LIFE 
 
 I^eu. Ja/T\e5 fi(^<^d\)zrc\. 
 
 The Oldest Methodist Preacher 
 
 REV. J. P. RODGERS 
 
ciA'k^..^... Bk.v^.^n.y^.a 
 
 THE ETHEL CARR PEACOCK 
 
 MEMORIAL COLLECTION 
 
 Matris amori monumentum 
 
 TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
 DURHAM, N. C. 
 1903 
 
 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Dred Peacock 
 
THE ETHEL CARFT PEACOCK 
 
 Matris amori monumentum. 
 
 ? READINO ROOlVr I 
 
 jVo.5..a3..8. 
 
REV. JAMES NEEDHAM 
 
LIFE 
 
 ^^\}.)afr\e^fi<^<^d\)ztT\, 
 
 The Oldest Methodist Preacher 
 
 KEY. J. P. EODGERS, 
 
 Of the Western North Carolina Conference 
 
 ^(oOif3 
 
 pilot mountain, n. c. : 
 
 The Surry Printing House 
 
 1899 
 
f^ 2 ^ . 7 
 
 To Lottie Lorena Burrage, 
 
 My^!^ Faithful and Efficient Helpmeet; 
 
 To Annie Burrage Rodgers, 
 
 Our Precious Babe in Heaven ; 
 
 To James Barr Rodgers, 
 
 Our Present Joy and Future Hope. 
 
 ^ G 6 H-3 
 
PREFACE 
 
 If Father Needham had died fort>r 
 years ago, his life would have deserved 
 a permanent record as a valuable con- 
 tribution to the early history of Meth- 
 odism in North Carolina. The value 
 of a biography is largely determined 
 by the usefulness of the life and by the 
 faithfulness of the biographer in repro- 
 ducing that life on the printed page. 
 If justice were done to this life, instead 
 of this booklet, a large and valuable 
 volume would now be issued from the 
 press. 
 
 I have gathered suggestions from 
 biography and facts from children and 
 friends, but much I remember as he 
 told it to me while we labored together. 
 If I had expected to write this sketch, 
 I could have known much more. 
 
 With limited information and time, 
 I give to the public this little book, and 
 it is hoped that it will serve to keep 
 fresh in the minds of many friends a few 
 remarkable facts of this remarkable man 
 of God. 
 
 J. P. RODGERS. 
 
 Pilot Mountain, N. C. 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 REV. JAMES NEEDHAM, 
 
 The Oldest Methodist Preache^r. 
 May 26, 1799— April ist, 1S99. 
 
 Bishop Pierce says of his father, Rev. 
 Lovick Pierce, D. D., that he **in- 
 augurated the longest term of effec- 
 tive service in the annals of Method- 
 ism," when he preached his first sermon 
 on his first charge. If the words "effec- 
 tive service" may be applied to the. 
 work of a faithful local preacher who 
 began at conversion in September, 
 1820, and continued without interrup- 
 tion until he delivered his last power- 
 ful message March 12, 1899, a few days 
 before his death, then this is true of 
 Rev. James Needham whose labors as 
 a preacher of righteousness have sur- 
 passed Dr. Pierce's in length. A life 
 of seventy-eight and a half years as an 
 effective preacher and soul winner! 
 What a career as an ambassador of 
 Jesus Christ! What a herald! John 
 the Baptist for only a few months, but 
 this man of God for nearly eighty years! 
 What multitudes will rise at the judg- 
 ment to call him blessed! 
 
8 
 
 Methodism in the Piedmont section 
 of North Carolina has had in him a ver- 
 itable pioneer with all the essential 
 qualifications for success in his unique 
 work. Many churches were organized 
 by him that are now^ large and prosper- 
 ous. Take out of the history of North 
 Carolina Methodism the life of Father 
 Needham (for that is the name he was 
 called) and who can estimate the loss? 
 The value of a life so busy and so 
 abounding in the work of the Lord can 
 not be measured by the standards of 
 earth. He planted the cross and his 
 labors abide. 
 
 Rev. James Needham v/as born in 
 Randolph County, N. C, about seven 
 miles from Trinity, May 26, 1799. His 
 parents, Jesse and Sarah Needham, had 
 moved there from Pasquotank County. 
 He began life where books were scarce 
 and schools were few and inferior. 
 There was little in his early life to in- 
 spire him to ^seek ^literary improvement 
 and the highest attainments. The 
 poorest boy of to-day has greater ad- 
 vantages and opportunities for mental 
 training. It was^only by the exercise 
 of an iron will and by persistence in 
 self-culture that success was possible 
 to the boy who had in him the material 
 of which men are made. 
 
In all the country districts of Pied- 
 mont North Carolina, society was in its 
 primitive and undeveloped state, more 
 or less ''ignorant, rude and vicious." 
 There was little to stir the mind and 
 encourage ambition. Life had in it 
 much of the treadmill process and usu- 
 ally desired as its goal to *'eat, drink 
 and be merry." It was a day when men 
 were skilled with the plow, the gig and 
 the gun. He v/ho could tell the most 
 thrilling stories of adventures and ex- 
 ploits was sure of the most attentive 
 hearers and the highest esteem. 
 
 Professor Drummond has much to 
 say about environment as one of the 
 master-influences affecting man, but 
 Father Needham gathered up a good 
 store of information despite his unfav- 
 orable surroundings. He read history 
 and standard works on theology, but 
 most of all the Word of God, the first 
 book he ever purchased. 
 
 Religious matters were very much in 
 keeping with the intellectual status of 
 the country. There was then much 
 preaching against what was called 
 "will-worship." Father Needham de- 
 layed seeking the salvation of his soul 
 because of the pressure brought to 
 bear upon him by the strong opposition 
 to seeking religion at "the mourn- 
 
ers' bench" and to all revival work. 
 
 In the fall of 1820, desiring deliver- 
 ance from his sins, he attended a camp 
 meeting at Pleasant Garden, Guilford 
 County. At first, failing to keep his 
 promise to the Lord to go to the altar, 
 the Spirit seemed to leave him in a con- 
 dition of despair. But finally the Spirit 
 returned in his convicting power, he 
 went to the altar and was most ''pow- 
 erfully" converted. Powerful conver- 
 sions at that time were not uncommon. 
 The gospel with New Testament faith 
 and power was preached by men who 
 felt that power in their own lives, and 
 the multitudes stood amazed at the 
 signs and wonders that accompanied 
 their labors. His was not a conversion 
 of dry eyes after the quick and im- 
 proved process. H'e returned home 
 and in reply to the question, "What's 
 the news.^" said, "Good news! Good 
 news! I've got religion!" His friends 
 began to cry and leave the house. He 
 called them back and told them he 
 wanted to pray for them. 
 
