quality, in which the word of the Lord c fully preached, and the sacraments duly It was at this very place where Rev. Dr. first met the faithful Asbury, who had active part in bringing about the erection of worship, this church in the wildernes joyfully, saluting each other, before the v tion, with a holy kiss. Here the holy sacra administered regularly to the Methodists in This was done by Dr. Coke, on the 14th 1784, to between five and six hundred perso ley had recently set him apart for this work love, and the complete organization of our a regular Church. It was at this place the preachers together in a General Conferenc resolved upon; which event took place i Baltimore, December 24, 1784. This w Mr. Asbury during the Revolutionary War. Mistake about Methodism. "Christmas Conference." Rev. Thomas Coke and Rev. Francis Asbury were, according to Mr. Wesley's wish and appointment, chosen Superintendents. Mr. Asbury had been several years previously labouring day and night on this continent in his Master's cause, and, even when the war broke out between the mother country and the colonies, he did not desert the sheep and leave them without a shepherd. He found it necessary for his personal safety not to appear in public for a while, and found in this time of trial, an asylum at the house of Judge White, who was a resident of the state of Delaware, some twenty miles from Barratt's Chapel. Methodism, from its first introduction into this part of the country, has always had, and now has, men of wealth and great influence, who have felt, and now feel it to be their highest honour to sustain this child of Providence, or as Dr. Chalmers calls it, "Christianity in earnest.' As Barratt's Chapel was being built, the size was objected to, and it was asked by an enemy, "what is the use of building the house so large? for in a little while a corn crib will hold all the Methodists." But we see from the last census (unfaithful as we have been), this body of Christians is the largest in our country, and the corn crib would have to be of mammoth dimensions to hold us all. This was not the first, and, by no means, the |