THE
WOMEN OF METHODISM:
MEMOIRS OF
ITS THREE FOUNDRESSES,
SUSANNA WESLEY, THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON,
AND BARBARA HECK:
WITH SKETCHES OF THEIR FEMALE ASSOCIATES AND SUCCESSORS
IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE DENOMINATION.
BY
ABEL STEVENS, LL.D.,
AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF METHODISM."
FOURTH EDITION
LONDON:
WILLIAM TEGG AND CO.,
PANCRAS LANE, CHEAPSIDE.
1876.
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ABEL STEVENS
INTRODUCTORY PREFACE.
To Mrs. Bishop Hamline and Miss Frances E. Willard.
Ladies: In submitting to you the volume which the "American Methodist Ladies' Centenary
Association" has, through you, as their president and secretary, requested me to write, an apologetic
remark is due to both the public and myself. A good authority has said that "no man can do anything
thoroughly in literature or art unless he rides it as a hobby." Hobbyism in literature is, however,
particularly obnoxious to criticism, to popular criticism at least, especially if it inflicts on the public a
multiplication of books of substantially the same subject. If I incur this risk I cannot blame myself. In
my historic writings on Methodism I have contemplated but two tasks; having concluded the first of
these attempts, and issued two volumes of the second, I had hoped to complete the latter before the
present date, and then turn to quite other labours. But the command of the Centenary Committee, to
prepare its "Centenary Book," could not be disobeyed. This centenary volume had hardly been
published before your command also reached me, and here is my response. So important is this
centenary occasion of Methodism, so capable and promising of transcendent results, not only to the
Church, but to the religious welfare of the country generally, that I have felt compelled by my
conscience to respond to your call.
The preparation of this small volume has deeply interested me. My previous historical studies
of early Methodism have convinced me that no other modern, perhaps no ancient, section of the Church
possessed richer materials for the illustration of female piety and agency in religion than Methodism.
My recent revision of these materials convinces me, as I have remarked somewhere in the following
pages, that there could hardly be a better
revelation of the primitive and interior life of the
denomination than would be a thorough account of its early "devout women," especially the female
correspondents and associates of Wesley; but such a work would require elaborate research in the
contemporary Methodist literature, and especially a minute study of "Wesley's letters, and of the
frequent but obscure allusions of his Journals, and their collation with our old and numerous
biographical works. The limits imposed necessarily on the present volume by its immediate purpose
have forbid any such comprehensive attempt; I have endeavoured, nevertheless, to so plan the book,
and condense and group its materials, as to serve in part this object, and to prepare a record of our
"elect ladies," which, after the centenary is passed, may abide a permanent part of our Christian
literature, till at least a better hand shall give us such a volume as here indicated.
As in the preface to my "Centenary Book," I may express the hope that you and other readers,
who may have followed me over some of the same ground in my larger works, will not find these
sketches uninteresting, though they must be, in part substantially, a reproduction of data already given,
and sometimes with but little variation of style. In my larger books they occur in detached fragments;
here they are given in m!"# biographic unity and detail. Of many of the present characters I have,
however, heretofore had no occasion to treat; of the familiar ones I have endeavoured, with some
success, to procure new materials. Several of the sketches include facts never before published in this
country; and some of them, like Grace Murray, the dearest of all her sex to the pure and great heart of
John Wesley, are not without romantic interest. I have succeeded also in obtaining some new data
respecting Barbara Heck; and though our information concerning that memorable woman must for ever
remain irreparably deficient, I have been able to trace her dimly to her peaceful end. It is my fervent
prayer that this small tribute to the great designs which you and the women of American Methodism
generally are so magnificently planning, may have some humble share in promoting your success.
Abel Stevens.
Marmaroneck Parsonage.
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THE WOMEN OF METHODISM
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION. ................................................................................................................................................... 5
Women in Church History — Their Peculiar Activity in Methodism — Wesley organized Female Activity in
Religion — Wesley and Women — Character of his Female Correspondence — His Appreciation of Woman — Her
Honourable Place in Methodism............................................................................................................................................... 5
PART I. SUSANNA WESLEY AND WESLEYAN METHODISM. ................................................................. 10
CHAPTER I. SUSANNA WESLEY. .................................................................................................................. 10
State of Religion in England in the last Century — Epworth Rectory — Susanna Wesley — Her early Life
and Character — Her Beauty — Her Husband, Samuel Wesley — Life in the Rectory — Its Children — Its singular
Domestic System — Adam Clarke's Opinion of the Family — Mrs. Wesley's Religious Habits — The Rectory the
Cradle of Methodism — Domestic Trials — Mrs. Wesley's Influence upon John Wesley and Methodism — Her
Death — Results of her Agency in the Religious World — Present Extent of Methodism. ..................................................... 10
CHAPTER II. MARY FLETCHER AND HER COMPANIONS. ...................................................................... 21
Her Relation to Wesley — Her Character — Her Early Life — Her Schools and Usefulness — Margaret
Lewen — Mrs. Fletcher's Public Labours — Her Marriage to Fletcher — Her life at Madeley — Her Happy Old
Age — Her Death — Madeley Mementoes — Her Companions — Sarah Ryan — Wesley's Letters to her — Sketch
of her Life — Her Death — Sarah Crosby — Wesley's Correspondence with her — Sketch of her Life — Her death
— Sarah Lawrence — Her Devotion and Usefulness — Women and Methodism. ................................................................. 21
CHAPTER III. FURTHER NOTICES OF WESLEYAN WOMEN. .................................................................. 32
Lady Fitzgerald — Her Sufferings — Her Good Works — Her Death by Fire — Hester Ann Rogers — Her
Early Life — Her Conversion — She witnesses Wesley's Death — Her own Death — Elizabeth Ritchie (Mrs.
