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 22
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THE GOOD SAMARITAN.
The road that leads to Jericho,
That bloody way that sinners go : They fall among the thieves of hell, Eternally with them to dwell. I never shall forget the day When on that road I bleeding lay ; Was stript, and wounded-left half dead, And not a friend to raise my head. A priest came there, but he passed by ; He never stopped to hear my cry : A Levite looked upon my wound But no relief from him I found. Samaritans I did despise, Yet one drew near and heard my cries ; He gently raised me from the ground, Poured oil and wine into my wound. He kindly took me to an Inn, A place where I had never been ; He watched, and fed, and clothed me there- Made me the object of his care. And when my friend departed thence He called the host and gave two pence ; Saying, "If more on him he spent, I will repay ; it's only lent."
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I will repay thee when I come To take my ransomed people home, Where sickness, sorrow, death, nor pain Shall never trouble them again. What rapturous awe will fill my soul When I see Him who made me whole; Throughout eternal, boundless days This GOOD SAMARITAN I'll praise !
"Brother Hutchinson departed this life at Milford, July 30, 1791, and his remains lie in the old burial ground there."
JOHN LEE was a brother of Jesse, and was admitted on trial the present year and appointed to Flanders cir- cuit. The ensuing year he was appointed to Long Island with Wm. Phoebus. In 1790 he went to New England and labored on the New Haven circuit. He located in 1791 in consequence of ill health.
He was but about eighteen years of age when he traveled Flanders circuit, but he was devoted and useful. He was emphatically a man of prayer, "rising, often, in the midst of wintry nights, while all others around were wrapped in sleep, and struggling, like Jacob, in suppli- cations for himself, the Church, and the world." The Rev. Enoch Mudge gave the following sketch of Mr. Lee, which we extract from Stevens's Memorials of Methodism in New England: "He was a lively, ani-
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mated preacher, had a strong, clear, musical voice, and was affectionate in his address. As he had drunk deep of the cup of bitterness, of wormwood and gall, for his own sins, he had a sympathizing heart for those who were in distress. He was the instrument, in God's hand, of ministering the balm of comfort to my sin-sick soul. He was emphatically a son of consolation. He had a pleasant and profitable gift of exhortation, which he often improved after his brother Jesse and others had preached. He had the happy faculty of bringing re- ligious truth home to the minds and hearts of his hearers, in an easy, familiar way, and of carrying their feelings with him into the pleasant paths of practical piety. He was of a consumptive habit, frequently spitting blood, which was increased by often speaking in public."
The circumstances of Mr. Lee's death were quite re- markable. In the summer of 1801 he left his home in Petersburg, Va., and took a tour through the mountainous parts of the State with the view of recruiting his feeble health. During this journey his mind was in a very de- vout frame, and in one of his letters he wrote, "I thank God that I delight in resigning myself to him, and wish with all my heart
' His pleasure to fulfill.'
I long to be like him, and to suffer with him, that I may
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reign with him." Late in the day on which he died he stopped at the residence of a pious widow in Wilkes county, North Carolina, and he had been there but a short time when he informed the family that he expected to die during the night. They were greatly surprised at this, as he was then walking about the room. He then went out to his servant, who was feeding the horses, and requested him to take good care of them as he should never see them fed again. He asked his servant to sit down beside him on a log, when he told him that the ulcer on his lungs had broke, and he should die that night. He placed some valuable papers in his hands directing him what to do with them; he also instructed him about getting home, and continued his conversation with the utmost composure until nearly dark, when he arose and walked to the house. He desired some water, with which he bathed his feet, and remarked, "I am sure I am about to die." He inquired of some of the family if they could sing, and.on being answered, "Not well," he asked if any of them would engage in prayer. No response being given, he kneeled down and prayed aloud for some time, requesting the Lord to give him pa- tience and take him to heaven. He rose and said to his servant, " Give my love to everybody, and tell my friends not to mourn or grieve after me, for I am happy and sure of heaven." After a time he again bowed in
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prayer, then arose, walked about and told the family he was then about to die. He knelt the third time and prayed until his servant, perceiving that his voice was failing, lifted him up and placed him on a chair. Being in a profuse sweat, he requested his servant to wipe his face, which he did, and then took him in his arms and laid him on a bed. He stretched himself, and then " died in Jesus without a struggle or a groan."
