C. | _ | _'l!i,8|.-|"1,,u1 li —i,__ | | t | | | | | S | i | i | E | E | | | g | | _ l | | | | | _., | | g | _f{S!,r-tilil>l$z4iiisI[EEL,*u..S.;i..m= | | | |. i M |, g g g,.'! iell " 1g, lip', ~,-S;lNSll'."^' RS' 19!'lisliffll!,_ _ C g _ _ B1 e ___@ AtAt.VgrS,'l94i'','! i, 1'0|1lfl=if =- =g/mXWz.fAXll0Zih.31\Dit'&\ge -i.u' I:>.':'4.i.,;'!: _ XF/5 D _ r X=WE =_:____WE.' _ __E-i _S!_ =||_ _ _ __d _ _ ____ Xi_-._@_ __:_ -._._ <.1',5 —, 1rz-:X,: I \ 0 i t D,,, b *1, i fF\ 00 7:, T jX * - Z' 0'.t' si vI j' -,.,! / / / % / - Z,. P g! S J THE HISTORY OF MIETHODISM IN KENTUCKY. BY THE REV. A. H. REDFORD. VOLUME I. FROM THE LANDING OF JAMES M'PBRIDE IN THE DISTRICT, IN 1754, TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1808. Naoltbillr, sen.: SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 1868. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by A. II. REDFORD, in the District Court of the United States for the Middle District of Tennessee. R. CULZLIN, STEREOTYPER, SOUTHERN 3METIIODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. TO THIE MEMBERtS AND FRIEND)S 01 TIlE etl1tbiat fsoplt 61Aiurcly,.outlt, in'entu.chg, THIS t' —1 HISTORY IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. FROMt THE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1787. Daniel Boone-James McBride-Dr. Walker-John FinleyThe early emigrants-Kentucky formed into a county-Indian cruelties —James Haw, Benjamin Ogden, the first Methodist missionaries to Kentucky-William Hickman-James Smith — Elijah, Lewis, and Joseph Craig-Tanner-Bailey-Bledsoe — Baptist Church organized —The Presbyterian Church — David Rice - Blythe- Lyle -Velch - McNamar- StoneReynolds- Stewart-First Presbytery formed-Bishop Asbury —Benjamin Ogden, a revolutionary soldier —Francis Clark — William J. Thompson-Nathanael Harris — Gabriel and Daniel Woodfield - Philip Taylor - Joseph Ferguson - Methodism planted in Kentucky by Francis Clark, a local preacher —John Durham —Thomas Stevenson-Mrs. Sarah Stevenson —The character of the early preachers-Mrs. Jane Stamper...................................................................... 17 CHAPTER II. FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1787 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1789. Kentucky Circuit —James Hawv-Cumberland Circuit — Benjamin Ogden-Wilson Lee-Thomas Williamson-Kentucky Circuit divided- Francis Poythress - Devereaux JarratPeter Massie-Benjamin Snelling- Local preachers............ 34 (5) CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. FROM3 THE CONXFiERENCE OF 1789 TO THE CON'FERENCE OF 1790. Interesting letter from James Haw-Barnabas McHenry-Stephen Brooks-Cumberland Circuit —James HIaw - James O'Kelly — Interesting account of James Haw, by Learner Blackman —James O'Cull: his style of preaching - Poor support of preachers-Kiindness of the Baltimore Conference. 46 CHAPTER IV. FROMr THE FIRST CONFERENCE HELD IN KENTUCKY, IN 1790, TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1792. Bishop Asbury's first visit to Kentucky-The first Annual Conference in the District held at AMasterson's Station, near Lexington-Richard Whatcoat-Hope Hull-John Seawell-First Methodist Church in Kentucky-Peter Massie-John ClarkThe Conference composed of six members-Limnestone and Madison Circuits-Henry Birchett-David I-Iaggard-Samuel Tucker-Joseph Lillard — Death of Samuel Tucker —Bethel Academy-Madison Circuit disappears from the 1MinutesSalt River Circuit-Barnabas AMcHcnry-Death of Peter Massie-Life and death of Simeon............................... 67 CHAPTER V. FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1792 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1793. Kentucky admitted into the Union-Isaac Shelby the first Governor - The imperiled condition of the State - Preparations for its defense —The counties of Lincoln, Fayette, Jefferson, Nelson, Bourbon, Madison, Mercer, Woodford, Mason, Green, Hardin, Scott, Logan, Shelby, and Washington-The Conference of 1792-Bishop Asbury present —Religious condition of the State-Col. John HardinI-IHe is sent on a mission of peace to the Indians-Is massacred —Col. Ilardin a Methodist- Isaac Hammer John Sewell -Richard Bird — Benjamin Northcnltt-John Ray-Anecdotes of John Ray CONTENTS. 7 John Page —Dr. McFerrin's testimony —Letters of John Page-Bishops Asbury, Whatcoat, and Coke-Wilson Lee leaves Kentucky....................................... 110 CHAPTER VI. FROMI TEE CONFERENCE OF 1793 TO TEE CONFERENCE OF 1794. Conference held this year in Kentucky at Masterson's StationDangers encountered by Bishop Asbury to reach KentuckyHis immense labors-Jacob Lurton-James Ward-William Burke - John Ball — Gabriel Woodfield - Death of Henry Birchett...................................................................... 147 CHAPTER VII. FRaOM THE CONFERENCE OF 1794 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1796. Gen. Anthony Wayne-Gen. St. Clair-His expedition against the Indians unsuccessful-The campaign of 1794-The battle near the rapids of the Miami-Gen. Wayne's victory complete — The Indian war brought to a successful terminationTreaty of peace concluded —The Conference of 1794-John Metcalf- Thomas Scott — Peter Guthrie - Tobias GibsonM{oses Speer-Conference of 1795 —William Duzan —John Buxton —Aquila Sugg — Francis Acuff: his Death — Thomas Wilkerson-The small increase in members........................ 169 CHAPTER VIII. FROSM THE CONFERENCE OF 1796 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1797. The Conference of 1796 held at Masterson's Chapel-Jeremiah Lawson -Aquila Jones - Benj amin Lakin -John Watson - Henry Smith-John Baird —Increase in membership-Shelby Circuit........................................................................ 204 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. FIROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1797 TO THE CONFERENCE O 1799. The Conference of 1797 held at Bethel Academy-Bishop Asbury - Thomas Allen -Francis Poythress -Williams Kavanaugh-John Kobler — Decrease in membership —The Conference of 1798 held on Holston - Robert Wilkerson - Valentine Cook-Increase in membership-John Kobler, the first missionary to Ohio................................... 218 CHAPTER X. FROMr THE CONFERENCE OF 1799 TO THE CONFERENCE HELD IN APRIL, 1800. The Conference held at Bethel Academy-Daniel Gossage —Farther increase in membership-The decline in membership between the years 1792 and 1800, and the causes-Emigration from the State-The O'Kelly schism-Legislation on the subject of slavery-Prevalent infidelity-Erroneous doctrines -John and William McGee-The great revival-Red River Church-Muddy River-The Ridge meeting-Desha's CreekLetter from the Rev. John McGee......................... 248 CHAPTER XI. FROM: THE CONFERENCE OF 1800, HELD AT DUNWORTH, ON HOLSTON, ON THE FIRST FRIDAY IN APRIL, TO THE CONFERENCE HELD AT BETHEL ACADEMY, KENTUCKY, COMMENCING ON THE SIXTH DAY OF THE FOLLOWING OCTOBER. Local preachers-John Nelson-Robert Strawbridge-Francis Clark-Gabriel and Daniel Woodfield-John Baird-Benjamin Northcutt-Nathanael Harris-Philip W. Taylor-Henry Ogburn-William Forman-Joseph Ferguson-The Conference in the spring of 1800-The General Conference —William Burke-Thomas Shelton-Controversy with the BaptistsWilliam Burke chosen Presiding Elder-The Revival-Sandusky Station-William Algood-Hezekiah H-Iarriman-John Sale-Jonathan Kidwell.............................................. 273 CONTENTS. 9 CHAPTER XII. FROM THE CONFERENCE HELD AT BETHEL ACADEMY, OCTOBER 6, 1800, TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1801. Representative women —Mrs. Lydia Wickliffe —Mrs. Sally Helm — Mrs. Sarah Stevenson —Mrs. Mary Davis —Mrs. Elizabeth Durbin —Mrs. Jane Hardin-Mrs, Jane Stamper —Mrs. Mary T. Hinde-Conference held October 6, 1800, the second in Kentucky for this year-Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat present-The Conference Journal -William McKendree-Lewis Hunt-William Marsh-The spread of the great revivalIlai Nunn-Major John Martin-Dr. Hinde-Increase of membership...................................................... 302 CHAPTER XIII. FROM THES CONFERENCE OF 1801 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1803. The Western Conference- The early centers of Methodism in Kentucky - Clarke's Station - Ferguson's Chapel - Level Woods-Chaplin-Brick Chapel-Ebenezer-Grassy LickMuddy Creek-Foxtown —Mount Gerizim-Thomas's Meeting-house-Sandusky Station-The Conference of 1801 held at Ebenezer- -Bishop Asbury present — Nicholas Snethen — Lewis Garrett —Large increase in membership-The Conference of 1802 held at Strother's, in Tennessee-Bishop Asbury present-Samuel Douthet-William Crutchfield-Ralph Lotspeich- James Gwin - Jacob Young - Jesse Walker — Red River Circuit - Barren Circuit -Winn Malone -Wayne Circuit-Increase of membership....................................... 386 CHAPTER XIV. FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1803 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1808. Conference meets at Mount Gerizim —Bishop Asbury presentAnthony Houston-John McClure —Adjet McGuire-Fletcher Sullivan-Louther Taylor-John A. Granade-Learner Blackman-Increase of membership-Limestone Circuit-The Con 10 CONTENTS. ference of 1804-Abdel Coleman-Joshua Barnes-Joslhua Riggin —William J. Thompson — Edmund Wilcox- James Axley —Peter Cartwright-Asa Shinn —Benjamin EdgeMiles Harper - George Askins - Samuel Parker - Death of Wilson Lee-Livingston and Hartford Circuit-Churches organized in Ohio county —Church organized at Thomas Stith's, in Breckinridge county-Thomas Taylor-Margaret TaylorLicking Circuit-Increase of membership-The Conference of 1805 —Bishop Asbury present —Thomas Hellums —Henry Fisher -Samuel Sellers-David Young-Moses Ashworth —William Ellington-Richard Browning —William Houston-Joshua Oglesby-A small class in Louisville-Increase in membership -Conference of 1806-Bishop Asbury present-Abbot Goddard-Hector Sandford-Joseph Bennett-Frederick HoodZadoc B. Thaxton-Abraham Amos-Joseph Williams-John Thompson-William Hitt-Joseph Oglesby-The first deed of ground, on which to build a church, in Mason county —Increase of membership-The Conference of 1807-Bishop Asbury present - Thomas Stillwell - Mynus Layton — Josiah Crawford - John Craig - William Lewis - Jacob Turman - Henry Mallory-James King-Sela Paine-Milton LaddJoseph Hays-Elisha W. Bowman —The Silver Creek Circuit, in Indiana Territory, formed —Kennerly Chapel-Pond Meeting-house - Increase in membership - Causes of locations - Our Review,...........ee............................................ 429 PREFACE. THE History of Methodism in Kentucky cannot be otherwise than interesting, if faithfully delineated. Organized in the District when there was scarcely a cabin outside of the forts in all its broad domain-its standard-bearers exposed to privations, sufferings, and dangers, the recital of which seem more like romantic stories, selected from the legends of fable, than the sober realities of historyplanted and nourished amid opposition and difficulties that brave hearts only could surmount, the extraordinary success that has attended it, growing up in eighty years from a single society of only a few members to a membership of nearly fifty thousand, with more than five hundred ministers, (traveling and local,) church-edifices in every community, schools and seminaries of learning in different portions of the State —its truths proclaimed in every neighborhood, and its vital energies and hallowed influence imparting life to other Christian communions, it is invested with an importance at once attractive and commanding. VWhile the rich have sought its temples, and (11) 12 PREFACE. worshiped at its altars, its peculiar glory has been that it searched for the poor, and carried the tidings of a Redeemer's love to the homes of sorrow and of want. Not seeking controversies with other denominations of Christians, but desirous to live on terms of amity and in Christian fellowship with all who love the Lord Jesus, its ministers have everywhere preached the doctrines of the Bible, as contained in our Articles of Religion; while they have not at any time shrunk from the vindication of its teachings and truths, by whomsoever assailed. Anxious for the success of Christianity, and the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, it cheerfully bids God speed to all who love the Saviour, and rejoices in the prosperity of Zion, whether in its own or in other branches of the Church of Christ. The biographical sketches to be found in these pages are simply sketches. They claim to be nothing more. The limits of our work, when we take into consideration the number of the ministers who hlave occupied this field, and have been called "from labor to reward," forbid our indulging in detailed historical narrative. In many instances we desired to give more lengthened accounts of the lives and labors of the noble men who laid the foundations of Methodism in these western wilds, but we dared not gratify our own wishes. We have allowed all the space which might be considered expedient. We regret that in many instances our information has been so meager. To ascertain all that we could, we have spared neither pains, expense, nor labor, in our efforts PREFACE. 13 to become possessed of all the information to be obtained. We have searched the records of the Church, and availed ourselves of a close and faithful examination of the General Minutes, the Methodist Magazine, Quarterly Reviews, and the weekly journals of the Church, together with several volumes of Church-history, biographical sketches, autobiographies, unpublished manuscripts of pioneer preachers, and extensive private correspondence, that we might elicit every thing yet remaining that connects the present with the past. That many facts, incidents, and matters of importance, in reference to Methodism in Kentucky, are lost to us for ever, we cannot doubt. Many of the most reliable sources of information are closed. Only one of the noble men identified with the fortunes of the Church in Kentucky, previous to the period at which this volume closes, yet remains. Bending beneath the weight of eighty-three years, he is still able to preach the gospel. We are, however, happy to believe that much may hereafter be discovered, that may invest a future edition with greater interest. It has been for many years our anxious desire that some one would rescue from oblivion the names and the memories of the pioneer preachers of Kentucky, and place their lives and labors in a permanent and enduring form. The fact that no one else has accepted the task, is our apology for having undertaken it. For several years we have been collecting materials for this work, and amid the arduous duties of the Book Agency, we have prepared 14 PREFACE. this volume for the press, and now submit it to the members of the Methodist Church. If in these pages we have contributed any thing toward the advancement of religious truth-if in recounting the difficulties under which Methodism was planted in Kentucky, its principles shall be rendered dearer to the Church —and if we have recovered the memory of any of those worthies to whom, under God, we are so greatly indebted for the rich inheritance they have bequeathed us, we shall feel that our labor has not been in vain. A. H. REDFORD. NASHVILLE, TENN., May 1, 1868. I. OF METHODISM IN KENTUCKY. CHAPTER I. FROM TIHE SETTLEMENT OF KENTUCKY TO TLHE CONFERENCE OF 1787. Daniel Boone-James McBride-Dr. Walker-John Finley-The early emigrants-Kentucky formed into a county-Indian cruelties -James Haw, Benjamin Ogden, the first Methodist missionaries to Kentucky-William Hickman —James Smith-Elijah, Lewis, and Joseph Craig-Tanner-Bailey-Bledsoe-Baptist Church organized-The Presbyterian Church-David Rice-Blythe-Lyle -Welch-McNamar-Stone-Reynolds-Stewart-First Presbytery formed-Bishop Asbury —Benjamin Ogden, a revolutionary soldier —Francis Clark-William J. Thompson-Nathanael Harris -Gabriel and D)aniel Woodfield-Philip Taylor —Joseph Ferguson -Methodism planted in Kentucky by Francis Clark, a local preacher-John Durham-Thomas Stevenson —Mrs. Sarah Stevens son-The character of the early preachers-Mrs. Jane Stamper. THE early history of Kentucky presents a record of savage cruelties, of extreme suffering, and of heroic endurance. The name of Daniel 3Boone, the first wlhite settler who sought a home arnid its dark uOra. X (l: 18 IME T I ODIS M and almost impenetrable forests, and whose dust now slumbers beneath its soil, will always be held in kind remembrance. The first discovery of Kentucky, however, was made by James McBride, who as early as 1754 "; passed down the Ohio River, with some others, in canoes, landed at the mouth of the Kentucky River, and marked the initials of his name and date upon a tree."* Four years later, Dr. Walker, led by curiosity, or by the spirit of adventure, made a brief trip to the north-eastern portion of the District.t Nine years afterward, and only two years previous to the date of Boone's first entrance into Kentucky, John Finley, with some other Indian-traders from North Carolina, made a considerable tour through it.4 The stay, however, of McBride, Walker, and Finley, was short, and to Daniel Boone belongs the honor of being the first pioneer. The first emigrants to the District of Kentucky were chiefly composed of men who were " rough, independent, and simple in their habits, careless and improvident in their dealings, frank of speech, and unguarded in their intercourse with each other and with strangers, friendly, hospitable, and generous." Deprived of educational advantages, they were generally their own school-masters, and their book the volume of nature. It was not the dull, the unaspiring, the idle, but the bold, the resolute, * Methodist Magazine, Vol. III., p. 386. t Collins's Kentucky, p. 18.: Methodist Magazine, Vol. III., p. 386. IN KENTUCKY. 19 the ambitious, who came to carve out their homes from the kingly forests of the fresh and untouched wilderness. The settlement of Kentucky by the AngloAmerican pioneer was no easy task. The fierce and merciless savage stubbornly disputed the right to the soil. The attempt to locate upon these rich and fertile lands was a proclamation of war-of war whose conflict should be more cruel than had been known in all the bloody pages of the past. On his captive the Indian inflicted the most relentless torture. Neither the innocence of infancy, the tears of beauty, nor the decrepitude of age, could awaken his sympathy or touch his heart. The tomahawk and the stake were the instruments of his cruelty. But notwithstanding the dangers that constantly imperiled the settlers, attracted by the glowing accounts of the beauty of the country and the fertility of the soil, brave hearts were found that were willing to leave their patrimonial homes in Carolina and Virginia, and hazard their lives amid the fi'owning forests of the West. Thus valuable accessions were continually received by the first emigrants. In the winter of 1776, Kentucky was formed into a county. Although this act invested the people with the right to a separate county court, to justices of the peace, a sheriff, constable, coroner, and militia officers, but few instances occurred in which it was necessary for the law to assert its supremacy. Banded together by the ties of a conmmon interest, and alike exposed to suffering and to peril, it was but seldom that any disposition 20 MET H O D I S A was evinced to encroach upon the rights of another. For mutual comfort, as well as for mutual protection, the people dwelt principally in forts, by which means they were the better prepared for a defense from the frequent attacks of the Indians. It would be impossible to describe the sufferings of the first settlers in Kentucky-they are beyond description; yet we may imagine the anguish of heart endured by the husband and father, whose wife and children had become a prey to savage vigilance and cruelty, or to the tortures, worse than death, inflicted upon the Indian's helpless captive; or we may attempt to realize the grief, whose deepest shades had fallen upon the breaking heart of the wife and mother, as the shadows of the evening gather around her lonely home, and she listens in vain for the familiar footstep of him on whose strong arm she had trusted for protection, or for the return of those little ones that had been the light of her home and the joy of her heart. Words cannot express, nor mind can scarce conceive, the pain that hardy race endured. A lifetime of suffering is sometimes crowded into a single hour. It was so with them. The hostility of the Indian never slumbered; and during this period, capture, torture, and death inflicted in the most cruel manner that savage malignity could invent, were of common occurrence. Oni one hand were instances of shocking barbarities; and on the other of long captivities, of untold sufferings, of deeds of daring, and of heroic achievements, which seem more like romance than reality. These noble men, so patient under all the pangs of' IN KENTUCKY. 21 war, and want, and wretchedness, were the benefactors of the West; and though no marble pillar may mark the spot where many of them rest, yet they live embalmed in the affections of a grateful peoplea monument far more enduring. It was during this period and amid these dangers that James Haw and aBenjamin Ogden were appointed missionaries to the District of Kentucky. Previous to this time Methodism had been established in the States of zNew York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and in portions of South Carolina and Georgia; but up to this date the General Minutes report no Church under its auspices in Kentucky. Baptist ministers were the first to proclaim the truths of Christianity here. As early as 1776, the Rev. William Hickman, a man of piety, came from Virginia on a tour of observation, and during his stay devoted much of his time to preaching the gospel. He was perhaps the first preacher of any denomination who lifted the standard of the cross on "the dark and bloody ground." Other Baptist mlinisters soon followed, among whom were James Smith, Elijah, Lewis, and Joseph Craig, and Messrs. Tanner, Bailey, and Bledsoe. The Baptist Church, however, was not organized until the year 1781. Their first organization was known as the Gilbert's Creek Church, located on Gilbert's Creek, a few miles from where the town of Lancaster now stands.*'; When Lewis Craig left Spottsylvanit county, Virginia, most of his large Church there caine with him. They were constituted when 22 ME T H OD I S M The Presbyterian Church was organized at a later period. The first Presbyterian preacher who came to Kentucky was the Rev. David Rice. He immigrated to Kentucky from Virginia in 1783, and settled in Mercer county. Previous to this date small bodies of Presbyterians had settled in the neighborhoods of Danville, Cane Run, and the forks of Dick's River. These were gathered into regular congregations by Mr. Rice, and as he had opportunity "he ministered to them in holy things." In the meantime other Presbyterian ministers followed Mr. Rice, among whom were Messrs. James Blythe, John Lyle,* YWelch, McNamnar, Stone, Reynolds, and Stewart; and in the year 1786, the first Presbytery was organized, under the name of the Presbytery of Transylvania.t It was in this year that, at the hands of Bishop Asbury, James Haw and Benjamin Ogden received their appointment to Kentucky. The Conference from whence they were sent was held in the city of Baltimore. A long and perilous journey through a pathless and untrodden wilderness lay before them, and at the termination a dense forest, inhabited by savage beasts and the no less savage Indian; while they started, and were an organized Church on the road. Wherever they stopped they could transact Church-business. They settled at Craig's Station, on Gilbert's Creek, a few miles east of where the town of Lancaster, Garrard county, is now situated.-i-istory of Ten Chlurches, p. 42. * Bishop Kavanaugh lived several years, when a youth, with Mr. Lyle, and was traveling with him when converted. t Collins's Kentucky, p. 132. IN KENTUCKY. 23 no official board to hold out the generous hand of welcome, no church-edifice, no comfortable home, awaited their arrival. Jalues lHaw was admitted on trial at the Conference held at Ellis's Preachinghouse, in Sussex county, Virginia, April 17, 1782, and had traveled the South Branch, Amelia, Bedford, and Brunswick Circuits, all lying in the State of Virginia. Mr. HIaw was familiar with the sacrifices incident to the life of an itinerant Methodist preacher in his day. I-Ie was inured to hardship. Kentucky was Mr. Ogden's first appointment, yet he was no stranger to privations. Though only twenty-two years of age when he came to Kentucky, he had participated in the American struggle for independence. I-He had followed the fortunes of the American arms when only a youth, during the years of the Revolution, amid assault, pursuit, and slaughter. He knew what privations meant. In his soldier-life he had pitched his tent on the cold, damp ground, and slept beneath the moonlit sky. He had passed days together without sufficient food; had breasted the storm of battle, and stood undaunted and unmoved amid its leaden hail. The quick, discerning eye of Bishop Asbury detected in these men the qualifications requisite for a life of toil, of sacrifice, of suffering; and their deep devotion to their Heavenly Master's cause eminently fitted them to become pioneer preachers in this faroff Western country. Theirs was a noble design. It was not to engage in speculation, or to seek for worldly opulence. No; they were impelled by higher motives. Men were perishing, and they 24 MET H O D IS M came to snatch them from ruin. They came to establish a system whose purpose it is to recover man from sin; to elevate him, morally and socially; and when dying, to kneel beside his pillow, and point his fading eyes to the "land afar off." Messrs. HIaw and Ogden were preceded by the Rev. Francis Clark, a local preacher from Virginia. He emigrated to Kentucky in 1783, and settled in the neighborhood of Danville.* "He was a man of sound judgment, and well instructed in the doctrines of the Methodist Church. As a preacher he was successful, and was made the instrument of forming several societies, and lived many years to rejoice in the success of the cause that he had been the instrument, under God, of commencing in the wilderness. He died at his own domicile in the fall of 1799, in great peace, and in hope of a blessed immortality. Rev. William J. Thompson also emigrated at an early day from Stokes county, North Carolina, and settled in the same neighborhood. HIe became also a useful auxiliary, and preached with acceptance and success. He afterward joined the traveling connection in the Western Conference; and when he moved to the State of Ohio, became connected with the Ohio Conference, where his labors and usefulness are held in remembrance by many. The next preachers that came to the country were Nathanael Harris, from Virginia; Gabriel and Daniel Woodfield, from the Redstone country. Harris settled in * Recollections of the West, p. 10. IN KENTUCKY, 25 Jessamine county, and the Woodfields in Fayette county; and, not long after, Philip Taylor, fromn Virginia, settled in Jessamine county. These were considered a great acquisition to the infant societies. NathanaelIHarris and Gabriel Woodfield were among the first order of local preachers, and they were highly esteemed and labored with success. They have been connected with the itinerancy, and labored in that relation with acceptance. Gabriel YWoodfield afterward settled in Henry county, but, before his death, removed to Indiana, in the neighborhood of Madison, where he lived to a good old age, and died in peace among his friends and connections. Nathanael Harris still lives,* at the age of nearly fourscore years. Joseph Ferguson, a local preacher from Fairfax county, Virginia, moved to Kentucky at an early time, and settled in Nelson county, and was among the first preachers that settled in that section of the country. He was an amiable man, possessed of good preaching talents, and was rendered very useful. He was highly esteemed, blessed with an amiable family; and his house was a home for the traveling preachers, who were at all times welcome guests. Brother Ferguson was subject at times to great depression of mind; but when in the company of the traveling preachers he was always cheerful and happy. Ile lived to a good old age at the place where he first settled, and died in peace and in the triumphs of that gospel which he had proclaimed for many years. Ferguson's Meeting* He died August 12, 1849. 26 6I E T u o D I S AI house was one of the first that was built in that part of the country, and at one time there was a large society at that meeting-house; and when I was last in the neighborhood, in the fall of 1811, they still maintained a respectable standing." * Among the local preachers whose names we have mentioned, that of Francis Clark stands preeminent as the founder of Methodism in Kentucky. As early as 1783,t accompanied by John Durham, a class-leader, and others of his neighbors, with their families, he left Virginia, and settled in Mercer county. I-e immediately organized a class, the first in the far West, about six miles west from where Danville now stands.t An impression has obtained that the first Methodist organization in the District was at the house of Thomas Stevenson, in Mason XThe Rev. Winm. Burke, in Sketches of Western Methodism, pp. 62, 63.-The following letter from the Rev. T. F. Vanmeter will explain the present condition of this society: "In answer to your inquiry, I would state that'Ferguson's Chapel' was originally built in the Poplar Flat neighborhood, about six miles east of Bardstown, Nelson county, Kentucky. The first building was a round-log, with clapboard roof. I cannot ascertain the date when this building was erected. It remained a long time, and became so much dilapidated that it could not be used, and was displaced by a hewed-log building in 1822, about fifty yards west of the former building. In 1844, a handsome brick was erected about fifty yards farther west, where the society now worship, making about one hundred yards from where the Poplar Flat Church now stands to the original Ferguson's Chapel. The society now numbers about seventy members-a thriving, spiritual Church, in the bounds of the Bloomfield Circuit, Kentucky Conference." t Recollections of the West, p. 10..T Rev. J. F. Wright, Western Christian Advocate, MaIrch 7, 1866. Mr. Wright fixes the date, however, one year later. IN KENTUCKY. 27 county, under the supervision of Benjamin Ogden. * The emligration of Mr. Clark, as previously stated, was three years in advance of the appointment of Mr. Ogden to the District. It is also an interesting fact that the society formed by Mr. Clark dates one year prior to the Christmas Conference, when the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America took place. As early as 1784, Mrs. Mary Davis joined this society, under Francis Clark; and in 1859, at the advanced age of ninety-seven, sweetly fell asleep, full of faith and of hope, at the residence of her son-in-law, Lazarus Powell, senior, in IHenderson county, IKentucky, having been for seventyfive years a nmember of the Methodist Church.t Previous to the appointment of Messrs. I-Iaw and Ogden, several families who had been members of the Methodist Church in Maryland and Virginia, "tired of cultivating the flinty fields and unproductive soil of their native States, where, under the most favorable circumstances, the utmost that could be hoped for, as the result of the most energetic and unremitted attentions, was a bare subsistence, determined to wend their way to the'far-off West,' concerning which they had heard so many glowing descriptions and thrilling accounts." Among these early Methodist pioneers, were Mr. Thomas Stevenson and his wife, from the State of Maryland, who were among the first converts to Methodism on the American Continent. They settled two and a half * Collins's Kentucky, p. 124. t Mrs. Davis was the paternal grandmother of the wife of the author. 28 IMETHODISM miles south-west of Washington, in the county of Mason.* It was in the latter part of the summer of 1786 when Messrs. IRaw and Ogden arrived in the District of Kentucky. One of the first families that bade them welcome to their cottage home was that of Thomas Stevenson. At Mr. Ogden's first visit to the house, immediately on his reaching Kentucky, "he remained for several days, preaching to the people by night, and visiting and praying with the families by day, while his labors were duly appreciated by all in the garrison." Fromr this date to the time of his death, which occurred in 1829, the house of Mr. Stevenson was "a regular preachingplace," as well as "a constant home for the traveling ministry of the Methodist Connection." The Rev. Dr. Stevenson, in his "Fragrnents from the Sketch-book of an Itinerant," published in the Christian Advocate (Nashville), October 30, 1856, says: "Mr. Collins, in his deservedly popular and well-written Hitstory of Kentucky, has represented, on the authority of some one, that the first Methodist society or Church was organized in my father's house. I am not prepared to endorse the entire correctness of this statement. That such a class was associated together in his little apartment, while living in Kenton's Station, in 1786, by Mr. Ogden, is certain; but whether this was the first he formed * They were the parents of the Rev. Dr. Stevenson, who recently died, a member of the Louisville Conference. Mrs. Stevenson joined the Methodists, under Robert Strawbridge, in 1768; Thomas Stevenson about ten years later. IN KENTUCKY. 29 in the country, I have no data on which to affirm or deny. It may not, however, be improper to remark that the first prayer that was ever presented to the throne of the heavenly grace, at a fanmily altar in the District of Kentucky, by a Methodist preacher, was in my father's cottage, in the station above named, Benjamin Ogden officiating." When the author of the IIistory of Kentucky says, "The first Methodist Episcopal Church organized in Kentucky was in the cabin of Thomas Stevenson, in Mason county, by Benjamin Ogden, some time during the year 1786," he can only mean that no organization previous to this year was recognized in the printed Minutes of the Church. And when Dr. Stevenson affirms that the first prayer ever presented to the throne of the heavenly grace, at a family altar in the District of Kentucky, by a Methodist preacher, was in his father's cottage, Benjamin Ogden officiating, he only refers to the prayers offered by the missionaries. Three years before, we have seen a local preacher leaving Virginia, and not only as a settler of the soil, but as a pioneer of his faith, seeking a home in the wilderness of Kentucky. In his house he erects an altar to God, and in early morn and at close of day he offers prayers to the Most High, commending his household to Heaven. A writer * familiar with the times and the labors of these men, says, "'They came fired with holy zeal and deeply imbued with the spirit of their mission. They commenced their labors in earnest and with'k Rev. Lewis Garrett. c} 3a 0 E T II O D I S Al good effect. Soon it was rumored the false prophets are come, and some were ready to say,'they that turn the world upside down are come hither also.' But these alarms and prejudices, the effects of bigotry, were soon overcome by the influence of ardent piety and holy zeal. A mighty revival of religion commenced, and the flame spread like'fire in dry stubble!' These missionaries were in quest of souls, and were never out of their way where souls and families were to be found. Vivid in my recollections are their first visits to the dwelling of my widowed mlother. A word of pathetic exhortation was addressed to each individual, an ardent prayer, whether they tarried all night or made a call in the day-time. Their preaching was characterized by simplicity and earnestness. Ardent in their devotions, and with a zeal commensurate with the importance of their mission, they carried with them the unction of the Holy One. They had but few books, but these they studied thoroughly. They were Bible students, and being'not conformed to this world' in their dress, they had room in their pockets for a small Bible, which they often consulted, and sought carefully to bring out of that treasury'things new and old.' Here they found true philosophy and the wisdom that speaks to the heart. To tickle the ear or delight the fancy with fine-spun theories or the flowers of rhetoric, was foreign to their purpose. They were indeed eloquent in the most essential sense, in virtue of the inspiration of that gospel which they preached,'not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, IN KENTUCKY. 31 but which the HIoly Ghost teacbeth, in demlonstration of the Spirit and with power."' A later writer says: "They were men of great piety and zeal, and God owned their labors." Sometimes guarded by friends as they traveled from fort to fort, but oftener alone, continually exposed to danger, "'they counted not their lives clear," if they could only win souls to Christ. Such is the testimony concerning these men. Familiar with the Bible, they understood the duties it inculcates; its doctrines; its "'exceeding great and precious promises," as well as its threatenings against sin; and, " like a workman that needeth not to be ashamed," whenever they hurled the javelin of truth it reached the object and'accomplished the purpose whereunto it was sent." It is said that Mr. IHaw "was a man of much zeal, bordering on enthusiasm," and that "'he devoted his whole soul to the work." Dr. Bascom, afterward Bishop Bascom, in a private letter to a friend,t referring to the early Methodist preachers of Kentucky, said "they labored, suffered, triumphed, in obscurity and want. No admiring populace to cheer them on; no feverish community gazetted them into fame. Principle alone sustained them, and their glory was that of action." It is to be regretted that the records of the Church for this period are so defective, and that we are enabled to learn so little of their labors. And' Rev. Jonathan Stamper. j Rev. Lewis Garrett. 32 METIIODISM yet it is a cause for gratitude that enough is left us, by which we may form a proper estimate of their characters, their worth, their sacrifices, and their spirit of adventure. At the ensuing Conference, the printed Minutes show a membership of ninety in Kentucky. When we consider the sparseness of the population, the character of the people, and the opposition with which Methodism has everywhere met, in its introduction into any new section, their success was truly remarkable. It was not, however, the immediate results of their labors, as they appear in the Minutes, that chiefly claim our gratitude. True, in this is cause for much thanksgiving to God. In addition to this, here was the incipiency of a system whose developments were to be seen in coming time. They were laying the foundations of an edifice within whose holy courts thousands should in after ages kneel and worship God. They were sowing seeds whose fruitage should be abundant when "they had slept with the fathers." Hence their labors were constant, and owned and blessed of God. Among the first-fruits of their labors was Mrs. Jane Stamper, afterward the mother of the R1ev. Jonathan Stamper, who, in later times, by his eloquence, his power, and his untiring devotion to the workd of the ministry, contributed so largely to the promotion of Methodism in Kentucky. He was "a burning and a shining light." Mrs. Stamper* had been a member of the Presbyterian Church, but HEome Circle, Vol. I., p. 108. IN KENTUCKY. 33 a stranger to the doctrine of the new birth. Messrs. IIaw and Ogden visited the neighborhood, in Madison county, in which she resided. She waited upon their ministry, and, under the first sermon she heard, she was awakened, and immediately sought and found Christ in the forgiveness of her sinls. She joined the Methodist Church, and, after a, pilgrimage of forty years, she passed away in Christian triumph, exchanging the sorrows of earth for the joys of heaven. VOL. I.-2 34E T I O D I SM CHAPTER II. FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1787 TO THIE CONFERENCE OF 1789. Kentucky Circuit- James I-lawN-Cumberland Circuit -Benjamin Ogden - Wilson Lee - Thomas Williamson - Kentucky Circuit divided Francis Poythress Devereaux Jarrat-Peter MassieBenjamin Snelling - Local preachers. IN 1787, the work in the West was divided into two circuits, one of which still bore the name of Kentucky, and to which James IIaw was returned. Thomas Williamson and Wilson Lee were appointed his colleagues. The other was called Cumberland, to which Benljamin Ogden was appointed, where, after laboring one year, he located. The Cumberland Circuit embraced the country now known as Middle Tennessee, and a small portion of Southern Kentucky. The ]Kentucky Circuit included the whole of the District of Kentucky, except that part embraced in the Cumberland. In that early day it was not common to continue the same preacher for more than one year in the same territory. It was, however, proper, in an eminent degree, to return to this Western field the noble men who had first planted Methodism upon its soil. They had learned the habits of its rude population; had slept beneath its skies, on the cold, danlp IN KENTUCKY. 35 ground; had become familiar with its diml and unfrequented paths; they enjoyed the confidence of the people, and had achieved success in their ministry; yet the growing, interest of the Church demanded an accession to the ministerial strenngth. Thomas Williamson was admitted on trial in 1785, and had traveled successively the Yadkin and Salisbury Circuits, in North Carolina. Wilson Lee preceded him in the work of the ministry one year, and had traveled on the Alleghany Circuit, in Virginia; the Redstone, in Pennsylvania; and the Talbot, in Maryland. For piety, zeal, and devotion to the cause of Christ, these men enjoyed an enviable reputation. ITn the fields of labor they had previously occupied, they were eminently successful. Wilson Lee, the former year, had been assistant to Richard Whatcoat, afterward Bishop Whatcoat, and enjoyed to the fullest extent the confidence of that great man. He was twenty-six years of age, in the prime of life, and the strength of manhood, when. he came to IKentucky. I-is early advantages were of a superior character. Reared in the midst of refinement, and surrounded with the luxuries of life, his manners polished, and possessing talents of a high order, lie might have achieved eminence in any profession. But God had called him to the work of the ministry, and, following the voice of duty, he cheerfully obeyed the summons. At seventeen years of age, he embraced religion, and, in the morning' of life, entered the ministry. Familiar with the teachings of Christianity, his address handsome, a well-trained and pleasant voice, 36 I E T It O D I S M and with a zeal commensurate with the importance of the work to which he had been called-added to all this, he was truly devout, and an excellent singer-his preaching was'with the demonstration of the Spirit and with power." Whether in his vindication of the great truths of Christianity, or in the tremendous appeals he made to the conscience, the effect was overwhelming. Success crowned his labors, and through his instrumentality many were converted to God. Thomas Williamson was also a young man of superior talents, as well as of prepossessing manners. He was an excellent preacher. In the pulpit he commanded not only the respect, but the admiration of his hearers, and in the social circle he was remarkably popular. Such were the men who were appointed assistants to James Haw. Notwithstanding the depredations that were so frequently committed by the Indians, the District of Kentucky, at this time, was populating with astonishing rapidity. The want of the ordinary comforts of life, and the dreadful massacres perpetrated on the frontier, were sufficient to have arrested the tide of immigration; yet from Virginia, as well as from other sections of the country, families came in until the settlements, in some parts, were becomning dense.'Undaunted by danger, these devoted missionaries went from fort to fort in the accomplishment of their great work. They "' counted not their lives dear," but risked all for Christ and the Church. Men were perishing, and they desired to save them. They had left the comforts IN KENTUCKY. 37 of home with no other purpose but to preach the gospel of Christ, and with commendable zeal they prosecuted their calling, and were successful. At the close of the year, they returned four hundred and eiqhty menmbers.* The Conference of 1788 was held in Baltimore, September 10th, at which time the Kentucky Circuit was divided, and from it were formed the Lexington and Danville Circuits. Six preachers were sent to cultivate these fields. The appointments were: Francis Poythress and James Haw, Presiding Elders;t Lexington —Thomas Williamson, Peter Massie, Benjamin Snellinog; Danville-Wilson Lee.4: The name of Francis Poythress appears for the first time in the Minutes of 1776. His first appointment was to Caroline Circuit. In 1777, his name does not appear in the Minutes. Whether he had been compelled to desist from traveling in consequence of feeble health, or whether his name is omitted by mistake, we have no means of ascertaining.~ In 1778, his name reaippears, and he is appointed to Hanover Circuit, in Virginia, and then successively filled the Sussex Circuit, in Virginia; the New Hope, in North Carolina; the Fairfax, in Virginia; the Talbot, in Maryland; the Alleghany, in Virginia; and the Calvert and Baltimore, in * Cumberland Circuit not included in these figures. t The term "Presiding" does not occur in the Minutes until 1789, and is again dropped until 1797.: Poythress presided over Lexington and Danville, and Ilaw over Cumberland. Q The early Minutes abound in errors and omissions. 38 E T II OD IS M Maryland. In 1786, he was appointed Presidingl Elder over Brunswick, Sussex, and Amelia Circuits, in Virginia; and in 1787, over Guilford, Halifax, New Hope, and Caswell Circuits, in North Carolina. The important fields he had occupied evinced the high regarcl in which he was held by the Church, and the extraordinary success that had attended his labors was, under the blessing of God, the result of that zeal and devotion that ever afterward distinguished him, so long as he was able to lift the ensign of the cross. When appointed to Kentucky, he had reached the meridian of life. I-Ie was in the forty-fourth year of his age. "LIe was a Virginian of large estate, but of dissipated habits in his youth. The conversations and rebukes of a lady in high social position arrested him in his perilous course. He returned from her house confounded, penitent, and determined to reform his morals. He betook himself to his neglected Bible, and soon saw that his only effectual reformation could be by a religious life. IIe searched for a competent living guide, but such was the condition of the English Church around him that he could find none. Hearing at last of the devoted Jarrat,* he hastened to his parish, and was entertained some time under his hospitable roof for instruction. There he found purification and peace about the year 1772. It was not long before he began to cooperate with Jarrat in his public labors amid the extraordinary scenes of religious interest which prevailed through all * Jarrat was a clergyman of the Church of England. IN KENTUCKY. 39 that region. Thus, before the arrival of the Methodist itinerants in Virginia, he had become an evangelist: when they appeared, he learned with delight their doctrines and methods of labor, and, joining them, became a giant in their ranks. In 1775, he began his travels, under the authority of a Quarterly IMeeting of [Brunswick Circuit, and, the present year, appears for the first time on the roll of the Conference.* Henceforth, in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky, he was to be a representative man of the struggling cause. In 1783, he bore its standard across the Alleghoanies to the waters of the Youghiogheny. From 1786, he served it with preeminent success for twelve years, as a Presiding Elder. Asbury nominated him for the Episcopate.'Froml the first,' says one of the best antiquarian authorities of the Church,t'he performed all the work of a Methodist preacher with fidelity and success, and for twenty-six years his name appears without a blot upon the official records of the Church among his brethren.' During the time, he filled every office, except that of Superintendent, and was designated for that place by Bishop Asbury, in a letter addressed to the Conference at Wilbraham, 1797. The preachers refused to comply with the request, simply upon the ground that it was not competent in a yearly Conference to elect Bishops. Poythress, in a word, was to Methodism generally, and to the South-west particularly, what Jesse Lee was to New England* 17 76. -t Rev. G. Scott. 40 AMlETHODISM an apostle. His name stands in the Minutes of 1802 for the last time, among the Elders, but without an appointment, after which it disappears, and we hear no more of him, until we are roused fiom our anxious thoughts concerning his probable fate by the startling announcement of Bishop Asbury."* The announcement referred to is found in Asbury's Journal. While traveling through Kentucky in 1810, on Monday, the 15th day of October, he says: "This day has been an awful day to me. I visited Francis Poythress, if thou be he; but O! how fallen! " t He had become insane. In his Sketches of Western Methodism, Mr. Finley says: J~ "In the year 1800, he was sent to a District in North Carolina, embracing fifteen circuits. His removal to a new field, among strangers, and the subjection, if possible, to greater hardships than he had endured in his formerfields, without a companion save the companionship which he gained at different and distant points among his brethren, preyed heavily upon his system, shattering his nerves, and making fearful inroads upon a mind naturally of a too contemplative, if not somber cast; and seasons of gloom and darkness gathered around him. lie should at once have desisted, and sought that rest and society for which he so much longed, among the friends and companions of his youth; but, alas! the necessity that rested in those days upon a Methodist preacher, stern as fate, kept him at his post, and he toiled on *Stevens's History h. E. Church, Vol. II., pp. 23, 24. tAsbury's Journal, Vol. III., p. 349. t P. 131. IN KENTUCKY. 41 till his shattered frame, like the broken strings of a harp, could only sigh to the winds that swept through it; and his mind, in deep sympathy with his frame, became alike shattered and deranged. The next year he came back to Kentucky, but the light of the temple was gone, and the eye which shot the fires of genius and intelligence, now wildly stared upon the face of old, loving, long-tried friends, as though they were strangers. Here he remained till death released him and sent his spirit home. Poor Poythress! Bravely didst thou toil and endure hardness on the well-fought field. A campaign of twenty-four years of incessant toil in the gloomy wilds of the West, away from friends and loved ones at home, proved too much for thy nature to bear. But thou art gone where the wicked cease to trouble, and the weary are at rest." The Rev. Thomas Scott, a cotemporary, as well as the intimate personal friend of Mr. Poythress, says: "He was, if we rightly remember, about five feet eight or nine inches in height, and heavily built. His muscles were large, and when in the prime of life, we presume he was a man of more than ordinary muscular strength. lie dressed plain and neat. When we first saw him, we suppose he had passed his sixtieth year. IIis muscles were quite flaccid, eyes sunken in his head, hair gray, turned back, hanging down on his shoulders, complexion dark, and countenance grave, inclining to melancholy."* I-Ie again says: " Early in the year 1797, he was con* Western Methodism, p. 137. 42 tM E T 11 OIISM l fined by affliction; but whether his mlnind was affected during his affliction we are entirely uninformed. The last time we saw him, was in the winter of 1800. The balance of his mind was lost, and his body lay a complete wreck. His labors in the Church nmilitant were at an end, but the fruits of his labors still remain. We are not aware that any hereditary taint existed, which in its ultimate range dethroned his reason; but we can readily imagine that the seeds of that dreadful malady were sown in his system by the constant exposure and suffering during the war of the Revolution, and the twelve years he traveled and preached in the then almost wilderness of the West. Among the eight pioneers of Methodism in Kentucky and Tennessee in the year 1788, the name of Francis Poythress stands preeminent. By those intrepid heroes of the cross the foundation of Methodism was laid in those States, on which others have since built, and others are now building. Their names ought to be held in grateful remembrance by all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth; but among all, we are inclined to the opinion, there is not one of them to whom the members of our Church, in those States, owe a greater debt of gratitude than to Francis Poythress."* In devoting so much space to Francis Poythress, we have done so, because he was more intimately identified with the rise and progress of Methodism in IKentucky than any other minister. For ten consecutive years he had charge of the * Sketches of Western Methodism, p. 141. IN KENTUCKY. 43 Kentucky District, and, in the absence of Bishop Asbury, presided over the Annual Conferences. "Grave in his deportment, chaste in his conversation, constant in his private devotions, and faithful in the discharge of his ministerial duties," he exerted an influence for Methodism, and contributed to its success in Kentucky, to an extent that can be claimed for no other man. When we recount his excessive and constant labors through twenty-four years, having "never been known to disappoint a congregation, unless prevented by sickness or disease," with the weight of so many Churches resting upon him, we are not surprised that his physical strength should have given way; and to the Church it is a cause for gratitude to God, that his noble intellect did not become impaired in the morn or noon of his life. It was not until he had entered " its sere and yellow leaf" that he gave any indications of the overthrow of his reason. The last years of his life were spent with his sister, Mrs. Susanna Pryor, twelve miles south of Lexington, Kentucky, where, in 1818, he passed away. Peter Massie was among the first-fruits of Methodisml in Ientucky.* lIe entered the itinerant work this year, after having long resisted his convictions on this subject; but when he yielded, he gave himself wholly to the work. I-e was a young man of " good personal appearance," but of delicate constitution. Living in close communion with G od, deeply imbued with the spirit of' his mission, wholly *Western Methodism, p. 67. 44 MEIETlHODISM consecrated to the work of the ministry, and educated amid the dangers of the wilderness, he gave great promise of usefulness to the Church. HI-is manners pleasant, his voice soft and plaintive, as often as he preached, he wept over the people, and in most touching strains invited them to the Saviour. He was styled "the weeping prophet." One who knew him well says: "I heard him preach the gospel frequently, and I do not think I ever heard him but when tears rolled down his manly cheeks, while he warned the people to flee fiom the wrath to come."* Of Benjamin Snelling, who also entered the ministry this year, we know but little. After traveling one year on the Lexington Circuit, we find him the second year of his ministry on the Fairfax Circuit, Virginia. He only remained in Virginia one year, when he returned to Kientucky, and was appointed to Madison Circuit. His name the next year disappears from the Minutes, probably by location, though this is not specified.t- Ile settled in Bath county, Kentucky, where he finally died. A very large proportion of the first two years in Kentucky was spent by the missionaries in hunting up and organizing into societies those members of the Church from other States, who had preceded Messrs. Haw and Ogden to the District. In the accomplishment of this work the local preachers had been faithful auxiliaries; and now to push for* John Carr, Christian Advocate, Nashville, February 5, 1857. t We have previously referred to the want of information that marks the early Mlinutes. IN KENTUCKY. 45 ward the Redeemer's kingdom, they united heart and hand with their pious leaders. Sacrifice, toil, and suffering were endured, and the local preachers shared it. They shunned no hardship, they avoided no danger, but anxious to save souls and to assist in planting Methodism in the land that was to be the home of their children, they labored by the side of Poythress and tIaw, Lee, Williamson, Snelling, and Massie. Their labors were crowned with success. God poured out his Holy Spirit upon the people. The sacred flame spread far and wide. Hundreds were converted and added to the Church, and at the close of the Conference-year they report eight hundred and sixty-three members. 46 METHODISM CHAPTER III. FROM TiE CONFERENCE OF 1789 TO TIIE CONFERENCE OF 1790. Interesting letter from James Haw —Barnabas McI-Henry —Stephen Brooks-Cumherland Circuit-James Haw —James O'Ielly-Interesting account of James Hav, by Learner Blackman-James O'Cull: his style of preaching —Poor support of preachersKindness of the Baltimore Conference. IN the commencement of the year 1789, James iHaw addressed the fbllowing letter to Bishop Asbury: "Good news from Zion: the work of God is going on rapidly in the new world; a glorious victory the Son of God has gained, and he is still going on conquering and to conquer. Shout, ye angels! Hell trembles and heaven rejoices daily over sinners thlat repent. At a quarterly meeting held in Bourbon county, Kentucky, July 19 and 20, 1788, the Lord poured out his Spirit in a wonderful manner, first on the Christians, and sanctified several of them powerfully and gloriously, and, as I charitably hope, wholly. The seekers also felt the power and presence of God, and cried for mercy as at the point of death. We prayed with and for them. till we had reason to believe that the Lord IN KENTUCKY. 47 converted seventeen or eighteen precious souls. HIallelujah, praise ye the Lord! "As I went from that, through the circuit, to another quarterly meeting, the Lord converted two or three more. The Saturday and Sunday following, the Lord poured out his Spirit again. The work of sanctification among the believers broke out again at the Lord's table, and the Spirit of the Lord went through the assembly like a mighty rushing wind. Some fell; many cried for mercy. Sighs and groans proceeded from their hearts; tears of sorrow for sin ran streaming down their eyes. Their prayers reached to heaven, and the Spirit of the Lord entered into them and filled fourteen or fifteen with peace and joy in believing.'Salvation! O the joyful sound! how the echo flies!' A few days after, Brother Poythress came, and went with me to another quarterly meeting. We had another gracious season round the Lord's table, but no remarkable stir till after preaching; when, under several exhortations, some bursted out into tears, others trembled, and some fell. I sprang in among the people, and the Lord converted one more very powerfully, who praised the Lord with such acclamation of joy as I trust will never be forgotten. The Sunday following, I preached my farewell sermon, and met the class, and the Lord converted three more. Glory be to his holy name for ever! "The first round I went on Cumber]land, the Lord converted six precious souls, and I joined three gracious Baptists to our Church; and every round, I have reason to believe, some sinners are 48 1METHODIS M awakened, some seekers joined to society, and some penitents converted to God. At our Cumberland quarterly meeting, the Lord converted six souls the first day, and one the next. Glory, honor, praise, and power be unto God for ever! The work still goes on. I have joined two more serious Baptists since the quarterly meeting. The Lord has converted several more precious souls in various parts of the circuit, and some more have joined the society, so that we have one hundred and twelve disciples now in Cumberland —forty-seven of whom, I trust, have received the gift of the Holy Ghost since they believed; and I hope these are but the first of a universal harvest which God will give us in this country. Brother Massie is with me, going on weeping over sinners, and the Lord blesses his labors. A letter from Brother Williamson, dated Novermber 10, 1788, informs me that the work is still going on rapidly in Kentucky; that at two quarterly meetings since I came away, the Lord poured out his Spirit, and converted ten penitents, and sanctified five believers, at the first, and twenty more were converted at the second; indeed, the wilderness and solitary places are glad, and the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose, and, I trust, will soon become beautiful as Tirza and comely as Jerusalem. " What shall I more say? Time would fail to tell you all the Lord's doings among us. It is marvelous in our eyes. To him be the glory, honor, praise, power, might, majesty, and dominion, both now and for ever! Amen, and amen." IN KENTUCKY. 49 This letter breathes the spirit of a minister of Jesus Christ, whose soul was wholly devoted to the great work of doing good; and it also suggests to us the firm hold that Methodism, at that early day, was taking on the hearts of the people. We may not be able to appreciate the sufferings and hardships endured by this extraordinary man and his faithful colleagues, in planting the gospel here, surrounded by savages, and their lives continually exposed; but we can admire the success that, under such embarrassments, attended their labors. Already had Methodism reached every section of the inhabited portion of the District of Kentucky, and was contributing its influence, not only in ameliorating the condition of the people, but in their social and moral elevation. At the Conference held in 1789, Thomas Williamson-a man whose labors had been so greatly blessed in Kentucky-was removed to another field of ministerial labor.