Wesley was founder
of American Methodism
American Methodism is
celebrating its 200th
anniversary. The movement
which became the Methodist
Church was initiated by the Rev.
John Wesley.
John Wesley was born June 17,
1703, in Epworth, Lincolnshire,
England, where his father was
parish ~rector. Young John
received his formal education at
the Charterhouse and at Christ
Church, Oxford.
Taking holy orders in the
Church of England, John was
ordained to the priesthood in
1728. He assisted his father for a
short while before becoming a
tutor at Lincoln College, Oxford.
About 1729 Wesley joined with
other young men, including his
hymn-writing younger brother
Charles and the energetic
George Whitefield, in
worshipping and studying
methodically. Their group was
sometimes called the "Holy
Club" or the "Bible Moths." but
the name which stuck was
"Methodists."
In 1735 John Wesley went as
missionary to the new American
colony of Georgia, settling in
Savannah. His pastorate was
troubled and unhappy. On
Christmas Eve 1737 he left the
colonies, carrying away a deep
interest in the future welfare of
the new land.
Wesley's Georgia mission,
according to historian Dr. Frank
Baker, "foundered on the rocks
of his ecclesiastical inflexibility,
which caused him to antagonize
the ruling clique in Savannah."
Back in England, Wesley was to
undergo a profound spritual
change.
Wesley became quite
interested in the Moravians,
whom he had first met while
voyaging to Georgia. On May 24,
1738 he attended a Moravian
meeting in London's Aldersgate
Street.
There, as the old Methodist
Discipline later declared, Wesley
"learned what Paul had
discovered, that it is not by rules
and laws, nor by our own efforts
at self-perfection, but by faith in
God's mercy as it comes to us in
Christ, that man may enter upon
life and peace."
Wesley began to carry that
message throughout the British
Isles. His heart-felt preaching,
devotion to music, and
compassion for the poor touched
a chord in the English soul. He
would travel more than 250,000
miles and preach more than
40,000 sermons.
By the time of his death in
London on March 2, 1791, Wesley
had seen the organization of
numerous Methodist societies
embracing more than 120,000
members on both sides of the
Atlantic.
At first he expected his
followers to remain members of
the Church of England, but
eventually a separation occured
and the Methodist Church
became an independent body.
Methodism reached America
in 1766 and North Carolina in
1772. On September 12 in the
latter year Joseph Pilmore
preached at Currituck Court
House the "first Methodist
sermon" in the Old North State.
After the American
Revolution, John Wesley sent
over Thomas Coke to
superintend the Methodist
societies in the former colonies.
At a conference in Baltimore on
Christmas Eve 1784, Coke and
some 60 preachers organized the
Methodist Episcopal Church,
ancestor of today's United
Methodist Church.
(Part two next week)
Law enforcement personnel
shouldn't use military costume
There is an alraming trend
developing in America's law
enforcement that deserves our
attention. Our police
departments have become
obsessed with military-type
clothing, arms and training.
? Point? ? i
of View
by:
BILL NIXON
even blacked their faces with
camouflage paint. ..hardly
necessary for daylight
operations.
Many officers were armed
with high-powered automatic
rifles and other military style
gear.
Having a special tactical team
for hostage and related
During a recent incident in a
western state, police responded
to a sniper situation in full
military manner. Some officers
situations has become normal
procedure for many police
organizations, even at the local
Qther_B?w5. ~ __rtr/>o*
Thecost o/Congress
By JOHN SLEDGE
N. C. Farm Bureau
Federation
Some wag has said that we're
lucky we don't get as much
federal government as we pay
(or; and that certainly would b
true with regards to the
Congress, which costs us $4.5
million a day to operate,
according to the Tax Foundation.
The privately-supported
research group calculated that
Congress was expected to spend
about $1.7 billion on itself and its
agencies in fiscal '84. The bill to
the taxpayers for the Senate
comes to $2.6 million per senator.
A million per member is the cost
in the House.