Mortimer) — Her intimate Relations with Wesley — Mysticism — Her Usefulness — She resides with Wesley —
Her Death — Lady Maxwell — Her Co-operation with Wesley — Her Death — Grace Murray — Her Character
and Usefulness — Wesley in Love with her — His Disappointment — His Interview with her in Extreme Age — His
Unfortunate Marriage with Mrs. Vizelle — Dinah Evans, the Heroine of a Novel — Sketch of her Life and
Character — An Account of Elizabeth Wallbridge, the Dairyman's Daughter....................................................................... 32
PART II. SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON, AND CALVINISTIC METHODISM. ...................... 48
CHAPTER I. THE COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON AND HER COMPANIONS. ......................................... 48
Unity of Calvinistic and Arminian Methodism — Sketch of the Life of Lady Huntingdon — Her Relations
with Wesley — Whitefield and his Noble Hearers — A Scene in the Mansion of the Countess — Her Travels and
Usefulness — Her Control of Calvinistic Methodism — Lord Dartmouth — Remarkable Events — Trevecca College
— Interesting Scenes there — Lady Huntingdon's Connection — Consequences of Whitefield's Death — The
Countess's Plans for America — Missionary Scenes — Her Death — Her Charities — Her Character — Results of
Calvinistic Methodism............................................................................................................................................................. 48
PART III. BARBARA HECK AND AMERICAN METHODISM. ................................................................... 57
CHAPTER I. BARBARA HECK, FOUNDRESS OF AMERICAN METHODISM.......................................... 57
Her Position in American Ecclesiastical History — Story of the Irish Palatines — Early Life of Barbara
Heck — Voyage to America — Philip Embury — The Falling Away and Restoration of the Palatines in New York —
Barbara Heck's Agency in the Initiation of American Methodism — Names of the First Congregation in New York
— Captain Webb — The Rigging Loft — The First Chapel and its Parsonage — Spread of Methodism through the
Country — Retirement of the Palatines to Northern New York — Death of Embury — The Emburys and Hecks go to
Lower Canada — To Upper Canada — They Found Methodism at Augusta — William Losee, first Itinerant in
Canada — Death of Paul Heck — Death of Barbara Heck — Descendants of the Emburys and Hecks — The Old
Blue Church Graveyard — The Heck Homesteads — Results. ............................................................................................... 57
CHAPTER II. ASBURY AND HIS FEMALE FRIENDS. ................................................................................. 69
Asbury and Celibacy — Marriage and Location of his Preachers — His Character — His Influence over
the Higher Classes of Families — Mary Wilmer — Mary Wallace — Mrs. Baker — Mary White — Sketch of Judge
White's Family — Mrs. Senator Bassett — Services of her Family to Methodism — Bohemia Manor — Miss Ennalls
— Introduction of Methodism into Dorchester County, Md. — Garrettson in Prison — Prudence Gough —
Christian Life at Perry Hall — Sophia Gough — Asbury's Female Friends in Baltimore — Mrs. Moore — Mrs.
