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Title
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Bigelow, Andrew J.
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extracted text
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~ ev .
Andrew Jackson
B i g elo~
Another name , f amiliar as a h ousehold wor d in
~ich ig an ~e t h od i sm ,
passes from the registry of the
Detroit conference to t h e list of the glorified
toilers i n t he de a th of Bro . b i ge low.
His useful
and honored l ife cane to an easy and cal m close in
t h i s ci tyon I..onday morning l a st, a t the hosp ital of
Dr . H.
s.
King , corner Brush & Theodore streets ,
whither he had be e n brought on Satur day pre cedi ng .
Pre monitions of approa ch i ng de cline h ad appea red
nov1 and aga in during the pas t y ear or s o, but no
change per ceptib l e to others nas man ifes t up to within
a week of the end, for he continued to be about and
to be engaged in usual t asks until Sunday , July 22 ,
when a ft er
dressin~
i n t he mo rnin g he felt compelled
to r etur n to his bed .
Durin ~
t he follov1ing week
he suffered gr eat abdomina l pa in and mus t l ass itude .
Lro. Bi ge low1 8 years of s uper annuat ion were spent
at Adrian , which had been
l~ s .
Bi gelow 1 s home and
mad e a very happy per iod of life .
The church t he re
was exceedingly attentive and kind, and became gr ea tly
endeared to h i m; the pas tors were loved for the ir
noble min istry ; he h i mself a,g ed beautifully and
S'iJeetl.'.r , kee'!)ing up a lively inter es t in t he church
and t he conference and all it s en ter pr i ses .
Hi s
own frame of mi nd and att itude t oward t he y ounge r men
Re v • .LindrevJ Jackson Bi ge lon
2
and to·.:ard the crurch made it enevi t ab le t ha t he
shoul d be a hap1w superannuate as he pm·posed bei ng .
The sermons of h i s past or , J r o • ..:: . :.:. :.:oor e, r.'ere
del i ghtfu l nour i shmen t to h i s soul and a...-Jakened t he
ent husias tic emotions characterist ic of the r eviva l
c ond it ions of h is activ e ministry .
Hi s envi oron-
ment was very c ongen i a l .
Such a beautiful sunset of li fe v1as quite i n
harmony I"Jith t he corrunon- sense t,yp e of h i s Chris tia n
living and mini stry .
Bro.
B i ~e low
nas a man of
decided genuineness ; h i s f a ith nas an unfeigne d one ;
h is life ha d on l y one pur pos e ; r eligion was h i s onl y
int erest an d the sol e sub j ect of his t houghts a nd
c onver sation ; doctrine s to h i m s tood for r ealities .
\fu il e not controversia l or be lliGer ent , he did have
such convic tions of r e lig i ous truth t hat he c oul d
h ave endured ma rtyrdo m if necessary , for adherence
to i t .
The art of shamming was unlmovm to h i m; he
had no t as t e f or making a shorJ in things re lig ious,
what t he church seemed to be he wante d it to a c tually
be; and therefore superficial d ispl ays , i nfl a ted
figure s and plaus ible phr ases covering up weakne sses
i n real life were repugnant to him.
'l'her e v1as an
admir ab l e and manly frankness of spee ch and manner
about h i m gr owing out of the stra i ?htfornard simplicitl
of his pur nose s and l ife .
Cne mi ght readil .Y differ
from h i m i n vier1 . but one could neverbe op·oosed to
Rev. Andreu J a ckson
E i ge lo~ .
3
h i s i ngenuous manner .
Bro . Di ge lon be l onged to t he older school of
re ligious thinkers an d norkers , and hel d tot .e old
doctrines and to t he old understanding and interpreta tion of them .
Hi s convi cti ons of t he t rut h of the
evange lic al t each ings of h i s toric I.Ie t hod i sm we r e
made year s ago and stayed unchanged .
Hi s stud;>r
and ampl e reading and clear thinking confir med h i m
in the pos itions of t he fathers .
The doctrine of
s in, of the atonement, of t he new b irth , of the
j udgmen t and the awards of eternity were gripped
firmly in h i s mind and no mi s ti ness surr ounded in
his views.
He was ab le to maintain h i s pos itions
with great force and l earn i ng and with the utmos t
f i rmness and good te mper.
He be lie ved i n conversion
and rev ival and cle ar and pl a i n preachi ng .
~he
men like him , wi th connection to the pioneer
days of ..ich i gan kethod i s t r1i th the present are
grN'I ing very fey; .
He linked the t wo generations
and kept in warm sympathy with both .
;fui le he loved
"the former days " he recognized wha t was full of
pr omises in t he present , and he kept up to date with
chur ch pl ans and movemen t s .
Bro. h i gelovJ VIas a good prea cher, a fine s cholar
and a broad thinker.
stron~,
and
abounding in
clot~er
in
Hi s sermons were log ical ,
lar ~e
ele ~ and
thoush ts \"Jell art iculated.
and faul tless language.
In
Rev . 1\ndren J a clcson Bi ge l m·J -
4
conference debates , nhile n ot often on t he floor,
he spoke to a purp ose
~he n
he d i d speak and h is
ar guments arrested attent ion.
