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 20
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you to it; and wo be unto you if you preach not the gospel!' That address thrilled through me like thunder ; my heart filled, I could say no more. They had some knowledge of my deep exercises about preaching, and they believed that I was 'verily called to the work.' They having heard me in conversation, and in the close of meetings, a few times, exhort and pray, they supposed I had 'a talent to be improved.'"
Cooper was admitted on trial in 1785, and appointed to Long Island. In 1786 he traveled East Jersey circuit. In 1787 he rode Trenton circuit, N. J. In 1788 he was sent to Baltimore. In 1789-90 he was stationed at An- napolis, Md. He continued to fill important positions in the Church for a series of years, when he located, in which position he continued eight years, when he re- entered the itinerant ranks, but was soon after placed on the supernumerary list in the Philadelphia Conference.
He was one of the most powerful logicians in the Church in his day, and his logic was impassioned. It was not that sort of cold dry reasoning which wearied without profiting the hearer, but while it enlightened the understanding it also stirred the emotions. One of the fruits of his ministry in New Mills, New Jersey, more than seventy years ago, is still living at Camden, at the advanced age of ninety years. After he became super- annuated he labored extensively, preaching with zeal and
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power at Camp meetings, Quarterly meetings, &c. His last sickness was brief and marked by the serenity of Christian peace. He also, at times, greatly triumphed in Christ. On one occasion, having been engaged in prayer, he broke forth into praise, and shouted aloud about a dozen times, " Hallelujah ! Hallelujah !"
On Sunday the 21st of February, 1847, he peacefully terminated his pilgrimage, at the advanced age of eighty- four years and in the sixty-second of his ministry. At the time of his death he was the oldest member of any Methodist Conference in America.
The following brief portraiture of Mr. Cooper is from the pen of Rev. Dr. A. Stevens :
"Mr. Cooper's personal appearance embodied the finest idea of age, intelligence, and piety combined. His frame was tall and slight, his locks white with years, his forehead high and prominent, and his features ex- pressive at once of benignity, subtlety, and serenity. A wen had been enlarging on his neck from his child- hood, but without detracting from the peculiarly elevated and characteristic expression of his face. He was con- sidered by his ministerial associates, a 'living Encyclo- pedia,' in respect not only to theology, but most other departments of knowledge, and his large and accurate information was only surpassed by the range and sound- ness of his judgment. He sustained a prominent posi-
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tion in the annals of the Church, during both its ad- versity and its prosperity; the delineation of his re- markable character should devolve upon an able hand, and will form an important feature in the history of our cause."
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LABORS AND LABORERS-1787.
CHAPTER XIX.
LABORS AND LABORERS-1787.
IN 1787 New Jersey comprised one district, including New York city, New Rochelle, and Long Island, of which Thomas Foster was elder. The other preachers that were appointed to labor in New Jersey were sta- tioned as follows : Elizabethtown, Robert Cloud, Thomas Morrell. West Jersey, Robert Cann, John M'Claskey, John Milburn. Trenton, Ezekiel Cooper, Nathaniel B. Mills. East Jersey, Simon Pyle, Cornelius Cook.
Bishop Asbury made a brief incursion into New Jer- sey very soon after the Conference. It adjourned at Baltimore on the sixth of May, and before the middle of the same month ne was at Trenton, but found the people there very lifeless. Methodism seems to have prospered most during this early period in New Jersey in the less densely populated communities. In the larger towns its progress was slow, and in several of them, as New Brunswick and Newark, for example, it did not be-
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come established until after the period embraced in the present work. Being itinerant in its spirit, and aiming to preach the gospel to the poor, the early Methodism of New Jersey went into the highways and hedges, and sought to bring the maimed, the blind, and the outcast to the banquet table of heavenly mercy.
We have seen that, when Methodism was introduced into Elizabethtown, the Episcopal clergyman there wel- comed it, and co-operated with it, and we find this year another evidence of the cordial feeling with which the movement was regarded by that Church. Dr. Coke and Bishop Asbury visiting the town this year, the doctor preached a lively sermon in the Episcopal Church, "and we had," says Asbury, " a good time."
