W H Library ESLEYAN ERITAGE M. E. Church History A H O ISTORY F T M. E. C , HE HURCH V . II OL By Nathan Bangs, D. D. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” Heb 12:14 Spreading Scriptural Holiness to the World Wesleyan Heritage Publications © 1997, 1998 A HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH: BY NATHAN BANGS, D. D. VOLUME II. FROM THE YEAR 1793 TO THE YEAR 1816. THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED. "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob ; and thy tabernacles, O Israel," Numbers xxiv, 5. "Behold, I send an Angel before thee--beware of him, and obey his voice; provoke him not.--If thou, shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to thine adversaries," Exod. xxiii, 20-22. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1838, by T. Mason & G. Lane, in the clerk's office of the Southern District of New-York New-York: PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 200 MULBERRY STREET. 1853 A HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH By Nathan Bangs Volume II (Third Revised Edition, Published in 1853) BOOK IV From 1792 to 1812 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 = (Part 10) Methodism won its way; satisfaction in the doings of the conference of 1792; conferences and circuits; efforts to establish district schools; labors of Bishop Asbury; Methodism in New England; preachers withdrawn, dead, and located, numbers, conferences, and circuits; Methodism in the west; affliction and labors of Bishop Asbury; others labor and suffer with him; Methodism in Vermont and Maine; in New Hampshire; days of fasting and thanksgiving; locations and deaths of preachers; number of members and conferences; poisonous effects of infidelity; a fast proclaimed; thanksgiving; numbers; conferences attended by Bishop Asbury; his labor and sufferings; meets the classes in New York; Benjamin Abbott; his labors and their effects; his last public service; his death; his character; death of other preachers; of Judge White; numbers CHAPTER 2 = (Part 11) Second General Conference; locations deprecated; chartered fund; church property; manner in, and purposes for which it is held; local preachers, rules for the government of rule respecting the use of ardent spirits; Dr. Coke offers his services to the conference, which were accepted; he returns to Europe; an incident of the voyage; conference adjourns. CHAPTER 3 = (Part 12) Conferences and circuits; illness of Bishop Asbury; his labors and sufferings; further sufferings at Tuckehoe, N.Y.; not able to attend conferences, but appoints Jesse Lee in his place; death of preachers, and number in the church; people of color special object of attention; rebuilding of the Light street church; extension of the work in Western New York; numbers; death and character of John Dickins; deaths and locations; revival in Upper Canada; Calvin Wooster; good results of; his labors; others enter into the work; opposition to it; Methodism in Ohio; in Georgia and Mississippi; locations and deaths -- death and character of H. C. Wooster; numbers. CHAPTER 4 = (Part 13) Third General Conference. The oldest journal commences here; debility of Bishop Asbury; conference requests a continuance of his services; to which he consents; the case of Dr. Coke considered; conference consents to his temporary residence in Europe; letter of Bishop Asbury to the British Conference; Dr. Coke returns; address of the American to the British Conference; election of Richard Whatcoat to the episcopal office; his labors and character; allowance of preachers; provision for married preachers; boundaries of conferences; the bishops authorized to ordain colored preachers adjournment. CHAPTER 5 = (Part 14) Great revivals; in Baltimore, Duck Creek, Eastern Shore of Maryland, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire; Commencement of camp meetings in the west; their good effects great meeting on Desha's Creek; conversion of individuals; opposition to these meetings -- how silenced; number of attendants increase; different denominations unite in them; powerful effects; labors of William McKendree; camp meetings spread other preachers enter into the work; providentially introduced; defence of these meetings; death of preachers, and numbers; labors of Bp. Asbury and Whatcoat; Methodism in N. Hampshire and Vermont; in U. Canada; in Charleston, S.C.; deaths of preachers, and numbers; death and character of Mr. Jarratt; conferences; work of God prospers in the west; also in New Jersey; in the District of Columbia and in Vermont; Methodism in Montreal, L. C. and in Upper Canada; labors of the bishops; Baltimore conference; death and character of Bishop Asbury's mother; Methodism in Philadelphia; numbers; conference in Boston; progress of the work by means of camp-meetings in Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia; extends to Western New York and Lower Canada; deaths of preacher; comparative view of number in different sections of the country; influence of Methodism on the general state of society. CHAPTER 6 = (Part 15) Fourth General Conference; number and names of those Composing it; rules of proceeding and powers of the bishops; trial of a bishop, amendment of one article of faith, and sundry other alterations; addresses of the American to the British conference; boundaries of conferences; adjournment of the General Conference; effects of camp-meetings; influence declines in Kentucky; Springfield presbytery; wild excesses; Methodist adhere to their standards; Cumberland Presbytery; camp-meetings in Ohio; Methodism in Marietta; in the older states; in Illinois and upper Canada; state of things in Detroit; locations, deaths, and numbers, and conferences; general