CHAPTER II

The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, was born at Epworth, England, on June 17, 1703. His early life, while rather uneventful, molded the strong religious character he demonstrated as an adult. This character was exemplified by the leadership ability Wesley exhibited as a member of the Holy Club, a group of young men who bound themselves together at Oxford University in November, 1729. These individuals studied the Scriptures, Latin and Greek classics, and strove ascetically for Christian perfection. furthermore, these ascetics visited nearby prisons, taught poor children, and at the same time maintained a systematic approach to their religious studies.¹ It was also at Oxford that John Wesley and his followers were derisively nicknamed the "Holy Club," "Godly Club," and "Methodists." Since that time, the followers of Wesleyan theology generally have been referred to as Methodists.²

It was in 1729, according to the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, that they first saw through the study of the Bible and other theological works that "men could not be saved without holiness. They followed after it and incited others so to do." In 1737, "they saw like-wise that men are justified before they are sanctified, holiness was their object" and as a result "God thrust them out to raise a holy people." Wesley taught that sanctification is obtainable instantaneously, between justification and death, and that it is not 'sinless perfection,' but perfection in love, so that those who possess it 'feel no sin, nothing but love."³

The Wesleys, along with George Whitefield, also a member of the Holy Club, were ordained ministers of the Church of England. Therefore, when they led individuals successfully to Christ in extra-ecclesiastical meetings, they instructed the new converts to join the established church. The Methodist societies formed by Wesley were initiated for the purpose of instilling within the Anglican Church the spiritual fervency of first-century Christianity. As such they constituted an ecclesiastical faction within the parent church. This close relationship between the Methodist Societies and the Church of England was manifested in the "Articles of Religion," twenty-five doctrinal points drafted by Wesley, taken from the "Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England." Ultimately, the more important statements of Wesleyan theology were transferred to the English North American colonies. These included: (1) Present and personal salvation by faith, (2) the witness of the spirit, (3) sanctification."⁴

The Wesleys introduced these teachings in North America when the brothers came as missionaries to the colony of Georgia in October, 1735. They were unsuccessful and, returned consequently to England after two years. Another minister, Philip Embury, was the first Methodist to establish a permanent work in America based on Wesleyan theology.⁵ Embury arrived in New York on August 10, 1760, and preached his first sermon in his own home in October, 1766. That first congregation of Methodists consisted of four individuals, and from it the "class meetings" got their start.⁶ Wesley introduced the "Class meetings" in England to meet the organizational needs of the Methodist societies. These gatherings were divided usually into companies of five to ten persons who met under the care of a leader for prayer, testimony and spiritual admonition. The efforts of the American Methodists to spread Christian holiness were strengthened through the introduction of these "Class meetings."⁷

The first Methodist Annual Conference held in the colonies met in Philadelphia on July 14, 1773, twenty-nine years after the first such gathering was held in England. Ten preachers received appointments when the American Conference met. It also was reported that Methodism grew from one congregation in New York (consisting of four members) to a total enrollment of 1,160 members. These persons were dispersed over a large geographical area within the colonies of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.⁸

American Methodism continued to grow and to spread the doctrine of Christian holiness which John Wesley described as "...the grand depositum given to the Methodists; and chiefly to propagate this, it appears God raised them up." During the early years of the societies both in America and England, this doctrine was supported without question. One year before his death, John Wesley wrote: If "any leader or local preacher speak against the doctrine of perfect love, let him be a local preacher no longer."⁹

The leading advocates of Christian perfection in the colonies during the American Revolution (1776-1783) found themselves in a difficult situation because of their close ties with the Anglican Church. This closeness was apparent in the fact that from the beginning of Methodism in North America, Wesley instructed the ministers of his societies not to administer the sacraments but to rely always on the ordained clergyman of the Anglican Church for the elements. After the Colonies won their independence from Great Britain it became obvious to Wesley and the Methodist leaders in the new nation that if the Americans were to be successful in spreading gospel, they would have to form a new and separate ecclesiastical body.¹⁰

