F. Enthusiasm and its Discontents
1. The Formalists
Despite being hugely popular affairs, camp meetings and other types of enthusiastic worship also presented dangers for the Methodists. Among other factors, Methodists faced criticism from internal, as well as external sources, for the excesses present in their various worship services.
All factions of the fledgling Methodist Episcopal Church did not readily accept the enthusiastic worship style that flourished among the Methodists. In fact, some viewed this worship tendency as indecent and offensive. Ezekiel Cooper (1763-1847) recounted that one society member complained to him about the “noise” that many persons emitted upon receiving conversion. He wrote,
Some asked: "Could not those effects be produced without the shouting and noise?" My reply was, generally, I did not know how that might be, but this was certain, they were not produced before, and I doubted whether they would have been, had not God worked in this extraordinary manner; for I did not see or hear of any such effects then being so extensive and general except where there was this noise and power attending them. I also
observed it was not the noise that produced the effects, but the effects of the power which produced the noise….171
Though, even Cooper admitted that not all who “made the noise” were sincere.
He insisted, however, that stopping the “noise,” would affect those being genuinely converted.
In some locations the excesses present in worship took on a racial dimension. Already by the late eighteenth century, many Methodist societies were racially segregated in some significant ways. This was the case in the
Calvert circuit, located in western Maryland. While the black and white members
171 George Phoebus, Beams of Light on Early Methodism in America: chiefly drawn from the diary, letters, manuscripts, documents, and original tracts of the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper (New York: Phillips and Hunt, 1887), 91.
each attended preaching services, the members were racially separated into classes. William Colbert (1764-1835), who was the preacher on the Calvert circuit, met regularly with both the white and black classes. During 1789 he successfully raised the membership of the societies on his circuit by one hundred members.
However, that number included a loss of over one hundred white members and the gain of two hundred black members.
The tension between the white and black members was heightened by different styles of worship present at the respective meetings. For the most part, the black class meetings were more loud and ecstatic than their white
counterparts. During the preaching services, the enthusiasm present more commonplace among the black congregants drew the criticism and ire of the white members. At the Easter meeting of 1789 the tension between the two racial groups reached its zenith. At this particular meeting, fits of enthusiasm broke out among the black members; many of the black persons in attendance engaged in shouting, falling, and other highly emotional activities. This enthusiasm
eventually spread to many of the white members present. Colbert recounted,
…for a conciderable time the people were attentive, to ward the last I endeavourd to cry aloud and spare not, the black people that stood out of doors began to shout aloud—two of them fell to the ground and began to wallow whilest others were praying for them, and I have no reason to doubt but the power of God was manifest in the house among the white people. One of the white society was much opposd to the noise and was for going away, but was prevented by a power that came on him, and was so wrought on that he took hold on one of his brothers that stood by to keep from falling. Capt John Hughs’s wife another of the white society began to cry as she was standing, and as suddenly deprivd of the use of limbs fell on the floor but soon recoverd.172
172 [William Colbert], “A Journal of the Travels of William Colbert, Methodist Preacher thro’ parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and
At subsequent preaching stops, Colbert met with greater hostility. In order to diffuse the situation, he preached at the entrance to the partition that separated black and white congregants. Colbert preached with exuberance and, predictably, the black members of the classes were very receptive, breaking into religious exercises. The white members, though, were quite unhappy. As a result, the meeting was greatly shortened. One woman remarked, “she would come no more, and that she believed I should kill myself.” Likewise, Colbert had trouble acquiring help in his efforts, mainly because other preachers feared that his enthusiastic style risked alienating whites. He wrote, “Our friends here were fearful that the noice would prevent the people from coming in the future.”173
In other cases, this distaste for enthusiastic worship ran parallel to social divisions. For instance, Ezekiel Cooper recounted a 1798 controversy that broke out in Philadelphia. The society in Philadelphia was made up of both the “most wealthy and respectable members” and the “poor majority.” A dispute over an undisclosed matter broke out between the two groups and the itinerant assigned to the society, Lawrence McCombs, took the side of the wealthier members and he removed from power, several class members who did not agree with his decision. The presiding elder, Mr. Everett, disagreed with the removals and moved McCombs to a new appointment.174 Eventually, the wealthy parties withdrew from the society. This controversy, however, was not simply about social caste. In fact, the social divide coincided with differences regarding
typescript version,), 1: 6. Ann Taves, Fits, Trances, and Visions; Experiencing
Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James ( Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999), 91.
173 Colbert, 1: 6. Taves, 91.
174 Phoebus, 288.
religious enthusiasm. Cooper recounted that in the midst of this controversy,
“…a work of religion broke out among us, which the others opposed with much severity, and endeavored to make it be believed that it was a delusion, etc.”175 After the wealthy members had exited the society, the revival began again.
Cooper recounted, “…as to the work of religion, it went on gloriously.”176