USA > New Jersey > Memorials of Methodism in New Jersey : from the foundation of the first society in the state in 1770, to the completion of the first twenty years of its history > Part 18
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rial services, whether at night or day. " Distance, weather, or season was no consideration with him when duty called. He has been often known to rise from his bed at midnight and ride for miles into the country to visit a sick or a dying man, and that without fee or re- ward."*
Mr. Hagerty was of medium size, straight, and well proportioned, "prominent features-a fine retreating forehead, and in profile resembled the best prints we have of Mr. Fletcher."+ He was more than an ordinary preacher. It is said he was a close reasoner, and his ministrations were marked by considerable pathos. He had a manly voice, and his enunciation of truth was " clear, pointed, and commanding."
A few days before his death a ministerial friend and brother called to see him, and remarked that he ap- peared to be drawing nigh to eternity, when he replied, "Yes; and all is straight, the way is clear before me." On the fourth of September, 1823, he entered into rest.
MATTHEW GREENTREE was appointed in 1783, (which is the first he appears on the record,) to Caroline, Md. In 1784 he was appointed to Trenton ; 1785, East Jer- sey ; 1786, Little York, Pa .; 1787, Annamessex, Md .;
* Memoir, by Rev. Joshua Soule. Meth. Mag., 1824, p. 211. t Ibid.
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1788, Caroline, Md .; 1789, Kent, Md. In 1790 he lo- cated. Mr. Greentree was, it is said, a native of Talbot county, Md., and was probably the first contribution which Methodism in that county made to the itiner- ancy.
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CHAPTER XVII.
RESULTS AND LABORERS.
THREE Conferences were held in the year 1785, which was the first time that more than one had been held in the same year. There had, indeed, in several instances, as we have already shown, been two sessions, but they were regarded as but one Conference. The third Con- ference this year was held in Baltimore, commencing the first day of June. We suppose that New Jersey was included in this Conference. The membership was re- ported in the aggregate this year, so that we cannot tell what was the number in New Jersey. There were eighteen thousand members in the entire connection.
The work in New Jersey was supplied with laborers this year as follows: Thomas S. Chew, Elder. West Jersey, William Phoebus, Thomas Ware, Robert Sparks. East Jersey, Adam Cloud, Matthew Greentree. Tren- ton, Robert Cloud, John McClaskey, Jacob Brush.
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This was the strongest ministerial force, numerically, with which New Jersey had till that time been favored.
This year was rather barren of incidents, or, if it was not, few have been transmitted to us. Those few, how- ever, indicate the progress of the cause.
It was this year that JOHN WALKER, a name precious to many New Jersey Methodists, united with the Church. He lived until 1849, and was for years a venerated father in our ministry. He joined the society in Mount Holly. As the organization of that society was not per- manent till after the period embraced in the present vol- ume, we have made only passing allusions to it. But as it was associated with the earliest days of New Jersey Methodism, and as it contributed two of its first mem- bers to the itinerancy, (Ware and Walker,) and two others sustained no insignificant relation to the cause, one being the wife of an itinerant and the other of a most prominent layman, it may be proper that we should here give some of the facts of its early history.
The first Methodist preacher that preached in Mount Holly, so far as our knowledge extends, was George Shadford, one of Mr. Wesley's Missionaries to America. This was probably about 1773. It was sometime after that a small society was formed there. Miss Rebecca Budd, afterward Mrs. James Sterling, joined it in 1779. It is probable that this was about the beginning of the
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society. She was the only young unmarried person then in the class, and she was highly gratified when Thomas Ware united with them in 1781, as she thought she would find in him a profitable Christian associate. Some of the other members of the class were Mrs. Mary Mon- roe, Mary Lees, afterward the wife of Rev. J. Walker, Mary Morrell, afterward Mrs. Dobbins, the wife of Peter Shiras, Esq., and a colored woman named Drusilla, otherwise called " Old Drusy."
