THE HEROES OF METHODISM, CONTAIXISG Mtks 0f &mhmt lUtljtot UJtmstm, CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES OF THEIR PERSONAL HISTORY. The Key. J. B. WAKELEY. " VALIANT FOR THE TRUTH." "MEN THAT HAZARDED THEIR LIVES FOR THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.'' I O • • v u PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 2O0 M ILBERRY-STREET. 1856. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 185G, BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York. * • • « * r * in CM 8 . - PREFACE. The world has had its heroes. The title hero has been applied almost exclusively to men who have distinguished themselves on the field of battle, or who have performed noble deeds of moral or physi- cal daring. But what is true heroism ? And who are the true heroes ? True heroism " is the sacrifice of self for the good of others" says the Kev. William Arthur. Then the self-sacrificing man for the good of his race is the real hero. The Church has had her heroes. In its early ages there were Moses, and Joshua his illustrious successor ; Caleb and Kehemiah ; at a later period, Isaiah and Daniel ; in the days of the Apostles, Ste- phen and Paul; afterward Wickliff and Zwingle, Luther and Knox, Wesley and Whitefield, Coke and Asbury, and other " Immortal names that cannot die." O The subjects of this work were heroes in the loft- uj iest sense of the word. With no sword but that of 2 the spirit, no banner but that of the cross, and ^ no commander but our spiritual Joshua, the leader of the Lord's host, they went forth to glorious war, haying for their motto, "Victory or Death." They were the heroes of Methodism ; their great object to promote " Christianity in earnest." 447^66 IV PREFACE. The design of this work is not so much to give a history of the men, as anecdotes and incidents which illustrate their character, and the times in which they lived. Anecdotes have been justly styled, "The Flowers of Biography and History." Those which illustrate the public or private character of distinguished per- sonages, have at all times been read with deep interest, because they show the disposition of the men, and furnish us with a key to their character. Furthermore, a striking anecdote or incident will be remembered when a logical argument is forgotten. It will not only interest the reader at the time, but will awaken in his soul a desire to know more of the person concerning whom it is related. Some of the men described here are compara- tively unknown in history, or to the Church — such noble champions as Caleb B. Pedicord and John Easter. Some of the incidents may be considered trivial. It is all we have of the men. It is like gathering gold-dust; no matter how small the parti- cles, they are gold. My materials I have gathered from every availa- ble source. I have corresponded with aged minis- ters all over the country, In order to gather anecdotes and incidents never before published. I have also conversed with aged ministers and members, and from their trembling lips have written much that would soon have been forgotten and lost. The reader will find much in this volume he has never seen before. Other anecdotes have been gathered from old magazines, which are seen and read by few ; many of them are from the other side of the Atlan- tic, and from biographies not published in this PREFACE. country, as well as a few that have been. Others have been obtained from fugitive newspapers that would soon have been numbered among the things that were. Some anecdotes concerning the same men were widely scattered, a little here and a little there, so far apart that they appeared to have no rela- tion to each other. They are brought together, and there is perfect harmony, and they make quite an interesting family. I have been encouraged to go on in my labour by letters from beloved brethren in the ministry and laity, approving of a work of this kind, and promis- ing assistance. An extract from a few of the letters I have received cannot be out of place here. The following is from Bishop Simpson : Pittsburg, Dec. 14, 1854. Dear Brother, — I fully endorse your views as to rescuing incidents, &c, from oblivion. It ought to be done, and done speedily. So numerous are my engagements that I shall not be able to contribute much, if any. I hope you -will carry out your plans, &c. Yours truly, M. Simpson. The Hon. John McLean, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, who has done a noble service to the Church by writing the lives of the Kev. Philip Gatch and the Eev. John Collins, writes thus : Washington, Dec. 17, 1854. Dear Sir,— Should Providence spare my life, and time be afforded me, it will give me pleasure to write two or three sketches or more, of clergymen, whom I have known, and who have gone to their account. John McLean. From Bishop Kavanaugh, of the Southern Meth- odist Episcopal Church, I received the following : vi PREFACE. Versailes, Kentucky, March 20, 1855. My Dear Brother,— I highly appreciate the object you have presented for my consideration. It is said, and I am glad of it, " the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." I will give my attention to the laudable purpose you are cher- ishing, and hope to render you some assistance soon. This Western and Southern country has been very rich in its mate- rials to furnish something interesting of the kind you ask for, and the present generation should preserve such incidents from oblivion. I hope to have leisure and opportunity to preserve something of the kind you have suggested. Most respectfully and fraternally yours, H. H. Kavanatjgh. I make these extracts, not to show that the writers endorse this work, for they have not read it, but that they highly approve of a book of this kind. I am willing, yea, desirous to send it out upon its own merits. If it has in itself the elements of immortal- ity, it will live and be read when the hand that pens this sentence lies cold across the writer's bosom ; if it is of no value, the sooner it perishes and is for- gotten the better. I also received encouraging letters from Bishops Morris, Scott, and others. Bishop Ames, in a letter to Rev. F. G. Holliday, says : " Some pains have been taken by several per- sons to perpetuate the memory of those who distin- guished themselves in border warfare with Indian tribes ; but, up to the present time, little or no effort has been made to rescue from oblivion the memory of those moral heroes, who, as spiritual leaders of the forlorn-hope, under the great Captain of our salvation, guided the Church to battle and to victory. Though comparatively unknown and un- honoured on earth, their 'record is on high.' But they ought not to remain unknown and unhonoured PREFACE. vii among men. It is a work both of piety and patriot- ism to embalm their virtues in history, and thus hand over their example for the respect and imita- tion of posterity." These noble sentiments of the bishop will tind a cordial response in many a heart. I am deeply indebted to Bishops Morris and Ames, as well as to Dr. Thomas E. Bond, Rev. Henry Boehm, Rev. Alfred Branson of "Wisconsin, and Samuel G. Arnold, Esq., as well as many others, for interesting incidents by which this work has been enriched. There is one thing to comfort the reader: the anecdotes are not fictitious, the incidents are not apocryphal. They are not manufactured to make a book. A lad was begging of a gentleman in England, when the man inquired why he solicited charity. The boy said his father was dead and his mother was a widow, and very poor. The stranger inquired, " What did your father do when living ?" The lad answered, " He was an accident-maker for the newspapers." I am no anecdote-maker. But I have taken some pains to furnish the reader with some already made, which bear the image and superscription of truth. This book will be read by those who have never seen the writer, and by old " familiar friends" with whom he has " taken sweet counsel and walked to the house of God in company." In a ministry of nearly a quarter of a century, it has been his privi- lege to form a pleasing acquaintance with many such friends. Their parlours, tables, and firesides have witnessed the hearty welcomes he has received into their hospitable dwellings. The author need not say to them that for years he has had a fondness viii PREFACE. for antiquity ; that he loves an "old chair," an "old book," an " old soldier of the Ke volution," or an "old soldier of the cross." If it is childish, he is willing to he considered a child. They also know his de- light in anecdotes of olden times. For years he has been treasuring them up. The portfolio is now open, and the reader is permitted to look into it. It will remind some of bygone clays and years, when it was the writer's privilege to sit in their dwellings, when some pleasant anecdote was related, and a little sunshine was thrown around the hearth-stone, and smiles for a time took the place of tears. The " heroes" named in this volume are all dead. " They sleep their last sleep, they have fought their last battle, No sound can awake them to glory again." We also are " passing away," and should " Walk thoughtfully on the silent, solemn shore, Of that vast ocean we must sail so soon." I will now, as the Indians say, " shake hands in my heart" with the readers of this book, invoking the favour of Him, " whose blessing maketh rich and addeth no sorrow," to rest upon them. If they enjoy half as much in its perusal as I have in writing it, I shall be amply compensated. In communing with the mighty dead, I trust we shall partake of their spirit, and "follow the example of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." I cannot conclude without acknowledging my special obligation to the Kev. John M'Clintock, D. D., the able editor of the Methodist Quarterly Review, at whose suggestion this work was com- menced, and under whose kind supervision it is published. J. B. "Wakeley. New-Yokk Dec. 14, 1855. CONTENTS. FRANCIS ASBURY Page 13 Bishop Asbury's Manner 21 Bishop Asbury could read Men 22 Bishop Asbury as a Preacher 23 Francis and his Mother 24 Bishop Asbury's Manner of Reading the Bible 25 Bishop Asbury's Illustrations 25 Bishop Asbury on Temptation 26 Bishop Asbury on the Best Site for a House of Worship 26 Bishop Asbury's Advice to Young Preachers 27 Bishop Asbury's Punctuality 27 Bishop Asbury's Love for the Itinerancy 28 Bishop Asbury's Regard for Children 29 Bishop Asbury and Punch 29 Bishop Asbury and Rev. William Burke 34 Bishop Asbury and Primitive Methodist Simplicity 34 Bishop Asbury among the Log-Cabins and in the Quarterly Conference 35 Bishop Asbury's Reproof to Conference Speech-makers 38 Bishop Asbury's Regard for the Sheep of the Wilderness 39 Bishop Asbury and the Appointments of Preachers 39 Bishop Asbury and His Portrait 40 Bishop Asbury and Tom Jenkins 42 Bishop Asbury and the Love-Feast 47 Bishop Asbury on the Marriage of Preachers 48 Bishop Asbury and the Rev. James Quinn 49 Bishop Asbury and the Inquisitive Lady 50 Bishop Asbury and the Almond Nuts 51 Bishop Asbury and the Crust of Bread 52 Bishop Asbury on the Different Generations of Methodists 52 Bishop Asbury and the Young Minister 54 Bishop Asbury Impatient of Profitless Discussions 54 Bishop Asbury and the Economical Steward 55 Asbury in the Family — in the Ball-Room — at the Ferry 55 Asbury Redeeming the Widow's Cow 56 Aslurv the Monk and the Nuns 57 1* 4 CONTENTS. Asburyand his Fair Guide Page 58 Bishop Asbury and the Secretary 59 Bishop Asbury and the Soldiers 60 Asbury and a Troop of Preachers 61 Bishop Asbury and the Physicians 62 Bishop Asbury and the Duellists 63 Bishop Asbury and R. Hubbard 65 Asbury and John Kline 66 Asbury and the Rowdies 67 Asbury and Seth Mattison 68 Asbury on Ministerial Popularity 68 Bishop Asbury and the Brandy Bottle 69 Bishop Asbury's Reasons for Celibacy 70 Asbury and the Charitable Society 71 Francis Asbury's Last Sermon in England 72 Bishop Asbury Sowing Good Seed 73 Bishop Asbury's Last Sermon 73 THE REV. THOMAS COKE, LL. D 77 Coke's First Interview with Asbury , 80 Coke and the Useful Book 81 Coke and the Slanderer of John Wesley 82 Coke on Altering an Article of Faith 84 Coke and Miss Smith 85 Coke a Jonah 86 Coke Producing a Calm 87 Coke and the Captain 88 Coke Bought at His Own Price 88 Coke and His Hostess's Family 89 THE REV. WILLIAM M'KENDREE 93 M'Kendree and the Aged Minister 101 M'Kendree and his First Circuit 102 M'Kendree and Bishop Asbury 104 Two Poor Bishops 105 M'Kendree and Mr. M'Namar 105 M'Kendree and the Enraged Brother 106 M'Kendree and William Burke 106 M'Kendree and the Extortioner ; or, the Power of Conscience 107 M'Kendree and the Gentleman 108 The Sermon that made M'Kendree Bishop 109 Bishop M'Kendree and the Penitent Ill M'Kendree and the Calvinists 113 M'Kendree and the Western Conference 113 M'Kendree and the Quarterly Meeting 114 Bishop M'Kendree and the Conflagration 114 Bishop M'Kendree and Samuel Parker 115 Bishop M'Kendree and Rev. John F.Wright 116 Bishop M'Kendree's Sermon before the New-England Con- ference 116 Bishop M'Kendree's Sermon at Paris, New-York 117 General Jackson and the Noisy Prayer-Meeting 119 CONTENTS. 5 A Noble Woman and a Noble Toast Page 120 Bishop M'Kendree and the Little Boy 121 Bishop M'Kendree and the Union Meeting-House 122 Bishop M'Kendree and his Dying Sister 123 Bishop M'Kendree's Farewell to the General Conference 132 Bishop M'Kendree and the New- York Conference 133 Bishop M'Kendree and the Young Treacher 134 THE REV. ENOCH GEORGE 137 Enoch George's First Interview with Bishop Asbury 143 Enoch George's Personal Religious Habits 143 George and the Valley of Baca 144 George and his First Circuit 145 George and the Episcopal Clergyman 145 Bishop George and Abner Chase 14G Bishop George and his Portrait 147 Bishops George and Hedding, and the Landlord 148 Bishop George's Visit to Danbury, Conn 149 Bishop George and the Rev. Moses Hill 149 Bishop George and the Little Girl 151 Bishop George preaching the People up to the Third Heaven 152 Bishop George and his Pursuer 153 Bishop George and the Preachers of the Genesee Conference 154 Bishop George and the Impostor 155 Bishop George and the Preacher who wished to be accom- modated 157 Bishop George and the Unwelcome Preacher 15S Bishop George at the Maine Conference 1G5 THE REV. ROBERT WILLIAMS 109 Robert Williams and the Rev. Mr. Jarrett 172 Mr. Williams and the People in Norfolk 173 Williams and the Lee Family 173 THE REV. RICHARD BOARDMAN 177 Boardman's Remarkable Deliverance 178— Boardman and the Mother of the Rev. Jabez Bunting 179 Boardman and the Soldiers 181 Boardman and Pilmore 181 Pilmore and the Parish Priest 182 THE REV. CALEB B. PEDICORD 185 Singing on his Way 186 Pedicord's Text and Sermon 187 Pedicord, the Spiritual Father of Thomas Ware 188 Pedicord receives the Thanks of Thomas Ware 190 Pedicord and Joe Molliner 190 Pedicord and the Youj^» Lady 194 THE REV. WILLIAM GILL 199 Gill and Doctor Bush 199 The Grave of (Jill 200 6 CONTENTS. THE REV. JOHN TUNNELL Page 201 Tunnell and the Sailor 202 Tunnell, General Russel and his Wife 203 Tunnell, Gill, and Pedicord compared 205 THE REV. RICHARD IVY 206 Ivy and the two American Officers 206 THE REV. JOSEPH BRADFORD 211 Bradford and John Wesley 212 Bradford and Mr. Wesley at Bristol 213 Bradford and Lady Huntington 214 Bradford and the Angel 215 Bradford, Wesley, and the Chaise 215 THE REV. JOHN EASTER 219 Easter, M'Keudree, and George 221 John Easter and Jesse Lee 222 Easter and Rev. Stith Mead 223 Easter and the Thunder-Storm 224 Easter and the Enraged Husband, and his Courageous Wife... 225 THE REV. JESSE LEE 229 Lee enlisted by Bishop Asburj' 231 Lee and the non-committal Quaker 232 Lee and his lost Hat 233 Lee, Asbury, and the Superintendent of a Ball 233 Lee and the Calvinistic Minister 234 Lee's Reply to the Man who wished to know if he had a lib- eral Education 235 Lee and his Co-Labourers opposed in New-England 236 Lee's "Warm and Cold Reception" in Stratford 237 Lee and the Saybrook Platform 238 Lee and the Aged Minister 238 Mr. Lee's First Sermon in Redding, and its Results 239 Lee and Elder Hull 242 Lee's Reception in Bridgeport, in consequence of a singular Dream 243 Lee and a Self-Conceited Bigot 244 Lee and the Baptist Preacher 245 Lee's German taken for Hebrew 246 Lee and Rev. Mr. Darrough 246 Lee's Cold Reception from Col. B. 247 Lee and the Yankee Training-Day 247 Lee and the Lawyers 248 Lee's Retort upon George Pickering 249 Lee Retorted upon by Asa Shhm 250 Lee's unsuccessful Prayer in reference to Matrimony 251 Lee's Manner of Introducing Himself 252 Lee's Singular Dream 252 Lee's Preaching 253 Lee's Ease of Manner 253 CONTENTS. 7 Lee and his Host Page 254 Lee letting a Fellow " Go for Slippance " 254 Lee Waking up a Congregation 255 Lee's Fitness for the Episcopacy 255 Lee and other Weighty Preachers 256 Lee's Pleasant Retort upon Bishop Asbury 256 Lee's Retort upon the Congressmen 257 Lee and the Coloured Preacher 258 Lee Turning the World Upside Down 259 Lee and the Gentleman who was standing in his Own Light 260 Lee Cracking a Bone 260 Lee and the Angry General 261 Lee a Captain 264 Lee and the Dogs 265 Lee and the Baptist Woman ... 266 Lee's Last Sermon 266 THE REV. SAMUEL BRADBURN 269 Bradburn and the Poet 271 Bradburn and the Gown 271 Bradburn and Dr. Adam Clarke 272 Bradburn and Robert Robinson 273 Bradburn and Dawson 275 Bradburn's Poetry 275 Bradburn and an Opposing Clergyman 276 Bradburn and Betty the Servant Girl 278 Bradburn and Benson 279 Bradburn and Samuel Bardsley 280 Bradburn's Retort on Wesley 281 Bradburn and the Young Ministers 281 Bradburn and the Drunkard 282 Bradburn and Sammy Hick 283 THE REV. SYLVESTER HUTCHINSON 287 Hutchinson and the Trifling Young Women 289 Hutchinson and the Traveller 290 Hutchinson, the Lost Presiding Elder 291 THE REV. DARIUS DUNHAM 295 Dunham and Elijah Woolsey 296 Toils of the Pioneers 297 Scolding Dunham 301 Dunham's inexplicable Groan 301 Dunham and the Wild Fire 303 Dunham rebukes Levity 304 Dunham and the Squire 305 Dunham and the Infidel 305 Dunham and the Amen 306 Dunham and the Woman possessed with the Devil 306 THE REV. SMITH ARNOLD 309 Hears Methodist Preaching 309 8 CONTENTS. Life in the Woods Page 310 A Warning 312 A Class Formed 315 A Change 316 His Theological Course 317 Licensed to Exhort 318 Official Responsibilities 318 The Seeley Family 319 Call to Preach 324 Arnold and the Rev. William Keith 325 Great Revival 326 The Itinerant Field 329 How Mr. Arnold failed of a Whipping 329 Sickness 330 Albany Circuit 331 Arnold and Tobias Spicer 332 His End, or the Closing Scene 333 THE REV. SAMUEL HAMILTON 337 Hamilton and the Infidel 338 Hamilton's Gravity overcome 339 THE REV. ARCHIBALD MTLROY 345 MTlroy as a Preacher 346 M'Hroy on the General Rules 347 MTlroy aud the Drunkard 348 MTlroy and the Dutchman 348 M'llroy's Sermon on the Swine 350 MTlroy and the Dancing-Master 351 MTlroy and the Calvinistic Minister 352 THE REV. WILLIAM DAWSON 355 Dawson's "Railway Speech" 361 Dawson in Bristol 362 Dawson correcting Dr. Young 362 Dawson Stopping the Choir 363 Dawson's Coal-Pit Illustrations 363 Dawson's Bold Flights 365 Dawson Correcting Dr. Watts 366 Dawson's Response to Andrew Fuller 367 Dawson and the Pedler 367 Dawsoii and the Critic 369 Dawson and the Backslider 369 Dawson and the Gentleman 370 Dawson's Power in Preaching 371 Dawson Silencing a Fault-Finder 373 Dawson Ending a Theological Dispute 373 Dawson on the Farthing Candle 374 Dawson and the Colt 375 Dawson and John Angell James 376 Dawson on Methodist Clerks 377 Dawson Next to Nobody 377 CONTENTS. 9 Dawson's Lock of Strength Page 378 Dawson and the Jack Tar 378 Dawson and the Solemn Trifler 379 Dawson and the Editor 380 Dawson on "Reading a Speech" 380 THE REV. JOHN COLLINS 383 Collins and the Quaker 384 Collins Laying Down his Commission 38G Collins's Remarkable Dream 386 Collins's First Sermon 386 Collins's Sermon in Cincinnati 387 Collins and the Calvinistic Woman 388 Collins and the Drunkard 389 Collins and the Country Funeral 389 Collins and J. B. Finley 390 Collins and the Bank Note 390 THE REV. THEOPHDLUS LESSEY 395 Mr. Lessey as a Preacher and Platform Speaker 398 Lessey and Dawson 399 Lessey and the Infidels 100 Lessey and the Country Preacher 100 Lessey's Punctuality 401 Lessey on Popery 401 Lessey and Old James .. 402 Lessey and the Drunkard 403 THE REV. JACOB GRUBER 407 Gruber's Conversion and Entrance upon the Work of the Min- istry 419 Gruber's Account of his First Ten Years in the Itinerant Ministry 421 Gruber's Personal Habits. 