* We take leave of him for the present, but will meet him again, prosecuting his work with a holy zeal, and winning trophies to the Redeemer. The names of Barnabas McIHenry and Stephen Brooks appear this year in the appointments for Kentucky. Barnabas MceIenry, the son of John McHIenry, was born December 6, 1767, in the State of North Carolina.t When Barnabas was about * General Minutes, Vol. I., p. 34. t Dr. Abel Stevens says, in the third volume of his History of M. E. Church, page 293, that Barnabas MdIcenry " was born December 10, 1767, in Eastern Virginia." The time and place above given of his 5q 0 ~l E I' l o D I S M eight years of age, his father removed to Washington county, Virginia. HIe made a profession of religion when only fifteen years old, and joined the Methodist Church, and in the twentieth year of his age, entered on his itinerant career. -Iis first appointment was to the Yadkin Circuit, in North Carolina. He spent the subsequent year in ]Kentucky, probably in the Lexington Circuit, to which Peter Massie had been appointed, though his name appears in connection with the Cumberland. In a letter to one of the pioneer preachers,* Mlr. McHl-enry says: "Soon after I reached the KIentucky settlement-which was on the 11th of June, 1788-Brother Halw formed the design of placiing me on Cumberland Circuit, to which he then intended to accompany me, and make a short stay; but, before he had executed his purpose, he was superseded by Brother Poythress. The consequence vwas, that Brothers Hawv and Massie went to Cunmberland, and I continued in Kentucky that year, according to the original intention of that appointment. Brother Ifaw, it would seem, communicated his arrangements previous to the printing of the Minutes, which occasioned my name to be inserted as appointed to the Cumberlandc Circuit." t The next year, (1789,) he was appointed to Danville Circuit, with Peter Massie for his colleague. birth, is on the authority of a letter to the author from his grandson, lion. John H. McHenry, of Owensboro, Kentucky, who copied for us from the family record. * Rev. Lewis Garrett. t Recollections of the West, pp. 97, 98. IN KEN T UCIKY. 51 The personal appearance of Mr. McIenry was commanding, his manners attractive, his intellect of the highest order, and his voice strong and well-trained. Soundly converted in early life, he consecrated himself to the iwork of the ministry. Regarding Mlethodisrn as the best exponent of Christianity, he devoted his noble life to the vindication of its heavenly truths. With Kentucky Methodism he was destined to become intimately identified, and in the formation of its character to take a conspicuous part. By the probity of his life, his sterling integrity, his invincible purpose to rnake every thing subservient to his religious obligations, as well as by the power he displayed in the pulpit, he wielded an influence for the cause of truth that is now deeply engraven in the hearts of the Church, though he has passed away. His cotermporaries speak of him in terms of highest praise. Rev. Jacob Young, in his Autobiography, in speaking of meeting, on one occasion, with several Kentucky gentlemen of distinction, says: "The most distinguished man I met was Barnabas McI-enry. I mnay truly say he was a man by himself:" Rev. Lewis Garrett,* referring to his death, says: " In him the Church lost a tried and able minister, and the cause of Christianity an efficient and firm advocate;" and, in later years, Dr. Baseom,t who never bestowed undue praise on either the living or the dead, said: " His preaching was mainly expository and didactic.: Piographical Sketches, p. 30. t Quartoely leview, Vol. III., pp. 421, 422. 52 ETHOD I S AI The whole style of his preaching denoted the confidence of history and experience. All seemed to be real and personal to him. The perfect simplicity, and yet clear, discriminating accuracy of his manner and language, made the impression that he was speaking only of what he knew to be true. IHe spoke of every thing as of a natural scene before him. There was an intensity of conception, a sustained sentiment of personal interest, which gave one a feeling of wonder and awe in listening to him. You could not doubt his right to guide and teach. One felt how safe and proper it was to follow such leading. His style was exceedingly rich, without being showy. There was no effervescence. It was not the garden and landscape in bloom, but in early bud, giving quiet but sure indication of fruit and foliage. His language was always accurate, well chosen, strong, and clear. All his sermons, as delivered, were in this respect fit for the press-not only remarkably free from error on the score of thought, but from defect and fault of style and lang uage. His whole manner, too, was natural, dignified, and becoming. Good taste and sound judgment were his main mental characteristics. Of imagination proper he had but little, and still less of fancy. Reason, fitness, and beauty were the perceptions by which he was influenced. The intrinsic value of things alone attracted him. The outward show of things made little or no impression upon him, under any circumstances. The inner man —the hidden things of the heart —controllecl him in all his judgments and preferences." ULLI~- ~~)L~ ~LLGIL ~LV ~~ nC IN KENTUCKY. 53 Such was Barnabas McHenry, who was destined to be so closely identified with the history of Methodisin in Kentucky, and to be a standard-bearer in its ranks. Of the parentage and early life of Stephen Brooks we know but little, nor have we any information as to the date of his conversion. IIe was admitted on trial in 1789, and appointed to the Lexington Circuit with James HI-aw and Wilson Lee. The next year we find him on the Danville Circuit, laboring with zeal and with energy. In 1791, his name disappears from the Minutes; * but, in 1792, it makes its appearance again, at which time he is appointed to Sevier Circuit, East Tennessee; and, in 1793, he locates and settles in East Tennesseeafter which we can learn nothing in reference to him, until, in the year 1796, we find him a member of the Convention that framed the Constitution of the State of Tennessee.t As a gentleman, he is represented as courteous and affable; as a Christian, a perfect model; as a minister of Christ, of the first order of talents. In "labors abundant," with the most unyielding devotion to his mission, he endeavored to make "good proof of his ministry." Regardless of the sacrifices required of him, he exposed himself to the rains of summer, the frosts of autumn, and the snows of winter, that he might achieve success. The perils of the wilderness, and *'I presume, by mistake, as no reason is assigned; and the next year it appears again in the same way. The early MIinates are full of errors. t Christian Advocate, March 19, 1857. 54 E T I OD IS Al the frequent massacres committed by the savages, did not for a moment induce him to hesitate. By " the suavity of his manners, and the gentleness of his deportment, he became a universal favorite with the people." His preaching was characterized by a sound logic and a holy zeal. HIis exhortations were pungent, searching, " powerful." I-Ie succeeded, too, in " bringing souls to Christ." * "His labors," says one who knew him, " were owned and blessed of God, by the turning of many from darkness to light." t Of him a gentleman once said: "If he had to hear but one sermon before dying, he would choose Stephen Brooks to preach it.";VWe regret to record that this year closed the labors of James I-aw in Kentucky.+ I e had been a faithful minister. For four years he had traversed the wilderness of KIentucky, often without shelter and without home; but he had the satisfaction of knowing that his labors had been blessed, that Churches had been planted, circuits formed —and now he goes to another field, where he would be exposed to hardships and dangers similar to those through which he had already passed. But he had left behind him "written epistles, to be known and read of all men," while the mellow influence of his *John Carr, Christian Advocate, March 19, 1857. t John Carr, Christian Advocate, March 19, 1857. + Stevens, in his HIistory of the MI. E. Church, Vol. II., p. 368, in a note, says: "3Burke says his labors (James Haw's) closed 1789." Dr. Stevens, however, misunderstands Enurke-who says: " The Conference of 1789 closed the labors of James fHaw in Kentncky." — Wlcstcncr. ftoclisos, p. 73. IN KENTUCKY. 55 holy life and untiring zeal was destined to be felt by many then unborn. On the Cumberland Circuit, to which he was appointed the next year, amid abundant labors and great success, his constitution became impaired, and his health gave way. The testimony is that "he literally wore himself out." IHe married a Miss Thomas in Kentucky, and settled in Sumner county, Tennessee, "where the people, because of their affection for him, gave him a tract of land embracing six hundred and forty acres, on which he located." In the Minutes of 1791, the question is asked: "~Who are ulder a location through weakness of body or family concerns? " In the answer, with eight others, stands the name of James flaw. On the Cumberland Circuit, on which Mr. Haw closed his labors as an itinerant preacher, he was eminently successful. We have before us the unprinted manuscripts of the Rev. Learner Blackmnan. In reference to James I-aw he sanys: " James ITaw was stationed in Cumberland in 1790. He continued here several years. It seemed at one time, after the arrival of the Methodist preachers in Cumberland, that all the people would embrace religion." * We deeply lament that one who had done so much for Methoclism should have been seduced from its paths and its principles by any influence whatever. In the year 1792, the Rev. James O'Kelly, a * After Mr. Haw's location, he settled, as before stated, in Sumner county, in the bounds of Cunmberland Circuit. The MISS. of Mr. Blackman were placed in our hands by Dr. Summers. 56 METHODISM popular and talented minister, and at the time the Presiding Elder of one of the largest and most influential Districts in the State of Virginia, became dissatisfied with the economy and government of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and withdrew from its communion. For fifteen years, as an evangelist, he had labored successfully in North Carolina and Virginia. In every department in which he labored, he exhibited those qualities that so eminently fitted him for usefulness. During the eight years in which he presided over Districts, "he wielded a commanding influence over the preachers of the South." There was no minister in the Connection who enjoyed the confidence of Bishop Asbury to a greater extent-and no man abused that confidence more than he. In his journal, he speaks of him as "a warm-hearted, good man," and says: "James O'KIelly and myself enjoyed and comforted each other: this dear man rose at midnight, and prayed most devoutly for me and himself." * In his dissatisfaction with the Church, he was particularly hostile to Bishop Asbury, and heaped upon him the most bitter invective. Nrot contented with the organization of the " Republican Methodist Church "-the name by which the new faction was distinguished-he endeavored to " raze to the foundations" the fair and sightly edifice to the erection of which he had contributed so many of the best years of his life. By the influence he exerted he induced a large number of ministers to -Asbury's Journal, Vol. I., p. 383. IN KENTUCKY. 57 follow his example —the most of whom, however, afterward returned to the Church from which, for a brief period, they had been estranged. Among those who were led away by the pernicious teachings of Mr. O'KIelly, was James HIaw. A man who had stood so prominently in the foreground of Methodism in the West, and whose life had been devoted to its success, could take no step of any importance without exerting an influence for good or for evil. Enjoying the confidence of the people, many of whom had been brought to Christ through his instrumentality, it is no matter of surprise that the position taken by him should induce so many others, both among the laity as well as the ministry, to embrace the delusion. A writer,* on whlom we may rely, says: "Mr. Ilaw embraced the views of O'Kelly, and, by his influence and address, brought over the traveling preachers, and every local preacher but one, to his views, in the county in which he had located;" and that "' considerable dissatisfaction obtained in many of the societies." In the unpublished manuscript of the Rev. Learner Blackman, in our possession, he says: " From the time Methodism was first introduced in Cumberland till about the year 1795, Methodism had been increasing. ZBirchett, Wilson Lee, and Buxton, and others of the first preachers stationed in Cumberland, will not soon be forgotten. None were more useful than -Mr. Haw, till he became disaffected toward the Methodist discipline and governPoRev. Win. Burke. 58 M E T H O D I S M ment, which, in effect, cut off his influence as a preacher, and did much injury to the cause of Methodism." It frequently occurs that the first departure, on the part of a Methodist preacher, from the Church whose prosperity had been promoted by his labors, is only the precursor of disquietude and unrest. The history of the Church presents but few examples of ministers who had been prominent in labors and in usefulness, and who, from any cause, had sought the communion of other denominations, who did not lose their hold on public confidence, and whose usefulness was not for ever impaired. It was so with James Ilaw. I-Ie had been the zealous advocate of the doctrines and economy of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Every feature that belonged to it was dear to his heart —to achieve its success he had performed labors and braved dangers, undaunted; and now, in his strugglings to turn away from his "earliest love," he lost much of the religious warmth and spirit that had distinguished his former life. Mr. IHIinde,* the author of a series of excellent articles on "'Early Western Methodism," in his animadversions on both James HIaw and Benjamin Ogden, says " they both went to nothing." There is certainly nothing in their history that justifies so harsh a verdict. However much Mr. I-law may have lost of the influence he had exerted in former years, and to whatever extent he may have gone in the departure from his former spirit, it is a source * Methodist Magazine, 1819, p. 186. IN KENTUCKY. 5 9 of gratification to us that he always maintained a reputation for piety. But, his influence gone in the Methodist Church, in the year 1801 he joined the Presbyterian Church, in whllich he lived an example of piety, and died, some years aftel, a minister in that Communion. His children, however, and his descendants, to the present time, so far as they have become connected with any Church, have sought that of their father's early love; or, if unconverted, have been attached to its interest. The following account of James IIaw, from the hitherto unpublished manuscript of the Rev. Learner Blackman, will be read with interest: "1James Haw ultimately left the Methodist Episcopal Church, and called himself a Republican Methodist. Mr. Spear, who was stationed in Cumberland in 1794, states that he found I-Iaw intent on representing Bishop Asbury in the most unfavorable point of light, though he made no open avowal to leave the Methodist Episcopal Church at that time, but used his influence to get the young preachers and members of the society disaffected with Bishop Asbury and the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1795, Mr. Haw held a conference with the preachers he had influence with; at which Joseph Brown and Jonathan Stephens were licensed as Republican Methodist preachers. They had both been previously licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal Church. IRlaw's design now was no longer a secret. It was now notorious that he was influenced by the same principles and prejudices of James 60 M E T II O D I S AM O'Kelly, and that his prejudices had the same object. About the time of the great and increasing difficulty caused by Mr. Haw, William Burke, an itinerant preacher, arrived in Cumberland. i-Ie requested Mr. Haw to meet him at Mr. Edwards's, and adjust the differences, if possible. Mr. HI-aw met, according to appointment, at the request of Mr. Burke; but the attempts to adjust the differences with the parties were ineffectual. Iaw declared himself no more a Methodist. Mr. Burke farther stated that most of the officials of Cumnberland had become disaffected to our government, in consequence of Haw's influence, but that they were all reconciled, except Haw and Stephens. Joseph Dunn came back to the Methodist Episcopal Church, after aboutsixweeks. Stephensbackslid and became a wicked man. A very few joined Haw. lie held one sacrament, and it is said that himself and wife were the only communicants. But very few, if any, were either awakened or converted under IFaw's ministry, after he left the Methodists. But, in consequence of William Burke, who did himself much honor, an almost expiring cause was saved. AWilliam Burke must be regarded as the principal cause, under God, of diverting the dismal cloud that seemed to be hanging over the infant Church. "In the time of the revival among the Presbyterians and Methodists, about the year 1800, Haw joined the Presbyterians. At that time, the Presbyterians were friendly with the Methodists; Methodists and Presbyterians preached and communed together. But when HLaw joined the Presbyterians, IN KENTUCKY. 61 as he had said many things disrespectful of Bishop Asbury and of the form of Discipline, after he withdrew from the Church, the existing union was likely to be broken. John Page and Thomas Wilkerson were stationed in Cumberland at that time. They very unreservedly stated their objections to Mr. HIaw, and that, if he continued among them, he must make such acknowledgments as would satisfy the Methodists; and, if he did not, the union must be, in the nature of things, broken. The Presbyterians determined that Mr. Hiaw should make such public acknowledgment, that the existing union might not be interrupted.'"The charges were stated, which were the following: " 1. For falsely representing Bishop Asbury as having a libidinous thirst for power. "2I. For making attempts to disunite the Methodist Society in Cumberland. "3. In attempting to destroy the Methodist Discipline-charges that Haw did not deny. But it was requested that he should make his acknowledgments publicly. "Accordingly, on Sunday morning, at camp-meeting, before thousands, Mr. IHaw made acknowledgments full and satisfactory. HIe acknowledged he had misrepresented Bishop Asbury and the Methodist Discipline. "After this, Mr. Haw seemed to rise in the esteem of the people, and gain some influence as a preacher. HIe continued with the Presbyterians while he lived. 62 M ETIHODISM "We have reason to believe that his sun went clown in peace-that he died in the faith." We devote so much space to Mr. fHaw, because the truth of history demands it. HIowever much we may lament his departure from primitive Methodism, we rejoice in that grace by which he maintained a Christian character and found sweet consolation in the hour of death. As yet, we had but two circuits in IKentucky. The Danville Circuit included one-third the entire State,* while the Lexington embraced the counties of Fayette, Jessamine, Woodford, Franklin, Scott, and HIarrison. Among the ministers whose labors contributed so much to the advancement of the cause of truth during this year, the name of James O'Cull ought not to be omitted. I-e was a native of Pennsylvania, and by birth and education a lomlan Catholic. When quite a young man, he attended a Methodist meeting, and was awakened under the preaching of the gospel; and, immediately upon his conversion, began to persuade others to seek the salvation of their souls. In 1789, he came to Kentucky, a local preacher, and traveled two years under the Presiding Elder. In 1791, he joined the Conference, and was appointed to the Cumberland Circuit as colleague to Barnabas Melenry. Naturally of a feeble constitution, he was. unable to endure the privations and perform the labors required of him'Quarterly Review of Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Vol. III., p. 416. IN KENTUCKY. 63 on that circuit, and before the close of the year he was compelled to retire from the work, to enter it as an itinerant no more. In Kentucky, however, as well as on the Cumberland Circuit, he was successful as a minister. Through his instrumentality, many souls were awakened and converted to God — among whom was the husband of Mrs. Jane Stamper, referred to in a former chapter. As a preacher, Mr. O'Cull stood high. His sermons were not only distinguished for their zeal and fervor, but also for their strength and discrimination. To the doctrines and economy of the Methodist Church he was deeply attached, and to vindicate them, whenever assailed in his presence, was the joy of his heart. Subsequent to his labors on the Cumberland Circuit, his health was so feeble that he could preach but seldom, and frequently in only a whisper, yet a peculiar unction always attended his ministrations. One who knew him well gives the following account of a sermon he heard him preach: * " I once heard him preach a characteristic sermon on the parable of the Prodigal Son. He brought the whole subject simply but forcibly before the congregation. First he described the prodigal leaving home, thoughtless and gleeful-the very expression of wealth and fashion. He followed him to the resorts of pleasure and dissipation, where he was surrounded by flattering sycophants, who complimented his person, his talents, and, above all, his liberality. IHe sailed on a smooth sea while his * Rev. Jonathan Stampor. 64 E T IT OD ISS money lasted, but when it failed, his associates turned from him with disdain, and called him a fool. When he applied for aid to those who had flattered and ruined him, they kicked him out-of-doors as a spendthrift and vagabond, unworthy of relief or pity. Penniless and ragged, he sought a livelihood by feeding swine-a most disgraceful employment for a Jew, but it afforded him no relief: he would fain have satisfied his hunger with the husks which the swine did eat. Alas! luckless boy, what a sad reverse! "At length, however, he came to himself, and thought of the happy home he had left, of the kindness of his father, and the plenty with which his house abounded. Ah, should he ever see that home again? His pride revolted at the thought of so humiliating a return, for pride will follow a man to the very swine-yard, and curse him even there. But necessity pinched and want distressed him, and he said,'I will arise and go to my father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.' "The Saviour gives us no items of his travel home, but I reckon the poor fellow had a hard time of it. No doubt he begged his way, probably traveling upon his bare feet. How very different the circumstances of his return from those of his departure! He went away in rich attire, with abundance of gold, finely mounted and attended. But look at him now! He is in sight of his native home, covered with rags, barefoot, and bleeding! IN KENTUCKY. 65 He moves slowly, his head droops down, and an old hat, with a tow-string for a band, hangs about his ears. The father, sitting in his veranda, and looking down the long, shaded avenue, sees the sad, bent figure, slowly and painfully halting toward the house. He feels a strange yearning toward the wretched creature.'Who is it?' he inquires. The servant does not know, but would judge it to be some beggar coming to tax his well-known liberality. But ere the answer was ended, his heart had told him that the stranger was his long-lost son! With eager haste he runs to meet him: the son confesses: the father, not waiting to hear, cries out for joy,' My son that was dead is alive again!' falls upon his neck, kisses him, and bathes his thin cheeks with a father's warm tears. "After applying the history to illustrate the lovingkindness of our Heavenly Father to his wandering creature, man, he called in the most simple manner upon the prodigals present to return to their insulted but forgiving Father, assuring them that they should meet a merciful reception. And though the whole discourse was of this simple narrative style, and delivered in a low and measured tone of voice, the congregation was so convulsed with emotion that there was scarcely a dry eye in it. " He seldom preached without producing a similar result." He lived for many years after the failure of his health, and passed away to the " rest that remlaineth to the people of God." Methodism, during this year, assumed a more voL.. -3 66 METHODISM permanent form. The experience of Poythress and of Ilaw-the sound and logical preaching of McHenry —the persuasive eloquence of Wilson Lee, and of Brooks, with the holy zeal, the pathos, and the tears of Peter Massie, and the earnestness of James O'Cull, under the blessing of Heaven, invested Methodism with a commanding influence. At the close of the year, they report one thousand and ninety members, being an increase of two hundred and twenty-seven. During this year, the support of the preachers was very defective. Small as the allowance was, the people were unable to meet it. Hlence, at the Conference held in Baltimore on the 6th of September, we have the following record: "At the Baltimore Conference, there was a collection of ~72 9s. 6d; and, as the brethren in the IKentucky and Ohio Districts happened to be in the greatest need, the Conference generously voted two-thirds of the said sunm as a partial supply for the preachers in the Ohio District, and one-third for the brethren in Kentuckythe whole to be sent in books."* It was truly fortunate that the support of the preachers at that day did not require large amounts. They were all, then in Kentucky, unmarried men, and their appointments were so remote from each other that they could have no settled home, but lived among the people.:-General Minutes, Vol. I., p. 39. 77 g U' AN, ffi'Afoin ll"R, WM N- LI Y; L 1.11, P IT. IN KENTUCKY. 67 CHAPTER IV. FROM THE FIRST CONFERENCE HELD IN KENTUCKY, IN 1790, TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1792. Bishop Asbury's first visit to Kentucky-The first Annual Conference in the District held at Masterson's Station, near LexingtonRichard Whatcoat-H-ope Hull —John Seawell —First Methodist Church in Kentucky-Peter Massie-John Clark-The Conference composed of six members-Limestone and Madison CircuitsHenry Birchett-David Ia.ggard-Samuel Tuckler-Joseph Lillard-Death of Samuel Tucker-Bethel Academy-Mhadison Circuit disappears from the Minutes-Salt River Circuit-Barnabas McHenry —Death of Peter Massie —Life and death of Simeon. IN the spring of 1790, Bishop Asbury made his first visit to Kentucky, where, for the first tinme, an Annual Conference was held. Hle was accompanied by Richard Whatcoat-afterward elected Bishopand also by Hope Hull and John Seawell, menl well known in those days as ardent, zealous, and useful preachers. The Conference was held, commencing on the 15th of May, at MIasterson's Station, about five miles north-west of [Lexington, where the first Methodist Church* in IKentucky-a plain log structure-was erected. To reach the seat of the Conference, required a journey of several days through a dreary wilderness, replete with dangers and - This house is still standing (1868). See engraving. 68 AM E T It O D I S 1 infested by savages. "A volunteer company was raised to guard the Bishop through this dreary waste." This company was composed of the Rev. Peter Massie and John Clark, with eight others. On the seventh day of their journey, they reached Richmond, the county-seat of Madison county, and three days afterward, reached Lexington. In alluding to this journey, Bishop Asbury says:* "I was strangely outdone for want of sleep, having been greatly deprived of it in my journey through the wilderness-which is like being at sea in some respects, and in others worse. Our way is over mountains, steep hills, deep rivers, and muddy creeks-a thick growth of reeds for miles together, and no inhabitants but wild beasts and savage men. I slept about an hour the first night, and about two the last. We ate no regular meals; our bread grew short, and I was much spent." On his way, he " saw the graves of the slain-twenty-four in one camp "who had, a few nights previous, been murdered by the Indians. The Conference was composed of six members, namely, Francis Poythress, James Itaw, Wilson Lee, Stephen Brooks, Barnabas McHenry, and Peter Massie. Bishop Asbury, in his journal,t in speaking of the Conference, says: "' Our Conference was held at Brother Masterson's —a very comfortable house and kind people. We went through our business in great love and harmony. I ordained Wilson Lee, *ournal, Vol, olI I P, 83 - Vol. II., p. 84. IN KENTUCKY. 69 Thomas Williamson, and Barnabas McHllenry, elders. We had preaching noon and night, and souls were converted, and the fallen restored. My soul has been blessed anlong these people, and I am exceedingly pleased with them. I would not, for the worth of all the place, have been prevented in this visit, having no doubt but that it will be for the good of the present and rising generations. It is true, such exertions of mind and body are trying; but I am supported under it: if souls are saved, it is enough. Brother Poythress is much alive to God. We fixed a plan for a school, and called it Bethel, and obtained a subscription of three hundred pounds in land and money toward its establishment." The Conference lasted only two days; for, on Monday, the 17th, we find Bishop Asbury again in the saddle, and "preaching ten miles from Lexington." The session was attended by a large number of people. The preaching was with divine power. One who was present* says: "The house was crowded day and night, and often the floor was covered with the slain of the Lord, and the house and the woods resounded with the shouts of the converted." The visit of Bishop Asbury to Kentucky was of the highest importance to the infant Church. Although his labors had been abundant, they had been bestowed on the older settlements of the country. That he mlight fully understand the condition antd the wants of the Church here, it was requisite that ey. Lewis G-arrett. 70 M E T THODIS M he become personally familiar with the perils by which it was surrounded. No Bishop of our Church had ever preached in the District. Bishop Asbury was the first preacher of any denomination, holding that high and sacred office, who exercised its functiOns in Kentucky. It was necessary to organize a Conference in Kentucky; and it was proper, in an eminent degree, that its organization should take place under the auspices of such a man as [Bishop Asbury. Privations had to be endured, sacrifices made, difficulties surmounted, and dangers encountered, by the missionaries-and who was so well prepared to whisper words of cheer as one who had trodden the path of trial, and planted the standard of the cross amid discouragemlents before which stout hearts had paled? Bishop Asbury was no ordinary man. "He was the only son of an intelligent yeoman of the parish of Handsworth, Staffordshire." * From early childhood, he was seriously impressed upon the subject of religion. Converted to God when quite a youth, "at the age of seventeen he began to hold public meetings, and before he was eighteen began to preach;" t and started out as an itinerant before he was twenty-one years of age. At the age of twenty-six, he was appointed by Mr. Wesley to America; and, at the Christmas Conference of 1784, held in the "Lovely Lane Chapel," in the city of Baltimore, he was unanimously elected to the office of Bishop. * Stevens's History of M. E. Church, Vol. I., p 111. t Ibid., p. 115. IN KENTUCKY. 71 Possessed of a high order of talent, with a mind well cultivated and richly stored with useful knowledge; with a will to execute; thoroughly imbued with the spirit of his mission; entirely consecrated to the service of God; devoting every energy to the prosecution of the work to which he had been called-to this man American Methodism and American Christianity is more largely indebted than to any minister of the gospel of the present or the past. He was a Bishop according to apostolic rule. While many of the prelates on the Continent were reposing on their beds of down, and priests of the Established Church, in silken robes, were reeling before the altars of God, like the unwearied sun, he was " moving from day to day in his journey around this vast continent, of five thousand miles, annually," and diffusing his benign influence from center to circumference. To the infant Church in JKentucky, his visit, though brief, gave a fresh impulse. The revival of religion that commenced at the session of this Conference spread through many portions of the State, so that this year was far more prosperous than any that had preceded it. The Conference was an humble one-only six* preachers; but small as it was in the beginning, these ministers were destined to go forth, "a flame * Collins, in his History of Kentucky, says twelve; but Mr. Collins counts visiting preachers. The Minutes report only six, and the list of appointments adds four, and deducts three, namely, James Haw, Wilson Lee, and Peter Massie. These latter were appointed to the Cumrrberland Circuit. 72 ET II OD I S M of fire," as the heralds of the cross, shedding the nmellow light of Christianity, and spreading the triumphs of the gospel, through every settlement of the State; winning many trophies to the Redeemer from the ranks of sin. It was their nmission to lay the foundations of a system, deep and wide, whose teachings should bless the nations; to plant here, upon this virgin soil, the evergreentree of Christianity-which, though the storms of opposition should gather around it, and the lightnings of persecution play upon it, should continue to grow, until its boughs should spread over every hill-top and upon every vale-offering a shelter to the weary and way-worn pilgrim on his journey to the grave. 2Hitherto there had been but two circuits in Kentucky: the Minutes this year report four, adding the Limestone and M[adison; * and nine preachers, instead of six, are appointed to cultivate this field. The names of Henry ]3irchett, David 1lHaggard, Samuel Tucker, and Joseph Lillard, appear on the roll for this department of the work, for the first time. Henry Birchett had entered the itinerant ministry in 1788, and, before coming to Kentucky, had traveled on Camden and lBertie Circuits, in North Carolina. He was a Virginian by birth. Surrounded in childhood with the comforts of life, and reared amid ease and abundance, he cheerfully consecrated *-The Cumberland Circuit is in the Kentucky District; but as it was almost exclusively in Tennessee, we do not refer to it as a part of Kentucky Methodisrm. IN KENTUCKY. 73 himself to the work of the ministry. To leave the comforts of home alld the society of friends, and become identified with the fortunes of the itinerant work was, at that day, no ordinary sacrifice. The wants of the Church in Kentucky required ministerial help, and Mr. Birchett cheerfully volunteered for this distant and dangerous field. In the circuits he traveled, he was eminently useful and remarkably popular. His talents were good. IHe was regarded "an excellent preacher;" while his zeal scarcely knew any bounds. Nor did he confine himself to the labors of the pulpit. He looked on the children as the future hope of the Church, and in their moral and religious instruction he took the deepest interest. "':In every neighborhood where it was practicable, he formed the children into classes, sang and prayed with them, catechised them, and exhorted them."* For many years after he had " entered into rest," his memory was green and l-is name rwas fragrant among the young people. David H1aggard accompanied Mr. Birchett into Kentucky. I-Ie was admitted to the ministry in 1787, and had labored on Banks and Anson Circuits, North Carolina, and on Halifax, in Virginia. In connection with Henry Birchett, he was, this year, as well as the succeeding, appointed to Lexington Circuit. In 1792, be was sent to New River Circuit, Virginia; and, in 1793, to Salisbury, North Carolina; after which his name disappears from the Minutes. I-Te, however, returned to the East, and *WVestern Methodism, p. 69. 74 ME THODISM became connected with the O'Kelly schism; but finally joined the New Lights, and died in their communlion.* During the two years of his labors in Kentucky, and indeed during all the time of his connection with the itinerancy, he was a faithful, acceptable, and useful preacher. Joseph Lillard was a Kentuckian by birth. IIe was born not far from HIarrodsburg,t and this year entered the traveling connection. His appointment was to the Limestone Circuit, with Samuel Tucker. IIe traveled his second year on the Salt River Circuit, as colleague to Wilson Lee; after which his name disappears from the Minutes. After his location, he settled near tIarrodsburg, KZentucky, not far from the place of his birth, where, among his friends and neighbors, he lived to a good old age. In his local relation to the Church, although as a preacher he was unpretending, yet, by the sanctity of his life, and by his devotion to the Church, he was very useful. In his home the weary itinerant always found a cordial welcome and a place of rest, while by his liberality he contributed largely to the promotion of the Church. Neither the precise date nor the manner of his death is known.1 *Collins's Kentucky, p. 126. t Collins, in his History of Kentucky, p. 127, makes this statement. If correct, Lillard must have been very young when he entered the itinerancy. J In a letter to the author, the Rev. S. X. Iall, of the Kentucky Conference, says: "The best information I can get in reference to the Rev. Joseph Lillard is, that he was born in Kentucky, in what is now Mercer county. He was esteemed to be a good man, truly IN KENTUCKY. 75 Samuel Tucker, just admitted on trial, was also appointed this year to the Limestone* Circuit, but did not live to enter upon his work. On his way to Limestone, in descending the Ohio River, at or near the mouth of Brush Creek, the boat was attacked by Indians, and the most of the crew killed. We also learn that Mr. Tucker exhibited that most extraordinary coolness during the attack, by which the brave man is always distinguished. IIe continued to defend the boat with his rifle, until every man was killed except himself, and he mortally wounded. He reached Limestone alive, but soon died of his wounds. His remains now lie, with no stone to mark his grave, in the cemetery at Maysrille. In alluding to the death of Mr. Tucker, the Rev. William Burke, in his Autobiography,t says: "There is one thing worthy of notice, and that is, that, notwithstanding the constant exposure the traveling preachers were subjected to, but two of them fell by the hands of the savages, and both of th.em by the naime of Tucker. One was a young pious, but somewhat eccentric. He is said to have been a very ordinary preacher. About nine miles from Harrodsburg there is a large brick church, with a somewhat prosperous membership, principally built by the Rev. Joseph Lillard, and bearing the name of Joseph's Chapel, named for its builder. He died some fifteen years ago, while on his way from Missouri to Kentucky. It is not known how, when, or where he died. His friends and relatives think he was murdered."'*The point where Maysville now stands was originally called Limestone. f Western Miethodisim, p. 44. 76 M E T II 0 D I S A man, descending the Ohio on a flat-boat, in company with several other boats-all were family boats, moving to Ientucky. They were attacked by the Indians, near the mouth of Brush Creek, now Adams county, Ohio. Several boats were taken possession of by the Indians, the inmates massacred, and the property taken by them. Every man in the boat with Tucker was killed, and Tucker wounded mortally. The Indians made attempts to board the boat, but, notwithstanding he was wounded, the women loaded the guns, and Tucker kept up a constant fire upon them, and brought off the boat safe; but before they landed at Limestone he expired, and his remains quietly repose somewhere in that place. Brother James O'Cull assisted in burying him, and is the only man now living who could designate the spot. I think the IKentucky Conference should erect a monument to his memory. The other was shot near a station south of Green River, not far from the present town of Greensburg." The Rev. Jacob Young, himself a minister for more than half a century, gives the following interesting account in his Autobiography: * "\We had a great and good quarterly meeting at Tucker's Station, near Briceland's Cross-roads, between Steubenville and Pittsburgh. This was among the oldest stations west of the Alleghany Mountains. Father Tucker was living here at the time that Adam Poe had the famous battle with the Wyandot chief,'Big-foot.' They were both brave * Autobiography of the Rev. Jacob Young, pp. 414, 415. IN KENTUCKY. 77 men and true patriots.'Big-foot' was fighting in the defense of his nation, and Poe in the defense of his country. This was certainly a dreadful conflict. Both gave full proof of their natural courage and dexterity. It had liked to have proved fatal to both. I apprehend the Wyandots were a noble race of men. It is a great pity the world cannot learn more of their nationality. I believe that the Poes descended from an excellent stock: we had full proof of this in the high-minded Daniel Poe, who died a martyr, in my opinion, ill doing his part to evangelize Texas. A Christian soldier, he fell at his post; his manly form lies in a strange land, and his sweet-spirited missionary wife sleeps by his side. Their lovely children were left without father or mother, but were not forsaken and left to beg their bread. "Father Tucker resided here during a long, dangerous, and bloody war with the Indians; raised a very large family, but one of whom distinguished himself-I think his name was William.* IHis father might have said of him, as old Priam said of Hector, that William was the wisest and best of all his sons. Ice became pious when he was very young, and before he was twenty years of age commenced preaching the gospel. Although born and reared on the frontiers, by close and constant application he acquired a pretty good English education. He bore a very active and successful part in trying to civilize and Christianize the people in the country * The Minutes give the name as Samuel. 78 ME T H O D I S ISM where he resided. His zeal increased with his years; and, while he was yet a young man, he volunteered as a missionary to go to Kentucky: he well knew the danger to which he would be exposed-for the Indian war was raging at the time in its most dreadful forms-but a desire to save souls elevated hini above the fear of death. While he was going down the Ohio River, the boat in which he was descending was attacked by a large company of Indians, and as he was well acquainted with the mode of Indian warfare, he took the supervision of all the boats in the company, and had them all lashed together with ropes. Taking his stand in the middle boat, that the whole company might hear the word of command, he ordered the women and children to keep close to the bottom of the boats, lest the Indians miught shoot them, and directed the men to arm themselves with axes and bars of iron, etc., so that, if the Indians attempted to come on board, they might mash their fingers and hands. In this way they crippled many of their warriors, and defended themselves for a long time. At length, the cunning Indians found out where the commander stood, and, in a canoe, got round to the end of the boat where the steering-oar works, and shot him through the hole. He saw that he had received his death-wound. He advised them all to get into one boat, leave their property, and try to save their lives. Having given them the best direction he could, he kneeled down, made his last prayer, and expired. They made their escape from the Indians, andl landed at Limestone, where IN KENTUCKY. 79 they buried their beloved minister. I have stood and looked at his grave with mingled feeling. I will here say that I received this minute information through an uncle of mine, who owned one of the boats, and was an eye-witness of the whole scene." The Rev. Lewis Garrett, in his "IRecollections of the West," p. 17, in referring to the death of Mr. Tucker, expresses the opinion that he labored the greater portion of the year on the Limestone Circuit, and near its close returned home "to the old settlements;" and, on his return to Kentucky, was killed by the Indians. He says: "' Samuel Tucker, a young man, who was this year (1790) admitted on trial as a traveling preacher, was remarkably successful in preaching the gospel: he was, indeed, a herald of the cross; and in him was exemplified that prediction,'HOis ministers shall be a flame of fire.' Under his labors there was a mighty turning to God, and these were days of grace, and times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. 3But his race was short, and his work soon accomplished. Perhaps about the close of this year, he had occasion to go to the old settlements, to assist in removing some of his relatives or friends. In descending the Ohio River, the boat, laden with emigrants to Kentucky, was fired upon by the Indians. Mr. Tucker received a mortal wound; but report said that he fought with valor and much presence of mind, so that the boat was saved-but he died soon after, rejoicing in God." The Rev. Dr. Stevenson, in his "Fragments fromn 80 MET II OD I S the Sketch-book of an Itinerant," after alluding to the voyage of his father down the Ohio River to Kentucky, gives the following account of the murder of Mr. Tucker: "Widely different, however, was the fate of the next lot of boats that attempted the same dangerous passage. A little below the mouth of the Scioto, they were attacked by the Indians, in great numbers, from both sides of the river, as well as from their numerous bark canoes in the stream itself. Two of the boats were soon overpowered by superior force, and an indiscriminate slaughter of men, women, and children ensued. The third and only remaining boat of the company was closely pursued for several hours. At times the issue of the conflict was considered doubtful. The most of their active and valorous men were either killed or wounded, and their remaining force was by no means sufficient to manage the oars and successfully resist a direct assault from their blood-thirsty pursuers. The women, however, at length, came forth to the rescue from their places of security and protection. Some took the oars, and others commenced reloading the guns, leaving the few fighting men, who had been mercifully preserved from the balls of the enemy, with nothing to do but to watch the movements of the insidious foe, fire to the best advantage, and as often as they pleased. It was a long and hard-fought battle. The Indians, at length, began to haul off: the fire from the boat had become too constant and well-directed to meet their views, and soon the last warlike craft disappeared on the IN KENTUCKY. 81 distant waters, and the poor bullet-riven boat was left to float on without farther molestation. Early the next day, they landed at the'Point.' My father was among the first on board. The scene was inexpressibly horrible. The living, as well as the dead and dying, were literally covered with blood. Among the latter was a Mr. Tucker, a respectable local preacher* of the Methodist Church. He had received a mortal wound in his chest, soon after the commencement of the attack; but, nothing daunted by the near and certain approach of death, he continued to fight on-loading and firing his own long rifle, until his fading vision shut out the enemy from his sight. I-Ie breathed his last, in submission to the Divine will, soon after the boat reached the landing, and was buried by my father and others, amid the lofty forest trees that then overhung, in primitive grandeur and sublimity, the beautiful bottom where now the tide of business and commerce rolls on unmindful of the past. The place of his interment is known to none now living. The light of eternity will alone reveal the hallowed spot."t It is proper to state that Dr. Stevens, in his History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, quoting from an article in the Methodist Magazine for 1819, written by the Rev. Mr. Hinde, fixes the date of the murder of Mir. Tucker in 1784. Dr. Stevens says: "As early as 1784, local preachers began to enter it -IHe was a traveling preacher. His name stands on the General Minutes, Vol. I., p. 37. tNashville Christian Advocate, Oct. 9, 1856. 82 METHODISM (Kentucky), both as settlers and as pioneers of their faith. In this year, one of them, by the name of Tucker, while descending the Ohio in a boat, with a number of his kindred —len, women, and children-was fired upon by the Indians: a battle ensued; the preacher was immediately wounded; but, falling upon his knees, prayed and fought till, by his self-possession and courage, the boat was rescued. He then immediately expired, shouting the praise of the Lord." Mr. Hinde, to whom we are indebted so largely for his interesting Sketches of Early Western Methodism, has doubtless fallen into an error as to the time of the massacre of Mr. Tucker. From the Minutes of the Conference, as well as from the testimony of the Rev. Lewis Garrett, we learn that he was admitted on trial into the traveling connection in 1790; and the Rev. William Burke refers to him as a traveling preacher.* Rev. Jacob Young says, "Hie volunteered as a missionary to go to Kentucky."t As no missionaries were sent to Kentucky previous to 1786, the date of Mr. Hinde, as quoted by Dr. Stevens, must be incorrect. We are also convinced that the Rev. Lewis Garrett is mistaken in the belief he expresses, that Mr. Tucker had spent the year, until "about its close," on his circuit in Kentucky. His useful labors, to which he makes such touching reference, must have been "in the country in which he resided," where, the Rev. Jacob Young informs us, "he bore a very active and successful part in trying to civilize and - Sketches of Western Methodism, p. 44. t Autobiography, p. 415. IN KENTUCKY. 83 Christianize the people," before " he volunteered as a missionary to go to tKentucky." From all, however, we can learn concerning him, he was reared amid the dangers of Indian warfare; " became pious when very young, and, before he was twenty years of age, commenced preaching the gospel." In the work of the ministry he was remarkable for his zeal, and cheerfully left home and friends that he might aid in the erection of the temple of Methodism in Kentucky. But God ordered otherwise. The spot where he was to commence his labors was to be the scene where his final triumph would be witnessed. It may be that the "shout of joy" which fell from his lips so soon after the boat on which he lay dying landed at Limestone, in the hearing of those to whom he had been appointed to "' proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ," made an impression more enduring than might have been made by his labors, if he had lived. The Minutes of the next year make no mention of his death. This year, Thomas Williamson, who left Kentucky in 1789, returned, and was appointed to the Danville Circuit, where he remained for two years; and, having " literally worn himself out in traveling and preaching," * asked for a location. During all the period of his connection with the itinerancy, he was a very successful preacher. He ended his days in great peace, near Lexington: the precise tinme of his death, however, is not known. Allusion has already been made to the revival of W XVestern Miethodism, p. 68. 84 MET HOD IS religion with which the first Conference in Kentucky was blessed. The summer and autumn of the previous year had passed away amid extraordinary manifestations of Divine power. Under the ministry of the word, hundreds were convinced of sin, and bowed before the cross, and the shouts of triumph had ascended to heaven from souls converted to God. The spring of 1790 exhibited no abatement of religious interest or prosperity. WVherever the gospel was preached, the presence of the Lord was manifested, and his power felt. Indian depredations and cruelties were of common occurrence. The noble Tucker had fallen by their hands, but nothing daunted, these preachers of the cross, true to their obligations and their trust, shunned no danger in the performance of duty. They inscribed "success" upon their banners, and they achieved it. They preached a present Saviour: they expected immediate results, and were only satisfied with the realization of their hopes and wishes. At the close of the year, they report one thousand five hundred and fifty-three members, being an increase over the former year of four hundred and sixty-three-the largest of any year since the organization of the Church in KIentucky. The Methodist Church in KIentucky, anxious to aid in the educational interests of the District, was the first of the Christian denominations to undertake any movement that looked to the establishment of an institution of learning. At the Conference heldl in April of this year, at Masterson's Station, Bishop Asbury siys: "We fixed a plan for a school, IN KENTUCKY. 85 and called it _Bethel, and obtained a subscription of upvard of three hundred pounds in land and money toward its establishment." It was "principally built through the influence and exertions of the Rev. Francis Poythress, the first Presiding Elder on the Lexington District."* It was located in Jessamine county, and stood on a high bluff on the Kentucky River. The Rev. William Burke, in his Autobiography, published in " Sketches of Western Methodism," pp. 42, 43, in referring to Bethel Academy, says: "In the county of Jessamine, situated on the cliffs, was Bethel Acaderny, built entirely by subscriptions raised on the circuits. One hundred acres of land were given by Mr. Lewis as the site for the academy. The project originated with Mr. Asbury, Francis Poythress, Isaac Hite, of Jefferson; Col. Hyde, of Nelson; Willis Green, of Lincoln; Riechard Masterson, of Fayette, and Mr. Lewis, of Jessamine. A spacious building was erected —I think, eighty by forty feet, three stories high. The design was to accommodate the students in the house with boarding, etc. The first and second stories were principally finished, and a spacious hall in the center. The building of this house rendered the pecuniary means of the preachers very uncertain, for they were continually employed in begging for Bethel. The people were very liberal, but they could not do more than they did. The country was new, and the unsettled state of the R-Iev. Jonathan Stanlper, in IHome Circle, Vol. I., p. 360. 86 Ml E TH OD IS MA people, in consequence of the Indian wars and depredations, kept the country in a continual state of agitation. The legislature, at an early period, made a donation of six thousand acres of land to Bethel Academy. The land was located in Christian county, south of Green River, and remained a long time unproductive; and while I continued a trustee, till 1804, it remained rather a bill of expense than otherwise. In 1803, I was appointed by the Western Conference to attend the legislature and obtain an act of incorporation. I performed that duty, and Bethel was incorporated, with all the powers and privileges of a literary institution. Fromz that time, I was removed to such a distance that my connection with the academy ceased. The Rev. Valentine Cook was the first that organized the acadenlical department; and at first the prospect was flattering. A number of students were in attendance; but difficulties occurred which it would be needless to mention, as all the parties concerned have gone to give an account at a higher tribunal; but such was the effect that the school soon declined, and B3rother Cook abandoned the project." However much we may larment the fate of the Bethel Academy, it afibrds us pleasure to look back to that early day, when Kentucky was only a District, not having been admitted as one of the States into the Union, and behold that noble little band of Methodists, with only six preachers and less than one thousand Church-members under their supervision, laying the foundations of educational enterprise, and projecting schemes for the literary IN K ENTUCKY. 87 advancenlent of the rising generation. They looked to the future. They plainly foresaw the coming prosperity and glory of the State; and if Methodism would occupy its proper place with sister Churches in the regards and esteem of a free and prosperous people-if their labors would be crowned with permanent success-the supporting layer on which they must build, must necessarily embrace in its provisions the literary culture, as well as the moral and religious instruction, of the youth of the country. Methodism has ever been friendly to education, as sanctified learning has ever been the handmaid of religion. Rejecting the theory that no man should preach the gospel of Christ, whose literary attainments are not of the highest classical character, Methodism, at the same time, has nunmbered among her ministers in Kentucky many who have stood pre6minently high for their scholastic attainments; whilst, among her large and rapidly increasing membership, in the learned professions, and in the higher walks of life, she is ably represented in every community. At this early day, many of the most influential famnilies in the State had entered her communion, amongst whom were the names of HIardin, Thomas, lTite, Lewis, Easland, Masterson, I[avananglh, Tucker, Richardson, Letanmore, Brown, Garrett, Churchill, Jeffries, Wickliffe, HIoardc-names, most of which are prominently known at the present time in Kentucky AMethodism. * Western Methodism, p, 66. 88 METHODISar The failure of the Bethel Academy to meet the wants and wishes of the Church, did not, by any means, paralyze their efForts, or shake them in their purpose to succeed. It seemed only to fit them for new and untried exertion, at another point, where we shall meet them again arduously laboring to accomplish the same ends. At the Conference in 1791, the Minutes report the same number of circuits as the forumer year. The name of the Madison Circuit, however, does not appear, it having been absorbed in the Danville; and the Salt River Circuit is added. There is also one preacher less this year. The circuits, at that date, were not of the convenient size in which the minister who now enters the itinerant field finds them. " The Limestone Circuit lay on the north side of Licking River. It included Mason and Flemoing counties. " It was bounded on the east, south, and west, by the frontier settlements, and on the north by the Ohio River.': Lexington Circuil contained the counties of Fayette, Jessamine, Woodford, Franklin, Scott, and Harrison-boundedc on the cast and north by the Itinkstone Circuit, and on the west by the frontiers. Frankfort, now the seat of government, was then a frontier station. - Several of the counties mentioned were not formed at this date. Previous to 1792, only nine counties had been formed, namely, Fayette, Jefferson, Lincoln, Nelson, Bourbon, Madison, Mercer, Woodford, and lMason. Mr. Burke means the territory embraced in these counties when formed. IN KENTUCKY. 89 "Sclt River Circuiit, the most difficult in the bounds of the Conference, included Washington, Nelson, Jefferson, Shelby, and Green counties-bounded on the north by the IKentuckly River; on the east by Danville Circuit; on the south by the frontier settlemnents on Green River, including where Greensburg and Elizabethtown are now situated. "_1Danville Circuit included Mercer, Lincoln, Garrard, and Miadison counties. The west part of the circuit included the head-waters of Salt River and Chaplin on the north, and bounded by the KIentucky River south and east, extended as far as the settlements." * The Cumberland Circuit lay chiefly in Tennessee. It extended, however, into Kentucky, and embraced,?besides Middle Tennessee, what is now known as Logan, Warren, and Simpson counties. To travel through so large a territory; to preach almost daily; to form societies, and to perform other duties that belong to the profession of the ministry, required an amount of labor to which but few men are equal, and which, in a short time, would impair the health of the most stalwart. Joseph Tatman was admitted on trial into the Conference this year, and appointed to Danville Circuit, as colleague to Thomas Williamson. TI-e only traveled one year. At the next Conference, his name disappears from the Minutes, after which all trace of him is lost. In a previous chapter, we have shown that, B'LBurke's Autobiography. 90 METHODISM although the General Minutes announce the appointment of the Rev. Barnabas McHenry to the Cumberland Circuit, in 1788, he did not take charge of this work until 1791. This year he leaves Kentucky, to cultivate "'Immlanuel's lands" elseThere. During the three years of his absence from tKentucky, his labors were abundant. The first was spent on the Cumberland Circuit; the second as Presiding Elder over the Holston, Green, New River, and Russell Circuits, spreading over a vast extent of territory in Virginia and Tennessee; the third as the Presiding Elder over the Bedford, Bottetourt, Greenbrier, and Cow Pasture Circuits, in Western Virginia. In 1794, he returns to IKentucky, and is appointed to the Salt River Circuitthe most laborious in the Conference. During this year he was married to Miss Sarah Hardin, daughter of Col. John Hardin; and, at the close of the year, located, and, in that sphere, for many years rendered valuable service to the Church. Before parting with Barnabas McIenry for the present, we will quote a letter written by him to the Rev. Lewis Garrett,* which will be read with interest, and convey to us a correct idea of the toils, the privations, and the dangers endured by those devoted men on whose labors we have entered: " MOUNT PLEASANT, near Springfield, Ky., MIay 15, 1823. "DEAR BROTHER: — After the reception of your favor of the 24th of March, runmmaging some of my * Recollections of the West, pp. 92-101. IN KENTUCKY. 