JETHRO JOHNSON was appointed to four different cir- cuits in New Jersey during his itinerancy,-Trenton, Salem, Elizabethtown, and Flanders. He entered the traveling connection in 1788, and withdrew in 1794.
JOHN MERRICK was received on trial in 1786, and ap- pointed to Somerset, Md .; 1787, Kent ; 1788, Trenton ; 1789, New York, for four months; 1790, Burlington. In 1791 he was elder of the New Jersey district. In 1792 his district did not extend any farther than the Trenton circuit in Jersey, but embraced the city of New York. In 1794 New York appears on another district, and Mr. Merrick's district embraced only Freehold, Salem, Bethel, Trenton, and Burlington,-Staten Island, Elizabethtown, and Flanders being in the same district as New York. In 1794 he remained on the same dis- trict. In 1795 his district remained the same, so far as New Jersey was concerned, but was extended from Wil- mington in the south to Canada in the north, embrac-
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THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR 1788.
ing Wilmington, Chester, Bristol, Philadelphia, Niagara, Bay Quinte, and Oswegotchie. It does not seem possible that one man should be able to perform the labor which such a district would require. We cannot learn his ap- pointment for 1796. In 1797 he is returned among the located. Mr. Merrick was, it is said, a superior preacher, and a man much beloved by those who knew him. As an evidence of the esteem in which he was held, many families named children after him.
One day, as he was riding along the road somewhere in West Jersey, he was accosted by an old Friend in the following manner :- " Is thee not a public speaker ?"
He replied he was a person who "endeavored to in- struct people when he had an opportunity."
"Is thee not a Methodist ?"
" I belong to that denomination."
" Well, I have heard the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, and several others, but I never heard any like the Methodists."
"Why so ? In what do they differ from others ?"
" Why they get right into the heart, and there they stick until they tear it all to pieces."
There were two JOHN COOPERS in the work this year, one of whom appears in the ranks for the first time. We presume it was he that was appointed to Salem cir- cuit this year. He went to Nova Scotia and finally located.
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CHAPTER XXI.
THE WORK AND THE LABORERS IN 1789.
THE Conference for the district of New Jersey was held at Trenton, beginning on Saturday, May 23, 1789. "It was opened," says Asbury, "in great peace. We labored for a manifestation of the Lord's power, and it was not altogether in vain." The session appears to have been remarkably brief, as Asbury speaks of riding to Elizabethtown through a heavy rain on Monday, and the ensuing day he arrived at New York. Annual Con- ferences in those days, however, had fewer members and far less business to transact than now.
At this Conference Benjamin Abbott, among others, was admitted on trial. By his earnest and untiring la- bors for fifteen years as a local preacher, he had greatly promoted the work of God in West Jersey, and made an impression upon the rising Methodism of that portion of the State which can never be effaced. He now felt that Providence directed him to a more extended sphere of la-
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THE WORK AND THE LABORERS IN 1789.
bor, and though well advanced in life he heroically entered upon the work of a regular itinerant preacher in Dutchess circuit, N. Y., and continued to toil in the va- rious fields assigned him until his vigorous constitution sunk beneath the pressure of years and labor, and his mighty spirit, radiant in the lustre of heavenly virtues, ascended triumphantly to its immortal rest. The de- lineation of his noble character will fall within the scope of a subsequent volume should it ever be prepared.
The appointments for the ensuing year were as fol- lows :-
James O. Cromwell, Presiding Elder. Salem ; Simon Pile, Jethro Johnson, Sylvester Hutchinson. Trenton ; Joseph Cromwell, Richard Swain. Burlington; John M'Claskey, William Jackson. Flanders ; Aaron Hutch- inson, Daniel Combs. Elizabethtown ; John Merrick, John Cooper.
