USA > Delaware > New Castle County > Wilmington > Centennial services of Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, Wilmington, Delaware, October 13-20, 1889 > Part 14
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Celebrated among the pioneers of Methodism was Harry, the black traveling companion and servant of Francis Asbury. "He was small, very black, keen-eyed, and possessing great volubility of tongue. Although so illiterate that he could not read, he was one of the most popular preachers of the age." Harry preached once, at least, to the Methodists of Wilmington. On the occasion of one of Asbury's visits to this charge, it was announced that the Bishop would preach. Methodism was most unpopular here in that day, and many would have felt much more disgraced at being seen at a Methodist meeting,
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than to have been caught in a bar-room or on the race track. But as the Bishop was to preach, a number of citizens, who did not usually attend the meeting-house, concluded to go at least this once. When they arrived, the room was crowded, and many stood outside. They were compelled, therefore, to take a position from which they could not see the speaker, though they could hear distinctly every word. For some reason. Harry was put up to preach, and these visitors stand- ing outside, were carried away with what they supposed to be the Bishop's eloquence. Before they left the place tliey complimented the speaker by saying with much enthusiasm, "If all Methodist preachers could preach like the Bishop, we should like to be constant hearers." "The Bishop," exclaimed a by-stander, "why, that was not the Bishop, but the Bishop's colored servant that you heard." This only served to raise the Bishop higher in their estimation; "for," they reasoned, "if such be the servant, what must the master be." The fact is, Harry was a much more popular speaker than the Bishop, and could always attract as large andiences as the Bishop, and frequently larger.
Besides Bishop Asbury, who always took a great interest in this struggling society, and often preached here, Dr. Thomas Coke, Richard Whatcoat, and other distinguished mnen of the early times, made them occasional visits. Indeed, Richard Whatcoat was Presiding Elder of the district in which Wilmington was included in 1790, the year after the church was built.
In 1785, a few days after the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a revival of religion blessed the Methodists of Wilmington. Thomas Coke visited the Peninsula after the adjourn- ment of the Christmas Conference, and records in his journal that when he visited Wilmington, a revival was in progress. Doubtless, the addition then made to the membership, crowded the humble room in which they still held their meetings, and led them to discuss the propriety of having a Methodist meeting house in this city.
In the period from 1766 or 1767, when Captain Webb first preached at Wilmington, to 1789, when the church was built, there was a small but heroic band of men and women, who, in spite of opposition and persecution, maintained the faith as preached by the Wesleyans. The history of their struggles to continue their society, of the trials they endured and the shame they suffered, of the devoted men, who, without home, comforts, or salary, ministered to them in holy things, would, no doubt, make a thrilling story, but no complete account has been left of these early times. Enough light comes from the general history of early Methodism to show us that the fathers and mothers of this church, were no less heroic than were those whose names are more
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conspicuous in history. On our mind is imprinted the picture of a little band, numbering 10 or 12 at one time, and never more than 40, toiling against the enmity of the world about them, facing the malice of men and devils, regardless of sneers, obloquy, and shame, until at last their faith is rewarded, and one Sabbath morning, a hundred years ago, they sit in their own church, with their beloved Bishop before them preaching the dedicatory sermon, and their hearts all aglow with gratitude to God for his goodness, while they sing,
"Here I'll raise mine Ebenezer, Hither by Thy help I'm come ; And I hope by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home."
On May 12, 1789, a lot of ground near the south east corner of Walnut and Third streets was purchased from Caleb Way and Sarah, his wife, for the sum of {105, for the purpose of erecting thereon a house of worship. It was conveyed to the following persons as trus- tees, viz: H. Colesbury, John Miller, Thos. Webster, John Thelwell, Samuel Foudry, Richard Sneath, Geo. Witsell, James Bell and John Jaquet, Jr.
