Minutes of the Methodist Conferences, from The
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: MINUTES OF %\)t ffltttyoUBt Conferences!, FROM THE FIRST, HELD IN LONDON, BY THE LATE REV. JOHN WESLEY, A. M. IN THE YEAR 17*4. VOLUME IV. LONDON Printed at the Conference-Office, 14, City-Road, BY THOMAS CORDEUX, AGENT. S6LD BY TltOMAS BLANSHARD, 14, C1TT-ROAD, AND 66, PATERNOSTER-ROW - ALSO, BY J. BOTTERWORTH AND SON, FLEET-STREET } W. BAYNES, AND T. HAMILTON, PATERNOSTER-ROW ; AND W. KENT, BOLBORN. 1818. — MINUTES OF C^e ®$ttyoti$t Conferences* N°. LXXI. BRISTOL, July 25, 1814-. Q. 1. WHAT Preachers are admitted into full connexion this year? A. Joseph Prosser, Isaac Phenix, William Theobald, William Appleton, James Golding, Leonard Possnett, Thomas Ludlam, William Harding, John Harris, John Worden, James Lancaster, Solomon Whitworth, Benjamin Frankland, John Mason, sen. Charles Colwell, William Flint, Thomas C. Rushforth, Richard Martin, David Williams, Lewis Jones, David Evans, Thomas Mollard, John Wright, Charles Burton, Joseph Agar, Joseph Chapman, Charles Radcliffe, John White, George Bellamy, Thomas Hewitt, William Wilson, John Pearson, John Thomp- son, John Nicholson, Charles Adshead, Lawrence Kane, William M. Harvard, James Whitworth, Calvarley Riley, William Cros- comb, James Priestley, Richard Allen, Benjamin Hudson, Edward Wilson, Alexander Bell, John Shipman, William Coultas. Ireland—William Reilly, Arthur Noble, James Killen, William Finlay, Joshua Harman, John Carey, Robert Wilson, Robert Bruce. Q. 2. Who remain on trial ? A. William Laker, Charles Hulme, Armand de Kerpezdron, William B. Fox, Thomas Hall, Archibald M'Laughlin, James Bromley, Joseph Hutton, Joseph Bodycoat, John Ingham, Abraham Watmough, Hugh Beech, Samuel Blackburn, John Keeling, Richard Shepherd, John Hobson, Joseph Fowler, Thomas Heyes, Joseph Brougham, Joseph Walker, John Slater, Joseph Hunt, Ralph Scurrah, John Sumner, Matthew Day, Thomas Walker, John Bell, Morgan Griffiths, Robert Owen, A2 ( 4 ) [1814. John Mason, jun. William Stokes, William Macklow, Peter Prescott, Luke Heywood, Jonathan Turner, Joseph Deakin, Isaac Keeling, William Lord, Robert Wood, Joseph Lewis, William Arnett, Robert Emmett, Isaac Aldom, William Water- house, Robert Pickering, John Scott, Samuel Wilde, Samuel Kellett, William Ash, Benjamin Hiley, Barnabas Shaw, Abraham Crabtrce, John Heap, Robert Nicholson, William Jackson, William Wilson, John Raby, Thomas Blackburn. Ireland— Edward Cobain, Robert Cranston. The above have travelled three years. John Bicknell, Robert Hayes, John Bennett, William Levell, James Jones, jun. John Anderson, William Bacon, Ebenezer Stewart, Thomas Moxon, Joseph Dunning, William Mowatt, Samuel Leigh, John Jones, Charles Hawthorn, Seth Morris, Henry Olver, Oliver Henwood, Robert Garner, Robert Bentham, George Birley, James Dixon, Joseph Whitehead, Francis C. Reed, Thomas Jackson, jun. James Mortimer, James Brooke, William Shackleton, George Clarke, Henry Ranson, William Smith, Thomas Stead, Thomas Eastwood, Robert Harrison, jun. Daniel Jackson, jun. Thomas Moreton, William H. L. Eden, James Smethnm, Joseph Mattison, James Fowler, Thomas Ballinghall, Paries Haswell, George Mainwaring, Joseph Bur- gess, jun. James Miller, Jonathan Porter, John Gaskill, Thomas Bridgman, William Blundell, Donald Frazer, Thomas Squance, Peter Le Sueur, Abraham Whitehcuse, William Taylor, Sampson Busby, John Davies, jun. Ireland—Thomas Hurst, John Campbell, Robert Masaroon. The above have travelled tveo years. James Shoar, William Sharp, Richard Eland, George Cubit, James Rosser, Thomas Savage, John Fordred, RichardWilliams, Paul Orchard, Samuel Crumpton, John Weville, James Ash, John Piggott, Joseph Thomas, William Edwards, Henry Powis, John Robinson, Edward Lloyd, John Bowers, Joseph E. Beau- mont, Thomas Harris, John Overton, Thomas Rowland, John Stevens, Christopher Newton, John Dredge, Richard Ellidge, Robert Ramm, Thomas Armett, George Barker, John Morris, William Catton, Richard Heap, Thomas Hamer, John Smith, 3d. Robert Morton, Thomas Barrett, John Milne, Jonathan Raynar, Benjamin Clough, John Strong, John D. Allen, Richard Armstrong, James W. Stewart, William Lill, Jeremiah Boothby. Ireland—Daniel M'Collom, William Pollock, John M'Kenny. The above have travelled one year. Q. 3. Who are now admitted on trial ? A. James Bnker, John Mortier, John Burgar, Robert Bryant, William Constable, John Lewis, Ambrose Freeman, Henry Pope, Benjmiin Andrews, James Sherriff, Peter White John 1814.] ( B ) W. Green, Daniel Walton, Rjchard Greenwood, James Metliiey, John Walsh, Joseph Roberts, David Stoner, George Tindale, Joseph Raynar, John Hannah, Thomas Staton, John Jackson, Thomas Wright, Thomas Green, Joseph Ward, Thomas Osborne, Thomas Eckersley, William Burgess, James Jarratt, James Da- vidson, John Peckavant. Ireland— Francis Stephens, William Cornwall. Q. 4. What Preachers have died during the past year? A. 1. William Stevens, a man of unaffected piety, upright conduct, and Christian plainness. He was a native of