On the 26th of June Asbury appears in the northern end of the State, "and the power of God," he says, " came down among the people at B's, and there was a great melting. After meeting we rode through the heat fifteen miles to Pepper Cotton." The next day he rode to the Stone Church, and Mr. (afterward Bishop) What- coat, who accompanied him in this journey, preached for him there. This seems to have been a Church in which the Methodists preached by sufferance, as he says, "The
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Methodists ought to preach only in their own houses ; I have done with the houses of other people." "When I see the stupidity of the people," he continues, "and the contentiousness of their spirit, I pity and grieve over them. I have hard labor in traveling amongst the rocks and hills." On Sabbath he "spoke a few words at Sweezey's, to insensible people," and then drove to Ax- ford's, where he enjoyed life and liberty among his hearers. On Monday Mr. Whatcoat preached at C.'s, " while some of the audience slept." Thence they went to Col. M'Cullough's, where Asbury was annoyed by Adam Cloud, who had been disowned by the Conference. " He had," says Asbury, "in some instances fallen short of his quarterage during his ministry, and now insisted on my paying him his deficiencies : I did not conceive that in justice or conscience this was required of me ; nevertheless, to get rid of him, I gave him £14."
Though there was a declension in the membership of 295 during the past year, the work greatly prospered in the several circuits in the State this year, and when the preachers went to Conference at the end of the year they had very encouraging reports to bear from their fields of labor. Salem circuit was favored with wonder- ful effusions of the Spirit, and within the bounds of the present county of Salem hundreds were converted to God.
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THE WORK AND THE LABORERS IN 1789.
Sylvester Hutchinson, who was one of the preachers on this circuit the present year, was one day made the object of sport by two young women, in the house where he was temporarily lodging. " They began to banter him upon his size and insignificant appearance ; when, suddenly lifting his head from its reclining posture, he repeated in slow, solemn tones, a verse of a hymn :-
'My thoughts on awful subjects roll : Damnation and the dead ; What horrors seize a guilty soul Upon a dying bed !'
" The time, the place, the words, and manner of re- citation, all combined to produce pungent and lasting conviction ; the young women both immediately fled from the room, weeping, and were without rest or peace until their hearts were given to the Lord. Both ladies, for such they were, joined the then 'poor, despised' Methodists.
" On a certain day a man on horseback overtook the young preacher riding along the road, and, no doubt, thought to have some fun.
" ' How do you do ? Which way are you traveling ?'
"' I do the Lord's work; you do the devil's. I am on the way to heaven ; you are going to hell, where fire " and brimstone are the fuel, and the smoke of torment ascendeth for ever and ever.'
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MEMORIALS OF METHODISM IN NEW JERSEY.
"The alarmed man put spurs to his horse and rode away, but was found at the next meeting, weeping among the seekers of religion. He became an eminent servant of God."*
During this year Mr. Hutchinson received an invita- tion from Rev. Ethan Osborne, the pastor of the Pres- byterian Church in Fairfield, Cumberland county, to oc- cupy his pulpit when he came to preach in Fairfield, which invitation was accepted, and, as the result num- bers were added to the Church. But they were not added to the Methodist Church. They became members of Mr. Osborne's Church, and perceiving this Mr. Hutchinson declined preaching there any more, but henceforth confined his labors to his legitimate sphere as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
There was also, Asbury informs us, "a most genuine work" in Flanders, Trenton, Burlington, and Bethel cir- cuits. At the Conference of 1790, Salem reported 933 white members and 21 colored; Burlington, 353 white and 12 colored; Trenton, 429 white and 33 colored ; Elizabethtown, 237 white and 16 colored; Flanders, 322 white and 7 colored. The increase this year of white members was 570, and of colored members 42, making the total increase 612. The entire membership,
* Raybold's Methodism in West Jersey.
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THE WORK AND THE LABORERS IN 1789.
white and colored, in the five circuits in New Jersey at the close of the present ecclesiastical year was 2363.
The most distinguished name in the ministry the pre- sent year is that of SYLVESTER HUTCHINSON. He was the third of four brothers, all of whom, as we have seen, became preachers, and three of them itinerants. Syl- vester was born at Milford, Mercer Co. N. J., April 20, 1765. The Rev. H. B. Beegle of the New Jersey Con- ference, in a sketch of him, which he kindly furnished the writer, the material for which he derived mainly from his surviving widow and son, Mr. Daniel P. Hutchinson, of Hightstown, N. J., says :
" Of his early life but little is known beyond the fact that he was quite correct in his habits, and was what would be called a steady and moral young man. He was not regarded in his early days as giving as much promise as his brothers. He was by no means as for- ward as Aaron; and Thomas Baldwin, his old school teacher, now a resident of Cranberry, Middlesex county, once asked him why he did not learn as fast as his brother Aaron. He replied, 'Because they keep me at home to work and send Aaron to school.'"
