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 6
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ambassadors for Christ, we ought to go on hand and heart to attack the devil in all his strong holds. And then asked the man of the house if I should preach there again ; but the answer was, No. So this place was shut against me through the influence of the minister. But, glory to God, there were doors opened in Mannington, so that I was at no loss for places to preach at."
One of his old companions invited him to preach in his house at Woodstown; he accepted the invitation and preached there to a crowded house. While he was speaking, a mob of soldiers came with their guns, and bayonets fixed, and one rushed in, while the rest sur- rounded the door ; the people fled every way, and the sol- dier presented his bayonet to Abbott as though he would pierce him through ; it passed twice close by his ear. " If ever I preached the terrors of the law," he says, "I did it while he was threatening me in this manner, for I felt no fear of death, and soon found he could not withstand the force of truth ; he gave way and retreated to the door. They endeavored to send him back again, but in vain, for he refused to return. However, I went on, and finished my discourse, and then asked the man of the house if I should preach there again. He said No, for they will pull down my house. But Dr. Harris told me I might preach in his house. In two weeks I attended at the Doctor's, and found about one hundred men under
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arms. When I began to preach, they grounded their arms, and heard me in a quiet, orderly manner."
In 1776 the Conference was held in Baltimore. It commenced on the twenty-first of May. Asbury was prevented from attending this Conference, much to his regret, on account of bodily indisposition. Watters, who was present, describes it as a good and refreshing season. "We were of one heart and mind," he says, "and took sweet counsel together, not how we should get riches or honors, or anything that this poor world could afford us; but, how we should make the surest work for heaven and eternal happiness, and be the in- struments of saving others. We had a powerful time in our love-feast, a little before we parted, while we sat at our Divine Master's feet, and gladly heard each other tell what the Lord had done for us in the different places in which we had been laboring."
Owing, doubtless, to the declension of the cause in New Jersey, the work there was again thrown into one circuit, which Robert Lindsay and John Cooper were ap- pointed to travel. The causes of the last year's de- crease still existed, so that no marked progress was made. Still, the cause did not retrograde, but there was an increase of ten members during the year. Lindsay, the preacher in charge, was an Irishman by birth. He went to Europe during the Revolutionary war, and in
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1778 his name disappears from the minutes, but Lee says he traveled and preached until 1788.
One of the heroes of his day was JOHN COOPER, a modest, unpretentious man, of good abilities, and of a self sacrificing spirit. The early Methodists were re- markable for their habits of devotion; illustrating in a good degree the apostle's injunction, to "pray without ceasing." When Cooper obtained religion and united with the Methodists, he became a man of prayer. His father, finding him at one time engaged in this exercise in an apartment of his dwelling, and being enraged at this exhibition of his religion and Methodism, threw a shovel of burning embers upon him. Not content with this he afterward expelled him from his house. Persecu- tion, however, could not destroy his attachment to the cause of his Saviour, nor turn him away from the path of duty.
He entered the itinerancy when it promised its votaries nothing but extensive travels among strangers, frequent removals, hard labor, poor fare, and the contempt of the ungodly world. But with a resolute faith he threw him- self into the ranks, and heroically fought at the various posts assigned him, until he fell with a wreath of glory upon his brow, a victor on the field. During fifteen years of the most trying period in the history of the cause, he went to and fro, traveling circuits which, in
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extent, were greater than some whole Conference terri- tories at present are, the area of his labors reaching from New Jersey to Virginia.
He suffered from poverty, being often in want, as the labors of a Methodist preacher, in those days, were not productive of pecuniary gain, as they have never been, nor in many instances did those hard-working itinerants always then enjoy the commonest comforts of life. But with all his afflictions (for he was a man of affliction) and his privations he murmured not, nor would he even make his wants known until they were observed by his friends, and relief afforded him. He was admitted on trial at the Conference of 1775, having been recom- mended by Philip Gatch, with whom he was appointed to labor on Kent circuit, in Maryland. He closed his sufferings and toils in 1788 or 1789. He was a man of grave and fixed countenance, and his public exercises were solemn. He was quiet, inoffensive, and blameless, and subject to dejection. His end was peace.
