FOURTH WESTERN AND SOUTHERN TOUR—CONFERENCES OF 1811.
On Tuesday, August 20, we took out solemn leave of my dear aged parents
and friends. O how my heart was pierced with hearing my father say, as
the tears ran down his furrowed cheeks, “We shall not see each other
again.” How I gazed upon his patriarchal form, and wept as he embraced
me, when I thought those arms will embrace me no more. Bishop Asbury
said, “We hope to meet in glory.” This was a word in season, and proved
a cordial to my soul. My father’s words were prophetic. Before we came
round again the sun shone on his grave, and his spirit had returned to
God.
We started West, and the tour was full of incident. We crossed again
the rugged Alleghanies, and spent a Sabbath in Pittsburgh. We attended
several camp-meetings. The first was in Ohio, fourteen miles above
Zanesville, beginning on September 2. Bishops Asbury and M’Kendree
preached, and some others. There were thirteen hundred people, and a
number were converted. The second camp-meeting we attended was on the
15th, one mile from Xenia. Bishop Asbury preached on Sunday, and after
half an hour’s intermission Bishop M’Kendree followed.
On the 21st we visited Rev. Philip Gatch. I wrote: “But dear Mother Gatch
is gone to a better country, that is, a heavenly.” She was a blessed
woman.
On Friday we reached Cincinnati, where we spent three Sabbaths, and
stopped at Oliver M. Spencer’s. On Sunday the 29th Bishop Asbury and
Learner Blackman preached.
On Tuesday, October 1, the Western Conference commenced its session.
There was much weighty and critical business, but it was attended to
with order, dispatch, and good feeling. On Sunday, October 6, Bishops
Asbury and M’Kendree again preached. The conference lasted ten days, and
one hundred ministers were appointed to fields of labor. The work was so
widening and spreading that there were not workmen enough to supply the
work: twenty-two additional laborers were needed. The following Sabbath
the bishop delivered what he called “a farewell warning to preachers;”
after which he met the society and then visited the sick.
At this session they made their first election of delegates to the
General Conference. Learner Blackman, who was very popular, headed the
list. He was brother-in-law of John Collins. I had known him since 1800,
and was present when he was received at the Philadelphia Conference that
year. He traveled with Bishop Asbury and myself many hundred miles on
his way to General Conference. He met with a sad end. He was drowned in
the Ohio in crossing a ferry in 1815. The other delegates were Benjamin
Lakin, James Quinn, Frederick Stier, John Sale, William Pattison, Isaac
Quinn, William Houston, John Collins, Samuel Parker, James Axley, David
Young, Thomas Stilwell.
On October 14 we started for the South Carolina Conference. We passed
through Kentucky, everywhere preaching the word. The bishop wrote, “What
a field is opened and opening daily in this new world!”
I will give a specimen of the lights and shadows of the itinerancy.
Friday, about half an hour after dark, we came to Rock Castle Bridge,
and wished for entertainment over night. The answer was, “All full.” The
bishop, sick and feeble as he was, and I, had to grope our way seven
miles before there was another place at which we could put up. We both
rejoiced when we reached, as we supposed, the end of our journey for
that toilsome day. We inquired if they could entertain us. The answer
was, “No admittance.” On we went a mile further, and wished to tarry
over night. The answer was, “No room.” We began to despair. The hour was
late. Then we came across a person who kindly conducted us through the
dark woods amid stumps and stones for several miles to the house of a
kind friend, who exhibited a hospitality worthy of patriarchal times.
We rode forty-seven miles that day. It was eleven at night when we
arrived. We had had no dinner or supper, so they gave us a delicious meal
that answered for both. This was at Waynesborough, and the family that
so kindly entertained us was Colonel Milton’s. We did not retire till
midnight, and next morning at five o’clock we were again on our journey,
and traveled on till on Friday, the 8th, we reached Athens, Ga., where we
were kindly received by Hope Hull. On Tuesday Bishop Asbury preached at
Bethel Chapel, and Hope Hull and I exhorted.
HOPE HULL was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. His name is one that
will long live in the annals of Methodism as one of the pioneers of our
Church in New England and the South. He had a fine intellectual face, and
features that expressed determination. His hair, originally black, was
then sprinkled with gray. He had a melodious voice, was a very superior
preacher, and in eloquence few equaled him. In 1794 he traveled with
Bishop Asbury, who greatly admired him as a man, as a preacher, and as an
orator. He was a pioneer in the cause of education. He resided in Athens,
Ga., and had much to do with the origin and prosperity of the University
of Georgia, and was for a time president.
He was born in 1763, entered the traveling ministry in 1785, and died
October 4, 1818. One inquired concerning his spiritual state when he was
dying. He heroically replied, “God has laid me under marching orders, and
I am ready to obey.”
Everywhere in the South the bishop’s visit was hailed with joy, and he
preached almost every day.
The bishop and I went to Savannah and Augusta, and I preached in both
places. I preached in German as well as English. Here I saw peach-trees
in bloom, a great curiosity for December.
On the morning of December 16, about three o’clock, the house where we
were was awfully shaken by an earthquake. This was repeated at eight
o’clock as we were at our family devotions. Many people were much
alarmed. The shock was felt very seriously in Columbia, so that some of
the citizens ran out into the streets, supposing the houses would fall
down.
