SKETCH OF FRANCIS ASBURY.

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sect everywhere spoken against, gave him the necessary information, and in a short time he proceeded to Wednesbury for the purpose of seeing and hearing for himself. He entered the place of worship, and soon found that it was not the church; but to him a better place; men and women kneeling down, and in an audible voice saying, Amen! The preacher had no prayer-book, and yet he prayed wonderfully; he read his text, and preached a sermon; and more wonderful still, he had no sermon-book! He talked about assurance, confidence in God, &c.; all this was strange to young Asbury, but it led him to self-examination, and although never immoral, he felt he was a sinner, shut up in unbelief. This view of himself led him subsequently to look to Christ for salvation, and he received the forgiveness of sin, and the witness of adoption. He joined the Society, met in class, and in a band, and in a rather private way, exercised his gifts, and talents, and graces, in frequently warning men to flee from the wrath to come. In this way, almost imperceptibly to himself, he became a local preacher, until finally he ventured to come out more publicly as such, and proved a valuable assistant or helper to the preachers regularly appointed by Mr. Wesley, as he frequently preached from three to five times every week, visiting distant places for that purpose, and at length, after having acted in the above capacity from the seventeenth to the twenty-second year of his age, he gave himself wholly to the work, as a regular travelling preacher. After travelling about four years under the direction of Mr. Wesley, the latter, at the conference held in Bristol, 1771, proposed that volunteers should offer themselves for America. Mr. Asbury proposed himself, and was accepted, and after having spent a few weeks in visiting his friends, he came to Bristol, for the purpose of taking ship. On his arrival at Bristol, he had not a single penny in his pocket, but his Christian friends in that place soon supplied him with clothes and money, and accompanied by Mr. Wright, he bid a long and last adieu to his native land, and in October of the same

year landed safely in Philadelphia, where they were received with open arms by the brethren in that city.

SECTION II.

THE number which had been gathered into the Methodist Societies in America previous to the arrival of Mr. Asbury, was about six hundred-three hundred in New York, two hundred and fifty in Philadelphia, and fifty in New Jersey. After spending a short time in Philadelphia, Mr. Asbury proceeded to New York, and preached with great acceptability. But now commenced a new era in the history of American Methodism. The preachers who had preceded Mr. Asbury, had confined their labors entirely to the cities, and seem to have thought that it was their duty to do so; but Mr. Asbury, fortunately for the cause of Methodism in America, entertained different views, and in accordance with these views, he spent his time. alternately in city and country, visiting neighboring towns and villages, and being everywhere received as the messenger of God, although sometimes meeting with opposition from the "baser sort." As might be expected, good was accomplished by these visits, Societies being formed by him in different places. Another good result was, the example he set the other preachers; which, being followed, they also extended their labors to the country places.

In the latter part of the year 1772, Mr. Asbury visited Kent county, Maryland, where Mr. Strawbridge had opened the way for him. Before preaching, however, a clergyman of the Church of England came to him, desiring to know who he was; and whether he was licensed to preach. After Mr. Asbury had informed him who, and what he was, the minister replied, that having authority over the people, &c., he-Mr. Asbury-could not, and should not preach, and if he did, he should be pro ceeded against according to law. Mr. Asbury, however, gave

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the gentleman to understand, that he had come to preach, and preach he should; and asked him if he had authority to bind the consciences of people, or if he was a justice of the peace. The parson replied by charging Asbury with making a schism, and with hindering people from their work, &c. Mr. Asbury, however, informed him, that he was not an enemy of the church; that listening to preaching would occupy no more time than attending fairs and horse-races, and instead of designing to injure the parson or his business, he had come to assist him in his work of saving souls. "I did not hire you for an assistant, and do not want your help," said the parson. After more conversation of a similar character, Mr. Asbury, nothing daunted by the frowns or threats of his clerical opponent, proceeded to preach, and urge upon the people the duty of repentance and reformation. The parson, who came into the house in a rage, after hearing Mr. Asbury preach, went out and cautioned the people against hearing him any more. In this incident, unimportant in itself, we see the spirit with which the established clergy welcomed the labors of the self-denying itinerant, and from it we learn, that if the clergy in England were mere formalists, "denying the power of godliness,” the clergy in America were scarcely less formal, or less opposed to the revival of the work of God.

