Nathan Bangs · 19 of 29

Chapter 14. From the Close of the General Conference of 1836 to the Commencement of the General Conference of 1840. · Part 1

From the numbers taken at the several annual conferences, and published in Cincinnati, it was ascertained that there was a diminution in the aggregate number of Church members for this year, notwithstanding the zeal which had been displayed in some sections of the Church to purify it from the defilements of slavery. The disclosure of this fact, an event so unusual in our history, led to a serious inquiry into its causes, and various conjectures were put afloat, some of them chimerical enough, to account for it. Without attempting to decide dogmatically upon a question admitting of such a wide range of discussion, and which, after all, is not of so easy solution as some may imagine, the following are submitted as the most likely causes to tend to such a result.

The unusual excitement which had pervaded the country for a few past years, seemed to be followed by a sifting of the Church of many who, under that excitement, might have started in the Christian race without duly “counting the cost,” and therefore in the “time of temptation fell away.”

The revival of evangelical religion among other denominations might have contributed its full quota in lessening the number of accessions to our communion. Time was, in many places, when souls were truly awakened to a sense of their lost estate, that they came to our ministry as a matter of course, in order to get spiritual food suited to their wants, other denominations not insisting as they ought upon the evangelical doctrines of the Bible, such as the new birth, justification by faith, the witness and fruits of the Spirit. Now the times were greatly altered for the better in this respect. During the progress of the great revivals in our country, nearly all denominations were partakers “of the benefit,” entered heartily into the work, and their ministers enforced upon the people the great truths of God our Saviour with powerful effect. The consequence was, many who otherwise would probably have come among us, connected themselves with other denominations.

In the western country especially, where the decrease was greatest, by neglecting to furnish convenient places of worship in the more populous villages, others came in and took possession of them, and thus drew the population around them before we were aware of it, and thus circumscribed the sphere of our influence in these particular places.

The agitations consequent upon the discussions respecting slavery and abolitionism, no doubt tended to distract the minds of many, and to prevent the growth of experimental and practical religion.

But whatever may have been the causes of this diminution in numbers, the fact awakened a spirit of inquiry, highly beneficial in its results. It led to self-examination, to self-abasement, humiliation, and prayer, that God might again visit his heritage with the outpouring of his Spirit, and a revival of his work.

Notwithstanding this apparent declension in the general work, there was a gradual enlargement of the field of missionary labor, the particulars of which will be mentioned hereafter.

The deaths of thirty-five preachers are recorded this year; one hundred and thirty-six had located, one hundred and sixteen were returned supernumerary, one hundred and sixty-five superannuated, four had withdrawn, and four were expelled.

Among those whose deaths are recorded this year, we find the name of Philip Gatch, who joined the traveling ministry in 1773, under the superintendence of Thomas Rankin, when there were but ten traveling preachers in America. He outlived all his contemporaries, and maintained an unblemished reputation to the last, though he desisted from the labors of an itinerant preacher from the year 1787 until toward the close of his life, when he was readmitted in the relation of a superannuated preacher. In this relation he died on Sabbath evening, the twenty-eighth day of December, 1835, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. On the day of his eighty-fourth year he preached his last sermon, and finally closed his life in great peace of mind, and no doubt rests from his labors.

In the early days of his ministry he endured sometimes “a great fight of affliction,” having to contend with the common prejudices of the day against Methodist preachers, and with the troubles originating from the war of the Revolution. He, however, kept “his soul in patience,” and manfully buffeted the waves of persecution which sometimes raged around him, though he did not wholly escape their fury. At one time he fell into the hands of a mob, who, while endeavoring to cover him with tar, cruelly drew some of it across his naked eye-ball, which came near destroying the use of his eye; but he still persevered in his work, “as seeing Him who is invisible,” and who upholds and rewards his faithful servants in the midst of their labors and sufferings. Want of health compelled him to desist from the work of a traveling preacher, and in 1798 he removed into the Northwestern territory, now state of Ohio, and settled on the Little Miami, a few miles from Cincinnati. The country was then new, Cincinnati being only an inconsiderable village, and Methodism scarcely known to its inhabitants. Here he became actively and usefully engaged as a local preacher, and was much respected as a citizen, contributing greatly, by his active exertions and example of piety and diligence, to advance the cause of religion and morals.

Not willing that he should die in obscurity, unwept and forgotten, his brethren of the Ohio conference readmitted him into their fellowship as a worn-out veteran of the cross, and he ended his days in the sight of his brethren, beloved and respected as “an old disciple” of his Lord and Master.

Christopher Fry, of the Baltimore conference, was a minister of considerable age and standing, having joined the traveling connection in 1802.

Though not possessed of brilliant talents as a preacher, he was among the most useful, being deeply read in the Holy Scriptures, and always enforcing the truths which he uttered by the fervency of his piety, and the godliness of his example. Apt to teach, and wise to govern, he was selected to fill the office of presiding elder, and he much endeared himself to his brethren by the gentleness of his manners, by his diligence in his calling, and his strict regard to the discipline of his Church.

Though his death was sudden and unexpected to his friends, it did not find him unprepared. On the sabbath before his death, in an address which he delivered to the people, he dwelt, with great fervor of spirit and solemnity of manner, upon Christian experience, and then adverting to his own, he testified to the knowledge he had of the love of God in his heart, and the many years he had enjoyed the witness of his acceptance in the sight of God. “For this faith,” he remarked with emphasis, “I would be willing to burn at the stake.” Two days after this, while attending to the operations of a threshing machine, it caught his leg, and ere he could be extricated from his perilous condition, his thigh bone was broken, his knee crushed, and nearly the entire limb severely injured. He survived these injuries only about three hours. In the midst of his exquisite sufferings he said, in answer to a question by his beloved and weeping wife, “My whole body is in tumult, but my soul is calm and stayed on God.” After a short interval, in answer to a friend who inquired the state of his mind, he said, “My body is in an agony of pain, but my soul is happy, happy, happy!” With these words faltering upon his lips, he ceased to suffer and to breathe, and no doubt went to Abraham’s bosom.

Of the others who had taken their departure, excellent things are said both of their life and death; and their reward is doubtless with their God.

Numbers in the Church: Whites This Year: 564,974; Last Year: 566,957; Decrease: 1,983 — Colored This Year: 82,661; Last Year: 83,135; Decrease: 474 — Indians This Year: 3,033; Last Year: 2,436; Increase: 597 — Total This Year: 650,668; Last Year: 652,528 — Decrease: 1,860 — Preachers This Year: 2,929; Last Year: 2,758; Increase: 171.