A special conference for this purpose convened in Baltimore on December 24, 1784, attended by sixty of the eighty Methodist preachers. in America.¹¹ Wesley sent Thomas Coke to help Francis Asbury, who had been in the colonies for thirteen years, to organize the new church.¹² These two men were elected superintendents or bishops by the preachers at the conference, showing a desire on the part of the Methodist leaders to adapt to the prevailing democratic spirit of the new nation. "Articles of Religion" by Wesley were accepted as the primary doctrinal statement for the new organization which adopted the name, Methodist Episcopal Church. The ministers in attendance state that the primary purpose of American Methodism was "to reform the nation, especially the church, and to spread scriptural holiness over the land."¹³

As the people on the Eastern seaboard moved into the unsettled regions of the American frontier, they took with them many previously divergent religious and secular beliefs. The area west of the Allegheny Mountains provided a common ground where such ideologies met and were fused into a new and composite whole. This was true because the frontier had very few well established social traditions such as existed in Europe and in the Eastern Tidewater Regions of the United States. Through the blending of social thought, the pioneer farmer gradually assumed the identity of a "new Man' or an American. The characteristics which he carried with him to the frontier were discarded if they proved to be undesirable or did not blend successfully with the democratic and pragmatic spirit of the West. From such a system a new social order emerged which was peculiar to the West, and, therefore, acted as the driving principle which helped to reshape secular and religious institutions during the first quarter of the nineteenth-century.¹⁴

As they pushed into the frontier regions, the leaders of American Methodism found it essential to initiate innovative methods which illustrated the necessity of Bible holiness to the people. As defenders of Wesleyan theology these men were made to realize that the pioneer farmers of Kentucky, Tennessee, and later the Ohio valley were unable or unwilling to relate to the formalities associated commonly with the "Old World" religious orders. American Methodism, therefore, discontinued such practices as wearing clerical robes and using the liturgy or common prayer book compiled by Wesley. The primary teachings of English Methodism pertaining to Christian holiness, however, not only survived the transition from Europe to the American West but actually thrived on the egalitarianism of frontier life. The ability of Methodism to adapt to the pioneer ideology which asserted the rights of all men, at least in part, was related to its teachings on Christian holiness which stressed the free will of each individual and the necessity of living a life free from the bondage of sin. This doctrine was stressed strongly by the traveling ministers during the fifteen-year period following the 1784 inception of American Methodism¹⁵ and as a result the numerical strength of the church increased from 14,988 to 64,894 by 1800.¹⁶

One of the most successful methods used to spread Wesleyan doctrine among the frontiersmen was the American Camp Meeting. These meetings were launched in 1800 through a combined effort on the part of Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist ministers in Kentucky. After a few years, the Presbyterians abandoned the camp meetings, primarily because of the unorthodox emotionalism which often accompanied these gatherings. Such an unwillingness to vary to set form of worship caused Presbyterianism to decline in the unsettled frontier regions.¹⁷

Some emotionalism was more or less accepted by the Methodists who encourage people to seek after what was termed the "witness of the spirit" and was accompanied generally by some form of outward demonstration. Many critics arose against these teachings to charge the Methodist leaders, and Bishop Asbury especially, with perpetuating religious fanaticism or what they termed "Methodist fits." Actually the ministers did not support outlandish displays of emotion but taught the same doctrine that John and Charles Wesley promoted years earlier in England regarding "religion of the heart." Actually, the extreme emotionalism associated with the camp meetings was a manifestation of the unsettled conditions on the American Frontier.¹⁸ This instability was witnessed in phenomenal demonstrations characterized by "the jerks" and rolling on the ground; at times people even tried to chase what they supposed to be the devil from the trees of the camp meeting site by barking like dogs.¹⁹ When such physical extravagances were witnessed in England during meetings conducted by John Wesley, he opposed them, and his brother, Charles, condemned such actions as "the works of the devil."²⁰

