many were deeply convinced of sin at every meeting. At Carbonear the
people cried aloud for mercy, so that he had to stop preaching, and
betook himself to prayer, when the sound of his voice was nearly
drowned by the people weeping, and he came down from the pulpit and
passed up and down through the church, exhorting and directing them,
as many as three and four persons being in an agony of spirit in every
pew. Even after the service closed, the cries and groans of anxious
persons could be heard at a considerable distance up and down the
harbour. At Harbor Grace, Port a Grave, Bay Roberts and other places,
similar scenes were witnessed, of deep conviction for sin, and many
rejoicing in the knowledge of sins forgiven. At Conception Bay during
a short time spent there, two hundred souls were converted, but that
was not all, for throughout the colony, William Black marched in
triumph, and saw very many souls won for Christ. It is no wonder that
he considered this visit to Newfoundland, as "the most useful and
interesting portion of his missionary life." The Rev. Richard Knight,
who spent seventeen years in the colony says, that he "organized
Methodism, settled the mission property, and secured it to the
Connexion, increased and inspirited the society, and obtained for them
the help they needed." Such a messenger could not fail to leave a deep
and abiding impression upon the hearts of the people, and his
departure was pathetic, as he stood for nearly an hour shaking hands
with them, and at last as he tore himself away, he says, that he "left
them weeping as for an only son." He secured fresh laborers from
Wesley to carry on the work, and Methodism in Newfoundland was
established upon a firm basis, and has continued vigorous till the
present day.
Upon his arrival in Halifax he found that the gentleman who owned the
church property in the city, had severed his connection with the
society, and become a bitter opponent, but William Black though sorely
tried, was in no wise daunted, and immediately he started a
subscription list, and secured prompt and efficient help, so as to
proceed with the building of a new church. One hundred pounds were
raised in one day, and the society took fresh courage, and grew in
numbers and strength. Having set matters in order in the city he
visited Horton, Granville, Annapolis and Digby on his way to St.
John, New Brunswick, where Abraham John Bishop was stationed, who
arrived there in September 1791, and a week later organized the first
class meeting in the city. Previous to that time several Methodist
ministers had visited the then growing town, through the earnest
solicitations of Stephen Humbert, a United Empire Loyalist, who landed
there on May 18th, 1783. He was a New Jersey Methodist and desirous of
having a society formed there. William Black arrived in November,
1791, and at once began to preach, but having seen some shipbuilders
at work on the Sabbath, he denounced their action in a sermon on the
same evening. A provincial statute existed forbidding anyone from
exercising the functions of the ministry without a license from the
Governor, and this was used to silence the courageous preacher.
Undeterred by this opposition, and hindered from preaching, he spent
his time visiting from house to house with blessed results. Three
months later he visited St. John with permission to preach, and found
a gracious revival in progress, then going to Fredericton he met a
class of twenty-two, most of whom were soldiers, and during the few
days spent there several conversions took place. On his return journey
he visited St. Stephens, where Duncan McColl was the missionary, and
he rejoiced in the evidences of growth, under the faithful labours of
that devoted man of God, and this notable tour, closed with a farewell
service in May to Abraham John Bishop. It was a touching scene, the
people being much distressed at losing the young missionary, and well
might they grieve, for after one year spent in Sheffield, he went to
the West Indies to labor among the colored people and died at Grenada
the following year. And thus passed away one who was esteemed as an
eminently holy man, and William Black was bathed in tears.
V.
BLACK AND WESLEY.
A memorable year for Methodism and William Black was 1791, as on the
second day of March of that year John Wesley passed away at City Road,
London, surrounded by preachers and friends. Eight years before the
young minister in Nova Scotia wrote to the aged man of God entreating
him to send out Missionaries, and also expressing his desire to spend
a year or two at Kingswood School, and the correspondence then begun
was continued until death. With the familiarity of an old man toward a
youth, William Black poured out his heart in his letters to his
venerable leader, who in turn gave him counsel in his difficulties,
sent him books, and treated him as a son, closing his letters with "My
Dear Billy." There would be a place for him in Kingswood School, but
he was not urged to attend, as Wesley laid greater stress on piety
than learning, and Nova Scotia could not well spare, not even for a
year or two, such a brave and intrepid soul as William Black.