422 Gruber and the Veil 423 Gruber's Power in Prayer 423 Gruber and the Devil's Firebrand 424 Gruber's Possessions 424 Gruber on Extraordinary Manifestations 424 Gruber Lost among the Mountains 425 Gruber's Reproof of Parental Indulgence 427 Gruber and Father Richards 428 Gruber and the Quaker 430 Gruber and the Irishwoman 432 Gruber and Two Rich Methodists 433 Gruber on Gayety among Methodists 435 Gruber on Methodist Ministers using Tobacco 436 Gruber and the Man in 8 Cold Winter State 436 Gruber's Description of Camp-meeting Scenes 437 The Conversion of a Man with a Pistol 437 The Conversion of a Major 438 Camp-meeting Held all Night 439 TO CONTENTS. A singular Local Preacher Page 439 Gruber's Dislike for Ministerial Canes 441 Gruber Settling a Family Quarrel 441 Gruber and the Young Lawyer 442 Gruber Refuting a Proverb 443 Gruber and the Quaker 443 Gruber's Prayer for King George — His Views of the Horrors of War .-. 445 Gruber's Prayer for a Minister 446 Gruber's Horse Immersed 447 Gruber's Sermon at St. George's, Philadelphia 447 Gruber and the Young Preacher 449 Gruber and his Hostess 450 Gruber and the Dandy Preacher 450 Gruber Catching a Tadpole 452 Gruber seating the People at Camp-meetings 452 Gruber requested to Preach " Nice and Fine " 453 Gruber did not Love to Steal 454 Gruber misquoting a Text 455 Gruber and his Left-handed Friends 455 Gruber's Rebuke of Vanity in a Young Preacher 456 Gruber and the Reformers 457 Gruber's Temperance Lecture 459 Gruber and John English 460 Gruber's Description of il Feeble Christians " 462 Gruber's Convert 462 Gruber on Borrowed Phrases 462 Gruber and the "Long Short Dresses" 463 Gruber attending to the Eleventh Commandment 464 Gruber's Last Interview with Bishop Asbury 465 Gruber on High Heads and Enormous Bonnets 465 Gruber's Account of his Circuit when in his Seventieth Year 466 Gruber not Afraid to go Home 467 Lines in Memory of the Rev. Jacob Gruber 468 REV. FRANCIS ASBTJRY. THE HEROES OF METHODISM FRANCIS ASBURY. Though Francis Asbury has slept in the grave nearly forty years, the life of this primitive bishop has not been written. Notwithstanding this, his great name and his noble deeds are embalmed in the hearts of grateful thousands who "rise up and call him blessed." The bishop gave formal direction to the Rev. Henry Boehm, his travelling companion for five years, and one of the executors of his last will and testament, that his life should not be written, and wished him to use his influence to prevent it. It is singular that, although many have attempted it, none have succeeded. It would seem that the bishop's request is to be complied with to the very letter. I never had the pleasure of seeing Bishop Asbury — when he died I was seven years of age. But with his last sur- viving travelling companion, the venerable Henry Boehm, just mentioned, who is now eighty years old, I have spent weeks in reading the journal he kept of their labours and journey- ings, and in writing, as he dictated, an account of the scenes in which they were such prominent actors many years ago. I have travelled with them, in imagination, their annual round from one conference to another, from the cold north to the sunny suuth — from the rock-bound coast of New-England to 14 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. the Mississippi, the father of waters. I have climbed with them the Green Mountains, the Catskill, and the Alle- ghanies. I have crossed with them the rivers east, west, north, and south. I have put up with them in the log- house and in the mansion, till it appears as if I had seen Bishop Asbury, heard him " say grace at the table," offer up "family prayer," heard him preach, seen him ordain, been in his cabinet, and beheld him station the preachers, so graphic and so life-like are the descriptions of the bishop of his preaching, and of the scenes through which they passed together, which father Boehm has given me. Francis Asbury was born in the county of Staffordshire, England, on the 2d of August, 1745. His parents, Joseph and Elizabeth Asbury, were in humble circumstances, deeply pious, and consistent Methodists. They had a daughter, Sarah, who found an early grave, an early heaven ; and this was the means of leading Francis " To give his wanderings o'er By giving Christ his heart." How oft there is much mercy mingled in the cup of sorrow ! Francis being an only son, and the only remaining child, all the hopes of his parents centred in him. He united with the class in 1*763, began to preach when he was sixteen years old, and was twenty-one when he entered the travelling con- nexion. He bade adieu to his parents and the land of his birth, and came to this new world and landed in Philadelphia on the 27th of October, 17*71. He immediately entered upon his work. He began to itinerate at once, and con- tinued to do so till the " Weary wheels of life stood still." He was elected and ordained superintendent or bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church at the Christmas conference held in Baltimore, 1784. After performing an incredible amount of labour, and enduring many privations and hard- ships, travelling thousands of mi-les every year, he died in FRANCIS ASBURY. 15 holy triumph, on the 31st of March, 1816. His faithful travelling companion, Rev. John W. Bond, cheered him as he was passing the valley of the shadow of death, and com- mended his departing spirit to Him who is the "Resur- rection and the Life." It was well the bishop had such a travelling companion as brother Bond. What a staff on which the venerable feeble old man could lean ! what a protector in the hour of danger ! what a support in the hour of weakness ! Happy privilege for the old Methodist patriarch to be thus comforted in the evening of life ! Happy privilege, too, for brother Bond to be with the dying Asbury as his sun was descending low, and to see the " twilight of his evening melt away into the twilight of the morning of an eternal day !'' He accompanied the bishop down to Jordan's cold flood, comforted him as the earthly house of his tabernacle was dissolving, supporting his languishing head till his throbbing temples ceased to beat, and angels whispered " Sister spirit, come away." Bishop Asbury, though dead, yet lives, not only in the memory and affections of grateful thousands, but in a higher and loftier sense, "in the upper, and better, and brighter world, of which the stars and the sunlight are the faint and the distant emblems." " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that have turned many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." The following beautiful tribute to Asbury is from a sermon, preached by the Rev. John Scott, president of the British Conference, on the first Sabbath in August, 1852, "showing that Methodism has sought to reproduce the moral trans- formations of apostolic times, and has succeeded :" — " There is no man whose character and career will furnish a more striking illustration of our position than that of Fran- cis Asbury : and yet we look in vain for any acknowledgment of the Bervicea he performed— services equally laborious, and 16 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. of vastly greater importance than any military or political leader — or even the mention of his name by any popular his- torian of the United States. But the time will come when posterity will acknowledge its indebtedness to him, and jus- tice be done to his memory. " Asbury seems to have been specially fitted by the hand of Providence for the work assigned him in this new country. He was not what is called a genius, but he possessed qualifi- cations far superior to this. Though he had none of that splendour of intellect which would dazzle or be supremely attractive, yet he had those peculiar dispositions — that mor- ally sublime motive, connected with that indomitable perse- verance which ever prevented him from being discouraged, and would have made him great in any sphere of action. In the whole history of the Church of Christ we could find no better model of a Christian bishop than the noble man to whom we now refer. Impelled by a zeal which was the ' pure flame of love ' to leave his own country and friends, know- ingly to encounter perils both by sea and land, and if these were escaped, to endure privations and hardships which would have sunk at once a common spirit, for forty and five years he did not cease to thread the mazes of the American wilder- ness — now finding a resting place for a night in the log-cabin of the new settler, and then beneath the ' leaves of the green- wood bower.' " His labours were not confined to the Atlantic cities or older settlements of the new continent, where he would have met with those comforts he had enjoyed at the parental home in the land of his birth ; but there was no part of the work which did not equally claim his personal superintendence. He was 'in labours more abundant 1 than even Wesley him- self. How much Methodism on the continent of North America is indebted to him we cannot now determine. We may in some degree know and feel how cheering the success was, as to the result of those labours, when we reflect that on his arrival there were only six hundred members ; but ere he FRANCIS ASBURY. If ceased to labour there were no less than two hundred and twelve thousand enjoying the blessings of Christian fellow- ship. The name of Asbury must ever be remembered with peculiar delight, whenever we refer to the history of Method- ism on this continent. Doubtless before this many among the blood-washed throng have recognised him as the instru- ment of their conversion, when they have met before our heavenly Father's throne." Bishop Asbury is thus estimated by Rev. Thomas Ware : " Among the early pioneers of Methodism, by common con- sent Asbury stood first and chief. There was something in his person, his eye, his mien, and in the music of his voice, which interested all who saw and heard him. He possessed much natural wit, and was capable of the severest satire ; but grace and good sense so far predominated that he never de- scended to anything beneath the dignity of a man and a Christian minister. In prayer he excelled. Had he been equally eloquent in preaching, he would have excited universal admiration as a pulpit orator. But, when he was heard for the first time, the power and unction with which he prayed would naturally so raise the expectation of his auditors that they were liable to be disappointed with his preaching ; for, although he always preached well, in his sermons he seldom, if ever, reached that high and comprehensive flow of thought and expression — that expansive and appropriate diction — which always characterized his prayers. This may be ac- counted for, in part at least, from the fact stated by the late Rev. Freeborn Garrettson in preaching his funeral sermon : ' He prayed the best, and he prayed the most of any man I ever knew. His long-continued rides prevented his preach- ing as often as some others ; but he could find a throne of grace, if not a congregation, upon the road.' ' The following portraiture of Bishop Asbury was sketched and drawn by the masterly hand of the Rev. Joshua Mars- den, and no doubt it is a correct picture of the old Christian hero, as he appeared many years since. Tt is no fancy sketch 18 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. — no picture of the imagination — but a true copy of the original. Mr. Marsden was in this country two years during the war of 1812. When he returned to England he wrote this sketch of Asbury, and the reader will no doubt peruse it with pleasure. It is taken from the notes to a poem, entitled "The Conference; or, Sketches of Wesleyan Method- ism," published in London in 1815 : — " Bishop Asbury was one of those very few men whom nature forms in no ordinary mould. Although possessed of little literature, his mind was stamped with a certain great- ness and originality which lifted him far above the merely learned man, and fitted him to be great without science, and venerable without titles. His knowledge of men was profound and penetrating ; hence, he looked into characters as one looks into a clear stream in order to discover the bottom : yet he did not use this penetration to compass any unworthy pur- poses ; the policy of knowing men, in order to make the most of them, was a littleness to which he never stooped. He had only one end in view, and that was worthy the dignity of an angel ; from this nothing ever warped him aside. He seemed conscious that God had designed him for a great w y ork, and nothing was wanting on his part to fulfil the intention of Prov- idence. The niche was cut in the great temple of usefulness, and he stretched himself to fill it up in all its dimensions. To him, the widest career of labour and duty presented no obstacle. Like a moral Caesar, he thought nothing done while anything remained to clo. His penetrating eye meas- ured the ground over which he intended to sow the seeds of eternal life, while his courageous and active mind cheerfully embraced all the difficulties grafted upon his labours. He worshipped no God of the name of Terminus, but stretched his ' line of things' far beyond the bounds of ordinary minds. An annual journey of six thousand miles, through a wilder- ness country, (the best roads of which require patience and caution, and the worst set description at defiance,) would have sunk a feebler mind into despondency ; but neither FRAXCIS ASBURY. 19 roads, weather, nor accommodations retarded his progress, nor once moved him from the line of duty. He pursued the most difficult and laborious course as most men do their pleasures ; and although for many years he was enfeebled by sickness, and worn with age and infirmity, two hundred thou- sand persons saw with astonishment the hoary veteran still ' standing in his lot,' or ' pressing along his vast line' of duty with undiminished zeal. " He knew nothing about pleasing the flesh at the expense of duty ; flesh and blood were enemies with whom he never took counsel : he took a high standing upon the rugged Alps of labour, and to all that lagged behind he said, ' Come up hither.' He was a rigid enemy to ease — hence the pleasures of study and the charms of recreation he alike sacrificed to the more sublime work of saving souls. His faith was a con- stant ' evidence of things not seen,' for he lived as a man totally blind to all worldly attractions. " He had his stated hours of retirement and prayer, upon which he let neither business nor company break in. Prayer was the seasoning of all his avocations : he never suffered the cloth to be removed from the table until he had kneeled down to address the Almighty ; it was the preface to all busi- ness, and often the link that connected opposite duties, and the conclusion of whatever he took in hand. Divine wisdom seemed to direct all his undertakings, for he sought its coun- sel upon all occasions ; no part of his conduct was the result of accident; the plan by which he transacted all his affairs was as regular as the movements of a timepiece ; hence he had no idle moments, no fragments of time broken and scat- tered up and down ; no cause to say with Titus, ' My friends, I have lost a day.' Pleading with God in secret, settling the various affairs of the body over which he presided, or speak- ing 'to men for their edification' in the pulpit, occupied all his time. " As a preacher, although not an orator, he was dignified eloquent, and impressive. His sermons were the result of 20 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. good sense and sound wisdom, delivered with great authority and gravity, and often attended with a divine unction which made them refreshing as the dew of heaven. One of the last subjects I heard him preach upon was union and brotherly love ; it was the greatest I ever recollect to have heard upon that subject. " His chief excellence, however, lay in governing. For this, perhaps, no man was better qualified. He presided with dignity, moderation, and firmness, over a large body of men, all of whom are as tenacious of liberty and equal rights as most men in the world ; and yet each submitted to an au- thority that grew out of his labours — an authority founded upon reason, maintained with inflexible integrity, and exer- cised only for the good of the whole. A man of less energy would have given uj) the reins ; and one of less wisdom, pru dence, and moderation would have committed the same error as Phaeton, and the whole system would have been con- fused and distracted : but Mr. Asbury managed the vast economy with singular ability ; his eye was keen, his hand was steady, and his ' moderation was known to all men.' " In his appearance he was a picture of plainness and sim- plicity, bordering upon the costume of the Friends. The reader may figure to himself an old man, spare and tall, but remarkably clean, with a plain frock coat, drab or mixture, waistcoat and small-clothes of the same kind, a neat stock, a large broad-brimmed hat, with an uncommonly low crown ; while his white locks, venerable with age, added to his ap- pearance a simplicity it is not easy to describe. His counte- nance had a cast of severity ; but this was probably owing to his habitual gravity and seriousness. His look was re- markably penetrating ; in a word, I never recollect to have seen a man of a more grave, venerable, and dignified ap- pearance." Bishop Asbury was distinguished for his moral heroism. He was a man of heroic courage, heroic fortitude, and heroic FRANCIS ASBURY 21 deeds. There was much of Christian chivalry about him. He was " valiant for the truth " — " Bold to take up, firm to sustain The consecrated cross." " God had not given him the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." He was the Joshua of our Methodist Israel, leading them on to glory and to triumph. $twt&0t*s oft lUtt3Str»ti0ns. BISHOP ASBURY'S MANNER. Rev. Abner Chase, in his "Recollections of the Past," a little work full of historic incident, gives us the following de- scription of Bishop Asbury as a man and as a superintend- ent : — " He was certainly, in several respects, a very extra- ordinary man ; and had I the ability to do so, I would with pleasure delineate his character, and the more readily as I think too little has been said and written of the zeal, labours, and sufferings of this apostolic man. He commanded a respect and veneration which no superintendent of our Church at the present day can reasonably expect to receive ; for though our present bishops may be worthy of honour, and, perhaps, ' double honour,' as ' ruling well,' yet they are but brethren, while Asbury had a claim to the title and rela- tion of father, which no other man in our Church had or can have. I do not mean to say that he stood upon or urged this claim, but that it was voluntarily rendered to him by most of those who were capable of discerning his character." The Rev. Dr. Bond was well acquainted with Bishop 22 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. Asbury, and has given me many graphic accounts of his person and manners. He said there never was a person on earth he was so afraid of as the bishop. There was an air of sternness about him that forbade any one approaching too near. His brother, John W. Bond, the travelling companion of Asbury, generally rode behind the bishop a short dis- tance. There was no approaching him with any degree of familiarity until he was in a certain frame of mind. You must wait his time ; but when he was in the humour, you could approach him with perfect ease, and there would be with him the utmost simplicity and familiarity. He could be one of the most communicative of men, and for hours would entertain you with pleasing and amusing anecdotes. The bishop would appear often to be lost in thought as he was riding along. He was either studying his sermons, or planning the work in his vast field of labour. At such times there was nothing to be said to him. All at once his countenance and manner would change. He would beckon or call his friend to come up and ride beside him, and enter into the most free and familiar conversation. Father Boehm gives a similar account of the bishop's manner. BISHOP ASBURY COULD READ MEN. Dr. Bond says, " There was not only a sternness of manner that would forbid a person's approaching him with too much freedom, but he appeared when he looked at you, when he lowered his dark, heavy eyebrows, as if he could read you — as if he understood your thoughts, and the motives that prompted you to action — as if you were transparent, and he could look through you ; or as if you had a window in your bosom, and he could see what was there. Bishop Asbury had the best knowledge of men of any person I ever knew. FRANCIS ASBURY. 