Nathan Bangs · 8 of 23

Chapter 5. From the Close of the General Conference of 1800, to the End of the Year 1803. · Part 1

Having, in the preceding chapter, detailed the doings of the General Conference of 1800, we will return to the annual conferences, and endeavor to give an account of the work of God in the various parts of their extensive fields of labor. This year and the two following were eminently distinguished for the outpouring of the Spirit of God, and the enlargement of his work in various directions. The heavens and the earth, indeed, appeared to be shaken by the mighty power of God, and very many sinners were brought to feel their need of Christ, to seek and to find him as their only Saviour.

It seems that during the session of the General Conference much good had been done by the public and private labors of the preachers; and as they separated with much harmony of feeling, the Spirit of God wrought by their means in many of the places where they were stationed the present year.

During the conference, a work of God commenced in that section of Baltimore called Old Town. Meetings were held here in private houses, which were attended by some of the preachers while not engaged in the business of the conference, by which means several souls were brought to the knowledge of the truth. From this beginning, the work spread in different directions though the city, in the churches as well as in private houses. Such a glorious work had not been seen in Baltimore for several years, and the old professors were much excited and encouraged at beholding their children and neighbors coming into the fold of Christ.

About two weeks after the adjournment of the General Conference, an annual conference was held at Duck Creek Cross Roads, where many of the young converts, and some of the more experienced Christians from Baltimore, came for the purpose of attending the meetings. Here the Lord wrought powerfully. While the members of the conference were transacting their business in a private house, some of the younger traveling and some local preachers were almost constantly engaged in preaching to the people exhorting and praying with them; and such was the intenseness with which they pursued their work, that at the church, the meeting was held without intermission for forty-five hours. Often, during these meetings, the voice of the preacher was drowned either by the cries of the distressed or the shouts of the redeemed.

As these effects were new to many, they at first looked on with silent astonishment, until, before they were fully aware of it, both saints and sinners would be seized with a shaking and trembling, and finally prostrated helpless upon the floor. The result of these exercises was, that not less than one hundred and fifty souls were converted to God during the session of the Conference. Such a time of “refreshing from the presence of the Lord" had never before been witnessed in that part of the country.

From this the work spread with great rapidity though the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and into the lower counties of the state of Delaware, bowing, in its course, the hearts of many stubborn sinners, who were brought to God by faith in Jesus Christ. Both preachers and people, in whose hearts the fire of Divine love had been kindled at these meetings, carried the sacred flame with them wherever they went, and thousands have doubtless praised God and are now praising him for the consolations of that blessed revival of godliness. It continued, indeed, to extend its hallowing influence on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and in some other places, through the remainder of the summer.

As the result of this glorious work in the little village of Duck Creek, no less than one hundred and seventeen persons joined the Church.

Nor was the revival confined to this part of the country. In Philadelphia, in various circuits in the vicinity of Baltimore, in the state of Vermont, in some portions of Canada, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, the Spirit of the Lord was poured out, and many, very many, sinners were brought to the knowledge of the truth. It seems, indeed, that most of the preachers had received a new baptism of the holy Spirit — like that which had been showered upon Calvin Wooster, and others in Canada, the preceding year; and wherever they went they carried the holy fire with them, and God wrought wonders by their instrumentality. But the most remarkable work was going on in the western country.

Last year, 1799, was distinguished for the commencement of those great revivals of religion in the western country, which introduced the practice of holding “camp meetings.” And as these revivals were characterized by signal displays of the power and grace of God, and eventuated in the conversion or thousands of souls, it will naturally be expected that a particular account should be given of their rise and progress.

This work commenced under the united labors of two brothers by the name of McGee, one a Presbyterian and the other a Methodist preacher. The former, who had preached for some time in North Carolina and in the Houston country, moved into West Tennessee in the year 1796 or 1797, and in 1798 was settled over a congregation in Sumner county. In the year 1798, he latter, John McGee, moved into West Tennessee, and settled in Smith county. Though belonging to different denominations, those doctrines and usages by which each was distinguished from the other by no means interrupted the harmony of brotherly love. Hence they cordially united in their meetings, and strengthened each other’s hands in the work of the Lord.