In 1823, the society bought from William Simmons, through Edward Worrell, who afterwards made a liberal gift to the church on this purchase, a house and lot on the south east corner of Walnut and Third streets for $405. The church lot was further enlarged in 1838 by the purchase of a piece of ground south of the church property for $675. The cemetery then had the same dimensions as at present. The Rev. J. Rustling says in 1834: "The ground at the corner of Walnut and Third streets, after furnishing a situation for the church, the school-house and the sexton's house, serves as an eligible place for interment for the different families connected with the society. It lies eastward from the buildings, (enlarged, as we have seen in 1838,) and gradually declines toward a small stream that winds its way to the Christiana River." Subsequently a sewer took the place of the stream, and a stone wall was extended along the east and south bound- ries, and the ground graded. "In this ground," continues Mr. Rust- ling, "repose, under their respective grassy hillocks, the ashes of many who were the original members of the church, as well also as of many who have since occupied their places. Here liethe Colesburys, Thel- wells, IWitsills, Woods, Whalers, McLanes, Joneses, Worrells and many others. The mortal remains of I. Jarrell, once a distinguished itinerant minister. rest in this field of the tombs. Here, likewise, are portions of the families of several ministers, who from time to time officiated in the church. Miller, Kendale, Smith, McCombs, Wiggens,
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Rustling and other names are here represented. Several of those last mentioned lie near the east end of the church, and some of the former lie under it, the building by enlargement extended over their graves."
It was on this lot of ground that in 1789, less than four years after the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the society pro- ceeded to rear a house for the worship of God according to Methodist usages. It was a plain and unpretending structure. No one then dreamed of the future glory of Methodisin, but what a harvest has resulted from this timely planting ! The building which stood back 10 feet from the building line, fronted as now on Walnut street, and was about 35 feet square, with a gallery in the west end, and a peculiar old-fashioned, high pulpit at the east. This pulpit was about 4 feet wide, with its floor 5 feet above the main floor. On the north side was a door to which five steps led, and the preacher shut himself in after mounting to this elevation. The south side of this box-pulpit was closed, and there were no steps on that side. Edward Worrell said, because of its one-sided appearance: "That it reminded him of a crab with but one leg." and offered, if permitted, to put steps on the south side. The preacher had a kind of inclined shelf in front of him, 4 feet high, so high that if he stooped, he could not be seen, and yet not high enough to prevent him pounding the Bible while he expounded the truth. Below the pulpit floor, it was open to the floor of the church, making a sort of open cupboard. In this the leader of the singing sat. and when the hymn was announced from above, after the hum of his tuning fork had died away, he came out from this retreat and led the mitisic; when the hymn had been sung, he retired to the same quarters until needed again. John Thelwell was the first who thus literally sat at the preacher's feet, and Samuel Sappington enjoyed the same honor for many years. It was not till 1840 that a modern pulpit was intro- duced. The seats were simply a board bench with a single-rail back. A partition 4 feet high ran down the center of the church to divide the men from the women. When services were in progress the members of one sex were completely hidden from the members of the other. This partition was even continued through the front yard, where a fence 7 feet high extended from the church to a brick wall of the same height, that then stood in front of the church A lady and gen- tleman coming to church together separated on the pavement, and er.tered through their respective gates the church yard, nor did they see each other again until, the service being over, they met again on the pavement.
In the Summer of 1789 the corner-stone of the church was laid. John Lednum, in 1860, met Mr. Harris, then 84 years old, who said he
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well remembered the laying of the corner-stone of the first Asbury. "The preacher," said he, "knelt upon the stone, which was laid in a large deep hole prepared for the purpose, and offered up prayer. This, with the singing of a hymn, constituted the religions services of the occasion." Wm. Jessup was the stationed preacher at that time, and Henry Willis and Lemnel Green were the Presiding Elders of the dis- trict, which then extended from the Delaware to the Ohio Rivers. It was probably one of these brethren who laid the corner-stone.
