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REV. EDWARD PORTLOCK WILSON FOR thirty-six years he can tell the text of every sermon preached by him, and where and how he spent every day—a man of method. In all his long service to the church he never solicited a position—a true itinerant. Honor and place must come unsought. In boyhood he was tormented by the insects along the coast, and plodded in the mud of Piedmont Virginia where a circuit then was nearly equal to our small districts now. In middle life he travelled as Presiding Elder, a territory extending from the crest of the Blue Ridge to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, preaching at nearly every church. A majority of the Methodists in the Conference have heard him from the pulpit, while thousands on thousands outside of our church have been listeners to him. There is something in the man, or in the manner, or in the matter, or in all, that fastens his words on the memory. Years and years after a sermon, men have called up certain parts of it ; and yet there is nothing eccentric. or peculiar in his discourse or delivery. The thoughts stand out without haze. The truth is pressed home with directness. The effect is enduring. He has both gathered fruit and left a ripening vintage for his successors. He is wise in counsel and unwavering in friendship. The heart of his brethren "safely trust in him." Our readers will relish the choice paragraphs touching his call to the ministry and his first circuit. It will bring up kindred memories to many in the clerical ranks. He says :
As I stood waiting the developments of Providence, I was appointed the leader of a class of colored people, which I led every Sabbath morning before breakfast, in the Old Methodist church, on Glasgow street. I would not be surprised- if the shoutings of my sheep, broke in upon the slumbers of many a Sabbath morning sleeper. Through the solicitations of Rev. Vernon Eskridge, and perhaps at the suggestion of others, I consented to be licensed to exhort, which license bears date July 1st, 1841, given by Rev. G. W. Langhorne, then in charge of the church in Portsmouth. In November, of the same year, the Virginia Conference held its session in Portsmouth and a preacher was sent to Connecticut Mission. He refused to go. I was urged to take his place. Having received a message from the Presiding Elder, through Bro. Eskridge, and having submitted to the guidance of Divine Providence in this matter, and regarding this demand made upon me by the Church as a strong indication that it was my duty, I dared not refuse, though trembling with embarrassment, in view of the responsibility imposed upon me, and the magnitude of the work committed to me, I was licensed to preach to meet this command. Rev. G. W. Langhorne was sent to the Norfolk district that year, and my license bears his signature, and is dated December 28th, 1841. "I went to Cunituck in the winter of 1842. I preached my first sermon on Roanoke Island. I spoke with liberty, and satisfaction to myself ; and as I rode home with the steward in his little cart, I told him I had never preached before. Well, said he, if you had not told me, I never would have known, or thought it.' I was much gratified and elated. On I went to my next appointment, and announced my text—and a grand one it was—and commenced to preach, but, oh! such a failure—can I ever forget it ? My heart sank within me—I was filled with shame and confusion. I sighed and prayed. My. next appointment was coming on—what should I do ? I began to think, I have run too fast—perhaps God has not called me after all. 0 how I suffered ! Under the heavy pressure of my failure, and doubts as to my call to the ministry, I began to think about returning home, but I must meet my next appointment. The time came. I went into the woods and fell on my knees, and asked God to show me my duty—that if I was called to preach, to give me a sign ; and if not, convince me of the fact, and I would go home. With a heavy heart I entered the pulpit and commenced. Soon God unloosed my tongue. When I finished I invited sinners to come forward to be prayed for, and a number came and bowed at the altar of prayer, among them some of the most hardened and hoary-headed sinners in the community. From that time I took courage and went forward." About the Spring of that year Rev. W. H. Starr came to the mission to travel with him, for whom he formed a strong attachment, and whose memory he ever cherishes. He was indebted to him for his godly admonition, and for kind but free criticism. This year he waded through swamps, and over mud roads—fought musquitoes and stinging flies, and bilious fever, ague and fever, slept in open houses, and was in perils often. Some scenes and incidents seem too ludicrous to mention. In November, 1842, he was admitted on probation in the Virginia Conference, held in Petersburg. He was sent to the Culpeper and Rappahannock circuit—the top of the Blue Ridge, the other extreme of the Conference—with Rev. H. D. Wood, as his colleague. Here they had a gra cious revival of religion. In 1844 he travelled the Sussex circuit, with Rev. J. W. White as colleague, a man of blessed memory. Here, too, was a gracious work. In 1845 Mr. Wilson traveled Cumberland circuit, with Rev. John Hall as his colleague. In 1846 Bedford circuit, with that holy man, Rev. J. W. Childs. They had twenty-two appointments in twenty-eight days, with a membership of between eight hundred and one thousand persons. That year Wilson got, as a single man, about $75 in money. The same territory is now occupied by about five pastoral charges, with as many married preachers. At the close of this year he married, and was ordained Elder by Bishop Capers, at Randolph Macon College, near Boydton. The next year he was sent in charge of Hanover circuit, where he remained two years. The next field for two years was Northampton circuit, N. C., where God mercifully blest his labors. He was then assigned to Prince Edward circuit, then to Nottoway for two years, and then to Prince George. He was appointed to the old Randolph Macon (now Farmville) district. Thence he was sent to Trinity station, in Richmond, where his labors were blessed, but his health declined. He then traveled the old Fredericksburg. district, in his own conveyance, and on horseback, between four and five thousand miles in one year, and preached at nearly every church on the whole district. Gracious revivals, and some awful displays of Divine power marked the year. On one occasion a man was taken, in warm weather, under preaching, with such a terrible shivering, that he declared he had a chill, and got his overcoat, and put it on, but that did not stop it. It was the Holy Spirit shaking his guilty soul. During the three years on this district the health of the Elder failed. At his request Bishop Early put another man in the. position. At the next Conference Mr. Wilson asked for a transfer to the Florida Conference, but the Bishop declined to transfer him, through the influence of the Conference, for they desired for him a supernumerary relation, with the privilege of a journey South for his health. He then went to Florida, and attended the session of that Conference, held in Monticello, Bishop Pierce presiding. The Bishop stationed him in Jacksonville, the largest town in the State. During the Spring of that year the war began. At the close of the year, with improved health, circumstances seemed to indicate that he should return to Virginia. He ran the blockade in a steamer up the Florida coast, and landed at Savannah, Ga. He was continued at the next session of the Virginia Conference in the supernumerary relation, but that year elected and appointed, without an application on his part, chaplain in the Confederate service. The commission, now in his possession, Mr. Wilson intends to hand down to his children. Though in form a supernumerary, for two years, he was actively engaged in the work of our itinerant ministry. Owing to protracted and severe domestic affliction, he resigned as chaplain in the army, and was sent to Northampton circuit, N.
C., where he remained till the close of the war ; and at the succeeding Conference was sent to the Norfolk district. At the close of his first year on that district he was sent to the Petersburg district, in consequence of his wife's extremely bad health ; but before removal he was called to mourn over her departure from earth. He traveled the Petersburg district four years, during which time he married the . second time. He served the Hicksford circuit one year, and Sussex circuit three years. From this circuit he went to the Randolph. Macon district. At the expiration of the third year on this field of labor, he was returned to the Petersburg district, his present position.
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