the Lord to have mercy on his soul. Heaven\nheard his prayer and forgave him. He had a number of race-horses when\nconverted. These he parted with at once, for old things had passed away\nand all things become new.\n\nOn Saturday we reached Richmond and stayed over the Sabbath, preaching\nthere and at Manchester. We were glad to see our early friend, Archibald\nFoster, who had been a traveling preacher for several years. He was\noriginally from Ireland. He married the daughter of old Mr. Hynson,\nthe founder of Hynson\u2019s Chapel, in Kent County, Maryland. I formed his\nacquaintance in 1802. His family was given to hospitality.\n\nMethodism had to struggle hard for an existence in Richmond. It was long\nan up-hill business. The first society was formed in 1793. They early\npreached in the court-house, but were turned out on account of their\nnoise. Then a noble woman by the name of Parrott fitted up a large room\nfor preaching in her barn or stable. Here Asbury and M\u2019Kendrick preached\nat an early day.\n\nThomas Lyell was stationed here in 1799, and he was unboundedly popular,\nand succeeded in building a church. This is the house in which Mr. Asbury\npreached his last sermon.\n\nStith Mead was stationed at Richmond. He was one of the purest and most\nzealous men in our connection; a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost. He\npreached to the prisoners in the Penitentiary, and the word of God was\nquick and powerful; and there was a great revival, and he formed classes\nof the converted prisoners. They used to pray in their rooms and sing,\nand make the old walls ring with their shouts of praise. I went with\nhim to the prison and we held divine service there. I was well pleased\nwith the devotional appearance of the prisoners. One young man, after he\nprofessed religion, was pardoned by the Governor. Much good Mr. Mead did\namong the poor friendless prisoners; and no doubt Jesus will say to him,\n\u201cI was sick and in prison, and ye visited me.\u201d\n\nWe left Richmond and pursued our journey, having the company of Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree. On Tuesday we had a peculiar day: 1st. We rode forty-five\nmiles without food for ourselves or our horses\u2014both man and beast fasted.\n2d. Twice on that day we got lost in the woods, and wandered round and\nround to find our way out. Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached in the evening. On\nFriday we passed within sight of Monticello, the famous seat of Thomas\nJefferson. It occupied a lofty eminence, from which there was a most\nextensive prospect.\n\nWe crossed the Blue Ridge to Harrisonburgh. The roads were in a sad\ncondition, and the snow was deep in crossing the mountain. I ruined a\nvaluable horse on this route, and parted with him for a trifle when I\nreached Philadelphia. This county was early settled by Germans. It was\nthis region my father visited in 1761, where he obtained new light, which\nhe scattered with holy zeal. I traveled here with him in 1800.\n\nThe Baltimore Conference commenced its session on Thursday, March 2.\nBesides the business of the conference, which was done in great harmony,\nthere was preaching three times a day; I preached in German. There were\nten young men received on probation; among them was Beverly Waugh,\na handsome young man, afterward book-agent and bishop; Joseph Frye,\nbrother of Christopher;[22] and Simon Lauck, one of my father\u2019s spiritual\nsons; he was awakened in 1800 under a sermon my father preached in the\nMethodist church in Winchester.\n\nWe hastened on through Winchester and Harper\u2019s Ferry to Baltimore.\nThis was always a favorite place with the bishop; it was the scene of\nhis early labors, and the people were always kind to him. On Sunday he\npreached morning and evening in Light-street. The next day we attended a\ncamp-meeting near Perry Hall. Bishop Asbury not being very well, preached\nin the camp-meeting chapel on \u201cWork out your own salvation with fear and\ntrembling,\u201d etc. He was deeply affected as he passed the grave of his\nlate friend, Harry Gough, and said, \u201chis image came up before him.\u201d\n\nOnward we went to Delaware. March 27 found us at Barratt\u2019s Chapel. Father\nAsbury always thought much of the children of the earliest Methodists.\nWe see it in regard to the children of Thomas White and Philip Barratt,\nthe founder of Barratt\u2019s Chapel. At this time he said, \u201cI have powerful\nfeelings of sympathy for the children and the grand-children of that\nholy man in life and death, Philip Barratt.\u201d He then had the pleasure of\nbaptizing some of his descendants. He was much rejoiced also to meet here\nhis dear friends, Governor Bassett and his excellent wife, who went forty\nmiles to see him. How strong the friendship that subsisted between them!\n\nWe had a cold uncomfortable ride for many days, and no wonder the old man\nof God wrote in such a melancholy strain: \u201cI have suffered incredibly\nby the cold in the last one hundred and thirty miles: souls and their\nSaviour can reward me, and nothing else! Lord, remember Francis Asbury in\nall his labors and afflictions.\u201d\n\nFriday was a joyful day to me, and not to me only, but to others, as\nwill be seen by the following record made by Asbury: \u201cI preached at\nKeagy\u2019s. Brother M\u2019Kendree and Father Boehm met me once more, and we\ngreatly rejoiced in God together.\u201d Abraham Keagy had married my only\nsister, Barbara. Bishop Asbury and my father never met without a thrill\nof delight. I had not seen my loved father for ten months, a longer time\nthan I had ever been absent from him before, and he embraced me in his\narms.\n\nThe third of April, 1809, the Philadelphia Conference met in St.\nGeorge\u2019s, Philadelphia. Bishops M\u2019Kendree and Asbury were both present.\nIt was a privilege to see my brethren, \u201ctrue yoke-fellows,\u201d after the\nabsence of a year. There were eighty-four preachers present. Fourteen\nwere received on trial, some of whom have since filled prominent stations\nin the Church, among whom were Stephen Martindale and Loring Grant.\nFourteen were ordained deacons, one of whom was Peter P. Sandford. My\nearly friend, Thomas Burch, was ordained elder, and also George Lane,\nlong our book agent, a man of uncommon purity, and seven others.\n\nIt may be asked to whom I was amenable when I traveled with Bishop\nAsbury. I answer, To the Philadelphia Conference. It may be asked who\nrepresented me, as I had no presiding elder. I answer, Bishop Asbury.\nWhen the question was asked, \u201cIs there anything against Henry Boehm?\u201d the\nbishop was the only person who could answer it, for he was the only one\nwho knew how I spent the year, and he would answer, with great gravity,\n\u201cNothing against Brother Boehm.\u201d It may be asked how I was supported\nwhile I traveled with the bishop. I answer, I received it from the\ndifferent conferences, just as the bishops did theirs. My salary was one\nhundred dollars.\n\nAt the adjournment of the conference Bishop M\u2019Kendree went direct to\nElizabethtown. Bishop Asbury and myself made a tour of twenty days\nthrough the lower and eastern part of New Jersey. He was everywhere\nhailed as an apostle. He had not been over this route in twenty-five\nyears.\n\nWe started to go to Brother Blackman\u2019s, father of Learner Blackman.\nWe were to have been there at three o\u2019clock. Charles Reed was to have\npiloted us, but he did not come. We got lost in the pines, and we went\nround and round without making much progress. We arrived there two\nhours after the time, and found Charles Reed preaching. He ceased on\nour arrival, and the bishop commenced; but our long, tedious ride had\nperfectly unfitted him for preaching, and after saying a few words he\nsuddenly stopped, and called out, \u201cHenry, you must preach, for I cannot.\u201d\nQuick as thought these words came in my mind, \u201cAnd all thy children shall\nbe taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.\u201d\nI had extraordinary liberty, and all got happy, and among the rest the\nbishop, who then rose and gave a discourse of great power.\n\nHere was the natural and spiritual birthplace of that distinguished\nminister of the Western Conference, Learner Blackman. The bishop made\nthis record: \u201cLearner Blackman has been raised up from small appearances\npossibly to very great consequences.\u201d There can be no doubt of this if he\nhad not been drowned in the Ohio River.\n\nSpace would fail to tell of Absecom, Tuckerton, Waretown, Polhemus\u2019s\nChapel, Squam River, and Shark River, where also the bishop preached. At\nthe last place, as the men were fishing, and his congregation composed\nof women, he preached on Martha and Mary, Luke x, 41, 42, and adds,\n\u201cAh, how many Marthas are there, and how few Marys!\u201d I might inquire,\nWhat kind of a world would we have if all the women were Marys? Has not\ninjustice often been done to Martha? Do we not need a union of both\nMartha\u2019s zeal and Mary\u2019s love?\n\nSunday, April 30, we spent at Long Branch. Mr. Asbury preached, from\nActs iii, 26, a sermon of great strength. This has become a famous\nwatering-place. Hundreds resort here from Philadelphia and New York to\nspend the summer. Here the broad Atlantic Ocean is seen in her glory.\nMethodism has greatly prospered here.\n\nWe then went to Staten Island and put up with Rev. Joseph Totten. He\nwas presiding elder of Jersey District, which included the whole of\nNew Jersey and Staten Island. Methodism was early introduced on this\nbeautiful island by Francis Asbury. It was always a favorite place with\nhim. He preached here before he did in the city of New York. As he was\non his way from Burlington to New York he came across a gentleman by the\nname of P. Vanpelt, who had heard him preach in Philadelphia, and he\ninvited Mr. Asbury to go with him to Staten Island.\n\nOn Saturday, May 6, we went to Elizabethtown. In crossing the Narrows\nwe saw for the first time a vessel moving without sails, and to us it\nwas a great curiosity, neither Bishop Asbury nor myself ever having\nseen a steamboat before. We gazed upon it with wonderful interest, as\nthe following extracts from our journals will show. The bishop wrote,\n\u201cMy attention was strongly excited by the steamboat. This is, indeed,\na great invention.\u201d My record reads thus: \u201cAt Elizabeth Point we saw a\npacket which goes by steam, a wheel on each side like a flutter wheel.\nThe vessel is about eighty feet long, and travels one mile against wind\nand tide in about eighteen minutes.\u201d All this must sound strange to the\nreader who is familiar with steamboats, floating palaces, and steamships\nthat plow the ocean, and bring continents into one neighborhood.\n\nAt Elizabethtown we stopped with Rev. Thomas Morrell, who lived there in\na fine mansion. The bishop and Mr. Morrell were very intimate. They loved\neach other as brothers, and often corresponded. He considered Mr. Morrell\nwise in counsel. Mr. Morrell had been an officer under Washington during\nthe Revolutionary War, and had been wounded in battle. He was also a bold\nsoldier of the cross, and filled some very important appointments. He was\nthen in deep mourning, having lost his excellent wife, the mother of the\namiable and beloved Francis Asbury Morrell of the New Jersey Conference.\n\nMethodism was introduced here as early as 1785 by John Haggarty. Here\nRev. George G. Cookman made his earliest efforts in this country. Joseph\nHoldich in the early part of his ministry preached here, and here he\nfound his excellent wife.\n\nIn the old Episcopal church Samuel Spaggs was rector. He preached in\nJohn-street Church, New York, during the whole of the Revolutionary War,\nbeing then a minister in our Church. He died here, and had a tablet in\nthe old church.\n\nAt Elizabethtown we met Bishop M\u2019Kendree. He preached in the morning,\nand Bishop Asbury in the evening. Bishop M\u2019Kendree and I went to Newark,\nwhere he preached from Prov. i, 23, \u201cTurn you at my reproof,\u201d etc.\nHere we saw the Rev. John Dow, and at his request I accompanied him\nto Belleville, four miles from Newark, a pretty little village on the\nPassaic, where I preached in the evening from 1 John i, 9.\n\nMethodism was introduced in Belleville much earlier than in Newark, and a\nstone church built. John Dow was a local elder, a man of fine talent and\nsterling integrity. He was several times a member of the Legislature. The\nRev. Isaac N. Felch of the New Jersey Conference married his daughter.\n\nHere the eloquent Nicholas Snethen used to tend a mill; here he was\nconverted, and commenced his first public exercises. Here Peter P.\nSandford was converted and went out into the itinerant work. This is\nenough to give this place a Methodistic celebrity.\n\nIn Newark we stopped at Richard Leycraft\u2019s. This was for some time the\nonly home for Methodist itinerants in Newark. There was a very small\nclass here, only three years old, and a little edifice was erected in\nHalsey-street. This is a mother of a numerous and thriving family. What\na contrast between 1809 and the present, when we have ten churches in\nNewark, some of them the most beautiful in the country, among which are\nCentral and Broad-street Churches. I little thought then that we should\never have a Newark Conference, and that I should be a member of it. The\nMethodists in Newark are among the most liberal and enterprising in\nAmerica. Newark is a place of uncommon beauty, with splendid parks and\nlofty elms, and Broad-street is one of the finest in America.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nFIRST VISIT TO NEW YORK CITY\u2014NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND CONFERENCES.\n\n\nOn Monday, May 7, 1809, we left Newark for New York. Crossing the\nbeautiful Passaic river, and then the Hackensack, we passed a singular\nelevation called Snake Hill, and then through Bergen, an old Dutch town\nalmost as old as New York. From Bergen Hill we had a magnificent view\nof the beautiful bay of New York and of the city. For the first time I\nbeheld the noble Hudson. At Powles Hook we crossed the river. There was\nno Jersey City then. The spot where that city now is appeared to be a\nkind of island of sand. There were scarcely any houses. Jersey City was\nnot incorporated till 1820; now it has thirty thousand inhabitants, and\nwe have four beautiful Methodist churches there.\n\nOur place of entertainment in New York was John Mills\u2019s, near the\ncorner of Fulton-street and Broadway. He was an excellent man, an elder\nin the \u201cBrick\u201d Presbyterian church, (Dr. Spring\u2019s.) His wife was a\ncharming woman, and belonged to the John-street Methodist church. They\nwere wealthy, and left much property to their descendants. They both\npossessed catholic spirits, and theirs was a home for all Christian\nministers.\n\nIn the evening I went for the first time to the old church in\nJohn-street, built by Philip Embury, called \u201cWesley Chapel,\u201d the first\nin the world named after Mr. Wesley. What thoughts crowded my mind as I\nentered this cradle of Methodism! What rich and hallowed associations\ncluster around this original home of Methodism on this continent! I\nheard a sermon from James i, 27, on pure religion. The next evening, in\nthe Bowery Church, I heard Samuel Cochrane preach from Rom. v, 1, on\njustification by faith. He had a powerful voice and was not afraid to use\nit.\n\nOn Tuesday morning at four o\u2019clock we were alarmed with the cry of \u201cFire,\nfire, fire!\u201d It was no false alarm; about thirty houses were burned. It\nwas truly affecting to see parents and children and the aged and helpless\nturned out into the street, not knowing where to go. It was the first\nlarge fire I had ever witnessed.\n\n_May 10._ The New York Conference commenced its session in John-street.\nThis was the first time I ever beheld the men that composed this\nconference. This was Bishop M\u2019Kendree\u2019s first visit as superintendent,\nand most heartily they welcomed him. There was great love and unanimity\namong the brethren. On Friday Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached an ordination\nsermon that was much admired. His text was 2 Cor. v, 20, \u201cNow then we\nare embassadors for Christ,\u201d etc. After the sermon Bishop Asbury ordained\ntwelve deacons, among whom were William Swayze, a most blessed man, who\ndid noble execution afterward in Ohio; Lewis Pease, distinguished for his\nzeal and eloquence; and Phineas Rice. When the case of the latter came up\nthe conference voted that he was \u201ctoo funny,\u201d and passed the resolution\nthat Bishop M\u2019Kendree should reprove him. The bishop did so. Years after\nMr. Rice said, that as he had never been to conference before he supposed\nthat this was the regular process that all young ministers went through,\nand therefore did not feel at all unpleasant.\n\nAt that time our conferences were held with closed doors, and local\npreachers and probationers were not permitted to be present until they\nwere received into full membership.\n\nFive were ordained elders; ten were received on trial, among others the\nexcellent Coles Carpenter, Robert Hibbard, who was drowned in the St.\nLawrence, Isaac Puffer, who was known as the traveling concordance,\nand the amiable Marvin Richardson. He is the only survivor, enjoying\na green old age, as straight as he was fifty years ago. He resides at\nPoughkeepsie, greatly esteemed.\n\nOn Sabbath there was a great love-feast in the Hudson Church, now Duane.\nThere were fourteen hundred guests at the feast. I wrote in my journal:\n\u201cIt was a blessed time; O my soul, never forget the gracious visitation\nthis morning! Many cups were made to run over in loud acclamations to God\nand the Lamb.\u201d Bishop Asbury preached in the morning, in John-street,\nfrom Mark x, 23, and in Hudson Church in the afternoon, from Rev. ii, 10.\n\nOn Monday evening, by special request, I preached in German, in the\nEnglish Lutheran Church, from Luke xix, 10, \u201cFor the Son of man is come\nto seek and to save that which is lost.\u201d Great attention and great\nsolemnity. Twice more I preached during the week in the Bowery Church,\n(now Forsyth-street,) and in the English Lutheran school-house.\n\nHere I saw for the first time the excellent but eccentric Billy Hibbard.\nWhen the roll was called the secretary read the name \u201cWilliam Hibbard.\u201d\nThere was no response, and Bishop M\u2019Kendree said, \u201cBrother Hibbard, why\ndon\u2019t you answer to your name and not keep the conference waiting?\u201d \u201cI\nwill,\u201d said Mr. Hibbard, \u201cwhen he calls my name.\u201d \u201cIs not your name\nWilliam?\u201d \u201cNo, sir.\u201d \u201cWhat is it?\u201d said the bishop. \u201cBilly,\u201d was the\nanswer. \u201cBilly!\u201d said the bishop, with great emphasis; \u201cthat is a little\nboy\u2019s name.\u201d \u201cI know it,\u201d said Mr. Hibbard; \u201cI was a very little boy when\nmy father gave it me.\u201d Then the conference was convulsed with laughter.\n\nWhen his character was examined it was objected that he was practicing\nmedicine. Bishop M\u2019Kendree inquired, \u201cBrother Hibbard, are you a\nphysician?\u201d \u201cI am not,\u201d he replied; \u201cI simply give advice in critical\ncases.\u201d \u201cWhat do you mean by that?\u201d asked the bishop. \u201cIn critical\ncases,\u201d said Mr. Hibbard, \u201cI always advise them to send for a physician.\u201d\n\nThere were one hundred and twenty preachers belonging to this conference.\nIt began in peace and fellowship, which seemed to increase toward the\nclose, and then a gracious shower of blessings descended on the preachers.\n\nThe trustees of the Methodist Church in New York were ever kind to\nBishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree, and they took good care of their horses.\nAs a part of the history of the times, and as a curiosity, and to show\nthe generosity of the trustees, I transcribe an old bill that has been\ncarefully preserved in good order fifty-five years:\n\n  1809. BISHOP ASBURY,\n                    TO PETER ALEXANDER ALLAIRE, Dr.\n\n  20th May. To keeping 3 horses from 8th of May, on hay, at 4s    \u00a37  4 0\n\n            To 9 quarts oats per horse, per day for each horse,\n              say 27 quarts per day, 324 quarts, at 4d             5  8 0\n\n            To keeping 1 horse from 8th of May, on hay, at 4s      2  8 0\n\n            To 78 quarts of oats, at 4d                            1  6 0\n\n            To bleeding bishop\u2019s horse, phisick, fetching, etc.    0 16 0\n                                                                 --------\n                                                                 \u00a317  2 0\n                                                                 --------\n                                                                   $42 75\n\n  Received payment from MR. ABRAHAM RUSSEL,\n                              PETER ALEX\u2019R ALLAIRE.\n\nAbraham Russel was a noble man; he was indeed a pillar in the Methodist\ntemple. The three horses, one was Bishop Asbury\u2019s, the other Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree\u2019s, the other mine. The bill was made out to Bishop Asbury.\nAt another time Bishop M\u2019Kendree paid for his horse-keeping. When the\ntrustees heard of it they sent him an apology and refunded the money.\n\nOn Saturday we went to Tuckahoe, and were kindly entertained at one of\nthe bishop\u2019s choicest homes, Bishop Sherwood\u2019s. Pages might be written\nconcerning this most excellent family. Nowhere did the bishop find warmer\nhearts or meet with a kinder reception than in the Sherwood cottage. On\nSabbath the bishop preached in the morning at Sherwood\u2019s Chapel. This old\nchapel still remains in all its glory, and has been a little improved.\n\nThe site was given by the Sherwoods; the ground was staked out by Bishop\nAsbury, and the plan of the church given by him. It is in a valley at\nthe foot of a hill, and surrounded by beautiful locust trees. There is a\nburying-ground connected with it, where the early Methodists sleep.\n\nIn the afternoon we went to New Rochelle, and were the guests of Peter\nBonnets, one of the oldest Methodists in that place. He was a descendant\nof the Huguenots, formerly an Episcopalian, and one of the first trustees\nof the Methodist Church in that place, which was organized in 1791.\n\nCrossing the Byram River, which is the dividing line between New York\nand Connecticut, I found myself in the land of steady habits. We reached\nNorwalk, a place famous in the history of our country. It was burned in\n1779 by Governor Tryon. It has an important position in the history of\nMethodism, for here in 1789 Jesse Lee first planted the tree of Methodism\nin New England, and now one hundred thousand Methodists in the New\nEngland states sit under its shade and partake of its fruit with delight.\nHere resided Absalom Day. He was a potter. He lived at what was called\nthe \u201cOld Well.\u201d In this (Fairfield) county the first class was formed in\nNew England, and the first Methodist house of worship built, and called\n\u201cLee\u2019s Chapel,\u201d in honor of Jesse Lee.\n\nThe bishop preached that evening at Brother Day\u2019s, from Rom. xvi, 24, the\napostolic benediction, \u201cThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you\nall. Amen.\u201d The Methodists had no house of worship then in Norwalk. Many\nstrong Methodist ministers were born in this county: Nathan Bangs, D.D.,\nHeman Bangs, William Thacher, and many others.\n\nWe passed on through Fairfield and Bridgeport to Stratford, where we\nstayed at Thaddeus Peck\u2019s, one of the bishop\u2019s old homes, then through\nMilford, one of the oldest towns in the state, to New Haven, the City\nof Elms, no doubt the most beautiful city in America; and here is Yale\nCollege, one of the oldest in the land. We were entertained here at\nPember Jocelin\u2019s.\n\nWe journeyed on through beautiful towns to Saybrook, on the Connecticut.\nThis received its name from Lords Say and Brook, who procured a large\npatent of land, of which this was a part. Here the famous \u201cconfession of\nfaith\u201d was drawn up in 1708 known as the \u201cSaybrook Platform.\u201d There was\nmuch all along this route that was enchanting: riding most of the time\nin view of Long Island Sound, then crossing the rivers and beholding the\nharbors, then through neat and beautiful villages. It was the last of\nMay, and the peach and other trees were in blossom. Everything looked\nbeautiful: flowers blooming, birds singing, nature having put on her\nloveliest robes, and the air perfumed as if with sweet incense.\n\nThe bishop rode in a carriage and I on horseback. The weather or\nsomething else had such an effect upon the bishop\u2019s horse that day that\ntwice he started to run away, and it was as much as he could do to hold\nhim, so he took Henry\u2019s horse and rode on his back, and Henry rode in the\nchaise, and had no difficulty in managing the bishop\u2019s horse.\n\nIn the evening we reached New London, and put up with Mr. Douglass.\nThe bishop preached at night to two hundred hearers from 1 John ii,\n5; I preached next morning, at the early hour of five, to one hundred\nhearers, from Matt. v, 6; then we crossed the Thames in a flat-bottomed\nsail-boat. The wind being fair we were soon over. Journeying on, we\nentered Rhode Island, and crossed the beautiful Narraganset Bay to\nNewport. Here we were the guests of Samuel Merwin, the stationed\nminister. He was a noble man, then young and in his glory. He was all\ncourtesy and attention; a Christian gentleman. The bishop preached at\nNewport on Sabbath morning and afternoon, and I in the evening.\n\nOn Monday we visited Fort Wolcott. Here the bishop preached to the\nsoldiers from Isaiah lv, 6, 7. Then we went to the school and the\nhospital, talking and praying with the soldiers who were sick. I\naddressed a number of German soldiers by themselves, then I gave them the\nMethodist German tracts, a pamphlet on \u201cThe Character of a Methodist,\u201d\nand the tract on \u201cAwake Thou that Sleepest,\u201d etc. Among them was a young\nman named Shellenbuerger, a native of Switzerland, who had been taken\nfrom his friends at eleven years of age by Napoleon Bonaparte, and then\nby the British; afterward he came to America, where he enlisted. He was\nvery serious, and thankfully received the tracts.\n\nCaptain Beal had charge of the fort. He was a fine man, a Christian\ngentleman, a Methodist. The bishop greatly admired the order and\ndiscipline at the fort; indeed, he was an admirer of discipline\neverywhere, in the family and in the Church.\n\nOn we rode through various towns and villages, preaching Jesus, till\nSaturday, when we reached Boston, and were there entertained by Widow\nLewis. We had but two chapels then in Boston, the \u201cOld\u201d and the \u201cNew.\u201d\nThe bishop preached in both, and so did I. Elijah R. Sabin and Philip\nMunger were the stationed preachers in Boston, both good men and true.\n\nThe next day we went to Waltham, and were entertained by Abram Bemis.\nHe possessed much of the spirit of Abram of old, who was given to\nhospitality, and who entertained strangers and sometimes angels. George\nPickering married into this family. There were four generations living in\nthat house: the great-grandfather, Abram Bemis, was in his ninety-second\nyear; and the oldest grandson, Asbury Pickering, was about twelve. This\nwas one of the leading families of Methodism in New England. The bishop\npreached here from 2 Peter iii, 14.\n\nThe next day found us at Lynn, the cradle of Methodism in Massachusetts.\nThe first Methodist chapel was built here; the first New England\nConference was held here; and Enoch Mudge, the first native preacher in\nNew England, was born here. We put up with Benjamin Johnson. The bishop\npreached on Thursday from Hab. ii, 3; and I the next morning at five\no\u2019clock from Psalm xxxiv, 8, \u201cO taste and see,\u201d etc. I have had the honor\nof preaching in the oldest house of worship in Massachusetts, as well as\nthe oldest on the Peninsula, and the oldest in America.\n\nWe passed through many important places: Marblehead, Salem, Newburyport,\netc., to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This was my first introduction to the\nold Granite State. We put up at Friend Hutchins\u2019s, and stayed over the\nSabbath, the bishop preaching twice and I once.\n\nOn Monday we started for Monmouth, in the Province of Maine. (Maine was\nthen attached to Massachusetts, and was not admitted into the Union till\n1820.) We fell in with John Broadhead, George Pickering, and Elijah\nMetcalf, who were on their way to conference. They were most excellent\ncompany. We went as far as Saco Falls, and as Methodist homes were scarce\nwe went on our own hook and put up at Moody\u2019s tavern. The day we reached\nMonmouth we stopped at a tavern, and the following scene is described by\nthe Rev. Ebenezer F. Newell: \u201cAfter we had rested half an hour Bishop\nAsbury said, \u2018We must have prayers before we leave; I will go and give\nnotice to the landlord, and some of you must pray.\u2019 I followed him to\nthe bar-room to learn his way of proceeding in such a case. He said,\n\u2018Landlord, we are going to have prayers in our room, and if you or any\nof your family wish to attend we should be happy to have you.\u2019 \u2018Thank\nyou, sir,\u2019 he replied; \u2018please wait until I speak not only to my family,\nbut my neighbors.\u2019 Soon they flocked in; we sung and prayed, and melting\nmercy moved our hearts. When our bill was called for we were told there\nwas no demand against us, and were requested to call again.\u201d[23] The\ncourse of the bishop surprised Brother Newell, but to me it was almost\nan every-day occurrence in traveling. It was Asbury\u2019s invariable custom.\nEven the night before, where we put up at the tavern, the bishop proposed\nhaving prayers; they objected, but he insisted upon it, so we had prayers\nboth evening and morning.\n\nOn Thursday, June 16, 1809, the New England Conference commenced its\nsession. Both Asbury and M\u2019Kendree were present. This was Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree\u2019s first visit to New England as superintendent, and everywhere\nhe was regarded with peculiar interest. We put up with a Brother Derbin.\nThere was peace and good order throughout the session from beginning to\nend. There was a camp-meeting held in connection with the conference. I\npreached on the camp-ground to about eight hundred on Friday, from Matt.\nxi, 28, 29.\n\nDoctor Stevens in his Memorials says: \u201cM\u2019Kendree was present, but we have\nno notice of the part he took in the proceedings.\u201d Perhaps I alone am\nleft to supply the deficiency. First, he presided, with dignity, a part\nof the time. Secondly, he preached two never-to-be-forgotten sermons: the\nfirst on Saturday at noon, from Rom. vi, 22, \u201cBut now being made free\nfrom sin, ye become servants to God, and have your fruit unto holiness,\nand the end everlasting life.\u201d The dignity, freedom, fruit, and end of a\nChristian were dwelt upon, after which Bishop Asbury ordained twenty-two\ndeacons. At three o\u2019clock John Broadhead preached from John iii, 1,\n\u201cBehold what manner of love,\u201d etc. Adopting love was his glorious theme,\nwhich he handled in a workmanlike manner.\n\nSunday was a high day in Monmouth; we had five sermons. At six in the\nmorning Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached from Rev. ii, 10, on fidelity unto\ndeath, and its reward. At ten Bishop Asbury preached in the grove to\nthree thousand people, from Isaiah xliv, 23, \u201cSing, O ye heavens; for\nthe Lord hath done it,\u201d etc. He regarded it as an \u201copen season.\u201d My\nimpression is that Bishop M\u2019Kendree ordained the elders after this\ndiscourse. This was their custom: one ordained the deacons, the other the\nelders. Then George Pickering preached from Luke xix, 5, on the talents\ngiven, and man\u2019s responsibility.\n\nAt half past two Martin Ruter preached from Job xix, 25, 26, \u201cFor I know\nthat my Redeemer liveth,\u201d etc. Job\u2019s knowledge of a living Redeemer and\nthe resurrection of the body at the last day was his theme. These sermons\nwere preached on the camp-ground to crowds. There was great attention and\nsolemnity, and much good was done. Several professed to be converted. At\nfive o\u2019clock I preached in the meeting-house from Prov. xviii, 10. Thus\nended this memorable Sabbath.\n\nThere were noble men at this conference: two future bishops, Joshua\nSoule and Elijah Hedding; also John Broadhead, Thomas Branch, Elijah\nSabin, and many others. Eighteen were received on trial, among whom were\nGeorge Gary, then a boy of fifteen, but he was a boy with a man\u2019s head;\nJohn Lindsay, whose praise is in the Church; and Edward Hyde of blessed\nmemory. Joshua Taylor was at this conference, though I think he then held\na local relation.\n\nHere Bishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree separated for a season, taking\ndifferent routes, expecting to meet at the Western Conference, if not\nbefore. Thence we went to Danville in Vermont. This was my introduction\nto the Green Mountain State. On Friday we accompanied Solomon Sias to\nthe house of his mother, an excellent woman. I wrote, \u201cWe are weary, but\nnot forsaken.\u201d We spent the Sabbath and preached in that neighborhood.\nIn the evening I preached at Widow Sias\u2019s, and John W. Hardy and Solomon\nSias exhorted. On Tuesday the bishop preached in the meeting-house in\nDanville, while seated in a pew. No wonder the bishop admired the scenery\nduring our late route, and wrote: \u201cWe have passed many a fertile hill,\nand saw many fruitful vales, through which flowed noble rivers.\u201d\n\nOn Thursday we were at Montpelier, the capital of the state. The bishop\nadmired the fine state-house, and said \u201cit was worthy of the seat of\ngovernment of Vermont;\u201d and the splendid hotel, which he said \u201cwas an\nappropriate appendage to the state-house.\u201d\n\nOn Friday the bishop preached at Mr. Fuller\u2019s on Lake Champlain. Here he\nordained Joseph Sampson an elder, and sent him as a missionary to his\ncountrymen in Quebec. Sampson was a Canadian Frenchman, and talked broken\nEnglish. In speaking of the Lamb of God he could not think of the word,\nso he said \u201cGod\u2019s mouton,\u201d the French word for sheep. He did not succeed\nin Canada, and afterward was a member of the Philadelphia Conference,\nand on my district. He was not a Samson physically or mentally or\ntheologically. Becoming unsound in doctrine, and denying the divinity of\nChrist, he was expelled. He appealed to the General Conference, and the\ndecision of the Philadelphia Conference was confirmed.\n\nOn Saturday we had the company of William Anson, presiding elder of\nAshgrove District, who went with us through Vergennes to Bridport. I\nfound Brother Anson a most genial man. He told me the Congregationalists\nwere the \u201cstanding order\u201d of ministers in Vermont, and all were taxed\nto support them. The Methodists having to support their own ministry\nthought it was not fair, so they petitioned the Legislature to have the\nlaw repealed. Their petitions were treated with contempt, and the inquiry\nwas sneeringly made, \u201cWho are the Methodists?\u201d affecting to be ignorant\nof the existence of such a people. The Methodists in the state concluded\nthat if this was the kind of treatment they were to receive it was time\nto show who they were; so they and their friends had an understanding,\nand at the election the next year there was, to the astonishment of many,\na general turning over. The new governor and Legislature found out who\nthe Methodists were, and the obnoxious law was repealed.\n\nWe tarried on Sunday night with Luther Chamberlin, who, I believe, was\na relative of Pamerly Chamberlin, late of the New York Conference. Here\nwe rested near the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga, which was taken in 1775 by\nColonel Ethan Allen of Vermont \u201cin the name of the great Jehovah and the\nContinental Congress.\u201d This was the first fortress captured in the war of\nthe Revolution.\n\nOn Tuesday we traveled along Burgoyne\u2019s Road to Fort Edward. This was\ncalled Burgoyne\u2019s Road because he made it through the wilderness for\nthe use of his army. Here the bishop preached in the store of Dr.\nLawrence to a large and attentive congregation. He preached the next day\nat M\u2019Cready\u2019s barn from Rom. viii, 1. Here were the ruins of an old\nfort built in 1755. Near here Jane M\u2019Crea met with her tragical end,\nbeing cruelly butchered by the Indians. Here Burgoyne\u2019s army waited six\nweeks for provisions, and thus lost the best part of the season, which\nseemed to be the beginning of his blunders. We have now at Fort Edward a\nsplendid literary institute.\n\nThe next day we rode by Saratoga Lake to Ballston. Here the bishop\npreached in the bar-room of the tavern kept by General Clark, and he\nsays \u201chad life and liberty.\u201d It was not every minister that could adapt\nhimself to every place in preaching like the bishop.\n\nOn Saturday we visited the springs at Ballston, very celebrated then for\nthe medicinal qualities of the waters.\n\nThe same day we rode forty miles to Kingsbury. Here at a quarterly\nmeeting we met Bishop M\u2019Kendree with several preachers. On Sunday Bishop\nAsbury preached in a grove to a thousand people from Matt. xvii, 5. I\npreached immediately after from 1 John i, 9. The bishop says in his\njournal, \u201cBrother Boehm closed a meeting of three hours\u2019 continuance.\u201d\n\nThe next morning we started with the two bishops for Cayuga Lake. For\nseveral days we traveled together. Bishop Asbury preached, Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree exhorted, and I closed with prayer. We passed Utica and reached\nCazenovia, where Bishop M\u2019Kendree parted with us to go to Pittsburgh by\nLake Erie, and we took another route, expecting to meet at the Western\nConference. We went to Manlius Square and to Auburn. The bishop wrote,\n\u201cNo food or rest to-day.\u201d\n\nWe had quite a variety the next day: rain and mud and mud and rain. We\nrode six miles to Asa Cummins\u2019s cabin, a humble place twelve feet square,\nbut a warm reception within. The next day found us on one of the head\nbranches of the Susquehanna, which was greatly swollen with heavy rains,\nso it was considered reckless to attempt to cross. No wonder the bishop\nwrote, \u201cWe had an awful time on Thursday in the woods among rocks and\ntrees, living and dead, prostrate, barring our way. When we thought the\nbitterness of death was passed, behold the back-water had covered the\ncauseway.\u201d This was about two miles below Owego. We worked our passage\nround the Narrows with the utmost difficulty. However, we got safely\nthrough, to the astonishment of the people, particularly concerning our\ncarriage. A gentleman by the name of Hathaway was very kind, and rendered\nus much assistance.\n\nOn Friday we rode to Tioga Point, Pennsylvania, to Dr. Hopkins\u2019s. The\nSusquehanna was so high we could not cross, so the bishop preached in the\nacademy from \u201cSeek ye the Lord,\u201d etc. Here he made this wonderful record,\nand who can read it without deep emotion? \u201cSuch roads, such rains, and\nsuch lodgings! Why should I stay in this land? I have no possessions\nor babes to bind me to the soil. What are called the comforts of life\nI rarely enjoy. The wish to live an hour such a life as this would be\nstrange to so suffering, so toil-worn a wretch; but God is with me, and\nsouls are my reward. I might fill pages with this week\u2019s wonder.\u201d Dr.\nStevens, in his \u201cMemorials,\u201d says, \u201cIt is a pity he didn\u2019t.\u201d Is it not\nwonderful that he recorded as much as he did under the circumstances? I\nhope my journal will supply in some measure the deficiency. I was not\nmerely a spectator of the wonderful scenes he hints at, but an actor. In\nthe daily sacrifices and toils and sufferings I shared. To the bishop\u2019s\nevery-day martyr-like sufferings I was a witness, and it brings tears\nto my eyes now when I think of them. Our appointments were generally\nsent forward, and here, in consequence of heavy rains, swollen rivers,\nand muddy roads, we were eighty miles behind our Sabbath appointments.\nOn Saturday, as the waters had abated, we crossed the Susquehanna, and\nrode to the mouth of Wyoming Creek, and put up at Stevens\u2019s tavern. On\nSunday we attempted to reach the place where George Lane was preaching,\nbut we missed it. We met with an accident. The bishop says, \u201cBrother\nBoehm upset the sulky and broke the shaft.\u201d The only wonder is we did\nnot upset twenty times where we did once. It was well I was in the sulky\ninstead of the old bishop, or he might have fared hard. He might have\nhad something worse than a \u201cbroken shaft:\u201d a broken limb or a broken\nneck. This happened on Sunday; but we were traveling from necessity, not\nfrom choice. On Monday we went through the Narrows on the east side, not\nwithout considerable danger; then we crossed to the west side, dined\nat our friend Sutton\u2019s, and came to Widow Dennison\u2019s at Kingston. This\nis the place where Methodism was first introduced into Wyoming. My old\ncolleague, Anning Owen, had the distinguished honor of being the pioneer.\n\nThis valley is far famed for its beauty. Campbell has immortalized it in\nsong, and it is embalmed in history. At Kingston we have now a splendid\nseminary. The next morning we crossed to Wilkesbarre, a very fine place,\nthe seat of justice for Luzerne County. We have now a Wyoming Conference.\nIt did not look much like it then. This region is now the garden of\nMethodism.[24]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nSECOND ANNUAL TOUR\u2014WESTERN AND SOUTHERN CONFERENCE.\n\n\nThe relation of my first annual tour with Asbury has convinced the reader\nthat the office of a bishop was then no sinecure, and that his traveling\ncompanion had something more to do than play the gentleman. It indeed was\ntoil, intense toil, as much so as soul and body could bear. During the\ntour I visited all the conferences, and preached the Gospel in fifteen\nstates, and became acquainted with the great men of Methodism in the\nministry and laity, East, West, North, and South.\n\nNever was a mariner, after a perilous voyage, more rejoiced to get into\nharbor than we were to reach the old family mansion of my father. We\narrived there on Friday, July 28, 1809, but both my parents were from\nhome, therefore Mr. Asbury concluded he would go right on, and I got a\nfriend to go with him a distance, while I went to see my parents. I could\nnot bear the thought of being gone ten months without having an interview\nwith them before I left. They were infirm and I might never see them\nagain. I went to a camp-meeting near Morgantown, where I met my parents,\nand they embraced me with joy. I had been in seven different states\nbesides the Province of Maine since I saw them.\n\nMr. Asbury wrote: \u201cOn Friday a thirty mile ride brought us to Martin\nBoehm\u2019s. Delightful rest! but it may not be so.\u201d The next morning found\nhim on his way to Lancaster. At the camp-meeting I heard my father preach\nfrom Luke on the Gospel Supper. He preached in German; I immediately\nafter in English.\n\nSabbath was a great day. James Smith preached in the morning on the\npeculiar doctrines of Methodism, in opposition to antinomianism; I at\nnoon from Isaiah xxxii, 17; then Thomas Burch. The next day I went home\nwith my parents, remained a few hours, and then bade them farewell till\nthe next spring.\n\nMy next business was to overtake Mr. Asbury, who had gone on, waiting\nfor no one. I did not overtake him till the third of August at James\nHunter\u2019s, Fort Littleton. I found him in a sad plight. He was not able to\nstand, preach, kneel, or pray. He had needed both a traveling companion\nand a nurse. Suffering from rheumatism, he had applied several blisters\nto relieve him. He had put them on too strong, and the remedy was worse\nthan the disease. Camp-meetings he still zealously engaged in, and said,\n\u201cWe must attend to them; they make our harvest times.\u201d\n\nIn crossing the Alleghanies we were in great danger, and came near\nbeing dashed in pieces, but were providentially preserved. Mr. Asbury\nwrote: \u201cThe hand of God was manifested to-day in saving man and horse\nfrom wreck; the danger appeared exceeding great.\u201d At Berlin the German\nPresbyterian minister caused the church-bell to be rung, and Mr. Asbury\nsays: \u201cBrother Boehm preached to them in high Dutch.\u201d\n\nOn Tuesday the 8th we rode thirty miles in a heavy mountain rain, and\nwere dripping wet. We put up with a German. Mr. Asbury says: \u201cWe called\na meeting, and our exercises were in German. We gave away religious\ntracts, German and English. We have disposed of many thousands of these;\nit is our duty to do good in every possible way.\u201d We were pioneers in\ncirculating tracts. The German tracts were those I had published in\nLancaster. I preached in the German language every day, and often in\nGerman and English at the same time. On Saturday we reached Pike Run\ncamp-meeting. Here to our great joy we met Bishop M\u2019Kendree.\n\nOn Sunday morning I preached at eight o\u2019clock on the profitableness of\ngodliness. Bishop Asbury preached at eleven, from 2 Cor. v, 20, on the\ndignity and employment of the embassadors of Christ. The grove rang with\nhis deep-toned voice. Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached at two o\u2019clock from Deut.\nxxx, 19, \u201cI call heaven and earth to record,\u201d etc. I wrote: \u201cThe work of\nGod is progressing mightily among sinners, mourners, backsliders, and\nbelievers.\u201d The work went on until after midnight. It then began to\nrain, and continued until next day about noon, when I preached on Matt.\nxi, 28, 29, to the weary and heavy laden, for there were many such on\nthe ground. At three o\u2019clock Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached again from 1 Cor.\nxiii, 13, on faith, hope, and charity. Such a time of power has seldom\nbeen witnessed. I wrote: \u201cThe cries of mourners, prayers, shouting,\nrejoicing, etc., were the uninterrupted exercises until after midnight.\nSome that were the companions of drunkards and persecutors in the first\npart of the meeting now swelled the number of mourners. Glory Halleluiah!\nThe Lord\u2019s supper was administered on Tuesday, after which Bishop Asbury\ndelivered a profitable lecture.\u201d He wrote: \u201cIt appears the bishops will\nhold a camp-meeting in every district. We are encouraged so to do. Great\npower was manifested here, and much good was done. I will not say how I\nfelt or how near heaven.\u201d Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached four times at this\nmeeting.\n\nOn Wednesday the 6th to Brightwell\u2019s, Philip Smith\u2019s, and then en route\nfor Pittsburgh. On Thursday the cross-bar of that old sulky broke and\nbrought us up all standing. I do not wonder Jacob Gruber could not bear a\nsulky. He thought they were _sulky_ enough.\n\nOn Friday evening we reached Pittsburgh, and stopped at Brother John\nWrenshall\u2019s. I preached at Thomas Cooper\u2019s on Friday and Saturday\nevenings. On Sunday Bishop Asbury preached at Brother Cooper\u2019s at eight\no\u2019clock from Titus ii, 11-14. At twelve I preached in German in the same\nhouse from Rom. x, 12. Some felt the force and spirituality of the word.\nI closed by giving the substance of the discourse in English. My heart\nwas much enlarged.\n\nBishop Asbury being invited to preach in the elegant Presbyterian church,\ndid so at three o\u2019clock from 2 Cor. v, 11, \u201cKnowing therefore the terror\nof the Lord we persuade men,\u201d etc. Five hundred listened to his solemn\npersuasions. At six I preached in Brother Wrenshall\u2019s yard to about three\nhundred attentive hearers from Heb. ii, 1.\n\nOn we journeyed to Zanesville, where I preached in the Court-house, as\nwe had no house of worship there then. In New Lancaster I preached in\nGerman, and Robert Cloud exhorted after me. This is the man who was so\nuseful in the East, and who was once under a cloud; but he was doing\nbetter, and the sun was once more shining upon him. He had a son, Caleb\nW. Cloud, a very good preacher, a member of the Western Conference.\n\nWe went to Chillicothe, and were made welcome at Dr. Edward Tiffin\u2019s;\nthen to Deer Creek, at White Brown\u2019s. Here I saw Stephen Simmons, who\nused to travel our circuit in Lancaster County. He had located and\nmarried the daughter of White Brown. On Wednesday we reached Peter\nPelham\u2019s. I preached in German almost every day through this part of Ohio.\n\nOn Saturday, September 23, we reached one of Bishop Asbury\u2019s best homes,\nthat of one of his dearest friends, Philip Gatch. While the bishop\nrested there I took a tour among the Germans. Some of them had not heard\npreaching in their own tongue since they left their native land. Tears\nflowed from many eyes, and they heard with delight the word of life. What\nhas God wrought since among the Germans![25]\n\nOn the 28th we reached Cincinnati, the seat of the Western Conference.\n\n\nFIRST CONFERENCE IN CINCINNATI.\n\nOn Saturday, September 30, 1809, the Western Conference commenced its\nsession in Cincinnati. This was the first conference held in what has\nsince become the Queen City of the West. We were kindly entertained by\nOliver Spencer, Esq. When a boy he was taken captive by the Indians, and\nhis early history is full of wild romance and sober truth.\n\nThere were some splendid men at this conference, who were destined, under\nGod, to lay the foundations of Methodism in what is now the mighty West.\nI heard some excellent preaching here. The evening before conference\nbegan I heard Miles Harper on \u201cSet thine house in order,\u201d etc. He was\none of their strong men. I preached on Saturday from John i, 11, 12,\nand Brother Lakin exhorted. The Lord was eminently nigh. Several souls\nprofessed to find the Lord in the pardon of their sins.\n\nThe Lord\u2019s day was a high day in Zion. We had four sermons. The first\nfrom Learner Blackman on Judges iii, 20, \u201cI have a message from God unto\nthee.\u201d It was a message of light and truth and power. At noon Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree preached on a favorite subject, Prov. i, 23, \u201cTurn you at my\nreproof,\u201d etc. At three William Burke on 1 John i, 9, \u201cIf we confess our\nsins,\u201d etc. A mighty preacher was William Burke in his palmy days. He\nwielded a tremendous power in the pulpit, and in the conference he was\nthen the master-spirit. In the evening Caleb W. Cloud preached from the\nsame text I had taken the evening before. This was a day of feasting for\nmy soul and many others.\n\nOn Monday James Quinn preached at noon from Heb. xxiv, 26 on Moses\u2019s\nchoice and Moses\u2019s reward. A wonderful man was James Quinn when he\ngot the baptism of power. I wrote, \u201cThe Lord is with us both in the\nconference and the congregation.\u201d On Tuesday at noon Bishop Asbury\npreached an ordination sermon from Titus ii, 7, 8, \u201cIn all things showing\nthyself a pattern of good works.\u201d It was a most impressive discourse,\nand was owned of God. At noon on Wednesday Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached on\nfaith, hope, and charity. Our souls were richly fed with celestial manna.\nAt night Daniel Hitt, the book agent, preached on \u201cPray for us, that\nthe word of God may have free course,\u201d etc. On Thursday I preached at\nnoon from Matt. v, 20; on Friday William Burke preached from Isaiah xl,\n1, \u201cComfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God;\u201d a sermon full of\nconsolation. James Quinn preached at night.\n\nOn Saturday Samuel Parker preached at noon from 1 John i, 3, \u201cThat\nwhich we have seen and heard declare we unto you,\u201d etc. This was an\neloquent discourse, delivered in the sweetest spirit, making a powerful\nimpression. He presented some fine thoughts on our union with the Father\nand the Son, and that all the divine attributes are engaged for our good;\nalso the blessed effects of fellowship with the people of God.\n\nOn Sunday, the 8th, Bishop Asbury preached in the morning at nine,\nLearner Blackman in the afternoon at three, and Samuel Parker in the\nevening. The sermons were all good, but Samuel Parker\u2019s excelled. His\ntext was Phil. iii, 10, \u201cThat I may know him and the power of his\nresurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable\nunto his death.\u201d Over fifty years have passed away since I heard him, and\nyet the image of the eloquent Parker is before me, and I remember with\nwhat overwhelming pathos he dwelt on the \u201cfellowship of his sufferings.\u201d\nThe word ran through the audience like electricity, tears flowed, and\nshouts were heard. It was a most appropriate sermon for the last before\nthe conference adjourned. It prepared the ministers for the work of\nsuffering with their Lord if they would reign with him.\n\nBishop Asbury then delivered to the Methodists in Cincinnati a farewell\naddress, which was not only able and ingenious, but truly affecting.\nWe had spent two Sabbaths there, and on the morrow were to take our\ndeparture. I heard fifteen sermons at this conference from the master\nminds of the West, men who were giving tone and character to Methodism\nthrough all that vast region. The bishop does not name a text or theme\nthat any of the ministers used at that conference; mine may be the\nonly record there is. To the Methodists in Cincinnati, where so many\nconferences have since been held, it may be of interest to know the\nministers who preached at the first conference there, and the texts they\nused on the occasion.\n\nSeventeen were admitted on trial at this conference, among whom were\nMoses Crume and William Winans. The latter became a giant in the south\nand south-west. Eight elders were ordained, among others Samuel Parker,\nJohn Collins, Miles Harper, and Peter Cartwright. These were mighty men.\nPeter Cartwright is the only one living.\n\nThree of the prominent ministers in this conference were from New\nJersey: Parker, Blackman, and Collins. John Collins did wonders for\nMethodism in the West. His life, abounding with thrilling incidents, has\nbeen written by the late Judge M\u2019Lean, to which I refer the reader.\n\nSAMUEL PARKER has been called the Cicero of the West. He was born in\n1774, and early learned the business of a cabinet-maker. At the age\nof fourteen he gave his heart to the Saviour. In 1805 he joined the\nitinerancy, and after being in the work fifteen years, fell at his post.\nHe volunteered to go to Mississippi, and died there of consumption in\nDecember, 1819, and was buried near Washington in that State. His name\nat the West will ever be fragrant. William Winans was deeply indebted to\nhim, loving him as a father, for Mr. Parker was his counselor and friend,\nand gave him his first license to preach. There was nothing prepossessing\nin his appearance; his face was very thin, and his countenance dull, till\nhe became animated with the truths he preached. His voice was uncommonly\nmelodious; it was soft, rich, sweet. He was a very superior singer; but\nit was as a pulpit orator he excelled, and will long be remembered.\n\n\nEPISCOPAL TOUR FROM CINCINNATI TO SOUTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE.\n\nWith regret we bade farewell to our kind friends in Cincinnati and\nstarted for the South Carolina Conference, several of the preachers with\nus. We entered Kentucky on Tuesday, and at midnight the bishop called us\nup, and we traveled twenty-five miles to Mount Gerizim, where he had an\nappointment. Bishop M\u2019Kendree here preached a sweet sermon from \u201cIs it\nwell with thee?\u201d He used to inquire of his dying sister, Frances Moore,\nwhom I knew very well, \u201cIs it well with thee?\u201d and when he was himself\non his deathbed he exclaimed, \u201cAll is well.\u201d Bishop Asbury preached from\n\u201cSuffer the word of exhortation,\u201d and then ordained a person.\n\nOn Thursday we reached Martin\u2019s meeting-house, called so from Major\nMartin, with whom we stayed; sometimes it was called \u201cEbenezer.\u201d Bishop\nAsbury preached from Psalm lxxxv, 1-9. The reader will recollect what I\nhave said about the bishop liking a long text.\n\nThere had been considerable excitement among the local preachers in this\npart of the country on the subject of ordination. The bishops had a\nnumber of them convened here by previous appointment, and they held what\nBishop Asbury called a \u201cConciliatory Conference.\u201d\n\nThe next day, at the same place, Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached a\ncharacteristic sermon from \u201cHe that endureth to the end;\u201d then I held\nforth, then Daniel Hitt, then Bishop Asbury. He says, \u201cI embraced\nvarious subjects in my exhortation.\u201d It was a very able address on\nthe qualifications and duties of ministers. We rode a number of miles\nthe next morning before breakfast, and there Bishop M\u2019Kendree left us\nfor Cumberland, accompanied by Thomas Lasley, who was his traveling\ncompanion.[26] We forded the Kentucky and came to John Bennett\u2019s, a very\nfine man and family, having a meeting-house called after him. On Sabbath\nthe bishop preached at Bennett\u2019s meeting-house on John iii, 19, 20.\n\nWe left Kentucky and entered Tennessee, crossing rivers and climbing\nmountains. Can we wonder the bishop wrote: \u201cMy mind and body have had\nno small exercise in bringing my stiff-jointed horse over the rocks and\nrough and deep roads.\u201d\n\nCrossing the French Broad, we reached Barnett\u2019s Tavern. The old landlord\nwas very sick and like to die. The bishop, who was a physician when\nnecessary, always carrying medicine with him, gave Mr. Barnett a dose\nthat almost instantly relieved him, and he fell asleep. He was so\nthankful he would receive nothing for our entertainment. The bishop\nwrites: \u201cEight times within nine years have I crossed these Alps.\u201d Well\nmight he call those high mountains the Alps. Never can I forget the toils\nover those mountains, rocks, hills, stumps, trees, streams, awful roads,\nand dangerous passes.\n\nWe crossed to Buncombe, North Carolina, preaching every day. In South\nCarolina we attended a number of quarterly meetings with that excellent\nman of God, long since gone to his rest, Lewis Myers.\n\nThere were glorious revivals through the South this year, and the\nbishop\u2019s soul greatly rejoiced. He wrote: \u201cGreat news, great times in\nGeorgia; rich and poor coming to Christ.\u201d Again: \u201cThe Methodists have\ngreat success on Camden District; surely there must be some good done;\nall are on fire, and I feel the flame! God is with preachers and people.\u201d\n\nOn Tuesday, November 21, we stayed with William Gassoway, a noble old\npreacher, universally esteemed. He joined as early as 1788. He was\nWilliam Capers\u2019s first colleague. We had a very severe snow-storm. It was\ncold and chilly, and we reached Waxsaw and put up with Robert Hancock.\nAlmost every prominent Methodist man had a meeting-house named after\nhim: so we had a \u201cHancock Chapel.\u201d On Saturday I preached in this chapel\non John xiii, 35, and Brother William Capers followed with a charming\nexhortation. The bishop preached the next day in the chapel. \u201cThe next\nday on the south side of the Catawba river, piloted by Brother William\nCapers, who is a promising young man about twenty.\u201d So I wrote over\nfifty years ago. We had a delightful interview with Capers at Robert\nHancock\u2019s, as well as the privilege of traveling with him many days.\nWilliam Capers, in his Autobiography, (pp. 113-115,) has described what\ntook place at Robert Hancock\u2019s, and made such honorable mention of Bishop\nAsbury and his traveling companion that I transcribe it for my work now\nthe writer is in his grave:\n\n\u201cAt the close of the year 1809 Bishop Asbury passed through my circuit\non his way to conference, and it was arranged for me to meet him at\nWaxsaw, (General Jackson\u2019s birthplace,) and attend him along a somewhat\ncircuitous route to Camden. I met him at the house of that most estimable\nman and worthy local preacher, Robert Hancock, who had been more than\na friend to me, even a father, from the beginning. The bishop was then\naccompanied by the Rev. Henry Boehm as his traveling companion, so long\nafterward known in the Philadelphia Conference as one of the purest and\nbest of Methodist ministers, and whose society I found to be as \u2018the\ndew of Hermon.\u2019 This was the last of my itinerant year on the Wateree\nCircuit; and as I have had quite enough of the disagreeable in my account\nof it, I will end the chapter (perhaps more to your liking) with an\nanecdote of my first night and last night on the trip with the bishop.\nI met him when a heavy snow had just fallen, and the north-west wind\nblowing hard made it extremely cold. The snow had not been expected, and\nour host was out of wood, so that we had to use what had been picked up\nfrom under the snow, and was damp and incombustible. Our bed-room was\naloft, with a fireplace in it, and plenty of wood; but how to make the\nwood burn was the question. I had been at work blowing and blowing long\nbefore bed-time, till, to my mortification, the aged bishop came up, and\nthere was still no fire to warm him. \u2018O Billy, sugar,\u2019 said he as he\napproached the fireplace, \u2018never mind it; give it up; we will get warm\nin bed.\u2019 And then stepping to his bed as if to ascertain the certainty\nof it, and lifting the bed-clothes, he continued, \u2018yes, yes, give it up,\nsugar; blankets are plenty.\u2019 So I gave it up, thinking the play of my\npretty strong lungs might disturb his devotions, for he was instantly on\nhis knees.\n\n\u201cWell, thought I, this is too bad. But how for the morning? Bishop Asbury\nrises at four\u2014two hours before day\u2014and what shall I do for a fire then?\nNo light wood, and nothing dry. But it occurred to me that the coals\nput in the midst of the simmering wood might dry it sufficiently to\nkeep fire and prepare it for kindling in the morning; so I gave it up.\nBut then how might I be sure of waking early enough to kindle a fire at\nfour o\u2019clock? My usual hour had been six. And to meet this difficulty\nI concluded to wrap myself in my overcoat, and lie on the bed without\nusing the bed-clothes. In this predicament I was not likely to over sleep\nmyself on so cold a night; but there might be danger of my not knowing\nwhat hour it was when I happened to awake. Nap after nap was dreamed away\nas I lay shivering in the cold, till I thought it must be four o\u2019clock;\nand then creeping softly to the chimney, and applying the breath of my\nlive bellows, I held my watch to the reluctant coals to see the hour. I\nhad just made it out, when the same soft accents saluted me: \u2018Go to bed,\nsugar, it is hardly three o\u2019clock yet.\u2019\n\n\u201cThis may do for the first night, and the last was as follows: It had\nrained heavily through the night, and we slept near enough to the\nshingles for the benefit of the composing power of its pattering upon\nthem. It was past four o\u2019clock and the bishop was awake, but \u2018Billy\nsugar\u2019 lay fast asleep; so he whispered to Brother Boehm not to disturb\nme, and the fire was made. They were dressed, had had their devotions,\nand were at their books before I was awake. This seemed shockingly out\nof order, and my confusion was complete as, waking and springing out\nof bed, I saw them sitting before a blazing fire. I could scarcely say\ngood-morning, and the bishop, as if he might have been offended at my\nneglect, affected not to hear it. Boehm, who knew him better, smiled\npleasantly as I whispered in his ear, \u2018Why didn\u2019t you wake me?\u2019 The\nbishop seemed to hear this, and closing his book and turning to me with a\nlook of downright mischief, had an anecdote for me. \u2018I was traveling,\u2019\nsaid he, \u2018quite lately, and came to a circuit where we had one of our\ngood boys. O, he was so good! and the weather was as cold as it was the\nother night at Brother Hancock\u2019s, and as I was Bishop Asbury, he got up\nin the bitter cold at three o\u2019clock to make a fire for me; and what do\nyou think? He slept last night till six.\u2019 And he tickled at it as if he\nmight have been a boy himself. And this was that Bishop Asbury whom I\nhave heard called austere, a man confessedly who never shed tears, and\nwho seldom laughed, but whose sympathies were, nevertheless, as soft as a\nsanctified spirit might possess.\u201d\n\nWe next went to Camden and stayed with James Jenkins. Bishop Asbury\nbaptized his daughter, Elizabeth Asbury Jenkins, perpetuating not only\nthe bishop\u2019s name, but his mother\u2019s also. On Sunday at eleven Bishop\nAsbury preached at Camden from Rev. xxii, 14, on the blessedness of\ndoing his commandment. I preached at three on Acts v, 2, after which the\nbishop addressed himself to the people of color. He was a great friend of\nthe colored race, whom he called his \u201cblack sheep.\u201d I held forth in the\nevening from 1 Peter iv, 7. It was a day of marrow and fat things.\n\nOn Tuesday we went to Father Rembert\u2019s on Black River. On Wednesday the\nbishop preached to the negroes of Henry Young, who were called together\nto hear him. We then had free access both to the master and the slave.\n\nOn Sunday there was a quarterly meeting at Rembert\u2019s for the Santee\nCircuit. I preached on Saturday, and John and James Capers exhorted. On\nSunday the bishop preached from Matt. xiv, 35, then Joseph Tarpley and\nLewis Hobbs exhorted. The meeting lasted five hours. At night I held\nforth on Heb. ii, 1.\n\nOn Monday we started for Charleston. The roads were muddy in the extreme,\nthe rivers high, and we had swamps to go through; but Wednesday evening\nbrought us to the goodly city.\n\nOn Tuesday of next week Bishop M\u2019Kendree arrived with his traveling\ncompanion, Thomas Lasley. We had preaching nearly every night.\n\nThe South Carolina Conference commenced on Saturday, December 23. It was\na very pleasant session. Preaching three times a day on Sunday, and in\nall the churches in the evening, and in the Bethel Church every morning\nat eleven. On Monday, being Christmas, I preached in Cumberland Church to\na large audience on Luke ii, 15. Thomas Lasley exhorted. It was a time of\nrefreshing from the presence of the Lord.\n\nThere were several conversions during the conference. The closing scene\nwas peculiarly affecting. On Friday, just before adjournment, the Lord\u2019s\nsupper was administered. It was a most melting time. No wonder I wrote,\n\u201cO my soul, never forget this melting, soul-animating time of the power\nof God.\u201d The excellent William Capers, with fifteen others, was received\non trial; Joseph Travis, with a number of others, was ordained deacon;\nLovick Pierce and his brother Reddick, and James Russell, with three\nmore, were ordained elders.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\nTOUR TO VIRGINIA, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCES.\n\n\nAgain we turn our faces toward the North. The first night we were the\nguests of a brother of Bishop M\u2019Kendree, who was overjoyed to see us, and\ntreated us in a friendly manner.\n\nWe went to Newbern, N. C., and on Sunday had four sermons: Thomas\nLasley preached at sunrise from Gen. xlix, 10, \u201cThe scepter shall not\ndepart,\u201d etc.; Bishop Asbury at eleven from Heb. xii, 1, 2. The race,\nthe witnesses, the judge, and the prize, were the topics he dwelt upon.\nAt three Bishop M\u2019Kendree from Jer. iv, 14, \u201cO Jerusalem,\u201d etc. Brother\nMerritt at night from 1 Tim. ii, 22, \u201cFlee youthful lusts,\u201d etc.\n\nOn Friday Bishop M\u2019Kendree left us to go direct to Norfolk, and Bishop\nAsbury and I went out of our direct route to Edenton. We borrowed two\nhorses, that our tired animals might rest, and arrived at Edenton\nafter dark. Well might Mr. Asbury inquire, \u201cAre we riding for life?\u201d\nIt was exceedingly cold, and I suffered severely. We stayed at William\nHankins\u2019s. In the evening I walked to the church and preached, and in\nreturning took a cold that had like to have cost me my life.\n\nOn Sabbath there was a tremendous snow-storm. So after all our pains\nthe bishop preached to only six men and twelve women. In the evening I\npreached to the Africans. We never forgot these sable children.\n\nDuring this route I suffered more than the martyrs. For a fortnight I\nhad high fevers every night; and then riding all day in the cold, my\nsufferings were intolerable. I became so weak that I had to be helped on\nto my horse, and then, though I could hardly sit upon him, rode thirty\nand forty miles a day, with cold winds beating upon me.\n\nBishop Asbury describes our route: \u201cMy flesh complains of cold riding\nand the labor of preaching. May I be made perfect through sufferings!\nSaturday brought us through rain and snow, without eating or prayer, to\nWilliam Birdsong\u2019s. On Monday, February 5, we wrought our solitary way\nthrough the woods to Allen\u2019s bridge. The Widow Pennington received us.\nHer husband is dead, she is sick, her children irreligious. O misery! O\nmercy!... We have passed like a mail through South and North Carolina. I\nsolemnly sympathize with my dear Brother Boehm. He has suffered greatly\nin his journey; an awful cough and fevers. Lord, what is life?\u201d From this\nI think the bishop doubted my recovery. My sufferings can never be told.\nThe day we rode to Petersburgh we stopped to rest in the woods, and I lay\ndown upon a log, for I was too weak to sit up. The time came to start,\nand I told the bishops (Bishop M\u2019Kendree had now rejoined us) to go on\nand leave me there. I felt as if I would rather die on that log than\ngo on. They were all attention and full of sympathy. Bishop M\u2019Kendree\nprepared me a little medicine, and I drank it, and then ate a little.