23 " "When the bishop made an appointment, it remained unalterable. The preachers and people understood that what was done teas done. The bishop generally, at the close of a conference, had his horse at the door, and the moment he had read the appointments and pronounced the benedic- tion he mounted his beast and left immediately, not inform- ing them where he was going. In this way he avoided importunity. As he could not be found, none could urge him to change their appointments." Bishop Waugh has told me that "it was true Bishop Asbury was a great observer of men — he read them." Mr. Waugh being secretary to the Baltimore Conference, sat near the bishop, and observed his habits. During con- ference he sat with his eyes nearly closed, and persons would suppose he was not observing what was going on ; but all the time he was studying character — reading men. The bishop once spoke to Mr. Waugh of a certain man in the conference who was so young in the ministry Mr. Waugh supposed the bishop had not noticed him. Said he, " Brother J. H. never speaks in conference, but I think no less of him for that." Mr. Waugh said the bishop would write down on the margin of the minutes the character given to each preacher by his presiding elder, that he might have a correct knowl- edge of their talents, so that when he came to station them he would know where to place them. BISHOP ASBURY AS A PREACHER. Dr. Bond informs me that he often heard the bishop preach. His sermons were not in general logically arranged, but more in the form of an exhortation. But when the bishop was roused, and warmed with his subject, he was sublime; moving and melting all who heard him. On such occa- sions he was a thunderstorm, a tornado, carrying every- thing before him. However, this was only occasionally. 24 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. The doctor heard him preach before the Baltimore Con- ference many years ago, and after the bishop had con- cluded his sermon, he said to the Rev. Joshua Wells, "What was the bishop at? I could not understand him." With a significant look, Mr. Wells replied, " We understood him." The sermon was exclusively to preachers, in reference to the important duties of their sacred office. The bishop designed to be understood, and the preachers did understand him. Rev. Henry Boehm said to me, "I have heard Bishop Asbury preach more than five hundred times, and never heard him without pleasure and profit. There was no tedious sameness, but a freshness and a variety in his sermons. He was not always methodical in his arrangements; he never named his division ; he did not write his sermons, nor any part of them in his latter days; but he was a very able divine ; his sermons were grave, and clear, and deep. In family lectures he excelled. FRANCIS AND HIS MOTHER. I give the following in Bishop Asbury's own words : — " My mother used to take me with her to a female meeting, which she conducted once a fortnight, for the purpose of reading the Scriptures, and giving out hymns. After I had been thus employed as a clerk for some time, the good sisters thought Frank might venture a word of exhortation. So, after reading, I would venture to expound and paraphrase a little on the portion read. Thus began my Gospel efforts, when a lad of sixteen or seventeen ; and now I would rather have a section or chapter for a text than a single verse, or part of a verse. When the society called me forth from obscurity my performance in public sur- passed all expectation. But they knew not that the stripling had been exercising his gifts in his mother's female prayer- meeting." FRANCIS ASBURY. 25 BISHOP ASBURY'S MANNER OF READING THE BIBLE. " I have thought that the good bishop was the best reader of the Holy Bible I ever heard. His voice was a deep-toned bass, without a jar. It appeared to me that he laid the accent on every word, and the emphasis on every sentence, just where the Holy Spirit intended they should be. I once saw him call up a class of the senior preachers in con- ference, like a class in school, and give them a chapter to read in course. (One of them told me afterward that he would rather have been called on to preach before five thousand people.) He said it was a shame, if not a sin, for a minister to read the Scriptures in a kind of whisper, or dull, monotonous tone, either in families or congregations." — James Quinn. BISHOP ASBURY'S ILLUSTRATIONS. In preaching, Mr. Asbury followed the example of the great Teacher, who used the most familiar things with which to make his subjects plain. Jesus illustrated his subjects by "the supper," "the net," "the tree," "the hen," "the lily," "the hair," "the seed," "the sparrow." This was one rea- son the " common people heard him gladly :" they could understand him. Mr. Asbury pursued the same course, and so will any "well-instructed scribe." Dr. Thomas E. Bond informs me that he heard Bishop Asbury preach in Baltimore in 1808 on brotherly love. He quoted this : " Brethren, be not children in understanding : howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men." He illustrated it in the most simple manner. Said he, "Brethren, recently I have been at the West, and where I have put up I have noticed many children. I have seen them sit down and eat bread and milk, or pudding and milk, out of the same dish, with different 26 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. spoons ; sometimes they would differ a little ; one would be afraid the other would eat the fastest and get the most; they would sometimes hit one another's hands with the spoon. But I have noticed after a little while each has a full supply — each satisfied, they are as good friends as ever, for- getting the little difficulties they had — the little rap with the spoon. It is all forgotten, and they play together as if nothing had ever occurred — ' in malice they were children.'" Then he would call upon his brethren to imitate them : " You may have your little difficulties for a moment, but in malice be ye children." BISHOP ASBURY ON TEMPTATION. The bishop was once discoursing on this subject, that has perplexed so many. There are those who suffer because they think temptation is a sin, and they think they are not Chris- tians or they would never be tempted. If temptation is a sin, then Jesus sinned, for he " was tempted in all points as we are ;" " and yet," adds the apostle, " without sin." If he could be tempted without sin, so can his followers. Mr. Asbury, in illustrating the point that temptation is not a sin unless yielded to, said, " We cannot prevent the birds flying over our heads, but we can prevent their making a nest in our hair," — a striking illustration, showing that temptation is involuntary, but the yielding to it voluntary ; that the first is innocent, while the latter involves guilt. BISHOP ASBURY ON" THE BEST SITE FOR A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. Methodism lost much in early days by erecting church edifices in by-places. Many of the first houses of worship were difficult of access. Some benevolent man would give us a site, the ground so poor you could not raise mullin- stalks, and we would thank him and erect a house FRANCIS ASBURY. 27 upon it, where the people would be sure not to find it. Perhaps the donor's object might be pure benevolence — or to keep the Methodists out of the village. Other denom- inations know better, and have pursued a wiser course. Look at the site of the Episcopal churches. How prominent — not in lanes or by-streets, but the most public places. So with the Roman Catholics. They do not build in a hurry; if they canuot secure a good site immediately they wait till they can. Mr. Asbury saw this evil ; and in speaking of the best site for a church, said he, "I tell you what it is — if we wish to catch fish roe must go where they are, or where they will be likely to come. We had better pay quite a sum of money for a site in some central position in a city, town, or village, than have them give us half a dozen lots for nothing in some by-street or lane. We should be gainers by refusing the latter and securing the former." Most heartily I rejoice that a brighter day begins to dawn upon us. We have learned to take the advice of Asbury : " If we want to catch fish we must go where they are, or where they will be likely to come." BISHOP ASBURY'S ADVICE TO YOUNG PREACHERS. " We once heard Bishop Asbury say to a class of young candidates for orders, ' When you go into the pulpit, go from your closets. Leave all your vain speculations and meta- physical reasonings behind. Take with you your hearts full of fresh spring-water from heaven, and preach Christ crucified and the resurrection, and that will conquer the world.'" — J. B. Finley, BISHOP ASBURY'S PUNCTUALITY. It is well known to those who recollect Bishop Asbury that he was remarkable for his precision, punctuality, and method. He never so far forgot himself as to offer frivolous excuses 28 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. for delinquency. " Do everything at the time," was a rule he most scrupulously observed. In 1803 Bishop Asbury was in New- York. An appoint- ment to preach at eight o'clock in the evening was made for him in the house in Methodist-Alley. The bishop was there precisely at the time, and ready to begin ; but it was half- past eight before the house was lighted and the people as- sembled. He began the meeting, as usual, by singing and prayer. He then named his text, finished his introduction, and was upon the first general division of his discourse when the clock struck nine. He paused a moment, closed his Bible, and made the following observations : " The meeting was appointed at eight o'clock : I was here at the time, and ready to begin ; but the preachers were not here, nor the people. It is now time to dismiss." He then prayed and pronounced the benediction. BISHOP ASBURY'S LOVE FOR THE ITINERANCY. An earthly Eden, a domestic Paradise, would have had no charms for him : a splendid mansion, surrounded by shrubbery the most beautiful — trees, with their rich foliage, and branches filled with the songsters of heaven, making the air reverberate with melody — would have been no temptation to him to settle down. The itinerancy was "the element in which he lived, and moved, and had his being." During the Revolutionary war, when he was obliged to re- main concealed at the house of his friend, Thomas White, Esq., in Delaware, he was as unhappy as a bird confined to its cage ; but when the period arrived that he could again ride his hard, large circuit he felt like a prisoner set free, and with joy again entered upon his work, " going to and fro," while " knowledge was increased." He was at a certain time in Lynn, Massachusetts, at the hospitable mansion of Mr. Johnson, where he had all that heart could desire to make him comfortable and happy. The FRANCIS ASBURY. 29 family were all attention to their distinguished guest ; but he was not at home. If the mariner sings "My home is on the deep," the bishop could sing " My home is when I'm travelling." In the dwelling of Mr. Johnson he grew weary in a few days, and exclaimed, " To move, move, seems to be my life. I now lament that I did not set off with the young men to the province of Maine." BISHOP ASBTJRY'S REGARD FOR CHILDREN". The bishop made himself the friend of children wherever he went. When he entered a family he would pay special attention to them, and secure their affections. They would always be glad to see him. A little boy saw him coming toward the house : he ran to his mother, and said, " I wish I had my clean clothes on, for I know when Father Asbury comes in he will hug me up." BISHOP ASBURY AND PUNCH. In the year 1 788, as Bishop Asbury was on his way to the city of Charleston, S. C, in passing through the parish of St 's, he chanced to fall in with a coloured man belonging to Col. W., whose name was Punch. When the bishop drove up the negro was sitting on the bank of a creek, fishing, and care- lessly whistling a jig tune. Punch's character had been bad ; he was wholly irreligious — probably not knowing what the word religion meant. The bishop stopped his horse when he reached the coloured man, and entered into conversation with him. His first question was, " Punch, do you ever pray?" To this the reply was, "No, sir." With that the bishop alighted, secured his horse, and seated himself be- side Punch, who was by this time considerably alarmed, and 30 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. commenced speaking kindly and earnestly to him on the subject of his soul's salvation. He told him of the dangers of sin, of the shortness of life, and of the dreadful day of judg- ment; pointing out to him, in a few words, the Gospel way of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, and entreated him to repent, and call upon God for mercy. By this time Punch was greatly affected, and tears had began to roll down his swarthy cheeks. The bishop then sung several verses of that beautiful hymn commencing with these words: — "Plunged in a gulf of dark despair," &c. He then prayed with Punch, bade him an affectionate farewell, and saw and heard no more of him for twenty or twenty-five years. After this time Punch obtained leave to visit the bishop ; aud came sixty or seventy miles on foot, to Charleston, during Bishop Asbury's last visit to that city. What a meeting that must have been ! But to resume the thread of our narrative. After the bishop left him, Punch was filled with a new and soul-stir- ring train of thoughts. He drew up his fishing-line, and set out homeward. The spirit of all grace was at work in the depths of the poor black man's soul ; and to use his own language when afterward relating the scene, " I been tink 'fore I got home Punch be gone to hell." However, he faithfully followed the directions of his spiritual instructor, and gave himself to earnest and continual prayer for the pardon of sins, until, after a few days, he was brought hap- pily to " the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins, through faith in Christ." Blessed economy of Gospel salvation, which reaches, in its adaptions to human nature, the lowest, the farthest gone from light and life : which, by the accompanying energies of spiritual power, renders vital and efficacious the passing words of Christian instruction ! No man could be expected to keep all these things con- cealed in his bosom. Forthwith Punch beofan to talk about FRANCIS ASBURY. 31 the soul, and salvation, and the hope of heaven, to his fel- low-servants. It was a strange tale to them, but not an idle tale. Many became thoughtful about their souls, and resorted frequently to Punch for instruction as to what they should do to be saved. The little leaven worked. One and an- other, praying to God for light and mercy, was brought to know Christ in the manifestation of the spirit ; the circle widened, until crowds would gather around the cabin doors of Punch for religious conversation and prayers. All this, of course, could not pass without the notice of the overseer, who felt himself called on to put down " this way." Being thus restricted, Punch could only speak privately, and in his own house, to a few friends who were awakened to the interest of their souls. One night he heard the overseer call him. As a few had met in his house for prayer, he went out anticipating rough con- sequences ; but to his astonishment he found the overseer prostrate on the ground, crying to God for mercy on his soul. " Punch," said he, " will you pray for me ?" Punch did so ; and, as he used to relate the circumstance afterward, he said : " I cry, I pray, I shout, I beg de Lord hear. Presently de oberseer he rise ; he throw he arms around me ; he tank God, and den he tank Punch !" This overseer shortly after joined the Church, became an exhorter, and after some time a preacher ! Thus the way of this faithful negro was opened to more extensive usefulness among his fellows, and for several years he continued as he had begun, exhorting and encour- aging all around him to serve God. After some years his master died. In the settlement of the estate Punch passed to Colonel A., of the parish of A. Thus he was thrown into a new field, and into it he carried the same " blame- less walk and conversation," and the same desire to do good to the souls of his fellow-servants. In 1836, at the special solicitation of planters of that particular section of country, a missionary was sent to their plantations from the South 32 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. Carolina Conference. The writer of this article was honoured with the appointment. On my reaching the plantation where Punch lived, I found between two and three hundred persons under his supervision whom he had gathered into a kind of society; many of whom, upon further acquaintance, I found truly pious and consistent. I was much interested on my first visit to the old veteran. Just before I reached his house I met a herdsman, and asked him if there was any preacher on the plantation. " O yes, Massa ; de old bushup lib here !" Said I, " Is he a good preacher ?" " O yes," was the reply ; " he word burn we heart !" He showed me the house. I knocked at the door, and heard approaching footsteps, and the sound of a cane upon the floor. The door opened, and I saw before me, leaning on a staff, a hoary-headed black man, with palsied limbs but a smiling face. He looked at me a moment in silence ; then, raising his hands and eyes to heaven, he said, " Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation !" I was confused. He asked me to take a seat, and I found in the following remarks the reason of his exclamation. Said he, " I have many children in this place. I have felt for some time past that my end was nigh. I have looked around to see who might take my place when I am gone. I could find none. I felt unwilling to die and leave them so, and have been praying to God to send some one to take care of them. The Lord has sent you, my child ; I am ready to go." Tears coursed freely down his time-shrivelled, yet smiling face. I was overwhelmed. This interview gave me much encouragement. He had heard of the application for a missionary, and only wanted to live long enough to see his face. After this I had several interviews with him, from which I learned his early history. I always found him contented and happy. In the lapse of a short time afterward he was taken ill, and FRANCIS ASBURY. 33 lingered a few days. On Sabbath morning be told me he should die that day. He addressed affecting words to tbe people who crowded around his dying bed. Tbe burden of his remarks — the theme of his soul — was, "Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." lie applied tbese words to himself, and continued his address to the last moment ; and death gently stole his spirit away while saying, " Let thy servant depart in peace — let— let— le !" * His mistress sent for me to preach his funeral sermon. The corpse was decently shrouded, and the coffin was car- ried to the house of worship. I looked upon the face of the cold clay : the departed spirit had left the impress of Heaven upon it. Could I be at a loss for a text ? I read out of the Gospel, " Xow, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." What a field for reflection does this account open before the mind ! How all-comprising, world-redeeming, are the energies of Gospel grace. Here was a poor, unlettered, outcast negro, of bad character, dug out of the ruins of sin, — washed, redeemed, disenthralled, made respectable; — made an instrument of good to hundreds — is it saying too much, looking to remote consequences, to add — thousands ? and at last, gathering up his feet in peaceful death, carried from the low condition of a rice-field slave by angels into Abraham's bosom ! Is any achievement in the world too difficult for such a Gospel ? Again : what a lesson does this whole history afford to Asbury's sons ! Calumny has attempted to blacken the character of that great and good man. But behold him a true successor of the apostles ! " instant in season and out of season ;" halting on his journey to converse with and pray for an unknown black man; preaching — with what glorious success let the foregoing account attest — Jesus, and him crucified, in the highways and hedges! What a glorious harvest sprung up from that handful of seed, dropped casually by the wayside ! 