In spite of all opposition, however, the work of God spread throughout the land-from Maryland to Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, all which places were visited first by Mr. Pilmore, and then by other Methodist preachers, who entered in at every open door, and successfully preached the gospel to the people. Among those who followed Mr. Pilmore in his visits to Virginia, was Mr. Williams, who went to Norfolk, and without giving any public notice of his intention to preach, he stood on the steps of the court-house, and began to sing, which soon brought a congregation around him, to whom he preached. Some of the people attempted to raise a disturbance, thinking, no doubt, that the preacher was mad more

especially as he made a frequent use of the words hell and devil, while appealing to the consciences of his impenitent hearers-words which their own ministers seldom if ever used perhaps because they did not believe in any such thingswhich, sounding strange to the ear, as coming from the pulpit, made them think that Mr. Williams must be a very wicked, swearing man, and although some parts of his discourse sounded like the gospel, yet they had so little charity for the preacher, that when he had concluded, no one invited him to their house. Not discouraged, however, Mr. Williams preached a second. time, and shortly afterward had the privilege, not only of being hospitably entertained, but of forming a Society in Norfolk, which has remained in a flourishing condition to this day.

The year after Mr. Asbury's arrival in America, he received a letter from Mr. Wesley, in which the latter designated Mr. Asbury as his General Assistant in America-an office which involved the stationing of the preachers, and the general oversight of the entire work. In accordance with the requirements of the letter of appointment and instructions, Mr. Asbury, without calling a conference of all the preachers, proceeded to the work of assigning the preachers their respective fields of labor, which was usually done at Quarterly meetings.

In the summer of 1773, Messrs. Thomas Rankin and George Shadford arrived in Philadelphia, as missionaries sent over by Mr. Wesley. Mr. Rankin, having travelled several years longer than Mr. Asbury, was appointed to supersede the latter as General Assistant, and was invested with authority to call a conference, which was accordingly held in Philadelphia, July 4, 1773. The number of preachers in the connection at this time was ten, and the number of members had increased to 1,160.

As some of the preachers, especially Mr. Strawbridge, had departed from the instructions of Mr. Wesley in regard to administering the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, it was at this conference resolved that each preacher should

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avoid administering these ordinances. The members, also, were to be exhorted to attend the Episcopal church, and receive the ordinances there at the hands of the ministers thereof. At this conference, also, the preachers were all regularly stationed by Mr. Rankin, and measures were adopted for a more systematic prosecution of the work, and especially for a more rigorous enforcement of the discipline. The carrying out of the latter, met with some opposition, especially in New York, but Mr. Rankin, who was himself stationed there, by a prudent, yet steady course, overcame every obstacle, and succeeded in introducing system and method in the management of the Society and congregation. The same system of vigorously carrying out the requirements of the discipline being generally adopted by the preachers, was not without its wholesome influence, as at the next conference, we find the preachers increased to the number of seventeen, and the memberships reported to be 2,073.

From the session of the above conference in 1774, until the beginning of the revolutionary war, which separated the American colonies from the mother country, the work of God went on with increased power and success, notwithstanding the political storm raged with such violence over every part of the land. As some of the preachers laboring in the colonies were natives of Britain, it may be supposed that they would naturally espouse the royal cause. Mr. Wesley, who was always on the alert in reference to anything which might injure the influence of his preachers, or mar their usefulness, wrote to them at this juncture, advising them to addict themselves to no party, and to say not a word against one side or the other. This advice was seasonable, and no doubt in most cases exerted a salutary influence, but as the war proceeded, several of the English preachers felt it to be their duty to leave the theatre of strife, and return to their native land; and among them Mr. Rankin, the general assistant, sailed for England in 1777.

In the year 1775, there was a remarkable revival of religion