Methodism and the Frontier II
1. Methodism as a Socially Radical Movement
Peter Cartwright (1785-1872), Methodist itinerant frontier preacher. Preached a message of free salvation and moral rigor in, reputedly, some 15,000 sermons over nearly 70 years of ministry. In The Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, Cartwright regrets the loss of simplicity and enthusiasm in mid-C19th Methodism. However, his own career illustrates the changes in Methodism's social position and respectability: Cartwright was twice elected to the state legislature in Illinois and ran for US Congress in 1846 (he was defeated by Lincoln). A leading Methodist opponent of slavery.
2. The Ecclesiology of Asbury and Early Methodism
Itinerancy vs location.
Asbury's institutional privileging of itinerancy: circuit riders who "located" lost full membership in Methodist conference; local preachers had no voting rights at Annual Conference.