The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-30

These feieEdteu the A~oN-
in civilization to THE back
ground and determined Anglo
Saxon supremacy. When the relig-
ious and social life Of England were
most depIorable and before she entered
upon her great decisive struggle with
France, John Wesley returned from
America with one passion possessing
him. He desired and purposed above
all things to prove the conditions, ex-
tent and power of movable saliva
ton. Nearly four months afterward.
on May "a, 1913, he writes: About
quarter before 9 lin the EVENING", felt
my heart strangely warmed, l felt
did trust in Christ-Christ alone for
salvation; and assurance was given me,
that He had taken away my sins, even
mine, and saved me from the law of
sin and death" That was his PENAL.
There he entered into the experience
of personal acceptance with God
through Christ, of personal purity
through the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit. and of personal abnegation in
the service of others. This was the
power of the new life. He and his fol-
lowers, for their number increased
daily" believed themselves thrust out
to raise up holy people and their de-
voton, industry and efficiency fully
justified their belief. In the latter part
of 1899 the first Methodist Societies
were organized, and the old Foundry in
London was consecrated and opened for
regular public worship
John Wesley at Work.
Thus the great revival of the eight
| zenith century was launched. It was
no local, spasmodic or superficial mat
ter. 1t was not a reformation within
the Established Church. John Wesley
and his associates, both ordained
clergymen and local preachers timer
ated through England and Ireland
Their voice was soon heard in the
widest and most barbarous corners of
the land, among the bleak moors of
Northumberland, in the dens of Lon
don, in the long galleries where in the
pauses of his labor the Cornish miner
listens to the suffing of the sea-" and
from the green knoll at Kingswood
where 10000 Golfers. grimy from the
Bristol coal pits, with penitential tears
making white channels down their
blackened cheeks" testified their re-
Spouse to the message. Their lives
were often in danger, they We're
mobbed, they were ducked, they We're
stoned, they were smothered with
filth" as they witnessed by public
statement, by private virtue by per-
sonal sacrifice and patient endurance
of hardships and persecution, witness
ing with their blood if need be, to that
which they had experienced and knew
of the power of God to save from sin.
Signs and wonders attended their
preaching in the awakening of the OBJ
durate, the conversion of penitents
and the sanctification of believers.
So far as the converts were willing
to identify themselves with the move
ment, they were organized into bands
or classes and placed under the watch
full care of local pastors or class lead
ers who counseled them in spiritual
things and conserved their spiritual
growth.
Francis Asbury.
About 1862 Robert Strawbridge was
preaching in the colony of Maryland
and a few years later Philip Embury
commenced to preach in New York
The Conference at Bristol in 1771 sent
to America, Francis Asbury, whose in
defatigable and apostolic labors have
rarely been exceeded. He crossed the
Alleghenies on horseback sixty times,
threading the forests, swimming the
rivers, penetrating the savannas,
preaching exhorting, counseling in sea-
son and out of season. He soon devel-
oped a heroic band of consecrated, spir-
itually minded men and the marvellous
results of the great spiritual awaken
ing in England were duplicated in her
American colonies. "a The Classes were
organized into Conferences in 1773 In
less than a month after war had been
declared with England, the Methodist
Conference ordered a fast to pray for
the peace of America and the prosper
ity of the Church. and the Methodist
Church was the first to express APP
prevail of the Federal Constitution and
to give President Washington aSsur-
ance of loyal sympathy and support.
The spirit of Methodism is the spirit
of liberty. Though organized under
monarchy it has especially flourished
in this republic. In fact, Methodism
and the republic have developed to-
gether and the progress of the one has
been the measure of the other.
A COIOnizing Nation.
The United States is the great colon
izing nation of modern times. To pos
sess unoccupied land or to defeat par
TALLY organized tribes is one thing to
develop civilization and national life is
quite another. We multiplied our pop
ulation by sixteen in the nineteenth
century, founded more than thirty
fourishing colonies, saw them develop
into sovereign states and accepted them
as full members of the Union. While
the foundations of these empires were
being laid and their constitutions elab-
GRATED the forces and ideals which
dominated, were Anglo Saxon, for
rarely, if ever, in any of the early
years of the century, did the emigrants
to the United States exceed 5000. The
work of the pioneer in taking posses
sion OF the Middle and far West COM
cencing at the close of the Revolution
and still in the full sweep of it's activ-
ity, has been more than occupancy or
reconstruction-it has been creative
and constructive.
During the past century Methodism
multiplied it's communicates in Ameri-
ca by ninety-nine At the opening of
the nineteenth century all Protestant
ism in the United States had one com-
municant to fourteen, and Methodism
but one to eighty-one of the entire
| population.
In the In the
1900 Methodist COM
municants ........-. $1,000 600
| 1900 Methodist COM
municants ...........6, 437, 461 1859, 900
The Methodist revival in England
| commenced before the seven years,
| war" in America it commenced before
| the Revolution" in India it's agents
were on the ground before the British
authority was finally established. In
| each case, as elsewhere, the rise of
! Methodism was coetaneous with An
| glo-SaXon supremacy. At the dawn of
the twentieth century Methodism in
| cluded i'll its various branches is, 359
ministers, 104,S36 local preachers. SO, 1S9
churches. 7.26751l Sunday-schJ Dol
no.