Plymouth Dock. In early life he was brought to the knowledge of the truth, and the enj vyment of the Divine favour, through the mi- nistry of the Methodist preachers. He united himself with that people in Christian fellowship, and enjoyed all the privileges of their society. Convinced that it was his duty to do something for the good of his fellow-creatures and the glory of God, he began by visiting the sick, reproving the wicked, and circulating pamphlets, on various religious subjects for the instruction of the ignorant. He also attended public meetings for prayer, and in them took a leading part. Appointed by the Superintendant he filled the office of a Class- Leader with great success. In 1784, he had such a view of the lost state of man, accompanied with a conviction in his own mind that God had called him to preach the Gospel, as caused him, though with much fear, to enter upon the important work. In 1786, he was recommended to Mr. Wesley as a proper person to be wholly given up to the ministr}-, and received his first appointment to the Gloucester Circuit. As a Travelling Preacher he laboured in the Connexion sixteen years, with an unblemished character and great usefulness. In 1802, owing to a confirmed asthma, he was obliged to desist travelling, and the Conference appointed him English Master at Kingswood School, which place he filled for four years ; after which he kept, on Kingswood Hill, a Classical and Commercial Academy to the day of his death. He was a man of great humility, self-denial, and devotedness to God. After many years of great affliction, ho terminated his mortal existence, in the full triumph of faith, on Wednesday. Nov. 22, 1S13, in the 51st year of his age, when his happy spirit went home to God. 2. Wiiliam Mahy, a native of Guernsey, was awakened out of the sleep of sin, under the ministry of Mr. John de Quetville. A few weeks afterwards, he found peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 790, he was employed for two or three months as an Itinerant Preacher in Jersey and in Alderney ; in which last place he was in danger of losing his life by his faithful- ness. Soon after this he was sent to France, and for eighteen AS 181 *' ( 6 ) L years and a half endured a great many trials and afflictions there. He preached in many places, and was the instrument of forming several small societies; but on account of the prejudices of the people, the wickedness of the priests, the circumstances of the times, and his own personal affliction, he had not all the success he desired. Some time after it had pleased the Almighty (whose ways are past finding out) to deprive him of his reason, he was brought back to Guernsey ; and when he had been there a while, it was judged necessary to send him to England, that he might have all that medical assistance and suitable management could contribute towards his recovery. He finished his course of suf- fering, with a hope full of immortality, on Dec. 1, 1813, in the 50th year of his age. Nearly his last words were, " My de- pendance is on the merits of my Saviour, and the mercy of a good God does not forsake me." 3. John Martin, a man of piety and zeal. He travelled fourteen years with general acceptance, was made useful in the vineyard of Christ, and died well. 4. Thomas Massf.y, a young man of unblemished morals, and undoubted piety- Although he possessed but very slender minis- terial abilities, we have reason to believe that he would have la- boured with more general acceptance in the churches, had he not been called too early into the itinerancy. He died in peace, after a short illness. 5. John Pritchard, aged 71, a native of the county of Meatli, in Ireland. Early in life he united himself with the Methodists, and became experimentally acquainted with the truth as it is in Jesus. His conversion was sound. His knowledge of the par- doning love of God was clear and distinct. Soon after he began his Christian course, the Spirit itself bore witness with his spirit that he was a child of God ; and he earnestly panted after a full conformity to the Divine image. In the year 1771, he began to preach ; and in the same year Mr. Wesley sent him into the Wiltshire Circuit. He continued to travel till the Conference in 1802; when, at the request of his brethren, he became Governor of Kingswood School. In that situation he remained till the year 1S07, when, under growing infirmities, he retired from it, and lived in Bristol until he was called to his eternal rest. Mr. Pritchard was a warm advocate for the doctrines of the Gospel, as held by the Methodists. He preached with zeal and energy, a free, full, and present salvation, to be obtained by faith in Christ; and, towards the close of his life, often expressed to his intimate friends a concern for the perpetuation of sound doctrine, genuine Christian experience, holy Jiving, and godly discipline, among the Methodists. 6. William Peacock, a young man of solid piety. He la- 1814/1 ( 7 ) boured nine years in our connexion, with great zeal, faithfulness, and usefulness.