Autobiography of Peter Catwright

Peter Catwright was a man with several religious experiences since he was a child.  When he moved from Virginia to Kentucky, he did not go to church because there were no churches in Kentucky.  It took a lot of hard work and several murders of savages to get to that land.  Once they settled, the Catwrights had a preacher come to their house, and started a little prayer service with the community.  The religious meetings went from meeting at a really small house, to meeting outside in all sorts of weather conditions, to actually having shed.  During the meetings some of the people would cry, or shout because they felt they were in the presence of God, and that he would forgive their sins.  Peter Catwright had a problem with gambling and dancing.  One of his rememberable experiences was when he got sick and he told his mother about his stack of cards. She immediately threw the cards in the fire because she thought they were a sin.  Catwright went to the preacher at the next meeting, and was forgiven of his sins. Later on in the autobiography, Catwright explains that he was frowned upon for opposing slavery. According to Catwright, if the Methodists were bearing testimony against the moral evil of slavery, then all of the colonies would have been clear of slavery.
I thought this article was very interesting because people traveled far just to come to these religious meetings.  This reminds me of a conference that occurs once a year called Passion. This is where over sixty thousand college students meet to have a bible study, pray, and sing praise songs! All they do is talk about God for the whole entire conference, and how he is always there to give guidance. I also thought it was really interesting when he talked about how gambling and dancing were sins. Now a lot of people (especially college students with dancing) do that for fun! Is it still a sin? Was it mentioned in the bible, because I don't think it is mentioned? The one thing I am confused about is the term Methodist Episcopal. What is a Methodist Episcopal, because now there are two separate churches for those religions?