In those days the only place the Methodists could procure for preaching was the Town house, over the Market, which was made the scene of gracious displays of the Divine mercy. But for some cause the society declined. Perhaps it was owing, in some degree, to the loss of such noble spirits as Ware and Miss Budd, the former leaving to enter the itinerancy. For several years there were but two members in Mount Holly, Mrs. Mary Monroe and " Old Drusy." They were accustomed to go two and a half miles to attend week day preach- ing, there being no Methodist preaching in the town. In 1794 there appears to have been no society there, as about that time a Mrs. M'Gowan, who was converted under the ministry of Rev. James Rogers, in Dublin, and was a member of the class led by his wife, Mrs. Hester Ann Rogers, became a resident of Mount Holly, and not finding a Methodist society with which she could
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.
unite, she joined the Baptist Church, of which she re- mained a member several years, until the society was re- organized, when she returned to the Church of her birth and of her choice. Mrs. M'Gowan had enjoyed the ministry of Wesley, Fletcher, and Clarke, and she was present when an attempt was made upon the life of Mr. Rogers in the Chapel, while he was in the act of preach- ing, of which mention is made in Mrs. Rogers' Memoirs. The first Church in Mount Holly was erected about 1810.
As the war was over and quiet restored, Chapels began to spring up in different parts of the State. A Quarterly meeting was held in November of this year at Goodluck, in what is now Ocean county, and on the Sabbath James Sterling and Rebecca Budd were united in holy matri- mony in the Church, in the presence of the congrega- tion. There must, therefore, have been a meeting-house there at that time, and of course a society, which must have been formed at a period somewhat earlier. This Church, doubtless, was attended by the Methodists of that entire region.
Bishop Asbury attended a Quarterly meeting on Sat- urday and Sunday, Sept. 17 and 18, 1785, at Maurice river, in Cumberland county, and on Saturday he says, " Our house was not quite covered, and it was falling weather; the people, nevertheless, stayed to hear me
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preach." From the remark, "Our house was not quite covered," it appears that it was a Chapel which they had erected but had not finished. That this is not a mere conjecture is shown by the fact that Asbury was at Maurice river the following year, when he preached in the Church. There is scarcely any doubt that it was located in the village of Port Elizabeth. There was in 1785 a good society there. This we infer from the fact that in the love-feast on Sunday the people spoke freely of the dealings of God with their souls. It was, accord- ing to Asbury, "a great time."
One of the first Methodists in that part of West Jer- sey, and probably a member of this same society at the time this Quarterly meeting was held, was Eli Budd. He became a member of the society about 1775, which indicates that it must have been formed about that time. He died at Port Elizabeth early in the year 1830. During most of this time he was a class leader, and a steward of the circuit. When on his death bed he ex- claimed, " Fifty-five years ago God converted my soul and I united myself to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fifty-three years since I was appointed a class leader, and forty-seven years ago God sanctified my soul; since which time I have lived in the precious enjoyment of his perfect love, and now I go to live with and enjoy him forever !"
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RESULTS AND LABORERS.
In the West Jersey circuit, which included about the whole of the State south of Burlington, Methodism had to contend with high toned Calvinism and Mysticism. The rides of the preachers were very long, and many of them very dreary. Yet their labors were, in a degree, successful, a number being converted during the year. Mr. Ware was favored with seeing several of his rela- tives brought to God through the agency of Methodism this year.
Bishop Asbury visited Stow Creek and Salem this year, and preached at each place "with some consolation."
At Salem he baptized two persons by immersion in the creek. "This unusual baptismal ceremony," he says, " might have made our congregation larger than it would otherwise have been." He was also in Mon- mouth, and speaks of hearing Mr. Woodhull, the suc- cessor of Wm. Tennent, at the Tennent Church, preach a funeral sermon on "Lord, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth." "In my judgment," he says, "he spoke well." He preached with liberty to the people at Monmouth, on Josh. xxiv. 17. The society at Mon- mouth must have been formed at an early period, proba- bly about 1780, as in that year Job Throckmorton of Freehold was converted under the ministry of Rev. Richard Garrettson, and became a member of the so- ciety. He was one of the first members in that region.
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The Methodists were much persecuted there at that time. His house was a home for the preachers, and very likely Asbury was entertained in his dwelling during this visit to Freehold. Everett, F. Garrettson, Cooper, Ware, and others were accustomed to stop at his house. He was accustomed to relate incidents illustrative of Ab- bott's powerful ministry, one of which was as follows :
On one occasion meeting was held in the woods, and after F. Garrettson had preached, Abbott rose and looked around over the congregation very significantly, and exclaimed, "Lord, begin the work ! Lord begin the work now ! Lord, begin the work just there !" pointing, at the same time, towards a man who was standing beside a tree, and the man fell as suddenly as if he had been shot, and cried aloud for mercy.
