Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-07

Methodism, like the city,is also young II wss
only IS late ss lso2. or eighty mine years ago,
that the appointment Of Georgetown and The
CITY OF Washington appeared upon the records
With me meager membership Of Ill persona
The total number of Methodist ministers In
Washington today 10 ffty-two, and the msn-
bership numbers II, Ia
FIRST METHODIST NETTING.
This. however. IL but a fragment Of The d.
velopment OF the Methodist movement which
has been going on in this country ever since
i16s. The first meeting place in the new world
was sail loit IN New York. where in the day
time busy hands made sails for the Atlantic
winds TO Mi. bat IN the evening and on Sab
bath Phihp Embury and other busy hearts
were making sails for a wider commerce and
q richer freightage. A woman vas
there! Barbara Heck was . woman a
destiny. We're Methodism addicted 20 that
piece OF ecclesiastical folly called canonizs-
ton, the British brethren would long since
have placed Santa Susanna frs; on its list of
saints Nhie the Americans would have begun
their catalogue with Santa Barbara. As 90
think Of the cradle of American Methodism-
that AZ was only q sail loft-and then think Of
this gathering from distant laad. and from our
own America and contemplate the wide and
steady expansion of the Methodist movement
one seems to anticipate In that early history
that harp note Of Englands poet laurestes
-fly, harry. harry sails.
NY KY; harry with SSgT mission n, q The cross.
Enrich the markets OF the soiden year
In due time the sail loft developed into Q
church-the old John Street Church, around
which thousand sacred memories must ever
linger. Then came the pivotal action in re-
lation TO this country. ct the Wesleyan confer
ence OF 1863. John Wesley made ths.statemens,
We nave pressing call from our brethren in
New FORK, who have built q meeting house. TO
come over and help them. Who Is willing 30
and Joseph Pimoor." The question then VAST
what can We do for them in token OF our
interest IN them The answer was: Let NJ
now make collection" And $40 were given
oy lhe ministers present TO pay the passage
money Tor the first itinerants from Britain 20
America Tins action seemed 80 radical 80 un-
onlciai so high IN tine ethereal regions Of the
Impossible, that the wits of that day published
TaNesty upon n. containing Imaginary &C.
eouAl OF me nrst Episcopal designations for the
American continent
Rev G. Nhiteheld. archbishop of Boston; Rev.
W. homaine, bishop of New York; Rev J. Mes-
ley, bishop OF Pennsylvania; Rev. NJ. MADAM,
bishop of the CarolinRs, Rev. W. Shirley,
Of Nova Scotia.
with saeh imaginary appointments submit
whether the early ethodism was not very Ap-
pfopriately Differed by the wits who gazetted
| such remarkable designations in LIQUIDS Epe.-
ng Pos. May &c. 1863.
How often does it happen that both the wisest
opinion and the keeuest wit OF one century are
revised by the decisions of the succeeding one.
In the eighteenth century Wesley Was well
/ coined by the couplet:
Master wesley's come TO town
To tiy and pull the churches down.
But the nineteenth century has made lite
august decision and has written down the anAl
Interpretation:
Master Wesley came 10 town
10 Try and he. the churches on.
AMERICAN METHoDIsM OF TODAY.
From that little beginning Of two men sent
over in 1863 has come the American Methodism
OF this day-namely. a membership Of 5OOOO 600
who bear the Methodist name and of whom
500 delegates of the western section here a.
sembled are the honored representatives. John
Wesley, as If anticipating the scene which
greets our eyes at this moment and the bound
less significance Of 1t, wrote five weeks before
his death to Ezekiel Cooper, and il was his Last
communication 10 his spiritual children in
America: See that you never give place to one
thought OF separating from your brethren in
Europe. Lose no opportunity of declaring 10
all men that the Methodists are one people in
| all the world and that il Is our determination
| SO to continue.
Though mountains rise and oceans roll
To sever vain.
That was the first invitation issued by John
Wesley himself to hold an ecumenical Metbo-
dist conference, and to remain in session until
time should be no more
But to the Wesleyans OF the old world our
American continent has always possessed q
| singular fascination. No Jason ever sailed in
more eager search Of wealth than did John
Wesley, Charles Wesley, BENJAMIN Ingham.
Charles Delamotte and George Whitehead
when very young men, sailed in Quest of tie
golden fleece of immortal souls on our Georgia
coast The Wesleys were with Oglethorpe when
he planted the Georgia colony Charles wes-
| ley was later IN Boston, quiet observer Of the
ecclesiastical influence OF Cotton Mather and of
the general religious life Of New England at
| that time. Nhitefield went back and forth
across the Atlantic the great, restless crusader
| OF the eighteenth century; and il was from one
| OF our American ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ne
| assembled TO his coronation. Therefore in this
representative coming from all lands TO our
| shores and our capital 10 spend a fortnight in
Interchange of thought with a view 70 a larger
| future, We are following the footprints Of the
| leaders of the Wesleyan reformation. such
labor this, too, is of such character that even
| our lofty American tariff places no duty upon il
EXPANSION OF THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT.
We recognize the distances you have come
| the wide spaces Of sea and land you have
| traversed; but even these weary miles are all
/ suggestive. They tell the story of the mar
Vicious expansion of the Wesleyan movement
| its unwillingness to take any backward step.
| All the early Wesleyan leaders knew how TO
] write an Odyssey, but not one could write an
Anabasis. They could wander widely in search
of souls, but never retreat to the old camping
ground. Victories beyond sea became juye-
nile habit. Ceylon. where every prospect
pleases, has blossomed beneath Methodist care
| ever since the tireless Coke turned thithsr-
ward. True, he died on the way, but the coral
beds beneath tropic seas became his fit mauso-
| leum, while the ceaseless waves Of the Indian
| ocean have ever since been chanting requiems
| to his memory. Faith always begins a new
march at the last footballs of its immortal dead
| The good fight of faith goes ever on, crosses
all seas and fights far out in front Of all
picket lines. In our meeting today 20
| have great reason for gratitude that We
| can look back upon no doctrinsl secession.
Our articles of faith stand precisely today in
| the last century, which makes US think that
| like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter they
were born full grown and heavily armed. They
are the common bond of our Methodist union,
from the equator to either pole. And IL 90 long
and strong has been their hold why may they not
endure forever? The class meeting has not vet
faded into memory. The itinerant method Of
ministerial activity distinguishes all she
branches Of Methodism represented within
these walls. Lay preaching not easy in
| coming. When Thomas Maxfield was in the
crisis of spiritual regeneration il required
| eight men TO hold him down until he became
| composed, but when be was once in the pulpit
| and alive with new power not all England
| was strong enough 10 silence that first OF all
\ the lay preachers who Iproved worthy Of Wes-
ley's confidence. The methods OF today are