91 old papers, I found a journal, (or fragment of a journal,) including a part of the first year of my itinerant labors in what is now WATest Tennessee, then called Cumberland Circuit. "' In company with Brother James O'Cull, I reached Philip Trammell's, on one of the forks of Red River, not very far fromn the place which has since been calledl'Cheek's Tavern,' on WVednesday, May 25, 1791. The circuit was a four-weeks' circuit. Clarksville, near the mouth of Red River, was the lower extremity of the circuit, and of the settlement. WVe had one stage between that and Prince's Chapel, near the mouth of the Sulphur Fork; we had one or two preaching-places up the fork, besides one on WVhip-poor-will, a large creek that falls into it on the north side; whence we proceeded on, or near, to the northern limits of the settlement, (which did not then include all the upper waters of Red River,) preaching at a few places where we had some societies, till, some distance above Trammell's, we turned across to Sumner Court-house, which was a cabfin near Station Camp Creek. The upper end of the circuit was the eastern extremity of the settlement, Col. Isaac Bledsoe's, near Bledsoe's Lick. The population, for some miles down, consisted of a narrow string between the river and the ridge. Indeed, there was then no population on the south side of Cumberland River, Nashville and a very small part of the adjacent country excepted. There were but four regular preaching-places on that side of the river, although the preachers aimed so to regulate their stages that 92 METHODIISM all the inhabitants of the country should have circuit-preaching convenient to them-. I do not remember a single instance of their refusing to visit any neighborhood, nor even any stationl, on account of danger, though, in some instances, guards met them, where risk was thought to be uncornmonly great. "I find in my old journal the following, viz.: As I had no company on Monday, 18th of July, I yielded to persuasion, and deferred riding up to Col. Sanders's until the next day. And perhaps it was well I did; for, not far to the right of the way I must have gone, the Indians fired upon four persons that evening, and killed Mr. Jones. Again: Thursclay, August 4th:-The guard did not meet me at Mr. Hoogan's, according to promise; so I tarried here till Saturday, etc. "I happened to be in the same part of the circuit, when a man much beloved —Maj. George Winchester-was killed in the neighborhood of the place where Gallatin now stands. "In one case the hand of God has appeared to cne so evident in my preservation, that I cannot think it improper to give you the circumstances in detail. I have told you that Clarksville was the extreme point of the settlement down the river. Mr. Denning's, where I put up, was the upper house in the place-a cabin, standing fifty or sixty yards (I conjecture) from any other, near the bank, having the door fronting the river. Being much engaged with a book that had just fallen into my hands, when others had retired to rest one night, I again sat IN KENTUCKY. 93 down to read, with my face toward the door; the table upon which my candle was placed standing by the wall, between me and the door. Observing that the door was not closely shut, I rose, shut and bolted it, or rather barred it, and again sat down to my book till quite late. The next day, I preached in one of the cabins in the town, (as it was even then called,) intending to spend the following night at Mr. Denning's, for the purpose of reading; but a young gentleman having come about fifteen miles, in order to ride with me that afternoon, I changed my purpose, and went on with him. That very night the Indians attacked the house of Mr. Denning. Firing in at the door, which was standing a little open, (as it had stood the preceding night,) they shot a Mr. Boydcl, who was sitting, or in some way resting, on the table, standing in the very place where it had stood when I sat reading at the end of it. It afterward appeared (the Indians relating it themselves to a white man with whom they were acquainted, and whom they met in the Spanish territory, where they were professedly at peace) that they had crossed the river the night before on purpose to murder the people in that house; but, growing fearful that there were too many men in it, they shrunk from the attempt, lay concealed all the next day, and at night rose and made the assault. " IHad I tarried there that night, as I had designed to do if Mr. Pennington had not come to meet me, I had in all likelihood been their muark, sitting with my breast toward themn, on the opposite side of the 94 ME T O 0 D I S candle, within a few feet of the muzzles of their guns. And how probable is it, that, if the door had not been noticed and closely shut the preceding night, the light of the candle would have invited their approach. It would have shown, at a late hour, both that all was still, and that there was a favorable opportunity of looking in. But the hairs of my head twere numbered. The Strenzgth of Israel teas imy reftage. "Although blood continued to flow, from time to time, till I left the circuit, in April, 1792, the country was not by any means as it had before beenparticularly in 1789, when Brother Thomas WVilliamson was on the circuit. He was my intimate and particular friend, and gave me by letter an affecting history of their perilous situation. He expressed his doubts whether he would ever see me'any more in this world,' as God permitted the barbarous enemy to slay the righteous with the wicked. He mentioned two or three young men who had been powerfully converted, and soon afterward murdered. But I have to regret that I have not preserved any of his letters. "In that country, and in this, the course pursued by the circuit-preachers was pretty much the same, and so likewise were their dangers and their difficulties. They had counted the cost, and no form in which Death or any of his precursors presented seemed to appall them. Each circuit in Kentucky embraced dangerous frontiers, in which, in some places, paths made by stock! or wild beasts might lead the traveler astray. By one of these, in the summer of IN KENT UCKY. 95 1788, Brother Wilson Lee was conducted so far beyond the limits of the settlement that he had to spend a dreary night in the wilderness alone. One of the preachers appointed to Danville Circuit, in the spring of 1789, was quietly enjoying his nightly repose, about a mile from the place where I now write, when a company of Indians, not far from the little cabin in which he lay, were catching the horses which the family had ridden home from meeting late that evening. In the course of that year, William Wilson and Charles Burks, two classleaders belonging to the circuit, were killed. In some places the preachers could not retire to the woods or fields for the purpose of reading, meditation, and prayer, without probable danger of being shot or tomahawked. This was the more sensibly felt, as the houses in such places afforded little or no convenience for retirement. Our'advantages' consisted principally in peace and love. United in the holy fellowship of the gospel ministry, we were, in a great measure, of ogne heart and of one soul. The same spirit, in no small degree, happily pervaded our societies. We served a simple-hearted, teachable people, who received us as the messengers of God. The Churches, augmenting by an accession of members of this description, were' our glory and joy;' though, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness, (tattered raiment,) we'eat our' coarse fare'with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with the people.' 96 E T H OD I S Ml "You will see, by an extract of a letter in the Arminian Magazine, Vol. II., p. 202, that l3rother James IHaw went from this country to Cumberland in August, 1788; and that he and Brother Massie were there in the following winter. They remained there till the next spring. " Soon after I reached the IKentucky settlementwhich was on the 11th of June, 1788-B-]rother I-aw formed the design of placing me on Cumberland Circuit, to which he then intended to accompany me, and make a short stay; but, before he had executed his purpose, he was superseded by Brother Poythress. The consequence was, that Brothers Ilaw and Massie went to Cumberland, and I continued in Kentucky that year, according to the original intention of that appointment. Brother HIaw, it would seemn, communicated his arrangements previous to the printing of the Minutes, which occasioned my name to be inserted as appointed to Cumlberlandc Circuit. ]Brother Combs never wvent there. I-Ie was taken sick, and desisted from traveling.:Brother Hlaw did not travel much in 1790. For particulars respecting his latter years, I refer you to Brother John Page. Brother Ogden married in Kentucky, in the spring of 1788, and immediately started to the eastward. I Ie returned in the latter end of 1790, and has been a citizen of this country ever since. At one period, influenced by considerations which I am not prepared to explain, he withdrew from the Church; and, after continuing several years not regularly connected with any religious community, rejoined IN KENTUCKY. 97 it. The latest account, he was living near Eddyville, a local preacher. Probably Brother IIolliday can give you some account of him. hiis son, John Wesley Ogden, occupies the pulpit, we are told, among the Cumberland Presbyterians. "A few years ago-I think it was in 1818-Brother Poythress died, insane, in Jessamine county, IKentucky, about twelve miles from Lexington, at the house of his sister, Mrs. Susanna Pryor, with whom he had lived, in a state of derangement, for a considerable time. My acquaintance with him began in the forty-fourth year of his age, (as he told me in July, 1788.) I have long thought that his mental powers had even then beg un to fail. Be that as it may, his mind was certainly sinking, though sinking very gradually, for several years before. In the fall of 1800, if I remember rightly, he retired from the work. His exemplary piety, his zealous and useful labors, and his faithful (I do not say able) attention to the duties of his station, secured to him a degree of confidence and affection which made most of his friends blind to his condition. When he left his District, he came to his sister's without much delay, and, excepting a little while that he spent in Lexington, about the latter part of the year 1801, continued there the remainder of his days. "At an early stage of his total derangement, he conceived an opinion that he never had been 1pious. He said that he had been sincere in his religious profession, but had always been mistaken in thinking that he was a Christian. In combating this opinion, his friends sometimes drew from him the VOL. I.-4 98 MET IODISM strongest arguments, as he conceived, which recollection could supply, to prove that he must have been radically wicked even in his last days. Some have thought that on these occasions he furnished divine proof of the uprightness of his character. His memory was unimpaired; and it was thought that the man must be circumspect indeed who knew nothing worse of himself. He had a strange notion that he was suffering under the operation of a malignant influence proceeding from mankind en masse, and even those who as individuals regarded him with good-will were somehow compelled to aid in inflicting the evil. "My helper on Cumberland Circuit, Brother O'Cull, labored with great zeal till some time in the fall of 1791, when he broke himself down so entirely that he has never recovered to this day. True, he sometimes preaches-and preaches, I am told, in a very impressive strain-but he has to speak slowly and in a very soft tone of voice. Indeed, it is in this manner only that he can hold conversation. He resides in Fleming county, in the northern part of this State, and has reared a family. After he broke down, Brother Stephen Brooks, by the direction of the Presiding Elder, took his place on the Cumberland Circuit till next spring. "In 1794, I succeeded Brother Lurton, in August, and returned in 5November, being superseded by Aquila Sugg. I recollect nothing worth relating that fell under my notice in Cumberland Circuit, that year. Moses Spear was the helper. He lives somewhere in your bounds, I believe. Perhaps you IN KENTUCKY. 99 can get some useful information fiom him. My health suffered frequent interruptions in the past winter. An intermittent headache in the month of March reduced me very much. I am still exceedingly feeble, but try to preach at least every Sabbath. My family are in common health. I know but little about the state of religion in the bounds of this Conference. RMy expectations are not elated. I think a great change in the ministry must take place before we shall see days of general prosperity. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. God hath not cast away his people. May he speedily revisit us, and cause our reproach to be rolled away! I am yours in Christ Jesus, "BARNABAS AICIHENRY." iVe now part for several years with this distinguished preacher of the gospel. We shall, however, meet him again-a giant in the itinerant ranksdevoting the prime of his manhood and the evening of his life to the promotion of Methodism. We will follow him to the close of his earthly career, ncld catch the last notes of triumph that fall from his dying lips. Although the returns of this year do not indicate the prosperity that attended the labors of the previous year, yet "there was considerable religious excitement," and many accessions to the Church. There was an increase of membership on all the circuits. The largest increase was on the Salt River Circuit-the most laborious in tlne Conference: it was one hundred and twenty-six. On the 100 M ETIIODIS Danville Circuit, the increase was ninety-three; on the Lexington, twenty-three, and on the Limestone, thirteen. The total increase was two hundred and fifty-five. Up to this period, not a single death had occurred among the itinerants of Kentucky, if we except that of the Rev. Samuel Tucker, who fell before entering upon his work. The first of the noble band who had devoted their lives to the cultivation of "'Immanuel's lands," in these WVestern wilds, was Peter Massie. " Is it not a noble thing to die As dies the Christian, with his armor on? What is the hero's clarion, though its blast Ring with the mastery of a world, to this? What are the searching victories of mindThe lore of vanished ages? What are all The trumpetings of proud humanity, To the short history of him who made His sepulcher beside the King of kings?" The composure of the Christian in the hour of death has excited the admiration of mankind in every age, since the establishment of Christianity, and in every clime where its ensign has floated and its truths been proclaimed. His motto, "HIoliness to the Lord," and his hope, the reward of the blessed-ever impressed with the conviction that "to die is gain "-he has always been able to look upon death, though with feelings of solemnity, yet as the precursor of his rest, and the avenue through which he may enter the abodes of the redeemed. The teachings of Christianity are, that this world is not man's home —it is only the vestibule of his IN KENTUCKY. 101 being -the stepping-stone of his existence; and that, beyond " the valley and the shadow of death," there is a land where spring is perennial, and anmid whose glories he may repose for ever and ever! With the Christian, Death, the "king of terrors," and the terror of kings, is divested of his power to alarm, and is regarded as a friendly messenger, to "break the golden bowl," and to "loose the silver cord " of life. How oft have we seen the Christian die, and, amid weeping friends, heard the last words of triumph as they fell from his expiring lips and floated out on the pure, ambient air of heaven! It was the triumph of the soldier, returning from the empurpled field with victory inscribed upon his banner. The contest had been severe, but the triumph is complete. It is more: it is the inexpressible joy of the child of God, who, with earth's sorrows past, is now standing beside the river on whose banks there grows no living thing, and upon whose leaden waters there floats not a wreck of all that was —looking back, with emotions of pleasure, upon a life that had been consecrated and devoted to God; and then, beyond the swelling stream, to the "land afar off," and, in the light of Revelation, contemplating the glories that await him. It is the rapture of the soldier of the cross, who, with life's battle fought and its warfare ended, leaning his head upon the breast of his Redeemer, bids adieu to earth-the theater of his conflicts-and enters upon eternal rest. If this be so with the Christian who may have filled only an humble sphere in life, may we not expect the faithful minister of Christ, 102 METHO D IS M whose life had been devoted to the weal of others, to approach the margin of the river undaunted and composed? It has been often and truly said, that " a man's life is the proper index to his death. Tell me how he lived, and I will tell you how he died." This, as a rule, is correct, with proper qualifications. Apply it to the subject before us, and how gratifying to linger and contemplate his character Peter Massie was the first itinerant minister of the Methodist Church, identified with its fortunes in Kentucky, to die-as he was the first man, converted in the State, who became an itinerant. IHe was among the first-friuits of the revival of 1786* in Kentucky. Soon after his conversion, he was impressed with the conviction that he ought to devote himself entirely to the work of the ministry. Feeling properly the great responsibility of the <"high and holy calling," and his " insufficiency for these things," he endeavored to drown the voice of conscience, and to suppress his impressions on this subject. The result was the loss of his religious enjoymlent-retaining, however, " the form of godliness," and his membership in the Church. AWhile in this backsliclcldden state, "in company with two others, he crossed the Ohio River into the Indian *:In Finley's Sketches of Western AMethodism, p. 66, the Rtev. William Burke, referring to the revivals under the labors of James Haw, says: "Out of this revival was raised up some useful and promising young men, -who entered the traveling connection, and many of them made full proof of their ministry, and lived many years to ornament the Church of God. I will name a few of them: Peter Massie, who was termed the weeping prophet, was among the first-fiuits." IN KENTUCKY. 103 country,,uqn gathered some horses. On their returp, ihe Indians overtook them on the bank of the Ohio, fired on them, and killed all the company, except Massie. Seeing no chance for flight, he sprang into a sink, and concealed himself among the weeds. lIe could see the savages butchering his comrades, whom they cut to pieces and scattered around him."* Surrounded by such imminent danger-his escape uncertain —he turned to the only sure refuge for such an hour. Ile fervently prayed for deliverance, and promised, if his life was spared, he would hesitate no longer in entering the ministry. He faithfully kept his promise. In 1788, he entered the connection, and traveled successively the Lexington, the Danville, the Curnberland, and the Limestone Circuits. The Limestone Circuit-the last to which he was appointedwas the smallest in its territorial limits of any on which he had labored; and yet it spread over a large tract of country. In the various charges he filled, he was eminently useful. As often as he preached, he wept over the people. IIe was styled "the weeping prophet." A writert says: "lie was a feeling, pathetic preacher. The sympathetic tear often trickled down his manly cheek while pointing his audience to the Lanib of God slain for sinners." IIis talents as a preacher were fair; his personal appearance attractive; his voice soft and plaintivea good singer; fascinating in his address, and re* Recollections of the WVest, p. 19. t Rev. Lewis Garrett. 104 M E T II O D I S M markable for his zeal. I-Ie was about thirty years of age. It is to be regretted that one so useful, so devoted, and so universally beloved, should so early be called away. He died in the bounds of the Cunmberland Circuit, on which he had traveled the previous year, and to which he had gone probably on a visit to his friends. On the evening of the 18th of December, 1791, he reached the house of Mr. Hodges, four miles west of Nashville. The family of Mr. Hodges was in the fort, for protection, and Mr. HIodges himself was in his cabin, alone, and quite ill. The only person at the cabin, besides, was a negro boy named Simeon, who had on that evening escaped from the Indians, and reached the house of Mr. Hodges. Simneon had become acquainted with the preacher on the Cumberland Circuit, and had been converted through his instrumentality. Mr. Massie was "an afflicted man." -Iis constitution, always feeble, had become greatly impaired by his excessive labors, and, on reaching the house of his friend, he complained of indisposition. He suffered considerably during the night, but on the next morning was able to take his place at the table. While in conversation with Mr. Hodges, it was observed to him "that he would soon be well enough to travel, if he recovered so fast." To which he replied: "If I am not well enough to travel, I am happy enough to die."* These were his last words. In a few moments he fell from his seat, and suddenly expired. In any country the * Rev. Learner Blaclkman's unpublished manuscript. IN KENTUCKY. 105 death of such a man would be deeply felt; but where the " harvest was so plenteous, and the laborers so few," the loss of so useful a minister would spread a shadow over the Church. But he has passed away-the first of a noble line of self-sacrificing and devoted ministers of Christ-" havingt washed his robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." XTWhen nearly a half century had elapsed, the Tennessee Conference felt a considerable anxiety to find the place of his burial. No stone had been left to mark his grave; or, if so, it had fallen away. A committee was appointed to find the sacred spot; but, after an ineffectual search for years, the hope of success was abandoned. Seven years later, the Rev. Thomas L. Douglass was preaching near Nashville, and in the close of his sermon referred with much feeling to the hope he anticipated of meeting in heaven with Wesley, Asbury, Meicendree, and others who had passed over the flood. In the congregation there sat an aged African, with tears coursing their way down his furrowed cheeks, and the frosts of nearly eighty winters resting upon his brow. IIe too was deeply mnoved, and, thinking' of another whom he hoped to see again, exclaimed in a clear voice: "Yes, and Brother Massie!" and then, continuing his soliloquy, he added: "Yes, Simeon, with these hands, with no one to help, you dug his grave, and laid him away in the cold earth; but you will see him again, for he lives in heaven!" A member of th e Tennessee Conference* sat just * Rev. A. L. P. Green, D1.D. 106 METHODISM in firont of old Simeon, and heard what he said. After the close of the services, he took himl aside, and inquired of him as to what he knew of the death and burial of Peter Massie. His eyes sparkling with the fire of other years, he replied that he was at Mr. HIodges's at the time of the death of Mr. Massie; that Mr. ITodges himself was sick, and unable to assist in his burial, and that the painful pleasure of the interment devolved on him alone; that he had no plank of which to make a coffin; that he cut down an ash-tree and split it in slabs, and placed them in the grave wlich he had dug, and, after depositing the body, placed a slab over it, and then filled the grave with the earth. lie was under the impression that he could find the precise spot where the remains of Massie lay; but he could not. When he buried him, the whole country was a wilderness; but at the time he made the search for his grave, civilization had changed its entire appearance. "His ashes lie, No marble tells us where. With his name No bard embalms nor sanctifies his song." Angels keep their vigils over his grave, and in the final resurrection he shall have a part. We now propose to close this chapter with a brief sketch of Simeon, by whom Peter Massie was buried. He was a native African, and stated to Bishop Paine that he belonged to the nobility of that country. When only a child, he was brought to the United States. HeIc fortunately fell into the IN K ENTUCKY. 107 hands of Mr. Dickinson, an elegant gentleman of Tennessee; and, under the preaching of Peter Massie, in 1790, was awakened and converted to God. HIe soon became impressed.with the conviction that he ought to preach the gospel; and, although uneducated, he entered at once upon the work of the ministry. For more than fifty years he lifted the ensign of the cross among the colored people of Tennessee, and was remarkable for his success in winning' them to Christ. His preaching was " not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in. demonstration of the Spirit and with power," and exerted an influence that was felt far and near. With the people of his own color he enjoyed a popularity that belonged to no other man in the community in which he lived, and over them hie exercised an authority for good. The purity of his life so won upon the affections and confidence of his master, that, in early manhood, he emancipated him, and gave him a small farm near Nashville, which was voluntarily returned by him in his last will and testament. The deep concern that he felt for the African race was not confined to those around him, but his sympathy extended to his countrymen in their native land. In 1823, he called on Bishop McKendree, and presented to him, in forcible language, the Awants and the condition of his people in Africa, and urged the appointment of a missionary to that benighted land. The Bishop became deeply interested in the schemle, andl decided to conmply with his wishes. The Rev. Robert Paine (now Bishop Paine) was 108 ME T H O D I S M then a young preacher, and stationed at Franklin and Lebanon. Mr. Paine offered himself for the work, making only one condition-that Simneon should accompany him. To this Simeon readily consented; but the entire arrangement was defeated by the remonstrance of the Church at those places against the removal of their preacher.* In his personal appearance he was superior to all his race around him. Although a full-blooded African, his face would have commlanded attention anywhere. With a high and well-formed forehead; with penetrating, searching eyes; with a countenance full of the expression of benevolence, and with a mind far above ordinary-he would hlave commanded respect in any community. Added to these, a life unblemished by vice, developing every day the practical duties of Christianity, it is no wonder that he enjoyed the confidence, as well as commanded the respect, of those among whom lie lived. Not only did he minister to the spiritual wants of his own people, but often was lie sent for to kneel and offer prayers to God at the bedside of the sick and the dying among the white people.t In 1847, he passed away. After a long and useful life, he was called from " labor to reward." While dying, a member of the Church was kneeling beside him, who said to him: "Father Simeon, what hope have you beyond the grave?" With his eyes swim* I have these facts from Bishop Paine. t Samuel P. Ament informed me that he had often found him praying with white families in sickness. IN KENTUCKY. 109 ming in death, he raised his right hand, and replied: "Up, up, up!" Ile spoke no more. Thus died this venerable servant of Jesus Christ-respected in life, and lamented in death, by all who knew him. 110 MET 0IIOD ISM CHAPTER V. FROM TIHE CONFERENCE OF 1792 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1793. Kentucky admitted into the Union-Isaac Shelby the first Governor -The imperiled condition of the State-Preparations for its defense-The counties of Lincoln, Fayette, Jefferson, Nelson, Bourbon, Madison, Mhercer, Woodford, AIason, Green, Ilardin, Scott, Logan, Shelby, and Washington-The Conference of 1792Bishop Asbury present-Religious condition of the State-Col. John IHardin —Ile is sent on a mission of peace to the IndiansIs massacred-Col. lHardin a Mlethodist-Isaac HIammer-John Sevell-PRichard Bird- Benjamin Northcutt-John lRay-Anecdotes of John Ray-John Page-Dr. IMcFerrin's testimonyLetters of John Page-Bishops Asbury, Whatcoat, and CokecWilson Lee leaves Kentucky. IKENTUCKY was admitted as a sovereign State into the Union in 1792. On the 4th of June, under the first Constitution, Isaac Shelby, the first Governor, took the oath of office. Mr. Shelby was of Welsh descent, but was born in the State of lMaryland, near IHagerstown, where his ancestors had settled, on their first arrival in America from Wales. In early manhood, he removed to Western Virginia. At twenty-four years of age, he distinguished himself by the conspicuous part that he bore in the memorable and bloody battle fought with the Indians on the 10th of October, 1774, at the mouth IN KENTUCKCY. 111 of the Kanawha, under the command of the famous chief, Cornstalk.* Mingling with the stirring events of the Revolution, and having borne an active part in our struggle for independence, he won for himself a reputation for martial prowess that gave him a place in the confidence and affections of his countrymen more enduring than granite. In 1783, he came to KIentucky, where "he established himself on the first settlement and preemption granted in Kentucky," on lands that he had " marked out and improved for himself," during his first trip to the District, in 1775. Desirous to live in retirement, in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture, and to enjoy the quietude of home, he addressed himself with energy to the ilprovement of his lands. The unsettled condition of the District —the frequency of Indian depredations-the unprotected condition of the frontierthe dangers to which the settlers were continually exposed-all called for efforts too active to allow such a man the enjoyment of rest. He was a member of the Conventions held in Danville in 1787 and 1788, for the purpose of obtaining a separation from the State of Virginia; and also a member of the Convention of April, 1792, which formed the first Constitution of Kentucky. In the succeeding month he was duly elected Governor of the State. Entering upon the discharge of his official duties under the most trying circumstances, he turned his attention at once to the defense of the State against *- The father of Bishop Morris was in the same battle. —1f]orris's MisceZlazy, p. 87. 112 METHODISM Indian incursions, and entered upon defensive operations for the protection of the entire frontier. The safety of the people-their growth and prosperityras well as their religious advancement, and the promotion of Christianity, were intimately associated with the devising of such measures as would be a guarantee for protection. War has never been friendly to the advancement of religious truth, and no wars have probably ever been more demoralizing than those between the early IKentuckians and the Indians. Commenced and waged with shocking cruelties by the savage, retaliations equally severe were not unfiequent. The administration of Gov. Shelby-the signal advantage to the State with which he discharged his duties as the Chief Executive-belong not to our history, but to that of the State. The county of K(entucky, which had been formed in 1776, by the Legislature of Virginia, out of Filncastle county, was divided, in 1780, into three counties-Lincoln, Fayette, and Jefferson. The former was named in honor of Gen. B3enjamin Lincoln, an officer of distinction in the Revolutionary war; Fayette county was so called for Gen. Lafayette, the generous young Frenchman who offered his services to Washington in defense of Amlerican liberty; and Jefferson county was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson. Besides these, six other counties had been formed previous to 1792: in 1781, Nelson, named in honor of Gov. Nlelson, of Virginia; in 1785, Bourbon and Madison counties were formed — the former narmed for the Bourbon family, in IN KE NTUCKY. 113 France, and the latter for James Madison: Mercer county was formed in 1786, and was named in honor of Gen. Hugh Mercer; in 1788, Woodford, and in 1789, Mason counties, were formed-the former named after Gen. William Woodford, and the latter in honor of George Mason, an eminent statesman of Virginia. In 1792, six additional counties were formed, namely, Green, Hardin, Scott, Logan, Shelby, and Washington.* Irhe Conference of 1792 was appointed to be held on Monday, the 1st of May; but from Bishop Asbury's Journal, the time appears to have been anticipated. The Bishop says: 1" KENTUCKY-Tuesdcay, April 3. WVe reached Richland Creek, and were preserved from harm. About two o'clock it began to rain, and continued most of the day. After crossing the Laurel River, which we were compelled to swim, we came to Rockcastle Station, where we found such a set of sinners as made it next to hell itself. Our corn here cost us a dollar per bushel. "Wednesday, April 4. This morning we again swanm the river, and also the West Fork thereof. My little horse was ready to fail in the course of the day. I was steeped in the water up to the waist. About seven o'clock, with hard pushing, we reached the Crab Orchard. Hfow much I have suffered in this journey is only known to God and myself. WhVat added nmuch to its disagreeableness, * Collins's Kentucky. 114 M E rHO D I S is the extremre filthiness of the houses. I was seized with a severe flux, which followed me eight days: for sonle of the time I kept up, but at last found myself under the necessity of taking to my bed. "Tuesday, April 10. I endured as severe pain as, perhaps, I ever felt. I made use of small portions of rhubarb, and also obtained soime good claret, of which I drank a bottle in three days, and was almost well, so that on Sunday following I preached a sermon an hour long. In the course of my affliction I have felt myself very low. I have had serious views of eternity, and was free from, the fear of death. I stopped and lodged, during my illness, with Mr. Willis Green, who showed me all possible attention and kindness. "'I wrote and sent to Mr. Rice, a Presbyterian minister, a commendation of his speech, delivered in a convention in KIentucky, on the natural rights of mankind. I gave him an exhortation to call on the Methodists on his way to Philadelphia, and, if convenient, to preach in our houses. " ntesday, April 11. I wrote an address on behalf of Bethel school. The weather was wet, and stopped us until Friday. "Ftriday, April 20. Rode to Clarke's Station; and on Saturday preached on David's charge to Solomon. "Siundcay, April 22. I preached a long and, perhaps, a terrible sermon, sonme may think, on'Kunowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.' IN KENTUCKY. 115 "Monday, April 23. I rode to Bethel. I found it necessary to change the plan of the house, to make it more comfortable to the scholars in cold weather. I am too much in company, and hear so nmuch about Indians, convention, treaty, killing, and scalping, that my attention is drawn nlore to these things than I could wish. I found it good to get alone in the woods and converse with God.'"Wlednesday, April 25. Was a rainy, damp dclay. However, we rode to meet the Conference, where I was closely employed with the traveling and local preachers —with the leaders and stewards. I met the married men and wonmen apart, and we had great consolation in the Lord. Vast crowds of people attended public worship. The spirit of matrimony is very prevalent here. In one circuit both preachers are settled. The land is good, the country new, and indeed all possible facilities to the comfortable maintenance of a family are offered to an industrious, prudent pair. "Mondcy, April 30. Camne to L.'s. An alarm was spreading of a depredation committed by the Indians, on the east and west frontiers of the settlement. In the former, report says one man was killecl. In the latter, many men, iwith women and children. Every thing is in motion. There having been so many about me at Conference, my rest was much broken. I hoped now to repair it, and get refreshed before I set out to return througoh the wilderness; but the continual arrival of people until midnight, the barlking of dogs, and other annoyances preventedl. Next night we reached the 116 I E T H O D I S IM Crab Orchard, where thirty or forty people were compelled to crowd into one mean house. We could get no more rest here than we did in the wilderness. We came the old way by Scaggs Creek and Rockcastle, supposing it to be safer, as it was a road less frequented, and therefore less liable to be waylaid by the savages. My body, by this time, is well tried. I had a violent fever and pain in the head, such as I had not lately felt. I stretched myself on the cold ground, and borrowing clothes to keep me warm, by the mercy of God I slept four or five hours. Next morning we set off early, and passed beyond Richland Creek. Here we were in danger, if anywhere. I could have slept, but was afraid. Seeing the drowsiness of the company, I walked the encampment, and watched the sentries the whole night. Early next morning we made our way to Robinson's Station. We had the best company I ever met with-thirty-six good travelers, and a few warriors; but we had a pack-horse, some old men, and two tired horses-these were not the best part." The preachers appointed to the work were mostly new men. The zealous and indefatigable Lee and Birchett, with Francis Poythress as the Presiding Elder of the District- men who had contributed so largely to the success that had crowned the labors of Methodism, thus far, in Kentucky-were still continued in this department. The names of John Ray, John Page, Be11nj amin Northcutt, John Sewell, Richard Bird, and Isaac IIammer, appear this IN KENTUCKY. 117 year, for the first time, in the list of the Kentucky Appointments. Allusion has already been made to the difficulties with which the pioneer preachers had to contend in propagatilng the truths of Christianity amongst the first settlers of Kentucky. As yet, there was no abatement in their trials. Very few settlements had been made outside the forts, and there was no diminution of the vigilance or cruelty of the Indians. The nation had just emerged from a long and bloody war, in their struggle for independence. The early settlers in Kentucky had, in the States from whence they came, been active participators in the exciting scenes of the Revolution. We have already said that war is demoralizing; and protracted, as was the Revolutionary war, through several years, there was left upon the minds of the people an irreligious taint, if not the impress of infidelity. Religion had been, to a great extent, neglected. Besides, the perils to which they were exposed, together with the frequent massacres which occurred, kept the mind in such a state of continual excitement as to repel religions truth. It was in December of this year that Col. John Hardin was killed by the Indians. Among the brave and patriotic of the State he had but few peers. Descended fiom one of the best families of Virginia, he had served with marked distinction in the Continental army. Enjoying in the highest degree the esteem and the confidence of Gen. Daniel Morgan, to whose command he was attached, he was frequently selected for enterprises of peril, the success of which depended upon irudenec and 118 METHODISM daring. As early as 1780, he came to KIentucky, but returned to Virginia. In 1786, he, with his wife and family, came again to IKentucky, and settled in Nelson (afterward Washington) county. In the wars against the Indians he had taken an active part. "After his settlement in Kentucky, there was not a single expedition into the Indian country in which he was not engaged, except that of Gen. St. Clair, from which he was prevented by an accidental wound, received while using a carpenter's adze."* In the spring of this year, he was sent by Gen. Wilkerson with overtures of peace to the Indians. The impression rested upon his mlind that he would never return; but, true to the instincts of a brave and noble nature, he accepted the dangerous trust, willing, if need be, to sacrifice his life to his country's good. I-Ie reached an Indian camp, on his way to the Miami villages, attended by an interpreter-about a day's journey from where Fort Defiance was afterward built. lie remained during the nicht with the Indians, who, in the morning, massacred him. The loss of Col. Hardin to the State of Kentucky was deeply felt. No man had contributed more than he to the protection and safety of the settlers. The cause of Christianity, too, lost one of its brightest ornaments. As early as 1787, he embraced religion, and joined the Methodist Church, and, by his zeal, his influence, and his piety, had contributed much to its growth and prosperity. -X Collins's Kentuc]:ky, p. 339. IN KENTUCKY. 119 But in his home the stroke was felt with the greatest severity. For several months hope was entertained of his safety-that he was only a prisoner, and might still return. On the 13th of the following April, Bishop Asbury, on his way to the Conference in KIentucky, visited Col. HIardin's family, and makes the following record in his journal: "From the quarterly mzeeting we came to Col. Hiardin's. I-Ie has been gone some time to treat with the Indians: if he is dead, here is a widow and six children left. I cannot yet give him up for lost." WNith deepest solicitude-with feelings of mimnglked fear and hope-his devoted wife waited for his return. The frosts of autumn came, and the snows of winter followed, and then the sad intelligence of his massacre. How desolate then his honme! IIis impressions were prophetic: he never returned! The cultivation of this field of ministerial labor required not only intellectual endowments of a high character, but also a devotion that no difficulties or trials could impair, and a resolution that no influence could shake. For more than two generations, the names of Ray, and Northcutt, and Page, occupy a place in the columns of the passing history of the Church. The itinerant career of both Isaac Hammer and John Sewell was short. There is no account of the admission of Isaac Iammer into the Conference. HIis name appears in the Minutes of this year (1792) for the first time, as colleague to Henry B1irchett on the Salt River Circuit; after which he unaccountably 120 h E T I O D I )IS disappears from the roll. The failure of his health, in all probability, rendered him unequal to the task of an itinerant preacher, and compelled him to retire from a work that he had not the strength to perform. John Sewell was admitted into the Conference in 1791, and traveled the I-olston Circuit, in Virginia, one year, before entering on his labors in the wilderness of Kentucky. -is appointment for this year was to the Lexington Circuit, with Benjamin Northcutt and John Page as his colleagues. IIis labors, however, in the Conference were brief. In 1793, he traveled the Danville Circuit, and located at the close of the year. Richard Bird entered the traveling connection this year, and was appointed to the Danville Circuit. Wilson Lee, whose memory is so fragrant to the Church, was the preacher in charge. The subsequent year, Mr. Bird traveled on the HIinkstone Circuit; in 1794, the Limestonec; after which he is transferred to Virginia, anld travels successively on the New River, the Bottetourt, and the Greenbrier Circuits; and then his name disappears from the list of appointments. It is but seldom that three such names appear so closely together, in answer to the question in the General Minutes, "Who are admitted on trial?" as those of Northlcutt, Ray, and Page. Each, a giant in his sphere, was well qualified to assist in laying the foundations of the temple of Methodism amid the perils of the West. Benjamin Northcutt was born in North Carolina, IN KENTUCKY. 121 January 16, 1770, and came to Kentucky in 1786. In the twentieth year of his age he was converted to God, and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The year after his conversion he was licensed to preach, and was employed the same year as helper on the Lexington and Danville Circuit. The following year he joined the Conference, and was appointed to the Lexington Circuit, and the next year to the Limestone. lie remained, however, but a short time in the itinerant work. No man, in a local sphere, labored more assiduously than hle, or did more toward the development and growth of the infant Church; and but few in the itinerant ranks have contributed more largely toward the prosperity and elevation of Methodism in KIentucky. The principal societies in Fleming, and many in Mason, Nicholas, and Bath counties, were formed by him; and in the extraordinary revivals of religion which pervaded the State about the close of the last and the commencement of the present century, he was remarkably prominent as an efficient instrument in producing that glorious work of God. Reared amid the privations of frontier life, and conversant with the great revival of 1790, he was well prepared for the toil and the enjoyment connected with those remarkable demonstrations of Divine power —the subject of so much speculation —with which our State was favored at a later period. Side by side, at Cane Ridge, at Indian Creek, at Sugar Ridge, and in other portions of the State, with Ray and others, he labored day and night for the salvation of the people; and in 122 hI ET II O I S I1 later life, so far fiom being weary of the noble wvork, he not only preached on Sabbaths, but often devoted whole weeks together in attending meetings, both near and remlote from his home. On canmp-meeting occasions, he was a powerful preacher. In every department of the ministerial work he was perfectly at home. Vhether in the altar, pointing the penitent to Christ, or standing before the vast multitude, pleading with sinners that they might be saved, he never faltered. In preaching, his voice, at first low, yet soft and musical, would gather cornpass and strength as he proceeded in the discussion of his subject, until he could be distinctly heard by the largest assembly. Ile resided in Fleming county, and in the community in which he lived his influence was more commanding than any other minister. It was not only his extraordinary intellect, but, added to this, the firmness of his Christian character, and the purity of his life, that endeared hinm to the people. One* who knew him well, said of him: "Few men have been permitted to live an age in one community, and go down to the grave with the universal testimony that their lives were of unimpeachable purity. Yet this was the lot of B3enjamin Northcutt." He died at his residence, in Fleming county, February 13, 1854, of cancer. IIis sufferings were great, but he bore them with Christian patience. When spoken to in reference to his future prospects, he always expressed himself with great confiR Lev. Jonathan Stamper, in Home Circle, Vol. III., p. 30. IN KENTUCKY. 123 dence. To his pastor he said that his unwavering confidence in his Redeemer was astonishing, even to himself-that death was no terror to himl; and thus he passed to the rest that awaited him. The name of John Ray appears on the Minutes of this year, for the first time, though the testimony of his family is that he entered the Conference one year earlier.* IHe was born January 21, 1768. We have no information as to the denominational influences, if any, under which he was brought up. WVithout the advantage of early education, and reared on the frontier, he was familiar with the hardships incident to such a life. Indifferent to the subject of religion, he spent his boyhood and youth in the sports of that period, in which he greatly excelled. "'When the Methodists visited his neighborhood, he was one of the first converts, and, forsaking his gay and trifling companions, turned his feet to the house of God."t Soundly converted, and impressed with the conviction that he ought to preach the gospel, he soon offered himself to the Conference, and was cordially received by his brethren. H-Is first and second years were spent on the Limestone Circuit, in KIentucky. In 1793, he was appointed to Green Circuit, in East Tennessee; and the three following years he labored in Virginia; and, from the year 1797 to 1800, inclusive, he traveled extensively in North Carolina, until, worn down by incessant toil and constant exposure and hard*In a letter from his daughter, Mrs. Lavinia Aloss, to the author. t 1ev. Jonathan Stamper, in HIome Circle, Vol. IT., p. 284. 124 l E T h O D ISM Al ship, he was no longer able to perform the duties incumbent on an itinerant minister. Ile then soughilt rest in a local sphere. In the great work to which he had been. called, " his labors were abundant, and through his instrurmentality many were awakened and converted to God." Whether on the banks of the Ohio, in the mountains of East Tennessee, traveling over the rich lands of Virginia, or threading the waters of the Roanoke, in nlorth Carolina, his zeal knew no bounds, save his wasting strength. In 1801, he located, and returned to Kentucky, and settled in Mlontgomery county, three miles east of Mt. Sterling, where his family resided, until 1831; when, in consequence of his antislavery sentiments, he removed to Indiana. In his local relation to the Church, he was not idle. He preached with untiring energy in the great revivals with which IKentucky was blessed at that period. He had regular appointments, and never failed to meet them when able to do so. Ile was preeminently successful in the altar; and wherever he labored, he was instrumental in the salvation of souls. Mr. Ray remained local until 1819, when he was readmitted into the Kentucky Conference, and appointed for two years to the Lexington Circuit; after which he successively traveled the Limestone, }Madison, Danville, and Hlinkstone Circuits. The following two years he sustained a superannuated relation to the Conference, after which he was appointed to the irinkstone Circuit; and then his name appears no more on the effective roll. IN K ENTUCKY. 125 From 1828 until 1836, he was on the list of superannuated preachers, when his name disappears, without any record on the Minutes. The following year, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, he calmly passed away, at his residence in Putnam county, seven miles north of Greencastle, Indiana, where he had lived since 1831, " esteemed and beloved by all who knew him." * During his connection with the ministry —which lasted through nearly half a century-he maintained an irreproachable character, and in his Conference relations was reverenced by the young, esteemed by the aged, and respected by all. Judge Scott, late of Chillicothe, Ohio —himself a pioneer preacher in IKentucky-thus describes him, as he appeared about the year 1795: "The Rev. John Ray was a rather tall, well-proportioned man, with a very pleasant countenance; and, on account of his meek, courteous manners, and chaste, instructive conversation, was held in high estimation by all who knew him. He was a very faithful and useful minister of the gospel, but did not rank as high as some few of our ministers of that day."t Many amusing incidents are related of him, among which we give the following, from the "Autunn Leaves:" " HIIis death was caused by a lingering and painful affection of the bronchia.-lIome Circlc, Vol. II., p. 284. t We are indebted to Rev. W. T. Harvey, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Chillicotho, Ohio, for a copy of the manuscript left by Judge Scott, in reference to early Methodism in Kentuckly. We shall quote from it frequently. 1 Rev. Jonathan Stampre, in Homo Circleo 126 MI E T H 0 D I S il "'On one occasion, an old gentleman of some wealth and influence had been guilty of very unfair conduct in the settlement of certain matters; for which, Rlay, who was immediately concerned, unhesitatingly remarked that the old man was a great rascal. The person so complimented, hearing of it, said that Ray should take that back, or he would thrash him. A short time afterward, Ray was passing along the road where the old gentleman was out with his hands at work. Ie immediately called out: "' Mr. Ray, I want to see you a moment.' "'Very well,' said Ray,' what is your will?' "' I understand that you said I was a rascal.' "'Yes, I did say it, and I said precisely what I th ought.''"Witell, sir, I said I would thrash you the first time I saw you.' "'And did you think that that would make you an honest man, or alter my opinion of you? It would do neither the one nor the other, so that my whipping would go for nothing. I think you would be acting very foolishly. Now, if you want to find out which of us is the stouter man, we can settle that in a more decent way than by having a fight. Let us try it by lifting at that log. If you can raise it higher than I can, I will acknowledge that you are the stouter; but if I lift it higher than you-which I am pretty well persuaded will be the case-then you must acknowledge yourself beaten.',',',ell, Mr. Ray, do n't you acknowledge that IN KENTUCKY. 127 you slandered me in saying I was a rascal? and won't you take it back like a Christian?' "'No; I shall always look upon you as a scoundrel until you repent, and give evidence of the sincerity of your repentance by making restitution.' "The old man flew into a rage again, and repeated vehemently that he would flog him. "I think,' said Ray,'you are a little rash. If you were to attempt such a thing, you could not do it.' "' h Wat! you a minister of the gospel, and threatening to fight!' "'You had better not provoke me. I don't know what I might do; only this, I certainly am not going to let you beat me.' "'Alh! well, Mr. Ray, let us make it up, and have no more quarreling.' "'Agreed,' said Ray.'I will take back wThat I have said when you repent and make restitution; but, until then, I shall hold you as a dishonest man.' "The old man did not get angry again, and Ray rode away, leaving him in a better humor, but still feeling that he was regarded by him as a dishonest man. " Brother Ray was a stranger to fear. I once saw himn tried in circumstances where most men would have quailed. IHe, with several others, had prosecuted a man for kidnapping a family of free negroes. This person had carried off two lads and sold them in West Tennessee. In order to save himself from the State-prison, he was compelled to send and pur 128 MEt T H O D I S Ml chase the negroes at an enormous advance, and surrender themr to the court. IIe was greatly exasperated, and determined to seek revenge on his prosecutors. Not long afterward, Ray and myself, with two other persons, were returning from the city of Lexington, where we had attended a Conference. We had not traveled far before we found ourselves pursued by a party of five men, armed to the teeth, with knives and pistols. They followed us until we reached a certain place, when they rode up, swearing that they would be revenged by shedding Ray's heart's blood. HI-e received them as coolly as if they had been harmless travelers.'If you think,' he said,'to friighten me by this maneuver, you are mistaken. I know well that you are a set of cowards, or you would not come up armed against an unarmed man. It is dastardly. You are young men; I am an old man: why all this parade?' "I and the other brethren present told them that if they touched Ray, it would be at their peril, and urged them to desist for the sake of their own reputation, if for no other reason. We finally succeeded in dissuading them from their purpose, but through it all, the intended object of their vengeance remained perfectly unmoved." A member of the Kentucky Conference,* who knew him well, writes thus: "' The Rev. John Ray, about forty years ago, was a minister of very marked character, of the Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. *Rev. Dr. Ralston, in a letter to the author. IN KENTUCKY. 129 IIe was a man of large stature-tall, well-proportioned, rather portly, erect, noble, and commanding in appearance. HIis features were regular, of a strong, masculine cast. Benignant humor, independent boldness, uncompromising firmness, and biting sarcasm, were strongly written upon his countenance. His step was firm and elastic. He was of graceful and commanding mien. His complexion, though dark, was not swarthy. Iis hairthough doubtless originally a deep-brown —when I first saw him, was a magnificent iron-gray, standing nearly erect upon his forehead, and hanging down, from ear to ear, in bushy curls upon his shoulders, "A man of such personal appearance, we may reasonably suppose, would be a marked and decided character in whatever sphere he might move. And such he was. I have been informed that, in early life, his advantages were few, his education limited, and his training rough and little refined. HIe was a ringleader in all the frolicsome amusements and rough sports of the neighborhood. He could outrun, outjump, outfiddle, outdance, and outbox the most celebrated of his associates. "But when converted, he was equally bold and decided. IIe soon became a minister; and though, to use his own language, he often' drew the bow at a venture,' he seldom failed to'send the arrow to the heart' of sonme of'the King's enemies.' IHIe was certainly no book-worm. He read comparatively but little, except the Bible andcl the standard works of the Church; yet he was a man of great VOL. I.-5 130 MET' II O D IS M quickness of perception, and keen, practical sense. He thought much and closely. His ideas were clear; his reasoning strong and logical; his method simple and natural; his voice strong, melodious, and manly; his emphasis was correct and impressive, and his manner dignified and earnest. Though ignorant of etymology and syntax, his language was generally in accordance with grammar. "With him, shrewdness of mother-wit supplied, to a great extent, what culture had denied. In the pulpit, as well as in the social circle, he abounded in pithy, epigrammatic remark. His illustrations, though always taken from the common affairs of life, and sometimes coarse, were pointed and forcible-always understood and seldom forgotten. "Many amusing incidents, illustrative of his ready wit and repartee, have been told, and are yet in the memory of his friends. He became noted in 7Kentucky, in his day, for his strong opposition to slavery; and was quite rough, and sometimes offensive, in the manner in which he obtruded that subject, especially upon people of the world. He would seldom lodge at the house of a slave-holder, if he could well avoid it. Often, at his appointments, when invited home with a stranger, his prompt interrogatory would be:' HIave you any negroes?' In the Annual Conference, whenever a preacher was proposed for admission, every eye would be turned to Father Ray, expecting him to arise, as was his custom, and say:' Mr. President, has he any negroes?' "Once, in his presence, a young preacher was IN KENTUCKY. 131 rather boasting that he was very popular on his circuit with a certain denomination.' It is a bad sign, young man,' said Father Ray.'That only shows that you are both impudent and ignorant; for those are the passports to popularity in that quarter.' "In his own neighborhood resided a Baptist minister named John S., familiarly called' Raccoon S.,' who also was a man of much wit. These ministers had many a friendly sparring together. One day they met in the road, in the presence of some friends-Ray returning from a camp-meeting, and S. from an Association. "' How do you do, Brother Ray?' said S.'You seem to be returning from camp-meeting; and I suppose you had the devil with you, as usual.' "' No, sir,' replied Ray;' he had not time to leave the Association.' "Ray generally rode a very superior horse. Once, as he was riding through the town of M., a group of young lawyers and doctors, seeing him approach, plotted that they would'stump' him, in some way, when he came up. On his arrival, their chosen spokesman commenced: "' Well, Father Ray, how is it that you are so much better than your Master? tie had to ride on an ass, but you are mounted on a very fine horse. You must be proud. Why do n't you ride as did your Master?' "'For the simple reason,' said Ray,' that there are no asses now to be obtained-they turn them all into lawyers and doctors.' 