This year the tempest of war swept terrifically over New Jersey, and such was the alarm and suffering among the people that it seemed, to human eyes, absolutely out of the question for religion, and especially Methodism, to prosper. Indeed, could it have maintained its posi- tion only, it would have been a great success. Though the decrease the last year was great, yet, as we have
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seen, there was a little gain realized this year. This was a triumph. The preachers were generally consid- ered unfriendly to the American cause, on account of the imprudent conduct of the English preachers, who were compelled to leave the country; and the word Methodist, to the popular ear, was the synonym of tory. That this was unjust, of course the world now knows ; for Methodism has always been as loyal to the cause of human liberty as any other Christian sect. But as is often the case, the improper conduct of a few subjected the rest to unmerited reproach and suffering.
As Washington retreated into Pennsylvania, nearly the whole of New Jersey was abandoned to the British troops, who chose their winter quarters where they pleased. The sufferings of Jerseymen were conse- quently terrible. Women and children fled, in winter, not knowing whither they went, while many a brave hearted man abandoned his well furnished house and farm to destruction rather than remain and trust himself to the mercy of the invading foe. This portentous year closed, however, victoriously on the side of America. The Rev. Thomas Ware, who was a Revolutionary sol- dier, says; "Washington, by two masterly strokes of generalship, first on the Hessians at Trenton, and sec- ondly on the rear of the British army at Princeton, where another part of the army was compelled to lay
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down their arms, completely turned the tables on our enemies, and closed the campaign of 1776 with shouting on the American side.
" Many have heard the fame of these great transac- tions, and some I have heard talk of them as if Wash- ington thereby barely wiped off the reproach of his late retreat : but had they lived in that portentous day, and felt the throb I felt, and millions more, they would tell a different tale. Each stroke was death. The first was death to British pride; for, by it all the fame of their mighty deeds that had gone out over the floods was blasted, and by the second all their sanguine hopes of conquest were at an end. The first stroke swept our whole western hemisphere; the proud forgiver of our sins fled from those they came to pardon ; and the sec- ond compelled the mighty subduers of our continent to retreat, and shut themselves up in New Brunswick."*
Before this distressing period Methodism had been in- troduced into East Jersey, but such was now the state of things, no Methodist preacher could travel there. It was a long time before they could resume their labors in that part of the state; and consequently they turned their attention to West Jersey, which was open to reli-
* Rev. Thomas Ware's article entitled "The Introduction of Methodism in the Lower part of West Jersey," Christian Advocate and Journal, 1831, p. 118.
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gious culture, and which has yielded more abundant fruit to Methodism than the eastern portion of the state.
The Conference of 1777 was held at Deer Creek, Harford county, Md. The minutes say it was held in the "preaching house," but Mr. Watters says it was in his eldest brother's house. There were now twenty- seven traveling preachers in the connection, twenty of whom were present at this Conference. It was a gra- cious and memorable occasion. Asbury preached on the charge which our Lord gave to his apostles, which was peculiarly appropriate to their circumstances, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
Both the " public and private business was conducted with great harmony, peace, and love." As there ap- peared to be no prospect of a speedy termination of the contests between this country and Great Britain, several of the English preachers thought they would return home, if the way opened in the course of the year, and to provide against such an event a committee, consisting of five of the American preachers, viz. : Watters, Gatch, Dromgoold, Ruff, and Glendining, was appointed to act in the place of the general assistant, in case he should leave before the next Conference. It was also submitted whether, as few ministers were left in many of the pa- rishes to administer the Sacraments, the preachers should
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not administer them themselves, and thus avoid being dependent upon other denominations for them ; for while the greater part received them from the Episcopal Church, some received them from the Presbyterians .* "In fact," says Watters, "we considered ourselves, at this time, as belonging to the Church of England, it be- ing before our separation and our becoming a regularly formed Church." After much conversation upon the subject, it was finally agreed unanimously to lay the question over until the next Conference. The Confer- ence ended with a watch-night and love-feast. Asbury says it was " a great time-a season of uncommon affec- tion." "I never saw," says Watters, "so affecting a scene, at the parting of the preachers, before. Our hearts were knit together, as the hearts of David and Jonathan, and we were obliged to use great violence to our feelings in tearing ourselves asunder. This was the last time I ever saw my very worthy friends and fathers, Rankin and Shadford."
