THE

METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW.

JULY, 1841.

EDITED BY GEORGE PECK, D. D.

ART. I.-Memoir of the Rev. Thomas Morrell,

OF THE NEW-JERSEY CONFERENCE.

"THE fathers! where are they?" is an exclamation we are wont to repeat when the reminiscences of by-gone days come up in seasons of solitude and meditation. Especially in our "religious hours" of contemplation, does the memory of the past inspire us with vivid and distinct impressions of the venerable dead, from whose lips we used to hear the lessons of heavenly wisdom, in the days of our childhood and youth. Nor can we divest ourselves of an indefinably sad and melancholy train of reflections, when their names, their countenances, and even the tones of their voice, recur to us with all the freshness of reality, stealing over the senses during our waking hours, or mingling in our slumbers during the visions of the night.

Hence it is that most readers find attraction and even fascination in those biographies and memoirs of the venerable dead, which record events, incidents, and circumstances of men and things, that are associated with their own earliest recollections. And especially is this the case, when the subject of such biography or memoir was a minister of the gospel, whom we were taught to love and venerate, in his sacred office, at a time when our young hearts were unsophisticated by skepticism or misanthropy, and when with childlike simplicity, and happy innocence, with our beloved parents, we sat at his feet, and rejoiced to share in his counsels and in his prayers. As our fathers, we honor the names and memory of such, as we do our earthly parents, whom we love next to our Father in heaven; and peculiarly is this the case when VOL. I.-21

they can truly adopt toward us the language of the apostle, and though they be dead yet speak" to us, and say, "Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."

Among the sons of Wesley in Europe and America, and among the children of Methodists everywhere, these sentiments will find a ready response and ample illustration. The name of Wesley has an inconceivable charm to the children and children's children of those who were the direct fruits of his ministry, and will continue "blessing and being blessed" to the latest generation. His son in the gospel, and our American apostle, Francis Asbury, acquired in our country an influence and authority only second to Mr. Wesley, and which he justly merited, by his labors and his successes, his zeal and his usefulness. And such is the affectionate and fervent attachment felt by the present generation of American Methodists to the name and memory of Bishop Asbury, that all who were his colleagues, fellow laborers, and helpers in the gospel, or identified with him in any capacity, however subordinate, have come to be regarded by such, as worthy to be held in everlasting remembrance. And as the number of these worthies is now but few, and these are rapidly taken to their reward, it is fit that we should pause beside their opening graves, drop a tear over their remains, and record a tribute to their piety and worth, as they pass away, one by one, from among us. Soon all who labored and suffered with our Asbury, as his sons in the gospel, will have gone the way of all the earth, their record will be on high, and their reward in heaven.

Such are the reflections which spontaneously suggest themselves to the writer of this brief memorial, while he inscribes on the tablet which bears the names of the "blessed dead," another of our fathers in the ministry, who has fallen asleep in Jesus, and now "rests from his labors where his works do follow him."

Thomas Morrell was born in New-York on the 22d of November, 1747, and his mother was one of the few who were formed into a class by Philip Embury in the year 1766, and consequently was among the first Methodists in America. She lived until the year 1796, when her son made the following record in his journal, dated July 30th:

"This day my dear, my aged, and my honored mother fell

asleep in Jesus. Blessed be God for such a mother! so pious, so tender, so affectionate to me and to all. She was indeed a mother to the preachers, and a mother in Israel, having been a Christian thirty-six years. I mourn only as one that has hope, and murmur not. This day, while she is a corpse in the house, I do afresh dedicate myself to God, and humbly hope through mercy and grace to persevere to the end, and meet my dear mother in glory. God grant it for Christ's sake. Amen."

By the same journal it appears that his father also died, in great peace, in his house at Elizabethtown, September 26, 1805, at the age of eighty, having been a devoted Christian for more than forty years. The event is recorded in the same spirit, and with the same pious emotions as is the death of his mother just mentioned, and he here adds, "I am now the last that is left of the main branches of the family, having lost my mother, my two brothers, my only sister, my two daughters, lately my only child, and now my aged father. Death upon death! O to know, to value, and to redeem my time in a suitable manner! Lord, sanctify this fresh stroke of thy providence to me and my wife! May we be devoted to God, and ready to follow those who have gone before us!"

These extracts will serve to show the character of those pious parents, whose loss was thus registered by filial affection. To the prayers and example of his mother, especially, this son was doubtless greatly indebted. In 1772 the family removed from New-York to Elizabethtown, New-Jersey, and there being no Methodist society there, his parents attached themselves to the Presbyterian Church. In the year 1785 the Rev. John Hagerty, a name familiar to many on earth and in heaven, was sent by Bishop Asbury to "Newark circuit," which at that time included a large portion of New-Jersey. He was the first Methodist preacher sent to this circuit, and on arriving at Elizabethtown he was directed to the house of the parents of Thomas Morrell, and being kindly entertained there, where he preached his first sermon, the foundation of the society was then laid, which has continued to this day. Under this sermon Thomas Morrell was awakened, he being then thirty-eight years of age. The following brief record made in his journal in 1832, nearly fifty years afterward, corresponds with one made at the time, or soon after, in the