\nThey lifted me from the log on to my horse, and in this plight I rode to\nPetersburgh. When we arrived there, about sundown, I was so weak they\nhad to lift me from my horse and carry me into the house. The ride was\nmost tedious and painful. At Petersburgh we found a kind home at Sister\nHarden\u2019s.\n\nThe Virginia Conference commenced its session in Petersburgh on Thursday,\nFebruary 8, 1810; but I was so sick that it was six days before I could\ngo to the conference room. On Friday Bishop M\u2019Kendree, seeing how\nill I was, took me into his room, and was my nurse and physician. He\nadministered medicine to me, and watched over me with all the kindness of\na father. If I had been his only son he could not have treated me more\ntenderly. When he was under the necessity of being absent, his traveling\ncompanion, Thomas Lasley, continued with me, and was very attentive and\nkind. The family we put up with were all kindness and affection. What a\ndebt of gratitude I owe them! \u201cI was a stranger, and they took me in.\u201d\n\nUnder God I owe the preservation of my life to Bishop M\u2019Kendree. Blessed\nman! I had often waited on him, for he was frequently an invalid. On\nhis first episcopal tour he was afflicted with asthma, and needed much\nattention, and it afforded me great pleasure when I could do anything to\nrelieve him. Sometimes he could not lie down, and suffered exceedingly.\nAnd yet I have often thought his continental tours were a great benefit\nto him, and prolonged his life. The open air and the exercise on\nhorseback did him good.\n\nOn Wednesday, the 14th, I was able to go to the conference room. Then I\nheard Bishop Asbury preach an ordination sermon from \u201cLo, I am with you\nalway,\u201d etc. It was full of instruction and encouragement to Christian\nministers. Immediately after the sermon Bishop M\u2019Kendree ordained\nthe elders. In the afternoon I heard a profitable sermon from Edward\nDromgoole.\n\nThe next day at noon the conference adjourned, and immediately Bishop\nAsbury and I started for Richmond. I left Petersburgh with a heart\noverwhelmed with gratitude. I wrote, \u201cThe Lord made use of Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree in saving my life. May the Lord abundantly bless him; also this\nkind family.\u201d\n\nForward we went to Richmond, then to Fredericksburgh, through heavy\nrain and deep mud, not the best weather for an invalid. Here the bishop\npreached. Onward through Dumfries, one of the oldest places in Virginia.\nMud, mud, mud! deeper, and still deeper, till we were in danger of being\nstuck.\n\nAt Alexandria the bishop preached from, \u201cIf any man speak,\u201d etc. We went\nthence to Georgetown to Henry Foxall\u2019s. Speaking of Washington city, the\nbishop exclaimed, \u201cO what a world of bustle and show we have here!\u201d If he\nthought so in 1810, what would he think if he could revisit Washington\ncity in 1865?\n\nJesse Lee was then chaplain to the House of Representatives. I went with\nhim to the capitol. He first prayed in the House of Representatives,\nand then we went to the Senate, and there he offered prayer. He and\nthe chaplain to the Senate took turns, praying alternate weeks in both\nhouses. Lee was much respected as chaplain. His prayers at that time were\nshort, fervent, and patriotic.\n\nIn coming north with Bishop Asbury in 1810, at the south of Washington we\nmet John Randolph, that peculiar genius and unequaled orator of Roanoke.\nHe was riding, and had his dogs with him in the carriage. He always\nthought much of his dogs, and took them with him to Washington. His\ncomplexion was very dark, and his eyes were black.\n\nOn Saturday, February 24, we reached Baltimore, and put up with Sister\nDickins. Then I went to see my father, and he went with me to the\nBaltimore Conference. He loved to attend the conference, and wished\nanother interview with his life-time friends, Bishops Asbury and\nOtterbein.\n\nOn Lord\u2019s day I heard my aged father preach in Otterbein\u2019s Church from 1\nCor. iv, 20, \u201cFor the kingdom of God is not in word,\u201d etc. Of course it\nwas in German. At three o\u2019clock my colleague, Jacob Gruber, preached in\nOtterbein\u2019s Church, from John v, 25, on the spiritual resurrection. It\nwas a lovely sight to behold the venerable Otterbein, my aged father, and\nNewcomber, all together worshiping in such delightful harmony.\n\nOn Wednesday evening I preached at Otterbein\u2019s Church, on Matt. xi,\n28, 29, in my mother tongue. My father concluded with an impressive\nexhortation and prayer. This was my father\u2019s last visit to Baltimore,\nhis last interview with Otterbein, and the last time he ever attended an\nannual conference.\n\nTwelve were received on trial at this conference; among them John Davis,\nlong an ornament to the Baltimore Conference and a pillar in the temple\nof Methodism; and John W. Bond, the last traveling companion of Bishop\nAsbury. Among the elders ordained were Gerard Morgan, (father of N. J.\nB. and L. F. Morgan,) Job Guest, and Alfred Griffith, who has recently\nretired from the work. The bishop wrote thus: \u201cIf we want plenty of good\neating and new suits of clothes, let us come to Baltimore; but we want\nsouls.\u201d[27] This will give an idea of our entertainment in Baltimore.\n\nThe conference adjourned on Saturday, March 17, and Bishops Asbury and\nM\u2019Kendree, and my father and Thomas Lasley, immediately left for Perry\nHall, where Sister Gough treated us with the usual kindness.\n\nOn Monday we rode to Henry Watters\u2019s at Deer Creek. He was seventy-two\nyears old when we were there. He was a brother of William Watters, and in\nthis house William was born and converted. One of the earliest Methodist\nchurches in Maryland was erected on the farm of Henry Watters. It was\nin this chapel the famous conference was held in 1777,[28] when the\nEnglish preachers, with the exception of Mr. Asbury, gave up the field,\nand returned to their native country. The old homestead is still in\npossession of the family of Henry Watters, Esq., the oldest son. He is a\nclass-leader in the Church. What imperishable memories cluster around the\nsweet rural mansion where Pilmoor and Boardman, Coke and Asbury, so often\nlodged and prayed![29]\n\nThis was Bishop Asbury\u2019s last visit to Deer Creek and to the Watters\nfamily. He was here the year after he arrived in America, namely, 1772,\nand often afterward, and had witnessed thrilling scenes. He wrote\nmournfully, in his journal, \u201cI parted at Deer Creek (ah, when to meet\nagain!) with aged Father Boehm and my ancient friend, Henry Watters.\u201d It\nwas his last interview with his friend Watters. My father and the bishop\nmet but once more.\n\nI accompanied the bishop through the Peninsula before the session of the\nPhiladelphia Conference. On Thursday, at Elkton, I heard Bishop M\u2019Kendree\nand George Pickering preach. The latter was raising money for a church\nin Boston, so he came to the Peninsula, the garden of Methodism, for\nsympathy and funds. He found both, as the sequel will show. This was\nBishop M\u2019Kendree\u2019s first tour through the Peninsula. We went to Bohemia\nManor, where there was preaching, and we were entertained by Richard\nBassett.\n\nWe continued traveling and preaching every day. On Saturday at Friendship\nmeeting-house. Sunday, at Smyrna, Bishop Asbury preached from 2 Chron.\nxxxii, 25, 26, \u201cBut Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit\ndone unto him,\u201d etc. George Pickering spoke afterward, and then a noble\ncollection was taken for the Boston Chapel. Here Bishop Asbury wandered\namong the tombs, and his heart was affected as he looked at the graves of\nthose he loved, and with whom he had worshiped years before.\n\nOn Monday we were at Dover, and the bishop preached in the chapel.\nMournfully he wrote: \u201cMost of my old friends in this quarter have fallen\nasleep.\u201d We went to Barratt\u2019s Chapel, where George Pickering preached\non \u201cBy whom shall Jacob arise,\u201d etc.; then Bishop Asbury, on Heb. x,\n38. We stayed with Andrew Barratt, Esq., son of Philip Barratt. Onward\nwe went till we reached the Sound Chapel, and after the bishop preached\nwe stopped with my old friend, Arthur Williams. We had ridden fourteen\nhundred and sixty-six miles on horseback since we left Charleston.\n\nWe went to Snow Hill. The bishop wrote: \u201cLodged at Samuel Porter\u2019s, the\nsteward of the circuit; he is a solemn man in his appearance, as an\nofficial character ought to be.\u201d On Tuesday bishop M\u2019Kendree preached at\neleven at Captain Downing\u2019s, and Bishop Asbury at night.\n\nOn Wednesday, April 11, at Curtiss\u2019s Chapel, and then went to Francis\nWaters, Esq., at Potato Neck. He was a sterling man and a sterling\nMethodist. He was the father of Francis Waters, D.D., and of the wife of\nFreeborn Garrettson, Esq., of Rhinebeck, N. Y. The bishop here wrote:\n\u201cI rode to Francis Waters\u2019s at Potato Neck. They kept me busy: I must\npreach; I am senior; I have been long absent; some never expected to hear\nme again; possibly I may never come again. I am reminded that such and\nsuch I dandled in my lap. The rich, too, thirty years ago, would not let\nme approach them; now I visit and preach to them. And the Africans, dear\naffectionate souls, bond and free, I must preach to them.\u201d\n\nNext day we preached at Potato Neck, and lodged with Lazarus Maddox. He\nwas one of the best men I ever met with. On Monday Bishop Asbury preached\nat Ennalls\u2019s Chapel, and we dined with my early friend, the widow of\nHarry Ennalls. I have given but a part of this memorable tour through\nthe Peninsula. Everywhere the bishops were hailed as holy apostles,\neverywhere they preached with power.\n\nOn Thursday, April 18, the Philadelphia Conference commenced its session\nin Easton, Maryland. Here the early Methodist ministers were persecuted.\nJoseph Hartly was imprisoned, but he felt the \u201cword of God was not\nbound,\u201d and through the grates of his jail he \u201cpreached deliverance to\nthe captives,\u201d and many were converted, and the persecutors liberated the\nprisoner for fear he would convert the whole county.\n\nThere was a camp-meeting connected with the conference. There was much\nfeeling under a sermon preached by Bishop Asbury from 1 Peter ii, 21-23,\non the example of Jesus. A number were converted on the camp-ground.\n\nJohn Emory, afterward bishop, and Laurence Laurenson, were received\non trial with others. This was one of the most harmonious conferences\nI have ever attended. Bishop Asbury was delighted, as will appear by\nthe following: \u201cWhat a grand and glorious time we have had! how kind\nand affectionate the people!\u201d On Friday the conference adjourned. My\nappointment was read off thus: \u201cHenry Boehm travels with Bishop Asbury.\u201d\n\nOn Saturday we went to Henry Down\u2019s at Tuckahoe. Bishop Asbury and he\nwere bosom friends. We rode fifty miles this day to Dover, and Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree preached in the evening. We stayed at Richard Bassett\u2019s. Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree preached at Dover on Sunday, the 22d, at eleven, and Asbury\nimmediately after. Then I went to Smyrna, and Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached\nthere. Have such laborious bishops been seen since the days of the\napostles?\n\nWe went to Chester, where Bishop Asbury preached the funeral sermon\nof Mary Withey. Chester is the most ancient town and county seat in\nPennsylvania. Very early William Penn was here, and Whitefield preached\nin this place to thousands. Here lived Mary Withey. She was a woman of\nsuperior talents, and kept one of the best public houses in America. As\nearly as 1798 I was her guest with Dr. Chandler, and was often at her\nhouse in after years. Her husband during the Revolutionary War was for\nKing George; she was for America, a decided Whig. Washington was often\nher guest, and she took great pains to entertain him well, Mr. Asbury\nearly became acquainted with her, and in 1800 was at her house with\nBishop Whatcoat, and he wrote thus: \u201cOn Saturday we dined with Mary\nWithey, now raised above her doubts, and rejoicing in God. Through her\ninstrumentality a small society is raised up in Chester, and she hath fed\nthe Lord\u2019s prophets twenty-eight or more years.\u201d What a splendid eulogy\nupon Mary! Now we have there a membership of over three hundred, a very\npleasant station. What would the old landlady say if she could revisit\nChester and contrast the present with the past?\n\nMr. Asbury went eighteen miles out of his way to preach the funeral\nsermon of Mary Withey. This he did in the Chester Church May 5, 1810.\nHe makes the following interesting record: \u201cShe was awakened to a\ndeep inquiry respecting the salvation of her soul while I officiated\nat her house in family prayer. This was in 1772, on my first journey\nto Maryland. She had lived twelve years a wife, forty-four years a\nwidow, and for the last thirty years kept one of the best houses of\nentertainment on the continent. In her household management she had\nMartha\u2019s anxieties, to which she added the spirit and humility of\nMary. Her religious experience has been checkered by doubts and happy\nconfidence. She slept in Jesus.\u201d\n\n\nNORTHERN TOUR TO PITTSFIELD, NEW YORK CONFERENCE.\n\nWe made a visit to Burlington, N. J., to James Sterling\u2019s. A whole\nvolume might be written concerning this estimable man and his family.\nIt is difficult now to appreciate the position they once occupied. James\nSterling was a prince in our Israel.\n\nHaving the company of George Pickering we went to New Brunswick, where\nBishop Asbury preached in the court-house to three hundred people. We\nhad no house of worship, and there was but one family that entertained\nMethodist preachers. It was a family by the name of Poole, who made us\nvery welcome. It was years after before we got much of a foothold in\nthis beautiful place. The Rev. Charles Pitman was the first stationed\npreacher, and he was favored with a glorious revival. He was then in his\nprime, and he helped to give character and stability to Methodism in New\nBrunswick. Now we have three flourishing Churches there.\n\nThe next day we went to New York and stayed with John Mills, Esq.\nBishop Asbury preached in old John-street. He made this record in his\njournal: \u201cWe are in New York. Great times here. Two new houses within\nthe year.[30] I preached in old John-street. This is the thirty-ninth\nyear I have officiated within the walls. This house must come down, and\nsomething larger and better occupy its place.\u201d\n\nIt did not come down, however, till the venerable bishop was in his\ngrave. It was not till May 13, 1817, the old walls were demolished after\nan appropriate address by Rev. Daniel Ostrander. Then it was not done\nwithout powerful opposition; but the energetic William Thacher succeeded\nin raising the necessary funds for the new edifice. Now the third church\nedifice occupies the site.\n\nOn Saturday we left New York and went to Sherwood Vale, the next\nmorning to White Plains, and the bishop preached from Heb. vi, 9, 10.\nMethodism was early introduced into White Plains, which is the county\ntown of Westchester. Indeed this has been one of its strongholds.\nHere a memorable battle was fought during the Revolution, and here is\n\u201cWashington\u2019s headquarters;\u201d and in the very room Washington occupied the\nfirst Methodist sermon in the town was preached, and the first Methodist\nclass formed.[31]\n\nOn Monday we left for Pittsfield, Mass. We reached Amenia, and put up\nwith Father Ingraham. Amenia has been a stronghold for Methodism many\nyears, and we have here an excellent seminary. Two annual conferences\nhave been held here. The Ingrahams, the Hunts, and others have been\nstrong pillars of Methodism in this place.\n\nWe passed on to Lenox, Mass., which is indeed a gem among the mountains,\nand then to Pittsfield. We put up during the conference at John Ward\u2019s.\nWe have ridden from Charleston more than two thousand miles. This would\nbe but little by railroad or steamboat, but much to perform on horseback,\nas any one would find out by trying it.\n\nHere lived the excellent Robert Green, who was a Methodist preacher\nof the old stamp and brother of Lemuel. Methodism was introduced into\nPittsfield in 1790. The first Methodist sermon was preached by Freeborn\nGarrettson. The Rev. Robert Green formed the first society in this place.\nHe was the main pillar of the society and ornament to the Church, and an\nhonor to Methodism.\n\nBoth Bishop Asbury and M\u2019Kendree were at the conference. On Saturday\nevening I heard Francis Ward preach. He was an excellent brother, a fine\npenman, and for several years secretary of the New York Conference. On\nSabbath morning Bishop Asbury preached from Phil. iii, 17-21; Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree in the afternoon.\n\nBishop M\u2019Kendree presided at the conference most of the time. The\nbrethren were not as familiar with his method as Bishop Asbury\u2019s, and at\nfirst it did not go very smoothly. He was more systematic; but they soon\ngot used to his ways, and most highly esteemed him.\n\nThe conference lamented the loss of one of its brightest ornaments, the\nRev. John Wilson. He was a very pure spirit. He was book agent, and I\nused to do business with him and also correspond with him, as I attended\nto the interest of the Book Room. He was a Christian gentleman, an able\npreacher, a superior scholar, a good penman and accountant, and an able\nbusinessman. He died suddenly of asthma in New York city, January 28,\n1810. His brethren say such were his excellences that even envy itself\nmust be turned into praise, and malice and hatred into veneration.\n\nHalf a century has made a great change in the members of the New York\nConference. Of the eighty-four who were present in 1810 but two remain,\nLaban Clark and Marvin Richardson. Fourteen were received on trial, among\nothers Arnold Scolefield and Tobias Spicer.\n\nThe conference adjourned on Saturday, but the bishops and several of the\nministers remained over Sabbath. We were the guests of the venerable\nRobert Green.\n\nOn Sabbath Daniel Hitt preached from \u201cWe have not received the spirit of\nbondage,\u201d etc.; and Bishop M\u2019Kendree, in the Congregational Church, in\nthe afternoon, from John viii, 31, 32, on Christian Freedom.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\nNEW ENGLAND AND GENESEE CONFERENCES OF 1810.\n\n\nOn Monday we left Pittsfield (the most beautiful inland town in the\nUnited States) for Winchester, New Hampshire, the seat of the New England\nConference. We went over the perpetual hills and descended beautiful\nvalleys, crossing the Connecticut River, and on Thursday reached\nWinchester, and were the welcome guests of Caleb Alexander. There was\nbut one Methodist family in the village. He was a large-hearted man, and\nhad petitioned to have the conference hold its session there, pledging\nhimself they should be well entertained. His own house and his neighbors\u2019\nwere filled, and he paid the board of others. He was a noble-hearted man,\nand the preachers were delighted with him and their entertainment.\n\nBishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree were both present, and presided alternately\nat the conference. There was a general fast held by several of the\nconferences on Friday, and we religiously observed it till six o\u2019clock in\nthe evening. Bishop Asbury regularly observed his fasts whether ordered\nby conferences or not. It was his practice to abstain every Friday.\n\nOn Sunday, June 3, the bishop preached in the morning and I in the\nevening. He says: \u201cI think my words pierced the hearts of some like a\nsword. I neither spared myself nor my hearers.\u201d\n\nOn Wednesday, June 6, the New England Conference for 1810 commenced in\nthe Congregational meeting-house.\n\nThere was a camp-meeting held in connection with it, about three miles\ndistant, and they had preaching there three times a day during its\nsession.\n\nOn Sunday the 10th Bishop Asbury preached with life and energy; after\nwhich six deacons and twelve elders were ordained. There were about\nfifteen hundred persons present. Six sermons were preached that day.\n\nOn Monday morning, after the bishops had delivered their valedictory\naddresses, which were distinguished for appropriateness and pathos,\nBishop Asbury read off the appointments of eighty-seven preachers, who\nall went cheerfully to their work in the spirit of their Master.\n\nWe left Winchester and went to Waltham, and on the 16th Bishop Asbury,\nGeorge Pickering, and myself went to Boston, and were the guests of the\nRev. Elijah Sabin, the stationed preacher. The new chapel was greatly in\ndebt, and Brother Pickering had been south soliciting funds; and yet,\nsuch were the pressing wants of the Church, that while we were in Boston\nBishop Asbury wrote five letters supplicating a collection for the new\nchapel, namely, to Baltimore, Georgetown, Alexandria, Norfolk, and\nCharleston, and I believe they all responded.\n\nWe visited Newport, and in the afternoon I went with Brother Daniel Webb\n(now the oldest effective preacher in the world) to Fort Wolcott. On\nSunday the 24th we had preaching three times. The bishop preached to the\nsoldiers at the fort.\n\nOn Monday we crossed the Narraganset Bay, and then went to Stonington,\nConn. I do not wonder at its name, for the ground is literally covered\nwith stones. We crossed the Thames. We found a home at friend Douglass\u2019s,\nand the bishop preached in the evening.\n\nHere for the first time Bishop Asbury saw a copy of Jesse Lee\u2019s History\nof Methodism. It made the bishop nervous, as will be seen by the record\nhe made at the time in his journal: \u201cIt is better than I expected. He\nhas not always presented me under the most honorable aspect. We are\nall liable to mistakes, and I am unmoved by his. I correct him in one\nfact. My compelled seclusion in the beginning of the war in the State of\nDelaware was in no wise a season of inactivity. On the contrary, except\nabout two months of retirement from the direst necessity, it was the\nmost active, the most useful, the most afflictive part of my life. If\nI spent a few dumb Sabbaths, if I did not for a short time steal after\ndark, or through the gloom of the woods, as was my wont, from house to\nhouse to enforce that truth I, an only child, had left father and mother\nto proclaim, I shall not be blamed, I hope, when it is known my patron,\ngood and respectable Thomas White, who promised me security and secresy,\nwas himself taken into custody by the light horse patrol. If such things\nhappened to him what might I expect, a fugitive and an Englishman? In\nthese many years we added eighteen hundred members to society, and laid\na broad and deep foundation for the wonderful success Methodism has\nmet with in that quarter. The children and the children\u2019s children of\nthose who witnessed my labor and my sufferings in that day of peril and\naffliction now rise up by hundreds to bless me. Where are the witnesses\nthemselves? Alas! there remain not five perhaps whom I could summon to\nattest the truth of this statement.\u201d\n\nI do not think Mr. Lee meant to censure the bishop,[32] but others have,\nand I am thankful we have the bishop\u2019s explanations and his admirable\ndefense.\n\nOne who has recently written says, \u201cIt was a question painfully revolved\nin the mind of Mr. Asbury whether or not he ought to have thus concealed\nhimself from his enemies. It is certain that in this he was not imitating\nthe Saviour, who went forth to meet Judas and his band in the garden;\nneither was he following the example of the apostles, who went forward in\ntheir work, although forbidden by the Jewish Council; nor did he exhibit\nthe courage of Wesley in the days of mob violence in England, nor yet\nthat of Abbott, Garrettson, and Hartley, who dared to meet their worst\nfoes. It seems that his prudence prevailed over his faith.\u201d[33]\n\nDoes my friend Lednum mean to accuse Francis Asbury of cowardice? If he\ndoes, the bishop\u2019s explanation is a defense against all attacks until the\nend of time.\n\nWe left New London on Wednesday, June 27, and went to Hebron, riding six\nhours in the rain. The bishop seldom stopped for rain, even if it came in\ntorrents. He preached in the evening.\n\nThe next day we rode to East Glastenbury, and put up with Jeremiah\nStocking. He was one of the oldest and most distinguished local preachers\nin New England. His ministry extended over a period of sixty years. He\nwas the first to open his doors in that part of the country to receive\nthe Methodist preachers; he was the father of the Methodist society in\nthe town. He died in holy joy March 23, 1853, aged eighty-five, his wife\nand eight children following on in the path made smooth by his feet and\nwet by his tears. Brother Stocking wrote many interesting articles while\nDr. Bond was editor, entitled \u201cSketches of my Life,\u201d and dated \u201cPilgrim\u2019s\nTent, on the Banks of Jordan.\u201d\n\nSaturday we rode through Hartford to Middletown amid a heavy\nthunder-storm. At Hartford we were like Noah\u2019s dove: had no place for\nthe sole of our foot, and it was the day of small things at Middletown.\nWe rode one hundred and eighty-six miles this week. We spent the Sabbath\nin Middletown, and were entertained at Brother Eggleston\u2019s. The bishop\npreached in the morning from 1 Cor. xv, 5-8; I preached at three o\u2019clock\nfrom Acts iii, 19; the bishop again at six from \u201cBehold, now is the\naccepted time,\u201d etc. There was a small congregation both morning and\nafternoon; but who hath despised the day of small things? Could the\nbishop have foreseen the growth of the Church in Hartford and Middletown,\nand especially that noble institution, the Wesleyan University, which has\nbeen such a blessing to our Church, how would his great soul have thanked\nGod and taken courage! Its first president, the seraphic Fisk, who sleeps\nin the beautiful cemetery on the hill, was then a youth of eighteen, and\nwas not licensed to preach till eight years after; and Stephen Olin, of\nblessed memory, was then a lad in his father\u2019s house in Vermont, and\nit was not till twelve years after our visit to Middletown he became a\nMethodist minister.\n\nThe bishop had been at Middletown several times before. He was there as\nearly as June, 1791. He preached in the meeting-house belonging to the\nStanding Order, and then after preaching rode a mile out of town to get\nlodging. Bishop Whatcoat was with him there in the month of May, 1803,\nand preached at five o\u2019clock on Sunday in \u201cthe Separate Meeting-house.\u201d\nWhen he had finished his sermon the old women controverted his doctrine\nof sanctification.\n\nOn Monday we went to Burlington. The bishop preached, and he shaved very\nclose. On through Goshen, next to Sharon, where we were the guests of\nAlpheus Jewett, a wealthy farmer. He was a large man, with much native\ndignity. He was the father of the late Rev. William Jewett.\n\nBishop Asbury preached at Brother Jewett\u2019s from Heb. iv, 11-16. Our\nmeeting-house was a mile from the village, among a huge pile of rocks.\nOur fathers were not Solomons in regard to the sites of their churches.\nNow we have a neat brick church in the village.\n\nThursday, July 5, brought us to Amenia, and to Thomas Ingraham\u2019s,\njust where we were May 17; and think what a round we had taken in the\nintervening six weeks. One would have thought that the bishop might\nhave rested a little from his incessant toil after he had attended the\nconference in Winchester; but no, he never thought of resting till he\nrested in Abraham\u2019s bosom, or of locating till in the neighborhood of the\nthrone of God.\n\nThe next day he preached at John Row\u2019s meeting-house in Milan. The old\nman still lives, and has consecrated his money to God by building a\nchurch and parsonage.[34] Here we met Freeborn Garrettson and Daniel\nHitt, and went with them to Rhinebeck.\n\nOn Monday, July 16, Bishop Asbury, Daniel Hitt, William Jewett, and I\nstarted for the Genesee Conference. William Jewett was then a youth\nof uncommon beauty and promise. We crossed the Hudson, passed through\nKingston, (formerly Esopus, originally settled by the Huguenots,) then to\nDurham, over the mountains, to New Sharon, to a camp-meeting under the\ncharge of Henry Stead.\n\nOn Thursday we fired three guns in quick succession. Bishop Asbury\npreached first; then Daniel Hitt, without any intermission; and as soon\nas he sat down I preached in German. There was a good number of Germans\npresent (many of them Lutherans) who were permitted to sit near the\nstand and hear in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. They were\ndelighted. They had supposed the difference in the effect of Methodist\npreaching from that of their own ministers was in the language. They\nthought the English expressed the Gospel better. But when the power of\nGod came upon the people, and tears flowed down many cheeks under German\npreaching, they were convinced the difference was not in the language,\nbut in the manner of communication; the one formal, the other spiritual.\nQuite a revival followed, and a number of preachers were raised up. This\nmeeting was held near Cherry Valley.\n\nWe spent the Sabbath at Cazenovia. Bishop Asbury, Brother Hitt, and\nI, preached, and William Jewett exhorted. The services were held in\nSilas Blass\u2019s barn. It would have been a glorious vision of the future\ncould Bishop Asbury have foreseen the future prosperity of Methodism in\nCazenovia and the noble seminary of learning erected there.\n\nOn Monday we reached Daniel Dorsey\u2019s, at Lyons, about sunset. We had\nrode two hundred and sixty-one miles from Rhinebeck. Daniel Dorsey, a\nMethodist of the old stamp, was originally from Maryland, and a Methodist\nthere. He had a large farm and a large heart. His house was a home where\nthe weary itinerant delighted to rest. He was steward of the circuit and\na local preacher.\n\n\nFORMATION OF GENESEE CONFERENCE.\n\nAs Bishop Asbury was severely censured for organizing this conference,\nand as it produced much agitation at the time, so that several annual\nconferences and the General Conference of 1812 took action upon it, I\nwill give a brief sketch of it, showing that what Bishop Asbury did was\nworthy of all praise, and that, like Mr. Wesley, he was far-seeing, and\ncould plan for the future.\n\nPrevious to its formation, the preachers on the Susquehanna District, in\nWestern New York, (eighteen in number,) belonged to the Philadelphia\nConference, and it was a long distance to go to conference on horseback,\nwhich was then their usual mode of traveling; so also the preachers in\nCanada and Cayuga District, who belonged to New York Conference. Mr.\nAsbury believed there was a more excellent way for both preachers and\npeople. Much time was lost, and the work on circuits suffered by the long\nabsence of the preachers. Bishop Asbury, with almost a prophet\u2019s eye,\nforesaw the growth and prosperity of Western New York; that it would be\nthe garden of the Empire State, and the garden of Methodism.\n\nIn 1809, while the bishop and I were passing through the Genesee country,\nas we were riding along he said to me, \u201cHenry, things do not go right\nhere. There must be a Genesee Conference;\u201d and then he went on to assign\nhis reasons. The bishop then planned the conference and its boundaries in\nhis own mind, and proceeded afterward to carry his purpose into effect.\nThe new conference was composed of four districts, namely, Susquehanna,\nCayuga, and Upper and Lower Canada, and it was to hold its first session\nin Lyons, Ontario County, July 20, 1810.\n\nThis act of the bishop gave great dissatisfaction to many of the\npreachers, not of the Genesee, but of other conferences. James Smith and\nJesse Lee were greatly displeased. The former said \u201cit gave evidence of\nthe increasing infirmities of age in Bishop Asbury; that he was in his\ndotage,\u201d etc.; others considered it an unauthorized assumption of power;\nand some said \u201cit was cruel, setting off these preachers to starve.\u201d I\njustified him, and said \u201cI thought it one of the best official acts of\nthe bishop, and that in a few years Genesee Conference would be one of\nthe richest in the Union.\u201d How far I was right may be easily seen. It\ncertainly was the best thing that could have been done for the Methodists\nin Western New York. The plan originated with Bishop Asbury, who was\nbetter acquainted with the state of things in that part of the country\nthan his colleague; but Bishop M\u2019Kendree concurred in it, and therefore\nreceived his share of the censure. But very nobly some of the conferences\nvindicated the bishops, for most of them took action upon it. That the\nbishops were perfectly justifiable is evident from the fact that in 1796\na proviso had been inserted in the Discipline in these words: \u201cProvided\nthat the bishops shall have authority to appoint other yearly conferences\nin the interval of the General Conference, if a sufficiency of new\ncircuits be anywhere formed for that purpose.\u201d This was re-enacted at\neach succeeding conference, with a slight change, until 1832; therefore\nthe bishop\u2019s act was constitutional, and there was no reason to complain\nof \u201cassumed powers,\u201d etc.\n\nAt the Virginia Conference of 1810 this important question was asked:\n\u201cWhether the bishops had a right to form the eighth, or Genesee\nConference?\u201d The bishop had no difficulty in answering this question\nin the affirmative. It will be seen, however, that the \u201cright\u201d was\nquestioned.\n\nBishop Asbury, after the first session of the Genesee Conference, makes\nthe following record: \u201cIf the cry of \u2018want of order\u2019 came from God, the\nappointment of the Genesee Conference was one of the most judicious acts\nof the episcopacy. We stationed sixty-three preachers, and cured some\ntill then incurable cases.\u201d\n\nThe New York Conference took action on the subject and nobly vindicated\nthe bishops. I cannot withhold their preamble and resolutions, which do\nthem so much honor, especially as they never have been published:\n\n\u201cWhereas, doubts have been entertained in the minds of some of our\nbrethren respecting the constitutionality and necessity of the Genesee\nConference. Our opinion being requested on the subject, after mature\ndeliberation, we are of opinion that the constituting of that conference\nis perfectly conformable to the spirit and letter of our form of\ndiscipline, and calculated to facilitate the work of God, and spread\nthe Redeemer\u2019s kingdom, in the convincing, conviction, conversion, and\nestablishing immortal souls in the precious truths of the blessed Gospel;\nand also we are of opinion that our venerable superintendents have acted\njudiciously therein, and entirely under the authority our discipline has\nvested in them, and therefore recommend the adoption of the following\nresolutions:\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 1, That we consider the appointment of the Genesee\nConference to be perfectly consistent with the spirit and letter of\nour form of discipline; and that the superintendents have assumed no\nillegitimate power, or forfeited any of the confidence reposed in them.\u201d\nCarried.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 2, That, considering the extent of the Philadelphia and New\nYork Conferences, and the great increase of circuits since the bounds\nthereof were defined by the General Conference in 1800, which is about\nor fully double the number, we consider the appointment of the Genesee\nConference proper and necessary for the good of the connection.\u201d Carried.\n\n\u201c_Resolved_, 3, That we therefore recommend or advise the continuation of\nthat conference, and that we do pledge our mutual support to our bishops\nand superintendents therein.\u201d Carried.\n\nAt the General Conference of 1812 an address of several preachers of\nthe Genesee Conference on the subject was presented by Bishop M\u2019Kendree\non the 6th of May. A committee of eight was appointed, one from each\nconference. Ezekiel Cooper was chairman. The next day, May the 7th, the\nchairman presented the following resolution: \u201cMoved, that this General\nConference do consider that the Genesee Annual Conference is a legally\nconstituted and organized conference.\u201d It was carried unanimously.\n\nThe organization of the Genesee Conference was an era in the history of\nMethodism in Western New York. The first conference began on Friday.\nBoth Bishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree were present. There was a camp-meeting\nheld in connection with the conference. We had no meeting-house in Lyons\nthen, and the conference was held in Captain Dorsey\u2019s granary. There were\nsixty-three preachers present, among them some noble men: Anning Owen,\nmy old colleague, Benjamin Bidlack, and Gideon Draper. William Case,\nEbenezer White, Seth Mattison, and others were indeed pillars in our\nChurch.\n\nA more harmonious conference I never attended. Everything augured well\nfor the future prosperity of our Zion.\n\nOn Sunday Bishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree preached on the camp-ground. The\nword was quick and powerful.\n\nOn Wednesday about two o\u2019clock the conference adjourned, and the\npreachers, after shaking hands and exchanging plans, separated for their\nvarious fields of labor, to preach, to suffer, or to die. Most of them\nare now resting in Abraham\u2019s bosom.\n\nAfter dinner Bishop Asbury and I started on our journey. It was not his\ncustom to tarry after conference adjourned. He moved right on, and often\nhis horse was at the door and he was ready to commence his journey as\nsoon as the benediction was pronounced. He thus avoided importunity, and\nno one could have his appointment changed if he desired to, for no one\nknew where to find the bishop.\n\nWe commenced our southern and Western tour. Such a doleful, fearful\nride few bishops ever had, and it was one calculated to make the\ntraveler rejoice when at the end of his journey. Asbury at that time, in\nconsequence of infirmities, rode in a sulky and I on horseback. Sometimes\nI would ride before him and then in the rear. We would occasionally\nchange when he was tired, or the roads very rough.\n\nThe first part of our journey was very pleasant. We had the company of\nAnning Owen, the apostle of Methodism in Wyoming, who was not only good\ncompany but a good guide. He went with us to Tioga Point, and then we\nparted with him reluctantly. Brother Owen went to Wyoming, and we took\nthe route for Northumberland. We soon got lost in the wilderness, and\nneeded a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to guide us. Then a\nfine gentleman, by the name of Coles, piloted us five miles, and helped\nus out of our difficulty.\n\nWe had been accustomed to muddy roads, rocks, hills, mountains, gulfs,\nrapids, dangerous streams, but this route excelled them all for\ndifficulty and danger. We traveled several hours in the rain and gained\nnine miles. We came to Elder\u2019s Inn, where, though not a very desirable\nplace, we were glad to put up. It poured all night. The next morning we\nproceeded through the solitary woods, that had been the abode of Indians,\nand where the wild beast still found a home, through deep mud, over\nhuge rocks and lofty hills, down deep gulleys, to where two branches of\nthe Elk waters formed a junction. The current being so rapid we thought\nit not safe to venture over; but we soon perceived that the water was\nfalling, and in about an hour and a half we passed over in safety.\n\nOf this journey Bishop Asbury makes the following mournful record: \u201cWe\nmust needs come the Northumberland road; it is an awful wilderness.\nAlas! Read and prayed in the woods. I leave the rest to God. In the last\nthree days and a half we have ridden one hundred and forty miles. What\nmountains, hills, rocks, roots! Brother Boehm was thrown from the sulky,\nbut providentially not a bone broken.\u201d This record needs no comment. It\nmakes me weep when I look back and remember how patiently he suffered.\nI was suddenly thrown from the sulky and might have been killed, but as\nthe bishop said I was providentially preserved, or I might have found a\ngrave in the wilderness and left the poor infirm old man to have pursued\nhis journey alone. The road was so rough that Father Asbury could not\nride in the sulky; it jolted and hurt him, so he and I exchanged, and he\nrode my horse and I in his vehicle. If he had been thrown out as I was\nhe probably would have been killed. No bone of mine was broken, and yet\nthe flesh was torn from my left leg so that I was a cripple for months. I\nsuffered more than if it had been broken. Riding on horseback with that\npoor leg, no language can describe my suffering.\n\nWe will resume our narrative, for we are not yet out of the woods. When\nwe reached the other side of the stream we fell in with a man by the name\nof John Brown. As it was dangerous for us to proceed, Mr. Brown kindly\ninvited us to his cabin. No endangered mariner was ever more glad to get\ninto harbor than we were to find a shelter, for houses in that wilderness\nwere very \u201cfew and far between.\u201d\n\nBut the reader must not suppose Mr. Brown\u2019s cabin was close at hand,\nand that all we had to do was to enter it. We had to cross the creek\ntwice, and that with great difficulty and danger, and then tug our way\nup an exceedingly high mountain in the heart of the wilderness before we\nreached his cottage. When we arrived there we found he had no wife, nor\nchildren, nor housekeeper. He did his own cooking and washing. John Brown\nwas a hermit. He was an Englishman who, for some reason, had chosen this\nsecluded spot where he lived, four miles from any other dwelling. His\ncabin was pleasant, and he most cheerfully divided his coarse fare with\nus.\n\nWe felt much at home, and the after part of this day we were employed in\nreading, meditation, and prayer. We spent the Sabbath very differently\nfrom what we had generally done. It was what Mr. Asbury used to call a\n\u201cdumb Sabbath.\u201d What added to the gloom, it rained all the day and night.\nBy the fall out of the carriage the day before I was more injured than I\nthought for at first; my left leg was bruised and torn and much inflamed,\nand I was very lame.\n\nBut onward we must move. So on Monday, July 30, we began to descend the\nmountain, and our kind friend John Brown accompanied us to the shore of\nthe creek, which we found considerably higher than the day before, being\nswollen by the rain. As it was dangerous to attempt to cross, we took the\nback track, our host inviting us to return to his cabin and stay till it\nwas safe to proceed on our journey. He did everything he could to make\nus comfortable and happy. I have put up in palaces, but never felt more\ncomfortable and grateful than in the humble cabin of John Brown.\n\nAs the storm had abated the next morning we bade a final adieu to our\npleasant home in the wilderness, and began to descend the mountain; but\nour kind friend and benefactor would not permit us to go alone. He went\nwith us five miles, in which distance we crossed the waters of the Elk\nseven times. John Brown\u2019s hospitality was worthy of patriarchal times. To\nus it was a heaven-send, for if we had been obliged to remain at a tavern\nduring that time we stayed with him we should have been bankrupt, for\nBishop Asbury and myself had only two dollars. I know, for I carried the\npurse.\n\nWith grateful hearts we bade adieu to the hermit, and proceeded on our\nperilous journey. After dining at Hill\u2019s Inn we crossed the stream,\nwhich was full of drift logs. The wheels were taken from our carriage,\nand they and the body placed in a canoe, in which we also got, and were\nrowed over by two men, while our horses were obliged to swim across. The\nstream was swollen and the waters rapid, but fortunately we all reached\nin safety the other shore; then we had to put on our wheels to get our\nsulky in order to prepare for our journey. I was lame and the bishop\nfeeble. To add to the gloom, clouds gathered over us dark and heavy. It\nthundered and lightened, and the rain fell in torrents, and when we were\nover the stream to begin our journey we had to ascend a rough, high,\ncraggy mountain; but as Mr. Asbury wrote, \u201cGod brought us in safety to\nMuddy Creek. Deep roads and swollen streams we had enough on our route to\nNorthumberland on Wednesday.\u201d\n\nNorthumberland is a pleasant, quiet, romantic place on the Susquehanna.\nThe distinguished Dr. Joseph Priestley spent the evening of life here,\nand died in 1804, aged seventy. He was a splendid scholar, and a great\nman; but how different his life, labors, and influence from that of the\napostolic Asbury. They both were adopted citizens of America; both died\nat the age of seventy.\n\nOn Friday, after an unparalleled week of toil and suffering, we reached\nMiddletown, Pa., and took dinner with our old friend Dr. Romer. A number\nof the neighbors heard of the bishop\u2019s arrival and came to see him, and\nurged him to preach; but he had only time to pray with them, and say\n\u201cfarewell.\u201d But it was very refreshing, after having for so long put up\nat miserable taverns, and been among strangers, and through such perils,\nto meet with so many familiar faces and kind friends.\n\nIn the afternoon we journeyed on to my father\u2019s. My aged parents embraced\nme with joy, while I felt \u201cthere is no place like home.\u201d Bishop Asbury\nand my father gave to each other the kiss of affection, and mutually\nencircled each other in their arms. That day we rode fifty miles. From\nCharleston to my father\u2019s house we had traveled two thousand two hundred\nand twenty-five miles. The bishop preached on Saturday evening at\n\u201cBoehm\u2019s Chapel.\u201d\n\nHis letters were generally sent to the care of my father, and at his\nhouse he answered them, so he was generally busy with his pen after our\narrival home. He found fifteen letters waiting this time, and he answered\nthem all on Saturday.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\nANNUAL TOUR, 1810\u2014WESTERN CONFERENCE.\n\n\nAfter an absence of months I remained at home one day and two nights, and\nthe bishop said, \u201cHenry, we must move.\u201d My father and sister and many\nothers went with us to Lancaster, where, on the fifth of August, we had a\ngreat day. The bishop even felt an interest in this place, where we had\nsuch a hard time to obtain a foothold. He preached morning and evening,\nJames Smith at three, and I immediately after him in German. The bishop\nrejoiced to see such a comfortable house of worship here, and wrote:\n\u201cAfter forty years\u2019 labor we have a neat little chapel of our own.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood-by,\u201d I said to my friends, and at noon on Monday we were at\nColumbia, where the bishop preached. I was lame, and the lameness was\nincreasing; but I did not name it to my parents lest they should urge\nme to stay home, or worry about me when I was gone; therefore I bore\nmy sufferings in silence. From Columbia we went to York. Methodism was\nintroduced here in 1781 by Freeborn Garrettson. On Wednesday to Carlisle,\nwhere the bishop drew up a plan for a new meeting-house, and answered\ntwenty letters.\n\nThe bishop preached in Shippensburgh from Gal. vi, 9, then we went to\nChambersburgh. We had there a neat little chapel in the town, but the\nbishop preached in the court-house, as it would hold more people. Bishop\nAsbury made but two visits to this place, and I was with him on both\noccasions, the one in 1810, the other in 1811.\n\nThe next day our ride was terrible over three lofty mountains, and we\nwere under the rays of an August sun, and I suffering almost martyrdom\nwith my lame leg. James Hunter kindly escorted us to Fort Littleton, and\ntook us to his own house, and treated us as if we were angels. The bishop\nsays, \u201cOn Sunday, August 12, at Littleton Chapel, I preached, and we\nadministered the sacrament; but as my aid was lame the labor fell on me.\nThough wearied and sore with traveling I enjoyed a gracious season.\u201d\n\nI was so lame and in such misery that I was advised to remain at home;\nbut lame or not lame, bright and early the next morning we were on our\njourney to Bloody Run, and though it rained, we reached it at three\no\u2019clock. After having changed our wet garments the bishop preached at\nfour from Luke xiii, 12, and as soon as he had done I preached in German\nfrom John iii, 19, and at night I preached again in English from Acts\nx, 35, and Joshua Monroe exhorted. It was a time of power, and we had a\nshout in the camp.\n\nWe preached at Bomerdollar\u2019s tavern. There were seven of his family who\nprofessed to belong to the household of faith. It is not often there\nis as much salt in a public house. There is generally no room for the\nSaviour at the inn.\n\nThe roads next day were intolerable. The bishop said, \u201cI enter my\nprotest, as I have yearly for forty years, against this road.\u201d In the\nevening we reached Connellsville, in Fayette County, one hundred and\nthirty-four miles from Chambersburgh. It was so called from Zachariah\nConnell, who laid it out seventy years ago. Mr. Asbury must have felt a\nlittle sad when he wrote, \u201cO what a life is this! My aid is lame, and I\nam obliged to drive.\u201d It will also be seen how the bishop employed his\ntime, and how deeply he felt for the Germans, for he adds: \u201cPeople call\nme by my name as they pass me on the road, and I hand them a religious\ntract in German or in English, or I call at a door for a glass of water,\nand leave a little pamphlet. How can I be useful? I am old and feeble\nand sick, and can do but little; and the poor Germans! they are as sheep\nwithout a shepherd.\u201d\n\nOn Saturday we reached Brownsville. This is where the old Redstone fort\nwas. We then went to Pike Run camp-meeting, on Jacob Gruber\u2019s district,\nin Washington County. This county was the hotbed of the famous \u201cWhisky\nRebellion.\u201d There were one hundred tents and four or five hundred people\nencamped on the ground. Sunday was a high day. There were three thousand\npeople in the grove. I opened the campaign in the morning by preaching\nfrom Acts x, 35 at eleven, and in the evening Bishop Asbury preached, and\nin the afternoon Jacob Gruber.\n\nIn reference to this meeting Bishop Asbury says, \u201cThere were very wicked\npeople there, I learned, who desperately libeled Brother M\u2019Kendree and\nthe preachers, and committed other abominable offenses. On Monday I was\ncalled upon to preach in the morning. I took occasion to give a solemn\nwarning to certain sons of Belial that they would be watched, and their\nnames published. I felt much, but God was in the word.\u201d He was very\npointed, and it had a good effect upon the sons of Belial.\n\nFriday, August 26, brought us to Pittsburgh. Bishop Asbury visited\nthis town as early as July, 1789. The population in 1786 was only five\nhundred. It was a little settlement when Mr. Asbury first visited it, and\nwhen we were there in 1810 there were only five thousand inhabitants.\nOn his first visit he wrote: \u201cI preached in the evening to a serious\naudience. This is a day of very small things. What can we hope? yet what\ncan we fear? I felt great love to the people, and hope God will arise\nto help and bless them.\u201d He remained in Pittsburgh several days on that\nvisit. He preached on Monday, and says the people were attentive; \u201cbut,\nalas! they are far from God, and too near the savages in situation and\nmanners.\u201d This must have been the introduction of Methodism in Pittsburgh.\n\nMore than a dozen years rolled away before Asbury visited Pittsburgh\nagain; that was in August, 1803, the year I traveled with him almost to\nthis place, and then returned. On Sunday, August 27, 1803, the bishop\npreached in the court-house in the morning from 1 Chron. vii, 14 to about\nfour hundred people. He says, \u201cI would have preached again, but the\nEpiscopalians occupied the house. I come once in twelve years, but they\ncould not consent to give way for me. It is time we had a house of our\nown. I think I have seen a lot which will answer to build upon.\u201d\n\nWe put up with John Wrenshall. On Sunday the bishop preached on the\nfoundation of the new meeting-house at nine o\u2019clock to about five hundred\nhearers. Text, Mark xi, 17, \u201cMy house shall be called of all nations the\nhouse of prayer,\u201d etc. I exhorted. At two o\u2019clock I preached at Brother\nCooper\u2019s house from 1 John iii, 1, \u201cBehold what manner,\u201d etc. At five\nAsbury preached again on the foundation of our Church to a thousand\npeople. The bishop adds: \u201cThe society here is lively and increasing in\nnumbers, and the prospect still is good in this borough.\u201d\n\nOn Monday morning we left Pittsburgh, piloted for a few miles by John\nWrenshall.\n\nThe next day we reached John Beck\u2019s. There I carved my name on a tree,\nwith the date of our being there. The old tree may still be standing\nto witness that Henry Boehm was there the 30th of August, 1810, over\nfifty years ago; but where is our host, his family, and his guests? They\nhave fallen; I am left alone. On we traveled to a camp-meeting at Little\nKanawha. James Quin was presiding elder of the district where it was\nheld. We were the guests of Richard Lee, brother of Rev. Wilson Lee.\n\nOn Sabbath morning, at eight o\u2019clock, I preached from Prov. xviii, 10.\nBishop Asbury at eleven, from 1 Tim. iv, 16, \u201cTake heed unto thyself,\nand unto the doctrine,\u201d etc.; after which he ordained John Holmes to the\noffice of an elder. There were a great many such ordinations wherever\nthe bishop traveled. It accommodated those who could not go far to\nconference. At three James Quin gave us a powerful sermon from 2 Thess.\ni, 7-10, on the second coming of Jesus. I preached again in the evening.\n\nOn Monday morning the Lord\u2019s supper was administered; after which the\nbishop preached a profitable discourse on 1 Peter v, 7-9.\n\nWe left the encampment, and I preached at Brother Wolf\u2019s, in German, from\nActs viii, 35. I had great liberty in speaking to a people who had not\nheard the Gospel in their mother tongue in ten or twelve years. Bishop\nAsbury held forth in English immediately after. James Quin continued with\nus several days, and he was most excellent company.\n\nOn Wednesday the bishop preached in the school-house on a bluff\nopposite Blennerhassett\u2019s Island. I saw the beautiful island where\nHarman Blennerhassett and his beautiful wife dwelt in most surpassing\nloveliness, till a blight came over this terrestrial Eden and destroyed\nit. The reader must be familiar with the melancholy history of this most\nunfortunate family.\n\nOn Tuesday we crossed the Ohio into Belpre, and put up at Mr. Browning\u2019s.\nThe lady of the house, who was from Old Connecticut, was delighted in\nentertaining a Methodist bishop. She conversed with him readily, and\nlamented the destitution of the West in regard to able preachers, and\nspoke of the elegant meeting-houses, pews, organs, singing, and the\ncharming preachers of the East. \u201cO bishop,\u201d said she, \u201cyou can\u2019t tell!\u201d\nThe bishop, delighted with her enthusiastic descriptions, exclaimed, \u201cO\nyes, yes, Old Connecticut for all the world!\n\n  \u201cA fine house and a high steeple,\n  A learned priest and a gay people.\u201d\n\nAfter considerable further conversation she inquired, \u201cBishop, where do\nyou live?\u201d With the utmost solemnity, and with a countenance and tone\nthat showed the deep emotion of his soul, he replied,\n\n  \u201cNo foot of land do I possess,\n  No cottage in the wilderness,\n    A poor wayfaring man.\u201d\n\nThe bishop preached in Belpre school-house from Luke xix, 10.\n\nColonel Putnam, son of Israel Putnam, who bearded the wolf in his den,\nand who also bearded the British lion, invited the bishop, Brother Quin,\nand myself to the house of Mr. Waldo, grandson of the old veteran. We\nhad a hearty welcome and were treated like princes. In the evening six\nor eight gentlemen, revolutionary officers, with their ladies, were\ninvited in, and we spent a most agreeable evening. The conversation was\nvery entertaining and instructing, and the bishop took a very active part\nin it. But he would often manage to give the conversation a religious\nturn, to which the company would bow assent. The bishop prayed before the\ncompany retired. We lodged that night in a splendid ball-room. \u201cHere,\u201d\nsaid the bishop, as he kneeled down, \u201cthey used to worship the devil; let\nus worship God.\u201d\n\nEarly next morning we bade adieu to our polite host and were on our way\nto Athens, and on Thursday we arrived at the camp-meeting near that town.\nWe had now traveled five hundred and forty-two miles since we left my\nfather\u2019s, and three thousand four hundred and sixty-seven miles since we\nleft Charleston.\n\nMuch good was done at this camp-meeting. We had four sermons on Sunday,\nBishop Asbury preaching twice. I preached in German.\n\nTraveling on and preaching every night we reached Chillicothe, and put up\nwith Dr. Tiffin. The bishop says, \u201cI am happy to find him no longer in\npublic life, but a private citizen, respectable and respected, and the\nwork of God revived in his soul. I have preached to many souls in the\nlate camp-meetings. Lord, give thy word success. My own soul is humbled\nand purified. Glory be to God!\u201d The bishop preached in the evening from\nRev. xvi, 15.\n\nOn Sunday Bishop Asbury preached in Chillicothe, and baptized a whole\nfamily of Quaker descent. He dwelt upon the nature of the ordinance\nof baptism, and the duty it imposes upon parents. It was a rare thing\nfor birthright Quakers to be brought over to the faith, for they are\ngenerally as unyielding as the oak; but we have noticed when they are\nreally converted they make most excellent Methodists. This was the case\nwith that bright and shining light, John Collins.\n\nOn Thursday we reached Cincinnati, and were entertained at Oliver\nSpencer\u2019s. On Friday evening I preached in German from John viii, 36 on\nbeing free indeed, and Bishop Asbury exhorted. The bishop was very happy\nin his remarks. He was always present when it was practicable to hear me\npreach in German. He had a great love for the Germans, and an imperfect\nknowledge of the German language. On Sabbath the bishop preached morning\nand evening, and I in the afternoon. It was a day of great consolation\nto many.\n\nOn Monday we visited several families, and prayed with them, and then\nin the evening Father Asbury met the society and gave them a pastoral\naddress. It was his custom to meet classes and to meet the societies,\nand give them good advice and wise suggestions, and in these family\ngatherings and family lectures the bishop often excelled himself.\n\nHaving spent four days in this goodly city we prepared for our departure.\nThe bishop felt a peculiar affection for the people in Cincinnati, as\nmay be seen from the following extract from his journal: \u201cSunday, 30, I\npreached morning and evening. It was a season of deep seriousness with\nthe congregations. I felt an intimate communion with God, and a great\nlove to the people, saints and poor sinners. Monday, met the society;\nTuesday, we bade farewell to our affectionate friends in Cincinnati.\nThe great river was covered with mist until nine o\u2019clock, when the airy\ncurtain rose slowly from the waters, gliding along in expanded and silent\nmajesty.\u201d\n\nWe traveled in Kentucky, preaching every day. The bishop makes this\nsingular record: \u201cThe Methodists are all for camp-meetings, the Baptists\nare for public baptizings. I am afraid this dipping with many is the _ne\nplus ultra_ of Christian experience.\u201d\n\nOn Saturday we reached Joseph Ferguson\u2019s, and on Sunday spent the day at\nFerguson\u2019s Chapel. Here Bishop M\u2019Kendree, Learner Blackman, James Gwin,\nand Peter Cartwright overtook us, and our spirits were much refreshed. We\nhad not seen Bishop M\u2019Kendree since we parted with him at Lyons at the\nclose of the Genesee Conference. He had returned by another route. Now\nthe two bishops and the preachers started in company for the seat of the\nWestern Conference.\n\nBishop Asbury\u2019s soul was delighted to hear of the enlargement of the\nborders of Zion, and he wrote in ecstasy: \u201cWe have an open door set\nwide to us in Mississippi. The preachers there sent but one messenger\nto conference; they could not spare more. They keep their ground like\nsoldiers of Christ. Good news from the south. Great prospects within the\nbounds of the South Carolina Conference.\u201d\n\nThe Western Conference was held in the new chapel, Shelby County, Ky.,\ncommencing on November 1, 1810. The two bishops were present, and nearly\na hundred preachers from their various fields of toil. The conference\nbegan, continued, and ended in peace.\n\nI preached on Saturday, at early candle-light, from Matt. xi, 28, 29.\n\nOn Sabbath Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached one of his mighty sermons, and\nBishop Asbury exhorted with wonderful power. Then the elders and deacons\nwere ordained. Fourteen were admitted into full membership and ordained\ndeacons, among whom were William Winans and James Gwin. The latter was\nalso ordained elder at this conference. He had been a local preacher\nyears before he entered the traveling connection. John Crane and a number\nof others were ordained at the same time. Twenty-six were received on\ntrial, among whom were John Strange and Michael Ellis, and other pure and\nnoble spirits. J. B. Finley was continued on trial. There had been an\nincrease of four thousand members in the Western Conference this year.\n\nThe bishops assigned fields of labor to ninety-five preachers, and then\nwe parted to cultivate Immanuel\u2019s land.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n\nTOUR TO SOUTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE.\n\n\nOn Tuesday, October 9, we rode to Winchester, capital of Clarke County,\nKy., and were the guests of Leroy Cole. The history of this brother is\na peculiar one. He became a traveling preacher as early as 1777. His\nfirst appointment was to North Carolina with John Dickins and John King,\none of the pioneers in that state. He was in Kent, Delaware, and on the\nPeninsula, Maryland, with Gill and Tunnell, and did noble service. In\n1784 he was in Philadelphia. He was a member of the famous Christmas\nConference in Baltimore, where the Methodist Episcopal Church was\norganized in 1784. In 1785 we find in the Minutes the question, \u201cWho is\nlaid aside? Answer, Leroy Cole.\u201d This is all the light we have on the\nsubject, and this is enough to make darkness visible. There might have\nbeen injustice done him, for soon after he was restored, and he was a\ntraveling or local preacher for over fifty years. He early emigrated to\nthe West, and settled near Lexington, Ky., where he was a farmer, beloved\nand respected. Mr. Asbury\u2019s visiting him and the friendship he exhibited\nshows he had confidence in him. He was a Virginian, born in 1749,\nconverted in 1777, and the same year licensed to preach and entered the\ntraveling ministry. He sustained a local relation when we visited him.\nHe was afterward a member of the Kentucky Conference. He died in triumph\nFebruary 6, 1830, aged eighty-one.\n\nWe remained two days at Leroy Coles\u2019s, and the bishop preached on\nThursday evening. On Saturday he preached at Abraham Cassell\u2019s, brother\nto Rev. Leonard Cassell of the Baltimore Conference, who died in 1808.\nAbraham had emigrated from Pipe Creek, Md.\n\nOn Sunday, at Nicholasville, the bishop preached, and I in the evening at\nBrother Cassell\u2019s on Matt. v, 20, and then gave them another discourse in\nGerman.\n\nAt Brother Cassell\u2019s the bishop heard sad intelligence of the death of\nBenjamin Swope. He had died the winter before. The bishop says, \u201cMy old\nacquaintance was a man of more than common mind and gifts, and might have\nbeen much more useful than I fear he was.\u201d Mr. Swope was a minister among\n\u201cThe United Brethren.\u201d Mr. Asbury became acquainted with him in 1771, and\nthrough him with the great Otterbein.\n\nOn Monday we visited an old minister, one of the pioneers of the West,\nand the bishop makes this melancholy record. I never read it without\npain: \u201cThis has been an awful day to me. I visited Francis Poythress.\n\u2018If thou be he; but O how fallen!\u2019\u201d Perhaps no record in his journals\nhas been so little understood as this, and none more liable to be\nmisinterpreted. Some have supposed that he had fallen like wretched\napostates, who have made shipwreck of the faith; but it was not so, and\nthe bishop would not willingly or knowingly have done the unfortunate\nbrother injustice. My journal reads thus: \u201cMonday 15, we went with\nBrother Harris to see Francis Poythress, one of our old preachers.\nHe _has been for ten years in a state of insanity, and is still in a\ndistressed state of mind_. We then returned to Brother Harris\u2019s.\u201d This\nis the record I made over fifty years ago, and it was italicised as the\nreader now sees it.\n\nFrancis Poythress was one of the leaders in our Israel. He was admitted\ninto the traveling connection at the third conference, held in 1776, with\nFreeborn Garrettson, Joseph Hartley, Nicholas Watters, and others. He was\na pioneer of the West. In 1790, John Tunnel dying, Francis Poythress was\nappointed elder at the West, having five large circuits on his district,\nand on them were Wilson Lee, James Haw, and Barnabas M\u2019Henry. We have not\nspace to trace his history. His excessive labors shattered his system,\nand his body and intellect were both injured. About the year 1800 he\nbecame deranged, and a gloom settled down upon him not to be removed.\nWhen Asbury saw him he was shocked, contrasting his former look with\nhis appearance then. He was then living with his sister, twelve miles\nbelow Lexington. Bishop Asbury never saw him more; death soon came to the\nrelief of poor Francis Poythress, and none who knew him doubt but he is\namong the clear unclouded intellects of the upper and better world.\n\nOn Friday Bishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree, James Gwin, and myself started\nfor Cumberland, Tennessee. Before we left an event occurred that pleased\nme much. Bishop Asbury sold our sulky and bought a horse. His object was\nto get through the wilderness to Georgia easier. The bishop remarked,\n\u201cThe reward of my toils is not to be found in this world.\u201d No, thou\nvenerable man of God, but thou art finding it in the other, \u201cfor if we\nsuffer with him we shall also reign with him.\u201d\n\nAt Springfield Hills Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached an excellent sermon in the\nmorning; I exhorted. In the afternoon the Rev. Mr. M\u2019Clelland preached\nfrom \u201cThe time is short.\u201d Bishop Asbury followed right after from \u201cNow is\nthe accepted time,\u201d and James Gwin exhorted after him.\n\nOn Thursday we reached the residence of James Gwin, near Fountain Head.\nHere we found a comfortable home. Mr. Gwin was one of the early pioneers\nin Tennessee, and with Andrew Jackson he fought the Cherokee Indians.\nGeneral Jackson greatly admired him. He was chaplain in Jackson\u2019s army at\nthe time of the battle of New Orleans. He was a noble man, and did noble\nservice in the Western and Tennessee Conferences. Bishop M\u2019Kendree and\nJames Gwin were long intimate friends, and the latter named his son after\nthe bishop.[35] There was a chapel not far from his house called \u201cGwin\u2019s\nChapel.\u201d\n\nOn Friday I went to see Bishop M\u2019Kendree\u2019s father; he was a venerable\nlooking man of eighty-six years, and was like a patriarch in the\nfamily, greatly beloved. Also James M\u2019Kendree, brother of the bishop,\nand his sister Frances. The family emigrated from Virginia. James was\na sterling man. Frances was converted under John Easter as well as the\nbishop. Frances married Rev. Nathaniel Moore in 1815, and she died in\npeace January 1, 1825. The venerated father of the bishop died in holy\njoy in 1815. And here in Tennessee, many years after, at the house of\nhis brother James, the bishop fell at his post, loaded with honors and\ncovered with scars, shouting, \u201cAll is well.\u201d Here he was buried.\n\nOn Saturday and Sunday night I lodged with Bishop Asbury at James\nM\u2019Kendree\u2019s. On Sunday morning Bishop Asbury preached at Gwin\u2019s Chapel,\nand the other part of the day at Fountain Head meeting-house. This was\nnear where James M\u2019Kendree lived.\n\nBishop Asbury seemed to be delighted to be rid of his sulky and on\nhorseback again; for he says, \u201cSince I am on horseback my fetters are\ngone; I meditate much more at ease.\u201d The advantages of being on horseback\nhe thus designates: \u201c1. That I can better turn aside and visit the poor.\n2. I shall save money to give away to the needy. 3. I can get along more\ndifficult and intricate roads. And lastly, I can be more tender to my\npoor faithful beast.\u201d Surely these were weighty reasons.\n\nOn Monday the 19th the two bishops and myself started for South Carolina\nby way of Buncombe. We reached John M\u2019Gee\u2019s, (father-in-law of Thomas L.\nDouglas,) about thirty-five miles from Fountain Head. We have rode one\nthousand one hundred and fifty-three miles since I left my father\u2019s, and\nfour thousand one hundred and seventy-eight miles from Charleston.