[[70/71]] man of considerable promise, joined the Conference on trial & was sent to White River Ct in Cape Girardeau Dist He laboured faithfully and continued for many years a prominent & usefull + Minister in Missourie. The same year Geo. K. Hester was admitted who laboured long & was extensively useful, mostly in the State of Indiana. In the fall of 1821 Dennis Willey and Abrm Epler were admitted on trial. Bro Willey was sent to Arkansas Ct- Arkansas Dist- Geo. Souls for P.E. – He laboured several years diligently & faithfully in the itinerant work & then located, (36) but continued to preach extensively & ever retained a high & honorable standing in the church.
Young Epler was a youth of much promise, the first converted in a large family, and was instrumental in the conversion of his Parents and several other members of his family, who became permanent members of the Church. It was soon discovered that Abrm had talents for usefulness, and was called to the work of the ministry. After some severe struggles he yielded to the call, and engaged heartily & most successfully in the work of calling sinners to repentance. He [[71/72]] was licensed to Preach, and many looked to his future greatness & usefulness with delight, His sweet Spirit won upon the hearts of his hearers & his word was with power. He preached frequently before he joined the Conference, His first appointment was to Spring River Ct, in the Cape Girardeau Dist- in Missourie. When the notice of his appointment reached him, he appeared not at all dismayed, but hastening his preparations, cheerfully bid + farewell to home & friends and started for his distant field of labour. The weather was unfavourable, roads bad, waters high, yet though often wet & weary, those who were of his company, reported him as being always cheerful & disposed to press on. He reached his Circuit & put up at the house of <one of> the Stewards, He was unwell, having taken a severe cold by too much exposure, but it was hoped that a few days of rest would restore him, but God had ordered otherwise, and it soon became apparent that he was fast sinking, and perhaps as soon as the third day it was evident he must die. When apprised of this he manifested no alarm or regrets, said his work was done and [[72/73]] he was ready to go. He asked for paper & pen, to write to his Father, a stand was placed near the bed & he rose and attempted to write, but his hand already palsied by death refused to hold the pen. He said it was too late. gave to his host the name and address of his Father, After reposing a few moments, rose from the bed walked once or twice across the room, took each member of the weeping family by the hand, thanked them for their kindness, bid them an affectionate farewell, & requested them to meet him in heaven. He then returned to the bed, laid himself down, gently folded his hands across his breast, closed his eyes, and sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. O how dark and, to us, mysterious are the ways of Providence. But what we know not now we shall know hereafter.
The same year (1821) Jas. Armstrong & Jas. L Thompson were admitted on trial. Armstrong had recently come as a Local Preacher from Baltimore to Indiana, Thompson had been raised in Ky, But commenced the labours of the ministry in Indiana, Both were able laborious men and eminently successful, in winning souls, [[73/74]] to Christ, and proved a most valuable acquisition to our feeble Itinerant corps, (37)
In the fall of 1822 as fruits of the Clark Co— revival, three more young men of much promise were admitted into the travelling connexion, to wit, Stephen R, Beggs, Frederick B, Leach and Cornelius <(located 1825)> Ruddle, who became able and successful Ministers of Christ. & subsequently Henry Summers was admitted, For these youthful heroes, our young Itinerant always cherished the most fond and Parental affection – Then there were many others who became pillars in the Church & several of them able & useful Local Preachers, such were the Brothers, Swartz, Buttorff, and others. (37)
In the summer of 1820 he attended a Camp Meeting in Harrison C o at Eaton’s Camp Ground, some 10 or 12 miles from New Albany, on the [Corydon del] <Indian Creek> Ct.- which proved a season of great power & much enjoyment. Here he arrived on Sunday night, and met his much loved P. Elder Rev, Sam l Hamilton, in whose society he much delighted, they had Laboured together on the same Ct.- in the Ohio Confr and their hearts had become knit like the hearts of David & Jonathan, (38) and each greatly rejoiced in the success of the other, Hamilton was a sound divine, an able minister [[74/75]] of pleasing address, a son of consolation. (39) It was then usual to have two sermons in succession, on each day commencing at 10 ½ oclock. In arranging the work for Saturday the P.E. put his own name for 10 ½ to be followed by our young Pr To this however he objected, as he was not willing to attempt preaching at the close of a sermon by his P.E. fearing he should fail in the effort. After some friendly altercation it was agreed he should preach first & the P.E. follow him.
When the hour arrived he preached with considerable freedom, a heavenly influence pervaded the assembly and when he closed the P.E. remarked that was preaching enough for that time, gave a few words of Exhortation & dismissed the congregation, and directed prayer meetings in their tents. The meeting continued to increase in interest and on the Sabbath, a numerous congregation was in attendance at 10 ½ the P.E. preached a most admirable and interesting sermon, the word fell like the showers upon the tender grass, (40) and many felt its softening & refreshing influence, When he closed he turned to our young Pr and remarked, with gushing tones of joy, “There Bro., they are in good order for you.” He rose, a hymn was sung and then the text announced, He spoke with much liberty, the religious interest continued to increase, the idlers soon began to gather in from the woods, till at length the whole assembly [[75/76]] appeared a dense crowd, pressed as near as possible to the stand, in which was seated a number of ministers, A deathlike silence pervaded all, while many a manly cheek was wet with flowing tears,
He had spoken near an hour when suddenly a shock was evidently felt by the whole assembly, The silence was broke +. A venerable Local Preacher, Rev. G— Floyd (who was also at that time Judge of the Circuit Court) was standing on the steps, and carefully observing the congregation, said [that del] he thought, that, at least from three hundred voices a simultaneous shout went up, mingled with the shrieks and cries of the heart stricken sinners, who fell, in different parts of the assembly, like men slain by weapons of war. The Preacher finding that he could no longer be heard to advantage by the congregation turned to address a few words of encouragement to his brethren in the stand, but some of them were lying prostrate, and the P.E. springing from the seat caught him in his arms, and they both sank down together, and thus ended the sermon, but not the sacred influence, for then it was that the sacramental host rallied for the fight, and with fresh courage, they rushed to the onset as they shouted for the battle, The stricken penitent was led, or carried to the altar, or some prepared tent, and during the remainder of the day & night the [[76/77]] good work gloriously progressed, and many precious souls were happily converted to God.