He was awakened about the year 1786. "But he was a long time," continues Mr. Beegle, "in obtaining a sat- isfactory evidence of his acceptance with God. He wept and prayed, read the Scriptures, sought advice from
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MEMORIALS OF METHODISM IN NEW JERSEY.
Christians, and used all the means likely to advance his soul's interests. The Baptist minister at Hightstown, learning of his seriousness, visited him at his father's house, and tried to persuade him to join their communion and become a preacher among them. He expressed a decided preference for the Methodists, and said ' If the Methodists are not the people of God, I think he has no people upon earth.' While he was under exercise of mind, he was in the habit of reading the Bible and praying much every day all alone in his bed room. One day, while he was meditating upon his condition, a figure ap- peared at the foot of his bed which he believed to be the figure of Christ. This at once satisfied him and he no more doubted. He went on his way rejoicing. He fully expected when he reached heaven he should see and know the same figure which appeared to him on earth.
" He entered the ministry and joined the Conference in 1789, and was appointed to Salem circuit. In 1790 he was appointed to Chester; 1791, to Fell's point ; 1792, at Wilmington; 1793-4, Croton; 1795, Long Island; and from 1796 to 1800 he was Presiding Elder. But we cannot follow him through all his ministerial life. Dr. Clarke, in his Life and Times of Hedding, gives us a very interesting description of this eminent man and his labors. He says: ' The district was of gigantic propor- tions and the Presiding Eldership no sinecure in those
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THE WORK AND THE LABORERS IN 1789.
days. It embraced New York city, the whole of Long Island, and extended northward, embracing the whole territory, having the Connecticut river on the east and Hudson river and Lake Champlain on the west, and stretching far into Canada. It embraced nearly the whole territory now included in three Annual Confer- ences. This immense district was then traveled by Syl- vester Hutchinson. He was a man of burning zeal and of indomitable energy. Mounted upon his favorite horse, he would ride through the entire extent of his district once each three months, visiting each circuit, and inva- riably filling all his appointments. His voice rung like a trumpet's blast ; and, with words of fire, and in power- ful demonstration of the Spirit, he preached Christ Jesus.'
" His travels were indeed extensive, and his labors herculean. He often stated to his son and wife (now widow) that he rode from fifty to sixty miles per day, and preached from one to three times per day, except Satur- day, when he seldom preached more than once. His al- lowance, he said, was thirty dollars per annum, and often he did not get that. He was not accustomed to think what he wanted, but what he could not possibly do with- out. At one time he started for home, a distance of some three hundred miles. He had but little money and that was soon gone. Riding along he saw a house a short
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distance from the road, and concluded to ride up and seek for entertainment for the night. The gentleman of the house was not at home, but he was assured by the good lady that he would be soon, and was invited to stay. The gentleman proved to be a member of the legislature, and a very agreeable and benevolent man, for the next morning when he left he voluntarily placed in his hands money enough to carry him home. Thus God provided, sometimes, for his faithful and needy servants.
"In 1806 his name appears on the Minutes in the list of those located. It is impossible to get all the facts at this late day which would give a true history of this lo- cation. The widow and son, however, are very distinct in their recollection of having heard Sylvester say over and over again that Mr. Asbury was to blame for his leaving the Church. He said that he was in the good graces of Mr. Asbury until the difficulty occurred about his marriage. He was to marry a young lady belonging to an influential family, and the friends, especially one brother, made such desperate opposition that it was broken off on the day the wedding was to have taken place. That Mr. Asbury reprimanded him severely for not marrying the girl at all hazards, as he was engaged to her ; that both of them being of good metal they had a warm time; and that Sylvester came home on a visit, and that Mr. Asbury had his name left off the Minutes
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THE WORK AND THE LABORERS IN 1789.
of the Conference. There would seem to be truth in this from the fact that in the year 1804 his name appears in the list of elders, but he has no appointment given him; while in 1805 his name is not to be found in the Minutes anywhere. But in 1806 he is set down as lo- cated. He was deeply moved at the omission of his name from the Minutes, he says, without the consent of the Conference too, and he could not get over it."
