Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II. MY FIRST CIRCUIT--LETART FALLS. 1816-17. OCTOBER 3, 1816, the Ohio Conference met in Louisville, Kentucky. There being no railroads in those days, the great majority of the preachers came on horseback, many of them giving evidence, by their homespun and threadbare garments, that they had had hard work and poor pay. Their happy countenances, however, gave evidence of devotion to their work, and satisfaction in the prosecution of it. Since the last session of the Conference, the venerable Asbury had gone home to his reward, and the General Conference, which had held its session in Baltimore during the month of May, had elected Enoch George and Robert R. Roberts to strengthen the Episcopacy. These were men of rare talents and piety, and with M'Kendree, who the Western preachers almost worshiped, made an able and efficient Board of Bishops. The Ohio Conference, on this occasion, was favored with the presence of all of the board. The session was a pleasant and profitable one. The principal matter of the Conference was the distribution of the laborers over the vast fields to be cultivated. This great wheel of the itinerancy which is central to our ecclesiastical system, has always imposed the gravest responsibility on the superintendents, and tried most thoroughly the selfsacrificing spirit of both the preachers and the people; yet it seems to me that in those days, when the greatest sacrifices were made, the wheel moved with as little friction as now. There was but little disposition to interfere in regard to the appointments either on the part of the preachers or the people, but both looked to God in earnest prayer and strong faith, and regarded the appointments as coming from him. From this Conference J. B. Finley, then a young...