state of the work; death and character of Tobias Gibson; of Nicholas Watters and Wilson Lee; of others; numbers and conference; proposition of Bishop Asbury for a delegated General Conference; rejected by Virginia conferences; Dr. Cooks marriage and proposition to reside in America; Methodism in Louisiana; in Mississippi; in lower Canada, particularly Quebec; French mission; in Massachusetts, and Eastern Shore, Md; Bishop Asbury in the west; in Charleston, S. C.; death and character of Bishop Whatcoat; withdrawings, locations, and expulsions, numbers and conferences; Bishop Asbury's travels and prayers; Methodism in Missouri; in Savannah, Ga; deaths and numbers. CHAPTER 7 = (Part 16) General Conference of 1808 -- number of members; the case of Dr. Coke -- his letter to the General Conference; conference dissatisfied with him; his letter to Bishop White; the bishop's answer; remarks on this correspondence; Dr. Coke's explanatory letter; letter to Dr. Coke; resolutions in reference to Dr. Coke; address of the British to the American conference; of the American to the British conference; defence of those measures; measures for a delegated General Conference; Memorial of the New York conference; concurred in by other conferences; referred to a committee; report, and its rejection; a source of grief; second report accepted; well received; election of William McKendree to the episcopal office; sketch of his character and labors; E. Cooper resigns his station as book steward, and J. Wilson and D. Hitt appointed; local deacons, raising supplies, settling disputes, and adjournment of conference; minute respecting Dr. Coke. CHAPTER 8 = (Part 17) Extent of the annual conferences; general satisfaction in what had been done; Bishop Asbury relieved in his labors by his new colleague; Bishop McKendree enters upon his work; their manner of traveling; privations and enjoyments; extension of the work in Ohio; singular conversion; progress of the work in New England; revival in the city of New York; locations and deaths of preachers; account of Captain Webb; numbers; Methodism in the west; in Boston; origin of camp meetings; manner in which they are held; Account of one held on Long Island, N.Y.; another in the west; numbers; Genesee conference; Methodism in Cincinnati; in Indiana; revival in New York; locations and deaths of preachers; character of Joseph Everett; of John Wilson; numbers; rumors of war; earthquakes; want of houses of worship; of parsonages; Bishop Asbury in Upper Canada; in the western states; Methodism in Pittsburg; locations and death of preachers; numbers. BOOK V CHAPTER 1 = (Part 18) First delegated General Conference; names of its members; rules; address from Bishop McKendree; referred to committees; Bishop Asbury's desire to visit his native land; Genesee and other conferences; ordination of local deacons; rule for settling disputes; how state of itinerant in the M.E.C.; sad effects of this state of things; Lee's History and efforts to obtain a better; church property; provision for worn out preachers, widows, and orphans and for missionary purposes; address of G. C to the members of the church; presiding elder question; history of; arguments for and against the measure; end of the controversy; stationing power; its use. CHAPTER 2 = (Part 19) War declared; consequences of this; growing importance of the West; commission from the A. B. C. F. M. sent there; report; Bishop Asbury declines in health; remarks on the war and effects of intoxicating liquors; state of the work; numbers; a distressing times on the frontiers; secession of Pliny Brett; general state of things; labors of Bishop Asbury; makes his will; mutual affection and influence of the bishops; numbers; cause of the increase; the war rages; its effects on religion; dangerous illness, and recovery of Bishop Asbury; resumes his travels; his debilitated appearance; death and character of Mr. Otterbein, and others connected with him; death of Dr. Coke; locations; deaths and numbers; Bishop McKendree; conversation of Bishop Asbury with him; the war draws near its termination; locations, deaths and numbers; peace and its consequences; Bishops Asbury and McKendree; locations -- death of Learner Blackman; of Richman Nolley; of other preachers; decline of Bishop Asbury; last entry in his journals, and his last sermon; his death and burial; inscription on his tombstone; his life never written; his character; concluding remarks; Note A. A HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH By Nathan Bangs Volume II (Third Revised Edition, Published in 1853) BOOK IV FROM 1792 TO THE FIRST DELEGATED GENERAL CONFERENCE IN 1812 CHAPTER 1 From the close of the General Conference of 1792 to the close of the Annual Conferences of 1796 We have hitherto traced the progress of Methodism in this country, from its small beginning in 1766 to the close of the first General Conference in 1792. Though it had difficulties, both internal and external, to contend with, it won its way through every opposition, maintaining the purity of its character, and exerting its hallowing influence on society, in the meantime molding itself into a more compact form and firmer consistency, until, we have seen, it was organized in One Supreme judicatory to which its destinies, under God, were committed. I shall now proceed to narrate, as accurately as possible, its subsequent progress, both in its general councils and in its various ramifications over this extended continent. 