SECOND ANNUAL TOUR—WESTERN AND SOUTHERN CONFERENCE.
The relation of my first annual tour with Asbury has convinced the reader
that the office of a bishop was then no sinecure, and that his traveling
companion had something more to do than play the gentleman. It indeed was
toil, intense toil, as much so as soul and body could bear. During the
tour I visited all the conferences, and preached the Gospel in fifteen
states, and became acquainted with the great men of Methodism in the
ministry and laity, East, West, North, and South.
Never was a mariner, after a perilous voyage, more rejoiced to get into
harbor than we were to reach the old family mansion of my father. We
arrived there on Friday, July 28, 1809, but both my parents were from
home, therefore Mr. Asbury concluded he would go right on, and I got a
friend to go with him a distance, while I went to see my parents. I could
not bear the thought of being gone ten months without having an interview
with them before I left. They were infirm and I might never see them
again. I went to a camp-meeting near Morgantown, where I met my parents,
and they embraced me with joy. I had been in seven different states
besides the Province of Maine since I saw them.
Mr. Asbury wrote: “On Friday a thirty mile ride brought us to Martin
Boehm’s. Delightful rest! but it may not be so.” The next morning found
him on his way to Lancaster. At the camp-meeting I heard my father preach
from Luke on the Gospel Supper. He preached in German; I immediately
after in English.
Sabbath was a great day. James Smith preached in the morning on the
peculiar doctrines of Methodism, in opposition to antinomianism; I at
noon from Isaiah xxxii, 17; then Thomas Burch. The next day I went home
with my parents, remained a few hours, and then bade them farewell till
the next spring.
My next business was to overtake Mr. Asbury, who had gone on, waiting
for no one. I did not overtake him till the third of August at James
Hunter’s, Fort Littleton. I found him in a sad plight. He was not able to
stand, preach, kneel, or pray. He had needed both a traveling companion
and a nurse. Suffering from rheumatism, he had applied several blisters
to relieve him. He had put them on too strong, and the remedy was worse
than the disease. Camp-meetings he still zealously engaged in, and said,
“We must attend to them; they make our harvest times.”
In crossing the Alleghanies we were in great danger, and came near
being dashed in pieces, but were providentially preserved. Mr. Asbury
wrote: “The hand of God was manifested to-day in saving man and horse
from wreck; the danger appeared exceeding great.” At Berlin the German
Presbyterian minister caused the church-bell to be rung, and Mr. Asbury
says: “Brother Boehm preached to them in high Dutch.”
On Tuesday the 8th we rode thirty miles in a heavy mountain rain, and
were dripping wet. We put up with a German. Mr. Asbury says: “We called
a meeting, and our exercises were in German. We gave away religious
tracts, German and English. We have disposed of many thousands of these;
it is our duty to do good in every possible way.” We were pioneers in
circulating tracts. The German tracts were those I had published in
Lancaster. I preached in the German language every day, and often in
German and English at the same time. On Saturday we reached Pike Run
camp-meeting. Here to our great joy we met Bishop M’Kendree.
On Sunday morning I preached at eight o’clock on the profitableness of
godliness. Bishop Asbury preached at eleven, from 2 Cor. v, 20, on the
dignity and employment of the embassadors of Christ. The grove rang with
his deep-toned voice. Bishop M’Kendree preached at two o’clock from Deut.
xxx, 19, “I call heaven and earth to record,” etc. I wrote: “The work of
God is progressing mightily among sinners, mourners, backsliders, and
believers.” The work went on until after midnight. It then began to
rain, and continued until next day about noon, when I preached on Matt.
xi, 28, 29, to the weary and heavy laden, for there were many such on
the ground. At three o’clock Bishop M’Kendree preached again from 1 Cor.
xiii, 13, on faith, hope, and charity. Such a time of power has seldom
been witnessed. I wrote: “The cries of mourners, prayers, shouting,
rejoicing, etc., were the uninterrupted exercises until after midnight.
Some that were the companions of drunkards and persecutors in the first
part of the meeting now swelled the number of mourners. Glory Halleluiah!
The Lord’s supper was administered on Tuesday, after which Bishop Asbury
delivered a profitable lecture.” He wrote: “It appears the bishops will
hold a camp-meeting in every district. We are encouraged so to do. Great
power was manifested here, and much good was done. I will not say how I
felt or how near heaven.” Bishop M’Kendree preached four times at this
meeting.