Even though many excesses took place during the formative years of the American meetings, the Methodists successfully used these gatherings to spread the doctrine of holiness and at the same time increase the numerical size of the church. During the first decade of the nineteenth-century, American Methodism more than doubled its membership to 190,665. By 1811 Bishop Asbury estimated that between four and five-hundred of these assemblages were conducted each year. Approximately ten-thousand persons at one time or another attended camp meetings lasting from nine to ten days. Asbury revealed his support for this method of spreading Wesleyan doctrine when he wrote: "I think well of large meetings, camp meetings, and quarterly meetings. The more preachers to preach and pray, and so many of God's people and so many that need conversion,...we may hope for great things in the nature of things."²¹

These gatherings were held usually in the backwoods during their early years where the necessary items for conducting such protracted meetings were in abundance. The essential needs consisted of a good source of water near the campsite and sufficient raw lumber to construct a temporary stand for the preachers and cabins where the people could stay. About twenty men met at the appointed site usually a few days before the camp was scheduled to commence. They prepared the grounds for the people who came on horseback and in wagons from as far away as twenty miles. All classes of people normally attended the meetings, and, almost invariably Saturday night brought "the roughs" and plenty of whiskey by the keg and jug full. These men sometimes mocked the religious services by using whiskey in conducting "sacramental meetings" in the woods surrounding the camp. They showed contempt also for the mourner's bench by mimicking the altar exercises.²²

It was not uncommon, on the other hand, at these protracted meetings for such men to be converted. After conversion, they were instructed to go on to holiness. They sought this as a separate religious experience characterized as perfect love. People who claimed such an experience reported that they were compelled by God to surrender or consecrate their lives to His will completely. When this was done, they felt that the Holy Spirit filled their hearts with God's perfect love.²³ Such incidents were common at most of the early Methodist camp meetings, and were often recorded by the advocates of Bible holiness. Peter Cartwright, for example, wrote in his autobiography:

Such times often were followed by songs of triumphant praise where the whole congregation could manifest their adoration for Christ. A typical verse from a hymn used consisted of

As a result of these gatherings a large number of people received either forgiveness of sins or a pure heart and were accepted into the Methodist fold. It was not uncommon to witness 140 conversions and eighty experiences of sanctification all in one day, and during the larger camp meetings it was reported that as many as 1,100 were converted and 916 sanctified.²⁶ The universal success of the Methodist Camp Meetings during the first decade of the nineteenth-century was followed by a period of religious indifference. One of the early ministers of the American church, Rec. Benjamin Lakin, in a letter of March, 1814, observed that there were three primary causes for this phenomenon: "(1) The confused state of affairs and the intrest [sic] every man takes in the events of the war--[of 1812], (2) We have preached the gospel but have been deficient in enforcing the doctrine of sanctification, and (3) the people stoped [sic] in a justified state without persueing [sic] holiness."²⁷ Bishop Asbury voiced concerned about this situation and even admitted that he had "not preached sanctification strong enough." The bishop, after reflecting on the problem, vowed to proclaim holiness of heart "more pointedly than ever before."²⁸

The early Methodist bishops including Thomas Coke, Francis Asbury, Richard Whatcoat, William McKendree, Enoch George, Robert R. Roberts, Joshua Soule, Elijah Hedding, James O. Andres, John Emory, Beverly Waugh, and Thomas A. Morris all supported without deviation the Wesleyan concept of Christian perfection²⁹ and urged all the officials of the church to do the same.³⁰ In an 1820 letter, Enoch George, in his official capacity as a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, admonished a presiding elder of the Genesee Conference, western New York, to uphold the doctrine of Christian holiness. The bishop wrote:

When the General Conference met every four years, the bishops in their addresses to the delegates admonished them not to neglect the preaching of holiness in their local areas. In 1832 the Episcopal leaders alluded specifically to the fact that Methodism at that time had few living witnesses who could testify honestly that the "blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin" The bishops continued by saying: "Among primitive Methodists, the experience of this high attainment in religion may justly be said to have been common:..." Many of the holiness leaders (other than the bishops) held powerful and influential positions in the church.³²

