Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 425
gate in Georgia as in New England. So closely allied in theological
doctrine are Congregational and Presbyterian churches that the two
orders seldom nourish in the same locality, and where Presbyterianism
is strong Congregationalism is usually weak.
To find the beginning of Methodism, we naturally go back to the
Wesleys, from whom in after years this great religious organization re
ceived its quickening impulse, but the "Wesleys at this time were only
its forerunners. It was not until they returned to England that the
Methodists ceased to be a religious society within the pale of the Epis
copal Church and became an independent religious organization. Even
Whitefield, who touched elbows with the Wesleys in this society of Meth
odists at Oxford, was an out-and-out Calvinist, most decidedly at vari
ance in his theology with the Methodists of a later day, whose creed was
distinctly Arminian. It was not until after the Revolution that Meth
odism acquired a foothold in Georgia. Eventually its clear note of
evangelism, its emotional style of preaching, its freedom from all rit
ualistic forms and ceremonies, and its broad invitation to converts, unre
stricted by the doctrine of election, were destined to bring a multitude .
of converts to its banners. But the history of Methodism in its pioneer
days was a struggle for existence against seemingly overwhelming odds;
and for years, like a fragrant flower of the wilderness, it blossomed in
obscure places, ofttimes in deep forest solitudes, remote from towns
and cities, where the Indian's tomahawk was still dripping with the
blood of his slaughtered victims. What is today known as the Meth
odist camp-meeting is a reminiscence, a memorial, so to speak, of these
arcadian days of Methodism.
Dr. James W. Lee, in a work of recognized authority, tells of how the
Methodist Church started in Georgia. Says he: *
'' Georgia was a state in which, at the close of the Revolutionary war,
the Anglican Church was extinct. Savannah, which had been selected
fifty years before as a center of Methodist religious life, was now noted
for its godlessness. Indeed, so strong was the prejudice against Meth
odism in this busy seaport that it was not until 1811 that a church was
planted there. The new Methodism traveled across the South Carolina
frontier with the settlers, who took up lands in the interior. The pioneer
preachers were Thomas Humphries, a fine-looking man, who preached
with great earnestness and power, and John Major, who, a constant suf
ferer from ill health, was more pathetic in his address, and earned the
name of 'the weeping prophet.' At the first conference held in the
state, in April, 1788, ten members were present, and Asbury came south
to preside. .Among the members were two notable men—Richard Ivy.
who was appointed an elder at the Christmas Conference of 1784, and
the Maryland carpenter, Hope Hull, a man of fine physique and great
courage, who, notwithstanding the disadvantages of his early training,
valued education next to religion, and succeeded in making good 'his
deficiencies. He married the daughter of a prominent Georgian, became
one of the board of trustees of the University at Athens, an institution
to which he devoted much of his time and energies, and gained a high
reputation as a powerful and persuasive pulpit orator, at home in ad-
'Illustrated History of Methodism," Lee and Lucooek, pp. 307-308.