On Wednesday the 6th to Brightwell’s, Philip Smith’s, and then en route
for Pittsburgh. On Thursday the cross-bar of that old sulky broke and
brought us up all standing. I do not wonder Jacob Gruber could not bear a
sulky. He thought they were _sulky_ enough.
On Friday evening we reached Pittsburgh, and stopped at Brother John
Wrenshall’s. I preached at Thomas Cooper’s on Friday and Saturday
evenings. On Sunday Bishop Asbury preached at Brother Cooper’s at eight
o’clock from Titus ii, 11-14. At twelve I preached in German in the same
house from Rom. x, 12. Some felt the force and spirituality of the word.
I closed by giving the substance of the discourse in English. My heart
was much enlarged.
Bishop Asbury being invited to preach in the elegant Presbyterian church,
did so at three o’clock from 2 Cor. v, 11, “Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord we persuade men,” etc. Five hundred listened to his solemn
persuasions. At six I preached in Brother Wrenshall’s yard to about three
hundred attentive hearers from Heb. ii, 1.
On we journeyed to Zanesville, where I preached in the Court-house, as
we had no house of worship there then. In New Lancaster I preached in
German, and Robert Cloud exhorted after me. This is the man who was so
useful in the East, and who was once under a cloud; but he was doing
better, and the sun was once more shining upon him. He had a son, Caleb
W. Cloud, a very good preacher, a member of the Western Conference.
We went to Chillicothe, and were made welcome at Dr. Edward Tiffin’s;
then to Deer Creek, at White Brown’s. Here I saw Stephen Simmons, who
used to travel our circuit in Lancaster County. He had located and
married the daughter of White Brown. On Wednesday we reached Peter
Pelham’s. I preached in German almost every day through this part of Ohio.
On Saturday, September 23, we reached one of Bishop Asbury’s best homes,
that of one of his dearest friends, Philip Gatch. While the bishop
rested there I took a tour among the Germans. Some of them had not heard
preaching in their own tongue since they left their native land. Tears
flowed from many eyes, and they heard with delight the word of life. What
has God wrought since among the Germans![25]
On the 28th we reached Cincinnati, the seat of the Western Conference.
FIRST CONFERENCE IN CINCINNATI.
On Saturday, September 30, 1809, the Western Conference commenced its
session in Cincinnati. This was the first conference held in what has
since become the Queen City of the West. We were kindly entertained by
Oliver Spencer, Esq. When a boy he was taken captive by the Indians, and
his early history is full of wild romance and sober truth.
There were some splendid men at this conference, who were destined, under
God, to lay the foundations of Methodism in what is now the mighty West.
I heard some excellent preaching here. The evening before conference
began I heard Miles Harper on “Set thine house in order,” etc. He was
one of their strong men. I preached on Saturday from John i, 11, 12,
and Brother Lakin exhorted. The Lord was eminently nigh. Several souls
professed to find the Lord in the pardon of their sins.
The Lord’s day was a high day in Zion. We had four sermons. The first
from Learner Blackman on Judges iii, 20, “I have a message from God unto
thee.” It was a message of light and truth and power. At noon Bishop
M’Kendree preached on a favorite subject, Prov. i, 23, “Turn you at my
reproof,” etc. At three William Burke on 1 John i, 9, “If we confess our
sins,” etc. A mighty preacher was William Burke in his palmy days. He
wielded a tremendous power in the pulpit, and in the conference he was
then the master-spirit. In the evening Caleb W. Cloud preached from the
same text I had taken the evening before. This was a day of feasting for
my soul and many others.
On Monday James Quinn preached at noon from Heb. xxiv, 26 on Moses’s
choice and Moses’s reward. A wonderful man was James Quinn when he
got the baptism of power. I wrote, “The Lord is with us both in the
conference and the congregation.” On Tuesday at noon Bishop Asbury
preached an ordination sermon from Titus ii, 7, 8, “In all things showing
thyself a pattern of good works.” It was a most impressive discourse,
and was owned of God. At noon on Wednesday Bishop M’Kendree preached on
faith, hope, and charity. Our souls were richly fed with celestial manna.
At night Daniel Hitt, the book agent, preached on “Pray for us, that
the word of God may have free course,” etc. On Thursday I preached at
noon from Matt. v, 20; on Friday William Burke preached from Isaiah xl,
1, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God;” a sermon full of
consolation. James Quinn preached at night.