An incident very similar to this, is related by Mr. Amos Opdyke, Sen., a venerable New Jersey Methodist, which is thus given by his son, the Rev. S. H. Opdyke, A. M. " Many years since he became acquainted with an old Methodist lady, who in her childhood had been a mem- ber of a family which Abbott visited. On one occasion the family heard the sainted man, after he had retired to his room, earnestly praying for the conversion of one soul at his next day appointment. Next morning whilst praying in the family circle, he offered the same peti- tion-' Lord, give me one soul to-day.' He went to his
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appointment and in his opening prayer he still called on God to give him one soul. He commenced his discourse, and after having spoken most solemnly for some time, he fixed his eye upon a gentleman standing near the door, and pointing in that direction, cried out, 'Lord, let that be the soul,' and the man fell under the power of God as if pierced by a rifle ball."
In East Jersey the borders were enlarged, so as to in- clude Staten Island. Robert Cloud went thither in the fall, and commenced laboring and a great revival fol- lowed. The labor being too great for him, Thomas Morrell was induced to go to his aid. Mr. Morrell remained there until 1788, (twenty months,) when he was ordained Dea- con and appointed to Trenton. It was about this period that the first Methodist society was organized on the Island. Asbury, as we have seen, had previously preached there, but little permanent effects seem to have followed his labors. Israel Disosway was, it is believed, the leader of its first class, and an important man in the society. "The first Quarterly meeting was held in his barn ; and the timbers of the first Methodist Church built on Staten Island, were cut from his trees." This Church was built about 1790 or 1791. Some of the other members of this society were Ann Doughty, sub- sequently Mrs. Disosway, Abraham Cole, Hannah Cole,
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Peter Woglam, John Slaught, John Marshall, and Peter Winant.
Bishop Asbury visited Elizabethtown this year and was the guest of Mr. Ogden. He preached in an un- finished church belonging to the Presbyterians.
Of the preachers in New Jersey this year THOMAS S. CHEW, the elder, stands first. He was a man of superior gifts as a preacher, and appears to have been devoted, popular, and useful. While traveling in Maryland during the war, he was asked by a Mr. Downs, the sheriff of the county, if he were "a minister of the
gospel." He replied in the affirmative, when Mr. Downs requested him to take the oath of allegiance, but he de- clined on account of conscientious scruples. Mr. Downs then told him that he was bound by his oath of office to enforce the law upon him and send him to prison. Mr. Chew calmly replied that he did not wish him to perjure himself, that he was ready to submit to. the execution of the law. Mr. Downs answered, "You are a strange man, and I cannot bear to punish you, I will, therefore, make my house your prison." He accordingly con- signed him under his own hand and seal to his own house as a prisoner, where he kindly entertained him for about three months, during which time both himself and his lady were awakened under Mr. Chew's exhortations and prayers, and the lady was converted. They both be-
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RESULTS AND LABORERS.
came Methodists, and, assisted by others, built the first Methodist meeting-house in that county, called " Tuckey- hoe Chapel," and it was from that place, or its vicinity, that Ezekiel Cooper, Thomas Neall, and others went forth to the battles of the itinerancy.
Mr. Chew appears to have made a strong impression in favor of the cause as elder this year in Jersey. Mr. Ware says "The Presiding Elder appointed to attend the Quarterly meetings in Jersey was an exceedingly popular man, and his presence gave a consequence to these meetings which left no doubt on our minds of the advantage of having men in holy orders among us; and we praised God for the providence which had brought about this new order of things, and established us as a branch of his militant Church."
Mr. Chew continued to serve the Church in the office of elder in different parts of the country until his down- fall in 1787 or 1788. His fall occurred in Sussex Co., Delaware. He professed to be restored to the Divine favor, but had to retire from the ministry. He appears as desisting from traveling on the minutes of 1788, but was considered as expelled on the ground of immorality.
THOMAS WARE is understood to have ranked among the strong men of his day with respect to preaching ability and usefulness. The following incident is illus- trative of his character and of his devotion to the work 22
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of doing good. He was once overtaken in a severe snow storm and compelled to stop at an inn, where he was de- tained a week by the storm. He spoke to the landlady about her soul and she seemed affected. Being a good singer, he sang them some spiritual songs with which they seemed delighted. One evening as they were seated around the cheerful fire, and the snow and hail were pelting furiously against the windows, Ware observed that his host and hostess seemed pensive. He sung one of his favorite pieces, and they appeared much affected. He bowed in prayer, and for the first time they kneeled. After prayer he retired, leaving them in tears. The landlord afterward tried, during Mr. Ware's stay, to re- sume his former gayety, but the attempt was vain. More than thirty years afterward he visited Mr. Ware and said, "Father Ware, I am happy to see you once more. Have you forgotten the snow storm which brought you and salvation to my house ?"
