Methodist toe-hold in Maine - 1793
A visit from Jesse Lee.
Introduction
In 1793 Maine was lightly settled. Although Methodism had been established in parts of New England, largely through the efforts of Jesse Lee, Maine was unreached by Methodists. When the Methodist conference appointed Lee to Maine, it was two hundred miles from the closest established Methodist circuit. (A circuit was a loop of preaching places along which a Methodist preacher rode and preached, returning to his starting point). Lee quickly formed a circuit in Maine. Here is his account of his first sermon at Portsmouth, Maine, on this day 8 September 1793.
Quote
“Sunday the 8th of September, I went to hear Mr. Walton [a local minister of another domination] in the forenoon and in the afternoon. After he was done, I went with some friends to the court-house, but the great men would not let us go into the house to preach, so I got on the step of the door of the court-house and began. When I commenced I had about a dozen people, but they soon began to flock together, and I had some hundreds of them to hear me before I had done. They stood in different parts of the streets. I found much freedom in speaking, and the word reached many of the hearts of the hearers, who were as solemn and attentive as though they had been in a meeting house.”
Bangs, Nathan. A History of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Volume II. New York: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1838; and Lee, Jesse and Minton Thrift. Memoir of the Rev. Jesse Lee: with extracts from his journals. New York: N. Bangs and T. Mason, 1823.