34 THE HEROES OP METHODISM. May we, to whom the providence of God has so signally opened a door to the coloured population of this country, " be instant in season and out of season," ready to improve every occasion of doing good to the souls of our fellow-men, bought with the precious blood of Christ, and on their way to the doom of an eternity ! — Southern Christian Advocate. BISHOP ASBURY AND REV. WILLIAM BURKE. In 1792, at the Western Conference, after the examination of the character of William Burke, and before he retired, Bishop Asbury said, " Brother Burke has accomplished two important things during the past year — he has defeated the O'Kelleyites, and has married a wife." Mr. Burke was the first preacher who travelled in the West after marrying, for to marry and to locate were then synonymous. No provision at this time was made for the support of preachers' wives, and therefore there was poor encouragement for preachers to marry, and still poorer en- couragement for any one to be united in matrimony to the preachers. BISHOP ASBURY AND PRIMITIVE METHODIST SIMPLICITY. The bishop was anxious that the Methodists should " walk by the same rule, and mind the same thing." He was jealous of every departure from primitive simplicity, there- fore he would frequently call their attention to the "old land-marks." " Shortly after the new church was opened in Eutaw-street, Baltimore, Bishop Asbury preached a plain, close sermon in said church. It was his first sermon in the new edifice. His text was, ' Seeing, then, that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.' The discourse was plain and powerful. He expressed a fear that the Baltimoreans were departing from the simplicity of the Gospel ; he reproved FRANCIS ASBURY. 35 them in the spirit of a father, and raised his voice and cried aloud, ' Come hack ! come back ! come back !' raising his voice higher at every repetition. His looks are still imprinted on my mind, and the solemn words, ' Come back! come back ! come back !' still seem to sound in my ears. There, under that pulpit, rest in peace the ashes of the good old bishop. " If he were to start into life again, and take that pulpit, would he not have cause to repeat the cry, ' Come back !' still louder? But it is not likely that those who will not hear Jesus and his apostles would be persuaded though Asbury rose from the dead !" — Rev. Henry Smith. BISHOP ASBURY AMONG THE LOG-CABINS AND IN THE QUARTERLY CONFERENCE. The following beautiful reminiscences of the venerated As- bury are from the pen of the late James Quran, and were inserted in his Life by Rev. J. F. Wright. Mr. Quinn enti- tled the chapter, " Bishop Asbury among the Log-Cabins." " I once had the pleasure of accompanying Bishop Asbury ten days on one of his western tours through the then infant state of Ohio, in the days of log-cabins ; and they were not such unsightly things, if coon and wild-cat skins were hang- ing round the walls, and deer-horns strewed over the roof, and wild turkeys' wings sticking about in the cracks ; for they were, with few exceptions, the best dwellings in the land. Well, in many of these we met a smiling welcome, and were most hospitably entertained, and the good bishop always made himself pleasant and cheerful with the families, so that they soon forgot all embarrassment, and appeared as easy in their feelings as if they had received the bishop into ceiled and carpetted parlours, as some of them had in the old states. Some of them were very neat and clean, and fitted up in good taste, which showed that if madam could not play on the pianoforte she had taken lessons from Israel's wise king, and knew well how to look to the affairs of her house if it 36 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. was a cabin. It must be confessed, however, that all were not so ; for it was our sad lot to fall in with one or two that were miserably filthy, and fearfully infested with vermin. This was a heavy tax on the feelings of the poor bishop ; for he had as fair, and as clear, and thin a skin as ever came from England, and in him the sense of smelling and tasting were most exquisite. But, dear souls, they were as kind as you please, and the bishop did not hurt their feelings, but prayed for them, and talked kindly to them. Many of them have got better houses since that time, have made good im- provements, and their daughters have come out quite polished. But we got to quarterly meeting, for he was passing my dis- trict, and a most blessed season we had : sinners awakened, souls converted, believers quickened, backsliders reclaimed. O, the Master of assemblies was with us of a truth ! Quar- terly-meeting conference came on. ' Well, Mr. Asbury, you will attend with us and preside V ' No, son,' was the reply, ' let every man stand in his lot and do his part of the work ; when you shall have got through your business let me know, and I will come and see you.' So we went to business pretty expeditiously, expecting an address from the bishop. We had no long, tough speeches, and those repeated ; but went through, and brought our business to a close in due time, and sent a messenger to inform him that we were ready to receive him. He came, took the chair, and after a short pause commenced taking notice of the infancy of the state, the infancy of the Church, the toils and privations, the trials and temptations peculiar to such a state of things, and the great necessity of watchfulness and prayer, and diligent attendance on the means of grace, both public and private. He spoke of his own toils, cares, and anxieties with some emotion — of the great and glorious extension and spread of the work of God in the east and south, also in the west and and south-west, both among the Methodists and other Chris- tian people. He spoke with much feeling. ' But the quar- terly conference — the importance of this branch of our eccle- FRANCIS ASBURY. Si siastical economy — " to hear complaints, to receive and try appeals," and thus guard the rights and privileges of the membership against injury from an incorrect administration; to trv, and even expel, preachers, deacons, and elders ; to examine, license, and recommend to office in the local de- partment; to recommend for admission into the travelling connexion persons as possessing grace, gifts, and usefulness for the great and important work of the Gospel ministry ; surely you will see and feel the highly responsible station which you fill as members of this body. We send you our sons in the Gospel to minister to you the word of life, and watch over your souls as they that must give account. That they may become men, men of God and even fathers among you, help them in their great work ; and that you may help them understandingly, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest your excellent Discipline : it is plain, simple, and Scriptural. It is true, speculative minds may find or make difficulties where there are none. [I am not ashamed to confess that I learned something: during; this lecture that I thought well worth taking care of.] But a few words about your man- ner of living at the present. You are now in your log- cabins, aud busily engaged in clearing out your lands. Well, think nothing of this. I have been a man of cabins for these many years, and I have been lodged in many a cabin as clean and sweet as a palace; and I have slept on many coarse, hard beds, which have been as clean and as sweet as water and soap could make them, and not a flea nor a bug to annoy. [Here I had to hang my head. Dear old gen- tleman, he had not forgotten the night when he could get no sleep.] Keep,' said the bishop, ' the whiskey-bottle out of your cabins, away far from your premises. Never fail in the offering up of the morning and evening sacrifice with your families. Keep your cabins clean, for your healths' sake and for your souls' sake, [put this to your wives and daughters;] for there is no religion in dirt, and filth, and fleas. But,' said he, 'of this no more. If you do not 447 " He preached at ten o'clock, and requested me to close, and publish that he would preach again in five minutes. After preaching twice, he returned to brother Miller's and dined. After dinner we rode twelve miles to St. Albans, in Vermont, and preached in the evening on, ' For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.' Titus ii, 11, 12." LEE'S EASE OF MANNER. "Monday morning he took his departure for New- York. I gave him directions where to call and get his dinner. When he arrived at the house, and asked if such a man lived there, the reply was that he did. Jesse said, that 'brother Van- directed him to call and get his dinner, and his horses 254 THE HEEOES OF METHODISM. fed. Will you do it?' 'Yes, sir; please alight,' was the reply. When he reached the city he was asked how he lived among the poor in the new country ; he replied, ' On the very best the people had to give.' " — Peter Vannest. LEE AND HIS HOST. Mr. Stroud ofVirginia related the following anecdote of Rev. Jesse Lee : After preaching he invited Mr. Lee to go home with him. When they arrived at the house Mr. Lee inquired, Brother Stroud, what have you to drink ? He replied, "I have Ap- ple-Jack, I have Jamaica Spirits, I have Holland Gin, and wines, brother Lee ; which do you prefer 1" " Neither," said Mr. Lee. " I have not touched any liquors in twenty years." This was about the year 1800, over fifty years ago. We see from this, that he was a staunch tee-totaler more than half a century ago ; that he practised as well as preached it. This was long before the Temperance reformation. What was his object in asking this question ? To ascertain if the brother used spirituous liquors, that he might introduce his own example in opposition. It had the desired effect upon the brother. Afterward he was careful not to be able to tell a minister he had a variety of liquors in his house. — Gabriel P. Disosway. LEE LETTING A FELLOW " GO FOR SLIPPANCE." On one occasion when he was commencing divine service, he perceived the gentlemen intermixed with the ladies, and oc- cupying seats appropriated to them. Supposing they were ignorant of the rule on that subject, he stated it, requesting the gentlemen to take seats on their own side of the house. All but a few complied with the request. It was again JESSE LEE. 255 repeated, and all but one left. He stood his ground as if de- termined not to yield. Again the rule was repeated, and the request followed it. But no disposition to retire was indi- cated. Leaning down upon the desk, and fixing his pene- trating eye upon the offender for a moment, and raising himself erect, and looking with a peculiar smile over the con- gregation, he drawled out : '"Well, brethren, I asked the gen- tlemen to retire from those seats, and they did so. But it seems that man is determined not to move. We must, therefore, serve him as the little boys say, when a marble slips from their fingers — let him ' go for slip>pance? " To say he slipped out of the house, is only to describe the fact in language borrowed from the figure by which the re- buke was conveyed. LEE WAKING UP A CONGREGATION. At another time, while engaged in preaching, he was not a little mortified to discover many of the congregation taking rest in sleep, and not a little annoyed by the loud talking of the people in the yard. Pausing long enough for the ab- sence of the sound to startle the sleepers, he raised his voice, and cried out, "I'll thank the people in the yard not to talk so loud ; they '11 wake up the people in the house !" This was "killing two birds with one stone" in a most adroit and effectual manner. LEE'S FITNESS FOR THE EPISCOPACY. Mr. Richard Whatcoat was elected to the episcopal office by a small majority over Mr. Lee, at the General Conference held in Baltimore in 1800. Yet Mr. Lee exhibited the very best spirit under the circumstances. Some time after, some friend referring to the subject of his non-election, pleasantly suggested that he was probably thought to be too full of wit 256 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. and humour for the Episcopacy. His reply was, it would be unnatural to assume the gravity of the office previous to receiving it ; put me in, and I will sustain its dignity. LEE AND OTHER WEIGHTY PREACHERS. There were weighty men in the Baltimore Conference that assembled in Baltimore, May 1st, 1799. Men with weight of years, weight of cares, weight of responsibility, weight of character, weight of talents, weight of influence, as well as physical weight. This is evident from Mr. Lee's Journal. He says, " After we had finished our business in conference, four of the largest preachers among us went to a store and were weighed. My weight was two hundred and fifty-nine pounds ; Seely Bunn's, two hundred and fifty-two ; Thomas Lucas, two hundred and forty-five ; and Thomas F. Sargeant weighed two hundred and twenty ; in all, nine hundred and seventy-six pounds. A ivonderful weight for four Methodist preachers, and all of us travel on horseback." There were giants in those days. I like to see great men with great souls in great bodies. LEE'S PLEASANT RETORT UPON BISHOP ASBURY. At the General Conference in 1812, what is called the " Presiding Elder" question was discussed. Some were for having the presiding elders appointed by the bishop, others for having them elected. Mr. Lee was in favour of the lat- ter, while Bishop Asbury was as decided on the other side. Mr. Asbury, in presiding, would show his opposition by turning his back upon the speakers, and sitting with his back to the conference. Mr. Lee made a strong argumenta- tive speech, and some one who answered him remarked that " no man of common sense would have adduced such argu- ments as Mr. Lee." Mr. Lee replied, " Our brother has said no one of common JESSE LEE. 251 sense would use such arguments. I am, therefore, Mr. Presi- dent, compelled to believe the brother thinks me a man of uncommon sense." "Yes ! yes !" said Bishop Asbury, turning half round in his chair, " yes ! yes ! brother Lee, you are a man of uncommon sense." " Then, sir," said Mr. Lee, quickly and pleasantly, " then I beg that uncommon attention may be paid to -what I say." The bishop again turned his face to the wall, the conference smiling as Mr. Lee proceeded to finish his argument. LEE'S RETORT UPON THE CONGRESSMEN. Mr. Lee having officiated as chaplain to Congress, was return- ing to Virginia in a stage-coach ; and his fellow-passengers were members of Congress on their way home. The road was very bad ; the stage finally stuck fast in a mud-hole, and the horses were unable to draw it out. The passengers were obliged to get out, and walk some distance, after helping the driver to get the coach out of the mud. As they took their seats the weighty chaplain with his two hundred and fifty-nine pounds had not arrived, making slow progress through the mud. When he took his seat one of them asked, " where the chaplain was when they were getting the coach out of the mud?*' They laughed heartily, enjoying the joke at the ex- pense of the parson. This he bore with a very good grace till another said, " It was rather unkind of their chaplain to stay with them when all was quiet and smooth, and then de- sert them as the storm and trial came on." " Ah, gentle- men," said Mr. Lee, " I intended to help you, but some of you swore so hard, I went behind a tree and prayed for you." There was a solemn pause. The remark was so true, and the rebuke so faithful and bold, that they concluded to have no more fun at his expense, and that he should have no cause to reprove them for pro- fanity during the remainder of the homeward journey. 258 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. LEE AND THE COLOURED PREACHER. An amusing circumstance occurred at Lynchburg, Virginia, during the session of the conference in 1808. Lynchburg was not paved, and the streets were so muddy that tbey were almost impassable. Mr. Lee having some business on the opposite side of the street, was exceedingly puzzled to find a place where he could cross in safety. He stood looking up and down to see if there was any better place where he could cross over, but he looked in vain. He stood reasoning with himself, whether he would try to ford the mud nearly knee deep, or give up the object of pursuit. While in this quandary, John Chareston, a large stout negro, a preacher of great acceptability and usefulness, came up. He had been emancipated by that excellent man, Rev. Stith Mead, after which he travelled very extensively, preaching deliverance to the captives. He was a great ad- mirer of Mr. Lee, and came to his assistance on this day of muddy trial in Lynchburg. John proposed removing the difficulties by " toting" Mr. Lee across on his back. Mr. Lee instantly accepted the offer, and got upon the back of his noble friend. Two hundred and fifty-nine pounds of living flesh is no small load ; but John bore it till he reached the middle of the street, where he paused to overcome the attraction of gravitation by trying to elevate his passenger higher upon his shoulders. Large drops of perspiration stood upon his sable cheeks and forehead, and he groaned audibly ; but he reeled on, paused, and dryly asked his rider if he might not sit him down and rest a spell. Gathering up strength for another effort, he pressed on ; but, turning up the corner of his eye until he saw the face of Mr. Lee, he groaned out, " 0, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death ?" Mr. Lee responded, quick as thought, " You do groan, being burdened." Dry land soon appeared, much to the joy of both parties. JESSE LEE. 259 LEE TURNING THE "WORLD UPSIDE DOWN. During the session of the Virginia Conference, held in Newborn, Xorth Carolina, Mr. Lee preached a sermon, which is still remembered and talked of b^the oldest inhabitants. His text was Acts xvii, G : " These that have turned the world upside down, are come hither also." His propositions were singular, original, and well calculated to secure the attention of the multitude that listened to him on that mem- * orable occasion. He showed, 1 . That when God made the world, he placed it right-side up. 2. That by the introduc- tion of sin it had been turned upside down. 3. That it is the business of the ministry to turn it back again to its original position. From these words he taught the whole plan of saving mercy. The propositions were quaint, but the sermon was one of unusual power ; but a singularly visible effect was attributed to it by certain men mighty in works of darkness. The next morning the town, throughout all its parts, pre- sented a laughable spectacle of things " upside down." Car- riages and all kinds of vehicles were bottom up ; boats, drawn from the water, were lying about, keel uppermost; small houses upturned ; signs, boxes, gates, wrong-end fore- most and upside down ; in a word, everything out of fix, and the whole town was one scene of confusion. Some were vexed at the injuries they had sustained, others were put to trouble and inconvenience ; but all seemed to enjoy the joke, especially when the supposed actors insisted that it was all done by the preachers : Did n't the preachers say they were the men "that turned the world upside down?" and had they not come here to put the town "right-side up?" This was giving his sermon a practical application never contemplated by the preacher, and which is still remem- bered by the aged people of Newbern. 