\n\nTuesday brought us to Dr. Tooley\u2019s. On Wednesday we started for the\nHolston settlements with Brother John M\u2019Gee, crossing Cumberland River\nat Walton\u2019s Ferry. After days of hard toiling, on Saturday evening we\nreached Brother Winton\u2019s. On Sunday the 25th Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached in\nthe meeting house on Matt. v, 3, \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit,\u201d etc.\nJohn M\u2019Gee and I exhorted. Bishop Asbury preached at Brother Winton\u2019s in\nthe evening.\n\nFor days we toiled on, and on Friday we took a new route over the\nmountains. We started about seven o\u2019clock and crossed Big Creek with some\ndifficulty, and not without danger, the water being deep and rapid and\nthe bottom very rocky. After crossing we had to toil several hours over\nhigh mountains, and then came to Catahouche Creek; here on its banks\nin the woods we took a little bread and gave our horses some oats. The\nvenerable bishops asked a blessing over our humble meal, and were as\nthankful as if seated at a well spread table in a parlor.\n\nThis was a deep and rapid stream. After we had refreshed both man and\nbeast we prepared to cross. There was no bridge. Brother M\u2019Gee rode\nthrough and we drove our horses after him, then the bishops and myself\nwalked over the rapid stream on a tree, and were thankful to get across\nin safety. The next thing was to climb the Catoluche Mountain. No wonder\nthe bishop wrote, \u201cBut O, the mountain, height after height, and five\nmiles over;\u201d and to add to our troubles, we got lost in the wilderness\nand crossed other streams, wandering hour after hour in the home of wild\nbeasts. Seventeen miles we went through a dreary wilderness. We came to\na gate which we entered and passed through the settlements on Jonathan\u2019s\nand Richland Creeks, and came in at Brother Jacob Shuck\u2019s at nine o\u2019clock\nin the evening, long after dark, weary, cold, and hungry; but my soul\nwas stayed on the Lord. Bishop Asbury characterizes this as \u201can awful\nday.\u201d\n\nBishop M\u2019Kendree and Brother Magee went a few miles to attend a two days\u2019\nmeeting at Rev. Samuel Edney\u2019s, and we spent the Sabbath in Buncombe.\nBishop Asbury preached for the Rev. Mr. Newton, a Presbyterian minister,\nwhom he loved exceedingly, not only for his catholic spirit, but his\nstrong resemblance to Bishop Whatcoat both in regard to placidity and\nsolemnity.\n\nAfter crossing mountains and streams, a week from Monday 10th brought us\nto Rev. James Jenkins\u2019s. He had located some years before, and the bishop\nwas delighted that he was going to re-enter the traveling connection. The\nbishop here received from the North the sad news of the death of his old\nfriends Jesse Hollingsworth, Peter Hoffman, and John Bloodgood. The next\nday Brother Jenkins rode with us to Camden. Father Asbury met a class at\nnight in Brother Mathis\u2019s room.\n\nIn regard to our late route Mr. Asbury wrote thus: \u201cGreat fatigue, my\nlame horse, and unknown roads where we lose ourselves, are small trials;\nbut \u2018as thy days so shall thy strength be.\u2019\u201d He then wrote what is very\ncomplimentary to the inhabitants of Carolina, and contrasts strangely\nwith some who would take the bishop\u2019s last cent for a little refreshment:\n\u201cWe are not, nor have we been lately, much among our own people; but\nit has made little difference in the article of expense. The generous\nCarolinians are polite and kind, and will not take our money.\u201d\n\nOn Friday the 14th we left Camden and rode to Father Rembert\u2019s. Brother\nWilliam M. Kenneday, Brother Gilman, myself, and several others fixed the\nseats in the new meeting-house. We spent the Sabbath there. Father Asbury\npreached in the morning, and William M. Kenneday followed him. I preached\nin the evening, and William Capers exhorted. Bishop Asbury was very much\nindisposed here for several days.\n\nOn Thursday we rode with quite a number of preachers to Columbia, the\nseat of the South Carolina Conference. It was held in the private mansion\nof Colonel Thomas Taylor, United States senator. He was not a Methodist,\nbut was very friendly. He and his family were at Washington, and he gave\nup his whole house for the conference to be held there, and the preachers\nto remain in it. He gave two brethren, Wyth and Williamson, the privilege\nof moving into his house and entertaining the preachers.\n\nThe conference commenced on Saturday, December 22. After singing and\nprayer, Bishop Asbury addressed the conference in a most parental and\naffectionate manner, stating, among other things, that he was in the\nfiftieth year of his ministerial service and his fortieth in America,\nand that he could not endure such labors much longer. The brethren were\ndeeply affected. The conference commenced and progressed in great\nharmony.\n\nOn Sunday morning at eight o\u2019clock we had a social meeting, composed of\ntraveling and local preachers, in the conference room. Several spoke\nof the dealing of God to their souls. It was a blessed privilege to\nlisten to these warm-hearted southern brethren as they talked of Jesus\nand his love. Surely we sat together in a heavenly place in Christ\nJesus. To crown the whole, we had a pastoral address from Bishops Asbury\nand M\u2019Kendree. It was a moving and a memorable time. At eleven Bishop\nAsbury preached from 2 Cor. iii, 12. Plainness of speech was dwelt upon\nwith great effect. The congregation was immense, and there was great\nseriousness. At three Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached from 2 Cor. v, 20, \u201cNow,\nthen, we are embassadors for Christ,\u201d etc. The sermon was masterly. No\nwonder I added, \u201cThe Lord was with us. Glory to the Saviour that such an\nunworthy creature as I am permitted to enjoy such a refreshing season\nfrom the presence of the Lord! Glorious Sabbath, never to be forgotten in\ntime or eternity.\u201d On Monday at eleven I preached from John i, 11, 12.\nThe Lord made the word a blessing to some souls.\n\nTuesday was Christmas day. In the morning James Russell preached at five\no\u2019clock from Mark i, 15. It was a great privilege to hear that original\ngenius preach. I added under the sermon, \u201cThere was a shout in the camp.\nGlory! halleluiah!\u201d The preachers in those days were up in the morning;\nthey were not caught napping. Early as it was, long before the sun got\nout of bed, there were over three hundred hearers. At eleven o\u2019clock\nBishop Asbury ordained eleven promising men to the office of deacon,\nafter which Jonathan Jackson preached on Rev. xiv, 6, 7.\n\nLove and harmony seems to increase in our conference. Twenty preachers\nwere admitted on trial, and there was about two thousand five hundred\nincrease of members. The elders were ordained on Friday, the last day of\nthe session, after Bishop Asbury had preached a sermon admirably adapted\nto the occasion from Heb. iii, 12, 14.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nVIRGINIA, BALTIMORE, PHILADELPHIA, AND NEW ENGLAND CONFERENCES.\n\n\nWe left Columbia for Charleston on Saturday, December 30, accompanied by\nthat noble man of God, Lewis Myers. We reached General Rumph\u2019s, on the\nOrangeburgh District, where we spent the Sabbath. He was a man of mark,\na general of the Revolution, and a noble soldier in the Christian army.\nThe general had two sons, Christian and Jacob Rumph, who were excellent\nmen and superior preachers. Jacob was in the work only five years. He\njoined in 1808, and died in Charleston in 1813. His father was wealthy,\nand Jacob might have richly enjoyed the good things of this life, but\nhe chose to endure the hardships of an itinerant ministry. His career\nwas short, but brilliant; his end triumphant. I have noticed for a long\nlifetime that those families that early entertained the Lord\u2019s prophets\nwere greatly blessed. The Lord put the broad seal of his approbation upon\nthem, and this is strikingly illustrated in the family of General Rumph.\nThe general was one of the first that welcomed Methodist ministers in\nthat part of South Carolina. Bishop Asbury makes the following honorable\nrecord: \u201cGod has repaid this family for its kindness to the poor\nfollowers of the Lord Jesus. There are four sons and three daughters,\ngracious souls. Two of the sons, Jacob and Christian, are preachers of\nthe Gospel.\u201d This was the bishop\u2019s last interview with General Rumph.\nBefore his next annual round the general was in the sepulcher.\n\nWe reached Charleston January 2, 1811, and spent several days there. The\nbishop preached several times. I attended to some important business for\nthe Book Room, procuring drafts, etc. After several days\u2019 riding and\npreaching, on Monday 28 we crossed Cape Fear River at Governor Smith\u2019s\nFerry. The bishop was oft in perils on the land, on the water, on the\nmountains, and in the woods. Of these he makes but little mention in his\njournal. One of the most fearful perils he had while I was with him was\nat this ferry. We started to cross with one ferryman instead of two. I\nwas holding the bridles of our horses, standing between their heads.\nAnother ferryman came up with a canoe. I warned him not to let it strike\nour boat; but he did not heed the caution, and his canoe struck our\nscow, which so frightened one horse that he sprang against the other and\nboth went overboard. The bishop and myself were also in danger of being\nknocked overboard and drowned, as the water was very deep. The bishop\nwas seated at the end of the scow with his staff in his hand. One of the\nhorses struck the staff and broke it, and a little more and it might\nhave broke his leg or knocked the feeble old man overboard. I held on\nto the reins of one, and he swam along the side of the scow; the other\nbegan to swim toward the shore, but seeing which way the other horse was\nswimming he turned round and passed us, and reached the opposite shore\nbefore we did. There he sunk in the mud, and his exertions to escape only\nsunk him deeper, and his case became more hopeless. The bishop looked\nvery sad as he saw his favorite animal floundering in the mud. Just then\nan old colored woman, a slave, made her appearance, and she was full of\nsympathy. \u201cO,\u201d said the bishop, \u201cmy horse is mired, and I am afraid we\nshall never be able to get him out.\u201d \u201cO yes, massa,\u201d said she, \u201cyou will,\nfor we will call the colored people down from their quarters, and they\nwill lift him out bodily.\u201d At this the bishop laughed most heartily. But\nprevious to sending for help I thought I would try what could be done. So\nI got a rail and put it under the horse\u2019s haunches, and he gave a spring\nand was soon out, to the bishop\u2019s great joy as well as my own.\n\nThe bishop\u2019s saddle-bags were fastened to his saddle, mine were not, and\nthey floated down the stream. I felt much anxiety until I recovered them,\nas I had many dollars in them belonging to the Book Room. Our clothes,\nbooks, and manuscripts were all well soaked. We spent hours in drying\nthem, and then started on our journey. Bishop Asbury was much alarmed,\nfar more so than I had ever seen him. Our preservation and that of the\nhorses was providential, and we had special cause for thanksgiving.[36]\n\nThe Virginia Conference commenced its session in Raleigh, N. C., on\nFebruary 7, 1811. In 1810 the conference was held in Newbern, and the\ncitizens of Raleigh sent an invitation to have the next session there,\npledging themselves to entertain the preachers and their horses. We\nhad a very small society at Raleigh, and the brethren considered the\ninvitation providential, and accepted it. I know of no particular account\nof this memorable conference anywhere. It was held in the state-house,\nin the senate chamber, and we preached in the hall of the House of\nRepresentatives. There was preaching three times a day. C. H. Hines and\nJesse Lee preached the first day. On Friday Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached at\neleven o\u2019clock, and I at three. The work of conviction was going on, and\na number were converted in the evening. Saturday was a day of the Lord\u2019s\npower. The work not only continued during the day, but till midnight.\n\nOn Sunday Bishop Asbury preached in the morning to a thousand people,\nand Thomas L. Douglass at three o\u2019clock. Many embraced religion, and\nthe interest continued to increase to the last. This was the greatest\ntime I had seen for years at any conference for the display of saving\npower. Over fifty were converted and united with us, among whom were the\nSecretary of State and some of his family. This revival gave such an\nimpetus to Methodism in Raleigh that they proceeded to build a church\nthat year, and Methodism had a character and permanency that remains to\nthis day. We put up with a kind family named Mears, who kept a public\nhouse. They shared in the blessings of the Gospel, for some of them\nexperienced religion during the conference.\n\nFor three nights Bishop Asbury, Thomas L. Douglass, and myself lodged\nwith our aged friend, Rev. William Glendenning, who came and insisted\nthat we should put up with him. He was a Scotchman, a man of rather\nlarge stature, and had something of a brogue. He was one of our earliest\npreachers, having been received at the conference held in 1776, when\nthere were only nineteen Methodist preachers in America. This made him\nto me an object of great interest. His first appointment was Brunswick,\nVirginia, with George Shadford, Edward Drumgoole, and Robert Williams.\nMr. Glendenning was remarkably eccentric, if not a little \u201ccracked.\u201d I\nknew him very early, having seen him at my father\u2019s house and heard\nhim preach. He withdrew in 1785. He afterward joined the \u201cRepublican\nMethodists\u201d under James O\u2019Kelley, and preached among them; then he became\na Unitarian, and built a church in Raleigh. We had a very pleasant time\nat his house.\n\nHe attended our conference and the preaching, and appeared interested in\nthe revival scenes; but he would exclaim, \u201cI do not like the government.\u201d\nThere seemed to be a conflict in his own mind: he believed the work to\nbe of God\u2014that souls were really converted; and yet he was so strongly\nprejudiced against our Church government that he could not see how heaven\nhad set its seal of approbation upon such measures. At this time he was\nan old man. He ended his days in Raleigh.\n\nIn 1814 Bishop Asbury visited Raleigh again, and writes: \u201cAfter all\nallowance for drawbacks, we cannot tell all the good that was done by our\nconference in Raleigh in 1811.\u201d\n\nI have noticed the conversion of the Secretary of State. His name was\nWilliam Hill. He immediately joined the Methodist Church, and was\nbaptized by Bishop Asbury. Such was the purity of his character that\namid all the changes of party he held the office of Secretary of State\nfrom 1811 till his death in 1857, a period of forty-six years. This is\nunparalleled. He was a class-leader and steward for many years. He was\neighty-four when he died.\n\nOn the 28th of February we rode to William Watters\u2019s. He retired from\nthe regular work in 1806, but his heart was always in it. He was now\nliving in dignified retirement on his farm on the Virginia side of the\nPotomac, opposite Georgetown. He was the first traveling preacher raised\nup in America. Philip Gatch commenced nearly the same time. They were\nintimate, and in their declining years corresponded with each other. Mr.\nWatters was a stout man, of medium height, of very venerable and solemn\nappearance. Bishop Asbury and he were life-time friends. The bishop was\nacquainted with him before he was licensed to preach, and used to call\nhim familiarly, \u201cBilly Watters.\u201d When these aged men met on this occasion\nthey embraced and saluted each other with \u201ca holy kiss;\u201d and the bishop,\nwriting of this visit in his journal, speaks of him as \u201cmy dear old\nfriend, William Watters.\u201d He was distinguished for humility, simplicity,\nand purity.\n\nFew holier ministers has the Methodist Church ever had than William\nWatters. I rejoice that I was permitted to hear him preach and to\nbe his guest; to eat at his table, to sit at his fireside, to enjoy\nhis friendship and hospitality. His house was for years a regular\npreaching-place on the circuit. In 1833, at the age of eighty-two, he\ndied in holy triumph. His name will go down to the end of time bearing\nthe honored title of _The First American Methodist Traveling Preacher_.\n\nWilliam Watters rode with us about four miles, and then we went to\nGeorgetown to Henry Foxall\u2019s. On Sunday the bishop preached in Washington\ncity, in the new chapel, and at Georgetown. On the next Saturday Hamilton\nJefferson, Dr. Hall, and James Smith overtook us, and we journeyed on\ntogether. On Wednesday we reached Pipe Creek, and Bishop Asbury preached\nnext day at the Pipe Creek Chapel. I held forth at night on Acts x, 33.\nThence we proceeded to Baltimore.\n\nOn Wednesday, March 11, 1811, the Baltimore Conference commenced its\nsession in Light-street Church. The first evening I heard Gill Watt\npreach on \u201cThe preparation of the heart,\u201d etc.; Thursday, at eleven,\nBenedict Reynolds on \u201cWho then can be saved?\u201d There was a good work\nin the evening in Light-street Church\u2014sinners awakened and mourners\ncomforted.\n\nOn Sunday morning I heard Jacob Gruber preach in German in Father\nOtterbein\u2019s Church. In the afternoon I preached also in German in the\nsame place, from Gal. vi, 9; my dear old friend Newcomber exhorted.\n\nThe revival continued during the conference. Such a work during the\nsession of a conference is delightful, and should always be expected. At\nthis conference Beverly Waugh, Joseph Frye, James M. Hanson, and four\nothers were admitted into full connection and ordained deacons.\n\nOn Thursday the conference adjourned, and I went with Bishop Asbury\nto see Mr. Otterbein. The interview between these ancient friends was\nmost delightful. Then we went to Gatch\u2019s meeting-house, and the bishop\npreached from Heb. xii, 15. The reader can see what a laborious man the\nbishop was when he remembers that after many days\u2019 close sitting in\nconference, and stationing so many men, instead of retiring for rest,\nthat very day he preaches at Gatch\u2019s Chapel. He was the most laborious\nman I ever knew.\n\nWe had in company with us Brother James Paynter, Sister Gough, and Sister\nDickins, both widows indeed. We went with them to Perry Hall.\n\nOn Friday the bishop preached in the camp-meeting chapel and I exhorted.\nWe returned to Perry Hall. On Saturday we rode to the Fork Chapel, where\nthe bishop preached and I exhorted. Here we parted with three widows,\nGough, Dickins, and Cassell. The last was the widow of the eloquent\nLeonard Cassell, who fell asleep three years before.\n\nI left the bishop and hastened to my father\u2019s, whom I had not seen since\nthe summer before. To my great joy I found there Bishop M\u2019Kendree and\nRobert Burch. On Friday, April 5, Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached in Boehm\u2019s\nChapel on Luke xii, 32. On Sunday Bishop M\u2019Kendree, Robert Burch, and\nI preached in Lancaster. On Monday I rode with Bishop M\u2019Kendree to\nStrasburgh, where he preached, and we tarried with my old friend Thomas\nWare; thence to Souderburgh, where the bishop preached from Prov. xxiv,\n30-34. I returned with him to Strasburgh.\n\nHaving rejoined Bishop Asbury, we went to Philadelphia, and put up with\nAlexander Cook. This was a very fine family. Their house was then a\nlittle out of town, but the city has now grown out to them. He was the\nfather-in-law of Rev. John P. Durbin, D.D.\n\nOn Saturday the Philadelphia Conference commenced its session in St.\nGeorge\u2019s Church. On Sunday I heard three sermons from Bishop M\u2019Kendree,\nStephen G. Roszell, and Bishop Asbury, all in St. George\u2019s. Thomas Burch\nand I lodged with my early friend, Dr. Chandler.\n\nOn Saturday 27 Bishop M\u2019Kendree, having appointments for preaching ahead,\nleft Bishop Asbury to finish the work of the conference. Ten preachers\nwere admitted on trial, among whom were Joseph Lybrand. The conference\nadjourned on Monday. I wrote, \u201cIt seems the voice of Providence that I\nshould keep on with Bishop Asbury.\u201d\n\nOn Wednesday we went to Germantown, and Bishop Asbury preached in the\nevening. Here he was visited by those distinguished physicians, Drs.\nRush and Physic. It was my privilege to be present at the interview.\nDr. Benjamin Rush, as a man, a patriot, a physician, and a scholar,\noccupied the first rank. He was one of the signers of the Declaration\nof Independence. Bishop Asbury was delighted with their attentions, as\nwill appear from the following entry in his journal: \u201cWednesday, May\n1, I preached in Germantown. Drs. Rush and Physic paid me a visit. How\nconsoling it is to know that these great characters are men fearing God!\nI was much gratified, as I ever am, by their attentions, kindness, and\ncharming conversation; indeed they have been of eminent use to me, and I\nacknowledge their services with gratitude.\u201d\n\nThe bishop had had several interviews with them before, but I believe\nthis was the last. In less than two years Dr. Rush was in his grave. He\ndied in Philadelphia, April 19, 1813, aged sixty-seven. Bishop Asbury\nlived only five years after. Dr. Physic, who was much younger than\neither, died in 1837, aged sixty-nine.\n\nIt was at this interview, as they were separating, the bishop inquired\nwhat he should pay for their professional services. They answered,\n\u201cNothing; only an interest in your prayers.\u201d Said Bishop Asbury, \u201cAs I do\nnot like to be in debt we will pray now;\u201d and he knelt down and offered\na most impressive prayer that God would bless and reward them for their\nkindness to him.\n\nWe were next to visit the New York Conference. On May 18 we came to\nPowles Hook, and had to wait two hours for wind to cross the Hudson\nRiver. We went over then in sail-boats, and there was not wind enough to\nfill the sails. In this go-ahead, rushing age, when every one is in a\nhurry, what would a person think of being delayed at a ferry two hours?\nNow you cross every three minutes, as regular as clock-work.\n\nWe put up in New York at Sister Grice\u2019s. She was a widow, from Annapolis.\nShe had a daughter who was also a widow, Mrs. Ann Tucker. They were\nmilliners, and lived in William-street, and their house was an excellent\nhome. Our old friend, Mrs. John Mills, where we put up last year, was\ndead.\n\nThe conference commenced its session in New York May 20, 1811. Both the\nbishops were present. There was nothing special except the election of\ndelegates to the General Conference in 1812. The New York Conference was\nthe first that elected its delegates. There was considerable excitement,\nand some electioneering. They elected thirteen. Freeborn Garrettson\nheaded the delegation, and was followed by Daniel Ostrander, Aaron Hunt,\nWilliam Ph\u0153bus, William Anson, Nathan Bangs, Laban Clark, Truman Bishop,\nEben Smith, Henry Stead, Billy Hibbard, Seth Crowell, and Samuel Merwin.\nThey are all gone years ago, except the venerable Laban Clark.\n\nOn Friday, May 31, the bishop preached at the \u201ctwo-mile stone,\u201d as it\nwas called, or \u201cBowery Village.\u201d It was considered out of the city. He\npreached in an academy in what is now St. Mark\u2019s Place. The society\nthere was early organized. John and Gilbert Coutant were among the early\nmembers. This was the germ of what is now the Seventh-street Church, one\nof the most flourishing in New York.\n\nWe put up with George Suckley, Esq., a wealthy gentleman of the old\nschool, who came over to America with Dr. Coke. We had the company of\nRev. Ezekiel Cooper, Freeborn Garrettson, and Daniel Hitt. Brother\nGarrettson and Brother Suckley were intimate friends, and in 1827 Mr.\nGarrettson died at the house of his friend in New York.\n\nOnward to Sherwood Yale, and spent the Sabbath there and at New Rochelle.\nHere Thomas Paine was buried, and has a monument. On Monday to Croton to\nGeneral Van Cortland\u2019s. The governor was ninety-one years old, with clear\nmental faculties, and, best of all, happy in God his Saviour. The bishop\npreached at three o\u2019clock on the prodigal\u2019s return.\n\nOn Friday, June 7, we reached George Ingraham\u2019s in Amenia. On Saturday\nI wrote thus: \u201cThis day I am thirty-six years old, and it is twelve\nyears since I joined the Methodist connection. My much esteemed senior,\nThomas Ware, asked me if I had \u2018a desire to join society.\u2019 I answered,\n\u2018If the society could venture on their part, I was willing to make the\ntrial.\u2019 He then set down my name. It is ten years last January since I\nleft my dear father and mother and relations, with small gifts and little\nChristian experience, and less in the ministry, not knowing much of men\nand things, and but little knowledge of the English tongue; and yet\nthe people have generally received me in the character of an itinerant\nminister in different parts of our continent. This is indeed marvelous.\nIt is the Lord\u2019s doing. My soul feels deeply humbled in love and\ngratitude before the Lord. Halleluiah! The sun shines bright, the meadows\nand fields are clothed with grass, wheat, etc.; all nature smiles. O\nfor a trumpet\u2019s voice and the power of the Spirit! that Henry might\nsuccessfully call souls to God.\u201d I have transcribed this from my journal\nthat the reader might see the scrap of history it contains, and also the\nframe of mind I was in at that time when I was a houseless wanderer.\n\nAfter spending the Sabbath at Amenia, we traveled through Hillsdale,\nLenox, Pittsfield, Pownal, and Bennington, to Ashgrove. We stopped at\nBrother John Armitage\u2019s, and here we met Bishop M\u2019Kendree and Elijah\nChichester, who accompanied him to the New England Conference. Ashgrove,\nas the reader well knows, is Methodist classic ground.\n\nOn Wednesday we reached Barnard, Vermont, the seat of the New England\nConference. We put up with Andrew Stevens. On Thursday, June 20,\nthe session commenced. They had preaching every day. Elijah Hedding\npreached at eleven o\u2019clock from Isaiah xl, 1, 2. It was a sermon full of\nconsolation. On Friday there was a general fast that was observed by six\nconferences, and Bishop Asbury preached and ordained the deacons. It was\na gracious time. The elders were ordained on Sunday afternoon after a\nsermon by Bishop M\u2019Kendree.\n\nOn Tuesday, after a pleasant session, the Conference adjourned, and the\npreachers repaired with cheerfulness to their different fields of labor.\nHere also I witnessed the first election by this conference of delegates\nto the General Conference. Nine were chosen: George Pickering, Oliver\nBeale, Elijah Hedding, Joshua Soule, William Stevens, Asa Kent, Solomon\nSias, Joel Winch, and Daniel Webb. They have been gone years ago, except\nDaniel Webb, who entered the traveling ministry sixty-seven years ago,\nand Joshua Soule.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\n\nBISHOP ASBURY\u2019S VISIT TO CANADA.\n\n\nFor many years Bishop Asbury had an ardent desire to visit Canada. I was\nwith the bishop in July, 1809, near Lake Champlain, where he ordained\n\u201cJoseph Sampson, a native of Canada, and sent him to be a missionary to\nhis countrymen.\u201d He adds, \u201cThe day of small things will be great; but\nthe day is not yet come, rather it is still afar off. Patience, my soul!\nDo I not feel for the lost sheep? Yea, verily.\u201d We had at that time two\ndistricts in Canada, and a little over two thousand members. The next\nyear Joseph Sampson was presiding elder of Lower Canada District.\n\nMr. Asbury believed a bishop should travel through every part of his\ndiocese, and as far as possible acquaint himself with every part of his\nwork. When we were in Kentucky, in October, 1809, he wrote: \u201cIf spared, I\nshall see Canada before I die.\u201d\n\nThe foundation of a great work had been laid there by William Lozee,\nJames Coleman, Darius Dunham, Joseph Sawyer, Hezekiah C. Wooster, Samuel\nCoate, Joseph Jewell, Elijah Woolsey, Nathan Bangs, and others, to whom\nthe Methodists in Canada owe a debt of gratitude. Annually the bishop had\nheard of the state of the work there since he appointed William Lozee\nthe first missionary in 1791.\n\nMr. Asbury selected the interval between the session of the New England\nand Genesee Conferences for his visit to Canada. Had he not gone then he\nwould never have made the journey, for the war which commenced the next\nyear between Great Britain and the United States would have prevented,\nand by the time war was over the bishop would have been too feeble to\nhave undertaken it.\n\nAccording to his usual custom the plan was laid beforehand, his guide\nselected, and his appointments sent forward. At Barnard, Vt., Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree and he separated, to meet at Paris, N. Y., the seat of the\nGenesee Conference, and he and I started for Canada. An ordinary man\nwould have sought an interval of rest; but the laborious Asbury,\nthough old and infirm, never thought of repose till the heavenly land\nshould unfold its boundless loveliness and welcome him to its rest and\nrefreshment forever.\n\nOur guide was the Rev. Bela Smith, then preaching in Canada, on the\nCornwall Circuit. We had a very severe time on our journey. We crossed\nLake Champlain, and Mr. Asbury preached in a bar-room in Plattsburgh.\nThe heat was intolerable. The roads through the woods, over rocks, down\ngulleys, over stumps, and through the mud, were indescribable. They were\nenough to jolt a hale bishop to death, let alone a poor infirm old man\nnear the grave.\n\nWe crossed the Chateaugay and Salmon Rivers, and on Monday, July 1,\nreached a large Indian village called St. Regis. The St. Regis River, a\nbeautiful stream, here enters the grand old St. Lawrence. These Indians,\nand there were some thousands of them, were a nation composed of the\nfragments of several once powerful tribes, who had been gathered many\nyears before by a Roman Catholic priest. A part of the Indians belonged\nto the United States and the rest to Canada. The St. Lawrence River is\nnot the line that here separates the two countries. The Indians belonging\nto Canada live one side of the line, those belonging to the United\nStates on the other. They were chiefly Roman Catholics, and had a large\nchurch, with its steeple and bell, and a parsonage, in which the priest\nlived, near the bank of the St. Lawrence. The church was built about the\nbeginning of 1700. They are known as the St. Regis Indians.\n\nIn entering the village, as Mr. Asbury was leading his horse across a\nbridge made of poles, the animal got his feet between them and sunk into\nthe mud and water. Away went the saddle-bags; the books and clothes were\nwet, and the horse was fast. We got a pole under him to pry him out; at\nthe same time the horse made a leap and came out safe and sound.\n\nThe French have intermarried with these Indians. Since our visit we have\nhad, and still have, a mission among them and a little church. But we\nhave had no great success. The beads, crosses, etc., suit the Indians\nbest, for they strike their senses.\n\nWe crossed the St. Lawrence in romantic style. We hired four Indians to\npaddle us over. They lashed three canoes together and put our horses in\nthem, their fore feet in one canoe, their hind feet in another. It was a\nsingular load: three canoes, three passengers, (the bishop, Bela Smith,\nand myself,) three horses, and four Indians. They were to take us over\nfor three dollars. It was nearly three miles across to where we landed.\nIt was late in the afternoon when we started, and we were a long time\ncrossing, for some part was rough, especially the rapids, so we did not\nreach the other side till late in the evening. Then the Indians claimed\nan additional dollar. They said, \u201cfour men four dollar,\u201d intimating that\nthree dollars could not be so easily divided among four. We cheerfully\npaid the additional dollar, and were full of gratitude for our crossing\nin safety. We might have shared the fate of Robert Hibbard, a preacher\nin Canada, who was drowned October 10, 1812, in the St. Lawrence, in\ncrossing the ferry some distance below Montreal. His body was never found.\n\nWe arrived in Canada on July 1, 1811, landing at Cornwall, and about\nmidnight we reached the hospitable dwelling of Evan Roy, who hailed the\nbishop\u2019s arrival with joy, and gave him and his companions a welcome\nworthy of patriarchal times.\n\nWe found it warm in Canada, and the bishop suffered greatly. Here Henry\nRyan, presiding elder of Upper Canada, met us. The next day Bishop Asbury\npreached, and Brother Ryan and I exhorted.\n\nThe day after there was a love-feast, and the Lord\u2019s supper was\nadministered, and the bishop preached. After meeting we rode up to the\nbanks of the river, dined at Stephen Bailey\u2019s, and then went to Brother\nGlassford\u2019s. The bishop rode in Brother Glassford\u2019s small close carriage,\nwhich he called a \u201ccalash,\u201d and he inquired how they were to get out if\nthey should upset. He had hardly asked the question before over went the\ncarriage, and again the venerable bishop was upset; but fortunately no\nbones were broken; the saplings alongside of the road broke the fall, and\nhe escaped uninjured.\n\nOn Thursday, July 4, we heard the firing on the other side of the river,\ncelebrating the day. The war spirit was waking up in Canada as well as in\nthe United States, and the people there answered by firing popguns by way\nof contempt. This woke up my patriotism, for I had always regarded the\nFourth of July as the birthday of liberty, the Sabbath day of freedom.\n\nOn Friday the bishop preached in Matilda Chapel, in what was called the\n\u201cGerman Settlement;\u201d I followed him, preaching in German. We had a good\ntime, and from appearances good was done. The bishop was delighted with\nthe people. He wrote thus: \u201cI was weak in body, yet greatly helped in\nspeaking. Here is a decent, loving people. My soul is much united to\nthem. I called upon Father Dulmage, and on Brother Hicks, a branch of an\nold Irish stock of Methodists in New York.\u201d\n\nWe tarried over night with David Breckenridge. He was a local deacon. He\nmarried and baptized a great many people, and attended many funerals. In\n1804 he preached the funeral sermon of Mrs. Heck, who died suddenly. She\nis said to have been a most estimable woman. She was the wife of Paul\nHeck, who was one of the first trustees of old John-street, and it is\nsaid she claimed to be the woman who stirred up Philip Embury to preach\nthe Gospel.[37]\n\nOn Saturday we rode twelve miles before breakfast to Brother Boyce\u2019s,\nwhere we attended a quarterly meeting. The meeting was at Elizabethtown.\nI preached at noon on 1 Peter iii, 12. William Mitchel and Bela Smith\nexhorted. It was a time of power; many of God\u2019s people rejoiced, and some\nmourners found converting grace. On Sunday we had a glorious time in\nlove-feast and at the Lord\u2019s supper. Bishop Asbury preached a thrilling\nsermon from Titus ii, 11, 12.\n\nThis was about sixty miles from Cornwall. The bishop greatly admired the\ncountry through which we rode. He says: \u201cOur ride has brought us through\none of the finest countries I have ever seen. The timber is of a noble\nsize, the cattle are well shaped and well looking, the crops are abundant\non a most fruitful soil. Surely this is a land that God the Lord hath\nblessed.\u201d\n\nThis extract not only shows the estimate the bishop formed of that part\nof Canada, but his habits of observation, extending not merely to the\ninhabitants, but to the soil, the crops, the timber, the cattle, both to\ntheir shape as well as size. The bishop passed through this world with\nhis eyes open.\n\nOn Monday we proceeded with Henry Ryan and E. Cooper, a young man from\nIreland, to Cannoughway Falls to Colonel Stone\u2019s. Father Asbury was very\nlame in his left foot with inflammatory rheumatism. He suffered like\na martyr. On Tuesday we reached Brother Elias Dulmage\u2019s, a very kind\nfamily, and Bishop Asbury preached in the first town church on Heb. x,\n38, 39; Brother Cooper and I exhorted. The bishop was so poorly he could\nnot proceed on his journey, and was obliged to lie by and rest, that he\nmight be able to attend the Genesee Conference at Paris. He remained\nat Brother Dulmage\u2019s, where he found a very kind home, and I went with\nHenry Ryan to his quarterly meeting in Fourth or Adolphus Town, by Bay\nof Quinte. We dined at Father Miller\u2019s, a native of Germany. On Friday\nwe rode to Brother John Embury\u2019s, by Hay Bay. He was a nephew of Philip\nEmbury, the apostle of American Methodism. He was awakened at the age of\nsixteen under his uncle\u2019s preaching in New York. The next day, Saturday,\nEzekiel Cooper preached at eleven o\u2019clock, and Henry Ryan and I exhorted.\n\nOn the Lord\u2019s day we had a glorious love-feast, and at the Lord\u2019s supper\nJesus was made known to us in the breaking of bread. In a beautiful\ngrove, under the shade of trees planted by God\u2019s own hand, I preached\nto two thousand people from Luke xix, 10, John Reynolds and Henry Ryan\nexhorted. The sparks flew and the fire fell. Henry Ryan was from Ireland.\nHe was a powerful man in that day.\n\nIn order to get to the conference Brother Ryan and I were obliged, after\nthis day of toil, to ride all night to meet the bishop. About eleven\no\u2019clock we reached Brother Miller\u2019s, where we were refreshed. We slept\nfor a while, and when it was time to start I had hard work to awake\nBrother Ryan, he was sleeping so soundly. At length he awoke, and we\nstarted, and wended our way through the dark, and just as the morning\nlight made its appearance we reached Brother Dulmage\u2019s. The distance we\nrode that night was thirty-five miles.\n\nTo our great joy we found Father Asbury better. We found also that\nnotwithstanding his lameness and indisposition the ruling passion was\nso strong that he could not keep quiet; but he had sent round and got a\ncongregation, to whom he preached in the chapel. He also met the society\nand baptized two children.\n\nWe were in Canada just a fortnight, during which time we visited a\nnumber of important places: Cornwall, Matilda, Augusta, Kingston, and\nElizabethtown. Everywhere the bishop was treated as the angel of the\nChurches. I was also in Adolphustown, Hay Bay Shore, and Bay of Quinte.\nIn Adolphustown the first regularly organized class was formed in Canada,\nand at Hay Bay the first Methodist church in Canada was erected.\n\nThe bishop preached six times in Canada, besides numerous lectures which\nhe delivered to societies.\n\nBela Smith piloted Mr. Asbury and myself in crossing Chateaugay woods\nfrom Plattsburgh to St. Regis, and crossed with us into Canada. In the\nwoods there was a log across the road, and it was very muddy. I rolled\nthe log out of the road so we could pass. Bela Smith said, \u201cI believe\nyou can do anything.\u201d \u201cO yes,\u201d I said, \u201canything that is necessary to be\ndone.\u201d Forty years afterward I met him in Forsyth-street Church at the\nNew York Conference, and I asked him if he remembered Chateaugay woods.\nHe said yes. And while we talked over the dangers we encountered in that\nperilous journey, and the sacrifices of the past, a young man listened\nto us, and with a significant look he tossed his head and said, \u201cIt is\nall Greek to me.\u201d I have no doubt but he would have thought so if he\nhad had as much difficulty in translating it as some of us had; but a\nbrighter day has dawned upon the Church, and I rejoice that the young men\nare now called to make no such sacrifices, and to bear no such burdens.\nMr. Smith was an excellent man. After suffering much he died in holy\ntriumph, and was buried in Durham, N. Y. His excellent wife, whose name\nwas Merwin, a relative of Rev. Samuel Merwin, sleeps beside him. He had\ntwo sons, Thomas B. and J. W., who have caught his falling mantle, and\nare members of the New York Conference.\n\nThe bishop being anxious to get to the conference at Paris, left\nKingston on Monday to cross Lake Ontario for Sackett\u2019s Harbor in an open\nsail-boat, dignified by the name of \u201cpacket.\u201d We commenced our voyage\nwith a very heavy head wind, and were obliged to beat all the way. We\ncould have crossed in a few hours if the wind had been fair. A tremendous\nstorm overtook us; the wind blew like a hurricane, and it was so dark\nthe captain did not know where he was. He intended to have anchored at\na harbor in Grenadier Island, but we passed it without knowing it. The\ncaptain swore and cursed the wind when he found he could not reach the\nisland before dark, and then I thought we were in danger. A female\npassenger reproved him, and inquired if he was not ashamed to swear so.\nHe made no reply, but he swore no more that night.\n\nAfter we passed the island we looked back, and beheld a large raft with\na fire upon it. When we saw the light we hailed those on the raft, and\nlearned from them that we were near to some dangerous rocks. We should\nno doubt have found a watery grave if we had not seen the light on that\nraft. They had come to anchor in consequence of the storm.\n\nWe turned our old scow round and came to anchor alongside of the raft\non the north side of Fox Island, Henry Ryan and the rest of our company\nleft the vessel and went on to the island, where there was a house of\nentertainment.\n\nBishop Asbury and I remained on the boat till morning. There was no\ncabin; it was an open boat, and the wind was howling and the storm\nbeating upon us. In order to make the bishop as comfortable as possible\nI made him a bed, covered him with the blankets we carried with us, and\nfixed the canvas over him like a tent, to keep off the wind and the rain.\nThen I laid down in the bottom of the boat, on some stones placed there\nfor ballast, which I covered with some hay I procured at Kingston for our\nhorses.\n\nAt midnight a sudden squall struck our frail bark; the canvas flapped\nand awoke and alarmed the bishop. He cried out, \u201cHenry, Henry, the horses\nare going overboard.\u201d I quieted his fears by telling him that all was\nsafe, that it was merely the flapping of the sail in the midnight winds.\nHe then lay down again and was quiet till morning. The reader will\nremember that I had no sleep the night before, but traveled nearly forty\nmiles; and on the lake it was difficult to sleep under the circumstances\nI have described. No shipwrecked mariner who had endured the darkness of\na stormy night on the ocean was ever more rejoiced to see the light of\nthe morning than ourselves. \u201cTruly light is sweet, and a pleasant thing\nit is to behold the sun.\u201d\n\nIn the morning we went on to Fox Island and took our breakfast, which\ntasted good, as we lay down the night before supperless. Then we set\nsail for Sackett\u2019s Harbor, and arrived there about two in the afternoon\nin safety, after the perilous storm and tedious night, and we were never\nmore glad to set our feet on terra firma.\n\nWe dined at Sackett\u2019s Harbor, and then set out in a thunder-shower toward\nthe seat of conference. It was singular to see the feeble old bishop, who\nhad such a rough passage across the lake, moving forward in a heavy rain,\namid lightning and thunder, showing that in his estimation \u201cthe king\u2019s\nbusiness required haste.\u201d In his journal he speaks of his sufferings:\n\u201cMy foot swelled, and was very painful.\u201d \u201cI have passed a night in great\npain and disquietude.\u201d Friday, \u201cSore, lame, and weary.\u201d\n\nOn Friday we reached Paris, where we met with Bishop M\u2019Kendree, and the\nold veterans were overjoyed to meet each other. Bishop Asbury wrote: \u201cMy\nspirit rejoiced with dear Bishop M\u2019Kendree; he nursed me as if I had been\nhis own babe,\u201d We were kindly entertained at Brother Elijah Davis\u2019s.\n\nIt was a very pleasant and harmonious conference. On Thursday evening it\nadjourned, to meet the next July at Niagara, Canada.\n\nLoring Grant, who still lives, an old veteran, and Isaac Puffer, known as\nchapter and verse, or as a traveling concordance, were ordained deacons.\nThe latter has fallen asleep. Charles Giles, George Harman, and others\nwere ordained elders. They elected their first delegates to General\nConference, William B. Lacy, Anning Owen, Timothy Lee, James Kelsey,\nElijah Batchelor, and William Snow. It is singular they did not send one\nof their presiding elders, Gideon Draper, William Case, or Henry Ryan.\n\nThe next day Bishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree and myself set out for\nWilkesbarre, accompanied by Gideon Draper, who was then a young man.\nBishop Asbury carried his crutches with him, and his leg pained him so\nwe were obliged to stop at a house and get some vinegar with which to\nalleviate his misery by bathing it.\n\nWe reached Kingston and put up with Elijah Shomakers. On Sunday morning\nthe Methodists in Kingston had a rich treat: Bishop Asbury preached a\nsermon on the Pharisee and the publican in his own peculiar style; Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree preached immediately after from 1 Cor. i, 23, 24, on preaching\nChrist crucified, and the effects of such preaching upon different\nhearers. At five o\u2019clock Bishop Asbury preached at Wilkesbarre from 2\nCor. vi, 1, 2, \u201cWe then as workers together,\u201d etc.\n\nBishop Asbury thus notices the labors of this Sabbath: \u201cSabbath, August\n4, 1811.\u2014Preached in the Methodistico-Presbyterian Church at Kingston.\nIt was a time of freedom, and words were given me to speak, which were\nfelt by preachers and people. I preached at Wilkesbarre and had a liberal\nseason.\u201d We were invited to Judge Fell\u2019s, and were treated kindly.\n\nOn Friday, after intense suffering on the part of Bishop Asbury, we\nreached my father\u2019s. No wonder the bishop wrote: \u201cMy flesh is ready to\nthink it something for a man of sixty-six, with a highly inflamed and\npainful foot, to ride nearly four hundred miles on a stumbling, starting\nhorse, slipping or blundering over desperate roads, from Paris to this\nplace, in twelve days.\u201d\n\nWe tarried here longer than usual, from the 9th to the 20th. Thus I had\na fine opportunity for a final visit with my much loved father. On Sunday\nBishop Asbury preached at Boehm\u2019s Chapel from Rom. viii, 11-18. It was\nthe last time my father ever heard Bishop Asbury preach. I preached in\nthe afternoon from 1 John i, 9; the last time my father ever heard his\nson Henry.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\n\nFOURTH WESTERN AND SOUTHERN TOUR\u2014CONFERENCES OF 1811.\n\n\nOn Tuesday, August 20, we took out solemn leave of my dear aged parents\nand friends. O how my heart was pierced with hearing my father say, as\nthe tears ran down his furrowed cheeks, \u201cWe shall not see each other\nagain.\u201d How I gazed upon his patriarchal form, and wept as he embraced\nme, when I thought those arms will embrace me no more. Bishop Asbury\nsaid, \u201cWe hope to meet in glory.\u201d This was a word in season, and proved\na cordial to my soul. My father\u2019s words were prophetic. Before we came\nround again the sun shone on his grave, and his spirit had returned to\nGod.\n\nWe started West, and the tour was full of incident. We crossed again\nthe rugged Alleghanies, and spent a Sabbath in Pittsburgh. We attended\nseveral camp-meetings. The first was in Ohio, fourteen miles above\nZanesville, beginning on September 2. Bishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree\npreached, and some others. There were thirteen hundred people, and a\nnumber were converted. The second camp-meeting we attended was on the\n15th, one mile from Xenia. Bishop Asbury preached on Sunday, and after\nhalf an hour\u2019s intermission Bishop M\u2019Kendree followed.\n\nOn the 21st we visited Rev. Philip Gatch. I wrote: \u201cBut dear Mother Gatch\nis gone to a better country, that is, a heavenly.\u201d She was a blessed\nwoman.\n\nOn Friday we reached Cincinnati, where we spent three Sabbaths, and\nstopped at Oliver M. Spencer\u2019s. On Sunday the 29th Bishop Asbury and\nLearner Blackman preached.\n\nOn Tuesday, October 1, the Western Conference commenced its session.\nThere was much weighty and critical business, but it was attended to\nwith order, dispatch, and good feeling. On Sunday, October 6, Bishops\nAsbury and M\u2019Kendree again preached. The conference lasted ten days, and\none hundred ministers were appointed to fields of labor. The work was so\nwidening and spreading that there were not workmen enough to supply the\nwork: twenty-two additional laborers were needed. The following Sabbath\nthe bishop delivered what he called \u201ca farewell warning to preachers;\u201d\nafter which he met the society and then visited the sick.\n\nAt this session they made their first election of delegates to the\nGeneral Conference. Learner Blackman, who was very popular, headed the\nlist. He was brother-in-law of John Collins. I had known him since 1800,\nand was present when he was received at the Philadelphia Conference that\nyear. He traveled with Bishop Asbury and myself many hundred miles on\nhis way to General Conference. He met with a sad end. He was drowned in\nthe Ohio in crossing a ferry in 1815. The other delegates were Benjamin\nLakin, James Quinn, Frederick Stier, John Sale, William Pattison, Isaac\nQuinn, William Houston, John Collins, Samuel Parker, James Axley, David\nYoung, Thomas Stilwell.\n\nOn October 14 we started for the South Carolina Conference. We passed\nthrough Kentucky, everywhere preaching the word. The bishop wrote, \u201cWhat\na field is opened and opening daily in this new world!\u201d\n\nI will give a specimen of the lights and shadows of the itinerancy.\nFriday, about half an hour after dark, we came to Rock Castle Bridge,\nand wished for entertainment over night. The answer was, \u201cAll full.\u201d The\nbishop, sick and feeble as he was, and I, had to grope our way seven\nmiles before there was another place at which we could put up. We both\nrejoiced when we reached, as we supposed, the end of our journey for\nthat toilsome day. We inquired if they could entertain us. The answer\nwas, \u201cNo admittance.\u201d On we went a mile further, and wished to tarry\nover night. The answer was, \u201cNo room.\u201d We began to despair. The hour was\nlate. Then we came across a person who kindly conducted us through the\ndark woods amid stumps and stones for several miles to the house of a\nkind friend, who exhibited a hospitality worthy of patriarchal times.\nWe rode forty-seven miles that day. It was eleven at night when we\narrived. We had had no dinner or supper, so they gave us a delicious meal\nthat answered for both. This was at Waynesborough, and the family that\nso kindly entertained us was Colonel Milton\u2019s. We did not retire till\nmidnight, and next morning at five o\u2019clock we were again on our journey,\nand traveled on till on Friday, the 8th, we reached Athens, Ga., where we\nwere kindly received by Hope Hull. On Tuesday Bishop Asbury preached at\nBethel Chapel, and Hope Hull and I exhorted.\n\nHOPE HULL was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. His name is one that\nwill long live in the annals of Methodism as one of the pioneers of our\nChurch in New England and the South. He had a fine intellectual face, and\nfeatures that expressed determination. His hair, originally black, was\nthen sprinkled with gray. He had a melodious voice, was a very superior\npreacher, and in eloquence few equaled him. In 1794 he traveled with\nBishop Asbury, who greatly admired him as a man, as a preacher, and as an\norator. He was a pioneer in the cause of education. He resided in Athens,\nGa., and had much to do with the origin and prosperity of the University\nof Georgia, and was for a time president.\n\nHe was born in 1763, entered the traveling ministry in 1785, and died\nOctober 4, 1818. One inquired concerning his spiritual state when he was\ndying. He heroically replied, \u201cGod has laid me under marching orders, and\nI am ready to obey.\u201d\n\nEverywhere in the South the bishop\u2019s visit was hailed with joy, and he\npreached almost every day.\n\nThe bishop and I went to Savannah and Augusta, and I preached in both\nplaces. I preached in German as well as English. Here I saw peach-trees\nin bloom, a great curiosity for December.\n\nOn the morning of December 16, about three o\u2019clock, the house where we\nwere was awfully shaken by an earthquake. This was repeated at eight\no\u2019clock as we were at our family devotions. Many people were much\nalarmed. The shock was felt very seriously in Columbia, so that some of\nthe citizens ran out into the streets, supposing the houses would fall\ndown.\n\nWe arrived at Camden, the seat of the conference, and were entertained\nby Samuel Mathis. The conference commenced on the twenty-first. Bishops\nAsbury and M\u2019Kendree were present, and we had good tidings from almost\nevery part of the work.\n\nOn Sunday morning Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached from John iii, 18, 19, \u201cHe\nthat believeth on him is not condemned,\u201d etc. In the afternoon Bishop\nAsbury preached from 2 Chron. xiv, 7. On Thursday morning Learner\nBlackman preached from James v, 16. On Friday evening the conference\nadjourned. Such peace and love I have hardly ever seen in any conference.\nA goodly number were converted during the session.\n\nThere was a great increase during the year\u2014three thousand three hundred\nand eighty. The bishops were in fine spirits, full of hope in regard\nto the future. Twelve were received into full connection and ordained\ndeacons. They elected the following to the first delegated General\nConference: Lewis Myers, Lovick Pierce, Joseph Tarpley, Daniel Asbury,\nWilliam M. Kennedy, Samuel Dunwoody, James E. Glenn, Hilliard Judge, and\nJoseph Travis.\n\nLeaving Camden we went to Charleston, thence to Georgetown, where we\nstopped with William Wayne, nephew of General Anthony Wayne. He was\nborn in Wilmington in 1736. He was awakened by reading the writings\nof John Wesley, and was converted in his forty-seventh year under a\nsermon preached by Bishop Asbury in Georgetown. He and his wife joined\nin August, 1784, and this was the nucleus of the Methodist society in\nGeorgetown.\n\nThe Virginia Conference was held in Richmond on February 20, 1812. This\nwas the first time the conference had been held at the capital. On\nSunday Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached in the morning, and Dr. Jennings in\nthe afternoon. On Wednesday Bishop Asbury preached from 2 Tim. ii, 1-7,\non the faithfulness of ministers, their ability, their disentanglement\nfrom the world, their power of endurance, and their reward. Afterward\nhe ordained the elders, and while he was performing the office in\nhis solemn and impressive manner the work of revival broke out in the\ngallery, and quite a number were converted. I never before witnessed\njust such a scene in conference. I wrote: \u201cO my soul, never forget the\nblessing received on this occasion.\u201d\n\nThe conference made its first election for delegates to the General\nConference, choosing Jesse Lee, Philip Bruce, John Buxton, Thomas L.\nDouglass, James Boyd, Richard Lattimore, Charles Callaway, C. H. Hines,\nWilliam Jean, and John Early.\n\nWhile at Richmond I visited the ruins of the theater that was burned the\nnight of December 11, 1811. Just before the conclusion of the play the\nscenery caught fire, and the whole building was almost instantly wrapped\nin flames. I saw the staircase where the people crowded down the steps\nto escape, and falling one upon another, perished in a heap. There was a\ngeneral gloom in the city, and the people were clad in mourning.\n\nOn the site of the theater they erected a house of worship, which they\ncalled \u201cMonumental Church.\u201d Indeed it was a monument of one of the\nsaddest events that has occurred on our continent. It was an Episcopal\nchurch, and Bishop Moore was the rector. The remains of the unfortunate\nvictims who perished were deposited in a marble urn, which stands in the\nfront portico of the church, and therefore its name.\n\nIn the interval between the session of the Virginia and Baltimore\nConferences, the bishop made a tour through the most interesting part\nof old Virginia. We went to James City, and he preached there; then to\nWilliamsburgh, and on the 3d of March he preached in the venerable old\nState-house or capitol, in the afternoon, to a crowded audience; and I\nhad the honor of holding forth in the evening from Heb. ii, 3, \u201cHow shall\nwe escape,\u201d etc. We lodged at Brother Ratcliff\u2019s. This was the capital of\nVirginia before Richmond, and it is the oldest incorporated town in the\nstate.\n\nThe old walls of the State-house in which we preached had echoed with the\neloquence of Virginia\u2019s greatest men. Here Patrick Henry made his first\ngrand speech; and in this old house Henry exclaimed, in tones of thunder,\n\u201cCesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the\nThird\u2014\u201d (\u201cTreason!\u201d cried the Speaker; \u201ctreason, treason!\u201d echoed from\nevery part of the house)\u2014Henry exclaimed, \u201cmay profit by his example.\nIf _this_ be treason, make the most of it.\u201d It was in this edifice they\nreturned thanks to George Washington for his services in the French and\nIndian war, and he rose to reply, and was so embarrassed he could say\nnothing; then the Speaker, Robinson, said, \u201cSit down, Mr. Washington;\nyour modesty is equal to your valor, and that surpasses the power of any\nlanguage that I possess.\u201d\n\nWe then went to Elizabeth City County and preached at Hampton, the county\nseat, ninety-six miles from Richmond. Hampton is distinguished for its\nantiquity; its site was visited by Captain John Smith previous to the\nsettlement in Jamestown. Old Point Comfort, on which Fortress Monroe\nstands, is two miles and a half from Hampton.\n\nThe bishop preached every day, going miles out of our direct route,\nvisiting and confirming the Churches during the interval between the\nVirginia and Baltimore Conferences.\n\nOn Friday, March 20, the Baltimore Conference commenced its session in\nLeesburgh, Virginia. There were twelve ordained deacons, among others\nBeverly Waugh, afterward book agent, then bishop; Joseph Frye, of blessed\nmemory, and James M. Hanson. They also elected their delegates to the\nfirst delegated conference, fifteen in number: Nelson Reed, Joseph\nToy, Joshua Wells, Nicholas Snethen, Enoch George, Asa Shinn, Hamilton\nJefferson, Jacob Gruber, Robert R. Roberts, William Ryland, Christopher\nFrye, James Smith, Robert Burch, Henry Smith, Andrew Hemphill. These were\nall men of mark; two afterward became bishops.\n\nOn Sabbath both Bishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree preached. Bishop Asbury\nordained the deacons on Sunday, and the elders were ordained the next\nWednesday, after an able sermon from Nicholas Snethen.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n\nDEATH, FUNERAL, AND CHARACTER OF REV. MARTIN BOEHM.\n\n\nA short time before the conference closed at Leesburgh Bishop Asbury\nsaid to me, \u201cHenry, as soon as conference adjourns you must have the\nhorses ready and we must go right to your father\u2019s.\u201d I reminded him of\nappointments he had sent on to Baltimore and through the eastern shore\nof Maryland. He said, \u201cNever mind, we can get them filled; I tell you we\nmust go right to your father\u2019s.\u201d We were then one hundred miles distant.\n\nThe reason of the sudden change in his plans I believed to be, the bishop\nhad a presentiment or an impression that my father was dead. How else\ncould we account for his abandoning a long list of appointments, changing\nhis entire route, and hastening on to my father\u2019s?\n\nWhen we reached Samuel Brinkley\u2019s, who lived about a mile from our old\nhomestead, the mystery was solved; there we heard my father was dead. The\naged Asbury wept, and I felt sad at the thought I should see him no more.\nI learned that he was taken sick the 17th of March, and on Monday the 23d\nhe departed this life in great peace and triumph, so his mournful words\nproved true that \u201cwe should never see each other again.\u201d\n\nThe bishop makes this record: \u201cFriday, a cold disagreeable ride brought\nus across the country to Samuel Brinkley\u2019s; here I received the first\nintelligence of the death of my dear old friend, Martin Boehm.\u201d\n\nThe next day, Saturday, we passed by his new-made grave to the old\nhomestead, where I found my mother in all the sorrows of widowhood. The\nbishop writes thus: \u201cSabbath, April 5, I preached at Boehm\u2019s Chapel\nthe funeral sermon of Martin Boehm, and gave my audience some very\ninteresting particulars of his life.\u201d His text was, \u201cBehold an Israelite\nindeed, in whom there is no guile.\u201d Immense was the crowd; and the\noccasion was one of mournful interest. The bishop drew the character of\nhis lifetime friend with great exactness, and also that of many of his\ncotemporaries, particularly William Otterbein.\n\n\u201cMartin Boehm,\u201d he said, \u201cwas plain in dress and manners. When age had\nstamped its impress of reverence upon him he filled the mind with the\nnoble idea of a patriarch. At the head of a family, a father, a neighbor,\na friend, a companion, the prominent feature of his character was\ngoodness; you felt that he was good. His mind was strong, and well stored\nwith the learning necessary for one whose aim is to preach Christ with\napostolic zeal and simplicity.\n\n\u201cMartin Boehm had frequent and severe conflicts in his own mind, produced\nby the necessity he felt himself under of offending his Mennonist\nbrethren by the zeal and doctrines of his ministry. Some he gained, but\nmost of them opposed him. He had difficulties also with \u2018The United\nBrethren.\u2019 It was late in life that he joined the Methodists, to whom\nlong before his wife and children had attached themselves. The head of\nthe house had two societies to pass through to arrive at the Methodists,\nand his meek and quiet spirit kept him back.\n\n\u201cIn his ministry he did not make the Gospel a charge to any one; his\nreward was souls and glory.\n\n\u201cThe virtue of hospitality was practiced by his family as a matter of\ncourse, and in following the impulses of their own generous natures the\nmembers of his household obeyed the oft-repeated charge of their head to\nopen his doors to the homeless, that the weary might be solaced and the\nhungry fed. And what a family was here presented to an observant visitor!\nHere was order, quiet, occupation. The father, if not absent on a journey\nof five hundred miles in cold, hunger, and privation, proclaiming the\nglad tidings of salvation to his dispersed German brethren, might, by his\nconduct under his own roof, explain to a careful looker on the secret\nof a parent\u2019s success in rearing a family to the duties of piety, to\nthe diligent and useful occupation of time, and to the uninterrupted\nexhibition of reflected and reciprocal love, esteem, and kindness in word\nand deed.\n\n\u201cIf it is true, as generally believed, that the mother does much toward\nforming the character of her children, it will be readily allowed that\nMartin Boehm had an able help-meet in his pious wife. The offspring of\nthis noble pair have done them honor. The son Jacob, immediately upon\nhis marriage, took upon himself the management of the farm, that his\nexcellent father might, \u2018without carefulness,\u2019 extend his labors more far\nand wide.\n\n\u201cA younger son, Henry, is a useful minister of the Methodist connection,\nhaving the advantage of being able to preach in English and German. We\nare willing to hope that the children of Martin Boehm, and his children\u2019s\nchildren to the third, fourth, and last generations, will have cause\nto thank God that his house for fifty years has been a house for the\nwelcome reception of Gospel ministers, and one in which the worship of\nGod has been uninterruptedly preserved and practiced. O ye children and\ngrandchildren! O rising generation, who have so often heard the prayers\nof this man of God in the houses of your fathers! O ye Germans to whom\nhe has long preached the word of truth! Martin Boehm being dead yet\nspeaketh. O hear his voice from the grave exhorting you to repent, to\nbelieve, to obey!\u201d[38]\n\nAfter the bishop had finished his impressive discourse, which was\nlistened to with tears and sighs by a numerous auditory, he called on me\nto speak. I endeavored to do so, but when I stood in the pulpit where I\nhad so often beheld my father, in the church that bore his name, with my\nvenerable mother before me, tottering over the grave, my relatives all\naround me, where I could look out of the window into the burying-ground\nand see the new-made grave of my father, my eyes filled with tears, and I\nwas so overcome that I could only utter, \u201cLet silence speak.\u201d\n\nThe people were deeply affected all over the house. There was weeping\nfrom many eyes. My father was greatly beloved in life, and deeply\nlamented in death. I had heard the venerable Asbury often when he was\ngreat, and he was peculiarly great on funeral occasions, but then he far\ntranscended himself.\n\nHe called upon Thomas Ware to make some observations. He had long known\nand loved my father, and his remarks were very touching and appropriate.\nThe bishop then called upon Abram Keaggy, who had married my sister; but\nhis feelings overcame him, and he sat down and wept, and thus we all wept\ntogether.[39] A spectator might have said, \u201cBehold how they loved him.\u201d\n\nMy father was in his eighty-seventh year when he died, and had preached\nthe Gospel fifty-five years.\n\nIt is a matter of deep regret that I am under the necessity of noticing\na grave attack upon the character of my father and of the Methodist\nEpiscopal Church, made by the historians of the \u201cUnited Brethren in\nChrist.\u201d[40]\n\nThe attack was first made thirty-nine years after my father was in the\ngrave, and was repeated eleven years later. So half a century after my\nfather\u2019s death I, an old man in my ninety-first year, am obliged to\nvindicate his character from those who profess to revere his memory,\nwho eulogize him, who place him next to the great Otterbein. Beautiful\ngarlands they bring with which to adorn their victim. These historians\nsay:\n\nIn justice to his memory, to the Church in whose origin he was so\nintimately concerned, and to the truth of history, we must pause at\nthe grave of this venerable patriarch to review an account of William\nOtterbein and Martin Boehm, which first appeared in the Methodist\nMagazine, volume vi, pp. 210-249. The sketch purports to have been\nfurnished to Bishop Asbury a short time previous to his death, by his\nfriend, F. Hollingsworth, the transcriber of the bishop\u2019s journal; it has\nalso been embodied in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church, by\nDr. Bangs, and may be found in volume ii, pp. 365-376. Here is the matter\nreferred to:\n\n  \u201cMartin Boehm, of whom we desire to speak, was born in November,\n  1725. As a professor of religion and minister of Christ, the\n  labors and experience of his life may be pretty justly estimated\n  by what we learn from himself, communicated in answers to certain\n  questions propounded to him by his son Jacob, which we transcribe.\n\n  \u201c_Ques._ Father, when were you put into the ministry?\n\n  \u201c_Ans._ My ministerial labors began about the year 1756. Three\n  years afterward, by nomination to the lot, I received full\n  pastoral orders.\n\n  \u201c_Q._ What was your religious experience during that time?\n\n  \u201c_A._ I was sincere and strict in the religious duties of prayer\n  in my family, in the congregation, and in the closet. I lived and\n  preached according to the light I had: I was a servant and not a\n  son; nor did I know any one, at that time, who would claim the\n  birthright by adoption but Nancy Keaggy, my mother\u2019s sister; she\n  was a woman of great piety and singular devotion to God.\n\n  \u201c_Q._ By what means did you discover the nature and necessity of\n  a real change of heart?\n\n  \u201c_A._ By deep meditation upon the doctrine which I myself\n  preached, of the fall of man, his sinful estate, and utter\n  helplessness; I discovered and felt the want of Christ within,\n  etc., etc.\n\n  \u201c_Q._ Were your labors owned of the Lord in the awakening and\n  conversion of souls?\n\n  \u201c_A._ Yes; many were brought to the knowledge of the truth. But\n  it was a strange work; and some of the Mennonist meeting-houses\n  were closed against me. Nevertheless, I was received in other\n  places. I now preached the Gospel spiritually and powerfully.\n  Some years afterward I was excommunicated from the Mennonist\n  church, on a charge truly enough advanced, of holding fellowship\n  with other societies of a different language. I had invited the\n  Methodists to my house, and they soon formed the society in my\n  neighborhood, which exists to this day. My beloved wife, Eve, my\n  children, and my cousin Keaggy\u2019s family, were among the first of\n  its members. For myself, I felt my heart more greatly enlarged\n  toward all religious persons and all denominations of Christians.