Mr.  Black  preached  forseveii  and  a  half  years  before
he  was  ordained.  Mr.  Wesley  did  not  ordain  any
until  about  >jeven  "S'cais  bel'ore  his  death.     Tlie  lirst  to


POSTERITY    OK    llEV.    WILLIAM    JU-ACK.  33

whom  lie  adjninistered  the  rite  were  Thomas  Coke
(whom  he  sent  out  to  snperinteml  the  work  in  Ame-
rica) and  two  others,  in  1784.  Previously  to  this,  Mr.
Wesley's  ordinations  were  by  the  national  church.
In  the  year  1787  Mr.  Wesley  ordained  James  Wray,
and  sent  him  out  to  superintend  the  cause  in  Nova
Scotia.  In  1789  Mr.  Black,  with  John  and  James
Mann,  attended  a  Conference  in  Philadelphia,  where
they  were  ordained  by  Thomas  Coke  and  Francis
Asbury.  It  was  thought  by  some  of  the  ministers
that  Wray  sought  with  English  determination  to
enforce  certain  rules  in  a  thinly  settled  country  which
could  not  in  all  cases  be  carried  out,  and  some  differ-
ences had  arisen.  Harmony  was  soon  restored,  how-
ever, and  Wray  wrote  to  Dr.  Coke  to  relieve  him  of
the  responsibility  of  Superintendent  by  appointing
another.  Mr.  Black  was  innnediately  appointed  Super-
intendent of  the  work  in  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,
and  Newfoundland.  He  accepted  the  charge,  but  not
without  hesitancy.
The  tirst  Methodist  Meeting  House  opened  in  Sack-
ville,  N.  B.,  was  by  James  Mann  in  the  year  1790.
Mr.  Wesley  died  in  the  year  1791.
The  Rev.  William  Black  married  Mary  Gay,  daugl>
Iter  of   Martin   Gay  of   Westmorland.     His  children
[consisted  of   three  sons  and  two  daughters,  named
Delia,  Martin  Gay,  William  Anderson,  Samuel,  and
Silary.
Mrs.  Black  died  in  1827,  aged  73  years.     Mr.  Black,


M  -       HISTORICAL  RECORD.