 At once he joined the Methodist 
 Church, the Church of his pious parents, 
 who had dedicated him to the Lord by 
 baptism in infancy. He began to call 
 his companions to Christ as they met 
 together in class meeting. A great 
 
II 
 
 revival began in which hundreds of 
 souls were converted. He began his 
 spiritual life in a revival and revival 
 fires burned wherever he labored 
 throughout his long and eventful life. 
 
 Though he began calling sinners to 
 repentance as soon as he was converted, 
 he was not licensed to exhort until 
 sometime in the year 1821. He was 
 licensed to preach three or four years 
 later, Rev. Lewis Skidmore being Pre- 
 siding Elder, at a conference held at 
 Leaksville, Va. He was ordained Dea- 
 con by Bishop Andrew in Raleigh, N. 
 C, at the last Virginia Conference held 
 in that city, and was ordained Elder in 
 Greensboro, N. C, four years later by 
 Bishop Morris. The records containing 
 dates were distroyed byFederal soldiers. 
 
 He always had an unshaken faith in 
 his conversion. To be sure, he had 
 his periods of peculiar trial, but he 
 never lost his first love, nor did his title 
 to the heavenly mansion ever cease to be 
 clear. Possibly no one ever had clearer 
 and more unmistakable evidences of 
 his sonship than Father James Need- 
 ham, and no one ever had a more thor- 
 oughgoing conversion, nor a conver- 
 sion that marked the beginning of a 
 more abundant peace and a more even 
 overflow of real joy. 
 
12 
 
 Father Needham belonged to the 
 original stock of Methodists. He was 
 pre-eminently a Christian, but a Chris- 
 tian formed in a Methodist mold. John 
 Wesley never had a follower that was 
 more loyal and consistent. The rules 
 and usages of the Methodist Church 
 were conformed to by him, not in any 
 servile sense, but in the spirit of love 
 for and faith in the Church of his choice. 
 
 Though he was a genuine and an 
 enthusiastic Methodist, he always man- 
 ifested the sweetest and most catholic 
 spirit toward the brethren of other com- 
 munions. He shunned controversies 
 and engaged in them only a few times, 
 and then only when it became neces- 
 sary to defend the doctrines of the 
 Church he had promised to serve. He 
 loved "the brethren," and with him 
 that included all Christians. 
 
 He loved the Methodist Church. Its 
 theology appealed to his common sense 
 and sound judgment. He adapted 
 himself to the methods of his Church, 
 and had great faith in its mission in the 
 world. He deplored its corruptions, 
 but never became disheartened or de- 
 spondent. To the last he prayed daily 
 for the evangelization of the world and 
 expected his own Church to be one of 
 the great forces under God in bringing 
 
13 
 
 about that happy day when the gospel 
 of Jesus Christ will be declared among 
 all the nations of the earth. How earn- 
 estly he prayed for the heathen! 
 
 Equipment for Service. 
 
 As before said, Father Needham's 
 early life was very much cramped and 
 his opportunities for mental improve- 
 ment very much limited. No high school 
 course or college curriculum w^as with- 
 in his reach. Yet he, in his zeal for 
 the greatest usefulness in his Master's 
 service, came to have a well-disciplined 
 and well-balanced mind despite his 
 lack of academic and collegiate train- 
 ing. He gathered largely from history 
 and from some of the Church's standard 
 authors; but far above all other books 
 did he prize the Book of books. He 
 was pre-eminently a man of one Book, 
 and in him that great Book had the 
 heartiest response to its teachings. His 
 supreme delight was '*in the law of the 
 Lord," and in His Word did he literally 
 *' meditate day and night." His leaf 
 and fruit did not fail even in old age. 
 
 He did not have the learning of the 
 schools nor any of their acquired or 
 conferred degrees; but he had a very 
 accurate and minute knowledge of 
 
14 
 
 God's Word, and when he preach- 
 ed he obeyed the apostolic injunc- 
 tion, ''Preach the word." His mind 
 was stored with the words of divine 
 truth, and he could repeat large por- 
 tions of it with remarkable accuracy 
 years after his eyes became too dim to 
 read the printed page; and his soul was 
 saturated with the spirit of the Word 
 and continued to absorb it daily. For 
 him it never lost its freshness, nor did 
 the passing years cool the ardor of his 
 love for its commands and promises. 
 He beheld "wondrous things" out of 
 God's law. 
 
 But better than all else he had the 
 unction from above, the annointing of 
 the Holy Ghost, the first and greatest 
 requisite of every successful preacher; 
 and the anointing was upon him from 
 the very beginning of his ministry and 
 followed him all along his remarkable 
 life of sacrifice for his Lord. Thou- 
 sands who preceded him to the grave 
 and to the glory world, and many who- 
 still remain, have given their testimony 
 to the manifestation of this power in 
 that they yielded to the Spirit that 
 operated through the word declared by 
 him. God spoke through him. 
 
 He was not eloquent in the sense 
 that the word is usually understood^ 
 
15 
 
 At times some of his words were not 
 even heard distinctly. But he had that 
 oratory that surpasses that of the plat- 
 form speaker. He had the power that 
 moved the people toward a better life 
 and toward God. If the results can be 
 considered the test, he was eloquent. 
 
 The elements of his power and effi- 
 ciency as a preacher of righteousness 
 were : Remarkable familiarity with the 
 Word of God and implicit faith in its all- 
 sufficiency as the revelation of God to 
 man, common sense and sound judg- 
 ment, earnestness and faithfulness to 
 the truth, and lastly, the baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost. Such effects followed his 
 preaching that the people came to be- 
 lieve that his work was of God. Hun- 
 dreds and thousands who heard his call 
 to sinners came crying for mercy, and 
 they sought and found. 
 
 He preached expecting results. In 
 the summer of 1897, he assisted his pas- 
 tor, the writer, in a meeting at Beulah 
 Church, Surry County. The meeting 
 had taken deep hold on the people and 
 penitents were earnestly seeking salva- 
 tion. As he preached on the Prodigal 
 son and described his homeward jour- 
 ney, he saw in his mind the return of 
 the seekers to their Father's house, 
 and a number of them returned that 
 
i6 
 
 hour and were embraced in their 
 Father's arms. It was a day of God's 
 power seen in the return of his prodigal 
 children and felt in the hearts of his 
 sons and daughters. 
 
 But just a day or two before this ser- 
 vice he wept because of the seeming 
 barrenness of results and the hardness 
 of the hearts of the impenitent. He 
 literally wept over sinners as Christ did 
 over Jerusalem. So Christlike were 
 his sympathies for the unsaved and his 
 yearnings for their salvation. 
 
 His preaching was thoroughly ortho- 
 dox. His intepretations of the Word 
 were sound and Scriptural. He bad 
 well grounded opinions even on con- 
 troverted points and passages of Scrip- 
 ture, and was able to give the reasons 
 for the views he held and defend him- 
 self against theologians of the highest 
 rank in the Church. 
 
