USA > Maryland > Centenary pictorial album, being contributions of the early history of Methodism in the state of Maryland > Part 6
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glorious work have like himself gone, to be no more seen of men, there still survive him a host of the younger ones who knew and greatly respected him. His name will long be remem- bered here, as one who stood firm in days which tried men's souls.
When in Philadelphia, he became acquainted with Dr. Rush, who entertained of him the highest opinion, as a man of talents, connected with deep piety. Through the instru- mentality of Dr. Rush, he attended two courses of medical lectures whilst there, and would have taken the degree of M. D. had his relations to the church allowed of his remaining sufficiently long in the city. On coming to serve the church in Baltimore, the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland licensed him to practice physic. . Though fully authorized to do so, he never availed himself of the authority thus given to practice medicine until he finally located and became permanently a resident of this city, which was at the Confer- ence of 1806. The manner of his locating then, or what led to it, was somewhat peculiar and is not generally known. As was his custom, he attended Conference, having no in- tention of locating at that time until the day before its close. On this occasion he was seated at the table, when Bishop Asbury wrote him a short note, stating the great diffi- culty he had in stationing him, on account of the size of his family, and his unwillingness to place him anywhere that would jeopard in the least their comfort, and asked him what he could do under such circumstances. My father immediately replied that he did not wish in the slightest degree to embarrass the Bishop or tramel the work. That when the church was unable to support him, instead of remaining in the itinerancy to be in the way of others, he was willing to take a lower rank, and would ask a local relation to her. When the appointments were announced by the Bishop, his name appeared as having located, thus taking by surprise his numerous friends, who had not known before of the circum- stances.
Thus thrown upon his own resources, he entered with ardor upon the pursuit of med- icine for a support, and continued in its practice until the hour of his dissolution, which oc- curred in this city on Sabbath morning, the 2d day of December, 1827, in the 63d year of his age. He rose to the first rank of the physicians of his day in the city, and built up a large and extensive practice, though not a very lucrative one.
The picture we have was taken by our artist, Mr. Ruckle, from his vivid recollection of the man. He had not seen him for many years, and has furnished the memento of his recollection of what he was a number of years prior to his deatlı. Certainly it is an excel- lent likeness of him as he appeared at that time, though not so striking of him at the time of his death. In an artistic point of view, it is beyond praise. His person is represented as being portly, and his features appear as those of a man of great benignity of character.
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It is to be lamented that a likeness of him at the time of his death is not to be had. Such was his repugnance to anything of the kind, that if it had been thought of at the moment, it would have been useless to approach him on the subject. Being overwhelmed with the magnitude of our loss, it was entirely forgotten until too late to accomplish it. It is also a matter of most poignant regret that so little has been preserved of his history. He lived and labored at a time that tried men's souls, and for a great part of that time as the col- league and final successor of Jesse Lee, in the New England States. I have frequently heard him say that he learned to preach fluently whilst in New England. He was obliged to have his eyes open and his wits about him, from the beginning to the close of a sermon, lest some one in the assembly should rise and controvert what he said, before he had fin- ished his discourse. This, at that early period of Methodism, they were wont to do. They were accustomed to attend his preaching more for the purpose of hearing what this babbler had to say touching the doctrines he promulgated, and how he would sustain them, than from any other motive. If he, perchance, misquoted a text of Scripture, they would imme- diately call him to account, or tell him there was no such passage. In many instances, hav- ing their bibles with them, they would ask him, when quoting a passage, where it was to to be found. Sometimes this was apparently done to annoy and confound him. If he thought this was the intention at any time, he was sure to retort upon the individual most severely. Occasionally females would enter the lists against him, and boldly controvert the points he had asserted, as damnable doctrines. A single instance will be related to show what the stamina was of some of the individuals with whom he had to contend. A female followed him from appointment to appointment, and would generally take her seat in full view of him, with bible in hand, ready to catch him at an unguarded moment. On one oc- casion, being induced to speak boldly against the final perseverance of the saints, she was rather overwhelmed with his arguments, and told him what he was preaching was not true, and was no better than damnable doctrines. He for a moment looked steadily at her, and addressing himself to her, said, "Madam, will you be kind enough to tell me whe- ther you believe David was in acceptance with God at the time he took Uriah's wife ?" Her reply was, "Yes, I do believe it ; being in the favor of God once, he did not by that offence forfeit it." He replied, "Madam, all I have to say to you is, if your principles are no better than your doctrines, if I was your husband I would not live with you another day." It was enough. She never troubled him again.
