History of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Vol. IV

Wesleyan Heritage Publications, 1998.
(В файле 256 с.)."About September, 1797, Asbury, sick, and worn out with labors, was pursuing his way toward the East, to attend the New England Conference, which was to sit at Wilbraham on the 19th of that month; but on arriving at New Rochelle, N. Y., he was unable to go further. He was "swelling in the face, bowels, and feet," and only after two weeks could he place his foot on the ground. On September 12th, when he was able to walk but once or twice across the room, and he wrote a letter to Lee; instructing him to preside at the Wilbraham Conference, believing it would be impossible for himself to reach it. Though depressed with disease and exhaustion, his heart glowed with the idea of the great cause for which he labored. "Methodism," he exclaims in his letter, "is union all over: union in exchange of preachers; union in exchange of sentiments; union in exchange of interest: we must draw resources from the center to the circumference."…