It was here that 100 years ago to-day Francis Asbury came to ·dedicate the first Methodist church of Wilmington. It was a time of thrilling import to that little band of early Methodists, it is a time of great interest to us, their sons and daughters, who look back over the century. There were gathered the men and women who for 20 years and more had struggled with open enmity, secret slander, vile abuse, sneers and persecution to preserve the faith delivered to them by Capt. Webb. There were the men who, because they taught that all men might be saved by the atonement of Christ, were derided as free-willers; because they declared that man could be saved from all sin in this life, were ridiculed as perfectionists; because they testified that a man might know his sins forgiven, awakened the bitter enmity, the wicked revilings, and the unjust violence of the formalists about them, and because they dared defend these great doctrines of Methodism that are now preached from all the pulpits of the land, their lives were put in jeopardy every hour. On the lower floor most of the 43 white mem- bers were gathered, thrilled with the eloquence of the occasion, scarcely believing that the church was really theirs, while up in the little gallery, not less interested and perhaps more demonstrative, were the 19 colored members who had cast in their lot with the despised Methodists. Here, under the pulpit, sat John Thelwell, older in years, of course, and older far in experience and faith than when he pitched the tunes for Capt. Webb under the trees twenty years before. At this time his voice is heard performing the same office for Bishop Asbury, while the voices of the little company, blending in sacred song, sound out upon the solemn stillness of that Sabbath inorn a prophecy of the song almost unceasing that should be heard in the coming century. On the right and left of the pulpit, in the old-fash- ioned amen corner are the oldest members of the church, the mothers of Israel, in plain garb and peaceful faces upturned on one side of the pulpit, and the fathers with words of encouragement for the preacher and gratitude to God in their souls, on the other side. Long before the hour of service, a throng of people, some drawn by curiosity, some by love, might be seen wending their way to this spot on which stood
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the unpretending meeting house, until when the services commenced it is filled in every part.
But the center of this humble scene is Francis Asbury, standing to deliver the first gospel message heard in these walls. It would be delightful, could we draw the likeness of this great man as here a century ago he stood. It is known that in life he was very shy of having his picture taken. "Only by his good friend, Mr. Cannon, was he trapped into it, and then he fell a victim to his compassion. Mr. Cannon offered to make of a fine piece of velvet which he posses- sed, a vest for each of his preachers if Mr. Asbury would sit for his portrait. Asbury could not refuse such terms, and to this pleasant trick of the good Methodist tailor, are we indebted for the best, if not the only, reliable, original likeness of our great and good bishop." There he is as he looked as he stood in the little pulpit here a century ago, "erect, sinewy, with flesh of iron firmness, and nerves of steel; his countenance open, his head ample and well poised, eyes steady and mildly expressive, lips compressed, chin well set, his hair cut square across nis forehead, and flowing gracefully behind his neck, he stands before us in the prime of manhood, just in his 44th year, thoughtful, religions, self-contained," a born leader of men. Let us pause a moment to look upon another picture of this great man, drawn in part by the pen of Prof. Little at the Centennial Conference of 1884 : "He had a robust figure, a face of blended sweetness and severity, an eye that saw far more than it revealed, a voice steadied by an iron will, but tremulous with feelings that sometimes shook his soul as a reed is shaken by the wind. He had none of Robert Williams' wild earnestness; he was without the charm of Robert Strawbridge, or the gentle harmlessness of Richard Whatcoat. He had not the thorough humanness of Jessie Lee, nor the mystical tenderness and strength of Freeborn Garrettson.
"Thy soul was like a star, and dwelt apart; Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea; Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life's common way In cheerful godliness, and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.' "
The son of an English gardener, he came to America when 26 years. of age, to do the work of a missionary among his own race on this side of the water. Coke crossed the ocean eighteen times, but Asbury never went back home again, not even "to see his aged mother for whom he would have sold his last shirt, and parted with his last dollar." He had but one work-to win America
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for Christ. "He traversed this land for nigh a half century amid heat and cold, rain and sunshine, often destitute of food and clothing and shelter, and could often say with Wordsworth's wanderer,
'Homeless near a thousand homes I stood.'