In the year 1799 they set off on a tour though what was called the “Barrens,” toward the state of Ohio, and on their way they stopped at a settlement on the Red River, to attend a sacramental occasion in the congregation under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Mr. McGready, a Presbyterian minister. On being introduced to him, Mr. John McGee was invited to preach, with which he complied; and he preached with great liberty and power. He was followed by his brother, the Presbyterian minister, and the Rev. Mr. Hoge, whose preaching produced such a powerful effect that tears in abundance attested that the people felt the force of the truths delivered. While Mr. Hoge was preaching, a woman in the congregation was so powerfully wrought upon that she broke through all restraint, and shouted forth the praises of God aloud. Such was the movement among the people, evidently under the impulses of the divine Spirit, that, though Messrs. McGready, Hoge, and Rankins, Presbyterian ministers, left the house, the two yoke-fellows, the McGees, continued in their places watching the “movement of the waters.” William McGee soon felt such a power come over him that he, not seeming to know what he did, left his seat and sat down on the floor, while John sat trembling under a consciousness of the power of God. In the meantime there were great solemnity and weeping all over the house. He was expected to preach, but instead of that he arose and told the people that the overpowering nature of his feelings would not allow of his preaching, but as the Lord was evidently among them, he earnestly exhorted the people to surrender their hearts to him. Sobs and cries bespoke the deep feeling which pervaded the hearts of the people.

This great and unusual work so excited the attention of the people that they came in crowds from the surrounding country, to inquire what these things meant; and this was the beginning of that great revival of religion in the western country which introduced camp meetings. The people came with horses and wagons, bringing provisions and bedding, and others built temporary huts or tents, while all, Presbyterians Baptists, and Methodists, united together in prayer, exhortation, and preaching, exerting all their energies to forward this good work.

The good effects resulting from this meeting, thus casually, or rather providentially convened, induced them to appoint another on Muddy River, and then another on what was called the Ridge. Here a vast concourse of people assembled under the foliage of the trees, and continued their religious exercises day and night. This novel way of worshipping God excited great attention. In the night the grove was illuminated with lighted candles, lamps, or torches. This, together with the stillness of the night, the solemnity which rested on every countenance, the pointed and earnest manner with which the preachers exhorted the people to repentance, prayer, and faith, produced the most awful sensations in the minds of all present. While some were exhorting, others crying for mercy, and some shouting the praises of God in the assembly, numbers were retired in secluded places in the grove, pouring out the desire of their wounded spirits in earnest prayer. It often happened that these were liberated from their sins, and their hearts filled with joy and gladness while thus engaged in their solitary devotions; and then they would come into the encampment and declare what God had done for their souls. This information, communicated to their brethren in the artless simplicity of “new born souls would produce a thrill of joy which could hardly be suppressed: and thus they reciprocated with each other in their sorrows and joys, and excited one another to the exercise of faith in the promises of God, and to perseverance in the good work.

The result of this last meeting was, according to the best estimate which could be made, the conversion of not less than one hundred souls.

A still greater meeting of the same character was held soon after on Desha’s Creek, near the Cumberland River. Among the many thousands of people who attended this extraordinary meeting, many, very many, were made partakers of the grace of life. It is said by an eye witness, who himself largely participated of these solemn exercises, that at these meetings the people fell under the power of the word, “like corn before a storm of wind,” and that many who were thus slain, “arose from the dust with divine glory beaming upon their countenances,” and then praised God in such strains of heartfelt gratitude as caused the hearts of sinners to tremble within them. But no sooner had this first feeling of ecstasy subside than those young converts began to exhort their relatives and neighbors to turn to God and live. And truly it was difficult to resist the power of their words, for they spoke of what they felt, and their words were sharper than a “two-edged sword,” piercing the heart, and extorting the cry, “What shall I do to be saved?"

Many of these were children of praying parents, and though uneducated, they spoke with a power and eloquence which “confounded the wisdom of the learned,” and extorted the confession from many an unhumbled Pharisee, that “God was with them of a truth.”

Among others who were brought to the knowledge of the truth at this meeting, was John Alexander Granade, who after an exercise of mind for a considerable time bordering on despair, came forth a “burning and shining light,” as a the advocate for the cause of Christ. He soon became distinguished among his brethren as the “western poet,” and the “Pilgrims’ Songs" were among the most popular hymns which were sung at those camp meetings, and perhaps became the fruitful source whence singing the numerous ditties with which the Church was, for some time, almost deluged. These songs, though thy possessed but little of the spirit of poetry, and therefore added nothing to true intellectual taste, served to excite the feelings of devotion, and keep alive that spirit of excitement which characterized the worshippers in those assemblies. Both Granade and Caleb Jarvis Taylor contributed much by their energetic labors to fan the flame of piety which had been kindled up in the hearts of the people in that country.