\n  Upward of thirty years ago I became acquainted with my greatly\n  beloved brother, William Otterbein, and several other ministers,\n  who about this time had been ejected from their churches as I\n  had been from mine, because of their zeal, which was looked upon\n  as an irregularity. We held many large meetings in Pennsylvania,\n  Maryland, and New Virginia, which generally lasted three days. At\n  these meetings hundreds were made the subjects of penitence and\n  pardon. Being convinced of the necessity of order and discipline\n  in the Church of God, and having no wish to be at the head of a\n  separate body, I advised serious persons to join the Methodists,\n  whose doctrine, discipline, and zeal suited, as I thought, an\n  unlearned, sincere, and simple-hearted people. Several of the\n  ministers with whom I labored continued to meet in a conference\n  of the German United Brethren; but we felt difficulties arising\n  from the want of that which the Methodists possessed. Age having\n  overtaken me with some of its accompanying infirmities, I could\n  not travel as I had formerly done. In 1802 I enrolled my name\n  on a Methodist class-book, and I have found great comfort in\n  meeting with my brethren. I can truly say my last days are my\n  best days. My beloved Eve is traveling with me the same road,\n  Zionward; my children, and most of my grandchildren, are made the\n  partakers of the same grace. I am, this 12th of April, 1811, in\n  my eighty-sixth year. Through the boundless goodness of God I am\n  still able to visit the sick, and occasionally to preach in the\n  neighborhood: to His name be all the glory in Christ Jesus.\u201d\n\nAfter giving this quotation, Mr. Spayth observes:\n\n  The first remark we make on the foregoing is that, as Father\n  Boehm spoke but little English at best, the foregoing questions\n  and answers were neither written or spoken by him in English. It\n  is true that he went to Virginia in 1761, but not as Jacob would\n  have it understood, before he had experienced a change of heart,\n  _but after that event_. As to the statement we have given of the\n  cause of his going to Virginia, we are safe to vouchsafe for its\n  correctness, for we had it _from his own lips_. For some reason,\n  or by some means, the statement given by Jacob may be warped in\n  the English version.\n\n  The second exception we take is to the idea conveyed in the\n  statement that his name was enrolled on a Methodist class-book\n  in 1802. That his name was placed on the class-book referred to\n  is true, but the circumstances were as follows: A meeting-house\n  had been built on his land principally by his aid and that of his\n  German brethren. At this meeting-house the Methodists had formed\n  a class previous to the year 1802, under the liberal construction\n  of their rules, and hence with the free assent of Bother Boehm;\n  but this liberality was some time after withdrawn, and the\n  restrictive rule relating to class-meetings and love-feasts was\n  insisted on, and even the venerable Boehm was not excepted. Here\n  was a dilemma. To admit Brother Boehm, the preachers said, was\n  in violation of an express disciplinary rule, and to deny him\n  the privilege in his own meeting-house was hard; but the law is\n  imperative and binding. Now comes the gist of the matter. Brother\n  Boehm was entreated, _for form\u2019s sake_, at least, to allow his\n  name to go on the class, nominally, as a private member, and all\n  would be right. To this, for peace\u2019s sake, he consented, and\n  nothing more.\n\n  How far the law of kindness, of Christian friendship, and\n  hospitality, and of pure love had to stand aside in this case we\n  leave to every one to say. As it was it did not give the Brethren\n  a moment\u2019s concern, nor would we here have taken any notice of\n  it at all had not the Methodist historian made it a subject of\n  record. In concluding this topic we remark that Brother Boehm\u2019s\n  relation to the Brethren Church was unbroken from first to last,\n  as has already been seen.\n\n  This our annual conference proceedings sufficiently show. Thus\n  in 1800, in connection with Otterbein, he was elected bishop. He\n  was prevented by sickness from attending the conference of 1801;\n  attended conference in Maryland in 1802, was re-elected bishop\n  in 1805, and attended the conference of 1809, which was the last\n  this devoted servant of the Lord enjoyed with his brethren in\n  the Church on earth. From this time to the time of his death,\n  great age, with its accompanying infirmities, prevented him from\n  attending an annual conference.\n\nIt is a duty I owe to my venerated father, to the memory of Bishop\nAsbury, and to the ministers that were in charge of the Church at Boehm\u2019s\nChapel in 1802, that I should correct the misrepresentations contained in\nthe history of the \u201cUnited Brethren in Christ.\u201d\n\nThere was a mistake in the account in the Methodist Magazine, and copied\nin Bangs\u2019s history and the \u201cHistory of the United Brethren.\u201d It says the\nquestions were asked by Martin Boehm\u2019s son Jacob. It should have been\nHenry. I asked the questions, and wrote the answers. This was fifty-three\nyears ago last March. I have the original copy with my father\u2019s\nsignature, and the reader can see a fac-simile of his autograph. I asked\nthe questions, and took down the answers at the request of Bishop Asbury,\nwho wished the history of my father. The bishop had taken down from the\nlips of Otterbein the answers giving his history. It was at my father\u2019s\nhouse where the questions were asked and the answers given. To the\nanimadversions that have been made to my statement I make the following\nreplies: 1. It is objected that my father did not understand English,\nand that he wrote neither the questions nor answers. He did understand\nEnglish very well. He conversed very readily in English, and had quite a\nlibrary of English works, which he read with great pleasure and profit;\namong others, Wesley\u2019s Sermons and Fletcher\u2019s Checks. These were great\nfavorites with him.\n\nAs my father was aged and infirm I wrote the questions and answers. He\nfully understood them both, and it was voluntary on his part, and not the\nleast influence was exerted over him. I carefully wrote every word of the\nanswers from his mouth, and then read them over to him, and he pronounced\nthem correct, and then deliberately affixed his signature to them. My\nfather was not one who would sign a document when he was ignorant of its\ncontents, or that he knew to be untrue.\n\nAt that time neither Bishop Asbury or myself supposed it would ever be\na matter of controversy. It was not obtained for any such object, or\nto prove my father was a Methodist, but simply to obtain his history\ncorrectly.\n\n2. Another error is this: that his son had warped the statement. This\nis both uncharitable and unjust. It was not enough to hint that I took\nadvantage of my father\u2019s ignorance of the English language, but now I am\naccused of warping what he said. I would as soon have cut off my right\nhand. If I had been guilty of an act so mean, so unjust to my father,\nand so false to others, I should have despised myself all the rest of my\nlife. The insinuation has not the semblance of truth. Those answers were\nnot warped; there was no false coloring, but sober truth. I took them\ndown from his lips as he answered in honest simplicity, and in the same\nspirit I wrote them down.\n\n3. This historian speaks of Boehm\u2019s Chapel being built on Martin Boehm\u2019s\nland, principally by him and his German brethren, and then the Methodists\ndenying him the privilege of his own meeting-house, etc. Now all this\nis a mistake. It was not built upon my father\u2019s land, but upon that of\nmy brother Jacob, who gave the site for the church. Nor was it built\nprincipally by my father and \u201cthe German Brethren.\u201d I suppose he means\nby this the United Brethren. As a body they had nothing to do with it.\nMy father gave something, and so might some of them; but it was built\nfor the Methodists, and principally by the Methodists. It was not my\nfather\u2019s church any more than it was mine, and it is sheer nonsense to\ntalk of the cruelty of shutting him out of his own church. No such thing\never did or could take place, simply from the fact that he never owned\nany church, and therefore the thing was impossible. It was built for a\nMethodist church, the plan was furnished by a Methodist minister, and it\nwas deeded to the Methodist Episcopal Church. After the lapse of seventy\nyears it is still a Methodist Episcopal Church, and their ministers still\npreach in it.\n\n4. Another error is accusing the Methodists at Boehm\u2019s Chapel of double\ndealing. In the first place \u201cforming a class under a liberal construction\nof their rules,\u201d so that Father Boehm, not a member, could attend a\nclass, and then \u201cwithdrawing such liberal construction,\u201d and bringing it\nto bear on Father Boehm, so he was excluded from the class-meeting and\nlove-feast. Any one acquainted with the Methodist Discipline knows that\nno such thing could take place. No individual Methodist society makes\nand unmakes terms of membership. We have a Discipline, and the terms\nare fixed by the General Conference. We are not independent bodies to\nmake rules for ourselves. Furthermore, I was there at the time, and know\nthat no such thing ever took place. William Hunter then had charge of\nthe circuit, an honest man as ever came from the land of Erin. He was an\noutspoken man, open as the light of day, and incapable of duplicity.\n\nBut to \u201cthe gist of the matter.\u201d Father Boehm, says this writer, was\nentreated, \u201cfor form\u2019s sake,\u201d to have his name go on to the class-book\nnominally. So, according to this statement, he never joined the\nMethodists, he was only a \u201cnominal member.\u201d Here the Methodists are\naccused of deception, and my aged father of complicity with them: they\npretending that he was a member, and he allowing his name to be entered\nas a member, all the while knowing that he was not one. My father would\nnever have stooped to such meanness. He did not consider himself a\nnominal, but a real member of the Methodist Church. He was not only a\nmember of the class, and used to meet in it, but he was a member of the\nQuarterly Conference; he used to meet and take a part there, by virtue of\nhis office, as a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was\nan ordained minister and used to administer the ordinances, Baptism and\nthe Lord\u2019s Supper.\n\nBut it is said \u201che was entreated to do this for peace\u2019 sake.\u201d For whose\npeace? My father was not so easily persuaded to do a wrong action for the\nsake of peace. He always preferred purity to peace: \u201cFirst pure, then\npeaceable.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII.\n\nTHE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST\u2014SKETCH OF OTTERBEIN, ETC.\n\n\n\u201cThe United Brethren in Christ\u201d have often been confounded with the\nMoravians. They had gone by the name of \u201cUnited Brethren\u201d ever since Mr.\nOtterbein took my father in his arms and exclaimed, \u201cWe are brethren;\u201d\nand at the conference in 1800 they added the words, \u201cin Christ.\u201d\n\nThere was a great effort made to unite the Methodists and the United\nBrethren, who were often called \u201cGerman Methodists.\u201d The Baltimore and\nPhiladelphia Conferences not only corresponded with them, but delegates\nfrom both Churches were ordered to devise a plan of union. This was kept\nup for years. In 1813 William Hunter and myself were appointed delegates\nto them. This was the last of fraternal letters or fraternal delegates.\nTerms of union were agreed upon, and it promised well for a time, but\nbefore long there was dissatisfaction on both sides. So the United\nBrethren took their course and we ours, each doing our own work in our\nown way.\n\nThe United Brethren had class-meetings, but did not, like the Methodists,\nmake them a test of membership. They had love-feasts also, but lacked\ndiscipline. William Otterbein recommended their adopting the Methodist\ndiscipline. They had at that time no regular organization, but were\ncomposed of persons belonging to different denominations. They recorded\nthe name of their ministers but not of the membership. At their\nconference in 1802 a proposal to record the names of members as well as\nministers was voted down. When they began to \u201cnumber Israel\u201d I cannot say.\n\nIn their Minutes for 1800 they named Henry Boehm one of their ministers;\nbut I did not belong to them, and at that time had no license to preach.\nIt was not till 1815 they had a regular discipline. Their doctrines are\nthe same as the Methodists\u2019, but they differ in practice. They wash each\nother\u2019s feet; they are opposed to masonry and all secret societies; they\nalways abominated slavery and would never tolerate it. They have bishops,\nAnnual and General Conferences, traveling and local preachers. They have\na large publishing house in Dayton, Ohio, and print two newspapers,\none in German, the other in English. At their General Conference in\nMay, 1861, they reported 5,166 preaching places, 3,900 classes, 94,443\nmembers, 499 itinerant and 417 local preachers, and 15,130 Sabbath\nscholars.\n\n\nREV. WILLIAM P. OTTERBEIN.\n\nThe relation of Mr. Otterbein to Bishop Asbury and my father was such as\nto require more than a passing notice. They were united by a threefold\ncord stronger than death, and lasting as their existence. They never met\nwithout complying with the apostolic injunction: \u201cSalute one another with\na holy kiss.\u201d\n\nMr. Otterbein was one of the fathers of the \u201cUnited Brethren in Christ.\u201d\nHe assisted in ordaining Francis Asbury bishop, and was ever a friend of\nthe Methodists. There are but few living who knew him. I heard him preach\nfrequently, have seen him at my father\u2019s and at great meetings, have been\nhis guest, and preached for him in Baltimore.\n\nHe was born in Nassau, Prussia, June 4, 1726. His education was of a\nsuperior order. In 1752 he emigrated to this country, and settled in\nLancaster. Mr. Asbury and he became acquainted through Benjamin Swope,\none of the German preachers, the year the apostle of Methodism came\nto America. Mr. Asbury wrote to Mr. Otterbein urging him to come to\nBaltimore, and he did so in 1774, and organized the \u201cEvangelical Reformed\nChurch\u201d out of the ruins of another completely demoralized.\n\nIn sentiment they were like the Methodists, and somewhat in practice.\nTheir constitution read thus: \u201cNo preacher can stay among us who teacheth\nthe doctrines of predestination or the impossibility of falling from\ngrace, or who holdeth them as doctrinal points.\u201d They were genuine\nArminians. No preacher could remain who did not strictly attend\nclass-meetings.\n\nMr. Otterbein\u2019s church was built on Howard\u2019s Hill. My father and he first\nmet at Isaac Long\u2019s, a few miles from Lancaster. Various denominations\nhad been invited to meet there, and my father preached the first sermon,\nwhich was attended with peculiar unction, and when he had finished, Mr.\nOtterbein arose and encircled him in his arms, and exclaimed, \u201cWe are\nbrethren.\u201d Shout after shout went up, and tears flowed freely from many\neyes, the scene was so pentecostal. Such was the origin of the United\nBrethren. Mr. Otterbein used to itinerate, and hold great union meetings\ngenerally in groves, barns, or church-yards, for houses of worship were\ngenerally closed against him.\n\nI first saw Mr. Otterbein and heard him preach in 1798. It was at my\nfather\u2019s, where a three days\u2019 meeting was held. I heard him in 1800 at\ntheir conference, from Rev. iii, 7. It was a masterly sermon, and the\neffect was overwhelming. His sermons were scripturally rich, and were\ndelivered with unusual energy. He was a great expounder of the word,\ngiving the meaning of the inspired writer. His voice had lost its musical\nnotes, and was harsh and husky.\n\nBishop Asbury speaks of him as the \u201cgreat Otterbein.\u201d There was no man\nfor whom he had a higher regard, none whose death he lamented more\ndeeply. In person he was tall, being six feet high, with a noble frame\nand a commanding appearance. He had a thoughtful, open countenance, full\nof benignity, a dark-bluish eye that was very expressive. In reading\nthe lessons he used spectacles, which he would take off and hold in his\nleft hand while speaking. He had a high forehead, a double chin, with a\nbeautiful dimple in the center. His locks were gray, his dress parsonic.\n\nHe married the sister of the distinguished Dr. Handall, a man of profound\nlearning and deep piety.\n\nI was at his house the last evening Mr. Asbury and he ever spent\ntogether. This was April 22, 1813. The bishop says, \u201cI gave an evening to\nthe great Otterbein.\u201d Mr. Otterbein was one year younger than my father,\nand nineteen years older than Mr. Asbury. Mr. Otterbein was useful in\nlife, and triumphant in death. His last words were, \u201cThe conflict is\nover; lay me down upon the pillow, and be still.\u201d His friends complied\nwith his request. During that stillness angels whispered, \u201cSister spirit,\ncome away.\u201d Gladly he obeyed the summons, and entered into the joy of his\nLord.\n\nOn Thursday, April 24, 1814, in Mr. Otterbein\u2019s chapel, Bishop Asbury\npreached his funeral discourse. He says, \u201cSolemnity marked the silent\nmeeting in the German church, where were assembled the members of our\nconference, and many of the clergy of the city. Forty years have I known\nthis retiring, modest man of God, towering majestically above his fellows\nin learning, wisdom, and grace, yet seeking to be known only of God and\nthe people of God. He had been sixty years a minister, fifty years a\nconverted one.\u201d He was buried in the ground connected with his church.\n\nI knew others of the fathers of the United Brethren Church. George Adam\nGuething was the most eloquent. He was truly an Apollos. He was born in\nGermany, and emigrated to this country when he was seventeen. He taught\nschool in winter, and quarried stone and dug wells in summer. He became\na splendid preacher. I heard him at my father\u2019s, and at other places. In\n1800 I was his guest with my father. He lived in Washington County, Md.\nOver sixty years ago I heard him preach from Jer. xvii, 7, 8, \u201cBlessed\nis the man that trusteth in the Lord,\u201d etc. This beautiful text, which\nreminds us of the first psalm, just suited the genius of Guething, who\npreached a sermon of rare beauty and excellence. He was the spiritual\nfather of the Rev. Henry Smith, late of the Baltimore Conference, who\nwas converted under a powerful sermon which he preached at Antietam. Mr.\nGuething died in 1812, the same year as my father. He made a visit to\nFather Otterbein, was taken sick, started for home, and died before he\nreached it. His death was one of exceeding triumph. He was very quiet\nfor a while, when he suddenly exclaimed, \u201cI feel as though my end had\ncome. Hark! hark! who spoke? whose voice is that I hear? Light, light,\nwhat golden light! Now all is dark again. Please help me out of bed.\u201d He\nsaid, \u201cLet us sing, \u2018Come, thou long-expected moment,\u2019\u201d etc. He knelt\nand offered prayer. He was helped into bed, folded his hands across his\nbosom, and in fifteen minutes the angel of death had done his work. Thus\ntriumphantly died my father\u2019s friend, the most splendid orator among the\nUnited Brethren in Christ, aged seventy-two years, of which he had spent\nforty in the ministry.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\n\nPHILADELPHIA AND GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1812.\n\n\nI will now resume my narrative. Notwithstanding the recent death of my\nfather, and the loneliness of my widowed mother, three days was all the\ntime we could spend at the old homestead after months of absence. As for\nrest we knew not what it meant, unless it was on horseback. Mr. Asbury\nacted as if a voice was ringing in his ear, constantly saying, \u201cArise ye\nand depart, for this is not your rest.\u201d His motto was, \u201cLabor here, rest\nhereafter.\u201d\n\nThe next Sabbath Mr. Asbury preached near Valley Forge at Isaac\nAnderson\u2019s, Esq. He had been a Methodist for over thirty years, was\nseveral times a member of the State Legislature, and was honored with a\nseat in Congress.\n\nThe Philadelphia Conference began on Saturday, April 18. Bishop Asbury,\nfeeble as he was, preached four times during the session, namely, at St.\nGeorge\u2019s, St. Thomas\u2019s, Union Chapel, and Ebenezer. The deacons were\nordained on Wednesday, and the elders on Thursday by Bishop Asbury,\nBishop M\u2019Kendree being sick.\n\nThis was the first time this conference elected delegates to the General\nConference. They sent fourteen: Ezekiel Cooper, John M\u2019Claskey, Thomas\nF. Sargent, Stephen G. Roszel, Thomas Ware, Richard Sneath, Thomas\nBoring, David Bartine, John Walker, George Wolley, James Bateman, Thomas\nBurch, Michael Coate, and Asa Smith. Several of them, like M\u2019Claskey,\nSargent, and Roszel, were physically as well as mentally great men.\nLong since they have all been gathered to their fathers. The conference\nadjourned on the 26th after a very peaceful and profitable session.\n\n\nGENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1812.\n\nOn Friday, May 1, 1812, in the city of New York, there was a great\ngathering in \u201cWesley Chapel,\u201d John-street. The cradle of American\nMethodism was an appropriate place in which to hold the \u201cfirst delegated\nGeneral Conference\u201d of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishops Asbury\nand M\u2019Kendree were there, and ninety representatives from eight Annual\nConferences. It was the first Bishop M\u2019Kendree attended after his\nelection to the episcopacy, and the last at which the venerable Bishop\nAsbury was present. Before the next session he was in Abraham\u2019s bosom.\n\nNo account has hitherto been published of the opening services of this\nconference, nor is there any record in the journal. The first day was\nobserved as a day of fasting and prayer. Bishop Asbury preached at\neleven o\u2019clock from Matt. xvii, 19-21, a text admirably adapted to the\noccasion. No man ever understood adaptation in preaching better than\nFrancis Asbury. Fasting was regularly observed by the Wesley\u2019s and by our\nfathers in the ministry. Alas, though enjoined in our general rules, it\nis now almost obsolete.\n\nOn Sunday Bishop Asbury preached in the morning at the Bowery (now\nForsyth-street) Church, in the evening in the Fourth-street (now\nAllen-street) Church. The Spirit of God accompanied the word to many\nsouls. On Monday the 4th it not only rained, but snowed: rather late in\nthe season for snow-storms. On Tuesday night I preached in Hudson (now\nDuane) Church on John i, 11, 12.\n\nOn next Sunday, the 10th, Bishop Asbury preached in the morning in the\nAfrican Church. The colored people had a great time under the word. The\nbishop was always a great friend to colored people, and they always had\nthe highest regard for him. In the evening he preached in the Hudson\nChurch. A good and gracious time in both places.\n\nOn Thursday evening I preached in John-street, from Matt. xi, 28, with\nsome comfort.\n\nOn Sunday the 17th I heard Bishop Asbury preach in Sands-street,\nBrooklyn, from Isaiah lii, 1, \u201cAwake, awake, put on thy strength O Zion,\u201d\netc. I wrote in my journal, \u201cA solemn, awful time.\u201d The bishop said it\nwas an \u201celegant house.\u201d What would he say now to our elegant houses if\nhe could revisit our churches? In the afternoon I heard Joshua Marsden\nin John-street, on \u201cwisdom.\u201d He was a member of the English Wesleyan\nConference, and had been for some years in Nova Scotia. He had come to\nNew York to return to England, but the breaking out of the war between\nEngland and America prevented him, and therefore he was employed to\npreach in New York. He was a good preacher, a great admirer of Bishop\nAsbury, and has given one of the best descriptions of the bishop\u2019s\npersonal appearance and character I ever read. He had also no common gift\nas a poet. Some of his pieces, especially a sonnet, \u201cWhat is Time,\u201d are\nmuch admired.[41]\n\nI need not give an account of the doings of the General Conference, which\nthe reader can find in the printed journals. I have dwelt on things\nhitherto unrecorded. The presiding elder question was debated, whether\nthey should be appointed by the bishop or elected by the conference;\nalso the ordination of local preachers. Asa Shinn and Jesse Lee were\nhere opposed to each other, and it was like the wrestling of giants.\nLee contended the local preachers could not perform their ordination\nvows while in a local condition. Mr. Shinn shrewdly replied that the\nsame form of ordination required an \u201celder to rule well his own family;\u201d\nthat Brother Lee had promised to perform this duty twenty years before,\nand yet he had never done it\u2014he was a delinquent, and should keep his\nown vows, etc. This retort was effective. The conference was perfectly\nconvulsed with laughter at the expense of the old bachelor, who sat down\nshaking his great sides and enjoying it as well as others. From that time\nhe gave up his opposition.\n\nOn the 22d the conference adjourned, to meet in Baltimore May 1, 1816.\nWhere are now those delegates that met in New York in May, 1812? Of the\nninety strong men who were there eighty-four are dead, and six only\nsurvive: Laban Clark, Joshua Soule, Daniel Webb, Lovick Pierce, Joseph\nTravis, and John Early.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV.\n\nNEW YORK, NEW ENGLAND, AND GENESEE CONFERENCES.\n\n\nAt the close of the General Conference Mr. Asbury and I left for Albany.\nOn the way we made Governor Van Cortland a visit at Croton. I wrote: \u201cWe\nfound the aged father in the possession of his faculties, and he loves\nto hear of the prosperity of Zion.\u201d He resided in the old Manor-house,\nnear the mouth of the Croton River. The governor was very rich, having\ninherited a large part of Cortland Manor. The house was famous for its\nantiquity, and for the distinguished guests that had been entertained\nthere, among whom were Washington, Lafayette, Franklin, and Whitefield,\nwho preached from the piazza to the multitudes who thronged to hear him.\nIt was a stopping place of Bishop Asbury, Garrettson, Moriarty, Hibbard,\nHutchinson, and others of the early Methodist fathers.\n\nGovernor Pierre Van Cortland was the first lieutenant-governor of New\nYork, and was re-elected eighteen times. He was the president of the\nconvention that formed and adopted the constitution of the State of New\nYork. In the City Hall in New York is a fine marble bust of him. He was\nvery tall, and of a commanding appearance. He wore breeches, and silver\nshoe-buckles.\n\nThe governor was a Methodist, and gave the land for a church and\nburying-ground. It was erected upon a hill, and commands a splendid view\nof the Hudson. The old building remains, a relic of former days. He\nmarried Joanna Livingston. They were both pure spirits. Their daughter,\nMrs. Van Wick, was a gifted woman, a shouting Methodist, who would\nexhort with great effect. His daughter, Mrs. Gerard Beekman, was also a\nMethodist, and her son, Dr. Stephen Beekman, at whose house the Rev. John\nSummerfield died in New York on June 30, 1825.\n\nBishop Asbury greatly admired the old governor, and said he resembled\nGeneral Russel of Kentucky, who married the sister of Patrick Henry.\nThe governor, full of years and of honors, died on May 1, 1814, in the\nninety-fourth year of his age.\n\nThe next year, on May 13, the bishop in making his last tour through\nhis diocese went to the old mansion, and found its inhabitant gone. He\nmournfully wrote: \u201cThe dear, aged man, Governor Van Cortland, has gone to\nhis rest, having attained his ninetieth year and upward.\u201d He was buried\nin his family cemetery, on a beautiful elevation a short distance from\nthe old Manor-house. On his marble tomb his portrait is drawn in full.\nIt concludes thus: \u201cThe simplicity of his private life was that of an\nancient patriarch. He died a bright witness of that perfect love which\ncasteth out the fear of death,\u201d etc.\n\nHis son Philip was an illustrious man. He was brigadier-general during\nthe Revolutionary War, and distinguished himself in several battles,\nand especially at Yorktown, where the crowning battle of the Revolution\nwas fought. He was the intimate friend of Lafayette, whom it is said\nhe strikingly resembled, and he made the tour of the country with him\nin 1824. He was very friendly to the Methodists, and attended their\nmeetings; and when the minister failed to come, he would read a chapter\nfrom the Bible. Great camp-meetings were held upon his land, and\nmultitudes were converted there. He died in 1831, and Noble W. Thomas\npreached his funeral sermon.\n\nFrom Croton we went to Rev. Freeborn Garrettson\u2019s at Rhinebeck. The\nbishop delighted to visit that model household. Fifty years later, long\nafter the death of Father Garrettson and his amiable wife, I went to the\nold homestead. It stood as in the days when Bishop Asbury and I were\nthere, but where were its inmates? Melancholy reflections came over me\nwhen I thought of the changes that had taken place; but I was kindly\nentertained by their daughter Mary, as well as their nephew, Freeborn\nGarrettson, Esq., whose friends I knew and those of his wife when I\ntraveled on the Peninsula half a century ago.\n\nWe tarried a short time at Poughkeepsie, where Methodism was then very\nfeeble. In the winter of 1861 I spent several weeks there, and was glad\nto find three flourishing Churches, besides a German Church. In the\nlatter I was permitted to preach in my own vernacular, which I had not\ndone for years.\n\nOn Thursday, June 4, 1812, the New York Conference commenced its session\nin Albany. Eleven were received on trial, among them William Ross, Tobias\nSpicer, and Theodosius Clark. Mr. Clark is the only one remaining.\nFourteen remained on trial, including J. B. Matthias, Benjamin Griffen,\nJohn B. Stratten, and Samuel Luckey. The latter is the only one living,\nexcept Hawley Sanford, who located years ago. He is the father of Rev.\nA. K. Sanford of the New York Conference. This was my last visit to the\nnoble New York Conference with Bishop Asbury. I attended its session at\nPoughkeepsie in 1861, and looked in vain for the men I saw in 1812. But\nfour remained: Marvin Richardson, Phineas Rice, Benjamin Griffen, and\nTheodosius Clark. Rice and Griffen have since departed.\n\nLeaving Albany, we rode on horseback to Boston, and were the guests\nof our old friend Otheman, father of Rev. B. Otheman, of New England\nConference, and grandfather of Rev. E. B. Otheman, of New York\nConference, and of the late Mrs. Stevens, wife of Rev. Abel Stevens, LL.D.\n\nOn June 20, 1812, the New England Conference began in Lynn. Both Asbury\nand M\u2019Kendree were present. On Sunday I preached at five in the morning,\nBishop M\u2019Kendree at ten, and Bishop Asbury at three in the afternoon.\nThe session was exceedingly harmonious. The announcement that war was\ndeclared by the United States against Great Britain produced the most\nintense excitement. Of the eighty-four preachers present all are gone\nexcept Joshua Soule and Daniel Webb.\n\nLeaving Lynn, the bishop went to the Genesee Conference. We stopped in\nTroy, and Bishop Asbury held forth from \u201cIf any man speak,\u201d etc. We heard\nNathan Bangs on \u201cBeing made free from sin,\u201d etc. It was the first time I\never heard him. Samuel Merwin, then stationed in Albany, accompanied us\nfor a little distance. He was a noble looking man.\n\nThe Genesee Conference was to have been held in Niagara, Upper Canada,\nbut the war prevented, and it was changed to Lyons.\n\nThe 28th of July it commenced in Daniel Dorsey\u2019s store-house or granary.\nHere the ordinations were performed. I am told the venerable old building\nis still standing. There was a camp-meeting held in connection with the\nconference. I preached in German from Isaiah iii, 10, 11.\n\nWe missed the preachers from Canada. There was an increase of six hundred\non two districts. We could not hear from Canada. This was my last visit\nto the Genesee Conference. What has God done for Methodism in Western\nNew York since that day!\n\nWe left for my mother\u2019s, passing through the valley of Wyoming, and\narrived at the old mansion the 11th of August. Bishop Asbury wept for his\nold friend, and I for my father.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV.\n\nMY LAST TOUR WITH BISHOP ASBURY.\n\n\nOn Monday, August 17, we started on the last tour I made with the bishop.\nThe next Monday we went to Pipe Creek and attended a camp-meeting there.\nThen we started West, and the bishop remarked, \u201cThere was a strange\nmedley of preachers, drovers, beasts on four legs, and beasts made by\nwhisky on two, traveling on the turnpike at one time.\u201d\n\nIn eight months we had traveled six thousand miles and attended nine\nconferences and ten camp-meetings.\n\nOn Friday, September 18, we went to Rush Creek camp-meeting. We tarried\nwith Edward Teel, a Methodist of the old stamp, nearly eighty years\nold. Mr. Asbury and he had been friends over forty years. He was the\nfather-in-law of Rev. James Quin. The bishop at this time was very\nfeeble, and required much care and constant nursing.\n\nWe reached Chillicothe, and were the guests of Rev. Thomas S. Hines,\na local preacher. He was a good writer, and capital at sketching.\nHe wrote those sketches on Western Methodism that appeared in the\n_Methodist Magazine_ and in the _Christian Advocate_, over the signature\nof Theophilus Arminius. He was the intimate friend of Rev. William\nBeauchamp, and wrote his memoir. He was the son of Dr. S. Hines, whom\nBishop Asbury mentions, who put a blister plaster on the back of his\nwife\u2019s head to draw her Methodism out of her. She bore it with such\nmeekness and patience that it led to the awakening and conversion of her\nhusband. I was acquainted with the old doctor, who was a very singular\nbut interesting man.\n\nHe related the circumstance of his trying to extract his wife\u2019s Methodism\nby so harsh a remedy to the bishop and myself, and he cried, and said,\n\u201cwhat a fool I was to do so.\u201d The doctor was a surgeon in the British\narmy under General Wolfe, and was present at the Plains of Abraham\nwhere Wolfe fell at Quebec, and Captain Webb lost an eye. The doctor\nand his family emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky when it was one vast\nwilderness. He was formerly a deist, but became a Methodist. He and his\nestimable wife were pillars in the temple of Western Methodism. She was\na noble woman, and had a superior mind. She gave a reason of the hope\nwithin her, silenced infidels, and carried the war into the enemy\u2019s camp.\n\nThe Western Conference began at Chillicothe October 1, 1812. Friday was\na day of fasting. At eleven Bishop Asbury preached from Acts xiii, 1, 2,\n\u201cAnd they ministered to the Lord, and fasted,\u201d etc. The bishop preached\nthree times, and labored with apostolic zeal. He ordained twelve deacons\nand twelve elders. He made this entry in his journal: \u201cUpon the last day\nmy strength failed. I want sleep, sleep, sleep; for three hours I lay\nundisturbed in bed, to which I had stolen on Wednesday, but they called\nme up to read off the stations. I have considerable fever, but we must\nmove.\u201d\n\nThe bishop and I went to Cincinnati, where we spent the Sabbath, and both\npreached. This was my last visit to this place till forty-seven years\nafter. Thence we traveled to Kentucky. At Lexington the bishop heard\na local preacher, at whose father\u2019s house he had preached in 1780. At\nFrankfort he preached in the chamber of the House of Representatives,\nand found among his hearers a man who was his companion through the\nwilderness twenty-three years before.\n\nAt Nashville, Tennessee, we saw a daughter of General Russel, Widow\nBowen and her three daughters, who were all Methodists. We lodged with\nthe jailor, but he kindly let us out. The bishop pleasantly said we were\n\u201cprisoners of hope.\u201d He preached in the new church on the Sabbath, and\nwrote, \u201cThis is a pentecostal day to my soul. Hail, all hail, eternal\nglory!\u201d\n\nThe Tennessee Conference met near James Quin\u2019s at Fountain Head,\nNovember 9, 1812. It was held at Brother House\u2019s, that we might have the\nmeeting-house to preach in. Both the bishops preached, and I had the\nprivilege also. Forty deacons and ten elders were ordained, and there\nwas an increase of eight thousand within its bounds. This was the first\nsession of the Tennessee Conference. Up to that time we had had in the\nWest only the grand old Western Conference.\n\nThe formation of the Tennessee Conference was a new era in Western\nMethodism, and paved the way for the formation of future conferences.\nBishop Asbury was anxious to form a Mississippi Conference, and makes\nthis record: \u201cWe shall have gone entirely round the United States in\nforty years; but there will be other states! God will raise up men to\nmake and meet conferences in them also, if we remain faithful as a\npeople.\u201d How true his predictions concerning other states and other\nconferences: states have been more than doubled, and conferences have\nmultiplied till, North and South, we have nearly a hundred. And God has\nraised up the men and furnished the means to carry on this glorious work.\n\nDuring conference I was the honored guest of James M\u2019Kendree, father of\nthe bishop. He was happy in God and bound for heaven. This was my last\nvisit to the venerated patriarch.\n\nA number of preachers started with the bishops on our Southern tour. The\neccentric James Axley was with us, and he was most excellent company. At\nnight we were entertained by Rev. John Magee, the father of camp-meetings\nin America and the father-in-law of Rev. Thomas L. Douglass. On\nWednesday Bishop Asbury baptized six children. Then we crossed the French\nBroad and forded the Big Pigeon. It was nothing for us to ford rivers.\n\nOn Sunday Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached a characteristic sermon, James Axley\nexhorted, and I followed. In those days we gave them sermon upon sermon,\nexhortation upon exhortation.\n\nOn December 17 we reached Charleston, and our bishops were received\nas angels from God. During the route over the mountains Bishop Asbury\nsuffered exceedingly from cold. We had to ford deep streams, and dined\nfrequently in the woods. We stopped at one place where a gentleman\noffered Bishop Asbury brandy and the Bible. He took the Bible, and let\nthe brandy alone. In his journal he says: \u201cI cannot easily describe the\npain under which I shrink and writhe. The weather is cold, and I have\nconstant pleuritic twinges in the side. In cold, in hunger, and in want\nof clothing, mine are apostolic sufferings.\u201d I witnessed his intense\nsuffering, and in a measure shared them. How I rejoice that the mountains\nare crossed for the last time, but never can I forget the toils, the\nstruggles, the privations the bishop endured for the Church of God.\n\nThe conference was pleasant, and lasted one week. My visits to Charleston\nwere always refreshing. The southern preachers I ardently loved, and the\nCharleston Methodists. What a bond of union then bound the North and\nthe South together! O for the return of those days of peace and union\nand confidence! then my old heart would rejoice, and I would say, \u201cLord,\nlettest now thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy\nsalvation.\u201d\n\nOur northern route was exceedingly irksome and tedious, not merely on\naccount of the weather, which was very raw and cold, but of the severe\nillness of Bishop Asbury. Never was he more feeble, never less able to\ntravel, and yet he would go on. There was only one thing that could stop\nhim\u2014the pale horse and his rider.\n\nWe left Charleston the last day of 1812. Father Asbury having lost the\nuse of one of his feet by rheumatism, I had to carry him in my arms and\nplace him in his sulky, and then to take him out and carry him into a\nchurch or private dwelling, and he would sit and preach. At Fayetteville\nI carried him into the church, and he preached from Zech. ix, 12, \u201cthe\nstronghold.\u201d After the sermon he ordained three persons. He had one\nblister on him, and I carried him to our host and he put on three more.\nHe traveled in great misery.\n\nOn the twenty-fourth, at Wilmington, I carried him into church, and he\npreached in the morning, and then met the society; and that not being\nenough for a sick, old, infirm bishop, he would preach again in the\nevening. After that he was in such misery that a poultice was applied to\nmitigate his pain.\n\nThe next day we rode twenty-four miles. The bishop\u2019s feet were so swollen\nhe could not wear a shoe. Almost any other man would have been in bed,\nbut he loved his work better than his life. His record on that day is, \u201cI\nhave a fever and swelled feet.\u201d The next day, \u201cI suffer violent pain in\nmy right foot;\u201d and yet he says, \u201cI have filled all my appointments, and\nanswered the letters received.\u201d Who else would have thus persevered amid\npain and anguish, dying by inches to accomplish so much work?\n\nOn February 4 the bishop was as tickled as a little child. Why? Because\nhe was able once more to put on his leather shoes. And he exclaimed, \u201cO\nthe sufferings I have endured, patiently I hope!\u201d He did suffer most\nexcruciatingly, but patience in him had its perfect work. On our way to\nNewbern the bishop preached every day, sometimes at considerable length.\nOne service, ordination and all, lasted two hours. The bishop said, \u201cI\ngained a fever and a clear conscience by my labors.\u201d I would rather have\nhad the clear conscience without the fever; but he often forgot himself\nin his anxiety to benefit others.\n\nOn Monday, February 8, we reached Newbern, N. C. The bishop writes,\n\u201cI am in Newbern on crutches.\u201d The Virginia Conference was held in a\nschool-room. Both Asbury and M\u2019Kendree were present. There was some\nexcellent preaching from Stith Mead, Thomas L. Douglass, and the two\nbishops.\n\nJesse Lee preached from Acts xvii, 6, \u201cThese that have turned the world\nupside down,\u201d etc. His propositions were, 1. That originally the moral\nworld was right side up. 2. Sin had turned it wrong side up. 3. It was\nthe design of the Gospel and the business of the ministry to restore it\nto its original position. The next morning nearly everything about the\ntown looked ridiculous, being upside down. Wagons, boats, signs, gates,\nalmost everything was bottom side upward. Some of the inhabitants were\nvexed, and some laughed; while the authors of the mischief enjoyed the\nfun, and laid it to the preacher, who they said had come to turn the town\nover that it might be right side up.\n\nOf the conference Bishop Asbury says: \u201cWe had great order, great union,\nand dispatch in business. The increase here in membership this year is\nseven hundred; but ah, deaths and locations!\u201d There were in the Virginia\nConference this year no less than thirteen locations. No wonder the\nbishop groaned over such defections.\n\nWe reached Georgetown and were the guests of Henry Foxall.[42] Here the\nbishop received an invitation from the British Conference to visit\nthem, and promising to meet the expenses of his journey, which was very\ngratifying to him. He also had a call from the Rev. William Watters, now\naged and feeble. This was the last time I ever saw him.\n\nWe went to Annapolis and thence to Baltimore. We tarried all night\nwith our aged friend, Father Otterbein. Bishop Asbury says, \u201cI gave an\nevening to the great Otterbein. I found him placid and happy in God.\u201d\nThat was an evening I shall ever remember; two noble souls met, and their\nconversation was rich and full of instruction. They had met frequently\nbefore; this was their last interview on earth\u2014long ago they met in\nheaven.\n\nBaltimore Conference commenced on the 24th. Jacob Gruber and I preached,\nin German, on Sunday in Otterbein\u2019s Church. Bishop Asbury preached twice.\nAt this conference Beverly Waugh, James M. Hanson, and others were\nordained elders. On leaving Baltimore we took a tour through a part of\nthe Peninsula.\n\nThe Philadelphia Conference assembled in Philadelphia on April 24, 1813.\nBoth bishops were present. Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached at the Union from\nJames iv, 10; Bishop Asbury in St. George\u2019s from Rom. i, 16.\n\nAt the conference in 1813 I ceased to travel with Bishop Asbury as his\n\u201chelp-meet.\u201d I had been with Bishop Asbury since 1808. He thought I was\nneeded among the Germans, and that I ought to be near my mother, who was\nliving within the bounds of Schuylkill District, to which he appointed me.\n\nWhen my character was examined the question was asked, \u201cIs there anything\nagainst Henry Boehm?\u201d \u201cNothing,\u201d said the bishop, \u201cagainst Brother\nBoehm.\u201d He then rose and said, in his nervous and emphatic manner, \u201cFor\nfive years he has been my constant companion. He served me as a _son_; he\nserved me as a _brother_; he served me as a _servant_; he served me as\na _slave_.\u201d His earnest, emphatic manner caused some to smile and many\nto weep. Dr. Thomas F. Sargent laughed and said, \u201cThe bishop has given\nyou quite a character.\u201d Without egotism, I may say I always retained the\nbishop\u2019s confidence. This is evident from the fact that six weeks after\nwe parted he appointed me one of the executors of his last will and\ntestament.\n\nWhile with Mr. Asbury I attended to the financial affairs of the Book\nRoom at conferences. This was during the war, when there was great\ntrouble in remitting funds. John Wilson, book agent, died in 1810, and\nDaniel Hitt, the other agent, had to attend to the business at home. It\nwas a greater task to attend to such complex business, to collect funds\nand remit drafts, than many would suppose. This brought me into a more\nintimate acquaintance with all the preachers North and South, East and\nWest.\n\nOn the journals of the General Conference of 1812 the reader will find\nthe following: \u201cL. Myers moved that this conference express their\ngratitude to Brother Henry Boehm for his services to the connection in\ncollecting and remitting moneys belonging thereunto, and that they vote\nhim some compensation as an acknowledgement of their gratitude.\u201d Their\n\u201cthanks\u201d were voted, but no \u201ccompensation.\u201d Thanks are cheap. I saved the\nBook Room thousands of dollars. I was sub-agent. Daniel Hitt could not\ngo, and to have sent a special agent would have involved much expense. I\nhave never received any compensation, and never desired any.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI.\n\nSCHUYLKILL DISTRICT, 1813-14.\n\n\nThe office of presiding elder was new to me, and I felt my\nresponsibility. Philadelphia, Wilmington, and seven circuits composed\nmy district. Several of the circuits I had previously traveled, and\nmy old friends hailed me with joy. It included my native place and\nBoehm\u2019s Chapel, and I was near my old mother, who was bending under the\ninfirmities of age. Several of the preachers had been my colleagues, and\nwere my personal friends, and I could not but feel at home with them.\nThere were noble men on my district, among them two future bishops,\nRobert R. Roberts and John Emory. The other presiding elders were Peter\nVannest, Michael Coate, and John M\u2019Claskey. Peter Vannest had heard John\nWesley, and he used to say, \u201cBrethren, remain by the old landmarks. These\nvery eyes have seen John Wesley, and these hands have handled him.\u201d While\nthe others died early he lived to an extreme old age, beloved by all who\nknew him, and died in holy triumph in Pemberton, New Jersey.\n\nMy home on the district was with Robert R. Roberts, in Philadelphia. I\nwas a single man, and he had no children. He invited me to make his\nhouse my home.\n\nOn the 31st of July Bishop Asbury and John C. French, who traveled with\nhim, came to the old homestead while I was there. The bishop spent the\nSabbath and preached in Boehm\u2019s Chapel in the morning from Titus ii,\n2-10. The text was a sermon in itself: advice to \u201caged men,\u201d to \u201caged\nwomen,\u201d to \u201cyoung women,\u201d to \u201cyoung men,\u201d to \u201cservants,\u201d etc. The bishop\nsays in his journal, \u201cHappily we met H. Boehm, who had appointed a\nmeeting at Boehm\u2019s Chapel.\u201d He had been on his northern and eastern tour,\nand he was exceedingly fatigued, and he wrote, \u201cRest man and beast.\u201d They\nboth needed it. For three days he was employed in answering letters. He\nalso wrote on my father\u2019s old desk a valedictory to the Church, to be\nread by Bishop M\u2019Kendree to the General Conference when he was gathered\nto his fathers. It contained his views of the primitive Church government\nand ordination, and abounded in wise counsels and suggestions. He knew\nhe could not live much longer, and he left his thoughts on these weighty\nsubjects for the benefit of others when he rested from his labors.\n\nSoon after I held a camp-meeting on the banks of the Sweet Arrow, in\nDauphin County. Many were converted at this meeting; among others the\ndaughter of the distinguished Joseph Priestley.\n\nThe Schuylkill District was about one hundred miles square, and yet,\nafter traveling with Bishop Asbury around his large diocese, such is the\npower of habit, I felt as if I was confined to a small space; therefore I\nsometimes left my district and visited other fields of labor. I attended\na camp-meeting on the Chesapeake District, on land that belonged to\nThomas White, Bishop Asbury\u2019s early friend.\n\nOn Tuesday, April 5, 1814, I went to Philadelphia, and met our aged and\nvenerable Bishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree. On Wednesday our conference\ncommenced its session. All went on harmoniously. Bishop M\u2019Kendree\npreached at St. George\u2019s a most melting sermon. Bishop Asbury preached\nin the morning at the Union, on \u201cWill ye also go away?\u201d etc.; in the\nafternoon at St. George\u2019s, from Rom. ii, 21. On Wednesday Bishop\nM\u2019Kendree preached an ordination sermon from 2 Cor. v, 20, and then he\nordained eleven to the office of elder. This was a gracious conference.\nBishop Asbury says in his journal: \u201cThe Philadelphia Conference\nprogressed in great peace and Gospel order. We had crowded houses day\nand night. We doubt not but that souls have been convinced, converted,\ncomforted, and sanctified by the ministration of the word.\u201d There was\nbut little change on my district among the preachers; but, alas! there\nwas a change in the presiding elderships before the year was out. Two of\nthem were transferred to heaven. John M\u2019Claskey, of Chesapeake District,\nfell at his post, covered with scars and loaded with honors, on September\n2, 1814. I have had occasion to speak of him several times. He was the\nspiritual son of \u201cDaddy Abbott,\u201d and preached his funeral sermon by\nhis particular request. He was a noble presiding officer. His strong\nconstitution suffered from yellow fever in New York in 1800, and then the\ndeath of his only son, who was going to be married, and who died from a\nmistake his physician made in giving him medicine, almost crushed his\nheart. His end was triumphant.\n\nMichael Coate, of West Jersey District, died the first of August. I had\nknown him for years, as well as his brother Samuel. He was distinguished\nfor strength of mind and soundness of judgment, and especially for the\nmeek and quiet spirit which, in the sight of God, is of great price. The\nlast time he preached was on the multitude John saw before the throne,\nRev. viii, 9, and soon he went to join them. He was born in 1767, and\nconverted, died, and was buried in Burlington County, N. J. The death\nof two such men in one year was a great loss to our conference and the\nChurch.\n\nImmediately after the adjournment of conference I made a very pleasant\ntour with Bishop M\u2019Kendree. We first went to Germantown, and he preached\nthere. On Sunday he preached at the new church in Holmesburgh, from\nRom. i, 16. Then we rode to Trenton and went with Peter Vannest to\nthe Bethel, where the bishop preached; then to Hopewell, now called\nPennington. The bishop preached there, and we put up with an old\nMethodist by the name of Bunn. His descendants are numerous, and they\nare all Methodists. Methodism was introduced here early by Captain Webb.\nWe have now there a noble seminary and a flourishing Church. Thence went\nto Asbury, and Bishop M\u2019Kendree preached in the morning on the parable\nof the \u201cUnjust steward,\u201d and in the afternoon from Isaiah xxxii, 17. On\nMonday we parted with the bishop, he going on to attend the New York\nConference, and I returning to my district. On reaching home I heard that\nBishop Asbury was sick at Brother Sale Coate\u2019s, a brother of Michael and\nSamuel Coate, at Lumberton, New Jersey. On the 3d of May I went there\nand found him so very low he was scarcely able to breathe. The next day\nhe appeared a little better. On Friday and Saturday his difficulty of\nbreathing was so great that we frequently looked for his departure. On\nSunday I wrote, \u201cBishop Asbury is very low, but expectorates freely;\nno material change, only that he gradually decreases in strength.\u201d\nOn Monday, about one o\u2019clock A.M., there appeared an evident change\nfor the better. In answer to prayer, he was remarkably comforted with\nthe presence and power of the Lord. He continued in a convalescent\nstate until Friday morning, when we thought he would have expired;\nhis hands and feet were cold. Through the whole of his affliction his\nconversation was about the great and deep things of God; the Church of\nGod on earth, and the many glorified saints who are reaping the rewards\nof the heavenly world. For ten nights in succession I sat up and watched\nwith him; the last night he seemed to be carried out of himself: all\nof his conversation was relative to God, Christ, and the great work\nof redemption. On the 18th I wrote: \u201cBishop Asbury seems to be much\nbetter, so that he can now lie upon his pillow and sleep, which he had\nnot been able to do in three weeks, except a few minutes at a time. The\nprospect of his recovering is somewhat flattering.\u201d Such is the record\nI made fifty years ago. John W. Bond was then the bishop\u2019s traveling\ncompanion, and was all kindness and attention, but he had been with the\nbishop but a few weeks. There was enough for two or three of us to do at\nBrother Coate\u2019s while the bishop was so dangerously ill. The family were\nexceedingly kind, and did all in their power to make him comfortable. I\nremained with them sixteen days and nights in succession. He never fully\nrecovered from that sickness, and he was physically unfit to go round his\ndiocese again. It was a living death, a perpetual martyrdom. For three\nmonths the dear old man kept no record in his journal. On resuming it\nhe wrote: \u201cI return to my journal after an interval of twelve weeks. I\nhave been ill indeed; but medicine, nursing, and kindness, under God,\nhave been so far effectual, that I have recovered strength enough to sit\nin my little covered wagon, into which they lift me. I have clambered\nover the rude mountains, passing through York and Chambersburgh to\nGreensburgh. Tuesday, July 19, I would not be loved to death, and so\ncame down from my sick room and took the road, weak enough. Attention\nconstant, and kindness unceasing, have pursued me to this place, and my\nstrength increases daily. I look back upon a martyr\u2019s life of toil and\nprivation and pain, and I am ready for a martyr\u2019s death. The purity of\nmy intentions; my diligence in the labors to which God has been pleased\nto call me; the unknown sufferings I have endured; what are all these?\nThe merit, atonement, and righteousness of Christ alone make my plea. My\nfriends in Philadelphia gave me a little light four-wheel carriage; but\nGod and the Baltimore Conference gave me a richer present\u2014they gave me\nJohn Wesley Bond for a traveling companion; has he his equal on earth for\nexcellences of every kind as an aid? I groan one minute with pain, and\nshout glory the next.\u201d\n\nIn August I had a delightful interview at Middletown with my friend Dr.\nRomer, who translated the Methodist Discipline into German. On the 31st\nof March I went with John Emory to visit the sick and pray with them.\nHe was not only a superior man and preacher, but an excellent pastor.\nThough a great student, it did not prevent his attending to his pastoral\nwork. He was very popular. I had often visited his father, Judge Emory,\nand I knew his spiritual father, John Chalmers. John Emory was afterward\nbook agent, a clear-headed business man, a delegate to the Wesleyan\nConference; elected bishop in 1832, and was thrown from his carriage\nand killed December 6, 1835. I baptized his son, Robert Emory. He was\na beautiful infant when I laid on his head the consecrated waters of\nbaptism. When he grew up to manhood, and was president of Dickinson\nCollege, I looked upon him and thought of his excellent father and\nmother, and of the time I baptized him in the name of the Trinity. He,\ntoo, has fallen asleep.\n\nOn April 12, to my great joy, I met Bishop M\u2019Kendree at Radner\u2019s. On\nthe next day, which was appointed by the general government for public\nthanksgiving for the restoration of peace, he preached a most appropriate\nsermon. The bishop was full of patriotism, and with a national subject he\nwas perfectly at home. He was the intimate friend and a great admirer of\nGeneral Jackson, and related many characteristic anecdotes concerning him.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII.\n\nCHESAPEAKE DISTRICT\u2014GOVERNOR BASSETT\u2019S DEATH AND CHARACTER.\n\n\nThe conference met in Philadelphia on April 20, 1815. Bishop Asbury was\nso exceedingly ill that the laboring oar fell upon Bishop M\u2019Kendree.\nBishop Asbury visited the conference room once only and then was obliged\nto retire. Alas! when he departed his venerable form and whitened locks\ndisappeared, to be seen in that body no more. He always had a high regard\nfor the Philadelphia Conference. It was in Philadelphia he preached his\nfirst sermon in America, and was \u201creceived as an angel from God.\u201d He was\nat the first conference in Philadelphia in 1773, when there were ten\ntraveling preachers in America, and he had attended it for thirty-two\nyears.\n\nOn Friday I went with Bishop M\u2019Kendree to visit Bishop Asbury. He was\nfeeble in body but strong in God, and his wrinkled countenance brightened\nat the prospect of soon seeing \u201cthe King in his beauty.\u201d M\u2019Kendree prayed\nwith his venerable colleague, who was hovering between two worlds.\n\nI was appointed to Chesapeake District. It may appear strange I did\nnot remain on the Schuylkill District. John M\u2019Claskey, who was on the\nChesapeake District, died the preceding year; it was proposed to appoint\nRobert R. Roberts, but he feared that going down on the Peninsula would\ninjure his health. I had spent some years there and got acclimated, and\nit was thought I could stand it better, and therefore he was appointed\nto the Schuylkill District and I to the Chesapeake. Being a single man,\nit was not much trouble for me to move, and I was glad to accommodate my\nexcellent friend, who had furnished me with a kind home for two years in\nPhiladelphia.\n\nI entered upon my pleasant field of labor with joy. Over much of the\nground I had traveled before, and there were many old friends to welcome\nme. My district was a noble one, including some of the best circuits on\nthe Peninsula.\n\nOn the 16th of May, in company with Robert R. Roberts and Ezekiel\nCooper, I went to visit Governor Bassett at Bohemia Manor. He was ill\nin body, but happy in God. We had a delightful interview, and found him\nripening for the other world. How beautiful is religion in old age!\n\u201cThe hoary head\u201d is indeed a crown of glory, being found in \u201cthe way of\nrighteousness.\u201d\n\nThe 31st of June I was at Father Henry Downs\u2019s. He it was that imprisoned\nThomas S. Chew, and was converted by his prisoner. I mingled with the\nfathers, who were familiar with Methodism almost from its origin in\nAmerica, both ministers and laymen. Such laymen as Father Downs, whose\nhistory has all the charms of romance and all the power of truth, did\nmuch toward establishing Methodism in its infancy in the Peninsula.\n\nOn the Fourth of July I visited my mother at the old family mansion.\nI had not been home more than fifteen minutes when, to my great joy,\nBishop Asbury unexpectedly arrived. He came from the New England and\nother Conferences with Rev. J. W. Bond, and was much better than when\nI saw him last. The bishop was glad to see me, as will appear by the\nfollowing extract from his journal: \u201cHappy at Mother Boehm\u2019s. A pleasing\nProvidence, according to my wishes, had brought Henry in a few moments\nbefore.\u201d\n\nHe remained two days. He had visited that old home for the pilgrim for\nthirty-five years, and received hearty welcomes from my father when\nalive, and from my mother in her widowhood. He had completed his last\nepiscopal tour, and my aged mother and the bishop bade one another adieu\nfor the last time. I went with him to Lancaster, and then was reluctant\nto leave him, and so I went a little further, for I had an impression\nI should see his face no more. He gave me much excellent advice, and\ncautioned me to take good care of my health, as I was then traveling in\na region of country not considered very healthy. He then embraced me\nin his arms, pressed me to his bosom, gave me his last kiss and his\nbenediction. He rode on while I lingered and gazed till his venerable\nform was beyond my vision. I felt a veneration for Bishop Asbury I never\nhad for any other human being, and loved him as I loved my own dear\nfather.\n\n\nGOVERNOR BASSETT.\n\nGovernor Bassett died in the summer of 1815. He should ever have a\nprominent place in the annals of early American Methodism. At this remote\nperiod it is almost impossible to have a correct idea of the position he\nonce occupied, and the influence he exerted in favor of Methodism.\n\nSome have entertained the idea that Methodism was adapted only to the\nlow and the ignorant, for the common people; but this is a mistake. In\nits early days in America some of the loftiest families embraced it with\njoy. Among the most distinguished was Richard Bassett. He was an eminent\nlawyer, a judge, Governor of Delaware, a member of the old Congress in\n1787, and a senator under the new constitution. He was a delegate from\nDelaware to the convention that formed the Constitution of the United\nStates, and his name is enrolled on that account with those of George\nWashington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, and\nother distinguished patriots and statesmen.\n\nMr. Bassett was rich. He inherited six thousand acres of land, much of it\nnear the Bohemia River. He had three homes, residing part of the time\nin Dover, and then in Bohemia and Wilmington. I have been entertained at\nthem all.\n\nBefore he was converted he was a very fashionable man, and moved in the\nhighest circles in society. He had his good things in this life. But when\nconverted he was as humble and teachable as a little child. In person he\nwas a stout-built man, of medium height, and looked as if he was made\nfor service. His countenance was full of benignity, and his eye was\nvery expressive. He was a man of superior judgment, a safe counselor.\nI used to ask his advice, and he gave it most cheerfully, and I always\nfound it judicious. His voice was very strong and musical, and at camp\nand quarterly meetings he thrilled the people. He was distinguished for\nbenevolence, and given to hospitality. He has entertained over a hundred\nat one time. His heart was as large as his mansion.\n\nHis first wife did not live long. She left an amiable daughter, who was\nmarried to the Hon. James A. Bayard, who was a commissioner to form a\ntreaty of peace with England. With her father I visited Mrs. Bayard while\nher husband was absent in Europe.\n\nThe governor was a Methodist of the old stamp. He admired all its\npeculiarities; loved to worship in the groves, and had several\ncamp-meetings on his own grounds. He was one of the sweet singers of\nour Israel. He delighted to hear the colored people sing; there was no\nsweeter music to him. He held fast his integrity to the end. I often\nsaw him in age and feebleness extreme. Though princely rich, he lived\nplainly, without display or extravagance.\n\nHis large possessions were in Bohemia, Cecil County, Maryland. It was\ncalled Bohemia from Augustus Hermon, a Bohemian, who obtained a grant\nfor eighteen thousand acres of land. Richard Bassett became heir to a\npart of this immense estate. He died in 1815, and his life-time friend,\nEzekiel Cooper, preached his funeral sermon. He was buried in a vault\nhe had prepared in a beautiful locust grove on the banks of the Bohemia\nRiver. There sleep his family and the Bayards. The venerable old mansion,\ndistinguished for its antiquity, for the splendid paintings that adorned\nits walls, for the hospitality that reigned there, and as the home of\nBishop Asbury and the old pioneers of Methodism, was burned down a few\nyears ago, and, like the owner, has passed away.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\nGENERAL CONFERENCE\u2014ASBURY\u2019S FUNERAL, ETC.\n\n\nThe conference which was held in Philadelphia April 18, 1816, was a\ngloomy one. There was no bishop to preside, Asbury being dead, and\nM\u2019Kendree sick. During this conference Ezekiel Cooper preached a sermon\non the life and character of Bishop Asbury, that afterward made a book\ncalled \u201cCooper on Asbury.\u201d\n\nRev. R. R. Roberts was elected president. He filled the office with ease\nand dignity, and we passed harmoniously through the business of the\nsession. Several delegates from the eastern conferences, who were on\ntheir way to attend the General Conference at Baltimore, were present,\nand admired the manner in which Brother Roberts conducted the business of\nthe conference, and this led to his nomination and election as bishop.\n\nNo ordination took place at this conference in consequence of the absence\nof the bishop. The delegates elected to the General Conference were R.\nR. Roberts, L. M\u2019Combs, S. Sharp, J. Totten, J. Walker, S. Hill, S.\nMartindale, A. Smith, H. Boehm, J. Emory, W. Bishop, and J. Sharpley. I\nwas reappointed presiding elder of Chesapeake District.\n\nThe second delegated General Conference met in the Light-street Church,\nBaltimore, May 1, 1816. There was a feeling of sadness caused by the\nabsence of Bishop Asbury. Bishop M\u2019Kendree was present, but very feeble.\nAfter the organization, on the first day an address was presented from\nthe male members of the Church in Baltimore asking the privilege of\nremoving the remains of Bishop Asbury from the place where they had been\nburied to Baltimore. Their request was granted, and Rev. John W. Bond\nwas desired to superintend their removal. Five members of the General\nConference were appointed to act in concert with the Baltimore brethren:\nPhilip Bruce, Nelson Reed, Freeborn Garrettson, Lewis Myers, and George\nPickering.\n\nThe conference passed a vote of thanks to George Arnold of Spottsylvania,\nat whose house the bishop died, for his attention to our venerable father\nduring his illness, and requesting permission to have the bishop\u2019s\nremains removed from his family burying-ground to Baltimore. Mr. Arnold\ngranted the request, and on the 9th of May the body arrived, and was\nplaced at the house of William Hawkins. The fact being announced to the\nconference by Stephen G. Roszel, they resolved to attend his funeral the\nnext morning, and appointed Henry Stead, William Case, Seth Mattison, and\nmyself to sit up with the corpse during the night. Never shall I forget\nthat night; thought was busy in reviewing the past; the whole life of\nBishop Asbury, particularly the five years I was with him, passed before\nme in review like a panorama. Five times that night, in imagination, I\nwent with the bishop around his large diocese, over the mountains and\nvalleys. I thought of his self-denial, his deadness to the world; of his\nintense labors, his enlarged benevolence, his sympathy for the suffering,\nof the hundreds of sermons I had heard him preach, the prayers I had\nheard him offer; the many times I had slept with him; how often I had\ncarried him in my arms. Where are the great and good men that watched\nwith me that night? Long ago they have met the bishop \u201cwhere they can die\nno more, but are equal to the angels of God.\u201d\n\nAt ten o\u2019clock next morning the funeral services took place. There was an\nimmense gathering at Light-street, where the bishop\u2019s remains had been\nplaced. They were removed in solemn procession to the Eutaw Church. At\nthe head of this procession were Bishop M\u2019Kendree and William Black of\nNova Scotia. Bishop Asbury having no relatives in this country, John W.\nBond and myself, his surviving traveling companions, were selected to\nfollow his remains as chief mourners. Indeed we both felt to exclaim,\n\u201cMy father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.\u201d\nThe members of the conference followed, with several ministers of other\ndenominations and a vast throng of citizens.\n\nBishop M\u2019Kendree pronounced a funeral oration full of melting pathos,\nand the remains of the deceased, embalmed by the tears of multitudes,\nwere deposited in a vault under the recess of the pulpit of the\nEutaw-street Church. Upon beautiful marble was inscribed an appropriate\nepitaph, to tell the stranger where the dust of the noble Asbury sleeps.\n\nOn the Sunday following the obsequies of Bishop Asbury, funeral sermons\nwere preached in all our churches in Baltimore. I was appointed to preach\nin the late Father Otterbein\u2019s church. My text was Rev. xiv, 13. I gave\na sketch of the bishop\u2019s life, character, labors, and success, and his\npeaceful end; of the relation that subsisted between their late venerated\npastor, William Otterbein, Bishop Asbury, and Martin Boehm, and how they\nwere reunited in the bright world above.