We must here interrupt. the flow of brother Beegle's graceful narrative to record a fact which illustrates this matter more fully. It is given upon the authority of Mr. Daniel P. Hutchinson. He says : "Finding, on his return from his visit home, that his name was dropped from the Minutes, he remonstrated with Mr. Asbury for having done it, and offered to continue in the ministry. Mr. Asbury finally offered him a circuit, but it was one in which he was not acceptable to the people. There was also another preacher who was not very acceptable where he had been sent, and Mr. H. and he proposed to Mr. A. that they should be exchanged ; but this was re- fused, and turning to Mr. H. he said, 'Go there or go home,' to which Mr. H. answered, 'Then I must go home,' and thus ended his connection with the M. E. Church."
He joined the Methodist Protestant Church some time afterward, and preached more or less among them . 27
7
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for several years. The last station he filled was Ken-
sington, Philadelphia. "Before he died," continues Mr. Beegle, " his wife asked him if he had not better come back to the old Church. He expressed himself perfectly willing, but his death occurring soon after, it was never consumated. He felt an ardent attachment to the min- isters of the M. E. Church, and felt at home in their so- ciety, and delighted to entertain them. In view of what he had suffered for the Church, and his remarkable la- bors in her behalf, we can account readily for this, even while he belonged to another branch of the Methodist family.
"Brother Wakeley, in his ' Lost Chapters,' gives some account of Sylvester Hutchinson, but has fallen into some errors and also casts a dark reflection upon him. He was not born in Burlington county as he asserts, but in Mercer county, and he never was engaged in a land agency in the West as he says. He also says, page 532, that ' His history after his location shows the exceeding danger of ministers leaving their legitimate calling,' &c. Now one would infer from this that he lost his piety, be- came immoral, or suffered some terrible calamity, which would make him an example of warning to others. But if anything more is intended than the fact that he joined another branch of the Methodist family (for which he thought he had good reason) it is utterly unfounded.
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THE WORK AND THE LABORERS IN 1789.
He was the same in spirit from the first sermon he preached until the last. Many will testify to that.
"About the last time the son heard his father speak in love-feast or class meeting, which was a short time be- fore his death, he said, 'I feel that my work is done. I am ready to go but not impatient to depart; willing to wait till the Master calls.'"
We have seen that he abounded in labors and endured his full share of hardships in the itinerancy. At one time, his son informs us, while he was traveling in the North he was attacked with the winter fever, but he per- sisted in traveling and rode all day, taking ten grains of calomel every two hours, until he had swallowed eighty grains. At another time he took calomel and rode all day in the rain. He could not enjoy a day's rest, for if he stopped he would fall so far behind his appointments that he could not overtake them. He was accustomed to rise at four o'clock and ride twenty miles before eating breakfast, sometimes arriving at his place of breakfast before the people had risen from their beds. He trav- eled through forests, in storms, over mountains, and across rivers, sometimes on snow drifts from 20 to 30 feet deep, at other times almost buried in them.
Mr. Hutchinson was married on the 10th of May, 1808, to a very estimable lady by the name of Phebe Phillips, who still survives him. For two years previous
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to his death he was afflicted with disease of the heart. The last day of his life he was as well as usual, and after retiring for the night, Mrs. H. supposed him going into a sound sleep, but soon discovered it was death. He died Nov. 11th, 1840, and his remains lie in the cemetery of the Borough of Hightstown, whither they were re- moved a few years since by a devoted son. The follow- ing is the inscription upon his tombstone :
SACRED TO THE
Memory of REV. SYLVESTER HUTCHINSON, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE Nov. 11, 1840, AGED 75 YEARS AND SIX MOS.
From infancy to hoary hairs He all my griefs and burdens bears ; Supports me in his arms of love, And hides my ransomed life above.
"The family from whom these Hutchinsons sprung is a very remarkable one for longevity. Ann Hutchinson, wife of William Hutchinson, and grandmother of the four brothers who were ministers, has this remarkable inscription on her headstone:
"'Sacred to the memory of Ann Hutchinson, relict of Wm. Hutchinson, Esq., departed this life, Jan 4, 1801.
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THE WORK AND THE LABORERS IN 1789.
Aged 101 years 9 months and seven days. She was mother of 13 children, and grandmother, and great- grandmother, and great-great-grandmother of 375 per- sons.'
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