Vol 2, pages 1-100 - My Primitive Methodist Ancestors

80 PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCH.
where a good society was formed, and especially Marton-cum-Grafton.
Here Mr. Mark
Xoble, a Wesleyan, incurring censure for countenancing and aiding and abetting themissionary,
felt constrained to join the society that was formed, and henceforth freely
extended hospitality to the preachers. In the revival which took place at this time,
Mr. Thomas Dawson, by far the ablest and most influential
official of the Ripon Circuit in the early days, was brought to-
God. He entered the ministry, but was obliged to relinquish
it after eighteen months' trial, his strength not being equal
to the heavy demands of the work. He located in the Ripon
Circuit, and as an evidence of the respect entertained for him
by his brethren, who well knew his loyalty and the value of his
counsel, he was elected a deed poll member at
the Conference
of 1856. The Rev. Colin C. McKechnie, who knew him intimately,
has left a pen-and-ink sketch of Mr. Dawson, which
we have pleasure in quoting.
"
MK. THOMAS DAWSON.
Mr. Thomas Dawson was, beyond question, the most
gifted of all our laymen. He was well-informed, had
a keen perception, and a logical mind. Nothing pleased him more than taking part
in a debate ; and if he had anything like a good case in hand, he was almost sure
to win. Indeed, if the case were bad, the chances were in his favour, for he had the
faculty of making the ' worse appear the better reason.' He delighted in the
society of the preachers, and in meeting them at his house. Afflicted with
asthma, he was at times compelled to sit up at nights, as he could not lie. At such
times if a preacher happened to be with him, he would spend hours in discussion,
the subjects often being of an abstruse and metaphysical nature. One night
I spent with him was devoted almost entirely to the discussion of
'
Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute.'
And he seemed to forget all his ailments in the polemical ardour with which he
repelled the Calvinistic views taken of those high subjects. Mr. Dawson was a
thoroughly good man, upright, devoted, zealous in Christian work, and an out-andout
Primitive." *
Mr. Clowes entered the city of Ripon for the first time on March 4th, 1820.
A local
preacher being planned at the Wesleyan chapel on this Sabbath whose face Avas almost
unknown to the congregation, Clowes was privately pressed to take his place, and at
last consented. The service was a powerful one, and either the preacher's matter or
manner betrayed him, for, when the " congregation were dispersing, one said, aloud : If
theee be ' Ranters,' then I am a ' Ranter.' " The evening service, we are told, was held
in the house of Mr. B. Spetch, in Bondgate, and in the prayer meeting which followed,.
William Rumfitt and Moses Lupton, afterwards General Missionary Secretary, and
President, were two out of fourteen who professed to find the Saviour. A strong society
was almost immediately formed, which received numerous accessions from the somewhat
frequent visits to Ripon paid by Clowes during the year, as noted in his published
Journal. As early as June, 1820, Ripon was made a branch, and in September three
preachers were stationed to it, viz., James Farrar, Robert Ripley, and John Garbutt,
*Rev. C. C. McKechnie's MS. "Autobiography," in the possession of the author.