Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-21
ADVANCE OF METHODISM.
CENTENARY SERVICES A PART
OF THE CONFERENCE.

The First Thirty Years of Methodisn'. In
America Reviewed by Rev. j. 9. A.
CIark-The Struggles and PR cations
of the Early Ieineraylt Preac' Aers-The
First Church and Confer sncSA Whit
field and His I4abors-[he Services
Last Night and To-day
The attendance. at the Methodist Conference
yesterday was ylot so large as the day before.
The cold weas her kept many visitors at home
and the dele gates themselves were slow in
coming in. There were few persons in the
conference. room when Bishop Cranberry az
cendea tF.e platform and took his seat. The
devOtieF.al exercises were conducted by Rev.
j. NJ Marshall, of the Thomasville district.
As soon as the conference session began the
weEk Of receiving the reports Of the ministry
WIS continued. Considerable business of a
routine character was disposed Of until the
hour for the missionary service was reached,
when DR.. Young gave an interesting talk in
the interests Of Missions. At the conclusion
OF this service the centenary service began.
METHODIssTs FIRST THIRTY YEARS.
The centennial sermon was preached by
Rev. J. .. A. CLARK, from the text Look unto
the rock whence ye are heWn" (lsa. H.. j. ;
and Remove not the ancient landmark which
thy fathers have set" proverbs xii, %. The
subject of the discourse was MethOdlsm from
1864 to 1881, or its first thirty years in America.
These wears were not only the lnciDient period
Of MethOdism, but its formative period, and
! hence, said DR.. Clark, if we are familiar with
IL from its beginning in 1864 till the Methodist
Episcopal Church was organized in 1884, we
know its genus and methods. What Sir Will
! liam Hamilton said of man, may in figure be
applied to American MethOdism in 1884 1t
was not an Organism-it was an intelli-
genCe served by organs. In leo the Irish
palatines. Philip Embury and Barbara Heck,
came to New York. They were said to be the
fo1fUInrs Of Mpfhp0tgm america In lTh4
Embury was reinforced by Capt. Webb, of the
British Army. In 176S a chapel in John
street, in New York was built, ana was called
Wesley Chapel. But the authorities assert
an earlier date for the first Methodist Church
in America. In 1868, it is held, Robert Straw
bridge settled in Maryland, and l164 built the
log meeting house on Lanes creek and formed
a society. While we DO not decide between
these conflicting claims, said the speaker,
Bishop Asbury seems to settle the dis
freshman. In 1901 Asbury wrote in his
journal: ''Mr. Straw bridge formed the first
society in Maryland in America" But not all
of the history Of Methodism in the new world
has been written. Thereswere others who
emigrated to America and brought their
Methodist fire and experience. When the
itinerants pushed their way to untried fields.
they found Methodists who had gone before
and were made ready for their coming.
Many Of these unrecOrded in Church histories
are registered in the book of life. The So
ciety in New ork early looked for help.
PLANTED IN AMERICA.
In l76S Thomas Taylor wrote to Wesley: I'VE
want an able and experienced preacher,
one who has gifts and graces necessary for
the work. With respect to money for the
payment of the preachers passage over, II
they cannot procure ii we Will sell our coats
and shirts to procure il for them. Send us
preacher whose heart and soul is in the work"
Accompanying this was the prophecy that
if such q preacher was sent 'such a flame
would soon be kindled as would never stop
until it reached the great South Sea-" The
appeal reached Wesley before the conference
of 1859. but nothing could be done without the
authority of the conference. In this emer-
gency a Wesleyan preacher iu1lamed with
holy zeal to hasten to the infant church
in New York, appealed to Wesley
Robert Williams sold his horse, paid his
debts, and bearing his saddlebags on his arm,
fastened to the port from which he was to
sail, having only a loaf of bread and a bottle
of milk, and not penny with which to pay
his passage. To his great joy he found on
shipboard his friend Ashton, whom he had
persuaded to emlgrate to America. Ashton
paid his passage, and the two sailed
for New York. With a zeal whose ardor was
never quenched, Williams began his work.
He sped on his mission like Naming torch
that never ilickered. Now he preached IN John
street now he is with Strawbridge in
Baltimore and on the eastern shore,
now he is in Petersburg aad Norfolk, and
now he is beyond the Roanoke in North Caro-
lima. He forms the first Virginia circuit. 1t
extends from Petersburg into North Carolina,
and made him the apostle of Methodism in
both these States. In l115 he dIed-the first
Methodist minister in America that published
a book, the first that married, the first that
located, and the first that died.
