USA > Ohio > History of Ohio Methodism : a study in social science > Part 5
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The Methodist Church, with patriotic zeal, has been alert in so extending the religious life and fos- tering moral tendencies to the promotion of the gen- eral welfare, that the fullest expression could be given to the national life. Her remarkable influence in the political life of the Nation is beyond question. Her pulpits, press, and educational institutions have been earnest and faithful in upholding intelligent patriotism. All great moral questions, which are the glory of all true civilization, have found some of their ablest sup- porters in the Methodist Church. She has always been years in advance of public sentiment regarding slavery and temperance and other moral issues. She has sought to bring the people's convictions to the
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point where they could form an effective protest against these wrongs, and become crystallized in laws for their suppression.
The emancipation of the Negro is the greatest achievement of the century. Methodism made an ag- gressive warfare on this evil. Wesley denounced slavery as the sum of all villainies. As early as 1774 he wrote an important tract condemning in the strong- est terms the traffic in slaves. Bishop Holsey says that "the abolition of the African slave-trade was due more to England's great reformer than to England's great philanthropist." During the Civil War, when the question of slavery was to be settled, the Meth- odist Church was intensely true and loyal to the Na- tion, and led Lincoln to say: "Nobly sustained as the Government has been by all the Churches, I would utter nothing which might in the least appear invidious in any way; yet without this it may be fairly said that the Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted than the best, is, by its great numbers, the most important of all. It is no fault in others that the Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospital, more prayers to heaven, than any other. God bless the Methodist Church! Bless all the Churches! And blessed be God, who, in this our great trial, giveth us the Churches!" The enthusiasm of the Methodist preachers reached white heat during the Rebellion. This was especially manifest in 1864, when the Ohio Conference convened at Chillicothe. The ladies of that city brought the flag of the gallant 73d Ohio, and requested Chaplain McCabe to present it to the Conference. "I took the banner," says Mc-
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Cabe, "carried it to the front, and unfurled it. It was riddled with shot and shell. It was stained with precious blood. The very sight of it thrilled the Con- ference. I simply gave a list of the battles through which it had been carried. That was enough to create a tempest of excitement. The audience shouted and cheered and cried-some for sorrow, some for joy."
In the afternoon the Cincinnati Conference came from Greenfield, twenty miles distant, to visit the Ohio Conference and hear the eloquent Simpson deliver his masterly lecture on "Our Country." The excitement, under the power of the bishop's eloquence, was in- tense. In his peroration he suddenly turned and seized the flag. He spoke to it. He told how he loved it, and why. The scene that followed was thrilling and patriotic. "The audience sprang to their feet en masse. Hats, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, parasols, were wav- ing everywhere. The bishop sat down, and for fully ten minutes the shouting went on." This picture only indicates the patriotic zeal and intense love of Meth- odists for their country and for the moral issue in the struggle.
Methodism has likewise been aggressive in temper- ance reform. Wesley was the pioneer in this work. Although drunkenness was common inside the Church, yet, says Bishop Warren, "In 1743 he pre- pared the General Rules for the guidance of his people, warning them against drunkenness, buying or selling spirituous liquors, or drinking them except in cases of extreme necessity. This rule, he says, we are taught by God to observe in his written Word. And this rule in his precise words stands to-day in the Discipline
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of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He preached against the damning sin of selling the liquid fire in words that have not been surpassed for fierce denun- ciation to this day. He leaped at once to a position other men have not surpassed in a hundred years."
The Methodist Episcopal Church has been espe- cially active in organizing temperance societies, and inaugurating and encouraging movements looking to the restriction and prohibition of the traffic in intoxi- cating liquors. , As intelligence increases, the enthu- siasm for prohibition of the traffic is intensified.
While Methodism has been earnestly at work in the home field, she has in nowise limited her efforts in extending the kingdom of Christ to foreign lands. John Wesley declared, "The world is my parish;" and since his day the Church has felt that her mission to the heathen world was one of the most stupendous. She shares this responsibility with other Churches, but Methodist teaching and polity are peculiarly adapted to be of great missionary service. Methodist fervency has given efficient inspiration to this great and primary work of the gospel.