 On one occasion the case of Jeph- 
 thah's daughter came up for discussion 
 by a number of preachers at a District 
 Conference. Father Needham said 
 that Jephthah did not sacrifice his 
 daughter. The other preachers af- 
 firmed that he did. Dr. W., the 
 scholarly Presiding Elder, was called 
 in and he demanded the reasons for 
 his belief. Father Needham asked, 
 
17 
 
 ''Why did God drive out and destroys 
 the Canaanites ?" The Doctor replied 
 that it was because of human sacrifices. 
 He then asked him, "What was the. 
 law of a vow ?" He did not answer,, 
 and Father Needham replied that the- 
 law of a vow required that an unlawful, 
 object brought for sacrifice must ber 
 taken before the priest and valuedV 
 whether good or bad, and a lawful 
 sacrifice was offered instead. The 
 Doctor replied, "I give it up. I give 
 it up." 
 
 He was regarded as a powerful and 
 effective dispenser of God's Word, but 
 he stands highest in the estimation of 
 the people, and his memory will be 
 longest cherished by the multitudes^ 
 as a man of prayer. To say that he 
 was mighty in prayer and gifted in 
 prayer is to use well worn expressions,, 
 but they can be applied to him with 
 all their force and import. He prayed 
 — and such prayers he uttered ! His 
 whole soul, voice and body were 
 brought into service. His prayers not 
 only were praised and believed in by 
 men, but were approved and answered 
 by God. Surely God never bowed his 
 ear lower to hear the prayer of any of 
 earth's saints than he did to hear Fa- 
 ther Needham's. He prayed for mourn- 
 
i8 
 
 ers and they ceased to mourn, were 
 comforted and praised God. He pray- 
 ed for the sick and suffering and their 
 diseases were stayed and their health 
 was speedily restored. He prayed for 
 rain, with a sky as clear and rain- 
 less as that above Elijah on Carmel, 
 and in an hour the thirsty earth was 
 drinking the descending rain. He 
 prayed with and for his family evening 
 and morning and they all became 
 Christians in answer to his prayers. 
 
 In 1897, at Laurel Bluff Church, 
 Surry County, he was helping his pas- 
 tor in a protracted meeting. On the 
 2 1st of September at the night service, 
 the altar was filled with penitents. 
 Deep feeling and widespread interest 
 were manifested in the congregation. 
 Prayer was called for and Father 
 Needham led. How he prayed! Who 
 that heard that prayer can ever forget 
 that hour.? Heaven and earth seemed 
 to be closer together. How he plead 
 with God for those mourning souls ! 
 About fourteen of them professed sav- 
 ing faith in Christ and went to their 
 homes rejoicing in the Lord. 
 
 Also for the sick as well as for the 
 sinner were his prayers sought and did 
 they avail. Though he had skill as a 
 physician and practiced for years, he 
 
19 
 
 had greater faith in the skill of the 
 Great Physician. 
 
 His son Jesse was very sick with 
 fever. The doctor had given up the 
 case. He became very much disturb- 
 ed about his call to preach. He 
 thought he was going to die and was 
 alarmed about the condition of his 
 soul. He asked his father to pray for 
 him. After a most earnest and power- 
 ful prayer, hope revived and he began 
 at once to recover and rapidly improv- 
 ed from that hour. 
 
 A granddaughter's husband, Rev. 
 Jesse Ashburn of the Primitive Baptist 
 Church, was very sick and his skilled 
 physician said that patients in his 
 condition always died. He sent for 
 Father Needham and three other min- 
 isters. Prayer was offered at night. 
 Before day the suffering man called up 
 the preachers to pray for him. While 
 they were on their knees the pains all 
 left him. He got up that morning, ate 
 his breakfast and walked about to the 
 surprise of his physician and others. 
 
 In time of drought his prayers were 
 heard and answered. 
 
 In 1 88 1, a meeting to pray for rain 
 was appointed at New Hope Church. 
 After the opening services, Father 
 Needham made some remarks. At 
 
20 
 
 this time in the service some of the 
 doubters looked about for signs of rain, 
 but saw none. Recalled the congrega- 
 tion to prayer and asked all to kneeL 
 No prayer in a long life of prayer was 
 offered in greater earnestness. Before 
 the congregation arose from its knees,, 
 it thundered. He arose and told the 
 people to hurry to their homes, or they 
 would be caught in the rain. A good 
 rain came and some were not yet at 
 their homes when it began to fall. On 
 that day some who had been skeptical 
 as to the efficacy of prayer learned to 
 believe that God hears and answers 
 prayer. 
 
 HIS WORK AS A PASTOR. 
 Father Needham never became a 
 member of the Annual Conference, but 
 after moving to Surry County, N. C, 
 April, 1842, he labored as a supply for 
 as many as seventeen years. If he 
 had spent his life in the itinerancy he 
 would have served more charges and 
 more people would have learned to 
 know him, but great would have been 
 the loss to the local ranks of the min- 
 istry. If some local preachers have 
 brought injury to their own rank by 
 laboring sparingly and ineffectively, he 
 has done exceptional honor to that 
 large class of ministers who usually 
 
21 
 
 labor "without money and without 
 price. " 
 
 Rev. Dr. P. L. Groome, of the Balti- 
 more Conference, says that FatherNeed- 
 ham organized Blue Ridge Mission and 
 served it three years. He labored two 
 years on Fisher's River Mission which 
 was joined to the Blue Ridge Mission. 
 Later he spent two years on this work. 
 He served Patrick and Sauratown Mis- 
 sion when it extended to the Chowan 
 District. He traveled one year on 
 each of the following charges: Stokes, 
 Forsyth, Surry, Yadkin. Surry Circuit 
 had twenty-eight appointments. He 
 traveled the Sauratown and Pilot 
 Mountain Mission during the war. 
 
 REVIVAL AND CAMP MEETING 
 PREACHER. 
 
 After Father Needham's conversion 
 he attended class meeting the first op- 
 portunity. In his turn he arose and 
 said that he had something to say. 
 He told the congregation that he had 
 religion, that he was happy, and if 
 there were any who wanted religion, if 
 they would come forward and kneel, 
 he would pray for them. They came 
 and there a gracious revival began that 
 was thorough and far-reaching in its 
 influence. 
 
22 
 
 Dr. Groome says that Father Need- 
 ham was instrumental in forming the 
 societyatJamestown,where he preached 
 his first sermon and where he labored in 
 a great revival. At the close of his first 
 sermon he called for penitents and many 
 came. Among these were a son and 
 daughter of a minister of another 
 Church. He called on the preacher to 
 pray for the mourners, but he abruptly 
 replied, " Pray for them yourself. " 
 
 Also at Muir's Chapel he had a gra- 
 cious revival and organized a church. 
 This might be said of many churches 
 in Surry, Stokes, Forsyth, Yadkin and 
 other counties, where his labors pre- 
 ceded revivals and where revivals pre- 
 ceded the organization of churches. 
 