Mr. Ware spent the last years of his life in Salem, New Jersey. His memory is blessed.
ROBERT SPARKS was admitted this year on trial. The following year he was appointed to Trenton circuit with Robert Cann. His appointments embraced an extensive territory, and in 1829 he withdrew from the Church.
ADAM CLOUD was admitted in 1781 and expelled in 1788. His conduct, it is said, did not give general sat-
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RESULTS AND LABORERS.
isfaction to the Methodists and he left them, and the Conference disowned him and considered him expelled. It has been said that he afterwards joined the Episcopal Church, and became settled as a minister in one of the West India Islands.
ROBERT CLOUD'S early life was spent in New Castle county, Delaware. He must have traveled in 1778, as in 1779 the minutes return him as desisting from travel- ing. He re-entered the itinerancy in 1785, and was ap- pointed to East Jersey, and was as we have seen, an im- portant laborer in the revival that occurred on Staten Island this year. He was Thomas Morrell's first col- league, and the latter made honorable mention of him. In 1786 he was on the Newark circuit, N. J .; 1787, Elizabethtown; 1788, Long Island; 1789-90, New York; 1791, elder over a district which included the city of New York. In 1792 his district included, among other appointments, the Flanders, Elizabethtown, and Staten Island circuits. He located in 1812. He is said to have been an excellent preacher, but he at length un- fortunately departed from the narrow path. A short time previous to the death of Rev. Thomas Morrell, he received a letter from Mr. Cloud in which he stated that he was restored to the Church, and intended to remain within its inclosure till his death. This is the last we know concerning him.
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MEMORIALS OF METHODISM IN NEW JERSEY.
JOHN M'CLASKEY was a native of Ireland. He was born in 1756, emigrated to this country when about six- teen years of age, and settled in Salem county, New Jersey. He was a prisoner in New York for a year in the time of the Revolutionary war, and when peace was proclaimed, he "went begging his way home to New Jer- sey, and found his wife had died during his absence." He was, as we have seen, one of the first members of the class at Quinton's Bridge. He was brother-in-law to John Ffirth, the compiler of the Life of Abbott. He entered the itinerancy in 1785, and was appointed to Trenton circuit. The first five years of his itinerancy were spent in New Jersey. In 1790 he was appointed to Wilmington; 1791, Chester. In 1792 he was elder, his district comprising Philadelphia, Chester, Wilming- ton, and Bristol. In 1793 he was appointed to Balti- more with John Haggerty. He remained in Baltimore in 1794 as preacher in charge, having Robert Sparks, Christopher Spry, and George Cannon, as colleagues. In 1795 he was stationed alone in Baltimore for six months. In 1796 he was elder in New Jersey, his dis- trict embracing Delaware and Newburg, Herkimer, and Albany in the state of New York. He remained on this district three years. In 1799, 1800, and 1801 he was stationed in New York; 1802, Philadelphia; 1803-4, Chestertown, Md .; 1805, Talbot, Md. In 1806 he was
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appointed to Salem, but through indisposition failed to go. In 1807 he was stationed in Wilmington. In 1808 he was appointed to Kent, Md., where he remained in 1809. His appointment in 1810 was Talbot. In 1811 he was appointed Missionary ; 1812-13-14, Presiding Elder in the Chesapeake district. In this last year he finished his labors and departed in peace.
