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1808-three years-we find him on the Ohio District, and in charge of the Miami District in 1808 and 1809.

The following four years, he presides over the Kentucky District, having associated with him such men as Charles Holiday, Henry McDaniel, John Johnson, Marcus Lindsey, Thomas D. Porter, Jonathan Stamper, William McMahon, and Benjamin Lakin-whose names are a tower of strength, and around whose labors gather so many pleasant memories, as will more fully appear in our next volume.

At the Conference of 1814, we find him again on the Miami District, on which he remains two years. Unable to perform the labors of a District, at the Conference of 1816 he was appointed to the Union Circuit, and the following year to the Mad Riverboth in Ohio.

In 1818, he again has charge of the Miami District. Worn down by the excessive labors he had performed, through twenty years of incessant toil, on fields remarkable for the vastness of the territory over which they spread, in 1820 he was compelled to ask for a superannuated relation to the Conference. In this relation he served the Church, as his health would permit, until 1824, when he was again placed on the effective roll, and appointed to the Wilmington Circuit.

In 1825, he traveled the Union, and in 1826, the Piqua Circuit, where he closed his useful and laborious life.

The Hon. John McLean, of Ohio, says, in reference to him:

"He was a man of fine presence, of erect and manly form, and of great personal dignity. He was naturally of a social turn, and had excellent powers of conversation, though nothing ever fell from his lips that even approached to levity. He always conversed on subjects of interest and utility, and very frequently on matters connected with his ministerial labors. I was always struck with the excellent judgment and accurate discrimination which he evinced in his social intercourse.

"His mind could not be said to be brilliant, and yet he sometimes produced a very powerful effect by his preaching. His distinct enunciation, earnest manner, and appropriate and well-digested thoughts, always secured to him the attention of his audience; but I have sometimes heard him when, rising with the dignity and in the fullness of his subject, he seemed to me one of the noblest personifications of the eloquence of the pulpit. His words were never hurried-they were always uttered calmly and deliberately. Without the least tendency to extravagance or undue excitement, there was still a luster in his eye, and a general lighting up of his features, that revealed the workings of the spirit within. In some of his more felicitous efforts, I think I have heard him with as much interest as I have heard any other man; and I never heard him without being deeply impressed with the conviction that, among all the men known to me at that early period, I should have selected him as the man to fill up, under all circumstances, the measure of his duty.

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"Mr. Sale's life was an eminently useful one, and he adorned every relation that he sustained, and every sphere that he occupied. Whether as preacher or pastor, as minister in charge or Presiding Elder, he was always intent upon the faithful discharge of his duty, and always approved himself to those among whom he ministered as 'a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.' His character was so pure that every one felt that it was formed by a close conformity to the Divine Model. His mission on earth was emphatically a mission of benevolence to the world which his Master came to save; and when that mission was accomplished, he finished his course with joy."*

"On the 15th of January, 1827, while on the Piqua Circuit, at the house of his friend and brother, Mr. French, he was called to yield up his spirit into the hands of God. We visited him a day or two before his death, and although his sufferings were intense, yet he had great peace in believing. His faith enabled him to behold the land that was afar off, and to rejoice in the sight of his distant heavenly home. He was frequently heard to say, 'I am nearing my home. My last battle is fought, and the victory sure! Hallelujah! My Saviour reigneth over heaven and earth most glorious! Praise the Lord!' On my second visit, we were accompanied by Col. William McLean, one of his warm personal friends. We found him very happy-just on the verge of heaven. When, on

*Sprague's Annals of the American Methodist Pulpit, pp. 257, 258.

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not only upon the affections of the Church, but the admiration of the people. The four years in which he had charge of the Kentucky District, he exhibited those high executive qualities so essential to usefulness and success in the office of Presiding Elder. In the early part of his connection with Methodism in Kentucky, he took an active part in the great revivals.

He was among the first preachers from Kentucky who bore the tidings of a Redeemer's love across the beautiful Ohio. He organized the first society of Methodists in Cincinnati, while traveling the Miami Circuit, “consisting of the following eight members, namely, Mr. and Mrs. Carter, their son and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Gibson, and Mr. and Mrs. St. Clair. Mr. Gibson was appointed the leader."*

The Rev. Mr. Hinde, in speaking of Mr. Sale, and his preaching in Cincinnati, says: "It was as late as the month of August, 1803, that I had the satisfaction of hearing the first sermon ever preached by a Methodist preacher in the now flourishing town of Cincinnati, in Ohio-with, perhaps, the exception of a sermon in the vicinity preached by Mr. Kobler. The sermon to which I allude was preached by Mr. John Sale. His circuit then embraced what now comprehends nearly three Presiding Elders' Districts in extent of territory."†

The name of Jonathan Kidwell only appears in

*Sketches of Western Methodism, p. 108.

† Methodist Magazine, Vol. II., p. 396.

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