One such individual was the Rev. Nathan Bangs, who, as a young man professed the experience of Christian holiness. Rev. Bangs first gained prominence in the Methodist Episcopal Church when he served as an elected delegate to the General Conference of 1808, a position which he held in that body until 1865 (with the exception of 1848). This strong advocate of Christian perfection was responsible also in 1820 for founding and writing the constitution of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bangs held the offices of vice-president, secretary, and treasurer of that society for sixteen years. In addition to these duties he was appointed by the General Conference of 1828 to be editor of both the Methodist Magazine and the New York Christian Advocate. The latter was founded in 1826 and evolved into one of the most influential nineteenth-century Methodist periodicals. The most lasting contributions of Bangs, however, were his published works which were a defense of primitive Wesleyan doctrine.³³

Another Methodist whose work may have had a more lasting effect than Bangs on the doctrine of Christian holiness and its propagation was the Rev. Timothy Merritt. This man entered the Methodist ministry in 1796 as a member of the New England Annual Conference. Furthermore, he was responsible for publishing the Guide to Christian Perfection, the first Methodist periodical wholly dedicated to the propagation of Wesleyan holiness. This magazine first appeared in Boston in July, 1839. Dr. James Porter, who knew Merritt as a personal colleague, said of him:

Dr. Able Stevens, on the of the principal historians of nineteenth-century Methodism, left a fitting memorial to Timothy Merritt when he wrote: "The great doctrine of Christian perfection was his favorite theme. He was a living example of this truth."³⁵

Two lay persons, however, Dr. Walter C. and Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, were the most highly respected and influential holiness advocates within the ranks of American Methodism. As a physician in New York City, Dr. Palmer, with his wife, was responsible for leading literally thousands of people into the experience of Christian holiness.³⁶

The Palmer family as early as 1835 encouraged their close friends to propagate the doctrine of Christian holiness in every possible way. It was the sister of Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. Sarah Langford, who during the summer, was instrumental in combining the Ladies Prayer Meetings of two New York Methodist congregations into an extra-ecclesiastical meeting for the promotion of holiness. Not long after this was accomplished, Phoebe Palmer received the blessing of entire sanctification. As a result, she assumed the responsibility of conducting these gatherings each Tuesday in her home.³⁷

It was during the same year (1835) that Mrs. Langford also suggested to the Rev. Timothy Merritt that he publish the holiness periodical, the Guide to Christian Perfection. Almost all of the material in the early issues of the Guide consisted of testimonies to the reality of Christian holiness as a second experience obtained through faith in Christ. The majority of such statements of faith were supplied by Phoebe Palmer, who recorded them as they first were given verbally during the "Tuesday Meeting for Promotion of Holiness." This group ultimately composed of hundreds of Methodist ministers, two bishops, and three men who would later assume that office, received instruction toward "heart purity" when they attended the weekly meetings held in the parlor of the Palmer home. By the end of the long evangelistic career of the Palmers in 1880's 238 Prayer Meetings, patterned after the one they had established in New York, were meeting weekly. There were fifteen of these meetings in Philadelphia, fourteen in Boston, twelve in Baltimore, seven in Toronto, Canada; and an addition six in other countries.³⁸ The more influential men who attended and received instruction at these gatherings developed into an inner circle of holiness advocates within the general body of American Methodists. These individuals, both men and women, along with the Palmers kept the "banner of holiness to the Lord ever displayed" whereby their numbers multiplied greatly to constitute a company of laterally thousands.³⁹

The Bible doctrine of entire sanctification was restored to the focal point it enjoyed during the early years of Methodism while under the leadership of the Palmers. They traveled extensively in the United States, England, and Canada conducting revival meetings. In the winter the doctor stayed in New York and attended to his medical practice while Mrs. Palmer went on evangelistic tours. In the summer, however, Dr. Palmer joined her in tent-meetings and revivals where he always "counted it a privilege to tell the people about the boundless love of Christ."⁴⁰