In summing up, we might say, the mission of Methodism is as broad as the gospel itself. And her remarkable history and evangelical spirit clearly demonstrate her ability to fulfill her divine mission. She has had a worthy origin and accomplished a great work as a "leader in evangelization, a pioneer in all true reforms, a pattern in all charities, and a power for the promotion of fraternal relations among all branches of the one true Church of Jesus Christ." She aims to gather in the rich and the poor, the
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learned and the unlearned of every land. She has the appliances and means for the largest possibilities in the broad field of Christian service. Her divine mission and providential organization have been vin- dicated and blessed. The chief need of the Church to-day is a more powerful baptism of the Holy Spirit to reap an abundant harvest of souls, whose exultant voices shall sing praises to the Redeemer of men.
Chapter III. Introduction of Methodism. 79
HE Methodists were the pioneers of religion. The breath of liberty has wafted their message to the masses of the people; encouraged them to collect white and black, in church or green- wood, for council in Divine love and the full assurance of faith, and carried their consolations and songs and prayers to the farthest cabins of the wilderness."-George Bancroft.
" OS I understand it, Christianity is above all religions; and re- ligion is not a method : it is a life ; a higher and supernatural life, mystical in its root and practical in its fruits; a communion with God; a calm and deep enthusiasm ; a love which radiates; a force which acts ; a happiness which overflows."-Amiel.
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T HE records of the introduction of Methodism into Ohio and the great Northwestern Territory are not without stories of thrilling interest.
Shortly after the Revolutionary War, bands of adventurers and settlers began to push into the fron- tiers of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. The tide of emigration westward followed the old military road or the natural water-courses. The Ohio River, with its tributaries, was chosen as one of the desirable ways of reaching the future homes of these hardy pioneers. As early as 1781 scattered settlements were to be found between Pittsburg and Covington.
The early settlers were singularly situated. The country was rough and mountainous and covered by a vast wilderness, and without inhabitants as far north as the lakes, except hostile Indians. This steady ad- vance of the white man toward the West naturally excited the Indians to oppose the progress of civili- zation and the abandonment of their hunting-grounds. The settlers, thus exposed and harassed by Indians, were, for weeks at a time, often penned up in stations and blockhouses for protection. Their minds were kept in a state of fear and agitation, and their priva- tions and sufferings were severe.
The Indian hatred of the white man greatly re- tarded emigration, and brought on a cruel war, which finally terminated, in 1795, with General Wayne's treaty at Greenville. From this time forward the
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people from the Eastern States began to flock into Ohio and the West. The Northwest Territory was regarded as the most important section of the North American Continent. Its natural attractions turned the current of emigration westward. The pioneers penetrated the forest and valleys, and established homes; and soon new settlements were multiplied all along the Ohio River and its tributaries.
At this time Methodist itinerants, full of zeal and religious devotion, appeared on the scene, and followed the tide of emigration. They penetrated the trackless wilderness, and pushed forward into every sparsely- settled region, and planted the standard of the Cross in every frontier settlement. They found the people poor and often uncultivated, but with joyful hearts they shared the hardships and sacrifices. They gath- ered the settlers for miles around into log-cabins, or groves in summer-time, and told the gospel story of love and redemption in a manner that left a powerful impression. It was just such earnest religious work as this that helped to lay the foundations of a moral empire, whose splendor will shine more and more unto the perfect day.
The first Methodist preaching in Ohio occurred in September, 1787, in the eastern part of the State, at Carpenter's Station, near Warrenton, Jefferson County.
Rev. George Callanhan, a Methodist preacher trav- eling the Ohio Circuit, lying in Virginia between Wheeling and Pittsburg, was probably the first man to enter Ohio, and had the honor of preaching the first Methodist sermon. He was invited to preach at
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Carpenter's Station, where a blockhouse was located to protect the frontier settlements. On reaching the place, he found a congregation already assembled. "Fifteen or twenty hardy backwoodsmen," says Sam- uel W. Williams, "armed with rifles, tomahawks, and scalping-knives, stood on the outside of the assembly as protectors against an alarm. After the sermon was ended, a pressing invitation was given the preacher to visit Carpenter's Fort again, and he cheerfully ac- ceded to the request."