It is not to be supposed that these meetings went on without opposition. This would be calculating too favorably of human nature in its present state of moral perversity. Not only the openly profane, the nonprofessor of godliness, but many of those who “had a name to live, but were dead,” as well as some whose piety was unquestionable, looked on these meetings and beheld these strange exercises with mingled emotions of pity and abhorrence. The natural enmity of the carnal mind, in the first, mingled with the pride of philosophy of the second, and the prejudices of religious education, alloyed with some portion of religious bigotry in the third, created, altogether, a formidable array of opposition, which showed itself in all the variety of ways which the peculiarity of views and feelings in the above characters might dictate. Some would scoff, others would philosophize, while the latter would dogmatize in no stinted terms of religious intolerance, while they beheld those manifestations of what the friends of the cause justly believed to be the power and grace of God.

But there was one argument which silenced them all. Often those very persons who were most violent in their opposition, most vociferous in their hard speeches against what they denominated “wild fire,” would become so warmed by its heat, that their hearts were melted within them, and “falling down on their faces, they would worship God, and report that God was in them of a truth.” This argument was irresistible. It was demonstration. And many such were presented during the progress of these meetings. In such cases, those who before had been blasphemers, and mockers, persecutors, and bigoted dogmatizers, were not only struck dumb, but the “tongue of the dumb was made to sing,” and those very opposers of the work became the living witnesses for its divine and genuine character, and stood forth as its bold and fearless defenders.

In the meantime the numbers attending these meetings were continually increased, — some from a sincere desire to be benefited; others were attracted from curiosity, and not a few from motives of speculation, to arm themselves with arguments of resistance to their progress. What tended not a little to give them notoriety, and to excite the public attention toward them, was, the newspapers of the day were teeming with accounts of these camp meetings, some in favor and some against them — and all, whether friends or foes, were eager to gratify their curiosities, or benefit their soul, by becoming eye and ear witnesses of the manner in which they were conducted.

Accordingly, in 1801 the numbers who attended those which were held in Kentucky were immense, some as occasional visitors, and others as residents on the ground through the progress of the meetings. The numbers varied, of course, according to the density or sparsity of the population in their immediate neighborhoods; and they have been estimated from three to twenty thousand. At one held in Cabbin Creek a Presbyterian minister who was present, and zealously engaged in promoting its objects, estimated the number at not less than twenty thousand.

Though at this meeting the Methodists appeared to be the most actively engaged in the work, yet some of the Presbyterian brethren engaged heartily with them, while, others stood aloof, not knowing what judgment to form of it. Being, however, encouraged by the example of others, many of them united with zealous hearts in the cause, and at this great meeting the Methodists and Presbyterians joined their forces to push forward the work, and they seemed to bear down all opposition. The scene is represented as being indescribably awful! An eye witness thus writes concerning it: —

Few, if any, escaped without being affected. Such as tried to run from it, were frequently struck on the way, or impelled by some alarming signal to return. No circumstance at this meeting appeared more striking than the great number that fell on the third night; and to prevent their being trodden under foot by the multitude, they were collected together and laid out in order, or on two squares of the meeting house, till a considerable part of the floor was covered. But the great meeting at Cane Ridge exceeded all. The number that fell at this meeting was reckoned at about three thousand, among whom were several Presbyterian ministers, who, according to their own confession, had hitherto possessed only a speculative knowledge of religion. Here the formal professor, the deist, and the intemperate, met with one common lot, and confessed, with equal candor, that they were destitute of the true knowledge of God, and strangers to the religion of Jesus Christ.”

In consequence of such a vast assemblage of people, it was impossible for any one voice to reach the whole of them with intelligible language: hence they were divined into several groups, and addressed by as many different speakers, while the whole grove, at times, became vocal with the praises of God, and at other times pierced with the cries of distressed penitent sinners. As before said, the scene was peculiarly awful at night. The range of the tents — the fires reflecting lights though the branches of the trees — the candles and lamps illuminating the entire encampment — hundreds of immortal beings moving to and fro — some preaching — some praying for mercy, and others praising God from a sense of his pardoning mercy — all these things presented a scene indescribably awful and affecting.