They both possessed the necessary attributes for such a work, including warm sensibility and a mild temperament. The doctor himself was a remarkable public reader. When it came time for the congregational hymn, he would stand and read the verse before it was sung, interposing significant remarks as he read. After the song Mrs. Palmer presented a clear Bible lesson most often pertaining to Scriptural holiness. When she finished, her husband would exhort the people to come forward to the mourner's bench and have faith in God to fill the needs of their hears. The following exemplified such an exhortation:

Frequently in these evangelistic services, participants reported that the Spirit of God was manifested through the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of believers in such a way that people lost track of time. At such meetings it was recorded that no fewer than fifty persons usually presented themselves at the altar to seek the full "baptism of fire." The extensive influence of the Palmers was illustrated by one woman who traveled fifty-six miles by stage for the purpose of bringing an unconverted relative to one of their religious services. During one typical summer campaign, Mrs. Palmer reported that not less than two-thousand were converted or sanctified at meetings she and her husband conducted.⁴²

Wesleyan doctrine was most effective when the "revival fires" were burning; people could be more easily convinced of their need for justification and sanctification under such circumstances. During the whole of the nineteenth-century, these revivals came and went within American Methodism. No doubt, many people remained true to God through their influence and thereby much good was accomplished. In certain areas of the country, however, revivals were conducted sometimes by evangelists, who unlike the Palmers, relied on their own personalities to influence the people rather than relying on God to convict them of their sins. When such circumstances prevailed over a period of years, the people became skeptical about the inner life. Charles Finney, a noted nineteenth-century evangelist and advocate of Christian holiness, said that he visited areas in New York state ("the burnt-over district") where "revival fires" had left the field of labor "so blistered by constant revival flame that no sprout, no blade of spiritual life, could be caused to grow; only the apples of Sodom flourished in the form of religious ignorance and a tendency to free love and spiritual affinities.⁴³

Two other equally important circumstances were responsible for the spiritual decline of the Methodist Church between 1830 and 1865. The decline evolved partly from the continuing prosperity of the country which to a certain extent was influenced by a steady trend toward increased industrial development of America, and therefore, the people became more and more wealthy. This situation was referred to by Nathan Bangs in 1837 when he asserted: "The Methodists are becoming more and more wealthy, and are thereby in danger with others of being swallowed up 'with the cares and riches of the world.'" These conditions were not conducive to the fostering of Christian perfection, and as a result this principal teaching of early Methodism, according to Rev. Bangs, was in many cases "well-nigh swallowed up in a welter of other considerations."⁴⁴

The principal controversy, however, that plagued not only the Methodists but all the major Protestant Churches in American from 1830 to 1865 was the issue of Negro slavery. The Methodists, because they tended to be emotionally inclined concerning moral and religious issues, were more easily affected by the highly excited climate which accompanied the slavery controversy. This fact combined with a rigid structural form of ecclesiastical government precipitated a schism in 1844 which divided the Methodist people, North and South, into two distinctly separate religious bodies.⁴⁵

²George Bourne, The Life of The Rev. John Wesley, A.M. With Memoirs of The Wesley Family to Which are Subjoined Dr. Whitehead's Funeral Sermon: And a Comprehensive History of American Methodism,73-75. Cited hereafter, Bourne, John Wesley. BACK

³Henry King Carroll, The Religious Forces of The United States Enumerated, Classified, and Described Returns for 1900 and 1910 Compared with The Census of 1890, Condition and Characteristics of Christianity in The United States, 221. Cited hereafter, Carroll, Religious Forces. In 1764 Wesley wrote down what he had observed about Christian perfection:

