The GOSPEL TRUTH

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN REVIVALS

by

Frank G. Beardsley PH.D, S.T.D.

1912

Chapter 10

 

DENOMINATIONAL MOVEMENTS: THE METHODISTS.

 

In many respects the Methodists have contributed more to the revival history of our country than any other religious denomination. Although there were as yet no professional evangelists among them, they were emphatically evangelistic in their spirit and aims. Every Methodist minister was a flaming evangel to bear the gospel message, and the system under which he labored afforded the widest opportunity for the development of evangelistic gifts. The circuit to which he received appointment was large enough to occupy his entire time and strength, otherwise he might be called upon to assist brother ministers in the promotion of revivals. 

The early Methodists devoted their attention chiefly to the neglected classes, and to those sections of country which were destitute of religious privileges. They followed in the wake of pioneer settlers to the frontier regions and to the very outskirts of civilization. Wherever men and women were to be found who needed the gospel, thither these earnest preachers went to inaugurate the work of evangelization. 

The conditions of pioneer life were uninviting. Log cabins or huts, warmed by fire-places and illy furnished with the conveniences of life, constituted the homes of the people. Deerskin and coarse homespun cloth furnished the principal materials for wearing apparel, while the food was of the most simple variety and prepared in the most primitive manner. The hardships of such life were cheerfully entered into by these pioneers of the gospel. The only roads were bridle-paths, and often the only guides for the venturesome traveler were trees "blazedî with a hatchet blow to prevent him from being lost amid the interminable mazes of the forest. The bridgeless streams could only be crossed by fording. With a spirit of self-sacrifice which rivalled that of the apostolic age, the early advocates of Methodism resolutely set their faces to the task and plunged into the wilderness to carry the gospel light to these distant and scattered settlements. 

Not only were these pioneer evangelists confronted with the hardships of frontier life, but they were brought face to face with a religious destitution, which has since known no parallel in American history. As widespread in its influence as was the Awakening of 1800, many of the remote settlements were entirely destitute of the stated services of religion. Exceptions there were to be sure, in those communities which had been settled by colonies from New England or the Middle States, where the colonists had brought with them the customary and time-honored institutions of religion. These exceptions, however, but emphasized the needs and made apparent the moral destitution, which prevailed over wide areas of territory within the interior of a growing empire. A glimpse only at these conditions is all that we can attempt. 

Rev. Jacob Young who went to Illinois in 1804 said, "The bulk of the people are given up to wickedness of every kind. Of all places this is the worst for stealing, fighting and lying." 

Detroit, Mich., was spoken of in 1804 as a most "abandoned place." That same year Rev. Nathan Bangs, who afterwards rose to prominence in the M. E. Church, preached there. A Congregational missionary, who had preached in the city until only a few children came to hear him, bade him Godspeed and wished him success saying, "If you can succeed, which I very much doubt, I shall rejoice." But he did not succeed, nor was any Protestant church organized in the territory of Michigan until 1810, when a Methodist Church was organized at Monroe, but it had a short existence, and no permanent organization was effected until 1815.  

Rev. E. B. Bowman, who went to New Orleans in 1805, said of Baton Rouge and the country along the way: "When I reached the city I was much disappointed in finding but a few American people there, and a majority of that few may be truly called beasts of men. The Lord's day is the day of general rant in this city. Public balls are held, traffic of every kind is carried on, public sales, wagons running, and drums beating; and thus is the Sabbath spent. -- I reached the Opelousas country, and the next day I reached the Catholic Church. I was surprised to see race-paths at the church door. Here I found a few Americans, who were swearing with almost every breath; and when I reproved them they told me that the priest swore as hard as they did. They said he would play cards and dance with them every Sunday evening after mass; and strange to tell, he keeps a race-horse and practices every abomination."*

*Dorchester's Christianity in the U. S., p. 381.

In 1813 Rev. Samuel J. Mills, the father of American missions, spent Sunday in a Kentucky town having a population of two or three thousand without being able to gather a congregation to listen to a sermon from the Word of God. 