On Saturday Samuel Parker preached at noon from 1 John i, 3, “That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you,” etc. This was an
eloquent discourse, delivered in the sweetest spirit, making a powerful
impression. He presented some fine thoughts on our union with the Father
and the Son, and that all the divine attributes are engaged for our good;
also the blessed effects of fellowship with the people of God.
On Sunday, the 8th, Bishop Asbury preached in the morning at nine,
Learner Blackman in the afternoon at three, and Samuel Parker in the
evening. The sermons were all good, but Samuel Parker’s excelled. His
text was Phil. iii, 10, “That I may know him and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable
unto his death.” Over fifty years have passed away since I heard him, and
yet the image of the eloquent Parker is before me, and I remember with
what overwhelming pathos he dwelt on the “fellowship of his sufferings.”
The word ran through the audience like electricity, tears flowed, and
shouts were heard. It was a most appropriate sermon for the last before
the conference adjourned. It prepared the ministers for the work of
suffering with their Lord if they would reign with him.
Bishop Asbury then delivered to the Methodists in Cincinnati a farewell
address, which was not only able and ingenious, but truly affecting.
We had spent two Sabbaths there, and on the morrow were to take our
departure. I heard fifteen sermons at this conference from the master
minds of the West, men who were giving tone and character to Methodism
through all that vast region. The bishop does not name a text or theme
that any of the ministers used at that conference; mine may be the
only record there is. To the Methodists in Cincinnati, where so many
conferences have since been held, it may be of interest to know the
ministers who preached at the first conference there, and the texts they
used on the occasion.
Seventeen were admitted on trial at this conference, among whom were
Moses Crume and William Winans. The latter became a giant in the south
and south-west. Eight elders were ordained, among others Samuel Parker,
John Collins, Miles Harper, and Peter Cartwright. These were mighty men.
Peter Cartwright is the only one living.
Three of the prominent ministers in this conference were from New
Jersey: Parker, Blackman, and Collins. John Collins did wonders for
Methodism in the West. His life, abounding with thrilling incidents, has
been written by the late Judge M’Lean, to which I refer the reader.
SAMUEL PARKER has been called the Cicero of the West. He was born in
1774, and early learned the business of a cabinet-maker. At the age
of fourteen he gave his heart to the Saviour. In 1805 he joined the
itinerancy, and after being in the work fifteen years, fell at his post.
He volunteered to go to Mississippi, and died there of consumption in
December, 1819, and was buried near Washington in that State. His name
at the West will ever be fragrant. William Winans was deeply indebted to
him, loving him as a father, for Mr. Parker was his counselor and friend,
and gave him his first license to preach. There was nothing prepossessing
in his appearance; his face was very thin, and his countenance dull, till
he became animated with the truths he preached. His voice was uncommonly
melodious; it was soft, rich, sweet. He was a very superior singer; but
it was as a pulpit orator he excelled, and will long be remembered.
EPISCOPAL TOUR FROM CINCINNATI TO SOUTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE.
With regret we bade farewell to our kind friends in Cincinnati and
started for the South Carolina Conference, several of the preachers with
us. We entered Kentucky on Tuesday, and at midnight the bishop called us
up, and we traveled twenty-five miles to Mount Gerizim, where he had an
appointment. Bishop M’Kendree here preached a sweet sermon from “Is it
well with thee?” He used to inquire of his dying sister, Frances Moore,
whom I knew very well, “Is it well with thee?” and when he was himself
on his deathbed he exclaimed, “All is well.” Bishop Asbury preached from
“Suffer the word of exhortation,” and then ordained a person.
On Thursday we reached Martin’s meeting-house, called so from Major
Martin, with whom we stayed; sometimes it was called “Ebenezer.” Bishop
Asbury preached from Psalm lxxxv, 1-9. The reader will recollect what I
have said about the bishop liking a long text.
There had been considerable excitement among the local preachers in this
part of the country on the subject of ordination. The bishops had a
number of them convened here by previous appointment, and they held what
Bishop Asbury called a “Conciliatory Conference.”
The next day, at the same place, Bishop M’Kendree preached a
characteristic sermon from “He that endureth to the end;” then I held
forth, then Daniel Hitt, then Bishop Asbury. He says, “I embraced
various subjects in my exhortation.” It was a very able address on
the qualifications and duties of ministers. We rode a number of miles
the next morning before breakfast, and there Bishop M’Kendree left us
for Cumberland, accompanied by Thomas Lasley, who was his traveling
companion.[26] We forded the Kentucky and came to John Bennett’s, a very
fine man and family, having a meeting-house called after him. On Sabbath
the bishop preached at Bennett’s meeting-house on John iii, 19, 20.