260 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. LEE AND THE GENTLEMAN WHO WAS STANDING IN HIS OWN LIGHT. Mr. Lee spent a night at Farmington, Connecticut, with a Mr. Reed. During the day's ride his saddle-girth had broken ; and, in the true Methodist preacher's style of the times, soon after reaching the house, he sat down to repair it. While thus engaged near a window, his host came and stood at his side. Mr. Lee, always seeking to do good, and to turn everything to godly edifying, said, "Mr. Reed, did you ever stand in your own light ?" The gentleman sup- posed he had come between Mr. Lee and the light; and the question was repeated in a grave and deliberate tone of voice. Suddenly perceiving the object of the question, and feeling its force, he replied with great emotion : " Yes, sir, all my life I have been standing in the light of my own peace and happiness." This question, suggested by the employment of the moment, had a powerful effect upon the mind and life of Mr. Reed. It elicited reflection ; and in a short time he made an open profession of religion, lived to adorn the Gospel of God his Saviour, and died in the full assurance of faith. "No wonder," Mr. Lee's nephew and biographer adds, "so strange, to some who find it, are the means of salvation. The instruments, how very weak, the effects how glorious and godlike ! A grain of mustard seed may produce a tree, beneath whose branches the birds of paradise may sing the new song, in strains always new, and always transporting." — Life of Jesse Lee. LEE CRACKING A BONE. Dr. Thomas E. Bond informed me that he heard the Rev. Jesse Lee preach in Baltimore a few years before his death, on "justification by faith," from, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus JESSE LEE. 261 Christ." He commenced with, " And what is the old fellow going to do with that old bone, which has had the meat all picked off many years ago ? I '11 tell you," said he, "what he is going to do with it. He is going to crack the bone, and give you the marrow." This quaint manner secured their attention at once, while he gave a clear exposition of that " wholesome doctrine," which is so " full of comfort," and which honours God, humbles man, and places the crown upon the Redeemer's brow. LEE AND THE ANGRY GENERAL. Some few years since a nephew of Mr. Lee, engaged in some business transaction in a store in Petersburgh, Virginia, and being addressed as Mr. Lee, attracted the attention of an aged gentleman, General P., at the same time in the store, who immediately accosted him, and asked if he was a kinsman of the Rev. Jesse Lee. On being informed that he was a nephew, the old general said he had long desired to see some member of the old minister's family, in order to communicate a circumstance that once occurred between himself and Mr. Lee. On being told that it would afford 'him pleasure to hear anything concerning his venerable relative, the old general proceeded to relate in substance the following narrative : " When I was a young man, I went to hear Mr. Lee preach at meeting-house. There was a very large crowd in attendance, and a great many could not get in the house. Among others I got near the door, and, being fond of frolic, I indulged in some indiscretion, for which Mr. Lee mildly but plainly reproved me. In an instant all the bad feelings of my heart were roused. I was deeply in- sulted, and felt that my whole family was disgraced. I retired from the crowd to brood over the insult, and meditate re- venge. It was not long before I resolved to whip him before he left the ground. I kept the resolution to myself, and watched, with eager intensity of resentment, the opportunity 262 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. to put it in execution. How he escaped me I could never learn. I looked on every hand, scrutinized every departing group, but saw nothing of the man I was resolved to whip. I went home sullen, mortified, and filled with revenge. My victim had escaped me; but 'I nursed my wrath to keep it warm,' and cherished the determination to put it in execution the first time I saw Mr. Lee, although long years should intervene. Gradually, however, my feelings subsided, and my impressions of the insult became weaker and less vivid ; and in the lapse of a few years the whole affair faded away from my mind. Thirteen years passed over me; and the impetuosity of youth had been softened down by the foot- prints of sober manhood, and gradually approaching age. I was standing upon ' the downhill of life.' On a beautiful morning in the early spring, I left my residence *p transact some business in Petersburgh; and on reaching the main road leading to town, I saw, a few hundred yards before me, an elderly-looking man, jogging slowly along in a single gig. As soon as I saw him, it struck me, that 's Jesse Lee. The name, the man, the sight of him, recalled all ray recollec- tions of the insult, and all my purposes of resentment. I strove to banish them all from my mind. I reasoned on the long years that had intervened since the occurrence, the impropriety of thinking of revenge, and the folly of executing a purpose formed in anger, and after so long a lapse of time ; but the more I thought the warmer I became. My resolution stared me in the face ; and something whispered ' coward ' in my heart if I failed to fulfil it. My mind was in a perfect tumult, and my passions waxed strong. I determined to execute my resolutions to the utmost ; and, full of rage, I spurred my horse, and was soon at the side of the man that I felt of all others I hated most. I accosted him rather rudely with the question : ' Are you not a Methodist preacher V " ' I pass for one,' was the reply, and in a manner that struck me as very meek. JESSE LEE. 263 " ' Ain't your name Jesse Lee !' " ' Yes, that's my name.' "'Do you recollect preaching in the year , at meeting-house V " ' Yes, very well.' " ' "Well, do you recollect reproving a young man on that occasion for some misbehaviour ?' "After a short pause for recollection, he replied, 'I do.' " ' Well,' said I, ' I am that young man ; and I determined that I would whip you for it the first time I saw you. I have never seen you from that day until this ; and now~ I intend to execute my resolution and whip you.' " As soon as I finished speaking, the old man stopped his horse, and, looking me full in the face, said : ' You are a younger man than I am. You are strong and active ; and I am old and feeble. I have no doubt but if I were disposed to fight, you could whip me very easily, and it would be useless for me to resist ; but as " a man of God I must not strive." So, as you are determined to whip me. if you will just wait, I will get out of my gig, and get down on my knees, and you may whip me as long as you please.' "Never," said the old general, "was I so suddenly and powerfully affected. I was completely overcome. I trem- bled from head to foot. I would have given my estate if I had never mentioned the subject. A strange weakness came over my frame. I felt sick at heart — ashamed, mortified, and degraded ! I struck my spurs into my horse, and dashed along the road with the speed of a madman. What became of the good old man I know not ; I never saw him after that painfully remembered morning. He has long passed away from the earth, and has reaped the reward of the good, the gentle, and useful, in a world where ' the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary find eternal rest.' " I am now old ; few and full of evil have been the days of the years of my life, yet I am not now without hope in 264 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. God. I have made my peace with him who is ' the Judge of quick and dead ;' and hope, ere long, to see that good man of God with feelings very different from those with which I met him last." The old man ceased. A glow of satisfaction spread over his features, and a tear stood in his eyes. He seemed as if a burden was removed from his heart ; that he had disen- cumbered himself of a load that had long pressed upon his spirits. He had given his secret to the near relative of the man he had once intended to injure, but whose memory he now cherished with feelings akin to those that unite the re- deemed to each other, and bind the whole to " the Father of the spirits of all flesh." LEE A CAPTAIN. The following anecdote was related to the Rev. John Poisal by one of the old members of the Church at Annapolis, Maryland. Jesse Lee was stationed there in 1816, and he preached his first sermon from, "As captain of the Lord's host have I come." He said it was somewhat singular that, travelling as exten- sively as he had in almost every part of the Union, he had never been in Annapolis before, and, of course, had never preached there. Now that he had been appointed to labour among them, he had come " in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace." He had often heard of their labour of love and patience of hope, and rejoiced that he was per- v mitted to be with them. He was glad to see among them some of the middle-aged and the aged, who were pillars in the Church — who had borne the burden and heat of the day. He anticipated much comfort with them ; there were those who could counsel him, aud he would be thankful for any advice they might give him ; but, said he, / want it to be remembered all the year that I am captain. Mr. Lee was certainly right ; there should be a captain to JESSE LEE. 2G5 every ship, a pastor to every church, a principal in every school, a general in every army, a judge in every court, a head to every family. If there is not, all will be disorder and confusion. Responsibility implies power ; and where a minis- ter has a responsibility, under which the most gifted might tremble, reason, common sense, and philosophy unitedly de- clare he should be captain. LEE AND THE DOGS. Mr. Lee had preached several times in Middlefield, Connec- ticut. On one occasion, while preaching there, some men sitting in the gallery repeatedly annoyed the congregation by their profane levity. Mr. Lee bore with it till he was satisfied it would be wrong to submit any longer ; but, just as he was about to raise his voice in rebuke, a new disturb- ance was created that attracted the attention of all : a panel of the front door of the church had been broken out, and, just at the moment referred to, three dogs darted through the opening, and pursuing each other along the middle aisle, up to the pulpit, turned, and retreated through the opening again. Before the congregation had recovered from the sur- prise of this singular interruption, the dogs were again cours- ing along the aisle, up to the pulpit, and back again through the door. The preacher was motionless, the congregation in a state of uneasy excitement — provoked to laughter, yet daring only to smile — the party of disturbers in the gallery overrunning with joy at the whole scene. In again came the dogs, hurrying and yelping along the aisle, and away into the yard again. " Well," said Mr. Lee, raising his deep, sonorous voice above the titter that was stealing from every lip in the assembly, and sending a quick, expressive glance of his eye among the original disturbers of the meeting, " the devil must have got into the dogs too /" The gravity of his manner, the structure of his sentence, and the em- phasis on its last word, brought the blood in burning 266 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. blushes to their cheeks; and, under the impression that they formed the focus of every eye in the congregation, they slunk into themselves and were still. — Life and Times of Jesse Lee. LEE AND THE BAPTIST WOMAN. Mr. Lee had preached in Saco, Maine, and become acquainted with a Baptist female. On a subsequent visit to that place, in 1*794, he called at her house to have some Christian con- versation with her. To his utter surprise, he found that she had gone to a dancing party, and was not yet returned. With sorrow he returned to the place where he was sojourn- ing, and, after recording the fact in his Journal, very gravely remarks : " John the Baptist lost his head by reason of danc- ing, and I thought the Baptists had never been fond of dancing from that day to this." LEE'S LAST SERMON. There is something peculiarly touching in delivering the last sermon. At a camp-meeting, near Hillsborough, on the eastern shore of Maryland, on Saturday afternoon, 22d of August, 1816, Mr. Lee preached his last sermon, from a favourite text: "But grow in grace." 2 Peter hi, 18. It is said, that when he gave out the text it was in this singular manner : " You may find my text in the last epistle of Peter, the last chapter and the last verse ; and I know not but I am to preach my last sermon." It was his last message to a lost world. The sermon was powerful and efficient, worthy of the last effort of one who was standing upon the walls of Zion for the last time. EEV. SAMUEL BRADBUBN. 12* THE REV. SAMUEL BRADBURN. " The Rev. Samuel Bradburn was born in the Bay of Gibral- tar, and on the return of his parents to Great Britain set- tled in Chester. When he was young it pleased the Lord to convince him of the necessity of a change of heart, and of redemption through the blood of the everlasting covenant. He became a local preacher in 1773, and an itinerant in 1784. His divine Master having endowed him with extra- ordinary gifts for the ministry, he soon became remarkably popular, and it was frequently with pleasure that thousands listened to his discourses. His ministry was owned of God for the salvation of many ; he was considered not only one of the first preachers of the land, for all the higher powers of persuasive eloquence, but as a faithful labourer in the vine- yard of the Lord. For a few of the last years of his life, his strength and memory gradually failed him, but it was gratifying to his friends to observe that, as he drew near to the eternal world, he became more spiritually minded and more deeply and truly serious. His peculiar vivacity of mind, which had been frequently a source of temptation to him, was brought more fully under the control of divine grace. For several months before his death, he was not able to preach at all. On "Wednesday, July 24th, 1816, he was seized with a fit, and died on Friday morning." — Wes- leyan Magazine, 1816. Mr. Bradburn was majestic in his personal appearance — one of nature's noblemen. He was a very eccentric man, and always ready with wit and repartee. He was not always as dignified as a minister of the Gospel should be. According to the accounts given of his preaching, he must 2 TO THE HEROES OF METHODISM. have been unequalled among the great pulpit orators of his day. There were giants in those days, but he stood, like Saul of old, head and shoulders above his fellows. His voice was like an organ, full, round, mellow ; his memory was very retentive, and his imagination affluent. " Few names," says Mr. Everett, "are more familiar to the Wesleyan ear than that of Samuel Bradburn, who was born and cradled in the B^ay of Gibraltar, and whose ministry bore no insig- nificant resemblance to the rocks which overhang it ; dis- tinguished for boldness, sublimity, and picturesque beauty, not forgetting the ocean that rocked him, as an equally ex- pressive emblem of the heavings and buffetings which he not unfrequently experienced on his passage through life." To show that we have not over-estimated his eloquence, we give the testimony of Dr. Adam Clarke, no mean judge of pulpit oratory. He said to a young preacher who wished his opinion concerning Bradburn, " I have never heard his equal ; I can furnish you with no adequate idea of his powers as an orator ; we have not a man among us that will support any- thing like a comparison with him. Another Bradburn must be created, and you must hear him for yourself, before you can receive a satisfactory answer to your inquiry." This was said when there were mighty men in the Wesleyan connexion. " Never," says Mr. Everett, " shall we forget hearing him between thirty and forty years ago, when a friend observed to us, himself one of the most popular speakers in his day, as we were leaving the chapel, ' We may apply in an ac- commodated sense to this speaker, what was said of our Lord, ' Never man spake like this man.' " A minister of no mean talent said, " He had never heard a preacher superior to Samuel Bradburn. He was rich in sublimity, in mighty, grasping thoughts and melting pathos, and yet mingled with the whole, in the strongest contrasts, an exhaustless wit." SAMUEL BRADBURN. 271 fyuuMn anXr lllttstratim. BRADBURN AND THE POET. Before a sermon which Samuel Bradburn was about to preach, he gave out the hymn commencing, " Ah ! lovely appearance of death, What sight upon earth is so fair !" &c. "What business has this hymn in our book, containing a sen- timent so false ? "Ah ! lovely appearance of death," when there is nothing lovely about it. Why did Abraham's beloved and beautiful Sarah, when she died, become so unlovely that he called his friends together to " bury her out of his sight?" This was one of Charles Wesley's beautiful hymns. It still remains in " Wesley's Hymns," and is sung in England. The revisers of our Hymn-Book show that they concur in Mr. Bradburn's criticism, and have omitted it. But I have sometimes thought there was truth in those lines— " In love with the beautiful clay, And longing to lie in its stead." And, above all, I regret the omission of the fourth stanza, " This languishing head is at rest, It's thinking and aching are o'er ; This quiet, immovable breast, Is heaved by affliction no more." BRADBURN AND THE GOWN. The Wesleyan Conference of 1802 was held in Leeds. Wil- liam Dawson attended it, in order to hear the distinguished 272 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. men of the connexion. He says, " Mr. Bradburn preacbed, as on former occasions, in the cbapel occupied by Rev. Edward Parsons. But it was the last time he appeared there," said Mr. Dawson to Mr. Everett, when relating the circumstance of his having heard him on the occasion, and " no wonder. He had preached delightfully ; but on coming out of the vestry, when a person was about to assist him off with the^ gown, he assumed one of his queer looks, doubled his elbows by his side, clenched his hands before his breast, having taken a portion of the gown in each, then suddenly sending forward his elbows, and shooting out his back at the same time, rent it from the shoulders downward, making an open- ing sufficient for him to escape by, without the necessity of seeking egress in the ordinary way. It was a most unmin- isterial act. The friends felt the insult ; and as to himself, after the mood was over, he had the full space of time for repentance, which intervened between the act itself and the grave." — Life of Dawson. BRADBURN AND DR. ADAM CLARKE. In 1790 Mr. Clarke was stationed with Mr. Bradburn in Manchester. Mr. Clarke was at Flixton, whence he had previously promised to return after preaching. It was winter, and the evening closed in with a heavy snow-storm. Mr. John Wood, with whom the preachers domiciled in that part of the circuit, persuaded Mr. Clarke to tarry till morn- ing. Mrs. Clarke, knowing her husband's punctuality, be- came uneasy lest he should have braved the storm, and lost his way in the wildness of the night. She went into Mr. Bradburn's two or three times. He had retired to rest ; but perceiving, from what Mrs. Bradburn had said, the state of mind in which Mrs. Clarke was, he immediately, on her leaving the house, most kindly arose, took a lantern, and calling on a friend, they proceeded through the almost im- passable lanes, narrowly examining every ditch with which SAMUEL BRADBURN. 