In South Carolina. 143 



in the ministry by one year, and who possessed the 

 rare talent, with his soft and plaintive voice, of touch- 

 ing and moving his congregation to tears before he 

 had uttered the third short sentence of his discourse. 

 But neither Gill nor Peddicord could bind his audience 

 with chains like Tunnell. He ranked as the Aj)ollos 

 of the day. He is described as "truly an apostolic 

 man." His heavenly-mindedness seemed to shine on 

 his face, and made him appear more like an inhab- 

 itant of heaven than of earth. A sailor one day was 

 passing by where he was preaching, and stopped to 

 listen; he was observed to be deeply affected, and on 

 rejoining his companions, said: "I have been listen- 

 ing to a man who has been dead and in heaven; but 

 he has returned, and is telling the people all about that 

 world." In 1787 he scaled the Alleghanies, with four 



itinerants, and became one of the founders of Meth- 

 i 



odism in the great valley of the West. 



At the first Holston Conference, appointed to be 

 held in May, 1788, Bishop Asbury having been de- 

 layed in crossing the mountains from Burke county, 

 in North Carolina, to the seat of the Conference in 

 Washington county, Virginia, and consequently not 

 arriving in time, Mr. Tunnell preached, on Sunday, 

 a discourse which profoundly impressed the crowded 

 audience, in which were General Russell and his wif e, 

 the sister of the illustrious Patrick Henry. At the 

 close of the service Mrs. Kussell went to Thomas Ware, 

 who traveled the Nolachucky Circuit, and said: "I 

 thought I was a Christian; but, sir, I am not a Chris- 

 tian; I am the veriest sinner upon earth. 1 want you 

 and Mr. Mastin (Jeremiah Mastin, who traveled the 

 Pedee Circuit in 1786, but was now on the Holston 

 Circuit) to come with Mr. Tunnell to our house and 