It should be pointed out,
however, that these figures
include the operation of such
agencies as. the Library of
Congress and the Government
Printing Office, which serve
more than the Congress.
However, direct spending on
the Congress itself was expected
to be more than a billion dollars
this year and that's 16 percent
higher than last year. The total
number of people being
employed by the Congress is
approaching 40,000, about half of
whom work directly for the
members.
Congressional reformers have
all kinds of ideas on what should
be done to make our legislative
branch more effective and
perhaps even less costly, ranging
all the way from limiting the
number of years anyone could
serve, shorter sessions, and two
year budgeting.
A lot of us get frustrated with
the operation of the Congress. No
doubt some things could be done
to makeit more effective, but we
suspect that we are getting about
as much government as we can
stand, r
THE
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
1 1 9 West Grubb Street
P.O. Box 277
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
( Published Every Thursday
By Advance Publications, Elizabeth City, N.C.
Second Class Matter
Jon* B. William*
Managing Editor
K*n Costal lo? Cindy Lakastar
A dvrfltlng Manager Circulation Manager
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Annual ? In-County ? *8.50
Annual ? Out-of -County ? *9.50
J - D 3
level in small communities.
Most of these special teams are
outfitted with military-type gear
and are actually trained by
members of the military. Such
training is often conducted on
military establishments.
The need for such special
teams for some situations is
valid. Hostage situations
especially require highly-trained
persons, especially ones with
sharpshooting skills.
These men also require
training in securing a particular
location, needing skills in
physical and tactical
enforcement The use of special
clothing and firearms in such
uuations is understandable. The
appearance of a military
commando squad is not.
The desire to appear more and
more military-like has filtered
iown to the local level. A police
:hief in a nearby town became
juite upset with his town council
members because they would not
approve his request to purchase
a sub-machine gun.
Many area police agencies
lave equipped themselves with
camouflage outfits that are worn
while conducting reasonably
routine investigations.
During a number of recent
drug raids, local officers
suffered in summer-like heat
wearing heavy cotton fatigues
and military-style boots.
There is no oppostion to police
officers having special gear for
certain situations. We can't
expect them to wear full-dress
unifroms when tracking down
criminals in the wild, but it is
hard to understand the need of
camouflage clothing in the
middle of the city.
There are too many countries
in this world ruled by military
force. There are too many towns
?nd cities where military-types
police the streets. America must
not allow the slightest
implication of military rule. That
includes outfitting and training
mit police like members of the
military special forces.
I've always been an avid
supporter of those men and
women who have dedicated
themselves to protecting the
rights and freedoms we enjoy as
Americans. Without a dedicated
and highly trained poliel
establishment, many of the
freedoms we enjoy would not be.
officials to combat the criminal
element in our society.
Wanting a distinction between
our police agencies and oar
military establishment will not
Outstanding showmanship
deserves public praise
Last Friday night marked the
end of the season for two
outstanding organizations in our
local school, the football team
and the band.
Each of these groups deserves
our praise for their fantastic
achievements during the year.
The dedication and work that
each participating student has
demonstrated is admirable.
To these young people who give
all of themselves to their
respective "teams," it is more
than "just a game." Their
talents have been developed
through hours, days, months and
even years of hard practice,
enabling them to achieve the
precision that we as spectators
have admired.
To have the opportunity to
watch their performances has
been a joy. Their dedication and
pride in themselves and their
organization is shown each and
every time that they take the
field.
I honestly could not have been
any prouder of our varsity
football team if they had won the
state championship. They
worked hard each week, as their
winning season shows, and they
never lost sight of good
sportsman-like behavior.
Our band also had a winning
season. They placed high and
well in almost every competition
that they entered. Their half
time performances both at home
games and away games won the
applause of the crowds, and even
brought the crowds to their feet
on Friday night during the final
game of the year.