 He has been known all along during 
 his long term of effective service as a 
 revivalist. He was not acquainted 
 with many of the plans and schemes 
 operated by some of the latter day 
 revivalists, but powerful religious awak- 
 enings occurred in- the charges he 
 served and wherever he labored with 
 others. He never fell in with the 
 modern method of relating anecdotes 
 and persisted in saying that this is not 
 preaching the gospel. His language 
 was pure and he made no strange per- 
 formances in the pulpit. In his revival 
 
 1 
 
23 
 
 work he resorted to no questionable 
 methods to gain attention and draw 
 large crowds. He honored the Spirit 
 and the Word of God, and the results 
 of his work were not superficial, but 
 deep and permanent. 
 
 Even during his last two years his 
 labors in revival work were remark- 
 ably blessed. He assisted his pastor 
 in eighteen protracted meetings and 
 gracious results followed. He usually 
 preached at the day services but al^ 
 ways attended and took an active part 
 in the night services. Over rough 
 roads, through heat and cold, day and 
 night, he traveled, suffering for sinners 
 and the Church. At times he would 
 preach until his physical strength al- 
 most failed him. His life and labors 
 were a standing rebuke to those who 
 without the best excuses stay away 
 from the house of God. Nearl}' a hun- 
 dred years old and attending and 
 laboring in the night services of meet- 
 ings week after week! Surely no pas- 
 tor ever had more faithful and self- 
 sacrificing help in revival work. 
 
 During the month of February, 1898, 
 he and his pastor assisted Rev. H. K. 
 Boyer, the pastor of Mt. Airy Station, in 
 revival services. The Mt. Airy corre- 
 spondent to the Wihniyigton Star writes: 
 
24 
 
 **Rev. James Needham, of Surry 
 County, a local minister of the Metho- 
 dist Church, preached a great sermon 
 from Acts 17:30 to a large congrega- 
 .tioii in the Central Methodist Church 
 /here to-day. Brother Needham will 
 be 99 years old on May 26th, and has 
 been a minister of the gospel for more 
 than seventy-five years, having preach- 
 ed to five generations. He is one of 
 the most remarkable men in this coun- 
 ^y. Physically he is quite active for 
 one of his age, and his mental faculties 
 are clear and vigorous. He is here 
 attending a revival meeting, and is 
 loved and honored by every one who 
 knows him. He is indeed a father in 
 Israel, and in listening to him one al- 
 most imagines that he is hearing a 
 voice from the great beyond." 
 
 In the day of camp meetings he was 
 in the front rank as an effective camp 
 meeting preacher. In these great 
 gatherings his labors were eminently 
 blessed. He assisted in eighty-two 
 camp meetings, and in each meeting 
 there were from twenty-five to two 
 hundred and fifty professions. Some 
 of the leading camp grounds of years 
 ago were established by him. On dif- 
 ferent occasions in these meetings 
 where he labored, the interest became 
 
25 
 
 so great that half of the night would 
 pass away before the multitudes would 
 retire to their tents. 
 
 If we are to take the Bible standard 
 of measurement, "They that turn many 
 to righteousness shall shine as the stars 
 forever," who can have any adequate 
 conception of the blessedness of such 
 a life ? With such real and remark- 
 able conceptions of heaven as he had, 
 who can wonder that his labors were 
 so faithful and abundant, despite the 
 sad lack of almost all remuneration for 
 his services? 
 
 If the Church could come to have a 
 clearer conception of the vast amount 
 of service rendered by Father Need- 
 ham during his incessant labors for 
 nearly a century, it could understand 
 better how he came to stand above so 
 many of his fellows in character and 
 influence. He might be called a prod- 
 igy, but he is not so much a prodigy 
 as a product. When his life is multi- 
 plied by the tens of thousands of acts 
 of service rendered to his Lord, there 
 is no cause to wonder why all his ac- 
 quaintances reverenced him, and those 
 who knew him best almost paid him 
 homage. Behind him was such a rec- 
 ord, scores of years of holy living and 
 faithful service, that produced in all 
 
26 
 
 classes a sense of reverence and re- 
 spect accorded to very few of God's 
 saints. 
 
 After all that might be said about 
 his abundant labors for his Master, it 
 seems that the best contribution that 
 he has given to his Church and to his 
 Country is his character based on a 
 spotless life. It is believed that there 
 is not a man among his acquaintances 
 sufficiently abandoned to evil to say 
 aught against the life and character of 
 Father Needham. No man could 
 point to him and show a single blem- 
 ish in his long Christian life. To those 
 who never knew him, some of these 
 statements may seem extravagant and 
 exaggerated; but to those who knew 
 him best, they will not be too strong, 
 nor will they fully express to the world 
 the esteem in which he was held by his 
 friends. How highly favored were his 
 thousands of friends to have before 
 them in this perverse and sinful gener- 
 ation a life so pure and spotless! 
 North Carolina Methodism is to be 
 congratulated in being permitted to 
 lay claim to such a life, long, holy, 
 -devotional, faithful and effective. He 
 may never have a tall marble shaft at 
 his grave; but as long as the Church 
 cherishes the memory of its pioneers 
 
27 
 
 and retains the records of their labors, 
 the name of Father James Needham 
 will not be forgotten. Who can esti- 
 mate the value of what he said, what 
 he did and what he was ? 
 
 Mr. Beecher said, "The business of 
 life is to know how to get along with 
 our fellow-men." Dr. Hillis says, 
 "Skill in getting on with men is the 
 test of perfect manhood." Few men 
 have done so much good in the world 
 as Father Needham while producing 
 so little friction, while arousing so 
 little antagonism. He has taken 
 advanced steps in the art of right 
 living. 
 
 REMARKABLE FACTS AND VISIONS. 
 
 While a young man Father Need- 
 ham was instrumental in organizing a 
 Library Association at Ebenezer Church 
 about seven miles from the place where 
 Trinity College was afterwards located. 
 He framed the constitution and by-laws 
 of this society. With the assessments 
 levied upon and collected from the 
 members, he was able to secure a good 
 library. This good collection of books 
 had the effect of creating much inter- 
 est in reading and in the subject of 
 education. The influence of this li- 
 
28 
 
 brary was wide-spread throughout the 
 surrounding section and made it pos- 
 sible for success in the school work, 
 and for the school to begin out of 
 which Trinity College grew. He laid 
 the foundation for Trinity College. He 
 builded greater than he knew and 
 greater than the Church has yet given 
 him due honor for. 
 
 Father Needham knew Dr. Braxton 
 Craven when the Doctor was but a boy. 
 Soon after Dr. Craven was licensed 
 to preach, he attended one of Father 
 Needham's services, and there the 
 young preacher preached for him his 
 first sermon from the text: "And 
 Abraham said unto Lot, Let there be 
 no strife, I pray thee, between me and 
 thee, and between my herdmen and 
 thy herdmen; for we be brethren.'* 
 Father Needham said that he preached 
 well. 
 