There was another likeness of him, taken from memory by the late John Medairy, engraver, of this city. It is more like the photographic pictures, a profile in fact ; it does not show his features, although in the outline it is very much like him, and was exten- sively sold at the time.
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Dr. Roberts was twice married. In a letter to the late Nicholas Snetlien, he says : "I lived from my birth, to my first marriage, twenty-two years, eleven months and two days; and I then enjoyed the advantages of a married life, seven months and five days. I then lived in a state of single life, or widowerhood, seven years and nine months. I have now lived in a second marriage, three years, four months and fifteen days. You may now judge how much experience I have had, to correspond with you on this subject." In a letter to Bishop Asbury and Whatcoat, written at the time of the great prevalence of yellow fever in Baltimore, he said: "If God in his providence and infinite wisdom, should see fit to call me away at this time, I shall leave behind me a helpless widow and two children ; they are my chief concern ; I therefore beg of you not to forget them while you live, and they are in want. I expect my wife will return to her father, and do the
best she can. * * * * Hitherto I have felt it my duty not to fly, and notwithstanding I feel religiously awful, I do not feel terrified. I know that if I fall in the path of duty, I shall fall safely. I, therefore, commit myself to the disposal of an all-wise God, and have given myself to visit all that send for me. In doing this, I feel the comforts of religion in my own soul, peace with God, and can adopt the language of the poet,
'I the chief of sinners am, But Jesus died for me.'
I embraced religion the 29th of April, 1783, at the age of 17 years. I preached in the capacity of a local preacher four years. I set out to travel in the fall of 1789, and, by the help of God, I have continued on till now."
In another letter, written to Mr. Samuel Le Page, his father-in-law, at the same time, and dated September, 1800, he says : "As I wish to leave nothing undone that ought to be done, and as it is one essential duty to provide for my wife and children, in case I should be snatched away from them, and as I have not an estate to leave them, I can do nothing better than commend them to a good God, and the friends of the widow and the fatherless. I know of none that I could commend them to better than to you. * * * My love to you, and my confidence in you is such that I could put my life in your hands. Therefore, I com- mend them to you who are as near to me as life."
He was united in marriage, the last time, to Miss Susannah Morel Le Page, the youngest child of Mr. Samuel Le Page, of the city of New York. His widow still survives him, and, if God should spare her life until the 26th of April next, will be 84 years of age, having been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 72 years. Her recollection of things that early transpired in the history of Methodism, and of
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those men who were giants in that day, is still most vivid. She often speaks of them as if they existed only a few months ago. Mr. Le Page emigrated to this country from the Isle of Guernsey, of which he was a native. He died in this city at the house of my fa- ther, with whom he lived, on the 13th of July, 1825, in great peace. The remains of this venerable man now sleep in Mount Olivet Cemetery, next to those of my father, and only a few feet from the grave of Bishop Asbury. Thus, the sequel proved that he lived to minister to the necessities of Mr. Le Page, in the last days of his life, and after death gave lim honorable sepulture beside the spot where he himself and his wife were to lie. A spot where, if he had had his choice, he would have most desired to lie. The last years of his life were spent in Baltimore, where he lived in the enjoyment of all the privileges of that church of which he had been for many years a worthy and useful member. Thus did this man of God make every preparation for his own death, if He, in His inscrutable wis- dom, should remove him hence, and then, with a firm faith in Him, gave himself up fully to his work, at that time one of great peril. The alarm was so general that frequently he is said to have opened, and lighted up, and then closed the church, after preaching in it, there being no one else to do it. He, and I believe another clergyman, were all that re-
mained in the city at their post. Night and day were they called on to minister to the necessities of the sick and dying. He, at this time, first projected that useful institution, the Male Free School of Baltimore, in order to provide, as far as possible, instruction for those who had been deprived of their only earthly prop by the epidemic. It pleased the great disposer of events to suffer him to pass through that fiery ordeal unhurt, to lead still longer a life of twenty-seven years of unparalleled usefulness, and then to wind up his earthly career by a death more sublime and more triumphant than had ever occurred in Baltimore, either before or since. For several days prior to his dissolution, one continual strain of the most exalted exultation that can possibly be imagined fell from his dying lips. Several large sheets of paper were filled with his thrilling remarks, and many more might have been taken down had circumstances permitted.
"Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."
A few of the numerous strains of exultation that fell from him in the last moments of his life are subjoined:
"My dear Brother C * * * be faithful to God. Do not let your little bickerings and mistaken notions lead you from the church and from God. Oh! be faithful and meet me in heaven. Give my tender respects to your excellent wife. Tell her to meet me in heaven." To his son he said, "My dear George, be kind and tender to your mother; she has been .a tender mother to you ; love and take care of your brothers and sisters. Head of the
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church, be head of my family. I have served the church the best in my power. and when I am gone I hope they will remember and befriend my family." To Miss Ferguson he said, "My dear Harriet, seek religion, remember your Creator in the days of your youth." [Other remarks not remembered.] He exhorted Capt. Ferguson and all his family to meet him in heaven. To Dr. Baer, "My dear Dr., I owe you a great debt for your attention to me, and were I not to entreat you to choose religion, I should die in your debt. Oh! meet me in heaven. Give my tenderest respects to your dear wife." [Subsequently the Dr. em- braced religion, united with the Presbyterian church, and finally died in the faith.] To Hester, the servant, he said, "Oh! conquer your violent temper, and be holy, or you never can enter heaven." To her husband, "Leads, you have forsaken Christ, you have back- sliden from religion ; oh, seek it again or you never can be happy." For the church he expressed the greatest interest, praying for her protection and safety. He several times
expressed a great desire that Dr. J- -- and other reformers would visit him, stating that he wished to warn them with his dying breath, and also to tell them low he felt. At one time he exclaimed, "Oh ! Lord, fence about Zion, and save her from the innovations of those who wish to make inroads upon her. Oh ! that our dear mistaken brethren would see their error before they are the means of ruining her, (the church,) and leading some of her members down to perdition. They have lacerated the breast of their mother ; they have committed the worst of sins; they have turned their back upon her; oh! that they could see that they are wounding the breast of their mother, who has taken them and made them all they are." At the conclusion of almost every sentence he would exclaim, "Vic- tory !" At one time, "Victory ! victory ! thou Lamb of God ; thou friend of sinners. Glory and honor to His everlasting name. Victory ! victory ! victory through Jesus Christ ! Oh! Saviour, how good thou art ! Head of the church, be head to family. Victory ! victory ! my children be faithful to God-weep not for me-meet me in heaven." His son said to him at this time, "My dear father do not talk so much ; you will exhaust your- self." He answered, "Talk, talk, who can help it in so good a cause ? Open the gates of heaven, thou precious Saviour !" One said, "You will have a long eternity." He said, "Oh, eternity ! it is too short to utter all His praise. Victory! victory ! shout victory all ye heavenly throng. Support my wife and children. Oh! that the church of God may triumph over all her enemies; oh ! that infidels, scoffers at Christ, knew that they were setting at naught their mercies. Precious Jesus ! Oh ! that they knew they are wounding their mo- ther." His son again asked him to compose himself and try to sleep. He answered, "Sleep, my dear son, sleep ; I shall soon sleep in Jesus ; I am not discomposed.
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'His name yields the richest perfume, And sweeter than music his voice ; His presence disperses my gloom, And makes all within me rejoice.'
Blessed be His name! Come, Lord Jesus! come quickly! open the gates of heaven and let in another trophy of Thy blood."