At this Conference Henry Kennedy and Thomas M'Clure were appointed to New Jersey, which still re- mained one circuit. Kennedy's name appears on the minutes, for the first time, this year, and after being ap- pointed to Caroline the following year, he must have de- sisted from traveling, as his name disappears from the
* Life of Watters.
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minutes ; but in Asbury's Journal of April 14, 1780, it is written, "Thomas M'Clure is confined sick in Phila- delphia, Henry Kennedy and William Adams* are dead; so the Lord cuts off the watchmen of Israel. But sure I am that it is better to die early than to live, though late, to dishonor God." M'Clure was admitted on trial at the Conference of 1776, and appointed to Fairfax, the next year he was sent to New Jersey and the year following to Baltimore. In 1779 he was appointed to Kent cir- cuit. In 1780 his name does not appear in the minutes. In 1781 he was appointed to Somerset, and in 1782 his name is again absent from the minutes. Asbury speaks of him in a way which indicates that he sustained a very respectable position in our early ministry.
At the end of this year the members in the whole con- nection are reported in the aggregate, so that we cannot determine what was the number in New Jersey. The entire number of members, however, reported at the Conference of 1778, was six thousand and ninety-five, being an increase, in five years, for the whole Church, of five thousand nine hundred and thirty-five, an average of one thousand one hundred and eighty-seven a year. There were also twenty-nine traveling preachers in the con- nection, being an increase of nineteen in the same period.
At the Conference of 1777, it was asked in Confer- ence, " As the present distress is such, are the preachers * Adams was brother-in-law to Watters.
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resolved to take no step to detach themselves from the work of God for the ensuing year ?" To which it was answered, "We purpose, by the grace of God, not to take any step that may separate us from the brethren, or from the blessed work in which we are engaged." None of the English preachers appear to have remained in the country longer than 1778, except Asbury.
In 1778 the storm of the revolution raged so high that Asbury and Shadford agreed to make it a matter of prayer and fasting whether they should remain in this country or return to England. The latter concluded that it was his duty to leave the country, but Asbury be- lieved that the intimations of the Divine will to him were that he should remain ; accordingly he replied to Shad- ford, " If you are called to go, I am called to stay ; so we must part." "From that moment," says Rev. E. Cooper, "he made America his home. He resolved to abide among us, and at the risk of all, even of life itself, to continue to labor and to suffer with and for his Ameri- can brethren.
" Oppositions, reproaches, and persecutions rushed in against them, from every quarter in various forms, like a tempest and a flood. During the whole period of con- flict and danger his manner of life was irreproachable. His prudence and caution, as a man and a citizen ; his pious and correct deportment, as a Christian and a min-
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ister, were such as to put at defiance the suspicious mind and the tongue of persecuting slander. They were never able to substantiate any allegation, or the appear- ance of a charge against him that was incompatible with the character of a citizen, a Christian, or a faithful min- ister of the gospel. He never meddled with politics. But in those days of suspicion and alarm, to get a preacher or a society persecuted they only had to excite suspicion, sound the alarm, and cry out, 'Enemies to the country,' or, 'tories.' The Methodists, at one period, were generally called tories by those who either knew not the people, or the meaning of the word."