6" They said no more. 132 MIET IODISM " These amusing incidents, though of little consequence in themselves, serve to illustrate the character of the man. We add but one more: "He Iwas celebrated for his capacity to command order, and tame the ruffians who sometimes infested camp-meetings. On one occasion, he had asked some young men to leave the seats appropriated to the ladies. They did not obey; whereupon he left the stand, and was approaching toward them, when he overheard one of them say to his companion:'If he comes to me, I'll knock him down.' Ray very coolly replied:'You are too light, young man;' and, taking him by the hand, led him quietly to his appropriate seat. IHe misbehaved no more. "Though years have elapsed since the subject of this sketch passed from earth away, numbers are now living who trace their religious impressions to his labors. " He remained in ]Kentucky some years after he had superannuated, but, previous to his death, he had removed to Indiana. "H Iundreds are yet living-not only in Kentucky, but in Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri-who once knew him well, and can call up, with the freshness of yesterday, the swelling melody that rolled from his clear, musical voice, as he would lift it up in his favorite hymn: "'Our souls by love together knit, Cemented, mixed in one!' "But this laborious servant of God now rests from his labors in his Master's kingdom. He and his son Edwin, of precious memory in the Indiana IN KIENTUC KY. 133 Conference, are now doubtless singing together the'song of Moses and the Lamb.'" John Page was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, November 22, 1766. In 1791, he was married to Miss Celia Douglas; and, in 1792, he entered the itinerant field. Of his early life and training we have no record, nor are we informed in reference to the date of his conversion, nor of the instrumentality through which he was brought to Christ. tIe was twentysix years old when his name first appears on the roll of the Conference. Judge Scott, from whom we have already quoted, says: "' The Rev. John Page was a large, splendidlooking man, of an open, manly countenance. HIe possessed a sound, discriminating judgment, and was regarded as an able, useful minister of the gospel, wherever he traveled." From 1792 to 1859, his name is found on the roll of the Conference, with the exception of the period embraced in the years between 1804 and 1825during which time he sustained the relation to the Church of a local preacher. The first four years of his itinerant ministry were spent in Kentucky, on the Lexington, Danville, Salt River, and Limestone Circuits. In 1796, he was appointed to Green Circuit, in East Tennessee; but in 1797, he was returned to Kentucky, and appointed to the TIinkstone Circuit;and, the following year, to the Salt 1Rive r and Shelby. In 1799, he had the distinguished lionor of sueceeding' William Burke on the Cumberland Circuit, 134 METHODISM lying partly in Tennessee and partly in Southern Kentucky. The General Minutes of 1800 place him on the Iolston, Russell, and lNew River Circuits,* elnbracing a large extent of territory in East Tennessee and Western Virginia; but, wre learn from a letter written by himself, as well as one written by Bishop Asbury-both of which are published in the Southwestern Christian Advocate, of March 22, 1844that his removal fionm the Cumberland Circuit met with the dissatisfaction of the people whom he had served with much usefulness and success. Ie had hardly entered upon his new field of labor until Episcopal prerogative called him away.t IHe says: "I was in New River Circuit when the letters of Bishops Asbury and VWhatcoat were handed me, urging me to hasten to Cumberland with all speed. I had just finished my sermon. I took my dinner and started, and reached my destined place as soon as I could. The work —as it had been-was still going' on." *In the South-western Christian Advocate, of March 22, 1844, Mr. Page calls this appointment New River, Iolston, and Clinch. t Rev. Learner Blackman, in his manuscript, says: " In the year 1800, Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat, accompanied by Elder McKendree, in their visit to the Western country, passed through the settlements of Cumberland. The work of the Lord was going on in the most pleasing manner; but they saw that the Methodist cause was most likely to suffer in consequence of the neglect of Methodist Discipline. They immediately transferred John Page from New River Circuit, in Virginia. He had previously been stationed in Cumberland, and was one of the principal instruments, under God, of the great revival, so much talked of over the United States." IN KENTUCKY. 135 The work to which he alludes was that extraordinary display of Divine power, which began in 1799, in the Cumberlanci Circuit, and spread with unparalleled success throughout the settled portions of Northern or Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. If this remarkable revival of religion did not owe its origin to the instrumentality of John Page, it certainly was promoted and extended through his pious labors and exertions. In the section of Kentucky and Tennessee in which he labored, among the many distinguished ministers of his clay, he was always the central figure-the most commanding person. In the altar, in the pulpit, in the social circle-mingling now with the more wealthy and refined, and then in the humble cabins of the poor-he vindicated himself as a useful and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, until his name in all this region became a household word-the synonym of all that is good. No wonder Bishop Asbury said, in his letter to him: "IIad I attended at the last HIolston Conference, you should have returned immediately to Cumberland. I should have had the petition that was sent for your return. Had I known what had taken place, I should have dismissed you when I passed by you. I hope you will now hasten to that charge as soon as possible. The eternal God be your refuge and strength! " Uncommon as it was to continue a preacher any considerable time in the same field of ministerial labor, yet we find that this remarkable man is continued on the Cumberland Circuit during the years 1801 and 1802, and in 1803 we find him in charge 136 METHODISM of the Cumberland District as Presiding Elder. This District-including only four separate charges, namely, Nashville, (formerly Cumberland,) Red River, Barren, and Natchez-was confided to the supervision of John Page; while he had for his assistants in the work such men as Thomas Wilkerson, Jesse Walker, James Gwinn, Jacob Young, and Tobias Gibson. In the discharge of the functions of his office, his long rides, his constant exposure, together with his incessant labors, broke down a constitution that hitherto had refused to yield to the exertions of so many years; and at the close of the first year on the District, he asked for and obtained a location. After this period his name appears no more in connection with the Church in ]Kentucky. In 1825, he was re/dmitted into the Tennessee Conference, and remained a worthy member of that body until his death, which occurred on the 17th day of June, 1859-only eight years of which time he was able to preach regularly, sustaining the most of the time a superannuated relation to the Conference. In the ninety-third year of his age, and the sixty-eighth of his ministry, the "weary wheels of life stood still." We make the following brief extract from the General Minutes: "Just before his death, he declared that he was ready and willing to die, and would soon be done with old earth and all its troubles and afflictionsthen fell into a sweet sleep, to wake up in the land of eternal life." IN KENTUCKY. 137 In contemoplating the character of such a man, how gratifying to the Church that his life was so protracted! Ite had seen the Church in its infancy, when it seemed to be only "a reed shaken by the wind;" he mnarked it as it gradually developed and gathered strength; and he beheld it as his sun was setting-gigantic in its proportions, dispensing its blessings all over the land. When he entered the itinerancy in Kentucky and Tennessee, there were but two Districts, embracing nine Circuits, and only nineteenz traveling preachers, and only twenty-six hundred and seventy-four white, and two hundred and one colored members. At the time of his death there were, in the samne territory, five Annual Conferences, embracing forty-four Districts, and four hundred and eighty-six Stations, Circuits, and Missions, six hundred and eighty-nine traveling, and sixteen hundred and seventy-six local preachers, and a membership of one hundred andcfifty-five thousand five hundred and ejghty-four white, and thirty thousand seven hundred and ninety-six colored! If, in the morning of his life and the strength of his manhood, it was to him a source of pleasure to devote his energies to the Church, how great must have been the satisfaction he derived, as, in its evening, he contemplated the success and the triumph Christianity had achieved! The following letters-published in the Southwestern Christian Advocate, of March 22, 1844, and entitled "' Early Methodism in the South-west," with which we close this sketch-will be read with interest, and show the estimation in which Mr. Page 138 E T H O D ISM was held by the chief pastors of the Church. They are thus introduced by the editor of that paper, the Rev. John B3. McFerrin: "There are yet among us a few of the fathers, who were the associates of Bishop Asbury, and who were among the pioneers of Methodism in the South-west. AWe venerate these men, and shall ever cherish them tenderly. When we remember that long before we were born, and when this vast country was a wilderness, with only here and there a thinly populated settlement, exposed to the barbarity of savage tribes, these men, constrained by the love of Christ, risked all to preach to the poor the gospel of the grace of God, we should be justly chargeable with ingratitude, were we not to highly esteem them for their work's sake. "' We number in this class the Rev. John Page, who still holds a place in the Tennessee Annual Conference, and usually visits our body at our annual meetings, and who is always hailed with pleasure by the younger members.'Father Page,' as he is familiarly called, is one of those sweet-spirited servants of God, whom the wear and tear of years has not wrecked. He still loves God and loves the Church, and is a beautiful sample of a simple, plain, old-fashioned Methodist preacher. "'In his palmy days he could perform as much labor and endure as much suffering as any of his colleagues, and was in the midst of the glorious revival which swept over this country about half a century ago. I-Ie has favored us with two letters IN KENTUCKY. 139 which have never been published-one from Bishop Asbury, the other from Dr. Coke. These are accompanied with a short note from Father Page, which we take the liberty to lay before our readers. Father Page's letter, though dated December 3, 1843, was retained by hinm until a few days past. This was owing to our absence during the winter." " DEAR BROTHER MCFERRIN:-I send you, with these lines, the Bishops' letters, to read and examino. Do with them what you may think best, only take care of themo. Publish all or any part, as you may think proper. It may be necessary for me to state why I was sent to Cumberland in 1799. Brother T/Villiam Burke preceded, and had a controversy with James IIaw, an O'Iellyite, who expected to get the whole circuit to join him; but he failed in his attempt, and did not so much as influence his wife to join him. When Burke left, he promised to send me, (as the mIembers of the circuit told me when I came.) XWhen I did come, I found no opposition, and that year all was quiet, and God blessed us with a good revival; and the last part of the year I was invited into two of their meetinghouses, they having no pastor at Shiloh. I left in:March for HIolston Conference, and from thence to Baltimore. The Bishop then appointed me to New River, Holston, and Clinch. I was in New River Circuit when the letter of Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat was handed to me, urging me to hasten to Cumberland with all speed. I had just finished mny sermon. I took dinner audc started, and reached 140 BIE T H O D I S Ml my destined place as soon as I could. The workas it had been-was still going on. Armrinius* has greatly misrepresented the work in Cumberland. I-e states that the revival first began at Gasper, or Muddy River, among Presbyterians. This is not so. It might have begun there among the Presbyterians, but not among us: we had a good work in Nashville Circuit the year before. John and William Carr are men acquainted with the whole revival scenes of that day. Alexander Rasco, one of our local preachers, got religion in 1799. I have troubled you with my scribbling. Bear with and believe me to be your friend and brother in Christ Jesus, JOHN PAGE. "Smith county, Tennessee, December 3, 1843." "The date of Bishop Asbury's letter is torn off; but we gather from it and Father Page's note, that it was written at Van Pelt's,:, 1799.-Ed. Adv." LETTER OF BISIIOP ASBURY, "MY DEAR PAGE:-I have only time to write a few lines. * * * * I-ad I attended at the last Holston Conference, you should have returned immediately to Cumberland. I should have had the petition that was sent for your return. Had I known what had taken place, I would have dismissed you when I passed by you. I hope you will now hasten to that charge as soon as possible: the eternal God be your refuge and strength. To save *Arminius is a writer who'gave, some years since, sketches of early Methodism in the West.-Ed. Adv. IN KENTUCKY. 141 time, I hope Brother Watson will take your place, and Brother Hunter, Brother Watson's. Green must be left. If I can send help from South Carolina, I will. When you come to Cumberland, you will see if Brother Young or Grenade will be best spared to come to Green. We borrowed two jackets of yours, we will leave at Van Pelt's. I purpose riding half the year, upon horseback, upon the frontiers of the work. We shall always attend the Western Conferences, while able. "I am, with great affection, thine, F; FRANCIS ASBURY," POSTSCRIPT BY BISHOP WHATCOAT. "MY DEAR: —-Iitherto the Lord hath helped us. Glory to his great name! We cannot do too much for so gracious a benefactor. I hope you think no labor too great nor cross too heavy to bear for him that bought you with blood. The Lord hath given the alarm —the set time to visit Zion has now come. VWhat thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. May Israel's God be thy strength and thy salvation! " With due respect, thy brother in Christ,'IR. WHATCOAT." LETTER OF DR. COKE. "MY VERY DEAR BROTHER: —The great revival on the Continent rejoices me exceedingly-yea, more, I can truly say, than a revival in any other country in the world. I have read to thousands, and shall read, God willing, to tens of thousands, 142 MET 11 TI D I SM the accounts I have already received of the progress of the work in Maryland, Delaware, and Tennessee. I am glad to find that my old venerable colleagues are able, by traveling separately, to preside at all the Annual Conferences. I frequently travel with them in spirit, and never forget them and my other American brethren any night whatever, while I am bowing my knees before the throne. I am yours to command; and consider my solemn offer of myself to you at the General Conference before last, to be as binding on me now as when first made; and nothing shall keep me from a final residence with you, when I, God willing, meet you at your next General Conference, but such an interference of Divine Providence as does not at present exist, and such as shall convince the General Conference that I ought to tear myself from you. Nothing less, I do assure you, shall prevail with me to leave you. "The work of God still goes on in a very blessed manner in Ireland. I lately returned from taking a tour of that country. There is nothing at present very remarkable in the work in Britain; but I am in hopes that I shall stir up my British brethren to jealousy, by first reading to them, and then printing, the delightful and animating accounts I have received from several of my American brethren. I am glad that Brother Cooper has published the Irish account. I intend soon to draw up and print another account of the farther progress of the work in Ireland. "I bless the Lord, I am happy, constantly happy IN KENTUCKY. 143 in God; and I feel myself more than ever drawn toward my American brethren by the cords of love. Let me hear from you by some merchant-ship, directing to me at the lNew Chapel, City Road, London-whence all letters are safely sent to me, if I be not there. "I am glad to find, by Brother Asbury, that you universally press upon your believing hearers the necessity of sanctification and entire devotedness to God; and that you guard them from seeking this, as it were, by the deeds of the law; and that you urge them to believe now on a present Saviour for a present salvation. Point out also in every sermon the absolute necessity of the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins-the witness of the Spirit-the bright evidence of our interest in the Saviour's blood. Lukewarm endeavors are not sufficient now to pull down the fortresses of infidelity. They must be attacked by all the power of God; and, as humble instruments, we must get at the hearts of our hearers. Blessed be the Lord, the wretched formalists are disappearing like the dew of the morning; and we can fight infidelity without a screen betwixt. Let us, then, dear brethren, aim at being cities set upon a hill-at being the lights of the world-at being the salt of the earth; and, poor earthen vessels as we are-weak things, and things that are not-victory itself shall be enlisted on our side, because Almighty God will be on our side. 0 what a ravishing view the IJord sometimes favors me with of your immense continent, filled with inhabitants, and filled with sons of 144 METHODI) ISM God! The word of promise is on our side, ratified by the blood of the Lamb. It therefore must be so, for God hath spoken it. "Pray for your faithful friend and brother, " T. COIKE. "Liverpool, March 3, 1802. "Do write to me once, before I see you, if you possibly can. I enjoy excellent health —the blessing of God; and I do assure you, my brother, I have no other intention but to pass the remainder of my poor life with you, from the next General Conference, God willing. T. C." This year closed the labors of Wilson Lee in Kentucky. He had entered the District in 1787, and for six years he had been untiring in his energy in preaching the gospel of the Redeemer. But now, with wasted health and constitution broken, unable longer to remain and labor for the cause he loved so well, he naturally turns his thoughts to the older settlements, cherishing the hope of a return of health. Many hearts were touched at his departure. He had wept and prayed, and labored and suffered, with the infant Church, and had seen the fruit of his toil. Of him one of his cotemporaries* thus speaks: "Wilson Lee was one of the most successful preachers among those early adventurers. He xwas a man of fine talents, meek and humble, of a sweet disposition, and not only a Christian and Christian *Rev. William Burke, in Western Methodism, pp. 68, 69. IN KENTUCKY. 1T45 minister, but much of a gentleman. During his stay in IKentucky-from 1787 to 1792 —he traveled over all the settlements of Kentucky and Cumberland, much admired and beloved by saint and sinner. In the spring of 1792, in company with B1ishop Asbury, he crossed the wilderness from Kentucky to Virginia, where I met him at Conference on Holston; and from thence to the eastward, and attended the first General Conference at Baltimore, November 1, 1792; and remained in the bounds of the New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore Conferences, till he departed this life, in 1804, at Walter Worthington's, Anne Arundel county, Maryland. The last time I had the pleasure of seeing him was in Georgetown, District of Columbia, on my way to the General Conference of May 1, 1804. He was then in a very feeble condition. His affliction was hemorrhage of the lungs, of which he died. During the time he traveled in [Kentucky he passed through many sufferings and privations, in weariness and want, in hunger and nakedness, traveling from fort to fort, sometimes with a guard and sometimes alone-often exposing his life." The causes, to which a reference has already been made, as having a tendency to retard the growth of the infant Church, were in no degree lessened: in addition to which, the minds of the people were occupied to a great extent by the questions that would necessarily grow out of the organization of the Government of the State. Notwithstanding much had been done since the 146 METHOD ISM first arrival of Messrs. Haw and Ogden, in 1786, yet we have to lament a smaller increase this year than any that had preceded it. Only ninety members more are reported than the previous year. IN KENTUCKY. 147 CHAPTER VI. FROM TIIE CONFERENCE OF 1793 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1794. Conference held this year in Kentucky at Masterson's Station — Dangers encountered by Bishop Asbury to reach Kentucky -His immense labors —Jacob Lurton-James Ward- William BurkeJohn Ball-Gabriel Woodfieldc-Death of Henry Birchett. THE Conference for the West, for the year 1793, was held in Kentucky, at Masterson's Station —the same place at which it convened three years previous. The session commenced on Tuesday, the 30th of April, and embraced the first and second days of May.* To reach the seat of the Conference, Bishop Asbury again encountered the dangers of the wilderness. His route from Tennessee to Kentucky led:him by " Doe River, at the fork, and through' the Gap,' presenting a most gloomy scene, not unlike the Shades of Death in the Alleghany Mountains." On his way he held "a Conference at Nelson's, near Jonesboro," where they had "sweet peace." Anticipating trouble from the Indians, he expresses trust in God, and feels sure that, "if God *The Rev. William Burke says: " On the 15th of April, 1793, the Conference met at Masterson's Station." (Western Methodism, p. 36.) We, however, prefer to follow Asbury's Journal, Vol. II., p. 194. 148 hI ET OD IS suffer Satan to drive the Indians " on his company, "he will teach their hands to war, and their fingers to fight and conquer." The session of the Conference was a delightful one. The deliberations were marked with candor" openly speaking their minds to each other "-and it closed "'under the melting, praying, praising power of God." There was but little business transacted of which we have any record. The only entry made is, that " trustees were appointed for the school, and sundry regulations made relative thereto." They also "read the Form of Discipline through, section by section, in Conference." The day after Conference he preached from Habakkuk iii. 2, and some of the "people were moved in an extraordinary manner;" and the next day he arrives c" at Bethel, and holds a meeting with the newly elected trustees." Bishop Asbury deeply laments the decay of moral power, and makes a touching allusion to "the want of religion in most houses." During his brief stay in Kentucky-entering the State on the 10th of April, and leaving it on the 10th of May-he attended two quarterly meetings; one of which was held at Humphries's Chapel, and the other at Clark's Station. Almost every day he preached to listening hundreds, urging the Church to awake from its lethargy, and sinners to turn to God. He traverses nearly the entire of Central and South-eastern Kentucky-exposing himself to danger, preaching the gospel, and administering IN KENTUCKY. 149 the sacraments-until, utterly exhausted by his immense labors, he says: "I cannot stand quarterly meetings every day: none need desire to be an American Bishop on our plan, for the ease, honor, or interest that attends the office." But amid all this exertion and labor, worn out with traveling and preaching, he exclaims: "Yet, blessed be God, I live continually in his presence, and Christ is all in all to my soul!" DUring his stay in Kentucky, he had the pleasure of visiting the Rev. Francis Clark, the pioneer preacher of the Methodist Church, who, in a local relation, had formed the first class, previous to the arrival of Messrs. HIaw and Ogden in the District. Jacob Lurton, James Ward, William Burke, John Ball, and Gabriel Woodfield this year receive appointments in Kentucky. Messrs. Lurton, Ward, Burke, and Ball were present at the Conference. There were five circuits in the State, andc the Appointments were: Francis Poythress, Presiding Elder. Salt RiverJacob Lurton, James'Ward; Danville —villiam Burke, John Page, John Sewell; Lexington-John Ball, Gabriel Woodfield; Hinkstone-Richard Bird; Limestone —Benjamin Northcutt. Jacob Lurton had entered the connection in 1786, and traveled that year on the UWest Jersey Circuit. In 1787, he labored on the Berkeley Circuit, in the State of Virginia; the follow;ing year he was appointed to the Redstone Circuit, in Pennsylvania. In 1789, he returns to Virginia, and travels the 150 Al E T I-H D I SM Clarksburg Circuit; the subsequent year the Kanawha. I-Ie spends the years 1791 and 1792 in Maryland, on the Baltimore and IHarford Circuits; and in 1793, he was transferred to Kentucky, and appointed to the Salt River Circuit —the most difficult to travel and the most laborious of any in the State. In the various appointments on which Mr. Lurton had labored and suffered, he had been the instrumenit of good. Whether in West Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, or in the wilderness of the West, he was zealous in the promotion of the kingdom of the Redeemer. IIis last year in the itinerant ministry was 1794. Htis circuit was the Cumberland, but the latter six mnonths of the year were spent on the Salt River Circuit. On both of these circuits he was useful and beloved. In the Cumberland Circuit, under his labors, there was an interesting revival of religion, which extended into Kentucky. IHIe carried the tidings of salvation into Logan county-at that time remarkable for its vice-and was the first to proclaim the story of the cross to the people there. In the humble cabin of Mr. Cartwright-the father of the Rev. Peter Cartwright-in that county, he " preached with great power," while the "congregation were melted to tears." Soon, however, his health failed him, and in the retirement of a local sphere he spent the remainder of his days. HIe married a Miss Tooley, on Beargrass Creek, in Jefferson county, and for many years resided on Floyd's Fork of Salt River-where, still faithful to IN KENTUCKY. 151 the dispensation of the gospel committed to him, he continued to preach, as his health would permit. He is said to have been " an original genius," as well as " a useful preacher." He at length removed to the State of Illinois, and settled near Alton, where he died in great peace. James Ward, who this year was the colleague of Mr. Lurton, was admitted on trial in 1792, in the Baltimore Conference, and appointed to the I-Iolston Circuit-at that time on the Western frontier. With the exception of 1793, when his appointment was to the Salt River Circuit, in Kentucky, he spent the first fifteen years of his itinerant life in connection with the Baltimore Conference-preaching chiefly, during this period, in the rugged settlements of Western Virginia. The four years previous to his transfer to Kentucky-which occurred in 1807-he presided over the Greenbrier District, where his labors were greatly blessed. During the entire period of his early ministry, he was one of the most useful, as well as one of the most laborious, of the pioneer preachers. Persons who knew hitn in the evening of his life, could scarcely form any adequate idea of his pulpit abilities when in the flower of manhood. HIe was born and brought up in Princess Anne county, Maryland. In early childhood he was left an orphan. His mother inclined to the Church of England, and endeavored to train him in obedience to the stiff forms of that Communion. He, however, was brought in contact with the Methodist preachers, and through their instrumentality, in the 152 IET II OD IS M seventeenth year of his age, was awakened, converted, and brought into the Methodist Episcopal Church. I-Is mother was strenuously opposed to the step he had taken, but the opposition was soon overcome by his zeal for religion and the sanctity of his life. Impressed with the conviction that he ought to devote himself to the work of the ministry, difficulties of an embarrassing character seemed to hedge up his way. The care of the family had been left to him as a sacred legacy by his father, previous to his death; his mother strenuously opposed his entering the itinerancy; and the interest and the cares of home demanded his attention. Amid these obstacles he earnestly sought the path of duty. " The love of Christ constrained him." The victory was gained; and, not disregarding his filial obligations, but making anmple provision for his mother and the remainder of the family, he entered upon the "hazardous enterprise of Methodist itinerancy." In 1789, he was licensed to preach; shortly after which "he was called out by the Rev. Richard Whatcoat, then Presiding Elder, to fill a vacancy on Dover Circuit, Delaware."t It was not, however, until 1792, that his name appears on the Conference roll. From the very hour of his entrance into the Conference until his death-covering a period of * Letter from his son, the Rev. Joseph G. Ward, of the Little Rock Conference. tGeneral Minutes M. E. Church, Vol. VI., p. 13. IN KENTUCKY. 153 sixty-three years —his devotion to the Church was characterized by untiring zeal; while, in the various charges he filled, the most extraordinary revivals of religion were, under God, the result of his labors. During the early years of his ministry, while connected with the Baltimore Conference, "he labored chiefly in the valley and mountain sections of Virginia. Many pleasing reminiscences of his great success in winning souls to Christ still remain among the inhabitants of those regions. The men and women who were young two generations ago speak with raptures of his untiring zeal, his almost exhaustless energy, his overwhelming ministrations. They ranked him among the ablest and most successful men of his times." * In 1807, he was regularly transferred to the Western Conference, and stationed on the Lexington Circuit, while his family resided on a farm in Jefferson county, which he had purchased. At the General Conference of 1808, the Rev. William McXendree, the Presiding Elder on the Cumberland District, was elected to the Episcopal office. On the District Mr. Ward was his successor. At this time the Cumberland District comprised twelve separate pastoral charges, embracing within its territorial limits the whole of Southern Kentucky, a portion of Middle Tennessee, the territories of Illinois and Missouri, and the inhabited settlements of Indiana. To accomplish his work, *-General Minutos M'. E. Church, Vol, VI., p. 13. 154 ML T II O D ISM "he had, in some places, to carry his provisions with him, and lie out in the woods or prairies at night." * I-Ie remained on this District but one year, during which he astonished the people by his zeal; while great displays of Divine power were, everywhere within its bounds, seen and felt under his ministrations. In the years 1809 and 1810, we filld him on the Kentucky District, the successor of the illustrious William Burke. This District-embracing the country around Maysville and Flemingsburg — extended into the central portion of the State, including the settlements along the Licking River; the blue-grass lands of Fayette and Mercer counties-embracing Frankfort, Shelbyville, and Louisville, and throwing its lengthening lines across Green River, and to the banks of the Cumberlandwas the field to be occupied by James WVard. During the two years of his supervision of the Kentucky District, the same success that had everywhere previously crowned his labors was still to be seen. The following year he was appointed to the Shelby Circuit; and then for two years he presided over the Salt River District; when, with impaired health, and a growing family to support and to educate, he asked for and obtained a location; in which relation he continued until 1828. In this sphere, however, he had no ease. His zeal for the cause of Christ found no abatement whatever. "WVorkingc diligently with his hands, *-Letter froin the Rev. J. G. Ward. IN KENTUCKY. 155 he embraced every opportunity of preaching. I-e spent no idle Sabbaths when it was possible fobr him to get to church. He kept up regular appointments, and was always willing to assist the traveling preachers at camnp-meetings and two-days' meetings, and spent muchl of his time from home." * Wherever he attended meetings, he bore an active part in the exercises-w-hether in the pulpit, making his appeals to sinners, or in the altar, impressing upon the penitent the "exceeding great and precious promises" of the word of God. In 1828, he was retidmitted into the Kentucky Conference; but, after traveling three years, he became superannuated, which relation he sustained until 1833; and from that period until 1840, he traveled circuits, yet was unable to do more than meet his regular appointments, from which be was seldom absent. In 1840, his name disappears from the effective list, to be placed on it no more. From that time until his death he sustained a superannuated relation. In the controversy which arose between the two divisions of the Methodist Church, in the General Conference of 1844, he took his position with the Northern branch; and in 1848, he asked admittance into the B3altimore Conference, and "the Conference, without controversy, by a unanimous vote, directed that his name should be recorded upon the list of superannuated members." * Letter from the Revw J. G. Ward. 156 METHODISM "On the 13th of April, 1855, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, and the sixty-third of his itinerant ministry, he departed this life, near Floyclsburg, Kentucky. Iis death seemns to have been less the result of any particular disease than the gradual wearing away of life's weary wheels. The heavenly inheritance was bright before him to the last moment. His sun went dcown without a cloud. HIis spirit, without a struggle, returned to his God." * As a preacher, Mr. Ward was not what the world would call eloquent. There was nothing rhetorical in his gestures, nor did he appeal to the sympathetic passions of the people. His preaching was scriptural; and this, with the fact that he was a man of prayer, always trusting in God, was the basis of his great success. lie was a member of the General Conferences of 1804 and 1808. IHe was also elected to the General Conference of 1812, but through modesty declined.t This year introduces the name of William Burke into the history of Methodism in Kentucky. Anlong the early Methodist preachers of the West, William Burke stood preeminently high. With the fortunes of the struggling cause he became identified the previous year, when he joined the Conference, and was appointed to Green Circuit, in East Tennessee. In 1793, in charge of the Danville Circuit, with Page and Sewell for his colleagues, he entered the ranks in Kentucky, and from that period until 1812 he spent the most of his time in this extensive General Minutes Ml, i. (.hurch, Vol. VI., pp. 13, 14. t Judge Scott. IN KENTUCKY. 1657 field. Occasionally the demands of the Church elsewhere require his services, and he is found proclaiming a Redeemer's love on Guilford Circuit, North Carolina, and on Iolstonl, in the State of Virginia. Two years of this time he traveled the Cumberland Circuit, lying chiefly in Middle Tennessee. In 1804 and 1805, his field of labor is the Ohio District, embracing the extensive territory along the waters of the Muskingum, the Little Kanawha, IHockhocking, Scioto, Miami, and Guyandotte Rivers. The remainder of the time, embracing thirteen years, he devoted his energy and strength to Kentucky. Prompted by motives of the sublimest character-the love of Christ and the salvation of the people-he enters upon his work with the certainty of success. The declension in piety, to which allusion has already been made, had reached the Danville Circuit. Mr. Burke says: "VWe received our appointments at the close of the Conference, and separated in love and harmony. I was this year appointed to Danville Circuit, in charge, and John Page as helper. We entered upon our work with a determination to use our best endeavors to promote the Redeemer's kingdom. The circuit was in but a poor condition. Discipline had been very much neglected, and numbers had their names on the class-papers who had not met their class for months. WVe applied ourselves to the discharge of our duty, and enforced the Discipline, and, during the course of the surmmer, disposed of upward of one hundred. We had some few additions, 158 METHODISM but, under God, laid the foundation for a glorious revival the next and following years. The bounds and extent of this circuit were large, including the counties of Mercer, Lincoln, Garrard, and Madison. The west part of the circuit included the headwaters of Salt River, and Chaplin on the north; bounded by Kentucky River south and east, and extended as far as the settlements-taking four weeks to perform the round. There were three log meeting-houses in the circuit: one in Madison county, called Proctor's Chapel; one in the forks of Dix River, Garrett's Meeting-house; and one on Shoenea Run, called Shoney Run.!Not far from I-Harrod's Station, in Mercer county, during the course of this year, a new meeting-house was erected in Garrard county, considered the best meeting-house in the country, and they named it Burke's Chapel. I remained on Danville Circuit till the first of April, 1794, and on the 15th our Conference commenced at Lewis's Chapel, in Jessanine county, in the bounds of Lexington." * Such is his own account of his labors for this year. In 1794, his appointment is to the Hinkstone Circuit, then including Clark, Bourbon, and Montgomery counties; t and in 1795, he has charge of the Cumberland, embracing Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. We have already noticed the influence he exerted in the Cumberland Circuit, in arresting the tide of opposition to the Methodist * Western Methodism, p. 37. I-He remained on Hinkstone only until the first quarterly meeting, when he was removed to the Salt River Circuit. IN KENTUCKY. 159 Episcopal Church, when almost the entire community had been enticed from its teachings by the leading advocate of the views of Mr. O'iKelly. The declaration of the Rev. Learner Blackman, that " an almost expiring cause was saved "-in his reference to the controversy between William Burke and James IIaw-is a worthy tribute to the talents and devotion to the Church of the former. From this period the Methodist Church, embraced in what was then the Cumberland Circuit, took a more elevated position; and from that date to the present time, its influence within the same territory has been more commanding than that of any other denomination of Christians. The following account of the debate with Mr. HIaw is from William Burke himself: "' On inquiry, I found that James Ilaw, who was one of the first preachers that came to Kentucky, had located and settled in Cumberland, and embraced the views of O'Kelly, and by his influence and address had brought over the traveling and every local preacher but one in the country to his views, and considerable dissatisfaction had obtained in many of the societies. Under these circumstances I was greatly perplexed to know what course to take-a stranger to everybody in the country, a young preacher, and isaw an old and experienced preacher, well known, a popular man, and looked up to as one of the fathers of the Church, and one who had sufferedl much in planting Methodism in lKentucky and Cumberland. After much reflection and prayer to God for direction, I 160 MI E T II O D I S Ai finally settled upon the following plan, namely, to take the Discipline and examine it thoroughly, selecting all that was objected to by O'IKelly, and those who adhered to him, and then undertake an explanation and defense of the same. I accordingly met Brother Speer at Nashville, and after preaching, requested the society to remain, and commenced mly work. When I concluded my defense, I took the vote of the society, andcl they unanimously sustained the positions I had taken. Brother Speer also asked the privilege of making a few remarks. HIe stated to the society that he would consider the Church as a house that he lived in; and notwithstanding the door was not exactly in the place he should like it, or the chimney in the end that best pleased him, yet he could not throw away or pull down his house on that account; and therefore he concluded that he would not throw away the Church, although some things, he thought, could be improved in the Discipline. In consequence of this victory on my first attempt, I took courage, and proceeded with my work in every society; and, to my utter astonishment, I succeeded in every place, and saved every society but one small class on Red River, where a local preacher lived by the name of Jonathan Stevenson, who had traveled the circuit two years before, and located in that neighborhood. FIaw and Stevenson appointed a meeting on Red River, and invited the Methodists all over the circuit to attend the meeting, for the purpose of organizing the new Church. The result was, that only ten or twelve members offered themselves, and IN KENTUCKY. 161 the most of them had formerly belonged to the Baptist Church. Having failed in every attempt to break up the societies, the next step was to call me to a public debate. I accepted his challenge, and the day was appointed to meet at Station Gap, one of the most popular neighborhoods, and convenient to a number of large societies. Notwithstanding I accepted the challenge, I trembled for the cause. I was young in the ministry, and inexperienced in that kind of debate. HIe was an old minister, of long experience, and of high standing in the community. I summoned up all my courage, and, like young David with his sling, I went forth to meet the Goliath. The day arrived, and a great concourse of people attended. The preliminaries were settled, and I had the opening of the debate. The Lord stood by me. I had uncommon liberty, and before I had concluded, many voices were heard in the congregation, saying,'Give us the old way!' Mr. Haw arose to make his reply very much agitated, and exhibited a very bad temper, being very much confused. He made some statement that called from me a denial, and the people rose up to sustain me, which was no sooner done than he was so confused that he picked up his saddle-bags and walked off, and made no reply. This left me in possession of the whole field, and from that hour he lost his influence among the Methodists, and his usefulness as a preacher. In this situation he remained until 1801; and when the great revival began in Tennessee among the Presbyterians and Methodists, he connected himself with the former, VOL. 1-6 162 MET HODIS S and ended his days among them as a preacher." In 1796, he was appointed to Guilford, North Carolina; the following year, to Holston, in Virginia. In 1798, he returned to the Cumberland; and from that period until 1812, his labors were confined to Kentucky, with the exception of the years 1804 and 1805, which he spent on the Ohio District. In the great revival in the interior of Kentucky, in 1801, known as the Cane Ridge revival, he was the leading spirit. During the period of his ministry in Kentucky, revivals of religion followed his labors everywhere; and in those sections of the State favored with his ministrations, either as the Presiding Elder of a District, or in the relation of a pastor, Methodism assunmed a more permanent and enduring form than it had done before. Ile was not only an earnest preacher of the gospel, but an able defender of the truth. In the religious controversies that disturbed the quietude of the Church throughout the State, Mr. Burke bore an active part. Calvinism, deformed as it always appears, was truly hideous under his mighty touch. In his controversy with the advocates of exclusive immersion, he always put them to silence and to shame. Challenged, on one occasion, to a debate with a Baptist minister, on the subjects and mode of baptism, near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, after "occupying about four hours on the subjects and mode of baptism, he turned to the Baptist preachers, who sat behind him in the stand, and *Westorn Meothodiim, pp. 46, 4:7, 48. IN KENTUCKY. 163 told them if they had any thing to say, he would be glad to hear it. They consulted together, and then replied that they had nothing to say."* If the peculiarities and economy of Methodism were assailed, he was, on all occasions, equal to their defense. " He had become so notorious for his skill and success in controversy, as to be feared by all belligerent parties."t To preach the gospel to the people of Kentucky, no man was better prepared than he. The privations of frontier life could not discourage him. Bold and fearless, he was twice the leader of the company by whom Bishop Asbury was guarded into Kentucky. "He was" also "the first Secretary of all Annual Conference in America;". and was a member of the General Conferences of 1804 and 1808. We will here, however, take leave of Mr. Burke for the present; but we shall frequently meet with him in the prosecution of our work. John Ball, who also came to Ktentucky this year, had entered the lists as an evangelist in 1790, although his name is not among the Appointments for that year-an error in the Minutes. In 1791, he traveled the Russell Circuit, in Virginia; and in 1792, the Cumberland, in Tennessee. In Kentucky, we find him, in 1793, on the Lexington Circuit, where he only remains for one year, when he is reippointed to the Cumberland in 1794; at the close of which year he located. Of his success on the Lexington Circuit we have no information. *Rev. Jonathan Stamper, in Home Circle, Vol. II., p. 282. t Ibid. $ Western Meothodism, p. 20. 164 MI ETHOD IS MI THe is represented by one who knew him,* as a "son of thunder. I-e smote with his hands and stamped with his feet. HIIe warned the people faithfully to flee from the wrath to come." "He was about nledium height, rather slender, but compactly built. HIe was firm, independent, and opinionated. He was regarded as a pious, useful minister, of the medium grade, and was well received wherever he traveled. He was a bold, intrepid man, who never turned his back on an enemy; and, if my information be correct, he and the Rev. William Burke were two of the guards, who, in 1793, nmet Bishop Asbury some distance east of thle Cumberland'Mountains, and conducted him to the Kentucky Contference and back again."t The name of Gabriel WVoodfield appears only for the present year on the roll of the Conference. Among the names of those "admitted on trial," that of Woodfield is omitted, and we only find him mentioned as one of the preachers on the Lexington Circuit. As a local preacher, he came to Kentucky from Pennsylvania at an early day. He was "of the first order of local preachers," and in that capacity " labored with success." Anxious to extend the sphere of his usefulness, he offered himself to the Conference; but, from some cause, only spent one year in the itinerant work. We afterward find him, in 1802, as a local preacher, faithfully dispensing the word of life-in his pulpit [John Carr, in Christian Advocate, February 5, 1857. t Judge Scott.::Western AMethodism, p. 63. IN K ENTUC KY. 165 labors " rising above all his clouds," and " preaching excellent sermons."* IHe removed from Fayette county, where he had settled on his arrival in IKentucky, to Henry county. Previous to his death, "he removed to Indiana, in the neighborhood of Madison." There he resided to a good old age; when, like a ripe sheaf ready for the garner, in the full enjoyment of the Christian's hope, he sweetly fell asleep, surrounded by his friends and connections. Previous to this date but few churches had been erected in Kentucky, and they were humble ones. Besides the log structure at Masterson's Stationwhich was put up in 1787 or'88-a similar house had been built in 1790, in the Salt River Circuit, at Poplar Flats, and bore the name of Ferguson's Chapel-to which allusion has already been madeafter the worthy local preacher who labored so faithfully in the cause of God in that section. About the same time a log meeting-house was erected in Jessamine county, near Bethel Academy, and called Lewis's Chapel; Proctor's Chapel, in Madison county; Garrett's Meeting-house, in the forks of Dix River, and a house on Shoenea Run, had also been built. During this year Burke's Chapel was built, in Garrard county; Humphries's Chapel had also been built-at which place Bishop Asbury had attended a quarterly meeting on the 13th of April of this year. We are called upon this year to record the death *'Jacob Young's "Autobiography," p. 69. 166 ME T H o D ISI of Henry i3irchett, the third itinerant minister, who had been connected with the work in KIentucky, to pass away-including the Rev. Samuel Tucker, who was murdered by the Indians.* Among the pioneer preachers who camne to Kentucky, no one was more devoted to the work of the ministry, or prosecuted his calling with greater ardor, than the subject before us. lie was born in Brunswick county, Virginia, (the time of his birth is not known.) After laboring for two years in the State of North Carolina, he freely offered himself as a missionary to the West. In the year 1790, he was appointed to the Lexington Circuit, where, with untiring zeal, he labored assiduously and usefully for two years. In 1792, he was removed to the Salt River Circuit, where, it is said, "he was eminently useful." t No circuit in Kentucky was more trying to the constitution than this —spreading over a vast extent of territory, sparsely settled, accommodations poor, rides long, and preaching almost every day; " requiring more labor and suffering than any other in the country." His slender constitution necessarily gave way. At the close of the year it was the judgment of his friends that he ought to desist from preaching until he recovered. I-e was present at the Conference at Masterson's Station,'in a poor state of health," and was siff'ering from "weakness in his breast and spitting of blood." Owing to the scarcity of preachers, great difficulty' See page 75, - Western M Afethodism, p. (39. IN KENTUCKY. 167 existed in providing for the Cumberland Circuit, and it was decided to leave it without a preacher for the present. Under these circumstances Henry Birchett, wan and pale, asked the privilege of supplying it. IHe turned to Bishop Asbury and said: "Here am I; send me!" His brethren remonstrated against his going. Two hundred miles lay between the seat of the Conference and this distant field; the life of the traveler was every hour imperiled by the Indians; the small-pox was prevailing through all the country; and his health was already wrecked by labor and exposure. Every influence that could be, was brought to bear upon him to dissuade him from his purpose; but in vain. To all their arguments and remonstrances he replied: "If I perish, who can doubt of my eternal rest, or fail to say,'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his'?" He entered upon his work soon after the adjournment of the Conference, and with commendable zeal pushed forward the victories of the cross, though in feeble health, until the summer and autumn had passed away, when he was compelled to cease his labors. James Ioggatt, a gentleman of wealth and of liberality, residing two miles west of Nashville, invited the weary and way-worn itinerant to the hospitalities of his home. There he remained, visited by friends who loved him-the recipient of every kind attention-until, in the month of February, 1794, he breathed his last, in hope of eternal life. "' James 1Iaw asked him, in the time of his last illness, if he had any temptations. Ile replied he 168 METHODISM had, for he had too much anxiety to die;'but, glory to God!' he said,'I am resigned to the will of my Master.' Another person standing by discovered the blood settling under his nails, and told him the Master had come. HIe replied,' I am glad of it,' and began crying,'Glory, glory to God!' until his hands fell upon his breast, and he expired in peace." * At his own request, he was wrapped in white flannel and committed to the silent grave. No man had been connected with the ministry for so short a time, to whom the Church and his fellow-laborers in the work were more ardently attached. HIe was, perhaps, the best pastor in the West. He regarded the children as the future hope of the Church, and improved every opportunity that offered in their catechetical instruction, so that by the children he was remembered with affection long after he had entered into rest. The printed Minutes say: "He was one among the worthies who freely left safety, ease, and prosperity, to seek after and suffer faithfully for souls." Notwithstanding the zealous efforts that had been made to promote the cause of religion, the net increase for this year was only eleven members. There had, however, been a sifting throughout the Churches, and the most of them were in a more healthy condition than they were the previous year. * Rev. Learner Blackman. IN KENTUCKY. 169 CHAPTER VII. FROM TIlE CONFERENCE OF 1794 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1796. Gen. Anthony Wayne-Gen. St. Clair-His expedition against the Indians unsuccessful-The campaign of 1794-The battle near the rapids of the Miami-Gen. Wayne's victory complete-The Indian war brought to a successful termination-Treaty of peace concluded-The Conference of 1794-John Metcalf-Thomas Scott — Peter Guthrie-Tobias Gibson-Moses Speer-Conference of 1795 -William Duzan —John Buxton —Aquila Sugg-Francis Acuff: his death-Thomas Wilkerson-Decrease in membership. IN the year 1792, Gen. Anthony Wayne, an officer of distinction in the United States service, was appointed by President Washington as successor to Gen. St. Clair, in the command of the army engaged against the Indians on the Western frontier. The depredations of the Indians upon IKentucky were not only incessant, but most disastrous to the safety of the people, as well as to the prospects of the Commonwealth. The efforts that had hitherto been made to secure the State against these incursions, had proved ineffectual. The expedition of Gen. St. Clair, a short time previous, had been not only unsuccessful, but calamitous. In the summer and autumn of 1793, Gen. Wayne began to make preparations for another campaign. The season, however, was too far advanced for active operations, 170 METHODISM and the invasion of the country of the hostile tribes was postponed until the following year. Before marching into the enemy's country that gallant officer made one more attempt to obtain peace, which, however, failed. "' On the morning of the 20th of August, 1794, he marched into the heart of the hostile country, and attacked the Indians in a formidable position which they occupied, near the rapids of the Miami." The victory was complete. The Indians were thoroughly defeated, and the war was brought to a successful termination; and in 1795, he concluded a definite treaty of peace, which was observed until the war of 1812.* The Conference of 1794 met at Lewis's Chapel, in the Lexington Circuit. We find upon the Minutes of this year the names of three preachers who had not previously appeared in Kentucky: John Metcalf, Thomas Scott, and Peter Guthrie. John Metcalf was admitted into the itinerancy in 1790. HIe had traveled four years before he came to Kentucky, three of which were spent in Virginia, and one in North Carolina. In 1794, he was transferred from the Virginia Conference to the work in Kentucky, and was stationed on the Lexington Circuit. We have no means at present of ascertaining whether or not he was successful on this circuit. The printed Minutes show a considerable decrease on the Lexington Circuit, yet this may be the result of change in the territorial limits *Collins's Kentucky. IN KENTUCKY. 171 of the several pastoral charges in the State. After this his name disappears from the Minutes. We learn from Mr. Burke that he subsequently became Principal of Bethel Academny-the immediate successor of, Valentine Cook. Thomas Scott, who this year was transferred from the B3altimore Conference to IKentucky, deserves more than a passing notice. I-e was born in Alleghany county, Maryland, October 31, 1772. In the fourteenth year of his age he was soundly converted, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. Before he was seventeen years old he was received on trial into the Conference, and appointed to Gloucester Circuit; the subsequent year he was the junior preacher on Berkeley Circuit; and in 1791, we find him in charge of Stafford Circuit-all lying in the State of Virginia. In 1792, he traveled the Frederick Circuit, in Maryland; and the following year lie was sent to the Ohio Circuit, a field of labor of great extent, stretching along the frontier settlements of the Ohio Rliver in western Pennsylvania and Virginia. In the spring of 1794, he descended the Ohio River, to join the band of itinerants in Kentucky, and was present at the Conference which convened on the 15th day of April. I-e embarked on a flat-boat at Wheeling, laden with provisions for Gen. Wayne's army, and landed where Maysville now stands. He was appointed to the Danville Circuit, on which, William Burke informs us, there was an extensive revival of religion. At the Conference of 1795, he located; but, in 1796, at the request of the Rev. Francis Poythress, 172 METrIHoDIS Mr the Presiding Elder, he took charge of the Lexington Circuit, in the place of Aquila Sugg, whose health had failed, until the ensuing Annual Conference. This circuit spread over the present territory of Fayette, Jessamine, Woodford, Franklin, Scott, and Harrison counties, and included portions of Bourbon and Clarke. The appointments were filled every four weeks, and the circuit had within its bounds the following preaching-places: Lexington, Reynolds's, Widow Prior's, Lewis's Chapel, Burns's, Versailles, Frankfort, Snelling's, Griffith's, Widow Waller's, Col. Thomas Morris's —below Cynthiana, Coleman's Chapel, Tucker's, Smith's, VMatthews's, Col. Robert Wilmot's, White's, Ewbank's, and Bryant's. A class had been previously formed at each one of these points, and Mr. Scott represents the most of them as in a healthy condition. The one in Lexington, however, he speaks of as being small, though in it were "several excellent members, who were ornaments of society." * At the close of this year his labors as an itinerant minister ceased. A short time afterward he was married, and turned his attention to secular pursuits. For a brief period he was a clerk in a dry-goods store in Washington, Mason county. He then turned his attention to the study of law, and while prosecuting his legal studies, in order to support his family, he worked at the tailoring business-some idea of which he had gathered, in early life, from his * Judge Scott's manuscript. IN KENTUCKY. 173 father, who was a tailor. Anxious to render him every assistance, his wife devoted her leisure time in reading to her husband Blackstone's Commentaries and other law-books, while he plied his needle upon his board. In the fall of 1798, he removed to Lexington, IKentucky, where, under the Hon. James B]rown, he prosecuted his preparations for the bar. In 1800, he obtained license to practice law, and settled in Flemingsburg. In 1801, he emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Chillicothe, where he resided until his death. In the State of Ohio he held various civil offices, and always discharged their functions to the satisfaction of those who had confided them to his trust. In 1809, he was elected by the Legislature of Ohio one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, and the next year was reelected, and commissioned Chief Judge of that court. In 1815, "finding the salary insufficient for his support, he resigned his seat on the bench, and resumed the practice of law." lie afterward held several offices, and filled positions of high responsibility.* "On the 13th day of February, 1856, in the bosom of his family, and surrounded by friends, his spirit peacefully departed, without a struggle or groan, to the God that gave it." t [By his brethren of the bar he was held in high esteem. On the second day after his death the * Finley's Sketches of Western Methodism. t Extract from proceedings of the Ross County (Chillicothe) Bar. 174 ME T II O D I S AI members of the bar of Ross county met in Chillicothe, and adopted resolutions expressive of their high veneration for his memory. The Scioto Lodge of Masons also passed similar resolutions, in which they state that "he met death with calmness and manly resignation;" that, "after a long life of usefulness, honorable bearing, and beneficent liberality, he confronted death with an unquailing eye, and passed away from earth, to realize that future which God has promised to the pure in heart." But it was his Christian character that shone with brightest luster. As a pioneer preacher in Kentucky, he spent two years in the itinerant service of the Church, faithfully prosecuting the great work of the ministry; and then retiring to the local ranks, he still devoted every energy within his power to the welfare and prosperity of the Church he loved so well. To locate-hazardous as is always the stepdid not release his conscience of the obligation to preach the gospel, nor did it weaken his desire for the salvation of the people. As long as he remained in Kentucky, he faithfully prosecuted his ministerial calling; and when he settled in Ohio, he at once became a representative man in the infant cause. Through a long and eventful life he held fast his profession, maintained his ministerial standing, and everywhere avowed himself a follower of the "'meek and lowly Jesus." No wonder, then, that he met death with composure, and felt ready for the summons. It is always a cause of regret to the Church, when a laborious and useful minister of the gospel IN KENTUCKY. 175 retires from the itinerant field, and especially if in the flower of his manhood. There was, perhaps, no one among the early pioneers, who promised greater usefulness to the Church than Mr. Scott; and while it is a pleasing reflection that he never stained the judicial ermine by any act of wrong, nor soiled his Christian character as he mingled with the turmoil and strife of political life, yet our pleasure would be heightened if we could record that his noble life had been exclusively devoted to the work of the ministry. Of Peter Guthrie we know but little. IIe entered the Conference this year, and was appointed to the Salt River Circuit, and the following year to the Cumberlanld; and then we lose sight of him altogether. The name of Tobias Gibson is also in the list of the Appointments in Kentucky; but we likewise find him, for the same year, appointed to the Union Circuit, in North Carolina. The Minutes read: U' nion-Tobias Gibson, one quarter." WVe do not find sufficient evidence to justify the belief that he spent any portion of this year in Kentucky. None of his cotemporaries, so far as we are advised, make any allusion to him in this department of the work; and in the brief account of his life and labors published in the General Minutes,* no reference whatever is made to his appointment to Kentucky. The probabilities are that he remained during the whole year in the South; yet it will not be improper to *Vol. I., p, 125. 