In 1820 Rev. Jesse Walker visited St. Louis in the interests of Methodism, and with two companions was unable to find lodgings. Some laughed at them, while others cursed them. Leaving the city in despair and having bidden adieu to his companions, he thus solloquized: "Was I ever defeated before in this blessed work? Never. Did any one ever trust in the Lord Jesus and get confounded? No; and by the grace of God I will go back and take St. Louis." He went back, but it proved no easy task to "take" the city. There were but a handful of Protestant Christians, mostly Baptists, in the city. The inhabitants were wicked and dissipated, and it was a well-nigh hopeless problem to reach them. 

As late as 1830, of some portions of the West it was said that a person "might travel hundreds of miles and in vain look for a temple dedicated to Jehovah, or a preacher of the gospel to break the bread of life to its perishing inhabitants. The consequence is that many of them, in regard to religious information, are approaching a state but little better than heathenism." The Middle West and South especially were in a destitute condition. A Baptist minister in Ohio wrote, "We visit whole neighborhoods sometimes where there has not been a sermon preached for ten or fifteen years." 

Truly the Methodist Church "had come to the kingdom for such a time as this." "The Methodists," says Bancroft, "came in an age of tranquility when the feeling for that which is higher than man had grown dull; and they claimed it as their mission to awaken conscience, to revive religion, to substitute glowing affections for the calm of indifference. They stood in the mountain forests of the Alleghenies and in the plains beyond them, ready to kindle in the emigrants, who might come without h5min book or Bible, their own vivid sense of religion."*

*Bancroft's History of the Constitution, p. 164.

The genius of the denomination was remarkably well adapted to the conditions then prevailing. By means of its itinerant system several communities could enjoy the ministrations of a single preacher. Beyond all question, the circuit system was the strength of early Methodism. From his conference the preacher would receive an appointment to a circuit with perhaps no meeting house nor any of the adjuncts of worship. The circuit was composed of classes and preaching appointments. These classes met from time to time under the leadership of a layman, and together with the stated visits of the circuit-rider, as the preacher was called, often constituted the only religious privileges of the community. At some of his preaching appointments the preacher possibly would find no professors of religion, but this would be considered no insuperable obstacle. Under the influence of his plain and pungent preaching he would expect soon to have an "interest" and realize the fruitage of his labors in the conversions which were almost sure to follow. The converts were enrolled in classes and the most capable persons were selected as class-leaders, whose duty it was to conduct class meetings at stated times and to exercise the oversight of the infant organization during the absence of the "preacher-in-charge." 

On almost every circuit were to be found "exhorters" who were authorized to exercise their gifts in public speaking, and "local preachers," the latter of whom either were so licensed on account of their gifts or else they had formerly been circuit-riders, who had retired from the active service. Early in the nineteenth century a circuit-rider's salary was limited to eighty dollars per year, but the great majority of preachers were seldom able to collect their full allowance and many considered themselves fortunate if they received one-half of the stipulated amount. Thus it came about that the early preachers of Methodism were chiefly young and unmarried men. Few of them cared to devote themselves to a life of celibacy. When, therefore, they took unto themselves helpmates and children began to multiply, the itinerancy was too unremunerative to furnish adequate support, in consequence of which many retired from the active service and became "local preachers," among whom were some of the most able men in the denomination. They did not consider themselves relieved thereby from the duty of preaching, but held themselves in readiness to respond to the call of the church, without compensation, for the discharge of such duties as they, in conjunction with their customary occupations, were able to perform. Thus within the bounds of almost every circuit was to be found a supply of lay-workers, upon whom the "preacher-in-charge" could depend for assistance in protracted efforts or to fill his appointments when the interest constrained him to concentrate his energies for a time in a particular locality. The assistance thus rendered was often of the most efficient character. 

