forgiveness, he set up the family altar, and then became anxious for
the souls of his neighbors. As he passed them on the road he lifted
his heart in prayer for their conversion, in company, he seized the
opportunity of denouncing sin, much to the annoyance of some, but
ultimately with spiritual profit. His early efforts at winning souls
were so richly blessed, that he seized every opportunity of speaking
of the good things of Christ.

In the summer of 1780, at a Quarterly Meeting held at Mr. Trueman's,
he received so great a blessing that he wept, and the same evening at
Fort Lawrence he made his first attempt at exhortation. From that hour
he exhorted or prayed at every meeting, and though his knees trembled
with fear, his tongue was loosened, and he spoke with much liberty.
During the following winter he was invited to Tantramar to hold
meetings, and had great joy in seeing many led to Christ. Assisted by
some of the old class leaders and local preachers, he travelled over
the country, exhorting as often as his duties on the farm would
permit.

His first attempt at preaching from a text was in the spring of 1781,
when he visited a settlement on the Petitcodiac River, and the word
was with power. With so many tokens of the divine favor, it was
evident that he was a marked man, and though not quite twenty-one
years of age, and without any special training, he was being literally
thrust out, and seemed destined to be the man who should lead the
forces, and lay the foundations of Methodism, far beyond the limits of
his own neighborhood. The man possessed of gifts and grace, in whom
the people had confidence, and who was singularly blessed in winning
souls had come, and the stripling on the farm was called to leave the
plough and go forth, to proclaim the great truths of the Gospel of
Christ. He was truly a chosen vessel, and fitted for a great work.

III.

THE MARITIME ITINERANT.

The population of Nova Scotia in 1781 numbered twelve thousand, of
whom there were about one hundred Acadian families, and exclusive of
Cape Breton, three hundred warriors of the Micmac, and one hundred and
forty of the Malicete tribes of Indians. Places of worship were few
and widely scattered over a large extent of country, and so destitute
were the people of religious privileges that many of them seldom heard
a sermon, and as some of these people had been brought up in the
bonds of the faith, they naturally felt very keenly the