176 METHODISM refer to him in this connection. He was a native of South Carolina, and was born November 10, 1771, in Liberty county, on the Great Pedee. He lived only thirteen years after he entered the traveling connection; three of which were spent in South Carolina, four in North Carolina, one on IIolston; and the last five years in Mississippi, as missionary to Natchez-where he died on the 5th day of April, 1804. Among the early Methodist preachers there was no one more self-sacrificing or more zealous in the prosecution of his labors than AMr. Gibson. His biographer says: "What motive induced him to travel, and labor, and suffer so much and so long? He had a small patrimony of his own, that, improved, might have yielded him support. The promise of sixty-four dollars per annum,* or twothirds, or one-half of that sum —just as the quarterly collections might be made in the circuitscould not be an object with him. His person and manners were soft, affectionate, and agreeable. His life was a life of devotion to God. He was greatly given to reading, meditation, and prayer. He very early began to feel such exertions, exposures, and changes, as the first Methodist missionaries had to go through in spreading the gospel in South Carolina and Georgia-preaching day and night. His feeble body began to fail, and he appeared to be superannuated a few years before he went to the Natchez country. It is reported that, when he *The salary, at that time, of a traveling preacher. IN KENTUCKY. 177 found his difficulties, after traveling six hundred miles to Cumberland, he took a canoe, and put his saddle and equipage on board, and paddled himself out of Cumberland into the Ohio River, and took his passage six or eight hundred miles in the meanders of the Great River.* What he met with on his passage is not known-whether he went in his own vessel, or was taken up by some other boat —but he arrived safe at port. Afterward it was reported to the Conference that he said he was taken up by a boat. Four times he passed through the wilderness-a journey of six hundred milesamidst Indian nations and guides, in his land passages from the Cumberland settlement to Natchez. Ie continued upon his station until he had relief from the Western Conference, where he came and solicited help in his own person, and in the habit of a very sick man."t The labors of Mr. Gibson as missionary to Natchez could not have been other than profitable to the cause of Christianity. Although the Minutes do not show large accessions to the Church during the four years he traversed the country around Natchez and preached to the people, yet he was laying the foundations of Christianity there, and preparing the ground that has since brought an abundant harvest. At the close of the Conference-year in which he died, there are reported on the General Minutes one hundred white and two colored members. I-is last sermon was preached on the 1st day of' The Mississippi. t]General Minutes, Vol. I., pp. 125, 126. 178 METHIODISM I January, 1804. It was blessed to many of his hearers. Not only through his life, but in his last illness, "6 he was a pattern of patience, humility, and devotion," and hailed with joy the hour of death. He met the last enemy, not like the warrior on the blood-stained field, amid the excitement and enthusiasm of the battle, but with the resignation of the Christian, in the calmness of a trusting faith, reposing his hope of eternal life on the " exceeding great and precious promises" of the word of God; and in the contemplation of his priceless inheritance, he passed away. The following letter to the author, from the Rev. Dr. C. K. Marshall, dated Vicksburg, February 10, 1868, in reference to Mr. Gibson, will be read with interest: "While in feeble health, he remained with his relatives, and rode out and visited his friends and brethren, and went out occasionally to the nearest appointments of his brethren in the ministry. But as his health gradually failed, he declined giving out appointments to preach himself, though he could occasionally exhort after the delivery of the discourses of the regular pastors. "' One day, when he was out in the plantation of his kinsman, endeavoring to give a little assistance in the supervision of the place, he was caught in a very trying and perilous situation. A cane-brake had been set on fire, to clear the land for the purpose of planting. The fire had been set at several different points; and, while attending to other matters, and before any one was aware of the state of IN KENTUCKY. 179 things, the negroes discovered that the fire had so encircled them that escape seemed impossible. A path leading over a bridge which was built across a bayou was the only way out, and the fire had reached that. They hurried at once into the bed of the bayou, now almost entirely dry, and lay down. The heat was, however, so intense as to nearly suffocate them, and nearly killed Mr. Gibson on the spot. After the fire had passed over them, the persons present helped to get Mr. Gibson back to the residence; but he had received a shock to his weak lungs and general system, which pushed him with accelerated movement toward the grave. But for this sad occurrence, his useful life might have been extended to many years. "1 His remains were buried about five miles south of Vicksburg. In 1856, or about that time, his relatives and numerous friends united together and erected a handsome monument over his remains. The writer delivered an appropriate address on the occasion, and solemn religious services were conducted by assisting ministers. The grave where his remains repose is not far from, and in sight of, the public road, and is one of the loveliest and loneliest spots anywhere in the country." Another honored name, though not in the General Minutes for Kentucky, properly belongs to this part of our history-that of Moses Speer.* IIe was born in Maryland, in 1766, and removed with *He was the father of the Rev. Dr. Speer, of the Louisville Conference, and of the Rev. James G. H. Speer, a member of the Holston Conference, who died many years ago. 180 MIETHIOD ISM his father to IKentucky when quite a youth, and settled at the mouth of Beargrass, where Louisville now stands. Early in life he embraced religion, and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church; and soon afterward he entered the ministry. Under the direction of the Presiding Elder, he labored for some time on the linkstone Circuit, in IKentucky, evincing by his zeal and devotion his Divine call to the ministry. In 1794, he joined the Conference, and, with Jacob Lurton, was appointed to the Cumberland Circuit, where his labors were signally blessed. During this year he was married to Miss Amelia Ewing, of Nashville; and, in consequence of the difficulties in the way of the support of married preachers, at the close of the xyear he located. I-e settled near the city of Nashville, and for more than forty years he was in that vicinity, a faithful and useful local preacher. In 1839, his name appears in the Minutes of the Mlississippi Conference, and his appointment to Montgomery, in the San Augustin District, Texas.* aMr. Speer had not the privilege of aiding, for any length of time, in the cultivation of this new and interesting field. IIis work was well-nigh done. Before anzother Conference met, he was called from labor to reward. In the seventy-fourth year of his age, full of faith and of hope, he closed his eventful and useful life. Mr. Speer was the first minister of the tMethodist Church who bore the standard of the cross beyond *-The missionary work in Texas was at that time connected with the Mississippi Conference. IN KENTUCKY. 181 the Ohio, into what is now the State of Indiarla.* In his early ministry, he was the intimate friend of IHaw, Ogden, AMcIenry, and 1Burke. Ile was among' the first who were licensed to preach west of the mountains. Iie was also one of the brave band that was sent to meet Bishop Asbury near the Cumberland Gap, and guard him through the wilderness into the settled portions of Kentucky. IlIe contributed by his labors much toward the planting of Methodism in Logan county, Kentucky; and he labored with the McG ees in the great revivals at the close of the past and the beginning of the present century. WVe have this year all increase of only thlirly-fire members. The " Conference for 1795 was held at Masterson's Chapel, on the 1st day of May. Bishop Asbury * Col. N. A. Speer, his son, writes, that in 1827, he found many of the old settlers in Jefferson, 3ullitt, Nelson, Shelby, and other counties, who remembered the preaching and labors of Moses Speer; and who had known him from the time of his landing at the Falls, in 1780, until he was sent to the Cumberland, in 1794. Ile farther states that, in 1838, he formed the acquaintance of an aged gentleman at Evansville, named Robertson. Mr. Robertson informed him that Moses Speer was the first Protestant minister who preached west of the Ohio. iMr. Robertson stated that he and others had gone west of the Ohio River on a hunting tour, and, finding the game very abundant, they concluded to build a block-house and remain, and send for their families; which they did. They established themselves on a stream, afterward called Silver Creek. Soon after they had established themselves, one of their number visited the Falls, and requested Moses Speer to visit the settlers at Silver Creek Station, and preach to them. He consented, visited the station, and preached to them. 182 iM E T I-ID I S M.T was not present. The R1ev. Francis Poythress presided over the deliberations of the body. The Revs. John Buxton, Aquila Sugg, Francis Acuff; and Thomas Wilkerson had been transferred to Kentucky by Bishop Asbury, and reported themselves to the Conference, and were courteously received." * The name of William Duzan also appears for the first time. The "proceedings of the Conference were concluded harmoniously. The preachers were wTarmly united in the bonds of peace, ncld each started to his circuit with renewed zeal and fixedness of purpose, to discharge with greater fidelity the trust and confidence reposed in them by the great I-Iead of the Church." t William Duzan, who was admitted on trial at this Conference, was a resident of Washington county when he entered the ministry, and was, in all probability, one of the subjects of the revival of 1790, with which that county was visited. TIis first appointment was to the Salt River Circuit, with John Buxton and Barnabas MScIenry. "HeI was a young man of unblemished reputation, pious, humble, deeply devoted to God, and greatly esteemed by all his acquaintances on account of his excellent qualities. lie was small in stature, and of humble pretensions in the ministry." $ He spent only one year in KIentucky, and at the subsequent Conference was appointed to Cumberland; and in 1797, to the IHolston Circuit; at the close of which he located. *Judge Scott. t Ibid. Ibid. IN KENTUCKY. 183 John Buxton was admitted on trial in 1791, and appointed to B3ertie Circuit, in North Carolina. The three following years he traveled in Virginia. In 1795, he was transferred to the West, and appointed to Salt River Circuit. He remained in Kentucky only one year, when he was removed to the Cumberland. The following year he traveled on Green Circuit, in East Tennessee. In 1798, he returned to Kentucky, where he spent two yearsthe first on the Lexington, and the second on the Limestone Circuit. In the year 1800, he returned to the Virginia Conference, and, after traveling successively the Sussex, Mecklenburg, and Greenville, the Portsmouth and Brunswick Circuits, he was sent to the Richmond District as Presiding Elder. The remainder of his itinerant life was spent on Districts. In 1805, we find him on the Norfolk District. At the close of this year he leaves Virginia, and is appointed to the Salisbury District, North Carolina. The subsequent year he has charge of the Newbern District, North Carolina, where he remains for two years, when he is reappointed to Norfolk District, in Virginia. The three following years he has charge of Raleigh District; and in 1813, of the Tar River Districtboth in North Carolina; at the close of which he located.* From the sketch we have given, it will be perceived that the life of Mr. Buxton was by no means *All the appointments he filled from 1809 were in the Virginia Conference, which extended into North Carolina. 184 MET II OD ISM an idle one. In that early day the territorial limits of the circuits were generally more extensive than the Districts of a Presiding Elder at the present period, while the Districts of that time more than covered the boundary lines of our present Conferences. In appearance, Mr. Buxton was tall and slender. His piety was fervent, and he was zealous and effective in his ministerial labors. His preaching was plain, sound, and both theoretical and practical. In his intercourse with others, he not only lacked those social qualities that so greatly endear a minister to his people, but was regarded as rather morose. During his connection with the Church in K(entucky, his ministry was greatly blessed. In the year in which he traveled on the Lexington Circuit there was a gracious revival of religion, and many persons were converted and added to the Church. The high estimation in which he was held by his brethren in the ministry is evinced by the very responsible positions confided to his trust. Ite was a member of the General Conferences of 1804, 1808, and 1812. WVe have already referred to Aquila Sugg, as transferred to Kentucky. In 1788, he was admitted on trial, and appointed to Gloucester, in Virginia. The two following years he traveled on the Great Pedee and Edisto Circuits, in South Carolina. In 1791, he was appointed to the Canterbury Circuit; in 1792, to Salisbury; in 1793, to New Ihope; in 1794, to Trent-all in North Carolina. In 1795, he came to Kentucky, and was appointed the first year IN KENTUCKY. 185 to Lexington, and the following year to the Logan Circuit; and located at the Conference of 1797. A writer in the Christian Advocate* says: "IIe was an excellent man, and his labors were blessed." Judcge Scott, in describing him, informs us that "he was about the medium size; of a feeble constitution; plain and neat in his dress; courteous in his manners, and instructive in his conversation with others." We also learn from the same authority, that " he was an easy, natural, and graceful preacher, and seldom failed to command the undivided attention of his hearers." On neither of the circuits to which he was appointed in Kentucky, was he able to render efficient service. At the close of the first three months of his ministerial labor on the Lexington Circuit, his health entirely failed him, and he returned to the home of his parents. His place was filled by Mr. Scott, to whom we have already referred. Unwilling to be idle, he attempted to rally; and, believing his health equal to the duties of an itinerant, he was appointed to the Logan Circuit, which had just been formed under that name. Almost until the close of the year, he faithfully prosecuted his work, until the encroachments of disease too plainly indicated that his itinerant career must close. Broken down in health, he retires from the active duties of a work dearer to his heart than life itself.t *John Carr, in Christian Advocate, February 12, 1857. t Judge Scott. 186 MET H O DIS M Francis Acuff had only labored in Kentucky for a short time previous to his death. IHe was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, but brought up in Sullivan county, Tennessee. In 1793, he entered the itinerant field, and was appointed to the Greenbrier Circuit, in Virginia. The following year, his appointment was to the Holston; and in 1795, he became identified with the work in Kientucky, and was appointed to the Danville Circuit. In the enjoyment of excellent health, and blessed with a fine constitution, he entered upon his work with energy and zeal. Possessing a mind above mediocrity, and deeply devoted to the service of the Church, he soon won the esteem and the affections of his brethren. I-He, however, was not permitted to "occupy " his place in the Danville Circuit only for a short time. Before the sumnmer passed away, he entered upon the peaceful calm of heaven. " IIe died in August, 1795, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. Thus dropped the morning flower-though flourishing in the morning, in the evening cut down and withered. He was soon called away from his labors in the vineyard to the rest that remaineth to the people of God."* Bishop Asbury, in speaking of his death, says: "WVe came to Acuff's Chapel. I found the family sorrowful and weeping on account of the death of Francis Acuff." t "As an instance of the strong attachment which -Geoneral Minutes AM. E. Church, Vol. I., p. 67. Asbury's Journal, Vol. II., p. 297. IN KENTUCKY. 187 was felt by those who were best acquainted with this man of God, I will give the following anecdote, on the authority of the author of'Short Sketches of Revivals of Religion in the WFestern Country':'An Englishman by the name of William Jones, on his arrival in Virginia, was sold for his passage. He served his time, four years, with fidelity, conducted himself with propriety, and was finally brought to the knowledge of the truth by means of Methodist preaching. As he had been greatly blessed under the preaching of Mr. AcufE, when he heard of his death, Billy, as he was called, determined to visit his grave. Though he had to travel a lonog distance through the wilderness, in which he had heard that the Indians often killed people by the way, yet his great desire to visit the grave of his friend and pastor impelled him forward, believing that the Lord in whom he trusted was able to protect him from savage cruelty, and provide for his wants. When I came to the rivers, said he, I would wade them; or, if there were ferries, they would take me across; and wvhen I was hungry, the travelers would give me a morsel of bread. When I ca'me to Mr. Green's, in Madison county, I inquired for our dear Mr. Acuff's grave. The people looked astonished, but directed me to it. I went to it; felt my soul happy; shouted over it, and praised the Lord.' Such a mark of strong affection in a single follower of Jesus Christ speaks volumes in favor of the man over whose grave those grateful recollections were so piously indulged." * 13Bangs's History M. E. Church, Vol. II,, pp. 40, 41. 188 M ET H ODISMI Another name that stands out with remarkable prominence is introduced this year into the annals of Methodism in. Kentucky-that of Thomas Wilkerson. Mr. WVilkerson was born in Amelia county, Virginia, April 27, 1772. Ile had not the advantages of early religious training, as his parents were both unconverted. When about thirteen years of age, under the preaching of Methodist ministers, he was awvakened to a sense of his condition as a sinner; but, by improper associations, his good impressions were effaced. Though only a child, he endeavored to drink in the poison of infidelity, but in its teachings found no relief. When about eighteen years of age, the neighborhood in which he was residing was blessed with a gracious revival of religion. Amongst the subjects of conversion were several of his associates. A determination on his part to dissuade them from a religious life, opened afresh the springs of conviction in his own heart, and decided him in a renewed purpose to seek religion. On the following Sabbath he joined the Church; and on the subsequent Saturday evening, about dusk, in the lone woods, and in a state of almost despair, he says: "'As I was making my way through the bushes, I thought I saw a flash of lightning. Almost instantly it was repeated. I recollect nothing more till I found myself on my feet, with my hands raised, while loud shouts seemed to burst from the bottom of my heart." * * Thomas Wilkerson, in a lotter in South-western Christian Advocate, of June 26, 1841. IN KENTUCKY. 189 He soon filled the offices of class-leader and exhorter, in which positions his " efforts were crowned with success." Feeling a "necessity" laid upon him to preach the gospel, and, at the same time, his want of qualification and "insufficiency" for the work of the ministry, he shrank from the responsible office, until worldly misfortunes and the want of success in secular pursuits, together with the persuasions of friends and the reproaches of conscience, fully aroused him. Under the pastoral care of John Metcalf, then traveling the circuit in Virginia in which he resided, he was kept in the exercise of "gifts and graces," and finally persuaded to attend the session of the Virginia Conference held in Manchester, November 25, 1792. From this Conference "he was sent out to bear the fatigues and dangers of a pioneer itinerant life." His first appointment was to the Franklin Circuit, and the second to the Greenville-botlh in the State of Virginia. On the latter circuit he traveled onily six months, when the demands of the Church elsewhere called for his services, and he was removed to Bertie Circuit, in North Carolina, where he spent the remainder of the year. In all these fields of labor, though in feeble health, he was greatly encouraged by the success that crowned his ministrythere being everywhere "living epistles known and read of all men." At the following Conference, held at Mayberry's Chapel, Virginia, a call was made for volunteers for Kentucky; and, with Buxton and others, Mr. gWilkerson offered himself for this arduous work, on which he was to enter in the 190 ET I O D I S following spring. During the winter he traveled with Mr. MeKlendree on the Bedford Circuit, in Virginia. His first appointment in KIentucky was to the I-Iinkstone Circuit. The country through which he had to pass, to reach his new field of labor, was sparsely settled, and the journey hazardous. He says: "We had to pack our provisions for man and horse for nearly two hundred miles; lie on the ground at night, having a guard stationed around us."* Feeble in health when he left Virginia, he steadily improved, so that he was able to undergo the hardships that awaited him. All along his journey he "preached to the people, in their forts and block-houses," the unsearchable riches of Christ. On his way, he says: "I met no D.D.'s to discuss doctrines, or make out reports about moral wastes. We had nothing from without to contend with, but the Indians and wild beasts." t HIis second appointment in Kentucky was on the Lexington Circuit. Ile was sent the next year to the Cumberland. After having traveled these several circuits, "with various success," he was sent, in 1798, to the IIolston Circuit, with Tobias Gibson, whose health soon failed, when the duties of that laborious charge devolved on him alone. In the spring of 1799, he rejoined the Virginia Conference, and was sent to the Yadkin Circuit, in North Carolina, which, at that time, embraced that range of high mountains running through B3uncombe county. IHere he could " see but little fruit of his *Nashvillo Christian Advocate, July 31, 1841. Ibid. IN KENTUCKY. 191 labor." The following year, he traveled on the Baltimore Circuit, where he participated in "the most pleasing revival he ever witnessed." It commenced under the preaching of Wilson Lee, and in it were converted some persons who afterward "became distinguished in the Church." Again, at the Conference held in Kentucky, in the fall of 1800,* we find him on the Lexington the Hinkstone Circuit, in Kentucky, as colleague to Williamr Burke. A gracious revival of religion crowned their labors. It was during this year, and on this circuit, that the whole power of Baptist engineering was arrested by Mr. Burke, "who met them so promptly, and so fully rebutted their arguments," that their attacks fell harmless to the ground. In the Conference of 1801, he attempted to return to Baltimore, but was met by Bishop Asbury at the Holston Conference, and was solicited to return to Cumberland, where he remained for two years —the circuit, the latter year, taking, for the first time, the name of "Nashville." His return to Kentucky in 1800, and his appointments for the several following years, threw him in the midst of the great revival which was then per*-The General Minutes make his return to Kentucky, and his appointment to Hinkstone and Lexington, in 1801; but this error results from the change made, in 1800, in the time of holding the Western Conference, from the spring to the fall; so that two Conferences were held in the West in 1800 —the first in April, at Dunworth, on IHolston; and the second at Bethel Academy, in Kentucky, in October. The Conference, however, held in October, 1800, is published in the General Minutes as the Conference of 1801. This error runs through the Minutes for several years. 192 E ET HODIS M meating Middle Tennessee and the State of KIentucky, and in which he bore a prominent part. The labors he performed, the privations he met, and the exposures he underwent, were too much for his constitution, previously impaired. From a protracted illness, during which his life was despaired of, he recovered slowly, and met the Conference at the session of 1803. Still feeble in health, when Bishop Asbury met him, he said: 1 "You look very slim;" and kindly offered him any appointment he might choose. Acting upon the proper principle, that the preacher who chooses his own field of ministerial labor, chooses, at the same time, any dificulties that may ensue, he promptly declined the proffered kindness. The Church in Lexington, KIentucky, had petitioned the Bishop to separate them from the circuit; and Mr. Wilkerson was appointed to the station-the first formed in Kentucky. * During this year, at Lexington, his constitution again gave -way, and he was able to preach but little. He says: "It was a year of affliction to my body and mind." Hle said he could see but little fruit as the result of his toil. In the midst of severe illness, when all hope of his recovery was abandoned, and his physician gave him the opinion that he could only survive a few days, he writes: " The language of my heart was,' Though HIe slay me, I will trust in IHim.' Death has no sting to -*The General Minutes read: "Lexington Town-Thomas Wilkerson." IN KENTUCKY. 193 me. Thank the Lord for the buoyancy of a gospel hope!" At the next Conference he was permitted to rest. His untiring spirit, however, could enjoy this privilege but a short time. HIis health having slightly improved, he reported himself to the Rev. Willianl M'IcKendree, the Presiding Elder of the Kentucky District, as being able for efficient service, and was appointed to the Lexington Circuit until the next Conference. In 1805 and 1806, he had charge of the IHolston District, then covering a vast extent of country in East Tennessee, Western Virginia, and North Carolina. In traveling over this field-not only attending his quarterly meetings, but traveling through every circuit, and preaching constantly-we behold in him a true evangelist, 1" as he passes up and down, through gorges and defiles, over mountains and rivers, through a dreary wilderness-with scanty fare and threadbare clothes-with ruined health-that he might seek and gently lead into the fold of Christ the erring sons of men." But now, again prostrated in health, he feels forced to retire from active participation in a work to which he had devoted the morning of his life and the prime of his manhood. I-Ie asked and obtained a location. In 1828, his name reappears in the Minutes, as the Presiding Elder on the French Broad District, Holston Conference. A single year is sufficient to impress his mind with the conviction that his itinerant labors must cease. From that period until VOL. I.-7 194 Al E T II 0 D I S M his eventful life was closed, he sustained to the Conference either a supernumerary or superannuated relation. As we review the life of such a man, we pause to express an admiration, not only for his character, but for the moral achievements of Christianity effected through his instrumentality, as well as for the heroism he so often displayed in the accomplishment of his work. Did dangers daunt him? Surely not. " On one occasion, a hundred miles of unbroken forest lay between him and his work. He was detained, and his company had left him. Friendly settlers on the border of this mighty sea of woods described its perils, and attempted to dissuade him from his purpose to pass through it all alone. Tales of murder, of the savage's tomahawk and scalping-knife, which had been dripping with blood but a short time before in the depths of the very forest through which he had to pass, were rehearsed again and again to deter him. Duty called him to go, and he heeded not the dissuasions of his friends. Into the lonesome, solemn forest he plunged. I-Ie rode on and on, musing upon the loneliness of man isolated from humanity, and the still greater loneliness of him who is isolated from his God. Night came; he lay down and slept, and awoke to find'his kind Preserver near.' As he pursued his lonely way, a chilling consciousness of his solitary, helpless condition, seized him. IHe apprehended danger near. Old tales of blood and savage torture recurred to his mind. tie started at every rustle of IN KENTUCKY. 195 a leaf. IHe looked behind, around, on either side. A moving object coming toward him startled him. IHe saw it was a human being; he felt it to be a savage. Turning as quietly as possible to one side, half concealed among the bushes, he awaited. the event with throbbing heart. The footfalls sounded nearer and nearer; a swarthy, fierce-looking man stepped full in view, and, startled himself, grasped convulsively his rifle; but soon relaxed his grasp, and joyously greeted the affrighted preacher. WVilkerson found the stranger to be a way-worn, famished soldier, from Wayne's army, on his return home. lie shared with him his loaf of home-made sugar, the remnant of his scanty provisions. After checking their hunger, and passing a few minutes in conversation, they knelt down and commended thebmselves to God, and reluctantly parted, each to pursue his journey alone. 1" On another day, as W~ilkerson was still urging his way to the field of his ministerial labors, he entered a dark ravine, whose depths the sun could scarcely penetrate, so completely was it walled in by hills, and covered with overarching oaks. As he plodded anxiously on, peering forward in hopes of catching a glimpse of light in front, where a more open prospect would present itself, his eyes fell on something white that lay a few rods beyond his path. A nearer approach disclosed a human skull, and the not uncertain marks it bore made him sure that the weapon of the savage had broken the golden bowl. A little farther on, arched ribs and another grinning death's-head repeated the 196 M E ETHODISIM terror-breathing story, and bade him tread softly, lest he should wake the fate that slept within this dell of death. "But amid these scenes the Comforter came and ministered unto him. He was sustained; finding food for his own soul in the bread of life he broke to others. "Although almost entirely uneducated, Wilkerson's fine native intellect, his sterling common sense, gave him a prominence among his brethren that many more highly favored as to educational privileges fail to reach. Prominence, however, he did not seek; it came, if at all, the free gift of those who knew and appreciated him. Indeed, his manner and his dress were the very reverse of those ambition assumes. He was remarkably affable and polite; but his politeness was not the hypocritical teachings of a book of etiquette. It seemed to be the gift of nature, and was often the subject of remark among those who knew him. It was difficult to account for the courtly smoothness and urbanity of the man, who had been born in humble life and trained in the wilderness. " In dress he was scrupulously plain, always wearing a gray-mixed homespun suit, cut according to the primitive Methodistic style. IHIe could never be induced to assume the clerical blaek. HIis reasons were cogent. Hie was met one day on the streets of Nashville by a prim young preacher, sleek in his raven broadcloth, who accosted him with: "'Well, Brother Wilkerson, why do you not wear black? It gives dignity to the appearance of IN KENTUCKY. 197 a minister, solemnity to his air, and is so apt to insure him respect, that I think every minister should wear it.' "Wilkerson replied:'I have three reasons, my brother, why I do not wear black. "'First: we are told that our message is glad tidings, good newos; and such being the case, it seems to me that for the heralds of such a message to go clad in mourning is wholly inappropriate. In the second place: I once read a book entitled Dialogues of Devils, and I remember that Satan and Moloch, perhaps, were represented as being in conversation about ministers. Moloch was lamenting their power and influence, wielded, as it was, so powerfully, in opposition to the hosts of Pandemonium. Satan assured him he need not take much trouble to himself about that; for, said he, I have already induced them to put on my sooty livery, and I shall soon have them about my work. In the third place: I was taken up by God from the humbler ranlk in life; and if the dispensation of the gospel committed to me is to be delivered to any particular class, it is to the poor. It is with this class that I hope by my labors to be useful; and I wish by all proper means to commend myself to them. Hence I dress so as to make myself easy of approach by such, and wish by this means to make them feel that I am their equal, their brother, their friend, and not their lord or overseer-elevated so far above them as to have no sympathy with them.' "VWilkerson was an earnest student of human nature; and so acute was his sense of the good and 198 METHODISMI true, cultivated as it had been by the study of the character and attributes of his Maker, that the smallest deviations from rectitude were readily detected by him, and the internal springs of human action readily deduced. "The peculiar plainness of his dress, he -used to remark, gave him opportunity frequently for detecting the petty foibles that dwell in the heart of man. "He was a delegate to the General Conference of 1828, which held its sittings at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When he came forward to have his quarters assigned him, the committee looked at him, then looked at each other, seemed rather nonplussed, and turned aside to deliberate; all of which resulted in sending Wilkerson away off across the river, perhaps to the village of Alleghany. lIe made no remonstrance, but quietly submitted. In a few days, through a friend, an invitation was procured for him to go and dine at a wealthy man's table. He went; and after the usual courses of the dinner had been dispatched, wine was brought out. All the other guests were served first, when the host turned to him: "' IWill you have port, sir?' "'No, I thank you, sir.' "' Will you have sherry?' "' No, sir.' "'Perhaps, then, you will take a glass of small beer?' "' If you please, sir.' "'Ah, yes!' rudely responded the host,' that is IN KENTUCIKY. 199 about as high as we can elevate a backwloods Methodist preacher.' "rWilkerson felt, but, with characteristic meekness, did not resent the ill treatment. " The Committee on Public Worship waited upon him, and informed him that he was appointed to preach at a certain time and place. He told them, no; that he was out of the corporation, beyond their jurisdiction, and they must get some one else to do their preaching. They waited upon him a second time, and received the same reply. A third time they came, and mentioned his appointment, and fortified their authority by telling him that Bishop George said he must preach. He told them that if the [Bishop said so he had no more to say, for he belonged to the Bishop and respected his authority. The appointment assigned was in one of the most prominent churches of the city, and it was a Sabbath-evening occasion. A great many of the preachers were present, and a great many citizens. The Holy Spirit aided him in a remarkable degree. I-e lashed the follies and vices that he daily saw exhibited, both among the preachers and the laity; and, after having fully secured the attention of the congregation, he burst forth into one of those appeals of melting tenderness which his heart was so capable of uttering, and to which the Spirit gave unusual power, and the whole audience was melted into tears. Mourners were invited to the altar of prayer. Numbers came. A time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord appeared, and sinners were happily converted. Wilkerson's 200 ME T ITO DI S M star reached the ascendant; and now came Nwhat he disliked more than all the ill treatment his homespun had brought upon him. " The man who had insulted him at his table met him on the street, and, extending his hand, exclaimed, in a very cordial manner:'Why, how do you do, Brother Wilkerson? I have just found you out. You must come and make my house your home,' etc., etc. The preachers, very charitably, determined to make up a purse and buy him a suit of clothes. Several of them were speaking of it in the presence of good old Bishop George, who knew W;Vilkerson at home. A mischievous twinkle played in the corner of the old Bishop's eye as he remarked to them:'Why, brethren, if you were blacked, he could buy half of you.' "But above all the other characteristics of this estimable old man, his piety shone resplendent. It was a piety that begat meekness, gentleness, temperance, patience, long-suffering, brotherly kindness, charity; a piety that lived and breathed in all his words and acts; a piety that made him a most estimable citizen, a kind neighbor, a feeling and tender master, a devoted husband; a piety conspicuous in the pulpit, palpable in the social circle, resplendent around the fireside; a piety that maintained his spirits in cheerfulness and hope through the vicissitudes and reverses of a long life of eightythree years; that enabled him to bear with meek resignation the loss of dear friends, and to say, despite the tears that bedimmed his eyes,'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed IN KENTUCIKY. 201 be the name of the Lord!' a piety that supported him through ten years of disease in the decline of life; that upheld him through more than six months of prostration, often suffering the most excruciating pain; finally, a piety that sustained him in the hour of death, and bore him triumphantly to the rest that remains to the people of God." * On his bed of death, a few weeks before he passed away, he said: "This old worn-out frame I shall willingly consign to the grave. The grave cannot hurt it. Storms may rage, the revolutions of earth may go on, the lightnings of heaven may flash, and her thunders resound, war with iron heel may tread my grave above; but my body shall be at rest. God has use for it, and he will take care of it till the judgment. My soul is his. He gave it; to him, blessed be his name! it will return." I-Ie was fearful of grieving the Spirit by being too anxious to depart. He said: "The grave is a quiet restingplace; death is a pleasant sleep;" for he was weary of life's long labors. The last connected words he uttered were: "If I had my time to go over, I would preach differently to what I have. I would preach more about eternity. I would strive to keep eternity always before the minds of my people. What is time but a vapor? Eternity is all." t We close this sketch by the introduction of a letter from the Rev. AV. G. E. Cunnyngham, of the HIolston Conference: Rev. George E. Naff, in Home Circle, Vol. II., pp. 335, 336, 337.' General Minutes M. E. Church, South, Vol. I., p. 674. 202 METHOD I I SM "I-Ie died at his residence, three miles east of Abingdon, Virginia, February 3, 1856, in the eightyfourth year of his age. His death was peaceful and beautiful, as his life had been pure and useful. IIis sun went down calmly, in as bright a sky as ever faded into night. IIe had for years been standing on the margin of the river, waiting his time to pass over. He used to say, when talking on the subject of death:'Its bitterness has long been past with me. The grave is but a subterraneous passage to a better world. I shall suffer only a momentary obscuration, and then rise with my Lord, to die no more.' IHe died in the midst of his family, surrounded by sympathizing and devoted friends. i-Ee was buried in rear of the Methodist Church in Abingdon, where he sleeps quietly, in company with four fellow-laborers of the Holston Conference. "Father Wilkerson was a man of well-balanced character, distinguished for a sound understanding, lively fancy, tender sympathies, and profound piety. As a preacher, he was classed among the best of his day. To a thorough acquaintance with the Scriptures and Methodist theology, he added a deep knowledge of human nature, especially in its more profound and subjective experiences. Gentle and persuasive in manner, clear and logical in statement, his sermons were pleasing and instructive, and often overwhelmingly convincing. When inspired by his theme, he rose into the higher regions of pulpit eloquence. At such times he was one of the finest specimens of a gospel preacher ever IN KENTUCKY., 203 heard in this country. He lived and died without the suspicion of a taint upon his spotless character." We regret to report, at the close of this year, a decrease of one hunzdred and ninety-four members. This decrease was general throughout the State, embracing every circuit, except the Hinkstone, in which we had a small increase. 204 MIET HODISSM CHAPTER VIII. FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1796 TO THE CONFERENCE OF 1797. The Conference of 1796 held at Masterson's Chapel-Jeremiah Lawson-Aquila Jones Benjamin Lakin -John Watson —Henry Smith-John Baird-Increase in membership-Shelby Circuit. THE Conference of 1796 was held at Masterson's Chapel, on the 20th of April. The Rev. Francis Poythress again presided, Bishop Asbury not being present. The session was harmonious throughout.* Jeremiah Lawson joined the Conference this year. He remained in the Conference only three years, during which he traveled successively the Shelby, Danville, and Lexington Circuits; and then located. WVe, however, find him supplying the place of William Algood-who failed to come to Kentucky —during the spring and summer of 1800, on the Limestone Circuit, under the appointment of the Presiding Elder, William Burke. He lived to a good old age, honored and beloved by all who knew him, and then died at the residence of his son, the late Dr. L. M. Lawson, of Cincinnati, who stood for many years at the head of the medical profession in that city. The names also of Aquila Jones, Benjamin La*Judge Scott. IN KENTUCKY. 205 kin, John Watson, and I-Ienry Smith appear in the list of the Appointments. Aquila Jones was admitted on trial in 1795, and appointed to the lHolston Circuit. In 1796, he became connected with the ministry in Kentucky, and was appointed to the Hinkstone Circuit; the following year, to the Limestone; at the close of which he located. The names of Lakin, Watson, and Smith, yet so fresh in the memory of many living, were familiar to the Church as useful ministers of Christ, through many successive years. Benjamin Lakin, bearing the fulll name of his father, was born in Montgomlery county, Maryland, August 23, 1767. The family from which he descended were originally from England. Left an orphan at nine years of age, by the death of his father, his moral and religious training was confided to the care of his only surviving parent. Soon after the death of her husband, Mrs. Lakin removed with her family to Pennsylvania, and settled near the Redstone Fort, in a region of country greatly infested by the Indians. About the year 1793, she emigrated with her family to KZentucky, and settled on Bracken Creek, within or near the limits of Mason county. TUnder the preaching of the Rev. Richard WVhatcoat, in 1791, and before the removal of the family to the West, during a season of religious interest, Mr. Lakin was awakened and converted to God.* *Sprague's Annals of American Methodist Pulpit, p. 268. 206 ME T H OD ISM Feeling divinely called to the work of the ministry, he became an itinerant preacher on the Htinkstone Circuit in 1794, under the direction of Francis Poythress, the Presiding Elder. In 1795, he joined the Conference, and was appointed to the Green Circuit, in East Tennessee. In 1796, he returned to Klentucky, and traveled on the'Danville, and in 1797, on the Lexington Circuit. During this year he married, and, finding it impossible to support his family in the itinerancy, he located at the close of the year. " Such was the prejudice that existed in the Church, at that day, against married preachers, that it was almost out of the question for any man to continue in the work if he had a wife." * IIe continued in a local sphere for only a few years, when, in 1801, he was realdmitted into the Conference, and appointed to the Limestone Circuit. The two following years the field of his ministerial labor was on the Scioto and Miami Circuit, including all of Southern Ohio. In 1803, he was returned to Kentucky, where he remained for three years, and traveled successively the Salt River, Danville, and Shelby Circuits. In 1806 and 1807, he was again appointed to the Miami Circuit, and then traveled successively on the Deer Creek, Hockhocking, Cincinnati, White Oak, and'Union Circuits-all lying beyond the Ohio River. In 1814, he again returned to Kentucky, where he preached and labored as long as he was able to be effective. * Finley's Sketches of Western Methodism, p. 180. IN KENTUCKY. 207 HIis last appointment was to the Hinkstone Circuit, where he continued for two years.* At the Conference of 1818, he was placed on the list of supernumerary preachers; but the following year, on the superannuated roll, which relation he sustained until his death. For a few years after the failure of his health, he remained in Kentucky; but, at a later period, he removed to Ohio, and settled in Clermont county, near Felicity. Although unable to perform the work of an efficient preacher in the position he occupied, he never spent an idle Sabbath when it could be prevented. Having regular appointments at accessible points, when no longer able to perform the arduous labors that had characterized him in the strength of his manhood, even down to the grave, he determined to "make full proof of his ministry," by contributing his wasting life to the proclamation of the truths of the gospel. In the morning of his life, " he was one of those ministers who stood side by side, and guided the Church through that most remarkable revival of religion that swept like a tornado over the western world. In the greatest excitement, the clear and penetrating voice of Lakin might be heard amid the din and roar of the Lord's battle, directing the wounded to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. Day and night he was upon the watch-tower; and in the class and praying circles, - Mr. Lakin received into the Church, among others, the Rev. John P. Durbin, D. D., and Bishop Kavanaugh. 208 ME T O D I S M his place was never empty-leading the blind by the right way, carrying the lambs in his bosom, urging on the laggard professor, and warning sinners, in tones of thunder, to'flee from the wrath to come.' * From the time he joined the itinerant ranks until his name disappears from the effective roll, "he was abundant in labors, and never hesitated to tax a robust constitution to the extent of its ability." t In those religious controversies in Kentucky, which, in early times, not only disturbed the peace, but threatened for a while the very existence of the Church, he stood amongst the foremost in vindication of the truth, repelling with gigantic power the attacks of all opponents. Always fluent in speech, and often truly eloquent-not only a bold, but an able defender of the Church; sacrificing the pleasures of home to bear the tidings of a Saviour's love-Benjamin Lakin held as warm a place in the affections of the Methodists of Kentucky, of the past generation, as did any one of the noble men who were his associates in labor. On the 28th of January, 1849, he preached his last sermon to a congregation in MceKendree Chapel, Brown county, Ohio. lie returned to his home at Point Pleasant on the following Tuesday, complaining of indisposition. He, however, started on the succeeding Friday, on horseback, to a quarterly meeting at Felicity, Ohio. I-Ie rode about six miles, when he reached the house of his niece, Alrs. * Sketches of Western Methodism, p. 183. t Rev. Jonathan Stamper, in Home Circle, Vol. III., p. 211. IN KENT UCKY. 209 Richards, in usual health, and enjoying a very happy frame of mind.* "About twelve o'clock that night, he was attacked with a chill and nausea. On Saturday and Sabbath he continued quite unwell. On Monday he was much better; and, after eating his supper in the evening, he sat some time by the fire, and conversed sweetly with the family. At about seven o'clock he arose, looked at his watch, and walked out of the room toward the front door. A noise being heard in the entry, the family followed, and found he had fallen to the floor. The first supposition was that he had fainted, and they made an effort to revive him; but it was the paralyzing touch of death —his spirit had fled." t John Watson entered the ranks as an itinerant in 1792. The first four years of his ministry were spent on the Clarksburg, Huntingdon, and Pittsburgh Circuits.f In 1796, he came to Kentucky, where, after remaining one year on the Salt River Circuit, he was sent to the Russell Circuit, in Virginia. The next year, he returned to KIentucky, where he remained for two years, preaching on the Hinkstone and Lexington Circuits. In the year 1800, he again left tKentucky, to enter it as an itinerant preacher no more. We, however, see him lifting the standard of the cross on the HIolston and Ne-w River Circuits, in Virginia-proclaimning the unsearchable riches of Christ-from 1802 to 1805, * Sketches of Western Methodism, pp. 183, 184. General Minutes M. 1E. Church, Vol. IV., p. 385. i He traveled on the Pittsburgh Circuit two years. 210 MET IIODIS M throughout the vast extent of territory embraced in the Holston District. In 1805, he is the standardbearer on the Swanino District, in South Carolina, where he declines in health until his " tired nature " is compelled to seek for rest. The following year finds him a supernumerary, with " longing desires for his early home." Restored to health, we see him once more amid the active duties of his sacred calling. In 1807, he was appointed to Washington City, in the Baltimore Conference, in the bounds of which we see him actively engaged, filling various charges, until the Conference of 1824, when his health gives way, compelling him, first, to ask for a supernumerary relation; and the subsequent year, to be placed upon the superannuated roll, where he remains until his death, which occurred in the early part of the summer of 1838, at the house of Mr. Weller, near Martinsburg, Virginia. We regret that we are in possession of so few facts in reference to Mr. Watson. During the three years he spent in tKentucky, he contributed largely toward the building up of the Church. The first year —which he spent on the Salt River Circuithis labors were not only abundant, but were crowned with success. The "Level Woods Society," * that, in the early days of Methodism, sent out such a salutary influence into all the surrounding country, and that still blesses the community within its range, was organized by him. " In Lamue county. IN KENTUCKY. 211 IHenry Smith also came to IKentucky this year. Although only three years of his ministry were spent in this field, yet the prominent part that he bore as an itinerant Methodist preacher for more than two generations, the labors he performed, his great usefulness, together with his spotless life, demancl more than a passing notice. He was born near Frederick City, Maryland, April 23, 1769, and was of German parentage. He was baptized in infancy in the communion of the German Reformed Church, of which his parents were members, and under the influence of which he was brought up. In the autumn of 1790, under the ministry of the Rev. Thomas Scott, he was awakened to a sense of his sinfulness, and admitted by him into the Church as a seeker of religion. About two weeks afterward, while his father was conversing with him one day, and explaining the nature of faith as the only condition of the sinner's justification, he says: "The glorious plan of salvation opened to my mind. I believed with a heart unto righteousness, and stepped into the liberty of the children of God." * Impressed with the conviction that he ought to preach the gospel, yet without the advantages of education, only to a very limited extent, he obtained license to preach in August, 1793. His name appears in the General Minutes, for the first time, in 1794, in connection with the Clarksburg Circuit, in Western Virginia, although, the greater portion of * General Minutes M. E. Church, Vol. X., p. 17. 212 ME T HO D IS iM the previous year, he had labored under the direction of the Presiding Elder on the Berkeley Circuit. In 1796, he was sent as a missionary to Kentucky, and appointed to the Limestone Circuit; and in 1797, to Salt River. The following year we find him prosecuting his calling on the Green Circuit, in East Tennessee. At the Conference of 1799, he was appointed to the Miami Circuit, in the North-western Territory; and the following two years, to the Scioto and Miami, combined. In 1802, he returned to Kentucky, and was stationed on the Limestone Circuit; in 1803, on the Nollichuckie. In 1804, he was transferred to the Baltimore Conference, in connection with which he continued until his death. For twenty-four years after his return to the Baltimore Conference, he bore an active part as a faithful herald of the cross. In whatever position he was placed, whether as a pastor or as the Presiding Elder of a District, he labored with untiring energy, and made "good proof of his ministry." During a ministry of seventy years-forty-two of which he was actively employed in the itinerant work —he labored with a zeal that knew no limit, except his own wasting strength.* The performance of his work during the three years that he labored in the North-western Territory, was sufficient not only to have exhausted the strength, but to have prostrated the energies, of any man. In entering upon this work, he crossed the Ohio River *General Minutes M. E. Church, Vol. X., pp. 17, 18. IN KENTUCKY. 213 at the mouth of the Little Miami, on the 11th day of September; and on the following Sabbath, the 14th of the month, "' for the first time, he sounded the peaceful gospel of Jesus Christ to a listening few on the pleasant banks of the Miami." " Uniting his field of labor with the Scioto, and forming a six-weeks' circuit, he directed his course up the Ohio River, and " found sonle famnilies friendly to religion." At the mouth of the Scioto he found several Methodist families "'from Redstone and Kentucky," and organized them into a class. On the 15th of October, he preached in Chillicothe, " for the first time, to a considerable congregation," but met with no success. His circuit embraced a large territory, over which he traveled regularly every six weeks, organizing societies, and performing all the work of a minister of Christ.t It is a melancholy hour for a faithful minister who had spent the morning and the noon of his life in the effective field-who had cheerfully made sacrifices, suffered privations, and met hardships, without complaint, that he might aid in the advancement of the noble cause of gospel truth-when his waning strength compels him to seek such a change in his relation to the work as deprives him of a pastoral charge. For nearly forty years, Henry Smith had gone in and out among his brethren, a representative man. In the mountains of Western Virginia; in the sparsely settled State of Kentucky; in East * Methodist Magazine, Vol. IV., p. 271. t Ibid., p. 273. 214 M ET H-ODI Sa Tennessee; along the waters of the Nollichuckie; and across the 6" beautiful Ohio," in advance of the rapid tide of emigration; and then amid the scenes of his early childhood, he had, in the forefront of the battle, "lifted the consecrated cross." Nothing daunted by the perils to which he was exposed from the Indians, nor discouraged by the privations he endured, nor the want of support, he had ever been true to the trust confided to him by his brethren. In 1828, his name is stricken, for the first time, from the effective roll, and he is returned as suzperannuated. In the following year, with his strength slightly renewed, he reenters the list, and for six years prosecutes his labors as an itinerant; and then, at the Conference of 1835, he yields to advancing age, and, as a superannuated preacher, retires front the effective list, to be placed upon it no more. He settled at Hookstown, Baltimore county, Maryland. In referring to this event, he says: "On reflecting that the Lord had provided a home for me, after many years' wandering without house or home, and just at the very time when I must change my relation to the Conference-for I plainly saw that I could no longer do effective work-I felt grateful to him for all his tender mercies over me, and called my house' Pilgrim's Rest.' Perhaps'Pilgrim's Lodge' would have been a more suitable name, for this is not yet my rest." * * General Minutes M. E. Church, for 1863, p. 18. IN KENTUCKIY. 215 For about thirty years he sustained this relation to the Baltimore Conference-so bright an example of meekness, patience, and of all the adornments of Christian character, that he was called " good Henry Smith." "As he drew near his end, and was no longer able to speak, he made signs to those who sat watching by him of a desire to be placed in his usual attitude of prayer. After remaining on his knees about two minutes, he was gently laid upon his bed again, where he lingered for a short time, and then expired, in the ninety-fourth year of his age, and sixty-ninth of his ministry." * Mr. Smith, although a delicately framed man, outlived all his cotemporaries. By order of the Baltimore Conference, held March 4, 1863, it was resolved that his remains should be removed from Hookstown, where he was buried, to Mount Olivet Cemetery, there to repose with the dust of Bishops Asbury, George, Wauogh, and Emory. t The successful termination of the expedition under Gen. Wayne brought with it the most beneficial results to Kentucky. Not only did hundreds of persons return to the homes which they had left for safety, but a tide of emigration from Virginia and Maryland, and other States, set in, that increased the population with remarkable rapidity. Among those who this year sought a home in *-General Minutes M. E. Church, for 1863, p. 17. tIbid., p. 18. 216 IETH IODISM Kentucky, was the Rev. John Baird. I-e had been for several years a traveling preacher in Maryland. In 1791, he was admitted into the itinerancy, and traveled successively the Cecil, the Somerset, and Talbot Circuits. In the itinerant ministry he had been successful in the great work of doing good. In 1795, he located, and immediately emigrated to KIentucky. He passed by the Falls of the Ohio, and declined a settlement on the fertile lands at the mouth of Beargrass Creek, in consequence of their unhealthy location; and, finding a home more congenial to his views of health, he settled in Nelson county, (now Larue,) at what is known as the "'Level Woods." Distinguished for his ability in the pulpit, as well as for his devotion to the Church, he determined to sow the seeds of Methodism in the neighborhood in which he resided. The first sermon ever preached in that neighborhood was delivered by Mr. Baird, on the 7th of August, 1796, at the house of Philip Reed, Esq. A short time afterward, a small society-consisting of the Rev. John Baird, Elizabeth Baird, William and Matthew Mellander, James and Ann Murphy —was organized by the Rev. John Watson, which gradually increased until it numbered about seventy mnembers.* The influence exerted by the *A letter from the Rev. J. F. Redford, the present pastor, informs us that " out of this class several societies have subsequently been formed. At one time it dwindled to twenty-five members. At the commencement of the Conference-year for 1838 and 1839, it again increased to forty-two members. At the present time, (January, 1868,) this society numbers sevetzty-four." IN KENTUCKY. 217 life and labors of John Baird is felt to the present time, not only in his fanlily, but in the community in which he lived and died. In all the surrounding, country, he, as an able expounder of the word of God, proclaimed its heaven-born truths. For fifty years his walk and conversation exemplified the doctrines of the gospel, and in death their hallowed principles afforded him sweet consolation. On a marble slab, in the garden, close by where he lived and breathed his last, is the inscription: Sacred to the memory of TIIE REV. JOHIN BAIRD, who departed this life, April 17, 1846, in the 78th year of his age, 541 years of which he spent in the Methodist Episcopal Church, calling sinners to repentance. He was an acceptable preacher, an affectionate husband, a kind father, and faithful friend. We report this year an increase of forlty-seven in the membership. The causes of the small increase in the membership about this period will be accounted for in a separate chapter. At this Conference the Shelby Circuit was formed, or rather detached from the Salt River-nmaking six circuits in EKentucky. 