AMERICAN METHODISM IN 1771

     About 1760, Robert Strawbridge, a typical Irishman from the Province of Ulster, a fiery Methodist local preacher, with his young wife, set out for America to make a home for themselves. They made their way into the wilderness, a few miles northwest of Baltimore. As soon as his cabin was built, the restless young Irishman unrolled his local preacher's license and began to preach to the few settlers within reach, his cabin serving as chapel. He soon organized several small societies and in 1764 built a log meeting-house, the first in America. In 1801, Bishop Asbury held a conference in the same vicinity and made the following entry in his journal: "Here Mr. Strawbridge formed the first society in Maryland and America." The italics are his. About 1769 he was joined by another lay worker by the name of King. To this zealous itinerant belongs the honor of preaching the first sermon in Baltimore. His first pulpit was a blacksmith block; the second was a table. Within five years the society was strong enough to entertain a conference.

     In the latter part of the seventeenth century, Louis XIV of France, in his zeal to suppress Protestantism, laid waste the French province of German-speaking Protestants in what was called the Rhine Palatinate. A large number of refugees made their way to Holland, from whence the English transported them to London. About fifty families of these refugees made their way into Ireland, settling in the county of Limerick. Being deprived of pastors, in the course of half a century, they degenerated to the level of their Celtic neighbors, becoming noted for their wickedness, drunkenness and profanity. In this state they were found by the Methodist itinerants, converted and reformed, and a Methodist chapel built in their midst. From this German community in an Irish county, a number of Methodist converts joined a company of 'emigrants and landed in New York in 1760. In this company were Philip Embury and his wife; also, Paul Heck and his wife, Barbara, the latter a cousin of Philip Embury. According to Dr. Abel Stevens, those of the emigrants who were Methodists became backslidden after reaching New York, with the exception of Philip Embury, Barbara Heck and a few others.

     Mr. Embury had been converted in 1752 and given a local preacher's license. But he was of a retiring disposition and there is no evidence that he exercised his gifts for several years after reaching New York. In 1765 or 1766, Mrs. Heck visited her brother who had come over with a later company of colonists. On entering the house she found several parties playing cards. It stirred her righteous soul, and, catching up the cards, she threw them into the fire and exhorted the astonished company to repent. From there she went straight to the house of her cousin, Philip Embury, where she threw herself prostrate before him and with tears besought him to take up his cross and preach to them. At last he consented. The energetic Barbara then went out, found four persons whom she brought into Embury's house and the five composed the first Methodist congregation in the present city of New York.

     In 1765 Mr. Wesley preached in Bristol. In the audience was a man dressed in the uniform of a captain of the British army. The officer was convicted and converted on the spot. At once he became an active worker and was soon made a local preacher. He had seen a number of years' service in America; had lost an eye at Louisburg; had been wounded at the storming of Quebec; he now became as active a soldier of the cross as he had been in the service of the king. The next year found him stationed at Albany. Here he heard of the new society of Methodists in New York City. In a few weeks the members of the little society were astonished and a little alarmed to see a British officer in full uniform, even to his sword, march into their place of worship. Their fears were soon dispelled, however, for they quickly found out who he was and gladly welcomed him as a kindred spirit. His fitness as a leader was quickly recognized. A natural leader; a Boanerges in his preaching; filled with the fire of Wesleyan evangelism; rich, and generous with his means, Captain Webb became another of the chosen vessels providentially raised up to plant the gospel in the new world. He was soon retired from the army on full pay and devoted the rest of his life to the ministry. He organized societies on Long Island and in New Jersey and was the first to preach in Philadelphia. This occurred in 1767 or 1768, when he secured an old sail loft, where he preached and where he organized a society of seven members.

     In 1769 a strong appeal was sent to Mr. Wesley for aid. The conference at Leeds sent Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor. As already noted, these were followed in 1771 by Francis Asbury and Richard Wright. Behold, then, American Methodism as Mr. Asbury found it. Scarcely more than ten years since the first Methodist had come to America, yet a beginning had been made in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore; about 600 members had been gathered into the various small societies by the energetic lay workers, among whom were Embury, Webb, Strawbridge, Owen, Williams and King; while only two regular itinerants were on the field-Boardman and Pilmoor. The infant church had three church buildings only, including the log house built by Robert Strawbridge in Maryland.

     Mr. Asbury as an itinerant. After a short rest in Philadelphia, Mr. Asbury went to New York. Here he began those labors which for over thirty years caused him to make the entire eastern half of the North American continent a vast Methodist circuit, and which, in the language of Dr. Daniels, "he traveled in true itinerant fashion, preaching incessantly, day and night, week days and Sundays; stopping not for storms, without shelter; for forests, without roads; for rivers, without bridges; or for a purse without money."