After giving some account of the persecutions inflicted upon the preachers in Maryland, the venerable Cooper says, " During those perilous times where was our As- bury ? How was he employed ? and what was the man- ner of his life ? After having traveled and preached at large, with all the zeal, fidelity, and caution, which pru- dence and wisdom, situated and circumstanced as he was, could dictate; he being greatly embarrassed and per- plexed, and, withal much suspected as an Englishman, had, at length, to retire, in a great measure, for a sea- son, until the indignation was overpast. The spirit of the times, the passions and the prejudices of the people, and the jealousies and suspicions subsisting against him as an Englishman, and as a principal Methodist preacher,
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were such that he could not, with safety, continue to travel openly and at large. In the year 1778, when the storm was at its highest, and persecution raged furiously, he, being in serious danger, prudently and advisedly confined himself, for personal safety, chiefly to the little state of Delaware, where the laws were rather more fa- vorable, and the rulers and influential men were some- what more friendly. For a time he had, even there, to keep himself much retired. He found an asylum as his castle of safety, in the house, and with the hospitable family of his firm friend, Thomas White, Esq., one of the judges of the Court in Kent county, Delaware. He was a pious man, and his wife one of the holiest of wo- men ; they were great friends to the cause of religion, and to the preachers generally. From this place of re- treat and protection, as in a castle of repose and safety, he could correspond with his suffering brethren who were scattered abroad in different parts. He could also occa- sionally travel about, visiting the societies, and, some- times, preaching to the people. He was accessible to all the preachers and his friends who came to see him, so that by means of correspondence and of visits, they could communicate with each other for mutual counsel, comfort, and encouragement."*
In his journal Asbury makes the following statement :
* Cooper on Asbury.
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"From March 10, 1778, on conscientious principles, I was a non-juror and could not preach in the state of Ma- ryland; and therefore withdrew to the Delaware state, where the clergy were not required to take the state oath ; though, with a clear conscience, I could have taken the oath of the Delaware state, had it been required ; and would have done it, had I not been prevented by a tender fear of hurting the scrupulous consciences of oth- ers. Saint Paul saith, 'When ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.' 1 Cor. viii. 12."
The following passage from his journal of Sept. 15, 1778, will indicate somewhat the nature of his feelings while confined in Delaware. "This was a day of pe- culiar temptations. My trials were such as I do not re- member to have experienced before ; and, for some time, it seemed as if I scarcely knew whether to fight or fly. My usefulness appeared to be cut off; I saw myself pent up in a corner ; my body, in a manner, worn out; my English brethren gone, so that I had no one to consult ; and every surrounding object and circumstance wore a gloomy aspect. Lord, must I thus pine away, and quench the light of Israel ? No! though he slay me yet will I trust in him." His necessary seclusion was not spent in idleness. "On the contrary," he says, " except about two months of retirement from the direst
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necessity, it was the most active, the most useful, and the most afflictive part of my life."
The Conference of 1778 was held at Leesburg, Va., on the 19th of May. Asbury was not present, and for prudential reasons, doubtless, his name does not appear on the minutes for that year. The fact of his being an Englishman "was enough with some," says Watters, " why he should be suspected as unfriendly to our cause and country, though I will venture to say that his great- est enemy could allege nothing else against him, nor even that with propriety." Daniel Ruff was the only traveling preacher appointed to labor in New Jersey, but Abbott was still laboring most energetically as a lo- cal preacher, and did more work probably, than is now performed by any regular Methodist clergyman in the state. His labors were productive of large and glorious results. It was probably not far from this year, and perhaps during it, that he attended a quarterly meeting at Morris River. It was a powerful season. "The slain," he says, "lay all through the house, and round it, and in the woods, crying to God for mercy; and others praising God for the deliverance of their souls. At this time there came up the river a look-out boat; the crew landed and came to the meeting ; one of them stood by a woman that lay on the ground crying to God for mercy, and said to her, 'Why do you not cry louder ?' 8
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She immediately began to pray for him, and the power of the Lord struck him to the ground, and he lay and cried for mercy louder than the woman. This meeting continued from eleven o'clock till night."