He exhorted a very dear and intimate friend, whom he thought held with Elias Hicks' heterodox opinions, to seek religion ; its life and power in the heart, and much more not remembered. He exclaimed, "Sadly mistaken is Mr. Hicks in his opinions ; he will find it so, and all his followers. If Jesus did not die a vicarious death, wretched and lost for- ever would man be. There is no other way-no other name given, whereby lost man can get to heaven. Precious Saviour ! who would not give his whole heart to Thee! This is my dying testimony. Oh, that all the world could hear it, particularly those who deny the vicarious sufferings of the Son of God. Religion is not a cunningly devised fable-the formation of priests and priestcraft. No, it is a divine reality; I feel it to be such." Again he addressed his friend, "My dear Mr. M., you have neglected a great and important duty-family prayer ; let it be so no longer ; raise an altar in your family ; your wife will join you. What an account you will have to give to God for the manner in which you bring up your children. Had it not been for you they would have slept in eternal silence; therefore, fear not the scoffs of the world-what they say ; pray with and for your family. Give my dying love to your excellent wife. The Lord bless you for your kindness to me and mine. Victory ! victory ! O victory through the blood of the Lamb ! Let that be the remembrance between you and I. Victory ! victory."
There were several in the room who were fond of the fashionable amusements of the day ; to them he said, "How different the end of those who are the votaries of balls and theatres, to those who are the votaries of the cross of Christ. The one leads to fire and pain ; the other to happiness and heaven. Glory be to God !" To the Misses T- he said, "My dear beloved children, I am rejoiced to see you here even now, that I may re- peat to you in this so solemn hour the admonitions I have so many times heretofore offered you, in compliance with the request of your dying mother. That mother, who is now a saint in heaven, in her last moments requested me to look to her bereaved children, and counsel them to walk in the way they should go; and oh ! my well beloved girls, that lies not in the path where is found the ball-room, the revel and the theatre. No, no, these are the entertainments that are offered in the highway to everlasting destruction. Leave them!
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oh, leave them ! and seek that wisdom whose ways are ways of pleasantness, and whose paths are paths of peace. It is in possession of the religion of the lowly Jesus that you will find comfort and strength and peace in life, and in death be able to shout victory ! vic- tory ! victory through the blood of Christ. Be kind to your honored father, and dutiful to your excellent step-mother, who God has seen fit, in wisdom, to place over you. Dont forget the great debt of gratitude you owe to your good aunt, who has been to you so strong a friend. And when your blessed mother inquires for her dear offspring, what shall I reply? Shall I tell her you are in the broad road to ruin, or shall I say you have resolved to flee the wrath to come ?"
"My dear Mr. B -- , I am glad you have given me this opportunity to deliver you a message from God. The words you now hear are pronounced by the lips of a dying man. Oh! lay my admonition to heart-that heart where I fear unbelief has found but too strong a hold. Give place in your mind to my counsel-that mind that has too often received the impressions of vice. Listen to me, my dear Mr. B -- , and God grant that my prayers for you may be heard in heaven, where my ransomed spirit, released from this burden of afflicted clay, will soon be shouting hallelujah to the Lamb forever! that heaven that you can never enter but through faith in the blood of Christ. You must be a dutiful son, you must be an affectionate brother, you must be a kind neighbor ; but more than all this, you must be a Christian in deed and in truth-in whom there is no guile-or you never can enter that heaven where your departed father now rests. The path of iniquity looks temptingly smooth, but oh! its most apparent delights are fraught with danger, de- struction and death. Look around you ; what has not the blessed gospel of the Redeemer done for thousands? It has reformed drunkards, made good men of infidels, and, if this conveys not sufficient proof, look here, to the death-bed of one who has been striving to serve God. What, oh ! what could support me now but faith in the merit of Christ Jesus, my Lord, and cause me in this conflict to shout victory! victory ! victory ! glory be to God! Tell all my friends I am gone to rest with Jesus. My dear friends, you render me your services kindly and with the best intentions, but what its effect? Why it keeps me the longer from the bosom of Abraham; a little longer, and I shall forever be at rest."