1793 Though the labors of the conference, detailed in the former chapter, were great, and the subjects of deliberation elicited very considerable controversy, yet the preachers generally departed to their respective spheres of labor with promptness and cheerfulness; and the people, with the exception of those who were poisoned with the O'Kelleyan schism, manifested great satisfaction at what had been done. It was, indeed, manifest to all impartial men that the members of this conference "sought not their own" glory, temporal aggrandizement, ease, or pleasure, but the glory of God and the good of mankind. This year there were no less than nineteen conferences held in different parts of the country, for the convenience of the preachers and people, and it was upward of eleven months from the time of the first to the last, -- the times and places of which, not affording much matter of general interest, I think not necessary now or hereafter to specify. In these several conferences the following twelve circuits were added: -- Swanino, in Virginia; Haw River, in North Carolina; Hinkstone, in the West; Washington, Maryland; Freehold, New Jersey; Herkimer and Seneca Lake, New York; Tolland and New London, Connecticut; Province of Maine, Maine; Prince George, in Maryland; Savannah, in Georgia. An effort was made this year for the erection of district schools, in imitation of the Kingswood School, established by Mr. Wesley, in England; and an address was drawn up by Bishop Asbury to the members of the Church, with a view to call their attention to the importance of this subject. Several such were accordingly commenced soon after; but whether for want of skill in their management, or patronage from the people, or more probably from both of these causes, they lingered for a short time, and then ceased to exist. These failures in an attempt to impart the benefits of a Christian education made an impression upon the mind of the good bishop and others that the Methodists were not called to attend to these things and hence for several years they were suffered to sleep. This subject has, however, more latterly awakened a very general interest in the Church, and the cause of education has been prosecuted with vigor and success, as will be noticed in the proper place. After the adjournment of the conference, Bishop Asbury commenced his tour of the continent by traveling through the southern states, and thence west over the Allegheny Mountains into Tennessee and Kentucky, contending with almost all sorts of difficulties, and yet everywhere scattering the seeds of eternal life. From the west he returned and visited the northern and eastern states, and on arriving at the city of New York, he says, after mentioning that be had been much afflicted in body, particularly with an inflammatory rheumatism in his feet, -- "I have found, by secret search, that I have not preached sanctification as I should have done. If I am restored, this shall be my theme more pointedly than ever, God being my helper. I have been sick upward of four months, during which time I have attended to my business, and rode, I suppose, not less than three thousand miles." In this journey he had the satisfaction to behold, in many places, a revival of the work of God, which, amid the gloom occasioned by his debility, the roughness of the roads, and the coarseness of his fare, particularly in the new countries, made him "rejoice in hope of the glory of God." While a foundation was laying for an extensive work of God in the western states, New England began more fully to "stretch out her hands to God." This year there were two districts in New England, one of which was under the charge of the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper, and the other the Rev. George Roberts, both of whom were able ministers of the New Testament; and the Rev. Jesse Lee, who had opened a way for the spread of Methodism in this country, was stationed in the province of Maine, and Lynn. Through their labors, and those preachers who were associated together under their direction, several new circuits were formed in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and many societies were established. But this work did not go on without opposition. Though the civil regulations of the country did not allow the standing order to interpose their authority to prevent the Methodists from preaching, yet they were not allowed the full exercise of their ministry, particularly as respects uniting people in matrimony. Hence Mr. Roberts was prosecuted and fined for performing the marriage ceremony. As, however, this sort of persecution was becoming unpopular among the people, the more they were oppressed in this way, "the more they prospered," until finally all those legal barriers were removed out of the way, and the Methodists, as well as others, are protected in all their rights and privileges. Though it will be anticipating the chronological order of the history a little, yet I think it will give the reader a more intelligible idea of the progress of the work in this country, to connect a few particulars in this place. This year the New London circuit was formed. Though as early as 1789 preaching commenced in this city, yet no regular class was formed until the year 1793 and that consisted of fifty members. And it was not until 1798 that they succeeded in building a house of worship in New London, which was dedicated to God on the 22d of July of that year. Warren circuit, in Rhode Island, which included Warren, Newport, Providence, Cranston, and several places in Massachusetts, appears on the minutes of this year; and the first Methodist church which was built in Rhode Island was in the town of Warren; and the first sermon was preached in it Sept. 24, 1794. As perfect religious freedom was secured to the people by the original charter granted to the state of Rhode Island, and of course no form of Christianity was established by law, the Methodists met with less opposition there than they