It was natural that the intercourse should exert a strong and abiding
influence upon the mind and heart of the missionary, who sent reports
of his work, sought advice amid the difficulties which confronted
him, and spoke of his spiritual yearnings with the familiarity of a
little child with its parent. John Wesley became the model upon which
William Black formed his habits and character, and he succeeded well,
in a country with greater privations and more difficulties in
travelling than in old England. Like the great itinerant, he rose
early in all seasons, preached every day, as often as time and
distance allowed, kept a journal in which were recorded the notable
events that happened in his work, or person, and as he rode over the
rough roads, the broad sky became his study where he read many volumes
every year. These were not done through any servile imitation, but
because of an admiration and unconscious hero worship which compelled
him to follow where he admired. Wesley was to William Black a saint,
an ecclesiastical statesman, an acute and learned theologian, a great
winner of souls, and above all a personal friend, and when he died his
loss was greater than he cared to express.
With the passing of the Founder of Methodism, there were grave fears
of disagreement among the preachers throughout the Connexion, and
William Black shared in the general feeling, but Dr. Coke gave him
peace, in his account of the harmony of the Conference following
Wesley's death.
At the Conference held in Baltimore in November of the following year,
several preachers were secured for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and
William Black who had gone to the Conference, for the purpose of
meeting Dr. Coke, was induced at the doctor's request to take charge
of the missions in the West India Islands, in succession to Mr.
Harper, who was elected Presiding Elder of Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and Newfoundland. Leaving his family behind, William Black
accompanied Dr. Coke to the West Indies, visiting the islands, where
they found wickedness and bigotry so rampant that one of the Methodist
missionaries was in prison for preaching before he had resided there
twelve months, and in some other places the society had dwindled on
account of terrible persecution.
The climate of the West Indies was so severe upon his nervous system
that William Black had serious doubts as to his duty in remaining in
the tropical clime, however he was induced by Dr. Coke to become
Presiding Elder of the Leeward Islands and to reside at St. Kitts.
After visiting the sphere of his labors and meeting the ministers at
the Conference at Antigua, of whom there were thirteen present, he
returned to Nova Scotia for his family. During this visit to the
Province he found that the cause at Liverpool was in such a prosperous
state, that there was great need of a place of worship, and with his
accustomed zeal and determination, he started a subscription list and
in a few days secured three hundred pounds. His return to the West
Indies with his family was signalized by strenuous efforts for the
salvation of the people, but his stay was destined to be short, as Dr.
Coke became convinced that owing to changes in the Islands, and the
importance of the work in Nova Scotia, it was necessary for William
Black to take charge of his old field. Accordingly he was recalled
after spending one year as Presiding Elder in the West Indies, and
singular to relate, upon the day that Dr. Coke wrote his instructions
for removal, the ministers were assembled in District Meeting at
Windsor, and they passed a resolution asking that William Black be
allowed to assume his position as General Superintendent of the
Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland.
No sooner did he arrive and was reinstated among his brethren, than he
threw himself with increased vigor into the work of consolidating and
extending the congregations. Prince Edward Island was visited, where a
cordial reception was granted him at Charlottetown, large
congregations being present when he preached. At Tryon there had been
a gracious revival two years previous under the ministry of William
Grandine, the results of which were still apparent, the nucleus of a
congregation had been formed at Charlottetown by a class led by Joshua
Newton, Collector on the Island, which met at the house of Benjamin
Chappel, and when William Black waited upon the Governor, Colonel
Fanning, to thank him for the use of the Church, he spent an agreeable
hour, conversing freely on the advantages of religion to individuals,
and society in general, and the Governor closed the interview by
expressing his friendship, with a promise of assistance in building a
Methodist Church. Methodism had grown in the provinces during the
years since it was established, so that in 1794, there were eleven
hundred accredited members, not including the number of adherents who
had not united with the church.
The journal in which William Black recorded his personal experiences,
and gave a faithful account, though brief, of the extraordinary events
which happened in his travels, the notable conversions, revival
services and progress of the kingdom of God closes with the year 1794.
Limited as it is in the range of its subjects, it was characteristic
of the man whose sole aim was the conversion of sinners and the
upbuilding of the saints. He was too busy to continue the record, and
though there were many things coming under the range of his
observation worthy of preservation, he was too modest to think of
writing his reflections with any view to publication.
The year 1800 was spent in England, where he attended the British
Wesleyan Conference which met in London, and during his visit he made
a deep and lasting impression upon the hearts of many, by his zeal and
modesty. He was welcomed as the founder of Methodism in British North
America, and had the opportunity of meeting some of the leaders of
British Methodism, especially Jabez Bunting, with whom he had several
interesting and profitable conversations, and who remained till death
one of his most devoted friends. In one of his letters to him while he
was attending the Conference, Bunting wrote, "My letter will, at
least, be accepted as an expression of that warmth of Christian
affection and esteem which I shall ever feel toward you. Unworthy as I
am of your friendship, I trust that a blessed eternity will confirm
and perfect the attachment which my present short acquaintance with
you has inspired and that, however separated on earth, we shall
together spend an everlasting existence." Two years later in another
letter he says, "I often recollect with pleasure the agreeable and
profitable moments we spent together at Oldham and Manchester, during
your last visit to England, and am thankful to God that ever I knew
you on earth, because I am persuaded that through his abundant mercy
in Christ Jesus, I shall hereafter know you in heaven, and there be
permitted to resume and perfect that intercourse and acquaintance,
which here were so transient, and so speedily suspended by separation.