(1)	"There is such a thing as Christian Perfection, for it is again and again mentioned in scripture
(2)	It is not so early as justification: for justified persons are to 'go on to perfection' Heb. vi. 1.
(3)	It is not so late as death; for St. Paul speaks of living men that were perfect. Phil. iii. 15.
(4)	It is not absolute. Absolute perfection belongs not to man nor to angels; but to God alone.
(5)	It does not make a man infallible; none is infallible while he remains in the body.
(6)	It is perfect love, I John iv. 18. This is the essence of it: its properties, or inseparable fruits, are rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, and in everything giving thanks. I Thess. v. 16.
(7)	It is improvable. It is so far from lying in an indivisible point from being incapable of increase, that one perfected in love, may grow in grace far swifter than he did before.
(8)	It is admissible, capable of being lost; of which we have had instances. But we were not thoroughly convinced of this for several years.
(9)	It is constantly both preceded and followed by a gradual work.
(10)	But is it in itself instantaneous, or not? In examining this let us go on step by step. An instantaneous change has been wrought in some believers; none can deny this, who are acquainted with experimental religion. Since that change, they enjoy perfect love.--They feel this and this alone: they rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks. Now this is all that I mean of Christian perfection: therefore these are witnesses of the perfection of which I preach." A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, by John Wesley and later republished in A Collection of Interesting Tracts, Explaining Several Important Points of Scripture Doctrine published by Order of The General Conference, 289, 290. BACK

⁴Bourne, John Wesley, 340; Carroll, Religious Forces, 221-225. BACK

⁵Bourne, John Wesley, 28-35, 97-111; Richard Watson, The Life of The Rev. John Wesley, A.M. Sometime Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and Founder of The Methodist Societies, with translations by John Emory, 31-46, 201. Cited hereafter, Watson, Wesley. BACK

⁶Ibid., 201, 322; Coke and Moore, John Wesley, 448; William Warren Sweet, Methodism in American History, 30, 31, 42, 43. Cited hereafter, Sweet, Methodism. BACK

⁷Watson, Wesley, 67, 68, 201; Carroll, Religious Forces, 223. BACK

⁸Coke and Moore, John Wesley, 451; C. C. Goss, Statistical History of The First Century of American Methodism With a Summary of The Origin and Present Operation of Other Denominations, 41. Cited hereafter, Goss, Statistical History. BACK

⁹Wesley, Journal, VII, 206; Abel Stevens, The History of The Religious Movement of The Eighteenth Century, Called Methodist, Considered in Its Different Denominational Forms, and Its Relations to British and American Protestantism, 3 vols., I, 406. BACK

¹⁰Nathan Banks, A History of The Methodist Episcopal Church, 4 vols., I, 151, 152. Cited hereafter, Bangs, History of Methodist Church. In 1775 John Wesley published an inflammatory pamphlet against the revolution. No doubt, his statements injured the cause of Christian holiness and caused the Methodists in America to be branded as Tories. John Wesley, A Calm Address to Our American Colonies. For the disapproval of Francis Asbury on the involvement of Wesley in American Politics see Francis Asbury, Journal of Rev. Francis Asbury, 3 vols., II, March 19, 1776, 176, 177. Cited hereafter, Asbury, Journal. For another opinion see Watson, Wesley, 201, 202. He delivered an address at Cambridge entitled The principles of The Revolution Vindicated in a Sermon Preached Before the University of Cambridge, on Wednesday, May 29, 1776, by Richard Watson. BACK

¹²Bourne, John Wesley, 335-339. When the Revolution started, Francis Asbury was the only English preacher who adopted America. He was determined to stand or fall with the cause of independence. All the other preachers returned to England. John Emory, Defense of "Our Fathers," and of The Original Organization of The Methodist Episcopal Church Against The Rev. Alexander M'Cane and Others: With Historical and Critical Notes of Early American Methodism, 127. BACK

¹³Coke and Moore, John Wesley, 311, 460-462; Bourne, John Wesley, 340; Jesse Lee, A Short History of The Methodists, in The United States of America; Beginning in 1766, and Continued Till 1809, 91. Cited hereafter, Lee, Methodists. "The labors of Doctor Coke were great. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean no less than sixteen times; he paid eight visits to the United States and four to the West Indies Islands. He traveled extensively both in Europe and America....In 1797 and 1805 he was president of the American Conference...." "A Short Account of The Life and Death of Doctor Thomas Coke," The Western Christian Monitor (Chillicothe, Ohio), I, 1816, 21. For a more detailed account of his life see Samuel Drew, The Life of The Rev. Thomas Coke, Including in Detail His Various Travels and Extraordinary Missionary Exertions, in England, America, and The West Indies: With an Account of His Death on The 3rd of May, 1814, While on a Missionary Voyage to The Island of Ceylon, in The East-Indies. BACK

¹⁴Ray Allen Billington, ed., The Frontier Thesis: Valid Interpretation of American History? Intro., 1-3. BACK

¹⁵Helmut Richard Niebuhr, The Social Sources of Denominationalism, 172-174 BACK.