At another appointment he attended, so great was the display of divine power among the people that many fell to the floor. Sinners sprang to the doors and win- dows and fell over one another in getting out; five jumped out at a window, and the cries of the slain were very great. One woman went close by Abbott and cried, "You are a devil !" A young man cried out, " Command the peace !" but a magistrate who was pre- sent, answered, "It is the power of God." Another, with tears in his eyes, entreated the people to hold their peace; to which an old woman replied, "They cannot hold their peace, unless you cut their tongues." "Glory to God!" says Abbott, "this day will never be forgotten either in time or eternity. I was as happy as I could contain." He preached at a Mr. Smith's on Tuckahoe river and one fell to the floor. He then asked the peo- ple what they thought of such manifestations, and whether they did not think they were of the devil. "If it is of the devil," he said, "when she comes to she will curse and swear, but if it is of God, she will praise him." The people looked on in amazement while she lay strug- gling on the floor. At length she came to, praising the
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Lord with a loud voice, and declaring that God had sanctified her soul. Abbott then met the society and impressed sanctification upon them. A woman who had been fifteen years a professor of justification fell to the floor, and after some time arose and declared that the Lord had sanctified her soul. Abbott exhorted those around her to claim the promise, and while she was yet speaking six or seven were prostrated upon the floor.
He threw open the doors and windows and called the wicked to come and witness for themselves the displays of divine power, telling them that if they would not be- lieve when such manifestations were given, they would not believe if God Almighty were to speak to them, as he did to Moses, in a flame of fire. Before the meeting closed, six or seven professed to obtain sanctification.
The next morning he went to another place "and preached with great liberty." The meeting commenced at eleven o'clock and lasted until midnight. Before it was over seven professed to find peace, and joined the society. "Here I was as happy in my own soul," he says, "as I could wish either to live or die." On the day following, "I preached," he says, "at brother Hew's to a precious, loving people; and as soon as I had kneeled down, before I had uttered one sentence, they all cried out, Amen. After preaching, in class, I en- deavored to teach them the meaning and nature of the
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term Amen." At one of his appointments, before preaching, he retired in secret. So mighty was the Di- vine influence that rested upon him, he lost the use of his physical powers, and " cried out" in such a manner that the people who had not seen the like before were alarmed. After recovering a little, he went and preached to them, and had a " precious time."
Do any say, Abbott was a fanatic ? We reply, Was Tennent then a fanatic ? Was not he, the Presbyterian pastor of Freehold, the subject of exercises not dissimi- lar to those which Abbott experienced ? Before service one Sabbath morning, Tennent went into a grove near his Church, to commune with God, and so singularly and powerfully was he wrought upon, that, finding he did not come to address the waiting congregation, his elders sought him out and conveyed him to his pulpit, where he preached under the influence of this powerful baptism with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Who ever dreamed of charging Tennent with fanaticism because he thus sank under the power of God? And why should Abbott, because to him was given so great an unction from the Holy One, be stigmatized with this charge? A man possessed of an extraordinary faith and a bul.'ing zeal which prompts him to abound in sacrifices and la- bors for God and humanity, especially if he be a Metho- dist, is exceedingly liable to the charge of fanaticism.
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But it is not new. Many centuries ago was it said by a fit representative of a class who are swift to pass their judgment upon God's heroes, "Paul, thou art beside thy- self, much learning doth make thee mad."
In 1779 there were two Conferences, one for the Northern and one for the Southern section of the work. The Northern Conference was held at the house of Thomas White, Esq., in Kent county, Delaware. All the preachers on the northern stations were present and united. "We had," says Asbury, "much prayer, love, and harmony ; and we all agreed to walk by the same rule and to mind the same thing." At this Conference New Jersey was united with Philadelphia, and three preachers were appointed to the laborious field. They were Philip Cox, Joshua Dudley, and Daniel Ruff.
Freeborn Garrettson visited New Jersey this year, where he labored a short time with considerable success. He says, "I bless and praise my dear Lord for the pros- perous journey he gave me through the Jerseys; several were awakened, and some brought to know Jesus. One day, after preaching, an old man came to me and said all in tears, 'This day I am an hundred and one years old, and this is my spiritual birth-day.' The dear man's soul was so exceedingly happy, that he appeared to be ready to take his flight to heaven.
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