and fire, and therefore many will hear him that will not hear a better preacher. And it is very well they do, for he does a great deal of good.'" "His death, although remarkably sudden, was not unexpected by him. For some time he appeared to have had a presentiment of his approaching departure, and a few days before he was called hence, he expressed his wishes to a person concerning the place and manner of his interment. At the same time he said, 'I should prefer a triumphant death; but I may be taken away suddenly. However, I know I am happy in the Lord, and shall be with him, and that is sufficient.' He died at the age of seventy two years." Methodism was now firmly established in New York.But another spark soon kindled in Frederick county, Maryland; and the light of salvation was also rapidly spreading in that State through the influence of Mr. Robert Strawbridge, a methodist meeting-house was soon afterwards built, and a regular society forthwith organized. : Several preachers in England, besides the two deputed by Mr. Wesley, hearing of these proceedings in America, and hoping to be well received among the inhabitants, resolved to brave the dangers of the Atlantic, and to labor for the Lord in a wide uncultivated vineyard. Of these, Mr. Williams, was the earliest who preached in the city of New York. Thousands attended the place of worship, and those who could not find entrance, were content to listen outside of the doors. Messrs. Boardman and Pilmore, whom the society received as missionaries, were the next who began to preach in the city, and afterward took their stated appointments of six months each, interchanging between this and Philadelphia. The appointments were then reduced to four months, and at last to three, on each station. More preachers arriving, circuits began to be formed in various parts of the United States. Their glory was to suffer the greatest fatigues, to toil night and day for their Divine master, and to encounter all the perils of the most hideous forests, unknown deserts, and trackless uninhabitable regions. No pains were for them too great. The first Methodist society in America, was formed in the city of New York, in the year 1766, by a few emigrants from Ireland. About the same time, however, that Mr. Philip Embury and his associates were laying the foundation for such permanent good in this city, a similar society was formed in Frederick county, Maryland, through the instrumentality of Mr. Strawbridge, another local preacher from Ireland. Those obscure emigrants, having been connected with the Methodists in their own country, and having tasted of the comforts of religion, not finding on their arrival here, spiritual associates with whom they could "take sweet counsel," were induced to assemble by themselves in a private room. Here, by the earnest entreaties of Mrs. Hick, a pious matron, Mr. Embury very reluctantly commenced preaching the doctrines of the gospel as taught by the Rev. John Wesley, and God blessed his labors. Some indeed have denominated Captain Webb the founder of Methodism in America. This I believe to be a mistake. Though he might have been in America before Mr. Embury and his associates arrived, we have no authentic account of his preaching, much less of his attempting to form a society, until after Mr. Embury began in New York. To ascertain the truth in respect to whom this honor belongs, the writer took much pains some years since, by conversing with several of the aged members of the society, all of whom have since been called to their reward in heaven, who distinctly remembered the first rise of the society, and took a grateful delight in rehearsing the circumstances attending its formation and progress. But though Capt. Webb, who was a converted soldier attached to the British army, which was at that time station |