MY FIRST CIRCUIT, DORCHESTER.
In January, 1800, I began my regular itinerant life. It was on Dorchester
Circuit, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in Philadelphia Conference.
The peninsula that lies between the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, though
not considered very healthy, was the garden of Methodism in America.
Methodism was early introduced there, and for a time the ministers were
greatly persecuted; but they achieved a glorious success. The heroic
Garrettson was persecuted; Caleb B. Pedicord, the sweet singer of our
Israel, received scars which he carried with him to the grave; Joseph
Hartley was imprisoned, and through the grates of his prison preached
deliverance to the captive; and Thomas S. Chew took the sheriff prisoner
who had taken him captive. Dorchester Circuit was formed in 1780. It was
a large circuit, embracing not only Dorchester County, but Taylor’s and
Hooper’s Island in the Chesapeake Bay.
The introduction of Methodism into Dorchester can be traced to the
conversion of a young woman, Miss Catharine, sister of Harry Ennalls.
She was afterward Mrs. Bruff of Baltimore, who was so useful in the
revival at the General Conference of 1800. Through her influence her
sister Mary, and her husband, the Hon. Richard Bassett of Delaware, were
converted; also Henry Airey, Esq. It was at Squire Airey’s house that
Freeborn Garrettson preached the first Methodist sermon in Dorchester
County, and from that house he was taken to the jail at Cambridge. The
squire threw over Mr. Garrettson the mantle of his protection as far as
he was able. I learned while traveling there that all the ringleaders in
that mob died a violent death, except Batt Ennalls, who was converted,
and joined the Church. I knew him very well, and preached at his house
when on that circuit. The sad end of these persecutors was considered a
special judgment from God.
I was employed by Rev. Thomas Ware to preach on this circuit because John
Leach was sick and unable to travel. He was an excellent young man, with
a shattered constitution, who lingered a year or two, and then entered
into rest. I bade farewell to the scenes of my childhood and started to
go among strangers. My mother’s sweet kiss and my aged father’s blessing
I still remember. The tears rolled down my cheek as I looked back upon
the home of my childhood, the old family mansion, endeared to me by so
many tender associations. With weakness, fear, and much trembling, I
entered upon my new field of labor and began to cultivate Immanuel’s
land. The arrival of a new preacher, a German youth from Pennsylvania,
was soon noised abroad, and this called out many to see and hear. I was
reluctant to go to a circuit and preach in the English tongue. Had it
been in the German language I should not have been so embarrassed.
For two months I suffered powerful temptation to abandon my work and
return home. I went to Brother Harry Ennalls’s. He lived near the
Choptank River, one of the largest streams on the Peninsula. His house
was a preaching-place and a home for the preachers. This family did not
belong to the class who were “afraid they would be eaten out of house
and home.” Harry Ennalls was a man of wealth, and he used this world
as not abusing it. His money gave him power and influence, which were
used to advance the great interest of the Redeemer’s kingdom. He was a
holy, zealous Christian, and a devout Methodist. One of our preachers,
Thomas Smith, met him and the late Hon. James A. Bayard, senator in
Congress from Delaware, at Governor Bassett’s. Harry Ennalls prayed
with great power and unction, talking with God as if he was used to
conversing with him. He did not forget the honorable statesman in his
prayer, but fervently invoked the blessing of God upon him. When he
had finished praying, and the family had risen from their knees, Mr.
Bayard was observed walking the floor very rapidly, much agitated; then
turning to Mr. Ennalls, he said, “Henry, what did you mean by shaking
your brimstone bag over me?” “To save you from hell, sir,” replied Mr.
Ennalls. Governor Bassett’s first wife was Harry Ennalls’s sister.