THE FIRST PREACHERS.
The conference for 1859 met at Leeds. Wes-
ley presented his cal from America, and
asked who was willing to go. Not a response
was heard. The next morning at O'Clock
Wesley preached from the text, 81 have
nOurished and brought up children, and they
hall fI,r.
ference reassembled he repeated his call.
Richard BOardman and Joseph Pllmoor
responded. ''Let us" says Wes-
ley, stake up a collection among our
selves" Wesley's itinerants raised fifty
pounds to pay the debt on the chapel in New
York, and twenty to meet the passage of the
missionaries. Eventful day was that confer
ence at Leeds! Boardman and Pill
moor were soon upon the Atlantic
After stormy passage of nine weeks
their ship entered the Delaware. At
Philadelphia they were warmly welcomed by
Capt. Webb and the 100 members there.
PilmoOr was soon preaching from the steps of
the old State House and from the judges stand
at the race course. Boardman hurried to New
York and gladdened the eXpectant society in
John street
The mission Of Methodism in America was
begun. 1t had entered upon its course in the
new world. A boundless field was opened
before il; an immense harvest Of souls was
waiting its reapers' sickles. The infant
church, reinforced, pressed forward on
quest. Embury. Ashton and the Hecks formed
a society in Camden. Under the preaching of
Boardman, John Mann was converted and
carried MethOdism to Nova Scotia. Board
man, entering more largely into the itnerant
work, went southwark and preached IN Bati-
more. and northward and preached in Provi-
burg, and now in North Carolina, and now in
Charleston, and now in Savannah, and at
Whltflelds orphan house at Bethesda.
THE WORKS OF WHITFIELD.
The mention of Whitfield suggested the
stupendous work of grace which God wrought
through him in America. Twelve times
before the arrival of Wesley's itnerants
had he crossed the Atlantic. Like the angel
of the apocalypse, with rapid wing in mid
heaven bearing the glad evangel to the people
orator of the eighteenth century heralded il,
with seraphic speech, from Georgia to Maine,
gelical churches were awakened into new and
greater spiritual life. Several American col
leges received from him Methodist baptisms
of fire. In New Jersey Frelinghuysen, Blair.
Rowland and the TennentS had begun a school
in log cabin. Whitfield visited them, and
inspired them with his own spirit. "The work
is Of GOd,' cried the cathOlic-sOuled Methodist
preacher, land therefore cannot come to
naught." Go, read the fulillment of the
prophecy in the proud annals and splendid
achievements of Princeton. Nassau Hall drew
equal inspiration from him; it "received a
Methodist baptism at its birth, and the MethO-
dists in England gave it funds"
'But what shall we saw" asked the speak
er, "Of Whiteflelds influence on the benevO-
lent institutions Of America? The eloquent
words with which he depicted the wants of
the orphan poor, and pleaded for his orphan
house at Bethesda, burned deep into the |
hearts and minds Of the American people. |
Go, read their influence in the homes for the
outcast children of poverty and toll all over
these lands. The orphan house at Bethesda
still survives, a PharOs, with its mellow but
steady light guiding tempest tossed waits, |
out upon an unfriendly sea, to its peaceful |
haven-a monument of the benevolent heart |
which conceived it. OF the benefcent hand
which reared it, ana OF the persuasive lips
which pleaded its cause from the Savannah
to the MerrimGc.
TWELVE TIMES ACROSS THE SEA.
While Boardman and Pilmoor were upon
the deep, battling with its storms, Whitfield,
on his thirteenth passage, was braYely Strug-
Cling with the same tempests. 1t was
his last visit to America. The great field
preacher came here to die. Never more were
his eyes to behold the white cliffs Of Dover;
never more was his eloquent voice to be
heard on MOorields or kensingtOn Common.
As Elijah had premonitIons of his translation,
so Whitfield had premOnitiOns of his death. |
And as Elijah went to the scene of his trans
latiOn from Bethel and Jericho. so Whitfield |
went from Bethesda to the place Of his final !
departure from earth, and upon his arrival |
in America he went at once to Bethesda. |
While there, on the evening OF his departure !
northward, he joyfully prayed, This will be
a joyful year for me at the day OF judg- /
ment." Leaving his beloved Bethesda !
forever, Whitfield set forth on his
last preaching tour. His last sermon |
was from the top of a hogsnead at Exeter. |
His last eXhOTtatlOn, while holding a candle |