A

SHORT HISTORY

OF THE

METHODISTS,

IN THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA;

BEGINNING IN 1766, AND CONTINUED TILL 1809.

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,

A BRIEF ACCOUNT

OF

THEIR RISE IN ENGLAND,
IN THE YEAR 1729, &c.

BY JESSE LEE,

Author of LEE'S LIFE, and CHAPLAIN TO
CONGRESS

The LORD hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Pf.126,3 Come thou with us, and we will do thee good for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. Numb 10,23 We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Zach 8,29

BALTIMORE,

PRINTED BY MAGILL AND CLIME, BOOK-SELLERS, 224, BALTIMORE-STREET.

1810.

110. k. 459.

District of Maryland, to wit:

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on this fifteenth day of De cember, in the thirty-fourth year of the Independence of the United States of America, JESSE LEE of the said district, hath deposited in this office the Title of a Book the right where. of he claims as Author in the words following, To wit; "A Short History of the Methodists in the United States of Ame. rica; Beginning in 1766, and continued till 1809. To which is prefixed a brief account of their rise in England in the year 1729, &c. By Jesse Lee, author of Lee's Life, and Chaplain to Congress."

The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. PSALM CXXVI. 3.

Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. NUMB. X. 29.

We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with

you.

ZACH. VIII. 23."

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of Learning by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies during the times there. in mentioned." And also to the Act, entitled," An Act, supplementary to the Act, entitled, "An Act for the encou ragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies du. ring the times therein mentioned," and extending the benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching His torical and other Prints.

PHILIP MOORE, Clerk
of the District of Maryland,

PREFACE.

MR. WESLEY, in a letter to a friend in Ame. rica, which was written a few weeks before he died, says, "I have given a distinct account of the work of God, which has been wrought in Britain and Ireland, for more than half a century. We want some of you to 'give us a connected relation, of what our Lord has been doing in America, from the time that Richard Boardman accepted the invitation, and left his country to serve you.'

In compliance with this request I have written the best account I could. Withal, it has long been the wish of many of the Methodist preachers and people in America, that some account of the rise and progress of the Methodists in these United States should be published, for the information of the world in general, and of our own societies in particular. And I believe no preacher born in America has had a better opportunity of being thoroughly acquainted with the Method ists than 1 have. When I became a member of the Methodist Society early in the Spring of 1774, there were but 1160 members in the whole of the United States. I continued four years as a pri vate member; and five years more as a classleader, exhorter and local preacher; and have since been regularly travelling and preaching for upwards of 26 years. I have also travelled extensively from St. Mary's River in Georgia, to Passamaquoddy Bay in the District of Maine. As no person has yet appeared willing to engage in this work, I have thought good, by the ad vice, and with the consent of many of our preachers, to publish the following SHORT HISTORY; in