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Brockway, Nelson L.

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Brockway, Nelson L.

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THE MICHIGAN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE

(-1:36)
.!

Correspondence
}

Life's Summer

I

D. E .

~liLLAR D

0 beauteous summer, bright and fair, ·
We welcome thy return with glee,
:b'or now we breathe the fragrant air
Sweet-scented flowera emit to thee.
Tho birds sing us their sweetest eongs,
The earth is clothed in colors gay,
And e'en tho rivers, lakes and ponds
Sparkle with. festive life each day .
Beauty and gladness sit enthroned
As king and queen of joyous life ;
Would we like them be diamond crowned,
We'll ne'er engage in bitter slrife ;
But show by word and act that we
Intend to tread the li ving way,
In which we'll breathe an air that's free
From deadly ills that breed decay.
Thus shall the yeara that onward glide,
Make li fe one happy summer time,
And when it ends, at eventide,
We'll fi nd in heav'n a fairer clime;

immoral community. The house was crowded.
Watch -meeting was a new e vent there. T he people listened to the proclaimed truth. Methodists
sang and shouted, watched and prayed, t ill th e
knell of 1845 sounded . " The arm of the L ord was
revealed" in the con viction of sinners. Bro.
Kingsley followed up that night's service with
night and day meet ings through Janua ry a nd into
F ebruary with mos t delightful and far-reach ing re~
suits. The moral and religious complexion of t hat
and other comm unities was changed for t he b etter.
It opened a new chapter in the history of my
father's family. Up to that time be had lived a
conscientiously moral life. H onest , intelligen t a nd
true, he commanded th e respect of all who knew
him, but trusted in his morality as being all that
was essent ial. A scene distinctly impressed on my
heart occurred a few mornings a fter that watchmeeting. F ather took down the long neglected
Bible, road a psalm, and then made a n humble

1

For God's the Sun with whose own light
That land in radiant beauty glows,
And there shall be no weary night,
Nor death's dark pall, to inter ~,>ose.
i'ol'lland, Mich.

The First Four Years of My ltinerancy
REV . N . Tj . B ROCKWAY

Part I.

At your req!lest I furnish for th e ADVOCAT E some
historic facts a nd observations, inters persed with
ex periences in my life-work. The date and place
of my birth were J uly 27, 1822, at Dansvil1e, Ste uben coun ty, N . Y. I n May, 1829, my fa ther drove
t h rough Canada to M ich igan territory , a nd planted
ten acres of corn on and ad joining the present public squa re of Ann Arbor , it b eing a small hamlet
boasting of two small s tores, two small hotels and
a few ruue d wellings. I n September following he
returned to D a nsville for his wife and four sons.
They shipped from Buffalo, Oct. 1, on the old. Wro.
Penn. She becom ing disabled , they tra nsferred to
a schooner, and after a rough passage of ten days ,
landed at Detroit. T hence, a fter a three days'
str uggle through Wayne co unty mud , he r each ed
his corn patch . He was offered a quarter-section
of land in what is no1~ the heart of Ann Arbor for
$900, and cou ld h a vo la rgely paid for it wi th three
o ld horses and equipage. Bu t having lost a fa r m
on con tract in ~~ew York, a nd fe aring a debt, he,
not foreseeing in those woods the site of the greatest state u niversity on t he continent, let the financial opportunity of his life sli p. L ater in that year
he ren ted the Wilcoxen farm, t wo miles west, and
on the south side of old Huron, then a more pretentious stream than now. So fa r as my memory
ru ns back, these a re traditions, nevertheless subs tantial h istory.
In the summer of 1832, I fi rst matriculated in the
d istl'ict school, in the Dillon school-house, t wo
miles from home, a nd four miles west of Ann
A rbor, on the east bank of. Honey creek. School
s6ats in those days were manufactured out of slabs ,
flat -;ide up, without backs, and t he legs so long
that Louisa Alcott's "little men" a nd " lit tle
women" had to rest their foet on thin air and lean
their backs against space, learning A B's under
diffic ulties . No wonder they toppled off onto t he
floor when Master Nod came round, as he was
wont to do in the long midsummer days. The
wonder is that they did not got the rickets. Many
distinct memories of that su mmer's school experie nces come back as I recall the bygones. Miss
J,ois Prindle (sister to Rev. K B. Prindle, late of
the Detroit conference, and Judge S. C. Pri ndle,
now of Grand Rapids) was my t eacher.

confession to his family (consisting of :five sons and
one daughter) of his long neglected religious duty
to them, besought their forgiveness, a nd asked us
to kneel with him in prayer.
Bro. Kingsley was the firs t person who ever spoke
to me personally about the salvation of my soul.
One morning after roy parent 's conversion, as I was
s tanding by the old cooks tove, weigh ed down with
a consciousness that I was lost, h e put h is hand on
my shoulder and asked me if I did not t hink I
ough t to be a Christia n. I did not con fess. He
said no more, but for three long months in t hat
year, 184.6, l w as a most wretched b oy. "Ye do
always r esist the H oly Ghost ; as your fathers did,
so do ye," was my true indictment. D ay and night
the Spirit strove, bu t I resisted. Often i n the
visions of the nigh t ''h ell moved from beneath to
meet me at my coming ." M y convictions were
truly orthodox a nd S criptural, though I h ad not
been blessed with Chris tian training. I t hank my
God tha t I h ave·neither b ack slidden from nor outgr own a postolic orthodoxy, though t he very atmosphere is s urcharged with liberalism. I n March,
Rev. Calvin Cla rk, a P resbyteria n home missionary, a nd a Bro. J ones, a Congregational minister,
commenced revival meetings in the village of Hamb urg , t wo miles from my home. On the 3d of
April, Bro. K ingsley happening there, was invited
to pr each. U nder the i nfluence of that sermon I
wen t to th e mourner's bench and the first t ime in
my life prayed. The nigh t began to recede, the
day to dawn. I n the teaching of t h ose times t h e
unapostolic, slipshod, card-signing pr lift-yourh a nd method of conversion, without godly sorrow
and forsaking of s in, was unknown. Repentance
meant not simply a change of purpose, but contt.·it ion of spirit; and conversion a radical change of
character and life. Sinners were expected to consecrate themselves to a cross-bearing life. That
night at the close of service, the question was asked
b our young evana-elist-oastor, Who will romise

wondered who had revealed to him roy h eart 's secret convictions, which had followed me from the
time of my fi rst public testimony for Christ, and
from which I shra nk as did J onah. Memory recalls an incident he rela ted to me of his first public
effort after h e was licensed to exhort . H e h ad protested agains t it, t hat h e cou!d not say a nythi ng if
he a ttempted to, but th e brethren quoted the
promise, "Open thy mou th wide, and I will fill
it ." He went to his appointment, got through the
opening exercises, a nd givi ng a literal interpretation to the promise, stood u p a nd ,o pened his
mou th wide, b u t no words filled it, a nd h e sat
down, overwhelmed with ch agrin at his failure.
In 1859, I was a t the dedication of our :first
church in Muskegon, t hen but a small village.
Bishop Ames h ad been engaged to preach th e dedicatory sermon 1 b ut he failed to con nect with the
propeller a t Ch icago. Bro. Gillett, th en presiding
elder of Gra nd Rapids district , was there, and filled
t he place . Then was the promise quoted to him
in his boyhood li terally fu lfilled. H e preached as
only the Holy G host helps men to preach, with .
great en largement a nd power, t o th e satisfaction
of a disappointen people. H e joined th e Mich igan
conference in 1835, in h is nineteenth year , and
when nearly completing his twenty-fifth year of
valia nt service for God a nd Methodism, was sudden ly translated. H e died a t his post on the
Grand Rapids distric t, in t he forty-fourth year of
h is age. Farewell, beloved pastor of my you th!
At the session of conference i n Adrian in 181!),
Rev . T. Wakel in was a ppointed to Milford circ uit .
Deceo~ber 10, 1849, h e s ig ned my first license to
exhort, on the recommend of Pleasan t L ake class,
B ro. Jasper H. Buck , leader. H e had t hree
brothers in the Genesee conference, good, strong
men in min ister ial work. T he last s urvivor, I
think, of the four broth ers, Rev. D. D . Buck ,
D. D ., recently closed a long and usesul ministry.
Bro. Wakelin h elped me much . F rom over work
to earn money to go to school, by chopping and
mauling rails for two shillings and s ixpence per
day, I was a t tacked with brain fever, wh ich
erased for a time every t reasure of memory . I
narrowly escaped insanity, though never der anged .
T he calomel and cantharides treatment of those
times entailed a life of suffering, w hich h as been a
constant emba rrassment in my life work. Broth er
Wakelin , in my convalescence, took me in h is
b uggy over that large circuit , d iverting my attention from bodily suffering, d1·ew roe out in religious
work, thus adm inistering to both mind and body.
H e was t ruly a fat her in the gospel, and t o t his
dlly h as a w arm J>lllce in my bom·t. God bl.,ss
h im, as h e bows u nder t he weight of nearly four
score and t en years .
I n the a utumn of 1851, Rev. Wellington H . Collins, presid ing elder on t he A nn Arbor district ,
appoiQted me as jun ior preacher on t he L ivingston circ u it. This was a four weeks' circuit , having preachi ng p laces in H owell, P utnam, Ilamburg, Pinckney , Unad illa, I osco, and H a ndy
townships. Rev. L . P . Wells, an ordained local
preacher from New York, came to Michigan that
autumn as a revivalist. H e commenced a series of
meetings in the sch ool house, near the village of
Hamburg, in a comm unity where old -fash ioned
Calvinism had pre·empted t h e g round, and where
its offspring, Universalism, d isputed its sway.
Ancient Calvinism taught the unconditional election and salvation of a few: while Universalism,
rising from the ashes of that false philosophy,
taught the unconditional election and salvation of
all. Bro. Wells preach ed "the gospel of God."
"Judgment was laid to th e line, and righteousness
to the plummet," and the Holy Gh ost swept away ·
the "refuge of lies," and the waters of salvation
began to overflow the hiding-place of sinnOl·s. Sa·
tan was aroused . Fortnalists and moralists were
enraged. Herod and Pilate were ruade friends.
The preachet· was notified that tho door would be

.......

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lie square of Ann Arbor, it being a s mall hamlet
boasting of two small stores, two small h otels an d
a few r uue dwellings. In Septemb er following he
retu rned to Dansville for his wife and four sons.
They shi pped from Buffalo, Oct. 1, on the old. Wm.
Penn. She b ecoming disabled , they transferred to
a s.cbooner, and after a rough passage of t en days,
landed at Detroit. T hence, after a three days'
s truggle through Wayne county mud, he reached
his cor n patch. H e was offered a quarter-section
of land in what is DO\~ the h eart of Ann Arbor for
$900, and could have la rgely paid for it with three
old horses and equipage. But having lost a farm
on contract in New York, a ud fearing a debt, he,
not foreseeing in those woods the site of the greatest state university on the continent, let the financial opport unity of h is life slip. Later in that year
h e rented tho Wilcoxen farm, two miles west, and
on the south s ide of old Huron, then a more pretentious s tream than now. So far as my memory
runs back, these are traditions, nevertheless subs tantial history.
In the summer of 1832, I first matriculated in t he
district school, in the Dillon school-house, two
miles from home, and four miles west of Ann
Arbor, on the east bank of. Honey creek. S ch ool
s&ats in those days were manufactured out of slabs,
flat c;ide up, without backs, and the legs so long
that Louisa Alcott's " li ttle men" and " little
women" had to rest their feet on thin air and lean
their backs against s pace, learning A B's under
difficul ties. No wonder they toppled off onto the
floor when Master Nod came round, as he was
wont to do in the long midsummer days. The
wonder is that they did not get the r ickets. Many
distinct memories of t hat summer's school exper iences come back as I recall the bygones. Miss
Lois Prindle (sister t o R ev. E. B. P ri ndle, late of
the D etroit conference, and Judge S . C. P rindle,
now of Grand Rapids) was my teacher.
In the autu mn of 1834, father, having purchased
somo wild land in the township of Green Oak, Livingston coun ty , moved into a log house in tho
woods , in which he lived until in 1861, on a visit to
my parsonage home in tho village of Constantine,
July 1, he was suddenly translated, and Rev. Geo.
Taylor, of Detroit conference, then pastor at Ann
A.rbor, preached his fun eral sermon.
At the session of Mich igan conference in Detrpit,
S ept. 10, 1845, Revs. 0. F. North and C. S. K ingsley
were appointed by B ishop E. S . Janes to Milford
circuit. It was a largo four weeks' circuit, having
appointments in Milford village and township, also
in Highland, Hartland, Brighton, Green Oak and
Hamburg townships, requ irin~ about fifty miles
travel each month for each preacher to fi ll his appointments . They preached alternately once a
month in the school-house near my home. I n
those years it was considered a religious duty for
Methodist preachers to hold watch-meetings, a very
impre:>sive and profitable service. H ence at some
places on their circuits on the eve of the n ew year
they wou ld be found "holding forth t he Word of
life." Bro. Kingsley announced a watch-nigh t
service to be held in my h ome school-house, Dec.
31, 1845. Methodists from other appoint ments on
the circuit were there at an early hour. Up to that
date th ere had been no class organized in our community. I t was an irreligious, though not a very

CUUltll:l!:HUD W

llll:l JUDlli Y \CUlll:l l l:lLlll g Ul Jl Vtl tlUlll:l iLDU

one daughter ) of his long neglected religious duty
to them , besought their forgiveness , and asked us
to kneel with him in prayer.
Bro. K ingsley was the first person wh o ever spoke
to me personally about the salvation of my soul.
One morning after my parent's conversion, as I was
standing by the old cookstove, weighed down with
a consciousness that I was lost, he put his hand on
my shou lder and asked me if I d id not think I
ought to be a Ch ristian. I did not confess. H e
said no more, but for three long months in th a t
year, 1846, I was a most wretched boy. "Ye do
always resist the H oly Ghost; as your fathers did,
so do ye," was my true indictment. Day and night
the Spirit strove, but I r esisted. Often in the
visions of the night "hell moved from beneath to
meet me at my coming." My convictions were
truly orthodox and Scriptu ral, though I had not
been blessed with Christian training. I thank my
God that I have·neither backslidden from nor outgrown apostolic orthodoxy, though the very atmosphere is surcharged with liberalism. In March,
Rev. Calvin Clark, a Presbyterian home missionary, and a Bro. Jones, a Congregational minister,
commenced revival meetings in the village of Hamb urg, t wo miles from my home. On the 3d of
April, Bro. Kingsley happening there, was invited
to preach. Under the influence of that sermon I
went to the mourner's b ench and the first t ime in
my life prayed. T he n ight b egan to recede, the
day to dawn. In the teaching of those t imes the
unapostolic, slipshod, card-signing pr lift-yourhand method of conversion, without godly sorrow
and forsaking of s in, was unknown. R epentance
meant not simply a change of purpose, but contrition of spirit ; and conversion a radica l ch ange of
character and life. Sinners were expected to consecrate themselves to a cross-bearing life. That
nigh t at the close of service, th e question was ask ed
by our young evangelist -pastor, Who will promise
to lead a praying life? I mad~he promise, and by
th e Holy Spirit's help have kept it.
As I recall him, Rev. Calvin S. Kingsley was a
young man of medium h eight, black hair, l;:een but
kindly eye, and broad forehead; a talented, cultured, sagacious, man ly man of God . .He was a
logica l, forceful thinker ; a flu ent, convincing
speaker, not sensational. He reached and moved
the hearts of the people through the r eason and
conscience. He r r eached without manuscript, bu t
was not a memoriter. H3 preach ed the Word as
" the Spirit gave him u tterance." He came fr om
Michigan university to Milford circuit before he
had completed his curriculu m. At the close of
that year h e located, and graduated at th e university. He re-entered the Michigan conference, and
was subsequently transferred, I th ink, to the Califor nia conference, and in 1893 d ied in Oregon.

mauling rails for two shillings and sixpence per
day, I was attacked with brain fever, which
erased for a time every treasu re of memory. I
narrowly escaped insanity, though never deranged.
The calomel and cantharides treatment of those
times entail ed a life of suffering, which h as been a
constant embarrassment in my life work. Broth er
Wakelin, in my convalescence, took me in h is
buggy over that large circu it, diverting my attention from bodily s uffering , drew me out in rehgious
work, thus administering to both mind a nd body.
He was tru ly a father in the gospel, and to thjs
day bas a warm place in my h ear t. God bless
biro, as he bows under tbe weight of near1y !our
score and ten years.
I n the autu mn of 1851, R ev. Wellington H. Collins, presiding elder on the Ann Arbor district,
appointed me as junior preacher on the L ivingston circuit. This was a four weeks' circui t, having preaching places in Howell, Putnam, Hamburg, P inckney, Unadilla, I osco, and Handy
townships. R ev. L. P. Wells, an ordained local
preacher from New York, came to Michigan that
autumn as a revivalist. He commenced a series of
meetings in the schoolhouse, near the village of
Hamburg, in a community where old-fashioned
Calvinism h ad pre·empted the ground, and where ,
its offspring, Universalism, disputed its sway.
Ancient Calvinism taught the unconditional elect ion and salvat ion of a few; while Universalis m,
rising from the ashes of that false philosophy,
taugh t the unconditional election and salvation of
all. Bro. Wells preached "the gospel of God."
"Judgment was laid to the line, and righteousness
to the plummet," and the Holy G host swept away
the "1·efuge of lies," and the waters of salvat ion
began to overflow the h iding-place of sinners. Sa·
tan was aroused. F ormalis ts and moralists were
enraged. Herod and Pilate were made f.riends.
The preacher was notified that the door would be
closed against hjm. Happening home on a s hort
vis it, I was at the clos ing service. When Brother
Wells, kneeling at the mourner's b ench, facing
those who were penitently inquiring the way of
salvation, and teaching them about faith in J esus,
a prominent man in the d istrict took a candle and
held it over the seekers, to s candalize the evangelist. Satan was let loose. The wicked triumphed to their own untold loss. No such promising revival has ever visited that community
since. I said to Bro. Wells: " If you will meet me
in two weeks at my next appointment in Milan,
Unadil la, I think the door will not b e closed
against you." Our services there were held in the
Presbyterian church, then without a pastor. H e
mot me according to agreement, and commenced a
series of revival meetings, which continued near ly
three months, and resu lted in a most precious
work of the Holy Spirit. All ages were reached
and gloriously saved. Bro. S . G. I ves and others
prominent in the comm unity were among the h apPY converts. His wife was already enrolled as one
of t he noble women of Methodism. I thi nlr nearly
t wo hundred sound ly converted souls were gathered into the church es.

Rev. J. K. Gillett was appointed to Milford circu it as preacher in charge at the session in Marshall, S ept. 23, 1846. A good man, well poised,
an argumentative preacher, of sou nd doctrine, al·
ways interesting, though not fluent. When riding
with him to his Plen,sant Lake appointmen t in
Hamburg, he asked me if I had any conviction
Th at which astonishes, astonishes once; but
about preaching. I gave an evasive a nswer. He
told me frankly his conviction that at some future whatever is admirable becomes more and more adtime it would be my d u ty to preach the gospel. I mired.-Joubert.

THE MICHIGAN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE

Correspondence
The. F0reign Mission Cry
D. J::, )ltLLAIID

A walling cry comes o'er the een,
List to tho words the brcet.es bear.
They como in love to you and me;
0 shall we not their pleadings hear ?
Jn darkness heathen nations rest,
In Ignorance the peoplo dwell;
They call for help and must be blest,
Or who the fenrful lo:;s cnn tell ?
It mny not be your work, or minC)
To go and teach in pagan lands ;
Nor need we go abrond to find
Some way to help, with willing hands.

~

Our prayers alone will not avail ,
God's heralds need our gifts as well;
If we would have His cause prevail ,
We must tho mission treasure swell.
Lord , mny we never fnint or tiro
In earnest zeal to bless mankind,
Nor quench tho miesionnl'y fire
While yet remnins one soul that's blind.
May we with prayers and gifts of love
Help send the " Bread of life" abroad;
And, with the gathered hosts nbove,
Receive the blessing of our God:

Pot·lland, .Mich.

The First Four Years of My ltinerancy
REV. N . L. DROCKWAY

Par t II.

(Our types los t week gavo tho dnte of Bro. Brockway's
birth ns 182'!. It should hnvo bcon 1828.]
Bro. Collins' old home was in the vicinity of
Milan. T o it I always received n. warm-h earted
welcome. At his req ut-st, it wn.s my rare privilege
to prn.y n.t tho b edside of Rev. Judson D. Collins,
our first missionary to Chinn., just before he bade
fn.rewell to wt-eping friends, a nd " was not, for God
took h im." H e died with his heart throbbing for
Chin a. It was a great opportuni ty to listen to
Wellington H. Collins' clear exposition, masterly
defense, and moving a pplication of some Bible
t heme. A distinct memory of his preaching to a
crowded congregation in the Howell court-bouse.
"For what is a man profited if h e s hall gain the
whole world and lose hie own soul ?" About
twen ty minutes were employed in expounding tbA
text; then for about three-fourths of an hour a
g raphic description of th e possessions of the world,
and t hen their depreciated value as contrasted
with 'ho etern al loss o r the sou l. He was then n
growing, youngerly man . His massive fram e, deliberate movements, and manly presence impressed
the thoug htful student of men that the all-wise
Father had pln.nned for h im to wear fourscore
years. But a lae for o ur Z ion! he fell at his poet
in his early pri me. H ow often to mortals: " T hj
way is in the sea, aod thy p;tth in the great waters,
and thy footsteps are not known." "God buries
his workmen, but carries on his work."
I n the autumn of 1853, my last year in W esleyan
sem ioary at A ILion, Rev. R. Sapp, presiding elder
on Marshall d istrict, employed me to organize and
su pply a circuit in t he vicinity of Marshall, and
cn.lled Ceresco.' ! went to roy circuit on S aturdays,
t raveling it on :oot, and returned to my school
work on Moodn.ys. In S eptember, 1854, at the
session of the Michigan conference in Ann Arbor,
Bishop 0. C. Bake r prcsicl ing, I was received as a
probn.tioner. Thus after a lapse of twen ty-f:i ve
years, from the same town where I loarocd to
walk , I was sent for th by the authority of the
Methodist Episcopal church to procla im the everlas ting gospel. And for thirty-one consecutive
years , without a va cation, I worked for God a nd
Meth odism. The long, weary miles of travel by
day and by night, in heat a nd cold, in sh ine a nd
.., &,

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n.od Baltimore townships. Barry coun ty was then
newly and bu t sparsely settled , with plenty of
ron.ple sugar and leoky but ter to be bad in the
spring, and ch eap, too. I cou ld manage the
maple sug m·, bu t leeley butter, bah! I enjoyed
three camp-meetings in tho summer of 1855, that
were seasons of great good to tho people and of
new experience to me. Tho first, in Juno, was
held near the mou't h of P la t r ivt-r, and on tho
south side of G rand l'iver. R ev. H . Penfield , presiding eldet· of Gra nd Rapids district, was in
charge . Under a sermon preached by Rev. A . R.
Bartlet t, now of Detroit conference, the melting
pO\ver of the Spirit fell upon me, and tears unbidden flowed for successive hours, and then an inward calm with conscious increase of s piritual
power.
In .July, I attoncled a n I ndian cn.mp-mcctiog
west of H ast ings twelve o•· more mi les. Bro. Bradley was in cha rge. R ov. Dav id T homas, missionary, a nd a number of white people, tented and
worshiped with thoro. A tornado swept over the
camp at midn igh t, and tho tret-s were fall ing all
about the camp. Bro. Brad ley and the Ind ians
s tarted full s peed to a clearing twt-oty or more
rods awJy. The rt-at of us in t he preachers' tent
thought we were jus t as safe tb ~>re as we would be
running through fn.lling trees; hence we stayed in
harbor and ke pt dry, and enjoyed a good laugh at
Bro. Bradley 's expense when the storm had
passed. The camp·meeting was a great occasion
for the I ndians. Poor Lo, so proverbial for h is
immobility, cried out to God, wept, n.nd shouted
jus t lik" white folies under the influen ce of the
Spirit. In Aug ust, I enjoyed the Mn.rsball distric t carop ·mectiog, beJel in Bro. C rossman's grove
at Marengo. "Grcn.t gmcc was upon a ll the people." In a marked degree was t hat record in the
Acts illustrated during that blessed meeting. A
band of students from A lbion sem inary bad joined
together n.od made a tent, n.ncl en lis ted Bro. Spencer, a class-leader, n.nd his wi[o, to be fatbor n.nd
mother to them. S evern.) of the sen ior c lass wore
among them, noble , talented young women, but
diffident in public cross-beariug to n. fn.n lt. I n a
prayer-meeting in their tent after the public evening ser vice, the baptism of fire fell upon all in thn.t
tent, and they sang a nd prayed and shouted un til
long pn.st the regulation hour for ret;ring. Often
throug h that; long night, th e peans of victory,
"Glory to G od in th e h ighest," "Hosaonah to the
Son of David," sounded o ut upon the stillness of
th at Aug us t nig ht. And there did not seem to be
any backsliders to complain of Bro. Bradley's
wh olesome camp rcguln.tions r<>quiring q uietness
fo r

s le ep.

A..od ho woe

Ao

wo ll balu n ood

w i t,h

sound sense and apil'i t ua l discernment aR to recognize God in the movement and say, Amen! In
native endowments , with few exceptions, he was
easily the peer of tho many noble men of God I
have known in the Methodist ministry iu the half
century now pas t . A bnrn lt-adcr of men, with out
apparent conscious ness of it, naturally as d iffident
as a bashfu l maiden, bu t when under the i nspiration of the Spirit, a cyclone of pulpit power . A
massive frame , a commanding presence, wi th g reat
compass of voice, tho people listened to his proclamations of the gospel entranced . While listening
to a sermon Sabbath morning, preach ed by R ev.
A. M . Fitch , from "But suffer all things, lest we
shou ld binder the gospel of Christ," I bad a very
strange experience. The searching, revea ling
Spirit , in overpowering influence, was upon roe
Tho ugh physically prostrated by the power of God,
thought was a flame. My soul was under the
searchlight of Omniscie nce. Latent dcp•·avity was
disclosed. P e•·sonal rl'spons ibility to God weig hed
me down. "Who is s ufficient for thase things?"
was the agoniz ing cry of roy soul. "Refining fi re
went through roy heart." I fell upon the rock,
and was broken. T he sanc tifying S pirit helped
roy infirmities, broadened my vision, .and enabled

fest roovlng power of t he unction from the H oly
One. Then , having completed the description of
the reign of death, as by a master's h and, h e drew
aside the pall, and in the same sus tained manner,
with incren.sing Spirit power, he revealed J esus
a nd the resurrection , culminating in a sublime
cl imax, when, as if by 'one impulse, the whole cong regation {of probably five hundred people) were
on their feet, clapping their hands and shouting
tho high· praise of God. Thn.t was tho su preme
pulpit effort in BI'O. Day's ministerial life.
At the session of con ference in Flint, S eptember,
1855, Bishop Ames reappoint ed roe to Hasting circuit. Rev. J oseph J ennings was appoin ted to
Marshall district. R{)v. Salmon Steele was appointed to Marengo circuit, but there being a radical opposition to Free Masonry on the Marengo
charge, and the officiary b elieving Bro. Steele to
be a Mason, Bro. J ennings mn.do a change immed idiately after conference, sending him to Has tiogs,
and me to Marengo. Ma rengo was enln.rged to a
four-weeks' circuit, and Bro. W. M . Coplin, a local
preacher, was employed by Bro. J ennings n.s sup ·
ply. T he oolargemcnt added very little but territory and hard work. We both received but lit tle,
if any more salary, than I would h ave r eceived had
I been left at Hastings. We worked hard, and eojoyed a happy, harmonious, prosperous year. In
March, 1856, my colleag ue vis ited his brother in
Grand Ledge. Wh ile there be was attacked wit h
smallpox, and was brought so near to death tha t
his friends despaired of his life. One morning,
when he was apparently unconscious , he aroused ,
and whispered to his devoted wife, watching by
his bed, "I am going to get well. Bro ther Brockway is on Brother Fish 's haymow, praying for
roe." I wn.s thirty miles from him, and knew not
the perilous stage of his sick ness; but I was on
Bro. Fish 's haymow in an agony of . prayer for his
recovery, and obtained the inward witness that my
prayer was grn.n ted . When we met and coropar
records, we found exact correspondence of facts,
and we tba nlced God and took courage . Thus the
Holy Spirit " helped roy infirmities," and when roy
faith culminated, witnessed with my spirit, and
communica ted the sn.me assurance to Bro. Coplin,
and " Christian science" was not lmown or t hought
of. It was only an incidental illus tration of the
economy of redemption.
•
At the sePsion of conference in Lans ing, commencing S ept. 16, 1857, Bishop Waugh appointed
roe junior prt-acber there, and Rev. W. H. Brockway preacher in charge. He was appointed to
superintend the building of a church in Midrlletown, as it was then called, and I to do the pnstorul w o rl<'. So•-v-icc::. were h o ld In North Da11:.;n
morning and evening, and in representative ·hall at
2 r . M. each Sabbath. He preach ed at Middletown once, and loolced the ground over a few days,
and the trustees deciding they could not bu ilrl, he
returned to his home in Albion. We then had one
class in M iddletown of thirty-two members, and
four classes in North Lansing aggregating 117
members. I had nil Lansing on my h and and
heart, wh ich, with my fourth year 's course of
stucly, weigh ed h eavily upon me. But the Lord
of h osts was with us. From a series of cottRge
prayer-meetings, which gathered and revived a
scattered and d ispiri ted society, we went to the
church and continued a series of revival meetings
for nearly two months. A copious refreshing from
the presence of the Lord resulted in over seventy
happy converts, and greatly strengthened ou r
cause at North Lansing. Our en tiro members hip
in t he village S eptember, 1857, was 149. Now we
have 1,000 full members a nd 122 probationers .
Lansing was then a village of roagnificentdis tancAS,
but contiguous s tumps. It h ad been the state
capital but ten years.
I have now coropletecl my fo ur years' course,
which brings roy narrative do wn to tho sessio n of
conference at K a lamazoo, where I was o rda ined

011'111 U::J

1 ~; .

1 t.

soowo nnvo ocun

J O~'S .J

Bro. Collins' old home was in the vicinity of
Mi lan. To it I always received a warm-hearted
welcome. At his request, it was my rare privilege
to pray at the bedside of Rev. Judson D. Collins,
our fi rst missionary to China, just before h e bade
farewell to weeping friends, and "was not, for God
took h im." He died with his heart throbbing for
Chinn. It was a great opportunity to listen to
Wellington H. Collins' clear exposition, mas terly
<lefense, and moving application of some Bible
t heme. A dis tinct memory of his preaching to a
crowded congregation in the Howell court-house.
"For wh at is a man profited if he shall gain the
whole world and lose his own sou l?" About
twenty minutes were employed in expounding t h"
text; then for about thrce·fourtbs of an hour a
graphic description of the possessions of th e world,
and then theil· deprecia ted value as con trasted
with the eternal loss of the soul. He was then a
g r·owing, youogt'rly man. Jiis massive fram e, delibm·ate movements, uod manly presence impressed
the thoughtful student of men that the all-wise
Father bad planned for him to wear fourscore
years. But a las for our Zion! he fell at his post
in his early prime. How oft en to mortals: "Th)'
way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters,
and thy footsteps are not known." "God buries
his workmen, but carries on his work."
In the autumn of 1853, my last year in Wesleyan
sem inary at AlLion, Hev. R. Sapp, presiding elder
on Marshall d istrict , employed me to organize and
supply a circui t in the vicinity of Marshall, and
called Ceresco.' ! went to my circuit on Saturdays,
traveling it on :oot, and returned to my school
work on Mondays. In September, 1854, at the
session of the Michigan conference in Ann Arbor,
Bishop 0. C. :Baker presiding, I was received as a
probationer. Thus nftor n lnpso of twenty-five
years, from the same town where I learned to
walk, I was sent forth by the authority of the
Methodist Episcopal church to proclaim tho overlasting gospel. And for thirty-one consecutive
years, without a vacation, I worked for God and
Methodism. The long, weary miles of travel by
day and by night, in beat and cold, in shine and
storm, added to tho protractqd weeks of revival
work, and three appointment<;; each Sabbath, with
few exceptions, a waken deep emotions of gratitude
to an e-rer·watchful Providence, who, according to
my fai th , gave me strength as my day was. The
sad m i ~ t a kes and failures to realize the longings of
my hear t, I put under the blood. No oth er piE'a,
"Nothing but the blood of J esus." If h e "who
counted me worthy, putting into the ministry, "
could duplicate those years, and with their added
wisdom and eX1Jerience, permit me to. work in his
vineyard, I would at their close be ready to sh out
farewell to the militant host, and all hail to tho
church triumphant, as I witnessed the marvelous
triumphs of the gospel of God, which are looming
in the oncoming future.
B ishop Baker appointed me to Marengo circuit.
Rev. \V. H. Perrine was reappointed to Hastings
circuit. Rev. Geo. Bt·ad loy succeeded Bro., Sapp
on Marshall district. Because of severe s ickness,
Bro. Perrine was unable to return to Hastings.
Bro. Bradley sent me to fill th e vacancy at Hastings, and supplied 1\farengo fTotn Albion. We
watched the old year out in H astings M. E.
church, and during tho s ucceed ing s ix weel;;s over
a hundred happy conver ts were translated out of
d nt·kness into the marvelous light of God. Hastings charge was then a four-weeks' circuit, having appointments in th e village of Hastings nnd in
Rutland, Irving, Carleton, Woodland, Castleton,