As an instance of the manner in which some of those who attended these meetings from a sportive disposition were arrested and brought to a better state of mind, the following is related: — A gentleman and a lady, of some standing in the gay circles of life, attended the above meeting with a vow to divert and amuse themselves at the expense of those whom they considered as deluded with a strange infatuation. With these thoughts they agreed that if one of them should fall the other should not desert him or her. They had not been long on the ground before the woman fell! The merry gentleman, instead of keeping his promise, frightened at the sight of his female friend on the ground, fled with great precipitancy. He did not, however, proceed more than two hundred yards, before he also was prostrate upon the ground, and was soon surrounded by a praying multitude.

In 1801 this work was greatly aided by the energetic labors of the Rev. William McKendree (afterward bishop) who was this year appointed to the Kentucky district. Having been in the midst of the revivals in the lower part of the state, and having his soul fired with the sacred flame which was burning with such intensity among the people, he went up into the center of the settlements and carried the tidings among them of what God was doing by means of those extraordinary meetings. His congregations, composed chiefly of Methodists and Presbyterians, were powerfully affected when he gave them, at the conclusion of his sermon, an animated account of the commencement and progress of this work. It is said that while he held up before them the truths of the gospel, intermixed with narrations of the work of God at these meetings, his whole soul seemed to be filled with glory and with God,” and that his very countenance beamed with brightness. While he related with artless simplicity, and with glowing warmth, the manner in which God wrought upon the souls of the people, the many happy conversions which had been witnessed, and the astonishing effects which attended the preaching of God’s word, the hearts of God’s people begin to beat in unison with his own, while sinners were weeping in every direction under the melting influence of the Spirit of God.

By this means these same meetings were introduced into the center of the state, and spread though all the settlements in the western country; and such was the eagerness of the people to attend, that the roads were literally crowded with those that were pressing their way to the groves; so much so that entire neighborhoods would be forsaken, for a season, of their inhabitants. And as the Methodists and Presbyterians were generally united together in these meetings, they took the name of “General Camp Meetings.” By these means they spread all through Tennessee, Kentucky, and some parts of Ohio, carrying with them fire and destruction into the enemy’s territories, and bowing the hearts of God’s people as the heart of one man to the yoke of Jesus Christ. Of their subsequent progress, and the influence they have exerted on society, I need not here speak, as these things are known to all.

Among the traveling preachers who entered into this work in those days, we may mention William Burke, John Sale, Benjamin Lakin, and Henry Smith, with a number of others, whose zealous efforts contributed greatly to spread the gospel in these new settlements. Mr. McKendree was the life and soul of this army of itinerants. Wherever he went, both by precept and example, he aroused the lukewarm to diligence, confirmed those who stood in the faith, and alarmed the fears of careless sinners by his powerful appeals to their consciences. By his means many local preachers who had moved into the country were induced to forsake their secular employments, and enter the ranks of the itinerancy, and they became powerful instruments of extending the revivals though the land. Despising alike the luxuries of life, and the frowns or flatteries of the world, they went forth under the banners of truth, everywhere proclaiming in the ears of the people that they must “fear God and give glory to his name, for the hour of his judgment is come.”

It will be seen by the preceding remarks that these camp meetings were not the result of a previously digested plan, but like every other peculiarity of Methodism, were introduced by providential occurrences, and were embraced and followed up by God’s servants because they found them subservient to the grand design they had in view, namely, the salvation of the world by Jesus Christ. Indeed, they did not originate with the Methodist, but upon a sacramental occasion among the Presbyterians, at which time there was such a remarkable outpouring of the Divine Spirit in the people as inclined them to protract their exercises to an unusual period; and then this being noised abroad brought others to the place, and finally so many that no house could hold them; this induced them to go into the field, and erect temporary shelters for themselves, and to bring provision for their sustenance; and finding that God so abundantly blessed them in these meetings, they were led to continue them, until they at length became very general among the Methodists throughout the country.

In order to give a connected view of the rise of camp meetings in the west, I have a little anticipated the regular date of the history, and shall therefore conclude what I have to say on this subject for the present, with a few reflections.