Rev. Jno. Schrader was the Preacher in charge of that Ct.— a most estimable man, an able preacher, of much energy of character, ever ready to push the battle to the gates. He laboured faithfully & successfully in that Ct.-- and his name and services will long be gratefully remembered. He joined the Tennessee Conference in 1813. and in the fall of 1821 he Located in the southwest part of Indiana where he continued his labours as a Local Preacher with much acceptability & usefulness. – (37)
During this season of general revival on the Silver Creek Ct-- our young Itinerant witnessed many scenes of thrilling interest. As specimen take the following – On one occasion while preaching to a crowded & deeply serious congregation in Gasaway’s Meeting House, As moved by a sudden impulse the whole Congregation, sprang suddenly to their feet, pressed a little forward, the speaker paused, all appeared awe stricken, after a few moments of silence, the speaker resumed his discourse, the congregation slowly resumed their seats, and then it was that sighs, groans and shouts burst forth in different parts of the assembly and a real pentecostal season ensued –
At another time after having preached at New Chapel he had an appoint<ment> [[77/78]] at night at [the] house of Father Ruddle, this was a stone house with two rooms on the ground floor, and <a> porch on either side. The Preacher stood in the door between the two rooms, the back room having no entrance from without, The house was densely crowded, and many standing on the front Porch, He had spoken perhaps some thirty minutes or more, when suddenly a stout young man, in the rear of the back room sprang to his feet seized his hat, and thinking he could not conveniently pass [pass del] the preacher he made his way hurriedly to the back porch, which he might easily have done, as the window was low, had he not been too much exited + but having raised the sash a little, it droped + back, He looked eagerly at the door, and the speaker stepd + a little to one side, indicating that he might pass, he quickly availed himself of the privilege, as he went past, his breathing resembled that of a man, at the close of a long and arduous race. And the Speaker mildly observed ‘young man, if you are so unfortunate as to make your way to perdition, you will find no way of escape there, He made no reply, but hastened out of the house. The interest becoming intense in the congregation, the speaker soon closed, or rather broke off his sermon, had a seat prepared in the front room, and invited penitents to come forward for prayer, a goodly [[78/79]] crowd availed themselves of the privilege, and the church members engaged heartily in the work.
And what became of the young man who fled from the house? We learned that when he went out he spoke to no one but started off in a fast walk, in a few minutes however he returned in equal haste, and approaching some young men who were standing on the porch near the door, asked if some one or more of them would go home with him (which was some ten miles) They advised him to stay till meeting closed and some of them would be going that way, and asked what was the matter? He said he must go immediately, that he felt so bad he feared he would die before he reached home, and again, begged that some of them would go with him, but as no one offered to go, he commenced walking to and fro on the porch and soon his groans became audible, and attracted the attention of a couple of religious young men who were near the door, who approached him, and soon discovered the nature of his affliction, that it was a wounded spirit. They solicited him to go in with them and kneel at the mourners bench, and they would pray for him, He consented and soon we saw them entering the door leading or rather bearing the stricken one, for he seemed unable longer to walk, He kneeled, he prayed, he confessed his sins before God with such earnestness, as soon to arrest the attention of the whole assembly, every pious heart was interested and many a fervent prayer was offered up in his behalf, and it soon became [[79/80]] evident that conviction so pungent, agony so deep, could not long be borne, but mercy interposed, and in a little more than an hour, he rose disenthralled and renewed by grace divine, and shouted aloud the praises of him who had called him out of darkness, into his marvellous light. (41)
That night, several were the happy subjects of converting grace. When the Preacher came around again, in four weeks, and called at the house of the before named Local Preacher, Arthur Ruddel +, he immediately enquired how the work prospered in the neighborhood,
Why Bro, said the old veteran, I think we are declining, there has not been a conversion at any of our prayer meetings for more than a week, and unless something is done this time, I shall think the revival is over, but, he added, it has been a gracious season, and we will still hope for more,
When the hour for preaching drew near (Friday at 11 o’clock) they repaired to the church, and found, as usual, a large congregation in attendance, The text was Isaiah 3 rd 10.&11 th (42) The powerful arm of Jehovah was again uncovered in the sight of all the people. The Local preacher above referred to, often affirmed, (and no doubt verily thought) that towards the close of that discourse, “the whole house (a large two story log meeting house)” from top to bottom trembled upon its foundation, and verily the people did tremble, and many fled ‘for refuge to the sheltering [[80/81]]