Prior to his conversion he "was rather a wild young man, much addicted to the common vices of the period," such as drinking, gambling, &c. Attracted by curiosity he went to hear the Methodist preachers when they came into his neighborhood, and at length became concerned for his salvation. He earnestly sought the Lord, and obtained through faith the great salvation, and almost immediately began to warn sinners to repent, which he continued to do until he was thrust into the itinerant field. When he was Presiding Elder in New Jersey in the latter part of the last century, he attended a Quar- terly meeting at Clonmell, in the Salem circuit. "There lived in the neighborhood," says one who remembers the occasion, "a man by the name of Patrick Field, who had formerly been acquainted with Mr. M'Claskey ; in- deed, they were both old countrymen : however, they were old cronies in crime, playing cards, gambling, drinking, &c. But M'Claskey had become religious-a preacher ; and now came to see his old comrade and in-
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vited him to the meeting. Patrick was a Roman Catho- lic, and had felt no serious impressions at the Saturday meetings. On Sunday morning when invited to break- fast, Mr. M'Claskey spoke to him on the subject of re- ligion; and when he offered to pray for him, Patrick was convicted. He thought, and expressed it, 'Why, how is it that the preacher felt such a desire for my salva- tion, and I am so indifferent on the subject myself ?' His convictions became more deep and painful until the hour of preaching came; the house could not hold the people, and the meeting was held in the adjoining woods. This was a day of the Lord's power. Many fell to the ground and cried aloud for mercy ; young men climbed the trees in order to see into the midst of the congrega- tion ; while the greatest excitement prevailed. During the service or preaching an awful thunder storm arose ; a peal of thunder rolled over the assembly. The very earth trembled; those in the trees attempted to slide down; many fell; others ran in every direction ; that terrific day I shall never forget. In the mean time Pat- rick Field had obtained a blessing; and, in the midst of the confusion and crowd, was shouting in so boisterous a manner that Mr. M'Claskey stopped preaching for some time, and told the people that Patrick Field was out- preaching him. One young woman cried aloud for mercy as she fell to the ground; and her brother, a
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large, strong man, rushed into the crowd and carried her away. Many were converted, and it was a time of refreshing to the Lord's people."*
M'Claskey, it is said, was a splendid looking man, large, with fine flowing locks, and his presence in the pulpit was very commanding. " An aged minister," says Rev. J. B. Wakely, "who is hovering between two worlds, gave me an account of a sermon Mr. M'Claskey preached in old John street, about the year 1810, before the Conference on a fast day. His theme was, 'Weep- ing between the porch and the altar.' He said it was a most masterly effort. The baptism of tears took place as the preacher showed why ministers should weep, the causes for deep feeling, for melting sympathy, for flowing tears."
His brethren have recorded the following tribute to his worth : "As a Christian, he was deeply experienced in the grace of God. As a minister, he was mighty in the Scriptures, orthodox in his sentiments, systematic in his preaching, zealous in his labors; the blessed effects of which were witnessed by thousands, many of whom are gone before him, while others are left to unite with us in deploring the loss of their venerable father in Christ. In the latter part of his life he was greatly af- flicted, and suffered much; in all of which he manifested
* Reminiscences of Methodism.
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great patience and confidence in God. He preached his last sermon at the Quarterly meeting at Church Hill, on Queen Ann's circuit, from Isaiah Ixi. 1, 2, 3. It was observed that he was peculiarly energetic, his own soul was much blessed and drawn out in the cause of God, while a deep solemnity rested upon the audience. He was taken with his last illness at his dwelling in Chester- town, in the State of Maryland, on the 21st day of Au- gust, in which he desired to depart and to be with Christ, and was often heard to sing,-
Surely Thou wilt not long delay, I hear the Spirit cry, ' Arise, my love, make haste away, Go, get thee up and die.'
On Friday morning, the ninth day of his illness, about four o'clock, he closed his eyes in peace, and without a a sigh or groan departed this life, Sept. 2, 1814."
JACOB BRUSH was a native of Long Island. He en- tered the itinerancy in 1785, and was appointed to Tren- ton circuit. In 1786 he was sent to West Jersey. In 1787-8-9 he was on circuits in Delaware and Maryland. In 1790 he was appointed to New Rochelle, with William Phoebus and M. Swaim. It appears that he labored in New York a part of this year. He was reappointed to New Rochelle in 1791. About the middle of July he
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took charge of a district "which included Long Island, other portions of New York, and the State of Connecti- cut as far east as the Connecticut river, and as far north as the city of Hartford, sharing with Lee (who was Presiding Elder, the same year, of Boston district) the entire Presiding Eldership of New England." In 1793 he was elder over a district all of which lay in the State of New York except Elizabethtown and Flanders circuits, in New Jersey. In 1794 he was Supernumerary in the city of New York. He died in New York of the epi- demical fever in September, 1795. He was an active, laborious minister, and "a great friend to order and union." He was afflicted with an inflammatory sore throat, which interfered to some extent with his useful- ness. His last illness was so severe that little could be known concerning the state of his mind, but "just be- fore he died, a preacher who was present took him by the hand, and asked him if he was happy. Not being
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