He was not a hater of beauty, much less of beautiful women, whose refined sense and affection render home the fairest and happiest domain of earth. But he was homeless, wifeless, like Paul, the apostle, for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Methodism was his second mother, his only wife, his riches, his home, his inheritance, his legacy, his all. He refused to bind a woman to his life of sacrifice, and the man whom little children ran to kiss and hug, was buried in a childless grave. He never shrank from danger or hardship, but his life was one of continuous toil, until at last rest itself could yield him no repose. A sort of spiritual Cromwell, compelling obedience at every cost to himself as well as others, Asbury could have broken his mother's heart to serve the cause for which he died daily."
This was the man who stood here one hundred years ago preaching God's word to the little flock, and who, as he dedicated in his Master's name their modest church, looked back over the struggles of these heroes, and said: "Thus far have we come after more than twenty years' labor." What an auspicious beginning ! Do you wonder that this man stirred the infant society into a closer walk with God, and increased fidelity to Methodism ? Who doubts that the ini- print of that hand is felt upon the church to-day.
Though the Methodists now had a meeting house of their own, still the difficulties against which they had been contending for twenty years, were not removed. They seem, indeed, from the time of the building of the church to many years subsequent to have increased. The fluctuations of the membership show the struggles through which the society was passing. The 43 white members found upon the church-roll in 1789, though they had become 93 in 1791, when Thomas Ware was pastor, were reduced to 40 in 1796, during the pastorate of John Vanneman, and, though in several previous pastor- ates, there were over a hundred white members, yet as late as 1808, in Wm. Bishop's pastorate, but 99 were reported to the Conference. After that the society with a few fluctuations grew steadily.
In ISI1, in consequence of this continuous increase, it was deemed necessary to make the first enlargement of the church. The wall where stood the old-fashioned high pulpit, was taken down, and moved 20 feet eastward, making the church 55 feet long by 35 feet wide.
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During the 22 years between the building of the church in 1789, and its first improvement in 1811, despite the bitter opposition to the Methodists from all classes of people, the business of the society was transacted in a most careful manner. From the time the meeting house was erected to at least 1800, it was almost at the risk of their lives that our fathers and mothers repaired to this place to worship God. Thomas Ware, a great and good man, was pastor here in 1791, two years after the church was built. In his autobiography he refers to his work at Wilmington in these not very complimentary words : "This was my first station; but I sighed for the back-woods, which was paradise to me compared with this suffocating borough, infected with a mystical miasm on the subject of religion, which had a deleterious effect on many, and especially on the young. They had imbibed this moral poison until it broke out in supercilious contempt of all who were by one class denounced as hirelings and will- worshipers, and by another as free-willers and perfectionists. Hence, the house in which we worshiped was surrounded by hundreds of these sons of Belial night after night, while there were scarcely fifty within; and such were their character and conduct that females were afraid to attend our meetings at night, and we had no alternative but to com- mence service in time to dismiss the congregation before dark. Gladly would I have exchanged this, my first station, for the Western woods. I had, however, the pleasure of numbering among those of my charge some of the excellent of the earth, and much satisfaction in marking their growth in grace."
On September 23, 1800, the male members of the church were called together to take steps to prevent the further depredations of this mob. Because this gathering enables us to get a clear picture of the times, and because we may thus see the advancement in public senti- ment in 89 years, I record in full the minutes of this meeting. Can it be possible that less than a century ago, in a country enjoying unusual freedom, in this our own city, such a meeting was a necessity? The proceedings are as follows:
"WILMINGTON. September 23, 1800.
"At a meeting of the male members of the Asbury Church in the borough of Wilmington, convened for the purpose of consulting what means would be best calculated to prevent in future the collect- ing of mobs and disorderly persons, from disturbing our public and private worship, which has been a growing evil since the year 1790, at which was present Caleb Kendall, preacher; Samuel Wood and George Jones, stewards; Allen Mclane, Jolin Thelwell, James Osborn, William McClung, Henry Witsel. James Payne, and Edward Worrell. After
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appointing Caleb Kendall to the chair, and Edward Worrell clerk, the following resolution was entered into:
"WHEREAS, We have been long and grievously persecuted, and often interrupted in our public and private worship of Almighty God, we deem it highly expedient that some method should be adopted to protest against the insults of a relentless mob, and prevent in future the disorder that is often occasioned by the more decent part of the congregation.