¹⁶Coke and Moore, John Wesley, 462; Goss, Statistical History, 51, 66. BACK

¹⁷Edward Davies, Douglas Camp Meeting, Intro., xiv; William Warren Sweet, "The Protestant Churches" in "Organized Religion in The United States," Thorsten Sellin, ed., The Annals of The American Academy of Social Science, MMLVI, Philadelphia: (March, 1948), 45. BACK

¹⁸John Atkinson, Centennial History of American Methodism, Inclusive of Its Ecclesiastical Organization in 1784 and Its Subsequent Development Under The Superintendency of Francis Asbury, 486-488. Cited hereafter, Atkinson, Centennial History. BACK

¹⁹Bernard Weisberger, They Gathered at The River, 127-137. As a camp meeting exhorter, Peter Cartwright attempted to "remedy" the "jerks" rather than encourage them. He regarded such demonstrations as hazardous by-products of the revivals. In his own words Cartwright "looked upon the 'jerks' as a judgment from God, first to bring sinners to repentance and secondly to show professors that God could work with or without means..." Peter Cartwright, Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, 45, 46. Cited hereafter, Cartwright, Autobiography. For more about the "jerks" and the early camp meetings see Lorenzo Dow, History of Cosmopolite; Or The Four Volumes of Lorenzo's Journal. Concentrated in One: Containing His experience and Travels, from Childhood to 1815, Being Upward of Thirty-Seven Years. Also, His Polemical Writings, 138, 139, 148, 156, 157, 177-190. BACK

²⁰Henry C. Vedder, Church History Handbooks, 17 vols., Modern Church History From The Reformation to The Close of The Nineteenth Century, III, 66. BACK

²¹Atkinson, Centennial History, 491, 508. B. H. Gorham illustrated the importance of the camp meeting as an institution in the religious life of antebellum America when he said:

(l)	"They call God's people away from their worldly business and cares for several successive days, thereby securing time for the mind to disentangle itself of worldly care, and rise to an undistracted contemplation of spiritual realities.
(2)	The mind of the church is assisted in the effort thus to rise by being held so constant and so long in contact with the sublime truths of revelation.
(3)	Camp meeting services are well adapted to exercise the powers of faith and prayer of the church; and they therefore greatly strengthen those powers.
(4)	They offer to the church an admirable break upon the worldliness of summer.
(5)	They offer to the church an admirable break upon the worldliness of summer
(6)	Multitudes hear the gospel at Camp Meetings who rarely or never attend church services elsewhere; and of those attracted to the place as they have been, by the singularity of the occasion, thousands have been converted to God.
(7)	Nor are these the only souls converted at Camp Meetings. These meetings are perhaps never held without being attended by persons under a painful sense of unforgiven sin, and who go there with an intention, often secret it may be, but firmly fixed nevertheless, to avail themselves of the extra-ordinary facilities there afforded for seeking salvation. " B. W. Gorham, Camp Meeting Manual, A Practical Book for The Camp Ground, in Two Parts, 17, 18. BACK

²²"Old Fashioned Camp-Meetings Versus New Fashioned," Western Christian Advocate (Cincinnati, Ohio), XL, September 17, 1873, 6. When such individuals became intoxicated they often attempted to disrupt the testimony portion of the meetings by jumping to their feet and shouting, "I am sanctified through and through and plumb full of bug juice." J. M. Keating, History of The City of Memphis and Shelby County, 3 vols., I, 153. For advice to the rowdies by Bishop Asbury see James B. Finley, Autobiography of Rev. James B. Finley; Or Pioneer Life in The West, ed., W. P. Strickland, 252, 253. BACK

