258 History of Methodism 



getting out of fix, and not doing its work — T get distressed, audi say 

 Gracious God, how can we repair the working of such a glorious 

 scheme as this? And yet we can do it. Our preachers may do 

 much harm. Every pin must do its part, every wheel must move 

 in its place. 



You are young men ; I am, as you see, old. My head is bald, and 

 my eyes dim. Age is upon me. I shall soon pass away, and my 

 associates — those who have been with me shoulder to shoulder in 

 the battle — will soon pass away. 



When some one said to Asbury, "What will we do when you are 

 dead?" he replied : "The Church can always do very well without 

 me, but I never could have done without the Church." That has 

 always been ray feeling. I am a child of the Church. I could not 

 do without the Church. 



There is to me no trial so great as to be unable to work. Last 

 fall I felt that my work was about done. I lay down in a steam-boat 

 and said, " Well, old man, your work is about done ; what is the 

 prospect before you ? " I looked back upon the past, and felt that 

 all was well. For forty-six years I have never been any thing but 

 an effective traveling preacher. I have been going from December, 

 1812, to this day. I have never been a supernumerary, have never 

 superannuated nor located. I wish I had done better work, and 

 more of it. 



Do you feel this morning that you have made up your mind to 

 live and die in this work? Are you willing to trust God for bread, 

 and clothes, and every thing, while you do your duty? You have a 

 good deposit in a bank that never suspended. 



In the days when I began to be a traveling preacher it was cus- 

 tomary for a preacher to locate when he married. Hodges and my- 

 self married. We talked the matter over. Shall we locate? was 

 the question. No, said he ; and we concluded to try it in the itin- 

 erancy with our families. Somebody must break the ice. And now 

 what has been the result? I recollect talking to my good wife (who 

 has gone to heaven long ago) on the subject, and she said, Do yon 

 stick to the work. I followed her advice, and God provided. I have 

 often had but very few dimes left, and sometimes none ; but when I 

 really needed money, it came somehow. Go on and do your duty, 

 and God will take care of you. 



Capacity for the management of affairs, alertness, 

 urbanity, tact as a presiding officer, characterized him 