 Father Needham was a native of the 
 county of Naomi Wise. He made the 
 coffin in which her sixteen-year-old 
 daughter was buried. He knew the 
 facts upon which Dr. Craven based 
 his thrilling story, "Naomi Wise; or, 
 the Wrongs of a Beautiful Girl." 
 
 In his early life, Father Needham 
 went to his church early one Sabbath. 
 He took a seat on a root under a large 
 
29 
 
 tree. No one else had come, and it 
 was entirely still about him. Suddenly 
 a voice said to him, ''Get up from 
 there." Startled, he quickly arose. He 
 looked all around for the speaker, but 
 saw no one. Then he cast his eyes up 
 the tree. At that moment a large limb 
 broke off and fell upon the very spot 
 where he had sat. 
 
 After his conversion Father Needham 
 had some doubts as to his call to preach. 
 One night he dreamed that he was at 
 Ebenezer Church in Randolph County. 
 He was standing near the pulpit, and 
 at the eastern end of the church a great 
 wall stood. He saw come from behind 
 this wall a large serpent about seventy 
 feet long. It crawled in at the door 
 and down toward him. As it came 
 near it raised its head as if to strike him 
 in the face. Then he said, "I com- 
 mand thee in the name of Jesus of Naz- 
 areth, depart from here." It dropped 
 its head and turned toward the door 
 and returned to the wall. 
 
 Then he looked up in the church and 
 saw a silver trumpet. A voice told 
 him to take that trumpet to the door 
 and sound it toward the west as long 
 as he had strength. He did so. He 
 looked out and saw the people coming 
 in such a thick mass that they looked 
 
30 
 
 like a dark cloud. In a few moments 
 the house was filled with people who 
 came from the west, the north and the 
 south. He never again doubted his 
 call to preach, nor did he ever preach 
 a sermon east of that church. 
 
 Many years ago he had a remarkable 
 vision of heaven. In this great mansion 
 there were several stories. In one cor- 
 ner of this great structure there were 
 fearful signs of decay, and he was told 
 that this represented the Catholic 
 Church. As he moved along from 
 place to place, he found that there was 
 no law of gravitation to overcome and 
 that he could move along at will with- 
 out effort. As he ascended from story 
 to story, more and more did he see 
 things that were not lawful for man to 
 utter. At last he came to the upper 
 story and looked out over the battle- 
 ments of heaven down upon the moving 
 masses of toiling, suffering, sinful men, 
 and in an outburst of pity for the inhab- 
 itants of earth his eyes were suffused 
 with tears and he awoke. 
 
 Not many years ago he was taken 
 violently ill. It was thought that he 
 could not live. While asleep he dreamed 
 that he approached the gate of heaven 
 and knocked for admittance. The 
 keeper of the gate told him that on the 
 
31 
 
 inside was a harp for him, but that one 
 string was wanting on it and that he 
 could not yet be admitted. He then 
 prayed that he might return to earth 
 and finish his work that the missing: 
 string might be supplied. He awoke 
 and told his friends that he would re- 
 cover and that they might retire to- 
 their beds for rest and sleep. At once 
 he began to improve and soon recov- 
 ered to spend a few more years of great 
 usefulness in perfecting the golden harp- 
 of heaven. 
 
 HOME LIFE. 
 
 In 1820, in March before his conver- 
 sion in September, Father Needham 
 was married to Hannah Frazier. To- 
 them were born ten children, — Mary^ 
 Chrisenberry, John, Asbury, Jesse^ 
 James, William, Sarah, Margaret and 
 one that died in infancy. The nine all 
 professed religion before they became 
 grown. Jesse and William became 
 faithful ministers of the gospel. Asbury,. 
 James, William and Sarah still survive. 
 William has two sons, Revs. Zachariah 
 J. Needham and J. Bibb Needham, who 
 are members of the Pacific Conference, 
 and a daughter, Addie, the wife of Rev. 
 Jesse A. Ashburn of the Primitive Bap- 
 tist Church. Sarah, the wife of John 
 
32 
 
 H. Boyles, Pilot Mountain, N. C, has 
 a son, Rev. I. Sebert Boyles, who is 
 pastor of the Baptist church at Wil- 
 liamsburg, Va. Another granddaugh- 
 ter is the wife of Rev. Mr. West, an 
 itinerant minister in Kentucky. Still 
 others are filling places of honor and 
 trust and are not unmindful of the great 
 value of a godly ancestry. The num- 
 ber of children, grandchildren and 
 great grandchildren is very large. 
 
 His wife was a consecrated Christian 
 worker, and very familiar with the 
 Word of God. Her pastor. Rev. N. E. 
 Coltrane of the North Carolina Confer- 
 ence, wrote of her: 
 
 "Died, in Surry county, N. C, July 6, 
 1880, Hannah Needham, wife of Rev. 
 James Needham. Sister Needham was 
 born in Randolph County, N. C, Nov. 7, 
 1801, was married to James Needham 
 in 1820, professed religion at a class 
 meeting at Old Ebenezer, April 13, 
 1822. She was the mother often chil- 
 dren. One of these died while an in- 
 fant, three died in Christian faith, and 
 six are still living. These with about 
 sixty grandchildren and great grand- 
 children are left to mourn their loss. 
 
 "Sister Needham suffered very great 
 affliction for a little over forty years, 
 but for the last ninety days she com- 
 
33 
 
 plained of but little or no pain, but 
 gradually declined till her death. She 
 was a devoted Christian, and her end 
 was one of great peace. Previous to 
 her death, her mind was clear and she 
 expressed herself freely, said she was 
 ready to die. 
 
 "Assisted by Bro. Foy, I preached 
 her funeral at New Hope, July 7, to a 
 large congregation. The text was 
 from Rev. 14:13, a text she had chosen. 
 She has gone home to rest from her 
 labors. Sweet will be the rest after 
 her protracted affliction. 
 
 "Bro. Needham has been a local 
 preacher for more than half a century, 
 has traveled as a supply for many 
 years, is nov/ in his eighty-second 
 year, and preaches about twice a week. 
 May he have the sympathy and pray- 
 ers of the Church in this sore bereav- 
 ment. God bless him and all his fam- 
 ily and bring them at last to the h^ven 
 of eternal rest." 
 
 The home life of Father Needham. is 
 Avorthy of careful study. He ruled his 
 own household well, and without re- 
 sorting to the more violent modes of 
 correction. The rod of correction was 
 displaced by that correction that came 
 from his exemplary life and from the 
 power of his love toward his children 
 
34 
 
 and of his love toward his God. The 
 spirit of the man pervaded the inner 
 circle of his family, and they never 
 grossly violated his law of love. Pos- 
 sibly he was honored and reverenced 
 by no one more than by his own chil- 
 dren. They "almost worshipped" 
 him. 
 