Later, in 1793, Francis Clark, a local preacher and an honored pioneer of Methodism in Kentucky, came to Fort Washington, where Cincinnati now stands, and preached to a few people. Mr. Samuel Brown, who was in the fort at the time of Clark's visit, speaks of him as a welcomed and respected messenger from God, and says that the people heard him gladly. On November 16, 1795, James Smith, from Richmond, Virginia, who came to Ohio on a prospecting tour, preached from Luke ii, Io, in the cabin of Mr. Talbert, a settler, living seven miles from Cincinnati, on the road leading to Hamilton. No effort, however, was made to organize Methodist societies and establish regular preaching in Ohio until 1798.
The recognized founder of Methodism in Ohio was Francis McCormick, a local preacher. He was a man worthy of this singular distinction. Dr. Abel Stevens says of him that "he had a remarkably sound judgment, a quick but steady view of what was be- fitting or expedient; was a wise and judicious man, and exceedingly candid, accessible, and conciliatory in his manner. He was calmly but invincibly coura-
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geous, and in his youth served two campaigns in the War of the Revolution, assisting in the siege of York- town, and witnessing the surrender of Cornwallis. Without remarkable talents as a preacher, his good sense, his earnestness, unction, and self-denying de- votion made him powerful. Withal he had an impos- ing presence. He was robust and tall, full six feet in height, and weighed two hundred and forty pounds. 'His gigantic frame was surmounted by a well-devel- oped head and a florid face, expressive of good temper, intelligence, and benevolence. He was the center and charm of the social company which his position and character drew around him. He possessed the largest liberality; house, table, money, time, and influence were freely devoted to God and his Church. His home was for many years a preaching-place, and not un- frequently people would come forty miles or more to hear the word of life. All such found cordial welcome, not only to a free gospel, but to free entertainment. He lived not for himself, but for the Church and the cause of God.' A giant, a pioneer, a soldier, a Meth- odist preacher,-he was the fitting man for his great historic mission."
McCormick was born in Frederick County, Vir- ginia, June 3, 1764. It was in 1790, in the State of Virginia, that he became powerfully awakened, joined a Methodist society, and that night began to pray in his family. He was soon appointed class-leader. He began to exhort and to preach. His chief aim and work was the promotion of religion. He did not enter the itinerancy, but supported himself and family by manual labor. In the fall of 1795 he moved with
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his family to Kentucky, and settled in Bourbon County, where he resided only a short time. He saw slavery extending around him. His practical wis- dom and keen moral sense led him to escape it. Ac- cordingly, in 1797, he crossed the Ohio River, and built a log-cabin near Milford, in Clermont County.
ZELOLER CIN
FRANCIS McCORMICK.
Here it was that he formed a class, which was the first Methodist society organized in the Northwest Territory. The class began with ten persons. After- ward more were added. "It consisted of Francis Mc- Cormick, Philip and Joseph Hill, Mr. Johnson, Ezekiel Dimmitt, John Ramsey, and Asel Hitchcock, and their wives, with Barbara Marlott, Jane Easter, Esther Mat- tox, William Salter, Jeremiah Hall, and John Mitchell,
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making in all twenty members. In the spring of 1798 there was an accession made to the class of Joseph Avery and Jacob Teal and their wives, and Grace and Crecy Garland; and in the fall of that year came Philip Gatch and wife, and two daughters, and Am- brose Ransom and wife, increasing the number of the class to thirty-two.
The organization of this class marked the advent of Methodism in the Northwest Territory, and to it belongs the honor of establishing the first outposts of the Church in that region. "The names of its mem- bers stand high in the annals of the Church-they are good, old Methodist names-and to-day they are an open sesame to royal Methodist welcome wherever the followers of Wesley are found." He was likewise successful in forming a class near Lockland, and another near Columbia.