273 he was acquainted, as they passed along. They arrived at the house of John "Wood about twelve o'clock at night, jaded, wet, and weather-beaten, having travelled several miles. Knocking up the family, and gaining admittance, Mr. Bradburn ordered Mr. Clarke down stairs with jocose authority ; when, after a few words of explanation, they set out. and footed their way through the storm to Manchester. On arriving at the house of Mr. Clarke, about two o'clock in the morning, Mr. Bradburn, with the frolic of youth, pushed him into the doorway before him, and said to Mrs. Clarke, " There he is for you, take him ;" then instantly turning on his heel, he repaired to his own house, to repose himself on the couch he had left a few hours before, lost to the dreary interval, with its pains and perils. BRADBURN AND ROBERT ROBINSON. The interesting account which follows was originally com- municated by a Methodist minister to the British Wesleyan Magazine : " The following circumstance occurred at the district- meeting at which I and ten others were examined as candi- dates for the Wesleyan ministry, the Rev. Samuel Bradburn being the chairman : " When the examination was concluded, several of the senior ministers present gave us advice on different subjects. The late Mr. Gaulter particularly advised us to read ' Robert Robinson's Plea for the Divinity of Jesus.' He said it was one of the best books ever written on the subject, though, unhappily, its author afterward 'fell into the dregs of So- cinianism.' On hearing this expression, the chairman rose ; a flush of feeling came over his countenance, his lip quivered, and he was evidently strongly agitated. At length he address- ed the meeting, as nearly as I can recollect, in the following words. The few who knew Mr. Bradburn will be able to 21 4 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. conjecture how he spoke thern. To them who did not know him, a description of his manner would be vainly attempted. They were spoken with all his own peculiar emphasis : ' I knew Mr. Robinson well. He was my particular friend. He trifled sadly with sacred truth. He was playful where he should have been serious. He got to the very brink of heresy. But he did not fall into the dregs of Socinianism. I remember the last time he came to London. He was on his way to visit Dr. Priestley at Birmingham. He had en- gaged to preach on the Sunday night for Daniel Taylor, and I thought I should like to see him once more. I asked Dr. Whitehead if he would accompany me, and he said he would. I had to preach that Sunday night at City-road ; but I made the whole service short. I preached one of Mr. Wesley's sermons. We had a hackney-coach ready ; and when I had done, we set off. We heard the latter part of the ser- mon; and when the congregation was dismissed, we went into the vestry. After speaking a word or two, Dr. White- head said, "Mr. Robinson, will you answer me a question ?" " I will, if I can," he replied. " Well, then, if you had it to do now, would you publish your Plea for the Divinity of Jesus f" He paused a moment, looked very serious, and then said, slowly and solemnly, " Doctor, I would." From Lon- don he went to Birmingham, to see Dr. Priestley. His friends had often felt grieved that he seemed to hold lightly what they held as sacred. He preached for the doctor. I know that he had often said that he hoped he should die quietly, suddenly, and alone. And so it was. He was found in the morning dead in his bed, and the clothes unruffled.' The speaker paused for a few moments, and then said, with a look and tone never to be forgotten by those who were present, ' He had trifled too much with sacred things ; and I verily believe that God Almighty sent the angel of death thus to cut him down to save his soul from hell !' " SAMUEL BRADBURN. ?n entering his cottage, he perceived a tract lving on the tabic It had just 18 404 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. been left by a tract distributer. A wood-cut on the first page attracted his attention. That cut represented a woman, the mistress of a public-house, driving a drunken-looking fellow from her door, while she pointed with one hand to a long score on the wall, and held his hat in the other. The man was thunderstruck. It was precisely such a scene as the one in which he had just been an actor. He saw what an object of contempt and derision he had rendered himself by his misconduct, and resolved that he would change his course. Having washed and dressed himself, he set out, after tea, for a walk ; but as he passed the Wesleyan Chapel, he was attracted by the singing which he heard, and turned in thither. Mr. Lessey was the preacher. The word of God as administered by him, reached the heart of this poor sinner. From that time he resolved that he would regularly attend the chapel, entirely withdrawing himself from the scenes of his accustomed resort. Deep conviction had seized upon his heart. He was heavily burdened with a sense of his guilti- ness before God, and earnestly sought acceptance with him. The Sunday but one after the above mentioned event had occurred, he again heard Mr. Lessey, and, during the sermon, was enabled to commit himself by faith into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. He instantly found the mercy for which he mourned, and "went down to his house justified." The change was not transitory. He continued stead- fast in the ways of the Lord ; and more than a year after- wards, himself recited the circumstances of his wonderful conversion in a Wesleyan lovefeast, rejoicing in that divine compassion which had plucked him also as a "fire-brand out of the burning." REV. JACOB GRTJBER. REV. JACOB GRUBER. The following sketch of the Rev. Jacob Gruber was prepared by the Rev. T. H. W. Monroe, for the Christian Advocate and Journal : " The Rev. Jacob Gruber was born in Lancaster county, Pa., Feb. 3, 1778. His parents, John and Plautina Gruber, though natives of Pennsylvania, were of German descent and dialect, their parents having emigrated from Germany. They were members of the Lutheran Church, in which they had been trained from infancy ; and, as a matter of course, brought up their children in the same faith. " At this early period Methodism was hardly known in that region ; but it soon began to make an impression through the travelling preachers, who, in their regular visits, proclaimed the Gospel with such power and energy, that many became awakened and began to cry for mercy. These extraordinary meetings, attended with such unusual excite- ment, soon aroused the prejudice of some, and the alarm of others, until stern opposition was raised against the new doc- trine, as they called it, and the Methodist preachers were de- nounced as false prophets. Very soon, under this preaching, the subject of this memoir evinced considerable seriousness and concern for his soul. The preacher who was the imme- diate instrument of his conversion has been heard to say, that so violent was the opposition ho had to encounter, so great the embarrassments thrown in his way, and so discouraging the prospects before him, that if he could succeed in getting one 60ul converted to God, it would be a good year's work, and would amply compensate him for his labour. His moderate 408 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. wish was more than granted. That year a gracious revival of religion occurred, many souls were converted, and among them was Jacob Gruber, then between ten and fifteen years old. The precise year of his conversion cannot now be ascer- tained with certainty. His consequent connexion with the Methodists, together with his burning zeal for the cause of God and the salvation of souls, so exasperated his parents, that after all their efforts to cure him of his Methodist religion • and zeal had failed, he was driven from home. Some time afterwards, however, but how long is not known, they became so far reconciled as to receive him back again. A short time after this he was apprenticed to learn a trade, at which he worked for several years, enduring 'great hardship and neg- lect. The bad treatment he received becoming known to his father, (though Jacob never mentioned it, nor complained of it himself,) he immediately went after him, demanded his indentures, and took him home. During all this time, and amid all these discouragements, our youthful Christian contin- ued faithful to his God. By the advice of his father, he de- termined to remain at home and work at his trade, which he had not quite completed. For this purpose a small shop was erected, and tools and materials were procured ; but how long he remained thus employed is not definitely known. " During this whole time his religious zeal and faithfulness knew no abatement. He had been appointed class-leader and licensed to exhort. As a leader he was efficient and useful ; and his labours and exhortations in prayer-meetings were so greatly blessed, that many were awakened and con- verted through his instrumentality. This again produced such religious excitement in the neighbourhood, and was so offensive to the orderly notions of the professedly religious, and withal excited such alarm for the safety of their children and the Church, that the opposition of his parents was once more aroused, and to a higher degree than before. With the hope of extinguishing this wild-fire, as they called it, and of arresting and subduing this dangerous delusion, as they JACOB GRUBER. 409 imagined it to be, Jacob was peremptorily and finally driven from their home; for sooner than abandon his religion and offend his God, he was willing to part with all the endear- ments of home and parents, believing with the Psalmist, " When mv father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up ;"' and in his case this was most literally and strikingly fulfilled. Tressed to the necessity of making his election between an abandonment of his religion or his home, he willingly and cheerfully chose the latter ; and, with great Christian firmness, prepared to carry it into effect. With his clothes in a knapsack on his back, he started on foot for the town of Lancaster. On his way, he was providentially met by a Methodist preacher, perhaps a presiding elder, who, after a short conversation, advised him to commence calling sinners to repentance in a larger field than heretofore ; and urged him to fill a vacancy which had occurred on an adjoining circuit, perhaps by the death of one of the preachers. He consented, and immediately investing nearly all the money he had in the purchase of a horse and equipage, went di- rectly to the circuit referred to, and laboured there until con- ference, which came on soon after, when he was admitted into the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the spring of 1800, and appointed to Tioga Circuit. " Though young and inexperienced, being only a little over twenty-two years of age, he preached, and prayed, and suf- fered with all the zeal and stability of a veteran, and thus early formed those habits of industry, economy, sobriety, and abstemiousness for which he was ever after distinguished. The privations and hardships of early life, with the blessing of God, effectually trained him for the arduous work of a Methodist itinerant. So faithful and useful were his labours wdierever he went, that he soon rose to an honourable height in the confidence and affections of the bishops and hia seni ors in the ministry ; as proof of which he was nut into offices of great responsibility at a very early age. He had only finished his sixth year in the ministry, being just twentv 410 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. eight years old, when he received his appointment from Bishop Asbury as presiding elder of Greenbrier district, Virginia. " His different fields of labour, their great extent, &c, will be seen by the following statement of the circuits, stations, and districts to which he was appointed during the fifty years of his ministry. By carefully examining the 'Minutes,' it appears that some of his circuits were as large as some districts are now, and the districts which he travelled were, in extent, equal to, if not larger than some entire conferences at the present time. In the year 1800 he travelled Tioga circuit; 1801, Oneida and Cayuga; 1802-3, Dauphin ; 1804, Carlisle; 1805, Winchester; 1 806, Rockingham ; 1807-1809, presiding elder on Greenbrier District; 1810-1813, pre- siding elder on Monongahela District; 1814, Baltimore City station; 1815-1818, presiding elder on Carlisle Dis- trict ; 1819, Frederick ; 1820 and 1 821, Dauphin circuit, Phil- adelphia Conference. Some time during the first of these two years he was married to Miss Sally Howard, of Frede- rick county, Md. This he accomplished during his rest-iveek, as he called it, so that he lost no appointment, but was married and returned to his circuit again in time for the Sabbath work ; 1822-3, on Bristol circuit ; 1824, Lancaster; 1825, Burlington; 1826-7, Chester; 1828, stationed at St. George's, city of Philadelphia ; 1829, Gloucester; 1830, Sa- lem ; 1831-2, Waynesburg ; 1833, Port Deposite. In 1834, because of the ill health and enfeebled condition of his wife, he was transferred back again to the Baltimore Conference, and stationed at Sharp-street and Asbury, Baltimore City. During this year Mrs. Gruber died in great peace, and was buried in the old family burial ground in Frederick county, Md. In 1835, he was reappointed to Sharp-street and Asbury; 1836, Ebenezer station, Washington City ; 1837, Carlisle circuit. At the close of this year he was married to Mrs. Rachel Martin, of Lewistown, Pa.; 1838-9, stationed at Sharp-street and Asbury, Baltimore ; 1840-41, Lewistown THE HEROES OF METHODISM. ill circuit; 1842-3, Mifflin; 1844, Trough Crook; 1845, War- rior's Mark; 1846, Shirleysburg ; 1847, East Bedford, but was changed by the presiding elder to Huntingdon circuit, which he travelled during the year; 1848-9, Lewistown circuit. Unable to attend the last conference, March, 1850, by reason of affliction, he addressed a letter to one of his brethren, Rev. S. V. Blake, in which he took an affectionate leave of the conference, and asked that a superannuated relation might be assigned him for one year, thus allowing him to have his jubilee, after fifty years of toil. The confer- ence complied with his request, and also directed the secretary to address him a letter expressive of their affection and sympathy. During the whole of his half century of itinerant labour there was not a gap or intermission of four consecu- tive weeks for any cause whatever. This is a remarkable fact, and worthy of record, as it so seldom occurs, even among the healthiest and strongest of ministers. His work was divided as follows : thirty-two years he spent on circuits, seven in stations, and eleven as pr elder on three different districts. " After finishing his work on Lewistown circuit, (and he worked up to the last Sabbath in February, without any abridgment of duties,) he started with his wife for Baltimore city, hoping to reach the conference, which sat in Alexan- dria, Va. Passing through Carlisle, he preached his last sermon in that place on Sabbath night, March 3, though with great suffering, as he was much indisposed. He reached Baltimore in a few days, but his pain was extreme, for violent inflammation had seized his right foot, which, to the skillful eye of his physician, soon developed the fearful fact that saline mortification or Pott's gangrene, had become estab- lished. At the instance of his medical adviser, he hastened home to his residence in Lewistown — a sufferer indeed. "The best medical advice within reach was immediately procured, and all was done that skill, medicine, and atten- tion could do to arrest the progress of this terrible disease, IS* 412 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. but in vain. Though his vigorous constitution, the skill of his physicians, and the constant attentions of his wife and friends, did much to delay the crisis, and lengthen out his days, yet, after his sufferings had been protracted for nearly three months, disease gained the mastery, his strength gave way, and he sunk to rally no more. Unaccustomed to affliction for more than threescore years, it was a most painful trial to him to be confined to a couch and tortured in body. He often said it was a new, strange, and mysterious lesson he had to learn. At first, with painful days and restless nights, his patience and fortitude were taxed to their utmost capacity. It was difficult for him to reconcile his present suffering with his past long life of labour, activity, and health. But as grace was needed, it was kindly bestowed ; and sweetly was he mellowed down into true Christian resigna- tion. Now he began to perceive that having finished his work, and through a long life having, to the best of his ability, done the will of God, all that remained was to suffer his will. " His affliction had a most happy influence upon his heart and feelings ; they became so tender, humble, simple, pure, and holy, as to indicate clearly that his Heavenly Father was just finishing the work preparatory to his recep- tion to glory. He punctually attended to his religious duties and devotions during the whole period of his confine- ment until within two days of his death, and, being generally able to kneel, officiated in turn with his wife at family worship. So fixed were his habits of devotion, so great his love for the privileges of the sanctuary, and the public as well as private means of grace, that he would not consent to remain at home on the Sabbath, but was carried to the church by his brethren in a chair or on a bench, that he might hear the word of God and be comforted, if he could no longer preach it himself. This he continued to do up to the Sabbath before his death. The last Sabbath he spent on earth, he was in the house of the Lord, morning and evening, and listening to a discourse delivered by the JACOB GRUBJ 413 preacher of the station from a text which he himself had selected, viz.: 1 Pet. v, 10, 11, 'But the God of all who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and settle you. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.' This day he seemed to enjoy himself more than usual during the public worship, having less pain to distress him. It was very gratifying to see how God was graciously answering prayer in his behalf, and v gradually softening the violence of his disease, and kindly and gently smoothing his pillow as the eventful moment ap- proached. "Not allowing himself to indulge any certain hope that his disease could be removed, he hastened to adjust his temporary affairs. In the disposition of his property by will, the aged and worn-out preachers, the widows and orphans of those who have died in the work, and the mis- sionary cause, are beneficiaries. A real and genuine friend to all that was good, he showed himself true to the last. " He was taken suddenly worse on the evening of the 23d of May, having several attacks of fainting or swooning: and no doubt the work of death began at that time, as he gradually grew weaker and weaker until, forty-eight hours afterward, the scene closed. It was a matter of regret to me that my appointments required me to leave on the morning of the 24th, and I was thereby deprived of the privilege of being with him in his last hours. His attentive neighbour, Rev. S. V, Blake, however, had the mournful satisfaction of ministering to him even to the last, and his unwearied devotion to the bedside of the venerable man is worthy of all commendation. From him I have learned the particulars connected with the closing scene. Brother Gruber was perfectly conscious that his end was rapidly approach] and he sighed for the happy release. He requested Brother Blake, if it could be ascertained when he waa about to die, to collect a few brethren and sisters around him, that they 414 THE 'HEROES OF METHODISM. might (to use his own words) ' see me safe off ; and as I am going, all join in full chorus and sing, On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,' &c. A few hours before he died he asked Brother B. whether he could stand it another night ; and was answered, that in his judgment he could not. 'Then,' said he, ' to-morrow I shall spend my first Sabbath in heaven ! Last Sabbath in the Church on earth — next Sabbath in the Church above !' and with evident emotion repeated, ' Where congregations ne'er break up, and Sabbaths never end !' Brother B. perceiving that he was fast sinking, and could only survive a few moments, asked him if he felt that he was even then on the banks of Jordan ? to which he replied, with great effort, and these were his last words, 'I feel I am.' He was exhorted to trust in Jesus, and not to be afraid, but to look out for the light of heaven, his happy home ; and then, in accordance with bis request, the hymn he had selected was sung, but ere it was concluded his conscious- ness was gone. The singing ceased, a death-like stillness reigned, only broken by his occasional respiration, and an overwhelming sense of the presence of God melted every heart. A minute more, and his happy spirit winged its way to its long-sought rest without a struggle or a groan — so calmly, so peacefully did he fall asleep in the arms of Jesus. O ! it was a privilege to be there. To see so aged a servant of God finish his course with such confidence, such compo- sure, such firmness, such blessed hope of glory beaming from his countenance, was a privilege indeed, the grandeur of which we will not attempt to describe. "Thus has fallen one of the oldest and most faithful min- isters of Christ, aged 72 years, 3 months, and 22 days. " He shared the sympathy of the whole community during his affliction, and marked respect was paid to him and his' family at the interment. Brother Blake conducted the funeral services, and delivered a discourse founded on Matt. xxv, 21, in the M. E. Church, to a large concourse of all denom- inations, and citizens in general, after which the body was JACOB GRUBER. 