The circuits of the early preachers were often large, sometimes extending over hundreds of miles of territory and requiring from four to six weeks of almost incessant traveling, generally on horseback, to make the rounds of the circuit and to preach at the various appointments. The following description of one of these early circuits traveled by Rev. Alfred Brunson, in 1822-1823, will afford a fair idea of the arduous tasks imposed upon the early itinerants: 

"It extended to all the white settlements of the territory (Michigan), except the one at St. Mary's, the outlet of Lake Superior, which was perhaps hardly white. From Detroit we went north to Pontiac, then but a small village. From thence we went down the upper Huron, now the Clinton River, to Mount Clemens, and thence down Lake St. Clair and river to Detroit, and thence again to the river Rouse, and up that stream some seven miles to the upper settlement, thence back to the river and lake road, and on to the Maumee at the foot of the rapids, and thence right back on the lake road fifty-eight miles to Detroit. It required four weeks to get round, though we had but twelve appointments."*

* Dorchester's Christianity in the U. S., p. 389. 

As early as 1792 these circuits had been grouped together into districts, which were placed under the supervision of presiding elders. The presiding eldership is a function peculiar to Methodism and was practically indispensable to the early growth of the church. When it is remembered that large numbers of the early preachers of Methodism were young and inexperienced men without the advantages of a theological education, numbers of whom were unordained and too often with a zeal "not according to knowledge," we can see how essential it was to the success of the denomination, that they should be placed under the supervision of judicious and experienced men, who could temper their zeal, correct their mistakes and help them in the development of those capacities which would be of the largest usefulness in the evangelization of the communities to which they had been sent. Moreover had it not been for the presiding eldership, many of the infant churches of Methodism would have been destitute of the sacraments and ordinances of religion. The presiding elders were expected to visit the circuits under their charge quarterly, for the purpose of administering the Lord's supper and exercising ecclesiastical supervision over the same. If the preacher-in-charge was an unordained man, as was not infrequently the case, the presiding elder was expected to baptize any recent converts who had been made and receive them into the church. The services conducted on these visits were called "Quarterly Meetings" and not infrequently became the occasion for evangelistic effort under the direction of the presiding elder. 

At the head of the entire itinerant system were the bishops or superintendents, as they were at first called. Of these there were originally two, Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke, D.C.L., who were appointed to this office by John Wesley. Bishop Coke did not remain permanently in this country, and although others were subsequently elected to the episcopate, up to the time of his death Asbury was not only the leading spirit of his denomination, but the entire oversight of the church was practically in his hands. He was the typical evangelist of early Methodism in America. For more than forty years, both before and including his bishopric, he made lengthy itinerations throughout the country. The whole region then embraced within the United States comprised his parish. From Maine to Georgia on the seacoast, and across the Alleghanies into Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and even to Indiana he traveled in the discharge of his duties, involving an aggregate of over six thousand miles on horseback every year. He presided over conferences, annual and general, ordained ministers, and with the aid of presiding elders, appointed them to their circuits. Like a skillful general he marshalled his hosts to victory. Much of the success of Methodism in this country is attributable to his conspicuous abilities as an administrator and leader of men. In addition to administrative abilities he was a preacher and evangelist of unusual power. To the multitudes in the shady groves of pioneer settlements he proclaimed the "unsearchable riches of Christ," and to crowded auditories in the cities he "shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God." All classes alike were moved by his preaching and it was said of him that perhaps no other man in the country ever received so many into the church on confession of faith as he. During the later years of his life his enfeebled condition compelled him to travel by carriage, but he still continued to preach daily. When unable to stand, his attendants would carry him in their arms from his carriage to the waiting assembly and he would preach in a sitting posture. March 24, 1816, he preached his last sermon at Richmond, Va., while on his way to Baltimore to attend the general conference, which he hoped once more to meet, but his desire was never realized. He journeyed on to Spottsylvania, where, literally worn out with his long and arduous labors, he passed away, at the age of seventy-one, on March 31. 

It was this distinctly articulated system of church government, with its sharply defined functions from class leader to bishop, that enabled the apostles and evangelists of Methodism to push their conquests and gather their harvests in such a way as to make permanent and lasting the results of their work. Of course it was not the system alone that produced these tremendous results. The system alone would have been a vain thing. But it was the system combined with a religious fervor and an evangelistic zeal, such as no age since the apostolic has witnessed, that made possible the marvellous triumphs, the rapid growth and the wonderful progress of the Methodist Church. 