I have simply related the facts in respect to this extraordinary work as I find them recorded in the historical sketches of those times. No doubt many now, as then, will be skeptically inclined in regard to the genuineness of the work. To remove the skepticism from the minds of candid inquirers after truth, (for such only will be convinced,) let it be remarked,

That as to the facts themselves, they are indubitable — that is, there can be no room to doubt that such meetings were held as above narrated, and that sinners were prostrated to the earth under the preaching of God’s word — that they cried for mercy — were delivered in answer to prayer — and that such, as well a old professors of religion, often shouted aloud the praises of God — and that many of these, perhaps most of them, afterward led “peaceable lives, in all godliness and honesty.” These facts are as well attested as any we have upon the pages of history.

It is admitted that in such vast multitudes, assembled in the open air, under circumstances of such peculiar excitement, and many of them not well instructed in science or morals, there must have been some disorder, some mingling of human passions not sanctified by grace, and some words and gesticulations not in accordance with strict religious decorum. Every action, therefore, and every thing which was said and done, I am by no means careful to defend or pledged to justify.

When we look into the book of God, we find some instances on record of persons having been affected in a similar way, who were manifestly under the divine influence. Thus Daniel says of himself, that when he saw the vision, “there remained no strength in me; for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength" and when the Lord had spoken to him he “stood trembling". see Daniel x., 8-11. So Saul of Tarsus, when saluted by the voice from heaven, fell helpless upon the ground, was struck blind, and remained so for three days. And may not the strong cries and tears of those persons who were struck under conviction at those camp meetings, have been produced from a cause similar to that which is recorded in Mark ix, 26, where it is said, “that the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him?"

In examining the history of the work of God in his church at different periods, we find similar instances of mental and bodily exercises on record. Read, for example, President Edwards’ account of the revival in New England, and Mr. Wesley’s Journal, particularly from 1739 to 1742, and his correspondence with the Rev. Ralph Erskine of Scotland, in relation to this subject.

In reference to the work in New England, in the early part of the eighteenth century, we have the following testimony of a convention of Congregational ministers, who assembled in Boston, July 7, 1743, for the express purpose of considering and reporting on the nature of this work. The following is an extract from their report:

“We never before saw so many brought under soul concern, and with distress making the inquiry, ‘What must we do to be saved?’ and these persons of all characters and ages. With regard to the suddenness and quick progress of it, many persons and places were surprised with the gracious visit together, or near about the same time and the heavenly influence diffused itself far and wide, like the light of the morning. Also in respect of the degree of operation, both in a way of terror and in a way of consolation, attended in many with unusual bodily effects. Not that all who were accounted the subjects of the present work have had these extraordinary degrees of previous distress and subsequent joy: but many, and we suppose the greater number have been wrought on in a more gentle and silent way, and without any other appearances than are common and usual at other times, when persons have been awakened to a solemn concern about salvation, and have been thought to have passed out of a state of nature into a state of grace. As to those whose inward concern has occasioned extraordinary outward distresses, the most of them when we came to converse with them, were able to give what appeared to us a rational account of what so affected their minds, viz., a quick sense of their guilt, misery, and danger; and they would often mention the passages in the sermons they heard, or particular texts of Scripture, which were sent home upon them with such a powerful impression. And as to such whose joys have carried them into transports and ecstasies, they in like manner have accounted for them, from a lively sense of the danger they hoped they were freed from, and the happiness they were now possessed of; such clear views of divine and heavenly things, and particularly of the excellences and loveliness of Jesus Christ, and such sweet tastes of redeeming love as they never had before. The instances were very few in which we had reason to think these affections were produced by visionary or sensible representations, or by any other images than such as the Scripture itself presents unto us.

“And here we think it not amiss, to declare, that in dealing with these persons, we have been careful to inform them, that the nature of conversion does not consist in these passionate feelings; and to warn them not to look upon their state as safe, because they have passed out of deep distress into high joys, unless they experienced a renovation of nature, followed with a change of life, and a course of vital holiness. Nor have we gone into such an opinion of the bodily effects with which this work has been attended in some of its subjects, as to judge them any signs that persons who have been so affected were then under a saving work of the Spirit of God. No: we never to much as called these bodily seizures convictions, or spoke of them as the immediate work of the holy Spirit. Yet we do not think them inconsistent with a work of God upon the soul at that very time; but judge that those inward impressions which come from the Spirit of God, those terrors and consolations of which he is the author, may, according to the natural frame and constitution which some persons are of, occasion such bodily effects; — and therefore that those extraordinary outward symptoms are not an argument that the work is delusive, or from the influence and agency of the evil spirit.”