415 committed to the earth, to sleep there till the resurrection morning. Subsequently the association of preachers for Huntingdon District, passed resolutions expn»ive of their high regard for his character, and similar proceedings were had in the preachers' meeting at Baltimore City, in the convention of stewards for this district, and in the Quarterly Conference of Lewistown and Mifflin circuits. "Brother Gruber was, in many respects, an extraordinary man. In his character there was a rare combination of traits. Some of the harsher and more unpleasant of these were fre- quently most prominent, and, to the superficial observer, they were made the standard by which his whole character was judged. By such a rule, however, great injustice has been done him, for in this way should no man's character he measured. All the different traits should be taken together, all the features should be viewed at the same time, and a just and righteous balance struck, or the decision will be partial, the judgment inaccurate, and the portrait will fail to be an exact resemblance of the original. " There existed in him a very unusual combination of severitv and lenity. Faults in professors < >f religion he never spared, but felt himself bound, as a faithful watchman, to reprove ; and this he did, sometimes, with withering sar- casm, and always with great severitv and sharpness. Ap- parently he seemed to select such opportunities, and Buch language, as would make the deepest impression and inflict the greatest torture. But under this apparent harshness (which is attributable, in a great measure, to the rigid dis- cipline under which he received his early training) there was an inexhaustible vein of lenity and kindly feelings. Though he always used a sharp instrument in probing (he wound, and did not always use it with a steady and tender hand, yet so soon as the true signs of contrition, convales- cence, and amendment were discovered, he had alwa; healing balsam to apply. And if some might suppose that his harshness and severity were excessive, others, having an 416 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. equal opportunity of judging, might decide that his lenity and kindness were equally excessive. In all cases, however, whether of severity or lenity, it cannot he doubted that his motives were always pure. " In him rigid economy and great liberality were strangely blended. This was another of his peculiarities ; but the combination was often overlooked, from the fact, that while his economy was always visible and notorious, his liberality was generally silent, modest, and unostentatious. He never allowed himself to indulge in luxury, nor gave any counte- nance to superfluity. He permitted nothing to be w r asted, no needless expense to be incurred, and saved everything that could be turned to good account. In dress, in diet, in the transaction of business, in the management of his cir- cuit or station, the same rules governed him. His rigid ad- herence thereto has, in the estimation of some, fixed upon him the reputation of being parsimonious. But they did not know him. His benefactions may be said to have been munificent — for he has given away to needy individuals, to- wards the erection of churches, to literary institutions, and by his last will has bequeathed, for the benefit of worn out travelling preachers, widows, and orphans, and ultimately to the missionary cause, sums making in the aggregate a larger amount than is often contributed by men of his means. The excellency of his course, as he himself has often remarked, is seen in this ; the great objects which he kept steadily in view by the rigid economy of his life were, first, to set a good example before his brethren and the younger preach- ers, who, he feared, were becoming too extravagant and prodigal ; and, secondly, that thereby he might be able to give the more to all benevolent objects. Thus his economy became the means of his liberality, and fully acquits him from the charge of parsimoniousness. If he carried his economy to an extreme, as some supposed, which, however, is very doubtful ; yet the fault was not only fully covered, but overbalanced, by the good use he made of it. If any JACOB GRUBER. 417 benevolent enterprise was started by tbe Church in the place of his residence, or its vicinity, the first application was gen- erally made to brother and sister Gruber, that they m head the list, and by their liberality stimulate others. And this they but seldom failed to do, and never when the neces- sity and propriety of the measure were beyoud doubt. "He was a man of untiring energy and industry. Hi-- energy was kindled, his principles moulded, and his habits formed, in the school of early Methodism in this country, and after the model of some of the most useful and efficient Methodist preachers. Nay, like St. Paul, he could say, that he was ' in labours more abundant.' He performed more work, preached more sermons, endured more fatigue and hardship, with less abatement of mental and physical ener- gy, than perhaps, any other minister of his times. Indeed, the steady and glowing flame of his zeal and industry was never quenched until extinguished by death. He knew no cessation, nor even abridgment of labour, until just three months before his departure, and only then when arrested by disease. Truly he ' ceased at once to work and live.' "He possessed a strong and vigorous mind, which gene- rally exhibited itself as well in conversation as in his sermons. Had he been favoured with a thorough education, there is reason to believe that he would have been surpassed by few. He displayed an originality of thought, a sharpness and readiness of wit, an aptness of illustration, together with a flow of cheerfulness, which made him an interesting and in- structive companion. The vigour of his mind, which seem- ed to ripen and mature with his years, evinced none of that infirmity which was stealing upon his body, and displayed no diminution of strength up to the last hour of his earthly existence. " He was a sound theologian. None will charge him with a want of orthodoxy. Thoroughly posted up in the doc- trines of Methodism, from the works of Wesley, and catch- ing the living inspiration from the lips of Asbury, Whatcoat, 418 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. M'Kendree, and others, these doctrines hecame to him that system of divinity most in accordance with the Holy Scrip- tures. Nor was he unacquainted with the doctrines and usages of other denominations, as laid down in their books. His sermons gave unmistakable evidence of this, when he felt it to be his duty to come in contact with them. As a j:>reacher, his pulpit discourses were always good, and some- times almost overwhelming. Generally, he took a sound and correct view of Scripture, pursued his own course in its exposition, and preached with great zeal and energy, and often with considerable effect. In exposing false doctrine, and unmasking false religion, he was quite caustic, and fre- quently successful. " But Jacob Gruber is gone, and his voice is silent in death. Yet his name and his deeds still live. Thousands now living on earth will remember him with gratitude ; while thousands more have already welcomed him to the mansions of rest; and, beyond all doubt, many will rise up in the judgment,, and call him blessed." The following statement received from an old minister, who does not allow me to mention his name, shows that the opposition of Mr. Gruber's parents, mentioned in Mr. Mon- roe's sketch, must have entirely vanished in the course of vears : "About the year 1830, I travelled Bristol circuit, which reached up to ' Haycock Mountain,' where the Grubers lived, and where Jacob was born and spent the days of his child- hood and youth. Here lived his brothers Peter and John, and his mother resided with a sister, who was married. The father died some years before. The mother died in 1832, from old age, not disease. ' The weary wheels of life stood still.' Her death was triumphant. The children were all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Peter was a class-lead- er, John only a private member. We preached every two weeks at Peter's on a week night. He lived in a large stone house, having a grist-mill under the same roof. We used JACOB GRUBEE. -U9 to go through the mill to bed •when we lodged there. It was said that Peter was the richest man in the township, and yet he and his wife, worked harder than any southern slaves. jLiutirotcs anb illustrations. GRUBER'S CONVERSION AND ENTRANCE UPON THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY. "In 1*791 the Methodist preachers came into my father's neighbourhood. G. Bailey and J. Lovell were the first we heard. Many strange things were said about them ; some were afraid of them, called them false prophets, and other bad names; but many went to hear them, and some got awakened. In 1*792, S. Miller and J. Robinson preached for us, and a class was formed. Father and mother, and a dozen more joined ; so did I, though only a schoolboy. I got little or no schooling after I was twelve years old ; father had other work for me to do. Under deep conviction I went from meeting to my closet, sought the Lord early and diligently, and found peace and comfort to my soul. We had good meetings. The Lord was with us. But the next year my father was ill treated by one of the preachers, got prejudiced against the Methodists, and ordered me off to hunt a master and learn a trade. I went to Lancaster county, was bound apprentice, served out about half my time; was not well used; was taken sick. In the meantime my fether got among the Methodists again, and very kindly came and tool me home, built me a shop to get my trade complete, and go to work and make my fortune, as it was called. We bad regular meetings and a revival. My brother and others 420 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. were powerfully converted. We had wonderful meetings. The cries of mourners, and shouts of converts, were painful ■ to some whose heads were softer than their hearts. Some were offended, persecution arose, many false reports about our meetings ; and, as I was leader and had licence to ex- hort, much blame fell on me. Some neighbours, who were enemies to the Methodists, brought the evil reports they had heard or dreamed to my father, and set him against his family and the Methodists, and as I was a ringleader, as some said, there were no quarters for me ; so I was driven away, left father and mother, brothers and sisters, shop and tools, all behind, took my clothes in a wallet, &c. I found friends who knew my situation and the exercise of my mind. They said Providence opened my way to travel. They recommended me to the Philadelphia Annual Conference. Some of the preachers encouraged me. One said I would kill myself in six months ; another said one month would end my labour, the way I exposed myself. I had got a low-priced white horse. One of the preachers, who knew how I got out, said to me, 'Well, you have got on the "Pale Horse," death and hell will follow you, only take care and do n't let them get before you.' So I had some comforters. My thoughts were, perhaps they would send me into Delaware, a sickly country, to finish my work in a year, and then go to my long home. But instead of going down I had to go up — up rivers and mountains, and take my de- grees among lakes and rivers, and Indians, for two years. " A mysterious Providence brought me into the travelling connexion. I was not a volunteer; I was pressed into the ranks. I never applied for licence to exhort, nor to preach, nor for a recommendation to conference. My friends did all that for «ie. A gracious Providence has ' my life sustained, and all my wants supplied.' Hitherto ' the Lord hath helped me,' ' and I hope, by his good pleasure, safely to arrive at home ;' but not till my work is done." — J. Oruber. JACOB GRUBER. 421 GRUBER'S ACCOUNT OF HIS FIRST TWO YEARS IX THE ITINERANT MINISTRY. " In reading some pieces about old times, I thought I would give my beginning. In 1800 I was driven from my father's house, with my all in a wallet on my shoulder. My brethren recommended me to the Philadelphia Confer- ence. I was sent to Tioga circuit — a four weeks 1 circuit, all alone. It was a large circuit, and I had only a few rest days in a month. The lower part of it was Wysock, then Towanda, Sugar Creek ; the point up the Chemung some distance ; then up the North Branch, above the Great Bend, as they called it. We had good meetings, the Lord was with us. Being young, only a stripling, I requested, and the presiding elder brought a preacher with him to the second quarterly meeting to take my place. The stewards paid me my expenses — between four and five dollars, and sixty- seven cents quarterage, for two quarters. Then I was sent to Herkimer circuit, with Father A. Turk, the last two quar- ters of the year; in which time we took in Mohawk circuit. Then we had the country from Jericho to near the head of the Mohawk River, in a six weeks' circuit, for three preachers : we had good and great times. " I was told there was no need of me at the conference, so I continued in the work, and got my appointment for 1801 to Cayuga circuit, with J. Newman. This year was full of changes. Oneida w^as added to Cayuga. I went one round on Seneca circuit, which included the country between Cayuga and Seneca Lake, and all beyond the Genesee River. "The last quarter I was on Chenango circuit. "We had prosperous times this year. Persecutions and opposi- tions from different quarters — no new filing. What a change since that time ! The Albany district was then in the Philadelphia Conference. In two years I travelled all 422 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. over every circuit, from Tioga Point to the head of the North Branch ; then to the head of the Mohawk River, from Jeri- cho to Cooperstown ; then to Utica, and to Rome ; from Rome to Paris ; then to Geneva ; and then to Jerusalem, and all the places between. The people were kind, and treated me better than I deserved. Here ends the second year's work and travels." — J. Gruber. GRUBER'S PERSONAL HABITS. Mr. Gruber generally rode on horseback, as the old itiner- ants all did. They seemed to think it a sin to ride in a carriage or in any other way than on the animal's back. He was the very personification of neatness, as well as plain- ness. He generally wore a drab hat, and a gray suit, of quakerish cut. He was very eccentric, and remarkably sar- castic. His conduct was marked by not a few singular whims. He could not endure cats, dogs, tobacco, tea, cof- fee, canes, veils, or any superfluities whatever. He consider- ed them evil, only evil, and that continually ; and he de- nounced them in no measured terms, and his practice was in perfect accordance with his preaching. His aversion to dogs amounted almost to a monomania ; he would expel them without mercy, from the house, the yard, or the high road, whenever they came in his way. It is said, even, that he once stopped a funeral procession and got out of his carriage, in order to drive away some dogs who were follow- ing the mourners. After attacking the dogs lustily and suc- cessfully, he remounted the carriage, and allowed the pro- cession to go on. During the session of a conference in Philadelphia, he preached at the Union Church, from Matt, ix, 10 : " Provide neither gold, &c, nor yet staves," &c, and he said, " with- out canes F* " And were you not in danger of falling down without them ?" Some of the preachers had procured ivory- headed, and others silver-headed canes, and he wished to JACOB GEUBER. 423 express his strong disapprobation of the practice. There was something so quizzical in his countenance, that the preachers were ready to smile in advance, before anything was said, because they expected something, and were not disap- pointed. GEUBER AND THE VEILS. In preaching at a certain place where some of the women were in the practice of coming in rather late, he said, " It was no wonder ; they were doubly blinded : blinded by the God of this world, and then they had ' towels' before their faces, poor creatures, how could they see V GRUBER'S POWER IX PRAYER. Many men excel in preaching, but not so many in prayer. The heroes of Methodism were distinguished for power in preaching, power in singing, and power in prayer. There must have been something very extraordinary in the follow- ing prayer for Brother Howe to remember it a half a century : "In May, 1S00, or 1801. at a quarterly meeting on old Delaware circuit, when the Rev. William M'Lenahan, presid- ing elder, and Rev. I). Higby, and Jacob Gruber, were circuit preachers, we had one of the most extraordinary and power- mi times I ever saw. It seemed to resemble the dav of Pen- tecost : the sermon by the presiding elder was very power- ful : under the prayer by Brother Gruber, the barn where we were assembled was shaken, and the people almost instantly sprang to their feet, and shouts of joy and cries for mercy filled the place, and many fell to the floor, and others were filled with fear and fle«l. It was a glorious time, never to be forgotten. We returned home with our hearts burning within us, like the two disciples who went to Emmaus." — Rev. Samuel Howe. 424 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. GRUBER AND THE DEVIL'S FIRE-BRAND. Mr. Gruber was a great enemy to tobacco, whether used in chewing, snuffing, or smoking. When he travelled Chester circuit, Pennsylvania, he put up at the house of a brother, whose son, in order to be courteous, offered him a segar. Mr. Gruber felt indignant, and said : " What do you stick your devil's fire-brands at me for ?" GRUBER'S POSSESSIONS. Mr. Gruber was once riding near his father's house, and pointed out to his first wife the beautiful farm of his brothers. She inquired, "My dear, where is yours?" " Here it is," said he, " the road on which we are travelling." " No foot of land do I possess, No cottage in the wilderness." He was disinherited when he joined the Methodists, and expelled from his father's house, but " when his father and mother forsook him, then the Lord took him up." After- ward, as we have seen, the parents were reconciled, united with the Methodists, and died in the bosom of the Church. — Rev. G. D. Bowen. GRUBER ON EXTRAORDINARY MANIFESTATIONS. " At a meeting on Greenbrier District, Baltimore Conference, in 1807, we had the common shouting exercise, the jumping exercise, the running exercise, the dancing exercise, the whirl- ing exercise, the pointing exercise, the crying exercise, &c, &c. When any ask me to explain all these antics or exer- cises, I say I do not explain what I do not understand. Many who had these exercises did not understand them — would not account for them. I am not called to analyze or methodize the jerks : have no tools for that work. At one JACOB GRUBER. 