 If the commitment of children to pa- 
 rents is their greatest trust, and if the 
 training of them is their highest duty, 
 then Father Needham's name deserves 
 honorable mention, even if he had not 
 directly blessed the world by his own 
 labors; since he has produced good 
 fruit by the proper training of his chil- 
 dren that have been and are a blessing 
 to the world. Like Abraham he be- 
 lieved God and his promises and he 
 trained his children and showed them 
 the better way by precept and by ex- 
 ample. His life is not lost to his off- 
 spring, and through his offspring it is 
 not lost to the world. 
 
 He was very influential for good in 
 the homes of his children. A grand- 
 son. Rev. Z. J. Needham, writes: "At 
 times he had more power in prayer than 
 any man I ever knew. The last even- 
 ing he was at father's before we, my 
 wife, child, brother and I, left home for 
 California, he prayed with unusual ef- 
 
 \ 
 
35 
 
 feet. Such words of mighty pleading 
 for each of us cannot fail to bear fruit 
 in the lives of those for whom they were 
 uttered. I am certain I never knew 
 any one that seemed to have so much 
 faith in God and such direct fellowship 
 with the Spirit." 
 
 "FELL ON SLEEP." 
 
 The same peace that filled his soul 
 through life did not fail him when his 
 spirit took its flight to heaven. Wit- 
 nesses testify that a short time before 
 he died he seemed to arouse, looked 
 upward and a heavenly light, brighter 
 than the light of the lamp, lighted up 
 his face. His son William said that 
 just before he died he bowed his head 
 as if thinking of Christ when he bowed 
 his head on the cross and yielded up 
 the ghost. He died without a struggle. 
 La grippe had seized him a few days 
 after preaching his last sermon at Pilot 
 Mountain, N. C, March 12, but he suf- 
 fered little pain. He was anxious with 
 his thousands of friends to see his hun- 
 dred years completed, but his anniver- 
 sary was celebrated in heaven with his 
 many friends and beneficiaries that had 
 gone on before. 
 
 On Easter Sabbath evening his body 
 
36 
 
 was carried to New Hope Church. To 
 a very large congregation, Dr. W. S. 
 Creasy, of the Western North Carolina 
 Conference, preached a pathetic and 
 powerful sermon from the text: "For 
 David after he had served his own gen- 
 eration by the will of God, fell on 
 sleep, and was laid unto his fathers." 
 By the side of his wife he was laid to 
 rest at New Hope Church near Ararat 
 station, Surry County, to await a glori- 
 ous resurrection. 
 
 < 
 
Tributes By The Press and 
 Others. 
 
 From Mr. T. J. Lowry, Editor News, 
 Mt. Airy, N. C: 
 
 "Father Needham is dead! 
 
 " His work is finished; his last exhor- 
 tation has been heard; his last prayer 
 on earth for dying sinners has been ut- 
 tered; his lips are cold and still! 
 
 "He has gone to be with God — to 
 await your coming — our coming — to 
 meet with his loved ones on the other 
 shore! 
 
 "Will we forget him? Will we dis- 
 appoint him? 
 
 "The announcement on our streets 
 Saturday that Father Needham had 
 passed away that morning at his home, 
 at I o'clock, brought sadness to many 
 hearts. 
 
 " He would have been one hundred 
 years old on the 26th of next month. 
 
 " He was ill only a few days and said 
 to those about him soon after he took 
 sick that he thought he would get up 
 again. 
 
 " 'Father Needham,' as he was famil- 
 iarly known, was actively engaged in 
 
38 
 
 ministerial work for more than seventy, 
 perhaps seventy-five, years. While he 
 was never a member of the Methodist 
 Conference he served as supply pastor 
 many years. His last sermon was 
 preached in Pilot Mountain, Sunday, 
 March I2, 1899, from the text, if we 
 mistake not: 'And whosoever will let 
 him take the water of life freely.* Mr. 
 Rodgers informs us that he had accepted 
 an invitation to preach the annual ser- 
 mon at Trinity Academy,in Pilot Moun- 
 tain, the day he reached the century 
 mark. Last year he assisted Rev. J. 
 P. Rodgers and Rev. H. K. Boyer in 
 revival meetings and preached many 
 powerful sermons. 
 
 "No man in Western North Carolina 
 was more universally esteemed — none 
 more faithful to God. 
 
 ** Father Needham leaves several 
 children, a number of grand and great 
 grandchildren. 
 
 " The funeral services were held Sun- 
 day, April 2nd, at New Hope, near 
 Ararat station. A large number of sor- 
 rowing relatives and neighbors and 
 friends attended the services, which were 
 conducted by Dr. Creasy, of Winston. 
 
 "The News extends its sympathy to 
 the family of the deceased." 
 
39 
 
 Rev. W. S. Creasy, D. D., writes: 
 ** There is no name in Piedmont 
 North Caroh'na that is more of a 
 household one than that of Rev. James 
 Needham, a local elder, familiarly 
 "known as Father Needham. The very 
 name has been synonymous with piety, 
 consecration, and fidelity to the Church 
 of his choice and the cause of Christ. 
 He doubtless wielded a greater influ- 
 ence for Christ in the section where he 
 lived than any man who has ever been 
 among the people. He was a forcible, 
 instructive and deeply spiritual preach- 
 er. This is proved by the hundreds 
 who now live, who were brought to the 
 Savior through him, and will be by thous- 
 ands who have entered into rest, because 
 of this holy man's teaching and life. 
 
 "His labors have been truly remark- 
 able as to the long time the Master 
 permitted him to engage in his loved 
 employ. If he had lived to see the 
 26th of next month or just 55 days 
 longer he would have celebrated his 
 one hundredth birthday, which he ex- 
 pected to do by preaching at Pilot 
 Mountain. It was a great disappoint- 
 ment to thousands of his friends and 
 admirers that he was taken before that 
 day. But the Lord knows and does 
 that which is best. 
 
40 
 
 "He had been a preacher for nearly 
 eighty years. He was never in the 
 itinerant ministry, but served as a 
 supply on different charges from time 
 to time as much as seventeen years. 
 He v/as abundant in labors at all times, 
 was a great helper to all the preachers 
 with whom he came in contact. He 
 almost ceased to labor and live at the 
 same time. 
 
 "He attended the quarterly meeting 
 of his circuit on the 2nd Sunday in 
 March, preached a strong and helpful 
 sermon at night, from the text: 'Who- 
 soever will, let him take the water of 
 life freely.' This was his last sermon. 
 He contracted some cold which de- 
 veloped into la grippe and he gradu- 
 ally grew weaker, until the morning of 
 April 1st, at i o'clock he sweetly fell 
 asleep and went into the presence of 
 that Savior whom he loved so well and 
 served so long. One of his last say- 
 ings was: 'I have been all my life try- 
 ing to show and tell people how to 
 live; I will now show them how to 
 die.' He gave every expression of 
 peace and joy while he could talk, and 
 then by sign and look, indicated all 
 was well. 
 