During this early period camp-meetings were of frequent occurrence. 1799 is the commonly accepted date for the origin of camp-meetings. This camp-meeting, held on the bank of the Red River, Ky., was under the joint auspices of the Methodists and Presbyterians. Two brothers, Rev. John Magee and Rev. William Magee, the former a Methodist and the latter a Presbyterian, and Rev. Mr. Hodges, also a Presbyterian, united in a sacramental meeting. So large was the attendance and so great was the interest that the assembly adjourned to a grove near by, where a rude pulpit and stand were erected from which the ministers preached alternately. 

While this doubtless was the origin of campmeetings west of the mountains, there is evidence of similar meetings in North Carolina at an earlier period. In 1791 and 1794 there were camp-meetings in Lincoln County, N. C, attended both by Presbyterians and Methodists. In 1795 a union meeting was conducted at Bethel, N. C, where hundreds were converted. These camp-meetings grew in favor among the Methodists, but soon were repudiated by the Presbyterians on account of the excitements which they engendered. There were abuses no doubt, but as a means for bringing out a scattered pioneer population, it is difficult to conceive how a more effective measure could have been designed. For miles around the whole population would turn out to the number of thousands, and brought thus within the influence of plain and pungent preaching conversions were numerous. Not only in the western settlements and the South, but in staid New England and the Eastern States, camp-meetings found favor with the friends and advocates of Methodism. From 1810 to 1830 such gatherings multiplied rapidly, resulting in the addition of thousands of members to the denomination in various parts of the country. In 1820 a series of remarkable camp-meetings was conducted in Tennessee and the West. That year nearly two thousand members were added to the Nashville district as the result of such efforts. These meetings brought out the most able of evangelistic preachers, while the novelty of such services awakened the curiosity of the people and drew an attendance from all classes, including the most godless and irreligious. As not infrequently happens under such circumstances, many "who came to scoff remained to pray."  

The Methodists were the first to make use of the "anxious seat," as a means of bringing out inquirers. During the winter of 1806-1807 there was a remarkable revival in New York City, which resulted in the accession of more than four hundred members to the M. E. Church. So large were the congregations and so difficult did it become to pray and converse with seekers, that it became necessary to invite them forward to the front seats, which were vacated for the purpose. The measure commended itself to many, so that it not only came into general usage among the Methodists, but was widely employed by other evangelical denominations and continues to be an effective revival measure to the present day. 

The early Methodist revivals, especially the camp-meetings, were often very demonstrative and were attended with physical effects the psychology of which is difficult of explanation. Outcries, faintings, trances, hysterical laughter and weeping, shrieking, and "falling under the power of God" were not unusual. A widespread form of such manifestation was known as the "jerks," which Peter Cartwright described as follows: 

"No matter whether they were saints or sinners, they would be taken under a warm song or sermon, and seized with a convulsive jerking all over, which they could not by any possibility avoid, and the more they resisted the more they jerked. If they would not strive against it and pray in good earnest, the jerking would usually abate. I have seen more than five hundred persons jerking at once in my large congregations. Most usually persons taken with the jerks, to obtain relief, as they said, would rise up and dance. Some would run, but could not get away. Some would resist; on such the jerks were generally very severe." 

"To see those proud young gentlemen and young ladies, dressed in their silks, jewelry, and prunella, from top to toe, would often excite my risibilities. The first jerk or so, you would see their fine bonnets, capes, and combs fly; and so sudden would be the jerking of the head that their long loose hair would crack almost as loud as a wagoner's whip. . . . There is no doubt in my mind that, with weak-minded, ignorant, and superstitious persons, there was a great deal of sympathetic feeling with many that claimed to be under the influence of this jerking exercise; and yet, with many it was perfectly involuntary. It was on all occasions my practice to recommend fervent prayer as a remedy, and it almost universally proved an effectual antidote."*

* Autobiography, pp. 48-51. 