McCormick saw the field white for the harvest. His soul was aflame with zeal for the Christian cause. Twice he urgently appealed to the Kentucky Confer- ence for assistance. "The good Spirit of the Lord," says McCormick, "impressed it upon my mind that I must make a class paper, and have my own name and that of my family on it. I did so, and made up a 'class of ten. I then began to hold meetings in different places, and made up two more. I began to be very uneasy, having no regular trav- eling preacher. I attended two of the Kentucky Conferences to persuade the preachers to come over into Macedonia and help us, but all in vain, there being but few preachers; and these had all Ken- tucky and West Tennessee to travel." Accordingly
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Bishop Asbury, in 1798, responded to McCormick's call, and appointed Rev. John Kobler, a man of strong constitution and exemplary piety, as presiding elder of the Kentucky District, but directed him to go and form a circuit in Ohio. Rev. Valentine Cook took his place on the district, while Kobler set out for
SEPUL CHRAL. REBELIA MCCORMICK
CONSECRATED FRAMKI HEIDRICK
McCORMICK'S GRAVE, NEAR MILFORD, OHIO.
his work in Ohio. August Ist he crossed the Ohio River where the little village of Columbia now stands. The historian tells us that when Columbus discovered the New World, "on landing he threw himself on his knees, kissed the earth, and returned thanks to God with tears of joy." Kobler had a mission no less im- portant; and when he reached the Ohio soil he fell upon his knees upon its shore, and prayed for the
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Divine blessing upon his great mission. "That even- ing," he writes, "I reached the house of Francis Mc- Cormick. He lived ten or fifteen miles from Columbia, on the bank of the Little Miami River. On Thurs- day, August 2 (1798), I preached at his house to a tolerable congregation on Acts xvi, 9: 'And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.' It was a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, who gave testimony to the word of his grace. The little band was much rejoiced at my arrival among them, together with the prospect of having circuit-preaching, with all the priv- ileges and ordinances of our Church. After preaching, I met the little class, read the rules of the society, and appointed Philip Hill class-leader. This man-namely Brother Hill-I always admired much in the following traits: his humility, holiness of life, and his extraor- dinary gift in prayer." He found religious destitution among the settlers. "Many of these," he says, "had not a preacher within forty or fifty miles of them, ex- cept itinerants." This faithful and zealous pioneer evangelist was the first regular itinerant preacher sent into the Northwest Territory.
Kobler spent five days with McCormick, and then started out to travel the first missionary circuit traced in the Northwest. The boundaries of this circuit Kobler gives as follows: Beginning at Columbia, and running up the Little Miami and Mad Rivers to Dayton, thence down the Big Miami to Cincinnati. McCormick, speaking of Kobler's coming, says: "His coming was refreshing to all. I went with him up
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the Little Miami and to Mad River as far as there were inhabitants, and then down the Big Miami."
On December 24th and 25th of this same year Kobler had the privilege of holding the first quarterly- meeting at Brother McCormick's house. Kobler says: "The meeting was full and well attended by our mem- bers and others, as general notice had been given. There were forty Methodists present, all of whom were regular members of the different classes around the circuit; also there was a goodly number under the influence of awakening grace. On Sunday morning we had sacrament and love-feast, according to the usages of olden times. It was a time of great interest from several considerations. This was the first time that the Lord's sacramental table was spread and sur- rounded in this wilderness."
Kobler continued to travel and preach within the Territory for about nine months, when he returned to Kentucky.
McCormick was full of religious and patriotic ardor. He looked into the future, and saw the im- portance of having good Christian neighbors to help plant "a church in the wilderness." He urged Ezekiel Dimmitt, a young emigrant, to settle in the North- west, who, in 1797, built his log-cabin near Batavia. He and his family attended McCormick's class, twelve miles distant. He became a powerful coadjutor of McCormick. His home was long a lodging and preaching appointment of the itinerant, and he de- servedly ranks among the founders of the denomina- tion in Ohio.
A few months after Kobler entered the Territory,
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Philip Gatch, a faithful local preacher, started with his family from Virginia for the West, and settled in McCormick's neighborhood, and likewise became his co-worker. Gatch was a local preacher, and active in the early history of Ohio Methodism. "I purchased," says he, "a tract in the forks of the Little Miami. Near this place Brother Francis McCormick, a Meth- odist preacher from Virginia, had settled and collected a society. This and other considerations induced me to settle where I did. I preached in Newtown and at two places on the west of the Miami River. Our congregations were small, as the people were thinly settled in the neighborhood. About the middle of February we had our cabin finished, and moved into it. John Kobler had come from Virginia to travel and preach in this newly-settled country. His labors were hard, and his difficulties great; but he sowed the good seed of the kingdom in different places. It en- couraged the few Methodists that were scattered abroad in the new country."
