Nathan Bangs · 9 of 29

Chapter 10. From the Close of the General Conference of 1828 to the Beginning of the General Conference of 1832. · 1830

The reformation which had been effected among the aborigines of our country seemed to awaken a most lively interest in their behalf throughout every department of the Church, and no less so among those of the natives themselves who had been truly converted to the Christian faith. For these converts were not merely nominal believers in Christianity. They had felt its renovating and transforming power upon their hearts, and this had produced a correspondent change in their habits, civil, domestic, and religious. By this means they presented in their own lives a living, palpable, and irrefutable evidence to all who beheld them, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is even now the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. These, therefore, were living epistles, written, not with pen and ink, but by the finger of the living God, and sent unto the other tribes that they might read with their own eyes of the wonderful works of Almighty God, and be convinced that Christianity is “not a cunningly devised fable,” but that it is still “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Acting under the sacred impulse thus produced, an effort was made this year to introduce the gospel among the Shawnee and Kansas Indians, and the Rev. Thomas Johnson was sent to the former, and the Rev. William Johnson to the latter tribe. These Indians inhabited the western part of the state of Missouri, and the missions were therefore undertaken by the Missouri conference. The Shawnees, especially, were found to be of a docile and tractable disposition, had commenced the cultivation of the soil, and manifested a great desire to be taught in religion, in literature, and the arts of civil and domestic life. Though the missionaries met with much difficulty, at first, for want of a qualified interpreter, yet a school was soon established for the education of the children, and a house erected for the accommodation of the mission. The commencement was small, and the progress slow, but success has attended the labors of God’s servants, and the mission has continued to flourish and enlarge its dimensions to this day. Many, indeed, have been raised up among these natives of the forests, who are now ornaments to their profession, bringing forth the fruits of righteousness to the glory of God.

This year also several missions were commenced for the special benefit of the slave population in the states of South Carolina and Georgia. This class of people had been favored with the labors of the Methodist ministry from the beginning of its labors in this country, and there were at this time 62,814 of the colored population in the several states and territories in our Church fellowship, most of whom were slaves. It was found, however, on a closer inspection into their condition, that there were many who could not be reached by the ordinary means, and therefore preachers were selected who might devote themselves exclusively to their service. A catechism was prepared for their use, in which they might be taught the leading doctrines and duties of Christianity, and many of these slaves have been brought to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

This year a mission was begun on the island of New York, called the Harlem mission. This embraced a population in the neighborhood of the city, many of whom were but transient residents, and generally destitute of the means of grace. It has been continued on the list of missions to the present time, always yielding, however, a partial support to the missionaries. In the bounds of the mission four houses of worship have been erected, and a good foundation is thus laid for the future salvation of the people who may inhabit that part of our city and its environs.

Some of the old towns on the eastern banks of the Connecticut river were as yet unvisited by our ministry, and this year a mission was undertaken for their benefit. It was so far blessed that it soon became adequate to its own support, and has since remained among our regular circuits.

In the northwestern parts of the state of Missouri, on the several branches of the Sak river, Gasconade, and southern waters of the Osage river, there were extensive tracts of country, fast filling up with emigrants from the older states and territories. These people were “as sheep without a shepherd,” and therefore needed the gospel to bring them into the fold of Jesus Christ. Accordingly there were three missions commenced this year, namely, the Salt River, the Gasconade, and the West Prairie, for the benefit of these people. Notwithstanding the hardships and privations the missionaries had to endure in traversing this new country, they succeeded in raising up several societies and establishing regular circuits, which have continued to flourish to the present time, and are now aiding to send the gospel to other and more destitute place.

The Iroquois and Jonesborough missions, in the bounds of the Illinois conference, were likewise commenced this year. The former included the tribe of Kickapoo Indians, the condition of whom was somewhat singular. It seems that a prophet had risen up among them, who acknowledged the true God, and was zealously engaged in instructing his people in religious things. Whether he had acquired his knowledge of God by intercourse either directly or indirectly with the white people, or had been conducted along by the secret whispers of that “Spirit which giveth understanding to man,” it appears that, though mixed with many errors and superstitions, he had made considerable progress in divine things, and was piously engaged in his exertions for the temporal and spiritual benefit of his people. He was not averse to hearing the truths of the gospel, though it was some time before he fully gave up his peculiar notions, and came heartily to embrace Christianity in its fulness and power

The Jonesborough mission, which embraced a new country about one hundred and fifty miles from Vandalia, the capital of the state, was prosecuted with such success that it returned the next year two hundred and sixty-four Church members, and has since been numbered among the regular circuits.

Eleven preachers had died during the past year, and sixty-one had located; sixty-seven were returned supernumerary, and one hundred and twenty-two superannuated; four had been expelled, and four had withdrawn.

Among those who had taken their departure in peace was Henry Holmes, of the Virginia conference who died on the 27th of July, 1829, in the forty fourth year of his age, and the eighteenth of his itinerant ministry. The record of his death awards to him an eminent standing among his brethren in the ministry, as a man of deep piety, of unquestionable integrity and with rare qualifications as a minister of the sanctuary. In 1823 he was appointed to the office of presiding elder, which office he continued to fill with becoming dignity and great usefulness until he finished his work. He has therefore left a name behind him which will be remembered in connection with the progress of Methodism in that part of Virginia with pious gratitude by the people who were blessed under his ministrations. Though his death was sudden, it did not find him unprepared, for he met it with pious resignation and a joyful hope of future blessedness.

Numbers in the Church: Whites This Year: 402,561; Last Year: 382,679; Increase: 19,882 — Colored This Year: 69,383; Last Year: 62,814; Increase: 6,569 — Indians This Year: 4,209; Last Year: 2,250; Increase: 1,959 — Total This Year: 476,153; Last Year: 447,743 — Increase: 28,410 — Preachers This Year: 1900; Last Year: 1817; Increase: 83.

In consequence of the action of the General Conference of 1828, by which it was mutually agreed, that if the Canada brethren saw fit, they might form an independent conference in Upper Canada, of which they had availed themselves, the members belonging to the Church in that province are not included in the above enumeration. Had these been added, the actual increase would have been 37,935. This shows that, notwithstanding the secessions of the “Reformers,” so called, and the agitations which followed, the labors of our ministry were still sanctioned by the Head of the Church. Indeed, greater peace and harmony pervaded the ranks of our Israel than had been realized for many previous years, all being convinced that bold experimenters were not the most infallible leaders.