Harry Ennalls’s wife was one of the best of women. She was a Goldsbury,
related to Governor Goldsbury. This was one of the great families of
the Peninsula. They had no children, and always made the preachers very
welcome, and considered the younger as their children. Mrs. Ennalls, who
was a person of discernment, saw I was suffering under deep depression of
spirits. I was fearful I had mistaken my calling. Ingenuously she asked
me a great many questions, till she drew from me the real state of my
mind. When she found out that I was discouraged, and about to give up my
work in despair and return home, she gave me such a reproof as I shall
never forget. “My young brother,” she said, “your eternal salvation may
depend upon the course you are about to take. You may lose your soul by
such an unwise, hasty step.” Then she exhorted me in the most earnest and
emphatic manner not to abandon my work, but to keep on. I resolved in
the strength of my Master to try again, and though over threescore years
have gone into eternity since “having obtained help from God, I continue
unto this day.” Well I remember that hospitable mansion; and the room in
which we were, the attitude of the woman, her anxious countenance, her
piercing eye, the tone of her voice, are all before me just as if it were
yesterday. Her wise counsel has had an influence upon me all my days; it
shaped my destiny for life. She has been in the grave for many years, and
I remember her still with a heart overflowing with gratitude.[6]
I then went to that famous house where the first sermon was preached in
Dorchester County by Freeborn Garrettson, where the widow of Squire Airey
resided. The old squire was dead and gone. By his position and character
he was enabled to do noble service for Methodism, and he deserves a
conspicuous place in the gallery of portraits of the distinguished laymen
of the early Methodist Church in America. His widow still lived in the
old homestead, and the itinerant ministers were made as welcome as when
he was alive. She lived but a short distance from Mr. Ennalls. In family
prayer we had a gracious time. The Holy Ghost descended in copious
effusions, and the widow was so baptized she shouted aloud for joy and
was greatly strengthened and encouraged. I retired to my couch feeling
that my soul was resting in God.
It was in the month of March, and the snow had mantled the earth with its
sheet of white. I went to sleep sweetly and had a most singular dream. I
have never attached much importance to dreams, but this was so strange
that I will relate it; it will do no harm if it does no good. I dreamed
of seeing a large field of wheat, ripe, waving before the wind, ready
for the sickle, and the reapers were cutting it down and binding up the
golden sheaves. And there was a large field of green wheat, so extensive
I saw no end. This beautiful dream was a benefit to me; the idea of such
scenery at that time of the year, when the snow was on the ground, caused
me to rejoice, and the rejoicing to awake, and lo, it was but a dream. I
concluded this dream could not have come from an evil source, otherwise I
could not have been in such a happy state of mind; and if it was from a
good source, it was for some good purpose, and accordingly I thanked God
and took courage, and “went forth weeping, bearing precious seed,” not
doubting that I should “come again with rejoicing, bringing my sheaves
with me.”
We had a number of appointments on Dorchester circuit. I have preserved
the names of all the classes and of all the members, both colored and
white, and of those who died during the year, and of those who married
out of the society, and all who were expelled. The record is singular;
it would be still more so if we knew the destiny of each of the persons
whose name is recorded; but they are all written in God’s book. Most
of them, no doubt, are in their graves. A prominent appointment was
Cambridge. It was here that the noble Garrettson was imprisoned. But
the days of persecution were passed, and Methodism was respected.
Here resided Dr. Edward White, who helped give tone and character to
Methodism. Among the names I find on the class-book in Cambridge are Dr.
Edward White, Mary Ann White, his wife, and Eliza White, Sarah White, and
Mary White, his three daughters.
Religion did wonders for the colored people on this circuit, and hundreds
of them were converted. They sometimes took the name of their masters.
I copy from the African class at Cambridge: Edward, Lina, Jacob, Alice,
Ralph, Lua, David, Rhoda, Adam, Esther, Rachel, Harrie, Isaac, Minta,
Primus, Philus, Ned, Den, John, Drape, Rive, Robert, Tom, Jacob, David,
Adam, Esther.
I preached at Ennalls’s meeting-house. There was also a class at Harry
Ennalls’s: on the book are the names of Harry Ennalls, leader; Sarah,
his wife, and Eliza Airey, the widow of Squire Airey. There are other
honorable names that I have not space to transcribe—they are in the book
of life. There were two colored classes that met at Ennalls’s: one had
twenty members, the other twenty-five. Among their names are Pompey,
Dido, Moses, and others. We not only had separate classes for the colored
people, but separate love-feasts; they were generally held in the morning
previous to the love-feasts for the whites, and were seasons of great
interest. Religion in its simplicity and power was exhibited by them.
We preached also at Airey’s Chapel. This was not far from where Squire
Airey lived and died, and it was called after him; there was a class or
society here; there were forty-four names belonging to one class. William
Pitt was the leader, and among the members were a number of Aireys.