This document is said to have been signed by no less than sixty-eight ministers, all of whom concurred in the views therein expressed, while only fifteen refused their assent to an article in the same report which accorded to the practice, at that time a novelty in New England, of itinerating from place to place to preach the gospel — a practice introduced by Mr. Whitefield, and followed by a few others who had been awakened to activity by his zealous labors.

With these facts and examples before us, are we not justified in believing, that persons under the powerful operations of the Spirit of God, either convicting them suddenly and strongly of sin, or filling their souls with his own pure love, may have their animal functions suspended for a season, so that there shall “remain no strength in them?" Is there any thing either unscriptural or incredible in all this?

Will it be denied by any believer in divine revelation, or even by a deist, that God can, and often does, so work upon the mind of man, as to make that mind fully conscious of his presence? He who affects to doubt this might as well throw off all disguise at once, and turn an open atheist, and deny that there is any God who presides over the destinies of men, or exercises any control over their understandings and affections.

As the mind and body are so intimately connected that the one acts upon the other, is there, after all, any thing so very extraordinary in the supposition that under the strong excitement produced upon the one by the sudden flashes of truth, the other should be equally and suddenly affected in the manner already described? How common are the instances in which persons have been known to swoon away by receiving sudden news either of a joyful or an alarming character? Either great anguish or excessive joy has often been the means of depriving individuals of their physical strength. And what sorrow is equal to that which an awakened sinner feels when he is suddenly brought to see himself as he in reality is, a rebel against his God, and consequently exposed to wrath and hell! And must not the joy of such a person be proportionally great when he finds himself instantaneously delivered from that load of guilt, and filled with a “peace unknown to sensual minds?"

It is frequently objected to exercises of this sort, that the passions are chiefly wrought upon. This indeed may be the case in many instances. And I would by no means plead for a religion which does not enter into the judgment, and influence the understanding as well as the affections. But yet, man is a creature of passions as well as of intellect. And as Christianity is not intended to destroy, but only to regulate the passions, as well as to enlighten the understanding and sanctify the heart, we must expect the passions to he moved, and the emotions of fear, hope, love, and joy to be excited in religious as well as in all other exercises. To these passions Christianity certainly addresses itself, as well as to the judgment, and moves man to action from fear, from hope, and from the promises of pardon, comfort, and protection, as well as from that eternal reward hereafter, which makes the Christian joyfully anticipate the pleasures of the future life. Those therefore who address themselves to the understanding only, as if men were merely intellectual beings, avail themselves of not one half of the motives with which the gospel furnishes its servants, to induce sinners to repent and believe in Christ, and to encourage believers to persevere in the path of duty.

These things being so, is it any matter of wonder that, when the awfully sublime and truly affecting subjects of Christianity are presented to the mind, corresponding effects should be produced upon the passions, and that these, when violently agitated with either religious fear or joy, should also affect the body?

But we do not place dependence upon these external signs as evidences in themselves of either penitence, conversion, or sanctification. As there may be a fear, a hope, and a love, which is not well founded, so there may be much bodily exercise without any spiritual profit. These things may or may not be. If a person who has had these exercises profess, in the meantime, to have experienced a change of heart, if he bring forth the fruit of righteousness in his subsequent life, we may then safely conclude that the work was effected by the Spirit of God; but if otherwise, if he still manifest the unhumbled spirit of the Pharisee, or bring forth the “works of the flesh,” his profession cannot save him from the condemnation of the hypocrite, or the misery of the self-deluded.

These remarks are submitted to the candid reader with the hope that they may assist him in making up an unbiased judgment in respect to these things; and though, in the course of our history, we shall be compelled to admit the humiliating fact, that some of the subjects of the above revivals brought forth fruit unto death, yet it will be equally plain that the influence of others on society generally was of a very hallowed character.

Not less than twenty-four preachers were located this year, three withdrew, and four had died in peace. These latter were, William Early, Thomas Haymond, Benton Riggin, and Robert Benham. These had all been faithful in their labors, and died in the Lord.

Numbers in the Church: Whites This Year: 51,442; Last Year: 49,115; Increase: 2,327 — Colored This Year: 13,452; Last Year: 12,236; Increase: 1,216 — Total This Year: 64,894; Last Year: 61,351 — Increase: 3,543 — Preachers This Year: 287; Last Year: 272; Increase: 15.