He made an excursion in July through the northern end of the State. The people there appear to have been awake to the subject of Methodism. At Warwick, he says, "I suppose not less than a thousand people were collected. I was very low, both in body and spirit, but felt stirred up at the sight of such a congregation, and was moved and quickened while I enlarged on Gal. i. 4. I baptized some, and administered the sacrament to many communicants."
At B-'s a multitude attended in a barn. This was probably Banghart's-the father of Rev. G. Bang- hart of the Newark Conference. Mr. B.'s was one of
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the earliest preaching places in Warren county. The work of religion had already been going on among the people there, for Asbury says, "Here God hath wrought a great work for a poor, blind, ignorant people. He was also at Sweezy's, where they were blest with a good time, and where there appears to have been a society, or, at least, Methodists, as he administered the sacrament. On Sunday he preached to a multitude in the woods. There were nearly a thousand people to listen to the word. He felt rather depressed, both mentally and physically, but "had some gracious feelings in the sacra- ment. Others also felt the quickening power of God." He baptized a number of adults and infants, both by sprinkling and immersion.
THOMAS FOSTER, the elder in New Jersey this year, entered the itinerant connection in 1780. His labors were confined chiefly to Virginia and Maryland until 1792, when his name disappears from the minutes. He was esteemed a man of genuine piety and sound talent. He was, it is said, a fair example of the first race of Methodist preachers.
THOMAS MORRELL is a distinguished name in Ameri- can Methodist history. He was born in the city of New York, November 22nd, 1747. His mother was a mem- ber of the first class formed by Philip Embury in the year 1766. The family removed to Elizabethtown, N. J. 24
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in 1772, and there being no Methodists there the parents united with the Presbyterian Church. Soon after the first struggle of the Revolutionary conflict at Lexington, a company of volunteers was raised chiefly by a patriotic address which he delivered to a body of Jersey militia, and he marched at their head to New York to join Gen. Washington's army. He was dangerously wounded in the battle on Long Island, and performed valiant service for his country as a military officer in the war of Inde- pendence. Under the first sermon of Rev. John Hag- erty, as we have seen, in Elizabethtown, he was awak- ened, and early in the year 1785 was converted. He soon after abandoned a lucrative business and entered the itinerancy. His first field of labor was Staten Island, in which he was continued in 1787, it forming a part of Elizabethtown circuit. This year he was ad- mitted on trial. In 1788 he was ordained a deacon and traveled Trenton circuit. In 1789 he was stationed in New York where he was continued five years. In 1791, at Bishop Asbury's request, he left New York and ac- companied him to Charleston, S. C., where he labored a few months, it being a time of secession from the Church in that city. In 1794-5 he was stationed in Philadel- phia. Here he was taken sick and did not fully recover until 1799. He was then stationed two years in Baltimore, and in 1802-3 he was stationed again in New York two
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years. This was his last appointment out of Elizabeth- town, as failing health compelled him to retire, but he continued for sixteen years to preach as often as when he traveled more extensively ; and, until a few years be- fore his death he preached once each Sabbath in Eliza- bethtown.
Mr. Morrell lived to the very advanced age of ninety. He closed his eventful and useful life on the morning of the 9th of August, 1838. The following brief portrait- ure was written at the request of the writer, by Rev. John Lee, who knew him well and enjoyed his confidence and friendship :
"In person, Thomas Morrell was below the medium height, with a square built, well knit frame, indicative of great muscular strength and capability of endurance; qualities almost essential in a pioneer of Methodism. He had a noble physiognomy, a dark piercing eye-the index of an intelligent mind; and a countenance on which the most casual observer might read decision and firmness, in combination with great kindness of heart, giving him a beautifully symmetrical, intellectual, and moral character, which, in connection with a strong clear voice, of which he had complete control, admirably fitted him to become a useful and influential man, and under the teachings of the Holy Spirit, an acceptable and suc-
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cessful preacher of the word of God-eminently a pol- ished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty.
" The air of authority, promptness of decision, and firmness in adhering to his purpose when deliberately formed, might sometimes appear to a stranger like stern- ness and dogmatism ; but to those intimately acquainted with him this was well understood, and attributed, doubt- less, to its proper cause-the habit of command-ac- quired while a field officer (major) in the army of the Revolution, and not likely to be diminished by the highly responsible positions he was called to occupy during his early ministerial career, and which adhered to him, in some degree, during the remainder of his life.