I would be terribly negligent if
I didn't applaud the efforts of
those individuals who gave of
themselves to direct and lead
these young people: Pat Morgan,
Coach; Assistant Coaches - Bill
Flippen, Anthony Downing,
Harold Thach and Sid Eley; and
David Ziemba, Band Director.
Their unselfish dedication to the
youth of this community is
unsurpassed by none.
To the members of the
Perquimans County High School
Pirates and Marching Pirates,
along with their leaders, we say
thank you for a Job well done
through the years, but one
motion picture company has
gone out of its way this year to
remove any sacredness from the
season with one of their latest
releases.
The film. "Silent Night, Deadly
Night," which was recently
released by Tri Star Films has
desecrated the name of one of the
most cherished Christian
caroles, not to mention the image
that it has projected to the world
of Santa Claus.
I'm not one of those people who
subject myself to horror films,
nor do I allow my children to
view them, and I was appalled
when watching the morning news
recently a commercial was aired
for this film.
The commercial showed a man
dressed up in a Santa outfit with
an axe coming through
someone's door, it then went on
to show various people
screaming in terror as "Santa"
approached, and a mittened
hand firing a gun.
My children were in the room
to hear the announcer state that
"he only looks like Santa Claus."
My information on the film
itself comes from television and
newspaper reviews which have
repeatedly stated that the movie
is "outright gore." It is about a
young man who's parents were
brutally murde.ed by a man,
dressed in a Santa Claus suit on
Christmas Eve. The boy is then
placed in a Catholic school and
tutored by a sadistic nun.
After reaching adulthood he is
forced to work as a department
store Santa, which sends him off
the deep end, and he becomes a
mass murderer, wearing a Santa
Claus suit.
The movie gained an R-rating
after being edited four times.
The end of the movie loses any
plot there may have been, and
becomes one brutal murder after
another.
It is frightening that somebody
could actually sit down and put
thoughts like this on paper; but
then we have to realize that a
major motion picture company
thought the material would sell,
and it has. The first week-end out
the film grossed $1.4-million in
398 theatres accross the nation,
making it the eighth largest
movie moneymaker.
Protests and picket lines in
many cities have stopped
theatres from scheduling the
film, and those protests have
gotten the commercial for the
film off of television.
Having the film out at all was
bad enough; but the commercial,
which was aired during morning
viewing hours as well as during
prime time, was asking too much
tolerance by decent people.
Has our society become so
depraved that our entertainment
must come from seeing your
youthful heroes turned into
obssessed maniacs?
The thought of anybody
spending their money or their
time to view something of this
nature is disturbing. When you
think about the meaning of
Christmas, and realize how this
special day has been used to
promote something so
desecrating it makes you fill with
anger.
A film reviewer in a major
daily paper summed up my
feelings on this film well:
"Intelligent adults, will of
course, avoid this mind-wasting
and mind-warping material. But
since it's rated R, the film can be
seen by children if they are
accompanied by adults. I can't
imagine any parent allowing a
child to see this."
Looking back
20 Years Ago
By VIRGINIA WHITE
TRANSEAU
JOHNSON GIVES
UNIFORMS-HATS TO
MARCHING UNIT: Members of
the Perquimans County
Marching Unit were presented
red, white and blue uniforms and
hats -? by President Lyndon
Johnson in Raleigh on Tuesday
night, where they performed for
the President and "the Lady Bird
Special" group In the Coliseum
before a capacity crowd.
The unit was one of two
marching units in the state
invited by the North Carotin
Young Democrats tfc perform for
the President. The area for their
performance was limited to
about 26 X ? feet, but Mr*. Sid
Harmon, faculty advisor, said
they performed beautifully and
received a big ovation.
The Marching Unit, which was
organised la*l year by the
Perquimans County Clumber of y
Commerce, is composed of M
Perquimans High School girls
dressed as Indians. The group is
sponsored by the high school with
donations made by local
organisations, especially the
Jaycees.
Directors of the Marching Unit
art Mrs. Eugene Boyce, Mrs
Tom Brown and Mrs. Joe
RogersonJt. '