     Mr. Asbury had no sooner become acquainted with the work in America than he discovered a tendency to localize the preachers. The societies and pastors favored it. Within a week after reaching New York he wrote: "I have not yet the thing which I seek-a circulation of preachers. I am fixed to the Methodist plan; I am willing to suffer, yea, to die, sooner than to betray so good a cause by any means." Again: "At present I am dissatisfied. I judge we are to be shut up in the cities this winter. My brethren seem unwilling to leave the cities, but I think I shall show them the way. I am in trouble, and more trouble is at hand, for I am determined to make a stand against all partiality." How well he succeeded in "showing the way" will now appear. He made up a circuit, embracing the country adjacent to New York, which he traveled until spring. It appears that the understanding with the English itinerants who were taking charge of the work was to have the preachers change every three months; every six months at the latest. In harmony with this plan the spring of 1772 finds Mr. Asbury in Philadelphia; the autumn, in New York; New Year's of 1773, in Baltimore; July, in New York and July 15 in Philadelphia in attendance at the first American Methodist conference.

     Ten preachers took part in the deliberations presided over by Thomas Rankin, who had been sent over from England by Mr. Wesley. Mr. Rankin was a strong disciplinarian and was a great help in assisting in giving form and system to the work. Mr. Asbury was appointed to Baltimore with three assistants. Baltimore meant the state of Maryland, and, as nearly one-half of the 1,160 members reported to the conference were within the bounds of his circuit, he had ample opportunity to practice his itinerant theories. The day the conference adjourned he was in the saddle enroute for Baltimore, praying as he rode, "May the Lord make bare His holy arm, and revive His glorious work!" The answer to this prayer was seen in the doubling of the membership in the state that year.

     The conference of 1774 stationed him in New York again; while the following year it sent him to Virginia. During these years he was greatly afflicted in body, but was untiring in zeal. The year he was stationed at New York he traveled over two thousand miles. The fourth conference held in 1776 sent him to Baltimore again. On account of sickness he was not able to attend the conference, but as soon as he was able to travel, he was on the field. Later he was compelled to go to Warm Sulphur Springs in Virginia for treatments. While here he was quartered in a house twenty by sixteen feet, in which were seven beds, sixteen adults and several noisy children; yet he made out the following plan to follow while rusticating and regaining his strength: "To read one hundred pages a day, to pray in public five times a day, to preach in the open every other day, and to lecture in prayer meeting every other evening."

     By this time most of the English itinerants had returned to England on account of the American revolution. Mr. Asbury expressed himself as follows: "I can by no means leave such a field for gathering souls to Christ as we have in America. It would be an everlasting dishonor to the Methodists that we should all leave three thousand souls who desire to commit themselves to our care; neither is it the part of a good shepherd to leave his flock in time of danger; therefore I am determined by the grace of God not to leave them, let the consequence be what it may." The years covered by the revolution were very trying to him. Two years of the time he had to remain in hiding in Delaware. Once he had a narrow escape from an assassin's bullet, and, several times, had close calls from arrest from over-zealous patriots who were searching for Tory sympathizers. When, at last, he ventured to renew his ministry, it was with inexpressible relief. He reorganized the scattered forces and gathered the lost ends to such good purpose that the close of the year 1784 found the church with a membership of fifteen thousand, requiring the . services of one hundred-four preachers.

FOR DISCUSSION AND MEDITATION

1. When, where and by whom was the first meeting house in America built? Previous to this where did Mr. Strawbridge preach? With what result? What zealous lay worker joined him five years after the church was built and preached the first sermon ever preached in Baltimore? What was his first pulpit? his second? What proof is there of the healthy growth of this society?

2. What was the occasion of the first Methodist meeting in New York City? Name two of the five members of the congregation. Trace the travels of Barbara Heck and her cousin Philip Embury from France to New York City. When, where, and by whom was the gospel first preached in Philadelphia? Characterize Captain Webb. Where did he organize societies?

3. Think of American Methodism as Mr. Asbury found it: in ten years hot-hearted, lay workers, had preached Christ in New York City, Baltimore and Philadelphia, gathered about 600 members into various small societies, had built three churches, and appealed to Mr. Wesley in conference at Leeds, England, for regular missionaries. What four were sent?

4. Bound Mr. Asbury's circuit. How did he travel it without shelter, without roads, without bridges, without money? How did he overcome the tendency to localize the preachers? When, where and by whom was the first American Methodist Conference held? Describe Mr. Asbury's appointment. How did he succeed in doubling his membership in Maryland that year. Where was he sent the second year? the third? the fourth? When unable on account of illness to travel, where did he rusticate and what schedule did he follow?

5. Compare the way he felt about leaving America with the way the missionaries in the Orient feel about leaving during the conflict there. What hardships did he encounter during the Revolution? Note the remarkable growth of the church under his ministry during this period.