²⁵Orange Scott, comp., The New and Improved Camp Meeting Hymn Book: Being a Choice Selection of Hymns from The Most Approved Authors, Designed to Aid in The Public and Private Devotion of Christians, 110, 111. BACK

²⁶William McDonald, "History of Camp-Meetings," Advocate of Christian Holiness (Philadelphia), o.s. XI, June, 1879, 138, 139; Henry Boehm, "Camp Meeting Eighty-Nine Years Ago," The Christian Standard and International Holiness Journal (Philadelphia), XXXI, November 7, 1895, 5; James Young, co comp., A History of The Most Interesting Events in The Rise and Progress of Methodism in Europe and America, 371-389. Doctor Nathan Bangs recorded the rules used normally for the average camp meeting during the first half of the nineteenth-century:

(1)	"The tents are generally arranged in a circular form in front of the preacher's stand
(2)	The fires for cooking are in general behind the tents, so that the people may not be discommoded with smoke etc.
(3)	Lamps are prepared, and suspended on the trunks of the trees, and on the preachers' stand in sufficient number to illuminate the entire camp, and each tent must have a light burning in it through the night,...
(4)	The times of preaching are 10 A.M., and 3 and 7 P.M., notice of which is given by the sound of a trumpet or horn at the preachers' stand.
(5)	The intermediate time between preaching is occupied in prayer meetings, singing, and exhortation.
(6)	In time of worship persons are prohibited from walking to and fro, talking, smoking, or otherwise disturbing the solemnities of the meeting.
(7)	All are required, except on the last night of the meeting to be in their tent at 10 P.M., and arise at 5 A.M.
(8)	At 6 A.M., they are required to take their breakfast, before which family prayer is attended in each tent occupied by a family.
(9)	In time of preaching all are required to attend, except one to take care of the tent.
(10)	That these rules may be observed, they are published from the stand, and a committee appointed to enforce them.
(11)	A watch is generally appointed to superintend the encampment at night, to keep order to see that no stragglers are on the ground, and to detect any disorderly conduct." Bangs, History of Methodist Church, II, 266, 268. BACK

²⁷William Warren Sweet, Religion on The American Frontier. 1783-1840, 4 vols., The Methodists, IV, 249. Cited hereafter, Sweet, The Methodists; taken from journal of Benjamin Lakin, March 15, 1814, n.p. Benjamin Lakin Papers, Divinity Library, University of Chicago. BACK

²⁹Matthew Simpson, ed., Cyclopaedia of Methodism Embracing Sketches of Its Rise Progress and Present Condition, 36, 59, 109, 234, 340, 444, 494, 577, 631`, 636, 760, 904. Cited hereafter, Simpson, Methodism. The first bishops in order of their election were: Thomas Coke (1784-1814), Francis Asbury (1784-1816), Richard Whatcoat (1800-1806), William McKendree (1808-1835), Enoch George (1816-1823), Robert R. Roberts (1816-1843), Joshua Soule (1824-1845), Elijah Hedding (1824-1852), John Emory (1832-1835), James O. Andrew (1832-1844), Beverly Waugh (1836-1852), Thomas A. Morris (1836-1874), Leonidas L. Hamline (1844-1865), Elmund A. Janes (1844-1876), Matthew Simpson (1852-1884). Ibid. BACK

³⁰Charles Munger, "Holiness and The Methodist Episcopate," Advocate of Christian Holiness (Philadelphia), o.s. II, January, 1871, 106. BACK

³¹William McDonald, "Bishop George's Letter to Presiding Elders on Holiness," The Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness (Boston), n.s. IX, January 22, 1891, l. BACK

³²John Leland Peters, Christian Perfection and American Methodism, 99, 100. Cited hereafter, Peters, Christian Perfection. "A Memorial to The Bishops of The Methodist Episcopal Church on The Subject of Entire Sanctification," The Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness (Boston), n.s. X, February 11, 1892, 5; "The Voice of The Bishops," Ibid., XIV, March 19, 1896, 2, 3, showed how the early leaders defended the doctrine of entire sanctification: