Bullen, George
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GEORGE
BULLEN
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-oGeorge Bullen was born at St. Austell, County of
Cornwall, England, November 17, 1848.
Brought. Up: .in .a
county where Wesley won some of his greatest
successes, Mr . Bullen was a Methodist of the Methodists, and made his boast, not that his ancestors
came over to England with Willaim the Conqueror, but
that they were among'" Wesley's first converts.
In early life the bent of his future career was
shown.
It was his . chief delight as a boy to walk
many miles to hear some great Methodist divine; and
on his homeward journey he would discuss with his
youthful companions the striking points of those
powerful utterances .
He could remember many of
those sermons in later years .
At the age of
seventeen, he became a local preacher .
When he felt
he was called to the ministry, he became a student at
East Keswick College in the north of England.
Desiring to read the Gospels in the original, he
might be found, as a true follower of Wesley, in his
study at four o'clock in the
Greek grammar and Testament .
mo~ning
pouring over his
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A call came to the college for young men to
volunteer for missionary work in Newfoundland, which
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appealed to him strongly; and in 1875 he sailed for
Britain's oldest colony.
teen years.
Here he labored for four-
Possessing a strong physique, he ren-
dered heroic service in that land of snow and ice.
His Cornish fire and fervor, added to intense
evangelistic zeal, caught an answering spark in the
hearts of these miners and fishermen; as he experienced wonderful revivals wherever he went.
On
June 30, 1879, he was ordained and became a full
member of the conference under the Methodist Church
of Canada.
On ·the 14th day of August, 1884, he
married in the
esleyan Methodist Church, St.
Miss Selena S. Angwin
Qf
Austel~
Plymouth.
On his return to his island home, he was ap-
pointed to the Wesleyville charge, where he spent
three years.
Then came Twillingate where it was my
privilege to be his junior colleague, and thus began
a friendship of thirty years.
I
heard some of his
sermons, always fresh and striking, revealing the
heart of a man who was born to preach.
Here his
daughter was born and his cup was full.
After
three years of most fruitful ministry, he was removed to Fogo, on the beautiful Notre Dame Bay.
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Finding a change of climate would be beneficial, in
1889 he decided to come to Michigan.
His departure
was deeply regretted as he was regarded as one of
the strong men of the conference.
He
united with the Michigan Conference that year
at Greenville .
The charges he served are as follows:
Shepardsville, four years; Potterville, five years;
Hastings, five years; Carson City, six years; Reed
City, six years .
Methodism is indebted to men who
can produce such records.
He did not bring to
conference any spectacular report of wonders accomplished, but always had a good report to hand in;
and the congregations which sat under his ministry
were privileged indeed .
As
a man he was modest and retiring, shrinking
from display .
He always spoke well of his brethren .
Though gentle as a child, he could rebuke sin in
stern and vigorous language .
He
was greatly beloved
as a pastor, but as a preacher he shone .
The
reason for this is seen in his own words, which appear in a paper on "The Value of Study to the
Preacher;" "The easiest way to make sermons is to
continue to make them until the brain has formed a
sermon habit .
When a man is sixty, it is a satis-
faction to him to know that he can make sermons
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easier than at thirty, and a better product too.
There is no dead line to a life-long student until
the body dies or is weakened by disease...
A.
glimpse
into his choice lrbrary reveals the quality of the
man's rare mind.
Rev. George Bond, D. D., of St. Johns, Newfoundland, an intimate friend of the deceased, sums up his
character most fittingly in these words: "I doubt
whether even we who knew and loved him best ever saw
the very best that was in him.
He was a noble
fellow, and his strong and subtile intellect was full
of Christ and full of high thoughts of Him and of
His Gospel, many of which enriched his congregations,
and many of which were never uttered, except may be
to his few intimate friends.
That Celtic tempera-
ment of his, with its theological bent as to its
mind, its exquisite sensitiveness, its unconquerable
shyness, its passion of loyalty for the highest, its
warm and large capacity for friendship, its longing
for sympathy, its unselfishness, unworldliness, and
constant self-depreciation, was at once his crown and
his cross. n
Feeling the need of rest, he became a superannuate at the conference held at
Hastin~,
in 1915.
bought a pleasant home at Muskegon Heights.
For a
He
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year he rendered valuable service to the pastor, his
long time friend, and for several months supplied the
Rothbury charge.
This year serious brain trouble
developed; he was taken to Ann Arbor for treatment,
but nothing could be done.
Mn~
James Crawley of
Hastings was with him the day before he died.
He
knew him and pointed upward, letting his dear friend
know he was going home.
On Saturday, April 21, 1917,
at noon, "he was not, for God took him."
He had been chosen to deliver the memorial
address at the following conference session, but
another had to perform the sad duty which he would
have done so well.
A wife, daughter, and two sisters
in England survived him.
The funeral
services ~
held in the Methodist
Episcopal Church in Hastings, April 25, were most
impressive .
Our beloved comrade was the first to be
buried in the lot reserved for ministers, where
stands the beautiful monument inscribed
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In Memory of
Our Pastors . "
J. W. Vickers