In the General Assembly, and Church of the First-born, I hope to meet
my honoured friend again, and to mingle with his, and with those of
ten thousand times ten thousand others, my everlasting Hosannas to the
Lamb that was slain. Even so, Lord Jesus! I was pleased and thankful
sometime ago in a Love-feast at Saddleworth, to hear the testimony of
one, who was awakened under a sermon you preached at Delph, from
'Behold I stand at the door, &c.,' on the Sunday you spent there with
me in April 1800. I mention this to show you, that you have some seals
of your ministry in these parts of the world, and that your labours of
love among us were not in vain in the Lord."
The kindness shown toward William Black during his visit to England,
and the fact that he was born there, naturally induced him to
entertain the idea of taking a circuit and spending his remaining
years in the old land, but Dr. Coke was strongly averse to him leaving
Nova Scotia where so great success had attended his labours, and his
influence was unbounded. Feeling that he could not very well leave the
care of the churches to others, without some provision being made for
superintending them in the event of his going to live in England, he
drew up a scheme of handing them over to the Methodist Episcopal
Church in the United States, and wrote to Bishop Asbury on the matter.
There were however political difficulties in the way, and being unable
to make satisfactory provision for supplying the churches with
ministers, and the danger of disaffection in the event of a war
between Great Britain and the United States, he decided to remain in
Nova Scotia and continue his active duties. Possessed of
administrative abilities of a high order, added to the skill and zeal
of an evangelist, he was a man of mark, who could not be left in
charge of a single circuit, but must have a wider field. Consequently
at the Conference held in Philadelphia in 1804, Dr. Coke requested him
to take a station in Bermuda for three or four years, and in order to
conciliate the members of the church in Halifax by the temporary
removal of their pastor, the Doctor wrote them a letter, in which he
said, "Mr. Black has been your apostle for above twenty years, and it
is now high time that he should be an apostle elsewhere. I have no
doubt that he will have a society of six hundred, or perhaps one
thousand members in Bermuda in four years. He may then, if he please,
return to superintend the work in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but
it will depend upon his own choice whether he return to you, or to
England, or remain at Bermuda." William Black consented to go, and
went to New York, where he engaged his passage, but was prevented from
reaching his destination by some persons from Bermuda who were opposed
to Methodism, and were going by the same vessel, and used their
influence so that the passage was cancelled. Two years later the
British Wesleyan Missionary Committee requested him to become
Superintendent of Missions in the West Indies, and Dr. Coke renewed
his request that he assume charge in Bermuda, but he declined the
appointment to the West Indies on the account of the severity of the
tropical climate, though he was willing to go to Bermuda. The Nova
Scotia District Meeting however intervened, and petitioned the British
Conference that he might be allowed to remain Superintendent of
Missions in the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland, and there the
matter ended.
Meanwhile the arduous duties of visiting the churches and preaching
continued with much success, several new churches being built and
numerous conversions, among whom was Colonel Bayard who commanded one
of the British regiments at Halifax during the war, and afterwards
settled about 30 miles from Annapolis. He had been strongly opposed to
Methodism, but was led by William Black to a personal trust in Christ,
and lived such a holy life that he became known as the John Fletcher
of Nova Scotia. In the midst of a great revival which swept St. John,
and through the District from Barrington to Liverpool, there came
opposition from some preachers from Scotland, who spurned the idea of
conversion, however success followed the faithful preaching of William
Black and his fellow workers and many souls were led to Christ. In
1809 he was stationed in St. John, New Brunswick, where he spent two
years, but his active ministry was drawing to a close.
The privations and incessant labors began to tell upon a strong
constitution, so that in 1812 he was compelled to become a
supernumerary, though not desisting altogether from rendering whatever
service his health would permit in extending the cause that lay so
near his heart. Along with the Rev. William Bennett he was delegated
by the British Conference to attend the Conference in the United
States, and lay before the members the question of Canadian Methodism
retaining its allegiance with the British Conference, a task which was
faithfully performed, though of a very delicate character.
