The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-11-25
THANKSGIVING
OF METHODISM
Interesting Services Will Be Held at
Baltimore.
BRONZE TABLET TO BE UNVEILED
History Of the Growth Of the Church
Which Had No Existence Prior to
the The Efforts OfWes.
ley in Preaching the Doctrine OF
''ExpcrIcncc''..Fran Asbury the
Organizer Of the Society OF MethO.
dists in America.


Methodist Episcopal church Will unVeil
a bronze tablet on the site of the Love-
ly Lane Meeting house in Baltimore,
where the Methodist societies OF the
United States signed their declaration
of ecclesiastical independence, with the
approval of John Wesley. and We're or
ganized into the Methodist Episcopal
church at the christmas conference
1854.
The next day there will be Thanks
giving services at the Charles street
church. u beautiful structure, with a
| wealthy congregation, which Is the Ill
rect outgrowth of the humble society
of the followers of Wesley, who punt
| the chapel in Lovely Lane the year be-
fore the revolution. Under the Hover
banked pulpit and sweet-toned organ
the bones of Francis Asbury. apostle
of Methodsm in America, lie, in the
church he founded in l774, revered as
the first circuit rider and bishop or
religious organization now numbering
millions in its fold.
The Methodist Episcopal church was
| direct outgrowth Of the revolution.
| 1t had no existence anywhere prior 10
| 1884. Wesley never contemplated the
| formation of the Methodists of England
into a church. but called them religious
societies of people belonging to many
churches, and receiving baptism ana
| the sacrament from the ordained MN
listers of the established churches OF
| England, Ireland and Scotland. He
was a clergyman himself, and opposed
| to the preaching of laymen down to
| 1914, when the innovation was begun
| by his recognition of the distinct "cail
| of Thomas Maxwell in Bristol. He pro-
| hibited the performance of the priestly
| offices by the lay preachers altogether.
But for the eXigencies created by the
revolution, and the cutting off OF the
authorities of England in matters &C.
clesiastical as well as temporal, he
would probably never have sanctioned
| the organization of the Methodist Epis-
copal church in the United States. AS
| it Is, the formation of the church ana
| ordination of ministers for the flrst
| time Is a matter of peculiar interest 10
those outside as well as those inside
| the Methodist fold
THE EFFORTS OF WESLEY.
BY the year 1866 Wesley had been
preaching the Methodist doctrine OF
experience" for thirty years. Ihere
We're lay preachers In all parts or Brit
| ish Island, and there were numerous
chapels in the large towns. In l166
| Phillip Embury, a carpenter by trade,
| who had been a lay preacher in Dublin,
had emigrated to New York and be-
come a "backslider." He was recalled
| to his duty by Barbara Hicks. VINO
| told him that unless he preached to
| the followers of Wesley In New York
and left them in the straight path Of
| righteousness, God would require their
souls of him on the day of judgment.
Embury began to preach lin his own
hired house" i'm the city to half dozen
lI.v Of
Captain Webb of the British army.
| stationed at Albany. appeared at one OF
| their meetings, declaring himself a
Methodist, a convert of Wesley in Lon
don. In scarlet coat and gold lace.
sword and top boots. he stood behind an
improvised pulpit in Embury's house
| and preached a rousing exhortation.
| The society at once became respectable
hundreds ilocked to hear one of his
| majesty's officers, and crowded a rig
ging loft on Williams street, hastily
| fitted up for services.
The congregation soon outgrew these
| quarters, and under the inspiration of
Mrs. Hicks, chapel was built on
| Golden Hill now John street The
, church laws did not permit dissenters
| to occupy a building exclusively as a
place of worship. so living-rooms were
provided for Embury and visiting
preachers. Mr. EmDury nlmSel1 maze
| the pulpit, and in May 176S preached in
Wesley chapel for the first time to an
audience of 100 persons. Neither he
nor Captain Webb could administer
| baptism or the sacrament. The next
year, Embury being but an unlettered
| man and not gifted with eloquence, the
| society entreated Mr.. Wesley to send
| them "a man of WISDOM" sound faith
| and good disciplinarian, and with
respect to money we will sell our coats
and shirts to pay the minister's pass
age"
In response to this call Mr.. Wesley
sent Richard Boardman and Joseph
Fillmore as lay preachers. with $50 in
money as II token of love and to help
raise the debt on the chapel. John
| Street chapel was soon filed to over
| flowing. and the windows left open so
| that the crowds outside could hear the
| eXhOrtations. Mr.. Fillmore took up the
work in PhiladclI hia begun by Captain
| Webb, and soon had a ilourishing So
| ciety.
| LABORS OF STRAWBRIDGE.
| In the meantime Robert Stra wbridge
had become an itinerant preacher in