CHAPTER X.

FROM THE CONFERENCE OF 1799 TO THE CONFERENCE HELD IN APRIL, 1800.

The Conference held at Bethel Academy-Daniel Gossage-Farther increase in membership-The decline in membership between the years 1792 and 1800, and the causes-Emigration from the State— The O'Kelly schism—Legislation on the subject of slavery—Prevalent infidelity-Erroneous Doctrines-John and William McGeeThe great revival-Red River Church-Muddy River-The Ridge meeting-Desha's Creek-Letter from the Rev. John McGee.

THE Conference of 1799 was held on the 1st day of May, at Bethel Academy. In reference to the session we have but little information, except such as we find in the General Minutes.

The name of Daniel Gossage is the only one in the list of Appointments in Kentucky, of whom previous mention had not been made. He, however, only entered the Conference this year, and was appointed, with Thomas Allen, to the Salt River and Shelby Circuit. At the next Conference his name disappears from the roll, and all trace of him is lost.

At the close of this year, we have the pleasure of reporting again an increase of members, amounting to one hundred and three—an improvement on the report of the previous year.

It is a pleasant task to trace the history of the

been surpassed, for their zeal, t and their self-sacrificing spiri Church; yet, during this perio Kentucky increased in popula one hundred thousand to two four thousand three hundred whites and colored, the Method decreased in membership fro hundred and eight to one thousa forty-one.

Why this result? It certain to any want of fidelity to the C the preachers of that period; to any defect in the doctrine these, if not found in the Cor other evangelical Churches, ha universal adoption by the orth The Rev. D. R. McAnally Times of the Rev. Samuel Pa

the Conference for 1800, says: "The settlements in Kentucky were rapidly enlarging and being filled up, and all the Western preachers that could be spared were taken for that work; so that only three were left for all the Holston country. New River, Holston, and Russell Circuits were united, under the care of John Watson and John Page, while James Hunter was sent to Green. One preacher only (William Lambeth) was all that could be, or that was, afforded to the Cumberland or West Tennessee country, while there were seven in Kentucky. Regarding the facts connected with the early history of the Church in these different sections, and seeing the manifest advantages given to the Kentucky settlements, the reader would naturally expect to find Methodism there greatly in advance of what it was in the other sections. And this was the case for many years; but the precedence thus gained was not well sustained, and in process of time, the others not only overtook, but, in many important respects, outstripped their early favored sister. close inquiry into the reason of this, prosecuted with a cool, philosophic pen, could reveal facts, and the operation of principles, important to Methodists everywhere, and through all time."

A

We may not be able to discover the partiality shown to Kentucky, to which allusion is made in the extract we have quoted. We have always accepted the opinion that the comparative wants of the work in each Episcopal District were duly considered by those who had the oversight, and that the best distribution was made of the talents and

cessful, it shall be our glory an The decrease in the memb have referred, cannot be just single cause, but to a combinat generally received opinion, tha this period may be traced to the State, is not sustained by the years 1792 and 1795, we crease in membership; and riod, we had no emigration fr expedition of Gen. Wayne int was not made until the summ the treaty of peace made until and hence the North-western opened to emigration previous ever influence emigration from exerted on the welfare and nu the Church, subsequent to 17 concede that, between that ye

as at later periods, it was sufficient, in the midst of extensive revivals of religion, to produce a declension of numbers-certainly the apparent want of success, while largely indebted to this cause, cannot be confined to it. We also readily admit that, before the close of the past century, in some places, large societies were entirely broken up, and in others, only portions were left, by removals from the State. We have already seen large bodies of Methodists from Kentucky settled in what is now the State of Ohio, in the Mad River country, "and also on the Big and Little Miamis; "* so that, notwithstanding the success that crowned the labors of the preachers, and the hundreds that were brought to the saving knowledge of the truth, through their instrumentality, yet, in their annual exhibits, they often showed a decrease of membership in their respective fields of labor.

In Marion county, in the neighborhood known as Thomas's Meeting-house, we had one of the most flourishing societies in the State. The land around it was fertile, and many influential families from Virginia had settled in the vicinity, and became members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

From a letter we received from the Hon. Charles A. Wickliffe, we learn that, "about the year 1800, a considerable emigration of Roman Catholics from Maryland came into this neighborhood, and bought out the residences of many members of the Church, who sought homes in other portions of the State,

*Methodist Magazine, Vol. IV., p. 311.