" As a preacher, Thomas Morrell must unquestionably take rank with the first class of Methodist ministers in his day. His appearance and manner in the pulpit was grave and dignified, befitting the ambassador of God. His sermons were characterized by strong sense and sound theology ; his deductions were logical, his analysis clear, and his application forcible, discriminating, and faithful ; and not unfrequently his preaching was attend- ed with an unction that affected his own heart, causing the tears, unbidden, to trickle down his cheeks, and being communicated to his hearers, a large part of his audience would be melted down in humility, reverence, and love."
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His son, Rev. Francis A. Morrell, speaks of him, and his last moments as follows :
"In his life he was the friend of the indigent-his house the home of the way-worn itinerant, and his at- tachment to the Church of his choice strengthened as years multiplied upon him; as a husband and father he was affectionate and kind.
" In his last illness, which was protracted, he suffered much from soreness of the throat, accompanied with an asthmatic affection, yet he uttered no complaint-not a murmur was heard; and, though he desired the hour of deliverance to arrive, yet was perfectly resigned to the will of God. On Monday morning previous to his death he repeated audibly three times, 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for the Lord is with me.' To our deeply afflicted mother he said, 'Why do you weep ? I am going to glory.' On the 8th inst., at his request, the 23d psalm was read and the ' Christian's home' was sung, in which he made an effort to join, and said, 'I shall soon be there.' Being asked if death was a terror to him, he replied in the negative, and said, 'I have gotten the victory.' He retained his consciousness to the last, and faintly ut- tered, a few minutes before his death, ' All is well.'"
Of JOHN MILBURN we are able to obtain no informa- tion other than that he joined the traveling connection
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in 1787, and was appointed respectively to West Jersey, Chester, Pa., Talbot, Somerset, Caroline, Northampton, in Md., Dover, Del., Prince George's, Somerset, and Dorchester, Md. In 1798 his name does not stand con- nected with any appointment on the minutes. In 1799 he located.
NATHANIEL B. MILLS was born in New Castle, Del., the 23d of February, 1766. Until the fifteenth year of his age he indulged in the usual follies and vices of youth, though not without frequent reproaches of con- science. At this early age he was led, chiefly through the instrumentality of Methodism, to a discovery of his perilous condition as a sinner, and his need of a saving interest in the atonement of Christ. Under the influ- ence of these convictions he "became an habitually se- rious seeker of salvation." It was two years, however, before he became consciously reconciled to God. Not long after he was convinced of his need of a deeper work of grace, and he began to seek the entire sanctification of his nature, "which," he says, "I trust, I found in some degree, at least, about the twentieth year of my age." Soon after his conversion, he felt desires to warn his fellow men to flee from the wrath to come, and he began to exhort them accordingly, first in his own neigh- borhood, and then at a distance as Providence opened the way. After much deliberation and prayer, that he
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might not be deceived in a matter of so great importance to himself and others, he offered himself to the Baltimore Conference in May, 1787, and was received and appointed to Trenton, N. J. The following year he was on Salem circuit, and in 1789 he was appointed to Newburg, N. Y. The next year he appears as one of the coadjutors of Lee in the land of the Puritans, and was appointed to Hartford, Conn., and in 1791 to Fairfield, Conn. The following year he was appointed to Dorchester, Md .; in 1793 he was sent to Bristol, Pa .; 1794, Caroline, Md .; 1795, Lancaster, Pa .; 1796, Federal, Md. “In 1797-8 we find his appointment bearing the significant designation, ' Ohio ;' it, doubtless, verged on, if it did not penetrate, the wilderness which since, under the same name, has become the noblest State of the West." In 1799 he was in Maryland, on Prince George's circuit ; "in 1800 he was colleague of the veteran James Quinn, at Pittsburg, under the Presiding Eldership of Daniel Hitt, an illustrious companionship. During twenty- four years we find him pursuing his ministerial career in the Baltimore Conference, moving to and fro, from its eastern circuits to Ohio, and from the interior of Penn- sylvania to that of Virginia, until 1824, when he ap- pears in the list of the 'superannuated and worn out preachers' of that Conference, in company with Nelson Reed, Joshua Wells, and other distinguished veterans.