We arrived at Camden, the seat of the conference, and were entertained
by Samuel Mathis. The conference commenced on the twenty-first. Bishops
Asbury and M’Kendree were present, and we had good tidings from almost
every part of the work.
On Sunday morning Bishop M’Kendree preached from John iii, 18, 19, “He
that believeth on him is not condemned,” etc. In the afternoon Bishop
Asbury preached from 2 Chron. xiv, 7. On Thursday morning Learner
Blackman preached from James v, 16. On Friday evening the conference
adjourned. Such peace and love I have hardly ever seen in any conference.
A goodly number were converted during the session.
There was a great increase during the year—three thousand three hundred
and eighty. The bishops were in fine spirits, full of hope in regard
to the future. Twelve were received into full connection and ordained
deacons. They elected the following to the first delegated General
Conference: Lewis Myers, Lovick Pierce, Joseph Tarpley, Daniel Asbury,
William M. Kennedy, Samuel Dunwoody, James E. Glenn, Hilliard Judge, and
Joseph Travis.
Leaving Camden we went to Charleston, thence to Georgetown, where we
stopped with William Wayne, nephew of General Anthony Wayne. He was
born in Wilmington in 1736. He was awakened by reading the writings
of John Wesley, and was converted in his forty-seventh year under a
sermon preached by Bishop Asbury in Georgetown. He and his wife joined
in August, 1784, and this was the nucleus of the Methodist society in
Georgetown.
The Virginia Conference was held in Richmond on February 20, 1812. This
was the first time the conference had been held at the capital. On
Sunday Bishop M’Kendree preached in the morning, and Dr. Jennings in
the afternoon. On Wednesday Bishop Asbury preached from 2 Tim. ii, 1-7,
on the faithfulness of ministers, their ability, their disentanglement
from the world, their power of endurance, and their reward. Afterward
he ordained the elders, and while he was performing the office in
his solemn and impressive manner the work of revival broke out in the
gallery, and quite a number were converted. I never before witnessed
just such a scene in conference. I wrote: “O my soul, never forget the
blessing received on this occasion.”
The conference made its first election for delegates to the General
Conference, choosing Jesse Lee, Philip Bruce, John Buxton, Thomas L.
Douglass, James Boyd, Richard Lattimore, Charles Callaway, C. H. Hines,
William Jean, and John Early.
While at Richmond I visited the ruins of the theater that was burned the
night of December 11, 1811. Just before the conclusion of the play the
scenery caught fire, and the whole building was almost instantly wrapped
in flames. I saw the staircase where the people crowded down the steps
to escape, and falling one upon another, perished in a heap. There was a
general gloom in the city, and the people were clad in mourning.
On the site of the theater they erected a house of worship, which they
called “Monumental Church.” Indeed it was a monument of one of the
saddest events that has occurred on our continent. It was an Episcopal
church, and Bishop Moore was the rector. The remains of the unfortunate
victims who perished were deposited in a marble urn, which stands in the
front portico of the church, and therefore its name.
In the interval between the session of the Virginia and Baltimore
Conferences, the bishop made a tour through the most interesting part
of old Virginia. We went to James City, and he preached there; then to
Williamsburgh, and on the 3d of March he preached in the venerable old
State-house or capitol, in the afternoon, to a crowded audience; and I
had the honor of holding forth in the evening from Heb. ii, 3, “How shall
we escape,” etc. We lodged at Brother Ratcliff’s. This was the capital of
Virginia before Richmond, and it is the oldest incorporated town in the
state.
The old walls of the State-house in which we preached had echoed with the
eloquence of Virginia’s greatest men. Here Patrick Henry made his first
grand speech; and in this old house Henry exclaimed, in tones of thunder,
“Cesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the
Third—” (“Treason!” cried the Speaker; “treason, treason!” echoed from
every part of the house)—Henry exclaimed, “may profit by his example.
If _this_ be treason, make the most of it.” It was in this edifice they
returned thanks to George Washington for his services in the French and
Indian war, and he rose to reply, and was so embarrassed he could say
nothing; then the Speaker, Robinson, said, “Sit down, Mr. Washington;
your modesty is equal to your valor, and that surpasses the power of any
language that I possess.”
We then went to Elizabeth City County and preached at Hampton, the county
seat, ninety-six miles from Richmond. Hampton is distinguished for its
antiquity; its site was visited by Captain John Smith previous to the
settlement in Jamestown. Old Point Comfort, on which Fortress Monroe
stands, is two miles and a half from Hampton.
The bishop preached every day, going miles out of our direct route,
visiting and confirming the Churches during the interval between the
Virginia and Baltimore Conferences.
On Friday, March 20, the Baltimore Conference commenced its session in
Leesburgh, Virginia. There were twelve ordained deacons, among others
Beverly Waugh, afterward book agent, then bishop; Joseph Frye, of blessed
memory, and James M. Hanson. They also elected their delegates to the
first delegated conference, fifteen in number: Nelson Reed, Joseph
Toy, Joshua Wells, Nicholas Snethen, Enoch George, Asa Shinn, Hamilton
Jefferson, Jacob Gruber, Robert R. Roberts, William Ryland, Christopher
Frye, James Smith, Robert Burch, Henry Smith, Andrew Hemphill. These were
all men of mark; two afterward became bishops.
On Sabbath both Bishops Asbury and M’Kendree preached. Bishop Asbury
ordained the deacons on Sunday, and the elders were ordained the next
Wednesday, after an able sermon from Nicholas Snethen.