Increasing infirmities kept him in retirement, though he managed in
the spring of 1820 to pay a visit to the United States, where he
preached before Congress, and the passion for souls was still burning
in his soul, for the text of the sermon was, "What is a man profited,
if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Brave and ever
resolute, he maintained his interest in the progress of the churches
which he founded, and it was with a pathos born of love to his
brethren, and the consciousness that his active work was done, that he
wrote to the ministers at the District Meeting held in St. John in
1823, that he was unable to attend, and sent them his blessing.
This man of daring had a definite religious experience and all his
preaching was with the individual in view, his sphere of labours was
not large in extent of territory, but he widened it by incessant
travel, without any show of rhetoric he won his way to men's hearts
and that is eloquence, and he lived to move Eastern British America by
translating his message in words imperishable, and lay foundations
upon which others have built. He was no common man, but an
empire-builder in the brave days of old.
VI.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
A man above medium height, stout in body and well built, clad in the
fashion of the Methodist preachers of the day, with a benign
countenance, his face smoothly shaven, a kindly eye, a mind ever
alert, a genial temperament, and strong force of character which
fitted him well for his aggressive work in a new and rough country,
and you have a fair likeness of William Black. Without any college
education, and with no pretentions as a scholar, he was far from being
deficient in education. The preacher with his saddlebags quickly
learned the value of time, as he travelled incessantly, and preached
every day, and we are not surprised to learn, that he formed habits of
study similar to those of the circuit riders of old England. With an
intensity which is often bewildering, we read of him moving with
incredible swiftness from place to place, studying at every
opportunity to fit himself as an able preacher of the everlasting
gospel.
His letters to John Wesley and other correspondents bear the impress
of a cultured mind, in the grasp of the great doctrines which were
under discussion, and the nervous strength, simplicity, purity and
dignity of the language in which they are couched. The saddle, the
open road, and the clear sky were his permanent study, and he read
with the keen instinct of a student, whose hours were limited, as he
had other work to do, and he must furbish his brain, and warm his
heart by contact with the masters of literature who came at his call.
He was a constant reader of Wesley's Journal and sermons. When he was
travelling to the General Conference at Baltimore, he spent his time
on the vessel in study, as he writes: "Most of my time since I came on
board has been occupied in reading, chiefly Flavel's Treatise on the
Soul, Littleton's Roman History and Knox's Essays. Lord let none of
them prove improfitable!" For spiritual growth he was accustomed to
read religious biography, which is an excellent study, and he found
much comfort and food for serious reflection in the Lives of John
Fletcher and Whitefield. But he was not forgetful of the benefits of
the solid studies which are needful for the Christian minister, and he
applied himself with splendid energy to the Latin and Greek languages
and works on theology. Matthew Richey who was well qualified to speak
on the subject, because of his own training, and his acquaintance with
William Black says: "During the time of our personal acquaintance with
him, he possessed a critical knowledge of the New Testament in the
original, which must have been the result of many years' application.
In studying the Greek Testament, Parkhurst's Lexicon was his favorite
thesaurus, and he knew well to discriminate the sound learning and
theology with which that inestimable work abounds, from the fancies
and eccentricities both etymological and philosophical, with which
they are sometimes associated." It was his custom for many years to
read Thomas à Kempis Imitation of Christ at family prayer in the Latin
tongue, his wife reading the translation while he followed her in the
original, and Matthew Richey adds that while he "carefully studied the
Greek Testament, he was not forgetful of the Latin language, in which
his attainments were very respectable." We have no record of the books
he read or any account of his studies, but his Journal and letters
show, that he was a student all his life, reading theology, history,
biography and essays in literature with an economy of time, and an
alertness, which put many of us to shame. With a yearning after wider
culture he longed to go to Kingswood School in England, and when that
became impossible, he devoted himself with greater enthusiasm to his
studies, and employed John Wesley to send him books.
Although he was a model itinerant and was preaching every day, he
pursued the method of training his own mind and instructing his
hearers by courses on systematic theology, which is an ideal system
for any minister. He writes: "In my last sixteen discourses I have
taken a view of man in his primitive state, and in his fall, the
consequences of his apostacy, to himself and to his posterity, the
interposition of a Mediator, his offices, incarnation, life, death,
resurrection, ascension into heaven, and session on the right hand of
the Father. O, how wonderful is the process of redeeming love!" Living
in a real world and deeply impressed with the needs of the people, he
had no time to devote to any literary work, though he might have
rendered some service by his pen to the cause of Christ, but modesty
barred the way, and he was above everything else a pioneer evangelist.
Only once did he consent to have one of his sermons published, and
that was a discourse preached at Windsor, Nova Scotia, on Deut.
33:13. "He made him to suck honey out of the rock." When he preached a
sermon on Bishop Asbury at the General Conference in Baltimore, and
was importuned to have it published by that august body, he
respectfully declined the honor.