218 IMET IIOI O ISM CH-IAPTER IX. FROMB THE CONFERENCE OF 1797 TO THE CONFERENOE OF 1799. Tilhe Conference of 1797 held at Bethel Academy-Bishop AsburyThomas Allen-Francis Poythress-Williams Kavanaugh-John Kobler-Decrease in membership-The Conference of 1798 held on Holston - Robert Wilkerson-Valentine Cookl- Increase in membership-John Kobler, the first missionary to Ohio. THE Conference for 1797 was held at 1Bethel Academy, and met on the 1st day of May. Bishop Asbury was present, and presided.* In his journal he informs us that, "from the 9th of April to the 27th of May," he kept no written account of his travels; that, during this period, (which embraced his visit to Kentucky,) he had " traveled about six hundred miles, with an inflammnatory fever and fixed pain in his breast." I-Iis diet was "chiefly tea, potatoes, Indian-meal gruel, and chicken broth." His "only reading" was "the Bible." Why, under such severe afflictions, did he not seek for rest? Thoughts of the "charge" confided to his trust, " of the Conferences, and the Church," pressed him on. "I must," said he, "be made perfect through sufferings." " Cheerful" all the while, yet sometimes "'forced by weakness to stop" for a short time, lie expresses his gratitude for the distinguished S. Juldg Scott. IN KENTUCKY. 219 kindness " shown him by families " with whom he made a brief sojourn. Truly, he was "madle perfect through sufferings "-an evangelist, in the highest sense of that term. In the 1Mlinutes of the Conference, the names of three preachers, not previously mentioned in connection with the work in Kentucky, appear in the list of Appointments: Thomas Allen, John IKobler, and Williams Kavanaugh. Of Thomas Allen we have no information, only such as we derive from the General Minutes. The present year he was admitted on trial, and appointed to the Danville Circuit. The following year, he was sent to the New River Circuit, in Virginia. At the subsequent Conference, he was returned to Kentucky, and appointed to the Salt River and Shelby Circuit; and in 1800, to the Lexington. This year closed his itinerant labors. At the following Conference, he located. The health of the Rev. Francis Poythress-who, since the Conference of 1787, had held the responsible position of Presiding Elder over the District in Klentucky-had, through incessant labors, so far declined as to render it impracticable for him to perform any longer the onerous duties of the office. In the Minutes of this year, he is returned as a supernumerary, and John KIobler is reported as his successor on the District. Williams Kavanaugh,* whose name is this year * HIe was the father of Bishop Htubbard Hinde Kavanaugh, Benjamin T., Leroy IL., and Williams B. Kavananltgh-all Methodist ministers. 220 MET H O D IS I mentioned in the list of Appointments for Kentucky, was born August 3, 1775. In a family Bible now in the possession of the family, there is the following record, in his own hand-writing: "My grandfather in the paternal line was named Philemon. Ile was descended from an ancient Irish family, (I have understood,) much devoted to the Stuart interest. About A. D. 1705, he and one other brother came to Virginia, and first settled in Essex county, though my grandfather's final settlement was in Culpepper. He was twice married. Hiis last wife's maiden name was Williams. She was from Wales. My grandfather had several children by each marriage. My father was (by the last marriage) a posthumous child, and was called by his mother's maiden name. "My grandfather in the maternal line, (whose name was Harrison,) was born, I believe, in England, though he camle from New England to Virginia. IHe and two brothers, who came with him, all lived to very great ages. HIis wife's maiden name was Johnson, or Johnston, of a Scotch family. My father and mother were both born in February, 1744, Old Style. When they were married, I do not know." His father, Williams Kiavanaugh, came to Kentucky at a very early period, and settled in Madison county. A member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a warm-hearted, zealous Christian, he impressed upon the tender heart of his son the importance of Christianity, and the doctrine of the new birth. Converted in early life, Williams Kava IN KENTUCKY. 221 naugh, Jr., at nineteen years of age, entered upon the labors and duties of an itinerant preacher. In 1794, at the Conference held at Lewis's Chapel, in Jessamline county, his name was placed upon the Conference roll. IIis first appointment was to the Green Circuit, in East Tennessee, with Lewis Garrett as his colleague. Mr. Garrett says: "Williams ]Kavanaugh and myself proceeded to Green Circuit. This circuit was a frontier circuit. It lay along the HIolston and French Broad Rivers. There were few settlers south of French Broad, and what there were either lived in forts, cooped up in dread, or lived in strongly built houses, with puncheon doors, barred up strongly when night approached. The Cherokee Indians, who were their near neighbors, were in a state of hostility. We visited those forts and scattered settlers, in quest of perishing souls." To reach this remote field, he had to pass "through the wilderness, which was both difficult and danrgerous." In company with " about sixty men, six of whom were traveling preachers" —among whom were John Ray and Lewis Garrett-he left the Crab Orchard, the place where the company met, and set out upon his journey. The first night he encamped in the vicinity of a fort in the woods, with no covering but the clear blue sky. Around their camp-fires they worshiped God-" the intrepid, fearless, zealous Ray" leading in the devotions. The next day, the company'" passed the gloomy spot where, a short time before," several persons " had been massacred by the, Indians, two of whomn 222 METHODISM were Baptist preachers;" and again, at night, they slept in the woods. The third day, they "crossed the Cumberland Mountains, and reached the settlement on Clinch River, where " they "rested until the next day."* Although only a youth, he was not insensible to the responsibilities of the holy office to which he had been called. IHle prosecuted with a commendable zeal the duties imposed upon him, and won a warm place in the confidence and affections, not only of the people, but of his colleague, Mr. Garrett, by whomn he was always kindly remembered. In 1795, he was sent to the Brunswick Circuit; in 1796, to the Cumberland —both lying in the State of Virginia. In the Minutes of 1797, his name appears in connection with two circuits-the Franklin, in Virginia, and the Salt River, in Kentucky. It is probable that he spent the first six months on the Franklin, and the latter in KIentucky. On the 29th of March, 1798, hle was married to Miss Hannah IT., daughter of Dr. Thomas Ilinde; and at the ensuing Conference, he asked for and obtained a location. While we deeply regret that a minister who proimised so much usefulness to the Church as did AMr. Kavanaugh, should have retired from the itinerant field, yet we cannot be insensible to the reasons that decided him in this purpose. The vast extent of territory embraced in a single circuit, separating a minister from his family nearly all the time, toEtccolloctions of tile Wcst. IN KENTUCKY. 223 gether with the difficulty of obtaining the most meager support, influenced him to this step.* In his local relation, however, he was not idle. His name stands recorded as one of the eight persons who formed the first class at Ebenezer,t in Clarke county. Spending the principal portion of the week in teaching school, he devoted his Sabbaths to the work of the ministry, in which he had already attained eminence. Iis mind, however, had no rest. He was then an ordained Deacon. HIe felt the incongruity of such an office in the Church, without a pastoral relation; and the more he pondered the duties devolving upon a minister of the gospel, the more unpleasant he felt to hold the office without an opportunity to discharge the duties involved. I-e was not willing to be what was but a little more than a nominal minister of the gospel; and this gave him much disquietude of mind. Some gentlemen of the bar urged him to study law and enter upon the practice, stating that his talents-analytical and strongly discriminative* Among the preachers who were traveling in this division of the work, Messrs. Burke and Page were the only married men who had been able to continue in the itinerancy. t Bishop Kavanaugh writes us from Lexington, Kentucky, March 11, 1868: " I learn from my mother, that he gave the Church the name it bears, or rather has borne, in the various edifices which the society there has erected, and which the remaining members and their friends are about to erect, for Ebenezer, this spring and summer, under the auspices of our young and enterprising brother, W. T. Poynter, so recently taken into the Kentucky Conference, and so new in the ministry, and now the stationed preacher at Winchester, Kentucky." 224 l Er T II O D 1 S eminently fitted him for that profession; but his convictions were that it was his duty to preach the gospel of the grace of God, and that he dare not compromise this duty. Believing that he could, without the compromise of principle, become a minister of the gospel in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and sustain the relation of pastor, he determined to do so, made his application, and was received. After entering the Protestant Episcopal Church, he spent a short time in the city of Louisville, but afterward settled in Henderson, as the rector of that parish, where, on the 16th of October, 1806, he ended his labors and his life. Reared under Methodist influences, blessed with the example and the instruction of pious parents from his childhood, converted, and having entered the ministry when only a youth, during the entire period of his connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church, his piety shone with resplendent luster. As a preacher, " he was not boisterous, but fluent, ready, and his sermons smoothly delivered; his style perspicuous, and every word expressive of the idea intended." However much we may regret that he was influenced to make any change in his Church-relatiols, it is gratifying to know that he carried into the Colnmunion which he entered, the deep piety and devotion to the work of the ministry tlat distinguished him as an evangelist in the Church of his father. Judge Scott says: 1' I-le sustained an excellent character until he died." IN KENTUCKY. 225 We close this sketch with the following letter, received by us from the Rev. B. B. Smith, D.D., the Senior Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States: "' Some years after I entered upon the office of the first Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Kentucky, it occurred to me that it might become a matter of some interest to those who should come after me, if I were at some pains to collect such fragmentary notices as I could obtain of those early clergy who accompanied the first colonies which came to Kentucky, chiefly from Virginia. Some of these notices were not at all creditable to the characters of some of the colonial clergy. For example: Dr. Chambers, of Nelson county, fell in a duel with the celebrated Judge Rowan; and the distinguished Judge Sebastian, who escaped impeachment by resigning —on the accusation, which proved susceptible of a favorable interpretation, of receiving a pension from the Spanish Governor of Louisiana. The letters of orders of both these, and of that amiable and blameless Swedenborgian, Dr. Gant, of ILouisville, by Bishops in England, were submitted to my inspection. " The most favorable impression made by any of them upon my mind, was made, by all that I could learn, by the Rev. Williams JIavanaugh, of Henderson, who, however, was not ordained in England, but either by Bishop White, of Pennsylvania, or by Bishop Madison, of Virginia, if I remember aright. VOL. L.-8 226 I ME T HO D I S Ml "Amongst rmy first acquaintances in Henderson were several who distinctly remembered to have heard him preach; and some, I think, who had received baptism at his hands. His memory was cherished as that of a good man, an instructive and interesting preacher, and of one'who adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour,' by a blameless and holy life. He adorned his sacred profession in all things." John Kobler was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, August 29, 1768. Through the example and teachings of a pious mother, he was early impressed with the importance of religion, and on the evening of the 24th of December, 1787-then in the nineteenth year of his age —was happily converted to God. In 1790,* he entered upon the itinerant work, and was appointed to Amelia Circuit. His second year was on the Bedford; his third, on the Greenbrier —all in the State of Virginia. In 1793, though only twenty-five years of age, he was placed in charge of the District, as Presiding Elder, embracing New River, Green, and Holston Circuits, where he remained until 1797, when he succeeded Mr. Poythress in Kentucky. After the termination of the Indian war, the North-western Territory began to settle rapidly. That portion of it, lying in the State of Ohio, *'The probabilities are that he was admitted in 1789, as it is so stated in the memoir of him in the General Minutes, as the Minutes of 1790 recognize himr as "remaining on trial." This is confirmed by his appointment to a District as Presiding Elder, in 1793. The Minutes of 1789, however, have no notice of his name. IN KENTUCKY. 227 known as the Mad River country, was first settled by emigrants from Kentucky, while numbers from the same State settled on the Big and Little Miamis.* Among those who had gone from Kentucky, were many members of the Methodist Church. The emigration from the State was so great that "1 many of the societies were broken up." t It was only natural that Methodists front Kentucky should look to the State whence they had emigrated for ministerial aid. Mr. Kobler, then in the flower and strength of manhood-possessed of a constitution naturally robust; deeply alive to a sense of his responsibility to the Church and to God; familiar with the dangers of frontier life, and well prepared to meet its privations and hardships-cheerfully volunteered to be the first missionary to cross the Ohio. In the year 1798, he enters on the duty of forming a circuit in the North-western Territory. In entering upon that field of ministerial labor, " he found the country almost in its native rude and uncultivated state." * Methodist Magazine, Vol. IV., p. 311. t Western Methodism, p. 74. TThe Rev. Mr. Hinde, in the Methodist Magazine, Vol. V., p. 270, fixes the date of Mr. Kobler's entrance on his work in the North-western Territory at 1799; but Mr. Kobler himself, in an account furnished by him for the Western Historical Society, in 1841, and published in Finley's Sketches of Western Methodism, p. 109, says: "In the year 1798, I was sent by Bishop Asbury, as a missionary, to form a new circuit in what was then called the North-western Territory." His name, for 1798, stands in the Minutes in connection with the Cumberland Circuit. Judge Scott informs us that Bishop Asbury withdrew him from the Cumberland, and appointed Lewis HEunt in his place. 228 MET HI OD ISM As yet, "bno sound of the everlasting gospel had broken upon their ears, or gladdened their hearts." It is true, that the General Minutes, as early as 1787, report a circuit under the name of Ohio, but this circuit did not enter any portion of what is now that State, but " stretched along the frontier settlements of the Ohio River, in Western Pennsylvania and Virginia." * He remained in Ohio until the ensuilng Conference, having formed the Miami Circuit, and returned ninety-eight white members, and one colored. In 1799, we find him in charge of the Hinkstone Circuit, in KIentucky; and in 1800, on the Orange, in Virginia. The privations, toils, and exposures incident to frontier missionary life, "' gave to his constitution a shock, from which it never recovered." Prostrated in health, at the Conference of 1801, he located, and "' settled in the neighborhood in which he was born." In 1836, the Baltimore Conference, without any solicitation on his part, readmitted him, and placed his name on the superannuated list, where it remained during the rest of his life. Possessed of preaching abilities above mediocrity, in every relation he sustained to the Churchwhether in the itinerant field, or in a local spherehe prosecuted with untiring zeal the great work to which he had been called. During the period of his connection with the Church in Kentucky, he gave entire satisfaction to - Extract from proceedings of the lRoss County (Chillicothe) Bar, on the occasion of the death of Judge Scott. IN KENTUCKY. 229 both preachers and people. During the year in which he presided over the Kentucky District, with such men under his supervision as Page, Lakin, Williams Kavanaugh, and Henry Smith, he exhibited those high qualifications, both as a preacher and an officer, in the Church, that rendered him a universal favorite, and crowned his ministry with great success. Everywhere he went, listening crowds gathered around him, and communities where no Methodist Churches had been organized invited his ministrations. At that period, no Church had been planted in the town of Washington, then the county-seat of Mason, and no Methodist preacher had probably ever preached in the place. Through the efforts of a few of the most influential citizens, the use of the court-house was obtained, and Mr. IKobler was invited to preach. "All the respectable citizens attended, and listened to his sermon with profound attention." When the public services were over, the people insisted that he was wrongly named-that he was no cobbler, but a complete workman.* It always affords us pleasure to know that one, the morning and noon of whose life have been devoted to the service of the Church, retains his influence for good in its " sere and yellow leaf." "Fond of meeting with the redeemed of the Lord, to worship the Most High, as age grew upon him, and his ability to transport himself to the distant circuit appointments declined, he sought for a residence in *Judgo Scott, 230 METHODISM a place where he could assemble with the people of God, and be useful. The highly favored spot of his selection was Fredericksburg, Virginia. The saintlike spirit, the Christian conversation, the dignified and ministerial bearing, and the untiring labors in preaching, exhorting, praying, visiting the sick and imprisoned, of John IKobler, have done more, under God, to give permanency to Methodism in Fredericksburg than any other instrumentality ever employed." * Amongst the last active labors of Mr. Kobler was a tour to the West, in his seventy-fourth year, to solicit aid in the erection of a more comfortable church in Fredericksburg than the one in which they worshiped. Appealing to those to whose fathers he had preached the gospel, he placed more than one thousand dollars in the hands of the building committee. He lived to behold the completion and dedication of this house to the worship of God, and to see in it the most interesting revival of religion that the Church in Fredericksburg had ever witnessed. " Iarclly had the work of God abated, when disease laid its destroying hand upon him. While upon his bed of affliction, he was perfectly happy; his countenance always wore a smile that seemed heavenly. Without murmuring or complaining, and with lamb-like patience, he suffered his Master's will. The following are some of the remarks he made during his affliction:'Living or dying, so God is glorified, and I, X'Gelneral Mlinutes, Vol. III., p. 465. IN KENTUCIKY. 231 a poor sinner, saved, is all I want.' Calling on his friends to engage in prayer, he was asked,' Is there any thing special for which you wish us to pray?''Pray,' said he,'for the Church, that God would pour out his Spirit abundantly upon it, and take it into close keeping with himself.' And again:'I have dug deep, and brought all the evidence to bear, and I find I have a strong confidence, which nothing can shake, but all is through our Lord Jesus Christ. Brother, I wish it to be known that the principles I have believed, and taught, and practiced in life, I hold in death, and I find that they sustain me. I have tried all my life to make my ministry and life consistent.' About half an hour before he expired, he was asked,'Is Jesus precious?''O yes,' said he,'very precious, very precious!' and then added,' Coue, Lord Jesus! Come, Lord Jesus, in power! Come quickly!' and then in a few minutes breathed his last, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, on July 26, 1843." Although the Church had prosperity in many portions of the State, we are called upon to report a decrease in the membership of one hundred and ninety-six. The Shelby and Salt River Circuits were again united, and constituted one field of labor. In the arrangement of the work, there was no farther change previous to the Conference of 1800. The Conference for Kentucky, for 1798, met on the 1st day of May, on Holston.* Mr. Burke, in *Judge Scott. WVe also learn from the General Minutes that the appointment of the Conference was for the date and place we have given. 232 MI E T II O D I S M his Autobiography, says: "In the spring of 1798, Bishop Asbury met the Conference on IIolston." Mr. Burke, however, is evidently mistaken as to Bishop Asbury being present at this Conference. On the 2d day of May, according to his journal, we find him opening the Baltimore Conference, in reference to which he says: "W Yednesday, lMay 2. Our Conference began. It was half-yearly, to bring an equality to the change from fall to spring." The name of Robert WVilkerson appears this year among the Appointments in Kentucky. In 1797, he was admitted on trial, and appointed to the Green Circuit. li-e was sent to the Danville Circuit in 1798. IH-e remained in Kentucky only one year. In the Appointments for 1799, his name stands connected with the Guilford Circuit, and in 1800, with the Ilaw River-both in North Carolina. In 1801, he located. Valentine Cook, the energetic leader for the present year of the valiant corps of preachers who were devoting their strength in this Western field to the promotion of religious truth, had already labored successfully for several years in the East. As early as 1788, he became an itinerant, and was appointed to the Calvert Circuit, in Maryland. The three following years he traveled in Virginia, on the Gloucester, Lancaster, and Berkeley Circuits. In 1792, he had charge of the Pittsburgh Circuit, in the bounds of which he held his famous debate with the Rev. Mr. Jamieson, a Scotch Seceder clergyman-his denomination being prevalent in that comrmunity. The points involved in the controversy IN KENTUCKY. 233 embraced those doctrines upon which Calvinists and Arminians so widely differ. Mr. Cook had ventured into the bounds of the congregation of the Rev. Mr. Porter, a Presbyterian minister, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and preached the doctrines of Free Grace and Sanctification, and compared them with those of Unconditional Election and Reprobation. Mr. Porter, regarding himself insulted, and his rights invaded, addressed a letter to the Methodist preacher, in which le informed him that he "wanted none of his friendly visits or help," and "charged him with propagating false doctrines in several particulars." Mr. Cook, by no means abashed, replied, vindicating the truth of the principles he held, and avowed his purpose to impress them upon the minds and hearts of the people. Several communications passed between them, when Mr. Porter was informed that no farther time could be wasted in a "paper controversy," but, if he was "not satisfied, he wvould meet him in public," and discuss the points at issue between them. It was thought by the friends of Mr. Porter that it would be best to withdraw him from the field, and to substitute in his place the Rev. Mr. Jamieson. Entering the lists under the conviction that an easy task lay before him, Mr. Jarnieson addressed a letter to Mr. Cook, in which he informed him that he had spent many "years at college," had " studied theology" and "the art of logical reasoning;" that he had been many " years a preacher of the gospel;" and that he " must be," by this time, " deeply imbedded in the mire of Cal 234 I E T I 0 D I S Ar vinism;" and to extricate him from which, he asked of Mr. Cook his favorable assistance, and assured him that he was "' ready to meet " him. lMr. Cook, in reply, requested Mr. Jamieson "to appoint the time and the place" for the debate, and asked him to make the appointment before he "'would leave the country, and cross the mountains to Conference," as he had "no certainty that" he should " return again." The time was appointed, and the place was promptly fixed at Mr. Porter's church, the stronghold of Calvinism, within five miles of which, probably, not a Methodist family resided. The hour was nine o'clock. Mr. Cook, accompanied by his friend, Mr. Banning, reached the place before the hour arrived, and took his seat in the woods.* Bishop Roberts, at that time a young member of the Church, resided in the bounds of Mr. Cook's circuit, and was present at the debate; and to him, as detailed by the Rev. Dr. Stevenson, in his Biographical Sketch of Valentine Cook, we are indebted for the following account of the scene: " On reaching the ground, he found that ample preparations had been made for the accommodation of all concerned. A lofty wooden pulpit had been erected in the midst of a dense forest, and surrounded with a vast number of seats for the convenience of the immense concourse that was evidently *Contributions to the Western HIistorical Society, by A. Banning, published in the South-western Christian Advocate, of November 7, 1840. IN KENTUCKY. 235 expected on the occasion. These extensive arrangements appeared to have been exclusively prepared by the friends and votaries of the old Scotch minister. In truth, he saw no one who appeared to be at all inclined to favor Mr. Cook, or his cause. As the people began to assemble, he occasionally heard the name of Cook pronounced, and being anxious to know all that was going on, he passed round from group to group, and heard much that was being said. Here, Cook was represented as a mere ignoramus-that, if he should chance to appear on the ground, there would be but little of him or his Methodism left by the time Mr. had done with him. Upon the whole, it was perfectly clear, from all that lie could see and hear, that a great victory, in the estimation of the dominant party, was that day to be achieved on the side of Calvinism. By this time his fears had become so aroused, he was strongly inclined to wish that Mr. Cook mnight not attend. But it was soon announced that the Methodist preacher had arrived. He found hinm a little beyond the limits of the congregation, quietly seated on the trunk of a fallen tree. But two or three individuals approached him, or gave him the hand of friendship. His presence, however, appeared to put a quietus for the time being on the rampant spirit of the opposition, especially as their champion had not yet made his appearance. At length the old Scotchman drove up, as large as life; nor did he rein up his noble steed until he had well-nigh reached the center of the crowd. IHe was a well-sot, broad-shouldered, venerable 236 ME T H OD ISM looking man, of about sixty. His features were strongly marked, and indicated a due proportion of iron as well as intellect. When interrogated by one of his friends as to the cause of his delay, he promptly replied, with a heavy Scotch brogue:'I'm here in ample time to gi'e the youngster a dose from which he'll not soon recover.' The parties had never seen each other, and, of course, had no personal acquaintance. When. introduced, as they soon were, though in a very awkward manner, Mr. Cook was treated with marked incivility and rudeness. "' What!' said the old Scotchman,'is this the young mon who has had the impertinance to assail the doctrines of grace?' "'No, sir,' was the prompt reply of Mr. Cook,'I have never assailed the doctrines of grace, though I have entered my protest to the prominent peculiarities of the Calvinistic system, believing, as I do, that they cannot be sustained by the word of God.' "An effort was then made to adjust the propositions to be discussed, as well as rules of order for the debate; to all of which, however, the old Scotchman peremptorily demurred. lile would agree to nothing proposed by AMr. Cook. It was his purpose to occupy the stand as long as he might think proper; and then, if the stripling had any thing to say, he might say on. With an air of self: confidence he ascended the pulpit, and, without prayer, explanation, or any thing of the sort, he commenced a most furious attack on Mr. Wesley and Methodism in general. I1e soon became greatly IN KENTUCKY. 237 excited —raved, stamped, and literally foamed at the mouth. By the time he entered on the support of Calvinism properly so called, his voice was wellnigh gone. He, however, screwed himself up as best he could, and held on for a considerable length of time, relying almost exclusively on the opinions of distinguished men and learned bodies of ecclesiastics for the support of the prominent features of his theology. At the close of about two hours, he brought his weak and very exceptionable remarks to a close, and sat down greatly exhausted. " Mr. Cook then rose in the pulpit, and after a most solemn and fervent appeal to Almighty God, for wisdom and help from on high, to maintain and defend the truth, he commenced, though evidently laboring under much embarrassment. IIis hand trembled, his tongue faltered, and at times it was with difficulty he could articulate with sufficient clearness to be heard on the outskirts of the assembly. He first took up in order, and refuted with great power and effect, the allegations that had been made against Wesley and Methodism. By this time his embarrassment had passed off, his voice became clear and distinct, and, withal, there was a strange sweetness in his delivery, that seemed to put a spell on the whole assembly. He then entered his solemn protest to the exceptionable features of the Calvinistic theory. He opposed to the opinions of reputedly great and learned men, on which his opponent had mainly relied, the plain and positive teachings of Moses and the prophets, of Christ and his apostles; and in conclusion, pre 238 MET II OD I SM sented an outline view of the great gospel scheme of human salvation, as believed and taught by Wesley and his followers, both in Europe and America; not in its theory only, but in its experimental and practical bearings on the present and future destiny of the world. At an early period in his discourse, the venerable champion of Geneva rose to his feet, and exclaimed, with all the voice he had left,'Wolf! wolf! wolf in sheep's clothing!' Mr. Cook, however, had become so perfectly self-possessed, and so thoroughly occupied with his subject, that this excessive rudeness on the part of the old Scotchman had no effect whatever upon him. As he advanced in the discussion, he appeared to acquire additional strength, physical, mental, and spiritual. The fixed attention of the vast multitude seemed to inspire him with new powers of investigation, argument, and eloquence. His voice, though soft and soothing, rolled on, in thunder-tones, over the vast concourse, and echoed far away in the depths of the forest; while his countenance lighted up, kindled, and glowed, as if newly commissioned from on high to proclaim the salvation of God to a perishing race. The poor old Scotchman could endure it no longer; he again sprang to his feet, and bawled out at the top of his shattered voice:'Follow me, follow me, and leave the babbler to himself!' Only some two or three obeyed his mandate. Mr. Cook was engaged in too important a work to pay the slightest attention to the ravings or flight of his opponent. IHe pressed directly forward with his argument, dealing out at every step the most IN KENTUCKY. 239 startling demonstrations against error in Christian faith and practice. Long before the mighty effort was brought to a close, the whole assembly were on their feet, all eagerly listening, and insensibly pressing toward the speaker. Every eye was fixed, every ear was opened, and every heart was tremblingly alive to the importance of the theme. When Mr. Cook took his seat, all faces were upturned, and, for the most part, bathed in tears. The great multitude stood for some time like statues, no one appearing disposed to move, utter a word, or leave the place. All seemed to be overwhelmed, astonished, and captivated.'When the crowd began to disperse, the Bishop said, he started down to the spring, in company with many others. For some time all was as silent as a funeral procession. At length a goodlooking old gentleman turned to his companion, and said:'Did you ever hear such a man?''Never,' was the prompt reply. A free conversation ensued. It was readily admitted that he must be a very great and learned man, and that they had never wept so much under a discourse in all their lives before. It was perfectly evident that they were strongly inclined to set him down as a good as well as a great man. In the midst of their conversation, another elderly gentleman-all of Scotch descent, and evidently of the same persuasionspoke up, and said, with a good deal of apparent excitement and solicitude:'Sirs, I perceive that ye are in great danger of being led captive by the de'il at his will. Ha'e ye never reed how that Satan can transform himsel' into an angel of light, that he 240 IE T H O D ISM may deceive the very elect, if it were possible? I tell ye, sirs, he's a dangerous mon, and the less we ha'e to do wi' him the better for us a'.' Soon after this, young Roberts left the place, and returned to his father's, greatly delighted with the result of the discussion. "It is well known to those who are acquainted with the early history of Methodism in Western Pennsylvania, that this controversy was the means of opening to her ministry a'great and effectual door' of usefulness. From that day forward the Methodist Church, in all that mountain range of country, has been rapidly advancing in numbers and influence." The result of this discussion was not only a triumph for Methodism in the vindication of its great gospel truths, but it also conferred on Mr. Cook a reputation that placed him by the side of the ablest ministers of the Church. The following year we find him among the mountains of Western Virginia, on the Clarksburg Circuit. In 1794, his appointment is to the District embracing Bristol, Chester, Philadelphia, Lancaster, Northumberland, and Wyoming Circuits, lying almost entirely in Pennsylvania; and in 1795, his District comprises the Northumberland, Wyoming, Tioga, and Seneca Circuits. In 1796 and 1797, he leads the band of itinerants, who, amid privations and sacrifices, traverse the mountains over which the Clarksburg, Ohio, Redstone, Pittsburgh, and Greenfield Circuits spread. A faithful messenger of truth, he passed through his District, scattering IN KENTUCKY. 241 the rays of Divine light, proclaiming the everlasting gospel, encouraging the preachers by his untiring zeal, and everywhere calling the people to repentance. In 1798, he came to Kentucky, and, as the successor to John Kobler, was placed in charge of the District, as Presiding Elder. His immense labors had broken down his health, and at the Conference of 1800, he located. "Such, however, were his extraordinary endowments, mental, moral, and evangelical-such the strength of his faith, the fervency of his zeal, and the efficiency of his ministry —that no seclusion of place or obscurity of position could prevent the Church or the world from recognizing him as a great and good man, as well as an able, laborious, and eminently successful minister of the cross of Christ." * The Bethel Academy, to which we alluded in a former chapter, was still in an unfinished state. It was the second institution of learning established by the Methodist Church in America.t The educational advantages of Valentine Cook — his great popularity in the pulpit, as well as adaptedness to such a position —pointed him out as well qualified to take charge of this academy. IIe, however, remained at Bethel but a few years. lHe subsequently took charge of an academy at IIarrodsburg, and finally removed to Logan county, three miles north of Russellville, where he resided until his death. *'Sketch of Valentine Cook, by Dr. Stevenson, p. 10. I Cokesbury College was the first. 242 M E T H O D I S In 1798, 1" he was married to Miss Tabitha Slaughter, the niece of the ex-Governor of that name." In his local sphere, he made "'good proof of his ministry." Regarding Methodism as perfectly daguerreotyped in the HIoly Bible, to defend its doctrines, to enforce its precepts, and proclaim its truths, was the most fondly cherished wish of his heart. As an able champion placed for the defense "of the faith," Kentucky will always hold hinm in admiration and reverence. The controversies in which he engaged, and their successful termination in behalf of the Church of which he was so able a minister, would, by tradition, transmit his name to future generations, though no sketch of him had ever been written. But while his controversial powers were of the highest order, the great theme on which he loved to dwell was experimental reliqion. Not only in the pulpit, but in the social circlewhere the urbanity of his manners, and his bright Christian example, made him a welcome guest-he always turned the conversation on the subject of religion. He was truly a man of deep piety. During the winter of 1811-12, Kentucky was visited by a succession of earthquakes, that produced great alarm among the people. The most violent concussion was felt on a certain dark night, at an untimely hour, when men were wrapped in slumber. It was enough to make the stoutest heart tremble. Brother Cook, suddenly roused from sleep, made for the door, exclaiming, "I believe Jesus is coming." His wife was alarmed, and said, "Will you wait IN KENTUCKY. 243 for me?" Said he, "If my Jesus is coming, I will wait for nobody! "* The same writer says: "My personal acquaintance with Brother Cook commenced in his own house, near Russellville, Kentucky, in the summer of 1815, and was renewed when I became a member of the Kentucky Conference, by transfer, in 1821. From that time till his death, my fields of labor being somewhat contiguous to his residence, I saw something of his movements, and heard much more. HIe was then an old man, and honored as a father in the Church, but still possessed of strong physical and mental powers. His aid was anxiously sought after on all important occasions in the west part of the State; and wherever lie appeared in a religious assembly, he was hailed as a harbinger of mercy. Whole multitudes of people, on popular occasions, were moved by the Spirit of grace, under his preaching, as the trees of the forest were moved by the winds of heaven. His last public effort, as I was informed by those who were present, made at Yellow Creek camp-meeting, in Dixon county, Tennessee, was a signal triumph. While preaching on the Sabbath, such a power came down on the people, and produced such an excitement, that he was obliged to desist till order was partially restored. Shortly after he resumed speaking, he was stopped from the same cause. A third attempt produced the same result. IHe then sat down amidst a glorious *AMorris's Miscellany, pp. 175, 176. 244 METHODISM shower of grace, and wept, saying,'If the Lord sends rain, we will stop the plow, and let it rain.' " * Impressed with the belief that his work was wellnigh done, in the autumn of 1819, he consummated a fondly cherished desire of his heart, in visiting his old friends in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. He "felt a wish to kneel by the graves of his departed parents, and to take a last look, as well as a last leave, of the memorable spot where first the light of Heaven broke upon his soul." In his route, he passed through Lexington, KIentucky, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he preached "the unsearchable riches of Christ." IIe then proceeded to Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, where "vast crowds of people flocked to hear him," and " scores and hundreds were awakened and converted to God through his instrumentality." Returning home, he passed through the Greenbrier country, seeing " many of his relatives and early friends; " looking upon "' the scenes of his childhood," and kneeling "at the spot" where slept the dust of his parents. Then, bidding adieu to his friends, he wended his way to his own home, from which he had been absent for several weeks. Passing around his little farm, the well-known sound of his sweetly toned voice was heard, as he sang: "Salvation, 0 the joyful sound!'Tis pleasure to our ears: A sov'reign balm for every wound, A cordial for our fears." *AI orris's Miscellany, p. 177. IN KENTUCKY. 245 IIis whole tour through the East resembled the triumph of a conqueror. Wherever he went, he says, "the power of the Spirit of the Lord was with me." Thousands hung in breathless silence around him, and caught the words of mercy as they warmly fell from his burning lips. Contemplating death, he says: "My labors in the ministry are drawing to a close. I shall soon have performed my last day's work on earth. Thank God, I am ready, all ready, through his abundant mercy and grace, to depart and be with Christ "* In less than a year after he returned from this tour, he was dead. "A short time previous to his death, he attended a camp-meeting, some eight or ten miles from home. As usual, he labored with great zeal and success. He preached on the Sabbath to a vast crowd, from these words:'For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' —2 Corinthians iv. 17. After a solemn and very impressive pause, he lifted his eyes to heaven, and said:' What! our cqfflicions work for us a weight of glory!-a far more exceediny and elernial weiygh of glory!' and added,'I believe it with all my heart, because thou, 0 God, hast revealed it in this blessed volume.' The effect upon the congregation is said to have been very remarkable, and the discourse throughout has been represented as among the most able and effective that he ever delivered. This Nwas *- Dr. Stevrnson. 246 M E T II O D I SM the last sermon he preached, as I was informed by his weeping widow, a few months after his death. " On his return home from this meeting, he was violently attacked with bilious fever. His case, from the first, was considered doubtful, and finally hopeless. Conscious of his approaching dissolution, he called his wife and children to his bedside, and, after taking a last earthly leave of his family, he committed them, with many expressions of confidence, to the guidance and protection of Almighty Goodness. When asked by one of his neighbors, a few moments before his death, how he felt, he answered,'I scarcely know,' and then added,'When I think of Jesus, and of living with him for ever, I am so filled with the love of God, that I scarcely know whether I am in the body or out of the body.' These were the last words that ever fell from his lips. He died as he had lived,'strong in faith, giving glory to God.'" * The year 1798 was distinguished for the introduction of Methodism into that portion of the Northwestern Territory now known as the State of Ohio. Kentucky was already the great center of Methodism in the West. The rapid tide of emigration to the vast fields beyond the Ohio, not only from Kentucky, but also from other States, very properly invited the attention of Bishop Asbury to the importance of sending a missionary to them, and John Kobler was selected for that enterprising yet arduous field. * Sketch of Cook, by Dr. Stevenson, pp. 75, 76. IN KENTUCIKY. 247 Francis MlcCormack, a local preacher of piety and zeal, who immigrated to Kentucky inl 1795, and settied in Bourbon county, not pleased with the State, had preceded Mr. Kobler to the North-western Territory, and settled " on the Little Miami, near where Milford now stands." Up to the time of the entrance of Mr. Kobler on this missionary field, "' no sound of the everlasting gospel had as yet broken upon their ears; no house of worship was erected wherein Jehovah's name was recorded; no joining the assembly of the saints, or those who keep the holy-day; but the whole might with strict propriety be called a land of darkness and the shadow of death." * Mr. Kobler " spread the first table for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper that was spread northwest of the Ohio," when only " twenty-five or thirty-the sum total of all that were in the country "-communed. At the following Conference, he reported the Miami Circuit with ninely-eight white members and one colored-and to which HIenry Smith was appointed the succeeding year. At the close of this year, we have the pleasure to report an increase of thirty-seven members, which, though small, indicates that the downward tendency is checked. *Finley's Sketches of Western Methodism, p. 170. 248 ME T IHOD ISM CHAPTER X. FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1799 TO TIIHE CONFERENCE HELD IN APRIL, 1800. The Conference held at Bethel Academy —Daniel Gossage-Farther increase in membership-The decline in membership between the years 1792 and 1800, and the causes-Emigration from the StateThe O'Kelly schism-Legislation on the subject of slavery-Prevalent infidelity-Erroneous Doctrines-John and William McGeeThe great revival-Red River Church-Muddy River —The Ridge meeting-Desha's Creek-Letter from the Rev. John McGee. TIHE Conference of 1799 was held on the 1st day of May, at Bethel Academy. In reference to the session we have but little information, except such as we find in the General Minutes. The name of Daniel Gossage is the only one in the list of Appointments in Kentucky, of whom previous mention had not been made. Ile, however, only entered the Conference this year, and was appointed., with Thomas Allen, to the Salt River and Shelby Circuit. At the next Conference his name disappears from the roll, and all trace of him is lost. At the close of this year, we have the pleasure of reporting again an increase of members, amounting, to one hunzdred and three-an improvement on the report of the previous year. It is a pleasant task to trace the history of the IN KENTUCKY. 249 Church amid scenes of revival, when the achievements of Christianity, "like the rushing of a mighty wind," arrest the attention of entire conmmlunities; or when, in its more gentle influence, it gradually adds to the number of its conquests from the ranks of sin. But when, in the midst of tireless efforts on the part of chosen instruments, we discover any decay of its power, or any diminution of its sway, it is proper that we pause to inquire into the causes by which its prosperity has been impaired. Between the years 1792 and 1800, the men who occupied the field in the West, if equaled, have not been surpassed, for their zeal, their abundant labors, and their self-sacrificing spirit, in any age of the Church; yet, during this period, while the State of Kentucky increased in population from less than one hundred thousand to two hundred and sixtyfour thousand three hundred and three, including whites and colored, the Methodist Episcopal Church decreased in membership from one thousand eight hundred and eight to one thousand seven hundred and forty-one. Why this result? It certainly cannot be ascribed to any want of fidelity to the Church on the part of the preachers of that period; nor can it be traced to any defect in the doctrines they preached-for these, if not found in the Confessions of Faith of other evangelical Churches, have met with almost universal adoption by the orthodox pulpit. The Rev. D. R. McAnally, in his "Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Patton," in referring to 250 MET HO D I S MI the Conference for 1800, says: "The settlements in Kentucky were rapidly enlarging and being filled up, and all the Western preachers that could be spared were taken for that work; so that only three were left for all the Ifolston country. lNew River, IIolston, and Russell Circuits were united, under the care of John'Watson and John Page, while James Hunter was sent to Green. One preacher only (William Lambeth) was all that could be, or that was, affbrded to the Cumberland or West Tennessee country, while there were seven in KIentucky. Regarding the facts connected with the early history of the Church in these different sections, and seeing the manifest advantages given to. the Kentucky settlements, the reader would naturally expect to find Methodism there greatly in advance of what it was in the other sections. And this was the case for many years; but the precedence thus gained was not well sustained, and in process of time, the others not only overtook, but, in many important respects, outstripped their early favored sister. A close inquiry into the reason of this, prosecuted with a cool, philosophic pen, could reveal facts, and the operation of principles, important to Methoclists everywhere, and through all time." We may not be able to discover the partiality shown to Kentucky, to which allusion is made in the extract we have quoted. We have always accepted the opinion that the comparative wants of the work in each Episcopal District were duly considered by those who had the oversight, and that the best distribution was made of the talents and IN KENTUCKY. 251 laborers to be employed; nor does it belong to our purpose to institute comparisons between the Church in Kentucky and any other portion of our priceless heritage. We rejoice in the success of Methodism anywhere. It is our common inheritance; and in Holston, Tennessee, and Kentucky, it claims, under God, a common parentage, and has been bequeathed to us by the same noble men. The names of Haw, Ogden, Poythress, McIIenry, Burke, Page, Wilkerson, Ward, Ray, Kobler, and others, are equally dear to them and to us; and if, in the Holston Conference, Methodism has met with fewer antagonisms than in Kentucky, and been more successful, it shall be our glory and joy. The decrease in the membership, to which we have referred, cannot be justly attributed to any single cause, but to a combination of causes. The generally received opinion, that the decrease during this period may be traced to the emigration from the State, is not sustained by the facts. Between the years 1792 and 1795, we had no material increase in membership; and yet, during this period, we had no emigration from Kentucky. The expedition of Gen. Wayne into the Indian country was not made until the summer of 1794, nor was the treaty of peace made until the following year; and hence the North-western Territory was not opened to emigration previous to that date. Whatever influence emigration from the State may have exerted on the welfare and numerical strength of the Church, subsequent to 1795-and we readily concede that, between that year and 1800, as well 252 MiE THOD I SM as at later periods, it was sufficient, in the midst of extensive revivals of religion, to produce a declension of numbers-certainly the apparent want of success, while largely indebted to this cause, cannot De confined to it. We also readily admit that, before the close of the past century, in some places, large societies were entirely broken up, and in others, only portions were left, by removals from the State. We have already seen large bodies of Methodists from Kentucky settled in what is now the State of Ohio, in the Mad River country, "and also on the Big and Little Miamis; " * so that, notwithstanding the success that crowned the labors of the preachers, and the hundreds that were brought to the saving knowledge of the truth, through their instrumentality, yet, in their annual exhibits, they often showed a decrease of membership in their respective fields of labor. In Marion county, in the neighborhood known as Thomas's Meeting-house, we had one of the most flourishing societies in the State. The land around it was fertile, and many influential families from Virginia had settled in the vicinity, and became members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. From a letter we received from the Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe, we learn that, "' about the year 1800, a considerable emigration of Roman Catholics from Maryland came into this neighborhood, and bought out the residences of many members of the Church, who sought homes in other portions of the State, * Methodist Magazino, Vol. IV., p. 311. IN KENTUCKY. 253 and in Indiana." By this means, a large extent of territory, where Methodism had been fostered and flourished, passed from our hands; and, at the present date, is one of the strongholds of Roman Catholicism; while Protestant Christianity, in any of its forms, though favored with a ministry distinguished for their zeal and devotion, and a membership, though small, yet influential, has found it difficult, in the same conmmunity, to do more than maintain a feeble existence. To the Church in Kentucky it was a source of unspeakable pleasure, that, while their societies at home were being thus depleted, they were sending forth into the vast field beyond the Ohio hundreds from their Communion, by whom Methodism would be planted, and beneath whose fostering care it would flourish, and put forth "its leaves for the healing of the nations." Another cause of the decrease in our membership during this period, is to be found in the influence exerted by Mr. O'Kelly. While the injurious effects of the step that he had so unfortunately taken, for a while arrested the prosperity of the Church in Virginia and North Carolina, the evil that he wrought was not confined to these sections, in which he had previously attained such popularity as an evangelist: its pernicious results reached the farthest limits of the Church in America, immediately following his secession. For several years, a decrease in the aggregate membership is reported in the General Minutes. In 1795, when his power was at its height, and he was spreading desolation 254 M E T H O D I S M throughout the Church, the decrease reached six thousand three hunrtdred and sevenlteen-which was more than one-tenth the entire membership of the Church. Kentucky had chiefly been settled by emigrants from Virginia, and the infant Church in the West became involved in the controversy. Some of the prominent preachers were beguiled by its teachings. We have already seen James Hawone of the first two missionaries-embracing the views of Mr. O'Kelly, and carrying with him almost the entire corps of preachers, and many of the members in the Cumberland Circuit, which lay partly in Kentucky. The infection reached the central and northern portions of the State, and threw many of the societies into confusion and strife. Whatever may be the beneficial results of religious controversy, when it involves the vindication of the doctrines of the Bible, certainly no good can follow from a discussion between religionists who accept the same great axioms of Bible truth, and differ only upon questions of minor importance. In controversies of this kind, the passions are much more likely to become inflamed than where the issue is in reference to great evangelical questions. The strife in which many of the societies became involved very naturally produced ill-feeling, and turned away from our Communion hundreds who had been blessed by the teachings of our fathers. There is still, however, another cause for our want of success during this period: the legislation IN KENTUCcKY. 255 of the Church on the subject of slavery. Previous to the Christmas Conference-at which time the' "Methodist Episcopal Church in America" was organized —the Annual Conferences had enacted laws on this question. At the Conference of 1780realizing the delicacy of the subject-we find an expression of "disapprobation on all" Methodists who held slaves, and " their freedom " advised. In the Conference of 1783-emboldened by their former step-the question is asked: "WVhat shall be done with our local preachers who hold slaves, contrary to the laws which authorize their freedom, in any of the United States?" The answer is: "We will try them another year. In the meantime, let every assistant deal faithfully and plainly with every one, and report to the next Conference. It may then be necessary to suspend them." The action of the Conference of 1783 produced some disturbance in the State of Virginia, and at the Conference of 1784, while a more rigid discipline was adopted for the laity, final action was suspended for another year against the preachers in Virginia; and at the same time, more stringent measures were to be enforced against our local brethren in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The traveling preachers, also, who might own slaves, were to be suspended. The enactments of this Conference are: "QQuestion 12. YWhat shall we do with our friends that will buy and sell slaves? "Answer. If they buy with no other design than to hold them as slaves, and have been previously 256 Al E Tr 0o D I S At warned, they shall be expelled, and permitted to sell on no consideration. "Question 13. What shall we do with our local preachers who will not emancipate their slaves in the States where the laws admit it? "Answer. Try those in Virginia another year, and suspend the preachers in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. "'Question 22. What shall be done with our traveling preachers that now are, or hereafter shall be, possessed of slaves, and refuse to manumit where the law permits? "Answer. Employ them no more." These several actions were previous to the organization of the Church. At the Christmas Conference, held in the city of Baltimore-at which the "Methodist Episcopal Church in America" was organized-in answer to the question, "What methods can we take to extirpate slavery? " we have the following: "Question 42. What methods can we take to extirpate slavery? "Answer. We are deeply conscious of the impropriety of making new terms of communion for a religious society already established, excepting on the most pressing occasion; and such we esteem the practice of holding our fallow-creatures in slavery. We view it as contrary to the golden law of God, on which hang all the law and the prophets, and the unalienable rights of mankind, as well as every principle of the revolution, to hold in the deepest debasement, in a more abject slavery than is per IN IENTUCKY. 257 haps to be found in any part of the world except America, so many souls that are all capable of the image of God. "We therefore think it our most bounden duty to take immediately some effectual method to extirpate this abomination from among us; and for that purpose we add the following to the rules of our society, viz.: " 1. Every member of our society who has slaves in his possession, shall, within twelve months after notice given to him by the assistant, (which notice the assistants are required immediately, and without any delay, to give in their respective circuits,) legally execute and record an instrument, whereby he emancipates and sets free every slave in his possession, who is between the ages of forty and fortyfive, immediately, or at farthest when they arrive at the age of forty-five. "And every slave who is between the ages of twenty-five and forty immediately, or at farthest at the expiration of five years from the date of the said instrument. "And every slave who is between the ages of twenty and twenty-five immediately, or at farthest when they arrive at the age of thirty. "And every slave under the age of twenty, as soon as they arrive at the age of twenty-five at farthest. "And every infant born in slavery after the above-mentioned rules are complied with, immecliately on its birth. "2. Every assistant shall keep a journal, in which VOL. L. —9 258 M E T H O D I S MI he shall regularly minute down the names and ages of all the slaves belonging to all the masters in his respective circuit, and also the date of every instrument executed and recorded for the manumission of the slaves, with the name of the court, book, and folio, in which the said instruments respectively shall have been recorded; which journal shall be handed down in each circuit to the succeeding assistants. " 3. In consideration that these rules form a new term of communion, every person concerned, who will not comply with them, shall have liberty quietly to withdraw himself from our society within the twelve months succeeding the notice given as aforesaid; otherwise the assistant shall exclude him in the society. "' 4. No person so voluntarily withdrawn, or so excluded, shall ever partake of the Supper of the Lord with the Methodists, till he complies with the above requisitions. ~" 5. No person holding slaves shall, in future, be admitted into society or to the Lord's Supper, till he previously complies with these rules concerning slavery. "N. B. These rules are to affect the members of our society no farther than as they are consistent with the laws of the States in which they reside. "And respecting our brethren in Virginia that are concerned, and after due consideration of their peculiar circumstances, we allow them two years from the notice given, to consider the expedience of compliance or non-compliance with these rules. IN KENTUCKY. 259 "Question 43. What shall be done with those who buy or sell slaves, or give them away? "Answzer. They are immediately to be expelled, unless they buy them on purpose to free them." * "At the Annual Conferences for 1785, it was concluded that the rule on slavery, adopted at the Christmas Conference, would do harm. It was therefore resolved to suspend its execution for the present, and a note to that effect was added to the Annual Minutes for that year. Tle Conferences, however, still expressed the deepest abhorrence of the practice, and a determination to seek its destruction by all wise and prudent means.' t It is not our purpose, in this place, to discuss this question. We only desire to show that it retarded the progress of the Church at this early period. The climate of Kentucky, as well as the fertility of the soil, not only invited immigration after the cessation of Indian hostilities, but also previous to this period, when even life and safety were in constant peril from the tomahawk and the stake, the dangers of the journey were braved, and settlements formed throughout the northern and central portions of the District. We have already said that "it was not the dull, the unambitious, the idle," who came first to Kentucky. The early settlers were, in the main, fair representatives of the communities in which they had resided, with the exception, that only those who possessed bold and adventurous * Emory's History of the Discipline, pp. 43, 44. t Ibid., p. 80. 