Bro. Bi ge low joined the
I,~i
chigan conference on
tri a l Ylhen it embr a ced t he wh ole s t ate , at the session
in Flint in 1855.
He was a pr ob at ioner when the
Detr o it conference was formed in 18 56 .
~ren t on ,
of min i str y have be en .Augu s ta,
Hi s fields
.layn e ,
Flushing Corunn a , Port Hur on , Eort Huron district,
Gr ass Lake , Portsmouth ( b outh
~ag inaw )
Lap e er, Rome o ,
Tecumseh , Howell, .n ir mingham, Sag in avJ district ,
Fenton , n or thv ille, ./illi ams ton and i!'lint distr iot .
in 1 89 7 he took a superannuated relation .
Hi s
mi nistry covered over a ha l f century and h i s "effectivE"
yeDr s were forty -t\'1 0, durinE" v1hich he served the
sp iritua l needs of many peoule.
He was born in Eev1 York s t a te i n 1832 and had
cov ered seventy - four years of
l~ .
Jay~ .
li fe . ~as
t wice married .
Bi ge low, o f the f i rm of Je we tt, Bi ge l on &
Brooks , coal dealers of th i G city, wh o now i s a
resid e nt of I.1ary -tovm , .1 . Va ; L.1· . Arthur 1: . Bi g e lO\'J
of Ilarque t t e, an d I:rs . George
u.
St a cy of Te cumseh
a r e h i s older children, and I:rs . ll,rank 1lurner of
.i:!'l int h is youngest ch ild .
who was .i.iss
~mma
The~e
J?o\·Jers of
.~.~ dr i an,
with .::>ister b i ne l m;
and \7ho has been
h i s fni t l-J ful wife for the pas t t11enty years are
mourni11g his dep arture.
11
1 he
funera l occurre d at
Adri an on
~ednesda y
i n charg e of "D
.c.ev.
.c.,' .
•
1.••
I.:oore ,
the p as tor , ass i st ed by T: ev • .lm . Dav1e, the pr es idil1g
elder , and others .
•
2
THE IVIICHIGAN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE
(498)
Our Contributors
Then and Now; or, The Detroit Conference Forty Years Ago
REV. A. J,
BIGELOW
In 1857, Sept. 29, the Detroit conference
met in the c>ity of Port Huron for her
second annual ses«ion, having separated
from the Michigan conference two years
previously. She will meet again in the
same city Sept. 15, 1897. · An interval
spanned by forty years. What cha nges
have been wrought out in that time. The
venerable Bishop Waugh pres1ded, a man
of saintly aspect, deep piety and thorough
consecration to his work, affable in m anner ,
REV. A. J.
BIGELow,
Presiding Elder Flint District.
plain in dress, an able minister, ajudicious
administrator of discipline, dignified in his
bearing toward th e conference, a genuine
Methodist of th e old school. He did his
work well and has g ained hi s rewa rd. The
conference was made up of an able body of
ministers, numbering eighty-six in fu ll
connection, and thirty-six probationers
counting those who joined that session.
Not an imposing body as to numbers but
its personnel was of a high order. Men of
mark, men of lar ge influence, not only in
the conference but i n the churches and
communi ties which they served. Amongst
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4!~·n ..... .J.
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du ced his superior. He died a t toe early
age of forty-two with his mission only half
com pleted , as the human eye would see it.
Then there was John A. Baughman, a genuine Boanerges, with glowing imagination,
a grand orator, who could hold a campmeeting audience spell-bound for t wo hours
and arouse them to the highest pitch of . religious enthusiasm and devotion. E. H.
Pilcher, who did as much as any other man
to shape the character of Michigan Methodism. D . C . Jacokes, whose mind seemed
to be cast in a scientific mould and who
never was so happy as when grappling with
some abstruse knotty scientific problem or
reveling amongst the stars. T. C. Gardner,
sensitive, brilliant, literary. W. E. B igelow, solid, thoughtful, con~ecrated, as true
to the church and Methodism as the needle
to th€1 pole. J . S. Smart, always alert,
awake to all the interests of the church.
J . M. Arnold, wi tty, genial, 11seful, ever
ready to help young men to good. books and
to a wider knowledge of men and things.
Th e brilliAnt W. H. Perrine, the genius of
the conference . 0. Whitmore, practical,
hard-working and kind, and many others
\Yh o did their work well and h ave entered
into their rest .
Amongst those who yet live and were
promin ent nt th at conference are F. A.
Blade!', Reed, C lements, Calkins, Hickey
and others. Of th e eighty-six who compOEecl the C"Onference, twenty-eight are still
li v ing, f our of whom are on the effective
lis t having pas toral charges, twenty are
suprrannuated, on e of whom belongs to the
Michigan conference, A . J . Eldred, a grllnd
man , an old- time Methodist full of fire and
the Holy Ghost, one located, one went to
the Congregational chur ch and one to the
Episcopalian . At that conference the business methode did not differ much from the
present except the rush of business, more
time was tak en for debate, a nd every item
of importance was more car efully considered. The grea t benevolences of the
church were as y et u norganized except the
p a ren t missionary society and the tHJ;te of
the conference was not taken up by the
long speeches of agents, nor were the afternoons and evenings cr owded with anniversaries. The forenoons were almost wholly
occupied wi th the business of the conference and the evenings were devoted to
prayer, preaching of the gospel, and revival services. ~fany souls wer e brought to
('; hl~ j gt;
'l'h P rA
WSU:Z
A
gni r i t.nAl
t ,nl1A A niJ
fitting time . In 1857 the contributions
all the benevolences amounted to only $4, 584, $2,675 of it going for missiops . and
$635 to conference claimants and the rest
to other objects . Now the apiount given
for benevo,lences is only, a little less than
$50,000; $30,000 of this and a little over,
including the women's societies, is given to
the missionary cau se and $8,155 to conference claimants and to other benevolent purposes. The salaries of the preachers
exceedingly small. Detroit district paid
only !f;700, all the other districts less than
$500, with one exception, Ann Arbor
charge. Ypsilanti paid $600, Adrian and
Flint not so much, less than many of our
country charges pay at the present time.
The average salary did not exceed $±00,
and many a poor fellow had to live on less
than $300, an d it cost as much to live in
those days, except in style, or more. We
think the times hard and salaries meager;
what would we do if we had to be put on
the same short rations? Then the membership of the church was but 10,000, no w it
is only a little less than 50,000. The increase bas been at the rate of 10,000 a deca de . What an inspiration this ought to be
to push the battle to the gates.
Methodism h ad in her then all th e elements of la rge success. S he has the same
elements to-day, only greatly multiplied .
The work of the minis try is much mo re
arduous and difficult than it was . F or·
merly the duties outside the pulpit and the
pastoral office were few, now they press
him on every hand. Then, with the Thursday night prayer-meeting exce pted, the
evenings of the week were his for study
or recreation as inclination might direct.
Now the evenings are too few to meet the
many services that demand his time and at·
tention. Then the preaching was more
doctrinal, controversial, hortatory ; now the
sermon must have variety, must be on a
broader plane of a higher literary character, and the preacher must intermeddle
with all knowledge. But it is the same
glorious gospel whether presented in the
old style or new. And as it ever has been
so it ever will be the power of God unto the
salvation of th ose who believe. The r ecord
of the conference has for the forty years
pas t has been grand. What shall it be for
th e fo rty years to come? R1·ethren, what
shall the record be?
Llllllll••••••
the conference but in the churches and
communities which they served. Amongst
th e men that stood at the front at that
time was W. H. Collin8, presiding elder of
the Detroit district. No one who knew
him could doubt bis pie ty or hi s i n tollectual ability. He posessed a stalwart frame,
a Websterian head, was broad-shouldered,
and his every movement indicat ed that h e
was a man of large influence amongst his
brethren, a master in debate, perfectly at
home in ecclesiastical and parliamentary
law, knew the Discipline thoroughly, understood the needs of the conference and let
no item of important business escape his
notice. As a preacher he wa s a t home in
the pulpit. He was not an orator in the
technical sense of the word. His voice was
not musical, nor imagination brillia nt, but
he was a magnificent preacher, very delib
erate in his manner, eyes at firs t downcaF:t,
thumbs p :>ssibly fixed in armholes of ves t,
every movement slow and every word
measured, a stranger would not for the
:first ten minutes have a ny conception of
what was to follow ; but as he wat·med up
to his subject his a rms would get free, his
eyes would flash out upon his .h earers an d
for an hour or more he would pour into the
minds a nd hearts of his audience, with profoundest logic and irresistible arg ument,
with .ohoice and elevated language, the deep
things of the gospel of Jesus Christ, till
every heart would be captivated with the
grandeur of his theme and f eel in some way
the gospel was the power of God unto salvation. Take W. H. Collins all in all I
doubt if Michigan Methodism has ever pro-
prayer, preaching of the gospel, and revi- st
val services. l\1any souls were brought to
Christ. There was a spiritual tone and
uplift especially helpful to young men.
The preaching was practical, direct, inspirin g, full of faith and t he H oly G host, and
the whole atmospher e was full of religious
fire and divine power which savored of the
Pentecost.
No outside evangelist was necessary to
lead the devotions of the conference, for
every pas tor was a soul-winner and knew
how to lead men to · Christ. The conference was a practical ,religious school to the
young preacher, in which he could learn
how to do his work and get men saved.
What a blessing it would be now if some
of the anniversaries could be eliminated
a nd the evenings given up to prayer, consecration and revival work. How it would
help the old men and what a benediction it
would be t o the young. But it is futile to
say the former times were better than the
latter. The church has had a wonderful
g rowth and perhaps it would be impossible
to change the mode of her new life. Fifty
years ago the only important benevolent
society was the p arent missionary society.
Now we have Freedman said, Church extension, Educational, superannuated preachers'
aid, the Woman's Foreign and Home missionary societies, Epworth league and
junior work, and m any other agencies that
have been brought i nto play fo r the spread
of the gospel and the salvation of men.
These m ust all have an airi ng before the
public an d however much we may deplore
it the conference seems to be the only be-
Bigelow, Andrew J.