CHAPTER XXX. FOURTH WESTERN AND SOUTHERN TOUR—CONFERENCES OF 1811.

On Tuesday, August 20, we took out solemn leave of my dear aged parents and friends. O how my heart was pierced with hearing my father say, as the tears ran down his furrowed cheeks, “We shall not see each other again.” How I gazed upon his patriarchal form, and wept as he embraced me, when I thought those arms will embrace me no more. Bishop Asbury said, “We hope to meet in glory.” This was a word in season, and proved a cordial to my soul. My father’s words were prophetic. Before we came round again the sun shone on his grave, and his spirit had returned to God.

We started West, and the tour was full of incident. We crossed again the rugged Alleghanies, and spent a Sabbath in Pittsburgh. We attended several camp-meetings. The first was in Ohio, fourteen miles above Zanesville, beginning on September 2. Bishops Asbury and M’Kendree preached, and some others. There were thirteen hundred people, and a number were converted. The second camp-meeting we attended was on the 15th, one mile from Xenia. Bishop Asbury preached on Sunday, and after half an hour’s intermission Bishop M’Kendree followed.

On the 21st we visited Rev. Philip Gatch. I wrote: “But dear Mother Gatch is gone to a better country, that is, a heavenly.” She was a blessed woman.

On Friday we reached Cincinnati, where we spent three Sabbaths, and stopped at Oliver M. Spencer’s. On Sunday the 29th Bishop Asbury and Learner Blackman preached.

On Tuesday, October 1, the Western Conference commenced its session. There was much weighty and critical business, but it was attended to with order, dispatch, and good feeling. On Sunday, October 6, Bishops Asbury and M’Kendree again preached. The conference lasted ten days, and one hundred ministers were appointed to fields of labor. The work was so widening and spreading that there were not workmen enough to supply the work: twenty-two additional laborers were needed. The following Sabbath the bishop delivered what he called “a farewell warning to preachers;” after which he met the society and then visited the sick.

At this session they made their first election of delegates to the General Conference. Learner Blackman, who was very popular, headed the list. He was brother-in-law of John Collins. I had known him since 1800, and was present when he was received at the Philadelphia Conference that year. He traveled with Bishop Asbury and myself many hundred miles on his way to General Conference. He met with a sad end. He was drowned in the Ohio in crossing a ferry in 1815. The other delegates were Benjamin Lakin, James Quinn, Frederick Stier, John Sale, William Pattison, Isaac Quinn, William Houston, John Collins, Samuel Parker, James Axley, David Young, Thomas Stilwell.

On October 14 we started for the South Carolina Conference. We passed through Kentucky, everywhere preaching the word. The bishop wrote, “What a field is opened and opening daily in this new world!”

I will give a specimen of the lights and shadows of the itinerancy. Friday, about half an hour after dark, we came to Rock Castle Bridge, and wished for entertainment over night. The answer was, “All full.” The bishop, sick and feeble as he was, and I, had to grope our way seven miles before there was another place at which we could put up. We both rejoiced when we reached, as we supposed, the end of our journey for that toilsome day. We inquired if they could entertain us. The answer was, “No admittance.” On we went a mile further, and wished to tarry over night. The answer was, “No room.” We began to despair. The hour was late. Then we came across a person who kindly conducted us through the dark woods amid stumps and stones for several miles to the house of a kind friend, who exhibited a hospitality worthy of patriarchal times. We rode forty-seven miles that day. It was eleven at night when we arrived. We had had no dinner or supper, so they gave us a delicious meal that answered for both. This was at Waynesborough, and the family that so kindly entertained us was Colonel Milton’s. We did not retire till midnight, and next morning at five o’clock we were again on our journey, and traveled on till on Friday, the 8th, we reached Athens, Ga., where we were kindly received by Hope Hull. On Tuesday Bishop Asbury preached at Bethel Chapel, and Hope Hull and I exhorted.

Hope Hull was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. His name is one that will long live in the annals of Methodism as one of the pioneers of our Church in New England and the South. He had a fine intellectual face, and features that expressed determination. His hair, originally black, was then sprinkled with gray. He had a melodious voice, was a very superior preacher, and in eloquence few equaled him. In 1794 he traveled with Bishop Asbury, who greatly admired him as a man, as a preacher, and as an orator. He was a pioneer in the cause of education. He resided in Athens, Ga., and had much to do with the origin and prosperity of the University of Georgia, and was for a time president.

He was born in 1763, entered the traveling ministry in 1785, and died October 4, 1818. One inquired concerning his spiritual state when he was dying. He heroically replied, “God has laid me under marching orders, and I am ready to obey.”

Everywhere in the South the bishop’s visit was hailed with joy, and he preached almost every day.

The bishop and I went to Savannah and Augusta, and I preached in both places. I preached in German as well as English. Here I saw peach-trees in bloom, a great curiosity for December.

On the morning of December 16, about three o’clock, the house where we were was awfully shaken by an earthquake. This was repeated at eight o’clock as we were at our family devotions. Many people were much alarmed. The shock was felt very seriously in Columbia, so that some of the citizens ran out into the streets, supposing the houses would fall down.