\n\nBishop Asbury, at the request of Bishop M\u2019Kendree and the Genesee\nConference, wrote a valedictory to be read after he was gone. This\nhe left among his papers. That important document was written at my\nmother\u2019s, on my father\u2019s old desk, the first week in August, 1813. I was\npresent when he wrote it, and he talked with me on various points.\n\nOn the second day of May this valedictory address was read to the General\nConference after some introductory remarks by Bishop M\u2019Kendree. It was\nthe last message of the lamented Asbury, the final counsel of a father\nto his children, and it was listened to with breathless attention. It\nwas replete with wise sayings and appropriate suggestions. It advocated\na divine call to the ministry and opposed men-made ministers; cautioned\nagainst the tendency to locality, and dwelt upon the importance of the\nitinerancy; directed them to guard against two orders of ministers, one\nfor the country the other for cities. Among other counsels was this,\nworthy to be written in letters of gold, \u201cPreserve a noble independence\non all occasions; be the willing servants of slaves, but slaves to none.\u201d\n\nTwo months after I left Mr. Asbury as his traveling companion he made his\nwill in Winchester, New Hampshire, as the following record in his journal\nwill show: \u201cJune 6, 1813. Knowing the uncertainty of the tenure of life\nI have made my will, appointing Bishop M\u2019Kendree, Daniel Hitt, and Henry\nBoehm my executors. If I do not in the mean time spend it, I shall leave\nwhen I die an estate of two thousand dollars, I believe. I give it all to\nthe Book Room. This money, and somewhat more, I have inherited from dear\ndeparted Methodist friends in the state of Maryland, who died childless;\nbesides some legacies I have never taken. Let all return and continue to\naid the cause of piety.\u201d\n\nThe bishop\u2019s will was recorded in Baltimore; and during the General\nConference in 1816, Bishop M\u2019Kendree, Daniel Hitt, and I went to the\nproper authorities and were qualified to act as executors.\n\nIn regard to the money, a lady in Baltimore had given him near two\nthousand dollars, and I advised him to put it out upon interest. He did\nso, or he would have got rid of it. He was very uneasy when he had money\nuntil it was gone. It seemed to burn in his pocket until he was relieved.\n\nHe left a Bible to every child that had been named after him. He left\neighty dollars a year to Mrs. Elizabeth Dickins, widow of our first book\nagent. Her name was Yancey, and she was from North Carolina. She was a\ncharming woman, worthy to have been the wife of that great and good man,\nJohn Dickins. She continued to receive this annuity till her death in\n1835.\n\nMost of the business of distributing the Bibles fell on me, and I gave\nmore than four hundred to children that had been named Francis Asbury.\nThere were probably a thousand children named after him at the time, but\nmany of the parents would know nothing of the will, for we had then no\nMethodist papers to give the information. His will gave a Bible to all\nthe children who had been named after him up to his death.[43] I made a\nfinal settlement with Rev. John Emory when he was book agent. Daniel Hitt\ndied in 1825, Bishop M\u2019Kendree in 1835. I have survived Daniel Hitt forty\nyears, Bishop M\u2019Kendree thirty years, and Bishop Asbury forty-nine years.\n\nThere was a vast amount of business done at the General Conference of\n1816, and it was more methodical than formerly. John Emory, for the\nfirst time, was a member of the General Conference, and he distinguished\nhimself at once by his clear head and capacity for business.\n\nI was placed on two important committees, \u201cTemporal Economy\u201d and\n\u201cSlavery.\u201d The other members of that on slavery were William Ph\u0153bus,\nCharles Virgin, Abner Chase, Charles Holliday, Samuel Sellers, Daniel\nAsbury, C. H. Hines, and Beverly Waugh. We were directed \u201cto examine into\nthe subject of slavery and report.\u201d On this question, which has vexed\necclesiastical and national councils from the beginning, the committee\nbrought in a report, of which the following is a part: \u201cAfter mature\ndeliberation, they are of the opinion that, under the present existing\ncircumstances in relation to slavery little can be done to abolish a\npractice so contrary to the principles of moral justice. They are sorry\nto say that the evil appears to be past remedy, and they are led to\ndeplore the destructive consequences which have already accrued and are\nyet likely to result therefrom.\u201d They recommended the insertion of the\nfollowing clause in the Discipline: \u201cTherefore no slaveholder shall be\neligible to any official station in our Church hereafter where the laws\nof the state in which he lives will admit of emancipation, and permit\nthe liberated slave to enjoy freedom.\u201d The report was adopted by the\nconference.\n\nOn Tuesday, the 14th, the conferences elected two bishops, Enoch George\nand Robert R. Roberts, the former having fifty-seven and the latter\nfifty-five votes out of one hundred and six that were cast.\n\nOn Friday they were ordained, after Bishop M\u2019Kendree had preached an\nadmirable sermon on \u201cThe great commission,\u201d from Mark xvi, 15, 16. In the\nordination he was assisted by Philip Bruce of Virginia, Dr. Ph\u0153bus of New\nYork, and Nelson Reed of Baltimore, they being the three oldest elders\npresent.\n\nI was present at the ordination of Bishops Whatcoat, Coke, and Asbury,\nin 1800; at the ordination of M\u2019Kendree in 1808, and that of George and\nRoberts in 1816. I had the honor of voting for the last three, and never\nhad cause to regret it. These ordinations were all held in the same\nchurch, namely, Light-street, Baltimore. After the adjournment of the\nconference I returned to my district, and was diligent in cultivating\nImmanuel\u2019s land.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX.\n\nBISHOP ASBURY\u2014CHARACTER AND HABITS.\n\n\nAs I traveled with Bishop Asbury longer than any other man, and knew him\nmore intimately than any who survive, it will be expected that I notice\nhis character and habits more fully than in the preceding chapters.\nHundreds of questions have been asked me respecting his appearance, size,\ndress, personal character, etc.\n\nBishop Asbury was five feet nine inches high, weighed one hundred and\nfifty-one pounds, erect in person, and of a very commanding appearance.\nHis features were rugged, but his countenance was intelligent, though\ntime and care had furrowed it deep with wrinkles. His nose was prominent,\nhis mouth large, as if made on purpose to talk, and his eyes of a blueish\ncast, and so keen that it seemed as if he could look right through a\nperson. He had a fine forehead, indicative of no ordinary brain, and\nbeautiful white locks, which hung about his brow and shoulders, and\nadded to his venerable appearance. There was as much native dignity\nabout him as any man I ever knew. He seemed born to sway others. There\nwas an austerity about his looks that was forbidding to those who were\nunacquainted with him.\n\nIn dress he was a pattern of neatness and plainness. He could have passed\nfor a quaker had it not been for the color of his garments, which were\nblack when I traveled with him. He formerly wore gray clothes. He wore\na low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, a frock coat, which was generally\nbuttoned up to the neck, with straight collar. He wore breeches or small\nclothes, with leggings. Sometimes he wore shoe-buckles. Indeed all the\npreachers, and I among the number, wore breeches and leggings till 1810,\nand then several left them off, which Bishop Asbury heartily disapproved.\n\nBishop Asbury had great administrative ability. He was wise and\nfar-seeing, and kept his work planned and mapped out beforehand. The\nmass of the appointments were arranged before conference, so that but\nfew changes needed to be made. He often talked to me freely about the\nappointments of the preachers, and sometimes consulted me. I used\nto transcribe them for him before they were read out. The preachers\ntormented me to know where they were going; but I was silent, for secret\nthings belonged to the bishop, revealed things to the preachers.\n\nHe had an almost intuitive knowledge of men. He would sit in conference\nand look from under his dark and heavy eyebrows, reading the countenances\nand studying the character and constitution of the preachers. He also\nkept a record of his observations upon men for his own private use. The\nbishop not only read men for the sake of the Church, but for their own\nsakes. He would say to me, \u201cHenry, Brother A or B has been too long in\nthe rice plantation, or on the Peninsula; he looks pale, health begins\nto decline; he must go up to the high lands.\u201d The preacher would be\nremoved and know not the cause, and the next year come to conference with\nhealth improved and constitution invigorated, and not know to whom he was\nindebted for the change; for the bishop assigned few reasons, and made\nbut few explanations for his conduct.\n\nIt has been supposed that he was an inferior preacher, though superior as\na governor. But this is a mistake. I have heard him over fifteen hundred\ntimes. His sermons were scripturally rich. He was a well-instructed\nscribe, \u201cbringing out of his treasury things new and old.\u201d He was a good\nexpounder of the word of God, giving the meaning of the writer, the mind\nof the Spirit. He was wise in his selection of texts. There was a rich\nvariety in his sermons. No tedious sameness; no repeating old stale\ntruths. He could be a son of thunder or consolation. There was variety\nboth in matter and manner. He was great at camp-meetings, on funeral\noccasions, and at ordinations. I have heard him preach fifty ordination\nsermons, and they were among the most impressive I have ever heard.\n\nIn preaching he depended, like the fathers, much on the divine\ninfluence. He knew it was \u201cnot by might or power, but by the Spirit of\nthe Lord.\u201d He once took hold of the arm of Rev. Samuel Thomas, when he\nrose in the pulpit to preach, and whispered to him, \u201cFeel for the power,\nfeel for the power, brother.\u201d He often felt for the power himself, and\nwhen he obtained it he was a kind of moral Samson. When he did not he was\nlike Samson shorn of his strength.\n\nSpeaking of his preaching in his journal, he characterized it according\nto the influence that accompanied the word. He would say \u201che was much\nassisted;\u201d at another time, \u201chad some life;\u201d again, \u201cfound himself much\nshut up,\u201d \u201chad some liberty in speaking,\u201d \u201cI was assisted in preaching,\u201d\n\u201chad enlargement of heart,\u201d \u201cI had the presence of God in speaking,\u201d \u201chad\nan open time,\u201d \u201ca flat time,\u201d \u201cbut little liberty,\u201d \u201cI had not freedom,\u201d\n\u201chad a feeling time,\u201d \u201cI had great assistance,\u201d \u201cI had some light in\npreaching,\u201d \u201chad but little life in speaking,\u201d \u201chad a melting time.\u201d\n\nI am a witness to the struggles, the sighs, the tears, the prayers of\nBishop Asbury for divine influence, that he might wield with success the\nsword of the Spirit.\n\nThe bishop was peculiar in adapting his subjects to times and\ncircumstances. When with him in Kentucky in 1810 there was a great\ndrouth, and Father Asbury preached from, \u201cIf the Lord shut up the\nheavens that it rain not,\u201d etc. Again, when showers were descending, he\npreached from, \u201cAs the rain cometh down from heaven,\u201d etc. To a company\nof women, he preached on the \u201cduties of women professing godliness,\u201d or\n\u201cMary has chosen that good part.\u201d To soldiers, \u201cAnd the soldiers came and\ninquired, And what shall we do?\u201d etc. Preaching in a court-house, where\nthere were lawyers and judges, and where one man had just been sentenced\nto death, he dwelt upon the solemnities of the final judgment\u2014the court\nfrom which there was no appeal\u2014from \u201cknowing therefore the terror of the\nLord, we persuade men,\u201d etc. At a certain place where he was expected\nthey announced him in the newspapers to preach on a special subject.\nHe knew nothing of it before his arrival, and that was just before the\nservice commenced. To their astonishment he read this text, \u201cI speak not\nby commandment, but by reason _of the forwardness of others_, and to\nprove the sincerity of your love.\u201d I was often startled, when I heard him\nread his text and announce his theme, at his power of adaptation.\n\nThe bishop\u2019s lectures in families were full of instruction. He would\ndwell upon the domestic relations, that of husband and wife, parents and\nchildren, and the duties they owed to each other; on their deportment to\neach other and to their neighbors, and duty of exemplifying the Christian\ncharacter throughout; on family prayer, order, and cleanliness; which he\nalways recommended as \u201cnext to godliness.\u201d Indeed the bishop was \u201cinstant\nin season and out of season.\u201d Like his Master, he \u201cwent about doing\ngood,\u201d and lost no opportunity to benefit his race. I am sure he will get\none blessing if no other: \u201cBlessed are they that sow beside all waters.\u201d\n\nIn his public exercises\u2014in preaching, in administering the ordinances,\nin ordaining\u2014there was a peculiar solemnity. Those who heard him never\nforgot it. But sometimes in private circles he would unbend, and relate\namusing incidents and laugh most heartily. He said \u201cif he was as grave\nas Bishop M\u2019Kendree he should live but a short time.\u201d He would often\nindulge in a vein of innocent pleasantry. When engaged in business or\nstudy, however, he did not like to be interrupted, and he would sometimes\nappear a little short; and we cannot wonder when we remember the many\ninterruptions to which he was subject.\n\nHe was fond of singing. He had a full base or organ-like voice, and would\noften set the tune in public worship, for choristers and choirs were\nscarce in those days; but if the people did not sing scientifically they\nsang in the spirit. The bishop sang as he walked the floor, and this he\noften did when in deep meditation. He was a great admirer of Charles\nWesley\u2019s hymns, and not only loved to sing them, but esteemed them highly\nas a body of divinity.\n\nHe diligently read the Bible. He was in the practice of reading on\nthe Sabbath the message to the seven Churches of Asia. He said it was\nrevealed and written on the Lord\u2019s day, and it gave excellent counsel to\nthe Churches. Stimulated by his example, I have been in the practice of\ndoing the same thing for over fifty years. He was one of the best readers\nof the Scriptures I ever heard. There was solemnity and dignity in his\nmanner, and correctness in his emphasis and accents.\n\nHe was often very laconic in his replies. In 1808, while traveling with\nhim, in company with John Sale, in Ohio, we were just entering the\nprairies when we met a gentleman who abruptly inquired of the bishop,\n\u201cWhere are you from?\u201d Mr. Asbury replied, \u201cFrom Boston, New York,\nPhiladelphia, Baltimore, or almost any place you please.\u201d This was\nliterally true. The man looked astonished and rode on, while Brother Sale\nand I smiled, but neither spoke, and the bishop was silent, and onward we\npursued our journey.\n\nHe was a great redeemer of time. He knew its value, its brevity, its\nrelation to eternity, therefore he kept that rule in the Discipline,\n\u201cBe diligent; never be triflingly employed.\u201d He was a great scholar\nconsidering he was a self-taught man. He read Hebrew, and his Hebrew\nBible was his constant companion. The bishop read a great many books\nwhile I was with him. The moment we were in the house, after having laid\naside his saddle-bags and greeted the family, then he began to read and\nwrite.\n\nAsbury studied medicine, which was a necessity both for his own benefit\nand that of others. He traveled in unsettled parts of the country, where\nthe people were often sick, and medical aid at a great distance. He was\noften very successful in removing pain and healing diseases; sometimes\nhe would doctor the landlords where we were entertained, for which he\nreceived many thanks.\n\nHe was remarkable for his temperate habits. One day a lady set a brandy\nbottle on the table, and he gave her a gentle reproof. Said she, \u201cBishop,\nit is good in its place.\u201d He removed it from the table and placed it in\nan old-fashioned cupboard, and closing the door, said, \u201cNow it is in its\nplace; let it remain there.\u201d Although a man of great courage, there were,\nhe said, \u201ctwo classes of men that he was afraid of: crazy men and drunken\nones.\u201d\n\nAs we traveled on horseback we had to be careful not to be overburdened.\nThe bishop used to say that the equipment of a Methodist minister\nconsisted of a horse, saddle and bridle, one suit of clothes, a watch,\na pocket Bible, and a hymn book. Anything else would be an incumbrance.\nI assure the reader our saddle-bags were stuffed full of clothing,\nmedicine, books, journal, etc.; it was astonishing how much we could\ncrowd into them. He used to say, \u201cHenry, we must study what we can do\nwithout.\u201d My old saddle-bags, on which I rode so many thousand miles\nwith the bishop, I have carefully preserved. I think as much of them as\nthe returned soldier does of his arms, which he has no more use for, but\nwhich remind him of former battles and victories. It used to be said that\n\u201cMethodist ministers kept house in their saddle-bags.\u201d\n\nMr. Asbury\u2019s powers of endurance were great. If they had not been he\nwould have fallen long before he did. Winter\u2019s cold and summer\u2019s heat he\ncould endure. He was not afraid to set out in a storm, but would say,\n\u201cLet us journey on, we are neither sugar nor salt; there is no danger of\nour melting.\u201d And yet I have no doubt but these exposures did his feeble\nconstitution a vast injury.\n\nHe married a great many. Multitudes were baptized by him. In 1811, when\ntraveling with him near Xenia, Ohio, we were kindly entertained by a\nfamily named Simpson, and Bishop Asbury baptized a little infant and\ncalled him Matthew. I little thought that infant, when grown to manhood,\nwould become a bishop. His fame is now world-wide, and his praise in all\nour Churches. He dedicated many churches. Some were completed, some half\ndone, and some had not the roof on. Some of them were called after his\nname. He did not approve of this, and called it folly; neither did Mr.\nWesley like to have any building named after him. He drew up many plans\nfor houses of worship, and in some instances secured sites for them. He\nwas ever intent on good, and very solicitous that we should \u201cstretch\nourselves beyond ourselves.\u201d\n\nThe bishop was very fond of children, and they of him. They would run to\nmeet him and then receive his blessing; they gathered around his knees\nand listened to his conversation. He would sometimes place them on his\nknee, and teach them the following lesson:\n\n  \u201cLearn to read, and learn to pray;\n  Learn to work, and learn to obey.\u201d\n\nThen he would show the benefit of learning these lessons. \u201cLearn to read,\nto make you wise; learn to pray, to make you good; learn to work, to get\nyour living; learn to obey, that you may be obeyed.\u201d One day we were\napproaching a house, and a little boy saw us coming. He ran in and said,\n\u201cMother, I want my face washed and a clean apron on, for Bishop Asbury\nis coming, and I am sure he will hug me up.\u201d The bishop loved to hug the\nchildren to his heart, which always beat with such pure affection toward\nthem. In this respect he strikingly resembled his Master, and was a fine\nmodel for ministers to follow.\n\nHis conversational powers were great. He was full of interesting\nanecdotes, and could entertain people for hours. He could make himself\nat home in a splendid mansion or in the humblest cottage. His powers of\nobservation were great; nothing escaped the notice of his piercing eye.\nHe would refer to incidents that occurred when he passed through certain\nplaces such a year, and the changes that had taken place during his\nabsence.\n\nAt times he appeared unsociable, for his mind was engrossed with his\nwork. When traveling from Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1809, we came\nnear a pond. As we rode along nothing had been said for some time by\neither of us. The frogs were croaking, but as they heard the sound of our\nhorses\u2019 feet they were still. I said, \u201cMr. Asbury, you see the very frogs\nrespect us, for they manifest it by their silence.\u201d Mr. Asbury laughed,\nand said, \u201cO Henry, you are full of pleasantry.\u201d And the reverie being\nbroken, he was very sociable as we rode along, and his conversation was\nfull of interest. My object was to break the spell, and I succeeded.\n\nHe was very fond of horses, which he generally petted, and had names\nfor them. One he sold to Bishop Whatcoat he called \u201cBrunswick.\u201d Another\nwas \u201cJane;\u201d she was as fleet as a deer. Another was \u201cFox;\u201d he was as\ncunning as his namesake, and a most beautiful animal. He took the bishop\nover the ground with great ease and rapidity; but he had one prominent\nfailing, he would get frightened occasionally and start and run, and as\nthe bishop did not consider him safe he disposed of him. The horses\nfrequently broke down by such extensive traveling, and the bishop parted\nwith them with a sigh, and sometimes with a tear. When we parted with one\nin Wyoming the bishop said, \u201cHe whickered after us; it went right through\nmy heart.\u201d The bishop was a good rider, and he looked well on horseback.\nWhen we remember how many thousands of miles he traveled on horseback\nannually we cannot wonder at this, if there is any truth in that old\nadage, \u201cpractice makes perfect.\u201d He always preferred riding on horseback,\nbut there were times when he was so infirm he was obliged to ride in a\nbuggy.\n\nBishop Asbury had his favorite stopping places where he felt the most\nat home: among others, at Governor Bassett\u2019s, of Dover, Delaware; Mrs.\nDickins\u2019s, Baltimore; Harry Gough\u2019s, Perry Hall; Mrs. Mills\u2019s, Widow\nGrice\u2019s, and George Suckley\u2019s, New York City; Bishop Sherwood\u2019s, Governor\nVan Cortland\u2019s, Freeborn Garrettson\u2019s, Rhinebeck; Father Bemis\u2019s, at\nWaltham; Father and Mother Boehm\u2019s; John Renshall\u2019s and Thomas Cooper\u2019s,\nPittsburgh; further west, Dr. Tiffin\u2019s, Governor Worthington\u2019s, Philip\nGatch\u2019s, Peter Pelham\u2019s, White Brown\u2019s; in the South, General Rumph\u2019s,\nJames Rembert\u2019s, and others. Many others might be named, but space fails.\nThese homes were indeed the pilgrim\u2019s rest. They were like an oasis in\nthe desert. What hearty greetings and welcomes have I seen the bishop\nreceive. But the reader must not infer he always put up in palaces.\nCottages, log-houses, huts, dirt, filth, fleas, bed-bugs, hard beds,\nhard fare, these the bishop was familiar with, and so was his traveling\ncompanion.\n\nThe bishop was often in perils: perils on the land, perils on the water,\nperils among false brethren. I have often wondered that he was not\nsuddenly removed when I think of the many hairbreadth escapes he had.\nWe often rode at night over rough stony roads and stumps, where it was\nexceedingly dangerous; sometimes on the side of a mountain near a river,\nunder such circumstances that a few feet, or even a few inches, would\nhave been sudden destruction; sometimes when it was so dark I had to go\nbefore to feel the way and lead the horse. Several times he was in danger\nby his horses running away, or by their sudden starting, then by the\nupsetting of his carriage. This happened several times and in dangerous\nplaces, and yet he was almost miraculously preserved; not a bone was\nbroken. He was often in danger in crossing the rivers and streams, to say\nnothing of swimming horses or crossing over on logs and trees, where, if\nhe fell off, he would be greatly injured, but particularly in crossing\nthe ferries. He often crossed in \u201cold flats,\u201d and \u201cscows,\u201d and canoes,\nwith horses, and sometimes wagons. Many of these boats were old and\nleaky, and sometimes poorly manned, and at other times unmanageable. We\noften waited for hours, and even days, at a ferry. The streams would be\nswollen and dangerous, and we had to wait till the water fell. When we\nremember that the bishop crossed the highest mountains, the widest and\nmost rapid rivers, at all seasons of the year, we can estimate the danger\nto which he was exposed. Twice he was in great danger of being drowned.\nBut he hardly mentions the perils to which he was exposed. None of these\nthings moved him, neither counted he his life dear unto him, so that he\nmight finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received\nof the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.\n\nBishop Asbury has been represented as rough, unfeeling, harsh, and\nstoical. Those who make such assertions are entirely ignorant of his\ncharacter, and do great injustice to one of the noblest men that ever\nblessed the Church or the world. I grant he had rather a rough exterior,\nthat he was sometimes stern; but under that roughness and sternness of\nmanner beat a heart as feeling as ever dwelt in human bosom. The bishop\nwas \u201cborn to command,\u201d and he had a commanding way with him; but he was\nas far from being a tyrant as possible, and yet I have heard him accused\nof tyranny by those who never knew him. If he injured the feelings of a\nbrother he would encircle him in his arms and ask his forgiveness. Here\nwas true manliness, genuine greatness, real dignity. This I have known\nhim to do to a brother when convinced he was in error.\n\nBishop Asbury stoical! See his sympathy for the suffering. Look at him\nwith his mite subscription\u2014always heading it himself\u2014to raise money\nfor necessitous cases among the preachers; see him wandering among the\ntombs and weeping at the graves of his friends; visiting the widow and\nthe fatherless and weeping with them, and commending the one to the\nwidow\u2019s husband, the other to the orphan\u2019s father. He used frequently to\nmention his mother, and as he did so the tear would fill his blue eye.\nAt one time he thought of her coming to America, but concluded it would\nnot be best. His correspondence with her was very frequent. Out of his\nsmall salary he sent money to supply the wants of his parents before his\nfather died, and then afterward to his mother when she was left a widow.\nIn a letter to his mother he says, \u201cMy salary is \u00a314 10s. sterling,\n[sixty-four dollars.] I have sold my watch and library, and would sell\nmy shirt before you should want.\u201d He added, \u201cThe contents of a small\nsaddle-bag will do for me, and one coat a year.\u201d He also made arrangement\nwith Richard Whatcoat that if he died first Mr. Whatcoat was to see the\nwants of Mrs. Asbury supplied. What an example of filial regard!\n\nThere are many reasons why he did not marry; he has assigned them in\nhis journal; but he always believed every man should support one woman.\nHe maintained his mother while she lived, and then the widow of John\nDickins. He not only supported Mrs. Dickins while he lived, but left\nprovision in his will that she be paid eighty dollars a year till her\ndeath. This sum I paid her annually, as his executor, till she died.\n\nIt is needless to say that Bishop Asbury was a true patriot. Though he\nloved the land of his birth, yet he loved most ardently the land of\nhis adoption. He showed this by remaining here when the other English\npreachers returned home. He loved Washington and the constitution of this\ncountry. When I was with him in Canada he said to me, \u201cEngland always\nhad the wrong foot foremost in regard to America.\u201d This country is under\ngreat obligations to Francis Asbury: he accomplished for her a mighty\nwork, and yet not one of our historians name him.\n\nThe bishop was well known on most of the great thoroughfares in the\ncountry, and to most of the landlords and public houses. They seemed to\nreverence his age, his office, and his character. On one of his western\ntours we came to a small tavern where there was quite a gathering.\nThe company were noisy and profane, and it seemed as if we should get\nno sleep that night. When the hour came at which the bishop wished\nto retire, he went to the landlord and proposed having prayer. The\nlandlord said, \u201cMy house is at your service, sir.\u201d Then the bishop said,\n\u201cGentlemen, we are going to have prayer, and should be happy if you would\njoin us.\u201d His manner, as well as his patriarchal appearance, pleased\nthem; and after prayer they soon retired, and left us to sleep sweetly\ntill morning undisturbed. This had a better effect than severe reproof.\nIndeed it was reproof of the most effectual kind.\n\nThe bishop was a man of universal philanthropy. Wherever there was a\ndoor open for doing good he entered it. Passing through Ohio, we came to\na place where the cow of a widow woman was about to be sold for debt.\nThe bishop\u2019s heart was touched, and he was determined the widow\u2019s cow\nshould not be sold. He said, \u201cIt must not be;\u201d and giving something\nhimself, he solicited money from others who were present, till in a few\nminutes sufficient was raised to satisfy the claim against her. The widow\nexpressed her gratitude not only with words but tears as she started to\ndrive her cow home. I have named this to show what kind of a heart beat\nin his bosom; that, like his Master, he went about doing good.\n\nHis benevolence was unbounded; selfishness had no place in his soul.\nHe would divide his last dollar with a Methodist preacher. He had\nconsiderable money given him. Brother Rembert, at Black River settlement,\nSouth Carolina, frequently gave him one hundred dollars, and others gave\nhim considerable sums. He was restless till it was gone, so anxious was\nhe to do good with it. I was the treasurer. He would give most of it away\nat the next conference for the most necessitous cases, reserving only\nenough for our traveling expenses.\n\nBishop Asbury felt a deep interest in the welfare of the preachers,\nmany of whom in those days received but a miserable pittance for their\nsupport. While I was with him he started the \u201cmite subscription.\u201d\nFor this he collected during his tours and carried the money to the\nconference, to be distributed among the most necessitous cases. His last\n\u201cmite subscription\u201d list is now before me. The preface, which is printed,\nsets forth that \u201csome of the annual conferences pay but thirty-one\ndollars to the unmarried and sixty-two to the married preachers, and\nthe children are generally excluded from receiving anything in the\nsettlement.\u201d Can we wonder that under such circumstances so many of our\nearly preachers located, and their services were in great measure lost\nto the Church? This document is dated April 1, 1815, and signed Francis\nAsbury. His name and that of his last traveling companion are found in\nthe list of subscribers, which contains the autographs of some of the\nprominent men and women of Methodism in that day, as well as many persons\nwho were not connected with our Church. Among others are those of Richard\nChanning Moore, bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia;\nGeneral Pierre Van Cortlandt, of New York; Governors Worthington and\nTiffin, of Ohio. The latest names on the list were from Richmond,\nVirginia, where the bishop preached his last sermon.[44]\n\nOf the moneys he collected that year he paid to the New York Conference\n$135 99, and the receipt is in the book of the conference stewards,\nsigned Samuel Merwin, Phineas Rice, and Thomas Drummond. The receipt\nof $50 27 from the mite subscription, and the donation of one hundred\ndollars, which was paid over by J. W. Bond, is acknowledged by Daniel\nFilmore, John Lindsay, and Jacob Sanborn, stewards of the New England\nConference, on June 2, 1815. A note is added, that the New England\nConference \u201cnot being able to raise the salaries of the preachers,\u201d paid\n\u201conly thirty-one dollars to the single and sixty-two to the married\npreachers, and children in proportion.\u201d\n\nMarcus Lindsey, John Dew, and Thomas D. Porter, of the Ohio Conference,\nacknowledged the receipt of $192 from the mite subscription this year.\nThey also record \u201cthat all the children of the married traveling\npreachers who received nothing from the districts or circuits, received\nten dollars apiece from Bishop Asbury\u2019s Mite Subscription.\u201d The salaries\nin this conference were better than in the East, for the single preachers\nreceived sixty-nine dollars and the married one hundred and thirty-eight.\nThe stewards of Tennessee Conference gave, on October 27, their receipt\nfor $267 06 \u201cfrom the mite subscription,\u201d and added that the married\npreachers received one hundred and ten dollars and the single fifty-five;\nand that the mite subscription for the benefit of the children, being\none hundred dollars, enabled them to give ten dollars to each child.\nAccording to this, all the children of Methodist preachers in the\nTennessee Conference in 1815 numbered but ten.\n\nThe last receipt is that of the Virginia Conference, for the sum of $95\n31. This conference met in January, 1816, and was the last that Bishop\nAsbury attended. He was then reduced almost to a skeleton, and in about\ntwo months after he ended both his labor and his life.\n\nThank God, a brighter day has since dawned on the Church; and though our\nministers have even now no superabundance of this world\u2019s goods, it is at\nleast no longer needful that our bishops should beg from house to house\nto collect \u201cmites\u201d that the preachers might be able to keep soul and body\ntogether.\n\nThe bishop had commenced his \u201cmite subscription\u201d for the next year with\nenlarged views. The prelude, which is dated January 1, 1816, and signed\nFrancis Asbury, sets forth that the design was not only to equalize\nthe salaries of the preachers, to relieve the most necessitous, and to\nprovide for the children, but also \u201cto enable us to send out German,\nFrench, and Spanish missionaries.\u201d This was years before the formation of\nour Missionary Society. Like John Wesley, Bishop Asbury was constantly in\nadvance of his age.\n\nFor five years I not only traveled with the venerable Asbury, but slept\nwith him.[45] When he was quite ill I would wrap myself in my blanket\nand lie down on the floor beside the bed and watch till I heard him call\n\u201cHenry,\u201d and then I would rise and minister to his wants. Being so feeble\nhe needed a great deal of attention. Many times have I taken him from his\nhorse and carried him in my arms into private houses and meeting-houses,\nwhere he would sit down, and expound the word of life to the astonishment\nof all who heard him. I also carried him from the houses and placed him\nupon his horse. He often preached sitting down, not so much in imitation\nof his Lord, but because he was unable to stand up.\n\nBishop Asbury possessed more deadness to the world, more of a\nself-sacrificing spirit, more of the spirit of prayer,[46] of Christian\nenterprise, of labor, and of benevolence, than any other man I ever\nknew. He was the most unselfish being I was ever acquainted with. Bishop\nWhatcoat I loved, Bishop M\u2019Kendree I admired, Bishop Asbury I venerated.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XL.\n\nDEATH OF JESSE LEE\u2014HIS CHARACTER.\n\n\nDuring the summer of 1816 I held several camp-meetings that were greatly\nhonored of God. The fourth was in Hillsborough, Maryland. It commenced\nthe 22d of August. Jesse Lee preached the second sermon from 1 Peter ii,\n5, on the lively stones and the spiritual house. I wrote: \u201cHe preached\nwith life and power, and many of the people were much refreshed and built\nup in the faith of the Gospel.\u201d Some of his illustrations were very\nquaint. He said, \u201cIf you cannot be a stone in the building you may be\na nail to hold on a shingle.\u201d He preached again on \u201cGrow in grace.\u201d In\nannouncing his subject he said, \u201cIn the last verse of the last chapter\nof the last Epistle of Peter you may find my text, and this may be my\nlast sermon.\u201d And so it proved. That voice which had rung through so many\ngroves, offering salvation to the lost, was then heard for the last time.\nHe who introduced camp-meetings into the East fell at one of them sword\nin hand. He had been taken sick the day before, and he suffered much\nwhile delivering this his last message. After preaching he was removed\nto the house of Brother Henry D. Sellers, brother-in-law of Bishop\nEmory.[47] Brother Sellers and his wife were at this time summoned to\nBaltimore to see a son who was very sick. They reluctantly left home when\nBrother Lee was so ill, but yielded to the prior claims of a dying son.\nThey left word to have everything possible done for the comfort of the\nsick man. While absent they buried their son, and when they returned home\nfound Jesse Lee in his grave.\n\nThe camp-meeting was one of great power and interest. God honored his\nword, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. On Tuesday we\nparted till we pitch our tents in the groves of Paradise. Then I went to\nattend to our beloved Brother Lee.\n\nBefore he left Annapolis Mr. Lee knocked off a little skin from his leg.\nHe thought nothing of it at the time, but it became inflamed, and he had\nquite a fever. He grew worse and worse till mortification took place,\nand death came to his relief. On Tuesday, at 10 o\u2019clock, while we were\npraying with him, the room was filled with glory. He was graciously\nvisited by the Lord, and broke out in ecstacies, \u201cGlory, Glory, Jesus\nreigns! heaven is just before me!\u201d\n\nThe next day he was \u201cfilled with the Spirit,\u201d so that he shouted the\npraises of God. He had said but little during the early part of his\nsickness; but now heaven was opened and glory revealed. All present were\ndeeply affected, and felt it a hallowed place. He suffered intensely, but\ngrace triumphed over pain of body.\n\nOn Wednesday strong symptoms of dissolution appeared, and the doctor was\nfrank and told him he might not live twelve hours. This did not at all\nalarm him. He shouted aloud the praises of God, and deliberately set his\nhouse in order. He wished me to write to his brother Ned, and tell him he\n\u201cdied happy.\u201d He also said, \u201cGive my respects to Bishop M\u2019Kendree; tell\nhim that I die in love with all the preachers, and that he lives in my\nheart.\u201d Then he bade all present farewell and requested us to pray. We\ndid so. It was a solemn hour and place. On Thursday he lost the power of\nspeech, but retained his reason and gave signs that all was well. In the\nevening, at half past seven, the great and good man fell asleep.\n\nI watched over him nearly two weeks; he would not allow me to leave him.\nI went down stairs to shave one day, and he was very uneasy, and sent two\nor three messengers for me before I could finish. He had an idea that no\nother person could do as well for him, therefore he constantly looked for\nme. I hardly took off my clothes day or night for nearly two weeks, he\nneeded such constant attention. The family being absent, the great care\nfell upon me. He said to me, \u201cBrother Boehm, when I die I wish you to\nclose my eyes.\u201d I did so. I placed the muffler about his face and laid\nhim out, and put his shroud upon him. I helped place him in his coffin,\nthen committed his remains to the grave, and performed the funeral\nservice. We buried him in the family burying-ground of Father Henry Downs.\n\nTwo days after, while I was absent, some brethren came from Baltimore and\ndisinterred the remains and removed them to that city, and laid him to\nrest in the old Methodist burying-ground. He was taken sick the 24th of\nAugust, and died the 12th of September, 1816.\n\nI complied with his dying request, sending his final messages to those he\nloved. I wrote to his brother Edward, (father of Rev. Leroy M. Lee,) who\nlived at Petersburgh, and gave him the particulars of Jesse\u2019s illness and\ndeath. I also wrote to Bishop M\u2019Kendree, giving him the message of the\ndying minister as well as the particulars of his last sickness and death.\nThis account was given in Jesse Lee\u2019s obituary in the Minutes, with my\nname connected with it. In Dr. Bangs\u2019s History of Methodism, and Leroy\nM. Lee\u2019s life of his uncle, my name is omitted. They could have had no\ncorrect description of his last days and hours unless I had furnished it.\n\nI must conclude this chapter by noticing his character. My own opinion\nis that injustice has been done to the name and fame of Jesse Lee. I was\nacquainted with him for many years. He was at my father\u2019s in 1799. I saw\nhim at the General Conference of 1800, 1808, and 1812; also at the Annual\nConferences and at camp-meetings. Mr. Lee was one of the most efficient\nand useful men we ever had. Like Paul, he was \u201cin labors more abundant.\u201d\n\nHe was shrewd, witty, and ready at repartee. There are those who think\nhe was nothing but a bundle of fun; that this was the element in which\nhe moved; and that he considered a rich joke a means of grace. Such have\naltogether mistaken his character. Mr. Lee had a rich vein of spiritual\nwit, he had a keen sense of the ludicrous, he knew how to answer a fool\naccording to his folly; but he made his wit subservient to the cause\nof truth and to silence cavilers. He had \u201chigher excellences than wit,\nholier instincts than mirth.\u201d He made great sacrifices, and devoted his\nlife to the promotion of the cause of truth.\n\nJesse Lee was an excellent preacher. I must have heard him thirty times.\nHe exhibited great wisdom in the selection of his texts. In General and\nAnnual Conferences he was a prominent man. He was an able debater, and\nthose who encountered him found they were grappling with a giant. At the\nGeneral Conference of 1800 he came near being elected bishop. He was\nworthy of the episcopal office, and doubtless would have filled it with\nhonor to himself and benefit to the Church. Some one told him he would\nhave been elected if he had been sufficiently grave. Said he, \u201cWould it\nnot have been premature to assume the gravity of the office previous to\nmy election?\u201d\n\nAs the apostle of Methodism in the East he can never be forgotten.\nHe was the pioneer of a noble army of Methodist preachers who have\nrevolutionized New England and New England theology. All over its hills\nand valleys he has written his name in characters that will be read by\nsucceeding generations until the end of time. As the first historian\nof American Methodism he will ever be remembered. His work is valuable\nas a repository of facts to which his successors have all been largely\nindebted. He achieved many triumphs, but the greatest of all was his\nvictory over \u201cthe last enemy.\u201d\n\n  \u201cServant of God, well done!\n    Thy glorious warfare\u2019s past;\n  The battle\u2019s fought, the race is won,\n    And thou art crowned at last.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLI.\n\nCHESAPEAKE DISTRICT\u2014TOURS WITH BISHOPS GEORGE AND M\u2019KENDREE.\n\n\nAt the conference held in Philadelphia in April, 1817, I was appointed\npresiding elder of Chesapeake District.\n\nIt was my privilege to take short tours with other bishops besides\nAsbury. Bishop M\u2019Kendree was always a great friend of mine, and at his\nrequest I went with him several times to visit the Churches.\n\nOn the 30th of June we went to Wilmington, Delaware; from that to\nChestertown, where he preached on Sunday from Jer. v, 25. At Centerville\nhe preached from Isaiah lxvi, 3-5, \u201cHe that killeth an ox is as if he\nslew a man,\u201d etc. It was a most singular text, but he showed himself\na workman in its exposition. He dwelt upon man\u2019s agency and his\nresponsibility, thus clearing the eternal throne and justifying the ways\nof God to man. Both Asbury and M\u2019Kendree frequently took long texts.\nTheir preaching was generally of the expository kind; they never took\na text for a motto. From thence we went to Baltimore, and visited the\nChurches, and I heard him preach in Light-street, Oldtown, and Eutaw.\nAfter spending fifteen days with the bishop, I returned to my district\nand held several camp-meetings. The first was in Camden, in July. The\nconverts were numerous, and at the close of the meeting I baptized one\nhundred. In those days we not only cut down the grain, but we shocked up\nimmediately. Three meetings at other places followed in quick succession,\nso that we held four camp-meetings in less than a month.\n\nIn October, at the request of Bishop George, I took a ministerial tour\nwith him. He preached on Thursday at Salem from Isaiah xl, 31, on waiting\non the Lord and its advantages; a theme that well suited him. On Friday\nhe preached at Asbury Chapel, and on Saturday at Union, from Psalm xxxiv,\n19, on the afflictions of the righteous and their deliverance. It was a\nsermon full of consolation. On Sunday he preached from Matt. xxv, 29, on\nthe measure of man\u2019s responsibility, and the next day on watching, from\nLuke xxi, 36; on Tuesday in Wesley Chapel, Dover, from John ii, 17; on\nWednesday at Barratt\u2019s Chapel, from 1 Peter i, 5; on Thursday at Milford,\nfrom 1 Peter iii, 15; on Sunday at Johnstown, from 1 Cor. vi, 19, 20; on\nMonday at Concord, from John xii, 26; and on Tuesday at the Line Chapel,\nfrom 2 Cor. vi, 2.\n\nThen we went to Snow Hill and were the guests of Samuel Porter, father\nof John S. Porter, D.D. Bishop George preached here on Sunday from Eph.\niii, 20, 21, \u201cNow unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly,\u201d\netc. This glorious doxology he expounded in a manner delightfully sweet.\nThence we went to Potato Neck and put up with Francis Waters, father\nof Dr. Waters, and Mrs. Freeborn Garrettson, of Rhinebeck. At Princess\nAnne the bishop preached on \u201cpatient continuance in well doing;\u201d and\non Sunday, at Salisbury, from 1 John v, 4, on Faith and its victories.\nThence we went to Cambridge, where we both preached, and were kindly\nentertained by Dr. Edward White. At Easton, the bishop preached on\n\u201cthe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,\u201d and next day, at\nthe Trappe, from 1 Thess. v, 6, \u201cTherefore let us not sleep,\u201d etc. On\nSaturday and Sunday we held a quarterly meeting at St. Michael\u2019s. We had\na charming love-feast, after which the bishop preached from John v, 6,\n\u201cWilt thou be made whole?\u201d On Tuesday he preached at Centreville from\nJohn v, 36.\n\nNext Saturday we held a quarterly meeting at Hynson\u2019s Chapel. There was\na serious difficulty between some of the official men and the society\nabout temporal matters. There had been a trial before a committee, which\nresulted very unsatisfactorily, and they had appealed to the Quarterly\nConference, and if its decision did not please them they threatened to go\nto law. The bishop, who was a great peacemaker, got the parties together\nand reasoned with them. He wept, and so did they. There were mutual\nconfessions, and they asked forgiveness of each other. The difficulty\nfrom which we had so much to fear was settled honorably and forever. His\nvisit to that part of the Peninsula was made a great blessing, for \u201cZion\nbecame a quiet habitation.\u201d On Sunday morning we had a love-feast indeed,\nafter which the bishop preached from Hosea xiv, 9, \u201cWho is wise, and he\nshall understand these things,\u201d etc.\n\nReluctantly I parted with the much-loved superintendent after spending\nsix weeks with him, enjoying his society every day and listening to\ntwenty sermons from him, besides exhortations and lectures in societies\nand families. I traveled with him through the heart of the Peninsula, and\nwas with him from the 25th of October till the 5th of December. It was\nhis first tour through the Peninsula, and everywhere he was hailed with\njoy as a worthy successor of the apostolic Asbury.\n\nBishop George was a short, stout man. His chest was large, and this\nenabled him to speak so easily. His face was bronzed, owing to exposure;\nbut it was intelligent, and expressive of benignity. His dress was\nplain and careless, and his hair was coarse and thick and parted in the\nmiddle. He had quite a patriarchal appearance. His voice was peculiar for\nstrength and melody. As a preacher, he was surpassingly eloquent. He had\nunusual power over his audience, and he took them captive at his will.\nAt times he was perfectly irresistible. He was well acquainted with the\nsprings of the human heart, and knew how to touch them. I must have heard\nhim preach fifty times. It is probable there is not a man living who has\nheard him as often as myself.\n\nAs a presiding officer he did not excel. He had not the administrative\ntalents of Asbury, M\u2019Kendree, or Roberts. He was a good companion where\nhe was well acquainted, full of anecdotes; but he was diffident and\navoided company, and had a perfect abhorrence of being questioned. He\nwas very powerful in prayer. He would rise in the night, and putting his\ncloak around him, spend whole hours on his knees wrestling with the angel\nof the covenant.\n\nHe would never permit any to take his likeness; he said \u201che did not like\nto have his image sold for three cents when he was dead and gone.\u201d He\ndied suddenly at Staunton, Virginia, August 23, 1828. It is as true of\nhim as of the patriarch, whose name he bore, he \u201cwalked with God, and was\nnot, for God took him.\u201d\n\nThis year, 1818, was in many respects the most memorable year of my life.\nNot believing in the celibacy of the clergy, on the 15th of January I was\nmarried to Sarah Hill, the step-daughter of Thomas Dodson. He resided\nin Kent County, Maryland, below Chestertown. He had been a traveling\npreacher for some years, but had located. She was a most estimable\nwoman, and I found her a helpmeet indeed. We had four children, who are\nall living. My wife died in holy triumph the 26th of August, 1853, and\nwas buried in the church-yard at Woodrow, Staten Island, where I expect\nsoon to sleep myself. Her memoir was written by the Rev. Joseph Holdich,\nwho had been well acquainted with her from the time he entered the\ntraveling connection in 1822 to the close of her pilgrimage.\n\nOn the 22d of April, 1818, our conference was held in Philadelphia.\nBishops George and Roberts were both present. I was reappointed to the\nChesapeake District. It was a year of great prosperity. I have a record\nof every day. We had powerful camp and quarterly meetings, which were\ngreatly honored of God, and multitudes were converted. I traveled this\nyear two thousand six hundred miles to preach the glorious Gospel of the\nblessed God.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLII.\n\nDELAWARE DISTRICT, 1819-21\u2014THOMAS AND EDWARD WHITE\u2014JOSHUA THOMAS\u2014CIRCUITS.\n\n\nIn 1819 our conference commenced its session in Philadelphia on the\n19th of April. Bishop Roberts presided. Bishop M\u2019Kendree was too ill to\nattend. During the session Bishop Roberts dedicated the Ebenezer Church.\n\nI was appointed to the Delaware District. William Bishop was my\npredecessor. He was an odd, eccentric man, the Billy Hibbard of the\nPhiladelphia Conference. When he rose to speak in conference the\nbrethren would smile in advance, expecting some strokes of wit or\nshrewd expression. In representing a brother on his district he said,\n\u201cHe appears to be tired of everything but rest.\u201d The character of the\nbrother was so well known, and the hit so capital, that the whole\nconference was convulsed with laughter. However, he was a good preacher,\nand, notwithstanding his eccentricities, had the confidence of his\nsuperintendents and of his brethren in the ministry.\n\nDelaware District included much of the ground I had traveled years\nbefore. Many camp-meetings were held this year. I can name but one. It\nwas held on the Tangier Islands the last week of August. I went with\nFrancis Watters in his boat. We preached one sermon, and then we had the\nmost awful storm I ever beheld. The island was bleak, the waves dashed\nagainst it, and the winds blew over it. The tents were blown down and\ntrees were prostrated; the water rose to a prodigious height, and we\nfeared the island would be submerged. Notwithstanding the storm, many\nwere converted to God.\n\nIn 1820 our conference was held in Smyrna, Delaware, commencing on April\n12. Bishop George presided. On Sunday he preached an ordination sermon\nfrom Phil. iii, 13, 14, on the course Paul pursued to obtain the prize.\nThe unction of the mighty one rested on him and his audience.\n\nFour were received into full connection: Charles Pitman, James Long,\nSamuel Grace, and William Wright. Brother Long was a simple-hearted\nIrishman, who preached the pure Gospel. Charles Pitman had a noble frame,\na massive brow, an expressive eye, and a voice as deep-toned as an organ.\nNo man ever did more for Methodism in New Jersey than he. Bishop Hedding,\nno mean judge, considered him the greatest pulpit orator he had ever\nheard.\n\nWe held several camp-meetings this year. One was at the Tangier Islands.\nThe weather was fine, contrasting agreeably with the terrible storm we\nhad the year before.\n\nIn April, 1821, our conference met in Milford, Delaware, where I was\nresiding. Bishop George, Freeborn Garrettson, and Ezekiel Cooper were my\nguests. When dining one day Mr. Garrettson inquired, \u201cWhere did you find\nthis little woman?\u201d speaking of Mrs. Boehm. I answered, \u201cOn the Eastern\nShore of Maryland.\u201d He smiled and seemed to be much pleased, as it was\nthe scene of his early trials and triumphs.\n\nI was reappointed to the Delaware District. We this year held another\ncamp-meeting on the Tangier Islands, which was even more successful than\nthe preceding ones.\n\nThomas and Edward White are names very dear to American Methodists.\nThomas has a conspicuous place in the early annals of our Church, while\nEdward\u2019s name is scarcely known, and yet he was in Christ before his\nuncle, and was the cause of his uniting with the Methodists.\n\nDr. EDWARD WHITE formerly lived in Kent County, Maryland, near his\nUncle Thomas, but he removed to Cambridge, Maryland, in 1799. I became\nacquainted with in 1800, and for years his house was my home. He was my\nphysician in sickness, my counselor in perplexity, my faithful friend.\nBishop Asbury loved him tenderly, called him \u201cDear Edward White,\u201d and\nsays \u201che had known and followed the Methodists since 1778.\u201d He was much\nbeloved and esteemed, a pillar in our Church, and his house was a home\nfor all the bishops and all the ministers of Jesus. He was a large fleshy\nman, with a good understanding and an intelligent countenance. His wife\nwas a most estimable woman.\n\nHe was the means of leading Joseph Everett to the Methodists. Everett\njoined the Philadelphia Conference in 1781, and was a mighty man in our\nIsrael. He went from Dr. White\u2019s to travel, and when he broke down he\nreturned to the doctor\u2019s to spend the evening of life and to die. There\nI used to see the old soldier and hear him talk of former conflicts and\ntriumphs. His first circuit was Dorchester, and in Dorchester he died.\n\nThe last time I was at Dr. White\u2019s was in 1822. He was then \u201cin age and\nfeebleness extreme.\u201d The strong man was bowing himself. He went years ago\nto join Asbury and Everett and his Uncle Thomas, \u201cwhere no friend goes\nout or enemy comes in.\u201d\n\nJOSHUA THOMAS resided on one of the Tangier Islands, (a group in\nChesapeake Bay,) and was called \u201cThe Parson of the Islands.\u201d He was a\nlocal preacher, a man of great notoriety and influence, especially among\nthe Islanders. I was acquainted with him several years, having been to\nhis island home and sailed with him in his boat, which he called \u201cThe\nMethodist.\u201d\n\nI often met him at camp and quarterly meetings, and heard him preach and\nexhort and relate his Christian experience with great effect. He was\nperfectly artless, a child of nature. He never tried to be anybody but\nJoshua Thomas.\n\nDuring the war with England, in 1812, twelve thousand British soldiers\nencamped on Joshua\u2019s island. Both the officers and men admired him, and\ncalled him \u201cParson Thomas.\u201d\n\nHe raised vegetables on the Island and fished in the waters of the\nChesapeake. He had an impediment in his speech. He told me that when\nthe British fleet lay in the Bay the officers sent for him on board the\nadmiral\u2019s ship. They had heard he stuttered when talking on worldly\nbusiness and not when he was preaching, and they did not believe this\ncould be possible. He did not know why they had sent for him, but he\nobeyed the summons and was taken on board the admiral\u2019s ship and into\nthe cabin, where he saw the officers of several ships. They said they\nwished him to preach to them. He was perfectly astonished, but believing\nit his duty to be \u201cinstant in season and out of season,\u201d he took his\ntext and commenced his discourse. He was a little embarrassed at first,\nand stated that he was unlearned and they were men of cultivated minds;\nbut as he proceeded he gathered confidence and strength, and preached to\nthem just as he would have done to the sinners on the islands. He showed\nthem that notwithstanding their learning, talents, and position, if they\nneglected the condition of salvation they would be lost and damned with\ncommon sinners, and find one common hell. He did not stutter once while\nhe delivered his faithful message, and the officers listened to him with\ngreat attention.\n\nAt the conclusion of the discourse one of the officers inquired,\n\u201cParson Thomas, can you tell us for what reason President Madison\ndeclared war against England?\u201d Then he stuttered exceedingly, and\nit was some time before he could get the answer out. He began,\n\u201cTut\u2014tut\u2014tut\u2014tut\u2014tut-tut-tut,\u201d and after various efforts said, \u201cI was not\nin his cabinet, and therefore I cannot answer.\u201d\n\nThe following incidents will still further illustrate his influence\nwith the British officers. Some of the soldiers were cutting down some\nlarge pine trees which furnished a beautiful shade, under which large\ncamp-meetings had been held. Parson Thomas went to the commanding\nofficer, told him what the soldiers were doing, and expostulated against\nit. He said that grove was their house of worship, and to destroy the\ntrees was to destroy God\u2019s house. His appeal was irresistible. The trees\nwere spared, and for years the grove continued to be a place of worship.\n\nJust before the British made their attack on Baltimore, Parson Thomas, at\ntheir request, preached to them on the island. He was as true a patriot\nas Joshua of old, whose name he bore. He gave the following account of\nthe sermon he preached: The old camp-ground was the center of the British\ncamp. The soldiers were drawn up in solid column under the pine trees.\nMr. Thomas occupied a stand; all the soldiers were before him, and on\nhis right and left were the British officers. He determined to clear his\nskirts of their blood; if they wished to hear him they should have a\nfaithful warning. He did not know but his plainness might give offense\nand cause him to fall a sacrifice. Singing and prayer, however, quieted\nhis fears, and put his soul in frame for the occasion. He faithfully\nwarned the British of the unholiness of their cause, of the wickedness of\nkilling their fellow-men. He told them he had heard they were going to\nBaltimore to take that city; but, said he, \u201cyou cannot take Baltimore;\nif you attempt to you will not succeed; and you had better prepare to\ndie.\u201d Both officers and soldiers were very attentive. They admired his\npatriotism, his honesty, his simplicity. Soon after that memorable\nmeeting the British made their attack on Baltimore, and Parson Thomas\u2019s\nprediction was fulfilled to the letter.\n\nAs he saw the British returning, Parson Thomas went down to the shore to\nmeet them, and the first inquiry he made of the officers was, \u201cHave you\ntaken Baltimore?\u201d They mournfully answered, \u201cNo. It turned out just as\nyou told us the Sunday before we left. The battle was bloody. Hundreds of\nour men were slain, our general also; and all the time we were fighting\nin the field we thought of what you told us, \u2018You cannot take Baltimore.\u2019\u201d\n\nHere we see the true character of the man. Though he did not possess the\ntalents, he had the boldness of Luther or John Knox; and such was his\ngood common sense and his simplicity of character that he retained the\nconfidence of the British while they continued on the island.\n\nI must abridge my narrative or it will swell to volumes. In 1823 I was\non Lancaster Circuit. Joseph Holdich was my colleague. It was his first\ncircuit. He was young but studious, and then gave promise of the future\nman. My mother died in November of that year, and was buried beside my\nfather. I was returned to the circuit the following year.\n\nIn 1824-5 I was upon old Chester Circuit; in 1826-7, Strasburgh; in\n1828-9, Burlington Circuit, N. J. Rev. Charles Pitman was my presiding\nelder. He was then in the days of his glory. In 1830-31 I was at\nPemberton; in 1832, at Bargaintown; in 1833, at Tuckerton; in 1834, New\nEgypt; in 1835-6 I had the whole of Staten Island for my circuit. For\nfourteen years I was on circuits after I left the districts. I have a\nfull record of men, and thrilling scenes, and glorious revivals, but have\nnot space even to name my colleagues or their characteristics.\n\nMethodism was introduced into Staten Island very early by Francis\nAsbury, before he preached in New York. I was with him on the island\nin 1809. When I was stationed on Staten Island there were two hundred\nand seventy-eight members; now there are one thousand one hundred and\nforty-nine, and instead of one preacher we have seven. Having been many\nyears in the work, at the close of the two years on Staten Island I took\na supernumerary relation. I bought me a little place on the island, where\nI lived for many years, till death invaded my dwelling and laid my loved\none low. In 1837 the Philadelphia Conference was divided and I fell\ninto the New Jersey, and then by a subsequent division into the Newark\nConference.\n\nI have preached in all parts of the island; have married many, and buried\nmany of the dead. In great harmony I have lived with all the friends of\nJesus. I was a member of the General Conference in 1832, and was present\nat the memorable conference in 1844 when our Church was divided. I had\nmuch to do with laying the foundation of German Methodism in New York.\nBy both preachers and the laity I have ever been treated with the utmost\nkindness. Many of them I should like to notice but have no space, but\ntheir names are in the book of life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIII.\n\nLAST VISIT TO MY NATIVE PLACE\u2014WESTERN TOUR.\n\n\nMany years had passed away since I had seen the home of my childhood, and\nmy advanced age admonish me that I must do so soon or never. On February\n15, 1856, I left my home on Staten Island and went to Pemberton, N. J.\nFor four years Pemberton was my residence. I was glad to see my old\nfriends, and preached for them twice. Thence I went to Mount Holly, a\nplace of rare beauty. Here lived my old friend, Judge Monroe, father of\nRev. Samuel Y. Monroe, D.D.\n\nReaching Camden, I found it greatly changed since I first saw it. Then\nthere was only a ferry-house, now a large city with three flourishing\nMethodist Churches. A few years ago I preached the half century sermon of\nthe introduction of Methodism in Camden. By request it was published.\n\nI hastened on to Lancaster, where I was heartily welcomed by John Boehm\u2019s\nwidow. He was my nephew, and yet we were about the same age, were\nconverted at the same time, and were life-time friends. He did much for\nMethodism in Lancaster and Lancaster County. I spent several weeks in the\nvicinity visiting old friends and preaching the Gospel. There was quite\na contrast to the state of things in 1805, when I preached there on a\nbutcher\u2019s block in the market.\n\nTo my great joy I found Philip Benedict and his wife living. It was in\ntheir house I formed the first class in 1807. We talked over the early\nstruggles and triumphs of Methodism in Lancaster. He was eighty-four\nyears old, his wife about the same age. The Church in Lancaster is\ngreatly indebted to this old patriarch and his excellent wife.\n\nI went to Little Britain, twenty-two miles from Lancaster, celebrated as\nthe birthplace of Robert Fulton. The old homestead where he was born was\nstill standing. What gave it additional interest to me was, that there,\nin 1814, I formed the first Methodist class in the town. We have now a\nfine society and a beautiful church edifice.\n\nI went to Columbia, and was the guest of Abraham Brunner, son of Owen.\nHere I met Alfred Cookman, who had married into the family, and his\nchildren are the fifth generation that I have preached to in this family.\nI went to the old Boehm\u2019s Chapel and the old house where I was born. My\neye lighted upon the place in the gallery where in 1798 I gave my heart\nto God. Well did I exclaim,\n\n  \u201cO happy day, that fixed my choice\n    On thee, my Saviour and my God,\u201d etc.\n\nWhat sermons had I heard in that chapel! The venerable forms of Asbury,\nWhatcoat, M\u2019Kendree, and others I had heard preach came up before me. It\nwas Easter Sabbath, and I preached on the resurrection of Jesus. It was\nforty-four years that day since my father died. From the window I could\nsee his grave and those of my mother and the other loved ones. My mind\nwent forward to the time when the sleepers should awake at the sound of\nthe trump and rise to life immortal.\n\nMy feelings well nigh overcame me. The friends of my youth were gone.\nThere were none of my name remaining in that neighborhood. Generations\nhad passed away, new ones had risen that knew me not. I wandered\namong the tombs in the old burying ground, then bade adieu to the old\ngrave-yard, to the old chapel, to the old homestead, hallowed by so many\npleasing recollections, exclaiming,\n\n  \u201cFarewell to the home of my birth,\n    To the scenes which I cannot but love,\n  To the nearest and dearest on earth,\n    Till we meet in the mansions above.\u201d\n\nOn my return I visited the Philadelphia Conference, then sitting in\nTrinity Church, Philadelphia. I had not attended it for twenty years,\nand had long desired to see it once more. Bishop Waugh presided, and at\nhis request I made an address. I contrasted the past with the present.\nI told them not one remained who had belonged to the conference when I\njoined it. I always loved the Philadelphia Conference: within its bounds\nI was born, converted, licensed to preach, and ordained; with them I\nhad spent my youth and the prime of my manhood; here I had toiled the\nhardest and had the greatest success; here were the scenes of my trials\nand triumphs, and within its bounds I was married and my children born. I\nnever belonged to any other, the New Jersey and Newark Conferences being\nportions of the Philadelphia Conference when I joined it. I bade farewell\nto the Philadelphia brethren and returned to my island home after an\nabsence of two months.\n\nOn my return home I attended the New Jersey Conference in Broad-street\nChapel, Newark. How strangely this magnificent edifice contrasted with\nBoehm\u2019s Chapel! and what a change in Newark since I visited it with\nBishop Asbury in 1809, when we had no house of worship there, and Richard\nLeaycraft, who had moved from New York, was the only one to entertain the\nitinerants!\n\nHaving relatives in Ohio whom I had not seen for nearly half a century, I\nconcluded, though over fourscore, to visit them. In January, 1859, I went\nto Baltimore, where I had not been for forty-two years. We received a\nhearty welcome from Dr. Roberts, the distinguished Methodist antiquarian\nand father of the Methodist Historical Society. Multitudes are the relics\nhe has preserved, which will enrich the history of our Church in future\nyears.\n\nMost of my old friends in Baltimore were dead; only a few recognized\nme. I went to Mount Olivet Cemetery, where sleep the remains of Bishops\nAsbury, George, Emory, and Waugh. Standing by the grave of the first the\nimage of the patriarch came up before me, and I vainly attempted to keep\nback the tears that rolled down my cheeks. The other bishops also I had\nknown intimately. Two of them were much younger than myself, and I was\npresent when they were received into the conference.\n\nMy next visit was to \u201cPilgrim\u2019s Rest,\u201d to see my old friend and brother,\nthe Rev. Henry Smith. We had known each other half a century. He was one\nof the purest and best men that I ever knew. I had a charming visit with\nhim, and when reviewing the past we lived over a great many years in a\nfew hours. He was over ninety, and had been in the ministry sixty-five\nyears. We prayed and wept together, and then we parted to meet in the\n\u201cPilgrim\u2019s Rest\u201d on the other side of Jordan. He has since entered there.\n\nLeaving Baltimore for Ohio, we crossed the Potomac at Harper\u2019s Ferry\nand then went over the Alleghanies. Rushing over in the cars was very\ndifferent from the slow manner Bishop Asbury and I crawled over them\nforty-seven years before. I could not help wondering what the bishop\nwould think if he could return and go over them as we do now, the\ncontrast is so great in ease, comfort, and saving of time. Towns,\ncities, and states have been born since that time we went to Zanesville.