Section 581

Richard Wright as his companion, on the 27th October rivalling that of the saints and martyrs of the early in that year. The first Methodist church in America church, of an industry which no toils could weary, of had been built three years before; and in 1771 the a patience which no privations could exhaust. He whole number of communicants was about GOO, chiefly remained unmarried through life, that he might not in Philadelphia and New York. The country was be hindered in his work. His salary was sixty-four disturbed by political agitation, soon to develop into dollars a year. His horses and carriages were given revolution. In 1772 Asbury Mas appointed Mr. Wes- by his friends, all donations of money from whom he ley's '-general assistant in America," with power of j assigned to his fellow-sufferers and fellow-laborers. supervision over all the preachers and societies, but At one of the early Western Conferences, where the was superseded in the year following by an older ; assembled itinerants presented painful evidences of preacher from England, Mr. Rankin. When the war j want, he parted with his watch, his coat, and his shirts broke out Rankin returned to England; but Asbury, j for them. He was asked by a friend to lend him fifty foreseeing the great work of the church in America, i pounds. "He might as well have asked me for Peru,'' remained. He thought it would be an eternal (lis- j wrote the bishop. " I showed him all the money I grace to forsake in this time of trial the thousands of [ had in the world, about twelve dollars, and gave him poor sheep in the wilderness who had placed them- I five." In spite of his defective education, he acquired selves under the c ire of the Methodists, and, fully | a tolerable knowledge of Greek and Hebrew; but his sympathizing with the cause of the struggling colo- j wisdom was far greater than his learning. As early nies, he resolved to remain and share the sufferings | as 1785 he laid the foundation of the first Methodist and the fate of the infant connection and of the coun- college; and some time after he formed a plan for di- try. Like many religious people of those times, ho j viding the whole country into districts, with a classical was, from conscientious scruples, a non-juror, as were I academy in each. As a preacher, he was clear, ear- all the other Methodist preachers, and also many of | nest, pungent, and often powerfully eloquent. The the clergy of the Episcopal Church, who yet chose to j monument of his organizing and administrative talent remain in the country. As their character and mo- \ may be seen in the discipline and organization of the tivea were not understood, they were exposed to much Methodist Church, which grew under bis hands, during suffering and persecution. The Rev. F. Garrettson his lifetime, from a feeble band of 4 preachers and 310 and Joseph Hartley were imprisoned on the Eastern members to nearly 700 itinerants, 2000 local preachers, Shor,- of .Maryland; Mr. Chew, also one of the preach- and over 214,000 members. Within the compass of ers, being brought before the sheriff of one of the : every year, the borderers of Canada and the planters counties of the same state, and required to take the ! of Mississippi looked for the coming of this primitive oath of allegiance, replied that scruples of conscience bishop, and were not disappointed. His travels aver- would not permit him to do so. The sheriff then in- J aged 6000 miles a year : and this not in a splendid car- form id him that he was bound by oath to execute the I riage, over smooth roads ; not with the ease and -peed laws, and if" be persisted in his refusal, no alternative of the railway, but often through pathless forests and was left but to commit him to prison. To this the untravelled wildernesses; among the swamps of the prisoner answered very mildly that he by no means South and the prairies of the West; amid the heats Wished to be the cause of perjury, and was therefore j of the Carolinas and the snows of New England, perfectly resigned to bear the penally. "You are a There grew up under his hands an entire church, with strange man," said the sheriff; "I cannot bear to pun- fearless preachers and untrained members; but he l.-h you, and therefore my own house shall be your governed the multitude as he had done the handful, I'"""1- "'' accordingly formally committed him to with a gentle charilv and an unflinching firmness. In bis own house, and kept him there three months. In diligent activity, no apostle, no missionary, no warrior the course of this time this gentleman and his wife ever surpassed him. He rivalled Melancthon and were both converted to God, and joined the Methodist Luther in boldness. He combined the enthusiasm of Church. On the 20th of June,1776, Mr. Asburv. not- , Xavier with the far-reaching foresight and keen dis- Wrthstanding his extreme prudence, was arrested near crimination of Wesley. With a mind untrained in Baltimore, and fined five pounds; and in March. 1778, the schools, he yet seemed to seize upon truth by intu- he retired to the house of his friend, Thomas White, a Ltion j and though men might vanquish him in logic, iudgc of one of the court- of Delaware, where he re-