260 IETHODISM spirits dared to remove to a country not yet given up by the Indians. The District of Kentucky having originally been a part of Virginia, that State was more largely represented upon its soil than any other. Entering the Confederacy as a slave State in 1792, many families of wealth and influence, who were slave-holders in Virginia, as well as other States, were induced to seek a home within its rich domain. It is true, the action of the Christmas Conference upon the question of slavery was, to a great extent, inoperative; nor will it be denied, that, with scarcely an exception, the preachers of Kentucky confined themselves to their legitimate calling —the preaching of the gospel-so that no fault could be found with their conduct; yet, in the statute-book of the Church, prominently stood the declaration, that "no person holding slaves shall, in fiture, be admitted into society or to the Lord's S2pper, till he previously complies with these rules concerning slavery." And in many communities this law was enforced. In the Hartford Circuit, although organized at a later date, the records of their Quarterly Conferences, from 1804 to 1825, show the continual agitation of the question, in the examination of the characters of official members, who, by any means, had become connected with slavery-thereby producing prejudice in the entire community against the Church. This interference of the Church with an institution purely civil, and, by consequence, its departure from primitive and apostolic Christianity, was too obvious not to attract the attention of even a casual IN KENTUCKY. 261 observer. Slavery, in the early ages of the Christian Church, existed in the Roman Empire in the worst imaginable forms. The master had power over the life of his slave; and the Church, without interfering with the relation, only defined and enjoined the mutual duties and obligations resulting from it. In Kentucky, while many fanlilies of high social position, in view of the inoperativeness of the rule on slavery, connected themselves with the Methodist Church, a very large proportion, among the most influential-while admiring the zeal of its preachers, the simplicity of its worship, and the truth of its doctrines-sought other Communions; so that many of our forms of worship, as well as the doctrines once peculiar to Methodism, and that had been assailed with tireless energy by sectarian bigots, were adopted by hundreds and thousands in other Christian Communions, while they turned away from the Church to which they were so largely indebted. In the attacks so frequently made upon Methodism at this early day, it was by no means uncommon for our opponents to charge upon our preachers a wish to interfere with the civil institutions of the State; from which allegation, however false, there was no means of escape, since they were the representatives of a Church that, in its statute-book, had placed itself in antagonism to an institution which was recognized by the Confederated Government as right. In addition to the causes we have already as 262 METHODIS A signed, it is proper to notice the prevalence of infidelity at this period. " Early in the spring of 1793, circumstances occurred which fanned the passions of the people into a perfect flame. The French Rlevolution had sounded a tocsin which reverberated throughout the whole civilized world. The worn-out despotisms of Europe, after standing aghast for a moment, in doubtful inactivity, had awakened at length into ill-concerted combinations against the young lepublic, and France was engaged in a life-and-death struggle. against Britain, Spain, Prussia, Austria, and the German Principalities. The terrible energy which the French Republic displayed against such fearful odds, the haughty crest with which she confionted her enemies, and repelled them from her frontier at every point, presented a spectacle well calculated to dazzle the friends of democracy throughout the world. "' The American people loved France as their ally in the Revolution, and now regarded her as a sister Republic contending for freedom agrainst banded despots." * The wide-spread sympathy of this country with France was natural. But France had embraced infidelity. The Bible there had undergone a total eclipse; its hallowed teachings despised and spurned;'"death declared to be an eternal sleep; " while Atheism-the very worst form of infidelitywas openly professed by all classes of society. We -: Collins's Kentucky, p. 46. IN KENTUCKY. 263 too had just emerged from a long and bloody war, and were not free from the vices and demoralization always consequent upon a protracted, sanguinary strife. Vice, in hideous form, in the light of noonday, walled through the land. The writings of Paine, Voltaire, and others, intended to sap the foundations of Christianity, and, at the same time, offering no other "balm to the wounded spirit," were sown broadcast throughout the land. Not only were their sentiments embraced by the masses of the American people, but many, holding high positions of public trust, and belonging to the more influential walks of life, imbibed these doctrines, and openly avowed their disbelief in the word of God. " To add to the darkness of the moral horizon, most of the Churches had sunk into mere formality, so that the doctrine of the new birth-implying that radical channge of heart which brings with it the evidence of pardon and adoption-was quite ignored or totally repudiated. The dogmas of election and reprobation, predestination and decrees, were the themes of the pulpit; and they rather confirmed than weakened the popular disposition to reject revelation. The masses considered such doctrines a slander upon God's justice, as well as his goodness, and concluded that, if the Bible afforded such views of Jehovah, it could not be true.'" * If, under these circumstances, there is an apparent * RCev. Jonathan Stamper, in tome Circle, Vol. I., p. 61. 264 METHODISM lull in the moral and religious atmosphere, we need express no surprise. Christianity was preparing for a mighty contest. The doctrines revealed in the word of God had been faithfully preached by our fathers in the ministry, as well as by pious men of other denominations, during the period we have just had under review. Occasionally mnanifestations of Divine power were seen and felt, under the preaching of the word, and at times remarkable revivals blessed the Church. Persons in different portions of the State, and of all classes of society, from the most hunmble to the most refined and enlightened, had become the subjects of converting grace, though, in the midst of the general apathy and vice, they were like scattered lights along the sky. A bright day, however, was just at hand. The occasional revivals of religion in Tennessee and Kentucky, with which these States had been favored toward the close of the century, and which had resulted in so much good, not only in keeping alive the faith of the Church, but also in extending its borders, were the precursors of displays of Divine power, more signal than had been known in this country. Glorious as they were, and freighted with so many blessings, they were as the unpretending cloud preceding the abundant rain. The future was full of hope to the Church. Infidelity, that long had stood up with brazen front, must stand abashed; false and erroneous doctrines yield to the power of truth, and men who had spurned the Bible must recognize its authority and its claims. IN KENTUCKY. 265 The year 1799 was remarkable for the beginning of the revival of religion in the West, since known as "the great revival." It commenced under the labors of the Rev. John and Williamll McGee, two brothers-the former a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the latter a Presbyterian minister in charge of a congregation in Sumner county, Tennessee. They had formerly resided in North Carolina, but had removed to Tennessee. Most ardently attached to each other, they frequently held meetings together, and labored side by side for the promotion of a common Christianity. Starting upon a preaching tour toward the Ohio River, they concluded to attend a sacramental meeting on Red River, in Logan county, Kentucly, in the congregation of the Rev. Mr. McGready, a minmister in the Presbyterian Church. The opening sermon was preached by John McGee, with more than his usual liberty. The pulpit was also filled by his brother William, and the Rev. Mr. IIodge, also a Presbyterian minister, who "preached with much animation and liberty." Althou1gh a deep religious feeling pervaded the assembly, there was no remarkable stir until Monday, the last day of the meeting. Under the preaching of Mr. I-Iodge, a lady obtained'" an uncommon blessing," and "shouted " the praises of God. The Rev. Messrs. Rankin and McGready, Presbyterian ministers, who were also present with Mr. IHdge, left the house, while the two brothers McGee sat still-the people also remaining in their seats. John McGee was appointed to preach, but 266 ME T H ODISM a Divine power filled the house, and he could only exhort, and following his exhortation were cries from penitent hearts, and many passed " from death unto life." The meeting on Muddy River, three miles east of Russellville, which was the next popular meeting held by the McGees, was attended by a large concourse of people from far and near. They came on foot, on horseback, and in wagons, and camped on the ground. This meeting was the origin of camp-mreetings in the United States. About forty souls were converted to God. Their next appointment was ten miles west of Gallatin, Tennessee, in Sumner county, a little south-east of the Cumberland Ridge. The attendance at this meeting was more numerous than at either of those previously held. Ministers of the Presbyterian and B3aptist Churches, as well as Methodists, in large numbers, were in attendance. The work generally met with opposition from the preachers of the Baptist Church. For intensity of feeling, for extraordinary displays of Divine power, for the amount of good accomplished, this meeting surpassed the former two. The most remarkable meeting, however, that was held by these faithful ministers of Christ, was the one on Desha's Creek, near Cumberland River. Thousands attended. Under the preaching of the word, hundreds were convicted, and converted to God. All ranks of society, all classes of people — persons of every age, from gentle youth to those IN K ENTUCKY. 267 trembling with the weight of years-were the subjects of the work. The following letter, dated June 23, 1820, written by John McGee to the Rev. Thomas L. Douglassat that time the Presiding Elder of the Nashville District —will be read with interest: * "DEAR Sn: —In compliance with your request, I have endeavored to recollect some of the most noted circumstances which occurred at the commencement of the work of God in the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, and which came under my observation in 1799 and the two following years. "I suppose I am one of the two brothers referred to in' Theophilus Arminius's account of the work of God in the Western country.' My brother William McGee is fallen asleep in the bosom of his beloved Master. WVe were much attached to each other from our infancy, but much more so when we both experienced the uniting love of Jesus Christ. I was the oldest, and by the mercy and grace of God, sought and experienced religion first. With great anxiety of mind, he heard me preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, before he felt or enjoyed peace with God. After he obtained religion, he thought proper to receive IHoly Orders in the Presbyterian Church; and, after preaching some time in North Carolina and in the I-folston country, he came to Cumberland, (now West Tennessee,) about the year 1796 or 1797, and- settlect in a con*-Aet:lodist Magazine, Vol. IV., p)p 189, 190, 191. 268 METHODISM gregation in Sumner county, about the year 1798. Several reasons induced me to remove, with my family, from North Carolina to the Western country; and in the year 1798, settled in Sumner (now Smith) county. The difference of doctrines professed by the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches were not sufficient to dissolve those ties of love and affection which we both felt. We loved, and prayed, and preached together; and God was pleased to own and bless us and our labors. In the year 1799, we agreed to make a tour through the Barrens, toward Ohio, and concluded to attend a sacramental solemnity in the Rev. Mr. McGready's congregation, on Red River, in our way. When we came there, I was introduced by my brother, and received an invitation to address the congregation from the pulpit, and I know not that ever God favored me with more light and liberty than he did each day, while I endeavored to convince the people they were sinners, and urged the necessity of repentance, and of a change from nature to grace; and held up to their view the greatness, freeness, and fullness of salvation, which was in Christ Jesus, for lost, guilty, condemned sinners. My brother and the Rev. Mlr. IIodge preached with much animation and liberty. The people felt the force of truth, and tears ran down their cheeks, but all was silent until Monday, the last day of the feast. Mr. HIodge gave a useful discourse; an intermission was given, and I was appointed to preach. While Mr. Hodge was preaching, a woman in the east end of the house got an uncommon blessing, broke through IN KENTUCKY. 269 order, and shouted for some time, and then sat down in silence. At the close of the sermon, Messrs. Hodge, McGready, and IRankin went out of the house; my brother and myself sat still; the people seemed to have no disposition to leave their seats. My brother felt such a power come on him, that he quit his seat, and sat down on the floor of the pulpit, (I suppose, not knowing what he did.) A power which caused me to tremble was upon me. There was a solemn weeping all over the house. Having a wish to preach, I strove against my feelings; at length I rose up and told the people I was appointed to preach, but there was a greater than I preaching, and exhorted them to let the Lord God Omnipotent reign in their hearts, and to submit to him, and their souls should live. Many broke silence; the woman in the east end of the house shouted tremendously. I left the pulpit to go to her, and as I went along through the people, it was suggested to me:'You know these people are much for order; they will not bear this confusion; go back, and be quiet.' I turned to go back, and was near falling. The power of God was strong upon me; I turned again, and, losing sight of the fear of man, I went through the house, shouting and exhorting with all possible ecstasy and energy, and the floor was soon covered with the slain; their screams for mercy pierced the heavens, and mercy came down. Some found forgiveness, and many went away from that meeting, feeling unutterable agonies of soul for redemption in the blood of Jesus. This was the beginning of that glorious revival of religion in this country, 270 M E T HO D I S AI which was so great a blessing to thousands; and from this meeting camp-meetings took their rise. One man, for the want of horses for all his family to ride and attend the meeting, fixed up his wagon, in which he took them and his provisions, and lived on the ground throughout the meeting. lie had left his worldly cares behind him, and had nothing to do but attend on Divine service. "' The next popular meeting was onl Muddy River, and this was a camp-meeting: a number of wagons loaded with people carme together, and camped on the ground; and the Lord was present, and approved of their zeal by sealing a pardon to about forty souls. The next camp-meeting was on the Ridge, where there was an increase of people, and carriages of different descriptions, and a great many preachers of the Presbyterian and Methodist orders, and some of the Baptist; but the latter were generally opposed to the work. Preaching commenced, and the people prayed, and the power of God attended. There was a great cry for mercy. The nights were truly awful; the camp-ground was well illuminated; the people were differently exercised all over the ground-some exhorting, some shouting, some praying, and some cryin~g for mercy, while others lay as dead men on the ground. Some of the spiritually wounded fled to the woods, and their groans could be heard all through the surrounding groves, as the groans of dying men. From thence many came into the camp, rejoicing and praising God for having found redemption in the blood of the Lamb. At this meeting, it was IN KENTUCKY. 271 computed that one hundred souls were converted firom nature to grace. But perhaps the greatest meeting we ever witnessed in this country, took place shortly after, on Desha's Creek, near Cumberland River. Many thousands of people attended. The mighty power and mercy of God were manifested. The people fell before the word, like corn before a storm of wind, and many rose from the dust with Divine glory shiling in their countenances, and gave glory to God in such strains as made the hearts of stubborn sinners to tremble; and after the first gust of praise, they would break forth in volleys of exhortation. Amongst these were many small, home-bred boys, who spoke with the tongue, wisdom and eloquence of the learned-and truly they were learned, for they were all taught of God, who had taken their feet out of the mire and clay, and put a new song in their mouths. Although there were converts of different ages under this work, it was remarkable, they were generally the children of praying parents. Here John A. Granade, the Western poet, who composed the Pilgrim's songsafter being many months in almost entire desperation, till he was worn down, and appeared like a walking skeleton —found pardon and mercy from God, and began to preach a risen Jesus. Some of the Pharisees cried disorder and confusion, but in disorderly assemblies there are generally dislocated and broken bones, and bruised flesh; but here, the women laid their sleeping children at the roots of the trees, while hundreds, of all ages and colors, were stretched on the ground in the agonies of con 272 METHODISM viction, and as dead men, while thousands, lday and night, were crowding round them, and passing to and fro, yet there was nobody hurt;* which shows that the people were perfectly in their senses; and on this chaos of apparent confusion, God said, Let there be light, and there was light! and many emerged out of darkness into it. We have hardly ever had a camp-meeting since, without his presence and power to convert souls. Glory to God and the Lamb, for ever and ever! "Yours respectfully, " JOIIN MCGEE." The revivals that thus began, under the labors of these two brothers, soon spread over the entire of Southern Kentucky, and what is now known as Middle Tennessee. Their sacred influence was carried into every community, and felt in almost every home. The Church was inspired with a new zeal, and the truth was proclaimed with an energy and pathos that impressed it on the hearts of the people. *" There was a man at the Ridge meeting, who got mad, cursed the people, and said he would go home; but before he got out of sight of the camp-ground, a tree fell on him, and he was carried home dead." IN KENTUCKY. 2 73 CHAPTER XI. FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1800, IIELD AT DUNWORTII, ON IIOLSTON, ON THE FIRST FRIDAY IN APRIL, TO THE CONFERENCE HELD AT BETHEL ACADEMY, KENTUCKY, COMMENCING ON THE SIXTH DAY OF THE FOLLOWING OCTOBER. Local preachers-John Nelson-Robert Strawbridge-Francis Clark -Gabriel and Daniel Woodfield-John Baird —Benjamin Northcutt-Nathanael Harris —Philip W. Taylor-Henry Ogburn-William Forman-Joseph Ferguson-The Conference in the spring of 1800-The General Conference -William Burke-Thomas Shelton -Controversy with the Baptists —William Burke chosen Presiding Elder-The Revival-Sandusky Station-William Algood —Hezekiah Harriman-John Sale-Jonathan Kidwell. WE have now reached a period in the history of Methodism in Kentucky from which we may survey the chief instruments by whose influence it attained its position at the close of the last century. For several years previous to the appointment of Messrs. tiaw and Ogden to the District, Kentucky had been constantly receiving accessions from the older settlements, some of whom had been members of the Methodist Church in the States whence they came. They had, with reluctance, left the altars around which they had worshiped, and had come to the West, cherishing the hope that, at no distant 274 METIIODISM day, their new hoimes would be visited by the ministers of Christ, of their own denomination. The Revolutionary war, which had been protracted beyond the expectations of the infant Republic, had greatly retarded the enterprises of the Church, and prevented, at an earlier period, the occupancy of this distant field. Indeed, the societies that, under the auspices of the preachers sent out by Mr. XWesley, and those who joined thenl, had grown up in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and North Carolina, had, during the American struggle, maintained their existence and increased in strength, amid opposition and under difficulties, before which the standard-bearers of a cause less worthy would have yielded. " Persecuted, but not forsaken," they had lifted their colors, never to strike them; and, from the Conference held in Baltimore, May 21, 1776, to the one " begun at Ellis's Preaching-house, Virginia, April 30, 1784, and ended at Baltimore, May 28, following-covering a period of eight years, during which ten Conferences were held-the societies had increased from fouer thousaCd nine hundred and twenty-one to fourteen thousand nine hundred and ezihtly-eight, and the number of preachers from twenty-four to eiglhty-three; and during the same period the number of circuits had grown from eleven to forty-six " —this, too, while the nation was in commotion, and struggling to be free. It is but seldom that the Church, under such circumstances, has been permitted to record triumphs superior to those achieved by Methodism during this period. The war had closed favorably IN KENTUCKIY. 275 to theo colonies, and, closely identified with its termination, and in the same year, the Christmas Conference was held at which the " Methodist Episcopal Church in America " was organized. Kentucky, in the meantime, when we consider the dangers to which the settlers were exposed, had rapidly increased in population, and presented to the Church, if not an inviting field, at least one having claims upon their consideration. In 1786, we have seen tVwo men, severing the ties that had bound them to friends and home, pursuing their solitary journey over unfrequented paths, meeting dangers, and exposed to sufferings and sacrifices, such as few men had previously encountered. We pause to inquire for the motive that influenced them. Why did they leave homes surrounded, at least, by the comforts of life, and embark in such an enterprise-exchanging ease for hardship, and safety for peril? In the humble cabin of Thomas Stevenson, as we see Benjamin Ogden kneel and offer up to God the first public prayer that ever fell from an itinerant's lips in Kentucky, pleading for the blessings of Heaven upon the cause he had come to establish, and upon the generous family whose hospitality he was enjoying, and around whose altar he was kneeling, we findl an answer to the incquiry. WVe have seen the success that crowned their labors. The little Church organized in the cottage-home of lMr. Stevenson was seed sown in good ground, while the teachings of Mr. Ogden was "bread cast upon the waters, to be seen after many days." Unpromising as was this commencement, it was the opening of a now era in 276 ME T IHODIS i the wilds of the West; it was the introduction of a system that —whether rapid in its growth, or slow in its development —should gladden the hearts and bless the homes of thousands. To the brightest dreams of the imagination it could scarcely have occurred, that, before the close of the century, from the Church in KIentucky, the gospel, in the form of Methodism, would not only have permeated every section of Kentucky, but would extend its lines into Middle Tennessee, and beyond the Ohio into the North-western Territory. No such bright hopes opened up before the minds of the pioneer preachers in this District. True, they expected good results from their labors. For this they preached, and prayed, and suffered. We have followed them and their coadjutors in their hardships, their toils, arnd their triumphs. We have traveled with them from fort to fort, until we have traversed the entire State, permeating every settlement, and listened to the truths they proclaimed. Looking to the interest of the rising generation and the future of the Church, we have seen them projecting schemes of education, and laying the foundation of sanctified learning. WVe have seen houses of worship erected in different portions of the State-not costly edifices, it is true, but plain structures, adapted to the times, and to the wants of the people-where hundreds were accustomed to assemble and worship God. iWe have seen the Church triumphing over obstacles, and assuming a permanent form. And now, we inquire, what instrumentalities, besides the itinerant ministry, have becn employed, under the IN KENTUCIY. 277 blessings of Heaven, by which such results have been achieved? To the careful observer of the events we have recorded, and the times through which we have passed, there is no difficulty in answering the inquiry. WVe have already noticed that, previous to the appointment of James IHtaw and Benjamin Ogden to Kentucky, a few local preachers had settled in the District. With whatever opposition the introduction of a lay ministry had met in the councils of the Church, the utility of this element of strength was developed, in the early days of Methodisnm, both in Europe and America. The force of circumstances compelled many of the first preachers to assume this relation. Ministers who had entered the itinerant field expecting to close their labors only with the termination of life, after a few years of active service, were compelled to retire from the ranks. Worn out by the arduous duties they performed, and unable longer to meet the responsibilities of pastoral work, they yielded to the stern decree of necessity, and in the shades of the local ranks they sought for quietude and rest. Carrying with them to their retirement constitutions impaired by incessant toil, and, in many cases, the germs of disease which too plainly indicated that they were martyrs to the work to which their strength had been devoted, and that theirs would be an early grave, yet feeling no abatement in their interest in the cause to which they had pledged their all, we find them unwilling to loiter in the vineyard of the Lord. 278 METHOD o I-S A Others, however, who had been soundly converted to God, and feeling divinely impressed with the conviction that they ought to preach the gospel, yet unable, from domestic cares and responsibilities, to devote themselves exclusively to the work of the ministry, were to be found in the Church. Of undoubted piety, possessing gifts that qualified them for usefulness, and capable of exerting an influence for good, with the approval of the Church, they were inclined to participate in the services of the sanctuary. Such was the introduction of a lay ministry into the Church. The faithful stone-mason of Birstal was scarcely surpassed in zeal by Mr. Wesley himself; and the labors of the eccentric and devoted Strawbridrge compare favorably with those of Watters and of Garretson. If, in the early days of Methodism, the lay ministers were not so successful in planting Churches, by their faithful labors they watered the good seed that had been sowrn by the itinerant, and, in many instances, with parental care, watched the growth of the infant societies. Into newly settled countries, not only as pioneer settlers, but as pioneers of their faith, they have frequently gone, and, in advance of the itinerant preacher, have organized societies, to be transferred afterward to his pastoral care. In the older and more populous settlements, they have enjoyed the high distinction of seeking commnunities which the circuit-preacher could not embrace in his field of labor, because of the amount IN KENTUCKY. 279 of work he already had to perform. When, through their instrumentality, communities have been converted and brought under their teachings, with a cheerfulness that evinced their devotion to the Church, they have invited the itinerant preacher to take them under his pastoral charge, and then they have turned their attention to other and untried fields. Thus have new circuits been formed, and the borders of the Church enlarged. In the comimunities in which they have resided, their influence has been salutary, rendering the Church healthful and prosperous, without the promise of any remuneration for their services, except that derived from a consciousness of the performance of duty, and the hope of being instrumental in the salvation of sinners. Many of them have passed weeks together from home on tours of preaching, laboring with a zeal commensurate with the wants of the Church and the interests of those whom they served. Without the responsibilities of the pastoral office, they have exercised its functions and performed its labors. In the homes of poverty; by the bedside of the sick; in places of bereavement and sorrow, as well as at the altars of the Church, they have successfully rivaled the zealous and indefatigable evangelist in offering hope to the despairing, salvation to the lost, and life to the dead. Allusion has already been made to Francis Clark, a local preacher of fervent piety, of untiring zeal, and of considerable ability, who settled in Kentucky three years before the appointment of tIaw and Ogden. 280 MET 10 OD IS AI The year following his settlement in the District, under his ministrations, a few persons in Mercer county associated themselves in a class, and thus formed the first society of Methodists in Kentucky. This society was the nucleus around which was formed the Danville Circuit, recorded at so early a period in the printed Minutes. Other local preachers, whose names we have mentioned, had labored assiduously in their respective communities, either as the precursors of the missionaries, or in cooperation with them, in the establishment of Christianity, and in pushing forward the victories of the cross. Several of the preachers who had been compelled to retire from the itinerant field because of the failure of their strength, and whose labors had been greatly blessed, had settled among those who had been brought to Christ through their instrulmentality, and continued to watch over their spiritual interest with the same vigilance that had previously distinguished them, though in a more circumscribed sphere. Among these the name of Benjamin lNorthcuttof whose life and labors we gave an account in a previous chapter-stands preeminent. Failing in health after a few years in the itinerant field, he became more prominent than any other minister in the local ranks. Not only in the vindication of the great truths of Christianity, but in those revivals that occasionally shed their light upon the Church near the close of the past, and especially in the great revival that spread throughout Kentucky IN KENTUCKY. 281 about the commencement of the present century, he was remarkably prominent and useful. Previous to the year 1800, Nathanael IHarris, Philip W. Taylor, Joseph Ferguson, WVilliam Forman, and Henry Ogburn, from Virginia; Gabriel and Daniel Woodfield, from Pennsylvania; William J. Thompson, from North Carolina, and John Baird, from Maryland, settled in Kentucky. Messrs. Harris and Taylor located in Jessamine; William Forman in Bourbon; Henry Ogburn in what is now Carroll; the Woodfields in Fayette; William J. Thompson in Mercer; Joseph Ferguson in Nelson, and John Baird in the same county (now Larue.) These men, scattered through different portions of the State, by their zeal and their piety, contributed much to the planting and growth of the Church. Nathanael Harris was a very superior man. IIHaving enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, and possessing a fine native intellect-his whole life an exemplification of the truth of Christianity-he brought all his powers to the foot of the cross, and consecrated them upon the altars of the Church. We will, however, meet with him again, in the itinerant ranks, dispensing the blessings of Christianity, and shedding upon the people the light of a holy life. Philip W. Taylor was among the most indefatigable and useful of the early local preachers. IIe was born in Easterni Virginia about the year 1764, and entered the Continental army, and was present at the siege of Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis. 282 M E T H O D ISM About 1793, he came to Kentucky. While descending the Ohio River, he was fired on by the Indians, and had one arm shattered by a ball. * His wound confined him for six months at the Falls of the Ohio. In 1795, he was married to AMiss Elizabeth Poor, and, a short time afterward, they were both converted, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. Impressed with the conviction that he ought to preach, he was soon authorized to exercise his gifts as a licentiate. At the Conference held in October, in the year 1800, he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Asbury, and subsequently was elected to Elcders' orders, but was refused ordination, in consequence of his connection with slavery. Dissatisfied with this interference on the part of the Church with a civil institution, he permitted himself to become estranged from its communion; and when the Methodist Protestant Church extended its influence into Kentucky, he became a leading minister in that denomination. Of a bold and fearless disposition, he was one of the number who, on two different occasions, accompanied Bishop Asbury through the wilderness, on his early Episcopal visits to Kentucky. In his alienation from the Methodist Episcopal Church, he requested his wife to enter with him the Methodist Protestant Church, which she steadily refused. Her reply was: "WVhen you find a Church x. zMethodist Magazine, for 1819, p. 185. IN KENTUCIKY. 283 in which I can enjoy more religion, and do more good, than the one I first joined, I will go with you; but not before." She died in triumph, March 17, 1845, in the eighty-fourth year of her age. Her name should be held in everlasting remembrance. Mr. Taylor was a good Bible-preacher, perfectly familiar with its doctrines, the duties it inculcates, and the blessed experience it gives the Christian. Until he was eighty-five years of age, he continued to preach, with his mental faculties unimpaired, when by an accidental fall he broke his hipbone, after which he was never able to walk. From this misfortune until the time of his death, in his private conversations, his constant theme was the love of God in providing salvation for a lost race, and the happiness of those who by faith were made partakers of the blessing of pardoned sin. He continued to witness, to all who visited him, the truth of religion, as well as the comfort and happiness it brought to his own soul, in view of approaching dissolution. In this happy frame of mind he continued until death released him from his sufferings. In the month of February, 1856, at about ninety years of age, at the residence of his son-in-law, John Wright, he entered upon the reward of the blessed.* Among the first-fruits of Virginia Methodism was Henry Ogburn. He was born in Mecklenburg, Virginia, November 26, 1754, and, in the twenty* Letter from John Cochran, Esq., of Spencer county, Kentucly, to the author. 284 ME THODISM first year of his age, joined the -Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1779, he entered upon the itinerant work, and, until the Conference of 1790, when he located, labored extensively and usefully in Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1794, with his wife, he came to Kentucky, to make it his future home. For a short time he located in Lexington, but in 1795, he removed to the mouth of the Kentucky River, and, a year or two subsequently, purchased a tract of land, two miles above, on the banks of the Ohio, where he spent the remnant of his days. As a preacher, he was above mediocrity. While a member of the Conference, he was remarkable for his zeal; and in a local sphere, he was distinguished for the energy and fidelity with which he prosecuted his high and holy calling. During the period of his connection with the Church in Kentucky, he was the honored instrument of turning "many to righteousness;" and in his death left behind him the fragrance of a good name. He calmly passed away inl the month of August, 1831. YWilliam Forman came "to Kentucky as early as 1790, and settled in Bourbon county, where he remained until his death, which took place in February, 1814. He never belonged to the traveling connection, but was one of the imost industrious and useful local preachers I ever knew. His life was a practical comment on the gospel he preached; and when the people were speaking of a good man, it was their habit to say,' IHe is almost as good a man IN KENTUCKY. 285 as Billy Forman.' Such a life could have but one termination. When the midnight cry came, he arose, and, with his lamp trimmed, and oil in his vessel, went forth with joy to meet his Lord." * Daniel Woodfield, though not so able or efficient a preacher as his brother, was instrumental in doing much good. Of Joseph Ferguson we have already made mention in a former chapter, but such a man deserves more than a passing notice. The following interesting sketch was furnished us by the Rev. George T. Gould, of the Kentucky Conference: "lThe Rev. Joseph Ferguson was born in Virginia, some time in the year 1760; served through the greater part of the Revolutionary war; moved to Kentucky, and settled in Nelson county, in 1784, where he died, November 28, 1828.'" Previous to the time of his conversion, and of his being licensed to preach, we have utterly failed to obtain any information, except that he was an authorized minister of the gospel at the time of his emigration to Kentucky. "Ilis mind was of that evenly balanced, unimpassioned order, which lifted him above mediocrity, but yet kept him back from marked superiority. IIe was a man of few books, but those, especially his Bible, were well read. HIence his sermons, though they lacked that polish and general fund of information which extensive reading gives, were yet marked by strong good sense, and a practical adap*Rev. Jonathan Stampor, in HIome Circle, Vol, II., p. 73. 286 MI E T H O D I S M tation to the wants of his audience, while they contained a very noticeable abundance of Scripture words and Scripture sentiment. In labors he was'more abundant,' preaching far and near, and was thus greatly instrumental in the introduction and spread of Methodism in that part of Kentucky. Though living at the distance of twelve or fifteen miles from Chaplin, yet he had a regular monthly appointment at that place, and some of the oldest and most useful of the members who now live to bless that Church, or have gone from the Church below to the Church above, were brought into the fold through his instrumentality. So kind and debonair was he in his manners, that he was a great favorite with the young, who sent for him, both far and near, that he might perform for them the ceremony of marriage, until it was reckoned by some that he had officiated on such occasions more frequently than any other man in Kentucky. " 1for did Father Ferguson confine the manifestations of his love for Methodism to these, his personal efforts, but we find him one of the strongest friends, advisers, and supporters of the preacher in charge to be met with in those days. An instance of this, as illustrating, the condition, manner of life, and sacrifices of those same preachers in charge, we have gathered from the personal recollections of his son: "The Rev. Adjet McGuire, being appointed to the Salt River Circuit, was unable to secure, throughout its entire extent of several hundred miles, a house for the accommodation of his family. Father IN KENTUCKY. 287 Ferguson had just erected a new loom-house in his yard, and into this Mar. McGluire's family were received, and in it they lived during the year; while their removal, together with their effects, from Crab Orchard to their new home, was accomplished upon the backs of two horses, one of which was sent by Mr. Ferguson. "On a certain occasion, Ferguson and Taylor happened at Buck Creek Baptist Meeting-house, in Shelby county. Ferguson being invited to preach, took occasion to come over the expression,'Sancotum sanctorum,' when one of the Baptist brethren very eagerly inquired of Taylor if the preacher were not a Bishop. From that day,'Bishop' was the sobriquet by which he went. "In the sixty-eighth year of his age, on the 28th of November, as above stated, he closed his life of usefulness and Christian hope, seated in a chair, as the dropsical affection from which he suffered prevented him from lying upon his bed.'Come, Lord Jesus! conlie quickly i' were the last words that fell from his lips, as he stretched out his hands as though feeling for his Saviour, while he raised to heaven the eyes from which death had already stolen the power of vision.'How blest the righteous when he dies!'" Besides those already mentioned, other local preachers had emigrated to Kentucky, or been raised up from the revivals in the State, who devoted their energies to the advancement of truth. The Conference for the West, for 1800, was held at Dunworth, on HIolston, commencing the first 288 ME T IIO DP I S M Friday in April. The General Conference waas to convene on the sixth dtay of Miray, in the same year, inD the city of Baltimore. Bishop Asbury requested that all the preachers who had labored in the West for any considerable time, should attend the General Conference, and " receive their appointments in the old States; and a new set be sent to this division of the work." * The journey to Baltimore had to be performed on horseback. It was impracticable for preachers who were entitled to seats in the General Conference to be present at Dunworth, and then reach Baltimore in time for the General Conference; and hence the Conference on H-Iolston was attended by only a few.t The Kentucky District, over which the Rev. Francis Poythress had presided the previous year, was left at this Conference without a Presiding Elder. We have, however, several new men introduced into the ministry in the West: William Algood, Hezekiah Harriman, John Sale, and Jonathan Kidwell were appointed, with others previously mentioned, to the division of the work in which Kentucky was included. It was the purpose of Bishop Asbury to appoint a Presiding Elder to take charge of "Kentucky, Tennessee, and all that part of Virginia west of New River, and the North-western Territory, including the Miami and Scioto Valleys," in one District. During the General Conference, "he used his utmost endeavors" to accomplish his purpose, -; Rev. William Burko. t Judge Scott. IN KENTUCKY. 289 but failed. The vast extent of territory over which the Presiding Elder would have to travel was more than equal to the strength of almost any man. Before the adjournment of the Conference, he applied to the indefatigable and gifted William Burke, and requested him to return to Kentucky, and to take with him " all the papers appertaining to the Annual Conference and Bethel Academy, and do the best" he "could for the work in that part of the field."* The previous year had been one of signal triumph to Mr. Burke in tKentucky. YKentucky had been originally settled chiefly by the Baptists, and they were at this date the largest and most influential denomination in the State. Any attempt to set forth the peculiar views of the Methodist Episcopal Church —especially so far as the issue between the two denominations on the subjects and mode of baptism was involved —was regarded by the former as an invasion of their rights; and hence they watched with a jealous eye the rising star of Methodism. The teachings of our Church upon these questions met with most violent opposition, and was rudely assailed by the most able ministers of the Baptist denomination. In the vindication of our views, Mr. Burke had stood up, not only as the bold and fearless, but also as the successful advocate. The prosperity that had attended his ministry, together with the frequency with which he administered the ordinance of baptism to infants, had induced an opposition, X* Western IoMethodism, p. 55. vOL. I.O10 290 M E T HI O D I S AI which culminated in a challenge to a debate, from the RPev. Thomas Shelton, at that time the most influential minister in the Baptist Church in Kentucky. The challenge was promptly accepted by Mr. Burke, the time appointed, and the place fixed at Irvin's Lick, in Madison county. The debate lasted about four hours, the speeches occupying about fifteen minutes each, alternately. At the close of the discussion, Mr. Shelton said to the vast assembly that he "believed Mr. Burke to be an honest but mistaken man;" after which he stood by and witnessed the administration of the ordinance by Mr. Burke. The controversy thus begun continued through many years.* At the Conference held at Dunworth in April, it is probable that none of the Appointments were made, as Bishop Asbury held the selection of the men for the West in reserve until the General Conference. This view is sustained by the statement of Mr. Burke, who, after referring to the request of Bishop Asbury, that he should return to Kentucky, says: "I consented, and he appointed to go with me, John Sale, Hezekiah Harriman, William Algood, and Henry Smith; for the Holston country, James Hunter, John Watson, and John Page; and for Cumberland, William Lambeth." Mr. Burke was appointed to the I1inkstone Circuit-the same charge he had, for a few months in 1794, so usefully filled. The absence of a Presidingl Elder from the DisX' Westcrn Al othodisml, p. 54. IN KENTUCKY. 291 trict was calculated to produce some embarrassment in the work; and the preachers, therefore, immediately on their return from the General Conference, met in council, and elected Mr. Burke to take charge of the District, which he did.* This, too, was in accordance with the expressed wish of Bishop Asbury, who "appointed him to superintend the quarterly meetings, where there was no Elder." t It was proper, in an eminent degree, that Mr. Burke should be the leader of the host in the West. HIe had been identified with the sacrifices, the sufferings, and the triumphs of the Church in this department, since his admission into the itinerancy in 1792. In the various conflicts through which the Church had passed, whether our foes were fromn among those of our own household, or from other religionists, he had stood in the forefront of the battle, and repelled every assault. Under such a standard-bearer, failure could never be written. The summer of 1800 was distinguished for the continuance and spread of that extraordinary revival of religion, of which we spoke in a former chapter. It had not yet, to any great extent, aflected the northern and central portions of the State; but, like the sweep of the hurricane, bearing every thing before it, spread throughout Southern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, pouring its benign blessings on hamlet and village, in every community. The fires that it enkindled will never be extinguished. We shall, in another chapter, follow it through I Judge Scott, i Western Metho dism, p. 55. 292 M E T HIO D I S i Northern and Central Kentucky, and stand astonished at its mighty achievements. True, the northern portion of the State was not without its seasons of revival. In many communities the Church had prosperity. At Sandusky Station, (now Pleasant Run,) more than one hundred persons, at a single meeting, were converted to God.* In other portions of the State displays of Divine power were felt. The Church was putting " on her beautiful garments," and preparing for the glory and triumph awaiting her. We have already referred to the names of four preachers who were this year appointed to the work in Kentucky, not mentioned before. WVilliam Algood, who was appointed by Bishop Asbury to Kentucky, and placed in charge of the Limestone Circuit, never came to the West. Jeremiah Lawson, who had located the previous year, was employed by Mr. Burke to supply his place, while Lewis Hunt took the place of Mr. Burke on the Hinklstone Circuit; Mr. Burke, at the same time, traveling on the District, and devoting his energies chiefly to the interest of the Church in the bounds of the Lexington, Hinkstone, and Limestone Circuits. Mr. tHarriman was admitted on trial in 1796, and appointed to Bath Circuit, in Virginia. The two following ears, he traveled the Stafford Circuit, ill X-We are indebted to the Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe, who was then a youth, and was present, for this information. IN KENTUCKY. 293 the same State, after which he was changed to the Frederick Circuit, in the State of Maryland. At the General Conference of 1800, he volunteered for the work in the WVest, and, with John Sale, accompanied Mr. Burke from that Conference to Kentucky. IIe spent the years 1800 and 1801 on the Danville Circuit; 1802 on the Salt River, and 1803 on the Hinkstone. At the Conference of 1804, he was sent to Natchez, with the Rev. Moses Floyd, A. Amos, and Tobias Gibson. His exposure to a Southern climnate, together with the privations he endured, and the arduous labors he performed, so impaired his once vigorous constitution, that he was compelled to seek a transfer from that field. It is natural for a minister, when his health is broken, to turn his thoughts to his childhood's home, and the scenes of his early ministry. The name of Mr. Harriman, for the next year, is in connection with the Harford Circuit, in Maryland. The following year, he is at Frederick and Annapolis, and in 1807, he is appointed to the Baltimore Circuit, on which he closes his labors as an effective minister. The remaining eleven years of his life, he sustained a superannuated relation. During the four years of his connection with the Church in IKentuclky, he was in labors abundant, and his ministry greatly blessed. Iie participated in the glorious revivals that spread over the State during that period. The precise date of his death is not given. It occurred in i818. His biographer says, in 1807, 294 M E T H O D I S I while he was traveling on the Baltimore Circuit, "he was suddenly seized with a paralytic stroke, under the following circumstances: When on his way from a friend's house to one of his appointments, he met a boy, of whom he attempted to ask the way to his appointment, and found his tongue refused obedience to his volition, whereby he was rendered incapable of speech. The progress of the disease was farther evinced by his glove falling from his hand, contrary to his wishes, into a stream of water, while his horse was drinking; to prevent the final loss of which, he dismounted, with a view to stop its farther progress down the stream; to effect which, he attempted to leap across a small rivulet, and fell into it, whose banks concealed him from the observation of travelers on the road, and which, but for the presence of his horse exciting curiosity, would probably have been the spot of his dissolution-from which attack he never fully recovered. This, with a combination of other diseases, terminated in his dissolution. "Through the whole period of his last illness, he testified that he had no fear of death. ~E"His wife and family lay with considerable weight on his mind, but he was soon enabled to resign themn into the hands of his Heavenly Father. A few days previous to his dissolution, when visited by a friend, he found his mind serene and tranquil; and a few moments before his death, he gave to a relation the most satisfactory evidence of his preparation for the important change, and bade the world a final adieu. IN KENTUCKY. 295 "IIezekiah Harriman was sound in the faith, and a good and useful minister of Jesus Christ."* John Sale, who also accompanied Mr. Burke to Kentucky this year, was born in the State of Virginia, on the 24th of April, 1769. When about twenty years of age, he was awakened and converted to God. In 1796, he was licensed to preach, and entered the itinerant field. From the Conference of 1796, he was appointed to the Swanino Circuit, lying in the sparsely populated settlements of Virginia. His second circuit was the Bertie, and the following year he traveled on the Mattamuskeet Circuit —both in North Carolina; and in 1799, he is placed in charge of the IHolston and Russell Circuit, in Virginia. In the spring of 1800, he enters upon his work in KIentucky, in charge of the Salt River and Shelby Circuit, to which he was appointed at the Conference held in October. At the Conference of 1801, he was placed on the Danville Circuit, where he remained until the Conference of 1802. At the close of his labors on the Danville Circuit, he was sent to the North-western Territory, and stationed on the Scioto Circuit, and the following year on the Miami. In 1804, he was returned to Kentucky, and appointed to the Lexington Circuit. From 1805 to * General Minutes, Vol. I., p. 309. It will be perceived that we do not follow the Minutes, in the biographical sketch they contain, in giving a list of his appointments, as they are certainly inaccurate. 296 M E T I-I O D I S 1808-three years —we find him on the Ohio District, and in charge of the Miami District in 1808 and 1809. The following four years, lie presides over the Kentucky District, having associated with him such men as Charles Holiday, Henry McDaniel, John Johnson, Marcus Lindsey, Thomas D. Porter, Jonathan Stamper, William McMahon, and Benjamin Lakin —whose names are a tower of strength, and around whose labors gather so many pleasant memories, as will more fully appear in our next volume. At the Conference of 1814, we find him again on the Miami District, on which he remains two years. Unable to perform the labors of a District, at the Conference of 1816 he was appointed to the Union Circuit, and the following year to the Mad Riverboth in Ohio. In 1818, he again has charge of the Miami District. Worn down by the excessive labors he had performed, through twenty years of incessant toil, on fields remarkable for the vastness of the territory over which they spread, in 1820 he was compelled to ask for a superannuated relation to the Conference. In this relation he served the Church, as his health would permit, until 1824, when he was again placed on the effective roll, and appointed to the Wilhnington Circuit. In 1825, he traveled the IUnion, and in 1826, the Piqua Circuit, where he closed his useful and laborious life. The I-Ion. John McLcan, of Ohio, says, in reference to hinm: IN KENTUCKY. 297 "tie was a man of fine presence, of erect and manly form, and of great personal dignity. He was naturally of a social turn, and had excellent powers of conversation, though nothing ever fell from his lips that even approached to levity. IlIe always conversed on subjects of interest and utility, and very frequently on matters connected with his ministerial labors. I was always struck with the excellent judgment and accurate discrimination which he evinced in his social intercourse. " His mind could not be said to be brilliant, and yet he sometimes produced a very powerful effect by his preaching. His distinct enunciation, earnest manner, and appropriate and well-digested thoughts, always secured to him the attention of his audience; but I have sometimes heard him when, rising with the dignity and in the fullness of his subject, he seemed to me one of the noblest personifications of the eloquence of the pulpit. IIis words were never hurried-they were always uttered calmly and deliberately. Without the least tendency to extravagance or undue excitement, there was still a luster in his eye, and a general lighting up of his features, that revealed the workings of the spirit within. In some of his more felicitous efforts, I think I have heard him with as much interest as I have heard any other man; and I never heard him without being deeply impressed with the conviction that, among all the men known to me at that early period, I should have selected him as the man to fill up, under all circumstances, the measure of his duty. 298 M E T IO D I S M " Mr. Sale's life was an eminently useful one, and he adorned every relation that he sustained, and every sphere that he occupied. Whether as preacher or pastor, as minister in charge or Presiding Elder, he was always intent upon the faithful discharge of his duty, and always approved himself to those among whom he ministered as' a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.' Htis character was so pure that every one felt that it was formed by a close conformity to the Divine Model. ITis mission on earth was emphatically a mission of benevolence to the world which his Master came to save; and when that mission was accomplished, he finished his course with joy." * " On the 15th of January, 1827, while on the Piqua Circuit, at the house of his friend and brother, Mr. French, he was called to yield up his spirit into the hands of God. We visited him a day or two before his death, and although his sufferings were intense, yet he had great peace in believing. His faith enabled him to behold the land that was afar off, and to rejoice in the sight of his distant heavenly home. HIe was frequently heard to say,'I am nearing my home. My last battle is fought, and the victory sure! Hallelujah! My Saviour reigneth over heaven and earth most glorious! Praise the Lord!' On my second visit, we were accompanied by Col. William McLean, one of his warm personal friends. We found him very happy-just on the verge of heaven. WhVlen, on *Sprague's Annals of the American Methodist Pulpit, pp. 257, 258. IN KENTUCKY. 299 rising to leave, we took his hand, and bade him farewell, he said,'My son, be faithful, and you shall have a crown of life.' We left the dying herald of the cross strong in faith, giving glory to God for a religion that "'Can make a dying-bed Feel soft as downy pillows are, While on his breast he leaned his head, And breathed his life out sweetly there.' "Worn clown with the toils and sufferings, as the necessary and always concomitant attendants of an itinerant life, he was ready and prepared to enter into the rest of heaven. "'Servant of God, well done, Rest from thy loved employ; The battle's fought, the vict'ry won, Enter thy Master's joy.' " Brother Sale was about five feet ten inches high, of great symmetry of form, dignified and courteous in his manners. He had a dark eye, which, when lighted up with the gospel themes, would flash its fires of holy passion, and melt at the recital of a Saviour's love. But he has gone where anxiety, and toil, and tears come not." * We love to linger around the memory of such a man as John Sale. During the eight years in which he labored in Kentucky, by the urbanity of his manners, and his devotion to his calling, he won, ~ Sketches of Western lMethodism, pp. 190, 191. 300 I E T I ODIS l not only upon the affections of the Church, but the admiration of the people. The four years in which he had charge of the Kentucky District, he exhibited those high executive qualities so essential to usefulness and success in the office of Presiding Elder. In the early part of his connection with Methodism in Kentucky, he took an active part in the great revivals. I-Ie was among the first preachers fron IKentucky who bore the tidings of a Recdeemer's love across the beautiful Ohio. I-Ie organized the first society of Methodists in Cincinnati, while traveling the Miami Circuit, "consisting of the following eight members, namely, Mr. and Mrs. Carter, their son and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Gibson, and Mr. and Mrs. St. Clair. Mr. Gibson was appointed the leader." * The Rev. Mr. Hinde, in speaking of Mr. Sale, and his preaching in Cincinnati, says: "It was as late as the month of August, 1803, that I had the satisfaction of hearing the first sermon ever preached by a Methodist preacher in the now flourishing town of Cincinnati, in Ohio-with, perhaps, the exception of a sermon in the vicinity preached by Mr. Ktobler. The sermon to which I allude was preached by Mr. John Sale. His circuit then embraced what now comprehends nearly three Presiding Elders' Districts in extent of territory." t The name of Jonathan Kidwell only appears in * Sketches of Western Methodism, p. 108. t Methodist Magazine, Vol. IH., p. 396. IN IENTUCKY. 3 01 the list of Appointments for this session of the Conference. I-Ie is appointed, with Johll Sale, to the Salt River and Shelby Circuit. No memento is left us, from which we can learn iwhen he was admitted on trial, or when he ceased his labors as an itinerant. It will be perceived that, up to this date, we have taken no account of any memnbership we may have had in the southern portion of the State. From 1787 to the Conference of 1796, the only identity Methodism could claim in Southern IKentucky was in connection with the Cumberlancd Circuit, which included the settlements of Logan and what is now Simnpson counties. In 1796, the Logan Circuit was formed, to which Aquila Sugg was appointed; but, at the ensuing Conference, there was no report of the membership it embraced, and it was again thrown into the Cumberlanci Circuit, in which it remained until the formation of the Red River Circuit, in 1802. No change in the membership in Kentucky is reported in the Minutes for this year. The statistics had not been furnished for record. 