"Resolved, That it is necessary that there be a committee of three persons appointed whose business shall be to take such measures as they (with the advice of a counsel) may think best calculated to pre- vent in future the evil complained of.
"Resolved, That Allen McLane, Edward Worrell, and James Payne, be a committee to carry into execution the foregoing resolution.
"In consequence of the foregoing meeting, the following notice was published in the newspaper called the Monitor:
"ADVERTISEMENT.
"The male members of the Methodist Episcopal Church who worship in the borough of Wilmington, assembled last evening to take into consideration the necessity of adopting such measures as may in future deter the infidel rabble from disturbing them in time of worship, which they have been in the habit of doing for some time back, by breaking the windows, stoning the preachers, casting nauseous reptiles, insects, and other filth in at the windows among the female part of the congregation, and otherwise intruding on the order of their church, in violation of the most sacred laws of a free people, which privilege all persons to worship Almighty God agreeable to the dictates of their own conscience.
"After maturely weighing every circumstance, and duly considering their repeated grievances, it was determined that, should they here- after meet with any interruption at their place of worship, from any person whatever, resort will be had to the laws of the state, and prosecut- tion commenced against the offenders."
What effect this action had cannot be determined by the records, except by their silence. Nothing more is said about the society being persecuted. The only actions in regard to order after this time, are such as might be passed by the church to-day, such as the preventing of standing in the vestibule, crowds upon the sidewalks, occasional rowdyism, and such like. We judge, therefore, that after this resolute action in 1800, our church enjoyed comparative quiet, and was not seriously molested.
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While, however, these unpleasant demonstrations on the outside were thus quieted, others on the inside were yet to be quelled. In 1805 Asbury Church had upon her records about one hundred colored members. The classes were held on the floor of the church, sometimes two or three classes being held at the same time in the same room. Among others who were thus privileged were the one hundred colored members. That they did not believe in an undemonstrative Christianity may be gathered from an action of the trustees on June 19, 1805, when a resolution was passed which in few words brings before us the noisy scenes enacted here in these primitive times. It reads as follows:
"WHEREAS, In consequence of meeting the classes of the black people on the lower seats of this church, a number of the benches have been broken, and the house so defiled by dirt, &c., as to render it unfit to meet in, and if any longer tolerated, more injury may be sustained; wherefore it was
"Resolved, That no black elasses shall hereafter meet on the lower floor of Asbury Church, and if they refuse to meet in the gallery, the sexton inform them that the door will not be opened for their reception, and furthermore, the leaders of the same are requested to respect this resolution and govern themselves accordingly."
On Sunday, April 28, 1800, Dr. Thomas Coke convened the male members of Asbury Church to draft an address to the General Confer- ence, soon to be held at Baltimore, to adopt some plan to secure pecuniary aid for the married preachers, to prevent in future so many leaving the traveling connection. On Monday evening John Thelwell, Samuel Wood and Edward Worrell, who had been appointed a com- mittee to draft the address, reported the following, which was read to the society by Dr. Coke and signed by all the male members :
"WILMINGTON, April 29, 1800.
" To the members and preachers in General Conference assembled at Bal- timore :
"As a small part of those composing the family of which you are the stewards, feeling in common with you and our lay brethren in gen- eral, an earnest desire for the prosperity of Sion, and seeing her often linger for want of lielp, it is with the deepest concern that we have seen for a considerable time so many of our aged, and some of the most useful married laborers, are no longer working in their Lord's vineyard for want of pecuniary aid.
"The evil we sincerely lament, and view it as one in magnitude next the greatest that could come upon us. But while we deplore the evil it is not in our province to devise the remedy, or the mode of pre-
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