at Mm·engo. "Great g ruce was upon all the peo·
pie." In a marked degree was that record in the
Acts illustrated during that blessed meeting. A
band of students from Albion semin ary bad joined
together and made a tent, and enlisted Bro. Spencer, a class-leader, and his wife, to be fatbE\r and
mother to them. Several of the senior class wore
among them, noble, talented young women, but
d iffideni in public cross-bca riug to a fault. In a
prayer-meeting in their tent a fter the public el•ening senrice, the baptism of fire fell upon all in that
tent, and they sang and prayed and shouted until
long past the regulation hour for rehiog. Often
through that long night, the peans of victory,
"Glory to God in tho highest," "Hosannah to the
Son of David," sounded ou t upon the stillness of
that August night. And ther e d id not seem to be
any backs liders to complain of Bro. Brad ley's
wholesome cam p r egulations roquiring qu ietness
for sleep. And ho was RO well balanced with
sound Aense and spil"itual d iscern ment 3$! t o recognize God in the movement and say, Amen! In
native endowmen ts, with few exceptions, h e was
easily the peer of tho many noble men of God I
have known in the Methodist ministry in the half
century now past. A b" rn leader of men, without
apparent consciousness of it, naturally as d iffide nt
as a bashful maiden, but wh en under the inspiration of the Spirit, a cyclone of pulpit power. A
massive frame, a commanding presence, with great
compaPs of voice, tho people listened to his proclamations of the gospel entranced. While listening
to a sermon Sabbath morn ing, preached by Rev.
A. M. Fitch , from "But suffer all things, lest we
should hinder tho gospel of Christ ," I h ad a very
strange experience. The searching, revealing
Spirit, in overpowering influence, was upon me
Though physically prostrated by the power of God,
thought was aflame. My soul was under tho
searchligh t of Omniscience. L atent depra.v ity was
disclosed. Personal r<'spoosibility to God weighed
me down. "Who is sufl1cien t for these th ings?"
was tho agonizing cry of my soul. "Refining fire
went through my heart." I fell upon tho rock,
and was brok en. The sanctifying Spirit helped
my infirmities, broadened my vision , .nod enabled
me to apprehend that "our sufficiency is of God."
Oh, tho almigh t iness of Jesus, who is " able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to tho power thatworketh in us."
To God on ly wise be glory in th e church th roughout a ll ages.
Bro. Urossman's second son, 1\iontie, then a
small Sabbath school scholar, on that terrible
October nig ht in 1852, went dow n on the Alpena,
from whose wreck none s urvived to tell tho tale.
He was subsequently found ofl' Ventura, suspended by one hand, grasping a life preser ver , ten feet
under water. 011 that same camp-ground in August, 1856, I witnessed a scene that will be ever
fresh and radiant while memory lasts. At the five
o'clock Sabbath even ing service, Rev. E. H . Day',
that sunshiny brother , was to preach. Tho presence and power of the Holy Spiritwasimprossh•ely
manifest in the opening prayer. Bro. Day announced his text , "Death reigned." H e portrayed
the fall, as illustrated in the dejected mien of the
guilty pair passing beneath the flaming sword, as
aliens from home: as illustrated from Sinai's brow;
tinged by the plaintive agonies of Gethsemane,
and settling down into tho midday night of Calvary 's tragic scone. The h istory of tho human
race, from the death of righteous Abel, the fi rst
martyr to the faith , was graphically portrayed by
apt quotations ft·om the poets and historians,
sacred and profane, and ~a ll this. under tho mani-

me." I was thirty miles from him, and knew n
the perilous stage of his sickness; but I was on
Bro. Fish's haymow in an agony of prayer for his
recovery, and obtained the iowar·d witness that my
prayer was granted. Wben we met and compCI
records, we found exact correspondence of facts,
and we thanked God and took courage . Thus the
Holy Spil·it " h elped my infirmities," and when my
faith culminated, witnessed with my spirit, and
communicated the same assurance to Br·o. Coplin,
and "Christian science" was not lmown or thought
of. It was only an incidental illustration of the
economy of r edemption.
•
At the se~s ion of conference in Lansing, commencing Sept. 16, 1857, Bishop Waugh appointed
me junior preacher there, and Rev. W. H . Brockway preacher in charge. He was appointed to
s uperintend the bu ilding of a church in Midrlletown, as it was then called 1 and I to do the pastoral work. Set·vices were held in North Lansi
morning and even ing, and in representative hall at
2 P . M. each Sabbath. He preached at Middle·
town once, and looked the ground over n few days,
and the trustees deciding they could not build, h e
returned to h is home in Albion. We then h ad one
class in Middletown of thirty-two members, and
four classes in North Lansing aggregating 117
members. I had all Lansing on my hand and
heart, which, with my fourth year's course of
study, weighed h eavily upon me. But the Lord
of hosts was with us. From a series of cottslge
prayer-meetings, which gathered and revived a
scattered and d ispirited society, we went to the
church and continued a series of revival meetings
for nearly two months. A copious refreshing from
the presence of the L ord r esulted in over seven ty
happy converts, and greatly strengthened our
cause at North L ansing: Our entire membership
in the vi llage S eptember, 1857, was 149. Now we
have 1,000 full members and 122 probationers.
Lansing was tbon a viii ago of magnificent distnncf'S,
but contiguous stumps. It had been the state
capital but ten years.
I h ave now completed my four years' course,
which brings my narrative down to the session of
conference at Kalamazoo, where I was ordained
elder by Bishop Ames, Sept. 19, 1858, and was sent
to our hardscrabble, where we had t o wait two
months before we could get a house ("our own
hired house"), in which we made our first meal of
hulled corn and milk. For a very bard year's
work we received 8190, and paid our own h ouse
rent. Eleven dollars was missionary monAy,
which, for conscientious scruples, we repor ted back
in our missionary collections. As I recall the
many in the laity and ministry with whom I have
taken sweet counsel in those years long gone by,
whom I s urvive, a sweetly solemn t hought reminds
me that I too am nearing the bound of life where
we lay our burdens down.
Holla nd • .lfich.