302 ME T H O D ISM CHAPTER XII. FROM TItE CONFERENCE HELD AT BETIIEL ACADEMY, OCTOBER 6, 1800, TO TIHE CONFERENCE OF 1801. Representative women-Mrs. Lydia Wickliffe-Mrs. Sally HelmMrs. Sarah Stevenson-Mrs. Mary Davis —MArs. Elizabeth Durbin — Mrs. Jane Hardin-Mrs. Jane Stamper-Mrs. Mary T. HindeConference held October 6, 1800, the second in Kentucky for this year-Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat present-The Conference Journal-\Villiam McKendree-Lewis Hunt-William MarshThe spread of the great revival-Ilai tNunn-Major John Martin — Dr. Hinde-Increase of membership. IN the former chapter we have referred to the efficient aid that was rendered by the local preachers in planting and nourishing the Church. Another element that contributed largely to give it permanence in IKentucky, was the accession to its communion of many of the most remarkable women of that period. As has been beautifully said, WVoman was last at the cross, and first at the sepulcher; and in every age, in most communities where the truths of the Christian religion have been presented, she has been the first to embrace them. Indebted as she is for her social elevation to the teachings of the Bible, woman has, in all countries where the opportunity has offered, shown her high appreciation of the doctrines of the cross, by bowing in IN KENTUCIKY. 303 reverence before it, and acknowledging the supremacy of the Saviour. It was so in the introduction of Methodism into IKentucky. While many of the finest intellects among the men in the District had become connected with the Methodist Church, yet, in the organization of the societies, they were generally preceded by the women. If the men of that period were hardy, chivalrous, and brave, they did not surpass their wives in those noble qualities of endurance, of patience, and of intrepidity. While woman's sphere entailed upon her the holy duties of home, it was not unfrequent that her safety levied contributions upon her valor, and placed her side by side with her gallant husband or father, with gun in hand, against the white man's foe. The page of history nowhere records deeds of daring more noble than those performed by the pioneer women of Kentucky. It is, however, in her character as a Christian, that she shines with the brightest luster. The Christian woman is to her husband and her children the softener of their sorrows and the soother of their cares, the guardian angel that keeps unceasing vigils over the interests of her home; in the community in which she resides, shedding a holy influence, that checks the vanities of the gay, and administers sweet consolation to the sorrowing and the sad. Among the early women of Kentucky, Methodism numberecl many who were remarkable for all those excellent traits of character that have, in all 304 E T II D I S M Christian countries, ennobled their sex. Patient in suffering, encountering dangers undaunted, submitting to the privations of pioneer life without a murmur, unswervingly devoted to the cause of Christianity, " adorned in modest apparel-not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly arraybut, which becometh women possessing godliness, with good works," they set before the community examples of piety, and used every proper exertion to elevate the standard of religion. While hundreds of men had become seduced from the doctrines of the Bible, and been led away from the only Rock of salvation, by the teachings of inficdelity, those Christian women adhered more closely to the cause of the Redeemer-the only hope of the world. They exhibited in their "daily walk and conversation" the sincerity of their profession, and in their death reposed their hope of immortality upon the many "exceeding great and precious promises" of the word of God. They left, too, their impress on society, not only by restraining vice, but by the promotion of virtue and religion; and, in the quietude of their own homes, trained for future usefulness their sonsmany of whom have filled prominent positions in Church and State; and their daughters, who have adorned society by their charms, and blessed it by the, beauties and graces of Christianity. Their names and their memories ought not to be forgotten. Among the many whose memory is too dear to Kentucky Methodism to be allowed to fade away, IN KENTUCKY. 305 we take pleasure in mentioning the name of Mrs. Lydia WVickliffe.* Mrs. Wickliffe was the daughter of Martin Hardin, of Fauquier county, Virginia, and the sister of Col. John Hardin, to whose tragical fate we have already referred. In 1784, Mr. Charles Wickliffe, (her husband,) with his wife and five children, removed from Virginia to Kentucky, and settled in that part of Nelson county now in the county of Marion. In early life Mrs. WVickliffe became impressed upon the subject of religion, and, before leaving Virginia, attached herself to the Church of England. A few years after her removal to Kentucky, under the labors of the early preachers, a societyone of the first established in the District-was organized in the neighborhood in which her husband had settled, and a log church erected, known for many years afterward as Thomas's Meetinghouse. Entertaining a high regard for the Church she had joined in Virginia, she nevertheless felt unwilling to be deprived of the privileges of Christian communion, and hence she was among the first to become connected with that society, in which she lived in Christian fellowship until she was transferred to the Church above. Ardent in her piety, the peculiar doctrines of Divine influence, and the witness of the Spirit, ac*'Mrs. Lydia Wickliffe was the mother of the Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe, ex-Governor of Kentucky; and the grandmother of the Hon. Robert C. Wickliffe, ex-Governor of Louisiana. 3006 MET IIO D I S cording, as they did, with her own religious experience, embalmed in her affections "the Church in the wilderness," and endeared to her heart that system of Christianity so consonant with religious truth. Her attachment to the Church continued to increase with every succeeding year of her life, while her Christian character developed new beauties, and her holy walk shed a luster on the profession she had made, until the period arrived for the termination of the battle in which she was engaged, and then, in Christian triumph, she passed away to the home of the redeemed. The personal appearance of Mrs. Wicklife was good, her height above ordinary. Possessed of fine common sense, without the advantages of superior education, yet favored with the best the country afforded, her mind stored with useful knowledge, she often performed the duties of physician to the sick. Benevolent to the poor, kind and liberal to all, she was frequently found in the homes of sorrow and of suffering. One practice from which she never deviated, was the strict religious observance of old Christmas - day. Beneath her hospitable roof the weary itinerant always found a welcome and a shelter. Ogden, Wilson Lee, and McI(endree knew her well. In her own home, however, her Christian character shone more brightly than anywhere else. Industrious and frugal, she impressed these virtues on the minds of her children. A sincere Christian and a strict observer of the Sabbath, it was the great aim of her life to persuade them to follow her IN K ENTUCKY. 307 example. She lived to see her children grown, and prosperous, and happy, and the most of them converted to God. Her last interview with her yuaongest sonl* was deeply affecting. It was in 1828, when he was about to leave for Washington City. I-He visited her, that he might bid her farewell. Always attentive to her interest, he desired the blessing once more of so good a mother. The time for parting came. She held him by the hand, and bequeathed to him the last blessing of a dying Christian mother. She lived but a short time after this interview. In a few weeks she died in the full enjoyment of that faith wihich she had professed during a long life, trusting implicitly in the teachings of the Bible, which was her great book, and wIhich she constantly read. Mrs. Sally Helm, who was born about the year 1781, was the adopted daughter of Bazil and Mary Brown, of Nelson (now Marion) county, Kentuckly. On the 22d of March, 1787, she was happily married to John Helm, in Haycraft's Fort, adjoining, Elizabethtown. In the year 1788, she attached herself to the Methodist Church, at Thomas's Meeting-house, when there were only about ninety members in the District of Klentucky. Her husband was born in Prince William county, Virginia, and had emigrated to Kentucky in the fall of 1779. I-e had passed through those thrilling I-Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe. 308 ME TI 0 DIS scenes of anguish and of blood, in Indian warfare, the bare recital of which, even at the present time, is so heart-rending. In 1791, he bore a conspicuous part inll St. Clair's memorable and disastrous campaign, in which he received a severe wound, shattering one of the bones in the left arm, from the wvrist to the elbow. In this condition he clung to his faithful rifle with the true feelings and spirit of a backwoodsman-a treasure to be parted with only in death-and kept up with his retreating comrades, making the distance of more than thirty mniles a day. Living in these perilous times, and with a population in Kentucky insufficient to protect the frontier, continually exposed to danger from the ruthless savage, Mrs. H-elm, in early life, evinced that Spartan courage that so eminently distinguished the pioneer women of _Kentucky. Having joined the Church when only fifteen years of age, and becoming familiar with its doctrines and its polity, with all the earnestness of a warm heart sanctified by grace, she fully embraced the former, and approved of the latter. As well educated in early life as was practicable, and availing herself of all the facilities within her grasp, she made all her advantages subservient to the cause of truth. For sixty-five years she bore the Christian's cross, openly and everywhere professing an interest in the Redeemer, and on all proper occasions presenting the claims and the hopes of Christianity to others. She was a burningl and a shining light, reflecting upon others the savor of a holy life. IN KENTUCKY. 309 In the year 1824, her husband settled in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where she immediately associated herself with the small class, then in its infancy, in that place. IIcr agreeable manners, added to her fervent piety, contributed much to the growth and prosperity of the Church where she resided. Her husband was not a member of the Church. Having ill his home so bright an example of Christianity, he nevertheless ignored the claims of religion, and rested apparently contented with external conformity to the teachings of the moral law. Descended from two of the best families in the State, participating extensively in those wars which recovered Kentucky from Indian depredations, the possessor of an ample fortune, and, in an important sense, the friend of mankind, he seemed indifferent to the sanctions of the Bible. The heart of his pious wife was deeply touched at this neglect of an interest so vital. The continual falling of a rain-drop on the flinty rock will finally leave its impression. The sincere prayers and holy life of Mrs. Helm could not fail to exert a salutary influence on her husband. In the seventysecond year of his age, he joined the Church with his wife, having professed religion a short time previously. Their children, too-six in number-had embraced the Saviour. The cup of her joy was now fill. Seven years later, the arm which had protected and sustained her was palsied in death. His end was peaceful. 310 M ETHOD IS M On Wednesday, the 19th of January, 1853, she breathed her last, in the eightieth year of her age. For the last seventeen years of her life she was a cripple, from the effects of a fall, yet her remarkably fine sense and buoyant disposition, united with lher ardent piety, drew around her a host of friends and admirers. Htaving sustained in the most exemplary manner the various relations of wife, mother, neighbor, and servant of God, and filled her well-appointed time, like a shock fully ripe, she was gathered to her people in peace. She has left a numerous band of descendants, in the second, third, and fourth generations, many of whom are members of the Church. Among the representative women of Methodism in Kentucky, at this early period, we record the name of Mrs. Sarah Stevenson, the wife of Thomas Stevenson. She was born in Frederick county, in Maryland, in 1756, and, in the twelfth year of her age, under the preaching of Robert Strawbridge, was awakened and converted to God. In advance of the first missionaries, her husband emigrated to the District of Kentucky, and was here to offer to those men of God the first welcome to the hospitalities of their home. They located in Mason county, at what was called Kenton's Station, about six miles south-west of Maysville. In consequence of the frequency of the Indian massacres, they remained inside this fortress for sonme time. No family settlements could yet be made. Thus IN KENTUCKY. 311 confined and exposed to danger, the hardships they endured can scarcely be imagined. Mr. Stevenson, though a member of the Church, and a strict observer of its rules, made no open profession of religion until near the close of his life. Devoted, however, to its interests, he threw open the doors of his hospitable home; and from the arrival of Messrs. Itaw and Ogden, in 1786, until his death, his house was a regular preaching-place for the traveling ministers of the Methodist Connection. Beneath their roof McKendree, IBurke, Northcutt, Ray, O'Cull, Sale, and others, often found a place of rest. During the period of a long life, the piety and zeal of Mrs. Stevenson shone with undiminished luster. In her home, amongst her neighbors, and in the house of God, everywhere, as a Christian she had but few equals. Her love to the Church was only equaled by the sweetness of her temper and her interest in the religious welfare of her children. On the 27th of May, 1828, she breathed her last. "Amid the tears and lamentations of friends and relations, her remains were deposited in the family burying-ground." Upon the marble slab that stands at the head of her grave, is the following epitaph, inscribed by her son, the Rev. Edward Stevenson, D.D.: "Sacred to the memory of Sarah Stevenson, who was born October 7, 1756; embraced religion and joined the Methodist Church in 1768; and after having lived the gospel for more than half a century, died in peace, May 27, 1828. The righteous shall shine as the sun in the firmament." Among her 312 I E T II OD IS M descendants the Church has been blessed with several enterprising and useful ministers. AMrs. Mary Davis was among the first to connect herself with the Methodist Church in Kentucky. She was the daughter of Stephen and Molly Fisher, who emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky about the year 1776, and established a fort, about one mile from Danville, which, for many years, was known as "Fisher's Station." In 1783, under the preaching of Francis Clark, she became awakened, and immediately connected herself with the first society organized in the District. Early in the present century, with her husband, she removed to Union county, where she continued to reside until a short time previous to her death. The last few months of her life were spent at the residence of her son-in-law, Lazarus Powell, senior, in Henderson county, where, on the 2d of January, 1859, she passed away from earth, in the ninety-seventh year of her age, and having been for seventy-five years a member of the Church. At the time of her death, she was the oldest Methodist in Kentucky. Along the entire pathway of life, from the hour of her conversion, her interest for the welfare of the Church, and the success of Christianity, continually increased. Favored with an intellect remarkable for its strength —with her mind well cultivated, unimpaired by age, and richly stored with the events of nearly a hundred years, the intimate friend of Asbury, McKendree, and other early preachersperfectly familiar with the thrilling events of the IRevolution, and reared amid the dangers of frontier IN KENTUCKY. 313 life-an active participant in those great revivals that favored the Church at different periods-and entirely free from that childishness so often the accompaniment of age-her conversation, both to the old and the young, was of a most instructive and entertaining character. 1No subject, however, engrossed her thoughts as did that of religion. It had guided her steps in early life, was the companion of her more mature years, and the staff on which she was leaning, now the "almond-tree was flourishing," and her years were being numbered. A few weeks previous to her death, in apparent good health, after a free conversation on the subject of religion, she informed a granddaughter that she should die in a short time, and requested her to prepare her clothing for her burial. So soon as the preparations she requested were made, she retired to her bed, from which she never arose. In a few days her spirit was with God. She retained her senses, and conversed freely, to the last moment, speaking of death as the harbinger of a bright and happy eternity.* * In the summer of 1847, while in charge of the Smithland District, we held a quarterly meeting in the Morganfield Circuit, of which the Rev. J. W. Cunningham had charge. Mrs. Davis was sitting in her carriage, on the skirt of the congregation, (the service being in a grove,) with her daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Yeager, a pious member of the Baptist Church. When the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered, the elements were carried to Mrs. Davis, she not being able to get from her carriage. After administering to her, Mr. Cunningham remarked to Mrs. Yeager that he would not offer the elements to her, as for her to partake of them would be in violation of the rules of her Church. She promptly replied that no rules could prevent her from partaking of the sacrament with her aged 314 M E T II 0 D I S M The name of Elizabeth Durbin deserves a conspicuous place among the representative women of Methodism in Kentucky. She was not only familiar with the early struggles of the Church, but for more than fifty-six years she was identified with its fortunes. She was the daughter of Ilai Nunn, and was born in the State of Georgia, October 12, 1781. In 1783, her father emigrated to Kentucky, and settled in Bourbon county. Before he came to Kentucky, Mr. Nuhnn attached himself to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and, in his devotion to its welfare and prosperity, displayed a remarkable zeal. Impressing upon the minds of his children the obligations of religion, his daughter Elizabeth, when only about fifteen years of age, was awakened and converted to God. In her eighteenth year, she was married to Mr. HIosier Durbin, who left her, at his death, with five children, two of whom became distinguished ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1817, she was married to Mr. Clement Theobald, and removed to Grant county, Kentuckly, where, after a long and useful life, she quietly breathed her last on the 20th of April, 1852. and Christian mother; and then she partook of the elements. On the following Saturday, she was arraigned before the Baptist Church for the offense; and not being able to perceive any wrong in what she had done, and refusing to make any acknowledgments, she was allowed four weeks for consideration. During the interim, she had an opportunity of communing with the Cumberland Presbyterians, and availing herself of the privilege, no farther complaint was made by her Church. IN KENTUCKY. 315 Among the distinguished women of the Methodist Church in Kentucky, no one presented a brighter Christian example than Mrs. Durbin. Devoted to the Church of her choice, as well as to the common cause of Christianity, she contributed the influence of a holy life and a liberal hand to promote the great ends of religion. Endowed with an intellect of a superior cast, with a heart sanctified by grace, and with an inflexible purpose to accomplish the highest aims and ends of lifewhether by the bedside of affliction, or in her own family circle, or pouring out the devotions of her heart around the altars of the Church-she was everywhere an angel of mercy. Through many years her house was consecrated to God, and beneath her hospitable roof the faithful minister of Christ found a welcome and a place of rest. In a brief biography, written by her pastor soon after her death, he says: "'Many there are who bless God that she ever lived. Her place in the Church and family circle cannot be easily filled. In her death a pillar of Christianity has been broken, and a moral, guiding light extinguished. Her children and society have sustained a loss that time cannot repair. She in an eminent degree trained up her children in the way they should go, and had the high satisfaction of seeing them all soundly converted, and exemplary members of the Church, while two of them became eloquent ministers of the gospel of Christ."*' Nashville Christian Advocateo, July 15, 1852. 316 MI E T IH 0 D I S M For several years she suffered fi-ro severe affliotion, yet her last attack, a disease of the throat, was brief. After a few days' illness, calmly and easily she passed away.'We need not the dying testimony of the servants of God, however gratifying it may be to catch the last words of triumph that may fall from their expiring lips-or however fondly we may treasure them in our hearts-to satisfy us of their safe entrance into eternal rest. Unable to converse during her illness, her entire life having shed a luster on her profession, her death could not be otherwise than one of victory. She passed away like the sun which sinks behind the western hills, "giving a sure hope of rising in brighter array." The following extract from a letter received from her son, the Rev. John P. Durbin, D.D., dated March 5, 1868, in answer to a letter of inquiry which we sent him, will be read with interest: "I have no family records within my reach, and cannot therefore be precise in regard to any point. My mother was the daughter of Ilai Nunn, of Bourbon county, Kentucky. HIe was originally from Georgia, at a very early day, when the Indians were in some parts of Kentucky. My mother was born quite as early as 1781, perhaps earlier. IIer father's house was the church for their neighborhood. My mother early became pious. By her first husband she had five children, all sons, of whom I was the eldest. Myself and my brother William (third son) are the only ones living. HIer first husband died about 1814; and, two or three years thereafter, she IN KENTUCKY. 317 was married to Mr. Theobald, of Grant county, Kentucky. A son and a daughter were the fruit of that marriage. The son is dead, but the daughter — now Mrs. Sayres, of Grant county-is still living, and is the mother of a large family of children. My youngest brother, IIosier J. Durbin, after whom you inquire, was a traveling preacher at his death, which happened more than twenty years ago, in Indiana. He was killed in a storm, by the limb of a tree falling on him, as he rode homeward. lie was in the service of the American Bible Society at the time, and was an energetic man, and, I have been told, a powerful preacher. His widow and children (three girls and two boys) still survive.' I forgot to say, my mother's house was a church, where the ministers preached, and found a home, when passing or resting, during her second marriage. I wish I could write more satisfactorily about a mother whom I reverenced and loved so dearly." Another name that bore a conspicuous part in planting Methodism in Kentucky, and in watching its growth in the years of its infancy, is that of Mrs. Jane HIardin, the wife of Col. John Hardin, to whom we have made previous reference. She was the daughter of Nathanael Davies, was born in 1750, and brought up in Western Pennsylvania, on the Mononogahela. Her grandparents were from WnVales. On reaching Kentucky, in 1786, Col. Ilardin settled near Sandusky Station, a few miles from Springfield. In Pennsylvania, Mrs. Hardin had been a member of the Presbyterian Church. 318 M ETHODIS M Amongst the early societies planted in Kentucky, there was one at Josiah Wilson's, on Pleasant Run, and another at John Springer's, about two and a half miles from the former place. Very soon after their settlement in Kentucky, Col. Hardin and his wife both joined the Methodist Episcopal Church at Sandusky Station, now Pleasant Run. When at home, from the time he connected himself with the Church, until the hour of his departure on the mission which made his wife a widow and his children orphans, at morning and at night, he regularly called his family around the altar of prayer, and commended them to the care of Jehovah. In his absence, while living, and after his death, Mrs. Hardin knelt, with her children, as bad her husband, around the same altar, for worship. On all the public means of grace she faithfully attended. In the places of public worship, the prayermeeting, and the class, she was always found, unless providentially hindered. In her private devotions, she was accompanied by her children, where she invoked the blessings of Heaven upon them, while they listened to her soft, sweet voice, lifted in supplication, and beheld the tears that trickled clown her cheeks, as she pleaded before God for those deprived of a father's care, but now doubly entrusted to her own. Her every-day life was that of a true Christian, and each day was a day of communion with God. I1er life, shadowed by the stroke that had fallen on her heart in the death of her husband, was consecrated every hour to God. About the year 1799, she was married to IN KENTUCKY. 319 Capt. Christopher Irvine, of Madison county, near Richmond; and, after his death, she resided with her youngest daughter, Mrs. Rosanna Field, adjoining Richmond, where, in 1829, she died in great peace.* Highly gifted by nature, possessed of indomitable energy, and with a heart sanctified by grace, she was well prepared to impart an influence to the Church, that could be claimed but by few of her time. Through the whole period of her life, zealous for the cause of Christ, in her own family, in the community in which she resided, and in the Church of which she was a member, she was "a burning and a shining light." Among her descendants have been men, some of whom, by the power of their eloquence and the greater power of an upright life, have graced the halls of legislation, while others have won distinction in the learned professions; and women who, as the wives of ministers of the gospel, who have been prominent in the Church, or filling other spheres, have been useful members of society, gracing it with their charms, and shedding upon it the glorious example of a holy life. One of the earliest families to join the Methodist Church in Kentucky, was that of Joshua Stamper. HIis wife, Mrs. Jane Stamper, preceded him in entering the Church. They were the parents of the Rev. Jonathan Stamper. Whatever responsibility * We have been favored with these facts by her son, Mark Hardin, Esq., of Shelhyville, Kentucky. 320 l E T H O D I S I may belong to the father in the religious training of his children —and no language can estimate ityet certainly the first impressions are made by the mother on the infant mind. The moral and religious character of Mrs. Stamper cannot be overdrawn. Of a meek and quiet spirit, within the sphere of her own home she exerted an influence that has been felt in the Church to the present time. 1Ier daughter, Mrs. Danley, the mother of the Rev. Leroy C. Danley, once said "that of all the members of the several branches of the family of her parents, including those who had married into the family, about fifty or sixty in number, who have grown to mature years, there were but two who were not professors of religion."* Deeply pious, and devoted to the Church, as was her husband, yet to the influence and religious counsel of Mrs. Stamper was her family chiefly indebted for these blessed results. The following sketch of her character, furnished at our request, by Mrs. WV. M. Grubbs, the daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Stamper, and wife of the Rev. Villiam M. Grubbs, of Russellville, Kentucky, is so excellent a portraiture of Mrs. Stamper, that we give it to our readers without any alteration: "My grandparents were among the very early settlers of IKentucky, coming to this State from Virginia about the year 1778. For more than twelve years they were compelled to live in forts, and endure all the hardships of frontier life. They lived * Letter to the author from S. MI. Brawner, of Louisville, Kentucky. IN KENTUCKY. 321 first at Boonesborough, and afterward at Strode's Station. Long after they ventured outside of the walls of a fort, they were exposed to Indian depredations. During all these tedious years they lived almost entirely on the wild game procured by my grandfather's rifle-much of the time without bread or salt. To get even this scanty fare, he had many thrilling adventures and hair-breadth escapes. My childish heart has almost stood still with terror as I have heard it told how the Indians, with uplifted tomahawks, ran him into the fort, while his poor, agonized wife, from her lookout, saw the fearful race, until some kind friend, who would not have her witness the murder of her husband, drew her away. It is true, he escaped, and was spared to his family; but often had she been called to look upon such scenes among her friends. Being naturally a very delicate woman, the many privations, the fearful uncertainty and excitement of pioneer life, told heavily upon her health in all after life. "My grandmother was born in Bedford county, Virginia. Her maiden name was Jane Woodrough. In her early home she was nurtured in the Presbyterian Church, and being of an extremely sensitive and conscientious turn of mind, she was often in great fear lest she was not among the elect. The first Methodist sermon she ever heard was preached in her new home: under it she was converted, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church; and for nearly forty years she lived a faithful, consistent Christian. "Her house was not only the home of the weary VOL..- 11 322 ET - o D ISM itinerant, but was for many years a preachingplace. "HIer record is not found among the notable women, whose deeds, like great rivers, have blessed many lands: her sphere was humble; but in the quiet seclusion of her own home, she led a godly life; and the world is better that she lived, for she trained and sent forth a Christian family of sons and daughters, who loved and labored for the cause she prized. "I saw her many times, yet one scene only remains with me. It was a bright summer day, and as I stood in the door, she sat by her low bed, earnestly regarding me. She wore the plain dress of her day, with the white muslin kerchief folded around her in the style used by the old Methodist ladies. Much is now said of magnetic faces. WVhy it is that this one picture of her is so vividly impressed on my mind, I cannot tell, unless her face, with its steady blue eye, can come under this class. " She was a very firm woman, but most tender and affectionate. My father was very young when he joined the itinerant ministry, and of course had his share of hardship. When he came home to her, after a hard year's work, worn and ragged, she wept over him, but comforted him with many cheering words, and soon, with her own hands, made him ready for his mission again. Many instances of this kind might be spoken of; but to show tllat she was not weakly sympathetic and tender, when, at another time, he came to her discouraged by the unkindness and harshness of his seniors in the ministry, deter IN KENTUCKY. 323 mined to abide at home, she cared for him most lovingly; but when the time came for him to start, she said to him, (and any loving mother may imagine what it cost her,)'Young man, get your horse and go; you can't stay here.' "One other trait much to be admired, was the perfect freedom of her religious intercourse with her family. They talked, prayed, and rejoiced together in their own home. She taught her children to bear the cross in the beginning of their religious life. When my father came home from the campmeeting at which he was converted, my grandfather being absent, although an elder brother was present, she made him lead the family devotions. " She died in 1825, and my father thus writes of her death: "'I'My mother lingered about four months after the death of my father, and then sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. I was permitted to be present and close her eyes, when the happy spirit left its clay tabernacle. We had been anticipating this event for months, yet when it came we were unprepared to give her up. My own feelings were almost beyond control when I saw those calm, blue eyes, which had so often beamed upon me with all a mother's love, close for ever in the darkness of death. A sense of orphanage pervaded my spirit; and though I had been a husband and father for years, I felt that in some way I was left alone when mny dear old mother died. 1" My mother possessed a very tender heart, and could see nothing suffer without great pain. She 324 M E T H ODIS M was an example of shining piety to her children; and to this hour I am thankful for the gift of such a mother-one who cared for my soul, and taught my youthful feet the way to the house of God. I am now an old man; but her look, her counsels, her prayers, her tears, are all fresh in my memory; and I rejoice in the hope of meeting her in heaven, and once more calling her by the precious name of mother. "' I think that a cold and cheerless doctrine which teaches we shall be wholly unknown to each other in the future world, or that the bonds of earthly affection shall be so severed that we shall lose all kindred nearness to each other. It seems to me that it will constitute a portion of heaven's perfect happiness to sit down under the bending branches of the tree of life, With those so dear While lingering here, and tell over, again and again, our experience of God's dealings with us in this world of enemies and conflicts, O I should feel sorry if I thought it would not be permitted me to lay my head on my precious mother's lap once more, as I used to do when a little white-headed boy, and hear her sweet song, or her soothing voice saying, My precious son'" In the early history of Methodism in Kentucky, Mrs. Mary Todd Hinde* bore a prominent part. She * As many as nine of her descendants have taken rank in the ministry of the Methodist Church, to wit: Thomas S. HIinde, her son, IN K E NTUCKY. 325 was the daughter of Benjamin IIubbard, an English merchant. On the 24th of September, 1764, she was married to Dr. Thomas Iiinde, an eminent physician and surgeon, who had settled in Virginia. Descended from an excellent family, favored with the best educational advantages of her times, her mind well cultivated, easy and graceful in her manners, charitable in her views of the words and deeds of others, and occupying a high social position, she imparted happiness to the society in whose circle she moved. For many years after her marriage, she lived without the comforts of religion. The great aversion of her husband to Christianity was a hindrance to the cultivation of any religious emotions that may have impressed her heart. One of her daughters became impressed upon the subject of religion, and in an interview with her mother, the latter also became awakened. A short time afterward, preaching was introduced into the neighborhood in which she resided, by Methodist Leroy H. Kavanaugh, and Edward L. Southgate, Sen., her grandsons, all of whom died in peace some years since. There are still living, Hubbard Hinde Kavanaugh, Bishop of the M. E. Church, South, Benjamin Taylor Kavanaugh, pastor of the M. E. Church, South, Houston, Texas, and Williams Barbour Kavanaugh, preacher in charge of Alexandria Circuit, Kentucky Conference, her grandsons; Peter E. Kavanaugh, preacher in charge of Orangeburg Circuit, Kentucky Conference, Hubbard Hinde Kavanaugh, Jr., preacher in charge of Oddville Circuit, Kentucky Conference, and Edward L. Southgate, Jr., preacher in charge of Richmond and Providence Station, Kentucky Conference, her great-grandsonso Two of her daughters, moreover, married Methodist ministers, to wit: Williams Kavanaugh and Leroy Cole. 326 I E T I O D I S Al preachers, and, under their preaching, she was more fully instructed in the way of salvation, and was converted to God. In her early efforts to become religious, she was met by the opposition of her husband. Refusing to furnish her with a horse to ride to church, she walked regularly to the house of God. Unwilling to yield her purpose to become a Christian, no argument could induce her to abandon it. Declaring his belief that his wife was losing her mind, he applied a blister to her neck to bring her to her senses. In this condition she went to the place of prayer. The sufferings she bore, together with the patience she evinced under them, had an effect contrary to the expectations of her husband. It terminated in his awakening, but not in the curing of his wife. WVe copy the following from a letter we received from her grandson, B3ishop HI. H. Kavanaugh, dated Lexington, KIentucky, April 14, 1868: "Faith in the promises of God, and the efficacy of the blood of the atoning Lamb, was much more efficient to the removal of her distracting grief and burdened soul. I-Iow long she was seeking the pardon of her sins, until she obtained peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, I am not informed; but having obtained the pearl of great price, she beautifully illustrated its value by a godly conversation —walking'worthy of the vocation wherewith she was called.' "After Mrs. Hinde and her husband were fully enlisted in the service of the Captain of their salva IN KENTUCKY. 327 tion, they removed to Kentucky, and settled in Clarke county. -lere she became instrumental in the organization of a class, afterward known as the Ebenezer Church. In this neighborhood, the purity of her life, the sweetness of her spirit, together with the clearness of her mind, were all elements of usefulness. "Under the influence of the French infidelity of the day, there was at that time a good deal of that form of infidelity which was styled Deism. Its adherents admitted the existence of one God, denied the doctrine of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the inspiration of the Scriptures. One of her neighbors, Major John Martin, who was an adherent of this doctrine, was indulging in a little pleasant raillery, ridiculing her religion as being untrue, irrational, and not worthy of belief. In a kind and gentle tone of voice, she said to him:' Major Martin, the Christian religion may be true.' The expression fastened strongly upon the Major. He said afterward, that, on his way home, the thought was constantly revolving in his mind, The Christian religionz may be true. The manner of the Major was rather blunt and pointed; so he said to himself,'If the Christian religion is true, it is an awful truth to me.' And as he pondered the great facts of religion, before he reached his home lie said to himself,' The Christian religion is true, and I am a sinner, and on the way to hell.' IHe hastened home, called for the Testament, and betook himself to prayer, in which he persistedC until he had the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins. 328 1I E T t1 0 D I S AI From that time he was the uncompromising soldier of the cross and follower of the Lamb, until he closed his life in peace. "Mrs. Ilinde had a singularly clear and distinct memory of the events of her life and observation. Unlike the Doctor, her memory never failed her. When in advanced age, she became apprehensive that she should lose her eye-sight, as her eyes were weak and failing: she thought that one of the most gloomy features of that calamity would be the deprivation of the pleasure and profit of reading the good books that had so often cheered her heart and edified her mind. "To relieve, in some measure, the calamity she saw coming upon her, she committed to memory a large portion of Baxter's Saint's Rest, and an astonishing amount of the practical remarks of Scott's Commentary, some of the sermons of Wesley most admired by her, and some other authors that I cannot now remember, and forty hymns. I have held the book and heard her recite for an hour at a time, and she but rarely miscalled a word; and those she would miss were a mere substitution of the little connective forms of speech that did not much affect the sense. The satisfaction she realized in this, she said, well rewarded her for the labor of committing. Even in her blindness she was cheerful, devoted to her Christian duties, and resigned to the will of God. "I do not remember any detail of her dying exercises, which I may have heard. But her race is ended, the battle is fought, and the long anticipated IN KENTUCKY. 329 crown has been bestowed. How glorious it is to think that her grand attainments through grace are hers for ever!" The Annual Conferences for the western division of the work had hitherto been held in the spring. In a former chapter we noticed the Conference for this year, which convened at Dunworth, on Holston, on the first Friday in April. During this year the Conference was changed from the spring to the fall of the year. On the 30th of September, Bishop Asbury entered IKentucky, and on the following Saturday reached Bethel Academy, accompanied by Bishop Whatcoat and William McKendree, and on the 6th of October commenced the session of the Conference. We copy from his Journal, Vol. II., pp. 473, 474, 475: "Saturday, October 4. I came to Bethel. Bishop Whatcoat and Williamn McKendree preached: I was so dejected I could say little, but weep. Sabbathday it rained, and I kept at home. Here is BethelCokesbury in miniature —eighty by thirty feet, three stories, with a high roof, and finished below. Now we want a fund and an income of three hundred per year to carry it on; without which it will be useless. But it is too distant from public places; its being surrounded by the river Kentucky in part, we now find to be no benefit: thus all our excellences are turned into defects. Perhaps Brother Poythress and myself were as much overseen with this place as Dr. Coke was with the seat of Cokesbury. But all is right that works right, and all is wrong that 330 I E T II 0 D I S AI works wrong, and we must be blamed by men of slender sense for consequences impossible to foresee -for other people's misconduct. Sabbath-day, X1Ionday, and Tuesday, we were shut up in Bethel with the traveling and local ministry, and the trustees that could be called together. We ordained fourteen or fifteen local and traveling deacons. It was thought expedient to carry the first design of education into execution, and that we should employ a man of sterling qualifications, to be chosen by and under the direction of a select number of trustees and others, who should obligate themselves to see him paid, and take the profits, if any, arising fromn the establishment. Dr. Jennings was thought of, talked of, and written to. I visited John Lewis, who lately had his leg broken; I left him with good resolutions to take care of his soul. "~ Wednesdcay, 8. WVe rode fifteen miles to Shawnee Run, and crossed Kentucky River at Curd's Ferry; the river was as low as a stream, and the streams are nearly dried up. "Thursday, 9. I preached on Ileb. iii. 12-14, at the new house at Shawnee Run. We had rich entertainment for man and beast at Robert Johnson's. "Friday, 10. We rode to Pleasant Run to John Springer's: it was a very warm day for the season. I had a running blister at my side, yet I rode and walked thirty-two miles. WVe refreshed ourselves at Crawford's Tavern upon the way. We have visited Knox, Madison, Mercer, and Washington counties, in this State. It was strongly insisted upon by preachers and people that I should say something IN KENTUCKY. 331 before I left Bethel; able or unable, willing or unwilling: accordingly, on Tuesdcy, in the acadelmical hall, I gave a long, temperate talk upon IIeb. x. 38, 39. "Sabbath-day, 12. It rained excessively; wve were shut up; William McIKendree met the people. We have had but two Sabbaths to spend in Kentucky, and in both I was prevented by rain. "MJfonday, 13. NWe left John Springer's, and came to Lewis Thomas's, fifteen miles; a deep, damp, narrow path; the underwood very wet. Crossed Cartwright and Hardin's Creeks. I gave a short sermon on Rom. viii. 9:'If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.' "Tuesday, 14. We began our march for Cumberland. We were told by two persons that we could not cross the Rolling Fork of Salt River; I judged we could, and as I thought, so it was-A-e forded it with ease. WVe came up a solitary path east of the Level Woods, and struck into the road to Lee's Ferry. For ten miles of the latter part of this day's journey, we rode through barrens of hickory, shruboak, and hazel-nut: thirty miles, if not thirty-five, is the amount of this day's work: in the morning there was a very great damp, and in the afternoon it was, I thought, as warm. as the west of Georgia. "W Tednesday, 15. W~e crossed Green River, the main branch of which riseth near the Crab Orchard. We crossed at the mouth of Little Barren River. We then made a bold push for the Great [Barren: dining at Mr. Morrison's, I could not eat wallet-provision; but happily for me, I was provided 332 ME THODISM with a little fresh mutton at the house, made warm in a small space. Now we had unfavorable appearances of rain; we had bleak, barren hills to ride; which, although beautiful to sight, were painful to sense. The rain came in large and rapid drops for fourteen miles; we were well'soaked on all sides. A little after dark we came to Mr. 1Hagin's, upon Big Barren River: a good house, an excellent fire to dry our clothing, good meat and milk for supper, and the cleanest beds-all this we had. I have paid for this route." The session lasted but two days, and as the Journal is brief, we copy it entire: "'Journal of the WYestern Annual Conference, held at Bethel Academy, Kentucky, October 6, 1800. Members present: Francis Asbury, Richard Whatcoat, William McKendree, William Burke, John Sale, HIezekiah Harriman, Benjamin Lakin; rehdmitted, Lewis Hunt, Thomas Allen, and Jeremiah Lawson. "Who are admitted on trial? "Answer. William Marsh, ZBenjamin Young. "What local preachers are elected to the office of deacons? "Answer. Richard Tilton, Edward Talbot, William Thompson, Isaac Pavey, Reuben HIunt, Elisha Bowman, Jacob James, A. Blackman, Jonathan Kidwell, Benjamin Northcutt, Joshua West, James Garner, Jesse Griffith, Philip Taylor. "Who have located this year? "Answer. Thomas Allen. "Boenjamin Lakin, Jeremiah Lawson, Lewis IN KENTUCKY. 333 IIunt, and Thomas Allen ordained to the office of deacons. "The preachers' deficiencies for six months are as follows: William Burke, ~2 17s 6d; Hezekiah hIarriman, ~7 19s Od; John Sale, ~6 16s 6d; Lewis IHunt, ~0 18s 2d; Jeremiah Lawson, ~5 15s 5d; Benjamin Young, ~3 5s 6d; Thomas Allen, ~11 2s Od. Total, ~38 14s 3d. "Conference adjourned to meet again at Ebenezer, State of Tennessee, October 1, 1801. "' Test, F. ASBURY. "'WVILLIAM BURKE, Secretary. "'From this brief Journal it appears that there were present at the Conference only ten individuals, including Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat, and the session continued only one day, and the members were off to their several Appointments, which, according to the printed Minutes, were as follows: " KENTUCKY DISTRICT.-William Mciendree, P. E. "Scioto and Miami, Henry Smith. "Limestone, Benjamin Lakin. "Hinkstone and Lexington, William Burke, Thomas WVilkerson, Lewis Hunt. "'Danville, Hezekiah Harriman. "Salt River and Shelby, John Sale, Villiam Marsh. "Cumberland, John Page, Benjamin Young. "Green, Samuel Douthet, Ezekiel Burdine. "Holston and Russell, James Hunter. "New River, John Watson." * Nashville Christian Advocate, January 16, 1851. 334 I E T H 0 D I S SM The deep solicitude felt by Bishop Asbury for the success of Bethel Academy, as well as his fear for its failure, is certainly very touchingly expressed in the extract we have quoted from his journal. During his brief stay in Kentucky, he "ordains fourteen or fifteen local and traveling deacons," preaches at Bethel Academy and at several other points, traverses a large portion of the State, visits Churches, suffering all the while under deep affliction. WVonderful man! On the 16th of October, lie enters the State of Tennessee, and the 18th le preached at Parker's, where lie was met by "Brothers McGee, Sugg, Jones, and Speer, local preachers," and "had a small shout in the camp of Israel." On the 19th he looked upon Nashville for the first time, and met a congregation of "not less than one thousand in and out of the Stone Church," to wbhom sermons were preached by "' Mr. McKendree, Bishop Whatcoat, and himself, the services lasting three hours." On the following day w e fincd him at " Drake's Creek MReeting-house, at the close of a sacramental solemnity that had been held four days by Craighead, I-lodge, ilankin, MicGee, and Adair, Presbyterian ministers, at which sermons were preached by McJKendree, W5hatcoat, and himself." On that day and night following, he enjoyed the privilege of mingling'" with scenes of deepest interest." The great revival, to which we have so frequently referred, was now in its zenith, in Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. The vast assemblies that attended the preaching of the gospel could not be ac IN KENTUCKY. 335 comnlmodated in any of the churches. At this meeting "the stand was in the open air, embosomed in a wood of lofty beech-trees." We copy from Asbury's Journal, Vol. II., pp. 476, 477: "Tuesday, October 21. Yesterday, and especially during the night, were witnessed scenes of deep interest. In the intervals between preaching, the people refreshed themselves and horses, and returned upon the ground. The stand was in the open air, embosomed in a wood of lofty beech-trees. The ministers of God, Methodists and Presbyterians, united their labors, and mingled with the child-like simplicity of primitive times. Fires blazing here and there, dispelled the darkness, and the shouts of the redeemed captives, and the cries of precious souls struggling into life, broke the silence of midnight. The weather was delightful; as if heaven smiled, whilst mercy flowed in abundant streams of salvation to perishing sinners. We suppose there were at least thirty souls converted at this meeting. I rejoice that God is visitinog the sons of the Puritans, who are candid enough to acknowledge their obligations to the Methodists." The name of William MclKendree, identified this year for the first time with the history of the Church in ]Kentucky, not only from the position he subsequently occupied, as one of the chief pastors of the entire Church, but from his commanding talents, his fervent piety, his deep devotion to the cause of Christ, and great usefulness, will always be cherished with fond remembrance. I-Ie "was born in King William county, Virginia, July 5, 1757. Of his early 336I T H O DMET IISM history we know but little, farther than that he was of worthy and pious parents, who were in moderate circumstances, and was brought up to the pursuits common to the sons of a medium farmer in those days. His early education was imperfect; but in the course of years, by close attention to study, he became a learned man." * He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, having entered the service as a private, but was in a short time made adjutant, and afterward in consequence of his great energy, "and fine business qualifications, was placed in the commissary department."t In this position he exhibited those traits of character, of probity, and enterprise, that afterward distinguished him as a minister of Jesus Christ. In the position he filled in the army, he contributed much "' to sustain the allied armies of Washington and Rochambeau, at the siege of Cornwallis at Yorktown. "He was about five feet tenll inches in height, weighing, on an average, through life, after grown up to manhood, about one hundred and sixty pounds. HIe had fair skin, dark hair, and blue eyes. He increased in flesh between the years of forty and sixty, and at one time he weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds; but as he grew old he declined in flesh, and for the last ten years of his life did not exceed one hundred and forty pounds. When in his prime, his form was almost faultless, * Rev. A. L. P. Green, D.D., in Biographical Sketches of Eminent Itinerant Ministers, p. 43. t Ibid., p. 44. IN KENTUCKY. 337 possessing extraordinary action and great physical strength. His features, taken as a whole, were decidedly good; rather handsome than otherwise. When calm and silent, there was the expression of deep thought upon his countenance, sometimes approaching even to that of care; but whenever he spoke, his eyes would kindle up, and a smile like that of pleasant recognition would cover his face, which was the outcropping of a kind and benevolent heart. Iis constitution was no doubt naturally a good one, but he was so much overtaxed through life with labor, hardships, and exposure, that his old age was burdened with infirmities, being for many years under the influence of asthma and neuralgia." * Impressed with the importance of religion from early childhood, he, however, was not convertedt until about thirty years of age. Under the preaching of John Easter he was awakened and brought to Christ. In 1787, he connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church, "'and the following year obtained license to preach, and joined the traveling connection on trial. The Conference at which he was admitted was held in Amelia county, Virginia, June 17, 1788. His first appointment was to Norfolk and Portsmouth. His next was to' Rev. A. L. P. Green, D.D., in Biographical Sketches of Eminent Itinerant Ministers, pp. 44, 45. t John and Thomas Easter both became traveling preachers. The former was one of the most successful preachers the Methodists ever had. Bishops McKendree and George were both awakened under him, and thousands of others.-Lednuom, p. 185. 338 METHODIS M Petersburg: after the first quarter, he was removed to Union Circuit, in the bounds of the South Carolina Conference. The following year he was sent to the Bedford Circuit, Virginia Conference; the third quarter he was removed to the Greenbrier Circuit; the fourth quarter he was removed to the Little Levels, on the Western waters. The next year he was appointed to four circuits, to travel each one quarter. At the end of this year he was appointed to the Richmond District. The following year he was sent to a mountainous District in the Baltimore Conference. From this District he was returned at the end of the year to the Richmond District, from which he was taken after one round, by the Bishops, to what was then called Kentucky, and left in charge of what was then the Western Conference, which embraced Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and all Virginia west of New River, and also one Circuit in the State of Illinois. The foregoing account of his labors is from the Bishop's own hand." * Mr. McIKendree entered upon the work in the WVest at a most propitious period. The "' Great Revival" in IKentucky and Tennessee had commenced prerious to his appointment to this District; and at the time he entered upon his labors, "throughout this whole region a religious excitement was spreading and prevailing." t After attending the session of the Conference at Bethel, he passed through a R oev. A. L. P. Green, D.D., in Biographical Sketches of Eminent Itinerant Ministers, p. 47. t Recollections of the West, p. 33. IN KENTUCKY. 339 considerable portion of Kentucky, in company with Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat, reviewing this section of his field of labor, preaching with extraordinary fervor, and bringing the wealth of his princely intellect, and of his tireless energy, and laying all upon the altar of the Church. The printed Minutes report his appointments somewhat different from the extract quoted above. In 1788, his name stands connected with the Mecklenburg Circuit; in 1789, with the Cumberland; in 1790, with the Portsmouth; in 1791, with the Amelia; in 1792, with the Greensville; in 1793, with Norfolk and Portsmouth; in 1794, with the Union; in 1795, with the Bedford, to change with Thomas Wilkerson in six months; in 1796, as Presiding Elder over Orange, Amherst, IHanover, Williamsburg, and Gloucester-his name also stands in connection with the Williamsburg Circuit; in 1797 and 1798, as Presiding Elder over New River, Bottetourt, Bedford, Orange, IIanover, and Williamsburg and Gloucester; in 1799, as Presiding Elder over Fcairfax, Alexandria, Stafford, Lancaster, Berkeley, Alleghany, Rockingham, Pendleton, and WAinchester; and in 1800, he was placed in charge of the District embracing the Greenbrier and Bottetourt, the Bedford, Orange, Amherst, Williamsburg and Itanover, and Gloucester Circuits, from which he was removed during the same year to [Kentucky. We soon find him in attendance at a Presbyterian meeting " at Drake's Creek Meeting-house," in Tennessee, where a revival was in progress, and preaching fiom Jeremiah iv. 14: "0 Jerusalem, 340 WI E T ODIS wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" In company with Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat, and those faithful evangelists, John and William McGee, he wends his way toward East Tennessee, "preaching" and " exhorting'" to listening thousands, all along his route. Traveling his vast District, he "had been but a few months on the ground till he understood perfectly his field of labor, muoving day and night, visiting families, organizing societies, and holding Quarterly Conferences. It was his constant practice to travel from thirty to fifty miles a day and preach at night. All classes of people flocked to hear him. Statesmen, lawyers, doctors, and theologians, of all denominations, clustered around him, saying, as they returned home,'Did you ever hear the like before?' Some, indeed, were so captivated, that they would say,'Never man spake like this man.' He saw that the harvest was truly great, and the laborers few. Early in the imiorning and late in the evening, with streaming eyes, he prayed God, with hands and heart uplifted, that he would send forth more laborers into the harvest. "He was actively engaged in forming new circuits, and calling out local preachers to fill them. Whenever he found a young man of piety and native talent, he led him out into the Lord's vineyard; and large as his District was, it soon became too small for himn. He extended his labors to every part of South-western Virginia; then crossing the Ohio River, he carried the holy war into the State of Ohio; IN KENTUCKY. 341 and there he formed new charges, and called out young men. Like a noble general, he was always in the first ranks. Throughout the length and breadth of the WTest, as far as the country was settled, McKiendree was first in council and first in action. If he appeared on a camp-ground, every eye was upon him, and his word was law. In private circles, in Quarterly Conferences, he was the master spirit." * WVe have already referred to Mr. McKendree as being an active participant, immediately on his entrance on the labors of his District, in the revival of religion that distinguished this period. In passinog through his vast District, he carried with hinm a holy influence, which, like a "flame of fire," spread in every direction. No difficulty could daunt this soldier of the cross. "IHe led his band of tried men-and a nobler band of Christian heroes never lived than those who flocked around the standard that was borne in triumph by William McKendree."t True, sometimes he was depressed, for he was mortal; but, nothing daunted, he moved with steady and resistless step, an example of labor and piety among his brethren. Deep streams could not divert him from his course; high mountains presented no barrier; the rains of summer and the snows of winter alike unmoved him. Often he swam the turbid stream to reach the appointments he had made. And many a time, after a long day's *tAutobiography of the Rev. Jacob Young, pp. 61, 62. t Rev. A. L. P. Green, D.D. 342 li E T II O D I S AI travel, he lay out in the woods at night, hungry and cold, with no other covering than his clothes and saddle-blanket, except the blue sky above him. The first to bear to the northern and central portions of Kentucky the intelligence of the revivals in the southern part of the State, he mingled freely in them. In the pulpit, in the altar, in the family circle, by his counsel and bright Christian example, he exerted an influence for good that cannot now be estimated. We find him side by side with the pious Burke "'in the contests" he had with'the ministry of the Baptist Church; and in the defense of the great cardinal doctrines and principles of Methodism, he stood forth the unflinching advocate. Under his supervision many of the early churchedifices were erectedcl;* and under his ministry the KIentucky District enjoyed continual prosperity. We next find him on the Cumberland District, embracing "nine circuits, one of which was in Missouri. -Ie traveled from Nashville, Tennessee, through Kentucky and Illinois, to Missouri, a distance of fifteen hundred miles, in order to pass round and through his District. Into this new and extensive field of labor he entered spiritedly, and was everywhere hailed as an able minister of the New Testament. IHere he was the honored instrument, in connection with the worthy men who labored side by side with him, though under his superintendency, of laying, as a wise master-builder, -