Definitions (continued)
A resident lives permanently
in an area and is not just a
temporary visitor.
To revive something is to
restore it from inactivity or
to renew its direction.
At this time, reform or
missionary groups within
the Church of England were
usually called societies. Besides
the Methodist societies (which
were reform groups), probably
the most famous Anglican
society was the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts (a missionary
group).
In this case, subjects are
people who are ruled by the
laws of the king of England.
Subsistence, or self-sufficient,
farmers provide for their own
basic needs, without help
from others. For instance,
growing their own food and
taking care of their own homes
are primary concerns.
Traditional people continue
to use the same methods they
have always used, regardless
of how repetitious or dated
they have become.
To venture is to travel with
a bit of chance, some risk,
and even possible danger.
the wilderness:
Circuit riders
take religion
to the people
by N. Fred Jordan Jr.
’ohn Wesley and his old friend George
Whitcficld were trying only to revive
the Church of England (the Anglican
Church) — to spread its message to the
working classes and the outcasts of England.
Neither really meant to start a new
denomination, only to update an old
one. They wanted to save souls, to
gather followers, to “beat the devil.”
Whitefield was an itinerant preacher
whose powerful style and presentation
attracted large crowds wherever he went.
Between 1739 and 1765, he visited North
Carolina seven times. He preached about the
love of the reality of sin, and the wonders
of heaven. And his messages were remembered:
sources say his sermons made “hell so vivid
that one could locate it on an atlas.”
Not enough ministers,
not enough need
After Wesley organized his followers into
Methodist societies within the Church of
England, official missionaries were assigned
to the colonies. In 1772, Joseph Pilmore,
another itinerant preacher, became the
first official missionary to serve the
North Carolina area.
Pilmore preached at Currituck Court
House and then journeyed through the
eastern portion of the colony. He visited
Edcnton, New Bern, Wilmington, and
other locations where he found an audience.
The conditions he found must have been
disappointing. He found only eleven
Anglican ministers in the entire colony. And
in his journal, Pilmore called Edcnton “a poor
damp dirty place, where they have only
preaching once in three weeks.” He compared
the people to “sheep having no Shepherd.”
Even by 1790, twenty-nine out of every
thirty' North Carolinians did not belong to any
church. Obviously the harvest of souls would
be ripe if a method could be found to reach
the people and make them see their need.
Methodists make a move
The Methodist societies of the Church of
England already had part of that method — an
existing collection of itinerant preachers. By
assigning these preachers to specific circuits
in the colony, instead of letting them wander,
they could spread ( Christian (and Methodist)
beliefs to all parts of the North Carolina
frontier. These circuit-riding preachers
would become known as circuit riders.
The first Methodist circuit to reach into
North Carolina actually stretched into the
Albemarle and
down the coast
from Virginia.
But because of
rapid and strong
growth, a separate
Carolina circuit
was created in
May 1776. That
circuit was totally
within North
Carolina and
was assigned
to three circuit
riders: Edward
Dromgoole,
Francis Poythrcss,
and Isham Tatum.
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