We left Kentucky and entered Tennessee, crossing rivers and climbing
mountains. Can we wonder the bishop wrote: “My mind and body have had
no small exercise in bringing my stiff-jointed horse over the rocks and
rough and deep roads.”
Crossing the French Broad, we reached Barnett’s Tavern. The old landlord
was very sick and like to die. The bishop, who was a physician when
necessary, always carrying medicine with him, gave Mr. Barnett a dose
that almost instantly relieved him, and he fell asleep. He was so
thankful he would receive nothing for our entertainment. The bishop
writes: “Eight times within nine years have I crossed these Alps.” Well
might he call those high mountains the Alps. Never can I forget the toils
over those mountains, rocks, hills, stumps, trees, streams, awful roads,
and dangerous passes.
We crossed to Buncombe, North Carolina, preaching every day. In South
Carolina we attended a number of quarterly meetings with that excellent
man of God, long since gone to his rest, Lewis Myers.
There were glorious revivals through the South this year, and the
bishop’s soul greatly rejoiced. He wrote: “Great news, great times in
Georgia; rich and poor coming to Christ.” Again: “The Methodists have
great success on Camden District; surely there must be some good done;
all are on fire, and I feel the flame! God is with preachers and people.”
On Tuesday, November 21, we stayed with William Gassoway, a noble old
preacher, universally esteemed. He joined as early as 1788. He was
William Capers’s first colleague. We had a very severe snow-storm. It was
cold and chilly, and we reached Waxsaw and put up with Robert Hancock.
Almost every prominent Methodist man had a meeting-house named after
him: so we had a “Hancock Chapel.” On Saturday I preached in this chapel
on John xiii, 35, and Brother William Capers followed with a charming
exhortation. The bishop preached the next day in the chapel. “The next
day on the south side of the Catawba river, piloted by Brother William
Capers, who is a promising young man about twenty.” So I wrote over
fifty years ago. We had a delightful interview with Capers at Robert
Hancock’s, as well as the privilege of traveling with him many days.
William Capers, in his Autobiography, (pp. 113-115,) has described what
took place at Robert Hancock’s, and made such honorable mention of Bishop
Asbury and his traveling companion that I transcribe it for my work now
the writer is in his grave:
“At the close of the year 1809 Bishop Asbury passed through my circuit
on his way to conference, and it was arranged for me to meet him at
Waxsaw, (General Jackson’s birthplace,) and attend him along a somewhat
circuitous route to Camden. I met him at the house of that most estimable
man and worthy local preacher, Robert Hancock, who had been more than
a friend to me, even a father, from the beginning. The bishop was then
accompanied by the Rev. Henry Boehm as his traveling companion, so long
afterward known in the Philadelphia Conference as one of the purest and
best of Methodist ministers, and whose society I found to be as ‘the
dew of Hermon.’ This was the last of my itinerant year on the Wateree
Circuit; and as I have had quite enough of the disagreeable in my account
of it, I will end the chapter (perhaps more to your liking) with an
anecdote of my first night and last night on the trip with the bishop.
I met him when a heavy snow had just fallen, and the north-west wind
blowing hard made it extremely cold. The snow had not been expected, and
our host was out of wood, so that we had to use what had been picked up
from under the snow, and was damp and incombustible. Our bed-room was
aloft, with a fireplace in it, and plenty of wood; but how to make the
wood burn was the question. I had been at work blowing and blowing long
before bed-time, till, to my mortification, the aged bishop came up, and
there was still no fire to warm him. ‘O Billy, sugar,’ said he as he
approached the fireplace, ‘never mind it; give it up; we will get warm
in bed.’ And then stepping to his bed as if to ascertain the certainty
of it, and lifting the bed-clothes, he continued, ‘yes, yes, give it up,
sugar; blankets are plenty.’ So I gave it up, thinking the play of my
pretty strong lungs might disturb his devotions, for he was instantly on
his knees.
“Well, thought I, this is too bad. But how for the morning? Bishop Asbury
rises at four—two hours before day—and what shall I do for a fire then?