His daughter Rachel asked him if he was cold. He replied, "Cold, no; who could be cold with the love of God burning on the altar of his heart?" He refused to take a little wine and water, saying, "George, my son, I have my lips wet with wine from my Fa- ther's table, and bread to eat that the world knows not of." When offered some soup, he said to Miss Thomas, "My child, I have bread the world knows not of; I have bread and water from heaven." At another time he said, "I feel my tongue touched with hallowed
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fire. If every hair of my head were a tongue, I would employ them all in telling what I feel." At another time, "Oh! that I had a thousand tongues, my dear Dr. Handy, I would use them all in telling the wonders of redeeming love. The religion of Christ is a great reality, and in this hour of trial I find it to strengthen my soul. and enable me to rejoice, even in the mighty conflict." "My dear Mrs. Turner, it is too late now for me to say all that I wish, but I pray God to bless you ; and oh! be entreated by me to rear your little ones in the fear of the Lord. The religion of Christ will be their only safeguard through life and their support in death."
To Dr. Pue he said, "OL ! dont reject Christ who has done so great things for you. Festus thought much learning had made Paul mad, and I have sometimes thought you sus- pected religion made me a fanatic ; if this be enthusiasm, fanaticism, Oh! that all the world may be fanatics, such as I now am in the hour of my departure. Make a trial my dear friend, it is my dying request ; make a trial of the power and will of Christ to save a sin- ner like yourself. You are a kind friend to me and mine, I owe you a debt of gratitude, and the only means I have of paying it is with my dying prayer. If you will not try it, I have a request to make of your excellent son, Charles, tell him to be faithful until death, and meet me in heaven." When Bro. Waugh entered the room, the moment he saw him he extended his hands, saying, "Victory ! victory ! victory ! Bro. Waugh, Oh ! be faithful ! Fence about the church with her doctrine and discipline, 'build up her waste places, enlarge her borders, strengthen her stakes,' and in the performance of these duties you will be com- forted, and in the end God will make it the crown of your rejoicing. Victory ! victory ! victo- ry ! through the blood of the Lamb." When Bro. Armstrong came in he said, "My dear Bro. Armstrong, I recognize you, even in the moment of death. Oh ! the favor. the unspeak- able favor, to have my understanding unimpaired in this time of trial. I have often prayed to God to spare my faculties when my eyes were closing on earthly things, and glory ! glory to His name ! I now prove him to be a prayer answering God. Bro. Armstrong, never neglect your Sabbath Schools. You have there an opportunity of training up many sons and daughters to the support of the religion of Christ, and claim the inheritance of life everlasting, and then God will reward you when he comes to make up his jewels." Dr. Baer said to him, "Doctor, your sufferings are almost ended." He answered with a brightening countenance, "Yes, glory to God, that is a consolation. Oh ! my friends, God will cut short his work in righteousness, and take his servant home to heaven." When Dr. McDowell asked him how he was, he said, "Doctor, you ask for my mortal welfare, of that I say nothing, but I can tell you, 'the best of all is, God is with me.'" (Wesley's last words.) "Oh! what would I be without the religion of Christ. Glory to God in the
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highest ! he is all truth and mercy." One asked him if his position was comfortable in the bed, he answered, "there is no comfortable place for me this side of heaven."
Dr. Baer said, "You suffer a great deal." He replied,
"O, what are all my suff'rings here, If, Lord, thou count me meet, With that enraptured host to appear, And worship at thy feet."
Bro. Russell said, "I hope the Lord will spare you a little longer to your family and the church." He replied. "No, Bro. Russell, I have known you many years-we have had many happy moments together; but we must now part. If you are faithful a little longer, we shall meet again. You have had many troubles, but the Lord has more than paid you. He is not in your debt. I am going but a little before you. I shall meet your companions . there. My work is now done. I have been doing the will of God for forty years; I am now called to suffer it. I shall soon get home. Jesus is present-Jesus is precious ! In my visions I thought I saw heaven, and for your comfort, I tell you, I saw you there. Yes, and Col. Berry, Dr. Baer, and my dear Nancy, and Rachel and George. Cleave to the church; she has done much for you and me; she has been a nursing mother to us." He often said,
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