 "The funeral was preached by the 
 writer at New Hope Church, near 
 
41 ■ 
 
 where he lived, to a congregation of 
 1500 persons, and then we laid him to 
 rest beside his wife, with the sure and 
 certain hope of a glorious resurrection. 
 It was a scene never to be forgotten as 
 the great throng, young and old, pass- 
 ed by looking upon the face of one 
 they loved so well, which was attested 
 by flowing tears. He has left us but 
 his works follow him, and will doubt- 
 less show wonders in the better land. 
 
 "The writer has known Father 
 Needham for a number of years, and 
 owes him much for advice, sympathy 
 and prayer. I recall one instance 
 specially, when we were engaged in a 
 meeting and the power and glory of 
 God were being manifested in an un- 
 usual degree, he caught me in his arms, 
 and exclaimed: 'Bro. Creasy and my- 
 self have made a new covenant to meet 
 each other in heaven.' May God help 
 me to keep my part of it. When I was 
 recommended by the Church for license 
 to preach, he laid his hand on my head 
 and gave me his benediction, which 
 has followed me in power and sweet- 
 ness all these years. 
 
 '*He was fond of relating the inci- 
 dents connected with his work in the 
 early days of his ministry. Many of 
 them humorous, others sad, and some 
 
42 
 
 startling to us at this day. He had a 
 rich experience, he thought, and talked 
 about the glories of heaven by day, 
 and frequently dreamed of them at 
 night. He has given us some vivid 
 pictures of heaven, as he has seen it in 
 his dreams. He has gone to look up- 
 on his King in his beauty, and the 
 glory which surrounds him, with a 
 clear and loving sight. 
 
 *'He enjoyed his visit to our confer- 
 ence at Winston very much indeed, 
 and it was a source of joy to him, the 
 few days of life he had left, that he had 
 met the brethren and joined in their 
 worship. Peace to his ashes. God 
 help us to meet him in heaven." 
 
 From Rev. H. M. Blair, Presiding 
 Elder of the Mt. Airy District, in Church 
 and Home: 
 
 ** The announcement that Rev. James 
 Needham, the oldest Methodist preach- 
 er in North Carolina, and perhaps in 
 the whole Methodist Church, had died 
 at his home in Surry County on Satur- 
 day morning, April ist, was a great 
 sorrow to his thousands of friends. 
 
 "'Father Needham' was born in 
 Randolph County, this State, May 26th, 
 1799. His parents were both members 
 
43 
 
 of the Methodist Church, and dedicated 
 him to God by baptism when in in- 
 fancy. They started with him to the 
 State of Ohio when he was only four or 
 five years old, but his mother was 
 taken ill on the way, and they stopped 
 at a place near where the Laurel Bluff 
 cotton mills now stand, near Mt. Airy, 
 and were detained so long that the re- 
 moval west was abandoned, and they 
 remained in that vicinity for some 
 years, and then returned to their for- 
 mer neighborhood in Randolph County. 
 Many years later, however, his father 
 did remove with a portion of his family 
 to Ohio. 
 
 •'His last sermon was preached at 
 Pilot Mountain, March I2th, this being 
 the occasion of the 2nd quarterly meet- 
 ing for his charge. He occupied the 
 evening hour, and preached a sermon 
 of great spiritual power and unction 
 from the text, 'And whosoever will, 
 let him take the water of life freely.^ 
 No text could have been more appro- 
 priate, and it was apparent through the 
 fifty minutes of its delivery that his 
 soul was on fire with solicitude for the 
 salvation of sinners. His appeals were 
 heart-searching and tender. 
 
 ''In many respects this was a remark- 
 able man. Unlike most old men, he 
 
44 
 
 never dropped behind in the march of 
 progress, nor did he lose sympathy 
 with the younger generations. As he 
 was never by disease or infirmity com- 
 pelled to desist from his loved employ 
 of preaching the gospel, so he never 
 grew sour or discontented with the 
 changed conditions and methods of 
 the more modern days. Religion, 
 spiritual and fervent, founded upon the 
 experience of a vital change by the 
 regeneration of the heart through faith 
 in the blood of Christ, was what he 
 contended for all through his long life, 
 and a better example of the truth of 
 this teaching was never given in any 
 life. He literally lived what he taught. 
 ** There is one point in his experience 
 which it may be well to give special 
 attention, since it bears specially upon 
 a question which, at the present time, 
 is agitating the Church, and in some 
 places causing division and strife. We 
 have reference to the fact that he 
 claimed to have obtained at once, in 
 the moment of his justification, iiot 
 only a sense of pardon, but likewise 
 that deep and abiding evidence of the 
 renewal of his nature w^hich forever 
 settled him, and made it entirely un- 
 necessary for him to seek, in this sense, 
 a second blessing. While he testified 
 
45 
 
 that he sought and obtained many a 
 blessing, yet there was no time when 
 he had any reason to feel that the first 
 work was not complete and full. So, 
 speaking out of his experience, while 
 he believed with all his heart in the 
 great doctrine of the sanctification of 
 believers, he did not believe in the ab- 
 solute necessity of a specific second 
 work in order to attain to this. Xo 
 one who was well acquainted with 
 'Father Needham' could ever doubt 
 that he experienced and exemplified 
 in the most emphatic sense a sanctified 
 life. His life was 'hid with Christ in 
 God.' 
 
 " Perhaps, after all, such an experience 
 and life may help in the solution of 
 this vexed and much-vexing question. 
 May it not be true that some enter in- 
 to the full-orbed life of a perfect faith 
 and love from the beginning; while 
 others, with a poorer conception of the 
 possibilities of divine grace, must come 
 into the fullness of the blessing after a 
 revision of the former notions of the 
 Divine purpose in grace ? One is not 
 likely to be saved any further than 
 he believes it possible to be saved. 
 'Father Needham' believed it possible 
 in the beginning to be saved from all 
 sin, and thus he was saved, his whole 
 
46 
 
 long life testifying to the truth of this 
 salvation, although he never made any 
 public boast of it, so far as the writer 
 knows. 
 
 "His ministry was one of power, but 
 never one of contention, and he al- 
 ways preached as one sent to proclaim 
 glad tidings and to publish peace. He 
 constantly proclaimed liberty to the 
 captive, and endeavored to bind up the 
 broken-hearted, and to comfort those 
 that mourned. He rests from his la- 
 bors, and his works follow him !" 
 
 Rev. S. H. Helsabeck writes: 
 
 ''^ My Dear Brother Rodger s: — I am 
 glad you have undertaken to write a 
 biography of Father James Needham. 
 I wish to say that I have known him 
 more than fifty years and he certainly 
 was one of the best and most useful 
 local preachers I have ever known. 
 He read and studied the Bible closely 
 and his sermons were always full of 
 God's Word, and as a result he always 
 had a hearing on the part of the people. 
 He had faith in the gospel and looked 
 for immediate fruits and was not disap- 
 pointed. And the day of eternity alone 
 can reveal the number of souls converted 
 under his ministry. I was with him in 
 
47 
 
 many meetings and know the things 
 whereof I testify are true. 
 