\n\nCincinnati was so changed that I could scarcely recognize in the Queen\nCity of the West the little village I had visited nearly fifty years\nbefore; but when I beheld the Licking River everything came to my mind,\nand I began to feel quite at home. When with Bishop Asbury we put up with\nBrother Lines, an excellent local preacher. I was pleased to see two of\nhis daughters, Mrs. Widow Smith and the wife of Doctor Phillips. Edward\nSargent, son of my old friend, Rev. Thomas F. Sargent, M.D., married a\ndaughter of Widow Smith. In the society of these friends I took great\ndelight.\n\nNot only had the city grown immensely, but Methodism also. At the time of\nmy former visit there was only one Methodist church edifice, \u201cThe Stone\nChapel;\u201d that had given way to a noble structure, \u201cWesley Chapel,\u201d and\nhad become also the mother of a large and healthy family of children,\nmost of them named after bishops or other prominent ministers, as Asbury\nChapel, M\u2019Kendree, Morris, Raper, Christie, Finlay, etc. Then the large\nBook Concern with its _Western Christian Advocate_, _Ladies\u2019 Repository_,\nand other widely circulated publications. But what filled me with the\ngreatest delight, and made my old soul rejoice with exceeding joy, was to\nbehold what God had done for the Germans. I found four German Methodist\nChurches in Cincinnati, with several hundred members; also a German\nnewspaper, the _Christian Apologist_, one of the most able papers I have\never read, and edited by that great and good man, Dr. Nast, and a long\nlist of books and tracts in the German language. What a change since\n1807, when I had the Methodist Discipline translated into German, and\n1808, when I preached the first Methodist sermon in German in Cincinnati,\nand when Bishop Asbury and I had two tracts printed in the German\nlanguage, that we scattered over the mountains and valleys as we rode\nround his large diocese!\n\nA German love-feast was held in order that I might hear in my mother\ntongue the wonderful work that God had wrought. Several hundred\nwere present, including members from all the German churches. Their\ntestimonies were thrilling, and their singing exquisite. They sung as Mr.\nWesley said, \u201clustily.\u201d At the conclusion of a glorious love-feast, Dr.\nNast said, \u201cWe will sing Martin Luther\u2019s Hymn, tune Old Hundred,\u201d and\nthen they sung as I never heard it before that good old doxology, \u201cPraise\nGod, from whom all blessings flow,\u201d etc.\n\nI had a delightful interview with Judge M\u2019Lean, one of our noblest men, a\nspiritual son of John Collins. He remembered hearing me preach in Lebanon\nin 1810. It was with deep regret that I afterward heard of his death. He\nleft a pure record both as a man and a statesman.\n\nI went to Dayton, which was a small place when I was there before, but\nhas now thirty thousand inhabitants. The \u201cUnited Brethren in Christ\u201d have\na publishing house here. When I entered their building and looked upon\nthe wall I saw a portrait of my father. I had not seen it in fifty years,\nnor did I know it had been preserved, or that there was an image of him\nin existence. There he was with his German visage, his gray locks and\nvenerable beard. It was a very good likeness, painted by a German artist\nfor my nephew, Martin Boehm, who carried it West when he removed to Ohio.\nAt his death it was presented to \u201cThe United Brethren in Christ,\u201d who\nwere glad to get such a relic to adorn the walls of their publishing\nhouse. Here also I saw an excellent likeness of Father Otterbein.\n\nI visited my relative, Samuel Binkley, who formerly lived near my\nfather\u2019s. Here a cane was presented to me that I highly prize on account\nof its historic associations, for it originally belonged to Father\nOtterbein, who gave it to Bishop Asbury; the bishop gave it to Samuel\nBinkley, and he presented it to my daughter.\n\nAfter my return home I again visited the West, and spent a year in\nCincinnati. I preached before the conference in Xenia, and was present\nat the marriage of General Grant\u2019s sister in Covington, Kentucky, to a\nGerman preacher stationed in Cincinnati.\n\nIn May, 1800, I was present at the General Conference in Baltimore;\nin May, 1864, I attended the General Conference in Union Church,\nPhiladelphia. With perhaps two exceptions, Drs. C. Elliott and G. Peck,\nall the delegates to the latter body were born during the intervening\nperiod; and the senior bishop, Thomas A. Morris, was, in 1800, a\nprattling boy of five years. I rejoiced that God had raised up so many\nstrong men to be pillars in the Church. Some were from the further West,\nCalifornia, Oregon, and regions which in my early days were almost a\n_terra incognita_, and were uninhabited except by wandering tribes of\nIndians. The bishops and members seemed to regard me as an old Methodist\npatriarch, and honored me with a seat on the platform.\n\nThe nation was then struggling for life, having to contend both with\nopen enemies and secret foes. But a more loyal body than the men\nwho represented the Church in that conference never assembled. What\ninterested me most, however, was the fraternal interchange of delegates\nbetween our General Conference and that of the African Methodist\nEpiscopal Church, which was sitting in Philadelphia at the same time.\nThe colored delegates were received by our conference on May 13, and\ndelivered addresses that would have done honor to men of any land. The\nutmost enthusiasm prevailed, and the Union Church rang with shouts\nof applause. At the conclusion of one of the most thrilling scenes\never witnessed I was honored with delivering an address, of which the\nfollowing report appeared in the _Daily Advocate_ of May 14:\n\n\u201cMr. President, I thought it was but proper that I should express some of\nmy feelings and recollections as appropriate to this occasion. It fell\nto my lot to have charge of this district in 1813 and 1814. It was then\ncalled the Schuylkill District, and embraced the whole region between\nthe Delaware and the Susquehanna Rivers, including Wilmington, and north\nby the mountains. During that period Robert R. Roberts, afterward Bishop\nRoberts, was stationed at St. George\u2019s, and John Emory, afterward Bishop\nEmory, at this church. During these two years, in either 1813 or 1814,\nhe would not be positive which, the separation of the colored brethren\ntook place. There was some friction between the founder of the present\nAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church and us, and they drew off. But it was\nprudently managed, and they passed quietly off. We feared then that it\nwas an unfortunate change; but I confess to you that my heart has been\ntouched. I have been very much affected in hearing our colored brethren\ntestify here, and state their influence and progress. I admire the\nprovidence of God in this instance. We then considered it an unfortunate\ncase; but God has overruled it, and I hope he will continue to overrule\nit and superintend it, and that it will react and spread its evangelizing\nand saving influence south and south-west, and all over the world. God\ngrant that this may be the case. [Numerous responses of Amen.] I thought\nit would be appropriate for me to express my feelings thus, and I rejoice\nand give glory to God for his goodness and his power.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe venerable patriarch sat down with swimming eyes, while many in\nthe audience wept with sympathy and joy. It is certainly a singular\ncoincidence that the man who was the Church officer charged with the\nadministration of the Discipline upon this district when the founders\nof the African Methodist Episcopal Church withdrew from our connection,\nprevious to organizing their own, should, after a period of at least\nfifty years, be present to witness the first fraternal reception of their\nofficial representatives by the General Conference of the Methodist\nEpiscopal Church, and that assembled in the Union Church, Philadelphia,\nthe very scene of the events of half a century ago.\u201d\n\nI cannot refrain from referring to the amazing growth of our Church since\nthe period when I joined it. We had then in America two hundred and\nsixty-six traveling preachers, and sixty-five thousand nine hundred and\neighty members. Church edifices were scarce, and parsonages comparatively\nunknown. We had no colleges or seminaries; no Biblical Institutes,\nno periodicals, and were almost without a literature; indeed wholly\nso, except a Hymn Book, Discipline, and a few tracts and other small\npublications. Now we have nearly seven thousand traveling preachers, and\nmore than nine hundred thousand church members, (besides those in the\nSouth,) with over ten thousand church edifices, and nearly three thousand\nparsonages. Our numerous colleges and other institutions of learning, and\nthe extended operations of our Book Concerns in the East and the West,\nbear witness to the success with which we have labored in the cause of\neducation and religious literature.\n\nIn some matters I cannot but think that, as a Church, we have\nretrograded. The people and preachers in that day were patterns of\nplainness; we conform more to the world, and have lost much of the spirit\nof self-denial they possessed. Our fathers paid great attention to Church\ndiscipline, and their preaching was more direct; they aimed at the heart,\nand looked for more immediate results than we of the present day.\n\nBut if there are some things to lament, there is much that calls for\ngratitude. If we remain true to Methodism, \u201cwalking by the same rule and\nminding the same things\u201d our fathers did, then our future will be grand\nand glorious as the past, and the result such as to meet the expectations\nof the most ardent among us.\n\nAnd now, having seen what great things God has done for us as a Church,\nand the salvation which he has wrought out for us as a nation in the\noverthrow of the great rebellion, I feel like saying with Simeon of old,\n\u201cLord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.\u201d On this side the\nriver I patiently wait till the Master shall bid me pass over Jordan and\nrejoin the sainted Asbury and other of my fellow-laborers and companions\nin tribulation who have preceded me to the climes of bliss.\n\n  \u201cMy old companions in distress\n    I haste again to see,\n  And eager long for my release\n    And full felicity:\n  Even now by faith I join my hands\n    With those that went before,\n  And greet the blood-besprinkled bands\n    On the eternal shore.\u201d\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIV.\n\nHISTORY AND NATURE OF FATHER BOEHM\u2019S REMINISCENCES\u2014THE LAST TEN YEARS OF\nHIS LIFE.\n\n\nFather Boehm\u2019s valuable life has been marvelously prolonged to such a\nvery old age that he is now regarded every-where, in Europe and America,\nas the patriarch of Methodism, and so many interests cluster around the\naged veteran that we add a few chapters to his Reminiscences.\n\nThere are several classes of men. There are those who live wholly in the\npast, others live wholly in the present, and others wholly in the future.\nThese are all in the wrong.\n\nThe man who lives with an eye on the past, the present, and the future;\nwho looks backward, and forward, and around him; who makes the past\ntell on the present, the present on the future\u2014he is the live man; he\nunderstands the true philosophy of life; he will accomplish the most\ngood, and secure the greatest happiness. The inspired penman says:\n\u201cInquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the\nsearch of their fathers: (for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing:)\n... shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of\ntheir heart?\u201d\n\nThe reader will readily see why we add a few chapters to the original\nvolume. \u201cBoehm\u2019s Reminiscences, Historical and Biographical,\u201d is one of\nthe richest volumes in Methodist literature. It is remarkable, first, for\nthe antiquity of its contents, taking us back to the origin of American\nMethodism: second, for its originality; the old gentleman drew upon his\nown resources; there has never been any thing like it, and it is doubtful\nwhether there ever will be again; in it he testifies what he has seen and\nheard, and he has seen much, for he has lived a great many years: third,\nfor the description he gives of men and things, and the simplicity of its\nstyle: fourth, for its facts; he never gives wings to his imagination;\non the contrary, he deals in sober history and truthful biography. Had\nit been written in another style it would not have been his, for he is a\nplain, matter-of-fact man; he stated truth in its simplest form, without\nany embellishment.\n\nIn his volume there are no false colorings, no exaggerations; it is\ntrue to nature and true to life. All honor to the truthful veteran who\nintroduces to us so many of the heroes of Methodism, whose names and fame\nare immortal! He presents before his readers Robert Strawbridge, the\napostle of Methodism in Maryland; Dr. Thomas Coke, the founder of modern\nmissions, whose heart was large enough to hold four continents, and who\nfound a grave in the Indian Ocean; what a graphic description he gives\nof Jesse Lee, the apostle of Methodism to New England, and the first\nhistorian of American Methodism! We hear him preach his last sermons,\nand these were delivered in God\u2019s great cathedral\u2014nature\u2019s magnificent\ntemple; we are taken into the chamber of the dying saint; we see Father\nBoehm wetting the parched lips of the dying hero, smoothing his pillow\nof agony, speaking words of cheer; we see him kneel down by his bedside\nand commend the dying one to Him who is \u201cthe resurrection and the life;\u201d\nwe hear a shout of joy from the dying one; we see him as his breath\ngrows shorter and shorter, till he heaves one long, deep-drawn sigh, and\nall is over; we see Boehm with his own hands close his eyes and put the\nmuffler around his face; we see the open grave, and Father Boehm laying\nhim quietly to rest. Sleepless nights, restless days, watching, waiting,\ntrembling, hoping, till all was over. What affection, what care, what\nsolicitude, what unwavering faith, what ardent love!\n\nHe introduces us to Bishop Whatcoat, that seraphic man. We have a\ndescription of his person, of his preaching, of his last sickness, and\nhis triumphant death. He gives the best description of Bishop Asbury ever\nwritten; and no man ever knew him better, for he was with him in the\nclosest intimacy for five years. We have a description of his person,\nhis dress. We have Asbury in the family, Asbury in the pulpit, Asbury in\nthe conferences, Asbury among friends, Asbury among strangers, Asbury\namong the children. He describes so vividly the bishop\u2019s sermons and\nexhortations we imagine we see and are listening to the great apostle of\nAmerican Methodism. O how graphic is Boehm\u2019s description of Bishop Asbury!\n\nIn regard to the volume, let me say, it was prepared with the greatest\ncare. For years we were employed on it at different intervals. We took\nhis own journals and read them carefully; then we read Asbury\u2019s journals\nto refresh his mind; then we questioned him concerning men and places,\nand in regard to General and Annual Conferences. We took down, from his\n\u201cown lips,\u201d anecdotes and incidents till we were sure there was not one\nleft. The work was complete; it was finished; the stock was exhausted.\nNot an original idea but we had obtained, not an anecdote but we have\nrecorded it. We never stopped pumping till the water was out of the well.\nThere is no chance to glean over the fields we passed over, for we not\nonly gathered the grain, but we gleaned as we went along. We never could\nget the old veteran to say what he did not distinctly remember. We might\nask him over and over again, \u201cDid not such a thing take place? Were you\nnot there?\u201d \u201c_I do not remember_,\u201d was the emphatic answer. After the\nchapters were written we read them over to him, and he appended the\nfollowing to each:\u2014\n\n  \u201cThis chapter is correct. HENRY BOEHM.\u201d\n\n  NOTE.\u2014Each chapter was dated at the place where it was written.\n  Some were written in New York, others in Harlem, still others in\n  Yonkers, Poughkeepsie, and other places.\n\nIt is ten years since the first edition of this volume was published.\nSince that time Father Boehm has enjoyed a peaceful old age. He has\nvisited an Annual Conference occasionally, where he has been an object of\ngreat attention.\n\nHe visited his own Conference, Philadelphia, which he joined in 1801,\nand his visit was as welcome as if he had been an angel from heaven.\nIts members hung upon the lips of the old Methodist patriarch in silent\nwonder as he described the fathers who had fallen asleep, and the early\ndays and scenes in which he was such a prominent actor, and then drew\na contrast between the past and present, showing how Methodism had\nadvanced. He was an object of great interest at the great Centenary\nMeeting in the city of New York, at Cooper Institute, in October 1866,\nDaniel Ross, Esq., presiding. Rev. Thomas Sewall, D.D., delivered one\nof the most eloquent addresses I ever listened to. The venerable Boehm\nwas on the platform, and his appearance gave additional charm to the\nintensely interesting meeting. In the midst of his address, replete\nwith beauty, abounding in historical reminiscences, the speaker turned\nto Father Boehm, and delivered a personal address to him. He said: \u201cWe\nthank you, venerable father, for lingering so long among us to cheer us\nby your presence, your example, and for giving us so many interesting\nreminiscences of the past. Thou art a representative of the former age of\nMethodism\u2014thou art a splendid representative of the fathers. Venerable\nman, friend of Coke and Asbury, Whatcoat and M\u2019Kendree, we thank you for\nyour presence here; you are the great link that connects the past with\nthe present.\u201d\n\nAfter invoking many blessings on his head, and a glorious future, he\nconcluded his address of beauty, eloquence, and power, one that will not\nsoon be forgotten. Now his voice is silent in death.\n\nFather Boehm has of late years led such a quiet life that there are\nfew additional reminiscences, or anecdotes to record. He is a grand\nspecimen of religion in old age. His days glide on, calm and peaceful\nas a summer evening. The autumn of life is peculiarly beautiful in him.\nIt is charming to see grace thrive, when nature decays; while the outer\nman is perishing, to see the inner man renewed day by day in vigor, in\nknowledge, and in joy. It is delightful to see his fading eye brighten\nat the promise, \u201cWhere I am, there shall also my servant be;\u201d to see his\naged, wrinkled countenance glow with seraphic beauty.\n\nHappy, happy old man! splendid specimen of the venerated fathers. He has\n\u201cfought the good fight,\u201d he has \u201ckept the faith,\u201d and will soon \u201cfinish\nhis course.\u201d The past, the present, and the future smile upon him. It\nwill soon be said concerning him:\u2014\n\n  \u201cServant of God, well done!\n    Thy glorious warfare\u2019s past;\n  The battle\u2019s fought, the race is won,\n    And thou art crown\u2019d at last.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLV.\n\nENTRANCE UPON HIS ONE HUNDREDTH YEAR.\n\n\nThe following description of the celebration of Father Boehm\u2019s entrance\nupon his one hundredth year appeared in the _Christian Advocate_, and\nwas copied into many religious journals, not only in America but also in\nEurope, showing the intense interest that clusters around the hero of a\nhundred years and the hero of a hundred battles:\u2014\n\nFather Henry Boehm, the old Methodist patriarch, entered upon his one\nhundredth year June 8, 1874, and the wonderful event was celebrated on\nTuesday in Jersey City, at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr. Emley.\nA number of friends honored him with their presence. It was to the old\npatriarch quite a surprise. A good supper was provided, with abundance of\nthe delicacies of the season. There was a centenary cake, having on it\nthe figures 1775 and 1874. Flowers of rare beauty and odor were presented\nto him, and he made a most appropriate reply. On one of the floral\nofferings, beautifully inwrought in green, were these figures, \u201c99.\u201d The\npatriarch\u2019s wrinkled countenance was wreathed with smiles; he looked as\nplacid as a summer\u2019s evening, and seemed to have \u201crenewed his youth like\nthe eagle\u2019s.\u201d\n\nDr. J. B. Wakeley was spokesman for the occasion, and delivered the\nfollowing congratulatory address. He concluded by dwelling upon the\ncharacter and labors of Bishop Asbury, and surprised Father Boehm by\npresenting him with a beautiful likeness of the bishop. Father Boehm\ntook it, looked at it, and said, \u201cWell done!\u201d and then he made a\ncharacteristic reply. It was one of those rare occasions that seldom\noccur in one\u2019s life-time, and can never be forgotten.\n\n\nADDRESS TO FATHER BOEHM.\n\n  VENERABLE PATRIARCH: This is an auspicious day and a joyful\n  occasion that has summoned us together; we have met to celebrate\n  the almost one hundredth anniversary of your birthday.\n  Ninety-nine years ago, the eighth day of June, in the town of\n  Conestoga, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a child was born, and\n  they called him \u201cHenry.\u201d Few of those who then looked upon that\n  little infant suspected that he would live to celebrate his one\n  hundredth birthday. Venerable man! with your whitened locks, your\n  wrinkled face, you stand before us a representative of the past;\n  you connect us with ages and generations long since passed away.\n\n  We congratulate you on having been born in June, not only the\n  loveliest month of the year, but also the birth-month of many\n  distinguished statesmen and holy ministers of the Gospel. Your\n  father, Martin Boehm, the friend of Bishop Asbury and of the\n  \u201cgreat Otterbein,\u201d was a noble man, and your mother a noble\n  woman. What a eulogium did Bishop Asbury, in preaching your\n  father\u2019s funeral sermon, pronounce on him!\n\n  We congratulate you on having been born so early. You are older\n  than our Republic\u2014even than the Methodist Episcopal Church, in\n  its present organic form. When you were born \u201cThe Declaration\n  of Independence\u201d was not written. George Washington was then\n  forty-three years old, a man comparatively unknown to fame; Henry\n  Clay was not born till two years after; and Daniel Webster and\n  John C. Calhoun not till seven years after. The year of your\n  birth was fourteen years before that in which Washington was\n  inaugurated President of the United States, nine years before\n  the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized, sixteen years\n  before the death of John Wesley, and thirteen years before that\n  of Charles Wesley, the sweet singer of our Methodist Israel.\n  Then Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Boston, now imperial\n  cities, were the merest villages. States as large as empires have\n  been born during your life-time, and kingly cities have sprung\n  into existence. \u201cThe wilderness and the solitary place\u201d have been\n  made glad, and \u201cthe desert\u201d has rejoiced and blossomed \u201cas the\n  rose.\u201d\n\n  There were then no steamboats, no railroads, no telegraphs even\n  on the land, to say nothing of ocean telegraphs. Now we travel\n  by steam, do our correspondence by lightning, and take life-like\n  portraits by sunbeams. We whisper here, and they hear us in\n  London, and answer back; and we cross the Atlantic with the\n  regularity of a ferry-boat.\n\n  How the world has moved since you came on the stage of action!\n  Continents have been explored, oceans and islands then unknown\n  have been visited, the source of the Nile has been discovered,\n  Egypt\u2019s hieroglyphics have been deciphered, and Nineveh has had\n  a resurrection! Wonderfully has the world advanced in art, in\n  science, in discoveries, since you were born. It has made more\n  advancement during your life-time of ninety-nine years than in\n  any thousand years previous. The world moves; on its lofty banner\n  \u201cProgress\u201d is written in capital letters. Compare the world as\n  you saw it first, and as you behold it now, and how wonderful\n  the change! The world has also made advances in morals and in\n  religious enterprises. You were born forty-four years before we\n  had a Missionary Society, (it not being organized till 1819,) and\n  thirty-one years before the American Bible Society had a being.\n\n  We congratulate you on having witnessed the growth, not only of\n  our country, but also of that of American Methodism, until now it\n  numbers its millions. We congratulate you on having lived under\n  all the Presidents, from Washington to Grant, and on having lived\n  and known all the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church,\n  from the first down to the last. We congratulate you on having\n  known the pioneers and founders of American Methodism: Robert\n  Strawbridge, the apostle of Methodism in Maryland; William\n  Watters, the first native Methodist preacher; and Philip Gatch,\n  and Benjamin Abbott, and Bishop Richard Whatcoat, who died on\n  your circuit, (Delaware,) where you heard his dying testimony.\n  You knew Jesse Lee, the apostle of Methodism in New England, the\n  first historian of American Methodism. You heard his last sermons\n  at a camp-meeting, where he was taken sick and died in 1816; you\n  heard his dying testimony, closed his eyes, and laid him quietly\n  to rest. We congratulate you on having heard the great orators\n  and preachers of early Methodism: Nicholas Snethen, Asbury\u2019s\n  \u201csilver trumpet;\u201d Hope Hull, the silver-tongued; Samuel Parker,\n  the Cicero of the West; Leonard Castle, the Summerfield of the\n  Baltimore Conference; Henry Willis, Wilson Lee, and others.\n\n  We congratulate you on having been acquainted with the fathers\n  of the fathers of American Methodism. Strange as it may seem,\n  you knew the father of Bishop M\u2019Kendree, James M\u2019Kendree, and\n  have been his guest. You were acquainted with the father of Henry\n  Smith, who for a while was the oldest Methodist minister in the\n  world. You knew Judge Emory, the father of Bishop Emory; and the\n  father of Dr. Shadrick Bostwick, whom Bishop Hedding called a\n  \u201cglorious man.\u201d How this takes us back to the former age!\n\n  We congratulate you on having attended so many General and\n  Annual Conferences, where you became acquainted with the great\n  preachers of early Methodism. You attended the General Conference\n  in Baltimore in 1800, where you dined with Dr. Coke, heard\n  him preach, witnessed the election and ordination of Richard\n  Whatcoat, and the wonderful revival of religion, such as has\n  never occurred at any other General Conference; then the one in\n  1808, where you beheld the ordination of Bishop M\u2019Kendree; you\n  were also at the first delegated General Conference, held in the\n  city of New York in 1812.\n\n  We congratulate you on attending so many camp-meetings in\n  different States, \u201cfor the groves were God\u2019s first temples,\u201d\n  and also on being acquainted with John M\u2019Gee, the founder of\n  camp-meetings in America. What a privilege to attend these\n  meetings, and hear such sons of thunder as Bishops Asbury and\n  M\u2019Kendree, Dr. Chandler, John Chalmers, John M\u2019Claskey, Solomon\n  Sharp, and hundreds of others, immortal names that cannot die!\n  We congratulate you on being acquainted with the great laymen\n  and women who helped to give character and stability to early\n  Methodism.\n\n  We congratulate you on preaching in so many of the early chapels\n  of American Methodism. How those humble chapels contrast with the\n  beautiful edifices that are now being erected all over the land!\n\n  We congratulate you on being the intimate friend and traveling\n  companion of Bishop Asbury, the great apostle of American\n  Methodism. For five years you accompanied him around his large\n  diocese; you climbed the mountains with him; you forded the\n  rivers; you nursed him when sick; you carried him in your arms;\n  and such confidence did he repose in you that he made you one of\n  the executors of his last will and testament.\n\n  We thank you for your \u201cReminiscences, Historical and\n  Biographical,\u201d which contain the purest history and the truest\n  biography; in which you give us the best portraiture of Bishop\n  Asbury that has ever been given. The Church will thank you\n  for those \u201cReminiscences\u201d when the sun shines on your grave.\n  We congratulate you for being such an itinerant; on having\n  traveled over one hundred thousand miles on horseback to preach\n  the Gospel\u2014more than sufficient to circumnavigate the globe\n  four times. We congratulate you on having been so happy in your\n  domestic relations. You had one of the best of wives; \u201cher\n  children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and\n  he praiseth her.\u201d You have been blessed with kind children.\n  Your daughter Elizabeth has been remarkably affectionate and\n  attentive, which must have been a great consolation to you as\n  time has shaken you by the hand, and the shadows of the evening\n  are gathering around you. We congratulate you for having kept up\n  with the times, and for feeling an interest in every thing that\n  is going on both in Church and State; for not only living, but\n  being a live man. We rejoice that you have been no croaker; that\n  you made no invidious comparisons between the present and the\n  former times. You have never inquired, \u201cWhy were the former times\n  better than the present?\u201d\n\n  We thank you not only for living so long, but for living so\n  well. Your age is wonderful! Remember how much longer you have\n  lived than many whom the world called old men. Washington was\n  considered old when he died, and you are thirty-two years older\n  than was he. John Wesley is spoken of as aged, but you are\n  eleven years older than was John Wesley. Charles Wesley was also\n  considered old, but you are nineteen years older. Bishop Asbury\n  was considered old\u2014you are twenty-eight years older than was\n  Bishop Asbury, thirty-two years older than was Bishop M\u2019Kendree,\n  and forty-one years older than was Jesse Lee, when they severally\n  ended their lives.\n\n  We congratulate you on having been so long in the\n  _ministry\u2014seventy-three years_; you are to-day the oldest\n  Methodist minister in America, if not in the world. Sir, all who\n  were in the ministerial work when you commenced have yielded\n  to the conqueror of conquerors! \u201cThe fathers, where are they?\n  and the prophets, do they live forever?\u201d You can say as one of\n  old, \u201cAnd I only am left alone to tell thee.\u201d You stand alone,\n  occupying a position no man ever has, no man ever can. You have\n  seen what no other eyes can ever see; you have heard what no\n  other ears can ever hear. Yours has been a wonderful life, as\n  well as a long one; you are a history in yourself; you are a\n  splendid representative of the former generation of Methodist\n  ministers.\n\n  We congratulate you on having kept your garments so clean. For\n  over seventy years they have asked in conference: \u201cIs there any\n  thing against Henry Boehm?\u201d The answer has always been, \u201cNothing\n  against Henry Boehm.\u201d Your hoary head is a crown of glory, being\n  found in the way of righteousness. May your sun go down without\n  a cloud, to rise in fairer heavens, and the twilight of your\n  evening melt away into the twilight of the morning of an eternal\n  day! May you be found among the number who, \u201chaving been wise,\u201d\n  and \u201cturned many to righteousness,\u201d shall shine in brilliancy\n  that is cloudless and eternal! May you, when the voyage of life\n  is o\u2019er, meet Wesley, Asbury, M\u2019Kendree, and the multitude who\n  have gone before, where\n\n    ... \u201call the ship\u2019s company meet,\n      Who sailed with the Saviour beneath;\n    With shouting each other they greet,\n      And triumph o\u2019er sorrow and death.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVI.\n\nINTERESTING PUBLIC SERVICE AT THE NEWARK ANNUAL CONFERENCE\u2014FATHER BOEHM\u2019S\nCENTENNIAL SERMON.\n\n\nAlthough Father Boehm had not quite completed his one hundredth year at\nthe time of the annual session of the Newark Conference, in the spring\nof 1875, the members of the Conference earnestly desired to hear him\npreach his centennial sermon. Accordingly a very interesting and unique\nreligious service was held in the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church,\nJersey City, on Friday morning, April 2. At an early hour the church was\ncrowded to its utmost capacity, and hundreds of people vainly sought\nadmission within its walls. Among those present were Bishops Janes,\nAmes, Bowman, Harris, and Wiley. A great number of preachers from other\nneighboring Conferences were also present. After the regular order of\nbusiness of the Conference was finished, Bishop Bowman requested Bishop\nJanes to preside at the centennial services.\n\nThe hymn commencing \u201cA charge to keep I have\u201d was sung, after which the\nRev. J. B. Wakeley, D.D., offered prayer.\n\n\nOPENING ADDRESS OF BISHOP JANES.\n\nBishop Janes said:\u2014\n\n  It has already been intimated in the prayer that this is an\n  unusual occasion. It is one of those occurrences where extremes\n  meet. We have been paying our tribute to the character and memory\n  of the youthful ministers who died in the service of the Church\n  and in the work of the pastorate. We expect to hear from the\n  oldest minister of our Church. I hope it may not be his final\n  message. I hope he may live to speak to us yet many times more\n  before he shall close his glorious career on earth. Nevertheless,\n  I presume none of us have ever heard a centennial sermon, and\n  none of us, in all probability, will ever hear another one. The\n  occasion, therefore, is novel, and I will add it is instructive\n  and impressive. I have seen the longest rivers, the highest\n  mountains, and the grandest cataracts of our wonderful country,\n  but in all that I have seen of the beauty and grandeur of nature,\n  I have never looked upon a physical object with so much interest\n  as I look upon this human form here this morning. A human\n  body so fearfully and wonderfully made, with so many and such\n  delicate connections, performing so many offices, subject to so\n  much exposure, to have been preserved for so many years in its\n  healthfulness and in all its beauty, is to me the most wonderful\n  physical object I have ever beheld. And then, it has been all\n  this while the tabernacle of a rational spirit, the instrument by\n  which that spirit has performed its wonderful works and secured\n  its wonderful results. Well may we say with the poet this morning:\n\n    \u201cStrange that a harp of thousand strings\n        Should keep in tune so long.\u201d\n\n  I have stood in the presence of kings and nobles, of scholars\n  and divines in other countries, but I never have felt in all\n  my experience such an interest and so profound a reverence as\n  I feel in the presence of revered and beloved father in God,\n  this aged servant of our Lord Jesus Christ. I revere him for\n  his personal worth, his strictly moral youth. Converted to\n  God in his early manhood, his life has been one of strict\n  consistency and of great purity from that time until the present.\n  It is forty-three years this month since I made his personal\n  acquaintance; and, having been intimate with him from that time\n  till now, I say in this presence I have never known a fellow-man\n  in whom there was so little moral infirmity even as in this our\n  father before us to-day. I venerate him for his associations. He\n  was associated with those names that are dearest to us in our\n  Church history\u2014Asbury, Whatcoat, M\u2019Kendree, Jesse Lee, Freeborn\n  Garrettson, and Nathan Bangs; names that we hold in the highest\n  regard; they were his associates. And then he has been associated\n  with a great multitude of godly men and women who have composed\n  our Church from that early period until now. What fellowships he\n  has enjoyed!\n\n  And I revere him for his works. He was in the early councils of\n  the Church. He helped to form the polity of our Church; he has\n  seen its wonderful workings until this hour, and he has really\n  witnessed the planting and growth of this branch of the Church\n  of our Lord Jesus Christ until this present time. His ministry\n  has been one of great excellence and of great usefulness, and\n  his example one of great power and of great benefit. We cannot\n  any of us look upon him but with the highest regard and with the\n  greatest reverence, and even with awe. Considering the length\n  of time when Enoch walked with God, which men then lived, and\n  the length of human life now, he has walked with God as long as\n  Enoch walked with God. And having been in these associations to\n  which I have referred, having been in this holy ministry all of\n  the nineteenth century\u2014for I believe that is the fact\u2014and having\n  been living all these years in fellowship with the divine and the\n  spiritual and the eternal, how sacred and grand and glorious is\n  his character. It will be an era in my history to hear from him\n  this morning, and I think it will be an incident in the life of\n  everyone here which they will carry with them in rememberance to\n  eternity. I pray that God may aid him in this effort, and that\n  God may sanctify this occasion to the religious profiting of\n  all of us who are permitted to enjoy it, both in the laity and\n  in the ministry. Before Father Boehm speaks to you, the pastor\n  of this Church will read the credentials that he has received,\n  giving the dates of his offices.\n\nThe Rev. John Atkinson read as follows:\u2014\n\n  \u201cTo whom it may concern: This is to authorize Henry Boehm to\n  exercise the office of a preacher and travel Dorchester Circuit.\n  Thomas Ware. January 5, 1800.\u201d\n\nThe document is excellently preserved.\n\n  \u201cTo whom it may concern: This is to authorize Henry Boehm to\n  exercise the office of exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal\n  Church. Given on the 16th of June, 1800, by Thomas Ware,\n  Presiding Elder.\u201d\n\nBrother Atkinson then spoke as follows:\u2014\n\n  He was authorized to preach on the presiding elder\u2019s own\n  authority, and sent to travel a circuit on January 5, 1800;\n  and after the case came before the Quarterly Conference, he\n  was licensed to exhort and travel the circuit. This [showing\n  the parchment] is his ordination parchment of deacon. It reads\n  a little differently from our parchments of to-day, though\n  very little. It is signed by Richard Whatcoat, and is dated at\n  Dock Creek, Del., May 4, 1803. This [showing the parchment]\n  is his parchment as elder, and reads thus: \u201cOrdained elder by\n  Francis Asbury on the 5th day of May, in the year of our Lord\n  one thousand eight hundred and five. Done at the Philadelphia\n  Conference, held at Chestertown. FRANCIS ASBURY.\u201d\n\n  I have been requested by Father Boehm to state that two weeks ago\n  he was very ill, and it was feared that he would not recover. I\n  was sent for in haste on that day to see him. I had great fears\n  that he would not be able to be here. God has raised him up, and\n  he is here to speak to us as he was requested to do at the last\n  session of our Conference.\n\nThe audience rose _en masse_ in token of respect to the venerable apostle\nof Methodism, which added greatly to the impressiveness of the scene.\n\n\nFATHER BOEHM\u2019S SERMON.\n\nThe Rev. Henry Boehm then proceeded, amid profound silence, to speak as\nfollows:\u2014\n\n  MY DEAR BRETHREN: I feel very dependent. I hope you will offer\n  me up in prayer before the Lord that he may graciously assist\n  me once more in proclaiming the precious truth. The passage of\n  Scripture to which I invite your attention you will find recorded\n  in Nahum, the first chapter and seventh verse: \u201cThe Lord is good,\n  a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that\n  trust in him.\u201d\n\n  There is a little difference in the German in this text! The\n  beginning in the German reads, \u201cDer Herr ist gietig,\u201d the Lord\n  is munificent, freely distributing his blessings and goodness.\n  Now, then, to say that a person is munificent presupposes that he\n  is good, and goodness produces munificence. O what a wonderful\n  mercy-seat we have the privilege of approaching unto! The Lord\n  is munificent in distributing his blessings, in showering down\n  his goodness and mercy upon us. The Lord, then, is good. He\n  is good in his mercy. Benevolence, kindness, long suffering,\n  tender mercy, flow out through the mercy of God manifested to a\n  fallen world. Yes, brethren, but for the goodness of the Lord\n  where should we be? His goodness and mercy have spared us to the\n  present period, and we have the privilege now of approaching\n  to the mercy-seat in the name of Jesus Christ. The Lord is a\n  stronghold, a strong tower, a strong fortification. He that\n  entereth and dwelleth in this stronghold is safe in time of\n  trouble, in time of distress, in time of need. God is present\n  and ready to supply our wants. He is all-sufficient according\n  to our need. He knoweth them that trust in him. He owns them.\n  He acknowledges them to be his subjects, and to be influenced\n  by his Holy Spirit. Yes, brethren, the Lord knows them; he\n  dwells with them as such who trust in him, who walk in the light\n  of his countenance. O blessed be the name of the Lord that he\n  knows the heart and he looks upon the mind, the immortal mind!\n  If we sincerely look to him he owns and acknowledges us as his\n  own. He knoweth them that trust in him. Bless the Lord! O, the\n  goodness of God\u2014his mercy and long suffering! I bless God for his\n  goodness that I realized in early life. Religion made my soul\n  happy then. It kept me from evil; it directed me in the path of\n  humble submission to the will of God, and it now in old age makes\n  me feel lively. It supports and comforts me, and when I look\n  forward to death I do not stop there. I look beyond it, and then\n  it is all light, all peace, and joy, and triumph. O, glory be to\n  God for his mercy and goodness in our privilege this day to meet\n  together for his worship, for his services, and for his praise!\n  Blessed be the name of the Lord! When I look at the changes\u2014how\n  population has extended, how Methodism has followed up\u2014I am\n  astonished. In 1809 I passed, with Bishop Asbury, through here\n  from Newark and crossed over to New York, and there was no town\n  here then at all\u2014nothing but a ferry-house. What a change! Now\n  there are several thousand inhabitants, and the best of all is\n  the Lord is among the people, and many are happy in his salvation\n  and rejoice in his gracious presence. Blessed be the name of the\n  Lord! O what wonders hath God wrought! Newark was then a small\n  town. There were two rows of houses, I think, in Newark in 1809.\n  Now it has spread out into a large town. O may the Gospel go on\n  in its power and glory, that multitudes may bow to the scepter of\n  the Redeemer! and finally may we meet in heaven to rejoice in the\n  Lord for ever and ever! Amen.\n\nThe congregation united in singing,\n\n  \u201cMy latest sun is sinking fast.\u201d\n\n\nREMARKS OF BISHOP JANES.\n\n  DEAR FRIENDS: You will all of you remember the text, and the\n  sermon and the preacher. The text is one of the most sweet\n  and precious in the Holy Bible; the exposition of it has been\n  clear and forcible, though brief. To my mind the sermon has two\n  especial excellences: one is, it was preached, and not read! and\n  the other is that it was brief, and the preacher stopped when\n  he got done\u2014a beautiful example to us in those two respects,\n  and I propose to profit by them. One of the most remarkable\n  things in the character and history of our Father Boehm is that\n  he has not reached his second childhood. He is just as manly as\n  he ever has been, in any period of his past history, and his\n  mental powers are preserved to him in their strength, in their\n  harmony, and in their adaptation to the office and work in which\n  he has spent his long and holy life. His physical strength is\n  lessened. The great probability is that we shall not have his\n  presence at a conference where most of us will be gathered again\n  in this world. He may attend other annual conferences with us,\n  but the most of this congregation, and probably some of these\n  ministers, will not be present; and it seems to us fitting that\n  he should now give us his benediction, and a few farewell words.\n  In 1832 Bishop M\u2019Kendree came this side of the mountains for the\n  last time. He preached the sermon when I was ordained deacon.\n  Bishop Hedding ordained me, but he preached the sermon. He was\n  then quite as feeble as Brother Boehm is now. He went from the\n  Philadelphia Conference at Wilmington to the General Conference\n  which was held in Philadelphia. He assisted to some extent in the\n  services of that session. A little before its close, feeling his\n  infirmities and desiring to escape the excitement of the close of\n  the conference, he took occasion to bid the conference farewell.\n  He was assisted to the platform, where the bishops, secretaries,\n  and representatives of other conferences were sitting, and he\n  stood before them in all his patriarchal character, lifted up his\n  hands, and simply said to that General Conference of ministers,\n  \u201cLittle children, love one another,\u201d bowed, and left the\n  platform, the conference rising as he retired, went to his home\n  in Nashville, and very soon died. Now if Father Boehm can say no\n  more words than those, let us have his benediction this morning.\n\n\nFATHER BOEHM\u2019S BENEDICTION.\n\nFather Boehm responded thus:\u2014\n\n  MY BELOVED BRETHREN: It is very probable this is the last time\n  I shall be with you at an annual conference. If it is, I hope\n  we shall meet up yonder when we go. I now take my leave of you,\n  and ask the Lord to bless you, and bless you abundantly. May\n  this year be a great year in the Newark Conference, as well as\n  throughout the land and throughout the world! The grace of our\n  Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy\n  Ghost, be with you all ever more. Amen.\n\nThe patriarch spoke distinctly throughout, and was heard without\ndifficulty in all parts of the church.\n\n\nADDRESS OF DR. DEEMS.\n\nDr. Deems was introduced and spoke as follows:\u2014\n\n  MR. PRESIDENT, FATHERS AND BRETHREN, AND MOTHERS AND SISTERS: I\n  have come over to Jersey City this morning on a little private\n  anniversary of my own. I am not a hundred years old by a good\n  deal, but I have always really expected and hoped for the last\n  twenty-five years of my ministry to preach on my one hundredth\n  birthday, and I intend, God willing, to do it yet. Fathers and\n  brethren, it is just thirty-five years ago when you were good\n  enough, without seeing me, to take me into this conference as a\n  preacher. It was a great peril, but you took the risks. I had\n  preached on a circuit in New Jersey one year before I ever saw\n  this conference. Then I saw this body thirty-four years ago in\n  the city of Newark, and saw it to love it. At that time your\n  Bishop Janes was Secretary of the American Bible Society; and\n  somehow he seemed to have been born a bishop, because, ever since\n  I knew any thing about him, he has been sending men all about\n  the world. He picked me up off the hills of Warren County, and\n  sent me down into North Carolina as Agent of the American Bible\n  Society; and I have never seen the Newark Conference since until\n  to-day.\n\n    \u201cWhat troubles have we seen!\n      What conflicts have we pass\u2019d!\n    Fightings without, and fears within,\n      Since we assembled last!\n    But out of all the Lord\n    Hath brought us by his love.\u201d\n\n  It is a peculiarly happy circumstance that after these\n  thirty-five years of ministry, in which I have been called to so\n  many various positions in the Church of God, in the Methodist\n  Church and elsewhere in the general work of Christianity, that I\n  come back to meet your conference under the presidency of an old\n  college-mate, always beloved from the days of our youth until\n  now, beloved over the storm of war, beloved over the field of\n  blood; and it is a happy thing that now I can be presented to you\n  by Bishop Janes, who, having picked me up and sent me away, I\n  determined that day, God willing, to help to make bishop; I fell\n  to work among the southern delegations when they were going up\n  to the General Conference, and when they came back they turned\n  to me and said, \u201cWell, we have made your friend bishop;\u201d and\n  the accounts were square. Now we owe nothing to one another,\n  bishop, but to love one another, and now we will see who will\n  pray best, quickest, fastest, richest, and be like our Lord, who\n  is munificent. I thank God that I am a preacher of the Gospel of\n  the Son of God. I thank God that with my advancing years I do\n  love the work of preaching and of the pastorate. I do thank God\n  that every week, more and more, without distinction of sect or\n  nationality or other difference, I do more and more deeply love\n  all that call and profess themselves Christians. I have no right\n  to detain you, Mr. President, fathers, and brethren, any further\n  with remarks of my own. Father Boehm hath seemed to come to say,\n  \u201cfarewell.\u201d I have come to say, Hail, brethren, hail! O, my\n  brethren, life is full of these hails and farewells; but, blessed\n  be God! every time there is a \u201cfarewell\u201d spoken it is followed\n  by a \u201chail.\u201d As soon as Father Boehm shall say, \u201cFarewell,\n  farewell,\u201d to all these bishops, old and young, on earth, how\n  quickly thereafter he will say, \u201cAll hail! all hail!\u201d to the\n  blessed bishops that have gone before him into the skies! When I\n  started this morning I told my family why I was coming; and it\n  is a rare thing for me to leave my work. I started with a sense\n  of joyousness and pleasure, but while I have been sitting at the\n  foot of this pulpit I had a sense of awe and humiliation. Since\n  I saw you last, brethren, I have had great opportunities, I have\n  had great positions of usefulness; I have had troops of friends;\n  I have had all that heart in this world could wish; I have had a\n  perfect domestic circle; I have two children in heaven\u2014one about\n  to enter the ministry and taken up above. I have four children\n  upon earth; they are all communicants of the Church of our Lord\n  Jesus Christ, and two Sundays ago one of them preached his first\n  sermon. I have had great opportunities, but as I sat to-day at\n  the foot of this pulpit I have felt so humiliated that I have\n  done so little for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren,\n  I have written much, I have spoken much, and I want to tell you\n  now that as I sat on this solemn occasion in which Father Boehm\n  was preaching this centenarian sermon that I have this morning\n  profoundly regretted all the time and all the talent that I have\n  spent in any department of literature, or science, or public life\n  which did not more and more qualify me to preach Jesus Christ and\n  him crucified. I count it loss, and, by God\u2019s grace, no more of\n  my time shall be thus lost. We have but one work\u2014to save souls;\n  and I have no doubt that the hundred years looks very short to\n  Father Boehm now. Brethren, the time is short, and we shall soon\n  be in eternity. God grant that all the atmosphere of our lives\n  may be so spent in his service that we shall finish our course\n  with joy, and this ministry which we have received of the Lord\n  Jesus. Then, whatever else will be unfinished, we shall have\n  made a rounded and triumphant life. I thank you for your great\n  kindness.\n\n\nADDRESS OF THE REV. DR. WAKELEY.\n\nThe Rev. J. B. Wakeley, D.D., was requested to address the conference,\nand responded by saying:\u2014\n\n  I indorse all that Bishop Janes said concerning our venerable\n  and venerated father. I honor every gray hair upon that head,\n  [turning to Father Boehm,] and believe one of the purest spirits\n  ever formed by the Almighty dwells in that body. I have spent\n  years with him: I am talking about what I know. I have known\n  his inner life; and while I have been sitting here I have been\n  thinking about that wonderful saying of the psalmist, blessing\n  the Lord for forgiving our iniquities, healing all our diseases,\n  keeping our eyes from tears and our feet from falling, satisfying\n  our mouth with good things, and renewing our youth like the\n  eagle\u2019s. I heard an old lady say in love-feast one time, \u201cI was\n  left a poor widow with seven children; I did not know what would\n  become of them or me either. God has been a husband to me and a\n  father to my fatherless children. They are all converted. Now\n  look at me. Time has shaken me by the hand; the strong man begins\n  to bow himself; those that look out of the windows are darkened;\n  the keepers of the house tremble; the grinders are ceasing\n  because they are few. I have an old, feeble body, but, glory to\n  God! I have a young soul.\u201d Here, continued Dr. Wakeley, pointing\n  to Father Boehm, \u201cis a young soul.\u201d Well, now, then, just think,\n  just throw your mind back and remember you have heard a man\n  preach that was born before the Republic was born, when we were\n  colonies dependent on Great Britain, long before Washington was\n  inaugurated President, having lived under every President from\n  Washington down to Grant.\n\n  Here is a man who was born before the Methodist Episcopal Church\n  existed; here is a man who heard Robert Strawbridge preach at his\n  father\u2019s house, who founded Methodism in Maryland, and was very\n  near contemporary with Philip Embury. He heard Benjamin Abbott,\n  that son of thunder, at his father\u2019s house; and the people fell\n  like dead men around him when the old man was preaching, for he\n  always called for power when he preached. Well, just think that\n  he was with Bishop Whatcoat when he was dying, and in his last\n  days and hours ministered to his wants. Just think that he was\n  with Jesse Lee in 1816, the first historian of Methodism, closed\n  his eyes, and laid him quietly at rest. Think of his traveling\n  one hundred thousand miles on horseback to preach the glorious\n  Gospel of the blessed God. Think of his being five years the\n  traveling companion of Bishop Asbury. Think of his living to\n  see our Republic growing, till States have become as large as\n  empires, and conference after conference has multiplied until the\n  Atlantic speaks to the Pacific, and the Pacific answers back\u2014deep\n  answers unto deep. He has seen Annual Conferences established\n  in India, in China, and in Germany, the land of Luther and the\n  Reformation. I want you to understand that Father Boehm is not\n  an old man who is disgusted with life, finding fault with the\n  present age and comparing it invidiously with the former. No;\n  he has kept up with the times; he reads the newspapers and\n  knows what is going on in the Church and what is going on in\n  the State. He has been a live man until this hour. I heard old\n  Uncle Billy Hibbard say, \u201cI want you to understand that Billy\n  Hibbard don\u2019t mean to die while he lives.\u201d I assure you that you\n  have listened to-day to the most marvelous man in the Methodist\n  Episcopal Church, if not in the world\u2019s history. O, think of a\n  hundred years past! There were no railroads, nor steamboats, nor\n  telegraphs, nor any thing of that kind when Father Boehm was a\n  boy. [Turning to the patriarch,] Did you cross in an old scow\n  from Jersey City to New York the first time?\n\n  FATHER BOEHM. Yes.\n\n  DR. WAKELEY. There were no horse-boats or ferry-boats then?\n\n  FATHER BOEHM. No.\n\n  DR. WAKELEY. Somebody, a colored man, I believe, used to come\n  down on the New York side and blow a horn, telling them that\n  the boat was going over. That is the way they traveled then. O,\n  how the world has moved since then! Where are those to whom he\n  preached in the different States? Where are the bishops that he\n  knew? O how many have passed on to the other side of the river\n  with whom our venerable father worshiped in the dwellings and\n  in the churches! I thought while I listened here to-day of that\n  beautiful sentiment of Charles Wesley, \u201cGod buries his workmen,\n  but carries on his work.\u201d Voltaire said, \u201cChristianity is in its\n  twilight.\u201d He was correct, but he mistook the time of day. It\n  was not the twilight of the evening that precedes the darkness\n  of the night, but the twilight of the morning that precedes the\n  brilliancy of an eternal day. Father Boehm may die, but the work\n  will go on, and on, and on until the last son and daughter of\n  Adam hears the story of the manger, the garden, and the Cross.\n  I gave him a little advice fifteen years ago; I hope he has\n  profited by it. I said, \u201cFather Boehm, make up your mind to live\n  to be a hundred years old.\u201d He said he would try. \u201cYou might as\n  well do it,\u201d said I. Well, now, then, here he is, born the eighth\n  of June, 1775. Think how the world has moved forward. A hundred\n  years past\u2014a hundred years to come! Where will we be a hundred\n  years to come? Long before that our venerable father will be on\n  the other side of the river. O that his last song on earth may\n  be, \u201cMy heart and my flesh faileth, but God is the strength of\n  my heart and my portion forever!\u201d He has given us his blessing,\n  and now we will give him our benediction. May the blessing of him\n  whose blessing maketh rich and addeth no sorrow rest upon him;\n  may God guide him a little longer by his counsel and afterward\n  receive him to glory! O, how many you will meet up yonder that\n  you knew here! A hundred years to come and all these bishops will\n  be with Asbury, M\u2019Kendree, and George. A hundred years to come\n  and we will be walking with Jesus in white. A hundred years to\n  come and we will be listening to the song of redemption before\n  the throne. Good John Bunyan described the white-robed multitude,\n  and he says: \u201cWhich when I saw them, I wished myself among them.\u201d\n  O, we shall soon be there, and I tell you it will be sweet to\n  meet at Jesus\u2019 feet those we love! It is said that Charles\n  Wesley, when he met his old friends as we have met to-day, would\n  always give out those two verses of his:\u2014\n\n      \u201cThere all the ship\u2019s company meet,\n        Who sail\u2019d with the Saviour beneath;\n      With shouting each other they greet,\n        And triumph o\u2019er sorrow and death:\n    The voyage of life\u2019s at an end;\n        The mortal affliction is past:\n      The age that in heaven they spend,\n        Forever and ever shall last.\u201d\n\n  So may we meet where we can die no more. I want to get to that\n  world where they cannot die from disease, for nobody is sick;\n  where they cannot die from old age, for nobody grows old;\n  where they cannot die from care, for there are no care-worn\n  cheeks. \u201cNeither can they die any more,\u201d says Jesus. They are\n  under a divine restraint to live forever\u2014immortal as Gabriel,\n  immortal as the \u201cKing eternal, immortal, invisible.\u201d They are\n  equal to the angels of God in dignity, in purity, in felicity,\n  and in immortality. There I hope to meet you, old patriarch of\n  Methodism, and all these people who are here, where we can see\n  with our own eyes the King in his beauty, and we will crown him\n  Lord of all.\n\n  A BROTHER. \u201cI want Brother Wakeley to advise Father Boehm to live\n  a little longer, to see the celebration of the birthday of the\n  nation.\u201d\n\nThe meeting was brought to a close by Bishop Ames, who pronounced the\nbenediction.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVII.\n\nONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD\u2014SPECIAL CENTENNIAL SERVICE.\n\n\nOn Tuesday, June 8, 1875, Father Boehm completed the one hundredth\nyear of his age. The event was publicly celebrated on that day in the\nTrinity Methodist Episcopal Church, Jersey City, under the auspices of\na committee of the Newark Conference, to which the reverend centenarian\nbelongs. Of course the church was crowded, and, as was the case at the\npreliminary service held in April, the building could not accommodate all\nwho sought admission. Among the ministers present were the venerable Dr.\nJohn S. Porter, Rev. Bartholomew Weed, Rev. Father Reynolds; Presiding\nElders Vanhorne and Brice, of the Newark Conference; President John F.\nHurst, D.D., Prof. John Miley, Prof. H. A. Buttz, and Prof. Kidder, of\nDrew Theological Seminary; Rev. Jacob Todd, Rev. Dr. Foss, Rev. Dr.\nDashiell, Rev. Geo. L. Taylor, Rev. Dr. De Puy, Rev. Dr. Bartine, Rev.\nJ. M. Freeman, Rev. John Atkinson, and other members of the Newark, New\nJersey, Philadelphia, New York, New York East, and other Conferences.\nAmong the audience was the mother of President Grant, who had come to\ntown expressly to attend the services. A large and finely executed\nphotographic portrait of Father Boehm hung in front of the pulpit.\nThe venerable patriarch himself entered the church, attended by his\nphysician, Dr. Walter Hadden, and took his place in the pulpit beside\nseveral of his ministerial brethren. He was in excellent condition, and\nremained throughout the service, which was three and a half hours in\nduration, without showing any signs of fatigue. The Rev. R. Vanhorne\npresided.\n\nThe proceedings were opened by the quartet choir singing the following\nhymn, written for the occasion by the Rev. Thomas H. Smith:\u2014\n\n  God of our patriarch friend,\n    We raise our hearts to thee\n  Whose love and mercy never end\n    To all eternity.\n\n  Thy kindly care appears;\n    It challenges our praise;\n  Extending through a hundred years\u2014\n    A hundred years of grace.\n\n  We praise thee for a life\n    So useful, Christlike, pure:\n  A life of manly Christian strife\n    Thy glory to secure.\n\n  Now crown his hoary age\n    With blessings all divine;\n  And may his life through every page\n    Still bright and brighter shine.\n\n  And to his latest day\n    Be peace and honor given,\n  Until he gently glides away\n    To sing thy praise in heaven.\n\nAfter a comprehensive and impressive prayer by Rev. Bartholomew Weed,\nRev. Father Reynolds read the Twenty-third Psalm. Then the choir sang the\nfollowing hymn, composed for the occasion by Fanny Crosby:\u2014\n\n  Thou Rock on which our Church is built,\n    And shall forever stand,\n  On him, its oldest watchman, now\n    Thy blessing, Lord, command.\n\n  Behold this vet\u2019ran of the cross,\n    Our aged pilgrim sire,\n  And let the ardor of the past\n    Once more his soul inspire.\n\n  Well has he fought, and long has trod\n    The strait and narrow way;\n  The circle of his life completes\n    A hundred years to-day.\n\n  Dear Saviour, bear him in thine arms\n    While he on earth shall stay;\n  And with his years may blessings come\n    A hundredfold to-day.\n\n  So may we live, that we at last\n    May sing thy praise with him,\n  Where hearts shall never fail with time,\n    Nor eyes with age grow dim.\n\nFather Boehm then arose, and amid profound silence and in a clear voice,\nwhich was heard distinctly throughout the church, spoke as follows:\u2014\n\n\nFATHER BOEHM\u2019S REMARKS.\n\n  I rejoice to meet you here to-day, my brethren in the Lord. I\n  rejoice that I am privileged to see the wonderful progress of the\n  work of the Lord through our land. I rejoice that I am permitted\n  to see such an assemblage here to-day. The first time I passed\n  through this place there was no town here. That was in 1809,\n  with the venerable Bishop Asbury. There were sand-banks, and so\n  on, here then, but no houses\u2014except the ferry-house, I think.\n  Blessed be God for his wonderful work throughout our land! Yes,\n  where we passed through wildernesses and solitary places, they\n  are now inhabited, and churches have arisen, where a numerous and\n  enlightened people worship and praise the Lord. Thanks be to his\n  name! I cannot speak very long. I will commit the subject of my\n  experience and travels to my \u201cvenerable\u201d Brother Atkinson, who\n  will read you some facts appropriate to this occasion.\n\nRev. John Atkinson, on rising to read the autobiographical sketch,\nreferring to the mirth occasioned by the centenarian\u2019s jocose allusion,\nsaid: \u201cFather Boehm understands that this is a festive occasion, and\nthese good people like a little good cheer.\u201d He then read the following\n\n\nSKETCH OF FATHER BOEHM\u2019S LIFE.\n\n  I was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on June 8, 1775,\n  one hundred years ago this day. I was one year a subject of\n  King George, as it was not until I had attained that age that\n  the American people renounced their allegiance to the British\n  Government by proclaiming the Declaration of Independence. The\n  noise of the battles of Concord and Lexington had scarcely died\n  away when I drew my first breath, so that my history includes\n  nearly the whole of the period of the Revolutionary War. I was\n  a contemporary of the fathers and founders of the Republic, and\n  have lived under the administration of all the Presidents of\n  the United States. I clearly remember the days of Washington\u2019s\n  presidency, and I cast my first vote for his successor, John\n  Adams, in 1796. I lived through almost a quarter of the last\n  century, and have lived thus far through the present one, and I\n  have witnessed with my own eyes the rise, progress, and present\n  grand development of the United States of America.\n\n  The changes and progress of the country within my recollection\n  have been so vast and overwhelming I scarcely know how to speak\n  of them. When I became a man there was only thirteen States.\n  Early in this century Ohio became a member of the Federal Union,\n  and then the star of our empire moved westward until it shone\n  upon the waves of the Pacific Ocean. I witnessed the system\n  of slavery in the Southern States, and I have been permitted\n  to see it swept from the land, and the banner of impartial\n  freedom waving triumphantly over every State. Bless the Lord! I\n  well remember the days when the steamboat was unknown, and the\n  railroad unthought of. The winds of heaven wafted our commerce,\n  and horses furnished our swiftest means of travel by land. I,\n  myself, have traveled over a hundred thousand miles on horseback.\n\n  I have witnessed the progress of the nation in population and\n  wealth to a degree that seems incredible to have been attained\n  in one man\u2019s life-time. I have seen the increase of the oldest\n  cities, and the founding and wonderful growth of newer ones. I\n  have observed the advancement of our people from a comparatively\n  rude and pioneer condition to their present high _status_ of\n  intelligence, wealth, and refinement. When, in 1809, I first\n  stood upon the site of the city in which we are this day\n  assembled, I think there were no buildings upon it except the\n  ferry-house and the barn-houses which here and there dotted it.\n  To-day its streets and buildings cover a territory many miles in\n  circumference, and its population exceeds one hundred thousand\n  souls. Then the city of New York only reached to Canal-street,\n  and Brooklyn was a very small town. Cincinnati had then only\n  commenced its history, and Chicago was yet to be.\n\n  I have seen wonderful progress in the religious world in my time.\n  I was born nine years after the introduction of Methodism in New\n  York by Barbara Heck and Philip Embury, and nine years before the\n  organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the election\n  of its first bishops, Coke and Asbury. When my life began there\n  were, probably, scarcely a half score of Methodist houses of\n  worship on this continent, and there were only 3,148 members and\n  19 traveling preachers. When I commenced my public life Methodism\n  was small, both numerically and financially. There were very\n  few commodious churches except in the large cities, such as\n  St. George\u2019s, in Philadelphia, Light-street, in Baltimore, and\n  John-street, in New York.\n\n  Our best churches of that day were very inferior compared with\n  those of the present. Our meetings were mostly held, at the time\n  I began to preach, in private houses, in barns, and wherever we\n  could obtain shelter. There was much opposition shown toward us,\n  and I have had stones hurled at me while preaching.\n\n  I joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1797, in Boehm\u2019s\n  Chapel, being at that time twenty-two years of age. My father,\n  Martin Boehm, was many years a minister among the United\n  Brethren, and was a bishop in that Church. He was for a long\n  time a warm personal friend of Bishop Asbury, and toward the\n  close of his life he united with our Church. Boehm\u2019s Chapel is\n  still standing in good condition, and is now the church of the\n  neighborhood where it stands. My father\u2019s influence contributed\n  much toward its erection. Bishop Whatcoat furnished the plan of\n  the edifice. It was built in 1791, was the first Methodist church\n  in Lancaster County, and it was one of the early fortresses of\n  American Methodism.