Excerpt from History of Randolph-Macon College, Virginia: The Oldest Incorporated Methodist College in America Following the example of this great leader, Asbury, the Pioneer Bishop of America, sought at an early day to carry out the same plans. But the difficulties he encountered were different from those Mr. Wesley met in many respects. At the close of the Revolutionary War, he found a continent over the broad area of which was spread a population of about three million of people. These people had just come out of a war of seven years, impoverished in every species of property except their broad acres of forest land, worthless until subdued by the sturdy husbandman. The currency of the country was well-nigh worthless and irredeemable in gold and silver. The great and controlling idea of the people was the restoration of wealth and material resources. This meant and required hard and constant work, which pushed aside schools and all other enterprises of the kind considered as of secondary importance. At that time only about eight colleges were found in the States, and these were slimly endowed, if endowed at all, and but poorly patronized. But bold, and trusting in God, Asbury began the work of establishing schools, hardly waiting for the clearing away of the smoke of battle. At the time he was made General Superintendent, or Bishop, there were in the United States members in the Methodist Epis copal Church. These were scattered broadcast over the States bordering on the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to Georgia. The bulk of the membership was found in the Southern States. The Minutes for that year give New York City sixty members and Brunswick Circuit (virginia) four hundred and eighty-four, and other cir cuits in Virginia more. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.