425 of the camp-meetings in Greenbrier, there were some Pres- byterians with tents. In one of them there was much pray- ing and shouting. I asked them where they belonged. They said, ' To the Presbyterians.' I said to them, ' In those places they would not own you ; you make too much noise. Who is your preacher?' They said, 'We have none; we hold prayer-meetings, and meet with the Methodists. "We have some occasional supplies.' I was told a young minister came ' hunting a call.' He preached or read a sermon, and had the appearance of a dandy. One of their elders asked him whether he had ever had his soul converted. His tem- per rose, and he said he was* sent to preach to them, not to be examined by them. They told him, if he had never been converted, they did not want him to preach to them : so he did not even get a ' common call' Poor fellow, he would have to try it again and again. "An old preacher came and preached. Some in the congregation fell, as was customary then, and the preacher fell himself. It was said, after he got up, he preached like another man. When he got back to his congregation, his preaching was so different from what it had been, that some got alarmed, and made inquiry whether he had turned a 'New Light.' He replied, No, it was the old light, but newly snuffed. What a good thing it would be to have our lamps frequently trimmed, and our candles snuffed! May the Lord shine away all our darkness, and make us all light in him. Yours respectfully." — J. Gruber. GRUBER LOST AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. " My travels among the Pendleton and Greenbrier mount- ains were hard and severe. One very cold night in the winter, I took a path for a near way to my stopping-place, hut got out of my course, wandered about among the hills and mountains, and to the top to see clearings, or hear dogs bark, or roosters crow, hut all in vain. After midnight the 426 THE HEKOES OF METHODISM. moon arose. I could then see my track, the snow being about knee deep. I went back till I got into the right course, and reached my lodging between four and five o'clock. The family were alarmed, and said I was late ; but I called it early. Lay down and slept a little, got up for break- fast, then rode part of the day, and filled two appoint- ments. I took no cold ; the Lord supported me, and gave me strength according to my day and work. Thank him for it. " At the end of the 'first year in this district, I had a chain of appointments through Greenbrier district to Baltimore Conference. I went from Tygart's Valley to the head of Greenbrier, a wilderness of hills and mountains, through which there was only a path. No house was to be found for more than twenty miles. On one occasion, the snow was gone into the valley ; no one told me of any danger ; I got to the path and hills about ten o'clock ; soon found snow near knee deep, and no track. It began to rain ; got to Cheat River about two o'clock; found it between two and three feet deep. Half way across, the ice was too hard to break. Got on it, and made my horse" do the same, and got over. Went on ; night came on ; lost the path, and had to stop. Tt began to snow and blow — a cold storm. It froze hard ; had to sit all night on my horse, or stand by his side. Heard panthers scream, and other beasts howl. It was a long, painful night. I thought I was dreaming ; but found it a waking and frightful reality. When light came I found my path ; got to the Greenbrier River about ten o'clock ; found it like Cheat River, the day before, and got over it just the same way. Got to a friend's house about eleven o'clock. They were frightened at seeing me, for no one had come through the wilderness by the path through the winter ; no one would have ventured who knew the danger. Neither my horse nor I had eaten anything since the morning before. Next day I overtook my appointments ; went on, filled them all, without catching cold ; though the cold caught and held JACOB GRUBEE. 427 me fast one night for true. Hitherto has the Lord helped me." — J. G ruber. GRUBER'S REPROOF OF PARENTAL INDULGENCE. There is much of the spirit of Eli in the world — criminal parental indulgence ; especially where the parents have risen from poverty to wealth. But few ministers would reprove with the fidelity of Jacob Gruber; and if they did, they would probabh* receive as few thanks as himself. " In one of the circuits I found a local preacher who had been an itinerant, but had married, settled himself quite easy and independent, got rich, and had a fine family ; but none of his children had religion. On a Sunday afternoon, while sitting with him and his wife, a very fine young man and a fine young lady came in. The preacher introduced them to me as his children. After a friendly conversation, I took upon myself to be master of ceremonies, and introduced the father to the son after this manner : ' This is your father ; he is a plain Methodist preacher ; he is trying to persuade all to come to Christ for salvation : the young to seek first the kingdom of heaven, and children to honour and obey their parents. What will his congregation think when they look at you, his son, his oldest son ? the Lord pity you.' Then I spoke to the father : ' This is your son, this fine, gay, fashionable young man, with his ruffles and nonsense about him, is the son of a plain Methodist preacher. What will your congregation think of you when they hear you preach, and see your son as he is ? Will they not think of Eli, the priest V This was amusing to the fine young lady. I then turned to her, and said, ' This is your mother, this plain, old-fashioned woman, is your mother. She prays for you, is trying to get to heaven, and will probably leave you be- hind, in a world of pride, vanity, and folly. Look at her. Who that looks at you would guess that you were re- lated to her ?' I then spoke to her mother : ' This is your 19 428 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. daughter, this fine-looking young lady, with her ruffles, rings, curls, locket, and silly needle ornaments about her. Look at her. What will the people think of you and her ? You a professor of religion, and a preacher's wife. Some will think, that though you are plain yourself, you love to see your child gay and fashionable ; but they will wonder who buys those costly toys and trinkets, father or mother. Others will think that your daughter is master and mistress both, and does as she pleases. But some will fear that, with her beau-catchers, she will catch a fool and go to destruction. This would be no comfort, or credit to you or her.' Here ended the introduction ; but I got little thanks for my cere- mony, politeness, and plain-dealing. Amen." — J. Gruber. GRTJBER AND FATHER RICHARDS. "At the conference in 1805, held in Winchester, Virginia, I was left on Winchester circuit. J. Richards, a fine, sensi- ble young man, was my colleague for two quarters. He was then taken away by the presiding elder, to fill a station from which a preacher had run away, bo be a parson in a Protestant Episcopal Church. At the conference the character of J. Rich- ards was fair and good ; he had a very young though serious ap- pearance ; and one of the old preachers said, he wished ' that some old preachers were as serious and solemn as that young man.' Bishop Asbury looked pleasant, and said, ' Do you make any allowance for solids and fluids ?' The young man preached very nice well-connected sermons, fifteen or twenty minutes long. He was very studious. Take a sample. A man asked him to stop and dine at his house, being on his way to his afternoon meeting. He stopped, the man took him into the house, left him in a room, and went to feed his horse. On coming back to the house, he met the young preacher coming out, with his saddle-bags on his arm, and asking for his horse. ' Why,' said the man, ' Mr. Richards, you must not go away ; stay for dinner.' The preacher spoke JACOB GEUBEK. 429 out, ' I cannot stay here. There are young persons in an- other room, laughing and talking, who interrupt me in my studies. Did you not know I was a minister ? Why would you let me be so insulted ?' All the man could say would not pacify the minister ; he must have his horse, and go where his studies would not be hindered or interrupted ; so he went on. " He was then sent to the Lake country ; and from there the bishop sent him as a missionary to Canada. There he left his station, ran away to his grandmother, (the Church of Rome.) got among the priests, and the last account I saw of him, he was among the nuns, known as Father Richards, a little, good-natured, fat man, ' With thee all night we mean to stay, And wrestle till the break of day.' And we could sing, too, 'Break forth into singing, ye trees of the wood, For Jesus is bringing lost sinners to God !' Trulv these were days of the Son of man, when he made known his power on earth. Glory be to God for his won- derful works !" — J. Gruber. A SINGULAR LOCAL PREACHER. " In Rockingham, Greenbrier district, we had a local preacher who was a good and great man, but very singular withal. The presiding elder, J. W., frequently took him to camp-meeting, as he was very active and successful in labouring with mourn- ers. On one occasion, the presiding elder would have him to preach first on a Sunday morning, and said he would follow after him. He had to obey ; but after prayer and reading a text, he told his congregation to be patient ; he was not going to preach, but was only going before to prepare the way, like John the Baptist. ' There is one to speak after me,' said he, 'that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose.' In a camp-meeting, 440 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. where the work did not go on well, mourners few and slow in coming to the altar, lie went into it, and spoke out, 'Come on, I want to get a little more converted myself.' He kneeled down at the mourners' bench, and soon had a crowd around him, and went to work with them : the Lord was with him, and the work went on ; souls were converted powerfully. If some, instead of looking at and watching others, would pray and get a little more converted them- selves, they would be happier. Like one who did not feel happy, when some near him became excited, he said, ' Don't shout yet, you are not ready ; go on, but hold back.' Next day he was blessed, and felt happy, looked around, and spoke out again, ' You may shout now, Glory to God !' He was ready then. " In a place near a town, there was a revival, but much opposition by the clergy and others. There was a college there, and our singular man sent an appointment for preach- ing to the place, and went to stop the mouths of persecutors. Having been a ' master mason,' and a stone mason, he thought he could do it, as he had built their college, and was acquainted with the people and their religion. He took a text about the book of life, and the names written in it, and falling down, crying, Holy, holy, &c, &c, worshipping. He showed the necessity of worshipping God and being holy, the impropriety of wickedness and persecution, and said they must serve God and be holy to be found in the book of life. In his application, he told them many of their names were not in the book of life, but in such and such people's good books, naming some tavern-keepers. These, he said, were not books of life, but of death, containing bills for whisky and for stirrup drams ; and perhaps, if they would look, they might find twenty-four elders' names there, who fell down when they could not stand any longer, and cried, ' Unholy, unholy, we cannot live without sin.' The Methodists had some rest and less persecution after that in that place." JACOB GRUBER. 441 It is amusing to read Mr. Gruber's description of " singular men," he having been himself considered the oddest of all the odd. I have sometimes doubted whether any eccentric man is aware of his real character. They move in an orbit so different from the generality of people, they think others are singular, not themselves. I once said to Billy Hibbard, " You are considered very odd." He said, " It is a grand mistake; I am not odd — other people are odd — if they were all like me, there would be no odd folks." GRUBER'S DISLIKE FOR MINISTERIAL CANES. Mr. Gruber was once attending a camp-meeting in Pennsyl- vania, and saw a young preacher with a cane. Mr. Gruber indirectly reproved him by inquiring, " What do you carry that stick for? Can't you stand up without assistance?" The young minister was quite shrewd, and knowing Mr. Gruber's hatred to dogs, replied, " I carry this to protect myself from dogs." Mr. Gruber, with equal readiness of wit, replied, " I should think it pretty poor business to be a dog pelter."— Rev. G. D. B. GRUBER SETTLING A FAMILY QUARREL. " In Rockingham I found a serious case ; two respectable persons, the one among the oldest members, the other a class-leader, had a misunderstanding between them. Though father-in-law and son-in-law, they were not on speaking terms with each other. At a camp-meeting each had a tent. I watched when they were in a good frame, and in an intermission of services I went to the leader's tent, and told him he and his wife should take a walk with me. He asked, ' Where to ?' I answered, ' To your father-in-law's tent.' He begged to be excused. ' I told him I mu^t and would see them together.' He said, ' Then let us meet in the woods back of the tents.' To this I 442 THE HEROES OF METHODISM. agreed, and added, ' You and your wife go from your tent in such a direction.' I went to the old man's tent, and told him he and his wife should take a walk with me. He agreed, and I started in a certain direction. They followed me. Before we got far we met the son-in-law and his wife coming toward us. They met, face to face, and I intro- duced them to each other. They shook hands doubly, em- braced each other, and wept. I wept too, and we all wept together. Satan's snare was broken ; they talked together after a silence of months ; their families were like new friends in the way to heaven ; they lived and died in friendship and love, as far as I know. Thank the Lord for camp-meetings and great grace." — J. Gruber. GRUBER AND THE YOUNG LAWYER. The first quarterly meeting I attended in Pittsburgh was held in a private house, T. Cooper's. There were two large rooms and an entry, all filled. We had a good work, souls converted, and believers edified. After preaching one night, and while praying with mourners in the front room, some one fired a squib in the back room. We sung on, " Shout, shout, we're gaining ground, The power of God is coming down." The squib-fellow ran. " When Christians pray, the devil runs, And leaves the field to Zion's sons." He was brought before a justice of the peace the next day. He was a young man, who was learning to be a lawyer, and told a lie in denying what he had done, but could not stick to it. When the case came on, he plead guilty. Some of our official members were sent for, and requested to say what they wanted done with the young man. They said, ' Don't hurt him ; we do not want him punished : all we want is peace, and liberty to worship without being inter- JACOB GRUBER. 443 rupted.' The judge made him stand and hold up his hand, while he gave him a severe lecture, made him pay a fine, and let him run, and learn to do better. We had no more squibs there. The Methodists soon built a meeting-house, prospered, increased, and became a city station ; they built a house for worship, and I know not what all." — J. Gruber. GRUBER REFUTING A PROVERB. Still water runs deep is an old adage that has passed into a proverb; but Jacob Gruber controverted it in a sermon which he preached a number of years since at Allentown, New-Jersey. He used to shout aloud the praises of God, and contended that it was Scriptural. In answering the objections to shouting, he noticed this, " Still water runs deep." " Not so," said he ; " still water does not run at all, for if it run it would not be still. Fur- thermore, still water is not so pure as the water that runs. It becomes stagnant, slimy, and breeds tad-poles." — Isaiah Toy. GRUBER AND THE QUAKER. "In the year 1814, I was stationed in Baltimore city sta- tion. There were four preachers. Sharp-street and Asburv were included, each having a regular appointment there. It was understood that the preacher whose name was second on the plan should attend to the coloured people's business ; so they called me their elder. One of their official men soon told me that they had persecution at Sharp-street, by the Quakers, for having too much noise in their meetings. They had complained to the grand jury, who sent for an old Friend, whose house was near the meeting-house, to know about the noise, which some said was a nuisance in the neighbourhood, eople ; that they were very unruly, and hard to govern and to keep quiet; that he lived near Sharp-street meeting-house, and that he would assist me in getting them into order. I thanked him for his kindness, told him that I would do all I could to get them right and good, and that much allowance ought to be made for them ; many were slaves and ignorant, and ought to be pitied and instructed. I said I was told, that one night last winter, an old man went into their meeting while they were singing and praying, put out some of the lights, raised his staff, and ordered them out of the house, to break up their meeting. He said, ' That was me.' ' What !' said I, ' did you do that ?' He said, ' Yes.' I said, ' What would you say if one of them had come into your meeting, and found you sitting silent, had raised his stick, knocked off your hats, and told you to clear out ? This is not the way to worship ! What ! to set here at ease, nodding and plotting; no praying or preaching, no crying aloud, showing the people their sins, nor getting their souls converted. Some of them were ignorant enough to think they had liberty, in this free country, to worship as the Spirit led them, as well as others. I said, I was sorry when the noisy Methodists and silent Quakers were near neighbours.' " I saw, some Sunday mornings, companies of men op- posite Sharp-street meeting-house, on the pavement, reading the newspaper, while the coloured people were singing and praying, hear me in the afternoon, the soldiers marched and prepared t.> give the king's soldiers a warm and wonderful salutation and recep- tion, and send as many of them as they could to heaven or hell, without praying the Lord to convert them. •UG THE HEROES OF METHODISM. " I will not attempt to describe the glory of the day and night of the bombardment, the bombs and rockets flying in their sublime beauty and glory ; this has been done long- ago in a masterly and superlative manner. Still there were persons, even in Baltimore, that did not like nor love the war, blamed Madison for it, said his administration was like the street called by his name, it began at the poor- house, went past the jail, then past the penitentiary, and ended on Gallows Hill. Some delight in war, and sail in the storm, and live in fire. " The most painful funeral I attended was that of one of our members who was killed in battle, and was buried with the honours of war, as they called it. From such honours the good Lord preserve and keep me. I had rather be buried with the honours of Lazarus the beggar, than to have them shoot into my grave as though they wanted to kill me again, and then fire upward after my spirit as though they wanted to kill that too. What pains are taken, and what expenses are brought on families and the public, to make death and destruction both honourable and glorious !" — J. Gmber. GRUBER'S PRAYER FOR A MINISTER. At a certain place Mr. Gruber preached in a house where the Presbyterians preached a part of the day, and the Meth- odists the other. The parties had an understanding that they were not to preach on disputed points, or to interfere with each other's sentiments. One morning the young Presbyterian preacher held forth, and, forgetful of the understanding in regard to not preaching on disputed points, he made a very rough-shod attack upon Methodism, and was very bitter in his denunciations as well as very incorrect in his representations. Mr. Gruber was there and heard him. When the minister had finished his dis- course, he called upon Mr. Gruber to conclude by prayer. He did so ; and prayed for many things ; and, as is customary, JACOB GRUBEK. 447 he prayed for the minister. " O Lord," said he, " bless the preacher who has preached to us this morning, and grant to make his heart as soft as his head is, and then he'll do some good." — Rev. C. Pitman. GRUBER'S HORSE IMMERSED. " Mr. Gruber was returning from the Philadelphia Conference, which was held in Smyrna, Del. He was in company with Rev. Joseph Lybrandt, Rev. Edward Page, and several others. They all rode on horseback. As they journeyed along, they had a discussion on water baptism. Mr. Gruber strongly opposed the mode of baptism by immersion, assigning reasons against it. While the dispute was going on, they came to a stream of water of considerable size, which they must pass through. They paused to let their horses drink. Father Gruber's horse seemed determined to wade into the deepest water and then lie down, immersing himself and partly his rider. The preachers laughed at him most heartily, and told Mr. Gruber, if he did not believe in immersion his horse did." — Rev. E. Page. GRUBER'S SERMON AT ST. GEORGE'S, PHILADELPHIA. "Mr. Gruber had been stationed in that charge, I believe, in 1828, but for some cause a request was made to have him removed at the end of the year, which was accordingly done, not altogether to the satisfaction of Brother G. At the end of the next year, while in attendance at the Conference in 1830, Brother G. was appointed to preach one evening in St. George's. He took for his text, Psa. lxxxiv, 4, ' Blessed are they that dwell in thy house : they will be still praising thee:' and no doubt recollecting his treatment in the past, he felt disposed to let his hearers know it, by making some witty and cutting allusions,