\n\n  I was licensed to preach January 6, 1800, by Rev. Thomas Ware,\n  who was then presiding elder on the Chesapeake District, and\n  who at the same time appointed me to travel Dorchester Circuit,\n  on the eastern shore of Maryland. Therefore I was never a local\n  preacher, though I have been a witness of the great usefulness\n  of that numerous and honored class of Gospel heralds, whose\n  unremunerated and zealous labors have done so much for the\n  evangelization of this nation. In the days of my effective\n  ministry the local ministry was an indispensable adjunct of our\n  itinerant system.\n\n  About four months after I was licensed to preach I attended\n  the General Conference of 1800, in Baltimore. I was present at\n  Richard Whatcoat\u2019s ordination as bishop, in the presence of\n  that body, in Light-street Church, and heard Dr. Coke\u2019s sermon\n  on that occasion. I also was a witness of, and participant in,\n  the wonderful revival which prevailed in Baltimore during that\n  General Conference. People fell under the mighty influence that\n  rested upon them as they walked the streets. After the General\n  Conference closed I attended the Philadelphia Conference at\n  Smyrna, (then Duck Creek,) where the revival work went forward\n  with great power. It extended, in fact, over the whole Peninsula.\n  When I traveled Annamessex Circuit, in 1801, with William\n  Colbert, we received eight hundred persons into the Church in\n  that Circuit alone.\n\n  Methodism was very prosperous on the Peninsula in that day,\n  and included among its members many of the first people of\n  that section. Dr. White, Harry Ennalls, Governor Bassett, of\n  Delaware, an eminent lawyer, a judge, and a member of Congress\n  in 1787, Dr. Sellers, and others, gave influence and strength to\n  the denomination in those early times. The social position of\n  our Church has hardly been relatively higher anywhere in this\n  country, at any time in its history, than it was in the Peninsula\n  in the beginning of this century. That region furnished many of\n  our best and most successful preachers in the days when there\n  were giants among us, for truly there were giants in those days.\n  Among the great men of that period was Dr. Chandler, a man of\n  commanding intellect, of large executive capacity, a powerful\n  preacher, a mighty evangelist, greatly successful in winning\n  souls. Jesse Lee, one of the Church\u2019s noblest and brightest\n  names, was then in his ripe maturity, and lost the bishopric by\n  only one vote at the first General Conference I attended. I was\n  with him in his last hours, heard his rapturous and triumphant\n  utterances as he met his final foe, and, at his own request, I\n  closed his eyes after the great soul departed. William Colbert,\n  one of my early colleagues was a man of low stature, but of\n  high usefulness, indefatigable in labor, and among the first in\n  success.\n\n  That portion of my life in which I was the traveling companion\n  of bishop Asbury has probably the most public interest, because\n  I was in that capacity the representative of the denomination at\n  large, and was the most intimate and daily associate of a man,\n  the purity and greatness of whose character, and the vastness and\n  value of whose work, must forever place him among the foremost\n  servants of God and mankind.\n\n  Bishop Asbury chose me to be his traveling companion in the\n  spring of 1808\u2014which choice the Philadelphia Conference\n  ratified\u2014and I ceased traveling with him at the conference of\n  1813, when he appointed me presiding elder of the Schuylkill\n  District, which comprised the whole territory from Wilmington\n  to Stroudsburgh, between the Susquehanna and the Delaware. My\n  first tour with Bishop Asbury was from a point between Baltimore\n  and Fredericktown, Maryland\u2014a spot historic in Methodism, where\n  Strawbridge built his log church; thence westward. We crossed\n  the Alleghany Mountains on our way, and the ascent occupied\n  thirty-nine hours. I have since crossed the Alleghanies several\n  times in express trains in a much shorter time. I had previously\n  accompanied Asbury to the Alleghanies in 1803, where I left him\n  to pursue his westward journey, while I returned to my work.\n  Having passed the mountains, we made our way to Wheeling; thence\n  through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee; thence pursued a southerly\n  course, visiting the conferences in the Southern States. During\n  the western portion of this tour we visited the territory\n  of Indiana, which was a vast wilderness. We traveled in it\n  thirty-six miles, and saw in all that distance only six human\n  habitations. Among the noted and worthy laymen whose acquaintance\n  I formed, and by whom I was entertained on this my first\n  journey with Bishop Asbury, were Governor Tiffin and Governor\n  Worthington, both of Ohio, who were exemplary and devoted members\n  and representatives of our Church. During our progress through\n  Tennessee we were joined by Bishop M\u2019Kendree, who had just been\n  elected a bishop at Baltimore, and who was on his first episcopal\n  tour. He accompanied us through the South, presiding with Asbury\n  over the Southern conferences.\n\n  I became acquainted with the Southern Methodist preachers at\n  that time. Lovick Pierce, but a few years my junior, was then\n  conspicuous for the purity and beauty of his character, and his\n  popular talents as a preacher, and he yet lingers, with me,\n  behind our beloved early colaborers who have gone on before.\n  William Capers, beautiful in person and eloquent in speech,\n  was at that time received on trial by the conference. He was\n  afterward one of the most distinguished men in our connection,\n  and became a bishop of the Church South after we were divided.\n  The Southern Methodists at that time were remarkable for their\n  spiritual fervor, and Christian friendliness and hospitality.\n  There were among them many noble examples of the great virtues\n  produced by our faith. I learned to love the South, and I have\n  now fond memories of my friends whom I once cherished there.\n\n  I knew the South when there was but one Methodism in America. I\n  wept when, in 1844, we were rent asunder, and now, as I stand\n  amid the thronging memories of a century, I plead and pray that\n  Methodism, North and South, may become one again. I am, in some\n  sense, at least, a representative of the fathers of the Church\u2014of\n  the preachers and bishops who toiled and sacrificed to lay strong\n  the foundations of our beautiful Zion, and I am sure I do not\n  misrepresent them when, in their name, and as almost their sole\n  survivor, I plead for a united Methodism throughout this great\n  land. This desire and prayer leaps strong and warm out of my\n  heart, which, after beating for a hundred years, still beats as\n  true and strong as ever for the welfare of the Church to which\n  its best love and zeal have been given.\n\n  During this first tour with Bishop Asbury I saw the Virginia\n  Conference. It was composed of a fine body of men. There was one\n  striking fact connected with it. Of the eighty-four members of\n  the body, the two bishops, and the traveling companion of the\n  bishops, all were bachelors except three. Our early preachers\n  were compelled to deny themselves largely of the pleasures and\n  endearments of domestic life, in order that they might do the\n  work of evangelists and make full proof of their ministry. At\n  this time I made the acquaintance of, and was entertained by,\n  Edward Lee, at Petersburgh, Va. He was a brother of Jesse Lee,\n  and father of Rev. Dr. Leroy M. Lee, now, and for a long time, a\n  distinguished representative of Southern Methodism.\n\n  From the Virginia Conference we proceeded over the Blue Ridge to\n  Harrisonburgh, where we attended the Baltimore Conference; thence\n  to the Philadelphia Conference, in St. George\u2019s, Philadelphia,\n  Bishops Asbury and M\u2019Kendree alternately presiding. Though\n  attending all the conferences, I was a member of this conference,\n  and was home again with my brethren. When my name was called\n  in conference the brethren said: \u201cNone but the bishop can tell\n  whether there is any thing against Brother Boehm.\u201d The bishop\n  rose and said, with much gravity: \u201cNothing against Brother\n  Boehm.\u201d This conference has given many noble and illustrious\n  ministers and laymen to the Church.\n\n  After the Philadelphia Conference, we proceeded onward through\n  New Jersey, which Bishop Asbury had not visited for twenty-five\n  years, and we missed our way in the Pines, and reaching a church\n  where the bishop had an appointment to preach, we found that,\n  as a result of our delay, the services had been commenced by\n  the preacher in charge of the circuit. The house was crowded.\n  Bishop Asbury immediately entered the pulpit, and, after talking\n  a brief time, he stepped backward and said: \u201cI cannot preach;\n  Henry, you must get up and preach.\u201d I immediately arose, and the\n  passage came to my mind, \u201cAnd all thy children shall be taught of\n  the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.\u201d If the\n  passage had not come to my mind I should have been dumb, but as\n  it was I preached from it, and had a good time. After I finished\n  the bishop arose and delivered a warm exhortation. This was in\n  the coast region of South Jersey in 1809.\n\n  Proceeding toward New York, we were joined by bishop M\u2019Kendree\n  again at Elizabeth, and at Elizabethport we saw for the first\n  time a steamboat. It excited our curiosity. We passed on to\n  Paulus\u2019 Hook, now Jersey City. Here for the first time I saw\n  the noble Hudson, and crossed it to New York, where we met the\n  conference in John-street Church. Bishop M\u2019Kendree was then first\n  introduced to the New York Conference. I traveled many hundreds\n  of miles with M\u2019Kendree during my five years\u2019 sojournings with\n  Asbury, and heard him preach, probably, at least a hundred\n  times. He was a very powerful preacher. He often preached great\n  sermons, and seldom preached a poor one.\n\n  From the New York Conference we proceeded to New England,\n  attending the only conference in that section, after which we\n  proceeded again on our western and southern tour. But it is\n  impossible for me on this occasion to recount the many scenes and\n  events I witnessed during my long journeys with that great man,\n  whose memory is ever green in my heart.\n\n  It was my office to attend upon and minister to him for five\n  years. I frequently lifted him upon his horse, and helped him to\n  alight. I gave him medicine when he was sick, and watched with\n  him at night. It was my privilege to attend Bishop Whatcoat in\n  his last illness, at Governor Bassett\u2019s, in Delaware, in 1806. I\n  have been personally acquainted with all our bishops, from Coke\n  to Peck, but to none have I been so endeared as to Bishop Asbury.\n  I guarded him in his journeys when it was unsafe for him to be\n  without a companion, and I shared with him the perils of the\n  wilderness.\n\n  In North Carolina, coming on from Wilmington toward Newbern,\n  Bishop Asbury\u2019s horse became frightened and ran away. He was in\n  the sulky, and I was on horseback. I suffered great apprehension\n  of mind, not knowing what to do. I did not dare to pursue after\n  him lest I should increase the horse\u2019s fright, and so add to the\n  bishop\u2019s peril. I began to pray, and if ever I prayed I prayed\n  then, that God would deliver the bishop from the destruction with\n  which he was threatened. Suddenly the horse stopped, and became\n  quiet and docile, and I rode up to the bishop, and found him in\n  much trepidation, but safe and thankful.\n\n  \u201cThe Lord is good: a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he\n  knoweth them that trust in him.\u201d As I attended and guarded and\n  nursed Asbury, so am I attended, nursed, and tenderly cared for\n  by my beloved daughter in my weakness and age. My hope is bright,\n  and I expect soon to meet my colaborers on high.\n\n  The last of my dear friends who have preceded me was Rev. Dr.\n  Wakeley, my intimate associate for many years. He was to me a\n  true and loving friend. He was with me on my last birthday, and\n  participated in the service when I preached my centennial sermon\n  at the last session of the Newark Conference. He then expected to\n  be here to-day; but he is not here\u2014he has gone on before. I shall\n  see him soon, and Asbury, and others dear to me,\n\n    \u201cWhere the saints of all ages in harmony meet,\n    Their Saviour and brethren transported to greet;\n    While anthems of rapture unceasingly roll,\n    And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul.\u201d\n\nRev. J. M. Freeman then read the following letter from Bishop Asbury to\nRev. Joseph Totten, New Brunswick, N. J., written in 1811, to which were\nadded a few lines by Father Boehm:\u2014\n\n\nLETTER FROM BISHOP ASBURY.\n\n                                    MARTIN BOEHM\u2019S, _Aug. 10, 1811_.\n\n  MY DEAR BROTHER: We have need of great grace to make and keep us\n  what we ought to be as Christian men and Gospel ministers. Alas\n  for poor.... They are well kept whom the Lord keepeth, and they\n  only. I have been looking many years for a general spread, not\n  only of Methodism, but religion, in Jersey. There, I fear, we\n  shall grow so like other societies that there will be but little\n  difference. I have this morning opened about a dozen letters from\n  the South\u2014growing prospects still; living and dying witnesses;\n  camp-meetings moving on; thirty or forty souls coming out, boldly\n  declaring what the Lord hath done for them. It is of consequence\n  to have scaffolding\u2014I mean houses\u2014for the service of God. I have\n  many times felt with Eli for the ark of God in forty years when\n  I view our prosperity\u2014200,000 members; two or three millions\n  of annual hearers; between 2,000 and 3,000 local and traveling\n  preachers; that we minute almost 700 in eight conferences.\n  Satan, the world, carnal Churches\u2014more so than ourselves\u2014envy\n  us, and wish our fall; but let us watch, and fast, and pray. The\n  Lord will direct. Children and great grandchildren may forget\n  old fathers. I shall keep close to children whether the ship\n  should be in storm, or calm, or fresh breeze; near the helm,\n  if permitted, or before the mast. I cannot leave them or cast\n  them off. Let my traveling so many thousand miles in pain, in\n  lameness, in hunger, in thirst, in all seasons, witness, that I\n  wish to stand clear of a party or policy. I must speak and write\n  as a plain, open man, as you have always found me. Your request\n  to know the names of the delegates is what any one in your\n  standing might reasonably wish, and the names are on the cover\n  of my Characteristic Book. Brother Boehm knoweth the delegates;\n  he may give them in this letter. I may be censured if I do it;\n  nothing is hid. I conclude. Let us be plain, peaceable, praying\n  men; the Lord will direct us all. I hope for the best. You will\n  recollect how restless two young men were in the last General\n  Conference. It was but a little while they had to feel the rod or\n  staff of the bishops. I am most affectionately, as ever, yours,\n\n                                                          F. ASBURY.\n\nFollowing is Father Boehm\u2019s postscript to the above:\u2014\n\n                                          AT MY FATHER\u2019S, _Aug. 11_.\n\n  DEAR BROTHER: Through a kind and gracious Providence my life and\n  peace are perpetuated to the present moment. I desire to exercise\n  greater confidence in the Lord as regards myself and the Church\n  of God.\n\n                                                           H. BOEHM.\n\nRev. Abraham J. Palmer read some letters which had been received by the\ncommittee in charge of the centennial celebration, among which were the\nfollowing:\u2014\n\n\nLETTER FROM BISHOP JANES.\n\n                                            NEW YORK, _May 8, 1875_.\n\n  REV. A. J. PALMER, DEAR SIR: I thank the committee for inviting\n  me to be present at the one hundredth birthday of Rev. Henry\n  Boehm. I should regard it as a very high honor, and it would\n  be a very great pleasure, to participate in the services of\n  that very unusual occasion were it practicable for me to do so\n  consistently with engagements made previous to the reception of\n  your invitation. My engagements in the West will not allow me to\n  return in time to enjoy the occasion. Permit me, through you, to\n  extend to Father Boehm my warm congratulations and affectionate\n  greetings. I am sure one who has lived so long and intimately\n  with God on earth will live with him forever in heaven. May\n  all who unite in celebrating his centennial share with him his\n  immortality!\n\n                       Yours in Christian love,\n\n                                                        E. S. JANES.\n\n\nLETTER FROM BISHOP BOWMAN.\n\n                                            CHICAGO, _June 1, 1875_.\n\n  DEAR FATHER BOEHM: As neither my colleagues nor myself can be\n  present at your centennial anniversary, we beg to assure you that\n  our absence does not in the least indicate any loss of respect or\n  affection for you. Your pure Christian character and holy life,\n  as well as your long and valuable services to the Church, have\n  given you a warm place in our hearts. We are glad and thankful\n  that a kind Providence has spared you to us so long, and that\n  you are permitted to enjoy so comfortable and happy an old age.\n  It would give us great pleasure to be present on the occasion\n  referred to, and participate in the interesting and memorable\n  services connected with it. But as other duties will not allow\n  this, we hereby send our hearty congratulations and Christian\n  greetings, and most devoutly pray that God\u2019s blessings may abound\n  toward you, and that, when the end shall have come, the light\n  of your cheerful and beautiful life may, without a cloud or a\n  shadow, melt away into the glory of heaven.\n\n                         Yours affectionately,\n\n                                 THOMAS BOWMAN,\n                                 _By order of the Board of Bishops_.\n\n\nLETTER FROM BISHOP SIMPSON.\n\n                                       PHILADELPHIA, _June 7, 1875_.\n\n  DEAR BROTHER PALMER: I regret that I cannot be present at Father\n  Boehm\u2019s anniversary. At our recent meeting I was appointed to\n  hold the German Conference and to visit our missions in Italy\n  and Scandinavia, and I expect to sail this week. Please present\n  to Father Boehm my sincere congratulations that God has spared\n  him so long to the Church and the world. Few men have seen their\n  hundredth anniversary. Very few ministers have ever approximated\n  such an age. His experience, too, has been so rich and joyous. He\n  has seen the Church of his youth rise from infancy to maturity.\n  He has witnessed the development of all its agencies, and the\n  enlargement of its borders. We rejoice still to have his presence\n  with us, and his blessing upon us. May his last days be unusually\n  full of gracious enjoyments, and may he finally be crowned\n  in holy triumph in our Father\u2019s kingdom. With thanks to the\n  committee for their courtesy, and with regret at my unavoidable\n  absence,\n\n                          I am yours, truly,\n\n                                                         M. SIMPSON.\n\n\nLETTER FROM SAMUEL PETTIT.\n\n                                          PIQUA, O., _June 5, 1875_.\n\n  Rev. HENRY BOEHM:\n\n  MY DEAR BROTHER: I see by the \u201cWestern Advocate\u201d that you expect\n  to celebrate your hundredth anniversary, which will be next\n  Tuesday, and I should be glad were it in my power to meet you on\n  that occasion. But as this cannot be, I must praise the Lord, and\n  shake hands with you in my heart. In 1822 I stopped at your house\n  in Lancaster, Pa., on my way to Reading, where Methodism was soon\n  after planted in that wicked town, which was on your circuit, and\n  where you were likely to be drowned by swimming the Schuylkill to\n  get to your appointment there, and where your books and clothes\n  were well soaked in the water, and where I took you to my house\n  and had you dried and comforted as best I could. It was in 1822\n  that you gave me my first license, which I still have to look\n  at. It was also in 1822, at Churchtown camp-meeting, that you\n  took into Society Ellen Righter, who has been my wife over fifty\n  years, and who has never been too tired to rise up and make the\n  preachers comfortable at our house, and who is known to most of\n  the preachers of the Cincinnati Conference, and whose praise is\n  in all the Churches.\n\n  You will remember Brother Kimber, who was my fellow-laborer at\n  Reading in the Church, and helped greatly in the work of the\n  Lord. He still lives in Urbana, Ohio, and he and I are now both\n  in our seventy-ninth year, and, by the grace of God, walking by\n  the same rule, and minding the same thing. I thank my God for\n  my acquaintance with you, and for the long life with which my\n  heavenly Father has favored you, and pray that your sun may grow\n  brighter and broader at its setting, and bring a pleasing day in\n  glory.\n\n                                                      SAMUEL PETTIT.\n\n  P. S.\u2014If you ever feel like writing me a line I should be very\n  happy to receive it. You will remember that I met you about ten\n  years ago at your friend\u2019s below Dayton, where we spent two or\n  three days together. I may write to you some day again, if I know\n  your post-office.\n\n                                                               S. P.\n\n\nLETTER FROM AARON WOOD.\n\n                                 WILLIAMSPORT, IND., _June 4, 1875_.\n\n  A. J. PALMER, JERSEY CITY, N. J.:\u2014\n\n  DEAR SIR: Please read the following at your meeting on the 8th,\n  as my congratulating contribution for the occasion. In 1811\n  Asbury and Boehm came to my father\u2019s, in the State of Ohio.\n  (See \u201cAsbury\u2019s Journal,\u201d vol. iii, page 317.) I was then nine\n  years old, and received from the bishop a catechism. Boehm\n  will remember the visit. But there is a fact that I give of\n  importance, learned from my mother. Her maiden name was Mary Con,\n  of York, Pa., and when a child, under the preaching and teaching\n  of Martin Boehm gave her heart to her Saviour. I am the oldest of\n  five sons of that mother, and am now seventy-three, and in the\n  fifty-third year of my itinerancy. I have met H. Boehm in New\n  York, in Xenia, and Philadelphia, and he will remember\n\n                         Yours, respectfully,\n\n                                                         AARON WOOD.\n\n  _Reflections on the extent of personal influence_:\u2014\n\n  1. Martin Boehm, the Mennonite from Germany.\n\n  2. Mary Con Wood, the Methodist mother of preachers.\n\n  3. A. Wood, a young preacher in Indiana, preaching in a cabin in\n  Knox County.\n\n  4. Isaac Owen, brought to Christ, and made missionary to\n  California.\n\n  And who knows but four more would reach around the world? If God\n  leaves me here in this sound body twenty-seven years more, I may\n  learn the names of persons who, from Owen in China, and so on\n  around to Bohemia or Bulgaria, carried the same Gospel which has\n  saved me. Glory be to God! Amen.\n\n                                                               A. W.\n\nA communication from Dwight Williams, of Cazenovia, N. Y., inclosed the\nfollowing letters from Father Boehm and Bishop Asbury to Rev. Robert\nBirch, a member of the East Genesee Conference at the time of his death,\nwhich occurred about twenty-two years ago. Both letters were originally\nwritten upon the same sheet of paper.\n\n\nFATHER BOEHM\u2019S LETTER.\n\n                                     CAMDEN, S. C., _Dec. 23, 1811_.\n\n  MY VERY DEAR BROTHER: I received yours a few days ago, and was\n  made glad with its contents, particularly on finding that you\n  enjoyed good health of body, and, above all, are warring a good\n  warfare. It is so: great and good men may sometimes be at least\n  the accidental cause of leading us into inexpedient steps, and\n  if such a step or steps should be of such a nature and relation\n  that we cannot step backward for life, it behooves us to consider\n  well, especially as itinerant ministers of the ever blessed\n  Gospel of Jesus Christ. The rewards of grace and glory are\n  suspended on self-denial and taking up the cross. But, my dear\n  brother, how liable we are to lose sight of the spiritual prize!\n  for it must be received by faith. My mind is satisfied that\n  nothing can reconcile a young man to move on as though he cared\n  for nothing of a temporal or domestic nature but the power of\n  grace, and the perpetual exercise of the same.\n\n  No doubt you would be glad to hear some account of our tour.\n  We traveled extensively through the State of Ohio previous to\n  the Western Conference, at which we had a good time, both in\n  conference and in the congregations. Some conversions. Things\n  were very promising as to the perpetuation of peace, order, and\n  discipline among preachers and people. Upward of three thousand\n  increase. One hundred and one preachers stationed. From there\n  we traveled rapidly to the west of Georgia, over into the New\n  Purchase, down to Savannah, back to Augusta, Columbia, to this\n  town\u2014upward of eleven hundred miles since we left Cincinnati.\n\n  There has been a gracious work of God, in many parts, within the\n  bounds of this conference. The increase, in all probability, will\n  be considerable. It would do you good to see the peace, order,\n  and love which appear to be prominent features of this conference.\n\n  My health is as usual, and I have reason to believe that my soul\n  is advancing in humility and love. O, why is not my whole soul\n  swallowed up in the goodness of God! May the great Head of the\n  Church be your wisdom, comfort, and strength! Father Asbury has\n  lately been considerably afflicted with a rheumatic touch in one\n  of his knees, but is at present nearly well.\n\n                   I am, dear brother, yours, etc.,\n\n                                                           H. BOEHM.\n\n\nBISHOP ASBURY\u2019S LETTER.\n\n                                     CAMDEN, S. C., _Dec. 23, 1811_.\n\n  MY DEAR SON: O what graces and grace we need to conduct ourselves\n  as sons of God, without rebuke! Great grace we need to guide men\n  of murmuring minds, and called, justified, sanctified, ministers\n  of Jesus. This year with us is begun in the West and Southern\n  conferences. The day of God, the day of glory, is begun. Near\n  seven thousand added this year, besides the numbers triumphantly\n  gone to join the Church above. Thus the wastage is more filled\n  up. These two conferences would be a great field for the poor\n  supernumerary superintendent, but we must wander through the new\n  world.\n\n  We have recommended the first Friday in May as a day of\n  humiliation and fasting, that if we must have some radical\n  changes, (as some say,) and the transfer of some of the\n  appointing power to the principal officers in our Church\n  government, the change may be of God, and not of men, who have\n  partially for years been their own bishops. Pray; watch; flee\n  youthful desires; follow after every grace.\n\n                             Yours, etc.,\n\n                                                     FRANCIS ASBURY.\n\n\nTESTIMONIAL TO FATHER BOEHM.\n\nRev. John S. Porter, D.D., then came forward, and turning to the\npatriarch, said:\u2014\n\n  I have great pleasure, Father Boehm, to meet you again in the\n  presence of this large assembly. I suppose there is no person\n  present, perhaps, who has so continuous a recollection of you for\n  so long a term of years as myself. I do not recollect the time,\n  but I doubt not you do, when in my infancy, at the request of my\n  now departed and sainted parents, you baptized me in the name of\n  the Holy Trinity. When you came to the Delaware District, which,\n  I think, was in 1820\u2014\u201919 or \u201920\u2014\n\n  FATHER BOEHM\u2014Thereabouts.\n\n  DR. PORTER\u2014I was then a member of the Church, a lad about or\n  nearly fifteen years of age, and I recollect it was you who gave\n  me the first book I ever felt sufficient interest in to read\n  from the beginning to the end. I suppose that book of religious\n  letters is now out of print, but I recollect my heart was warmed\n  in reading those letters directed to Bishop Asbury, I think\n  chiefly from laborers in different parts of the field. From that\n  time it has been my privilege to know your personal history as\n  to age and service in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal\n  Church, and I think what Bishop Asbury said when he was called\n  upon to say whether there was any thing against Henry Boehm, may\n  well have been said from year to year from that time till now.\n  God be praised, by whose grace you have been thus preserved!\n\n  Your brethren, sir, desire to present to you some substantial\n  token of their respect for you, their interest in you, and their\n  affection for you in the evening of your life; and although it\n  was not so determined by the Newark Conference, yet the Newark\n  Conference was pleased to appoint a committee to take this matter\n  in charge\u2014the celebration of your centennial\u2014and they have been\n  pleased to issue circulars and to obtain from different quarters\n  something of what Kossuth, I believe, used to call \u201cmaterial\n  aid.\u201d I have something from those who love you to present to you\n  on this occasion, and I am happy to say that one hundred and\n  fifty dollars of this subscription comes from the Philadelphia\n  brethren. I was present at their preachers\u2019 meeting, and when\n  I told them we were going to celebrate your centennial, and\n  suggested that they take the matter in hand, (for I thought\n  they would consider it a privilege to participate in this\n  celebration,) they very cordially appointed a committee of three\n  to represent them here, and they also have collected that amount\n  of money, and those three brethren\u2014Brothers Todd, Chaplain, and\n  Robinson, together with Brother Fernley, have come here to show\n  their interest in this matter.\n\n  It is not possible for us to say, Father Boehm, how much the\n  amount of this testimonial will yet be. I have just been told,\n  however, that a friend will make it up to the sum of five hundred\n  dollars, and I have no doubt there are other friends who desire\n  to add to it, and I hope it will not stop at that figure. I know\n  that other friends will be glad, when the subject is presented\n  to them, to participate in the movement. I hope, so far as the\n  \u201cmaterial aid\u201d is concerned, that it may be of comfort to you\u2014not\n  that the sum is so considerable, but that you cannot, I know\n  you cannot, but feel in your heart to rejoice that God raises\n  up these friends for you. With this substantial token of our\n  regard for you [handing Father Boehm a purse] I close my remarks,\n  rejoicing that it is my privilege to sit at your feet, and hoping\n  to join you in the heavenly land.\n\nFather Boehm was asked if he desired to reply in person, and he said that\ninstead of speaking himself he had selected Professor Buttz to represent\nhim.\n\nRev. Henry A. Buttz, A. M., who then appeared in a double representative\ncapacity\u2014being called upon to speak for Father Boehm and also for the\nyoung men of the Newark Conference\u2014spoke as follows:\u2014\n\n\nADDRESS OF PROF. HENRY A. BUTTZ.\n\n  DR. PORTER: Little did Father Boehm suppose, when he took you\n  in his arms and baptized you in the name of the Father, Son,\n  and Holy Ghost, that you would greet him on the one hundredth\n  anniversary of his birth with this token of the appreciation of\n  his younger brethren.\n\n  I am requested by Father Boehm to return through you, to all who\n  have taken part in this occasion, whether from the Philadelphia,\n  New York, or other conferences, and particularly to the members\n  of the Newark Conference, with which he has been connected during\n  these later years of his life, his thanks for this renewed\n  testimonial of affection.\n\n  All these brethren have a warm place in his heart. He looks upon\n  them not as his brethren only, but with all the tenderness with\n  which a father looks upon his sons, and with a heart whose warmth\n  a hundred years have not chilled he returns you his gratitude. He\n  receives this gift for the evidence it gives of your confidence\n  and esteem.\n\n  Father Boehm gives thanks to God to-day that although he has been\n  preaching the Gospel since the year 1800 with an average salary\n  of less than two hundred dollars a year, and in many instances he\n  has given that to the Church of Christ, yet now, standing at the\n  end of a century, he can confirm by experience the truth of the\n  Divine promise to the righteous: \u201cTrust in the Lord, and do good;\n  so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.\u201d\n  For one hundred years he has not wanted any good thing. Loving\n  hearts have cared for him, and gentle hands have ministered to\n  him, through all these years until this hour. If it were proper,\n  it would be the wish of Father Boehm that I should express on\n  this occasion, to those of his own immediate circle who have\n  cared for him so long, his high appreciation of their love, or,\n  to use his own words, they have been to him \u201cbetter than good.\u201d\n  But this is a sacred precinct within which I dare not intrude.\n  Let it suffice to say, that although for many years he has had no\n  son of his own, Providence has so arranged that he has not felt\n  the lack, and he has not wanted for the loving attentions either\n  of son or daughter.\n\n  It is well known to those intimate with Father Boehm that he has\n  always had a deep interest in young men, especially in young\n  ministers. In the true spirit of the fathers he has hailed with\n  joy every institution which proposed their improvement. It is\n  his desire that when he can no longer preach the Gospel himself,\n  he may preach it through others, so that he may still speak for\n  Christ on earth when he has passed to heaven. I am commissioned\n  by Father Boehm to say, also, that he gratefully receives this\n  gift of his brethren; that he will deposit it where it may be at\n  hand in case of need; and hoping, as he does, that he may never\n  need it, having always had his wants supplied in the past, it is\n  his purpose in that event, and also that of those most intimately\n  connected with him, that this shall be employed as a fund to\n  aid young men in preparing for the ministry in Drew Theological\n  Seminary.\n\n  Again, in Father Boehm\u2019s behalf, I thank you, and give to you,\n  in his name, his centennial blessing, in the language of the\n  patriarch Jacob to his son Joseph: \u201cGod, before whom my fathers\n  Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long\n  unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless\n  the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my\n  fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in\n  the midst of the earth.\u201d\n\n  But, venerable father, I have another mission besides the one\n  with which you have so kindly honored me. The purse is but an\n  incident in the exercises of this occasion. We are here also to\n  greet you on this the one hundredth anniversary of your birth, to\n  assure you of our love and confidence, to pray unitedly for the\n  continuance of your health and strength, and to hear from your\n  lips such words as you may choose to speak, and to receive your\n  blessing. I am asked to extend to you, on this your centennial\n  anniversary, the cordial salutations of the younger members of\n  the Newark Conference. I despair of being able in any adequate\n  sense to represent them. Their voices are so many, and their\n  sympathies with this occasion are so deep, that I can scarcely\n  attempt, much less hope to accomplish, such a task. Whatever the\n  difference in the respective ages of those who are gathered here,\n  we are alike in this, that by the side of you, Father Boehm,\n  we are all young men to-day. I seem to myself like a sapling\n  addressing an oak that has withstood the storms of a century;\n  like a child, scarcely able to speak, addressing an ancestor\n  whose life began so long ago as to make his history bear, almost,\n  the aspect of mythology.\n\n  We congratulate you on having lived to be one hundred years\n  old; an age to which we young men can scarcely hope to attain.\n  I say hope to attain, for we do not depreciate the grandeur and\n  glory of old age, especially when, like yours, it is found in\n  the way of righteousness. I have been informed that there is a\n  statistician in England who denies that men live to be so old. If\n  he were here to-day we would point him to you, and show that in\n  America it does occur. You have lived one hundred years\u2014twelve\n  hundred months\u2014thirty-six thousand four hundred days\u2014eight\n  hundred and seventy-six thousand hours, and minutes almost\n  innumerable. But time is rightly measured not so much by the\n  minutes on the dial, as by the work achieved and the events that\n  have transpired. It has been well said that many of the greatest\n  events of modern times have taken place during your life. Your\n  centennial comes in the midst of American centennials, and no\n  history of our country will be complete without your name.\n\n  It is not merely to the hundred years that you have lived that\n  we pay our tribute to-day, but to the fact that you have lived\n  them so well. We pay our homage to a century of character\u2014to the\n  Christian virtues which have adorned your active life\u2014a century\n  in which, neither by word or deed, have you brought a stain upon\n  the Church with which you have been identified, or upon the\n  Christ whose Gospel you have proclaimed.\n\n  On the 31st of August, 1799, Bishop Asbury wrote in his\n  journal: \u201cI had a comfortable time at Boehm\u2019s Church.... Martin\n  Boehm is upon wings and springs since the Lord has blessed\n  his grandchildren. His son Henry is greatly led out in public\n  exercises.\u201d This was the bishop\u2019s earliest public testimonial to\n  your Christian character.\n\n  In the year 1809, in the Philadelphia Conference, after you\n  had been Bishop Asbury\u2019s traveling companion for one year, the\n  question was asked, \u201cIs there any thing against Henry Boehm?\u201d\n  and the bishop gravely answered, \u201cNothing against Brother\n  Boehm.\u201d Again, in 1813, after five years\u2019 traveling with him,\n  the bishop returned the same answer to the same question, and\n  added, referring to you, \u201cFor five years he has been my constant\n  companion. He served me as a son; he served me as a brother; he\n  served me as a servant; he served me as a slave.\u201d At the last\n  session of the Newark Conference, in your hundredth year, the\n  same question was asked, and the answer was, \u201cNothing against\n  Father Boehm.\u201d\n\n  I am sure, sir, if you should live a hundred years more the same\n  answer would be given. And when, at last, you shall be called\n  to enter the better world, the answer will still be, \u201cNothing\n  against Henry Boehm;\u201d not because of any merit of your own,\n  but because you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and\n  because you have \u201cfought the good fight, you have finished your\n  course, you have kept the faith.\u201d\n\n  I have wondered that art has never paid that tribute to age to\n  which it is entitled. Art has embalmed the human frame in its\n  grandest physical vigor, and it fairly revels in the flowers\n  of youthful beauty. Even the muscles of Hercules have been\n  preserved by the sculptor\u2019s chisel or the painter\u2019s brush,\n  but so far as my own observation has gone, (and I confess it\n  has not been extensive,) I have seen but little of art in the\n  embalmment of the proportions of old men. But the men whom the\n  world would recall from the past in hours of conflict are not the\n  physically strong, but the ripe, intellectually noble old men.\n  It is not Hercules, but Nestor. You remember that the greatest\n  of epics written by the greatest of poets opens with a quarrel\n  between Agamemnon and Achilles, the rival Grecian chieftains,\n  in the midst of which an old man, Nestor by name, who had lived\n  through two generations, and was now ruling over the third, and\n  whose words are described as \u201csweeter than honey,\u201d arose and\n  demanded a hearing by the rival chiefs by declaring his age and\n  contemporaries:\u2014\n\n                                  \u201cIn times past\n    I lived with men\u2014and they despised me not\u2014\n    Abler in counsel, greater than yourselves;\n    Such men I never saw, and ne\u2019er shall see....\n    The mightiest they among the sons of men:\n    The mightiest they, and of the forest beasts\n    Strove with the mightiest, and their rage subdued.\n    With them I played my part; with them, not one\n    Would dare to fight, of mortals now on earth.\n    Yet they my counsels heard, my voice obeyed;\n    And hear ye also\u2014for my words are wise.\u201d\n\n  And it is of the old man, and not of the warrior, that the poet\n  adds:\u2014\n\n    \u201cO would the gods, in love to Greece, decree\n    But ten such sages as they grant in thee!\u201d\n\n  You, sir, are older than Nestor of Homeric fame. Three\n  generations have fully passed while you have lived, and you\n  are now dwelling among the fourth. You have seen the seventh\n  generation in your own family. How much more should your words be\n  heard, and your portrait preserved! We take your portrait to-day,\n  not in verse, not in marble, not on canvas, but on the tablets of\n  our hearts, and we will preserve it there while life and memory\n  last, as an inspiration and joy.\n\n  We congratulate you, also, because you have lived in the heroic\n  age of the Church to which we belong. You have been an actor in\n  the great religious movements which led to the firm establishment\n  of our Church. You were born nine years after its introduction\n  into America; you have seen all our great institutions rise and\n  flourish: you have helped to fight the great battles of Methodism.\n\n  You have had great contemporaries, who will be more fully named\n  by others. It is a great thing to live in a great age with\n  great men, and to bear your part among them. Your history has\n  been almost identical with American Methodism. I had almost\n  said your history _is_ American Methodism. You have seen our\n  bishops ordained. You yourself were ordained by Whatcoat, who was\n  ordained by Wesley, and are in the true apostolic succession. You\n  have helped them in their work, you have smoothed their passage\n  to the tomb; you helped to lay Whatcoat in the grave.\n\n  On the 4th of July, 1815, you went home to visit your mother.\n  Bishop Asbury, referring to that visit, wrote in his journal:\n  \u201cHappy at Mother Boehm\u2019s. A pleasing Providence, according to my\n  wishes, had brought Henry in a few moments before.\u201d After a two\n  days\u2019 visit with him there in the old home, where he had been\n  a visitor for thirty years, and when, after his last episcopal\n  tour, he had bid your aged mother good-bye, you accompanied him\n  to Lancaster, when he embraced you in his arms, pressed you\n  to his bosom, gave you his last kiss and benediction, and you\n  gazed on him till he was lost from your view. The parting is not\n  forever. You shall see him again in the land where there are no\n  separations.\n\n  You can now look upon a Church whose missions encircle the\n  globe, founded not only on great institutions of benevolence and\n  learning, but on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,\n  Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone\u2014a sure pledge\n  that her history and triumphs have but just begun.\n\n  I have no doubt it would be pleasing for you to know, on this\n  your centennial anniversary, how the younger members of our\n  Conference feel on vital matters pertaining to the Church of\n  your and their choice, and in which you have been a minister for\n  three quarters of a century. I think I may safely say that they\n  are loyal to the great doctrines of the Bible as maintained by\n  the Church during the hundred years you have lived. They maintain\n  the Bible as the only infallible standard of Christian faith and\n  practice. They believe and preach the doctrines of depravity,\n  atonement, regeneration, witness of the Spirit, adoption,\n  sanctification, eternal salvation for the finally holy, and\n  eternal punishment for the finally impenitent. While they hold\n  with tenacity to the doctrines of their own Church, they are not\n  narrow or bigoted, but with broad Christian hearts they repeat\n  the Apostle\u2019s Creed with the whole Church of Christ, and gladly\n  co-operate with Christians of every name for the salvation of\n  men. They hold fast to the great working forces of the Church\n  as they have inherited them from you and your colaborers. They\n  believe in revivals of religion having their inspiration in\n  God\u2019s Spirit, the class and prayer meeting, and the recognized\n  instrumentalities of the Church for carrying on her work. If they\n  criticise, it is not to destroy, but to maintain and upbuild\n  the Church of their choice. They believe that the great mission\n  of the Church is the one announced by our fathers, \u201cTo spread\n  scriptural holiness over these lands.\u201d Whatever differences\n  may exist among them on definitions, I believe they are one in\n  carrying out the spirit of her early mission, which, I trust,\n  will continue to be her mission until the world shall be redeemed\n  to God. They do not fear, but welcome, the highest culture and\n  the deepest, broadest learning, but they would make it all\n  tributary to the spread of scriptural holiness.\n\n  They are loyal to the fathers of the Church; they reverence our\n  old men; they are proud of them; they would as soon be seen\n  striking a blow at their own earthly parents as at the fathers of\n  Methodism; they hold them highly in esteem for their characters\u2019\n  sake, for the work\u2019s sake, for the Church\u2019s sake to which they\n  have given their best days and their noblest powers. Every gray\n  hair on your head, and every wrinkle on that time-scarred brow,\n  they love and reverence. They are marks of beauty which they\n  would not exchange for the brightest bloom of youth. In the\n  esteem they hold you, they desire to express that which they hold\n  toward all their fathers in the ministry. But in your presence,\n  and in view of the exercises that are to follow, I dare not\n  detain you. Your example forbids me to speak longer. To you may\n  fitly be applied the epigrammatic eulogy once applied to the\n  philosopher and patriot of America, Benjamin Franklin: \u201cHe never\n  spoke a word too soon, he never spoke a word too late; he never\n  spoke a word too much, he never failed to speak the right word at\n  the right season.\u201d\n\n  And now, venerable father, accept again our heartiest\n  congratulations. We do not say to-day, \u201cMy father, my father,\n  the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!\u201d for our\n  Elijah is not yet going. We trust the time is yet distant ere\n  you depart for heaven. Though, like Paul, to depart and be with\n  Christ is better for you, yet for you to abide in the flesh is\n  more needful for us. When the time comes, you will die grandly\n  and serenely, as an old man and a Christian should die. Cicero,\n  the greatest of Roman orators, said: \u201cYoung men seem to me to\n  die just as when the violence of flame is extinguished by a\n  flood of water; whereas old men die as the exhausted fire goes\n  out\u2014spontaneously\u2014without the exertion of any force: and as\n  fruits, when they are green, are plucked by force from the trees,\n  but when ripe or mellow drop off, so violence takes away their\n  lives from youths\u2014maturity from old men; a state which to me,\n  indeed, is so delightful, that the nearer I approach to death\n  the more I seem, as it were, to be getting sight of land, and\n  at length, after a long voyage, to be coming into harbor.\u201d But\n  Cicero lived but sixty-three years, and old Cato, into whose\n  mouth he put these words, is represented as but eighty-four; but,\n  sir, they were boys by the side of you. You have lived _a hundred\n  years_! You are a Christian, too, and a bright vision is before\n  you. As the traveler in a region of mountains ascends a distant\n  summit, and when he has reached it finds another before him and\n  ascends that, and another, and another, and each time finds that\n  the topmost point is still distant, so you climbed to childhood,\n  then to youth, then to manhood, then to middle age, then to old\n  age, and since then you have been climbing through steps for\n  which our language has no single word, until now you have reached\n  an age when we can call you our centenarian, and soon you will\n  reach the summit, when you will greet, not the distant peaks of\n  earth, but the mountains of glory, where you shall go on forever,\n  and, with Paul, exclaim with rapture, \u201cHenceforth there is laid\n  up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous\n  judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto\n  all them also that love his appearing.\u201d\n\nRev. Jacob Todd, A. M., of the Philadelphia Conference, delivered the\nfollowing address:\u2014\n\n\nDR. TODD\u2019S ADDRESS.\n\n  Our venerable Father Boehm belongs to the whole Methodist\n  Episcopal Church, and not to any particular locality. We think\n  of him as the friend and companion of Asbury, the apostle of\n  American Methodism, and, in consequence, feel that the whole\n  country can lay claim to him. We could not localize him if we\n  would, and would not if we could.\n\n  I do not know that any particular credit attaches to a locality\n  because a great and good man was born there, for the simple\n  reason that he could not help it. The Hibernian who was born in\n  the country said he could have been born in the city just as well\n  if he had desired, but that he preferred the country. Perhaps\n  if Father Boehm had been consulted he would have preferred the\n  city. But although the place of our birth is purely accidental,\n  there is a mystic cord which binds our hearts to our childhood\n  home through life, such as links us to no other spot on earth.\n  Representing the Philadelphia Conference, within whose bounds our\n  venerated father was born, I, with my fellow-committeemen, Drs.\n  Chaplain and Robinson, feel that our claim is not less, if it be\n  not more, than that of any others present. Usually upon festive\n  occasions the children come back from abroad to the paternal\n  home to do honor to the parents. That order is reversed to-day.\n  We come from the old homestead to seek out our Father Boehm,\n  who has gone abroad, and offer him the congratulations of the\n  Philadelphia Conference upon the one hundredth anniversary of his\n  birthday.\n\n  There have been some changes at home since he left: there are\n  more farms in Lancaster County now, and less woods; there are\n  more villages, towns, and cities, and less country. Those who\n  were boys then are tottering upon staffs now. There are many,\n  many more mounds in the grave-yard. The little societies which\n  met in barns and school-houses then, and were called Methodists\n  in derision, have since built themselves houses of worship,\n  and are now a strong and respected Church in the community.\n  The old house, around which in boyhood he played, is gone; but\n  the springs sparkle just the same, and the brooks bubble and\n  flow on as of yore; the sky stretches its big arch overhead,\n  and the stars twinkle, and the sun\u2019s huge disk of burnished\n  gold dazzles, just the same as they did a hundred years ago.\n  The old German Bibles are growing scarce, but English Bibles\n  in greater numbers have taken their places, and the precious\n  truths of God\u2019s revelation remain the same through all languages.\n  The same doctrines are preached, the same hymns are sung, the\n  same experiences are related, and the same prayers are offered,\n  as when he in boyhood first attended a Methodist meeting. Men\n  and their works have all changed; but God, and nature, and the\n  religion of Jesus, are the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.\n\n  And Father Boehm has changed some, too, since he left home. He\n  is the youngest man for his years that ever I knew, but still I\n  notice that time has made some deep furrows in his cheeks, and\n  the frost has settled in his hair. That stalwart form which, in\n  other years, bore Bishop Asbury up many a hill and over many a\n  stream, is bent and feeble now; and his voice, which used to\n  ring out loud and clear as he delivered his Gospel message among\n  the mountains of Pennsylvania, now shows signs of faltering and\n  trembling. But these changes are only on the outside; time has\n  not been able to alter him at the core. His memory still is good;\n  his mind is clear; his heart is just as warm, and his faith as\n  strong, as they were in the days long past and gone. The \u201coutward\n  man\u201d may perish, \u201cyet the inward man is renewed day by day.\u201d\n  God\u2019s own image, over which time has no control, is stamped\n  within him, and there are no wrinkles in his soul.\n\n  A hundred years have rolled away since he first opened his eyes\n  upon the light of a day in June. It does not seem so long a time\n  in this age of crowding events; yet it takes us back to when the\n  fever of the Revolution was in the blood of our ancestors. The\n  musketry of Concord and Lexington was still echoing in the air\n  when Father Boehm was born; and he was in his cradle when the\n  Declaration of Independence was signed. His childhood heard the\n  tramp of Continental soldiers, and the guns of Valley Forge and\n  Germantown sounded in his youthful ears. American Methodism was\n  only a child of nine years old, and was still unweaned from its\n  mother, when he was born. Why, nineteen such men, the one born\n  upon the day on which the other died, would take us back beyond\n  the birth of Christ! This one life spans a continent of history,\n  arches over the graves of three generations, and bridges a chasm\n  of forgetfulness a hundred years wide; so that over it the\n  memories of long ago can travel down to us.\n\n  But a man\u2019s life cannot be measured by the number of seasons\n  that come and go. Some men live more in ten years than others\n  do in fifty. Our lives are measured not by clock-ticks, but\n  by heart-throbs. The excitements of the times, the rush of\n  events, and the activities of the mind, determine a man\u2019s age\n  more than the roll of years. Father Boehm has lived longer than\n  Methuselah, if we reckon time in this way. Within his life-time\n  the application of steam to mechanical purposes has taken place.\n  Instead of the clink on the anvil, which he heard in boyhood, now\n  the heavy thud of the steam trip-hammer shakes the earth; and the\n  old Conestoga wagons of earlier days have almost disappeared from\n  the turnpike, and, instead, the iron horse now tosses his smoky\n  main, and snorts and rushes like the wind through mountains, over\n  valleys, and across the plain. It had taken Methuselah not less\n  than a week\u2014possibly a whole month\u2014to come from Philadelphia to\n  New York. Father Boehm has lived in an age when men breakfast\n  in Philadelphia, dine in New York, and sup again at home. Within\n  the last century the lightning has been harnessed and made to do\n  man\u2019s bidding. By means of the telegraph men are talking across\n  continents and under oceans with each other, as though they stood\n  face to face. Messages are sent and answers received in an hour,\n  which would have required months or years a century ago. He has\n  lived in an age of books and newspapers. Printing was known and\n  practiced long before his time, but never in the world\u2019s history\n  has the press groaned beneath its burden of publications as it\n  has during his life-time. The newspaper has been born in this\n  country\u2014not in the sense of being created out of nothing, but\n  in the sense of being transformed and unfolded into new being.\n  It existed before, but it was only a grub then. It has taken on\n  wings since, and is a different thing altogether. Had the great\n  fire in Chicago occurred a hundred years ago, the city would\n  have been rebuilt before news of its destruction had reached the\n  more remote sections of the country. Now, men see in the morning\n  newspaper, before they get to business, the world\u2019s photograph as\n  it looked at sunset last night. These wonderful facilities for\n  intercommunication have quickened thought, have aroused energy,\n  have stimulated activity. Every thing goes by express now;\n  haste! is the watchword of this age. In an old colonial paper\n  published in Connecticut there is a notice to this effect: \u201cThe\n  vessel which was to have sailed from New London for England on\n  next Wednesday will postpone her departure for two weeks longer\n  on account of one of the passengers not being able to get ready\n  before.\u201d Now, if he is two minutes late the plank is drawn, and\n  he is left behind.\n\n  If we would measure Father Boehm\u2019s life-time aright we must not\n  forget that he has lived for a century in an age when men talk\n  by lightning, travel by steam, write with a printing-press, and\n  move by the second. He has lived through the best hundred years\n  this world ever saw; he has lived more than the man who was\n  contemporary with both Adam and Noah; there is more of history\n  and religion crystallized in his memory than could have entered\n  into any one experience in any age before. The length of that\n  life is wonderful\u2014but its breadth amazes and overwhelms me!\n\n  But it is not so much Father Boehm\u2019s extreme age, nor yet his\n  wide and varied experience, which calls forth our homage to-day.\n  Old age is honorable, and I always take off my hat before gray\n  hairs. I am no advocate for relic worship; and yet there is\n  something in a moss-covered building, in an old mildewed book, or\n  in the ruins of an ancient city, which irresistibly calls forth\n  my veneration. I cannot help uncovering my head and walking with\n  muffled footsteps in the presence of hoary antiquity. By just\n  as much more as a man is greater and better than a book or a\n  building, do I venerate the face seamed and scarred, and the head\n  bleached white with many years. But I have seen older men than\n  Father Boehm. It was my privilege not long ago to see a man die,\n  and afterward to bury him, who was two years the senior of the\n  patriarch of this occasion. There are centenarians to-day living\n  in almost every State in the Union, the return of whose birthday\n  calls forth no such public expression of affection and honor.\n  Father Boehm\u2019s age would command our respect if he had no other\n  claim upon our attention; but that alone had never called this\n  concourse of people together from so many and such distant places.\n\n  We cannot help paying deference to knowledge, no matter whether\n  it be acquired through books or experience, or both together.\n  Knowledge is power, and it is a power which makes itself\n  respected every-where. The man who stands before us as a kind of\n  mental reservoir, into which the experiences, observations, and\n  studies of a hundred years have poured their ceaseless streams,\n  is king by virtue of his knowledge; he wears a crown which none\n  will dispute, and holds a scepter before which all will bow. We\n  look upon Father Boehm as an incarnate, living volume of history;\n  his life is a cyclopedia of one nineteenth of the Christian era;\n  he is the embodiment of all the precious memories of Methodism.\n  We value, cherish, and honor him for his ripe experience and\n  well-stored mind. But not for his age and wisdom alone, nor\n  chiefly for these, do the Church and community value his life\n  and treasure his memory. Goodness is better than age\u2014is better\n  than knowledge. It is the sunshine which gilds the mountain of\n  years, and which ripens into sweetness the fruits of experience\n  which grow on the sides of that mountain. The Church has sent\n  her representatives here to-day to emphasize the proverb that\n  \u201cthe hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of\n  righteousness.\u201d\n\n  We forget every thing else while we remember vividly that Father\n  Boehm, though a hundred years old, has a moral character upon\n  which suspicion has never dared to breathe, and that beneath that\n  wrinkled face the religion of Jesus dwells in all the sweetness,\n  freshness, innocence, and simplicity of early childhood. We\n  have come together to-day to offer thanksgiving to God, and\n  congratulations to each other, for this life of a hundred years\n  without one spot or stain. His moral and religious life stands\n  out upon his Christian profession like a white lily upon a field\n  of snow. My hand shall not attempt to paint so pure a picture.\n  \u201cTo gild refined gold, to paint the lily, and throw perfume over\n  the violet, or seek with taper light the beauteous eye of heaven\n  to garnish, were wasteful and ridiculous excess.\u201d Were this whole\n  world at Father Boehm\u2019s disposal, with its wealth and its wisdom,\n  he could not from all its stores bestow a richer dowry upon the\n  Church of his love than the record of his own simple, humble,\n  true and untarnished life.\n\nRev. George Lansing Taylor read the following original hexameter ode,\ncomposed by him for Father Boehm\u2019s centennial. Before reading the poem he\nsaid, in a good-humored way:\u2014\n\n  \u201cI ought to make a remark for the benefit of the least bookish\n  of my hearers, and I will do it in the form of a story. I have\n  heard the anecdote of a young lady fresh from boarding school,\n  who, in a conversation on the subject of poetry, sagely remarked\n  that Shakspeare was not poetry, because it did not rhyme. For\n  the benefit of some members of the same family as that young\n  lady who may yet be living I would insist that the world still\n  continues to call Shakspeare poetry in spite of the absence of\n  rhyme; and if my hearers will listen attentively to catch the\n  swing of the long hexameter line they may find rhythm in what I\n  have to read to them, if not rhyme.\u201d\n\n\nTHE HEROIC AGE.\n\nAN HEXAMETER ODE.\n\nBY REV. GEORGE LANSING TAYLOR, M.A.\n\nHENRY BOEHM, 1775-1875.\n\n_Exegi monumentum \u00e6re perennius._\u2014_Horace, Odes III, 80, 1._\n\n  Where are our hero fathers; the prophets, do they live forever?\u2014\n  Where are the spirits and forms sublime in the ages departed,\n  Forms that loom now, gigantic, as men seen through mists on the\n    hill-tops,\n  Loom through the vista of years, majestic as gods in their stature,\n  Towering above us in labors that shame our puny endeavors,\n  Mighty in godlike virtues, in sufferings like to the martyrs,\n  Like them in poverty, hardship, loneliness, exile, and anguish;\n  Like them in fortitude, valiant as knights in the ages heroic;\n  Lofty and ardent of soul as Godfrey, or Bertrand, or Bayard:\n  Glorying in toils apostolic, in matchless intent and achievement;\n  Flaming with ardor seraphic, and scorning earth\u2019s honors for heaven\u2019s,\n  Such were our hero fathers and founders, the Methodist preachers.\n\n  Honor, all honor to-day to the men, and their labors and triumphs,\n  Labors that shaped a new world, and triumphs that echoed through heaven.\n  Rude was the wild they traversed, a continent virgin and pathless,\n  Peopled by bold, strong races, and States new-rising from darkness;\n  An unformed chaos of men from the ends of the earth flung together,\n  Cast on this shore untrodden like drift cast up by the sea-surf.\n  Men of all lands, all tongues, all ranks, all creeds and opinions,\n  Mingled as quartz and feldspar and hornblende are mingled in granite;\n  Mingled by fiery fusion to make the bed-rock of a nation.\n  Fierce were the forces that fought in the furnace where freedom was\n    molded.\n  Tyranny kindled the flame, but Liberty fann\u2019d it and fed it;\n  Fed it with fire from the skies, and fuel of hearts self-devoted,\n  Till the rude mass, undigested, refractory, stubborn, chaotic,\n  Blended at last in a Union of hearts and of States in firm compact,\n  Welded in blood and fire, cemented for ages of ages.\n\n  Not alone valor heroic, or Liberty\u2019s warm aspirations,\n  Not alone wisdom and state-craft, secured and cemented that union.\n  Lo! from the throne of Jehovah, and borne by the children of Wesley,\n  Came a new message divine to the dying faith of the people.\n  Not in the outworn phrases of long-dead creeds and confessions,\n  Not in the garb sacerdotal, with lifeless liturgical echoes,\n  Not in an unknown tongue, with a wafer Christ, or his image,\n  Came as an angel of light the new evangel of freedom.\n  Free grace alike upon all, and freedom in all to receive it,\n  Pardon of sin, and its witness inborn in the souls of God\u2019s children,\n  Full salvation on earth, and fitness for death and for heaven:\n  Such was the glad new song the new evangel was singing;\n  Such was the message from God that wrought, while the forge-fires of\n    freedom\n  Glowed, and the hammers of war fell fast, as on iron at welding\u2014\n  Wrought, like the flux on the iron, that purifies, softens, dissolves\n    it,\n  Melting the parts into one, as the stroke of the hammer unites them.\n  So did the glad outpouring of grace blend the hearts of the people,\n  Crying, \u201cWhat God hath joined let not man\u2019s strifes put asunder!\u201d\n\n  So wrought the mighty revival, and mighty men wrought in its labors,\n  Giants on earth in those days, and men of renown in the old-time,\n  Deathless their memory still, and deathless their toils and their\n    triumphs.\n  Where is that conquering host, that thundering legion of heroes,\n  Men girt with lightnings celestial, and each one a match for a thousand;\u2014\n  Turning the world upside down, and storming the gates of perdition\u2014\n  Where are they now, with their preaching, their praying, and singing\n    seraphic?\n  Gone! all gone from the earth, swept on like an angel procession,\n  Bursting awhile on men\u2019s eyes, entrancing the earth with their splendor,\n  Then, through the white-cloud screen, melting into the glory eternal.\n  So passeth one generation away, pursued by another,\n  Fading like leaves with the years, while the earth abideth forever.\n\n  Gone! but not all; for lo! one lingers yet living among us,\n  One of that dauntless host that of old shook the earth with their\n    thunder.\n  Hail to the snow-crowned veteran, comrade and partner with heroes!\n  Hail to the patriarch hoary, survivor of thousands and millions!\n  Hail to the oak that has stood while the forest was crashing around it,\n  Stood, and still stands, on the mountain whereerst as a sapling it\n    flourished,\n  Grappling the rocks with its roots and with gnarled arms baffling the\n    tempests,\n  Gray with a century\u2019s mosses that stream like the beard of a druid,\n  Ghostly and bare at the top, green below, and sound to the heart-core!\n  Hail to the hero revered, whose long years stretch on, and still onward,\n  Passing the threescore and ten, the limit appointed to mortals,\n  Passing the frosty fourscore, in vigor erect and unbroken,\n  Shod as with iron and brass, and marching with tramp adamantine\n  On through the deserts of life, where the bones of youth\u2019s caravans\n    whiten,\n  On to the century\u2019s end, to the year that begins a new hundred!\n  Battled-scarred, time-scarred, and sere, like a storm-beaten crag,\n    thunder-rifted,\n  Still in our midst stands the hero, like Nestor of old, sung by Homer;\n  Nestor, the Pylian sage, who had ruled over three generations:\n  So stands Boehm, the revered, to-day \u2019mid the children of Wesley,\n  Children and children\u2019s children of dead generations who loved him,\n  Heard from his lips the glad tidings, believed, and passed shouting to\n    glory!\n  Heard him who stands here to-day, last link of the ages departed!\n\n  Backward, roll backward, ye years that have drifted like autumn leaves\n    o\u2019er him,\n  Bear him in mem\u2019ry once more to the home and the scenes of his childhood.\n  Bear him once more to the farm of his sires in dear old Conestoga,\n  Nigh where the broad Susquehanna rolls on to the bay and the ocean,\n  Bid Pennsylvania\u2019s mountains lift up their blue ridges around him,\n  Laurel Hill, Blue Ridge, Blue Mountains, stern warders of virtue and\n    freedom,\n  Bid the far-known and far-honored old homestead fling wide its broad\n    portal,\n  Once more to welcome the feet that have journeyed so oft to that\n    threshold.\n  Rise from the dust where ye slumber, ye forms that of yore thronged that\n    mansion,\n  Join the bright circle, long broken, and move once more, living, before\n    us!\n\n  Hail, Martin Boehm, sire and sage evangelist, bishop, and farmer,\n  Honored in each and by all, a prince among men stamped by nature.\n  Born of the strong, patient race of the Alps and the old Palatinate;\u2014\n  Calvinist, Pietist, Mennonite, Methodist last and completest;\u2014\n  Friend and copartner with Otterbein, Asbury\u2019s helper and brother,\n  Such was the patriarch sire of that home by the broad Susquehanna.