We have but obscure intimations in the slight records of the times, but enough to show that it was the most prosperous of the three years which had passed since the introduction of Methodism into New England. Extensive revivals had occurred in several sections of the country. Lee informs us that there was a considerable awakening among the people in different places, not far from Lynn;" that a door was opened for the outspread of Methodism through the Eastern States; that invitations for preachers multiplied in various directions; and, notwithstanding the general prejudice against the new Church, its members increased both in numbers and respectability. The circuits in Connecticut had been blessed with much prosperity. Of Reading, Asbury remarks: "God has wrought wonders in this town; the spirit of prayer is among the people, and several souls have been brought to God." On the Hartford Circuit an extensive reformation had prevailed. Demonstrations of the divine Spirit, like those witnessed in the days of Edwards and Whitefield, were again common. among the towns on the banks of the Connecticut. At Tolland and the neighboring villages the interest was especially profound. Asbury estimates that one hundred and fifty souls were converted there, and that twice the number were under awakenings in the Societies around. "I felt," he says, "very solemn among them. Brothers Smith and Rainor have been owned of the Lord in these parts." He also speaks of a "melting among the people," at Pittsfield, where the "Lord was at work." About two hundred had been converted since the last Conference on the Albany District, which extended over this part of Massachusetts.

Three additional circuits, wholly or partly in New • History of Methodism, anno 1791.

England, were reported this year, and the number of members returned from circuits bearing New England names was one thousand three hundred and fifty-eight, showing a gain of nearly nine hundred for the year. The few and scattered itinerants had made full proof of their ministry. Though still subjected to severe privations and annoying vexations, a goodly multitude of renewed souls now greeted and befriended them in their travels, and welcomed them, after the fatigues of the day, to humble but comfortable and consecrated homes. A Methodist people had been raised up; few, indeed, and feeble, but never to cease, we may trust, till the heavens and the earth are no more.

Lee arrived in Lynn, from his excursion to Connecticut, in the early part of May, 1792. He continued his labors in that town and its vicinity till the first week in August-a period memorable in the history of the denomination as the date of the first Conference held in the State of Massachusetts, and the first in New England.+ The preceding ecclesiastical year had included more than fourteen months. After so long a separation, and untold privations, labors, and sufferings, it was, indeed, a "holy convocation," a high festival, for the little company of itinerants, to meet in their first Conference. They assembled, as was befitting, in the first, and still unfinished, Methodist Chapel of Massachusetts. Asbury, who had now returned, speaks of it as a matter of congratulation, that "in Lynn we have the outside of a house completed." Had we here the necessary data, it would be a grateful task to paint the picture of that first and memorable convention of New

The time appointed for this Conference, in the Minutes of the preceding year, was the first of August; but it appears, from Asbury's journal, that it began on the third.

England Methodist preachers. We are able, however, to catch but a glimpse of it. We know the number, but hardly the names, of those who were present. "Our Conference," says Asbury, "met, consisting of eight persons, much united, besides myself." Asbury is himself the most imposing figure in the group. He was yet short of fifty years of age, and in the maturity of his physical and intellectual strength; his person was slight, but vigorous and erect; his eye stern, but bright; his brow began to show those wrinkles, the effects of extraordinary cares and fatigues, which afterward formed so marked a feature of his strongly characteristic face; his countenance was expressive of decision, sagacity, benignity, and was shaded, at times, by an aspect of deep anxiety, if not dejection; his attitude was dignified, if not graceful; his voice sonorous and commanding.

By his side sat Lee, second only in the ranks of the ministry, for labors and travels, to its great leader. We have sketched, and are yet further to illustrate his character, by the narrative of his labors. He was about the period of middle age, stout, athletic, full of vigor of muscle and feeling. His face was strongly marked by shrewdness, tenderness, and cheerfulness, if not humor; his manners, by unpretending dignity, remarkable temperance in debate, and fervid piety, mixed frequently, however, with vivid sallies of wit, and startling repartees. This trait of bonhommie was not without its advantages; it gave him access to the popular mind, and relieved the peculiar trials of his ministry. No man of less cheerful temperament could have brooked the chilling treatment he encountered while traveling the New England States without colleague and without sympathy. This solitariness in a strange land, often without the stimulus of even persecution, but rendered doubly

chilling by universal indifference or frigid politeness, was one of the strongest tests of his character. Those only can appreciate it who have endured it. He sat in the little band of his fellow-laborers with a cheerful aspect, for though he had gone forth weeping, bearing precious seed, it was now springing up, and whitening for the harvest, over the land. If it had been but as "a handful of corn in the earth, upon the top of the mountains," it now promised that "the fruit thereof would yet shake like Lebanon." In the group sat also the young and eloquent Hope Hull, the Summerfield of the time, attractive with the beauty of talent and of holiness, "that extraordinary young man," as Thomas Ware called him, "under whose discourses the people were as clay in the hands of the potter." Asbury brought him, on his tour to this Conference, from the South, where he had been persecuted out of Savannah. There were, also, the youthful and talented Rainor, fresh from the revivals on Hartford Circuit, and undiverted yet from the labors of the itinerancy by the love of ease or domestic comfort, which was afterward too strong for him, and Allen, the "Boanerges," as his brethren called him. Besides these, it is probable that Lemuel Smith and Jeremiah Cosden were present.

Asbury introduced the occasion by a discourse on 1 John iv, 1-6. On Saturday he preached an ordination sermon, to a "very solemn congregation," from the text, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." There was preaching every night during the session. The Sabbath "was the last day, that great day of the feast." A love-feast was held in the morning, after which Asbury preached on 1 Corinthians vi, 19, 20. In the afternoon John Allen preached, and the bishop gave

a

farewell exhortation " to the people, who were deeply affected at his parting counsels. The next day he was away again, "making a hasty flight," as usual, and in four days he had passed over one hundred and seventy miles from Lynn, on his way to other Conferences.

The Minutes of this year record the following ministerial arrangements for New England: Jesse Lee, Elder; Lynn, Menzies Rainor; Boston, Jeremiah Cosden; Needham, John Allen; Providence, Lemuel Smith. Jacob Brush, Elder; Fairfield, Joshua Taylor and Smith Weeks; Litchfield, Philip Wager and James Coleman; Middletown, Richard Swain and Aaron Hunt; Hartford, Hope Hull, George Roberts, and F. Aldridge; Pittsfield, D. Kendall, R. Dillon, and J. Rexford. This last circuit. was on the Albany District, and under the presiding eldership of Garrettson. The district of Jacob Brush extended over a large portion of the State of New York, though a majority of the places named, as comprised within its limits, were in Connecticut. It has already been stated that there were four new circuits reported, but one of those reported the last year was merged in a new arrangement of the Connecticut circuits. Boston, Needham, Providence, and Pittsfield Circuits appear, for the first time, in the Minutes of this year. The first was detached from Lynn, and the second and third were surveyed by Lee during the preceding year. The last was formed by preachers on the Albany District. The membership on the eastern circuits was still very limited. Boston returned but fifteen; Lynn one hundred and eighteen, (a gain of sixty since the preceding Conference,) Needham thirty-four. As we advance westward it largely increases; Middletown returned one hundred and twenty-four, and Hartford nearly two hundred. The latter circuit had gained one hundred and sixty