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MEMORIALS OF METHODISM IN NEW JERSEY.
But it is hard for a hero to retire from the field while the clarion is still sounding, or the shout of battle is on the air ; and even the old war horse 'saith among the trumpets, Aha! aha! and smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting.' Though he had passed nearly forty years in the ministry, we find the hoary headed Mills, at the next Conference, leaving the ranks of the superannuated, and entering again the effective lists, where he continued till 1829, when, after a laborious ministry of forty-two years, he took his place among the supernumeraries of the Conference. He con- tinued, however, to preach regularly, being appointed that year to Rockingham; in 1830, to Great Falls ; 1831, Loudon and Fairfax; 1832, Baltimore circuit ; 1833, Liberty ; and in 1834, Frederick. In 1835 he was compelled to retire again to the ranks of the super- annuated, where he continued till his death. The min- istry of the word was, however, 'a ruling passion' with him, and it was strong even till death. He continued to labor with untiring constancy, as he had strength and opportunity ; and the last public act of his protracted ministry was performed on the last Sabbath of his life. On the morning of that day he preached his last sermon. The selection of his final text was characteristic of the veteran soldier of Christ, it was from Judges v. 31: 'So let all thine enemies be scattered, O Lord; but let them
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that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.' "*
On the Thursday morning following, the day on which he died, he led the devotions of the family. " He was," say his brethren, "a holy man of God, and though we are not permitted to claim for him entire exemption from the ordinary infirmities and weaknesses inseparable from humanity, we are, at least, warranted in saying that these infirmities are seldom found associated with greater purity of purpose and innocency of life. He was also a sound, good, and practical preacher, of the primitive school of Methodist ministers. He was, indeed, one of the last of that highly interesting class of men, to whom, under God, the Church and the world are so deeply in- debted. His death may, to some extent, be regarded as the severance of the last link-so far, at least, as the ministry of this Conference is concerned-by which the past and the present have heretofore been united. 'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.'"
SIMON PYLE was born in or near Westchester, Chester county, Pa., in the year 1759. He was received on trial in 1784, and appointed to Juniata, Pa. In 1785 he was sent to Fairfax, Va .; 1786, Sussex, Va. The remain- ing years of his itinerancy were spent in New Jersey,
* Stevens's Memorials.
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on the following circuits respectively : East Jersey, 1787; Elizabethtown, 1788; Salem, 1789; Trenton, 1790; Burlington, 1791. This is the last year his name appears on the minutes. He married in 1792 and retired from the itinerant ranks, and settled upon a farm in Monmouth county, New Jersey, about three miles east of Freehold. His wife was a Miss Leonard, who, al- though her parents were Episcopalians at Shrewsbury, Monmouth county, had embraced religion and joined the M. E. Church. In 1812 she and his eldest daughter died, and in 1817 he married the widow of Benjamin Tharp, whose maiden name was Abigal Lippencott. She still survives him in the 78th year of her age, and the 63d or 64th of her membership in the Church. For sixty years she maintained a remarkably punctual at- tendance upon the ordinances of the Church.
Mr. Pyle died in 1822, and very little information can now be gathered concerning his ministerial character and labors. We are indebted for the following brief sketch to Rev. Garner R. Snyder, of the New Jersey Conference, the present pastor of the M. E. Church at Freehold, N. J .:
"Simon Pyle lived in this community for thirty years, but was known rather as a farmer and local preacher than as a regular minister ; and having been dead nearly 38 years it is not strange that he is nearly forgotten.
