414 History of Methodism 



side of the edifice, to render it accessible when it 

 might not rain too hard, or with an umbrella when it 

 did rain, if the wind did not blow too hard. And be- 

 sides this, there was a room constructed by a shed at 

 one side of the main building, which, as madam might 

 not relish going out-of-doors and up a step-ladder on 

 her way to bed, especially in rainy weather, was ap- 

 propriated to her use as a bed-chamber. But we were 

 content. A palace might scarcely have been appre- 

 ciated by us, who, by the grace of God, had in our- 

 selves and each other a sufficiency for happiness. 

 This house, the church (a coarse wooden structure, of 

 some sixty feet by forty), the lots they stood on, and 

 several adjoining lots rented to free negroes, had be- 

 longed to Mr. Meredith, an(f had been procured, for 

 the most part, by means of penny collections among 

 the negroes, who almost exclusively had composed his 

 congregation. He had been a Wesleyan missionary 

 to the negroes of one of the West India Islands, I think 

 Jamaica or St. Kit's. And after Mr. Hammett came 

 over to Charleston, and had got under way in his en- 

 terprise of establishing a pure Wesleyan Church, in 

 opposition to the Asburyan, as he called it, he induced 

 Mr. Meredith to come over also and join him. But 

 he was not long satisfied with Mr. Hammett, whose 

 influence over him was sufficient to prevent him from 

 joining the Methodist Episcopal Church, but could 

 not retain him among the ' Primitive Methodists,' as 

 Mr. Hammett called his followers. And so, parting 

 with Mr. Hammett, he came to Wilmington, and be- 

 gan preaching to the negroes. Here his history was 

 very like that of the colored man, Henry Evans, at 

 Fayetteville. He was subjected to all manner of an- 

 noyances, and even injuries, which he bore with un- 