No light wood, and nothing dry. But it occurred to me that the coals
put in the midst of the simmering wood might dry it sufficiently to
keep fire and prepare it for kindling in the morning; so I gave it up.
But then how might I be sure of waking early enough to kindle a fire at
four o’clock? My usual hour had been six. And to meet this difficulty
I concluded to wrap myself in my overcoat, and lie on the bed without
using the bed-clothes. In this predicament I was not likely to over sleep
myself on so cold a night; but there might be danger of my not knowing
what hour it was when I happened to awake. Nap after nap was dreamed away
as I lay shivering in the cold, till I thought it must be four o’clock;
and then creeping softly to the chimney, and applying the breath of my
live bellows, I held my watch to the reluctant coals to see the hour. I
had just made it out, when the same soft accents saluted me: ‘Go to bed,
sugar, it is hardly three o’clock yet.’
“This may do for the first night, and the last was as follows: It had
rained heavily through the night, and we slept near enough to the
shingles for the benefit of the composing power of its pattering upon
them. It was past four o’clock and the bishop was awake, but ‘Billy
sugar’ lay fast asleep; so he whispered to Brother Boehm not to disturb
me, and the fire was made. They were dressed, had had their devotions,
and were at their books before I was awake. This seemed shockingly out
of order, and my confusion was complete as, waking and springing out
of bed, I saw them sitting before a blazing fire. I could scarcely say
good-morning, and the bishop, as if he might have been offended at my
neglect, affected not to hear it. Boehm, who knew him better, smiled
pleasantly as I whispered in his ear, ‘Why didn’t you wake me?’ The
bishop seemed to hear this, and closing his book and turning to me with a
look of downright mischief, had an anecdote for me. ‘I was traveling,’
said he, ‘quite lately, and came to a circuit where we had one of our
good boys. O, he was so good! and the weather was as cold as it was the
other night at Brother Hancock’s, and as I was Bishop Asbury, he got up
in the bitter cold at three o’clock to make a fire for me; and what do
you think? He slept last night till six.’ And he tickled at it as if he
might have been a boy himself. And this was that Bishop Asbury whom I
have heard called austere, a man confessedly who never shed tears, and
who seldom laughed, but whose sympathies were, nevertheless, as soft as a
sanctified spirit might possess.”
We next went to Camden and stayed with James Jenkins. Bishop Asbury
baptized his daughter, Elizabeth Asbury Jenkins, perpetuating not only
the bishop’s name, but his mother’s also. On Sunday at eleven Bishop
Asbury preached at Camden from Rev. xxii, 14, on the blessedness of
doing his commandment. I preached at three on Acts v, 2, after which the
bishop addressed himself to the people of color. He was a great friend of
the colored race, whom he called his “black sheep.” I held forth in the
evening from 1 Peter iv, 7. It was a day of marrow and fat things.
On Tuesday we went to Father Rembert’s on Black River. On Wednesday the
bishop preached to the negroes of Henry Young, who were called together
to hear him. We then had free access both to the master and the slave.
On Sunday there was a quarterly meeting at Rembert’s for the Santee
Circuit. I preached on Saturday, and John and James Capers exhorted. On
Sunday the bishop preached from Matt. xiv, 35, then Joseph Tarpley and
Lewis Hobbs exhorted. The meeting lasted five hours. At night I held
forth on Heb. ii, 1.
On Monday we started for Charleston. The roads were muddy in the extreme,
the rivers high, and we had swamps to go through; but Wednesday evening
brought us to the goodly city.
On Tuesday of next week Bishop M’Kendree arrived with his traveling
companion, Thomas Lasley. We had preaching nearly every night.
The South Carolina Conference commenced on Saturday, December 23. It was
a very pleasant session. Preaching three times a day on Sunday, and in
all the churches in the evening, and in the Bethel Church every morning
at eleven. On Monday, being Christmas, I preached in Cumberland Church to
a large audience on Luke ii, 15. Thomas Lasley exhorted. It was a time of
refreshing from the presence of the Lord.
There were several conversions during the conference. The closing scene
was peculiarly affecting. On Friday, just before adjournment, the Lord’s
supper was administered. It was a most melting time. No wonder I wrote,
“O my soul, never forget this melting, soul-animating time of the power
of God.” The excellent William Capers, with fifteen others, was received
on trial; Joseph Travis, with a number of others, was ordained deacon;
Lovick Pierce and his brother Reddick, and James Russell, with three
more, were ordained elders.