Dr. Buckley finds the psychological key to such phenomena in concentrated attention accompanied by strong religious emotion, which finds expression in various ways according to the constitution of the subject. Some find relief in tears or hysterical laughter, others by becoming unconscious or losing control of the muscles of the body, while still others become possessed of an unusual calmness. The prevalence of any of these types in a particular locality at a given time he ascribes to a sympathetic feeling and also to the fact that their subjects often attribute to them a divine or necessary origin.

Cf . Buckley's History of the Methodists, pp. 218, 219.

In order to comprehend the success of early Methodism, we must not only be familiar with the system under which the denomination labored, the means employed, and the manner in which the subjects of their revivals were affected, but we must also have some understanding of the men, who were the instruments of this mighty work and these mighty results. 

The early Methodist pioneers, who carried the message of salvation to the Western and Southern wilds were destitute of the advantages of college or theological training. The settlers into whose cabins they went, themselves were without the advantages of schools or education, so that liberally educated men were not absolutely necessary to reach them, nor would they have reached them unless they had entered sympathetically into the conditions amid which the pioneers lived. The early itinerants adjusted themselves to the conditions of the people, so that they were fitted, although illiterate, to save and uplift the hardy pioneers on the outskirts of civilization. Experience was their chief teacher and their efforts were under the direction of a presiding elder. Often a young preacher would be placed on a large circuit to assist a man of extended experience. In this way the young preachers had the personal oversight and sympathy of men of large and varied experience. In this manner also the young minister would receive the most valuable help in the development of those powers which would make him increasingly useful in the work of the ministry. The lack of education was thus supplied, imperfectly perhaps, and yet many of these self-trained and self-educated men would have been a credit to any denomination, not only on account of their soul-winning capacities, but because of the truly conspicuous abilities which they displayed. 

The one indispensable characteristic, which more than all else contributed to make these men what they were, was a consuming zeal for the salvation of men. It was this passion for souls which influenced them to withstand peril and suffer hardship, from which most men would have shrunk. Wherever they went they considered it a priceless privilege to proclaim the gospel of Christ. If they were cordially received it was taken as an evidence of God's favor. If, on the other hand, they were subjected to ridicule and unkind treatment, it was esteemed as a token that God was with them, for were they not taught that they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution? A single ambition inspired them and that was to lead sinning men to One who had power to blot out their transgressions and enkindle within them the divine ideals of a new life. They preached the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, emphasizing repentance, regeneration, justification by faith, and "holiness without which no man should see the Lord." The prevailing type of their theology was Arminian, but as Professor Fisher has said, it was Arminianism on fire. Through it all burned this unquenchable zeal for the salvation of men. Every possible opportunity was embraced that this end might be attained, with results which often were astounding. 

Of this we have a remarkable example in an experience of Peter Cartwright, the pioneer preacher. He was returning from a session of the General Conference and night had overtaken him in the Cumberland Mountains. He arrived at an inn and sought entertainment, but was told that they were to have a dance there that evening. On receiving assurance of civil treatment he decided to remain. He sat quietly musing as the dance went on and longed for an opportunity to preach to the people. Finally he was approached by a mountain beauty and invited to become her partner in the dance. Without consideration he resolved on a desperate experiment, and together they took the floor. As the fiddler started to put his instrument in order, Cartwright requested him to hold a moment and then stated to the company that for years he had never taken a step of any importance without first asking the blessing of God upon it, and he desired to ask God's blessing upon the beautiful young woman and upon all that company for the kindness shown to an entire stranger. Grasping the young lady's hand and dropping on his knees he began to pray in real Methodist fashion for the conversion of that company. Some fled, others wept and still others fell upon their knees. The young woman tried to get away, but so tightly did he hold her in his grasp that she fell upon her knees also. Having finished his prayer he arose and commenced to exhort, after which he sang a hymn. The young woman who had invited him to dance lay prostrate crying for mercy. Thus he continued to pray, sing and exhort all night, and a number were converted. He remained a day or two longer with remarkable results. On his departure he organized a society, receiving thirty-two into membership, and made arrangements to send them a preacher. The landlord was appointed class leader, and a powerful revival which spread throughout all that region grew out of this singular circumstance. Said Cartwright: "Several of the young men converted at this Methodist preacher dance became useful ministers of Jesus Christ." 