 "He was also a good thinker and 
 when he reached his conclusions he 
 had the courage of his convictions, and 
 on all proper occasions was ready to 
 defend them. 
 
 " He was a great lover of his Church 
 and her doctrines, while at the same 
 time his large heart took in all of 
 God's people, so that he truly believed 
 in the 'holy catholic Church' and in 
 the 'fellowship of the saints.' 
 
 "He was one of the humblest men I 
 ever knew. His piety was deep, uni- 
 form and constant. Whoever knew 
 him to speak an unkind word? Who- 
 ever saw him out of good temper? 
 
 "He was an all-round man — remark- 
 able in many wa,ys and retained a 
 sound and bright mind to the last. 
 And having for near a hundred years 
 showed the people 'how a Christian 
 lives.' in meeting his latest foe he 
 showed 'how a Christian dies.' 
 
 "Take him all in all, his long term of 
 ministerial service and the usefulness of 
 his ministry, I never expect to see his 
 like again. 
 
 "Though dead the stream of his in- 
 fluence will flow on forever. 
 
 " 'Servant of God, well done! 
 Rest from thy loved employ.' " 
 
48 
 
 Rev. A. M. Long writes: 
 
 ''Rev. James Needham, 'Father 
 Needham,' as he was usually called, 
 was no ordinary man. He was indeed 
 a father in our Methodist Israel in the 
 Northwestern counties of North Caro- 
 lina. He lived almost a hundred years, 
 born in 1799, died in 1899. He gave a 
 large number of the years he lived to 
 the service of the Church to which he 
 belonged and to the preaching of the 
 everlasting gospel of the Son of God; 
 and sinners by the hundreds were 
 brought to Christ by his ministry. 
 
 "As a local preacher in the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, South, he came as 
 near making full proof of his ministry 
 as any preacher in his day. He sup- 
 plied several missions and circuits and 
 was a faithful and efficient pastor. 
 
 "I first met him in 1874, and first 
 heard him preach the same year. Upon 
 my first acquaintance with him, I formed 
 a mental picture which I often com- 
 pared with that of my future acquain- 
 tance with him and found that I was 
 correct in my first mental view. 
 
 "Father Needham's religion was 
 broad, deep and wide enough to take 
 in all mankind. He surely believed 
 and by his life said: 
 
49 
 
 'There's a wideness in God's mercy, 
 Like the wideness of the sea,' 
 
 He was devoted to his religious du- 
 ties and to his beloved work, the preach- 
 ing of the unsearchable riches of Christ. 
 He was 'mighty in the Scriptures'; his 
 sermons were strong and well deliv- 
 ered, and in a style all his own; he was 
 large and well rounded as a preacher 
 and as a man; and his 
 
 ' Life was so gentle and the elements 
 
 So mixed in him that nature might stand up 
 
 And say to all the world, " This was a man. 
 
 > if 
 
 "Father Needham is gone to a great 
 reward. Near Easter Sabbath in 1899 
 he died, but as sure as God's sun shines 
 he still lives. His life's work is done; 
 his mission on earth was a noble one; 
 our heritage is his blessed memory; all 
 should emulate his virtues. Surely 
 
 ' The actions of the just 
 Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.' 
 
 *'By the removal of Rev. James 
 Needham, this aged Christian father, 
 to glory and heaven, God teaches us 
 all how to estimate great and good 
 men and reproves us for our deprecia- 
 tion of their talents and virtues. 
 
 "This aged servant of God has gone 
 to that blessed home of which he fre- 
 
50 
 
 quently talked as if he had already- 
 been there. 'Sphered in light and 
 throned in love, companion of saint 
 and seraphs, he enjoys a sinless and 
 sorrowless eternity.' 
 
 'Where age has no power o'er the fadeless 
 
 frame, 
 Where the eye is fire and the heart is flame.' " 
 
 Rev. W. W. Bays, D. D., Presiding 
 Elder of the Statesville District, writes: 
 
 "I first met dear old Father Need- 
 ham at Mount Airy last winter was a 
 year ago. 
 
 '' I was to go to Mount Airy to preach 
 and lecture; and just before going I 
 learned of him through the Charlotte 
 Observer iox the first time I think — that 
 he was assisting in a protracted meet- 
 ing in Mount Airy — a man in his 99th 
 year actually assisting in a revival! It 
 struck me as something wonderful, and 
 I had a great curiosity to meet him. 
 
 "When I arrived at Mount Airy I 
 met him sure enough, in a revival, and 
 preaching, for he preached the night I 
 arrived there, Saturday night, though 
 I arrived too late to hear him. 
 
 "I preached on Sunday morning and 
 Sunday night, and Father Needham 
 was present at both services; and at 
 night he was called on to pray; and I 
 
51 
 
 was astonished at the strength and com- 
 pass of his voice. I am sure he could 
 have been heard a hundred yards! 
 
 *'I lectured on 'Woman' on Monday 
 night, and Father Needham was there; 
 and I think no one in the audience en- 
 joyed the lecture more than he. He 
 laughed and shook all over at the 
 amusing parts, took in the main points, 
 and mentioned some of them to me at 
 Winston, last Conference. 
 
 "At Mt. Airy I was with him a good 
 deal, and was surprised at the acute- 
 ness of his mind, his views regarding 
 certain texts — some of them quite 
 original — though, of course, views he 
 had entertained in the past — for he 
 lived largely in the past, as all people 
 do. He told me the story of his con- 
 version — his going to camp meeting, 
 the agony of his repentance, the bless- 
 edness of his believing, and the joy of 
 his conversion. It seemed so Method- 
 istic — aye, almost so Pentecostal, to 
 hear him tell what happened about 
 eighty years before ! 
 
 "I heard him preach at Winston, at 
 Conference — the first, last and only 
 time I ever heard him. It seemed 
 like a voice from the dead in some re- 
 spects, but I was astonished at the 
 volume of his voice. I think most peo- 
 
52 
 
 pie in that vast audience of 1,500 or 
 2,000 people must have heard him — 
 heard most of all he said. The 
 image of the dear old centenarian 
 standing in that pulpit, perhaps the 
 oldest Methodist p '^acher on earthy 
 will never fade from my eyes, and es- 
 pecially from my mind. In part it was 
 pantomime, but such as came from a 
 man walking with God and ready to 
 be trans) -'.ted to the skies. 
 
 '* 'Servant of God, well done ! 
 Rest from thy loved employ. '" 
 
 
 Date Due 
 
 
 ^ A^ Mp 
 
 
 
 
 mL^» * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
CALL NUMBER f Vol 
 
 J 
 
 &22.7 H374RP 
 
 922.7 
 
 N374R 
 
 P 
 
 Date (for periodical) 
 
 26043 
 
7!J.-'^