Owings — Mrs. Triplett — Rachel Hulinga — Mrs. Chamier — Martha F. Allison — Eleanor Dorsey —
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ABEL STEVENS
Extraordinary Example — Asbury among the Holston Mountains — First Conference beyond the Alleghanies —
Mrs. Genera! Russell. ............................................................................................................................................................. 69
CHAPTER III. LATER WOMEN OF AMERICAN METHODISM. ................................................................. 82
Review — Catharine Livingston, Mrs. Garrettson — The Connecting Link between the early and late
Women of Methodist History — The Garrettson Homestead — Its Scenery — Freeborn Garrettson — Catharine
Garrettson's Social Position — Sketch of her Lite — President Olin's Estimate of her Character — The "House
Warming" — "Traveller's Rest" — Asbury resting there — Its Relics — Asbury among the Livingstons — Death of
Madame Livingston — Catharine Suckley — Her Character and Death — Relics of Asbury — Ann Wilkins, a type
of Female Missionary Character — Her Life — Her Self-sacrifice — Her Blessed Death — Eliza Garrett, a Model
of Female Liberality — The Garrett Biblical Institute. ........................................................................................................... 82
APPENDIX.............................................................................................................................................................. 94
BRIEF SKETCH OF THE AMERICAN LADIES' CENTENARY MOVEMENT. ........................................... 94
ORIGIN..................................................................................................................................................................... 94
PRIMARY DESIGN................................................................................................................................................... 94
ENLARGEMENT OF PLAN. .................................................................................................................................... 95
CONNECTIONAL CHARACTER. ............................................................................................................................ 95
RELATIONS OF THE CONNECTIONAL FUND TO FEMALE EDUCATION. ...................................................... 95
PLANS OF OPERATION. MEMBERSHIP, ETC. .................................................................................................... 96
CERTIFICATES........................................................................................................................................................ 96
BRANCH AND AUXILIARY ASSOCIATIONS — INDIVIDUAL AND CONGREGATIONAL ACTION. ................. 96
LADIES' CENTENARY VOLUME. ........................................................................................................................... 96
ACCOUNTS.............................................................................................................................................................. 97
FUNDS — REPORTS. .............................................................................................................................................. 97
FINAL WORD........................................................................................................................................................... 97
EXTRACT OF A CENTENARY ADDRESS BY THE REV. C. H. FOWLER. ............................................................ 97
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THE WOMEN OF METHODISM
INTRODUCTION.
Women in Church History — Their Peculiar Activity in Methodism — Wesley organized Female
Activity in Religion — Wesley and Women — Character of his Female Correspondence — His
Appreciation of Woman — Her Honourable Place in Methodism.
The agency of women in religion has formed some of the most interesting, if not some of the
most salient, facts of ecclesiastical history. Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna, historic figures in the scenes of
the advent and childhood of the Messiah; Mary and Martha of Bethany, the Magdalene, and Joanna,
"the wife of Herod's steward," and "Susanna, and many others which ministered unto" Christ "of their
substance;" Phœbe, the Deaconess, of Cenchrea, "a succourer of many and myself also," says Paul;
Damaris, his convert in the Areopagus; the four prophetesses, daughters of "Philip the Evangelist" of
Cesarea; Lydia, of Thyatira; Priscilla, who, Paul says, had "for my life laid down her own neck," "unto
whom not only I give thanks, but also all the Churches of the Gentiles," and in whose house was
sustained the infant Church of Rome; Junia, who with her husband was Paul's "fellow-prisoner," and
"of note among the apostles;" Tryphena and Tryphosa, "who laboured in the Lord," and Persis, "which
laboured much in the Lord;" Dorcas, and the "elect lady" of St. John, with others, are revealed to us in
mere glimpses of the sacred history, but sufficiently to give to the record some of its most genial traits,
and to prefigure that effective and exalted position, ecclesiastical and social, which Christianity was
about to assign to their sex, and which has had s! momentous an influence on European civilization
that the greatest historical philosopher of our age has deemed it necessary, in an elaborate vindication
of Christianity, to devote a chapter to "Christ and Women." With the development of the Church
followed also the development of the dignity and activity of woman. Its postapostolic periods are
studded with illustrious female names; that of Helena is for ever associated, in ecclesiastical history,
with Constantine, that of Monica with Augustine, Eusebia with Gregory of Nyssa, Paula with Jerome,
Marcella with Athanasius; and great cities and states have been proud to identify saintly women with
their own history: saints Cecilia, Genevieve, Theresa, Elizabeth.
It may be doubted whether any section of ecclesiastical history since Mary, "the mother of
is richer
Jesus,"
in female characters than that which records the "Religious Movement of the
Eighteenth Century called Methodism." Years elapsed before that movement took the form of distinct
sects; and even after its ecclesiastical unity was somewhat broken, its moral unity was still maintained
down to about the end of the century. It pervaded and revived the nonconformity of England, enlisting
in the ranks of Calvinistic Methodism not a few of the leading dissenting ministers of the kingdom. It
influenced considerably the Established Church, drawing some of its best clergy into co-operation with
Calvinistic or Arminian Methodism, according to they theological predilections; while it roused,
chiefly as Arminian or Wesleyan Methodism, the great mass of the degraded population, and was
initiated by a woman — Barbara Heck — in its unparalleled career among the mixed population of
America. Calvinistic Methodism was founded by the Countess of Huntingdon, in co-operation with
Whitefield, and mostly controlled by her; and with her were associated some of the most notable
women of the aristocracy of the day. Wesleyan Methodism was, however, to have the chief honour of
developing female activity in the Methodistic movement. Wesley's legislative genius, equal, as
Macaulay affirms, to that of Richelieu, provided effective occasions for the influence and talents of
females. He introduced into his, system the stated Prayer-Meeting,
the weekly Class-Meeting and
Band-Meeting, and the Agape of the Moravians and the ancient Church. His strict prejudices as a
Churchman could hardly interfere with the participation of prudent and devout women in these select
and social services. Many remarkable examples of female talent came under his attention on these
occasions, and he could not consent that such talents should be repressed or hid "in a napkin.'' It was
not long before he appointed women as official leaders of female Classes and Bands. He thus organized
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