did in some other portions of New England. In Provincetown, on Cape Cod, which was first included in the minutes of 1795, there were some incidents attending the introduction of Methodism which, as they show the fruits of the carnal mind on the one hand, and the good providence of God on the other, may be worthy of record. It seems that a few in this place were brought under serious impressions, and began to hold meetings among themselves before they were visited by any preacher, and they had therefore no one competent to instruct and guide them. In this way they endeavored to strengthen each other's hands for some time, being much despised and persecuted by those who "knew not what spirit they were of;" until one of our preachers, who was on his passage from New York to St. John's, in New Brunswick, meeting with contrary winds, the vessel in which he sailed was compelled to anchor in the harbor of Provincetown. On going ashore, the preacher soon found these young converts, and at their invitation gave them a sermon. After staying with them a few days, and preaching several times, he left them with directions where they might apply for Methodist preachers. They accordingly sent to Boston for help, and were soon supplied. In consequence of these movements, when the Methodist preachers first visited the place, they were cordially received, treated with great kindness, and many attended their meetings. A society was soon formed, and several sinners awakened and converted to God, and added to the society. Their number daily increasing, they commenced building a house of worship. This provoked opposition, and the "sons of Belial" assembled in the night, took the greater part of the timber, which had been brought from a distance, at a considerable expense, threw it from the brow of a hill into the valley, cut it to pieces and built a pen with it, -- then taking a sailor's old hat, coat, and trousers, stuffed them so as to make them resemble a man, fastened the image on the top of the pen, and tarred and feathered it. This shameful conduct, so far from intimidating the brethren, or discouraging them in their efforts to erect a house for the worship of God, only served to stimulate them to renewed diligence; and by the month of January they had their house ready for use, and accordingly took possession of it in the name of the Lord. James O'Kelley, Rice Haggard, John Robertson, and John Allen, were returned in the minutes this year as withdrawn. Eighteen were located, and one, James Bell, was expelled. Benjamin Carter and John Sproul had died, both in peace. In making the above record, we cannot but notice the number of locations which took place in those early days of the Church, and which, indeed, continued to be numerous for many years thereafter. That this practice has had an unfavorable effect upon the interests of the Church, by depriving it of some of its tried and experienced ministers, must be evident to all; for though many of those who located retained their piety, and also their usefulness to some extent, yet it is manifest that their ministerial labors were very much contracted, and their usefulness proportionally circumscribed. These locations, however, were owing, in some measure at least, to the scanty support which was made for men of families, and the great difficulty of contending, under those circumstances, with the hardships of an itinerant life, particularly in the new countries. Hence the temptations which were held out to locate that they might provide a livelihood for their growing families. If the Methodist Episcopal Church has erred in any one thing more than another, it has been in neglecting to make that provision for its ministers which they needed, and which the gospel authorizes them to receive. A remedy for this evil is to be found in that spirit of liberality which Christianity inculcates, and which is essential to the existence and usefulness of a gospel ministry. The effect of the labors of this year may be seen in the following statement: -- Numbers in the Church: Whites This Year: 51,416; Last Year: 52,109; Decrease: 693 -- Colored This Year: 16,227; Last Year: 13,871; Increase: 2,356 -- Total This Year: 67,643; Last Year: 65,980 -- Increase: 1,663 -- Preachers This Year: 269; Last Year: 266; Increase: 3. The reader will perceive that though there was an increase of 1,663 in the total number, there was a decrease of 693 among the white members. The effects of the O'Kelleyan secession began to be felt, particularly in Virginia, and some parts of North Carolina. 1794 The number of annual conferences was reduced this year to fourteen, as some of the preachers had complained of there being so many at such short distances, among other reasons, because it prevented the minutes from being printed until near the end of the year. This inconvenience, however, should have been submitted to rather than to have made it necessary for the preachers to assemble from such a vast distance, at the expense of so much time and money, as many of them did when, afterward, the number of conferences was reduced to seven. At these conferences the following new circuits were returned in the minutes: -- Federal, in Maryland; Carlisle, in Pennsylvania; Leesburgh and Pendleton, in Virginia; Black Swamp, in South Carolina; New Hampshire, in New Hampshire; Marblehead, Orange, and Fitchburg, in Mass.; and Vermont, in Vermont; Oswegochee, in Upper Canada, was divided into two. In some of the southern states, Methodism was doomed to much suffering, arising out of the disputes and divisions occasioned by the O'Kelleyan secession, which has been already detailed. But while these things were transacting in those parts, to the grief of many pious hearts, the cause of