I hope that in my humble manner I shall be able to repay a part of
that debt....

Three weeks ago, I attended the Peninsula Annual Conference at the
Bethesda Church in Salisbury. At that time, I recalled the story that is
told of the Rev. Joshua Thomas, who more than a century ago was
preaching the Christian gospels and the doctrines of Wesley, Straw-
bridge and Asbury in the fishing and farming communities of the
lower Eastern Shore. In my section of the State, the saintly Joshua,
called the Parson of the Islands, is a figure of tale and legend. There
are many of you here who are conversant with the early annals of
Methodism in Maryland, and so you will know that Brother Thomas
rode his circuit in a log canoe which he appropriately named "The
Methodist. " He sailed his little vessel in and out of the creeks and
rivers and bays, preaching, exhorting and converting wherever he went.
He often put in at Crisfield, the town in which I was born and in
which I have spent all my life.

The story I like to repeat about him is this. He was preaching once
in a little place called Rockawalking, and the topic was religious de-
nominations and their place in the greater Church of Christ. Brother
Thomas's statement, as recounted by those who heard him, was this:

"Not one branch of the true vine but brings forth some good fruit.
I love all the people who love my God in sincerity. But I love the
Methodists a little more than any other. "

He went on to say that during all his days he had always sought the
best light. He knew there was light in Christianity everywhere, but
he found "the best light" with the Methodists. There are those of us
here who have shared the experience of Brother Thomas, and there
are those of us here who are in accord with his sentiments. I have
always found inspiration and sustenance in the character of these
early Methodist evangelists, and it is this trait, of tolerance with
strength, that has impressed me most profoundly. They were respectful
and understanding of the beliefs and sacraments of others, but they ad-
hered unyieldingly to their own opinion of Christian salvation and to
their own manner of worshipping God. A strong revival of that spirit
in the hearts of men would, I believe, work wonders in the world we
live in today.

There is, of course, much more to admire and revere in the charac-
ter of these plain people who so firmly implanted their faith in the
soil of this State and this nation. Something of the wholesome simpli-
city of the Man of Nazareth was to be found in the nature and bearing

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