McCormick, after living seven years at Milford, moved with his family to Hamilton County, and settled about ten miles east of Cincinnati, where he continued to work earnestly to extend the influence of the gospel.
"Here again," says J. W. Fowble, "his ardent soul went out in prayer and ministerial efforts for the con- version of his neighbors, and again God set his seal of approbation to the labors of his devoted servant. A class was formed and the neighborhood supplied with regular circuit-preaching, McCormick pushing out in all directions to open the way for the itinerants.
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This class was the beginning of what has been long and widely known as the Salem society, and in early times became identified with the old White Oak Circuit, from the bounds of which nearly fifty preach- ers had been raised up for the regular work of the Methodist ministry. Among this number were Winans, Light, Simmons, McClain, Eddy, Raper, Christie, Baughınan, Foster, holding in reserve a long list hav- ing an honest, though perhaps not so wide, a fame. This class, the germ of the Salem society, was formed in McCormick's new double log-cabin. It can not now be asserted who had the honor to pronounce the dedicatory address in this primitive church in the wilderness; but we know that its pulpit, a space be- hind the chair upon the white-ash floor, was after- ward occupied by such men as Bishops Whatcoat, Asbury, McKendree, George, and Roberts, as well as by the chief lights of our early Western ministry. This cabin was one of the principal land-harbors into which those men put for shelter, provision, and re- pair. Here was held many a Bishops' Council; for our local preacher was one of those wise and judicious men whom a bishop might safely consult."
Rev. Lewis Hunt, a young man from Kentucky, was next appointed to the Miami Circuit, in 1799. He arrived at Brother Gatch's some time 'in June. A small class was established at Dimmitt's log-cabin, which was one of the preaching-places. Hunt's health was broken down within a few months, and Rev. Henry Smith was sent, September II, 1799, from Kentucky to relieve him. His name appears in the Minutes as the first appointment in Ohio. Smith says: "On
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the 15th of September I set out in company with Mc- Cormick, to meet Hunt on Mad River. We met him at Wm. Hamer's, a leader of the first class founded in that section, and found him so far recovered as to be able to go on with his work. My instructions were, if he should be able to continue, to go up the Scioto and form a circuit there. We consulted our friends, and formed a plan of uniting Scioto to Miami, and making a six weeks' circuit of it. This plan was, however, abandoned on account of the great distance between the circuits and the dismal swamp we would have to pass through every round." They arranged with each other for Mr. Smith to go to Scioto, and accordingly he "proceeded on his travels through Southern Ohio, in various places preaching and form- ing classes; and on October Ist he came to the house of Colonel Joseph Moore, a local preacher from Ken- tucky, who had settled on Scioto Brush Creek. Here he found a society of Methodists already organized by that intrepid and zealous pioneer, who made the first clearing in that part of the Territory. Soon after he began his improvements, neighbors flocked in; and when Mr. Smith visited him, the society had become so numerous that no private house was large enough to hold the congregations that came together for wor- ship. From this point Mr. Smith proceeded up the Scioto Valley, preaching as he went, and on the 14th of October he rode into Chillicothe." The next day he preached in Chillicothe, and on July 7, 1800, he organized the first society of Methodists in this im- portant center of the Church.
Smith formed the Scioto Circuit, which was nearly
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four hundred miles in extent, requiring him to preach twenty sermons every three weeks. He found emi- grant Methodists scattered over this large range. Many were already organized into classes, and others he formed. Smith found many laymen zealously at work, helping to found Methodism within the Ter- ritory. In the number of really great men among early Methodist laymen was Dr. Tiffin, a physician of Chillicothe, who had formed a class at Anthony Davenport's, Deercreek. He was a local preacher, and served the Church faithfully many years. "He preached regularly to the little society" at Daven- port's.
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