\n\n  Oft there illustrious Asbury rested from toils superhuman,\n  Worn with the long, long march that yearly encircled a continent,\n  Worn yet flaming with zeal apostolic, with love archangelic,\n  Faith that grasped a new world, and the ardor celestial that won it.\n  There was his heart\u2019s best home. There oft great Otterbein halted,\n  Scholar, apostle, and saint, by Asbury loved as a brother;\n  Sage in counsel, and mighty in prayer as Elijah on Carmel;\n  Founder and head of a people, a godly, fraternal communion.\n\n  Hail, Boehm\u2019s Chapel! the temple of limestone, strong and enduring.\n  Sprung from the preaching of Strawbridge, the thundergust sermons of\n    Abbott;\n  Planned by the hallowing hand of Whatcoat, the humble and holy;\n  Still stands the relic of years and heroes departed forever!\n  Where are the trumpet-like voices that pealed there the sound of\n    salvation;\n  Asbury, Otterbein, Boehm, and Goeting, Ware, Colbert, and Chandler,\n  Garrettson, Lee, and M\u2019Kendree, and he who still living, there heard\n    them;\n  Heard in his youth and believed, and joined the great host of the\n    preachers.\n  There, too, rose Jewell and Miller, with Sneath, and the Mitchells and\n    Hunters.\n  There rose the Burches, and Best and Aiken, names honored and cherished.\n  There sleep the forms of the fallen, whose spirits soared thence to\n    their crowning.\n\n  Lo! youthful Henry, called forth by the Church and the Lord of the\n    harvest\u2014\n  Called to proclaim the great message, sublimest announcement to mortals\u2014\n  Speeds on his life-long way, as a herald of mercy to thousands,\n  Speeds with his mother\u2019s sweet kiss, and his patriarch sire\u2019s\n    benediction.\n  Down on the old Eastern shore \u2019twixt the broad Chesapeake and the ocean,\n  Where the Peninsula\u2019s sands and the dark cypress swamps spread around\n    him;\n  Where the strange tongue of the red man still haunts all the lands and\n    the waters;\n  Where blind bigotry\u2019s rage in its rudeness had buffeted angels;\n  There, in the year eighteen hundred, in Dorchester County and Circuit,\n  Rang forth a voice like John\u2019s in the wilderness preaching repentance.\n  Not as one beating the air, in an empty pulpit-gymnastic,\n  Cried the young herald his message \u2019mid struggles and sorrows of spirit.\n  Hundreds, awaked at the story, repented in anguish and mourning.\n  Hundreds in new-found mercy exulted, and shouted salvation.\n  Bloomed then the desert, a garden, the dark cypress swamps, like\n    cathedrals,\n  Rang with the praise of the Lord till ocean in thunder responded,\n  Hail the Peninsula! cradle and birthplace of prophets and heroes!\n  Bostwick, and Bayer, and Beauchamp, M\u2019Combs, and Cooper, and Ph\u0153bus,\n  Martindale, silver-tongued Hull, sage Lawrenson, Emory gifted,\n  Leaders of Israel\u2019s hosts, and wise master-builders in Zion.\n\n  Up, thence, to old Annamessex, to Kent, and Northampton, and Bristol,\n  Up from the sands to the mountains, from youth to the glory of manhood,\n  Pressed the evangelist onward, proclaiming free grace and salvation.\n  Mighty the word in those days, and mighty the Spirit\u2019s outpourings,\n  Falling on camp-meeting, conference, prophets and people together;\n  Falling like pentecost whirlwinds on awe-struck thousands assembled;\n  Sweeping from circuit to circuit till States were ablaze with its glory!\n  So o\u2019er the prairie in autumn the fire-ocean dashes its surges;\n  So over pine-clad mountains roars onward the vast conflagration!\n\n  Lo, through the length of the land, from Maine to the Gulf, in his\n    circuits,\n  Asbury moves like a flame, with Boehm his companion and helper.\n  Not as a servant but friend, a counselor, brother, he journeyed,\n  True as Achates renowned, who of old voyaged with pious \u00c6neas,\n  Loyal as valiant Patroclus, beloved by the godlike Achilles.\n  Onward from circuit to circuit, from city to city, unresting,\n  Toiled the great founder and builder, the care of the Churches upon him.\n  On through the rich cultured East, the bright sunny South, and the\n    center,\n  O\u2019er Alleghanian wilds, Tennessee, rough Kentucky, Ohio;\n  Rivers unbridged, and mountains untraversed, the home of the panther;\n  Plunging through forest and flood, nor halting for frost or for freshet;\n  Heeding nor terror nor tempest, all climates and seasons defying,\n  On, as by heaven\u2019s inspiration, the tramp of their marching resounded.\n\n  What was the strong lure that drew them with force unresisted, undying,\n  Stronger than sorrow or pain? Did golden dreams glitter before them?\n  Empire? or honors? or fame, whose trump thrills the world with its\n    echoes?\n  Nay! None, nor all, of all these; but a mightier spell, and diviner,\n  Bore them on wing and aflame, as it bore the rapt seraphs from glory,\n  Warbling o\u2019er Bethlehem\u2019s slumbers the gush of a rapture immortal!\n  Souls, souls of men, of the poor, the friendless, the erring, the\n    outcast.\n  These were their hire and their treasure, as erst of the Master who\n    taught them.\n  These, won from death, their reward, and the joy of all heaven beholding;\n  These were their sheaves, which the Lord of the harvest with blessing\n    accepted.\n\n  Still grows the toil of that harvest, and still swells the joy of its\n    reaping,\n  Reaped and resown evermore in endless perennial springing;\n  Sown like a handful of corn, but waving like Lebanon\u2019s glory:\u2014\n  Sown with weeping, but reaped \u2019mid anthems of rapture angelic,\n  While this hoar harvester leans on his staff, and beholds, and rejoices.\n  Lo! from the rock-bound shores of the East to the vast Mississippi,\n  On over river, and prairie, and mountain, and desert, and snow range,\n  Rolls in grandeur the march of a mighty and marvelous empire.\n  Hark! In its van, and before it, through solitudes ancient and boundless,\n  Blown by a thousand heralds, the trump of the new-born evangel\n  Wakens the wilds where nations extinct have pined for the dawning;\n  Dawning of morn everlasting, the sunburst for oncoming millions!\n\n  On over earth, as it rolls, in the golden sheen of the sunlight,\n  Swells now the glad new song, the harmonious anthem celestial.\n  Where the winged caravan, harnessed with fire and thunder, is flying;\n  Where, at the magic of commerce, old ocean shrinks to a ferry;\n  Where thought whispers with lightning, and belts the globe in a\n    heart-beat;\n  Where strange tongues babble on through continents old, or untraversed;\n  Where, round the sea-girdled islands, the waves dash music eternal;\n  Where o\u2019er all earth man wanders, sorrowing, sinning, immortal\u2014\n  There shines Columbia\u2019s glory, and their lies the parish of Wesley;\n  There the great harvests of freedom and God wait the sower and reaper.\n\n  Lo, now, the harvester, bowed with the fierce, long heat of the noonday,\n  Weary with wielding the sickle, and bent with the sheaves he has\n    gathered,\n  Walks through the low slant beams of the sunset, and toils tow\u2019rd the\n    garner.\n  Four times the distance that circles this planet those footsteps have\n    measured,\n  Through a long century\u2019s day, but the twilight at last is descending.\n  Shadows of sunset have faded. Through vistas of opal and amber,\n  Gates beyond gates open upward, of hyacinth, sardine, and jasper,\n  Softly unbarred, to the inmost, the gate of one pearl, like a rose-bud\n  Cleft through the core, and turned outward on hinges of gold! Lo,\n    unfolding,\n  Noiseless it swings, like a curtain, and rosy wings poise and sail\n    earthward,\n  Rosy hands reach toward the harvester, tenderly lifting his burden,\n  Tenderly lifting his feet till they thrill on threshold of glory,\n  Till the bent form blooms and glows, and the white head dazzles like\n    Hermon\u2019s,\n  Crowned with his sun-smitten snows,\u2014as this with the throne-flash\n    eternal!\n  Harvester, Farewell! from earth\u2014and Hail! from the elders of heaven!\n\nRev. Cyrus D. Foss, D.D., then responded to the request for some remarks.\n\n\nADDRESS BY REV. DR. FOSS.\n\n  One of the most distinguished advocates in this country is said\n  to have remarked concerning the almost interminable speech of\n  the counsel on the other side: \u201cMy learned friend seems to have\n  feared that it would be impossible for him to make his speech\n  immortal without making it eternal.\u201d Now I am very sure that\n  this meeting is in no such peril as that. Each particular part\n  of these proceedings has been quite too short for its abundant\n  merit, and the meeting itself will be all too short to enable us\n  to utter the feeling of all our hearts. But we may be sure that\n  the memory of this meeting will last, and that three quarters of\n  a century hence\u2014and it may be even farther off than that\u2014when\n  there shall be fifteen millions of Methodist communicants on\n  this continent by the blessing of God, this meeting may be\n  remembered by some of the youth here to-day, and it will go down\n  in permanent form in the Methodist records. I will not extend\n  the time of the meeting long, lest I should impose upon your\n  patience; I will not occupy half the number of minutes that the\n  chairman of the committee has requested me to speak.\n\n  We have been very eloquently told how grandly full of history\n  this last century has been, and how much more this honored\n  life, which in its earthly form shall soon pass away, contains\n  than the life of any man who has lived in any century before\n  this. I recall the sentiment of Bishop Kingsley, who was asked\n  early in the history of our civil war how old he was, and he\n  promptly answered, \u201cOne hundred and forty-six.\u201d \u201cWhy,\u201d said his\n  questioner, \u201chow do you make that out?\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d he replied, \u201cI\n  was forty-six years old when the war began, and I have lived a\n  hundred years since.\u201d Now reckoning upon that principle, which is\n  the just one, our venerable Father Boehm might well claim to be\n  a thousand years of age to-day. You have heard in the eloquent\n  address of our brother from Philadelphia some account of the\n  wonderful progress we have made within the last century. He did\n  not tell you what I will add, namely, that since this godly man\n  began to preach the Gospel there have been ten times as many\n  copies of the word of God put into circulation as were circulated\n  before in all the centuries since Moses wrote the Pentateuch; and\n  that within the same space of time there has been a great deal\n  more done in extending the Gospel into the regions beyond, in\n  obedience to that inspiring \u201cGo!\u201d which the Lord Jesus put at the\n  back of his apostles before he ascended into heaven, than in all\n  the other ages before. What a century that makes of the one in\n  which we live! Of this work, by the blessing of God, our honored\n  guest is no small part: and more, that sublime temple, in which\n  he stands so tall and strong a column, the temple of Methodism,\n  is no small part.\n\n  My dear friends, I stand here not to attempt what now would\n  be impossible\u2014any thing further in the line of the touching,\n  delicate, and eloquent personalities which have been so fitly\n  spoken here to-day, and which have thrilled our hearts with\n  delight. I cannot pluck another flower from anywhere to adorn\n  the wreath that these brethren have woven for this godly man. I\n  will say a few words concerning that grand system of religious\n  revival and propagandism which he helped to build when it was\n  weak, and which gathers us here to-day. And what is it\u2014this great\n  religious system, so mighty for the world\u2019s evangelization, by\n  God\u2019s blessing? If I had an hour to speak here on this occasion,\n  I would say that the secret of the wonderful success of Methodism\n  is to be sought, in part, in its doctrinal system, in part in\n  its ecclesiastical peculiarities, and still more largely in its\n  religious experience.\n\n  Concerning the first of these points, I could not summarize\n  our doctrinal teachings, speaking in this impromptu way, half\n  so well as they have just been stated in the poem. Of course\n  our fathers adhered to all the great truths which the Church\n  had held through all time, but they lopped away some of the\n  errors, and were commissioned by God not to add any new truth,\n  (for the truth was perfect when the canon of Scripture was\n  closed,) but to re-emphasize some of the old and forgotten\n  verities; and so when they went forth into regions in England\n  and America where the dry rot of religious thinking, which men\n  call theology, had misled the minds of the people and had dulled\n  their sensibilities\u2014when they went forth preaching to all men\n  that they were really in peril of eternal death, and that there\n  was offered to them in the Gospel, by their lips, _salvation_\u2014a\n  present salvation, a conscious salvation, a full salvation\u2014no\n  wonder they found a hearing. That was the proclamation that these\n  men every-where made; and these important truths, hidden in the\n  creeds before, or at least not brought out, held up as flaming\n  torches before the faces of men, needed only to be so presented\n  to light up the dull eye and warm the frozen heart of the world.\n\n  Not only in the emphasis which they laid on these truths did our\n  fathers do a grand work for the world. We had also important\n  ecclesiastical peculiarities. The first of these that arrested\n  the attention of men seventy-five years ago in America, and one\n  hundred and twenty-five years ago in England, was our itinerant\n  ministry. The preacher did not stand still in one place and wait\n  for the people to come to him, but went to them with the offer\n  of the Gospel of the Son of God, because he felt within him the\n  pressure of that almighty \u201cGo!\u201d of the Lord Jesus Christ, which\n  impelled him on to preach the word with power. After a man\u2019s\n  attention had been arrested by Methodism, the next thing was to\n  invite him to the class-meeting. The preacher, seeing the tears\n  streaming down his face, and going to him after the sermon, would\n  ask him\u2014not \u201cDo you believe the Thirty-nine Articles?\u201d nor \u201cAre\n  you willing to be damned for the glory of God?\u201d\u2014but he would\n  simply say, \u201cDo you desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to\n  be saved from your sins?\u201d and if he said \u201cYes,\u201d he would be told,\n  \u201cHere is Brother Jones, a class leader, go to his class next\n  Thursday night.\u201d The people also found that a man who wielded\n  the hammer on the anvil from Monday to Saturday went forth on\n  Sunday and preached the Gospel. So there was a lay ministry, and\n  that was another peculiarity of the ecclesiastical polity of our\n  Church. Concerning these and all the rest I will simply say, that\n  the grand peculiarity of all was, that it was not a man-made\n  system, devised in the brain of John Wesley or any body else,\n  but simply a leading forth, under the providence of God, and by\n  the hand of God, of godly men to bless and save the world. There\n  is not a single peculiarity of Methodism that was not a child of\n  Providence. John Wesley never intended one of them. So we are\n  followers of Wesley when we follow God. To him who would follow\n  the path in which John Wesley trod, if Wesley were alive to-day\n  he would say, \u201cGod is our leader, follow him.\u201d And yet in doing\n  this I am persuaded that we should wisely heed the sentiments of\n  that eloquent utterance of Bishop Asbury in the letter that has\n  just now been read to us. Let us hope, and pray, and beseech,\n  clinging to the very horns of the altar, that every change made\n  in the policy of this grandly successful Church may be manifestly\n  \u201cmade by God and not by men, who have long been trying to be\n  their own bishops.\u201d\n\n  After all, as it seems to me, the greatest thing in Methodism,\n  from the beginning until now, has been its religious experience.\n  Why, my dear sir, God\u2019s way of making any great truth effective\n  is not by writing it in the Bible, but on the fleshly tables of\n  men\u2019s hearts. There is not a single one of those old verities\n  which are vital to our faith but has been in the world, but has\n  been in the Book, for almost nineteen centuries; and yet the Dark\n  Ages passed over the world for all that. Pardon of sin, salvation\n  through faith alone, was already within the Book of God; but the\n  people did not heed it until God put it in the heart of Martin\n  Luther, and when he told it the world believed him, and hence the\n  Reformation.\n\n  And so in the time of the Wesleys, and in the time of their\n  followers in England and America, the power of God was made\n  manifest through their experience. It was not simply the\n  ecclesiastical peculiarities that they held to, it was not simply\n  the doctrines they taught; it was those doctrines set on fire in\n  their hearts that made people learn the lesson, and that alone.\n\n  My dear friends, there is not a single truth of Christianity\n  which has not been in some age of the world buried, and buried\n  out of sight; and every such truth, when exhumed, has been\n  exhumed in this way: God has taken it and put it into the living\n  soul of a living man, and it has possessed him, and then he has\n  gone forth and declared it, and men have believed him. Look at\n  the old truth of the universality of the offer of the Gospel. The\n  great commission should have taught this to the Apostle Peter.\n  But long after that you find him hiding away from the Gentiles,\n  not holding to their company, until God set him right at last\n  by a vision from heaven, and he came forth and said what one\n  would have thought his personal experience with Jesus should\n  have taught him long before:\u2014Peter came forth and declared, as\n  though he had found something new, \u201cI perceive that God is no\n  respecter of persons.\u201d And away down the ages, until a century\n  ago, the Church was possessed by the same Jewish bigotry. It is\n  within the life-time not only of our venerable patriarch, but of\n  others here to-day, that at a meeting of ministers the question,\n  \u201cWill any young minister suggest to us a subject for discussion?\u201d\n  was asked, and up rose William Carey and said: \u201cMr. Chairman, I\n  suggest for discussion this theme, \u2018The duty of the Christian\n  Church to evangelize the heathen world,\u2019\u201d and the old gray-haired\n  moderator, Dr. Ryland, said: \u201cSit down, young man, sit down; when\n  God gets ready to convert the heathen he will do it without your\n  help or mine.\u201d But the great truth was hidden in the hearts of\n  William Carey, Adoniram Judson, and Thomas Coke, and they went\n  forth and proclaimed it, and the world is beginning to believe it.\n\n  So with the knowledge of sins forgiven; by the witness of the\n  Spirit Methodism has done much to make this precious experience\n  the common heritage of the Evangelical Church of to-day. A\n  century and a half ago I doubt if there were ten men in all\n  England who dared to say they believed that doctrine. When\n  Benjamin Abbott was past thirty years of age, he had never heard\n  a man say he knew his sins forgiven; and when he proclaimed it\n  as his experience a deacon told him it was a dangerous heresy,\n  and every man who held it ought to be put to death. And that\n  within this century! But, my dear friends, after fifteen years of\n  such service of God as few men have ever rendered\u2014after fifteen\n  years of such apostolic zeal for the relief of the poor, and\n  the religious instruction of prisoners, and the bringing to\n  morality and decency of the lowest of the sinful, as few men have\n  ever passed through\u2014a young man of Lincoln College, Oxford, at\n  the age of thirty-three or thirty-four, hearing a Moravian read\n  from one of Luther\u2019s Commentaries about justification by faith\n  alone, says that in that meeting, about half past eight o\u2019clock\n  in the evening, his heart was \u201cstrangely warmed;\u201d and then\n  Methodism was born. If it had not been for that strange warming\n  of John Wesley\u2019s heart we would not be here to-day. It was the\n  vitalization, in the experience of the Methodists, of the old,\n  forgotten doctrine that made them mighty, and sent forth this\n  \u201cgreat religious movement,\u201d as Stevens so well calls it, \u201cof the\n  eighteenth century.\u201d\n\n  I must not multiply words, sir. It is my prayer that in all the\n  changes of our Church polity we may \u201cmake haste slowly;\u201d that in\n  all matters of Christian doctrine we may follow the word of God,\n  and may have the truth interpreted to us as it was to Wesley, by\n  the illuminating light of the Spirit, and that the great power\n  of Methodism may ever be the power of its scriptural, personal,\n  joyous experience.\n\nRev. David W. Bartine, D.D., delivered the closing address.\n\n\nDR. BARTINE\u2019S ADDRESS.\n\n  I feel weary at this moment with the journeyings of a hundred\n  years\u2014with the reasonings, the preaching, and the toil of a\n  hundred years. And I presume that this congregation is weary\n  too\u2014weary for once with perfect delight in the enjoyment of\n  an entertainment that we shall never forget, with a pleasure\n  that will thrill our hearts till our feet touch the cold waters\n  of Jordan. I am one of Father Boehm\u2019s boys, and I delight in\n  the privilege afforded me to-day, at the closing moments of\n  these profoundly interesting services, to say so. When I was a\n  little babe, (of course I don\u2019t remember the circumstance, but\n  my friends remember it,) Father Boehm, in company with Bishop\n  Asbury, came to my father\u2019s house. (My father, you know, was one\n  of the old pioneers, a plain, grand old man, a hero through and\n  through, who met the heresies to which my brother referred awhile\n  ago and helped to conquer them.) Well, they came to my father\u2019s\n  house, and the bishop baptized me, as Father Boehm remembers\n  and has often told me; and that put me in the succession, and I\n  am as perfectly in the apostolic succession to-day as any man\n  in America or in the world\u2014not simply because the old bishop\n  baptized me, but, my friends, afterward God converted me in the\n  old-fashioned Methodist style. I learned the great principles of\n  this wondrous Church in the company of such learned men as these,\n  (pointing to Father Boehm,) sitting at their feet, listening to\n  their words, and being taught in the schools of which they were\n  the prophets. And I glory to-day that I feel like clinging to the\n  good old-fashioned Methodist style.\n\n  In the year 1832, when I was a boy\u2014and I suppose as we sometimes\n  say, in cant phrase, somewhat \u201cgreen\u201d\u2014I received a message from\n  this venerable father inviting me to attend a camp-meeting; and\n  those meetings were real camp-meetings; the people went there\n  to pray all the time, and to look for the baptism of the Holy\n  Ghost. I went, trembling, fearing, feeling utterly disqualified\n  for the work I had entered on, and which I believe God called me\n  to undertake; and I shall never forget the kindly greeting this\n  precious father gave me as I entered those grounds. He took all\n  the fear from my heart, and greeted me with a cordiality I have\n  never forgotten; he said a few kindly, loving, simple words, that\n  strengthened my heart through and through, and from that day to\n  this I have been blessed and honored with the friendship of this\n  venerable man of God.\n\n  If I had time to-day I should like to give a number of\n  reminiscences which I could present, but the time has passed\n  so rapidly that the close of these interesting services is\n  necessarily near at hand. And before we separate this afternoon\n  let us congratulate ourselves that we still have preserved among\n  us such a grand specimen of the Methodism of the olden time. Dr.\n  Foss presented us with some very interesting thoughts upon this\n  subject, and that is one of the points I intended to present. But\n  every one who has spoken to-day has stolen some of my thunders,\n  so that I am compelled to manufacture thunder as I go along; and\n  I find that its manufacture is not so easy a matter when others\n  have used your material so freely as have these brethren who\n  preceded me to-day.\n\n  But let me say to you, my friends, that we are not to treat\n  lightly an example such as we find in this venerable man.\n  Concentrated in him is Methodism in its simplest form, in its\n  purest characteristics\u2014Methodism as I pray God it may go down to\n  the ages of the future. And I want it to be distinctly understood\n  that I am not a believer in this modern idea that we are going\n  easily to improve the system of Methodism which this venerable\n  man helped to found. It may be tampered with, its success might\n  be interfered with; but it is not a very easy thing to mend it. I\n  am willing to be led, as my fathers were, where God shall lead;\n  but I want to see the footprints of God where I put my feet,\n  I want to see divine providence indicating the way in all the\n  wondrous march of this form of Christianity.\n\n  There is one thing most assuredly a fact, and that is, that our\n  system of itinerancy cannot well be improved. I do not know what\n  Bishop Asbury would say to-day upon this interesting subject:\n  whether it is the true philosophy to so change our ministerial\n  arrangements as to continue a man in one or two appointments\n  during a life-time, and still call it an itinerancy. I want to\n  say, that though I would not be an \u201cold fogy,\u201d you will find it\n  a hard thing to improve in this direction that system which has\n  shaken the world. And the question with me is, whether, with\n  all the improvement that is claimed for it, it is shaking the\n  world to-day as it shook it when this venerable father, with\n  heroic purpose and earnest voice, led on his combined forces\n  on his grand old districts? The world did shake then; hell did\n  shake then; the powers of unbelief and heresy did shake then,\n  as the hosts of God marched on from battle to battle, and from\n  victory to victory. A great many well-polished shafts were then\n  hurled by these men of bluntest speech, with both force and\n  effect, at the heart of the foe; and it is a question worthy of\n  consideration whether, after all our advancement in learning and\n  literature, and every thing of that sort\u2014after all our boasted\n  improvement\u2014there is that real, old, divine unction that shook\n  the dead Churches, and awakened the sleeping multitudes to a\n  realization of their need of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus\n  Christ?\n\n  I am reminded of all that, and of the simple effort and simple\n  prayer that took hold of the citadel of death and Satan, and\n  through the high and hidden things of the Gospel saved men by\n  leading them to Christ. In Father Boehm\u2019s early and later days,\n  when persons would come to the altar to seek the Lord Jesus\n  Christ, and it was fashionable to kneel and to throw themselves\n  prostrate upon their faces, they would cry mightily to God and\n  struggle hard for his mercy, and earnest people gathered around\n  them with tears, and finally with songs of joy; and it was not\n  the fashion then to pass around the altar and say, \u201cSister, do\n  you feel any better?\u201d \u201cBrother, do you think you have found\n  peace?\u201d No; that was not the way. The common way was to pray on\n  until the baptism of the Holy Ghost fell upon them, and without\n  prompting they declared what God had done for their souls. Now\n  there are some little points like that which I don\u2019t think we can\n  improve upon\u2014some points which, if we could retain them in all\n  our efforts to do good, would be better for the Church and the\n  world. The very kind of testimony that this venerable patriarch\n  and his compeers were in the habit of bearing to the world is\n  what still needs to be borne. We should never speak hesitatingly\n  upon the one great subject, \u201cThat God for Christ\u2019s sake has\n  pardoned all my sins.\u201d They called it heresy then, they call\n  it heresy now; but it was and it is a blessed truth that Jesus\n  Christ had then, as he has now, power on earth to forgive sins,\n  to change the heart, and make a man to know it.\n\n  And then that other doctrine which has not been referred to: it\n  was a doctrine of Methodism\u2014I have heard this venerable servant\n  of God preach it, (for I have heard him preach many a time, heard\n  sweet and precious words from his lips,) the fire of the Holy\n  Ghost within him, the divine unction resting upon him, while he\n  would tell us of the power of Jesus Christ to cleanse from all\n  unrighteousness\u2014it was a doctrine of Methodism that the blood\n  of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. And that precious truth\n  still lives, one of the most beautiful trees of God\u2019s garden. The\n  religion of Jesus Christ found man dead, polluted, corrupted, and\n  that tree has so grown that to-day multitudes are plucking from\n  it the ripe and rich and luscious fruits of living Christianity.\n  All hail to that patriarch who, sitting in his tent door, watches\n  to see how the battle is going! All hail to his heart as it fills\n  to-day with the ancient fire, and flames with the ancient divine\n  patriotism!\n\n  I think there was something said about my closing these services.\n  I am very sorry Bishop Simpson is not here. We had hoped to\n  reach the climax of these services in the closing speech of the\n  excellent bishop. But following all the splendid oratory that\n  has thundered in your ears to-day, it is a difficult matter\n  for a small piece of artillery like me to do much on such an\n  occasion as the present. I do honestly feel, my brethren, that\n  I am in a very embarrassing position. Just look at it. Here is\n  a man (Dr. Foss) whom they almost made a bishop at the last\n  General Conference; here is a man (Dr. Todd) whom I found in the\n  mountains of Pennsylvania, and sent him on his way as worthy to\n  be one of the successors of this grand old patriarch; and here\n  is a distinguished Professor, (Prof. Buttz,) just fresh from\n  college, with his laurels thick upon him, a man beloved by every\n  one who knows him. That these brethren have spoken, and spoken so\n  well, only adds to my embarrassment.\n\n  As one of the brethren said, we are not here to cry, \u201cMy father,\n  my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!\u201d O\n  no; we are not even where Joash was when he heard of Elisha\u2019s\n  illness, and came down to weep over him and cry, \u201cMy father, my\n  father,\u201d etc. But I will tell you where we are. You know it is\n  Christianity that sanctifies the soul, the baptism of love which\n  photographs the image of the Eternal upon the human affections,\n  and extracts the sting from death. Now it seems to me when Father\n  Boehm shall pass away there will not be any death in it. He has\n  been under the experience and power of this saving faith so long,\n  that every thing in that line comes as a matter of course, and\n  after a little while, when his days are numbered, it won\u2019t be\n  dying, but going up in a chariot of fire into heaven. It has\n  seemed to me all the morning as though we were taking the last\n  three miles\u2019 walk that Elijah and Elisha took after they got\n  over Jordan. You remember that last three miles\u2019 walk, perhaps\n  the most delightful incident in the history of the prophet\n  Elijah. Perhaps we are taking that walk this morning\u2014that last\n  three miles\u2019 walk. You know Elijah had said\u2014and perhaps we may\n  imagine Father Boehm saying the same this morning\u2014\u201cTarry here,\n  I pray thee: while I go over Jordan,\u201d and the answer was, \u201cAs\n  the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.\u201d\n  No, Father Boehm, these hearts cling to you to-day with all the\n  ardor of youth, and they mean to cling to you until your spirit\n  shall ascend to be forever at rest with God the Saviour. These\n  last three miles\u2014have they not been very pleasant to-day, my\n  brethren, as we talked over the old patriarch\u2019s history, as we\n  talked over the glory that looms up in the future? Have we not\n  rejoiced in it? It has been glorious\u2014this last three miles\u2019 walk!\n  And it may be (though some of us may pass away before him, as the\n  sainted Wakeley went from this pulpit and from the company of his\n  brethren, so unexpectedly and so gloriously to his eternal rest)\n  that many here may receive what Elisha did, a double portion of\n  his spirit at the translation of our Elijah. \u201cAsk,\u201d said the\n  prophet, \u201cwhat I shall do for thee before I be taken away from\n  thee.\u201d I know Father Boehm\u2019s heart would ask that question if he\n  knew the day of his departure was near at hand; and I know the\n  response of each heart here would be like that of Elisha, \u201cLet a\n  double portion of thy spirit be upon me.\u201d O God, give us a double\n  portion of the spirit of the fathers\u2014their spirit of sacrifice,\n  their spirit of love, their spirit of simplicity, their spirit of\n  holy earnestness in the pursuit of knowledge, their spirit of\n  consecration to their blessed work; and that divine unction that\n  shall make every minister in our Church a power, and every member\n  of our Church a power, thus presenting the banded forces of our\n  Methodism moving on in one solid column against the hosts of this\n  wicked world! That is what we want. May God grant the speedy\n  dawning of that day!\n\n  Meanwhile, brothers and friends, the old bark is approaching\n  the haven; the hoary head crowned with glory proclaims the\n  beaming forth of the light of heaven; that venerable countenance\n  is illuminated to-day with a supernatural light; as the bark\n  approaches the haven he is striking his topmast and furling his\n  sails, and after a little while he will drop his anchor in the\n  waters that are never troubled, amid scenes and under skies that\n  are never overcast with clouds. The old pilgrim rests to-day\n  on the top of his staff. O, I am so thankful that a beautiful,\n  calm twilight is shining softly upon his soul as he approaches\n  \u201cthat bourne whence no traveler returns\u201d\u2014to that river which, as\n  Payson says, has become a rivulet to him, over which he shall\n  step at any moment when God shall permit! God grant that there\n  may be no shadow on Father Boehm\u2019s life in this world, and if it\n  please God, that he may be permitted to remain among us longer\n  yet as a living example. For we have a century of history, of\n  ecclesiastical policy, and of preaching Christ with saving power,\n  all concentrated in this venerable old man, a monument that\n  stands firm amid passing years, and throws its light upon the\n  traveler to the world of spirits, and the home of the good and\n  the pure.\n\nThe quartet choir then sang the closing centennial hymn, written by Fanny\nCrosby:\u2014\n\n  Eternal, ever-present Lord,\n    We lift our grateful hearts to thee,\n  In praise for what our ears have heard,\n    And what our eyes this moment see.\n\n  \u2019Tis by thy providential care\n    That he, whose name we all revere,\n  Is with us in thy house of prayer,\n    And celebrates his hundredth year.\n\n  As thou on Israel\u2019s tents of old\n    Didst bid the cloudy pillar shine,\n  To us, thy chosen, now unfold\n    Its light and majesty divine.\n\n  And as we leave this hallowed place\n    Thy benediction we implore\n  To him, our sire; O grant thy grace,\n    And keep us all for evermore.\n\n  We may not meet again as now;\n    But when a few more days have passed,\n  In thine own kingdom may we bow,\n    And each receive a crown at last.\n\nIt was announced that, by advice of his physician, Father Boehm would\nhave to dispense with all congratulatory hand-shaking, a single\nexception, however, being made in favor of the mother of President Grant.\nThe services were closed with the benediction, pronounced by Father Boehm.\n\n\nEVENING RECEPTION.\n\nFrom eight o\u2019clock till ten, on the evening of the same day, the parlors\nof Father Boehm\u2019s son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Emley, at\n59 Wayne-street, Jersey City, were thronged with a goodly company of\nfriends, who came to spend the last hours of the day with the venerable\ncentenarian.\n\nAmong others, there were present Rev. Dr. J. S. Porter of Burlington,\nN. J.; Rev. Dr. D. W. Bartine and wife of Morristown; Rev. R. Vanhorne,\nPresiding Elder of the Jersey City District, and wife; Rev. John\nAtkinson, of the Trinity Church, and wife; Rev. J. L. G. M\u2019Kown, of the\nHedding Church, and wife and daughter; Rev. A. J. Palmer, of the Waverly\nChurch, and wife; Mr. and Mrs. Dusenbury, Mr. and Mrs. J. O. Rouse, Mr.\nand Mrs. Hopping, Prof. Martin, David Taylor, Esq., H. N. Ege, Esq., S.\nSterling, Esq., and Dr. Walter Haddon, Father Boehm\u2019s physician.\n\nThey were most delightful hours, those two, and they will live long in\nthe memory of the happy people present.\n\nThe \u201chero\u201d of the hour was happy as his guests, and received their\ncongratulations with thankfulness to God. His strength seemed remarkable,\nfor he had participated in the prolonged services of the morning, yet\nseemed in no way weary till a late hour at night. After an hour\u2019s\nconversation presentations were the order, and many beautiful mementos\nof the love of his friends were given to Father Boehm. The gift of his\nson-in-law was a magnificent marble clock. Several superb bouquets and\nbaskets of flowers were presented to him by other friends. Dr. Porter,\nin behalf of his daughter, handed him a huge cake, elegantly frosted,\nand lettered \u201cOne Century,\u201d saying that he (Dr. Porter) remembered that\nFather Boehm used to be fond of cake and cream when he was a visitor\nat his house many years ago. Then Dr. M\u2019Kown, in a neat little speech,\npresented him with a picture, the \u201cRock of Ages,\u201d from loving friends.\n\nPerhaps the most unique souvenir of all was a chest of tea, containing\nfour choice kinds of that commodity, and bearing in printed letters the\ninscription, \u201cFather Boehm\u2019s Centennial Tea,\u201d which had been sent all\nthe way from China as a present by Rev. S. L. Baldwin. Rev. A. J. Palmer\nread a letter from Brother Baldwin, which accompanied the tea, in which\nthe writer expressed his pleasure in having been united for years with\nFather Boehm in conference relations, (both are members of the Newark\nConference,) his congratulations, and his gratitude to God for the long\nand pure life with which the venerable Father had been blessed. This\ntoken of love from the other side of the world was highly appreciated,\nand a \u201cdrawing\u201d of the tea was presented to each of the guests of the\nhour.\n\nOne year before that evening Dr. J. B. Wakeley had presented Father\nBoehm with a picture of Bishop Asbury, since which time the giver, who\nwas a dear friend of the recipient, has \u201cfallen asleep in Jesus.\u201d So,\nwith great fitness, Rev. J. Atkinson presented Father Boehm with an\nelegant portrait of Dr. Wakeley, which was received in silence, but with\nappreciation.\n\nThus with presents and congratulations the evening passed. When it was\nten o\u2019clock Father Boehm rose, and in a clear, full voice, sang a little\nGerman song which he had learned ninety-five years before from his German\nteacher, a Hessian soldier, whom Washington captured at Trenton. Then,\nlast of all, when the hour of parting came, the venerable man of God\npronounced the benediction upon the company ere they separated.\n\nThus ended the exercises, public and private, on the one hundredth\nanniversary of the birthday of the Rev. Henry Boehm.\n\nThe words oftenest upon his lips throughout the day were echoed by all,\n\u201cThe Lord be praised!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVIII.\n\nCENTENNIAL SERMON AND OTHER SERVICES IN JOHN-STREET CHURCH, NEW YORK.\n\n\nOn the morning of Sunday, June 27, 1875, Father Boehm preached his\ncentennial sermon in the Methodist Episcopal Church in John-street. It\nwas a notable event, and among the congregation memory and imagination\nwere both busy with the associations and thoughts suggested by it. When\nhe preached what was called his centennial sermon before the Newark\nConference, in the preceding April, he had not quite completed his one\nhundred years; but now he was a genuine centenarian, and the interest\nof the occasion was heightened by the place in which he preached his\nreal centennial sermon. His first visit to the old church, which stood\non the present site in John-street, was made in company with Bishop\nAsbury on the 7th of May, 1809, of which he wrote: \u201cWhat thoughts crowded\nmy mind as I entered this cradle of Methodism! What rich and hallowed\nassociations cluster around this original home of Methodism on this\ncontinent!\u201d\n\nBut to those who were present at the services in question, as well as\nto the venerable centenarian who revisited the place after so long a\nperiod, the occasion was one of singular and peculiar interest. Here\nwas the oldest Methodist minister of the world preaching in the oldest\nMethodist church\u2014an event which may well be called unique, an incident\nseldom seen, even once in a century.\n\nThe church was crowded. Among the clergymen present were Bishop Janes;\nRev. N. G. Cheney, pastor of the church; Rev. Dr. Reid, Missionary\nSecretary; Rev. Dr. De Puy, Rev. Dr. Holdich, Rev. Mr. Dikeman, and\nRev. Dr. Dean, of East Tennessee. After a voluntary on the organ the\ncongregation joined in singing\n\n  \u201cFrom all that dwell below the skies.\u201d\n\nDr. Holdich led in prayer. During the preliminary devotional services\nFather Boehm, accompanied by some of his most intimate friends, entered\nthe church and took a seat in the pulpit beside Bishop Janes. Our\nsenior bishop looked to be in the bloom of youth beside the venerable\ncentenarian. The tender and affectionate manner in which the bishop\nassisted him in the service suggested the most touching attention of son\nto sire. After singing the hymn commencing,\n\n  \u201cWhen all thy mercies, O my God,\u201d\n\nthe whole congregation showed their respect for Father Boehm by rising\nas he came forward to begin his sermon. Opening the Bible, he announced\nhis text, and in a clear voice spoke fluently as follows, amid the\nprofoundest silence:\u2014\n\n\nFATHER BOEHM\u2019S SERMON.\n\n    \u201cBehold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my\n    voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup\n    with him, and he with me.\u201d\u2014REV. iii, 20.\n\n  We have set before us in this passage an astounding\n  condescension. The Great Being condescends to come and stand at\n  the door of our hearts and knock, and wait for an entrance. This\n  is indeed a wonderful condescension; for here it is set before us\n  that the blessed Jesus, who has all power in heaven and in earth,\n  condescends to come down to dependent, sinful beings, and wait at\n  the door for voluntary entrance. \u201cI stand at the door and knock.\u201d\n\n  This refers, no doubt, to the impression made upon the mind, the\n  sensibilities aroused with fear and with hope. This sets before\n  us the working of the gracious influences upon the heart of man,\n  and they wait for a voluntary entrance. The Lord condescends\n  to knock, and this knocking implies a call\u2014\u201cIf any man hear my\n  voice, and open the door.\u201d Jesus will not break the door; he will\n  not enter by forcible means. There must be voluntary consent\n  on the part of the subject, who must invite the Holy Spirit to\n  come in with his gracious influence and divine power. \u201cBehold, I\n  stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice\u201d\u2014that is,\n  attentively hear my voice\u2014\u201cif any man hear my voice, and open\n  the door, I will come in.\u201d \u201cI will turn out all that is contrary\n  to the divine influence. I will sup with him. I will, in its\n  gracious manifestations, enjoy the divine favor; and I will, as\n  it were, partake of the blessings that I have provided.\u201d What\n  condescension! \u201cI will sup with him as though he had prepared all\n  the feast.\u201d Jesus provides all that is necessary, and then he\n  condescends to say, \u201cI will sup with him, and he with me.\u201d\n\n  Glory to God in the highest for his manifestations, for his\n  goodness, for his mercy and long-suffering, extending unto\n  us! O, the goodness of God in sparing us, in giving us this\n  opportunity for another call, another gracious touch, another\n  divine influence! O, that our hearts may be opened, and may this\n  be a day long to be remembered, a day of mercy and power in the\n  salvation of many thousands of precious souls! Blessed be God for\n  his divine mercy and goodness! I rejoice that the enjoyment of\n  the favor of God, the love of God, is something that does not get\n  old. It is ever new, it is ever precious. It is as precious to my\n  soul this day as it was many years ago. In the days of my youth\n  the Lord manifested himself unto my soul and led me to see the\n  evil that I should shun, and his grace was sufficient to lead me\n  on; and, bless the Lord! now in advanced years it is the source\n  of comfort, the source of joy and hope to me. Yes! Look beyond\n  and what do we see? A bright and heavenly day, a glorious day,\n  awaits us beyond this vale of tears.\n\n  May God in his infinite mercy add his blessing, and may his name\n  be glorified in the salvation of many precious souls! O what a\n  change has occurred since I was first at this place\u2014not the same\n  church edifice, but a church was in this place\u2014in 1809 with the\n  venerable Bishop Asbury, and many other brethren who have gone\n  home to their reward! Bless the Lord that he has still a people\n  here to serve him! O, may their numbers increase many fold, and\n  may thy name, O Lord, be glorified here in the salvation of\n  hundreds of precious souls! Amen.\n\nWhen Father Boehm had resumed his seat Bishop Janes added the following\nremarks:\u2014\n\n\nBISHOP JANES\u2019 ADDRESS.\n\n  Elderly people usually appreciate aged men and aged things. They\n  usually see in them interest, and have for them veneration, and\n  perceive that there must be in them some strength, some power,\n  some excellence which sustains them. Younger persons are more\n  taken with new things, and those that perhaps have more of\n  show, more that excites present admiration. And this is not\n  unphilosophical. Our experiences would naturally lead to this\n  difference of feeling and of regard.\n\n  No one, however, can contemplate the spectacle that we have\n  before us this morning without the conviction to which I have\n  referred\u2014that there must be something in the constitution and\n  character and life of our dear father that has contributed to\n  his great longevity. The British fortress of Gibraltar has stood\n  through so many continental wars because of its great strength,\n  because it was impregnable to all the military powers and forces\n  that were known and employed in those wars. Those very ancient\n  cathedrals in the Old World that have stood for centuries, and\n  to-day look as if they were likely to stand for centuries more,\n  convince us that they were built with great care and with great\n  strength, or they could not have stood so long the exposure to\n  the elements and the influence of time. If you go to the mountain\n  side and look upon the oak that has stood there as long as our\n  father has lived, and that has battled all the storms of a\n  century and is still strong, and covered with foliage and beauty,\n  we know that there must have been perfect soundness in the tree,\n  and that there must have been great strength in its roots, or it\n  could not have thus lived, and grown, and still possessed such\n  beauty in its old age. If there had been the least defect in the\n  tree that defect would have been seen in its increasing decay\n  long before this. And if you go into an orchard and look upon\n  a tree that has given fruitage to two generations, and perhaps\n  is being covered with moss\u2014some of its topmost boughs may be\n  leafless, and perhaps sapless\u2014and you see it is still bearing\n  fruit in its old age, you know that tree was a sound one, and had\n  been cared for; and because of its perfectness, and because of\n  the care it has received, it has reached this great age, has been\n  so fruitful and has benefited so many, and given pleasure to such\n  multitudes.\n\n  The same is true of this individual who has lived one hundred\n  years. He must have inherited a good constitution, and during\n  his youth he must have avoided all excesses, and during his\n  manhood also he must have been, in the language of Scripture,\n  \u201ctemperate in all things.\u201d There can have been indulged no\n  consuming lust, no excessive indulgence. There can have been\n  indulged no appetite to excess, but all these bodily appetites,\n  and passions, and lusts, have been held in abeyance. He has kept\n  his body under. He has governed himself in all his physical\n  habits, and in all his physical enjoyments and exercises;\n  otherwise this \u201charp of a thousand strings\u201d would not have been\n  kept in such perfect tune so long. More than this: his mind has\n  been under government, controlled by right principles and by\n  proper motives.\n\n  There has been no consuming ambition, no burning desire for\n  wealth, that consumes the vitality both of body and soul. And\n  when the secrets of human life are understood we shall find\n  how many of those sudden deaths, and of those suicides, have\n  resulted in consequence of this terrible ambition to be rich. And\n  equally corroding, and consuming and destroying, is the desire\n  for honor. I do not refer now merely to that extended fame after\n  which the soldier and the statesman and the poet aspire. Those\n  little ambitions which exist here among us, in our families,\n  in our social circle\u2014to excel one another in our condition and\n  surroundings in life, in the furniture of our houses, and the\n  style of our living\u2014those petty ambitions in families are just as\n  corroding and destroying as are those grander ambitions to which\n  I have referred. And, in order to such a life as our father has\n  lived, and such an age as he has reached, and such an evening\n  as he enjoys, a good conscience is an absolute prerequisite.\n  There is not one of us here to-day who believes if he had had\n  a reproaching conscience, one that disturbed his hours during\n  the day, and prevented rest at night, that he would enjoy this\n  tranquil, serene, beautiful old age. One single cause of remorse\n  would destroy all this beauty and blessing that crowns his life.\n\n  Now I make these remarks in order that we may learn wisdom from\n  his example, that the youth who are here may see the importance\n  of the strictest bodily habits\u2014eating, drinking, sleeping, all\n  bodily exercises, and especially the avoiding of all bodily\n  excesses, and all unlawful lusts, and passions, and appetites.\n  Avoid them as you would death and hell, for they are the cause of\n  destruction both in this world and in the world to come.\n\n  We also call your attention to that source of strength and power\n  which has so greatly influenced the character, and governed the\n  life, and made perfect the experience, of our venerable brother.\n  As he has told us, he was converted to God in his youth. He gave\n  his heart to the Saviour in his early manhood, and he has had\n  through all these years the peace of God, a tranquil soul. O\n  what a treasure! How rich a boon religion gives in this life!\n  How sweet the experience which grace imparts! In this governing,\n  controlling, harmonizing power of religion we have one of the\n  greatest means of bodily comfort as well as sources of spiritual\n  delight and joy. And having lived in all good conscience\u2014for I\n  can say that of him; I have been with him by day and by night;\n  in the sanctuary, and on the camp ground, and in almost all the\n  varied circumstances in which itinerant ministers are placed; I\n  have been thrown intimately with him at times\u2014and I am prepared\n  to say that he has lived in all good conscience until this day.\n  He has its sure reward, perfect peace, now. Would God that were\n  true of all!\n\n  O that these young people would appreciate the great blessing of\n  a good conscience, that gives us serenity, tranquillity, joy,\n  peace, hope in all conditions, and in all periods of life! A good\n  conscience! O, as you would be blessed living and blessed dying,\n  I charge you in no case, under no temptations, allow yourselves\n  to do that which conscience condemns. Of all the terrors to be\n  avoided in this world or the world to come remorse is the most\n  terrible. And I beseech you be so watchful, so circumspect, so\n  guarded in all your ways, in all your doings, as to escape from\n  this terrible calamity.\n\n  But if any one here to-day has this troubled conscience, let\n  me point him to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of\n  the world. There is forgiveness with God. The blood of Christ\n  cleanseth from all sin. Here bring your guilty conscience, here\n  bring your sinful heart. \u201cBehold, I stand at the door, and\n  knock:\u201d saith the Saviour: \u201cif any man\u201d\u2014a guilty man, an unholy\n  person\u2014will \u201copen the door, I will come in to him, and will sup\n  with him, and he with me.\u201d Fellowship shall be restored between\n  him and his God.\n\n  And let us who feel that we are the disciples of the Saviour,\n  that we have the religion which has done so much for our\n  brother, and enabled him to do so much for his fellow-men\u2014let\n  us who stand, take heed lest we fall. O, how many mighty have\n  been slain! What evidences have we of the frailty of men\u2014even\n  Christian men\u2014and how fitting and appropriate are the admonitions\n  of Christianity to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation;\n  and how much need have we to say daily to our heavenly Father,\n  \u201cLead us not into temptation.\u201d Let not our providential\n  circumstances be such as to afford temptation; let not our\n  spiritual adversaries approach so as to be permitted to make\n  their foul suggestions that we fall from our steadfastness and\n  into sin, and bring reproach upon Jesus, and upon ourselves a\n  gloomy and miserable old age\u2014even though we should be saved \u201cas\n  if by fire.\u201d Let us take the admonition, and though we cannot\n  live as long as our dear father, let us live as long as we can,\n  and let us live to good purpose.\n\n  We might just as well be in our graves as above the ground,\n  provided we are not useful, and useful to others. _The one great\n  motive for earthly life is usefulness_; and I repeat, we might as\n  well be in the grave as above the ground if we are not living to\n  a purpose, if we are not glorifying God, honoring our Maker, and\n  doing good to our fellow-men.\n\n  Now let us not only heed the very gracious language of the text\n  this morning, (and I am sure none of us will ever forget it, or\n  forget where we heard it preached from, or by whom, nor shall we\n  forget the simple, plain, and touching sermon that was delivered\n  to us from it,) but let us not only heed it and come to God for\n  personal and present fellowship and fruition, but let us take\n  the lesson which his example furnishes us of temperance and\n  carefulness in life, of devotion to God, of maintaining such a\n  spirit as secures us peace, that we may be enabled to do our\n  duty with joy, consolation, and success, and come down to the\n  evening of life with a sweet spirit, with a calm mind, with a\n  joyous heart, and with a hope full of immortality. May God give\n  us all his blessing, and whether we live shorter or longer upon\n  earth, grant that we may live for evermore in heaven, with all\n  the good and glorified through Jesus Christ. Amen.\n\nDr. J. Morrison Reid, Missionary Secretary, had been requested to make\nsome remarks, but declined, thinking it better not to prolong the\nservices by delivering an address.\n\nBishop Janes, after announcing that fact, made merely a passing allusion\nto this happy meeting in sweet Christian fellowship of the oldest\nMethodist Church Society with the oldest Methodist Pastor in America,\nand, in conclusion, pronounced this benediction on the people and the\npastor: \u201cMay the presence of God always abide with this people. And\n[turning to Father Boehm] may the presence of God always abide with\nyou, our dear father! Not only in life, but when you come down to the\nvalley of the shadow of death, may you have our God with you, his rod\nand his staff comforting you; and when your eyes shall have closed upon\nthe scenes of earth, may you be translated to the beatitudes of heaven,\nthrough Jesus Christ. And through Jesus Christ, with the help of the Holy\nGhost, we will meet you there, and share with you that endless felicity\nin the presence and beatitudes of God.\u201d\n\nThe seventeenth Hymn (\u201cBefore Jehovah\u2019s awful throne\u201d) was then sung by\nthe congregation, together with the doxology, and Father Boehm pronounced\nthe benediction. The congregation, by request, remained seated until the\nvenerable man of God had passed out of the church to return to his home\nin Jersey City.\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] This is an Indian name, and is so called from the Conestoga Creek, a\nbeautiful stream that empties into the Susquehanna. The Conestoga Indians\nwere once numerous and powerful.\n\n[2] Not Owen, as Lednum and Stevens say. See Minutes, and Quarterly\nReview, article by Dr. Hamilton.\n\n[3] Life of Abbott, p. 100.\n\n[4] He was the elder who traveled through the district, as well as\nstationed preacher.\n\n[5] See Life and Times of Jesse Lee, p. 366.\n\n[6] After the death of Harry Ennalls his excellent widow married Robert\nCarmann at Pipe Creek, and in after years I put up with them when I\ntraveled with Bishop Asbury.\n\n[7] He joined the conference in 1789, and died in 1808. Bishop Asbury\nloved him, and deeply lamented his death.\n\n[8] He was an old preacher; joined in 1788, and died in 1827.\n\n[9] Since this was written my old friends Joshua Wells and Henry Smith\nhave fallen asleep.\n\n[10] See Arminian Magazine for 1808, p. 373.\n\n[11] Ten years later the funeral sermon of Bishop Asbury was preached\nfrom the same text by the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper, in Philadelphia.\n\n[12] Lawrence Laurenson became one of the strong men of the Philadelphia\nConference, and all over the Peninsula his name is as \u201cointment poured\nforth.\u201d\n\n[13] _Leonard Castle_ was the Summerfield of the Baltimore Conference. He\nwas converted in a prayer-meeting at Pipe Creek. In after years I knew\nhis relations there and his brother in Tennessee. His race was short but\nbrilliant. He was only eighteen when he entered the ministry, and, after\ntraveling six years, he died of yellow fever in Baltimore on September\n21, 1808. He had a splendid intellect and great oratorical powers.\nHis brethren in the Minutes speak of him \u201cas a happy model of pulpit\nsimplicity, eloquence, and piety.\u201d They also say, \u201cThis astonishing\ngenius is gone from the thousands of our Israel to the Paradise of God.\u201d\nHe married the daughter of Rev. Ephraim Chambers. I saw her in all the\nloneliness of early widowhood. She was the friend of Mrs. Gough, and I\nused to meet her at Perry Hall.\n\n[14] Years ago various denominations built churches in this way, and\nthought nothing of this religious gambling. They said the end sanctified\nthe means. The state legislature would grant them the privilege.\n\n[15] His name was not Peter, but Jacob.\n\n[16] He formerly lived in Baltimore. He was a tailor, and Rev. William\nThacher learned his trade of him.\n\n[17] I was with the bishop at Mrs. Willis\u2019s at other times. When there in\n1811 the bishop exclaimed, \u201cHenry Willis! Ah, when shall I look upon thy\nlike again?\u201d Behold how he loved him.\n\n[18] At the Cincinnati Conference of 1863 I saw the Rev. Aaron Wood of\nIndiana Conference. He was converted a fortnight before the bishop and\nI were at his father\u2019s in 1808. We talked over the scenes of the past,\nand he remembered our visit. He has been over forty years a traveling\npreacher. The interview I had with him was most refreshing. I also had\nthe pleasure of seeing him at the General Conference in Philadelphia in\nMay, 1864. He offered the concluding prayer when that body separated.\nHe married for his first wife the daughter of the celebrated William\nBeauchamp.\n\n[19] Barnett kept a public house. He was an early settler in the country.\nHe was quite a character. Famous as the first man in that part of the\ncountry who owned a vehicle with four wheels.\n\n[20] Samuel Edney was a noble man, a genuine Methodist, given to\nhospitality. He joined the conference in 1791, and located in 1794. The\nbishop and he were great friends. He has a son, Dr. Edney, living in New\nYork, a member of the Seventeenth-street Methodist Episcopal Church.\n\n[21] Autobiography, p. 90.\n\n[22] The Fryes were originally from Winchester, and were of German\ndescent.\n\n[23] Stevens\u2019s Memorials of Methodism, vol. ii, p. 443.\n\n[24] With great pleasure I call the attention of the reader to Dr.\nGeorge Peck\u2019s excellent works \u201cWyoming\u201d and \u201cEarly Methodism\u201d for full\ninformation concerning this far-famed valley.\n\n[25] Fifty-two years afterward, when in this part of Ohio, I met with\nseveral Germans who heard me preach in their language in 1809.\n\n[26] He was a good preacher and a pleasant man. I traveled with him many\nmiles. He joined in 1804, and located in 1838.\n\n[27] Journal, vol. iii, p. 332.\n\n[28] The reader will find an account of that memorable conference in\nAsbury\u2019s Journal, vol. i, p. 244.\n\n[29] Rev. William Hamilton, in Sprague\u2019s Annals, vol. iii, p. 332.\n\n[30] They were Allen-street and Greenwich Village, now Bedford-street.\nFew churches have been more honored of God, or a greater blessing to man,\nthan these two, and they still enjoy great prosperity.\n\n[31] The old house still remains, with Washington\u2019s table and chair which\nhe used at the time of the Revolution.\n\n[32] See Lee\u2019s History of Methodism, p. 64.\n\n[33] Lednum\u2019s Rise of Methodism in America, p. 210.\n\n[34] He has died since I made the record.\n\n[35] He proved a degenerate son of his worthy sire, being the William M.\nGwin who was senator from California, and afterward implicated with the\nsouthern rebels, now seeking his fortune in Mexico.\n\n[36] The bishop, in his journal, fell into a little error in relating\nthis scene; but I have described it just as it occurred, and though over\nhalf a century has passed since that morning we crossed Cape Fear River,\nI recollect with minuteness all the circumstances as if they took place\nyesterday. It was one of those occurrences not easily effaced from the\nmemory.\n\n[37] Paul and Hannah Hick of New York informed Dr. Bangs and others it\nwas Paul Hick\u2019s mother in New York that stirred up Philip Embury to\npreach the Gospel. No one denied it for many years. Tho controversy is a\nsingular one, to say the least of it.\n\n[38] This was found among the papers of Bishop Asbury by the transcriber\nof his journals, Francis Hollingsworth, and published in the Methodist\nMagazine of 1823. Dr. Bangs copied it in his history, vol. ii, p. 365.\n\n[39] Mr. Keaggy was an estimable man, and his house was one of the\nbishop\u2019s homes. He was a local preacher, and very useful. He was the\nfather of Dr. John Keaggy of Philadelphia, long and favorably known in\nthe literary world.\n\n[40] See \u201cHistory of the United Brethren in Christ,\u201d by Rev. H. G.\nSpayth, published in 1851; also \u201cHistory of the Church of the United\nBrethren in Christ,\u201d by John Lawrence, where the same is copied from Mr.\nSpayth\u2019s History. Concerning Mr. Spayth\u2019s History, Mr. Lawrence says it\n\u201cis indispensable to a proper understanding of the rise of the United\nBrethren in Christ; and the Church in all time to come will be indebted\nto him for the most valuable contributions to her early history.\u201d\u2014Vol. i,\np. 6.\n\n[41] Bishop Asbury notices him at the New York Conference of 1813. He\nsays, \u201cBishop M\u2019Kendree preached. It appeared as if a ray of divine\nglory rested upon him. His subject was \u2018Great peace have they that love\nthy law, and nothing shall offend them.\u2019 The appearance, manner, and\npreaching of Bishop M\u2019Kendree produced a very powerful, effect on Joshua\nMarsden, a British missionary.\u201d Mr. Marsden returned to Europe after the\nwar, did good service, and died in holy triumph. His end, as described by\nhis affectionate daughter who witnessed it, was very triumphant.\n\n[42] Henry Foxall was an Englishman, and was well acquainted with Bishop\nAsbury\u2019s mother. He was converted in Ireland while there on business, and\nsoon afterward came to this country. He had a foundry in Philadelphia,\non the banks of the Schuylkill, near where the Fairmount water works now\nare, and another at Georgetown. I have been in both, and at the latter\nsaw them casting cannon for the government. I was present when his only\ndaughter was married by Bishop Asbury to a Mr. M\u2019Kenne. I was well\nacquainted with Mr. Foxall, and the bishop and he were like two brothers.\nHe gave the site for, and built, the new church called \u201cThe Foundry.\u201d He\ngave it that name for two reasons: first, in remembrance of Mr. Wesley\u2019s\nfirst chapel in London, which was so called; and second, because his\nown business was that of a founder. He possessed great business talent\nand acquired considerable wealth. He was distinguished for humility,\nliberality, and hospitality. He died while on a visit to England in 1823,\nat the age of sixty-eight. He left five thousand dollars to the Wesleyan\nMissionary Society in England, and five thousand to the \u201cChartered Fund\u201d\nfor the relief of worn-out preachers, of which he was one of the early\ntrustees.\n\n[43] There are many who supposed Mr. Asbury had made provision to give a\nBible to all the children that should be named after him; and therefore,\nup to 1861, forty-five years after the bishop was in his grave,\napplications were made to the Book Room for Bibles by parents whose\nchildren were named Francis Asbury.\n\n[44] Thinking it would gratify some of my readers, I give the names of\nsome of the subscribers in this list: Bishop M\u2019Kendree, his father,\nJames M\u2019Kendree, and his sister; my mother, Eve Boehm, and my sister\nBarbara, wife of Dr. Keaggy; Francis Hollingsworth, (the transcriber\nof Asbury\u2019s Journal,) and Mary his wife; Revs. W. Beauchamp, Samuel\nParker, (spiritual father of Rev. W. Winans,) H. B. Bascom, (then but\ntwo years in the ministry and eighteen years old,) Jacob Young, James\nB. Finley, and John Collins, (the spiritual father of Judge M\u2019Lean;)\nthe Revs. James Quinn, John Sale, Thomas S. Hinde, (once well known as\n\u201cTheophilus Arminius,\u201d) William Burke, (an eloquent preacher, and one of\nthe pioneers of Methodism in the West,) James Gwin, James Axley, (noted\nfor his eccentricities and excellences,) and their wives; Revs. Thomas\nL. Douglass, (an intimate friend of M\u2019Kendree, and who preached his\nfuneral sermon,) John M\u2019Gee, (father of camp-meetings in this country,)\nJesse Walker, (pioneer of Methodism in Missouri,) and Peter Cartwright.\nThese were chiefly from the West. Of southern preachers there were James\nJenkins, Daniel Asbury, William Capers, James B. Glenn, S. Dunwoody,\nLewis Myers, Alexander Talley, W. M. Kennedy, Hilliard Judge, and Edward\nDrumgoole, with seven of his family. Among the subscribers north and east\nwe find the names of Freeborn Garrettson, his wife and daughter; Revs. S.\nMerwin, W. Ph\u0153bus, W. Ross, W. Jewett, W. Anson, Elijah Woolsey, Heman\nBangs, Arnold Schofield, Smith Arnold, Philip Munger, Asa Kent, George\nPickering, Solomon Sias, (first publisher of Zion\u2019s Herald,) Daniel\nFilmore, Martin Ruter, (who found a grave in Texas,) Joel Ketchum, and\nEbenezer Newell. Of the laity in this region we find the names of John\nArmitage, John Baker, (in whose house the conference was held at Ashgrove\nin 1803,) James Sterling and his wife, of Burlington, N. J.; John\nParadise, (the portrait painter,) W. B. Skidmore, J. B. Oakley, and Grace\nShotwell. The amounts subscribed would be thought very small nowadays.\nSome gave a dollar, but most of them much less. Some of the distinguished\npreachers I have named gave but twenty-five cents. It was as much as they\nwere able to give, so scanty were their means.\n\n[45] I traveled forty thousand miles with Bishop Asbury, and since I\nentered the itinerancy I have traveled on horseback over one hundred\nthousand miles, more than four times the circumference of the earth.\n\n[46] He was literally a man of prayer. He prayed much in secret, and\nthis accounts for his power in prayer in public. He was in the habit of\npresenting each conference and the preachers by name before the Lord.\n\n[47] He had married two sisters of John Emory, Susan and Margaret. He\nmarried the youngest first. They were very amiable. I was well acquainted\nwith them for years. John Emory married a sister of Mr. Sellers. She\nwas his first wife and the mother of Robert. Dr. Sellers removed to\nPittsburgh, and recently died there. He was a grandson of Henry Downs.","title":"The patriarch of one hundred years : $b being reminiscences, historical and biographical, of Rev. Henry Boehm","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":144227}