All this may be said with truthfulness respecting the influence he exerted in his native country; but, perhaps, his usefulness in America was greater even than in England. An American author,[727] of great eminence, observes:—
“The ‘Great Awakening’ here had commenced before his arrival, but it was comparatively local, and its visible interest at least had mostlysubsided. Edwards and some of his ministerial associates were yet praying and writing respecting it in New England; and the Tennents, Blairs, Finley, Rowland, and others, were devotedly labouring, in detail, in the Middle States, against the moral stupor of the times; but Whitefield’s coming at once renewed the revival and gave it universality, if not unity. He alone of all its promoters represented it in all parts of the country; and, at every repeated visit, renewed its progress. In the South, he was almost its only labourer. His preaching, and especially his volume of sermons, read by Morris, founded the Presbyterian Church in Virginia; for, before that period, there was not a Dissenting minister settled in the colony. In the Middle States, Whitefield’s labours had a profound effect. He was an apostle to Philadelphia; he rallied around him its preachers, and stimulated them by his example. In New Jersey and New York, he exerted a similar influence; and the frequent repetition of his visits through about thirty years did not allow the evangelical interests of the churches to subside. The ministers in the Synod of New York more than tripled in seven years after his first visit. In New England, the effects of Edwards’s labours were reproduced and rendered general by Whitefield’s frequent passages. One hundred and fifty Congregational Churches were founded in less than twenty years; and it has been estimated that about forty thousand souls were converted in New England alone. The effects of the great revival, of which Whitefield had thus become the ostensible representative, have been profound and permanent. The Protestantism of the United States has taken its subsequent character from it; and the ‘Holy Club’ at Oxford maybe recognized as historically connected with the evangelical religion of all this continent. The effect of the ‘awakening’ on the character of the ministers was one of its greatest results. Since that period, the ‘evangelical’ character of the American pastorate has not, as before, been exceptional, but general. Its influence on the discipline of the Church was also one of its most important blessings. It banished the ‘Halfway Covenant,’ which had filled the eastern churches with unconverted members. It made personal regeneration a requisite among the qualifications for the Christian ministry; and it introduced that general and profound conviction of the essential spirituality of religion, and the necessary independence of Church and State, which soon after began, and has since completed, the overthrow of all legal connection between the two throughout the country. It gave origin to Princeton College and its distinguished Theological Seminary, and also to Dartmouth College; for both were founded by Whitefield’s fellow-labourers, and the Methodists of England contributed their money to both.”
This, written by one so well acquainted with the history of America as Dr. Stevens, deserves more than ordinary attention. One more fact must be noticed, though included in the general statement just given. There cannot be a doubt that Whitefield’s labours in America prepared the way for Wesley’s itinerants. The first two, Richard Boardmanand Joseph Pilmoor, arrived before his last visit; and, in Philadelphia, he gave them his blessing. That was in the year 1769. Now the Methodist Episcopal Church alone has 12 bishops;[728] 81 annual conferences; 10,923 itinerant preachers; 12,881 local preachers; 1,580,559 church members; 15,633 church edifices, valued at $71,353,234; 5,017 parsonages, valued at $9,731,628; 19,287 Sunday-schools; 207,182 Sunday-school officers and teachers; and 1,406,168 Sunday-school scholars. It has also two large “book concerns,” at New York, and at Cincinnati; and 20 periodicals, published under the direction of the General Conference, besides a number of others edited and published by members of the Methodist Episcopal Church on their own responsibility. It has publishing houses at Bremen in Germany; Gottenberg in Sweden; in the city of Mexico; and at Foochow in China. It has seven German conferences, with 511 itinerant preachers; 556 local preachers; 47,698 church members; 610 church edifices; 294 parsonages; 940 Sunday-schools; 7,908 Sunday-school officers and teachers; and 46,998 Sunday-school scholars. Its Foreign Missionary Society has 369 missionaries and assistant missionaries; 310 teachers; 16,127 church members; 111 church edifices, valued at $396,171; 55 parsonages, valued at $70,750; 426 Sunday-schools; 18,971 Sunday-school scholars; and 180 day-schools, with 5,329 pupils. Besides these, the same Foreign Missionary Society employs 251 missionaries “among foreign populations in the United States,” and 2,307 “domestic missionaries,” who have under their care unitedly 56,241 church members. The Methodist Episcopal Church has its “Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society,” with 19 missionaries; 100 schools; 108 Bible-women and teachers; 159 orphans; and an annual income of $64,309. It has its “Freedmen’s Aid Society,” with an income of $86,560 yearly. It has a “Tract Society,” the receipts of which, for the year 1874, were $19,840. It has 27 “universities and colleges,” with 216 “instructors,” and 5,090 students;also 69 “academies and seminaries,” with 504 “instructors,” and 14,100 students; the estimated value of these collegiate properties being about seven million dollars. To these must be added the “Boston University School of Theology,” with 90 students; the “Drew Theological Seminary,” with 125 students; the “Garrett Biblical Institute,” with 156 students; the “Martin Mission Institute,” with 10 students; and the “India Conference Theological Seminary,” with 27 students.
These statistics, which could be multiplied if it were desirable, belong to the “Methodist Episcopal Church” alone; but, since it was founded in 1769, the following Methodist Churches have seceded from it, namely:—
| Itinerant Ministers. | Local Preachers. | Church Members. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Methodist, Episcopal, South | 3,485 | 5,356 | 712,765 |
| Coloured Methodist Episcopal | 635 | 683 | 80,000 |
| African Methodist Episcopal | 600 | 1,450 | 200,000 |
| African Methodist Episcopal Zion | 1,200 | 800 | 225,000 |
| Evangelical Association | 835 | 503 | 95,253 |
| United Brethren | 967 | 1,709 | 131,850 |
| The Methodist Church | 775 | 507 | 55,183 |
| Methodist Protestant Church | 650 | 200 | 54,319 |
| American Wesleyan Church | 250 | 190 | 20,000 |
| Free Methodists | 90 | 80 | 6,000 |
| Primitive Methodists | 20 | 25 | 2,800 |
| Congregational Methodists | 23 | 9,500 |
The financial and other statistics of these seceding Methodist Churches might easily be given; but it is enough to say, that, including the mother of them all, “The Methodist Episcopal Church,” there are now, in the United States of America, where Whitefield laboured with such marvellous success, 20,453 ordained Methodist ministers; 24,384 lay preachers; 3,173,229 church members; and, according to the returns of the Government census of 1870, more than six millions and a half of people, who, under the head of “Religious Denominational Preferences,” entered themselves as “Methodists.”
Laus Deo!
FINIS.