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But to the extent he is remembered his memory is respected. He seems to have borne an unblemished Christian char- acter, and for many years to have swayed a wide and wholesome influence as a Christian and local preacher. He solemnized many marriages, went far and near to visit the sick and bury the dead, and generally preached once or more on the Sabbath. I gather that he was a clear, sound, instructive preacher, but comparatively un- impassioned, and hence of limited popularity; and be- ing chiefly occupied in other pursuits, as a matter of course he became less and less attractive as years and infirmities increased. He was not a sensation preacher, and, indeed, labored under the disadvantage of a poor delivery, and so never drew crowds to hear him, and never occasioned any special excitement. But his con- sistent piety, his uniform course, his marked punctuality, his strong sense and clear insight into the plan of salva- tion, together with his self-sacrificing responses to calls on behalf of the sick and dead, and to supply the lack of ministerial service in those destitute times, rendered him a usefully influential man."
CURNELIUS COOK was a native of Great Britain, but was converted and called to preach in this country. He entered the itinerancy in 1787, and was appointed to East Jersey. In 1788 he was appointed to Dutchess, N. Y., and in 1789 to Schenectady, N. Y. He was a
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very feeble man physically, and his career was brief but useful. During his last illness he was visited by Asbury and Garrettson, both of whom found him happy in the faith and hope of the gospel he had preached. "He was a faithful laborer and patient sufferer," says the brief obituary notice in the minutes, " while he was em- ployed in the Church for three years; and departed in peace and confidence, in the month of August, 1789."
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THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1788.
CHAPTER XX.
THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1788.
THE labors of the past year resulted in an increase of nearly four hundred members in New Jersey, making at the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, 1788, a mem- bership of 2046, white and colored. Twelve preachers were appointed to labor in the State this year, as fol- lows :- James O. Cromwell, elder.
Salem, Joseph Cromwell, Nathaniel B. Mills, John Cooper.
Trenton, John Merrick, Thomas Morrell, Jethro Johnson.
Elizabethtown, John M'Claskey, Simon Pile.
Flanders, Jesse Lee, Aaron Hutchinson, John Lee.
It will be observed that the West Jersey circuit ap- pears, for the first time this year, under the new name of Salem. There was a small decrease in the membership of this circuit the present year.
It was about this year that the first Methodist house of worship was erected in Burlington.
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Burlington enjoys the signal honor of being the first place in New Jersey in which Methodism was established. The progress of the cause was slow during the first years of its history there, yet it has always been a prominent society, and was from the beginning favored with the presence and labors of such men as Capt. Webb, its founder, Francis Asbury, Richard Boardman, and John King. Indeed, Asbury acted the part of a pastor over the Burlington and Trenton societies in the time of their early infancy. In his Journal, May 22, 1791, he says : " Eighteen years ago I often slipped away from Phila- delphia to Burlington one week, and to Trenton another, to keep a few souls alive : I had then no Conferences to take up my time and occupy my thoughts; and now- what hath God wrought !"
During the Revolutionary struggle, like most of the societies in New Jersey, it suffered reverses. The preaching was held, during the first years of its history, in the Court house ; the courts being then held in Bur- lington, but since removed to Mount Holly, about six miles distant. The following account of the building of the first Church in Burlington is from the pen of Rev. Dr. Porter of the Newark Conference, and was pub- lished in the Christian Advocate and Journal in the year 1840 :
"Soon after the war of the Revolution the Court
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house was taken down, and the Methodists were com- pelled, from the necessity of the case, to meet in a small private house, occupied by Mr. George Smith, who was himself a Methodist. While things were thus, it was sometime about the year 1787 or 1788, that General Joseph Bloomfield (who was for some time governor of this State) asked Mr. James Sterling, who was then a member of the M. E. Church, why they did not have a house of prayer 'where they might meet for public wor- ship and the preaching of the word.' The answer of Mr. Sterling was, ' We are too poor ; we have no ground to build it on, and nothing to build it with.' The gen- cral generously replied, 'I will give a lot of ground if you will put up the house.' Mr. Sterling at once re- solved to make an effort, and said to Mr. Smith, at whose house the meetings were held, 'If you will beg the money to pay the workmen, I will find all the materials.' This Mr. Smith did, and thus they obtained their first house of prayer, which, for the time, was considered quite respectable. In the month of September, 1790, there was a Conference held here. Bishop Asbury re- marks in his Journal: 'On Tuesday night we had a shout ; then came the bulls of Bashan and broke our windows. It was well my head escaped the violence of these wicked sinners.' "
Methodism has ever demonstrated its power as a puri-
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