We arrived at Camden, the seat of the conference, and were entertained by Samuel Mathis. The conference commenced on the twenty-first. Bishops Asbury and M’Kendree were present, and we had good tidings from almost every part of the work.

On Sunday morning Bishop M’Kendree preached from John iii, 18, 19, “He that believeth on him is not condemned,” etc. In the afternoon Bishop Asbury preached from 2 Chron. xiv, 7. On Thursday morning Learner Blackman preached from James v, 16. On Friday evening the conference adjourned. Such peace and love I have hardly ever seen in any conference. A goodly number were converted during the session.

There was a great increase during the year—three thousand three hundred and eighty. The bishops were in fine spirits, full of hope in regard to the future. Twelve were received into full connection and ordained deacons. They elected the following to the first delegated General Conference: Lewis Myers, Lovick Pierce, Joseph Tarpley, Daniel Asbury, William M. Kennedy, Samuel Dunwoody, James E. Glenn, Hilliard Judge, and Joseph Travis.

Leaving Camden we went to Charleston, thence to Georgetown, where we stopped with William Wayne, nephew of General Anthony Wayne. He was born in Wilmington in 1736. He was awakened by reading the writings of John Wesley, and was converted in his forty-seventh year under a sermon preached by Bishop Asbury in Georgetown. He and his wife joined in August, 1784, and this was the nucleus of the Methodist society in Georgetown.

The Virginia Conference was held in Richmond on February 20, 1812. This was the first time the conference had been held at the capital. On Sunday Bishop M’Kendree preached in the morning, and Dr. Jennings in the afternoon. On Wednesday Bishop Asbury preached from 2 Tim. ii, 1-7, on the faithfulness of ministers, their ability, their disentanglement from the world, their power of endurance, and their reward. Afterward he ordained the elders, and while he was performing the office in his solemn and impressive manner the work of revival broke out in the gallery, and quite a number were converted. I never before witnessed just such a scene in conference. I wrote: “O my soul, never forget the blessing received on this occasion.”

The conference made its first election for delegates to the General Conference, choosing Jesse Lee, Philip Bruce, John Buxton, Thomas L. Douglass, James Boyd, Richard Lattimore, Charles Callaway, C. H. Hines, William Jean, and John Early.

While at Richmond I visited the ruins of the theater that was burned the night of December 11, 1811. Just before the conclusion of the play the scenery caught fire, and the whole building was almost instantly wrapped in flames. I saw the staircase where the people crowded down the steps to escape, and falling one upon another, perished in a heap. There was a general gloom in the city, and the people were clad in mourning.

On the site of the theater they erected a house of worship, which they called “Monumental Church.” Indeed it was a monument of one of the saddest events that has occurred on our continent. It was an Episcopal church, and Bishop Moore was the rector. The remains of the unfortunate victims who perished were deposited in a marble urn, which stands in the front portico of the church, and therefore its name.

In the interval between the session of the Virginia and Baltimore Conferences, the bishop made a tour through the most interesting part of old Virginia. We went to James City, and he preached there; then to Williamsburgh, and on the 3d of March he preached in the venerable old State-house or capitol, in the afternoon, to a crowded audience; and I had the honor of holding forth in the evening from Heb. ii, 3, “How shall we escape,” etc. We lodged at Brother Ratcliff’s. This was the capital of Virginia before Richmond, and it is the oldest incorporated town in the state.

The old walls of the State-house in which we preached had echoed with the eloquence of Virginia’s greatest men. Here Patrick Henry made his first grand speech; and in this old house Henry exclaimed, in tones of thunder, “Cesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third—” (“Treason!” cried the Speaker; “treason, treason!” echoed from every part of the house)—Henry exclaimed, “may profit by his example. If this be treason, make the most of it.” It was in this edifice they returned thanks to George Washington for his services in the French and Indian war, and he rose to reply, and was so embarrassed he could say nothing; then the Speaker, Robinson, said, “Sit down, Mr. Washington; your modesty is equal to your valor, and that surpasses the power of any language that I possess.”

We then went to Elizabeth City County and preached at Hampton, the county seat, ninety-six miles from Richmond. Hampton is distinguished for its antiquity; its site was visited by Captain John Smith previous to the settlement in Jamestown. Old Point Comfort, on which Fortress Monroe stands, is two miles and a half from Hampton.

The bishop preached every day, going miles out of our direct route, visiting and confirming the Churches during the interval between the Virginia and Baltimore Conferences.

On Friday, March 20, the Baltimore Conference commenced its session in Leesburgh, Virginia. There were twelve ordained deacons, among others Beverly Waugh, afterward book agent, then bishop; Joseph Frye, of blessed memory, and James M. Hanson. They also elected their delegates to the first delegated conference, fifteen in number: Nelson Reed, Joseph Toy, Joshua Wells, Nicholas Snethen, Enoch George, Asa Shinn, Hamilton Jefferson, Jacob Gruber, Robert R. Roberts, William Ryland, Christopher Frye, James Smith, Robert Burch, Henry Smith, Andrew Hemphill. These were all men of mark; two afterward became bishops.

On Sabbath both Bishops Asbury and M’Kendree preached. Bishop Asbury ordained the deacons on Sunday, and the elders were ordained the next Wednesday, after an able sermon from Nicholas Snethen.