The membership as well as the ministry were intensely interested in the promotion of revivals. Converted as they were in revivals it was but natural that they should labor for such seasons of refreshing. They rendered the most loyal and faithful assistance to their pastors at such times, and instances are not wanting where revivals commenced and were carried on through the unaided efforts of the laity. This intense interest in revivals made the early history of Methodism one continuous record of revival. Each revival, as the news spread, would give an impulse to revivals elsewhere, so that the work would extend from community to community and from settlement to settlement until a wide scope of territory would be embraced by the movement.

 In addition to the revivals which were the outcome of their own efforts, the Methodists shared in the great revival movements of the period. For example, during the great Boston revival of 1841-1842, when under the preaching of Knapp, Finney, Kirk and others, more than four thousand members were added to the evangelical churches of the city, the Methodists received over twelve hundred members on probation. But if the Methodists shared in the great revival movements of the period, it must be said that other denominations shared in the revivals of Methodism. In all probability the accessions to the various denominations from this source were many times larger than the accessions to the Methodist churches from the other great revivals of the time. 

Unless we except the eccentric Lorenzo Dow, during the first half of the nineteenth century there was but a single evangelist in the common acceptance of the term throughout the Methodist communion. In 1840 Rev. James Caughey, a member of the Troy Conference, believing that he had been called to do the work of an evangelist, asked to be relieved from the duties of the pastorate. After laboring in Montreal and the Province of Quebec, he went to Great Britain, where he spent several years in the chief cities of Ireland and England. It was during this campaign that there came under his influence a young lad who was led thereby to become a soul winner himself, and that young lad has since been known to the world as General William Booth of the Salvation Army. In the revivals conducted by Caughey in Great Britain it was estimated that twenty thousand persons were converted. Returning to America in 1848, he labored in New York City, Albany, Providence, Lowell, Fall River, and many other places throughout the United States and Canada, with excellent results. Mr. Caughey was described as plain in appearance, simple in manner, straightforward in action -- never presuming and never out of place. He was not a great orator in the usual acceptance of the term, but there was something about his simple and direct presentation of the truth that riveted the attention of men and turned their thoughts to the important concerns of the soul, so that wherever he went men were soon led to inquire the way of salvation. He was a man of prayer and intense earnestness. He presented not only the invitations of the gospel but the threatenings of the law. Holiness or sanctification was one of his fundamental teachings, the necessity of which he sought to impress upon all Christian hearts. The methods which he employed and the doctrines which he enforced were not dissimilar to those which prevailed throughout his denomination. 

At a little later period Rev. William Taylor, afterwards Bishop, after a thrilling experience as a missionary in the newly discovered gold fields of California, entered the evangelistic field and was successful in winning multitudes to Christ. Since that time evangelists have by no means been uncommon among the Methodists. Of evangelistic preachers there never has been any lack and these men, in the early days of the denomination, were instrumental in the conversion of a great multitude, whom no man can number. Of Peter Cartwright it was said that during his more than sixty years' experience as a circuit rider and presiding elder, ten thousand souls were converted under his ministry and more than twenty thousand were received into the church. Other examples, less conspicuous perhaps, might be mentioned but space forbids. 

As a result of the numerous revivals of early Methodism the growth of the denomination during this period was truly marvelous. Much of the West and South was saved to Christianity. Other denominations to be sure had a share in the evangelization of these sections, but the chief glory, beyond all question, belongs to the Methodists. 

During the latter portion of the first half of the century, the M. E. Church became divided, chiefly on account of the slavery question. The controversies and bitterness thus engendered, retarded the work of the church and added to the religious stagnation which had settled down upon the country.

 

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